Noctem Oritur Chapter 52

Across the mounds of rubble Captain Toran made his way towards his distant Company. As he walked he saw teams of menials working to clear the devastation and salvage whatever they could. Outwardly he presented a stoic demeanour but inside the sight made him sorrowful, the damage he had wrought would take decades to rebuild and even then the island would never be the same. Irreplaceable relics and thousands of years of history had been wiped out and could never be replaced. He told himself that the alternative would have been far worse and that the Traitors would have left nothing in their wake. He almost believed it.

His path took him past the Librarian's tower, one of but a handful of surviving structures on the surface, he gave the arcane edifice a wide berth for even now he considered that the less he had to do with psykers the better. Eventually he crested a mound of rubble and saw the survivors of his company spread out before him. They were milling around seemingly without purpose, somewhat lost now that reinforcements had taken over. Toran could see the remaining scouts watching the recovery efforts as Nimodes droned on about proper search and rescue doctrines, even now he would not let any opportunity pass to lecture someone.

Over to the other side of the group Ajax loomed over everybody, his armour plates were torn and rent with shattered gears visible in his legs, he was dirty and battered but still looked like he could wade through a sea of foes. Working on his mechanisms were teams of tech adepts , blind to all else as their servo arms held plasma welding torches high over their heads to repair a chink in the life-support sarcophagus. They were muttering constant litanies of blessing and appeasement which Ajax totally ignored as his reactor rumbled.

Scattered nearby were various knots of Battle-Brothers, the surviving twenty-eight Space Marines of Toran's Company. They were an odd bunch of reserve Company brothers, former pilots and tank drivers along with newly ascended novices and even a single surviving training instructor who looked surprised to be alive. They were the misfits and disregarded leftovers of the Chapter but right now Toran would not have traded them for a Company of Terminators.

The group saw him approaching and leapt to meet him, cheering and calling out as he walked towards them. Even Ajax ground around and raised his assault canon in salute. Toran was perplexed by the response until Novak shouted out loud, "Congratulations on being made a real Captain!"

Toran was stunned to realise that somehow his men already knew about his promotion being made permanent. His eyes inevitably slid over to Persion, for the communication specialist had a guilty look written all over his face. Toran glared accusingly at him and said over the cheering, "You were listening in on a command briefing?"

Persion looked down at his boots in shame and replied, "Well… you can hardly blame me if go around leaving your vox-link open for anybody to listen into."

Toran shook his head and couldn't stay angry at him as he said, "After all we've been through I can let that one pass, just don't let Chaplain Wrethan know you broke Comms protocols or you will be assigned to missions that will make you long for the blissful duties of the Reserves."

Toran addressed the whole group and said, "Everybody gather round!" Quickly the crowd huddled closer, everybody looking proud to be here even with their gouged plate and filthy iconography, time for ritual cleansing would come later but somehow the dirt lent a rough dignity to the group. Toran looked at them all and was about to make some speech rewarding them for their efforts when he spied something on their plate. Even covered in dirt and grime each and every brother had a clear patch on their plate where a new icon had been inscribed, it was an Ultramarian 'U' bisected by a descending sword that looked suspiciously like the blade at his hip.

Toran raised an eyebrow and said, "What is that?"

Novak proudly answered, "A symbol of our new brotherhood sir!"

Bylan agreed as he practically shouted, "+Primarchs Own!+"

Toran clenched his jaw at the words, remembering what Chapter Master Gorgall had said on this matter. Persion who had been spying clearly recognised the source of his distress and hurriedly stepped in to say, "It's just a new campaign badge Captain, to commemorate your victory."

Toran wasn't reassured, he recalled Gorgall's words about the dangers of cults of personality forming and realised he needed to nip this in the bud. He drew himself up to address everybody declaring formally, "Brothers you give me too much credit. This victory belongs to you not me, you are the Emperor's finest warriors and to lead you has been my honour. Never before have I witnessed such valour, I say each and every one of you deserves to be commemorated in the hall of heroes on Terra and yet we have much still do. We must march into the future alongside our Brothers."

This was greeted by confused stares so Toran elaborated, "We will always share the memory of what happened here and our brotherhood will be forever inviolate, but we must never forget that we remain Storm Heralds. We shall carry the memory of the Primarch within us but we shall also know that we are merely a part of the Chapter and our first duty is to serve."

Furion seemed to understand what the Captain was driving at and said, "The Chapter Master can count on us to do whatever he requires!"

Toran was glad his Marines understood and said, "For now rest and recover then we shall rebuild our ranks, new brothers will join us soon and I expect you to welcome them with honour. There shall be no old guards and new bloods amongst this Company."

Novak called, "And then what?"

Toran answered, "The Chapter Master shall have new missions for us soon enough, new chances for us to earn yet more glory but first we must celebrate this victory properly."

The Captain dropped his stern expression and smiled as he declared, "I have contacted the quartermasters on the Thunderlord and they are sending a shipment of ceremonial wines down for the heroic victors of this battle. You are all hereby granted six hours of free time to spend as you see fit, now you are all dismissed."

The company cheered and broke up as they hurried off to find the quartermasters. Of course it was next to impossible for a Space Marine to get drunk but even the Astartes needed to celebrate occasionally. Their lives outside battle were filled with training drills and ritualised ceremonies; to have six hours of free time was the rarest of treasures and was reserved only for the greatest of feats and victories.

As the Marines moved away the Sergeants and command squad gathered round their Captain and clapped Toran on the back, each speaking words of friendship and brotherhood with him.

Furion was the first to speak, "Congratulations Captain, a just reward for your great victory: I knew you had it in you."

Toran nodded in gratitude and said, "I couldn't have done it without you."

Priyar stepped up and said mirthfully, "Too right, remember that when the Librarians ask you to recount the events here."

Toran smirked and said, "I shall make sure your names are writ large in the annals of victory."

Lorath was standing next to him and said gruffly, "Forget history, just make sure to find us another fight sooner rather than later."

Zeax interrupted, "Worry not, war is never far away and with the Captain to lead us we shall prove our worth once more."

"Fine words," declared Toran, "I have no doubts that with you all by my side we shall overcome whatever the galaxy can throw at us."

Mylos confronted Toran and looked like he did not know how to feel, their feud may be over but their relationship was still untempered, so he said, "Lead well and I shall follow, but don't expect me to keep quiet if you err."

"That is all I ask," replied Toran, "Your frank tongue shall keep me honest."

Persion however clapped his new Captain on the shoulder and said, "Well look at this, who would ever have thought some wastrels from the Reserves would turn out to be the saviours of the Monastery?"

Toran laughed and said, "Did you ever doubt we were destined for greatness?"

Persion chuckled and said, "Anyone who saw us running through sewers would have disagreed."

Jediah joined in, "You do find the best scraps, the fighting here was fine indeed."

Toran jested, "Are you saying you finally had enough blood letting to satisfy you?"

Jediah actually smirked at that and replied, "Oh not enough, not nearly enough."

Bylan pushed forwards, still holding the tattered and worn banner as he said, "+It has been the highest of honours to fight alongside you Master+"

Toran nodded and replied, "Keep that standard flying high and I shall be proud to have you with me."

Novak interrupted them and he declared with his typical impudence, "You do know you will have to put that banner down sooner or later."

"+They will have to prise it out of my cold dead hands+" replied Bylan with a grin.

Novak shook his head and said, "I have thought of a name for my sword."

Toran sighed knowing the glib Marine would never change and said, "What did you come up with?"

"Honour's Edge!" replied Novak with a grin.

"A fine name and it shall bring you much glory," said Toran as he moved forwards leaving his old squadmates to their comradery.

Nimodes pressed forwards through the throng and said, "I wanted to express my thanks, you led us through an impossible situation and brought us out alive."

Toran brushed off the compliment saying, "We couldn't have done it without you, your novices showed great ability and they shall become fine battle brothers one day."

Nimodes said, "You better get used to their faces, I am sure they will all be agitating to join your company. In the meantime we have to rebuild our training cadre; a new generation of aspirants will be urgently required to replace our losses."

Toran nodded but before he could say anything more the group's congratulations were interrupted, Ajax was stomping over looming over everyone before stating, "I HEARD YOUR SPEECH, IT IS GOOD TO KNOW THE FUTURE OF THE CHAPTER IS IN SOUND HANDS."

"Thank you Honoured Ancien,t" replied Toran, "What is next for you?"

"I MUST RETURN TO MY SLUMBER, THIS WAR HAS WEARIED ME GREATLY," replied the Dreadnought, "KNOW THAT I SHALL ALWAYS REMEMBER THESE EVENTS AND THERE IS NOW A BOND BETWEEN US, CALL UPON ME WHEN YOUR NEED IS DIRE AND NO MATTER WHAT I SHALL COME."

With that the Dreadnought turned and stomped away as the group watch on, as the venerable warrior disappeared Furion said, "Quite a thing, knowing that he shall remember our names into eternity."

Priyar said, "Indeed and we must work hard to ensure our deeds are worthy of remembrance."

Persion mused, "My only concern is that we shall be left here for years until the Chapter deems us ready to fight again."

Toran replied confidently, "Have no fear, I am confident that a new war shall find us soon enough and that we shall be ready to meet it."

The adventure continues when the Storm Heralds return in Umbram Ignis