Ten years since he stood up to those religious fanatics, Lauf's hunt for Chaos Sorcerer Ramses had continued across the galaxy. Every time he seemed to be getting closer to catching up to him, the cowardly witch managed to slip away thanks to interference from either other Chaos forces or some xenos forces that he had managed to bring into their fights. From these encounters Lauf had gained more scars, more battle experience, and angrier at the different enemies of the Imperium. His hunt had brought him from the Segmentum Obscurus to the edge of the Segmentum Pacificus.

Once again he had followed a lead about Ramses to an Imperial world. Once again the lead had turned out to be a mistaken report and once again, Ramses had slipped away to torment Lauf with his continued existence. Sitting down next to a crate marked with the seal of the Administratium inside a Dominator Cruiser, Lauf considered his luck and whether the Allfather was playing him for a naïve pup. Glancing down at his axe, he looked closely at the Fenrisian runes engraved on the head of the blades and what had happened on the last planet he had pursued the Sorcerer to.

On the jungle world of Mortikah III, Lauf trudged through an acidic swamp, fuming. He had tracked Ramses to this world and anticipated a chance to get revenge for his brothers. What he had found was a group of tribes given over to Nurgle to stem the effects of a flesh-rotting disease that permeated the planet. No doubt put there by one of the Chaos-gods' agents to gift this world to him. Lauf had attempted to interrogate some of the villages in the hope that one might be able to tell him about the sorcerer before he gave them the Emperor's Peace. Instead he was swarm attacked by various plague-ridden villagers and Plaguebearers.

He had smelled the putrid daemons long before he saw them, but he was surprised by the extensive number. His master-crafted sword and axe clashed with the rusted pieces of metal the villagers and daemons carried. He had fought with all he had, making sure to not let a single blade held by the villagers and the daemons touch him due to the toxins and diseases covering each weapon. Lauf's Space Marine physiology and constant close-quarter combat for the past thirty years showed. Blades of all sizes and shape were blocked or deflected by his sword and axe. The daemons and corrupted villagers had numbers on their side, but Lauf's experience showed.

Two plaguebearers charged at Lauf from the front wielding rusted blades with the shape of meat-cleavers in their hands. A corrupted villager came at Lauf from the back with a short spear with an oozing poison covering the head, aiming right at the middle of Lauf's spine. The attempt at sneaking in the strike would not work on the Lone Wolf. The stink coming off the ooze on the spear-head told him where the villager was as he swung his axe in a back-handed movement. The outside head caught the wrist of the first plaguebearer and pulled it into the path of the second while Lauf continued spinning, his sword following his axe. The bluish-grey field covering his sword sizzled with energy when it met daemonic flesh. The sword cut deep through the guts of the first and second plaguebearer in a clean horizontal line. When Lauf pulled his sword through, the slice it left on the daemons' stomachs opened with the foulest fumes Lauf's nostrils had the misfortune of smelling that was quickly followed by the oozing and putrid guts of both daemons. The creatures were unconcerned by the fact they were fighting with their internal organs hanging down their stomachs and wrapped around their feet. Their joy at spreading the 'gifts' of Nurgle was quickly stopped when Lauf twisted his wrist, freeing his axe to come back and cut through the Plaguebearers' necks. When the axe met daemonic flesh, the runes glowed brighter for an instant and the daemons actually screamed in pain before disappearing in a gush of warp-fire.

Focused on 'killing' the two daemons in front of him, Lauf just remembered the villager with the spear right before it plunged into his back. Spinning around and to the left, the Space Wolf just managed to avoid being impaled, taking on a grazing scratch on the armour covering his arm. In response to the cultist's insult at 'scratching' him, Lauf brought his sword down directly in the middle of the man's skull. The rotten flesh and bone gave way to the force of the strike in his sword. Lauf pulled his sword down and through the man's body, bisecting him vertically. As Lauf's sword finished slicing through the final weakened tendons and flesh of the cultist's hip, he watched the body fold apart and collapse to the ground, a stinking, rotten corpse. One of several Lauf had already brought down with his strikes and counters.

Turning around he rushed at a female cultists that was howling praises and prayers to Nurgle as she waved a long piece of steel that resembled a wide-bladed sword, but with an edge only on the one side. The woman tried to swing at Lauf with her strange sword shouting another praise of Nurgle. With well-trained and practiced steps Lauf side-stepped the woman's attack, bringing his axe up and across his chest, right at nose-height of the corrupted woman.

The decaying and rotten flesh gave way at the passing of the frost-axe with the same sounds as a wet paper bag tearing open. Lauf pulled his axe through the woman's head, watching the top portion fly into the canopy above him. The rest of the corpse fell to its knees, poisoned blood spurting out of the remaining attached portion of the woman's head before it fell to the side, hitting the earth of the ground with a thud. He did not spend too long looking at the corpse as he still had more followers of Nurgle coming towards him. Charging forward, he slashes at the throat of a man holding a glaive-like weapon with his sword. The sword sliced through the flesh with ease and the cultist desperately clutched at his throat as a spray of putrid blood. The cultist did not feel the pain thanks to the 'gifts' bestowed on him by Nurgle, but the blood-loss from Lauf cutting through the man's neck caused him to fall to the ground dead. Lauf looked around at the remaining daemons and cultists who were advancing towards him. They came in single or pairs at a semi-circle to his front. Glancing back quickly Lauf saw no enemy to his rear. That made things simple.

Scrapping his sword and axe together, Lauf grinned with his canines showing. As he began to rush towards the leftmost chaos slaves, the runes on his weapons began to glow brightly. Howling so loud that it drowned out the other sounds, Lauf swung his axe and stabbed his sword at the two cultists. Even though they raised their weapons in an attempt to block the frost weapons, their rusted metal was no match for the quality of his weapons and his strikes smashed through and pierced the flesh of the two mutated humans. They screamed in pain as Lauf twisted and pulled his weapons out of the wounds. Making sure the two where dead, he cut off their heads with a quick swing from his sword before jumping onto an overturned cart to use as a springboard. Leaping into the air towards the nearest plaguebearer he raised his axe high above his head, light glinting off the edge. It shown behind Lauf as he brought his axe down onto the daemon's skull. It split with a wet splat as he followed the blow by throwing his sword into the chest of a second plaguebearer that began to run at him. Both daemons screamed as they disappeared in a burst of warp energy, dragged back into the Immaterium to face the wrath of their putrid lord. He finished off the last cultist by horizontally slicing the man's body. He watched as the torso fell to the ground, followed shortly by his legs.

Wiping off the pus and rotten blood from his weapons, Lauf looked closer at the runes. Until now he had never taken much time to examine them. They were the work of Rune Priests who had blessed the weapons before he had left Fenris. At the time he was too focused on getting revenge to pay any attention to what the Rune Priests had been telling him. Now he wished he had when a whisper reached his ears,

'Remember Lauf…..' The voice suddenly snapped Lauf out of his memory as he stopped looking at his axe. Sighing as he leaned against the side of the cargo hold, he wondered why that whisper sounded so familiar to him. His mind stayed on that thought as sleep slowly overtook the Bloodclaw and his eyes closed. As he slept, the memory of when his pack was killed did not come back like it had for almost twenty years. Now his dreams were of strange places and sights. Some he had already seen. Others he did not recognize in his delirious state. Sights of mountains taller than the sky and canyons so large they could swallow a battleship. At first he thought they were images of his homeworld, but the smells were different, alien. The dream changed again and now showed an image of a setting sun in front of a peaceful lagoon. Lauf looked down at the sand under his feet. He had seen sand only once ten years ago. The strange dreams continued until Lauf finally woke up and looked around. Sitting up straight and cracking his neck, he pondered the visions he had just witnessed in the dream. So many of the places he had seen were unknown to him and many others that seemed familiar were different than he recalled. He clutched his head as it began to throb. The dream was so confusing and he was no Rune Priest. He could not divine some message from the dream like they could. Taking a few breaths, he calmed down and eased the pain in his head enough that he could stand up and go to the bridge. Quickly swallowing a nutrition tablet from the stock he kept on his person, Lauf walked out of the cargo hold into the lower passages of the Dominator.

Walking through the tight space heading from the cargo bay towards the bridge, Lauf looked around at the passage he was traveling through. The blackened metal that all Imperial warships are made from surrounded him in the hallway without any lines or evidence of how large each piece of metal was before the ship was built in the shipyards of the Imperium. Light was provided by small lights hanging from the roof. They gave the whole hall a very dim glow that would hurt a regular human's eyes. Lauf's enhanced eyes could see very well even with the poor light.

Along with the dim light came smells of machine lubricants, rusting steel, and human desperation. The last smell became stronger when Lauf rounded a corner to see a group of indentured crewmembers walking towards him. There was a rattling sound that came with each step the group took as a result of the chain that was attached to one of the crewmember's ankles. They had to walk in-step because otherwise the chain would trip the group. The group walked up to Lauf and tried to pass the big Space Marine in the tight hallway. Lauf turned slightly to let them pass him. The mortals walked by him without ever looking up to meet his gaze. As they passed, he noticed the boney protrusion that jutted from their skin looking like the peaks of a mountain range as seen from above. He did not say a word to them as they finished passing, heading deeper into the ship to work until they die. It was a pitiful existence and he did not envy the indentured crew-men's fate.

When he started towards the elevator that would take him up to the bridge's level, the ship rocked violently. The motion caused Lauf to be thrown against one side wall and then to the other. Hitting the second wall he shouted in shock when he struck it back first. Shaking his head to get rid of the shaking feel in his ears, he got his footing just when the ship shook a third time. Another explosion shook the 'bones' of the ship and knocked the lights in the hall, leaving it completely dark. The blackness was so complete that even Lauf could not see his hand in front of his face. But he was able to still smell anything coming towards or behind him. As he began to sniff the air for any new scents, he picked up one. It was very different from a human's. It smelled of pure evil and wickedness, which Lauf had never met over the course of his travels. Not even Ramses had this stink in his scent. This scent came from above and in front of him. The smell made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his hands creep down to the hilts of his sword and axe. As he gripped the weapons, screams and weapons fire came from the hall behind him. He raced back through the passage with his axe in hand.

Following his nose, Lauf finally stopped in a section of the hallway where the scent of evil was strongest. When he took another step, his boot came down on something wet and squishy. Stepping back and leaning down, he reached down with two fingers and rubbed them in the strange substance. Getting a good coating on his fingers, he lifted them up to his nose and inhaled the scent. Blood, and it was human. The scent was from one of those indentured crewmen he had passed earlier. Someone, or something had attacked them. Standing up, he felt the air temperature plummet, the pool of fresh blood freezing into a macabre crystal.

He felt it, a presence in the hall with him. Flexing his fingers around his axe to quickly loosen them up, he spins around with a swing of his weapon. The frost-axe bites into the black and green flesh of the Mandrake that tried to catch him by surprise. The Dark Eldar's body came apart as Lauf's axe finished cutting through the monster. The glow of the Mandrake's skin illuminated the part of the hallway slightly and showed him the pools of blood and lack of bodies. Lauf growled in disgust and anger. The Mandrake's appearance told him the fate of those wretched souls and there was nothing he could do to change it.

Taking his sword off his hip, Lauf began to run back the way he had come. He wanted to reach the bridge and find the captain. If Dark Eldar are attacking the ship, they could not let it fall. As he ran through the darkened hallways, he let his nose guide him towards the concentrations of human scent he could pick up. As he ran through the passages, he used the mental map he had made when he first came onboard the ship. He did not come across any other Dark Eldar as he ran, but he could hear las-fire and other battle sounds when he got near a section of the ship that would allow him to go up to one of the halls that led to the bridge.

Lauf rushed towards the battle with his weapons at the ready. Bursting through a door, Lauf looked around the chamber at the carnage. He could count over a dozen imperial armsmen scattered on the floor in various amounts of dismemberment with pools of blood flowing around them. Looking further in the room, he noticed multiple dark Eldar warriors lying dead on the floor with autogun rounds turning them into xenos swiss cheese. The dead xenos were almost entirely Dark Eldar kabalite warriors and even a few wyches, all lying in pools of their own foul blood. Lauf stepped over the human bodies and on the xenos, feeling one of the Dark Eldar's skulls crunch underneath his foot when he approaches the makeshift position a squad of Imperial navy armsmen had set up to repel the Dark Eldar.

Coming towards the position, the mortal humans manning the makeshift barricade of boxes, barrels, chairs, and metal sheets kept their weapons trained on Lauf. The lights were still mostly knocked out from the surprise attack so all the armsmen could see was a giant figure approaching. Lauf could understand their fear as he lowered his weapons,

"Emperor's peace upon you armsmen. I am a friend." He called to the men and women behind the barricade who seemed to stay still to listen to him,

"Step forward slowly!" A voice, used to giving commands from the sound of it called out from the barricade as Lauf carefully moved to obey his demand. Normally he would not take orders from just anyone, but the evidence around the room told him that these armsmen were to be taken seriously. He walked forward as slowly as they asked, the darkened room making it hard to tell who he was. Once he stepped into the light enough for the armsmen to see his face and armour, they all dropped to their knees,

"My lord! Forgive our foolishness." The sergeant-at arms begged as he stood at the front of the humans in the barricade.

"Rise armsmen. You have done well here." said Lauf as he put his sword back on his hip as he offered a hand to help the sergeant up,

"What is your name?" The man had a deep scar running up the right side of his face and cutting into the top of his head, splitting the crop of dark red hair with specks of grey coming in. His deep grey-blue eyes were sunken and sombre, evidence of a man who had seen many horrible things in his life. Lauf noticed that even though the sergeant's eyes were sombre, they did not seem like the eyes of a weak man. This was someone who had faced horrors and was still standing. Understandable if he had been made a sergeant.

"Sergeant at Arms Ramiel my lord." Ramiel said proudly as he stood in front of Lauf,

"Sergeant Ramiel. Is this all the men you have left?" He asked, looking at the eight armsmen with sergeant Ramiel,

"Yes my lord. These are the only lads I was able to save. The others with us…. Are lying behind you. Killed by those disgusting xenos." Ramiel spat on the body of one of the Dark Eldar near the barricade. Lauf looked closer at the eight armsmen. None looked older than twenty-two Terran years,

'Pups.' Lauf thought even as he examined each of the armsmen to see how they had fared. Had they actually fought, or did they simply cower behind this barricade while their comrades died? The still bleeding wounds on the mortals told Lauf they had fought back. This made him more confident that they could survive. He had to smile as he looked into the eyes of each armsmen. The look they returned told him they wanted revenge for their murdered comrades. He turned back to Ramiel,"Sergeant you know what we must do." Said Lauf.

Ramiel nodded, understanding what Lauf was implying. The nine of them needed to get to the bridge of the ship and find out who was in command. If the captain was still alive, then they could help him defend the ship. If he was not, then they would make sure that this ship and what remained of its crew would not fall into the hands of these most depraved of xenos,

"We'll help you clear the way to the bridge my lord. Don't want you to have all the fun sticking it to these raiders." Ramiel cocked his autogun as the other armsmen nodded their agreement to the sergeant-at arms' statement. Lauf smiled at their enthusiasm,

"Very good sergeant. Let's get to the bridge." Lauf left the room, leading the nine mortal soldiers directly behind him. The sergeant pointed down one hallway, indicating the direction they had to go. Lauf nodded to Ramiel as he started running down the hall followed by the armsmen.

After running through the halls and swerving through various passages, up and down side corridors and through access tunnels, Lauf stopped so the armsmen could catch their breath in a small mess that served the officers of this ship. They were no good getting to a fight exhausted and frankly, the previous users of this room would not complain about the 'common filth' using it. Lauf looked down at the officers' bodies on the floor of the mess or on the various furniture. Not a single one of them had a weapon in their hands. They had been killed without fighting back. Lauf felt utter disgust as he kicked one of the bodies over to look down at the dead man's face. The smell coming from the dark stain on the pants told him what the man had done before dying while he looked at the tear stains on the corpse's cheeks. Rather than fight and die like a man, this pathetic piece of refuse had wept and insulted his uniform before dying like a dog.

Turning his attention from the dead officers, Lauf surveyed the room. The mess was as fine as could be expected of an Imperial navy ship. Its furniture was made of a mix of metal and soft fabrics. The armsmen had never seen some of the fabrics covering the furniture. Two of the armsmen took the opportunity and sat down on two fine chairs and plopped their feet against the table. Their relaxation was quickly ended by a blow to their back of their heads by sergeant Ramiel, who barked a reminder that they were still in hostile territory. The two armsmen got back into position and rested as the sergeant ordered.

As the soldiers drank from their canteens, Lauf heard a cackle barely audible to his enhanced ears. Raising his hand to silence all the noises from the armsmen, he listened carefully. The cackling sounded like a young woman meeting a lover. The sound was not human though. Lauf growled as he could guess what sort of Dark Eldar was coming. A soft clacking sound echoed down the hall and was drawing closer to them.

Lauf motioned with his hand for the armsmen to take up positions as he readied his weapons. The sound got closer as he tried to pierce the darkness of the hallway with his eyes. The pitch black was all that he could see as the sound grew louder, making the armsmen tremble a bit. A glance to sergeant Ramiel steadied their nerves as they aimed their autoguns at the hallway when the figure finally started to come into view.

Ramiel waited until they could almost see the Dark Eldar's face and then shouted to fire. All nine autoguns fired at the same time, bullets shooting out of each barrel down into the hallway, where they struck wall. Lauf gritted his teeth as the Wych laughed heartily, her blade-whip twirling around her like the tail of a snake after it had deflected the shots with only a simple flick of her wrist,

"How pathetic you creatures are. Scurrying about trying to avoid us. Though it does make the game more interesting. I grow bored with this part. Now hopefully one of you can provide me with some entertainment. I might even let you live in exchange. If not. I'll simply flay you all here. Either way, I will be amused." The small box attached to the Wych's throat crackled every-time she opened her mouth, translating the words she spoke into Low gothic. Lauf knew no Dark Eldar would 'sully' themselves with using their language. Lauf stepped forward. He was the only one here who had hope of surviving a fight with this monster,

"Oh good! My prey steps forward." She commented, happily whipping her blade forward and snapping it back a fraction of an inch from Lauf's face. Her wicked smile only grew as she saw he had not flinched,

"We'll see who's prey here monster." Lauf growled as he held his weapons out in front of him. Roaring a battle cry he charged the Wych. Getting within range he swung his axe, aiming at her neck. The frost-axe swung with a hissing sound as it came to the Wych's location and struck empty air. The Wych laughed as she dodged Lauf's strike and moved to face the armsmen behind him. She flicked her wrist again and the blade-whip shot up, slashing through Lauf's arm, digging into the flesh with each blade segment like the teeth of a chainsword. Lauf growled from the pain but did not focus on it as he spun around and stabbed at the Wych with his sword. Again she dodged the strike, this time jumping into the air with a back-flip. She landed hand-first on the flat of Lauf's sword and used it as a platform to jump over the Space Wolf and land behind him, her sword following her movement before slashing down and cutting across his chest, drawing a fine gash across his breastplate that dripped blood before his enhanced physique sealed the wound with a new scar. The Dark Eldar was positively giddy with excitement, drinking in Lauf's anguish and the horror of the armsmen at seeing a Space Marine being made a fool so easily,

"Oh this is fun. I will enjoy toying with you." She said, licking some of Lauf's blood off her sword with her long, gentle pink tongue. She let it hang out of her mouth for a few seconds with the droplets on its tip before she pulled it inside her mouth and let it swish around. At that moment, something in Lauf's blood made her pause and seem to lose focus. That pause made her slow to react when the frost-sword came at her from the right side. The Wych just managed to roll out of the way of Lauf's strike but now she was on the defensive. When she tried to bring her blade-whip across his face, Lauf's axe was already in its way, blocking the strike. He grinned as she was un-nerved,

"My turn." With that simple phrase, Lauf charged in close and attacked. The Wych was still fast and nimble, but now her footing was off and Lauf pressed his advantage. Each strike he made got closer, every dodge the Wych managed was a fraction slower. The armsmen held their fire as they watched Lauf become a whirl of sword and axe strikes and the Wych unable to land her own blows even with her incredible reflexes and experience. At one point, Lauf's sword caught the Wych in the face, making a small cut running down the side of her cheek and drawing a thin trail of blood. The Wych jumped back and felt her face. The minute she noticed the blood, she looked at Lauf with murderous intent,

"HOW DARE YOU MAIM MY BODY!" She screached with rage as she lunged towards him,

"YOU WILL BEG FOR DEATH AFTER THE PAIN I WILL INFLICT!" She shouted, snapping her blade forward at Lauf's neck. The crash of metal on metal echoed through the mess as the armsmen were blinded for a second when a bright light erupted from the two combatants at the moment the blade-whip struck.

When they were able to open their eyes again, the armsmen saw Lauf's frost-axe cleaving through the metal linking two segments of the sword together. With a grunt of effort, Lauf pushed his axe through, splitting the wych's sword while dropping his own weapon and reaching out to wrap his fingers around her throat. The Wych coughed and struggled as she brought her hands up to try and pull Lauf's fingers off her neck while he lifted her up to look him in the eyes,

"Who is the prey now?" He demanded. She looked him directly in the eye and saw something within them that made her spit into his face,

"You are…" She started to say only to be silenced when Lauf tightened his grip around her neck and grabbed her by the leg. Lifting her above his head, he howled loudly before hurling her down. She struck his knee with a loud CRACK as the segment of spine that met his knee was broken into many various pieces. Letting go, the Wych fell to the floor and lay there. The last thing she saw was Lauf standing over her and bringing an armoured foot above her face.

Wiping the bone and brain matter from the Wych across the floor, Lauf picked up his weapons and looked at the armsmen,

"Come. This was just one xeno. No telling how many more there are between us and the bridge." He commented as the armsmen nodded before running towards the other passage that led them towards the main floor and the bridge of this cruiser. Lauf wondered what had made the Wych pause and stare into his eyes. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind. That thought could wait. For now, he had to focus on reconquering this ship before more people were dragged away by the Dark Eldar to a fate worse than death.

TO BE CONTINUED