A/N – Some plots end and some start and generally a very interesting and usual day for any named character in Warhammer 40k. Read, enjoy and review.
o-0-o
Gunnar looked behind at the group of the Wolfblades that followed him into the bowels of Terra, into the underhive, place where all manners of nasty movements lurked and preyed on anything that showed in their path. At this he smiled as servomotors of his Terminator armor worked quietly and an autocannon in his hand waited to unleash deadly hail of bullets onto his foes. He looked around, ancient auspex systems of the armor easily penetrating the darkness that surrounded him.
"So far clear," he said into the vox. "No heretics and no zealots."
"That's expected," came reply from Valkoth moments later. "They will be once you get deeper, those regions are still sometimes checked by the Arbitres, so most hides in the older part."
Gunnar nodded and waited for the rest of the team join him, three wore Terminator armors, one more with autocannons, while the other two had heavy flamers. The rest of the team carried a wide collection of power weapons. "Terminators, stay up front, the rest protect the flanks and backs," he said into the vox network of the team.
Once he heard acknowledgements he started to move forward, bulk and mass of the Cataphractii armor making it extremely slow, yet he easily traded speed for more armor. While he loved the Indominus that dominated the armories of the chapter, he quickly came to love the Cataphractii. It was slower, bulkier, but also provided more space for ammo and more protection.
His thoughts where cut short when auspex systems of his armor picked up movement and heat signatures matching those of humans. It seemed that they were hiding in the buildings and ruins around and the noise caused by the armors got their attention. Gunnar smiled at it and revved the engine of the autocannon he carried to ensure that it wouldn't fail him if this encounter ended in combat.
"Who are you?" one of the humans asked as he walked closer to Gunnar, in his hands was a lasgun.
"Adeptus Astartes from the Space Wolves chapter assigned to Wolfblades," Gunnar said through the external speakers of his armor and saw the human narrow his eyes.
"So you are the heretics this pious priest was telling us about," the human said and at this Gunnar narrowed his eyes. At the same time his auspexes picked up dozens of signatures moving towards them.
"We are Emperor's Angels of Death and we are not heretics," Gunnar said, controlling his temper.
"But you serve the mutants," the human spat onto the ground. "Mutants that are seen as taints on the human society by the Holy Ecclesiarchy."
"They are necessary for the Imperium," Gunnar said and added onto vox for his team. "We have company to our sides and ahead of us. Hold fire, but be ready to attack."
Human's eyes lit with fire and the next words confirmed Gunnar's suspicion. "You're a heretic," he snarled and pointed at Gunnar his lasgun.
Gunnar didn't even feel the beam of light slam into his armor and in reply opened fire with his autocannon, poor human didn't even have a chance to scream before his torso was ripped open by a hail of bullets. Gunnar moved to the side and sprayed with bullets from the gun places where his auspexes told him zealots were hiding.
Before long the rest of his team joined combat and most of the zealots ended burned by the flamethrowers not even firing a single shot at the Marines. While those that were lucky or unlucky to get past the flamethrowers ended either torn to shreds or ripped apart by the bolter fire. Gunnar didn't even notice when the fight started and ended, for him it felt like one, small blur. He looked around, checking the darkness with auspexes of his armor and trying to see if there were any zealots laying low and hoping to strike when an opportunity would show.
"We ran into some zealots," he said into his vox. "Seems like the Inquisition really wants us gone."
"How many?" Valkoth asked.
"Few dozens," Gunnar said and looked at the corpses around. "Rather well supplied for such a movement."
"Bjorn has few hundreds of them and needs support," Valkoth said after a minute. "I'm sending you his location and the path you need to take to get there."
Gunnar nodded and looked at his group before looking at the map sent by Valkoth and starting to move towards place where more zealots waited to be killed.
o-0-o
Carrow felt a ball of bile grow in his throat as the face of his master became a stone mask, only signs of the fact that he was alive were slowly moving corners of his mouth.
"You want to tell me that the Wolves just killed two of the biggest groups of our agents?" the Grandmaster asked. "Groups that should have remained unseen until we have a need for them."
"Yes," Carrow said, swallowing that ball. "I managed to watch them attack the bigger group and they knew for whom they were coming. Twelve Blades came, four of them in Terminator armors and then they started to slaughter the zealots we trained and armed. If that wasn't bad enough, second group of the Blades joined the first one and they butchered every single one of our supporters."
"I see," the Grandmaster said and added after a moment. "However it has almost no importance, at least for now."
"How?"
"Our target will be arriving into the system in a courier ship belonging to the Wolves," the Grandmaster said and Carrow nodded in understanding. "They will need to pass customs control and I want you to take a platoon of the Stormtroopers and attack the ship the moment they accept customs party."
"Won't it be seen as an assault upon the chapter?"
"Not if they cannot prove that we did it, but some pirates," the Grandmaster said. "Rogue elements always inhabited outskirts of the system and nobody ever managed to deal with them. Nobody will ask too many uncomfortable questions about that attack and most will treat them as pirates."
Carrow nodded and gulped in fear. "What if they find me leading the attack?"
"Ordo has means of protecting itself in grave situations," the Grandmaster said and Carrow looked at him. "If they manage to catch you, they won't prove a single thing. The only thing they will learn is that you were a minor pirate hoping to have luck with the courier ship."
Carrow nodded and taking it as a cue to withdraw, he did so and went to prepare for the mission ahead of himself. He had a bad feeling about the task, with thirty Stormtroopers he should be able to achieve the goals given to him, yet he knew that Space Marines were difficult foes.
o-0-o
Strike cruisers owned by the chapter of the Grey Knights were one of the fastest and most advanced ships ever developed by the humanity and Aldrik Voldus was grateful for that as he walked through the corridors of the Fang heading for a meeting with the Great Wolf and Njal Stormcaller. The Wolves demanded lengthy explanations, but even they let him into their lair once he explained why he was here. Now it was just a matter of revealing the true reason why he was here and why that boy should be allowed to be tested in the Citadel of Titan, there was also a small matter of surviving the coming talk and hoping that he would be understood.
His guide stopped in front of stone doors and Aldrik quickly collected his mind, years of training and usage of psychic powers allowing him to do it at moments notice. Once he was done with it he nodded at his guide who looked at the pair of Space Wolves that stood in front of those doors. He walked forward and as he approached the guards they opened the doors and once he was inside they closed them behind him.
"The Great Wolf, Rune Priest," Aldrik said, lightly bowing his head. "Thank you for seeing me, the matter is of utmost urgency and I already feel it is too late to prevent the worst fallout of the events to come."
"Grand Master Voldus," the Great Wolf said slowly. "Can you explain what made you come here in such a haste?"
"A boy found by Ragnar Blackmane on the Holy Terra," Voldus said and quickly added before the Great Wolf could say anything. "I'm not working for the Inquisition here, I'm on the behalf of my chapter and the God-Emperor."
"Explain," the Great Wolf said.
Aldrik quickly explained things seen and heard on Titan as well as omens his own divination provided him with and he finished it with retelling of the meeting he had with other Grand Masters of his chapter. While telling the story he watched the expression of the Great Wolf and for a brief moment feared that he would be murdered here.
"How sure you are that the Inquisition wants to detain him?" the Great Wolf asked.
"Unfortunately as sure as I can be," Aldrik winced. "While most of the Conclave is just wary of you and wants to watch you, that one, one known as the Grandmaster seems focused on getting the boy. For what reasons I cannot tell, as I don't know, however I have a solution that can disarm the whole plot and let every group come out of it victorious."
"What?" Njal asked.
"Let my chapter test him in our fortress on Titan," Aldrik said. "The Inquisition will accept it as we are one of their chamber militants. While I think that you can trust us because we are a fellow chapter of Adeptus Astartes and swore not to attack each other."
"It has some merits," Njal said, sending his liege lord a look to stay silent. "However it would be an even better agreement if he was allowed to study under one of your more powerful brothers. I taught him as much as I could, but he is an immensely powerful person and the student outgrew the master."
"I would need to consult this with the Grand Master responsible for training of new brothers, but I think it can be done," Aldrik said. "However he will need to take an oath to never reveal what he had seen in the halls of our fortress as there are stored things that should remain hidden and we don't want them to become a common knowledge."
"We all have our secrets," Logan said and Aldrik nodded. "As long as you swear that nothing will happen to him and that we can trust you, he will be allowed to be tested by you and if he wants it, trained in his powers."
"Of course," Aldrik said and looked at Njal. "I also came here to consult your archives and knowledge of your Rune Priests, so perhaps once I'm ready to leave I will made an oath."
"That will be sufficient," Logan said and looked at Njal. "Ensure that our guest has everything he needs and once that is done bring him back so that he can make an oath to me."
o-0-o
Harry had very bad feelings as they left the Warp and entered the system, while the travel through the Immaterium was surprisingly fast, calm and with no accidents. However the moment the craft entered back into the material universe he started to have a feeling that all would end bad. As customs party approached the ship it turned from an annoyance that he could ignore into a headache that threatened him with splitting his head.
He made his way to the hangar bay and he was just in time to see customs officers opening fire onto kaerls that greeted them. At this his throat left a blood curling howl and he charged into at the traitors, his axe making its way into his hand. He sent a wild, quick strike towards the closest one and a sign of surprise passed across his face when his enemy was able to actually try to dodge the strike. However that attempt didn't matter as the blade cut through the cloth and flesh below before shattering the bone and continuing its path through the body, finally coming out of it in a shower of blood and torn out tissue.
This seemed to snap the traitors from some weird sleep in which all of them were and they aimed their lasguns and pistols, which Harry immediately recognized as hotshot variant and narrowed his eyes. Just a couple units had access to them and all of them were loyal without any doubts, yet here they were fighting against him.
"I suggest that you surrender," someone said and when he looked in the direction of the voice he saw a tall man in a black coat with a golden rosette on his chest. His eyes were hidden by a wide hat, yet Harry felt them try to look into his soul. "Next strike by you will be treated as an attack against the agents of the Holy Inquisition."
Harry just smiled, his fangs flashing and he pulled out his bolter pistol before firing at the closest agents of the Inquisition. He watched with some grim satisfaction as their heads exploded like ripe watermelons before he shook his head and started to cut to shreds ones that were closest to him.
For a moment it felt like paradise, his enemies didn't even stand a chance against him when someone shot him in the knee and his armor was unable to stop the hit from penetrating the flesh and burning a hole through it. He let out a scream of pain and shock as his knee gave up, unable to support his weight and that of his armor.
"If you obeyed my command you wouldn't get injured," the Inquisitor said, his voice mocking as he walked forward. "Oh, well, my superiors will be happy if I delivered to them your body."
Harry let out a growl and supporting himself on his axe he stood up and looked at the Inquisitor, his eyes burning with cold fury. He stretched fingers of his right hand and then his eyes briefly flashed blue before the smell of ozone filled the room and lightnings started to jump between the agents of the Inquisition.
"I think that you might have slight troubles with defeating me," Harry said with a growl and looked at the Inquisitor. "Your agents are fried and I can do the same with you, or no, I won't do that." He looked at the kaerls that entered into the bay, in their hands lasguns and their bodies clad in full carapace armor. "Get him into the brig and check for anything of note and make sure that he doesn't have anything with which he can end his sorry life."
Kaerls nodded and walked to the Inquisitor who seemed unable to comprehend that something could go so badly. He received a powerful strike with a laser rifle across his back and soon he was tied and gagged before being led away to the brig. At this Harry felt pain finally come back to him as adrenaline wore off and nerves started to report pain in his knee. He managed to stand straight, but only because he supported himself with his axe. He gave one last look towards the mess of ripped and charred bodies before slowly limping away towards his quarters.
o-0-o
Valkoth looked at the reports and smiled to himself, eight nests of those zealots were purged and tally of the dead ones reached into several hundreds. Which was all and good, but not the main reason of his smile, that reason was in form of weapons that were found in those nests. Lasguns were to be expected as armories of Terra were vast and almost constantly something was being lost, however them being of the hotshot variant made his eyes narrow. That variant was supposed to be tracked to the every single unit and crates of them disappearing were worrying. At least the rest was a lot less worrying as flamers and automatic weapons weren't as deadly to Astartes as hotshot lasguns were.
"So the Inquisition did it?" Adrian asked, his artificial eye focused on the gun placed on the table. "As I don't remember normal Astra Militarum having access to those guns."
"Or someone powerful enough to have access to the Militarum Tempestus," Valkoth said and looked at Torin. "What did you manage to learn?"
"Other Houses are scared, yet grateful that we did something with those zealots and while none openly admitted it. It seems that someone wanted to drag them into a plot against us and offered mountains of gold just for not helping us if we came to ask for support."
"Interesting, very interesting," Valkoth said and at the same time a Tech-Priest came in with a sheet of paper and handed it to Valkoth. "It seems that the missing Wolfblade is finally here and has a gift for us."
"A gift?" Gunnar asked.
"A rather interesting individual," Valkoth said as he looked at the sheet of paper. "According to it they had a fake customs party that tried to arrest him and introduced themselves as the agents of the Inquisition."
"That's not a thing I expected," Torin said and paused. "Tell me that the Inquisitor is alive and well."
"He is alive, at least according to this," Valkoth said and Torin smiled.
"They trained him well," Torin said and looked at his commander. "I'll go to the spaceport to greet the last addition to our team and ensure that he doesn't get lost on his way here."
"Very well," Valkoth said and glanced at Adrian. "Can you get a group of household guards to the ship and ensure that the guest is shown our famous hospitality."
Adrian smiled and nodded before bowing and following Torin out of the room, leaving Valkoth to think about the events and plan for the future.
o-0-o
Harry watched curiously the landscape below as the shuttle descended through the atmosphere of the Holy Terra. Everything he had seen so far managed to make him breathless, from the massive fortresses that guarded the outskirts of the system to the Ring of Iron, everything was geared towards protection of the Cradle of Humanity. Space was filled with untold thousands of ships, most of them massive cruisers and battleships of the Battlefleet Solar, the biggest single unit inside of the Navy.
He shook his head and focused on the landscape below as the shuttle passed through the last layer of clouds and prepared for landing. Everything seemed big and grand, as if everybody tried to prove that they were better than their competitors. Which made him smile as it reminded him of the constant bickering for bigger ships and more of them between various Wolf Lords of the chapter.
"If Emperor allows it we will soon be landing," the pilot reported.
Harry nodded and walked to the end of the compartment, shifting his weight from the wounded leg to the fully working one. Even if his body could regenerate itself from almost any damage, knee was one of few parts that would take time to regrow.
When the shuttle landed and the ramp was lowered he walked onto the landing pad and looked around, it was mostly empty, excluding a lone Space Wolf waiting close to a small buggy. Small that is for standards of the Marines, for humans it was a rather large one.
The Wolf noticed him and walked closer, it was then when Harry recognized him as Torin Wayfarer, probably the sole Wolf that volunteered for the service with the Blades. They approached each other various warily and Torin shot a look at the markings painted on Harry's pauldron.
"A Wolf Guard," Torin said and laughed. "Welcome back to Terra, Harald Belisarius."
Harry smiled and clasped his forearm with Torin's. "I didn't plan on returning here so soon."
"The Celestarch herself requested your presence," Torin said as they walked to the vehicle. "The rest you will learn when we're inside of the house. Too many damn ears and eyes everywhere."
"That bad?" Harry asked.
"Aye, that bad," Torin said and smiled. "At least we have piles of gifts from Mars that let us greet all of those troublemakers. Anyways, which company?"
"Blackmane's," Harry said and smiled. "He named me his Guard right after I was sworn in as the Claw."
Torin nodded and for the rest of the journey they chatted about unimportant matters that could be talked with spies looking at their every step. However the moment the buggy crossed the gate of the Quarter and charged for the spire belonging to the House of Belisarius Harry fell silent as memories flooded his mind.
"Good to be home," he said, jumping out of the buggy.
Torin nodded and together they walked inside, starting a new part of his saga.
o-0-o
A/N – Another kinda cliffhanger ending with some or most questions unanswered and many only partially. More blood, gore and plotting is to come, but for now this should be enough.
Things that some might not know:
Hotshot laser – a more powerful and harder to manufacture variant of the venerable lasgun, used mostly by Karskin, Militarum Tempestus and agents of the Inquisition. While normal lasgun mostly will scorch the paint of the armor worn by the Astartes, this one has an actual chance of punching a hole through it and stopping the hulking warrior ready to bisect you.