=][= AoD intro to Battle 12 =][=

[Brother Cambrius]

This story has all ready been posted by me on the AoD subforum but I thought I'[d give it a little more publicity for opinions from people to flood through.

 

Chaptermaster Graymantle gave me a hand in this piece for a number of parts in the story and the general script of what happens so he deserves a good amount of credit for helping me with this. ;)

 

And now without any further ado, the intro to Battle 12, where Captain Eutronus Amorphous would meet Solomon Caine inside the Nex Spensa:

 

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Captain Amorphous strolled down the docking bays of the Stormwolf where his brothers and retinue prepared for the eventual Thunderhawk drop onto Nestir V’s surface alongside their fellow warriors from around the Imperium. The smell of gunmetal and acrid smoke was strong in the air and stormed into Amorphous’ nostrils, the squads saluted him as he passed and they began to board their blue and bronze Thunderhawks, to stow away their equipment. He returned the salute and called to them.

 

“When you get down to the surface, show the enemy no mercy! And remember, the first to score a kill will receive a flagon of my finest Merlot! We make the drop in t-minus 85 minutes.”

 

The squads roared in approval and made the sign of the Aquila to him. He smiled and waved them on to continue their preparations inside their dropships. Soon after, he headed towards a metallic corridor leading to Hangar 7, where his commander wished to see him. The massive doors ahead of him displayed litanies of praise to the Emperor and the Machine Spirits that kept the ship functioning, after passing a code through the opening lock, the massive doors opened with a hiss of pneumatics and steam billowed around him as he walked through. When the mist cleared he observed the scene before him. A number of Tech Marines scurried around the Dreadnought war machine that contained the remains of Commander Bannister. The Adepts turned to look at him for a second before returning to their work of checking sensors and fitting pipes into Bannister’s new frame. Bannister’s head turned and he swivelled his body around fully towards the Son of Doom, to the dismay of the Chief Tech Marine "Dominic Knight", as some newly attached pipes broke away from Bannister before they were locked in properly; gushing out fluids across the hangar floor. He muttered under his breath before moving his small grav-lift around Bannister’s frame to re-attach them. Bannister grunted an apology before addressing Amorphous.

 

“Ah, Eutronus do come in. I wanted to have a little word with you before you dropped down onto Nestir V.”

 

Amorphous smiled and obliged, moving closer towards the Venerable Dreadnought. For a moment the captain took in the shape of Bannister’s new body. His armour was jet black with some gold trimming around the front and on his head. In markings on his shoulders, he bore the symbol of the Guardian Angels and the black sphere that held the number eight on it signifying his origins from the 8th company of the Chapter. But most prominent of all was the massive and regal blood red wings attached on his chest, framing his head with a red sheen. It was an amazing sight for Amorphous to see Commander Bannister reborn in a new body of power ready to exact vengeance on the Chaos Marine who had attempted to kill him. Bannister then swivelled back towards the Techmarine that was working on some wiring on his torso and bent his entire frame to look at him, disconnecting the re-attached pipes once more. With an amused voice he asked:

 

“What on Terra are you doing down there Helion? Measuring my waistline?”

 

The Chief Techmarine of Eighth Company, "Dominic Knight", answered:

 

“Actually commander he’s shutting down the movement of your legs so that we can work on them. Now if you so much as twitch your frame one more time, I will shut down the entirety of your locomotive system; we’ve already lost some precious fuel and coolant thanks to your swivelling round. Is that clear?”

 

Bannister nodded his head in answer and apologised, noticing Amorphous’ emotion and awe of seeing Bannister alive again and exclaimed to him:

 

"Amorphous. Look ye, how, by a new creation of my "tailor's" I've shook off old mortality. – If I could wink, I would".

 

He looked at Chief Techmarine Dominic Knight who was hovering on his grav-lift adjusting the fuel line that had broken off in Bannister’s earlier movements and asked him:

 

"How do you wink in one of these things Dominic? You couldn't install a couple of eye shields to work as eye lids could you?”

 

With that Bannister laughed in his husky, metallic voice making his frame shake with mirth, disconnecting the pipes once again as Knight tried to reattach them. Dominic looked down at Techmarine Helion and nodded, he then moved his lift towards Bannister’s face and said in a tone of authority:

 

“Right, I warned you!”

 

And with that Helion shut down Bannister’s primary locomotive system, leaving him able only to speak and to move his head. He turned his head at Amorphous once more who had walked over to stand next to him. Bannister then looked back at the Chief Techmarine who was grumbling whilst fixing the pipes for the third time and finally locked them all in place. He let out a grunt of amusement and frustration at not being able to move fully and shouted:

 

"Parents! They spend the first part of our lives teaching us to walk and talk, and the rest of it telling us to sit down and shut up."

 

He began laughing his grating chuckle and with it, so did the entire room full of Techmarines and Captain Amorphous. Amorphous walked over to one of the fitting desks that held a number of tools and grabbed a chair before sitting down on it. He snapped open the farthermost pouch on the left side of his belt and took out a small flask of wine, that he set it up on the table and asked Bannister with a very entertained voice:

 

“Well here’s the wine I owe you Iniel, do you have a fuel cap somewhere so I can give it to you?”

 

To this the laughter returned once more and Bannister replied:

 

“No I don’t think so Eutronus, I don’t think that our friends from Mars considered that option for Dreadnought armour. A pity too! Save it for when you reach the surface and defeat those Chaos filth.”

 

The captain nodded and put the flask back in his pouch. He looked at Dominic Knight for a second and inquired:

 

“Tell me Dominic, have you fixed the training cages yet after the little ‘incident’ Bannister and I were caught up in?”

 

The Techmarine sighed before answering the captain:

 

“No, we still haven’t, your battle has become a great legend amongst the crew and our brothers. Although it has been an absolute nightmare trying clean up! Ork blood has amazing staining qualities on our equipment!”

 

The captain laughed at the last comment before turning towards Bannister once more to address him:

 

“So then Iniel, how does it feel to be in your new form? Those wings of yours are pretty eye catching, I don’t think anyone’s going to confuse you for anyone else.”

 

Captain Bannister laughed for a moment before looking down towards Amorphous and replying:

 

"It has been said: `It takes nine tailors to make a man! ´ – Guess that's what they’re doing..."

 

With that Amorphous stood up and walked around counting the amount of people who were working on Bannister’s frame and began to smile and laugh with the rest of the crew when he counted nine people. Amorphous then slapped his hand on Bannister’s frame and countered,

 

"And what a fine man hath your tailor made you!"

 

For a while, Bannister stood completely still not saying a word or making any noise. Amorphous looked towards Dominic Knight who simply shrugged before Bannister commented:

 

“I’m amazed that such a young whelp like yourself would actually be interested in the culture of man. Most of you just simply want to head off for the next fight and just think about war and killing. – Much like an Ork to be honest.”

 

Amorphous stood stunned for a moment before grinning and in a light-hearted tone saying:

 

“Have you forgotten Iniel that I’m a massive collector of wines and in my spare time, I’m most commonly found in the Librarium researching whatever I can? I have a reputation in my Chapter for being the man to come to when someone needs a little jogging on their history. I found out just before I left for this place that my native Autonian tongue is actually very close to an ancient Terran language called ‘Welsh’ and after further research it appears that a large contingent of citizens from Europa that were from that region had founded humanity’s place on Auton many millennia ago, long before the Great Diaspora. I trust you’ve heard of them Iniel?”

 

Bannister churned this information through for a moment before answering Amorphous:

 

“I wasn’t expecting that Eutronus, you have potential yet.”

 

The Son of Doom smiled for a moment before saying:

 

“Well young people like me need models not critics”

 

“So I’m not a model then?” asked Bannister. Amorphous laughed and replied:

 

“Well, yes, indeed you are sir! A Mark Four Venerable if I’m not mistaken.”

 

The entire hangar erupted once more in laughter, which lasted for a small amount of time before the Venerable Dreadnaught cut through in a serious tone towards Amorphous.

 

“Well, enough merriment. I didn’t really call you here for a social visit Amorphous. We have more urgent matters to attend too Captain, please sit down once more.”

 

Amorphous obliged and sat down on the chair in front of Bannister. After he sat down and looked up, he had the feeling of being a young initiate once more sitting in one of the classrooms back on Auton’s moon learning the art of becoming a Space Marine, with Bannister as his “teacher”. Bannister paused for a moment then continued.

 

“I was having a word with Sergeant Athiair just after he arrived to reinforce your retinue and it appears that you have made a blood oath against the man who killed me. Is this true Captain?”

 

“Yes sir, I made it just after I heard of your death at the cathedral in Hive Primus.”

 

Amorphous replied formally, noticing that the atmosphere had changed to a more serious one.

 

“Since I have not died then Captain, does that mean that the oath is null and void?”

 

Inquired the commander; Amorphous paused for a few seconds before he held out his right palm that still held the scar he made on it and answered in a sombre tone.

 

“Once an oath has been made and the scar is cut, I am bound by it until I fulfil the oath, and if I break it, not only will I break my oath as a warrior and son of Auton, but upon the Emperor, Dorn and all of his sons. Those who betray blood oaths on Auton are normally exiled out from the shielded areas of land to be judged by the Emperor himself amongst the lava flows and ash wastes. So I’m afraid I must fulfil my oath until I kill the person who had attempted to slay you, or until I am slain first, while trying.”

 

Bannister gave a metallic grunt in response to the grave words as he thought over what fate the Son of Doom may come to if he were to find the traitor who “killed” him at the cathedral. He sighed for a moment before continuing.

 

“Captain, I’m quite worried that when you go down on the surface, you may become distracted by trying to find whoever killed me at Pump Primus. I now give you this formal statement not to lose your head down there on the battlefield and keep General Frost safe instead of being a vigilante for my ascension.”

 

Amorphous’ hackles rose for a moment before controlling himself and asking in an aggressive tone:

 

“Sir, are you suggesting that I may be too incompetent to do my duty on Nestir V?”

 

Bannister shook his head immediately and replied in a rather surprised tone at Amorphous’ reaction,

 

“No of course not Captain. My only fear is that when you find this adversary you will be filled with a righteous zeal to kill the fool who did this to me without giving me the chance to dispatch him myself.”

 

Amorphous grinned slightly, making it look like a grimace before saying:

 

“I can understand that sir. There are quite a number of Astartes who want to get the head of your “murderer”.”

 

Amorphous paused for a moment before changing tack to get away from the uneasy situation.

 

“I’ve heard that Sullanum has been taken care of by the Legio squads down on Nestir. Is this true sir? If so I have a feeling that the Avenging Angels chapter will be pleased to hear of his passing as will my own Chapter Master.”

 

Bannister chuckled a little before answering light heartedly.

 

“Yes he has. And it was actually Brother Luxam from the Avenging Angels who slew him. He feels that some small piece of justice is now complete for the Chapter. Apparently the warp storms are subsiding around their homeplanet.”

 

Amorphous smiled even more broadly and continued on in a rather pleased voice.

 

“Yes, I was there when the storms were beginning to subside over Uilidia, after my chapter had rediscovered them by the Eye of Terror. We were planning on the planet-fall of their homeplanet just before I got the notice ordering me to take part in the actions here.”

 

Bannister seemed to grunt in acknowledgement, the Imperium was rather edgy on the re-discovery of the Chapter, and the Guardian Angles were drafted to be on standby, in case the Avenging Angels were not allies of the Imperium. But when it was discovered that they were true to their loyalty and purity the Guardian Angels were the first to welcome them back into the folds of His mighty Imperium alongside the Sons of Doom and the Heralds of Dorn."

A voice suddenly chimed through the intercom stating that the drop was now T-minus 1 hour away and with that, Bannister looked towards Amorphous once more before saying in a jovial tone:

 

“So then young Amorphous, war calls you and you’re about to answer it. I trust that you’ll be a goods little Astartes and come back in one piece? – I’d imagine Cambrius Dolomitus would be rather displeased to hear that his little protégé has been slain by the forces of Chaos.”

 

Captain Amorphous smirked a little before regaining his composure and answered seriously,

 

“No sir, I can almost guarantee that I’ll come back in one piece and if not, see if the servitors are any good at jigsaws... I bid you farewell Iniel, but just out of curiosity, how comfy are those Dreadnought suits?”

 

The dreadnought let out a raging roar of laughter, which sounded like he was coughing rapidly before replying:

 

“I’ll put it to you this way Captain, the itch is getting annoying now. I wish you good luck and may the light of the Emperor guide you on Nestir brother. I would wave you off but it appears that my "parents" won’t allow me that luxury at the moment.”

 

Amorphous laughed again and looked at Dominic Knight before leaving, who nodded him farewell before he turned around and continued to work on fitting a new panel onto Bannister’s torso. The door hissed shut behind the Son of Doom as he walked purposely, full of courage towards the launching bay to meet General Frost and head for the maelstrom of war beneath his feet, on the planet of Nestir V.

 

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So, what do you think of it? Opinions much appreciated. B)

 

Cambrius