Shadow of a Doubt
Chapter 9
Commander Kyreg looked at the Astartes gathered in front of him and nodded approvingly. "Congratulations, brothers." As one, the five newly war plated legionnaires slammed their armoured gauntlets against their breastplate in salute. "Brother Xyrin, you will be joining Sergeant Lefias as a lascannon gunner. I believe your aim will make his squad feared by any armour that dares step into your sighs." The new Legionnaire bowed as he cradled the lascannon in his hands. "The rest of you, you will form a new squad, the Ladon Squad under the newly promoted Sergeant Fratis. He is an experienced legionnaire, although new to his post as Sergeant. He was one of the original Legionnaires that hail from Terra itself. Heed his words and you will reap glory untold in the Emperors name." Stormeagles with full stealth shieldings had flown the exchange earlier, with Sergeant Lefias muttering while shaking his former squad mate and the new Sergeants hand.
The other legionnaires bowed while the newly promoted Sergeant Fratis stood beside Kyreg. "Sergeant. It has been a long time coming for your promotion. I know that you will do the 8th and the Emperor proud." The Sergeant bowed his head, the newly commissioned power sword decorated with the squad insignia of a blue dragon on the hilt. On the new legionnaires, each wore a newly bestowed power dagger as well as powers words taken out of storage. These power swords were all from the time of the Great Crusade, kept in storage from fallen battle brothers. The legionnaires also had their heads shaved and their facial structure surgically altered like all the veterans on board.
"Ladon is new, and untested that is true. But you have all entered the crucible of battle previous. Sergeant Fratis, you have always stood firm as both a member of the Taleon heavy support team as well as one of our Lernaeans. Brothers, you have all been blooded in the name of the Emperor both here and on the countless other planets before. I have faith in you. Sergeant, Ladon is dismissed for now but remain behind." The new legionnaires filed out while Fratis remained behind and unlocked his helmet to reveal a cheery smile on his face. Kyreg looked at his smile for a moment before shaking his head. "You always manage to be such a cheerful bastard Fratis. Mold your squad well, we have been in need of more Seekers." The Sergeant laughed and nodded at his Commander. "I have to be cheerful Lord, since you're almost as miserable as the Death Guard." Kyreg snickered a little at the Sergeants words. "Anyone would be miserable if they had a limp sack of pus for brains."
"What will you have us do? I've reviewed the training record of Sergeant Yingr and he was quite thorough. He has kept Nathun with him as an apprentice. He said that the new battle brother is an excellent intelligence operative. The others, he has listed their weaknesses and their skills." The new Sergeant clamped his stalker bolter at his side as he examined a map of Tythen V. "As they are all newly battle plated, I think that it is best for now for you to follow Xythos in operation." Kyreg replied as he began to mark various locations that he had discovered as loyalist positions, the few remaining ones on the planet. "What about the Inquisitor, Commander?" Is it wise allowing her back onto her own ship and her crew?" Kyreg nodded at the question. "I believe it will be perfectly fine. Of course it helped that we took precautions.. and her vessel is still docked by ours. The Gamma 6-7 have it under control. For now I believe it is perfectly secure." The Sergeant nodded and clasped his gauntlet onto his chest, the salute of the old Legion. "By your leave then Commander. I believe Ladon and I have much work to do still." Kyreg nodded before the Sergeant turned and walked out. He had high hopes for the new squad. Fratis was an excellent candidate, the veteran battle brother having been groomed by Lefias for years to take over as a squad leader. However due to the issues in recruiting for the 8th, they can only promote small groups of initiates at the time. The intricate training process and the experience that was needed forced the elevation of an initiate to a full battle brother to be a slow one. However the quality was not something that Kyreg nor Sergeant Yingr had been willing to compromise on.
Kyreg would hit the vox again. "Chief Apothecary." The reply came back almost instantly. "Yes Commander?" The Centurion was an excellent Chief Apothecary, having previously served as the apothecary of the 8th Shroud's elite Trideris veteran company. "The geneseeds discovered from the Outpost. What is their usability rate? And how are our other aspirants reacting so far?" The geneseeds had all been taken from the outpost and sent out to the Kilo Zeta in order to properly assess them. "We have had to get rid of five sets of geneseeds. The others can all be used, and can be added to our geneforge storage." Kyreg sighed lightly with relief. "That's excellent then. The other twenty five sets can be used then?"
"That is correct Commander. We do not have twenty five aspirants but we have the capacity now to create more." The reply came with a hopeful tone. The strike cruiser itself was made for an entire company of Legionnaires but it was housed by barely four squads and serfs now. There were more aspirants who have been implanted but so far were still undergoing training and were therefore not combat effective. "Good. Keep me appraised. We have elevated new battle brothers and that means Sergeant Yingr will need more aspirants to train and mold." Striking from multiple directions meant little if you lacked the people to conduct such strikes.
At that moment, there was a loud knocking on the door and a loud yelling from the other side. "Damn you Kyreg, open the door." It was the voice of Inquisitor Laneth although it was upset from distress rather than anger, the Legionnaire Commander noted. He would walk to the door and opened it to see the Inquisitor standing there with an ear bead along with the Krieg Watchmaster that seemed to accompany her whenever she went. The Krieg Watchmaster oddly did not have much of a reaction at their capture by Alpha Legionnaires, only nodding after being told of the 8th affiliation, understanding perhaps due to the unique history of Krieg itself. "Inquisitor. If you think that your rosette holds any real power here, I would suggest that you re-think that idea…" Kyreg would state loudly although not unkindly, simply a reminder that they were not the Adeptus Astartes that she was used to dealing with. Behind the two members of the Inquisition was Ulyr who had his weapons clamped to his armour, his helmet off while his face wore an amused expression.
"Commander, I tried to stop her but she insisted that she had the right to speak to you. I figured that you would prefer I escort her to the meeting room rather than to execute her on the spot." The legionnaire said with an amused look on his face. The Inquisitor turned around and gave him a look that could have blown a hole through a land raider before turning around to look at Kyreg again. "You said to me that you are loyal to the Emperor, Commander. You showed me your memories, and you showed me what the space marines were meant to be. Now you need to prove it to me. I have agents, and they need to be extracted. Kyreg looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a questioning expression on his face. "Inquisitor, my loyalty is to the Emperor and the Golden Throne. Do not think yourself above your station, you are not a representative of Him. That is folly that is punishable by death." The Inquisitor clenched her jaws and glared at him. "Damn you Kyreg, this is not one of your jokes. I have agents who have been compromised, and I need them back alive." Kyreg turned his head slightly and looked at her as he would walk towards a dais near the opposite end of the room. "And what do we get in return?" Laneth sighed softly and stared at him. "What do you want?" Kyreg thought about it for a moment. "Nothing. There is nothing you have that can be of offer to me Inquisitor. Remember that." The inquisitor stared at him in surprise as Kyreg would exit the room through another door, leaving her to stew as Ulyr walked off as well, his laughter echoing in the hallways as Laneth could only glare at the legionnaires walking off in impotent rage.
Lorhenge
"Moving!" The veteran Elysian Sergeant yelled out as he quickly moved out of cover behind the small vehicle and dived for the entrance of a small store front, hard auto rounds ricocheting off around him as he curled up as small as he could. Further down the street, Troiey was firing off carefully aimed single shots with his auto pistol, a small compact pistol that had a double stacked magazine which provided for sufficient firepower even if the former Arbite wished he had a bolt pistol right now. Just ahead of him ducking behind another vehicle, Silas was on a knee carrying an automatic auto pistol with a wire stock firing a burst of armour piercing rounds every so often. Cyprus checked his las pistol as the fusillade aimed at his position lessened and he would tilt his body just slightly out of from behind the door frame and snapped off a flurry of las bolts at the advancing white uniformed Bloodsworn troops. "We need to get the fuck out of here Troiey, I really don't want a bunch of Slaaneshi cultists fucking my corpse or something like that." The former drop trooper said even as he leaned back into the cover of the doorway to reload his laspistol. Silas sighed a little bit at the soldiers words even as he leaned out and almost casually cut down two advancing enemy soldiers with a quick seven round burst from his assault pistol. "You worry too much darling, if we're dead then who cares what they do." Troiey grimaced at the assassins words and leaned out to blast solid rounds down the street before dashing for another doorway and throwing himself behind it.
"Fuck it, let's leave Silas behind. He's the pretty one, they can have their fun gangbanging him until they get bored. We'll be at least a few hours ahead of them." Cyprus stated over the voxbead as he made a quick dash as well for an alleyway opening, ducking behind it just in time to avoid a long burst of stubber fire. "Well at least you called me pretty." Silas would reply with boredom even as he reloaded the assault pistol and brought it back up to stitch the stub gunner with a dozen armour piercing rounds. Troiey snorted a little bit while gesturing for the assassin to move as well. Silas would sprint past Troiey and gracefully dive over what used to be a street merchants market stall, kicking down the heavy metal stand that used to hold merchandise onto the ground for cover and ducked behind it. "We need to find a plan. At this rate, we'll be out of ammunition pretty quickly." Acknowledgements came in even as Troiey shook his head at what had gone wrong.
It was a rather simple intelligence gathering mission, they had been hanging around a tavern listening in onto a conversation between various military officers without any issues until a Bloodsworn patrol had entered the place. They weren't going to cause any issues until one of them had sat down next to Silas and made a pass at him. Silas reacted with disgust which promptly caused the others to get suspicious. Worshippers of Slaanesh were hardly picky when it came to such things as what the soldier had proposed to the assassin. That had gone horribly wrong. Next thing you know, Cyprus and Troiey were kicking over tables to use as cover while Silas had drawn two combat blades and dancing through the soldiers while dicing them into ribbons.
"Frak it. Silas, lay down heavy fire. Cyprus, you and I are gonna attack. Let's see if we can't stop their advance and cut them down." A quick blip of acknowledgement came from the veteran Sergeant as a reply while Silas loaded a drum magazine onto the assault pistol. Where the assassin had kept it, Troiey didn't want to know. He reloaded his auto pistol and waited for a few moments. The Bloodsworn troops started advancing closer and closer before Silas finally opened fire while Troiey and Cyprus both threw fragmentation grenades down the street. Two loud crumps followed while Silas emptied his drum magazine into the cultist troops, his auto pistol smoking as it sprayed a wall of lead towards the ones not smart enough to get into cover. Even before the assault pistol ran out of ammunition, Troiey and Cyprus had started to advance, both experienced gunfighters easily firing accurate kill shots while on the move. The two both hit the front line hard, charging over barricades as the former Arbite drew a shock maul while Cyprus revealed a rather nasty looking chain dagger that he stuck into the throat of an doubled over cultist who had bleeding sockets instead of eyes from the fragmentation grenades earlier. Troiey slammed his maul down onto a cultists hand, stopping him from raising his auto rifle before blowing his brain out with a single round from his pistol. Cyprus stuck his chain dagger through another opponents chest and reeled him in, pulling him close and using him as a mobile shield while he fired one handed with his las pistol at the other cultists. The sound of a stubbers action being cocked back prompted both men to duck down amongst the bodies for cover while a second later, the loud crack of the automatic weapon could be heard, the stubber rounds ripping into the corpses the two Inquisitorial agents were using as cover. Before the gunner could take real advantage of the situation and spray more rounds into the corpses at the two agents, Silas fired a three round burst into the cultists head, spraying the soldiers brains onto the concrete streets.
"Frak me, you're an Emperor damn poof but at least you're a dead eye shot." The Elysian Sergeant called out as he rolled up onto his feet with his las pistol held in a two handed grasp, the chain dagger having been sheathed back into his belt. "You want me to frak you? Maybe later darling." Silas replied with a smirk on his somehow still flawless face while Troiey got up much less gracefully, a stub round having ripped through the flak reinforced trench coat he wore and tore a nasty gash on his side. "You two can flirt later, we need to get out of dodge now." Ignoring the protests from Cyprus and the amused laughter of the effeminate assassin, he began moving as fast as he could, his side flaring every time he took a step forward. "Oh shit, you're hit Lamber." The Elysian would wave for him to stop, before checking the wound quickly. "If we don't die, we'll get you a bandage or something. We're not carrying any field gear." The Interrogator growled a little bit, and then grimaced, the wound slowly clotting but still bleeding through his shirt. "IF we live through it." The assassin chimed in as he kept the assault pistol aimed down the street as he joined them. "The only thing I can think of right now is to head towards the industrial area and get our hands on a vehicle then get the frak out of here." Troiey said as he holstered his pistol, his left hand reaching into his pocket and checking the communicator again. No message from the Inquisitor, she had replied an hour ago and said she might have some help for them. She wasn't the type to leave her people to die which is why Troiey had been so loyal to her throughout the years but with the planet overrun by Slaaneshi cultists, the Interrogator wondered just what kind of help they could get.
They managed to reach the industrial district a few hours later thanks to a detailed map that had been downloaded when they got on planet onto a data slate and the various back streets and alleyways even as quite a few Bloodsworn patrols could be seen looking for something. Silas had found an old truck and they had piled in, the Elysian choosing to drive it as Silas had the weapon with more firepower and the Interrogator needing to be looked at more thoroughly for his injuries. "You're going to need surgery dear, there are some shell fragments from the stubber. Must have come off from the jacket of the bullet they were firing, that's why it's not clotting." The assassin stated as he examined the wound carefully. "I don't have the supplies to pull them out though." Cyprus had taken the truck to near the outskirts without any issues until they saw the check point up ahead manned by a squad of cultists and two stub guns. They had almost missed them due to the mist all around this area of the city, moving forward and almost right at the checkpoint. The cultist leader would wave them forward, and Cyprus clenching his jaws a little bit before hitting the gas hard and ramming through the light gate they had set up, a flurry of auto rounds and stub rounds spraying into the side of the truck.
"Shit shit shit they had a gas line or something." Cyprus yelled out as he looked down at the fuel meter slowly moving downwards. He gunned the engine again and made it about three hundred meters before the truck shut down, its fuel now all gone having leaked through a hole in the gas tank made by a stub round. The three dismounted the truck, each hiding behind one of the tires as the axels of the truck provided the most solid cover. "Well it looks like this is it." Cyprus looked over at Troiey as he ducked back behind one of the tires after peeking out. More cultists had joined them and started firing at them, stub rounds and auto rounds pinging off the under carriage and ricocheting over the solid steel frame while the other rounds would punch small holes into the actual body of the truck. Silas shrugged casually as he leaned out slightly and fired an entire fifty round drum in a single burst, stitching the cultist positions back and forth for a few seconds before the pistol clicked on empty. "Well that's it for me, I'm empty." Troiey checked his auto pistol and fired off the rest of his magazine and sighed. "I'm empty as well." Cyprus look at the two of them and put in his last charge pack for his pistol and fired off las bolts carefully, taking aim to try and make each shot a kill shot before his trigger pulled the finger and nothing came out, only a small red light flashing a few times on his pistol. "Empty of charge as well. It's been a pleasure, gents." Troiey nodded and drew his shock maul. Silas drew both his combat blades and Cyprus twirled the chain dagger in his right hand expertly. "It'll be down to blood and guts then for us. I always figured I'd die because of sorcery or something, not from Silas refusing a man for the first time in his life." The former drop trooper stated with a grin on his face, while Troiey chortled at that. Silas gave him an unamused look and stretched out his limps while the enemy got closer and closer.
All of a sudden the gunfire stopped as the cultist soldiers began to drop from an unseen saviour of some kind. From the smoke filled fields, suppressed bolt rounds whizzed through the opaque wisps, each round detonating without a noise inside the chest and heads of the various Bloodsworn soldiers there. There was a scream every so often as a cultist met his end at the hands of a dagger thrust underneath his rib cage and stabbed upwards into his vitals viciously, his killer dropping his corpse on the ground before stalking away. Silas leaned his head out slightly to take a quick peek before moving his head back behind cover. "I don't see anything. I just see corpses." He would hiss out quietly. Troiey and Cyprus both peeked out and saw what he saw. Corpses, some with exploded body parts and others that could only be described as butchered. The three of them tightened their grips on their edged weapons and gritted their teeth. Something just look out an entire company of cultist troops and they weren't sure if that something was on their sides or not.
"You should put those away. You'd only hurt yourselves." A deep voice said from beside them. Cyprus as a reaction quickly transferred his chain dagger to his left hand and stabbed outwards only to have his wrist caught by an armoured gauntlet and had the long end of a suppressor shoved none too gently into his chest. The three of them looked and gasped slightly as they saw an Astarte with his armour covered up by a cameoline cloak, three other attired just like the one that had caught the drop troopers attack appeared in front of them with their customized bolters pointed at them. Silas looked at them and quietly put his blades back while Troiey grunted a little as he realised their situation and placed his maul back into its sheath in his trench coat. Cyprus looked at the Astarte who had his hand caught and muttered something about ghosts before dropping the chain dagger onto the ground. The Astarte withdrew his bolter and picked up the chain dagger, looking at it for a moment before placing it in front of the former Sergeant with an amused chuckle. "A fine weapon. Cyprus, odd hair cut. Troiey, bald. Looks like a woman, Silas. Right?" The three mortals looked at each other in surprise with just a slight insulted look on their faces. "I will take that as a yes." The Astarte turned his head, Cyprus noticing that it was probably a vox transmission of some sort before suddenly a dusk blue gunship appeared in the middle of the sky above them and landed. "Emperor on Terra who the frak are these guys." He muttered.
Kilo Zeta
"What do you mean they're Alpha Legion? How the frak are you standing there so calmly Laneth." Troiey yelled out in surprise, the Inquisitor having collected her entourage inside a large room with bunk beds and a few desks that seemed to be the allocated living quarters for the Inquisition faction on board. "Lower your voice Troiey. I don't know who they are. I don't trust them as far as you can throw a Carnifax –." "I unno Inquisitor, a few more shots of stimms and muscle growth hormones and .. sorry." Cyprus looked at the glaring Inquisitor and the Interrogator and quickly shut up, looking at his hands with sudden interest. "But I don't think they are aligned with the ruinous powers." The Inquisitor continued, aiming another power sword sharp glare at the Elysian acolyte before turning her attention back towards Troiey. "Have we sold our souls to the devil Inquisitor? Are we to turn radical?" The assassin had some how found a way to lounge himself on four chairs he had put beside each other. "No, I think and don't ask me how I know this, but I think they're loyal to the Emperor." The others all looked over at the Watchmaster who shrugged at them blankly. They had expected the Kreig Watchmaster to have tried to storm the bridge and detonate the cruiser in the name of the Emperor. "There's no mutation, corruption. They are… the Astartes from the times before. From the times of the Legions." The Inquisitor continued. "They showed me. Their commander, he showed me his memories, some of them anyway. He showed me enough to believe that they're no friends of ours but they're no enemies either." Troiey sighed softly and placed a clenched fist in his lap, looking down for a moment. "Isn't this what happened to Eisenhorn and Ravenor?" He replied sadly. The moment that the Inquisitor had asked the Alpha Legionnaires on board for help, he knew that they would be hunted down and captured, and tortured ruthlessly for any scrap of information in regards to them.
"I did what I had to do, to make sure the three of you were extracted." The Inquisitor answered, although a look in her eyes gave Troiey the answer to the question he had asked. "I do not know if this is what happened to those Inquisitors. I just know that I had a few choices." She answered and fidgeted with the rings on her hands. Her weapons had oddly been given back to her, and no attempts had been made to disarm the newly recovered Inquisition agents. Cyprus knew that it was because they stood no chance even if they attacked. Even if they managed to kill one of the Astartes, they would still not get off of this ship alive. According to the Inquisitor, their strike cruiser was under the firm control of a group of human soldiers that answered to the Alpha Legion commander. "Then what do we do next Inquisitor?" Cyprus asked as he looked at the group gathered there. "We do what we need to do Cyprus. This planet still needs to be freed from the grasp of the arch traitors, and I believe that the legionnaires on board are willing to assist us."
"At what cost? What is the price we will have to pay for their assistance then?" Troiey asked as he clasped his hands together, clenching his thumbs against each other out of frustration and a bit of nervousness. The only ones that seemed undisturbed was Silas, which was not surprising and the Watchmaster, which was rather shocking. "I don't understand still Veimeer, how you haven't been screaming battle cries and shooting at everyone you see." Cyprus asked, looking at the Krieg grenadier curiously. Watchmaster Veimeer shrugged slightly. "Their loyalty to the Emperor is no different than the same one that the planet of Krieg owe to the Emperor. Most of their legions have thrown their lot in with the ruinous powers but they have not. I have fought traitor legionnaires, and not a single one of them have shown themselves to be so… pure." The Krieg soldier shrugged again. "The traitor marines I have fought have been monsters. Terrible creatures corrupted by the warp, their bodies having spent such a long time in the eye of terror that they can no longer take their armours off, their bodies having been fused with suits of power armour corrupted by the raw energy of chaos itself." Silas yawned at the Watchmasters words. "You are so technical, Veimeer. It's so.. boring." The assassin stretched again and took on another lounging pose while the Inquisitor looked at him with a slight sigh. "Veimeer is right. I do not sense any difference between being in their presence and being in the presence of loyalist Astartes. Their leader reminds me of.. well. He reminds me a bit of a Space Marine Captain I once met from the Mentors Chapter." Cyprus gestured for her to go on, as he felt that this was leading somewhere important.
"I called him a traitor after they had seized the cruiser. He laughed at me and asked me why, so I told him it was because he was a member of a traitor legion. He asked me if I thought that the scions of the traitor legions did not exist anymore and I told him of course not. The loyal Astartes were created only from the loyalist Legions that stayed loyal to the Emperor and the Imperium of Man. He told me, that with everything that has been forgotten by the Imperium, where even the High Lords of Terra had forgotten what happened after the Heresy, what makes me think that labels had not disappeared, been forgotten. Sudden stashes of geneseeds found and used. That makes me think, what had happened to the geneseeds? They're supposed to be locked away and never once used again. But why were they not destroyed. How many Chapters are there, that do not know of their parentage. How many of them have used the traitorous geneseeds and not even realised it." The others looked at the Inquisitor and thought about it as well. "I suppose that all we can do is to see what we can best do at the end of the day. We can't fight our way out and they saved our hides for some reason. What deal did you strike with them Inquisitor to save our lives?" Cyprus asked her as Troiey looked even more disturbed than before.
"There was no deal. I didn't even realise they were going to save you. I had asked. But their commander had laughed, had told me that I had nothing to offer them and walked away from me. It was only later that I found out from Veimeer that they had approached him and asked him. He told them where you guys might be and they tracked your vox signals that Veimeer gave them. When I asked their Commander why he was doing this when I had nothing to offer him at all… well. He simply answered that Duty was owed only to the Emperor." Veimeer nodded at the Inquisitors answer. Troiey looked at the door as he thought about the Inquisitors answer. "I don't know what to think Inquisitor. I'm still cautious. I'm still worried. But if you don't feel that they are traitors, then I will follow your lead. After all, we're all damned anyways the moment we got captured."
"I'm glad you have such a positive opinion Interrogator." Commander Kyreg stated as he walked through the door. The inquisition retinue all turned and stared at him, Veimeer oddly enough bowing slightly. The Legionnaire officer had his helmet off as was usual for him. Troiey stood up and walked up to the Astarte, looking at him for a moment. "If you're going to attack Interrogator, it is usually advised to carry a weapon when you go up against one of the Emperors legionnaires." The Commander would say to him with an amused look on his face. "No. I just wish to say, thank you. I don't trust you Alpha legionnaire, and I don't believe I ever will. But I do believe that I should thank you." The Commander had a slightly interested look on his face as he nodded. "If you wish to thank someone Interrogator, thank the Emperor. The Emperor Expects, Interrogator." The Commander answered before walking past him to stand in front of the Inquisitor and her staff. Troiey looked at him gaping slightly for a moment before sitting back down.
"Inquisitor. The Eldar are on the planet and the arch traitors are heading towards them in full force. Even worse news than that, another traitor vessel just emerged from the warp and are heading towards the planet. I believe it is time that you started to contribute." Kyreg looked at her and the other acolytes pointedly. The Inquisitor sighed and rubbed her fingers over her temples. "What do you have in mind then Commander?" She asked as she looked back at the Astarte.
"I have my own plans Inquisitor. I can however place two loyalist PDF companies under your command for you to use." He replied. The Inquisitorial staff looked at the legionnaire in surprise. "My men and I have rescued quite a few loyalist PDF units and finally grouped them together into two infantry companies. They have been given proper weapons and equipment and more training so they should serve you well." "Why would you save them Astarte? What care do you have for mortal lives?" Troiey asked him.
"Why would Astartes not have a care for mortal lives, Troiey? We were created by the Emperor to bring the Great Crusade and the Imperial Truth to the stars. This galaxy belongs to Man, Interrogator. The stars themselves owe fealty to us. Why would I not have any cares for mortal lives? The Legions were made so that humanity can finally throw off the shackles of the long night and finally be united with a clear purpose in service to the Emperor. We are weapons made for that purpose. Some of the different legions, even your beloved loyalists believe that we are here to rule over man. The sons of Guilliman have their own empire carved out, the Empire of Five hundred worlds. Your space marine Chapters rule over individual planets like they are lords and nobility. They have forgotten why we were made in the first place, and that was to fight for humanity. Millennia ago, the Legions travelled the stars in hundreds of thousands and liberated human worlds from xenos and witches. Even Horus the traitor Warmaster knew that at one point, that we were not made to rule. We were made to war. What is the point of fighting if every mortal life in the galaxy has been extinguished through carelessness? The Emperor expects, Interrogator Lamber."