The Young Wolf

Nero found himself on the monotony of watch duty now that all the mutated rats were dead. The others had left with some miners on a drill, leaving him behind to guard the assault ram, a noneventful task after the initial attackers laid dead. Still, such were Lord Corbulus' orders, and thus he would carry them out. Monitoring the area and tunnels around them, the young wolf suddenly got a ping from Ausarius, then the update and question. He patched into the vox frequency. "Negative. Orders were to guard the assault ram, so unless wherever you're going can fit that space craft in for me to get out later, I'll remain in position here." Shutting off the frequency, he switched over to the private channel used by the Wolves of Horus.

"Lord Corbulus, we've made entry into the lower levels, and the team has made contact with the miners. The others have located the Admiral. She's refusing to comply with them without her navigator and the rest of her crew. Thus the team is heading to retrieve that objective now, presumably in some sort of holding area. Orders?" The former Ultramarine continued his scan of the area, his finger tapping his bolter as he kept a watchful eye for any enemies to return.


The Alpha Wolf

Corbulus smiled as his chainaxe connected with the first enforcer, cleaving straight through the human as though he was made of silk. Blood showering onto his armor, he spun, blocking a power maul strike from an enforcer on the side with his weapon's handle before allowing the weapon to dig into the torso of his foolish attacker. As though having the blessings of Khorne himself, the chainaxe ate away at the chest of the second enforcer. Behind him, the Alpha Wolf heard the ineffective shotgun blasts erupt, only for the projectiles to bounce off of the ruined but still effective power armor. Turning, he swung his handless arm, the forearm smashing into another enforcer. The force of the blown sent the human flying into the chimera, breaking his spine and incapacitated him. His screams ended when the plague blessed sentinel stepped directly on top of the paralyzed body.

Corbulus put his chainaxe into another enforcer just in time to see the massive tongue from the daemon engine smash the front of the chimera, before feeding upon its occupants. The back hatch of the vehicle erupted and a blistered covered officer threw himself out, and at his feet even as he reached for his chainaxe to rip out. Pausing, the Alpha Wolf watched as the maggot, perhaps literally in a few moments, squirm and plead for his life. Picking the officer up with his remaining hand, he stared into the man's soul, not an ounce of fear within the astartes. After all, Father Nurgle formed one of the four patrons of his, why should Corbulus fear any blessings of his? While he would certainly prefer his human auxiliaries to form under the banner of Chaos Undivided, he would not object to specialists or any whom the dark gods claimed, as Father Nurgle have clearly done to this one.

"You wish for life? There is but one way to keep it now for you," Corbulus spoke, his voice eerily calm compared to the man's dire situation. "Looked to the darkness at the back of your own mind. There you will find Father Nurgle waiting to offer you life in return for your submission. He is a kind and caring father, and I have my mercies as well. Look to me now, and you will find my offer the same. Swear your fealty to him, through me, the Alpha of the Wolves of Horus, and you shall not only live but reach greatness and glory you cannot even dream of in the darkness of your own ignorance, shackled upon you by the bloated corpse of the Imperium. Deny either of us and die now. Make your choice quickly; your time in this plane runs shorter with every breath you take." With that, he looked over to see Sobek with his own prisoners and so tossed the officer in that direction, away from the others of Curze's warband.

Corbulus knew that between Viator and the plague marine, he would need to fight for every recruit in these opening hours of the joining Curze and his cause. The foundation of rebuilding his warband would be vital, and should he fall behind now, the Wolves of Horus would no doubt stand at a major disadvantage later. So, picking up his chainaxe and striding over to the two incapacitated enforcers under the First Archimandrite, he spoke a single word to the mystic. "Hold." Turning to address the two tangled enforcers, both of which saw the futility of their situation now as the astartes stroll over casually after killing their comrades rather easily, the Alpha Wolf spoke up. "I am Corbulus, Alpha of the Wolves of Horus, and I am not without my mercies. As I've explained to this one here who wished for life," he waved over to the officer he had tossed near them. "I offer you a choice now. You fought with discipline, a shame since you did so for a bloated corpse of an Imperium and for a lie."

Corbulus took the time to walk as he spoke, moving both of their weapons out of reach without seemingly meaning to do so. "A corpse sits upon the golden throne on Terra, a corpse that neither sees nor cares about your lives. Your stationing here on this backwater of an asteroid proves that. The Imperium neither values you, your service or your sacrifices. I am not this apathetic corpse demanding your worship, for I have seen true beings worthy of such things. Real gods that reward their followers' obedience and worship with power, glory, and recognition. Will the path forward be dangerous? Without a doubt. However you will fight under my command, and I assure you, unlike many of my compatriots, or that arch failure you call Abaddon, I will not send you to any needless deaths, not without leading the charge myself personally."

"Now we return to the choice facing you now. You may cling onto your current loyalties, and hope for a swift death. That is a good likelihood before, but now that we have a disciple of Father Nurgle following us," Corbulus raised his chainaxe from a pointed position towards them and used it to gesture to the plague sentinel behind him, still feasting upon the crew of the chimera. "I would likely sacrifice you to him, in order to appease Father Nurgle here and now. On the other hand, you may decide to flee, and you will likely fall under the Phoenician's spell," he points next to the mob of mindless, drooling fanatics following Viator's every whim. "In which your talents are wasted as you become meat fodder and entertainment of his, subjected to every cruelty imaginable from his twisted Slaaneshi mind. You will suffer, then you will die, without any of the rewards I mentioned before."

"Or, you may swear yourselves under me, and through your service to the Wolves of Horus serve the dark gods. In return, I promise you not only your life but a chance at reward unimaginable under the service of my warband and the primordial truth. You have spent your entire life worshipping the corpse-emperor, serving to maintain his rotting Imperium, and what have you to show for it? I offer you a chance for liberation, with all of your facilities, with all of your consciousness to enjoy the rewards to come. All you have to do is swear yourself and your loyalty to me and the Ruinous Powers, and take the first step towards, not the condemnation you have been lied to about all of your lives, but ascension. Make your choice now."

Just then a vox came in from Nero. "Remain with the assault ram, continue with the extraction operation," Corbulus said, before adding, "continue updates as the situation progresses." With the orders given, he turned and awaited their decision, keeping his eyes on the others as to not make claim on what were his, especially Orghast and Viator.


@Vlayden
@High_Adept_Zeth

Fera oddly grinned under her helmet as she heard where the Navigator was held in a lower prison beneath the first place Dave had talked about, possibly able to knock out two objective for the price of one hearing Ausarlius agree the Fallen sister kept her heavy bolter to her side before looking to the admiral. "If we meet anymore navigators down there will there be any way to tell Delilah from other navigators they could be holding down there or other prisoners?" Fera asked the admiral looking to her as she readied with Ausarlius impressed by his own words working.

<Asteroid prison, black site complex> @BuriasDempsey

"Rise and shine beauties, rise and shine."

Kombuse woke up with a nasty headache, getting beaten by couple of trigger happy guards does that to a man. He only managed to gather couple of hours of sleep before one of the enforcers, the man they called Gains and who was one among the first to introduce the Blood Pact soldier to this jail. A dark place, hidden inside of an asteroid and a much larger prison complex, the place they threw him in was, as Gains told him as he stripped him of his remaining gear and kicked him in a cell, a place "filled with all kinds of shits". It actually meant that this particular prison wing guarded the most dangerous of all convicts that they had in this place, so perhaps he should've been proud that he was also considered to be worthy to become the local resident.

"On your feet ladies, bow your heads and repeat the prayer," Gains laughed as he walked through the corridor, doing his usual rounds. Couple of moments later a sound came from the speakers at the end of the hallway, the recorded voice of the local representative of the Ecclesiarchy most likely, began singing the prayer of the day in the glory of the Emperor (of course). Enforcer of course didn't think the prisoners would actually obey him but he was a sadistic bastard who loved harassing them, so if the boring singing of the old priest didn't wake you up, Gains would do it without a doubt.

Kombuse's own cell was tiny as you would expect, with only one bed and a bucket when the nature calls. Instead of bars, he was facing with solid metal doors with only a small gap on the bottom through which he received his meager rations that were in league of the food he and his men would give to their hounds back in Blood Pact. He couldn't really see how many other prisoners were on this level, especially because he was unconscious when he got here, but he knew about three of them for sure, separating them by the sound of their voice which came from couple of nearby cells. First one always coughed, sounding like he had a constant allergy to something (most likely this place) and often screamed some obscenities to the patrolling guards, who almost always entered his cell and beat the hell out of him, after which he returned to only coughing. Second one was some kind of an officer, his commanding voice easily carried even above the blaring coming from the speaker. He demanded many things, to be set free, to speak to the officer in charge, but the only thing he got was laughter from the guards. Third and final voice though belonged to a female, a silent one who usually never spoke much and even when she spoke, she spoke in hushed tones. Only asking for simple things like more water or food, Kombuse never heard guards threatening her or beating her, which perhaps made her even more mysterious.

All in all, it wasn't like he was going anywhere any time soon so while the sermon was played on the loop and Gains just finished his round and left the hallway, the sound of his footsteps slowly dying out, perhaps this was time to try and rest, try to find a way out or try to get a new friend or two, Khorne knows you'll need it in a place like this.

<Asteroid prison – Rock Bottom prison complex> @Jorimel @Vulpas @Colapse @Kalle @Skarboy @Vlayden

Valu would remain in his hideout. If nobody knew where he was, not even Ausarius would bother getting him out. Satharn might be concerned and probably as a stealth expert the one to sniff him out easily. But he expected the Night Lord to be more focused on the mission than their medic. Or was it hope? He had his fair share of secret areas and was not interested to find more warp-goo spitting corpses that turn to life despite obvious lack of eyeballs, life and other such things. For now he would be watching, hope his comrades move on and that being that. He wanted to know the truth of this admiral and her troops. It seemed all far too convenient.

First to make a resistance and all such things, only to submit happily if they got their navigator? He worked long enough on an imperial vessel to know captains like these. While loyalty on some vessels was indeed real. Most of the time it was fake. Her officers might like her. But her crewmen? Doubtful. If anything she wanted her navigator back so she can make a run for herself. That, or she hoped everyone would die in this 'secret prison'. Valu wouldn't be a victim of other peoples plots anymore. No.... He would have to make sure to get into this captains inner circle. The Lacrymole narrowed his eyes and squinted at the guys around the dear admiral - hoping one of them would have to piss or take a crap and pass his hideout. If not at least that moron named Dave.

Orghast let his eyes drift close as he continued marching towards the sand bags. Nurgle had blessed the adventurous soul piloting the Sentinel, and that was just grand. Some servant of his patron hissed in the space between his ears, everywhere and nowhere at once.

"Come, come freely and let us honor Grandfather together. Ignore me, scorn me, thank me, it matters not. Let his will be done. My spirit is forever diseased with his presence." A piercing smile of white teeth flashed between smooth lips. Plague Marine waltzed through the cloud of steaming smoke wafting from ruined pauldron and blistered flesh. Eyes searched across the surviving guardsmen, watching them plead and die or listen with uncertainty to the likes of Corbulus offering them terms of service. "There is but one true master you will ever serve within the Warp. Think not of your flesh, plagued by blessed putrefaction, but of the unripened fruit of the soul. Those who would honor Grandfather Nurgle as he-" He gestured boltgun towards the Sentinel and its pilot, whom were currently higher up on the totem pole of favoritism than him if looks were anything to go by, "- come. Join us in the command center, we shall slay and command in the name of the true Carrion Lord." With little ceremony Orghast made for the elevator.

As the slaughter continued, Ghorkha had time to revel in it, two out of two times he had successfully gotten to the heart of the melee, and butchered his way through, feeling revitalized like he hadn't done in quiet some time, blood and gore spraying everywhere as his chainaxe killed with almost mechanical efficiency, Viators fan club around him almost to the point of becoming turnskins, though as he sharp pain started building in the back of his head, he it was certain that it had nothing to do with him, or the corruption of his kind, it was only the touch of Viators Patron, the dark prince had not abbandoned him like all others here, Ghorzkha already knew that, but it seemed like the blood gods old touch would not let anything up to chances.
As he killed the last of the guards infront of him, he led his axe fly a bit wider, letting it go into one of the currupted mob too, as if just a show to anything watching that he was not about to fall for the scion of the dark prince, even if he was his lord, not that Ghorzkha felt too much like the dedication to one god alone anymore, but Khorne was still the one closest in spirit.

He saw another one fall to his knees infront of Corbulus, the arrogant wolf who ofcause wouldent wait a second trying to recruit every weakling and thing he came upon to his imaginary warband, "AKASH SUR AKASH TARRH" he yelled raising his bloody axe high as the slaughter had ended.

<Asteroid prison, black site complex>

Kombuse sat on his bed, wearing the drab grey pants as his only piece of clothing after they took everything, as he tried to get his eyes to focus after the so called 'sleep' he got to have after being a punching bag for the guards here. He didn't bother to listen the noise coming out of the speakers, hell he couldn't even understand half of it if he was. Deep purple bruises spotted his chest and arms along with the age old scars he had, a particularly nasty one on his head above his right eye. With not much else to do in his cell other than just dwell on his predicament, he thought of the three he kept hearing during his stay so far. He wasn't sure what the coughing guy's problem was, he wondered if Nurgle was slowly working something on him from the sound of it. Maybe Papa Nurgle will make the poor guy immune to pain, be a hell of a surprise for the guards. The other guy...he wasn't sure what to make of. He sounded too familiar to the guard officers he torched a lot, always so loud and so annoying with no strength to back it up. Probably the only prisoner he would laugh at with the guards. But the woman, she was the odd one out of all of them here. At least as far as how the guards treated her. So that had to mean something right? Moving over to the wall closest to her, he was confident it would be awhile before Gains comes back again on his walk around the prison.

"Hey, hey lady, you awake in there?" He asked in a raspy but friendly tone, knocking on the wall. If he was going to be here, he at least wanted someone to talk to since he didn't have his Blood Pact friends anymore. Something else he didn't want to deal with either, since he was sure they're all dead now, leaving him behind.

Incapacitating one and attacking another enforcer Sobek lashed out with his shock-whip at black-clad man managing to stun him by sending the content of his stomach up and out of his mouth. Revenge was swift and enforcer managed to strike the Archimandite in the shoulder - right where few weeks ago a Black Legionnaire wounded him griveously with a bolt-round.

But much has changed during these several weeks, and time spent on the Nightfall took its tool on Sobek. Before he managed to fire with the webber and consign the enforcer to the same fate of a helpless captive as that of his comrade, Corbulus stepped back, speaking to the mystic directly:

"Hold."

That much was enough, for even in the frenzy of combat that was all around him, he was quite detached from it. The violent urges of the Lord of Battles that consumed both his foes and allies reached out to him but he supressed it into the back of his mind. As a specialist of many technical fields he could not give in to the sensations of the mind, for a dull mind bred mistakes, and his life depended on the quality of his work. With his weapons still unsheated he turned to the newest recruit that Corbulus singled out from Viator`s rabble, realizing it must be one of the officers that led the enemy rabble. From the look of him, The God of Decay already favored him.

"Life begets service. Apart from that, you are free. What is your name?"

<Asteroid prison – Lower security outpost> @Kalle @Vlayden @Uriel1339 @Jorimel @Vulpas @Skarboy

"Delilah is of average height, has blond short-cropped hair, similar like the members of the Ecclesiarchy's militant arm. She's also in her mid thirties and finally, she has a thin scar running from her left eye down across her cheek," the Admiral explained to Fera while Dave rose his hand to answer to Ausarius' query. "I know where the entrance is, right-on behind that guard base. I'll take ya folks there, no worries."

"Concerning our service, we don't consider ourselves servants of the Emperor any longer, but we are not about to cast our fate to yet another tyrant such as he. We'll carve our own way and as long as our goals align and you respect me and my crew, we'll get the job done," Augustine finished, replying to Xaviera's words. Admiral was definitely not some fresh-out-of-scholla cadet but she was also aware of the situation she was in. She was not all too eager to follow the rest straight down the path of damnation, but she wasn't afraid to be near them when the fall happens.

While the final preparation was in place, foreman Dave picking up couple of his fellow miners to go with him and the rest towards the security outpost, Valu waited and found his target. Patience was rewarded as one of the male guards, just like he predicted, after the hostilities ended went around one shanty hovel to take a piss, right besides Lacrymole's hiding spot. Now all he had to do was find that sweet spot and the Admiral guard would be no more...(OOC @Uriel1339 leaving it up to you to write how you dealt with the crewman, but assume you can kill him\incapacitate him and take his blood for transformation).

-----------

There was definitely something here.

Getting out of the shanty town and following a narrow pathway that winded through the rocks heading even more below the ground level, the team had to stop because right around the corner there was a huge black metal gate, six or seven meters tall, with two bunkers on each side of it, weapon slits facing outwards. There was plenty of rocks of various shapes and sizes in front of those bunkers that could serve as cover, but given the fact they lacked the meatshields for a direct assault (Dave and his men left them ten minutes ago, not wanting to get near to the outpost), they would have to be creative. Weapon slits were big enough to chuck a grenade in but they had no way to actually open the big doors, since they kinda looked thick enough to survive a blast of a krak grenade. If only they had some melta weapons...

Then all of a sudden sirens blared and the doors began slowly opening. There was lots of commotion coming from the outpost, the guards apparently quite surprised with this turn of events as they hurried outside to see what was going on. From this place, the attackers could see a group of las-rifle wielding guards armed in black flak armor escorting a tech savant of some kind outside, who began scanning the doors for the reason for what caused it to open. Slaved servitors were inside those two bunkers, going with the overwatch protocols they might prove to be a pain to deal with. Another pair of heavy combat servitors flanked the doors, twin-linked heavy bolters and slab shield on them, they looked like proper guards alright.

Behind them, the insides of the outpost were well-illuminated and the attackers could see a chamber filled with all kinds of crates there and couple of servants running around. There were also two corridors leading deeper into the facility, the wide one straight ahead and a narrower one on the left. It didn't look like there were more of the enemies around inside but most likely in case an attack happens, some kind of an alarm would go off and they would have to deal with whoever comes to investigate. What was also clear, at least for the psykers in the group, is that the guards were on edge, their eyes darted around the darkness of the cave but not due to expecting an attack - they were afraid of something which wasn't the invaders. It would seem that the scrap code from the "Nightfall" did its job and the guards in this part of the station were unaware of what was going on above.

While preparing for an attack, Valu's personal vox came to life and silent voice of the Serpent spoke to him. "Valu, this is Phocron. Your test begins now. Infiltrate the facility without the guards seeing you and once past the gates, go through the corridor on the left. You'll reach a control room, contact me when you get there. Phocron out," the Alpha Legionary finished his short message intended for Valu alone, leaving him with yet another objective to tackle all by himself.

Gate Guards:

Tech adept H-117:4 Guards:12 Heavy Combat servitors: 6/6 Combat servitors:3(AC)/3(AC)/3/3/3/3

Ausarius:10 Satharn:10 Attelus:10 Valu:8 Xaviera:8 Fera:8

Conditions: Combat servitors are inside bunkers, they cannot be attacked by melee weapons and they have +3 for defensive rolls against ranged attacks. Heavy Combat servitors automatically fire on anyone attacking Tech Adept, providing cover for him. Tech adept is trying to close the gates which are at the moment unresponsive. He'll succeed in it in 3 turns.

<Asteroid prison - black site complex> @BuriasDempsey

Instead of words, as an answer Kombuse heard a series of clicks all throughout the place. Second later and his door opened, the automated lock keeping it close somehow broken. Being able to peer outside, the cultist would see that he was in just one cell inside of a long corridor with at least ten cells both across him and within his row. Every single door was open, including the ones holding his "neighbors".

Getting outside, he saw that the coughing man's cell was directly in front of him, the man himself being somewhat older, with a dirty grey beard smeared in all kinds of waste and dressed in stinky rags, the prisoner was definitely at home in one of Nurgle's gardens. Next to him Kombuse saw the "officer", completely in contrast to the other prisoner this one still had a military, albeit dirty, uniform of some sort of PDF. His hair was cropped short as you would have it if you were a member of some kind of a military force but his looks were of a young man, barely reaching more serious years. Last prisoner walked out of a cell to Kombuse's right, a female with greasy blond hair cut short, dressed in simple robes she looked quite weak. The only different attribute on her was a cowl that covered better part of her forehead.

Sound of sermon that was going on loop just couple of moments ago was replaced with an alarm ringing and sounds of gunshots and fighting could be heard from the exit to their right. On the one on the left however, nothing could be heard, but Kombuse was certain that is where guard Gains went after he finished his round in his hallway. It was no-brainer that he had to move before more guards show up but before he could decide his next action the military man broke the silence first. "Listen to me...gentlemen, I'm Captain Follar of the Teril's planetary defense force and I need to get out of this prison!" he spoke with attempted professionalism, but sounded more like he was trying to convince himself of his importance. "I was betrayed by my peers and sent here to rot! If you help me escape I'll make sure you'll be properly rewarded!"

Looking around, Follar heard the gunshots and pointed in that direction, "If there's someone fighting there, then there's where we can find an officer in charge of this prison. I'll talk to him and we'll get this misunderstanding resolved. As a man of superior rank, you should follow my orders and we'll get out of this place safely," he assured them, already setting to go down that corridor but obviously secretly awaiting to see if anyone would be following him.

"We must go that way if we are to survive," the female spoke and opened her eyes, just like her voice they were hollow. It made your skin crawl and as she pointed the other way, towards that empty exit on the left, there was something in her stance that meant she was not fooling around when she said what she said, even the peacock Captain stopped dead in his tracks, but was looking like he was preparing to argue.

With both sides pointing in different directions, it fell to Kombuse to "decide", since they both now looked at him for input, all the while the old man kept on coughing, saying nothing while his eyes darted left and right.