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The Land Raider was impressive, it had been finely constructed and heavily armoured. The machine spirit and driver's area had been replaced with a bulky sarcophagus, several mechanical tendrils swaying gently by its side. The six of them sat there in solemn silence. They had taken many casualties. They hoped to regroup near the city gates with the remainders of their force. He doubted many, if any, would arrive. Looking through the side rear viewing slit, he catches sight of Nocturnus Omega keeping pace with the fast moving vehcle, its servos and bionics whiring and clicking wildly as it fired a hail of heavy incindiary rounds, his custom ammunition, into an oncomin group of Red devils, their limbs and bodies torn apart in a shower of oily ichor as they tried foolishy to engage it. Its dark blue, grey and black mechanical components were a stark contrast to the patches of pale and exposed skin. It was no simple servitor, it was a unique marvel, the perfect hybrid of man and machine.

Facing forge master Adric, and with a nervous chuckle, Leonidus joking says,

"You get the machines and I get the living stuff, deal?"

Before he turns again to his four remaining guard, disgussing the cource of battle and the plan for the regrouping.

''Why not brother. But it is a true shame that i have to do this isn't it?'' Adric said as the assault hatch opened and he jumped out while saying. ''Brother i need to do something else. Take care of the nemesis for me!'' He said while running towards the area where lucius's live signatures returned. The area in front of him was being sprayed with fire continually. Adric arrived at a old theater he could see some renegades still guarding the building he moved in for the kill!

The Master of Ordnance looked over the controls. He turned on the intercom to his servitors.

"Is the arsenal prepped and ready for launch?"

A voice crackled back.

"Yes, sir. Waiting on orders to launch Orbital Bombardment on the target."

"Initiate Orbital Bombardment. Destroy that city by any means!"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lucius held her to the wall, his grip growing tighter.

"ANSWER ME!"

Viola gasped for air. Lucius stayed stalwart.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

She kept on grasping. Her arms helplessly pushed on this fist.

Lucius poised himself to throw her across the room, but never got to. The roof fell down, choking clouds of dust were lifted off of the grimy floor. Pieces of steel and bricks were thrown across the room. The floor was turned into a beach of gravel and silt. Daylight entered the remnants of the hospital. Rorick began to scale the walls, desperate to leave. Lucius grasped the black armoured body of Viola, which lay limp in his arms. She was panting desperately. She looked feebly into the eyes of Lucius.

"Don't think this means anything."

Lucius threw Viola onto the surface, and quickly followed. He heaved up the doctor and headed away from the blasted ruins of the city, the harsh sunlight burning his paladinous skin. He saw one of the Night Lord Land Raiders in the smoke and haze.

He began to run towards the tank, shouting through his vox.

"This is Brother Lucius! I have a casualty!"

Adric's voice chirped back.

"Come into the Land Raider, Lucius!"

He charged into the open hatchway, placing the doctor down carefully.

"Who is this, brother? Where is your armour?"

Lucius eyed about frantically. Sweat beaded on his brow.

"Never you mind."

He put on a simple combat suit and grasped a Lascannon. He went to the side of Viola.

Adric returned to the nemesis only to see lucius and some women inside him. (this refers to the nemesis)
He turned to lucius and with a caring voice that he only had used when he was way younger he said ''My brother are you alright? all of us where worried fethless. But there is no time. Hurry we need to return to the dropzone. I have ordered for the immediate deployment of the remainders of my armory there to hold out until we can arrive!
Leonidas i trust you can secure the remaining astartes here with this'' Adric said as leonidas looked up through a hatch and saw a pair of stormeagles fly through the skies and began strafing runs on the largest swathes of daemons ''Hurry leonidas they can't stay forever!''

"What did you do, Viola?"

She simply stared into his eyes.

"What?"

The doctor raised a hand to stroke the side of his face. He simply held it and pushed it away. He left her to talk to the other marines.

"Leonidas, this woman has removed one of my implants. I need a replacement immediately."

With one neural signal from his advanced helm, the Nemesis would begin moving at top speed towards the dropzone in several minutes, its weapons systems would destroy any of the strange Red devils that got too close. Now he would turn his attention to the Neophite before him.
Activating his helmet's advanced medical and scanning systems, the blood covered Leonidus adresses the wounded scout.

"So, that woman likes you a lot, eh Lucius?" He mutters as he scans the poorly taped over wound.

"...Ah, I see whats missing here, that should be fairly easy for me to replace. You are in no immediate danger, but take it easy until a replacement can be found."

Leaning in closer, Leonidus says plainly,

"So Lucius, who is she? Where is your armour? This helmet is more advanced than you know, I scanned both of you as you arrived. Now, Neophite, tell me what happened before I crush her puny skull.

Lucius stared into the eyes of the Apothecary. His stern and weathered voice shook him to the core.

"She... she's nobody. Just some doctor that I thought had some useful information."

Lucius glanced worryingly at her. The Apothecary spoke again.

"Tell me, Lucius."

The neophyte was almost back against the hull of the Land Raider.

"Tell me!"

Lucius whispered into his ear.

With a slight chuckle, the gore-stained apothecary moves back into his seat, beconing the clearly uncomfortable Lucius into the space beside him.

"There was a time, not long ago, that if I had heard that from one such as yourself, I would had killed the two of you where you stood." As he says this he turns to the doctor and grins horrificly. Laughing, he turns back to the neophite besides him.

"But those days have passed. Just look at my and brother Adric's creations, both utmost heresies against the laws of the mechanicus and of the imperium. No, I will not harm you or your 'friend' here, I am no hypocrite. But be warned neophite, our leaders are willing to give me and Adric leeway, we are the Chief apothecary and master of the forge, the loss of both of us would have devastating effects. But the loss of you, a single neophite, would go unnoticed. Keep your head down Lucius, others might not be so...understanding"

With that, he chuckles again, before placing his helmet back on and opening the vox channels to other retreating roups, trying to coordinate them all to the dropzone. The Land Raider would begin movin in two minutes.

Staggering out of the rubble of the hospital, Rorick leaned his shoulder against the destroyed wall. He had heard the disturbing truths laid out by the apothecary, enraging him beyond the point of understanding creating a fit of fury within him. He picked up a disgarded daemon sword which glowed red with his touch, searing into his hand. He ignored the pain, his mind to set on this heresy before him.

He stumbled towards his target dragging the sword behind him causing sparks to fly on the road.
"Do you have no honor?!" he asked yelling at them in complete disgust. The marines turned in suprise to find the bloodied sergeant naked except for a makeshift cloth ripped from a dead man.
"Or are you no more than treasonous dogs?!"
Rorick stopped for a moment, clutching his crushed ribcage falling to a knee using the sword for balance.
"I see now I am the only sane one left in this company, and I will not let you live to stain it's great name".
With that he raised the sword above his head with both arms holding the heavy blade, his legs wobbling from the effort. He lunged forward, as if falling would keep the momentum in his legs. Unfortunately he crashed to the ground. Sword echoing as it crashed and split in half, causing it to erupt in flames and corrode to ash.

Lucius turned to see Rorick poised with a huge volcanic sword hefted above him. He rolled out of the way, only to see it crumble into ash. Rorick was rolling on the floor.

"Do you need treatment, brother?"

Lucius outstretched his hand, only to have it pulled down.

"You are no brother of mine!"

The two fatigued Night Lords began to brawl, only to be separated moments later by the Apothecary.

"We are all brothers here, Rorick, no matter what has been done!"

Lucius slumped by Viola. She called him closer to listen to her raspy voice.

"I... I'm sorry..."

The doctor kissed Lucius on the cheek as she had in his dreams.

He took her hand. He needed her alive for now.

Leonidus Chuckles slightly, slamming his skull-like helmet back on.

"Is this love I detect, Lucius? It confuses me why you take mercy on this pathetic wench, she tore out one of your organs for the Emperor's sake!"
With that, the Apothecary bursts out laughing, his helm amplifying the sound into a horrid daemonic sound.

"My my, Lucius, look how you've have fallen"

"What?"

Lucius looked at the apothecary in disbelief.

"You think that I am in love with her?!"

He turned in disgust. Love indeed. He needed to know what she had done to his body and why it seemed so natural. He was an Astartes. He was immune to temptation.

He glanced at Rorick, still lying on the floor, watching the entire debacle. His mangled lips began to move.

"You will burn, traitor."

His helm's eyes glowing a deep red, the chuckling apothecary walks over to the crippled form of Rorick, and kneels beside him.

"All heretics shall burn in time brother. Be patient." He mutters to the bloodied marine before picking him up and taking him into the Land raider's spacious transport area and laying him down.

"We need to get moving, brother Rorick requires medical attention."

Lucius nodded.

"Understood Brother!"

He sat alongside Viola as an escort. She asked for a hand up, and was promptly pulled onto her feet. She tried to wrap her arms around Lucius, but was promptly pushed off.

"I don't want you coming along with us. I would have left you for dead, but I need to know what you did to my body."

Viola looked straight at Lucius, her eyes penetrating him to his core. Tears began to stream down her cheeks. She started to sob and break down in tears. Lucius came to the driver's compartment.

"Forward Adric!"

The great ceramite bulk of the Land Raider came alive with a roar. The whir was almost in sync with his bionics, the sound of the machines soothing his troubled soul once more.

Lucius was at ease. As the Land Raider rumbled across the landscape, communications began to come in.

He walked back into the the hold, sitting next to Viola. She was still in tears. Her devotion had only been met with anger.

Lucius felt remorse. His human side was revealing itself. He placed his hand on the doctor's back, trying to reassure her.

"Viola, you need to stay with us. I'll protect you. We need to cleanse this planet."

Her head rose. She wasn't alone. Lucius was by her.

She shuffled closer. Lucius looked to the right, finding Viola's head on his shoulder. He took her in closer with his arm.

This felt good, almost natural. The neophyte held Viola next to him.

Character: Morias Kalvae
Location: Rebel C&C base
Situation: Contacting the Apothecary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The mutilated body of the beast seemed to deflate; almost waste away before fading in a flash of ethereal light just as the other horrific creatures of its ilk had. There was something foul beyond understanding about them. A palpable malign energy had entered the building with them. Voices had assaulted his mind - seductive and playful - but with undoubted intelligence. He could sense their terrible intentions. They had tried to ensnare his mind, perhaps as such creatures had ensnared the once loyal soldiers of this planet and manipulated them like puppets to march like slaves to their deaths. But for what purpose? These creatures had not attacked with a military stratagem, at least not with anything that could be considered such. A wise commander would've used grenades to force them out of the building and into a kill zone or perhaps collapsed the entire building rather than let it fall into enemy hands and be used against them - as the astartes already had. No, those vile witches had sent those men to their deaths just so that they could get close enough to kill themselves. The lives of once good, honest men meant nothing to them - but playthings in their dread schemes. Perhaps they had not been trying to recapture the facility at all, maybe their goal wasn't even to kill them even? These possibilities and more besides racked Morias's head before he heard a voice.
"Did you feel them, sergeant?" Tyceus asked solemnly.
"Aye, Salehn. I felt them clawing at my very mind, trying to tear down a century of discipline and faith." He replied.
Tyceus shoke his head. "This place.. those things.. I am ashamed to admit that it has left me unsettled. What terrible tongues were those bastardised witches whispering into my head? Why did my meltagun leave one unscathed? Where did they go when we killed them?"
"They returned back to whatever hell spat them out," Morias snapped venomously. "Get a grip, Marine! Have I taught you nothing in my time as sergeant? You must have faith to prevail in situations such as these. You must be devout in your worship of our glorious Emperor or else succumb to that which cannot be explained or defeated by anything else."
"With all due respect sergeant, the Emperor himself decreed all worship of him to be outlawed and our legion eschews notions of religion more tha-" Tyceus was cut off.
"To damn with the legion's beliefs, are you unable to make your own decisions at the age of one-hundred and sixteen?" Came Morias's sharp retort.
Tyceus was silent for a moment, taken aback by the sergeants disregard for their very gene-fathers' own values. "And what of the Emperor's decree?" He asked at last.
Morias looked his friend in the eye, unflinching. "I have my beliefs. No one can take those away from me, not you, not Curze and not even the Emperor I venerate so dearly. Now gather the remaining men and collect the remains of the dead together."
"Aye.. sir."

Sergeant Kalvae made his way to the computers in the centre of the room. His fingers moved over the controls, quickly accessing the communications as Lazevar had shown them so recently. Morias keyed in the personal code of the Apothecary - information made public to all Marines in the company for just such an occasion as this. Once a link was established, he spoke.
"Apothecary Leonidus, this is sergeant Kalvae, sixth claw."
"What is it you need, sergeant?" Came the reply.
"We have suffered heavy casualties in battle, we lost the majority of my squad at co-ordinates I am relaying to you now."
"Acknowledged. Is there anything else?"
"Yes, Apothecary. I am also relaying the co-ordinates where sergeant Tullius and some of his men were lost, though I doubt their gene-seed will be recoverable. I suggest proceeding to my position as soon as you have gathered the gene-seed from my fallen squad members." He explained as he sent the final set of co-ordinates.
"Understood, we will proceed to the first co-ordinates immediately."

Closing the personal channel, Leonidus walks over to the driver's section and adresse brother Adric.

"Brother Adric, we must procede to sector 165, coordinates 123563."

"Of cource brother, moving there now." The forge master replied, the Landraider turning almost 360 degrees.

The dropzone could wait, there was precious gene-seed at risk here. Walking back through into the transport area, he sits yet again in his space in the corner. His four remaining guard sat opposite him in a row, each of them in complete silence, their pitch black armour covered in both dried and fresh blood. Lucius was still comforting that woman of his. His human side made him weak. Leonidus had long ago mostly managed to surpress that side of him.

Lucius could feel the warmth of the doctor through his combat dress. She smiled. Lucius, however, could sense the discriminate gaze of Leonidas. This was treachery against the Emperor.

Lucius still ached from his ordeal. He was weak and fatigued, his body torn by the bombardment, his mind fractured by the events that happened in the hospital.

"Why?" He thought to himself. "What reason would she have? I surely am the enemy?" Viola was nestling her head on his shoulder, trying to get close to him. It was almost the same as the night before, she was curled up next to him.

"Am I still human?" His mind was swept away. All he could see was himself and Viola in a black void. He tried to ask her. She simply responded by embracing him once more, as in the dream. Again, she kissed him on the cheek.

Again, it all faded into reality.

He and Viola were alone in the Land Raider.

Leonidus, his men and his creation spread out through the scene of carnage, he had equipped his four remaining guard with Nartheciums and Nocturnus Omega had them built into its mechanical tendrils. They had all gone to the grissly work of extracting their fallen brother's gene-seeds, and killing the occasional crippled rebel. No prisoners, not now. They had all been caught by surprise by the attacking Devil hoards. What the things were, he knew not, some unknown mechanism caused their bodies to dissapate after death. The casualties had been far too high.

He could still not wrap his head around why Lucius felt such affection for the heretical wench he had rescued, but he would leave it be. For the meantime. He would have a word with Rorick when he was up and about again.

Lucius saw the doctor stood straight in front of him. Her devotion was almost fanatical. She was dwarfed by the marine, but was not intimidated or afraid.

Lucius doubled over in pain. The crude surgery had began to take it's toll. Viola ran to his side.

"Are you alright?"

The neophyte shrugged it off.

"I... I'm fine."

Character: Krieg
Location: CIty
Situation: Awaiting transport
Time: 14 hours from present.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The Night Terror, all 500 tonnes of it, swung in over the collapsed roof of the Municipal Aribites Precinct and descended on its wailing thrusters, into the crater pocked square. The tremenodus downwash pushed broken bodies of cultists, and clouded the air with dust. The vessel set down hard, cracking flagstones under its steel paded landing struts. Its rear ramp whined open.

Krieg waited at the bottom of the ramp, sternly ushering in the other members of the Haggered circle, now numbering only 5 brothers. Constanze and Vervauk, both having aquired meltaguns from the raided Arms Manufactorum were the first up, followed by brothers Sevetar and Valthex. Krieg ran up the ramp, hauling on the lever that slammed the ramp shut. Almost immediately, the Night Terror rose again, blowing a storm of dust as it gained altitude, climbing into the smog chocked clouds.

The midnights glory has tracked the remaining enemy armoured chorts moving North. The same cohorts that had broken the back of the company, in the first failed assault on the city. The Haggared circle were ordered to pursue them, lest the reach their unknown desitination. The Night Terror thundered through the atmosphere, thick with rust coloured haze, choking pollutants and vile toxins. An ever-thickening pall of smoke hung low over the war-torn city.

Each warrior stood ready for war, helmets removed and weapons ready, bracing themselves against the jerky motions of the Storm Eagle. "These dogs offer themselves to their gods as sacrifice, with blood and fire we will enable them." growled Kreig.

Character: Krieg
Location: Far North from city
Situation: Reconnaissance
Time: Present
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Hundred kilometre winds whipped across the ice covered north, the roar of the storm was such that no man could hear even themselves. The darkness concealed anything from the naked eye, and the blinding swirl of ice nd snow rendered all but the most sophisticated sensor arrays useless. Krieg could see the dark shadow rise before him, though even the advanced auto-sensors and magnifier auspexes had difficulty piercing the blinding storm.

The armoured chorots were last detected here, before the storm had blinded them. The few pict captures that had been sent from Midnights glory showed a huge fortress, constructed into the edge of a mountain. it rose some three hundred metres from the ice plains. It was the highest point of the planet, and loomed over its people, reminding them who it was that ruled them. It stood as a symbol of worship, but to Krieg, it represented all they hated about this world, all he desired was to see it burn.

About an hour had passed, and the group had recovered all the gene-seed they could, a fair amount, but still any loss was harmful. The group trudge back towards the Modified Land raider through the debris and bodies, it had been a slaughter. On both sides. Leonidus ordered the four Nocturnus guard inside, their pitch black armour glistening with freshly spilt blood. The Omega returned to its place adjacent to the Land raider, its complex implants whiring and clicking. Leonidus finaly entered the vehicle to find Lucius slumped over in his seat, blood running from his nose and mouth.

The gore-stained apothecary turns to the puny woman besides Lucius, her arms wrapped around him, her face worried, and stares at her, the red glow from his skull helm illuminating her terrified face.

"Restrain the wench." He says loudly, one of his men stepping foward to grab her by her arm, lifting her struggling form up with contempt.

Kneeling down besides the prone body of Lucius, Leonidus begins his work.

Captain Sahaal
Emerging from unconsciousness
Time: a few minutes before future

Sahaal emerged from the rubble covering him. He had been unconscious for some time, he could tell. His armour fell from him, destroyed by unholy fire, he found the body of a renegade and tore the shirt, using it to hide himself. He strode through the wasteland until he stumbled upon the land raider, a massive robot guarded it, and it seemed intact. As he approached, the machine stepped in his way. It looked over him, and after a few seconds, it seemed to recognize him. "Captain, proceed". He approached the land raider and found Lucius being worked on by Leodinas. He entered the vehicle and saw a woman lying on the ground. He looked at her, and wondered why she was here, but it mattered not. He used the vehicles vox to call a Storm Eagle in to retrieve him, and he left, saying a few words about returning to the Midnight to Leodinas as he went.

+++++++
Captain Sahaal
Midnight's Glory
Shortly after present

As he landed in the ship, he proceeded to the armoury, and saw that new gear was ready for him, then went to the med bay to be examined, he knew Leodinas was to busy on the ground, and they would contact him if need be.

Lucius was again in the dark room, again with the beast and his royal court. All was blurred. They flickered in and out of existence.

"What are you?!"

All of them spoke, but only with one voice.

"We are the servants of Chaos. We are power. Fall to us or face the cons-"

They finally flickered for the next time, melting away with the room into black. Lucius saw himself and Viola. They were holding each other in their arms. She was kissing him on the cheek, holding him tightly.

"What is this? Why could I not kill her then and there? She's a member of the enemy. She took my body and violated it mentally and physically. Yet she still seems to calm me."

Lucius spat up blood. He found himself on the floor of the Land Raider, with marines gathered around him. Lucius was carried into a Storm Eagle for further treatment, Viola staying alongside him.

Taric and his men were slowly driving off the red xenos. The blood which came from the Xenos smelled really foul. The evil snarls they were giving off. They retreated to whatever they came from offering. The more they slew the more Xenos retreated. He lost 1 good man in that attack, he looked at seeing those strange purple xenos surrounding in a circle. Darius said "Don't get trick under their trap pup." A familar xenos came forward, she looked angry but upset, she looked at Taric and said "Oh well, you hurt me sooo much last lover boy, getting your little tin cans to fire down upon me hurt me sooo much. Don't worry, when we kill all your friends you will be MINE!" Her entracing glance this time filled his heart with ectasy, good he really kill something this beautiful, surely this must be a sin. He heard Darius yelled "Snap out of it pup." They started firing, killing left and right. Killing daemonettes left and right. Their was hideuos screams, moans as the Xenos were being shredded, the Purple Xenos looked like they were going to flee in terror. Suddenly, Taric got knocked out by the familar purple xenos. He awake in a building nearby completely naked, a strange women was right next to him, he saw his Terminator Armour nearby. She was 5'6" tall, she had long straight blonde hair, pretty slender, porclaine skin, she was completely naked,no makeup. Yet she smelled good, there was a seductive look in her eyes, she did not seem entirely innocent. The Strange women said in a seductive tone "You know you aren't going to get it right?" She kissed Taric "Come on you know you love me." Taric look nervous. He knew she was just trying to manipulate him but he could do nothing at the moment without his armour and weapons. The best he could do is play around with it for the time being.

The Storm Eagle jolted about as it was hit with flack and small munitions. Taking off with blinding speed into the sky, the pilot desperate to get out of the range of anti-air crews on the ground. The sky filled with tracer and explosions, deadly shrapnel pranging off the armour. Rorick lay still on the wall mounted bunk, tubes of fluid and sensors already inserted into his skin. He was blind due to the bandages wrapped around his shredded face which were already soaked with blood.
A shell ripped into the cabin detonating inside. The roar of wind was heard, deafening everyone inside. Rorick leapt up in his bed, feeling around with his hand he found a hole only a few inches from where his head was resting.
He relaxed once again, feeling luckier than ever. But his mind quickly came back to the treachery around him. He would have to be cautious in his weakened state, vigilant to the fact that even the embrace of his brother's arms could end up strangling him.
He flexed his hand, which had been severely burnt by the strange sword he had picked up. It felt as if the glowing hot steel of the handle was still in his grasp.
Then something peculiar happened. It felt as if the fire began to spread, as if a bushfire had erupted. Rorick yelped in pain as his whole arm suddenly caught alight. Even though he could not see it his arm had become a yellow beacon that lit up the Storm Eagle. His fellow marines had been taken by suprise, stepping away from what could only be described as a bizarre case of combustion or some form of witchcraft. Either way none were willing to lay a hand on him for fear of contracting the curse.

He was now screaming in pain as the fire coursed like lava through his vains, quickly spreading throughout his body. It finally reached his head, making Rorick speechless with blind agony. All he could see was flames, his mind becoming an inferno. He clutched his arm to his chest, while the other gripped the steel safety rail on his bunk, twisting it in sheer frustation. His back arched involutarily, eyes and mouth now glowing, burning the bandages from his face. An inhuman scream came from his lips, making the sound sound of a dying beast.
The others were scrambling away from the sergeant's body. Staring in disbelief as they watched him burn. Suddenly the flames retreated back to his arm, viens pumping the lava back to its origin. His fist opened up releasing a great fireball that scorched the roof of the aircraft. His back relaxed dropping him hard against the bunk and he once again lay still. His body steaming, skin red raw and sweating. It appeared as if the flames had done no damage, his arm fully intact but the only body part with viens that radiated the heat within.
He lay unconcious. His eyes had burnt out leaving a blank white screen seared into his vision.

Lucius had his head pointed towards the ceiling. He couldn't move anything. The kind face of Viola hung over him, but it didn't calm him.

"You did this to me. You placed me here."

Lucius grunted. His chin was held in place.

"Why do I trust you? What did I do to have this happen?"

Viola looked deeply into his eyes. She stroked his cheek. Tears welled up and began to flow.

"I... I'm sorry... What have I done to you?"

She collapsed on Lucius in a heap. She wrapped her arms around his body and began to whimper, her warmth pushed up against Lucius' shattered body. He shut his eyes.

For now, he had to take care of Viola.

The Neophite and Rorick had been airlifted an hour or so ago, their wounds needed detailed treatment, something he could not do at the moment. Leonidus and Adric had been left on the damned planet to collect the remaining gene-seed and find any survivors that had not already retreated. First they would need to head to what remained of the camp, given the concentration of creatures there, he expected there would be naught but bodies and ash. It had been a slaughter, they could not have hoped to win against such a quick and overwhelming attack. They had been lucky to escape.

The Land Raider was fast, Adric had made significant modifications to it, and the weapons systems were far superior to those of an average Raider. They would arrive at their destination very soon.

The Storm Eagle began to dock onto the flagship. Slowly the marines poured out, until only the casualties remained. Viola still held Lucius. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Neophyte Peris."

The Apothecaries began to take Lucius to the medical bay, grudgingly allowing Viola to come with them. They removed his restraints. He slowly began to speak.

"You did this. Why did I take you here?"

The doctor stroked his brow. She kissed him on the cheek.

"Why did you do this?"

She was deaf to what Lucius said. The woman came closer and began to hold his head. She cradled it with her hands, lifting it towards her. Viola began to rotate her head. Her mouth began to open. Their lips made contact. Lucius rediscovered his humanity.

The neophyte held the doctor close to him, his heart beating faster and faster. They became a single entity.