The Pride Goeth Before the Fall...

[TyrantKaiser]

Well you'll just have to find out.

[TyrantKaiser]

"Indeed, it was all according to Laurien's plan. He knew that they would just try to inject him with more venom in order to keep him down. He even got to kill a few heretics along the way. When they gave him the venom, he went into a trance-like state similar to the one he was in during his torture. This state allowed him to act as if he was completely asleep, as if he was comatose. Even the Chaos Space Marines assumed that he was just being affected by the venom. By now he had developed a great tolerance for the venom, making even the double dose seem like nothing. While the Chaos marines prepared to take him to the sacrificial circle, which was in the unholy temple, far from the actual fortress for the Chaos forces, Laurien bided his time and awaited his chance. The cultists loaded him onto a Chimera, and they set off for the temple."

 

===

 

Laurien had been slipping in and out of his trance very oftenly. This allowed him both keep track of the situation and measure the time he needed to spend in trance. The torturer had been sent with the small group of heretical guardsmen, and he was watching Laurien closely. Luckily Laurien was able to keep his concious moments seem like he was still asleep. Laurien had adamantium shackles round his wrists, because the heretics did not believe him capable of fighting back. When he had guaged an appropriate distance had been elapsed, Laurien came up as a blur, killing one heretic with a double-punch to the face and another with a leg of fury. When the torturer attacked, Laurien was ready. He narrowly avoided the charge, then whirled around the Chaos marine as he was reeling from charging straight into a plasteel wall, and pulled his shackle chain over the torturer's head and right onto his neck before proceeding to strangle the massive giant. After several minutes, even though his neck did not break, his airway was blocked so long that even he suffocated. Laurien dropped the dead space marine, and then went to the sealed door which lead to the driver's section. He banged on the door before yelling, "Open up! The prisoner's awake, and we need help restraining him!"

 

The heretics took the bait. As soon as the door opened Laurien dashed inside and snapped the neck of the heretic who was standing in front of it. The last heretic, the main driver, was oblivious to what was happening around him. He had very thick ear protectors on, and Laurien simply came from behind him, grabbed his head, and ripped it right off of his body. This was a little grand, and he knew it, but he enjoyed every drop of blood that spurted from the body. As he was coated in the blood, he immediately stopped the vehicle. After that, he worked the lock on his shackles until it clicked open and they slid off. Then he put on all of the things the torturer was wearing, which was long, thick, black robes with a belt that had a bolt pistol and knife strapped to it along with two extra magazines in separate pouches. There were powerful boots and thick leather gloves. All in all, the outfit was a little tight, but Laurien liked it that way. He could blend in with this outfit, he had a weapon, and it was much more than a loincloth.

 

Laurien opened the rear hatch, stepping outside into an environment he was not prepared for. There was no ice, and no cold, only chapped land and mountains as far as he could see. The influence of Chaos had heated up the climate and melted the ice, revealing the bare bones of the planet. Laurien did not like it. He dumped the bodies of the dead men into a pile a little ways from the Chimera, then used a frag grenade to overload the batteries of every lasweapon and explosive device they had, erasing the bodies completely. He went back to the Chimera and found a map of the area. There were markings on it, from the heretics who had been transporting him, and he found his location quickly, before deciding to head to the secondary prison complex(which he had heard to contain prisoners from the loyal 2nd and 3rd regiments) to rescue some humans so that they could aid him. Besides, it was the nearest complex to his location. Laurien set off in his Chimera.

 

+++

 

Yep. New segment.

[TyrantKaiser]

"A foul plot was afoot. While Laurien was heading to his destination, the Space Marine who had saved Yslandel from destruction was doing scout duty for the guardsmen there..."

 

===

 

The Space Marine plodded down the tundra plains, shrugging off the biting winds. A few Tarantuloids were crawling across the seemingly endless land. They were oddly not aggressive, which went against everything that the marine had heard from the locals. He assumed there was some kind of reason why and did not look his gift horse in the mouth. Dealing with a Tarantuloid, especially more than one, would not be very fun. Little did he know there was more to the oddity than he could even realize.

 

The Space Marine wondered what could possibly have happened to his brothers. There was no doubt that Chaos was involved, but to what degree he had no clue. He remembered the strange symbol that every cultist beared on his body somewhere. He could have sworn that he knew what it was but the answer eluded him. It had something to do with an intelligence report...

 

As he reached a large mountain, he made certain that his sniper rifle was well-strapped to his body. He had opted to only take the rifle and his knife, as there was no reason to lug around anything else for just a scouting excursion. He climbed upwards, moving with a slow but steady momentum, and carefully testing the rock with each hold he took. He reached for the edge of an outcropping when a pistol was shoved into his face. "Who are you?" Asked the voice.

 

"Would it not be more polite for a stranger to identify himself first?" Replied the Space Marine.

 

The pistol was pulled away. The Space Marine climbed up onto the outcropping and found the Vindicare Assassin. "What a coincidence. In a planet this huge, the chances of us meeting a second time are slim to none. Though, it looks like the circumstances are slightly different this time. Just so you know, I'm only here to rest. You showed up an hour after I set up camp. I did not know who it was so I was forced to ram that pistol in your face. I apologize."

 

"You apologize? I'm surprised you haven't been killed for being too good," The Space Marine said.

 

"Oh, my time will come. It will come soon enough..." The assassin trailed off.

 

The Space Marine was silent. Some time passed, with a silence that would be wrong to break. Eventually the assassin spoke. "I had a secondary objective. I was to collect any evidence or find any traces of the influence of Chaos that I could. And I definitely found something that you should see. It's... Important for you." The assassin handed a vidcard to the Space Marine. "That contains all of the intelligence that I have gathered that is vital for you and your friends to see. Make sure it stays safe." The assassin turned around and began to gather up his equipment. The marine looked off into the distance, staring at the sun. When he looked back at the campsite, there was no one there and no traces of anyone ever having been there.

 

+++

 

Another segment up.

[Marshall Strat]

4 segments added, and I haven't commented on any of them yet... I like the way this is developing. I'm enjoying reading this, and have no real criticisms, except maybe a few things spellchecking would fix. Keep going on this.

[TyrantKaiser]

"The contents of that vidcard were the subject of extreme scrutiny and suspicion for many years to come. They were very roughly disputed as to what exactly happened, but no end to that argument ever came. As I was saying..."

 

===

 

Terriao watched the video again. The Space Marine had only allowed the commander to see the contents of the video. The commander immediately called for Terriao and every other man in a leadership position to see it. The first time they saw it was like a dream. The second time was like a nightmare. The third time felt as though they were being jolted awake from the worst dream they had ever had. Now it was like he had woken up, and the nightmare had come true.

 

Terriao's eyes scanned the footage and absorbed all of the significant details.

 

A skull probe assigned to a techmarine had been sent to record footage for the techmarine's report over the remains of a Tarantuloid, according to the techmarine's grumblings during the beginning of the footage. For a few minutes all that happened was the techmarine dissecting the remains, until an explosion sounded outside of the building. The techmarine ran outside into the night, with the skull probe apparently forgotten and it followed. Outside roughly 2 companies of marines were assembled, firing at some ominous force in the distance. Artillery crashed around the Astartes but none of them seemed to give it any thought. A few of them fell to the incoming fire, with the sheer force of it simply knocking some down and outright taking others down.

 

Within a few minutes the marines had nearly all been laid out, but just about all of them were struggling to move despite having no bodily strength left. The techmarine had been hit very badly but was still firing, and the few marines left held a valiant charge. At the head of them was a single marine in very sacred and fantastic glowing armor with the symbol for 3rd company captain. The Captain met with a dark figure whose body was only barely illuminated by the crack of gunfire. Then the skull probe was hit by artillery and sent flying towards the epic battle between the two giants. The video flickered but the sound was still existant. All that could be heard was a series of clangs between blades, gunfire, the distant boom of artillery, and yells. Eventually the sounds of battle grew closer until a loud thud was heard, with the skull probe clearly being crushed under something. The footage was now completely gone yet the sound system remained, miraculously, intact. A voice spoke up above the now dying sounds of battle. "Now that you have lost, we will take you all. Not a single marine has died here, and all of you will be converted to our cause."

 

"But... We have killed nearly all of your human servants!" Said another voice.

 

"The heretics? They are merely pawns. We have thousands more of them ready to die for the power that they have been promised. (A very amused laugh sounds out) As if we would give any of our power to weaklings like them! Of course, we wish to expand our power greatly and you all will do very nicely."

 

"You think you can corrupt us? We are the Angels of Death, and no one can control us!"

 

"(Another amused laugh) If you were so great, then Horus and the other Primarchs would surely not have fallen so easily. Marines have been corrupted for less than you will be. And you will be converted."

 

"I would rather die than be corrupted by scum like you!"

 

"Oh, trust me, you won't die. That would be too little of a punishment for you serving the False Emperor. You will serve us now, whether you like it or not."

 

"I will kill you as soon as I am strong enough to. I will use the power of Chaos against you!"

 

"(Yet another laugh) You already think like us. Good. I didn't know that you were so far along the path already. This will be quite simple, really. Now be silent." A strange sound is made. "Don't worry, I simply bound your body with invisible chains that not even a Space Marine could break. Now I'm injecting you with this powerful tranquilizer from the Tarantuloids native to this planet. Go to sleep, child. Tomorrow you serve Chaos." There is nothing but silence and blackness for the next few minutes, before the damage to the skull probe causes it to shut down.

 

Terriao shook his head in disbelief. The only thing that could defeat an Adeptes Astartes is another Adeptes Astartes. So they were dealing with more than just heretical guardsmen. There were Chaos Space Marine here, and they only had one Space Marine of their own. Assuming every single Space Marine there was converted, that was at least two companies of Chaos Space Marines. He was shaken to the core. The end was coming. It was coming too fast, too soon. He was only 23. So young and practically in the prime of his life, even though the lives of Imperial Citizens were occasionally extended for many hundreds of years if they could afford it. It was the Space Marine who spoke first.

 

"There was at least 200 men total in the original force that came to this planet. Although some of the Apprentices who came down were there to take a trial, the rest of the Apprentices were there along with their masters to learn from the planet. So there were 100 Masters who were captured, along with roughly 80 Apprentices. Excluding me. And maybe the Apprentices taking their trial were captured too. That makes almost 200 marines from the original force, with another 200 marines from that force which was undeniably from my chapter and on this planet. I can only assume that they came down to search for our force which had dissappeared. That's 400 marines, give or take a few, not to mention the Terminator Squad which was sent down to guard the First Company Captain, Evaniel, who came down to talk to the governer."

 

The room was silent. Terriao was aware of every little disturbance of the quiet, including the shuffling of feet and clearing of throats. It was almost a contest to see who would talk first. Who would admit his fears and weakness first. Terriao stood up, faced the crowd, and spoke up. "For the God-Emperor's sake, get over yourselves. It's just a few Space Marines, what could they do? Hell, we've been through worse. Those Tarantuloids are the absolute worst and most vile creatures in existance!" The silence continued unabated. A bead of sweat rolled down Terriao's brow. It wasn't hot, but for damn sure he was in hot water. Every guardsman in the room stared at him, some even glared, while the commander looked down at the ground with a somber look and the Space Marine reviewed the guardsman with a newfound respect for the brave and valiant man. The Space Marine traced the hardly-healed gash on his face, which trailed through his left eye. He also glanced towards the patched up hole in his armor where the shrapnel had pierced it. The Space Marine grunted and stood up. He shot a sharp stare at each and every man in the room daring them to contradict Terriao. While Terriao's eyes had been like the sun for the commander, the Space Marine's eyes seemed as though they were unholy and filled with the pain and horrors of war.

 

With the room settled down from the extreme state of horror, the commander decided to take charge of the situation for once in his life. "Alright, I agree with Sergeant Terriao. This isn't hardly as bad as anything we've faced before. So Lieutenant Gordan, I need you to tell your platoon to dig trenches outside the city. Major Yurin, gather up any and all able-bodied men..."

 

The relieved Terriao looked at the Space Marine, only to find a mysterious and odd look in his eyes. What was that? Respect? Amusement? Who could tell but the Emperor himself.

 

+++

 

Big segment, with a lot of stuff in it. Go figure. I hope you all like it.

 

P.S. I try to be as correct in spelling and grammar as I can, but I'm just a little too lazy to run my story through the spellchecker. Maybe after I finish I can do some touch-ups.

[TyrantKaiser]

"Laurien reached his destination soon after that. The prison facility was heavily guarded, and he decided to risk it and bust out whoever was imprisoned there. He would need their help to retaliate. He was not planning to just escape. No, he would attack the main base, and he would cause as much damage as possible."

 

===

 

Laurien nimbly climbed the back wall to the facility. It was surprisingly easy to climb the outside of the wall, with very few guards awake at night, but after hopping over the side of the top he touched the inside of the wall and was rewarded with a sharp electrical shock. It was a lot even for him, and he grunted to bear the pain. He recovered quickly, and he trotted quickly towards the back entrance. On the way a guard spotted him and he turned, throwing his knife in the same motion. It flew true right into the guard's heart. Laurien retrieved his knife and dragged the body to a more secluded location before returning to the door. It was a simple door with an old iron lock which could only keep a human in. He spat on the lock and it melted away. He ripped what remained of the lock off and entered the building. He walked briskly down the hallway, taking a left turn, then a right and a left again. The building was huge. He never lost track of his location, though.

 

Laurien saw a couple of guards loitering around in the hallway, chatting about something. He walked straight up to them, and was grateful that the hood on his robes covered most of his face, because none of the human troops were been brave enough to even think about looking directly at one of the marines and they couldn't tell the difference between him and the others. They grew silent as he approached, and when he came close enough he punched the head of one heretic clean off while he swept the feet out from under the other and drew his knife and stabbed him in the chest as he fell down. He immediately cleaned his blade on their dead bodies and put it back before hurrying onward. He hoped he would be able to at least reach the prisoners before the dead guards were found.

 

In the next hallway, he found a Chaos marine walking towards him. He played it cool, trying to walk as calmly as he could. The Chaos marine passed him, and Laurien immediately whirled around, grabbed the marine's shoulder, turned him around, and stabbed his knife up through the bottom of the marine's chin. Without the mighty reinforced bone to block the blade, it slid easily up through the head and into the brain, and Laurien twisted the blade several times, mashing his brains up. He pulled the blade out and cleaned it again. He continued through the building, rounding a corner only to crash right into a marine much larger than he was.

 

+++

 

Er, not much of a segment, but hey, I promise to add more soon.