Chapter 1
Rain.
Rain pounding down everywhere, dripping softly from the armour of the blue giants standing in the trees, dulling the senses of the guards standing watch around the bunker, even though they weren't really watching for anyone. Hell, they thought, what does it matter? There's no one else in this God-forsaken jungle.
Or so they thought.
As they stood around, bemoaning their superior officers and talking about the lives they left behind to join the "greater good" of Chaos, they didn't hear or see the giant warriors slipping from tree to tree, almost as silent as ghosts. The only sounds eminated from the pistons and fibre-bundles of their cybernetic suits of armour, and the rain softly pattering off of their bulk.
"Brother Athan, are you in position?" asked sergeant Rexan.
"Yes, brother-sergeant" he whispered back along the com-link in his helmet. He gripped the pistol tightly in his gauntlet, preparing himself for the battle soon to come. His muscles tensed up, his enhanced hearing catching every footstep as the guards slowly faded away, the watch change whistle blowing. He stood, waiting, listening for the new watch guards to come out from the barracks, a few hundred feet to the left of his hiding spot. He began to hear footsteps, drawing closer. His breathing sped up, his two hearts beating faster, anticipating the fight. Just as the detatchment neared the corner of his chosen place of hiding did he move, spinning out from behind a storage shed, and rushed forward, his feet carrying him towards the first guard. The guard stood with his mouth agape, startled by the superhuman suddenly running towards him, hands falling towards his lasrifle.
Such lax security measures, he thought as he reached the guard and snapped his neck in one armored hand. The second guard turned and screamed something unintelligible to the third, but it was already too late, as Athan's enhanced reflexes snapped the bolt pistol in his opposite hand level with the guards head, and shot a bolt into the center of his forehead, shattering the man's forhead then exploding outwards, his skull a bloody mess. The third guard, being slightly more thoughtful, raised his lasgun and fired his clip on full auto, screaming savagely, but the gun just sprayed around him or bounced off of the purified armour encasing his body, leaving barely any trace behind. Athan retrained his pistol and shot twice, blowing out his ribcage, and sending him tumbling to the ground.
This whole exchange had taken less than five seconds.
Athan breathed deeply, and as he bent to wipe his hand clean of blood on one of the guards pants, Sergeant Rexan jogged up behind him, his squad moving to take up perimiter positions. Years of hard training and even more of combat had them in a perfect formation, their bolters trained in strategic positions to allow covered fields of fire.
Rexan signaled over the vox for the main force, nearly a kilometer behind their small advance mission, to adavance. He looked into the eyes of the proud battle brother, clapping him softly on his shoulder pauldron and said "Congratulations Athan. After all these years fighting together, I still sometimes forget how skilled you are. The academy has taught you well."
"Thank you, sergeant Rexan," replied Athan, acknowledging the complement. "But, may I ask a question?"
"Go ahead, but keep in mind, time is short for this conversation" Rexan said, his eyes leaving Athan's face for a moment to observe the barrack to their left, and then behind them, to the growl of a strikeforce of Ultramarines like themselves, approaching en masse in armoured transports. Around them, the base began to get slightly more frantic, shadows moving past windows, scattered vox reports, questions shouted into the night from trooper to trooper.
"Sergeant, what is our purpose here? The captian wasn't clear in the mission explanation, merely stating that the Emperor's enemies are upon this planet, and that they must be expunged, and also that we are to each see Chaplain Silus individually for spiritual cleansing and prayer."
Rexan took a second of thought, considering the question. It would breach every code of command to speak of the mission plan to one as low as Athan on the chain of command, but... Athan had prooved himself, again and again, on the field of battle and off. He still wondered, however, if the knowledge of Chaos taint was too great for even a Battle Brother of the esteemed Adaptus Astartes. No, he thought, I'd best tell him. I'm sure he can handle the knowledge.
"Athan," he began, switching off the all-squad call frequency he was using, "We recieved a transmission from a battalion of Imperial Guardsmen here, the 3rd Nova Planetary Assault Regiment. A small contingency were assigned here to keep the peace and report any threats coming from this system or surrounding systems. The transmission was hurried and frantic – It said something about a group of heretics and traitors within the population, something about half of the regiment turning to Chaos, infighting, an assault, and then nothing. This came in almost three months prior to our briefings. There is a taint of Chaos upon this planet, and if we do not stop it here, it may engulf the planet entirely, and spread from here out to other planets, possibly the whole system, and the crusade cannot afford to have that happen. We were dispatched to put down the insurgents before things get really out of hand."
He paused, glancing around him again. A trooper burst from the barracks and caught sight of the men in the open, and screamed a warning back within the building. One of the marines kneeling on the ground around them shot him in the chest, sending him tumbling back through the doorway which he had come out of, and an alarm began to sing out all around them. The noise of armour grew louder, the clattering of treads and roaring of engines trying to gain traction over the muddy ground.
"This must stay between us Athan. Nobody else can know of what may lie within this tainted place, and should we discover something truly vile, we will pull back and allow a group of specialists in to perform their own rites for this soil."
"I understand Sergeant. This will not leave my lips again," said Athan, thinking of how the knowledge may break some of the more inexperienced scouts, in comparison to the veteran Battle Brothers.
"Yes, the knowledge may be too great for some to handle." he murmured, seemingly more for himself than anybody else.
"But come now, we must press on! This planet won't retake itself. All units, weapons free – Pick a target and fire at will!" he shouted over all frequencies, and a roar sounded in the jungle behind them, transport engines straining against the sodden ground, tracks grinding through mud and over rocks, hulls tearing trees out of the ground without even scratching the paint. A great crash followed the roar, and almost as one, eight Rhino transports and a Land Raider burst out of the trees, crashing into the high-sided fence surrounding the complex. The Rhinos storm bolters opened fire into the complex, and screams began anew, some in pain, others in rage, and spotlights were thrown onto the convoy pressing in through the perimiter. The Rhinos pressed on, some disgorging Space Marines, but the Land Raider stopped, its assault ramp flying open and lascannons tracking the area around them for hostile movement.
"Go now, Brother Athan! Go cleanse this land in the name of the Emperor!" shouted Rexan over the throaty roar of the Land Raider. He signaled for his squad to form up into the transport and ran forward to the ramp, slamming with a clang after they were all aboard.
Athan quickly ran to the Rhino that had paused for him, his squad's sergeant motioning for him to run faster towards the transport. He climbed into his designated seat between his Brothers and the door closed behind him, encasing them in darkness. He felt the Rhino speed back up, the rain still pounding away on the hull.
When they had been driving for a few minutes, there was a change in the speed, and a cry over the driver's com-link channel. There was a change in the rain, sounding heavier, almost like… Firearm impacts on the hull. They were taking fire! Before he could go topside to grab the pintle-mount, there was a loud noise as a track broke, and they were thrown about inside the crew compartment as the transport slewed over the muddy ground.
Athan's sergeant was screaming commands, telling them to pop the hatch and bail out of the transport. They stood just as the driver cut the engine, but before they could drop the doors, there was a crump! From outside, a loud whistle, getting louder every second, and then…
Silence.