Warhammer 40,000: Stavrakis- The Hunt For Valakt

Pursuit

To my credit, it didn't take me long to figure it out.

"The bastard used a body double!" I seethed. Everything was going well until now. Unless he only... no. Damn it all!

"Emperor damn his bones!" I spat.

Kalanaar came into focus then. It was thanks to him that I was able to outmanoeuvre Valakt. At least until the very end.

"Come on." I grumbled "we should see what's down that hatch." I made my rifle safe again, and slung it over my back. I did remember to check on Gro'Kna.

"What did he do to you friend?" I looked at his wrists. They looked scarred and painful.

"It is nothing." He warbled back at me "While I think I may lose long term functionality without treatment, they are usable."

I remembered my first foray with Gro'Kna. My master was still alive, and had bought Gro'Kna and his entire clan. The Dark Eldar were vicious, and a Khlaive had almost spilt Gro'Kna's intestines onto the floor. He had maintained that he was fine until we had finished them all off. I wasn't surprised when he passed out at the end of it.

"If you say so..." Either way, I wasn't convinced. Neither was Lex, who had also served in battle with Gro'Kna.

Kalanaar was indifferent. We picked up our respective pieces and slowly trudged to the hole. Insect corpses littered the entrance. Only Senver was enthusiastic enough to suggest jumping down.

"Oh no. Emperor help us no." Aurora objected.

"We do this the safe way, Senver." I told him. "I don't need this fall being 100 feet to our deaths."

"Well." Kalanaar muttered, peering out over the edge. "I can see its safe enough to jump about 15 feet." I followed his gaze. A service ladder started from about 15 feet down. Why only 15 feet down? Any security must've been wiped out when Valakt destroyed it. I rummaged in one of my pouches and produced a small, silvery minted Imperial coin. As an experiment, I tossed it down the hatch. It was immediately tracked by a handful of target finders, but no violent death ensued.

"Fried by Valakt's attack?" Lex suggested. I looked at her and nodded.

"I'll be leading by example. If we get this wrong, it's a terrible example and I expect the lot of you to not follow it." I received a few sniggers as I took a small leap. At once my vision was filled with Short ranged target finders. acquisition lasers and more automated weaponry than I cared to look at. Merciful Emperor, but had they been active, I would be a fine mist by now. What was this place?

We landed in what looked to be a central corridor of some sorts, a common prefabricated structure with regular blocky support structures hugging the walls. It took as a quarter of an hour. I landed, ripped my Rapier out and grabbed for my laspistol. Nothing stirred, not even the air. Dust was thick in the air. Kalanaar came next, then Lex and Aurora, and Senver and Gro'Kna carrying Lorax. Lorax's eyes were at least open now. I only hope he became more active before we encounter anything. Otherwise, i'll be happy for 'in the nick of time'. As corridors go, it didn't have that feeling of lurking danger around every corner. That didn't stop us from walking around with our weapons out. It was abandoned in every sense of the word. I surmise they left when they first detected the Shadow in the Warp, and didn't bother looking back. At first it put me in the mind of an Administratum Bunker. We past small offices, clusters of cubicles with brown flakboard dividers and vaults full of cogitator stacks and paper trails. My eyes popped out as we cut our way through a reinforced adamantite sealed door.

"Emperor preserve me." I whispered. Senver and Lex both let out an audible gasp. Kalanaar grunted in recognition.

"A data loom. Its huge." Lex said in awe.