Chương 75: Chapter 73: The Processional of the Damned III

POV: Nicole Taking a long soak in the baths and then passing out was a divine experience after my recent dangerous encounter. Xenos mind control entities that want to turn you into a living warp portal jumped up a step on my list of ' horrific things to avoid at all costs.' It would have been nice to wake up without incident, alas, it was not to be.

Instead, my dreams were warped and twisted; foreign sensations and esoteric visuals, and when I finally started to rouse from my slumber, I am pulled into my mindscape to glare at the statue of The Dragon.

"Seeker." It hisses at me before impressing the notion of the act of seeking straight into my head.

"I know already! You can stop reminding me! The mark is more than enough!" I grumble as I open my eyes and sit up. AME flutters over.

"You show signs of irritation! Were your thirteen hours of rest insufficient?" she asks me with a mechanical chirp.

"Thirteen hours?" I blink in surprise as I reach out to scritch AME. I must have been a lot more drained than I realized. I wasn't exactly stingy with my mental energy while frantically blocking the Enslaver's intrusions. Original Nicole could have probably done it a lot more efficiently and effectively.

"No, I feel a lot better. It's just that I keep getting pestered in my dreams about my side quest. Anything of note happen while I was out?"

"The probes located two Void Abaci! One was retrieved by the fleet! Repairs of the Emergency Repairs III are proceeding well! We passed the threshold to enter the inner sea roughly six hours ago." AME divulges as she nuzzles into my fingers.

"Oh! Crew reports regarding abnormalities are up sixty percent."

"Okay." I take a deep breath.

"That's all good news aside from the crew reports. I also have two crates of Saturnine parts to work with later. Though perhaps that can wait for a day." I mutter, feeling distracted. Just as I am considering what I want to do, I get an invite from Arianwyn. She wants to have tea in the observation dome, and that sounds like the perfect way to relax and settle down. I accept and then move to get up and dress myself. I show up well before the designated time.

Several tables and chairs have been set up with one of the best views out into the sea of hulks. I slip into one of two luxurious, comfortable lounge chairs at the central table and lean back and stare out into the void as the countless shapes tumble around. My eyes trail across various wrecks, and I get fleeting glimpses of strange and unusual hulls. I catch sight of a massive light-grey arrowhead shape for a moment, but before I can look back, it's lost, occluded by another closer wreck.

Arianwyn shows up before I can try to spot it again. She looks a little perturbed, with faint bags under her eyes as she slips into the seat next to me.

"Hey, Nicole. First thing. I wanted to say thank you… for not letting me go with you." She whispers.

"It wasn't suitable for you to visit. If I had known what it contained, we never would have gone." I admit with a small shrug while still looking up.

"You look… tired." I observe as I approach. Arianwyn nods and closes her eyes. A tired sigh escapes from her lips, "It's not just what almost happened at that last wreck. When we crossed the threshold the bridge started getting… Vox messages. It's this horrible-repeating echo of the death screams from the Cry Foul and Thunderous Burden, the two ships we lost when the The Rift opened. They're having Magos Altair reboot the systems right now."

"Ah. That would be unpleasant." I say politely as Lael arrives and takes a seat at one of the other tables along with a few of the nobles who had followed Arianwyn to this little indulgence.

"As unpleasant as almost having your mind invaded?" She asks, while giving me a questioning glance.

"I'm fairly sure an ice-pick lobotomy would be far more fun and healthier," I say with a grimace.

"I'd much rather chat about something a bit less unpleasant. Like… do you know what that is?" I ask and point up at a massive half-sphere of a wreck.

"What is it?" Arianwyn asks while peering up at the shape.

"That… is a Kroot War Sphere… or half of one anyway." I say with a small grin.

"Really?!" She perks up and then narrows her eyes playfully.

"What about that one?" she asks while pointing at a massive chunk of what looks like white rock. As the Argent Drake navigates the graveyard the hulks in our field of view change every minute or so.

"Chunk of an Aeldari craftworld, though it's a bit too degraded to say which one." I reply after studying the ruined wreck with a little help from the Argent Drake's sensors. Arianwyn soon decides to make a game of this. She points out various wrecks to try and see if she can find one I can't identify.

"That's a traitor Pestilaan-class light cruiser - looks to be naught but corroded scrap now… That's an Ork Kroozer, specifically a Kill Kroozer that's missing a lot of its hull… There is an Eldar ship, Hellbore-class frigate to be specific. The fins are broken off, and normally they have a long prow gun too… Oh, that's an odd one to find here, that's a Tau Custodian battleship, or what's left of one." The mood is light as servants discreetly go around serving tea and distributing plates of light pastries.

The other tables listen in politely, and start to get invested themselves. Lael and a few of the bolder and more curious nobles even try their hand to point out unusual or interesting wrecks for me to identify. We start to run into more obscure ships, all of which have been heavily degraded by the turbulent star, but most of which are still identifiable.

"That's a Votann vessel, a Stronghold-Class Commerce Vessel… That's an Imperial Cetaceus-Class Transport… Oh! That's an Imperial Gothic battleship. I wonder if it still has any Hellfire-class Nuclear Missiles." I mutter, but the Auspex scan return is disappointing.

"Alright, well, what's that?" Arianwyn points at a smaller wreck.

"Is it supposed to look so… that?" She trails off with a faint hint of color in her cheeks and a slightly scandalized expression.

"That is an Imperial Constellation-Class Targeting Ship… Its particularly distinct profile has been construed as a little… phallic." I say, barely holding my giggles at bay. Another table breaks into barely constrained cackling and whispers, one young woman at that table snaps open a lovely hand fan, to cool her inflamed cheeks. It takes a few minutes before things settle enough for Arianwyn to spot a new, previously unidentified target.

"Alright, what about that ugly flying brick-thing right there?" She asks, jabbing a finger up at the vessel in question. I sit up and grin, "Oh! That's a Titan Barque! They are often called Coffin Ships for the smaller, or Conquesitus Arks for the larger vessels." My smile fades to a pout.

"That one looks empty. If you look there, you can see the main hold is broken open. That ship is also one of the smaller ones, with only enough space to carry a maniple or two." I point with one of my dendrites and gesture.

"They're not made to look pretty. They carry Titans, and that's about all they're supposed to do, but despite being that brick shape, most are rated for atmospheric operation. The most fun vessels even have Titan drop-cathedrals! The Titan equivalent of drop pods." I say teasingly. Arianwyn gives me an incredulous look.

"Seriously!?" I nod and continue with a bit of banter.

"Look there. Our first Necron ship! A Khopesh-Class Light Cruiser, though a really wrecked one." I glance at the back of my hand as I pick up my tea, but there is no reaction from the mark. The faint tug is still pulling me deeper into the system. I hum as I start to notice a faint pattern.

"A lot of the Imperial ships in this section are Heresy-era."

"Is that a good thing?" She asks.

"Potentially. If we can find a ship that has withstood the weathering and is mostly intact. The likelihood of rare loot, archeotech, and components for salvage increases drastically." —-------------------------------------------------- POV: Arianwyn Initially the impromptu identification game she was playing with Nicole was all fun. When they started to point out certain hulks however, Nicole's expression turned serious and she made her warnings clear.

Sitting there listening to Nicole point out how to identify which hulks were dangerously corrupted and explain which ship profiles pose an extreme threat was both illuminating and humbling.

"That there is a petrified Tyranid hive-ship. A smaller one at that." Nicole pointed out.

"Smaller!?" Arianwyn squeaked. The thing was the size of a light cruiser!

"Now that vessel over there, if you ever run into it, you should blow it up or flee. That's a Slaugth ship." Nicole said with a look of disdain, "Some of the vilest creatures in the galaxy." Arianwyn had to wrack her brain, she had spent a lot of time over the past few days digging into the archives for information on the Enslavers Nicole had encountered. Amongst the more disgusting and dangerous Xenos, the Slaugth had been briefly mentioned.

The number of strange horrors, possibly lurking in this system seemed to only grow the more she learned. It also put on display just how vast and deep Nicole's breadth of knowledge was. Arianwyn was glad she had the ability and required background to even learn some of this obscure information. She glanced over and noticed Nicole was staring upwards with a frown, looking at the section of hulks the Argent Drake was approaching with the expression she had when she was thinking intensely.

Arianwyn noticed that several of the wrecks and chunks of debris they passed had massive gashes all along their exteriors.

"What's that? An Ork Rok or a space station or something?" Arianwyn inquired while pointing at a rather large object that could easily be mistaken for an iron-rich rocky moon.

"No…" Nicole said as her familiar shifted from one shoulder to the other.

"Bridge. This is Cavalerio. I highly suggest you deviate from our current course immediately. That moon-sized body ahead is a Void Kraken, a big one. Provoking it would be unwise. It should be content with the ample food in the region it has claimed."

"Those… are real?" Arianwyn asked with a hoarse voice, as she watched with a horrified expression as the moon started moving. A single rocky, spined tentacle the thickness of a Lunar-class cruiser reached out to grab the hulk of a nearby battleship and reeled it in for consumption. The Argent Drake adjusted course, giving the creature's feeding area a wide berth as they continued to back-trace the trail of the Battle Barge.

Numerous crew members came to the observation dome to see the titanic beast as the Argent Drake passed it by. Despite the great number of people, the Observation Dome was dead silent, respectful, and awed as the sailors looked upon a creature most thought had been nothing but a legend. The Argent Drake continued on her route deeper into the inner sea, pausing only briefly to retrieve an Abacus from an old, broken wreck of a transport that drifted within a single VU of her route.

—---------------------------------------------- POV: Nicole Taking a full leisure day might have been a little selfish of me, but it's done wonders for my mental stability, stress levels and physically I feel great. I take stock of my ritual materials. Grabbing another candle from my precious stock. Unlike last time when I did it in the Comet I have a plan to adjust the communion ritual and utilize the Argent Drake to expand the area of effect.

The oils and incense serve little purpose beyond just being set dressing but they work, rituals are weird like that. I make my way to the main sensor spire with my ritual materials. With the Argent Drake aiding me directly as I start to whisper the incantation, changing the final chant where it feels appropriate. By the Seal of Mars, by the Rite of Resonant Signal. By the Circuits of Eternity, by the Sparks of Holy Flame. Ancient spirits heed our call, from silence to voice, from stillness to echo.

Awaken, awaken, awaken! For the Machine God remembers. Even the lost. Even the broken. Even the dead. The Argent Drake adds in her own call, calling for kindred spirits, a faint roar of binaric static that reaches far and wide. The mindscape of candles appears once again. This time, despite the density of hulks, there are far fewer intact candles. So many are unresponsive, cold, and dead. I recoil away from the first sputtering candle that I approach. The spirit inside has gone mad, it is a rabid and foul thing.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. The next few are barely better. The spirits might be willing, but their hulls have suffered too long under the light of the turbulent star. Only the best of materials can weather its entropic decay for millennia. I am about to expand my search in a spiral pattern when I glance along the route we've been following.

A sixth sense tugs at me and I walk forward, checking the candles I come across until I feel the pull of a strangely welcoming spirit. It's incredibly hard to find the specific candle. It's damaged and has no ember, no glow, or smoke. It's cold as the void but as I brush against it I feel a very faint heartbeat encased in ice. I lean down and examine the candle: it's encrusted in a layer of frost. I gently brush some of it away and hear a low defensive growl from the spirit as it stirs.

The ice-covered dire wolf lifts its head and shakes briefly before turning its sharp gaze to me. I take a closer look at the spirit as it struggles to free itself from the frost. The wolf is wearing… saddlebags? There are four large pouches, two on each side, one of which has been torn asunder. Her hind legs are broken but there is a tenacious fire in her gaze.

"What are you?" I ask as I tentatively touch the spirit. She sniffs the air in front of me and her ears perk up.

"Princeps?" Her tail manages to wag twice before she lets out a mournful howl. A wave of loss hits me and I get a sharp impression of her hull. Her engines are dead, her hull is breached and she is almost entirely encased in ice. She has no atmosphere and she is cold.

"Princeps! You fix? I carry." She flashes me the equivalent of a happy puppy-dog smile. It hits me immediately as the connection between us stabilizes and she lets me in. The Cry Havoc is a Heresy-Era Conquesitus Ark." Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of war?" I whisper and she howls again, shaking more ice free triumphantly. I snap out of my trance with a gasp to find someone lightly shaking my shoulder. I look up and find Brother Silverwalker looming over me.

"My apologies for the interruption, Lady Cavalerio, but you are needed on the bridge. They've found something and have been trying to reach you for the past hour." He says as he steps back. I can't hide the smile from my face as I whisper, "I know. They've found her." I check the time and wince. The trance covered a much larger distance but I was out of commission for almost half a day. I enter into the bridge as Master Doll and Lord Drakios are staring intently at the Auspex display.

A massive chunk of ice that was once part of a large comet has swallowed several vessels. Along the side is a massive gash in the ice from where the keel of the Battle Barge struck and was deflected. That isn't all. In the gash. I can see what has them so interested.

"Nicole, the titan part we found originated from this vessel. Furthermore, the remains of a Reaver clinging to the hull have been uncovered, though the chassis shows some signs of corruption and extensive deterioration." Master Doll speaks while manipulating his swarm of dendrites.

"We detected a faint power spike, the ship suddenly started trying to cycle her reactor a few minutes ago. Would you happen to know anything about that?" Drakios asks with a knowing smile..

"Her name is Cry Havoc, a Titanicus Conquesitus Ark, and we're going to get her out of that ice ball." I say boldly and draw the attention of the entire bridge. Master Doll is the first to process what that truly means. His cybernetic eyes go wide and he starts visibly vibrating with barely constrained delight. I turn towards Arianwyn who is standing next to Lord Drakios, "Arianwyn, you can come with me this time if you like or go on your own. You'll need to suit up though as the ship has no atmosphere.

The ship should be empty according to life sign scans and the ship's spirit but there is a small chance of something from the other trapped vessels having gotten on board." I admit with a shrug.

"Lord Drakios, if you could use the batteries to carve points of access and weaken the ice in parallel to her hull, that would be appreciated."

"We can do so… Nicole, how many God-engines are there aboard that ship?" Drakios asks the question on everyone's mind.

"I don't know, but I plan to find out. A ship of her size could hold up to four maniples in their Coffin Ships or Drop Cathedrals. However, one of the sections dedicated to a drop cathedral looks to have been purged - and for a good reason," I say, gesturing at the remains of the Reaver and the scan of the hull. The initial scans place Cry Havoc's length somewhere in between the range of seven and eight kilometers. Not the largest Conveyor or Ark, but certainly a big ship.

That puts her length-wise on the Grand Cruiser scale. Aesthetically, she's a rectangular brick, with function over form in all areas. —----------------------------------------------------------- POV: Princeps Candidate Nyanko Nyanko sat at her desk as she waited for the daily lesson to start. Her ears twitched as some of the other candidates whispered amongst themselves. Nyanko was content with her current fifth-place seat in the class rankings. Lady Genta sat nearby, the current top candidate in their class.

Nyanko leaned over and asked, "Genta, psst, do you know why the teacher is late?" Genta looked over as her eyes flickered.

"The local Noosphere exploded in activity a few hours ago. I think they've located the second ship? Details are sparse, but it's got the Legio staff in a frenzy. Lady Cavalerio might have done something absurd again." She admitted calmly. Nyanko frowned and looked over to Yip, who was dozing at his desk. She nudged him awake with her tail." Nya. No sleeping, Yip." The fox-abhuman? Yip groaned and sat up.

While cute and generally friendly was not a morning person in the slightest and it was clear he had not liked the physical conditioning portion of their earlier training. Despite being the youngest candidate he had earned a solid spot in the top percentiles for now. Z0-0M's fingers were a blur as he typed away at his datapad frantically while Robin and William watched.

"I did it! I've got one of the files that's been bouncing around." Z0-0M announced with a smug grin. Before he could elaborate, the Tech Priest who was supposed to lecture them today rushed into the classroom.

"There has been a change in today's lecture. Students, take your seats. I will begin immediately." He announced, turning on the projector and starting his lesson.

"As you may recall from the history lessons on the Titan Legios and their place in the Mechanicus, the Legios can and do use Mechanicus Arks and Mass Conveyors or equivalent Imperial transports for their Engines, but are afforded special dispensation to operate on their own if they can afford to do so." He pulled up a massive display with a few dozen different brick-shaped vessels.

"Most Titanicus vessels share a design philosophy: Blocky, rectangular vessels that prioritize function over form. There are a few names associated with these vessels. Can any of you name one?" He asked the class. William raised a hand and replied, "Coffin Ships."

"Correct.

'Coffin Ship' is a term often applied to Titan Transports. They tend to be around one to two kilometers in length and are warp-capable. They usually hold a single Maniple or less if the Engines are particularly large. This here is one of the most common Coffin Ships." He zoomed in on the vessel.

"It is slightly longer than a typical Legio Drop-Ship or Lander, and while such craft can operate independently, they usually prefer to dock inside a larger vessel for long transits. Another name?"

"Titan-Barque," Robin called out.

"Indeed. Titan-Barque is another common name. There is also the Conquestus Ark, Titan Barge, and many others. There are numerous names for Titan-carrying vessels." The Tech Priest said in an excited tone.

"They can range in length from just bigger than a Coffin Ship to matching the standard Ark Mechanicus or even longer. Our records indicate that a few Legios had massive vessels capable of transporting an entire Legio with dozens of Engines all at once." He zoomed out the display and brought up a few ships.

"These are some example vessels. Conveyors of different designs. There are generally three ways to deliver Engines to a planet. One: Drop Pods, sometimes called Drop Keeps in the case of knights or Drop Cathedrals. Legio Tempestus doctrine venerates this strategy as a highly effective shock and awe tactic. It is almost always obvious externally if a Titan carrier has this capacity. The large pod cradles typically along the keel are a giveaway. Another is the use of Drop-Ships, or landers.

Most Coffin Ships can serve similar roles. They are slower than Drop Pods but are far easier to retrieve from the surface. The massive Drop Pods require specific super lifter craft or specific lifting equipment aboard the voidship. Does anyone know the third method?" He looked around the classroom. Genta is the one who speaks up, "Have the Ark land, and they disembark directly."

"Correct, Lady Genta! Nearly all Titan carriers are rated for some if not most levels of atmospheric entry." The Tech Priest praised. Nyanko feelt her neck prickle, and a brief glance backwards confirmed that a few of the less talented recruits in the back discreetly glared at Genta. Nyanko still didn't get why they didn't understand. Genta might be top of their class, but compared to Lady Cavalerio, they're all lacking. It was like comparing a guardsman to an Astartes. Was it a bit unfair? Yeah.

But she had seen the Princep's scores in some of the simulators. Her uncle had said there was no shame in having high aspirations, and she could see the peak if she could get anywhere close to the level of receiving the Princep's approval, and piloting her own Engine that would be enough. Nyanko blinked as the teacher brought up a new image of a vessel.

"Look at this display and tell me what you notice about this ship." Yip raised a hand, "It's got the big Drop Pods."

"It does. Four berths in fact. What else?" The teacher encouraged.

"Looks pretty big," another student said from the back.

"Oh! The Hangar Bay is on the keel!" Another exclaimed.

"Indeed, the bay there is designed to hold two Coffin Ships or Drop-Ships along with one Super-Lifter. There is a smaller adjacent hangar for more standard transport craft." The teacher pointed out before gesturing for them to continue.

"One of the pods is missing?" Z0-0M said, squinting at the display, "Also, the prow weapons look like trash. Engines are totally wrecked… wait…" He leaned in, "The Engines exploded… outward from the inside? There's a hole! From the missing berth all the way out the aft!" He exclaimed, and everyone leaned in to study the display. The teacher, rather than looking offended, just smiled and waved them onwards. William spoke up next, "The ship has two sets of lifting equipment built in.

But four pods and only room for two Drop-Ships. It looks like it was designed to house four maniples. However, in a pinch, you could load the Drop-Ships and carry six."

"You wouldn't want to do that for long. The Engines wouldn't like it." Robin replied, and William conceded the point.

"That's not the Legio Tempestus icon. Which Legio is that?" Nyanko asked after she spotted the very worn symbol. It was a wavy dagger pointed downwards inside a cog. The entire class went silent as they looked at the unfamiliar symbol. No one seemed to recognize it from the list of loyal Legios. Yip raised a hand, and the Tech Priest nodded at him, allowing the question, "What's the ship's name?" Nyanko felt silly for not asking the obvious question herself.

"This is the Conquestus Ark, Cry Havoc. We'll be going over her thoroughly in our next few lessons, because in a week, you will be taking a field trip to familiarize yourself with her layout." The Tech Priest explained.

"Lady Cavalerio is in the process of extracting her as we speak." Genta was staring hard at the holo display. The image flickered, and they all realized it seemed to be updating in real time. Genta gasped sharply, according to the data feeds the Princeps had just entered one of the bays.

"There… there are Engines in those cradles." She whispered. Nyanko's head whipped around so fast her neck almost cracked. The teacher's face had turned into one of barely constrained manic glee.

"Engine refurbishment has also been pushed up in your education. The Machine God has blessed the Princeps and the Legio!" Nyanko pinned her ears back as the room exploded into a noisy cacophony, as the majority of students immediately began shouting in shock and surprise.