Chelast followed the young Adjutant through the Labyrinth-like internal passages of Dawn station.
The passages were spacious enough for Mortals, but extraordinarily cramped for an Astartes warrior clad in Power Armour.
Chelast had to lower his head slightly to keep his Helmet from striking the low pipes and beams. His heavy footsteps echoed through the narrow metal corridors, sounding particularly jarring.
The Adjutant leading the way moved quickly, but Chelast keenly noticed that he seemed to be deliberately choosing relatively secluded, seldom-used routes. This deepened his suspicions.
After roughly fifteen minutes of silent walking, they finally reached a heavy isolation hatch.
The hatch bore the words "Sector C-7 — Main Storage Depot."
The Adjutant quickly entered a string of codes on the Control Panel. The airtight valves hissed as they vented, and the heavy Metal Door slowly slid aside.
"My lord, this is our main general storage depot." The Adjutant stepped aside, his tone still respectful, but his eyes involuntarily flicked toward the depths of the warehouse.
Chelast ignored him and stepped inside first, his tread heavy.
The two Word Bearers Warriors following him took up positions on either side of the entrance in practiced coordination, vigilantly surveying the interior.
The depot was enormous inside, its ceiling dozens of metres high, like an underground plaza.
Row upon row of metal shelves stretched out of sight, neatly arranged and piled with supply containers. From crates marked with weapon identification numbers to food tins and medical cases bearing the Imperial Aquila, the variety was vast and the stockpiles staggering.
The air circulation system hummed quietly, but beneath the smells of metal and machine oil, that unsettling, faintly cloying sweetness still lingered.
Chelast's sensors silently scanned his surroundings.
He paid no attention to the mountains of ordinary supplies, instead heading straight toward a