# Shadow of Dawn



## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

FOREWARD UNTO DAWN

Since I left the ending of _Unending_ ambiguous, (hence the name, folks), I've decided to start completely anew, with a host of new characters, though as all my stories are connected, there will be references to old ones. The _Shadow of Dawn_ will feature prominently, as will her crew, whom I've always pictured as a bit shabby and disheveled. Note the year is still 230.M42, about a thousand four hundred years _before_ the Altair stories end, and about six hundred before they begin. That clearing up any confusion, hopefully, although you can still PM me with any questions pertaining to the _Shadow_, her crew, or anything else that seems a bit...off.

Well, now that the BORING reading is over with, onto the first chapter of what I hope will be a well-recieved story!

CONTENTS

1. New Fenix
2. Salvage
3. Deus Ex Machina
5. E.R.I.N.
5. Zero to Sixty
6. Three to One
7. Discoveries
8. The First Horseman
9. Discoveries Two
10. Arc
11.The Second Horseman

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NEW FENIX

James Marr, Imperial Navy pilot, was drunk.

He reached for a small bowl of nuts, but only managed to knock the dish over.

The bartender watched in horrified fascination as Marr pointed at his empty glass with a pleading look on his face. The man shook his head quickly. 

"No way, man. You're already stone-drunk. I'm not givin' you nothin' til' you pay for the drinks, man."

Marr fished a handful of credits out of his pocket and dumped them on the table. 

The bartender looked at him, then took two of the higher value chips and pushed the rest back toward James. Marr blinked a few times, then placed the chips into his coat.

"Hey, man. You don't look too good.."

Marr was passed out before he hit the ground.
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Valin Redic was a man of ships.

His father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, had all been captain of the _Ever Watchful_, a Dauntless frigate that had served in the Gothic War.

So, with his disgust, he had jumped ship as soon as he turned 25.

He had wandered around the Western Fringe until he had found New Fenix.

New Fenix was not new, despite the name. It was a drifter colony, one of many massive space stations that populated the Fringe. It was almost like a city, albeit one totally enclosed, and made of ship hulks. New Fenix was large enough to not seem so opressive and locked, however. He didn't like the drifter's life. He didn't like it a bit too much, it would seem.

And that was how Valin Redic had come to be in a small cell with an unconcious man who smelled strongly of liquor.

An enforcer had called the man Marr. Redic's eyes began to water from the smell of booze and bac-sticks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Redic was dumped with the now-sober James Marr on the deck outside the Enforcer's office.

"Damn it all, man. What the hell did you do? Bathe in cheap drinks?"

Marr snorted. "Pretty much. I've been trying to get off this station for weeks."

Valin cocked an eyebrow. "Why haven't you?"

"Because I'm not technically resident, so I don't get a pick in the lottery."

Redic nodded. The Lottery was held every six weeks or so, depending on what New Fenix picked up from the scrap fields and hulks found throughout the Fringe. Sometimes something incredibly valuable or rare would turn up, and it would be sold to the Fringe Worlds at a ridiculous price. The less valuable things were given in the lottery. It was a simple plan, really. Each citizen had one chit. Each chit could be used to "buy" one thing at the Lottery drawing. If more then one citizen wanted the same thing, they would raffle it among the conflicted.

Redic pointed at a faded poster. Resources such as paper were hard to come by on Fenix, so most of the announcements were made on sheet metal and riveted to the walls.

"Lottery's tomorrow, mate. We got a good haul from the Perseus Veil last week. You can come with me. Sometimes they find a shuttle or something. We can use it to get off of this floating scrapheap."

Marr grinned. "Thank you. I suppose we haven't been properly introduced. Name's Marr. James Marr. My friends call me Joker."

Redic shook his hand. "Valin Redic. Haven't got any friends to call me anything."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Lottery was a madhouse. Located in one of the central plazas on New Fenix, most of the city-ship's vendors were paid by the government to sell the drift junk they picked up for a day. Mostly just to get rid of the trash. 

Marr and Redic walked through the Lottery's many booths and stalls, looking for a shuttle's starter card, or even a ship itself. New Fenix's vendors usually squeezed the smaller ones between the shops. 

Redic was looking through a pile of broken electronics when Marr inhaled sharply.

He looked over to find Marr biting his fist, with a large metal box in one hand. The Imperial Aquilla was stamped on the side.

Redic cocked his head. "What's that?"

Marr looked around, then whispered, "It's the survivor's box for a Pheonix! A frakking ship! A real ship!"

Redic suddenly realized the gravity of the situation. The survivor's box was usually jettisoned by a ship when the ship's drives were disabled. It contained a starter card, the codes for the ship, a locator beacon, and the AI interface, if the ship had one. Most were stolen from the Tau, or the more...technologically sound races.

Marr and Redic turned their backs on the crowds, so no one else would see the box. Marr unlocked it with a _hiss_ of escaping air, and the locater activated. A small green blip appeared on the screen, maybe two parsecs from New Fenix.

"Emperor above." hissed Redic. "We can get a commercial shuttle to there."

"And then we can claim Salvage! Damnit! We might even get it to go!"


Redic flashed the box at the vendor, and threw the metal chit onto the table. The vendor nodded his thanks and the two retreated to Redic's grubby apartment to call a shuttle.


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## thomas2 (Nov 4, 2007)

Nice start! Good to see more stories of yours, they're always good. Can't wait for the next part.


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Thanks! Unfortunately, they usually don't get the traffic I'd like, but whatever. I already am in the planning stages for yet another stand-alone, _Those once Loyal_
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SALVAGE

The commercial pilot cost a fortune. The fat, surly man squeezed into the front seat of the very small four-seater industrial shuttle and they eased out of New Fenix's docks. The city-ship was so vast that most Imperial ships could fit into the drydocks. Larger ones, such as Retribution and Emperor class dreadnoughts, were linked by boarding tubes to the city. Redic looked out the windows at the massive ships floating by the tiny shuttle.

"Wow..that's the _Ascension_! The flagship of the Pacificus fleet!"

Marr leaned over to look at the white and green leviathan. 

"It's big."

---------------
The shuttle got them out to the scrap fields. The survivor's box in Marr's hands started to chirp.

"Got it, I think. It's about 700 meters off the bow and closing."

The pilot tapped his own auspex.

"I don't see anything. Just a hulk off a ways to port."

"Is the hulk our ship?"

Marr dropped his head. Things never worked out.

"No...200 meters ahead. Still closing. You can't see it still?"

The pilot shook his head. "No."

Redic's voice took on a frightened tone. "100 meters."

"Where the hell is she?"

"50 meters"

"I'm pulling up! I'm not dyin' out here!"

"Wait!" yelled Marr. The cockpit went dead silent.

Marr leaned forward. "Is that it?"

A massive asteroid slowly rolled aside, revealing a large, pig-iron grey cruiser.

"That's her. Ha! It worked! Take us into her port hangers and let's get her going back to Fenix!"

----------------------------------

A gaggle of tenders moved aside as Redic and Marr strode up the port Promenade deck, looking over the repairs. The ship had taken a hell of a beating. Her shields weren't functioning, the Geller field was fluctuating wildly, the hull was open to the void on six of the eight decks, and the fusion bottle in the core was cracked so badly the pair had to replace it.

"How in hell are you paying for all of this?" asked Marr, moving to let a tech-priest and his escort pass. "I only gave you five hundred creds. That won't even pay for the frakking paint."

Redic smiled. "Before I left the _Ever Watchful_, I stole a bottle of cognac from my father's celler in the captain's quarters. I sold it to the mayor for well over the scrap value of this ship, so he's repairing it."

"Must've been good cognac."

"It was a 634. Very good year, so I'm told. Had my father known, he would've stated, totally deadpan, "Son, that is the only successful thing you have ever done."

Marr nodded and turned to look just as a team of fitters in void suits blew the dust and debris from the front of the ship.

_Shadow of Dawn_

"It's a good name."

"This entire frakking ship is a good omen. It's a Pheonix class. Rising from the ash and all that."

Redic smiled and handed Marr a glass filled with much, much cheaper cognac.

"This isn't a 634 is it?"

"Nah. Plasti-bottle variety, I'm afraid."

The two toasted the reborn ship from the bridge windows as repair crews worked around them.


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Deus Ex Machina

Marr winced and covered his face as the brightness of the _Shadow Of Dawn_'s hallways exploded into his cabin through the opened hatch. The brightness faded slowly, and a fitter wearing a heavy flash mask nodded a greeting. The man turned to continue his welding and Marr began the walk to the bridge.

Redic was already on the bridge, tapping controls on the captain's chair experimentally. He tapped a green button with his forefinger, and the bridge lit up, each station in turn flicking on. The last thing to appear was a massive screen that appeared before a second seat, this one right in front of and below the captain's chair.

Redic gestured to Marr. "Pilot's chair. Apparently the _Dawn_ isn't like most Navy ships. So far, there's only five stations. Pilot, Gunnery, Engineering, Comms, and Ops.

Marr was impressed by the ship's construction. If five people could use the _Dawn_, fifty could press it to it's limits.

The doors to the bridge opened, and the chief fitter walked in, with a dozen of his men. 

"Sirs, I'm pleased to report that this ship is fully operational. We got that last of the repairs done a few moments ago. I just need two things."

Marr looked up from the pilot's chair. "Go on."

The fitter twisted his cap in his hands. "First, we made this." 

He handed Redic a heavy, brass-edged plaque. The words _Shadow of Dawn, New Fenix, 230.M42_ were picked out in brass against a black backround.

Redic smiled. He took the plaque and looked around the bridge. On the wall behind the captain's chair, in full view of all, there was a rectangular mark, terminated at the corners by naked bolts. He noticed matching holes on the plaque's sides. Lining it up, he placed the _Dawn_'s new service plaque onto the bridge.

Redic turned. The chief fitter smiled. "And then there's the matter of the second thing, sir. This ship is incredible. All my boys have worked on Navy ships, hell, some of em' worked on that xenotech thing the Imperials dragged out here. But I gotta tell you. The _Shadow of Dawn_ is something special. The core's twice as big as any other ship this size! And the bridge, there's only five stations. Most navy cruisers have more then thirty! This ship was made for something. But for the life of me, I can't figure out what. That's what I askin', sirs. A couple of my boys and I, well, we want to stay and crew the _Dawn_."

The fitters behind him nodded. Redic looked at Marr, who shrugged. The chief's face fell.

Marr's face broke into a smile. Redic chuckled. "We're glad to have you, chief. Divide the lads into teams, and get a few specialties from them. We're going to need at leat twenty to sail out of here on the _Dawn_'s own power."


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

E.R.I.N.









-Wire schematic taken at ISNF Drive Yards, New Fenix, 230.M42 [Sanctioned by the Inquisition in regards to Anomoly 0(S)-184732]

The _Shadow of Dawn_ knifed away from New Fenix at a low burn, cruising past the massive Imperial battleships and frigates. James Marr sat comfortably in the pilot's seat, hands on the controls and a smirk on his face. Valin Redic sat behind him in the Captain's chair, watching the Ops map check off each ship as they left New Fenix's artificial orbit.

There was only about thirty crew aboard the _Dawn_. They'd have to find more. The ship carried berths and cryo cells for fifty-seven people. Marr had counted.

The young man at the Comms station leaned back in his seat. "Sir, I've got an incoming message from Tower. Want me to patch it through?"

Redic nodded.

The man flicked a switch, and the speakers suddenly blared with voices.

[Unidentified ship, this is Tower New Fenix. Report intentions and codes, aknowledge.]

Redic nodded to the Comm Op. He leaned back and spoke into the vox.

[Tower New Fenix this is armed frigate _Shadow of Dawn_ breaking orbit at vector two-five-seven at angle fifty-seven degrees. Crew is thirty-three souls, repeat thirty-three. Cargo is nil, repeat, nil. Destination is Hrolmgang Up to resupply and take on crew.]

[_Shadow of Dawn_ this is Tower New Fenix, aknowledged. Continue on current vector or weapons will begin to track. Repeat, continue on vector two-five-seven out of the Yards.]

Redic breathed a sigh of relief as New Fenix dwindled behind the ship.

"Sir, we're leaving the no wake zone. Shutting down maneuvering thrusters in three."

He felt the _Dawn_ shudder as the ship came to a halt.

"Engaging primary engines in five.....four......three.....two.....one."

The frigate lurched ahead, scattering the ring of debris around New Fenix. 

A large blue light lit up the bridge, and a holo of a globe appeared. Lines of what looked like buttons flashed around the sphere. A feminine, metallic voice echoed from the holo.

"Registering main systems as online. AI interface powering up. Hello, I am the ISNF _Shadow of Dawn_'s Electrical Robotic Interface Network. You may call me ERIN."

Redic's mouth dropped open. Marr strained to look. The ship lurched to the side as his hands slipped off the controls. He jumped back to looking out the viewport.

Redic leaned forward to let his fingers touch the globe. The buttons snapped into place, and lines of text appeared on them.

SHIP LOG

NETWORK

AI INTERFACE

SHIP INFORMATION

Redic's hand lingered on SHIP INFORMATION. He touched the cube. ERIN turned red and a different voice came through the speakers.

"The _Shadow of Dawn_ is a heavily converted Pheonix-class frigate and heavy destroyer. Built in 248.M30, it served as an escort during the Horus Heresy. It was converted to a refugee ship during the Gothic War, until it was purchased in 008.M42 by the [expunged] for the purpose of [expunged]. It's current status is five klicks from New Fenix drifter colony."

Redic pressed SHIP LOG

A line of text flashed onto ERIN's form.

[Data corruption-247.M30-010.M42]
[Weapons fired-011.M42]
[Self-destruct sequence initiated. Launching survivor's box-012.M42]
[Self-Destruct sequence halted-012.M42]
[Last Will-Captain Valente-012.M42]
[Audio File recorded-Unknown user-014.M42]

He clicked the audio recording. The bridge crew turned as a voice cut through static, gunfire, and an odd, wailing noise.

"Wh-whoever finds this, this is the _INS Shadow of Dawn_! We're cut off from the fleet! Something went-uh-wrong! We can't get anything! We have to purge the core! Daniels! Cut ERIN's hard lines! We're abondoning ship! We can't stay at the apex! The _Dawn_'s coming apart! We've lost the Geller field, and the hull is losing integrity!"

It cut out in a roar of escaping air.

The crew looked around, suddenly more concious of the creaks and groans as the _Dawn_ hurtled to the jump point outside New Fenix.

Redic clicked off the file. "Well, at least we know what happened."

Marr gulped. "Do we know _how_ it happened?"

"I can check the main logs. They wouldn't have been purged."

Marr nodded. The crew turned back to their work.

Redic slumped into the chair. Maybe the _Dawn_ wasn't such a good omen.


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## bucket_boy101 (Jul 8, 2008)

Keep it going, it's really good!


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## Sniper (Mar 9, 2008)

Great so far Dirge, nice schematics, correct me if I'm wrong but u dont usually make those for your stories do u?, anyway interesting story so far.

Sniper


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

No, usually I don't include pics, but the _Shadow of Dawn_ is meant to be weird and different then most Imperial ships, so I figured that it warranted a wire schematic.

-Dirge


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Zero to Sixty

Redic woke the next day refreshed. The crew had dismissed the frantic transmission as the _Dawn_'s last fight, instead of a terrifying and quick death.

Redic strode onto the bridge in a grey robe he had found in the captain's locker. The Inquisitorial "I" symbol was embroidered onto the collar. He found that quite interesting.

Marr was sitting comfortably in the pilot's chair, drinking caf out of a paper cup. He looked up as Redic sat down.

"Durant wants me to tell you that we're nearing the jump point for Hrolmgang Up."

Redic nodded. Durant was the eager young Operations officer, the former Repair Coordinator for Vanhal's crews. Vanhal himself had chosen to remain an Engineer, so Redic and Marr had given him the Engineering deck.

ERIN flashed into existance on the deck.

"Captain. We are nearing the warp point for your chosen destination. Navigational relays are activated."

Marr turned. "This ship doesn't have a 'clops?"

Redic shrugged. "They didn't find a Navigator's shrine when they did repairs. I don't think so. It also doesn't have an Astropath."

Marr sipped his caf. "This ship is weird, man. And I don't say that about everything."

The comms officer sat upright. He flipped a switch.

[Tower New Fenix to _Shadow of Dawn_, we register you as a half-parsec from Jump Point One. Relay ident and engage warp engines.]

[_Shadow of Dawn_ to Tower New Fenix, ident serial 00-893-6245-ISNF, warp engines coming on line.]

Redic felt a shudder run through the deck as the _Dawn_ responded to Marr's control.

[Tower New Fenix to _Shadow of Dawn_, Hrolmgang Up is expecting you. May He guide your journey. New Fenix out.]

ERIN's voice echoed across the decking again.

"Sixty seconds to jump. Warp engines engaging."

The ship shook slighty.

"Fifty seconds to jump. Arc Generator sealed."

Redic frowned. _Arc Generator?_

"Thirty seconds to jump. Ship sealing."

The bulkheads slammed down. Blast doors closed over the bridge's entrance, and shields settled over the viewport.

"Twenty seconds to jump. Navigation on-line."

Marr looked in confusion as the ship's controls deactivated.

"Ten seconds to jump. Warp engines primed."

"Five seconds to jump. Reactor stopped."

"Warp engines firing."

Redic was slammed back into the captain's chair as the ship knifed into the Warp, blazing a trail towards Hrolmgang. Marr's caf flew past his head.

His body slowly adjusted to the speed and he leaned forward. The bridge crew started to clap, and he felt himself join in.


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Three to One

_Shadow of Dawn_ exited the warp at Relay Five, six parsecs from Hrolmgang Up Orbital, into hell.

The ship's klaxons wailed. ERIN flashed into a tactical map showing a mass of red and blue icons.

"Captain! I've got sixteen-plus contacts, unknown class. System defenses are engaging, but are outnumbered."

"How outnumbered?" asked Redic, hand hovering above the call-to-arms klaxon.

"Three to one, sir."

Marr grinned evily at the pilot's chair. The comm officer pressed a finger to his headset.

"Sir, the _Dawn_'s main weapon is reading as operational. Broadside batteries are at 50% due to insufficient crew."

Redic pressed the klaxon button. All through the _Shadow of Dawn_, crews rushed to gun decks and damage control stations.

"I've got a targeting confirmation for the Accelerator." said the Ops officer. A blip on the tactical map turned red.

"Fire." said Redic.

The _Shadow of Dawn_'s main weapon was a massive linear accelerator built into the ship's hull, stretching from the fusion bottle to a long barrel the extended from the ship's prow. 

At Redic's command, a shell the size of a small shuttle exited the barrel moving at over one hundred klicks per second. It smashed a hole into the first enemy contact, a crude, rusted, hulk of iron plates and gun barrels. Glyphs glared from it's surfaces.

The ship disintigrated, to the cheers of the _Dawn_'s gunnery officers.

"Sir, torpedo tubes have a firing solution."

"Fire at will, all hands."

"Aye aye, sir."

The Ops officer tracked the torpedoes across the tactical map. "Fire one....fire two....torpedoes away."

A second hulk, this one with a tremendous gun barrel protruding from it's bow, tried to turn into the two projectiles, too late. The first torpedo smashed into the starboard side, blowing a hole in the ship and venting most of it's atmosphere. The second had a direct hit on the bridge as the ship spun wildly from the first impact. The hulk leaned to port, and fell burning into Hrolmgang's atmosphere.

"Status." said Redic, as Marr flew the _Dawn_ expertly past the wreckage of the first crude ship.

"Nine contacts still on-screen, reading seven as destroyed. Imperial craft number at two system defense frigates, one orbital defense platform."

"We're the heavyweight in this fight, then. Bring us alongside the closest contact, reload torpedo tubes and Accelerator gun. I want it firing yesterday."

"Aye, sir."

The _Dawn_ cruised in alongside the closest ship, broadside guns firing. The rivited hull of the xenos frigate was blasted into slag by the savage tide of munitions. The ship began to vent smoke and fire into the void. A few poorly aimed shots smacked into the _Shadow of Dawn_'s adamantium sides, but even fewer penetrated her armor.

A last vengeful slavo blew most of the ship's interior out the side facing away from the _Dawn_, just as the Accelerator took the life of another ship, this one menacing the orbital platform.

"Sir, reading all enemy contacts as splashed. Friendlies at one operational frigate, one badly damaged. Frigate one is towing frigate two back to the orbital station."

"We're being hailed by Hrolmgang Up, sir. Patching it through."

[Hrolmgang Up to unidentified craft, hell of a piece of gunnery right there, thanks for the assist. Am I speaking to the _Shadow of Dawn_? We were told you'd be in-system shortly. Didn't expect you'd be packing the guns, though.]

[_Shadow of Dawn_ to Hrolmgang Up, we're happy to help. Who were they?]

[Ork raiders. They broke off from the Octavius fleet, we've been trying to get them in a stand-up fight for weeks.]

[Didn't look like it worked very well.]

[We had a Retribution. It's out on patrol. ETA two minutes.]

[About refitting?]

[Of course. _Shadow of Dawn_, divert to bay sixty-two, Hrolmgang Orbital Docks.]

[Much obliged.]


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Discoveries
-Docking relay
-M10 PAA
-Redirected

"Why do we need pilot ships? The _Dawn_'s barely bigger then a Mars class! Pilot ships wreck the armor, the paint, the structure!"

"In that order?"

Marr stopped his rant long enough to look at Redic in vague disbelief, then laughed, Redic joining in.

The _Shadow of Dawn_ was snug against the belly of Hrolmgang Up, with six docking umbillicals holding the ship to the station. The extra crew and two enterprising Techpriest Enginseers had boarded yesterday, while taking on supplies (free of charge, thanks to the grateful governer of Hrolmgang), was going to take another day. 

"It's a good thing we weren't drydocked like the rest. We can look around the ship for an armory. I haven't seen one yet, and we'll need weapons. Weapons are good."

ERIN threw up a map of the _Dawn_. A red light shone in the middle of the ship. A blue light shone on the holo image of the bridge. A red line connected the two.

"Armory is approximately three decks down, and two hundred feet to the bow."

---------------------------------------------------

The engineer pried open the panel with a screwdriver, and began to poke at the exposed wiring. Marr tapped the door. The man glared at him the second the screwdriver crackled and sparks flew from the panel. The engineer leapt back and The door opened with a hiss of escaping air. 

Marr and Redic shone flashlights inside the room, until Marr flicked on the lights.

The room was about thirty feet long, and maybe twenty wide. Workbenches were set up along two of the walls. A third wall was covered in small-arms, ranging from laspistols to a pair of Autocannon. But it was the fourth wall that drew everyone's attention immediately.

Six bulky suits hung from harnesses suspended from the ceiling. Cables ran into the backs of the suits, as well as compartments opened to reveal sockets. A mass of spare parts and what looked like bolt-on components covered the remainder of the wall. The helmets of the armor were menacing. Twin black eyeslits glared at the two men behind a fearsome-looking rebreather, while lights and sensors were attatched to it's sides.

Redic took a step back as Marr smiled in delight and began to take one of the suits down.

"Uh, James, I don't think that-"

Marr snorted as he put on the armored boots. "Exactly. You don't think. These are awesome! What are they? They're not Guard issue, for sure."

Redic picked up the chest piece. "It's not power armor. Too light."

Marr accepted the piece back and fitted it to the backplate. Gauntlets went over hands, followed by two bulky shoulderpads. A light snapped onto the right pad. A rectangular pack attached to the backplate. Finally, Marr lowered the helmet onto his head. A hiss and a squeal indicated the suit was pressurized. 

"How do you feel?" asked Redic.

Marr screamed in pain. The suit convulsed. Redic yelled and ran into the corridor to call for help, when he heard Marr laughing. Redic rounded on the man.

"Dammit!"

"Couldn't resist. I'm sorry. I'm fine. It's kind of like carapace, except more bulky. Bet you I could lift one of those autocannon in this."

Redic looked over the suit. It was gunmetal-grey, with chipped black paint over the rebreather, shoulderpads, shinguards, and wrists. A single black stripe, equally chipped, ran down the helmet vertically.

"Says "Daniels" on the backpack." said Redic, examining the piece. 

"He was in the recording, remember? The guy told him to cut ERIN's connection."

"Look here." said Redic, holding up a small document. The Inquisitorial "I" symbol blazed from it's surface. Marr turned in the armor, and Redic once again felt a twinge of fear at the cold, unfeeling metal. He realized that soldiers clad in this type must terrify their enemies.

"It says "To the captain of the _Shadow of Dawn_, the Ordo Xenos presents six suits of Mark X Powered Assault Armor."

"Powered Assault Armor?" asked Marr. "That explains this." 

He held a crushed lasgun in one gauntleted fist. He pointed to a rack of bolters. "And those. Lasguns for the crew, bolters for the six lucky guys."

A booming voice echoed over the loudspeaker. 

[Crew and Captain of the _Shadow of Dawn_. This is Rear Admiral Horstgeld. You will remain at your berth until the Imperial Navy decides the time of your departure. We are sending a boarding party to check for contraband items and station jumpers. That is all.]


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## Talonmaster Raptoris (Jul 5, 2008)

Very good writing and the story is cool.

Is the title "forward unto dawn" a referance to Halo?
and I think the ship name ascention is a referance to Mass Effect?
Are there intentional?


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Yes. My two favorite video games, and Forward Unto Dawn is a play on words, as the Foreward is used by the author to tell a short part about the book.

-Dirge


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## Talonmaster Raptoris (Jul 5, 2008)

Alright!!!! keep the stories coming dirge
P.S Mass Effect RULES!!!!


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Tali FTW.
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The First Horseman

"What the hell is in here?" asked the man. Redic shrugged. 

"We don't know. The fitters never found a way in."

Valin Redic and James Marr stood in front of a massive blast door with the Medical symbol and the Inquisitorial =I= blazing on the front. 

The Naval Inspector seemed skeptical. "Anything else I should know about?"

Redic shrugged again. "No Navigator, no Astropath, no Geller field, and there's an entire deck we can't get to."

"Suicide."

"Got us here OK."

The man shook his head. "Fine. You want to get yourself killed, fine. Don't bug me when your ship goes bottom-up halfway to the Cadian Relay."

He scribbled a signature on a scrap of parchment and handed it to Redic. 

"Ship's clear, but you guys are nuts. I wouldn't touch anything with the I on it."

Marr smiled crazily. "The _Dawn_'s the best damned ship this side of the Maelstrom."

The man cringed. "Yes, well, I have things to do. Your docking tick expires at 2400 tomorrow. I expect your buisness will be completed by then?"

"Yeah. Just here to take on crew and supplies, and cargo bound for Cadia."

Redic glanced at Marr as the man left. Marr smiled and touched a panel on the wall. As it slid into the wall, A large green button became visible.

"That's how."

"Have you been in there?"

Marr shook his head. "No. I'm more interested in E deck. Nobody's been able to access it. All the ship's codes don't have the proper clearance."

"Have you tried A-R-C?"

"No.... what? Why?"

"Something I heard when the ship jumped here. Arc Generator. It's not powering the ship, in fact, it's completely inert. It has been since that transmission we saw of the _Dawn_ going bottom-up."

"What do you think it is?"

"It's big, if it takes up the entire deck."

---------------------------------------------


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Discoveries Two

Marr stood in front of the massive blast doors that the Inspector had dismissed the previous day. Their docking permit expired in six hours, so the crew figured they'd take chances while there was still a place to run. 

Redic was next to him, hand over the green button. A motley group of crewmen and women were behind the pair, a few clutching pistols and naval shotguns.

The doors swished open with the sound of breaking seals. Marr stepped inside, turning on his shoulder-mounted light. The crew followed him in, shining illuminators around the room. It seemed to be a standard chirugeury. An autosurgeon was in the center of the room, with cabinets and racks of vials covering two walls. A third wall was devoted to six cryo-pods, used for holding critically injured personnel. The fourth wall showed a mass of anatomical diagrams. 

Marr wiped a layer of dust of one of the cryo tubes.

"Shit!" screamed one of the ratings, falling backwards, autorifle blazing. Bullets spanked off of metal surfaces as the rest of the crew fired blindly in the direction of the first shots. 

"Hold fire! Hold fire! Cut it out!" yelled Redic over the din. He moved forward to see what the trooper had fired on. The man was shaking. He pointed to the last of the cryo-tubes, this one in a corner, out of the way. A few chips were taken out of the bulletproof flexiglass by the barrage.

Redic looked in horrified fascination at the thing encased in the tube. It was about seven feet tall, towering over Redic and the others, except Marr, whom had insisted he wear Daniels' armor into the room, "just in case". A row of quills grew from it's head, getting shorter as they ran down it's back. A thick, beak-like mouth was beneath two closed eyes. It was clad in a tight-fitting suit of combat armor, to Redic's eyes it looked like cannabalized Kasrkin armor. A symbol of some sort was scratched into the paint on the chestplate. Beneath it, "Joruk" was scratched in a similar fashion.

Marr strode up, his armor making small clicking noises. "It's a Kroot. We fought em' on Medusa IV."

Redic nodded. "And Medusa V, before it went haywire."

Marr raised his weapon. Redic stepped in front of the capsule. "Maybe it can tell us about the ship. Life support's still registering. Look."

Marr turned, and sure enough, a green line of chattering pixels still sketched out the Kroot's slow-beating heart.

"How can that be? This ship's been in the junk fields for over two centuries."

One of the crewmen piped up. "Excuse me, sir. I'm a medicae...um...the cryo-stasis technology, while tempermental, is very good at preserving life. It would be my guess, that the Kroot's only aged about two years in the time he's been in that tube."

Marr turned back to the peaceful-looking Kroot. "What do we do with it?"

"He." said the man who had spoken.

"What? How do you know? Only another Kroot would care anyways."

The man smiled. "Medicae. I know."

Redic nodded. "Sounds good to me."

Marr's gaze traveled from the medicae to Redic. "What now?"

Redic shrugged. "Bring up one of those bolters, thaw him out."


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Arc

Redic sipped a rapidly cooling cup of recaff as the medicae worked the various dials and levers surrounding the cryo-tube. Marr loitered about, bolter in one hand, looking out-of-place in the massive suit of armor.

"We've got him warmed enough. I'm starting the heatlamps."

Marr cocked his head quizzically. "Why couldn't we just light a fire under him?"

"The extreme temperature change would cause him to crack."

"Crack...."

"As in explode."

Marr nodded. The man turned back to his work. A second later the clear front of the tube slid into the ceiling, exposing the Kroot to the _Shadow of Dawn_'s atmosphere. Redic sniffed the air from the tube. It smelled of stale Kroot, ozone, gunpowder, and metal shavings, coupled with the standard smells of space-going vessels. 

Marr cocked the bolter and placed the muzzle to the Kroot's temple. The creature stirred, groaning in an odd, clicking tongue.

The Kroot sat bolt upright, pushing Marr's aim upwards to the ceiling. The medic fell backwards into a rack of vials, and Redic took shelter behind a second cryo-tube.

the Kroot started visibly at the sight of Marr.

"Have we succeeded in our mission, Robert Daniels?" it clicked. The quills on it's back flexed. 

Marr took a step back, then he seemed to regain his composure. 

"I'm not Robert Daniels. We salvaged this ship."

The Kroot fiddled with a strap on it's olive green armor. "Really. In that case I am convinced that Robert Daniels failed in his last attempt to save the _Shadow of Dawn_."

It held out a clawed hand. "My name is Joruk. Well, it is now."

Redic leaned out from the tube. "Now?"

The Kroot looked at the chronometer set into the lifesigns moniter.

"I am...I suppose now that I am dead by all records...it wouldn't hurt. I am Gedrik Valerin, former Callidus Temple operative of his majesty's Officio Assassinorium."

Redic and Marr took a collective gasp.

"And judging by this timescale I have been in this pod for far too long to revert back to my original form. My metabolism has adjusted to Kroot diet and phsyiology."

The medicae rose shakily to his feet. Joruk stepped lightly from the cryo-pod and walked across the room to a rack, vacant save for a long, double-barreled Hellgun, and a wicked black sword. He clipped the gun to his back and sheathed the hellish-looking sword. He looked around the floor.

"My neural shredder is missing. Have any of you seen it?"

Redic and Marr shook their heads. The medic was still stupefied at the fact that his apparent Kroot was an Assassin.

"Curses. A most formidable close-range weapon. Still, I remain in possession of my most valuable tool."

He pulled the black sword from it's scabbard and twirled it around his head and chest, ending with a dramatic flourish before returning it to the sheath.

Redic held out his hand. "Valin Redic."

The kroot shook it, then took Marr's armored hand.

Redic approached the warrior. "You were on this ship before it was abandoned?"

Joruk nodded. "Yes. I take it the crew left you few clues about it's original purpose."

The captain shook his head. Marr turned from helping the medic pick up the fallen vials.

"No, besides a panicked audio and a few clues from the cogitator banks, nothing. By the way, what the hell is an Arc generator? and the codes for E deck?"

The upper portion of the Kroot's beak-like mouth twitched, and it's eyes shone. Redic realized it was the equivalent of a smile.

"I can see I have a lot to tell you, Valin Redic and James Marr. But it would be best if I could show you. Please follow me to E deck."


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## Sniper (Mar 9, 2008)

Hey Dirge,
Looks good so far. By the way do you still have a copy of Unending somewhere? If you do can you please send me a copy?
Thanks,

Sniper


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Oh god...I completely forgot about that! I'm sorry! My life just kind of skipped a few. Yeah, when I get back (1 week 3 days!!) I'll send it to you.

-Dirge


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## Sniper (Mar 9, 2008)

thanks Dirge, 

Sniper


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

The Second Horseman

E deck was actually two decks. The first occupied the front half of the ship, with F, G, and H decks beneath it. The second part of E deck was everything aft of a pair of massive blast doors. F, G, and H decks ended at the doors, so Marr assumed the rear portion of E took up about a quarter of the ship's total space.

Joruk led them through the ship's innards skillfully. The kroot had obviously been on the ship for a long time, judging by his knowledge of it's interior. 

They stopped at the featureless doors. At least ten feet thick and covered in purity seals, they represented the one area Redic and Marr had been unable to reach. Joruk's eyes narrowed, and he approached a panel set into the wall. A press of his hand and the panel slid away, revealing a large optic set into the frame.

"Identification please." ERIN's voice rang through the speakers.

Joruk cleared his throat. "Gedrik Joruk Valerin."

A massive flamer barrel extended from the ceiling, aiming at Marr and Redic.

"And crew." said Joruk. the Flamer retreated.

"Identification confirmed, release engaged."

A series of clicking noises sounded from the other side of the door. Marr gripped the bolter tightly, Redic half-concealed behind him. Joruk stood, hands at his side. Utterly calm.

The clicks ended in a booming _whump_ that vibrated the deck beneath their feet, as the doors slid open.

Marr and Redic walked into the room wide-eyed.

The chamber was massive. They stood on a small balcony a vertigo-inducing ways up the side of the ship. A huge machine took up most of the room. Two metal circles spun wildly, like a gyroscope. Inside these was a ball of blue light, occasionally firing a lightning bolt onto one of the gyros. The entire contraption hung impossibly in the middle of the chamber, much to Redic and Marr's amazement. 

"Behold," said Joruk, "The Arc Generator."

"How...how did this not register on Hrolmgang's sensors? It's obviously a massive energy field."

Joruk chuckled. "I don't know everything, but the _Shadow of Dawn_ was an Inquisitorial research vessel, with quite a few modifications, like the railgun and the navigation arrays. It picked me up on the Sentinel Worlds, and was caught in the Black Crusades. I was in stasis at the time, the ship must have been left for dead."

Redic cocked his head. "So...what does it do?"

The kroot shook his head. The quills flexed. "Not a clue."


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

bloody brilliant Dirge, you astound yet again. I really wish you would make a text file of all your stories collaborated, I would print it out and read it as a book!


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

I have all the Altair stories on .txt files, plus the first six chapters of _Those Once Loyal_ (My Top-Secret next project, shhhh!!!). Problem is, that my compy won't let me upload the entire thing at once, says it's a virus hazard. Until I split it, or turn it into a .zip file, it's stuck.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

TO BE EDITED INTO A CHAPTER: Aug 15, 2008


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Sorry about the wait. I've had a lot going on lately, not the least of which is the tour in Iraq (Frakking month, can't wait...), I'll update tomorrow. Right now I'm just exhausted.

-Dirge


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## Concrete Hero (Jun 9, 2008)

I think it's brillliant! Really enjoyed reading that.
Mass effect makes sense, I thought for a moment that the Shadow of Dawn sounded a bit like the Normandy 

Can't wait for the next part

Hero


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