The Imperium's Frontier: Faith in the Emperor

The orbital elevator descended rapidly amid a thunderous roar. The mechanical platform meshed continuously with the gear grooves along the surrounding shaft, coordinating front and rear as it moved downward. Scarlet warning lights flashed on both sides, and the eye sockets of decorative skull sculptures gleamed with that unsettling red light as well.

The old orbital elevator was covered in rust. Nearly everything bore the marks of time; even the Imperial Aquila was almost invisible. Only a trace of its golden surface remained, while the rest had long since been corroded by this sunless Underhive.

Vito leaned beside the control Servitor. Its entire head was encased in some kind of metal helmet, connected to countless tubes and wires. Its limbs were all missing, leaving only its torso fixed to the electronic control platform.

At least it could still function normally, allowing this Emperor-knows-how-long-unmaintained orbital elevator to carry him down into the Underhive.

Within the elevator shaft that led straight into the depths underground, Vito listened to the clicking outside the lift and the occasional eerie echoes. Most people would probably have been frightened out of their wits by now. Honestly, ordinary citizens of the Imperium would never go to the Underhive, but clearly, Vito was not ordinary. This was not his first trip down here.

Vito had skillfully found this long-neglected elevator, and just as expected, there was not a single Adeptus Arbites officer around it. So Vito happily borrowed it.

The elevator traveled deeper underground, as though descending into the dreadful abyss within the Eye of Terror. In a sense, that was not entirely wrong.

The elevator came to a stop, and the flashing red lights began dancing around the gate as the rusted metal doors slowly rose.

Warning alarms echoed in Vito's ears. Red light illuminated the ground outside. Vito patted the Servitor's shoulder. "Thanks, buddy."

Vito did not wait for the Servitor to respond. It did not respond either; the linear program the Adeptus Mechanicus had written into its brain did not include how to answer.

Vito looked around. All around him were underground structures abandoned for who knew how long: massive storage tanks, towering metal domes, and rust-covered machinery.

Yeah. The Underhive, the most chaotic and sinful place in the history of the Imperium.

Mutants, heretics, cultists, and dissidents filled this place, along with Hive City gangs of every kind. These lawless people, roaming beyond the Emperor's light, lived and multiplied here.

Even the enforcers almost never came down here. If the upper ranks of the Imperium needed something done in the Underhive, they usually hired mercenaries rather than troubling themselves to come down and handle it.

Beneath the dim dome, only a few distant lights, almost dreamlike, illuminated this underground world. It was very quiet, as though the world had already died and he was walking through a cold corpse.

Vito turned to look at the gigantic energy-storage tank beside him. He could not tell what those tanks were meant to contain, but judging from the huge Adeptus Mechanicus emblem on their surfaces, he had better not get any ideas about opening one for a look.

His long boots inlaid with silver patterns stepped onto the bridge. He looked down at the distant ground far below. "That's really high."

As he spoke, something caught the corner of his eye. Firelight—more precisely, candlelight—at the end of the bridge.

Curiously, Vito walked toward the source of the candlelight. It was a Shrine, enshrining a god, one who looked both somewhat familiar and unfamiliar.

Vito crouched down and studied the deity carefully. The sculptor's skill left much to be desired, but Vito could still make out its features.

A human. It could roughly be confirmed as human. This human god sat on a chair. A throne? A statue of the Emperor? No, this was not the Emperor's image.

Vito reached out to touch the statue, but then he heard footsteps.

He stopped and turned toward the people in the corridor. Candles lined both sides of the dim passage, and several figures emerged amid the flickering candlelight.

Several Underhive residents of varying appearances approached, each carrying a weapon of differing quality.

"Gentlemen, is there anything I can help you with?" Vito asked with a smile as he stood, one hand quietly resting on the Bolter's trigger.

The leader pointed a mechanical finger at Vito. "Why do you not bow and pray to the Lord of Redemption, outsider?"

Vito tilted his head slightly, looking confused. "The Lord of Redemption? Who's that?"

The leader walked up to Vito and stared at him with nervous intensity, his pale face like that of a corpse.

"You are a heretic too! This is the true image of the Emperor himself! You must pray to him!"

The thugs surrounded him. Vito looked them over. Every one of them had the emblem of a Coiled Serpent tattooed on their arm. They were from the same bunch as those thugs at the surface Starport.

"Pray! Believe in him! Only then can you receive redemption!" the leader rambled, looking like a fanatical Ecclesiarchy preacher—a fanatical preacher carrying a gun.

"May I ask what happens if I refuse?" "Then we shall punish you in his name!"

The leader shouted, drawing his gun and pressing it against Vito's chest.

Vito did not panic at the sight of the gun barrel. Instead, he studied the Underhive gang members before him with interest.

Vito smiled politely. "May I ask a question?" "A question? What kind of question?" the leader shot back. His eyes were still bloodshot and hysterical, making him look drugged. Perhaps he really was.

Still smiling, Vito looked at the remaining gang members. "As far as I know, you belong to the Devout Society. I'm guessing you aren't the only gang here, right? Like in most Underhives."

"That's right! There are far too many heretics, just like you!" the leader shouted, his mechanical fingers clicking. "But for the Emperor! We will make them understand the truth! We shall receive redemption! Redemption from the stars!"

Vito's smile turned mocking. "Then, in such a chaotic Underhive, conflicts, bloodshed, and death between gangs must happen frequently, just as they do in most places across the Imperium."

"I wonder, what if an unfortunate gang conflict happened here and now?" "What do you mean?"

The leader asked, but Vito wore a sincere smile. "Then please allow me to explain."

A gunshot rang out, a thunderous blast. A bullet tore through the leader's back. The thugs stared in shock, but Vito grabbed the leader by the collar. The Bolter slid out from beneath his arm and fired twice, blasting one thug's head and shoulder into fragments.

He swung the gun around and fired again. The thug's arm was cleanly severed. Screaming, he blindly pulled the trigger, bullets ricocheting through the metal corridor.

The remaining two finally reacted and began firing at Vito. But he used the leader's corpse as a meat shield. The flying bullets ripped the body apart, while Vito charged straight at the pair beneath it.

Vito threw the corpse at one of them. The weight made him stagger unsteadily. In that fleeting instant, Vito raised the Bolter and precisely shattered his leg.

The thug fell to the floor, screaming as his head was blown apart. The last man fired wildly in terror, but fear brought only chaos. His blind, aimless shots did not hit Vito at all.

Vito rushed toward him with astonishing speed and smashed the gunstock into his face.

Vito grabbed him by the collar and pinned him firmly against the railing. Half his body hung out over the edge, kept from falling only by Vito's grip.

Vito raised his gun and blew apart the last thug's head.

"Second question: how many local gangs are there? What are their names?" "What?!" "You heard the question, my friend. If you answer, I'll let you go..."

"Emperor above! Are you insane?!" "Compared to you, I'm practically sane. Now answer the question."

Vito loosened his fingers, and the thug dropped a little. He screamed in terror. "Three! Three! Besides us, there's the Hammer Gang and the Crime Syndicate! One controls the factories, and the other controls the trade network with the Upper Hive!"

"Thank you for your cooperation. Have a pleasant day."

Vito released his fingers. The thug screamed as he fell. A few seconds later, an echo rose from below.

Vito leaned against the railing and looked down. "Oh, that really was quite a fall."

He pulled himself back and cocked his head teasingly at the Shrine.

"Alright, this is a little more complicated than I thought."

With that, he shot the Shrine apart, then smiled. "Then let's make it even more complicated."