As they approached the drop pod launch room, Sergeant Danvers was a broil of emotions. The combat stims and more were kicking in, his blood was up and he knew his mind should be on his duty, but his mind was a maelstrom still.

*Why had they done it?* He thought *The World Eaters were always a ticking time bomb based on what he heard from conversation. But why the rest? Would any more turn from the Emperor's Light and Imperial Truth?*

NO. He could not allow himself to go down that path else he would suspect everyone. His men needed him to stay strong after all, if he was having these thoughts the Emperor only knew knows what was going through their minds.

"Right! We all set, Baal squad?"

"Yes sir" they all replied and saluted.
Sergeant Danvers smiled.
"I know you're all nervous. It's a baptism of fire alright for this new squad of ours. But remember, they may be Astartes, but they are as much of an enemy as the Greenskins or Eldar. They will kill you on sight, so don't hesitate to kill them first. If it helps, I pretended my first battle that that my foes were cardboard cut-outs on the assault course, just with more features"

Laughter rang out at that.

"Don't worry sir. I've defeated everyone at the practice cages on the recruitment centre Baal. I'll smash these traitors a new arsehole" Decius piped up

Cheers rang out on that. Decius was always so competitive, a fantastic fighter he had observed but a poor teammate as he always went for glory in the training sessions to prove himself better than the rest. Only under threat of no advancement had he relented and worked toward the teams' objectives since they always failed the overall mission on the training courses on Baal.

It would be another thing entirely to learn that lesson in a combat setting. Danvers would have to be brutal. Especially if the reports of warp possessions were true, it could set off that rare mad blood thirst present in their Legion. The Primarch himself had travelled to the scene on Murder and covered it up. Danvers had been told by Sanguinius never to talk of it, but he'd watched out for it in his recruits. If he had to bet his bolter on anyone succumbing, it would be Decius.

"Enough. We MUST stay together on this mission. It won't be training cages, Decius. It will be real. You mess up, you run for glory, you won't get another chance. Fail and you will be killed by the enemy." Danvers barked.
He looked at the suitably shamed face of Decius, then softened a touch and looked at them all. Decius really did only want to do his best deep down, he thought. "I only tell you this because it is the truth. We had a hothead in my squad too. On one mission, he went ahead of the main unit as he saw retreating enemy troop and easy kills. He got half of us killed!" *Well that was mostly true. He succumbed to the blood thirst and killed us, rather than the enemy, but they didn't need to know that* "I will NOT let that happen in my unit! UNDERSTOOD?"

"Yes Sergeant" They all replied

He relaxed slightly. At least Decius was listening to him now. The rest of the new members of the squad, Barnus and Biteus were quiet but studious troops. Arnius was as fine a trooper as he was when he was a Librarian it seemed. They all looked up to Decius though.

"Good. Now check your bolters and armour. You've been trained well. You'll get through this. We'll be back on Baal before you know it telling Sanguinius how we bought justice to the traitors!"

The entire squad burst into salutes.

If only he knew how false those words were going to be, he thought many years later on his deathbed