Dark descent

[Demoulius]

It was a normal night on the planet Opheilla. The planet's cycle around its star meant it was just starting on it summer cycle and temperatures were obnoxiously warm, breaking more and more records by the day. In the hive cities it became more and more needed for the local adeptus arbites to take action. Unrest was becoming a common thing.

 

In high orbit the strike cruiser Sanguine light was holding orbit. The many defence lasers and orbiting stations had not noticed the cruiser. The vessel had acces to special codes to make them invisible to the scrying eyes of the planets nobles and only those in high command were aware of their presence. The vessel was also authorised to be here. The vessels purpose here was small, for it was a part of the cargo that had to do the work. A single thunderhawk escaped from the ships launch bays and headed towards a patch of forest known to the common tongue of the planet as "the forest of foes".

 

The forest played a big part in the planets history and had held an ork infastation, and rebel army in the past. The large amount of local predators that hid in the dark and vast forest also made it a rather dangerous place to be. The local populace avoided going in or near the forest, for local superstition feeded the forests mysterious appearance and increassed its many dangers tenfold. The only ones who went to the forest willingly, adn this beeing a loose term; were the local conscript and PDF armies to train and keep the wildlife in check. They were however, told not to go near the forest for a few weeks now.

 

Although it was not uncommon for the local populace to be reckless from time to time, the proximity to the nearby "storm of the emperor's wrath" meant the local governor and sector's highest ranking inquisitor were always on edge. They had requested aid from the local red dragon space marine chapter for aid. They had also requested said aid to be....sublte. Insignificant if not impossible to detect for the local populace on the planet. That is why the thunderhawk landed in these forest and its cargo was small, yet no less deadly to whatever threat that the imperium might find in this dark place.

 

When the thunderhawk had found its landing spot the rear hatched open with a loud bang. Wildlife scattered from the area and 2 dozen space marines in scout armor ran from bowels of the ship. Among them there were a few individuals whos armor was seemingly more decorated then the rank and file. No sooner then the last astartas had exited the ramp, it shut close and the thunderhawk powered up its engines to return back to orbit.

[Demoulius]

'couldnt he wait till we cleared the treeline at least? he almost scorched my cloak' Hyde said. 'and miss out seeing you run towards the bushes in all haste? surely you jest?' Brother sargeant Vendris replied smiling. 'Sargeant, i can understand the need for an rapid drop off in a warzone but what is the point here? we are miles away from civilisation! it is the reason the captain choose this spot correct? i see no need to...' "be silent pup" the sargeant replied angrily. 'You know full well the fleet was waiting for the Sanguine light. every minute the hawk would have wasted on the surface meant that the traitorous chaos worships have longer to live. that in itself is reason enough to know why haste was made, dont you think so?' 'yes, brother sargeant. forgive my ignorance' Hyde replied without a moments though. for where was his place to doubt the word of the chapters most veteran sargeant?

 

The scouts split up in 2 groups. Both were occupanied by veterans and specialsts. The forward group, all armed with close combat weapons and shotguns were beeing escorted by sargeant Vendris and Epistolary Aphael. The second group, who were sniper rifles, a few bolters and a missle launcher. Were accompanied by sanguinary priest Rapheal and chaplain Grimnus.

 

All the officers wore elaborate pieces of scout armour. Although only made of carapace armour like normal scout armour, there was more work put into each suit to make them unique. They stood out from the rest of the squad and each had scrolls and ingravements denoting every individual feat of strength and mind that they had performed. Vendris' suit was the most elaborate. His favorite weapons were an ornate powerfist and an engaved bolt pistol. His carapce armour adorned to the point that they seemed to be artificer armour. Aphael's suit was the ussual blue like the armour of every librarian. His suit, unlike normal carapace armour had an armoured collar that housed his psychic hood. His wristguards had a gold engraving and on his belt he carried a tome. Rapheal's suit was standard issue, disregarding the sanguinator and many vials and pouches at his waist. Grimnus his suit was lack, like the suit of any other chaplain. Unlike normal carapce armour it was however heavily adorned with skulls and at his collarbone sat his rosarius. They made a grave impression on the young recruits. Not least of all because some of the chapters most senior veteran sargeant donned the carapace armour once again to lead the expedition.

 

The big group moved through the wooded terrain with ease. Although the woods were thick with trees and shrubs they made a quik pace through the area. Brother Vendris and Apheal were ahead of the first group and the newly trained recruits could barely catch up. Their bodies still not adjusted to the new bulk of their muscles and the new organs that they had been given. For some this was their first mission after leaving the fortres monastery.

 

Brother Vendris was huge, even for a space marine and to see him in his carapace armour once again amused Aphael greatly. 'how does the old suit feel Ven? Its been over a century since last you wore it' Aphael whispered to the sargeant. 'It has. Hasent it been over 3 centuries when you last wore yours though?' Vendris replied whispering to his friend with a bigger smile then his companion. 'Good point' Aphael replied, the unease apparent on his face. 'Why do they send us on such a such an errant's quests Ven? I can understand the chapter master has to keep friends with the local systems but 4 high ranking officers to accompany some recruits? I have a feeling theres more to this place then he is letting on' 'Hah! now you sound like the recruits your so uneasy to accompany Aph' A pause broke up between the two before Aphael replied. 'well, is there?' 'Be damned if i know Aphael, i just follow orders' Vendris replied after thinking his anwser through for a moment.

 

By morning break the group had reached the edge of the woods. The planet was a hiveworld, and thus many parts of it were toxic and irridiated. The wastelands that laid between them and the hive city Opheilla primus were vast. It was also irridiated to the extreme that no normal man could pass through it and live, but luckily the group wasent composed of normal men. 'Setup camp, we cant risk crossing the expanse and be seen by the locals' Vendris ordered with his loud commanding voice. 'Prepare yourself and get some rest, we leave again by daybreak'

 

Chaplain Grimnus approached Vendris and Aphael with a heavy stride and his face spoke only of rage. 'We REST? Surely you are joking brother sargeant, we have a purpose here and we wont serve the emperor by sitting here twinkling our thumbs!' 'One word'Raphael replied. 'Patience. The captain told us not to be seen by the local for fear of spreading more unease then we are to rout out' 'Bah' Grimnus replied. 'If its the sight of us that upsets these people, then perhaps they deserve our attention. In another way then we were sent here' With having voiced his last protest the chaplain left the company of the other 3 veterans.

 

'Will he be a problem?' Vendris replied after making sure Grimnus was out of hearing distance. 'No' Raphael replied chuckling. 'For all his character flaws, he is one hell of a marine and an even finer chaplain. We could have no finer soldier to accompany our recruits' "You have experience in dealing with him then?' Vendris asked the priest. 'I have, and at all instances we argued' Rapheal replied, seemingly proud to say so. 'Isent that...unhealthy?' Aphael asked whilst raising his brow. 'No harm in some rivalry between two brothers. Besides, we look after the best interest in the chapter, our vieuws just differ on how we do it' Aphael seemed to accept this anwser and Vendris continued to discuss the plan for the coming night. 'We will enter the city at this location' indicating a part of the lay out of the city that he had made in the dirt. 'The city slums are vast and impossible to monitor at all times. The city gave up monitoring this part of the town due to...difficulties with its inhabitants' 'Difficulties?' Rapheal interupted. 'Mutants, gangers, pleasure cults. You name it and its there. The slums of this planet are a mess' 'Such a lovely place we are beeing sent to' Aphael said with a grin. 'It is. We wont know the gravity of the problem until we reach the slums though. If the intel we have is anything to go by though it will be rough, even with our numbers and training' This last comment caused the other 2 seasoned warriors to look at eachother and at the same time voice the question: 'Why?' 'Because' Vendris replied 'The planets ruling council suspects the slums are home to chaos, maybe even renegades. And if that is true, then i fear we will need every edge we can get' Vendris said whilst looking at Grimnus over his shoulders.

[Demoulius]

On the Sanguine light the shipsmaster Crevitz was anxious. His Red Dragon masters werent keen on waiting forever. Even if they were waiting for one of their own.

 

"has the bird landed?" the shipsmaster said over the vox, waiting anxiously over the vox. "yes, shipsmaster. The crew has exited the docking area and all hatches are shut. We are ready to make the jump to the warp." the reply came a moment later, the crewmen knew all to well he wanted to leave as soon possible. "Good, then get ready for the jump asap." Crevitz replied before closing the vox link.

 

"Glad to hear we can finaly join the fleet, shipsmaster" came a voice from behind Crevitz. "Yes brother captain, i feel the same. Do you know what we will face when we meet up with the fleet? The reports ive heard were sketchy at best" Crevitz replied whilst turning to talk to a space marine in artificer armour. "The reports you heard were the same i heard master Crevitz. I have no information to give you that you do not allready know." brother captain Agrius replied angerily. "Yes, off course brother captain" Crevitz replied shakenly. The wrath of a space marine was a terrible thing to behold and captain Agrius was losing his patience. Although Crevitz had served the fleet for decades since his failure to become a marine himself he was in no way un-replacable.

 

Agrius noticing the look of shock on the shipsmaster said calmy "Forgive my outburst Crevitz. I do not seek to frighten you. Just get us their as soon as possible, that is all i ask" Crevitz was relieved at that reply. Nodded his understanding and went to make sure his crew was working their fingers to the bone to get to the destination with all haste.

 

Captain Agrius is the captain of the 5th company. He wore a fine suit of Artificer armour depicting several centuries older then himself and over his shoulder hang had his trusty thunderhammer and along his waist hang his combi-flamer. Both weapons had served him well and although the combi weapon was a relic of the chapter the hammer was commisioned for him. Its head was adorned with the equila, its beak and head forming one side and outstretched wings the other. Along the heft were etched the many battle honours he had gained and the powerfull foes he had vanquished. The weapon had a long haft however, there was plenty of room for new names.

 

The fifth was, aside from their normal duties as a battle company the chapters siege and boarding specialists and the thought the fleet had to do without them made Agrius uneasy. Specialy considering the opponents that they now faced.

 

Traitors. Former space marines who had abondoned the Emperor's light en masse and had become a mockery of everything they once stood for. They had went renegade a good 20 years ago and were now attacking a planet close to the storm of the emperor's wrath. A twisted piece of warpspace they used to hide their base and avoid righteous retribution. How they exactly could such a feat was unknown but the chapters Librarians could only guess a pact of some sort was made with the deamons that manifested the warp. Now however, they had struck out and unlike they expected found a planet with a garrison waiting for them. Their pride taking the better of them they stayed and fight. Unfortunatly for them however the imperial fleet was waiting behind their sensor range and had struck a blow when they dident expect it, driving the fleet off. The majority of the renegade chapter was now stuck on the planet with nowhere to go. The planet populace however, fared the same.

 

The ship entered the warp with a loud crack, lightning engulfed the ship and its location was now empty. Hadivi, a member of his honour guard approached Agrius. "Brother captain, how do you think Vendris and the recruits will fare?" Agrius looked Hadivi in the eyes and replied sternly "The decision to send the strike force down there was made by chapter master Demoulius himself brother. Such a decision is not yours or mine to doubt or question" "Forgive me brother captain, but if we try to fight chaos on all fronts, dont you think we should fight them on all fronts equally? The force we intercept now has no where to go, but if the force on Opheilla is of the same nature then alot of more lives and the entire system are at stake. I do not presume to question the chapter master but the strike force seems....Insignificant for the job" Hadivi replied. Agrius thought for a moment and smiled. "You are right offcourse brother, but do not mistake the strength the strike force has. We send 4 of our best to accompany 20 of our newest. If their guidance isent enough to ensure victory nothing short of a company will. Not to mention that their number is small, making it easier to escape notice. If we would engage en masse whatever is at play on the planet will just go into hiding" Hadivi listened to the anwser and nodded. "There is wisdom in that brother captain, but i fear that whatever is down there might be to much for the recruits, even with the spirutual and physical aid of our best. We both have faced what they will face and we both know it wont be a walk in the park by any means." "Correct brother, but the emperor is with them. They will triumph" Hadivi made the sign of the equila and replied "Offcourse brother, the emperor protects" "The emperor protects"

[Demoulius]

Content that the captain had heard him out Havidi left captain Agrius with his thoughts. What had gone wrong to make so many of his fellow astartas break from the Emperor's light? Were they always so weak of heart? Was there always doubt on their minds? It was impossible for him to comprehend for he had fought alongside those he and his chapter were now sent to destroy. They were; back then anyway pure of heart and porpuse. They were always under scrutiny from the inquisistion due to their constant warfare with chaos and the fear of them turning renegade was always present. Now they had gone renegade and everyone was still suprised men once honourable and just could fall so far.

 

Agrius let out a heavy sigh and left the bridge, stopping for a moment to give further instructions to Crevitz incase the jump through the warp was more rapid then they had hoped. He walked the hallways of the strike cruiser in thought, passing servitors hardwired into systems of the ship. Always mute and always at work. Passing his battlebrothers who saluted their captain. He saluted back to the men automaticly and continued towards his destination.

 

The small reclusiarch on the Sanguine light was an oddity among the fleet. A relic from the chapter's blood angel heritage, it was ornate beeing functionality. The walls were adorned with friscoes from the time shortly after the great crusade, depicting tales of Sanguinius. How he lives, how he died and how his sons carried forth his legacy. The roof of the room was a glass dome, with shutters that could be rolled in place in case pressure was lost in the room. On the far side of the room was the wall of heroes. Here the names of fallen brothers were depicted, alongside the battle zones in where there were lost. Agrius had seen many of his men added on the wall in the time that he was captain and he feared that there would be alot more added yet before this campaign was over.

 

At the far side of the room there was a raised plateau, and ontop of it brother chaplain Gardic was preaching to a few battle brothers. The brothers were all on one knee in prayer alongside the chaplain and captain Agrius took a moment to behold the spectacle. It was a long time ago since he had sought council with the chapters chaplains and he now had a crisis of faith. Of sorts. Agrius had been captain long enough to know that doubt was a dangerous thing, and he wanted it squashed.

 

'Ave Imperator!' Gardic finished and the collected brothers replied with the same, rising up to their full length before turning to leave the chamber. Agrius let the marines passed and nodded his approval to every one of them. He wanted his men fighting without doubt and with porpuse, like he wanted to himself. 'Brother captain' the booming voice came from the other side of the room. The chaplain dressed in his black robe walking towards Agrius at a steady pace. His face scarred and half replaced with bionic, his posture imposing; the chaplain was a death threat made flesh. Even without his armour. 'Its been a while since i have last seen you here. Is there some matter we must discuss?' 'There is, honoured chaplain' Agrius spoke out whilst thinking carefully of his words.

 

'You feel uneasy about facing your former brothers?' The chaplains question came as a suprise to the captain, was it that obvious to all what was on his mind? 'I do' Agrius admitted with difficulty. 'You are not alone brother captain. The group you saw exit the reclusiarch moments ago all shared the same trouble. Veterans all. All have fought alongside the filth we will exterminate soon. Know that it doesent matter why or how they fell, only that they did. Let others worry about why they must die and let us bring the embrace of death to them.' the chaplain was in his element when he spoke to his fellow astartas. Though he was also a fine warrior, his judge of character and insight on the minds of his fellow astartas made him a perfect chaplain. 'I know all these things brother chaplain and you are correct. What worries me the most however is how they could have fallen in the first place.' The captain replied cooly.

 

'Im not sure i understand captain, why would you wonder about such a trivial thing?' A feral snarl arose on the mouth of the captain and he replied with a single word. 'Opheilla' The captain spat out the word with venom, taking Gardic by suprise. 'What of it?' 'It holds the seat of power in the sector and all instances that once made sure the sons of malice were held in check. They scrutinized the chapter intensly and find it unlikely they couldnt have prevented this....Abomination, from happening' 'You suspect chaos festers on Opheilla?' Vardic replied, realizing what the captain was refering to. 'I do. I do not doubt the strike force will find the threat they are looking for. I fear however that they will unlock something far greater then any of us suspect.' the chaplain nodded in agreement as he absorbed the words. 'I understand what you mean brother. Tell me, do you know the officers sent along with the strike force?' the captain was taken aback by the question, not seeing the relevance to the problem that he was adressing. 'I do Garvic, what about them?' 'Do you trust in their capabilities? Would you let them cover your back even knowing that if they failed you would die?' the chaplains voice became a sneer at the last word, and for a moment Agrius wasent sure if the chaplain would attack him at any moment.

 

'I would' the captain replied without hesitation. 'Then think no more on matters no longer your concern brother captain. You have a company to lead and traitors to slay. Let your brothers on Opheilla do their job whilst you do yours' accepting the simple solution as fact Agrius nodded. 'You are right offcourse...Ave imperator!' 'Ave imperator' replied Garvic, his features taking on a smile whilst he measured the captain. A cold chill coming over the spine of Agrius like every time that he saw the chaplain smile. The coming combat would be intense and bloody, and Garvic seemed to relish this thought.

[Demoulius]

back on Opheilla the strike force was "resting" 3 pairs of scouts were sparring, sargeant Vendris had instructed the full group twice on the outlay on the city and their objectives. They were to make their way to their contact known as "raven" and aid him in finding "the nest" as it was called. Noone knew exactly what the the nest was, but it was supposed to be the source of all the unrest in the city, and maybe even the planet in its entirety. Stealth was their main priority and any and all witnesses had to be neutralised. The reason for this beeing twofold. The agents of the hidden enemy should not be allowed to detect them, and no word of their presence must reach the local poplace to avoid any further unrest in the city.

 

During the brief from chaptermaster Demoulius himself Vendris had listend to the available intel and heard nothing out of the ordinary. It all seemed like a straightforward ops, yet the chapter master had deemd it needed that 3 officers joined the scouts. The librarian to hide their presence from the warp, the chaplain to protect them from corruption and the priest for him there was no explanation.... He was an enigma to Vendris. Scouts were on ops without priests before. If one fell it was to the sargeant to retrieve the progenoids if it came to that, so why was he here? He also seemed to enjoy enciting the chaplain, why send such a wildcard on this mission?

 

After having contempleted on this matter for half an hour Vendris got up from his spot in the shade. His camo cloak was sparing him none of the heat and although he knew its importance in the city, the concealment of their camp meant that it wasent needed. Looking around the camp Vendris noticed that all the scouts that were "at rest" had discarded their carapce armour. The other half had hidden in the scrubs or had buried themselves almost completly and formed a perimeter around the camp. Even if an attack came, local predator or otherwise, they would have some time to quikly put their armour back on.

 

Vendris approached Rapheal, the latter seemingly sitting in meditation with his eyes closed. 'Why are you here exactly priest?' his voice just hushed enough that the nearby recruits couldnt hear him; even with their enhanced hearing. 'Ah, took you a while to pop the question, sargeant. Does it disturb you that the chapter master did not mention why i was included?' Raphael replied whilst not moving from his location or opening his eyes. 'Disturb me? No. But id like to know why i have excess baggage on my team even so' Vendris replied obviously annoyed. 'Excess baggage? My my arent we getting unfriendly' Raphael opend his eyes and rose from his meditating posistion. He turned around and their eyes met. 'You wont tell me?' Vendris replied after what seemed like an age. 'Perhaps' came the reply. 'If you will indulge me' the priest said with a smile. 'Indulge you with what. Exactly' Vendris replied, now feeling cornered into a trap.

 

'A duel' the priest said whilst looking to the side to a nearby pair of recruits. The recruits were in the midst of unarmed combat. They punched, blocked, kicked and were unable to overpower the other party. It was a good excercise for the new recruits. They needed to get the feeling of their bodies, their new organs and sense of balance perfected. Inside of the fortress monastery they oufcourse had proper training with bolter, close combat weapon and all other forms of astartas warfare, but this was their first time `outside` and they relished it.

 

´A duel`Vendris replied following the priests stare. ´Like theirs?' the priest turned and said with an even bigger smile no 'No brother sargeant, with combat knives. Till first blood' the priest had made sure to voice the challenge with plenty of volume so every recruit and veteran at the camp had now turned their gaze on the pair. Vendris' blood boiled in his veins for to back down now would have been a huge blow to his honour, the priest had made sure of that.

 

'I accept' Vendris replied, whilst staring the priest down and no sooner had the words been phrased or the priest unsheethed his combat knife and lunged at the sargeant. The sargeant took a step back, brought up his own combat knife and he parried the blow. Rapheal taking advantage of his momentum brought up his left knee and it connected to Vendris' stomache. The wind knocked out of him Vendris managed to punch Rapheal in the face with his other hand throwing the priest off balance and forcing him to back off. They circled eachother whilst carefully observing eachothers movements. Vendris was more used to such unarmoured combat yet the early blow Rapheal dealt to him had an impact. The priest obviously wasent holding back and so a wide grin arose on Vendris' face. Neither would he.

 

The next 15 minutes were a blurr to the nearby recruits, both warriors blocking, parrying and scoring blows of the others knives whilst their fists and feet scored blows on eachother. Whilst Rapheal was focusing on tiring the sargeant out Vendris had no real plan. Improvising was the reality of his life as an astartas and he wouldnt back down because an officer of the priesthood was cocky enough to think himself his better. Both warriors were still as far as they had began, save for the bruised spots that they had inflicted on one another. Vendris dropped his knife to the ground and let out a growl. Rapheal unsure of what the sargeant was doing tried to back off but he was to slow. Vendris lunged at him and swatted the knife to the side. Rapheal was pinned to the ground and Vendris started to pound on his face. It dident take long for the priest who was stunned by the sudden attack. To bleed.

 

Whilst his nose was broken and he had a tear in his cheek, most wounded was Rapheal in his pride, for he had underrestimated his rival. Vendris rose from Rapheal and offered him his wrist. Rapheal was pulled to his feet and he spat blood on the woodlandfloor. 'Well fought!' he said with a laugh. 'Id do well to renember that lesson in humulity' he said whilst bowing his head slightly. 'Why are you here' Vendris replied. 'Ah! I made a promise did i not. Very well sargeant i will tell you, but it is for your ears only'

[Demoulius]

Rapheal and Vendris moved away from the camp settled just outside of the perimeter and out of hearing range of the recruits. 'Why all the secrecy priest?' Vendris asked when they had ventured far enough. 'It was a request from the high priest sargeant' came a level reply. 'A request from the high priest? Why would he want that?' Vendris asked whilst raising his brow. 'The high priest protested against the chapter master for not sending a priest along the strike force. The priesthood and the reclusiarch are both equally responsible for safeguarding the mind and spirit of the chapter. The high priest pressed the matter on when the chapter master was allready stressed for time. Having no excuse to send the high priest away he listend to his petition and he agreed' Vendris could swear he heard a small sigh at the end of that last sentance.

 

'You dont agree with the way you were put forth for this mission? Is that why you are argueing with the chaplain?' A smile arose on Rapheal's mouth. 'It is the reason why i had to be secretive but i do not disagree with my high priest. His methods may seem a bit childish or even out of jest; this is not the case. He does what he has to for the sake of the chapter, the chapter master can be....hard to deal with at times and he was ways to make him listen. And as for the chaplain? Thats something else, happens when people have differing ideas on which way the chapter should go' Vendris nodded at the reply, knowing it to be the truth.

 

The chaplains and sanguinary priests had always been at odds. Vendris just never thought it would be on a personal level. 'One question' Vendris said after a moment of silence. 'Yes sargeant?' Vendris seemed to be formulating his question in the right way before he spoke it out loud. 'That still doesent explain WHY you had to be secretive about you beeing included in the mission' Rapheal smiled at this and said 'Correct sargeant. I dident have to be, i just thought id keep the high priests method of gettings things done a secret. Vendris smiled at this en then said plainly 'I understand Rapheal. So long as your argueing with the chaplain dont interfer with the mission and the both of your performances i do not mind. But..' Rapheal not expecting the conversation to get serious looked the sargeant in the eyes 'But? Sargeant?' 'If they do, i will see it fit to have you chastized for it' Rapheal nodded at this and accepted it.

 

Rapheal and Vendris walked back to the camp. Dusk was setting in and the recruits had allready cleaned up the camp. The perimeter was still in place but the tracks had been covered. Every scout was combat ready and were standing at attention. 'All ready and awaiting your command brother sargeant' recruit Hyde said when Vendris came near the perimeter. 'Good! Then we start the trek towards Opheilla primus' Without looking back Vendris walked towards the north, the hive city visible at the horizon.

[Demoulius]

Opheilla was a planet of extremes during this heatwave. By day one man can not cool down even whilst in the shade and by night...The nights were terrible. The temperature freezing, the wind screaming its displeasure whilst its touch felt like a dagger wherever it connected to open flesh. For the recruits it was even less pleasant, for they were walking through an atomic wasteland filled with sand. Every now and then they would stumble upon a radioactive lake filled with waste and would need to move around it, which made the journey even less pleasant and tiring. Every member of the strike force wore protective eyewear. Whilst astartas were not unfamiliar by planets where the elements themselves were an enemy, this was the first for Vendris were the wind held so much sway.

 

The group had temporary taken shelter in a cave they had stumbled upon. Their equipment was starting to take damage from flying debris and the sandblasting effect of the wind was taking their toll on their weapons. 'Blasted sand!' recruit Argus said agitated whilst picking his sniper rifle apart. 'The wretched stuff gets everywhere. How can the locals live on this blasted rock?' Recruit Keldor nearby had almost finished cleaning hos bolter, shrugged and gave Argus a look 'They dont Argus. Thats why they stay in the cities where the weather control station make it habitable'

 

The 4 veterans stayed at the entrance to the cave. They were the only ones who had kept their weapons sheathed and protected and so there was no need to clean anything. Nevertheless they were now had their weapons drawn. Vendris had drawn his bolt pistol and was scouting the inmediate area outside. The cave was set in a tall mountainrange. It was located high above ground and the way in was a ledge that snaked up to the cave. The path that had brought them to it was without cover, a man charging at the easily defended cave was foolish indeed. The cave had no visible exit however and if they were attacked there would no way out.

 

Taking stock of the officers around him Vendris took notice of his commanions weaponry. Aphael had his force stave drawn out, resting the butt of the weapon on the floor and holding it verticaly next to him; the weapon was as tall as he was. He was, like Vendris a moment before keeping his eyes on the area outside the cave. Unlike Vendris however he did not let his guard down. His bolter hung along his body and seemed like any other bolter one might set his eyes on, for it had no ornamentation except for a row of kill markings along its stock. Grimnus held his crozius two-handed horizontaly in front of him. He never used a firearm if not needed. He was used to close combat and if a foe reached them holding a firearm was a trivial statement at best. Rapheal sad crouched with his back against the cave wall, he was emptying sand out of his boots. Next to him within armsreach were his weapons and he seemed to have made interesting choices for weaponry for a veteran. He held an seemingly ordinary axe. Even while there came a gleem from its sharp edge Vendris had wondered why the priest had not taken such an basic weapon as a chainsword at least. His bolter was also seemingly insignificant, lacking even the kill markings that Àphael had.

 

Vendris pushed the thought from his mind and took his gaze towards the cave. Most of the recruits had allready cleaned their weaponry and gear and were standing idle, some in conversation with one another. A pair at the far corner were cleaning a sniper rifle and bolter respectivly and one scout was still working on his bolt pistol that he had taken apart for the rites of cleaning.

 

When the last trio were done with their rites of cleaning Vendris took their names, and filed them in his mind. They would serve a penetance for delaying the strike force for so long and the group went back towards the howling winds, this time with their weaponry and equipment shielded by their camo cloaks.

 

-edit- small typo corrections. added a line or 2.

[Taranis]

good story so far. Keep it up please.

[Demoulius]

The strike force was heading towards the city at all haste. The sun would rise soon and the scorching heat could prove to be fatal in the wasteland. Vendris pushed the scouts on, not giving them any rest. 'Hurry up you pups! We have no time to waste' Vendris barked without looking back to his men. They were so close and yet Vendris feared they had dallied so long in the cave, even though the stop was needed. Cursing himself for not instructing the men to keep their weapons protected he pushed on. No point in dwelling on past mistakes.

 

'Why did Demoulius choose me?' he whispered to himself, not expecting an anwser. They climbed a steep hill, all expecting to find further plains beyond it. The city was close, it had been for half an hour now but behind every hill, beyond every mountain they had found more wasteland. Their muscles aching from the constant sprint and climb of the past night they couldnt go on for much longer. However beyond this hill laid the edges to the city, and it gave them a good line of sight on their chosen entry.

 

Quikly inspecting what points of reference he could find Vendris noticed they were close to where they should be, however they had no time to waste finding the actuall spot. 'Argus, Dementis and Gendak; stay on the hill and provide fire with your rifles, the rest follow me!' Vendris had no sooner finished his orders or he sprinted at his top speed down the hill. His enhanced vision had picked out sentries that needed to be taken out, but they needed to approach as soon as possible to avoid the sun incinerating them when they were so close. Vendris felt a faint shimmer of cool air and ozon, held in place like an invisible wall. 'Stop' he ordered whilst almost coming to a complete stop himself. He crouched down and covered himself with his camo cloak, moving over to the shade the tall spires of Opheilla primus casted on the ground. Even a few feet away from the sargeant he was nigh invisible to the naked eye, and his fellow kinsmen mimicked his moves.

 

Ontop of the hill Argus, Dementis and Gendak had moved to a small patch of shade that was created by one of the tallest spires. The sun was slowly rising over the city and their location would soon be bathed in the sunlight. Argus cursed himself for cleaning his weapon so slowly and he tracked to where he thought his sargeant would be, taking aim on the sentries that were on the wall near their location.

 

-edit- small spelling corrections

[Demoulius]

Having reached the outer wall of the hive city Vendris started to scale the wall, the team following in his wake. Argus, Dementis and Gendak had their eyes focused on the sentrie above who seemed to be playing a cardgame of sorts.

 

Jessica wore a special set of clothes for this game of high-low. It was a bodyglove with long sleeves. It was cut extra low on the front so her opponent would be distracted enough that it threw them off their game. Ontop of that she had an extra hand of cards in the sleeve of her tunic, and she figured this was the perfect time to use it; since she had gone all in, and they had taken her up on her bluff. 'Whats that out there on the hill?' Jessica said whilst pointing to a nearby hill with her finger, making sure to point in a direction that would make them turn their back on her. Dim witted as her mutated companions were they did just that, and Jessica grabbed the winning deck from her the sleeve of her tight bodyglove, replacing it with the losing pair. No sooner was she doing fiddling with the cards or the trio turned around. 'There is nothing there wench. Are you sure your not seeing things again like last time?' one of the dim wits asked her. 'No im pretty sure i saw something. Have no idea what it was though, why was there nothing there?' the trio dident respond to her inquiry and stared at her. 'Right, time to reveal the cards little lady' one of them finaly said with a arrogant grin. Without saying a word she revealed her constructed deck of cards and enjoyed the look of disbelief on their faces. Whilst collecting her winnings her face got pale, her pupils wide. Her witchsense detected a threat climbing up the wall 'We got guests! she yelled whilst grabbing her autogun and running towards the edge of the wall. When she reached it she peaked over and saw a giant of a man, covered in a cloak making him near invisble trying to scale the wall. Without a moments thought she aimed her weapon.

 

No sooner had she aimed her weapon or her head exploded in a shower of bone and brainmatter. Two of the other group also faired the same fate. The fourth watched the fate of his friends, parylized like stone until he too fared the same. 'Targets neutralized sargeant' Argus' voice came from over the vox. With a grunt of effort Vendris pulled himself up over the ledge and grabbed his boltpistol to provide cover for his brothers still climbing the wall. 'You three come down from there. Now!' he ordered over the vox, but there was no need. When they had cleared the inmediate area of hostiles they got up from their posistion and started running down the mountain. The sun brushed Dementis' face ever so briefly and a gush of pain came over him. The burnmark on his face was a testiment to the power this sun had on Opheilla. Whilst the local vegetation and wildlife had adapted, its searing heat was fatal to humans, and likely to astartas as well Dementis thought.

 

They ran at full speed down the steep hill, almost falling over while they did. The sun was finaly rising over the highest spire in the city and Dementis could hear the effect the sun had on the soil behind him. The soil cracked and whistled while the moisture was sucked out of it and boiled in an instant. Argus and Gendak had just entered the safe zone in time, hearing the sun reach the protected invisible wall and turned around to see Dementis' fate. Allready suspecting he was a fraction to slow he had started to wrap his camo cloak around him. And when the sun finaly reached him it took a brief second before it burst into flames. Jumping at the moment it did Dementis rolled through the invisible shield, his cloak a burning wreck. As soon as he stopped moving he threw the cloak away from his body with a grunt.

 

Ontop of the wall the group had visitors. The 4 sentries playing their cardgame had friends who had heard sounds and came to investigate. Three men armed with shotguns ran up the spinning stairs that reached up to the top of the wall. They wore leather tunics with tattoos on their face showing that they belonged to a local gang. When they reached the top of the stairs the first to see the 4 bodies of his friends threw up, the others turned pale and looked around for hostiles. The trio inspected their deceased friends and look around, seeing nothing. 'Call this in! weve got intruders!' one of the shaken men called to the one vomiting.

 

To late however they noticed the shimmering forms closing in on them. They had sat still in three different loactions and dident move a muscle, blending in perfectly with the enviroment. Blending in, until it was time to strike. The one still crouched over from emptying his stomache contests was the first to die. The huge combat knife came down on his neck and took his head off without effort, his limp body falling over whilst his head rolled away underneath the cardgamers table. The second one to die was pinned to the wall by his unseen foe and cut through the heart, his mouth covered to prevent his death screams. The third was picked up without effort by a huge fists. He had no time to scream before the life was squeezed out of him for a few seconds. His twisted corpse was dropped to the floor as Vendris placed a finger on the voxbead in his left ear. 'Its safe to come up' No reply came as 6 recruits instantly vaulted over the edge instead. They took stock of their surroundings and began to cover the entrances to the building they were in. The rest quikly followed and Vendris took a peak over the edge to sea where his snipers had went. A feeling off loss came over him as he saw a pile of smouldering remains on the floor beneath. It quikly vanished again, replaced with a smile as he noticed one of the scouts was only burned a little and was without his cloak.

 

After the last of the scouts had climbed the wall Rapheal inspected Dementis. He had only been exposed to the sun for a few moments but he had numerous burn marks. Across his cheek a long spot had been burned and on his arms he had wounds from where the cloak had burned through. His armour was also scorched but aside from looking a little more black then it used to be there wasent much harm. 'He will be fine' Rapheal concluded. The wounds should be healed within a day, i doubt he will even have a scar to show for it' A cry of resentment came from Dementis which was quikly silenced by a glare and outburt from Grimnus. 'You will earn your scars in combat young one. No free handouts' The last part of the sentace sounded more serious then he had meant it. Grimnus was glad to see though that the scout nodded, likely knowing it were the case allready. Astartas dident scar easily and when one did...he was most of the times lucky to be alive.

[Demoulius]

Vendris had ordered Dementis and Keldor to remain behind and hide the teams presence. They had hid the bodies from sight and had boobytrapped the entrance ways to their point of entry. The building they had entered the city in was an old refinery. No doubt a place of high regard before the planet got its hive cities, it now stood abondoned and forgotten. Its long years of service had been disregarded for the shear mass that the industrial cathedrals in the hive city proper could produce. The former owner had not even bothered stripping the place, on the walls warning signs and palmflets still hung and the machines stood quite, most likely never to produce a product again.

 

Whilst their entry was beeing covered up, Vendris and Grimnus scouted the inmediate area outside of the factory. There was alot of shade from bigger buildings nearby but if they were discovered there was precious little cover outside. Several armed groups of the gangers also seemed to patrol heavily and whilst taking them out was certainly well within their posibilties; it was not the reason they were here. Overhead black painted speeders with various ganger slurs and kill markings of various types added to the hull. Dementis could pick out names as "the vultures" and Brag's skulltakers" and other colourfull names such as those above the killmarkings. They were most likely rival gangs of a sort. 'Let the city clean up its own filth' Grimnus growled regarding the many patrols. Vendris nodded 'Agreed, but i fear we dont have much of a choice. Moving out of this place undetected seems unlikely unless we wait till nightfall, and i have no intention to wait so long' the annoyance obvious in his voice.

 

Vendris scouted the area further and noticed walkways some 20 feet above the ground. Armed patrols walked on these as well and they seemed to be armed with tooled up lasguns. The weapons had scopes, extended barrels and the gangers seemed to be wearing huge powerpacks for weapons so small. The weapons themselves were obviously "borrowed" from the local guard regiments. Proof of it was obvious to the naked eye seeing as the gangers had disregarded to even remove the military markings from their weapons.

 

Grimnus following Vendris field of vision noticed the walkways. 'Snipers eh?' the sargeant nodded whilst letting out a sigh. 'We need intel chaplain. Its time for the recruits to experience their Omophagea implant' realizing the veterans plan the chaplain scoffed. 'I dont envy the young ones. These humans seem of poor stock physicly, i cant inmagine there beeing much in their brain matter what would be of much use either' a smile curled up on the veterans face and he shrugged. 'If we dont get anything usefull we will have to find a way around OR through the many patrols chaplain. It will cost time and we will run a very high chance of beeing detected along the way'

 

Vendris instructed 2 lucky recruits and requested Rapheal to accompany them. He picked out a patrol that they should intercept, out of the many present it wasent easy. The patrol that ended up beeing the lucky ones seemed to be venturing the closest to their location and should be the easiest one to overpower without anyone else noticing the event. The patrol was also smaller then the others and the gangers in it were most likely new recruits themselves, seeing as they had no gang tattoos, scars or normal weaponry. What they had were rusted out of date autoguns.

 

After intercepting the patrol they needed to act fast for the patrol would surely be missed very soon, and 24 space marines were hard to hide in one building when a hundred or so armed gangers were looking for them. Camo cloaks gave the benefit of obscuring detection if one was still and the one doing the searching dident know what to look for. It would hardly give them a benefit against the numbers running around outside, specialy when they had the advantages of numbers, high grounds and the fact that they were on their home terf. This did not mean that the scouts would fail, on the contrary it would be good target practice. The striek force however needed to remain as stealthy as possible. And that was hard to when you were in a gunfight with a hundred armed gangers.

 

Vendris sent recruits Argus, Gendak and Hyde up to the roof with their sniper rifles. They were to remain there undetected until an order to fire was given. Keldor and a few other scouts were sent to the windows. In the worse case scenario that a fire did break out they would have to provide covering fire almost instantly. Rapheal and two of the scouts would ambush the gangers when they reached the most outer point of their patrol, taking them by suprise; silently if all went well. The only big hole in their plan came from the many foes having the high ground. Their movement appeared erratic and random and that proved a huge threat.

[Demoulius]

As the patrol came closer and closer to the teams hiding spot tension rose in the scouts. It was visible to the naked eye and to be expected of new recruits who had never seen action outside of the chapters training grounds. They were trained in taking out their quarry with great stealth, but had never done so in practice and during daylight; in a yard with several dozen hostiles nearby who might witness the action taking place. As luck would have it a fight broke out at the far corner of the compound. A couple of men were fighting over a card game where some accused the other parties of cheating. 'Now!' was the only order Rapheal had to give.

 

The trio closed the distance to the distracted sentries with such speed that the patrol barely had time to turn around. The gangers had the habbit of running around when they were in haste so the sound of approaching footsteps was no suprise to the unexperienced patrollers. To late they turned around to see that it werent fellow gangers running behind them but men a few heads taller then they were and a feral purpose was evident on their face. To late they tried to yell out in protest. Rapheal was the first to take one out, crushing his victim's windpipe with one fatal blow. The next was felled by the recruit Jibai who sliced the throat of the second patroller. Recruit Hendice took more time to overpower his quarry and seemed to take pleasure in the way that he did. His right hand around the gangers neck he squuezed up until the point that his quarry could no longer voice any protest and then started dragging him towards the hideout, a wicked grin across his face along the way. The other 2 had picked up their targets almost instantly after neutralizing them and had hoisted them over their shoulders, returning to the hide out in all haste.

 

Vendris silently let out a curse on how the recruits handled their targets. Hendice took far to much pleasure from his assignment and Jibai on the other hand had left behind a trace of blood on the floor. If by some miracle the ganger patrol wasent missed soon the blood on the floor would no doubt tip the gangers off. Although the targets were taken out in the shade, blood was a hard thing to miss in the middle of open ground with men watching from above.

 

'What part of stealth dont you young ones understand?' Grimnus let out before Vendris had his chance to reprimand them of their actions. The recruits taken aback by the criticism looked at eachother and almost in unison voiced 'What do you mean'. Vendris patted Hendice on the shoulder and motioned him to drop his target. No sooner had he done so or the veteran sargeant brought his powerfist down on the ganger, crushing his ribcage in a gory mess. 'What the chaplain means is you take unnecesary risks and leave traces of blood. We can ill afford to leave such proof of our passing and it has forced us to speed up our departe from this place'.

 

'Rapheal' Vendris said beckoning the Sanguinary priest closer. 'Would you do the honours of instructing the recruits on their Omophagea implant?' the priest smiled at the chance to explain the recruits on their physique and nodded 'But offcourse sargeant' Rapheal beckoned the nearby recruits closer and activated the secure link on his vox bead. The recruits on the roof had the right to know as well and Rapeal dident enjoy repeating his words. 'The Omophagea implant is an addition to your body that, as you all know; allows us to devour a part of a brain or other part of the body and learn from its past experiences. The brain is the most effective part however and thats why we made sure to get some new specimens, as those above us on the balcony are sadly missing theirs' a wave of approving chuckles and laughter arrose from the recruits and Rapheal waited before it died down. 'We might learn a xenos' natural abilities and how to counter them, learn intel from our enemies and even recall parts of their past. Its hard to properly use however and you would all "normally" receive a great deal of instructions on how to use this particular organ. Since we lacked the time to grant you this knowledge before this op started we will do this here and now'

 

Rapheal extended his hand towards Hendice and asked for his combat knife. Reluctantly the recruit did as he was asked and the priest crouched down by his target, a pool of blood gathering around it as the vital fluids escaped from the enormous gap in its torso. Rapheal cursed the effort he had to extent to ignore the life blood of his foe, no matter how poor quality it was and continued with his instructions. He placed the combat knife around the scalp off his quarry and with one swift movement drew a line around it. With a sickening crack the top of the head came off and the exposed brain became visible for the recruits to see.

 

Returning the combat knife to Hendice Rapheal beckoned the recruit to step forward. 'Since this is the one you took down youg one, the "honour" is yours' Rapheal, without noticing himself said the word honour with a sneer, for almost every astartas loathed to use this organ on human targets, even more so on ones so vile as this one. Hendice stepped forward, not in the least failling the notice the "honour" that was entrusted upon him.

 

'Sit next to the corpse, and close your eyes' the priest instructed, and the recruit obeyed. 'Renember your past, renember who you are and renember your purpose' the priest said before continueing. 'When you renembered all these things take a part of the brain and swallow it. Let the memories and the feeble knowledge this scum might hold overflow you and return to us. Renember what and who you are, for failling to do so might turn you into one of them' the last sentance the priest said with a great sense of purpose behind it. Hendice did not fail to see that the other 3 veterans had drawn their weapons and were carefully watching Hendice do as he was told. He took a huge chunk from the brain in his hand and ate it. The taste was nothing off notice and Hendice swalled, instantly buried in the most recent memories from the ganger that was all to recently killed.

[Demoulius]

The memories that flooded Hendice's mind flowed like a vision. He saw trivial things like the dead mens poor childhood, his first kill and how he came to be among the gangers. He saw visions of firefights in the streets, men mauling at eachother with knives, wrenches, axes and other tools. Life had been harsh for the ganger, just like it was for most who lived in the suburbs of the hive cities. Hendice' childhood was no different and thus he was unimpressed, him having witnessed scores of sitations in the vision that were far worse. One thing did stand out however, a vision unlike the others. There were parts of sewers with the entrance nearby in the courtyard, parts further in the city marked with banners that Hendice did not recognice and lastly a place of worship. From what Hendice could gather it was an old imperial church with the iconized double headed eagles everywhere. Icons of a sun high in the sky and others. Most were however heavily damaged and defaced and many banners hung over them depicting an 8 pointed star. Just before Hendice could escape from his memory trance a woman appeared in front of him. She wore black ceremonial robes with a pink trim and underneath she appeared to be naked. When she spoke however to him however a chill came over hendice' spine for it wasent a memory that he was seeing.

 

'Come to me young astartas and experience joy like you have never felt before. Denounce your false emperor and you will be rewarded with pleasure never ending' with the vision ended Hendice awoke. Jibai and Rapheal had apparently also undergone the same process as Hendice but were allready awake from the trance. Rapheal was providing what intel he had learned from the corpse to Vendris and Jibai was still sitting on the floor, apparently dazed from the ordeal. Had the vision been real? Was it perhaps a piece of memory from the ganger? What would the librarian say when he told the rest of the vision. Then a creeping realisation came over Hendice as he did not see the librarian among the others.

 

'I sensed a warptaint in you just now boy' came a voice from behind Hendice 'We detected no such trace during your trials and your trainer after that' slowly Hendice turned around to look the psyker in the eye. His eyes were aflame with warp-fire and the crystals arrayed in his hood were glowing brightly. 'I have no ideaa what you speak off, brother librarian' Hendice replied with a dry voice, sweat appearing across his brow. A sudden flash of anger appeared in the librarian face and his feature took on a menacing look 'What is it that they showed you? Told you? Tell me what seed of lies they infested in you' Apheal was keeping his voice hushed enough to keep the others from hearing but the anger was obvious in his voice. 'Like i said, psyker' Hendice said with a sneer 'I have only seen the memories of this ganger. I know not of what you speak' no sooner had the recruit spoken those words or he got up from the floor and walked towards Vendris.

 

Waiting until Rapheal had finished his report Hendice filled the rest in with what he had learned about the sewers, keeping the rest of the information to himself. The entrance to the sewers could be seen across the yard but it would prove to be difficult to reach it. Hendice had the only intel so far however that proved usefull as Rapheal's ganger had hardly any memory at all apart from always fighting the other gangs. 'I may have some usefull intel' Jibai said, still disorientated from the trance. 'The gang is in state of war. One of the rival gangs is sitting outside the gate as we speak. The sides have come to a stallmate and both are waiting for the other side to take the first shot' a collection of smiles arose on everyones mouths as they knew what they had to do.

[Demoulius]

Argus, Gendak and Hyde had the biggest role in the opening moments of the distraction. Each had chosen their own targets of priority and they were awaiting for the sign to open fire. Vendris was observing the moment on the courtyard and when all the patrols were at the most ideal location the command was given. Gendak fired at the speeder hovering over the gates, its anti-grav engine damaged its momvement became erratic. The engine stalled and then coughed back to life and the cews were trying desperatly to keep the vessel afloat. After a few moment of painfull desperation the crew efforts proved to be naught as their engine went haywire and propelled them towards a nearby warehouse where the speeder borrowed in the floor before exploding in a fireball. Argus and Hyde however worked to silence the sniper sentries on the walkways above the courtyard, ending their lives silently with headshots, the noise drowned out by the noise the exploding speeder was making.

 

The warehouse turned into a giant pyre, threatening to engulf the rest of the hub of buildings. The rival gangers, like Jibai had said were indeed waiting outside the perimter and the sign of explosions on their opponents ground was as good a sign as any. Dozens of gangers, some armed and some not swarmed the area. After damaging the speeder Gendak had taken out the forward sentries and thus no warning of their arrival had been given; Aside from the exploding warehouse offcourse. Every patrol and men at ease swarmed towards the field of engagement and the strike force had only to wait a few moments before the path towards the sewers entrace was clear.

 

The invading gangers seemed to be in minority yet what they lacked in numbers they made up in ordered fire solutions. Vendris did not expect to have much time to spare if this slaughter would be allowed and voxed the snipers on the roof. 'Argus, Gendak, Hyde, help our friends out abit, target the officers and whoever vears heavy arms. Id like to see them fight eachother as long and unorganized as possible' Just as ordered the snipers targetted key individuals on both sides. Men shouting orders, men seemingly better armed and armoured were taken down. Either shot in the head or through the heart, it proved to be a dangerous thing to be in command. The men now leaderless reverted back to more basic instincts of fighting, they surged forward keen to get to grips with the enemy. The small battle turned into a full fledged melee.

 

'Ok nows the time! Move out!' Vendris had ordered the command and the recruits ran past him. Their destination was plain for everyone to see, were it not that every man was fighting in the huge brawl at the far side of the complex. Two of the scouts armed with bolters covered the entrance to the sewers until the sniper had caught up. The last scout closed the hatch to the sewers, they had moved through the camp unnoticed. And even if someone found the bodies that they had left in their wake, the astartes were long gone, treading through the foul maze that were the hive cities sewers.

[Demoulius]

The sewers were as horrible as could be expected of a hive city. Millions of imperial citizens and a great deal of unregistrerd indivuals alike used the systems to wash away their refuse. The tunnels were pitchdark for hardly any lightning was installed in the sewer ceilings. And for good reason, because whatever creature would be found down here was surely to be either dead, dying or so malformed that it could hardly be called a human beeing.

 

The scouts were covering both sides of the tunnel in case any mutant or other horror might attack them. But none came. When the last of the scouts had come down from the ladder Vendris took stock of his surroundings, his Occulobe implant adjusting his vision to the available illumination in the tunnel. They were standing on a plateau a few metres wide, it expanded down the tunnel and Vendris could not spy an end on either side. Down the plateau was the river of excrement, rubbish and discoloured water some 10 metres wide. Vendris could not see how deep the water was but he had no doubt that it was hazardous to fall into. The speed at which the river flowed was enough to even threaten an astartas and Vendris had no doubt that he did not want to know what manner of filth flowed through it. At the other side there appeared to be a simular plateau as the one they were standing on and the location of the sewer ladder there was a rusty bridge that let to the other side.

 

'Which way boy?' the question sounded more to a command to Hendice and a hint of annoyance was visible on his face. 'This way brother sargeant. We must follow the tunnel for about 3 kilometres, that will lead us to a new path to the surface' Vendris nodded and he sent Rapheal and Grimnus across the bridge together with half of the scouts. Slowly both squads made their way through the tunnel in an organized fashion, shotguns in front followed suit by the melee scouts while the sniper and bolter scouts had the rear guard.

 

'God this place stinks of decay' Argus complained after a few minutes. Receiving no anwser for his complaint other then a few nods the recruit continued. 'Sargeant, why must we wallow through this place like rats? We are astartes, why must we hide in corners and suffer the smell of this... pestilence' warrily the other scouts observed Vendris' response. After a long minute it came. 'We hide in shadows young blood because we must not alert our enemies. In a city as this they could have hundreds of observers, spies and informers. Some may not even be aware of whom they serve. Our opponents should only know of our presence when we are close enough to deliver a killing blow. If they learn of it sooner our entire operation is at stake'

 

After the need of secrecy had been explained the scouts carried on their trek through the sewers. Finaly they came upon a gigantic round room. Refuse and other filth came down from the ceiling like a giant waterfall and along the far side of the chamber several tunnels like the ones they had escaped from were pooling their filth to the center of the room. Along the walls giant pillars supported the ceiling and a hint of some kind of office was visible to the right. It was a small concrete building and was most likely used for maintenace detail and the like. It now stood empty, long ago abondoned as the hive city grew to large to protect the laborers who had to work here.

 

Although the room was better lit then the tunnels Vendris had preferred it otherwise. The "office" its windows were covered in a filth making it impossible to look through them and what could be seen through the smashed doors did nothing to improve the picture. A corpse was lying on the floor, no doubt killed for whatever riches in had and then left there. Flies were feasting on the dead flesh and just now Vendris noticed that the one in the office wasent alone. Behind a nearby pillar lay corpse arrayed against the wall. Its jaw open in a eternal scream and its body bloated and diseased. Several other corpses were lying on the floor and Vendris noted that some wore suits of the local arbites.

 

Rapheal stepped forward and went to inspect the bodies. It was clear that these men had died to some manner of disease and therefor Rapheal was carefull. For even though they were astartes; Rapheal had heard of pestilence and disease that could even snuff the life out of their bodies. Rapheal was however disgusted by what he found 'Their bodies are bloated, theirs skin cracked and filled with postules and boils brother sargeant. Whatever disease did this, i have no knowledge of it' the Sanguinary priest said aloud. 'It also seems that these bodies are fresh' 'How so?' Vendris replied coming closer to the body Rapheal was inspecting. 'This corpse is still beeing felled by the disease' Rapheal indicated a spot on the victim's arm. A green colouration was spreading across the skin like a bad rash, wherever it was more then a few moments new boils and sores emerged or its skin cracked open. 'How long do you think these men have been dead?' The priest stayed silent for a few moments before he gave his estimate 'No longer then an hour, maybe two. Whatever happend here it was recent' Vendris absorbed this information and turned to Hendice 'How far until we reach the surface?' the scout replied by pointing his finger to a nearby ladder 'We are here brother sargeant'

 

The scouts climbed the ladder one by one with Keldor beeing the last ones. When he almost reached the top he looked to the side and he could swear he saw moment in the maintenance house.

[Demoulius]

Vendris was scanning the inmediate area around him to look for a focal point. he was allready planning the next move when he heard a message over the vox that he had hoped to avoid for some time 'I see movement, brother sargeant' Within a minute time the whole strike force was back in the sewers save for a few who remained behind as a rear guard.

 

'What did you see Keldor?' Vendris questioned the young scout. 'I saw something move in the shed brother sargeant. I have no idea what it was' Keldor indicated the maintenance house. Vendris inspeced the house from a distance, there were no visible exits to the house. It was a bad place to spy on the emperor's subjects for there was no room for escape and when detected the spy would be trapped. Carefully Vendris and all the scouts armed with shotguns walked towards the shed. They approached the shed cautiously, each scout a few metres apart, each covering eachothers backs with sweeping movements from their shotguns. The first scout to approach the sheck was called Varios, he had a broad face rife with scars for one so young. Life on the dead world Numeria IV meant he had a gruesome childhood but it had made him what he was today, a perfect recruit for the astartes. 'Someones alive sarg' Varios pointed with his shotgun towards a young woman dressed in leather. Like the corpses in the chamber her body was rife with decay. Her skin, were it showed through her leather tunic; was a sickly green. Postules and sores were visible from open wounds on her body and she was breathing erratic and heavily. The many knives and short sword she carried were at least some indication of her proffesion.

 

'Death cult' Vendris said when he inspected her for a short while. The woman nodded at the comment, allthough her mind appeared to be miles away from her body. The woman looked up at Varios and a sickly feeling sunk in his stomache. Her eyes had no pupils and only the white of her eyes were showing. Pus emerged from the sores on her body and the woman appeared to have a high fever. It was a miracle she lived at all. 'Who are you' she demanded. 'Have you come to mock me some more with your sorcery and heresy?' Allthough the woman sneered it was obvious for all to see that she was dying, whatever strength she had left was fastly fading.

 

'I can assure you good woman, we are no heretics' Vendris replied. 'What foulness has befallen you and your companions?' Vendris without realizing indicated the bodies in the big chamber with his left hand but he did not have to. The woman was blind yet understood whom he meant. 'Treachery' she spat 'A monster amongst our midst, who led us towards an even greater monster' she grabbed the shortsword from her belt and she brought it towards her neck. 'Only in death does duty to the emperor end' she said trembling before anger appeared on her face 'But I will not become one of these abominations' she sneered before activating the energy field on the swords and slicing through her own neck.

 

Silence filled the room as everyone tried to comprehend what had just transpired. Death cult assasins were frequently in service of inquisitors and considering the presence of her companions Vendris had no doubt that was exactly who had send them. Vendris looked around to inspect the scouts around him. Varios was stilling staring at the woman's corpse and seemed almost in trance. The other scouts around the room were stilling keeping their eyes on the shadows, Keldor was however inspecting a corpse of a man. The corpse was unafflicted by disease unlike the other corpses in the room. The corpse was covered in knife slashes and a dagger was stuck in his skull between his eyes which gave the scouts some idea of who this was. 'I think this is the 'monster' she spoke of sarg' Vendris approached the young scout and nodded. "Aye, the first one at least. Looks like she killed him after his treachery was reveiled' Vendris spoke whilst inspecting the body. The clothes had no visible pockets or other location where any usefull items might have been hidden that might betray its allegiance. The only thing of any value on the person was a medallion around his neck. It was made of bronze and it depicted a horizon with a rising sun. Inside the sun there was something written in a language Vendris did not recognize, and the medallion almost seemed to glow in the dark. Vendris picked up the medallion and examined it closely.

 

The longer Vendris stared at the medallion the more he became focused on it. The rest of the world blurred until it all disappeared alltogether. Slowly yet surely a figure emerged in place of the medallion. It started as a shade, somewhat the figure of a man. As time passed by the shadow started to show more details. It became obvious to Vendris that the shape was only humanoid in shape, for the truth was much darker. The figure was, if he had been in front of Vendris; at least 2 heads taller then him. It was hunched over ever so slightly yet it did not deminish the figures awe inspiring presence. It wore a suit of armour that was either based on ancient power amour or customized to such a degree that it was beyond recognition. It was depicting demonic faces some sneering, some screaming faces but each a seemed to absorb nearby light; almost like they were each an entity that abolished light alltogether. Aside from the faces there was other icons on his armour as well. The 8 pointed star was visible on the visions chest and spikes adorned its greaves and gloves. Arcane text and markings filled otherwise empty parts of its armour as well and each seemed to glow like they were written with molten magma.

 

Its face was however the most terrible to look upon. The creatures head was deformed, its shape was maybe humanoid but that was where all simularities ended. A mouth that was to big to fit on the head showed a toothy grin filled with rows of razorsharp teeth. Its eyes were pits of seething balefull hate and seemed to glow with the intensity of a sun. Allthough the vision wore no helmet so far as Vendris could see the right half of his head could almost mimick one. It was horned and was covered in scales. The other part of his scalp could almost be called normal if it werent for the alien runes that were fashioned in its skin.

 

'Aaaahhh it seems new playthings have come into my realm. Astartes as well. You will make fine sport blooded one' a dread realisation came to Vendris' at that last sentance. Noone outside the chapter used that word to denote the cadre of veterans in the company. It took a grave amount of experience and prowess to even be considered one and the fact that this thing seemed to know what he was and consider him sport chilled him to his very core. 'Please continue with your quest with all haste, i look forward to adding your hides to my generous collection' after makings its last boastfull announcement a surge of anger overcame Vendris 'What are you? Filth!' Vendris spat. For an anwser all the vision did was laugh. Its thunderous laughter seemed to shake Vendris' world and his body started to ache from it. And then, just as suddenly as it had began it stopped.

 

"Looks handmade" Aphael said whilst Vendris dropped out of his semi-trance. 'But i would not touch it if i were you sargeant, that idol reeks of warp taint' Vendris could hardly move his muscles, each movement felt like a heavy burden, like the weight of the world weighted down on his shoulders. 'Destroy it' Vendris said dropping the idol in front of him. 'A wise choice brother sargeant. Best not to leave such tainted idols around lest they influence a weaker mind' Aphael raised his force staff and concentrated, focusing his psychic might ever so slightly through his staff. With a tap of his staff he smashed the idol and the weight fell from Vendris' shoulders.

 

'I have felt this presence before' Aphael said and the words gave Vendris the chills. 'Where?' he demanded from the librarian 'When one of the scouts used its Omophagea implant' Anger appeared on the sargeants face 'Which one?' The librarian paused and looked around, worry visible on his face 'Hendice' he replied and a dread realisation came over Vendris as he understood Hendice wasent among the scouts, but above them amongst the rear guard

[Demoulius]

With a heavy punch Keldor removed the sewer lid from its place. It flew a few metres in the air before landing on the ground with a loud thud. He and some of the recruits had volunteered to check the inmediate area topside and they hung at the top of the ladder. They placed their backs to the wall and kept themselves in place by placing their feet on the opposite wall so their hands were free. All were covering the top with their bolters. So close to one another the fire solutions they had were hazardous but it was all they could do other then outright charging out of the of the sewers. Keldor slowly fidgeted closer to the edge until he could carefully look over the edge. Their astartes senses could detect no foes, no movement but the stench of blood was heavily in the air. Astartes blood.

 

As soon as they were confident that the area was safe they quikly climbed out of the sewers and after a few moments they gave the all clear for the others to climb the ladder.

 

What Vendris found up there sickend him. Out of the 5 scouts he had left topside 3 lay dead. One was impaled through the chest by a metal beam. He was affixed to the wall behind him and the beam kept his corpse upright, his shotgun still in hand. One other lay on the ground, his body mutilated beyond recognition. The last was decapitated, his head taken for a trophy by whatever monster had attacked them. The final two were missing. Vendris suspected Hendice had betrayed his fellows but it did not explain why the fifth member, Caldis; A scout with affinity for close combat was missing.

 

When everyone was topside Vendris called the veterans together whilst the recruits set about covering all entry points to their location. 'Allright brothers, I want your vieuws on the situation. What do you think we are up against here?' It was formed as a question but Vendris knew what anwsers he would receive. The fact that he saught their council was only a formaility. 'Chaos' Grimnus spat. Aphael nodded and repeated the same 'Chaos brother sargeant' Rapheal however kept quite and kept his own council, much to the annoyance of the others. 'What do you suspect honoured priest?' Aphael asked after a minute. 'I think' Rapheal started 'That its not the question if whatever or not we are fighting chaos brother sargeant. The question is how great their numbers are and how much of the local population they have corrupted. Not only that but also why they took one of our recruits if they did not intend to slaughter him'

 

Allthough the recruits were not intended to easedrop on the conversations of their superiors it was hard not to in such close proximity. Deep down inside every member of the strike force though they knew what the anwser to the priests querry was. The scout had either been taken for sport, he was corrupted or, most likely; he was needed as a sacrifice.

[Demoulius]

Rapheal collected the slain scout's geneseed and performed the chapters funeral rites as proper as they could be done. The bodies could not be taken with them however and instead the scouts hid the, as well as they could, so they could later be retrieved and taken back to the chapter.

 

When Rapheal was done the party set out to go towards their destination as quikly as they could. They moved in alleyways and over roofs when they could but it wasent uncalled for that they had to move across the open street. Even though their presence was already detected the scouts werent keen on leaving any leads off their location. Every whitness was culled and their bodies disposed off in dumpsters or behind stacks of rubbish. Finding dead bodies was not uncommon in the lower parts of a hive and the locals would most likely suspect the victims to be robbed of their valuables. At either case Vendris would not be surpised if whoever found the bodies searched them for valuables regardless. Life was hard in the lower reaches and people did what they had to in order to stay alive.

 

After a few hours of moving through the streets with stealth the scouts finally found their destination. The meeting point was located in a fortified part of the lower hive. As it was the locals arbites station in the lower hives the compound was well defended. It seemed more a fortress then an arbites station from the outside. The compound was surrounded by walls some 30 feet high and every 20 meters there was a watchtower with a dozen armed guards keeping watch. The ground around the compound was also cleared of any obstacles and Vendris estimated that a killing zone no less then 50 meters was between the outskirts of the lower hive and the arbites station. Vendris could not see what was behind the concrete walls and the massive gates that protected the only visible entry but knew that the watchtowers would most likely spot them soon, if they had not already. They were doing a sloppy job at approaching with stealth and while the locals did not see them, there was a good chance any spies that might have been nearby would have spotted them.

 

Stealth however was the least of their concerns now and Vendris told the scouts to keep up with him while he sprinted towards the compound. It did not take long for all eyes on the walls to be trained on the party of astertes scouts sprinting towards the gate but no arms were raised against them. When they reached the gates they slowly swung open and the party was greeted by a woman in ornate black power armour with a golden trim. On her chest was the stylized I of the inquiistion and there was no mistake to whom or what she was.

 

'Madam inquisitor' Vendris greeted the woman. 'We heard you had need of red dragons?'

[Demoulius]

The inquisitor inspected the group before anwsering. 'This is the elite group your chapter sends? A band of recruits and their caretakers?' the woman's head was approaching a colourfull red, Vendris estimated that after a minute her head would be the colour of his armor. The inquisitor was pacing left and right collecting her thoughts before she spoke again. 'You are their leader then?' she spoke adressing Vendris. 'I am' he replied keeping his eyes on his squad whilst they moved inside the compound gates. When they were all inside, the gates slammed shut with a loud metallic bang and several lock mechanisms slided in place.

 

'I cannot believe that this is the help my master receives when she asks your chapter master for the best that he has' The inquisitor continued ranting. 'Surely your master honors his word when he gives it?' a rage started to boil in Vendris his veins 'how dare this woman talk of master Demoulius in such a manner?' before Vendris could respond however Aphael placed a hand on his shoulders, when Vendris looked at Aphael all the librarian did was shake his head. All the rage he had felt earlier dissapeared, and he could think much more clearly. 'Our master supplied exactly what was requested inquisitor. You requested a party that could stay stealthy and avoid the "natives", do you have any idea how hard that is in power armour?'A frown appeared on the inquisitors face and she replied 'Forgive me master...' 'Vendris' 'Forgive me master Vendris' the inquisitor said with a smile. 'Your force just wasent what I expected'

 

'No offense is taken inquisitor' Vendris replied in kind. 'How can the Red Dragons be of assistance?' The inquisitor turned around and started walking towards a big circular building deep in the compound. The scouts followed and the inquistor started with her brief 'Are aware of the trouble that we face ourselves in master Vendris?' 'All i know inquisitor, is that we were told to meet you. But I think we ran into the cause of your trouble on the way in' the inquisitor stopped her steady pace and looked at Vendris with a puzzled face. 'Could you explain what you mean?' Vendris felt a knot in his stomach every time he had to utter the word. 'Chaos, milady' the expression on the inquisitors face turned into one of sheer revulsion 'Indeed, could you indulge me how you came about this knowledge?'

 

'We found one of your agents with a party of armed men in the cities sewer system. One among them was a agent of chaos who had a very potent icon of chaos on his person' the inquisitors face turned pale at the mention but she motioned Vendris to continue 'And lost some of our to an unknown source. The state that we found them in however suggests chaos, possibly traitor marines' 'Tell me master Vendris, how did this agent of mine look like? I have several and I have no knowledge of any of them following a trace through the sewers' Vendris somewhat suprised by her sudden coolness responded single with 'death cult, my lady'

 

'That is no agent of mine master Vendris, but I thank you for the news. I will inform my master that one of his agents has been neutralized' Vendris looked at Aphael and asked 'Your master? You are not the lord inquisitor?' the inquisitor smiled 'No master Vendris. My master is lord Hannoth. My name is inquisitor Amanda Tennor. I oversee the lower hive and help my master with...Problems he cannot solve himself' Vendris nodded but Amanda continued talking 'Now that you shared your information wuth me, allow me to share some with yours. Just before you arrived before my gates an agent of mine spotted this agent of chaos and he seemed to be....carrying one of your men over his shoulders' Vendris' face turned red and the only words that he could form from his mouth were 'Where?'

[Taranis]

Still a great read. I am looking forward to learning whether it is Hendice or Caldis who is doing the carrying? ;)

 

And to learn what happened exactly. :(

[Demoulius]

Cheers m8! always fun to know someone is reading this story ;)

 

The assasin Na'del was moving from shadow to shadow, trying desperatly not to be detected by the shapes down below on the hive floor. The big brute was a monster, standing 2 full heads over the other. He was of astartes build but seemed to have mutated to inmense proportians. His arms were not armoured and were adourned with chains on which skulls and freshly dacapitated heads hung. His fanged helmet had 2 giant horns jutting out on either side and his armour was adorned with learing and demonic faces. He was carrying a limp body of the red dragon team on his shoulder which dident slow him down at all. Much to Na'del's dismay.

 

The smaller target proved suprisingly difficult to see properly. Like the assasin he was moving from shadow to shadow and something on his person cloaked him in clear sight, obscuring the edges of his outline and blending them into the surrounding enviroment. From his size Na'del had no doubt that the smaller one was astartes as well but there was something eerily wrong about him. The fact that Na'del simply couldnt catch a glimp of him or had a clear idea of what he was dealing with unsettled him.

 

He had been following them for half an hour and their pace had not slowed down at all. He was almost out of energy which was amazing considering the shear brutality of his physical training and training. After he had noticed the odd pairing he had started his pursuit and quikly realised they would not slow down. He adopted a special technique he had learned. It almost seemed like a long linear dance from a distance as he did not so much run as skip from left to right. It was a difficult way to move around and the fact that his trek had been long meant he also had to focus on breathing and ensuring that he stayed in the shadows. His special issue sniper rifle swung from side to side and keeping it from hitting the concrete edge of the building he was on made the run no less troublesome. If his prey learned of his location he would be the hunted, and bolt rounds werent the favourite sort of present hed like to have thrown his way.

 

Just when Na'del was about to stop the pursuit the couple slowed their pace. They reached a part of the lower hive long since abandoned to the gangs and other foul denizens of the wastes. While other parts sometime had incursions of the arbites to attempt to rout out heretics, mutants and lawless scum. Some places there was even a pernament presence but this deep in the lower hive not even they dared go.

 

The reason why they slowed their pace quikly become clear when Na'del noticed sentries and heard the noise of drunken brawling down in the street. Someone had no doubt bumped into one another and in their intociated condition decided the best course of action was to resolve it in a fight. Such displays were common in the lawless and light forsaken parts of the hive. There was no law here but the strength of ones arm and whoever won the fight would win the argument. As was most often the case however other found the idea of a fight an entertaining idea and it had resulted in a huge brawl, which had ended up in the street with the bar that it started in, in ruins.

 

The brute and the shadow moved around the fighting group of drunks. The brute exchanged some words with a nearby ganger holding a lasgun. The ganger seemed confident enough and Na'del could detect no bluff on the part of the ganger. They knew eachother and exchanged a short friendly banter. The sentries were no doubt part of a ruling gang or otherwise neutral party. For as far as neutral parties excisted in this wretched place. Stealing, robbing and threatening was all allowed. Murder was allowed when in defence as was attacking a party to "convince them" to see your way. Downright murder for pleasure, profit or other reasons however was forbidden.

 

Just when the brute was nearly passed the group one of the drunks was punched out of the group and he bumped into the brute. With a speed that Na'del thought impossible the man was dead. The brute had beheaded the drunk with a backhand from his bare arms. The head rolled in the midst of the drunken brawlers who all stopped fighting. They looked at the brute who was already continueing his pace and they stood transfixed in terror until he was out of sight. Instead of continueing their brawl they all fled for their lives, appearing as rats fleeing from a sinking ship. The ganger with the lasgun dident seem troubled by the murder. Na'del could certainly understand why, noone wants to tell an astartes that theyre acting in a manner somehow perceived as wrong.

 

Na'del stalked the odd pair until they came to an open clearing. The clearing had once been home to a grand square once home to the church of the emperor's light. It had been a place from the early days of the hive. A time when the men and woman from the upper hive still believed that this place could be saved from corruption and anarchy. The Ecclesiarchy had been able to keep the church in a semi-state of safety until all the priests were killed and all the holy symbols of the emperor and terra were either defaced or stolen. Several incursions to attempt to cleanse this place had failed and it was a thorn on the hives past.

 

The odd couple were making their way towards the church at the centre of the square. The smaller one, now apparently feeling safe enough to loosen his guard was clearly visible to Na'del. He was indeed astartes like he thought. What he did not suspect however was to see the indivual wearing the defaced colours of the red dragons. The astartes was carrying a head of a recent kill. If the pair was anything to go by it had most likely belonged to one of his former comrades.

[Demoulius]

Vendris and his scouts were making their way through the lower streets. It seemed a deserted place while hours ago the residents were still walking their own streets. Night time had come again and it seemed to turn the lower hive in a ghost town.

 

The inquisitor had send a squad of arbiters to tag along with the strike team. They had set out as soon as everyone was ready but the arbiters were struggling to keep up. They were to show Vendris to the location were Amanda's assasin had spotted the foe but the scouts werent in the mood to slow their pace. 'Hurry up back there' Rapheal shouted at the men. The men were the best men the inquisitor had available but they werent in any shape to match the pace of Astartes.

 

After leaving the arbiters behind for well over half an hour Vendris finaly came to accept that they would have to slow their pace at least somewhat to allow the arbiters to keep up. Vendris ordered his men to take a defensive stance on a square. If they were to be assaulted it was a bad posistion to be in, their foes beeing able to assault from all sides. Vendris however doubted their foes were stupid enough to the full strike force head on. If they had the strength to do so they would have done it long ago instead of hiding in the shadows. Their quarry still had a few hours headstart and Vendris dident like the idea of giving them another minute.

 

When the arbiters caught up with the scouts they were exhausted. The sargeant called Tethris was supposed to be their guide and instead he was following in their wake. 'Master Vendris..' he started before he had to stop to take in a few gulps of air. 'Please allow us to do our job' the sargeant was again stopping for air and Vendris felt guilty for pushing the arbiters to the breaking point. He was suprised they had kept up with the scouts at all, which was at least a sign that these were indeed good and strong men. 'and show you to your missing kinsmen' the sargeant was starting to catch his breath but it would be a few minutes before he would be able to start moving again.

 

"My appolagies master Tethris. We are just eagre to find our men and continue with our mission" the arbiter was nodding whilst breathing heavily and Vendris wasent sure if he was nodding because he understood or because it helped his breathing somehow. 'I know what you must be going through sir. I have lost good men to this hellish place myself' the sargeant's eyes seemed distant and filled with sorrow. The idea of leaving behind any of his charges for the filth of this hive filled Vendris with disgust. The fact that the sargeant was forced to do so saddend Vendris. 'You have the fortune to be a be allowed the chance to recover your men, let us not waste it by beeing hasty and unprepared' a smile came across the sargeants and mouth and Vendris had no doubt that it was sincere. 'You are right ofcourse' Vendris began. 'But we are not going in unprepared' a vicous smirk on his face. 'You will are leading us to the assasin who will have some valuable intel for us. Only then will we going in our foes lair. We will crush them utterly and recover our kinsmen' Vendris offered the arbiter a flask with water to aid in his recovery and went to inspect the scouts who had setup as sentries. Although well trained they were still initiates and if he dident scold his men from time to time they might mistake the mission for a stroll in the park.

 

After a few minutes the arbiters had caught enough breath to be able to start walking again. The group was about to continue their trek through the hive when one of the scout sentries called out 'contact' over the vox.

[Taranis]

What are you doing! You can't end a chapter with "contact". How long must we wait? :)

 

Another good chapter. Perhaps an extra read through to catch the few odd sentences.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the story. :)

[Demoulius]

hehe i cant write a story if i dont tease the reader every know and then now can i? :devil:

 

'looks like locals to me' scout Aelmin reported over the vox. He was spying ahead through the scope of his sniper rifle and inspected the rag tag group. Vendris had switched the equipment roster around to ensure Aelmin was equiped with a sniper rifle. He was very proficient in close combat, moderate at range but he lacked restraint. Seeing his prey at such a long distance and not beeing able to act on his gut was a good lesson in restraint. The group seemed out of place or lost, and in place as the underhive that was hard to accomplish. Their clothes were ragged and torn yet what remained seemed to be attire from the upper hive. They had cuts and boils on their diseased skin. Their body language showed that they were very insecure and scared. Beeing scared in the underhive generally meant you did not belong or that you would be dead in moments. The group however looked like they had wondered for weeks 'no threat brother sargeant, just some locals who got lost'

 

The locals dident have the benefit of ehanced vision of the socuts or night vision goggles of the arbiters so they stumbled through the darkness of the underhive. Given the circumstances it wasent so strange they were first mistaken for a threat. 'I wish to escort these individuals to safety honored sargeant' the statement had not come as a suprise but it was still an unwelcome one to Vendris. 'Your job is to lead my men to the assasin' he coldly stated. 'As bad as it sounds the wellfare of these individuals will have to wait' 'I will just send 2 of my men to escort them sargeant, theres no need for all of us to tag along' he quikly replied, obviously having considered his primary mission already. 'Very well sargeant, but make it quik. I want us back on our way as soon as possible'

 

Tethris regrouped his squad and choose 2 members to be put on escort duty. When the lost gangers were escorted out of sight the party went back to their mission. 'I have ordered them to keep their vox channel open brother sargeant, if they are attacked by the group we will know' Vendris accepted the trivia with a nod and had laid out a map in front of him. 'We are here now sargeant, where did the assasin send his report from?' the sargeant inspected the map for a moment and padded a part on the map noted as 'the church of the emperor's light. Vendris chuckled abit at the name 'I thought the emperor's light doesent shine here anymore?' Tethris took a pained expression on his face 'It doesent anymore ever since the church got sacked and his servants were killed' Vendris raised his brow at the statement and inspected the sargeant. He again got that sad look on his face. 'Why wouldnt i be able to find this "church" on my own' he asked. 'Why would i need an escort?' the arbiter was lost in thought for a few moments 'the streets around the church are a maze. The last couple of years the streets have almost seemed to warp, with local blankets of darkness and streets normally ending at the plaza ending in dead ends. The assasin gave us a detailed route but the inquisitor only gave the data to me' the arbiter looked Vendris straight in the eyes. 'Because i have a mission of my own' he said whilst indicating a brown satchel on his back.

 

-----

 

The doors slammed into the walls with a loud echooing boom as Khanak entered the church. The captive hung limp on his shoulder and the traitor at his side cowering in his shadow. Gilgamex followed the odd pair as the gates were shut behind them by a couple of cultists. They always kept a fair distance away from the gates if they knew the brute was coming. The cultists did not need to be reminded of poor Aljay beeing squished by the gates all those moons ago.

 

Gilgamex sat in a dark corner close to the ventilation system. It helped him spread nurgles gifts and he liked the sound of the whining of the wind through the ducts. It reminded him of home. The sorceress' plans were nearing frutation and it wouldnt be long before the big cleansing would begin and nurgles work; and those of the other deities, would be fulfilled. Gilgamex felt a touch on his toes as one of nurgle's children sat on it. The nurglings around him were having fun with a bloated head Gilgamex had prepared. It was supposed to be a death head but they had shown so much interest to play with it that he had given it to them. Gilgamex held the scabberd of Nas'truzal, his plaguesword. He always did this when in thought and the nurglings had made a habbit of swaming over him when he did, as he could sit still for hours at a time. He always ensured that he had some boil, postule or piece of entrail available for them to play or cuddle with and it actually helped him concentrate when they did so. Lost in thought Gilgamex started preparing the ritual of decay.

 

Seeing the nurgle sorcerer covered in his small minions always disgusted the sorceress. Her name had been lost to the ages and it no longer interested her. She was far more interested in the names that her victims or their families gave her. It gave her a sort of pleasure to know she was feared for doing Slaanesh' work. She was proficient at erecting pleasure cults and it made her giddy to know that she was chosen to be the herald of doom for this world. She was an underling for such a long time and had never gotten the pleasure of beeing in charge of such an operation. It had brought her pleasure for the last 10 years but the experience was growing stale. She was glad that she was to summon the deamon to bring this world to ruin. The beast had many names. The prince of many faces, bringer of sin, Scald the destroyer and Uthenor the unbound beeing a few amongst them. She did not know whatever any of them were its true name however and it did not matter, as the last of the sacrifices had just arrived and soon the doom of this world would be summoned.

 

Khanak approached the ritual circle at the end of the cathedral and dropped his captive in the centre. The limp body hit the ground with a thud. He was still unconcious or even in a coma. Khanak wasent exactly known for his soft handedness. The recruits had hardly been a challenge for the giant and he was angry about it. 'Youd think they send veteran soldiers and im left with this dreg' the giant complained. The captive was already beeing swarmed by hooded cultists. They were all locals these weakling psykers. All of them except for the sorceress. Instead of holding contempt for her he hated her. She was a sorcerer and a weakling, using guile and deceit as well as her powers to ensare her victims. These hooded misguided cultists had the excuse of beeing inferior and flawed. Yet the sorceress was different. She was flawed but also strong, in a way. It sickend Khanak that he was forced to aid this vixen, but his master had ordered it. 'You will soon have enough sport to entertain you' a voice boomed in his mind 'yes master Scald' he replied with his thoughts. His master would bring doom and destruction to this world. He would enjoy it. He would maim, he would kill. Skulls would be reaped for the skull throne and there would be blood. Seas of blood.

 

The traitor had walked towards the sorceress the moment he saw her. He was enthralled like so many were before him and he had doomed himself to seek her out. 'Ah my pet' she said with a purr when she saw him. 'It was good of you to come. I have so many things to show you'

[Demoulius]

The closer the group got to the church the more of them appeared. Sickly hivers, diseased dogs and rats. People sat in the street, staring blanky in the void as if waiting for a puppet to pull their strings. Scout Keldor did not trust the lot and had put his bolter on full auto. 'That would be a waste of ammunition young one' Grimnus said softly. His eyes seemed to stare straight in Keldor's soul, judging him and sending chills down his spine. 'But your instincts are right, something is amiss here'

 

The deeper they went in the hive the darker the enviroment became, as if the sun's light refused to shine for the damned. After what seemed like an age Aphael spoke out 'Brother sargeant, a word if i may?' Vendris signaled the group to a halt and he and Aphael stepped up ahead in an side alley so they could exchange words in privacy. 'We are walking in circles and I have sensed a... a presence' Vendris raised his brow, he had not seen the librarian like this before. He seemed jumpy and nervous. 'A presence? Can you be more specific?' the librarian, still uneasy shook his head 'I wish I could brother sargeant. All I can say is that all is not as it seems and I feel a strong psychic presence behind it. It feels like we are walking into a trap' Vendris looked over his shoulder and took a look at Tethris. 'Do you think he is compromised?' the librarian took a look at the sargeant 'I dont know brother sargeant, but I do know something else that puzzles me' Vendris raised his brow again. 'Which is?' the librarian let out a sigh 'I can not read his thoughts, either someone is shielding him or he has no mind of his own. Almost like he is a..' Vendris' eyes went wide with realisation 'a puppet!' the librarian nodded.

 

'Why not say something sooner?' Vendris' voice now asked in obvious irritation. 'I had to be sure sargeant, something seemed amiss the second we entered the sewers. My efforts have been unsuccesfull to determine the source. Every now and then I feel a slight fluctuation that the presence is interfering, and then it dissapears again. For all I knew it were the cities astropaths. Psychich backlash is not uncommon when close to the proximity of many psykers. However since we have been in the presence of Tethris, the activity has increased, and the source is in the opposite direction from were we are heading'

 

A chillfull cry from the street send chills down the sargeants spine. Something inhuman had screached which was followed by bolter fire. Behind him Vendris could hear shuffling in the shadows. He looked around and saw a putrid monstrosity coming out of the darkness. It resembled a mass of bodies, stitched together to appear as a snail or centipede. A dozen hands were dragging it forward and many more were outstretched towards him and Aphael. The trap it seemed had been sprung.

 

----

 

Gilgamex let out a rotted smile and chuckled. While he did not like working together with the witch and her servants they had been succesfull in nulling out their prey's senses. His children were ready to strike and add more bodies to the family. Gilgamex was pleased.