A/N – Weird chapter that is mostly focused on the Warp and shenanigans related to it, but some people might be able to guess a thing or two about what I prepared for you all. Also at the end there is something special.
The Hrafnkel left the Immaterium and almost immediately found itself under attack, swarms of crude ork crafts hurling themselves at it and the accompanying armada. The primitive crafts that were more a collection of wrecks held together by some miracles than actual warships blasted towards the fleet. Firing every single one of their guns and trying to board it.
"Orks, they don't change," Russ said from his throne on the bridge of the Hrafnkel. "As brash and irritating as they were during the Crusade."
Harry smiled at it and then his gaze flickered to the schematics of the ship showing areas that were under assault. The orks were mindless brutes that attacked the enemy no matter the disparity in power and size and now swarms of them were trying to board the Hrafnkel. Noises of combat were resonating across the whole hull as the crew and the Space Marines fought to keep the enemy at bay and protect the ship.
"My Lord," Harry said quietly looking at Russ. "Should I go and help them?"
Russ only laughed, his voice not quite human and not quite wolflike. It also made Harry's wolf spirit claw at the restrains keeping it in check and woke his blood thirst. "Do you doubt if your brothers can fight off some ork boarders?"
Harry took a deep breath, calming himself and then smiled. "No, my lord, I don't doubt their skills. I just think they might need support to finish the fight sooner. After all, we're here to shatter this Waaagh and meet with the Raven Guard."
Russ nodded and gave a sign that Harry understood as a permission to do what he pleased. The next moment he was running out of the bridge, a pack of Wolf Guard on his heels. Their heavy boots pounding against the deck as human serfs moved out of their path, just to avoid getting crushed by the armored bulk of the Astartes.
Harry sniffed the air and bared his fangs as the strong stench of orks hit him. He glanced at the rest of the Wolf Guard and put on the helmet as his lips moved into a feral smile revealing his elongated canines. He turned around one last corner and an ork boarding ship punched through the hull, right in front of him.
He activated his axe power field and as the first greenskin jumped down he was ready and swung the deadly weapon, the blade easily slicing through the ork and killing him on the spot. As he saw more orks pour out of the craft he howled, excitement coursing through his body as he slammed into them.
Their teeth, claw and primitive arms clattering harmlessly against his armor and his axe easily cleaving their bodies into pieces. He shoved an ork aside and his eyes glowed cerulean blue as lightnings started to jump through the orks around him.
The screams and yells of orks filled the corridor as electricity fried their bodies, burning and mutilitating their bodies before finally killing them. Harry looked at the charred corpses and then sniffed the air, trying to find the next place where the orks boarded.
"Spread out," he barked in the direction of his squad. "Hunt down the orks and join up with other groups."
The Wolf Guard nodded and he moved down the corridor towards the place where he smelled some orks. Their strong, almost knocking out musky smell was hard to miss, even more on a ship that smelled like the Wolves of Fenris. Harry's eyes narrowed as he heard the sound of combat and then he saw a couple of orks fight with the human serfs. At this his eyes narrowed even more and he reached for his rifle before starting to fire as he ran the last few meters before slamming into the closest ork.
The greenskin let out a grunt of surprise before Harry's hand ripped its throat out and he got up. His massive armored bulk covered in the foul, black blood of the orks as with contemptuous ease he slew the remainder of the group before looking at the serfs. "Join to the rest of your units," he said and before he was done speaking they were gone.
His eyes scanned the corridor and sensing no more danger he turned around and started his return towards the bridge and his lord. A thing that could take a long, long time, considering that the orks were pouring in and many would be on his way back to the bridge.
o-0-o
Valdor stood on the bridge of the Hrafnkel, gaze of his eyes cold and uncaring as he analyzed the data displayed on dozens of holographic projections. He was the oldest of the Emperor's Praatoerians and his most trusted companion and advisor. In the times seen by the most of the Imperium as myths and legends he was commanding armies and overthrowing tyrants. This battle above Deliverance while certainly large, wasn't impressive nor the biggest one he saw.
"Order the escorts closer," he snapped and watched as the scores of lighter crafts moved closer. Tightening the net of poing defense fire and shooting down few more ork boarding torpedoes.
"We need to reach Delivarence," Corax said and Valdor glanced at the son of his lord. "They need our support to win the battle." Prince of the Unkindness paused and flinched. "Even if it hurts me to admit it, my sons will be overwhelmed otherwise."
"I know," Valdor said and then his gaze flickered to several ork battleships. "Those need to be gone. Otherwise any attempts to reinforce the planet will be futile."
Corax nodded and walked out of the chamber, a thing that made Valdor smile. The battleships soon would discover what a Primarch could do when motivated to use their skills and knowledge. In the time immemorial presence of one Primarch was an event to be celebrated and gathering of two and the Captain-General of the Custodian Guard was almost a legend. A thing the soldiers talked about for months. Now as he stood on the bridge dressed in his shining golden armor and holding in his hand the Apollonian Spear.
One of the two spears forged by the Emperor before the birth of the Imperium and since then entrusted to him, Constantin Valdor, the oldest and wisest of His guardians and companions. The spear could kill Primarchs, deamons and possibly even gods, a thing not many pieces of weaponry in the known galaxy could achieve.
He glanced at Russ sitting on a throne and brooding, a very unusual thing for the Wolf King, but one he didn't mind. The Russ he used to know from the times of Heresy was rash and a berserker, this one seemed to be somewhat patient and more restrained and more importantly knew when to step aside. A change Valdor appreciated as for once he didn't need to force him into submission.
Turning back to the battle Valdor smiled when one of the battleships was ripped apart by a chain of explosions that needed to originate inside. "Bring us to ram the closest one," he coldly said looking at the shipmaster.
The human in charge of ship nodded and the massive behemoth slowly moved, its form turning towards its target and Valdor could feel as through his boots passed tremors that shook the whole deck. Any battleship was slow to get moving, but once it started, there was no way of stopping it short of actually blowing it up.
The moments leading to the inevitable collision dragged out and Valdor could see in perfect clarity the ork battleship try to move out of the way and fail as the shipmaster carefully adjusted movements of the Hrafnkel to compensate for those maneuvers. Then the impact happened and Valdor could see the heavily armored and reinforced prow of a Gloriana-class battleship plow though what orks called void shields and then through the soft armor of their battleship.
What was left of the battleship didn't last long as the macrocannons battered the exposed innards of the ship and caused a chain of massive secondary explosions that ripped the craft apart. Leaving only a rapidly growing cloud of debris behind, a thing that made Valdor smile as it was the last obstacle between them and the safe orbit for a drop pod assault on the planet.
"Unleash your Wolves," Valdor said turning to look at Russ. "Custodians will guard you and will be yours to command."
o-0-o
Usually a single strike cruiser and their cargo of Space Marines was enough to force a planet to submission or break a minor ork Waaagh. But above Deliverance there were over forty normal companies of Marines, thirteen Great Companies of the Wolves and Raven Guard elements. Hundreds of drop pods were released, each of them carrying a squad of Marines ready to bring destruction to the orks, however they weren't the only Marines preparing to drop.
The assault ramp of a Stormbird lowered as the gunship slipped by the edge of the atmosphere and Harry looked at the atmosphere below before glancing at the pack of Wolf Guard behind. He nodded at them and then stepped out of the Stormbird, the outer shell of his Gravis armor shutting and protecting his head. He then spread his hands, his axe and shield safely locked to his back and dived, the thrusters of his armor briefly firing to keep him on course. Splashing against the surface like some meteor was not a good thing for him, but a controlled descent that let him pounce onto the enemy made him smile.
He could see the surface grow rapidly as he plummeted through the thin and highly toxic atmosphere of the moon that was a homeworld of the Primarch of the Nineteenth Legion. And now was besieged by the orks that seemed keen on not leaving the place. As the ground neared Harry checked data fed to him by his armor and then activated the vox of his unit.
"Slow down your descent," he said and then held his breath for a second. "Now!" When he said this word thrusters on the back of his armor fired and his descent leveled.
With roar of engines he passed above a trench line manned by the Raven Guard and Imperial Guard and then slammed into the orks ahead of them. He cut the power to the engines and reached for the axe and shield before landing on an ork in front of him. The bulk of the greenskin taking the brunt of the impact. The bones snapped and organs were turned into bloody paste. Even if orks were designed for combat, no living being could survive a meeting with a Space Marine traveling at several hundred kilometers per hour.
The axe in his hand and glowing with psychic fire Harry walked forward, the shield in his hand easily stopping ork blades, teeth, claws and bullets as his axe carved their owners to bloody pieces. He deflected an axe strike from a massive ork boy and with a single strike of the axe sliced the foul beast in twain before dropping into a crouch as a heavy bolter salvo passed directly over him.
"Watch your fire."
Getting up, he charged towards the orks that seemed to waver and break. A thing that confounded him, until he noticed both Primarchs and Custodians carve a path through the ork Waaagh and towards the Warboss. Harry thought he would never see a scared greenskin, as those things were too dumb to feel fear, but now it felt as if they were afraid of the Primarchs.
Harry laughed as he looked at the orks fleeing away from the Primarchs, trying to protect themselves and avoid getting slaughtered. He didn't let it distract him and focused on the fighting around him. He felt a heavy bullet slam against his helmet and moved out of the way of the next shot before slaying the ork that fired.
He reached a small hill and looked around, behind him was the Ravenspire, the home of the Raven Guard and in front was a massive Waaagh. Or rather its shattered remains, dozens of groups of Marines fighting with the orks and slaying them in the hundreds as they worked on eliminating the leaders of the horde. As he looked upwards he could see the massive battleships of the armada move across the sky, their sides blazing as they dueled with the ork constructs that still remained. Yet he could tell that the battle was already won, the matter of time being them breaking the fleet and fully liberating the system.
o-0-o
As the dusk descended onto the Deliverance Harry stood on top of one of the many turrets of the Ravenspire and watched the barren landscape, now mostly covered in ork bodies and their foul, black ichor. He shook his head and pulled the helmet off, revealing his youthful face with emerald eyes and covered in a net of fine scars, his long black hair flew in the wind and he slowly breathed in. The atmosphere, normally lethal, merely unpleasant for him, carried also the scent of the world and the events happening here.
He could smell death, blood and war, but also the heavy scent of lubricants and greases used by the Mechanicus in their forges and mines. Reminding him that this moon was not only a fortress of the Marines, but also a major manufactorum of the Mechanicus. He once more sniffed the air and then paused as the hair on the back of his neck rose and his senses screamed danger.
"Warp," he snarled as he reached for a plasma pistol he carried with himself for safety. "Its taint is here." He put on his helmet and walked into the fortress.
As he descended through the corridors, trusting his senses he noticed that a lot of the Marines that crowded the fortress was restless and on edge. While the Blood Claws and Scouts were always such, the veterans tended to be more relaxed and calm. The deeper he was getting he could feel the taint grow stronger and stronger, a thing that unsettled him even more.
"Where are the Grey Knights?" he snarled into the vox as he stopped in front of one of the shafts leading to the deepest levels of the fortress.
"With the Primarchs."
Harry muttered a curse under his breath and then considered his options, he could investigate on his own, a thing he had the right to do, but was also a risky one. His brows furrowed for a second as he looked at the door and then paused, forcing his body to relax. The other option was to get his old master from the Grey Knights to come and see this, a thing that would get him scolded if it was nothing or rewarded if in this mess there was something important.
"Get Grand Master Voldus and a squad of Paladins here," Harry said and then added more forcefully. "I don't give a fuck that they are with the Primarchs, I can smell Warp here."
He could almost smell fear and terror through the vox and Harry allowed himself a smile, disturbing Primarchs was a thing that nobody wanted to do and bearers of bad news were often in the worst position.
Knowing that he had plenty of time Harry looked very carefully at the door barring him access and focused also on the powers that could be concealing things from his sight. He called forth his powers and as his eyes glowed cerulean blue and his powers came forth he could see nothing. Nothing excluding the overflowing Warp taint he didn't need any of his powers to notice. A thing that troubled him, as usually if something was tainted or a source of taint it was more than simple Warp energy seeping into the world.
He was about to kick in the door and force his way through when he heard footsteps behind, glancing backwards he saw Voldus flanked by a squad of Paladins, all of them in their terrible panoply of war.
"Do you feel it?" Harry asked as he eyed the door.
"Aye," Voldus said and gave Harry a look. "There is something hidden here, but what, the Ravens aren't that keen to reveal."
Harry considered his options for a moment and smirked under his helmet. "Well, we need to get some more information and this door is on our path. Time to kick it in?"
Voldus nodded and indicated at one of the Paladins that had a power fist to step forward and do the deed. Much to their surprise the door survived first few strikes until finally giving up after the tenth one. Harry kneeled and picked up a piece of metal that was chipped off. "Who makes doors to a stupid lift shaft out of adamantium?" he muttered looking at it.
"It would be a proper question," Voldus said peering into the darkness. "If the thing we got to was a lift shaft."
Harry looked at the grand master who just smiled and indicated for him to see for himself. Harry did it and then his eyes widened. The shaft was not that for a lift, but it was an access point to something that was a massive engine room of a star fortress.
"What in the Emperor's name is it?" Harry asked as he squinted his eyes. "A Warp Core, really?"
"Seems that the Angels aren't the only ones that have a mobile fortress."
Harry glanced at the grand master before shrugging and activating magnetic soles of his boots and starting to walk down the shaft and towards the source of the Warp corruption. With each step he could feel it grow more and more powerful and as he got to the very core he felt as if he was drowning in corruption.
However that wasn't the thing that unsettled him, that title belonged to the lack of daemons and other horrors usually associated with the Warp. He scanned the room, his plasma pistol in front of him and ready to be fired at moment's notice, yet there was nothing.
"We need to shut it down," Harry said as he approached the control station of the Core.
"I think it is too late," Voldus said and Harry looked sharply at the Grand Master. "If it was a Warp rift, we would be flooding in daemons right now. Yet there are no, just the taint of the Warp. Sometimes also felt when entering the Warp on the extremely old ships."
Harry's eyes widened rapidly as he tried to understand what the older Astartes meant. "Are you?"
"Implying that it was done on purpose?" Voldus asked and shook head. "No, I don't. What I imply is that it isn't a normal Warp rift and there is something more to it. Trying to forcefully shut it down would most likely result in a full blown Warp rift."
Harry was about to activate the vox and call his Primarch and ask for a permission to turn off the Core, but then the Core fully activated and for a brief second they felt as if they were passing through the Warp. However at the same time it was too peaceful and too calm for a real Warp passage and then as suddenly as it appeared it was gone.
"The Warp is gone," Voldus said with a frown. "But what that was, I cannot tell."
o-0-o
Ragnar Blackmane stormed onto the bridge of his flagship, the Pride of Russ and looked at the shipmaster that seemed as shocked and terrified as anybody else aboard the ship. "What was that, shipmaster?" he asked harshly.
"Something happened with the Deliverance," the shipmaster said and sent his lord an apologetic look. "We don't know what that was, but it took us with it."
"So where are we?"
"The stars don't match any known constellations and they look different than any we know," the shipmaster said and then swallowed. "However the cogitators hint at us being above Terra."
"What? How?"
"The Warp," the shipmaster said with a shrug that would have sent any other lord onto a bloody rampage. "There are reports of ships being moved in time as well as place. But if this is what happened to us, it is also the biggest ever such jump."
"How big?"
"Close to thirty-eight thousand years, give or take a thousand or so years."
Ragnar's eyes narrowed, but then he looked out of the viewport and saw Luna come into their view and beyond it, the lush green and blue ball that must have been Terra in age long gone. It seemed so unreal and impossible, yet his instincts were telling him he was right and it indeed was the cradle of humanity.
o-0-o
Ragnar was not the only one that felt that they were above Terra, in fact, it was a feeling shared by everybody aboard the fleet and on the Deliverance. It was a feeling of great relief and happiness as for once in their entire lives many of them didn't feel the never ending pressure of the Warp and the Chaos. Instead they felt safe and looked brightly towards the future and what it was hiding.
In the highest of the spires of the Ravenspire gathered Primarchs, Valdor and the leaders of other groups as well as their closest advisors trying to decide what to do.
"Even if it tempts us, we need to stay hidden," Voldus said and with a wave of hand silenced the angry looks he received. "The Ordos of the Holy Inquisition and my chapter gather data about similar events and now we need to learn what is happening and avoid any interactions. Paradoxes are an extremely dangerous issue for us and we need to first divine the future and then act."
"He is right," Valdor added and they looked at him, some with hatred and anger. "I was the closest advisor of the Emperor for hundreds of years and I managed to learn of many mysteries from him. One of them was about time and Warp. What Grand Master Voldus says is right. We need to learn what is going on, watch and limit our contact with them to as little as possible."
"However we should be able to recruit a fair share of Aspirants without many issues," Voldus said and many captains looked at him, their anger replaced by curiosity. "On any world, no matter how developed there are many primitive and forgotten areas. There we can find youths that will be capable warriors and a good material for the next generation of Astartes."
"It would be also a good scouting mission," Corax said, the ethereal aura of a Primarch drawing attention to him. "Sharrowkyn, gather a small team and take one of our stealth Thunderhawks. Try to gather twenty or thirty Aspirants, but more importantly avoid detection."
"Pass an order for the fleet to move to the far side of the moon and limit emissions," Valdor added. "Same goes for any reactors we have that aren't crucial for the fortress to run."
"Harald, Lukas," Russ said and two of his youngest and newest Wolf Guard straightened. "You will go with Nykona."
"And I think that I will join, too," Voldus said, stepping forward. "I'm possibly the most experienced and powerful psyker of all of us and can conceal us if need be."
"If we are right about the time in which we are, the Aspirants will be a better breed than those we usually induct," said one of the grim Apothecaries. "The Warp and the mutations caused by it affect the genes of even pure humans and that affects our rates of induction. Harald is a perfect example of this." At this Apothecary indicated Harry who didn't look in his direction. "The transformation went far smoother and better than in almost every other Marine inducted at the same time."
"That is true," Valdor said and then added. "The issue is their mentality, what scarse remains of information about this period they mention an age of relative peace and prosperity which makes sub-par warriors."
"Even if," Corax said. "There are always those that are warriors or fighters and just finding them is slightly harder. But not for the Ravens." This last bit made almost every bare headed Space Wolf to bare their fangs in a show of irritation. "Yes, yes, you are trackers, but it is my Legion that specializes in scouting and intelligence gathering. So it is natural that it is us who can find the right Aspirants."
o-0-o
Stealthy Thunderhawks were a rare breed of the gunship utilized by the Space Marines and their usage was limited to the Raven Guard, their successors and some watch fortresses of the Death Watch. Providing them with means of hidden insertion of troops even in a heavily defended area and without knocking out enemy surveillance systems.
Now one of such vessels took off from one of the many hangars of the Ravenspire and slowly made its way towards Terra. As opposed to the standard variation of the craft most of the blunt and sharp lines was smoothed out and the engines were hidden by additional playing hiding their thermal emissions and the whole hull was covered in several layers of substance absorbing most known kinds of radiation. While it wasn't as sophisticated as the cloaking technologies utilized by the T'au or the Eldar it was more than enough for most missions and was often used during first contact incidents when the Imperium wanted to watch from afar.
"Where do you think we should land?" Voldus asked as all of them sat in the space right behind cockpit and looked at the sensors data. "The world seems fairly well developed and there's a lot of noise across all frequencies."
"Some out of the way place with little civilization," Sharrowkyn said and they looked at him. "Even if we are hard to spot, we're still a large gunship and that can attract some attention. Not to mention that people there will be hardy and better suited for a life of an Astartes."
o-0-o
Corax's onyx black eyes flickered faintly in the dim light of the room as he looked at Valdor. "Constantine, is it me or nobody asked the most important question of how the fuck did we get here and how do we plan to get to our time?"
"No, it is not only you," Valdor said and Corax tensed. "It feels as if some subtle suggestion was placed in our minds to just accept it and try to act based on it."
"But we are supposedly protected from such tricks played on our minds."
"Yes, we are." Valdor's words were followed by a period of silence and several seconds passed before he spoke again. "But remember Horus, he was corrupted by something playing with his mind."
"Yes, when he was injured and weakened," Corax said bitterly and his hands curled up into fists, talons mounted to his gauntlets flashing dangerously. "But here, something did it to a pair of Primarchs, over a hundred of Custodians and several thousand Space Marines. Many of which are potent psykers and are designed to be hard to influence."
Valdor stood immobile for seconds and then moved towards the sole of window of the chamber, and looked at the planets beyond. "Until today, I would have said, that's impossible, maybe for all, but the Emperor or the Sigillite. Yet it happened. Now the question is, who has the power to do it."
"Gods of Chaos?" Corax frowned and then closed his eyes. "There are just three of them now and most is much weaker than in our time."
"But also, the time in the Warp works strangely," Valdor said, his perfect face bathed in the sparse sunlight. "And there are many unexplained until now paradoxes of it, when you and your brothers were scattered across the galaxy. The Word Bearers in their thrice cursed armors were there."
"How?"
This single word spoken by Corax was more than a whole monologue and carried more weight than there could be put in anything more complicated. He was no psyker of major skill, but even he had basic knowledge of the Warp and never saw such things.
"We theorize there was a Greater Daemon or a couple orchestrating the event," Valdor said and then frowned. "Any in this age will be much weaker, but there were some proto-psykers since time long forgotten and if the thing feeds long enough."
Corax paled, his pale alabaster skin turning to a sickly shade of white. "Dear Emperor...," he whispered.
"Yes," Valdor said quietly. "This being could be as powerful as a minor deity. Bound to one place and unable to exert its full power outside of it, or the Warp."
"And unless we kill or banish it, we won't go back to my father and help save the Imperium."
Valdor didn't say anything, but his looks was all Corax needed to see that the Captain-General was agreeing with him and knew that it was the truth. The tiny issue was finding the thing and making sure it became an object from the past.
o-0-o
The Thunderhawk passed above gently sloped hills beyond which was a small collection of wooden and brick buildings, and then touched down without a single sound. At the same time the Marines running down the ramp, bolters in their hands and combat knives at their belts. Their target were those buildings or rather position from which they could watch it safely.
"Be careful," Sharrowkyn hissed into the vox. "We need to remain hidden and strike when we are sure we have what we came for."
The remaining three nodded, their faces hidden behind faceplates of their helmets and carefully approached the hills...
o-0-o
Something special, something that I have been working for last few months is soon to be released and this is the spoiler/trailer of it.
A lock clicked and then the door silently opened. A beam of light shot through and bathed the individual that opened them in brightness. He was dressed in a black, leather coat reinforced with armor and his head was hidden behind a cowl. He stepped through the door, in his hand shining a bolt pistol and in the second, a simple rosette of the Inquisition.
"Lord Inquisitor," someone spoke and his pistol immediately pointed towards the source of the voice. "Your arrival is unexpected."
"Step out of the shadows, Akilles," the Lord Inquisitor snapped, his finger pressing onto the trigger.
There was a moment of silence and then a person clad in a heavy robe of the Administratum stepped out of the shadows, his head was bare, a tattoo of the rosette on his forehead, proclaiming his oaths to the Inquisition for all to see. "How may I serve you, my lord?"
"I need access to the archives," the Lord Inquisitor said and then lowered the gun. "Archives of the Legiones Astartes you keep a copy of."
At those words Akilles eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"That's the private matter of my Ordo, one you don't need to know."
"I answer to the Ten Thousand," Akilles said with an edge to his voice. "And they watch us from the shadows."
Lord Inquisitor nodded and pulled out a thin scroll sealed with a red wax seal. "This is the reason why I'm here," he said handing it to Akilles.
Akilles took the scroll, broke the seal, scanned the text and his eyes widened. "Lord Commander of the Imperium wants you to organize and smooth out history since the Dawn of the Imperium til now?"
"Aye," the Lord Inquisitor said and holstered the pistol. "Yet it cannot leave this chamber, only his closest advisors know about it."
"Not many will be happy," Akilles said with a grimace before pulling out a small obsidian cylinder covered in engravings and small golden studs. "You know what to do with it."
The Lord Inquisitor nodded and walked past Akilles into the darkness, cowl slipping off his head and revealing his scarred and battered face. He inserted the cylinder into a fitting hole in a wall in front of him and smiled. "The time has come to reveal the secrets of the past," he said and then twisted the key. "And see the glory of the Imperium in all of its splendor."
One by one twenty hololith sculptures appeared, each of them a number and a sign of one of the Twenty Legions. They lit one by one, each of them unique and special. Each of them a sign of glory and power and respect.
Then all of them were gone, only single one remaining, a head of a Jaguar with a number eleven in its middle. "Black Jaguars," he murmured and stepped through, doors moving aside.
o-0-o
A/N – Hmm, what can go wrong when Marines find themselves in a wrong place in time and have Primarchs to lead them.
And as for the last bit, that's a surprise and I won't tell much about this, not yet. Try to guess and amuse me with your theories what that can mean.