If my time in the Black Library taught me anything it was - rather controversially - that Chaos is already very much part of us. It deals in the currency of mortal souls and feeds off states and emotions that are in essence natural. Without us there would be no Chaos. Good and evil? Right and wrong? These are binary oppositions that the inhabitants of this galaxy use to comfort and define themselves. I'm afraid much of the God-Emperor's work is done in the grey area in between.
-High Inquisitor Bronislaw Czecak, Ordo Xenos
I stared into the twin wells of inky black that sat across from me. I stared and lost my self in the infinite possibilities of what was to happen in the upcoming minutes, hours, days, and potentially weeks or years. What would happen to the unscarred world below me? What would happen to me and my brothers?
I was jolted from my reverie by the turbulence outside of my squad's valkyrie. I came back to the present and focused on the two mesmerizing pools of black that had previously held my attention; actually a gas mask belonging to the brother sitting opposite of me. The mask was set in the grim visage of a predator of the warp, disconcertingly familiar and yet bizarrely foreign at the same time.
It was enough to make me look away to prevent a headache. One would think that after years of service to the Dark Gods, their presence and blessings would become more... bearable. It was rather hit or miss.
Again, I was brought to the present, but this time from our pilot. I had yet to actually see the man, even after we embarked on our valkyrie. We left our stationed vessel The Twisted Path without a single sighting of the man and began towards the atmosphere.
I had a sneaking suspicion that our pilot, like many others pilots and drivers that served the True Gods, had fused with his ship in a dark symbiosis of man and machine. It was one of the few things the Dark Mechanicus were actually pleased with. Even so, for meat shields like myself and my squad that had served the Ruinous Powers for years and decades even, it was concerning.
"Final checks!" He half shouted over the engines and through the intercom. "We drop in three!" His voice seemed to echo through the intercom, something sinister and filled with malice in every crack and pop of static.
With those few words, the crew compartment fell back into the deafening silence of the engines. Shuffling and grunting commenced as grav-chutes were secured and straps tightened. Nobody wanted to end up a as a stain on the forest floor.
After what seemed like seconds, the pilot notified us that our time was up and that we would, in fact, be jumping out of a perfectly functional aircraft in mid flight. One of my squad mates, Akkro, hauled open the side door of the valkyrie. Immediately, howling winds assaulted us and filled the interior of the transport. Beyond that lay a vibrant red forest muted by the night. Even further in the distance lay our target, the city of Vale.
My squad and I had been assigned, along with some others, to be the vanguard for the Blood Hand's invasion. He used to be a general in the Imperial Guard before he had sold himself to Chaos. Now he led an army of millions strong, backed by a fleet of ships and support. We were to be the "shock" of his shock and awe. It would be our squad and a few others attacking locations with high civilian densities. It was terror tactics and I rather liked the plan.
No amount of soothing words from a government or leader could replace the sense of safety and security that such an attack would strip away from the population.
It had been an honor to accept the graciously offered position in the assault, as we would be some of the first to spill blood in this blessed conquest. Of course, denying the position would have also meant our immediate execution, so it was really a win-win situation.
My squad leader, a man by the name of Maethus, interrupted my thoughts. He gave off the perpetual impression that you had shot his dog and spit in his food. He kept his head during battle, though. Mostly at least. I had seen him fight an Imperial Guard officer and win by throwing a severed arm at the man before beating him to death with said arm. It was his arm.
"You sad bastards ready?" He shouted over the noise. I vaguely heard Akkro say "No, but frack it, lets do it anyways", in the background.
Let it never be said that fanatical cultists lack humor. It was a strange thing about my squad mates. Besides slaughtering innocents, manipulating, and partaking in vile, debased acts, they were all rather decent people and acted rather civilized, at least when in the presence of other squad mates.
It was the gibbering masses of traitors, deserters, and slaves you had to worry about, honestly. One second you're enjoying your tasteless rations while having a nice talk with one of your pals and the next, some poor son of a bitch's mind snapped like a twig and there's a kitchen utensil buried in your neck.
No amount of combat training prepares you for that when you've got your guard down. It does, however, make for a phenomenal learning experience.
Back in the valkyrie and away from my inner monologues, Maethus was met with a chorus of "Aye"'s and grunts. He nodded and signaled the beginning of the drop.
Seconds after, he took a lazy step out the side door of the valkyrie and simply disappeared from sight. This continued down the squad line, with me towards the rear.
Once I finally reached the door, I quickly took a deep breath and steeled my nerves. I offered up a few words to the Changer of Ways to guide my fate and took my step forward in weightlessness and pitch black. Once more unto the breach, I suppose?
The night air was rather nice, actually. Falling at terminal velocity provided a nice cool down from the stuffy interior of the valkyrie. Who would have thought?
I could vaguely see the outlines of my squad mates as we plummeted towards the ground. I got a rather peaceful view of the city we were about to terrorize. The nightlife of the city seemed to be thriving if the amount of light coming from the streets and buildings was anything to go by. I was contented to know that it would be a blazing inferno on the horizon in time to come.
I looked down at the fast approaching ground. That, on the other hand, I was not so happy with. The problem, or maybe the benefit, with using grav-chutes was that you didn't know if it actually did it's job until you were seconds from the ground. Those few seconds give a man a lot of time to think.
I tried to remember how I had even come to this point in my life. I remembered my days when I was still a fool, cowed by the prattle that the Imperials fed all of their slaves. I remembered my reformation as one who had thrown off the shackles of the False Emperor and found truth in the Tetrarchy. I remembered my first, painful years as an apologetic trying to prove myself. I remembered when I had been honored with the opportunity to become a stormtrooper in the Blood Hand's armies. Most of the memories in between were muted at best or completely gone at worst. None of those mattered though. Only my service to the God of Change and his kin mattered now.
Just then, it seemed my grav-chute decided to work. I half gasped, half choked as the straps bit into my shoulders and chest, undoubtably leaving bruises or lacerations. I semi-bobbed in the air before my grav-chute gave out and dropped me entirely. There was a brief moment of weightlessness before gravity kicked in again.
This free fall was completely different from the previous one. There was no cushion at the bottom besides the forest floor and the vegetation. 15 meters in the air was plenty enough to kill me, even if I landed correctly. The first 5 meters were clear of any obstacles, but my feet hit the top of the forest canopy in the next second. Halfway into falling to my potential death/serious disfigurement, my descent came to a tumbling stop in the thick tree branches.
I had come to a stop with my body oriented upwards towards the sky. I saw some of the squads in other valkyries dropping still. One of the soldiers in particular seemed to be headed straight for my comfortable little tree house. As he came closer I was relieved to note that he stopped at about the same height I had, and was a good 10 meters or so away from me. However, it seemed his straps had not been done correctly or his grav-chute hadn't been calibrated correctly, as I heard the crunch from his stop. Without any input to the grav-chute, it simply hovered for a few seconds like some huge, grotesque insect before giving out and dropping the corpse into the forest bellow.
Well then. If I wasn't thankful for my gear and those damned tech-priests, I was now.
Well, this is a product of me having to much spare time and being a 40k fanboy, so what else could you expect? I apologize for fluff/lore mistakes before hand and sorry for any formating issues etc. as this is my first time writing fiction in general and my first time using Fanfiction Net's tools. If you guys have any suggestions/ ideas/ questions please shoot me a PM. Also, as I have very real problems with motivation this may be the only chapter or one of many.
Thanks broskis!
WhyTryHarder56
A.N.- So I just realised how many typos there were and I'm not all that surprised. I'm currently down a computer at the moment and I'm doing this all in Inotes on my phone so, sorry for the inconvenience.