Secrets of the Noctis. Adeptus Mechanicus fiction. Part 1 of 10

Okay, a break from 40k modelling for a while. I've decided to post up some of my 40k fiction that used to be on the Black Library Publishing forums. This first piece is fairly short and went down well with the forumites when I posted it so hopefully people enjoy it here too.

Any comments or thoughts are welcome. If there are spelling errors and the like, please excuse them. I haven't been through the work to weed them out for a long time.


Part I


For the seventh time since leaving the Explorator Fringe Dome she examined the servitor’s memory chip fragment.

For the seventh time, there was nothing new to be seen.

For the seventh time the frustration was invisible on her face. Something was out there and she would find it. An iris coiled inwards as she looked towards the lit cab.

“Report.”

“We are approaching canyon seven zeta. Still reading the navigation beacons.”

“Any degradation in signal?”

“Intermittent. Five point five percent loss on the high ground, maximum of twelve percent during our passage through the trench.”

A moment’s pause. “Did you contact trench control?”

“Of course, eighteen minutes ago. Did you not hear us?”

“No, I was aligning the central navigation cogitator to our destination. Why did you make contact?”

“It is protocol. We must ensure no testing is underway. ”

“I informed you there was no testing.” She snapped. “And I ordered complete vox silence for this expedition.”

“It is protocol.” Repeated the man sullenly.

Had she been able, she would have rolled her eyes. Of course it was protocol, of course they were supposed to stay in contact, of course there could have been an unscheduled testing that would have vaporised them. There were a dozen normal things that she was omitting but it was necessary. If the information were accurate, the prize would be worth far more than every risk and broken rule.

“Very well,” It was too late to change anything. “Continue onwards. Inform me when we reach the first waypoint.”

Settling down in the overlarge seat she glanced at her two servitors. At least they could be counted on to obey her commands and not make their own interpretations.

She allowed herself a moment to dream of the wealth and advancement she would gain if, no, when the return journey was complete and it was in her hands. Her superiors had failed to notice her brilliance thus far but that would change. The punishments and censures she had received after showing her last work to the Council still stung. After this she would be welcomed into their ranks with open arms.

No. The more she considered the potential on offer the more it became clear that the Council were impediments to her rise. If the prize was what she thought, or hoped, then those conservative fools would welcome her in only to steal it away for their own advancement. Knowing them, they would never realise the potential and it would be locked into a study vault for centuries. In order to be tested; She could just hear the words coming from them, knowing that they would simply hide it as a heresy to be forgotten. That could not be allowed to pass, there was so much potential that needed to be tapped.

Still, it would take several hours before the real work would begin. She allowed her eyes to close and listened to the grinding sound of the land crawler’s six wheels churning over the rocky, dusty landscape. A particularly jarring impact disturbed her half-rest. A frown, invisible just like every other emotion, creased her thoughts (if not her face).

They would be a long few hours.