Vex Chronicles 1: Infection

Second assault

Lucena's Ascent, bridge

It was early in the morning. Well, it was supposed to be morning. But with the constantly dimmed down light, Markos could only trust his inner clock. Thankfully his was as precise as his memories.

Corra's deadline was over. The enemy should have completed their siege devices. But no alert had woken Markos up. That either meant that the first attack had given the cult a bloodier nose as they had expected. Or they had something else planned for the defenders of the crew.

Markos shoveled the last bit of egg into his mouth and walked back to the kitchen.

"It feels weird to eat such good food in times like those." Comm officer Martisson sighed and put the plates back.

"Eat the perishables goods first and leave the rations for later." Markos stepped beside the comm officer and put down his own dishes.

"Interrogator? I saw you at the doctor last night. Why are you up again?"

"I learned to find rest whenever I can." Markos touched the bandages on his shoulder. "A nifty trick in a mercenary's life."

Yesterday his shoulder had pounded like crazy. Now it only hurt. After yesterday's battle Markos had finally found the time to get the shrapnel removed. His side was equally patched up.

Food, water and space had been provisioned as good as possible. But the predictions were bleak. If they wouldn't break out of the siege to collect more supplies, they would run out soon. And the situation of guns and ammo was even worse.

"I followed your advice, interrogator." Martisson lead Markos out of the officer's canteen. "I organized the crew into squads. Some of our officers are capable leaders."

Markos nodded. "It was chaos yesterday. Leaders are a first step. But we need to hammer firing discipline into them as well."

"First we need to give them something to do," Martisson sighed. "I had to pull apart the first squabblers this morning. The deaths from yesterday and the siege did a number on morale."

Comm officer Martisson walked over to the crew members that rested in rooms and crowded corridors. Only a few had found rest. And Markos saw how bad morale really was. As a honorblade he had mostly served along other professional soldiers. So all he could do was hope that Martisson knew how to deal with them.

"We need to rotate the defenders." Comm officer Martisson begun to wake the crew members out of their lethargy. "It's your lot's turn on the defenses. Take the position and weapons of the wounded and exhausted. Follow your squad leaders and you will be fine."

Some of the crew members were actually happy to get a chance to fight for their home. But most were just shaken from the brutal attack against the Lucena's Ascent. They would soon get their chance to prove themselves if warpriest Corra's predictions where right. The enemy had remained silent after the first attack. But the sheer presence of the cult was enough to stretch nerves thin.

Markos held a few of the younger and agile crew members back. "I have a special task for you. You are the gunrunners. You will move out into the corridor, gather fallen ammunition and weapons. Your job is to keep the defenders armed and supplied with ammo."

They looked at the comm officer and the same nodded in agreement. The bear of a man was liked by the crew. And many looked at Martisson for guidance.

"What's your name?" Markos picked out a young man that looked the most competent. The blonde man's shoulder was bandaged up. But it didn't looked too serious.

"Gurthard Denarith, interrogator sir."

"Okay, Gurthard. You'll be the sergeant of the gunrunners. And your orders are simple. Grab ammo and weapons. Arm your group and pass the rest over to the defenders. But your job is not to engage the enemy."