Omni Honore: Chapter11

Into the bare compartment swept three Space Marines, Toran, Furion and Persion each with weapons raised. The section was bare and unadorned, with no signs of mutation or corruption upon the walls. Of the crew there was no trace: they were simply gone.

Toran proceeded with his power sword raised while Furion was training his bolter into every corner. Persion too was ready but was simulataneously listening to reports from all over the Averof. As they walked he reported, "Fighting continues throughout the ship, the bridge and engineerium are secure but the gun decks are overrun with mutants, it is unclear who has the upper hand."

"And the rest of Pyrus Squad?" asked Toran.

Persion said, "Halis, Ophelian and Daite report that Castabore is sealed within her quarters and there have been no signs of intruders yet."

"Very well" said Toran, "Tell them to stay alert."

Suddenly Furion whispered, "Contact."

The squad snapped their weapons upseeing an entrance to an empty bilge before them, it was deserted save for a single figure standing alone.

Cautiously they entered the bilge and found a man in plain clothes that were non-descript and unremarkable. He could have passed for a crewman save for the large multi-hued wings growing from his back and his eyes which glittered like stars. He stood passively, hands folded in front of him to present no threat and he had a slight smile on his lips.

"Welcome" said the Harbinger as they stepped forwards, into the bilge, "I have been expecting you."

The fight to come looked easy but Toran was wary for traps, the Daemon was cunning by nature and he knew it would not be so simple. None of the fights so far had come without hardship and pain and he refused to believe this would be any different.

The Harbinger's smile faded somewhat as it said, "Nothing to say to me, how rude."

Furion snapped, "Silence filth, we have no patience for the lies of the Warp."

The Harbringer replied, "But I haven't even had a chance to say any yet, I was so looking forward to meeting you. And you can stop looking into the corners, you will not find a horde of mutants lurking there to ambush you."

Toran's suspicions flared and he doubled his scanning of the room, there was some trap here but he could not see it. He gripped his sword and bolt pistol tighter in readiness but did not engage, the Daemon would be expecting that and attacking would play straight into its hands.

Instead he snapped, "Why aren't you fighting us?"

"Me?" Said the Harbinger with a note of surprise, "I have no intention of fighting you. My kin have already tested you in soul, in mind and in body. What more could I possibly offer that would test you?"

"Be wary" said Furion gripping his bolter tightly, "This is some form of trick."

The Harbinger's smile returned as it said, "Always so concerned for your brother's well-being Furion, always the pillar of strength. Did you know if you had just been able to keep your mouth shut about the Anathema Worship then your Masters would long ago have made you a Chaplain?"

"Do not act like you know us" snarled Persion.

"Oh but I do know you" said the Harbinger slyly, "I have been watching you all for a long time; I have seen you all, witnessed your lives as they played out and weighed the possible futures that were unexplored. I have seen you Persion, hiding your savagery behind a veneer of civility as if that will make you more acceptable to your superiors. Do you really think if you cling to Toran's coattails you will be raised higher in the Chapter, I will tell you a secret: there is no possible future where you are made a captain."

Toran snarled, "Do not question our loyalties, my brothers are true and loyal, we do not seek self-aggrandisement."

"Oh Toran" laughed the Daemon, "You are most amusing, you have such potential, you can think beyond conventional doctrine but you bind down yourself down with chains of duty and honour. You have a working brain between those ears but the more you see the less you know; it is so amusing to watch you blunder about in ignorance."

"Silence Filth!" roared Furion, "You will not speak of my Brothers."

"Oh but I shall for I have seen all of your pasts and all your possible futures" said the Harbinger full of mirth "Novak little more than a walking blade and Jediah who would have become your world's most notorious serial killer had he not been scooped up by your chapter. Wrethan so convinced he is doing the right thing while leading you all astray and then there is Bylan with his dogged devotion to you, devotion that will see him killed."

Toran was confused by the Daemons assertion and could not resist saying, "Bylan the Scout?"

A moment of bewilderment crossed the Harbinger's face then it said, "Oh has he not arrived yet? Well time can be confusing even to my kind, that must still be in the future."

It shook off the moment and continued, "I have watched you talk with Halis Paur who knows more than you realise and Ophelian who secretly holds you all in contempt. Then there is Daite, your brother with his feeble visions but they will come too late in the end, poor Daite how you will howl when you witness his fate."

"Enough!" barked Toran, "Enough with these mind games, if you are not here to fight, why are you here?"

"I merely wanted to meet you, I wanted to see you in your youth" said the Harbinger, "I wanted to savour the innocence in your eyes before Vorshaan crushes it out of you."

"Vorshaan?!" shouted Toran, "What does that Traitor have to do with any of this?"

The Harbinger's smile became a leer as it said, "Who do you think ordered this attack, who sent the dross of his troops to occupy you, who did you think summoned me?"

Toran's outrage was palpable as he yelled, "The Dusk Prince is on board?!"

"Oh yes" said the Harbinger with a chuckle, "He is here to make his preparations, this little prelude is but the setting of the stage for the coming drama."

Toran levelled his blade at the Daemon's throat as he said, "You will tell me what he is planning or I will make your banishment a tale to scare even the Filth of the Warp."

The Harbinger threw back its head and laughed loudly, then declared, "You fool, it is not what he is going to do, it is what he has already done and is what he is doing right now. Vorshaan plans the annihilation of your pathetic Storm Heralds chapter and the best part is you are helping him do it."

Furion snarled, "You lie!"

The Harbinger smirked as it said, "Usually yes, what else would one expect from a servant of the Changer of Ways? Yet this time the truth is so much more delighfully painful, your Chapter's destruction looms and you have no idea it is even in motion. Watching you founder about in ignorance has been delectable and I cannot wait to taste your agony when he unveils his schemes."

"And is this the part where you offer to help us change that?" snarled Toran "Offer to save our Chapter if we only swear ourselves to your service."

The Harbinger chuckled and said, "As amusing as that would be it is but a morsel compared to the feast of calamity Vorshaan is preparing. You see that what separates my siblings from our kin under the other Gods of Chaos, we understand the concept of delayed gratification."

"Then begone foul one" growled Toran, "There is no victory for you here."

The Harbinger began to fade from sight, its skin and muscles becoming translucent around its host's bones as it sank back into the Warp but it was grinning the whole time as it said, "Victory? That depends entirely upon your definition of victory. Allow me to hasten your pedantic reasoning to its predictable conclusion and say that all Vorshaan wanted from my kind was a distraction."

Toran's organic eye widened in surprise and his augmetic one flared as the Harbinger finally disappeared with a cryptic epithet, "I look forward to tasting your despair the day you finally figure out what he has done."

Then it was gone leaving only behind a clatter of flensed bones dropping to the deck as it abandoned its host and dived into the Warp.

Persion swept for threats with his bolter but the foe was completely gone, then he said "What was that supposed to mean?"

Furion replied, "It means nothing, Daemons delight only in spreading lies, mistrust and confusion; put it from your mind."

But Toran was thinking about Vorshaan and his tactics, his love of misdirection and toying with his victims. He thought of the last time they had seen Vorshaan and what it had cost both Pyrus squad and him personally. Above all he remembered how the Dusk Prince lured them away to leave his true goal vulnerable and exposed.

Then Toran realised that he had overlooked something, he turned and began sprinting out of the bilge, the others followed him calling, "What is it?"

Toran yelled back over his shoulder, "Persion, raise the others on the vox, confirm their status now!"

Persion went quiet for a moment then declared, "Halis, Ophelian and Daite report that Castabore is sealed within her quarters and there have been no signs of intruders yet."

It was the right words but something nagged at the Sergeant's mind, suspiciously he said, "Compare that to their last transmission is there anything off?"

Persion called up the messages from his armour's logs and listened for a moment then swore loudly and yelled, "Warp Hells, it's a word for word repetition; we've been listening to a recording!"

Toran doubled his pace, cursing himself for falling for the same trick twice as he yelled, "Make haste our kin are in grave danger. Vorshaan's goal was always Magos Castabore! "