The Cleansing

[flameseeker574]

This is my first creative writing story, I know their are some spelling and English mistakes here and there but otherwise I think that its pretty good. So please read it and tell me what you think, even a simple comment is better than none at all.

 

Enjoy(hopefully)

 

 

 

 

The Cleansing

 

Lord-Kaiser Valdon strode through the hallway, his artificer armor clinking softly with each step. He was tall, even for an astrates and was of average build. His armor was deep crimson with black kneepads, and black shoulderpads with silver trim. Painted on his right shoulderpad was a white skull, indicating his status as chapter master, or Lord-Kaiser as he was known to his men. On his left shoulderpad there was a white maltese cross with a single drop of deep red blood in the center, the heraldry of the Sanguine Templars chapter that he commanded. On his right hip was a simple bolt pistol, but on his left was a far more magnificent weapon. Decus ,Valdon’s sword, clinked against his thigh with each step he took. Like all power swords wielded by the astrates of the sanguine templars chapter Valdon had made it himself. Decus was a long sword fairly typical of Vilanus, the chapter’s homeworld, It had a silver blade just under five feet in length and a overly large grip which allowed Valdon to use it for quick one handed strikes or powerful two handed blows. The cross guard was forged in the shape of an Aquila, with each wing making up half of the guard. The pommel was set with a single ruby the color of blood.

 

Valdon had arrived at his destination, a large door which lead to the command bridge. Valdon typed a 4 digit password and with a hiss of steam the doors slid open. Valdon walked into chamber, looking up at gothic architecture that dominated the ships interior. A few final steps brought him to the podium at the center of the circular room. He stepped onto the raised dais and typed another 4 digit password into the numpad of the podium. The embedded computer blinked to life and all sorts of tactical displays where projected on the screen behind him. In front of him where the senior staff of the Sanguine Templars, among their number were the captains of the 10 companies at his command, Arch-chaplain Luthias, Chief librarian Oswald , and a few others numbering about 20 astrates in total. 20 hours ago the chapter’s fleet had entered real space again after a long voyage from Vilanus to the Perdot system. The Templars had received word of a revolt by the planetary Governor of Perdot III, and had decided to respond to the threat with their full strength, 1000 fully trained astrates, each one an honorable son of Sanguinius. Valdon knew little of the revolt aside from the fact that it wasn’t the product of civil war or some other domestic issue. The thing reeked of chaos and that was one of the reasons he had decided to deploy the entire chapter.

 

Valdon cleared his throat and spoke “My brothers we all know why I have called this meeting so let us be quick about things. This is Perdot III.” said Valdon as he brought up a picture of a grey hive world. “What we know is that the revolt was virtually bloodless and after that all imperial agents were executed, thus leaving us lacking any other kind of information for us to act upon. I personally believe that could be the work of chaos, and I advise you to tell you men to be prepared for anything. In a few hours we will be within scanning range of the planet after a scan I’ll be able to tell you more.

 

The Chapter’s council meet in the briefing chamber 3 hours later, everyone anxious to learn of their new foe. Valdon stood at the podium at the center of the room and spoke, “My brothers the results of the planetary scan just came in.” A mummer of consent and approval rippled through the audience. “ This” said Valdon as he pointed to a 3-D projection of a hive structure “ is the capital hive, and is where we will most likely meet the traitor governor and any allies he might have, I suspect we may find traitor astrates on the planet so be prepared for anything.” Valdon tapped the podium with an armored finger and the image projected behind him changed from a view of the Capital hive to a view of the planet’s northern hemisphere. Valdon pointed to a smaller hive about 200 kilometers away from the capital hive. “This is Hive number 242 and will be our first target. Commander Nitionus asked me if he could employ some of the tactics he learned from the Raven Guard back on Brentus, and while I find the tactics cowardly they certainly have merit and they will help us not lose anymore marines that we have to.” Valdon gestured to Nitionus who was seated in the first row.

Nitonius rose and walked towards the podium, whilst Valdon stepped aside to allow his brother to use the podiums computer. Nitionus pointed to the picture of Hive 242 again and enlarged it several times. “Hive 242 is a crucial resupplying station for the PDF forces across the planet. The Hive contains several factories that manufacture lasguns and It houses a large motor pool of chimera transports and Leman russ tanks. More importantly It is where the majority of the ammunition for the PDF forces is made. The plan I propose is this, I lead a small group of marines, say 25 or so to infiltrate the hive. Once inside will wipe out any resistance and proceed strait to the munitions factory where we will take their ammunition and place it in strategic points and send the coordinates to up to the fleet. Once we are done placing the ammunition a squad will storm the communications control.” Nitionius brought up a picture of a small room that housed the majority of the military vox units in the Hive. “The squad will imitate panicing PDF forces and request aid from several nearby hives. The other Hives will send out troops to help, most will probably arrive in five or six hours. After the false information is recited our squads will regroup outside the hive and be picked up by thunderhawk transports. When the enemy reinforcements arrive at hive 242 they will enter the hive and begin searching for us, and that is when the fleet unleashes an orbital bombardment on the coordinates of the ammunition that we placed. If all goes well we could cause the entire Hive to collapse due to the increased strain put on its structure because of the destroyed support beams. Not only will this weaken the military might of the PDF it will also crush morale and more importantly it will divert attention from the real assault on the capital hive. All and all I expect casualties from my preliminary strike to be under 5 marines, while expected enemy casualties could be as many as 10,000. So, what say you brothers?” asked Nitionus. The chamber responded with silence at first, the newer covert tactics employed by Nitionus were controversial at best, and many inside of the chapter thought they were cowardly and showed weakness. Gradualy the chamber came to an agreement and nodded. Valdon returned to the podium and spoke “then we are in agreement, NItionus will take elements from the first company to quickly fly into the hive and complete his objective. The first thunderhawk leaves in an hour.” Valdon turned to Nitionus and clasped him on the shoulder “Sanguinius watch over you brother, now ready your men and win honor and glory for the chapter.”

 

 

Chapter two, First encounter

 

Nitionius’ armored form bounced and shifted in the drop pod as it sped towards Hive 242. Around him were his honor guard of first company veterans, each equipped with a jump pack, a bolt pistol and a chainsword. Glancing at the small computer screen next to him NItionius learned that they would traverse the finally 30,000 meters in 45 seconds and said over the vox network “This is Commander Nitionius, squad leaders respond.” Four green acknowledgment lights blinked on his helmets HUD indicating that the squad leaders had heard his message. “40 seconds until impact, upon landing spread out and secure the landing zone, after that I will give you the green light and operations will commence. We all know the plan; let’s keep this quick and clean.” The acknowledgment lights blinked a second time and Nitionius sat down and shouted “ IMPACT IN 10 SECONDS, BRACE YOURSELVES!” Around him his fellow marines sat down and buckled the grav- harnesses that would prevent them from being hurt on impact.

 

The drop pod hit the ground with a jaw shuddering thud and instantly the sides of the pod burst open, revealing the deadly cargo concealed within. With mechanically precision the twenty five marines involved in the attack spread out, their bolt pistols firing as they cleared the landing area.

 

A few unfortunate guardsmen happened to be on a routine patrol outside of the city, before they even knew what happened, they were little more than red stains on the planet’s surface.

 

“Brothers you know what your objectives are ,now I want everyone back out here and ready for evac in no more than 40 minutes.”Said

Nitionius over the vox network.

 

Almost instantly 2 squads to his left activated their jump packs and soared into the air, each one crashing through the glass shell that covered the hive city. Those men would enter the city and journey their way to the munitions factory before placing the explosive ammunition in key structural points around the city. Nitionius sighed as he saw their distant red bodies’ crash through the Hive’s glass dome and disappear into the sprawling city below.

 

Nitionius shook his head and regained focus, bringing his wandering mind back to the present. He had a task set ahead for him, He and his command squad would have to enter the city and fight their way to the central vox broadcasting room. There they would call the neighboring hives and report that a massive force of astrates had landed nearby and that the hives forces needed assistance. This he hoped would lure out the enemy forces into the trap he had set for them.

 

The 1st company captain took a few steps forward and activated his jump pack, its thrusters sending him flying through the air. Nitionius glanced downward and saw the glass rushing up to meet him, without thinking he drew his bolt pistol and fired twice in order to weaken the glass, with a titanic *crash* the marine burst through the hive’s glass carapace and landed on the third level, the rest of squad just seconds behind him.

 

At a glance the hive city did not look like it was under the malign influence of the dark gods, but a more thoughtful search reveled that there were no imperial icons in sight, and in all of the places where one would find such an icon was a depiction of the eight pointed star of chaos.

 

A small street map appeared in the upper right corner of Nitionius’ HUD and a green lined traced the path that he and his fellow marines would need to take in order to reach the vox HQ. Below the map estimated travel time was calculated at ten minutes if the squad continued on foot. Without a word between them, the squad set of at once.

 

A few minutes into the walk the squad started entering the military sector of the hive. Nitionius raised his hand and his honor guard took cover behind a nearby building.

 

Nitionius poked his head out from the squads hiding place and looked at the gate which barred entrance to the section. The gate itself was just a plain chain link fence. But behind it was what the captain of the first company was interested in. Just behind the gate the guardsmen forces of hive 242 were mobilizing, presumably to counter the threat of the other two squads involved in the strike. Four squads of about ten men each were getting into chimera transports, behind them were two additional squads of guardsmen roughly fifteen strong each. As he watched the four chimera transports roared to life and drove off towards the grav-lifts leading into the lower levels of the hive.

 

Nitionius open a vox channel to his two squad leaders, “alpha leader, Beta leader, come in.” A pair of green acknowledgement lights winked on is his helmet’s hud. “Command squad is outside the military HQ of the hive and we just saw four ten man squads leave in chimera transports, be advised they are heading in your direction.” The green acknowledgement lights winked a second time and Nitionius cancelled the vox channel.

 

Nitionius turned and addressed his squad “Brothers we are outnumbered six to one, but the enemy is hardly expecting an attack. I say that we throw frags over the fence, and then fly over the fence with our jump packs and fight them in close quarters, where we will have the advantage.” Around him the members of his squad all nodded in approval.

 

A moment later six frag grenades flew in a graceful arc before landing at the feet of the unsuspecting guardsmen. Simultaneously they exploded, halving the number of guardsmen the space marines would have to fight.

 

Nitionius activated his jumpack and flew over the fence, landing in the middle of the disoriented guards. He swung his powersword in a downward arc that split his first opponent from shoulder to hip. He spun around and fired twice with his bolt pistol, causing two guardsmen to explode in a fountain of gore. Suddenly Nitionius recoiled as he was hit square in the chest with a pair of lasgun rounds, his armor sparing him any real damage and he retaliated with a slash that clove the unfournuate man in two. All around his squad was wrecking similar havoc upon the group of guardsmen, each marine killing a few of the PDF troopers within seconds of landing. Hardly 30 seconds into the assault the guardsmen had been wiped out completely and the six angels of death stood among a pile of corpses.

“Brothers, onward to victory!” shouted Nitionius. His command squad cheered and set off, the marines running down the street that lead to the communications station.

 

Minutes later they saw it. The communications headquarters was a two story building painted a drab grey with windows along the second floor. These windows had been fortified recently, heavy bolters and autocannons had been set up on bi-pods to cover the street below. On street level a squad of guardsmen sat entrenched behind piles of sandbags, their lascarbines pointing menacingly down the street.

The command squad ran down a nearby alley before they were spotted and considered their options. “We could attack them head on, throw frags and then engage them in melee.” mused Garvyn, the company champion. “Are you kidding, those heavy weapons will tear us to shreds! Nitionius, we need something to tip the odds in our favor.” Said Mirthas, the honor guard’s tech adept. “What about the smokes?” said Hans, the squad’s weapons specialist, as he rested his flamer on his pauldron. “ A sound stragem brother. We will throw smokes into the upper story to prevent those heavy weapon from shooting at us with any kind of accuracy and a few frags into the entrenched guardsmen on the street.” Said Nitionius. The rest of the squad nodded in approval and Hans opened two of the pouches on his hip, producing a pair of the smoke grenades. He handed one to Mirthas and kept one for himself.

 

The squad walked back to the mouth of the alley and activated their jump packs, each marine covering the block between them and the Vox HQ in seconds. In midair Mirthas and Hans threw their smoke grenades, and the two silver canisters landed directly behind the stunned heavy weapon operators. Almost instantly the top story began to fill with thick, black smoke blinding all of its occupants. Simultaneously

 

Nitionius, Garvyn and the other members of the squad threw frags down at the startled guardsmen at street level.

As soon as Nitionius landed he sprang into motion. He swept his sword out in front of him, killing two unfortunate guardsmen in one stoke. To his left Hans swung his flamer in a wide arc, igniting four of the PDF troopers. To his right Garvyn grabbed the squad’s sergeant with his power fist and squeezed, the power weapon’s mechanisms contracting as the sergeant literally exploded in a shower of blood. Nitonius fired his bolt pistol three times, the .75 caliber rounds detonated a split second after hitting their targets, making short work of the rest of the squad.

 

Garvyn kicked down the steel door that served as the entry to the building and shot a trembling guardsman in the face. The rest of the squad filled into the building and ran up the stairs. “Activate thermal imaging.” Commanded Nitionius, and at one the squad switched to thermal view, the current smoke that impaired the sight of the heavy weapon teams meaningless to the emperor’s finest. Nitionius unloaded the last few rounds of his clip into the prone heavy weapon operators. The captain strode down the hallway, reloading his bolt pistol as he went. Nitionius kicked down the door that barred the squad entrance into the Vox broadcasting room. The door went flying and crushed the room’s two unlucky occupants, killing them instantly. Nitionius turned to Mirthas and said “activate the distress signal, and send a message to all the surrounding hives that hive 242 is under attack and while it’s currently holding the space marine attackers at bay. It requests assistance from all nearby hives.”

 

“At once captain.” murmered Mirthas as he turned to the consule and started clicking various buttons. Nitionius turned and walked back to the hallway, switching back to normal vision in the process. His squad had manned the heavy weapons in his absence, each marine looking down the street, scanning for danger. Hans stood apart from the rest of the squad, his flamer resting on his shoulder. “Do you think it will work captain? Do you really think that the PDF will fall for the trick?” asked the marine. Nitonius laughed “These tactics have worked for the sons of Corax for millennia, don’t dismiss them so quickly brother, And besides if these traitors don’t fall for it there’s always this.” Said Nitionius as he patted his sheathed power sword. Hans shrugged and resumed watch with the rest of the squad.

 

A green light winked on Nitionius’ HUD and a Vox channel was opened up

“Captain, we are all done down here, charges have been placed and all enemies dispatched.” Said the sergeant of Alpha squad

 

“Good job sergeant, any causalities?” inquired Nitionius

 

“No sir, we have some small wounds but nothing too serious.”

 

“Excellent, sergeant regroup with beta squad and meet us at the drop zone, the thuderhawk will be there in 15 minutes.” Replied the captain

 

“Understood captain, over and out” finished the sergeant.

 

“Captain? I’m finished in here, charges have been set for two minutes, I’m activating them now.” Said Mirthas from down the hall.

 

“Brothers you heard Mirthas, mission accomplished, now, let’s get out of here.” Said Nitonius. There was a small cheer from the squad, and as one the marines left the building and ran back to the extraction point.

 

One week later 3rd Company Captain Dustan was on the front lines. Lord-Kaiser Valdon had entrusted the command of the siege on the planetary capital hive to him. Dustan commanded the entirety of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th companies and a large portion of the chapter’s armored vehicles.

 

High above him onboard the battle barge Divine Retribution Chapter Master Valdon and Nitionius were locked in debate with Inquisitor Nathilis of the Ordo Hereticus. Nathilis wished to be given immediate access the planet in order to access the corruption of the other hives on the planet, whilst Valdon wanted the Inquisitor to wait until the siege was finished.

Dustan was sure that Valdon would win the debate, the chapter master’s status as a Deathwatch Veteran afforded him a trust with the Inquisition that few amongst the sons of Sanguinius could boost.

 

Around the Capitan the siege was going well. A mere two days into the siege the PDF forces could no longer hold the entire hive and had been pushed back to the administrative hive level, and three days after that had been pushed back to the governor’s palace itself. Today was the 6th and final day of the siege.

 

All around the Capitan units where restocking, grabbing additional clips out of munitions carts that where pushed along by servitors and techmarines where taking a final look at the vehicles under his command, In ten minutes the final battle for the capital hive would begin.

Dustan himself drew his power sword and thumbed its activation button, checking its energy field for the 5th time that day. Satisfied the Capitan thumbed it off and returned it to its sheath.

 

Dustan briskly strode to the command center, a hastily constructed thing. A series of vox units and other communications had been placed on a crumbling wall and a few tables with maps of the place placed nearby. Around each table were groups of squad sergeants, each one going over the battle plan one final time.

 

“Get me lord Kaiser Valdon on the vox” commanded Dustan to one of the communication serfs, who hurried to obey the Capitan’s orders.

A second later the serf returned with a head set and handed it to the Templar. Dustan put both hands on his jaw and unclasped his helmet, taking it off and holding it in the crook of his arm. With his free hand he took the offered head set and put it on.

 

“Lord Kaiser, this is Captain Dustan. We are ready to commence the assault; do we have the inquisitors approval?”

 

“Captain, it’s good to hear your voice, yes we do have the inquisitor’s approval, commence the assault at once, but please be advised the Inquisitor mentioned that Imperial intelligence states that there was a chaos warband in the sector about a month ago, they could be in the palace, so proceed with caution.”

 

“Understood Lord Kaiser, we will crush the traitors under our boots.”

 

“Good, I will be commanding the second wave, composed mainly of assault troops. We will begin our descent shortly after you have breached the palace walls.”

 

“Yes lord, the will of the emperor be done”

 

With that the vox connection ceased with a faint click and Dustan removed the headset and handed it back to the serf.

Without another word between them Dustan headed back to the armored spearhead that had formed up a few minutes prior. The space marine activated his vox link with the sergeants of every squad under his command and said;

“All squads move forward and attack!”

 

Land raiders rumbled to life and lurched forward, crushing the hastily erected razor wire and spitting holy death at the defenders. To the Captains’ left a Baal pattern predator opened up, sending torrents of high caliber death into enemy lines.

The traitor’s lines however were not silent; guardsmen answered the Sanguine Templars fire with thousands of las shots and heavy bolter emplacements firing at full auto. An entrenched lascannon weapon team shot at on the space marine rhinos, the powerful beam of energy scything through the lightly armored transport.

 

Behind the Dustan a vindicator responded with its powerful demolisher cannon, the powerful round killing countless of the out gunned guard.

Dustan activated his jump pack a sailed through the air, power sword and bolt pistol in hand. Beside him his honour guard toke shots at the defenders in mid air, with fully half of them being fatal.

Ahead of him Dustan spied the black armored death company lead by Chaplain Rafiko. The warrior-martyrs where unstoppable and cut though the opposition like a knife through butter.

 

Dustan and his squad landed just behind the death company, and pushed deeper into the palace. After just minutes of entering the palace they had reached the throne room. Rafiko kicked down the door and bellowed a litany to Sanguinius.

However inside of the room waited something far more dangerous than mere guardsmen. Thirty five chaos space marines had dug in and simultaneously opened fire.

 

The chaplain and death company were literarily torn to pieces in front of the captains’ very eyes, each warrior vanishing into a thick red mist. The captains’ squad launched into action a second later, each marine threw a brace of frag grenades into the throne room and charged in, bolt pistol firing at full auto.

 

Behind them tactical squads rushed inside to support their assaulting brethren. Each marine firing at the traitors with rulthless efficiency.

Dustan himself killed traitor after traitor, his powersword cleaving through torsos and cutting off limbs with bloody prejudice.

 

Suddenly the tide of opponents parted and a chaos lord threw himself at Dustan, his deamon swords flashing before him.

The loyalist’s blade worked furiously to defend against the assault , deflecting blows left and right. The Templar fired his bolt pistol at the traitor’s chest, the last three rounds hitting the lord square in the chest. The impact of the rounds caused him to falter and that was all that Dustan needed. The captain rained blows down on the lord’s head and neck, each parry becoming a little more desperate. In a final act of desperation the chaos lord lashed out with his blade and landed a strike that cut deep into Dustan’s hip. The captain bit back the pain and spun his blade in a downward arc that sheared the traitor’s arms from his body, and simultaneously lashed out with his good leg. His boot impacted with a sickening crunch that caused a large dent in the lord’s armor and caused him the stumble backwards and trip over a nearby corpse. The captain advanced on the traitor, who was attempted to scramble backwards. Dustan raised his boot above the lord’s armored helmet and whispered “for the emperor” before sending his boot crashing down. The battle for Perdot III was over.