Warhammer 40K: Necrons Are Laying Traps Now?
In the latest Psychic Awakening Fiction, the Necrons trade in waking from a long sleep for A Nightmare On Space Street.
Gone Dark by Dirk Wehner is the latest short story for Psychic Awakening. We’re going to be discussing the story and some of the questions it raises. So do yourself a favor and read it before you continue.
Gone Dark Download
Still here? Okay let’s dive in!
This one is a bit of a mystery and it’s got some horror vibes. The setting has a squad of 5 guardsmen investigating a delict Imperial Ship – the Advent Imperatus. It’s been found floating in space with no signs of damage to the vessel. The ship isn’t responding to hails and so this squad has been dispatched. There is some focus on the fact that the Squad Sergeant’s sister is also in his squad and under his command. Now, I’m not 100% sure how the Imperium does it with the whole Troop Tithe thing (which is also mentioned) but in most modern militaries, family members are typically serving this directly. Whatever – I’m going to let that one slide due to the fact that it makes the story that much Grimdarker later…
What I can’t quite let go is that it’s just 5 guardsmen sent to look into this ship. What’s the standard squad size of an Infantry unit? It’s 10. So is this a Command Squad? Well if that’s the case, why is there a Sergeant leading this squad? “It’s for dramatic effect” okay. Sure. It still bugs me.
“There are 10 flashlights!”
Anyhow, the whole story plays out pretty much like how you’d expect: They split the party. Because of course they do. Because this is a horror story set on an abandoned Imperial Ship. At this point, you’d be forgiven for thinking “Okay, where are the Genestealers…” because, ya, that’s pretty standard Modus Operandi in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Instead three of the Guardsmen make it to the bridge and the other two make it to the crew decks and the medicae station.
“Genestealers now?” Nope. Not quite. Instead we learn that some of the crew have been hooked-up to life support machines while other have simply died to starvation on the floor. Slumped over and apparently in coma-like states. The crew simply just stopped, laid down, and then died. It’s kinda messed up when you think about it…but before you get a chance to really process this, we get back to some of the good ol’ horror story tropes.
The guardsmen try to communicate via the Vox, but apparently they are in deep in horror-town because the vox doesn’t pick-up all the words. “Bad reception via comms? Where are we at Camp Crystal Lake?!” No my friends, this one is more Jason Goes To Space. Of course they try to wake one of the crew and of course they get attacked by “something” that isn’t a genestealer:
She whirled around, instincts kicking in instantly as she aimed her lasgun. Cruel silver claws protruded from her comrade’s stomach. Before Izzren could react any further, Tsararel was violently lifted and hurled across the room, crashing into a row of gurneys.
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Pretty sure that’s a scene straight out of a slasher movie. Anyhow, just when you think Izzren (the Sergeant’s sister, naturally) will go final girl on the baddy we cut to the other characters.
‘Izzren? Izzren! I repeat, don’t try to wake up anyone down there!’ Gerrikan shouted into his vox, although he knew that the connection had been interrupted.
Yep, you know what happens next. And turns out it’s Necrons instead of Genestealers. They try to escape the ship but are blasted down one-by-one via the Necron’s gauss weapons. These Necrons, by the way, are excellent shots. They nail two head shots on the Guardsmen. Ouch.
Eventually it’s just Gerrikan (the Sergeant) and he’s “escaped” to Dropship. And he sees a figure and hears his sister’s voice. But, you guessed it, it’s actually a Necron wearing her skin over their metal frame…and Gerrikan has met his demise.
Okay, snarky commentary aside, this one isn’t bad – it’s just a bit predictable. But my question is in the title: Necrons set traps now? And not just your typical ambush but this is basically every game of Space Hulk, ever. Except we’ve got Necrons replacing the Genestealers and Guardsmen replacing Terminators. Actually…that sounds kind of cool. But that’s kinda been done before:
Why did the crew just give up and go to sleep? Why were some of them hooked up to life support before they all took a nap? How long had the Necrons been hiding and perhaps more importantly – why? “They want the data extractor” is the only info we’re really given. Because apparently Necron’s don’t know how to get that themselves?
Normally, I like these shorts, but this one just didn’t do it for me. This one felt more like a slasher movie from the 80’s and the big twist was that it was Necrons and not Nids. Had I not:
- seen Alien
- seen any of the Friday the 13ths
- seen any of the Nightmare on Elm Streets
- seen Scream
- seen…pretty much any horror movie
- played D&D
- been a Tyranid fan
- hated Flayed Ones
I think I would have really liked this short. Alas, I’ve done all those things. This one wasn’t for me – and that’s okay. I hope you enjoyed it.
What did you think of Gone Dark? Let us know in the comments!
