Editing Nobledark Imperium Writing (section)

==Burden of a Madman==

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">'''''

The screaming could be heard throughout the ship, resonating from stem to stern. An armsman snapped out of his sleep and banged his head on a beam. Even a tech priest down in the belly of the ship looked up confused as to what she had heard. It was screams of inappropriate profanities and the rambling of a madman four thousand years past his expiration date. Tycho rushed down the ship's corridors, darting around corners and dodging past confused armsmen, if he could not dodge them he would push them aside.

“Get out of the fragging way” he shouted, before slamming a unwary remembrance out of the way.

Tycho thought he could hear bones break as the tiny man hit the wall. He knew he should have stopped and helped the man but he had no time, this could be an actual emergency. What if quarantine had been breached? The last thing he needed was a dozen hormagaunts running rampant on the ship. He shouted a half-assed apology at the remembrancer before darting past two now terrified armsmen and down another corridor. After taking two more turns he found himself in a long corridor ending in a locked door. At the end of it stood Marisa, furiously typing away on the door lock to the ship’s laboratorium. She turned around to face Tycho, her hair swinging, and shouted.

“The bastard has locked himself in the lab and I can't get the door open!”

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Her face was a mix of rage and worry. Tycho paused and caught his breath.

“Stand back! I'll get the fragging thing open.”

Tycho relaxed his body and cracked his neck before raising his shoulder and sprinting down the corridor with all his power. Tycho knew he would get the door open, the blast doors had not been activated so with some brute strength the door would smash under his force. He was not a small man, in fact he was huge, so huge he could make a space marine look like a twig. Being born on Catachan did that to people, and combined with his power armour he could probably stop a tank. He just hoped no one was standing behind the door.

As he rushed down the corridor Marisa took a couple of steps back and readied her heavily modified bolt pistols. She had no idea what was happening behind that door and the last thing she needed was having that old fool fighting a horde of tyranids. She thought about how the screams had woken her from her well-deserved dream, a very nice one involving two Sisters of Battle. She pressed down one of the pistols triggers and the multiple barrels of the pistols whirled to life. Pressing her ear to the wall, she heard no sound of struggle, only the perpetual rage of the old Inquisitor. Tycho came barging at the door with such force Marisa could feel the shockwave. The door to the lab burst inwards, not stopping Tycho at all. His charge carried him into the room, only stopping when he purposely tripped and crashed into a nearby bookcase, sending hopefully non-important books all across the room.

Not that it made any more of a mess. The lab was in utter chaos. Papers and books were thrown across the lab, expensive instruments and machinery were smashed. The quarantined tubes, holding the dozen hormagaunts were destroyed, glass shard and liquid covering the floor in front of them, the hormagaunts who had taken them both many lives and resources to capture lay dead, all with neat lasgun holes in their heads. In one of the rooms corners stood the small group of xenobiologists who were working in the lab, all shivering and staring in horror at the now silent Inquisitor Kryptmann. He had stopped screaming as Tycho came barging through the door and was now staring at his two companions with an unfathomable rage in his eyes, yet there was sorrow deep inside them.

“Inquisitor!” Merisa exclaimed. “Did the specimens escape?”

She was trying to keep eye contact with Kryptmann but that look almost made her shit herself. He had always been a scary man, the combination of madness and deep rooted hatred was a combination that made her, Tycho and almost anyone with an ounce of sanity who had met the man afraid. Tycho stood up, scanning Kryptmann for any signs of injury.

“He looks fine to me Merisa” Tycho said, panting heavily from his marathon around the ship.

“That's because I am. Physically, at least. I am not fine in the sense that our research we have conducted during the past five years have proven to be worthless.”

Kryptmann’s voice was tired. He kicked one of the tyranid corpses laying on the floor and muttered something under his breath.

“What about the specimens then? Why did you kill them?”

Merisa was now not only confused but angry over the fact that he had killed the hormagaunts, it made the hunt for them and the sacrifice of ten guardsmen worthless.

“They taunted me! They began cackling towards me, whispering about how all I did was for nothing and that I should have died with Tyran!"

Though the rage was still in his eyes the added sorrow and pain was now obvious. Merisa and Tycho both knew that Tyran was a touchy subject for Kryptmann, but what can you expect from a man who had seen his home brought to dust first-hand and yet be powerless to do anything to it.

“So I told them I would kill them all, every single one of them, until I could rebuild Tyran with their bodies, I will rid the galaxy of their destruction, I will avenge every single life you have taken! You hear that you bastards! Every! Single! One!” he screamed out into the emptiness before falling to his knees and burying his face in his hands.

He began sobbing.

“I’m sorry I could not help you, I’m sorry I could not stop them from taking you,’’ he whispered.

Marisa knew at that moment Kryptmann was not talking to her, but to his lost home and family. Holstering her pistols, she began walking towards the broken inquisitor. Tycho pointed at the group of scared xenobiologists to leave and left they did, with such a hurry that one of them tripped on one of the tyranid corpses and had to scramble himself up before darting for the exit.

Both Merisa and Tycho knew that Kryptmann was prone to have “outbursts” as they called them. Their predecessors had told them about Kryptmann, about his past and his pain. They, like the ones before them, had been chosen because they had something in common with the old man. Mersia had seen her hive get destroyed by the tyranids; Tycho had seen his entire platoon get slaughtered by the same foe and they like Kryptmann had powerless to stop it. Merisa crouched beside the weeping Kryptmann and placed her hand on his shoulder. The old inquisitor stopped his grief and looked up at his companions. His face was worn and his grey beard was long from years of neglecting, but it was his eyes that would always carry the most impact. They looked like hers on the day the Devourer took her family and home, they were the same eyes Tycho had when he saw his comrades get torn to bits. But she knew that there was more behind them then the grief of his loved ones, there were fear. The fear that he will become what he has dedicated his life to destroy. She had heard him mutter about how the Kryptmann Line made them no better than the tyranids. They burned down the homes of billions just as the tyranids did. He feared that the abyss had begun staring back. Tycho was obviously frustrated by the situation and he had opened his mouth on multiple occasions only to close it with hesitation.

“I still see them in my sleep, every night I see them slaughtered by the never ending tide of creatures, ”Kryptmann looked into Merisa’s eyes with the plea for release.

“I know Boaz, I too see them and Tycho too. We all remember them and we have to live through the nightmare every night. But it reminds us, it reminds us of those who we have lost and that we have to avenge them. It's the horror that sparks our rage and the rage is our drive. Merisa smiled softly towards the inquisitor.”

“Besides, maybe we shouldn’t try to focus less on the tyranids themselves and maybe the Hive Mind instead. It’s what keeps the smaller ones going isn't it? They’re basically brain dead without it.”

Tycho had finally talked, but to Merisa’s dismay it wasn't the words of encouragement that she had hoped for. She looked up towards Tycho and sighed. But without warning Kryptmann leaped to his feet, eyes wide and burning with a newly ignited joy.

“What did you just say? He had a huge grin on his face and Tycho did not know if he should be terrified or happy.”

“Um, that we should target the hivemind instead,” he was slowly taking steps back but Kryptmann followed.

“No, no no no, the part about the smaller ones!”

“That they’re basically brain dead without the Hive Mind.”

Tycho was staring at Merisa desperate for an answer. She just shrugged and smiled. She knew that something had sparked inside the old man's head and that could only mean that he had an idea.

“YES! Brain dead! That's what we need! Quickly, find a book called ‘’The Angevin Crusade’’, it may hold our answer!”

He leapt to the ground and began scrambling through the hundreds of books and papers on the ground. Tycho and Merisa looked at each other, sharing a moment of confusion before they too joined the hunt for the book.

After a short while they found what they were looking for. A large book with a small headline under the title ‘’The war against the Yu’Vath’’. Tycho made a small grunt before acknowledging that he had heard about the Yu’Vath.

“They’re some kind of xeno race that came into conflict with the imperium during M36 and that had warp based technology and shit”

Kryptmann Turned towards Tycho and nodded excitedly.

“Yes and the imperium was supposed to have encountered a biological weapon made by the Xenos, a kind of disease that targeted the brain tissue and destroyed it, the disease was very dangerous and could spread through and entire regiment of guards men in hours, the effect was incurable and left the body brain dead! Ah, here it is!”

Kryptmann began reading out loud what he read.

‘’On the planet of Selix the imperial forces encountered a horrible display of biological warfare, the Yu’Vath had released a destructive disease that would target brain tissue and render the target brain dead. The disease would spread to many bodies within the matter of hours and would kill in minutes. The planet was evacuated and contamination units were sent down to fin the catalyst of the disease. But not before a total of one point three million brave soldiers lost their life. The source was found inside an old bunker under the planet's surface and after a quick firefight with its guardians they sealed the bunker off and bombed the planet from orbit. The planet was placed under quarantine and remains so till this day.’’

“ But that dangerous to all of us,” Merisa replied, wondering if Kryptmann’s answer was to kill whole planets again.

“No, not if we can modify it. What if we can modify the disease to target tyranid brain tissue, such as the synapse, that would render them useless. Think of it, such a disease could kill off an entire hive fleet before they could adapt.”

Kryptmann was smiling widely and was looked back and forth between Merisa and Tycho. Tycho looked at Merisa and gave her a wondering look, she looked back and simply nodded.

“That could work, only we need the disease then and that could be life threatening,” Marisa replied.

Kryptmann turned to face her, the fear was gone and his eyes were filled with maniacal hatred.

“It’s decided then! We’re leaving for Selix to find our self a brain killer. You hear that you bastards! I'm going to lobotomize your kind with a fragging flu!”

Kryptmann began laughing hysterically and both Tycho and Merisa were just staring at him in awe. Merisa thought she must have been wrong about him, if the abyss was staring back at him, he probably was in the process of gouging the abyss’s eyes out. If the Hive Mind was truly talking to inquisitor Boaz Kryptmann, they would not be taunting him, no. They would be fearing him.

</div>
</div>