Obsequium Imperatori
"All squads sound off."
"Beta squad in position."
"Delta squad in position."
"Charlie squad in position."
"Command confirms, all squads proceed to breach and enter."
Three hours earlier.
The Astartes strike cruiser Hand of Judgement sailed through the vacuum of space, en route to the plant Kathos, capitol world of the Pergat system, at the request of the Astra Militarum. Four months previously the planet's yearly tithe had failed to arrive and all attempts at astropathic communication since had resulted in nothing but silence in reply. Under normal circumstances such an anomaly would not be deemed worthy of the attention the Adeptus Astartes but the Imperial Navy ship sent to discover the planet's mysterious silence had also mysteriously dropped out of communication. The Imperium of Man had many enemies and so a request had been made to the Hand of Judgement to investigate.
Captain Gaius Toln of the second company stood on the bridge listening to the report from the operator at the sensor stations.
"Mass of the object is approximately ship size sir, we should get visual contact in T minus 2 minutes."
Gaius glanced to his left through the viewing plate out into the vastness of surrounding space. As yet not even his gene enhanced eyes could pick out the object the ships sensors were currently tracking.
"Helmsman. Change course bring us on a new heading, put us across and slightly below the target" Gaius commanded. He wanted to see what exactly was out there ahead of them.
"Exact mass readings of object coming in now sir...object's mass and emissions is consistent with that of a Navy frigate, Sword class. No course changes from object."
Gauis's vox piece clicked into life.
"Three squads geared up and ready for orders, Captain". The voice belonged to Sergeant Thaddeus.
"Acknowledged Sergeant, stand by".
"Object in visual range, sir" the sensor operator stated.
Gaius waited as the yet unidentified target began to take shape through the viewing pane. Almost immediately Gauis' unspoken suspicions were confirmed. Coming up on the object a midships, Gaius' quickly saw it was indeed a ship and as it drifted past he could easily make out the name 'Defiant' printed on her external plates.
"It would appear we have found the Navy's lost ship gentlemen" Gaius spoke solemnly. "Vox operator report."
"No answer to hails on any frequency Sir, she appears to be drifting no visible signs of propulsion."
"We have weapons lock sir, tracking on all batteries."
Gaius nodded to the gunnery operator before clicking into his armours vox comm's.
"Sergeant Thaddeus embark your squads for boarding action. I want you over there as soon as possible. Find out what has happened to that ship. Be prepared for the worst."
"Understood Captain" came the reply.
...
"Alright brothers form up. You heard the Captain. We are going over there to find out what has happened to the crew of that ship. Most likely whatever it was wasn't conducive to their good health. I'll take Alpha and secure the bridge. Sergeant Mylos will take Beta to secure the engines, Delta squad in reserve at point of entry ready to respond to hostile contact, Brother Fulvio as acting squad leader."
The formed up squads nodded as one before running their final checks on their armour and weapons.
...
"Command confirms, all squads proceed to breach and enter."
Thaddeus raised his hand and motioned, Brother Mitos rose, taking point his bolter up and tracking, as he stepped through the hatch. In formation Alpha squad moved out, each brother covering the other as they headed for the bridge. Behind them Beta squad moved off headed for the engine room.
Utterly silent Alpha squad proceeded through the ship, coming to a junction the squad paused deploying to cover all access points as they waited. Thaddeus consulted his HUD determining the optimum path to the bridge. His armour's systems had the ships schematics loaded pre mission but experience had taught him that the reality on the ground often differed from what was expected. So far however Alpha squad had not encountered any obstacle en route, in fact the lack of any signs of battle damage had Thaddeus distinctly uneasy.
"On your feet brothers we proceed as planned".
As one his squad moved off, slipping easily back in formation as Brother Mitos led off in the direction shown by Thaddeus. Corridor after corridor the squad proceeded unmolested, moving in on their objective. At the next corridor Brother Mitos held up his fist.
"Sergeant, we are at the bridge access corridor. Signs of combat in evidence."
"Acknowledged"
"Thaddeus to Command, Alpha squad has bridge in sight, moving in."
Moving down the access corridor Thaddeus looked at the scene lit up by the neon red glare of the ships emergency lighting. Burn marks scored the walls and underfoot the metal grating of the flooring was buckled and dented in places. Thaddeus didn't need to be a veteran to recognise the signs of las-fire and explosive damage.
"Brother Lucien, rearguard".
Thaddeus nodded at Mitos, standing by at the access panel for the bridge blast doors. The rest of the squad took up positions ready to sweep onto the bridge once the doors opened. Mitos stepped back from the panel, his access codes accepted.
...
Sergeant Mylos held up his fist as his squad took up position to enter the engine control room.
"This is Mylos to Command, Beta squad entering the engineering level."
A faint hiss resounded as the heavy metal blast doors slid apart. Beta squad proceeded through the portal every sense honed and ready for...nothing. The chamber inside was empty of all life. Cogitator stations hummed softly in lower power mode, yellow warning lights strobed on the wall casting rotating shadows across the structure.
"What now Sergeant?" asked Brother Cai.
"Now? Now we follow the blood" replied Mylos.
Following his eye-line Cai looked to see a trail of blood leading from the door through the room to the chamber beyond. With a signal from the sergeant the squad moved in formation through the room, their suspicions as to the fate of this ship seemingly confirmed. Mylos's practised eye ran across his brothers positioning ensuring everyone was in their place while at the same time readying his own bolter for what lay beyond.
Mylos felt it before he saw it, an eldritch sensation which set his nerves on edge. Tensing himself he stepped through into the next chamber and stopped dead at the sight before him.
"By the emperor..."
Mylos was a veteran. A lifetime spent in service to the Emperor of Mankind. He had beheld many battlefields and fought against the myriad of humanity's enemies, but what confronted him now disgusted him to the very core of his being. In front of beta squad was the engine core of the Defiant. Ordinarily this chamber thrummed with power as the heartbeat of the ship. Mighty mechanisms worked to propel the ship and power the numerous systems all under the watchful guidance of its techpriests of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Now however it's once noble purpose had been cruelly defiled.
"Mylos to Command, we have located the missing crew. They are all...dead" He finished lamely.
His report didn't even begin to convey the sight which confronted Beta Squad. The crew of the Defiant had numbered in the thousands, proud servants of the Emperor all. Whoever or whatever had killed them had cared little for their service. Their deaths had been violent, few bodies that the marines could see remained whole. Mutilated and defiled their body parts lined the surfaces of the Defiant's engines. Arms, legs and torsos were displayed in a gruesome tapestry. Amongst the limbs severed heads stared out, their faces twisted in a rictus of terror and screams, an eternal insight into the moment of their ending. Looking at the macabre tableau Mylos again felt the eldritch sensation pulse through the room.
"Something foul is at work here. This charnel house serves a purpose".
Concentrating Mylos looked closely past the grisly visage. His eye's began to hurt as he looked deeper and the sensations became stronger.
"The blood...it's moving?!"
Now he saw clearly the design of their enemy. This was not a slaughter for slaughters sake, there was a pattern, these bodies had been arranged. A sacrifice to fuel a purpose. As he watched the blood of the fallen crew oozed steadily inwards towards the mighty engine of the Defiant. As the blood pooled Beta Squad felt buffeted as though a pressure wave had exploded through the room. With a cackle of sorcerous energies the engines came to life but it was no longer the ship that they fueled. In front of their very eyes the air seemed to shimmer and then part. For a moment time seemed to stand still before a new nightmarish sight stepped through the portal. Dark purple in colour the figure stood on lean muscled legs which bent backwards at the knee, ending in large taloned feet. Its upper torso rippled as though something moved constantly just below the skin. Arms which seemed too long for its body dragged on the floor, its taloned nails leaving scratches on the metal. The being raised it's snout as if to howl to the sky but before it could utter a sound it's head exploded in a mist of gore.
"Demons. Cai get melta charges on that engine now. Squad form up on me, cover Cai" Mylos commanded, his bolter still smoking.
Quickly and smoothly his squad moved to obey his commands.
"Mylos to Command. Beta has contact in the engineering level. The crew's remains and the engines are being used as a conduit to the warp. We have an open portal here..."
The sound of bolter fire drowned out his next words as his squad opened fire on the portal. More demons were beginning to enter the chamber as the portal slowly grew in size. Beyond them through the portal Mylos could see movement in the haze, indeterminate shapes jostling to enter this plane of existence.
"We must destroy the engines now. Cut off the power fuelling the portal."
"Setting the last charge now Brother Sergeant, thirty seconds" Cai reported.
As Mylos watched a demon launched itself from the portal straight towards Cai's kneeling form. Cai did not even flinch trusting in the cover provided by his brothers. The demon came apart in mid air as bolt rounds tore through it, the remnants of its innards spattering Cai's armour.
"Charges set" he reported, rising swiftly and moving back into position amongst the squad.
"Fall back, cover formation, move!" ordered Mylos.
More demons were pouring through the portal at an alarming rate. So far none had made it past the bolter fire of his marines but as the portal grew so did the numbers of the enemy and it would only be a matter of time before they overwhelmed the small squad. His brothers responded, two laying down suppressive fire while the rest moved past them to take positions further back. Once there they then stopped to cover the retreat of their brothers as they moved steadily back in turn. There was no panic, their movements were the result of a lifetime of warfare and discipline, each squad member working in tandem to cover the other while gradually giving ground. However as Mylos could see without the full weight of their fire on the portal at any one time the demons were beginning to push forward. Reaching towards his belt Mylos unclipped a frag grenade before rolling into along the deck towards the on rushing demons.
"Frag out."
The demons had eyes only for their prey as they rushed headlong towards the squad oblivious to the grenade as it rolled into their midst. The resulting explosion vaporised those in the front and maimed their brethren following closely behind. Beta squad hadn't waited to see the carnage instead using the cover of the grenades explosion to double time back to the blast doors leading into the engineering level. Taking cover at the entrance way they picked off individual demons still reeling from the explosion while Mylos worked the door terminal to shut the portal. With a hiss the heavy doors came down as the marines continued to fire at targets until the door fully sealed. Raising his bolter Mylos fired one shot into the door terminal disabling it's machine spirit.
"That will buy us a few minutes nothing more. On your feet, make for the hanger bay."
...
If the engineering compartment of the ship were it's heart the bridge was it's brain. Without the bridge and it's crew the ship became nothing more than individual parts all working independently with little or no cohesion. In boarding actions or naval engagements targeting the bridge was always a priority for the foe. Cut off the head and the body may still move for a little while but it would surely die. Thaddeus was well aware of this simple fact as he waited for the bridge blast doors to reveal the interior of the room, and he was ready to face whatever had caused the death of this once fine ship of the Imperial Navy. As the blast doors parted they revealed banks of cogitator stations in rows, their flickering screens reflecting all the information normally used to control the ship. The banks of stations surrounded a central platform, the command dais of the ship's captain. The captains throne was silhouetted by the bridge viewing port which occupied the far bulkhead of the chamber. A part of Thaddeus's mind took in all this detail, but his eyes were firmly fixed on the being sitting upon the captain's throne. As his squad moved into the room they quickly found cover, moving to flank the being as it turned with the sound of the opening blast doors. The being was vaguely humanoid in shape Thaddeus could see but from there the similarities grew fewer. Its body seemed fluid as it sprouted protrusions, each unnaturally growing and shrinking as if alive. Only the tattered remains of a hooded robe, which clung to various pieces of it's anatomy, gave a clue as to the owners identity. As it faced them the being threw back it's head and laughed, it's hood falling back as it did so.
"And so the lapdogs of the False One have come. It is as the master predicted."
Thaddeus took in the being before him and felt only disgust.
"Navigator" he spat, "you have dishonoured your House and betrayed the Imperium. What have you done with the ship's crew?"
The former ships navigator leered at Thaddeus, the iconic third eye that was a feature of all its kind loomed large on it's elongated forehead. With this mutation the navigators of the Imperium were able to "see" into the Warp and guide their ships, allowing those ships to travel great distances via the currents of the Warp. However it also exposed them in turn to all the horrors that lurked in that other realm. While normally protected and trained it appeared as though this navigator had fallen to the temptations of Chaos. Such was the insidious nature of the realm of demons that none were wholly safe from its touch and the Navigator's new physical deformities were proof of it's corruption.
As Thaddeus watched the Navigator's third eye moved up as if peering at something in the distance behind him. The being's mouth stretched wide in a ghoulish grin as it did so,
"It would appear that your comrades are discovering their fate as we speak" It crowed. "The crew now serve the higher powers. It was all made so clear to me when the Master showed me how. Their sacrifice is not in vain, indeed it is the God's will. The master carries out their will in this realm and I his. This ship and then this world are to be his offering to them!"
"Know now space marine that you shall be part of this offering!" with this the former navigator leaned forwards towards the marines as his third eye seemed to grow and pulse.
Before it had a chance to act however Thaddeus raised his bolter and shot directly into the grisly mutation. The explosive bolt shell detonated on impact tearing through the navigators cranium, splattering gore on the surrounding consoles.
Thaddeus's vox clicked into life,
"Mylos to Command. Beta has contact in the engineering level. The crew's remains and the engines are being used as a conduit to the warp. We have an open portal here..."
Turning sharply Thaddeus began issuing orders.
"Fall back to the hangar bay, double time, we are leaving brothers."
Not wasting any time Alpha squad moved swiftly, retracing their steps their footsteps clanging loudly on the metal floors as they abandoned stealth for speed.
"This is Thaddeus, en route to hangar bay. Sergeant Mylos what is your status?"
"The engine room is over run. We have rigged the engines and are falling back to the hangar bay for extraction. We have contained the demons inside but I doubt they will stay so for long."
"Acknowledged." Switching frequencies Thaddeus voxed ahead, "Brother Fulvio prepare the Thunderhawk for departure it seems we have outstayed our welcome."
"Ready and waiting Sergeant," came the reply.
Minutes later they were in sight of the hanger bay as they moved swiftly down the corridor. Ahead of them Beta squad appeared from a side corridor moving in formation and covering to their rear.
"Well met brother", Mylos commented dryly as Thaddeus arrived up beside him. "The crew are all dead, their remains are being used along with the ships engines to power a portal. We must get off this ship so we can detonate the charges and destroy it."
The sound of bolter fire interrupted them before Thaddeus could respond.
"Contact rear"
"Move brothers, get to the Thunderhawk", ordered Thaddeus while firing at a demon as it turned into the corridor far behind them.
Moving swiftly the marines fell back into the hangar bay. Standing proudly on the flight deck their Thunderhawk gunship waited with it's front ramp lowered. As they moved Thaddeus could see Delta squad deployed in defensive positions, ready to cover their brother marines. The Thunderhawk's engines roared as the marines fell back towards it, as if it's machine spirit was eager to be away. The sharp staccato sound of Brother Fulvio's heavy bolter cracked through the air a moment later as he opened fire on the access hatch as the last marine came through. Thaddeus watched as the heavy shells tore through the leading demon turning it's torso to pulp as they carried on through the next beast in turn. The sheer violence of the heavy bolter fire bought the marines the extra seconds they needed to traverse the flight deck and board the Thunderhawk. As the marines boarded and strapped in Thaddeus stood on the boarding ramp with Sergeant Mylos, one hand gripping the ramp support arm the other firing his bolter single handedly covering the retreating Brother Fulvio. Fulvio had not let up with his withering fusillade but was steadily pacing backwards as he fired. Behind him the Thunderhawk rose into the air, the chapter serf piloting it, skilfully moving the massive machine towards Fulvio closing the gap. As they neared each other, Fulvio turned and jumped up his power armour easily propelling him into the air. Reaching out Thaddeus and Mylos grabbed onto his shoulder pauldrons and dragged him abroad. Nodding, Fulvio proceeded inside and strapped himself in, stowing his heavy bolter in the weapon rack beside him, as the ramp hissed shut behind them.
"All clear pilot, let's go" Thaddeus voxed.
"Roger that Sergeant, bugging out", came the laconic reply as the Thunderhawk swung about on it's axis the engines flaring as they increased power.
"We are clear of the hangar" voxed the pilot, "thirty seconds until we are clear of any blast radius".
Turning Thaddeus spoke,
"Send them back to the Warp, Brother".
"Sometimes doing one's duty is a genuine pleasure. May the Emperor receive their souls" intoned Mylos while producing a detonator from his belt. With no hesitation he flicked open the cap and pressed down hard on the button within.