Vex Chronicles 1: Infection

A last hope

Lucena's Ascent, bridge

Everyone – Kressman included – stared at the scene in disbelieve. Cassilia, with all her three arms on display, carried the body of captain Hanson up towards the medical bay. Her own face was an empty mask of pain. Kaulus had not made it. Heavily injured and assaulted by toxins, the durable aberrant had perished. Kressman had seen enough of the young xenos thing to know that her pain was honest. She hadn't just lost a member of a brood. She had lost a friend.

The crew just didn't knew if they should shoot the xenos in their midst or thank her for her contribution. Without her Vex would not have been found. Without her the Minerva's Spear would not have carried security forces over to fall the Four Bladed Cog into the back. Revealing herself was a move that Kressman did not understand. Maybe grief had blinded her?

And then Feh was there. She stared at Cassilia, stared at the mangled remains that was her loved one. The two woman shared a brief glance. If Feh would have said any word of anger, the crew would cleave Cassilia apart. But Feh remained silent like a grave. Cassilia swallowed and put the body down on the med bed.

When Kressman begun to intone a prayer to the Emperor, crew members fell in as well. Feh simply passed Cassilia and dropped down next to Hanson McAllistor's body. There was not a single tear on her. Feh's face was a cold and emotionless mask. But Kressman knew that this was not a sign of strength but of how utterly broken the woman was.

Kressman assisted Dr. Holland DeLague to shove the crew out. And when the last was out, Feh could no longer keep up her mask. Feh begun to sob dearly next to the body of her dead love. Vex stepped beside Feh, his hand on her shoulder as he said his own final goodbye for a good friend.

An inquisitor should be the steadfast pillar of Imperial purity. An agent, unfaltering in the will to protect the Imperium from inside and outside threats. But Kressman could see that Vex hurt deep. Th whole eredian operation had begun too well. And this massive disaster had again woken old doubt in Vex's face. The inquisitor had never looked so tired and haunted...

The fight for the Lucena's Ascent was over. But it had cut deep. And it had cut home...

The voidship was back in their hands. But it did not felt like a win. There was no closure. All they had done was to secure a dying ship. The would still perish with it when either air, food or energy would run out. And it was unlikely that the sent emergency message would be heard fast enough for rescue to arrive in time.

Kressman tarot had not spoken about their death. So there was still a chance for them. There just had to be a plan for survival!

A commotion called Kressman back out. Crew members stood in a circle around Cassilia and two surviving members of the cult of the Beloved Heart. One of the young lads had draws a shock maul and assaulted them.

"Xenos murderer!" He smashed the weapon down on Cassilia. The pale woman had already felt that weapon's electric touch once. But this time her female bodyguard intercepted the hit. Mordessa shuddered under the electric arcs that raced along her arm.

"So many died because of your kind!" The weapon smashed down again. But this time Mordessa got hold of the weapon. She cried out in agony. But somehow she managed to close her hands around the maul and rip it put of the lad's hand.

"Gurthard!," Markos warned the young man. But the honorblade did not intervene and only stared at the scene, his hands balled. Kressman could understand. Intervening meant going against what the Imperium stood for. The influence of xenos was corrupting and needed to be culled. And so he was more than surprised when he, the pious believer in the Imperial Truth, felt like stepping in.