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Chapter 10: Tonight, we dine in hell

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Part 7

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outskirts of Victory Bay
Kronus

My rage grew further and further until it was a boiling maelstrom of barely controlled fury. It was fortunate that thanks to the munchkin hiding behind Anteas' knees, I couldn't touch the Warp even if my life depended on it. In this state, I would be vulnerable to the various daemons clawing at the walls of reality.

The reason for my rage? Our new Eldar acquaintance and the news he brought.

"To my best knowledge, that entity had been imprisoned for the past ten thousand years or so. It is beneath the desert region known as the Eres Badlands. Properly releasing it requires a long ritual with willing sacrifices being a key ingredient."

"This explains the enemy's actions." A Necron drone decloaked above my right shoulder and spoke with the voice of that poor bastard Macabee.

I was pretty sure that the Eldar stiffened at the device's appearance, however, it was hard to say for sure. He did look like he had swallowed a pole-arm and so far did nothing to dissuade that notion. The drone projected a short skirmish between a familiar huge green beast and the traitors.

"That thing simply refuses to die," I concluded after watching the recording. Gorgutz was very much alive. I wasn't going to assume that the Warboss would be lost for good in the Warp again. "We might have to deal with an Ork resurgence sooner rather than later."

"The beasts will still need time to replenish their numbers and build a sufficient number of their scrap weaponry to become a credible threat." Anteas reasonably pointed out. "We should be able to deal with the Heretics before the Greenskin become a credible threat again."

"Because of this new intelligence, my Lord believes that one of the vehicles destroyed in that engagement carried the willing sacrifices for the ritual."

"At least the Orks were useful this one time," I concluded. "I need to consult my people before making a decision on your suggestion about an alliance against the Chaos forces, Ranger Rohan. If we find it agreeable, we'll require your available units to operate where we can see them. Further, it would be unacceptable to let them operate in our rear areas."

"After the last few days, we're trusting your kind even less than usual if that is even possible," Anteas spoke for all of us.

"That might be agreeable." The Eldar said flatly.

That one wasn't a happy camper.

"On a related topic… Can we get to the demon without a ritual?" I looked at the munchkin. She needed a name. Then I glanced at the drone. "Between our little friend here and your technology, would it be possible to lock it out from the Warp and end it once and for all?"

The drone bobbed up and down but didn't immediately answer.

"Such a thing should be impossible even with the aid of a powerful Pariah." Anteas rumbled thoughtfully. "However, the Necron Pylons have a curious effect upon the Immaterium. It might be theoretically possible."

"You humans are insane." The Eldar declared with conviction.

"That's rich coming from you." I bit the inside of my cheek to keep going on a rant. "Your kind has more experience with the Immaterium, and it's inhabitants than most of us. Is it possible to kill the demon for good?"

The Ranger twitched and turned his helmet to stare at Anteas' knees. Our little resident Blank poked her head around the Librarian's bulk and stared back at the Eldar.

"As far as I know, it should be impossible." His voice faltered. "Yet, an abomination with such a powerful effect upon the Sea of Souls shouldn't exist either." He shuddered, and it was plain to see.

"That's not a nice thing to say." I turned to look at the kid. "Sweetie, the rude knife-eared… man," I bit off a curse, "didn't mean it."

The munchkin glared at the Eldar, which was an improvement, I was sure of it, then hid behind Anteas.

"You'd think they would teach you manners back on your Craftworld." I chided.

"That's rich coming from a barbarian human who had the gall to ally with the Necrons of all things!"

"I see that despite all you've wrought, the Aeldari's arrogance is still running strong." The Necron's mouthpiece shot back.

"I think that a brief recess to calm down and discuss the situation would be for the best." I declared, trying to be diplomatic.

"I concur." The Ranger stated coldly, turned around, and marched to the waiting Grav Tank.

We pilled up in a Chimera that waited for us nearby and headed for the city, where General Alexander and company waited for us. Soon we were at a heavy defended forward command post surrounded by patrolling Servo-Skulls and Necron Drones.

The General was inside along with a large part of his retinue. Scipio-Ro-11 joined us before we could begin discussing the situation looking worse to wear. Half his Mechadendrites were missing, and while he wore a pristine brand-new robe, it did little to hide the stench of melted metal, burned oil, and scorched flesh.

"The doctrinal differences between the Mechanicus contingent on Kronus have been resolved. We're permanently down thirty-eight percent of our Tech-Priests, with fifteen more percent needing extensive maintenance. I regret to inform you of the loss of twenty percent of maintenance equipment and spare parts."

That could have gone better, or much worse for that matter.

General Alexander glared at me.

"Inquisitor, what were you thinking?" He demanded.

"That we couldn't afford fanatics among our Mechanicus contingent sabotaging us at the worst possible moment. Giving, leave to loyal Mechanicus elements to resolve their doctrinal issues themselves were the best option in my opinion."

"If necessary, our Scarab Drones can offer field maintenance and repair." The Necron Drone pipped up.

If I didn't know better which I didn't, in this case, I could swear that the modulated voice held more than a hint of amusement.

"Carrying on," Captain Thule cleared his throat aloud. The sound had more in common with a displeased large predator than anything that should leave human lungs. "What are we going to do about the Eldar?"

"An alliance of convenience has some merit. If nothing else, every single one of the bastards we can see and is out in the front, is one less Eldar causing havoc in our rear areas. At any rate, we'll have to leave even more security forces to cover Victory Bay than anticipated." I summarized.

"I concur." General Alexander grimaced. "Besides, every Eldar the traitors shoot at might mean they aren't shooting at one of my soldiers. That said, I'm not trusting them to uphold their part of the bargain."

"Then we should be ready to stab them in the back before they can do the same to us." Captain Thule calmly concluded.

"That's the standard operating procedure when dealing with Eldar, even the few friendly ones," I added. "Thoughts about the demon below the Eres Badlands?"

The Blood Raven's commander grimaced at that.

"The Chapter Master dispatched us here to recover various archeotech and Chapter Relics. A number of them are supposed to be somewhere in that region at the buried remains of Heresy Era battlefields."

"This information isn't filling me with confidence, Captain," Honestly, the Inquisition has begun investigations over much less.

"Is that the real reason why your Astartes shot at my people repeatedly?!" Alexander demanded.

He didn't roar his question, not quite. However, an Ork Warboss would have been proud to bellow like him.

Captain Thule stoically stared at us but refused to say anything more on that particular topic.

"We'll discuss that later." I interrupted the hostile staring match. "Demons, Necron Pylons, and our resident Blank." Said blank currently waited for us just outside munching on an MRE.

"Your suggestion sounds insane, Inquisitor." Alexander's chief Psyker said in a tired voice. "However, to the best of my knowledge, no one has had access to both a powerful Blank, and this kind of technology. Not at the same time and place anyway. It might work, or at least allow us to banish Daemons much easier than we have any right to."

"We should be able to test it," Macabee suggested.

"There's that. I'm sure the Heretics will be throwing all the demons they can at us. Can you get us at least a few mobile Pylons to play with?" I looked at the Drone.

"Multiple units are under construction and will be ready for deployment within eighteen standard hours. We'll need to protect them."

"We will. How do recent developments change our strategy?" I inquired.

The plans to assault the Deimos Peninsula would require some tweaks to incorporate the Eldar's "help", and account for the possibility of a massive Daemon incursion in the Eres Badlands.


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Part 8

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Morriah Bay

Kronus

The ambushes in the jungle were wildly successful. Brother-Sergeant Whent and his Blood Raven unit struck, again and again, always fading away. They kept breaking contact before the traitors could organize an overwhelming force at the point of contact. Light artillery and mines served well to break or at least slow down enemy force concentrations that might otherwise be proven problematic to handle. By the time enough assorted Traitors and Heretic gathered to push the Astartes away from the jungle, the Guard had set up forward defensive positions at the approaches to the Eres Badlands. What should have been a decisive attack from the Chaos forces met dug in infantry regiments, artillery, and an Armored Spearhead waiting for an opportunity to counter-attack.

The remnants of the traitor Regiment shattered upon the defenses and massed artillery scattered their reinforcements. Brother-Sergeant When and his Astartes received a few hours to rest, patch up their gear, and resupply, then it was back to the jungle for them. This time there were no ambushes but a widespread net of soldiers and Servo-Skulls meant to purge the region from enemy surprises and secure it as a logistics route for future operations.

Nothing was surprising there – while not precisely routine, Adeptus Astartes had been providing force multipliers for similar exercises for a long time while waiting for a mission that would properly warrant their specialized skills.

In this particular case, Whent's unit received new orders while they were in the middle of harassing a group of heavily armed mutants who were on the run.

"Targets in the open." The Sergeant reported. "Squishies. Coordinates…"

The mutants reached a nearby clearing just as ordnance whistled through the air and detonated above their heads. Blessed Promethium and red-hot shrapnel lanced down, slicing through thick fur, scales, and harder to identify surfaces, before bathing everything in cleansing flames.

"Headhunter One-One, Aquila Two. We have a new tasking for you. Our… allies," the female voice of the vox operator briefly faltered at using the term for a Xeno, "located ancient facility Traitor forces were attempting to breach. You're to proceed to the target with haste and secure it for Mechanicus and Inquisitorial examination. Transports are en route. You'll link with the Necron recon element at the following coordinates…"

"Aquila Two, Headhunter One-One, confirm tasking. Secure facility and do not engage Necron forces in the AO unless fired upon?" When asked just to make sure.

Frankly, as of late, events on Kronus had a bizarre turn of events, and something was telling him the world wouldn't start making sense again anytime soon.


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Aceria Forests

Kronus

Three hours later, and two run-down groups of traitors later, When's band of brothers arrived at their destination. Ancient thick forests covered the whole region, cut by a relatively small number of roads near the coast. To the north, he could barely see the mountain peaks where the Necron's primary stronghold on the planet hid. In the south, steep hills, and walls created a killing ground that cut through the primary road leading to the Deimos Peninsula.

The Astartes' destination was to the North West, hidden by thick trees. Some of them were beyond ancient, towering as silent guardians from the time of the Horus Heresy.

The area was anything but secure. Surviving enemy forces running from the Morriah Bay flooded it from the East, while small bands and traitor engineering parties swarmed from the South determined to turn the region into a death trap. Necron light forces and Drone Swarms rampaged throughout the forest, turning them into one giant battlefield.

Case in point, a few hundred black forms buzzed above the Rhino and Chimera Transport carrying the Astartes and their Guard Auxiliaries. Less than a minute later, the forest to the left went up in flame, and angry screeching revealed the presence of an unlucky Heretic band. Cracks of lightning heralded the insertion of heavier Necron forces, and soon the skirmish ended. About a hundred Drones came back and flew above the small convoy in escort formation. The proximity of the Xeno units made Whent's arms itch to grab his weapon and shoot them until there wasn't a single one left. He was sure his Brothers felt the same, and the regular humans with them had to be feeling much worse.

It was a relief when they reached a small clearing showing the sign of battle. Shattered trees, burned off the grass, pieces of Traitor Astartes including a crushed helmet sitting on its side in the middle of the glade. This had to be the Traitor unit that attempted to breach the facility.

"Disembark and stay frosty. Check your fire, and try not to shoot at our allies." Whent ordered despite what his decades of experience told him. The Xeno was the enemy as much as Traitors and Heretics. But not today. Or tomorrow.

The Astartes quickly spread out, using what little cover they could find, while the Guardsmen were still busily disembarking.

"The area is secure." One of the Necron Drones declared. "A heavy infantry squad is holding the entrance of the facility." It bobbed in the air and headed for the far end of the glade. "Follow."

"Emperor damned tin-can. Are the Auspexes clear?"

"We're barely detecting those things." A Guardsman grumbled and pointed at the Drones milling above them.

"No sign of combat effective enemy units." A Tech-Priest declared in a synthetic voice. Soon, two red-robed figures got out of a Chimera. Their mechadendrites flailed around, pointing equipment and weapons in all directions.

Streams of excited Binary followed, and Sergeant When knew that his mission just became that much more complicated.


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Victory Bay

Kronus

Late in the evening, I was back at the maintenance facility where the Cogboys and girls were supposed to be fixing up my gear. Recent events and the need to examine everything for nasty surprises pushed back the schedule a bit. On the bright side, there were now a lot more toys to play with lying around even though many of them needed repair and endless rites to re-consecrate them in the name of the Omnissiah.

I wasn't complaining. The purge I authorized Scipio to carry out netted me a lightly used Rosarius defensive field. Further, a few happy Cogboys were busy refurbishing and upgrading a set of carapace armor for me. If their excited beeping was anything to go by, I might be the best protected regular human in the army on Kronus, when they finished my armor.

At any rate, I didn't intend to charge headfirst into the fire this time around. Instead, the new plan required me to ride with the forces escorting the Necron Pylons and making sure that the Blank Munchkin would be safe and sound when the time to deal with Daemons came.

The girl sat on the edge of a nearby workbench and curiously looked at the Martians working around us. She was munching on dried fruit courtesy of Weber, who in turn was busy handling discipline issues.

Several heavy armored and armed Ogryns milled nearby. They were now parts of my retinue, in no small part because they didn't trust anyone else.

Things were looking up, which meant I might just live long enough to get shot by our reinforcements. That was a joyful development! Really!

"What about Alexandria or Alex?" I asked the kid who still refused to utter a single word if she could speak in the first place.

Now that I finally found myself with a bit of spare time, I decided that among other things, the kid finally needed a name.

She scrunched her nose and kept munching on a piece of fruit.

"Perhaps Selene? Or Selena, whatever you prefer? It means silent in an old dialect. It fits you." I tried again in exasperation. We've been at this for the last half-hour. At least it was enough of distraction to keep everyone on their toes while the Tech-Priests measured the kid for her bean-sized armor.

She turned her head to look at me and smiled, showing two rows of teeth covered in chunks of fruit.

"Selene it is then. Or is it Selena?"

The girl raised a single finger then returned her attention to the fruit. Her eyes followed the light-show provided by the working Martians, and she proceeded to ignore me.

"Selene. It suits you." I nodded. And now I had to get some paperwork filled up on her behalf.

"Se-le-ne!" One of the Ogryns repeated slowly and grinned. "I like it!"

"Then you're going to be keeping her safe." No good deed goes unpunished in the Emperor's Guard. I should know.

"We will!" The other Ogryn nodded happily.

Predictably, the brief period of peace and quiet suddenly ended.

"Lord Inquisitor, our advance forces found something you should know about!" A young Tech-Priest ran into the room. He was mostly human with almost no visible bionics or cybernetics.

"There's a still operational Zeus class relay and control station at the Aceria Forests. Magos Explorator Gauis reports that we should have full control of the facilities soon!"

All the Martians halted whatever they were doing. They turned around to look at the kid who flushed under the attention.

"That's great?" Right?

The rapid streams of Binary that followed pointed at this probably being something major or the Cogboys being themselves. Then, the kid said something that got my undivided attention, even though the Binary chants mostly swallowed them.

"Say again?" I demanded aloud.

"At least five still active orbital bombardment platforms!" The young Cogboy blurted out. "Magos Explorator Gaius believes he will have the Machine Spirits placated soon, and we should have control of the orbital weapons then!"

Well, I didn't see this one coming. However, I could see why everyone was so happy, even though my newfound joy was likely for a different reason. If even one of those platforms was still armed and operational, it would make our lives much easier!


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