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 Tactical_Spam wrote:

Spoiler:

Templars fighting Eldar? Sounds like that could be an invitation to mess with you guys

 War Kitten wrote:

 Tactical_Spam wrote:

Spoiler:

Templars fighting Eldar? Sounds like that could be an invitation to mess with you guys

Spoiler:

Well, it wasn't so much a war, as Jhe going after my ships in orbit and damaging some of them. Smudge mentioned in a PM to me that it MIGHT lead to a war between the two depending on what I did really. So I'm ignoring the Templars for the most part. I still have 2BJ1 and his Iron Warriors to go after!

I am the Hammer
I am the Point of His Spear
I am the Bane of His Foes
And the Woes of the Treacherous
I am the End

Slyus knelt humbly before the Grand Council of the New Order. Next to him was his accuser, Judge Fyragh. The eyes of the other seven Judges bore down on his in silent conviction. Chapter Master Ryus sat upon his throne eyeing the room. To Ryus' left, was Conrax the Exile, now Conrax the Warden, Proctor of the Judges and behind him was the Jury in solemn judgement over the proceedings. All was dark, bar the floor where Sylus knelt and Fyragh stood.

As a custom among the chapter, the Accuser states his claim first, "He is corrupt Chapter Master. He was consorting with a woman when I found him, presumably some tainted reflex as his time as a spy. We should eradicate him before he spreads his chaotic ways about our chapter." Fyragh knelt and waited for Sylus to stand; however, another Judge, Hektor the Advocate, stood in his place.

"Judge Sylus has shown no sign of corruption since his return to the chapter. Neither has Judge Dezmon and Dezmon was in close contact to heretics far longer than Sylus."

Fyragh was beginning to understand why Hektor had shaped his helmet to resemble the devils of old Terran myth, "His cover matches his current behaviour though. Astartes do not have close relations, especially ones that border on romance, with humans. The God-Emperor would say it was heresy."

Jurer Orlius nearly spoke up to address that issue before Jurer Zehk stopped him from saying something stupid. Chapter Master Ryus mulled a briefly while all the room's eyes were on him. He rose from his throne and walked down to the floor where Fyragh and Sylus knelt.

"If there has been anything that I have noticed, Judge Fyragh, is your sudden comtempt for Sylus. It came inexplicably on the eve of his arrival and the damned childish attitude hasn't left you. You bicker over something menial like the priestess Sylus showed compassion for, and Sylus is not one to show compassion in any way shape or form, but you go out of your way to question him and accuse him of heresy. We are Astartes, servants of the Immortal God-Emperor and guardians of the Imperium of Man. We are angels, Fyragh and angels are the servants of Mankind. We are below Mankind. The God-Emperor has made it so. We die for those we cherish, Fyragh. We die for those on Kattifrakk and those on Nocturn, Ultamar, Baal, Terra and everywhere else where the God-Emperor decreed. Sylus has done what the God-Emperor made him to do and you dared to call Sylus a heretic and by calling Sylus a heretic, you have called all the Astartes heretics and the God-Emperor a heretic."

Fyragh's blood boiled. He never loses. He is always right.

"Blood for the Blood God," he murmured.

Ryus stopped dead half way to his throne and turned, "What did you say, Fyragh?"

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!"

Fyragh emitted a blood curdling wail and his armour broke and seized up in places, struggling to keep up with what was happening to his body. His skin twisted and warped, turning a dark shade of red. Great horns sprouted from his head and wings unfurled from his back. He grew to well over 10 feet before Ryus managed to bring his mace, the Bane of Rukt, into an overhead swing. With the speed only a daemon could pull off, Kyrkk'ryk'yyk, Daemon Prince of Khorne, dodged the blow meant to stave in his head. The Bane of Rukt smashed into the deckplates instead, leaving a large crater in his wake. Kyrkk'ryk'yyk laughed and tore a hole into the Immaterium, letting his brother of Khorne spill into the room. He turned to view his former brothers once more before stepping inside the portal.

"Conrax! Close the Portal damn it!" Ryus yelled, removing the Bane of Rukt from the deckplates and uppercutting a Juggernaught of Khorne. Conrax nodded and cut his way to the portal, and mustered his psychic strength. Ryus channeled his as well and the combined power sealed the gates of hell. Around the two, dissipating corpses of the Blood god returned to the Immaterium. Sylus walked over to Ryus and opened his mouth to say something, but a stern hand from Ryus kept him silent.

"Prepare the Warpath Furnace... I wish to purge in fire the sins of today."

 War Kitten wrote:

Spoiler:

Well, that was unexpected TS. The New Order is starting to intrigue me now. Most of their early stuff made me think they hated humans (for some reason). Now I find myself liking them. Must be Alpha Legion trickery

Archarus sat on his throne, thinking of his next plans of action. The titan still needed to be caught, and promptly roasted over an open fire, Eldar were still floating in space somewhere, his newfound ork trade route needed guarding, and Imperial worlds had to be plundered.

He could've bemoaned his own management issues for the rest of the day had it not been for the sudden flash of red and a new entity appearing before him.

The Warsmith drew his thunder hammer and stepped towards the creature before him, and recognized it for what it was.

"Daemon."

Instead of responding, Kyrkk'ryk'yyk, formerly Fyragh of the New Order, moved with inhuman speed towards Archarus and wrapped a clawed hand around his throat.

A blast of energy sent the daemon prince reeling, and Archarus snarled at the warp spawn.

"The Blood God smiles upon me. Make no mistake over who is more worthy of His attention." The Chaos Lord spat.

Keb'hal walking in on this scene, and flashed his tusks in the fashion of a smile. "Bow before this astartes, youngling. He is under my watch, and the Lord of Skulls has plans for him."

Though Archarus was not comfortable with the daemon's words, he was glad that the daemon did not side with his own kin.

"Archarus, I see this daemon's name as clearly as you do his horns. He has recently ascended, not long before now was he of flesh and blood. He is Kyrkk'ryk'ykk, and now he is bound to you, so long as you may utter his name." Keb'hal announced, and flashed another smile at Kyrkk'ryk'ykk.

Kyrkk'ryk'ykk looked at Keb'hal for a moment longer, before returning his attention to Archarus.

"Bow to me, Kyrkk'ryk'yyk. Listen to my commands. You can be of great value, but you must follow my orders. To. The. Letter. Do you understand?" Archarus said coldly.

Kyrkk'ryk'yyk found himself bowing to the astartes, but did not readily answer.

"Do. You. Understand?" Archarus said, slowly saying each word, as if Fyragh was nothing more than a child who needed scolding.

"Yes... my lord." The daemon prince spat, despising that he had to be treated in such a way.

"Good. Now come, I have plans of my own for you."

At the space port it had been a foul night, strong storms and dense rain had soaked all of the men on watch to the point that shifts where reduced to 6 hours and the port was suspending operations for the day after high winds had caused a cargo nine to crash on landing at the base and destroy one of the Valkyrie gunships, "finaly, a break in the weather" the PDF trooper shouted to another over the howling gales, "no rain at least, still being blown form here to the mountains, " Looking down the scope mounted to the wall, "Get and run down the SGt, something odd down by the main access road. im not joking this time"

A small patrol drove down the narrow causeway type access past the gate, dozens of guns and positions where aimed down it as it was one of the few non mined routes to the to the space port, by land. Upon reaching the end near where the minefield began to end they saw it. the body of a human was tied to stake driven by the road, but not quite human, a large wound showed circuitry and mass of metal and machinery visible. "what the feth, " getting onto the vox " HQ, did we have any admech patrols out last night, found a body, by route 12, admech, dead, looks been here a few hours" waiting a second as the vox crackled. "thats a negative Gate guard 12, all patrols where pulled back due to storms. being the body in, discretely" "copy HQ, gate guard 12 out"

**

In the lab at the base a team of experts where investigating the body, both medical amd machine experts they hoped to discover what and how this happened. "check the reports, did anyone report the convoy of that magos ever getting past patrol base F56 Echo?" A adept checked his console and pulled up all the outer base reports for a matching report of a convoy of that size and ID. "negative sir, last reported post they passed was Ad mech Theta zulu. area is the high fells, could just be a land slide blocked the road" going slightly cold "ideal place for a ambush though".
The senior Magos at the base looked over the body and inserted a data wire into a port on the skull. in a mechanical tone he replied. "confirmed,,, dead 9,45 hours, massive internal trauma. lasts known thing seen by optical systems was Eldar warrior. Flashing to screens." "wound matchs your reports, even with his body. dead in a few seconds, That Templer will be pissed off. " a senior surgeon spoke. "wait, flash up the image that Catchan officer reported taking a arm off. Wait, yes, same fething xeno, Damn scum been hunting on this world a while. "

The patrol sent out from a nearby base found the site, massive amounts of rock brought down, many wrecks crumpled in the valley below the road and dozens of bodies littered the area around the tanks that had been left behind. the only thing taken was the body of the Magos. The captain on the ground cursed as he slipped on another rock trying to get closer to something left behind, a what looked like flag. drifting in the wind he saw it. "SGT, get the vox man on to HQ, Fething knife ears took out the convoy, perfect fething ambush. no bodies about but they left a damned flag. Hours old. the bodies have begun to go rigid. there long gone" But they where not, not entirely. a Ranger lurked above, just to check that the humans found out, So they had found out. good now to retreat to the webway gate and leave this damned fungoid covered rock. a look of satisfaction as he messaged, "Gateway. this is Ranger K, Ambush. they found the site, and the flag. on way to Gateway." Cutting the comms, the Ranger began the trek back to the nearest gateway, it was too risky to use transport, not with the high alert, last thing he wanted to be was captured now. they would be in a fouler mood than normal.

Julius allowed himself a smile as he glanced down at the report that Sergeant Aventus had brought him. Over the past few days several Ultramarine and Black Templar kill teams had been sent out to search for more of those dens and destroy them. Several of them had been discovered and destroyed, and it was discovered that with each den destroyed the cloying fog around the base seemed to get lighter and thinner. Now it had gotten to the point where the sentries on duty could actually see out past one hundred feet, which helped reassure the guardsmen that had begun to worry. The only worrying thing was that no more bodies had been found, there had been some skeletons in each of the dens, but beyond that no activity had been reported at all. It was if the inhabitants of each den had just up and disappeared into the surrounding fog. As he sat there wondering where they had gone Chaplain Vargos ran into the tent. "What is it?" Julius asked, noting the excited look on the Chaplain's normally grim face, "Did we find something?" The Chaplain visibly took in a breath before responding "No, but a message from the fleet came in, and THEY did discover something." Julius stood up and walked with Vargos towards the command tent. What had the orbiting fleet discovered? He hoped that some sign of the enemy had been found, the brothers under his command wanted to track down their brother's killers more than ever before with their recent successes

Defilers!
Murderers!
Swine!
They had defiled the Deep, brought harsh, burning Sky-Light into it's depths. Now, as the Deep reels away, so must we.

The creature is perched on a far-reaching root, jutting out from the bank. Eroded ground slopes away beneath it, finally bottoming out several dozen feet later. The fog is far thinner, but still, the creature is invisible from below.
Which is convenient.

Two Sky-creatures fumble around below, their loping, primitive limbs unaccustomed to the Deep's embracing land. Stocky rifles are viced in their arms, drenched in condensed mist.
The creature creeps along the jutting-out roots, descending through the dead white stalks of the dead trees reaching upwards. Four black eyes regard the two Sky-creatures with cold hunger. Above it, more of its kin peer out over the lip of the cave mouth, watching the pack leader stalk the prey.

The Pack must learn. The Mother will be at risk soon. The Mother is the Deep. Mother will call forward the Deep for us. The Deep will drown the Sky.

With wiry limbs, the pale creature descends lower. It's claws are splaying out, cutting grooves into the iron-hard skeleton of the tree. The Sky-creatures are unaware, as normal.

The Sky-creatures always look down, always there to burn away the Deep. They never look up.

Without a sound, the mist begins to coalesce around the two troopers. This time, however, the predator pauses for a moment. Instead of the confused reaction most of the Sky-creatures had to the Deep's miasma, these ones are different.
One of them, one with a white stripe running through its black armour lifts it's limb to it's head and makes noises. It is alarmed, but not afraid. It is...communicating? Communicating for more Sky-creatures. Sky will burn Deep with Sky-Light!
Stop communicating!
Kill!

The creature jettisons itself downwards, spindly limbs betraying coiled power. It's claws are splayed. It's teeth are needle-sharp, sharper than any mortal blade. The black Sky-creature lifts it's head up, and now it's voice turns to fear. Fear too late.

The Pack watch as the creature effortlessly weaves through the surprised Space Marines, and coldly, cruelly, disembowels them. Their cries of pain do not stop until they are speared upon the iron-hard tendrils of the tree's branches.
Their dark blood anoints the white staves.

One creature glides back into the cave, through tunnels darker than midnight's embrace, deeper than the void itself. It nestles up to one of its kin, pressing foreheads tenderly.

Mother is threatened. Defend the Mother. Mother is the Deep. Deep must drown the Sky.
Tell Mother to summon the Deep.

Both part, going separate ways. One goes deeper, the other returns to the Pack. Two thoughts run through it's mind.

Defend the Mother.

Defend the Deep.

 jhe90 wrote:

Spoiler:

Ooh, we are closing on the deep then
Another dead templer. Suppose im not short but!
Oh, we do love a xeno, on the trophy rack!

 War Kitten wrote:

Spoiler:

I'm strongly considering requesting to nuke this planet from orbit. It's the only way to be sure

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 War Kitten wrote:

Spoiler:

I'm strongly considering requesting to nuke this planet from orbit. It's the only way to be sure

Spoiler:

Feel free to throw in that request to Crusade Command if you wish!

 War Kitten wrote:

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 War Kitten wrote:

Spoiler:

I'm strongly considering requesting to nuke this planet from orbit. It's the only way to be sure

Spoiler:

Feel free to throw in that request to Crusade Command if you wish!

Spoiler:

Depends on how seriously they would take the request. Plus I need a legitimate reason to do so. "The Planet irritated me" doesn't work unless I'm an Inquisitor

Contacting Crusade Command
Contacting...
Craft Unidentified. Enter Access Code
***********
Craft Identified: Long-Range Patrol Eschuchon-Class Ship (Lomez Fidelis)
Contact made.

This is the Lomez Fidelis, reporting strange phenomena to Fleet Captain Vardus.

Yeah, you know that disturbance my damned Astropath's been picking up since the last solar rotation? It's gotten worse. I don't know if the Adeptus Astra Telepathica have heard about this, but they won't be happy to know what their Astropaths are going through here. What the hell is going on?

I've given him the anti-Warp medication and we're keeping well away from the Mare Dracarian, but it's not the rift that's hurting him. It's when he looks away from it, facing Rimward. It's something else, something that, to quote the poor bastard, feels like "fingertips probing my mind". Does the Teleso's Wrath's crew experience similar phenomena?
I strongly advise the crusade look into this.

In other news, my long-range scanners have fallen dead. Our operational range has dropped by 30.8%, generally facing Spinward/Rimward. However, before our signals dropped, my Master of Comms picked up a distress beacon from the missing Eye of Gamartes. We lost it within hours of discovery, but if the beacon is still active, should we not investigate Captain Drakkan's fate? They may have suffered an issue with their Astropath and become stranded in the void?
On the other hand, my crew suspect Eldar pirates, and they rarely plunder the ships they destroy. Think of the loot they could have been carrying from their last assignment.

On a parting note, we have noticed on our visual spectra that Rockston's Fall, a world just off the Western Front of the Crusade forces, is seeming to undergo a kind of storm. Large cloud formations and high water vapour per cubic metre of air levels have increased drastically since last viewing. Possible tropical storm or typhoon? Interesting to see on a desert world with no recorded seas.
You might want to alert the Magos Geologis to this phenomena.

To sum up:
-New Astropaths-
-Anomaly in Rimward/Spinward flank-
-Eye of Gamartes beacon-
-Rockston's Fall phenomena-

This is Captain Veronica Feers, signing off.

Transmission ceased.

Transmission Log, Fleet Captain Vardus to Lomez Fidelis, under Captain Feers.

Dear Captain Feers.

Your data has been received and passed up the chain of command. It is in the Crusade's wishes that the status of Captain Drakkan and the Eye of Gamartes be confirmed.

Therefore, I decree that your ship, the Lomez Fidelis be sent to investigate the distress beacon. We also will assign Magos Geologis Minoris Kytus to your crew immediately and investigate the weather patterns of Rockston's Fall en route.
However, we cannot spare you any Astropathic aid: multiple Astropaths in the local fleet have suffered from this sickness you describe. Continue to administer medication twice a day.

Emperor guide you, Captain.

Fleet Captain Vardus

Transmission ceased.

Julius sat on the bench seat of the Rhino lost in thought. A short time ago word had come in that potential location for their foes on this planet had been discovered, and the ultramarines were immediately ordered to investigate the location. Julius had assembled his company, along with the Templars and they had set out to investigate. Julius was jolted from his reverie when the driver announced "5 Minutes to target Brother Captain." "Acknowledged" Julius responded "pass the word onto the rest of the convoy and order them to prepare for battle." As the driver moved to carry out the order Julius began to ready his wargear. First he lovingly loaded a clip into his bolt pistol and racked the slide. As he holstered it again he whispered a prayer to it's machine spirit so it would not fail him when the time came. Then he unsheathed his Relic Blade and examined it. The blade had been a gift from Lord Calgar upon his ascension to captain, and it was a sign of Calgar's faith in him. He would not fail him again, to do so would bring shame upon him. Finally he began stretching his muscles inside his MKIV plate to ensure that the servos of the armor were in prime fighting condition. Just as he finished his inspection he heard the radio crackle to life, he heard the voice of Assault Sergeant Ixion, who's squad had been running defense for the convoy "Enemy contact established, the first 3 vehicles of the convoy are down, we are engaging." Julius winced, Chaplain Vargos and his Crusader Squad were in the lead of the convoy, followed by Tactical Squads Tavarus and Maximus, with the other Assault Squad led by Sergeant Invictus running defense on the other side.Julius instantly snapped into full focus and he activated his com bead "Hold strong Brothers, reinforcements are enroute." He just prayed that they would get there in time.

As the Rhino's rear door slammed to the ground, Julius emerged to utter chaos. At the center of the clearing there were 3 Rhinos that had been crippled by what looked like crude rock traps, and surrounded by the remnants of the squads that were stationed inside them. By the looks of things the two tactical squads had each sustained 5 losses, with Assault Squad Ixion bearing the brunt of the damage, with only 2 effectives remaining, including Sergeant Ixion. The final 2 casualties had come from Chaplain Vargos' Crusaders. All of this was taken into account in an instant. Then Julius saw the creatures, the ones who had brought so much pain to his company, and he charged. Surrounded by his command squad they plunged into the mass of creatures, briefly driving them back and giving his men a few seconds to gather themselves and prepare for the next wave. The next few minutes of the battle were all a blur for Julius, a nightmare of claws and blades. The damned creatures seemed almost immune to blade and bolter, with only direct hits seeming to do any real damage to them. Dimly he could hear Chaplain Vargos as he boomed the litany of detestation from his helmet speakers at full volume. That is what brought him back to himself. and Julius realized that the tide of creatures who were coming towards the Ultramarines was beginning to thin out. Finally, the tide of creatures seemed to recede, as the beasts realized that they fought a foe that was capable of standing up to them, and what started as a trickle eventually devolved into a flood as the creatures broke and ran from combat. Julius looked around and saw that many of his brothers were nursing serious wounds, but no more had fallen since those who had been lost in the initial ambush. He sheathed his relic blade and looked around, all of the creatures had seemingly melted back into the shadows. All except for one, who Tactical Squad Brutus had penned into a corner. It was snarling and looking for a way past the wall of blue armor. Julius stepped between his brothers silently and drew his bolt pistol. The creature darted at him with it's vicious claws ready to shred him. It never got the chance to use them, as Julius' hand shot up in a defensive maneuver that he hadn't had need to use since his time in the 10th company, and the creatures claws were deflected to the side. The beast then had just enough time to recognize the feel of a bolt pistol pressed to the side of it's head before he knew no more. But Julius did not stop there, he proceeded to unload the rest of his clip into the creatures torso, jerking it back several more times before it finally flopped over dead. The assembled Ultramarines and Templars said nothing, all of them still coming down from the high of combat. Then it hit them. They had done it, they had struck back at the creatures, they weren't invincible after all, and with one voice the assembled Marines let loose a great roar of victory that seemed to shake the earth for miles around. They were all patting Julius on the shoulder, congratulating him on killing the beast, but Julius was lost in thought. Another 18 of his brothers had fallen, and for only 1 of the enemy? That was not good enough, there needed to be many more of the enemy lying dead at his feet before he considered the score settled, but he wouldn't dare to deny his brothers their moment. They had struck back against the foe that had caused them so much grief, why should he deny them their celebration. With the dead gathered up, the wounded treated, and the Rhinos fully operational again, they set off back to base, with the corpse of the beast stashed in one of the transports.

*later*

Julius read over the report made by Apothecary Veren. When stretched to full height the beasts were just about as large as a marine in Terminator plate, but according to Veren, it looked like the beasts typically went about hunched over, taking them down to normal Astartes size. They were also painfully thin looking, with alabaster, almost translucent, skin.Their thin frames belied a terrible strength though, as several of his brothers had found to their detriment in the opening minutes of the ambush. Their long arms had nasty looking claws affixed to the hands, and initial examination of the nervous system indicated that the creatures may have psychic potential. The creature also had oxygen rich blood, but beyond that the apothecary could not discern much else, as the bolt rounds had pulped it's internal organs. Julius had already decided to submit the report to the Lord General, he needed to know what they were facing on this planet. Julius was beyond tempted to request permission to just destroy this planet, there was little of value here to the Imperium. He sighed, he would think on that later. Right now he had to send the corpse in to be examined by a Magos Biologis, to see if they could make heads or tails of this bizarre creature. With that thought Julius set off to submit his report, there was much to do still.

Julla, beautiful forest world. A research world. A world about to be tested by the Warpath. High above the skies of the forests lurks an ancient beast, the Warpath Furnace. Its original STC dating back to the Horus Heresy, the grand ship dwarfed its smaller brother, the Battle-Barge Warpath Crucible. This ship was designed for one sole purpose: firepower. The ship itself has enough armaments to tear through an entire fleet alone; small forest worlds are but kindling to its holy fire.

Escorting the mighty craft is the rest of the fleet of the New Order. Each ship prepared to launch an invasion force into the forests of Julla. Every abled Astarte, Auxilia and Combat servitor is prepped to take on the foul Tau. The invasion begins with a twin nova cannon beam from the Warpath Furnace. Bright Flashes appear on the world below, followed by grey plumes. Each ship disgorges its invasion force then adds to the carnage with salvos from their prow weaponry. The forests of Julla are lit aflame by the sheer volume of ordinance. The guns of the fleet silence momentarily, their ships in the atmosphere and in the firing lanes. A bright, purple flash spans from a supposed research bunker and spans the planet. All contact with the invasion force cuts out.

Four Minutes earlier

"Do not make me regret having you in my command squad, Annala. You fight with the bravest Kattifrakk has birthed bar those of the Chapter Master's guard. Stay in line and this warfront shall be ours before nightfall."

Sylus donned his deathmask and turned to address his squad. Annala adjusted her own helmet and cycled through the vox channels until she found Sylus'.

"Brave men and women of Kattifrakk, this is our moment. We fight against the cowardly Tau. They have taken this world from the Imperium and we wish to relieve it from their clutches. Be warned, they have dug in harder than a frost-wyrm digs into glaciers. Many of us will not make it, but do not fret. Our cause is greater than anyone of us... We bring order to the chaos!"

"So that others may see the truth!" his retinue finished.

Sylus made the sign of the Aquila and headed to the cockpit of the Thunderhawk. From there he surveyed the landing zone down on the surface.

"High Judge Greijer, I shall inform you when I slay the first tau." Sylus joked.

"H- Ha... K--p -e in-...med" the voxed weazed.

"Repeat last transmission"

"-eep m- --fo-...."

"High judge?!"

Static replied his inquiry. Sylus glanced up a moment to notice the sky had turned a hue of deep indigo. Fething Xenos magicks

"Judge Sylus, I am picking up an energy spike in sector-" the pilot managed to get out before the cabin was filled with pulse fire. Sylus leapt from the cabin before a fireball engulfed it. He managed to get the shocked attention of his retinue before the Thunderhawk hit the ground and all went black.

 War Kitten wrote:

Spoiler:

Eesh, and I thought losing 20 guys in an ambush was bad. I no longer feel all that bad.

"What do you mean, it got away again?" Archarus hissed, and resisted the urge to hit Pugarr. He couldn't suffer the astartes turning against him, not when he needed his loyalty until more powerful alliances could be made.

"Yes, my lord. The titan is still roaming the seas, and devoured three entire ships' worth of men." Pugarr said from where he knelt.

"I care not for those men. They died serving me, and nothing more. Their lives do not concern me. What concerns me is that a fish is stopping me from actually fighting a war. What am I to do, when I cannot even claim these seas for myself?" Archarus said, his voice stabbing into Pugarr worse than any blade.

"I. Am sorry, Warsmith. I'll make sure that it does not slip my grasp next time." The astartes said, trying to find a way to avoid the Warsmith's wrath.

"There will be no next time, my dear Pugarr. I have a different idea, for you. I need my defenses to stretch out to more than just this pitiful ice ball. You shall oversee those actions, while I take care of this insect myself." Archarus grumbled, and made to turn towards Kyrkk'ryk'ykk, who had been watching the conversation with interest.

Before Pugarr could rise, however, Archarus' hammer reached out and smote the astartes behind him, crushing the traitor's skull and sending the giant toppling to the ground.

"Let that be a warning. I will not tolerate more of these failures. Now go, and prove yourself useful."