Warhammer 40,000: Knights of Steel

By Alssadar

Chapter 4

It had been two days since the ship had left Canlyn for Holvir, their travels through the warp safeguarded by ship's navigator, crippled young man without legs by the name of ilRannor. The youth was barely out of his house, drafted a couple years beforehand in the Edo's desperate desire for an increase in profits. For his young age, the boy's ability to keep the ship in the Warp, and still maintain a link to the astropaths Holvir was astounding.

Kadotus stood on the bridge, with the robed psyker now known as Xiljuro ding beside him as they watched the ship's progress in silence, the crewmembers sitting lax in their seats, sparing a look at their cogitators every couple minutes. The ship's view screen was shielded, protecting the weak minds of the crew from the terrors of the warp.

Kadotus had wandered the ship from head to toe, inspecting the ship from every aspect. He was no techmarine, but he knew how to properly inspect his craft. He found no structural weaknesses and had already planned on which spaces to seal in the event of a field breakdown. Despite the navigation's officer's statement that the field was solid, Kadotus didn't want another event like the previous one. Too many good men had died, and the Kadotus would rather getting back to Holvir in one piece.

And through the past days, Kadotus was growing impatient, as the ship had no onboard chapel to pray at, nor any chambers to spar or shooting ranges. His patience had grown thin as he slept for an hour the first night, which was enough to last a space marine for several days, leaving him to speak with the crew and pray to a small icon he had crafted from the steel of his chamber walls. "What's the status until we arrive?" He asked.

"Three hours, my lord. Renormalizing with regular space shall take up to half and hour, and the further hour of transportation to the planet itself." Toran, the navigation's officer, replied, gazing at his cogitator screen. "I suspect there might be further questioning on the reason we have a lost marine onboard, so the timing estimate is over five hours." The bearded man leaned back from his post and stuck a cigar back into his mouth. "Hey, Alegre, you still got those cards with you?" He called over to his fellow officer.

Kadotus ignored the lax officer and turned his head to glare at Xiljuro, the psyker's stamp shining on his head. The man met his eyes, glaring specifically at his left eye, as he had for the rest of the trip. It finally and piqued his curiosity to ask the human. "Why do you stare at my eye, so, witch?"

If the man was offended by the term, he didn't show it. "You are the Red-Eyed Servant of legend, are you not?" Xiljuro smiled.

Kadotus raised an eyebrow. "I've never heard of this prophecy, nor do I listen to the rantings of seers and false mystics. The only men to trust are of the Emperor's ilk."

Xiljuro bowed his head. "If I meant offense to you, my lord, it was unintentional. The legend is an old tale passed down many a generation of my family line, based on the sight of my great great great grandfather. He spoke of a warrior of such skill and strength, who was simply a pawn of his lord, who was able to bring down an empire. For his courage, he was rewarded with power vast beyond his dreams. However, his brothers had been jealous of him, so his enemies took them into their fold to strike against the red-eyed warrior." The man paused, seeing Kadotus' probing eyes. "Does my lord wish for me to continue with my tale?"

"You mean my eye is red, that is what you speak of?" Kadotus asked.

Xiljuro nodded. "Of course, my lord. Your left eye has been blessed with greater knowledge and foresight than any other man, save the Emperor and his closest sons! Why, the red-eye warrior was lost, but he used his vision to pass through the lands of desecration to return to his liege-lord, when all of his cartographers had failed." But then, the psyker froze.

Kadotus knew what line of thoughts he spoke of. "And so now you think we are to be attacked, and I shall have to take the place of the captain?" He looked about the bridge to find Niccalau settling his hand down on the table to collect a stream of paper slips from his compatriots with a wizened smile upon his face.

"Are you not the warrior of the prophecy, my lord? I did mention the warrior of choice was a battle-scarred veteran who was holy and pure, who gained his foresight on the loss of a battle?" The man from order psykanis asked.

"I will believe no rantings, with my only belief in the Allfather who shall rise from his position on the Golden Throne to lead us to victory over his foes." He glared down at the psyker. "No more talk of these stories old men told you, there are only lies."

The man frowned, but bowed simultaneously. "Of course, my lord. Whatever you say." He turned away, and walked to the men playing cards, offering to take a place in their next game. Kadotus ignored him, crossing his arms and let his mind wonder, questioning what fate would befall him.

And then the sudden plague of thought entered his mind. What if the daemon was right, and my brothers are dead, only being manipulated by the traitorous curs of the Raiders? He instantly was angered by the idea and tried to remove it from his thoughts, though it persisted adopting different forms and further questions. As his mind could find no rest, he dropped to the floor of the hull on one knee, closing his eyes and silently mouthing prayers as his hand clutched the Imperial idol he had made.

He continued with fierce determination for several minutes before someone noticed, although the sergeant didn't notice it in his focused state. The game of cards stopped as the officers peered back at their cogitators and saw the collapsed marine, instinctively gathering fear. It them a while to try and revert back to their card game, though they were still unnerved by such a random event. After several bad hands, Niccalau stood up, exasperated. "I'll see what is the matter with our guest." Settling his hands on his belt with an old Imperial saber, he knelt beside the marine, watching his mouth.

After many minutes of silent watching, Kadotus finally stopped his prayers and remained still. Niccalau took his chance. "My lord?" He questioned. "Is everything alright?"

Kadotus' eyes shot open, suddenly bloodshot and fierce, staring deep into Niccalau's face with a glare. If he meant to say anything he was interrupted as the ship began a low grumbling. "Sir, we've encountered some Warp turbulence," Toran spoke. "Our ships estimations range it to further our course by several minutes..."

But from the other side of the bridge, Beyett yelled out. "Galler shields are falling, the turbulence is tearing them apart! Captain, get us out of here!"

Niccalou stood up and faced his crew. "Our flight is controlled by the navigator in this realm. I have no control over his path." The human faced ilRannor sitting upon his seat. And suddenly, Kadotus was next to the youth, power fist crackling with energy. "My lord, what are you doing?"

"If he falls, I'm to take him out before the ship takes any more harm. Xiljuro, come over here; you're to replace him if he's flung out." Kadotus demanded of the other psyker.

The robed man frowned. "But, my lord, I am not a navigator, but a mere psyker—"

"You can peer through the damned Warp as well as this witch, and you can serve the same purpose." Kadotus glared at the man, making a motion for the psyker to come. After Xiljuro stood next to him, he turned to face the crewmembers. "I was lost to the Warp before my arrival at your station, as my ship had faced the same circumstances as we do now." He cracked his power fist and put his helmet on with his other hand. "I do not seek to lose another ship on my journey home."

With that, the Enterprise shook, as Beyett began the quarantine of areas of the ship, ideas given to him by Kadotus. "Gather your weapons, and stand our guard here. We shall not let them take us out of here alive."

Kadotus stood guard as the others rushed to gather their gear from their rooms, hurrying back in mercenary armor that could barely prevent a las-gun, least of all a daemon weapon. As the hatch opened to detect the movement of Alegre down the hall, sudden gunfire shot her to bloody pieces before she could respond. Kadotus recognized the firing as boltguns, meaning the traitor astartes had boarded, not like the daemons before.

"Seal the doors, we can not retrieve her! Form a defensive perimeter around the door and let them come in so I can engage." Kadotus roared as ilRannor behind them started shrieking, his mind slowly consumed by the Warp around them. Turning from the doors, Kadotus' power fist grabbed the psyker and pulled him out, the cords detaching with a gasping hiss. Throwing the legless youth onto the floor, Kadotus stomped the body, his hands reaching to push Xiljuro into the seat. The psyker screamed as the tendrils of the navigator's chair drilled into his skin, fierce straps locking to hold the man in place. The man's wines eventually subsided into grunts and twitches on his face as the spark of door-cutting equipment made sound through the doorway to the bridge.

"Stick to your cover and suffer not the traitor to live!" He yelled as the door was opened, allowing an opening salvo of a half-dozen bolters. Beyett was struck immediately, his las-pistol dropping from his hand as his chest was burst apart. Kadotus still hid his position in the varying space beside the door, waiting for a traitor to take a step in. The boltgun fire flew across the bridge, colliding with many an instrument that emerged with sparks and cogitator whines. The remaining crewmembers stuck behind their cover, spitting out weak bursts of las-fire before hiding once more.

But the heretics would not advance, slowly settling their fire against the men in cover, until the floor of the bridge was slick with the blood of the fallen. It was not until that only a couple of the men remained that the chaos space marines finally started their approach, brown and gray boots taking a heavy step through the doorway. The first one was unprepared for Kadotus to leap out, tackling the traitor against the opposing wall, with his power fist delivering a punch through his exposed sternum. With that, the chaos marines raised their weapons, but Kadotus charged at them.

The first bolt went high and the second scraped his shoulder-pad, and there was no third one as Kadotus crushed it and the traitor's hand in one motion. The explosion of the bolter shell within the chamber forced the traitor back as Kadotus' other remaining hand punched marine's helmet to knock him down.

From there, Kadotus turned on the remaining traitors, four in their number. Two had drawn their close combat weapons whilst the remainder held their boltguns. Ducking low, he avoided the chaos marines' shots and dived towards one of the close-combat marines, raising his fist to meet the heretic's chainsword that began swinging down at him. The weapon bit into the ceramite of his armor without fail, drawing blood along the teeth.

With a bellow, the sergeant punched the sword out and threw his fist up to the exposed chest, which was met with the traitor's arm. Kicking out his leg, Kadotus' boot made a solid crack as it smashed through the knee plate to crush the heretic's leg. Rising up, Kadotus' power fist found the traitor's chest to push it away with a hole burnt through its breast.

Turning from the body, Kadotus noted that the two ranged heretics had left in the fight to head into the bridge, therefore meaning that the remaining marine—

Kadotus was slammed onto the ship's deck, the feeling of pain ridging through his back as he knew the remaining heretic had tackled him to the ground, and was currently driving a knife through him. Attempting to spin around, Kadotus felt the marine's leg shove him back down to the floor. The pain was now spreading as Kadotus heard his power pack get punctured, the weight of his armor suddenly becoming heavier by the moment. Roaring, Kadotus threw back his head and threw his fists around the traitor's legs, the power fist crackling with spite as it crushed through the ceramite.

The heretic toppled from his back with a lack of balance, as Kadotus raised himself and stomped the fallen body into the floorboards. Drawing the blade from his back with a hiss of pain, the sergeant turned back to the marines that were now wrecking the bridge as the men inside died. Starting with a run, Kadotus came up behind the two, tossing the blade as he neared them, the blade settling on the traitor's back. As the startled traitor turned, Kadotus delivered a punch to drive both his arm and the blade through the fiend, collapsing it in a bloodied mess.

Turning to the last traitor, a shot of fire ricocheted off his helmet, throwing the marine backwards, the seal breaking under the force of the impact. Standing back up, he looked back at the chaos marine who suddenly stopped his rifle.

"Sergeant?" The marine suddenly spoke. Kadotus paused—he recognized the voice, it was Masoi! Had his brother fallen to chaos? "You're alive, thank the Warp!" Masoi removed his helmet to reveal the face that once was pure, only now corrupted with pockmarks and many scars.

"You've gone traitor, brother?" Kadotus asked coldly, staring down his brother.

"If you mean I've become loyal to those who serve in mankind's best interest, yes." Masoi said with a nod. "The Raiders have shown me the error of the Emperor, as well as our order itself." The fallen brother gazed upon the sergeant. "That we are all descendants of a man who sought to defy the will of the gods for his own personal gain is sickening—and that we ever served such a man makes me pray my brothers do not serve the same lord!"

"Brother," Kadotus breathed. "Silence. I will not have you mock the Emperor and survive." Raising his power fist, he glared at his traitorous brother. "For you, brother, I will give you the mercy of a quick death, not by the hands of a thousand Inquisitors."

"So you mock me for heresy whilst you serve a chapter controlled by heretics?" Masoi smiled. "And you operate under the will of a daemon?"

Kadotus had enough. He started running at his former brother, shoulder down as a shot cracked the pauldron, the other bolts skimming past his chestplate. A glancing shot pinged off his neck guard, the bolt reflecting along his face to create a bloody scar. Kadotus pulled his fist back and was bet as Masoi raised his arm in defense. The fist caught the arm and crushed it, the ceramite falling away in a mixture of blood and bone. Masoi kicked the sergeant away as he pulled a combat knife into his remaining hand, the wrecked arm hanging limp.

Kadotus caught himself, and was now a couple meters away from Masoi. He clenched his left hand to test his power fist, but no sparks would emerge from the weapon—it had run out of energy, and would need to be recharged. "Damn you!" He snarled at his fallen brother, dashing at him. He saw Masoi raise the blade to stab his neck, so he smacked it away as his spent power fist went over the brother's arm.

The knife dug into Kadotus' chest as the fallen marine was punched back, his neck twisting at a bad angle. Not willing to let the heretic have a chance at revival, the sergeant followed him down, fists beating until the brother's head was no more. With heavy gasps of air, Kadotus realized the knife had pierced one of his lungs. Pulling it out, he felt the organ repair as he gazed upon his brother's fallen corpse. He glared about the bridge, now a wreck of crewmembers and body parts. The psyker was still alive in his position, only his left shoulder was shot open, leaving him with a bloodied stub. Quickly stealing a scrap from a fallen crewmember, he patched the wound and made a note to grab some healing drugs for the psyker.

Turning back, he noticed a form moving about the bodies of the bridge. Upon closer inspection, he recognized the bloodied form of Niccalau dragging himself with a broken leg.

"Captain, the ship is still ours." He reported, gazing back upon the bodies around him. Of the heretics who were once his brothers.

"Ours?" The captain gasped. "You speak as if this was your ship! And now look at it—everyone's dead, and we've a psyker that will die within moments! We're better dead than—"

The boltgun spat a lone shot into the dying captain, his eyes wide with terror as his body dropped to the floor. "I will not have cowards who will not face their duty, captain. Your men gave their lives, and your seek to repay them with your pity?" He looked as the captain's body spasmed and went still. "Your service is done."

But suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Masoi's body started moving. Turning his recovered boltgun upon the corpse, he released the full clip into it, tearing it into shreds. It seemed to pass in an instant, but Kadotus was able to see what was happening to his once-brother's body—daemonic possession. The chaos marines all bore the soul of a daemon inside of them as their purchase to the Raiders, and so they were selected for this lone mission.

From behind him, Xiljuro screamed, alerting Kadotus with a raised bolter. But there was no foe, only the man curling his back in pain, the wires straining to hold the bloodied body inside. Running to a small compartment along a gore-splattered wall, Kadotus fetched a small injection needle, which he plunged into the body of the psyker.

With that, Xiljuro stopped his motion and died, instead of the needle's sedation effect. Scrambling for several seconds, Kadotus went to the remaining cogitators of the ship, trying to activate whatever he could that could save his life. Swearing an oath, he felt the ship suddenly shake. He knew that without the psyker, the ship could no transverse the Warp, therefore flinging the ship into real space. Kadotus felt heavier by the second, and was finally able to activate a cogitator that removed the vision field. And what he saw he didn't like.

The authorities of the planet Holvir, under the designation of the Knights of Steel, detected small sized craft entering above the atmosphere in from the Warp, bearing no communications and under grievous wounds. All attempts to recognize the vessel were unfounded and the planetary ground to air cannons fired upon the object with numerous hits, blowing the ship into pieces.

The remaining debris of the ship fell over the vast Ural Sea that covered a quarter of the hive world, and search crews were dispatched to find any evidence of the source. For the seven patrols that were sent, two did not return, most likely the case of the hurricane-strength winds that had been gathering in the area. As for any survivors of the vehicle, multiple corpses of humans and chaos space marines were found in the area. A large detachment of Knights of Steel battle brothers was sent to investigate for any further influence, as well as to dispose of the remains.

From above the planet, the Knights of Steel Second Company Battle Barge Blade of Avarice arrived, with slight breaches in Imperial protocol and the remaining marines of the chapter were brought onto the planet to rejoin their brothers in the halls of Holvir.

His armor slowly let the water drain from the multitude of cracks and crevices, as we stood up on the shore. His armor was now encased in seaweed and flotsam, encasing him in an image of the ocean men of Holvir lore.

He waited as his broken helmet found the strength able to listen to the Holvir vox channels, particularly into the facts of the second company's arrival at Holvir, and the changes in the crew from memory.

Kadotus knew where he had to go and what he had to do to recover his fallen brothers' honor. After scrambling the necessary supplies from a nearby village and repaired his power fist, the sergeant began his slow walk to where he would simultaneously damn and free himself.