Ajax ratcheted the slide on his bolter and leveled it toward the oncoming horde.

"For the Primogenitor and the Undying Emperor! Bleed them, Marines!"

Ajax's squad erupted in kind, spraying death in all directions.

"Stand fast, Brother," crackled the voice in Ajax's vox unit. "Reinforcements are en route."

The first of the cultists reached Ajax's position, but he was ready for them, his chainsword spinning hungrily for the flesh of the traitors. He expended the last of his rounds into the faces and torsos of the three closest enemies, then dropped his bolter unceremoniously. Shifting his chainsword into his right hand, he shouted to his squad.

"Show these filthy heretics the true meaning of destruction, my brothers!" With this, he flung himself into the nearest knot of deformed marionettes.

The Imperial Guardsmen on the roof of an apartment building behind the Space Marines' hastily constructed barricade saw only a shimmering blue blur as it cut an ungodly swathe of death through the cultists' front line. The nine Marines behind him also charged forward, weapons ablaze in support of their noble sergeant. The cultists were momentarily taken aback and paused, especially when the tall Marine ran his sword through the gut of one of their number, twisted the blade, and pulled the whirring death-machine up and out. The Chaos-puppet fell apart in two pieces, and he turned to find his next victim.

The cultists, now truly afraid, began to fight more frantically and desperately, all the while being pushed methodically back by the disciplined and accurate fire from the furious Ultramarines. They finally broke and ran, stampeding down a street, stomping their wounded into the rockcrete, and finally disappeared behind a corner.

"That's enough! Let them run. Return to our defensive positions and await reinforcements," called Ajax. His squad said nothing; they simply nodded their acknowledgement of the command, and paced back toward the barricade in front of the plaza and turned their backs only to clamber over the waist-high wall.

"By the Throne," breathed Lieutenant Wallis. On the rooftop, the lieutenant and his squad of guardsmen had watched silently as the carnage had unfolded. The melee now over, Wallis looked over his weary troopers. One of them, poor Trooper Ginnis, had vomited into his helmet, and smiled sheepishly at his lieutenant.

"Get yourself cleaned up, soldier," said Wallis. Trooper Ginnis was no more than seventeen years, and Lieutenant Wallis pitied him. Thinking back, he himself could remember his first battle on Praxis III more than twenty years ago, when an ork raiding party had launched a surprise attack on the city of Priam. He had been no older than Ginnis, but he stood fast in the face of impending death. He had saved his planet. He had done his duty. He shook the memory from his head and climbed down the stairs leading from the roof to the street.

Ajax could see the haggard lieutenant striding toward him out of his peripheral vision. The lieutenant extended his hand. "Lieutenant Mikael Wallis, of His Emperor's 103rd Praxian Guard Regiment, at your service." Ajax took it.

"A pleasure. I am Brother-Sergeant Ajax Dracov of the Ultramarines 4th Company. What can I do for you, Lieutenant Wallis?"

"My men stand ready to support you, Sergeant. We will fight with you against these traitorous bastards."

"No, lieutenant. My squad has things well in hand here." It was a lie, but Lieutenant Wallis didn't need to know. Ajax smiled half-heartedly. "However, we are in need of someone to guard the entrance to the catacombs to the south."

"Sergeant?"

"It is important these cultists do not enter the sacred crypts. There are a number of artifacts down there that can be used against the Imperium if these twisted fiends ever get their hands on them," he replied. "Do you know the cathedral I mean?"

"I do. Very well." Wallis sighed despite himself. He sauntered away from the towering Marine and climbed the several flights of stairs to the rooftop.

"Do we get to kill culters, Lieutenant?" asked Trooper Simms.

"Not yet. But stay sharp. We'll have our time to whip them soon enough. Mount up, boys," yelled Wallis. "Let's move out!" His squad jumped and double-timed it down the stairs. Wallis noted that the color in Ginnis's face had returned, and he kept pace with his comrades. The troopers assembled in the street, and Wallis drew his power-sword.

"Fall in! We move south!"

Ajax looked over his squad of Ultramarines. They were still ready for battle, even if they had been fighting for two days straight.

It had been the largest cultist uprising the planet had ever seen. The cultists took advantage of the Ork invasion to finally move against the Imperial government. The 103rd Praxian Guard unit, already stretched thin from fighting the xenos, was completely overwhelmed when the cultists had started attacking the cities from inside. Elements of the Ultramarines who had come to assist were mobilized immediately to destroy this new threat. Ajax's squad had been one of them.

"Orpheus! Proximo! On me!" The two Marines he had summoned fell in immediately. Orpheus looked especially proud in his ancient blue armor. He had been promoted to Initiate not two days before. "I need to know what those damned cultists are doing. Recon the streets west of here, and report back to me." They nodded, vaulted over the barricade, and quickly moved down the street, their bolters at the ready. They stopped at a corner, peered cautiously around it, and disappeared. Ajax spoke into his vox unit.

"Captain Wulfgar. This is Ajax."

"Go ahead, Sergeant."

"My men are scouting the streets to the west of the plaza. I have sent a squad of Guardsmen to the catacombs south of here to take up defensive positions. What is the status on reinforcements?"

"They are still on their way, Brother-Sergeant. Have faith."
"Confirmed. We stand ready to engage."

"Affirmative. The Emperor's Grace protect you, Sergeant."

"And you, Captain."

Gunshots.

His two Marines scrambled back around the corner, firing their bolters, then turned and sprinted toward Ajax.

"What news?" he said.

"They are on their way. Hundreds, perhaps a full thousand of them," said Orpheus.

Ajax loaded another magazine into his bolter, chambered a round with a satisfying clack, and held a fist aloft.

"Looks like this filth didn't get enough the first time! Defensive protocol delta! Move!" His Marines arrayed themselves as one, ready for the onslaught once again.

Wallis heard the sputtering of distant gunfire. His squad moved quickly, their boots stomping a rough staccato on the rockcrete as they made their way to the cathedral. The crypts laid within.

The guardsmen turned a corner and finally took in the resplendent glory of the cathedral. Its columns, pillars, buttresses and walls were awash with the amber afternoon light. It had an unearthly glow about it, but it put the soldiers at ease. Here, they thought, was a sanctuary from the maelstrom around them. Wallis raised a clenched fist and dropped to one knee. His squad did the same and waited. The lieutenant extended a finger and made a slow circle in the air, then pointed forward. The guardsmen knew what to do. Years of drilling and discipline made it second nature. They formed two columns and spread out into the small plaza, their lasguns poised. They moved slowly, each trooper covering a field of fire, until they came to the entrance of the cathedral.

"Cover me." Wallis moved to the stone door, unholstered his hellpistol, and pushed.

The cathedral was eerily empty, and Wallis's footsteps echoed in the great hall. He surveyed the scene and walked steadily forward. Ginnis trotted to the side of his lieutenant. "Looks like the coast is clear, sir."

As Wallis turned to nod his agreement, Ginnis's chest exploded, smacking Wallis's face with blood. The young soldier's eyes went wide. "S- sir…" he rasped. With that, he slumped to the ground, never to rise again. Wallis looked on in horror, then turned rapidly to see where the shot had come from.

He didn't have to look hard.

The cultists leapt out of the shadows and bore down on Wallis and his shocked guardsmen. Some brandished crude blades which shone dully in the low light. Others carried lasguns taken from fallen Guardsmen, and some were unarmed, ready nonetheless to claw the troopers apart as sacrifices to their dark gods.

"AMBUSH! Fall back to the entrance! Run, damn you! RUN!"

They scrambled backwards, some stopping to fire into the mob, while others simply turned and sprinted toward the door. They burst through and Wallis hastened to shut it behind them. He wasn't fast enough. The cultists pushed against the door and threw it open again, pushing Wallis several steps back. One of them sliced into Wallis's shoulder with a broken piece of metal that the heretic had fashioned into a simple blade. Wallis gasped with pain and stumbled backwards down the steps. The mob clambered after him, ready to rend him asunder. As they closed in around him, his thoughts turned to his first battle. He pulled himself up, drew his power-sword, and leveled his pistol at the mutated forms rushing toward him.

"May the Emperor have mercy on your souls."

"Damn these cultists! Where in the name of the Emperor do they keep coming from?!" Yelled Orpheus to no one in particular.

"Cut the chatter, Marine, and kill these abominations!" Cried Ajax. Orpheus didn't have to be told twice. He immediately redoubled his efforts, firing his smoking boltgun point-blank into the massive horde. It seemed to do little, for the cultists kept regrouping and pressing forth.

Ajax crushed a malformed skull with his fist and spoke into his vox unit. "I need reinforcements! These cultist bastards are threatening to overrun our position!"

A cold robotic voice crackled back.

"Stand back, Sergeant."

"What?" He looked up. "By the Throne! All units, brace for impact!"

Like a teardrop from the Holy Emperor himself, the drop pod screamed out of the sky, firing its retrothrusters right over the cultist horde, incinerating several on the spot. It finally slammed to the ground in a cloud of dust and smoke. The doors dropped, crushing a small knot of petrified enemies, and out stomped a full squad of Assault Terminators, eight in all. The scene froze. The cultists' eyes grew wide, and for a moment, nothing happened. No one moved. Terminator squad leader Master Sergeant Hendricks broke the silence with but two calm words: "Kill them." The slaughter began. The cold metallic eyes in Terminator helmets gleamed as they reflected the gunfire spewing mercilessly into the crowd. Two were equipped with power gloves, which they used to great effect, picking up and crushing any cultist foolish enough to be within their grasp. The cultists had not prepared for the Emperor's Finest, as they had nothing with which to penetrate the thick hulking armor of the Terminators. The scene quickly became one of chaos, as viscera and gore were splattered all over the walls of nearby buildings. A dreadful cry of victory came from Ajax's marines, who deftly leapt over their barricade and joined their larger brothers in massacring the Chaos mob.

The mob, routed and confused, ran for its collective life. The marines pursued this time, making sure each one was stone dead before returning to the barricade. The Terminator squad leader, Sergeant Hendricks, walked to Ajax. "Looks like you needed a hand, Brother-Sergeant." Ajax smiled slightly and thumped Hendricks on his massive shoulder. "Thank you, Brother."

They were everywhere, surrounding the hapless Lieutenant and his men. Wallis pulled the trigger and loosed a volley of hellpistol rounds into the nearest cultist. The mutant dropped with a sickening crunch. "Run! Fall back!" He cried. He soon realized that he had yelled this to no one. His men were being systematically cut to pieces by the horde. Wallis kept the trigger depressed, spraying death all around him, swinging in all directions with his power sword. Limbs left bodies, and corpses, riddled with holes, fell to the rockcrete, staining it with their vile blood. Wallis ran, and for a moment entertained the thought that this mob was suspiciously well-organized. Almost as if something had known the thought had entered his brain, he heard a distant whisper, like the wind through the trees. "Yesssss… we are here, human. FEAR." A hideous cackle then filled the air, and Wallis looked over his shoulder long enough to see stained red power armor and a horned helm at the door to the cathedral. The figure raised a boltpistol and fired a single shot at the Guardsman. With a crack, the round impacted the wall but an inch from Wallis' head, peppering his face with rockcrete shards. He instinctively ducked and rolled away. Regaining his feet, he scrambled down the street and around the corner.

He ran. He ran until his brain registered that the pounding of his boots was the only sound that could be heard. Wallis stopped and dropped to his knees, gasping for breath. He looked around. He was in an alleyway that he didn't recognize. He slowly got back up and tried to calm himself. But the vision of his men being slaughtered suddenly flashed across his eyes. Wallis could no longer fight it. He collapsed against a wall and wept.

"I sent a detachment of Guardsmen to guard the catacombs. They should still be there." Ajax gestured to a nondescript point on the map that laid on the table that separated him from Captain Wulfgar, who had himself arrived shortly after the Terminators in a Thunderhawk. Wulfgar nodded.

"How many were there?" he asked.

"Sixteen. They were in good spirits when they departed."

"Sixteen." Wulfgar repeated. "I hope sixteen guardsmen can guard the Holy Relics hidden in those catacombs. I sense the taint of Chaos on this planet, Sergeant, and if those relics fall into their hands… the consequences would be dire indeed."

Ajax frowned. He suspected that this cultist uprising was something more. A new thought entered his head.

"Sir? What if this uprising is just a diversion? What if the Relics were the target all along?"

"Hmm. Yes, indeed, that makes a damn sight more sense than just a coup against the Praxian government." He nodded and gestured to Ajax. "Take your marines and reinforce those Guardsmen."

"Yes, Brother Captain."

"The Emperor's Grace protect you."

"And you, Brother-Captain."

"Fall in, Marines. We are moving to reinforce the Guardsmen at the cathedral." His nine marines nodded once, almost in unison, and arrayed themselves behind their Sergeant. "Sweep protocol beta. Eyes sharp." They marched. The marines met no resistance during the first five kilometers. Then a small blip registered on Ajax's anti-personnel sensor. The dot moved closer, the digital readout marking its distance. Slowly, the dot moved ever nearer. Fifteen meters, ten meters, seven… Ajax gave hand signals to his men to form a defensive position. Five meters. Four. Three. Two. Ajax raised his weapon. His men did the same. A shadowy figure emerged from an alleyway, and collapsed. Ajax nodded to his men and moved cautiously forward, his boltpistol trained on the head of the figure. Drawing closer, he noticed the short gray hair and the lieutenant pips that were stained with blood. He turned the body over. Wallis' blue eyes stared back at him, dull and glazed. His face was splattered with blood, both his enemy's and his own. "Wallis?"

Wallis seemed to register that there was a voice speaking to him.

"Dead. All of them. Dead. We were ambushed. My men… all dead." He gasped, as though something had cut him. "Chaos! Chaos marine… he was horrible. Those horns, that laugh… and… oh, Hell…" He paused again, then began to cry once more, with racking sobs that doubled him up. "He was in my mind," he said between rasping heaves. "He got inside me somehow… oh, Emperor protect me…"

"You did all you could. You did your duty, Lieutenant. No one will think you a coward. You are the Emperor's will, Lieutenant."

"Yes... my duty. I did my duty…"

Ajax left Wallis on the cold ground, a pitiful shadow of the proud officer that had just that morning led brave young men into battle. The sergeant spoke.

"Let's move. We have much ground to cover."