Chapter 1: discovery
"I still don't see how you knew that it was the governor who was behind the heretics actions. You seemed to know at first glance." A lighthearted, male voice called from across the ships chamber.
"Must I always tell you this…logic, knowledge, faith, and resources? It was with knowledge of what he was reciting when we first saw him that I was able to know the origins of where he would have received such 'pious' quotations. it would then have been by logic that I deduced that it was his connection with the cult that he received such seemingly harmless quotations. and it was by faith in the God-emperor that I used all the resources available to me to burn his wretched soul out from the emperors light and cast his whole accursed house into the chaos that they so deserved!" a deep voice lectured logically from the chambers opposite. "But truly I never suspected the actual location of the cult's headquarters. You may make a fine inquisitor one day but until then there is far too much you need to learn."
Inquisitor Titonas Hond leaned forward in his seat aboard the rouge trader ship, allowing his student to see his rough brown colored flesh, black hair, his feared pale white eyes and the telling scar over his right eye. The inquisitor was a slightly aged man, who had always been known to appear near different hubs and get into fights with individuals that he thought he could glean information from. The inquisitor being a weak psycher had found that someone in a physical confrontation was easier to affect.
His only interrogator, Boras brow, was very different. His student appeared soft, with smooth white skin, Boras had been chosen by Titonas because he had been a potent psycher and able to use logic very well, out of Titonas's small group Boras was to only individual with skills that weren't used solely for killing or capturing individuals.
"It is just that I had questioned you, and I am sorry." Boras replied.
"It is understandable, the whole planet had thought that that man was faithful…but then few men ever wish to question their governor's faith." Titonas answered. "now our next destination is quite the task…as you know we are heading to a place called Luxodia 12 an insignificant planet by many measures, at the edge of the empire, contributes little, known to have a few people willing to trade with foul Xenos."
"Yes inquisitor" Boras replied, walking to the doorway of the chamber he stopped before leaving. "You said a source told you of some chaos cult…and a strange 'rock plague'." Boras sighed. "I don't see why you would bring us here, if it is just a plague then we shouldn't waste our time inquisitor, the imperium has far more pressing matters."
This caused the inquisitor to chuckle. "The imperium always has more pressing matters. But the inquisition is meant to route out problems before they become serious threats to our culture, to stop heresy at its source. To burn heretics" Titonus replied.
Borus then turned and bowed to his master. "Goodnight sir."
Titonus then turned and began reading the report from his informant, this was certainly a disturbing report, he'd let his interrogator think differently for now. A crystal that multiplies and seems to be warp spawned, a cult taking control of the planet at the same time as the crystal's appearance, and all of it seemed to focus around a single individual whose name appeared everywhere and in everything concerning the planet.
*****
"Approaching landing site now inquisitor." The shuttle's pilot informed, as his slow ungainly craft descended towards the arranged meeting place.
"Remember Boras, Duran has been my informant for many years, I trust anything he tells me." Titonus reminded his interrogator.
"I know sir, I do not doubt that you choose to investigate this based solely off that fact." Boras replied his face pale, and his voice revealing his terror of flying. To Boras, being in space was one thing, but flying in a tiny craft where there is gravity pulling you down towards a planets surface, that was something to be terrified of.
"Calm down, the pilot the captain donated is a very good one." Titonus coolly ordered his interrogator.
"Sorry sir." Boras replied, his voice still shaking.
"Boy you're friend really knows how to pick his meeting places, a novice pilot would say landing here is impossible. The wind gusts are one thing, but the terrain is truly deceptive looks smooth down their but even I am likely to scrape the bottom off this baby." The pilot shouted over his shoulder to his passengers. "Just look at all that green stuff if you're not careful I'd say it might rip this ship apart, good thing, I'm just dropping you off."
Titonus looked at his company, two of his hired muscle Gregor and Stan, very experienced imperial guards men, also he had brought along his astropath Gias. Gias was his own special astropath one who could send messages ease and was likely to last several more years until the messages finally wore him out.
"Alright let me look." Titonus demanded, entering into the cockpit of the craft. Looking out the window Titonus could see a peculiar sight, the fields were definitely corrupted by the presence of a green crystal, one that turned the earth around it a dark color, and had changed the face of the terrain around it, making the ground uneven and Cliffside riddled. A perfect battlefield created by the mere presence of a green crystal, perhaps Duran's assumption that this was a warp spawned stone was not too far fetched. If Titonus had remembered the planets only cotenant was supposed to have rolling hills, not mountains of rough terrain.
Turning to the pilot Titonus gave him a quick order. "Alright swing low and drop us as quickly as possible into the meeting aria, if we need you for emergency pick-up we'll beep the ship twice and then give coordinates, understood?"
"Right, I did my fair share of time shuttling for the imperial guard before joining in the rouge trade." The pilot replied, dropping low and dodging small towers and exploding fissures made of the green crystal.
*****
"We've got it, one small craft." A voice informed over the head set.
"roger." The confessor replied before lowering his mask over his face, causing his view of the world to change. Now the world had a red tint, his allies each were marked out by the red hexagon that symbolized their faith, while a gold circle indicated the targets location.
A soldier walked up to the confessor and placed his hand on the others shoulder. "Are they the ones brother?" he asked eagerly.
The confessor then hit a button on his helmet which allowed him to view in a small box what one of his soldiers was viewing. He could see the craft and make out it's flight pattern. It's pilot was obviously some kind of veteran, however the craft itself was bulky and did not appear very aerodynamic, but then everything created by this 'imperium' seemed large and ungainly. "It's the one we've expected, Duran's final confession was true. Rocket militia to the front, wait until they near the meeting sight then initiate."
The confessor then span around causing his black cape to fly upwards, catching the attention of the red armored solders about him. He then jumped into the Reckoner at the lead of a four transport column. It was time for the trap to proceed. "Contact the tank; scouting duties are over when the time comes knock them out." The confessor ordered one of his soldiers who was by a communications consol.
*****
Titonus looked out of the window again, someone was out there. He knew Duran was supposed to be there but was there someone else?
"Hey what was that?" the pilot asked glancing out the left window quickly.
"What was what?" Titonus asked glancing the same way.
"Better get in the back inquisitor, we're coming up on you're drop point and you said you wanted this to be fast." The pilot then stated.
"wait, I see something…what the hell is that?" the statement from the inquisitor came only moments before a invisible vehicle , one that had 2 treads at the front and a third in the rear with a missile array placed on top, revealed itself and opened fire.
"Shit! Get down!" The pilot yelled dropping the craft inches above the ground.
*****
"idiot." The confessor growled. "Everyone move into attack, order that fool driving the stealth tank to move in behind us, men prepare to disembark, I don't want to risk the reckoners just yet. And order a squad of shadow troopers down here immediately." The confessor then ordered.
"couldn't we just surround them with the reckoners and lay siege to them brother?" one of the red armored soldiers asked. The confessor span delivering a fist into the un-helmeted face of the questioning soldier.
*****
The craft continued for several feet before it actually connected with the ground and skidded to a halt in the middle of a wide ravine.
The pilot quickly un-harnessed and leapt to check on the inquisitor. "sir are you alright?" he asked nervously.
Titonus pulled himself off the cockpit floor and waved off the pilot, then went into the crafts cargo hold to find that his team was doing better than he was.
"Were we just shot down?" the astropath, Gias asked.
"No, but we came close. And it's unlikely that we'll take off again." Titonus replied.
Boras raised his hand while he un-harnessed himself. "They'll likely come searching for us."
"Right, everyone grab a las-rifle and we'll go find a defendable position." With that the group began gathering weapons and left the downed aircraft.
Outside the terrain seemed completely alien, the soil felt corrupted, and the green crystal appeared in large fields growing on the walls and in arias around strange fissures.
"Sir, about ninety paces forward and to the left." Boras suggested, pointing to a raised position of black rock that overlooked their current position with a field of the green crystal below it and the cliff face behind making the easiest approach a direct and open path.
"Good choice." Titonus congratulated his interrogator.
The assent to the position was easy and the small group was able to quickly gather a large amount of supplies at their new position. They then began fortifying and preparing their lines of fire and eventually had a great command of the crash site.
After moments of waiting four vehicles came down the valley and soldiers in strange dark grey armor with red highlights began to file out. The red armor of the soldiers was unlike most armor that Titonus had seen before. The main body armor itself was basic metal body plates covering points likely to be hit, overlaid to allow mobility and protection, while the soldiers' helmets were teardrop shaped, with the faceplates having strange symbols etched in the red visors. However, the more noticeable of the soldiers were ones who wore red jackets with hoods and white cloth coverings over their faces carrying large rocket launcher devices. After the soldiers investigated the crash site finding little trace of the inquisitors group a new figure appeared amongst the group. This one Titonus decided must have been their leader. He wore a black uniform that seemed to have been constructed of superior materials than the others, also his helmet was black with a face mask that held two red colored eye slots. Even his tri-barreled gun identified him from his soldiers.
Boras crawled over to his master. "It looks as though the one in black is their leader."
"Right, we'll pick him off first, and then deal with the rest, it's logical to assume that they are going to be tough but un-disciplined. I'll fire first." Titonus informed his interrogator.
"I'll tell the others master." Boras replied before crawling away.
As Boras crawled, away Titonus pulled out a long-las and began to take aim at the black armored soldier down range. The soldier was definitely the focus of the enemy's organization. Whenever he made a gesture, the others reacted and began to perform one task or another. As one soldier approached the black armored commander, Titonus aimed at the target's head preparing for a perfect shot. However, the black armored one then turned and seemingly looking directly at Titonus, he reacted pointing at the hill and shouting commands. Titonus fired, hoping to quickly kill the leader but one of the soldiers threw himself between Titonus's shot and its intended target.
"damn." Titonus growled as he lowered his long-las and brought out a regular las-rifle. Already the red armored soldiers had begun swarming up the path but fire from the six defenders cut them down quickly.
The red armored heretics quickly abandoned their charge taking cover and attempting to slowly advance. The red coat enemies brought up their rocket launchers aiming towards Titonus's position on the ridge but concentrated fire soon reduced the men to molten slag. The hoard of red armored enemies began to spray with their weapons kicking up soil all around the defenders. Meanwhile the black armored leader stayed back as if waiting for something. Titonus risked a moment away from the action to observe the black armored man, who was now standing aside gesturing at the air.
*****
"I want a burst of eight rockets on that mound now." The confessor demanded of the pilot of the stealth tank. "And where the hell are those shadow troopers?" he then demanded on one of his subordinates.
"They are gliding in behind the target now brother." The nearest militant reported.
"Finally! Now, FOR THE…."
*****
The black armored soldier raised a fist into the air shouting some intangible battle cry. As the enemy leader did so a tank, obviously the one that had shot then down, materialized beside him. Taking careful aim the vehicle opened fire sending a spray of well placed rockets towards the hill.
"Everyone down!" Titonus shouted just before the first rocket made contact.
"oh…oh, gods!" Titonus could hear Gias shout. Titonus quickly advanced to his astropath to investigate.
"What is it?" he quickly demanded of his in-experienced comrade, who in turn pointed to the body of Stan. Stan's body had been thrown upwards and had landed in the green crystals, which had skewered him.
"sh-should we move him?" Gias asked, his voice trembling.
"No, I don't think we want to get close to the green rocks." Titnonus decided, pointing to the bodies of the enemy that had landed in the fields of the green crystal to emphasize his point. Apparently this mineral had the ability to consume other materials and grow like a fungus, the dead bodies that had already been half transformed proved it.
While firing at the enemy Boras approached his master. "It looks as though these crystal fields are proving to be a tactical advantage for us, a bigger one than we thought."
"Yes, however I would never want to come into physical contact with them." Titonus said, pointing to Stan's body which already had growing green points from where it was in contact with the crystals around it. Both Boras and Titonus returned to firing at the enemies advancing up the hill as the tank bellow tried to provide the enemy with covering fire. However, neither side seemed to make any further progress, there were too many militants for the inquisition team to kill and the militants could not advance with the lethal fire from the hill.
While replacing his tenth energy pack Titonus saw Gregor hastily, advance up the hill. "Behind you!" he shouted, while firing several shots at the air behind Boras and Titonus. Titonus sensing danger span around in time to witness one of Gregor's shots connect with the armor of a shadow trooper who then seemed to materialize immediately behind Boras. Three more invisible warriors then materialized in positions behind the defenders. Their body armor looked like a light version of the basic militants while their helmets were more bowl shaped and reminded the inquisitor of some sort of mask. Gregor fired wildly at one striking him in the chest but the remaining two fired miniature autoguns and cut Gregor down before he could continue. The pilot and Gias continued firing down range to keep the enemy at bay while Boras and Titonus leapt up to confront the new attackers. One of the two had two of the miniature autoguns while the other pulled out a rapier sword with one hand while idling his autogun in the other.
"Boras, you handle the duel gunner, I'll handle the swordsman." Titonus instructed his apprentice. While pulling out his own sword, one that he had been given when he first became an inquisitor.
"How'd they get behind us?" Boras asked, completely focused on his target, which had dived behind cover.
"They have gliders built into their armor." Titonus realized, looking at one of the bodies. As he did so the swordsman enemy shouted something in a language Titonus did not recognize and charged. Titonus quickly parried with a powerful sweep. However this opponent was obviously fast and was already pressing the attack with a flurry of strikes. Being slower but more powerful, Titonus could only win if he attacked his opponent. "TO THE WARP WITH YOU!" Titonus shouted, as he parried another strike and then began his own offensive. However just as he began to attack his opponent faded from sight.
*****
Laying down fire on the advancing enemy was an easy enough task. For the pilot Anthony Cheknov it was something the emperor blessed how easy it was to either kill these red armored lunatics who threw themselves forward, or to get them to dive for cover which was the less likely. To the astropath, Gias, pulling the trigger and ending another life seemed difficult. Now though with the strange tank with its rocket launcher, and now that two thirds of the team was either fighting with invisible enemies or dead the task was becoming much harder, every time Anthony stopped to reload the fanatics surged forward, and Gias was just too slow with his gun.
Anthony reloaded once more and threw the cartridge to his side taking aim at the advancing fanatics again. A single crunch-like noise alerted Anthony of the threat behind. Anthony quickly spun around pulling out a handgun and fired by reflex. Anthony fired four rounds closely clustered at the point he figured a man's center to be. After he fired one of the invisible assailants reappeared with three holes in his head and a large dagger in hand. Anthony then grabbed his rifle and continued firing at the advancing fanatics who were now getting very close.
*****
The confessor watched the battle and was becoming more impatient. He was supposed to return with a simple victory over one of the most feared organizations in all of the 'imperium', instead four desperate men were fighting and surviving atop that hill. "bring down one of the reckoners, then load it with our rocket troops at the bottom of the hill. Obeying the confessors commands the militants drove their reckoner to the closest point of the hill they could and had the vehicle deploy turning itself into a firmly grounded bucker. Then several squads of rocket militants entered into the new structure and began to fire towards the defenders, giving significant cover fire for the advancing troops.
*****
Titonus had fought many different swordsmen before, experts, novices, even a traitor marine, but fighting an invisible opponent was so far the most difficult. He could just make out his opponents strikes before they connected allowing him to make sudden dodges and parries, but he had no chance for countering and launching his own attack. Four gunshots sounded close behind Titonus signaling the death of another invisible opponent. "Boras! You got him?" Titonus asked, as he leapt away from his opponent.
"No but he's dead!" Boras replied, just as Titonus ducked below another high strike.
"good, one left!" Titonus called, as a swing from his invisible opponent drew blood from his leg and causing the strange fanatic to call something in the man's unknown tongue.
Boras began to advance searching for a way to attack his masters opponents but stopped when he decided to use his psycher abilities, the thought to use the abilities he was gifted with only now re-occurring to him. "SHOW YOURSELF!" Boras demanded aloud, and after a moments hesitation the invisible soldier became visible, allowing Titonus to thrust his blade into the man's chest.
"Hmm, why didn't I think of that?" Titonus asked aloud, before an explosion reminded both him and Boras of the real battle.
Rushing to the positions that the pilot and Gias had taken the dismal turn of the battle was apparent, one of the enemy APC's had turned itself into a bunker at the bottom of the hill more than doubling the suppressive rocket fire covering the now very swift advance of the enemy.
"If we stay here any longer we're dead!" the pilot shouted over the deafening roar of rockets and explosions.
"Quickly up the cliff side!" Titonus decided and ordered.
"What are you trying to kill us!" the pilot demanded.
"Go!" was all Titonus said, before going to give his order to Gias.
"We're going to die!" the pilot grumbled before lifting himself up to retreat to the cliff.