Warhammer 40,000: Knights of Steel
By Alssadar
Chapter 2
Kadotus opened his eyes, and the fire was all around him. The corpses of his brothers were scattered in the rubble, two apothecarial servitors rushing about the bodies and obtaining the gene seed whilst their master fought, and most likely died. Kadotus glared around his surroundings, a large crater, definitely the bombardment of a chaos defiler. A few of his brothers stood, returning back to the collapsed breach in the wall, bolter fire released in full automatic, rather silent in comparison to the roaring cries of the cultists.
Releasing a cry of his own, Kadotus pursued towards his fellow Astartes in the gap, his bolt pistol erupting in short bursts into the massive crowd of fanatical humans who turned away from the Emperor. He jumped the last stretch to slam his power fist into the nearest body, further pushing the corpse to collide with half a dozen of his fellows. But Kadotus could have no rest in the matter, flinging himself further into the melee, his fist and pistol striking out in the dual components of death.
"Brother-sergeant, traitor marines are in the horde! Raiders!" Masoi warned, the vox buzzing in Kadotus' ear.
"We must hold the breach or the city will fall, brother. We said our oath, and we shall stay." The sergeant replied as he crushed a man's head in his fist. "I want designated bolt fire on the traitors, and put them down before they can get any closer. The small fry can wait their turn." Kadotus ordered, letting a heretic's las-gun glance his armor before creating a large hole in the man's chest.
And suddenly, he was in an opening. The breach was still lined with enemy corpses, but the cultists had back away from him, not one daring to sacrifice themselves. "I'm getting the traitors to distance from the breach—what do you see, brothers?" He asked into the bead lining his chin, his pistol up and firing into the mass that slowly distanced itself from him.
"There are no vehicles in the mass, and brother-sergeant Kinnar is removing the artillery." Ocydo noted, "I suspect daemons or witchcraft."
Kadotus dropped the extended clip from his bolt-pistol and let the mag-lock on his waist retrieve another to the gun. "Stay on the lookout, and watch for any other activity." As he raised up the pistol, another voice began talking in his ear.
The rasping voice of Nage spoke up. "Sergeant—how is the mob on your end?"
"Holding back, captain. They're not retreating, but they stay in their purpose—rifles and pistols—no melee." Kadotus replied, ducking into the walls of the breach as he noticed a heretic with a plasma gun.
"They're doing the same near the gates—we don't know either. Traitor marines have been sighted in the masses, but no direct contact." The captain informed, the dull barks of boltguns in the background of his speech.
"My brothers have informed me of the same reports. Have you checked with Itan, Phorn, and Vann?" Kadotus asked as a stream of superheated energy flew past him. He leaned out of his cover and lined up a shot on the traitor.
Suddenly, a massive explosion roared from nearby, sending large chunks of buildings flying and the cultists to the ground. "What the—?" Kadotus questioned as he gazed around, his peripherals catching something.
In the orbit above the planet shone a large ship, of dull brown and gray, its bow ablaze with cannonfire and bombardment upon the city. From his point along the wall, Kadotus noticed the top of a large mushroom cloud further down the wall. "Sir—?" He heard his brother's question. Kadotus' eyes flashed again, now as the crowd stood back up again, charging. And now, there were chaos space marines in their number.
"Fall back, brothers! Regroup to the central enclave, the walls have fallen!" Kadotus ordered, his mind brimming with anger by the chaos assault. But, he still had a job to do—he activated his vox as he started running up the broken stairs that once went to the wall. "Brother-Captain Nage, what is your status?"
The response was broken, "...western destroyed... no survivors... fall... central enclave...evacuation..." The remainder was looping, as Kadotus suspected the servitor in charge of the frequency would have issues regarding whatever massive bomb had fallen upon the city. Yet still, it was Nage's vox signal he received, yet it was not the captain who spoke...Was he dead?
Kadotus shook his head as he turned around and loosed a burst from his pistol before continuing his pursuit down the wasted streets, passing corpses and upturned bodies alike. As he ventured farther towards the central enclave, he noticed the imprints of his brother's boots, some were staggered and others were of full sprints.
He passed by a group of Imperial citizens, who turned to him. They instantly began pleading, begging him for their lives to be protected and the Emperor to safeguard them against the traitors. But, Kadotus kept his path. As he was a block from them, he heard the cough of a gun and saw a round hit the road some couple meters away from him. In response, he turned around for a second and let loose a burst from his bolt pistol, before turning the corner and glaring at the walls of the central enclave that stood behind the ruined structures around him.
Crashing through a fence, the sergeant moved through the rubble field as he heard a thunderous scream from above, and heard the sharp crack of lightning. For the first instant, it was a drop-pod, producing a group of chaos space marines, their boltguns readied and aimed in his direction. Diving into a ditch, Kadotus shot three rounds at the traitors, and tightened his fist to revive the energy in his power fist. As the first marine approached the ditch, he jumped out and struck the heretic with his fist, removing the traitor's arm and the side of his chest.
Ducking low, he avoided the shots that finished the wounded marine and rolled over to fit behind a fallen building, his back slamming against a broken picture frame that somehow managed to hold on. As Kadotus was about to take a peak from cover, the wall behind him crashed and two hands erupted from holes, which found a place around the sergeant's neck. Grasping the hands, Kadotus struggled as the lock on his helmet was released, his power fist crushing an arm before the sergeant freed himself. A snarl emerged from the other side as the large body followed the holes, a massive chain axe in hand.
Kadotus roared, raising the power fist to block the spinning teeth of the weapon, the gauntlet slowly bending as the chaos marine put his remaining force into the hand. Gazing over the weapon, Kadotus saw the marine's face, twisted and grotesque like the armor that once mirrored Kadotus'. But, no longer he had to spare the sight of the mutant—his bolt pistol blew the marine's face to a mixture of brain and skull, as Kadotus turned his head to avoid any damage to his eyes. Pushing the corpse away and pulling the chain-axe out of his gauntlet, he sulked into the shadows of the building, moving along the horizontal staircases as the chaos marines who from the drop pod came to investigate their fallen brothers, their boltguns primed for their lost target.
Muttering a prayer to the Emperor for his enemies' laxity, Kadotus continued his path before climbing his way out of the shattered roof that lay nearby the walls of the enclave. He spied many of his brothers along the wall, marshalling the remaining house guard of the city to improve their morale, and hopefully hold the line. The sergeant started moving forward as he heard the roars of chain-weapons behind him—the chaos marines in pursuit of their target. Kadotus changed into a sprint at the wall, raising his vox; "This is brother-sergeant Kadotus of the first tactical squad, requesting entry into the southern enclave entrance. I have fallen marines in pursuit and require assistance." He was at the gate, and a click in his ear notified that his message was received. The gate of the enclave began to open—horizontally.
Swearing a curse, Kadotus turned back to face his pursuers, pistol raised and power fist crackling once again. They emerged from the building and were immediately under fire from the wall, but they leapt from cover-to-cover as they advanced to claim their target. As they were within 20 meters of Kadotus, a sudden explosion wrecked the scene, and the burnt and disembodied corpses of the chaos minions flew about, crashing into buildings and other rubble. The men on the walls quickly unleashed volleys into the bodies, which moved no more.
Kadotus smiled as the gate behind him clunked open, the heavy gears finally allowing his entrance. Sparing a look back at the crater of whatever artillery shot, he spied a moving body. Before he could raise his pistol, the figure was raised.
He wore the armor of a chaos marine, along with heavy robes that hung from his pauldrons and chest. The marine's helmet was horned, decorated in a shape to one of the chaos gods. In the traitor's hand was a staff, which he pointed at Kadotus, who recognized the heretic as a sorcerer.
Kadotus froze as his sight suddenly flew towards the sorcerer, as if his eye had left his body. Time seemed to freeze as the sorcerer gazed into the eye from the dark visor of his helm, before releasing a stream of bolts from his staff. As Kadotus' view turned to follow it, he could only watch as chaos bolts pummeled his body, hurled back into the streets of the enclave.
Of what further happened to the sorcerer, Kadotus did not know. His vision passed to overlooking his burning body, wrecked in fire and his armor was cracked. His eyes were closed and he was snarling, slamming his power fist about in anger. And then he opened his eyes—the left was normal, a dull blue, but the left pupil was red.
Blood red.
Kadotus opened his eyes, panting, sweat running down his face. Looking up, he gazed upon the statue of the Emperor, who was raised up in holy perfection. Kadotus took several deep breaths, calming himself, and reminding himself who he was.
He was a loyal marine, and he was Sergeant Kadotus of the Knights of Steel 2nd Company.
The basic remembrance calmed his mind as he assured himself of no taint, and invoked his need to say another prayer to the Emperor. Afterwards, he stood up. He was still in his power armor, though he wore a dull gray tabard over the hardened ceramite. He reached for the helmet at his side, which had been replaced after he had lost it in the conflict. His pistol was in its holster, and Kadotus' power fist had been repaired by the last mechanicus scribes that had survived what their techmarine master had not.
Securing his helm, Kadotus took a deep breath as the cleansed circulated oxygen filled his lungs, the cold familiarity relaxing the sergeant. With such, he gazed back up at the Emperor, and crossed his hands on his chest in the sign of the Aquila, and then left the chapel.
Waiting until he had left the level and began his way up the ascender tracks, Kadotus toned his vox. "Brothers of 1st Squad, meet with your brothers in the antechamber of the bridge. The captain has something to discuss with us."
After speaking, Kadotus checked the corner of his visor, seeking the time frame. It had been three days since they had entered the Warp, with at least one more week in store to trespass the miasma of chaos for their destination of the homeworld, Holvir. He had spent the last 12 hours in prayer, his mind becoming far too lax in the later half, judging by the rememory Kadotus had encountered. It was a strange memory he experienced, and he suddenly was struck by the question of the dream. After the battle recovery, he had checked his eyes in a mirror, and both were blue.
Removing his helmet, he tried to get a reflection from the eye slots, but the slots were red, thus disallowing any result. Sighing slightly in his annoyance for his mind's distraction with the lie, he put his helm back onto his head as the ascender reached the bridge's level. After moving down the dark, square corridor, Kadotus came into the preceding chamber to the bridge, a large rectangular room with a multitude of chairs surrounding a holo-board, where many members of the chapter used to sit around for the pre-battle briefing. No longer were the scores of brothers clustered in the area, replaced by less than 20 marines, many wounded and still in need of prosthetics. For what remained, they sat close together, clustered around the table, swapping tales from the battles and of brothers lost. From a short ascendor in the corner, servitors emerged, bearing cups of drink and plates of whatever food the Astartes asked.
Kadotus nodded to the seated Masoi, as he passed them to yet to a door, which slid open to reveal the bridge. Stepping onto the platform, he saw his fellow officers, Sergeant Itan, Kinnar, and Captain Nage sitting around the command map, a glass of wine in each of their hands, minus Nage. They nodded as their fellow sergeant approached, Itan leaning over the table to pour him a glass.
Accepting the goblet, Kadotus removed his helmet, and set it down on the table. Taking a sip of the wine, he looked at his other officers, whom had a questioning look on their face. "850.M39...Orvino IV...The Julianus family vineyards?" Kadotus asked as he took a look at the crimson vino.
"Brother-sergeant?" Itan asked, his face contorted, although it was slightly hard for Kadotus to tell, as the mixture of fire that caught his hair and the resulting radiation of the bomb had melted much of his skin.
Kadotus raised an eyebrow. "What part was wrong?" His momentary jest was met with silence as the officers continued looking. "Is my skull reflecting? I've yet to wipe off the sweat after..." he paused in his sentence, as they looked for an explanation. "...My dream." He delivered no more information, waiting for one of them to probe about the dream, as it was unusual for a space marine to sleep, even more to dream.
It was Nage who broke the silence. "Sergeant, what happened in this dream of yours?" His metallic voice steady and calm.
Kadotus closed his eyes and took another drink of the wine. "It was a rememory of our battle, from the slight bombardment to our retreat to the enclave."
"The sorcerer?" Nage questioned, standing up from his seat.
"Aye," Kadotus replied, opening his eyes once again.
Kinnar drained the remainder of his glass. "Kadotus, did your perception of the event seem different than what it once was?"
"It was no different than the event itself." The sergeant lied, not wishing for them to suspect him of any heresy—he was a loyal and true servant of the Emperor. Kadotus didn't want for any Inquisition to get into this event, no more than they probably would.
Itan started, "Are you sure, sergeant? I don't doubt you, but—"
"I'm no heretic, witch, or mutant, if that's what you are suggesting, brother. My mind is pure and my faith is strong, ask my squad-brothers, if you doubt me so." Kadotus stood up angrily, and drained the remainder of his wine in a quick gulp. If you excuse me, brothers, I shall return to my quarters."
"Brother, we meant no offense in our questions." Nage said.
Kadotus peered over his pauldron and the others, and shook his head. Walking down the bridge towards the door, he stopped and looked at the psyker installed on the throne. The mutant was human in all aspects, expect that he bore a third eye on his forehead, the only thing able to guide the marines through their journey of the sub-space-like area of the warp. The man was silent, his normal eyes closed, and trying to be comfortable on the console as the dozens of wires held him in place with stilled order.
The navigator suddenly spasmed, his head lurching forward, a group of cords lurching to catch the skull before it pulled any wires loose. The man began to scream, as his eyes opened, blood pooling from the empty sockets. "The field is broken! We have lost!" He suddenly screamed. Kadotus stared at the sight while his fellow officers began running, Nage speaking into his vox.
The navigator struggled against all of the cords binding him to the machine, as whatever daemonic force plied at the ship's warp shields, and the psyker's very soul. Itan pushed the man back into his seat, hands held fiercely on his shoulders as the navigator continued shaking. "Get the apothecary's servitors, stat!" He yelled over the vox-systems, for every brother to hear.
From below, in the servitor bay below, one of the sub-humans spoke up in monotone. "Gellar field at 75%. Detections of warp energy leaking into the ship in unknown amounts. Automatic response has levels 3, 7, and 9 through 14 shut down in quarantine. A sudden field of Warp turbulence has caught our ship."
"Brothers, this is Captain Nage." The vox-system spoke. "Our navigator and fields have failed, the daemons are onboard. Look to your wargear and prepare for close quarters. The Emperor protects." The captain finished his message and turned to Kadotus. "Stay your rest, brother. I need you to patrol the lower levels with your squad and make sure no daemon can damage the crucial areas of the ship until we can drop out of the Warp."
Kadotus nodded. "I can do that, brother-captain."
The captain stared for a moment, the sergeant catching him staring at his eye. "The Emperor protects."
"The Emperor protects." Kadotus replied, turning away from the others as Nage began his orders to the other sergeants, the warning klaxons repeating in their deadly crescendo.
"This is sergeant Kadotus, the engine room is clear. All servitors are in position and the wards are still in hold."
"Maintain diligence, and report to the plasma generators." Nage ordered. "With Emperor's blessing, the machine-spirit's readings might be wrong."
"We all have our wishes, Captain." Kadotus said, as he walked into the hallway, the light projected by his helmet illuminating the dark corridor, as power had to be used in more essential areas during warp travel. From behind him, the heavy thuds of his three brothers' boots followed his path, tracing out in a diamond shape: Kadotus in the middle of the hall, in the front, Ocydo to the left a couple meters behind, Masoi on the opposite side, and Dawir behind Kadotus, a couple meters from Masoi and Ocydo. They moved without talk, their helmet-lamps checking around the hall for any form of interference. The hallway was dull, gunmetal gray with a steady iron floor and walls of the same sheet, with small little supports every couple of meters.
They came into a four-way connection, and assumed the left, which they followed for a couple hundred meters until coming to a turn in which they turned right. From there, they came upon a servitor standing mindlessly in the hallways, its drill hands spinning with no purpose. As the Marines approached it, the mind-scrubbed slave turned to them. It spoke a series of binary chirps, before spazzing out and colliding with a wall, the drill whining as they struggled to penetrate the thick hulls of the battle cruiser. Kadotus approached the servitor and put it out of its mindless trance, a quick snap of its neck.
"Masoi, check the body. See if we can learn anything, whether it's daemonic or mindlock." Kadotus nodded to the brother on his right.
Nodding, Masoi approached, kneeling beside the machine-human hybrid, peeling back the metal plate that was attached to its skull, revealing a dried up brain. Taking a look at the plate and following it down to the spine, Masoi pulled it off with a crack, gazing at the connectors between the servitor's neural-system. "Definitely a case of mindlock. After we lost Tumiq in our defense, I guess our few techpriests have had little reason to check upon every servitor in these passages." He prodded the servitor's dried up brain with a finger, opening it up and pulling a little cable that was burnt out and severed at a few points. "I'm guessing the warp trauma in combination with the weakening field, as well as the plasma generation has burnt out many more. Let's tell the Enginseers about this when we get back, eh?" Masoi tossed the cable away and threw the brain back onto the servitor's corpse.
After he fell back into formation, the group continued onto its path down the hallway. As the squad marched, Kadotus heard the sound of feet echoing ahead. He made no mention of it, as he was sure his brothers must have heard. Suddenly, there was a crash in the same direction of the feet, pushing Kadotus and his brothers into a run, weapons raised.
The sound of bloodshed and metal falling onto the ground echoed in a fierce storm, as the dull rumbling of the plasma generators increased in volume. Turning another corner, the corpses of three servitors lay broken and dismembered on the floor, their blood leaking into nearby vents. "Captain, we have found three slain servitors—ripped apart by some means or another," Kadotus spoke into his vox-bead, examining the corpses as he neared them. "I hear further reports of conflict in the plasma generator room. I shall pursue and apprehend the targets responsible. The Emperor protects."
From the other side of the vox, Nage's metallic voice stuttered before replying "Alerting the other squads to your position. The plasma might interfere with your vox, so you'll be in there alone. The Emperor protects."
Kadotus lead his squad around the corner, coming to the door of the engine room. The portal was broken open, halved by a blade, with a mutilated corpse of a servitor lying underneath one side of the door. From within the room, the light of the plasma reactors radiated into the hallways, flickering as the remains of servitors were being thrown about by the daemons inside.
Kadotus turned to his brothers, and peered at the doorway. Activating his power fist, he moved to the side of the portal as his brothers pulled their close-combat weapons out, a chainsword, a combat knife, and a bayoneted boltgun readied in his brother's hands.
Turning the corner with pistol raised, Kadotus scanned the room quickly. The generator room was large, roughly seven levels in height of catwalks, the lines of spastic blue tubes lining the walls, inconsistencies due to lack of constant maintenance worrying the plasma inside. Alongside the large reactors rested the two score corpses of the menials whom once served in the generator room, dismembered and torn apart in a brutal massacre. Standing atop these bodies were figures of nigh-human form, minus the drastic changes to their skin: horns jutted at abnormal angles, wings stretched from the creatures' backs, their fingers ranged from tentacles to insectoid claws, and their feet covered the range of every imaginable beast.
In their numbers, Kadotus counted 16, more than enough to overwhelm Kadotus and his four-man squad. Yet, they were the Emperor's Space Marines, and they would die fighting. The bark of Kadotus' bolt pistol was followed by Ocydo's bolter, as Masoi's chainsword began its howling roar, and Dawir yelled a cry as the squad began its charge at the daemon group. In an instant, the beasts focused on the marines and drew their weapons, shrieking in their tongue as they leapt.
Kadotus met the first one, a red bloodletter of Khorne, his fist grabbing the daemon's blade in the air as his bolt-pistol was raised to the warp-spawn's large skull. The bloodletter's other hand moved to smack Kadotus' arm away, the shot flying loose into the generator room. Not letting it phase him, Kadotus' fist crushed the daemon's sword and kicked the beast away, the solid base of the boot pushing the daemon two meters as Kadotus righted his pistol for a burst at the daemon's skull.
A sudden alert in his helmet spun him around in time to raise his arms up to a black mace, the ceramite of his forearms cracking slightly under the impact. Thrusting the blunt object away, Kadotus dove at the creature, letting his rage take hold as his fists pummeled the beast until it was banished back to the outsides of the warp.
"Sergeant!" A warning came from Ocydo, but Kadotus trusted his helmet's alert milliseconds beforehand. Rolling off the daemon's body, he narrowly avoided the swipe of a daemon's talon, the beast bearing many characteristics a bird, with blue and gold wings stretching from its back and a large beak bearing rows of teeth.
A shot came from Ocydo's bolter, tearing through the daemon's wing, feathers flying out in a burst of a bluish liquid. The beast stuttered, and tried flapping its wings to get it some distance from the space marines. Not leaving it any time to recover, Kadotus leapt at it, power fist crackling and aimed at the fiend's chest.
But his jump was interrupted as he was snapped back, a tight coil looped around his knee joint, crushing into the vulnerable armor lining. Turning his head around as he hit the floor, Kadotus saw the looming face of a daemonette, a mouth on its chest expelling a tongue that held down the sergeant. Pushing off the floor, he rotated his upper body to grab the daemonette's face in the power fist, a crunch echoing as the skull was pulverized under his fist's strength.
Raising himself, he checked his surroundings for a brief moment. Ocydo was running at the winged daemon, bolter firing, with three daemons chasing. Masoi was in a duel with a bloodletter as four others were trying to score a hit without denying their ally its prize. Dawir was struggling at his blade was locked with a daemon of Nurgle's, the fiend slowly pressing its large weight against the battle brother.
Kadotus stared for a second to determine his most valuable objective, but that was all that was needed for everything to go wrong. A bloodletter teleported behind Dawir and the daemon's sword lurched through the brother's chest in an explosion of blood and gore. Masoi suddenly tumbled as a daemonette caught his arm in its clutches, throwing the brother onto the ground as it raised its claws to strike. Ocydo's foe released as stream of purple bolts, punching through the brother's helmet and chest, leaving the brother to collapse as the daemons pursuing him caught the falling corpse.
In a rage, Kadotus ran towards Ocydo's killer, as his failure to kill the beast previously had left his brother to die. The bird-like daemon squawked as it noticed the sergeant barreling at it, hastily yelling out words that Kadotus couldn't understand, nor did he care.
As he was within two meters, he yelled a stretched out his fist to meet the daemon's glowing talons. The fiend's eyes glowed purple as it spoke its final word, and everything Kadotus knew disappeared.