The Hunters

“They went down and to the left,” Ishik called out from the front of the small band known as the ‘Ghost Soldiers’. Although he was not a Nomad from birth Ishik had learned quickly and although he was a former PDF soldier he had been accepted as one of their own.

As the men descended further into the hive Josam shifted his long rifle into a cradle like hold in his left arm. ‘Smooth, steady breathing, the hive is not slowly collapsing,’ he reminded himself.

A half kilometer more and the tunnel opened up into the bottom of a very deep artificial crevasse within the hive. Peering up Josam was amazed to see that he could not see the top as his vision was swallowed up by impenetrable darkness. As they paused for Ishik to pick up the trail of their quarry Josam felt a slight breeze cross his temple and he turned to peer in the direction of the source. ‘Is that…light?’ He asked himself. He lifted his respirator for a quick whiff of the draft. It smelled of the wastes, not the stale scent that had filled his nostrils these past few hours.

“We may have a breach down this way,” Josam offered to the others who were milling around.

Ishik looked up and nodded. “The trail moves off away from there. We’re probably only fifteen minutes behind them.”

“Then our path is obvious. The current priority is to free Urartu, but once we’ve done that I think he’ll be pleased to know that we’ve taken notice of a new access to the hive.” ‘And my own relief to get out from under this manmade mountain’ Josam added to himself as he motioned for the others to move out.

Turning the breeze to their back the four men continued to follow the track left behind as it followed the cavern until it turned into a hole not much bigger than the silhouette of a man. One by one the four men filed into the cramped passageway beyond. As they moved along it slowly grew in size and they all could detect sounds coming from ahead. Stopping to listen Ishik raised his hand for silence.

“Sounds like a shanty,” he said.

Josam thought to himself for a moment. “Well, I don’t think we’d be welcome there,” Josam said to no one in particular. “Ishik, I need you to move up ahead and see if we can get a look around without being spotted.”

An-Nur moved back ten meters the way they’d come to cover the rear. Shuvah moved to the deeper shadows and sat down with his back to the wall and avoided Josam’s gaze. ‘Odd, no one has questioned my assuming command in Urartu’s absence. That will change real quick if I make a mistake here.’ Josam kept his eyes fixed on the juve. “Let me see your stubber kid.”

The look Shuvah gave Josam was filled with distrust and some fear. “What do you want with it?”

“Take it easy, I just want to look at it.”

Slowly the juve reached across and withdrew the semi-automatic pistol from its holster under his left arm, neither looked aside from the other’s eyes. Spinning it around in his hand Shuvah offered it grip first. Reaching for the offered weapon he noticed the kid’s other hand had instinctively moved to the pommel of his knife. ‘Good, the kid’s got some sense of self preservation’

“Look, I’m not holding you responsible for these hive maggots walking off with Urartu. I just don’t take to new people real quick, and I was looking forward to some down time back in ‘Hive’s End’. What made you want to hook up with us in the first place?”

“My uncle’s raised me since I was nine. Apparently he owed Urartu some money and some kind of deal was struck. I came willingly cause I was glad to get out of that shanty. Besides, Urartu paid for that pistol so it was like a signing bonus.”

Josam just ran his hands over the metal as he continued to study the juve. Eventually the kid broke the link and looked off towards the sounds ahead. Moving it to his left hand he offered the pistol back to the kids, grip first. As Shuvah grabbed the pistol and started to pull on it Josam’s right hand flew never letting go of the pistol. In the blink of an eye Josam’s sword was against the side of Shuvah’s neck. “But the next time I see you run from a fight I will take it upon myself personally to make things right. We nomads have nothing but ourselves to rely on. If we can’t trust one another to be there in the thick of things, then we best make new friends. You get me?”

Shuvah kept a tight grip on the pistol and returned Josam’s gaze. “You can count on me.” Was all the kids said. Josam held the pistol for another moment and then gently released his grip, as he did so he withdrew his sword leaving a slight cut in the skin. Josam stepped back a step, nodded and turned to look for Ishik.

“They’re up there alright. Five of them are camped out at the end of this tunnel. Urartu’s with them,” Ishik said as he returned.

“Can we take them?” An-Nur asked as he pulled in to the others.

“No, they’ve got the approached pretty well covered with a heavy stubber. We’d cap maybe two before that thing ranged in on us. Even with your long gun Josam,” he nodded towards Josam. “They’ve got the reach on the rest of us.”

Josam stood thinking to himself. Not a good situation. Even though Urartu was the leader of this band he could not make himself think that it would be anything other than foolish to sacrifice the rest of them just to free him. “Do you think they’ll come back this way when they’ve taken care of whatever business they’ve come for?”

“I can’t be sure, but it looks that way to me,” Ishik replied.

“Come on,” Josam turned to head back the way they had come. “I saw some sort of tracks back where we caught the sent of the wastes.”

Leaving An-Nur at the entrance to the tunnel the others went in search of food, and it did not take long. Draped across Ishik’s shoulders was some sort of six legged creature. The hide was tough, but it was otherwise easy to dress. In no time the four men were enjoying a hardier meal than they had enjoyed in a very long time.

After several hours, and two reconnaissance runs, Shuvah reported that he saw seven men approaching. The four Nomads deployed into the shadows to await their prey.

Several minutes later Josam saw two heads appear and without stepping into the clearing looked around. ‘Hold!’ Josam signaled the others. ‘Let’s see what these rats are up to first.’ He thought to himself. Just then the man with the heavy machinegun darted out into the open. The move had caught Josam by surprise and before he could get the crosshairs to settle on his target for a shot the man was behind several girders of a long abandoned building. ‘Frak!’ he cursed himself.

One by one the enemy darted across the clearing. All except the last man who had Urartu in tow. Josam followed this last pair with his scope. Urartu tugged at the ropes connecting him to his captor and the man in a hooded cowl responded with a kick to his abdomen. Urartu doubled over and dropped to his knees. As he kneeled there he was biting on something. The hooded man yanked on the ropes pulling Urartu to his feet and pushed him off in the direction the others had run. As they got to the edge of the clearing Urartu looked over his shoulder – right at Josam. The man shoved him into the shadows and they were gone.

Josam hesitated just a minute before he left his hide to pick up the pursuit once more. The four nomads converged on the spot where Urartu has been knocked down. At their feet lay a small scrap of bloody cloth. Looking up in the direction they had moved out each man could see fresh drops of blood.

“Looks like our boss has given us something to follow,” Josam said.

Without another word they moved off after their boss.

Josam didn’t bother to keep mental notes of the trail. Urartu’s blood would serve as a marker to return along. After another hour of cat and mouse the trail opened up into another open area. The scent of cook fires wafted down as they approached.

“Looks like they intend to bed down here for the night. We’ll wait here until they doze off. Then we’ll spring Urartu.” And with that each man pulled back into the shadows to await their opportunity.

Archeo

‘There it is again.’ Josam thought to himself. He was sure he could see and hear the weight of the hive above him causing the walls around him to fatigue and slowly buckle. Although this was his third foray into the massive structure known as Hive: Primus, he had not gotten used to the sensations of being totally encased within it. As they continued to move further within the massive structure the comforting cries of the ash storm outside became nothing but a memory.

The ‘Ghost Soldiers’ were in a single file navigating what had once been a heavy transit tube. The single guide rail traced a perfect path its length on out of sight.

“Here it is,” Urartu called back to his men. “We take this service tunnel up fifty meters until it reaches an access door. Once we reach that level we should be within reach of our goal.”

“Which is what exactly,” An-Nur called from the end of the line of men.

“Archeo if it makes any difference,” Urartu was becoming visibly agitated. “Listen, unless one of you feels man enough to challenge me for leadership of this group say so now and we can take care of business, if not then shut your trap.”

No ones else spoke up, but Josam silently agreed to An-Nur’s question. Nomads roamed the wastes of Necromunda for a reason. They each knew that the real treasures lay out beyond these walls, not among those that chose to dwell one on top of the other. The “skull”, now that contained some archeotech!

Silently the five men climbed through the trap door to something resembling an alley way. Between two walls of undetermined purpose they spread out, Urartu giving directions with just hand and arm signals. Once he was satisfied Urartu brought Ishik up and the two of them used krak grenades to breach one wall.

‘So much for stealth,’ Josam thought to himself.

Beyond the wall was a massive warehouse with huge lifters and an array of structures and crates splayed apparently without rhyme or reason. Urartu gave Josam a signal that he wanted him to climb to the top of a nearby control tower. Urartu then sent An-Nur and Ishik around the same building to the right while he took Shuvah with him around to the left.

When Josam reached the top he could tell that Urartu had once again picked him a prime sniper’s nest. Below him where a pair of bridges running at an odd angle away from the tower, one to his left and one to his right. On the one to his right he could see Ishik setting up to cover An-Nur’s advance. Below and to the left Urartu kept Shuvah close at hand. Apparently he did not trust the juve to cover him. Once he knew where all of his fellow nomads were, and where they would be moving, Josam set to his task.

His new visor was working perfectly. The integral power system used the movement of the wearer to constantly supply itself with energy, which it then used to generate slight highlights of heat differentials in the surrounding area. Almost everything was a uniform temperature, but the lenses also served as a general light intensification visor. Nothing that the scope on his long rifle didn’t already provide but it was nice to not have to keep his eyes exposed to the elements and still be able to scan the scene without limiting his field of vision.

A bright ‘wash’, an indication of something very hot, flared from his left peripheral vision and Josam snapped his head toward it. The scene was filled with cool blue outlines, but a doorway at the end of the bridge Urartu and Shuvah was on showed some yellow tint. Dropping his eye to the scope Josam estimated the range to be a mere fifty meters and adjusted his reticle appropriately.

As Urartu moved within ten meters of the doorway a man with some sort of cowl covering his head and face stepped into the doorway. Whatever he was carrying had a bright red heat source and without a further thought Josam let fly a round from his long rifle. No good, he had rushed his shot. But at least Urartu was now aware of the enemy near him.

Josam looked back to his right and saw movement in front of An-Nur and Ishik. There were several shapes moving in the shadows beyond, but no clear shots to take so he settled in and waited.

An-Nur and Ishik began taking advantage of cover as they moved forward. As they began to bound from a small stack of crates towards the corner of a small shack several of the shadows stepped into the clearing to try and take some shots.

Breath, relax, squeeze…

The rifle jumped slightly in his grip and he nestled it quickly back into his shoulder. Miss – Damn! That’s twice now.

Relax – the word in his head startled him. Josam knew it was not his own, and yet… it was somehow comforting. He looked around and muttered to himself, “It’s nothing…”

Looking back towards Ishik and An-Nur he could tell that they had things well in hand for the enemy was keeping their heads down, and at least one of them was down writhing in pain. Turning back to his left Shuvah was scampering back away from the bridge. With urgency screaming through his nerves Josam dropped his eye back to his scope and scanned the length of the bridge. Urartu was nowhere to be seen, but the man with the intense heat source was moving away from him. Josam dropped the crosshairs between a jumble of girders and as his target appeared he let fly another slug from his rifle. This time he found his mark. His target twitched and dropped to the deck just as another form moved past.

Immediately Josam tracked it as whatever it was disappeared behind yet another wall like bulkhead. He continued to pace the new target and began to squeeze the trigger. The timing was perfect. Just as the shadow form cleared the bulkhead the trigger initiated the charge and set another round down range.

Whatever his target was, it dropped something as it fell. But that was all he could tell because whatever it was had now disappeared behind several obstructions. Looking back to the right Ishik was motioning for him to come down.

It was a considerable chore to get back to the floor, but on the way he found Shuvah. Grabbing him like a disturbed parent might snatch up a child by the arm so Josam pulled the hapless juve along.

As they reached the others Josam shoved Shuvah, forcing him to stumble, towards the others. “This one abandoned Urartu,” he said with disgust. “Where is he now?”

“We thought he was with you,” Ishik said.

With glances quickly exchanged they each knew to they had to move quickly. “I saw a man moving over there,” Josam said as he motioned back into the shadows on the far end of the warehouse.

“Take this coward with you and check the bridge,” Josam told An-Nur.

“He’s just a kid Josam,” An-Nur said as he reached down to help him up.

“That’s no excuse. He left Urartu alone.”

“We’ll discuss this later. For now, I’ll take responsibility for him. Come on kid.”

Josam watched the pair move off. ‘He might be a kid, but he’s a liability until he gets his head out of…’

“Are you coming or you just going to stare of into space?”

Josam turned and headed off to where he lost saw his target. “Kids gonna get somebody killed if we’re not careful.”

“Maybe, but we need the help so try and show him the ropes instead of dumping on him all day long.”

Josam just grunted in response as he led Ishik into the area beyond. The area where the hooded men had disappeared in to was strewn with bits and pieces of broken machinery making it hard for the two men to move in silence and be ready should their enemy return. When they arrived at the place where Josam saw the guy fall the debris had been disturbed, and blood was splattered everywhere – a hit. Still, whoever it was managed to get away – with whatever it was they were carrying.

“He’s not back there,” An-Nur said. “We covered pretty much all of the ground between here and the bride.”

Josam looked at the kid. Shuvah looked down at the ground and shifted his weight. ‘He’s feeling guilty. Good. It should help give him an edge the next time.' Josam thought to himself.

“Come on, let’s get after them,” Ishik said.

“They’re not going far by the looks of this blood trail,” Josam retorted. “Besides, it’s archeo we came here for, and its archeo we’re going to get. If we rescue Urartu and make it out of here, he’s going to be pissed. I want something to show for our efforts in this tomb besides a few tick marks on the barrels of our guns.”

There was some hesitation in all of them, none of them completely sure which action to take. Ishik nodded, “but we better be quick. We shouldn’t give them too much more of a head start.”

Recruitment

The shanty town was alive with activity. Like inside the hives themselves, the activity around the base of the massive hives never ceased. Josam was always amazed at the tenacity of his fellow wasteland inhabitants. No matter how severe the chemical storms, no matter how sudden the acid streams appear to consume the unwary, the people who called the ash wastes of Necromunda home always survived – and it was like they were out to prove there was some sort of normalcy in how they conducted business. Guilders from within the hive to sell luxuries or just weapons, nomads to barter whatever treasures the wastes had given up, and even the shanty dwellers themselves to sell filtered water and food. As Josam passed by a small Guilder’s stall a visor caught his eye. Urartu had been generous in the sharing of their loot from their last foray into the hive itself, and Josam found himself with a few credits just itching to be spent.

“Hey Boss. I’ll catch up with you a little later.” Josam called after Urartu who was already disappearing into the crowd. Urartu just lifted his hand to acknowledge him without turning around. With a grunt to himself Josam turned back to the table that had caught his eye.

The stall was small, and the Guilder unusually slim. He had the usual accoutrements various weapons and ammunition, trinkets, but the visor stood out among the displays. It was a simple little thing, small ovals with padding to completely cover each eye, but something about it spoke to him.

“How much,” Josam asked turning to address the Guilder.

“Twenty guilder credits.”

He said that without blinking an eye, Josam thought to himself. “Well good luck with that. I tell you what, I’ll give you ten and we can call it a deal.”

“Done, but I would like to make you an offer in exchange for my generosity.” The guilder paused to gauge Josam’s reaction. Not detecting anything one way or the other he proceeded to tell him of another client “with connections” that could use the skills of a sniper, preferably an ‘outsider’ and one with a taste for tech.

Josam had to think about this one. “Would the payment be in guilders or in tech?” The guilder rubbed his chin briefly and inferred that he believed it to be in tech. “Then you can tell your friends that they have themselves a sniper. I’ll return in a day or two and we can work out the details.”

Slipping his new visor over his eyes he stepped back into the bustle of the street market. With his credits spent and no idea where Urartu had gotten himself off to he just wandered the market. There was nothing else that really drew his attention but it was somehow un-nerving – so many people all in one place. Granted even Nomads were known to pull together to weather out a storm, but he just wanted to be out among the wastes once more. Lately Urartu had been obsessed with the hive, always delving into the chambers within to search for archeotech. And it had been fruitful, especially the last trip. So much so that Urartu gave him guilder credits to spend anyway he felt like. But Urartu had also become more detached, less inclined to socialize with his men, and more obsessed with restoring his clan. Why should he tell Urartu about this guilder wanting to hire him for a job? Who knows, if things work out then he could strike out on his own and make a name for himself.

“Josam!” Urartu’s call broke through his reverie and Josam turned around to see his boss moving through the crowd.

“Come on, I’ve got a lead on some more archeo.”

Great, another trip into the hive. “But boss, I thought we’d get a night in town to rest up,” Josam replied.

“You’ll get plenty of rest when you’re dead – and out here in the wastes that shan’t be much longer. Say hello to Shuvah here. He seems hell-bent on joining up with us, who am I to say no.”

Great, another mouth to feed. “Better pull your own weight runt,” was all Josam offered up and the three of them headed back out into the wastes to gather up the rest of the ‘Ghost Soldiers’.