Raelus Kirigan slipped on his assassin's power armour and walked towards his mirror. The Adeptus Assasinatus' version of the armour was modified to make it lighter, and increased the reflexes and coordination of the user more than physical strength. But what an adept lacked in physical strength, he more than made up for with sheer ingenuity, stealth, and the technological wonders devised by the tech-priests of the labs. A miracle of modern engineering, Raelus could walk into his targets residence, eliminate the target, and leave without anyone noticing. A senior assassin could often make sure that nobody discovered the death before days, or even weeks had past. Sadly, Raelus was not at that kind of a level yet. Fresh out of the academy, he had been picked out of the Fist's Imperial Chapter in the Adeptus Astartes when they realised his natural stealth was more adapted to this kind of work. And indeed they were right. Raelus had outshined all of his fellow students, becoming a fully fledged assassin in record time, having mastered all the arts his masters could offer. Now, after a month of prayer to his holiness the emperor. He headed of to do his lord's bidding. He could still remember the briefing the Prime Assassin had sent to him. He recalled it on his helmet's display. ......INCOMING MESSAGE............ TO: Raelus Kirigan, assassin adept
FROM: [name undisclosed], assassin prime
I have been monitoring your progress with great interest. You have potential child, and before your days in the service of the divine emperor are over, you will smite many foes. You teachers tell me you are ready to smite the first. The Holy Inquisition has told us that yet again, something dark is brewing in the gothic sector. You will journey there, find the source of this disturbance, and destroy it. Remember, the Astartes are the emperor's anvil, but we are to be the anvil. You will leave as soon as possible on the Emperor Class battleship Divine Right, in company of the Lord Admiral Ravenburg. More information will be given upon your arrival.
Do not fail me. ...............END OF MESSAGE................ He closed the message, and opened the folder he had downloaded from the academy libraries, containing all the information on the gothic sector. Nothing especially novel there... except for the last entry: [Battlefleet Obscuras scout Firestorm gold squadron vessels signal impending warp storm. More information to be transferred as necessary]

The entry was dated to 8 months ago, and from the displays he was getting, the storm was just getting larger. If he had not been so anxious, maybe he would have noticed the fact that an 8 month long warp storm is long, but at the time it seemed insignificant. It was a mistake he would live to regret.

To Be Continued