Vex Chronicles 3: Hunt

The cube

Aes Cognis, below laboratories

The skittering in the walls followed Vex and the others. But the scarabs hadn't shown themselves again. All Vex could hope for was that there would be a way around. But the feint light source in front of them spoke of something else.

"Be careful," Vex whispered.

Vex switched tho the global channel. But all he got was static. Whatever caused the communication to go haywire was close. Vex looked at the light source in front of them. Maybe very close...

With drawn weapons the small team of Sill, three troopers and him moved around the corner. All he could see was a feint glow of green that shone from what appeared to be a broken machine. And inside sat the cube.

It was obviously of necron origin. And the glowing rune markings reminded Vex on the events on Roc's Haven. Those ancient necron runes looked like the markings on the data monolith that was Meredith's demise.

Someone had fired a shotgun blast at the cube, tearing a chunk out of it. Damaged surface had exposed layers of data shells underneath. Scarabs crawled over the surface and repaired the damaged with sub-par material gathered from all aboard the ship.

Vex just knew that he was staring at the source of their troubles – not only for the attack but also the unstable systems of the Aes Cognis. Necron drones must have taken apart key systems to repair the cube. And if the many cables were an indicator, the cube device must draw in copious amounts of energy.

But what really made Vex's chest swell with dread was the realization of what he was looking at. The data layers, the runes and color... He was looking at a second Cax archive. He was looking at another necron semi intelligent memory monolith. Just that this one was just a fraction of the one that caused Meredith's death and Cax's betrayal.

And it wasn't just this cube. The body of warpriest Corra was strung up next to the cube. But the scarabs hadn't just taken the body apart for spare parts. It was as if they were actually putting it back together. An amalgamation of the warpriest's burnt our body and a core of random parts of necron living metal components.

What once had been Corra begun to move. The body's eyes burned up in green glow. Vex rose his TAD rifle. But when he tried to pull the trigger, his finger refused to move.

<No! Don't waste this second chance! The data inside...>

"...is irreplaceable!"

Vex gasped. "Get out of my head, Cax!"

The troopers took a step back and looked around for cover. Sill stepped to Vex's side, worry on her face. The half-ogryn had seen Vex go mad when he had let the archives out. And she wasn't willing to let that happen again.

"Warning: Resistance will trigger resistance," the Corra body spoke.

Vex could see the movement in the darkness. Security officers moved out of the shadow like zombies. With strength of will Vex again tried to fire his rifle. But Cax struggled, prevented Vex to fire at the cube. When Vex's gun finally aimed properly at the necron artifact it was already too late. Someone grabbed him by the arm and wrestled the gun out of hands.

Vex stared at the woman in disbelieve. It was Madeira Havelstone and her security team. The woman's expression was empty. A chill ran down Vex's spine as he stares at the necron mindshakle scarabs that had drilled itself into her head. Madeira Havelstone was no longer master or her own body. They had been taken over by this cube...

Other's stepped closer and took aim at the Imperial group. But none pulled the trigger.

"Statement: Require assistance in reassembly."