The End is the Beginning

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+++++Thought for the Day: "Every lone spirit doubts his strength."

+++++Time Remaining: null +15 hours

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+++++Transmission Terminated

A steady stream of rain fell from an overcast sky. The evening was early, but much of the village folk of Ponyville retired early this night. The soft splashes raining down on the rooftops created a calm atmosphere that lulled the citizens to slumber. This was the beginning of a typical autumn night. Time proceeded its usual course when a flash of lightning interrupted the peace.

A new sound is added to the ambiance, the quiet boom of distant thunder rumbling into the scene. Quickly, the noise diminished and was accepted to be a normal weather phenomenon, but was swiftly followed by another flash and boom. More lightning strikes pounded into the distance, far beyond the Everfree forest, gaining in frequency with every minute. Only the curious postponed their sleep to observe this bizarre event from the safety of their homes.

In but a few short moments, the thunder started to sound more like a distant battle than a typical lighting show. The sky above the lightning impacts were stained with ethereal hues, a cacophony of shrill and strident screams mixed with the boiling thunder. The residents of Ponyville looked into the distance with wonder and fear for strange and terrifying noise flooding the ambiance. Only after the storm seems to have reached its apex, did the lightning strikes ceased. The rumbling thunder began to calm and the weather resumed its normal schedule of gentle rain.

Many moments passed before the last observer wrenched her eyes from the window. Slowly climbing back into bed, recollecting what she had just witnessed, Twilight Sparkle asked herself the same question everypony was asking that very moment: 'What in Celestia's name was that?!"

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Colonel Constantine awoke to find himself surrounded by darkness. He realized that he was on his back and proceeds to get up, but his joints partially refused the command. When he thought he was sitting up, his vision did not improve as the absence of light masked everything from view. Rain was falling overhead; he looked up to see the dim light of stars through patches in an uneven canopy of some sort. Almost as if he was in a forest.

Suddenly he realized that in fact this was a forest and the sky was as no longer filled with the luminous colors of the warp storm. He looked up again and felt the cool droplets of rain hit his mask. Excitement filled his heart as his joints relented and allowed him to stand. But then he took in his surroundings, his joy sinking as he stared into the darkness of the forest. Quickly his joy was replaced by uncertainty as he stumbled on the uneven earth. There were only a few classes of planets that are known to have such a dense abundance of growth. The one on the top of his mind were Death worlds; an entire planet covered in forest; from the hot steaming jungles to the cold thick temperate; where every animal was a carnivore and every plant was poisonous; such was the nature of a Death world.

A red flash began to emit from the distance. He held out a hand to shield the light as a silhouette of someone approached him.

"Colonel Constantine Sir?" Asked the silhouette.

"Doctor Graff?" Replied Constantine.

As Graff approached, he noticed the flare stick he was holding.

"Where did you find that?"

"Got it from the emergency kit on board the Chimera, Enginseer Voltis is working on restoring the search light so we can get a proper look about this place."

"Wait, the Chimera and Voltis are here too?"

As if on cue the search lights from the Chimera flashed on, illuminating the portion of the forest. The ground was littered with unconscious guardsmen, but it wasn't them that fascinated the Colonel, for there seem to be debris everywhere they looked. Freight containers, pallets, creates and parts of the hangar are everywhere; several of the trees appeared uprooted as if knocked over by the foreign objects. Several of the unconscious guardsmen began to stir when the search light passed over them.

"By Terra's golden throne, what happened to this place?"

"Your guess is as good as ours Sir," Graff snapped. "Now if you excuse me, I've got wounded guardsmen to attend to."

Constantine left Graff to his duties and made his way towards the Chimera, continuing to observe the surroundings. While he remembered the abundance of ordinance before the Deathstrike missile detonated, he didn't quite remember the quantity of the freight containers. Perhaps they were from one of the other hangars adjacent to the one that stored the ammunition; if so, a thorough inventory should be undertaken before anything else can be done. Then again, the forest isn't quite an ideal location to establish a makeshift base. The cover is technically great, but a clear terrain would be better for organization and early warning.

Putting these thoughts to the side as he approached the Chimera, he overheard a bit of the conversation between the Enginseer and driver.

"The treads are buried in the mud and will take a considerable amount of time to clear. Apart from that, the Machine Spirit is injured; the engine's condition will have to be diagnosed before attempting activation. Voltis spoke in fatigued, but re-energized tone as he returns to his element.

"You do what you can," replied the driver. "The sooner we get this beast moving the better."

When the Colonel approached, the driver gave him a salute.

"Dale, 49th mechanized division, at your service Sir."

"Glad to hear Dale, we can skip the formalities. There are more important issues that need to be rectified before we return to protocol."

Dale retracts the salute.

"So, for a moment I thought we were all dead, until Graff started knocking on my door. Would you happen to know what the Throne is going on here?"

"A mystery to us all I'm afraid. What I can say for certain is that we are no longer on Medusa. Where we reside now is most likely a better place, but we cannot let our guard down now that the immediate danger passed. We must assume we are on a dangerous world until proven otherwise."

"I suppose that means we should keep our re-breather's on then."

"Indeed, there's no telling if the micro organisms of this world are harmful to us, best be safe than dead."

"Just like in Meekion Station?"

Constantine winced at the mention of that slime pit. Meekion was an orbital mining colony that had a unique eco-system within the continent sized hab-modules; unique being a polite euphemism to describe the place. The 82nd Vendolant were only there for a few weeks as their host fleet stopped for resupply, but the acquisition of said supplies was less than pleasant. Assisting Navy personnel inside the disease ridden labyrinth, the regiment was required to wear protection gear for the entire duration of their visit, even when in their own sanitized stations so there would be absolutely no chance to receive any of the contagious respiratory sicknesses that infest the station.

"Don't remind me of that foul place."

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In only a few moments, the surrounding area was well lit by a variety of light sources. Of course there was the search light from the Chimera plus scattered uses of flares, but the one to quickly overwhelm the shadows were the lamp fixtures that had once been part of the hangar ceiling. Swiftly following the logic that they and the immediate vicinity were transported with them, Enginseer Voltis tasked himself to restoring these lights. With the help of his servo skull servants, the lamps were fixed to several of the low branches of the forest canopy.

A single belch from a mortar tube was heard as heavy weapons personnel launch a probing round into the sky. The pict device within the shell should provide a sense of orientation as to where they are once the device returned to earth. Briggs was standing ready with Alicia and Mathias, his master vox ready to render the information. Constantine observed this from a distance as the Commissar approached him.

"Exactly twenty of us are left," informed Commissar Holt as he returns to his advising role. "However, Karos is unconscious at the moment, Graff is diagnosing his condition, but his physical well-being seems satisfactory."

Like most of the guardsmen, Commissar Holt was quick to shake off confusion and disorientation. All these years of service have trained them to adapt to new environments on a whim, although not as swiftly as such, but within human tolerance. After coming to his senses, Holt proceeded to begin a head count of those that are still alive. With a precise number of able guardsmen, they can begin dividing labor or send out recon elements to scout out the new world.

"There are about a dozen dead. No one squad is complete, every guardsmen appears to be a sole survivor of his/her squad. I have the specifics if you wish to know the details."

"We can mourn our loses another time. For now we must regain our bearings. I need an inventory of everything we've got and a reconnaissance mission must be conducted immediately." Constantine looked around for a place to begin and spotted the Sentinel parked by the Chimera.

"Spread the word and find volunteers to start a thorough inventory while I seek recruits for reconnaissance."

"As you will it Sir."

He parted from the Commissar to check up on the Sentinel and her driver. With the vehicle's agility and protection, more ground will be covered than infantry. Constantine approached Verticora who was pre-occupied with removing the splinters of metal left over from the barrage that blasted off part of the hull.

"Sergeant Verticora I presume?" Constantine inquired.

"Yes Sir, have something for me?" replied Verticora as he chiseled off more metal.

"Indeed so, I would like for you and you’re Sentinel to volunteer for a mission."

"Certainly Sir, hopefully not a mission that requires an Armoured Sentinel," Verticora let a malformed plate of metal fall from above for emphasis.

"A Scout Sentinel will be sufficient for the job; the nature of the mission is reconnaissance. It will be in our best interests if we find out more of this world. Your primary mission is to find out where the forest ends, secondary objectives would be to find civilization, Imperial or xeno if at all; the manner in which you deal with either is discretionary."

Constantine paused to let the details sink into Verticora. After a brief silence, he acknowledged.

"Mission accepted," Verticora replied with a hint of enthusiasm. "When do I ship out Sir?"

"In a moment, once I consult the team that launched a probe moments ago, we'll have a vector for you to follow."

Before Verticora made his move, Briggs approached them with the results from their findings.

"Sir, we have sighted a mountain range towards that direction," Briggs pointed out towards said direction as he spoke. "We estimate that it is around 100 or so kilometers distance."

"Thank you Briggs, is there anything else we should know about?"

"Nothing as of yet Sir. The weather impairs most of the auspex sensors, these two land marks were all we can make out from the blurred returns."

"Well, you heard him Sergeant, make your way to the mountain range and report your findings, I will ask Voltis to send one of his servants with you so we never lose contact with you when you leave vox range."

"Yes Sir." Verticora said with a little nervousness.

Just like their decent from orbit, Verticora was slightly worried about what he may find in the unknown. If this were a Death World, he would flatly refuse to go alone. But there has yet been an incident regarding the new world, so his nervousness was put aside with optimism.

"Now you be a brave little servo skull and obey your new transitory master." Verticora overheard Voltis soothing the machine. He would be laughing if it weren't for his curiosity to finally figure out the name of the servo skull.

"Your directive is overwatch Agrippa, maintain designation protocol and don't startle the human."

It took a moment for Verticora to prepare himself, but once he'd finished cleaning off the metallic remnants of his repair, he disappeared into the forest followed by the servo skull designated 'Agrippa'. Before the heavy thumps of the Sentinel's locomotion faded, Constantine was approached with more news.

"There also seems to be an area of interest significantly closer that should be investigated as well," Briggs mentioned shortly after Verticora's departure.

With that, Constantine resumed his search for volunteers; Briggs was close behind, trying to refine the results from the probe. The Chimera was still grounded, so he will have to look for the next best thing. He spotted a group of guardsmen who have yet to hear from the Commissar's rally to begin an inventory and approached them. They rose when he was within proximity.

"May I ask for your names?" Constantine said, repeating the tone as he did with Verticora.

"Brennr, 12th Light Infantry."

"Raf, 9th Missile Team."

"Korin, 21st .Recon."

"Excellent, just the variety I need. I will like to employ you for a mission of utmost importance. You will be informed on the specifics if you choose to accept."

"Sir yes Sir!" The three said in unison.

"I'm glad to see your enthusiasm. The mission is reconnaissance of a landmark our probes picked up, your mission will be to scout out the area of interest."

"What is the nature of this landmark?" Korin asked as she hoisted her vox caster.

"I'll let you try to explain, Briggs."

"Of course Sir. The site appears to have an unnatural arrangement of rock formations. The coherency of which doesn't suggest a complete structure, it could just be a geological anomaly of perhaps a xeno presence. The latter being the sole reason why it is in our best interest to explore this phenomenon."

When Briggs finished, Constantine and the three guardsmen were intrigued by the mission.

"Point out the direction and we're there," Brennr exclaimed with eagerness.

"If you can manage to head straight that way," Briggs pointed the same manor he had done for Verticora, "you will eventually come across the edge of a cliff. From there, you should be able to find it, if you travel along the edges."

"We would like for you to stay together in one piece," Constantine added. "If we are on a non-Imperial world, losses of any sort will be unacceptable. In the event that you encounter anything along the way, it is at your discretion on which method you choose to deal with it. With that said, I would like to keep conflicts down to an absolute minimum. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, Sir," Raf said as he slinging his missile launcher.

"I'm serious, unforeseen consequences is not on my agenda."

"It's dangerous to go unprepared Sir. It is only for assurance, in case there is something legit dangerous in the forest."

"Very well, I trust your judgment. Good luck and vox a report back to me as soon as you get there."

"You will have it Sir."

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It has been a couple hours since Verticora's departure from the arrival site. Thankfully the rain has ceased, making room the moonlit night. Even in the dense forest, the radiance from the moon provided a somewhat visible path for the Sentinel, if he wasn't already using the infrared filters his vehicle provided. Occasionally he would look behind him to see if his servo skull was still following him. Surely enough, his companion was still hovering behind him, at a range somewhere between tagging along and stalking.

'So, Agrippa was the shy one,' Verticora thought to himself. 'I wish he would keep up and not lurk behind me like that.'

The further he traveled from his comrades, the more penetration the darkness had on his nerves. Looking behind him soon became out of the question, not wanting to see the skull glare back at him from the distance. Cursing the claustrophobic atmosphere caused by the dense forest, the Sentinel all of a sudden found even ground. Verticora commanded his mount to halt as he examined the path he stumbled upon. Agrippa caught up and floated ahead, also staring at the path way.

"Let us see where this leads to Agrippa," Verticora said to the faithful skull. "You lead the way this time."

For the next several minutes, the two navigated the length of the trail until the wall of vegetation became too thick and narrow for the Sentinel to navigate. Verticora stopped for a moment to contemplate on whether or not he wanted to go on. He had already deviated enough from his course, but his curiosity to where this path lead conflicted with his doubt.

Remembering what the Colonel said regarding secondary his objective, he determined that it was his duty to investigate what lies beyond this road less traveled. The darkness feels strange and unnatural here. Many of the low branches obstructed his view, and pushing his Sentinel through would very likely snag itself in the dense plant life. The servo skull made an impatient beep sound and Verticora made his decision.

He dismounted the Sentinel and resumed his investigation on foot. Holding a las-pistol ahead of him, he carefully advanced up the road. No longer using the visual filters provided by the Sentinel, his helmet’s built in flashlight served as an acceptable alternative. Moonlight no longer penetrates the forest canopy here, as the thick vegetation overwhelmed the terrain. The shadows seem to be having an effect on his sense, turning minutes into hours. Before him, the road began to make awkward turns; a sharp right turn immediately turning back left. Agrippa began to lag behind; he paused, letting the skull catch up. The path ended with a natural archway formed by the trees, hiding the area behind the threshold in darkness. His light was unable to penetrate beyond the dark veil.

"Agrippa, go on ahead and see if it's safe. Beep twice if it’s all clear, if not beep thrice."

Reluctantly, the servo skull drifted into the archway, leaving Verticora alone in the dark. Pointing his las-pistol ahead, his head turned sharply at each of his flanks, the light from his helmet reacted to the sudden jerks revealing nothing behind the shadows. He was beginning to think it was a terrible idea to investigate this path when he heard the humming noise from the Agrippa's propulsion mechanisms. Looking back to the archway he saw the servo skull zoomed right past him. The lack of a response from the machine worried him and his instinct begged him to follow suit; but what's in there that cause such a fearful reaction? He looked behind him, expecting to see his companion, but Agrippa was nowhere to be found. The servo skull has abandoned him, he was now completely alone.

Verticora’s fears began to rise, forcing him to look forward, terrified of what lurks in the darkness. Deep beyond the archway, a faint sound like roots ripping from the ground reached his ears. Two dim red dots blinked open in the shadows from a considerable distance. A high pitched buzzing prickled the back of his head when he realized the red eyes were moving closer. Slowly, whatever vessel was holding these abyssal orbs, crunched towards Verticora. Stunned with terror, he stood absolutely still, the buzzing gradually getting louder as the thing approached. His trance was only broken when he heard a voice, a whisper of like an icicle piercing his heart, similar to that of the dead on Medusa.

“The curse has befell her this very night,” said a plaintive echo from beyond. "She had to die."

What curse? Who died? These thoughts rushed though Verticora’s mind as he tried to move, but his limbs stood rooted to the spot. Staring into the abyss, he began to make out the outlines of the thing approaching his position, the red eyes growing as the creature moved with inevitable purpose. He could almost hear the cold wheezing as it moved under the archway right in front of him, but still hidden under the dark shroud.

Rushing back to his senses, Verticora turned tail and fled, refusing to stick around for it to be revealed by the light. Praying to the Emperor that this horrible thing wasn’t following him; the buzzing noise in his head suggested otherwise. He sneaked a quick glance behind his shoulder and saw several more pairs of red eyes behind him.

‘Oh, Throne! There are more of them!’

Zigzagging his way through the awkward path, he continues to hear more uprooting sounds along the edges of the road as if it were reacting to his presence. His flight became more frantic as he saw more of those creatures emerging from the blighted earth from the corners of his vision. The persistent buzzing seemed to have quiet down when he felt he put enough distance between himself and those monsters. His retreat was halted when he discovered his way was barred by a fallen tree. Verticora hadn’t recalled such a thing as large as a tree was eroded enough to break his first time walking through.

His head buzzed ever louder, almost deafening and he felt within his soul that something grim was rapidly approaching. Unwittingly, he turned to face the entity, limbs acting on their own accord. No longer under the veil of darkness, the thing entered the radiance of the light from Verticora’s helmet. To his horror, the creatures following him were worse than he imagined. Revealed before him is a black skeletal husk on four legs covered in blighted dead skin. Eye sockets, empty as the void, entombed a hellish glow that locked its gaze upon Verticora.

“Don’t be afraid, we’ll protect you. Forever!” gnarled the sickly voice of the dead.

“Fear is naught; my faith is strong xeno scum!”  Verticora yelled, firing a single shot of lasfire into the closest undead creature.

The skeleton recoiled from the shot, but didn't fall. Echoing in the surroundings, the blast from the las-pistol temporary stopped their advance. A newfound bravery ignited within Verticora’s heart; regaining full control of his limbs he scaled the height of the trunk and resumed his retreat.

“All we ever wanted was friendship, moaned the abyssal voice.

Stopping for no one, Verticora ran for his life. The sounds of his own footsteps’ crunching the fallen leafs replaced the buzzing within his skull. Back under the light of the moon, he spots his Sentinel in the entrance of the path. Joyful of being back with something familiar and powerful, he made no delay on activating his mount once again. Thankful for no other mishaps, the Sentinel began its stride, putting distance between him and that terrible place.

Many moments passed before calm returned to Verticora, he began to wonder about where Agrippa might be. His worry was replaced with anger at the thought of that servo skull for abandoning him to those things.

‘That cowardly machine could go spike itself for all I care,’ he thought viciously.’

Remembering the function that was imposed upon it, he abandoned his vengeful thinking. ’Agrippa’s my only way to get back to the regiment. I suppose I should go look for it.’

Once again, Verticora returned to his original mission before the disastrous detour. Undisturbed, he navigated through the forest until a revelation dawned on him.

‘Wait. How was I able to understand them?’

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Brennr, Raf and Korin had been on the journey for several hours. Navigating passed the river a couple kilometers back was strangely simple. The only obstacle was the uneasiness they felt as if they were being watched. Even though that sensation persisted throughout the length of the mission, the feeling was less than subtle in the river. Something underwater was very aware of the team disturbing the calm stream. Holding their las-guns, or missile launcher, above their heads, they crossed the river without incident. To control their moods, they passed the time by sharing tales from past missions.

“Then he said, ‘I am so ready. I’ve been locked on this guy’s left eye for ten minutes’,” laughed Korin, recalling one of her deep strike missions.

“Then all of a sudden the squad leader said, ‘safe those weapons. We have to wait till next pass. Somebody moved!’ It took another five hours before we got our next opportunity!”

Quietly, they laughed at the unfortunate timing. It was common knowledge to assume recon teams had to excel at patience more than anything, but when patience turns into endurance, everyone gets their share of laughs in the after action reports. Even the team actually conducting the mission will get caught in with the humor after they get over the embarrassment.

“If you think that’s funny, you should hear about the Commissar Hale’s wardrobe malfunction,” Raf added with relish.

They found the ravine Briggs mentioned, but no note worth landmark as of yet. The rain had stopped, but a slight fog was dampening their view. Across the chasm, they could make out a faint outline of the other side.

“Well, I guess we should spread out and look for a way across. Surely there must be someplace where the two sides connect or a natural bridge,” said Korin, getting back on task.

“Or maybe an unnatural one,” added Brennr, pointing at an area up the way.

Consolidating at the spot pointed out by Brennr, ahead was a carrick a rede bridge. An old one, but appeared to have been used in recent years, judging by the noticeably different knots used by each end. The three guardsmen stood before it, staring with amazement.

“When we get back, we need to tell the Colonel that we are not alone on this world,” Raf said quietly.

“Before we do such a thing, we need to see what’s across. This might be the very outskirts of the site he wanted us to scout out,” replied Korin with unanimous agreement from the other two.

Cautiously, they crossed the bridge one at a time. The fog was less dense across the chasm and by the time they had formed up on the other side, what stood before them were the ruins of an ancient stronghold.  Obviously abandoned centuries ago, the walls seemed to be the only part of the structure that had withstood the eons of neglect. After a closer look, gaps in the wall indicated that there had once been windows and the interior wall was lined with stone columns. Passed the central structure, a tower appeared to be mostly intact with the ceiling still holding.

Shock and awe was the initial reaction from the guardsmen. The architecture was so simple in design, yet sophisticated by the amount of detail that survived the centuries of erosion. Despite the complexity of the structure, there is no imprint of the civilization that had constructed the castle. It could have easily been assumed that humans had fabricated it, but they would have known by now if there were had been colonists on this planet.

Beyond the front gate appeared to be the foyer, at the end was what looked like a monument. It was a very simple piece of art; a marble sphere held up by a wide base with five arms originating from where the sphere contacts the base. Due to the markings or the lack of, the reconnaissance team was as clueless as ever. The Imperium was rarely subtle when it comes to decorations; one could easily tell at a glance what a single symbol can represent. The Imperial Aquila. Still, the lack of an Imperial Aquila doesn't automatically mean that is was not human. Lost colonies are always being found, each with varying degrees of compliance issues.

Assuming this is a xenos structure, the question remains the same; where are they now? What could have warranted a structure as magnificent as such to be abandoned? They were no xeno-archaeologists, but the environment couldn’t have been that different centuries ago. Not even evidence of conflict suggest reasons for abandonment, there is no sign of intentional destruction, no instruments of war. Everything seems to have eroded in peace. The idea of such a thing was foreign to the three guardsmen finding themselves at that conclusion.

“Alright, I think we’ve seen enough,” concluded Brennr after it was obvious that they would not find any occupants within the structure.

“Agreed,” replied Korin, “I’m going to vox back to the Colonel and consult with him our next task.”

“Looks like you’ll get a better signal from an elevated position,” Raf pointed towards the tower behind the main structure. “It would make an excellent vantage point if things get dicey.”

Slowly and purposefully, the guardsmen followed the flight of stairs up the tower. Treading carefully, so not to disturb the masonry incase it too was eroded. Thankfully the structure proved stable, as they reached the end of the stairs. This room was intriguing as the foyer; this chamber looked very familiar, as if it were a throne room. Even though there was no throne present, every column, every window frame revolved around a single vantage inside the chamber.

Korin began to establish a comm. link to the regiment while Raf and Brennr, explored the contents of the room.

“Union, epsilon, variable; 42nd provisional reconnaissance voxing forward command,” Korin reciting voxcode, author and destination.

Raf and Brennr stood by the window overlooking the scenery. Passed the horizon, faint rays of light were beginning to spill into the night. Dawn was approaching.

“Union, epsilon, variable; this is the 42nd provisional reconnaissance voxing forward command,” Korin recited again. “Acknowledge, over?”

“This is Commissar Holt responding. Report your findings.”

“This is Korin, reporting that we have reached our destination. Where is Colonel Constantine if I may ask.”

“He has busied himself with something of great importance. Have you encountered anything of strategic value at your location?”

“Yes Sir, we have discovered an abandoned structure. It is primitive and resembles that of a castle ruins. There are no occupants within the ruins.”

“Thank you for the report. Begin making you way back to us. I will let the Colonel know once he returns from his excavation.”

“Just out of curiosity, what is the Colonel excavating?”

“Something for the Lieutenant to pilot.”

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During the time both recon teams had been away, remnants of the Imperial Guard had been conducting a thorough inventory of the debris that transported with them. Apparently there was much more than just the assumed ordinance, but a large assortment of materials as well. Ranging from construction materials like concrete and sheet metals; to electronic equipment, display monitors and command consoles; and everything in between,

Later they assumed the hangar next to the ammunition warehouse must had stored the jettisoned cargo from makeshift passenger shuttles. To their fortune, all that equipment now belonged to the 82nd Vendolant and they were going to be put to use once they find some place to consolidate all this cargo. And they were still finding more, as they extended the search radius to almost a kilometer from the arrival point.

“Six hundred barrels worth of promethium fuel, twelve hundred tons of ordinance and Emperor knows how much other miscellaneous goods are out there!” Lieutenant Dalia reported to the Colonel.

“I cannot even begin to imagine what twenty personnel can do with such an abundance of materials. Emperor be praised, we are fortunate to be graced by his generosity, but this is starting to sound ridiculous!”

“Are you not happy by the news that we’ve discovered a Valkyrie,” inquired Constantine almost jokingly.

Almost an hour before, when it was decided to extend the search radius, Alicia, Derrick and Ander’s uncovered the downed Valkyrie nearly at the edge of the permitted zone. The only time they had remembered seeing the airborne troop carrier was during their frantic charge for the warehouse on Medusa. It was a fair distance away from the warehouse which asks the question of how much was actually teleported with them.

Immediately upon hearing the news, he had Voltis inspect the downed craft to see if he can get it operational. The fact that is was still whole and in good condition was very lifting for their spirits. So much can be accomplished with such a machine. They wouldn’t have to rely on ground based surveyor missions or handicapped by difficult terrain. The sky was the literal limit.

“No, I am very grateful by the news, it is what to do afterward? Let us assume this is an uninhabited world, civilization is non-existent, what do we do afterward? What do we do if there is no way back?” Dalia continued, becoming a bit aggravated.

“I hope you’re not suggesting that we go back to that damned planet.” Constantine replied as her last question confounded him.

”Let us assume there is a way to get back on Medusa V, will you take it? Will you go back to the dead world or will you count your chips and be thankful of what the Emperor provides.”

Dalia was silent for a moment as she considers what she had suggested a moment before.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t think that one through. According to protocol, we are supposed to attempt to make contact with Imperial forces, but after realizing that to do such an act would be folly when our previous position must surely be desolate beyond redemption. Even so, we are the Imperial Guard, and it is our duty to wage war in the name of the Emperor.”

“Indeed we are, but there is more to the Imperium than strife. Too soon we are shipped away before we are to witness the glorious reconstruction of worlds won by our efforts. Never getting the chance to hear sounds of progress, we forget what we are fighting for.”

They shared a moment of silence. The light of dawn was beginning to shine through the forest canopy. In the distance, Commissar Holt was approaching them.

“Besides,” Constantine resumed finishing his conversation with Dalia.”If my hunch is correct, war will come to us.”

“Colonel, Korin’s Reconnaissance have reached their destination. The landmark picked up by the probe turns out to be an abandoned castle,” informed Holt.

“An abandoned castle?!” exclaimed Constantine and Dalia in unison.

“And what is the condition of the structure?” asked Constantine.

“Unsatisfactory, Sir.”

Pondering for a moment, Constantine clapped his hands together and turned to face the direction where the other guardsmen continued their task at inventory.

“Well, it’s time to bust out the nine-seventies; there is more work to be done,” he said before turning back to face the Commissar.

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Morning has finally arrived; Verticora’s journey has lead him to the edge of the forest. For the first time since their arrival, he was relieved to be out in open terrain. To be able to command his Sentinel to move at cruising speeds again are both reinvigorating and comforting. In the light of day, the view of the mountain range described by the probe was clear as Sybilla Primus was from Greyon airbase.

He was about to surge forward when he was caught off guard by something in his peripheral vision. Near the tree line, a small cottage stood, nearly concealed by the vegetation surrounding it. In the distance, it could had easily been overlooked as being part of a shrub, but the variety of ornaments and decorations surrounding the place gave the location away. Strangely, this effect seemed to be intended; nothing about it seems prepared for any sort of forced entry or any other kind of aggression. It looked delicate.

Back tracking a bit, he parked his Sentinel back under the concealment of the forest before disembarking once more. Even though the last time he went out of his way to satisfy his curiosity got his servo skull misplaced and nearly killed by the creatures in the darkness, he was confident that this detour would yield favorable results. Keeping his las-pistol holstered this time, he walked towards the path leading up to the cottage.

His mind began to wonder again, first thinking of how he was able to understand the language used by the wraiths in the forest; second was the design of the structure before him was astonishingly similar to what humans were capable of. Then he thought of who might be inside the house and how will he/she would react to an Imperial guardsmen knocking on their door, especially with his gas mask still attached. Even though he couldn’t do anything about that, orders were orders, it gave him a sense of cleanliness to breathe sanitized air.

Stopping at the door, he hesitated for a moment, suddenly feeling nervous. The door was slightly shorter than he was, going up to his shoulders he thought. Perhaps a Squat lived here. Overriding his anxiety, he balled his hand into a fist and gave the door a gentle knock. His heart began to beat faster as he waited for a response. This was the moment of truth to find out what the indigenous population was like.

“Coming,” replied a feminine voice behind the door.

‘Uh oh, this will not end well,’ thought Verticora.

A moment passed as Verticora’s mind raced to find an appropriate response. Before he knew it, the door began to open. His jaw dropped and all plausible response ideas drained from his brain as he stared at what stood before him.  A yellow pegasus with a pink mane stared back at him, both stood in silence waiting nervously for the other to make a move.

Suddenly a crazy idea drifted into Verticora’s mind

‘Perhaps she was the one who replied to my knock. I must be going insane; first zombies, now talking ponies? Thank you Immortal Emperor for making my day very interesting! Alright, I’ll play along, I suppose I owe you that one for rescuing us from that warped forsaken rock!’

Before he knew it, the door slammed shut, leaving Verticora hanging on the threshold. Maybe he was too slow to react and the creature did the only sensible thing when only silence was offered. Reviewing through what he had just seen, he concluded that there was more to this world than he initially thought.  Without further delay, he knocked again, hoping for a second chance to communicate.

Slowly the door opened once more and the apparent resident peaked from behind the corner. Once more Verticora was lost for words, willing himself to look past her strange appearance, he began to fabricate a sentence. What came out was what he often recited to civilians or other foreign counterparts.

“Sergeant Verticora, 82nd Vendolant; may I ask your name?”

Mentally he kicked himself for sounding cryptic, what were the chances that a pony would understand. Wait, this was a pony he’s talking to. Not even the Colonel will find this funny. What if word of this reached the Commissar?

“I’m,” said the yellow pegasus, which caught Verticora off guard and he silenced his thoughts to listen.

“Sorry ma’am,  didn’t catch that.”

“I’m Fluttershy.”