A/N – Another chapter, I'm in the mood to write this story so you can expect plenty of updates here. As always read and review.
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Scipio entered an armory that was reserved for chapter's veterans and paused before looking around and thinking what kind of a weapon he should take for the mission. Gangs were notorious for getting their hands on things they shouldn't have access to and it was better to be safe than sorry so with this in mind he walked towards section where were deposited various combi-weapons and other special guns that no normal soldier should get their hands on. He looked through them before picking up a bolter rifle with an underslung volkite charger, he never knew how Techmarines managed to combine the two, but they did it and somehow made charger more potent than usual at which he just smiled as he picked up the weapon and few large magazines for the bolter. He spent few more moments picking up weapons and by the end of it he picked up a plasma pistol as his secondary weapon and a power falchion as a close combat weapon. He knew it was probably an overkill, a massive one, but he didn't want to get killed on the mission because of some stupid gang member catching him off guard. Once he had everything he needed he put on his helmet and walked to the bay where his team should be by now.
o-0-o
Harry looked at the bolter rifle he was holding and it was now when he realized that soon they could be ordered to kill in the name of the Emperor or the chapter. He took the rest of the gear he was issued and placed his sword and a shield on the back of his armor, both of them easily slipping into their positions and then he put on his helmet that had a large plume of red hair in the middle.
He looked at the plume and then at the Master-At-Arms. "What's with that plume?"
"So that the team knows who's the leader," the Master-At-Arms said and explained. "While your Sergeant can override you at any moment, you're second in command. During training it didn't mattered, but here it matters."
Harry nodded and put on the helmet before letting the Master-At-Arms check if everything was in their proper places, including various pouches and bags attached to their armor that hid most of their supplies. Once that was done they walked out of the armory and to a vehicle bay that was filled to the brim with vehicles used by the chapter, they could see hundreds of Rhinos, Razorbacks, Predators and other vehicles waiting to be deployed.
Harry looked around and quickly noticed form of their Sergeant standing by one of the Rhinos and as a team they walked to Scipio who gave them a look and indicated the Rhino. "Get inside," he said.
They crawled inside and the first thing that Harry discovered was that it was uncomfortable, with not much space and if that it was not enough it was quite warm and soon sweat was pouring down their bodies. And on top of that their Sergeant squeezed inside, forcing them to push against each other to make space for his bigger frame and armor.
"It isn't as bad as when a Devastator squad is using it," the Sergeant said with a chuckle seeing their expressions. "Especially when each is carrying a plasma cannon and a power pack for it."
At this Harry chuckled a bit, but then he started to feel some weird nervousness, kind he never felt before and a quick look told him that he was not the only one that felt it. However before he was given too much time to ponder upon this subject the Rhino started to drive, making him focus on calming himself and checking all of the gear he had.
The trip was surprisingly uneventful and maybe after half an hour inside of that uncomfortable armored box they were allowed to exit it and look around. Place where they were dropped was a rather normal one district of the city, sure it was one of the poorer ones, but not the worst kind of slums and buildings were well-kept and there were no obvious signs of poverty.
"Looks normal," Harry said as he looked around. "Too normal even."
"Aye," Scipio nodded and indicated a large building on the other side of the district. "That's our target, but we won't approach it directly."
"No?" Aeneas asked. "Aren't we supposed to storm it."
"Think, please," Horus said with a tired sigh. "You come through the front entrance and everybody will know that you want something from them and that's bad." He then looked at the Sergeant. "The mission is about removing their eyes and ears, so we will probably need to find a proper perch somewhere high and close to the target."
"Indeed," Scipio nodded and smirked. "In fact the chapter found it for you, look at our target and then sixty meters to the left."
Harry followed the instructions and then his gaze landed on one of the massive complex utilized by the Administratum, he looked at it and then his gaze raced upwards trying to see how tall it was. As it reached the top he felt his knees becoming weak, it was maybe ninety meters tall and climbing that high even by stairs wasn't fun.
"Yes, that's the perch," Scipio said. "We have thirty minutes to get to the destination."
Harry shifted the gear on his back to a more comfortable position and then started the jog after the Sergeant who much to their surprise wasn't showing off his inhuman strength and speed, but actually was keeping their tempo. However that wasn't the thing that shocked Harry the most, that title fell to the fact that the Sergeant was much more focused and colder than he remembered the old Marine to be.
As they jogged through the district Harry noticed that people gave them looks full of respect and then moved aside, letting them pass undisturbed. He felt his confidence and pride swell at this, he now could understand why so many people wanted to become a member of the chapter, the admiration and respect given by ordinary citizens was impressive.
o-0-o
Sergeant Vibius took his place in a Thunderhawk and nodded to himself, over three squads of Sternguard and Vanguard Veterans and few Apothecaries in addition to his own Squad Falchion should be more than enough to crack open that stronghold and he knew that if need be he could call upon Arbites to give him numbers needed.
He inspected his gear and donning his helmet he activated his vox. "Thunder One, everybody's in."
"Roger that, Falchion One," he heard from the pilots.
He thought about the maps of the city and then added to it deployment of all of the Marines inside of it. He could see a group that was Scipio's Initiates enter their position and prepare. Now it was a matter of waiting for him and his detachment, Thunderhawks could spend in the air hours and that was with a full cargo of Marines and none of the three he had was full so they could be there for even longer, but that could spook their targets.
o-0-o
Harry caught his breath as they climbed last flight of stairs and stopped inside of an office that was going to be their perch from which they were going to watch the target. He saw Sergeant Scipio walk to one of the windows and open it before placing his gun on the window sill.
"This is your first such mission so I will be gentle with you," he said, removing his helmet. "Our target is a stronghold belonging to a gang that recently started to be very active in combat drugs and normal drugs trade as well as corruption of bureaucrats and we cannot tolerate it any longer. You won't be storming the place." At this their heads dropped. "This will be done by elements of the 1st Regiment as they have gear for the task, but what you will do is even more important." At this they looked at him. "Without you locating all of the sentries, defense systems and exists as well as eliminating the sentries they won't be able to attack the stronghold. You have time to an hour after dusk to find every single one, so get started."
Harry walked to a window, placed his gun against the wall, opened the window and pulled out the magnoculars he was issued and looked at their target. The mansion was a large one with six meters tall wall and behind it was a walkway for armed guards that he could spot. He increased the magnification and focused on the weapons they had.
"Sergeant, what kind of weapon they might have?" Harry asked and added. "It looks like a lasgun, yet it is different and they have some kind of a wire or conduit running from it to a backpack."
"A hotshot lasgun," Scipio said. "A more powerful version of a standard lasgun, also a standard issue weapon of the Thunder Legion. Not as powerful as a bolter rifles you have, but will pierce your armor from a close range."
Harry nodded and swept his eyes over the wall. "I can see ten of them on the wall," he said.
"There's one more pair," Asculus said. "Do you see that part of the wall covered by the main building?"
"Yes," Harry said.
"They are behind it."
Harry nodded and focused on the interior of the mansion, from the walls there was around five meters of clear space before another wall, this one a low one and connecting various buildings. There were four small and roughly rectangular buildings in the corners and on top of them he could see even more guards and between them was the last building, a massive spire that was maybe sixty meters tall.
"Four guards on each of those smaller buildings," Aeneas said. "Two man patrol along the lower wall and ten or so outside of the compound."
"That's worse than we expected it to be," Scipio said and added after a moment. "But we also plan to strike at night and there's a chance that some will return for the night."
"What are other options that are available to us, Sergeant?" Harry asked.
"A squad of Devastators and a unit of Scouts," Scipio said. "However I won't call them unless we really need them."
Harry muttered a couple of swear words under his breath and then focused on the task, trying to spot as many guards and hidden entry points as he could. Hours until the time of an attack dragged for them and felt like an eternity, making them finally decide on rotating and taking naps while some part of their group watched their target and made notes. However the moment it became dark all of them woke up and gathered around the Sergeant.
"It seems that they won't decrease the amount of guards which makes our assault a bit complicated, but it can be done," Scipio said and gave them a look. "Hadrian, you will take four with you and get as close to the stronghold as possible and upon my signal you will take out the goons outside. No bolters, just swords and knives as I want it done silently and even with Stalker rounds bolters aren't silent."
Harry grimly nodded and reached for a sword strapped across his back, he pulled it out of the scabbard and ran his finger along the blade of it that was made out of a row of teeth. It was a similar design to a standard Imperial design, but a much sleeker, lighter and designed for them. "I will do it," he said and his eyes flickered at the faces of the team. "Horus, Asculus, Cato, Titus you'll come with me." He then looked at Aeneas. "I want you to stay here and cover us."
They nodded and didn't speak, instead they looked at the Sergeant. "Good, the rest, I want you to take out guards on the buildings and inner wall, buildings first as they're higher and nobody looks upwards or downwards."
"What about the guards on the outer wall?" Aeneas asked. "They can still see that something is wrong."
Sergeant Scipio just nodded. "Hadrian, what are the available options?"
"They can be killed by the half of the team that's here," Harry said and scratched his chin. "They can be also killed by us by simply scaling the walls and attacking them with swords."
"How could we hope to scale this wall?" Cato asked. "That's a six meters tall wall."
"Good question," the Sergeant said and his eyes flickered to Harry. "What kind of a solution would you suggest?"
"It isn't a perfectly flat surface," Harry said and looked at the Sergeant who nodded. "So climbing it this way is easy, it's not the easiest task, but it can be done or we can use grappling hooks we were issued, however they carry a risk of us being spotted."
"Indeed," Sergeant Scipio said. "You have to climb it and do it silently, I advise against grappling hooks as you need to reveal yourself when launching one. Once that's done switch to the frequency I gave you in the Rhino and report to one with the call sign Falchion One that the mission is done, your call sign is Initiate Two. After that do wait for us to join you. Is everything clear? If yes, get going, you have ten minutes to get there."
o-0-o
Vibius watched the overlay displayed by his armor and nodded to himself, even if Scipio made them wait for ages before he commenced his part of the operation he could see reason behind the actions of the older warrior. He disabled the overlay and activated his vox. "Thunder One, can you enter hover close enough to the spire so that we can jump and assault the target?"
"Affirmative," the pilot said.
Vibius nodded and once again summoned map of the city and layout of the spire and then added few things to it and used his vox to transmit it. "I sent you a map and I want you to execute this manuaver at Epsilon Theta."
He heard the acknowledgement from the pilots and focused on his own task and watching as Initiates slowly approached the target.
o-0-o
Aeneas pressed his eye against the scope of his bolter rifle and aimed at the head of one of the guards that were walking on top of one of buildings. He calmed himself as he was taught and waited for a signal from the Sergeant.
"Now," Sergeant Scipio barked and Aeneas pressed the trigger, rifle lurched in his grip as it spit out a bolt and he followed it with his eyes. It flew through the air and thanks to his scope he could see it impact the head of the target and then pass right through it, in its wake a perfectly round tunnel.
Aeneas watched the body drop and then moved towards other targets that were there and waited for the next signal to fire as his whole body started to ache from the position in which he was.
o-0-o
"Go!" This single command that echoed across vox was more than enough to send adrenaline flowing through Harry's body. He activated the blade of his sword and once he heard a faint, buzzing noise of it working he slipped shield onto his left arm and charged across the street. He glanced to the sides and he could see that the rest of the team was keeping up with him and was also running.
The goons that were in front of them didn't notice them and kept walking along the wall and Harry just smiled at this. However it was not a pleasant, nor a friendly smile, it was one of a predator seeing its prey defenseless. He slammed into the first goon and pushed the blade of his weapon forward, he felt it meet resistance and heard the goon let out a soft, wheezing noise as his heart was pierced by the sword and then Harry twisted the sword in the wound as he was taught and pulled it out.
He felt blood splatter onto his face and chest, but he ignored it and let the body drop onto the ground before giving a quick look the rest of his team. All of them were covered in blood, but unharmed and their goons laid dead, then he looked at the ground and the corpses that were there. "Here are five of them," he said and tapped the vox. "Can you tell us where is the other five."
"Behind the corner," Perseus said. "They're coming towards you."
Harry nodded and looked towards the place which Perseus indicated and winced, there was not a single thing that would obstruct line of sight of those coming towards them. "After me," he said and quickly ran towards the corner.
"What do you plan to do?" Horus asked.
"Ambush," Harry said as he slammed with his body against the wall and waited.
He heard the goons walk forward, their steps loud and clear, even if that was not enough their voices were more than enough. He let the goons emerge from behind the corner and walk past the position where they laid in ambush. Then he looked at his team and nodded before the closest goon, activating the blade that came alive with a buzz and sending a thrust towards the chest of his target. He felt the blade bury itself in the flesh and then he turned the thrust into a cut and sliced the chest of his target, he gave a look the rest of the team and noticed that they were also done with the task.
"All targets neutralized," he said, activating his vox. "Proceeding to the next stage."
Once he heard the acknowledgement he walked to the wall and started to climb it, at first he wasn't sure if it was going to succeed, but then his fingers felt various cracks, nooks and holes he could use to climb. As he reached the top of the wall he stopped before hauling himself over it and instead looked around, just in time to see a patrol walk past his position. Once the patrol was away he hauled himself onto the walkway and reached to help Cato climb.
"We will split," he said once all of them were on the wall. "Horus, take two and move to the right, I'll take Cato and move to the left."
They split and as Harry moved along the wall he focused on the task ahead of him and on nothing else, he looked around and noticed Horus murder a patrol that stumbled upon the older boy. However Harry didn't need to wait too long as soon he had his own enemies to deal with and much to his surprise this time they were fighting back. He blocked a strike of a knife with his shield and at the same time thrust forward his sword that effortlessly sliced the flesh and buried itself in the body of his enemy. He pulled it upwards, blood and tissue spraying to the sides, before ripping it out of the wound and letting his enemy drop onto the ground to die in a pool of his own blood and flowing out organs.
"Two patrols gone, four more to go," Cato said quietly and Hardy nodded.
Four patrols that were left were dispatched by them with equal ease and half an hour later all of them gathered in one spot and Harry reported that their mission was done and moments later a trio of Thunderhawks descended from the sky and from them jumped out dozens of full battle-brothers. It was also when his mind finally caught up and realized that he had killed and he bent over vomiting violently onto the ground. He wanted to be a member of the chapter, but until now he never truly realized how grim and dark were duties of the chapter.
o-0-o
Vibius crashed through a window and landed in a large chamber, he looked around and he could see several of the Vanguard Veterans carve a bloody path with their blades, while his own squad covered them with a withering bolter fire. He gave a look one of the Apothecaries that were herding all of the males that were below a certain age and then moved forward, he noticed a part of one of the walls move aside and reveal a hidden doorway through which charged in several members of the gang clutching various weapons and other tools of death.
He aimed his bolter at the first member of their little group and squeezed the trigger, releasing a small burst of fire that cut down the first one and maimed the ones behind him. With that danger neutralized he walked to one of the squads that were storming out of the chamber and he joined them, speeding up the process and making them all achieve their objectives sooner than normal.
o-0-o
Harry wiped bile from his lips and straightened himself before reaching for a canteen and pouring some water into his mouth and quickly spitting it out as he tried to forget the horrible taste that now felt.
"You did good," Sergeant Scipio said, appearing behind them. "It will pass sooner rather than later and your mission is done."
Harry nodded and wiping the blade of his sword clean he slid it into a scabbard on his back and followed the Sergeant to a Rhino that stopped right outside. They scrambled inside and soon were on their way back to the fortress of the chapter, it was also when that Harry realized that his true and very real training as a future member of the chapter just started.
o-0-o
Week later a lone Thunderhawk gunship sliced through the atmosphere of Shangri-La, it was painted in black and red and it touched down on one of the landing pads right outside of the fortress. Once the ramp lowered itself from it stepped out a single individual with a rosette of a Lord Inquisitor on his neck and let his gaze sweep across honor guard assembled between him and the gates of the fortress. Two teams of Creed's Initiates and two ten man squads of Praetorian guard in their polished armors.
"Perfect," he whispered, his voice soft and silken.
o-0-o
Harry felt the armor weight heavily upon his shoulders, but he endured and ignored it, instead focusing his gaze on the Inquisitor that walked down the ramp. The man was a huge, hulking person, while he wasn't as tall as Astartes were he was still an impressive person, easily standing at seven feet tall, whole body covered in thick bundles of muscles and clad in a power armor, showing high standing of the individual amongst the ranks of the Inquisition. His face was covered by a plethora of scars and instead of his right eye there was an cybernetic augment and whatever remained of his hair was shaved short.
"Welcome to Shangri-La, Lord Inquisitor Ariac Paleologos," Lord Traian said as he approached the Inquisitor from one of the massive gates leading into the fortress. "Your arrival was an unexpected one."
"I wish it was one that I could properly announce, alas the times are dangerous and news I bear are dark," Ariac said those words and paused for a second. "My Ordo has gathered informations concerning several banned and dangerous cults growing their roots within your realm and I came here to oversee their removal."
Lord Traian let out a short growl, one that almost made Harry shit himself in fear, second-in-command looked as if he was about to explode and burn the closest ones. "I see," he said carefully. "If you follow me I will take you to the war room as I think that a formal audience can wait."
To be continued...
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A/N – A short chapter, but I don't feel like writing a longer one as this one perfectly wraps the mission and I don't feel like adding one more would suit it.
Terms:
Vanguard and Sternguard Veterans – two elite subunits inside of the 1st Company of a chapter, Vanguard are close combat specialists, Sternguard long range and there's friendly competition between them as they try to show that they are better than the other group.
Volkite – martian death ray kind of a weapon, repetitive bursts of energy that can burn through armor and cook one inside. Extremely rare gear and given only to the best of the chapter and not all chapters have them in their armories.
Combi-weapons – a combination of a bolter and some other weapon attached to it, again weapon for the elites and heroes.
Lord Inquisitor – one of the most senior and most powerful Inquisitors and a person you want to avoid at all cost.
Ordos – The Inquisition is divided into several cells, three large (Xenos, Hereticus and Malleus) and an undefined number of smaller ordos. It is an organisation that is responsible for control of other units and each agent can work as they see fit and in time of need can request support from any branch of the Imperium.