NationStates Jolt Archive

Deep in an asteroid-city, in a vault ankle-deep with dust, ancient technology stirs in response to the commands of its elder makers. The palm-sized Webway portal blinks slowly to life, lighting up and beeping softly as it runs through its self-check tests. Blue light then flares in the otherwise abandoned vault, twisting into a writhing opening that marks the terminus of a Webway tunnel.

From this azure light emerge a number of mobile shadows, their bodies slowly fading in and out of the dimness. The Mandrake team pauses here, confirming that they have indeed reached the correct asteroid-city. Yes, this was it. The target is here, now.

***Andenkenheim***

Andenkenheim was a peaceful place, its population was a mere four thousand, two hundred and twenty six souls. It was tiny even for a city on the northern fringe of the belt. There were reasons for this of course, not least of which was the cities location and use as a storeage depot for ancient artifacts left over from the hellesponto's wars.

Some of these artifacts were more dangerous then others and were watched of course. Webway portals had surveillance equipment watching them around the clock, of course even the surveillance equipment used could not always be counted on to prevent infiltration. Hence the reason for the guard posts outside of the vault. Of course even those would be of no use today, perhaps if they had been more ready they would have been able to notice the shadows flitting past them on their single minded mission of mayhem.

Andenkenheim was connected to the vast transport infrastructure of the Grahfsberg Federation and today a simple freighter shipment was preparing to leave for Grahfsberg. Even the customs agents, more wary then they had before did not notice the shadows steal away in to the vast freighter as it prepared to leave. The shadows hid in the deepest parts of the nearly automated freight hauler, perhaps they would kill the crew for sport, but that would have to wait till they arrived at their true destination..so they could continue to track their target.

Space Lord Tsaratov had been called home to Grahfsberg in light of the recent orbital fracas and now he was at his most vulnerable to a group of highly skilled assassins. Deep in the heart of safety, inside grahfsberg itself...

The guards posted outside the vault have little warning before the brutal Eldar assassins cut them down with poisoned blades, one gurgling unintelligibly while trying to stop the blood pumping from his neck.

The Mandrake bringing up the rear searches briefly for the surveillance devices, smashing one or two before the group must move on. They move out into corridor leading away from the vaults and wordlessly split into two groups. One disappears in one direction, heading for where crude intelligence had identified a possible power source for the city.

The other, the most skilled and deadly members of the team, go the other way in search of their prey.

***Grahfsberg:The Knights Ward***

It had been over a month since the coup attempt and space lord tsaratov had been recalled home by the chancellor. The Chancellor had wished to be briefed on all of the happenings of late personally, this way he could gain a better measure of whether or not Tsaratov was being truthful.

Space Lord Tsaratov relaxed in his quarters. He had just finished a four hour long debriefing of his activities during his mission over mars in the last six months. He was rather tired, talking about what things he had done and seen, from the attack on gorgon, to the near shoot out between the DCNT and the ZMIS had been more tiresome then the events themselves had been.

It was good to be home though, the ancient warrior relaxed now in his private chambers, reflecting upon the events he had witnessed over mars. Even in his relaxed state the Space lord was aware, his battle senses honed from centuries of conflict mingled with his aether sight, stronger in the old blood then the new. He could feel now something was wrong, he was not alone though there was nothing with him but shadow. Warily he opened his eyes and rose from his chair, drawing his long sword and preparing himself. He looked around the room but for now at least,he could see nothing. He knew someone, or something was coming for him..he had seen it....

***Grahfsberg: Main Power distribution***


The engineers working dilligently on power production systems did not fear any intruders. After all the security systems present were some of the finest in sol and despite the fact that there had been recent battle inside the halls of grahfsberg. After all any remaining GAP forces were now loyal to the greater federation. Still, there may be a few holdouts. Security personnel walked the great halls of main power distribution.

A shadow moved amongst the corridors, a shadow that couldnt be traced. It moved with a singular purpose, barely any even felt its presence or passing.

The assassin strikes in the first moment of confusion, trailing wisps of darkness and dim flashes of color as he thrusts his advanced alloy blade into the gut of the Space Lord. The mandrake hisses with joy as it feels the blade slide into flesh, trembling with anticipation of the joy of consuming the target's soul.

His rapture is short-lived, however, as the Space Lord's guard finally respond to the attack. The mandrake collapses to the floor in more than one peice, gushing blood from the severed blood vessels in his neck. The other three assassins set upon the guards then, viciously slashing and hacking.

...

The Mandrakes use more care and stealth in the power generator facility. They avoid the guards, or kill quietly one of them who is a touch too alert. Still, they prefer to do their work amongst the machinery, emptying clips of plastic splinters impregnated with acids and other corrosive substances into the sensitive electronics.

They are not terribly familiar with the technology used by the mon-keigh, and perhaps they are a touch too enthusiastic with destroying the electronics that regulate the asteroid city's power generator...

***Grahfsberg:Knights ward***

The space lord fought valiantly in the few moments he was able to, taking wounds that would slay a normal man and returning blows as best as he could in the confusion until one mandrake crept up behind him. The assassin sunk his blade in to his unarmoured flesh, finding by sheer malice and determination the pancrea novum, for a few short moments the Space lords life blood fell from him as his guards came to his aid.

Heramir Altanis and Dallin Tain had been on guard duty in the hab block and had been the first to rush to the space lords aid, finding him dead surrounded by Eldar they had attacked, but the eldar had attacked him in return. They did not look like the Yvressi but one could not be so sure.

The Knight-marines fell upon the mandrakes, blades and armour deflecting blows as they attempted to position themselves between the assassins and the only two possible exits. However a blade found a weak spot in Dallin's armour, forcing him back and exposing an avenue of escape even as his power armour flooded nano's in to his bloodstream to help avert the damage. Heavy metal boots resounded down the hall. The mandrakes had a moment respite if they moved quickly they could escape to gain their pay...

***Grahfsberg: Central power core***

Engineer Torgrave Mensche was groggy. It was a little known fact that engineers both citizen and knight were generally issued pancracea nano injectors, in case they recieved injuries in the line of duty when needs dictated they were not able to. Now was such a time. the engineers heart had stopped, his throat sliced, but the nano's had repaired the immediate life threatening damage and restarted his heart. He was dizzy, he couldnt breathe but the assassins had already left. Warning klaxons sounded, pressure was building in the central power generation units and the assassins had activated the emergency bulkheads.Safety protocol had been activated, they could only be opened from the inside.

The engineer stood and stumbled towards the main control console. The Bio-com in control of power regulation was dead, she had been killed by whatever the assassins had used on the electronics inside of the main computer consoles. The entire mainframe was a mess, sparks and an unidentifiable liquid poured from them.

Blue light washed over the engineers oriental features as he attempted to think of what to do to contain the damage. His air supply was considerably lower then it should be with his injuries, he was having trouble thinking. It was too late for thinking, cycle three had been activated..the main reactor was losing containment.

If the main reactor blew, the secondary reactors would go up in a devastating chain reaction that would destroy the entire thirty two kilometer diameter asteroid city of grahfsberg. Fifteen million would die..Engineer Torgrave would not die with that on his conscience.

There was only one thing he could do now, he went to the emergency medical kit and took several pancraceas, injecting them in to his body next he donned the cowling, head guard and hand guards of the environmental suits specifically designed for use inside a malfunctioning unshielded reactor.

He didnt have the time to don the rest. He walked towards the main reactor's own bulkhead and airlock, granting access to the inner sanctum, with a sense of purpose. The nano's raging through his blood were healing the damage done to him, as well as preparing to heal any damage he would recieve. As he entered the first airlock he was hit by a wave of heat.

He realised he might not survive in the main reactor chamber, he knew he didnt have to, he only had to disconnect main power from the secondary systems manually. This would contain the explosion to the lower levels and save the city.

He entered the main reactor core, he could feel his skin burning, melting in the intense heat even as the nano's fought to keep him alive. It didnt matter he only needed a few minutes. He fought his way across the main chamber to the first of the connection systems, connecting main power to capacitors. The same capacitors that the secondary system was also connected to. With emergency status, emergency power was activated. This was not supposed to happen, but happen it did. Luckily the one engineer who survived knew exactly what to do..though even that knowledge was fading as fast as his own life.

He violently disconnected the capacitors, screaming at the shock he recieved, but he continued on. His heart had stopped by the time he reached capacitor connection 2, he finished his task and moved on to the next, he was no longer breathing.

He stumbled in front of the fourth capacitor connection. The nano's had gone past their limits and he knew that even though at least a million people would die, he had saved millions more.

He let himself die as an intense white light washed over the room. Capacitor 4 had been connected to the secondary reactors responsible for hab block 7 which contained almost two hundred thousand tannelornians. The reactor in hab block 7 overloaded with a flash, the engineers didnt even have time to hit the fail safes before civilian hab block 5,6,7,8 and 9 were consumed by a massive ball of ever expanding plasma. The damage had only been contained by the quick activation of emergency bulkheads.

In less then a second a million tannelornians had died and Grahfsberg had been horribly scarred...

Blood would run, worlds would end, death would reign.

***The knights ward***

The explosion was felt even in the knights ward as the reinforcing knights sent to aid the space lord arrived. The Dark Eldar assassins were frantically trying to escape from Heramir and Dallin, their righteous wrath and rage was more then a match for the assassins, one had already fallen and three more fought for their lives.

Heramir slashed out at one,his blade connecting with the mandrakes poisoned blades, the high frequency field and incredibly dense blade smashed through the weakened weapon, slicing through the mandrakes arm and torso in a mighty sweep. One of the mandrakes attempted to run, only to be shot down by a particle beam blast from one of the knights watching the battle in the hall. Dallin now approached the final mandrake, blade held high on his shoulders as he approached his fallen lord. The mandrake sprung at him in fury and panic, trying his best to slay his foe. Dallin simply stepped aside, holding the point of his blade against the ground as he avoided the slashing blades. The mandrake tripped over the blade, losing his leg in the process, Dallin brought the blade up and slammed it through the vile beasts dark heart.

"Knights, at ease the enemy is slain." Knight-Captain Tiruthir Alanielleon's handsome elven features were marred with rage. "Contact the Grand duke, someone has come to collect the merchant-kings bounty the Space lord has fallen." he stated to no one in particular. The comms responded quickly. "Knight-Captain, the Grand Duke will be there as soon as he is able, someone has destroyed the main power generation system..there was a disaster in the civilian hab blocks." the response was from central city control, not from the office of the Grand duke.

Something horrible had happened. "Knight-Captain, await medical teams and investigators of the GFPS, contain the crime scene and prepare for the arrival of the grand duke." "Aye, your command's have been recieved."

The group of knights stood in silence, until one stepped forward to speak. "An oath I shall swear by the Space lord and the blood of those innocents killed, those who did this, those who ordered it I shall take part in your damned fate." A slender knight had stepped forward, a human girl by the name of Elowen. One by one the knights in the room stepped forward, each swearing the same oath. Twenty six knights of tannelorn had made an oath of blood and hatred that day. Tannelornians did not break oaths lightly...