They had their mission; there was no chance for glory in rescuing the governor. All they would receive was the gratification of an old man, and that is assuming he was alive. This was a waste of their abilities; they all knew it, but none of them said anything. The true honours would go the squad that slayed the warboss.
They worked out why they had been chosen for this task, their squad was below full effectiveness with Kato dead so they may be compromised if placed in the middle of the battle for the city; Squad Pantaleon was also adept at navigating through dark, enclosed labyrinths; as the similarities between under hives and space hulks were clear.
The underhive was the part of a city the imperium would like to forget existed, but there is an under hive to every city. Filled with the lowest orders of human society; underhives are almost without exception infested with crime, mutation, and much worse. Gechorus, in all his long years had never had the misfortune of being in the underhive of a city before; but he had no doubt the sight of four of the Emperor's finest would be sources of bewilderment and wonder to the denizens of the dark tunnels.
Walking through, it was hard not to notice the extreme levels of poverty and hardship that these imperial citizens had to endure. There was no sunlight, just the dark, murky glow from lamps that only lit up the surrounding smog and did little to illuminate the way ahead. Gechorus had been in space hulks that were more inviting than this place. There were no signs of the orks, no ork desecration; the foul air did not carry the stench of the greenskins. There were not even any signs of conflict. Occasionally a person would peer their head from behind a dark corner to catch a glimpse of the mighty space marines, just to disappear again when the marines turned to look. Their presence was a reminder to Gechorus that there were people living in this terrible place. It was small comfort to him that the life expectancy here was so low that none of these people would have to endure these conditions for a full lifetime.
An old speaker system somewhere was crackled into life, and the warboss had got his hands on it. "Space Marines!" the voice was barely decipherable, the awful quality of the speakers coupled with the probable fact that the ork was far too close to the microphone he was yelling into. "Get out of my city! I'm Boss Kozgor and this city is MINE! WAAAAGH!"
"That will help our brothers zone in on the warboss' location," said Pantaleon.
"I hate hearing the Orks speak," grumbled Loukios.
"Why?" asked Brother Remus.
Loukios sighed, "Because the Astra Militarum are defeated by these monsters on occasion; it would not be as shameful if they showed intelligence."
"Be mindful of your words, Brother Loukios," warned Gechorus, "There are imperial citizens within earshot."
Loukios suppressed his urge to speak out, it was his duty to protect the imperium in all ways; that included his duty to protect the people's confidence in the imperium.
They approached a junction in the pathways. There were four different ways to go, and no indication which one might be the correct one.
"A fork in the road," commented Loukios, "Where shall we go?"
"This is a waste of time," grunted Remus, "We should split up, find the body and get this over with."
"No," argued Pantaleon, "We cannot be separated again."
"How are we going to find the governor, then?" asked Loukios.
"Citizens of the Holy Emperor," addressed Pantaleon to whoever may be in earshot, "We are here to kill the vile ork invaders. Please indicate to us where they may be."
They waited. "You will not get a response, sergeant," commented Remus, "These people skulk in the shadows like rats; they won't approach us."
It took a few minutes before one of the locals had enough courage to come out of the darkness and go to them. A tatty skinny little man, he was wrapped in grey rags, all apart from his feet. He had most of his face covered up, as the air was foul and no doubt poisonous.
"We saw the orks," he said bluntly, his voice barely big enough to be heard past his face coverings; a boney finger raised out from the rags and indicated to the left. "They went that way."
"Why are there no signs of fighting?" asked Pantaleon.
The small man simply said, "There were not many of them, and it is easy to hide from orks if they aren't looking for you."
Pantaleon took a more aggressive tone, "You should have fought!"
"With what?" asked the man; stunned that that could even be considered. "A few of us have lasguns, but what if that doesn't stop them. They could have killed us all."
"Serving the Emperor in death is a noble reward in itself," stated Pantaleon.
"There are children here," explained the man, looking at the ground. "The orks that came through here went that way; four of them. They had an important looking prisoner with them."
Pantaleon went in the direction the man was pointing, the three other space marines followed.
Gechorus caught the sound of the man murmur something under his breath, he was sure it was "don't come back," but he didn't tell the sergeant, he thought it best not to react to it at all.
"Why would orks take prisoners?" asked Loukios. "I have never seen them do that before."
"Neither have I," said Gechorus, "but I have heard of it, rare as it may be."
"You must never forget that orks are unpredictable by nature," explained Pantaleon, "every ork mob is different. They probably caught the prisoner to tell them how to reach a stockpile of fuel or ammunition, or how to use the great planetary defence guns."
They continued down the alleyway until they started hearing the orks with their own ears; locating them after that was simple.
Loukios was the one to look around the right corner first. Upon seeing them, he simply shouted "Orks!" The other Marines immediately looked round to his location, Loukios shot about ten rounds into the first one before the three that were left were upon him. These big orks were 'nobs'; bigger than regular orks and suitably armed. They swung massive, crude clubbing and chopping weapons into Loukios that sent him stumbling back against a wall. This gave Remus and Gechorus the room they needed for a clear shot at two of the nobs. Loukios levered the last nob towards himself by grabbing hold of its own melee weapon, and forcing it into a headlock. The thick ork skull did not last long in the grip of the terminator's power fist, and soon enough it burst with a satisfying crunch.
There was a little yelp of shock from the corner. Sitting on a chair was a richly dressed man with white hair, a beard and ork brain matter splattered across his face. This must be the man that they were there to save. "Thank the Emperor you came!" exclaimed the old man, "They would have killed me for sure."
"You must be the governor of Liselli," asked Pantaleon, "why were the orks keeping you?"
The man was tied onto the chair by the arms, he paused a moment before answering, maybe a bit surprised that the greeting was so cold. "I am the city governer, my name is Solemis Tarvos," he explained, "They wanted to know how to access the planetary defence guns."
"Good guess, Sergeant," commented Remus.
"I didn't tell them anything!" added the old man quickly. The sergeant walked over to the chair and cut the old man from his crude bonds, Tarvos wiped the ork blood from his face as soon as he was able, he then stood up to join Pantaleon's side. The three other space marines kept a lookout encase of any other orks who may be alerted to the rescue. "And what are the names of my saviours?"
Gechorus said simply "We are Squad Pantaleon, of the Silver Griffons."
"Why are you unharmed?" asked Pantaleon. "I would imagine the orks to torture someone if they need information."
"I outsmarted them; they told me that they would cut my arm off if I didn't help them," he explained, "So I told them that I needed my arms to type in the code. They spent the rest of the time arguing over what else they should threaten me with. They didn't have me here long before you interrupted them."
"Area clear," stated Remus.
"What is the quickest way out of the underhive, Tarvos?" asked Pantaleon; expecting the governor to know his city better than the visitors.
"I think the nearest exit is that way," said Tarvos, pointing the way the marines came from.
"Then that is where we go."
The marines turned to leave the area, keeping the old man within their ranks. The marines walked slower than they would normally as was courtesy when walking with humans, but Tarvos still had to walk fast to keep up with their gigantic strides.
They were passing through the slums where the marines had received directions. A small child ran out towards the five who were passing through, this child was dressed the same way as the man they met earlier, wrapped in rags and barefoot. The child ran towards Loukios and wrapped her arms around one of his legs. Loukios stopped in his tracks, as did the other marines, he looked around at his brothers as if looking for advice, but the most he got as a response was a shrug from Remus.
"You've killed the monsters," said the child with its face rubbing on the shin guard of the hulking terminator, "You're our heroes!"
"Get off me, child," said Loukios, he was impatient to get the child off his leg, but he dare not move, encase his great strength hurt the child.
Solemis Tarvos, quickly intervened, he kneeled down to eye level with the child and said, "These Space Marines are here to kill all the green monsters. The Emperor sent them, and they are going to rescue all of us."
A young woman came from the darkness to pull the child away. "Bitucia," called the woman as she grabbed the child's arm. She was small in stature and once again, covered in rags, all except for her arms and her feet. The child went with her but kept her gaze on the marines.
"Woman, halt!" ordered Pantaleon. She stopped in her tracks, obeying the order from the marine without question; she turned, revealing the fear in her eyes. Pantaleon fixed his storm bolter to his waist as he walked over to the woman; he grabbed her arm and inspected it. "You have the mark of heresy," he whispered. The woman struggled but could not get away, her feet slid on the hard ground and her free arm had now let go of the child and was flailing around trying to grab onto something to help herself escape. Pantaleon grabbed her head, and she stopped moving. He ripped the cloth away from her face. "You have an icon of chaos etched into your flesh."
"What?" exclaimed the woman as she struggled to pull herself free, "No I don't."
"Lies of the heretic." said Pantaleon with one swift, easy movement, he twisted the woman's neck and killed her.
"Heresy breeds heresy!" declared Pantaleon, "Where there is one, there are more." He pulled his gun from his side and aimed it at the now distraught child who was kneeling over the dead woman, "Intolerance is the only appropriate action." He pulled the trigger and after a bloody explosion, the remains of the child fell to the floor.
Solemis Tarvos screamed "No!" to stop the execution, but there was nothing that could be done. The Emperor's judgement had been dealt. "What are you doing?" he shouted. "Why did you kill the little girl?"
"One seed of doubt can lead to a world of heresy," stated Pantaleon. "Do you doubt the chosen of the Emperor?"
Tarvos did not dare to answer.
"Every resident here is potentially a slave to the ruinous powers of the warp," declared Pantaleon to his squad, "Kill them all."
The four marines left the underhive with empty magazines. The city governor followed behind them. They did not speak to each other, silence seemed appropriate.
The land raider dropped the five of them off some distance away from the outpost so it could return to the fighting as soon as possible.
"Hurry up, Tarvos!" called Pataleon, "We are nearly at the camp."
"I'm coming, 'Space Marine'," he called back through gritted teeth. Deliberately keeping his distance from the marines.
At the camp, the local guardsmen who had been on guard welcomed them, one of them even recognised Solemis Tarvos, greeting him with a salute, Tarvos only returned a nod.
Tarvos was told to sit down at one of the guards' tables; he did so, with no protest. The terminators were the first marines back at the camp, so Pantaleon got in contact with the rest of the company over vox to see if it would be worth going back to the city to re-join the fighting.
"We have returned to the camp with a VIP," said Pantaleon, "Do you need assistance with the rest of the Orks?" He waited for a response, "Understood."
Cutting the vox communications, he turned to tell his men the news, "The warboss has been killed." The three other terminators all felt the same at this point, they all wanted to be there to deal the final blow to the ork leader or at least witness it; but it was not to be. "The orks are on the run; the Militarum and the Silver Griffons are cleansing the area of the remaining forces."
"Who killed the warboss?" asked Gechorus.
"Squad Myrsinus," said Sergeant, "It was a lascannon that killed him."
Gechorus nodded in recognition of this mighty deed, and there was silence once again.
"Don't you think the soldiers here would want to know that the warboss has been killed?" asked Tarvos.
"They will be told by their superiors," said Remus.
"You should tell them."
"Why?" sneered Remus.
"Because it's good news," he explained, "The alien threat has been destroyed. Good news would be a relief for the men."
Remus glanced over at the sergeant who gave him the order: "Go and spread the news."
Remus nodded in understanding then left the group.
"Transport will arrive soon," said Pantaleon to the two other space marines, "we will get back to the ship and the Inquisition will be notified of what we have seen here."
"The Inquisition?" exclaimed Tarvos. "Why?"
Pantaleon turned to the old man, "You know why."
"Because of the heretics?" he asked, aghast. "It's just a few harmless cultists?"
"Those cultists you speak of are the followers of chaos," said Loukios, "you cannot say that they are harmless."
"The Inquisition will destroy us," argued Tarvos, he sounded shaky and frail; he could barely keep up the strength to argue for his own survival; as if mention of the inquisition had sapped all energy from his being. Gechorus had kept a watch on the old man throughout the conversation, trying to get a gage on his emotions and feelings towards the heretics. Judging people's emotions was not something he was very good at but even a stone cold space marine could tell that this man was scared. "And what about you," said the man directly to Gechorus, "do you want to call the inquisition here to destroy us all?"
Gechorus looked over at his sergeant nothing was said between them, Gechorus knew his place, and he knew his duty. "I stand with the judgement of my brothers and the servants of the emperor."
"Then it is already over," said the old man, he turned and gazed up at Liselli's tallest spires, "You have saved us from the orks; you have fought and died with us; only to sentence us to death."