Vex Chronicles 1: Infection

Gathering allies

Eredius III, Ede prime, Cornellius farm district, med bay

The patriarch laid on the table in front of Vex. The bone saw whined as it struggled to carve through the hard carapace of the xenos beast. With his mobile lab still in orbit on Hanson's freighter, this medical station had to do. But the tools were not of the best quality. And they hadn't been made for a full autopsy.

Vex had to work fast. It was as if the patriarch's death had triggered a self destruct process. The patriarch would soon only be organic goop. Was this a new attack vector of the genestealers? But Vex's face mask hadn't found any kind of infectious matter. Maybe this was only so that the tyranids could reabsorb it easier? And it could be a way to hide the dead body from prying eyes. There was always something new with those malleable xenos.

The patriarch held even more surprises for the inquisitor. For all Vex knew, a patriarch grew with its cult. And he had expected this one to be much bigger and stronger. And its old burn wounds should have long since recovered. But they hadn't. Its brain however was enlarged. This must be a sign of an abnormal high intelligence. But everything else seemed to be underdeveloped. Even the tongue-ovipositor looked shriveled in comparison of what Vex had seen on other such creatures.

The enlarged head had to be the reason why the psy shock grenade had been so effective. The cult was most likely defined by a strong bond of the mind. And the grenade had turned that strength into a weakness. It had fried the cultist as the backlash wrecked through their linked gestalt.

Those deviations could be either cause or effect of the weakness of the cult as a whole. No wonder it had taken so long to reach this size. It was as if something had shunted the cult's development. Maybe the confined space of the farms and the extensive paranoia of the eredians had kept it small?

The door to the medbay slammed opened and Sill stomped in. "Look what the cat dragged in." She nodded towards Markos as he followed her into the medbay. The interrogator looked icy. Vex knew that expression. It had been tight for the honorblade.

"Some got away." Markos drew a grimace.

"But more of them died," Vex replied. "And we know where they went. I would pat your shoulders for a job well done. But I have my hands full."

With a tear the pesky organ finally came loose and Vex carried it over to the tables to vivisect it. Vex worked his way through the outer layers of the odd organ. The inquisitor had no idea what it was. It looked like some kind of gland. But it was too large and swollen. Always something new with those xenos...

Vex looked at the slowly dissolving body. "The patriarch's growth was shunted. As if it was blocked..."

"Maybe because he was all crispy before I... nearly killed it?" Sill glanced at Markos.

Vex grinned and walked back to the corpse to excavate the next organ. Sill was young, spunky but still very naive. The large girl had not lost her jesting mood despite all hardship. Depending on who you'd ask, she wasn't even an adult. On some worlds she would still be treated as a kid. But her life as a subhuman had shaped her. Neither baseline human, nor full ogryn, she had finally found a place in Vex's little entourage. And she would do everything in her power to fight for the first place she truly called home. Especially if it involved her blowing stuff up. Sill could loose herself in the heat of battle. But if Vex and the others could keep her alive and get some combat experience into her, she would be perfect muscles for the team.

Markos patted his chest and the parchment of the purity seal. "I can't add more names. We should hunt them. Now."

"Know your enemy to kill your enemy." Vex simply replied and continued to vivisect and document. But in one regard his interrogator was right. The cult had escaped into the water pipes. And that could mean only one thing.