On the Penal world of Thabater, several regiments of the Mordian Iron Guard and Praetorian Guard were trying to crush a rebellion among the prisoners, rallied by someone called 'the red preacher'. These guardsmen were struggling to make a dent in the heretics' defensive lines. The prison that spread across the planet was a perfect defensive position and it was taking a heavy toll on the attackers. But still they attacked, making small advances through the prison. Not only was the penal planet a valuable mining world, but there was rumours that the 'red preacher' was a chaos sorcerer. If this individual was allowed to continue his work without attack, Emperor knows what could happen.

Lauf watched through the screen of the transport as they travelled down to the planet. The pilot headed towards the spaceport that the guardsmen had already secured, allowing them to get constant supplies to continue to prosecute the war against the heretical prisoners. When they landed, the door swung open and the soldiers inside began to pull crates of ammunition, and other such supplies out, replacing the boxes with bodies of dead and wounded guardsmen. Lauf stepped out of the transport and looked around. The port was filled with transports landing or departing in a steady flow of aircraft towards the ships waiting in orbit. Scattered around the space were crates like the ones just removed from the transport. Lauf could see ammunition for heavy bolters, mortars, power-packs, shotgun-shells, frag and smoke grenades. He could also see demolition packs, no doubt used by the mordians and praetorians to breach the thick prison walls.

Walking around the spaceport, Lauf saw different squads of guardsmen waiting to go inside the prison frontlines while a group of officers stood by a table that held diagrams of the prison and dots representing the guardsmen and traitor battle positions. The officers included the general and his command staff along with individual Mordian and Praetorian officers who were discussing how to break the deadlock,

"In Block A3-8, the platoons are reporting that they cannot advance further than this point." One Mordian officer with a bionic arm explained, pointing to a spot on the diagrams where imperial dots had a slight push ahead of the main line,

"From the reports. This diagram is wrong. What we thought was a wide hall." She began to draw on the diagram, "Is actually barely large enough for two men to walk side-by side through. And the heretics have sent up a pair of heavy stubbers down one end. Anyone that tries to get through there is cut to pieces. So far all they've been able to do is put up some sand-bags as a makeshift defence and take some shots." The guardwoman explained,

"They should keep pushing forward! No heretics can stand against our righteous might!" Another Iron guard officer, this one looking brand new to Lauf's eyes exclaimed,

"You need to temper your enthusiasm with wisdom guardsman." A Praetorian with a patch over his right eye stated,

"I have some ratlings working on finding a way through the ventilation system to get behind that position captain. They should be reporting in soon. If you attack after they've dealt with the heretics, you should be able to get to the solitary cells here where our intel indicates the prisoners have been storing some of their supplies." The Praetorian explained. A young aide next to the Imperial general in charge of this campaign noticed Lauf and got the other officers' attention. They all looked at him and then where he was pointing. Turning around, they all started at Lauf,

"My lord! You honour us with your presence." The general said, dropping to his knee, followed by every other officer present while Lauf got close,

"Stand up General. I don't like a man of the Imperium on his knees." He commented. The general looked up at Lauf as he stood up,

"What brings you to this Emperor-blasted world my lord?" One Mordian officer asked as she set her hands on the table,

"I am hunting someone lieutenant. My information has it he's on this world." Lauf explained while he looked over the map showing the guards' strategies,

"All I need from you general. Is to make sure your men do not get in my way during my hunt. I will help you however I can, but my hunt is my priority." Lauf looked at the general, who simply nodded. He was not going to argue or demand anything from a Space Marine. He motioned with one hand for Lauf to join them at this table. Lauf stepped forward and looked at what the general wanted to show him,

"My lord. We are currently in deadlock. These prisoners, already condemned in the eyes of the Emperor, have committed further offences. Someone calling themselves 'the red preacher' has convinced them to rise up against lawful Imperial authority and start this rebellion that we have been sent to put down. However, after they killed the prison's overseers, they had access to the prison's armouries. Fortunately they were stopped from leaving after the last overseers destroyed the transports." The general explained while Lauf nodded. Now he understood the overall situation and the tactical reality of this planet. Looking at the map, he started to see where he could make the most impact,

"General. I'm going to cut through this rebellion. Right. Here!" He pointed to a single point where the guardsmen line had been unable to budge for some time. The guardsmen officers looked at the point Lauf designated,

"My lord. That is a service corridor we can barely get a single man down. And every time we've sent troops that way they've been ripped to shreds." A praetorian captain explained. The guardsmen watched as Lauf gave them a toothy grin,

"General. Officers. Close, tight combat is my specialty. I will break through that position and you can continue your offensive to reclaim this planet and punish these traitors." Lauf's confidence renewed the officers' faith in the surety of their victory and their faith in the God-Emperor,

"We will follow your charge and crush these traitors my lord." The General said as he put one hand across his chest, followed by the other officers,

"I will send word when I am ready general." Lauf clutched his weapon-hilts before leaving the table and walking into one of the hallways. He passed by groups of guardsmen, either waiting for orders, manning defensive positions or moving wounded back from the front line. As he passed, guardsmen stood up and saluted in respect to which Lauf nodded his respect. It took him a bit of time to work his way through the prison complex to get to his target destination. As he got closer he could hear las, bolter, stubber-fire and explosions coming from the hallway further away from him. As he gets closer to the hallway he walks past guardsmen dragging or carrying wounded comrades from the frontline. When he gets to the large room that leads towards the hallway Lauf looked to see Praetorian and Mordian guardsmen behind sections of sandbags and poking their heads up just to start firing down the hallway. He watches as one Mordian guardsman gets up to shoot only to get shredded to pieces by the heavy stubber fire coming down from the prisoners' position. The unfortunate guardsman fell back onto the floor, spraying blood and bone bits across the floor, mixing in with old gore. The smell flooded Lauf's nose, old and new blood mixing inside the scents as he moved along the wall beside guardsmen were using as cover. When he reached the wall connecting to the corridor, he stopped beside a young Praetorian lieutenant,

"My lord! I apologize that we cannot give you a proper introduction. But as you can see, we are a bit stuck here." The lieutenant called over the fire of the stubbers. The guardsmen had been trying to determine how many stubbers were aimed down the corridor. Lauf listened carefully to the RATA-TAT-TAT-TAT sound of the stubbers firing,

Two of them. One needs to have its barrel switched out. Lauf smirked as the fire kept going,

"Order your men to hold their fire lieutenant. As soon as I cut down those traitors. You can get moving."

"My lord. What are you…" The lieutenant watched as Lauf rushed down the corridor just as the firing from the prisoners stopped. One of the stubbers ran out of ammunition and was needing its barrel switched while the second jammed from over-firing. The prisoners rushed to get their guns firing as they saw to their horror the image of a giant blue-grey warrior charging towards them. Just as one of the stubbers was fixed, Lauf leapt over the sandbags onto one of the gunners, crushing his skull underfoot. He did not need to see how many prisoners were there as he had smelled each one's distinctive scent before he got to them. Now these heretics would learn the consequence of further condemning themselves to the Emperor. Lauf stabbed his sword through two prisoners, impaling them like a kabob as he bisected another prisoner down the middle. Pulling one leg back, he kicked backwards and struck a charging prisoner in the chest. Snapping bones echoed down the hall followed by the prisoner crashing to the floor, blood coming out of his mouth and nose. Freeing his sword from the two dead, Lauf spun around and decapitated the last three prisoners in the position. Lauf whipped his sword and axe in two directions, flicking the blood clean of his weapons as guardsmen flood over to his position,

"My lord. You helped us so much here." The lieutenant said, bowing to Lauf,

"Don't thank me yet lieutenant. This planet is not yet back in the Emperor's control." Lauf commented, looking in the direction the guardsmen were rushing to take before the prisoners realized what was happening. He held his weapons at the ready,

"May the Allfather protect you and your men lieutenant." Lauf began to run down one of the service corridors, cutting further behind the prisoners' main line. After a while of running through the corridor, Lauf stopped and listened. He could hear the sounds of battle behind him and rushing feet towards the battle in front of him. He grinned as he ran down one of the passages and burst out through a rusted door. Coming out in a wide hallway, Lauf felt like a wolf among a herd of sheep as he saw dozens of prisoners with small homemade weapons and a few auto-guns. He squeezed his weapons a bit tighter and unleashed a cold-chilling howl of mix joy and rage before charging forward. The 'fight' if it could be called that, was horrific. Lauf sliced his way through some of the Imperium's worst scum and degenerates in a whirlwind of blood. Sliced bodies, hacked off limbs, decapitated skulls, multi-impaled individuals, prisoners shoved head-first into other prisoners and all various forms of deaths are all that remains of the prison horde as Lauf advanced further inside the prison.

Several times he encounters prisoner groups of various sizes and none of them were willing to tell him anything. Lauf sighed as he pulled his sword out of one prisoner's head, the body dropping to the floor. At this rate he would never find out who this 'Red Preacher' is. Flipping bodies over, he spots one of the prisoners struggling to crawl away, his one leg badly broken. The man groaned as every drag hurt his leg. He was stopped in his escape with an armoured foot stepping on his arm. The weight and pressure from Lauf's foot on his arm caused the bone to break inside his skin, making him scream in agony,

"I'll give you one chance. Who is this Red Preacher and where is he?" Lauf demanded, his foot remaining on the prisoner's arm,

"You'll kill me anyway." He managed to say, struggling to speak through the pain,

"Perhaps. But there are things worse than death. I will kill you, but not before getting my answers from you." Lauf explained, pushing his foot deeper against the broken arm, making the man scream even louder,

"Now then. Where. Is. He." Every word Lauf twisted his heel back and forth, breaking the bone further with each movement. He glared at the man who now had tears falling from his eyes due to the excruciating pain,

"He's a giant man… just like you. And he's deep in the chambers." The man whimpered as tears kept flowing down his cheeks,

"See? That was not that difficult." Before the prisoner could respond, Lauf's axe severed his head from his shoulders. He wiped his weapons clean and sniffed the air. He turned and headed towards the scent that was the most foul. If the 'preacher' was anywhere, it was probably in the deepest, dankest hole on this planet. His travel took him through a maze of passages, corridors, open cell-blocks and other areas of the ancient prison. Wherever he went, he encountered more groups of radicalized prisoners who soon came to regret trying to take him on as he cut them down like the mad-dogs they were. Slowly a picture was forming about this rebellion.

The prisoners he interrogated told him how this preacher appeared one day in the depths of the prison. He had rallied prisoners with his fiery speech, promising these condemned dredges salvation if they threw off the shackles of their oppressors and claimed this planet for the glory of the true gods who demanded the oppressive Imperium be cast down and a new, more equitable Imperium be raised from the ashes. Lauf had scoffed at these notions. Proving the foolish nature of these prisoners to him was the fact that many of them had marked themselves with the symbols of Chaos and did not know the significance of the marks. They had been told they were emblems of the new regime and once they were free would grant them peace and serve as the mark of their new independence. Every prisoner who had the symbols marked on their flesh met peace at the end of Lauf's blades, followed by fire provided from the promethium lanterns. He did not want to risk any potential for Chaos to use the bodies for any more foul purpose. Especially concerning was the fact that some of the prisoners said that the leaders of this rebellion and the preacher were planning some sort of ritual deep inside the prison. He had to hurry. If this ritual was like the one he witnessed five years ago hunting the Sorcerer, it could mean this planet would be over-run with daemons and the energies of the Warp. He would not allow that to happen. He took off on a run deeper through the prison.

Lauf felt he was getting closer to his prey and he clutched his weapons tightly. As he rounded a corner, he saw a man in the attire of a Rogue Trader. He was not sure if this man was one of those who had caused this uprising, or was simply a prisoner that had killed a Trader and took his clothes. No, that second option was unlikely. The clothes had no blood on them and they did not smell like they had recently been cleaned. Walking towards the man, Lauf kept his weapons lowered to avoid an unnecessary conflict if this man was possibly friendly. But when the trader saw him, a bolt pistol was immediately raised,

"You're here for her!" He shouted, firing off two rounds before Lauf was on him. The man did not get a chance to react before his chest was impaled by Lauf's frost sword. Coughing up blood, he glared at Lauf,

"You bastard… just want to take our freedom…." He muttered before falling to the floor dead. Lauf withdrew his sword just as a pair of Mechadendrite tentacles missed the spot where his head had been,

"We just wanted to live our lives!" A tech-priest shouted as she advanced down the hall towards him, rushing as fast as she could. She would show them. They tried to force her into a mar….. The tech-priest's advance was stopped when she charged face-first into a thrown frost-axe. Lauf was no marksman, but he had learned a decade ago how to hurl his weapon with a fair level of accuracy. Walking over to the now dead woman, he ripped the axe out of the skull and looked around, sniffing the air.

He was right there. Perfect spot. Clutching his knife, he leapt down. It was aimed right at the Wolf's head. This had worked so well before. He would… A gurgling sound echoed through the hallway as the former guardsman slid down Lauf's frost-sword which was pointed upwards. The Space Wolf had smelled and heard him just before he had gotten ready to drop. Listening as the man's heart stopped beating, Lauf moved the sword over and let the body slide off. Wiping the blade clean, he saw someone he recognized as an Astropath was running towards him. The astropath did not get far before Lauf had his hand on her neck,

"Where is the red preacher?" He demanded, looking at the astropath's blind eyes.

"What? Aren't you here for her? Our friend" She muttered while clutching at Lauf's giant fingers,

"I have no idea what you speak of astropath. Stop your word-games and tell me." He growled before he felt a sense of unease in his stomach. He had seen this before and started looking towards the hallway the astropath had run down. Just as he started to see a figure come down, he felt a pain in his hand. Turning back, he saw the astropath had stabbed him with a small dagger. Growling, he showed the blind psyker her mistake as he drove her skull into the wall. It exploded with a popping sound. Turning towards the figure, Lauf realized what this girl was. A blank. As she approached, Lauf recognized the look in her eyes and he readied his weapons,

"You killed them! All my friends! Just to get to me!?" She demanded as Lauf felt power gathering around her. She would kill him. And with him would die her location. She would be free. She opened her eyes. The Space Wolf was gone. She felt so happy. He was destroyed by her power. She wanted to cheer out for her freedom. But when she opened her mouth, no sound came out. Her vision started to blur, she felt sleepy. She would rest now.

Lauf lifted the decapitated head up to look at the secret brand on the back of her neck. He recognized the aquila symbol. But the skull with a sword through it, he had never seen the secret Officio Assassinorum's symbol. The only thing he could read among the tattoo was a single sentence: Power classification: Omega-minus. He scoffed. If this was such a powerful being, why was he alive and she dead.

If this person had been smart. She would have understood that this is not a universe where you can be 'free' without consequences. Our Imperium is harsh and brutal. But without it, our species would have died out thousands of years ago. He thought to himself before casually tossing the head aside. It fell into a bin, the only mark not hidden by the waste inside the bin was the skull with a sword through it. Lauf did not even glance backwards over the bodies of those insignificant dead. He had to find this red-preacher before he committed this ritual that some of the heretical prisoners were talking about. Whatever it is, he had a bad feeling that it would not be good for the forces of the Imperium present here.

After what felt like an eternity thanks to the stink filling his nostrils and the constant prisoners trying to stop his advance. Lauf finally came to a door where the stench of Chaos came out of like a terrible poison. Testing the door revealed that it was locked. Grinning, Lauf knew that would not be a problem for very long. The snapping of metal echoed inside the room as the ancient lock was cut through with one blow followed by a foot knocking the door open. Inside Lauf could see a circle of prisoners and a man wearing blue robes and clutching a force staff,

"As our master predicted my children. The lap-dog of the Emperor has come." The man said, making Lauf growl. This was not the Sorcerer. It was just some lackey,

"Where is he? Where is that sorcerer?!" He demanded as the lackey laughed,

"Guess you'll never know. Kill him!" He commanded as the prisoners all rushed towards Lauf, attacking with hand-made weapons instead of equipment from the armouries. Lauf cut the prisoners down as he made his way towards the circle, trying to reach the lackey and make him talk. Just as he reached the circle, the lackey fired something at his chest,

"There it is! Your pathetic Imperium will rot away like you now." The lackey laughed as Lauf saw a glowing orb in the centre of his chest. It glowed brightly as he felt his canines become sharper, his hair grow out of the back of his head. Blinking his eyes, he noticed that the room became brighter and smells he had not noticed before were clear as if he was smelling them right under his nose. His mind was not focused on these changes. He was only interested in the figure who was staring at him with a mix of shock and horror. There was only one thought that came to mind as he looked at this figure,

"Prey." The word came out of his mouth, but it was in a feral voice that did not belong to him. He lunged forward at the lackey who tried to fire another glowing orb. He did not get the chance as Lauf was on him and tearing at his throat with his long canines. Shaking his head like a wolf with prey, he jerked back, a large chunk of the lackey's neck in his mouth as the man bled out underneath him. Lauf spat out the chunk of meat and stood up. He felt so strange. His body was changing back from this strange occurrence, but his mind was cloudly,

Was that because of the orb touching me? Or did something else happen here? He wondered as the transformation stopped and he walked over to where his blades were dropped. Picking up the Axe and Sword he glanced down at the wolf emblem on each,

Whatever is inside me. I know what I am. I am Lauf, Son of Russ and loyal hunter of Logan Grimnar, Great Wolf of the Vlka Fenryka. He reminded himself while he cleaned off his weapons after he took the head of the leader of this prisoner rebellion. Once that was finished, he set fire to this room to purge the taint of Chaos that lingered inside it. Certain that everything in that room was being consumed by fire, he made his way back to the guardsmen forces.

When he arrived and presented the head of the rebellion's leader, the guardsmen renewed their offensive with the head as a trophy. While the prisoners fought on, their morale was so badly shattered by the realization their leader was dead that many of the guardsmen commented how the fight was now more like target practice. Lauf approached the general as the Imperial forces continued their advance,

"My Lord. Thank you for your help." The general said respectfully. Lauf was not so happy. He had not found the Sorcerer here, only a servant. This frustrated him to no end,

"This may be a victory for you general. But my quest is not over. I need a ship to leave this sub-sector." Lauf demanded. The general nodded and motioned for one of his guardsman to escort Lauf back to the spaceport where a transport would take him up to a warship in orbit that was preparing to depart the system. When they reached the spaceport, Lauf noticed a transport bearing the symbols of the Inquisition arriving. He did not say anything as he passed an Imperial Inquisitor who exited the transport with a force of Storm Troopers and made his way towards the general's position.

Lauf did not need to think too much about what was going to happen to this planet after the guard retook it. He had heard the stories from older Space Wolves about what the Inquisition did to heretics. He shook those thoughts from his mind as he climbed into the transport the guardsman directed him to. He was loyal to his Wolf Lord and the Imperium. But like other Space Wolves, he did not trust the Inquisition or its actions. To fight in the shadows as they did was as deceptive and cowardly as an Eldar wych. He sighed while leaning back against the side of the transport. Who knew how long it would take him to find his prey and enact his vengeance. Awe well. He has time and a willingness to be patient. He would find this Chaos Sorcerer. And when he did, he would make him pay. For now, the one thing he could think about was rest. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander back to memories of snow, mountains, and a welcoming hearth. A smile crossed his lips as the dreams came, pushing back the nightmare of his pack's death.


"So he has transformed?" One of the shadowy figures asked,

"Yes. But it was not to the level we wanted. And it barely lasted more than a few minutes before he turned back. We will need to continue our experiments. If we wish to punish the Wolves for their actions. We must be certain the transformation is complete." The second figure stated as they watched Lauf begin to sleep, only for their orb to disrupt and explode,

"Damn. He still has protection." They grumbled while they left to continue their vile plans against the young Lone Wolf and his brethren.