There was an awkward silence that filled the room that housed Aun'O, Shas'ui, and Kan Wreek sat in the room. So many things have happened in the last 24 hours, it was hard to say anything without making this more awkward than it needs to be.
"I would like to thank you for sending your warriors, Aun'O Kan. Without them, we would not have survived the Dark Eldar raid or survive the Lady of the Void." Kan nodded, the Lady of the Void made her sound less evil than before. Kan stared at his staff of light, wondering if he should send them on their way or ask what the Tau knows about the Lady of the Void.
"I know that it was very traumatic for you and I hate to ask this but… What do you know about the Lady of the Void? It almost sounds like you know who or what she is."Aun'O's expression turned to a troubled look. Kan hit the mark; they do know something about her.
"We know what she is."
Shas'Ui raised his voice. "Aun'O, I must protest. We cannot tell them this information, it is even forbidden to talk about her or the Void beyond." Kan glanced at Shas'Ui. The Void Beyond, Kan now knew where she was from, and he had a suspicion that this was more threatening than the warp itself.
"If we are to gain our new found allies trust, we must tell them all we know of this new threat. Now that Freedom's Legion is being targeted by this creature, they have a right to know what they are up against so that they may help fight this creature. If the Greater Good is to prevail, then all of its allies must be brought into the light of such things." Shas'Ui nodded and allowed Aun'O to proceed.
"Yes, the creature your warrior has seen is an ancient evil. They are called the apocalypse gods and the creature you have heard about is the high god, the Lady of the Void. It is said that before the Warp was shown to the universe, there were two serpents, Eltrin and Ditrin. Both we bound together by the being known as the Gatekeeper. The Gatekeeper bound them within his Cloak of Night, keeping them as far away from each other as possible. All was well in the galaxy until the dragons' wings touched at the tips. When this happened, out came a creature with a mask that was unmovable. The mask had two diamond shaped eyes and a triangle nose and it smiled a wide smile. The creature was named Rage, but it hid its name from the gatekeeper. It tricked the gatekeeper into giving it his cloak, along with the dragons. It took the cloak and released the dragon, Eltrin, telling it that light is the true holder of the universe. Eltrin let out a mighty roar and beat its wings, creating smaller creatures that populated the universe. The Gatekeeper tried to grab Eltrin, but he only tore off a scale. Rage vanished before saying one thing, 'all that you know of this universe, along with its goodness, will become nothing but fire and darkness, as it is engulfed by war and death. And as you cry, looking down at your wonderful universe eating away at itself, you will fall to my children's fangs.' With that, Rage ripped open two rifts to other dimensions that he has decimated. The Warp and the Void of Apocalypse."
Kan Wreek shook his head; this was a lot to learn. So this was a more ancient evil than C'tan themselves. But there was one thing that he did not understand, if they had conquered two dimensions, wouldn't that meant that the Void isn't their home?
"So the Void isn't their original home? Are they from some different dimension that Rage didn't show him?" Aun'O shook his head
"The scriptures do not say anything else of the matter, only that Rage will return with his children. Even though the Lady of the Void controls the Void of Apocalypse, she still listens to her father." Kan Wreek understood this, but he still felt weak. That would mean that this Rage is far more powerful than anything he has ever seen.
Shas'a, the fire warrior from the ship, came into the room. "Aun'O, the ship has arrived; we are waiting for your orders." Aun'O nodded as he stood up from sitting.
"Will you tell your people of what has happened here? Will you help us in our cause?" Aun'O chuckled.
"The Greater Good was created to combat this evil and you have proven yourself a worthy ally, the Tau will fight alongside the Freedom's Legion against Rage and his children. Shas'Ui opened the door for Aun'O.
"Gather the people of the universe, only together shall we emerge victorious from this new war." He left without another word.
"Wolfbane, gather the men into the Grand hall, we have an important meeting."
Wolfbane emerged from the corner of the room.
"Aye sir, anything else I should do before the meeting."
"Yes, prep the ships; we will be traveling after the meeting."
Wolfbane left the room nodding his head. His stance showed determination; he knew that they were going to destroy these new enemies.
Kan could feel his hands shaking, for the first time after he emerged from the Endless Sleep, he was terrified. Freedom's Legion would be fighting an all-out war against creatures that had conquered whole dimensions. He knew that he would be bringing creature that fought like animals against each other would be impossible. He felt like no one would be able to help him.
"Do not worry, my child. I will guide you through this hour." Kan looked up, scanning all around the room the voice. Then he remembered where he had heard this voice before.
"Freedom, I thought that I would never hear from you again."
"I am always here when you are at your darkest hour. You will find a way to unite the universe under one banner, so they may fight the creatures that threaten your home."
"I am scared, Freedom, I'm not up to this challenge. What if I fail, what if I allow myself to fall when my people need me at their darkest hour?"
"Do not fret, for you are a natural leader. You can bring balance between the universe's beings. There are actions that are being set in motion that will allow you to bring them to your cause. Now go, you must tell your people to go upon this crusade of justice, to unite all life in the universe to destroy this new evil."
"I cannot believe it, our first meeting! I'm gonna show the rest of the squads that we earned the title of Squad One!" Captain Karak and Assistant Captain Spook walked down the hall to the Grand Hall. Spook sighed, "Yes sir, we'll show them." Spook didn't know why Karak wanted to show off even more. Bringing down a titian wasn't enough to show Freedom's Legion that they are the best wasn't enough to impress everyone else. Karak wanted to excel in everything, even cleaning up the barracks.
"Where is that lazy idiot? He was supposed to meet us before we left the barracks!"
"Yo, dudes, hows it goin?" Captain Rendal appeared in front of them, followed by Assistant Captain Jerome.
Steam was coming off Karak's head. "YOU'RE LATE, CAPTAIN LAZY PANTS!"
"Woah man, chill out. I was checking out the scenery before I fell asleep watching the sun set."
"GAAH, YOU STUPID HIPPY! WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE SHOWED YOU THOSE WEIRD HOLOTAPES OF WOODSTOCK!" Rendal collected holotapes of everything he could find of human peace and love. He kept to saying 'make peace not war' whenever he knew there was an argument about to break out between his men.
"Jerome, why can't you keep a better eye on him?" Karak turned his head towards him. Jerome just shrugged and walked off towards the Grand Hall. "Jerome, answer me when I am talking to you!"
Jerome just looked at him for a few seconds before walking off again. Rendal nodded his head. "He says, 'if you want to keep your perfect record, I suggest we stop this mindless bickering and head off.' He's right, come on, I like being this early, means I get to get a little bit of sleep in."
"Yes, yes, come Spook; let's get there before anyone else does." Karak ran off with Spook walking behind him sighing and shaking his head.
The room was filled with almost 5'000 captains with their assistant captains. Ralth was working on a small light that keep flickering on and off. Whenever he fixed it, another light flickered on and off.
The commotion died down when Kan Wreek and Wolfbane walked into the room. Kan waved at Proon to stop messing around and bring the holo crystal. Piroon nodded and tapped a light bulb to make it stop flickering. Piroon flew down and handed Kan the crystal. Kan tossed the crystal down in front of him.
"The holo you are seeing right now are of all the factions that are in this universe. The Imperium of Man, consisting of the Space Marines, the Imperial Guard, and the Inquisition. The Eldar, with their many craft worlds. The Orks, their tribal war bands and their infamous Waaghs. The Dark Eldar who pillage and kill only for pleasure. The Tyranids, the epitome of the end of days. And Chaos, the ones who serve the dark gods with unflinching loyalty. I know that the next words I will say will sound impossible, but we must unite all of these factions in order to destroy these new gods that threaten to destroy all we hold dear to us."
There was a slight murmur with in the crowd; they knew this task was impossible.
"I know that his is hard to understand or even to take seriously. That is why I must know which of you will help me unite them?"
There was a slight pause, no one wanted to risk their lives in order to unite these factions that have been fighting for so long.
"Captain Karak and Captain Rendal volunteer squad One for this task; we will unite the factions of the universe."
A slight murmur came from the crowd as Karak and Rendal walked next to Kan Wreek.
"Meh, what the hell. Captain Steel and Captain Forlon volunteer squad Apollo. This might actually be really fun." As Steel and Forlon walked to Kan Wreek, Forlon nudged Steel's arm.
"What are you doing, idiot? I didn't sign up for this?" Forlon whispered.
"Come on, it'll be fun. Besides, I wanna see how much heat comes out of Karak's head when he sees that he's not the only one doin this."
Karak stared at Steel before looking back at the crowd.
After a few other squads volunteered, Kan dismissed the meeting.
Piroon flew in and handed them all a data slate.
"These are all of your assignments, some of you will be paired up with each other and some will be alone."
"I'M WITH APOLLO?"
"Krak, shut it; you volunteered for this, so no comlplaints."
Karak started steaming again as Steel tried desperately to hold in a laugh.
Both knew that this was going to be a long, long campaign.
"The Derel system? Never heard of it, you sure you got this right Piroon?" Forlon was still looking through the data slate while Piroon and Steel were scanning the system, checking if there were any life signs on the planet.
"I'm sure, I have never been wrong in any of my judgements."
Steel looked at Piroon. "What about that time when you-"
"Look, that was one time only. How did I know that Wolfbane commandeered an Eldar ship? Besides, everyone made it out all right."
"Except the fuel cells that he was going to bring back." Forlon chuckled. Piroon glared at him, telling him not to encourage Steel.
"Okay, we're here. I'll be back in a few days to drop off a few supplies so you can set up an planet is basically a wildlife planet, no one should be there. But, scan the area and the airspace daily, I don't want to come back and find out that you were turned into scrap metal by the Orks."
"We'll be okay, just make sure to come back. I want to see home once BEFORE the invasion starts."
Forlon signaled Steel that they were going to phase out soon. The air turn cool as Steel and Forlon materialized onto the planet.
There was a small blip before Piroon signaled the ship to go to warp speed.
"Meh, probably some local life."
A dakka round skimed past Forlon's face as he returned fire to the band of Orks. The fire fight was constantly drowned out by the constant bellowing of the Orks war cry.
"Empty, he said. No one should be here, he said. When I see that pathetic excuse of an Intel officer, I'm gonna tear him a new one!" Steel brought down his rifle on an ork's head as he backhanded a nob's face. Whenever he killed a charging ork, ten more always come down the hill. Forlon just shook his head, he knew what Steel meant. Was Piroon being careless about his scans? No, not even Piroon would scan the planet once. The orks must have been hiding their prescence. Forlon aimed his rifle at a nob yelling out commands of attack. His yelling stopped after his head disintegrated into a ball of heat.
"Karak, move your men up the hill. I want a little bit of high ground before moving the rest up."
Karak wasn't even listening, but at least he was moving in the general direction of the hill. The orks were falling left and right as Karak lead his men up the hill. Gauss bolts were flying all around, each one hitting their mark. The numbers of Orks were falling as Karak advanced up and over the hill. Silence took the field as Forlon sighed and Steel was beginning to sit down. All of a sudden, Krak, Spook, and the rest of his men came flying down the hill.
"Karak, what's wrong?" Karak just rushed past Forlon yelling only one thing.
"NOT GOOOOD!"
Forlon looked at Steel, what did he mean by that? Soon, the ground began to rumble.
"Oh, that's not good." Five stompas came walking down the hill, followed by what seemed like a whole Waaagh of Orks. A whole wall of Orks came running down the hill.
"Well Steel, it was nice knowing ya. Anything you want to say before we die?" Steel nodded his head.
"Y'know that book you liked so much, To Kill a Mockingbird? I gave it to the flayed ones and they tore it up by accident."
"YOU SON OF A-"
Then a female voice came on from an ork stompa.
"Hold on! Don't kill them!"
The orks looked up at the middle stompa. They all dropped to their knees and bowed their heads. A female jumped out of the head of the stompa.
"Well then, Necrons arguing like actual people. This is a new one." Forlon looked up as he was strangling Steel and being punched in the spine.
"A human? What the hell?"
The girl just laughed. The girl standing in front of them was around 20 or so, with short brown hair with green highlights. She was wearing a tyranid warrior's head as a shoulder piece. Bandages covered her chest and her fore arms. Black cloth covered her legs and a livery was around her waist. She carried a power sword as tall as an ork.
"Well, it looks like both of us are confused by this. But, since you're here, might as well welcome you here. This is the planet Derel Prime, the Waaagh you see behind me are The Mighty Crushas, and I am their warboss, Casalie Gorethumpa."
That's it for today. I am SOOOOO sorry that I haven't been posting like before. I guess I made it up to you by making a longer chapter. But I am going to keep my promise of Fridays and Saturdays after the 18th.
NEXT TIME ON FREEDOM'S LEGION: Forlon thinks that negotiating with Casalie will be just like talking with a human. But he soon finds out that Casalie may be human on the outside, but inside, she is the biggest baddest Ork around. Meanwhile, an Apocalypse God called Xavier, decides that the Orks and Casalie are not 'civilized' and starts to change their personalities, making them prim and proper but attacking squad Apollo and squad One. Will they be able to defeat an Apocalypse God, or will The Mighty Crushas become the first creatures in the universe to fall prey to the Apocalypse Gods.