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=====Voor'Han Command Chamber=====
Kageros stood at a terminal that he had personally adjusted to command Dirges and Jackals remotely so he would no longer lose warriors conveying messages. He stared blankly at the terminal when Rak'than ran into the room.
"My Lord! We have a problem!" "What is it Rak'?" Kageros seemed somewhat relaxed with his response and movement which slightly perturbed Rak'than. "Kageros, there are Tyranid like creatures, much like the ones on MaII, approaching from the galactic North-East."
Kageros waved his hand. "Send a couple Dir-" Rak cut him off, slightly worried as to how Kageros would react to his next words. "My Lord, there are more of them then we have Dirges and Jackals, they will do us no good." Kageros nearly fell as he whirled around to stare frightfully at his Nemesor. He then turned and swiftly entered the chamber that housed the Dolman Gate to his throne room on the Arbalest.

=====Arbalest of Extinction=====
Kageros power walked into his other command chamber and started throwing orders about.
"I want all latent defensive subroutines activated immidiately! Activate all surface Pylons and secure all entrances to the tomb world with Praetorians! I want the fleet to engage and destroy all enemy vessels. Activate our Null Field Matrices and throw their ranks into disarray!"
Rak'than realized that this could have been done on Voor'Han. "My Lo-" Kageros slapped him. "What did I say about formalities!" Rak'than rubbed his non-existent cheek. "Fine, Kageros, why are we on your ship? Couldn't this be done from Voor'Han? plus, we should be defending our planet on the surface." Kageros pointed at a terminal by the door. "We are, but he's coming with." The Immortal turned around and walked up to his Phaeron. "Kageros, I have prepared our arrival to the surface, we can go when your ready." Rak'than was shocked that the immortal was actually developing a personality akin to his Phaeron. Kageros looked upon his disciple with pride. "What is your name Immortal?" Rak'than said, anxious to see whether this Immortal was really adapting routines. "Gru'lahk." Kageros ushered everyone to a Dolman Gate.
They appeared on the planets surface near an entrance just in time to watch a Night Scythe zoom away with incredible speed. There was absolutely nothing in the sky, there were no enemies or anything, except the one feral Hormagant stalking behind the squad of three. It assumed its stance and pounced at the Phaeron, but not before Gru'lahk turned and grabbed it by the throat. It clawed at him with ferocity, scarring his chassis heavily including cleaving his other arm off. Gru'lahk just stared at it with cold hatred as his hand slowly crushed its throat to the point that its head fell off and its body dropped limp. While he went to retrieve his arm and attach it, Rak'than looked at Kageros impressed with his creation. "It is soldiers like him that give us our reputation." Kageros turned just enough to glance at him. "I agree, he deserves a promotion. Perhaps to Lychguard?" "I would say Praetorian." Rak' retorted. The immortal, his arm now working, approached his Phaeron, "I detect no more signs of life, we must have won." Kageros looked at him, "Gru'lahk, I here by promote you to Praetorian, when we return to my ship I want you to report to report to a cryptek for a chassis upgrade." Gru'lahk smiled, understanding what he had done, and that he might be the only Necron to ever receive a promotion, "Thanks, it will be done." A few moments later another Night Scythe came and picked them up. They walked out of the Gate Room and into the command chamber. Gru'lahk walked off to go see the Cryptek as Rak'than turned to Kageros. "You know, he's starting to take after you, maybe he'll crash Dirges one day." Kageros had a sudden revelation, "That reminds me! You there!" Pointing at someone at a terminal, "Crash a Dirge into MaII." "Yes, my Lord" All knew that the Dirge would probably hit a mountain or some other suitably anticlimactic object. It was fine, because they had successfully repelled the Hybrids assault.

=====Voor'Han-Foundry Chamber=====
Zyfek was working on a schematic for something he must have deemed unworthy, for with a swipe of his hand, the schematic was erased. He filled most of his days creating things that might be of use, but without real orders, he mostly sat around and repaired damaged vehicles. He turned when he heard the door behind him open. Kageros walked in with Chahg in tow, this peaked Zyfek's curiosity. "How can I help you my Lord? Hey Chahg." Chahg replied with a meager, "Hello". They generally never talked without needing to. Kageros then backed up to address the both of them. "Lord Crypteks, I have news you will find most joyous. You are to build our Dynasty a ship worthy of our name. It must be thrice as large as a Cairn-Class Tombship." Both Crypteks lit up at hearing this, it was not often they got to work together, and even rarer that they embarked on such a massive undertaking. Although the Tau helped produce most power, the Hybrids had stunted their energy efforts. With this in mind Zyfek addressed his Phaeron, "My Lord, with the recent Hybrid invasion our power production has been severely stunted, we currently only have 7% of what is necessary." "I know this, I'm working to resolve the issue, in the mean time it is both your duties to create the schematics." Both Crypteks seemed satisfied with this."Oh, and there's a catch, you might be working with Chaos... Warpsmiths? Whatever your Chaos equivalents are." The Crypteks seemed interested with this, Necrons bent reality and had nothing to do with the Warp while their engineers used it excessively. It would surely be something to record. "I'll leave you two to get started, I have other things to do." And with that, he left.

=====Voor'Han-Command Chamber=====
Kageros strolled into the Command Chamber and stood at a terminal. He was looking through data gathered on Hybrids strength through out the sector, very few were handling very well. Kageros looked at the commanding Immortal in the room, "You there! Send a Reclamation Legion to help extract our Dark Eldar friends, they may need it more than they realize." He then strolled over to a terminal where a warrior sat monitoring all the local factions. "How are our Chaos allies faring?" The warrior touched some glyphs and scrolled through reports. "The 'Iron Warriors' are holding their own, the Remnants are not doing well, and a new Chaos warband has entered the system, they too are not doing well." Kageros pondered the information for awhile before wandering off to the Communications Chamber. Upon entering the chamber he entered the small side room that recorded the messages, without taking much time he simply looked at the Immortal and nodded, he knew the drill. "This is Kageros, I am broadcasting this message to all Chaos warbands. If you are in need of assistance please contact the Kageros Dynasty, we will assist and help defend your fleets. All we ask is that in return, you offer your help and resources to us. This message doubles as an invitation to join my Coalition which all may join. I eagerly await your replies." The recording glyph on the wall next to him shut off as the recording stopped. Still standing in the room he spoke into his communicator, "Rak', how is the Legion progressing?" His communicator beeped back,"They are closing in on the surrounding forces." "Good." He shut off his communicator and again nodded to the Immortal, the glyph on the wall lit back up.
"Succubus Nelith, this is Kageros. I have dispatched a Reclamation Legion to aid in your extraction, they will help escort your fleet back to Voor'Han. After you return, you may proceed as you see fit." The glyph powered back down and Kageros walked to back to the Command Chamber and into the Dolman Gate that led to his Throne Room on the Arbalest. From there he walked into it's Command Chamber only to see Gru'lahk sitting at his terminal. "Ah, Gru'lahk, how does it feel to serve the will of the Silent King?" He shrugged, "It's okay I guess, I do love my new staff though, makes me feel important." "Yeah, it does doesn't it?" He looked at his own staff, it was wonderfully innovative, he did design it himself though, perhaps he would add some more things to it. He turned back to the now-Praetorian, "How goes the extraction?" Gru'lahk stared at his terminal that was recieving reports, "Very well, neither fleet has suffered any losses, they are en route back now." "Wonderful news indeed." He turned and left the Command Chamber. He went to the weapon bench in his Throne Room and started modifying his staff.

The Wrath of Faust floated idly in the void of space. The four supporting vessels occupying the space around it.

Lord Governor Hannibal Pavus held a war council with Captain Kassani and several other senior officers. They were discussing the former Cadians plans to defend against the Tyranid threat. Words became were becoming heated on what the next course of action should be.

Lord Major general Torrus one of Hannibal’s advisors shouted across the table at the old veteran “You are a fool with no understanding of greater strategy. We must return to Trisburge and fortify.” The old captain spat “And what would your fat ass know about greater strategy. You think yourself better for reading a book that one time.” The major snarled “Your plan is madness, we must fall back, it is our best chance of survival let the beasts plunge into the jaws of Trisburge, there we will hold them off until we can press the advantage.” Kassani laughed “You no not the first thing about our foe.” Torrus did not take the slight so well “You are a thug, a rogue trained to hold a rifle and nothing more, there is no place for you at this council.” Pavus slammed his fist to the table and spoke sternly “Major, Captain Kassani is here at my command. You will respect his place among us less I ask you to leave.” Torrus spoke “Apologies my lord.” Kassani continued to speak “When I served as a Cadian I learned how the beast thinks. They do not tire, they do not suffer if you kill them, they are relentless capable of producing faster then we are at destroying. It knows its greatest strength is its ability to perfectly command the unending horde of beasts, but its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. You see if we can locate and destroy the Hive mind the rest of the beast become little more then uncoordinated wild animals, most will turn on themselves.” Torrus scoffed “Even if we could locate this Hive Mind how in thrones name would you propose we kill it.” Kassani spoke “By throwing everything we had at it.” Torrus spoke “My Lord surly you must see how mad this man is.” Pavus spoke “Your concern is noted Torrus. However, what little we know about our foe would testify to the Captains words. Destroying this hive mind does sound like our best option.” The major blurted “But my lord what of Trisburge, we can not simply leave them.” Pavus spoke “I am dispatching you to over see to the defense of the planet.” The Major nodded “Thy will be done my lord.” Pavus looked over to Kassani “Now how do you propose…” The blare of sirens cut the Governor off before he could finish his thought.

Pavus with a retinue of his first company honor guard and Captain Kassani entered the bridge. The Governor spat to the ship’s captain a man named Levy “What in thrones name is going on.” A ensign replied “My lord we received a warning from the Ultramarine fleet, shortly after we detected a mass of blips fast approaching on our long range sensors. Kassani whispered to himself “They’re here.” Another ensign cried out “We have multiple vessels coming out of warp near us.” The fleet of organic ships appeared on the view screen and struck fear into the bridge crew’s heart.

That primordial switch flipped inside Kassani, that undying urge to survive. The mercenary shouted “Focus all lance fire on the larger vessels, everything else focus on any incoming spore pods.” Captain Levy growled at the mercenary and approached him “This is my ship and I am the Captain these men do not take orders from you.” Kassani balled his bionic hand into a fist and delivered a mighty blow to Levy rendering him unconscious. With his metallic arm Kassani shouted to the crew “I’m the Captain now.” Pavus spoke “Do as he commands.” The crew then began following orders. Kassani sat in the command throne and continued to bark orders. “Divert all engine power to the shields, no point in trying to flee. Order The kora and Battorax to guard our flanks the Mariner and Jericho will assume center postion with us.” A ensign spoke “My lord Forward Lance battery is down.” The new captain barked “How long before it is operational!” the man reported “ETA thirty minutes.” Before Kassani could reply yet another voids-men shouted “My Lord we have a dozen spore pods on our starboard hull.” Kassani spoke “Prepare for boarding party.”

Captain Reiner and his men took defensive positions in the corridors of deck 9. Reiner took aim as he heard behind the steel bulkhead the clawing and charging of the beasts. Then a pair of wicked talons pierced the shut steel door and slowly ripped that door open. The beast gave a blood curdling screech and with him a horde of lesser beast charged forward. Reiner shouted “Fire.” Bolts of red las fire descended on the beast slowing it, but not stopping it. They kept coming without any regard for their own personal well being or safety. But still they came through the halls like a roaring river.

Kassani watched the security feed as he saw hordes of tyranids engage the guards. Kassani spoke “Vent all excess plasma radiation into deck 9.” The bridge fell silent. A single crewmen spoke “My lord we still have men on that deck.” Kassani spoke “Its those men or the entire ship.” a crewman spoke “Aye my lord.”

Sirens blared around Captain Reiner and an automated voice spoke “Emergency Plasama vent in T-minus 10, 9,8” Reiner shouted “Feth Fall back.” The squads of guardsmen that were dispatched to defend this portion of the ship began running to the nearest exit. However, the Hybrids now gave chase to the Fusiliers unopposed. Reiner saw the exit ahead of him only a few feet. “3,2,1” Reiner leapt through the blast door as it sealed. Reiner stood up and looked through the glass window of the bulkhead and saw one two of his men banging on the door. One of them was impaled by one of the beast’s claws, before that automated voice rang out “Plasma Vent initiated.” In an instant deck nine was filled with the extreme levels of radiation, Reiner watched the skin melt away from the face of the guardsmen unfortunate enough to be left behind. But with them the horde of beasts vanished into nothingness.

Minutes later. The last of the Tyranid hybrid fleet began fleeing few escaped the Faustians wrath. Kassani spoke “No hostiles remain my lord. Minimal ship damage. We lost 43 of the 50 men dispatched in deck nine.” Kassani felt no guilt only relief, he truly believed that either those men on deck nine died or he would. Still almost killing Reiner is bound to leave a bad impression upon him. Regardless how anyone felt it was painfully obvious Kassani had one the day for the Faustians.

Raela stared into the hungry eyes of a genestealer broodlord. She scrambled for her bolt pistol, but it was too fast and pinned her to the wall by the neck, she scrambled for air and grabbed a knife at her thigh. It was aimed at the Broodlord's eye, but he was again too fast for the Inquisitor and grabbed her arm, twisting it painfully and forcing the knife out. She was at the mercy of the cold blooded Tyranid and the Tyranid wanted her flesh. It snarled and went for her throat...

Raela shot up in her bed. Sweat was pouring off of her and it practically soaked where she was laying. She grabbed her glass of water from the night stand but dropped it, her hand shaking due to her adrenaline levels. She cursed under her breath. She grabbed a towel from a drawer in her nightstand and put it over the spot where she dropped the glass, hoping she'd remember to pick up the glass fragments in the morning.

I need a break. So much stress... The nightmares... I need something else... a change of atmosphere... the Inquisitor thought to herself as she rubbed her forehead. Her body was so achy from 'Dinner' earlier. That would probably be why her arm hurt in the dream.

Why do I let them be so rough? Its like I wrestle with Nobz... she sighed and stood, arching her back a bit and releasing a few pops from her sore joints. She looked at the Chronometer and it should be "morning" soon... She decided then what has to happen. She grabbed her night gown from where it was hanging on a chair and out it on. She stepped into the hallway and made her way for the Bridge.

"I am following Korvel," she said confidently.

Petra was sat waiting in the large and slightly messy observation area, this was a old space in the ship and very few put it to much chapter use in decades, even maybe centuries, it walls where faded and covered in graffiti from friends, couples and others who came tho this place for the quiet and privacy if offered, a rare and valued luxury aboard a warship, or star ship in general. Its old metal door was unmarked, long faded off and not many gave the old room a passing thought. To Petra and Shepard is was perfect. "hello, Shepard, great news i" Several of the men of the 7th stepped in, "Pavus sends his regards" Drawing a kinfe from his sheath. "One last chance, leave. A mother defending her cubs is very dangerous" Drawing the Catchan Knife that Iron Tooth had given her as a gift, Serated and solidly forged, it was a fearsome weapon.

Despite a lack of Armour, outnumbered and Backed into a corner she stood her ground as the brutish leader stepped forward "sorry miss, orders, don't fight il make a it quick like, if not, its gonna have to hurt" The fight was not a long one, Years of training and Battle experience kicked in now fuled by maternal desire to defend her baby driving her rage to new levels. Seconds later all 3 where on the ground bleeding, limbs broken and suffering multiple wounds. "GO, before i decide to finish you off, and tell your master to leave me alone or i will send you to him limb by limb"
The three attackers limped out, and Petra sat back down sheething the massive kinfe which had proved a trusty gift "idiots"

Shepard came up, "Sorry im late, training over ran, one of the idiots stabbed himself with own bayonet,... Wait why do you have blood on your cheek" Standing up Petra hugged him, "its fine, Some of Pavus's thugs thought i was defenseless because i was pregnant, i delt with them, not a scratch" Wiping the blood off, "Honestly, they never touched me" A new feeling came over Shepard, Anger a deep anger and shame he was not there, "im sorry i should have, what if was on time...." "Don't worry, i can handle my self, Iron Tooths Knife is rather persuasive.... Abyway back to what we wanted to talk about, Our little girl. I want to name her Lilliana after the first woman Knight to win the grand torny of Faust, and first leader of the high order, She was a hero of mine training. " "Well i can't argue against, Lilliana Dorina Shepard, He was my friend and bravest man i ever met, it feels right to honour his memory." "agreed, He was, despite what he faced, he never gave up, Lilliana Dorina Shepard it is"

********

Meanwhile Karak was sleeping, He woke up with a start in the cell he called his own, Dark dreams, bad dreams, something was coming. Rarely did a vision not carry meaning and this one was a dark one, THE DEEP HAS COME, Sitting up, something felt wrong, the Emperor had sent him a warning of something and only a fool would ignore it. Putting his armour on, soon as the last plate was locked into place alarms sounded on every deck and the vox came to life "Sorry to wake you Marshall, We have incoming tracks, There the things from that planet, Flash traffic all over the fleet, Ultramarines, Faust, Ravens. Admech.. You better get to bridge sir"

On the bridge it looked bad, incoming tracks where all over as the Warships of the fleet took to the front to defend the cargo ships behind, "taking to the intership systems "Loyal Subjects of the God Emperor, a great enemy comes to face us, it will not surrender, it will not tire, fight to your last bolt, power pack and essence of life within your heart. Make no mistake, we face Armageddon this day" Across the fleet men , women and space marines gathered, In Dark times unity was the only defense as the grim, the proud and inspired stood as one against the mass of the enemy ships approaching. This day they would win.

The few minutes warning the sacrifice of Ivan and Ultramarines had made possible was the one thing that saved them truly, soon as they where in range, the mighty guns of the Warships reaped a bloody toll upon the attackers, Gunnery officers where calling out vectors, targets and status of the magazines, Through the chaos though some boarding took place and Templers, Humans fought them off side by side in brutal hand to hand combat, never faltering despite the hoards as the mighty hulls withstood scarring bio acid. On the ground Garrisons of PDF and Deathkoprs held the line, many many thousands had died yet as the smoke of artillary, las fire and weapons cleared they saw a great light, victory had been won but it had cost them dearly.

Though deep in the hives, they had not still caught the genestealers, efforts to catch them had been intense but even the increased intensity of the hunt was not working as planned.

****

Colonel Detta gritted his teeth as he watched a chainsword amputate yet another limb from a Histan. He had forced himself to watch his men's suffering, and make hinself share in their pain. It was his fault so many were dead, or without limbs. If they suffered, so would he. The hybrid creatures, as Crusade Command referred to them as, had not been sated with taking only one ship. As soon as the Knife of Hista had detonated itself, the fog had made its way to the other ships. The creatures followed. He watched men get pulled into vents, screaming as they were torn apart. Lasrifles only angered them, and there was little they could use against them otherwise. If Darek hadn't been there with his flamer, Detta wasn't sure he would be alive.

Vayden had been grumbling that he couldn't even be in his sentinel, a personalized bird that he had outfitted with multi-meltas, but there was no way the Colonel would authorize their use onboard a space craft. It would only have killed his own men faster. For now, they had to retreat and pray to the God-Emperor that Crusade Command would relieve them, and give them support.

If not, Detta knew that the Histans would not win this war.

Echison VII

For what might have been hours, the Patriarch wrestled with the will of the hybrids' Hive Mind. Genestealers stalked around him, bristling from unwittingly feeling the war of wills at work around them. And then, suddenly, the atmosphere calmed. The Saviour blinked, and his voice was back, delivering a new set of instructions to his kindred, to be relayed to the surface and across the network of infested cities. The Deep was coming - and it would destroy all they had only just rebuilt. Their claim on Echison VII must be protected, whatever the cost. Without knowing it, the occupying Imperial forces had just gained an exceedingly unlikely (and even more temporary) ally in the battle to come.

***

Echison was fortunate enough to be spared the scale of the onslaughts planets nearer to the hive fleet experienced. Many spores were intercepted and dealt with by the Templars or Korps with ruthless efficiency. The protection of less critical assets, such as the cult-occupied cities, was led by the decidely less well equipped PDF. A PDF who were bewildered by the small ragtag groups of citizens who, as the first spores fell, popped up from behind barricades and from rooftops, laying down withering fire with dozens of autoguns into the attacking creatures. Often this crossfire proved enough to repel the creatures, the ragtag bands vanishing back into the hives as quickly as they came. In other cases, where the pods fell thicker, the fog creatures kept coming through the hail of bullets, and over the mounds of their fellow's corpses. And even more bewilderring to the PDF than the ragtag bands of defenders aiding them were the roaring, twisted creatures with distinctly too many limbs who burst from doorways, sewer openings, and alleyways, answering the fog creatures' alien ferocity with their own. Though the invading xenos were many, the swiftness and ferocity of these.. things proved too much, and with their help, the fog soon dissipated, a few cheers erupting from the PDF's men. Yet these were short-lived. The cult was under strict commands to eliminate the invaders at any cost - but even more critical was the need for secrecy. The autoguns of the cultists soon turned on PDF squads who had seen too much, and the loping hybrids continued their butchery until none who had witnessed their actions were left alive. After all, it was easy enough to pass their dismembered corpses off as victims of Tyranid attack...

***

In the aftermath of the invasion, the cult returned to its normal activities. Cult members and hybrids slunk back to their hiding places, attempting once more to win over the people of Echison with tales of the Saviour. Yet the recent victory against the invading Tyranid hybrids had served only to bolster faith in the God-Emperor, and mentions of the Imperium's many excesses fell on death ears. Similarly, the military-led cleanup operations necessitated expansion grinding to a halt, in favour of evading detection. The cult grew no more - for now.




Trisburg

The lone genestealer on Trisburg was not yet psychically attuned in the way Echison's Saviour was - and avoided the battle of wills with the hybrid fleet. Instead, it turned the chaos of the invasion to its advantage, managing to infitrate the planet's main hive city and infect some of the breeding mothers dwelling within it. Soon, a new cult would develop on the recruitment world - and the next generation of Faustians would see some amongst their number with loyalties other than to the God-Emperor...

Archarus was walking through his halls, pleased to note his limp had finally disappeared. The possessed marines had left toxins that ran through his body, seeking to destroy it. Now that he had recovered, he could return to his war. They had lost three ships compared to the Eldar's one.

The very thought made his blood boil, and he suppressed the urge to make his way to where the Eldar captives were held. He had better plans for them, and couldn't spoil it with sating a bloodlust. The thought didn't change his foul mood.

The Warsmith had been subconsciously making his way to a lasgun factory, where his Flesh could be armed to assist in defending their homes. More specifically, the smeltery where broken metals were melted ro be refurnished into new parts. Obedience brought survival, after all. Archarus chuckled at the lie, but knew its necessity. A man with the hope for survival, and the belief that his pathetic life mattered would make him fight harder than ever before.

What the Warsmith saw cut off his laughter, and replaced it with annoyance.

A prefect had been held hostage by several slaves, most were wielding bricks or rusted pipes, while one was using the prefect's shock baton to keep him in place.

Archarus wasted no time in using his teleporter to appear before them all. The slaves covered their eyes at the sudden burst of light, and before any of them could realize their peril Archarus' hand shot out and grabbed the nearest slave by the throat.

The slave's windpipe was crushed, and Archarus chucked the dying man into the smelter near him, vaporizing him without a word.

"Iron Within. Iron without." Archarus roared, and any slave who had missed what had happened knew their peril. The slave wielding the shock baton turned to face the Warsmith, letting the battered prefect sink to the ground. Archarus didn't draw his thunder hammer, not wanting to soil it with the blood of creatures so pathetic.

Instead, he battered through the rebels, taking limbs off of them men until only the shock baton wielder was left. For him, Archarus grabbed onto his skull and crushed it with one hand, letting the body sink to the ground.

The prefect forced himself to kneel before the Dread Lord, but couldn't stop himself from whimpering in pain. Archarus saw rips in the man's suit, which explained why he had been hurt by the baton. The elastic was meant to stop this exact moment from happening.

"You have failed me. I have given you such an honorable rank, and yet to fall to slaves."

"No Lord! It wasn't like that!" The prefect squealed.

"Now you question me. I see my trust in you was not the right choice."

As he said the words Archarus drove a fist into the man's stomach, and left him gasping for air as he slowly bled internally.

Archarus shook his head as he walked away, he had more important tasks to do. He needed to get Pugarr, among other legionairies, and fix the ork's ship, Oracheis wished to have a word with him, and then he had to go to Voor'Han, to begin making plans with his undead allies.

Imperial Doctrine was very specific in regards to vessel exiting the Warp. The clash of reality and unreality was disorienting to even the most experienced crews, and the sudden appearance of a world where once was rivers of madness left the fleet vulnerable until they could regain their footing. The Flayed Legion had never cared much for Imperial Doctrine, but on this occasion Shipmaester Jharro had to admit the document had merit.

The Legion's ships were scattered, each one lashing out violently in every direction. They had emerged from the Warp into the midst of a swarm of enormous, pale organic ships. The hunger instinct was strong with them, and their claws and tendrils were upon the Legion before the flecks of warpstuff had fully faded from their hulls. Naraka was in a flat spin, one engine burning brighter than the system's star, and the other lying dead as the gargantuan ship made a hard turn towards the rest of the fleet. Fighter craft by the dozen spewed from the Despoiler-battleship's gaping maw, throwing themselves against the nearest hybrid ships, in hopes of pushing them back. The cruisers were recovering, and coming together in a fierce star-shaped protective circle.

Jharro, locked into his command chair by a thousand mechadendrites and spiked tendrils. The life had long been leeched out of his form, leaving him little more than a withered skeleton tied to the battleship, but he still continued to serve. It was said among the Legion that he persisted only because The Flayed Lord had not yet permitted him to die, and his dogged persistence had earned him the respect of the fleet and the warriors alike.

“This is Kageros...all Chaos warban...lease contact...Dynasty, we will assist ...ll we ask is that in return, you o....” The transmission faded into static, but a single mental command echoed in Jharro's mind: a command from The Flayed Lord himself, seated in his command chamber above the bridge. Jharro's wizened jaw tightened, and his centuries of experience poured into a split-second decision.

++ALL SHIPS RECOVER ON SUNWARD DEGREE SIX+SET COURSE FOR VOORHAN+BLOODSPEAR MAKE AN EXIT++

The fleet responded instantly, with a new burst of fire from all the vessels. The Bloodspear engine's seared to life, launched the ship forward with lances blazing. The hybrid ships were too many, and too dense, for anything resembling a formal retreat. Only the bloodfrenzy of the Khornate vessel could hope to pass through, followed closely by the battered, flaming surviving warships. The vessel's crew's furious cry flooded all nearby channels, briefly drowning out the sounds of alarms and explosions.

++FOR THE FLAYED LORD++

In a shower of massive carapace shards and jettisoned explosives, the Bloodspear broke through the mass of swarming hybrids, trailing metal and fire alike. The other ships plowed through the gap in a nearly-seamless tide of ships, loosing all weapons to keep the passage open. One by one, they tore through and fired their engines, tearing through realspace towards the distant world of Voor'Han.

Jharro's eye twitched slightly as the Naraka broke free, and he rolled the ship hard to starboard, sliding past a flailing hybrid ship as it plowed into the Legion formation. Behind him, steel crumpled in squealing cries as the Inviolate took the brunt of the collision, cracking in two with a violent death worthy of a small star. None would mourn the loss.

* * * *

There were twenty-four of them, forcefully pulled from the crowd of refugees streaming out of ramshackle transports onto Novus Regulus. The first group had failed to salute the Statue of the Emperor Resplendent when they disembarked, and a sharp-eyed entry agent had detained them. Once the first eight-pointed scar was discovered, it wasn't long before the remaining refugees on that vessel were stripped, searched, and the remaining cultists were discovered. They, and those who had captained their passage, were bound and imprisoned within an hour of landing.

The intruders offered no confessions, and were crucified at dawn over the port's entry gate. They were blasphemers and traitors, but they would serve as useful warnings to anyone else setting foot on Novus Reguluas with ill intent.

Father Lazarus took a long, slow draw on his loh-stick as he watched the feeds, his cerulean artificial eye gleaming hatefully. The Flayed Lord would be disappointed with this failure.

Governor Pavus sat at his table angrily. He looked to the three men gathered before him. Hannibal spoke barely able to contain his rage “It has come to my attention that one of you has ordered a hit on Commissar Sheppard and his wife Knight Captain Petra. Would any of you care to confess.” The Hound, Knight Lord Tennyson, and Captain Kassani sat quietly. Pavus shouted “I have enough pressure on me already and one of you fething amateurs has the gall to call a hit behind my back!” Pavus looked to the knight lord suspecting him the most “You couldn’t just let her be, could you.” The old knight retorted “Me my Lord?” “Yes you Tennyson, you and your damn code.” Tennyson spoke defensively “Aye I am a man of the code and as such I’d never kill a sister through cheap assassination. That is a tactic of cravens and cowards.” Pavus was satisfied with his defense. He turned his gaze to the Hound “You have done things like this in the past Braddock.” “Aye lord but only ever at your order. Sheppard is a worthy opponent I would only kill one of them face to face.” Pavus growled “Save me your lies, this reeks of your doing.” Before Hannibal could continue his accusation Kassani spoke “I’ll save you some time Pavus, I called the hit.”

The Governor and two other officers were surprised. Pavus spoke “Braddock Tennyson dismissed.” The knight and former knight stood pounded their fists to their chests and left. Pavus spoke “What vendetta do you have against the Sheppards.” “None, they are just simply a threat.” Pavus spoke “A threat?” Kassani spoke “Aye, a threat. You see Sheppard has already spoke out against you once, he will most likely do the same at this summit.” Pavus “Still killing him seems a bit much.” Kassani laughed “Please if I actually wanted to kill him I wouldn’t have sent a trio of amateurs from the Commissar’s company. No we don’t need them dead, we only need to remind them that they are not out of our reach. With any luck Sheppard will not say a word against you.” Pavus sat back in his chair allowing the cruel wisdom of Kassani a moment to linger in his thoughts, “You will not do anything else like this without my express permission is that clear.” Kassani grinned “Aye lord crystal clear.”

Lord Karak had heard the news. there was no hiding this event on the ship and several men badly wounded had not hidden well , Shepard had requested extra security, the ones who attacked where in the brig under the whim of the jailors who had takes a special notice to the 3 from the attack, 3 men, attacking a pregnant woman, even the rough and cruel jailers had code and the head man on the wing looked down to a data slate as the cries of pain range out, he was ment to stop them, they where not so lucky.

Karak sent a short but clear message to pavus,

"I warned you. I head west soon. Do anything to them and nothing will save your craven head, they are under my protection.
I do not forget my oaths
NO PITTY
NO REMORSE

"
"send it Tangir, Pavus, Priority, make sure he reads it.

Pass a message to the jail. do what must be done, i want who sent them, why, you know what i want. Then summon them to the prison chapel and we will deal with them. i shall swing the sword and deal with the cowards personally. Guard on Shepard, Double it, Petra too, Make it obvious.

The void screamed.

As the Sorcerer returned to his body, he was greeted with the sound of klaxons droning out all other noise and emergency lights flashing wildly. He felt the entire ship tremble, as its mighty guns fired into the void. He heard screams coming from the hallway, both human and superhuman; and between them, the sound of a thousand tiny maws and claws. And the voice.

The voice that called to him.

The Deep has come.

The words burned in his mind, forcing him to his knees. He spat out a gob of blood, convulsing and twitching as the psychic onslaught ravaged his mind.

The door to his quarters opened, bringing the heavy thumping of a combi-bolter into the room. A figure stepped into the room hastily, shouting orders to the other figures behind him. The Sorcerer barely recognized the Commander as the latter carefully shook him with his free hand.

“Sorcerer, are you alright? Answer me!”, the Commander asked, panic wrapped around his words.

“I… I… “, the Sorcerer stammered, before coughing up another phlegm of crimson fluid.

“Damnation! Gorgyron! Maeron! Keep the beasts of off me, I’m taking the Sorcerer!”, the Commander shouted back into the hallway, before pulling the Sorcerer up and supporting the latter as more blood escaped his throat.

The Sorcerer slipped into unconsciousness, the psychic assault too much for him to bear after projecting him unto the Emperor’s Vengeance.

The Commander stepped back into the hall, carrying the unconscious Sorcerer, using his free hand to fire more rounds into the mass of creatures amassing at the end of the hallway. Gorgyron and Kor Maeron were busy coordinating the impromptu gunline formed by a few cultists and a couple of Marines as the Commander activated his vox unit.

“Brothers, I have the Sorcerer! We must leave this place, head for the bridge!”, he shouted, bringing his massive Terminator armour into motion as he started running down the other end of the hallway, the others following close behind.

The Hybrids’ attack had come out of nowhere. In minutes, both the Wandering Wraith and the Broken Blade had been surrounded by a host of strange, pale ships, with boarding parties slamming into the decks before any of them had been able to respond. However, the command bridge of the Wandering Wraith had not hesitated a second before unleashing the vessel’s enormous firepower, shredding the alien vessels around it in an instant, temporarily freeing it from the Xenos’ grasp. The Broken Blade, being a smaller vessel more suited for stealth operations, had no such opportunity, and was now fighting for its life, battling the Hybrids both in the void as in its halls.

The Wandering Wraith had been boarded from multiple angles, leaving the defenders in disarray. Entire sections were decimated before a proper counterattack could be mounted, although pockets of resistance did their best to turn the tide. The cultist horde rescued from Gallor Prime proved its usefulness as it willingly threw itself into the vile Hybrids, suicide bombers clearing out scores of the creatures as their comrades roasted the surviving beasts with flamers. In another section of the ship, Lord Breacher let several of his Daemon Engines loose in the halls before leading a group of Marines and cultists out of the armoury in a daring counterattack.

But it was nowhere near enough to beat back the monstrous tide that had come to drown them all in bodies. It became clear that to stay here was suicide, and the Commander knew their chance of escaping this nightmare was becoming slimmer each minute.

Finally, the group lead by the Commander reached the command bridge, which had become a fortress in its own right over the past few hours, automated defence turrets scanning the halls for any sign of life while cultists and Marines hurriedly passed around munitions.

Once inside the bridge, the Commander dropped the unconscious Sorcerer in his throne, before running over to the ship’s captain for a status update.

“Captain Ortega, how is the Wanderer holding up?”, he panted, as his eyes slid rapidly over the various screens around him.

“It’s taking a beating, Commander”, Ortega replied, his voice hoarse and cracking. His half-metallic face twitched with each movement. “It will not last much longer, unless we get out of here at once.”

“Then our path is clear”, the Commander replied gravely, his eyes still darting over the screens, occasionally daring to look through the viewports to catch a glimpse of their alien attackers.

“And what of the Broken Blade? How is she faring?”

The Captain’s face turned grim. “It’s as good as dead, Commander.”

He pointed through the viewport, to where the Broken Blade was.

The Commander saw it, furiously firing into the mass of Hybrid ships surrounding it. Its engines were partially destroyed, and its right side was burning brightly against the void.

The vox crackled to life as the Wandering Wraith received a hail from the Broken Blade.

The Commander rushed to the screen, as did many of the surviving Marines who had grouped up in the command bridge.

Laced with static, the screen showed the snarling face of Rhadax, the leader of the Raptors. Behind him, other Marines were hacking and tearing into the Hybrids.

“Night Lord! This battle is lost, we must retreat! Can the Broken Blade still follow us through the Warp?”, the Commander asked, sweat dripping from his forehead.

Rhadax turned away, firing his Bolt pistol into a creature jumping towards him, before turning back to respond.

“Our engines are fried, Commander”, he replied, bitter hatred in his voice. “The damnable creatures took them down, and there are no Warpsmiths left to fix them. We have just enough power left for one charge.”

“Use it to get in range of the Wandering Wraith! We can use the tractor beam to drag you out of the-“

“Negative”, Rhadax spoke, agitated. “Look at me, Commander. This ship is dead, and so is everyone in it. Even if we could reach you, doing so would only get more of us killed. We’re going to use the last charge to ram one of their main ships and try to take as many of the vermin down with us.”

“ARE YOU MAD?! YOU CONDEMN YOURSELF TO DEATH, NIGHT LORD!”, the Commander shouted, slamming his fists down on the table.

“I ORDER YOU TO-“

“TO HELL WITH ORDERS! I AM RHADAX, LORD OF THE NIGHT, SON OF NOSTRAMO, AND I FOLLOW NO PATH BUT MY OWN! AVE DOMINUS NOX!”


The vox link was cut, and the assembled marines in the Command Bridge could only look on with horror as the Broken Blade surged into the Hybrids’ line. Its cannons fired indiscriminately, the bright lights of explosions illuminating the pale hides of the Xenos’ ships. It tore itself a way through the first lines, but the Hybrids started throwing themselves at the agile Cruiser, ramming it from all sides, more boarding parties were shot right into its decks. Eventually, the cruiser disappeared behind the mass of Hybrid ships surrounding it, until a catastrophic explosion tore a hole in the void.

The Wandering Wraith drifted away from the carnage, its Warp drives powering up as it prepared to jump to a safe haven. The crew on the bridge was silent, all eyes locked on the mass of Hybrid ships, where the Broken Blade met its final end.

The vox crackled, and from within the ship, the fragile voice of the female Astropath rose up into the void.

I sail upon darkness
I travel in light.

I glide across the ocean,
Under the cover of night.

I command a mighty vessel, covered in scars.
I guide my wicked sailors as they reach for the stars.

The waves are getting stronger, will they wash me ashore?
I stand amongst the wreckage
As the storm comes once more.

Angels and demons
Call out my name

And I keep on sailing…

Only I shall remain...

Chapter Master Harbo of the Wolverines Valiant sat at the bridge of the battle barge Shield of Anarbor, taking in the vast warp space ahead of him. He and his chapter had been in this glorious campaign before the Emperor saw fit to send a full force. The Wolverines were glad of the help back then but it was almost as if the crusade had forgotten of their deeds and fortunes. Harbo thought of the men lost putting down the deamons and orks, how half the chapter had been lost defending the resources needed by the Emperor. Now the chapter was almost too full strength as the chapter protected the supply lines to the rear. A job Harbo felt beneath his honored Astartes. He ran his bare hand through his tuft of hair, now greying with age. Harbo could only hope they would be called to action soon, he would not press the Lords to be brought to action, the Emperor would use him where needed. His blue helmet with yellow stripe running down the middle sat to his right while his power fist sat to his left. Harbo started to recall past battles when his scribe disrupted his thoughts.

“Lord, Alpha class encrypted message. Your eyes only.” The scribe bowed as he handed the data slate to Harbo.

Inputting his decoder and verification, Harbo read over the short message. “Old friend, the Emperor calls upon you and your men to honor your sworn oath to him. I will be entering the system in three days with my forces. You know I do not call upon your oath lightly, but times are desperate in this Crusade of Fire. Gather your forces and meet at coordinates 1093.283.8.22.
Glory to the Emperor,
Inquisitorial Representative Hadrak Hennard

Harbo shook his head; he knew this would come eventually just not now. “Rally the fleets, we move out in two days”

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Captain Monn couldn’t wrap his head around where he was or why he was on this cold ship hurtling through space. Months earlier he and his friends were enjoying a late night on the town, as all 29 year old kids of high ranking officials were known to do, when a single ship had flown into the Makara spaceport. The next day three regiments of Makaras finest were called to arms and Monn found himself in officer’s training. His parents were high ranking, but not high enough to keep him out of the Guard it would seem. Months later and Monn was on a ship and training with his squads throughout the ship, apparently where ever they were going was important and proper training couldn’t be afford on Makara. The ships would have to do. It was the second week aboard the ship when Monn finally found out why they were recruited so quickly. The Inquisition had come calling and that was all the more Monn needed to know it would seem. Until the ship came to a close he would train his men and drink whenever he could get his hands on some.

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Inquisitorial Representative Hadrak Hennard was an older man, even for Inquisition standards. His beard and long hair had become grey over the years, stark against his jet black artificer armor. Hennard’s reputation through the years followed him to the Crusade of Fire, known for being a stout believer in the Emperor and purity above all. His time in the Ordo Hereticus had grown his reputation through time, rooting out corruption amongst all branches of the High Lords. The only psykers Hennard could stomach was those who were guided by the Emperor, the Navigators. All others deserved scorn and close monitoring if not put to sudden death. With him at all times was his trusted friend and spiritual guider Irmo. Irmo stood as tall as a Space Marine and his bald head showed the many scars of battle. His favorite weapon, an Evisirator never far from reach. While Irmo was impossible to miss, the other member of Hennard’s party could be missed if he was the only one in the room he was so bland to look at. Sandhill barely spoke and seemed to cower at every noise, why he was with Hennard no one could tell but the little man was always close.
Why an Inquisitorial Representative was making his way to Imperial command with three regiments of guard and what appeared to be a Space Marine chapter, no one could figure out. Only time would tell.

Sylus grabbed the fist meant for his chest and lock a leg around his assailants leg. He pushed his weight forward and knocked the attacker flat on his back. Sylus swung his crosius down at the prone form, but the attacker rolled away at the last second, using his own momentum to get onto his feet. He pulled a bolt pistol from a holster and fired wild shots at Sylus, who made it clear the assailant's hasty training is not paying off and dodged the shots. Sylus then drew his own side arm and put a bolt between his attacker's eyes. The attacker stumbled backwards and removed her turban that obscured her face.

"I said don't shoot me in the head, Sylus!" Annala yelped, rubbing the red paint from her forehead. Sylus walked over and crouched next to her. She promptly unloaded her pistol's ammo count on his chest. Sylus made no attempt to avoid it. He helped her to her feet and wiped the paint off his bare chest.

"Would you like a realistic combat simulation? Who is it that said she felt useless in the field?" Sylus scoffed, grabbing a towel from the edge of the sparring ring and wiping the paint off. He splashed his face with water from a basin next to the towel and returned to Annala who was rewrapping her turban. Sylus smiled, "Ready for round-"

"Yes, Round 7, but um... can you come hear for a moment?" she said quietly, pulling the turban away from her face so Sylus can see it. She waited for Sylus to be next to her before she started, "Remember back on Julla, the night before you left? We did somethings that may be considered heretical..."

"They weren't heretical, Annala. Where did you get that presumption?"

"Well... I got it from the same place that said expect the unexpected."

"Why would that-"

Sylus didn't take the hint and Annala shifted his weight before he had time to register. She grabbed one of his arms and wrapped both legs around his waist, sending him to the ground and slamming his back hard into the sand floor. She pressed her wooden wrist blades against his throat. A wide smile grew on her face.

"Annala-1, the great Sylus-6. I am catching up to you..."

She stood up and unwrapped her turban and unbuckled her wrist blades. Sylus got up off the floor and dusted himself off. He looked at Annala with a face that she might have laughed at if she were looking at him. She put her training gear on the rack where she found it and latched her training vest.

"You have not even tied my score, Annala. Why are you taking you training gear off? Is there something you need to tell me?" the Judge of the New Order asked as if he were back on Kattifrakk II proctoring a court appearance. She turned and smiled a bit. A tiny tear formed in her eye.

"Remember when I said to expect the unexpected? Well... I am-"

Vorhees bitterly watched as the Heart of Iron sailed away. The Warsmith was off to fix some ork ship, and brought Pugarr with him. The astartes had been in good light since he had made a fortification on Gondorf's Passage, and Vorhees had been unable to make Archarus bring him with as well.

Instead, the Warsmith had snapped at him, saying he must stay behind, as someone competent had to make sure Fahren did not fall to disorder and rebellion. The raptor knew it was a great honor, but still felt slighted at being left behind.

Voorhees made his way to the throne room, but made sure to not sit in Archarus' seat. Especially when Voorhees knew the Warsmith had made Oracheis outfit servitors with cameras around the entire facility, to ensure none would rebel against the Warsmith and go unnoticed.

For several hours Vorhees stayed in that throne room, pondering what he would do differently if he were Warsmith. Of course, he kept such thoughts to himself, as the slightest hint of treachery would mean certain death. For one thing, he wouldn't have agreed to the council with the necrons, or orks, and instead would have marched out his fleet and annihilated the Eldar for attacking them. Archarus was weak for agreeing to these things, and letting the xenos run wild in his domain, but Vorhees wouldn't dare to question the Warsmith. Not when he still proved himself as a mighty warrior and strategist. Perhaps he had a plan for this all, and even now was letting the Eldar fall deeper into his traps.

Vorhees shook his head, such thoughts were not meant for him. Let the Warsmith figure out the details, and he would be there, with chainsword and flamer, ready to purge the lands.

++Vorhees. I've intercepted hostile signatures heading our way. They've already cut off our communication with the raider ships. They seek to make planetfall.++ Oracheis' voice droned out.

The raptor drew his chainsword, and peered out a window, seeing the skies darken as large ships soared overhead. They were battered by artillery fire, and several were plummeting towards the frozen wastelands, but many more continued to fire out pods at the fortresses as they flew past.

Vorhees recognized the creatures as some sort of tyranid, but they were far more different than any strain he had seen. The raptor saw fog surround the ships and pods, and an icy mist was flung into the air any time a pod touched the ground, whether it be intact or incinerated remains.

Vorhees met his squad of raptors outside, knowing that prefects had already organized the Flesh for battle. The squad members gave the sign of aquila upon seeing Vorhees, both greeting their leader and mocking the Imperium with the gesture.

"Squad Marlus. The enemy seeks to breach our walls. Little do they know they attack Iron Warriors! Let us repel them in the name of Chaos and in Archarus. Iron Within." Vorhees said.

"Iron Without" Squad Marlus replied, before turning their attention to the nearest crashed bio ship, which still fired out spores as it expired.

In unison the squad launched into the air, firing their pistols at the creatures as they soared. "None can travel faster!" Brother Keeros yelled.

Voorhees landed down and planted several melta bombs onto part of the dying ship, hoping to speed up its demise. Before he could detonate them, however, several creatures resembling genestealers rushed at the squad, chittering in excitement.

Keeros fired his melta at the group, vaporising the nearest one and singing the others. The mob kept coming, unfazed at their blackened carapaces and dead kin. Before they could reach melee distance the squad had all jump packed on top of buildings, and continued to rain down fire at them.

Vorhees used this bough time to detonate his charges, eviscerating the ship and 'stealers alike.

And so the battle raged on, with squad Marlus leading the assault, but the hybrids came on, uncaring of the casualties being reaped upon them. Slowly the raptors' strength was depleted, and parts of their planet destroyed under this onslaught.

Brother Andrax was the first to fall of the squad. His pride and arrogance as deadly as the lictor that had tricked him to fall into its trap. He had jet packed towards it, only to be caught in a net of wires and toxins, gurgling out his last words as his body shut down, the damage too much for even an astartes.

Brother Kaeto came shortly after, his rage at the beasts too much for him to control. He had brought down countless gaunts, and brought the attention of a carnifex to his attention. The creature had crushed him underfoot, but had lost its own life as it bled to death; the teeth of a chainsword having bit down too many times for the beast to handle.

Next was Brother Ophiel. His death didn't come from any hybrid, but from Flesh taking advantage of the distractions keeping the astartes busy. While he dueled a Warrior in hand to hand combat, several slaves had planted bombs on the roofs, collapsing a row buildings onto the pair.

Finally fell Brother Keeros, who died defending his leader. While Vorhees targeted key targets among the swarm, Keeros incinerated anything that dared to stop the raptors. His fire brought caution to the Hive Mind, but also a thirst for revenge. And so it sent in its hunters of the skies, who proved too much for the vat born. Gargoyles swarmed over him, rending his armor and taking gouges out of his body. As the half breed's melta ran dry, and he had to drag himself to cover, the genestealers returned to finish him off. "I rejoice... in the coming oblivion" Keeros whispered as his vision faded, seeing the first genestealer reach him and lift one arm back, ready to take his heart.

Voorhees was cornered in the remains of a factory, knowing that he would join his brothers soon in the warp. He was determined to send as many of these bugs with him as he could.

Before the raptor could meet his squad in death, he heard the roar of aircrafts and saw a torrent of bullets and missiles bomb the city. Oracheis had launched the air cohort, the battle was not yet lost!

Vorhees leapt from his cover, his strength renewed at this thought. The raptor fought his way to freedom, to salvation. All around him the hybrids were dying, not unlike the defenses themselves. The fog could be seen receding, as the creatures lost their beachhead. However, a new war had been started, this one on the Warsmith's own doortstep. Vorhees knew he would have to end it, before the hybrids returned with new strength. The raptor also knew their were other beachheads being formed all across Fahren, and it would be up to him to end them while the Warsmith was away.

The Heart of Iron came out of the warp thousands of miles away from ork vessel they had come to name “Da Blade of Mork.” It was indeed an impressive ship time had been rather generous to it. Archarus would have thought the thing a beauty had the orks not already begun the process they call “Looting.” Still they don’t make ships like this any more. Pugarr opened a hailing channel to the ork vessel “This is Heart of Iron, requesting docking clearance.” Static rang before the voice of one of the bridge meks rang out “Das a negative docking bays ain’t working proper at the moment.” Pugar was annoyed “Do you have a shuttle bay available for us.” Again the mek spoke “Nope we don’t have control of any shuttle bay doors.” Archarus grew tired of the ork’s incompetence “Then how are we supposed to board your ship?” The mek spoke once more “Stand by.” Pugar shook his head “Fething orks, it’s a damn miracle they got this far.” Ten seconds of nothing passed Pugar was about to hail the orks again when a green flash broke out and in the center of the bridge stood a single ork wielding only a guitar.

Every gun in the room was turned on the Doof. The shaman cried out “Eazy ladz eazy.” Pugar shouted “Who in warp’s name are you.” The ork looked around and spoke “Me? I’m da doof.” Archarus spoke “Wait I remember you, you’re that psyker that accompanied that Kommando.” “Daz right boss you ladz ready to go.” Pugar growled “You expect us to just allow you to teleport us into your ship?” Doof laughed “Wats da matter Big bad mister Chaos is afraid of tellyportin.” Archarus was amused by the orks spirit “He better not be right Pugar, you know I do not tolerate cowards in my ranks.” The marine growled “I do not know fear. This ork doesn’t seem stable.” The Doof retorted “So you Git Biskits ready to go, cuz I don’t got all day.” Archarus spoke “we are ready.” The Doof spoke shortly “Oh and I can only take twenty of ya wif me any more and it becomes a bit dicey.” Archarus spoke “We won’t need so many only me Pugar and three of my legion.” The men gathered around the Doof. The shaman grinned as he shouted “And ere we go.” The ork struck a power cord on his guitar and the party vanished in a flash of red mist.

The Chaotic party reappeared on the ork command bridge. Archarus saw his query, the ork sat atop a throne clearly made from the scrap of destroyed bikes, likely the bikes of his slain adversaries. The ork himself was actually smaller then he expected to be, orks follow the biggest, and while Nox was by no means small the sight of him did not live up to the legend of the famed Warp-Rider. Nox spoke as politely as an ork could “So yer da famous Arakus, its nice ta meet ya.” The chaotic Lord didn’t reply immediately rather he continued to examine his surroundings. At the side of the throne rested the ork’s bike, the mount that made him legend. Finally, Archarus spoke “I must say ork this is most certainly a nice ship.” The mek spoke “I know right weren’t easy getting her from underground to orbit das for sure.” Archarus looked over to the bike “That is also quite a stead.” Nox grinned “Da DoomBlitza is me pride and joy.” Archarus spoke “Now to business your man Gadnuk informed me you would be interested in an alliance.” Nox nodded “Das right, you help me fix up my Kruza and me and da boyz will bash what ever skulls need a good bashing. Be it Humiez, Eldar, or whoever.” Archarus spoke “And what exactly prevents you from double crossing me as soon as I get those engines working?” Nox laughed “I’d offer you my word, but to be honest I wouldn’t take no ork at his word. Wayz I see it dere are gonna be times where I might need some extra ladz on da field having friendz could be helpful.” Archarus was satisfied “Very well ork I agree to your terms.” Nox grinned as he shouted “Gobbles, go tell Tengrinz to break open da best kegs of Fungus Grog he got, tonight we drink.”

Before the grot could reply a red flash controlled the room. From the red tear came the red horned demon Keb’Hal. All the orks raised their weapons, Pugar shouted “Wait this one is with us.” Keb’Hal looked to Archarus “I bare news from…” the demon was caught off guard by something, distracting him from the rest of his sentence. The demon turned to see Nox’s bike. The horned creature approached it but Nox blocked his path readying his massive power glaive weapon “Step off ya horned face git, don’t nobody touch my wheelz.” Keb’Hal spoke turned back to Archarus and spoke “Do you realize what that thing is.” Archarus spoke angered by the demon’s intrusion “You have news.” Keb’Hal refocused himself “Yes, Fahren was attacked.” Archarus snarled “by who!” The doof howled in pain and clawed at his scalp. A mek at a console reported virtually on queue “We got a zog load of unidentified space things coming in hot.” Keb’Hal spoke “Your about to see who.” The Doof felt that stinging sensation again and blacked out.

Underneath his eyelids the Doof saw that familiar vision

“The Deep Has Come.”

The Shaman awoke seconds later. A mek called out “Mega Git Finda and weapons systems is fully operational on yer word boss.” Nox shouted “Let loose with the Dakka.” The fire power unleashed by The Heart of Iron and Da Blade of Mork was impressive. However, the fleet of bio-pods had little interest in the ships, their obvious target was Wuldgrund the planet Nox had fought Toof and nail for to claim as his own. Nox growled “Oh no you don’t ya gitz.” Nox walked over to the ship’s intercom “Ladz of anorky get ready we’z a going hunting.”

The Tyranid hybrids were hurtling down towards the ork stronghold known as Da Kastle. Gadnuk looked to the skies from the fortress wall, at first the kommando mistook the pods for a meteor shower. But on a second glass Gadnuk saw they were no meteors, rather the beasts Gadnuk had only heard legends about. Gadnuk shouted over to his second in command “Bleeda sound da alarm, we’re about to be up to our asses in bugz right now.”

A horde of tyranic creatures stormed the ork fortifications from all sides shrouded by a deep fog. Orks fired blindly hoping to hit something. Mobs of orks stationed outside the fort were decimated by the invaders. Soon the beasts were at the walls. Squads of flamers sprayed walls of promethium lames onto those clinging to the wall. All hope seemed loss when a second wave of pods came falling from up above. However, these were not the disgusting organic pods of the hybrids rather they were of Orkoid origin. Roks, crude drop pods that carried crews of ork bikers those rough riders that had the privilege to call themselves Ladz of Anorky. The pods crashed down and the bikers clashed into the hybrid invaders Nox leading the speed hungry orks into the melee. The invading aliens were trapped between the dakka fortress that was Da Kastle and the rapid rampage of Nox’s finest. Within thirty minutes the last hybrid was purged from the planet’s surface and those in space were long dead.

Archarus was pleased how the orks dealt with the situation. It seemed they faired better then Vorhees did. Yes, this was to be a powerful alliance, Archarus smiled wickedly at the thought of the green skin horde being unleashed upon those Eldar scum.

A week later The Blade of Mork’s engines roared to life thanks in no small part to Archarus and his men. WAAAGH Warprida was ready to take the sector by storm.

Farseer Lilliana sat quietly in her meditation chambers onboard "Flame of Isha", as she sat she contemplated what had happened in this Crusade so far. What had begun as a relatively simple mission to rid the galaxy of Archarus had rapidly devolved into an all-out war between the Eldar and the Iron Warriors, and as much as Lilliana hated to admit it, the Eldar could not do this alone. They simply did not have the numbers to commit to a full assault, as they would be forced to do against Archarus, and Lilliana refused to waste precious Eldar lives in futile hit and run strikes. No, the Eldar needed allies if they were to accomplish their goals here, they needed to enlist the aid of the humans. But how? Most of the mon'keigh were more prone to shooting first and never asking questions at the appearance of the Eldar, and at the moment they were scattered all across the system. Lilliana needed a way to get her message to all of the humans at one time. As she sat and contemplated this she suddenly received a vision, most of the human factions were dispatching representatives to a council of some sort, to discuss the Crusade. Lilliana grinned openly, that would be perfect, now she just needed to get there in time for the meeting. It would probably be wise to bring along some of her kin, for a lone Farseer would make for an easy target all by herself, and she decided she would bring Indrael with her. The older Warlock had far more experience than her with humans, his advice would be invaluable. Decided she sent a mental message to Indrael to assemble a squad of Guardians, they would suit her needs. Just after she sent the message she felt someone probing at her mind, but she sensed their intentions were innocent, so she allowed their message to get through, and the sender identified herself as Inquisitor Raela of the New Order....

Raela sat quietly across from her Farseer guest, sipping her spiced amasec a little nervously. She put her glass down and smiled a bit, trying to lighten the mood. Farseer Lilliana's eyes hadn't left the glass that was placed in front of her. Thoughts of Korvel drifted in and out of her head like driftwood moving with the tide. Why had he left her at the time he did? Was it her fault? No, she had to stop thinking about him. She wasn't some young blood looking for a mate. She was a Farseer. A young Farseer. A young Farseer who still cared deeply about her once-called-fiance.

Control yourself, Lilliana. Korvel isn't going anywhere, Lilliana reassured herself. She picked up the glass and took a sip. This is what they call an intoxicating beverage?

Lilliana noticed that her hostess had become a tad bit drunk and managed to skim the top of her mind for something useful as to why the Mon'keigh Inquisitor had come to find the Farseer. All the Farseer picked up though, is what her hostess thought Lilliana would look attractive in apparel-wise. Mon'keigh had such a bad taste in clothing. Lilliana snapped her fingers and her hostess shot to attention, almost spilling her drink.

"Yes... On behalf of my Lord Taihkromn-" Raela started in the Eldar tongue. Lilliana recognized it as a dialect from Commoragh. Had this Mon'keigh lived with her inhospitable cousins long enough to fluently speak their tongue? Lilliana shrugged the thought off an interjected.

"-Ryus. I know who he is; you can skip the pleasantries. I do not have the time for you to dodge around your questions. Please get to the point or I shall leave."

Raela swallowed hard and took another sip from her glass. She pulled up her dataslate and read off what she had written down. All the amasec she drank was making it hard to translate properly. Lilliana found it a tad bit amusing.

"My lord would like to have an... would like to make a deal with you, Farseer Lilliana of Craftworld Iybraesil. A mutual partnership for the benefit of both the New Order and your people," Raela stammered out, letting out a small hick after "your people." The Twins giggled behind her in their loose fitting robes. The robes they wore were designed to hide their alien natures, but Lilliana knew perfectly well they were her Dark kin. They both stepped forward in unison and one took the dataslate from Raela. They proceeded to read it together. The Dark Eldar spoke a much better Eldar tongue than their mistress.

"The New Order shall provide assistance to the Craftworld Iybraesil and vice versa. The New Order has a habitable planet within their sovereign system should the Eldar wish to colonize. They will be excluded from all human life forms if they choose to do so."

"I do not require the planet."

"We, as in the New Order, have reason to believe it is an Eldar Maiden World, but lack the expertise needed to confirm the suspicions. Should you agree, we will gladly release the information about the coordinates where the planet is located."

"We shall see then... I shall contact you when I have made up my mind," Raela said before standing up from the table. The scene before her slowly faded into the meditation chamber on Iybraesil. Khaine forbid she actually went aboard that crazy Mon'keigh's vessel. She felt the Inquisitor's presence fade slowly and ebb away. It seemed odd how there were Dark Eldar in the connection between her and the Inquisitor. It felt as if they shared some kind of bond with the Inquisitor... No matter, Lilliana's deals with Raela were hopefully few and far between and Lilliana hoped that she could connect with someone competent the next time.

"My Lord, certain rumors have been passing on the inter fleet, of Eldar attending the gathering, such information is " Cutting off the serf on comms "disturbing, you mean, Xeno witches, Good, this news is useful. Carry on" Walking back to the throne at the center of the room watching the bridge crew work, The serfs had a good eye for information that was relevant.

The armour vox crackled. and then linked, "Marshall, we have got the information. Pavus was behind this one, well not directly, it was worked through a unknown 3rd party. this we cannot bring to the conclave, its not direct link the traitor. " 2 out of the 3 have succumbed, one left alive for your choice of sentence my lord." Frustration, the one chance he had to nail Pavus for something. gone. "Very well, this news is disappointing but it cannot be blamed on you. Hold the 3rd in the cells for now, i will decide on punishment in due course. what detail of the 3rd party?" "Not much honestly Marshall, Captain, New from Faust, or new into service, smart man, Despite the idiots he used, i fear this was a warning more than a real attack, they want us to know he can reach us." Closing the link the Marshall was frustrated, the motive made sense, the fact that Shepard would not speak against was nigh certain. He was brave, yet still a human, and humans tended to defend those they loved, despite the great cause, Who could blame them, there fragile lives where short. There chance at joy was slim, No, he would not be forced, such would not work.

Petra was more rattled than she thought after the attack, shaking, it was close, only she had not wanted to admit it, Shepard was angry, but with himself for not being there, did they make the right choice? the answer should be obvious but a tiny doubt gnawed at her. Shepard was in the next room when he saw her fall unconscious, "Medicare, get a fething medicare now" Shouting to the guards outside who where there shadows. Fear, helplessness, Ulf was one of first to respond having been on patrol and hearing the distress call on vox nearby. on arrival, imediately adding his call, " Shepard qauters, Medical Emergency one. Petra down, Med code U75, rapid response."

As the medicares worked, leaving Shepard stood helpless. Ulf lent down so he could look him in the eye "Shepard, Shepard, There the best we have, she is in the best hands right now, they know whats at stake, " adding darkly after, " if this, if what we fear, i say this though, its war, The Marshall made very clear you where under his protection. such a insult will not go unanswered, a oath is a oath, we will take the traitors head"

=====Voor'Han Power Core=====
Kageros stared at the massive amber orb that produced most of the power for the foundries on the Creation World. It intrigues him further how the living metal wires melded with the Tau pulse generators, but they still needed more. The tau were currently working on their fleet repairs, as they should, so they would not be able to work on power increasing for the time being. Instead he looked at the Cryptek manning the control terminal.
"Cryptek, increase power output by 13%." He glanced over at the Cryptek who then glanced back. "My Lord, it may not work, worse, it could backfire." "It's worth a shot." "Very well then." The Cryptek tapped on a couple glyphs before grabbing a dial and slowly started to turn it. The amber orb lit up and started to hum louder and louder. The small pulses grew larger and larger with every passing moment. "My Lord, it is at 10%." "Further!" The Cryptek moved the dial further, the orb now started to shoot bolts of energy. One such bolt hit one of the Tau generators causing it to explode and detonate the other generators in a spectacular blue and amber shower. The Cryptek stood back up and look at his terminal, "My Lord, we have dropped back down to normal levels." "Well... off to do something else then." Kageros walked out of the chamber.
=====Arbalest Throne Room=====
Kageros convened his Greater Court to create a plan of action for the foreseeable future. After much debating they decided upon this. "My Lord, the Imperial forces have yet to land on Rockston's Fall. We have already beaten the Hybrids once we can do it again." Kageros looked away from the Overlord and to his Nemesor, "And what do you make of this Rak'?" The Nemesor considered the pro's and con's, "He's not wrong, we could break through their forces and establish an outpost. The Imperials would be foolish to even consider launching an attack less the Hybrids consume them... I think it could work." Kageros smiled and stood, "Then send a Reclamation Legion to Rockston's Fall and establish as much of an outpost as possible." As everyone went off to carry out their duties, Kageros' communicator beeped. It was Zyfek, "My Lord, I have great news, you must meet me in Voor'Han's Command Chamber." "I will be there shortly." He did not lie for all he did was walk into the Command Chamber on the Arbalest and into the Dolman Gate that led to its counter part on Voor'Han.
=====Command Chamber, Voor'Han=====
"What is it Zyfek? Are you not supposed to be working on the schematics?" Zyfek simply laughed, "I have plenty of time after your fiasco with the power orb. Speaking of which, the power surge from the orb actually helped us. not only did it activate our Sentry Pylon Network, but they are 200% power." Kageros was delighted to hear this and walked over to Gru'Lahk who sat at his terminal, "Hey, bring up the defense grid." With a few taps on some glyphs and some scrolling what seemed to be the different systems on Voor'Han he pulled up the defense net, "Here you go, this map will show you the location of every Pylon on Voor'Han." "Good work Gru'Lahk, what do you do here on a normal day?" "I mainly stare at the screen and review the reports that come in." Kageros nodded, "Bring up the reports of the Legion we just sent out."
=====Shroud-Class Cruiser=====
The cruiser and its escorts, two Jackals and six Dirges, approached Rockston's Fall at an extreme speed. A warrior waltzed up to the Overlord in command of the Legion. "My Lord, Hybrid fleet is approaching." "Have the escorts distract the fleet. Our Legion mustn't fail!" The Dirges led the pseudo-fleet into the fray, the lightning arc batteries made short work of the Hybrid boarding vessels. The Jackals targeted the large vessels while the cruiser bobbed and weaved through the Hybrid vessels. It did not get better after it landed, as the Legion was teleported to the surface the Hybrid ground forces quickly engaged. The Annihilation Barges they brought along decimated the lesser creatures while the Immortals killed all the larger creatures. Even though the Hybrids were killed in scores even more appeared. The Cruiser was starting to sustain damage and had to leave before it could place all the materials needed. The landing zone was placed next to an unknown structure. The Legion started to sustain minor losses as it reinforced the structure, but the Hybrids retreated as their synapse creatures fell. The Overlord in command reported to Kageros, "My Lord, we were not able to establish a full outpost but we were able to bring a listening outpost online. It also seems that the structure we found is a long distance teleporter, but we don't know how stable it is." "Good, I'll contact you when I find out what to do."
=====Arbalest Throne Room=====
Kageros had an idea, maybe if he sent the different factions in the crusade gifts, they would be less likely to attack him. This was not likely, but he might as well. "Lord Crypteks," He boomed into his communicator, "I need statues of the Imperium's Emperor, statue's of the Eldar gods, and symbols of Chaos, also of Gork and Mork, oh, and of the Tau emblem." "Why my Lord?" "Because we are giving gifts to everyone." "WHY?!" " I don't know, just feel like it." "Very well, it will be done." "When you are finished have them sent to Rockston's Fall." " Are you going to use the teleporter? Don't answer, that." "Okay, just see it done."
=====Rockston's Fall=====
A couple days later Kageros stood in front of the teleporter, the living metal statues and symbols next to him. He looked at the Overlord, "I want these statues sent to their respective factions." "Very well." The whole process took a couple hours. Due to the instability of the machine it collapsed within itself after the last use. Kageros smiled as he went back to his throne room, he wondered how the other factions would react to their gifts. They did, after all, come from nowhere.

Julius read the repot from Sergeant Factus and winced. Not 3 hours after he had left to attend the conclave the Ultramarine's fleet had been ambushed by a new foe, which was later identified as Necrons, the fight had been short, but vicious by all accounts, with both fleets unleashing a firestorm upon the other, and almost as quickly as they had arrived the Necrons had disappeared,. This puzzled Julius immensely, engagements with the Necrons had shown that the Necrons were usually loathe to leave the field of battle, preferring to trust in their firepower and regenerative plate to carry the day for them, and this new behavior was very out of character for them. Techmarine Tomison theorized that their fleet had stumbled a bit too closer to a Necron base, and their vessels had fired upon them more as a warning then anything else. Mercifully, casualties had been light amongst the fleet, with one of the escort vessels for the "Honor" being destroyed, forcing the serf crew to launch savior pods and abandon the venerable vessel. Thankfully, there had been no casualties amongst Julius' brothers, and for that he was truly thankful. It didn't make the sting of the loss feel any worse, but it made him feel a bit better that no more of his brothers had been lost. He decided that his brothers needed to pull back temporarily, or else they would risk over-extending themselves. Decided he transmitted orders back to his fleet to pull back and to re-join the bulk of the Imperial Fleet, there would be time to investigate the Necrons after the Conclave and the Hybrids were dealt with.

The Immaterium was like a Hab district. Every psyker was a citizen and the Gods of the realm, Khorne, Slaanesh, Tzeentch, Nurgle, and the other minor beings were like the gangs, bullying the citizens to expand their control. The streets were used by the ships of the material realm. Everything had a place; and it was Chaos. Treading the sidewalks was a danger and taking back alleys was a death sentence. You had to tread carefully or expose yourself to the gangs. Ryus always had a part of him hear, monitoring warp traffic. He had sensed that Raela made contact with another psyker who he presumed to be the Farseer, Lilliana, whom Korvel spoke of. He sensed Conrax warp jumping from ship to ship, personally inspecting each ship as the Chapter Master ordered. He sensed an influx of the voices of Slaanesh. They were calling out to him, enticing him. They were akin to sirens of the old Terran myth. They would lure you in with their song of promises then smite you while you sat helplessly.

Ryus sat aboard the Warpath Furnace, but it wasn't his ship. The walls slanted inwards at an odd angle and the ceiling felt too short. The floor also felt as if it were inclined, but everything betrayed the laws of nature and sat in place. This was his ship, but in the warp. He stood from where he was and the room distorted again. Forces of a primal evil were at work: the Primordial Annihilator, Chaos. The alluring voices were the first indicator of which being decided to single him out. He saw the androgynous forms of the denizens of Slaanesh, their purple-peach skin turning a deeper shade of purple due to some unseen light source. They beckoned him to join them, to romance them, to make them his only for the price of his soul. They whispered their promises in his ear like they would to a lover though Ryus ignored their songs. They dissipated when he rejected them or failed to hear them out. Their pleas for attention were drowned out by the voices of the ones who hadn't been ignored yet. None were payed heed, apart from one.

His observatory had one "siren" that he was curious about. This one was bigger than her sisters, but made no attempt to sway the Chapter Master or its attempts were not made apparent. Ryus determined it was the latter as he was still driven to push through the crowd of her lesser peons without much incentive. The creature sat on his throne, playing with her own hair. Her long, serpentine body was curled around the base pf the throne like the throne was her prey. As soon as Ryus stepped on the first step to ascend his throne, the Daemon banished the lesser Daemonettes with a simple snap of her fingers. The motioned for Ryus to come to her and he obeyed, climbing the steps. The Daemon curled her tail around Ryus' leg and he stopped. A smile grew on her face and she slouched back.

"Taihkromn Ryus, Chapter Master of the New Order... What an pleasure" the Daemon cackled, the tempting succubus voice of the Daemon being underlaid by a sinister growl of the evil of Chaos, "Come to me again to surrender? Do I finally have the privilege of owning your soul as my eternal play thing?"

"Remember your place, Daemon. It is I who owns you, not the alternative," Ryus snarled. Dealing with this daemon took a tax on his patience. Keeping it under his control was another thing entirely; however, the gains from it were immense. The psychic power from a few of them were channeled directly into him and amplified his domain in the Immaterium. This Daemon, Suolyn'ne, was the strongest under his will but also the most unpredictable. Many a times has the Chapter Master almost sold his soul to her through her word games. Suolyn'ne was his Watcher, the entity which spied on his underlings indiscriminately, every secret and underhanded act was bliss for her and helped her Chapter Master keep order. Ironic was their relationship. Ryus used a being of Chaos to maintain Order, his New Order. Suolyn'ne found that idea to be extremely amusing and kept it to herself, knowing Ryus had little time for her silver tongue.

"Was there anything you require of me? Or did you come solely to gawk at my beauty?" Suolyn'ne mused, twirling the ends of her hair with her finger.

"Sylus-"

"-and his whore priestess? She is burdened by a child. Whether it is related to your brother-at-arms, I am unsure. You bring those two up every time you come to me. Is there something I should know that you haven't shared?" she cut in, expressing her distaste for Annala like the creatures of the night distaste the sun.

"I was curious, Suolyn'ne. I always am..."

"Is that all? I can answer more questions!" Suolyn'ne begged, hoping dearly Ryus wouldn't leave her alone. Loneliness was her only companion while she was in service to the Lord of the New Order.

"I believe I am good, Suolyn'ne," Ryus replied, almost as a dare for Suolyn'ne to lose her cool. She sighed angrily and turned away. Ryus smiled as the tail around his leg uncurled and he walked off into oblivion and upon opening his eyes, he saw the stars. In his hand was the fragment of a crystal. A crystal with the bound essence of Suolyn'ne. He put the fragment in a book titled "Beasts of M38" and returned the book to its place on the shelf.

Zonand leant up against the plush chair at the head of the meeting room. Most of the delegation was here, bar a few others. Before him, around the impeccably clean nalwood table, sat the first eight parties of the Crusade. This collection of might represented the strongest and best the Crusade had to offer, the field commanders and generals of Zonand's armies. Radiating clockwise, Zonand met the gazes of those present.

At his right hand, sat Acting-Captain Aurelius. He had eschewed his standard ornate battle plate for a simpler ceremonial robe, layered in cream and brown. However, he was by no means defenceless. At his hip, Litura was slightly throbbing, ever vigilant. Behind him stood the brooding Chaplain Trajan, his skull mask regarding the arrayed assembly without emotion. The black figure was flanked by the rest of the Ultramarine Honour Guard, their red cloaks and gold filigree accenting their spotless blue armour. Their gladii were left open at their waists, a ceremonial display of both duty and threat. Aurelius acknowledged Zonand's regarding eye, and returned his steely gaze to the figure on the other side of the room.

Her boots were outstretched upwards, resting on the polished veneer of the table. Her eyes were absent, staring intently into a dataslate cradled in her hands, swiping every so often. Behind the woman, two hooded figures giggled and prodded eachother in childish glee. Every so often, Zonand caught a glimpse of translucently pale flesh, or wickedly sharp features. This would be Inquisitor Raela, and her Twins. If she was aware of the hostile glares being levelled at her, she didn't notice. Instead she periodically sipped from an elegant champagne flute, her smallest finger outstretched in dainty finery. Zonand was both curious and repulsed by the Inquisitor. Hopefully she didn't cause too much of a fuss. The Inquisition had already dabbled enough in the Crusade's affairs.

Others regarded the woman with more unbridled hatred than Aurelius or Zonand let on. A dissatisfied grunt heralded one of these. Tempestor Primus Gallus Tauron, commander-in-chief of the 85th Scion Battalion. Zonand could see the sleep in his eyes. He saw the pain of losing most of his men in the fogs on Julla. He also saw the hatred of the Dark Eldar kin before him, his body tense in his suit of Solar Auxilla armour. It was most certainly older than he was, and probably less functional than a standard suit of carapace. However, prestige and intimidation were key here, as the host of bodyguards around him and his closest officers attested to. Gallus would need to hit far above his weight to have an impact in the talks, but the hulking armour and dozen of sworn protectors certainly didn't hurt his chances.

Captain Julius, the other Ultramarine commander present sat two seats away from his blood brother. But where Aurelius' eyes were trained on Raela, Julius' were affixed to the transparent pexi-glass window that sat behind her. Zonand could guess at the Captain's intentions. He was paranoid. Paranoid about the crippling Hybrid attacks on the entire sector. He knew that the fight wasn't in this meeting hall, but out there, with his battle brothers. But the sons of Guilliman were nothing but loyal, and Julius had obeyed his summons. Zonand only hoped that Julius' expertise in fighting the Fog Creatures could be passed on here. If the others would listen to him.

He knew of a few who wouldn't hesitate to disagree with the Ultramarine. Three of them sat a few seats away, their eyes darting around the room. The Dawn Striders, newcomers to the Crusade. The Lord General could feel the indignation of their representative, the Master of Sanctity, Sullac Anterion. He had been one of the survivors of the ill-fated mission on Mall, in which the Dawn Striders had lost over 20% of their Chapter to the Hybrid invasion. Their underestimation of the xenos forces had cost them dearly, and Zonand knew that he may have to step in if the Chaplain, or the Masters of the Forge who accompanied him, were slighted by the Kagrenz veteran's statements.

Zonand was still waiting for the other two Kagrenz veterans, Karak and Pavus, when the sliding doors parted. Zonand had hoped it to be either of the two, but was proved wrong. Instead, a mass of mechadendrites clattered across the cold marble, heralding the arrival of the Martian delegate. A chatter of binary swiftly modulated to audible High Gothic.
"--GREETING: HELLO LORD GENERAL KRUGER ZONAND. INTRODUCTION: I AM ENGINSEER LYRA. I WAS CHOSEN AS MY COHORT REPRESENTATIVE AS I AM THE LEAST MODIFIED OF THE MAGOS BRETHREN ABOARD OUR VESSEL. QUERY: WHERE AM I REQUIRED TO BE SEATED--"
Zonand gritted his teeth against the auditory onslaught.
"Any seat will do, Ma- Ma'am? Master?"
"--CORRECTION: THE METAL HAS NO NEED FOR PITIFUL GENDER. REQUEST: PLEASE REFER TO ME AS ENGINESEER--"

"If the Engineseer wouldn't mind, could they turn their vox-amplifiers down? If your Machine God wills it, that is?"
The request came from the moustachioed man on one of the table corners. Zonand had a moment to recognise the man as Colonel Amir, the commander of the Tallarn 97th Rough Riders. A newcomer to the Crusade, Zonand knew his cavalry would be fresh on men, resources, and morale. Their initial deployment would be a very sensitive thing to handle. He'd need to win over the respect of the Tallarn first. Before he could say anything to the amber skinned man, another voice announced their support.

"Aye to that, rider. You're making more ruckus than a grox herd, Enginseer, and far less pleasant." The speaker was Cadian Colonel Halter, commander of the Cadian 13th Remnants. "You're starting me make me wish I'd brought a helmet."
Zonand hadn't heard much of the Cadians, despite him being with the crusade since very early on. In fact, Zonand was only aware of one theatre the Cadians had operated in, the Liberation of Arcturia. The Mechanicus would be asking him soon about looking into the world. Still, the Cadians held conquest rights, and Lyra would need to negotiate with the Colonel to investigate the properties of the froststeel ore. Zonand watched as the Cadian winked across the table to Amir, and the Tallarn smiled. At least something was looking positive.

"I concur with my fellow Guardsmen." Colonel Anshal Detta, commander of the Histan forces in the Crusade, nodded his affirmation to the other two commanders. "We came here to talk, not to be deafened." His fellow officers chuckled grimly, Sergeant Isos and Corporal Vayden leading the laughter of their retinue. The Histan forces were also hit hard by the loss of Mall, but at least they were a more cheery bunch than the Dawn Striders. Guardsmen were so much easier to deal with than the titanic warriors of the Adeptus Astartes. Zonand quickly found himself chuckling under his breath with the Histan forces.

"--OBSERVATION: I SEE THAT MY VOX EMITTERS ARE OPERATING FAR BEYOND YOUR COMFORT LEVELS. SOLUTION: REDUCING VOLUME BY 85%--"
"My thanks, Enginseer." Zonand uttered, as the Magos took a seat.

The doors opened again. This time, the dark purple livery of the Death Ravens Chapter greeted them, Strike Commander Ajuran flanked by monstrous Terminators in relic plate. "I hope we're not late, did we miss anything?"
Aurelius had already stood to attention, and greeted the Space Marine. "Not at all brother, there's still food here if you wish to partake in some?"
"It appears my appetite isn't quite whetted yet, Acting-Captain. This is the first time we've met, isn't it?"
Aurelius appeared to think for a moment before replying. "It seems it is. Pleasure to meet you, Death Raven."
"All mine, Ultramarine." Ajuran took a seat, his Terminators locking their suits as they stood guard over him.
Zonand noticed how tired and haggard Ajuran looked, but he still smiled all the same, nodding in acknowledgment of the Lord General.

The next arrival was far louder, heralded by the sound of lighter sprinting footsteps, followed by the thunder of louder ones. Before anyone could react, the doors slid open, and Commissar Sheppard burst in, out of breath, before saluting. "Commissar Jack Sheppard, reporting as delegate for-"
"SHEPPARD!" Lord Marshal Karak' voice burst down the corridor. In few seconds less, the intimidating Black Templar was in the room. "My apologies, Lord General. Sheppard here wasn't meant to join the delegation party. I apologise for his-"
Zonand smiled. "It is fine, Karak. Sheppard may stay if if he wishes."
The Commissar grinned, and took a seat. Karak grunted in amusement, and remained standing, behind Sheppard. It wasn't like his ornate Terminator plate would fit in the chair anyway. Beside him, Vargos, Ulf and Sentinel took their places, grim as ever. Zonand enjoyed the company of the fanatical Templars, finding solace in their blind duty.

The smiles were quickly erased by the next entrance. "Greetings, gentlemen. And lady."
General Pavus stood at the door, flanked by his command retinue. Most of them, Zonand recognised. There was Ruck, his Ogryn bodyguard. The Ogryn may not have been the largest in the room, but was certainly the most pungent. Thick, sweaty, rippling muscle covered the Ogryn's surface. On his other side stood Sandor Braddock, the Hound. His broadsword may only have been the size of an Astartes power sword, but it was just as deadly as any relic blade. He grinned at the Templars, and Sheppard in particular. The Commissar shot the glare back, only to have it met by the fourth figure. This one was helmeted, with a glare visor covering his face. He stood with composed swagger, relaxed and ordered at once. He seemed to saunter as he guided Pavus to a seat. Zonand knew not who the man was, but he did notice Aurelius' nostrils flare briefly as the man got closer. Was it recognition? Zonand waited for some more light to be shed on the situation, but the Acting-Captain said nothing.

The last entry was from another Inquisitor. By his trappings, Zonand deduced that he was a Puritan. This would be-
"Inquisitor Hadrak Hannerd. This is my Priest, Irmo," the giant bald man at his side nodded once "and my accomplice, Sandhill." The shorter, jittery man flinched as his name was announced, before relaxing slightly. The Inquisitor took a seat, resting a large hammer on the table as a sigil of his authority. Raela took notice of this, extricated her feet from the table, and placed her Scythian Venom Talon on her end. The two Inquisitors stared eachother down, before Zonand cleared his throat.

"We are all here? Good. May the meeting proceed."

Karak was the first to speak.
"Pavus, you DARE have the nerve to attack one of my wards? Is regicide not enough for you, that you must attack an innocent woman, with child, and claim to have no involvement?" He reached for his longsword, as did his bodyguard. Pavus grinned and leaned back in his chair. Ruck and Braddock reached for their blades.

"Lord Marshal, I'm afraid I have no idea what you refer to. I do offer my dearest condolences to Knight-Captain Petra Sheppard, but I am not responsible for the actions of any old drunkards who attack your personnel. Maybe your iron shield isn't as impervious as you believe, my lord?"

Karak's eyes blazed in anger. "How dare you insult the safety of my protection! I'll see you hang for that, you-"

Inquisitor Hennard interrupted. "Only the Inquisition has the authority to deem punishments like that, Lord-Marshall. Do not overestimate your station."

"Nor yours, Hennard. You are not the only member of the Ordo here." Raela interjected.

"At least I stay true to the Emperor's will. You fraternise with xenos and tech-heresy!" Hennard spat.

"Aye, that bitch defiles our sanctity with her fething knife-ears. I say we kill them, send a message to the other bastards who got my men!" roared Tempestor Prime Gallus, raising out of his chair and pointing at Raela accusingly. "We'll see if she's loyal then."

"The Inquisitor is beyond reproach, human." Master of Sanctity Anterion boomed. "Judge your own heresy before you judge others."

"Judge yourself, Dawn Strider. Don't think yourself so high and mighty above us mere mortals." Gallus retorted. "You Astartes don't know how weak you are until you find yourself on the end of a hotshot round."

"Is that a threat, little man?" bellowed Anterion, unhooking his crozius. "Do you want to meet the Emperor by my hand?"

"--STATEMENT: ASTARTES SUFFER GREATLY REDUCED RESILIENCE FROM POWER ARMOUR UPON HOTSHOT IMPACT--"

"Silence your tongue, metal man." Amir snarled. "You know nothing of true war!"

"You forget yourselves, brothers," Aurelius shouted over the escalating war of words. "We are hear to fight a common enemy, one who-"

"You forget yourself, Ultramarine!" Pavus directed at Aurelius. "We fought and died on Kagrenz for your Lord's noble cause, only to lose it as we took it! All whilst you were playing nursemaid to him! I'd say you lack the right to be called Captain, but I forget: you're not even that."

"You-" Aurelius stammered, and pulled Litura from his holster. "You go too far, general." His finger was locked on the trigger.
Julius, Ajuran and Karak drew their sidearms, aiming down the sights at Pavus, supporting their sworn brothers.

"Take. That. Back." Karak muttered through gritted teeth.

"Make me." Pavus grinned. Behind him, his retinue brandished their plasma pistols, aimed at the Astartes. The 85th Scions had their pistols drawn too, ready to fire.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Zonand roared. He was bright red, furious and raging. "You call yourselves the best of your men? I'd take a stampede of grox over you lot. Now sit down, before I send the High Lords evidence of what you have just done."

Begrudgingly, the men holstered or threw down their weapons, and returned to their seats. Their looks were capable of cutting clean through diamond, their jaws set, their hearts racing. Zonand gestured to Raela. She nodded, and her Twins moved around the table, pouring mildly sedated amasec into glasses. Some of the assembly moved the wine away, as if it were poison. Others poured the offending liquid on the floor. The ones who didn't treat their drink like tainted warp snuff earned a smile from the Lord General and Raela, as they downed the liquid.

"Good. Now that we've calmed down, we need to discuss our purpose here: what to do next in the Crusade. Inquisitor Hennard, you have earned the honour of speaking first."

The Inquisitor leaned back, with a wry half-smile. "I do apologise Lord General, but I don't have an opinion. As long as you serve the Emperor, I cannot complain. I am here not to wage war, but to bring the Emperor's light to the darkness."

"Outstanding." muttered Zonand under his breath. "In which case, Inquisitor Raela, do you have anything to say?"

"Yes, in fact, I do. I have three points to raise. One - we need the Craftworld Eldar as Allies; We have a common enemy with the Eldar, such as Chaos, and these Hybrid creatures."
As soon as the words left her mouth, there was an uproar. Karak led the offence.

"You would have us beg with the knife ears? We can fight without them, Inquisitor. Just because you're incapable of anything without true Imperial origins doesn't mean our Crusade is. I spit on any treaty with the Eldar."

"What a shame, mon-keigh. I would've been a valuable asset for you."
The men present leapt for their guns at the sound of the Eldar's voice. Lilliana stood in haughty success as all eyes were on her.
"Now I have your attention, I could help you out. My raiders have been running rampant over your Eastern front, much as you Templars hate to admit it." She winked at Karak. "No, I ask for just one thing. In return, I'd give you a lot of help against the Hybrid creatures that have been such a thorn in your side. I'm sure you want to know what I want in return."

No one said a word. Lilliana looked around, helpless, to Raela. Raela indulged the Eldar.
"What would you like from us, darling?"

Lilliana beamed at Raela. "There is a Chaos Warlord who cowers in the Mare Dracarian. An Iron Warrior, Archarus. Some of you may have met him before." Colonel Halter's lips tightened. The Iron Warrior had killed many of his best men, including Captain Grey, one of his most promising commanders. "You help me kill him, you rid him for both your Imperium, and for me."

Karak shook his head. "No deal, alien. I'd sooner fight a dozen crusades alone than win one with you at my side. My brothers are with me on this." He looked around. Both Ultramarines nodded their approval, and Tempestor Gallus raised a thumb in assent.

The Eldar tutted. "What a shame. Well, time for me to return to my Craftworld. Think yourself thankful I didn't place a psychic vortex where your head should be, Karak. We will meet again." She stepped back, and before anyone could stop her, she melted into the wall, vanishing from existence. A great tension felt lifted.

Zonand broke the silence. "The council revokes your idea Raela. Anything else?"

"Yes: the current Crusade Command is incompetent. Our forces are deployed extremely poorly or without solid back up. We need to be more focus and tighten our fleets together and avoid everyone getting eaten separately by the Hybrids."

Zonand scowled. "Better said than done, Raela. Aurelius, care to correct her?"

Aurelius stood up. "As illustrated by this chart here, we simply lack the manpower to form a tighter fleet at our current projection. If we were to shrink our holdings, yes, and you seem opposed to that, Inquisitor. If we took more men from the Eastern front, we risk Echison VII falling. We reinforce the front, we lose men from our rearguard. If we focus on taking one world at a time, then we lose pressure on other fronts. If we stopped our patrols on the Western front, we'd be overrun by Hybrids in days. Lord General Zonand is doing fine as is, and I am happy to serve."

"Quaint, Acting-Captain." Pavus sneered. "But agree with Raela. Allow me to elaborate." He rose to his feet, and planted his fists on the table.
"My Lords, like many of you," he nodded to Julius and Karak appealingly, "I have seen the fury of the Deep first hand. The foe we face can not be defeated with normal strategy. We must unify if we are to hold the xenos at bay, less they consume everything we have worked for. I have sought council with those who know the nature of our foe, and there are those of you among us who know the nature of the beast first hand. My... Captain here, who prefers to be unnamed, advises that we strike for it's central Hive Mind, when we find it. But the Deep is undeniably different from any other known species of Tyranid. You must know that if we are to survive the horde we will need a leader who knows what he faces. And I fear the current crusade's leadership is rather ignorant of our foe, and as such we must re-evaluate who we entrust to oversee us in these dark times. I would volunteer myself for this role."

"Of course you would." scoffed Julius. "You'd usurp what you have no claim to. I am a true Kagrenz veteran. I know more about these creatures than any three of you here. Listen to my words, and heed them well.
You can't reason with the Hybrids. They know not of pain, and sacrifice. Only duty. That duty will drive them to our deaths. Or theirs. Their fleets are strong, their talons stronger. We have no idea how to push them back. But did we not say that about Gallor? The search for the Vault seemed hopeless, yet we got there. We must search yet again. We must search for our lost bonds of brotherhood, and support each other in the face of this Deep. We will be as a cliff face, resisting the ocean of hate and malice. We must. As Guilliman once taught, a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. We must reinforce each other to ensure that our weakest link is only as weak as we let it become. I've sent you all mnemo-docs about my discoveries and revelations upon fighting these creatures. Stand by its words, for they have been proven in the only true crucible of war. As for my men, we will support the Histan troops, who's dogged sacrifice we must all aspire to. Thank you."

Aurelius nodded once at Julius, who returned the compliment. Colonel Detta, the Histan, had gone bright red, but proceeded to speak anyway.

"Astartes, Imperial Guard, I ask for but a moment of your time. None of us are strangers to war, to death, to grief. We have all fought against monsters that would drive lesser men insane at the very thought of their existence. However, one threat. One xenos, has risen above the other abominations we fight here. I speak of the Hybrids. Not a single force has gone untouched by them, and they continue to pillage and devour Imperial territory. I will not stand for this. I have seen what they are capable of, and witnessed the death of a cruiser in mere minutes! These monsters are more dangerous than their carnivorous kin, and left unchecked, they could claim this entire sector as their own.
And then, what comes after? They could move on to other sectors, repeating their horrendous acts, and only gain from them. It is up to us, as the defenders of the Imperium and Him on Terra, to stave off their ravenous attacks. It is up to us to see the last of these creatures vanquished, and purged with holy promethium.
Now, perhaps one of you does not believe the danger we are in. Perhaps you need convincing that we must focus our attention to the beasts that can kill even the holy astartes. In response to your disbelief, I have brought with me the last pict recordings of the Knife of Hista. Perhaps the savagery of these enemies captured on film will change your minds?"

The room was in utter silence as the screams of damned guardsmen could be heard. The ship was overwhelmed by monstrosities larger than titans, tearing through the bulkheads. Tendrils lashed through the fog, whipping guardsmen screaming into the void, or into their distended bellies. The pict cut out, just as a shadow loomed through the fog, and a roar shattered the lens. You could've heard a pin a drop in the chamber. Detta continued.

"Now, I believe I can move on to the second part of my speech. I am certain that this video also has shown that my Histans are men who fight to their last, and will not break, even under the threat of impending death. However, during this battle, and the following attacks the hybrids lead onto my men, we have sustained heavy casualties. Not only that, but by losing several ships, my men are under equipped for battle. I am aware that others are in the same predicament I am, or have been during this holy crusade. As such, I would have requested for my Histans to be redeployed alongside another force, until we are able to be resupplied. What I need more than anything in terms of those supplies is more manpower, and new ships to wage this war. However, I see that the mighty Captain Julius has already pledged his support for the Histan forces. This act will not be forgotten.
I thank you all for your time, and am grateful of any more support given to my men. May the Emperor be with you all."

Zonand nodded. "Wise words from both of you. Ajuran, what do you have to say?"

The purple armoured marine cocked his neck.
"There isn't much to say, my lord. I can't fault what's been said. However, other threats need to be considered. As I'm sure Aurelius will agree, the Remnants are still a threat. Why they aren't active, we don't know. But I don't like it. It cannot bode well for us. As such, I would support the offer of my brethren here, and ask to be given permission to hunt them down and bring them to Imperial justice, alongside the 11th Forsian Regiment back on Grimdi. They are now well-supplied, but their combat style would support a hunt far better than it would a defence."

"Understood. I will dwell on your comment, Strike Commander. How about you, Colonel Amir? Your Tallarn are new to the Crusade. How do your eyes perceive the situation?"

"By now I am sure you are all familiar with the threat we face, and you know that we cannot allow these abominations to spread. I advise that we pool our resources into eliminating these creatures immediately. Every second we tarry will allow this cancer to grow. If we do not remove it soon I fear the whole system shall succumb. I therefore recommend that all available forces be committed to the purge of the tyranids."

"--CORRECTION: THE CRUSADE FORCES DEEM THE CREATURES TO BE IDENTIFIED AS 'HYBRIDS', AS PER COLLOQUIAL LEXICON.--" Lyra interrupted Amir, the modulated voice clashing briefly with Amir's silky accent. All eyes were on the Magos. "ADMITTAL: ALTHOUGH MAGOS STAFAN PARD'S DATA SUGGESTS A CORRELATION TO TYRANID GENUS BIOLOGY.--" Amir stared down Enginseer Lyra, eyes fiery under his bushy eyebrows.

"As I was saying: The other foes in this system can wait; we cannot allow the Hybrid fleets to gather any more strength, lest they become to great a threat even for our combined efforts. This is all I have to say on the matter."

Zonand nodded, and gestured to Lyra to speak. "You may speak now, Magos. What does Mars suggest?"

"--APOLOGY: I AM NOT AUTHORISED TO GIVE PERSONAL OPINION AS TO CRUSADE MANAGEMENT. I FOLLOW ORDERS OF MY MASTERS. ELABORATION: MY MASTERS ONLY WISH ME TO BE PRESENT TO CONFIRM OUR ALLIANCE AND FOR ME TO RELAY ANY DECISIONS AND THREATS TO MY SUPERIORS.--"

The Lord General sighed. This was why he hated dealing with the Adeptus Mechanicus. "Fine. My friends in the Dawn Striders, what do you suggest? If you actually have anything to suggest?"

Sullac slowly stood up from his seat, mechanical body parts whirring and clicking as he slowly but purposefully walked to the head of the table. His robotic eye slowly scanned those around him, in haughty suspicion.
"Hello, brothers. My name is Sullac Anterion, and I would like to thank you all for greeting us with such open arms. I would like to speak to you all about our strategy as so far. We have been spread out, trying to defend as much ground as we can, but It has left us with situations such as this. Many of my closest brothers were killed in the fighting on Mall. We were unprepared, and unsupported, by Crusade Command. In this sense, my brothers agree with the Inquisitor Raela and Pavus." He stroked his beard. "In my many years of service, which my augmentic body attests to, I have found that every chapter has a specific task. The sons of Guilliman advance to the vanguard," Sullac nodded to Julius and Aurelius, "the Sons of Corax stroke the enemy's flanks," directed to Ajuran, "and the sons of Dorn defend every planet to the last." he directed his gaze to Karak, who returned it with a grin.
"We, however, have been sending our brothers to do all of these tasks, whether the sons of Corax or Dorn. We must combine our strength, as we have done since the days of the Great Crusade, and be a spear to strike at the hearts of our enemies. We must forge a bond between the Astartes in the Crusade. No divisions of Chapter, just brothers in battle."

"Point taken, Master of Sanctity. Gallus, commander of the 85th, what do you think?"

The Scion licked his lips arrogantly.
"Honestly, I don't care for how this is run. Not my problem. You keep your meetings, my men will serve below. What I am not fine with," he kicked his feet up onto the table. "What I am not tolerating is the reckless deployment of my men. You deployed them into a deathzone, Lord General. My men are dead because of that. Because some fething knife-ears found us, even though you were meant to support us, and left us open for your New Order to lead Hybrids down onto us! If we're going to be deployed again, I want some security and some eyes and ears from up here. That's why I'm demanding-"

"You're in no position to demand, Scion." Sullac snarled. "We lost 250 of our brothers down there. Have some respect."

"Respect my loss, damn you!" Gallus bit back. "You Astartes, demanding respect because you've got some fancy organs and said some words. We fought to earn our place. We'd fight for yours and earn it any day."
Sullac glowered at Gallus, but didn't say anything else.
"As I said, I'm attaching some of my men up to logistics command, to ensure we get what we need. I also cannot have my men to be deployed in a forest area. I've lost most of my specialists because of your incompetence. We'll go offensive too. Why not? Might earn us a bit of damn respect around here." He lit up a lho-stick and lay back in his chair, smugly.

Zonand shot the man a cold look. "I see. Karak, you're next, then Gisgo. What are your views?"

"I'll keep this brief, Lord General. I'm worried about a possible genestealer risk on our Eastern front. Echison VII mostly. We'll need more intel, or some experts in genestealer hunting. Could be a new strain? We also want to secure our outer perimeter, maybe shrinking it as much as we can to reduce patrol routes. Then we can spare more men to guard our vassals, mainly cargo vessels. I'd also want more security for our own forces, given that we've had multiple attacks on Crusade personnel lately. Perhaps our Inquisition friends can look into that.
Basically, we need to get organized and start holding ground gained. I won't stand for a repeat of Kagrenz."

"That won't happen again, my friend, I can assure you. Praetoria stands with you on that." Aurelius nodded to Karak. Karak rapped his chestplate in affirmation.

"Halter? You're last. What do you suggest?" Zonand began to pour himself more amasec.

Halter slumped back in his chair. "I wasn't ever one for pretty speeches, my ma said. I'll keep this straight and to the point, like a good ol' Cadian bayonet. I agree with Captain Julius and my friend in the Histans, Detta. We need to unite against the critters. Pull our defensive lines back to lure the creatures in, spread them out. Give Julius field command against the Hybrid defences. Deploy the 85th Battalion alongside another force to scout into the Hybrid territory and find a nexus of command activity. Then, we launch all our Astartes in, like a spearhead, when we find the Command Node. If we make it quick, we can take them out quickly enough that we can reinforce our own lines before any other xenos open us up like a prize grox. Straight, simple, solid. What's your verdict, sir?"

"Good. If your victory on Arcturia was anything to go by, you should be onto a winner. I'm going with the Cadian's plan.
We pull our lines all the way back, send a few elite, expendable teams into the Hybrid lines, and find their leader. We find it, mark it, and send in the Astartes. That's our plan."
There were a few glances around the room, and some murmurs of dissent. Zonand challenged their insolence.
"Any questions?"

Suddenly, there was a flash. Then darkness. Warning systems came online. Blast shutters rolled down over the pexi-glass. All of the Crusade personnel reached for their weapons. A three green lights lit up in the corner of the chamber. There was a smell of ozone. A creaking of mechanical limbs.

"Hey guys! Where's the food at?" A Necron stepped into the light, with what appeared to be a rictus grin on it's face. Strips of brightly coloured gaudy fabric hung from its ornate shoulders. No one said a word. Kageros took another step closer, and cocked his head. "What's with all the guns pointing at me?"

Karak fired the first shot, punching into the Phaeron's chest. Circuitry spilled out of the wound. "How rude!" pointed out the Necron. More bullets smashed into it, ripping chunks out of it's mechanical torso. "Well, at least I backed up my hard-drive." chuckled Kageros, before the Lord General's bolt pistol took it's head clean off. Another flash, and the body had disappeared as quickly as it came, in a flash of green light. The room began to settle down again. The warning sirens ceased their infernal blaring.

Kruger Zonand holstered his pistol.
"Great. Now who's going to eat the carrot sticks?"

Petra woke up in the medical section, several medics took notice and began running through tests and checking her vitals. "you where lucky, only a minor complication, nothing we cannot deal with though. " smiled the medicare, despite the austere ship he always smiled when someone pulled through, "where Shepard, he should be here, " "At some meeting of crusade HQ, im olnly a medicare but it sounds serious, however il have the bridge ensure your news is patched t though to him. you will have to take it easy but il have you out in a few days" "good, i hate hospitals, im sure Shepard will want to thank you himself when he returns".

The news made it to shepard along with a encrypted package, rarely was such news sent via such priority but it was felt he should know to prevent him doing something stupid, a man high on emotion was dangerous. "Shepard, i have some good news for you, " Ulf smiled, despite his chapters reputation he had more the disposition of a space wolf at times , "Petra pulled though laddie, Nothing serious, not linked to the attack medicare Cisaro reports, one of the best Shepard, if he says it is, its true. " Shepard felt a weight lift, a massive weight, "thankyou Sgt Ulf, damn i hoped, damn, that's brilliant news, thank the emperor" "well. come on lad, down a drink to celebrate" Slapping him on the back lightly, even though Shepard stumbled forward, "TO the bar we go!"

Meanwhile Karak revived the classified briefing off vargos, "So Karak, great news, The teams on the planet have captured several if the Genestealers in a massive coordinated stop and search at every single port, gate, rail hub, and possible place they could transit through, several generational versions, interrogation revealed they are spread out throughout several cities and are hoping that via this act they will not fall victim to the same attack that destroyed the first patriarch. they alo report they may have moved to other planets though no exact details. they keep mentioning deep hides, underhives and that sort of thing so we have worked out they have gone deeper than normal and are taking a more cautious approach than the norm, also interestingly not linked to the deep, Too mutated, the deep and they do not link . " Relived, Marshall Karak let out a booming laugh"Finally, our work has paid off, months of training, drilling and searching has broken the hold the source of the foul beats, your training plan was excellent Vargos. "

"vargos read the second report, "oh, this is interesting" "speak up Vargos, come on what is interesting" The Chaplain thought for a second before presenting s summery "i paid a visit to the prisoner, the one who lived. Well i had a short chat on what he could expect when i returned and he did not talk, it was rather persuasive. The attack was not done via Pavus, but via a secondary party, one named Captain Kassani who recently joined his service. " Karak looked the Chaplain in the eye, " You wanted him not to talk, i know that look" The Chaplain sighed " yes, the craven coward deserved painful retribution but now, i swore him a quick death, i shall not break that. Back to my report, This Captain Kassani is rumurued to have been involved in the attempt on the general. One who consorts with xeno's is extremely close to Pavus, one could say they are alike" a wicked smile flashed across the chaplains face, "i wonder what the inquisition would make of this, particularity that puritan" Karak Thought and then the same brainwave hit him, "blackmail, ha, we have the rat by its throat, all we need is crush the life out of it, but in good time, in good time"

"share the info with the fleet, Genestealers, its looks better we found out the info to guide the hunters, keep the second for us, for the opportune moment."

In his private quarters aboard the Quicksilver, Captain Alban Ciel sat opposite from Colonel Amir. On the table between them were two glasses of amasec and a chessboard.

“It will not be much longer until my men are sent into the fray,” said the colonel, moving a piece across the board.

“About fething time,” Ciel responded, examining the board in front of him with vision clouded by alcohol. “You can smell those bloody horses from the command deck. Anyway, how did the delegation go?”

“It was… eventful,” Amir replied. “I get the impression that this war would be easier to win if the imperial forces were not led by bickering children.”

“Some people might consider such talk heretical,” said Ciel in a playful tone, moving yet another piece. Without hesitation Amir responded to his move. “Check,” he declared with a smug grin. “Well frag me,” said Ciel, moving his king back into safety. “So do you know what you’ll be fighting out there?”

Amir gave a light shrug. “They say they are different to tyranids anybody has seen in the past, but xenos are xenos. They will die just the same.” This earned a snigger from his companion as he leaned over the table for his glass. “Something amuses you, friend?”

“Well, here’s these hybrid blighters, who’ve got the PDF scared gakless, and you’re talking about them like they’re some underhive vermin you can purge in a day and still have time to get home for dinner. Let it never be said you ain’t got balls. Shame you don’t have the brains to match.”

“Is that so?” replied Amir with glee, as he moved his knight in for the kill. “Checkmate.”

“You sneaky bastard!”

As Amir picked up the winning knight he said, “That is what happens when you underestimate the cavalry.”

“You devious son of a hrud!” laughed the captain. “It’ll be dull up here without you around. I’ll miss these chats, at least, if I don’t miss the fething horse stink.” The two men stood and clasped hands. Then, without another word needed, Colonel Amir left the Captain alone in his room. Indeed, it would be quiet on-board the Quicksilver.

Sheppard admired how shiny his boots were, he would have to remember to complement Cadet Alenko on what a good job he did.

Seneschal Edwards Fairfax idly spun a heavy brass plug around his fingers as he waited at the table. His dark eyes slowly passed around his familiar surroundings.
The Reforged Sovereign's meeting hall was grand; of course it was. Generations upon generators of hard trade and steel had been wrought together to form the entire vessel. In case you were in danger of forgetting, the same generations stared down fiercely from their substantial gold-framed portraits. He loathed waiting in there, feeling exposed and acutely judged by the eyes of those before him. Despite sharing a name, there was no blood and no resemblance between the tall man in the hall, and the paintings.

He sighed, the Lord Captain was-
"Late again, I know, Eddie; I'm sorry." before the door had finished swinging open, the apology had arrived.
"So long as it's just me, Lord Captain." Edward tossed and caught the weighted plug in his gloved hand.
"Drop the formalities, Ed, there's nobody else here." Fairfax smiled, his grey eyes betraying amusement at his brother's stiffness.
"Your vox piece was off." Edward sighed again.
"I was... entertaining." Fairfax turned his back to his seneschal and raised his hands expressively.

Edward bit back the temptation to inquire if Fairfax had even asked her name this time, and instead returned to his duty, "We picked up a distress signal, a faint one. Upon following it, the Found Gu- our scout ship- it discovered a destroyed vessel, drifting. But with one chamber still containing survivors."
"Any salvage? Goods?" Fairfax's face was shielded, maintaining what Edward knew was a well built facade of disinterest.
"About two dozen able bodied men, calling themselves the 98th Histans." Edward continued.
"Guard? Out here?" Fairfax span slowly, his intrigue breaking through.
"They say that they were fighting in a large crusade against Xenos and ruinous powers," Edward held up the metal plug, "coordinates."
"It sounds as though they would be eager to return to their work. And that we could be of some assistance." Fairfax mused, taking the device in his hand.
"Certainly. We've already allowed the Found Guinea ahead to observe." Edward nodded.

"Well, talk about leading by the nose. No choice then... We'll need our regiment on side. Cap- Dekkel I'm not worried about, but that bloody commissar..." Fairfax grit his teeth. How he'd ended up with such a dour bastard on board was beyond him.
"...He'll need to be buttered up." Edward looked tiredly at the nearest gilded picture frame.
Fairfax grinned, "You'd know all about that, then."
The seneschal shot him a look that could have carved glass, "About what?"
"Buttering up old arseholes." his captain returned the glare with an expression of gleeful mischief.
"It'd be mutiny if I strangled you." Edward growled.
Fairfax patiently examined his neat, gloved fingers, "You love me far too much to do that."
"Take off your microbead and say that again, cur." Edward maintained the deadpan expression, "...must we really do this sabre rattling every time we share floor space?" he winced. He owed his lord captain his life, but the enjoyment that the man derived from pushing various buttons was extremely tiring at times.
"You know I struggle to be serious under pressure; I'm sorry." the captain leaned back onto the solid table, and fidgeted, appearing sincerely apologetic.
Relaxing slightly, Edward shrugged, "I don't think Garth will be an issue. Once he hears there's Xenos on the loose, that's all he'll have interest in."
Fairfax nodded, "Aye. Their pay will mean nothing in comparison. To any of them."

*

The regiment had been another of Fairfax's "rescues". A PDF entirely abandoned by the Astra Militarum once their planet had become over-run with Orks, their last ditch distress call was only answered by the Rogue Trader. With Fairfax's assistance and resources, they had been able to return and reclaim their planet, but the grudges ran deep, and the majority of the PDF had elected to join with him in his travels. The remains were provided enough finance to train further recruits to defend their own world.
A group of well meaning and hard working men and women, their enthusiasm and Fairfax's vast budget made up for at least some of their lack of training. Captain Dekkal was a patient leader, though inexperienced.
Things had rather turned around upon finding Commissar Garth Salka sleeping rough in a planetary docking station some years later. His presence forged the rough hewn force into something far more formidable.
Edward had never asked, but had some suspicion that Salka's previous regiment had simply up and left without him. The officer's bluntness and abrasive attitude had taken them all some time to adjust to. Some ship staff still refused to deliver his meals, but he was a good sort. Honest.

Edward smiled. Fairfax was like that; he'd take almost anyone on as long as they were truthful when it counted, and never lied to their Lord Captain.
It was both refreshing, if not at times humiliating, felt Edward, but at least it applied to everyone aboard.

"I'll take this up to the bridge." Fairfax held up the brass device, and started towards the door.
"What about the rescues?" Edward raised an eyebrow.
"I think an overnight stay in the "quarantine" airlock ought to suffice," came the Lord Captain's airy reply, before he added, "I'll see them in the morning."
"Of course, sir." Edward flipped open his dataslate and noted down to let the refugees out of the airlock after an hour, and in the meantime find them sleeping quarters, before sending the order through to the bridge.

*

The astropath carefully handed back the plug to Fairfax, "...Lord Captain, it is not advisable to expedite arrival by using more extensive warp travel. With the amount of vessels described by the Histans, there is very real danger that we would exit on top of another ship."
Fairfax nodded, "Thank you for your work, Allern."
"We should arrive in-system in two to three days," the pale, robed figure bowed before departing.

New Edited chunk to be Cannon and work

Commissar Sheppard walked down the corridors of the Emperor’s Vengeance. Flanking him were two of his most trusted officers. Major Kidcade and Captain Whitewall both were there for him when he slew agents of the Inquisition. They passed through bulkheads and turned left at a junction. They had reached their destination where traitors were being held. A serf baring the Templar’s Sigel spoke friendly to the Commissar “My Lord Sheppard, Chaplain Vargos is waiting for you at the cell block, follow me” The Serf unlocked the gates and let them through to where the dread Chaplain was waiting.

“Agh Lord Commissar Shepard your early, no matter we can begin, i swore to this traitor a quick death, a oath i cannot break. My chapter cannot break, you however are not. “ A savage note entered the Chaplains voice, “He is yours to deal with, don’t make it quick Shepard, i want the filth to suffer”

Sheppard nodded to his two officers, “hold him tight, which hand held the knife you traitor” Vargos who stood back replied, “right, right handed”
Seconds later Shepard removed the hand with the power sword, the mans screams echoing down the empty cell block. “That one is for Petra, the hand the wields the knife, now for me” Stabbing low the howls of pain where deafening, yet the pain did not let him pass out as he endured the agony. “I killed many people, served in many battles and know exactly what i have done, you will die slowly as i cut no vital point, once you where one i called a friend, i would put a bullet in your head, though now, you will die slow.

The Screaming stopped, quiet returned to the cell block as Vargos dismissed the two officers with Shepard, “Brutal Shepard, Brutal, I have use of such men from time to time, il be in touch” With that Vargos left Sheppard with his feelings of anger slowly being replaced by disgust, I am not a monster, but that man drove the monster out. In a sudden change the sated monster left, as he walked to see Petra hoping she would not have to see the monster bare its teeth.

Inquisitor Hennard knew he was sent by the Emperor to bring his glory to tainted worlds and to watch imperial command for corruption, but he knew his forces were to small to go alone. It would also give him a chance to judge the commanders of the crusade as they worked together.

"To all Children of the Emperor, this is inquisitor Hennard the eyes and voice of the all holy. The Emperor guides me to this crusade to aid in the reclaiming of planets and removal of taint from these lands. At present I have the following forces to help aid in our Holy crusade. Three imperial guard regiments and support units. A commandery of The Bloody Rose with support and a few missions of hospitaliars to help the Emperors wounded and sick. I also offer my own personal warbands to the crusade. The emperor has provided one cruiser and transport units as well to me. As the Emperors humble servant, I will meet with all requesters at their command centers to discuss possible uses of this resources. Glory to the maker of mankind.

His diligent servant,
Inquisitor Hennard"

Contacting Inquisitor Hennard...
Contacting...
Contact made.

Acting-Captain Aurelius, reporting.

Your presence is welcome, Inquisitor. I would see it appropriate that such paragons of Imperial virtue should embark on tours of inspection around taken Imperial holdings, especially those on Grimdi, Thrisus and Obsidia VI. Whilst I am afraid you would not find anything of use with Strikeforce Praetoria, I would also advise that you speak to and liaise with my good friend, Lord-Marshal Karak, of the Black Templars. I hope you find our standards of victory to your liking.

Aurelius, signing out.

Transmission ceased.

Aurelius brushed a hand through his regrowing hair. He would need to be wary of this new Inquisitor. Raela, he could ignore, due to her radical tendency. But a Puritan? Aurelius was wary of the imprint left on him by the Remnants Sorceror. A potential taint like that could easily be enough reason for the Inquisitor to incarcerate him for. The Deathwatch Captain, Titus, was proof of that. Aurelius had no intention of leaving the Crusade at this point.
He would need to be very careful.