A large ship hovers in space, tracked within the orbit of a planet. It's rugged yet memorable features do little to warm the heart of the Chapter Master of the Celestial Lions. Former Captain Nabuntye looked down from his office and Fortress Monastery for the last three years onto his home planet, Elysium IX. His thoughts wander to his new recruits waiting for him down on the planet. Concern grows as his thoughts go to the now over 900 families who his former chapter master Ekene Dubaku swore to protect and lead like they were his own family. The same Ekene Dubaku who was killed while he and his remaining 95 brothers fled the third war of Armageddon under the Protection of their Brother Chapter, The Black Templars, led by the noble High Marshal Helbrecht.
Physically wounded and Spiritually broken, their century-long fight for honor and respect had nearly left him and his people fully annihilated, practicing what the Sons of Dorn imparted into them. These values were held the strongest by former Chapter Master Dubaku before he was killed in his own den. Like the man who preceded him, Nabuntye was made Chapter Master of what remains of the once glorious Celestial Lions. Helbrecht was not going to let the same mistake happen twice and had given special guards from his most esteemed veterans and a new ship, blessed by saints of the God Emperor and christened "PRIDE REBORN" from one of the many vessels that High Marshal Helbrecht commanded as a gift to the rebuilding of a new chapter.
The Gracious High Master didn't stop there however. He promised additional support to get the Celestial Lions to their home planet for rebuilding by lending aid from the Reclusiarch Grimaldus. Grimaldus would wait until either the chapter was rebuilt to full strength, the Celestial Lions were able to remove the presence of the inquisition from their ranks, or potentially have a new alliance who would be able to aid them and allow Grimaldus to return to his crusade.
The next year was relatively uneventful as Nabuntye was officialized and formally recognized as the new Chapter Master. He would never let his other men know, but Nabuntye found out that the previous message that was sent confirming Ekene Dubaku as the Chapter Master hadn't been finalized due to how recent his slaying was. This was a burden his people did not need on their already aching hearts.
"Chapter Master" A familiar voice echoed behind his door. One of his subordinates, a recently promoted lieutenant that was once a simple scout for the Chapter during the early days of the war of Armageddon. A small smile grew on Nabuntye's face. My, how far the two have come now he thinks, idly.
"Enter, brother" Nabuntye's thick accent of their home rang through. Formal but not stern. Such is the way of a Chapter Master these days.
A man with a slimmer build entered the room. His emerald eyes were the first thing most brothers noticed as the light from his bald head shone, illuminating his otherwise earthy skin tone.
"I have received news from Elysium IX that the new recruits are ready to learn what it means to become a Lion." Derynne was often a troublemaker in the early days so much that most people, including his Sergeant referred to him as 'Chkt Chukt' otherwise known as troublemaker in their native tongue.
"Very good, brother. We ought to consider at this point what is a Celestial Lion anyways. So much has changed in the last thirty years. So many ideals and assumptions torn asunder while we were none the wiser." The warm smile fell away from Nabuntye's feature as he spent a moment to consider his words. "There is much reflection to be had. Are we to learn alongside them? Will they learn the travesties that happened to our fellow brothers?"
Derynne smiled that same smile that he got whenever he earned his nickname. "They will learn soon enough. We are a sign of hope for those not blessed by the God Emperor's gifts. At the very least, a joint training exercise would be appreciated. So many of them adjusting to their geneseed they won't know the amazing prowess they have unlocked."
Nabuntye had considered his words and saw the wisdom in them. To destroy the fire in their chests and crush their hopes before they learned what it truly meant to be a Brother in the fold would spell disaster for the chapter.
"You're right, Derynne. Who knows, these new recruits may not only bolster our numbers, but heal our spirits."
It was a day of great Rejoicing. Spiritwalker Kirinya enjoyed the beating sun reaching its apex as he witnessed a sea of fellow brothers, all from the local villages taken to be trained and to become brothers. None had any doubt in their hearts to which chapter they belonged to. For any brother born in the soils of Elysium IX were destined for the Celestial Lions.
He and countless others stood at attention as several smaller craft were making their departure from the Flagship of the chapter. THEIR new chapter. 'My brothers return home' he mused internally.
The vacant spot next to him was filled with a familiar, if ever grouchy figure of his childhood friend. The new Apothecary, Mizinoh.
"Bold day to be late, esteemed lifebinder" Kirinya chided holding in a chuckle
"Another word from you and I will make you TRULY walk with the spirits" Mizinoh grunted. He was a foot taller than Kirinya and would use every inch to leverage that against him, but they both knew most threats made between them were harmless 'hellos' between friends. Mizinoh's baggy, brown eyes looked into the energetic and sparkling hazel eyes of Kirinya. "I know what you're thinking, yes I ignored your advice and yes I over indulged in our celebration and before you ask, no I don't regret a damn second." Mizinoh finally smiled as he was seemingly able to read his friend's mind as he and Kirinya grasped each other in rejoicement. Many other soldiers were in similar situations as brothers and families from various tribes, villages, and cities came together as the new roster of Lions was being pulled. Exceeding beyond any expectation the elders hoped for, the new and untested Primaris method went with a 0% mortality rate, unheard of from any previous founding or resupply. Spirits ran high as each brother worked together to the point of being one cohesive unit. Every individual no longer had a last name and given up their past lives, but instead they had gained a new family of brothers.
As for today this was the day many men would give up their lives for the Emperor and make their new chapter proud to have such talented young men. While Kirinya was ecstatic to join his brothers in arms, Mizinoh had several concerning questions locked away in the back of his mind. The biggest one would be why didn't the officials of Tera come but instead their lifelong friends, the Emperor's Spears, in the shadow of the night...
The barge started its way down as the ceremonial music began to play, the ship landed and the doors began to open as the music reached its crescendo. The two brothers' smiles were quickly replaced with confusion and concern.
Red lights flashed as the hull was losing its remaining integrity. Many marines clad in their yellow power armor adorned with a heart for their symbol moved around frantically trying to keep their dying vessel from reaching its untimely end while they were traveling to the closest planet they could find.
"Gellar Fields are weakening sir! Decks seventy-eight through ninety-five have been infested!"
"Send in the vanguard top down! Their chainswords shall do nicely." Malakim Phoros, Chapter Master of the Lamenters was at the helm of his now dying Mater Lachrymarum, their Battle Barge Fortress Monastery. While they were making headway to Baal, they found another Hivefleet making its way to their holy land. Unfortunately however, as they peeled the Hivefleet away, they sustained great damage from a boarding action to their Gellar Fields as they entered the warp. An unacceptable fate that was deemed preventable by the Lamenters, with a quick message they pray the God Emperor would send to Dante of the Blood Angels, Chapter Master of their home Chapter to let him know of their attempt to prevent a second wave of any infestations on their dearly beloved planet.
"While the Vanguard works top-down, send the Terminators from the bottom to the top to clear out any demonic routes." Malakim's eyes flicked to the various stations, seeing the nexus of his ship acting as the neurons of a sick body fighting off whatever ails them, giving orders to deal with the appropriate cure for their blight.
"New reports coming in from the Cargo Bay 7 directly below deck seventy-eight. A Great Unclean One has emerged!"
'Speaking of illnesses infesting the ship' Malakim thought to himself. His eyes began to turn. He barely utters a whisper. A whisper that rang through with deafening silence on the bridge.
"Ready the Death Company" He uttered as he stood, no longer seeing with his eyes, but now transfixed as if he had walked the halls of death before. His eyes turned to see himself transposed in the view of his traitor brother. The man who burned the Imperium to ash. The man who would kill him in front of his father.
Malakim was dashing madly to the closest elevator shaft moving at breakneck speeds as he ready his Catechist and the Glaive of Lamentation. He would do everything in his power to prevent his death, to save his brothers. He and his kin will destroy Horus Lupercal. So be Sanguinias' Edict.
Meeting with several of his brothers who have fallen into a similar fate they meet with each one creating a greater surge of energy, riling the group of doomed men into a blood frenzy. Ten men marked in their ritualistic black paints with red crosses spanning their power armor. Standing amongst them however, was Malakim in his golden armor rallying them all, bonding in an instant with the tragedy they are cursed to play out time and time again.
From a distance several crewmen looked on nervously as these armored giants, already gods amongst men, were yelling and screaming, amplified by their helmets to a near head splitting level. The two men went back to their duties with grave concern. If they were smart enough, they could avoid the fight entirely.
"What about opening the airlocks? We could shoot it into space?" Chief Engineer Brimsley asked his subordinate.
"Could work. The gravlocks would hold the vehicles but we'd lose most of our ammo. Depending on where they're placed the crates would be more than enough damage to the hold's integrity and would do more damage to us than help." Said Ensign Kosky
"Really? More than THAT thing in our hold?!"
As the two argued on what to do next, heavy footfalls were muffled by the Chapter Master and the Death Company completing their ritual married to the blaring of the klaxon indicating a breach in the hold.
"May I suggest you don't interfere with what is about to unfold '' Came the gentle yet overwhelming voice of Lambheart, the First Company Sergeant of the Veteran Assault intercessors otherwise known as the leader of 'Malakim's Chosen'. One of three Primaris battle units inducted into the First Company.
The two men quickly stood at attention and saluted to the man who was several feet above them in stature even without the aid of power armor. "Sorry my lord! I knew we we-weren't capable of winning a fight but m-maybe we could have made the field of combat to your advantage!" Engineer Brimsley stammered.
Lambheart weighed the words carefully and considered the options at their disposal. He took off his helm and took a knee to get a better view of those he was speaking to.
"Chain of command directly prevents me from giving a contradictory order to what the Chapter Master states" Lambheart said as he looked at Malakim and his brethren, moments away from charging. "May I suggest you turn off the gravity but keep the blast doors sealed. Their armor will still work well enough and they will be magnetized to the floor." He said with minor urgency in his voice.
The two humans went to work as Lambheart donned his helmet watching his Chapter Master and the remaining Death Company charged in.
"Lambheart, calling in! Remaining Chosen rendezvous outside cargo Bay 7!"
"On it sir, we will be there in five minutes." responded his secondary and pupil, Babbish.
Lambheart now looking onto the brave warriors inside the Cargo Bay noticed filth growing inside and growing at an alarming rate.
"Lock down all entrances and exits, now!" Lambheart shouted. "Before it's too late!"
The two began punching in codes in the entry desk and several thick plates of metal slammed shut in an instant.
"What's happening my lord?" Engineer Brimsley said, all forms of restraint lost as hope was dying on the man's next words. "Are no men left standing? So Soon?!"
"No, they are fine. But the blight from the greater Daemon was spreading and we must contain it until the source is culled." Lambheart said as he became lost in thought while running scenarios in his head.
"The Air systems!" Exclaimed Ensign Babbish as he shut off all the air flow going in and out of the cargo bay. A knot formed in his throat and he couldn't swallow it down. The Ensign doomed hundreds of men to save thousands without thinking about the consequences for those inside. Nobody without a closed circulating air system would survive the fate.
A hand rested on the Ensign's shoulder as he saw the same grave look on Brimsley's face. A simple nod as the three stood there watching the fight on the localised security system.
Horus was a tall and imposing figure, this was always known to Sanguinias. What he didn't remember was him being so wide. Horus laughed and talked in a cursed tongue, which brewed flies over his now pallid and torn power armor. His claw and hammer now replaced by a bell and his hand having these large flies slowly pull their way out of his wounds. It did not matter though. The swarms were no match against Catechist. It's flames roared to life as a swarm of these bloated flies turned to cinders, leaving only a pitch-like residue. More bad news however as two more of his brothers were swarmed by what looked like swarms of smaller horuses. But with horns and spindly legs supporting what could be more described as a chunk of forgotten clay, lumpy and bulbous. The remaining eight still charged ahead and leaped as their jump pack thrusters flung them headlong into the monstrosity that was Horus Lupercal. Their lightning claws dug in deep, rending the armor and flesh away to find more diseased green ooze and the black pitch from earlier. As the other Sanguinias's literally charged their way and cleaved into the body, something truly horrid came out. Five insects with carapace-like onyx and wings the size of a warbike jutted out the gaping wound with one of Sanguinias in it's maw. As he screamed in defiance his head was swiftly crushed and devoured in its mandibles. The fate replayed a hundred times over in it's multi-faceted eyes.
Sanguinias did not know the word defeat. Even as his death replayed in his mind, the fact he was still standing, still breathing, meant he could change fate. Just this once, he would live.
"You traitor! You dare show the presence of the dark gods to ME?!" Sanguinias bellowed. As he charged in with his Glaive of Lamentation, he challenged his brother. "Do not mock me by hiding behind petty magics! Your mortality is nothing more than a candle forgotten on a desk. Something that should have been snuffed out long ago!"
As Sanguinias leapt, something felt wrong. His jump pack roared to life but he did not descend or move forward, he instead floated and rocketed into the ceiling. Righting himself now standing on the ceiling he saw Horus's wounds mend, a weird ichor now pulling his bloated body to the ground as he sneered and looked up at Sanguinias.
A deafening Bell chimed. Various corpses throughout the room began to reanimate as shambling undead now began to float in various directions. What once was a simple fight was now a minefield of undead Horuses. Using his jump pack, Sanguinias began to maneuver around almost like he were caught in a dance with his two weapons in a constant state of swinging, spinning, leaping, and screaming as he mowed through the horde of undead Horuses.
Suddenly and violently he was pinned to a part of the hull as the large flies began snapping at his limbs and trying to pull him in various directions. However, Sanguiniases retort worked well enough as prometheum was shot point blank into one of the bugs faces. The helmet of the decapitated Sanguinis quickly burned bright hot, causing further tearing from the daemons' digestive tract into its organs, searing it from the inside as its body is cooked inside out. It's legs and wings wildly flailing before its death rattle pulling its legs around itself not unlike the insect it truly was.
Not one to miss a chance, as Sanguinias began to feel his right arm begin to squeeze ever tighter, his now impromptu flaming club began its work as he started his jump pack again while beating the daemon trying to remove his arm from the torso. Flying blindly into various crates on the ground, the bugs began to have their various appendages break forcing a retreat from the Primarch as he dispatched the one who clung for dear life on his arm. As Sanguinias checked his surroundings, he could not help but notice the red light he was cascaded in. It seems Sanguinias was woken up from his slumber as his large frame began to move forward to address Sanguinias.
"I survived Horus twice now. May we survive him a third time together" the larger Sanguinias said as he walked towards the larger Horus"
"Very Well Sanguinias." Sanguinias said to Sanguinias as he nodded "Let us take him down once and for all"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" was all the crew could hear from the panel as Malakim pointed at the Greater Daemon. What would have been an otherwise graceful and measured fight, it seemed the fight was turning into a bloodbath of pure aggression. When the Flying Daemons became involved it seems to only have gotten worse. As Malakim's Chosen waited stalwart for any breach, the two remaining humans watched in a mixture of horror and fascination.
"Boss…." Babbish said in a scared tone "My logs didn't say that a Dreadnought was stored there"
Somehow the Death company Dreadnought looked as if it were ready to rip their Chapter Master's head off.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" it said to the Man encased in Golden Ceramite. His sounds reverberated off the airlock. After a moment's pause Malakim seemed to have worked up a proper response.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" he said. Stopping to nod and then run and keep pace with the Dreadnought almost repeating himself with another bellowing "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA".
Horus seemed to relish the challenge. However as Horus attempted to chime the bell again and summon more Daemonic Curses, a Crackling could be heard from inside his sternum. Three remaining Death Company with their thunder hammers burst out of Horuses ribs as dozens of rotting Horuses were clinging ineffectively to their armor. Several resounding Cracks broke through as the Thunder Hammers swung true, bisecting part of Horuses torso, cleaving the bell and his arm via blunt force trauma.
Sanguinias and Sanguinias knew this was their moment. One jumping high and reorienting themselves for a downward slam with their glaive while the other used their Magna-Grappling hook to pull themselves into the fight, rending Horuses legs with his blood talons. All their efforts combined quickly turning Horus into what would closely resemble rotted, chunky slabs of meat.
"Status update" Lambheart said into the helmet comms "Situation in the cargo bay neutralized. Round up protocols will start up shortly."
As Lambheart and the other 'Chosen' were preparing themselves to prepare containment of their brothers caught in the black rage, they heard a sea of chittering as what looked like a river of scything talons and gnashing teeth began leaping from the lifts to the upper floors.
The mood had turned somewhat somber. These fabled heroes who would test these new recruits to earn their food and fire had barely numbered in the nineties leaving the recruits outnumbering them. In addition their armor did not match theirs. While they had dusty yellow armor with blue accents, the people leaving the ships were in golden armor. One thing that could be seen even by those unable to see their faces, the people marching into the raised podium looked like they were moments away from holding a funeral rather than an initiation.
"Welcome brothers. It warms my soul to know the God-Emperor, long may he reign, has given us such youthful exuberance from these new members. Today shall be a day of great celebration. Tomorrow however… We will see if you can earn your food and fire"
And with that simple announcement of a speech he slowly walked down the ramparts with the other ninety-five to then meet their new prospects.