The Derelict

The ship was drifting, looking serene in the void. The Imperator Somnium approached it, intent on learning the reason for its radio silence. The ship master looked over to the Emperor, waiting for orders.
"I will board it," the Emperor said.
"Alone, my lord?" the ship master, Kaal asked.
"I do not do anything alone," the Emperor said with a smile. "The Primarchs will come with me."
"Of course, lord," Kaal said with his own smile. He knew there was no reason to inform Lord Malcador, who was watching the Primarchs while the Emperor was on the bridge. He and the Primarchs were likely to beat the Emperor to the teleportarium. It was also likely that Lord Valdor would go with as well. Some one had to keep them all safe.

***********************

Kaal was right in assuming that the Primarchs would beat the Emperor to the teleportarium. This was partially because the Emperor had diverted to grab Valdor on his way down. The Primarchs, and Malcador, were wearing environmental suits that were void-sealed. Valdor and the Emperor were both wearing their armor instead. Malcador and Mortarion both looked a bit strange without their hoods in place, though Malcador still had his staff of office with him. It made him look a bit less strange.

Valdor went over first, taking the Lion, Perturabo, Rogal, Ferrus, Mortarion, and Vulkan with him. The seven arrived on the derelict, Ferrus began to scan with his auspex as soon as it was calibrated. 

"There's an atmosphere," he reported. "Seems Terran-standard."

"It's breathable," Mortarion said, having taken his helmet off when Ferrus said there was an atmosphere. The rest of the group took off their helmets, including Valdor. The environmental suits were not made of metal, so their helmets were attached to the suits by straps. 

"Any life-signs?" Valdor asked Ferrus.

"Some," he said. "The ones I'm getting aren't human though. Perhaps some form of zoological transport?" 

"Possibly," Valdor said. "It is safe to come over, my king."

The rest of the Primarchs arrived with the Emperor and Malcador. They all took off their helmets and looked around. 

"It's a large ship, Father," Perturabo said. "Are we going to explore it all together?"

"No," the Emperor said. "We'll split up, and cover more ground."

"How will we split up?" Valdor asked.

"Each of us will take six Primarchs," the Emperor said. Malcador grunted his thoughts, but didn't object. The Lion, Fulgrim, Ferrus, Vulkan, Corvus, and Alpharius went with Valdor to the enginarium. Perturabo, Jaghatai, Konrad, Angron, Magnus, and Lorgar went with Malcador to the crew quarters. Leman, Rogal, Sanguinius, Roboute, Mortarion, and Horus went with the Emperor to the bridge.

"We will meet back here in two hours," the Emperor said. They split up at the first intersection they came to. They had encountered no member of the crew as yet. It left the ship feeling eerie, the Primarchs all kept close to the adults they were with. 

***********************

"Where is everyone?" Fulgrim asked as they entered the enginarium. Ferrus shook his head, his auspex hadn't found any human life-signs. The life-signs of the zoological specimens indicated that they were being held in stasis.

"I do not know," Valdor said. He and Ferrus moved to different consoles to see what they could learn. The engines were functional, but they weren't active. There didn't seem to be any reason behind the shut down. 

"They were in the warp days ago," Ferrus said, reading from a log for the enginarium. "Perhaps their Navigator had a problem?"

"That doesn't account for the absence of the rest of the crew," Corvus pointed out. Ferrus nodded, but no one had an answer. They would have to wait for word from the Emperor to learn anything about the Navigator for the ship. 

"Should we power up the engines?" Vulkan asked.

"No," Valdor said. "Until we know why they are down, we should leave them down."

"Alright," Vulkan said. They left the enginarium with more questions than answers. Their next goal was to check the small apothecarion that would be on board. Perhaps they would find something there.

As they were headed that way, they heard the distinct sound of people running in a hallway that intersected the one they were in. Ferrus checked his auspex, and looked very concerned.

"It's Malcador and his group," he announced. "There's also a specimen following them. I don't recognize the signature."

"Keep running!" Malcador's voice carried down the narrow corridor. Magnus made it to the intersection first, looking terrified. He spotted the other group and ran to Valdor. 

"What is it?" Alpharius asked Magnus.

"A psychneuein," Magnus said. "They're nasty insectoids from Prospero. They plant their eggs in the brains of psykers."

Valdor indicated for the others to get behind him. He had heard of psychneuein and they were quite a problem, even to people who weren't psykers. The rest of Malcador's group made it around the corner, including Malcador himself. They all made it behind Valdor before the psychneuein appeared. He reached for his misericordia, but found it missing. The Lion moved past Valdor, and leaped at the psychneuein, Valdor's misericordia in hand. 

The psychneuein fell dead, the Lion stabbing downward with the knife, cutting it open from head to abdomen. He then cleaned off the misericordia before returning it to Valdor. Valdor gently cuffed him on the shoulder as rebuke. Malcador was leaning against a wall, still catching his breath. 

"Are you alright, Malcador?" Valdor asked.

"If we have to run again, you can carry me like a Bloodbowl ball," Malcador replied. He got his breathing back under control, and re-ignited his staff. He had snuffed out the psyflames so that the psychneuein had less to work with. Magnus had explained that they tracked psychic activity, and his staff had possibly drawn the creature to them.

"Did you find anyone?" Fulgrim asked Perturabo.

"No," Perturabo said. "You guys?"

"No," Fulgrim said. "They were in the warp a few days ago, but the engines are down right now."

"Interesting," Perturabo said. "The crew quarters were abandoned, though we don't know why."

"That's weird," Ferrus said. "The savior pods are still here."

"Father's probably learned something," Magnus said.

****************************

The Emperor had yet to make it to the bridge. They had teleported in a long ways from there. He had also paused his group to access the ship's logs from an intermediary cogitator station. His perusal of the logs weren't yielding up the answers he had wanted.

"They were in the warp two days ago," he muttered, more to himself than to any of the Primarchs.

"Where were they going?" Horus asked. 

"Mealana," the Emperor said. 

"Why did they drop out of the warp here then?" Sanguinius asked. Mealana was several days of warp travel yet from where they were. It made very little sense for the ship to drop out here.

"Maybe there's more information on the bridge," Roboute suggested. 

The Emperor nodded, and they continued on their way. They arrived on the bridge, but the Emperor found no further logs there. They turned to the Navigator's blister, and found that it had been sealed by the ship master. The Emperor input an override, and the door opened.

The Navigator screamed, curling into a ball in the confines of the blister. He was gaunt, as was standard for a Navigator, but he also looked terrified. It seemed almost like he expected to be killed.

"You are in no danger," Sanguinius said, carefully approaching the thin man. 

"Y-y-you aren't h-here to take me?" the man stuttered in his fright. 

"No," Horus said, stepping up beside his brother. "We're trying to learn what happened here."

"W-we need to get out of here," the Navigator stammered.

"Why?" Mortarion asked.

"They r-released a psychneuein," he said.

"A what?" Leman asked. 

"Psychneuein," the Navigator repeated, explaining what it was.

"We have not encountered it," Rogal said. "If it's in the lower decks, the others will likely take care of it."

"Who released it?" the Emperor asked. The Navigator seemed to suddenly realize who the Emperor was, and went to fall on his face.

"Do not bow," the Emperor said. "What is your name?"

"I am Daliem, Waylighter," Daliem said. "I fear that the others of my crew are dead."

"We have found no bodies," Mortarion said.

"They were taken by the ones who released the psychneuein," Daliem said. "I'm not sure who they were, Ship mistress Hali sealed me into my blister so I did not see them."

"What happened?" Roboute asked.

"We were in the warp," Daliem started. "It was smooth, and I followed the light of Terra, and then the ship hit something. It felt like a warp storm, but I don't know what it was. I lost sight of the light, but was able to pull the ship out of the warp. We were boarded, and that's when I was sealed."

"They left no record of themselves," Rogal said, he was also looking through the cogitator logs. "Seems like they were professionals then."

"You believe me?" Daliem asked, surprised.

"Of course," Horus said. "It would be much more unlikely that any Navigator would be able to lie in Father's presence." 

"I heard mention that there were others, Waylighter?" Daliem asked.

"Yes," the Emperor said. "There are two other groups, lower in the ship."

"We need to  make contact with them then," Daliem said hurriedly. "Warn them of the psychneuein."

"Valdor," the Emperor said into his vox.

"Yes, my king?" Valdor's voice came back.

"We have encountered the Navigator of the ship," the Emperor said. "He has warned us of a psychneuein that was released from the specimens."

"Lord Jonson got it," Valdor said without preamble. "Malcador's group encountered it. We are together now, heading to the apothecarion."

"Any sign of other crew?" Sanguinius asked.

"No," Valdor replied.

"Keep looking," the Emperor said. "Daliem says they were forced out of the warp and boarded, but he doesn't know who the boarders were. There may be some sign that the augurs are missing."

"As you command," Valdor said and closed the channel. Daliem relaxed when hearing about the death of the psychneuein.

********************

Valdor turned to the others as he closed the channel. "We are to continue on to the Apothecarion. We have a new goal as well. The ship was boarded, and we are to look for signs of the ones who boarded."

"Is that how the psychneuein escaped?" Magnus asked.

"Most likely," Valdor said. "Your father did not specify that." The large group moved towards the apothecarion. Everyone was paying close attention for signs of boarding, mostly evidence of fighting. 

"Ferrus, Vulkan," Perturabo said at one point. "Come look at this." The other two came over, and looked at the part of the wall that Perturabo was pointing at. They looked over, and then frowned, backing away from the wall.

"What is it?" Lorgar asked.

"Metal fatigue," Ferrus said. "An unusual amount of it."

"Why is that bad?" Angron asked.

"This is the kind of metal fatigue that you would find on a Thunderhawk that needs to be refitted," Vulkan said. "Not what you should find on an internal bulkhead on a deep void hauler."

"Vulkan's right," Valdor said after doing his own assessment. He wasn't as versed in metallurgy as Perturabo, Ferrus, and Vulkan; but he knew quite a bit. 

"Would it have a catastrophic failure if I punched it?" Angron asked.

"Not catastrophic," Perturabo said. "At least, I don't think so."

Angron punched the wall, revealing the body of a ship fly on his knuckles. Malcador went to look over, and got squirted in the eye with a stream of water. He backed away sharply.

"Where's that coming from?" Lorgar asked.

"There's a water storage tank on the other side of that wall," Ferrus said, checking on his auspex. They all began to back away. Cracks began to spread from the small breach, increasing the flow of water. A large chunk of wall gave way, causing a flood of water to crash into the group. Everyone went sprawling, tumbling in the flow. 

Valdor managed to get ahead of the others, swimming with the current. He got his feet close enough to engage the magnets in his boots. Vulkan slammed into Valdor first, he grabbed the dark Primarch and hooked him to his auramite. Malcador came next, groaning in pain as his right shoulder got pressed up against Valdor. Malcador's staff was snagged on the handle of a hatch Valdor suspected held the section's medikit, the psyflames were still going, looking eerie under the water.  The other Primarchs followed after Malcador, whose shoulder was dislocated, each of them grabbing on to Valdor, or each other if they needed. The tank emptied to below the point of the breach before too long, and the water level dropped as it flowed further down the hall. Everyone relaxed, save Vulkan who sagged where he was attached to Valdor's armor.

"Vulkan?" Corvus asked, concerned. Valdor detached Vulkan, setting him on the floor. Vulkan wasn't breathing, having swallowed a large amount of water. Corvus teared up, trying not to cry.

"Come over here, Corvus," Malcador said gently. Corvus moved away from the rest of the group, and then vanished into the shadow walk. Malcador turned towards the Lion. "Is he still with us?"

"Yes," the Lion said. "I'll make sure he stays." With that the Lion stepped over to where Corvus was, simply standing next to his brother. He was unsure of what to do, he knew he couldn't fill the role that Vulkan had played for Corvus.

Valdor worked on Vulkan, compressing the Primarch's chest to try and force the water from his lungs. He then adjusted to breathe for Vulkan, only to get squirted in the face by Vulkan beginning to spit up water. Vulkan's coughing was joined briefly by Valdor's sputtering. Corvus heard it, and dropped out of the shadow walk, one hand balling into a fist. The Lion grabbed Corvus, preventing him from rushing at Vulkan.

"Let go, Lion. I'm going to punch him," Corvus said. The Lion held firm. 

"Let him go, Lion" Malcador said with a smile. "I doubt he's going to actually punch Vulkan." 

The Lion let go, and Corvus charged forward. As if to spite what Malcador had said, Corvus did punch Vulkan in the arm. This was followed by the most un-Corvus like thing the others had ever seen: Corvus hugged Vulkan. 

"What was in that water?" Vulkan asked, returning the hug. "It's done something to Corvus."

"You scared me," Corvus accused. "I couldn't let that go, but I also can't seem to be angry with you."

"Was there anything in that water?" Fulgrim asked, looking to Ferrus. Ferrus was looking at his water-logged auspex unit sadly.

"I don't know," Ferrus said. "I won't be able to fix this until we get back to the Imperator Somnium."

"Jaghatai, Angron, and Magnus, can you three help me?" Malcador asked. The three Primarchs nodded and waited for Malcador to tell them what he wanted. "Jaghatai, please get my staff. Angron, Magnus, can you get my shoulder back in place?"

"Of course," the three Primarchs chorused. Jaghatai trotted over to where Malcador's staff was. Magnus held Malcador steady while Angron pushed his arm back into place. There was a popping sound, and it was done. Jaghatai handed Malcador his staff. 

"Is everyone ready to move on?" Valdor asked. It was clear that everyone was alright at that point. They all indicated their readiness to go, and they slogged towards the Apothecarion.

*************************

Daliem was proving to be an excellent guide. He said he needed something to do when the ship was traveling in realspace. The enginseer was often glad of Daliem's help. This was a bit rare for a Navigator, as they were considered to be mutants by the majority of the Imperium. 

"What was the name of this ship?" Rogal asked. "She's not broadcasting any ident signals." 

"She's Dragon's Horde, lord," Daliem said with a smile.

"She's well loved," Rogal said. He seemed quite happy with that. Many of the other Primarchs nodded their agreement. Daliem had relaxed greatly around the Primarchs, but was still in awe with the Emperor. 

"There was lasfire here," Horus said, pointing to a blackened patch on the wall they were approaching.

"True," the Emperor said. It was not the first sign they had found of the boarding, but this was the first sign of weapons. This made Daliem look around nervously.

"It's alright, Daliem," Sanguinius said. "You're with us. If anyone is still aboard, we can protect you."

"That is appreciated, lord," Daliem said with a hint of a smile. They were headed to the Apothecarion to meet up with the others. As they got closer, they found standing water on the floor.

"This is unusual," Daliem said, indicating the water on the floor. "I wonder what happened."

"Interesting," Roboute said. They noticed the metal fatigue later on. 

"Could this be the work of ferrites?" Leman asked. Ferrites were an evolution of termites that ate metal. Ferrus was more afraid of them than Roboute was.

"Perhaps," Daliem said. "We've had problems with the pests before."

"That's never good," Mortarion said. "They are very hard to get rid of completely."

"True, lord," Daliem said. The floor was wetter here, as if water had flowed there.

"Seems one of the water storage tanks was breached," the Emperor said. Sanguinius was walking carefully, happy he hadn't been there when the torrent came through.

"Do you think it got to the others?" Roboute asked.

"I don't know," the Emperor said. "I haven't heard from them, so it's possible that they missed it."

"I somehow doubt that," Sanguinius said. Leman nodded his agreement.

"They have Angron with them," Leman said. "He's like a magnet for trouble."

"That was unnecessary," the Emperor said, though he was smiling. It wasn't actually true, but Angron did tend to find himself in trouble.

"Valdor," The Emperor said into the vox. "Have you made it to the Apothicarion yet?" 

"Yes, my king," Valdor answered. "There was fighting here, but still no crew beyond the Navigator you found."

"We will be there momentarily," the Emperor said. "Do you know anything about the water we have found throughout the halls?"

"There was a ship fly," Valdor said. "Angron killed it, and created a small hole in a water tank. You may yet find the wall where the failure occurred."

"Is everyone alright?" the Emperor asked.

"Yes," Valdor said. "We can give you more details when you arrive, my king."

"Indeed," the Emperor said. 

"I told you that they would find trouble because of Angron," Leman said.

"Father!" the twelve Primarchs chorused as the Emperor and his group entered the Apothecarion. Valdor and Malcador both bowed to the Emperor. Daliem seemed to be getting overwhelmed with the situation. The Emperor and six Primarchs was one thing, but there were more Primarchs, a Custodian, and the Sigillite.

"This is Daliem," Horus said, introducing him to the others. "The Navigator for the Dragon's Horde."

"I like the name of the ship," Vulkan said. "I am Vulkan, and I love dragons."

"Then it is an honor to have you aboard, lord," Daliem said. Vulkan smiled, he was completely dry, despite the others still being wet.

"Why are you the only dry one, Lord Vulkan?" Daliem asked after a moment.

"My body temperature is higher than my brothers," Vulkan said. "This means that I dry faster than them."

"He nearly drowned," Corvus said, standing next to Vulkan. He had been staying as close to Vulkan as he could since the water incident.

"It is very good to know that he did not, lord," Daliem said. He would have felt quite abashed to have a son of the Waylighter die on his ship.

"Primarchs don't die easily," Vulkan said with a smile. Daliem returned the smile, and relaxed a bit.

"You especially," Corvus said.

"True," Vulkan said with a chuckle.

"This was not the relaxing trip off Terra I was promised," Malcador gripped to the Emperor. 

"How so?" the Emperor asked.

"I got chased by a psychneuein for starters," Malcador said. "Then Angron caused a flood, and I ended up with my shoulder dislocated."

"That does sound bad," Sanguinius said.

"How did your shoulder get dislocated?" Mortarion asked.

"My staff got snagged in the handles for a hatch," Malcador said. "I tried to hold on to it, but the current was too strong just then."

"My apologies, Lord Sigillite," Daliem said with a deep bow.

"There is no need to apologize, Daliem," Malcador said. "Angron was the one who made the breach, and i already punished him."

"How so?" the Emperor asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He had to reset my shoulder," Malcador said with a smile. 

"What are we going to do now?" Ferrus asked the Emperor.

"Do we know if there are any other loose specimens?" the Emperor asked, thinking.

"Not that I can tell," Valdor said. The Emperor turned to Ferrus, who held out his damaged auspex forlornly.

"It got water-logged from the tank," Ferrus said. "I can't fix it here."

"We can fix it together back on the Imperator Somnium," the Emperor said. Ferrus smiled, happy to get to work with the Emperor. The Lion shook his head when the Emperor looked at him; he didn't sense anything near.

"We have yet to determine who boarded," Valdor said. Malcador nodded his agreement, he wanted something out of this adventure to make up for the unpleasant parts of it.

"That may be better determined aboard the Imperator Somnium," the Emperor said. "They clearly did not remain in the area."

"True," Perturabo said. "The Dragon's Horde doesn't have the scanners needed to check for a warp translation."

"She was only ever meant for merchant runs," Daliem said. "What will happen to my ship?"

"We can bring a small crew over from the Imperator Somnium," the Emperor said. "They will work with you to complete your voyage to Mealana, then bring you and the ship to Terra."

"That is most generous of you, Waylighter," Daliem said. "Will other crew be found for Dragon's Horde?"

"Yes, you will pick them up at Terra," the Emperor said. "Though that will be after a proper refit."

"Naturally, Waylighter," Daliem said, he seemed quite happy that his ship wasn't going to be decommissioned. The Emperor made arrangements with the ship master of the Imperator Somnium and a crew was brought over. There were several enginseers that came with them to fix the breach, and to determine the cause of the metal fatigue. The Emperor and the others went back to the Imperator Somnium.

*************************

"My lord," the communications officer addressed the Emperor. He looked up from the work bench that he and Ferrus were occupying. "We have received a strange report from the enginseers we sent to Dragon's Horde."

"What did they find?" the Emperor asked.

"They say that the metal was aged by something," the officer said. "There's no evidence of a ferrite infestation."

"That is interesting," the Emperor said. "Any evidence of how the metal was aged?"

"Not as yet, lord," the other man said. "Should we pull the crew back?"

"No," the Emperor said. "The level of metal fatigue seemed to be stable. That means that it is unlikely to recur after repairs to the ship are finished."

"As you will, my lord," the officer said and closed the channel.

"How could it be aged?" Ferrus asked as the Emperor rejoined him.

"I'm not sure," the Emperor said. "There may have been hrud aboard."

"Those are the weird shadow creatures right?" Ferrus asked. They had been told about the hrud, but not much was known about them.

"Yes," the Emperor said. Very little was known about the hrud, and it seemed unusual for there to be one with the pirates, but it was possible.

"I don't recall scanning one," Ferrus said. "However, it could have been hiding out of range. Or come over from the boarding ship."

"That could be," the Emperor said. "We will need to scan both our ship and Dragon's Horde to see if it even is a hrud."

"Fair enough," Ferrus said. "Are we going to finish this first?"

"Of course," the Emperor said with a chuckle. They completed the repairs, the Emperor sneaking in some enhancements for Ferrus to find later, and then headed to the strategium. 

"Have you detected any unusual life-signs aboard either ship?" the Emperor asked the ship master.

"No, lord," Ship master Kaal said. "Nothing unusual aboard either ship. May I ask why you ask?"

"There is the possibility of a hrud having been present on Dragon's Horde," the Emperor said.

"I most certainly hope we do not have any of those nasty parasites aboard," Kaal said. He had encountered a hrud infestation once before he became ship master of the Imperator Somnium, and had seen several of his men aged to death prematurely. "We shall start scanning at once."

"Excellent," the Emperor said. The scan took a few moments, but no hrud was found.

"Could it possibly have been a boarder?" Horus asked, he had been in the strategium when the Emperor and Ferrus arrived.

"That is possible, but not very likely," the Emperor said. "Though it could be that someone has determined a way to replicate the entropic fields that they produce. It would make a very powerful weapon."

"True," Ferrus said. He was happy that there wasn't a hrud on the Imperator Somnium, they were almost worse than ferrites. Ferrites were specific to metal, but hrud affected everything. 

"The Dragon's Horde is requesting permission to depart," the comms officer reported.

"It is granted," the Emperor said and they watched Dragon's Horde slide away from the Imperator Somnium and restart her voyage to Mealana.