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Razzik sat in the lone chair big enough to hold his armored bulk. He stared forward past the empty desk in front of him. Wall shelves contained back lit models of Imperial vessels. Seven battleships, eighteen frigates, one grand cruiser, four ironclads, three escort ships, two cruisers, and a mechanicum vessel unlike any he had ever seen. He committed the names and images of each to memory. When he had examined the last one he started to study them again and then again.

According to his retinal display they had been in this room for one hundred and thirty eight minutes. No one had spoken to them since they were led and left in the office. Cyaxeres, Philosir, and Muttabriqu stood behind him. None of them had spoken for fear of unseen eyes and ears. Patiently they waited in contemplative silence.

The small room was brightly lit. The floor, walls, and ceiling were a light gray similar to nearly every Imperial vessel. The desk was dark silver in color and completely solid. Razzik knew Philosir had spent most of his time studying that desk from across the room. It looked plain to Razzik but he didn’t take anything for granted.

Razzik was seven models into his reexamination when the door behind them opened. Razzik casually looked over his shoulder. Inushi stepped in, alone. His helmet was mag locked to his thigh. His green armor was immaculate and his katana was sheathed. The smell of mechanicum blessed lubricants wafted into the room.

Inushi looked to each of the marines before walking into the room to stand next to the desk. “Captain.” He said as he turned to look at Razzik, a look of disgust crossed the Mantis Warriors face.

“Things are not what they seem,” Inushi started before Razzik raised his hand to silence him.

“I am fully aware Inushi, there is no need to explain.” Razzik interjected. “Do you know when the Inquisitor will be arriving?”

A raised eye brow was Inushi’s response before he shook his head. He then stepped to the side.

The conversation died off as Razzik looked down to his powerfist. The wired harness that had magnetized itself to his armor was now fully integrated into his armor, even going as far to alter his HUD. None of the techmarines had been able to give him any reason. “Blessing of the Omnissiah,” they had said when no other explanation was given. The unauthorized alteration to his armor perturbed him but the usefulness of the minute weapons system proved to be extremely useful.

Images of the hail of fire it unleashed came to mind before a door finally opened from a different corner of the room. Inquisitor Vervin stomped into the room. Her face was a snarled visage of disgust. She wore tight yellow armor and a red cloak. Her slick black hair was tight behind her head in an ornate hair band. Razzik slowly stood to salute the Inquisitor, the others followed his lead.

She looked up at the marine and sat behind the desk, “sit.” She spat as she opened a drawer to remove a steel bound scroll case. “Please have your men remove their helmets while in my presence Captain,” she added without looking up.

Razzik gave a simple hand gesture and the three other Ice Angels removed their helmets.

Nefas and Jaska walked into the room next. They entered from the same door Vervin had entered. Jaska’s armor was pristine and adorned with several new purity seals. His helmet was different then before, it lacked the mouth grill that his previous mark VI armor had. Nefas wore his black armor without any apparent weapons. His white helmet was lock onto his thigh, his emaciated features made him look ill.

The Sinner gave off no outward emotion before he too stopped next to the desk. The small room was now cramped with seven power armored space marines, each were within an arms reach of the next.

Inquisitor Vervin didn’t look up or around as she slowly separated the two ends of the case. A clear plastic film was pulled taught when the two pieces were twelve inches apart. It appeared void of all marks until she began to read it. Wherever her retina’s pointed the plastic film illuminated words, graphs, and images. When she moved past them they would dissipate back into the clear plastic. Faster then any unaugmented human could, she read the scroll. When she reached the center of the plastic film the writing and icons began to scroll up. The pace continued to quicken until it matched her reading speed. The tempo in which she absorbed knowledge was astounding even to Razzik, he assumed only Philosir would be able to keep up. Ignoring the scroll, Razzik focused on her. He started with her tight hair and hair band. He determined that some of her hair, if not all of it, was synthetic. He was already aware of her altered eyes and soon quickly saw the well hidden data ports in her neck. He was only able to see her body suit from the chest up but he had no doubt it was laced with hidden compartments and miniature devices. He continued to study her as she read the lengthy report.

When she finally reached the end of the report she met the indifferent gaze of Captain Razzik. With her left hand she reached out and depressed a panel on the top of the desk. Eight candles rose from well masked portals on the desks smooth surface. When they reached the proper height a wall cubby opened to reveal a cherub servitor. The small winged child machine fluttered to the candles and lit each one with its built in arm lighter. When it was finished it departed back into its place of hiding.

The entire time the candles rose and the cherub flew, Razzik and Vervin stared at one another.

“Why in the Emperor’s Name,” she growled” have you returned with this pathetic excuse for a report?” Inquisitor Vervin began as she dropped the scroll device onto the desk.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Hahah mommy's mad, they should have brought chocolates

"Kiss my grits, Inquisitor."

“Razzik, why did I send you to the Kota System?” The Inquisitor sighed as she rattled off her question.

“To determine our loyalty,” Razzik responded instantly all while containing his annoyance at her lack of respect to his title.

She paused and chewed on his response for a moment, “not entirely, Captain.”

Vervin leaned forward and took a deep breath. Razzik could sense she was about to release the verbal flood gates. With a snarl she glared, “I sent you to the Kota system because you claimed that Dark Eldar were somehow working behind the scenes of this massive ork incursion. You claimed that you found two space marines maimed and in their custody through out this process. Vetov claimed he was betrayed and given to the orks as a gift. Pyrox claimed he was captured and slowly experimented on along with all of his men. YET all across the systems NO one has seen any other signs of the Dark Eldar. NO ONE!”

She rapidly tapped her fingers on the metal desk after she slammed back into her seat. She quickly tilted her head to look at everyone in the room. She pointed at each Ice Angel before ending with Razzik. “Why? No, wait.” She shook her hands. ”WHAT gives you the right, or the authority, to come into this systems largest war council on the eve of deployment with guesses and hints. You had no evidence of anything,”

Through gritted teeth Razzik interrupted, “I had my word and the word of Pyrox and Vetov.”

“Fantastic! The word from half a space marine, a tortured Fire Angel, and yours.” She spread her hands wide in disbelief. Razzik stayed silent.

“I gave you the opportunity to redeem yourself, “she started.

“You tried to get us killed,” he retorted. She half smiled, “yet here you are, with most of your company, according to this report. Speaking of which, what?” She shook her head and looked to the non Ice Angels in the room. “What is this supposed to show me? How does this prove anything? You went to the Kota system, killed some orks, you commandeered a transport, infiltrated a space station, fought some giant worms, and returned.”

“We uncovered a webway portal and fought through a dark eldar facility. Clearly the dark eldar are on these planets probably weakening them before ork attacks. They are most likely guiding them to where they want. The Dark Eldar are behind this,” Razzik added with unwavering confidence.

She looked back to the scroll case on the desk, “Can I ask why none of that is in the report?”

A look of confusion past over him before he looked to Nefas. The Sinner raised a single nonchalant eye brow before turning to Inquisitor Vervin.

“The Ice Angel report was altered before it was given to you,” Nefas hissed without making eye contact with the Inquisitor.

“What?” Razzik and Vervin shouted. “How dare you? That’s treason!” Vervin added as she quickly stood up, knocking back her chair.

“Do not worry Inquisitor Vervin, the full report has been sent to the proper authorities. Authorities more,” he hesitated as he looked for the right words, “more qualified.” He added with a hiss.

“More qualified!” She shouted. Her face lit up with anger. “You will be executed for your..” She began as Nefas smoothly stepped forward and slammed his hands down onto the metal table with super human speed. His face was void of emotion.

Every door around the room flew open as Inquisitorial soldiers armed with meltaguns took aim.

Nefas stared down at her and she stared back. She curled her lip into a sneer that would make servitors turn and flee. Razzik watched intently. Nefas maintained his cold façade as he began to speak.

“Inquisitor Vervin, Ordo Hereticus, Inquisitorial mediator to the war council and adjudicator to the Hoko’Chi trials, cerulean level agent underneath Inquisitor Bandenhof, you do not have proper authority in matters of Ordo Xenos. Nor do you have the experience to do anything useful in this war. Therefore I will lend you my expertise.” Vervin looked as if she was about to explode. “You will apologize to the Ice Angels and grant them the supplies they require. You will then grant me access to everything I need to begin the next stage of my quest.” Nefas quietly hissed. “Once that has been completed we can leave this matter behind us.”

Razzik saw a hint of confusion on her face amongst the hurricane of fury that was welling beneath her skin. “On whose authority, Sinner?”

Nefas leaned back away from the desk, where his hands had just dented the metal table a small chest sat. He opened it up. For the first time Razzik got to view the inside of the simple chest. A red velvet material lined the chest but it looked empty and shallow except for a piece of rolled parchment and a small device. Nefas handed the paper to Vervin and then clipped the device onto his armor. When it was correctly attached he pushed a button and holy symbols to the Inquisition rose to the armors surface like predators coming up for air in murky water. The stylized I crept up from the depths of his left cheek until the left side of his face was dominated by a red I.

Slowly she unraveled the parchment. The manila, well worn paper, contained a solid block of writing surrounded by intricate sigils and runes. Razzik only caught a glimpse of it before she held it in a way that no one else could see. She reached back and pulled the chair back under her. She slumped back into it as the fury fled from her face like leaves in a strong wind. The chair looked too big for her frame as if she had diminished in size.

With her right hand she handed back the parchment. With her left she rubbed her temple.

“I think you have something to say to Captain Razzik,” Nefas requested as he took the parchment and carefully placed it back into the chest.

She tightened up at the words and gave a brief glare to Nefas before sitting up. She straightened her body suit before clearing her throat.

“Captain Razzik, I apologize. Please allow me to assist in your resupply,” she stated with only a slight hint of anger.

Razzik looked from Vervin to Nefas then back to Vervin. “Thank you Inquisitor, that is most gracious of you,” he couldn’t help but give her a small smile.

Oh, OH! Let's have a game... who's name is on the parchment!?

My guess...

That could be a fun game.

hahaha well played Gits!

ohhh so the sinner works for the Order Xenos! ALL DEZ TWISTZ

Distant flashes of light heralded the arrival of new Imperial vessels in the distant space around the Iron Torch. Razzik saw the flashes but they were too far for him to glean any information on the arriving ships. He waited to see if others would accompany them. Three others appeared in rapid succession a split second later.

A bulky gray ship approached from his left, another Imperial transport, and most likely carrying personnel. He watched as it fired retro jets to control its approach. His conjured up what he should have heard but he pushed away, at times like these silence was exactly what he wanted. The ship slid into the hanger underneath the void deck he stood on, it reminded him of glaciers floating on water.

A small part of him thought on what his senses were telling him but his attention was primarily focused on the future. The Ice Angels as a chapter were always trying to delve into the mysteries of what lay before them. The Inevitables, with all of their talents and gifts, strived to honor the Emperor and Sanguinius by guiding the chapter to endless battles and a never ending list of victories.

Captain Razzik, however, couldn’t help but feel like he was being sent on a side mission out of the Inevitables grand design, a mission that his actions created yet did not control. No matter how many times he replayed the death of Ruusa and all the following decisions in his mind. He came to the realization that given each situations parameters he had made the best strategically optimal decision.


The words of the late Commander Vetov came to mind, “you are never lost. The Emperor is always there to guide you.”

“The Emperor is watching,” the gravely voice of Pyrox echoed.

Razzik’s mind focused on a bright star in the distant black veil of space. He stopped replaying the past and returned to what came ahead of him. The Litany of Tomorrow whispered in his mind.

After a single breathing exercise and he focused on what he knew, in several hours he returns to the Herald of Sanguinius. Tomorrow he will meet with the captains, chapter master, and the Inevitables. Several days of reports and squad reformatting will occur. In a week the chapter will have a Reckoning. It has been one hundred and eleven years since the chapter last held a Reckoning. He looked forward to the gathering of the chapter. Razzik had just become a brother at the last Reckoning and it was a sight he would never forget.

Nearly every Ice Angel gathered to hear of the different companies exploits. Stories were told and brotherly bonds were strengthened. Being a widely scattered chapter meant that these meetings were rare and very valuable. Captain Razzik looked forward to the week long feast, but more importantly he wondered which units would be assigned to the 10th company.

The red icon of Nefas flashed in the corner of his HUD. He mentally thanked Philosir for the warning. He knew he’d be seeing more of Cousin Nefas or Captain Nefas or Sergeant Nefas. Razzik realized he didn’t know what his official title was.

Slowly he turned around to see the doors behind him open. A light flashed as the void deck security doors opened and the armored form of Nefas approached. Razzik watched the magnetic footfalls of the Sinner in utter silence.

Razzik opened his mouth to thank him for getting the 2nd company out of harms way from Inquisitor Vervin but he held his tongue. Nefas had not mentioned once about where they were going or what they had to do in exchange for his aid. Ever since Vervin had been dismissed he had been nothing but helpful.

“A helpful Inquisitor today is a knife in the back tomorrow,” the wise words of Captain Ruusa rang out in his mind.

“Enjoying the view Captain Razzik?” Nefas asked as he walked up next to Razzik, both stared out into space admiring the sparkling darkness.

The following silence was Razzik’s response. The two black armored marines watched a ship fly out from the hanger that dwelled below them. It was a bulk lifter that could carry several score of Imperial battle tanks or even a squad of super heavies.

“The Benevolent Aberration will be converted and prepared to depart in six weeks. We will depart immediately afterwards. In the mean time, forward your supply request to Jaska and I’ll make sure they are delivered to the Rage as soon as they are ready. ”

“I will send Jaska the supply list,” Razzik paused,” but do not send them to the Rage.”

Nefas turned his head to regard the Ice Angel, “and where would you like them delivered too?”

Razzik continued to look out into space, “To my ship, the Shattered Peace. The Frozen Rage is part of the second company and after the Reckoning the second Captain will lead them from there.”

“I hope the Shattered Peace can do what will be asked of it,” Nefas hissed. Razzik could tell this slight alteration annoyed Nefas. Razzik smiled at the thought.

“Let me know what needs to be done and I’ll let you know if she is capable of it,” Razzik responded in the hopes he’d get an idea of what to expect.

Nefas turned to face Razzik and placed a hand on Razzik’s shoulder pad. Razzik resisted the pressure from the smaller marine to turn and face him. “It better be everything I need Captain.” Nefas pointed with his other hand. Razzik finally turned to regard the Sinner.

“The Emperor and I need your company or this entire sector may be in greater danger then you can imagine.” Nefas stated. His eye lens glowed with a hint of red at the words.

He then let go of Razzik’s shoulder and walked away.

Captain Razzik watched him leave and pondered his words. “What was Nefas hiding? What could possibly threaten the entire sector?” The unspoken questions agitated Razzik. The lack of information agitated him more. Being led around like a blind servitor was unfitting to a space marine captain.

He turned back out to the vastness of space hoping to catch a glimpse or even a hint of what tomorrow would bring him but all he could see was darkness.

Onwards to the next adventure!

YAY! I have successfully completed the first draft of my story. Congratulations to me. Now all I need to do is rearrange and edit the entire thing. YAY!

On a more serious note, I'd like to thank all of you for reading and posting to this thread. I never thought that all those years ago I'd actually complete even the first draft of this thing. Actually, all of those years ago it wasn't even a story, it was just some random musings that morphed into a story.

You've done a great job Ice, been a real pleasure going on the ride with you.

Gitsplitta you deserve extra kudos, you've been reading since the very beginning.

Before I start posting the next stage of the project, which will much faster then the first stage, I'd like to pose a question. Depending on how I do all of the reediting, do you guys think I should go back and edit my original posts or leave them as is? It would probably be more beneficial to those who are just now finding my fiction but I want your opinions before I alter anything.

When it gets published... send me a signed, first edition.

Leave your original posts as-is. Very educational and inspiring to watch your journey as a writer unfold. You can always post the completed work later.

I second that. Leave the posts as is, then have the "edited" version available elsewhere. It shows the evolution of the story and your writing skills!

Really thrilled to have seen this all unfold. Even though I rarely comment (habitual Lurker, you see...), I never miss a post!

Cant wait to see where the Angels go from here!

Thanks Ramos! It's nice to see you post.

I think what I'll do is add some links on my first post to various pages. I may repost the edited story in larger chunks as I go back through it all. Once completed I'll have to see if there is a way I can have a link to a downloadable file or something. I'm not sure what rules dakka has on that or how I'd even go about doing that. More on that later.

I agree with Ramos and Gitsplitta, it's been great and helpful to me as a writer and a reader to be able to watch your style and skill. Also i think the banter from the readers adds to the flavor at times

I too will be standing in line for a first edition

Epic, its been a great ride and sad to see book one come to a close. But I, along with all your readers cannot wait for the start of the second book.

The ending was very akin to Star wars the empire strikes back. Stuff is about to go down and no one knows anything.

Good gracious, this editing step is taking longer then I originally anticipated. I'm glad I leveled up my writing skills. You guys definitely get some serious kudos for sticking with my story after reading these earlier posts. I decided to move several short stories and blurbs into a group of appendices. As I think about the overall story, I think I'm going to break it into Acts. I'm not entirely sure where the breaks will be yet but that's my idea.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

BEYOND THIS POINT, THE STORY IS BEING REPOSTED AFTER BEING EDITED.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ooooh oh, maybe that'll be the time for me to finally get to read it

Was this really 4 years ago?

We never got a game in, haha

Yggdrasil wrote:Ooooh oh, maybe that'll be the time for me to finally get to read it

I agree!

Metrosh wrote:Was this really 4 years ago?

We never got a game in, haha

Wow Metrosh, welcome back. We still need to get that game in. It's funny how little of this game I actually spend playing. It's nice to see that 50% of your posts have been on this thread, btw.

#Successful log on: Welcome Brother Jaska
#Data Archives: Access Granted

*begin transmission*

Name: Ice Angel Chapter

Home world: Shattermantle

Founding: Third generation successor chapter from the Blood Angel line

Current Leader: Chapter Master Librarian Duggon

Specialties: hive warfare, close quarter specialists, zero gravity warfare

Campaigns: Cleansing of Lynx system, Third Black Crusade, Hive Fleet Leviathan

Status: At full strength, currently assisting Death Spectres in the Ghost Star System

*PURGED FROM RECORD***

*Inquisitor Xandel: Ice Angel Chapter under suspicion of using xenos technology and consistently dodging inquisitorial visits. They have impressive history of victories, but their methods have lead to several investigations. ****

*Ultramarine Company Captain Sicarius: Ice Angel chapter close combat ferocity and rapid deployment of assault troops in the defense of Kruggar IV saved the planet. However, company organization does not comply with the sacred Codex Astartes. I recommend an inquiry to their commander for an explanation. *****

Background record 797-38=JL41:
Information from Mentor Chapter records, compiled from Brother Matticus of the Honored Fourth Company

The planet of Shattermantle was a mining planet, located furthest from the sun in the Artaxerex system. The entire population lived in underground hive cities, mining highly valuable minerals near the core of the planet. Extreme cold and intense storms make the surface inhospitable, only several gate cities dotted the surface. A single moon circled Shattermantle called Xibyran, covered in industrial complexes and expansive space ports.

Many centuries ago, shortly after the Ice Angel chapter returned from Abaddon’s Second Black Crusade, the chapter returned to the Artaxerex system. During their approach to Shattermantle an unknown space hulk appeared out of warp on a collision course with Shattermantle. The space hulk, which equaled the size of their home world, smashed into Shattermantle right before their eyes. The astronomical impact pushed the hulk planet conglomeration out of its regular orbit and deeper into space. More than half of the planet’s population was dead within minutes of impact. The Ice Angels soon learned the space hulk had been occupied by several xenos races; a large chaos cult to Slaaneesh, a group of Dark Eldar pirates, and a large war band of Orks called BludNnuklez Bandeetz.

Nearly every Ice Angel ship and imperial vessels in the system docked with the planet or hulk and began searching for pockets of survivors and creating new defenses against the hulk’s ferocious denizens.

Shattermantle was now as much planet as space hulk. The Ice Angels struggled to get to the civilians as massive power failures and geological instability plagued the planet. During the fighting that followed, the chapter discovered remnants of an Imperial Guard regiment along with three squads of Mantis Warriors, ***** PURGED FROM RECORD *****, ***** PURGED FROM RECORD *****, ***** PURGED FROM RECORD *****, and a squad of Deathwatch marines. These other regiments had been sent to investigate the space hulk when it had previously appeared in Imperial Space. According to Sergeant ***PURGE*** of the Imperial Guard Regiment ***PURGE**** they had only been in warp translation for three days, yet the Imperial calendar had progressed three years.

Shattermantle was floating in space for several months under constant warfare before it once again disappeared into the warp, taking the entire Ice Angel chapter with them but leaving behind the moon of Xibyran. With aid from the local Mechanicum faction, the moon settled into a new orbit around the fourth planet in the system, Sipparakki. Xibyran continues to be an industrial moon and space hub for the system.

While in the warp, the Ice Angels and the survivors combined to cleanse the hulk and rebuild their cities. According to the Ice Angels, the Chaos Cult was using ****RECORD EDITED BY UNKNOWN USER**** to move through the warp. The cleansing of the hulk took nearly 36 years, but when they declared it purged of heretics and xenos, the Ice Angels possessed one of Imperium’s largest warp bound vessels. Per Ice Angel records, they floated in the warp for a span of 386 years before they were able to control the hulks mass and return it to real space. Upon re-entering real space they discovered they had only been gone 17 years per Imperial Calendar. The extended exposure to warp energies resulted in large scale mental illnesses among the populace along with higher rate of mutation and birth defects. Total population of Shattermantle was less then 10% of its original figure before the impact.

*Master Kargerplakk of Mars Mechanicum: This is one of the longest confirmed time shifts in Imperium history. It is a well-known fact that traveling through the warp is through space AND time, but few official reports have a discrepancy of this magnitude. Upon hearing of this hulk and warp travel, a contingent of Mechanicum was sent to investigate this dark technology. Once we had arrived we were informed that the warp technology was lost during re-entry into real time. ******


*end transmission*


*opening imperial record**

subject – Artaxerex system – record 797-38=YI73

System Information – 4 planets circle one class B star, Agade
Zadlin is the closest planet, barren rock with limited mineral use
Kassitii is the second planet, a gas giant
Naram and Sipparakki the two furthest planets have been successfully terraformed to sustain life,
Floating in between Naram and Sippar is a massive asteroid belt, the Shatt-el-Hai
Shattermantle was the fifth planet before merging with a hulk, see 797-38=JL41

*close record**


*opening imperial record***

Subject – Shatt-el-Hai

17th largest known in-system asteroid belt, located in Artaxerex system

The Artaxerex Imperial Fleet station, Agade’s Chakra, is in the belt along with several mechanicum solar forges and several mining facilities. The Ice Angel chapter has their primary space fortresses in the belt, the Frost Forge.

The Shatt-el-Hai asteroid belt is home to several species of abyssal drakes. This belt contains the highest concentration of abyssal drakes in the Imperium. Nearly 90 percent of the belt is deemed unsafe for imperials due to drake activity. Four human tribes inhabit the belt outside imperial safe zones living off the drakes and trading with the system planets.

Once every 7.3 years, Imperial calendar (10 years system calendar), the four tribes gather for the Assiblyo-Qua. A hunting game that originally determined which tribe can claim certain territorial rights. Now, this hunt also contains matches for those who wish to become an Ice Angel.

*close record***

Appendix Assault Squad Uttuakki, Brother Miqit

Of all of his close battle brothers, Brother Miqit was the most patient.

Through numerous campaigns his patience has been one of his greatest strengths. He first discovered the importance of patience as an Ice Angel neophyte in the Siptik Wars, silently waiting for days in ship debris for the rebellious Howling Bat Brigade to disembark and inspect. As they did, the scouts fired tracker beacons, timed bombs, and other various devices onto the unsuspecting ships before launching surprise assaults.

Nearly nineteen decades have past since Brother Miqit has become a full battle brother, now one more trial is testing his patience. The veteran Squad Uttuakki had its own trial and he was determined to pass it. Step one was simple, be allowed to participate in the trial through heroic deeds. Step two was a bit more interesting.

In the asteroid belt of Shatt-el-Hai, Abyssal Drakes by the millions lived and fed. There were dozens of different species all of which have different strengths and weaknesses, but at this time Brother Miqit was only looking for one kind. The dreaded Ice Dangler Drake.

At the edge of a large conglomeration of ice shards, Brother Miqit waited. Ice Danglers were known to lay in wait in similar locales. They would hide in the outskirts of the ice fields and surrounded themselves with some of the rock shards using their tentacles to hold them in place. When fully surrounded they looked no different then the nearby floating debris. Once set they would regurgitate or capture a smaller drake and hold it next to their rocky forms using it as bait for their real target, a goliath drake, a pwafu’fu gon, or a space vessel.

Brother Miqit had taken nearly 18 hours just to find a good ice field. For the past 46 hours he had been waiting trying to locate one of these Ice Danglers, hoping to see one strike at one of the lesser drakes. In the field before him there appeared to be four smaller species of drakes in the ice field feeding off minerals in the ice and each other.

After taking a look at his chronometer in his HUD he began to recite his liturgies while checking over his gear. First he examined his bolt pistol, the white body just as clean as the day he had received it. He holstered the pistol before pulling out his combat knife. The ornate hilt was formed to resemble feathered wings while the handle ended in a light blue ice shard. Next he moved onto his 4 meter magna spear. The long weapon was to heavy and large to use in any atmosphere but in space the spear was perfect for piercing the armored sides of the large drakes. Finally he reexamined the tip of the spear making sure the thermal charge was still ready to deliver its death blow.

As he completed his check a shadow slid over his hidden position. A 14 meter Cobalt Drake glided over head, propelled by its own gaseous discharge, the Cobalt Drake was known for its speed and ferocity. As the smaller drakes began to hide or flee the Cobalt Drake expelled a burst of gas so powerfully that Miqit’s asteroid began to rotate. Miqit waited for his rock to fully come around before moving. As the ice field came back into view he saw that the Cobalt Drake had a firm grasp on a smaller Speckled Dust Drake. The spotted winged drake was already dead from the Cobalts metallic talons. Through several smaller bursts the Cobalt Drake away from the edge of the ice field and began to tear off the tough outer shell of the dust drake.

While holding his magma spear in both hands he watched, this is what he was waiting for. As the Cobalt Drake concentrated on its meal, a conglomeration of debris changed its trajectory and began to move from below the ice field. As the form got closer it began to shed its rocky shell to reveal its monstrous form. Tentacles unfurled as its solar wings expanded. The thick membrane blocked out the star light from below.

For reasons unknown, Miqit hesitated. He never hesitated. The central orb of the drake was 20 meters in diameter but the wings were at least another 25 meters wide. The sheer size of the Ice Dangler was staggering. The eye stalks on the Ice Dangler Drake were all focused on the Cobalt Drake. He had to make his move. He had to intercept the Dangler at the moment the drakes met.

Using his jump pack he launched off his asteroid. Silently he leapt from his position. With both hands on his spear he began to line up his thrust. He only had one chance. Even though he was moving quickly through space it seemed like a silent eternity before he reached the drakes. The Ice Dangler Drake let out a psychic screech of anticipation just as he got into range of the Cobalt Drake. The Cobalt attempted to burst away from the mental shock wave but two of the Danglers tentacles grabbed his wings before it could flee.

Regardless, the burst was enough to change the drake’s trajectories. Brother Miqit fired his pack to adjust but it was too late. As he thrust his spear at the Dangler, instead of a deep piercing attack it became a glancing blow. The thermal charge went off destroying the end of the spear along with one of the Danglers wings. The contained blast also halted Miqit’s forward motion.

The psychic screech turned into a scream of pain. Miqit’s head throbbed from the mental assault. The Cobalt Drake took this opportunity to slash and burst out of the grasp of the Dangler, but the Danglers tongue spear pierced the cobalts body and began to reel him back in. The Ice Dangler began to look around its own bulk. Its eye stalks tried to locate Miqit. Once it had, it began to rotate to bring about its other tentacles. Knowing that his best chance to kill the beast had passed, he patiently waited once again for the right opportunity to strike. Pulling out his pistol and knife he recited a prayer to the Emperor and Sanguinius. The remaining solar wing of the beast blocked out the suns light, leaving Miqit to stare down the beast in the dark. The first tentacle firmly grasped Miqits leg. His heads up display was beginning to blink with warning lights as the powerful tentacle tightened its grip.

The Dangler had too many eyes to fire at and too tough a hide to shoot at with his pistol. An inferno pistol or similar melta weapon would be better but those were against the rules of the ritual.

Seeing that the Dangler had already used his tongue spear on the cobalt drake, the Dangler reached out with another one of its eyed tentacles to grasp Miqit. The Dangler was beginning to crack the cobalts shell with its jaws when Miqit lined up his attack. The inside of the Danglers mouth was its weakest point. As the eyed tentacle pulled him in he stabbed the eye with his knife and fired a full clip into the beasts’ mouth. The tentacle whipped out of the Danglers mouth. The psychic screech returned while Miqit reloaded his pistol with angelic speed. The Dangler shoved Miqit into its mouth and tried to crush him with renewed vigor, but the bulk of the Cobalt body was keeping giving Miqit enough room to avoid the majority of the crushing teeth. Despite that, he had only moments before both he and cobalt drake were crushed into mush.

Miqit stuck his blade into the side of the beasts’ mouth and began to fire every bullet in his remaining clip into the beast. Chunks of flesh and gore began to fill the mouth. The pressure built and he felt the metal of his jump pack begin to buckle. When he had expended the clip he realized the pressure from the jaws had ceased. The beast wasn’t moving any more and neither were the eye tentacles that he could still see in space.

Once again Miqit prayed to Sanguinius and thanked his blessed bolt pistol. After several minutes he extracted himself from the body of the Ice Dangler. Removing his jump pack he examined the damage and discovered that one jet was still functional. After putting the jump pack back on he grabbed the remaining wing of the Ice Dangler and began to jet through space dragging the Dangler behind him.

When he returned to Shattermantle he would gift the Ice Dangler to Sergeant Muttabriqu and if found worthy, Muttabriqu would share a cup of the Danglers cold blood with Miqit making him part of the veteran unit.




Appendix – Brother Mi-luqua Vaz, tactical marine of Squad Kujara

“Vaz, movement from the hatch on your two, move to engage, I’ll cover” Balathu commanded.

The only response Vaz gave was an affirmative blip sent through his HUD. He turned and was moving towards the hatch in a split second. Two of his battle brothers laid down covering fire while he advanced. The hatch was built into a wall that supported one of the sky platforms docking pads. The metal floor he covered was a mess of rust spots and blood, ork blood. Vaz came upon a large exhaust pipe and took cover. The pipe was bent at an odd angle as if the pipe had hit by a vehicle. The black smog was pouring out the end like a volcano spewing ash.

Two loud clangs were followed by a bellowing yell. The hatch swung open and almost fell off its hinges as a massive armored ork stepped out. The yellow armored greenskins right arm ended in some sort of cannon that belched rounds as big as a marine’s fist. Vaz kept his head down behind the smog and saw the destruction the ork was creating on the Ice Angel position as the deep staccato of the weapon rattled off rounds.

The ork stomped forward and walked past the exhaust pipe. Using the smog as cover Vaz rounded the other side of the pipe. No other orks were exiting the wall hatch that he could see. The ork had taken several more thundering steps and was laying a hail of fire towards the tactical squad. The orks other arm ended in a snapping shear that could easily slice through ceramite.

Vaz stepped away from the pipe and aimed his bolter. In a split second he had fully examined the orks heavily modified body armor. The only weakness he could spot was the ammo feeder and some patches over the orks right shoulder.

He fired two shots into the ammo feeder and two into the patch. The ork lurched forward as the small explosion rocked his armored form. Yellow checkered pieces fell to the ground and oil sprayed into the air. Vaz lowered his bolter as the ork slowly pivoted around. The orks gun arm was limp on its side and gray smoke was oozing out of the ruined ammo feeder. The orks bionic eye was nothing more then a laser sight but its good eye was glaring at Vaz with a level of hate that displayed how much that gun meant to him.

The Ork’s pincer lunged forward as the ork leapt at Vaz. The marine tumbled to his left to avoid the two ends of the snapping blades. The ork bellowed in rage as Vaz landed and followed his next step with a thrust towards Vaz’s black armored stomach. With few options available to him Vaz smacked away the huge metallic block that housed the snapping mechanism with his bolter. The upper blade scratched his armor as his bolter slammed into the jagged metal that housed the blades. The bolter had been pierced by a piece of the jagged metal.

The ork growled and twisted its wrist. The simple motion tore the honored bolter out of Vaz’s hand. The gun stayed attached to the orks replacement hand and for a moment the sounds of the firefight around them raised in volume. Other orks were moving up to engage the outnumbered tactical squad but the members of Squad Kujara answered with support fire.

Vaz took a glimpse down at his sacred combat blade when the ork quick stepped towards him. Vaz danced around the orks thrust and punched the ork several times in what he thought was thin armor. It turned out to be solid metal. The ork began to laugh and went for an over head chop. Vaz stepped in towards the chop and uppercut the ork. His fist connected with the orks metal jaw with such force that the implanted jaw tore out on one side and dangled at a peculiar angle. Drool and hydraulic fluid hemorrhaged onto the floor.

Despite the wound the ork grabbed at Vaz and got a hold of his back pack with his forearm length pincers. Instead of resisting the move Vaz let the ork pick him up. The ork motioned to toss him towards the edge of the sky platform when Vaz reached out and grabbed the corner of the orks dangling jaw. The greenskins good eye bulged as his toss almost tore off the rest of his own jaw. Vaz’s feet had barely touched the ground before he leapt back up into the orks face. This time Vaz punched his fist through the orks unprotected mouth into its brain. The ork had a look of utter shock before his eye rolled back into his head and he fell backwards onto the platform. The floor shook from the impact of the armored corpse.

Vaz once again looked down at his sacred dagger. His bloody hand was instinctively resting on its hilt. He began to remember the nightmare that shamed his honor when ork fire grazed his armor once again. Mi-Luqua Vaz was once again diving for cover and soon had his bolt pistol in his hand. These orks were not worthy of his rage, his blade would have to wait for another day, a day that would most likely be his last.





Appendix – Ancient Honored Brother Frakatuzuli

With a hiss and a quite kurr-chunk the sarcophagus sealed itself into the dreadnought frame. Several lights on the wall panels lit up blue and orange while other lights began to blink with increasing speed. Four armored plates covered over the sarcophagus to protect the ancient passenger. Techmarine Brother Philosir stood behind the dreadnought checking its system. He looked out of place in his red plated artificer armor but his servo arms worked the panels with a sense of familiarity.

Half a dozen servitors worked in the room readying the venerable dreadnought suit. Its black armor was oiled and prepared for battle; its hunter killer missile bays were fully loaded. The right arm was a four fingered close combat weapon with built in a pair of built in meltaguns, the left arm was still unattached. In the hall across from the dreadnought stood one more marine, 2nd Captain of the Ice Angel Chapter, Ruusa. He wore ornate corvus power armor. It was black like all other members of the chapter. A long blue cape draped down his back. His pointed helmet was light blue and a zero gravity jump pack was strapped across his back. Even though Captain Ruusa was in his armor, fully prepared for battle, he only stood a third as tall as the dreadnought.

Two servitors rolled up to the dreadnought and detached large cables from its rear paneling. As they placed the cables back on the wall Brother Philosir said a prayer to the Omnissiah. Cherubs floated about the rooming singing and swinging incense. As he completed his prayer he pushed one final key before turning to the dreadnought.

Most of the remaining cables detached themselves from the suit and the dreadnought appeared to take a deep breath. The wide glass slit on the sarcophagus shield began to glow with an eerie blue light.

Brother Philosir stepped in front of the dreadnought and bowed his head. “Ancient One, I hope your slumber was peaceful. “

The dreadnought flexed its one attached arm and leaned forward to look down at the red armored marine. “The slumber was as peaceful as it can be. May the Emperor bless your skills and constant vigilance.” The voice that came through the speaker system sounded like it was from an old poet, its Bhaalian accent was very thick.

Techmarine Philosir bowed once again before stepping away to complete his task.

“Brother Frakatuzuli, I am glad to have you with us once again.” Captain Ruusa stated.

“Ah, Second Captain” the dreadnought said while several small sensors deployed across his back “I take it we’re not at Shattermantle yet?”

“Unfortunately no, we have woken you for an important mission. We’ve been assisting an Imperial force that has been tasked with preventing the invasion of an Ork Waaaagh. A band of Space Wolves has been cleansing the planet while we’ve been purging space. I’d like you to……”

“Kill and destroy the xenos, yes yes. Since I am still missing an arm I assume I’m using the Anchor?” Frakatuzuli interrupted.

With a short chuckle at the ancient dreadnoughts assessment, Ruusa responded “You’re correct, would you like me to tell you about the mission or surprise you?”

With a hearty laugh the dreadnought shook the room. The last few cables detached and recoiled into the walls. “Fill me in on the ride over, just please tell me what made this mission so important.” He requested.

Captain Ruusa took a few steps back to give the dreadnought some room. “Squad Uttuakki infiltrated one of the medium sized rokks and returned with a wounded space marine from another chapter. He hasn’t woken from his wounds but should survive the ordeal. We think…..”

“AH, you want me to break into another Rokk so we can disable and search.” Frakatuzuli took a step forward. “Excellent idea Ruusa! I agree with you as usual.”
After one more step, the dreadnought suit was out of its docking station and the servitors began to reset the station for the suits eventual return. Brother Philosir walked around the dreadnought suit and gave one final blessing. He sprinkled some oil and lightly touched the armor as he prayed to the Omnissiah.

As Captain Ruusa watched the blessing he began to think back to the first time he saw Brother Frakatuzuli, more affectionately known in the Ice Angel Chapter as Frank. Back then the Captain was a newly initiated brother who had just joined his first tactical unit. Frakatuzuli was in his dreadnought suit even then and had been for thousands of years. Brother Frakatuzuli was the oldest marine in the chapter and the only true Blood Angel left. As memories of battles flashed through his mind Brother Philosir completed the blessing.

Franks first step brought Captain Ruusa back from his reverie. He stepped out of the dreadnoughts path and watched him march towards one of the elevators. Brother Philosir walked up and stopped next to the captain.

“You know captain, “he paused “I have seen star ships obliterate planets, titans cut down thousands of aliens in seconds. I have even seen xenos technology do unexplainable things but none of these leave me as awe struck as watching Brother Frakatuzuli at war.” Captain Ruusa nodded in agreement and responded “I am not sure if it’s his sheer power or the fact that he fought next to our blessed Primarch Sanguinius, but I agree.”

As the two Ice Angels stood in admiration, Brother Frakatuzuli reached the elevator and stepped in. The doors instantly closed behind him. The elevator moved downwards and then side ways to reach one of the securest parts of the ship. Deep inside the Frozen Rage was a specially designed vault, in it lay one of the Ice Angel’s oldest treasures. As the elevator doors opened Frank activated the magnetic stabilizers in his legs. This hidden vault had no atmosphere and was home to the Anchor.

The huge dreadnought took several steps down the well worn path towards the center platform. Lights along the wall began to spin as the floor began to shift and open up. Two rings with servo arms came up around Frank as he stopped on the platform. To his left a door on the floor opened and out came a huge claw like apparatus. In the claw itself was the Mark 0 Magna Grappler, known as the Anchor, the last of its kind.

The claw arm along with the servo arms moved and jostled into position while Frank stood motionless. In front of the massive dreadnought a single light flashed from red to green. The arms instantly went to work attaching the Anchor. Several onboard cameras pivoted to monitor the progress. Frank began to think back to the days when he first used the Anchor. After the Heresy the Blood Angels were split into smaller chapters. He became a member of the Angels Encarmine and after only a hundred years they had a small unit of specialists break off to form the current chapter, the Ice Angels. In one of their earliest wars they came across a sacred STC device. This device created the Mark 1 Magna Grapplers that most chapters now use, at least that’s what they told Mars.

The sacred STC actually created gigantic Magna Grapplers with four times the range and power of the standard issues ones used today. The built in melta system also fired as fast as a heavy bolter without any heating issues that plagued most melta weapons. The downside was that they could only be welded by much larger dreadnoughts and even then it was difficult to function unless in a vacuum. The STC created one grappler every seven days, but after six months of activity it suddenly died to never again awake. The Ice Angels created the current design and shared it with Mars and other chapters, but they have never been able to recreate the Mark 0 Magna Grapplers.

As the rings began to descend into the floor and the claw arm moved away, Frank ran a diagnostic on the Grappler before opening and closing the huge five pronged device. He powered up the built in meltabore systems before checking the chain recoil alignment.

Satisfied that everything was in working order he returned to the elevator and began his final journey to the dreadnought drop pod bay. It was time to visit an Ork Rokk.

Chapter 1 – The Uttuakki

In the silence he closed his eyes. He concentrated on the feeling of the harness holding him in place. He moved his right hand over to feel the meltagun Kwu-akki in its lock down position. He was honored to be wielding such an ancient and revered weapon. This was his first mission in the veteran Squad Uttuakki, he had been training with the squad for months during warp travel but he still felt a hint of excitement from the thought of warring with his new unit. He took a deep breath to push the emotion aside. It had no place in his thoughts on the eve of battle.

Miqit opened his eyes and looked up. Similar to all Ice Angel vehicles, the drop pod he was in was bathed in a blue light. To his right sat Bel Uri, combat leader and one of the oldest members of the unit. His right hand was encased in an orange powerfist that had slain countless xenos. To Miqit’s left sat Sarabda, then Tirid and Idiptu. They sat in a circle with their backs towards the center, each marine faced outwards ready to exit as soon as they landed.

Per unit tradition, instead of white weapons all of theirs were orange and each member had painted simple runes or designs on their helmets. Sarabda, who wielded the squad’s other meltagun, was the biggest marine in the squad but also the quietest. Despite months together Miqit couldn’t think of a single comment Sarabda had made to him outside of training exercises.

The boisterous Bel Uri took a deep breathe before beginning his mission checks. After a few seconds of system checks a prayer was sung by Idiptu. The moment the prayer was finished the soft blue light of the pod was interrupted by a flashing yellow light. They had entered the fire path of the rokk they were about to infiltrate.

Four other drop pods flew in silence towards the ork rokk while their ship, the Frozen Rage, was attacking from range on the other side of the enemy held asteroid ship. By the time the stealth drop pods were sited by the Orks the first was already adjusting its trajectory to land. The first pod hit the rokk and exploded, sending out an electromagnetic pulse to fry all electronics in the vicinity. The next two pods landed further away from the first. When they opened they unleashed explosive rounds into the nearby ork structures. The last two pods landed by the first pod and rapidly deployed the ten marines of the Uttuakki Squad.

Miqit, Bel-Uri, Tirid, Idiptu, and Sarabda headed towards the nearest Ork tower, light was still pouring out from under its wrecked form. Rabishu, Umru, Sidana, Bennu, and Sergeant Muttabriqu headed in the other direction towards the great Rokk hanger. Over the vox the sergeant Muttabriqu chimed in, “Brothers! Resistance appears to be light, let us show this xenos filth what mistake they have made by letting Ice Angels on their Rokk!”

The squad responded with affirmative blips. Upon reaching the base of the damaged tower, Miqit and Sarabda further opened up their entrance with some melta charges. Pieces of orks floated out into the void of space before the five marines pushed themselves through their new entrance. Once through a nearby air lock Bel Uri and Miqit split off towards the hanger while the other three marines went towards the generators. Squad Uttuakki progressed through much of the outer rokk before the intruder siren in the rokk had been activated.

* * * * * * * *

“How are you enjoying your first mission as an Uttuakki?” Bel Uri calmly asked from his crouched position. Miqit peaked around the back of the hemorrhaging tanker he was using as cover, the smell of some sort of sweet liquid seeped through his helmet filter. “I enjoy every mission in which I can serve the Emperor,” he managed to say before firing his meltagun at an incoming Ork with a crude flamer thrower. The blast incinerated the top half of its body.

“Miqit, I appreciate your vigilance but you are permitted to let some of them reach us. I will handle them,” Bel Uri said while clenching his powerfist. Miqit could hear the smile in his voice.

Ork shots continued to bounce all over the scrap pile he was using as cover.

“The Emperor gave us blessed bolt pistols; you should put yours to work.” Miqit replied as he moved back behind cover. The arms fire from the other side of the hanger was still heavy and keeping them from pushing forward.

Bel Uri was peaking over the top of his scrap metal pile when a side door about 60 feet from his flank flew off its hinges. Both Bel Uri and Miqit turned just in time to see a wave of Orks pouring out of the door. The lead ork was moving full speed towards them, his cleavers waved above his head. He snarled and shouted as he moved, his face was a mixture of hatred and joy.

“FOR SANGUINIUS!” Bel Uri responded as he leapt up from his crouch to meet the Ork charge. Miqit adjusted and tried to keep some cover between himself and the orks with guns, but he realized that he would soon be surrounded. With a prayer on his lips he charged in Bel Uri’s wake, quickly coming to his brother’s aid.

The lead ork crashed to the ground with his skull cleaved in from Bel Uri’s chainsword. The space marine danced and dove around the wave of muscular xenos. He was a blizzard of death, his chainsword parrying and deflecting blows while his powerfist destroyed everything he punched. The Ice Angel was far from the largest marine in the Ice Angel chapter, but the speed in which his chainsword and powerfist worked made him one of the best close combat specialists in the company.

Miqit turned with his back to Bel Uri firing his meltagun and bolt pistol at anything approaching from their flank. After a few seconds of close quarter fighting a dozen ork corpses had fallen around the pair of Angels. The remaining orks were breaking cover and turning to flee. Bel Uri begun to chuckle as he surveyed his handy work, Miqit immediately took cover behind the nearest piece of machinery searching for targets.

“Be calm brother, these orks are no match for the Astartes. This would be so much more entertaining if this Rokk hadn’t dropped all of its Orks on the planet surface already.” Bel Uri revved his chainsword, gore splattered across the floor. He turned towards the first door they were attempting to breach. Miqit reviewed the corpses. The greenskins were long arm aliens with a lust for battle. He had fought them countless times and the dead that lay before him were smaller then usual. Bel Uri was probably right, these were the remnants of the ork force that stayed behind to man the ship.

“Come Miqit, let us see if we can’t find our way through this filthy pile of space debris.”

Bel Uri jogged over to the door with Miqit right behind him. The lights in the fortified asteroid turned off leaving them in darkness. A gentle blue icon flicked on in both of their helmets, objective two had been completed. Sarabda, Tirid, and Idiptu had destroyed the generator system that was powering this section of the Rokk. As Bel Uri and Miqit began to silently move forward in the darkness the power suddenly came back online. Lights turned back on and the rumble of generators growled in the distance. The light blue light in their helmets turned back off. The objective wasn’t as completed as they thought.

As silently as snowflakes landing on ice, the two black armored figures moved through the halls attempting to reach their objective. Somewhere in this sector was a large hanger that they intended to open.

Bel Uri rounded a corner and dispatched a running snotling with a powered finger before pausing to look upon three tunnels. Miqit came up to Bel Uri and confirmed that nothing was behind him.

“Which way Brother Uri?” Miqit said while trying to read some of the ork graffiti.

Bel Uri pointed to the right with his chainsword as Miqit pointed to the path in front of them. Bel Uri cocked his head trying to determine why the middle path was chosen. That’s when he saw it. In red paint on a piece of rusted metal was “DA HNGER” Bel Uri took one step towards the center path when a large explosion erupted from their left. The hallway shuddered from the shock wave the explosion created. The explosion was followed by what must have been cannon fire. The rapid booms soon turned into what sounded like a building toppling over. Yellow flashing lights appeared in the bottom left of their HUD. Bel Uri and Miqit were immediately running full speed down the hall way towards the cannon fire.

“Bel Uri….. Miqit…. come in” an authoritative voice in their helmets sounded.

“Muttabriqu we are in bound, what in the Emperors throne is firing?!” Bel Uri asked.

A short pause in the cannon fire was interrupted by what sounded like someone tearing steel, the screaming metal soon turned into a loud plang.

“According to Umru you should be coming up right behind it, disable target immediately Rabishu is pinned and Bennu is missing.”

Quickly Bel Uri and Miqit rounded a corner and found themselves over looking a vast chamber. The hanger had hundreds of different floors and levels with cranes and equipment stretching in every direction. The vast space was so large they couldn’t even see it all. In the distance they could see the curve of the hanger that expanded all the way around this side of the Rokk. Across from them, the nearest closed hanger door appeared to be an extremely large metal mouth. Below them and to their right was what appeared to be the top half of a seven story mechanical ork built into the wall of the hanger like a gargoyle on an archaic castle. Its right arm ended in a large pitch fork and its left arm ended in a conglomeration of cannons all strapped together. It had its back to them; the cannons in its left arm were being reloaded by a gaggle of grots using all sorts of cranes and conveyor belts.

Bel Uri surveyed the elaborate scene quickly. Miqit grabbed his brother’s shoulder and pointed over to what appeared to be an ork space bomber waiting to be reloaded.

Without further hesitation they ran along the wall towards the bomber as fast as they could. According to the shouts the cannons were almost done being reloaded. Bel Uri and Miqit jumped down two stories onto another walk way. They were now on the same level as the bomber. Bel Uri burst onto the landing deck and bull rushed an unsuspecting ork who gave a loud grunt before being punched by a powerfist. The crackling energy of the weapon liquefied the greenskins chest and the impact shattered the few remaining bones in his torso.

Miqit went straight towards the metal brace holding the bomber in place and fired his meltagun. The shot disintegrated the metal and left only an orange glow. Bel Uri was searching for something else to kill when Miqit shouted “URI USE THE TRUCK!”

Pushing aside the anger of a missing brother, Bel Uri concentrated on figuring out how to start the truck. A hissing sound came from below them and Miqit saw the pitched fork arm of the mounted stompa course with energy. Looking further down the hanger, up against a destroyed section of wall, he witnessed three black armored marines scattering. The energy of the fork was building, its pitch almost reaching a level that he couldn’t hear.

A rumble behind him soon turned into a roar that shook the floor. Bel Uri was sitting behind the large truck. With a change in grumble he got the truck moving, it went about 30 feet before crashing into the back of the bomber. Using all the trucks power Bel Uri pushed the bomber over the edge of the docking bay towards the unsuspecting stompa. The plane crashed into the mechanical orks head and the resulting explosion ignited the cannons unused shells. Bel Uri stopped the truck on the edge of the hanger and not feeling that his job was done, got out and pushed the ork truck over the edge as well for good measure.

“Perfect timing Brothers!” Muttabriqu said into the vox. “Proceed to way point Phi”

A new way point appeared in their HUD. Leaving the hanger Miqit and Bel Uri began to move towards it. Killing a handful of grots as they passed, they descended several levels; the two Ice Angels left the normal metal hallways and were soon in a stone passage.

“This must be the asteroid center of the rokk.” Miqit stated “It may limit our communication range.”

Bel Uri flashed a HUD symbol for a halt before a handful of orks rounded the bend firing their guns. Rounds exploded off the walls and armor of the Ice Angels, unphased Miqit took aim and fired his meltagun at the closest ork, melting its gun along with the orks stomach and midriff. Bel Uri charged “FOR THE MANTLE!” he shouted as he met an ork in melee. Miqit moved up and with his left hand pulled out his bolt pistol and fired once taking out the light above Bel Uri’s head. Bathing the orks and marines in darkness the orks began to panic and fire sporadically. More orks were dying from friendly fire then from Miqit or Bel Uri. The sound of dying orks was soon replaced by the sound of running ones.

Bel Uri began to pursue when static filled his vox.

“repeat…… Muttabriqu repeat.” Bel Uri stated.

“Brot……s Bennu” the static filled voice said.
“Bennu! What is your position? Status?!” Bel Uri asked with urgency in his voice.

No response ever came but a new way point appeared on his HUD. Somewhere below him was Brother Bennu. Miqit and Bel Uri were once again moving but this time not towards way point Phi. Coming up to a shaft it seemed they were right above Bennu. A smoky haze was making visibility tough below them and a powerful stench was invading their armor. Miqit looked up to see the damage in the halls above them. Bel Uri monitored the haze below them looking for signs of movement.

“Bennu, report!” Bel Uri once again asked but this time using the outside speaker in his helm.

A cough from below was all the response they needed before both Miqit and Bel Uri were climbing down the shaft. In a matter of minutes they were down the shaft and peering into a large natural cavern. A pile of refuse filled the cavern nearly to the top and off to one side was the form of a crushed and damaged Ice Angel. Surrounding the armored form were nearly two dozen bodies of squigs.

“What happen to you Bennu, you look like a space wolf?” Miqit asked.

Bennu chuckled and then coughed, “The Emperor protects! However, I seemed to have fallen in a pit. Did you destroy that stompa?”

“Bel Uri dropped a bomber on it” Miqit stated. Bennu tilted his head quizzically.

“Status Bennu?” Bel Uri said while bending down to inspect his brother. Bennu had squig gore all over his hands up to his elbows. His leg was twisted at a horrible angle and most likely would have to be replaced. However his worst wound was his left side that was severely burnt and melted from arm pit to thigh.

“Broken leg, most of my left side is heavily damaged; I also am out of bolt pistol magazines and missing my chain sword.” Bennu stated blatantly.

Bel Uri nodded, handed over his bolt pistol ammo, and began to pick up Bennu. Miqit stepped away looking for Bennus chainsword and an exit. Climbing to the top of the refuse mound he saw what looked like a chainsword hilt. He pulled it out from the refuse and shook his head at what he saw. The hilt of the weapon was of space marine design but the biting teeth and body of the weapon had been replaced by wielded spikes that would never move.

Attaching it to his belt he moved away looking for a path. He saw several tunnels but only one looked clear enough to let them pass. Hearing his two brothers moving towards him he hoisted up his meltagun and moved towards the tunnel entrance. Bel Uri followed behind all while supporting Brother Bennu.

The tunnel was dark and after only a few bends no ambient light reached the walls. Miqit moved forward through the unfinished walls once again reciting a litany of patience. His steady breathing and steps only interrupted by the occasional crunch of garbage under his feet.

After a few more minutes of winding tunnels they were heading deeper into the rokk. The garbage under there feet was soon replaced with solid stone and the tunnel began to get thinner. Soon the three Ice Angels were moving sideways down the tunnel. Miqit, leading with his meltagun, turned one final tight corner before arriving in a chamber slightly larger then the hallway, with one sturdy looking dusty door.

Shoulder to shoulder the Marines stood. The door wasn’t quiet as tall as they were but wide enough for them to get through. Bel Uri got ready to open the door, Miqit prepared to move in, Bennu whispered a prayer to the Emperor. Bel Uri put some pressure on the door, realized it was locked, and then punched it with his powerfist. The old door exploded from the impact and before the shards had even reached the floor Miqit was in the room moving down the left side seeking a target. Bel Uri was in the door way holding Bennu up who was also seeking targets with his orange bolt pistol.

There may not have been any Orks to kill or maim but what they did find made the rage in all three marines begin to boil. They chanted a prayer to the Emperor in response.

The room was a stone chamber with a tall vaulted ceiling. Across from them was another door, much sturdier then the one they bashed in. It was held shut with some sort of bulky locking mechanism. Chains dangled from the ceiling and the room was dominated by some sort of machine with a handful of claw arms. On the center dais in the room was a mangled space marine, one of the claw arms was pinning him to the floor. There were a total of seven pits in the room; each one had the remains of a human or ork prisoner.

For several seconds, Miqit stood perfectly still wondering how any space marine could be captured by an Ork. Bel Uri was beginning to tremble with anger. Bennu began to chant the litany of inner piece. Realizing that Bennu was trying to help out Bel Uri, Miqit added his voice to the chant. The inner turmoil in Bel Uri began to subside and soon he was also chanting. After finishing the final verse, Bel Uri took a deep breath. He looked at Bennu. Nothing was said and even though their helmets were on, Miqit could tell that his two battle brothers were having a silent conversation.

*****

Bel Uri took a deep breath and assisted Bennu across the room towards the sturdy door. Miqit cautiously approached the marine under the claw. The naked space marine looked pale and sickly. Very precise cuts and wounds were all over his body. Massive bruising covered nearly all of his chest and face. Every single Imperial tattoo on his body was scarred over from various kinds of wounds and burns. It looked like he had a lot of broken ribs and one of his legs was broken and protruding at an awkward angle. His dark hair was matted with moisture and upon closer inspection he appeared to have several odd pins in his spine. The claw that was pinning him to the floor looked like it was meant to shear lumber; instead it had all sorts of rods and metal welded to it. One pincer had pierced the marine’s good thigh while the other pincer was mashing the marine’s arm to the floor.

Bel Uri sat Bennu down on some sort of engine block and turned, “Can you tell what chapter he is from Miqit?” he asked.

Miqit tried to gain some information from the tattoos but they were too destroyed to read. “No, he is too scarred and doesn’t seem to have any legible markings on him besides the aquila that I can make out. “ He leaned closer and examined the marine’s face. His one eye that wasn’t swollen seemed to be moving behind his eye lid. “Brothers! He still lives.”

“Leave no brother behind, “Bel Uri responded, “Can you carry him out of here Miqit?”

“Certainly, unarmored he shouldn’t even slow me down.” Miqi responded before further examining the claw. Following his gaze Bel Uri saw the controls for the claw weren’t far to his right. He moved over and saw that the panel looked as if it was taken from a chimera drive control unit. Over all of the buttons ork glyphs were drawn in blue ink. He pushed several and nothing happened, finally he found an unmarked switch that actually fired up the engine that Bennu was sitting on.

“By the Emperor!” Bennu said before hastily getting up off the quaking engine onto his good leg and hoping over by the door. He leaned against the wall for support. Miqit watched Bennu move. The wounded marine had to be in excruciating pain, but he never made a sound.

Now that the engine was on several of the buttons lit up, he quickly moved the claw up a few feet out of the marine’s body. As the claw exited his leg, Miqit examined the body once again before picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder. Miqi had the naked figure over his left shoulder and pulled his meltagun back out with his right arm.

“I think it is time we left this rokk, the Frozen Rage should be in position soon.” Bel Uri said while moving back to Bennu.
*****

“AAAAAAHHHHHH” was all the warning Bel-Uri needed. With Bennu in his right arm he sidestepped the diving ork with super human speed. Surprised at his reaction the ork jammed his big bladed axe into the floor where Bel-Uri was moments ago. Before the ork could pull the choppa out Bel-Uri was running him through with his chainsword. The orange tip of the blade hit the floor before being pulled back out. Blood sprayed into the air creating a red mist.

Three shots rang out from Bennu’s bolt pistol. An ork fell off a balcony above and landed not far from Bel-Uri’s latest victim. The long hallway was oddly shaped with several floors of balconies above, both walls looked to be exterior hulls of imperial vessels with balconies and passageways cut in. A trio of ork bodies now decorated the floor.

“I’m out” Bennu stated while scanning the balconies.

Miqit slid out of cover, crossed the hallway, and handed him his last clip. Bennu reloaded as Bel-Uri returned. “We must move on, now that we have signals again we should be able to reach waypoint Phi shortly.”

Miqit went back to his side of the hall and picked up the naked unconscious marine. His meltagun was in his off hand waiting patiently for a target. Bel-Uri, with Bennu, began to move down the hall as fast as they could manage when a distant explosion was heard. The lights in the hall dimmed and the light blue light in their HUD flashed on again.

Bel-Uri approached the corner to a hallway when a large garage door at the end of the hall opened awkwardly. Before the door was even half way open Miqit mag locked his meltagun and threw his last frag grenade into opening. The four marines were heading down the side hallway when the small explosion went off. The sound of screaming orks immediately followed.

At the next intersection, Miqit took up the lead. Bel-Uri was still assisting the wounded Bennu but they were setting a quick pace. They went through several blast doors before entering a vaulted chamber. The hexagon shaped room had four entrances and was tiered down two meters in the center of the room; some sort of control panel was dormant in the center. All around the perimeter were short metal walls that were welded to the floor. 30 maybe 40 ork bodies littered the room; most had been bashed or crushed by what looked to be powerfist attacks. To their right Sergeant Muttabriqu stood.

Muttabriqu had been squad leader for nearly eighty years. His armor was covered with purity seals and his pointed corvus helmet had a large wavy orange line painted vertically over his left eye. His powerfist crackled and his plasma pistol still smoked from its most recent discharge.

“Welcome brothers” he said. His smooth voice sounded calm and confident as always. “We must move to our exit immediately, the orks are finally beginning to organize their counter assault. “

He paused “Who are you carrying Brother Miqit?” he said quizzically.

“We found this prisoner after we located Brother Bennu. He is deep in his recovery trance but the Emperor has granted him another chance.” Miqit responded with a shrug.

“Where was….” The sound of boots and shouting orks interrupted Muttabriqu’s sentence. He stared down the hall away across from him. “Hanger is behind me, move.”

Without hesitation the marines moved past Muttabriqu and he quickly followed.

They traveled a short distance before passing through another blast door which led them into a staging area. Nearly every door lining the walls was damaged or had scrap in it like the orks were stockpiling metal. They headed to their right. The hallway they were traversing was large enough for a land raider to fit in but there was little cover besides some random truck or tank parts that were strewn about.

In front of them an explosion blew out a door larger then a rhino. The door flew across the hall with a clang. Before the smoke had begun to dissipate Tirid and Idiptu stepped into the hall. They scanned in both directions searching for targets with their bolt pistols. Their black armor was covered in soot and grease. The light blue trim of their armor and the orange of their weapons was lost under the dirt.

“Perfect timing as always” Bel-Uri shouted. Sarabda walked out from the hallway behind them, nearly half a head taller then Tirid and Idiptu, his chest plate was heavily damaged and the barrel of his meltagun was sheared off.

Sarabda was the quietest of Squad Uttuakki but the speed in which he tactically assessed situations was nearly precognizant. He moved towards Bel-Uri and took Bennu in order to allow Bel-Uri the use of both hands.

“Muttabriqu, the Frozen Rage is twelve minutes out. We have secured transport but according to my scans they are gathering on the perimeter of the hanger. “Umru stated through the vox.

“We are in route Brother, eta four minutes.” Muttabriqu responded.

Without words spoken or commands given, Muttabriqu and his marines ran down the hall in a practiced formation. The unencumbered marines moved ahead and peered down any open doors or passageways. Sarabda ran with Bennu in his arms as if he were a child, Bennu still wielded two bolt pistols.

As they approached the end of the hall they entered once again into the vast hanger. Smoke billowed into the hanger, destroyed weapons and bombed out vehicles dotted several platforms. The vast mouth that protected the hanger was now open, only the power field now protected the hanger from space. Shots rang out to their left and when they looked over they saw a platform above them being peppered with fire. Muttabriqu took point and began to wind a path up the wall crossing empty platforms and rumbling machines.

The marines had covered nearly half the distance when an ork scream came over the speaker system and rang through the hanger. “KILL DA HUMIES! WAAAAAGH” In response hundreds of ork voices bellowed out their rage. Orks began to poor in from doors and openings on nearly every level.

“Up two more, over to the ship, and then down from above it. Tirid, Idiptu and Bel-Uri rear guard. Move” Muttabriqu said to his unit over the vox with cold precision.

After a few more platforms they could see clearly the ship that their fellow brothers had commandeered. It appeared to be a rebuilt thunderhawk. Some of the old yellow paint could still be seen under the bulky metal plates the orks had installed. One wing was entirely built from a heavy xenos material that made the wing sag giving the entire ship a sad look. The main turret on top had also been replaced by what looked like a chimera autocannon turret. The front end of the once proud vessel had been rebuilt and instead of having a front ramp there were two side by side demolisher cannons covered in red paint.

At point, Muttabriqu was dispatching the few orks that got in their way, but most of the action was going on behind them. Bel-Uri was in hand to hand with what looked to be a constant stream of orks coming out of a side tunnel they had just passed. Tirid and Idiptu were killing all of the orks that spilled out around Bel-Uri with bolt pistol or chainswords. Idiptu was beginning to chant a battle hymn, his beautiful voice raising everyone’s spirits.

In front of them and now down a level Rabishu and Sidana were laying down a constant stream of fire from heavy weapons that were mounted on the short walls of the platform. The ork contraptions they were firing were horribly inaccurate but shot out such large caliber ammo that it had torn up a lot of the surrounding platforms. Rabishu was trembling from the constant rumble his cannon was causing. They were surrounded but the orks had no easy way to reach the platform with the thunderhawk without walking in front of the rumbling guns.

Only one platform away before Muttabriqu and his men were directly above the thunderhawk pad. Miqit was fourth in the row of marines hustling along. Muttabriqu paused on the thin platform by a recessed ladder. He urged Sarabda and Bennu to climb down. The empty platform looked more like a dock stretching straight out into the void of the hanger. It was wide enough for two dreadnoughts to stand side by side.

Sharp whistles sounded below and the explosions that followed shook their platform. The high pitched retort of autocannon fire responded. The hanger lit up with a bright light as something exploded on a distant platform. Sarabda and Bennu disappeared down the ladder moving towards the thunderhawk. Miqit was about to move down when the doors on the adjacent platform opened up. Out stumbled an ork machine with a large claw arm and some sort of wide mouth cannon. Its torso pivoted before firing at Muttabriqu.

The Sergeant of the Uttuakki put up his fist to protect his helmet. The ammo that peppered his form appeared to be scrap metal with a few stikkbombs in the mix. It stuck in his armor and one particularly large piece tore off part of his back pack. The reloading mechanism on the killa kan was already dumping more “ammo” into the cannon. Muttabriqu was about to launch over when Miqit came running past. Miqit jumped from their platform towards the kan. Kwu-akki was in his hands. His jump sent him flying over the space between the platforms. He leveled his meltagun and waited until the last moment. The claw arm began to reach out to grab him but at the last second Miqit fired the holy Kwu-akki. The shot went into the visor of the kan and out the back creating a cylinder of vanishing material. He then crashed right into the kan knocking it onto its back.

Miqit stood up and looked back at Muttabriqu who nodded his head in approval when a hail of scrap metal shot and bounced all over the downed kan. Two more kans were hobbling onto the platform from the open garage. Miqit took cover behind the downed kan when Muttabriqu jumped the gap and engaged the closest kan. Its claw awkwardly lurched forward but Muttabriqu easily battered the attack away.

By now Sarabda and Bennu had reached the thunderhawk. Tirid had picked up the unconscious marine and carried him down to get him into cover. Bel-Uri and Idiptu were still holding off the orks approaching from the other side.

Muttabriqu was evading the killa kans clumsy attacks. When the moment was right he slid around the kan, out of the klaws reach, and began to tear apart exposed wiring and punching with his powerfist into the kans back. Miqit waited until the other kan turned to face Muttabriqu before popping up from cover and taking out one of its legs with his meltagun. Kwu-akki sang with a constant hiss as he fired twice more. One silenced the kans cannon arm. The other disintegrated the back of the kan. High pitched screams of pain echoed from within the kan.

Down the open hall more orks were approaching. Miqit took up a good firing position when Muttabriqu threw the last of his grenades down the hall. “We must move brother, time is running short.” Muttabriqu stated. The thunderhawk fired up its engines and several heavy bolters mounted on side sponsons began to search for targets before spitting out destruction.

Ice Angels ran and jumped towards the ladder platform when the grenades silenced the charging orks. Bel-Uri was already moving down and Idiptu was covering him when they arrived. Idiptu stayed until all of the marines were below him before he jumped down the ladder. The fire onto the thunderhawk gunship had increased and the ship had taken several hits. A large metal plank fell off the ships side onto the platform from the ork fire.

“Emperor protect this Thunderhawks soul so it may deliver us once more,” Idiptu sang as he moved. He ran onto the downed ramp into the ship before Rabishu and Sidana gave up their firing positions and joined them. The Thunderhawk was now firing in every direction its cannons could. Tirid sat in an exposed bubble on the top manually firing the twin linked autocannon turret at the surrounding orks.

As the ramp closed, several large inner claws clamped over the ramp and held it tight. Two more blast doors separated the marines from the exit now. The inner most room held Bennu, the unconscious marine, Miqit and Sarabda. Umru and Muttabriqu were in the cockpit. The other marines were throughout the ship manning weapon controls.

The thunderhawks engines began to rev up. The lumbering behemoth picked up off the platform. The landing gear whined and failed to move into the belly of the ship. The ship began to list to one side before Umru sent the ship forward out into space. Before they crossed the power field Umru sent a signal to blow out the remaining charges he had set. The field protecting the hanger failed with a pop. All of the unprotected orks along with debris and scrap in the hanger were sucked out into space. The smoke and atmosphere quickly dissipated as the vehicle fires were sucked out.

As the hawk sped up away from the Orkk Rokk the ship passed a stream of small missiles followed up by one large missile the size of their thunderhawk. Umru pushed the vehicle to its maximum speed. The smaller missiles entered the now unprotected hanger and exploded against the rock walls of the hanger. The larger missile went through the damaged structure into the asteroid core of the Rokk. When it exploded the entire vessel was blown into pieces. Debris peppered the fleeing thunderhawk and Umru was forced to make a sudden dip to avoid a larger piece of asteroid but no serious damage was sustained to their questionable ship.

The Squad all cheered for another successful mission and for the Emperors grace. Miqit sat down next to the wounded marine and once again took a moment to examine him.

“Squad Uttuakki, this is Captain Ruusa, excellent work! The Emperor shines his light upon you as always.”

“The Emperor shines his light on all Ice Angels, Second Captain.” Muttabriqu responded.

“Casualties?” the captain asked.

“No casualties but we have several wounds and we have located a prisoner marine.” He responded.

“Hanger seventeen is clear for your landing” a servitor from the Frozen Rage chimed in.

As the orkified thunderhawk finished its journey from the rubble of the Rokk towards the Frozen Rage the members of Squad Uttuakki gathered in the core of the vessel. Bel-Uri was already weaving a tale of their mission. Tirid and Idiptu were adding in their own flavor as usual. Miqit was about to say something when a scar on the downed marines back caught his eye. The scar was done with a delicate knife and it was no larger then a bolter round. A series of three runes caught his attention. They did not have the look of any ork glyph he had ever seen. Concentrating for a second, Miqit committed the runes to memory before rejoining the tale his brothers were weaving.

Chapter 2 - Assault on Rokk Mekaroid

“Frakatuzuli, incoming craft on your four” a voice on the vox calmly spoke.

Without moving his legs the huge matte black dreadnoughts torso turned 120 degrees. The targeting array between his shoulders confirmed the target and fired off two streaking missiles from his shoulder launchers. The Ork vessel began to return fire just as the missiles slammed into its nose. The explosion tore it in two and the parts flew right over the Ice Angel position. As the ork bits flew through space the dreadnought turned back around and continued its march across the surface of the Ork Rokk known as the Mekaroid.

The Orks had put up a tough defense, unlike all the other rokks in the system, this one was full of angry orks who fled the planet after being defeated by the combined Imperium forces. Currently the Ice Angels were attempting to infiltrate the rokk and disable as many weapon systems as they can so more forces could easily assault the rokk.

After deploying 48 marines onto the surface, the assault force quickly moved towards a large complex that ringed a cargo bay. Squad Uttuakki, Squad Shwando, and Captain Razzik had already split off and infiltrated the Rokk through a damaged air lock, while the remaining marines moved up on the surface. The orks were slowly mounting a defense; the space around the assault force was already full of floating debris and bodies.

Above the Ice Angel position a battle raged between the Ice Angel ship the Frozen Rage, seven other imperial ships, and a large host of Ork transports fleeing the surface of the planet below.

“Squad Rimsin, move up and take the tower.” Captain Ruusa said into the vox. The only response was a short green blip on his HUD. A five man combat unit came out of cover and began to lay down covering fire with their bolters. The remaining five members of the tactical squad ran towards the complex at the base of the tower under the covering fire. Captain Ruusa watched for a moment before turning his attention back to Techmarine Philosir and Brother Frakatazuli the Venerated Chapter Elder. Frakatazuli had been interred in his dreadnought suit for over one millennium and was a walking icon to the chapter.

Brother Frakatazuli was three times the height of all of the other marines on the rokk, his bulk covered in reinforced armor plating, sensor arrays, and weapons. His left arm was a huge chained projectile called the Anchor, his right arm a powerful rotating fist. Ahead of the dreadnought a hundred yards away a ramshackle building with two sets of sliding doors shook. The two doors opened within seconds of each other. Out came a handful of orks carrying various shaped rocket launchers. They spread out and took aim at the bulky dreadnought. Frank squatted down as best he could before firing the anchor at a huge piece of wing that floated through space above him. As the anchor grabbed hold and began to reel in, the orks fired their missiles. Many exploded on the wing while others misfired or missed the dreadnought all together. Using the wing as a shield Brother Frakatazuli continued his slow walk towards them, waiting for them to get in range of his short range multi-melta systems and chest mounted hurricane bolters.

After the missiles had been fired squad Kurigulzu, the other tactical unit, along with Captain Ruusa and Techmarine Philosir moved up around the dreadnought and fired on the new orks. The orks were torn apart but not before they launched another volley of rockets. One rocket landed at the feet of a tactical trooper named Mi-luqua Vaz. His armor protected him from the blast but the explosion sent him spinning into the vacuum. After spiraling for a few seconds Vaz used one of his single burst propulsion jets to stop his flight away from the ork vessel. As he corrected his trajectory he took a view of the surroundings.

Ahead of the Ice Angels were three huge cargo bays, all large enough to contain space to ground vessels. The tower that Squad Rimsin was assaulting was over looking two of the bays which were closed. The third bay had its doors open and from Vaz’s vantage point he could see what was moving up on some of the platforms. Half a mile past the bays was the beginning of the ship to ship battery that the Ice Angels were sent to disable.

“Captain, the furthest cargo bay has opened and it appears a large mob is moving onto the surface, “Vaz said as he made his descent.

“Angels, find cover! Prepare to take heavy fire.” Ruusa said into the vox while rushing towards some ferrocrete barriers running perpendicular to the edge of the nearest closed cargo bay door. Eleven other marines quickly moved up to take cover as well. The hulking dreadnought stepped behind several of his battle brothers who were behind the lowest section of the wall and used the wing debris to protect his brethren, only the top of his shoulders peaked over the blasted piece of metal.

Peering back they way they came, the captain spoke. “Squad Labushi, move into position above target, Blizzard pattern.” As Captain Ruusa finished that statement ten small bursts of light could be seen behind their position. After a few seconds, more bursts of light could be seen but this time it was further out into space in amongst the halo of floating debris.

The first platform reached the lip of the cargo bay, several dozen orks in colorful space suits rushed onto the Rokk’s surface towards the Ice Angels. The next three platforms reached the lip in rapid succession. Close to 70 orks and a handful of killakans were now moving across the rocky wasteland that was strewn with the occasional pipe or ramshackle building.

Captain Ruusa didn’t give any command or even shout a word of encouragement, the Ice Angels knew what Blizzard pattern meant and more importantly the tactical squad along with the dreadnought knew their role. As soon as the orks were in range, Frank opened fire with his shoulder mounted missiles at the Killa-kans. Brother Rattmu began to spit out heavy bolter fire and soon all of the marines were firing at the approaching orks.

The Ork return fire was not nearly as precise but it didn’t matter when the orks began to open up. The sheer number of bullets drove many of the Ice Angels to take cover. Captain Ruusa knelt down behind cover and looked up into space. The floating Ice Angels were hard to spot in their black void armor, only the occasional blue trim could be seen. As he located the unit he saw the ten man assault squad silently float 60 yards or so over the approaching orks. Squad Labushi began to throw all of their grenades down into the mob. When the first explosions began to tear into the orks the assault marines fired their jump packs and flew down into the survivors. Watching the descent of Ice Angels into combat spurred the remaining marines to break cover and join the controlled destruction.

Brother Frakatazuli used the wing as a bat and swatted a handful of orks out of his way before engaging a unit of killa kans. Drills and buzz saws were spinning in the mechanical arms of the diminutive ork constructs. The kans formed a semi circle to try and flank the huge dreadnought. Before he got into striking range Frakatazuli lobbed the wing at the center kan and shot the Anchor towards his left most target. The Anchor grasped the bulky body of the kan and before the kan could try and tear through the chain with its saw, the built in meltabore shot right through the kan. The center kan was knocked back by the wing but the left kan moved in thinking he had an opening. He moved up to assault the currently one armed dreadnought. The closest kan fired a mess of debris from some sort of scrap cannon which bounced off the dreadnoughts left arm housing before attempting to stab at Frakatazuli with a huge drill bit. Back handing the drill with his remaining fist, Frakatazuli followed through with a punch that caved the kan in on itself.

As Brother Frakatazuli reeled in the Anchor, the middle kan rushed in with two pincers. The left pincer was deflected by Frakatazuli’s spinning close combat fist, but the right managed to grab the bottom corner of his chest plate and began to cut through his thick plating. The kan attacked again with the left but this time Frakatazuli grabbed the pincer by the wrist and stopped it. Firing his under arm meltagun the pincer was blasted off its arm. By this time the Anchor was reattached, pointing both fist and Anchor down at the kan two melta shots cut through the kan as if it were paper.

Brother Frakatazuli surveyed the battle in the matter of seconds before firing several missiles at some straggling kans. The orks had been defeated and only a handful of Ice Angels had been hurt or killed. Techmarine Philosir bounded over to Frakatazuli to examine the damage.

As the red armored Ice Angel got within arms length he reached out with both arms and several servo arms to examine and field dress the armor.

“Hmm,” his monotone voice stated “minimal damage, but I’m surprised that an ork would even be able to scratch you. Are you getting sloppy?”

“HA! You wake me up and within hours expect me to perform at peak proficiency?!” he shouted into the vox, his Bhaalian accent thick. “What am I one of your machines?”

Several Brothers chuckled and a few more quick comments we’re thrown at the ancient dreadnought. As the final ork died or was thrown into space, the Captain looked over the open cargo bay towards the huge weapons battery. Seventeen long barrels stretched into the sky belching shells the size of rhinos at the Imperial Fleet.

Captain Ruusa pointed his double bladed power axe towards the cargo bay. “Labushi, move ahead and secure far side of cargo bay. Kurigulzu Alpha, return to birds with the wounded and the dead. Let’s get to this battery and silence those guns. “

Affirmative blinks lit up his HUD as he began to hustle towards their target.

* * * * * *


“WER are da HUMIES!!!!” the ork shouted while shaking his power klaw in the air.
“And WER’S ANKLEKRUSHA!”

Turning towards the nearest boy, the Nob let out another roar and head butted the ork. The smaller ork collapsed on the floor with a thud and then scurried away leaving his shoota on the metal floor.

A dozen grots, ten boyz, and a handful of Nobs were all in a chamber with several open hatchways. The room smelled of sweat and filth, and the orks were all looking to the biggest Nob for some direction. Looking from one tunnel to the next the Nob again mumbled in frustration.

A scampering could be heard coming from the southern most door way. All the orks readied their weapons. The largest Nob pushed his way through the mob to get closer to the doorway.

A whimpering grot came running in to the room at top speed. The big ork Nob scooped up the grot with his klaw. With a yelp the grot tried to wiggle free. The orks in the room loosened up and watched the Nob pull the grot up to his face.

“Do you know whers da humies are little one?” he said quietly.” The grot stopped squirming and folded his ears back. He looked around scared and then nodded his head.

“Do you know wer Anklekrusha and his boyz arrr?” The Nob asked to the grot. The grot once again nodded his head, and this time he pointed back the way he came.

While keeping the grot in his klaw the nob snorted and looked at his mob. “Anklekrusha is gonna tak arrr fun! Come on boyz, LETS KILL UM!!” the Nob shouted. The mob shouted back and whooped. The big nob raised the grot up like a torch, pulled out his double barreled shoota, and began to run through the door the way the grot came.

After a minute of running through hallways and up two flights of stairs the nob rounded a corner and entered a dimly lit room with a huge red ork emblem nailed to the floor. The grot was quaking with fear and he pointed to a massive open side door. The Nob began to grin with excitement. Dropping the grot from his klaw he looked down at the smaller boyz and pointed towards the door with his klaw. His excitement spread through the mob like a wild fire and when the last grot entered the room the Nob bellowed. “WAAAAAGH!”

The walls reverberated with the sound of the mobs combined voices. The mob rushed through the door and into a room that was completely dark except what light spilled in from behind them. A doorway at the other end of the room was also emitting a soft glow. The boyz ran towards it and made it most of the way before they began to slip on the wet floor. As they slowed down one of the Nobs turned on a light that was built into his gun. When he did, the boyz stopped. The light was beaming down at a pile of ork bodies that were lying up against the wall.

As quickly as the excitement had spread through the mob, the panic set in. Right as the mob began to turn and flee a lone Ice Angel walked into the dimly lit door and began laughing loud enough for all of the orks to turn back around. The big Nob, now full of anger began to move towards the laughing marine. The light from the other Nob was quickly pointed at the marine, spot lighting his black armor and white helmet.

The marine stopped laughing and pointed his combiflamer at the mob. “Don’t move or I will kill you all.” He stated.

The Nob stopped and quizzically looked at the smaller marine. “You tink you can kills me? I’M NUD REDBLUD and YOUS gonna be da dead one!” the panic in the orks began to wean as they saw the bigger ork standing his ground. Several of the other nobs were nodding their heads in agreement.

The black armored marine tilted his white helmet and lowered his weapon. “You know Nub, you may be right. I may some how die, maybe today, maybe tomorrow. Death is an inevitability. The real important question, at least for me, is how will I die? Fire, blade, bullet, unknown disease, sucked into the void of space, tank shocked by a sister of battle exorcist! I really have no idea. ” The marine looked at the mob and realized he had lost most of them with some of those complex thoughts.

“Nub, I’d like to see a large weapons battery before I go. Do you know how to get there from here?”

After a few seconds of silence, instead of a response the large ork shouted and began to move forwards. Before his first step had touched the floor an unseen gun fired and the large nobs head evaporated.

Before the orks could flee, the space marine shouted “Whoever takes me there now, I promise I will not harm!” The orks looked at each other and before any could make a move a small grot with a slice across his chest ran out of the mob and raised his hand. Looking down at the foot tall scantily clad grot the marine paused and then asked. “Are you sure you know the way?” The grot nodded. “Excellent!”

Before any other ork could voice an opinion five weapons opened up on the mob. Within seconds the entire mob was nothing but a pile of bodies and gore.

The grot looked as if he was about to bolt when the Ice Angel knelt down in front of him. “You still remember the way?” he asked.

The grot, with fear in his eyes, once again nodded. The Ice Angel gently picked up the grot in his black gauntlet. “Which way?” he nicely asked. The grot pointed back the way he came. “Fair enough” the marine said as he began to cross the body filled room.

As he exited the room his four other brethren exited out of the darkness. Their heavy weapons still smoking from recent fire. All five of the marines had white helmets and yellow eyes. The only distinction between them was their weapons and an orange ribbon that was attached to the lead marines shoulder pad.

“I thought you were joking when you said we should ask for directions?” the devastator with the multi-melta said.

“You better hope the Inquisition doesn’t find out that we’re using xenos help again Bel Hando.” Another devastator with a heavy bolter said.

“Brothers, as far as we know this is our best option. If Muttabriqu or Razzik get more info we’ll go with that, they should be back at any moment. Besides, it never hurts to have a little local help. “Bel Hando said while moving towards the next door that the grot was pointing to.

An Ice Angel with another heavy bolter turned, “Don’t you rem….”

“Yes, Baris I remember.” Bel Hando interrupted “You don’t need to remind me.”

At the sound of distant shots the unit spread and moved to provide cross fire at the arch way. Bel Hando moved up towards the door and kept his combi-flamer pointing at the entrance.

In the vox the gruff voice of Razzik chimed in. “Squad Shwando move up. We’ve found the path”

“Affirmative. Shwando en route.” Bel Hando responded in the vox. He then looked down at the grot. The grot looked once again fearful for its life. “I know, I promised.” He then set him down and the grot looked confused. Bel Hando turned and began to walk towards the continued gun fire with haste. The grot stood confused as the marines hustled down the hall after their sergeant. The last marine, Gilgam, walked past and in one fluid motion pulled out his bolt pistol. “I didn’t though” was all he said as he blew the grot into pieces.

* * * * * *

Captain Razzik was running at full speed down the windy corridor, his powerfist already caked in burnt gore. Behind him was the ten man veteran unit, the Uttuakki. Their unit was known for their orange weapons and colorful helmet paint, but more importantly for their infiltration and ferocity in close combat. After the Uttuakki came one of the chapters’ newest units, the Shwando, a five man devastator squad with standard white helmets and a sergeant known for unnecessary theatrics.

Despite the huge fans pushing air through this area of the rokk, the heat from the generators under the battery was making the Ice Angel suits work over time to keep them cool. After slaying a handful of roaming orks and some stragglers this area of rokk has become eerily quite. On several occasions one or more brothers had taken second glances at shadows, which had slowly put the force on edge. This rokk was supposed to be over loaded with greenskins.

“Where in the Emperors name did the orks run off too?” Bel Uri of the Uttuakki said into the vox in his typical loud fashion. For the past few minutes the force had been quickly running through the rokk towards the heat signature and the constant thumping of the weapons battery.

“I am still not showing any life signs in the immediate vicinity Captain. However, up ahead there must be some sort of bulkhead or slab. It is disrupting my auspex.” Umru chimed in; his emotionless tone quite the opposite of Bel Uri’s.

The path turned a few corners and dropped a floor before opening up into a large hallway that could easily be three rhinos wide. Captain Razzik walked into the middle of the corridor as both of his units took up positions covering every angle with their weapons. To his right the corridor went for at least seventy yards before splitting. At least a dozen other pathways dotted the corridor walls. To his left a bulkhead was closed that prevented the force from moving towards the battery.

Muttabriqu, the sergeant of squad Uttuakki pointed to a panel tucked in a corner. “Umru see what you can do.” He stated. Captain Razzik took a quick side glance at Muttabriqu before accompanying Umru. It had been a long time since they had been in the same strike force and to this day Muttabriqu holds a grudge against the Captain. Both men have long lists of achievements but Muttabriqu was loved by nearly everyone in the chapter so it was quite a shock when Master Librarian Duggon chose Razzik to fill the newest Captain position. For now, Razzik was comfortable letting Muttabriqu lead his unit and Razzik had spent most of his time keeping a close eye on the Shwando.

Umru plugged in his auspex and after only a few seconds he had what he needed. “I’ve got it. Just give the word and the door will drop.”
“Bel Uri, form up to move in.” Muttabriqu said.
“Shwando split and provide covering fire.” Razzik said immediately afterwards.
“Tirid, Idiptu, Bennu, and Umru cover the rear.” Muttabriqu said while facing Razzik.
Both great men respected each others abilities and few in the chapter would deny their skills, but for an awkward moment they stood looking at each other. No one needed to see their faces to know what was being passed silently between them.

Razzik smiled to himself and then moved up by Bel Uri who was by the door. “The Emperor protects, my brothers! Let us silence this battery and in the name of Sanguinius let us avenge those that have fallen.” A green blip flashed in everyone’s HUD and the door opened like a setting sun, sinking into the floor.

When the door was at waist height the marines had assessed the scene. The vast chamber was actually a series of chambers in a honey comb pattern on the ceiling that appeared to be from some unknown ship design. At least that’s how it was originally; once the orks took over they loaded it up with machines that kept a constant flow of shells to the gun batteries that were ten stories above them now. Heat pressed down from the engines running the guns and the room reeked of smoke. Conveyor belts crossed the room from wall to ceiling, the cat walks and platforms under the guns were a flurry of grot activity. Around the perimeter of the room were probably close to a fifty bulkheads of similar design to the one the force had entered from. The vast majority of the uneven floor space was clear except for a couple elevators that moved from floor to ceiling. The rest of the floor was covered in tire tracks and in several places broken crates and grot bodies that had fallen from above.

When the door finally leveled with the floor the Captain calmly took a few steps into the room. “Muttabriqu take your five to the closest right conveyor belt. Bel Uri, head left and do the same. Shwando with me, we’re going to the nearest elevator. No one fire until they notice us. Move out!” Razzik said.

The three units with all haste went to their positions, but before Muttabriqu’s unit could reach the closest one, the bulkhead behind them closed and doors all around the perimeter began to open. Ork bikers, trucks, and battle wagons of all shapes and sizes began to poor in.

“HOLY THRONE! It’s a trap. Get up those belts, NOW!” Muttabriqu shouted into the vox. Umru was already trying to reach Captain Ruusa when the first shells began to reach their positions.

The belt that Bel Uri and his brethren were approaching was sixteen feet off the ground and an easy climb, but climbing under fire was not advised. “Bennu, head up I’ll come around.” Bel Uri said as he ran past and under the belt. One particularly fast truck continued on an intercept with Bel Uri instead of the few marines making a brief two second climb.

The bright red truck was spitting rounds from a pintle mounted stubber as it squealed right past Bel Uri, fish tailing and eventually flipping over. All nine orks were thrown from the truck before it rolled. Without slowing down Bel Uri ran to the flipped truck, his powerfist and chainsword made short work of the disoriented greenskins.

Bennu was up the ladder, then Sidana, then Tirid when the first wave of orks hit their side of the chamber. Seeing Bel Uri under attack by the orks on the fast truck Miqit hesitated. He soon had his own issues as a battlewagon brimming with guns and protected by a metal spiked roller rushed straight at him. He took two steps and dove aside as the battlewagon at full speed slammed into the wall. The roller collapsed as the wagon buried itself into the wall. Orks flew off the wagon from the impact and many never moved again. Miqit was about to finish several of the survivors off when another two trucks rolled up, the boyz firing madly at him. Shots were damaging his armor and grazing his back pack when he leveled his meltagun and blew off a wheel from the closet truck sending it careening past the crushed battlewagon. As the other approached his battle brothers began to fire down from above providing covering fire. “Miqit climb the wagon NOW!” Taking only a brief glance at Bel Uri, he turned and climbed over the wagon and onto the belt with Bel Uri at his heels.

Not to far away Razzik was witnessing the newest Ice Angel unit at work. Seeing the vehicles began to pour into the room the devastators began to lay down fire to protect Muttabriqu and their own elevator. With no long range weapon, Razzik was the first to the elevator. The elevator had a waist high metal barricade around it, other then that it was a vertical cage with a self propelled platform that passed every 30 seconds. Brother Tock-tzu and Sergeant Bel Hando came up right behind him. Baris, Gilgam, and Ishtin were walking and firing at the approaching bikers. Once they got in range Tock-tzu began to open up, his multi-melta leaving wreckage wherever he pointed. With a final burst of speed the bikers rushed the six marines. Captain Razzik jumped up and slammed into one ork driver before the bike flipped and slammed into another. Bel Hando was not far behind shooting his combi-flamer at the orks, watching them turn into screaming infernos. One open topped battle wagon stopped not to far away and the orks on board instead of disembarking opened up with their shootas into the biker combat.

Under the insane amount of fire from the lootas nearly all of the bikers were killed and Brother Ishtin was taken down with a chest wound that was through and through. Brother Baris lost his sacred heavy bolter from the fire and took a serious arm wound before diving behind the wreckage of a bike. Knowing that they only had seconds to live, Captain Razzik raised his shield and ran straight towards the battlewagon. Shells bounced off his shield, tore off a part of his backpack, and tore through his left shoulder pad but they didn’t slow him down. Several bright flashes erupted around him as his protective force field deflected its fair share of shots. With all of his strength he took two steps on a wrecked bike and launched himself onto the battlewagon. The orks attempted to get out of the enraged Captains way, but he was crushing and punching through the orks like wildfire.

With a lurch the battlewagon took off, the driver thinking he could escape the Captains wrath. The battlewagon got maybe ten feet before a bright orange battlewagon that looked more like a boat T-boned them. Orks flew through the air and the Captain was sent back towards devastators. With a loud crunch he hit the floor and slid into the burning wreck of a three wheeled bike.

Brother Baris rushed over and with his good arm he helped the Captain off the ground. The Captain was a bit shaken but they soon hurried over to the elevator where Bel Hando was standing.

“We have to get to high ground, there are to many of them.” The Captain said while reassessing the incoming orks. It seemed the first wave was only the fastest of the vehicles; many more were on the way.

As the next platform came up through the floor Bel Hando, Baris, and Gilgam got on the platform. Razzik stayed back with Tock-tzu who was still firing at the passing ork vehicles. The ring of carnage around them was now hampering the movement of the vehicles giving them some cover.

“DEATH TO DA HUMIES!!!!!” a shout through a loud speaker was heard through the chamber. Captain Razzik turned to see an ork stompa entering the chamber. Its gigantic artillery revolver was pointing at his position.

“TOCK, RUN!” the captain shouted while sprinting away from the elevator. Tock-tzu turned and began to move when an ork round knocked him over. Seeing the impact, Razzik turned around and ran straight at Tock who was trying to scramble away when the stompa fired. The shell hit the base of the vertical cage just as Razzik dove onto Tock. Razzik’s iron halo flared as it deflected the deadly impact. The Shwando platform continued its climb into the gun battery but the flooring around the cage collapsed sending Razzik and Tock-tzu spiraling into a black hole in the floor.

* * * * * * *

Muttabriqu heard the stompa fire its revolver artillery piece. The boom seemed to command silence in the chamber and for what seemed minutes, he watched the shell cross the room in slow motion and land at the base of the caged elevator. Captain Razzik dove on top of Tock-tzu with his shield raised as the shell exploded. The resulting explosion, for a brief moment was blinding, and when Muttabriqu looked back down below him at the carnage, there were no signs of his brothers. All that remained was torn metal and gaping hole in the floor into darkness.

Shells peppered the railing around him as he was brought back to reality. Muttabriqu, along with Umru, Rabishu, Sarabda, and Idiptu were on the metal caging and suspended platforms directly under the guns. The hexagon shaped platform they currently were on was some sort of reloading station for one of the gun batteries in the corner of the platform system. Umru and Sarabda were planting charges on a particularly large shell that was soon to be loaded by an automated machine. On all of the adjacent platforms scores of grots, boyz, and mekboyz were firing at them with crude weapons. Fortunately there were only two gantries connecting them and the nearest platforms. The bodies of orks were already making the gantries slick with blood. The only other way to cross the space was on the conveyor belt that wound around all of the platforms.

Idiptu was chanting a battle hymn to himself when the platform shook. Without stopping his hymn he dove from cover back towards the conveyor belt exit they had run up to peer over the edge. At the base of the belt, a battle wagon had slid into the wall before depositing a mob of boys that were now climbing the belt towards their position.

“Muttabriqu” he calmly stated “we have boys coming up the belt.”

While firing his plasma pistol at the orks attempting to cross one of the platforms he looked back at Umru and Sarabda. “How much time?”

Sarabda, the largest of the Uttuakki, finished the arming sequence before saying a short prayer to the Emperor. “It is armed and set for two minutes. It should detonate in the chamber and the explosion should take out this gun and possibly the neighboring ones.” He said as he pushed the shell, on its wheeled cart, towards the waiting loading crane. A timer appeared in their HUDs.

“What Sarabda failed to mention is that the explosion will also destroy this platform.” Umru added.

Umru ran over to Idiptu and took position by the conveyor belt exit. Sarabda waited by the crane to make sure it would load when he added. “These ork shells are all different I have no idea how large the explosion will be, precisely. “

“Prepare to move out towards Shwando’s position.” Muttabriqu said. He then added into the forces vox. “Shwando, can you provide covering fire. We’re moving towards your position to set another charge. “

“Negative. The cursed green skins and their contraptions are blocking our line of sight. “Bel Hando responded.

With a grunt Muttabriqu spoke. “Grenade wave in two.”

All five marines on the platform stopped firing and in two seconds threw fragmentation grenades at the nearest platforms. The orks took cover and those who didn’t were hit by shrapnel. Before the orks had come out of cover the five marines were running across the gore covered gantry. The fifty foot gap was crossed in seconds. Muttabriqu, leading the charge, jumped over the crate wall into the orks. As he began his killing the other marines arrived. The orks were slaughtered and many grots actually fled off the platform to their deaths.

As Rabishu threw the last ork off the platform, Muttabriqu looked back. The boyz were up the conveyor belt and unlike these grotz and loaders, they were armed and huge. Muttabriqu then looked towards the other platforms and picked his next few moves. The devastators unit, Shwando, was near the center of the hanging platforms, while the other five man unit of Uttuakki was some where on the other side.

His HUD timer now said 37 seconds. “Brothers we must move.” He said as he took off down another gantry. The unit crossed the next gantry and crossed another platform when the timer hit zero. The explosion shook the platforms and forced many marines and orks to hold on. The loading mechanism that held the rigged shell blew out and collapsed onto the platform which immediately began to bend and tear itself from the ceiling. Orks, metal, and part of the conveyor belt system fell to the floor. Several of the huge unloaded ordinances hit the floor ten stories below and exploded wiping out hundreds of orks and once again shaking the platforms from the wave. Nearly half of the huge chamber below was now a ruined mess.

After the shaking stopped Muttabriqu once again moved away from the torn platform. As they began to cross the next gantry a loud boom once again filled the chamber. A huge shell whistled past the unit into the ceiling before exploding. Rabishu and Idiptu were thrown to the gantry floor and hung on as the platform behind them began to sway and bend.

“I guess the stompa decided to risk hitting the ordinance.” Umru stated.

“go to….” Muttabriqu began when Miqit interrupted in the vox.
“Sarabda, how long did you set your charge?” he asked.
“two minutes, but you may want to go longer.” He responded.
“three it is. Our charge is set, we’re moving out.” Miqit replied.

“Shwando, move ahead two platforms. We’ll rendezvous. Sarabda and Umru stop at next platform and prime another. “

Affirmative blips filled Muttabriqus HUD when some broken chatter and static filled the long range vox channel. It sounded like Ruusa was trying to reach them. At the next platform Umru and Sarabda stopped at a waiting shell and began to prime another charge. By now the entire weapons battery had stopped firing. Most of the grots had fled in panic, but the remaining orks down below were filing up the conveyor belts and elevators towards platforms ahead of them. Muttabriqu, Rabishu, and Idiptu were waiting by one particular elevator when four orks in bulky armor got out. The marines opened up as the ork heads came into view, but the bulky armored orks were much more resilient then the others. They stomped onto the platform with kustom shootas blasting and power klaws snapping. They bellowed rage and hate as they moved in. The marine fire managed to head shot two of the orks before the melee began. Rabishu side stepped a downward klaw attack as Idiptu moved to flank, their orange chainswords thirsting for ork blood. Idiptu noticed the orks flank was well protected so he slashed at the orks exposed wiring. With a roar the ork turned to aim his shoota at him point blank, but that was all the opening Rabishu needed to put his chainsword into the orks face. The chainsword sprayed ichor and brains into the air before he pulled it free. Idiptu was already spitting fire at the other orks back side. Muttabriqu parried a klaw with his powerfist. The two weapons repelled one another with a burst of sparks. The ork cut loose with its triple linked shoota. The rounds chewed through the floor as the black armored marine dove to the side. The ork moved up and tried to stomp the downed sergeant when Idiptu jumped onto his back. With a quick klaw grab the ork nabbed Idiptu and was about to cut him in half when Muttabriqu’s plasma pistol fired up into the under side of the ork. The orks innards were melting when Idiptu, now upside down in the orks klaw, fired into the orks face. With a crash the ork fell over.

Idiptu got up, huge dents and visible klaw marks had opened up his armor. His blood had already closed the wounds. Muttabriqu moved into a crouched position behind the ork body when the empty elevator began to move further up. The next elevator was almost to the platform when a cacophony of fire went off nearby. The newest elevator reached the lip. The three Ice Angels looked at the shredded ork corpses. Peering over to one side, they could see the Shwando moving towards them. Bel Hando, Baris, and Gilgam approached when another explosion rocked the chamber. Miqit’s shell had exploded destroying another gun in the battery. This time there wasn’t any secondary damage to the huge chamber.

However, the red headed stompa lined up and sent another shell upwards. This time it went right through their platform and into the loading mechanism above them. The resulting explosion must have blasted into another chamber, only flames shot back out at the Ice Angels.

Even under the stompa fire the orks were beginning to invade the platforms. Brother Gilgam was laying down a steaming stream of heavy bolter fire at the largest targets. Bel Uri and his combat unit moved to support their flank just as Sarabda and Umru rejoined Muttabriqu. The orks were surrounding them, their superior numbers finally putting the marines on the defense.

A third and final explosion rocked the chamber as Sarabda’s last charge took out more of the gun battery. As Bel Hando looked down below him at the stompa he noticed an odd sight. Behind the stompa was a huge battle wagon with a metal roller in the front. The smoke belching behemoth carried a matte black dreadnought in its open rear cargo area. The weighed down wagon was rumbling towards the stompa crushing orks as it went. The other Ice Angels had arrived down below and were flanking the stompa and ground forces. As the stompa began to slowly turn around the battle wagon continued its bloody path. The lumbering stompa squared up to the wagon and lowered its weapons. Brother Frakatazuli fired his anchor directly at the stompas face. The Anchors huge fingers dug into the stompas chin, the magnets worked over time as the chain system in Frakatazulis arm began to churn. The battlewagon slammed into the metallic skirt of the stompa. Ice Angels disembarked and spread out. The black dreadnought’s chain system kicked in and he began to lift himself up the front of the stompa. The stompa swayed as it tried to knock the dreadnought off, but the Anchor held on. The stompa tried to use its huge buzz saw next to cut off the dreadnought, but Frank fired a round of missiles and a meltagun blast that prevented the saw from ever spinning again. Soon Brother Frakatazuli was in the stompas face. Meltas went off and metal was shredded as the dreadnought tore into the red headed stompa.

The orks on the platforms moved in and began to overwhelm the Ice Angel position a powerful roar echoed through the chamber. Brother Frakatazuli was standing on the shoulder of the stompa, his close combat weapon spun in the air. The head of the stompa was dangling in his anchor like a gruesome trophy. He roared again this time louder. The sound was a terrible multi-toned wave of victory and spite.

Orks through out the chamber stopped what they were doing. The largest of nobs and meganobz hesitated as the head of their iconic vehicle came crashing down onto the decking.

Panic quickly ensued. Ork vehicles sped away through open bulk heads and grots simply cowered in fear. The Ice Angels cut them down without mercy. Frakatazuli launched out all of his remaining missiles but one at the fleeing vehicles.

After the last missile hit its target he began to climb his way down the now motionless stompa. Techmarine Philosir was waiting at the bottom his artificer armor covered in ork gore.

“I have battled next to you for hundreds of years and I have never heard that before. What was that sound?” Philosir said to the revered entombed marine.

The dreadnought scanned his surroundings confirming the orks were fleeing. Frakatazuli leaned down at the red armored marine, taking pause before explaining. “That sound was from a beast on a now destroyed planet that we came across when our chapter was still part of the Angels Encarmine. It was one of the few mindless beasts that could make even the Emperors finest hesitate.” The dreadnought looked up as if deep in thought and lost in memory. “The creatures on that planet were so tainted with evil that it was deemed necessary to destroy. I have stored that sound for centuries and even its use makes me feel ill.” With a few whirls of his close combat fist he took a step towards the door they entered.

“I must get back outside; the weight of the Anchor is beginning to strain my systems. Will you drive Brother Philosir?” the dreadnought said as he approached the battle wagon.

With a nod that the dreadnought couldn’t even see, Philosir hefted his cog shaped power axe and moved towards the wagon.

“Captain I must accompany Frakatazuli back onto the surface,” The tech priest stated.

Captain Ruusa, who was fifty yards away, slaying fallen orks, turned towards the wagon. “Kadakrazz take Squad Kurigulzu and go with them. Clear another landing zone by the birds for reinforcements. Philosir, signal the fleet when you can. “

As the remnants of the tactical squad joined Frank on the battlewagon, Ruusa looked up to the Ice Angel force clearing the platforms. “Muttabriqu, where is Razzik?”

Muttabriqu paused after shooting down another fleeing ork. “He is missing. The stompa took out the cage he was near. He hasn’t responded but he may have fallen into that hole in the floor. “

Captain Ruusa scanned the gigantic chamber before he spotted the hole. As he began to head that direction he spoke into the vox. “Muttabriqu take Shwando to the surface. Bel Uri what is your status?”

“Bennu’s new leg is acting up, and Tirid took several wounds, everyone else is combat ready.” Bel Uri responded.

“Excellent. Tirid and Bennu go with Muttabriqu. Bel Uri, Miqit, and Sidana are with me. We have to see what happened to Razzik. “

A green blip showed up in Ruusa’s HUD, when another voice spoke in the vox. “Captain, Brother Tock-tzu fell with Captain Razzik as well. I request to come along and recover my fallen Brother.” Bel Hando said with grief in his voice.

“Granted. Bel Hando you can come along as well, but the rest of your unit will go with Muttabriqu. “ Ruusa replied.

Another green blip showed in his HUD as Captain Ruusa came up to the dark torn pit in the floor. The darkness was impenetrable but the Captain lowered his storm shield and held his double headed power axe at his side. He knew Razzik was alive, he couldn’t explain how. He knew his brother was down there.

He knew he needed his help.

Nice trip down memory lane these...

Chapter 3 - The Hunt for Razzik

With a grunt Miqit landed next to his squad mates. He looked up at the opening they had just scaled. Only fifty feet above was a torn hole in the ceiling where the stompa had blasted at the lost Captain. They had climbed down the wreckage of what appeared to be several floors of machinery and access tunnels. The entire system seemed to connect to the elevator that the shell had exploded next to. There were several paths leading to the elevator but at the base was a motionless conveyor belt that must have ceased to function once the elevator system crashed.

Miqit did a quick gear check before taking a closer look at his brothers. Captain Ruusa, with his double bladed power axe and storm shield, looked determined and anxious to find the fallen Captain Razzik. The 2nd Captain seemed to notice Miqit’s look and he nodded his pointed ice blue helm at him. Miqit returned the gesture before looking over to Bel Hando. Bel Hando is the sergeant of Squad Shwando, a newly formed devastator unit; his usual demeanor has been replaced by one of sorrow for loosing his first two battle brothers under his command. Ishtim took fire from a mob of lootas and Tock-tzu fell into the darkness with Razzik. Miqit, thought about his fallen brethren before pushing the thoughts aside. He’d have time to mourn their loss later.

The last two members of the party stood in front of him. Bel Uri with his orange powerfist and chainsword looked mean as ever. A layer of gore and blood caked over his armor as if he’d just burst forth from a giant greenskin. Sidana was of similar size to Miqit but he had been a member of the Uttuakki for much longer, his orange weapons almost as bright as the painted lines on his helmet. He was reloading his bolt pistol when Captain Ruusa spoke.

Debris from the blast was littering the floor and several exposed wires were sparking. Down the tunnel was only darkness and the smell of oil and metal. “I don’t like the feel of this. Brother Razzik, unless severally wounded, should have been able to make that climb out of here.” Captain Ruusa said.

Bel Hando chimed in “I don’t see any sign of Tock-tzu either.”

“Something must have made them move else where, be vigilant and let the blood of Sanguinius guide you my brothers.” The Captain added before striding down the motionless conveyor belt. Bel Hando was right behind along with Sidana and Miqit. Bel Uri was uncharacteristically in the rear clenching is powerfist in anticipation.

* * * * *
The five brothers cautiously explored the conveyor belt and tunnel for any signs that would give them a clue as to what happened to Razzik and Tock-tzu. No words were exchanged or sounds made other then their own footfalls and the occasional moving of debris. After a few minutes the tunnel opened up and the marines could walk next to the conveyor belt instead of on it making it easier to pass the occasional shell waiting to once again head to the guns above.

The belt then rounded a corner and ended in a metal maw. The walkway around the belt turned both left and right, one path appeared to have stairs leading up while the other stayed level.

As the brothers approached Bel Hando spoke into the vox. “Captain, look at the base of the belt.”

Ruusa moved up to where the belt meet the closed metal door, while Sidana and Miqit moved into the hall way entrances to cover. Ruusa pulled out a crystalline shard that had embedded itself into the belt. The shard was coated in some sort of toxin but more noticeably, blood.

“Either an ork is using a dark eldar weapon or this rokk contains more then just orks.” Ruusa stated. Bel Uri and Bel Hando exchanged looks before a wave of resolve hit the unit.

“I hope so, Dark Eldar always give me better stories then orks do.” Bel Uri said with a chuckle.

Sidana shook his head before noticing down the hall to their left what appeared to be an Ice Angel multi-melta. He moved in to inspect while Bel Hando moved up to cover. It was damaged beyond repair and nearly cut in half. Around where the weapon laid was also more blood, but not just space marine blood.

The Uttuakki swiped his middle finger through the purple splatter. “Dark Eldar indeed. “ Sidana said with a pinch of disgust in his voice as he examined his armored hand.

The sound of crashing metal turned all five marines to peer down the hall, weapons drawn and ready. Out of the darkness came nothing but echoes. After a few moments, Ruusa spoke.

“Uri take point.”

Bel Uri silently weaved through his brothers and was quickly moving down the hall like a hunched bird of prey. Sidana and Bel Hando kept a few paces back with Ruusa and Miqit in the rear.

Captain Ruusa followed in his calm battle trance. He focused on the movement of the marines in front of him all while scanning the ground. Reports sporadically appeared on a side bar on his heads-up display but he pushed them aside. They could wait.

His thoughts were dominated by the lost Captain Razzik. Ruusa had to find him; the council had stressed the importance of the newest Captain of the Ice Angel chapter. Ruusa thought on the mystery around the promotion of Captain Razzik. He had an impressive record as a sergeant but lacked many skills a good captain needed. He was chosen, like all other captains, by the guiding council of the chapter, the Inevitables. Their choice was solely their own. Ruusa had complete faith in the council but he was concerned for Razzik. Razzik’s newest position was coveted by many and several thought themselves slighted by the decision. In a command position, those feelings could cause issues and that was unacceptable. The angry words of Muttabriqu and other captains simmered under his thoughts. Ruusa tried to keep an open mind, the Emperor worked through the Inevitables, but doubt was not something a marine could survive long with. He vowed to himself to find Razzik to see what the council was so intrigued by.

The hall way took a few turns before opening up into what appeared to be a rock cavern. The only light penetrating the darkness was a hanging light fifty feet above them. It was hard to make out the size and shape of the cavern. Piles of rusted metal junk dominated most of their line of sight. It looked like a recent pile had fallen over.

Bel Uri moved up past the fallen pile to take up a position by an upright pipe. Sidana was moving past Bel Uri to take another position when something caught his eye. In the pile of fallen debris was a gloved black hand. When Sidana stopped, Miqit took the cue to move up. Hando immediately followed Sidana’s line of sight and rushed into the pile of debris to clear out the buried marine. Bel Hando was pushing away debris and praying to the emperor the marine was alive when Miqit saw a dark form move ahead of their position. He leveled his meltagun when a scream pieced his concentration. The dark form ran right past him with amazing speed and roared a response to the piercing scream. Captain Razzik dove into Bel Hando knocking him aside as a scantily clad woman dropped from some where above. She landed stabbing at the ground where Bel Hando had been. She began laughing as she quickly moved in on the prone brothers with twin daggers. Razzik contorted and blocked with his fist as the first blows began to ring in the chamber. She was so fast that no other marine dared to fire while she was engaged. Captain Ruusa quickly ran in with axe and shield. He parried a blow with his axe that would have speared Razziks face when the assailant flipped away from the marines. As she landed she was met by a bolt round from Sidana and a round of melta from Miqit that reduced her lithe body to ash.

Bel Hando got up and ran over to check on Tock-tzu who was still partially concealed as Ruusa checked on Captain Razzik. Tock-tzu was unconscious and torn up by both bullets and blades, but alive. He was now deep in a coma that marines entered when severely wounded. Captain Razzik was showing several blade wounds and three shuriken rounds were embedded in his shin guard and forearm armor, but he seemed unfazed. His white powerfist wasn’t crackling with as much power and his only other weapon was a long combat knife at his hip.

Ruusa held out his hand to Razzik, which he took. They then turned to Bel Hando and Tock-tzu. Bel Hando looked down at his battle brother before springing into action as if a switch had been flipped in his body. Bel Hando started looking through the rubble for Tock’s bolt pistol. Tock-tzu would already be furious about his multi-melta being destroyed, but if Bel Hando forgot to grab his bolt pistol he would be going back on a promise that Bel Hando had made to his entire squad. Leave no brother or brother’s weapon behind.

Captain Razzik took a deep breath before looking at Captain Ruusa.
“Captain the dark eldar woman that attacked us was not alone. The other fled through the rock cavern. There is clearly more to this rokk then we anticipated.”

Ruusa nodded as the other brothers absorbed the new found knowledge. Sidana, Miqit, and Bel Uri immediately spread out around the fallen marine in order to protect their position. Ruusa was about to give an order when static filled their vox. It was the strike force channel. The monotone voice of Tech marine Philsor chimed in with a sense of urgency.

“Captain! Squad Rimsin and Labushi have engaged dark eldar under the comm tower. I repeat, dark eldar have attacked our units. They’ve sustained heavy losses and the eldar have taken captives and are retreating. I am moving in with a combat squad from Kurigulzu then we will pursue. Brother Frakatazuli is heading with the others to the birds.”

As the words filled their vox, Miqit and Bel Uri took a look at each other at the mention of captives.

“Affirmative Brother Philsor, we will rendezvous with the bird’s then move into support as well. “ Captain Ruusa stated. Bel Hando began to pick up Tock-tzu when Razzik turned and peered into the darkness of the rock cavern. The 11th Captain shook his head before speaking.

“We should pursue the dark eldar that fled through here. They may take us to our brethren. “He said with anger in his voice.

Bel Uri almost shouted in agreement as Miqit nodded his head. Captain Ruusa seeing his logic once again looked down at Tock-tzu. “Bel Hando you’ll have to carry him along. Sidana and Bel Uri cover the rear. Miqit and Razzik take point. Let’s move. “

With a prayer on their lips and revenge in their thoughts they moved through the darkness looking for their prey.

Chapter 4 - Discovery

Following the fleeing dark eldar’s path began as an easy task, but as the tunnels through the natural rock and ork debris began to turn, the path soon turned into a labyrinth. After loosing the trail and doubling back several times the small Ice Angel unit heard the echo of gun fire ricocheting off the walls. Motionless, they studied the sounds trying to decipher the direction and type. The weapons exchange wasn’t from Imperial fire, but the scream and shriek of Dark Eldar weapons. The sound that followed was a brief exchange with much louder weapons, the booms and dakkas from ork weapons. With in seconds the exchange was over.

Captain Razzik tried to piece together the weapons exchange in his mind as they could they crept towards the sounds. The stone tunnel they were in melded into what appeared to be a piece of an imperial cruiser. The darkness added to the surreal scene as they crossed the rock onto what normally would be the ceiling of an imperial hallway. Every third step they took was over a support beam and the hallway was anything but flat. The older design reminding them of cruisers they had all been in before. Finally they rounded a corner that overlooked the scene they had just heard.

Bel Uri, who led the line of marines, held up his orange fist for a halt. Every marine stopped and didn’t make a sound. Bel Uri took a few silent steps towards the opening ahead of them onto a balcony that was part of an imperial meeting hall. The pillared hall was now covered with old ork glyphs and fresh corpses. At one end of the hall was a ramshackle stair case heading up, but the other end of the room was drawing Bel Uri’s attention. The imperial meeting hall appeared to have been crushed into the side of an alien ship. A large doorway was open and a dim light poured into the room.

In the center of the hall knelt a dark eldar warrior who was peeling the skin off the face of a dead ork. All around him were ork bodies and a few deceased eldar. Nearing the staircase was a group of several dozen eldar quickly moving a rhino sized floating contraption. The remaining dark eldar were guarding the alien doorway.

Captain Ruusa moved up next to Bel Uri to take in the scene. They watched the floating contraption begin its assent up the stair way while many of the remaining dark eldar took trophies before either moving to guard the door way or enter. After a few minutes Captain Ruusa moved back to where the other marines waited. Bel Uri stayed and watched.

Bel Hando had quietly set the unconscious Tock-tzu down. Captain Razzik and the others had spread out along the hall in the darkness waiting for further commands. As Captain Ruusa approached he motioned them to move in.

He spoke in a hushed tone, even though the dark eldar were a hundred yards away around several corners of metal walls. “It appears we’ve found an embedded dark eldar vessel inside the rokk. They just escorted a floating device away from their vessel further up into the rokk. We should…” Ruusa paused mid sentence as an orange blip flashed three times in his HUD. All of the marines turned towards Bel Uri’s position but only Captain Ruusa moved up. Quietly as he could, he once again approached the balcony. Bel Uri was hidden against the wall over looking the hall. He pointed towards the stair way. Coming down the stairs was a small contingent of dark eldar, but with them they dragged unconscious Ice Angels. There were four marines all together and each one had a peculiar device attached to them through a series of cords. They were being carried by a host of dark eldar warriors. The marines were larger then the dark eldar and the xenos struggled to carry the armored bulk of the subdued astartes. As they approached the mid way point in the hall way, some cheering and shouts were exchanged between them and the eldar guarding the door way.

At seeing the dark eldar’s joy in taking prisoners Bel Uri began to tremble with rage. Thoughts of tortured brothers and the pinned marine he had pulled from the previous rokk flew through his mind. Bel Uri began to fantasize of tearing the dark eldar limb from limb. Covered in their blood their screams filled his thoughts. Bel Uri didn’t even realize he was beginning to squeeze on a metal support beam with his powerfist. A slight screech was all the sound it made before he came out of his reverie and to reality. The dark eldar didn’t seem to notice, but when he looked over at Captain Ruusa. The Captain was staring at him. Bel Uri couldn’t see his face behind the helmet, but he knew the look.

The Ice Angel gene seed comes from the Blood Angel line, and like all other Blood Angel successors, the Rage can affect any of them. No one wants to dawn the ice white armor of the Death Company for that means that they have succumbed to the Rage. As rare as it is in the Ice Angel gene seed, the commanders and veterans are always watchful of their brothers, for once the Rage is in effect you become delusional and nearly unstoppable.

Captain Ruusa’s ice blue helmet showed no emotion, only the calculated look he always had, before turning back towards his captured brothers. Bel Uri took a deep breath before also turning to the scene. Their brothers were being taken through the glowing door when gun fire and explosions erupted behind them from the stairs. One of the dark eldar with a long white mane helmet sung an order as nearly all of the dark eldar, except those carrying the marines, ran towards the stair way. The gun fire continued. The familiar sounds of bolters and grenades over powered the screams of dark eldar.

Captain Ruusa gave a hand signal and both marines quickly but quietly returned to the others. “My Brothers, we have found our captured brethren. We must infiltrate the dark eldar vessel and save them. “Ruusa said as he approached his marines.

He looked to Bel Hando and then Bal Hando. “Sergeant, give us thirty seconds to flank. You will then take out the guards as we approach, after that protect Tock and stay vigilant.”

“Sanguineous will guide my fire.” Was all he said as he brought up his combi-flamer and moved towards the balcony into position. The remaining marines took a side hallway to move further down the large chamber to be closer to the guards.

As they rounded a corner to what was another balcony they broke into a run. Captain Ruusa and Bel Uri were first to leap from the balcony onto the floor. The moment the guards heard the marines land in the room three shots rang out in rapid succession. The first two shots dropped two dark eldar, the other guard spun around from a grazing blow but managed to stay standing long enough to take another shot, this time in the chest. At a full run the five marines barreled past the bodies into the vessel, the eerie light welcoming them to their doom.

* * * * *

After the five marines passed through the threshold of the dark eldar vessel the short tunnel came to a T. The marines took up defensive positions covering both ends of the hallway. Assuming other dark eldar would be responding to the fire, they waited for a few seconds. Passing through the threshold of the vessel completely blocked all sounds from outside the vessel and all of their coms. The dark halls had smooth curved walls, but hanging from the ceiling were chains and dim lights. A quiet hum could be heard in the distance.

Eventually Captain Ruusa gave a short hand signal and Bel Uri moved down one hall towards the corner. He peered around the corner and motioned all clear. Captain Ruusa then sent Captain Razzik down the other hall way. As Razzik checked the corner a triple orange blip appeared in their HUDs.

Bel Uri was leaning back away from the corner in a crouched position. With his powerfist he quickly gestured that three enemies were approaching. The three dark eldar warriors rounded the corner in a run their dark turquoise armor making almost no sound. The first two moved right past Bel Uri and were met by bolt rounds. The third turned to dive away but Bel Uri was already moving. Springing from his crouch he caught the leg of the eldar as he dove back around the corner. They crashed to the floor and in a blur of motion the dark eldar fired three rounds from his splinter pistol at Bel Uri’s shoulders and helmet. The rounds damaged his armor, but the holy astartes armor was designed to hold up against much worse. Bel Uri pulled the eldar towards him and blocked a blow with his powerfist. He then used the crackling powerfist to crush the head of the dark eldar into the floor. The lithe form instantly went limp. Bel Uri began to get up when more splinter fire peppered the area around him. While lying on the dark eldar he pulled the torso of the dead over his helmet for added protection. As soon as the fire stopped he looked down the hall. At the other end of the hallway was a quickly retreating dark eldar. With a shout of anger he leapt up and ran after him.

Bel Uri was barreling through the hall ways after the fleeing alien. To his disbelief the dark eldar seemed to be out running him, no xenos should be faster then a son of Sanguinius. His anger fueled his body and he began to gain on his enemy but as he did he rounded a corner into a large oval room. Only a few feet from the entrance were a handful of waiting dark eldar. On pure reaction he lowered his head and barreled into one, crushing him against a bone colored table. The remaining dark eldar were all over the marine stabbing with jagged blades, he felt his body being pierced in several places. Warning runes flashed in his HUD before his body even registered the pain. Bel Uri head butted a dark eldar and began to twist, turn, and punch his way from his attackers. They were so caught up in their struggle with Bel Uri that the arrival of four more marines didn’t even register before they were surrounded and slaughtered.

“By the Throne! What is this place?” Razzik said as he let go of a recently slain dark eldar.

The room was lighter then the halls and was either used for medical purposes or torture. Blood caked the floor, bodies hung from the ceiling and all around them were remnants of humans. There were at least a dozen tables in the oval room. Several cell doors lined the walls, while the other end of the room had a larger door. Three of the four Ice Angels they had seen earlier were lying on the floor while the fourth was up on a table. The strange devices still attached to their motionless bodies occasionally blinked a dull yellow.

Ruusa moved up to the Ice Angel on the table, he examined the body and the device. While he was concentrating on the device Razzik moved towards the exit with Bel Uri while Miqit and Sidana went towards the door they came in. Two blips signaled that both door ways were clear. Ruusa laid down his double bladed power axe and shield next to his disabled brother before picking up the device to try and decipher the runes. With a black gauntlet hand he was about to press down on one of the runes when a deep raspy voice stopped him, “That would not be wise.” It said.

Bel Uri was already diving towards the cell just as Miqit spun on his heels. Captain Ruusa looked up at the cell directly across from him. In between the small bars of the door was only blackness, yet once again the voice spoke.

“Please my brother, release me and I will revive him.”

Bel Uri was now crouched next to the handle, with Miqit pointing his meltagun Kwu-akki at the door. Captain Ruusa calmly picked up his poweraxe and walked across the room. Making no effort to silence his walk he stepped towards the cell. The door was locked with several bolts and a metal beam which he opened all while starring into the darkness.

With a clang the beam hit the floor and the Captain opened the door. As the light poured into the small cell, a form could be seen pinned to the wall. It was another space marine but unlike the Ice Angels he was dark skinned and the entire right side of his body was covered in brands. He was completely naked except for a metal mask that covered his mouth. His eyes screamed of defiance and his long hair drooped down past his shoulders. As Captain Ruusa visually scanned the marine, the marine scanned him, both sizing up one another.

“You know how to use those devices?” Ruusa asked.
“Yes.” The captive responded.
“How?”
“I’ve been a prisoner a long time. I am the only one left. I’ve seen them use those devices many times and I know what will happen if you do it wrong, release me and I’ll bring them back.” He said flatly.

The Captain took one more look at the branded marine, handed his axe to Miqit, before stepping into the small cell. He reached up and removed the mask; blood trickled down his face from the jagged cuts the tight mask had created.

“What’s your name and rank marine?” The captain asked.
The captive hesitated and then spoke, “Sergeant Pyrox of the Fire Angel Chapter.”
Captain Ruusa began to remove the arm pins and leg pins, the weak form of the Fire Angel slumped towards the captain. Ruusa held him up so the Sergeant could regain his feet.

“I am Captain Ruusa of the Ice Angels. If you try to flee or harm one of my marines, by the Emperor’s Light I’ll destroy you.” He said as he stared down the branded marine. He then stepped back out of the cell. “Now if you could, I’d like to see my brothers once again on their feet.”

A fire seemed to start in the naked marines eyes as he gave a faint smile. Pyrox took a few wobbly steps as he approached the downed marine on the table. Miqit backed away and Bel Uri moved in to flank the naked marine. Pyrox examined where the cords were attached and pushed one button on the device the same moment he removed a cord, he systematically did this on all of the cords and device. As the last one was removed the marine took a deep breathe as if he were gasping for air.

“Brother Tani, be calm.” Captain Ruusa said as he looked down at the still marine. The marine’s eyes darted around for a moment before focusing on the captain. “Why doesn’t he move?” Bel Uri growled at Pyrox.

“It will take just a moment for the poisonous cocktail to work itself out of his system, he will be up in a matter of minutes. “ Pyrox responded as he leaned on the table. Brother Tani slowly turned his head and then wiggled his fingers.

“Miqit, help Pyrox with the others. We need to get back to our brethren.” Captain Ruusa said as he took his axe back from Miqit.

Pyrox moved some of his dark hair out of his face before moving to the next downed brother. “Before we leave we should free the others.” He stated as he knelt down.

“There are more? I thought you were the last?” Razzik said.

“I am. They had already taken the others just moments before you arrived. I am assuming they’re heading back through the portal, unless there are other dark eldar vessels nearby.” Pyrox explained.

“No, we’re actually in the middle of an ork rokk.” Razzik responded.

Pryox looked up and started off into space before his deep voice gave a short grunt.

“Can you lead us to the portal Sergeant Pyrox?” Ruusa asked.

“I did not have a hall pass to wander the ship, so no. I just know I took a portal to get on this vessel.” he added as he once again methodically removed cords. The downed Ice Angel suddenly breathing heavily.

“Welcome Brother Dtril.” Miqit said as Pyrox once again moved to the next marine.

“Once they’re up and able we’re moving out. Bel Uri and Sidana scout ahead and find us where they went. This Dark Eldar filth is beginning to irritate me. “Ruusa said as he retrieved his shield.

Bel Uri quickly moved towards the door and Sidana crossed the room after him. Before leaving Bel Uri yanked out several imbedded splinter rounds from his armor and checked his latest wounds. Seeing they were closed properly he gave the captain a nod and the pair took off through the hall way searching for more enemies to slay and brethren to save.

* * * * * * * * *

Bel Uri and Sidana didn’t go far before they found what they were looking for. After several dead ends and a path way that forced the marines to move up a level, they came across the sounds of dark eldar chanting and shouting. The two marines came across an intersection and they moved towards the sound. With no cover or even wall supports to spy from they were forced to stop well shy of the room that the hall way opened up into. From what it sounded though, there must have been 20 or 30 Dark Eldar. An electric buzz could be heard under the smooth Dark Eldar speak, clearly some major activity was under way. With their time almost up the two dark armored marines returned to their brethren.

When they returned they saw Brother Dtril, Tani, Fwaupuu, and T’Qwaba up on their feet. They were battered and wounded but ready to slay the enemies of the Emperor. The only weapons they had were a few combat knives and dark eldar blades they had picked up. Pyrox was seated on a table next to Ruusa and Razzik, Miqit was on post at the door as they entered.

Both captains and Pyrox turned their attention to the returning marines.
“Target located Captain.” Bel Uri said as he approached.
Ruusa nodded and looked out at his Ice Angels. “Lead us to them Bel Uri, it is past time we purged these aliens.”

The Ice Angels nodded their heads and murmured their prayers. Bel Uri lead the Ice Angels and the lone Fire Angel towards their prey.

* * * * * * * * *

Bel Uri was cautiously walking along the side of the hall way. Four marines were behind him, while the other five were in a line on the other side of the hall moving silently down towards the dark opening. The noise of Dark Eldar from before was replaced with a cold silence. Something was terribly wrong, he could feel it in his bones, but he knew this was the same place as before.

The hall way they were traversing had a slight incline and when they neared the top Ruusa held up a fist. He pointed to Bel Uri and waved forward, everyone else stayed motionless. Bel Uri and Ruusa moved the last few yards up the incline. The room at the end of the hall was large for this vessel and surprisingly cold. There was a dull pulsing light near the back of the room from some mechanical device on stilts, but other then that the only light was a red candle in the center of the room. Under the candle was a desecrated body of a marine. His stomach was torn open and all around him was blood and gore. Both Bel Uri and Ruusa were staring at the body when they heard a low growl to their left. Soon several other growls responded. The darkness around the room seemed to move when a soft feminine chuckle silenced the growls. Just outside the radiance of the candle a form could be seen from the pulsing backlight.

“You’re a little late, monkeigh.” She said with disgust in her voice.

Ruusa took a step forward, the growling once again started.

She chuckled and made a small hand motion, the end of a whip rolling into the candle light. “I hope you’re more of a challenge then the last few pathetic marines I’ve slaughtered.” She then stepped into the light. The scantily clad woman wore only a small armored vest and tattoos. “Come on whelp, I grow tired of staring at you. Shout some nonsense about your pathetic emperor and fight me!” A smug look of satisfaction crossed her face as she saw their reactions.

With super human speed both Bel Uri and Ruusa rushed forward. “For Sanguinius!” Bel Uri shouted. After only a few steps the woman smiled and flipped backwards into the darkness. Bel Uri was slightly faster then Ruusa but was pounced on by some sort of beast. Bel Uri tumbled to the ground punching and kneeing a skinless creature. The cat like beast dug in his claws and tried to use its bulk to bring its massive jaws on Bel Uri’s helmet. Seeing him fall, Ruusa dove forward to dodge another pouncing beast.

As soon as Bel Uri had shouted the other Ice Angels and Fire Angel ran into the room to assist. They were also met by the strange beasts. The feline creatures seemed to chill the air around them as they jumped and pounced on the marines. Only a few shots could be heard over the growls and howls of the beasts. To Ruusa, he knew his brothers could take on the strange creatures; all that mattered was slaying the alien bitch that defiled the Emperors name and tortured his marines.

With the sound of battle behind him, Ruusa moved past the unknown corpse on the floor. With shield and double bladed axe he moved into the darkness. His helmets darkvision wasn’t registering anything in the gloom. Instead he used all of his senses to try to locate the dark eldar. A slight shuffle behind him was all the warning he had. He spun around, axe swinging at chest level. Air was the only thing he hit as he realized she had jumped over him. A short blade went into his flesh in between his chest plate and arm. Ruusa held his arm tight against his body as he tried to pin the blade in his own flesh, but the small blade still slid out. He rolled away and came up facing his attacker. He quickly tried to move in and swing with his axe with a downward chop. She side stepped the chop and jabbed her needle thin blade into Ruusa’s elbow. With a shout of rage Ruusa punched out with his shield. A satisfying crunch brought a smile to his face.

She moaned, “Hmm yes. That was exquisite.” Ruusa was mid step when she tumbled across the floor right at him. Now inside his next swing, she jabbed her blade into his abdomen. With a smile she started to flip to his side. Ruusa dropped his shield and grabbed a handful of her passing hair. With a screech she didn’t complete her flip but fell on the ground. Hair in hand Ruusa pulled her across the floor right to him. With all his might his axe came down at the lithe form. With real hate in her eyes she swung her legs up and deflected his swing with her knee. Next her blade came up and went through Ruusa’s wrist, but this time the blade stuck in between his super human bones.

Now free, she tumbled away. Ruusa pulled out the blade in his wrist and threw it aside. His body was screaming in pain from the wounds and he couldn’t move his left hand. Her nose was shattered and blood freely fell down her face. She unfurled her whip and as she took her first swing. Ruusa hurled his double blade axe at her. With insane speed she contorted to dodge the axe, but it wasn’t enough. The powered blade cut a deep gash across her shoulder.

With a scream that seemed to shake the darkness itself she cracked her whip at Ruusa. He blocked with his good arm. The whip coiled around his arm, spiked barbs puncturing his armor. Ruusa’s eyes went wide as his arm lost all feeling and fell limp at his side. The Dark Eldar took several steps forward and jumped through the air. In mid flight she let go of the whip and took out two more blades. She landed in a crouched position on his shoulders and jammed one blade into Ruusa’s helmet and the other into his throat. Ruusa fell backwards and she rolled off of him. Both blades were still imbedded in his body. Ruusa tried to speak but blood was gurgling up his throat. The dark eldar then reappeared on top of him pinning him to the floor. With blood dripping from her shattered nose she smiled.

“That,” she paused, “was amazing.” She licked her bloody lips. “Now I must go.” She leaned down and kissed his helmet. “One more parting gift, I’m going to blow up all of your friends. “ She said with a sinister look. She pushed small device hidden in her jewelry. The pulsing light on the mechanical device began to quicken.

She stood up and looked down at the dying marine. She turned to leave when a dark form crashed into her from the side. The woman tried to flee from the grasp of the naked marine. She thrashed and tried to punch, but the marine wove his arms and legs around her. Soon she was unable to move, the marines bulk held her in place. Face to face, she screamed at the branded marine. She tried to head butt him, but he was just out of reach. She spit in his face with frustration. With a smile, he made a sound that rumbled from deep within his throat. It sounded like a gravel landslide. Special glands activated and churned out a special concoction of chemicals. With all his force he spit out a glob of glowing ichor. It hit her face and immediately combusted. Her face burst into flames, her hair went up in smoke. She creamed as her face melted off. Only inches away from the dying woman Pyrox held her in place. He watched her squirm. He inhaled the smoke from her melting flesh. All the years of torment, all the years of suffering, gave him the strength he needed to hold her still as he watched one of his hated enemies thrash.

* * * * * * * * *

“Holy Emperor, NO!” Razzik shouted as he approached his fallen Captain.

The other marines were gathering around as Razzik knelt down next to Ruusa. He quickly examined where the blades had entered, the scene was grim. He pulled the blade out of Ruusa’s throat and held his head steady. Ruusa coughed in his helmet and with a gargled voice he spoke “She armed a bomb, you must escape.”

After just the millisecond it took to comprehend his words, Razzik looked up at the blinking device. “FALL BACK!” he shouted.

Captain Razzik picked up Ruusa and Miqit lead the group. Bel Uri and Sidana helped the wounded. The flight through the vessel hardly took a minute before the bomb went off. The ork Rokk shook. The Ice Angels came out of the dark eldar vessel with dust and debris at their backs.

In the upside down cathedral they were met by other Ice Angels. At seeing Razzik exit with the motionless Captain Ruusa there was cold silence that filled the chamber. The loss of a fellow marine was something they had all dealt with, but never taken lightly. Prayers were muttered by some. Weapon handles were squeezed as anger boiled inside others.

Razzik gently laid down his Captain. Tech marine Philosir moved in to stand next to the kneeling Razzik. Ruusa’s limp body was there but their beloved Captain was now with at the Emperor’s side.

Chapter 5 - Aftermath

As the bombs went off a large majority of the vessel simply vanished. Gouts of flame shot into space, hues of purple and blue could be seen over the brief glimpses of red. The outer shell broke apart and shattered like a delicate toy being smashed upon the black back drop of space.

From a safe distance away the Imperial Fleet watched. The fleet rejoiced as the last remaining rokk in this system was destroyed. All save one, the Frozen Rage.

Aboard the aft observation deck the Ice Angel officers along with several of the naval staff gathered. They watched in silence as the remnants of the ork rokk scattered into space. The loss of their brethren, especially Captain Ruusa, left the room a somber tone; even the outspoken Bel Hando hung his head in quite contemplation.

As the last bits of rock dispersed out of view Captain Razzik turned from the glass to look over his command. At his movement many Ice Angels looked up and regarded the now 11th Captain of the Ice Angel Chapter. Unlike many chapters that follow the rigid Codex Astartes, the Ice Angels had their own system for their captains. When one falls in battle all other captains of lower rank are promoted. It is the only promotion that they regret.

After a few more moments of thought Captain Razzik addressed his temporary command, “The history books and records of the Imperium will remember this battle on Rokk Mekaroid as the final stand against orks in this system, a minor victory in the grand scheme of the Waaaagh that plagues this sector. To us, it will be a great tragedy that will be etched into the ice tombs deep within Shattermantle. Even now the fleet rejoices and prepares to move towards the next system to begin anew the battle against the greenskin.”

Captain Razzik slowly began to prowl the room; every one he passed bowed their heads or nodded. “Instead of moving forward with the fleet we’ve been requested at high command to report our Dark Eldar findings directly to them. We will then be heading back to Shattermantle to tell our tale to Master Daggon and etch the final chapter of Captain Ruusa into his shard.”

Razzik ended his walk in front of Brother Frakatazuli, who was in his standard furiouso pattern dreadnought suit. Razzik looked up into the ice blue light of Frakatazuli’s tomb. The dreadnought simply looked back and then turned to leave the room. The ancient dreadnought had kept oddly quiet since returning from the ork vessel.

“Commander Seluku.” Razzik said as he looked over at a tall lanky naval officer.
“Yes, my Captain.” Seluku said with a bow.
Razzik turned to regard the loyal Commander of the Frozen Rage. The commander wore a dark gray long coat and his long skull plugs shined in the artificial light. They reminded Razzik of silver dreadlocks. “Send a signal to the Imperial Fleet of our departure then prepare for warp travel. I’ll be on the bridge shortly.”
“It shall be done.” Seluku said with another bow. He immediately left the observation deck along with all of the other naval officers.

When the double doors closed Razzik regarded his, command. Many of the pale and tattooed faces from the second company had taken orders from Ruusa for many decades some even centuries; Philosir had been at Ruusa’s side from his beginning as a scout. Razzik’s light blue eyes met with Philosir and he stopped himself from speaking. Instead he dismissed the room with a simple wave. One by one they filed out, their black robes making little sound as they past by the captain. Finally only Razzik and Techmarine Philosir stood in the room.

Techmarine Philosir was, as always, in his armor. Even with many of his weapon arms changed out to tools and his power axe replaced with his staff, Philosir still had an aura of power around him. One of the few parts of the techmarine that wasn’t machine was the top half of his face. Philosir always said that you can never have enough senses, why not keep your own and mechanical gifts from the Omnissiah. His scarred face looked paler then a typical Ice Angel and his once vibrant eyes were now cold and stormy.

“How is our guest?” Razzik asked.

Philosir paused then said “He is awake and physically improving, but still keeping quiet.” He pulled out a datapad from a hip compartment. “According to Cyaxares and Attikusu he is both of able body and mind.” After pushing a series of buttons he turned the pad over to Razzik.

Razzik closely regarded the pad, “I think I shall visit him then. Any luck with the device?”

“There is no luck Captain, only gifts the Omnissiah grants when you’re ready. It will take more time before I can unlock all of the devices secrets.” Philosir paused before continuing on. “It would be much more beneficial if I could dismantle it and try to understand the inner workings.”

Razzik turned and stared out into space, rules and regulations filled his mind, all of which told him not to do anything with the device but a small corner of his conscious told him other wise.

“I agree Philosir. Do what you must. Keep me informed.”

With a blurt of binary the Tech marine turned and left the room.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

As the sleek black Ice Angel ship turned away from the fleet a bulky dark gray vessel turned in pursuit. The two ships were of similar size, but very different designs. The Ice Angel ship was bristling with artillery for ship to ship combat, the bow of the Frozen Rage was a giant ram that could deliver an entire detachment of marines directly into enemy vessels. If it had a hilt the ship would have looked similar to a sword.

The gray ship was now pulling along side, its armored bulk held banks of drop pods, space to surface weapons, and according to the wolf insignia, Space Wolves.

“Commander Seluku, we just received word that the Space Wolves will be accompanying us. They too have been ordered to high command. “The communications officer reported.

Seluku turned from his throne towards Captain Razzik, who was only a few steps away over looking the command compartment of the Frozen Rage. Captain Razzik looked out at the Space Wolf vessel, the Polar Kraken.

“Tell Andvett Rockstorm, we’ll protect his squat freighter any time.” Razzik said with a chuckle. As the message was sent Razzik could hear in his head the obnoxious belly laugh of Andvett Rockstorm. They had fought side by side on only a few occasions but during this small ork incursion they had spoke many times. A mutual respect had been bonded between the two space marine forces.

Without waiting for a response the Frozen Rage tore into the warp with the Polar Kraken at its heels.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

After the warp transition was completed and all systems checked out, Captain Razzik headed down to the infirmary. The entrance to the medical facility was a bustle of activity. Several Brothers had been recently released from their injuries and others were coming in to visit the more seriously wounded.

Once inside, the Captain was reminded of how many losses the Orks and Dark Eldar had caused. With a prayer on his breath he visited each marine. The last marine he met up with was Tock-tzu. He had severe internal damage, but will pull through in only a few short weeks.

As Captain Razzik left Tock’s room he heard a metal tray crash to the floor. Rounding the corner were several of the operation chambers, Razzik came up to one of the windows to see some of the medical staff and servitors fitting an Ice Angel with a bionic arm.

A burly marine named Rattmu was seated on the edge of a table, a massive bionic arm was straight out in front of him, and silver tools were all over the floor. He was flush with frustration. At the sight of Razzik he immediately calmed down. “Captain” was all he said.

“Rattmu, hows the new arm?”

“If they could get it to respond correctly, it would be fine.” He responded.

A female medic named Arwia appeared from a small side room, “Actually, it appears to be responded correctly, your brain however is not properly….”
Rattmu shot her a glance that abruptly stopped her mid sentence. “We’ll have to make more adjustments before he is once again field ready Captain Razzik.”

“We have a few weeks before we arrive, I hope that will suffice.” Razzik added.

“That’s entirely up to Rattmu” Arwia said as she jabbed him with a thick syringe.

Trying to hide his smile, Razzik gave a short nod to Rattmu and turned away. A few minutes later he arrived at the guarded end of the infirmary. All of the cells were open and empty except one. In front of the last cell was Chaplain Cyaxeres, Pyrox, and a fully armored Ice Angel, Brother Tani. Cyaxeres wore his black ceremonial robes, his rosarius and Crozius Arcanum hung on his person. Next to him was Sergeant Pyrox of the Fire Angel chapter in a simple gray robe. In the week he had been aboard he had changed greatly. His body had begun to fill in with muscle, his skin had a more natural tone, his hair was chopped, and the scars from his mask had healed up leaving a permanent outline on his face. He turned to regard the approaching captain.

“The Emperor Protects, my captain.” Cyaxeres said quietly.

“How is our guest?” Razzik said.

“He is stable and recovering. The Dark Eldar machine brought him back, but he is still damaged from whatever they did to him.” Cyaxeres stated.

“I don’t recognize him, but I was kept with a small group of prisoners from my own chapter. I’ve not seen a prisoner in this condition before.” Pyrox added.

Cyaxeres nodded and then continued. “We’ve run all the tests we can. Attikusu suggested we take our time and not push him until we learn more.”

With a thoughtful nod Razzik moved past the marines into the cell. Strapped to the bed was the heavily wounded marine that Bel Uri and his unit had located weeks before. His body was heavily scarred, his imperial tattoos had been damaged, and he was in need of a new eye, leg, and serious arm repair. The small room had only the bed and a stool. Razzik cautiously came to the foot of the bed and looked over the tortured marine. As the door closed shut behind him the click of the door brought a wide eyed look from the marine. He scanned the room with a bizarre sense of detachment before his one good eye focused in on Razzik.

Razzik had seen countless marines injured and shredded and on the brink of death, but some how this marine was different. Questions upon questions filled his thoughts before he decided to start with the basics.

“Hello, I am Razzik, 11th Captain of the Ice Angels.” He paused to await a response.

The marine stared at him.

“You’re completely safe now, you can relax.” He once again waited.

The marine continued to stare.

“I see. When you’re ready, we’ll talk.” Razzik stood up. He waited and gave the marine a final nod before turning. He opened the door and gave the marine a final glance. The tortured marine continued to stare as he closed the door. The locks clicked back into place.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The windows all around him appeared to be empty. The doors to every building were closed. All around him was nothing but silence and ferrocrete structures. Cautiously he walked down the city block. His black armor was trimmed in ice blue; his white helmet was almost gleaming in the artificial light.

He heard a buzzing sound for only a millisecond before his targets appeared. To him though, that was all he needed. With super human speed he pulled up his heavy bolter and rattled off several rounds. In windows to his left three drones blew into pieces. Before they had even hit the floor he was swiveling to his right. One more drone was lining up a shot from the second floor. The drone fired its bolter the instant that he fired his heavy bolter. The heavy round took the drone out and the bolter clipped the marines shoulder. The impact turned him to the side making him move his feet and rebalance.

The sound of running feet brought him back to his right side. A smaller marine in red armor was running at full speed, two short blades in his hands. He covered the distance alarmingly fast.

The black armored marine did not hesitate to open fire with his heavy bolter. Anticipating the move the red armored marine tumbled to the side dodging the large caliber dummy rounds. As the marine closed the gap the heavy bolter barked out again, this time the smaller marine leapt into the air, the heavy bolter clicked empty just as the marine lined up the shot. The red armored marine was hardly slowing down, only a few more steps and he would have his kill. He leaned forward to dive at the larger black target, but was surprised when the heavy bolter itself collided with his face. Caught off guard he collapsed onto the ground, he tried to recover but the black armored marine was on him stabbing with his blunted combat knife. It took only one jab to the back of the neck before it was over.

“Damn Rattmu! You actually killed me!” Bel Uri shouted from his prone position. With a hearty laugh Rattmu picked up his downed brother. “It only took me nine tries!” He responded. Bel Uri reached down to pick up the heavy bolter, “I am not sure they’ll appreciate you throwing your weapon at the enemies.” Even under his helmet, Bel Uri could see Rattmu’s grin. The larger black armored marine held out his huge bionic arm.

Bel Uri handed over the heavy weapon and then took off his red practice helmet, his vibrant eyes had a look of disappointment about them. Shaking his head a wide smile began to creep across his face. “Wow, I can already hear my squad giving me crap about this. I can’t remember the last time someone defeated me.” Rattmu let out another hearty laugh. “You know I’m going to tell everyone in the chapter right?” He added.

They both laughed and joked all the way out of the practice cityscape. Servitors scrabbled out and began to rebuild the destroyed drones.

After they had turned in their practice gear they left the facilities. Almost immediately after they had left they ran into Miqit. Miqit was in his armor, helmet mag locked to his hip, but weaponless save his blade. “Bel Uri, suit up. Razzik wants us and Bennu to meet him in the infirmary.”

With a quizzical look on his face Bel Uri paused, “Did he say what for?”
“I didn’t ask.” Miqit responded before heading to the infirmary. With a shrug Bel Uri took off in a jog towards his gear.

“He probably wants to demote you for being defeated by a devastator in hand to hand” Rattmu shouted.

Bel Uri just shook his head as he jogged away.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Now that you’re all here I want you to try and assist me.” Captain Razzik said. “The marine you captured we’ve been able to revive, but he hasn’t said a word or responded to anything we’ve done.”

Razzik, Bennu, Bel Uri, and Miqit were all in the hall way outside of the cells. Attikusu was not far away looking at a datapad.

“What do you want us to do?” Bel Uri asked.

Attikusu came over to the group and handed the datapad to Miqit, “Introduce yourselves. Tell a story. Talk about where you were when you found him. Try to get him to speak. We are trying to learn everything we can before he meets up with the Inquisition. For all we know they’ll incinerate him.”

“I’ve visited him every day for two weeks and he hasn’t said a word to me.” Razzik added. “I know he is aware. He is much calmer now then he was.”

The three members of squad Uttuakki all nodded their heads in understanding. “We shall try.” Bel Uri added before turning towards the door.

The door opened silently and the three armored marines entered. On the bed was the marine they had saved. He was in much better condition then when they had last seen him, but now the extent of torture was easier to see on his clean body.

The marines introduced themselves and for a few awkward minutes asked simple questions and tried to get any response from the tortured marine. The response was only a blank stare. Bel Uri told a recap of the battle on the rokk where they found him. Bel Uri at one point was on his feet reenacting some of the fighting. Still they had no response from the tortured marine. Bennu then began another story of their fight with the stompa on the Rokk Mekaroid. The marine continued to stare at the Ice Angels.

After several hours they ran out of relevent things to talk about. Bel Uri was sitting on the stool in the room, his helmet in his powerfist. He looked over to Miqit and shrugged. Miqit looked down at the datapad and walked over to the marine on the bed, he handed him the pad. With a strange look in his good eye he hesitantly took the datapad. “I don’t know how long you’ve been gone, but I’ve adjusted the pad so you can see all the information we’ve gathered on you and some general information on what’s been going on for the past few years in this system.”

The tortured marine looked from the pad, to Miqit, and back to the pad. With a sigh Bel Uri got up and put his helmet back on. He left the room with Bennu on his heals. Miqit stood up and began to turn around when the tortured marines hand shot out and grabbed Miqits elbow. Miqit looked down at the hand. A smooth commanding voice spoke, “Can we speak, you and I?”

Miqit looked at the seated marine. His gravel gray hair was cut clean and his one good eye was a deep mahogany. Miqit took a glance out the door at Bennu who returned the look. Miqit gave Bennu a nod before the door slowly shut with a click. “Of course we can.”

Miqit moved around the bed and sat on the stool. The other marine took a deep breath and looked out in the distance. “My name is Vetov, Commander Vetov of the Emperor’s Tears.” He turned and his face quivered with inner turmoil. He paused and took another deep breath. Miqit waited patiently. Vetov looked at the datapad and checked the date.

“I was captured seventeen years ago along with many of my men.” The datapad in his hand began to shake, he looked at Miqit with a piercing glare. Through gritted teeth he spoke again, “I was betrayed.”


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Miqit leaned forward placing both of his hands on the cold stone table, “Do you think it’s true?” He looked to each marine in turn.

“I don’t want to believe him,” Cyaxeres stated,” but he does not appear to be lying.”
The old Ice Angel Chaplain rubbed the stubble on his weathered face. “Only the Emperor knows for sure. The question is, how shall we treat this knowledge?”

“His story hasn’t changed in the two weeks we’ve been talking either. I would have to agree with Cyaxeres.” Miqit added.

“According to the records, the little bit that I could find, the Emperor’s Tears were in that system. Then again the information is so vague it could easily be false information.” The monotone voice of the tech marine continued, “The Chapter was deemed destroyed after a dark eldar raid above an isolated planet, Hexlein IV.”

Captain Razzik was leaning back in his tall chair, deep in thought. “But his side of the story lines up with what we’ve found?”

Both Cyaxeres and Philosir nodded their heads in agreement. “All except the betrayal and getting set up by a high ranking officer of the Imperium.” Miqit added before sitting back with disgust. Cyaxeres stood up and began to pace the length of the small conference room. “If this betrayal is true then we MUST, purge this heretic! Who would DARE betray one of the Emperors finest? By the Emperor’s light we will stri…”

Razzik held up his hand to stop the Chaplain from getting carried away in one of his zealous speeches. “I agree Cyaxeres, but we must tread lightly. We have no proof other then this tortured marines word.” Razzik took a deep breath and began to stare out into the distance. ”Tomorrow we arrive at High Command. We will follow protocol and file our report. The last thing we want to do is upset the Imperial High Command, especially with our history.”

The Captain got up from his chair and looked to the Tech marine. “Philosir keep looking into this. I want as much information as you can give me.” Looking around the room Razzik continued, “After we’re done with High Command and we make it to Shattermantle we will review everything and take it to Master Daggon.”

The three marines all nodded at their Captain and began to file out. Razzik watched their expressions. When the door finally closed Captain Razzik sat back down at the table. Finally alone he held his head in his hands. He was already dreading the next few days. Tactical decisions on a battlefield were simple, but dealing with the politics and the bureaucracy of high command was a whole other art of war.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Space is often described as cold or dark, some even describe it as a vast field of nothingness. When the Frozen Rage and the Polar Kraken came out of the warp, none of those words came to mind. Before them was a near endless field of vessels. Space itself seemed to be glowing with a warm amber tone like the horizon behind a setting sun.

The Vezda System was only three planets circling around a relatively new vibrant sun. The planets were originally not attractive nor did they have a booming population, however they were discovered to be rich in raw materials that the Mechanicum coveted. Now all three planets were veritable factories churning out everything the Imperium needs to conquer the stars. Above the planets were gigantic space stations which were now full from the armies that were preparing to push back the Ork Waaagh that had threatened dozens of nearby systems.

The moment that the two space marine vessels reentered real space they were hailed. Identification was quadruple checked before they could move past the spherical picket line towards the inner planet. They passed ships of all sizes and categories before they arrived at their set high anchor position. Once into position they took a shuttle, the Emperor’s Path, over to another ship.

The space directly around High Command was considered a no fly zone, only designated ships could dock with the massive station or even approach. The Emperor’s Path along with several others were small runners that passed through the fleet transporting people and information to high command and back. After nearly a full day of travel, the Ice Angels and Space Wolves arrived at the High Command space station, the Iron Torch. When the Emperor’s Path finally docked with the Iron Torch, the two units were told to wait until their escorts arrived.

“This war would have been over a long time ago if all of these ships weren’t stuck in this TRAFFIC JAM!” a Space Wolf by the name of Valsen Arrowbrow said while pacing around the room. Of the four wolves with Andvett, Valsen was the most outspoken. Andvett merely laughed at the comment, even though everyone in the room agreed.

Throughout their trip Miqit had observed the Space Wolves, listened to their conversations, but as they retold their stories of battles he constantly wondered how much more effective they would be if they used better tactics, or tried wearing helmets. Per Ice Angel tradition they wore their helmets at all times, except on their own vessels.

Shaking his head Miqit looked around the room, Philosir and Razzik were in the corner discussing something over a datapad. Cyaxeres was sitting next to Vetov who was wearing a heavy robe quartered in dark blue and black, his chapter’s colors. Finally Miqit looked directly across the isle from him at Muttabriqu and Sergeant Pyrox. Pyrox was wearing a suit of power armor dulled to a matte gray. His right shoulder pad and both feet had orange flames painted on. What stood out though was his helmet. With Philosir’s assistance he had adjusted a mark six helmet so that the mouth guard opened like a double door, while keeping his nose and eyes covered. It was currently closed and had he not seen him put it on, he wouldn’t have been able to notice the hinge design but the helmet stood out against the bland gray armor. Miqit once again looked to his new captain. He could almost make out their hushed tone, but the space wolves were telling some story about heretics and making a lot of noise.

He thought on the fallen Captain Ruusa. He thought about sergeant Muttabriqu and what he had said when they had returned with Ruusa’s body. Muttabriqu disliked Captain Razzik and had resented him becoming the next captain. He only told his squad but feelings amongst the company were very mixed.

Finally the door opened and several members of the Imperial Navy entered along with security servitors. A woman with a cunning look and a blonde top knot lead the entourage. The Space Wolves along with the Ice Angels stopped their banter. She seemed to give everyone a look of dissatisfaction before she spoke, “Welcome to the Iron Torch. Please follow me.” Before waiting for any response she turned and quickly walked out, the other Imperial Navy personal gave her plenty of room. Valsen began to say something but was stopped by a commanding look from Andvett, the Space Wolves got up and began to file out. The Ice Angels were right behind.

After exiting the Emperor’s Path, the two units were sent to separate conference rooms, but before they split Andvett came up to Razzik and shook his hand. Andvett leaned in and whispered so only Razzik could hear, “I smell it too” was all he said.

Razzik looked up into the eyes of the venerable Space Wolf, his eyes spoke of honor and understanding. Captain Razzik gave a slight nod. A grin crossed Andvetts weathered face. He let out a chuckle that sounded like a cave in and walked away with his entourage slapping Valsens back as he did.

The stern woman lead the Ice Angels down several more hallways before they reached an elevator that could move a thunderhawk if necessary. They walked for several more hours before finally reaching their conference room. The room was actually a suite that could hold a large number of guests. The five room suite was now empty except for them.

One of the naval servitors that had accompanied them walked up to the stern woman and handed her a recently printed message. She read it before handing it back to the mostly mechanical being. “Captain Razzik, do you have your report? High Command would like to review it before they see you.” She held out her hand in anticipation.

Razzik strode forward and looked down at the woman. She was tall for a human, but looked miniscule next to the fully armored space marine. He gently placed a datapad in her hand. “How long will we be waiting?”

She took the pad and immediately handed it to another servitor. She turned and began to walk away and at the door she paused, “As long as High Command needs you here Captain.” The door slid shut behind the naval group after they exited.

“I’ve been tortured by nicer women then that one.” Pyrox said in his deep raspy voice.

Muttabriqu gave a hand signal to Miqit and the two of them searched the suite. Cyaxeres sat with Vetov and Pyrox in a lounge area. Philosir went to one of the desks along the back wall and began to plug into the Iron Torch’s systems to communicate with the machine spirit. Razzik stood by the door, something was bothering him, but he couldn’t pick it out.

Eventually Razzik sat down next to Cyaxeres, who was asking Pyrox questions about the Fire Angel combat doctrine. After several minutes Razzik spoke. “When the Wolves left to head to their room, did any security personal accompany them?”

Pyrox, Cyaxeres, and Vetov looked at him before Cyaxeres spoke, “No, only a guide went with the wolves. All the guards came with us.”

“Captain, may I have a word?” Philosir said from his desk. Razzik gave Cyaxeres a look before moving. Cyaxeres simply tilted his skull helmet.

Razzik quickly got up and moved over to Philosir and his metal desk. “After reviewing all of the reports on Hexlein IV and the final battles of the Emperor’s Tears, I’ve noticed that after their supposed destruction, there isn’t a single dark eldar sighting. This supposed raid destroys the remnants of the chapter and then the dark eldar force simply vanishes.”

Philosir taps his datapad and hands it to Razzik. “The most peculiar thing is that the commander, named Dessecrav, filed the report on the Emperor’s Tears seven days after his own death. Commander Dessecrav was killed by a Tyranid Fleet in a different sector. He has no history of ever being near Hexlein IV.”

After this mental bombshell dropped, long discussions were had between Vetov and the Ice Angels. Hours passed before they finally had a visitor. A male naval officer entered the suite. He looked young to be an officer but his eyes spoke of experience. After entering he paused and made the sign of the aquila to the marines. They responded in kind before Captain Razzik stepped up towards the officer.

“Captain Razzik?”
“I am Captain Razzik,” he responded.

The naval officer handed him a rolled document sealed with the stylized I of the Inquisition. Razzik broke the seal and read the document. He looked at the officer before turning to the remaining marines in the suite. “Pyrox and Vetov, it appears the Inquisition is ready to speak with you.”

Pyrox and Vetov stood up and went towards the door. As they exited they saw nearly two dozen Inquisitorial Storm Troopers waiting to escort them through the Iron Torch. As the two marines left, the door once again closed. Razzik turned towards his brethren. “The Council begins at 0900 tomorrow.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The following day the council began promptly at 0900. The Council chamber was a huge bowled arena, capable of holding tens of thousands of people. The center was a reinforced dais that had a nearly visible void shield protecting the members in side. All around the arena were small groups of Imperial Commanders and Leaders, each protected by its own field. The Ice Angels had their own small bubble and in it was also a screen of the center dais. Around the arena could also be seen other Space Marine Chapters. Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Mantis Warriors, marines in every color imaginable could be seen, all in their own protected bubbles. In between each bubble and by all of the entrances were Guards. Cherubs flew like carrion feeders along with servo skulls and the entire arena had a constant electrical hum.

The morning meeting started out with introductions of the High Command. After several hours of long introductions, the state of the sector speech was given by Lord Kilroy DuFray. Lord DuFray was known for his rousing speeches and this state of the sector speech was one of his finest. As he finished the entire arena was on its feet, roaring with approval and shouting death threats to the orks.

As the roar died down Lord DuFray stepped aside and saluted Lord Byron Kroppe. Lord Kroppe was a brilliant commander and tactician and what little words he spoke seemed to carry the weight of the Imperium with them. Without going into great details he explained the movements of the newest crusades to destroy Waaaagh Gazzbat and his warlords Gitsplitta, Phungunz, and Redface. Thirteen Crusader fleets were being deployed to push back and annihilate the Orks. Lord Kroppe emphasized the importance of each fleet and the importance of faith in the Emperor before giving the sign of the aquila to the arena.

After he finished he took his seat to let an ancient servitor approach the lectern. The scribe hobbled up to the lectern and began to read out loud each crusader fleets manifest. As each ship or commander was named their orders would be sent to their bubble via a cherub or servo skull. The scribe relentlessly read off names. The small ancient figure did not error and did not react to any sound the crowd made. Eventually even the Ice Angels began to quietly talk amongst themselves, unable to stand the drone of the scribe.

Refreshments began to circulate through the protected bubbles, hours passed and the scribe continued. Eventually the scribe finished and hobbled back to its position behind High Command. Lord Kroppe stood back up and approached the lectern one final time.

He stood at the lectern and looked out at the crowd. The low murmur of small talk died down and silence crept through the arena like a morning fog. He held onto the lectern with both hands before speaking to the Imperials before him.

“Before you are dismissed to begin the Emperor’s work, “he paused and looked around once again, “we have a message from the Inquisition Ordo Xenos.”

Lord Kroppe sighed and went back to his seat. As he did the floor in front of the central dais opened up. Slowly another force bubble rose from the ground. Cherubs and servo skulls swooped in. Pic screens all over the arena now zoomed in on the new arrivals.

Inside the force bubble was a tall stern woman with a blonde top knot; she wore a suit of tight golden armor and a red cloak with the stylized I of the Inquisition. Around the perimeter of the bubble were various kinds of guards and death cult assassins. Directly next to her were two large space marines, Pyrox in his gray armor holding his helmet and Vetov in his robe. They appeared emotionless and unharmed.

“Is that the officer that escorted us to our room?” Miqit asked. Before anyone could answer she spoke.

“I am Inquisitor Vervin of the Ordo Xenos and as our Lord Commanders have explained, the end of the orks is approaching. The Emperor lights our path and the destruction of the simple mindless orks, is in sight.” She looked around at the approving nods in the arena. “HOWEVER!” She shouted. Her stern look seemed to amplify as she peered around the room. “These simple orks may be hiding a darker secret.” She whispered.

She turned and walked up to Pyrox who continued to look out over her head. She quickly spun around and looked towards the Space Wolves, “One of our smaller fleets recently cleansed a system of orks with the help of Andvett Rockstorm and his Space Wolves. As the orks attempted to flee, another chapter worked on cleansing the rokks in space.” With venom in her voice she continued, “The Ice Angels cleansed two of the rokks and in both. They found astartes prisoners!” The room gasped at the thought of any of the Emperors finest being taken prisoner.

She let the thought settle for a moment before she turned back to Pyrox, “Sergeant Pyrox can you explain how you were captured?”

He continued to stare but spoke, “I was captured by Dark Eldar years ago” The room gasped again.

She threw her arms into the air and shouted “HOW, were you captured?”

His stare traveled down and looked at Inquisitor Vervin before speaking in his raspy voice. “The Dark Eldar used a kind of toxin to temporarily disable my men before using some device to send us into a controlled coma.” The noise level in the room continued to rise before Inquisitor Vervin silenced it with another one of her looks.

“Do you know how these devices work, Sergeant Pyrox?”

“I know how they function, but...”

“Could you make one?” she interrupted

“No.”

She glared at the branded marine, “Do you have one?”

“No.”

She sharply turned to Vetov, “Commander Vetov of the Emperor’s Tears, how did the Ice Angels revive you after they found you?”

Vetov took a deep breath before speaking, “They used one of the Dark Eldar devices to…”

“HERESY!” she shouted. “Using xenos technology,” she shook her head. With another glare she looked out into the arena at the Ice Angel bubble. As she did several servo skulls hovered over head and soon all of the pic screens had both the Inquisitor and the Ice Angels on it.

“Captain Razzik, what happened to the rokk in which you found Commander Vetov?”

Captain Razzik took a glimpse at Cyaxeres before responding. “We destroyed it.”

“AND what happened to the rokk that you found Sergeant Pyrox on?”

“We destroyed it,” he said once again.

“AND where is this device that you used to resuscitate Commander Vetov?” she said with more venom in her words.

Captain Razzik took a deep breath as he began to see where this was leading, “On our ship.” The crowd resumed the murmurs and the shouts. A vile smile crossed the Inquisitors face as she pulled out a datapad.

“USING xenos technology is a major offense to the Imperium of Mankind, Captain. HARBORING xenos technology is a major offense to the Imperium of Mankind, Captain. Leaving out important details in reports to High Command is a major offense to the Imperium of Mankind, CAPTAIN!” she shouted before throwing the datapad onto the metal floor of her bubble.

The room was now buzzing, several people shouting Heresy at the Ice Angels. Captain Razzik was full of inner turmoil but his face was perfectly calm. He stared down at the Inquisitor hoping the Emperor would smite her.

She pointed around the room, “As you all know, xenos technology is to be brought to the Inquisition! Xenos technology can corrupt. Xenos technology can infect. Xenos technology is a danger to the Imperium if not handled properly.” She pointed to Captain Razzik, “Are you a member of the Inquisition?”

Razzik paused, “No, but it was the only…”

She threw up her arms once again, “Irrelevant! You have acted not once but three times against the Imperium of Mankind.” She turned towards the central dais and exclaimed, “I demand the faith of these men be tested. Clearly they have forgotten our ways and must redeem themselves in the eyes of the Emperor.”

The room exploded with words, some shouting heresy, others shouting how ridiculous the entire situation was. The smart ones kept silent. Captain Razzik simply shook his head at the audacity of this Inquisitor to question his faith in the Emperor. Thoughts of crushing her under his powerfist briefly crossed his mind before he once again focused on staying calm.

Lord Kroppe pounded his desk with a marble gavel. The room quickly quieted down as the marble gavel emitted a thunderous sound. While rubbing the bridge of his nose Lord Kroppe spoke to the Inquisitor. “What task does the Inquisition impose on Captain Razzik and his force?”

With a wicked grin she looked across the crowd, “According to the Ice Angels the Eldar are working within the orks. I command that as a matter of faith, they immediately travel to the Kota system and find us proof!” This time the noise was deafening.

The Kota system was the first to be taken over by Waaagh Gazbat and is now believed to be the stronghold of the ork warlord. She had just sentenced the Ice Angels on a suicide mission.

Lord Kroppe nearly broke his gavel trying to silence the room once again. With a look of dissatisfaction he declared that the Ice Angels must go to the Kota system and bring back proof of the Dark Eldar working with the Orks. Before any other shouts or responses could be made he stood up and declared that the fleets move out according to their commands. He dismissed everyone, made the sign of the aquila, and then High Command retreated.

Captain Razzik stood staring down at the force bubble the Inquisitor was on. The bubble slowly descended back into the floor. He continued to stare, none of the Ice Angels spoke. A servo skull floated up and passed through a special opening in the shield. A message pad was in its miniscule mechanical claws. Cyaxeres intercepted the skull and read the message.

He looked at the Captain who was still staring before he read it again. He handed the pad to Muttabriqu and stepped towards Razzik.

“Captain, apparently this meeting isn’t over. Inquisitor Vervin demands our presence in Hanger 311 before we depart.” The Captain simply nodded and quickly left the bubble. Another armed escort was waiting for them, but the officer simply lead them to the hanger, not saying a single word.

Even through his helmet everyone they passed felt the anger that Captain Razzik was bottling up. The air around him seemed to ripple with rage. As the Ice Angels strode through the halls everyone moved out of their way. Commanders, officers and other space marines stepped aside.

Hanger 311 was one of the larger hangers on the Iron Torch. Ships of all kinds were powering up and leaving the Iron Torch now that the council was over. The Ice Angels were led to a wide platform that stretched out into the hanger. A small cargo vessel was at the end of the platform. At the base of the platform was Inquisitor Vervin, her guards and several units of Inquisitorial Storm Troopers. Next to the troopers were a handful of Space Marines, each in different colored armor.

The naval security stepped to the side as the Ice Angels reached the platform. Without thinking Razziks powerfist began to crackle with destructive energy. The troopers tightened their grips on their weapons. The Inquisitor simply smiled and approached the Captain.

“Captain Razzik, only the Emperor will know if what you said is true and only the Emperor will know if you will be successful.” The Inquisitor began to speak up as more Imperial Commanders and Astartes began to gather behind the Ice Angels to hear her words. “Find us proof of the Dark Eldar in the Kota system.”

Through gritted teeth Razzik spoke, “By the Emperor’s will.”

She waived her hands over to a handful of marines, “These marines have volunteered to go with you and will vouch that what you say is true.”

At that Captain Razzik took pause and looked at the assembled marines. There were four marines each from different chapters. According to their looks they didn’t appear to be “volunteers”.

Mumbles could be heard from behind the Ice Angels in the crowd. Inquisitor Vervin clasped her hands behind her back before approaching the four marines. She came up to the first, a green armored Mantis Warrior with intricate designs tattooed around his neck.

“Now these marines are from other forces that have intricate roles to play in this crusade.” She stepped to the next, a white armored marine from the Ski Wardens his grey eyes spoke of inner turmoil.

“Each Chapter has brought a certain number of marines to the cause.” She stepped to the next marine a jet black armored figure with a gaunt, almost sickly face. He held a white helmet. The aquila across his chest was bright red. Razzik glimpsed a chapter badge, it was bare except the lone word, Sinner.

“High Command wouldn’t allow their numbers to shrink due to this test of loyalty.” She stepped towards the last marine, his red armor sparkled and he wore a purple tabard across his chest. He was from the Shadow Sanctus Chapter.

She spun around to face the Angels and the crowd, “So before you leave you will have to supple one of your marines to each of these chapters so that they are still at strength.”

Captain Razzik shook his head in disbelief. Inquisitor Vervin smiled at herself before looking around at the crowd. “I take it there are no questions.” Before any one had time to respond she clapped her hands and the troopers shouldered their weapons. She walked up to Captain Razzik and got within inches of his chest, “The Emperor Protects the faithful.” She sneered.

Captain Razzik stiffened up at the comment and the Inquisitor stormed away, the crowd parting to let her through. Captain Razzik didn’t watch as the troopers filed past. As the last few guards left Cyaxeres went over to the four marines to have a chat. A commotion in the crowd made Razzik turn, Andvett was physically moving people and marines out of his way to get to the Ice Angels.

“This is PREPOSTEROUS!” he shouted. “That Inquisitorial bitch doesn’t know what she is talking about. I would’ve ripped off her...” he stopped to face the Ice Angel captain. Knowing that there is nothing that could have been done he cleared his throat. “What can I do to assist you cousin?” He bowed his head.

Captain Razzik looked up at the gray armored behemoth form of Andvett Rockstorm. “Andvett, take Captain Ruusa to Shattermantle and tell Master Duggon of what has transpired here.”

Andvett, who knew the importance of this request, puffed his chest, “I give you my word Captain Razzik of the Ice Angels. It will be done.” The two astartes grasped fore arms and shook. Andvett turned and headed towards his transport.

Razzik looked around the dock, a group of marines had gathered around Cyaxeres and the other Ice Angels. He was about to move towards his Chaplain when he noticed further down the dock, Sergeant Pyrox and Commander Vetov were waiting.

Razzik approached the two marines.

“Captain, I apologize for all of this. I didn’t…” Vetov began. It was one of the first things he had ever said to him. Razzik simply lifted his hand. “Do not apologize, you didn’t know and nor did I. The Inquisition has always been suspicious of the Ice Angels due to previous history. I should apologize to you for being the ones to save you.” He gave a feeble smile.

Commander Vetov reached out his one good hand onto Captain Razziks shoulder, “The Emperor works in mysterious ways. Maybe he meant for this to happen.” Captain Razzik looked into Vetovs one good eye before nodding in agreement.

“Captain” Cyaxeres said.

Razzik turned to see a number of marines accompanying the Ice Angel Chaplain. “We have a request.”

A Blood Angel with a yellow helm stepped up next to Cyaxeres. “Captain Razzik, my name is Reven. I do not know what really happened with those prisoners or what happened with the Dark Eldar, but what I DO know is that this Inquisitor has over stepped herself,” the other marines nodded their heads. “No Son of Sanguinius should ever be treated this way. I wish to accompany you on your crusade to the Kota System.”

A Dark Angel named Evrard, a Red Talon named Walters, a Marines Chysemys named Jaska, and a marine from the Sons of Hades named Honored Brother Inigo also requested to join.

Razzik was shocked by what he was seeing. Fellow astartes understood their situation and were willing to go on a suicide mission to show their respect. Razzik accepted their requests and they all departed together to begin their mission to the Kota System.

* * * * * * * * * * *

The entire Ice Angel force had assembled in the hanger. They stood with their units, helmets on, banners fluttering in the artificial wind. They formed a half moon surrounding a single Thunderhawk. At the base of the ramp were nine Ice Angels facing the black armored force.

In the center of the formation were Razzik, Cyaxeres, Attikusu, Philosir and Frakatuzuli in his furiouso pattern dreadnought suit. Cyaxeres finished giving his blessings when the entire force saluted the marines. A single loud *chink* echoed through the hanger before Razzik dropped the salute and everyone followed suit.

Without another word the nine marines turned and boarded the Thunderhawk. Razzik wondered if he would ever see any of them again. As the rear boarding plank retracted and began to close, Razzik for the hundredth time, thought about his choice to send those marines to the other chapters. His thoughts began to wander to the Inquisitor, the vile woman that forced this upon him. His thoughts began to turn dark before a familiar sound brought him back.

With a deep rumble the engines fired up on the Thunderhawk and it began to hover in its spot. With minimal effort it slowly pivoted and glided out of the hanger. As it did, Cyaxeres spoke the names quietly to himself, only those in the command line could hear him.

“Kadakrazz, T’Qwaba, Ruqum, Dtril, Utaan, Fwuapuu, Shu-Turul, Tani, and Deemethresi. May the Emperor protect you and may you continue to honor us with your actions.” He bowed his head and gave the sign of the aquila.

As he finished a dull gray Thunderhawk crossed the hanger and landed before them. As it sat down on its feet the rear hatch opened. Andvett, in all his pelts and teeth, began to walk down the plank before it had even fully hit the deck. Behind him was his command retinue. He wore a grin that unsettled Razzik.

Andvett stepped in front of Razzik and his retinue formed a jagged line behind him. He looked around at the assembled force and at the command. His smile seemed to widen at the sight.

“ICE ANGELS! I will not lie! I envy the battle that you will soon see! I envy the blood that you will spill in the name of the Emperor!” His eyes shined with a brilliance that seemed to lift the spirits of the marines in the room. He paused and looked directly at Razzik, with a lower voice he added. “But I do not envy the reason that you will be in this battle.” He paused again and looked over to Frakatuzuli. “So I will make you all deal. MURDER, MAIM, and KILL not out of hatred for this Inquisitor but for the fact that that is WHAT WE DO and I will make sure the Imperium will know the Ice Angels that I’ve been honored to fight next to.”

The room erupted with cheers. The thunderous roar made the old wolf smile from ear to ear. Andvett stepped closer to Razzik and spoke once again, “If you fight for the right reason Captain Razzik, then the Allfather may have a plan for you after all.”

Razzik thought about those words before he reached up and took off his helmet. He looked up at Andvett with his golden eyes, “You are a true leader Andvett Rockstorm and a true friend. I am glad that you are the one bearing Captain Ruusa back to Shattermantle.” Andvett puffed his chest at the complement.

“We shall meet again Captain, either here or at the Emperors side,” he saluted the Ice Angels and the entire force returned the gesture.

After the salute the Space Wolves formed a corridor to the Thunderhawk, Brother Frakatuzuli approached with a floating sarcophagus bearing Captain Ruusa. The ancient dreadnought slowly marched up the plank and at the top turned to regard the Ice Angel force. The soft blue glow brightened for a moment before the dreadnought resumed his march. A dozen chapter serfs and a Techmarine followed before a small train of containers moved through the Ice Angel force up into the Thunderhawk bearing the bodies of other Ice Angels and the famous Anchor.

As the last container entered the Thunderhawk the Space Wolves turned and boarded their vessel. Andvett Rockstorm was the last to board before the plank retracted and the door closed. Without further ceremony the hawk lifted off and left.

As it exited the barrier a small bizarre raven entered. The moment it entered the hanger several internal gun batteries activated and tracked it through the hanger. The vessel was painted in a quartered yellow and pink. As the vessel began to land in front Razzik and his retinue, he received reports in regards to the unauthorized vessel entering the hanger.

Razzik put his helmet on and approached the vessel. It was a unique triple winged raven that looked like it was used in long distance runs. It had an under slung cannon and obnoxious phrases written all over it. As he approached the side door opened and a space marine exited. The marine wore armor that was quartered in yellow and pink. His skull helmet was similar to a chaplain’s but didn’t look as fearsome. A storm bolter hung on a strap under his arm and his pink powerfist sparkled in the artificial light.

The marine paused a few steps away from Captain Razzik and removed his helmet. His jovial look took many of the marine by surprise. “Greetings Captain, my name is Aquilum from the Emperor's Fools. I heard you’re going on a suicide mission.”

Razzik looked back to his command before responding, “We’re going to the Kota system, only the Emperor knows if it will be suicide or not.”

“Well, I do hope it is.”

Razzik gave a puzzled look before Aquilum continued, “I will be joining you of course. It sounds like you’ll be in need of me.”

“What need would that be?” Razzik asked.

“I’ll be the entertainment!” he responded with a flamboyant bow.

Chapter 6 – The guests

Cyaxeres stood facing the armor plating that protected his sight from the madness of the warp. Normally the room had windows that allowed you to peer deep into space, but now armor plates covered every side of the observation deck. The solid gray plates were covered in murals depicting famous battles the Ice Angels had been in. Cyaxeres was familiar with each image and could flawlessly recite the tales of each one, but as he stared at the mural in front of him he thought nothing of what the violent image represented.

Instead he focused inwards and concentrated on his task. Times like these were when chaplains were needed most. On the battlefield his words could stir the minds and hearts of his brethren to amazing feats. His speeches could corral the battle-frenzied Ice Angels who had succumbed to the Black Rage. His visage could strike terror into the hearts of his enemies, but Cyaxeres knew that this quest would be his hardest challenge yet.

Cyaxeres thought of his brethren, of the Ice Angels he had trained and fought alongside. He knew their hearts and their souls, but now as he walked the halls of the Frozen Rage he saw something in his proud warriors that an Astartes should never see…

Doubt.

Doubt had crept into their hearts. The stalwart Ice Angels were still recovering from the loss of Captain Ruusa when this Inquisitor sent them on this suicide mission. From the beginning, Cyaxeres gave his advice and supported his new Captain, trying to raise morale…but something had changed.

The sound of footsteps brought Cyaxeres from his reverie. He turned to see a marine approach, robed in dark gray. The robe’s trim lightly brushed the floor as he paused next to the black-robed chaplain. Cyaxeres surveyed the marine, taking measure of him. Nefas was one of the “volunteers” for their suicide mission. His robe was plain and void of all iconography. His pale skin looked weathered and dry. He had a gaunt frame that made him look almost malnourished.

Cyaxeres had done some research into their guests. The Sinners Chapter, that Nefas claimed to be from, was unaccounted for in any record that he searched through. Historically, astartes were all secretive orders yet nearly all of them had lists of victories and praises that could be found amongst the Imperial records at some point.

Without a word of greeting Nefas turned towards the armored plating to his left. Cyaxeres turned furrowed his brow before following suite. Deep in thought, Cyaxeres stared at the wall for a long moment. Finally Nefas gathered a breath and let out a whisper that broke the silence like ice shattering in the distance.

“The Emperor is watching.” Nefas hissed. He gave Cyaxeres a side glance. “And the He has plans.”

Without another word, Nefas of the Sinner Chapter turned and slowly walked away. A chill ran down Cyaxeres’ spine.

He tightened his jaw at the simple words. He agreed with the mysterious marine.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Cautiously he moved through the smoke filled warehouse. Stacked containers were piled floor to ceiling and they formed a virtual maze that he navigated using every sense. Their tactic had been sound. Brother Kvothe swore up and down that this is what Guilliman would do. Never the less they were torn apart, Kvothe, Walters, Reven, and Nefas all lay down in armor lock behind him in the street. But before his teammates had fallen they did manage to take out several enemies.

Now it was up to him to complete the mission. In the dim light and smoke he had done well, taking out two of his targets before they had a chance to respond. That meant only one remained.

He was almost to his target; all he had to do was destroy the altar. He was as silent as he could be. His master, Darius Stone, had taught him well. He knew where to step and how to balance, he was always poised to strike.

At the sound of creaking plastic he spun, bolt pistol raised. There was nothing behind him; he swore he heard a sound next to him though. He scanned ahead and behind him once again before continuing. The smoke in front of him seemed to billow for a moment, he clenched ready to strike, but nothing came.

He crept around the corner into a hallway of crates no wider then his shoulders. At the end of the path was an opening. The smoke was floating just above his head. He crouched slightly and continued to move forward.

Suddenly he began to hear a chuckle. Very soft at first, it sounded as if it was coming from all around him. The chuckle began to get louder and as it did he thought it felt as if it was in front of him.

He quickly moved to the end of the hall way and looked out at the altar, the chuckling stopped. The wooden altar was squat and had bits of wood broken on top. Scattered around the altar were crates. It looked as if the walls of crates had fallen, but the altar still glowed in a soft red light. It appeared to be unguarded, other then the lingering chuckle.

Trapped, it had to be a trapped, he thought. He looked around frantically for a moment before he calmed himself. Maybe they had taken out all five of the enemies. Maybe he was the last man standing. No, it couldn’t be. He mentally shook his head before once again before pushing forward. What had been chuckling?

He took four steps before he heard a whisper. “You’re dead Inushi.”

Inushi fired four rounds into the crate next to him where the sound had come from. A flash blinded him and he dove to his side away from the crate. Relying on his sixth sense he spun about and parried a strike that never came. He spun again then stood motionless trying to listen or smell his opponent. It seemed like eternity before his sight returned, but in the seconds it took he saw a marine now standing tall on the altar.

Aquilum wasn’t wearing a helmet but had his storm bolter leveled at him. Inushi knew he should’ve been dead. Aquilums massive neck seemed to pulse when he heard from a destroyed crate, “Like I said, you’re dead.”

Aquilum then smiled. That was what annoyed him the most about the Emperor’s Fool, that smile. Aquilum’s eyes and even his bald head seemed to smile at him which only annoyed him more. Inushi knew he had been defeated, but just as the thought crossed his mind Aquilum dropped his storm bolter and stood arms wide. Inushi paused in surprise, holstered his bolt pistol, and rushed in at the unarmed marine.

A second before he reached him, Aquilum kicked out a piece of the altar. The wooden shard would have taken him in the helmet had he not tumbled under it. Inushi finished the tumble with a forward jab that should have taken out Aquilums leg, but Aquilums kick had been part of a back flip. He was now standing on the other side of the altar.

Aquilum gave a nod of approval before holding his arms wide once again. Inushi placed one hand on the altar and swung his legs over the flat top just as Aquilum quick stepped up to meet him. As Inushi’s feet hit the ground he swung with his chainsword which was batted aside. Inushi leaned forward and tried to jab at Aquilum’s bare head, Inushi’s surprising speed caught the side of Aquilum’s dome. As Inushi’s hand recoiled for another strike Aquilum stepped back and leapt straight up. Inushi paused at the surprised maneuver and was awarded with a boot to the face. The force of the blow knocked him back onto the altar. Inushi swung with his chainsword trying to keep Aquilum at bay, but Aquilum caught his hand. With his other hand Aquilum pulled out Inushi’s bolt pistol and pressed it against his face.

Another grin crossed Aquilums massive face, “Looks like you’re dead again son.”

Inushi looked hard at the bald marine, “You too old man,” he said as he tapped Aquilum’s bolt pistol on his stomach.

A surprise look crossed Aquilums face before he burst into laughter.

“Why didn’t you shoot me before?” Inushi asked.

Aquilum gave Inushi back his bolt pistol and continued to laugh, “Where’s the fun in that?” His laughing continued as the lights in the warehouse kicked on and the sound of the other marines getting up could be heard in the distance.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



As Bel Uri finished his story the room erupted into laughter. Muttabriqu simply shook his head as the memory of him falling into a pit of squig dung was brought to life with Bel Uri’s words. Various shouts of other stories came from the gathered crowd of marines but before he could begin anew, Aquilum got up on the raised corner stage.

Bel Uri motioned to take over the stage, Aquilum gave a short curtsey which made many in the room chuckle. Aquilum looked out over the crowd and made sure to make eye contact with everyone before going into a telling of a battle his chapter was fully committed too. His words painted a picture that soon had many battle brothers fully engrossed in the telling.

Near the back of the hall was a small group of marines, they were sitting and observing the story telling. After a few moments Brother Evrard got up and addressed the small group.

“I grow bored of all of these stories. I am going down to the sparring chambers.” He paused for a minute. None of the other marines at the table made any sort of sound or motion. Brother Evrard huffed and stormed off.

The four other marines watched the Dark Angel leave before Brother Walters spoke, “Wasn’t he there all morning?”

Next to him sat the stout Sons of Hades marine, Honored Brother Inigo. “Yes, I defeated him many times. That may be why he is in such a foul mood.” Honored Brother Inigo stroked his beard before adding, “Or maybe he still hasn’t accepted this situation the Emperor has placed us all in.”

All of the marines at the table nodded their heads. Lost in his own thoughts, Brother Walters began to remember his spur of the moment decision to join the Ice Angels on their quest. “We are all going to die.” The quiet Brother Nefas gave him a long glance before he returned to his plate of meat.

Next to him sat Brother Desai, a handsome marine with slick pulled back hair. He rolled his eyes at the pessimistic comment that Brother Walters made. “We are all going to die Walters, the true questions is how honorable will your death be.” He finally responded.

Walters was giving another one of his foreboding responses when he paused and looked over Desai’s shoulder. The other marines turned and noticed that Commander Vetov had entered the hall and was walking towards them.

For the past few months Commander Vetov had been going under multiple surgeries and augmentations. He now supported a laser eye, a bionic arm, and rebuilt leg. He had been training relentlessly and was once again battle ready.

Vetov walked up to the four marines and paused, he looked at each in turn. Brother Desai nodded towards the empty seat. Vetov sat on the massive chair. A servitor glided by with refreshments.

Desai studied Vetov while they sat in silence. Desai hadn’t been able to chat with him more then simple greetings but he had so many questions to ask. Now that Vetov was next to him he didn’t want to badger him with questions, they seemed so pointless. In the few months Desai had been on the Frozen Rage he had seen from a far the transformation of Vetov. He was both physically and emotionally damaged. The physical aspect was fixed with the amazing skills of the Sanguinary Priest, Attikusu, and his staff. The biggest change was how Vetov had begun to act. He acted with renewed purpose.

Vetov looked down at his purple drink. “I know some of you volunteered and some of you were chosen for this. Regardless of why you’re here I want to thank you for joining our crusade.” Vetov took a long drink from his glass. The two liter goblet bubbled as he moved the glass. The other marines drank as he spoke.

Walters snorted and cocked an eye brow. “You probably wish you were still in the hands of the Dark Eldar. You’d probably live longer.”

Vetov gave Walters a stone cold glare, “I am honored to have been saved by the Ice Angels and in their debt for it. I plan on doing everything in my power to repay that debt.”

“True Astartes should never wish for a life of worthless imprisonment when they could be destroying the enemies of the Emperor, regardless of how long they live.” Desai responded. Vetov nodded his head in agreement.

“I for one hope there are enough Orks for us to kill. I’d hate to get to the Kota System to find them all running from fear of our arrival.” Inigo smiled.

The marines all chuckled at the image while Walters thought about getting trampled by a wave of Orks.

* * * * * * * * ** ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** ** * * * ***

As the door closed, the sounds of arguing and bickering vanished. Brother Desai had paused by the door rubbing his temples after the torment of dealing with Brother Kvothe. The Shadow Sanctus marine was apparently a die hard believer in the Codex Astartes and the words of Guilliman. Unfortunately Guilliman didn’t fully elaborate on how to handle searching for Dark Eldar in an Ork infested system. Brother Desai was done listening to the other marines argue over tactics, there weren’t any Ice Angels in the room any ways. Desai shook his head and looked around at the statue filled hall. Art work of all kinds was around him. He wandered down the hall for several minutes admiring the work of the Ice Angels chapter. Near the entrance was a statue of Sanguinius, his wings behind his back, his gaze off in the distance. The sight gave Brother Desai a feeling of pride and a sense of security, knowing that the Ice Angels cared for their Primarch as much as the Sky Warden Chapter did. In Sanguinious’ hands was a gleaming sword that shone like a mirror. Desai looked and saw himself in his white robe.

Suddenly Brother Desai was aware of how quite the Frozen Rage was. Servitors, naval personal, security, and even other space marines wandered the large Hall Of Heroes, but for Desai he heard nothing. He saw them talking, he knew there should be sounds of feet hitting the floor. Brother Desai took a sudden breath, something wasn’t right. He began to quickly move towards the hall entrance, he began to hear whispering. He stopped and concentrated on the sound, he couldn’t quite make out the words. He hustled towards a door, the hall was suddenly empty of people. The whispering grew louder. Desai pulled out his combat blade from his belt, anger began to fill his heart. He caught a glimpse of himself in his blade, his armor was red and damaged. Who would dare disrupt this place of peace and beauty?

Brother Desai threw open the door. Inside was a dark horned marine dripping in gore and blood, a dead Blood Angel at his feet. The stench of death assaulted Desai’s senses. The dark marine stopped whispering and looked right up at Desai. With hatred in his eyes the evil marine lifted up his chain axe. Desai lunged forward with his dagger that bit deep into the chest of the marine. However the chain axe continued its trek through the air towards his face.

“DESAI!” A voice shouted.

Brother Desai looked to his right to see Chaplain Cyaxeres looking back with a grim expression on his weathered face. The hall was still full of people, many of which had weapons in their hands. Desai turned back forward to see his dagger deep into an ornate statue. He gasped at what he had done and sank to his knees.

Cyaxeres slowly stepped over to him. With a steady hand he pulled the dagger out of the statue. He then reached down and helped Desai back onto his feet. Cyaxeres peered into Desai’s eyes and handed back his knife.

“I apologize Cyaxeres, I…” Desai began. Cyaxeres simply held up his hand and looked away.
“I think it is time we had a chat, Brother Desai.” Cyaxeres stated before walking away.

Desai followed behind him hanging his head in shame. The pair walked past the statue of Sanguinius and Desai once again peered at the mirrored blade. He saw himself in the blade and noticed he was wearing his white robe once again.