RETURN OF IDEAUS

The blast from the plasma pistol seared through Ideaus' power armour and sent him flying through the air and slamming off a rock, he watched as the Chaos Raptors were ripped through by the explosion of the mines on the bridge.

His whole body was consumed with pain and he couldn't stand. His human side of his instincts made him attempt to sleep, but as Ultramarine of the Adeptus Astarties he fought his way to feet. He heard the distinct sound of a Thunder Hawk taking off. He looked to his side to see his General Uriel standing at the side closing the door. The Thunder Hawk rapidly gained speed and ascended slowly into the cloudy skies above him.

Ideaus looked down at himself to discover that his power armour had completely disintegrated. All that he wore now was the simple standard underclothing, and there were steaming holes in it. Damages to himself were minimal he'd lost a finger and he had a few large clotted scars. He looked towards the destroyed bridge and to his delight nothing was left of it. To the other side all that remained was a few smoking vehicles and the smouldering remains of a few traitor soldiers. Ideaus looked behind him to see a Chaos Raptor impaled to the wall by a huge chunk of the bridge. Ideaus's own jump pack was destroyed so he just took the jump pack from the Chaos Raptor. It was an evil device so Ideaus would have to be quick, otherwise it would turn his mind to chaos.

Ideaus activated the jump pack and quickly scaled the ledge, when he reached the top Ideaus threw the jump pack down into the surging river below. He attempted to vox Uriel but his vox caster was broken. He decided he would have to wait for an Imperial scout to find him. He went over to the bunkers and decided to fortify one and to keep a look out for any activity across the bridge.

Ideaus knew that he could go weeks without sleep or food, but the Imperials would need to check soon otherwise Chaos could have broken through. Ideaus pulled the sand bags to one position and found a battle brother's bolter, chain sword and power armour he changed into the power armour, strapped the chain sword to his hip and put the bolter in his new holster. He returned to his new position in terminator power armour with 8 rounds for his bolter. The vox in this armour was also broken so he couldn't do much about that. He set up a double heavy bolter in both hands he could easily remove the heavy bolter from its position.

Ideaus knew he would be in for a cold, lonely and boring night. During the early hours of the morning Ideaus spotted some movement or the eastern fringe of his eyesight. His head whipped round and with his superior vision he could clearly make out the image of a catchcan sniper creeping slowly through the undergrowth. Ideaus Moved from his position and got up close behind the imperial before tapping his shoulder. The catchcan whipped round rifle aiming at Ideaus's stomach. He realised that this was a space marine and so moved slowly back rifle now aiming at Ideaus's eye patches.

"Who are you the catchcan said boldly?"

"I am Ideaus, previous leader of the Ultramarines 4th company. My men left when I destroyed the bridge under my orders."

"How do I know that this is not a chaos trick?"

"A chaos marine would turn this power armour black as night and horns would grow out the top."

"Yeah well, can't be to careful can you. Any way (he said lowering his rifle) I'm Salk Skeel, but all my team mates call me "Disappear."

"Why?"

"Cause they just do, you probly don't know but in the catchcans we give each other nick names and that's what we do."

"So then Disappear do you want to take me to an imperial outpost so that I can get back to macragge."

"Sorry Ideaus but I can't leave here until the chimera comes to collect me tomorrow after I vox it."

"Fine then, do you want to come back to my fortified bunker."

"Alright then lead the way."

So Ideaus and Disappear left their talk spot to go to the bunker. When they arrived Ideaus found out that the base that the scout came from was landing 70,000 men a day, to come soon to a total of 300,000 + men. And already the 8th Cadia had already engaged the enemy in a fierce combat that the Cadians were winning. Disappear caught a few hours of sleep before awaking he asked "do you have any food?" (Ideaus answered plainly)

"No, I don't need it so I don't carry any."

"Ok" "Disappear" replied sadly.

That morning Ideaus and Disappear did a check on the bridge. Ideaus carried the 4 heavy bolters and the chain sword, Disappear carried his rifle and a catchcan fang. That day Ideaus got the first proper look at the damage that the Ultramarines had done, not only to the bridge but also to the traitors. Across the once bridge thousands of bodies laid scattered about, thousands more lay injured. Ideaus found an Ultramarine scout rifle, then for about an hour Ideaus and Disappear where firing at the injured soldiers. After a check Disappear felt assured that the Chaos horde would not be able to build the bridge back up in time to stop the attack.

Disappear started to vox the chimera to return and that the area was secure and safe to enter. He also said that they should add on the reinforced hull as they had a Space Marine travelling with them. Disappear finished up then asked "so up for a spot of traitor shooting?"

Ideaus replied "sure, how long do we have before the chimera arrives?"

"About 2 hours" Disappear replied.

So the Space Marine and the Catchcan took their shots for an hour and a half until Ideaus ran out of shots and casually discarded the rifle. Disappear took out the rest of the traitors then proceeded after Ideaus and his huge mass. Ideaus and disappear collected the rest of their things from the bunker and then proceeded to the drop off point to await the arrival of the chimera.