I felt a similar feeling if disgust at the sight, but I had seen many such atrocities in my short career. It never got easier to feel, but it became easier to handle and I did not skip a beat as I slid from the skiff with Garm, helping Emmaline out to mute any noise she might cause. She was brilliant but I did not think her repertoire included slinking through wetlands. We knelt beside the veritable wall that loomed between us and the blasted landscape, small rivulets in the ferrocrete between the blocks a convenient window to peer within. I waved for Clara and the others to approach, indicating with my hand signs it was safe but stealth was required. Clara acknowledged and lead the others closer a few blocks to my left. 

"It did not look like this when I was last here," Garm said softly, horror in his voice. 

"When were you last at this location?" I asked him, not looking away from the scene before us. I estimated there was perhaps a hundred slaves, and a quarter of that number in guards, though they were scattered over what looked to be half a kilometer. There was virtually no way beyond some psychic miracle that we could approach without being detected. Perhaps Clara could shimmy through and use her new scope to good effect, hiding in the trenches, but that would only give us a very small advantage in what would likely be a prolonged firefight. 

"Three times of the sleeping moon," He whispered, squinting as he gazed up the almost eidetic spires that nearly pierced the sun. Even as he spoke, a group of five men approached from the south, across the landscape of interchanging wet and dryness. They carried lasguns and wore the same fatigues we saw of the men on the boat. It was hard to gauge from our position, but they seemed to have a much short range of open ground to traverse. If they were boat men, that meant the docks were closer. An idea began to form in my head, though it was foolhardy. 

"Lazarus, I need you to remain here with Garm and Lucius. Do you have your rifle?" 

Lazarus approached, unfortunately having a rough go of it like Emmaline, though it was for a reason far more similar to Lucius. The steel arms and mechanical bits on his form made him decidedly more heavy than the average man. Luckily, he had kept his transuranic arquebus in pristine condition despite the geography. 

"Good, Emmaline, Selencia, and Clara are going around to the docks. You will slip in and hide in one of the trenches. I'll need your fire support if things get hairy, and I believe they will before it's all done. Lucius, protect Garm and Lazarus. If people assail your position or if you see anything beyond a man going at any of us, unleash hell. Understand?" 

"Beyond a man? A xenos?" Lucius asked. 

"Er, possibly." I temporized, not wanting to explain the entities of the warp to someone who had been sleeping before the Unification of Terra. "Garm, remain here. Keep your boat safe. We might be needing it soon."

"Sky one, they do not use skiffs like us. If you approach in one, they will think you are of my tribe." 

"I will convince them that I have captured one." I said, looking at the women and gauging their reactions. They tried to look unworried, save for Emmaline who did not seem particularly excited. My visage softened for a brief moment, and I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll need your help to convince whatever guard is at the dock. We'll look dirty, but we merely need to be at the dock. When he step off, we kill the guard and take their fatigues." My eyes flicked to Clara, who nodded.

"I suppose I'm coming with you because...?" Selencia asked. 

I grinned. "Why, you're our doctor. There is a plague about."