In Darkness...(A Space Hulk Story)

Hello everyone, thanks for taking the time to have a look at my short story based on the Space Hulk Game. Before we get into it I would like to take a few paragraphs and go through my writing process, if this is something you are not interested in please skip down to the next image for my story.

Each person has their own approach to writing and I have always found that side of it as interesting as the stories themselves. I will state I have no special qualifications or higher education when it comes to writing, unlike dracs who is a professional with published works and who puts a huge amount of time into writing daily.

First off we were set parameters by the Space Hulk Tactics Project itself. This is great as it has essentially set boundaries for me to keep my story within. Soooo, 40k has a huge history some of which has also evolved and changed as the years have gone by. The first thing I did was brush up on some lore. I know I wanted to have Terminators and Genestealers so I got stuck into Google to refresh myself with where they are at these days. This is always useful as the person reading what you have written will often be fans of the genre and see holes in your work very quickly.

At this point, I then spent quite a few days thinking about my story and what I wanted it to be. I thought about how many parts I wanted the story to be broken down into. For me, these would normally include, introduction, beginning, middle, end, and epilogue. I don’t believe every story necessarily needs all of these but it is good to have a mental layout of what you want before you start. For this story I settled on four, skipping the introduction as most people reading this story will already have a good understanding of my characters and the environment it is set in.

I then needed to think about my point of view, first person, third person, shifting characters, the narrator, godlike. I am sure there is a more official way of listing these and they are likely to have better names but as I said above I am no expert. I settled on using the first person and shifting characters point of view.

Finally for me and probably the biggest one before I start, what’s the hook and will there be a twist?

The rest of story writing for me is allowing myself a fair while to digest, come up with ideas and discard or keep them on merit. I have always hated it when I have finished writing something only to think of a better vehicle for my story or a much better hook or twist a few days later.

One more thing I do after my story is written, I do try and proofread it, normally multiple times over a few days so you may see this story change slightly and mistakes corrected as I keep coming back to it. I have found a good way of doing this is to read it out loud. I make an effort not to rush through it but to treat it as if I was reading a bedtime story, adding tone, volume, and emphasis to bring the words to life. This often highlights my mistakes in not only my writing but in how each part of my story has been formed. It rarely catches everything but it catches a lot.

That’s it so after finding out this morning on the Weekender that today is pretty much the final day I best sit down and get this short story from my head and onto the computer. Now where did a leave that mind jack plug…

Awakening

Awareness…….senses slowly returning, eyes opening to a darkness only achieved by the complete absence of light. A tilt of the head, a flicker of eyelids, no change.

A consciousness of breath, the intake, and exhalation of air. These things all seemed normal and yet strangely different. The sense of something enclosed, of being encapsulated.

Curling the fingers of hands that felt clumsy and strange. The sharp assault of sound as finger ends came into contact with something metal. A screeching quickly gives way to the tearing of metal and a small shaft of light.

The sound cuts through the fog of my mind bringing with it a clarity of thought, of being trapped inside something. Aggression spikes my adrenaline and with a flurry of movement and tearing I am free and falling forward onto all fours.

My mouth opens and new sensations assault me as my eyes quickly adapt to the dim light of the room. The air tastes stale with dust, metal, and rust. Nothing has been here for a long time or so it seems. The room is small and bare, pipes and a single door make up its edges. A metal cylinder now tore open and dripping liquids the only other thing of note.

The snapping sound of metal slats opening causes yet another adrenaline spike. On instinct my jaw opens wide teeth bared, my head whips round to identify the source. My hands splay open and talons extend out. A part of the wall blinks with a light, small eddies of concentric circles in my vision resonate from the location of the sound before fading and disappearing as it dies away. The air begins to move in the room and more eddies of concentric circles show another sound source as a fan behind the slatted grill spins to life.

A collection of bangs from the door causes another reaction and with no thought to how I race back up the wall into the roofs darkest corner. The claws of both my hands and feet easily find purchase slicing into the metal surfaces gouging and tearing. I hold my breath my sole focus upon the door. Slowly the centre handle of it begins to turn, it creaks with the sound of age before it gives a final clunk and stops. The door swings wide. More light, this time much stronger spills into the room and without thinking I taste the air for threat. I find none but stay where I am, waiting for the unknown, trying to make myself invisible, unsure what to do next.

Time slowly passes, again I assess my surroundings and find no threat. Looking down at my right arm I see the claws of my hand have slid deeper into the metal walls around me. I do not tremble with effort and find supporting myself in this position easy, almost comfortable. With the stronger light, I see that my body is speckled and has it begun to change its colouring to match the walls and ceiling against which I am pressed. I feel my body temperature changing too.

A quiet sound sends more small eddies across my vision but it is something I am used to now and this time my instinct tells me not to snap my attention to it but to slowly turn towards its source. A smokelike blur catches my attention coming from the fan. My mouth clamps shut as something begins to burn in the back of my throat and my brain registers it as toxic and dangerous. My body reacts quickly as the breathing holes in my arm, legs and head squelch shut. Dropping from the corner and knowing I can stay here no longer I cautiously move towards the door. My eyes adjust to the light and I look up and down the corridor. At one end I see the corridor stretch out into the distance, to the other darkness envelopes all a short distance away. Swiftly I make my choice and head into the darkness.

…impressive, it seems to become self-aware very quickly. It’s claws seem different from the others we have seen. It’s fast too, we are reviewing the reaction times now. Also, it’s threat assessment has developed far sooner than I expected. The way it instinctively changed from aggression to subterfuge and did you see the speckling, it’s colouring beginning to match the surroundings in the shadows, such a lovely touch…

Encounter

The sound came from far away, something moving through the corridors ahead, its echo so faint the eddies were barely visible.  The taste of the air had changed too, the staleness was now interspersed with something else not from this place. The corridors scent had begun to change too before they gave off scents of rust, stale water, and fungal mould, now these had begun to fade, the lighting was brighter and it’s colour had changed.

More sound this time much closer, something new was born inside. A need to move forward, a need to make contact, to see whatever this new thing was. On instinct, I subtly shifted my stance and another new thing was learned. A single pace yielded almost no sound, gone was the click of claw and the rub of my foot’s pad. A few more paces and a glance back showed the change even more. No longer was the corridor’s floor marked with sharp fresh scratches and the visible twist of a foot’s passing, now only the barest sign was being left. I picked up my pace wary of the trail I would leave but looking back the sign was barely visible and the sound but a whisper quickly lost in the corridors length. With building confidence I began moving more swiftly leaving almost no sign towards the approaching sound.

The corridors and turns began to blur past as my speed increased, the need to find the source of the sound driving me on. My movement became less about thought and more about instinct as corridor walls and ceilings became floors. I began to flow through the environment, with my mouth open I began to sense when I was coming to the end of a corridor, to know if the next space was larger or smaller. I could taste new things on the air, a new mixture of metal, oils and burnt atmosphere.

Suddenly a new eddy of sounds assaulted me, a whoosh and brightness up ahead. Slowing before the next junction of the corridor, I moved up into the ceilings pipework. A steady thumping growing in volume told me I had found the source of the sound and it was close.

The thing moved forward on two legs, the strong smell of metal, oil, meat and burnt materials itched in the back of my throat. It moved with a stiffness and carried a thing that positively glowed with heat, even more so at its end from what must have been a recent discharge. Adrenaline coursed through my form, the claws of my hands once again extending. I held still as the thing came to the end of the corridor I had been about to enter.

It stopped.

Slowly it turned around taking it’s time and looking down each route before it. My body tensed as every instinct screamed at me to strike but I didn’t, I held myself still watching, waiting. My body now the colour of the walls and ceilings around me and the pipes behind which I had lodged myself meant the thing shouldn’t be able to see me. Its smooth eyes reflecting light changed colour as it looked up and down the corridors junction. Turning back those eyes swept over the route I had just taken, taking in the walls and ceiling where I hid. Passing over me they continued on and with a whirring sound the thing turned and headed back the way it had just come. Eddies of a different colour emanated from its head for a brief moment as it thumped away the weapon in its hands tracking before it.

Carefully I came down from the space I had hidden in, something new entered my mind. A familiarity with the thing I had just encountered, a recognition that I had seen something like it before even though that was impossible. I had no memories of anything before waking up in that room. With a shake I re-focused, whatever it was it was dangerous, a primordial warning wanted me to kill when I had the chance but I had fought that instinct and now I would follow it and see where it took me. Eddies of sound still pulsed in my vision from the direction it had taken, tracking it would be easy, a new sensation arose from deep inside, a need to know more a need to…curiosity. Sensations were now changing to words and labels. Instincts were beginning to be replaced with thoughts and actions as my mind began to take form. One thing was for certain though,  I had just encountered my enemy.

…oh my, well that was unexpected. This is definitely something new, where’s the data? 

I have it here Lord.

How interesting, it seems to have fought its initial instincts to attack and was able to elude the threat. 

There’s more Lord, look here. It even managed to not be seen by the thermal scan. Somehow it has reduced its body temperature to match the surroundings. It seems the speckling wasn’t just a visual camouflage.

I clearly underestimated this specimen and now it is even tracking the threat as well. I wonder what’s going on inside that pretty bulbous head of it’s…

Assault

The maze of corridors seemed no problem to the thing ahead as it retraced its steps. The scuffing of dirt and floor plates showing it had passed this way before. The corridors had begun to widen and become interspersed with larger and larger room size areas. Every so often the thing would stop and let loose another ball of light, the heat wash pinking my vision.

More sounds interspersed the things steady tread now. Snarls and the wet thud of something heavy hitting the ground, rapid popping and that same screech of claw on metal that had come from my initial escape. The thing ahead picked up its pace as if in response to these new sounds. Something warned me not to follow directly so I transitioned up the wall and tore into a large ventilation cover, sensing the tunnel that lay behind it. Space was cramped but it ran in the direction I wanted and the sound eddies showed it to lead to the source of what was ahead. As a caution, I retracted my claws to better manage my own sound and carefully made my way towards the raging noise.

Bursts of light greeted me as I closed on the tunnel’s end. A new pressure coalesced inside my head. Looking out I could see more of the things like the one I had come so close to being discovered by. I could also see creatures similar to me assaulting them. Tooth and claw met fire and blade before my eyes. New sacs puffed into life on either side of my neck sending huge dumps of adrenaline into my system, the urge to pounce forward and tear into the metal bound figures was almost overwhelming. I felt a kinship with the creatures below, I could sense their aggression, their desire to strike and kill, their pain as they fell to their enemies weapons. Peppered by fire, balls of light and cracking blades and hammers of death, my brethren fought and flowed at the five metal bound figures. Many of my brethren had fallen, their steaming remains littering the floor as others poured from the walls and connecting corridors.

As I looked on a small group broke away to the enemies blind side racing up the wall and across part of the roof, the large piping hiding them from their enemies line of sight. In my mind, something again tried to intrude, to force me to join the fight, to rend and kill. It wasn’t my thoughts that prompted this or even my instincts so I shrugged it off and looked closely at the foe. A sense of purpose, a hidden voice so to speak began to cry out to me, a driving force from an unknown source. The creatures below were following instructions from something else, something they were unable to ignore. The move to blindside the metal bound figures was almost complete and the creatures at their front being cut down pressed their attack. Punctured through its body one of the dying creatures closed enough to strike, an enemy figure moved to intercept. The creature’s claws scored deeply into its shield but the metal bound figure struck back. A crackling blow from a long-handled hammer in its other hand pulped the creature into the ground.  Again colour flared to life in my vision from the heads of the enemy as the one at the rear took a moment to look down at something in its hand. Seemingly in response, another turned and without pause brought its weapon to bear on the creatures not even in sight yet who had thought to catch them unawares.

A hum began, another new noise as the weapon in its hands began to click and spin. Points of light flashed out to chew into the area as the creatures emerged to strike, some began to fall as they were hit and blood rained down from above. A ball of heat and light licked out into the group as another weapon was brought to bear. More memories were triggered as the slaughter continued. On the front, with some of the enemy engaging elsewhere the creatures scrambled to close the final distance but were intercepted by metal bound enemies with weapons that crackled with energy and light. The burnt ozone from their attacks a distinct taste in the air.

Forcing myself to calm I watched and learned of my enemy at the cost of my brethren’s lives. Each death felt by that part of my mind that was somehow in tune with theirs. I looked at each enemy, their weapons, their range, and speed. Time and again I saw the one at the rear look to his right hand and the thing he held there before directing those around him to strike at hidden foes. I realized they were communicating and that the colour shift around their heads was my vision showing me that communication. As the final few of my brethren were cut down I saw the enemy gather themselves and push into the corridors killing all those that remained. I knew then these things were hunting us and that I would have to face them and soon.

…hmmm, it didn’t join the fight. I wonder why? It should have…the signal sent was on the same power level as one of their Patriarchs. I am surprised it shrugged off the imperative so easily. Are the rest dead?

Yes, Lord, the brood has been exterminated.

Ah well, plenty more where they came from. It looks like it is still monitoring them. It’s moving after them, get me a better angle. Good, now close in. Beautiful…look at it. Talons are fully extended, look at how it moves, switch to thermal. Haha, its body temperature is regulating to match its surroundings, very good, very good indeed. What’s that at its neck, bring that back up. Oh my, are those additional adrenal glands or poison sacs it’s difficult to make out. Bring me up another angle, wait there, why is it crouched on all fours like that?

Quickly pan back. What’s it doing, it seems ready to pounce?

Where’d it go? Use the imagers motion tracker!

There, there it is, it’s moving across the chamber, look at the speed of that thing. The imagers tracker can barely keep up with it. Where’s it heading?

Directly after them my Lord.

I get the feeling that this is going to be good…

Confrontation

The decision had been made, the corridors would be the best place to engage the metal bound figures especially as the final one to enter had been the one with that device. The sound of footfalls made their route easy to identify, the hard punch of adrenaline from the inflated neck sacs made everything seem to move in slow motion. Each step increased my speed as I loosened the grip on my instincts just a little. My footsteps were no longer silent as my claws gouged the floor for purchase. Light up ahead reflected off the white metal plate of my enemies back. Mouth open I tasted the air before me, the strong scent of my brethren’s blood upon their metal skin pushing me to new limits.

My vision sharpened, sounds and colours showed everything before me, my body revealed other things now as the lust for combat instinctively prepared my body for the fight to come. Claws now fully extended for the first time secreted a gel-like substance, glands within my mouth opened as new muscles spasmed and made themselves known. My vision changed as a second pair of eyelids opened. My point of focus remained the same, but my sight now extended out over both my shoulders as my brain easily adapted to this change of perspective.

The enemy to my front glanced down to his right hand, a small concentric eddy in my vision showing the thing had made a sound. A stride, another and another before the arm moved, another stride and another before its head changed colour, another stride, another and another before the colour at its head started to fade. Movement as its body began to turn to bring its short two holed weapon hand round first. Without reducing pace or changing stride I automatically adjusted my line of attack away from the weapon, my claws digging and tearing at the surfaces of the corridor wall as it again became my floor.

Other enemies came into focus now, behind my target. The next rearmost had begun to turn as well, a crackling blade in one hand and another weapon like the firsts in its other. The rest not turning strode on towards the end of the corridor before them. The distance continued to close, the movement of the weapons being brought to bear seemed slow and clumsy. The rearmost enemy had begun to kneel as its weapon barked into life. The first shots disappeared down the corridor beside me passing only a short distance away. I prepared to pounce. Another small eddy of sound widened my focus as the second enemy just behind the first began to level his weapon arm, the two holes almost level with me. Even with my speed, they had not been caught totally unawares as I had thought. By kneeling the first had made room for the second and drawn my attention as the second had less distance to turn it had needed less time to bring its weapon to bear. Even though the first hadn’t yet managed to bring its weapon around far enough to threaten me its first shots had pushed me into the others line of attack further reducing the time needed.

With a snarl and explosion of strength, I pushed off the wall with my feet, my left arm bent and locked at the elbow as a thin molecular blade of bone slid from another sheath out of my upper arm. Airborne now and closing faster than the two weapons could be brought to bear I lowered my right arm claws in line with the second enemies head.

My left blade passed clean through the kneeling enemies neck and torso. The metal hide parting easily before my attack, my momentum carried me past the now falling body to the next enemy. The strike on the first had made my body twist slightly and I missed my mark as my claws dug into the heavily armoured chest. Curling my fingers in I ripped deep hooking myself and causing my claws to drag up below its chin. The thing was much heavier than me and so as my claws worked their way up I used it to anchor and change my momentum. I felt my muscles strain for the first time as I changed my direction and swung my feet up into the low ceiling. My legs bending, cushioning the impact as my clawed feet dug deep. At the same time, the tear of metal echoed off the walls as my enemies faceplate came away, my claws ripping deep into its flesh. Eddies of sound spiked in my vision as it roared in pain. Without a moment’s hesitation, my jaw opened wide above its remaining good eye and I spat a huge globule of mucus from the glands within my mouth. The roar of my enemy ended abruptly as its face dissolved and it fell to the ground with my mucus quickly eating through its flesh and bone. My expanded vision picked up movement as the fallen enemy I had first struck tried to bring its weapon to bear. With another burst of speed, I raced down the wall slicing into its head and ending its life.

A ball of light and heat formed in my peripheral and I scrambled behind the two fallen bodies rolling one up to shield me as the shot flashed past where I had stood but a moment before. The heat trace still visible in the air showed the origin of the shot to be the doorway to the next room. A smoky heat was discharging from a weapon and the enemy that had been my first contact with these things moved aside to make way for something just beginning to hum. Knowing what was to come and the little time I had, I raced back down the corridor to the last side door. The hum growing in volume was now joined by a mechanical click warning me the weapon was almost ready to fire. Urgency added to my speed and strength as the sacs at my neck again flooded my system. The door came apart under the torrent of blows and I tore through just as the first shots sprayed the wall behind me.

…that scream was so nice. It’s been far too long since I have heard that sound. I do wish it would have gone on a little longer though. At least I have it logged, maybe I will put it on a loop and play it when I am preparing the next one. Anyway, I digress. 

Two kills already and it seems this one has a few tricks up its sleeve so to speak, I hadn’t realized it would augment the genetic code to form new weapons. I look forward to the next part of the show but really hope for more of that lovely sound. It makes this time away even more worthwhile, close at the end there though I thought that plasma shot would be the end. I wonder how it knew the shot was coming, get me a close up of its head. Oooo this latest specimen is just full of surprises, looks like a previously hidden ocular for combat to increase its field of vision has opened. I wonder if it even has a blind spot anymore…

Termination

The room had a second door which gave in as easily as the first and led into another corridor. The shots didn’t seem to be getting any closer but I had no wish of falling foul of that weapon in a corridor with little room to manoeuvre. Sound eddies led me down another route to another door, this one much larger and of a stronger material. Based on the distance I had travelled this would definitely lead into the room my enemy had pushed forward into.

Looking up and around the wall I could see a number of vent options too, which would be far more preferable than breaking through that heavy door and into the face of those weapons again. Metal steps led up to a second tier which curled and was lost in shadow. Knowing darkness to be my friend I traversed up the wall to take a look, all the time tasting the air wary that my enemies may be closer than I thought. On reaching the next levels walkway another option presented itself as I made my way into the darkness, my brethren had attacked from various angles in the slaughter of the last room many coming from vents like the one I had seen their destruction from. A large pipe more than round enough for me to fit inside passed through the wall. The taste of rust and the sight of small holes showing it had not been used in a long time. I quickly clawed a hole big enough for me to fit through careful not to place my weight on a weak area and moved down its length estimating the distance into the next chamber. Small eddies of sound helped me even more to navigate my position in relation to my enemies. The concentric circles showing larger where the volume was greatest and my enemies were closest. Slowly I positioned myself to look down through one of the small holes in the pipes bottom skin.

Three of my enemies remained, below me they had formed a small circle around another device whose pulse I could feel scratching inside my head, its colour the same as when they communicated only much stronger. They each held their weapons ready facing out. The hummer, the ball of light thrower and the shield and hammer wielder. All were dangerous. They were also close to where the pipe had taken me, not directly below me but not far. Not enough though, in the time it took me to punch through and drop, even with my speed they would have likely have hit me with something. A new thought entered my mind. I concentrated on the sounds and eddies of my enemies, they remained still but for the odd whir and creak as they swept the room with their weapons.

Increasing my breathing rate I opened my jaws and tasted the air, most of the scents and tastes were familiar to me now. A final look through the rusted thin material showed the enemy to still be in the same place. Carefully I tapped my rage not wanting to give myself away too early. Claws extended, eyes opened and glands puffed fat with liquids. My jaw extended opening wider as the mucus once again built. This time I coaxed more from it, feeling the levels of mucus build until I could hold no more. Turning my head I spat the huge globule back down the pipe into the side wall. It splashed and hit right below a circular access panel hissing. Already I could hear the hum of one weapon begin to spool. The access panel banged as it dropped from the sidewall of the pipe and broke away falling into the room below. A second later a ball of light hissed through where I had spat melting all in its path just as the first shots vented the pipe from the humming metal weapon. With a cacophony of sounds echoing around the chamber, I spat a second time between my feet, the material giving way quickly and without hesitation dived out towards my enemies.

Air flowed passed me and once again time slowed as my adrenaline spiked, the first enemy’s humming rotating weapon chewed a path from my distraction point across the pipe towards me as I came flying out of the hole. The second ranged weapon wielder turned as well, its weapon still venting from the initial shot. The third began to move to intercept me not realizing it would prevent the second from being able to fire at me.

The first wasn’t able to correct quick enough to hit me but the third was almost ready for me as I reached the ground, the force of the impact jarred my body to its core, tucking into a roll I arrested my momentum and closed the distance. With its shield extended forward limiting my vision only the crackling ozone of the hammer behind warned me of its swing. The shield struck the ground planted to protect its wielder, the hammer arced down vertically in slow motion. Sliding myself just wide of its mark, the blade from my right elbow swept up with a splash of red. The hammer hit the ground with tremendous force cratering the metal floor. It clanged flat on its side as the long handle bounced off the metal, the sound of it echoing around the room. Around its haft, the enemy’s hand still held true and it looked upon the stump of its arm where a moment before the appendage had been attached. Not finished or even slowed down by this, it thumped forward with its shield hitting nothing but air as I slid further around past it, my claws and blades slashing into the back of its legs causing it to fall.

The move took me to the centre of my enemies now and I barely avoided the swipe of the humming weapons barrels. Using the long barrel’s position as a guide I changed my focus onto the yet unengaged foe. My left elbows blade already cutting the air above the barrels as I turned, passed through the front grip and the hand holding it, into the wrist of the rear hand behind it and through the torso of my enemy. The next enemy not waiting any longer for its weapon to cool threw at me to buy time, forcing me to angle out of its way. The move gave it enough time to draw close, its left hand grasping at my arm just missing as I bent my knee and spun back the other way. The move saw me drop to my second knee under its flailing arm and rotate blades out. First one blade, then the second cut into its left leg not quite severing it. As it toppled over my vision picked up movement to my rear. As fast as I was I wasn’t fast enough to fully escape the danger, as I made to stand the shields spinning edge struck my shoulder thrown by the enemy I had first downed. The force of the hit left me off balance and wrong-footed causing me to stumble back. The crackling air from the hammer passing horizontally before my face burned as the blow slid by. I had come so close to being caught by that fatal blow.

The missed swing took the hammer well past its mark and with a raging surge of adrenaline at the almost landed blow I leaned forward and charged into the enemy before it could recover. My claws found purchase tearing into its shoulders, the sheer aggression of my attack and its injury causing it to fall over backwards. Face to face I opened my jaw and punched out with my tongue its spiked tip punching through the right eyepiece of my enemy and into its brain. A flash of transferred knowledge hit me causing me to withdraw it. I was up and moving quickly, I tore into the hand-less enemy as it regained its feet, opening up its chest and neck in a flurry of clawed strikes. Again my extended vision saved me as limping with shield extended the last one threw itself at me from behind. Twisting just enough to one side stopped me being pinned by its bulk and caused the shield to slam into the torn open enemy. With speed and reflexes born from repeated influxes of adrenaline, I stepped alongside this striking enemy my right elbow bent, blade extended and slashed through its neck and shoulders. Metal again clanged off the floor as the enemies momentum carried its body forward to fall upon its shield.

With a roar I rose, blood-soaked, my enemies lying dead and dying around my feet the taste of them upon my tongue.

I moved across to the pulsing machine slicing through it with my claws. Already the damaged plating of my shoulder was beginning to knit. My open mouth tasted and scented more enemies on the air, I looked back upon those that had fallen, as a new sensation was born. Satisfaction. Sound eddies began to show in my vision from the corridor across the room and I made my way off to find more enemies to kill.

…how goes the experiment Haemonculi?

Well my Archon, in fact very well. It seems our little playground is finally bearing the fruits of our labour. I am proud to say that even though we lost a large number of the brood specimens the latest specialist seems to be something of a success with a full squad killed and only minor damage to itself.

So how do we progress from here Nemesine?

Well Archon from here I would like to continue my experiments, after all, we have plenty of data on the mon-keigh versions of these creatures but this is the first time we have used an Aleldari version. It is a great success showing traits we have never seen before and the results are more than even I expected.

Just think of the damage this strain alone could do nevermind if we also have the same success with other races. I have a number of specimens from such other species aboard this hulk and others around this system. Which one would you like to try next?

Let’s try one of the Orks, I am interested to see how it turns out.

An excellent choice Archon, I will begin preparations immediately, after all, someone will no doubt come looking for this group.

My Lord one of the mon-keigh still lives.

Which one?

The one struck in the face in the final bout, he seems to have received a Stealers Kiss.

Quickly get a team down there to extract him, this is exciting not only will this give me a new toy but also I may get to hear him scream a little or maybe even a lot. Hurry you fools if he dies or his system fights off the Kiss it will be you who will be making sweet music for me instead of him…