I had a busy time of it. I expected every bit of my work to be checked, and at first, they did. But within a few days, once I'd shown Orleth I knew what I was doing, I was left to it. Most of the work involved fixing random bits and bobs, but I was particularly proud of my work on all the lights.
With some help from Orleth, I managed to get the proper cables, junction boxes, LEDs and so on to start repairing the lights, replacing what was there before. Mosly jerry rigged fairy lights or luminous plants in jars. As you can imagine, not exactly a great light source. But with the new lights, the area around the HQ was lit up incredibly well. Which did two things: first, it made everything much safer. There were always disappearances in the city, even with patrols. Second, you could actually see how filthy everything was.
Something I'm sure many of the recruits grumbled about, as they were made to clean it.
Once the HQ was done, I slowly moved to the other areas, mostly the Fortress, though I also managed a few streets around the HQ and our market. The Fortress was easy. It only needed some repairs since it already had a steady supply of power with its own generators, unlike the rest of Glow Gate.
Connecting to the main power cables was fucking nerve-racking. As a passing curiosity, I used a basic millimetre to test the voltage flowing through the wires. I didn't need to; I could hear the buzzing hum of the wires. That and my hair standing on end.
But I was curious to see the number anyway. It had far too many zeros; it was enough to fry me and everyone in the city several times over.
After a very nerve-racking few hours, it was a success, and the gang had access to a far greater and more reliable power source. I never got the full details, but apparently, there was some politics involved, allowing us to use the power. It was more a bribe to a member of the electrical guild to look the other way than actually paying the guild itself, which would have been ruinously expensive.
Or come with far too many strings attached.
Either way, I was proving myself to be competent and reliable, which was how I found myself tinkering on one of the most guarded systems in the gang. The water purification systems.
It had been on the blink for months. Several people had tried to repair it but couldn't figure out what was wrong, so Orleth had me take a crack at it.
I'd gone through their work and had to admit, it should be working. That left the software, or the machine spirit, as I'd come to learn they were called. An odd name to be sure, but not worth worrying over. I did spot a few things they had missed, but they were just knackered components, nothing major enough to cause the issues we were seeing. Still, I asked Orleth to send a runner for replacements, which she did without fuss.
Given how vital the water purification systems were, I wasn't trusted to be alone with them, hence Orleth breathing down my neck the entire time, along with several guards with some very large guns. What they were there for, I would never know; just firing one of them in the rooms that contained the machines would do more damage than I could.
Regardless, it was back together and I'd hooked myself up to it with my mind impulse unit. I'd made a few upgrades to it by now, nothing major, just improved the connector so it sat flusher against my skin. With a cable snaking from my neck to the machine, I was all linked up and able to go through the machine much faster.
It also bypassed some of the security protocols I'd have had to wrestle with if I used a dataslate. The downside to this was I had to tread very carefully, or I ran the risk of liquefying my mind. I could already feel the strain of accessing the systems with it.
My unit was already uncomfortably warm, a clear sign it was working overtime, helping me handle the strain. It was still within comfortable limits, but if I didn't find the issue soon, I would need to stop for a break.
Not letting my thoughts distract me from slowly trawling through the code, and what a ballache that was turning out to be. For small projects, the fact that all code was done in binary hadn't been a problem; my software fragment had covered it. However, that had been for small programmes; this was another kettle of fish entirely.
The water filtration system was most definitely not a small programme; it was a beast of tangled interconnects programmes all clashing with one another, only made harder by looking through it in binary. Not a language that was naturally readable by humans. With the right augments, maybe it was doable, but even so, it wasn't intuitive. And so, after bashing my head against it for a few days, I had given in and cobbled together a new programming language for me to use.
It had taken longer than I would have liked to make. I'd built the software and was fairly confident it was sound, but to be certain, I took a raw extract from the machine and analysed it, checking the patterns against my fragments, making sure the inputs and the outputs matched. Once I'd confirmed the match, I cracked on building a few tools to make my life a whole lot easier.
First off, I knocked together a bit of decoding software to convert binary into something readable. In this case, my own makeshift coding language I pieced together, called Logos. Not a particularly original name, but it was fine. Once decoded, I could go through it much quicker, debugging it and actually read some of the error messages.
Then it was a matter of correcting them and having the programme go in reverse, translating my code back to binary. Easy, right?
I wished. It took bloody forever to get right. If I had the right bionics, I might have been able to skip this in its entirety, as I knew of some neural mods that could help with some of this. Although I was uncertain what it would do, as it effectively helped you think in binary, not something that should come naturally to humans.
Oddly enough, my Reverse Engineering fragment came in handy while I was going through the code, a welcome bonus I hadn't expected. It also confirmed that the more knowledge I had on a subject, the more effective the fragments were. It took a long time, not least because the code was weird. Not just in how it was mashed together, I was used to that by now, but this was the most advanced system I had ever worked with, and it had strange deviations I wasn't expecting or used to. Almost as if the code had evolved, maybe mutated.
For example, there was recursive logic where none was needed, or redundant pathways doing the same job, as if the system learned different ways to do the same task and never deleted the old ones. They also weren't necessarily more efficient, almost like the algorithm had preferences, which none of my knowledge knew what to do with.
So, for now, I left that as it was; it didn't stop me from finding the bug and creating the corrections. With it sorted out at my cogitator, it was back at the machine to interface with it and tune my programmes from my dataslate.
It took a while for them to load, but the effect was almost instant. Even so, I didn't dare relax. I spent hours carefully double-checking every stat and metric, making sure nothing had gone sideways. Once I was confident I hadn't accidentally made things worse, I finally leaned back, job done.
As the changes rippled through the wider system, the pumps kicked into gear, forcing water through the filtration systems, rather than relying on pipe pressure like we'd been doing before. I ran one last check, then stood up and started packing away my gear.
As I did, I shot a grin at Orleth, which she returned with a pleased nod. "Good job Aleric."
"Thank you." I said, sharing a friendly moment with her. I'd come to learn that, grumpy as she was, once you proved yourself and got past her tests, she was a brilliant boss. Not just by the standards of 40K but even when comparing her to my memories of bosses from my last life, she was one of the best I'd had.
Which, frankly, might be saying something rather depressing.
She'd been incredibly supportive, always making time if I needed anything, quickly making her one of my favourite people within the gang. Leaving her to it, since she was planning to keep an eye on things a while longer, I headed to my new quarters in the far more secure section of the city. As promised, they were near my workshop and therefore near the Red Corsairs' barracks.
As I stepped into the room, a small—though definitely bigger than before—ball of fur flew into my chest. Laughing, I said, "You won't be able to do that much longer, or you are going to flatten me." Dropping Snuffles to the floor, I knelt down to fuss over him. The poor pup had been left on his own longer than I would've liked.
I'd promised myself I would not name him something silly or edgy, but I had failed miserably on that front. After trying dozens of names, each worse than the last, I went with the silly nickname I had taken to calling him, after the third time he had sniffed at me when I gave him a very subpar meal.
---
An alarm on my dataslate reminded me of the time—I had a mission to prep for. Making sure Snuffles was okay and had food and water, I grabbed the few bits of gear I kept in my room, mainly the laspistol and then headed for the barracks.
Snuffles still weren't ready to come with me. He might have shot up these last few weeks, now he was getting a proper diet, but he was still a long way off being fit enough for the field. Not to mention his training, limited as it was. He wouldn't be allowed to follow until I was sure he would obey me. I was going off half-remembered lessons from my past life and would need to spend a spark or two for him, but it would be more than worth it. I wouldn't risk taking him until I was sure he'd listen when it mattered. I couldn't bear the thought of him getting hurt or worse, just because he didn't follow a command.
I still hadn't gotten him to a vet yet, and it was proving a bloody sight harder than I'd expected. Most of them were ambivalent and uncaring at best, to actively harmful at worst, eager to try experimental drugs or half-baked treatments.
I didn't want to burn any bridges either, mostly because I'd kill anyone who hurt Snuffles, and that sort of thing didn't tend to go down well with the gang. Still, I thought I'd found a decent one, and so hopefully in a few more weeks I could get him tested.
At the barracks, the rest of the team were strapping on their wargear. Joining in, I slipped into that easy camaraderie we'd built up over the months since I joined the unit. Since my promotion, I'd worked hard to upgrade my wargear. With better access, I'd managed to get far more powerful magnets and coils, allowing me to shrink the length of my monster even further. It was still heavy, but at least it wasn't two metres long anymore.1.2 metres, still large but way more manageable.
My pistol hadn't changed; I doubted I'd find anything better than it anytime soon, but I did manage to upgrade all my armour. My helmet now had all the bells and whistles I wanted: full environmental seal, thermal and night vision, image enhancement, sound dampening and vox-coms.
Improved vox-coms more to the point. Taking some inspiration from the one I pulled out of the mastiff, I managed to overhaul mine completely. Outside of the helmet, I was also kitted out in the heaviest armour I could get my hands on. It didn't fit great, but I hadn't yet had the time to make it fit perfectly.
On the Corsairs channel, Zardelle sounded in my ear. 'All right, let's move.' As we filed out of the room, she ran through the briefing again, something she liked to do, just to refresh everyone's memories.
'There's been a monster picking off people near the edge of our territory. Sightings are up, and it's getting bolder. As you can imagine, our job is to find and kill it. Any questions?'
No one replied, me included. I'd learned what Zardelle liked by now: radio silence unless you had something worth saying. Not that I expected any questions anyway, we'd had the full brief yesterday in far more detail.
I was surprised by just how much ground the gang considered their territory. There was Glow City itself, clearly marked off with walls that stopped anyone getting through without going through the gates. I should've known in hindsight, I'd had to spend many an hour patrolling them. And yes, it was as boring as it sounded.
Outside the city, though, was a whole other story. This area wasn't patrolled and was far darker and more dangerous. Collapsed buildings were left to rot where they fell, unlike in the city proper, where they'd been scavenged years ago to tidy things up or repurposed for shanties.
Out there, control was looser. People squatted wherever they liked, so long as they had the strength to hold it. Supposedly, inside the walls, you could go to the gang if someone tried to muscle in.
How many actually did? I had no idea.
Still, there was a clear divide between those inside the walls and everyone else. Zardelle had explained that they couldn't completely ignore the outer areas, as that was where many gangs gathered, hoping to push in and snatch territory. And then there were the beasts. Leave them long enough and they'd turn into a problem, even a swarm if you were unlucky. That sort of thing could block off trade routes or even threaten the city itself.
So, it paid to keep an eye on things and do some pruning once in a while. That's exactly what we were doing today.
We followed Brix, our tracker, in an easy silence, sharing the occasional joke as we went. I was well and truly part of the team now and thankful for it. I hadn't realised how on the outside I'd felt until I wasn't anymore, or how much I had missed the casual banter between... maybe not friends but teammates at least.
I trusted most of the unit to pull their weight, even if I wouldn't trust them implicitly.
We passed through the checkpoints and reached the heavily fortified gates leading out into the vast tunnel Glow Gate sat in. The trade roads were well-worn, but as we left them behind, the streets turned narrow and winding, like Glow Gate, but darker, and missing most of the glowing flora that gave the city its name.
This created a claustrophobic atmosphere, pressing down on us as we moved through them. Strange sounds echoed from the pitch-black buildings, putting everyone further on edge. The few people we did see gave us a wide berth, retreating the moment they spotted us. The streets themselves were in an even sorrier state, strewn with rubble, bones, twisted metal from collapse building and ominous holes leading down into the darkness to who knew where.
As we neared the area where the sightings had been reported, we slowed our pace, becoming even more cautious, not that we hadn't been already.
With Brix taking point, I slung my rifle on my back and drew out my pistol. Although I doubted I'd even need it, considering the firepower surrounding me. Being one of the squishier members of the team, I was close to the centre of the formation.
'Anything Brix?'
'I think I have something. Some tracks heading that way.' I tried to see what he was pointing at, but it looked like the same grimy street as the rest of it.
Watching him work was genuinely impressive; he picked up on things I hadn't even noticed. I'd wondered if having knowledge fed to me with little effort would leave me unimpressed by people's skill, snooty even, but it was the opposite.
I'd been finding myself increasingly impressed by people's knowledge, fully aware of how much effort they put in to get to where they were.
You might be wondering why we needed the full squad for a simple beast. I'd thought the same until I started hearing the horror stories of past hunts. Brix once told me about a time they had a run-in with Goreblight flies.
They burrowed into the unsuspecting victim, eating them from the inside. By the time anyone noticed, a massive swarm would erupt from the poor soul, further spreading itself. The PDF had to roll in with flamers to eradicate them. Not something I wanted to experience, thank you very much.
Brix called for a halt as we approached a particularly dilapidated structure. What looked like a hab block, but much of the rockcrete had crumbled. It was pitch black within the building, so much so that my night vision struggled to pick anything out.
'What you got Brix?' Zardelle asked.
'A beast is down there. Looks to be the one we're after.'
'Got it. Brix—take Catiel, Reek and Gea. Sweep the area for any other ways in. The rest of you, get in position.' she ordered. We fanned out as the four moved off. I headed about fifty to sixty metres away, holstering my pistol and unslinging my rifle once more. Katra moved with me, offering support and to keep an eye on my back.
When Brix and the others returned, he reported, 'Couldn't see any other entrances.'
'Good, everyone set?' Once we all confirmed, she nodded to Brix who lit a flare and tossed it into the chamber.
The effect was instantaneous. The clicking of hundreds of claws echoed from the doorway, accompanied by the hissing breaths of animals warning us off. I rolled my shoulders, trying to shake the feeling of something crawling on my skin. I really hated bugs. Why was it always bugs? With a sigh, I forced the distractions from my mind and focused onto the task at hand.
After a few tense minutes, it was clear they weren't coming out to us. So, with Zardelle, Ryn and Krayt taking point, most of the unit entered, leaving only five of our twenty-man squad outside.
Those of us left outside waited in tense silence. The only sound was gunfire far off in the distance and the occasional scrape of boots on concrete as we shifted uncomfortably. It felt deafening against the stillness as we listened to the comms, Zardelle and the team clearing rooms one by one. Until 'Contact!' Ryn said.
'On your right, Krayt!' Zardelle snapped.
We listened as our team shouted callouts and Zardelle barking orders, then silence. After a heart-stopping moment we heard, 'Clear, move forward.'
With a large sigh, I relaxed. And so it continued. They advanced steadily, calling out over vox as the pounding of gunfire echoed from the entrance and down the street. Underneath it was the screeching cries of whatever they were killing.
'Prepare. They are trying to run. Aleric, take the large one near the back!' Zardelle called suddenly, almost making me jump.
I primed my rifle, cranking the setting up to full, 'Copy.'
I wasn't sure what to truly expect, but with the others packing heavy stubbers, I didn't need to fire first, just to kill the targets they couldn't. I glanced at the others. They were ready, so went back to looking at the hole, tension building with each passing moment. The gunfire grew louder, closer—until we could hear the clattering of thousands of claws scraping against rockcrete.
The moment movement appeared in the doorway, illuminated by the still glowing flare, the team around me opened fire. Hundreds of rounds hammered into the entrance. The shrieks of pain and rage rang out, proof that they were hitting something. I held my fire waiting for a shot. I didn't need to wait long.
Dozens of gigasiphonus vermiulus erupted from the entrance, skittering towards us, like overgrown centipedes, each the size of a small dog. There was a horrifying fluidity to their movement, and I was very fucking glad I didn't need to go down there with the others. My skin was already crawling, and I was dozens of metres away.
As quickly as they poured out, they were cut down by the withering barrage of slugs. How they managed to control the recoil, let alone aim, was a mystery to me, but I appreciated them nonetheless. Corpses began to pile up in the street, blue blood splattering the walls and pooling on the cracked pavement.
An almighty screech tore from the hole as the largest monsters emerged. Three times the size of horses and the lead one easily three times that, burst from the hole, smashing loose chunks of rockcrete from the edges of the entrance in their haste.
Now with a target, I fell into the zone, shutting out every distraction. I adjusted my rifle, aimed at the largest and fired. Where the other slugs crumpled harmlessly against its heavily armoured chitin, mine did not. It slammed deep into its side, blue blood pouring from the wound. The creature flinched, shook itself, and then surged forward with renewed fury.
I fired again, still with no idea where its vitals were. Again, it punched deep into its body, but it lumbered on. It had covered the twenty metres of the sixty between us uncomfortably fast, but on my fourth thump of my rifle, my shoulder beginning to ache, it finally slowed, staggering to one side. The smaller ones circling it defensively.
I was lining up another shot when I swore. twitching my rifle and sending the round wide. Even then, I still hit the edge of the beast, which went to show how large it was. From the hole, the rest of the team emerged, clearing up any struggles as they went.
I was not the only one to swear; the others had clocked it too. Their heavy stubbers went quiet and spat shots far more carefully. I paused, hoping someone else would call it in. No one did. 'You're in the Kill box! Get out the way!" Even as I shouted, I spotted Zardella among them. But I was already committed, so I kept barking at them to move.
I could almost feel her surprise as she replied, 'Copy,' before quickly moving aside out of the line of fire.
With the largest one injured and the rest of the bugs clustering around it, it was a relatively easy clear up, the stubbers cutting through most of them. I only had to finish off the biggest and help with one of the horse sized one that tried to run, but the rest were dispatched with merciless efficiency. Once the last were dealt with, we took a short break, although we didn't lower our guard. We'd made a lot of noise and didn't want to get jumped. Rested, we finished the job, which, unfortunately, I was dragged along for.
So, into the tight corridors I went. Joining the team in a last sweep of the dark, dank tunnels before deploying incendiaries in the breeding chamber. It was a large, damp room with rubble scattered everywhere and a carpet of bones and half-eaten remains covering the floor. But the real sight was the hundreds, probably thousands, of putrid green eggs. Some with visible twitching creatures inside, nearly ready to hatch. Others, only just beginning to grow.
Either way, I could see why they wanted it dealt with pronto. In a few days to weeks, there would have been thousands, maybe tens of thousands of them. A number that would have started to become an actual threat to the gang and Glow Gate itself.
---
Stepping through the main gate, I quietly laughed at Reek as Krayt ribbed him for once again falling into an unfortunate position and getting stuck. I shit you not, this is the third time it had happened since I'd joined the unit. We'd just been doing one last sweep to make sure there wasn't another clutch of eggs left when he stepped through a weak section of floor and sank up to his hips.
At the time, it was worrying; we had no idea what was under there. For all we knew, he could've landed in a toxic pool of water or a nest of creatures. Luckily, there was nothing bad down there. In fact, he'd found another few hundred eggs, so they were collected as well.
All protein was good protein, or so the others told me. I was dubious. I still thought the eggs looked particularly unappetising, but apparently, they were a delicacy.
I was not convinced.
"What are you up to now. I've actually lost count!" Krayt said. We were speaking, either through speakers in our helmets or, in some cases, just cracking the seal to talk directly. Even in friendly territory and supposedly safe, Zardelle's rules for the unit were still in effect, keep the coms clear of any chatter.
"…No, the worst one was when he fell like seven metres into that tunnel. What two years back?" Brix said almost fondly. "Swore he was dead. Then he was just popping up like nothing had happened."
Reek was one of the most liked men in the unit. He had this daft, goofy charm to him, always cracking jokes or making small talk, a textbook extrovert. But he was actually a nice guy, which I didn't expect. Of course, he had his guarded, rough exterior; we all did, but within the gang and unit, he was easygoing. A good laugh.
Not something that could be said for some of the others in the unit. Glancing to the front, where Gea, a short, heavy-set guy, walked. Gea was a fucking nasty piece of work. Unlike Reek, he enjoyed the violence and killing, finding pleasure in causing pain. He wasn't the only one in the unit. Just maybe the worst.
He liked to throw his weight around, picking and bullying the newer recruits. Luckily, he had never tried that with me. Part of that was Katra, who had sort of taken me under her wing. It was also how I came to the unit in the first place. With my repairs a lot of people within the gang owed me a favour, making me surprisingly well-connected. Not deliberately, I would add, it just kind of fell that way.
But the real reason? Even with all that backing, Gea did try, once. Zardelle shut it down with a look and a few quiet words of not to do that shit in her unit. She didn't yell or threaten, just said it in that calm, almost soft voice of hers.
Back then, I hadn't built up the tolerance to her aura. The air went still—wrong. The courtyard's noise dulled like someone had thrown a blanket over it. Goosebumps prickled down my arms and a pressure pounded behind my eyes. My heart thumped in my chest as my fight or flight reflex kicked in. I even took an involuntary step back, dread pooling in my gut. It was as if the Emperor himself was pressing down on us, judging us.
When I focused inward, I tried to push it back like I'd done before. It worked, if barely, but it was nowhere near as effective as before. That moment hammered home a sharp respect for her… and earned my loyalty.
Well… until she gave me a reason not to. But time and again, she's proven me wrong. I expect the worst and she kept surprising me.
She stopped, holding up a clenched fist at the front of our column. I moved with the rest of the unit, spreading out into position around her. Keeping my eyes peeled, we waited for Zardelle to speak. We didn't have to wait long. 'No time for rest. A convoy is getting hit. Double time to the bridge.'
We set off at a brisk jog, the crowd of hivers parting around us like the sea. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was—people were bloody resilient. Barely a few days after the fighting had stopped, the streets filled up again. Now, weeks later, things looked normal. Like none of it had happened.
"Aleric." Katra said, holding out her hand.
Grateful as ever, I passed my heavy rifle to her. "Thanks." Any time we had to run, she offered to carry it; I struggled enough to keep up as it was. I knew I was fit and had grown well; I could actually be considered tall, and if I kept growing at the same pace, I should break the 6ft mark. But compared to the rest of the unit? I may as well have been a child.
If they wanted to, they could leave me in the dust. A mixture of bionics, training and just survival of the fittest—only the best made it to the unit.
As we ran, I caught sight of Zardelle ahead, gesturing, still on her vox.
By the time the bridge came into sight, I was lagging behind, even without my rifle. Only Katra was sticking with me. My lungs burned and a stitch jabbed at my side with every step, but I pushed through, just counting my steps. Anything to keep from collapsing or throwing up.
Staggering to a stop next to the others, I gulped in deep breaths, hands on my head, trying to get some air into my staved lungs. My clothes clung to me, soaked through with sweat. Still, it was worth it, seeing Katra's and Zardelle's nods as I made it. I even saw a few of the others nod, although I was sure they would deny it if asked.
I didn't get long to catch my breath before the huge truck rolled up to us.
Even the smaller trucks, like the one that had just pulled up, were massive things, a few metres wide and at least 4 metres long. Huge chunky tyres made it several metres tall, looming over us. A ridiculous size, but I wasn't about to complain. Most of that bulk was solid armour, and that suited me just fine.
Something I would never complain about, more protection.
When the ramp clanged down, I followed the others piling into the transport's rear. Some stayed standing, gripping whatever they could; others dropped onto benches. I was lucky and squeezed onto the end of the bench.
Zardelle and Kora, her second, sat up front, which I was a bit jealous of. Back here, there was sod all to look at, just a big metal reinforced box. A door led to the cab, but it was closed.
With the ramp sealed, the engines roared to life, shoving us back as it accelerated. I could feel the power and weight of it, like it could plough through anything. And to be fair, it already had, after all, this was the machine that smashed through half the Bridge to crash the meeting in what felt like years ago. But was only a few months ago.
We got tossed around as the truck weaved through the town, slowing at the checkpoint and stopping to pass through the gates out of the city. As we trundled down the ramp into the disused sector, Zardelle said, 'Aleric up on top, keep an eye out.'
'Got it boss,' I voxed back, pushing through the others to the ladder near the driver's door. Climbing, I popped the hatch and poked my head out, the wind whistling into the cabin. My helmet kept it off my face, but it was bliss on the rest of my body, cooling it off and removing some of the sweat.
Keeping my rifle to hand, not that I'd be able to hit anything while moving, keeping my head on a swivel. I stayed low, making sure as little of me was visible as possible, able to duck down at a moment's notice. We rolled off the metal ramp and entered the swamp, tar black from the ash with a thin layer of moss or lichen floating on top.
I had no idea how the driver was navigating; I couldn't see a single discernible feature or landmark to help. The path we were on looked much like everything else. Even glancing back, I couldn't tell where we'd come from. The mud and water we had kicked up behind us settling and the lichen or moss slowly floating, covering the thin slither of solid land once more, making it look exactly how it was before.
At least we stayed above the surface, not a given out here. I saw the tip of something, a back end to a half-submerged truck in the swamp, barely five metres off our path.
After a couple of miles winding through invisible paths, we left the swamp and entered the rolling dunes of ash, grit and sand. With the occasional warped plasteel structure poking out through the dunes, mostly covered by the encroaching ash and sand.
Now out of the treacherous swamp, the diver opened up the taps, the engine somehow getting even louder than before. The metal ladder I was holding vibrating violently in my grip. Thank the Throne for my helmet's noise dampeners.
Angling northwest toward a large hole that led to the Wastes and Cinderhold, one of the nearest settlements out in the Ashen Wastes. The moment we cleared the swamp, all moisture vanished. Nothing green survived out here. It should've been pitch black, but light stabbed through ragged holes in the ceiling and walls, casting harsh beams of light and throwing the rest into deep shadow.
The truck's powerful headlamps cut through the gloom, throwing light a dozen metres ahead wherever the sun didn't reach.
'5 minutes out.'
We heard the battle before we saw it, gunfire cracking and blasts of explosives. Cresting the final dune, we spotted the convoy still a kilometre out. The lead truck a burnt-out husk, but the rest looked mostly intact. And swarming around them, like flies on a corpse, were the hundreds of bandits.
None of them looked very well equipped, mismatched armour or even ceremonial junk. Like one guy had nothing but ragged trousers and a spiked pauldron. Like that was providing any protection. Still, there were enough of them to overwhelm the well-armed convoy. And this lot weren't just any traders either, I spotted the guild crest on one of the trucks.
That explained why we had been dragged in.
They were carrying something worth a fortune, clearly. Otherwise, another team would have been sent. Sliding to a halt, skidding in the sand, Zardelle said, 'Aleric, Katra. Hop out here. You know the drill.'
I did indeed. Hauling myself out of the hatch, rifle in hand and clambered across the roof before dropping onto the dune below, sinking into the soft, loose ash. With Katra in tow, I scanned around and picked an okay spot near the crest of the dune, with good cover and a clear line of sight.
It gave us a decent vantage point, with enough visibility without making us easy targets. We could drop down the other side of the dune if things got too hectic. I lay flat, wriggling to settle the ash around me and brace the rifle. A bit awkward, but stable enough.
Katra posted up behind me, watching my flanks like normal, so I could focus on shooting. The moment we were out, the truck roared away, its deep engine rumbling in my chest, heading for the convoy.
Slotting myself into my monster, I enjoyed the familiar hum as the coils spooled up. Gone was my old shitty analogue sight, now replaced more advanced electronic one. I'd fiddled with it extensively, so it should be better optimised at least, if not actually better than the base model.
Through my MIU, I could feel the scope kick into gear, noting: wind, distance, bullet drop, all catalogued and calculated for the shot, adjusting the centre of the scope, telling me where I would hit. Doing everything I would have had to do at this range.
I swept across the bandits, looking for anyone who stood out or might prove a threat to the squad. At the back, crouching slightly behind a dune, out of sight of the rest of the convey, was what looked like the leader. Or at least someone in command. Significantly better armed and equipped, wearing the most distinct and loud outfit.
Even if he wasn't important, he was my first target.
Breath steady, I flexed my mind and fired. The rifle slammed into my shoulder, kicking up a flutter of dust around me as the boom of my gun rolled through the dunes, louder than usual. I'd put more power behind it than was necessary, but I want to make sure it went the distance, and then some.
Nodding at my clean shot. His heart and lungs scattered on the sand around him, I turned my attention onto the next target. Near the leader, a woman was hefting a missile launcher and, by the looks of it, almost ready to fire again.
She had to go, and with a thought, she was.
With no other high-priority target, I started picking them off as I pleased, mostly those not charging in. By the time the third one dropped, the truck was close enough that the bandits had noticed it. Either that or the incredibly loud noise it made finally cut through the battle.
Might even have been Gea poking out the hatch, his heavy stubber tearing apart limbs and bodies. Regardless, they were noticed, but the bandits seemed to hesitate, caught between charging or fleeing. They looked as if they were waiting for orders, ones they didn't receive thanks to my shooting.
I once more made a mental note that if I was ever responsible for a team, to make sure it wasn't obvious who the leaders were.
They didn't have long to decide. The truck barrelled into the thick of them, the team jumping out, guns blazing. Or in Zardelle's case, kicking the door open perfectly timed to flatten a hiver as the truck went past. Between the shock and heavy weapons and the convoy members rallying, we quickly mopped up the rest of them in short order.
There was only one casualty on our side, Catiel reported getting clipped and needing medical attention, but no deaths. So a win in my book. Our unit's medic was already on it. I stayed up top a bit longer, just in case, then gave Katra the nod and trudged down to join the others as they packed up.
Even that short walk was a slog, the fine, polluted ash making everything 10 times harder.
I showed up just in time to hear Zardelle ask the convoy leader, "Why the fuck did you not just cut your losses and drive off?"
He spat on the dirt, "Fucking fried our vehicles somehow. Can't get 'em going, might have to ditch the lot. And don't think just because you helped us, you're off the hook. You're allowed to exist so you can protect our routes."
Zardelle laughed in his face at that. "Yeah? Good luck with that. We saved your hide, and you know it. You should have seen them a mile away; you've got sensors. So don't try lumping this on us. Besides, we keep Glow Gate clear. Outside of it is not on us." She spotted me and waved me over. "Aleric, the trucks are fried. Can you take a look?"
"Got it, boss." Passing my rifle, Katra, I jogged over to the nearest truck. After a bit of squirming, I got into the guts of the machine, the engine and electronics. I would normally remove some of the parts to make life easier, but since we were out in the arse-end of nowhere with none of the right kit. I'd have to make do.
Luckily it was an easy fix, it looked like an EMP and shorted some of the cables. A bit of finagling later, and I had a bodge job in place. It wouldn't last, but it'd get them to town. I voxed Zardelle, then cracked on with the rest, seven in total. I had to shove a few corpses out the way to get access to some sections and some of the controls, but I got it done.
The convoy must have lost a good three-quarters of its guards and two drivers. Any longer and they would have been fully overrun.