A/N - Short, but the cliffhanger was too good...
o-0-o
Harry walked through the battlefields on the planet, his eyes scanning mountains of corpses and wrecks, between them Apothecaries moving and searching for bodies of fallen battle-brothers to reclaim their gene-seeds and add them into chapter's bank where it would wait for the next boy to get implanted with.
He let his eyes linger over the horizon with thick smudges of smoke and heavy dark, acidic clouds of pollution preventing sunlight from hitting the surface. He breathed in the air and he could feel the stinging and unpleasant smell of it as his Multi-lung took over function of his normal lungs and filtered the toxins out of the air.
He was about to continue on his patrol when he noticed a strange orange in color sword wedged into the ground in front of him, he grasped it with his hand and winced as he felt magic try to flow into him. Pushing it away he pulled the blade out of the blood soaked mud and bodies, as it emerged he could see its surface flicker and glow in hundreds of colors.
"A blade of a Herald of Khorne," Grand Master Voldus said approaching him and Harry looked in the direction of his mentor. "A daemon that is a messenger of its god and is usually responsible for keeping an eye on lesser daemons. His blade can be a powerful tool for the Imperium if reforged right and purified."
Harry looked at the blade and then smiled. "A worthy gift for the champion of my Great Company," he said and then added. "Could I get it reforged in the forges of the Citadel?"
"I believe you could," Voldus said and smiled. "But you will need to help the Techmarines and Artificers craft the weapon."
Harry grimaced, but then nodded and made a couple of swings with the blade, testing its balance and if he liked it. Content he reached to a harness that kept his ace strapped to his back and attached to it the sword. "Since the daemon invasion is all but gone, what now?"
"Return to Titan and more training," Voldus said and paused, looking at Harry. "I have a feeling however that you have some great part to play in the near future, one that will shake quite a lot of things."
"Master, what do you mean?"
"I mean what I said," Voldus said and then gave Harry a look. "Enough said that it cost us a lot to keep you out of the claws of the Inquisition and we will use you to the fullest before returning you to your chapter."
"I understand," Harry said as he returned to his duty, his superhuman sense scanning the battlefield and looking for daemons that could have still lingered.
o-0-o
Logan Grimnar looked at the sky and smiled, for the first time in the long days of the campaign the drop pods that were hurling towards the planet carried aboard reinforcements. He scowled at the name of the Ultramarines, but even if he had doubts about them, they were good soldiers and knew their duty.
"Why out of the hundred or so chapters from this Segmentum we need to get them?" Ragnar Blackmane asked on his face a fierce scowl as he cut his way through the hordes of lesser Tyranids. "They are useless."
Logan bared his fangs and sent a look at the Young King who almost immediately calmed. "They are our cousins and you will behave," he said and then looked at the millions of Nids around them. "Also there are so many Tyranids to kill that I want as many blades on the ground as I can get."
Ragnar moved away into the thick of combat, Wolf Guard around him and Logan paused to see the whole battlefield. The tide was turned, but the victory was still days away and there were millions of the bugs to kill. He looked up at the sky and he could see the first drop pods slam into the ground and release Devastators and Sternguard with thick protection of the Vanguard and Assault Squads that immediately took off into the air.
"Wolves, join the Ultramarines, now," he ordered activating his vox. "Lord Commander Dante, keep the wings secure and send reserves into combat as you see fit."
With those words said Logan walked forward, his Axe of Morkai drawing bloody toll of the xeno ichor, his personal guard scattered around him and cutting down even more Tyranids.
o-0-o
Torin moved silently down a narrow street of the underhive his eyes scanning the darkness as he tried to find what he was looking for, in his hands a power sword and a plasma pistol, while Wolf Guard behind him had lightning claws and heavy bolters.
"So far clear," he whispered into the vox and paused at an intersection. "The street splits into four, which one to choose?"
"Leftmost," Valkoth said from the comfortable command post of the spire. "That's what our friend of an Inquisitor Lord told us."
"Assuming that he can be trusted," Torin said as he scanned the darkness and then put on his helmet. "What did he mention we can find?"
"Some zealots, maybe a Sister of Battle or two, more zealots and some Stormtroopers and a lot of gear stashed away."
"Just lovely," Torin muttered and almost on instinct ducked as a hail of bullets passed through the space where his head used to be. "We have company! Long Fangs, find cover and suppress, the rest with me."
He charged towards whoever was firing at him and barely dodged a hail of fire from an autocannon that came alive when he got close. He pressed activation rune built into the hilt of his sword and with the blade humming with power he jumped at the zealots. First one didn't even know something or someone was charging at him and died when the power sword sliced him in two, at the same grazing one behind.
"How much company?" Valkoth asked over the vox.
"Bloody lot," Torin growled as he fired his pistol and dodged another hail of bullets. "I think that they were waiting for us."
He heard Valkoth's acknowledgement and then focused on fending off the swarm of the bloody zealots that were everywhere. Torin sliced open a zealot and then let out of a small breath of relief when the heavy bolters roared, their bolts tearing through the zealots, their bodies and whatever armor or protection they had.
However the barrage that stopped the tide was not enough and it only slowed the zealots down. Torin blocked a strike at his head and ducked under another one before slicing a zealot and pulling back. "Retreat," he barked into his vox. "Fifty meters at a time, Long Fangs, get to a safe position and support us." He fired his pistol at a leader of the band and looked around. "Valkoth, can you get some support to us?"
"Working on it," Valkoth rumbled. "The soonest you can have some is in twelve hours."
Torin cursed and looked around, deserted buildings and darkness didn't help in waiting out for so long, but then he grinned under his helmet, it helped them more than it helped the zealots. "To the intersection and there we disappear into one of the buildings and lay low."
He heard grunts of acknowledgment and smiled, chasing Astartes when they wanted not to be found or caught was a risky job. He saw a pair of lightning claws flash to his side and slice open a zealot that somehow managed to slip too close to him. "Thank you," he muttered in the direction of the Blade that did it and then they disengaged, running away from combat.
They raced down the street, their armored forms quickly disappearing into the darkness and shadows that filled the underhive. For them it was gloomy as their eyes and systems of their helmets easily penetrated the darkness, but for their enemies it was pitch blackness. Humans didn't have the Occulobe implants and didn't have any aids in their helmets, so from the hunters they were turned into prey of the Marines.
Torin paused as they turned around the corner and looked around, habblocks and factories that long stopped working were around them. Above them somewhere in the darkness was the ceiling of the tunnel or the corridor through which they walked. He released the seals of his armor and let the unfiltered air enter his nostrils, feeling thousands, upon thousands of scents that filled the air.
"They're close," one of the Blades whispered over the vox. "Two hundred meters behind us."
"Aye," Torin nodded and looked at the Blade with a wide, white mark across his helmet. "Leif, take half of the ground and hide in the buildings to the left, make sure you're out of sight. I'll do the same with the rest on the other side of the street."
They split and disappeared into the buildings, inside of which proved to be swept clean of any valuable things and in most cases the only things left were those bolted down to the floor. Torin climbed onto the third floor of one of the buildings and looked down at the alley before sending a quick look towards the direction from where they came. A large mob of zealots accompanied by some Stormtroopers and Sisters of Battle was quickly moving.
"Valkoth, do you hear me?" he asked, tapping his vox bead, having his helmet hanging from the belt.
"Barely, something is jamming the signal," Valkoth's voice was weak and distorted by static. "Better," he said after a moment. "Magos that is here increased powers of our relays. So what's the issue?"
"It's bad," Torin said and grimaced, his eyes scanning the crowd of zealots. "Sororitas, Inquisitorial Stormtroopers, zealots and all pretty nicely armed."
"How many?"
"Maybe a dozen of Sororitas, two or three dozens of the Stormtroopers and a lot of zealots," Torin said and tapped his bead. "Leif, do you see anything more?"
"Aye, second smaller group, parallel street," Leif said and paused. "No Sororitas or Stormtroopers, just zealots."
"How many?"
"Few dozens."
Torin glanced at the street and then spoke. "So we have enemy that knows we are somewhere around, hunts us and is too numerous to engage."
"Skitarii and twelve Terminators can get to get you in twelve hours assuming they won't meet any resistance, can you fight those problems on your own?"
Torin paused and considered the situation for a second. "If we can get them split and divided, maybe, if they're one blob, not likely."
"Try to reduce them in number," Valkoth said and Torin could feel that the old wolf was unhappy. "In the meantime I'll gather the force and send it towards you."
Torin nodded and moved away from the window not to draw any unnecessary attention to himself or the Wolves that were hiding in the building. They could most likely win the skirmish if given time to prepare and set up an ambush, but with Sisters of Battle it was risky and an open confrontation would end badly.
o-0-o
Fabric of space in an uncharted area of Segmentum Solar sung with barely contained energy as a psychic ritual unleashed by the Harlequins with support of over two dozens of the most powerful Farseers saw the reality bulge and open revealing the Warp or Immaterium. As it happened a massive hulk emerged from the Sea of Souls, its form over hundred kilometers long and dozens wide.
At the same time a strike cruiser of the Grey Knights was passing through the same area of the Warp and was dragged along and spat out into the material world its Navigators and Astropaths screaming in pain as its crew tried to stabilize the ship and get it out of the way of the most immediate danger.
Aldrik Voldus stepped into the bridge as the alarms screamed and howled around him with strobes of emergency lights flashing and flooding everything in bright, attention drawing light. He stood there for a moment, his gaze studying the massive hulk and then turned to look at the captain of his strike cruiser.
"Send an emergency message to every imperial force that can reach us," he ordered and then turned to face a Magos of Adeptus Mechanicus that was also aboard. "Run the scans of hulk, learn everything you can and prepare a plan for boarding actions."
"But –"
"Do it," Voldrus said and then added after a moment. "Make sure that we are not interrupted when we board it."
With those words he walked out of the bridge and headed for his own cell to mediate and attend to his gear as well as meet with commanders of squads to seek their opinions on the mess in which all of them just landed.
o-0-o
Harry sat on the cold, stone floor of the chapel built inside of the strike cruiser, while he didn't believe in the Emperor as a God of Mankind and its Lord and Protector he acknowledged him as its ruler and the finest man that ever walked between the starts and on Terra. He looked at the massive, stone sculptures of the Emperor and his Primarchs that were behind an altar and he smiled for a moment when his eyes slipped over the form of the Wolf King, Leman Russ, his gene-father and the Primarch of the Sixth Legion.
He then slowly closed his eyes and evening out the rhythm of his hearts he slipped into a state of meditation as he let his mind rest and relax as well as prepare for the upcoming struggles and the future. In the corners of his eyes he could see the violet and pink light of the Warp, but then he felt a wave of psychic energy wash over him and the next moment when he opened his eyes through the windows was pouring in light of stars and material universe. However that was not all that shocked him, there was also a weird sensation in his mind that he didn't feel since he left the spire of House of Belisarius. Sensation he associated with packmates and fellow Wolves of Fenris, yet even stronger than he ever felt it.
Then he felt something powerful, primal, yet gentle and majestic, as well as almost, yet not quite human invade his body and mind and take control over him. When it spoke to him inside of his mind it was not a single voice, but a chorus of voices starting with a single majestic and powerful one and followed by hundreds of weaker and lesser ones. 'Go and board the hulk, find the Wolf King and release him from a trap of ice and then release the Prince of Unkindness from a trap of misery. The time of his exile came to an end and he is needed on Terra and Mars.'
Harry felt as if he meant nothing compared to whatever it was that wrangled control of his mind and body from him. He tried to assault it and push it out, but all he achieved was nothing, only an even stronger headache growing and whatever it was feeling as if amused by his behavior.
'If I wanted to, you would be a mindless drone the moment I touched your mind, one of my Angels of Death, I use only a sliver of what I have at my disposal and don't test me. Your Primarch and my son needs to be found and rescued.' The Emperor said, shaking Harry's mind with the power and majesty at his disposal. 'The Galaxy is burning and the Wolftime is here, go and be his Herald.'With those words the presence left his mind and Harry was actually able to freely breath and regain some kind of an equilibrium.
For a moment he was dazed as he found himself sprawled on the floor, his body unable to move and spasming uncontrollably. It took him a moment to regain any kind of a control over his body and then he slowly and very carefully sat up. The experience was scary and he still had troubles believing it was true and that the most powerful human being in existence spoke to him. It also seemed that whatever had transpired was noticed by other Astartes aboard the ship as after several seconds he heard feet in power armor stomp on the floor outside of the chapel and then burst in.
"What had happened here?" One of the Paladins asked and Harry looked at him, gaze unfocused and still a bit dazed.
"Someone spoke to me," Harry slowly said. "Someone that felt as if he was a chorus of voices, all of them speaking as one and as whole. It felt as if it was a human being, yet at the same time it was something more."
"You said it was a chorus of voices, not a single voice?" Grand Master Voldrus asked, pushing his way past the Paladins. "And was more than a human?"
"Yes, Grand Master," Harry said and saw the eye of his superior narrow and focus on him, making him almost flinch.
"As I suspected," Voldrus said and sent a look at the gathered Knights. "All of you out, Paladins, vigil outside the chapel. Nobody can enter until I deem it proper."
Over an hour and a half Harry spent questioned by Voldrus who while probably believing him, also pressed him for any and all informations not letting anything be missed. By the end of the session Harry let out a happy sigh as he wanted to avoid any more questions that seemed to doubt his loyalty to the Imperium and his chapter. A things that normally would have ended with blows, powerful ones at that.
Half an hour after the questioning ended Harry sat in a troop compartment of a Thunderhawk that approached the hulk to see what mysteries it could be hiding and what truths it could reveal.