NOVEL NEXT Chapter 116: Chapter 116
Eating our meal in silence, everyone took the time to triple check their gear and prepare for the shit show ahead of us. Leaving the room once we were ready, I led the team to the large door that sealed off the Webway Chamber from the rest of the fortress. Reminiscent of a bank vault door from my past life, it honestly surprised me that they did not use more sophisticated means to prevent potential invaders from getting in or out. If the Necrons had infiltrated this place via the Webway, this door would have been nothing more than a minor inconvenience to them.
"Let me handle this, if you do not mind.", Janus stated, walking up to the door, "While I do not like to boast, I have extensive experience with lock picking ancient vault doors."
Seeing no reason not to let him have a crack at it, I gave him a thumbs up and turned my attention elsewhere. Muting my external speakers, there was a crucial question I had to ask my new AI friend before we set foot inside.
"Dair, in a pinch, how quickly can you retake control of this facility?", I inquired, wanting to know how much lead time I had to provide him with.
(Dair)
"That makes perfect sense, I just wanted a rough idea of how long it would take in a pinch. Depending on how this battle goes, we may need to request assistance from the Endless Horizons.", I stated, as Janus finished fiddling with the lock mechanism.
(Dair)
"Luxion, please assist Dair to speed up that timeframe. If possible, I would like to use the station's defensive systems to aid us as well.", I remarked.
Hearing a series of clicking noises coming from inside the door, as the last click occurred, the door slightly swung open. Excited that his efforts had been successful, Janus hit a button that should have engaged the powered door opener, but instead, sparks began spewing from the hinged side of the door. Realizing that the mechanism was busted, Janus motioned for everyone to approach as he grabbed hold of the edge.
"These doors are generally at least twelve feet thick. It is going to take all of us to open this stupid thing.", Janus grunted, yanking on the door as hard as he could.
"Allow me.", I remarked, using the Force to easily swing it open.
"…show off…", Janus remarked, with a playful smirk.
As the door swung open, all of us were surprised to find it was over thirty feet thick and comprised of a variety of different metals. Rushing in ahead of us, Janus and his group shuffled into the chamber before crashing into something within the darkness. Letting out a collective sigh, the rest of us followed them in to figure out what happened.
"You do know rushing into the unknown is one of the leading factors in an early death, right?", I remarked, casting the spell Daylight to illuminate the vicinity.
"Haha, sorry, force of habit.", Janus laughed, with an apologetic smile.
Shaking my head at them, I turned my attention to the mountains of discarded equipment all around us. Casting the spell over several additional areas, the magnitude of what we uncovered came into focus. Discovering countless technological marvels from across the eons, this place was like a time capsule full of goodies for all of us. Scurrying over to the nearest pile, Janus and the Tech-Priests were practically drooling as they looked at everything in front of them.
"This is certainly going to put my name in the history books!", Janus laughed, assuming that this room was filled with even more mounds of artifacts, "I cannot begin to put a price on all this loot, but it is safe to say that several generations from now our descendants are still going to be spending the reward money."
"We discover a treasure trove of ancient technology, and the first thing you are thinking about is selling it!? This is why I dislike working with Rogue Traders.", Mane complained, "All of these items should be catalogued, taken apart, and reverse engineered to improve the Imperium's technology!"
"Per my Warrant of Trade, I am required to sell any technology I acquire to the Imperium. Since you value these items so highly, my assumption of the value here appears to be spot on.", Janus said, with a smug smile, "Thank you for verifying."
Ignoring Janus' comment, Mane and his colleagues began sifting through countless items looking for anything unusual or unknown to them. While the two parties focused on looting and grabbing anything they wanted, the rest of us focused on an eerie, pale red light reflecting off the ceiling several miles from us. Dispatching several drones to see where the light was coming from, as they got within a few miles of the light source, my wives looked away from the grotesque entity that was a Super Gore Nest.
(AN: In case you were wondering, Warhammer 40K lore has Webway Chambers as being 100 miles across or 10,000 square miles in size. I envision this one being a large cube, just FYI.)
"What…what is that thing…", Samus asked, staring at the image on the holographic screen, "I have seen a lot of crazy things in my travels, but this takes the cake."
"That is a Super Gore Nest, that glowing sphere floating above the center of the structure is a portal connecting this place directly to Hell. While weaker Demons can manifest themselves in the Materium with relative ease, the more powerful ones need these portals to enter.", I explained, zooming in on the organism itself, "The flesh structure underneath is made of all the poor souls ritually sacrificed by the Demons to create it."
"Victor…those people…they are not still alive…are they?", Mylene inquired, looking at me with a pained expression.
Nodding my head slowly, Mylene held me closely not wanting to imagine the agony and suffering they must be enduring right now. Glancing over at the Eldar, they looked at the structure with a solemn expression as they understood the psychic attack earlier was a cry for help from those people's souls. Wanting to end their suffering, so they could find peace, Amallyn suggested we go destroy it before the boss showed up.
"We need to properly prepare defenses before we do that. When that structure is destroyed, it will summon legions of Demons to kill us in response. To clarify, some will be far stronger than anything we have faced thus far.", I warned her.
"How strong?", Eldanial inquired, out of curiosity.
"The strongest demons in Hell can destroy entire worlds by themselves. They each possess a hyper regeneration ability which makes them nigh unkillable. To my knowledge, only one type of weapon can permanently kill them, and they have been lost to the eons.", I answered, "It is very unlikely that we will encounter one, but the possibility is always there."
Informing Janus and the Tech-Priests that we were moving on, the two parties stopped their looting and quickly rejoined us. Using the live feed from the drones, I teleported everyone close to the gore nest to avoid a long walk there. As we reappeared at our destination, everyone looked up at the portal warily as ominous energies poured out of the breach. Hearing groans and sinister whispers coming from the nest, Taddeus began rebuking the presumed spirits with his holy scriptures. Knowing the priest was wasting his time, I had my troops begin deploying shields while I dished out orders.
"Stealth units, take up positions amongst the mountains of discarded equipment nearby. Take out prominent targets as they present themselves with your antimatter rifles, do not engage enemies in close quarter combat if you can prevent it. Helldivers, you will be fighting alongside Dahyak, Janus, Lucoa, Roxanne, Samus, and I along the frontlines.", I ordered, as the last shield was being anchored down, "Eldanial, you will coordinate the range units to chip away at the low-ranking grunts that are going to flood this place. Ionica, your Order will provide additional support and step in to run interference if enemy units get past the vanguard."
Acknowledging my directions with loud confirmations, people began hunkering down in their assigned positions.
"After the nest is destroyed, Dair will need approximately ten minutes to regain full control of the fortress. Once he resumes control of the station, he will dispatch defensive units to aid us and I can radio for backup from my ship.", I informed everyone, as I began charging electricity in my right gauntlet, "I look forward to savoring a cold beer with everyone once we capture the station. Drinks are on me."
Waiting for the vanguard to get into position around the shields, once I was certain everyone was ready, I blasted the structure with over a teravolt of electricity. Spasming violently, as its organic components failed, the nest violently exploded sending bits of gore and splatters of blood in every direction. Unleashing an ear-piercing scream several seconds afterwards, hundreds of Demons began pouring into the room like rabid animals. Charging toward us with unbridled rage, everyone let out a battle cry as we began the grueling countdown until reinforcements could begin arriving.