Brother's End
A Warhammer 40,000 story
Chapter 1
The Sparring Halls, Macragge
He grunted with effort as he decapitated a combat servitor, sending the partially robotic head flying. . Spinning round, he sent a fist into the jaw of another, sending it into the wall ten metres away. Parrying a third's downward blow, he kicked a fourth servitor that was coming in behind him in the chest, crumpling its mechanical ribcage and sending it to the floor. He flicked away the third servitor's serrated blade, loping its hand off as he did so. He reversed the grip on his combat knife and thrust it into the servitor's forehead, severing the processor's connection to the body. It's like dealing with an Ork warband, he mused, take out the head and the body will die. The whole engagement lasted less than five seconds.
To his rear, he heard a single person clapping. A slow, steady applause. An old, Terran gesture and one he knew one Astartes in particular used. He turned around. The clapper was Scipio Vorolanus, a fellow Sergeant in the Ultramarines 2nd Company. The two of them were good friends, having been initiated at the same time. They had fought together ever since.
"Well met brother." Scipio greeted him, clasping hands.
"The same to you." He replied, a small smile on his face. Scipio was one of the few friends that were still alive, as his squad were an advance party, sent to secure a landing zone. And of course, getting onto the ground required a drop-pod, the least favourite part of the plan for him. The plan; not the execution.
"Is it true, about what you are doing?" Scipio asked him, confusion in his eyes. "I know you take the burden of your squad's death, but…"
"Yes Scipio, the rumours are true." He interrupted his friend. Scipio glared at him,
"But no one blames you for your squad's death. You followed the Codex to the letter. If the intel was right, it should have been overkill sending a whole squad."
"Aye, but next time I'm making sure it's all right before jumping in." He replied sarcastically. "And besides, what if our roles were reversed? What if it was you in my place, and I had been sent by Sicarius to try and dissuade you." Scipio looked stunned, and opened his mouth to answer. "No need, brother. It makes perfect sense, how he would send my closest friend to try and stop me from leaving. I do not blame you." He again interrupted Scipio, and again was glared at by said Astartes.
"Yes, he did send me, but not to dissuade you." He cocked an eyebrow at the statement. "He commands you to meet him in 2nd Company's main armoury. You will need your armour for this." Scipio finishes with a weak smile. They clasp hands one last time. "Good luck brother. You will need that too." They let go of each other, and walked their separate ways.
"As will you, to beat my score on the range." He shouted after his fellow Sergeant, who chuckled quietly to himself. They didn't say goodbye. They never did.
As he walked towards the armoury, he saw various Ultramarines training, praying, or maintaining their armour. Each one of them gave him a nod of respect. Word must have gotten around quickly about his request, and its acceptance. It struck him that this would probably be the last time he walked down Macragge's halls. He silently vowed that it wouldn't.
He reached the main armoury, hearing the whirring of servitors and smelling an overwhelming amount of oils. He walked slowly towards 2nd Company's section of the armoury. He found his captain, Cato Sicarius, tending to his sword. The blade was old, and originated from Sicarius's home on Talassar. Yet it was still as deadly in the right hands as it always was. "You asked for me, my lord." He said. Sicarius looked up from his power sword.
"Castus, yes, I did. I hope you are prepared?" He asked, setting his blade down on the table he had been working at and walked towards him.
"Yes, my lord, I just need to get back my armour from the Techmarines." He answered truthfully.
"Are you absolutely sure about this? No one will blame you if you choose not to." He asked Castus. It was a question the Chapter Master had asked him also. The Chapter had already lost nine battle-brothers in one action. A tenth would add insult to injury.
"Yes my lord. Those Chaos Marines deserve to die for what they did, and with the Great Devourer and Tau attacks becoming more frequent, I think the Chapter will need every brother it can get. Better to lose one on an impossible mission than have a strike-force unavailable if Ultramar is attacked." He gave the same answer that he had given the Chapter Master.
"Aye. You made a good sergeant, maybe even my successor in a few decades. Shame to lose you like this." Sicarius mused.
"I'm not dead yet Captain." He joked half-heartedly.
"True." He agreed. "I have something for you, to aid you on your quest. Follow me." Castus did as his captain said, and the two Astartes walked further down the armoury.
They reached a secluded chamber, which contained a chainsword, locked in a stasis-field. It had a golden light shining in the field, which highlighted the detailed golden eagle on the hilt. The blade itself was the same azure blue colour of an Ultramarine's power armour, and the serrated teeth were obsidian, a stark contrast to the hilt.
"The Sword of Theil. A mighty weapon, one that is now yours." Theil was an Ultramarine sergeant during the Horus Heresy. He had been marked for censure before the Heresy due to him running theoretical tactics on fighting other Space Marines. During the Battle for Calth, he used the tactics that he had been censured for to great effect, reaping a substantial casualty rate on the Word Bearers that attacked Calth. His tactics were adopted by the Ultramarine legion, and were written into the Codex Astartes. Castus turned to his captain.
"Are you sure my lord? If I fall…" He asked, unusually stunned by the gift.
"Then you'd better not fall." Sicarius answered, his haughty attitude back.
"Well, this is farewell. May the Emperor and the Primarch protect, captain." Castus made the sign of the Aquila with his giant hands.
"The same to you, sergeant." Sicarius replied, also making the sign of the Aquila. They then clasped hands. "Good luck, Castus, and bring me back that traitorous bastard's head."
A/N: Hello, Bradykins98 here. I am really sorry about two things, firstly the amount of time it has taken to get chapter 2 on here, as I've had severe writers block with this story as well as other things. The second is the shortness of this chapter, as well as the fact it's a filler. I just needed something to get the ball rolling, and this is it. By the way, in case you didn't realise, the main characters name is Castus.