The world of Heragth was a new world, only colonised about 8 thousand years ago. When it was first colonised, it was found to be extremely rich in resources and was meant to be a mining world, to supply resources to the nearby tech worlds and to aid in the building of the emperor’s mighty fleet. However after mass colonisation occurred, something went dreadfully wrong. In some of the habitants, the food which was deemed edible by the original explorers of the world, had a strange reaction. They developed a liking for raw meat, they couldn’t get enough of it. And then they started to change.
The change occurred slowly at first, they started to become more aggressive and get angry over things that should have been trivial. Then there would be a random heart attack, they would go into unexplained cardiac arrest and die. However after a period of time, the time length depending on the subject, usually between 5 hours and 2 days, their body would undergo rapid transformation and they would rise up, as a single minded killing machine.
Making matters even worse, anything that these creatures bit underwent a similar transformation, creating a perpetual increase of their population. And it wasn’t just humans, animals were susceptible to this mutation as well. Half the population was immediately wiped out, if it wasn’t for the intervention of the adeptus mechanicus then the rest would have been as well.
Since the planet was so rich in resources, the nearby tech worlds desperately needed the planet to survive. So they arrived, and built giant fortresses around all the mines that had been made on the planet. The instructions to the people left on the planet were to stay and continue mining the planet, and to cull as many of the mutants that they could.
This is the world that Jerol grew up in, you were a miner or you were a soldier, both as dangerous as each other. From a young age he had a gun thrust into his hand and he was trained to use it with deadly accuracy. By the time he was 10 years old, he was shoved on the barricades, for hours at a time, to shoot anything that moved. Everyone was put on there as soon as they could lift their own guns, even if they couldn’t shoot it, at least they were a speed bump if one of the wander hordes came across their fort. Many a time Jerol remembered hearing the distant roar of the impending horde, rushing inside and hearing the door slam shut behind him, hearing the screams of the unlucky few who didn’t manage to make it inside.
By the time he was 15, he spent as much time piloting the inter-fort shuttles as he did on the front lines. Normally the life span of the shuttle runners was between 10 and 20 trips, as they were so fast and ran so close to the ground. Piloting one of these, you had to dodge through trees, mutants and rocks whilst making sure the cargo didn’t fall out of the back. Jerol was the best pilot by far, he could move the shuttle in ways that veteran pilots thought weren’t possible. After 4 months of pilot training (compared to the normal 2 years) Jerols instructor stated that there was no more he could teach him.
All of this made Jerol look up to the heavens, surely there was more out there for him to explore? He could put his pilot skills to far greater use than sustaining this hell hole. He didn’t see the point of sacrificing so many lives just for the adeptus mechanicus. He didn’t resent them for making his people stay on the planet, he resented his people. How they were merely drones for the adeptus mechanicus to sacrifice as they willed. He wanted out.
First time he tried to escape he didn’t get far. He had no knowledge of security systems at the time, he managed to bypass the first lock to the ship hanger, but before he even attempted to disengage the second, he was swarmed by guards. The policy was to execute anyone that tried to escape. However, due to Jerols piloting skills, they kept him as a slave, making sure that he was under guard at all time, and only brought out when they needed him to make the most dangerous shuttle runs. Since his life didn’t matter to them, he wasn’t given any of the safety measures normally giving to the shuttle pilots, such as remote mounted turrets on the front or a mini shield generator for if things got really out of control. Still, all this did was to further improve his piloting prowess and made him dream further of the stars. After 10 years of solitude, and studying the “locks and security mainframe building” books that the shuttle engineers occasionally left in the shuttles, Jerol had finally formulated his plan.
With a piece of wiring he had pulled off a shuttle, he managed to pick the lock of his cell. He snuck out, remembering his lessons from his sergeant, back when he was put on the front lines of the fort. Roll your feet, move a fluidly as possible. He managed to sneak up into the main security office. The unfortunate man who was manning the post didn’t see Jerol coming, he was clubbed unconscious before he had a chance to react.
Jerol raced up to the console, making sure to still make as little noise as possible. Despite it being the dead of night, there were still lots of patrols around, he needed a distraction. This was the reason that the escape had taken so long to do, he had the plans down for years, he just wanted to think of another way to do it. Think of another distraction, think of a way to avoid killing innocent people. But he could think of nothing else, this was the only way, he tried to shut out the guilt but it was no good. Still, he couldn’t be caught in here, he would definitely be killed this time. Closing his eyes, as if it somehow alleviated some of the selfishness of the act, he pressed the button that opened all the gates to the outside.
Within seconds, mutants were rushing through the doors, swarming the guards and making their way towards the living quarters. Jerol sprinted as fast as he could towards the armoury, no-one bothered to try and stop him, one slave was hardly something to be concerned about at a time like this. Hearing the screams of people getting ripped apart behind him, he was spurred to run even faster. He only had a few minutes before someone made it up to the security control room and shut the door again. Still, he had to make this necessary detour, he didn’t want to be caught by the mutants without a gun.
Skidding to a stop outside the armoury, Jerol dived through the door and shut it behind him, hearing the sounds of several mutant bodies slam into the door behind him. He took a quick scan around the room, finding what he was looking for, he rushed towards it. His instructors long las was still here. The finest weapon in the Fort by a long way. It had a red dot sight and an overcharge pack, exactly what he needed. He heard the sound of a few more mutant bodies slam into the door. Perhaps outside was the best way to go.
He found an air vent to climb into. Making his way through it slowly over the top of the mutants, hearing the sounds of fighting and screaming, it sounded like the Forts residents were starting to fight back, he didn’t have much time. He ended up on the outside of the fort, his theory luckily proved right, since the mutants from outside had all rushed inside, it was almost devoid of life outside. It was a clear path straight to the hanger. It took him roughly 20 minutes to climb around the outside of the fort, but he made it to the hanger unimpeded.
Just as he thought luck was with him, he heard over the com “We found out what happened, it was that Jerol kid, opened the gates. If you find him, orders are to kill him on sight.”
He saw a guard looking right at him, some guy who was obviously too afraid to join in the fighting, and had hidden in the hanger. “Don’t do it” Jerol shouted at the guy but it was too late, the guard had already pressed the transmit button on his vox caster “he’s here” he managed, before getting a swift laser through the skull.
Jerol managed to disable the turret defences swiftly, but he could hear frantic running down the corridor, and the door had already been blown off. He made for the nearest ship, and managed to bring the shield up just before the guards started shooting. After then, it was a clean run off the planet. By the time they had turned the defence system back on, Jerol had already cleared atmo and was on his way to the nearest port, according to his map anyway.
After spending several years earning a reputation of being one of the only pilots who could bring crews back from suicidal missions, he was recruited by Captain Demetrius, who was looking for a pilot for the flagship of his dynasty. A chance to explore where no-one had been before, far from the reaches of known society, how could he say no.
