FENNEC

Far-Expanse Navigators & Nexus Exploration Cell

The first reports from Hive Cinerax were incomplete.
A series of violent tremors had torn through the lower industrial districts, collapsing entire sections of the hive and
exposing structures that had remained buried for centuries.
Thousands of tonnes of rock, steel and ferrocrete had disappeared into the darkness below.

For most of Cinerax, it was a disaster, for House Van Saar, it was an opportunity.
Deep within a secured Van Saar facility, a bank of monitors displayed the first sensor readings from the newly exposed depths.
The data was fragmentary. Damaged power conduits, unstable foundations and the immense quantities of metal surrounding the breach
made reliable scans almost impossible.

Yet certain readings had attracted the attention of the house’s senior technicians.
Unusual energy fluctuations. Structures that did not correspond with existing industrial records.
Faint signatures buried beneath layers of interference. Nothing conclusive, but enough to warrant further investigation.

Some among the technicians suggested that the newly exposed districts might contain machinery predating the construction of the modern hive.
Others dismissed the readings as interference from damaged industrial equipment.
The possibility of recovering forgotten technology, however, was too valuable to ignore.
House Van Saar had no intention of allowing rival gangs to explore the ruins undisturbed, nor did its leadership intend to announce
its interest by marching heavily armoured troops through the streets of Cinerax.
A different approach was required…

A small unit, experienced, self-sufficient, capable of operating beyond established supply routes and entering hostile territory
without attracting unnecessary attention.

The assignment was given to FENNEC, Far-Expanse Navigators & Nexus Exploration Cell.
The transport approached Orthex IX under the cover of darkness.
Far below, the Veyr Expanse stretched across the planet’s surface. An immense wilderness of ash, sand and broken rock,
interrupted only by abandoned industrial installations and the occasional lights of a distant convoy.

The great hive of Cinerax lay beyond the horizon. FENNEC would not be arriving through its gates.
Their orders called for a discreet landing in the Veyr, well away from the established transport terminals and the attention of the hive’s authorities.
The unit’s equipment had been divided between several descent pods. Weapons, ammunition, survival supplies and specialised scanning instruments
had been secured for the journey. Every unnecessary transmission had been prohibited.

The first pod detached from the transport, then another and another…
Their descent systems activated as they entered the atmosphere, guiding them toward a remote landing zone
among the rocky formations of the Veyr. For a brief moment, their hulls burned against the darkness.
Then they disappeared into the ash clouds below.

The first pod struck the ground hard enough to send a cloud of dust rolling across the surrounding rocks,
its restraints released with a metallic crack.
Inside, warning lights flickered as the occupants checked their equipment and prepared to disembark.
Beyond the hatch, the Veyr awaited them. There was no welcoming party, no landing platform, no sign of habitation, only the wind…

One by one, the remaining pods reported their arrival. Their occupants emerged, established a defensive perimeter
and began unloading the equipment. A portable auspex was activated.
The surrounding terrain appeared on its display, revealing the broken landscape and the remains of an old industrial route
some distance from their position. Beyond it lay hundreds of kilometres of hostile wilderness.
And somewhere beyond that, Hive Cinerax…

The unit had been supplied with fragments of old transit records, geological surveys and maps of routes that had not seen regular use in generations.
Some might still be passable, others had long since disappeared beneath the shifting ash. FENNEC would have to find its own way.
By the time the first pale light appeared above the horizon, the landing site had been stripped of anything worth carrying.
The unit had no intention of leaving valuable equipment scattered across the desert, supplies were distributed, weapons checked
and the most sensitive instruments secured for the journey.

Their mission was straightforward on paper. Reach Hive Cinerax without attracting attention, establish a route into the newly exposed districts beneath the hive, investigate the unusual sensor readings and determine whether anything of technological value could be recovered.
In reality, almost nothing was certain.

The information supplied by House Van Saar was already becoming outdated. The extent of the destruction beneath Cinerax remained unknown. Rival gangs would undoubtedly be moving into the exposed territories, and the authorities were unlikely to welcome an unauthorised expedition.
Even the journey across the Veyr presented dangers that no amount of planning could entirely eliminate.
FENNEC had been selected for precisely these circumstances.

The unit’s navigator studied the route one final time before shutting down the display.
Ahead lay the empty expanse, beyond it, the hive and beneath the hive, something that had attracted the attention of House Van Saar.
Whether it was worth the journey remained to be seen.
The unit began moving…

Far away, at an isolated monitoring station in the Veyr Expanse, the night shift continued beneath the steady hum of ageing machinery.
Dustwatch had recorded strange contacts before, some had vanished into the interference of passing storms, others had remained unexplained.
The station’s operators had learned that the desert rarely offered simple answers.

Whether the arrival of several small descent pods had attracted the attention of its instruments was another matter entirely.
For now, FENNEC’s landing remained undiscovered and somewhere beneath the vast industrial foundations of Hive Cinerax, the darkness of the Underscar awaited its first visitors.

FENNEC was on the move…