Chapter 177: The Abyssal Frames
Kian Voss raised an eyebrow behind his bird-mask. "Underwater Power Suits? Define the utility specs, cog-head."
The technician, shivering in the corner, began to speak with a frantic, technical speed. "They are Abyssal-Pattern Hydro-Frames. Designed for structural maintenance at the bottom of the Primary Well. The pressure down there is enough to turn a Chimera into a tin can.
"The rigs use a Kinetic-Slave Feedback System. You don't need a Black Carapace or neural-jacks to pilot them. The sensors read your muscle movements and amplify them five-fold. A common laborer in one of those can haul a metric ton of lead or wield an industrial cutter that would snap a normal man's wrists."
Kian's heart hammered against his ribs. Kinetic-feedback Power Armor. No requirements. High Strength multiplier.
In the logic of the extraction shooter, he had just found the "T-60" loot-drop of the map. This was the Tier-4 gear he needed to turn his Voss Guard into a wall of iron.
Kian patted the man's shoulder, his tone becoming dangerously friendly. "Lead us to the vault, Supervisor. Hand over the frames, and I'll secure you in a 'Safe Room' until the audit is complete. You might even get a bonus if the Machine Spirits are clean."
The technician's face went pale, his features twisting with a sudden, stubborn desperation.
"No! I won't move! I'm not leaving without my Elara! She was in the break-room when the alarms triggered. I won't give you the codes unless you rescue my heart!"
Kian let out a sharp, cynical sigh, his "W-key" instinct flaring. Throne's sake... a scripted pre-requisite quest? I don't have time for a 'Save the Damsel' run.
Kian ignored the man and walked under the security camera in the corner of the office. "Reno! Did you catch that? You're the Overseer—tell me you have the mapping for the Submersible Bay."
"One moment, Voss. Initializing Auspex sweep..."
Reno's voice crackled through the wall-vox as he cycled through the theater-sized cogitators in the Control Hub.
"Found it. Transit-Bay 12. Three chambers to your left, then four south through the secondary cooling pipes. It's a restricted maintenance vault. Heat-sigs are low. You shouldn't encounter anything larger than a Poxwalker squad."
Kian turned back to the squad. "Change of plans, beauties. We're doing a gear-run. Double-time to the Abyssal Vault!"
The technician shrieked, running to the bulkhead and physically blocking the path with his thin, trembling frame. "No! You can't! You haven't found her! You all stay here! You don't move until—"
Kian's patience hit zero. He gave Reno a "Thumb-Up" toward the lens.
Reno cycled the door-control. CHIRP-KLOK.
The technician was still screaming his demands, his back to the opening door. He didn't notice the shadows shifting behind him. From the darkness of the corridor, three Poxwalkers shammeled forward. They wore serene, vacant smiles.
One of them—a bloated former stage-hand—reached out with a grey, weeping arm and pulled the technician into a wet, paternal embrace.
"Oh, dear friend!" the Poxwalker giggled, pressing its rotted, pustule-covered lips against the man's cheek. "You seem so stressed! Let me share the Grandfather's Gift... mwah!"
The "Plague-Kiss" was horrific. The man's face was instantly coated in a slurry of necro-fluid and writhing grubs.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
The technician's scream was a high-pitched siren of pure, existential realization. He knew exactly what the kiss meant. His DNA was already being rewritten by the rot.
"Throne," Kian muttered, leveling his Lasgun. "The guy was a traitor all along. Colluding with the enemy in the middle of a doorway. Open fire."
BIP-BIP-BIP!
The squad raked the doorway with sun-fire. The technician and his new "lovers" were reduced to charred meat-scraps before they could even hit the floor.
Kian's squad followed Reno's navigation slates, carving a path through the maintenance sub-levels. Within ten minutes, they breached the Submersible Bay.
Hanging from plasteel racks along the walls were forty Abyssal Maintenance Frames.
The gear was a marvel of "Sanctified Simplicity." It consisted of three primary modules:
The Kinetic-Skeleton: A suit of hydraulic-pistons and metal limbs that bolted over standard flak-armor.
The Backpack Power-Cell: A heavy-duty promethium-battery that could drive the servos for two hours of high-load operation.
The Abyssal Suit: A massive, lead-lined rubberized diving-bell suit.
Kian looked at the diving suits and shook his head. They were too bulky for combat; they had fish-fin-style hands and heavy iron boots designed for walking on the silt of the wells.
"Forget the rubber!" Kian commanded. "Strip the skeletons! We're going full Exosuit!"
The squad went into an industrial frenzy, helping each other bolt the metal limbs over their Carapace armor. In the 41st Millennium, gear was built for the illiterate; the locking pins were color-coded and the connectors were magnetic. It was "idiot-proof" engineering.
The moment Kian plugged his battery-pack in, the suit hissed to life.
Egghead delivered a testing punch against the reinforced plasteel wall.
THUD.
The impact left a four-inch-deep crater in the metal. The Corporal stared at his mechanical fist, his voice shaking with awe. "By the Throne... I feel like I could arm-wrestle a Space Marine!"
Kian tested the movement. He could feel the Latency. Because the suit relied on physical sensors rather than a direct neural-link, there was a split-second delay between his intent and the machine's response. It was like playing a high-speed shooter with 90ms of ping.
For a normal man, it was a negligible trade-off for the massive boost in power. But for an Astartes, who moved with the speed of thought, this lag would be a death sentence.
"Alright, beauties!" Kian roared, his voice booming through the internal speakers. "We've got the 'Power Buff.' Every man here now has the strength of five grox! We aren't just an escort anymore; we're a Sovereign Suppression Unit!"
He raised his heavy Lasgun, the servos in his arm whirring with a high-pitched, lethal hum.
"Reno! Open the gates to the Well! I have a feeling we're approaching the 'Final Boss' of this lobby!"
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