180 day .Year 988 .M41st millennium
Hive Kathion
Upper Hive
Another ordinary morning in the Upper Hive. It was the hour when every civilian residing in the Lower Hive awoke to perform their daily routines and grueling duties. It was like a massive machine being powered on, with each human acting as an essential cog or component to keep it running.
Eric woke up feeling incredibly refreshed and rested. He yawned, stretching his body to loosen his muscles on the soft mattress. Recalling what had happened yesterday made him feel even better.
Taking a bath with someone else actually felt pretty good... maybe I should find excuses to do this more often, Eric thought to himself. Yesterday, not only did he get to comfort his friend, but they also bathed together. Although he got to enjoy something that made him happy and strengthened his bond with Livia, he still felt a pang of regret over that bottle of wine... But she would probably buy him a replacement eventually.
Eric got out of bed and disappeared into the washroom to handle his usual morning routine. Shortly after, he stepped out, using a thick towel to dry himself completely.
He then put on his neat, characteristic work clothes before doing a final check of his appearance in the mirror to ensure he looked presentable.
Once everything was sorted, Eric grabbed some bread and canned meat from the cupboard. He turned on the electric oven, applying a drop of sacred oil to the machine and silently whispering a prayer to the Machine Spirit—just as any layperson influenced by the Adeptus Mechanicus would do—before activating it. When the machine hummed to life, he tossed the canned meat inside and waited for time to do its job.
In the meantime, he brewed a cup of Tanna tea to kill time. Eric hummed a soft tune as he enjoyed the aroma and taste. Tanna had a complex profile, balancing a distinct fragrance with a deep bitterness. Most people despised it, but he liked it. He just wished he had some sugar or creamer to make it perfect.
Soon, the savory aroma of the baked bread and heated meat wafted from the oven, signaling it was ready. Eric sat down to a comfortable breakfast, quietly enjoying the simple comforts he had.
Today was supposed to be just another normal day where Eric worked as an accounting clerk... doing ordinary paperwork rather than enduring combat training or etiquette drills. He knew exactly what happened in the manufactorums when an employee missed too much work: they were swiftly replaced. Department heads and overseers cared nothing for their workers or their welfare. They only cared about profit margins and hitting quotas for machine parts.
However, he figured his prolonged absence might be less of an issue than he thought. Vann had probably sorted everything out behind the scenes, just as he promised. Otherwise, missing two straight weeks of work would have definitely gotten him fired.
And even if he wasn't fired, his coworkers might start getting suspicious. At best, it would be normal curiosity. At worst, they might suspect he had powerful connections or was sleeping with a supervisor to keep his job.
Suddenly, his quiet breakfast was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
Four heavy, consecutive knocks echoed through the room. Eric immediately went on high alert. He wondered who could be at his door, considering he hadn't told anyone except Livia where his quarters were. He tried to keep his paranoia in check, reassuring himself it might just be a courier or a local enforcer... hopefully.
Eric put down his spoon and got up to open the door. When he pulled it open, he was met with a face he had become quite familiar with recently. Colonel Drago, clad in his heavy trench coat, stood in the hallway with a grim, severe expression.
Eric let out a quiet sigh of relief; at least it wasn't a stranger. But immediately after, a strange sense of suspicion and paranoia crept in. Colonel Drago never came directly to his room unless he needed him for something specific.
"Follow me. I have something for you to do today," Colonel Drago ordered. His voice was short, crisp, and so dead-serious that Eric didn't dare ask any follow-up questions.
"Yes, sir," Eric replied reluctantly. He knew there was no way he could avoid or refuse the order.
Still, looking back at his half-finished breakfast on the table, Eric quickly darted back inside to stuff the rest of the food into his mouth, finishing it off by downing his entire cup of Tanna in one gulp. Colonel Drago watched this display with a look of mild surprise.
Once he was done, Eric locked his door, double-checked to ensure it was secure, and then half-walked, half-jogged to catch up with the Colonel.
As they walked, he glanced at Drago, his mind filled with a mix of paranoia and anxiety. Even though the Colonel didn't seem particularly devious or cold—and was definitely more trustworthy than Vann—Eric knew that in this grim future, trusting anyone too much could easily get you killed.
I hope he's not going to make me do anything weird, Eric thought. Usually, whenever he met with Drago, he was ordered to do something exhausting—whether it was combat training, or dressing up and practicing etiquette to infiltrate the Hive Spire's noble society. He was definitely going to be subjected to some kind of training again today.
And I hope the training won't be too awful, Eric hoped internally.
It didn't take long for him to match the Colonel's pace, though it required him to take much longer and faster strides than usual. Eric grumbled a bit internally; keeping up with a tall, imposing man without breaking a sweat was not an easy task for his current frame.
Soon, the two arrived at the largest train station Eric had ever seen. The surrounding area was packed with massive cargo containers and laborers working tirelessly. Gigantic loading machineries were in constant motion, making the area look like an automated industrial factory that never slept. Eric knew how massive the standard passenger mag-lev trains in the Hive City were, but the beast in front of him dwarfed them entirely.
Before him stood an immense mag-lev train, its design filled with the usual contradictions typical of the Imperium of Man. It was blocky, brutalist, and possessed an ancient aesthetic. The exterior was studded with massive rivets, reminiscent of a World War-era battleship. Its black hull was caked in thick layers of oil and grime from years—or perhaps centuries—of use. Yet, paradoxically, its propulsion system was a highly advanced, massive magnetic levitation array.
He felt a strange sense of unease seeing that it didn't look like a standard passenger train. Its design clearly wasn't meant for transporting people; it looked purely like a heavy industrial cargo hauler.
While Eric stood taking in the environment with a mix of awe and apprehension, Colonel Drago stepped aside to converse with a group of burly men who appeared to be the station overseers. After reaching an agreement, Drago led Eric onto the train alongside several workers who were loading crates and cargo containers. Eric followed obediently, even though his mind was racing with unanswered questions. What was he supposed to do today? Where were they going? He had no idea what his objective was or what he needed to prepare for.
Eventually, they settled inside one of the massive cargo cars. Eric and Drago now sat across from each other, each leaning back against a large metal crate. The darkness, the unexpectedly loud mechanical noise of the mag-lev, and his own mounting paranoia made Eric sit up straight and finally ask the Colonel what was going on.
"Colonel... what is the destination of this train?" Eric asked softly. His calm outward demeanor hid a storm of anxiety, uncertainty, and suspicion.
Colonel Drago, who was inspecting some device in his hand, glanced up briefly before answering casually.
"This mag-lev is headed to Hive Orion, the nearest Hive City. It's about two thousand kilometers away from Hive Kathion. We should arrive in about four hours," Drago replied in a deep, nonchalant tone.
Eric nodded to acknowledge the information, forcing himself not to press further. He feared the Colonel might ignore him, think he was asking too many questions, or worse. At least he had a partial answer.
But it was still incredibly suspicious. Something major must be happening if Colonel Drago was personally escorting him across two thousand kilometers to an entirely different Hive City. It probably meant this job was far more dangerous.
Could this be my first actual mission? Eric thought worriedly. He tried to push the thought away, afraid that merely thinking it might make it come true. He forced himself to look on the bright side. Maybe he was just being taken there for a field study or to learn about the local culture... hopefully.
Several hours later
"Wake up. The train has reached the station."
Colonel Drago's voice rang out, accompanied by a heavy hand gently shaking his shoulder. Eric slowly opened his eyes, feeling groggy. He had originally assumed the journey would take three or four days, so he had taken the opportunity to nap. He hadn't expected to be woken up so abruptly.
Why wake me up now of all times? Eric grumbled internally. He had just been dreaming about playing video games on a computer, listening to music, and doing all the normal things people used to do. To be interrupted at the best part was frustrating. The dream had been wonderful, giving him a fleeting taste of the peaceful life he used to have before waking up in a woman's body in this dark millennium.
"Mmm... I'm awake, Colonel," Eric replied, using his arms to push himself up before rubbing his eyes.
"Follow me, and do not let me out of your sight under any circumstances," Drago said in a dead-serious tone. Eric nodded slightly and let out another yawn. He was definitely still half-asleep.
Eric followed Colonel Drago through the maze of crates and containers stacked within the train car. Trying his best to keep up, he knew that falling behind meant getting hopelessly lost in this labyrinth.
Stepping off the train, Eric immediately noticed that this station was exceptionally busy. Laborers, servitors, and various machinery were moving rapidly to unload the cargo... but the atmosphere felt distinctly chaotic.
And that chaos was the least of his worries once he realized exactly what kind of place he had stepped into.
Eric knew instantly where he was. Looking at the towering walls above the station and the surrounding structures, he saw bare metal caked in layers of oil and dust that had never seen a cleaning rag. For an ordinary person, that might not be overly concerning.
But the thick stench of sweat, mold, suffocating industrial smog, and pungent chemicals hanging in the air confirmed his worst fears: he was in the Lower Hive of Hive Orion.
Instinctively remembering his days of living in paranoid hiding back in the Lower Hive of Kathion, Eric buttoned his coat up tight and, out of pure muscle memory, his hand drifted to where his pistol used to be. The memories flooded back: hiding in a dilapidated room, breaking his back in a munitions manufactorum just to earn enough scrip for water, power, and basic rations. Not to mention the daily gang wars, the psychopaths, the underhive scum constantly trying to harass him, and worse—the mutants. To him, the Lower Hive was the absolute last place he ever wanted to set foot in again.
It's exactly the same, Eric muttered in his mind, glancing around with intense paranoia. He knew better than anyone that carelessness in a place like this drastically increased your chances of dying. No one here could be trusted. Seeing some of the workers eyeing him with... less-than-polite gazes made him highly uncomfortable. He was certain that if Colonel Drago wasn't standing right next to him, he would have already been harassed or mugged.
The situation quickly grew more tense when Colonel Drago led him over to a group of tough-looking men wearing station overseer uniforms. A heated negotiation began.
"I will pay you 3,000 Calfs to temporarily requisition a vehicle. I need transport right now," Colonel Drago stated formally. He reached into his coat, pulled out a stack of currency, and pointed toward an old, rusted truck that looked heavily patched with scrap metal and had clearly seen decades of abuse.
Eric thought the price was incredibly low—3,000 Calfs could barely buy him a single bottle of cheap wine back home. But then again, the economic disparity between the Upper and Lower Hive was staggering.
"I want more. I know you're an uptiver, and you definitely have more on you than just this. Don't be stingy. I need an additional fee for my time and inconvenience," the station boss demanded, seizing the opportunity to extort them. Eric clearly saw the greedy, predatory smile and the glint in the man's eyes. It made him feel mildly disgusted, especially when the station boss's leering gaze briefly shifted toward him.
"This is all I am offering... Do not push your greed," Colonel Drago said, his voice cold and uncompromising. "Don't play games with me. Station overseers like you make 500 Calfs a month at most. Take my offer, and nothing bad happens. Only a fool would refuse."
The station boss and his cronies exchanged hesitant glances. They knew uptivers were usually arrogant nobles who liked to exploit others, but they were also usually much better armed.
But it seemed greed won over fear.
"Why should I accept your offer when we can just kill you and take all your wealth for ourselves? Including the pretty little thing standing next to you," the station boss sneered, flashing an untrustworthy, malicious smile. Eric tensed up immediately, realizing a fight was about to break out and he was practically unarmed, save for his bare hands.
"I truly despise people like you," Colonel Drago muttered, shaking his head slightly.
The five station thugs, along with their boss, drew concealed weapons from their coats. Some had crude combat knives; others wielded rusty axes. The station boss aggressively waved a stub pistol around, acting as if he had already won. He looked up at the Colonel, who was a full head taller than him, with an arrogant challenge.
"Why so quiet? Where did all that arrogance go? Are all you uptive nobles this pathetic and cowardly?--"
But before the station boss could finish his sentence, Colonel Drago smoothly drew a compact combat axe from his trench coat. With the terrifying speed and brute force only a seasoned, 190-cm-tall veteran could muster, the axe blade cleaved through the station boss's skull with lethal efficiency.
In a seamless motion, the Colonel's other hand drew his own stub pistol, aiming at the remaining four thugs before squeezing the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four consecutive shots rang out, and the lifeless bodies of the station thugs dropped to the floor. The other laborers nearby continued their work, completely ignoring the gunfire and the sudden slaughter, as if this was just another everyday occurrence. Eric hadn't even had time to react before the enemies were all dead. He was starting to realize the Colonel was far more terrifying than he had initially thought.
"You there... take this money and fetch the transport," the Colonel called out to a nearby worker who seemed to be a transport attendant. Drago casually pulled out a handkerchief, wiped the blood from his axe blade, and tucked the weapon back into his coat. The terrified worker rushed over, meekly taking the money.
"T-thank you so much, milord... please, enjoy the vehicle," the man stammered, his voice trembling as he took the cash and quickly vanished into the crowd. Shortly after, a few more gunshots echoed in the distance.
With the immediate threat resolved, Eric let out a quiet sigh of relief. However, they were still far from safe. He knew he was practically defenseless. In the Lower Hive, if someone wasn't a malnourished worker, they were a hulking, pain-resistant ganger. Eric's close-quarters combat style relied on agility, speed, and striking weak points—tactics that were borderline useless against massive brutes. Right now, what he really needed was a pistol, or any firearm that wasn't too heavy.
"Get in! Stop standing there spacing out, Erica!" Colonel Drago, who was already sitting behind the steering wheel of the rusty transport, called out to Eric, who was still lost in thought.
"Sorry, Colonel!" Eric jumped, replying nervously. He quickly ran to the transport and climbed in, despite his lingering paranoia. He slammed the door shut and tried to sit as far away from the window as possible, knowing full well it was the most vulnerable spot for an ambush.
A moment later, the decrepit transport—which looked like it could fall apart at any second—roared to life. It peeled out of the train station, driving straight into the dark depths of Hive Orion's Lower Hive.
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Author's Note: Eric is incredibly unlucky to keep getting bosses/supervisors like Vann who hate giving out mission details. And calfs are the standard currency used by the people on the planet Opel III, but their value may vary slightly from place to place.