The four space marine terminators left in the Stormraven that the apothecary arrived in. They went to an outpost not far outside hive city Liselli. Liselli was the focal point of the ork invasion, and a lot of the system defence forces and the space marines had gathered at the surrounding outposts for a move to take back the city.
The outpost was a military camp, made in one of the small towns outside the city. A few Silver griffons were gathered there, along with a platoon of guardsmen.
Gechorus had his helmet off and was sitting on the ground, with an eye on the great spire of the hive city; trying to work out where the ork warboss would be hiding, and wondering to himself what kind of warboss would be capable of commanding this many orks. Surely the head of this mighty ork would be a worthy trophy for the halls of the Silver Griffons.
He heard a voice behind him, "Gechorus, can we speak?" it was the writer.
Gechorus couldn't see her as his armour did not allow him to look around. "You are not accustomed to the formalities that are expected of you, when meeting an Astartes, Xilthara," he commented.
"What should I say?"
"It is customary to address a Space Marine as 'my lord'" he explained.
"I'm sorry, my lord," she said, "Would it be ok if we spoke together?"
"We may," said Gechorus. Xilthara moved round and sat in front of him so they could speak face to face. She was wearing a black coat to protect herself from the cold. Gechorus felt the cold on his face; it was a welcome release from the full face helmet he had been wearing in the fighting.
"I see your pristine armour didn't last long," she said with a smile. Gechorus glared at her for this unappreciated comment and her smile quickly faded. "How was your mission? Did it go well?"
Gechorus spoke straight, "We cleared the manufactorum, and the Militarum swept the area clean of the remaining orks."
"I heard that it was not all without loss." She commented.
Gechorus looked away from Xilthara, "Brother Kato fell in battle."
Xilthara chose her next words carefully; this could be the most emotion she could get from a Silver Griffon. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Gechorus looked directly back at her, "Don't be, he died in service to the Emperor," said Gechorus with pride, "What greater cause is there?"
"You must feel something," urged Xilthara, "for the loss of a brother I mean."
"He will be missed," said Gechorus, "He was a great fighter."
Xilthara paused a moment to think, "Tell me about something you did together, a memory you have with him."
"Like what?"
"You've been battle brothers for a long time, I don't know," she thought for a moment more. "Tell me about a mission you had."
Gechorus thought about it briefly, what was a good mission he had with Kato? The people of the imperium love to hear about the heroic exploits of the space marines after all. "OK then," he began. Xilthara lit up; and readied her pen for the story.
"We were investigating a space hulk…" he paused, "do you know what a space hulk is?"
"Of course," she said as if patronised, "it's an old ruined spaceship."
"It's more of a collection of ruined space ships pulled together by the warp," correct Gechorus. He continued his story, "This place was infested with gene stealers, far more than usual. We advanced inside this thing for at least ten minutes before we detected anything. We were so far in when part of the structure collapsed and split up our squad, with Kato and me on one side and the rest of the squad on the other; and of course, this is when the gene stealers attacked…"
There wasn't much to this story and Gechorus knew it, but he kept telling it to the end and Xilthara stayed interested, or at least pretended to, all the way through. The story ended with Gechorus and Kato taking the long way back through the space hulk and killing hundreds of gene stealers along the way.
"…and we made it back to our ship." he concluded.
"OK," she said, while pondering what to say next.
Gechorus didn't want to wait for her to say something about his story so he broke the silence "you can spice up the story if you want to retell it in your documentation."
"No, no, it's not that," she said, pondering a bit more. "Can you tell me why you chose to tell me that story?"
Gechorus looked back up at the top of the hive city, imagining the great conquests he would have enjoyed with Kato. "I think…" he inhaled and considered his answer carefully, "…I told you because it was the time when I felt our lives were most in danger; it was also the time where I felt that if I had been with any one of my other squad mates that day, the outcome may not have been the same."
Xilthara's eyes widened, "Now that is what I'm looking for." She stood up and said, "I've got to go for a moment, I'll be back soon."
Gechorus nodded as if he was giving permission and she left him.
He bowed his head with the intention of pre-battle meditation, but he was distracted. Xilthara had left her book on the ground; Gechorus had to have a look inside, he had to read what she had written about the chapter, about the campaign, and about him. He picked it up and peered inside he could see that she wrote quickly, but each stroke of the pen had been done with the lightest and most precise of strokes creating beautiful loops and swirls. He began reading.
The Space Marines are not exactly the most accommodating of hosts, it has taken me months to get this kind of access and I have been greeted by nothing but coldness and hostility. I can see I'm not welcome here; no space marine that I have approached wanted to talk to me. Maybe they think I'm part of the inquisition; well if that's true there must be something to hide, because they don't want to share anything.
They have given me my own quarters; I've been told that it's the same type of accommodation a Space Marine can expect. There is no window and the bed is rock hard; I should be grateful though. No one else on this ship who isn't a space marine has this much room to themselves.
Gechorus flicked through the pages until he found the part about himself.
After days on the ship without getting a word in with any of the marines, finally I found one who will talk to me; and he's a terminator! so it looks like I've got a veteran to talk to. His name is Gechorus and if I'm honest, he's quite handsome. He has no facial scarring or visible cybernetics, so he makes quite a nice "poster boy" for the chapter. Maybe it sounds silly, but I have always thought that a handsome space marine is such a waste; these handsome men are taken out of society and become nothing more than killing machines. The marines are abnormally big, even under their armour. Gechorus' muscles were bulging through his clothes, but it's more scary and intimidating than sexy.
The way Gechorus speaks, it's strange I feel almost like everything he says is a line that has been drilled into his head from an old book written by Guilliman himself. I get the impression that there is no room for a space marine to think for himself; maybe the humanity they fight for has left their minds as well as their bodies; so in a way I feel sorry for them. Maybe if I slowly build my relationship with Gechorus, he will open up to me, surely there is a soft side to…
Gechorus looked around and caught a glance of Xilthara on her way back, he quickly closed the book, and set it on the floor where she left it. She sat next to the hulking space marine so they could share the view of Liselli.
"What does a Space Marine think of when he looks at a hive city?" she asked him.
"I am trying to work out where the Warboss might be hiding, and where he would have set up defences," he explained, "but it's pointless to think about it. Orks have no patterns and they do not develop tactics through logic. They can be an impossible force to outmanoeuvre, as they are totally unpredictable."
"Do you only think about fighting?" she asked, "Don't you think about the people who you are going in there to save?"
Gechorus looked ahead, at the giant city, at all the many spires that made up the great man-made mountain. In truth he had not spared much thought for the imperial citizens, the good, loyal subjects of Emperor and the whole reason he was fighting the orks.
A familiar voice called, "Gechorus, you are needed for the mission briefing," it was Brother Loukios, it was time to head out again.
Gechorus did not say 'good bye' to Xilthara as he stood up, as such pleasantries only needed to be implied by the Space Marines.
"Good luck," she called out to him.
He turned back to face her, "There is no luck," he slid his helmet on over his head, "there is only the will of the Emperor."
"Nice of you to join us, Gechorus," said Company Captain Casidus with a smile. He had no helmet and stood with the general of the local militarum in front of maps of the Liselli and the surrounding land. Gechorus joined his squad brothers, Loukios, Remus and Pantaleon in hearing about the upcoming operation.
"The orks are swarming all over the city and we need to take it from all angles to make sure they cannot focus their defence," explained the captain. "We will use rhinos and tactical drop pods to surround the city and make sure that they have nowhere to escape from."
The militarum general cut in, "The army will provide support and will follow the space marines into the breaches."
"Where will we be inserted?" asked Pantaleon, glancing at a map of the city.
"You will be taken by Land Raider to an entrance of the underhive," explained Casidus.
"To enter the city from below?" asked Loukios.
"We have reason to believe that the orks are holding a noble captive in the underhive, here," he pointed to a location on one of the maps, "you will need to go in there and get him out."
"A rescue mission?" scoffed Remus, almost insulted by the idea.
"Yes," commented Casidus, "it is the governor of Liselli. It is vital that you get him back here and out of ork hands."
"How do we know he is alive?" asked Remus.
"He's too valuable to kill," commented the general, "even orks would know that."
"You overestimate their intelligence," sneered Remus.
"You will be driven to the underhive after the main attack has started, this will minimise ork resistance down below," explained the captain, "they are sure to join the fight in the main city."
"And if the governor is dead?" asked Pantaleon.
"Then retrieve his body," ordered the captain, "You have your mission, now go forth with the Emperor's guidance. We will brief you further on the governor's possible location when you are in the Land Raider."
The four of them turned to leave the briefing, but Gechorus turned back to ask, "Do we know the location of the Warboss."
"No," said the General, "but we can assume that he is somewhere near the top."