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The Emerging... Thanks B&C

AfroCampbell

By AfroCampbell
in + AGE OF DARKNESS +

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AfroCampbell Venerable Brother

AfroCampbell

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Hey team, with all the kindness shown to me recently my heresy train was feeling back on track, and since i currently dont have anything to paint yet i had to get my passion for the heresy out there.... So I thought I would post this up for your reading enjoyment, just a simple bit of fan fiction set in the far future with a few famous characters :) hope you enjoy...needs some work!

 

The Emerging.

 

 

Ingo Pech was the last to enter the dimly lit amphitheatre in which they all gathered. Three hundred and forty five hulking giants seated, the pinnacles of engineered fleshcraft from the genetic genius-workings of the Emperor himself. Or the God-emperor as the fanatical Imperium thought of him in this era, thought Pech, smiling at the irony. He still remembered clearly a time when world's were burned for espousing the Imperial Truth and declaring the divinity of the Emperor. Oh how 10,000 years have changed things, he thought.

As he stepped through the entrance at the bottom of the structure his gaze was drawn up like a magnet. The three hundred forty-sixth member of the group was seated at the base of the theatre in one of two twin seats on a central raised dais. Although he did not dwarf the other members of the chamber in physical stature, it seemed to Pech that to look upon him was to gaze upon a raw power that radiated from his frame like a trapped sun.

It was this mighty figure who acknowledged Pech first, "First-Captain, welcome back to the Conclave." The quiet sibilant voice of the XXth Primarch. Alpharius.

Others in the tiers glanced up from their hushed conversations at the mention of his title, many faces Pech had not seen in nearly five decades, all of whom bore the same tri-headed emblem on pouldron or helm that adorned his own bronzed skin as an electoo.

Pech turned his gaze on his master. Although the Primarch adorned in his draconian warplate the 'Pythian Scales' was an awesome sight that seemed to demand some instinctive display of fealty and defference, Alpharius had long ago discarded the formality and pomp that many other legions observed, instead instilling a culture of equality of station in this forum, as was common in many of the twentieth legion's war councils. Throughout the Long War this had further bred a familiarity and informality between warriors and Alpharius that other Legions may have found uncomfortable or perilous for a mere Astartes and Primarch.

"A long time it has been Lord Alpharius, I trust you didn't lose track of our many assets in my absence?" Replied Pech with a sly grin.

A hint of a smile played over the Primarch's weathered face, "As organised as the illustrious Administratum itself," he replied sardonically, earning a spattering of snickered laughter from the tiers. "It is good to have you amongst us again Ingo, please take your seat," he continued.

A servo skull swooped down from the heights above as Pech crossed the floor to take his place in the foremost tier. "State your identifier for recording..." It demanded in a monotone, buzzing several metres off the ground on its repulsorlift engine.

"I am Alpharius," stated Pech with a grin as he took his seat, much to the amusement of his peers.

It was not the first time he had used this joke, no, in fact it was something he repeated at every gathering of the Conclave since the first, back in the dark days of the Great Heresy.

The Conclave had been set up to reforge the Legion after the event known to the XXth as the 'Fracturing', an event which saw to it that the twin seat next to Alpharius would never again be occupied.

The functions of the Conclave were many; an open forum for discourse with the upper echelons of the Legion command structure, furthering training in the strategic doctrines of the Legion for young commanders, and war council during the myriad occasions on which the Legion had been at war in the last ten millennia. It was this last function for which it had now been gathered.

 

The previous levity in the room evaporated as the Primarch addressed the tiers.

"Report Skryll, what news of our Cadian agents?" Inquired the Primarch.

A bare-headed captain in finely wrought azure Mk. IV plate stood, "Our latest astropathic reports indicate almost all Cadian High Command units were killed in initial incident, however Lord Creed seems to be rallying defences rapidly.

"Hmmm... how unfortunate that he survived, howing the Gate is no longer our primary focus, Cadia is little Abbadon's now." The condescending term for the Warmaster of Chaos' forces led to a few smiles in the arranged Astartes, several of whom had known him as first captain of the Luna Wolves.

It was a rare occurrence amongst the traitor legions that so much of the XXth's command structure had survived much of the Great Heresy and the Long War. This was likely to be at least partly due to so little being known about each individual Alpha Legion commander that they were not prominently marked for execution unlike many more notorious and infamous traitors, and partly due to a lack of in-fighting that was so common amongst those legions that dwelt within the Eye of Terror.

 

Alpharius continued, "If Abbadon should succeed it is likely that we will have to accelerate the timeline significantly. However this will provide us with the opening we need. Well done you have performed admirably Skryll."

"For the Emperor, my lord," replied Skryll with a slight bow.

"Indeed..." replied Alpharius.

Pech pondered how strange and twisted this Long War had become for the Legion. In truth, the ideals of the Emperor were what they still fought for: the ultimate destruction of the Great Enemy, to rid the galaxy of Chaos, and a humanity free of the shackles of the darkness of the Empyrean.

However, as the ancient Cabal had predicted, after Horus' failure, the once glorious Imperium had become the vehicle for which Chaos could secure Ultimate Victory. Like a decaying corpse the remnant Imperium had become something which Chaos could infest and grow like maggots, to manifest their power and dominion over the physical realm.

The ultimate truth provided by the Cabal was that the destruction of the Imperium was the only way to ensure the Great Enemy could not succeed.

Even now, ten thousand years later, the Alpha Legion were still playing the dangerous balancing game of pitting the forces of the Imperium and Chaos against each other in order to ensure destruction of both.

Destabilising command structures, sabotage, misinformation, assassination, all tactics that the XXth Legion utilised for millennia were never more vital than now to ensure that neither side gained the upper hand, and both were entirely destroyed.

No tactics were considered too extreme, mass genocides, virus bombs, and ordinatus class weapons were deployed against civilians to deny the Great Enemy more fuel in its battle for dominion of the physical realm.

"There are necessary evils in this universe, Curze and his sons taught us this lesson," Alpharius had stated, when Pech had argued against such twisted extremes, "sometimes fire must be fought with fire."

And yet through all of it the Legion had remained invisible for nearly ten millennia. The Alpha Legion as the Imperium recognised it was nothing but the remnant bands of traitors who had once been loyal members of the Legion, but had at some point been corrupted by the whisperings of Chaos, those who had abandoned the cause set before them by the Cabal, and rejected their Primarch, fleeing in order to take up arms under the banner of the Warmaster, or their own self appointed leaders and twisted sorcerers. These rebels had had to be eliminated frequently in the past in order to ensure the Legion's existence continued undetected and it was from this task that Pech had most recently returned.

 

Pech's thoughts returned to the present where Alpharius was directing his attention to the darkness in the far left of the chamber, "Thias, it seems you also have had some success?"

A deep rumbling emerged from the shadows, as the massive venerable form of Matthias Herzog emerged. Since Eskrador he had been confined to the coffin form of a Contemptor Dreadnought after having his throat nearly bisected by the primarch Guilliman's blade. His mechanical voice boomed from his vocalizer, echoing loudly in the chamber, "The Tyranid splinter fleet threat to our training centres on Astes IV and Astes Majoris has been neutralised with only moderate damage to our facilities, however we did sustain 90% casualties amongst our inductees garrisoned planetside during our bombardment."

"A necessary loss in order to stem the threat, well executed Storm-Captain," said Alpharius, "how does this impact on our predictions?"

Hirvez, a grizzled veteran clad in old patterned terminator plate stood to answer, bionics whirring were once his legs had been. "Astes was only a minoris training centre, estimates suggest our replacements will be back to full capacity within the century."

"That brings our final count as of this sidereel time to 246034 legionaries." Intoned the mechanical monotone of Thias, "94% inactive still, with 6% deployed in asymmetrical warfare roles."

"And over 14 million sparatoi operatives in place across all Segmentums," added Archyx, whose role as Master of the Silent made him responsible for the non-astartes assets the Legion made heavy use of.

Assets were located in every corner of the galaxy, and all levels of Imperial society from the highest echelons of Terra to the lowest hive-scum, all were drawn into Legion service and utilised, some knowingly, and others blindly, often believing that they were reporting to Imperial authority.

 

Alpharius paused considering all of this, and turning his deep gaze back to the veteran Hirvez, "could we sustain the projected losses if we were to initiate the Emerging?"

Hushed whispers leapt around the room. What the Primarch was suggesting had not occurred in over nine thousand years, the true Alpha Legion would come out of their hibernation and unite as a functioning Legion.

Pech was surprised, it had been so long in preparation, thousands of years observing and inserting operatives into key Imperial structures. The Legion would only have the advantage of surprise once. However, he could see why the timing was perfect, with the 13th Black Crusade building momentum, and numerous xenos threats arrayed against it, forces from across the Imperium were being drawn into engagements they could not afford to lose. Even fleets from across Solar Segmentum were being drawn away from Terra in order to defend the Imperium's failing borders.

Before Hirvez could answer another interrupted from higher up in the tiers, "Lord, is it really time?"

"Do we have assurance that we can succeed?" Came the voice of another.

"What of the momentum of the Enemy at the Cadian Gate, will we have no backup should we fail?"

Voices quickly transformed from hushed whispers into loud discourse.

Pech watched the Primarch observe all this for a moment, and ponder it, then lifting his gaze resolutely Alpharius stood. All noise ceased.

"We have planned, we have observed, we have predicted, and now we are ready. I am initiating the Emerging."

Pech smiled. He had been waiting a long time for this fight.

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Soldier of Dorn Venerable Brother

Soldier of Dorn

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Posted

Honestly, I think this is the most interesting story or anecdote about the Alpha Legion I've ever read. I mean no offense, but I tend to find the XXth incredibly boring in Black Library's books and stories. There's only so much mystery you can stretch out over the length of a book, and I think that's where the strength of your piece lies. It's short, but it's well written and it manages to preserve some element of mystery.

 

EDIT: Woot, 500 posts! Only took me 9 days under 2 years! Yeah, I don't post much.

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