A/N: I'm back! Here is the next installment of Vermiculo's story. First though, some reviews!
Guest: I thank you for the kind words, and I shall try to make the chapters longer. I think that the Blood Angels are 99% awesome as well. I just wish that Dante was an eternal warrior. He's a thousand years old! That might as well be eternal! Thank you for the review.
mr I hate znt nobles kill em: Soon, very soon. But first, we'll need to find him won't we... Thanks for the review!
tim: I thank you for the review. And because you said please, here is the update.
The ArchAngel had returned to Baal. After one hundred centuries, the ArchAngel had returned! But it was not him. This Angel was not Sanguinius, but he was a part of the Angel. Closer than any Blood Angel had ever been. He saw grass begin to grow from the barren desert where the Angel stood. And then came the Storm.
The Angel parried blows from a tyranical beast, Sword flashing in the twilight, while around him Astartes died. Not just Blood Angels, but Flesh Tearers, Blood Drinkers, Lamenters, even the renegade Knights of Blood fought against the powerful attackers.
The attackers themselves were fleeting shadows. Each one was a void, draining light from Baal.
Lightening flashed. Corbulo now stood aboard the Blade of Vengeance. The Angel was wounded, while Corbulo administered aid. He didn't have to think, his dreamself did it. But he understood what had happened, a powerful blow from a Lightening Claw had struck the Angel's Chest. Fury burned in his psyche, but the Flaw seemed to be cured.
A bright light shone from the viewport. He looked at the screen, and saw Baal, and it's moons glow. Then they were gone.
Corbulo awoke from his slumber suddenly. His vision's were never as long as this, and always required several moments to analyze. But not this time.
He donned his blood-red robe and darted to the Reclusiam. He knelt in prayer for nearly an hour before an image of the Primarch. He prayed for help in finding this cave. He prayed for the knowledge on how to stop Baal's death. He prayed for the Primarch's aid in finding the elusive cure to the Flaw.
"Greetings, High Priest Corbulo. It is good to see you hear, I have some questions for you." A voice came from behind the knelt Astartes.
"Greetings to you, Chaplain Vitrus. I shall finish my prayers, then I shall answer your questions." Corbulo responded. Vitrus had made a name for himself on Jurt, leading Assault squad Atreone into the Warbosses bodyguard, striking Warboss Deffbringuh low with his crozius.
"As you wish, master Corbulo, thank you." Vitrus said humbly as he knelt befor the same effigy of Sanguinius in prayer. Vitrus' prayers were short and to the point. He didn't waste words, but that was his belief. Actions spoke louder than words, and striking down the Emperor's enemies was the best prayer one could offer.
As the pair finished their various vows and rites, Corbulo spoke.
"You had questions for me?" Corbulo asked quietly. They were alone in the chapel, but he still showed the hallowed grounds respect.
"Yes, High Chaplain Astorath set-off in search of you, I wonder why you are not with him?" Vitrus asked.
Corbulo was hard to wake when he had a vision, but those who needed him usually waited until they passed.
"I have not seen him. I thank you for informing me, but I feel I know where he is." Corbulo stated.
"I see. Well, I would ask you to go to him, Commander Dante requested your presence in the Council rooms." Vitrus said in a low voice. "I must say, it sounded urgent."
"I shall, thank you." Corbulo informed him with a nod. The Chaplain's black and gold robes rustled slightly as he turned to return to the upper levels of the Reclusiam.
Corbulo took his leave also, headed toward the Council chambers. He wandered down the long, blessed halls. Crimson lights were spaced every twenty yards, lighting up holy tapestries and elaborately made statues of chapter heroes, glorius battles and the Primarch Himself. Corbulo briefly paused to look at an image of the latter, he noted that he stood with the Emperor as well. They stood near Angel's Fall in this image. Sanguinius looked saddened, he was pointing to a small Crevice in the rocks.
Realization dawned on Corbulo.
"By the Throne!" He whispered.
He walked on, his eidetic memory noting where the tapestry was.
He knocked thrice upon the large, golden door. He was admitted by a Chapter Serf, who let him in silently. He extended an apology to the assembled leaders of the Chapter.
"It is of no import, we were just discussing the repairs needed to be done upon the Bloodcaller. Not something we needed you here for." Dante answered evenly. "But now that you are, we can move on to the reason for this meeting. If you would, High Priest?"
Corbulo nodded to Commander Dante, then began his tale. He told those assembled of the records he had found. Of the 'piece of Sanguinius' and the hidden vault. Then he told them of his visions, worry gripped those assembled, but also hope. Then he told them of his prayer, and of the tapestry. That hope bloomed.
"Brother Incarael, please dispatch some servitors to retrieve the tapestry." Dante requested of the master Artificer.
Incarael released a short blast of static, Techna-Linguis, and then informed the Chapter Master that it was done.
"What is to be done about this then? We should already be searching the area, we have the possibility of finding a cure for the Flaw and we are only discussing it! I can hear yet more Battle Brothers succumbing, why are we not searching?" Astorath the Grim, High Chaplain of the Blood Angels demanded, looking angered by the stalling.
"Because, we have only just discovered this yesterday, and because we only now have an inkling of where to look. Once the tapestry has arrived, I shall gather a taskforce for the search." Dante placated the forboding Chaplain.
"Hmmph." Astorath grunted.
"The tapestry is outside, Commander Dante." Brother Incarael spoke.
"Thank you, Brother Incarael." Dante responded.
The servitors were admitted, two of the lobotomized techno-organics carried the ancient tapestry. The machine-beasts placed the tapestry on a long, adamantium table. They proceeded to walk to the door, where they stood, oblivious to the monumental occasion taking shape within the room.
"Show us the crevice you mentioned, Brother Corbulo." Dante ordered.
Corbulo took no offence at the order, the situation was important, more so for the Time of Challenge was only weeks away.
"Here. See how both the Emperor and Sanguinius look upon it?" Corbulo answered, his finger was an inch away from the tapestry.
"Very well. Brother Incarael, ready a trio of Stormravens for the strike force, and awaken Brother Taral, we may need his strength. We shall need you as well. Astorath, Corbulo, you shall accompany myself. Captain Phaeton, bring two of your Tactical Squads, we shall set off in an hour. May the Emperor protect, my Brothers." Dante finished before turning and heading to retrieve his armour.
The others left as well, collecting what they needed.
Two standard hours later, Baal Secundus.
The following is based on a battle report. The Crevice was a safe point which the Blood Angels needed to reach and hold for two turns, the battle was against enemies with House Rules.
The Stormravens touched down five hundred meters from the giant likeness of the Archangel. Disembarking, Dante surveyed the scene. Dull, barren desert stretched up to the statue, even from here, Dante could see the crevice which concealed the target.
The two Tactical squads readied themselves. The situation called for mobility, so neither squad had a heavy weapon. Squad Rafen had a flamer, while squad Gelk had been equipped with a meltagun. The air rippled with a series of dull whoosh noises overhead. Looking up, Dante saw three boulders soar overhead, impacting with the Stormravens. The enormous gunships were forced to disengage.
Casting his keen eyes about in the darkness, Dante spotted a concealed cluster of catapults on a crag twenty four meters away .
"Atop that ridge!" Dante shouted.
Bolter fire echoed, riddling the cliffs with pockmarks and broken rocks, but doing little else.
"Get to the cave!" Dante ordered.
The ground trembled as Brother Taral was released from on high. He landed on the crag, his assault cannon already spinning up.
"For the Primarch!" The Dreadnought bellowed, unloading a storm of rounds from his cannon, ripping into the wooden constructs.
Two crumbled at the onslaught, their crews torn asunder by high caliber rounds, the entire cluster wasn't able to unleash a rock on the Astartes below.
Taral spewed hot promethium from his heavy flamer, setting the final catapult a light. He took a moment to look at the attackers.
"Mutants! Brothers, be wary, the filth seldom attack in small numbers!" Taral called out through his vox.
Running to the edge of the cliff, Taral leapt off, remembering his hundreds of years as a Vanguard veteran and what he had learnt there. The hydraulics in his legs groaned at the pressure, but stood firm in the act.
"Go! We must hurry!" Dante bellowed. In that instant, hundreds of mutants appeared from behind rocks and from under the sand itself.
A group of twenty charged forward, chattering and growling as they ran at squad Rafen. Rafen ordered his Brothers to fire at the attackers, to absorb the charge as best they could. Boltguns howled, and Rafen's plasma pistol joined in the song of hatred, cutting into the mutants. At the last second, the flamer released a deluge of promethium and death into the unruly mob, leaving only sixteen.
Rafen, power sword hacking gleefully, led a ferocious counter-attack. Seven mutants fell before they could strike. The mob wasn't to be brought low so easily. With a sickening crunch, a mutant brought down a large, clublike hand upon Brother Fesart's head, smashing aside the Astartes with great difficulty.
Brother Fesart's comrades avenged him, cutting down the mutant with their knives.
The mutant's quailed at the display of savagery, several turned and fled, but others stayed.
"Astorath! Aid squad Rafen!" Dante bellowed down the vox-link.
No sooner had he said this than the sound of a chainsword alert him to Corbulos plight. The priest took every blow without difficulty, where his armour failed, his will did not. He took every blow from a horde of twelve, sickle-armed mutants. The twisted bones in their hands becoming ill-formed blades.
"Have at thee, Mutant!" Corbulo spat as Heaven's Teeth bit through yet another mutant.
Squad Gelk pounded through yet another rag-tag band of mutants with their bolters, Brother Taral flanking them. Another impressive display of fire-power left the path clear for them to reach the crevice. Brother Taral began to give orders to squad Gelk.
"Provide cover for our Brothers!" He shouted. "By the wings of Sanguinius, the one to kill the fewest mutants will earn my derision!"
"Aye, Brother! Open fire!" Sergeant Gelk ordered his squad.
Dante jetted over to Brother Incarael, who was battling seven mutants, his servitors were crippled. Just as his axe struck a mutant down, a pair of mechandendrites punched through another two, just as a wrench-axe brought down a third. The path was clear for the pair to disengage from the mutant horde. Dante led Incarael to the crevice next, as Corbulo began to show signs of injury in his battle.
Corbulo finally dispatched his last opponent, weighing in the brute with a ceramite clad knee to the skull. Feeling the Red Thirst in his throat, the beare of the Red Grail raced to Squad Rafen, who consisted of Rafen, Astorath and two marines. Astorath caved another mutant with the Executioners axe, after Rafen had removed an arm.
The last mutants dealt with, the remaining Blood Angels left for the crevice, save for Corbulo, who took the time to remove the progenoid organs from his fallen Brothers.
As soon as Corbulo reached he crevice, more mutants emerged from the sands, intent on devouring the remaining Blood Angels. They rushed forwards, only to be strafed by the three tormraven gunships, who raced off before a counter attack could be mustered.
The remaining mutants were crushed by overwhelming firepower, assault cannon rounds ripping through swathes of corrupted bodies, bolts detonating inside unhallowed flesh.
Not a single mutant reached the crevice unscathed, but those that did made their presence known, one devoured an entire Astartes from squad Gelk, only to be crushed by the Axe Mortalis. The mutants were being driven back, and by dawn, all that remained were sundered corpses.
"Damage report?" Dante asked.
"Five Servitors offlined, eight Astartes dead, one with unusable Gene-Seed." Incarael noted, not mentioning the number of shots fired.
"Dire news..." Dante responded. How could so many Battle-Brothers be lost to mutants? "We must be in the wrong place." Dante added, looking around, there was no cave.
"Mmm." Astorath nodded, dissapointed.
As Brother Incarael turned, his plasma cutter tapped a rock which produced the sound of metal on metal.
"What was that?" Corbulo asked, striding to the 'rock' and rapping on it with his knuckles. A hollow 'ding' alerted him to the fakery.
"It appears our Primarch is a wily one." Corbulo said. "There is something behind this."
"Allow me, Brother Corbulo." Brother Taral's metallic voice spoke, his Bloodfist grasping at the disguised metal. Taral heaved, gyros straining. Rafen used a long, straight mutant bone as a lever, sliding it beneath the rock and pushing. At last, the ruse was removed, revealing a large cave. The inside had been changed, it looked more like a vault. In the far corner, a stasis chamber rested. Along the far wall, documents of unknown content were on bookcases, neat and ordered. A small, box-like stasis chamber was near the otherside of the room.
Corbulo went in first, followed by Brother Haan, squad Rafen's special weapon user. Dante went in next, followed by Astorath and then Brother Incarael.
"Brother Haan, please refrain from using your flamer, these books are very rare and may contain useful knowledge." Brother Incarael requested cordially. He had learnt long ago that asking first made things go much smoother.
"Yes, Brother Tech-Priest, as you wish." Brother Haan nodded, proceeding back outside to stand guard.
Brother Incarael was about to study the books in question, but Dante needed him right now.
"Brother Incarael, I need you to open this." Dante indicated the smaller stasis chamber.
Incarael did so and retrieved the treasures within. Inside was a handflamer, a beautifully crafted power sword and Artificer armour, crafted with a pair of slots on the back. All were bedecked with Blood Angel's heraldry. The sword was inscribed with the words: La Sangre Escurridor.
A red gem twinkled at the bottom of the chest. Plucking it out, Incarael did a quick survey of what it was. It appeared to be an amulet in the shape of a blood drop, inside were complex micro-circuits. It was archeotech, far in advance of what he had ever seen. It had, what he guessed was, a tiny plasma generator, the size of his finger tip. What it powered though, was a mystery to the Techmarine.
"I am unable to tell what this does. It's Machinespirit is uncooperative." Brother Incarael told Commander Dante.
"I see. What is inside the other stasis chamber?" Dante asked.
Corbulo spoke, as he looked through the file next to it.
"Vermiculo, but not much else is said, Sir." Corbulo answered. The Astartes had healed, but he still ached from the damage done in battle. Even the Emperor's finest could only endure so much before it began to show.
"Hmm. What of the 'Piece of Sanguinius'?" Astorath asked, scanning the bookshelf.
"The files indicate that: 'Vermiculo is genetically similar to Sanguinius, but not quite a Primarch, as is common in many standard incidences of procreation.'" Corbulo answered, reading the file with a great deal of shock.
"Procreation?" Astorath asked, not hearing the term before.
"It's how humans usually reproduce." Corbulo answered, still dazed.
"Wait. So, that means what exactly?" Astorath asked again.
"If it means what I think it means, then we are indeed dealing with a 'Piece of Sanguinius'." Corbulo answered, not ready to explain his thoughts.
"I see." Dante broke in, understanding completely.
The Astartes considered all the possible outcomes of openning the stasis chamber. Only when they had called squad Gelk in did they open the device.
Inside was a male, he had shoulder length, golden hair, fine features and slightly tan skin. His eyes were closed, and his body was filled with lithe muscle. He was clearly a Blood Angel by those features, but he seemed to reaffirm this with large, angelic wings with long white feathers. His eyes opened slowly, and he spoke with a strong, confident voice.
"What year is it?" He, Vermiculo, asked. "And while we're at it, who are you?"
A/N: I'm so cruel! So, everyone like the chapter? If you did I'd like to hear it. If you didn't I'd still like to hear it, just be nice with the news. Anyway, the fight to the crevice played out well. The mutants were placed down again 12" away from the Blood Angel's units after they died, so it took a lot to survive. The dreadnought jump also happened, and it was so cool.
Here's the profile for the Mutants.
WS B LD SV+
5+
The leaders were LD 8 so they were tough to kill, they could only move D6" though. Everyone of 'em that died just didn't stay dead.
The catapults were artillery:
BS AV: F S R Rocks: Range S AP Type
3 10 10 10 G48" 6 5 Blast, Barrage
We equipped the Tactical squads like that to represent the relatively light armament they would take to their own world. And yes, Rafen was based on the guy from the Blood Angels novels, but I couldn't remember the squad member's names. As always, hope you enjoyed!