Speculum Enigmate Chapter 42
Sergeant Gotram moved quietly through the gloomy shadows, using all his skill and stealth to avoid detection. Silent as a ghost he drifted through the dusty girders, gripping the metal with his gloved hands and his boots finding ready purchase upon the ancient metal. Behind him ghosted seven other Reivers, each as quiet as he was and behind them came Jediah. The Lieutenant was forced to move slower because his backpack generator ran on its lowest ebb, Mark VII plate wasn't designed for stealth and its cumbersome bulk meant he was lagging behind.
The Reivers had separated from the rest of the Storm Heralds hours earlier, descending into the depths of the undercity to hunt their prey. Other units may have protested the notion of leaving their kin to fight alone but Reivers were deep range infiltration and sabotage units. They were intended to fight apart, seeking their own objectives and targets without support from their kin. Gotram expected the fight on the surface would be raging but there was nothing he could do about that, so put it from his mind and concentrated on reaching the next girder.
For hours the Reivers had stalked the tunnels, finding them surprisingly deserted. It seemed the bulk of the Cult had risen to the surface to prosecute their war, leaving their nests undefended. The Reivers had been encouraged by this, thinking that the Patriarch would be alone and unguarded. They could engage their quarry unopposed and bring their combined might to bear. It sounded good but there was a flaw in the strategy: they couldn't find the Patriarch anywhere. Disappointing hours had crawled by without any sign of their quarry and it seemed the target had slipped their net. Then Gotram had suggested they double-back, maybe if they returned to the scene of their battle they could find some hint of where it had gone. Lacking any other ideas Jediah had gruffly agreed, leading the Reivers back to the deserted train station. They had slipped in from above, unobserved by any guard, only to be surprised to find the Genestealers had left a sizeable rearguard behind.
Gotram passed over another beam and looked downward. Scattered about were various Genestealers, boasting a bewildering plethora of macabre deformities and perversions. Yet on one proud platform stood a woman in black, she was almost normal in appearance yet by the way the others deferred to her she was a figure of some authority. From Memnos' description she resembled Matriarch Tyvis; the corrupt leader of the Genic council and by all accounts a figure of some seniority in the Genestealer Cult. The Reivers were almost directly over her head and Gotram eyed her hungrily, perhaps she knew where the Patriarch lay.
Suddenly there was a commotion as a gaggle of newcomers entered the station through a deserted tunnel. Gotram took the noise of their arrival as cover to advance two more beams, squeezing through the gap of a crossbrace without making any noise. He was brought to a halt as he saw the newcomers were dragging an Intercessor with them, Brother Spika. He was in a terrible state, his limbs heavy and one heart was torn out and he slumped drunkenly. Gotram knew exactly how much punishment a Primaris could endure and he gulped to imagine the kind of wounds it would take to incapacitate one.
There were others with him and Gotram was startled to recognise Inquisitor Vevara's retinue, most of them at least. They were marched before the black-cloaked figure, who began a typical gloating exchange. Gotram tuned out her grandstanding as his eyes scoured the guards, counting their numbers and guns. He paused as he recognised one of them to be Odrin, the renegade First Secretary and he grinned under his skull-mask to realise two cult leaders were within their grasp.
Gotram saw Jediah make a series of hand signals and the Reivers slid around the beams, hanging from them like Martian Rust-bats. Gotram let go one hand and drew his knife silently, the metal of its blade dulled with soot so it would not gleam. The Reivers prepared to drop onto their foe's heads, Gotram singling out a Purestrain as his first kill. The enemy were moving closer together, forcing the prisoners to kneel before them. Gotram tensed to drop, and that was when Odrin looked upwards, right into his eyes.
Odrin's eyes widened and his jaw dropped but before he could say a word the Reivers let go of their perches and dropped straight down. Gotram felt the wind whoosh over his eyes and the palms of his hands tingled with vertigo as he plummeted for a single second. He fell straight down then he smashed into the back of a Purestrain, driving his knife into the spine, releasing a spray of black blood. Marine and Genestealer fell in a tangle of limbs and Gotram threw his weight to one side so to avoid being encumbered, then he rose to his feet with his knife in hand.
Screams greeted him as the Genestealers grasped they were under attack. They lifted their weapons and raised their claws but the Space Marines were faster. The Reivers bounded straight at them, smashing bodily into the packed foe and bowling them over. Speed and aggression, shock and awe, all favoured the Reivers and in a few seconds they slew many. Gotram tore the throat out of a fat man with too many fingers, then stabbed a skeletally thin woman with one engorged eye in the heart, then disembowelled a filthy boy with four arms. The Hybrids fell in scores before the onslaught of the Reivers and they sowed havoc with their assault.
The Genestealers reeled under the attack but their confusion did not last long. The Purestrains among them rallied and threw themselves into the fray, claws lashing out. Gotram saw Brother Ferhia suffer a slash across his face, cleaving his mask and taking his nose with it. The Reiver was left with a gaping wound across his face that spilled blood, but he was not given pause and grappled the Purestrain with all his might. Jediah was set upon by another but he fended it off with the snickering fan-blade clamped to his left wrist while he jabbed with his Short-Sword. Rending claws were set against razor-sharp shield and Fractal blade and Gotram could barely follow the exchange of blows.
He had no more time to watch for he was set upon by a charging pair of Hybrids, trying to stab him with the bayonets attached to their lascarbines. Gotram twisted aside from the thrusts and plunged his knife into the neck of the first, then he punched the other in the side, so hard he shattered ribs and caused the lung to collapse. The Hybrid fell coughing blood and Gotram twisted about to see how the battle fared.
The Reivers were driving back the Genestealers with terrible ferocity, using all their zeal to slay everything within reach. They had always been ruthless killers and terrifying warriors but now they were fighting better than Gotram had ever seen. Jediah's teachings had honed their raw savagery with discipline and laser-like focus, turning them into a band of murderers beyond compare. They fought with duty and relish, skill and savagery, hammered by purpose but fired by bloodlust. Both sides of their natures combined to elevate them to new heights of lethality. They weren't just killing because they were ordered to, they were enjoying it.
It was too much for the Genestealers and Gotram saw Odrin turn on his heel and flee, running from the fight into one of the tunnels. He snarled to see the treacherous worm escape, but there was no time to pursue, not when he was surrounded by foes. Gotram fought on, slaying as many as he could in the mad scrum of the melee. The Genestealers were thinning in number but they fought on regardless, driven by a will other than their own. Then suddenly there was a feral roar and Gotram saw the form of Brother Spika rising. The wounded Intercessor bellowed in fury as his head came up, the din of battle drawing him from his stupor. He was still chained by four Hybrids but his arms heaved inwards and they were hurled from their feet, unable to resist his raw strength. He slammed his hands together and the gaolers tumbled to the ground, only to have their necks snapped by his heavy kicks.
"Arm me!" Spika roared.
Gotram's hand flashed and his bolt pistol flew over as he cried, "Here Brother, show them your fury!"
Spika caught the pistol and began letting off pinpoints shots into the fray. He brought down several hybrids but then Vevara lurched to her feet shouting, "Free us!" Spika fired one-handed as he freed the Inquisitor's retinue. Vevara instantly snatched up a las-carbine and began firing into the throng as she shouted, "His judgement is upon you!"
Gotram had no more time to watch as the crowd parted and he spied Tyvis. The woman was frantically urging her kin into the fray but then she saw Gotram turning towards her and lifted her hands, fingers hooked like claws. Gotram's mind felt a sledgehammer slam into it, his soul crushed by hypnotic snares. Heavy chains of psychic power fell upon him, dragging his limbs down and making him feel weak as a mortal. Tyvis was trying to dominate his mind but Gotram refused to yield. His will was iron and his soul tempered by war. He would not be cowed by a black-hearted abomination and the fires of righteous hatred forced his foot forward a single pace.
Tyvis screeched in alarm and redoubled her efforts but Gotram was unyielding and forced his foot another step forward. Then suddenly he saw the silver-clad woman race towards them, Vevara's pet Sister of Silence. As soon as she came into range her Null Aura engulfed the pair in anti-psychic emptiness. Gotram shivered at the touch but Tyvis screamed in agony as her power was shorn from her and her dominating gaze snapped. Gotram's limbs broke free of their bonds and he took one, two, three steps then rammed his knife into Tyvis' stomach.
The second he did so something strange came over the Genestealers, they screamed and clutched their heads, reeling as if something vital had been torn from them. They staggered like drunks, barely able to lift their hands and in that moment of vulnerability the Reivers had them. Knives flashed, pistols barked and in moments the Reivers had slaughtered all the remaining foes within sight. In seconds they had reduced the mob of foes to a pile of corpses, leaving the station firmly in the hands of the Space Marines.
While that played out Gotram had caught the stabbed Tyvis and held her upright by the neck as he snarled, "You will tell me where the Patriarch is."
Tyvis's hands clutched feebly at the knife protruding from her belly but they slipped off the bloody handle as she stammered, "I… I won't."
"You will," Gotram growled, "Or your passing will be slow and painful."
"Never," Tyvis hissed, "I won't betray the Grandfather."
Gotram saw Jediah closing, impatiently brandishing his sword. Gotram did not wait for the Lieutenant to intervene, he could do this himself. Jediah had shown him how to embrace the darkness within his hearts and Gotram was ready to do whatever he had to. His hand grabbed the knife and twisted it, turning the blade in her stomach. Tyvis screamed in torment, as the blade ripped her guts apart and she wept in agony as Gotram slowly twisted it further and further. She wept and screamed but the Reiver was relentless, staring into her eyes as he tortured her.
"Tell me," Gotram growled as his hand kept turning, "Speak and I will end this quickly."
Tyvis couldn't withstand the agony ripping her apart and blurted, "The… surface. The Grandfather is on the surface!"
"Truth, and as for the other part of our bargain," Gotram said as he snapped her neck in one motion.
Gotram dropped the corpse and declared, "The Patriarch is on the surface."
Jediah stomped up and snapped, "Then there's no time to waste, we have to get there, fast."
The Reivers drew themselves up but another voice intruded, Inquisitor Vevara saying, "Take my retinue with you."
"We can't be slowed by mortals," Gotram protested.
"It's pointless to go without them," Vevara countered, "You killed the Magus, that will disrupt the Cult but so long as the Patriarch lives they will reform, and quickly. You need every hand for what's coming."
"And where will you be?" Jediah growled.
Vevara hefted a lascarbine as she said, "Odrin has fled and I must pursue him. If he escapes then this infestation will linger, the cult will survive and lay the seeds of the next war, I have to prevent that happening. This is my duty, I have pronounced the judgement of the Inquisition upon Odrin and I must see it enacted. The God-Emperor demands it."
"As you will," Jediah spat impatiently, "We have no time to argue. Everybody move out."
The Reivers fell in but Gotram eyed Spika and asked, "Can you keep up?"
The intercessor mumbled, "I'm… not dead yet."
"Then we march double-time," Gotram ordered, "We have to get to the surface as fast as possible."
With that the party departed, leaving piles of dead in their wake. One head of the Cult had been cut off, but another remained. The greatest fight yet lay ahead and Gotram was in no doubt that the bloodshed to come would put this skirmish to shame.
