Nerat Kirine's Command Squad Captain looked doubtfully at the passage. He could not see anything special about the one his Captain had indicated.
Despite his doubts, he followed Nerat into the passage.
The "Mystery Pryer" advanced, simultaneously sensing the subtle changes around him.
The group proceeded, winding through the labyrinthine passages for a standard hour. This far exceeded the scan results for this section of the ship.
"Have we taken a wrong turn?"
"No!" Nerat denied without hesitation upon hearing the Command Squad Captain's question.
He could intuitively sense that those adult male Q'orl warriors wanted to lure them onto a specific path to spring an ambush.
The Black Emperor had told him the xenos possessed considerable intelligence.
The path he had chosen would thwart the xenos' ambush plot.
"Three o'clock! Fire!"
From around the corner came adult male Q'orl warriors emerging from the diffusing mist. They flew directly into the dense barrage fired by the Astartes.
The appearance of the xenos lifted the spirits of the Nineteenth Legion warriors, casting aside their earlier unease about being lost in the labyrinth.
Adamantium-tipped rounds shredded the xenos' papery outer shells. Bolts detonated within their sacs.
Rat-tat-tat!
What shot towards the Astartes now was no longer air bullets, but dense solid rounds.
The "Mystery Pryer" saw more clearly than the other Astartes, who only saw outlines. The xenos had firearms mounted on biochemical interfaces at the base of their abdomens.
The rounds hammered into the power armor, pitting and denting the ceramite.
The Astartes moved in zigzag patterns, using the side passages as cover as they returned fire.
The adult Q'orl warriors did not need to turn their bodies. Their thoraxes could simply rotate, covering one hundred eighty degrees, firing like rotating turrets.
With a thud, a Command Squad member fell.
These biochemically modified individuals, even with their sacs destroyed, posed a greater threat than the ordinary individuals encountered earlier.
Realizing this, Nerat immediately activated his lightning claws and charged straight into the Q'orl. His energy-field-wreathed claws swung, tearing apart an adult male warrior.
Weaving among the Q'orl, warrior after warrior fell. His movements were swift, and not even the foul slime touched his armor.
The Q'orl noticed the swift figure moving among them. The warriors, split on either side, abandoned the Command Squad members and directed a hail of fire at Nerat.
The "Mystery Pryer" let his psychic intuition guide him. He sidestepped, he surged forward, moving agilely through the storm of bullets.
Nerat carved through the Q'orl ranks. He sensed his Command Squad members following behind him. He did not stop. He could already see the end of the passage ahead, where a chamber lay.
'Elite Q'orl male warriors are guarding something.'
He swung his lightning claws, shredding the xenos in his path, and arrived before a large door.
The roar of bolts sounded behind him. His following Command Squad meant he didn't need to watch his back.
Unlike in the past, Nerat did not immediately resort to breaching charges or melta bombs to blast open the entrance.
Now, he possessed the power bestowed by the Black Emperor.
The "Mystery Pryer" gazed at the xenos runic script on the panel.
The runes were vastly different from Gothic letters, but they were clearly pictographic.
Some had a circle on top, a vertical line below, and slanted lines on the sides, likely representing humans...
The intellect of an Astartes allowed Nerat to take in all the runes in an instant.
The "Mystery Pryer's" eyes deepened as he analyzed and interpreted the Q'orl runic script.
By the time the roar of bolts behind him ceased, he had holstered his bolt pistol and was rapidly tapping on the gelatinous keypad.
Accompanied by the diffusion of cold mist, similar to that emitted from the xenos' sacs, the door slowly opened.
"Navigators! Navigators of House Frank!" the Command Squad Captain exclaimed, stepping beside his Company Captain.
He no longer doubted; they had indeed taken the correct path.
The pale-skinned Navigators stared at them.
One said weakly, "Save... save me!"
"What's wrong with you?" the Command Squad Captain asked.
"I..." the Navigator said stiffly. "It's nothing."
"Nothing? But you just begged for help," the Command Squad Captain asked, puzzled.
Nerat suddenly strode towards the Navigator.
The "Mystery Pryer" shoved him down and tore off his clothes.
The Command Squad Captain was about to stop his Company Captain.
Insulting an Imperially-consecrated, honored Navigator would cause them no small trouble. Lord Horus would reprimand them for their disrespectful behavior.
His gauntlet, reaching for the Captain's arm, stopped mid-air. He saw a maggot attached to the base of the Navigator's spine, close to the nervous system.
It was a fat, bloated maggot. Its two tentacles were deeply embedded in the Navigator's pale flesh.
Its mouthparts were clamped tightly onto the spine. The surrounding pale flesh was a livid purple.
"The xenos used this to control the Navigator," the Command Squad Captain realized.
"Correct," Nerat recalled the information the Black Emperor had given him. "It's called a mind grub."
"Container!"
An Apothecary immediately retrieved a metal canister from his belt.
Following the Company Captain's orders, he had prepared fifteen storage containers in advance.
He pressed a rune. Cold mist dispersed as a section of the canister extended.
Nerat raised his left hand and grabbed the fat maggot.
Deprived of its host, the mind grub angrily emitted a piercing shriek at Nerat.
Nerat placed the maggot into the biological chamber. The Apothecary pressed the rune again before the fat creature could squirm out.
THUD.
The mind grub slammed against the inner metal wall.
"Thank... you..." the surviving Navigator of House Frank said weakly.
He had finally escaped the nightmare.
He never wanted to relive the torment of constantly fighting the intruder with his will, struggling not to let his consciousness sink into the abyss.
"Take him back to the ship," Nerat ordered. Then he looked at a massive stone, taller than himself and three men wide.
The stone was covered in Q'orl runic script arranged in a honeycomb pattern.
A deep-space monolith!
Nerat's eyes gleamed. Both the mind grubs and the deep-space monoliths were items the Black Emperor had specified.
"Take this back."
Two Command Squad members immediately stepped forward and lifted the deep-space monolith.
Nerat then led his Command Squad back into the labyrinth.
Passing through one corridor, he suddenly stopped, pointing at the metal wall.
"Melta bombs!"
Moments later, an explosion echoed. Command Squad members who had advanced some distance looked back.
They saw countless xenos writhing and struggling within a sea of fire. They raised their bolters, firing at the Q'orl desperately crawling out of the flames.
The Command Squad Captain was not surprised, but still glanced at his Company Captain with wonder.
He felt his Company Captain was growing stronger, and wiser too.
Nerat Kirine led his company in boarding one disassembled Q'orl chain-ship after another as they tried to flee. They rescued captured Navigators and brought back spoils.
Only after all the chain-ships in the void had been captured did he halt.
Upon receiving the Shadow Lord' order to stand down and rest, the "Mystery Pryer" began performing prayer rituals in his Captain's quarters, offering the mind grubs and deep-space monoliths to the Black Emperor.
As he mastered the power the Black Emperor bestowed through these offerings, Arkhas Fal issued the order for an orbital assault on Svejk Prime.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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