The Emperor's Children were about to reach orbit. Carenn waited, heart clenched in its toes. The planet was afraid, for even though Space Marines knew no fear, it appeared giant spheres of stone did. Yet terrified as it was, Carenn stood defiant, shining in the hungry void as a beacon of civilization.

Erikon Gaius was at the center of it all, next to Regent of Ultramar Marius Gage and Captain Lorchas of the Ninth. They were in the center of the war room at the tip of Spire Alpha; and yet they were not. In reality, Erikon Gaius was strapped into a telehologenerator in the mid-altitudes of Spire Gamma, overlooking the Zenith Statues; as his hologram conversed to determine the course of the war, Gaius' real body was sitting in a machine, talking to the air.

It was a fitting metaphor for how Erikon Gaius' mind was more preoccupied with its own doubts than with the upcoming invasion. Gaius would have profoundly preferred that to change - he should have been serving his brothers, and Gage himself, better - but the doubt was there.

The invaders - another unusual matter, if considered on the large scale, for worlds of Ultramar were not often invaded - were Emperor's Children. Astartes. Space Marines. Gaius' cousins.

"But," Marius Gage was saying, "I would have expected the orbital missiles to come by now."

"What are these dots?" Gaius' arm pointed to empty air as his hologram pointed to a detailed void-display.

"The aforementioned missiles, I suppose," Lorchas said.

"Not missiles - their trajectory is wrong," Gage said. "Drop-pods."

Drop-pods. Vehicles that Gaius had used hundreds of times, but that had never been used against him.

"Are we even doing the right thing here?" Gaius quietly asked despite himself, unable to contain his heartsache.

"I fought the Iron Hands in the Outer Sphere," Gage reminisced. "They are not Astartes anymore, merely savage weapons without hearts or sanity. We are doing the right thing here, Gaius; doubt our plans, doubt our chances of success, but do not doubt that."

On the screens half a city from Gaius, the drop-pods plunged ever lower.

"We've effectively agreed on the strategy," Gage concluded, "and the void-shields will not stop all of this storm. In fact, I doubt they'll stop any of it - deflect it, at most, though our guns will take a toll on them. So prepare for battle, defenders of Ultramar. Gaius, Lorchas, I'm glad both of you have managed to gather most of your Companies. Remember what I said about their First Company being on our side, but assume any Emperor's Child as hostile first. Courage and honor!"

And suddenly, disconcertingly, the feed cut. Blinking and shoving off his goggles, Erikon Gaius stood up. He was armed; there was only the matter of the helmet. Putting it on from a stand near his chair, Erikon Gaius, Captain of the Twenty-First Company of the Thirteenth Legion, marched out onto a balcony.

"Practical: drop-pods," Gaius voxed to the four Squads under his direct command. "We are hideously outnumbered; dig in. The PDF should pull its weight, but that isn't much."

For his part, Erikon Gaius prepared a group of massive plasma cannons and lascannons, seated on a balcony above the Statues and the surrounding park. They were placed to defend the entrance to the Hive's mantle, which was the most logical place to defend - this would be a siege, but it would span the entire planet, making it quite different from typical theoreticals.

"Contact," Sergeant Loppones voxed.

A moment later, a drop-pod slammed into the plascrete slightly off leftward from the Zenith Statues.

"They're homing in on the core gates," Hardonisses voxed.

"They're smart," Gaius replied. "Keep them back! For Ultramar!"

And, as violet figures dashed out of the drop-pod, Erikon Gaius opened fire.

The Emperor's Children were engulfed in malevolent light. A couple fell to their knees, burning; others were hit as Gaius pivoted the lascannon, but somehow remained standing. From the Third Legionnaires' armor, smoke drifted into the air.

Yet a number of the Astartes had ducked, and as the cannon expended its power, broke into a run toward the structure Gaius had made his headquarters in. They rushed through the courtyard; from their armor, Gaius could identify them as of the 5th Company. As they ran through the forest of statues, shots rang out, and for a moment Gaius feared Squad Yenphites had broken discipline and rushed out, or that he was exposed; but only for a moment. Almost immediately, the Ultramarine Captain realized what the Emperor's Children were doing.

They were taking apart the unique masterpiece of the Zenith Statues with bolter and blade.

These were not Emperor's Children. Fulgrim's true sons would never commit such a crime against art, even art of xeno worlds - perhaps the World Eaters might have done something like that in their fury, or the Alpha Legion in psychological warfare, but the Emperor's Children would not care about art installations except to appreciate them. And yet, paradoxically, these were definitely still Emperor's Children.

They were merely no longer human.

Gaius fired the plasma cannon at the center of the Astartes' formation, exploding a fireball around their Sergeant. Yet more Squads of purple-plated monsters were crawling ever closer in the distance. The Emperor's Children that survived the blast slammed into the doors below.

"Practical: Squad Yenphites: retreat," Gaius sent. "I repeat, execute a fighting retreat to the upper levels."

He knew Marius Gage was right, now; even though callously defacing art was not horrid in and of itself, for Fulgrim's Legion it was a clear sign of decay. Yes, his enemy was no longer human. But what were the warriors attacking him, really? What had made them into these abominable spawn of Fulgrim's gene-seed? Gaius suspected he could never truly understand without becoming like them.

It didn't matter. They had invaded Ultramar; therefore, they would be destroyed. Gaius let out another volley as the first enemy Astartes sprinted into the building. Explosions rocked the structure of the spire; but it would hold.

Reinforcements flooded the rubble-covered plaza, a flood of color invading broken mirrors and statues. Their brightness was rarely of uniform tone; though the Emperor's Children still had, overall, recognizable armor, every Marine seemed to have customized it.

At the front of the wedge was one Space Marine with more decorated armor than the others. He was built large, but not huge; in each hand, the Captain - this was definitely a Captain - held an erratically whirring chainsword. Together, the blades created an awkward, grating melody that promised doom and destruction.

''Children of the Emperor!" the Captain bellowed.

"Death to his foes!" came the echo.

Yes, these were the warriors of the Emperor. His finest butchers, those that knew no fear - or shame. They were perversions.

Extremely powerful perversions, though.

The Emperor's Children Captain charged, but as the mob - it was not really an army - ran onto his heels, the Third Legionnaire jumped, holding onto the wiring below Gaius' balcony. The structure creaked.

Gaius hurriedly stuck a refill battery into the lascannon, but there was no time to fire, as the Captain - named Abranxe, judging by his armor - swung onto the surface, facing Gaius. He landed in a crouch, swords theatrically drawn, face set in a grim smirk.

"Know this, Ultramarine Captain:" he pronounced, "today, you will have the honor of dying at - "

Abranxe never finished the sentence, as Gaius charged, gripping his electric mace and shield. Abranxe double-blocked, sparks flying into the sooty air.

For a second, the combatants locked eyes between the metal; then Abranxe slid one sword away. Gaius responded by cutting left, impacting that sword as it dove towards his primary heart; before Abranxe could react, the Ultramarine slammed his shield forwards.

Abranxe cut from above, and sword collided with mace once, twice, again. Blow met blow, and boots thundered on the plascrete. Gaius pulled back, retreating for a second before again counter-launching into a furious attack.

Abranxe blocked and blocked again, retreating with a swordsman's grace, perhaps a limping swordsman's. Gaius reached in, but the III Legionnaire responded by slamming his right blade into the Ultramarine's shield from above. Tiny shavings flew off, and Gaius' ears screeched with the sound.

Gaius' response was to press again. Abranxe's tiptoeing retreat was by now carrying him towards the precipice over the Zenith statues; the Third Legionnaire could survive a fall, but it would give Gaius a chance to kill his foe from above. Recognizing this, Abranxe slid to Gaius' left, even as the Ultramarine punched into a brief hole in the Emperor's Child's guard. With a howl, Abranxe felt his hand be enveloped by lightning.

He withdrew it, though the gauntlet- already damaged by the impact- was ruined. Then he swung in again, and Gaius had only a split second to raise his shield. The chainblade whirred through that shield, gradually chewing it apart - there was a reason such defenses were unpopular - but the delay, and stuck blade, gave Gaius time to drive his mace into his foe's helmet.

It went through a visor, ruining Abranxe's right eye; Gaius' hands did not shake with the effort, though the weapon did a large part of the work. But as electricity arced across Abranxe's helmet, the Emperor's Child unwillingly unclenched his hands, going stiff for a moment before he fell backwards, over the balcony's edge. He tumbled through the air as Gaius watched, flailing in despair.

The twin, mechanically troubled chainswords lay on the balcony's surface before Gaius' eyes. Over the receding battle-focus, the Ultramarine could hear thunderous fighting in the hallways below; he had to end this quickly. Shaking his head, he put down his mace and picked up one of the still-spinning chainswords.

"Traitor," he said- the first words spoken since the clash began - and looked down.

Abranxe lay on the ground, at the feet of one of the vandalized monuments. His helmet had fallen off during the drop, and because of this Erikon Gaius could see the Emperor's Child was grinning, even through the pain he was assumedly in.

Gaius hurled the chainsword.

It flew through the fluttering air, arcing to impale the other Captain's head. Abranxe tried to swerve his head at the last moment, but Gaius' aim was too accurate, and the blade split his forehead only slightly off-center.

Captain Abranxe of the Emperor's Children was dead. Erikon Gaius had killed a Space Marine.

He had doubted that this moment would come, greatly doubted his ability to stomach it; but now, he was actually rather proud of it.

"Practical: the Emperor's Children are attacking the civilians," Usalaguer voxed. "They seem to be focusing on killing them more than killing us."

Gaius made no reply, in large part because he had known this would come - Gage had warned them, after all. Had Usalaguer simply been unwilling to believe it? Gaius cut around, turning to rush back into the building - well, the entire spire was a building, but he cut into the defensive structure. The fighting was on the first floor, and savage, by the sound of it. It was tunnel warfare - merciless, but with a significant advantage for the defenders.

The Twenty-First Captain of the Ultramarines ran down stairs, towards the unerring sound of bolters and blades. Turrets, too, were active; the entire zone was more militarized than Gaius had believed plausible.

It was, by all appearances, not enough. Though against a Legion, why would it have been?

Erikon Gaius first saw the Emperor's Children in Hallway IIT. They noticed him, too, and immediately shots rang out - all wide, but some close. There were five Space Marines in total; they broke into a charge as soon as they noticed Gaius.

The Ultramarine Captain threw up his shield and dug in. The sentry turrets fired, again and again, without much success - well, one Legionnaire did go down, though only wounded.

The first of the Emperor's Children charged up the stairwell, at whose top Gaius was in beat with Sergeant Garippes Yenphites' arrival from their back. Gaius saw the Sergeant, and a cursory check would have alerted the other Astartes to Yenphites' arrival as well; at the very least, the sound should have warned the Emperor's Children. But the four violet Space Marines were too focused on Gaius to care.

The first of them impacted Gaius' shield.

The III Legionnaire slammed into it at full speed; but the Ultramarine held, striking from above with his mace. The weapon hit the foe's unprotected head, and the Space Marine fell, writhing, to the ground, screaming in agony - though those screams were surprisingly upbeat.

Then the other three Marines attacked, and Gaius could barely swing his mace to block their most lethal blows. Cracked in a dozen places, Gaius' shield finally gave way and split horizontally into two halves; but then Yenphites came.

The Assault Sergeant stormed in, knocking the first of the Emperor's Children to the ground before beheading him. Gaius was knocked to his knees in a collision with another Marine, but that Legionnaire's partner was already engaged with Yenphites, leaving it a one-on-one battle.

Straightening once more, Gaius crossed blades with his foe, then pushed, shoving the III Legionnaire down the stairs, into his brother. The Marine - named, if the glimpses Gaius was catching of his armor were not misleading him, Xatian Wentus - leapt for Gaius once again, but the XIII Legionnaire struck forwards, catching Wentus' stomach on his mace before pushing him down, onto his back.

Yenphites struck the finishing blow, a moment later; his own opponent was crushed at the stairs' bottom.

"Practical: This is probably all of them," Yenphites commented.

"We still need to check," Gaius noted.

They did. The Ultramarines walked through empty hallways, occasionally happening upon piles of corpses.

"Three Marines from my Squad survived," Yenphites noted, "including me."

"We were massively outnumbered."

"But we were defending, in a siege." The Sergeant's voice was pained. "They didn't even try to broadcast a demand for surrender, Captain."

"They knew we would refuse it."

"If you had been attacking Chemos, would you have asked them to stand down?"

"They're not us, Sergeant," Gaius said. "They're not even like us anymore."

It was true, but hardly comforting.

"Can we repulse a second attack?" Yenphites inquired.

"A smaller one, maybe. We should reload."

"The humans are doing it."

"To be honest, though, I doubt they'll attack us again for some time. Spire Alpha is the main prize."

The Ultramarines' path had taken them ever-closer to the building's ruined entrance, and now they stood in the decorated grand hall. It was a rectangular room; its front wall, fully made of transparent (but tough) quasiglass, was ruined. Shards littered the tiled floor. The shorter walls adjoining it were likewise quasiglass, but those were intact.

Out the demolished front wall, Erikon Gaius could see the Zenith Statues, once Carenn's greatest monument, now a desecrated wasteland.

"I'm truly sorry about your Squad, Yenphites," Gaius stated. "The loss is everyone's."

"It's not the casualties, Captain. It's just - why?"

"Because the Emperor and his third son have betrayed everything Roboute Guilliman and Ultramar still stand for. I had doubts too, and not long ago, but - this is sufficient."

Stepping around and on the shattered quasiglass, Gaius and Yenphites made their way through a gigantic hole onto the plain of the Statues. The battle was over for now - one could as well scout. Ahead of the Ultramarines, a cliff stretched into the abyss.

"We're doomed," Yenphites stated. "Carenn will fall."

And Gaius knew, now, that it was true. Gage simply didn't have enough Space Marines to defeat a full Legion, even if Perturabo himself had designed the fortifications. And there was simply nothing they had that could compare to Fulgrim.

It didn't matter. Not now, at the galaxy's furious zenith - or was it its nadir? Defiance was enough. And survival-

"I doubt any of us would have survived the war anyhow, Yenphites," Gaius said.

His doubts were cleansed. Almost without noticing, Erikon Gaius had walked through the flattened Zenith Statues to the cliff's edge, and looked down into the abyss.

A violet and ivory dot zigzagged upwards, faster than any such skimmer should've been able to fly.

Gaius ducked, but he knew it was too late.

He felt the heat first. It was not a typical fire's red; it was more like methane, or the cautious feeling of electric buildup. Then he saw, from below, as Fulgrim Phoenician leapt from his speeder onto the edge of the Zenith Statues.

He was gigantic, taller than any Space Marine; but his build was slight. He was much like Guilliman, but unlike Guilliman his hair was long and white, his armor thin, and his back covered by a floating cape through which ethereal wings sizzled.

Fulgrim cast an eye across the Zenith Statues, and Gaius knew that - in one instant - the Primarch immediately knew what had once been there.

"I approve," the Phoenician said, as if absentmindedly. "Both of the creation, and of the destruction."

Then, spinning, as Gaius and Yenphites lunged at him, he kicked them both - at once - into the great void.

Gaius fell face-up; the drop was a long one, and he had time, as smoke gathered around him, to recognize that Fulgrim would easily be able to take his redoubt. Alone. He was almost honored that the Phoenician had even bothered.

And he had time to recognize that, whatever chroniclers in later years would say, all of this had not been in vain.

"Courage and honor," Erikon Gaius, Twenty-First Captain of the Ultramarines, said, a second before being impaled on the walls of Spire Gamma of Carenn, Ultramar.