They made their way to the Reclusiam, Xilthara was riding on the shoulder of Gechorus' terminator armour. They had found their new allegiance, the traitor warband known as the Knights of Ecstasy. No more fighting for the Emperor, no more living by the commands of the imperium, but Gechorus had to wonder, was chaos now his master? How many morals would he have to abandon to stay alive among his new brothers?
The squad vox fuzzed into life and Pantaleon's voice was heard, "We are waiting for you in the Reclusiam, Gechorus. Where are you?"
"Sergeant Pantaleon," replied Gechorus, "my instinct tells me that Squad Myrsinus has gathered in The Reclusiam with you?"
Pantaleon did not answer.
"I have a squad of heretic brothers with me. If there is a plan in place, now is the time to set it in motion."
"Understood, brother," confirmed Pantaleon, and the vox connection was closed.
"And what if there is no plan in place?" asked Brutaka.
"Then I will be found a heretic and be put to death," answered Gechorus, "But I have faith in my sergeant."
They reached the door to the Reclusiam, "The Company Captain is in here," said Gechorus, "and I do not think that he will turn."
"Then he needs to be killed," replied Brutaka.
"Yes," sighed Gechorus, "but we do not need to all go in, just me. A fight would break out as soon as they saw your armour and we can avoid that."
"What about me?" asked Xilthara.
"It will still be dangerous in there," he explained, she was small, like a child next to the marines. He did not want to take her into a fight, but he knew the alternative; to leave her in the care of the chaos marines. They professed to be brothers now, but how could he trust them with something so precious.
"We will look after you," said Brutaka, he removed his helmet to reveal a pale bald head with a stretched and sharp grin pulled across it, he kneeled down to get close to Xilthara and look into her face.
"I trust you," she said to the chaos marine, "we have the same mark," she revealed her Slaanesh tattoo to the marine.
His smile growing, Brutaka put his arm around her and pulled her close to him, "Like family," he said.
"No," said Gechorus firmly, "I cannot let you leave me, not now."
The smile dropped from Brutaka's face as Xilthara walked back over to her guardian.
He looked down on her and said, "stay behind me if there is a fight. I will protect you." And he pushed open one of the great double doors to the Reclusiam.
In there the relics and reliefs of Silver Griffons long past looked down on the marines within. A reminder of the devotion to the Emperor of mankind shown by the Silver Griffons through the millennia. Where once he felt proud for being watched by the Silver Griffons who had come before him, now, he felt he could barely look at them.
"Gechorus!" greeted Company Captain Casidus, "Nice to have you with us," he had Chaplain Dionis with him, no doubt organising defences against the chaos invaders. Looking around briefly, Gechorus could see that Squad Myrsinus was there in full along with the rest of Squad Pantaleon. This was no coincidence.
One nod from Myrsinus to Pantaleon was all that was needed for the 'plan' to go ahead. Gechorus did not know if they had discussed anything, or they all just knew what needed to be done on instinct alone.
"Casidus!" called Pantaleon, "Dionis!" The two high ranking space marines looked up from their planning to see what the sergeant of terminators had to say. "Evidence has come to light that heresy has taken root within this company and this ship. Brother Gechorus himself brought it to my attention."
"What heresy, Pantaleon?" inquired the Chaplin as he approached the sergeant. He looked down into the eyes of the terminator with the cold black sockets of his skull helmet.
Pantaleon explained, "There are marines on this ship in silver armour that will follow the invading forces. The simple fact is that we are going to die here and now if we do not surrender to the greater force that is in front of us." Such a simple explanation for things so complex, that was all Pantaleon needed.
"I would sooner die here than become a heretic and an enemy of the Emperor," snarled the chaplain
A large metal hand grabbed the backpack of the chaplain and pulled him to the ground; it was Loukios' power fist. Once he had him pinned, Remus slammed down, into the Chaplain's chest, destroying his body.
The Company Captain was not shocked, he stayed calm, but the look of disappointment and shame was easy to be seen on his face. "This is the path you take, Pantaleon?" asked Casadus looking away, averting his gaze from the betrayers and his now lifeless brother, he mumbled under his breath, "I have failed the emperor." He raised his sword up to his chest and ran at the sergeant. Pantaleon pulled his sword from his side and readied his feet into a combat stance.
Four loud cracks in the air were heard and the Company Captain fell. He was struck four times by lascannon fire from Squad Myrsinus. His final noble charge was cut short and turned into a stumble and a fall.
"What are you doing?" exclaimed Pantaleon.
"Killing the one who was master over us," said Myrsinus.
"But he deserved more," argued Pantaleon, "he is still our brother and should have at least been given a noble death."
"I didn't see you treating the Chaplain with such respect," commented Myrsinus, "he's dead now, we should leave him." The devastator squad then left the room.
The body was left on the floor with holes burnt right through his armour. The man who had led them for hundreds of years was now discarded; he was not needed any more.
Gechorus pulled his helmet off to see the slain Captain with his own eyes. Once he had, he did not want to look at him, a necessary deed maybe; but a good and honourable man had now been betrayed by his brothers.
"Who else will join us?" asked Gechorus.
"There are a few," replied Pantaleon, "I am certain of it. Doubt runs deep in this ship." Pantaleon turned to leave the Reclusiam, expecting to have his squad follow him, Loukios and Remus followed.
Gechorus turned to Xilthara who had witnessed the betrayal of the company masters. "You did not need to see such things."
"But it's what you wanted, isn't it?" she asked.
"I wanted to be rid of the Imperium," he said, glancing once again at the body of the fallen captain. "but betraying my brothers is not something I could possibly desire. Casadus has been as family to us for many years, to be even partly responsible for his death is…" he paused.
"What?" she asked urging him to finish, "Are you ok?"
"It's very hard," he said simply.
"What is that sound?" asked Xilthara, quietly to Gechorus.
Gechorus listened out and could hear an unmistakable cacophony coming from a different area of the ship, different to the other sounds of battle. "Noise Marines," he said.
"It's weird, like some crazy music, it sounds good."
Gechorus had been trained to hate that sound and everything that was associated with it. Now he needed to accept it; perhaps in time the sound of an allied noise marine may even sound like sweet music to him too. "We need to leave with the others."
They left the room together and on the other side of the door, the three squads were meeting for the first time.
"So you are the heretics that have boarded our ship," said Pantaleon.
Brutaka raised an eyebrow.
"Welcome aboard," the terminator sergeant said, arm extended.
Brutaka reached forwards and shook the hand of the Silver Griffon. "I heard Lascannon fire. I assume that was you," he said looking at Myrsinus.
Myrsinus nodded, "We killed the Captain of our company."
"A mighty act of betrayal," commented Brutaka, smiling, "may I see him?"
Myrsinus looked over at Pantaleon, "We do not think it would be necessary," said the Terminator.
Brutaka's eagerness backed down quickly "Who am I to argue when faced with Terminators and Lascannons. Surely it was satisfying, no?"
There was no reply from the silver marines.
"Someone's coming," mentioned one of the marines in squad Myrsinus.
"Yes," said Brutaka, "I contacted the nearby noise marines, I knew they would want to meet you."
Meeting with noise marines, not something Gechorus ever thought he would do; fight noise marines, kill noise marines, but not speak with them. Noise marines are sonic wielding maniacs that are totally devoted and obsessed with Slaanesh and all the sick pleasures they believe he brings.
The squad leader for the noise marines walked round the corner fist, wearing the same colour violet as squad Brutaka. He had a bolt pistol and power sword holstered at his waist and simply walked towards the silver griffons. His squad of marines, that were carrying elaborate and bizarrely engineered tools of sonic destruction, followed him.
"Brother Reptile," said Brutaka, "I knew you would want to come and see our new brothers."
"A pleasure," replied Reptile, he removed his helmet to reveal a bald head, with holes for ears and sharp features. "I trust the battle has gone well for you?" he asked Brutaka.
"To tell you the truth, brother, we have not seen much action."
"No?"
"There was the potential for many kills, but we did not see any of it. Gechorus there killed all of the resistance before we broke through," he said pointing at the killer.
"Really?" asked Reptile with a smile, peering at Gechorus to see him for himself.
He saw Gechorus on one knee, he had kneeled down to be closer to Xilthara, the closer he was to her, the more comfortable he felt. He liked being near her, she distracted the mind and comforted the body, exactly what he needed.
Gechorus looked up and saw a small figure moving amongst the noise marines. Something he did not expect to find in the middle of a chaos invasion. It was armoured and carried a strange weapon, but Gechorus knew what it was. It was the unmistakable shape of a tau warrior.
"You work with Xenos?" asked Pantaleon to Reptile, once he saw the alien.
Reptile glanced down at the tau beside him, then back at the terminator, "Some of us live with Xenos," he said with a smile.
"How could you lower yourself to such levels?" scoffed Pantaleon.
"You speak of levels defined by the Imperium," explained Reptile, "We are free from such restrictions."
Pantaleon stepped forwards and grumbled, "It's disgusting, you disgrace yourself. Astartes should know better."
Reptile grabbed his bolt pistol from his side and raised it to point is squarely at Pantaleon. "You would insult my companion?"
Pantaleon smirked and raised his gun, "Your companion is beyond insult, it is your own actions that are so deplorable."
The Noise marines had also taken aim at the terminators, as well as Squad Brutaka.
Gechorus stood up and moved closer to his commander "This is not the time to be petty, sergeant!"
Xilthara spoke up as well, "We all need to work together here," her voice was shakey; she paused to breathe and continued, "Who cares what he does with aliens?"
Reptile nodded in agreement with the documentarist.
"Who are you to tell me how to think?" spat Pantaleon.
Xilthara then stepped back, into the shadows and back into anonymity.
Guns were raised by all the Knights of Ecstasy in the room and all were pointed at one space marine. That one space marine looked around to see that not only had the writer stepped back, but so had the rest of his squad, distancing themselves from the bloodshed to come.
"Stand down, Pantaleon," ordered Myrsinus, Pantaleon glanced over to see four Lascannons aimed at him as well, "We need this; we cannot let petty squabbles get in the way of our salvation."
Gechorus could see that Pantaleon had come to his senses, he took a deep breath, holstered his gun and said, "My apologies, I will leave as a brother, not an enemy."
The violet astartes lowered their weapons slowly, Brutaka commented, "You have made the correct decision," his smile had completely left his face, "Come, we need to move on."
Brutaka waited for Pantaleon to walk past him, he and his squad then followed. They did not want to let Pantaleon leave their sight; Pantaleon accepted this and kept walking. The other Silver Griffons and Knights of Ecstasy followed too.
All but Gechorus, who kneeled down to Xilthara and asked, "Have we made the right decision?"
"That decision had to be made," she remarked, "or we would be dead. Now we need to make the most of it," she reached up and planted a small kiss on the side of Gechorus' face.
He smiled, stood up and held his power fist out for her; and she climbed on to his shoulder once again. He then left to join his brothers.
The Silver Griffons Third Company was no more.
End of Part 2