//------------------------------// // Grooming // Story: The Descent into Madness // by FenrisianBrony //------------------------------// Applejack Applejack stood rigidly to attention as Aun’Vesa walked around her slowly, checking that her armour was up to the standards that were expected from an Ethereal’s bodyguard. Truth be told, he didn’t mind if Applejack wasn’t perfectly turned out at all times, but it was one of the many things he was expected to ensure happened, and so he would enforce it. Applejack had never once complained either, keeping her armour in its pristine matte black form no matter what the previous day had thrown at them. She had been his bodyguard for almost a standard month now, and Aun’Vesa was still glad that he had managed to get her out of the Breacher squad. He had to admit however that the squad had suffered a slight dip in efficiency since she had given over command. Valnoth was a competent squad leader, no doubt about it, but she was a T’au, raised from birth to stick to a certain doctrine. Applejack hadn’t been conditioned that way, and it had shown through in her unconventional, but often effective, tactics. “Perfect as always, Shas’El,” Aun’Vesa nodded, finishing his inspection and standing before Applejack, his personal chambers on the ship masking the noise of the ship rising through the atmosphere of Pa’Laa. “I have one meeting in five minutes, the information is sensitive so you will be stationed outside the door. It may take some time, so the majority of the crew is likely to be in stasis by the time we are done. We will then go into stasis as well, it will be a month’s jump. Any questions?” “None, Ethereal,” Applejack shook her head, looking up at Aun’Vesa with the single red lens, her hat sitting on top of the helmet, held on by a small grav-anchor, curtesy of Aun’Vesa’s personal armourer. It was one place Aun’Vesa was happy to go against the will of the council, plus it made Applejack happy to finally be able to wear the beat up old piece of clothing while in her armour. “Good, then I suggest we make our way to the meeting room, the Shas’O will not wish to be kept waiting any longer than he has to be. Nodding, Applejack followed after the Ethereal, one of her pulse blasters powering up as she kept an eye out for any threats to her ward. The weapon felt pathetic compared to her usual arsenal, but firing a fusion blaster inside a starship was tantamount to suicide. True to his word, the meeting between Aun’Vesa and Shan’Ta dragged on for hours, Applejack’s helmet timer counting each passing second as she stood in front of the only door. At the two-and-a-half-hour mark, she felt the ship enter jump speed, and the few Tau she had seen walking past her slowed to only a very few Air Caste members. Finally, after three and three quarter hours, the door slid open once more, Shan’Ta walking past Applejack towards the stasis bay, followed swiftly by Aun’Vesa. The Ethereal looked tired, his equalizers held loosely in his hands as he headed towards the stasis bays, gesturing for Applejack to follow. “Bad news?” Applejack asked as they walked. “It was expected, but it wasn’t what I wanted,” Aun’Vesa sighed. “The burdens of command are made heavier when you go into a fight knowing you’ll most likely lose.” “Ya don’t need to tell me that twice, Ethereal,” Applejack grimaced. “Lota good soldiers don’t come back from a fight if they think they’re gonna die anyway.” “Yes, I suppose you probably have more experience facing unwinnable odds than I do,” Aun’Vesa chuckled. “But then again, the political world can be just as cut throat and ruthless as a battle, albeit without the finality that war can bring.” Applejack let out a soft laugh at this as they stopped in front of the Ethereal’s stasis chamber, Aun’Vesa quickly stripping down to his undergarments and stepping inside the tube. “I will see you when I wake up, Shas’El,” he smiled, before the glass tube frosted over, Aun’Vesa entering his forced sleep. Applejack looked over the glass for a moment, checking for any parts that had not fully frosted over, before checking the vital signs displayed on the screen beside the tube. Finally satisfied that Aun’Vesa was safe within his stasis tube, Applejack turned away from it, facing her own tube. It was not as lavishly decorated, nor did it have as many failsafe’s and redundant backups, but it was still slightly more advanced than a normal Fire Warrior’s tube. After a moment of looking it over however, Applejack turned away, removing her hat and helmet as she walked, locking the helmet to her flank, and replacing the hat. The Earth Caste engineers had always assured everyone who ever went into the tubes that they wouldn’t dream, that all the would happen would be you closed your eyes, and then in what felt like a moment, you’d reopen them again. This was never true though, and memories and thoughts did bleed through into your brain as you slept. Applejack hadn’t cared about it the first few times she had gone in, but that changed quickly as she started her time in the Fire Caste. The last time she had gone into stasis had been three years ago. All she had seen in her last trip had been the dead, hundreds of bodies piling up around her. It had been so real, so vivid, that the Earth Caste had been forced to bring her out of stasis early, and taking her out of the first two weeks of the combat mission. Since then she had been given special dispensation to stay out of stasis, her new position simply making it easier to find ways to occupy herself while on a trip. “The Ethereal under, Lass?” Koghad asked, entering the room as Applejack wistfully looked over he stasis tube. “Yeah, everythin’s workin’ fine,” Applejack nodded, finally turning to face Koghad, her eyes being drawn to the new symbol of the Ethereal sewn onto his uniform, proclaiming him as the personal Earth Caste part of the Ethereal’s detachment. “Ya don’t need to alter anythin’.” “Good, just how I like things,” Koghad nodded. “Come on, we should have almost the run of the mess hall with the rest of the Demiurg.” “Yer buyin’ then,” Applejack chuckled, allowing Koghad to exit first, following him down the few decks to the large hall near the bottom of the ship. As Koghad had said, the majority of the occupants of the mess hall were Demiurg, along with the few Vespid’s still active in Pa’Laa. Both races didn’t use Stasis technology, either for physical reasons, as was the case with the Vespid, the stasis chambers disrupting the hive mind connection they shared in such a way that it never truly returned, or simple practicality reasons, such as the Demiurg, who would need a completely different style of stasis equipment to sleep effectively. When their long life spans were taken into account, it was decided that they would be exempt from the freezers, and would form the crew of a ship while the Tau were sleeping. Of course, this also made it far easier for certain Demiurg to establish their black market circles, distribution and hiding places, which did have the added benefit of making it far easier to get hard alcohol while on board. “Get me two,” Koghad called out as he entered, a few of the Demiurg calling out to the pair of them as they sat down. “Ya know, technically ah should be stoppin’ this,” Applejack pointed out as two drinks were brought over, carefully removing her bionic eye and flipping the eyepatch down over the hole. “But fuck it, I need it.” “Not much chance to drink while guarding Aun’Vesa?” Koghad asked knowingly. “Ya should know, yer on the team too,” Applejack pointed out, before taking a long draft of her drink, shuddering slightly as the strong liquor burnt its way down her throat. “Slow down, lass, this is strong stuff,” Koghad chuckled, taking a much smaller sip of his own drink. “Good, keep it comin’” Applejack grumbled, taking another sip, before letting her head fall to the table, letting out a long sigh from between her teeth. “Want to tell me what’s eatin’ ya, or do I have ta pry it out of ya?” Koghad asked, rolling his eyes slightly. “Who did ah piss off, Koghad?” Applejack muttered, looking up briefly, before dropping her head back to the table once more. “You, lass? Ah’d guess a few hundred Orks before ya killed ‘em, same with a load of humans, probably a lot less Necrons, but same principles,” Koghad chuckled. “Yer not helpin’,” Applejack deadpanned. “Ah must have really pissed someone off ta be given this assignment. Wonder if it was Shan’Ta or someone from out of the Sept?” “You realise that guardin’ the Ethereal is…” Koghad began. “A great honour, only afforded ta the highest of heroes of the Greater Good, ah’ve heard every description goin’,” Applejack finished bitterly, looking up long enough to finish her drink, waving her hoof in the air to get the attention of one of the servers. “Sure she’s got the tin to pay for all this?” the Demiurg asked as he brought another drink over, addressing the question to Koghad rather than Applejack. “More than you, stumpy,” Applejack snapped, throwing a few hexagonal coins onto the table for emphasis. “Mah coins good enough for ya?” The Demiurg grumbled slightly, but Applejack didn’t really care, snatching the drink off of him and taking a large gulp, facing Koghad again, ignoring the death stare the Demiurg was now giving her and getting back to her conversation. “It’s a great honour, as long as ya don’t mind bein’ stuck in the ass end of any deployment, because the Ethereal’s too important to be risked. Ah get that bit, but why did it have ta be me? Ah liked mah squad, ah don’t want to think about them facin’ down critters that ah ain’t even seein’.” “It’s a blow, lass,” Koghad agreed. “But ya got ta roll with the punches of the universe, ay? Start moping each time you get smacked around and yer’ll never get back on yer fee…hooves.” “Why do ah suddenly get the feeling that y’all have given this speech ta someone else before me?” Applejack deadpanned. “Not this exact one, but close,” there was a coy smile spreading across his face as he said that, Applejack not sure quite what to make of it. “Sure, it’s a blow, but ya got ta stop lookin’ at in like a negative, start tryin’ ta see the positive side of things.” “Oh yeah? Like what?” Applejack scoffed. “You sit in with the Ethereal in meetin’s don’t cha?” Koghad asked. “Sure, some of ‘em,” Applejack shrugged back. “Well there’s one ‘em then.” “Ah hardly think that listenin’ in on some meetin’s is a great boon ta me, Koghad buddy,” Applejack deadpanned. “Really? Learnin’ how the Tau plan battles ain’t useful? Knowing things that usually are reserved for the O and the Ethereal ‘ain’t useful’? Sure, it ain’t fighting, but it definitely ain’t useless. Ah never heard of an Ethereal bodyguard that didn’t go on ta great things, as long as they survived that is, and to be honest that doesn’t seem like too much of a problem for ya.” “And as fer not fightin’, Lass, ah don’t think you’ve thought that all the way through. Sure, ya won’t be fightin’ all the time, but when ya do fight, yer’ll have to fight far harder than anyone else. Every one of our enemies’ want’s ta kill off an Ethereal, and guess who just put herself squarely between them and him?” “Ah didn’t put mahself there, ah got assigned there,” Applejack pointed out, before sighing. “But, ah guess y’all are right.” “Plus this whole moping business is far too similar ta yer moping after every other setback ya’ve had,” Koghad smirked, lightly punching Applejack on the shoulder pad. “Ah’ve had ta deal with ya far more times than anyone else.” “That’s ‘cause ah make yer life more interestin’,” Applejack smirked back, downing the last of her drink and sighing. “Let’s put off the tech testing till tomorrow, yeah?” “AJ lass, ya read mah mind,” Koghad chuckled, before finishing his own drink and slamming it down on the table. “Another!” *** Two Days Later *** Applejack stood still as Koghad unplugged the diagnostic relays from her armour, the readouts that had appeared in her helmet while plugged in blinking out one by one, finally leaving her with just her standard HUD, two separate crosshairs overlayed on the display, while a readout of both her weapons occupied the bottom corners. They were currently standing in the Ethereal’s personal armoury, the relatively spacious room bedecked with rows of weapons and armour pieces. The majority had apparently served old members of Aun’Vesa’s guard, the Ethereal keeping them as heirlooms of the past, while the Aun’s own pair of bladed Equalizers held prime position, hanging in a crossed pattern in the centre of the room. A small part of the armoury had recently been converted however, the old armour repair station now looking squatter and longer, while the wall behind it held weapons that had been specifically designed for Applejack, from her old Railgun and Fusion Blasters, to Pulse Blasters and Carbines, one of each of the latter missing, as they were attached to her sides. “Alright, Lass, yer systems show green across the board, and the leg servos are workin’ within operation bounds. How’s everythin’ feelin’ in there?” “Pretty good,” Applejack called back, testing her legs quickly, listening out for any sign of undue stress on the servos that could result in them failing at an inopportune time. “Ah can’t wait ta get the ground beneath mah hooves again though.” “And some real weapons on yer side?” Koghad snorted. “That’s just gonna be a bonus,” Applejack nodded with a chuckle of her own. “What’s the plan today?” “Ah’ve got ta work on one of these pulse rifles ta get it converted fer yer use,” Koghad shrugged. “Then ah’ve been told ta look into getting’ a heavier weapon mounted on ya, even if yer can only carry one of them.” “Can yer look into a burst cannon or two at some point?” Applejack asked, eyeing up the rotary cannons. “Could be useful against Orks if when we run inta them again.” “Ah’ll add it to the list, won’t be fer a while though,” Koghad nodded. “Ah ain’t going to be free fer days with this work load, ah’ll see you again in five days fer another armour check. Think ya can keep yerself occupied fer that long?” “Yep, command is supposed to be sending over intel about whoever we’re facin’ at our destination, got ta read up about them before we get there. Make Twi proud, ya know.” “Ah believe becomin’ an egghead will please yer old friend,” Koghad laughed as Applejack left the room, before turning and grabbing a pulse rifle down from the wall. Applejack rolled her eyes as she walked down the corridor, quickly reaching her small chambers and pulling her helmet off, laying it on her bed and sitting down in front of her personal screen. “Evenin’ Bloom, what’s new from command?” “Sensors indicate Pa’Laa time is 0912, a morning designated time, Shas’El,” the computer spoke back in a soft female voice, the closest Applejack could find to Apple Blooms voice from the pre-programed voices. “Yeah, probably,” Applejack shrugged. “So? Anythin’ from command?” “Yes, Shas’El, command has recently sent a tactical briefing to all ranking officers on the fleet, the officers in question are to be woken up two cycles before the rest of the crew to read over the data and prepare a briefing for their own command. Would you like to read over the briefing now?” “Read it out to me, would ya?” Applejack got up from the chair as she spoke, starting to slip out of her armour as the computer blinked a few times, before beginning to read the briefing. “Planet designation CGhT-257492, arable world. Capable of supporting Tau and most auxiliary life, Vespid forces are to wear respirator units while outside at all times. Any member of the Sept who experience dizziness or nausea should report to a medical operative immediately.” “The enemy forces on this planet have be named the Canolax, a brutal race of warriors who seem to exhibit many similarities with some Tyranid bio-forms. The Canolax are split into five separate quasi-species, Brutes, Warriors, Workers, Guards and Rulers. Workers are all but powerless in offence, but they can form barricades and fortifications to rival our own in mere hours, as well as providing medical attention to their wounded. The Rulers do not seem to exhibit any offensive capabilities either, unlike the Tyranid bio-forms who rule the swarm. Instead they rely on directing other Canolax to where they will be most deadly. Eliminating Rulers is a top priority of any assault where they are present.” “The Warriors, Guards and Brutes are the three dangerous species, so far encountered in every battle in varying numbers. The Warriors themselves possess both natural chitinous armour and manufactured plate, which while inferior to our own, gives them an extra layer of defence that is providing difficult to beat when in conjunction with their chitin. They possess two sharp pairs of claws, wings, and a form of bio-plasma excreted from their mouths, this plasma can eat through armour extremely quickly, and should be avoided at all costs. Brutes are not simply larger versions of warriors, despite their appearance. They do not possess wings, and tower over even crisis suits, but it is their multitude of weapons that make them deadly. No two have the exact same loadout, but they almost always have claws, blades and rifles in their three pairs of arms. Their armour is likewise thicker than warriors, and it is advised that Fire Warriors call in support or Smart Missile strikes to take them down. If neither are available, concentrate fire on the neck joint, this appears to be the closest thing to a weak point they have. The last species you will face are the Guard. These creatures never stray far from a ruler, and initially do not seem to be a threat, never firing at an enemy, and waiting for them to fire first, either at them or the Ruler. It is then that they show their strengths, absorbing weapon fire in some sort of shield, and firing the weapon back at our troops. Do not engage Guards with anything lighter than fusion blasters or railguns, multiple if possible. A guard should be taken down in a single volley, before they can retaliate, if at all possible.” “The Canolax were given a chance to join our Empire, Water Caste diplomates landing five standard months ago. We lost contact with them in two days, recent evidence showing them to have been wiped out, those captured sharing an equally grizzly fate. Two more teams have since been sent, both suffering the same fate It is with a heavy heart that High Command has ordered this race exterminated, no quarter to be given. The planet must be subjugated and colonised for our expansion. May the Greater Good guide your hand.” The computer went dark as it finished, Applejack now lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. “Looks like we’ve got a whole lotta fight about to come our way, ‘ey Bloom?” “Indeed, Shas’El.”