The fires that's had been raging for days continued to pour black smoke into the already heavily polluted atmosphere above the hive. Just three days before, the first riots had begun in the middle spire among the manufactorum workers. Rumors as to reasons why the riots began ranged from docked pay, to rebellion, to even xenos involvement. Whatever the reason, Exodus Hive was in chaos. Arbitror Einth hefted his shield off of the ground and walked away from the burning barrel where he and his fellow arbitrators had been taking a rest break. A report of a large crowd moving up the spire towards primary lift had all arbitrators and what few PDF forces that had begun to arrive dashing towards their assigned posts. Reports of similar crowds converging on their position quickly began flooding in. Thousands, if not millions, of hivers were scrambling madly up levels and levels of hab blocks to try and gain access to the lift and the noble houses beyond it. Einth took his position in the line beside his fellow arbitrators as huge leman russes painted in the sixth precinct house's colors rolled up behind, aiming their heavy bolters towards the entrances and lift exits that the horde would undoubtedly soon be pouring from. Three thousand of the hive's most elite peacekeeping forces were preparing to fight off most of it's citizens. A few guardsmen appeared behind Einth, all fresh faced and untested straight from their barracks in the wastes. If they weren't conscripted men under the watch of their respective commissars most would be among the crowds rampaging across the city towards them. They looked nervously out across the empty staging block to wards the entrances where the distant sounds of angry voices and the pounding of makeshift drums could be heard. Einth checked his bolter once more and heard one of the conscripts behind him wimper slightly. "Sergeant keep those fething boys of yours under control." he hissed. A dull whack of a laspistol against a guard-issue helmet ended the meek noises and a near silence fell across the bloc as most of the men made their peace with the God-Emperor on terra. The voices steadily grew louder and the first rioters began to appear int the alcoves around the bloc. An order to hold fire unless fired upon was said over the vox. It was really nothing more than a setup for the brass to cover their asses after the bloodshed that was coming.

The crowd across from the defense forces grew quickly, doubling in a few minutes. On the vox speakers the brass ordered the crowd to disperse to no avail. Even from the distance he was, Einth saw that no amount of threats was going to dismantle this horde. Einth slammed his shield down into the ground. Upon making contact with the concrete and the shields of the two arbitrators nearest him, the shield locked into place. Dull thuds of metal on stone and the hiss of the compressors told Einth that the rest of the arbitrators had followed suite, and their riot shields now formed a defensive wall. The Defensive line reminded Einth of the aegis shields back at the precinct. The precinct that was surely nothing but a pile of rubble by now. The rioters on the other side had grown in number and had began chanting something unintelligible. The brass screamed a final warning at them, almost begging for them to return to their homes. The only response from the crowd was a massive, collective yell, and a bum rush towards the defender's lines. One by one the defenders raised their weapons, and a single word was heard over the vox, "Fire!"

In a single moment all hell broke loose. The hiss of the lasguns and the thunderous chatter of the bolters were soon drowned out by the tanks's big guns. Immediately the first line of rioters fell, fountains of blood spewing all over the rest who continued to surge forward. Einth reloaded and continued to fire into the crowd, trying to drown out the screams of the dying and the faces of those he hit. Each bolt he fired met someone in the wall of flesh and then exploded, tearing off limbs and opening rib-cages. The concrete became with blood. A name rune flickered to life within the lens of Einth's helmet, telling him someone had tuned into his cam feed. He took no notice, he didn't give a damn who was watching unless it was the Emperor himself. Wave of rioters seemed never-ending. It seemed that for each one Einth maimed five more took his place.The air felt thick in Einth's lungs. The ozone created from the mass firing of las weapons made air hard to breath. The bolter continued to bark, despite the ache in Einth's shoulder. The kick was worth it as long as it held these bastards at bay. Despite the piles of dead, more rioters had come to take their place. Einth tried to ignore the fact that women and young children were among the crowds that fell. By now the rioters were close enough to see their face. Every one of them had a twisted, grim visage of pure blood-lust. Chills ran down Einth's spine. Hatred was nothing new to a veteran arbitrator like him, but there was something different in their eyes. Something of pure malice.

As the crowd began to close the distance, bullets started to reply to the fizz of lasfire coming from the defender's lines. Most rioters had nothing but a crude hand weapon or heavy tool. Some had managed to scavenge some low-grade autoguns from the local enforcers and gang members. Their quality was nothing compared to the defender's, but they made up for it with pure numbers. Einth ducked behind his shield just as a bullet flew past where his head was. A guardsman dropped dead a few feet behind him. Reports of causalities streamed over the vox. The rioters were now attacking in full force. Einth fired through his shield's vision slit, praying the bullets ricocheting of the metal square wouldn't penetrate.The screams of the dying were muffled in Einth's helmet. "Thank the Emporer for little graces." he thought to himself. The PDF had nothing to cover their ears and heard every scream. No doubt they would be seeing and hearing the crowd for years to come in their dreams.

Then from the skies, giants began to appear. While he never had seen one before, Einth knew an Arstartes warrior when he saw one. The massive frames and even bigger power armor marked them out as gods among men. The massive jump packs allowed them to descend with grace and speed despite their size. Einth laughed. Salvation had come. These demigods were the Emperor's angels of death and would end the riots in hours if not minutes. Others had seen them too and began cheering. Einth yelled a profane encouragement and fought with even more ferocity. The astartes didn't seem to notice the crowds or the defenders, they stood almost immovable among the rioters. As if they were waiting for an order. Another squad touched down closer to Einth, and his stomach dropped. Something was wrong, these space marines where no the holy warrior-monks of the Emperor. Their armor was stained blood red and carried a dark gunmetal trim. Horns sprouted from their helmets and runes that Einth did not know and wished he would never see again were etched into their plating. Most of all, the sight the made Einth moan in fear, was their leader. Like the others he stood firm in the swarming sea of rioters surrounding him. His helmet-less head revealed a twisted, scarred visage that could not belong to a savior. He sneered at a member of the crowd who had bowed before him revealing teeth were sharp as blades and not human. This this was something pure evil. He, it, roared an order and as one the astartes raised their bolters and took aim. Not at the crowds surging around them, but at the imperial servants. As one their bolters barked, and screams of pain were heard from the defender's lines. All the defenders had stopped cheering. Confusion took hold, why were astartes firing on loyal imperial servants? Out of instinct Einth fired. He emptied his clip at the leader. The bolts struck home and hit again and again. It would have shredded a normal man, but the giant shrugged it off. His gaze turned to Einth and he snarled. Einth watched the eyes focus on him and felt as if they could see his soul.

The confusion had allowed the rioters to reach the imperial lines, and somewhere an explosion tore a massive hole into them. The crowds began surging in. A rioter jumped the shields near Einth and brought a massive club down upon the head of a guardsman, shattering his skull and drenching those around him in gore. Somewhere else a woman fired a hand cannon point blank into an arbites face. The roar of chain-swords told Einth that the astarted had penetrated too, and no doubt were cutting huge swaths of the defender's down. Over his vox, Einth heard the order t retreat being given. Einth scrambled up from behind his shield and began running towards the Primary Lift. He sprinted through grappling soldiers and smashed any rioter's head he could reach with his shock maul. Einth watched as a guardsman stabbed a rioter with his bayonet and then shot another only to be cut down by the dead men's comrades. He ducked behind the ruins of one of the 6th precinct tank, flames spurting out the massive gash rent in it. The mutilated remains of its commander hung out of the top hatch. A rioter turned the corner and sprinted towards Einth. A bolt fired from a comissar's bolt gun silenced him. Einth turned to thank the man, only to watchhim be torn in half by a rioter with a massive hand saw. On the lift he could see the tanks and guardsmen were holding the horde at bay while it powered up. Einth made one last sprint towards the lift. A rioter lept into his path only to be struck down by a swift blow from Einth's maul. Tears welled in the arbitrator's eyes as he approached his salvation. Suddenly pain enfolded him and a huge explosion deafened his ears. He hit the concrete hard. When his vision refocused he saw a pair of arbites boots, his boots. He could feel nothing below his waist and knew he had been hit by a bolt. Shocked dulled the agony he felt and he began to black out. Before he could, a massive armored hand picked him up by the throat. He was turned around to face the giant he had shot at earlier. The face of it was horrifying. The scars and mutations had made it almost unrecognizable as once being human. The letters etched into the armor swam and morphed. Einth was sure that if he hadn't lost all of the blood he did and could see them clearly, they would drive him insane. The giant studied him closely. It seemed calm and calculating even though a battle continued to rage around it. Blood surged up through Einth's throat and drenched the front of his arbites uniform. Einth felt his heart begin to slow and pound weaker. His visor continued to glow red and the cam-rune continued to flicker.

The Astartes became bored with its mortal plaything. Behind the dying man, the primary lift exploded and shattered as it left the ground. An overzealous cultist had blown it up with the ammunition strapped onto his bandolier. The only vessel to the very top of the main spire now lay in flaming ruins.the It didn't matter, the nobles could rot in their now impenetrable fortress. The closest imperial forces were months away. The giant roared with victory, his dark gods would have their sacrifices. The followers of the corpse-god would arrive and a massive war over the soul of this planet would ensue. A wicked smile flickered across its face. This scared, legless mortal had no clue what was just beginning. The giant crushed the mortal's head and sprinted back into the fray, worshiping his dark masters with bloodshed and killing. The last thing Einth saw was not the vile face of the astartes. Without conscious reason he read the rune in his visor. It was not a name of some pencil-necked C.O. or scribe like he had expected. It hadn't been a higher up tactician or a noble. The rune read a single word. Something in Gothic that Einth had never seen or heard about. The last thing Einth saw before he died was the word Malleus.