"It got better," I croaked after I injected myself with a stimulant and immediately felt how the pain dulled and my thoughts became simpler, which affected my mental stability for the better.
"Are you sure?" the space marine assigned by Shai asked me with undisguised suspicion.
— Yes.
In the chaos that ensued, every soldier counted, and even more so an officer, which I was in one way or another. However, at the same time, many did not understand Shay's decision to leave a potentially extremely vulnerable psyker alive. On the other hand, of all the psykers on the bed, I was the one who survived, which made me stand out in the eyes of the captain of the first company. As for the third... I was very lucky that Adam, due to the shock, did not have time to tell anything about the massacre. Or maybe he did not remember much of what happened at all, because he hid under the table and repeated prayers, looking exclusively at the floor like most of our comrades.
Anyway, Shai assigned me a veteran and sent us to restore order on the lower decks at any cost. He was probably afraid to send me to the hangars, because he still considered me a potential threat and therefore it was better to keep me away from the Knight. So I again took on the role of a junior officer. And already on the way to the lower tiers, we were joined by detachments of the Imperial Army, who had managed to recover from the chaos and killed their former friends in a brutal fight not for life, but for death.
And thanks to the stimulant, I really managed to calm my emotions. It also lowered my attentiveness, and strange lethargy and fatigue sometimes rolled over me in waves, but what was happening around me was now perceived a little easier. Well, I locked my soul with all the locks, no longer even thinking about using such a dangerous force in the current conditions.
"Break through the main tunnel, I'll cover you," said the space marine, after which he disappeared into the technical tunnels.
It was much easier for him to work alone than with mere mortals. Besides, it was worth understanding that many of the Crusade's Space Marines were not very used to fighting alongside mere mortals. It wasn't about air and artillery cover, but about fighting side by side, where the slowness and weakness of people really were strongly felt. And bringing worlds to agreement often occurred through a series of pinpoint strikes by the Space Marines, after which sometimes there was not even any work left for the Imperial Army.
Therefore, our task was to force the enemy into battle and thereby create incredible scope for the actions of the space marine.
- Did you hear?! What are you standing behind me for? In two ranks! - I barked, forcing twenty fighters to regroup. - Damn it, I hope more survived in other places...
We had barely advanced twenty meters when the tramp of dozens of feet began to be heard from ahead. Disfigured in the blood of their own friends, relatives and loved ones, the crew members were rushing with crazy faces straight at us. Among them were also extremely vile creatures with pincers and elongated heads, pale skin and extremely creepy grimaces.
- Stop! First rank, sit down! - I roared, already swinging my sword. - FIRE!!!
And twenty lasguns began to strike everyone with beams, turning bodies into charred coals. Flashes of lasers illuminated and the daemonettes, distorted with contempt, quickly left the line of fire, jumping down the bridge, under which were uncovered pipes, wires and other insides of the ship, access to which was open for the sake of convenience of repair. And thanks to their agility and speed, they managed to move extremely quickly there, trying to get out already point-blank to us.
"Get away from the edge!" I barked again. "Second rank, turn to the nearest edge and wait for the enemy to appear! Lasguns at full power!"
The first rank continued to kneel and fire at the cannon fodder, while the second had already dispersed, and as soon as the first daemonette emerged from the left, she immediately received five high-power lasers in the face, instantly turning into a pile of molten and desecrated meat.
- First rank, stand up! Ten steps forward! Second rank, watch the flanks! - I shouted, starting to move forward and regretting that I had lost my revolver.
"You were blind and had two eyes, and now you see nothing at all, walking straight into the darkness," a whisper sounded inside my mind.
And an incredibly sharp pain pierced the empty eye socket, as if a spear had reached even the brain. In surprise, I screamed and looked sideways, forced to use my sword not as a symbol of inspiration and the presence of the aristocracy on the battlefield, but as a support.
- Commander? - the fighter from the first rank immediately noticed this, on whose back I almost fell.
There is nothing more pitiful than an officer who has lost his grip and confidence. With my momentary weakness I could not only lower the morale of the unit, in this situation I could instill fear in them. They would falter, open their souls to the enemy and join the ranks of madmen who did not so much seek to destroy everything as joyfully indulge in the process of brutal slaughter.
- LOOK ONLY FORWARD, SOLDIER!!! - I screamed, covering my left eye with the prosthesis and raising my sword. - TEN MORE STEPS, DESTROY THE ENEMY IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY!!!
Even if the vile enemy struck from behind, it doesn't matter that I had to fight with those with whom the battle was expected last, even my fall into the abyss of madness will not prevent me from giving a worthy fight to the force that in vain considered us easy prey.
- Every second first rank, reload! - I gave the order, realizing that the flow of the maddened crew had weakened and there was an opportunity to breathe. - Fifth and sixth second rank, watch the ceiling!
Even parasites had burst forth from the bowels of the ship. Mutated rats looked down on us from the pipes, giant spiders kept trying to fall right on our heads, every weakness of the ship now took lives. Anyone who had been negligent, whether it was the quartermaster who had taken a bribe and let strange people in with the cargo or the rat-catcher, any mistake had now turned into blood and suffering, revealing the most secret vices of our souls.
- Didn't you order firepower? - a familiar voice suddenly rang out and two tech-priests joined us.
Kiral and Larik brought with them a whole heavy machine gun, as well as a cart with ammunition, which included grenades.
- You're just in time! Soldiers, let the cart go ahead! - I immediately ordered with joy, realizing that it would now be much easier to move forward, after which I turned to the tech-priests. - You're just in time! How are things in the Knights' hangars?
"The Magos has taken up a tight defense and the captain's bridge will be taken sooner than chaos will break through to the Temple of the Machine God," Larik confidently stated, who, although tipsy, had sobered up considerably due to what was happening and was even filled with respect for his Magos.
"For desecrating the ship, they will be burned," Kiral rasped menacingly, moving his manipulator, which held a flamethrower. "Command, sir knight."
And our further advance became unstoppable. Shells fell, shots thundered and the smell of gunpowder hit our nostrils, while laser flashes damaged the ceiling and burned out any infection that had settled there. And everything that somehow survived and hid in the depths of the pipes and wires was mercilessly burned out by Kiral to the laughter of his friend, who instantly reloaded the machine gun.
However, at some point our advance began to encounter a much more organized resistance. While we were dealing with cannon fodder, the enemy was settling into the captured territory. Commanders appeared among the mad cultists, the organization grew, and now armed possessed former soldiers of the Imperial Army began to appear among the madmen.
"Damn, I think I now know where these demons are born," Larik chuckled bitterly, after which he stopped the gunner and began to change the overheated barrel.
"It's obvious even to a Gretchin, friend," Kiral replied harshly, glancing back through his augmented eyes to see if any corpses or piles of remains were moving. "It's all about that damned metal." Moiran didn't throw away his weapon, though he should have, if only for his brother's sake.
- Brother? With brothers like Lev, you don't need enemies!
"Stop talking!" I barked, interrupting the argument, because there is no place for argument in war. "Your job is to follow orders and nothing more!"
The Tech-Priests did not like this attitude, but they immediately shut up. However, these words were reflected in the souls of the soldiers and sowed fear there. If it all began in the storage with the cursed weapons... then surely somewhere thirteen demons armed with such dangerous artifacts were already fighting.
And as if sensing our weakness, the Enemy made his move, moving an extremely dangerous figure to the front. Demonic laughter resounded everywhere and the curtain began to flicker with particular force again. The space around began to plunge into darkness and as soon as I gave the order to shoot the figure that appeared at the end of the corridor, lightning flew from his hand.
There was an immediate explosion and I was thrown face down. Kiral screamed in agony, rolling on the ground and trying to put out the fire. Larik, who had lost his prosthetic arm, tried to help him, while the shell-shocked soldiers looked at the blood and entrails on their own hands. Lightning not only blew up Kiral's cylinder, but also blew apart the machine gun, simultaneously blowing up the heads of several soldiers, including the gunner.
A maddened psyker, one could only guess at his appearance here, perhaps it was one of the crew who hid the anomalies within himself, or one of the Navigator's crew forgot something on the deck, or somehow the heretics sneaked onto the ship. But one way or another, this mortal was one of the first to completely fall under the power of the warp and let the voices into his soul, giving him the ultimate power for his body.
Where was the Space Marine? I didn't know, and he still didn't show up. The psyker was laughing and lightning was already flying randomly in all directions, destroying the corridor. He had completely lost control and became the embodiment of true chaos. Without any purpose, energy was breaking out into the physical world, changing and destroying it.
- Victor? Victor, get up... - a soldier spoke quietly next to me, trying to lift his headless friend to his feet.
I didn't hear the words, because I was still concussed, and I also felt again that someone was looking at me from behind the veil. It seemed that the Dark Prince had played enough and was ready to take my life. Darkness surrounded me and the veil of the warp became denser. Nothing could stop such power, which with every drop of suffering only became stronger.
At that moment, three bloody daemonettes emerged from the nearest entrance to the technical tunnels, one of which was holding the head of a space marine who had fallen into the trap due to his own overconfidence.
"You have an extremely strange soul," whispered a thirsty voice, whose tongues were already licking my soul.
Unable to resist such a will, I lost contact with the physical world and fell into a kind of trance. My eyes now saw only the warp, indescribable expanses of chaos, where energy replaced each other in waves. Most of all, this spectacle resembled a night storm in a raging ocean. There was anger and hatred here like thunderous skies, and mystery and power like in the endless depths.
I was a small flame, around which the tentacle of that entity, which was called the Dark Prince, was already closing. Its inexorable desire to possess everything and everyone saturated every millimeter of the immaterium, and instead of fighting, people, one way or another, only fed this entity, making it even stronger.
"An eye for an eye, Tzeentch," the Dark Prince said with anticipation and enjoyment of the moment, after which he suddenly saw his own reflection in my soul, or to be more precise, in the mark, which, like a crystal mirror, distorted everything beyond recognition, including himself.
The Dark Prince saw himself, not as a great and proud man, but as a pitiful and smirking man. Tzeentch seemed not to be afraid for the death of his pawn, in fact, he was laughing. And as if an arrow had pierced the Dark Prince, a sense of déjà vu made him fall into a stupor. Had he been deceived again? Was it possible? Or was it a bluff?
But the next moment, the Dark Prince turned in rage and saw a ball of light in the distance, growing brighter and brighter. The Navigator was not only still alive, he was beginning to gain incredible strength, intending to bring the ship out of the depths of the warp and into physical reality.
"This can't be!" the Dark Prince cried angrily, thickening the darkness around the ship in rage.
But it was not the Astronomicon that gave power to the Navigator, who had long since lost all hope of seeing the light of Terra. And so the Dark Prince's attempts were unsuccessful. The power of the ball of light grew and the Navigator drew more and more from somewhere, forcing his soul to burn incredibly brightly, eclipsing even the stars and serving the ship and its crew for the last time.
And then the Dark Prince saw a beam, thin as a needle, but incredibly dense. And even having brought down all his power, in horror the Dark Prince found that the beam resisted.
"Who are you?!" the Dark Prince roared in anger, not understanding who dared to resist his will and give battle.
The Emperor was far away from here, the Red Cyclops that Mask had told about was also not somewhere on the other side of the galaxy. Could it be that the surviving Eldar god had decided to interfere with the plans, at the cost of his own life? Slaanesh was prepared for all options, but not for the seemingly most obvious one. Only now did the young god of chaos realize that he had greatly underestimated the people.
And at that moment the beam began to expand, cutting through the dense storm of the warp. The beam gave strength to the navigator and showed him the direction, but that was not the end of the surprises for Slaanesh. After all, along with the beam, one by one, the souls of people began to burn, all of them opening up and subconsciously seeing hope. Everyone, to a man, seemed to feel something indescribable, and only the psi-sensitive could understand the nature of what was happening.
My vision cleared and right in front of me I seemed to see a majestic ghost, glaring menacingly at anyone who dared to look at it. There was a bit of condemnation and incredible determination in its steely gaze. Even one eye contact was enough to get me to my feet. However, most did even more, because the ghost influenced the soul of every resisting crew member.
"As long as a man does not surrender, he is stronger than his fate," the words swept across the ship, interrupting the chorus of demonic voices. "You are the defenders of Humanity and only you can stop the Archenemy! Fight for your comrades, die for what you believe in! Prove that you are not another victim, but an executioner who has come to pass judgment!"
And at that very moment, the siren roared and in screaming agony, the Fortuna broke free from the clutches of the warp, emerging in an unknown system. The navigator's soul instantly exploded, showering everyone with a mental blow, but even such a shock could not paralyze me.
Quickly reaching the psyker before he came to, I slit his throat and looked around the battlefield. Piles of corpses surrounded me, the tech-priests had disappeared somewhere, and there were five soldiers left, plus two wounded. But after the words of Primarch Moiran, it was time for the Dark Prince to doubt, not me. The ship emerged from the warp, the power of chaos was rapidly fading, and tightly clutching the hilt of the bloody blade, I thundered in a deep voice:
— FORM YOUR LINE, SOLDIERS, THE RIGHT TO DIE MUST BE EARNED!!! FIX YOUR BAYONS!!! TIME TO SHOW THE ENEMY THE WRATH OF HUMANITY!!!
And without further ado, ignoring their wounds and fatigue, the soldiers, who fully shared my impulse, returned to the ranks, fulfilling the order. If we were destined to fall today, it would only be taking a hundred or two of the enemy with us.
More chapters on my P@treon: https://patreon.com/OOOTEN