The Legacy : Truth
Another alarm rang through corridors and servitors stopped movements, holding what they were carrying tightly, braced for impact. As a giant spore hit the void shield of the strike cruiser Armageddon, the vessel trembled violently. The quake diminished but didn't stop. Regaining his balance, Apothecary Gordian surveyed servitors around him. Fortunately, none fell of damaged.
'Hurry, to the vault!' Gordian shouted over immense noise of the battle enraging around the battleship. The shield held again, but he knew it wouldn't survive few more such attack. As servitors holding the chapter's relics hurried past him, he led rest of serfs and servitors toward another room. Too many had to be salvaged but time was short. Gordian pushed opening button on the control panel next to the door and entered serfs in tow.
It was captain Devian Thule's cabin. Having been absent of its owner for some time, the room was covered in shallow dust. The Apothecary recalled that his captain forbade anyone entering without his presence. However it was not time to obey such order, so Gordian striding further into the room, ordered servitors and serfs to carry any remaining relics of value in the room.
Then, he saw a big tome on the room's reading desk. It was opened. As he approached, he could see the bookmarker between open pages. It read, "Commentarium Kronus" – Kronus Journal. Curious, Gordian started reading open pages.
After successfully destroying the Necron tomb world, we returned, exhausted, depleted. I was wounded, too, but duty comes first. Before arranging defenses, I went for the excavation site.
The gate to the underground facility, which was rumored to house relics of our chapter, was now revealed. Brothers who remained while attacking Necrons did their job well. Front was guarded by veteran brothers clad in terminator armours. An emblem of a black raven with a droplet of blood in its heart, the Blood Ravens' livery was on the gate. With little more struggle, we were able to open the ancient gate. I don't recall what my motive was then, but it turned out to be a better decision. I went down alone. No other brothers, including librarians were not to accompany me.
After a long staircase down, I finally reached the bottom. It was a marvelous sight. The huge vault was there, lit by strange blue light. Though not sufficient for normal man, it was more than enough for an astartes. The ceiling was out of reach of the light, could not be seen. There were hundreds of bookshelves filled with thousands, nigh countless books. I approached one of the shelves. It looked ages old, but surprisingly, well preserved. There was even no trace of dust on them. As I walked further into the vast space, I saw a large immense pillar, its top obscured in the shadow of the ceiling. I reached it and saw letters on it. Letters became sentences, and sentences became texts. It was not just a pillar. It was a massive tome itself. Speechless with this wonder, I started reading it. The writings were ancient, and I couldn't make out much of it. However, it was sufficient surprise, nigh shock me with what it revealed. Of the words I could decipher, three were the key words. Prospero, Primarch Magnus, and Thousand Sons.
Taken back with this revelation, the Apothecary just stood there for a moment. Considering this, he finally understood his captain's previous actions. He reported destruction of the relic, ignoring direct orders of the chapter master Azariah Kyras. He couldn't risk the origins of his chapter shattering the Blood Ravens. This information was just….
Without warning, the whole ship shook violently again. Warning klaxons were sounding, more loudly than before. There was no time.
Without hesitation, Gordian closed the tome, lifted it. Two chapter serfs rushed to assist their master, but the Blood Raven sent them away. 'All of you hurry to the vault, now!' Ordering remaining servitors and serfs, he himself started running, holding the book firmly in both hands.
Giant adamantine doors of the inner sanctum of the Armageddon were open. Serfs and servitors busily ran through the opening. Some were going in, clutching what their masters ordered them to carry, and others were coming out, hurrying to collect remaining artefacts out of the secure vault.
Passing the veteran marines guarding the entrance, Gordian ran, narrowing the gap between and another veteran inside the depository. The veteran who was ordering serfs around recognized the Apothecary and turned around. Gordian finally reached him.
'Brother-sergeant Vernus.' The Apothecary stated, catching his breath.
'Brother-apothecary Gordian, what brings you here? And what is the book you are holding?' The veteran sergeant pointed at the book. Without answering, Gordian just held out the tome to Vernus.
'Vernus, this tome… this journal… its secret… must survive. Please, protect it at any cost. Pass it to the high echelon. This may be the most important thing among all relics of our chapter.' The veteran looked at the book for a moment and looked at the Apothecary. Even through eye slits of his helmet, Vernus could feel his old friend's determination.
'…You have my word on it, Gordian. No matter what, your wish will be completed.' He then took the tome. Gordian stretched his hand toward the veteran. Vernus clasped it firmly.
'May the Emperor protect you Vernus. Knowledge is power.' 'We guard it well.' Vernus replied. Then, without hesitation, the Apothecary headed out of the vault. After watching his brother running out of the vault, the veteran sergeant moved to one of the empty stasis cases. He put the tome inside then pressed several keys on the control pad. The case silently closed with a soft hiss.
Gordian watched out of the bridge at the command helm. Living hell was raging around the doomed strike cruiser. Bio-plasma bolts and fat acid spores of the Tyranid bio-forms were flying everywhere. Defence batteries relentlessly unleashed deadly fury of the machine spirit at the Tyranids and main guns scored hundreds of kills when fired, but it was less than enough. One of the Dauntless-class escort cruisers, Blazing Fury was literally torn apart by Tyranid hive ships and the other, Sword of Aurellia was losing its altitude fast. With her engines gone, the remaining escort's fate was certain.
Then a massive bolt of bio-plasma hit the portside of the Armageddon. 'Shield is gone, my lord!' An officer at the defence control platform shouted over warning klaxons. Gordian already could feel the ship tremble as living bio-acid of Tyranids started eating the armour plates of the ship away. The machine spirit screamed in agony.
'Patch me to the ground team.' At hearing the Apothecary's order, the communications officer barked at the servitors at his platform. Soon a voice started pouring out of the speaker with terrible static.
'Wha… situati… rdian… uch… interfe… an you… hear me?' 'This is Gordian, bother-sergeant Tarkus. We cannot hold much longer. We will now deploy rest of the company.' With few taps on the screen, the Apothecary sent over the drop coordinates. 'Secure this position. We are dropping the drop pods now.' With another tap on the screen, the ship shook as the drop pods were launched.
Then, an officer at the long range auspex array platform shouted. 'My lord, incoming vessels! They are getting out of the warp now, sir! It's… it's the fleet! The reinforcements finally came! The battle barge Litany of Fury is at the lead!'
'Communications officer! Contact the Litany! Finally, we can…' Gordian couldn't finish. As a huge spore hit the bridge, acid released from it instantly vaporised the crewmen and the Apothecary and ate the rest of the bride away. Soon the strike cruiser Armageddon was obliterated by the hive ships.
Sergeant Takus lowered his hand from the head. 'Commander, we lost contact with the Armageddon…' Others followed his gaze to their force commander. He just stood there for a moment silently. Then, without a word, he strode forward. Soon Blood Ravens and Aurellian PDF Stormtroopers followed him. Red rains of fire were pouring down to the surface of the planet Typhoon Primaris.