Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Big Mek Nox WarpRida stood in the bridge of his new ship. The ork had come up with an ingenuous plan to repower the primary thrusters and return the looted Battle Cruiser to working order. The way Nox saw it the ship only needed to be fed more power, and he had at his disposal a source of unlimited power, the DoomBlitza’s energy core, the red boon of mork. The ork had the bike wheeled up to the bridge a team of only Nox’s most trusted meks were permited to touch the Big Mek’s bike, and even then only under his close supervision. One of the mek’s spoke “Boss we got the Power junction block wired into the bike’s engine bitz. We got a plasma build in the left engine, we need to vent the radiation before we begin the power transfer.” Nox rubbed his chin and spoke “How long will the plasma vent take?” the ork shrugged “To do it safe like an hour, to do it quick like five minutes.” The ork shook his head “I wanted this thing up and killing weeks ago, vent da radiation as fast as you can.” The mek smiled and began tapping buttons at his console “Vent has begun, we may experience a little turbulence….” The looted imperial vessel shook violently, the mek added “or some exploding.” Gadnuk approached Nox on the bridge the kommando spoke quietly not wanting the other men to hear what he told the boss “Nox, what are you doing. We don’t need to be taking risks like this.” The biker lord grinned “Relax Gadnuk its fine…” The ship gave a violent tremor “I’m a mek, I know machines like da back of me hand. You have nuffing to worry about." A panel on a nearby wall exploded killing the unlucky Gretchen who stood near it. The Big mek smiled “Trust me I got dis kan off da ground and I’m gonna see it krumping again, you watch.” The mek put a hand on the kommando’s shoulders “I trust you and yer ladz, wif all da taktics and da sneakin and stuff, you can trust me and my boyz wif da techy stuff. We’re meks we live for dis.” The ship shook again and Gadnuk felt oddly reassured “Aye boss, just be careful iz all.” The ship went still and one of the lesser meks called out “We good boss plasma levels are good.”

Da Doof entered the bridge “You ladz hook da bike up to da ship yet?” Nox smiled “Nah, we iz just about to yer just in time to see.” The Doof grinned he knew the crystal was powerful, but powering an entire Kruza would be an impressive feat. A mek approached his bike with the power transfer cable and attached it to the DoomBlitza. The Mek reached for the Bike’s Throttle and revved the mechanical beast’s engine.

The DoomBlitza was not pleased. The bike roared to life and the ship began shanking far more violently then when the plasma vent began. Gadnuk was knocked off his feet as was the Doof. The DoomBlitza broke free of the confines that affixed it to the ship. The bike mowed down the nearest mek and fired a burst of its twin linked dakka gunz at the next closest. Without a rider the bike sped out of the bridge. Nox shouted “After it.”

The bike found its way to the ships vehicle hold. A place the orks had turned into a scrap yard. The rider-less bike barked its rapid fire weapons at any who drew near it. The beast ran down dozens of orks who got in its path. Finnaly nox and his retinue found the bike.

Nox saw his creation at the center of the bay and spoke to it “DoomBlitza I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt ya.” The bike revved in disapproval. “Yer my friend Blitza, I’d never urt you on purpose, honest I’d nevah.” The bike revved lower then before “I promise never again I’ll hook you up to dis ship can ya ever forgive me?” The growl of the bike’s engine turned to a purr as Nox approached it and wrapped his hand sround the throttle.

The Doof wiped an imaginary tear from his non existent tear duct “Dat wuz zoggin beautiful boss.” Nox growled “Zog you, we need to find another way to power da ship.” Gobbles Nox’s grot assistant appeared from a crate he was cowering behind “But how Boss dere aint no proper kroza bitz round here nowhere.” The ork grinned “I know some gitz dat know lotz bout building Kruzas.” The Doof raised an eye brow “Who boss.” Gadnuk quickly realized what the ork intended “Wait you don’t mean, Boss dat isn’t a good idea.” Nox grinned “No it’s a great zoggin Idea, and yer going to be da one to get it done.” Gadnuk shouted “What, me? Why me?” Nox grinned “cuz I know you can get it done and I hear he likes ya.” The doof interrupted “What are you two gitz talkin about.” Gobbles added “I’m a bit confused myself boss.” Nox grinned “Dat Archarus, da one dats been buying up all those knife ears and humiez from us. I hear him and his Ladz of Iron are right proper meks. I fink we can get the ladz to help us with our repairs.” Gobbles gave a gulp “CacacacaChaos crazies Boss, dem ladz our madder then a weird boy on a full moon. Oh no offense Boss Doof.” The Doof snarled “Scammper off before I make a meal out of you.” The Gretchen assistant screamed and quickly returned to his hiding spot. The doof spoke “It iz riskey boss I’d rather go off and find the bitz on our own, but if you fink dey can help us.” Nox nodded “I do and so it is decided, Gadnuk you and da doof will take da slave ship, round up some eldar or humiez to offer as a gift. Den ask em here to discuss terms of an alliance.” Gadnuk sighed “I still fink it a bad idea, but yer da boss. I’ll set out right away.” Gadnuk turned to head for the slave ship but as he turned Nox spoke again “And one more fing, take Gobbles with you.” Gadnuk turned around “Why what for I already got a grot helper.” Nox laughed “Yeah but Gobbles is a lucky grot.” Gadnuk shrugged “kay” Then the kommando nob shouted “Gobbles yer wif me.” The pluky Gretchen leapt from a pile of trash and shouted “Oh boy we going on adventure boss.” The nob growled “Shut yer gob and let’s go times a wasting.”

Farseer Lilliana read over the report she had been given by the Bonesinger Melan. The Bonesingers had been working for several hours straight all across the fleet to restore all of their systems back to full functionality. The few ships that hadn't been damaged had been dispatched further into the system to keep an eye on Archarus' forces while the main fleet underwent repairs. And finally all of the damaged systems had been repaired, and they were just about to boot them back up. With a flicker the comms and radar were restored and nearly instantly the radar began to beep as a contact was detected. Lilliana instantly barked an order for all the nearby ships to go into stealth until they could determine the nature of the threat. She did not have to wait long, as the passive sensors onboard the "Flame of Isha" revealed that it was an Iron Warriors Strike Cruiser, likely acting in a scout role to try and determine the location of the main Eldar fleet. Doubtless as soon as their location was discovered the ship would try to turn around and flee to safety to make it's report. Lilliana was determined that it would not receive it's chance. It appeared that the Iron Warrior vessel was acting alone, and clearly not expecting to find anything, as their weapons were all dormant. She sent a psychic message across the fleet outling what she had in mind, and the Eldar fleet moved into position to carry out her orders. Lilliana grinned, the foul scions of Chaos would pay dearly for their complacency. Lilliana just had to wait for the right moment when the mon'keigh would be in the optimal position...

There! She instantly saw that if her ships fired now the ship would be their for the taking. She issued one simple mental order to the captains of the ships around her; "Now" and every ship in the Eldar fleet fired upon the vessel, targeting it's critical systems. The first few lances were deflected by the human's void shields, but those were knocked out nearly instantly, and the rest of the fire uimpaced the ship, targeting it's comms, engines, and main weapons. The ship seemed to shudder for a second before it began to list in space. But that was not good enough for Lilliana, and she knew all the other Eldar felt the same way. Despite their efforts Eldar captives were still making their way to Archarus, and that fact lit a furious fire in the hearts of every member of the Warhost. And so Lilliana found herself leading a vengeful boarding party to the crippled ship. The humans would die by her hand, and the Storm Guardians and Howling Banshees around her were just as eager to get into the fray. As their boarding vessel landed in the ship's docking bay Lilliana donned her helmet. The time for war was nigh. Inside the ship was a scene of utter devastation. Nearly everywhere you looked you saw the dead, either crushed by debris or suffocated when their sectjon of the ship had it's air vented into space. The Eldar inside their sealed armor were spared this fate. And so for the duration of the trip towards the bridge they encounted nothing except for the dead. Only when they came to the ships entrance did they encounter resistance. 2 Iron Warriors in full armor were stationed there, and they fired upon the Eldar the instant they rounded the corner, badly injuring one of the Storm Guardians who was an instant too slow to react, the Guardian was dragged into cover by one of her fellows, and then the vengeful Howling Banshees hurtled the cover and were instantly amongst the Iron Warriors, their furious war cries being wailed out of their banshee masks. In an instant they were attacking the humans, who had clamped their hands over their helmets in an effort to drive out the terrible noise, leaving them defenseless before the furious Aspect Warriors, who cut them down without mercy. Lilliana stepped over their dismembered corpses and stepped onto the bridge. Everywhere she looked she saw corpses and burnt out monitors, not even the bridge had been spared damage. As she took it all in she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye and dodged aside just in time to avoid being hit by a thunder hammer. She was on her feet again in an instant, her time amongst the Banshees teaching her the value in constantly being in motion. She took in the captain of this vessel, a brute encased in massive armor bearing the colors of the Iron Warriors. What truly enraged her was the Eldar heads on his trophy racks, and in deadly silence Lilliana drew her wtich blade, raising it in silent challenge. The Astartes laughed and moved to accept her challenge, confident that he could win against her. He was woefully unprepared for the flurry of blows that Lilliana threw at him, each one aimed to weaken instead of kill, and so Lilliana wore him down blow by blow, her lightning reflexes enabling her to dodge the human's clumsy attacks, until the Astartes slumped to his knees, too weak to fight back. He was able to lift his head enough to register the fusion gun planted to his head before he knew no more. Lilliana turned to the Storm Guardians who had came with her. "Plant Charges all across the ship" she ordered "let there be no sign of our presence here." And as they moved to carry out her order Lilliana looked out the viewscreen at the vastness of space, and she wondered what was coming next.

BLOODY FETHING WARP!!! Screamed High Librarian Benkee, slamming his Quarterstaff down onto the head of yet another man-sized worm, before letting out a gout of flame from his mouth, turning the two behind it to ash. Benkee looked up, and saw his Battle Brothers burning away hordes of the worms, flamers flashing, every man in five carrying one. He sighed, and activated the vox communicatir within his coller with a tap.
"Sergeant Hideo! Come in Hideo!"
"I read you loud and clear Sir. How goes the extermination?"
"Just as badly as you'd expect, what with these damnable storms ruining our normal plan of attack" Benkee scoffed, before hauling a ball of intense heat at a group of worms that where about to ambush some of his brothers. "How goes the clearing of our beachhead?"
Segeant Hideo laughed, and said jovially "That, atleast, went well my lord. The worms can't resist the cannons of our flamestorm cannons any more than our usual enemies can."
"Finally, some good news then. Fine, keep up the good work sergeant."
Benkee clicked off the vox, stamping the head of another worm as he did so. Benkee was a large man, even for an Astartes. Originally a Primaris psyker from the system that the Dawn Striders hail from, he was already bulky for a human when the orks destroyed everything. He was the last primaris psyker left after the Mending, and was taken in under the wing of one of the few astartes who survived the event.
Laying down another blast of flames to protect his fellows, Benkee shook himself from his musings. Now was no time to reminisce. He continued his path of carnage, his weapon an extention of his will and s channel for his psychic prowess.
Suddenly, Benkee heard a shout, and looked to his left to see half of Scout squad Wyn running toward him, followed by a Worm, this time easily the size of a Squiggoth and with a mouth full of millions of sharp, spinning teeth.
"...Feth."

Lord governor Hannibal Pavus gathered his war council. A cabinet made up of the the captains of Faustian Legions most had made it off Kagrenz except for Captain Mosk of the 44th, he never made it back to the Faustian FOB back on the planet’s surface. Hannibal looked to the men they were an ill shape all of them bloody and bruised. Captain Reiner had his arm in a sling, fortunately he wouldn’t lose the arm but the bite wound nicked his bone and he would be in a caste for at least the next three weeks. Pavus looked to his wounded men they were in low spirits to say the least. Governor Pavus spoke “The loss of men was indeed with in acceptable parameters, especially considering how unannounced this attack was.” The room was silent “however, what was done to us is completely unacceptable. The foul xeno have defiled us, they have wounded us. We are Faustians, and nobody xeno, traitor, or any other shames us.” The men began to truly listen as the governor increased his volume “We are going to kill every last one of these disgusting creatures and the beast will learn what it is to suffer.” The men began to agree and cheer up with the governor’s prospect of revenge. “I can assure you men we have killed the likes of more worthy foes. These beasts stand no chance against the wrath of the sons of Faust. I promise you men vengeance and honor who among you want this.” The men roared. Hannibal smiled “When I am head of this crusade you will all be wealthy beyond your wildest dreams, serve me well and I will not forget you.” The men grinned at the prospect, Hannibal spoke “You are dismissed.”

The men exited the room and Captain Kassani entered. The mercenary spoke “I like the spirit of your men, soldier’s discipline with the heart of a merc. Reminds me of myself in a way, I think I will fit in nice here.” Pavus spoke “You were right Captain; those beasts were Tyranids.” Kassani smiled “Aye, spent years fighting the bastards as a Cadian don’t think I can ever forget the beasts. These things are different somehow, I can’t tell you what makes them different but a bug is a bug.” Pavus spoke “Tell me Captain how can we defeat these creatures.” The old mercenary approached the table he looked at the expensive war map and laughed “You can’t win a ground war with these things, there’s no point in even trying. In the time it takes to reload a las gun twenty more of the bastards take the place of everyone you killed.” Pavus questioned “Then how do we win.” The grizzled veteran spoke “It’s going to cost you, possible everything, and even then there’s no guarantee we prevail.” Pavus questioned “What must be done?” Kassani took his combat knife and slammed it into the war table on top of the tyranid symbol “Sever the blights head and they are disorganized, little more than feral beast.” Pavus spoke “And how do we do that?” Kassani spoke “There is a hive mind a single organism that thinks for the entire horde. If we want to rid ourselves of these creatures, we must find this hive mind and kill it less the entire sector become enveloped in a sea of death.”

Pavus let the eerie message roll around in his mind for a moment before speaking “Captain, I thank you. It is obvious to me a man with your expertise will be needed in the time to come. There is an opening for a Captain in the 44th Fusiliers The Drakes, I gladly offer it to you.” Kassani grinned roguishly “It would be my honor sir.”

Meanwhile on the surface of Kagrenz

Brother Sargent Percival sat in cave that over looked the sea of foul creatures harvesting every piece organic material they can find on the planet. An ocean of scuttling carapace clad xenos on the prowl for whatever organic material they can find. Percival was wounded the gash in his left arm cut to the bone. His armor was becoming more of a burden then an asset as one of the tyranid’s pierced the power pack, leaving him to carry the massive mail with only his unnatural strength. A feat that was possible, but defiantly unpleasant. To help aid this he discarded the useless power pack along with all the armor that guarded his arms. The Black Templar felt exhaustion fatigue. He didn’t want to die here at the hands of such a disgusting xeno. Percival removed his helmet his short black hair slicked from sweat. The vox in his helmet was destroyed, but Percival was always a resourceful one. Using what remained of his vox set some spare parts from his discarded power supply pack, he created a crude hailing device, unfortunately the transmitter was only one way, he had no way to tell if his message would be received. After some time working on the contraption he was finally ready to send his message, “This is Brother Sargent Percival of the Black Templars, requesting assistance. Ive taken refuge in a cave two miles south of the Faustian FOB.”

Percival dropped the transmitter. All he could do now was wait, either for a rescue team, or death at the hands of one of the beasts.

Commissar Jack Sheppard awoke once more in that bad place. Again he was in the still picture of the battle but this time it was different. The faces of the men were all changed. Sheppard walked throughout the changed battle field. He wandered across Captain Reiner being impaled by a demon of Nurgle, Commander Ajuran of the death ravens in the palms of a demon prince, Captain Julius’s head severed free from his body in the hands of a great winged demon of Khorne. Sheppard knew this was all wrong, Julius was never on the surface of Gallor prime. The familiar voice rung across the battle field “This is the price of your failure.” Sheppard shouted at no one “I know, I fething know already.” The voice spoke “No you don’t, you intend to fail again.” Sheppard spoke “What do you mean” The voice continued “Your place is on the battlefield Sheppard you are needed here; this is where the Emperor needs you.” Sheppard shouted “Well tell the Emperor to go get another fething commissar I’m done I’ve done my duty.” The voice spoke “Only in death does duty end.” Sheppard shouted “I’m to be a father I can’t.” the voice spoke “That is exactly why you must. If you are not out here humanity will crumble, your wife and daughter with it.” Sheppard laughed “You expect me to believe that, I’m no one just someone who was lucky enough to survive Gallor Prime.” “There is no luck, no chance, only destiny. Sheppard you know what must be done.”

Sheppard awoke once more in his bed again his sweat was cold and his nose bled. The Commissar silently removed himself from the bed attempting to not wake Petra. He cleaned up his nose and splashed cold water on his face. He looked to the mirror and was over come with disgust and shame.

Sheppard attempted to get back to bed but as his head hit the pillow Petra spoke “You’ve had that dream again haven’t you.” Sheppard spoke “Yeah, I did.” “I worry for you Sheppard; they seem to be becoming more frequent.” Sheppard spoke solemnly “do we deserve all this.” “Deserve what?” Sheppard shook his head “Happiness.” Silence set in their ears before Petra spoke “I’ve wondered the same myself actually. Since I was a child I was taught only war. I didn’t know if I had any room in my heart for anything else. You showed me I could. But as much as I want to I can't forget my code. I am a Faustian knight I can not rest from travel.” Sheppard spoke “I don’t think I can quit the field to go be an instructor.” Petra spoke “I understand.” Petra placed a hand on Sheppard’s chest she gave a smile “Truth be told I was dreading the idea of never seeing real combat again.” Sheppard returned the smile, he realized something he was bound to war without it he couldn’t exist, and at that moment the words that Dorian told him in the warp made sense, they were all monsters.

"I don't see why we have to be the ones to go and check out this Mall planet." Vayden complained.

"You were complaining that we didn't have anything to do. Now we have something." Isos replied.

"Fair enough."

As the two made idle chitchat, hundreds of soldiers were running throughout the ship, making sure everything was still functioning. Priests were also guarding any psykers they had on board, ready to use their Eviscerators if they were possessed.

Soon, their destination came in sight: Mall. They were disheartened at the sight, for it was a gas giant, and they could not make any defence on a planet with no land. The Magos onboard had discovered it was almost entirely oxygen; 99.987%, to be exact.

"So, now what do we do? Head back? Command won't like finding out they only have a gas giant to deal with." Vayden said, while chewing on an apple.

"Good afternoon gentlemen. And no, Vayden. We will set up a perimeter, to ensure this planet remains in Imperial control." Colonel Detta said as he turned the corner.

Both men snapped to attention, and gave the sign of the aquila as the Colonel approached.

"At ease." Detta said, while smiling at the formality. These men had known each other for years. Detta had been but a sergeant when Abram had been recruited. Ranks were ranks, however.

"Now, I have duties to attend to. We'll talk later, but for now I have to make sure the Navy is doing things right.

Before the Colonel could take three steps, the warning klaxons went off.

++Warning. Unidentified craft. Unidentified craft. Western flank is assaulted. Unidentified crafts. Western flank is assaulted. Xenos detected. Warning. Unidentified crafts.++

Isos' hand reached down for his bolt pistol instinctively. Vayden peered our of a port window, to try and catch a glimpse of what was happening.

"By the God-Emperor" was all he could say. Isos looked towards what Vayden was seeing, and his heart pounded in his chest at the sight. Almost all of the cruiser had been covered in mist, and several smaller ships swarmed around it. Flickers of movements could be seen through the fog, almost as if something was crawling around on the hull of the ship.

++This is Navy Commander Ordein. This ship is lost. Unidentified xenos have been spotted, they're boarding the ship. They're too many in number. We have only one option left. I need you all to evacuate. Hopefully I can buy you enough time. The Emperor protects.++ Isos heard his vox crackle, and knew the ship wouldn't be long for this world. Not after its plasma cores were overheated, and vaporised anything near it.

Isos heard Colonel Detta yelling orders, and knew the ship would perish on its own. There was no use fighting these things. Not if they could kill a ship so quickly.

"Time till they reach the Kill-zone" Julius asked quietly. "5 minutes my Lord" came the reply from the gunnery pits and Julius cracked a smile for the first time in days. After their harrowing escape from the last group of xenos' vessels Julius had been determined to not be caught off guard again, and so they had been tracking another group of xenos vessels as they tried to find a gap in Imperial lines for a few days now. It was almost time to show them the consequences of testing the Imperium, but first Julius had to wait for them to reach the appointed kill-zone, where the "Honour" and her escort vessels were waiting. He watched the radar intently as the xenos inched every closer to their deaths, he would not have to wait long. After 5 minutes had passed the shout came from the gunnery pit that the xenos had reached the kill zone, and with great relish Julius activated the comms to the other vessels and simply said "Open Fire Brothers, show no mercy". And with a thunderous roar the torpedo tubes and laser batteries of the "Honour" and her escorting ships vented their fury onto the xenos who dared defile the Emperor's realm with their presence. The aliens never had a chance, the massed firepower coming from the Imperial vessels shattering their formation and driving them back in disarray. But Julius was not done with them yet, and with a smile on his face he issued the order to pursue them, none would escape this day. And one by one the remaining xenos vessels were hunted down and eliminated, with the last one seeming to deflate before it violently detonated. The bridge crew let out a great cheer as they saw the xenos die, they had seen Kagrenz die, and with it the deaths of their comrades had been in vain, but now they were exacting a blood price for every Marine who had fallen. Julius allowed them their happiness, for it was his as well. With every xeno who fell he felt his guilt and shame lessen, to be replaced by determination and duty. Julius did not know what might come next, but he would be ready for it.

Iron Fist of the Korps

Death Korps had blocked every gate to the city, every port and rail stop was now controlled by the fearsome and to the local citizens feared Death Korps. Local PDF they knew, they lived among them and could be talked to, they had faces. Not the Korpsmen, faceless and without mercy they had blocked and moved with a speed and level of planning that only space marines could undertake and within only a hour of the locating of the house, the city was on lock down. Every citizen from the lowest hive worker to the Lords of the spires had to pass the purity tests enforced by faceless guards who had no fear of shooting down a nobleman or child who breached the check points.

In the district where the thereat began the grim faced grenadiers clad in full environment suits backed by marines searched the area from basement to roof, those who resisted the search where treated as enemies and none escaped the dead gaze of the mask clad warriors of kreig. Nothing was found, a few stinking hides and remains of the pits that the creatures had hid, only a few hiding survivors of the human drones who were burned without mercy and their homes put to flame to purge the city of taint, The residents of the hive soon learned to obey the Death Korps iron rule.

The search would grow and the rule of iron would extend.

****
The Marshalls Lament

Acting Marshall Ivan was in his study, unable to let go of the deaths at the hands of the beasts he had spent the past day praying, reflecting and going over the events in the caverns. No, but he could not help feeling like he had doomed so many brave brothers to there death and wounding.

Even the talk with Chaplain Vargos had done little to break the grip the caverns still held upon him and his mind, They said every marine who ever served would face the darkest days and would have to overcome them, Darkness came in many forms and for Ivan it was a caverns, the milky white eyes of the clawed fiends. Did he have the strength to overcome them when the time came? He would have to talk to Lord Karak.

****
Into the Void.

The Templer Strike Cruiser Black Sword patrolled the void, its mighty black prow stretching out in front of the Bridge, huge macro cannons studding the hull and multiple secondary and defence batteries clusted all over the armoured hull, Truly a mighty warship. “That ship marked tango 16, hail them, i want there shipping codes and destination” “aye sir, Chaplain sir,..... Codes incoming now, its marked flash courier, crusade HQ, nothing strange sir. “

The chaplain thought, oh it was nothing or was it but he did not have time to check every ship in the sector and its codes where up to date with the current logs, it matched its transponder and captain. He let if vanish from his mind as he carried on the perimeter patrol of the area. Was it a mistake?

=====Arbalest of Extinction=====
Harax looked around the bowels of the Necron ship as he was escorted to the Throne Room. The ships technology was extremely advanced, more advanced than the 'Greater Good' could ever be. He had seen its stark black hull and its amber glow. He wondered if the Custodian Battle ship they had arrived with good do much, he had heard that Necron ships were living things, but that was ridiculous. His thoughts were cut off by the door to the Throne Room. Kageros stood in the middle of the room issuing orders to people in the Necron language. Harax could see many high ranking members he remembered from the time they made their truce. Kageros turned and noticed Harax standing there and beckoned him forth in his native Tau.
"Ah, Harax, good to see you again, I have been told that something is troubling our people. Harax was not sure how to feel about him using the word 'our', but he would digress.
"Yes, the Kroot auxillaries have been rampaging about, they wish to serve the 'Greater Good' of the Ethereals." He spit the last word with enough venom to kill a Haemonculus.
"As I have been told. I must alert you of something that may ease our situation, we are currently forming alliances with some of the local factions." Kageros said this as nonchalantly as a metallic overlord could.
"But Kageros," most of the Greater Court and some Lychguard looked at the Tau with apprehension, but he kept going anyways, "is this a wise idea, how do we know they will not turn on us?"
"Because they need our help as much as we need theirs, this is where your Kroot come in," Harax looked at him, his interest peaking, "Archarus is the leader of the Iron Warriors in this sector-"
"More Necrons?"-Harax had interupted the Phaeron. this caused the entirety of the room to glance at Harax, then at Kageros. After a minute of everyone staring at everyone, Kageros went on.
"No, Harax, they are Chaos Space Marines who like slaves," Harax shrunk in place ever so slightly and turned a pale lighter. "Which is why we're sending them all of the Kroot." Kageros stood looking mighty expecting Harax to resist.
"I'm okay with that." Harax said leisurely. Kageros replied in a apprehensive manner. "Good, I will... send a Harvester ship...and I'll tell the Kroot were sending them to the Tau Empire."

=====Command Room AoE=====
Kageros sat glancing at various monitors when Rak'than entered. Rak'than seemed confused when he said.
"My Lord, why did you let the Tau commander get away with his absence in manners?"
"What do you mean?" Kageros said inquisitively. Rak'than retorted quite surprised."He didn't address you with 'My Lord' and called you by name! How do you expect us to address you as such when you let such a creature not?"
"I don't expect you to address me as such, I don't care what you call me as long as I know I'm the one being addressed. We are at war and plan to wage it, not sit and have tea party in my Throne Room. My Dirges won't crash themselves... Wait a minute, yes they will." He started laughing outrageously at his own joke. Rak'than simply stared at him in annoyance. "You are an idiot Kageros, but a good one at least." Kageros still chuckling looked at Rak'than and lightly hit his arm, "See? Your starting to light up a bit."
Kageros froze instantly, remembering where he is he slowly turned and glanced at the terminal by the door, where a lone Necron warrior sat. "Oh no..." Rak'than muttered as his Phaeron shuffled over to the terminal. He tapped the warrior on the shoulder and it turned to look at him.
"YES!" Kageros shouted triumphantly before speaking into his communicator. "Zyfek! Get to the Command Room at once, it is urgent!" A few minutes later Zyfek ran into the room with a look of worry on his face.
"What?! What is it My Lord?" Zyfek calmed down when he saw his Phaeron chuckling and pointing at a warrior. Zyfek moved in closer and looked at the warrior who bore his Phaeron's ankh on his forehead.
Zyfek simply muttered, "Well, I be damned." Kageros looked at his Lord Cryptek. "Give this one a promotion, I decree he become an Immortal." Zyfek was dissapointed to be brought here for a trivial issue.
A screen started flashing and a warrior walked up to Kageros and said, "My Lord, we have detected an Imperial Cargo Ship between Julla and Rockston's Fall. It is alone and unaided."
"good, send a Dirge into it immediately." It will be done My Lord, but there is something else," Kageros looked at the Warrior with a blank expression." The ship we sent with the Kroot was swallowed by the Mare Draconium." The warrior went back to his duties.
Kageros thought about what horrors would befall the universe when Chaos Kroot or maybe even Kroot Daemons started running around. "Nah, they probably don't even have souls."
"What?" Rak'than commented looking away from what the Cryptek was doing. Kageros looked at him, "Nothing."

=====Command Room AoE + Time=====
"Oh my word... He's glorious!" Kageros was happy that his warrior was now an Immortal at last. He turned to Zyfek. "Keep the ankh on his forehead, and make sure he stays doing exactly... this..." He said pointing at the immortals terminal.
Kageros stood in the middle of the room and looked at the giant screen displaying the sector. "How long until Dirge impact?" a random warrior retorted, "Only a few minutes My Lord."
Rak'than and Zyfek walked and stood by Kageros and watched the screen. Kageros turned and looked at the Immortal staring at his terminal, "You there, Immortal, come here."
The immortal stood and did as his Phaeron commanded. As he walked up Kageros asked, "What is your name?" Before the immortal could reply another warrior shouted, "It's about to impact!"
The room stood and watched in anticipation as the craft drew nearer and nearer until... it went through the ship? "What in the warp just happened, situation report."
"It... It missed, my Lord..." Everyone excluding Kageros immediately got out of his staffs swinging radius. Kageros looked at the one warrior, "It what?" The warrior started to back up, "It missed..."
He went to run away but wasn't fast enough to avoid Kageros' staff as it flew through the warriors head, which exploded in an amber spark. The living metal wall slowly spit out the staff and the warrior dropped to the floor. Kageros looked at Zyfek,
"Tell Chahg he is to render that one down into scarabs." Zyfek replied with, "Yes, my Lord." Kageros looked back to the screen, "Have the Dirge scan that ship." A minute or two later and a warrior replied from his hiding spot.
"My Lord, it appears to be a Dark Eldar vessel. Particularly a Wych Cult vessel." "Oh..." Kageros was delighted yet disappointed to hear this, "To the Communications Room! we have messages to send. And Zyfek, you may return to your duties."

=====Communications Room AoE=====
Kageros and Rak'than stood in the center of the floor and stood tall as they would send a video message. Mainly for their benefit, so the Dark Eldar knew they couldn't be tortured.
"Are we ready to send the message?" Kageros looked to the Immortal in charge (not the one from the Command Room). "Yes, my Lord"
"Good, send this... I am Kageros, Phaeron of the Kageros Dynasty, and this is Rak'than, my Nemesor." Rak'than gave a small wave causing Kageros to briefly turn around. "We are currently working to secure this area of the sector. If my knowledge of the Dark Eldar serves me correct, then I know you want slaves for torturing and for your arenas. If you help me and my dynasty secure this area, I can promise you more slaves than your stores can hold, perhaps even some of the Astartes variety to fight in your great arena's. Help me, and I can guarantee that you inflict more pain and suffering upon this sector and your enemies than you can imagine.. I take that back, you are Dark Eldar after all... but I can also offer you grounds in which to hunt and raid, you will have enough slaves to sustain yourselves for a millennium. I guarantee that I, Kageros, will make sure this happens. I will remove my Dirge from your location immidiately. I will await your reply." And with that the message ended and was sent. Kageros looked back at Rak'than,"When we're done here, alert he Iron Warriors of the uh... 'Kroot incident'. " "Of course, it will be done. I must say that message was awful dark." Kageros chuckled to himself, "It's the Dark Eldar, you have to be when talking to them." Rak'than looked at Kageros, "You forgot to get the Immortals name." Kageros looked at Rak'than confused when it hit him. "Oh yeah... To the Command Center!"

''1-Alpha this is 1-3, message, over''

''1-3 send it''

''Confirmed tracks of Tau patrol, strong possibility of traitor human in their ranks, already found the ideal ambush zone, we will move along the path and map it''

Such messages would be quite comon in the following of the Scions landing, tracks were spotted, ambush sites marked and infiltration paths decided.

This particular message, however, marked the moment the Scions of the 85th would detect a pretty obviously patrol route, that was still used by the Tau forces, at least according to the tracks they left.

In parallel to the patrols, a camp was quickly establish, clearings were made for the Valkyries to eventually land and support the patrols, all of this done without issues, or the Tau being aware of what was going on. Such turns of events pleased Riley, who would receive constant reports aboard the Swift Guardian. . Such reports did not only come from vox comms, but also from the rest of the Scions equipement. The Monoscope allowed the Tempestus Secundus to review the what the recce specialists would see, while the Slate Monitron would give out information about the Scions health, stress level and more importantly, their position.

Such pieces of gear would come extremely useful in the events to come.

The attack was swift and unexpected and came from a direction the Scions weren't expecting to have any enemies come from.

The first men to go down were working on removing trees and obstacles, dead before they could unsling their rifles. The rest had more luck, jumping in cover as fast as possible, with the hellshot team spotters already marking the range needed to shoot down the incoming Raiders.

A squad that was too slow to spread out properly was quickly captured, and despite the efforts of the rest of the platoon, were taken away. The assault certainly could have gone better for the Dark Eldars, as accurate 40mm rounds started punching into the open topped vehicles, the snipers loading explosive ammo to send as many maimed Eldars flying out of their transports as possible. Those that survived the impact and their short aerial trips would be swiftly gunned down by bright green laser cutting through their armor like it was not even there. And as unexpect as was the assault, the sudden stop in violence was doubly so. Riley's Fist was barely out of their Light Cruiser when the Eldars retreated back to whatever hole they would hide in.

One of the surviving Tempestor started barking orders.

''Pile up the enemy dead by the pads, command will want to learn as much as possible from them, what Cabal they're with and perhaps previous contacts made with e'm, bury our dead and recover their equipement, 50% watch, on all sides this time, we will not be caught like that again''


------Aboard the Swift Guardian------

Riley was incredibely furious, not even a week in as commander of the 85th and they already had to give up their original operational camp. Things had to change and strategies revised, his men could not be allowed to leave a trace on the planet.

''We'll go underground, dig caches, no more than 10 men together, total camouflage, hide everything, keep comms as short as possible and only transmit monoscope images under contact or while you're on patrol, I will send additional troops in the following minutes, the initial landing site is to abandonned, no doubt the Tau are aware of the attack, leave no traces of who was involved, we don't need more of e'm around''

Riley turned to a Scion in charge of tracking their forces slate monitron feedback.

''Report on the men captured?'' he asked

''Clearly left the planet sir, they haven't moved much for a while now, I am fairly sure they're inside whatever the Dark Eldars use as a base, what are you orders?''

''Transmit the coordinates to our allies, our orders are to support the New Order on Julla, not run around to try and save... twelve of our men''

''Roger that sir, its done, high priority, and I've put a higher level of encryption on it,I've also compiled a report for the Tempestor Prime''

''Send it, I'll expect he'll want to debrief me personally''

-----Back on Julla surface, a few minutes after Riley's orders were relayed-----

''Go underground, eh'' said the Tempestor outloud ''No traces either''

''We'll have to dig, we'll have to cut and we'll have to make it look like it never happened, this'll take the whole day, split the squad, make sure they cut trees as low as possible, cover the stump with moss and weeds, same for the dirt, spread it out as much as possible''

And with this, the Scions went back to work, all except one section, the third, that has spent the previous days ready to ambush the next Tau patrol.

Succubus Nelith was amused. A Necron vessel had just tried to ram her ship a few minutes ago and has missed horribly, fooled by false profile that her ship was projecting, that had amused her and shocked her in equal measure. Then nearly immediately afterwards they had received a message from the Necron Overlord requesting an alliance, and although his message was a bit long and boring for Nelith's tastes the potential benefits of this alliance were intriguing. If all went according to what he had mentioned she would be able to receive a fair number of slaves, for the arenas, and the best part, some of them might be Astartes! Nelith grinned to herself, she had been elevated to Succubus after she had defeated an Astartes champion in mortal combat in the arena, and scoring several more of those kind of captives would secure her power base amongst the Cult. She allowed herself a few moments to revel in the thought of it before she realized that the Necron was probably expecting some sort of answer soon. She turned to the one who was in charge of comms and ordered a simple message relayed back, indicating Nelith's acceptance of the terms, but under the condition that at some point they could meet to iron out some specific parts of it. With that being done Nelith strolled down to the slave decks. Apparently there was an issue with the human's equipment.

After leaving the slave decks Nelith was furious. The humans had been able to hide some locators amongst the equipment of the ones that the Cult had captured, locators that were broadcasting the location of her ship! The one in charge of the equipment inspection had already been messily fed to the beastmaster and his pack, but that did little to calm Nelith's anger. She had immediately ordered all of the human's equipment to be disposed of, and Raiders had been dispatched to the surface to scatter the equipment, but Nelith was worried that they had taken too long to find it, that the mon'keigh would be coming in force. Her ship would take many down it it, thanks to it's enhanced deception systems, but Nelith did not want to lose her ship so early in the game. She just hoped she had reacted in time.

Kyrkk'ryk'ykk growled as he saw the Eldar ship. Much unlike the mortal Archarus' last quarry, this one was by its lonesome. Unlike Archarus' prey, it had lost its communications via an EMP missile. Now, it was time for Khorne to pay the Eldar back for what they did to His champion.

The daemons prepared themselves for the teleportation, and the Prince stared into the eyes of the psyker performing the ritual. His stare obviously overwhelmed the lad, but it entertained Kyrkk'ryk'ykk to see him struggle.

The daemon flashed him a grin before his world consisted of a flash and the smell of sulfur. When he could see regularly again, he was aboard the Eldar ship, and saw his kin already charging forwards to kill any they found.

Archarus wanted slaves, but he wasn't around to enforce the rule. It was time for the welps to be taught their place.

Kyrkk'ryk'ykk charged after them, and caught up to Keb'hal, who guided the berserkers. He hated the daemon for selling him out, but respected the power the Blooded One had.

The first Eldar they encountered were several guardians, who fired on the group the moment they could. Unfortunately, fighting only shortened their life span by several minutes. The daemons cut through them, leaving their corpses as they went on to find something more challenging to face.

The slaughter and pillaging of the ship went on, and some daemons had suffered wounds to the Eldar weaponry. Kyrkk'ryk'ykk however, felt as good as when he had first ascended. He was filled with the Warp's might, and was the axe of Khorne. Any who stood before him were smote by his righteous fury.

At last he found a mortal worth his attention, and prepared to take the man's life. The Eldar looked as if to speak something to the daemon, but shook his head and spat at him instead. Kyrkk'ryk'ykk didn't waste time with words, but instead leapt forward at the Eldar, and swung his axe at the man's waist, seeking to carve him in two.

The Eldar nimbly leaped back, and fired several rounds into Kyrkk'ryk'ykk. The Prince wouldn't fall so easily, however, and was goaded on at the pain dealt to him.

Fyragh pressed his assault, and swung overhead, and also lashed out with his foot as the Eldar jumped again, and caught the xenos' thigh. The bone was snapped, and Kyrkk'ryk'ykk quickly severed the Eldar's head before it could retaliate.

Kyrkk'ryk'ykk scooped up the fallen head, and began suckling the blood from it as the liquid spurted outwards onto the floor.

Now the Eldar had something to ponder, and would think twice before attacking the disciples of Khorne. Kyrkk'ryk'ykk knew the ship was too badly damaged to be salvaged; the fighting had left it but a husk. He also knew there were no surviving Eldar. The Prince would make sure the craft was annihilated entirely from space, to ensure the Eldar could make no use of it either.

Today was a glorious day for the Skull Taker.

Sylus walked down the corridors of the Warpath Furnace. He understood why the Chapter Master called it that; the ship could easily be the same temperature as the desert wastes of Kattifrakk II. He wiped sweat from his bare brow and continued. The Grand Court room or what others might call the Command Center was tucked in the middle of the ship so that more guns could be placed on the outer regions. Sylus found it surprising how many patrols he had seen coming here from the launch bays, especially in the halls leading to the Nova cannons. There were more patrols and a large influx of tech priests. Routine maintenance gone wrong, perhaps?

He reached the blast door of the Grand Court and looked at one of the pict recorders on either side of the door. Within ten seconds, the doors ground open and cool air flooded out. He took a step in and the doors slowly closed behind him. Servitors worked tirelessly, monitoring deep space for something he did not get briefed on. Control crews relayed information to the other ships in the fleet, mostly data and such being monitored. Chapter Master Ryus sat indomitably upon his throne, supervising his crew. He turned when he heard the door close and removed himself from his throne and stepped down to where Sylus waited for him.

"Ajax Sylus, Second Judge of the First Company of the New Order. Welcome, old friend," Ryus said, pulling his onyx colored hood up. Sylus knew he was in deep if the Chapter Master used his full title and then pulled his hood up.

"I do not find pleasure in this visit, Taih. I should be on Julla, fighting the Tau along side our brothers, not on your ship, sitting idly," Sylus replied sternly, not letting the Chapter Master intimidate him.

"You know what you did..." Ryus whispered, drawing Sylus close, "And I congratulate you. Marvelous work."

Sylus expected a different choice of words.

"That priest you wooed is practically a damn saint aboard this vessel and on Julla," Ryus said, patting Sylus on the back.

"I do not understand. What do you mean saint?"

"She is the bride of an Angel, Sylus. The men are fighting harder under her teachings and so are you."

Sylus walked over to the wall and leaned up against it for a second. Bride of an Angel..., the words echoed in his head over and over. He had too sit and think about this. Meanwhile, an Arch-Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus strolled into the room with his advisor. A pompousness was about him that Ryus didn't fully understand nor trust. The Arch-Magos spoke with a shrill, mechanical voice.

"I have repaired the mighty Nova cannon artifacts you possess, Lord Astartes," the Arch-Magos exclaimed, bowing before Ryus.

"Excellent work, but I must inform you that simply repairing them isn't enough. They must be improved."

The Arch-Magos took the word "improved" as a clear insult. "Improvement!?" his shrill voice starting to get on Ryus' nerves, "That is Heresy! We do not desecrate the relic of the Omnisiah with-"

The voice was cut short by the ravening bark of a bolt pistol. Ryus holstered his weapon, wiping the metallic bits of cranium off his holy tabard. He turned and addressed the Arch-Magos' Advisor.

"Magos, I have elevated you to Arch-Magos and require you to improve the Nova cannons."

"I obey, Lord Astartes" the Magos said jubilantly, bowing, "Order to the Chaos!"

"So that others may see the Truth," Ryus finished, smiling, "Welcome Arch-Magos to the New Order."

The new Arch-Magos walked off and Ryus turned to Sylus.

"Watch the stars tonight, Ajax. No more shall Xenos run through our fleet and decimate our ships. They cannot hide from us any longer. Not even their stealth technologies can," Ryus proclaimed before turning to his crew, "Watch all evidence of Xenos craft, be it heat, electromagnetism or other fell magicks. If anything comes into range that has not identified itself, you have the full liberty to show them the wrath of our God-Emperor!"

Lilliana clenched her fists and tried to control her rising fury as the report came in from the High Captain of the destruction of one of their scouting vessels the "Spear of Khaine." It's wreckage had been discovered by it's sister ship "Fury of Asuryan", and although there was no indication of who had attacked the ship, Lilliana knew who had perpetrated this crime, their foul signature was all over the wreckage. A demon of Khorne, one that Craftworld Iybraesil was very familiar with had done this, one who was now connected with the Iron Warriors, which in Lilliana's mind was another indication of how low they had sunk. Humans always surprised her with how good some of them could be, and the depths to which some of them could sink, but Archarus kept on surprising her. At that thought she felt Khaine's dark call well up in her soul, demanding that she give in to her anger and kill those who dared stand against the might of the Eldar. With a visible effort she restrained her battle hunger and began to think rationally. While the lost vessel had only had a skeleton crew due to it's damaged systems, its' loss was still a blow to the Eldar's strength in this sector. Thankfully, they had still been able to land on the ship and recover the soul stones of the fallen, but the ship was beyond repair, and so the Eldar had finished what the foul scions of Chaos had started by destroying the remnants. It was not what those noble souls had deserved, but it was all that Lilliana could offer them. As she stood there in silence she came to a conclusion. The Eldar needed allies to take on the many foes they had in this sector. Archarus was one of the few threats that she had received visons of, she had also seen Renegades massing to invade the sector, and a group of renegade Marines. But who would be suitable to assist the Eldar in this sector? Lilliana finally received a vision of the one who would be able to help them and she allowed herself a small smile, they would do perfectly.

Something stirred along the edges of a poorly-lit corridor in the Emperor's Vengeance. Without a sound, a giant stepped from the shadows into the light, his form seemingly melting into existence as a whispered incantation echoed through the hall.

The Sorcerer took a deep, ragged breath. Projecting his mind so far out strained his body more then he cared to admit. His search for the ones who had infiltrated the Remnants' ship had not seen much success in the past weeks, but most of that time had been spent dodging Imperial patrols and the various other forces coming into the system to plunder it. Now that they had temporarily found refuge amidst an asteroid field, he had found time to peer into the void again.

And something had caught his attention.

He did not fully understand what exactly it was that had led him here, but he knew that the reason was two-fold. Two paths, curiously entwined in the halls of this very ship.

The first was perhaps the most subtle. Its presence was in fact more pronounced by its absence. Even though the event that had left its trace here had long since passed, the hushed atmosphere of secrecy had remained, lingering, slowly fading away.

To even know that every emotion, however brief and of whatever nature, left a minimal trace of Warp energy, a miniscule scar in the void, was part of the legacy of the vast oceans of knowledge he had consumed over the course of millennia. He could read the tiny scars and stitches left in the void by the emotions of man, and learn from them things others would never even be able to comprehend.

And so he observed the trace of emotion guiding him forwards. It was a clean, sharp cut; a sign of dogged determination, an iron concentration pushing this individual forwards. The edges were slightly jagged; something had bothered the one who had passed here, as if they were occupied with the thought of being caught.

He hesitated to use the word fear, as he felt no fear within the trace of emotion; in fact, it was fully devoid of it.

An Astartes. Fascinating.

He followed the trace to a server room, where a sense of emptiness radiated from the system's machine spirit. Something was missing, that much was clear; had someone tampered with the records stored here? Here, the trace was more defined, concentration and will visible in its contours. He had seen a similar trace not too long ago.

On the Remnants' ship.

His quarry had been here as well.

Which meant that those who had struck the Remnants were on the Loyalist's side, but their modus operandi hinted at a great many secrets being hidden from the view of both their allies as their enemies. Intruiging, to say the least.

His mind was then drawn to another part of the ship, where a very different form of emotions had risen to his attention. For starters, this was no cold, fading trace; but an active, living one. He ghosted through the ship's halls, following the emotion until he arrived at the door of a human officer's personal quarters.

His psyche slid through the door, carefully materializing again on the other end. There, he found two humans sleeping; a man and a woman. He had seen them before, that much he knew; their names managed to slip his grasp however. As he slowly walked towards the sleeping couple, he sensed the source of emotion that had guided him here.

The woman was expecting new life. A daughter.

Such happiness was a rarity in the galaxy they lived in. But the mere emotion of joy alone had not brought him here. Out of curiosity, he reached out a hand towards the woman.

Before his fingers even got close to her, golden flames wrapped around his hand, scorching his flesh in seconds. He jerked back in pain, his hand glowing hot with ethereal fire. Panting softly, a grin came across the Sorcerer's face.

It seems a higher force has taken you under His wings, little one, he thought, as he mended his burnt fingers. Great things lie ahead for you, that much is certain. And I will be there watching.

And he stepped back out of the room, into the dark halls of the Emperor's Vengeance. Just as he closed his eyes to begin the journey back to his own body, something changed.

Drastically so.

He felt a great pressure bearing down on him, a great psychic force pushing against his mind. He felt a sharp pain in his head, as if something was very deliberately focussing their psychic attention to him. The pressure on his skull increased without end, and he groaned silently in agony. The Emperor's Vengeance's halls flickered and faded, and for a moment, he hung in the middle of the void, drifting in the endless black ocean of space. A bright light appeared in his mind's eye, a white-hot star burning his eyes as it slowly drifted towards him from the edge of the horizon.

He heard it calling, its voice a single tone spoken by a thousand tongues. The galaxy trembled and stars were torn apart, as four words etched themselves into his mind.

The Deep has come.

As good as the original ambush site was, the Scions couldn't use it, they needed to capture a Tau, and it wouldn't be possible to do so there.

Tempestor Atellus transmitted the order to his section and the 10 men silently stalked the small Tau patrol. Scanning the patrol using their facemasks to check on different spectrums, the men ended up detecting two stealth suit escorting the Xenos. This would be trouble, the suits would be hard to track and destroy, but their mobility meant that they had to have men ready to take them should something wrong happened.

Atellus quickly figured out a solution to this, he transmitted his new commands, the men carrying the grenade launchers would be tasked to take out the suits, using the more powerful Krak grenades to ensure quick kills. The rest of the section already had their targets assigned to them and the Tempestor would capture the Xeno himself. If everything went well, however these orders would be uneeded, as the Xeno would be captured with a sound, and the Tau patrol would be none the wiser.

He waited until one firewarrior had to relieve himself away from the rest of his squad to strike. The movement was perfectly executed and it would've silence a human pretty handily, except the target was a firewarrior in combat armor. Atellus was pretty sure he crushed something, as the sound that came out of the xeno could not have been words, Atellus promptly knocked out the Xeno. The gurgling shout was all that was needed to alert the rest of the patrol, and despite Atellus orders, some Tau survived the initial onslaught and called in for reinforcements.

Said reinforcements were far closer than the Scions expected, and it started raining Crisis suits pretty quickly. The advanced sensors of these suits proved troublesome for the Scions, as their advanced sensors would allow the Tau to acquire targets with greater ease. Atellus ordered his men to concentrate fire on the larger targets, but even so, he saw at least two of his men cut down by the incoming plasma fire. Another man died as he tried to subdue a firewarrior, who detonated his grenades and took the man with him in dead.

Despite these setbacks, even the Crisis suits wouldn't be able to stop the elite of the Impeirum, and they fell under the barrage of hellgun fire and grenades. With the last Tau dead, Atellus ordered his men back around him, it was then that he saw that some of his armors were blackened and battered, one man was missing an arm, but one of his comrade had staunched the bleeding. The attack went poorly, in the Tempestor eye, but they had captured a Xeno.

''This will not go unpunished, look for a map and dataslates, anything we can use, remove proof of our existence, once you're done, I'll need the two of you who are in the best shape to carry our prisoner, we'll extract him back aboard the Swift Guardian once we get coordinates'' with that final order given, Atellus smashed the Tau legs with his hellgun.


------Back in Section 3 cache------

''Temepstor, I am not sure what you did to that poor Xeno, but he's not gonna be able to talk right for some time'' said the Scion taked with overseeing the captured firewarrior.

Atellus grunted ''This... would've worked well on a human, no noise, no permanent damage... well lesson's learned, if anything, we'll run capture and subdue drills using that xeno, that kind of mistake cannot be repeated again''

''Might have to try chemicals, unreliable tho they might be, its better than to have them alerted like that''

''I'll consider it, meanwhile, call the Tempestus Secundus, schedule a meet up so that we may exfil the Xeno and what we recovered aboard our ships''

''It'll be done, Tempestor''

The broken chamber was long abandoned within the great vessel Naraka, and now only a giant sat within. A giant in black and red armor, with his elegant cape pooled behind him. He sat behind a broken column, resting his hands on the tome that lay upon it. The pages were slathered in a chaotic mix of ink, blood, and other fluids extracted from the slaves below in the holds. It was a magnificent passage, written in the throes of one of his trances, but now came the arduous struggle to master its meaning.

"Lost in the mists of madness, are we?"

The voice was a haunting, siren tone, but A'khel knew its bearer, and knew better than to acknowledge her with so much as a glance. He continued, his three eyes keenly fixed on the pages before him.

"The Lord has spoken." It was a statement, not a question.

Silk poured from her words. "He has. We will transit within the day. The system is in bedlam, none will stand before us. "

"You have pride that he spoke to you of this."

"Of course. He still will not see you, sorcerer." The arrogance in her words was thick like tar. "You are but His eyes, while I am His voice."

A'khel allowed himself a small smile. "A blind man will always wander. But a voiceless man can still be king."

A blur of motion, though he did not flinch, and suddenly her voice was a spiteful viper hissing in his ear. "And what do you see with your wretched eye?"

A'khel set his mind to ignore her, but images began to coalesce from the madness scribbled across the page. His giant hand stroked the page, tending the madness like a freezing man would a flame, straining to look past the bile and paper to the message behind it. His great third eye began to throb with pain, and he heard Nagana back away slowly. Raising the book to eye level, he blew across it, scattered acidic spittle across the parchment, where it boiled in small patches. At last, the images became clear.

"An iron blade. An iron wall." He paused, inclining his head slightly. "And an iron king."

* * * *



++ALL VESSELS COMMENCE TRANSIT++
++FIGHTERS LOADED WEAPONS TO FULL++
++THE STARS WILL BLEED THIS DAY++

++DESPOILER BATTLESHIP NARAKA COMMENCING TRANSIT++
++STYX CRUISER HIVE ENTERING REALSPACE++
++MURDER CRUISERS BLOODSPEAR AND NIGHTBLOOD ARMED++
++HADES CRUISER WOLFSBANE WITH FIRE AND BLOOD++
++ACHERON CRUISER DAEMONSOUL WILL SERVE THE FLAYED LORD++
++DEVASTATION CRUISERS INVIOLATE AND CORPUS NOX CHARGED++
++CARNAGE CRUISER FINAL GASP ENGAGING++
++AVARICE ESCORT GROUP READY TO SERVE++

Conrax sprinted down the hallways of the Warpath Furnace.

The Deep has Come

He shoved past serfs and patrols that just said something under their breath as he ran by. Did they not know the grave danger? How could they not know! He leapt up the leagues of stairs to get to the main observatory, the Chapter Master's personal prayer room. Chapter Master Ryus must know! He knocked down a serf carrying tomes of some kind. The serf scolded him for his haste, but Conrax did not bother to listen. He reached the heavy door to the observatory and heaved it open. Inside he found what could only be described as a nightmare. His master, Lord of the New Order, Watcher of the Hassassins, was knelt amidst a pile of texts that had been hastily searched through for answers. Ryus' eyes burned their bright jade as he called out to the God-Emperor.

"Lord Ryus!?" Conrax called, both physically and psychically, praying Ryus was not lost to the denizens.

"THE DEEP! The deep has come!" the Watcher called out in a psychic shriek so great that it caused the telepathic choirs to convulse from seizures, "We are doomed..."

* * *

Raela searched the Tau compound endlessly for Jumper, her Warp spider. When she could not find him, she retired for the night and composed her energy into 'Dinner' for the Twins. She had just crawled into bed when a wave of psychic energy hit her like a battleship.

The Deep has come!

She cried out in agony and wept, the pain flooding her senses. The Twins quickly responded and laid the incapacitated inquisitor on her back. The Twins looked at each other in panic. They had never been trained to deal with this situation.

Meanwhile, Lu heard a voice that was not psychic, nor physical. It was his own kin. The Hive was calling to him. He blocked it out and made his blight known to Enigma and 'Ard Finker, who were versed in how to deal with the circumstances before them.

"I hear it calling, restrain me!" Lu's thought to speech device hissed, pain evident in its tone. Without a second thought, Enigma engaged a failsafe should Lu lose control of himself. Enigma jabbed a syringe with a powerful sedative that should render the Lictor in to a comatose state within seconds. Lu, having received this sedative, promptly crashed to the floor.

"We'ze in sum big stuff, Bluie" 'Ard Finker said, moving to the door to tell the Inquisitor.

"Indeed, Be'gel. The Great Devourer comes...," Enigma replied, dread filling his thoughts, "We are not safe."

The one who was known as Jumper sighed as he set his small vessel on course to intercept one of the Eldar vessels. It had been so long since had been amongst his kin, and now he was going to see them again. In a way it felt surreal, and for the first time since he had been forced to leave he felt a sense of trepidation. He knew that he would face scrutiny from those on board once he jumped in, for the Eldar were a cautious race, and would not believe his story easily. Even though he had once lead the Warhosts of Iybraesil into battle as their Autarch many a time they would still not believe him, so he needed to talk to whoever it was that was leading this force. As long as it was not HER he believed that he would be able to plead his case. Whether they knew it or not the Eldar would need the assistance that Inquitial Raela could provide them, and the New Order and Raela needed the psychic might and speed that only the Eldar could provide, he needed to make them understand the necessity of it. He just prayed that Raela would forgive him once his insubordination was discovered, Raela was unpredictable at the best of times, but Jumper knew that she was an intelligent woman, once he explained the benefits of the alliance to her she would accept it. As his ship neared the maximum warp jump range Jumper stood up in his chair and went to check on his equipment one last time before he made the jump. First he picked up the Reaper launcher that he had been given by his brothers of the Dark Reapers upon his ascension to Autarch. The memory made him smile sadly as he recalled the day he had been forced to leave, and those he had left behind..... he shook himself, now was not the time to be lost in introspection. He then picked up his helmet, and examined the Mandiblasters that he had been given by his brothers in the Striking Scorpions. Once he was certain that they were functioning he went to check on the last, and most vital, piece of equipment. The Warp Jump generator that he had received from the Warp Spiders. This is what would enable him to get onto the vessel of his kin without his own vessel being shot and left to die in the void. His inspection complete Jumper stood up and made ready for the jump. As always he felt a rush as his generator cut a hole in the fabric of reality and for a split second he was in the otherness of the warp as he raced to his destination. Then he landed in the meditation chamber that was often used by Farseers on the ships. Then Jumper realized that he was not alone in the room. He was surrounded by many Aspect Warriors, more specifically Exarchs. Most of them had their helmets off and were regarding him coldly, what was worse was the fact that he recognized all of them, having served alongside most of them for years. Then he saw the Farseer. Clad in the elaborate robes and bearing a wtich staff the Farseer stepped forward through the crowd and regarded Jumper. She had still not removed his Ghosthelm, and Jumper felt what seemed to be recognition. It couldn't be, SHE could not be here, Iybraesil would not dare send her to this madness. But then the Farseer moved to remove her helmet, and Jumper was filled with dread as he gazed upon the visage of Lilliana, whose cool violet eyes regarded him with a sense of coldness that had never been there before. Out of all of the loved ones he had left behind back on the Craftworld, it had killed him the most to leave her, for he could not tell her why he had abandoned her. They had been destined to be wed before Jumper had been forced to leave, and he knew instinctually that she still bore great anger towards him as she stood there. Then Jumper suddenly felt his limbs become immobile as Lilliana pinned him in place with her mind. And then she finally spoke.

"Did you think that I would not see your arrival?" she asked coldly "did you just think you could waltz in her unexplained and be forgiven as if nothing had happened?" She paced slowly around him as she continued "You left the Craftworld, you left ME, and now you return, as if nothing had happened? You will explain yourself to me Korvel, and if you do not do so to my satisfaction I will crush you like the insignificant bug you are!" At the mention of his real name Jumper's mind reeled, after he had left the Craftworld and joined Raela's employ he had gone by the nickname "Jumper" in an attempt to escape from the pain of his past. And now it was all coming back to him as he heard that one word. At that last comment her eyes seemed to ignite, as if a fire had been lit behind them. She finally relaxed her power enough so that he could speak. "I do not return for nothing Lilliana, I come with a proposition. " Lilliana's eyes narrowed at his reply "And why should I listen to anything you have to say Korvel? Why should I not just put you out of the airlock like you so righteously deserve?" After a moment Jumper responded "Because I know you, and because you always have put the safety of our kind above all, and what I have to say could help save many precious Eldar lives." Lilliana's eyes narrowed again, and Jumper knew that his comment had been right on target. That had been one the things that he had loved about her, her sheer dedication to getting the Eldar back on their feet. While many of their contemporaries lost themselves in contemplation and depression over their race's plight, Lilliana had always searched for ways to improve it. She finally relaxed her power enough to let him stand back on his feet and he stood and took off his own helmet so he could look her firmly in the eye, and he realized that his love for her had not faded over the years. She had been the hardest one to leave, and he could see that his betrayal had hurt her deeply. He just hoped that he would be able to make things right with her, no matter what Raela did. After a few silence filled moments Lilliana finally spoke once more "Fine, I will listen to your proposal, but ONLY because it might benefit the Eldar!" And with that Lilliana spun on her heel and began to walk towards the assembly chamber, and Jumper followed, trailed by some of the Howling Banshee Exarchs, who had their hands glued to the hilts of their weapons. Jumper sighed, if he survived this it would be nothing short of a miracle.

*Later*
Jumper sat back down in the pilot's chair of his vessel and began to fly back towards the landing zone established by the New Order. It had been difficult to convince Lilliana that meeting with Raela was necessary, but he had finally done it. She had agreed to discuss a potential alliance with Raela, and now Jumper just had to convince Raela herself that allying with the Eldar could benefit her Imperium. It had been so hard to see those eyes that had once regarded him with love now filled with anger and betrayal, but Jumper had suffered it anyway. Maybe a part of him still hoped that there could be a future between him and Lilliana, and that was why he had insisted on her meeting Raela. It was probably foolishness to do so, but he had done it anyway. As the ship took him back towards the planet he silently wondered when fate had decided to put so much of a burden on him.

Oracheis sat before his array of screens, taking in all of their hordes of information at once. He had to dedicate several different of his computers and dozens of his servitors to collecting as much information as he could on the necrons of Kageros. He had not do found as much as the Warsmith would have wanted, but the necrons were not the kind to leave their history available to everyone.

Another of his computers was currently deciphering a message from Gadnuk, and the rest of the Wuldgrund WAAAAGH. It seemed they needed help with something, possibly that great ship of theirs. Oracheis couldn't be sure, especially when dealing with orks as unpredictable as a Kommando.

Perhaps he would have found out more on the orks' needs, had it not been for a new entity overriding his daemonic engines that served as the power for his masterful technology.

The Deep has come.

The message blared in Oracheis' mind, and forced any other thought from him. Several computers were overheating from the message, and Oracheis had to empty his mind of all thoughts for them to finally stabilize.

The message came again, and Oracheis was forced to disconnect his mind entirely from the database to be rid of it.

The Deep has come.

Oracheis knew the Warsmith would want to know about the Deep, if he had not felt a warning himself. He could feel the daemons trashing out at the threat, but could do nothing against it. They longed to be free of their bindings, and strike the attackers. Even if the Iron Warrior wanted them free, he wasn't sure if daemons would be enough to ward off this new threat. He would have much work to do ahead of him.

Gallus followed the Astartes to his leader, not sure what to expect. What he got was so far out of what he could've imagined, an Inquisitor surrounded by Xenos! He almost forgot to turn off the safety of his plasma pistol, before he could take a shot, the Marine flanking him had put an oversized hand on his arm ''No'' he simply said. Gallus glared at him, his expression unreadable behind his combat mask, he briefly considered activating his powerfist and slamming the Astartes with it, but it would be a poor way to start his newfound alliance, and so he holstered his weapon and introduced himself.

''I am Tempestor Prime Gallus Tauron, 85th Battalion, my men have been ordered to support your actions here, they're deploying as we speak''

''Inquisitor Raela, I doubt you'll want to know the rest''

Gallus nodded, took out a dataslate and carried on ''I've deployed my men behind the Tau, typical pincer manoeuver you could say, my men aren't much for frontline combat, but we're good at getting in where we shouldn't, we'll figure out where you need strike, when, with what force, and we'll kill whatever the Tau send to counter attack, my men are currently setting a camp deep in the forest''

Raela nodded ''Anything else''

''I've left my Tempestus Secundus in charge of this operation, he needs more time as commander and this seemed like a simple enough mission, I'll be staying around as a liaison, for our forces, anything else''

''No, keep me informed, dismissed''


------A few days later------

''What is it, Tempestor?'' asked the Inquisitor

''I have a report you might find interesting, shortly after our first successful recon mission, we were attacked, not by Tau''

''Who then''

Gallus waved his powerfist at the Twin ''Their kin, we gathered sigils for intelligence purposes, I'll have them transfered to you if you so wish, some of my men were captured, we used their tracking gear to find them, I can attach the coordinates as well''

''Mhmm, the Inquisition resources far outweight yours, its true, send the sigils, I'll see if I can find anything you could use, leave, for now, Tempestor''



------Sometime after the last report, aboard the Swift Guardian------
''Captain, sir, something's wrong with the Astropath'' said a nervous rating

The Captain sighted ''What now'' only bad things happened when the words wrong and Astropath were used together ''What's wrong with her?''

''Nasty headaches, I mean the kind she don't get usually, some gibberish about the warp, vomiting, too''

''Keep a good eye on her, are you quite done?''

''One last thing, she mentionned a phrase she keeps on hearing''

''What is it?''

''The Deep has Come''

The ork slave ship prepared to make touch down on the warp touched world that the Iron Warriors called their fortress. Millennia of perfecting siege combat made them expert defense engineers second only to the loyalist dogs that were the Imperial fist, though not one among them would concede the fact. They hunted for every possible weakness that could be exploited and fortified it so much that none would be so foolish to attack. Gadnuk was impressed, he knew that taking this place would not be easy for anyone who tried, most boyz would be ripped to shreds before they even hit the ground. Thankfully Archarus was not the ork’s enemy. While they had been doing business since after the destruction of Gallor Prime, the two had never met face to face.

The ship touched down and the boarding ramp opened. Gadnuk descended the steps followed by the small retinue of captives. Archarus stood at the bottom awaiting the orks. Archarus spoke first “You must be Gadnuk, I must say anyone with the skill to bring the wily Eldar to their knees is worthy enough to meet me.” Gadnuk spoke carefully to not offend, he had prior dealings with Chaos ladz, and he knew how to speak to them “And you must be Archarus, glad to get to meet my generous benefactor.” Archarus spoke with a great deal of suspicion “I must say ork you have come a long way ork to sell so few slaves.” Gadnuk grinned attempting to not anger the chaos lord “Da slaves are a gift, a diplomatic offering if you will.” Archarus laughed “I’m sorry did you just use the word diplomacy; I was not aware your kind could comprehend such a word.” Gadnuk was angered he detested the arrogance of humiez and chaos arrogance was a thousand times worse, but the ork kept his cool “You see boss I think you’d find what we are offering to be beyond equitable.” Archarus mag locked his helm to his hip to make his expression visible, the chaos lord spoke condescendingly “Alright ork, what are your terms of alliance.” Gadnuk remained cool “The mighty Nox Warprida requires the expertise of you and yer ladz, our ship is stuck in orbit around Wuldgrund. In exchange for your assistance we’d be happy to help you in yer fight against the Eldar pansies.” Archarus face went from amusement to anger “How did you know that I am at war with the Eldar.” Gadnuk grinned “I’ve got spies within your organization.” Archarus growled “You think me stupid ork, I would know if one of my own betrayed me, and I think I’d notice orks running about on my planet.” Gadnuk smiled wickedly “You sure about that.”

Gadnuk snapped his figures. A few moments later the back panel on the power pack of one of the Iron warriors that guarded Archarus began to shake. The panel came loose and freeing himself from his supply pack was Sleekit Gadnuk’s most trusted grot operative. The Gretchen gave a sloppy salute and scampered over to the nob. Archarus looked to the helmeted marine, the Iron Warrior spoke quickly “My lord I had no idea.” Archarus shouted “You incompetent dog!” The chaotic Lord threw his fist into the tainted marine’s helmet. The marine fell to the earth unconscious from the mighty blow. Gadnuk spoke bluntly “So we got a deal or what.” Archarus was intrigued by the ork “I would have to meet with this warp rider before I decide whether or not your lot are worth my time. If I find you worthy, I would perhaps consider an alliance.” Gadnuk grinned “Alright then bring the ladz you think you will need to fix da kruza up with and meet us at these at Wuldgrund. We’ll be orbiting da planet so we shouldn’t be so hard to find.” The ork turned to leave and rejoined the rest of the orks aboard the ship. The cultists taking custody of the motley prisoners the orks gifted them.

As Gadnuk left ear shot Keb’Hal approached Archarus from behind. The demon spat “How in khone’s name do you plan to become a champion of the blood god if you let the orks do your dirty work.” Archarus snarled “Silence the orks are but a shield to distract our foes. They are but a tool for our greater plan.” The demon laughed “Perhaps, but do not forget to sate our blood lust. I have put a lot of faith in you Archarus do not fail me.” Archarus turned his back to the demon, there was still much work to be done.

A few days later aboard the Looted Ork Battle Ship

The Doof had returned from the would be diplomacy mission with Gadnuk and his men. Being in the Warp rift left him feeling refreshed. The ork had converted one of the ships lesser storage rooms into his personal sanctuary. A place where he could test his psychic Eavy Metal. The Doof was playing when out of nowhere a bolt of pain shot from his skull to his spine. Like a trail of warp fire that wounded his vary existence. The shaman shrieked as the vision flashed before his eyes.

A ocean of beasts scuttling seeking consuming. A feral shriek broke then the words rang in his soul.

“The Deep Has Come”

The Doof awoke sometime later, he was on his back standing over him was Dok Krusha. The pain boy quickly set aside a pair of pliers intended to extract a tip from his unconscious patient “Oh zog you ain’t dead.” The Doof’s head was throbbing “What happened.” The Dok spoke “You’ve been unconscious for hours.” The Shaman stood “I had a vision, a bunch of bug fings and words. Da deep haz come” The Dok scratched his bald head “It sounds like warp business you ask me, but that would be yer field of expertise not mine. Anyhow Boss Nox wanted to speak to you when you woke up.” Without another word the ork stood to his feet and headed for the bridge to speak with his boss. The Weirdboy searched for meaning in what he saw. Was this another vision from Mork? The last one was so different. What would he do? Who could he tell, Nox, Gadnuk? Could they even understand? The Doof thought it best to keep this information to himself at least for now.

The Doof entered the bridge and awaiting him there was Nox and Gadnuk. Nox grinned wildly as the Doof entered “Glad ta see yer up and kicking, you alright.” The shaman spoke “Nevah better boss.” Nox looked at the assembled crew and spoke “Since I first laid eyes on this tub I had a singe question. What would I name such a mighty vessel? Then it came to me in the night in a dream. Da Blade of Mork, in honor of da great green god who put me on this glorious war path.” The orks smiled The Blade of Mork had a nice ring to it.

The Crusade was in danger.
Even more so than ever before. The probing strikes that the Ultramarines' 3rd Company had been repelling had been a mere precursor, and Zonand cursed himself for not realising it sooner. According to reports, every front of the Crusade had been attacked, as well as the enemies attacking it. It seemed that these Hybrids were not aligned to any force already opposed by the might of the Imperium.

It had struck without warning, first hitting the Imperial fleet stationed around Kagrenz. Recently reinforced by other Ultramarines, General Pavus and Captain Julius' men blunted and repelled the irresistible horde, expertly marshalling the Navy fleet sent to support them. Boarding actions, ship-to-ship rammings, daring feints and dives: Zonand had heard it all. The initial attack had been a success, but a costly one, as the dead of both the Ultramarines and Faustian troops was huge. Their corpses littered hallways of their ships, piled nearby the pale white corpses of Fog Creatures. Both commanders put aside their distrust of the other to mourn for the passing of the other's troops.
The Cadians of the 13th Regiment were also hit hard by Hybrid forces as they attempted to pull civilians out of harm's way on Sandfall. The Cadians fought a desperate battle against the tide, shrinking back their perimeter as the beasts closed in. Their last stand was at where Aurelius had previously killed Warboss Skulkrusha months ago, now littered in Cadian bodies. As the final troopship came to evacuate the last soldiers on world, the Hybrids began to pull away too, leaving the Cadian dead for the crows, as they moved on to assault the New Order.

Minutes after the first contact had been made, the Warpath Furnace of the New Order had confirmed engagement. Against Crusade recommendations, cyclonic torpedoes had been fired by the indomitable fleet. Their commander, Ryus, made it very clear that the xenos would be afforded no quarter by the New Order. Zonand had his concerns: mainly that if they proved to be too resilient and revealed all their tricks to the enemy, the Hybrid fleet would simply adapt and eradicate the New Order's forces.
Ryus hadn't paid the Lord General any concern, and even went so far as to allow a few ships onto Julla to try and wipe out the native Tau. All reports showed that very few of the Hybrid creatures lasted long against the Tau's concentrated fire, expertly marshalled by Shas'O Voidspider. Zonand made a mental note to request more data on this commander.

Tempestor Prime Gallus was less than happy, being forced to watch as his men were slaughtered like animals by the Hybrids. Many Scions drowned or suffocated as water vapour clogged up their rebreathers, and others attempted to escape the seeping water, only to be caught and gutted. Only the best of the regiment had made it through the night. The battalion still stood, but tenuously. Gallus would be out for blood from the New Order.

Mall was also assaulted, descended upon by the Hybrid forces. The Histian troops formed the vanguard of the defence in the void, but the overwhelming force of the Hybrid attack left the Histians battered and beaten, forced to abandon the Dawn Strider forces below. Both aspects of the Dawn Striders and their auxiliaries, the Dawn Guard, fought hard defend the fleeing Histians, slowing the irresistible onslaught of the Hybrids. However, the Dawn Striders were too proud, too eager to succeed where the Histians had failed. They sallied out to take the fight to the Fog Creatures. In moments, they were cut off by thick fog, and systematically annihilated. Only the cautious but firm advance of the Dawn Guard saved their masters from certain death in the fog.

Mall was lost, overwhelmed in the fog.

After Julla and Sandfall, came Crusade Command itself. A tendril had snaked around, and part split off, heading straight for Crusade Command assets. However, the warnings afforded by Julius and Ryus had given Acting-Captain Aurelius chance to prepare. Asteroid fields from Gallor's destruction were mined and rigged to detonate, fields which the Hybrids would be forced to pass through. As the alien fleet was caught from in front and behind by explosives or macro-cannon bombardment, other ships rose up from the bottom of the battlezone, ripping into the underside of the Hybrid vessels. They were slaughtered like the beasts they were. Mere minutes after the last ship had been pulverised, Aurelius was all too eager to contact Captain Julius and Lord-Marshall Karak to tell them of his "avenging of Kagrenz's valourous dead".

The Adeptus Mechanicus forces that had been pledged arrived far too late to be warned, with the psychic disturbance preventing them from being warned of the bloodbath they were entering. As soon as they left Warp, Hybrid creatures assailed their ships, boarding them in an orgy of blood and vapour. Many hundreds of Skitarii were killed before the Head Magos overrode the airlock controls on his vessel and retreated to the successfully defended Crusade Command.

The main north tendril had continued to snake around the Imperial front, until piercing through Imperial lines on the Eastern front. Here, they were met by Black Templar and Krieg soldiers, entrenched on a front of minor worlds and moons to end the tendril's conquest here. Both forces held off admirably, and drove the last front of the Hybrid fleet. The assault was over.

But the Imperium had bled dearly, oh so dearly. All forces that had taken part were depleted, either in men, resources or both. This had hit the Crusade hard, blunted it on all fronts. Losses amongst the PDF forces on the Eastern front had been very great, despite the Black Templars' insistence that no xenos had gotten past the final defence line. The mauled bodies deep in the hive said otherwise. Clearly, either the Templars were lying, or something was afoot, Zonand thought.
Where the Imperium's assault into the Charadon System had once been a red-hot knife, it was now a mace, blunt, broad and incapable of success unless it worked as one. Zonand groaned. The forces under his command were so disjointed, so distrusting of eachother. Only a handful of troops had successfully built up bonds of comradeship, Karak's Black Templars and Ultramarines under both Captains, and the Ultramarines and Ajuran's Death Ravens, but the others had not developed in such a way. If they continued to remain as divided as they did, it would be impossible for the crusade to progress any more.

Was that a bad thing? Dozens of worlds had been brought back into Imperial dominance, alongside all of the resources. Archeotech and Chaos relics had been recovered by the Deathwatch throughout the Gallor Campaign, and the industrial world of Arcturia had been supplying the legendary froststeel material to the entire Imperial Eastern Fringe. Had this all been a failure? Had his accomplishments been for nothing? Even with all these worlds behind him, the High Lords of Terra would not hesitate to depose him and put that swine Pavus in his place, should he fail to push further in.

For a moment, Kruger Zonand flirted with the idea of stopping. Holding his ground, defying the assailants from both without and within. Of course, it would be better to have a centralised command in the region. It should be him, the man who spearheaded the Crusade and reclaimed it from the void. He would be the central commander, the governor of his own sector. Yes, he liked the sound of that. But to keep up with the Imperium's relentless tithe, to keep losing resources. Would the Imperium rather bleed their own forces dry than have have them defend their rightful land? It would be better to secede, to be independent. He could do much better, with a centralised, smaller realm, less mouths to feed, less mouths to silence. He would be better than the High Lords themselves, plotting and running their gnarled old hands over ancient stars, deciding the fates of planets they'd never heard of before. Zonand truly cared. He would stand by his people, and defend them from the dying Imperium's wrath. He was Lord General of this Crusade, commander of billions of Guardsmen, Astartes and Mechanicum.

Commander of billions of Guardsmen, Astartes and Mechanicum, but not their master. If he turned, tried to make his rule over his rightful realm absolute, he would be hunted down and killed by the men he once held dear. His own friends, Aurelius, Karak and Julius, would turn on him like rabid dogs. Pavus would have the victory he always wanted. He couldn't have it: he was unworthy of it. But Zonand would need to prove his rightful place. Yes, prove it, then take it when his dominance was assured. But these "Hybrids" would have to be stopped. With them, the Crusade would never continue. Without continuation, there would be no glory.

Kruger Zonand beckoned to a scribe in the room outside.
"Scribe! Send would out to the Imperial forces. Command each to send an envoy to me within the week. We must negotiate our aims for this Crusade. My Crusade."

The scribe bowed low in his robe, and hurried out, already typing into his dataslate. Zonand reached over to his desk for the half empty bottle of Arcturian Icefeller spirit, and took a swig from the bottle. He'd been putting more of the incredibly potent ethanol into his system since the attempt on his life. The medicae personnel disagreed with his choice of liquid.

"Feth 'em," thought the Lord General as he took another swig. "The Deep has come."

Alarm klaxons wailed all along the Ultramarines fleet as the main bulk of the Hybrid fleet approached. Weapons were triple checked, armor was sealed, and rites were done as the Ultramarines fleet prepared for what could be the most vital battle in this sector. Every single vessel was ready, Julius just hoped that the Ultramarines could hold the Hybrids back long enough for the rest of the Imperial forces to prepare themselves, but he could already see splinter fleets moving through the system. There was no way for the Ultramarines to engage them without losing all fleet cohesion in the face of the bulk of the Hybrid fleet. No, they could help their allies best by holding the bulk of the Hybrids here, Julius just prayed that it would be enough. To be ready he had ordered the entirety of the 3rd company to be spread out throughout the Battle Barge to repel any potential boarders. With one last look at the splinter fleets Julius sent a signal to the rest of the captains in the fleet to get into battle formation, it was time for the Hybrids to feel the wrath of the Emperor. The next few hours were some of the most trying of the young Captain's life. Not only did he have to coordinate the battle in the void, but he also had to coordinate the defense of his own ship. Numerous times the Hybrids had launched boarding parties at the Battle Barge, perhaps sensing that it was the lynchpin of the Imperial fleet, Assault Centurion Cohorts Tyrius and Factus had been crucial to the defense of the ship. Each time the aliens launched a charge they were met by the siege drills and flamers of the Assault Centurions, beating them back with flame and fury. Those that escaped the vengeance of the Centurions were met by the disciplined boltgun fire of the Tactical Squads, who had been deployed throughout the ship. Julius himself had been present to aid in the defense, adding his skill at arms to the defense. Those precious few aliens who survived that maelstrom of death were finally met by the vengeful weapons of Assault Squad Ixion, who's numbers had been badly reduced on Kagrenz. With flame and fury the aliens were pushed back metre by metre, until the last xeno was put to the torch in "Honor's" landing bay. The Ultramarines had not gotten off scot free; however, both of the Assault Centurion Cohorts had been badly battered, as they had taken the brunt of each alien charge. Their numbers would be reinforced by the members of Assault Squad Ixion, each of whom had experience piloting the Centurion Warsuits. All in all the 3rd's losses had been mercifully light, only about 10 brothers in total had been lost. Julius thanked the Emperor for that. But even after the boarding assault had been repelled he had to return to organizing the war in the void, where the Ultramarines and allies fleet had battered the Hybrids to a standstill, until the Hybrids eventually pulled back after being horribly mauled by the vengeful guns of the Imperial fleet. Julius knew the Hybrids hadn't been defeated, oh no, but at least they had been forced to pull back. Julius did not dare tally the number of lives lost at the moment, he was just thankful few of them had been from amongst his brothers. As he stood on the bridge In his damaged armor a message came from the Lord General requesting that envoys be sent from each Imperial Force, Krueger was calling a council. Julius immediately got the feeling that this would be important, so he ordered a message to be sent back in the affirmative, and then he began to make arrangements for his brothers to continue their patrols in order to keep the Hybrids back. He decided to bring Tactical Squad Solonius along with him as an impromptou Honor Guard. That done, Julius began to pray that the issues plaguing the Crusade could be solved at this council, if not Julius feared that the Crusade would shudder to a stop.

Ryus applauded himself for his tactical genius. How stupid could these bugs be? He lured them out into the open void where his fleet pummeled the buggers to meaty pieces. He watched his fleet mop up a few stragglers from his main observatory as he picked up his floor. In his rush to find more knowledge about his enemy, he literally tore the room apart. He idly picked up a book from the floor and dusted it off. "Beasts of M38" was its title. Funny how similar these creatures were to Tyranids... Strikingly similar... But he could care less now that they were out of his Void-space. He continued to pick up books, reading each title for some reason or another. He vaguely heard the door open and close behind him.

"My Lord, one of my agents pursued an objective without my authorization. He came back an hour ago..."

Ryus turned and faced the short form of Raela. He noted how pale she looked compared to her usual bronze-coloured skin, a common trait of those native to Kattifrakk. She hastily put a white handkerchief to her nose and it came back stained red. Clearly a sign of psychic backwash from Ryus.

"I wanted to sit and listen to what he had to say Lord, but I have not been well as of late. The voices claw at my mind and I am focused on keeping them out. I hope you can forgive me."

"It is fine, Raela. I should have restrained my psyche yesterday. I greatly apologize for any inconvenience... However, I would like to hear from your agent as I have sent Judge Sylus to the surface to recall our forces and loot any technology they can carry. I am leaving Julla for the Bugs," Ryus said, still absent-mindedly picking up books. Raela wiped the blood from her nose again and Ryus drew his bolt pistol slowly, "You have the voices under control, yes? You are much to valuable to be gunned down right now."

"Actually my Lord, your assistance would be appreciated," she smiled back, not bothering to staunch the sparse trail of blood from her nose this time. Ryus walked over and put his hand on her head, closing his eyes. His other hand was raised towards the ceiling. He murmured a silent prayer to the God-Emperor for deliverance. Only a moment went by before Raela collapsed in his arms, her thoughts being cleared from the fog and the voices. Her colour returned to her skin slowly and the blood stopped. Ryus allowed a smile across his face and he looked toward the door. A slim figured dressed in black was waiting for him.

"Korvel. Did you ally with the Eldar?" Ryus projected psychically, laying the unconscious Raela on the floor.

"They were reluctant... They were my people, Lord Ryus... Lilliana was with them..." Jumper replied physically.

"If they are your people, return to them. You have played your part and I will inform you when you are needed. Return to your life, Korvel."

The Autarch turned promptly and left the room. He dearly hoped his beloved Lilliana would welcome him with open arms, but he knew it was more likely he would not be welcomed at all.

Lilliana sat in her meditation chamber onboard the "Flame of Isha" and stared at the holo picture that she had brought with her. It was a picture of her and Korvel, taken just before he had left her, she had intended it to be a gift of sorts to him. After his betrayal Lilliana hadn't had the heart to get rid of it, so It had instead sat in a drawer in her quarters, and until now she had been able to put the picture, and the memories associated with it, out of her mind. But with Korvel's return all of those memories had come back, along with the associated feelings and now Lilliana was torn. Part of her still wanted to hate him with every iota of her being for the pain he had brought her and the Craftworld. But part of her was just overjoyed that he had returned to her. She was a Farseer by Khaine! She shouldn't be mooning over a male like a love-sick child, but yet she was. She sighed and put her head in her hands and stared at the deck-plating. After his disappearance most on Iybraesil had presumed him to be dead, including Lilliana. But then it was revealed that he had been alive and well, and Lilliana's grief had turned into anger. But now? Now she was conflicted, and a Farseer could not afford that, they were supposed to be the cool and collected ones, the Eldar depended on the abilities of her and her brethren on the Witch Path, she couldn't be distracted, not now! She was jolted out of her reverie when she felt a sudden disturbance in the warp, she had just enough time to shield her mind before it was blasted with wave upon wave of psychic force. Shakily she made her way to her feet then she began a stumbling run towards the bridge of the "Flame of Isha" something was coming, something big, and the Eldar needed to be prepared for it's coming. She sprinted towards the bridge, drawing stares from the crew onboard the ship, they knew that if a Farseer was sprinting somewhere, it usually meant that something was coming, so they immediately began making their way towards their action stations. When Lilliana burst her way onto the bridge, she found that it was already a mess of motion as the crew ran back and forth examing the readouts from their stations and reporting it back to the High Captain, who sat in her chair and read all the reports as they came in. "You sensed it too?" the High Captain asked softly as she turned to regard Lilliana. "Yes" Lilliana replied, "something is coming, something big." The High Captain nodded as she gestured to where the Eldar fleet was arraying for battle "We don't know what they are yet, but preliminary reports indicate that they are something related to Tyrannids." Lilliana shuddered at the mention of those foul creatures. The High Captain continued on "Our estimated time until contact is 1 hour, I would recommend saving your power Farseer, we're going to need it very soon." Lilliana nodded at the High Captain's last statement and sat down calmly on another nearby chair and meditated, all of her worries and problems surrounding HIM dissipating from her mind, she would worry about those another time.

Lilliana and the High Captain shared a grimace as the Hybrid and Eldar fleets backed off from each other. Thanks to the advance warning they had received from Lilliana and the forward sentry ships the Eldar had been well prepared when the Hybrid fleet had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The initial battle had gone well in the Eldar's favor as their faster ships had torn chunks out of the slow, bulky alien vessels. The other Captains had slowly become more daring, using their extreme speed to zoom close to one of the alien vessels and unleashing a barrage of weapons fire before dancing out of the way of any return strikes, and for a while this had gone well. But even the Eldar could only go so long without making a mistake, and so Lilliana had been forced to watch as the "Bow of Kurnous" had been a micro second too slow in one of it's dodges, and had taken a gout of bio acid that had melted a jagged hole in it's hull, condemning many of it's crew to a painful death. After that the Eldar had been much more cautious, using their speed to stay towards the maximum weapons range they had and punishing the foe from a distance. While this undoubtedly saved a great deal of lives, it also made it difficult for the Eldar to engage the aliens, and eventually the two fleets had backed off from each other, as if sizing up their foe once more. The Hybrids had backed off, and work had begun to repair the damage wrought upon the Eldar vessels. Most had only received minor damage, and so the work on them proceeded quickly. One of the ships the "Bow of Kurnous" had sustained heavy damage; however, and would require a fair bit more time to repair. The same vessel had also been the only one to sustain losses during the engagement, to the great shame of it's captain. 100 precious Eldar lives had been lost, 100, the very thought made Lilliana's blood boil, and she again felt the beginnings of battle lust build up in her mind. She forced herself to calm down. The Eldar had underestimated their foe this time, they would not make the same mistake next time.

After relocating their surviving following far across the surface of Echison VII, the cult settled in like a leech to a pulsing vein. Where initially a single hybrid or infected human had been sent to a city, soon whole families of mushroom farmers, and on occasion, more important individuals fell under the Patriarch's malign influence. But of course, what men would call "ambition" is inherent to the phenomenon of the genestealer cult. Despite its recent narrow escape from obliteration at the hands of the Korps, this newfound web of influence was not enough - would never be enough. More was needed - more followers, more influence, and ultimately, more biomass...

It's difficult to say from who, or what, the seed of the "Saviour" rumour grew. It seems probable that, given the new Patriarch's role in settling the cult down in these richer, more secretive pastures, it was some of the other survivors from who the seed of the tale grew. But the Patriarch, without a doubt, saw the utility to such a story. First, the story spread within the cult, of a hidden "Saviour" who delivered them from fire and death. At some unidentifiable point, the story warped, twisted by the corrupted imaginations of those who were under the sway of the foul xenos - this "Saviour" would deliver them from the monotony of life in the mushroom fields and under the tyranny of the Imperium. Cult members even dared, on occasion, to mention the fable to those who had been carefully identified as 'sympathetic' to an anti-Imperium message. Thus far, it was not proving particularly fruitful as a recruitment tool, or in gathering non-cult allies - but it was only a matter of time. Particularly as news of the atrocities the Korps had committed in a city not too distant was beginning to filter across the mushroom culture-fields...

However, despite the new Patriarch's growing infamy amongst the cult, the "Saviour" himself still bore the legacy of his predecessor. The creature was now secreted away deep in the chasms below Echison VII's surface, seen only by purestrains who were the only creatures trusted to evade the pursuit of humans - which had, after all, been the death of its predecessor. They brought down great heaps of food for the increasingly bulky Patriarch, killed fresh, but stone cold by the time the savaged bodies had been dragged through the maze of tunnels and caverns to his subterranean chamber.

Aside from his cautiousness, one other key behaviour remained from the Patriarch's former life as but a pawn of his predecessor. His final command - "flee" - had engraved itself into the Saviour's very being. Spreading the cult's genes merely across a huge portion of a single planet was not enough to satisfy his primal urge to further the genome. And so, the cult's attention turned further afield...

Faustian regiment - Incident Report 627HS


Trisburg 257345 7524995

Crashed Duty-class freighter, "Silent Virtue"

Reporting Officer: PDF Sergeant F. Tlandon


Freighter crash site located. Time from impact to location: 8.2 standard hours (see below). Freighter downed in 'badlands' distant from nearest PDF outpost. Local fauna further delayed arrival. 254 las-bolts discharged (forwarded to charge-management division). Mushroom shipment primarily undamaged, 87.3% undamaged and retrieved. Crew absent - some signs of struggle, believed either mutiny or fauna responsible. Survivors hypothesised to have fled the crash site - no trace despite further standard 3hr sweep. Possible cause of crash - mutiny. On-ship conflict believed to have resulted in ruptures to external airlocks/nearby bulkheads.

Report close.
Praise be the Emperor.

Addendum: Private Percis acting strangely since sweeps of crash site surroundings. Possible neck injury, no identified cause. Will follow-up after Private's return from yearly 4 days of absence.

Addendum II: Private Percis failed to return from absence. Warrant issued for forcible return to active service. Last sighted not with family, but in numerous establishments catering to soldiers' less palatable needs. Search abandoned as all legions mobilise to repulse attacking xenos.

With the bloodline now spread not just across Echison VII, but across the sector to unsuspecting Trisburg, the Patriarch's temper should have been cooling. Yet the alien Psyker could not be content. His work was just beginning - and now a new threat emerged. He could feel it, the Shadow in the Warp, inching further and further across the sector, just starting to brush its psychic tendrils across Echison VII. It was not experienced as a whispering, clawing and biting at his consciousness - Tyranids of course do not share that susceptibility to the Shadow. And yet, the Saviour was not at ease. Normally, the coming of the Shadow was a thing of beauty and joy - the salvation the cult promised finally visited upon an unsuspecting populance. Hybrids, genestealers and enraptured humans alike would rise to a frenzy of activity, plunging entire planets into unrest, rebellion, or even outright war - as one might stun a beast before slitting its throat and draining its blood. But something was wrong. This fleet bore not the offensive blazing yellow colouring of him and his kin, and worse - they were somehow.. different. Born on Echison, the Saviour lacked the experience to understand what this meant, but instinct was enough.

Purestrains hissed and ground their teeth, feeling the peril of their beloved father. They instinctively formed defensive circles around their colossal forebear, though of course this would not help. Motionless, claws cutting deep grooves in the rock of his throne, the Saviour stared beyond his scuttling kin, through the rock of Echison's crust, past the clashing xenos and human fleets, and into the abyss.

And the Deep stared back.

Deleted

Sorry. My last post didnt update.

----Aboard the Swift Guardian----

''Tempestor Secundus, we can't make contact with our ground teams, even section 3 won't answer, something's up'' said a vox operator

Riley sighed ''What gak is gonna fall on us this'' he asked to noone in particular ''Might be a problem in the equipement'

''It seems the entire vox net is down sir, if we were guardsmen, I'd give it a pass, but our equipement actually works more often than not, no, something's wrong''

''Section 3 is due to drop the intel soon, I'll meet them personally, if noone shows up, I'll lead the investigation myself, inform Tempestus Secundus Castella that she will be in charge should something happen to me''

''It will be done sir''


----Surface of Julla, a few hundred meters away from the rendez-vous point----

''We're almost there, Tempestor, I think'' said the pointman

''You think?'' snapped Atellus back

''Can't see too well, the fog messes up my gear, and looking behind up, I'd say its only getting worse''

''Tempestor! Tempestor! I got contacts on comms, its... not pretty, at all'' suddendly shouted the vox-man.

Atellus linked the vox with his headset and listened in, only to hear screams and shots being fired, the worst sound was the man who made the call, he sounded like he was drowning, and Atellus couldn't make sense of what he was trying to say.

''Who was that'' he asked

''Section 5, they're... were the nearest to our position, probably completely covered in fog now''

''Sounds like they're dying in there''

''Yes, couldn't make contact with anyone else, I am assuming they all died out there, section 8 sent a call before we left, as you remember, mentionned the fog, trouble breathing, then static, we'll have to make a full report''

''I agree, we'll climb in with the prisoner, make a full report, we move now''



----Surface of Julla, at the rendez-vous point----

''They're here Tempestor'' said the Valkyrie pilot

''Good, this damned fog bothers me, can't barely see past the Valk ramp, can't breathe well, either, everyone, lock your suit, we'll have to use the oxygen reserve '' answer Riley ''We'll go meet them''

It is at this moment when the first Scion showed through the fog that things went quite wrong, Riley heard shouts and hellgun fire at the end of the line, his men reporting that something showed through the fog and slash the leg clean of the Scion who had lost his arm previously, the man had quickly been grabbed by his comrade. The rest of the squad opened fire while falling back inside the Valkyrie, Riley himself jumped out to cover his men, bringning one of the monster down. This, however, nearly costed him life as another monster that flanked the Valkyrie took a swipe at the Tempestor. Riley barely had the time to move his head back when the claw connected to his helmet, punching through and cutting open Riley's forehead.

That same monster was then quickly vaporized by one of Riley's squadmate, who brought his melta. The rest of the section was inside the Valkyrie before any other monster could climb in, however, and the craft promptly lifted off, the ramp closing mid-air. Riley heard the Tempestor asking for status report.

''Everyone's hurt, Tempestor, Raltus lost his leg, again, lucky for him he'd got a cybernetic replacement before, Octia lost consciouness, I think the fog got to her before she could use her inner air supply, either that or equipement malfunction, we all got cuts and other wounds, nothing crippling, but we'll have to run through the medicae regardless'' answered his vox-man


----Later aboard the Swift Guardian medicae----
''Riley... what in the wrap happened!'' asked Gallus, trying to contain his anger

''No idea, sir, some fog monsters came out of well... the fog, attacked us as we extracted the xeno'' answered his second

''Yes, that I figured, Tempestor Atellus briefed me about it, I am talking about everything before that''

''Don't know much sir, at this point Atellus might have more info, I've lost comms with our troopers down on the planet, I decided to check it out myself, as its my responsibility, then we got attacked, the rest you know, if you haven't got a call yet from our men, I am guessing you'll never do''

Gallus grunted ''Not much new, Atellus had comms with fellow teams, but they were cut short pretty quickly, doesn't take a psyker to figure out what happened to e'm''

Riley nodded and laid back on his bed.

''Get rest, we have a meeting with crusade command, we leave in two days, you're coming with me'' Gallus marked a small pause ''and one last thing, I am taking over command of the Battalion. this is beyond your experience as Tempestor Prime''

Riley nodded, his expression riddled with defeat ''What about the Xeno, sir?''

''He lives, Atellus briefed me on this well, its the only reason you're still in charge of your Fist, we're done here, sleep well''

The arriving Adeptus Mechanicus fleet's presence in the Charadon System was heralded by a reality splitting warp exit. Magos Harethion peered around the bridge of the Omnissiah’s Chariot as their arrival into the system was met with the immediate sounding of warning claxons.

“Roulus 413 report.”

Servitor stations began to double their speed in response to the sirens. The metallic footfalls of Enginseer Lyra approaching Harethion caught his attention.

“Magos, we have exited the warp in the middle of an enemy fleet.”

His response was a fast burst of static in the Techna-Lingua to the nearest servitor.

+Broadcast to the fleet. All ships protect the Gargantui. Qurl’s Light is to lead the exit.

Harethion turned to look at the nearby Enginseer, “Broadcast on secured Imperial channels that we have arrived in the system and an enemy was waiting. That is a priority message.”

His attention turned back to the servitors spread around the bridge and he turned his attention to the now commencing battle. The flagship of Explorator Fleet Qurl 972 was now preparing for battle.

Aboard the Qurl’s Light Explorator Gurrin was broadcasting orders around his ship and throughout the fleet. His ship was the one to cut the path for the rest of the fleet to make it safely out of their current situation and praise be to the Omnissiah he would succeed. It did not take long for his actions to be felt as the light cruiser Tartare blinked from existence. The ships commanding tech priest placed it between the Gargantui and a barrage of enemy ordinance. Among the fleet the Gargantui was an important asset. Possible the most important asset now in the sector or it was at least to the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Goliath class forge tender was the only ship of it’s kind in the fleet and they would sacrifice what they must to get it out of the battle.

Once clear of the massive Hybrid fleet Magos Harethion surveyed the incoming reports.

“It appears Imperial Intelligence gave us outdated information. I was under the impression that sector was clear for our entry.”

Enginseer Lyra stood across the table and scanned the data, “Our information was correct. Perhaps they lost control of it and were unable to inform us.” Harethion paused to look across the table at Lyra. His mechanical eyes fixated on the young women as he spoke, “Praise be to the Omnissiah we we did not lose the fleet. Now send out orders for immediate repairs. I want us operating at one hundred percent efficiency as soon as possible.” He turned from the women and began to read over each ship lost and it’s crew compliment.