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I wrote this short story as a fluff companion to my armies on parade display. Enjoy.


++COMM-NET INTERCEPT++

++TIMESTAMP 998.M41, 17:32 PST, LOCATION: SHRINE WORLD AGOSTINA++

++COMM-IDENT: BROTHER-SERGEANT SERGIUS, SIXTH COMPANY, AXIOS SQUAD++

++TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS:++

++This is brother-sergeant Sergius of the Blood Angels. We have encountered a heavy ork invasion force on planet Agostina. Ork infantry in the hundreds and supporting light vehicles, including enemy armor. All enemy troops are approaching sacred shrine at speed. If allowed to continue their advance, they may be able to breach the shrine walls and extract the sacred artifact.

Our forces here are ill-equipped for an invasion of this magnitude. The xenos foes will pay a high price for our lives, but the Agostina shrine cannot hold.++

++MESSEGE SET TO REPEAT PENDING RECEPTION OF CONFIRMATION CODE AND NEW ORDERS++

++ONLY IN DEATH DOES DUTY END++


For over seven thousand years, Agostina sat unmolested from the armies of the imperium. It was a Blood Angel shrine world kept in secrecy by the chapter. The contents of the relic vault much too powerful to let anyone outside of Baal know of the planets existence. That was not to be.

A rogue inquisitor knew of it's location, and after his capture by the ork warlord Maglok Tooklawz, he was tortured mercilessly for months before finally releasing the planet's location. He was then granted the release of death that he had wished for. Maglok clamped the broken man by the neck with one of his enormous power klaws and cleanly sliced off the inquisitor's head without a second thought. Tooklawz gathered his forces and unleashed his army upon the small planet of Agostina. The planetary defenses held out for days and many marines and imperial guard units were destroyed, but just before the destruction of the defense forces, a distress signal was sent out via astropath to the Blood Angel's home world of Baal. The signal sent was not for help or assistance, but for vengeance.

Leviticus, a powerful librarian of the Blood Angel's 2nd company slumbered in a controlled stasis chamber far below the surface of Baal, deep within the lower levels of the fortress monastery. He has remained asleep for more than two centuries, encased in his adamantium and ceremite coffin. The wounds inflicted upon him so long ago were mortal, but his powerful warp touched mind would not accept death as an end. So impressed was he that Mephiston himself, the Blood Angels chief librarian, ordered that Leviticus live on for eternity as one of it's most powerful warriors, the Furioso librarian dreadnought. Leviticus was thrust out of his ancient slumber by the sheer power of the astropath's plea. The servitors and chapter serfs in charge of the dreadnought's care were tossed aside like paper dolls as he fought to free himself from the cables and data links that had supported him for so many decades. He tore the chamber door completely off of the frame and hurled his immense armored body down the ancient halls to Commander Dante's private quarters. Dante listened intently to the booming vox speakers of the giant warrior telling him of the message from Agostina. Commander Dante, knowing how very important and powerful the relic in the holy shrine's vault was, ordered a battle force be sent to the planet immediately.

Liberatore, High Reclusiarch of the 1st company, was the first to volunteer for the mission. A Blood Angel of such high rank as a reclusiarch had access to the sacred scriptures locked in the reclusium tower at Baal. Liberatore knew what was a stake and that the orks must be stopped at all cost. He called upon his personal guard to aid him in battle, a terminator assault squad with centuries of experience in the art of war. Armed with thunder hammers, storm shields, and lightning claws, they prepared themselves for battle.

Liberatore knew that his 1st company champions would not be enough to defeat the ork invasion. The only hope that could save Agostina lie in the endless rage and terrible ferocity of the Death Company. He awoke Chaplain Lemartes out of his forced stasis slumber. Upon hearing the details of the imminent demise of the shrine world, Lemartes' eyes seemed to glow an uncontrollable hatred for the xenos forces pillaging the holy shrine world. Chaplains and reclusiarcs of the Blood Angels chapter are the keepers of the chapter's lore and speakers of it's history. Lemartes would rather die a thousand deaths than to see that most holy of artifacts fall into enemy hands. He assembled a squad of ten Death Company marines, men's whose madness and endless black rage would drive them to perform feats in battle that other mighty space marines could only ever dream of.

Lemartes, knowing the utmost importance of this chapter relic, was not yet satisfied. He summoned the techmarines in charge of black rage stasis and ordered the awakening of a most powerful and deadly ally, the Death Company Dreadnought. Luciano's massive dreadnought frame was fitted with a pair of blood talons, capable of shredding the enemy by the dozens. When these potent power weapons are wielded by a walking tank, hell bent on limitless black rage insanity, the path of destruction and broken enemy bodies will litter the battlefield for miles.

Sergeant Dino of the 10th company sniper squad was the next to volunteer his men in defense of the ravaged planet. Dino's rank as sergeant did not grant him access to the significance of the holy chapter relic in danger. He only knew that a Blood Angel world was under attack and that is all that he needed to mobilize his most worthy initiate scouts for war. The sergeant knew that any scouts left alive after this battle would be welcomed into the chapter as battle brothers of the Blood Angels.

Commander Dante, bound by codex law, could not accompany his men on this dangerous mission. He knew that this campaign would require the very best that his chapter had to offer. He summoned Sergeant Anzio of the Sanguinary guard to his quarters and told him exactly what was at stake for the chapter and for the entire imperium, should this mission fail. Upon hearing this, Anzio gathered his squad of elite warriors and they prepared themselves for the battle to come. Chapter surfs blessed the artificer armor with prayers for the Emperor's protection and sacred oils. The ancient armor of the Sanguinary guard is thousands of years old, created in the time when the Emperor walked Terra's hallowed halls. Their weapons are just as ancient, but no less deadly. Armed with the angelus pattern boltgun and the mighty glaive encarmine, these would be gods slice through enemy armor as it were not even there. There has been more than one instance recorded where the enemy simply lay down their weapons and surrender at the mere sight of the Sanguinary death masks and the golden angels of death that bear them.

Maglok Tooklawz tirelessly marched his army to the location of the Blood Angel shrine, in hope that the human that his men had tortured for months, had given reliable information. Maglok was not the typical ork warlord, he was very intelligent and cunning in the art of warfare. But Tooklawz had an addiction that only his personal doctor could fulfill. Never being satisfied with being a mere ork, he was constantly enduring macabre operations from Dok Kutta. The Dok never left his master's side, never knowing when more "improvements" might be needed.

the very sneaky Boss Snikrot and his band of kommandos were not like the other orks in the green army. They relied on stealth techniques and ambush tactics to slay their enemies. Snikrot's unit, dressed in camouflage, broke off from the main army and made their way to the south of the shrine's location. Boss Snikrot and his covert force would take up a flanking position and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. Warlord Maglok and the rest of his army marched toward the shrine in an unstoppable green tide of death and destruction.

The Blood Angel thunderhawks touched down and the assault ramps slammed into the very old stones that made up the floor of the relic shrine. With the precision and order that centuries of training brings, the space marine battle force fell into codex defined defensive positions around the only entrance to the shrine's vault. Liberatore and his men would fight to the last marine in order to protect the sacred relic. Sergeant Dino's scout sniper squad reported over the vox link that the greenskin horde was two klicks away and closing fast. Liberatore's gene enhanced vision needed no such report. He could see the dust cloud following the hundreds of angry red eyes and snarling maws that hungered for battle.

When warlord Tooklawz was finally close enough to see the Blood Angel force waiting for him, the primitive ork side of his brain took over. He inhaled an enormous breath into his already over-sized alien lungs and let out a war cry that would shatter a normal human's eardrums. WAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!

The primal scream of battle carried over the hundreds of marching footsteps, over the random shots fired from over zealous orks, and even over the revving of smoke belching chain axes. The warlord's roar even carried to the decomposed ears of the librarian locked inside his adamantium sarcophagus. Leviticus opened a private vox link to the reclusiarch in charge of the Blood Angels force. The blood thirsty orks numbered in the hundreds and he knew that the only outcome of this battle would be defeat. Liberatore knew this to be true as well. The reclusiarch's battle hardened mind formed a plan. If he could somehow inspire his men to greatness, they just might stand a chance against such overwhelming odds.

Defying codex law, Liberatore stood before the alter where the most holy of chapter relics has rested for thousands of years. He smashed the sacred ornate lock with his armored gauntlet and opened the golden chest.
As he removed his skull helm, his stern face was illuminated by the golden light coming from the ornamental case.

Liberatore dropped to one knee, bowed his head, and tears began streaming down his scarred face. In his almost two hundred years of a life serving the Emperor, he had never imagined seeing something so beautiful and yet so powerful. He reached into the golden coffer with a trembling hand, drew out it's contents, and lifted the relic for all to see. Every Blood Angel immediately dropped to one knee and bowed their heads.

Liberatore held in his steely grasp, the sword of their beloved primarch Sanguinius! The very sword that when wielded by their exalted Primarch over ten thousand years before, had protected the Emperor and wounded the arch-traitor Horus during the terrible battle that cost Sanguinius his life. The Blood Angel marines could feel the warm glow radiating from the holy weapon of war and at that moment they all knew in their twin hearts that victory would belong to the Blood Angels this day.




The end

Can we have any pictures?

Sure, I've added a few pics of the display in my gallery, check them out.

Ooohh, I even felt a shiver down me spine with that last paragraph

Btw, not to be "That F'king Guy" but here's a small typo:

Chapter surfs blessed the artificer armor with prayers for the Emperor's protection and sacred oils.

I think you meant serfs, right?

HAHAHA darn spellcheck! Glad you liked it though, I tried to keep the suspense of what was in the relic vault until the very end...kind of a treat for the people that actually read the entire story.