Shadow of a Doubt
Chapter 23
The civilians who surrounded him all looked at him with wonder, Kyreg clamping his stalker bolter at his side as he looked down at a man who walked in front of him and stared at him. "Are you the one that we have been praying for?" The man asked, cradling the solid slug hunting rifle in his arms. Kyreg shook his head. "No I am not. What have you been praying for?" The man slung the rifle over his shoulder and sighed gently. "Salvation, sir. Salvation from the creature that attacks our village, and eats us. We have tried to fight back but our rifles do nothing against its thick hide. All we can do is hide, and pray for it to feed quickly and leave." Kyreg nodded for a moment. "Who were you praying to?" The man looked at the Astarte as if he was an idiot. "The Emperor of course. We pray to him daily for salvation, for protection. We know that we are far from Terra but we hope that our words will reach him on the Golden Throne." The Sisters behind Kyreg all bowed their head at the mention of the Emperor. Kyreg merely grunted and walked towards the center of the village where he would stand, and waited. If it is a creature that preys on humans, it could be anything. It could be a tyranid strain or even a Kroot. The Sisters marched up and formed a line behind him but standing at least five feet away, there to guard his rear more than anything else.
As the sun set, the villagers began to move back into their homes, fires being put out as the light dimmed even further, especially in the thick foliage covered skies which seemed to shelter the lands from the brightest of lights. Soon steps could be heard coming towards the village, with occasional loud roars that seemed to resonate in ones ribcages, the sound producing pure terror to almost everyone. For the dusk blue armoured figure, his response was quite simple. He stood and he waited, this was to be a fight to show the village his might, to bring them onto his side. Without the necessary victory, they would not be useful to him. Win Hearts through courage, Win Minds through honour.
The creature approached, a six legged reptilian creature almost eight feet tall with three long necks, each head had a snake like appendage with rows of razor sharp fangs, hissing at Kyreg who faced his opponent without any reservation. All he did was to undo his helmet, and hold it out where one of the Sisters would take it as safeguard before he drew his power dagger. The creature attacked, his three heads each whipping their opened mauls towards the legionnaire, hoping to grab him to hold him in place while the other heads would rip him apart. However, Kyreg simply jumped onto the head that snapped at him and held on as it rear his head, roaring into the jungle. One hand gripping the back of the creature's neck, as he slammed the power dagger into the back of its skull. Thick black blood would pour out, hissing with toxins as he kept stabbing before that head would fall down towards the dirt floor. Leaping off, he would land on the creatures back, the remaining two heads roaring in pain and snapping at him again, one of them would actually grab him by the leg and picked him up. Kyreg held on, his power armour easily holding off the creatures fangs at bay before he would punch a ceramite fist into one of the creatures eye, the head roaring in annoyance and rage before dropping him down onto its back. Landing in a tight roll, Kyreg quickly rolled back onto his feet and charged the creatures head. As the center head lunged in again, he grabbed onto the back of its head tightly before stabbing the dagger through the creatures eye, the power dagger slicing through tissue and bone easily before ending up with the dagger point embedded in its brain. For the last one, Kyreg drew his phase sword and parried a lunging strike by the last remaining head, and swung down viciously, severing the creatures spine. As it fell down onto the ground, Kyreg would take a step back to give himself more thrusting room before stabbing it through the creatures heart, the tough scaled hide not even slowing down the deep stab of the weapon, the tip of the sword destroying the tissues in its heart.
As the creature would fall down towards the earth collapsing with a final roar from its throat, Kyreg leapt off the creatures back and rolled onto the ground, getting up and brushing off black blood and leaves from his power armour, his phase sword held high in front of him ready to strike again just in case the creature was not quite finish. With a few more thrashes, the creature collapsed on the ground, its blood draining out of the fatal thrust through its heart as it finally died. Kyreg grimaced a little as he walked towards the creature, his phase blade finally sheathed before placing a hand on the tough hide of the creature. A three headed scaled beast, almost like a hydra. If he was superstitious, he would see this planet as a sign. Perhaps it would be a sign that the planet should be taken over by the 8th. Of course none of this crossed his mind at the moment, although he would gesture for the Sisters to give him a hand as he would drag the creature back into the small settlement. The man from previous looked up at him in awe as he saw the creatures corpse killed and went down on a knee in front of Kyreg. "Truly you are whom we have prayed for." Kyreg shook his head and looked at the creature. "The Emperor protects. I would have your name."
"I am Evaristas of Delphi." Kyreg looked at the man for a moment. "And where is Delphi?" The man gestured towards west of the small village. "Delphi is the city which holds rule over this village. You are standing in the village of Sancretis, one of the six villages that surround Delphi." Kyreg nodded for a moment and re-oriented his map in his helmet, his tactical display revealing that Delphi was about two hours away by vehicle and there were six settlements around it, listed as less than one thousand people and therefore not named, only given coordinates. "Very well. Have the creature skinned, I wish for its hide to be taken as a trophy." Evaristas bowed in assent before Kyreg turned and tilted his head slightly towards Catriona. She stepped forward and he would point towards the city. "I don't think the target is the city, Sister. I believe there is something else on this planet that we must look into before we can plot a specific route towards anything." She nodded in agreement and looked around at the village. "I think it's best that we leave this place at once and make camp in the thick jungles. We cannot trust that the village does not have eyes."
Inquisition Prison 4993
The Word Bearer Thunderhawks touched down over the large obsidian structure, a massive cylindrical building three stories high but with multiple levels underground. Camouflaged anti-aircraft weapon systems were firing on full auto, the Hydra Flak tanks launching a steady stream of autocannon rounds from their quad barrelled turrets. The Thunderhawks shrugged it off easily, it's deadly payload being offloaded and forming a firing line who opened fire. The crimson coloured chaos space marines unloaded bolter shells as well as rockets into the positions around the facility manned by black uniformed Inquisitional Scions, each armed with hotshot las rifles as well as a well-rounded mixture of plasma cannons and heavy bolters set into sand bagged trenches and other defensive positions. One by one, the Hydra Flak tanks were destroyed, rockets turning the armoured vehicles into burning wreckages of twisted metal and burnt flesh.
Iconoclast Nusku looked with satisfaction as the first layer of defences was destroyed, his elite Octaivan troops advancing steadily with bolters smoking. He had been tasked by the Ashfanged to create a bridgehead and destroy the defences set here, and he would follow the order as if it came from the blessed lips of Lorgar himself. Behind him advanced a steady stream of human troops, the Severagn who were the devoted mortal troops of the Ashwarped. With a gesture, rockets and grenades impacted against the buildings main door, blowing it wide open in bright blasts of explosions as well as the beams of return fire from inside. With a steadfast coldness, the Severagn advanced into the building in well drilled and disciplined units that began to pour on steady fire on the Inquisitional Scions still inside the building. Hotshot las bolts seared off limbs and struck right through the steel plates of the body armour that the Severagn troops wore, but they still advanced. In grey gas masks and crimson helmets, the grey uniformed cultists kept advancing as they poured on fire into the Scion positions who began to fall back bit by bit. With a roar, bayonets were fixed as cultists began surging into the Inquisitional Scion positions. While the Scions were skilled in deadly head to hand combat, as well being the elite of the Inquisitions human troops, they were no match for the sheer numbers and the insane devotion of the mortal cultists. With cries of worship to the four ruinous powers, bayonets were rammed through the soft spots on the sides of the Scions who stood fast and provided the rear guard, numbers began to take their toll.
Soon the last member of the rear guard fell, a bayonet rammed through the soft spot of his throat, the blade slide in as numerous cultists held the Tempestus Scion down who screamed his last words of hate towards the invaders while the cultist officer slowly and carefully pushed the blade through, twisting it in a sickening crunch as blood vessels and cartilages were destroyed. They would begin to advance even further until the loud roar of bolter fire detonated amongst the advancing first ranks. Clad in red armour, Sergeant Denhigh raised his chainsword forward as the nine Astartes behind him advanced with bolters, plasma guns and heavy bolters firing steadily into the human ranks. The Exorcist Marines advanced steadily, their weapons blaring as casings steadily hit the ground. Reloading swiftly and with the practiced ease of veterans, the ten Marines locked their weapons onto their armours, with the exception of the Marine carrying the heavy bolter and chainswords were drawn, revving as they charged. It was in that instant that it was shown just why Astartes were superior to mortal troops in every which way as blood sprayed over the walls and the floors. The revving razor sharp fangs of the chainswords cut through flesh and bone, sending body parts sprawling over the floor. Sergeant Denhigh grabbed a cultist officer and lifted him up by his throat before crushing his armoured gauntlet over the man's throat, dropping his corpse onto the ground even as he swung with his right arm and sent his chainsword slashing through the now retreating ranks of the cultist troops.
Even as the cultists retreated, the Astartes of Kaliver squad kept advancing relentlessly, their counter attack pushing the invading chaos worshippers back all the way to the hole they had blown through the main door. Some fired back, their las bolts doing little more than leaving small miniscule burn marks on the red armour of the Exorcists who stepped outside to see Nusku and his Octaivan troops. The two groups of Astartes looked at each other for a moment before the both sides opened fire. Bolter shells detonated against power armour as the two ceramite armoured squads clashed, the human troops both Scion and Severagn retreating away from the firefight between the two groups of Astartes but even the Exorcists were forced to retreat back slowly as more Word Bearers landed behind the Octaivan. The raptors shrieked into the air as they advanced beside the Octaivan, their flamers pouring long streams of burning promethium towards the loyalist Astartes. While their heavy bolter gunner returned fire and took down quite a few of the chaos assault marines, the combined fire began to take its toll as two of the red armoured giants fell to the ground dead, their helmets blown apart by bolter rounds and plasma blasts. Nusku grinned underneath his helmet and ordered a charge, the axe rakes of the Octaivan elite chaos marines revving as the Exorcists were forced to stop and hold the line to stop their advance. Razor sharp teeth bit into ceramite or slammed into the teeth of a revving loyalist chainsword but while the Exorcists were all veteran Astartes, they were unable to hold against the combined assault of the Octaivan and the Word Bearer Raptors who took cruel delight in attaching a melta bomb to Sergeant Denhigh before detonating it, turning the veteran Sergeant into a burst of ash and chunks of ceramite clattering against the wall. With a loud shriek of victory, the Huntmaster activated his jetpack along with the rest of the Raptors who screamed down the main entrance as they poured flames onto retreating Scions as well as cut apart any mortals they saw.
Etanes dismounted the Thunderhawk along with two more squads of his Word Bearers and they began to make their way down, deep into the prison hold of the Inquisition facility. They were here for someone specific, and Etanes would not be denied. With the hard clack of his ceramite boots stepping further in while the Octaivan formed around him with their bolters drawn, he followed the trail of destruction and blood, bits and pieces of the mortal troops who guarded the facility mapping the way down to the room he sought.
Soon enough he arrived at a massive door at least one foot thick, Huntmaster Heydar impatiently circling around the entrance, his clawed boots clicking on the tiles with a predatory menace. "This door has been sealed against us Ashfanged one." He hissed out in displeasure even as the Raptors around him all hissed out at having been denied the opportunity to hunt more. Etanes simply raised a hand and then gestured for the two squads he brought to advance forward. The two squad bore the insignia of former Destroyers of the XVII Legion, their weapons bore the signs of rust even as their armour oozed sickly body fluids filled with disease, their armours bloated with rust and disease. Their drum fed rocket launchers in their hands letting out brief spouts of a pungent green smoke, the Raptors stepped back with disgust while Etanes gestured for the squads to continue. With a sickening gurgling sound, the rocket launchers fired, the projectiles detonating against the walls with a wet thud instead of the explosion normally expected from the rockets, the payload hissing as it started to eat through the metal while rust formed quickly around the impact areas. Their payloads expanded, they would step back and reload while Etanes sent a blast of warp fire through the now rotten rust panels that used to be the doors, the doors flying in wards in pieces of diseased rust. As soon as the door was opened, a punishing fusillade of plasma fire and autocannon fire ripped through three of the Raptors who were too eager to hunt. An Inquisitor stood in side with power armour on while all around him were Scion heavy weapon troops who unloaded through the opening made by the Nurgle worshipping destroyers. The three Raptors exploded as they were turned into a bloody pulp while Etanes simply chuckled with amusement. With a loud screech, Heydar fired his jet pack in along with the rest of his Raptors, the warp corrupted assault marines landing amidst the Scions and opened up with their flame throwers, the flames torching through the mortal lines in just moments while the Inquisitor roared and fired the stormbolter in his hand at the Huntmaster. Dodging the bolt rounds easily, Heydar swooped down and placed the barrel of his flamethrower right against the Inquisitors temple and pulled the trigger, the gust of superheated flames roasting the Inquisitors brain almost instantly, the power armoured Inquisitional agent dropping to the ground with a loud clang. The moment it landed on the ground, the Raptors began ripping off pieces of power armour and began feasting on the body inside.
Etanes ignored the spectacle and instead advanced to the last cell there, a cell in which a chained and bonded Astarte in the middle with four automatic heavy bolters surrounding him, ready to fire the instant psyker powers were detected. He gestured for the prisoner to be released, the mortal troops taking over the command console and releasing the bonds on the sorcerer caged inside.
The Sorcerer would get up and stepped out of the firing line of the heavy bolters and with a single movement of his hand, he conjured up lava hot warp fire and torched the automated heavy bolter systems before turning towards his saviour.
"I am Ashakhet of the XV legion and I would like to know which one of you decided to rescue me." He wore no armour, just a simple grey robe around his body even as his skin glowed with eldritch powers, various runes and symbols on his skin glowing a soft green light. Etanes stepped forward, his ornate armour glistening in the dim lighting of the underground prison and took his helmet off, presenting his face tattooed with words from the Book of Lorgar. "I am Etanes the Ashfanged. And I have freed you to make you a bargain." The Sorcerer looked at the Word Bearer with interest and laughed for a moment. "How righteous it is to be freed by those of the XVII." Etanes grinned slightly, revealing the sharpened teeth in his mouth. "We seek the Crow Gem." Ashakhet looked at him and nodded for a moment. "Yes you seek to use it in order to collect souls, do you not?" The Word Bearer Dark Apostle nodded, and gestured to those around him. "Then in that case, I want in return first for you to return me my armour and my weapons. Second, I wish before I unlock its secrets for you, that you help me with my goal."
"What is your goal then Sorcerer?" Ashakhet smiled at the question, knowing that without him there was no way for them to achieve their goal. "My goal is to recover something that was once lost to me. It is where the Crow Gem is hidden, but you must assist me first." Etanes nodded in agreement. "So be it Sorcerer. We have a deal." Ashakhet grinned and exited the room, Etanes giving a small gesture and the Chaos Astartes would follow him, the Sorcerer humming to himself as he would gather up pulses of warp energy until he created enough to collect a small ball of it. He would toss it and utter a few words of power, the ball rolling through and leaving a path of purple that he would follow. Occasionally, they would encounter a counter attack by the remaining Scions of the Inquisitional Facility but they were swiftly put down by the Word Bearers with bolter fire or chainswords.
They would stop at the end of a hall way surrounded by the dead bodies of Inquisition agents and Scions, the brushed steel door holding runes of purity all over it. The purity seals lasted about ten seconds as Ashakhet torched it with wych fire, the steel melting down in moments before the Sorcerer would step right through. In there were stasis fields holding various equipment and gear from chaos marines captured in the past. The Thousand Son sorcerer would walk up to a stasis field holding his gear in place and smiled thinly as he began to cast. Four minutes later, a large blast of purple lined blackness blasted apart the stasis field, his gear dropping to the floor. With his mouth uttering words and still humming, he quickly placed himself back into the armour, various clicks could be heard from the armour as he used his sorcery to armour himself. Finally, a long thin blade was clamped to his leg as well as a bolt pistol with the face of a daemon that seemed to move around the bolt pistol in rage was also clamped to his side. Then finally, he picked up a staff and a book that seemed to be locked, the book being attached to his side through a rather ornate brass chain. "Very well, I believe that I am ready to depart." The chaos intruder force would head back upstairs to the main level, although the scene was very different from when they had entered. Outside it seemed that their forces had come under heavy fire, the Severagn mortal troops of the Ashwarped war band hiding behind cover as the emergency signal had been sent. Around them were surrounded by hundreds of mortal soldiers of the Inquisition, black uniformed Scions who had reacted to the attack by arriving in Inquisition marked Chimeras and were firing into the defensive positions.
Etanes looked at the mortal troops with annoyance, and looked at Nusku who bowed his head at the silent command. "Octaivan. For Lorgar and the Ashfanged, kill them all!" Axe rakes revved as the elite troops broke cover, their bolters pulverising the carapace armour of the Stormtroopers even as the Raptors Huntmaster soared over their firing lines and descended with chainswords buzzing through flesh, bone and carapace. True to the nature of the Raptors, they began to feast as soon as they had cut down the majority of the Stormtroopers, while the Octaivan moved in with flamethrowers and torched the rest of the surviving Inquisitorial troops. Etanes nodded at the attack of his chosen elite, and grinned as he clipped his helmet back on and gestured for the Sorcerer to head onto the Thunderhawk. Etanes knew that his work was not yet done on this planet, as his spy still had much work to do.
The attack on the facility had not gone unnoticed, especially as after an entire day, there had been no report sent back. Something was judged to have happened to the force stationed there as well as the Astarte squad that stood guard in the facility, and so the multiple wheels and cogs of the Imperium began turning. Priority Vermillion communiques were sent, documents with specific protocol formats were dispatched and multiple offices were alerted as to the strange occurrence. Signals began being sent, although this took a while to reach the right individuals. Soon units were alerted, and those with a vested interest in the facility began to become aware of just what had happened.
The man hummed as he walked down the street, grinning like an idiot at the street stalls as well as the various restaurants in the area. Looking over the selection on display, he picked out a commonly eaten bowl choice and the street vendor nodded, and began searing greasy meat on the metal griddle. With his hands in his pocket, the man looked around as he kept humming, before handing some coins to the vendor as he accepted the Styrofoam bowl of meat and brown sauce ladled over some chopped up vegetables and root vegetables. Sitting himself on a nearby step, he would hum as he tasted the overly salted bowl, although it didn't seem to dampen his spirit much as he began to eat with obvious relish. After his meal, he would check his watch and nod a few times while his foot began to tap impatiently before a large explosion rocked the nearby Arbites precinct. With a smile, he would stand up and slice the palms of his hands with a thin scalpel like blade before holding his hands up, warp fire dripping from the self-inflicted wounds on his palm as he gestured and sent purple warp flame torching over the densely packed street filled with hungry workers and civilians looking to pick out their lunch. Gunfire could be heard, as the loud clack and booms of the Arbite shotguns as well as the higher pitched tone of auto rifles being fired on full auto.
Mikhail looked at the carnage he caused and let out a loud chuckle as further down the street, a mob of screaming civilians ran from the armed group of soldiers who began to fire into the crowd, their dark red helmets and grey uniforms marking them out as members of the Severagn, their bayonets stabbing into unprotected flesh while behind them ran the more undisciplined and less equipped cultists who cut down surviving Arbites with crude blades and auto guns in undisciplined bursts, cackling all the while. He looked around and nodded as he drew the auto pistol he had hidden on him and began firing into survivors, their blood mingling and pooling around the plastic lawn furniture that was used to eat from. Closing his eyes, he would let the warp wash through his body and his mind before with a loud scream, portals were ripped open and daemons poured through the streets. He had been ordered by his master to destroy the Arbite building and bring daemons onto the streets, and that is what he was going to do.
The screams however could be heard by the figures hidden over the roof top, Kyreg looking through the scope of his stalker bolter and frowned underneath his helmet. "Daemons. They bring them onto this realm, and it appears the main Imperial influence in the city is waning with each second." Catriona nodded, but she smiled slightly even as she slipped her helmet on. "You do not know the true talents of my kind do you Commander?" Kyreg looked at her with slight annoyance on his features although his helmet showed none of it. "We are Oblivion Knights, Commander. That means we are the one thing in the world that daemons truly show fear at." With a loud laugh, she would leap down from the roof top along with the other Sisters and loaded their bolters with drum magazines, and began advancing down the street. Kyreg swore and quickly adjusted his holographic display over his power armour to show Blackshield markings, just pure black armour all around with no markings except for the Aquila on his breastplate.
The daemons saw the four Sisters and with loud howls, they began to advance. However as they got closer, they stopped and hissed, the Sisters reaching up and deactivating the limiter collar on their armour and opened fire. While normally impervious to common bolter fire, within the radius of the four null sisters, their flesh exploded under the disciplined fire of the four warriors. Kyreg shouldered his stalker bolter and moved behind them, his keen eye picking out various squad leaders amongst the human troops while at the same time, he would trigger his under barrel melta point blank into a snarling daemon, the bird like creature disappearing and melting into almost nothingness. As they got to the portals, they snapped shut, their warp presence completely nullified by the four warriors while Mikhail screamed and placed his hands on his head, his mind burning as it was suddenly turned off while the Sisters looked at him. Liadain drew her Charnabal blade and was about to slice his head off when Kyreg stopped her. "We must learn more about why they are here. I will deal with him." The Sister nodded and sheathed her blade, shouldering her bolter again as the four sisters now fired into the cultist line while advancing steadily. Satisfied that they would not see him, Kyreg reached down and ripped the traitors skull off his head, Mikhail screaming in pain both physical as well as psychic before Kyreg silenced him with a sickening crunch. With his mouth full of brain matter, he swallowed it with disgust before closing his eyes and felt the traitors memory swarm into his mind. It was utter chaos and madness but he soon found what he was looking for. There were more coming, much more Chaos troops. This planet was going to be invaded, and they wished to force the Imperium to devote more strength here.
With a heavy sigh, he stood up and left the traitors body there, thumping his melta and melting the body down in a pile of melted bone and ash. He quickly got up and rushed to behind the Sisters who were devastating the Chaos cultist troops with their bolter fire.
"We need to get into that Arbites building right now." He would tell them over the vox even as he drew his phase blade. With a curt nod, they began to direct their fire and stitched their bolter fire into the enemy formation, although it seemed that two of the sisters had clamped their bolters onto their power armour with a loud click while withdrawing hand held flamers that began to pour liquid flames into the masses, melting those closest to the flames while torching those that remained behind the main battle lines.
Kyreg charged through the small crowd with his blade drawn and sliced through the first row of cultists busy looting Arbite bodies for their shotguns and bolt pistols before a loud clang alerted him to the presence of a cultist who had successfully commandeered an Arbite shotgun, the pellets bouncing off his power armour with the sound of the pellets hitting his armour more annoying than the actual threat of the buckshot. With a quick swing, his blade sliced through the cultists skull, sending the body tumbling down even as he advanced until he came to what he was looking for.
"You, cowering underneath. I need you to send a message to the closest Arbite station to here. Tell them to send everyone." He hissed before standing back up to wade into the cultists caught between him and the Sisters of Silence. The man nodded, to his credit and scrambled onto the comm rig at another desk and began punching in numbers. Kyreg felt his blade cut through bone and flesh as if they were less than gelatin, the blade making quick work even of the armoured cultists who tried to bog him down in a protracted fight with blades, but a quick woosh of a flamer turned them into ash and melted organic matter dripping onto the ground.
"They're going to head off planet. They were going to attack an Inquisition facility hidden here; although now it might be too late to stop them we must follow them." He ordered them quickly, the Sisters nodding as they began to retreat steadily through fire and movement. Kyreg sheathed his blade and picked up his bolter again, and began firing into the devastated cultists. Most of them laid on the ground with burn marks from the flame throwers as well as many were injured by the Sisters. Those who lay on the floor without life bore marks of point blank bolt round detonation or bodies devastated by blade.
Vengeance had been satisfied, and of course Kyreg was glad for a successful death strike. At the same time however, he had seen what was planned after he ate the traitor's brain. It was something that must be stopped no matter the consequence, especially when he thought of the potential that a gem that could collect souls would do for the Word Bearers. It seemed that he was going to have to find a way to follow the traitors further until he could put a blade through their plans.