Editing Story:Another Continuation of LCB (section)

===Chapter Nineteen===

The primary seemed calmer. Cooler. More collected. Anxious. But in control. Or trying to be.

As they approached the installation, a sense of unease entered the pit of everyone’s stomach. This was it. They could afford no more errors beyond this point. It was more than the normal pre-operation adrenalin. The sort of nausea one only gets from public speaking, irrational phobias, and high stakes. If even one ship from the fleet was penetrated, there would be little time to patch the hull before they reached the nearest webway entrance. It was not entirely free of daemons or hazards in general. If fortune did not favor them, the hole left by a single remaining battery could cause four digit numbers of good men and women to be sent into the open arms of the great enemy.

No pressure.

Liivi slid into the trench, landing fluidly behind Taldeer. Immense pain wracked his left side. But it was bearable.

“''15 minutes.''”

Not a second to spare. They rushed forward, footsteps muffled by the hard packed ice of the trench. The scorpions moved ahead of the group. Hunched as they were to avoid detection, they almost resembled their namesake, the chitinous-like wraithbone armor resembling an insectoid carapace. They made it through the trench network in minutes.

<nowiki>“<Tanlon,>” Taldeer said, “<do you detect any psychic auras?>” The warlock shook his head. “<Only one mon-keigh.>” He gestured to Liivi. “<It may be the pesky human wards and seals, dampening the warp. How they love those trinkets.>”</nowiki>

The farseer bit her lip. Whatever human trickery was afoot, something was off. The sea was too calm. The sky was too clear. The storm had grown closer, yet it still hadn’t hit them. How? Where were the swells, the wind, and the rain? All the sensations of fate seemed muted.. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, staring into the water beneath her.

Under the placid surface, violent currents swirled too and fro, aimless and devoid of any discernable meaning. 

“''By Isha.''

''We’re in the eye.''

''When? How?''”

----

The man's mind was clouded. The well oiled machine was gumming up. There was a sense of anxiety he couldn’t quite place. He had no word for this sensation. He knew the term anxiety - it was a set of characteristics exhibited in primaries and secondaries, identified by the contortion of facial muscles and the adoption of certain behaviors. But the unpleasant sensation he presently experienced had no word. It was an amorphous thing - a negative state which the temple utilized as a tool for honing his training.

“''Where are the guards?''”

It had him on edge.

He scanned for cameras, servo skulls, as the Eldar sidled along the building. It was strange. Some cameras had been damaged. That wasn’t the work of Taesan’s rifle. It was Las pistol. And there were trails on the ground - men being dragged - but no blood or evidence of gunfire. But no operational surveillance. Until-

“We’re being watched.” Liivi gestured towards the camera.

20 meters away, mounted on the rear of a reinforced pillbox, a camera panned over the group. Liivi could see it clearly. It stopped, lens twisting as it zoomed in.

“It’s looking at you, Taldeer.” Errant thoughts flitted through his mind as he glanced at the Farseer. “''I shouldn’t have vocalized. Alerted the enemy.''” 

Gilfavor trained his rifle on it and fired. Bullseye.

<nowiki>“<Double time it.>”</nowiki> Liivi may not have understood the words. But he understood the gestures. Move. And fast. The beat of his heart was pounding in his ears. Why? This wasn’t meaningful exertion. Or was he perhaps more aware of it than he was before?

They began their sprint to the entrance, first ducking behind cover. Autoturrets deployed, but no fire came.

“Damaged,” Liivi said. “Las-rifle. Traitors?”

“Doesn’t smell like chaos,” Tanlon replied.

“It doesn’t smell like anything,” Ysukin said. “So rule out nothing.” He pulled a curious tool from his kit. A detonator? “I’ll get that door open.”

Liivi interjected. “Explosiv-”

“It isn’t,” Ysukin replied. “It’s a hacking tool.” He pulled out a cable and inserted it into the key slot. “Should get this open quickly.”

The assassinorum had such tools. Backdoors, skeleton keys, things they could exploit to get their personnel where they needed to be. But these were closely guarded secrets. What sections of missions that had involved them were mind wiped. The fire dragon glanced at the human. Apparently Liivi’s face must have betrayed his incredulity. Ysukin shrugged slightly.

“Don’t use the same security software for a few thousand years.”

----

“''Keep the primary close.''”

Ysukin had been given admin access. It was isolated to the front door, but that was enough to get them into the building. A long hallway, about 10 meters, stretched before them.

They had been expecting resistance. A hail of lasrifle fire. Anything to keep them outside, to make sure they would be incapacitated by the blast.

Instead they saw scorch marks, blood, and the body of a guardsman slumped against the wall at the far end, chest clearly burnt, the open eyes of his shocked face staring into eternity. The two doors - one left and one right - were wide open.

<nowiki>“<Farseer?>”</nowiki> Gilfavor spared her a quick glance before turning his eyes to the body. The old soldier masked his concern better than the others. But she could still read the uncertainty in his face.

<nowiki>“<I don’t know either, Captain.>”</nowiki>

Ysukin shut the door behind him, and the sound echoed throughout the installation. As the noise faded away, they became acutely aware of the fact that the facility had all the stillness and silence of death. Even the whirr of the zooming camera was audible.

It peered down at them from the far end of the hallway, the sole surviving sentinel.

<nowiki>“<Someone’s definitely still alive,>”</nowiki> Elnys mused, shuriken pistol delivering a well aimed burst into the camera housing.

Barroth stood at her flank, watching the doorways. <nowiki>“<Should I stand guard, Captain?>”</nowiki>

Gilfavor’s teeth ground together. He looked at the entrance door and back to Barroth.

<nowiki>“<Taesan,>”</nowiki> he spoke into his comms, <nowiki>“<your recon camera watching the road - IR signatures on the horizon?>”</nowiki>

<nowiki>“<No sir.>”</nowiki>

The Scorpions advanced slowly and cautiously. The human followed closely behind. They reached the end of the hallway soon enough. Each took a door and sliced the pie - nothing. Nothing except more cameras. They each fired a single burst before returning to cover. <nowiki>“<Clear.>”</nowiki>

Liivi, meanwhile, remained exposed. Inspecting the dead man, he was vulnerable sitting between the two doorways. Taldeer hissed loudly. “Liivi!” It snapped the vindicare from his trance. “Sorry.” He grabbed the soldier’s right foot with his left arm, and sprung both himself and the corpse back to safety in a single, pneumatic movement. In cover, he resumed his inspection.

Concerned. She approached the Vindicare, pistol trained firmly on one of the doorways. “Liivi, what is it?”

“He’s not cold yet.”

“All the more reason to be on our guard, then.” She nudged Liivi to get up, but he hardly budged. He peeled back the burnt clothing. “I am-” an alien firmness in his voice, ever so slightly raised. It vanished as soon as it appeared.

“I am almost finished.” His fingers wormed their way through the burnt fabric and felt around. After second or two, he seemed satisfied. He closed the soldier’s eyes, and rested the man’s hands on his chest. With that, the man stood once more. A vacant stare filled his eyes as he stared at the sparking remains of the camera.

<nowiki>“<We need to get moving,>”</nowiki> Gilfavor growled. <nowiki>“<Left door. Loading mechanism is south.>”</nowiki>

Passing through the doorway and, sparing a final glance at the dead man, Liivi noted two streaks of blood in the opposite room. Bodies that had been dragged. Both led to a doorway, towards the center of the installation.

“Captain…?”

“Wha-”

Taldeer paused. A shiver ran down her spine. Her cool expression shifted to one of grave realization. Caught in the trough. A breaker loomed ominously overhead. Its sinister and foaming face leaning deep towards them. They were to be swallowed whole.

“Look out!” She knocked Gilfavor forward with the butt of her spear and, barring Liivi with her left arm, leapt backwards. A steel blast door, nearly a third of a meter thick, slid quickly from the ceiling with a fierce pneumatic hiss, meeting an indent in the floor. Their toes barely cleared it. The spear was less fortunate - a few centimeters had been shaved off the bottom. Sprawled on the ground, the Farseer worked quickly to get on her feet and turned to face the rear, letting out a long and hearty sigh. Death narrowly avoided. <u>Again</u>.

Heart pounding, she eyed the doorway while the human collected himself.

----

<nowiki>“<Farseer.>”</nowiki> Gilfavor’s voice, distinctively calm and lacking its usual sourness, emanating from the collar of her chestplate. <nowiki>“<We will proceed with the mission. Ascertain the location of the control room. We will meet you there.>”</nowiki> It was clear enough to understand, but even at this short distance, the interference from all the wards could be heard in the transmission.

<nowiki>“<Yes, Captain. You are okay?>”</nowiki>

<nowiki>“<In perfect condition.</nowiki> ''Whoever'' <nowiki>just arranged that soon won’t be. Gilfavor out.>”</nowiki>

She groaned internally. Apparently it read on her face.

“Is something the matter, Taldeer?” Liivi was taking longer than usual to get up. Must have been the injury. The man averted his gaze when they made eye contact.

“The Captain has less-than-subtly warned me that, if he believes I am in league with whoever is in control, he will try to kill me.”

“He will fail. I promise.” Having collected himself, Liivi’s pistol was swiftly trained on the door. “I’ll take point.”

She stared him down, determined. “No, you won’t. You’re already injured. If I limit my exposure, my shields will keep me safe.”

Liivi avoided eye contact. “It won’t stop a beam from a lasrifle. Please use a mirror first. The guardsman should have one.”

The Farseer scowled for a moment. She shouldn't need a mirror. She should sense the danger before she even turned the corner. But the ocean was so quiet...

She sighed and chided herself. “''I should have thought of that.''” The scowl quickly softened. “Thank you, Liivi.” He didn’t respond with words. A nod, hesitant, yet with an expression of sincere concern. Cautiously, they pressed the advance. Slow and quiet steps.

“What were you doing back there? To the guardsman?” She spoke in hushed tones, eyes never leaving the potential target area.

“Inspecting the wound. Checking for evidence of weapon used.” A calm seemed to sweep over the subtle indicators of anxiety in his expression and posture. He was back in his element. “It was a las rifle wound. Consider that, had this been an open assault, the alarms would have been triggered, and this installation would have entered lockdown. We would have heard them, as that man was shot within the last few hours. Nor was that man in a combat position. His weapon had also been taken.“

Another step forward. “You mean to suggest that this was espionage?”

A sound from behind. Liivi’s pistol snapped to the rear entrance. An uncomfortable amount of time passed.

“Yes,” he said at last. “But they used the guard’s own weapons. ‘Who’ is unknown.”

Her brow furrowed. “So who holds the control room? Clearly they can operate doors. But they haven’t initiated lockdown. Why? If they wanted to keep us out, that would give them plenty of time to prepare. Unless… they don’t want to keep us out.”

“Precisely.”

She eyed the door back into the entrance hallway - a pneumatic guillotine to the unwary. “A troubling thought.” The camera may have been gone, but she was not eager to stay beneath it for long. The Farseer held her breath and leapt through.

“It seems probable that they don’t want to contain us. They want us to come to them, a few at a time.” Liivi followed suit, landing fluidly, albeit painfully, on the other side.

Content that her human was safe, Taldeer stepped over to the dead guardsman and began ruffling through his clothes. “That seems dangerous," she noted. "But I suppose locking us in a room just gives us time to entrench.”

Liivi nodded. “Every room is designed to be extremely defensible. And we are dealing with a good marksman. They have every reason to make us come to them.”

“But who is that marksman? Who are we fighting?” Third pocket. Still nothing.

“I can only guess. Do you have any insight?”

“None at all.” At last, the mirror.

“Most likely, chaos sleeper agents. Using the disorder from the Orks and Eldar raids to seize the installation. It would explain the dragged bodies - intended for use in a ritual.” Taldeer finally found the mirror. “Additionally,” Liivi continued, “intelligence suggests some chaos entities can increase the martial prowess of their troops, or manipulate probabilities to their benefit. That could adequately explain the precise aim.” She motioned for him to get behind her.

“Sensible,” she quipped. Peeking around the corner with her mirror, she stayed fast against the wall. “They may just be a bunch of mon-keigh cultists, but I can’t help feeling uneasy.”

She swore she could hear the daemonette laughing somewhere in the distance.

----

“Are you distracted, Liivi?”

“It’s nothing.” He looked over to her. He didn’t really understand all the emotional noise that cluttered his mind when he did so, but the desire to protect was understandable at least.

“Alright.” 

What did that really mean though? A dismissive statement of disbelief, or a confident affirmation? He thought he was on the level. But the questions and errant thoughts were becoming dizzying. “Your comrades do not trust me. Do you trust me, Taldeer?”

“More than you realize. I won’t let them hurt you, I promise.”

“What if you had to choose?”

The Farseer froze. Her eyes left the door and, as her head turned to look behind her shoulder, additional power flowed into her shields. He could feel the despair in her eyes weighing down on him. “Don’t force me to make that choice, Liivi.” The sensation was haunting.

Not quite the expected reaction. Misgauged the primary. “I-I won’t. Do you… believe me?”

“Yes. Now don’t give me a reason to doubt you.”

Something was different about his mind now. She struggled to parse it. It wasn’t that it was unreadable, like before. It was still a mind of iron, yes. But it was breaking. The energy destroying the machine which harnessed it, rivets flying as pressure built, pistons screaming, gears roaring. Taldeer could taste the jets of emotion as they spewed out of the growing fissures. Chunks, fragments of a person. Pain. Confusion. Love? Or was it obsession? Reaching through the steam and probing the cracks, enduring the searing heat, she felt her way to the center. The eye. And in it, she found an image of herself - flawless and perfect, a statue carved by a keen hand and a keener eye. Around it screamed a torrent of intense emotions, maintaining a respectful distance as they shouted down reason.

“Taldeer?”

The Farseer snapped out of her trance. It was only supposed to be a glance. “''I got too sucked in.''” She shook her head slightly, bringing herself back into the present. “Sorry. Thank you.”

He nodded. A gust of steam. She could taste it.

“When this is over… I’ll make sure you get the help you need.” A burst of steam, larger than before.

His reply was calm, but swiftly delivered. “I need only to know you’re safe.” Steam gushed out like a geyser. This was a lie. Though how much he knew it was a lie, she couldn’t say.

They pressed on.

----