Blessings of uncertainty

Chapter 4: The Hive

The Thunderhawk shakes and rattles as we begin our approach to the hive city of Hexon, the orbital air defenses all but destroyed minutes prior by the assault of the Astra Militarum. Amidst the battle that rages on below on the surface of the planet and the one about to occur, Luci seems eager and excited, "Father, can I be the one to tell uncle Erik of our exploits this day?" Her smile is apparent even from under her helmet, "Certainly," I reply "I'm sure Erik would love to hear of it, especially since you have talked about it non-stop for the past month", a bashful tone now comes over Luci "Hehe... Apologies, father. I am just looking forward to finally test my mettle in combat", for the past two standard months our ship has been orbiting the planet and made contact with the various high commands from the Sororitas, Militarum, Navis, and even the Inquisition. Through them all sources pointed to the Hexon as the most likely location for the main genestealer command structure to be located, with that information the Grüber drafted a plan and sent it to the different commands, it took some convincing on his part but eventually all agreed and with the planetary guns silenced we could cut them off from fleeing and clear them out through precise incursions into the hive city, this Thunderhawk that we are currently in is on its way to one of the designated drop off points. Currently it is holding five crusader squads of space marines plus Luci, including a full five brother terminator squad meant for the more difficult to go through areas of the hive. Emperor grant her strength I pray in silence, this is Luci's first deployment and the anxiety I had felt since hearing about this has not faded in the slightest.

The tech marine piloting the Thunderhawk speaks, "Brothers and sister, we are landing in a few short moments, good luck with your mission. May the blessings of the Omnissiah be upon you", as he says that the Thunderhawk stops shaking for a moment before it touches the ground, the ramp lowers in front to reveal a desolated hive city with not a soul in sight, the terminators step out first then the rest of the squads. Once we all dismount the Thunderhawk rises from the platform it landed on and zooms away. The head of the terminator squad says "We all know what to do, spread out and purge these xeno scum. Be wary of your firing lines as there will be other brothers arriving from different dismount zones, the Emperor protects", the various crusader squads split up and now I am left alone with my crusader squad as we approach our first point of interest. Luci, taking a long look around says "So this is what a hive city looks like, it's not too dissimilar to the ship, is it?", Dieter replies "Indeed, had the Marshal and Brother Adelhard not taken you in, you may very well have grown up in a place like this", "Perish the thought, brother" chimed in Alexus as he upholsters his plasma pistol, "Sister Luci is with us now, better than any hive city I'd say". I equip the storm shield that was on my back, unholster my heavy bolt pistol and say, "I hate to barge into the conversation but be quiet and keep an eye out, the attention may be to the outside attackers, but who's to say our landings went unnoticed", the rest nod as they try to keep their conversations to a minimum. The hive city is vast, vast yet deserted, homes, establishments and several public areas where people would rally are all silent, the only sounds to be heard is the hum from the thermal nodes dotted around the hive and the thumping footsteps we make as we continue walking the passageways of the hive, we come across a large open area with a fountain like structure in the middle of it, I gesture for the squad to stop. The conversations they were having immediately cease as they ready their weapons and look around, Luci approaches me and in a hushed tone says "Father, what is it? Do you see something?" I nod and point at a balcony across the fountain, an impaled corpse hangs from a metal spike that juts outwards from the balcony, Luci pays it little mind and says "Is that not normal against genestealers?" I shake my head and say "Look closer, it's fresh. Someone has impaled that citizen not too long ago" I gesture to the blood still leaking out of the body, she acknowledges the situation and readies herself for combat.