Thanks for the reviews so far, it may seem to be only a few words, but they mean a lot to me. The second chapter continues. A few people have asked whether the Marines will meet the survivors, well, the answer to that question will be revealed in the third of fourth chapters, although knowing the attitude of space marines in the presence of people exposed to the presence of "Chaos", their reaction might not be what you may expect! As always, reviews will be very welcome, as well as highlighting mistakes that I have made. Thanks.

0300 hours, Astartes Battle Barge Indomitable, drop bay. In low orbit over Terra. Brother Darius Onduit, Devastator Squad.

The drop bay of the Indomitable was crowded with massive figures in hulking power armor, each of them scurrying about the large bay on their one or many tasks. There was not one marine who did not have at least two or more tasks that needed doing. All marines, except the Devastators, of course.

I was perched comfortably on one of the ammunition crates just outside our drop pod, watching the others scurry around with their tasks with bemusement. I now understood why Sergeant Lysus had ordered us to suit up half-an-hour before the call to the drop bay. The massive 300 pound ammunition pack mounted on the back of my power armor essentially relieved me of the laborious task of hauling supplies and ammo crates to and fro.

The five other Devastators seated around me also shared my sentiments as they idly chatted with each other, much to the irritation of the supervising captain. Slacking may be an insult to the Emperor, but we were merely conserving our strength for the battle to come, at least that's what we kept telling ourselves.

"Think you're going to need that, brother?" I asked Brother Polus, gesturing to the lascannon cradled in his arms.

Polus grinned.

"Ask me again when we hit ground, Darius, preferably after we've encountered heavy resistance."

Polus's lascannon might have seemed a lot smaller than my heavy bolter, which was resting on a crate next to me with its ammunition belt detached, but I've witnessed firsthand what the lascannon was capable of, and I have grown a healthy respect for the weapon.

"Will we be encountering heavy resistance?" Brother Ehphrus asked, unlike me, he carried his heavy bolter across his lap, as if unwilling to let it go. Ehphrus was the youngest amongst all of us, and the newest addition to our squad.

"We always encounter heavy resistance," Brother Thorad said, lifting his massive plasma cannon. "That's why we're here."

Ehphrus was about to reply when his eyes widened suddenly, he gestured rapidly with one hand while the other was valiantly trying to keep the heavy bolter from falling off his lap.

"Look look look!" He said urgently. Terminators!"

I turned to get a better look, although not without difficulty.

"Holy Emperor." Polus whistled, "A Chaplain too."

I saw a group of six Terminators stomp towards their drop pod, their Terminator armor making them look even larger than the marines around them. A black armored Chaplain was amongst them, his black artificer armor in stark contrast to the standard white and red armor of the Temple Chapter.

"Still think I'm excessive, Darius?" Polus said, craning his neck to get a better look.

"Means we're expected to run into a lot of frakking resistance." Thorad remarked. "What else is down there that we don't know about?"

Our briefing had been short and precise, telling us that the future of the Imperium lay on our shoulders, and that we have no room for failure. The usual stuff. Little else had been said concerning our mission besides the importance of this mission, we were merely shown picts of the shambling mutants, and that they were numerous, and that we could defeat them with our faith in the Emperor, which at this time, hasn't graced us with His presence just yet, a point I've been careful not to bring up. I reminded myself to say the Rites of Penitence for the thought when I came back.

"Uh oh." Ehphrus muttered.

"What now?" Sergeant Lysus demanded, striding from the open ramp of our drop pod, his arms folded across his chest. Lysus easily dwarfed us all, which spoke volumes of his size. He carried no heavy weapon, preferring the bolt pistol holstered at his hip.

"Librarian."

The sudden silence that fell over the drop bay seemed even louder than the noise that preceded it. I caught sight of the Librarian standing on a balcony suspended above the bay, his staff held casually in his left hand, his right resting on the balcony railing.

If he could feel the unease radiating all around him, and I'm sure he could, he gave no inclination of it. Almost all marines of the Temple Chapter had a healthy fear of Librarians, myself included. It wasn't merely because he was a psyker, it was because they were frakking scary. I've seen a Librarian almost single handedly clear a path through a swarm of Orks with nothing more than a few muttered words and the power of his mind.

The hushed whispers of veteran battle-brothers during dinnertime didn't help either.

"Brothers." The voice of the Librarian rang out through the entire bay. He spoke in smooth, quiet undertones, although every brother in the bay managed to hear him. I suspected he might have been speaking directly to our minds, although the thought terrified me.

"We have heard of the importance of our mission, and we know the implications of failure, we go now to cleanse Holy Terra of the taint of Nurgle, and to pave the way for the future Imperium of Man. Beware the Enemy, for their very beings are contagious. Do not allow yourself prolonged close contact with the foul spawn, or else face contamination yourselves. Go now, my brothers, and the Emperor be with you!"

The marines knelt swiftly and thumped their right gauntlets to their chests, when they rise, the Librarian had already disappeared, leaving the captains to chivvy their brothers into the drop pods.

"That's our cue," Lysus said. "Into the drop pods, brothers, ready yourselves for battle!"

I slipped on my helmet, my battle-brothers doing the same. The familiar and reassuring confines of my helmet greeted me as my HUD activated, allowing me enhanced senses. My squadmates were outlined in bright green. I picked up my heavy bolter and clicked the ammunition belt into place. Hefting its' weight.

We boarded the drop pod, and strapped ourselves within the circular structure. Lysus entered last, pulling on his helmet as he too, strapped himself in. The pod rumbled slightly, as the drop bays of the Indomitable prepared to launch us towards our enemies.

"Death from above." Polus remarked as the boom of drop pods being launched quickly drowned out the sound of the whining of our own pod's engine.

With a deafening boom, and a sickening lurch, our pod was flung violently from the drop bay and sent hurtling towards the planet's surface, the roar of the pod's single engine loud enough to silence any normal conversation.

"Sporadic deployments all over the infested city!" Sergeant Lysus yelled over the roar of the engine.

"Tactical Squads Marcus and Redal and Assault Squad Tarus will be battle group 3! They are tasked with cleansing sector 3 of this cursed city! Our squad will provide heavy weapons support, we will link up with battle group 3 upon landfall, and together we shall commence the purging of this world!"

"This city has a name, Sergeant?" Ehphrus asked.

"We believe it is called Fairfield, Ehphrus." Lysus replied.

"Is this the only city to be touched by the Chaos gods?" I asked.

Lysus shrugged.

"That we do not know," he said. "The Indomitable is scanning the planet's surface as we speak."

Once again, the pod shook violently, and the roar of the engine was drowned out.

"Entering atmosphere." The calm voice of the pod servitor echoed in my helmet vox.

Just as soon as it had begun, the roar of the atmosphere faded, and silence reigned. I glanced at the viewscreen in front of me, and I could see handfuls of other white and red pods screaming towards the city.

"Brace for impact!" Lysus roared, and with a thunderous crash, our pod slammed into the ground. There was a hissing sound, and the doors of the pod dropped open.

"Forward brothers! For the Emperor!" Lysus was shouting.

I hefted my weapon, whispered a prayer to the Emperor, and ran out of the pod, trailing behind Thorad's massive energy pack. I could already hear gunfire barking out in the distance. I scanned the dark streets, my autosenses allowing me to see in the dark as clearly as in daylight. I spotted another drop pod ahead.

"Squad Marcus is up ahead," Lysus said. "Link up with them."

We thumped forward, my helmet picking out several massive shaped in the distance. One of those shapes raised an armored gauntlet in greeting.

"Brothers!" Sergeant Marcus greeted. "An honor."

Lysus's reply was drowned out by a bloodcurdling scream. We spun around, unable to place the source of the sound. The tall buildings around us reflected sound, making it all but impossible to track a target by sound.

"Warp spawned fiends!" Ehphrus hissed, his heavy bolter trained on the darkness of the streets before us.

"Where are they coming from?" Thorad glanced around, trying to pick out the enemy.

"Contact!" Ehphrus called out. "Streets ahead."

"Establish firing line!" Lysus ordered, drawing his bolt pistol.

The marines of squad Marcus ran forward past us, taking cover behind bits of debris and abandoned primitive four-wheeled vehicles.

We stood some distance behind the tactical marines, with Ehphrus and me taking the center of the line, Thorad and Polus covered our flanks. Lysus stood behind us to direct our fire.

It was then that I caught my first glimpse of the enemy. Even in the dark, I could see the pale shade of their skin, the pallid composure splattered with dark red blood. They wore tattered clothing, while the pattern of their clothing may seem unfamiliar, the similarity of their clothes implied that it was standard civilian wear. While their bodies may seem to take on a deathly parlor, their eyes were alive with maniacal fury, imbued with the foul sorcery of Chaos.

"I think we found the civilians, brothers." I said.

"More like the civilians found us." Polus replied.

They came at us at a dead run, snarling and screaming, ad if they could defeat us by the sheer force of their hate alone.

They were wrong. We are fear incarnate, and we are the Emperor's chosen.

"Brothers," Lysus shouted. "Open fire, wreak the Emperor's vengeance upon them!"

I watched as the first of the monstrosities ran into range, my helmet picking them out in a bright red outline. I whispered a quick prayer to the Emperor, and squeezed the firing stud on my heavy bolter. The roar of the weapon soon drowned out the horrible screaming of the enemy as hundreds of bolter shells roared their way towards the enemy and tore them to bloody shreds.

I steadied the bucking of the heavy weapon as it sent death towards the enemy, spraying the enemy ranks with deadly bolter fire. Seconds later, the roar of weapons fire intensified as Ehphrus opened fire, decimating the enemy ranks.

The foul monstrosities in the front ranks did not have a prayer. The combined fire of the two heavy bolters tore them to rags even as they charged. But their numbers were staggering, and they kept coming.

The tactical marines of Squad Marcus focused their fire, picking out weak links in the charge so that our heavy bolters were able to bring the assault to a grinding halt as the Chaos spawn tripped over the bodies of their own dead. They fired in sporadic bursts, in contrast to our unrelenting salvo.

"Flank!" Lysus shouted over the roar of heavy bolter fire. "The enemy has flanked us! Polus, Thorad, redirect!"

The two devastator marines ran over to the narrow alleyway behind our established firing line, where another swarm of the mindless humans charged forth. Thorad fired a burst from his plasma cannon, the superheated bolt smashing through the enemy, vaporizing putrid flesh and building stone alike. Polus let loose with his lascannon as Thorad dropped back to allow his weapon to cool, beam of energy tearing straight through the enemy ranks while Lysus fired his bolt pistol into the seething throng.

I hosed my heavy bolter across the mass of former humans, turning the once terrifying charge into a killing zone. As the enemy ranks began to thin, the deep voice of Sergeant Marcus sounded over the vox.

"The enemy strikes from the rear!" He said, voice calm. "Brothers, redeploy to hold them back."

I flicked a glance over my shoulder. Despite the large backpack obscuring most of my view, I could make out another mass of seething enemies running at us in fury. I felt a twinge of unease. Holding off the mass on both sides would leave all six marines of Squad Marcus stretched dangerously thin, while our Devastator squad could hold them off with a withering barrage of fire, we still needed support when the enemy came into close range. Not to mention the enemy attack coming from the alleyway. Thorad and Polus could hold them off for some time, but both their weapons were one-shot weapons which needed time to recharge, and they were meant to take out heavy vehicles, not masses of infantry.

I swept my doubts aside and continued my barrage with renewed vigor. Just as the front assault began to thin out, I heard another voice on the vox.

"Stand fast, brothers! Reinforcements are coming!"A faint and familiar whine of jetpack engines accompanied the voice. I glanced upwards and I redeployed to cover the rear, leaving Ehphrus to mop up the remains of the front assault.

"Death from above!" The voice shouted as I saw six pairs of orange plumes race upwards, higher than the tall buildings around us. The plumes hung there for a heartbeat, then came crashing down upon the seething throng.

The familiar bulk of the assault marines were a reassuring sight as they lay into the enemy with their chainswords, most of the former humans already reduced to pulp under the crushing force of the aerial assault.

Scattered, the enemy lasted mere seconds before they were hacked to bits.

"Brothers!" The assault marine sergeant greeted, his white armor splattered with dark blood. "Sergeant Tarus reporting."

"Glad you could join us, Tarus," Lysus said. "Although you could have come in sooner. Would've saved us the ammunition."

Tarus grinned.

"You're welcome, Lysus."

The sounds of gunfire intensified even as we mopped up the remains of the flanking attack. Sergeant Marcus turned to the assault marine.

"Any word on Squad Redal?" He asked.

The sergeant shook his head.

"None, although we've heard intense fighting from their drop location, I fear they may have been bogged down in the initial assault."

Marcus nodded grimly.

"We must make contact with them. Then the cleansing shall begin in earnest."

"Move out, brothers!" Lysus ordered, "Devastators in the rear."

"We will cover you from above, sergeant." Tarus said. "Those shambling spawn aren't the only horrors that infest this city." He pointed to a distant building, where the silhouette of a hunched creature leapt from building to building, the moonlight illuminating its' progress.

Lysus nodded.

"Be on your guard. Space Marines, move out!"

So we did, the Emperor's chosen, come to cleanse Holy Terra from the foul clutches of the Great Enemy. Zeal and righteous joy singing in both my hearts as we moved out through the city.