Command deck, Sol Invictus.

“Have you chosen us an objective?” Arland queried the Skitarii mission commander, Alpha-22-Sigma via a data squirt.

“Yes, Lord Explorator” he replied. “This group of buildings here”

Alpha-22-Sigma indicated a small group of structures in what would be the equatorial zone of the planet.

“And the reason these were chosen over more significant structures?” queried Arland

“Because according to the surface scans that were run by the engine-seers, it is the only group of above ground structures that appears to have an intact atmosphere” said Alpha-22-Sigma.

“Very well, are your people ready for the drop?”

“Yes, my Lord” “The two Lighters and my men are ready to launch at your command” said Alpha-22-Sigma

“Well then, let’s not keep them waiting” said Van Eck. Both moved off towards the lift that would deliver them to the Lighter launch bays.

Planet fall, prime planet - Zeta Tau 44947 Omega.

The Skitarii Rangers moved forward in a defensive formation as the Sicarian infiltrators lopped off across the frozen ground towards the target structures. The Sicarians moved with a spidery grace and a silence that belied both their size and form. In a binary squirt sent to all units, Arland directed that no one was to fire on any target unless given a direct order from himself or they themselves were fired on first. All units acknowledged the directive while continuing to move forward weapons raised. The Sicarians had made ingress through a rent in the side of the building and Arland monitored their advance and communications via their individual feeds. Arland scanned the building across a multitude of visual and audible spectrum but, so far, there was no sign of life. The unit commander, Chi-Rho-818, moved his men towards what appeared to be a large intact airlock door, feeding all the data he and his unit could collect, back to Van Eck. Arland directed them to hold their positions until he and the rest of the landing party caught up.

Arland studied the airlock. There was a glowing purplish button on the wall beside the door. Could it be that straightforward? Arland flashed up to the Sol Invictus that they were entering the sealed section of the building. He directed one of the Skitarii to press the button and almost immediately the airlock started to cycle.

He sent directives to the Sicarians for one of their number to enter the lock and once through to hold fast on the other side. Van Eck linked to Gamma-11-Beta which would enabled him to observe directly through the Sicarian’s sensory inputs.

Once inside of the inner chamber, Arland took full control of the Sicarian unit. Moving carefully forward he initiated a full auspex sweep of the immediate building. The scan showed this part of the building to be 127 meters long, 52 meters wide and some 20 meters high. The structure was lit by an indirect low blue light that cast hard shadows in all directions. The scan also showed something else, a single life sign. Arland relinquished his hold on Gamma-11-Beta and instructed the Sicarian to hold position. The rest of the Sicarian unit advanced through the airlock, with Arland and a unit of Skitarii bringing up the rear. Van Eck directed Alpha-22-Sigma and his second unit of Skitarii Rangers to secure the airlock and hold fast.

Prime-7-Omega flashed a message to Arland. “Lord Explorator, I sense we are being observed, but I can not identify from where.

The life sign that had been detected had not moved from its position 50 meters ahead. “Movement!” flashed one of the infiltrators and Arland saw a shadow detach its self from the ceiling some 20 meters up and sped towards the back of the complex, in the direction of the life sign. In that second, every weapon had been levelled at the object but in accordance to Arland’s directive, no one fired.

Well they know we are here thought Arland, no advantage to be had sneaking around.  Arland flashed for one of his Skitarii to follow him as he moved slowly out in the open and down the central aisle towards where the life sign was located.

They had gone about 20 meters when suddenly several objects dropped from the ceiling and hovered silently some 3 meters ahead. Two where large discs, over a meter wide and were clearly armed with a pair of energy weapons each. The third was less than half their size with a large red lens that stared at them both. Very slowly the smaller disc began to circle Arland and the Skitarii, “Stay still” flashed Arland to the Skitarii as he felt the tension build in the unit. After the small disk had completed two circuits around the pair, all three glided slowly away towards a figure that had emerged unnoticed from behind a bank of instruments.

Arland flashed a directive to the Skitarii beside him to stay where it was and he moved towards the figure. He came to within 4 or so paces of the being before the two gun discs responded, focusing their energy weapons on him. Van Eck took this to indicate that he should come no closer.

For several seconds Arland took in details the being in front of him. Like the Xenos he observed on the dissection table in Mercy’s laboratory this creature also had a blue hue to his skin tone but the blue was much darker and slightly mottled in appearance. Unlike those other beings this one was much shorter in stature and much, much stockier. It was wearing one-piece fatigues and a disc shaped helmet. As he took in the details of the being, Arland continued to run scans across thousands of frequencies looking for what might be a communications channel, but to no avail. Finally, he spoke aloud via his vox link.

“My name is Arland Van Eck and I am Magos Explorator of the Adeptus Machanius exploration fleet Honos.” As he spoke, a small transparent green rectangular lens flicked down from the brim of the being’s helmet to in front of one of its all black eyes. Arland could see strips of icons cascading down the lens as he continued to speak. As an after thought he added “we mean you no harm”

The Xenos stared up at Arland for a second, then swayed to one side looking past Van Eck to where his Skitarii and Sicarians were stationed. Van Eck turned and saw that every one of his cybers had at least one weapon pointed at the alien. He turned back and found the being staring back at him. “I take your point.” said Arland and flashed orders to his teams to lower their weapons.

Then it suddenly dawned on Arland. The alien must have understood what he said.

“Can you understand what I say?” said Arland

Again, the symbols rolled down the green lens. “Dao” said the Xenos and a second later the word “affirmative” in Low Gothic came clearly from a small device attached to the left breast of its fatigues.

Van Eck was stunned. Some time since 1 114 467 M36. these space fairing beings had come into contact with the imperium of man. And they had had enough contact to develop a translator that could interpret Low Gothic, the standard language of the Imperium.

Arland again streamed through all the available data that had come from the Lands End exploration of the sector. While it was far from complete, it made mention a race of creatures that had been found on a planet several hundred light years from here that had been marked for exterminatus and colonisation. But that was only 6.5K Terrain standard in the past and they had been described as a “Neolithic” culture. He again filtered through all the data the fleet had on this section of the spiral rim out to 5K LY. but there was definitely no mention of another race in that frame.

As the data cascaded down through Arland’s mind, he perceived through his visual inputs, the creature had moved around him and towards the Skitarii Ranger who had accompanied Arland. Arland saw in his feed that Delta-31-Mu’s anxiety was rising and flashed a warning to the Skitarii to be calm and do nothing. The alien moved slowly around the Skitarii before stopping in front. Another lens flicked down in front of the creature’s other eye and it moved closer to peer at the Skitarii’s augmented arm. Cautiously it reached out and tapped the arm, then looked up at Delta-31-Mu and muttered “Ves’ron, Gue'la Ves’ron”, which a short time later was translated as “robotic being, human robotic being”. “Sh - Painful?” asked the alien. The Skitarii flashed “my lord?’ to Arland, who indicated he could answer the question. “No, not now” the Skitarii answered. “T – good” replied the alien. Arland had noted the “not now” and marked it as a question for later.

Arland move over to the xenos and asked “Do you have a name or a designation? Something we can address you as?” The alien moved towards the closest Sicarian and began to study it closely. Without looking at Van Eck, it said “Ky Foi’El Kais Ru'fio Var’dis – I am Earth caste engineer, skilful creator Var’dis.”  The xenos studied the information running across the green lens in front of his right eye for a moment and then said “since your kind have difficult with our naming, for you, you may address me as Var’dis.”  With barely a pause Var’dis asked “when one of these passes, may I have it?” “No” answered Arland. “Very well.” said the xenos and then “we are ready to leave” and with that Var’dis and his drones started to move back towards the airlock.

Chi-Rho-818 flashed “Lord?” Arland could see the confusion in both Skitarii and Sicarian in their readouts. “Well you heard the xenos, let’s be on our way” responded Arland.