(Purchased:
Tech: Grants +4 to the Intelligence Characteristic as well as Tech Use Training.

Intelligence Characteristic 24+4=28

Tech aptitude gained

Tech Use skill increased to basic

120 XP remaining)

After the purchase, I turned about, towards the pile of broken tablets that had been thrown into the corner of the room. If the intention of the last people to search the room had been to destroy the tablets they had not done a very good job. Turns out that Basic Tech Use was both more and less valuable than expected. I did not actually know how these tablets worked but when I pried one open with a shiv I could work out what everything was at a glance. 

I knew the main circuit board and the daughter board connected to a camera on the back of the tablet. I could identify the soldered on ram and the CPU and the few scriptures inscribed onto the tablet to please the very basic machine spirit inside of the tablet. If I had a schematic and the components I would have no trouble at all building a tablet. I hoped that this general understanding of the structure of these devices would extend to a general understanding of the keypads. As it stood, basic tech use had not in fact given me enough knowledge to ‘hack’ the keypads but there were other things I could try.

I tinkered with the pile of damaged tablets until with a low whine of the sole tiny fan inside of the slab one of them booted up. It was a very simple device, barely a word processor and without any touchscreen capabilities I had to use an eight button array at the bottom of the tablet to interface with the thing. It was designed to present documents, not create them. There was an integrated port on the side, an extendable cable that could be plugged into terminals to copy data onto the pad, and there was the little camera at the back too.

I picked up one of the more wordy documents and smoothed it out on one of the desks before lining the tablet up over it. The camera could be used to take pictures but it also had another capability. I had to hold the pad still for a moment as it scanned the document and reproduced it in the internal file system the tablet used.

The next few hours were monotonous as I smoothed out crumpled and damaged documents scattered around the room and scanned them into the tablet. Once I had processed several hundred documents I activated the tablets search function with the word ‘medical’. 

Zero results huh? Wait did 40k use some sort of weird pidgin latin for this like they did for other words? I slowly entered ‘Medicare’, ‘first aid’, ‘disinfection’. All coming up with nothing until I typed in ‘Medicae’ finally remembering the bloody word! It also occurred to me that I would have found it if I had searched ‘Medi’. I let out a yawn and shook away the sleep as I looked through the documents that had been identified in the search. 

There were several hundred crates marked with ‘Medicae supplies’ and a notice going around about a mandatory checkup. The creates had a serial number and what looked like some kind of coordinate system. While most of the containers looked to be scattered, about a good forty of them had the numbers 56 and 320 with only the final numbers being 1-40. If I could work out where 56 by 320 was I would find the largest concentration of medical supplies in the Rotunda. 

I shifted my focus and searched for weapons, searched for ‘las’ and ‘stubber’ then for ‘imperial guard’ and found nothing only to find results when I looked for ‘astra militarum’ lame GW very lame, they would always be Imperial Guard to me! It looked like there were various containers earmarked for ‘Astra Militarum’ regiments in the rotunda. I marked the documents to keep track of them for later.

Content with my processing of the office data I considered my options. I had something of an idea of what kind of supplies were in the Rotunda. I just had to work out how individual containers were identified and hope that the ones I wanted were not stacked up high and out of reach. Or I would need to find a way up the various cranes in the room and work out how to use them. It would likely be a good idea to climb one just to get a good look at the layout of the Rotunda and an idea of where the encampments were.

The major problem being that the Rotunda was currently a blood ground for likely cannibalistic beastmen. Contented for now with the fact that there were indeed supplies I needed in the Rotunda ripe for the taking, I set about piling up the documents to create a mat in the corner of the room. Scrunching up one of the layers of paper to give me an air gap between where I would be sleeping and the floor.

I then took a shiv to the various chairs in the room, cutting strips of fabric and insulation that would hopefully keep me warm during the ‘night’. Putting that basic survival training to good use! After I was done I looked at the fruit of my labour and found... well it was a pile of rubbish honestly. But it was a soft pile of rubbish that would prevent body heat from being sapped into the metal floor! 

With pretty much everything done for now I carefully unfurled the pouch containing what little food I had and set aside one ‘ration’ using the inventory system to give me an idea about what it considered one ration to be. The meal was bland and tough to chew and I still felt hungry after I was finished. I sat there for a moment considering the situation and reasoned that I had burned a lot of energy today so I likely needed another ration to keep my strength up for what was going to be a difficult day tomorrow. With that I dug into what little remained of my food and finally felt a degree of satisfaction with a full stomach, I let out a little contented sigh before tapping the light sensor close to the door laying down on my ‘bed’ and pulling the piles of cloth over myself.

The room was not cast in total darkness, small red lights lining the ceiling still cast a little light down but it was dark enough to sleep in and beggars could certainly not be choosers. I lay there a while, shifting slightly to find a comfortable position as the events of the day replayed in my mind. I had not given myself any time to think, to consider that this struggle, this universe, was my life now.

I let out a huff of frustration and shifted in place, typical that the moment I stop my momentum to rest my mind would wallow in things I could not change. I had a chance here, the System was a distinct advantage beyond what anyone else had in this universe, I needed to be grateful for the things I had rather than miserable about the things I had lost. At that thought I shifted in place, squeezing my thighs together and curled up somewhat.

It was not that I was female now that was the problem. Or, well I suppose it was, the change had happened so quickly that I had little chance to be furious or sad or, well much of anything before I had to move out of fear of facing my second and presumably final death. This time my death meant facing the 40k gods so that was even more of a motivation to cling to life no matter what. 

Idly, I rolled onto my back and clasped my hands together, still not quite recognising how my fingers interlocked, the length, the texture of my skin. It was new, the size, shape, that extended to my body as I slipped my hands into the rags I was sleeping in to rub my belly where I was happily digesting what little food I had. Then I shifted one hand up, following the stark contours of my body.

I was not totally flat, I decided now that I cupped the rather new terrain of my chest. I had breasts, they were a thing that existed even if they were slight enough that I could still press my elbows together without much fuss. Did that make it easier? I shuddered as I cupped my right breast and then slowly pressed a thumb against the hard nub of a nipple.

Nipples were hardly new, but these were different, sensitivity had a whole new meaning as I shifted again to find a comfortable position, shifting my thighs against each other as an odd tension filled my body, like a rubber band ready to snap back into shape. 

My left hand slipped down, fingers reaching the small and remarkably controlled tuft of hair and descending further still. The first sensation was alien, quite simply there was nothing to grab. But the next made me set my jew and rub my thighs together. It was soft, not flat against my body but more of a... mound. Warm, hot almost as I gently touched the womanhood between my legs.

It was different, very different but not totally unfamiliar. The sensations I was exploring as I slowly pressed my thumb in a lazy circle around my nipple and gingerly allowed my fingers to play over the slit that was the source of so many mixed feelings. I let out a gasp as I little more than prodded the fleshy protrusion at the top of the new equipment. Carefully as I had little context of being on this side of any encounters. I focused my attention there, the thought of anything slipping inside of me rejected for now.

I was not made out of glass as it turned out, I pressed the palm of my hand into what little pubic hair I had as my middle and index fingers pressed into my clit in a tight circle. Not content with this I pulled myself into the fetal position, squeezing my hand against my core with my thighs and only relenting on the pressure as I struggled to elicit more of the new sensations that were shooting though my mind.

I ran a finger along my damp slit before again trying to find a good position, an effective way to consistently and most effectively elicit the low, constant tension of pleasure. That was what it felt like, every touch, squeeze and light pinch was its own reward but also built up the feeling of tension and the assurance that this was all building towards a singular goal. I grit my teeth and held back the gasps, the moans that threatened to escape and found myself growing more bold, quicker and almost more desperate as I had grown beyond desire for experimenting and now touched myself with a clear goal in mind.

I abandoned my breasts and shifted again, pressing both hands between my legs and working in a poorly coordinated concert. An inexpert and desperate attempt to increase the flow of sensation. As if two hands would double the pleasure of one but finding that this was hardly the case and growing more bold in the frustration that epiphany brought. 

Despite everything it happened without much warning, one moment I was squeezing my hands against my core, trapping them against me to press against the clear femininity of this new form with my thighs and the next I was groaning. Shuddering in place and rolling my hips as all the tension was released at once, like an arrow flying from a bow at last.

I did not know how long I quietly shuddered at the alien sensations flowing through my body, nor how long I shifted away from the desperate pose I had taken and simply allowed my hands to return, one cupping a tit and the other gently playing over my slit. Not even a full day with my new body and I was masterbating. I let out a breathy laugh. Not everything was completely terrible. 

I basked in the flood of chemicals and hormones flowing through my brain and relaxed into the little nest I had built. Careful plotting, exploiting the System, the dangers of Beatkin, the malicious laughter of thirsting gods were all distant now to the base humanity I was indulging in. I was fed, I was warm, my cunt felt good. This is what I would preserve, life and all the manifold sensations it brought. I recommitted to that as I felt the tension begin to build again.

There were disadvantages to being in a small female body for sure. But for now I was going to enjoy some of the perks and to hell with wallowing in anything else! I could deal with my problems tomorrow.