Ravens of Eternity

308 Liberating Force, Pt Abandoned Military Bunker 9096, Major House Felrahn

Deep inside the disused Felrahn bunker, the largest and most spacious vault held row after row of pods. There were hundreds, if not thousands of them.

Though the pods were among the most technologically advanced synthetic body printing capsules in Hegemony space, they seemed to be poorly taken care of. Their exteriors were covered in smudges, scuffs, and scratches.

In fact, the entire vault itself seemed like it was hardly looked after. Its corners were filled with piles of debris, its floors were covered in dust, and its walls had crusty old cobwebs hanging from them.

And that was despite the many dozens of technicians all around. Each and every single one of them was working on the pods themselves, fixing them up and ensuring they were in proper working order.

It seemed they had been working nonstop – most had heavy bags under their eyes, and they shuffled around as though they had little energy so spare. More than half wore stained, dirty clothing, with a few whose outfits were just shy of turning into rags.

Among the technicians were a handful of equally weary doctors. Like the techs, they were disheveled, overworked, and could hardly keep themselves standing.

But they continued working. They held their datapads or tools in their hands as they inspected the pods one by one. Or rather, they inspected what was inside them.

One of the doctors glanced down at the technician who was working on the pod he was inspecting, and noted just how bony his body was. His movements were also incredibly sluggish, and his breathing was haggard.

.....

He leaned down, as though to inspect the contents of the pod closer, but whispered surreptitiously to the technician.

“Hey, you alright?” he said.

The tech froze suddenly, surprised at being spoken to. He didn’t look at the doctor, but instead glanced sideways at the far end of the room towards the only exit out.

There, two imposing guards stood at watch. They wore thick, robust armor and wielded well-maintained heavy repeater rifles. Though they were unmarked, it was clear that they belonged to an organized military, and were very well funded at that.

He shivered in fear before he looked back at what he was doing. Then nodded profusely without saying a word.

The doctor simply sighed, then nodded weakly. Even if the man told him he wasn’t alright, there wasn’t anything he could do.

So he simply went back to work and inspected his pod. The inside was vastly different from the outside. It was absolutely immaculate in there, and was filled to the brim with synthetic embryonic fluid.

Suspended in the middle of the fluid was a partially-built body that was still in the process of being printed together. Nanites that swam in the fluid pulled together protein chains and rewrote their structure as they steadily built the synthetic human from the inside out.

The doctor sighed at what he saw, at what they were all doing, and grimaced. He opened his mouth to say something to the tech, but was interrupted when the doors slammed open.

A large, heavily armored man walked through the doorway impetuously. Multiple medals and ribbons had been affixed to his armor, which was also adorned with all manner of accouterments, such as golden tassels and buttons.

Right behind him was his entourage of similarly-dressed and decorated officers, all of whom threw their weight around with copious veracity.

The guards at the doors straightened their backs and reset their stance as the group passed them by.

One of the doctors sighed deeply, then walked up to greet them.

“General,” he said wearily, “a pleasure to see you again so soon.”

“Cut the chatter,” the general replied.

He puffed up his chest and took an imposing step towards the doctor.

“We’ve received an order for one thousand lungs,” he continued. “This one’s flagged with urgency. Seems the front lines got hit hard, so they’ve come to us for replacements.”

The doctor adjusted his collar nervously, and glanced at the pods around him.

“We can certainly try to fulfill that,” he began, “though we’re a bit understaf-”

“And we need those lungs within three cycles,” the general interrupted.

The doctor’s eyes immediately went wide.

“Th-that’s not possible,” he muttered. “We could maybe produce a thousand organs in seven or eight cycles, with the personnel we have.”

“Then put in more hours, doctor,” the general spat out. “That’s a fairly easy solution, don’t you think?”

“My staff is already at the breaking point! If we go any harder, we’ll die!”

“So? Die. Or at least, die after three days. I’ll just find someone else to do your work.”

The doctor took a step back in shock and horror. The treatment they had received thus far has been monstrous, and it began since the moment they had been taken against their will.

The general looked up above him, at the other doctors and technicians all around.

“I’m not all the way unreasonable,” he said. “If you can meet this goal, then I’ll double your rations for two cycles. And if you get this order out the door, I can guarantee many more orders like this in the future. So if you like extra rations, you had better start breaking some backs.”

A few of the techs looked at each other with mouths agape. Though it was more than they could bear, they couldn’t pass up more food, not in a million years. They immediately went back to working.

“That’s what I like to see,” said the general.

A handful of his entourage chuckled lightly in response.

And before they could leave, the entire base shook. It was accompanied by a heavy and dull WHUMPH, as though the bunker was being hit by something.

“What the hell was that?” the general cried out.

The officer nearest to him pulled up his datapad and began to scroll through the bunker’s comms. His eyes went wide as multiple warnings came on the screen.

“Sir! The bunker’s under attack!” he blurted out.

“What? How’d they even find us? We’re off all the maps? And who would even dare?” another officer yelled out.

“I don’t know. Currently getting data from SecInt. Attacking force appears to be... one corvette, two mecha... None of them are using known signatures, sir. It’s like they don’t exist.”

“Is that some kind of joke?” said the general. “Who the hell would attack a bunker with that tiny force?”

The base’s lights and power suddenly flicked off and then back on again, just as it was struck by another projectile. The whole place shook once again, but this time it was slightly more violent. As though whoever was attacking hit harder than the first time.

“Wait!” said the officer. “SecInt just updated – six corvettes, three squadrons of mecha! We’re in trouble!”

The general immediately paled. He quickly realized that whoever was attacking them wasn’t some simple aggressor. They were some kind of specialized attack force, and were no doubt here to cleanse the entire bunker.

“Get inside the safehouse!” he cried out, then outright ran back through the doors.

His entourage quickly ran up after him, having been infected by the fear he exuded. They sped down the hallways towards their secure safehouse, even as the bunker was bombarded now and again.

Worryingly, they heard gunfire and shouting and the chaos of combat towards the front of the bunker. Not that it stopped any of them. They fled towards the safehouse with as much energy as they could muster.

It didn’t take them long to get there – they ran past the open doorway into the highly reinforced room at breakneck speed. Some tumbled around when they got inside, relieved that they had made it. All panted heavily as they caught their breaths.

One of them had the good sense to slap the controls next to the doorway, which caused the heavily reinforced door to slowly draw closed.

But just when it got halfway shut, all the lights shut down, and all the power went out. The general and his entourage held their breaths as they found themselves in complete darkness. Anxiety filled their bodies as the moments ticked by without anything happening, save for the sounds of combat as it came closer.

All sounds stopped suddenly, though everything was still dark.

Then, after another few, dim emergency lights suddenly flashed on which drew a series of exhales from the entourage.

Their relief was incredibly short-lived, as a woman stood in the doorway. Although she was bathed in dim light, they could easily see that her armor was covered in blood.

Kali tightened the grip on her greathammer as she looked at every single one of the entourage in front of her. Then she tapped the door control lightly, and stepped in as the door slid closed behind her.

“This is for synths everywhere,” she growled.

She launched herself at the general and his entourage, and poured her rage into each of her strikes. Kali then spent the next few minutes and violently brutalized the general and his men, and broke every single bone in their bodies.

~

Lucifer ran through the open doorway into the vault filled with synthesis pods, and took the guards completely by surprise. They were already somewhat disoriented by what was happening all around them, and were completely unprepared to be assaulted.

It wasn’t something they were expecting in the slightest.

One of them fumbled as he trained his weapon on Lucifer, but ze simply grabbed his weapon out of his hands in response. Ze flipped it expertly in hir hands, then fired a burst point-blank into his chest with a wide grin.

His own weapon tore into his armor with ease, and demolished the flesh underneath. The guard was thrown back with his chest torn open and bloody. Before his body could hit the ground, Lucifer threw the rifle at the other guard, which knocked him off balance.

As he steadied himself, Lucifer ran straight towards him, drew the guard’s pistol, shoved it between his helmet and chest armor, and squeezed the trigger.

The slug tore into the guard’s throat, which caused a gush of blood to spill out from under his helmet. He then stumbled backwards and fell on the ground, dead.

Lucifer then casually gave the corpse his sidearm back.

It was only moments later that Azrael walked into the vast room, and looked out to the technicians and doctors among the rows. Many of them had crouched down in fear and hid behind the multiple pods.

“We’re here to rescue you all,” Azrael announced loudly. “We’ve taken control of the base, just come along with us. And if you’re wounded or need help or just need energy, let me know.”

One of the doctors stood up suddenly and spoke, even though he was scared out of his mind.

“What about the synths,” he said shakily. “We... we can’t just leave them here like this.”

“I know,” Azrael replied softly. “We’ll take care of them. Don’t worry about anything.”