Segmentus Tempestus, Cerys System, Planet: Cerys IV, Date: 0808198.M41
Astropath report disturbance in the Warp, standby...
Unknown ship enters Real Space close to 7. Planet of System...
No ships expected, no answer to Communication attempts. Alarm Planetary Defense Forces!
Request permission to send out Augur probe...permission granted, Augur probe launched.
Standby...
Standby...
Standby...Contact.
Imperial ship, Class: Grand Cruiser, Name: „Lady's Vigilance"
Energy minimal, Signal's: none, crew: ...?
Request information...
Ship of the Adepta Sororitas, send out to protect the Shrine World "Charovic's Hope".
Last seen: M40, 327, Charov System.
Additional Information...locked.
Notify Canoness Superior Cecilia...
Alert! Additional ship enters Real Space!
Com-...incoming message, Adeptus Astartes codes: „Os Vulturis. We take care of this carrion."
...acknowledged?
„Os Vulturis?", I looked at the Techpriest. „Unknown. Probably small/lesser known Chapter." Looking back at the monitor I thought about the cryptic message the Astartes send us, many chapters have their own way of serving the God-Emperor. The Space Wolves and their "Allfather" border heresy in my eyes. But these "Os Vulturis", they knew that this ship would be here. Hours after the "Lady's" Arrival their Strike Cruiser arrived in our System. I, together with some of my sisters were luckily already on a ship and on our way to inspect a space station at the border of our system. Still, the Astartes reached the "Lady's Vigilance" first and waited near the seventh planet for our arrival. „My lady.", the Captain of our ship turned towards me, „We nearly reached the ship of the Astartes." „Thank you, Captain. I..." A console light up, „The Astartes send a Communication request." I gave the ship serf a signal to open the channel, „This is Breachleader Mordigael Dumal of the Os Vulturis, identify.", the voice of the Astartes was scratchy, like it wasn´t used often. „Sister Cecilia, Canoness Superior from the Order of the Burning Heart, My Lord. My Order is responsible for the safety of this system." „Cecilia, hold your ship in an orbit around the planet, we deal with the ship." „My Lord.", I took a deep breath, „My sister and I want to accompany you." Long silence. „Why?" „When this ship disappeared several of our sisters of our Order were on board. It's our duty to find out what happened to them." Again silence. „You and five of your sisters, in one hour on our ship." A crackle and the connection was dead. „Call my personal unit." „Yes, my Lady."
"Lady Cecilia.", Sister Veritta and the five Sororitas of my personal unit accompanied met me in the hangar. "Is it true, will we met the Angels of the Emperor?", the barely contained joy was even heard through the Voxspeaker of her helmet. None of my sister ever met an Astartes, me included. "Yes, we will accompany their exploration of the ship." I sat in the pilot seat of the small transporter, with a small rumble it took off and flew across the small strip of void between our ship and the Strike Cruiser of the Astartes. It took only minutes before we set down in the hangar of the neighbouring ship. Dozens of Chapter-Serf, crew members and servitors were running through the hangar, preparing Thunderhawks for boarding. Three Astartes awaited us as we left the small shuttle, their armour was matte black with bone-white lower arms and legs, and they looked...used. Scrapes, missing paint, holes repaired with discoloured patches of plasteel and some of the individual parts seemed to hail from different patterns of armour. Emblazoned on the left shoulder was the symbol of the Os Vulturis, a vulture like bird standing atop a human's skull. One of them stepped forward, his left hand in a Power Fist reminiscent of a bird's talon. „My Lord.", my sisters and I kneeled before him. The deep blue lenses inside the dark helmet observed us for a second before he spoke, „Canoness Cecilia?" I stood back up," Yes, My Lord." „We had hoped to arrive before the "Lady's Vigilance" to warn you." I was right. „You knew that this ship would appear here after all this time, My Lord?" „Yes, we are interested in the cargo it's carrying." „Cargo, My Lord?" His lenses stayed on me for several seconds, observing, lurking. A tall Techpriestess stepped beside the Breachleader, instead of the usual red her robes were deep black, what made her metallic arm prothesis shine even more. Her lower face was hidden behind some kind of implanted breathing apparatus but her voice was surprisingly clear and melodic, "Adepta Sororita found several STC´s, Archeotech, Xenos relics. Recovery has..." „Dekra...", Breachleader Dumal interrupted her. „Apologies.", with that, she stepped back, beside the two Astartes, something like snicker came from one of them. "That is the reason we are her. You didn't know about this?" "No, some information about this ship are locked." "Interesting.", he seemed lost in his thoughts for a second, "Time to plunder this corpse." I don't like this metaphor. „We will enter through a secondary hangar, you and three of your sisters will accompany my team while the rest stays behind. On board this ship you will follow my and the commands of my brothers." „Yes, My Lord." Again the Breachleader waited for a moment, „Did you ever fought aboard a ship? And I don't mean training in an empty cargo hold, but boarding a ship without knowing what awaits one, fighting through waves of crewmen." „No, My Lord." With that, he leads us to the Thunderhwaks, with a silent command he ordered the two Astartes to accompany the Techpriestess. „Five and seven are ready, remaining equipment is loaded.", a Techmarine come out behind one of the Thunderhawks, the left side of his helmet was an amalgamation of lenses, sensors and wires, several Mechadendrites came spouting forth from his back and a giant metal claw was attached behind his shoulder. "Make yourself ready, we will begin shortly."
Aspine and I were told to accompany three Astartes and the Techpriestess in their Thunderhawk. She stood to the side while two Servitors carry crates and other equipment on board, Mechadendrites with different "heads" came from under her robe, a strange gun together with several small flasks and...objects were attached to her hip while a big equally strange-looking rifle leaned next to her at the hull of the Thunderhawk. And she had brought her own unit, five Skitarii, Infiltrators if i´m correct. „You have to stand behind with us Dekra?", even with the distortion of the helmet the voice of the Astartes seemed young. Electric crackle was the only answer. The three Astartes stepped inside the dropship and towards the wall, clamps came down and secured their massive frames. Two of them wielded the big brother of my own Bolter while the third was armed with a Boltpistol and a Power Axe with a hammer head at the other side of the blade. „Take place.", Dekra made a gesture to the opposite wall to more clamps. Hesitantly I followed her gesture, members of the Mechanicus always made me uncomfortable, the replacing of their body parts and the dangerous thirst for knowledge. When the clamps came down on us the Techpriestess had to adjust them, even in our armours we were more than an head smaller than the angels of the Emperor. Seconds after Dekra taking her own place the Thunderhawk took of with an loud rumble „Maybe it will be easier this time." I wasn´t sure which of the Astartes said that. „Favourable, servitors were damaged last time.", that was Dekra. „And you puked." „No stomach, coolant tube raptured."
The flight seemed to take longer than before, maybe it was just my nerves. „Landing, be ready", Dumal´s voice came through a voxspeaker just before the landing gear of the Thunderhawk scraped across metal. The lumen on the helmets of the Astartes light up and barely was the ramp down they jumped outside, my sister and me just behind them. The hangar was small, just enough space for the Thunderhawks to land. Giant lumen, cranes and other machinery were attached to three pillars. Crates, barrels and machine parts were strewn about but no life, only dust, silence. "Team One stays behind, secures the hangar and searches the area.", commanded Breachleader Dumal, "Team Two comes with me. Canoness Cecilia..." "Yes, My lord." "Two of your sisters stay behind, decide." She turned to Aspine and me, "Sister Veritta and Aspine, stay here." It took me a second to answer, "Understood." "Understood.", Aspines´s answer also came with a bit of an delay. The Techmarine forced open one of the bigger bulkheads on the left side of the hangar and Team Two disappeared without another word. Beside Aspine and myself only the Techpriestess, her Skitarii and four of the Astartes remained in the hangar. "Sisters.", the Astartes with the Power Axe stepped towards us, "We have a task, search every room." "What can we expect to find, my lord?" "Everything, this ship was lost for more than hundreds of years." With that, he returned to Dekra who started to examine an terminal with her Skitarii patrolling around her, while his brothers searched the bulkheads on the right side of the hangar. "Come Ver.", I followed my sister to an adjoining corridor with several doors, just storage areas, machinrooms and a small shrine to the Omnissiah. "The only thing we will find is dust.", with an angry gesture Aspine closed the last door. "We have to at least find out what happens to our sisters on this ship." "But that we will not find here but on the bridge." We reached the last door, with a low rumble and scraping the bulkhead opened and the lumen cut a bright path inside. At the other side of the room sat two dried up corpses on the floor, their skin stretched over bones like old parchment, still wearing the Uniform of the Imperial Army. As I stepped closer, I could see a small hole beginning at the temple of the left and ending at the eye socket of the right body. The bringer of their demise was a Laspistol in the hand of the left soldier, its size must have been uncomfortable for him to hold. I ripped it from its fingers, under the thick layer of dust emerged the icon of the Sisters of Battle, "Why has a soldier of the Imperial Army the weapon of a Sororita?" My sister did not have an answer to that, or why they killed themselves. As we stepped back in the hangar I turned the weapon in my hand like it could tell me what had happened. "You found something.", one of the Astartes equipped with a bolter saw us return. "A weapon from our order and..." "May I see?", Dekra quickly stepped closer. Hesitantly I gave her the Laspistol, with hands her and half a dozen Mechadendrites she examined it thoroughly. "And?", continued the Astartes "And we found two bodies, Imperial Army. They killed themselves with this weapon." For a moment, he was silent. "In what condition were the bodies?" "My lo-...?" "Save the "My lord" for Breachleader Dumal, my name is Gryph.", he interrupted. I took a deep breath before talking, "They are long dead, dried up." "Time kept going on board...something kept in the Warp...maybe...", talking with himself he took a couple of steps away. "Interesting.", the Techpriestess was still examining the weapon, "Laspistol, Mars Pattern Mark IV variant, modified. High-power capacitor." She removed the Power cell. "Burned out.", was her judgement. She took a spare cell from one of her crates and a flask of oil from her belt. She replaced the cell and with the oil and a constant stream of binary prayer the weapon returned to life with a satisfied humming. "Secondary Firing Mode: Beware.", she returned the weapon to me. "Why?" "Higher energy output, higher damage. Problem: Chance that weapons burns out, be destroyed." The Astartes returned to us, "Team Two found also bodies, some fresher." "What?! But..." A distant door opened, reflexively everyone turned their weapons towards it. „Dekra?" „Not me. Your brothers?" Without an answer, he stepped closer to the now open corridor, it was too dark to see anything, but we could hear something coming closer with irregular steps. I aimed my new weapon at the opening, unnecessary as I soon realized. An old Servitor came swaying and creaking through the door, parts of it´s skin was in shreds, the metal joints grinding loudly with every move. Gryph walked past him and controlled the way he came from. „How is it still functioning?", asked my sister while the Fleshdrone was following its commands. Dekra rammed one of her Mechadendrites in the base of the Servitor skull, a shiver travelled through its body and then, with a surprised "Oh", let him the Techpriestess go. "What did you find?", this extremely human reaction alarmed Gryph. „Three months since Warpjump." „Extreme time difference, that's bad." „More important: crates with the seal of the Inquisition was brought onboard." "The Inquisition.", the way he said it made clear what the Astartes thought of them. "Did it know what was inside the crates?" "No, it..." The rest of the conversation was drowned out by static, someone was sending on a frequency only used by our Order. "...help...cre-...ial shi-...help...Legatine Joan!" „Ver?", Apine´s helmet turned towards me. „I know, I heard it too." „Myl-...Gryph." The Astartes looked at us silent. „There are maybe survivors." "Did they contact you?" „Yes, on a frequency only our order uses." „Frequency and access codes." As I hesitated the Techpriestess added a, „Please." With some doubts, I gave Dekra and Gryph access to the frequency and together we listened to the repeating message. „Where is this message coming from?" „Unclear, deeper in the ship." She pointed to the corridor the Servitor came from, "This way." „Baelyn", he turned to one of his brothers, "Stay here with two Skitarii."
The corridor snaked through the ship and with every step, the connection was getting clearer until, "...need help, we are attacked by the crew of this ship. I repeat: All imperial ships, this Legatine Joan speaking we need help. We...", just before reaching a crossing the connection broke. „Sisters, take the left. Dekra, you go right.", with thundering steps disappeared the three Astartes in the corridor straight ahead. After a minute Apine slowed down. "Do you here that?" Barely, something like loud drums in the distance. With a few Lidclicks, I commanded my helmet to amplify the sound. Shots, Explosions and screams. We started to run again, as fast as our armours could take us, the sound of an all out war getting louder with every step. One last turn and the corridor opened up to a big vault, some kind of storage hall for cargo containers and machinery. Shadowy figures moved in twilight, the scream of bloodshed and war came from the other side of the hall. Slowly we moved forward, this place is perfect for an ambush...no, intended. The containers were either next to each other without even an gap or just far enough apart that two people could fit through. "That´s a Labyrinth.", exclaimed Apine. "No, a trap.", seconds later my hunch was proven right. Four... humans clothed in rags stepped out behind an container, the wounds and scares on their bodies made it difficult to determine who they were before. They fired at us with simple projectile weapons, who could maybe scratch the paint of our armour before our Bolter ripped them apart. "Just as Legatine Joan said, when the ship got lost in the warp the crew rebelled.", the voice of my Sister was dripping with disgust. I only felt sorrow, what happened that they turned away from the light of the Emperor? The only help I can offer is a quick death. A container in front of us was ripped apart by an explosion and showered us in burning metal. Finally, we saw the battlefield, a big free space with only small boxes and sheets of metal providing cover for the attacking deserters. Their aim was an bunker cobbled together from several cargo container, the defenders fired through several openings at them. I could see the Bolter fire of my sisters and Las fire of the Imperial Army. Most of the attackers died but the front was slowly creeping forward. "Emperor protect us." We jumped over the rubble, our bolter ripping apart a dozen of them before they even knew what was happening. Then the attackers divided, one half kept advancing towards the bunker while the other came towards us. Their crude weapons couldn´t harm us but no matter how many we destroyed, more swarmed towards us, one more disfigured than the last. "Get down!" I followed Apine´s gesture, left of us was a group of slaves aiming at us... with a missile launcher. The warhead raced toward us, then hitting the container just beside us. The explosion was massive and threw me across the room, a direct hit would have definitely killed us. I blinked several times, trying to clear my head. Where is my sister? Is she alright? She was closer to the explosion than me. There she was, in a puddle of blood... blood? Her left hand was gone. Then my eyes went to the group of slaves, the deserter was done reloading and looking at us with a disgusting smile. My weapon, I need... my vision went blurry as I tried to stand up. Even with my armour my head had taken some hits, I could hear... thunder. But the deserters hesitated... the thunder is real? It came closer until... with a loud crash something hit the container behind them, it started to topple and crushed the five underneath it. A second later Gryph stepped into sight, his Bolter firing in the mass of slaves, not one shot missing its target. His two brothers entered from the other side, their Bolter screaming and the Power Axe cutting through several of the slaves at once. Now it only took a minute before the last of the attackers died. The Angels of Death.
When it was done the Astartes began to slowly walk through the bodies with their heads turning from side to side, like birds of prey looking for its meal. "Please, hold still.", Dekra had appeared beside Apine without us noticing. Several mechadendrites slid over Apine´s arm, injecting something, cleaning and closing the wound, removing parts of the armour. "Will take care of her, accompany Astartes." "Go, i´ll be fine." Her speech slurred as the painmeds started to work. Gryph walked towards the "bunker" while his brothers kept striding across the battlefield. Just as I reached him a sheet of metal fall to the floor and three Sororitas stepped outside, their armour was damaged and crudely repaired. The four other survivors were two soldiers of the Imperial Army, a Techpriest with his right arm missing and a boy, 12 years old at most. He shivered, pale as bones and his big eyes stuck on the Space Marine. Most humans live their whole lives without more than stories about the "Angels of Death". "My Lord.", the Sororitas kneeled before the three Astartes, followed by the four others. "Who are you?" "My name is Galatella Joan. The Highest ranking survivor of my sisters." She needed several tries to remove her helmet, the left side of her face was a mess of scars, tears of joy glistened in her eyes. "We prayed in every waking moment for the Emperor to save us." Gryph observed her a second before continue speaking, "What happened on this ship?" Joan took several deep breaths before answering, "We were on our return from Charovic´s Hope a Shrine World in care of our Order when something stopped our engine, we couldn´t leave the Warp. Shortly after communication broke down and the attacks of the slave crew started, my sister and the few members of the Imperial Army tried to hold crucial parts of the ship. But there were to many, we hid and prayed for our salvation." Gryph´s blue lenses focused on the boy, "What's with him?" He immediately turned even paler and started to shake violently. "That is Stelad.", interjected Joan, "He survived for weeks alone, crawled through shafts and wire ducts to warn us from attacks and took up weapons without hesitation. I take full responsibility for him." That seemed to satisfy the Astartes. "How...?" Gryph stopped, his and the heads of his brothers turn to one specific point in the sea of corpses. One of them stepped closer, grabbed one of the bodies at his head and pulled him up. Immediately the slave started to kick, scream and trying to ram a metal shard in the arm of the Astartes. To no avail, even if he could damage the armour it wouldn´t change much. After seconds of useless fighting he went limp in the grip of the Astartes and... laughed, "More lapdogs of the corpse god." "You...", the boy pointed his rifle at him but a gesture of Gryph stopped him. "You brought your doom onto the ship and still, you fight. You, for we are nothing more than slabs of meat supposed to work, telling us to be thankful. You´re plating ships in gold, stretching the life of brainless rulers to centuries while I can count my remaining years on two hands. But with this ship and the Lady we will carry her love through the void. Her children are coming." His hysterical laughter stopped with a flick of the Astartes wrist and a broken neck. "Interesting.", he turned the body around. "Something more dangerous than a couple of rebelling slaves is on this ship." "Attracted?", suspected the third. "My lord!", Legatine Joan was shocked, "You believe this heretic! " They didn´t answer instead the one Astartes ripped the clothes of the slave. He dropped the body like he touched something hot and made a step back, carved across the slave's chest was a chaos star. "Breachleader Dumal.", Gryph wasted no time, "The slave crew are Chaos Cultists and are probably trying to summon demons." A short silence before his crackling answer came, "They want to start an invasion. Search the ship, make sure they can´t. I´ll notify the Soulless." "Understood.", the Astartes with the Power Axe turned to the survivors, "One of my brothers and sister Apine will accompany you back to the hangar." "I can still fight.", her lower arm was free of her armour and covered in bandages. "Your armour is compromised, and you have only one arm, you would be a liability to us.", there was no room for protest in his voice. Before they left Gryph stopped Joan, "There is an Inquisitor on board." "Yes, Lord Inquisitor Dorian and his Acolyte." "He brought two sealed crates with him, where are they?" "My Lord, I don´t know if..." "Let US deal with the Inquisitor. Where are the crates?" She still hesitated for a second, "Our shelter blocks a corridor with several stockrooms, one of the last belongs to the Inquisitor. I don´t now the security codes." Dekra had a short conversation in binary with the Techpriest, "No obstacle." With that, they left. "Dantic.", moments later Gryph contacted his brother, "Don´t let them into the Thunderhawks, never let them leave your sight." It took a second before the meaning of his words hit me, "You think..." "Even Astartes can fall to the whispers of the Warp." He turned and entered the shelter.
Dekra´s Skitarii stayed behind to secure the vault, while we followed the Astartes, the "bunker" was built from plates of steel ripped from the first two storage rooms, the corridor behind it was not broad enough that the two Astartes could walk beside each other. The next room was used as living quarters with rations and water tanks, even an small shrine to the God-Emperor. "Dekra, what did you find out?" I wasn´t sure which of the Astartes had asked. "Corridor has only one other exit. Several Storerooms with weapons/supplies. Logical to defend." "And the crates?" "Last storeroom." Slowly we moved forward, the Marines securing every room while Dekra, her Skitarii and me making sure none was following us. A few minutes later we finally reached our goal. Now it became clear why the Inqisitor: the giant bulkhead was heavily reinforced and the opening mechanism was beyond complicated. Without hesitation the Techpriestess rammed a Mechadendrite in the mechanism and started to remove parts of the covering. I could barely follow the movement of her fingers, just seconds later the locks slowly opened. She made a step back and the Astartes placed themselves at the side of the door. The inside was dark as the void except for the small rectangle of the light shining in from the open bulkhead, the crates were standing at the opposite wall. I wanted to make a step inside but Gryph stopped me, "Too easy." Just as he was finished speaking something awoke in two of the corners of the room screaming. They were once human, but now modified with incredible amounts of tech and metal, it´s hands now several whip like appendages sparkling with electricity. And they came running straight at us. Our weapons drowned out their screams and ripped apart the mangled bodies until only two small puddles of meat were left. "What was that?" "Arco-Flagellants.", still careful the Astartes stepped towards the crates but thankfully nothing happened. "Clear." We followed them inside, it were five crates, each of them marked with the sigil of the Inquisition and "Ordo Xenos". Xenos? Dekra immediately began to work on the locks, the first three were not big of a challenge. Their content was...strange. Clearly everyday objects and clothing but somehow different, overly stylized and simple at the same time. "Eldar." I spoke a quick prayer for protection against the Xenos. "But nothing of worth." The two Astartes closed the crates again and pushed them aside. Dekra had problems with the last two, "Seals are broken. Someone was here." Finally, it popped open, inside were small, empty sockets. "Whoever was here must have taken it. Get the last." In the last one was something of interest, dangerous looking knives definitely of Xenos origin encased by thick strips of metal and surrounded by purity seals. But again an empty socket were something like an Orb could have been placed. "Dark Eldar. I don´t like this Inquisitor." Gryph and his brother had a short conversation in their scratchy language, before a loud grumble and shaking of the ship cut them off. "Machines started, ship is moving.", interpreted Dekra the noise, "Back to the Vault, side corridor, fastest route.", Dekra answered to a question I didn´t hear. "What is the plan?" "We place several explosives at important parts of the engine and detonate them. If we are unable to do it our Strike Cruiser will destroy this ship. Dekra, seal this room." Back in the vault the Skitarii accompanied us as our rear guard while the Astartes led us with neck breaking speed deeper into the ship. "Have you ever fought demons, sister?" I wasn´t sure who of the two had asked, "No, My-... no, I have not. But my faith in the Emperor will protect me." "Hold on to this thought, sister. Demons will try to crush your mind, don´t give them a weakness to... bodies, 100 m ahead." Five bodies, Cultist, were laying in front of an bulkhead, two of them were killed by several shots in the chest, two more literally cut in half and the last burned beyond recognition. "Sister, with me.", I followed Gryph into the small room beyond bulkhead. Former quarters, now full of filth, except for one room, at the centre was a circular area "cut out" from the rest with small burn marks around it. "Someone teleported onto this ship, several according to the size." He activated his voxcaster, "Breachleader." Nothing. "Team One, come in." Only white noise as answer. He rushed past me. "Communication is down." "Problem not with us, interference inside the ship.", Dekra didn´t turn around while speaking, her gaze was fixated at something in the wall behind the bodies. "Someone teleported onto this ship." "Yes, these wounds are to clean for improvised weapons. And this...", the second Astartes showed us the face of one of the cultists, small trickles of blood were coming from every orifice, "Attacks with sonic weaponry, Eldar probably." "Confirm Eldar.", Dekra had pulled something out of the wall, a small semi translucent disk, "Shuriken-projectile." "We didn´t saw them, they must be advancing deeper into the ship." "Reason?" "Secondary, our mission is more important." We continued our travel, through dark corridors, empty halls and over dead cultists, all of them killed like the first.
"The blood has not dried yet. How many are there?" "Eldar Banshee´s work in small squads, around five." Gryph´s helmet turned towards me, "Go on." It felt strange to be asked by an Astartes for help... it´s a test. "They are probably led by an Warlock and accompanied by...", what was the name? "The "Infantry" of the Xenos." "Dire Avengers." Of course does Dekra know, dangerous knowledge. "Impressive Sister, where does this knowledge come from?" "Canoness Cecilia, she once fought against the Xenos and taught us how to fight them." "I see. What...", he stopped and slowed down slightly. Again, sound of battle but louder... more and echoing. Then a light appeared at the end of the corridor. "Dekra, what's ahead of us?" "Part of engine, temple of Omnissiah." We stopped at two staircases at each side, they led secondary corridors. "Dekra take the other one, place your explosives and meet us in the primary engine room.", commanded Gryph while stepping onto the stairs, the metal ached and creaked but held our combined weight. Shortly after we reached a gangway that hung under the roof of the giant hall. Huts and crude living spaces climbed up the walls, with a narrow path from one end to the other. That would have been our way. In the middle where once a statue of the Emperor stood was now a monument the "god" the heretics worship, a humanoid with distorted features. "There.", the Astartes pointed towards the feet of the statue. Heretics flooded in to free space around it, just to be mowed down by the group of a dozen Eldar, led by an Warlock wearing a bright red robe. I stepped closer to the edge and levelled my Bolter at it´s head. "Don´t. Let them fight sister, it will buy us time." These Astartes are... different from what I expected. While walking, I could see the Xenos beneath us slowly advancing through the heretics, killed by either the firing line of the Avengers, the blades of the Banshee´s who flowed like water between them or the lighting that shot from the hands of the Warlock. As we reached the end of the hall I could hear something else than the sound of slaughter..., "Singing?" Suddenly, the Astartes accelerated, the metal plates beneath them cracking and bending beneath their steps, even with my armour I couldn´t follow them. As they approached a half open door, only one of them slowed down, while Gryph crashed into it full speed. Metal got pushed out of the way, deforming the door frame and the surrounding wall, broken metal scraping over his armour. We ended on a second catwalk in the primary engine room, generator, promethium tanks and giant machinery filled almost all of it. The bit of free space was used for an altar, with heretics kneeling in front of it, singing and screaming. Their "priest" stood with his back to us, clothed in an almost festive robe. The leader, undoubtedly, he must be stopped. Gryph and his brother seemed to agree with me as they crashed through the railing and dropped the 40 m. Three of the heretics were crushed under their weight, what seemed to spur the rest on to sing louder. "Corpse slaves!", the "priest" turned toward them, his hands glowing in a deep purple. One shot of my Bolter the glow disappeared, together with most of his chest cavity. As I dropped down, the Astartes had already turned the heretics into a bloody mess, shot by Bolter, cut in half by an axe or simply ripped apart. These are the Astartes of the stories. As the song faded away gryph turned towards the altar and the priest while his brother took several small explosives from his belt and started to attach them to key parts of the engine. On closer inspection I could see that the robe of the cultist leader was made of Eldar-clothing, they seemed to be obsessed with the damn Xenos. Heretics in more than one way. "Interesting.", Gryph pointed to several crystals atop the altar, "Spirit Stones." "Spirit Stones?" "Eldar artefacts. They use them so their souls don´t escape into the warp. Very rare and valuable. Now we know why the Eldar are here and what was in these crates of this Inquisitor." "Shall I destroy them them?" Destroying the souls of Xenos and a precious resource would be... "No.", he took a small cylinder from his belt and stowed them inside it. "What? Why?" "Leverage if they should find us. Are the explosives placed?" His brother returned from the depths of the machinery, "Yes, placed and armed." "As soon as Dekra..." "Sister!", Gryph´s brother pointed his Bolt Pistol at me. Reflexively I turned around, i could see something red in the corner of my eye before an ear-piercing scream froze me in my movement. My brain screamed in pain and my eyes became blurry, I tried to move but my joints didn´t want to follow my command. The red thing, a Eldar Banshee, I could only see the bright red of its hair running straight toward the Astartes, the bigger threat. They seemed to be less affected than me, slowly moving, trying to point their weapons at it but not fast enough. A few Bolterrounds were flying toward it but nothing came even close to hitting the Xenos. I have to do something. Incredible slowly I raised my weapon... too late. The Banshee reached Gryph, kicked the Bolter from his hands and raised the sword ready to strike. A blue stream of light cut through the room straight toward it and crashed into the shoulder of the Banshee. The Xenos turned and fired into the direction from where the shot came but there was nothing. And then the nothing fired again, bullets ripped apart the floor around it or grazed the armour. Suddenly, the radiation alarm screamed into my helmet. What happens here? The Banshee tried to get away from the new enemy, dodging bullets and walking straight into Gryph´s fist. The force of the impact made it spin around 90° and straight into the floor. "Good work Dekra.", were his first words after the last effects of the scream stopped. "Strange.", she and her Skitarii literally appeared beside me, "Banshee separated from rest of group. Prisoner?" She can´t be... "Yes." "What? You can´t be...?!" When Gryph´s blue lenses turned towards me, I remembered to whom I was talking. He said something to his brother in their scratchy voice and took something of his belt... cuffs? They had... planned to take prisoners? Dekra and her Skitarii took the weapon of the Xenos while Gryph just put the tied up Xenos on his shoulder. "We have to go before the rest of the Eldar arrive." Are these even the Emperors Angels of Death or some sort of deceivers?