The hunt for Beleth

[Mortarion]

Back in 2005-06 I built a Deathwing army. (You can see it here, but don't wake the sleeping thread.) For the first tournament I played with them I wanted to do something special and add a bit of backstory. So I decided to write up background why they fought before the tournament and then add a small story for each battle afterwards. I set up some "rules" for how my placing in the tournament would affect the outcome of the story. I don't remember the numbers exactly but a bad placing would result in the fallen they were chasing getting away, an OK placing that he got away but they could follow him to the next tournament, a good placing that they caught him and a great placing that they caught him and made him repent. The placing was also modified by the number of successfull "Hunt the Fallen". (Since the tournament was in 2006 it used the old codex.) It turned out to be quite fun and actually added more to the tournament then I thought.

 

And now I found the story on my computer and thought I would share it with the people on B&C. It's quite long so I'll post one part each day.

 

 

PART I

 

“Status report!”

Dragazh screamed out the question despite the fact that his advisor was only a few metres away.

“We are being pushed back around the entire city. Our forces are almost wiped out!”

“NO! This can’t be!”

“This building is our last secure position, sir. It seems that the marines have taken up positions around it but hesitate to enter.”

Dragazh grabbed the advisor by the arms and shook him.

“You are lying! It can’t be true. The gods promised me victory!”

The advisor tried to excuse himself but was quickly interrupted when the traitor general turned his rage towards a robed man nearby.

“Sorcerer! What do the gods say? How can they do this to me?”

The robed one closed his eyes and put his hand to his forehead. After a short while he looked at the general again.

“They… They are silent, sir. I cannot hear their voices.”

Dragazh screamed out his rage as he raised his laspistol and shot the robed man in the head.

“Then you are useless to me!”

The general looked around him and then shot his advisor.

“You are all useless! Keep those marines at bay or you will feel my wrath!”

In the hall around him the cultists manning the heavy weapons started firing out the windows. Dragazh guessed that they did this just to avoid his wrath and that they did not have any targets. From what he had seen of the fighting, the marines did not give a shooter a target except when they came in such force that they were unstoppable. But it should not matter! This was his world. The gods had promised it to him. He had done their will and he had almost conquered it all. But then they came. The Dark Angels. City by city his entire realm had collapsed within a few weeks. Now this building was basically all that remained. But he would make sure that they paid in blood if they tried to take it.

 

Suddenly Dragazh was blinded by a bright light appearing in front of him. Just before he looked away he could barely make out the silhouettes seven huge figures appearing in the middle of the light. A deep voice was heard.

“We bring death!”

The voice was immediately followed by a high-pitched whining sound and within seconds the cultists manning the heavy weapons was literally cut to pieces, perforated by hundreds of bullets.

 

Uriel, codicier of the Dark Angels, watched as the as the last cultist was torn to pieces by assault cannon fire from his command squad. He turned towards the rebel leader and pointed his force glaive at the traitor.

“It is over. Surrender and your death might be relatively painless.”

“Never! Praetorians, charge!”

A large door at the other end of the hall was flung open and through it a group of large creatures came running. It was impossible to tell what they once might have been. Possibly ogryns, possibly large humans. But now they were children of Chaos. Some of them hade claws instead of arms, some had writhing tentacles and one had a host of gaping jaws where his arms should have been. As the creatures entered the room the deathwing terminators spun around. The deep booms of their storm bolters firing was quickly drenched in the whining of the two assault cannons. One by one the creatures fell, but they still kept coming. When they finally reached the terminators the floor behind them was littered with the corpses of their comrades. The Dark angels stopped firing and Uriel moved forward to face the creatures. With a mighty sweep of his glaive he decapitated one of the creatures while he lifted his storm bolter to parry a blow from another. The creature’s clawed arm met the ancient suit of terminator armour with a metallic bang and then bounced off. The librarian thrust his glaive into the chest of the creature and let his psychic rage flow through the weapon. The beast screamed for a short while before his chest exploded. This was too much for the remaining creatures, which turned to run, only to be cut down by storm bolter fire.

 

Uriel glanced around the room and realised the rebel leader was gone. He had let himself be distracted by the mutants and allowed the heretic to momentarily escape. As soon as he got back to the Rock he would spend five days with repentant prayers for his failure. Fortunately the heretic could not have gone far. Uriel still sensed the tainted mind nearby. He pointed towards a door in the room.

“Brothers, follow me!”

As they approached the door Uriel’s vision suddenly blurred and time seemed to slow down. A translucent image appeared on top of reality and he saw two bring beams of light cutting out from the walls, one striking him and another striking brother Idrael. The vision slowly faded and time seemed to return to its normal pace.

“Idrael! Move to your left!”

The librarian barked out his order while he stepped away himself. Seconds after he had given the order two beams of bright light smashed through the wall and barely missed the two terminators.

“Dark angels, charge!”

Idrael took a step towards the door and sent it flying into the room beyond with a backhand sweep of his powerfist. Two of his brothers chose less subtle tactics and threw themselves at the wall, smashing through. As Uriel entered the room the cultists manning the two lascannons that had fired upon them had been killed by storm bolter fire. And in the corner of the room stood the rebel leader. Uriel would not repeat his mistake and shot the heretic’s left leg to pieces at the same time as he entered the tainted one’s mind and forced him to stay conscious. The rebel breathed heavily and looked in disbelief at the blood coming from his leg as the terminators slowly advanced towards him.

 

The sergeant of the command squad looked at the heretic and then turned his head towards the librarian.

“Lord shaman, I request the right of vengeance for our brothers that have fallen during the campaign.”

Uriel nodded.

“Granted.”

The heretic was of no use for them now. This was the last pocket of resistance. The war was over and the rebel had no information for them. And he was sure that the death the heretic would receive would be adequately painful.

The terminator bent down and grabbed the rebel by the throat and lifted him until the heretic’s face was next to his own. The sergeant’s eyes burned with hatred as he slowly started to close his hand. The rebel started gasping for air.

“He sent you, didn’t he? He said that the angels of darkness would hunt me down.”

A cracking noise was heard as the heretic’s jaw was pushed out of place. His voice sounded more and more forced and blood started to come from his mouth.

“He knew. He warned me. Beleth sent you.”

As the rebel spoke the name Uriel flinched. He had not expected to hear the name from this scum. He looked at the rebel.

“What did you say?”

“I knew it was he who sent you. He is like you. And not at the same time.”

“The name! What name did you say?”

“Beleth. He… He foresaw this. He sent you, didn’t he?”

Uriel grabbed the heretic from the grip of the sergeant.

“Are you sure he called himself that?”

The librarian did not wait for a reply but forced his will into the mind of the heretic. He saw the answer. The rebel had really spoken with Beleth. This changed everything…

 

***

 

Uriel sat and waited in his chambers. The Inner circle had debated for a long time now about which actions should be taken. The interrogation of Dragazh had revealed a possible location of one of the fallen. The strange thing about it was that it was totally unforeseen. The Dark angels had not been on that planet to hunt the Fallen. Not one member of the chapter had suspected this clue to be found. Or at least noone that Uriel knew about.

 

But the Fallen one was not what troubled the codicier’s mind. He thought about the vision that had saved his life, and the life of his battle brother. He knew what it was. He had those kinds of visions when he let his soul walk on the spirit plane, when he called upon the spirits to show him a vision of the things that might be. It was a vision of a possible future. But this time he had not called the spirits. The vision had come to him by itself. And it scared him.

 

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Uriel got up and the door opened. It was Ezekiel, grand master of the librarians. Uriel bowed his head.

“Master.”

“Codicier. The debate is over. We now know what must be done. A strike force of the Deathwing will be sent to hunt Beleth. The honour of leading this force has fallen upon you.”

“I am honoured, but I still have repentance to do for my failures, Master.”

“There is always time for repentance. The preparations are not yet complete. The Rock will travel to the Gothconius system. There you will take command of the strike cruiser Eternal vengeance. Our ways part there.”

Uriel bowed again.

“As you wish, Master.”

“If the Emperor wills it the Rock will leave in 26 standard hours. Use them well!”

The grand master of librarians turned and left the room. Uriel sat down again, closed his eyes and started reciting the 153rd prayer of repentance.

 

 

-----

 

 

To be continued...

[Mortarion]

PART II

 

Brother-sergeant Egion looked out across the rubble-filled streets. There had been no sightings of the enemy for almost two minutes now. And when fighting the World Eaters that meant that the enemy had not been there. Egion was sure that it would not last long, however, and had his fears confirmed as berzerkers started pouring from one of the buildings.

“Fire at will! Let the Emperor guide your aim!”

The squad’s heavy bolter was the first to start firing but seconds later the rest of the squad added their bolter fire. Most of the shells exploded harmlessly against the berzerkers’ power armour but a few shots found weak spots and sent showers of blood from holes in the armour as they exploded inside the traitors’ flesh. Egion watched as a shot from the heavy bolter hit one of the enemies in the joint between the torso and the shoulder pad and sent the berzerker’s arm flying in an explosion of shrapnel, flesh and twisted pieces of metal. The traitor did not even flinch. It was as if he hadn’t noticed. And it told something about the enemy’s dedication. Egion never doubted his faith in the Emperor. It was not allowed and it would be against everything he was. But the berzerker had another kind of faith. A loyalist space marine could continue a charge after having his arm blown away, and he may even turn the wound into holy rage against the enemy. But he would notice it. The warrior of Khorne had simply ignored the fact that one of his limbs had been blown away. He had one thing in his mind and one thing only, the slaughter of his enemies. Everything else was irrelevant. And that dedication was now rewarded as the berserkers reached the Dark angels’ position. The first one threw himself over the makeshift barricades with his chainaxe held above his head. Screaming what sounded more like an animal roar than a human voice the traitor swung his weapon down in a deadly arc and cleft a deep gap in the head of the marine unfortunate enough to be in front of him. Egion threw himself at the berserker but before he could reach him the traitor had lifted his bolt pistol and fired a shot at Egion. Everything went black…

 

When Egion regained his consciousness he realised he could not have been gone for more then a few seconds, because he was still alive. The shot had hit him right in the face. His helmet had protected him from the explosion that followed but he could feel the taste of blood in his mouth from when the helmet had been pushed into his face and sent him flying backwards. Above him stood the berzerker, ready to finish what he had started. Egion tried to lift his bolt pistol to fire, even though he knew that he would not be fast enough. And he wasn’t. A flaming sword entered the sergeant’s view and cut the berserker in two before he had lifted the pistol. And, fortunately, before the berzerker could bring his axe down. The sergeant turned his head and saw a large figure in blue power armour. Epistolary Raziel, commander of this task force and, as far as he knew, second only to the grand master of librarians when it came to psychic might. The librarian spun around and brought his force sword to bear against another berzerker. The traitor tried to parry his blow but the flaming sword cut straight through the chainsword and beheaded him. Egion saw three more berzerkers throwing themselves at their newfound enemy but the librarian seemed strangely calm. His eyes were closed and he held his sword in front of him. Just as the blades of the traitors were about to hit him the epistolary gestured out with his hands away from his body. With a bluish glow, a psychic shockwave erupted from the librarian and sent the berserkers flying backwards. As soon as he reached the ground, one of the World Eaters threw himself at the librarian but was cut in half by an impossibly fast sweep from the psyker. The other two attacked shortly afterwards but were fried by bolts of lightning erupting from Raziel’s hands. Egion stood up and looked at the librarian.

“Lord Raziel, I thank you for your…”

The librarian interrupted him with a gesture while looking around.

“There was one more, their leader. Where is he?”

 

The sergeant did not have time to answer before Raziel felt the psychic disturbance he had feared. The Khornate champion emerged from behind a pile of rubble, his hands dripping with blood. But what worried the epistolary was the fact that the traitor was hovering a few inches above the ground. That could only mean one thing…

 

In an explosion of flesh and blood the warrior of Chaos exploded and where his feet had hovered above the ground, giant cloven hooves now stood upon it. The champion of Chaos had given his life to his master and had acted as a vessel to bring a true abomination to all reality into this world. The gigantic daemon cracked its burning whip and flexed its mighty wings. A bit unused to the material universe the bloodthirster of Khorne looked around itself before fixing its burning gaze upon the marine psyker in front of it. The greater daemon bared its fangs and issued a growling challenge to the mortal in a long forgotten language.

 

Raziel saw the daemon roar in front of him. He had no intention of finding out what the meaning of the roar was even though he suspected it involved his death. The psyker quickly gathered the energy from around him and shot it out as a lightning bolt towards the daemon. The lightning hit the beast in shoulder and even though it did no visible damage it definitely upset the daemon. It roared and swung its whip towards Raziel. The epistolary threw himself back and narrowly avoided the fiery whip passing over him. Egion, however, could not react as fast and was cut in half as the whip passed through him. Raziel quickly rose to his feet and once again gathered the energy from around him to enforce the Emperor’s will. With a scream he focused his wrath into a bolt of lightning that hit the daemon in the chest. This time it seemed to have more effect as the daemon screamed in a mixture of anger and pain. It lashed out with its whip again but Raziel activated his jump pack and flew over it. As his jump took him closer to the daemon it made a sweep with its axe against the librarian. He spun around in the air and grabbed his flaming force sword with both hands and stabbed it towards the daemon’s arm as he avoided the axe. The blade cut a deep wound in the daemon’s arm and it screamed again. It spun around and swept out with its arm against Raziel. This time the librarian could not react fast enough and was sent flying through the air as a gigantic fist hit him in the chest. The psyker’s flight ended abruptly as he crashed into a wall. He looked up and saw the daemon pointing at him and roaring something before flapping its wing and flying away towards a roof of a nearby building.

 

Raziel knew he could not let the abomination escape and immediately activated his jump pack to follow. As he landed on the roof the daemon flew higher. The epistolary once again activated his jump pack and used his psychic ability to propel himself even higher. As he passed the daemon he gathered energy into a bolt of lightning but as he did so, he saw the daemon smiling. A quick glance down towards the streets below him made him realise why. Armoured support in form of two predators and a rhino had just arrived at place they recently were. The daemon was not trying to escape; he was just making sure there were no distractions to their fight. Raziel screamed out and released the lightning bolt. But the bloodthirster swung his axe in a wide arc and shattered the psychic energies before they could reach it. With another quick swing it almost hit Raziel but he barely managed to fly out of the way. By now the power of the jump pack’s thrust was spent and the librarian was flying by force of will alone. He rose quickly in the air and let himself fall towards the daemon. As he ended up behind it he swung his flaming sword and cut a deep tear in the daemon’s wing. The daemon responded by smacking the dark angel with the torn wing and sent him flying forward while it lashed out with its whip. Tumbling uncontrolled through the air, Raziel could not avoid the burning whip and it tore a gaping wound across his chest. The librarian felt how he was starting to lose his concentration. The flight was psychically tiring. He would not be able to keep going much longer. He started gathering the energy for another lightning bolt. The daemon growled what might have been a curse at him for using such cowardice and just as it did so, Raziel activated his jump pack and was sent flying straight towards the daemon. The bloodthirster had not been expecting that and the two antagonists would have collided if Raziel had not thrust out with his force sword. As the flaming blade hit the greater daemon in the chest he unleashed the lightning bolt and all of his psychic rage through the blade. For a short moment, time seemed to slow down as the souls of the angel and the daemon met. The librarian felt the forces of his exact opposite run through him. Darkness to his light, chaos to his order and hate-filled oblivion to his psychic enlightment. Then, in a shower of sparks he was sent flying backwards, away from the daemon. He tried to will himself to fly but had not enough strength left. The librarian felt how he started to burn as he fell downwards. Every inch of his body was wrecked by a pain like he had never felt before. All his strength was required just to keep himself conscious. Looking up he saw how his armour started to dissolve and with it small pieces of his burnt skin left a trail following his descent. He concentrated and looked through the flames of his vanishing life and saw the daemon. It was screaming in pain as blood and fire flowed through the wound in its chest. Raziel’s vision started to fade as the fire reached his eyes and the pain tried to drag him into unconsciousness. He could not die! Not while the daemon was still on this plane. He focused again and looked with his mind into the spirit plane. The burning soulflare of the bloodthirster was fading. And suddenly, with a blinding light, a hole in reality opened and the daemon was banished from this plane as its mortal shell died in agony. Raziel tried to smile but the pain came over him again. This time he did not have the strength to fight it and as his burning body fell towards earth his mind faded into darkness…

 

***

 

 

 

…

 

 

 

…

 

 

 

 

…

 

 

 

ACTIVATE

+++

WEAPON CHECK: Main weapon machine spirit awoken. Ammunition count: 5000 rounds.

Secondary weapon machine spirit awoken. Ammunition count: 100 rounds.

Close combat weapon machine spirit awoken.

+++

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: MERCY IS A SIGN OF WEAKNESS

+++

VISOR ACTIVATED

 

Raziel saw five humanoid shapes in front of him. Each of them was quickly outlined and placed in a target indicator. He identified them as a techmarine chanting hymns, two servitors swinging censers, a servitor holding a can of sacred oils that hade most likely been used on him and finally a librarian. They all stood in his crypt deep in the Rock. He had been awoken. Every time it was the same thing. Just before he was reactivated he relived his near death. The techmarines said it was impossible. He could not have thoughts or dreams while he was not activated. But it was no dream. He felt it like he was there. He felt the pain. He felt the agony. Which, he was told, was also impossible. A dreadnought could feel no pain. He could register injuries and damage but he would not feel it. It was true to every other type of pain, but not this one. This one he felt.

 

“Lord Raziel?”

It was the librarian who spoke. Raziel did not recognise him. By the insignia on his tabard the old one saw that he was a codicier.

“Yes?”

His voice sounded deep and metallic.

“We require your aid, honoured one.”

Raziel knew that he was rarely awoken unless the Deathwing was going to war. And that meant they were hunting one of the fallen. Or that the Imperium was under worse threat then usual.

“Who do we hunt?”

Raziel could detect a small amount of surprise in the codicier’s face before he answered.

“Beleth.”

 

----

 

Comments: Another part of the introduction. Since dreadnoughts are supposed to be amongst the greatest heroes of the chapter and not just fighting machines, I wanted to give at least one of my dreadnoughts a bit more personality.

[Capt. Tates]

This is awesome please keep it coming! How much have you got?

[Mortarion]

@Capt. Tates: Thank you! It will be eleven parts.

 

PART III

 

Silence… Nothing but the dim background humming of plasma generators could be heard in the corridor. A faint crackling sound should be heard from the torches illuminating the passage… if they had been real. As it were, they were just gas-fuelled constructs made to resemble torches.

 

A whirring sound broke the silence as two servitors acquired a new target and turned their weapons towards it. The large shape in a red robe between them stood motionless and watched a lone figure wearing a long, white robe approaching. The sound of his steps echoing the corridor was added to the few sounds that could be heard. As he passed the artificial torches, a small reflection could be seen from the silver stud attached to his forehead. The red-robed man with the servitors watched as he approached, every step followed by micro-adjustments from the servitors’ guns. A few steps before the two robed men would meet, the newcomer stopped. They exchanged a few words and the man in white walked over to a console attached to the wall. He placed his hand upon it and a sharp, metallic sound was heard as a small needle was injected into the hand to sample a small portion of his blood. The red-robed man watched a display on the opposite wall for a few seconds and then turned to the man in white and nodded. The man continued to walk down the corridor. Soon he reached the end of it - a large steel door bearing the insignia of a broken sword with wings. The man stopped before the door, knelt and lowered his head. After about half a minute of silence, the man rose and entered a code on a panel next to the door. At first nothing happened. Then came a low rumbling sound. And then the door started moving.

 

Slowly it opened to reveal a huge chamber beyond. It was several hundred metres across. In the middle of the chamber burned large braziers that spread a warm light, but not nearly enough to clearly illuminate the room. The man entered and shortly afterwards the large door started to close again. He took a few steps and then turned his gaze to his right. On one of the walls, a huge statue of a Space marine wearing and ornate armour and a winged helmet could be seen. The Lion. His primarch and genetic father. The statue was at least 20 metres high and above it the wall continued in the darkness. Even with his genetically enhanced eyes, the robed man could not see the ceiling in the dark. The man bowed his head and then turned to the right. On the wall opposite the statue of the primarch an equally large statue of the hooded angel could be seen. The symbol of his chapter. The symbol of his honour. Again, the man bowed his head. After a moment of silence the robed one started walking across the room. When he reached one of the walls, small lamps ignited and illuminated numerous alcoves in the wall, each one containing a suit of terminator armour. The man approached one of them and looked at the small brass plate above it. “Sauriel”. It was his armour. Above it hung his personal banner, depicting the hooded angel, kneeling in prayer and bathing in rays of light from the clouds above. It represented the solid core of faith in him and each of his battle brothers.

 

Sauriel closed his eyes and reached out with his hand until it touched the tactical dreadnought armour. He felt the symbol of a sword running through a skull across the chestplate. He let his hand continue to the left, over to the shoulderpad containing the symbol of the Deathwing. It couldn’t be felt it because it was painted onto the armour but Sauriel knew it was there. He opened his eyes as he let his hand continue down the armour until it reached the gauntlet. The stormbolter it would normally be holding had been placed on a shelf in the alcove and the hand was locked in an open state. The robed man took one step closer and looked at the fingers of the gauntlet. Inscribed with tiny letters upon of the armourplates protecting the fingers were the entire Hymn to the Emperor Triumphant. It could barely been seen but as he ran his fingers across it he could feel it. Even though he had worn this armour for more than ten years now, he was still amazed by the craftsmanship behind it. It was not just a suit of armour, it was a testament to the skill of the chapter’s artificiers, a walking shrine and a recording of the millennia of proud history the chapter had behind it. And yet all that history was not enough to erase one moment of treachery ten thousand years ago. Sauriel felt the hatred rise inside of him as he thought of what the Fallen had done to the chapter. Until the Dark Angels could erase their past they would remain unforgiven in the eyes of the Emperor and no amount of victories could change that.

 

He let his gaze move over to the stormbolter lying on a shelf beside the suit of armour. Although not as impressive as the massive tactical dreadnought armour it was still a work of art. He moved his hand over to it and felt the handle. Inscribed just below the grip was the name of the weapon. “Bringer of Woe”. The weapon had received its name about twenty years ago, after being in constant action for nearly fourteen hours straight without jamming a single time. The weapon was taken to the techmarines so that they could honour it as the Machine God saw fit. After a period of examination and a brief séance the techmarines had discerned that the weapon’s machine spirit should be given a proper name in recognition of its deeds. A scribing of runes had revealed a name that would fit the weapon’s spirit and it had worked perfectly ever since. Sauriel moved his gaze to the opposite side of the alcove. On another shelf laid his power axe. Like everything used by the Deathwing it was an ancient relic. But Sauriel’s attention was drawn to a more recent addition to the weapon. Attached to the end of the axe’s shaft were two ribbons of cloth. Painted on them were symbols of the plainspeople. He had added it to the axe two years ago. Although he was now a Dark Angel, and had been so for many, many years, Sauriel felt he could not abandon who he once was. He was born a proud warrior of the Running Bear tribe. He knew that many of his comrades felt the same thing. Their old rituals were not part of the chapter’s traditions but they were accepted. Not even the great Warriors from the Skies could forget that they were once human. And that was why he was here.

 

Sauriel turned his attention back to the tactical dreadnought armour, to the green loincloth hanging from the shining metal belt. And to the ritual knife hanging from the same belt. He reached out and grabbed the knife by the handle. A faint light from the braziers burning behind him could be seen reflected in the glimmering blade as he drew the knife. He took one step back and then put the knife on the floor before him. He opened his robes and let them fall to the floor, revealing a bare torso covered in the traditional warpaint of his tribe. From his belt he took three candles and placed them in a triangle around him, lighting each one before sitting down in the middle. Sauriel closed his eyes and breathed heavily. He felt doubts about what he was about to do. It was not the ways of the Dark Angels. But it was not heresy either. It was the old ways, the ways of his people. And by doing the ritual in front of the watchful eyes of his primarch, Sauriel showed that he did not try to hide anything from his brothers.

His eyes still closed, he grabbed the knife and held it in front of him. Slowly he reached out with his other hand and touched the blade. It was a monofilament knife and he felt it cut into his palm as he moved it across the blade. He clenched his fist briefly and then placed his palm across his chest. With his other hand he held up the knife above the candle in front of him and let the blood drip from the blade into the flame.

“Great ancestral spirits, watch over me and protect me from the temptations of daemons. Fill me with hatred for the Emperor’s enemies and give me the strength to protect my brothers. Let the strength of ten bears flow through my veins and the sight of ten hawks fill my eyes. Let me fight with honour in the face of impossible odds. Let my spirit stand proud where a weaker will may crumble. And should this be my day to die, guide my soul to where the Emperor may collect it on his mighty Deathwing. Do this for me, and I will always remember my ancestral heritage.”

 

 

Comments: The final part of the introduction. It is based upon the old background from the original Deathwing story, where many of them came from a culture resembling native americans. I know that some people felt that it did not fit well with the rest of the Dark Angels bakground, but I liked it.

[Mortarion]

PART IV

 

“In the name of the Emperor, charge!”

Captain Gehlenn screamed out the order and the men of the Gothconian 30th mechanized imperial guard obeyed. They had the orks on the run now, like many times before. But somehow, Gehlenn knew that they would come back. The guard could level village after village for the greenskins but there were always more of them. The fight against them had almost become a routine. And when he thought about it this whole situation seemed a little too familiar, like he had been here before. The captain looked to his left and saw something he had seen before, except that he had not noticed it that time. At the outskirts of the ork village, by a large rock he saw something that did not quite fit in, a large robed figure. It did not have the hunched stature of the orks but it was larger than a human. And Gehlenn had definitely seen this before, a few months ago.

 

The captain looked around himself and realised that everything had changed. He was standing in front of a gigantic building. Although he had never been here before he recognized it from a painting. It was the Imperial Palace on holy Terra. He fell down on his knees in respect and fear. At the exact same moment his knees touched the ground the gates of the palace swung open and he was blinded by a shining light from within. Accompanied by the sound of heavy metallic boots hitting the stone pavement a figure slowly approached the imperial officer. Gehlenn looked up and froze in terror as he saw the figure emerging from the light. It was a winged humanoid wearing some sort of ancient plate mail. It wore robes and its face was covered in darkness. The captain tried to lift his hands to plea for mercy but before he could do so the angel had grabbed him with an armoured gauntlet and lifted him up in the air. It spoke.

“We are coming for you!”

 

Gehlenn awoke with a scream. He was breathing heavily and was wet with sweat. After a few seconds one of the guardsmen stationed outside the tent came rushing in, his lasgun drawn.

“Sir? Are you alright?”

The captain sat in his temporary bed and just breathed for a short while before answering.

“We are leaving! Tell the men to break camp immediately. We must return to headquarters.”

 

***

 

The armoured column had not been on its way for more then 30 minutes before the sentinels had sighted the force ahead of them. Terminators. The elite of the Adeptus Astartes. Even if just a fraction of the propaganda and legends around them was true they would still be almost invulnerable.

“Report?”

”Our scanners indicate 12 terminators, 2 heavy walkers and a Land raider.”

“Have they contacted us in any way?”

“No sir, they appear to…”

Gehlenn felt as if reality faded away and he once again saw the angel before him. It spoke.

“Surrender yourself and your men will be spared. Resist and none of you will leave this place alive.”

The vision of the angel faded and Gehlenn saw the members of his command squad looking at him.

“Sir?”

“Prepare for battle! They are coming to kill us all.”

 

***

 

Brother-sergeant Nathanael swept with his lightning claw and another guardsman was cut to pieces before him. And yet they kept attacking him and his squad. He wondered what motivated them. Surely they knew that they did not stand a chance against the might of the Deathwing, especially not in close combat. But still they kept attacking.

 

As the assault terminators cut their way through squad after squad of guardsmen the sound of exploding tanks could be heard around them. Most from when their battle brothers shot them to pieces but some from when a tank got within range of the squad’s thunder hammers. Nathanael could se their target now, Gehlenn’s command squad. With a backhand sweep he killed the last guardsman standing between him and the target and started to run the final distance.

“For the Lion! Charge!”

The assault terminators all roared out their fury as they charged in on the squad. A commissar bravely stepped forward to protect the captain but was cut to ribbons before he could even lift his powerfist. Seeing the carnage around him, the captain turned and tried to run. Nathanael threw himself forward to capture the traitor but was thrown out of the way by a force stronger even then a space marine terminator, a chimera at full speed. The APC hit the squad and sent the foremost terminators flying through the air. One of them fell and was caught under the tank. Before he hit the ground and the tank ran over him the terminator raised both of his lightning claws and they tore through the floor of the vehicle. Nathanael guessed that they tore though the crewmen’s legs as well as he could hear faint scream. That scream was soon drenched in loud booms as two thunder hammers struck the tank. The first hit the track and the resulting explosion bent half the side of the tank outwards. The second hit the front of the tank and probably ended the crewmen’s pain as the crew compartment was filled with electrical discharge. As Nathanael rose to his feet he heard the sound of an engine starting. He spun around and saw a small wheeled vehicle carrying the captain disappearing fast towards the horizon. He cursed to himself.

“Brother-sergeant Nathanael. Status?”

It was Uriel who contacted the sergeant via comlink.

“Forgive me, codicier. I have failed. The target escaped. I will seek repentance when the hunt is over.”

“He cannot escape us. Any survivors?”

As Nathanael was about to answer he saw the side of the chimera being slashed to pieces from the inside. The terminator who was caught under the vehicle threw himself at the ribbons of metal now barely hanging together and emerged on the outside. His armour had patches of blood on it - the blood of guardsmen. The Deathwing sergeant looked at the bloody mess inside the chimera and then at the pieces of the command squad lying on the ground around him.

“Negative. No survivors.”

“Then we are finished here. Prepare for immediate evacuation!”

 

 

-----

 

Comments: This was the first match of the tournament. I played against mechanized Imperial guard and rolled a "Hunt the fallen" on his senior officer. My assault squad reached his command squad but could not get into base contact with the officer himself. They annihilated and the officer fled. I could not pursue and he ran off the table. Besides that little setback the game was a massive win. I wiped out the IG army and lost allmost nothing.

[Mortarion]

PART V

 

Gehlenn looked out nervously through the vision slit of the chimera. He had reached the main imperial guard base now but he wasn’t sure it would help him. He knew that they were still after him. And the sudden sound of the warning klaxons confirmed his fear.

“Sir, some kind of land raider is approaching at high speed.”

“Destroy it! If it reaches our lines we are all dead. Do you hear me? Dead!”

The sound of firing and a few screams were heard on the comlink. Then explosions. Then the whining sound of assault cannons and the booms of boltguns. Screams of agony, a loud crash and then silence.

“Report! What’s your status?”

Gehlenn got no response.

“Report, damnit! Did…”

“Sir, the land raider ran right through our perimeter defence. It is still approaching fast.”

The captain put his face in the palms of his hands. This was not happening. It could not be.

“Sir? Your orders?”

“Prepare for battle!”

A new voice appeared on the comlink.

“Sir, this is commander Oscarios of the vanquisher Emperor’s justice. We have the target in sight. Loading anti-tank shell.”

A loud boom was heard from outside the tank.

“Threat neutralized. Praise the machine god for his creations!”

“Infantry advance to confirm!”

 

Captain Gehlenn disembarked from the chimera along with his grenadier bodyguard. He wanted to see this for himself. And as he saw the land raider standing still with a smoking hole in its side he was filled with a spark of hope. Not even terminators could survive an approach on foot against the imperial guard.

“Keep your weapons aimed at that…”

Gehlenn stopped in the middle of the order as he was blinded by a bright light. Seven large shapes appeared in the light and within a second two large muzzle flares struck out from the group, accompanied by a whining sound that Gehlenn was starting to hate. Before any of the guardsmen could react the side of the vanquisher was filled with hundreds of dents that quickly turned to holes as multiple bullets hit the same spot again and again. The pain of the crew was mercifully short as they were literally perforated before the ammo supply was hit and filled the entire tank with flames. Panic erupted in the lines of the imperial guard as the guards saw the ancient tank explode. The terminators turned their weapons against softer targets, reducing a squad of guardsmen to a bloody mess. And in the background another light appeared, revealing eight more terminators. Gehlenn knew at that time that he was doomed.

 

Uriel felt a slight pain in the chest as two heavy bolter rounds hit him. Even though they were armour piercing rounds they had very little chance of doing any actual damage on a suit of tactical dreadnought armour. Had he been standing still he might have had to take a step backwards to retain balance but now he was running forward, and it would take a lot more then a heavy bolter round to stop his momentum. As he approached the imperial officer they had been hunting he could sense the fear in the guardsman. With a sweep of his force glaive he cut through two of the traitor’s bodyguards. To his right, another one exploded as he was hit by a powerfist. The codicier was just about to strike the imperial officer as his vision blurred and time slowed down to a halt. Suddenly he was standing in a corridor in a building or space ship. It was another vision of the future. He opened a door in front of him and saw the fallen angel Beleth standing in front of him, guarded by two members of Uriel’s command squad. The hunt had succeeded. The librarian approached the captive but as he did, Beleth broke free of his chains drew a knife from nowhere and thrust it into the throat of Uriel in a lightning-fast motion. He felt his life force drain away as blood pulsated out of his throat and stained his robes red. And then the vision faded away. Time returned to normal and he was fighting guardsmen again.

“Codicier! The target!”

Uriel looked at the terminator talking to him and then back to what his battle brother was trying to warn him about. While he had been distracted after the vision, the officer had escaped, and was running from him. The librarian tried to pursue his foe but wave after wave of guardsmen threw themselves at him and his brothers.

“Brother Nathanael, the target is getting away.”

 

Nathanael swept out with his lightning claws and shredded the two guardsmen fighting him. He then started to run towards the fleeing officer.

“You cannot escape us!”

Realising that the space marine was correct captain Gehlenn raised his laspistol and put it in his mouth. He did not know what the terminators intended to do with him, but he was sure that death was a more pleasant alternative. He pulled the trigger.

 

Nathanael grabbed the officer before his body could hit the ground but it was too late. The target was dead. Another failure. The sergeant took a step towards the librarian and screamed out his anger as he turned a guardsman’s head into pulp with a punch from his claws.

“He died before I could reach him, codicier.”

“Then there is nothing more for us here. Hand me his corpse and prepare for evacuation.”

As the giant thunderhawk transporter flew in over the base to collect the land raider and dreadnoughts, Uriel held the corpse of the officer and looked into his eyes.

“Death will not save you.”

And then, in a flash of light, the terminators were gone.

 

 

----

 

Comment: In match two I faced another Imperial guard army and I rolled another "Hunt the Fallen". I figured it must be the same target as the previous battle who had gathered more troops. The mission was really strange. Everything that could move more then 6" (or had a transport that could) started on the table and everything slower started in reserves. This meant my Land raider started on the table empty and faced almost an entire Imperial guard army. It was quickly immobilised but at least I could teleport my terminator squads into battle. My command squad managed to assault the squad containing the target (this time a grenadier sergeant) I killed most of the unit but the target survived and fled. I charged the fleeing target with my assault squad, but he failed his morale test and died. It was ruled that I had not killed him in close combat and had therefore not succeeded with "Hunt the fallen". I managed to kill quite a lot of guard units but took some losses myself, so the game ended in a small/medium victory to me.

[Mortarion]

The door opened before Uriel. He stepped into the room and was met with the scent of incense. He took a breath and continued. The room looked like an amphitheatre and was filled with robed acolytes chanting hymns of protection. The far end of the room was dominated by a large machine. Wires, cables and tubes hung from the ceiling by their hundreds and were all connected into the machine seemingly without pattern or coherence. The librarian knew that they were not connected at random. He just could not see the pattern. The only person on the ship who could was standing next to the machine, accompanied by two servitors. As a librarian, Uriel possessed knowledge beyond what most people could imagine but he could still not understand the mysteries of the techmarines. Only they could keep the ancient machines working. Without them, the machine spirits would soon be angered and the sacred devices would not function.

 

The librarian began walking down the stairs leading to the machine. As he did so, his eyes fell upon the one non-mechanical component of the machine. Something added recently. The corpse of the imperial officer. It was hung in a crucified position in the middle of the machine and had a multitude of cables connected to it. The codicier’s powers could call a spirit back from the dead. But without augmentation it was uncertain how long he could keep it in this world or if he could have a conversation with it. With this machine, he should be able to keep it long enough to find out what they needed to know.

 

As he reached the bottom of the stairs he looked at the techmarine, who nodded. The ceremony could begin. Uriel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could he the acolytes’ chanting louder now. He reached out with his mind and sensed the five sacred candles forming a circle around him. By concentrating he made them all burst into flames at the same time. He then turned his mind towards the corpse. It was only dead matter now. Against the flowing energies of the machine around it, it was darkness in a sea of light. But it would not be for long… Uriel let his mind stretch beyond the corpse and used it as a gateway to find the soul that once inhabited it. Around him he saw inhabitants of the Warp. Pure Chaos. Pure evil. But they could not touch him. They knew this and growled angrily at him. The librarian continued his search and at the end of a tunnel of light created by the machine he found what he was looking for, the soul of Gehlenn. He grabbed it and turned around, only to find darkness. He felt out in all directions but could not see the light, only darkness and the laughter of malign entities. He concentrated and tried to focus on one thing, the hymns of protection. He heard nothing. Uriel turned his focus towards remaining calm. If he felt fear or panic right now it would attract much stronger denizens of the Warp and possibly even spawn them. He started reciting the words of the hymn himself and reached out with his mind again. There… Faint, in the background he heard the hymn. The librarian let his spirit soar towards the sound and felt a suppressed relief as the light appeared before him. As the glowing threads of the machine appeared around him, he pushed the screaming soul of Gehlenn into its corpse before returning to his own body.

 

With a scream, the corpse awoke. It started to shake and tried to twist itself out of the restraints. Uriel reached out with his armoured hand and grabbed the head of the corpse.

“Look at me!”

The corpse ignored him and continued screaming and twisting.

The librarian gathered his psychic might for a second and let his soul scream out the same thing.

“LOOK AT ME!!”

Even though the command had been silent in the physical world and the order had not been directed at them, several of the acolytes immediately turned their heads towards the librarian, unable to resist. The corpse stopped twisting and turned its dead eyes towards Uriel. The codicier´s eyes were lit up by psychic energy as he fixed his gaze upon the corpse.

“You tried to escape us!”

The corpse started shaking again. Uriel guessed and hoped it was from fear this time.

“You thought death would save you. There are far worse things then death, and if you don’t cooperate I will make sure you experience them all. Do you understand?”

The corpse slowly stopped shaking but was still silent.

“Do you understand?”

A cracked and weak voice came from the corpse’s throat.

“…yes…”

Uriel reached out with his hand and put two fingers on the corpse’s forehead.

“Have you seen him?”

The librarian projected a mental image of Beleth into the dead mind. The corpse looked down into the ground for a short while before raising its head again.

“…it… it hurts…”

“It hurts because you are dead! This machine is not a life support. You died and I tore your soul back into the world of the living. It is now trapped in a corpse and that hurts. Not physically, because your nerves are dead, but psychically. Your soul senses that it is trapped in a dead vessel. It should not be here. What you are feeling is reality protesting against your existence in this realm. Psychic pain. And if you have not experienced it before… it hurts!”

The corpse slowly turned its head and some unknown fluid slowly dripped out of its mouth.

“…hurts…”

“The pain will get worse and the only way you can escape from it is to cooperate. Have you seen the image I showed you before?”

The corpse closed its eyes.

“…I… I think… so…”

“Where?”

“…or... ork… vill… village…”

“Where is this village?”

“…in… in th… the…”

The librarian interrupted the corpse.

“Think of its location on a map. A mental image.”

Uriel once again put his fingers on the corpse’s forehead. He kept them there for a while before he let go and nodded.

“Do you know what he was doing?”

“… hurts…”

The codicier grabbed the corpse’s jaw and almost crushed it incidentally.

“I know it hurts. And if you do not cooperate I will leave your soul in this lifeless shell forever! Do you know what he was doing?”

The corpse started shaking again.

“…rock… dig…hide…hide… someth…ing…”

“Show me!”

The corpse shook more violently and some yellow-green fluid started flowing from the mouth.

“…paaain…”

The librarian once again grabbed the head of the corpse, this time with both his hands.

“Show… me! Think of what he did!”

The corpse shook and twisted so violently that Uriel was worried it might free itself from the machine. But its head was held firmly in place by a metallic clamp and the librarian could place his hand around the skull without problems. Content with the vision he had received from the dead officer he turned around and started walking up the stairs again.

“…release… me…”

The librarian stopped and looked back. He thought for a short while and then turned towards the techmarine.

“Shut it down. We are finished.”

 

----

 

Comments: This takes place between the second and third battle. Since I almost caught my target I thought I deserved some success story-wise.

[Dosjetka]

Wow...just read the last update and I just love it! I will definately be reading the rest of it! :blush:

[Mortarion]

Thanks! Good to hear that at least some people like the story.

 

PART VII

 

Once again Uriel was standing in a corridor. The door before him was familiar but at the same time he did not know where he had seen it. He opened the door and saw Beleth, guarded by two terminators from his command squad. Again the hunt had succeeded. Like in his vision. But was this another vision or was it reality?

 

Reluctantly, the librarian entered the room. His nerves were tense and his eyes were fixed on the fallen one before him.

”Hold him!”

The terminators reached out to grab the fallen one but in a lightning-fast motion he broke loose from his chains and leapt towards the codicier. Uriel swept out with his force glaive and parried the thrust of Beleth’s knife at the same time as he took a step to his right. The fallen angel moved with inhuman speed but Uriel still managed to raise his storm bolter and fire a shot. The round hit Beleth in the arm and sent the knife flying across the room together with the traitor’s hand. The fallen one fell to the floor.

“Codicier? Are you hurt?”

“No. I am…”

Uriel looked down and saw that his robes were turning red. He raised his hands towards his face and saw how they were covered in blood. His blood. He was bleeding from a deep wound in his throat. But how could this be? He had parried the fallen one’s attack. This time he had been prepared and yet he failed.

 

“Lord shaman?”

Uriel’s vision blurred and he saw a cloud-filled sky. And Sauriel, the sergeant of his command squad.

“Lord shaman. Wake up!”

The librarian looked around him. He was lying on the ground in an ork village. The ground around him was stained with blood. Two more terminators from his command squad were lying beside him, apparently wounded. His helmet had been removed and was lying beside his glaive by his side. And all around the terminators were pieces of orks. Uriel started to remember now. They had fought the orks. When they arrived at the location that the corpse had told them about it had been deserted, but soon it was swarming with orks. Apparently the imperial guard had not been very successful in routing out the greenskins.

“What happened?”

“You were hit by one of their leaders, lord shaman. With a powerclaw. You have been unconscious for almost fifteen minutes.”

“The battle?”

“We won. No ork can stand against the might of the Dark angels.”

“What about our losses?”

“Some wounded, but nothing fatal. Ancient brother Raziel was damaged. I sent the thunderhawk for him. The techmarines are attending his wounds as we speak.”

Uriel nodded. It hurt. And he could taste his own blood in his mouth. He spat it out beside him.

“Brothers. Let us do what we came here for and then leave this forsaken place.”

 

***

 

The battle was over. The techmarines had repaired the damage Raziel had suffered and sung the necessary hymns to please the machine spirits within him. And now he waited. Some would say waiting in silence for hours in an empty room was not for one of the chapter’s heroes. But since he had been entombed in the armoured shell of the dreadnought, Raziel had gained a different perspective on time. And it gave him an opportunity to reflect on the latest battles. And what had happened in the Imperium since he was last awoken.

 

“Lord Raziel?”

The dreadnought turned towards the door and saw the Codicier standing there. Since his awakening he had learned that the psyker’s name was Uriel.

“Yes, codicier?”

“May I have a word with you?”

“Of course. You lead this hunt.”

Uriel approached the dreadnought. He was still wearing his terminator armour but had removed the helmet.

“There is…”

The librarian hesitated.

“I… I’ve…”

“You are having visions that torment you.”

Uriel looked up to the dreadnought.

“Yes. Visions of things yet to be. Visions that I did not call for.”

“But you’ve seen visions before.”

“No, not like this. I’ve seen them when I’ve walked the spirit plane. I’ve seen them when I called the spirits and commanded them to show me. But these visions come by themselves. The spirits are calling for me.”

“Yes. Your soul has grown. Your psychic self burns brighter now. And the spirits have started to notice you.”

“But what will happen? Can I learn to silence them again?”

The dreadnought stood silent for a short while.

“No. I wish I could tell you that everything will go back to the way it was once you learn to master the spirits. But it will not and you cannot master them. Their screams will grow louder and louder. You will learn to silence the spirits that call to you now, but as you do, more powerful ones will take their place. The visions and screaming inside your mind will never end.”

Uriel looked down. The dreadnought continued.

“The best thing you can hope for is that you learn how to ignore them, because they cannot be silenced. Some say that psychic powers are a gift, but those who have true knowledge realise that they are, in fact, a curse.”

The librarian sighed.

“Did you have these visions too? When you were… alive?”

“No. I walked on different paths in the spirit realm. I never looked beyond the veil of time. But I faced other demons. Noone can escape his own curse.”

“But how can you endure? To know that the torment will only grow worse…”

“Life is not easy. And the life of a psyker brings torment beyond what most unenlightened could imagine. You must put your faith in the Emperor and try to serve Him and the chapter for as long as possible. When the Emperor decides that your time has come and sends Deathwing for you, then you can rest.”

Uriel nodded. If the visions were true, his time would be soon. In a way it would be a release but at the same time it would mean a betrayal of everything he had fought for. The terminator and the dreadnought stood silent for a moment before the codicier turned towards the ancient one.

“Do you still hear the spirits?”

The dreadnought waited a short while before answering.

“Yes, but quietly. Since I am neither in the land of the living, nor in the realm of the dead, they have trouble finding me.”

“Then you have earned your peace.”

“No. I still fight for it. Constantly. And war is a blessing compared to the hell I endure at other times.”

 

 

----

 

Comments: In the third battle I fought orks and the mission was to get to the opponent's deployment zone. The battle consisted mostly of me backing up and firing at the orks as the poured forward. In the end I had killed a lot more of his army than he had killed of mine, but he had a couple of units that were hiding in my deployment zone, so it ended a small victory in my favour. The battle itself would not make for much interesting reading, so I set the story afterwards.

[Mortarion]

PART VIII

 

Nathanael was thrown out of the crusader by the explosion and hit the ground. He used the force from the blast and rolled around to a kneeling from which he could rise to his feet. Behind him, the rest of the assault squad was thrown out the tank in a similar manner. The sergeant looked up and saw that the surroundings were even worse then they seemed on the viewscreens. The area had clearly been corrupted by Chaos and even the ground itself showed signs of it. And of all the races in the galaxy, the tau seemed to have an interest in this area. When the Dark angels had arrived at the site the only alien presence was an odd looking sentry turret. But soon the tau had moved in from all directions.

“Larzod, Ohazia, assault the skimmer! The rest, follow me!”

The two terminators armed with thunder hammers ran towards the alien transport and tried to bring it down while the rest of the squad ran into a ruined temple. To their bare eyes, the temple was empty but their visors outlined three shapes trying to hide in the shadows. As the terminators approached them the shapes realised they could be seen and leapt out to attack. Nathanael swept out with his right claw and cut one of them in half. As he did so, the pieces immediately became visible as the stealth field generator was shredded. One of the stealth suits screamed what must have been some sort of battle cry and spun around to kick one of the Deathwing. The terminator looked at the kick bouncing harmlessly off his chestplate and then at the tau before impaling the alien’s head on his lightning claw. In the background the satisfying sound of thunder hammers hitting the alien craft could be heard and then the sound of it crashing into the ground. Confident that the final stealth suit would provide no more threat then the previous ones Nathanael turned around and saw how Uriel and his command squad was engaging tau fire warriors behind the crashed skimmer. The fight looked pretty one-sided and the sergeant was sure that Uriel did not need any support.

 

As soon as the pieces of the final stealth suit came flying past Nathanael, tau crisis suits appeared over a nearby forest, firing at the terminators.

“Dark Angels, let us teach the xenos scum a lesson in carnage! Charge!”

As the assault terminators ran towards the battlesuits another skimmer swooped past and unloaded a group of fire warriors who quickly began firing at the terminators. The warcries of the Dark angels were almost drenched in the constant sound of shots impacting against their armour. The sheer amount of fire meant that some shots were bound to hit the armour in a joint and actually do some damage. The terminator to the left of Nathanael was hit in the leg by a missile from the crisis suits and fell to the ground. With a roar he started crawling towards the suits, as the ground was stained red from his blood.

 

Another terminator fell after a frightening amount of fire had hit him and almost punched a hole through the side of his armour. Nathanael himself felt how pain seared through his body as he was hit by a bolt of plasma. But he would not give up.

“For the Lion!”

As the terminators had almost reached the battle suits, the xenos activated their jet packs and flew away over the forest. The Dark angels pursued them around the edge of the forest but saw how the tau flew away at a speed they could never match. Nathanael quickly turned his attention towards the fire warriors and saw how panic spread amongst them as soon as he turned his head. As the terminators ran towards their new target the aliens started screaming to each other in some foul language and backed away from the space marines. The only thing not fleeing was the skimmer. Whether this was because its pilots thought they were safe or because it tried to sacrifice itself, the sergeant did not know. And he had not intention to find out. With a scream he punched his lightning claw into the side of the craft and then immediately deactivated it, leaving the claw stuck in the hull of the skimmer. As the other terminators attacked the vehicle he pulled himself up on the hull and with a backhand sweep from his other claw he sent the canopy flying in pieces. The pilot inside desperately tried to grab his pulse pistol but with a quick thrust Nathanael punched straight through him and impaled the co-pilot as well. A crack like thunder was heard from below him when a thunder hammer hit one of the craft’s engines that erupted in a ball of flame. Within seconds the craft had hit the ground and Nathanael jumped down to the rest of the squad.

 

“All Deathwing units, this is Uriel. We have found what we came here for. Prepare for evacuation. Protect the thunderhawk at all costs!”

Nathanael looked around him and realise that his squad would never be able to engage any of the remaining tau in close combat. As soon as he looked in their direction they started retreating. As much as it angered him, the only thing they could do now was to seek cover behind the wreck of the skimmer and wait for teleportation. Reluctantly he gave the order.

“Squad. Remain in cover of the wreck. Engage any enemy units that come close.”

Nathanael knew that no enemy would. He looked out over the fields and saw how Uriel and his command squad fearlessly charged towards the tau gunships and forced them away from the path of the incoming thunderhawk. How he wished he could be there - out on the fields of war, charging into glorious combat. But he knew he could not waste his life. None of the tau around him possessed any weapons that could do any significant damage to the thunderhawk. And since they lacked any concept of honour they would flee from all attempts to engage them in melee. Nathanael screamed out and punched his lightning claw through the wreckage in anger. And then the terminators were gone in a flash of light.

 

***

 

As the light of the teleporter faded around Uriel he saw the teleportation chamber of the Eternal vengeance. He had seen it hundreds of times. The techmarine standing by a panel and monitored its readings, servitors hooked up to devices scattered across the room and robed acolytes swinging censers and reciting prayers. But this time the chamber were filled with something it usually wasn’t – wounded terminators. His squad was the last to teleport off the planet’s surface so all the other squads should be there. Of the terminators around him most were bleeding and their armours were covered with marks from fire hitting them. Only a few of the Dark angels were standing, the others were lying on the floor. And squad Barakiel was not in the room at all. They had been taken out of action early in the battle and had teleported away then. Uriel assumed that the apothecary was attending their wounds.

“Lord shaman, your orders?”

The librarian turned around towards Sauriel. He was bleeding from a wound in his arm.

“All squads are to report to the apothecary. And damaged armour should be returned to the armoury for repairs.”

Uriel turned his head to the techmarine.

“Techmarine, prepare the ship for the journey back to Gothconius secundus. We move as soon as the damage done to our vehicles and armour have been repaired.”

The red-armoured marine nodded. As he spoke his voice sounded metallic from the bionic implants in his throat.

“Codicier, it may take some time. Many of the machines’ spirits have been angered.”

“I understand. Work as fast as you can.”

One of the robed acolytes approached the librarian and his command squad and bowed before them.

“Lord codicer, do you want me to dispose of the xenos bio-matter or have you brought it back for examination?”

At first Uriel did not understand what the acolyte meant but then he saw a tau head lying by his feet. It must have been accidentally teleported to the ship along with him.

“I will dispose of it myself.”

The acolyte nodded and moved away.

 

***

 

Uriel walked along one of the many corridors in the ship. This one had large windows overlooking one of the launch bays. Down on the launch bay floor the librarian could see servitors working to repair the damage done to the crusader and the thunderhawk. They had both taken hits from powerful anti-tank weapons. Even though the tau was a weak and despicable species the technology they possessed was fearsome. Since it was not constructed with proper respect for the Machine god it was prone to malfunction and jamming but when the heretical designs worked the firepower of the tau could be matched by few. And the fact that the Deathwing had been forced to retreat proved that. It was true that they had found what they were looking for but Uriel would rather had remained on the surface and eliminated the tau. Although the area had been tainted by Chaos it was still one of the Emperor’s planets, and no xenos scum should be allowed to thread upon it.

 

But now they had more urgent matters then the tau to deal with. They would mark the planet for exterminatus due to the Chaos infestation and make a note of the tau forces that could be guarding the area. And then continue the hunt for Beleth. Uriel felt that the fallen one was close now. Despite this minor setback the hunt was progressing well, perhaps too well. It was almost as if Beleth had been planting the clues for the Dark angels to follow. Maybe he wanted them to capture him so that he could be given a last chance for the Emperor’s redemption. Or he was trying to lead them into a trap. Or he was hunting for them…

 

The visions where Beleth killed Uriel after he had been captured were coming to the librarian more often now. Whatever he did to protect himself, the fallen one always managed to kill him. Maybe the spirits were trying to warn him. What if Beleth was trying to get captured so that he could kill Uriel? But it did not matter. The hunt should continue and even if the librarian would have to give his own life to capture the fallen it would be worth it. At least in theory. Uriel had risked his life in the service of the chapter many times and he did not fear death. But this time was different. This time he could see his own end and the moment of his death. Before he had known that he could be killed if he was unsuccessful. Now the actions he was taking was leading him towards his demise and the success of the hunt would kill him. If the visions were true...

 

He had been able to change the future before. The spirit-visions are but one possible future amongst many. But he had seen many different futures now and they all involved his death. Uriel sighed. Maybe this was supposed to happen. And it would mean an end to the tormenting visions. Finally, he would receive peace. But it would also mean that he would not be able to service the Emperor any longer. In the position he was now, death seemed like an easy escape from all pain and torment. An escape that would deny the Emperor one of his servants. Thus, capturing Beleth would mean a betrayal of the Emperor. But letting him get away wound be a betrayal against the chapter. As a member of the Deathwing he was honour bound to do everything in his power to capture the Fallen and erase the chapter’s dark past.

 

The librarian punched his hand into the wall. Whatever he did, he would betray everything he lived for. He looked at the tau head in his hand. When fighting the xenos, things were easy. There could be no different sides, no choices and no consequences. Extermination was the only way. It was the will of the Emperor, the will of the chapter and the will of humanity. But with the Fallen...

 

The codicer had arrived at the airlock now. He opened the inner hatch and took one final look at the alien head before throwing it inside. Things were so much easier when fighting xenos…

 

 

----

 

Comments: In the fourth match I played against tau on a Chaos/daemon world table. My crusader and the anti-tank squad were both taken out early and after that there were not much I could do. The tau player shot me to pieces and sacrificed cheap units to prevent me from reaching anything valuable. And as soon as I came close, he jet-packed away. The battle ended in a massive victory for him.

[Mortarion]

PART IX

 

Uriel and the three sergeants of the strike force stood assembled in front of a holo-projector showing an image of what looked like a mountain. In the background stood a techmarine and whispered prayers to the Machine god to keep the projector functioning.

“This is where we suspect Beleth to be hiding. It is an old abandoned mine. As you can see we have no information of the interior of the mountain. Our scanners have been unable to penetrate it, possibly because of the influence of the minerals mined there. This makes teleportation directly into the mine far too dangerous.”

Barakiel pointed towards a number of small dots covering almost the entire base of the mountain.

“What are these? Imperial forces?”

“Ultramarines. For the information gathered this far it appears that they are here to battle the orks. And this mountain also contains a large ork village, marked in red on the holograph.”

Barakiel nodded.

“Then maybe they will welcome our help in clearing the mines?”

“I doubt it. And I am not going to take that chance. The entire force with the exception of my command squad will deploy here and then approach the entrance. I will teleport as close as possible.”

“What about the Ultramarines?”

“It depends on their response. I will brief you before you reach the surface. Now go, and bring honour to the chapter. Never forget!”

The three sergeants answered as one.

“Never forgive!”

 

***

 

The large comscreen flickered with static for a while before showing the image of the Ultramarine captain.

“Greetings, brother. I am Captain Valerius of the Ultramarines. It fills me with joy to see that more of the Adeptus Astartes are here to bring the Emperor’s light to Gothconius.”

Uriel knew that it was a lie. All space marine chapters preferred to work alone. But they kept up appearances.

“Greetings. I am Codicier Uriel of the Dark Angels. I request the honour of fighting by your side to purge these mountains of the foul greenskins.”

“As always the Dark Angels are at the forefront against the Emperor’s enemies. This time however, I think that your efforts are better spent somewhere else. The forces we have involved in the operation are sufficient.”

The librarian knew that things would not be so easy.

“We are suspecting a heretic to use the mines as a base. And we would not want to waste your resources in eliminating him. Therefore, we will send a strike force to clear the tunnels.”

The captain’s face was now showing signs of irritation. And that probably meant he was actually quite angry.

“Negative. The clearing of the tunnels are part of our plan. And we can assure you that any heretics will be eliminated as well.”

“He may hold vital information to us. We will deal with him, captain.”

“No, you will not. Your consideration for preserving the resources of the Ultramarines is commendable, but we will assault this mountain without your help. Any involvement from your side will disturb our plans and will be considered an act of hostility. Do you understand me?”

Uriel tried to conceal his anger.

“Yes. Communication over.”

The screen turned black and Uriel immediately reached for his helmet.

“All Deathwing squads, this is Uriel. Proceed towards the entrance at high speed. Try to avoid any confrontation with the Ultramarines if possible. But if they stand in our way… then the hunt is all that matters. Beleth must not escape. But if you engage the Ultramarines, shoot to cripple rather then kill. Uriel out.”

 

The librarian turned around and started walking towards the teleportation chamber. His command squad followed. In one of the corridors on the ship, Sauriel walked up beside him.

“Lord shaman, is this really necessary? They are our battle brothers.”

Uriel turned his head towards the sergeant.

“I do not want to do this, but we have to. If they storm the mines the best we can hope for is that Beleth gets killed. That way he will never get a chance to repent, but he will no longer stain our chapter’s honour. But if things turn out for the worse, he will be captured by the Ultramarines. And we cannot let that happen. It is possible that they will let us through. They think like we do in this matter. They do not take attacking their fellow marines lightly.”

Sauriel nodded.

“Let us hope you are right, lord shaman. Let us hope you are right.”

Uriel did not hear the final part of the sentence. His vision blurred as his mind drifted away from this world. He was once again standing in front of a door in a corridor. This time he noticed that it seemed more like a cave then a spaceship. But maybe it had been like that all the time…

 

The librarian opened the door and was met with the same sight as always, the captured Beleth. Uriel walked towards the captive and as always he escaped. The fallen one drew a knife as Uriel lashed out with his force glaive. This time he managed to cut the arm of the traitor but before the arm even had hit the ground a clawed tentacle had emerged from the wound. The librarian tried to dodge but the tentacle shot right through his chest and he felt his blood flowing down onto the ground. And then he was standing outside the door again. He opened it and quickly fired his stormbolter. But Beleth had already started dodging and drew a plasma pistol and fired it back at Uriel. The plasma bolt hit the codicier in the head and everything went black… until he once again was standing in the corridor. This time he had not even have time to open the door before it burst open to reveal the fallen one charging against him with a drawn sword. Uriel tried to parry but his glaive was cut in half. And then his vision quickly switched to Beleth who stabbed him in the throat with a knife. And then frying him with a psychic blast. And then shooting him in the eye with a bolt gun. The visions of the librarian’s death flashed quickly before his eyes now. He fell to his knees, his body wrecked with the pain of hundreds of mortal wounds. Uriel felt how his mind was being torn asunder from the images. And he started fading into darkness…

 

No. He could not let the fallen one do this. He would not yield just because the outcome was inevitable. He would not choose the easy way. He would not fail the chapter.

“NOOOOO!”

Uriel rose and grabbed Beleth by the throat. He pushed the fallen in front of him into the room and smashed him into the wall.

“I create my own destiny! This will never come to pass. I did not call for these visions, nor am I bound by then! Spirits, be gone!”

Beleth screamed out and as he did so his face changed into something daemonic. The creature started twisting and shaking before melting away. And as it did so, Uriel’s vision faded away around him. He was lying on the floor in a corridor in the Eternal Vengeance.

“Lord shaman? Are you all right?”

Uriel rose to his feet.

“Yes… Yes I am. But now we must reach the battle..”

 

***

 

As the light from the teleporter faded, Uriel and his command squad were standing in a building close to the mine entrance. The librarian looked out across the field and saw an unwelcome sight, the burning wreck of the land raider crusader. And the remaining Deathwing forces were under heavy fire from the Ultramarines. They had failed…

 

And as Uriel looked to the sky he saw something that filled him with both despair and hope. A small shuttle was launching from the mountain. He knew that it contained Beleth, he felt it. The launch meant that the fallen one was escaping, but it also meant that they had a chance of capturing him.

“All Deathwing units, retreat! Commence teleportation. I will protect the thunderhawk until extraction is complete.”

Around the librarian the remaining units disappeared in flashes of light. And above him the massive roar of the thunderhawk could be heard as it picked up the dreadnoughts and then headed for the wreckage of the crusader. But before it was able to do so it was hit by a missile. The hit seemed to cause no major damage but it might not be so lucky the next time. Uriel traced the smoke trail back to the shooter and saw a squad of Ultramarine terminators. He sighed.

“Emperor forgive me… Fire at will!”

The high-pitched whining of the two assault cannon almost drenched the sound of storm bolters as the librarians command squad opened fire on the Ultramarines. The blue-armoured warriors turned to face the new threat but even their tactical dreadnought armour could not protect them against the precision of the Dark angels and the might of the assault cannons. The last of the cyclones fell and Uriel uttered a silent prayer that none of the terminators would be dead. Unfortunately, he doubted that was the case. With the last threat gone the clamps under the thunderhawk grabbed the wreckage and then the super heavy flyer took to the air. And the codicier’s squad disappeared in a halo of light.

 

***

 

As soon as Uriel appeared on the teleporter pad he began shouting out orders and ran towards the bridge as fast as possible in a suit of terminator armour. When he reached the bridge the traitor’s shuttle had docked with a larger ship near the starport above Gothcoinus secundus.

“Arm all weapon systems! Direct all fire towards the engines of that ship.”

The librarian turned towards the other terminators on the bridge.

“Nathanael, is your squad prepared for a boarding action?”

“Many members of my squad are wounded but we should be able to send at least five terminators in battle condition.”

The codicier pointed towards one of the acolytes.

“Prepare two boarding torpedoes! I will lead this assault personally. Barakiel, you have command of this ship.”

Uriel was just about to leave the bridge when then comscreen came alive and showed the image of the Ultramarine captain. This time he made no effort of concealing his anger.

“Dark Angels, you will immediately power down your weapon systems and explain your actions on the planet surface.”

Uriel pointed his force glaive towards the screen.

“No, we will not! We are in pursuit of the heretic you tried to stop us from capturing and then let slip past your forces. The matter can be discussed when the hunt is over.”

The windows showing the area in front of the Eternal vengeance was suddenly filled with something much larger then the small commercial vessel they had been chasing – the gigantic shape of a space marine battle barge.

“Codicier, power down your weapon systems and engines or we will open fire!”

 

 

----

 

Comments: In the fifth battle I met a shooty Ultramarine army with lots of terminators. According to my calculations before the battle I just needed to draw the game in order to get the placing needed to capture the fallen. So I set out to play defensive and not take any chances. However, when I'm playing any defensive plan is usually discarded after one turn. (And in most cases, that turn is the opponent's turn...) And this battle was no exception. Early in the game I took a stupid chance with my crusader and exposed it a little bit more in order to gain a few extra inches. It resulted in a catastrophic backlash as he exploded the crusader and left my assault terminators entangled in front of his entire gunline. And my command squad refused to enter play from reserves. I did manage to kill off a few units and even the score a little bit, but I still lost. But the question still remained... Would I be able to capture the fallen or had this loss pushed me too far down? Find out in the final part tomorrow!

(It seems I made a slight misscalculation. The story will only have ten parts and not eleven as I said earlier. Sorry about that...)

[Mortarion]

PART X

 

“Codicier, power down your weapon systems and engines or we will open fire!”

Uriel looked at the battle barge through the window and then at the screen showing Beleth’s ship. The Ultramarine vessel was placing itself right in front of the Eternal Vengeance and was blocking their path. If they fired their weapons they would hit the battle barge. The codicier punched his fist into the wall.

“Why are you doing this, captain? You are helping a heretic escape us.”

Captain Valerius stood up from his command chair.

“Do not speak to us about heresy! You launched an attack on our lines. You opened fire upon us. Now, power down your weapon systems and engines! This is your last warning, codicier!”

Uriel once again glanced at the screen showing Beleth’s vessel. As he did so, it moved away and then jumped into warpspace. He sighed. They had been so close. He turned towards the acolyte standing at the weapon controls.

“Power down weapon systems.”

“I am glad to see that you finally listened to reason. Enough blood had been shed today. Now I await your explanation for what happened down on the planet surface.”

This would take time. It was the Ultramarines who had fired the first shots but Uriel guessed that they saw it as a defensive action against the Dark angels’ attack. None of the two chapters would take responsibility for what had happened and none of them would be satisfied until the other one did.

 

But something interrupted the need for explanation. A shadow slowly crept over the two ships. The librarian looked at the viewscreen and saw the welcoming sight of a large asteroid. And suddenly a booming voice filled the com-system.

“This is Grand master Sandolphon of the Dark Angels. We will soon leave this system and the Eternal Vengeance will leave with us. Any intervention will be seen as an act of hostility and result in your utter annihilation, Ultramarine.”

Uriel could see captain Valerius checking different viewscreens and looking out of the large window in front of him before answering.

“The Dark angels present here launched a totally unprovoked attack against us, Grand master. We cannot let this heresy go unpunished.”

“If they attacked you then they did so for a reason. Yet we are willing to see past your actions and let you live through this day. We have noted your objections, Ultramarine, but you are hardly in any position to make any threats to us.”

Uriel saw the captain mutter something before shutting the com system down. The presence of the Rock was usually enough to persuade most would-be opponents out of a confrontation.

 

***

 

Uriel bowed before the grand master.

“Grand master, I have failed.”

“No. Our astropaths managed to analyse the warp trail. Beleth is heading for the Linconia system. We will initiate the warp jump in eight hours. The hunt will continue.”

“Will I still be given the honour of leading the hunt, grand master?”

Sandolphon nodded.

“Yes, librarian. Now prepare your force for the jump.”

Uriel bowed again and left the room. He walked over to one of the large windows in the corridor outside. Through the window he could see the Eternal Vengeance. And beyond that, Gothconius. His actions here were over, but the hunt was far from finished.

 

He took a deep breath and just listened to the silence. He had just noticed, but this was a silence he had not felt since the hunt started. Ever since his encounter with Dragazh he had heard the psychic voices of spirits screaming in his mind. He had not really noticed them except in his visions. But now that they were silent he knew that they were gone. And that filled him with hope. Like Raziel had said, new spirits would soon notice him and make their presence felt, but he had silenced one of them. He had shown to himself that it could be done. And with that knowledge he could endure. Until the Emperor decided it was his time to enter the realm of the dead, he would endure.

 

 

 

----

 

Comments: The final part. I did not manage to capture the fallen due to the fact that I played badly in the final match. But my placing was enough to manage to chase him to the next tournament. On that tournament I had the same setup - that my placing would determine the outcome of a story. I started writing but never got around to finishing it. Some day I might finish it but until then, this is the conclusion...

I hope you liked it!

[Mortarion]

No comments? :lol:

[Tanhausen]

Those are some neat stories :)

 

I like the Raziel one... and feel the terminator a bit exagerated but hey, its your story :)

 

I'd say all is very fluffy, maybe just a bit too cliché (specially the UM part)... and The Rock just "suddenly" appearing out of nowhere... what kind of astropath do UM have? xDDD