The enemy of my enemy dies next [closed, FT]

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Caldaris Prime Colony, Alleyway

Heretics crave the cleansing fire of absolution. They need not fear, for we shall deliver it to them.

Allanean munitions impacted the Imperial Colony, opening up the vox net again for the allies to communicate. The Inquisitor and his retinue heard the words of St. Josemane right before they impacted on the Guard squad attempting to route them. Tsagos barked out the response to the litany both out loud and over the Vox "For we are the voice about His lips and the weapon in His hand! Purity Will be had!"

Ausjorn and Goffrey crashed into the Guardsmen and wrought violence, Tsagos removed an ancient weapon and prepared to join the Melee. It's silver plating and golden Auramite inlays decorating its cylindrical shape, wrapped with rich red leather to grip it, until the Auramite collected at a projection housing and a Silver Blue bade emerged composed of plasma itself. It hissed to life with a humming buzz, Tsagos leapt forward and tore a path into the guardsmen. The Squad's Sergeant armed with a chainsword (which under normal circumstances could deflect a powered blade a handful of times) was arced through as it was swung to the exposed flank of Ausjorn. The Traitor Sergeant did not even have time for the shocking loss of his weapon to set it before the beam of power burned through him cleanly. The Traitors head fell to the floor with the bottom third still attached to his shoulders.

Tsagos Keyed to Strelkina

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+++Colonel, report? We need follow on forces down here, is the Free company in position yet?

We are making our way to the colonies entrance but we will need cover. We cannot risk a direct extraction due to enemy air defenses, is there any possibility we can redesvus with your expedition on the ground and set up a landing zone?

We are in heavy contact but we can break the traitors now as they commit to killing us.+++

Tsagos and his retinue broke free of the alley, with Abek tossing a frag grenade down into the pursing Guardsmen and the Crusaders blocked the exit with their shields.

Traitor Guard and the Inquisitorial Retinue continued to trade fire as the battle tore through the city.

"Inquisitor Something is very wrong, their is a shifting in the Ether." said Karin slightly stumbling as she ran with her hands on her head.

Tsagos heart skipped a beat as he grabber her shoulders "Look at me! Look at me now! Do not allow yourself to be lost, remember your training and the rites of purity. Do not make me carry out the emperors peace on you."

"I will endure Lord" she replied as her nose began to bleed.

[Allanea]

Aboard the Herodotus

Strelkina took a deep breath, and then turned towards Captain Enkara.

“Captain, I have grievous news. It appears now that the colony is already under the control of our mutual enemies. There is no time to be lost.”

Bright red alarms blinked on the table’s screen-surface. “Worse than we both thought. The aetherometers detect an increase in interference. Whatever is going to happen, it’s going to happen soon.”

* * *

Flashes of plasma fire came down from the skies, lances striking down at air defense stations where they could be spotted, and at auspex positions where sensors could detect them. The process – if it could be called a process – was conceived in the flash of a moment by the warship’s crew – strike down the city’s short-range air defenses on one side, peel them off station after station. The closer to the city the landing zone could be, the more of a chance Tsagos and his men had to get out alive.

Up in orbit, the Thundercuckoo and several Allanean gunships began their descent. As they rode down, orbit-to-ground bombs and lance-strikes dropped down on their projected landing zone, hoping to sterilize it of heretic presence with fire and shrapnel.

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Caldaris Prime

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++++Colonel, we will regroup 300 meters north of the city entrance and wait for extraction. We have the manpower between us to destroy the traitors but we must join forces in Orbit. We cannot allow whatever the traitors are planning to come to fruition but we cannot just destroy an Imperial world from Orbit.++++

Tsagos and his retinue broke free of the colony and ran under gunship cover to the Allanean drop ship as the sparse remaining anti air guns attempted to fire. Karin continued to suffer under the weight of the Ether's changes.

While in orbit Tsagos was informed of the treachery that had hindered the 4th Free Company. He boarded the Herodotus and spoke to Strelkina,


"Colonel, my thanks to you and my sorrows for your lost men, the creatures you faced are but a minor warp threat indicative of a larger problem. We must board the star fort and regroup. If you will allow me, I will upload Friendly force identifiers with my Rosette to the Herodotus. From there the star fort will recognize your ship and its vessels and friendly imperial craft.

Please allow me and my staff a few hours of respite and we will convene in the diplomatic wing of the Fort and come up with another plan of approach. There is more to be discovered here as none of the traitors appear to have visible signs of taint and they may just be renegades. We will speak further of this later, for now I must review the information forwarded to me by Captain Verricon."

Tsagos and his staff were winded from the fight with the traitors and they would need a few hours to rest and rearm before mounting a joint attack on the colony. The Augurs would have to be consulted to determine the risk of the Warp bleeding through. Extermenatus alone may just help to speed up the ritual of the traitors of they are trying to tear a hole in reality.

[Allanea]

Aboard the Herodotus

“Let us all make our preparations, Inquisitor. The friendly force codes will be most welcome, but of course you will be attended to by Navy staff as you make your upload - I am aware of all the tricks that may be played.”

At the Star Fort, a few hours later

Strelkina entered the room with a look of curiosity on her face, taking in the complex Imperial iconography as she began to speak.

“Gentlemen, we are in a bind of sorts. The traitors – for traitors is what they are – are preparing some kind of horrific ritual, and we have not yet an understanding of where, or for what purpose. We have in our possession a small arsenal of Telrosian Psyk-Out bombs, and we could also perform a ritual of our own to dispel the enemy’s working, but without a knowledge of what is going on all of this is of limited utility. Nor is the fact none of the traitors we have seen are visibly corrupt a great comfort to any of us – we know, certainly Captain Enkara here can tell many tales,” – she nodded towards the gold-clad giant – “of how the line between renegade and tentacle-covered abysmal horror is easy to cross, and how many have posed as loyal Imperial Subjects until the very last possible moment.”

“Inquisitor, I am in the possession of the most advanced weapons. Captain Enkara has the most extensive knowledge of the secret histories. You, on the other hand, have the greatest experience confronting the traitor and the heretic. What do you propose?

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Tsagos let out a slight sigh, "Colonel, there are ten members of the Emperor's Custodes aboard your vessel. The access of my Rosette is the least of your concerns. Further since the Vermilion Cypher is already compromised the Rosette will merely, using the Vermilion Cypher give your vessel the "Authority" to transmit Vermilion level Friendly Force projections. Is key information is already on your mainframe, but given what is at stake I have larger issues then Cyphers that can and will eventually be changed. For lack of a better explanation your vessel will transmit with the authority of my own for a limited time" Tsagos finished

The monotone voice of Tech-Priest Hernz shouted our "My Lord I beg you, spare the machine spirit this indignity! The Vermilion Cypher being in the claws of the uninitiated is bad enough but now you will allow them access to further unknown secrets. This is a Heresy that you yourself will have to account for!"

Tsagos turned to face his retainer, "Erik, you will not lecture me on judgement, the presence of the Psychneuein alone is a grave threat to both the Imperium and the Allaneans. We will still have to ensure that the Colonels Witch has not been compromised as a hive that large suggests a queen is present. There will be no machines to praise or serve if this is not done!"

Erik Hernz replied "I will not assist you in this ministration, the success of this folly will lay on your shoulders alone and the wrath of the machine spirit will be yours to endure."

Tsagos later walked to the Mainframe interface with of the Herodotus under the watchful eye of the Allanean navy staff. Tsagos murmured ministrations "My God-Emperor, Omnissiah forgive me this transgression. I stain the ocean of purity that is the machine to preserve the sanctity of your Empire and the continued safety of the eternal forges. Let my sins lay on me alone and let me be held to your judgement to account for my actions in all balance."

Tsagos hesitated with his rosette, this action would be by many considered a great heresy regardless if it would preserve the safety of the Imperium. He plugged it in and waited after uttering the necessary commands.

The Vermilion Cypher was not a simple series of codes it was almost alive based on how Hernz explained it to Tsagos. It would evolve and learn, adapt like a biological organism. It was dangerously close to being considered Abominable Intelligence, but now it was compromised against all odds. The Imperium would be able to change it and force it to evolve in a new direction but that would take untold hours, years even of ministration. The rosette would coax the locked abilities, out of the Cypher allowing the Herodotus to act as an extension of his own authority for a limited time. Tsagos would however not disclose this timetable to anyone.

Tsagos turned to the naval staff escorting him, placed his rosette upon his neck and said "After this, I may long be seeking refuge with you and your master." before walking off with his head lowered.


Aboard the Star Fort

"Colonel, your staff must be checked for taint of the Psychnuein before returning planet side as a preservation measure. Should the egg of the spawn be taken to a world as open or as accepting as your's it will be scant years before your nation lie in runes. The Psychnuein are but a harbinger or worse to come, they are not Chaotic in their nature but rather native to the Ether. Now that we are in control of the vessel their has been much knowledge uncovered about Caldaris Prime. The persons being taken here as colonial staffing are either psychic or sensitive to the Ether in a far greater percentage then what can be expected. Also it seems that the small arms being shipped for training were to equip a small army. It is my theory that this planet is a raising ground for some time of Heretic Force or mass sacrifice.

Under the colony *indicating on the Holo-Map* there is a large construct that is drawing unreasonable amounts of power. The Stations commanders seemed to think it may be a dormant STC or other Archeo-tech.

Our objectives are as follows:

Determine what the draw on power is and destroy or contain it.

Interrupt whatever use is being made of the psychic population brought here

Kill the Queen of the Psychneuein

A frontal Assault into the complex is the only choice we have now that we have been made. Your Ship, the Order of the Griffon Strike Cruiser, and the Star fort will act as orbital superiority. You and I will take our staffs planet side to address the Archeo-tech, the Order of the Griffon will purge the Psychneuein and assist in our assault. I would request your remaining forces keep the landing zones clear for extraction and follow on forces from the Chapter house of the Order of the Griffon. Or if we begin to falter act as a QRF/blocking force for the remaining Imperial Guard troops that would no doubt swoop in to cut off our attack from behind.

Shield-Captain Enkara, can you keep us alive?

The Shield-Captain spoke "Rest assured Inquisitor, the Colonel and yourself are safe until the treachery is resolved. At that point we will take our leave and return to our watch, but until that time our lives are forfeit for the both of yours.....and if we fail Inquisitor, none of the Colonel's technology or the might of arms of the Imperium will save us."


Tsagos looked at Strelkina, "Colonel, will you don your war gear and walk with me into combat against the eternal enemy?"

[Allanea]

The Allaneans had a simple yet crude arrangement to prevent the takeover of their machinery by a stranger’s code – the broadcasting systems were airgapped, cut away from the rest of their machinery to create a safe environment, connected only to several monitoring stations and broadcast antennae, to allow the identification codes to be broadcast.

As Tsagos passed through the corridors he could sense that the crewmen treated him differently now. Where before it was that the Allaneans seemed to go through the motions of respect and politeness only under the orders of their commanders, now one could sense that the response in their movements as the sailors saluted the passing ‘foreign officer’ was a genuine one.

* *

”Captain Enkara, I would be honored to go to war at your side,” – Strelkina said – “We have at our disposal perhaps about seven to eight hundred men – drop troops and naval prize crew all. Armor, we are short of, but what we do have is fighters and gunships galore. And of course the Herodotes itself is not an Imperial warship.”

“What I propose is that we melt that ravine’s face off with macrocannon strikes and fusion bombs, land Astartes and drop troops at several landing zones, and then begin advancing towards the crater our fusion bombs create, while fighters and gunships bomb the crater with promethium and cluster bombs. Any objections?”

[Sub Sector Protractis]

"That will work, first however we must lead an assault into the mines. If we bombard for too long it could collapse the tunnels and deprive us of access to our quarry. I will direct and act as liaison for integrated fire supports so as to keep the underground intact." replied Tsagos


The die was cast and the injured Obsidian Blade moved into position. Drop pods began to fall at the outer perimeter of the traitor guard and Thunderhawks screamed down. Tsagos, his retinue, and Squad Mabus of the 4th Free Company were aboard along with Colonel Strelkina who was seated to the right of Tsagos.

"Colonel" Tsagos began, "When we make landfall stay close, the Custodes are behind us in their lander but we expect immediate contact once we hit the ground. Primary landing zones are being secured for your troops to fallow in. The Ripples in the Ether suggest binding rituals may be taking place, do not take anything for granted once me make landfall. Based on my review of the Freeman Crusade only minor Deamonic entities were involved, this will be different. Based on the Warp quakes we suspect a Greater Deamon is being summoned. We must stop it from breaking into reality."


Ausjorn piped up with a chuckle, "Colonel, our landing conditions today are windy with a chance of soul wrenching treason and a sprinkling of Warp Beast attack. If you look on our Holo-display the forecast you will see a battalion sized element falling back to the mine area in an attempt to preserve deamonic activity. If you look carefully upon landing you will see several colony Habs burning in a front from the east to the west.....just make sure you look out for spontaneous and erratic bouts of lasfire."

Some on the lander chuckled, even Tsagos gave a small smirk.

Tsagos had now donned red power armor of the Ordo Malleus along with a Null Sword kept in a sheath, its mere presence was painful for those with Ties to the Ether and it would deprive any psychic powers from being used in its proximity when drawn. Tsagos also carried a less ornate bolt pistol with Psycannon bolts loaded into it, these were the Weapons of the Ordo when faced with creatures of the Warp.


The Thunderhawks' Heavy Bolters began to cry out, then the Turbo laser fired.

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++++30 Seconds+++

, said Sergeant Mabus over the Vox, Then an impact,

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+++Drop, Drop, Drop, Squad Mabus engage and advance to the Mine!+++

Eight power armor clad warriors strode down the ramp and began issuing death with their Bolters. The Squad had lost two members during the boarding action on the Star Fort but Eight Astartes were more then a match for the traitors of the Imperium.

Two other Squad of Astartes took up the Flanks in a Wedge formation and continued forward covering the Team as the made entry to the mines.

The Custodes made their landing as well, they moved almost effortlessly through the weapons fire. Speading out and with perfectly placed shots removing threats as they would evolve.

The Group finally made it to the entrance of the mines, slaying all who stood before it as civilians began to run out with their hands raised. A Girl, not even 7 years old fell and began to cry for her mother reaching out towards Tsagos and his retinue as the Astartes pushed into the mines to clear it.

[Allanea]

The Allaneans moved forward, with a fluidity of motion that would betray to the trained eye men and women who had spent years training for their job. The Herodotus boarding teams moved first, with the lead man in each squad wielding a heavy shield. They, too, were clad in powered armor, though theirs was much lighter than that of the Astartes Warriors.

For a brief moment the Allaneans seemed touched by the display of civilians pouring out of the mine, but procedure rapidly took over from emotion. Already, Sabrina Tomes began whispering spell words, the power of a True Sight spell flowing through her, enabling her to see what regular sight could not. “Careful, inquisitor.” – she spoke – “Any of these innocents could be a living shield for a horror beyond our ken.”

Outside the entrances to each cave, men put up crew served weapons. “This is a simple precaution,” – spoke Strelkina as she unsheathed her own sword. It was a much more modest blade than the Inquisitor’s – a slightly-curved one-handed sword, its blade gleaming with the familiar blue of a force-sword. “If we die and suddenly hordes of forbidden monsters start pouring out of those caves, these men will hold them back long enough to detonate the charges. In that case, we will be buried among our enemies.”

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Caldaris Prime, Mines

As the civilians ran out in an act of surrender, Tsagos spoke one phrase almost as a whisper, "Open Fire". To Strelkina this may seem heartless or unnecessarily brutal, but to Tsagos the risk of Psychneuein eggs spreading, or the risk of a latent psyker breaking quarantine was too great.

The Astartes of Squad Mabus moved on-line with this Bolters calmly delivering center mass bolt rounds to the would be refugees. Mania spread through the crowd as they did not understand why the Angels of Death, lauded as their greatest protectors would now commit genocide upon them. A women ran up to the crying girl, her mother presumably before being shattered in body by a Bolter, spraying the girl with Viscera. The little girl wailed, Free Brother Grantten level his Bolter at her and prepared to fire as she screamed out "Mommy said you would protect us, Mommy told me that you are the Angels of our Lord why are you hurting everyone."

Grantten Fired the Bolter once and its round exploded just before hitting the girl. With a sickening sound the little girls bones began to break and re-knit making her almost as tall as an adult, pulped body parts began to pull around her and knit inter her form. Horns became visible and claws appeared. A deep raspy voice echoed from the terror that was the child.

"My mother, lied just like you lie. The Corpse-Emperor is nothing more then a tyrant who is long dead, and the Four remain eternal now that he has fallen. My brothers and sisters will feed upon your souls.

"Deamon-Host!" Yelled Grantten firing his Bolter on Full auto the little girl skipped through reality and plunged a claw into his hearts killing him. She then fired Lightning into Brother Hellion killing him as well. She blinked out of reality and reappeared casting lightning toward Strelkina "You will be mine, your essence looks unspoiled with the rights of purity the Corpse lovers use."

Tsagos drew his Null-Blade and held it out, causing the Warp made lightning to pull into it, and dissipate. A conversation took place in Ancient Gothic, known only to the the initiated of the Ordos and the likes of the Custodes.

"Et faciem meam in certamine nato! Idcirco praecipio tibi ut transire mihi in ferrum." (You will face me in combat unborn! I command you to cross my blade.) Barked Tsagos


"Vitam dignus est ut tibi operam meam. Sed clara est, quae portat te forsitan legatum? Is vultus delectamentum." (A life such as yours is not worthy of my attention. But your bright one, she carries your legacy perhaps? It looks delicious.) The Deamon-Host replied.

"Astartes, secure the area we shall take over from here" Barked Shield-Captain Enkara

Squad Mabus reluctantly set up a perimeter to allow the Custodes and the Inquisitor to deal with the Deamon. "Inquisitor, bind it so it may be given a true death. If we strike it down it will be released."

The Deamon Host blinked forward again to strike Enkara, but the Shield-Captain was able to strike the beast almost precognitive. "Non tantum Astaroth sum, ego sum Dominus dedit sanguinis humani generis carnem. Nec vires quibus dominari imperatoris tactus."

(I am not a mere Astartes, I am the blood of humanity's lord given flesh. Your powers do not hold sway over those with the Emperor's touch.)

Karin took her chance and struck at the beast with a burst of power from the Ether, it recoiled the shot an with flashing eyes peered into her causing her to fall to the ground and convulse. The air grew freezing and burning at the same time as the two warp touched entities battled for dominance, Karin began to stop muttering the litany of exposition and grew catatonic.

Tsagos Fired his Bolt pistol causing the Psycannon round to hit the creatures arm.

"Vos utor potentia adversarium reddidit, non nisi tu!" The Deamon-Host cried as it recoiled in pain (You use the power of the opposer, it will not save you!)

It attempted to stride toward Tsagos when Karin said "Adolebitquemundi" before losing consciousness and bleeding. Abek, pulled her body back with Joyce and began to minister to her.

The Deamon screeched, "Stand Still Adolebitquemundi!" It stood, wrathful.

Tsagos spoke,

"Hanc veram nominis Adolebitquemundi Adiuro te quamdiu erit in hoc corpore. Adiuro te ad humum adorare Dominum mecum hominum arbitrio."

(By this your true name Adolebitquemundi, I bind you to this body as long as it shall exist in this realm. I bind you to this ground to bow under me for the judgement of the master of mankind.)

The Deamon roared with fury as it was bent to its hands and knees by some unseen force. Tsagos walked closer to it and plunged his Null Blade into it. A white and purple light blasted out.

"Do not look at it!" Yelled Ausjorn.


"Adolebitquemundi Et corpus tenetur ad hoc tenetur huic terram, libera ad dico vobis, quod verum est ut neque mors Immunem meditor tinguere the realm of Iterum Imperatore."

(Adolebitquemundi, Bound to this body and bound to this ground, I deliver unto you a True Death so that you may never taint the realm of the Emperor Again.)

Tsagos Finished as the Null Blade began to grow white hot and the Scream of the Deamon began to echo in the very souls of the those around it, then with a flash it was over. The Deamon was vaporized and truly dead. The ground around it scorched and burned, never to recover.

Tsagos fell to a knee, "Colonel, there are more and that was a minor spawn.....*Heavy gasps*....you must purge your recording devices. Such words and sights cannot be seen, heard, or muttered by the uninitiated or it could doom worlds. We were only able to contain it as the Custodes were here and their presence as well as their blessed Aura is why it did not kill us all." Tsagos struggled to regain his footing speaking again, "If you wish to continue forward with me you must do so without your fellows, I cannot protect all of you from possession. Whatever or whoever is powerful enough to keep a Deamon bound without visible wards on the body may very well be the end of us."


Ausjorn and Goffrey helped Tsagos to his feet.

The Vox sprang to life,

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+++Warp Quakes, it seems that more of our forces are incoming and have answered the call to arms. They will be here in 30 minutes+++

The Party then continued into the caves.

[Allanea]

Strelkina praised her Gods inwardly for the protection of her helmet. Its faceshield would not allow her allies to see her instinctive revulsion at what had just taken place, even though she understood fully the necessity of the violence. Her worst instincts had been correct: each and every one of the refugees they faced could be a horror beyond her imagination. And yet to see innocents perish before her, slain by the very people who they had trusted to protect them, to see a child shot to shreds and hatch an indescribable terror out of its body – this was enough to make her pale slightly under her armor.

Yet duty remained. "Men!" – she voxed – "Any one of those refugees could be a host to some stobor. We do not have the luxury of screening them all. You know what you signed up for. Kill everything that moves. All units, you are now Code Charn, repeat Code Charn."

The ancient word meant a simple thing to the soldiers. The normal rules that governed their use of violent force no longer applied. Every living thing in front of them could harbor a daemon or a warp monster, or be an elaborate disguise. Nor was there a time to separate the wheat from the chaff.

There was a low, rumbling sound as one of the commandos fired his plasma gun, a refugee's torso tearing apart from within, blood and offal splattering onto the cave walls. As the body, disfigured beyond the semblance of humanity, fell to the ground, the soldier had but the briefest second to contemplate that the very fact the victim did not reform confirmed this was not a daemonhost – though of course this did not rule out other threats.

The screams of the innocent and the guilty alike and the sounds of discharging weaponry heralded their coming as the party advanced.

Now this is truly an Inquisition operation, – Sabrina Tomes muttered, in Inglish.

[Sub Sector Protractis]

In the Caves

Tsagos and Strelkina walked shoulder to shoulder, Tsagos' retinue in tow along with the Custodes. Squad Mabus was in the front securing the path that would have already been cleared by the other two Astartes Squads.

Strelkina had directed her troops to hold the entrance and collapse it should they fail. Tsagos spoke, "Colonel, I appreciate what it took for you to give that order. Rest knowing that we do not kill His subjects lightly. It is simply a matter that many of the myriad threats seek to infiltrate and usurp from within, I mean that is why we are both here under the protection of the Custodes. To root out a cancer in the body Imperium."

He was interrupted by a vox,

+++Inquisitor from Squad Borgum, can you make your way to our position. We have the target in sight, Eclipse....++++

'Eclipse' Thought Tsagos, a brevity code for an unwinnable situation.

Tsagos and the troop made their way to Squad Borgum and they observed dozens, maybe even over a hundred Deamon-hosts chained and bound. Cables ran to the center of a cavern to a large mechanical object. Those cables were attached to the writhing, screaming Deamon-hosts. The Deamons were powering the machine, they were being used to channel the unlimited power of the Ether into this construct.

Tsagos swallowed and keyed his vox,

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+++All Forces from Inquisitor Tsagos, regroup in a containment formation around the mines. All other objectives are now classified as Errata.....Star Fort Orbital fires solution on my location....Prep for firing solution.

Tsagos Out+++

"The Queen Psychneuein is of little consequence now, Erik, tell me is that was I think it is?" Finished Tsagos

"Omnissiah's banishment upon this blasphemy!" said Hernz, "Inquisitor, that is a STC manufactorum section, look, it is producing Automatons. They are corrupt and grotesque, an affront to the Machine."


"Corrupted Men of Iron, the fools have turned A.I. into Deamon engines. The Hosts are serving as a power plant and then being transported into the Automatons." Enkara paused with what only could be the faintest hint of concern in his voice. A hint that was otherwise unknown to his kind, "We must destroy the machines, Inquisitor. Tech-Priest can you back feed the energy into the hosts and reverse the flow of the Ether?"


Hernz looked at the Golden Giant and said "In Theory my Lord, but that will..."

Enkara cut him off, "Unleash the Deamon Hosts, I am aware and that is the safest course of action. We overload the system and have psky-out miasma flood this cavern, then maybe we could weaken the hosts enough that their Deamons flee back into the warp upon the loss of their bodies."

"It is risky, but it is sound." said Tsagos grimly.

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+++++Orders my Lord, we are under attack, the Order of the Scythe has arrived with a Flotilla from House Castamere. The Star Fort is under attack and The Order of the Scythe Battle Barge is prepping for battle. Castamere's Astartes will be among us shortly. They are declaring us Excommunicate Tratoris under the Authority of Inquisitor Wallens....++++


Tsagos-+++Engage and defend! Hold them back+++ 

Tsagos turned to Strelkina, "Colonel, get your ship out of there can you transmit the codes of special condition to the Herodotus? That will allow it to target for the Star Fort and it will now allow your ship to be targeted or Tracked by Inquisitor Wallens. I fear that you are stuck here with us now, the Ether is too unstable for us to teleport out or to teleport Psyk-out munition in here. Any temporal breach could be our undoing....I am...I am sorry Colonel."

[Allanea]

In the Caves

"What in the fething hell is that yebanaya huynya?" - Strelkina looked at the scene that unfolded in front of her without fully understanding. – "Truly Tsagos, to be a heretic is to be a fool. What on Earth could cause a man to contrive a plan so demented, so absolutely fething absurd as to have in one's possession a corrupted STC, and then hundreds of daemonhosts, and then try to combine the two? Alone each of those things might, to a sufficiently deranged mind, have seemed like a treasure. Together, it is madness multiplied by madness." – she said, and then proceeded to make the broadcast that the Inquisitor requested.

* * *

In Orbit

The captain of the Herodotus made his final adjustments to his plans. He knew now that he was to make several decisions that were on the very verge of failure. To succeed, he needed to improvise rapidly, and improvise he did.

"Sir, are you certain?" – an adjutant asked, even as the enemy craft approached the Star Fort.

"Semenov, listen to me. For us to live would be easy. Life, however, is not the only thing. Has the jump been calculated?"

"Yes. "

"Are the weapons ready?"

"Yes."

"Prepare the broadcast. On my mark… now!"

Two things happened at once. First, a spread of ship-to-ship missiles burst forth from the Herodotus's forward facing tubes, streaking towards the enemy ship.

This, however, was not the strike. This was the distraction.

The broadcast was the strike.

All smallcraft, this is Herodotus. We are making an emergency jump out system. Imperial Navy interceptors, dropships, and drop pods are inbound to your location. Make everything count.

*

Lieutenant John Tarnes knew that the brief message he had just received meant that he had just been sacrificed. He understood why. For the Herodotus to stay and fight would merely mean they would all die together. And, as he looked at his sensor screens, he also understood what his duty was.

He moved the throttle, the aircraft turning in mid-air. Had it not been for gravitics, the forces involved in this turn would have probably killed him. As it was he felt only mild discomfort as the ground vanished and the entirety of his view became the darkening sky. Somewhere on the edge of vision he saw a flash of fire and smoke – one of the orbital fighters, torn apart from within by its own missile payload as Imperial weapons tore through its hull.

"Nice." – he whispered, admiring the enemy's handywork. On his sensors, a blinking blue light appeared. Target class - dropship. Someone had made the decision the Allanean fighters would not need anti-fighter missiles on this flight – he was armed only with two of the weapons, one on each wing. He fired both of them at the Thunderhawk as soon as he heard the soft target lock chime. Now all he had was his gun.

Everywhere around him, the same was happening. Pilots were expending what missile sthey had at the enemy drop craft, and then closing in to gun range. Most of them would probably die this day.

But there was something to this fight that had meaning.

Those drop pods, those Thunderhawks, carried the finest superhuman warriors the enemy could throw into battle. Once they reached the ground they would become lethally dangerous. But here, in the skies, their skill did not matter, their double hearts did not matter, all that matter was the pilots' skill, their guns and their missiles.

Tarnes shouted obscenities into his radio as he squeezed the firing stud, and the plasma autocannon in his fighter's nose awakened to magnificent, fire spitting life.

[Sub Sector Protractis]

The Caves

"Colonel, these are now deamon engines awaiting activation. Before we assault, understand that if we fail this reality will fold, it took the might of ancient humanity everything to stop the constructs and broke them when even the Aledari would dare not tread against them. If this army spreads, no force, majicks or wards will stop it."

Tsagos spoke and turned to his entourage, before beginning again.

" And here we have it, as the Colonel said 'Madness multiplied by Madness'. These constructs will be your greatest challenge to the safety of His realm. I am about to ask you all to forfeit your lives with me....But I tell you now, our lives spent here will be used to pay our uncountable debt to Him. It is out of our love for Him that we will go forth and purge this menace. At our sides are the Angles of Death and a Company of the Ten-Thousand. He has placed into our hands a band of warriors few in the Imperium have ever mustered with. It is with this gift that we will stride forward and deliver what is meet and right for the Heretic, Traitor, and Deamon!"

Tsagos' troops grew eager grasping their weapons and snarling our affirmations.

Tsagos turned, "Shield-Captain Enkara?, Free Sergeant Mabus?"

Enkara replied, "Only in Death does Duty end" as he and the Other nine Custodes took up their arms with stoic calm.

Mabus readied his power sword with over two dozen other Astartes ready to fight and said "And we shall know no fear!"

With that the Charge began.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Astartes moved to engage the rising men of Iron, Mabus Cried out "Brothers! Kraken Bolts, Cyclic rate! Cover and Advance!"

Dozens of Bolters opened up on the armored Shells of the Men of Iron impacting with explosions.

As Mabus' Astartes advanced the return fire began from the Men of Iron, their weapons began to render a Dark toll from the Angels of Death. The Astartes continued forward into the fire, their armor being blasted away and their Human bodies being rent in close combat by the Men of Iron who screeched out in Dark Binary.

Free-Brother Quillion The Champion of the 4th Free Company had been sent with Mabus to this cave, he was by and large the Greatest warrior in the 4th. His powered Great Ax bit down into the neck joint of a Man of Iron becoming stuck. He pulled out two powered knives and began to parry and stab at the weak point of the armor. The punctures bled a baleful purple before self repairing, stab after stab faster then the human eye could predict struck home. The Machine Engine would not fall, with a clawed hand it grabbed the blade of one of the knives and snapped it. Its' horrid Binary war cries turned to Basic Gothic for a moment and it yell was heard in the very mind of Quillion 'Your God is not here, he is long dead, and your skull will complete a mosaic I have worked towards for millennia.'

With a subtle shift the Machine's claw shifted into a blade and burst into the Neck of Quillion smashing through the Gorget of his Mk 8 Armor. The Astartes were beginning to fall.

Mabus saw Quillion's death and it pained him, not because he died but because of the futility of the fight. A Warrior with 475 years of Service to the God-Emperor rendered low by a mechanical abomination. The Machine killed Quillion and through the binary Mabus was able to make out a sickening laugh....he became sanguine.

Mabus' Astartes were losing, this was not something the Warriors of the 4th were accustomed too and Mabus would rally his men to fight harder, push further so that the Inquisitor could smote this dark manufactorum. Mabus adjusted his Vox projector to full and bellowed

Astartes of the 4th, you will fight and reap this contagion from the God-Emperor's sight

With that he charged forward and jammed his powered blade under the ball and socket joint of the Machines Arm prying it off. The arm fell to the ground and Mabus ducked under the machines gun arm jamming his blade into the Machine hip joint taking it to the ground. He wheeled to stand over the Machine inverted and again Voxed out

Our Lives!!!

and with two hands he brought the powered blade down on the head of the machine killing it with a deamonic scream sounding as its' death throes.

His Astartes responded to this last cry in unison with

For He on the Throne!!

and pressed the Charge.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Shield-Captain Enkara and his Custodes appreciated the fire and Zeal of the Astartes and the Humans but for the Talons of the Emperor no Oration was needed just a command,

"Break them here and now, I command it in His name!"

The Custodes advanced, faster then Astartes, smoother then Astartes, almost transcendent in appearance. If the Astartes were humanity perfected then the Custodes were Perfection made perfect.

The 10 Golden Armored Warriors ran full on into the Men of Iron moving to protect the STC, enemy fire was rejected by their Golden Armor that seemed to shine ever so slightly brighter when struck. They dove into the Men of Iron and began to cut them down, it was clear to see however that the Warriors of Gold were fighting with an undertone of desperation. They understood that once the Astartes fell and all the Men of Iron were freed from combat they could no stand against such odds. Unlike any other warrior of the Emperor however, this desperation was not manifested with rage or sloppiness. Rather it enhanced the execution of their craft, honed their implacable focus.

Enkara strode forward, almost as a God among men, his Sentinel blade and Misericordia in his hands, bringing the Emperor's fury. Two men of Iron moved on him like sharks to blood.

A man of Iron's claw was caught at the wrist by his Misericordia, with the Sentinel Blade cutting off its other arm at the elbow. Within the same motion, as the severed arm fell away Enkara fired a single volley from his Sentinel blade impacted on the Claw arm of the second man of Iron trying to attack him. These bolts deflected the attack in time for Enkara to removed the Head of the First Man of Iron. Enkara continued his momentum and spun as the fist man of iron fell dead, flipping his Misericordia to a reverse grip and burying it into the head of the second man of Iron. Before either man of Iron hit the ground Enkara had moved on and hit a third man of Iron in the back at the base of the Skull that was attempting to attack Sgt. Mabus with his Misericodia pulling it back mid swipe at the Sgt. before driving the Sentinel Blade into its' chest killing it.

Enkara strode past Mabus with the slightest and briefest of nods that would only be picked up by someone as fine tuned as an Astartes.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tsagos and his retinue ran forward under the cover of the Custodes and the Astartes toward the STC, dispatching Traitor Guard and human technicians as they closed to the interface.

Tech-Priest Hernz began his ministrations to overload and back feed the machine, as Ausjorn and Goffrey strode out to fight the technicians. Tsagos began rites of banishment with Abek to prepare for the mass influx of deamonic energies that would be released once the machine was destroyed under the protection of his crusaders.

Herz yelled out, "It is done Lord, 45 seconds until back feed!" A single man of Iron had broken through the Super Human lines and made its' way toward the interface screaming its' terrible binary. Goffrey and Ausjorn moved to Intercept it, Goffreys blade clanging away from its armored body and Ausjorn being tossed back with an elbow. Gregore fired a full laspack at the machine to no avail and the Crusaders were swatted to the ground. Abeks and Joyce's shotguns found no purchase in their target and even Tsagos' psycannon bolts were unable to stop its advance. Hernz fired his metla pistol into the machine and it stumbled back, but not before firing its' weapon and splitting Hernz's body in half. Ausjorn, Goffrey, and the Crusaders decended upon it with powered blades and were able to kill it.

Other Machines rushed to fill the gap it had made. Custodian Adda strode forward to block the other machines, 17 of the engines fell upon him in unison and he stuck out with all his might and skill, guardian spear hissing in the air and firing bolts as he struck and parried. Like ants on a Lion however, the men of iron began to draw blood from the indomitable warrior. Like a levy hold back an apocalyptic tide Adda fought and killed the Men of Iron, but the levy was breached and blood, crimson red blood began to stain the pure Golden form of his Custodian plate. The legacy and majesty of the God-Emperor's Gene-Science and Bio-Magics spilled to the floor, but Adda endured. He did not grunt or made a sound in pain, he accepted that this would be his death. 3,572 years, 8 months, 4 days, and 19 hours of service would culminate in the next 45 seconds of his life. He would carry the weight of his own death with dignity expected of a gene-son of the God-Emperor, he fell to a knee guardian spear in the chest of a man of Iron stuck. Adda's Misericordia struck out deflecting blows and hooking into one of the machines so Adda could pull himself upright again.

A machine stabbed him in the throat and was struck down by his Guardian spear before a blast from several machines fell upon his plate and cast him to his back. He pulled his body up to right himself and keep fighting but his godlike body did not respond.

The Shield-Captain saw it and felt a skip of pain, to short to even register on the emotional band of a less refined being. Enkara watched the slight glow and majesty fade from the armor of Adda. The Emperor's grace was no longer with him as he was being called to the Emperor's eternal side. Enkara now felt a skip of true rage and smote the machines before him, no Gene-son of the Emperor would die alone. The other Custodes felt this too but could not break from their combat, Adda would understand, he would expect nothing less then an unending pursuit of duty from his Shield-Brothers.

Enkara killed the last four of the Machines readying to desecrate Adda's still living flesh, they would not. Adda would leave this world at peace and under the eye of his Shield-Captain. Enkara saw that Adda still held his guardian spear, but his Misericodia was millimetres from his reach. This badge of office was the Emperors sigil of dominion over life and death to his Custodians. Enkara placed it in his hands, saying "Go now Adda, take your place at the Eternal Watch His domain is secure."

Adda nodded and gurgled, "At it will ever be."

Adda closed his eyes and thought, '3,572 years, 8 months, 4 days, and 20 hours in His service.' and like that one of the Eternal stars of the Emperors constellation blinked out. Deeds never to be matched or replicated, tales never to be told, and honors never to be seen by the masses. To a Citizen of the Imperium, a Custodian never died.

Tsagos saw the backfeed begin and voxed to the Herodotus

+++++Herodotus, Fire mission, Psyk-out munitions my position, full compliment, fire for effect.+++++

The backfeed began to destroy the Deamon hosts as the Herodotus' miasma made their occupation of real-space untenable.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Orbit

The Order of the Scythe and its Imperial Naval escort disgorged fire into the Defense station, and the Obsidian Blade. Drop pods, Thunderhawks and Infantry landers entered the atmosphere of Caldaris Prime. One such Thunderhawk was destroyed by Lt. Tarnes, robbing the enemy of 30 Astartes, but as quickly as he destroyed the thunderhawk dozens of Imperial Lighting and Thunder fighters moved to the airspace. Tarnes' valor would be noted in the Inquisitorial texts documenting the incident, but Valor alone does not promise survival.

Planet side

The Order of the Scythe had landed and engaged themselves in direct combat with the Order of the Griffon 4th Company. Blade Champion Kel bore strode forward with is brothers to purge the Order of the Griffon.

[Allanea]

In the caves

"To me, Freemen soldiers!" – Strelkina's voice was itself like the clash of arms, like a horn cutting through the din of a battle. "Let us show these Imperials how Freemen fight and die! For the Crown and for Liberty!"

The closer circle of the men and women she called her acolytes tightened about her. Now what had been hidden became obvious – this tight-knit group were no mere soldiers, not even mere commandos. Their bodies, their very minds, had been rebuilt and altered for battles just as this one.

Colonel Strelkina herself dove under the arm of a hulking, corrupted battle-bot, striking with her sword with unprecedented speed. The glowing, blue force-field hissed as it cut through the lower leg on the Man of Iron, and the creature fell, spewing angry trills of binary. As it crashed, the Colonel stabbed again through its faceplate.

Around her, her entourage moved with preternatural speed. They were not as large as an Astartes, and they lacked the battle-presence of a Custodes. Yet they moved and acted with terrible speed and precision. Each of them wielded their own weapons – a woman with twin swords, her body like a wound spring, a male with a plasma carbine, seeming to be calm even in this whirlwind of violence as he snapped off brief three-shot bursts.

Behind them, the drop troops and boarding teams followed. They were good soldiers all, and many of them carried augments within their minds and bodies that would be the envy of any baseline humans – but here, in this underground hell, they seemed to be mere auxiliaries. They shot, and killed, and died as heroes, but it would be where Enkara, Strelkina, and Tsagos fought that that the fires of battle truly raged.

And even heroes like those could die. Soon enough the ring of closest friends surrounding Strelkina began to narrow. The lady-warrior with the two swords was the first two perish – a burst from an autocannon threw her like a rag doll, smashing against a wall. For excruciating seconds, she lived still, her upper-body contorting as she tried to lift herself, and then moved no longer.

A Man of Iron grabbed one of the men in front of him out of the air, armor splitting and smoking as the corrupt machine squeezed its opponent with an enormous power fist, and then threw the commando at Enkara's feet. The man twisted as if trying to rise, but then moved no longer.

Next to them, one of the boarding team sailors unsheathed a power sword, a viciously curved weapon. He cast off his helmet, revealing a frightful visage. Where the other men and women who fought and died in the darkness below had been unmistakably human, this one was not. His skin was a terrifying grey, his teeth sharp as needles, his eyes full of vicious anger as he spoke. He was an Orc – not a Krork, not one of the fungal creatures who had plagued the Imperium, but an Orc. His father and his father before him had worked in the foundries of New Gundabad, and he was a sailor like his uncle. And now it was time.

He called out, his voice making the cave walls ring. "Elf cousins! Make room in the Halls of Mandos! Gobruk Gro-Bandag is coming!"

And with that, he leapt in among the machine horrors. For a brief, radiant second it seemed as though bravery would prevail as he slashed and charged among the corrupt metal bodies. Armor hissed and gave as the force-sword came through – and then flesh gave too, and Gro-Bandag fell to the crude stone floor. His ribs cracked as one of the Men of Iron stepped onto his back, and blood spewed ot of his mouth and nostrils. The machine leaned down to finish its work, the sounds from its vox-grille triumphant, like blood-thirsty laughter.

And Gobruk Gro-Bandag laughed too, blood staining his sharp, needle-like teeth. He lifted his free hand, showing the machine what he held in it. Stained in his blood, gleaming like silver, several jewel-like rings.

Grenade pins.

There was fire, and smoke, and a roar, as if Gobruk Gro-Bandag himself was shouting one last oath of defiance.

Perhaps valor would mean something still.

And then, seconds later, it came. The blast of dozens of psyk-out munitions swept through the cave. Sabrina Torres leaned on the wall, vomiting profusely inside her helmet, her own powers disrupted suddenly. The notion of the vomit running inside her clothes and armor was disgusting enough that it made her heave again.

* * *

In orbit

The Herodotus performed one last, defiant maneuver. It dove, letting the closest fighters rise to it, accepting them into its armored belly. Then it banked, unleashing a salvo of air defense missiles at the enemy small-craft, and vanished. No flash. No contortion. It just was there, and then it was not. This was not how it arrived – this was a method of transition so different and valuable that Allaneans chose to use it in the direst extreme.

Now there was silence. Now the soldiers and sailors still fighting on the planet below were well and truly alone.

[Sub Sector Protractis]

The Caves

Tsagos did not have time to mourn the loss of Tech-Priest Hernz, he did not have time to relish the victory of the Men of Iron, he did not have time to stand in awe at the felling of a Custodes. He and Abek had to begin the rites of banishment so no malevolent warp entity would find purchase in real space. "Iussu imperatoris relegatus est aether. Et non receperint vos in suum regnum, et proficiscere, et proficiscere, et discedat!" (Banished to the Ether by the command of the Emperor. You are not welcome in his realm, and you will depart, you will depart, you will depart! )

Tsagos fired his bolts pistol and swung his Null blade at the remainder of the Deamon-Hosts there were enchained.

"Per mandatum meum, ut me nec dabis tu et tui in spatio, ex hoc mundo ad piscinam animarum serpere et vult!"
(By my command, I order you and your kin back into nether space, crawl from this world back to the pool of souls and wills)

The Incantations with the psyk-out munitions were causing the deamonic powers to lose purchase on reality and with vengeful screams they began to blink out.

The retinue was exhausted, the machines were defeated, the honorable dead lay scattered across the floor of the cave. The price was high but they were victorious, for now. The battle still raged outside and support we being requested from multiple Astartes Squads in combat. They were presently falling back under the assault of the Order of the Scythe, the Banner-pledged Astartes of House Castamere.

Tsagos turned to the remainder, "Reports indicate 300 to 500 Astartes of the Scythe and a Division size element of Void troopers. Captain Verricon has issued a general withdrawal order and the Star Fort is presently being boarded by Void Troopers. We are not done yet, we need to regroup and prepare for combat our work has just begun."

As Tsagos spoke the words he knew they were hallow, the 4th Free Company was scattered and expending munitions far to quickly. Orbital and air control was lost, and even if the hundreds of enemy Astartes could be turned back 20,000 void troopers with air support would carry the day. All Tsagos could do was hope to delay the inevitable.

The Custodes, 7 Astartes, his retinue, and Colonel Strelkina were collected around the shattered STC when Bolter fire was heard coming from further up the cave. 25 Astartes of the Order of the Scythe made their way into the cavern, they appeared unfazed by the carnage around them.

Tsagos walked forward and held his Rosette out, "By this Mark, you will stand down and render yourself for judgement! What madness is this to strike at and Inquisitorial expedition!"

"You Mark holds no power as one who is Excommunicate Tratoris, Inquisitor Wallens orders you arrested and all your fellows killed. Except for the Xeno lover you are colluding with she will come as well. Do not make it more difficult then is must be, you have all been judged and found guilty, allow me to make it quick and painless for you all."

Finished the Scythe Captain.

A deep bellowing laughter emitted from a Vox grill, Enkara laughed and so did the other Custodes.

The Scythe Captain's face twisted into a sneer, "You Traitor will be the most sacred of Prizes, a member of the Ten-Thousand fallen traitor, your order will be stripped of its honors and cast down as a corrupted relic!"

Enkara's laughter stopped, "None in this world may judge my fellows or I, only He may command us. However Captain, your bravery will be noted..."

Enkara stopped and his squad sprang forward, the Astartes of the Scythe could not have been prepared even if they had not been blinded by arrogance. The Custodes crashed into the 25 Astartes, out numbered close to 3:1 it was over in moments. It would be a humbling sight for all involved as after sustained combat the Custodes rendered low close to three times their number before any real resistance had been met. Even the Astartes of the 4th Free Company only managed to get off an handful of shots before the battle was over.

"We will take Adda's body and weapons and be on our way now. Our purpose has been served and our involvement must be kept secret, Inquisitor, Colonel, you are in the hands of fate yet again. Sgt. Mabus destroy the traitor vid logs in their helmets, do not let them know we were here.....and Colonel, your future lay closely to the survival of the Imperium. I hope what you have seen today will allow you and your countrymen to rethink their quest for knowledge, what was fought here today is far from the worst horrors the Ether can muster."

With that Enkara and his Custodes led the way out of the cave with Adda's body before boarding their lander. The Allanean's were still offering a token of resistance in the air but it would not last long. Enkara's men boarded their drop ship and departed.


Tsagos watched as the golden vessel sped away carrying with it the only chance they had of winning the day. Ausjorn walked up next to him and said, "Inquisitor, it is over, were now do we make our final valiant stand before our painful death, capture, or torture?" sarcasm rife in his voice.

"Come now Ausjorn, are not the inhabitants of Jainenguard Warrors all and stubborn to a fault, or has the relative peace of the last centuries made you all soft like spire-born. Rejoice and be glad, innumerable are our enemies, innumerable will be our glories." remarked Sgt. Mabus

"Aye, Master Astartes I can think of something else that is presently innumerable as well and it comes from a Grox." clipped Ausjorn

The Retinue laughed and even Mabus cracked a smile.

"Karin is still in a coma, Hernz is dead, it seems the rest of us only have a few bumps and bruises so it is clear we have all be sleeping on the job." said Gregore

There was more grim laughter, before Tsagos spoke, "Then we link up with Captain Verricon and fight."

The band made its way towards Captain Verricon's command position as the sounds of bolters and explosions grew nearer. The 4th Company Chaplin, Chaplin Bithos was ministering to the injured Astartes who had been rotated to defensive positions with is vox projector screaming out in fiery oration

Where there is uncertainty, I shall bring light
Where there is doubt, I shall sow faith
Where there is shame, I shall point atonement
Where there is rage, I shall show its course
My word in the soul shall be as my bolter in the field

Inquisitor Tsagos walked to Captain Verricon, "Captain, how do we fair?"

Verricon replied while looking out at the coming attack, "We are in a superb position to have martyrdom and Sainthood bestowed upon all. Other then that our position is lacking, but tenable for the immediate time. The 4th has seen worse."

[Allanea]

Strelkina followed the departing Custodes with her eyes.

"Fascinating, in its own way." - said Strelkina. – "Inquisitor, would you believe me that I had a gift prepared for the Good Captain to be given if we had succeeded in our mission?" – she paused. "I am now beginning to think he would not have been able to appreciate it." – she turned to her subordinates. – "Men! Prepare your defensive position. Prepare yourselves. Pray to what gods each believes in. It may well be that this is the last stand – the kind you never get to practice for. That said, we do have two advantages here."

"And they are?"

"The terrain is in our favor. We can hold the entrance to the ravine for a while even against overwhelming force. Moreover, the enemy outnumbers us so much as to make each individual there assured he, personally, is in little danger. This will make them less cautious. For us… this is the very definition of the target-rich environment. Let us prepare to sell our lives so dearly as to give even those brave Astartes a case of buyer's regret."

Whether she believed what she said was of little relevance. Her voice radiated clarity of purpose and self-assurance such that it percolated, inevitably, through the ranks.

"Make ready! May the enemy know whom they have fought today!"

[Sub Sector Protractis]

The Custodes departure, although unfortunate for the warriors on Caldaris Prime was the only chance of the treachery uncovered being exposed to the Imperial High Court. It still weighed on Tsagos however as he watched the defenders of Allanea prepare to die to turn away the blade of the order of the Scythe. They moved with purpose, it was admirable, foolish but admirable. They moved with the juvenile energy of a safer people, they would die here. As would the Astartes of the 4th Free Company and Tsagos' retinue. For a moment Tsagos was jealous, the Allanean warriors moved with a hopeful calm, the trusted the Colonel and moved to her every word. The sign of loyal troops and a devoted leader, however, if they knew the true reckoning that was coming for them they may have behaved differently. Maybe Strelkina knew, through her nations spy craft perhaps she understood that the Order of the Scythe were the premier orbital assault force in the Sub Sector. Verricon knew it, the initial attack had been a force shaping operation. The Astartes of the Scythe simply moving and boxing their opponents into a position with no escape. They were allowing the 4th to Fall back in good order around the Allanean's to hold the ravine, that way there would be no retreat when the committed their reserves to a direct orbital landing inside the lines of the defenders.

Tsagos would not give voice to this however, lest he rob Strelkina's troops of their resolve. The defenders were exactly where the Astartes wanted them to be even now with Void troopers landing to support the Astartes Assault.

Tsagos heard Strelkina mention a gift, "What would you give a member of the Custodian Guard Colonel? They are not exactly them empathetic type."



The Enemy Attack began, Platoons of elite void troopers charged forward in the first wave to test the defenses supported by Devastators of the Order of the Scythe. The 4th Free Company held the line with the Void troopers being smashed by the weapons of the Free Company in close combat. As the Astartes of the 4th shifted to meet the charge of Void Troopers and Astartes it happened....the trap was sprung. Several guided missiles from Scythe Thunderhawks impacted the Defenders weapons positions with the Turbo laser clearing a path down the mouth of the defense.

30 Jump pack equipped Astartes dismounted and closed for the Command staff, Verricon bellowed from his vox grill,

Come now Traitor! Meet me and Die!

Roars of approval bellowed from both sides of Astartes.

Chaplin Bithos drew first blood, his Plasma pistol killing one of the Assault Astartes before he landed and then his Powered Maul bit deep into another.

From the light you have fallen. Worry not, I shall Illuminate you!

he yelled.


Sgt. Mabus locked blades with a Scythe Astartes who carried two chain swords, one tore into Mabus' leg. Mabus yelled and jammed his Bolter into the underarm of the limb holding the sword and pulled the trigger blowing the Arm off and the chain swords with it. Mabus then took his Bolter and swung it into the helmet of the Assault Astartes before Stabbing him in the neck killing him. With no respite another Traitor swung a two handed powered great sword toward him, cutting his Bolter in half.


Captain Verricon charged forward shooting a stream of promethium forward screening his charge and causing several Astartes to cover their faces before he set on them. Verricon Free-Captain of the 4th Company Swung his powered sword, he moved like a Lion among men. Diving in and out of combat to support his surviving Astartes, encouraging them as he fought.

Then Kel'bor blade master of the Order of the Scythe arrived, "Captain, I expected more from the vaunted Order of the Griffon. Cross your blade with mine and let me end your embarrassment."

Verricon charged forward with a yell not even acknowledging the insult, he swung his sword down with Kel'bor deflecting it with his own, before he turned the powered beam of and switched to a Mordhau grip and crash the cross guard into Verricon's temple.

Kel'bor pulled the weapon free and prepared to behead the Captain when Tsagos charged forward with his null blade driving it forward into Kel'bor exposed under arm. Kel'bor parried the attack and with a single elbow to the chest sent Tsagos flying back in and out of consciousness. Even Tsagos' power armor did little to soften the kinetic impact of Kel'bor's strike, it was as if lightning had struck him in the chest. Tsagos hit the ground and was able to make out the Crusaders and Asjorn fighting to keep him safe from the void troopers.

Ausjorn yelled to him as he dragged him, "Damn you and your death wishes! If you are stubborn enough to charge an Astartes you are stubborn enough to see this battle through!" he propped Tsagos up against a fallen Free-Company Astartes and topped off his bolt pistol. "Cover me Inquisitor, we are not done yet."

Tsagos took the bolt pistol, still dazed, "Aye Friend, we are not done yet." Ausjorn smiled and returned to the melee with the void troopers that had taken over the lines, with Tsagos taking will aimed shots at Void troops he could hit.

Verricon sized the moment, possibly more out of instinct than anything else and thrusted his sword forward towards Kel'bor. Tsagos distraction providing him a small opening, but it was not enough. Kel'bor brought the sword down through his wrist and thigh into the ground and turned it off allowing it to hold Verricon upright. "Admirable Captain, but it is over now." said Kel'bor reaching down and twisting the neck of Verricon until it broke and then there was a sickening pop.

Kel'bor held his prize in his hand, Verricon's head gripped by Kel'bor wrenched free from the body. "Now finish them brother's" he yelled

Unobserved to those in the melee below, more ships had arrived, the Battle Barge Purity Resplendent flagship of the Order of the Griffon's 23rd Chapter arrived and began to unload its cargo along with a flotilla a support vessels.

Code: Select all

+++++To Combating forces on Caldaris Prime, I Master Gerattin demand a cease fire. I have in my employ a full Chapter and I will use them on any who disobey. I demand a meeting of Terms for the release of the 4th Free-Company. A full house trails in my wake to seek judgement on any who deny me these terms.+++++

The parties involved looked to the sky and observed as several 30 Thunderhawks and their escorts descended the Yellow and Red of the Order of the Griffon showing through the cloud cover.

The combat paused, a Chapter Master arriving with 1,000 Astartes was not something dismissed lightly especially when it was claimed that 4,000 more were en route to assist them. The 4th Free Company, now down to 27 men and a Dreadnought collected themselves around Tsagos, Mabus and Strelkina.

The Thunderhawks landed and the 1st Company of the 23rd Chapter walked with their Master toward the survivors all with storm shields and powered swords. Master Gerattin took stock,

"Where is Captain Verricon?"

"Dead Chapter Master?" said Chaplin Bithos

"Who is the Senior Sergeant here?"


"Sgt. Mabus, Chapter Master" Said Chaplin Bithos

"How has he accounted for himself?"

"With honor worthy of command Chapter Master" said Chaplin Bithos

"Very well, Free Sergeant Mabus, arise."

Mabus stood, trying to conceal the injury done to him by the Order of the Scythe. "I stand in your judgement Chapter Master." he said

"For the time being you are acting Free-Captain Sgt. Mabus. Do you accept this honor?"

"With regret for the loss of my Captain, I do." said Mabus

"Very good."

Greattin turned to Kel'bor, "Where is the rest of Captain Verricon's body Blade Master?"

Kel'bor removed his helmet and with a smile said, "Sadly, it was lost in the melee. Regrettable that the late Captain and I met this way, he accounted for himself Chapter Master." said Kel'bor

"Do not think me concerned with your reputation Kel'bor, you tread dangerously near the end of my patients."

"No insult was meant lord." said Kel'bor with a half bow.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Accusations were hurled back and forth in the meeting of terms, Chapter Master Greattin was able to secure the release of the 4th Free-Company unconditionally and with some strong arming It was determined that Strelkina, Tsagos, and Tsagos' retinue would be arrested by the Order of the Griffon with the rest of the prisoners of war being taken by the Order of the Scythe. A surrender of the Star fort to the Order of the Scythe and a full withdrawal pending an Inquisitorial Investigation by the Order of the Griffon.


It was a dark moment indeed, darker still for Strelkina thought Tsagos, "I am sorry yet again, I was not party to the terms with the Order of the Scythe and Inquisitor Wallens." Tsagos said to the Colonel, both of them in chains.

[Allanea]

Tsagos heard Strelkina mention a gift, "What would you give a member of the Custodian Guard Colonel? They are not exactly them empathetic type."

"It's said that in its history, the Imperium had recovered all three of Shakspere's plays. Now, as you know, the multiverse is a fractal one… and in the history that our people come from, Shakspere's plays have yet to be lost, or at least most of them." – she handed the Inquisitor a book. It was a small book, the pages thin almost as petals, "this is the complete collection of his works as we know them. I find that many of his insights into the nature of Man are eternal in nature."

It was a dark moment indeed, darker still for Strelkina thought Tsagos, "I am sorry yet again, I was not party to the terms with the Order of the Scythe and Inquisitor Wallens." Tsagos said to the Colonel, both of them in chains.[/quote]

"Inquisitor, it's strange that you seek to apologize. We are both doing our duty, and we have both accepted that we could suffer a horrible fate when we accepted it. I can say I have done nothing I am ashamed of. The message which my people have brought to yours was true – we were willing to work with you against the agents of the Ruinous Powers, and as you have seen Allaneans have willingly fought and died bravely against the forces that loom in the darkness. If I am interrogated, I will tell them honestly that you are a strict servant of the Golden Throne and were hardly enthusiastic about working with me – which is of course entirely true. That said I doubt that any testimony we give can improve our fate. "

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Tsagos turned to Strelkina and said, "I am sorry for what will befall your men taken prisoner. Theirs will be a fate worse than death, I will pray to the God-Emperor that their suffering is short lived. No commander, even one as callous as I wishes to see ill befall their troops, I know this feeling and because you will feel that for your men I am sorry."

An Order of the Griffon Thunderhawk was waiting to take these prisoners and they were loaded on with little ceremony before being taken to the Order of the Griffon Battle Barge and stripped, shackled and herded into cells. The vessel withdrew, into warp space and made way for its home birthing an the 23rd Chapter's fortress monastery. Before it arrived however the ship jolted to real space and the cell doors were opened. Inquisitorial Storm troopers and officers of the Chapter walked the halls with the prisoners being taken to a landing bay. The storm troopers had several crates mag-sealed with weapons and clothing from the prisoners, "By the Thone, make yourselves decent." spoke a voice with a solemn tone flavored by annoyance.

Before the company was Grand Inquisitor Marcus Duran, "Tsagos' Karin is recovering and has told me the gist of the events planet side. Your report will be needed, in accordance with the protocols of special condition of course. My regrets for your treatment upon leaving planet side, it had to look official for the parley to be successful."

The retinue looked confused with the exception of Tsagos who was in the process of buttoning his shirt, "So then, a betrayal by the Pentarch himself? What also of the warp creatures on Caldaris Prime?"

"A grim situation indeed, but at this moment a crusade is being mustered against Allanea, Reynold Castamere is already singing to the rest of the Pentarchy how you were a traitor and you were mustering a heretical army against him at the behest of Allanea. Worse still, my eyes have told me that there may have been some of the weapons you found on Caldaris prime already off loaded and headed to infiltrate Allanea. Their psyker population will be very vulnerable to this sort of attack, they do not possess the correct wards or containment abilities to stop a influx of warp creatures.

*Turning to the Colonel*

Lady Strelkina, a strange situation I find myself in, I am not usually in the business of rescuing foreign spys, however, Shield-Captain Enkara advised me of your tenacity and being that our next operation will take place in Allanea it will pay to have someone who understands the culture."

Duran finished.

"So where do we go now? I am under special condition and therefore unable to request aid of the Inquisition." asked Tsagos

"I will loan you certain retainers of mine, they will assist you in this matter but first we are heading to an undisclosed fortress for debrief and preparation. You will all be submitted to stasis lock for the reset of the transit. It is a shame that you all were able to escape the Custody of the Order of the Griffon." Duran said with a smile.

[Allanea]

Strelkina contemplated the things she heard, and then began to speak. "Grand Inquisitor, I'm as much of a spy as you are, that's to say let me remind you I was working here alongside agents of the Throne of Terra. But that aside, I propose we address the problem in a professional manner. That's to say, what we need here is nothing short of a well worked-out plan."

"The considerations as I see them are such: it would be highly controversial in both our countries if we were revealed to be working together, for largely the same reasons. The public in Allanea largely thinks of your nation much as you think of ours. However this doesn't, in my mind, take away from an obvious reality." – she looked at the Grand Inquisitor. His height and robes made him appear much larger than her, an imposing symbol of Imperial authority. "Whatever differences we have, I'm quite appreciative of the fact the fabric of reality exists, tomorrow comes after today and today comes after yesterday, I don't have tentacles randomly coming out of my nostrils and I am not being slowly digested over the course of several millennia by horrors beyond the imagination of man. You know, the small things in life." – the Colonel's eyebrows moved slightly as she said those words. "Your Emperor sacrificed himself to be tormented beyond torment for ten thousand years so he could stave off the horrors of the Warp. Whatever you think of me, the events which have transpired up to this point, they constitute proof that I know full well what the stakes are."

"So in light of this I propose that we go about this in a professional manner. I propose that we act like members of ancient civilizations that have millennia of experience confronting ancient evils. Now, here is my plan. I am going to send a report to Liberty-City back with the Herodotus. They're going to keep it secret, of course, because they ain't insane. Then they're going to form a strike force that's going to hunt down every heretic scumbag who enters the Free Kingdom and kill them. I don't think that's in doubt. Meanwhile you and I – well, probably not you personally, you're obviously not going to literally sit down with me, but I assume you have people for that sort of work, yes? – we're going to sit down and work out a work plan in which we are going to work together to, first and foremost, collect as much information as possible about the threat that's obviously developing for your civilization, and the entire sector if things go wrong."

"I propose we establish a secret facility – monitored and protected by whatever force you choose, equipped with the finest cogitators we can provide, obviously you'll be able to oversee the place to ensure there's no trickery on our part – which we will use to gather data and plot our events. We've got the better cogitators and spy gear, and you've probably got the better agents, probably vastly better agents. Then we'll be able to sit down – again, in secret – and try and work out what we can do together to stop this."

"I fully appreciate, Grand Inquisitor, that you don't trust us. Which is entirely reasonable, and which is why I propose a relationship where we open as much of our cards as we can. The difficulty we're facing with Chaos scum, Grand Inquisitor is that they're gamblers. They're insane. They are willing to gamble their very souls, their very existence, the very fabric of reality around them to achieve their blasphemous ends. And like a gambler their response to failure is to double down and up the stakes. Which is why they have to be stopped. And the edge we have over these people is that we're sane and they're not, so let's act like sane people and use exactly that against them."

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Duran looked to Strelkina, "My Lady, with respect I have seen the followers of the Warp sacrifice entire worlds and armies to complete the smallest steps in a plan. With that said your fighting against the warp followers alone does not secure my trust. I am not condemning any cooperation, but I am not yet ready to cast my lot with your intelligence services. Inquisitor Tsagos however seems to have agreed to work with you and that you are to a degree trust worthy. For that reason, I petitioned Master Gerattin to secure your release into Inquisitor Tsagos' custody. Tsagos, by uploading information from his rosette and then placing your vehicle the, Hero...blast what is it called."

"The Herodotus Lord." Said Tsagos.

"Yes, the Herodotus, being placed under special condition in a quite literal sense is a death sentence for him. Being that he is considered Officially Excommunicate Tratoris he is already dead to the Imperium. I will allow Tsagos to sanitize this information and to carry out operations he sees fit against the Traitors. In time however, I may grow to trust you as well, in as far as I can trust a foreign agent and there will be more official cooperation. This meeting however has not happened and will not be remembered, as all Astartes here but the Chapter Master will be mind wiped of this event.

You have seen much Strelkina, I hope you have learned much as well. This incident however is minor in and of its own nature, it is the betrayal of House Castamere that is the issue of my concern. You will be happy to note however out first operation will be to recover your fellows who are prisoners of war, consider it a show of good faith on my part as Tsagos said your troops accounted for themselves as well as any other could have been expected."

Tsagos now fulled dressed and his retinue armed turned to Strelkina, "You will have to trust me Strelkina, your survival is attached to me and my survival is tied to completing this operation and purging the information of Special condition before it is compromised. We will speak further later, but for now step into the stasis pod and let us get on with it."

With that Tsagos and his troops took their place on an Inquisitorial Thunderhawk and were placed into suspended animation. Strelkina was left standing the choice to be hers.....

[Allanea]

"Let us get on with it, then", - she said, following her new allies onto the Thunderhawk.

[Sub Sector Protractis]

The party was placed into stasis and relocated to a undisclosed location, awaken from the technologically induced slumber once they were secured inside an Inquisitorial Fort. Tsagos, Strelkina and company were awoken provided all the amenities they would need to plan operations in support of Duran's machinations. For now however, Tsagos would focus on concluding his report of what would be dubbed the Caldaris Prime Incident. At present he was seated with Strelkina in his private offices, there was one simple matter for him to close out because as everything in the Imperium bureaucracy ruled with nearly the reach of the God-Emperor himself.


Tsagos had a data slate recording his debrief with Strelkina, including several lessons learned and future tactics and strategies to undue the great destroyer. "Well Colonel, that concludes my report. If you have a brief moment I would like to ask you some questions about a separate matter that has been assigned to me as well as several attached ancillary issues to it. Namely the compromise of the Vermillion Cypher and your honest take on relations between our two nations going forward. This will not take long at all."

Tsagos changed the vid captures memory bank,
" Subject: Vermilion Cypher compromise and extra-Imperial relations with the Free-Kingdom of Allanea.
Interviewee: Colonel Natalia Strelkina, Commander of the Herodotus.
See Related report Malleus-Tsagos-Caldaris Prime for further on the Colonel.
Let the record reflect that Colonel Strelkina is here out of circumstance and her present status is unsecured and unmonitored due to her exemplary actions in the above referenced incident.


Good Afternoon Colonel, forgive me this unpleasantness but this is as you know an active investigation. I hope you will allow me this short,Modest Inquiry....into your nation's collection of the Vermilion Cypher and projected diplomatic interactions between our two powers and we both presently realize that a conflict between our two nations can only end in the calamity of reality. Would you kindly tell me how the Free-Kingdom came to be in possession Imperial Crypts?"

[Allanea]

"We return, my erstwhile captor, to the question of all ages – the true nature of the multiverse. Allow me, if you may, an excursion into the nature of the world as it is seen by our scientists. Reality is seen by Allanean physicists as fractal, a conflation of different realities, different skeins] in which events have taken a somewhat different course. In some cases they overlap in terrifying ways, nations come in and out of existence, drop out, appear again. There are places where magic does not work, where you can shout out spell words and hear them hang in the air powerlessly, and there are places where a technology more advanced than an old chemenergic will not function for you. Which brings us to the sad fact that some things repeat themselves across many universes."

"One of them is the Imperium of Man. Over our histories we have encountered many agents of the Golden Throne – some hostile to us, others less so. Some we fought and killed. Others we persuaded to defect – much as the Primordial Annihilator, the Tau Empire, and so many others have, so have we. None of them are present aboard the Herodotus, because doubtless their presence would inspire many of your colleagues to acts of violence. Studies were made in secret – some are still made – of various Imperial technologies, and secret journeys launched across the probabilities and stars."

"The exact nature of these inquries I am myself not privy to but over the decades obvious weaknesses of Imperial technology became clear – its abhorrence of automation, its use of deliberately limited cogitator technology, its reliance on the warp for travel and shielding. It became also clear that Imperial culture is immanently hostile to that of Allanea in many senses – to one of our people the presence of, say, a servitor or some such terrible engine would be as anathema as to you the presence of nonhumans in our population. However, we come back to the realization of the obvious fact:"

"Whatever injustices exist in the Imperium of Man, they are at their core a product of the continuous struggle for survival against the minions of the Primordial Annihilator, and the darkness of Old Night. The Imperium – or rather, the Imperiums – is built around the triumvirate of the warp engine, the void shield, and the astropath, all three attracting the predators of the immaterium like sharks to blood. What Old Night and the war of the Iron Men could not poison, was poisoned then by the Heresy."

"Which is why I was sent to procure records, and if not records, then at least physical objects, dating to that time. This, we hoped, could help us know better what happened then. Why the darkness set."

She paused.

"Alliance between our states can not truly exist in the broad sense that you are imagining. But a different thing still can, if it is forged on a genuine knowledge of each other's agendas. Namely, as I said, I don't want no tentacles to sprout out of my eyes and neither do you. As such we could work together to prevent this whole thing where reality folds like a scroll and creatures from beyond space-time gnaw on our soul for six hundred and sixty-six years."