A thousand ceramite clad knee's hit the gravel.
A thousand heads, lowered in shame and hope for absolution.
A thousand helmets lay beside their owners, green visors unblinking in their Gaze
Two thousand hearts beating in concert, their noise reverberating throughout the room.
A chapter's armory stands beside the thousand, willfully forgotten.
A chapter's fleet anchors in orbit, willfully abandoned.
A thousand boltgun's are racked.
A thousand rounds chambered
A thousand targets locked.
A thousand safeties disengaged.
A thousand serf's pray for the superhuman's souls.
A single sentence declared.
"Thus I declare the Nova Guards chapter Excommunicate Traitoris for their sins against the Ecclesiarchy and the Imperial Creed, in the name of the Inquisition."
A single nod receives the harrowing death sentence.
A single word, heard by all, Astartes and Humans alike.
"Sorry."
Nine hundred and ninety nine smiles form on nine hundred and ninety nine lips.
A thousand, thunderous discharges are heard.
A thousand bodies fall to the ground lifelessly.
A thousand legacies, full of heroism and achievements in the name of the emperor are snuffed out.
A thousand tears spilled in their name.
A thousand tolls of the great bell heard.
A single happy mind, allowed to receive a thousand of his loyal sons in his endless fight.
A single hour passed.
A thousand mistakes made.
And yet the Imperium lives on.