The Left Hand of Russ
Prologue: The Ghost Wolf
Mission log forty nine: Personal log of Inquisitor Helmian Gauss
Our forces encountered resistance of the most nefarious kind: A company of several dozen chaos space marines intercepted our armoured columns with missile launchers and lascannons. We lost 8 chimeras in the first salvo another 6 in the second. We fought back and managed to eliminate 4 of the traitors with sustained hellgun fire but the thrice accursed power armour of the traitors held them firm against our assault. Furthermore their weapons began to eat their way through the men with deadly precision. We lost dozens of men and APC's in those first few minutes, and would have undoubtedly lost more if the traitors had continued with their attack. But they retreated swiftly before we could truly retaliate. This did not dissuade us and we immediately took the chance to eliminate more of the traitors by sending our veteran squads into the forests of the planet. Many of them equipped with plasma and meltaguns blessed by the representatives of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Our finest chased the traitors for several hours but when they finally caught up with them it was only to find the traitors slaughtered. The angle of the cuts and similarity between attacks suggested a single Astartes had defeated nearly 60 chaos space marines. One of the troopers found a single claw, a claw from a Fenrisian wolf; embedded in the ground next to one of the traitors.
It seems that a solo Space wolf wiped out 6 squads of chaos marines and the only evidence of his passing was a single claw. All of the traitors blood seemed to have been acidic to a degree and had expended itself attempting to blight the ground it was upon; aside from the blood on the traitors' bodies there was no Astartes blood. This suggests that the marine failed to even be hit by the traitors, with bolter, missile launcher, or lascannon. We thanked the emperor for his sending of the Lone Wolf to us this day. It seems our god smiles upon us still.
Mission log fifty: Personal log of Inquisitor Helmian Gauss
Today we discovered more Evidence of the Lone Wolf the men have ostensibly named "The Ghost Wolf". Our forward sentinel units were scouting the terrain ahead when one of the pilots noticed a copse of what he thought were trees. They would have been odd trees indeed but that is what the Pilots report insists. Regardless upon closer inspection they appeared to be crucified heretics. Forty five of the traitorous men (not Astartes) had been nailed to crosses with wooden stakes. They appeared to have been dead before hand and our medics tell us that the heretics had been killed initially by cuts that resembled those on the traitor Astartes we that had ambushed us five days ago. This continued presence of the Lone Wolf has the men's morale at an all-time high. The feeling that one of the sons of the emperor is watching over us has the men believing of the true power of the Imperium. I must admit that having one of the Astartes with us, however distantly, on our holy inquisition makes my heart soar. The Heretics were burned.
Mission log fifty one: Personal log of Inquisitor Helmian Gauss
Glorious news! The Lone Wolf who has been assisting us contacted our radio frequency this day. He calls himself Lucian Frostfang and agreed to meet with me. The meeting was brief, about thirty minutes after he contacted us he strode into our hasty camp. He was certainly an imposing sight; his blessed power armour had the skulls of wolves stylized onto its surface and pauldrons. From him hang many tattered tufts of fur and the necklaces of teeth which were long terrifying canines. His head was bare save for his own hair and his skin seemed to be unmarred which surprised me. Honestly I expected one of the sons of the Emperor to be more… battle worn. The sword he carried was a testament to the attacks made on his victims, about one and a half metres long and about a hand width wide the chain-blade was a work of art as well as war. Its hilt had the image of a pair of snapping wolves, one at each end of the cross-guard. And a wolf skull, made from what I assume was plasteel, seemed to swallow the blade. Aside from his physical appearance the Astartes seemed to exclude a sort of presence. It was like standing next to an image of Russ himself.
Lucian quickly explained his presence on the planet; he had been chasing the tracks of a Tau Commander named Shas'o Tau Kais. The name baffled me, why did these xenos have such long names? Regardless I had pointed out that the Tau weren't on that planet but he replied cryptically with: "They are here. But not in body."
That threw me
I hadn't known how to respond until he asked why we were there. I began to describe our inquisition but he waved me down. I was insulted for a moment and considered having the Astartes taken into custody. And then realised my thoughts and promptly expelled them from my mind. The planet had slowly started to turn me against this Astartes without my even noticing. The rituals will be long to purge my soul if I survive this. Regardless of my own inner turmoil he told us that he would aid us until he found the evidence he needed…
Mission log fifty two: Personal log of Inquisitor Helmian Gauss
Lucian was certainly a boon. His fighting capabilities were more than what was needed to defeat the chaos forces on the planet. And indeed the battle was over sooner than we had expected it would be. And then all to soon he was gone, and I am to be sent back…
To be purged.
Maybe he wasn't a boon.