Vex Chronicles 1: Infection

United

Lucena's Ascent, space, crew module

"They are coming!" the pale xenos woman pert up. "And they have the parts with them!"

Inquisitor Vex simply nodded. They had by now spent more than two days inside the small chamber. And the smell of unwashed bodies of a half-ogryn and a genestealer woman wasn't really a nice mixture. But the share of warmth was welcome. Vex had dialed down the temperature controls when he had learned that it would take longer to get the replacement parts.

The air was slowly getting stale. And it would soon reach the point where there was just not enough left to breath. There was only a few hours left. And afterwards they only had another hour or so inside the single void suit. The time was ticking.

"How long do they need?" Vex asked the xenos thing.

"They have fought for the parts and are under way. But our module is drifting. It will take time for them to jettison over.

"Sill? Watch over the cultists. If she moves, end her." With those words Vex stood up and left the cabin. Icy air rushed in and the naked thing shuddered even more.

Vex grabbed tools and begun to prepare. He opened the maintenance hatch and cut away the damaged connections of the conduits. Vex prepared whatever he could to save time.

"Who is coming to our rescue?"

"That old veteran of yours," the woman said with shivering voice. "And my Beloved One and her loyal aberrant."

"Kressman and two xenos?," Sill sounded as if she couldn't decide if she wanted to be worried or amused."

"Only Cassilia can feel where we are in the void," the xenos woman tried to defend that choice. "Kaulus carries the conduits and spare void suits. And that veteran..." the woman shuddered in delight as knowledge was shared "Kressman is his name... He keeps watch."

Vex looked in confusion at the Xenos thing as he returned. There was devotion in her eyes. Allowing the survivors of the Beloved Heart to reunite was a bad move. And everything in Vex told him to prevent that. But his choices were limited. And again he regretted his choice to pursue his genestealer auspex project here on Eredius.

<Without capturing the two cultists, there would not be a rescue. It was the right choice>

The jamming signals had stopped by now. But the communication systems were in the gunship's cockpit. The same cockpit that was cut off by the broken conduits.

"They are close now!" The woman sounded happy and relieved.

"Vex?" Kressman's familiar voice soon crackled through the vox in Vex's armor.

"It is good to hear your voice, fate-seeker. You have the parts?"

"I have. Can you let us in?"

"One moment." Vex turned towards Sill. "Guard the xenos woman. If she moves, shoot her."

"She has a name, you know. It's Mordessa."

Vex ignored Sill's comment and pushed the ogryn back into the cabin. Then he turned toward the Minerva's Spear's door.

"We are ready," Vex sent over the vox.

Vex finger twitched on the trigger of his exotic weapon as he saw the massive thing that was the aberrant. He was risking so much by allying with xenos. Just one moment of weakness and they would turn against them. But Vex needed them, at least until they were out of this dire situation.

Vex's eyes fell also onto the suited up Cassilia. The void suit hid most of the implant. But some cables could be seen on her temples, deforming her skin as she moved. Her eyes looked sharp but frightened. Her face was covered in sweat but she was otherwise conscious. The scientific part of Vex was happy that his experiment had worked. But his inquisitorial part was torn that the woman was still in full control of her mind.