Chapter 21 – The Heart of the Beast
The air grew heavier the deeper they went. Pipes lined the walls like veins, dripping with oil that smelled sharp and bitter. Every step echoed against steel floors, the sound swallowed quickly by the low hum of machines that never slept.
When the Marines finally reached the engine deck, even Gaius slowed for a moment. The chamber stretched wider than a city block, a cavern of metal and shadow. Huge cylinders pulsed with faint, sickly light. Chains rattled in the distance as if the ship itself was groaning.
And then they saw them.
Servitors shuffled between the machines, half-human bodies twisted with cables and steel. Their skin was pale and waxy, eyes glassy and unfocused. They were not free beings but tools, wired into the ship, forever bound to its engines.
Closer to the center stood the Dark Mechanicum. They wore long robes, but the cloth could not hide what they had become. Their arms ended in drills and blades, their faces masked with brass, cords running into their flesh. Some no longer looked like men at all, more machine than anything living.
Tony was the first to break the silence.
"Okay… i thought haunted houses are creepy specially at night. This, this wins. By a mile."
Naruto frowned, his voice lower than usual. "Those aren't people anymore… are they?"
Saeko's hand tightened on her sword. "They might have been people a long time ago. Now they're just… abominations."
Mindy, usually quick with sharp words, said nothing. She stared at the broken forms, her mouth pressed into a thin line.
The Dark Mechanicum noticed them. The air filled with the sound of clicking gears and chattering in a machine-like tongue. A dozen pairs of glowing eyes turned toward the intruders.
And then, without a word, the enemy attacked.
The deck came alive with chaos. Servitors lurched forward, their limbs reshaped into saws, drills, and crude cannons. Sparks lit the dark as they stumbled toward the Marines.
Gaius did not wait. He lifted his bolter in one smooth motion. The first shot thundered, and a servitor's head vanished in a mist of fire and metal. His brothers spread out in perfect coordination, their own bolters roaring in steady rhythm.
Every round hit with purpose. Limbs snapped off. Metal plating burst. The air filled with smoke and the high-pitched whine of straining servos.
"Man, it's like a horror movie," Tony muttered from the chat, watching above Gaius. "Except the monsters are made of… spare parts."
Naruto winced. "They're not even fighting because they want to. They're being forced."
Saeko's tone was cold but steady. "Then mercy means ending them quickly."
Mindy finally spoke, her voice quiet. "I don't like this. At all."
The Ultramarines pressed forward, their discipline turning the fight into a storm of controlled violence. Every step they took was marked by gunfire and the sharp crash of metal on metal.
From the shadows came something far larger than the others. A construct built of pipes and plating, almost the size of a tank, crawled forward on thick claws. Its head was nothing more than a furnace with burning coals for eyes.
It roared like tearing steel and charged straight at Gaius.
The ground shook as it moved, knocking over broken servitors in its path. Gaius did not flinch. He waited until the last moment, then stepped aside, his sword flashing from his thigh in a single motion.
The creature swung its claw, but Gaius was already moving. He fired his bolter point-blank, the shells punching holes into its armor. Sparks rained across the deck. The thing staggered, but it didn't stop.
With a sharp shout, Gaius swung his power sword in a wide arc. The blade cut deep, splitting the construct across its torso. The beast let out one last shriek of grinding metal before collapsing in two smoking halves.
The Dark Mechanicum howled in their machine tongue, their voices harsh and broken. Some of them rushed to consoles, their hands flying across corrupted controls. Lights flared across the chamber. Warning alarms began to scream.
Gaius turned his bolter toward the nearest tech-priest. A burst of shots cut him down, his mechanical body sparking as it crumpled. Another fell with a sword strike that sent wires and oil flying through the air.
The fight dragged on, but it was never truly in doubt. The Ultramarines fought like a tide, each move smooth, each shot measured. Servitors fell by the dozen. Abominations were hacked apart until nothing moved but the humming reactor.
Finally, silence fell.
Smoke drifted slowly through the vast chamber. Fires burned where fuel lines had burst. The only sound was the steady, living heartbeat of the reactor itself.
Naruto let out a shaky breath. "That… that was too much." from the gore and death he had now seen.
Saeko, her eyes focusing. "It's war. This is what they do."
Tony sighed into the chat. "…I hate to say it, but Saeko's right. This is war. And that" he gestured to the broken machines, "was a factory of nightmares."
Mindy whispered, "No one should ever have to see something like this."
Gaius walked to the reactor. The massive machine pulsed like a diseased heart, its glow faint and sickly green. He could see where the Dark Mechanicum had twisted it, feeding wires into places they did not belong.
From his belt, he drew a set of melta charges. The devices gleamed dull in the dim light. He knelt, finding a weak point at the base of the core, and began strapping the charges in place.
"Four minutes, thirty seconds," he said simply, his deep voice steady.
Tony's head shot up. "Four minutes?! That's, uh that's not a lot of time!"
Calculating how far they were from the Torpedoes.
Naruto's eyes widened. "Wait, wait, you're setting a bomb? Here?!"
Saeko's tone was calm, almost resigned. "He knows the way out. That's all that matters."
Mindy bit her lip. "…and if he's wrong?"
No one answered.
Gaius worked with quiet focus, his armored hands moving with care. When the charges were in place, he shifted a tangle of cables and plating to hide them from view. If the enemy returned, they would not find them in time.
He rose and gestured with a single hand. His warriors moved at once, spreading through the chamber. Heavy doors were sealed shut. Bulkheads slammed into place. The exits were blocked, one by one.
From the far end of the chamber came the sound of banging, metal fists against doors. The enemy had Arrive. Soon, the chamber would be swarming again.
Naruto's voice trembled. "They're already pounding on the doors. Gaius, you don't have much time!"
Tony groaned. "Four minutes? That's cutting it way too close. You're insane."
Since he was with the journey, and back to the boarding Torpedoes were quite far.
Saeko spoke calmly. "If anyone can push through in time, it's him." she doesn't even knows why, she believes at Gaius, but she just can feel he'll win.
Mindy muttered. "…still feels like a time bomb is ticking down near me."
At last, Gaius raised his hand again. The gesture was clear. They would fall back. They would not stop.
No one argued. No one questioned.
The sound of pounding on the doors grew louder, louder, until it was almost deafening. Sparks burst from the hinges. Something outside was cutting through.
Gaius lowered his hand, his voice firm but calm.
"Forward."
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