YO HOWS EVERYONE DOING? GOOD I HOPE
WELL IT'S TWELVE THIRTY WHEN IM WRITING THIS INTRO SO IM TIRED AS HELL SO ILL SAY WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID
THIS WAS A CHALLENGE I HAVE TAKEN UP FROM MADORK GUNNA HE ALSO EDITED THIS FOR ME BECAUSE I AM REALLY BAD AT WRITING AT TIMES :D THANKS MATE.
[\=/]
Chapter 1
Nathaniel Mataki, Chapter master of the Knights of St. John, the Divine Hammer, etc, etc, looked over the planet they were purging of an Ork WHAAAGH! The agri world was still mostly green, but already smudges of black had appeared on the surface, visible scars of battles so large they threw up dust clouds visible from orbit. He and his battle brothers were here in conjunction with the Knights of st. Johns special Imperial Guard regiments, the warriors of Aiether, to deliver the Emperor's vengeance upon the Xenos that had dared to set foot on one of humanity's worlds. Well, that was their official purpose. Unofficially, they were here because of possible warp activity.
The young Chapter master looked away from the vid screen to his two uncles and Chief Advisers. The first was Imperias Rendelles, a tall man even by space marine standards, standing up to nearly half the way of a dreadnaught. He carried a heavy bolter strapped to his back and a specially designed ammunition clip that held a nigh endless supply of ammunition for said heavy bolter. On his belt was a thunder hammer, every now and then a small spark could be seen from the hammerhead as it contained the energy that gave it it's name. Imperias was the leader of the Emperor's Anvil squad, a squad of heavily armed terminators that loved to crush their enemies beneath the Hammer of the Emperor's Wrath. Literally, as that was the name of their Land Raider heavy tank.
The second adviser, Renja Maline. was a short marine but had proven him over and over to his chapter; he was the leader of the Emperors Angels, the Chapter's jet pack equipped assault marines. He had his two bolt pistols strapped to his chest and two chain swords on his waist.
Nathaniel Palmed the hilt of the large blue sword strapped to his waist, the true sword of Aiether, the last remnant of his home planet, and asked the taller of his advisors.
"Have the warriors set up the strong points yet?"
"Yes my lord" the large man rumbled "We will be dropping in a kilometre away just behind the main battle lines but still close enough to assist if necessary."
"You know I don't like to sit around and watch uncle." said Nathaniel with a smirk on his youthful face.
"I know my lord but you are not needed on the field of battle." Renja put in gruffly "We do not wish for you to waste your time."
Nathaniel waved him off.
"And what of our venerable brother Dreadnought William, how has he taken to his upgrades?"
"William seems to be eager to join the fray." Renja replied checking his bolt pistols. "I believe his exact words were: 'This should prove amusing', followed by a chuckle I haven't heard since the first time he got his hands on a flamer."
"This will be his 1000th battle will it not?" asked Imperias idly.
"Yes I believe it will." Renja smirked remembering the battles he had fought together with the war hero, both before and after his internment in the metal sarcophagus.
Nathaniel walked off the bridge and his two uncles followed as he went to the hanger where the drop pods awaited him. Dozens of servitors and techpriests moved to allow him to pass as he made his way to his personal drop pod. The hangar was filled with the bustle of activity that preceded any drop of great magnitude, pilots running over their checklists and techpriests and enginseers administering the final rites to appease the machine spirits of the myriad of drop pods, Thunderhawks, IG valkyries, and other transports.
In one corner the mighty Dreadnaught William was standing decked out in the Knights colours of White and blue with golden trimmings, a tech-marine busily adding the finishing touches to the war machine.
"Greetings, brother-chapter master." said the Dreadnaught over his Vox as he spotted the trio.
"Greetings, brother-dreadnaught." replied the leader of the Knights of St John.
"I was awaiting you so we may join the fray together." the walker replied, walking clear of his restraints. The last of the cables fell free with a hiss, and great servo-arms retreated back into their alcoves. Behind them the tech-priest nodded, and began to clear up.
"I fear you may have to wait longer." said Nathaniel sadly "We are only going down to observe, and not for active assistance. The situation at the moment does not justify us entering the fray where we could be lost. A warp storm is predicted in the area, and we are to stay in reserve to deal with any potential fallout."
"The Emperor does not wish me to see battle this day it seems." the dreadnaught sighed.
"Who can tell what awaits us but the Emperor." stated Renja simply.
Soon it was time for the drop.
"May the Emperor have mercy on those who harm the innocent for I certainly shall not." muttered Nathaniel as he strapped himself in.
The two older advisors nodded their heads in agreement. It was the beginning of one of the chapters vows, and the three marines soon found themselves chanting the words drilled into them since their indoctrination as they calmly awaited for the drop to finish.
At the same time the drop pods launched from the battlebarge, two Valkyrie drop ships neared the planet. Both were full of loyal Warriors of Aither, a special regiment of the Imperial guard that always worked with the Knights of St John. In their bellies a final mass was held in honour of the Emperor.
"What is your duty?" bellowed Commissar Lance Battersby.
"To die in the service of the Emperor" came the chorus of replies from the men.
"Exactly!" the commisar bellowed "And what must we do to ensure victory?"
"Give not one inch!" the soldier replied in unison again.
"Let's go out there and show them what we're made of. For the Emperor and the glory of St John!" The groups in both Valkyries shouted the reply.
"For the Emperor and St John!"
Meanwhile, chief Librarian Mavrock meditated as he watched the currents and eddies of the Warp, the deamonic realm of emotions, looking for signs of the impending warp storm. They were fortunate enough to pick up on this one before it manifested, but the exact date and time were still unclear. Ignoring the maddening voices that scratched and nibbled at the edge of his consciousness, he was rewarded for his efforts beyond his wildest dreams... and nightmares.
"Nathaniel is in danger!" yelled the Psyker, pulling back into the fortress of his mind. The brothers that heard him did not hesitate, some immediately signalling communications while others tried to get more information out of the Librarian. But it was too late. A warp storm expanding a kilometre long had just opened up between the ship and the surface, it's menacing aura gathering around the two Valkyries, and before anyone could stop it two of the Space marine drop pods flew into it as well. Just as soon as it had appeared the warp storm vanished again, the rip in space-time resembling a huge mouth that seemingly grinned before vanishing completely.
2017 - AREA 11 (FORMERLY JAPAN) - SHINJUKU GHETTO
Smoke rose from a multitude of fires, obscuring the blue sky. Screams of people running for their lives were cut short as automatic weapons chattered. Four objects flashed into the sky above the surface, screaming down through the tortured skies. Two were on normal flight paths but the other two were out of control as they all crashed more than a kilometre apart from each other. A lone soldier looked up from his work as smoke rose from the impact craters. Signalling command of the strange phenomenon, his commander decided that someone else would take care of it and ordered the squad to return to the cleansing of the slums of all life. Looking back down at the child huddled between his dead parents, the soldier shrugged and blew the kid's brains out.
? - ?- THE WARRIORS OF AIETHER VALKYRIE 'SWIFT STRIKE'
The sole Karskin squad of the two ship, code name Paris, were the first of the Warriors to awaken. The elite troops of the Imperial Guard, they served as commandos and special operations troopers. The Valkyrie transport was on it's side, the pilot only half conscious as he struggled to keep the craft in one piece throughout their crazy trip through the atmosphere. Several groans came from the ground as ordinary Guardsmen started to regain their sense as well. The interior of the Valk was a mess, but not as big a mess as he'd initially thought, sergeant James Bretag decided. Several crates had fallen from their webbing and burst open, but it seemed there was no lasting damage to both men and equipment. The leader of the Kasrkin on board, he took a quick peek outside before settling on a plan of action.
"Right men, we have no idea where we are and how we got here. Presume all unknown contacts hostile until confirmed otherwise. Zacharias, do a headcount of the other guardsmen, get me their status asap. Leeroy, take three men scout out the area, bring Lorne with you. Rest of you, form a perimeter and keep the Valkyrie secure. Move it!" James barked quickly.
Seven troopers began to set up a defensive line around the downed transport while four of the warriors started to silently move in a spiral pattern away from them. Lastly, a lone trooper remained inside to check on the other occupants. Soon enough they too began to awaken.
Commisar Lance woke up with a thundering headache. His last memory was completing a sermon prior to battle. Had they been hit by a missile or something? Blinking to clear the fog out of his head, he sat up and checked himself over. Luckily his weapons seemed in order, and his hat lay nearby. Picking it up, he dusted himself off, and got up. A Karskin strode up to him, saluting.
"Hello sir, good to see you in one piece. We've been through one hell of a ride, I'm still checking the troops. Two confirmed KIA so far, one of the pilots and a Guardsman. Sarge is outside, he's taken formal command for now." the trooped informed him. Lance nodded and stepped outside. An unfamiliar skyline stretched out around him, a city unlike any reported on the agri-world they were supposed to be liberating.
"Sergeant, report" he said, striding up to James.
"This is not the expected planet sir, as you've no doubt seen. We're getting human life signatures, no xeno detected. Trouble is, the life signs keep disappearing, add this to the fact that there's smoke everywhere and one helluva lot of autogun fire we can hear..."
"Great, so we landed in a battle zone. Imperial presence?"
"None so far as we can tell sir. Standard imperial codes get us nothing, and there are no signs of the Aquila anywhere. The best guess so far is we're on a world that has been separated from the Imperium."
"My lord" -a Kasrkins voice crackled over the vox, "there are soldiers here who are killing civilians, repeat, confirmed killing of civilians. We've tried contacting them, but they've shot at our boys who tried. No casualties so far, but those bastards even shot our flag of the aquila, so they're definitely not friendly to the Imperium."
Those words made his blood instantly boil, but Lance kept his anger in check. There were a few reasons why one would order a purge, but as a man from Aiether there was only one acceptable one.
"Signs of Chaos presence?" he asked coldly.
"None sir. We have Lorne with us, and he confirms that the entire world is in fact free of taint." the trooper paused. Lorne was a sanctioned psyker, a rare breed who could literally sense evil in the air. If there was even a single Chaos sigil on a world, he could sense it. Lorne proclaiming the world free would mean that there was only one thing the Warriors of Aiether could do.
"Trooper, what is the position of those soldiers?" he asked.
"A click from your position sir moving closer as we speak." the Karskin at the other end of the line said. There was a little chatter in the background.
"Good. Let us meet them in battle." the Commissar said darkly.
"Sir," the Karaskin said, "We just found the other half of the platoon, and two Knight drop pods, should I try to contact them?"
'Drop pods? The Emperor smiles on us.' The Commissar thought to himself.
"Yes go ahead and ask them all to make their way to our position" the man said. "We will make our stand here. Lance out."
? - ? - DROP POD OF NATHANIEL, RENJA, AND IMPERIAS
Nathaniel burst out of the door of the drop pod and dropped to a knee, scanning the area as he heard his two uncles do the same.
"Brother, the maps." began Renja.
"I know." said Nathaniel, seeing how his HUD was not registering their position on the planet or even the sector in space. All he had to make do with were quick scans made by the drop pod itsself, and those only gave limited information on his immediate surroundings.
"What are our orders?" asked Imperias hefting his heavy bolter. "Find out where we are." said Renja rolling his eyes.
"Then what?" asked Imperias smugly "Then we find a way back to the battle." said Nathaniel ending the argument. He pulled out his bolter and made sure his other equipment was still there.
Bolter? Check.
Sword of Aiether?
Thank the Emperor, check.
Shield of St John?
Check.
Bolt pistol?
Check.
Nathaniel walked out of the crater that had formed because of the drop pod and began to think strategy.
"To where the other drop pod has landed, brothers. That will be our first priority. In the meantime, try to find out where we are." he ordered.
"Brother, I think I found an active vox channel. It's not Imperial though, but I'll try to break it." Renja reported. Nathaniel nodded. It was standard procedure, even if most of the time enemy encryption proved to strong for the simple machine spirit of their power armours.
The three walked down the road at a steady pace, two moving up while the third kept them covered. Suddenly, Renja stopped and said "I have it!"
"Have what?" asked Nathaniel.
"Is it contagious?" ribbed Imperias. Ignoring him Renja tapped his helmet.
"I hacked the Vox channel I found." he said enthusiastically.
"Good work. Patch it through to us all, let's hear what our enemy has to say." "Of course brother. I have to warn you though, the language is somewhat archaic, but our armour's machine spirit seems to be able to translate most of it."
Radio chatter flooded their vox suddenly, but one stream in particular caught their attention, as it's source was confirmed to be only a hundred meters behind them.
"What are they?" one voice said.
"Mini-knightmares? Whatever they are, they're not ours." replied another.
"Let's take them nice and fast from behind! They haven't even seen us."
"Like how you always work?"
The rest was cut off as the trio pivoted around to see two strange mechs standing a hundred metres down the street.
"Shit they spotted us!"
"Open fire, what are you worried about? They can't hurt us at this range, we on the other hand..."
The two machines brought up strange guns, reminiscent of bolters, and opened fire. The three space marines braced themselves as the hail of lead impacted on their armour.
"Sir, I got these." Renja said pulling out his two chain swords in response to the attack. The autoguns on the machines only damaged the paintwork on his armour, to say nothing of the superior terminator armour worn by the Chapter Master and the Devastator marine,
"Granted." replied Nathaniel, grimly weathering the barrage. As the dust became thick enough to obscure the trio the machines stopped firing.
"Hm. I think that was a bit overkill." one of the pilots remarked.
Nathaniel stifled a chuckle and watched as Renja boosted forward using his jump pack speeding towards the two mechs taking them by complete surprise.
"What the?!" one managed to sputter out. Then Renja was upon them, his jump pack propelling him forward at full speed as he brought both of his chainswords to bear on the legs of the machines. They collapsed into one another, only one of the pilots managing to eject his cockpit block. Imperias brought his heavy bolter to bear on the boxy device, the highly explosive bolts tearing through it's armour in scant seconds.
Meanwhile, the two mechs fell down behind Renja and exploded. The second pilot having failed to eject, could only curse these strange new enemies to the darkest pits of hell before his life ended.
Meanwhile, sergeant James was fighting a losing battle. His chin strap had got in a really uncomfortable position somehow, but he was determined to remain motionless. Below him, an archaic APC trundled down the street, almost casually crushing cars and dead bodies beneath it's bulk as it scouted the area for something to kill. With his camo-cloak blending into the surroundings, as well as his training and experience and the fact that he was three stories up and only having a tiny portion of his body exposed, James might as well have been invisible to it. Unfortunately, the regular troops were not as convinced.
"You're sure they can't see us?" asked one of them for the billionth time. Before his doubt could spread through the ranks, James stamped down on it.
"Yes I am sure." said James "Their sensors are prehistoric, hell they're largely depending on visual recon. Now the next time you open that trap of yours make sure it's something useful that comes out."
"Ah, sorry sir."
"Quiet, now!" Commissar Lance interrupted over the vox, the man himself hiding somewhere on a lower floor, "They're nearly in position. Prepare to spring the trap on my mark... Mark."
One of the guardsman hiding in the building across from James moved the curtains from open to shut in an obvious fashion, catching the attention of the APC and it's occupants.
"This'll never work, even orks aren't this stupid." the doubter from earlier muttered. James rolled his eyes and made a mental note to kick the man afterwards. Or at least to get his commanding officer to give him latrine duty. The Kasrkin turned his attention back to the APC.
"They're getting out, sir." James reported while below him the Brittannian troops did just that. "I think that's the last of them, they're all out in the open now."
"Right then. Men, get ready." Lance replied. Several shuffles could be heard as the lasguns safeties were clicked off.
OPEN FIRE!" Lance shouted. Standing up from his position he fired his las-pistol at the soldiers below. A man lost his head as the beam of energy struck him in the neck, and then the rest of the Guardsmen in the buildings opened fire. Contrary to popular belief, the lasgun is by no means a weak weapon. Against lightly armoured targets, the concentrated beams of light are devastating as water and other liquids flash-boil, blowing off great chunks of flesh in an instant.
Surprised, disoriented and seeing their comrades literally explode around them the brittannian soldiers tried to flee into the building only to find another squad of guardsmen waiting for them. Within seconds after it began, the engagement was over.
Seven soldiers had dropped their weapons and raised their hands (in one case single hand) in surrender, the APC half-molten due to the impacts and the rest of their comrades strewn around them.
The Emperor's light had arrived in area 11.
ANYWAY I HAVE JUST HAD SOME COFFEE AND AM NOW READY TO GO ALLLLL NIIIGHT LOONG ;D HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS AND THANKS AGAIN TO ONE OF THE BEST AUTHOURS EVER
MADORK GUNNA :DD