Septimus listened to the roar of the engines, and there was no place more comfortable for him than where he sat now - the familiar pilot's seat of the Thunderhawk gunship.
Valier sat in the passenger seat, still without a helmet, staring into the distance.
Sometimes the pharmacist would absentmindedly reach out and stroke his pale lips with his thumb, lost in thought.
"Septimus."
The engine was on a warm-up cycle when he spoke.
"grown ups?"
"What are the chances that we will reach the surface of Nessen-6 without being discovered?"
How could Septimus guess that?
"I know nothing about the Eldar, my lord, nor their scanning technology."
Valere was clearly still upset.
"Darkness is small, take advantage of these advantages and get close to the planet."
Septimus checked the forward bay door. Apart from the gunship and some equipment that Dietrian insisted was essential, there was little room in the shuttle's cabin.
Even the Thunderhawk was loaded with important relics from the Hall of Reflections, leaving no room for more crew members.
With no time to speak to Octavia, Septimus could only send a brief voice message to her private room, and he barely knew what to say.
How to tell her he might die down there?
What could assure her that Dietrian would protect her once they reached the Great Eye?
In the end he could only mutter in his usual awkward tone, mixed with a low gothic accent.
He tried to tell her that he loved her.
This is hardly an elegant expression of emotion.
But she didn't answer, and he didn't even know if she got the message - maybe that was for the best.
Septimus triggered the launch button, closed the boost valve, and slammed the blast door behind him.
"We're sealed and ready to go."
Valier still didn't seem to pay much attention, he was still thinking.
"Let's go."
Septimus gripped the control column tightly, feeling his skin tingle as the engine roared even more intensely.
He took a deep breath, guided the gunship out of the cramped hangar, and flew off into space.
"No offense, my lord, but have you considered that you might be wrong?"
Septimus asked the skinner cautiously.
"I mean, what's the chance of Talos surviving?"
The pharmacist nodded.
"I've thought about it, slave, and that possibility is another thing that interests me."
Through the thick glass of the cockpit, Septimus saw that the Echo of the Damned had been completely destroyed. Its wreckage hugged the orbital station, and the two sides were entangled, spinning, and destroyed together.
What was once his "home" is now just a ruin in the cold void.
He didn't have any hope that there were many people alive up there.
Septimus looks for a suitable contact point. Speed is the most important thing, but he must avoid a large number of structural fragments and try his best to avoid them.
Probably hiding in their shadows.
In addition, he was careful not to push the engines too hard, lest the Eldar warships now stationed in high orbit would be able to detect their presence through heat signatures.
They had only been flying for ten minutes when Valier closed his eyes and shook his head mildly and suspiciously.
"We've been attacked."
The Skinner said softly, to no one in particular.
The sound of footsteps from behind forced Septim
Si craned his neck to look over his shoulder, and the gunboat slowed down in response to his wavering attention.
Through the camera, he saw three of Octavia's followers standing in the doorway leading to the enclosed cockpit.
He immediately recognized Verray, and the other two were probably Herrick and Foley.
They were dressed in rags and had bandages on their hands, which meant their appearance was completely obscured.
Sexetimus looked back at the windshield and slowly maneuvered the gunboat around another larger fragment of metal plate. Smaller pieces of metal kept hitting the hull.
"Did you get on the boat before we left?"
"Yes."
one of the men replied.
"Did she send you here?"
Septimus was a little confused and didn't know Octavia's purpose of doing this.
"We obey our mistress."
That was probably Herrenknecht's answer. To be fair, they sound pretty much the same. The sound isn't always the same.
It makes it easier for people to distinguish them.
Valier's sickly blue eyes were always staring at Verray. This attendant was wearing a thick cloak. Although she was wearing goggles, the bandages on her face and arms were loose, revealing The pale skin underneath.
"Such deception would fool an impartial Mechanicus."
Valier then said slowly:
"But it would be almost pathetic and ridiculous to try the same thing on me."
Valerie smiled, began to untie the bandage, and loosened his hands.
Septimus risked a glance back.
"Keep flying."
Valier glanced at him, his eyes full of menace.
"Focus on your duties."
Half a minute later, Valerie finally put down his baggage and threw away his heavy cloak.
She reached up to her face, took off her goggles, and checked that her bandana was on.
"You wouldn't leave me alone on that broken ship with that mechanical monster."
Octavia's voice made Septimus almost jump out of his chair.
"I will go with you."
With the guidance of the navigator, although Septims was a little uneasy, he still avoided all possible searches by the Eldar. They passed through the atmosphere and reached the surface of Nessen 6.
It was a barren time, with not much vegetation, just murky seas and exposed rocky mountains.
The prison Talos and the others chose was the most dangerous one among the many mountains.
The first one to notice the Thunder Eagle approaching was Lukovus.
He was devouring flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of dead Eighth Legion soldiers.
Lukovus was not ashamed of the feast, and just as the Eighth Legion searched the body of the slain, so did the bloody eyes plunder the flesh.
He knew what Talos or others would think if they saw him tearing apart his brother's body and eating the meat inside. They would probably
That's a generous way of looking at it, but with the way things are going, it doesn't seem to matter.
Lukovus carefully preserved their genes as he ate.
Because of the seeds, he removed the fleshy lymph nodes and stored them in a freezer jar in his thigh.
At this time, it was raining heavily.
Birds of prey swallowed the dead in the rain, raising their heads from time to time, their exposed faces stinging in the unfamiliar wind.
He awaits the arrival of the Eldar and is no longer interested in underground hunting.
He wasn't even sure why he wanted to take away the gene seed of the Eye of Weeping Blood. Perhaps it was a strong tradition even in the face of death.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of the gunboat's engine, and his instinctive reaction was to become nervous.
His claws began to move as he turned to face the growing sounds, his vision compromised at a distance without the helmet's visual loop.
Lukovus was about to reach for his helmet when the Thunderhawk sat above his head and sprayed its engine stream down, spraying gray water around the edge of the prison tower.
When the ladder opened, Lukovus watched impassively, showing no signs of surprise at the figure falling from the sky.
The figure landed smoothly with a thud, then turned toward the gunship.
"I'm coming down, landing on the battlements, away from any Eldar ground troops. You can run away. You can go wherever you want. This is all I ask of you. Thank you for helping me complete this last journey. If I still have time in the future, I will repay you if I have the chance."
When the gunship didn't answer, the Thunderhawk began to bank, thrusters flashing, and then disappeared in the rain.
After saying that, he turned back and looked at the raptor.
"Lukovus of the Weeping Eyes."
"Valiel the Skinner."
Lukovus replaced his helmet and reattached the demonic mask to his face.
"You look like a drowned corpse."
Valiel was not familiar with the raptors, but had heard of their deeds.
"I know what I look like, why are you here?"
Valier's eyes wandered over the darkened prison.
"Because of a fool's wish, where is Talos?"
Lukovus gestured with his paw and bent his fingers.
"under."
While the two were talking, the Thunder Eagle had already left the planet's surface at its highest speed, passed through the atmosphere, and returned to the void.
As for Dietrian, whose navigator was missing, he could only let the shuttle wait where it was.
After such a thrilling turn, Septimus and Octavia won the right to survive as always, although only temporarily.
