Venenum Filios Chapter5

Beep-beep, the noise went right in his ear, beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep. It was repetitive and loud and extremely annoying. It cut through the fog of sleep and stirred sluggish thoughts into motion. He tried to fend it off, to sink back into the soft clouds of slumber but the noise wouldn't stop. It jostled the idle mind over and over, causing him to climb back to the waking world.

As he stirred memories began to filter in, his name was Persion, he was a Storm Herald and a warrior of the Adeptus Astartes. With that thought his will returned, the diamond-hard spirit of his soul, the fire that had driven him to feats of epic proportions. Memories returned in a flood now, spilling into his mind and he knew the time had come to act. Persion gathered his might; he summoned all his strength and focussed his will into one titanic effort.

Then he opened his eyes.

A blur of white appeared before him, a long smear of uniform colour. Persion struggled to focus upon it but it refused to be anything other than bland whiteness. After a few seconds Persion realised that there was nothing wrong with his vision, the whiteness was exactly as it should be, because it was a ceiling tile. Persion turned his head slightly, sending a throb of pain through his skull as he looked about. Persion found that he was lying upon a med-slab, one of the special units that filled the Chapter's Apothecarions. He was surrounded by devices, pumps and monitors, connected to his neural interface sockets by long lines. It was these devices that were making all the noise, measuring the rhythmic double-heartbeat of an Astartes. Persion also appeared to be naked, having been stripped out of his amour and laid out bare.

Persion had no idea how he had come to be here, how his armour had been removed. The last thing he remembered was the assault upon the Alpha Legion base and then… then a strange malady, a confused impression of dizzy blurs and weakness. Persion was repulsed by the thought, weakness was anathema to an Astartes' nature and he would not tolerate it. Persion was stirred to move by the thought, reaching up to yank the lines from his flesh. His organic hand fumbled and shivered but thankfully his Augmetic one was sure and firm and he soon pulled himself free. Persion sat up, head feeling the same size and weight as a Baneblade, yet he forced himself upright with a nauseated grimace.

Persion looked around the room, seeing that he was indeed inside an Apothecarion, one that he assumed was back on the Thunderchild. In the room were a dozen Med-slabs, all pristine and white and sterile. Most of them were empty but one was occupied by the recumbent form of Captain Toran. Persion swung his legs about and dropped to the floor, his knees almost gave way beneath him but he forced them to lock with a labour of will. He set one foot forward and staggered forward, holding onto passing Med-slabs as he went, Astartes he may be but he wasn't keen to fall over right now.

He made his way over to the Captain and saw that he was festooned with lines and drips as Persion had been. The warrior's hearts skipped a beat but then he saw Toran's chest rise and fall and he sighed in relief, his Captain still lived. Toran looked unusually pale and clammy, yet around his augmetic red eye and numerous scars were a tracery of veins, making his face look like a cracked vase. Persion didn't understand what was going on but he was saved having to puzzle it out by a voice behind him saying, "+What do you think you're doing?+"

Persion glanced behind him and saw Bylan standing in the open doorway, looking irritated. Persion saw that he too was out of armour, exposing the horrific extent of his augmentic implants, but he looked far healthier than the Captain appeared or Persion felt.

Persion ignored the query and asked, "How is he?"

Bylan sighed and answered, "+Stable, he was one of the lucky ones… or maybe I should say unlucky+"

Persion didn't follow and said, "What happened to us?"

Bylan replied, "+I think I better let Memnos explain that, wait here and touch absolutely nothing. I'll let him know you're up+"

Persion watched Bylan disappear and waited a moment. Then he shrugged and tottered over to a locker on the wall and began to rummage through its contents. Persion had never been one for petty rules and pointless protocols, a fact that had got him in trouble more than once as a Scout. He had never broken any edicts or commands but if he couldn't see the point of a rule he really hadn't bothered with it.

His cavalier attitude to proper comms protocols had been as troubling as it was useful, he would have made a fine Consul of Signal (as the old Legions would have put it) but his habit of listening into officer level feeds had been bothersome. The Masters had despaired as to what to do with the youth, his skills too valuable to waste but his habits demanding reprimand. Eventually they had settled on relegating him to the Reserves, where he couldn't get into too much trouble. He would have stayed there too had Toran not elevated him, letting him rise higher than he had ever expected.

Persion's search soon bore fruit in the shape of a short robe. He shrugged it on and as he did so there was a noise at the door. He saw a group of Astartes entering the room, led by Apothecary Memnos. The healer looked as bad as Persion, boasting dark rings under his eyes which were bloodshot. He was not alone either for with him came the rest of the Command Squad. Furion was walking with a slight limp, his arms held a little too close to his chest. Jediah looked surer but his face was covered by a livid purple mark, one that extended down his neck onto his chest. Novak's face could hardly look worse than it already did, but there was a swelling in his flesh, like fluid building up under the skin.

Memnos tutted when he saw Persion was up and about, he shook his head and declared, "I should have known you wouldn't stay put."

Persion replied, "I got bored."

Memnos drew a syringe from his belt and walked over, he yanked on Persion's arm and stabbed promptly into a muscle as he muttered, "Emperor save me from pig-headed fools. There, that should stabilise the worst of the symptoms for now."

Persion felt a little better after the injection and asked, "Symptoms of what?"

Memnos hesitated but Furion stated, "Might as well tell him, it will come out eventually."

Memnos rubbed his weary eyes and explained, "We were hit with a virus, a tailored bacteriophage that attacked our genetic upgrades and caused mutations in the base genome."

Persion didn't understand how that was possible and he said, "But that's impossible, the Emperor designed us himself. We are immune to all forms of disease and chemical attack. Nothing short of Warp taint can overcome His genius."

Memnos spat, "Well this can, it was incredibly specific and tailored to our unique gene-seed. The Phage bears genetic hallmarks of artificial crafting; someone went to immense trouble to make this thing. It must have taken them decades to make… centuries even."

"A trap," Persion breathed as understanding dawned, "Zerban led us into a trap."

"Maybe not deliberately, it's unclear how much he knew," Furion stated, "But yes, the whole Starfort was saturated in the Phage. It was in the air, the second we took our first breath we were all contaminated."

Persion glanced over to the side and asked, "So why wasn't Bylan affected?"

Memnos sadly explained, "The Phage is airborne, it infiltrates the bloodstream through the lungs. But Bylan doesn't have any; his Augmetics caught the microbe and screened it out."

Bylan muttered, "+The Captain's gift saves my life again+"

Novak agreed, "Good job too, the whole Company was laid out, nobody escaped its touch. Half of them are still in comas, we'd be dead had Bylan not called in the task force to conqueror the starfort, allowing Serf rescue teams to retrieve us."

Persion absorbed that and said, "We're not safe yet, I can still feel its effects."

Memnos shook his head and said, "I can manage the symptoms, let us operate normally but I can't eliminate the underlying cause. I don't know where to begin; this Phage will run its course regardless of anything I can do."

Jediah glowered and asked, "What can we expect?"

It wasn't in the Storm Herald's nature to avoid unpalatable truths so Memnos answered grimly, "The Phage killed Brother Pelial outright but he was especially susceptible, it will take longer for the rest. Some will die quick, some slow but one by one we will all die. First we will feel sick, then the mutations will come, like the worst sort of Chaos blight. A year from now anyone not dead will resemble the most corrupt Traitor. A year after that… there won't be anyone left."

Novak interjected, "This is monumental, the Arch-enemy has a weapon that can wipe out Astartes at will. It will reshape the galaxy; they can obliterate every loyal Space Marine in the galaxy."

It was a rare insight from the usually flippant Champion but Memnos disagreed, "No, this Phage is specifically designed to affect Storm Heralds. There's too much genetic drift between Chapters for it to affect other bloodlines, even those who also claim descent from Guilliman. The Traitors must have acquired a sample of our current Gene-seed to make this work."

Suddenly Jediah spat, "Brother Ophelian, remember what happened to him. He was killed by Vorshaan and his gene-seed stolen, this was the reason why."

"Vorshaan," snarled Persion in anger, "He's been dead six years and still he attacks us from beyond the grave. Will we never be rid of him? "

Furion cut him off saying, "Enough, we are Astartes not whining Ecclesiarchy Priests. We do not cry about our fate, we grasp it with both hands and forge our own path. The question before us is, what do we do now?"

Memnos said, "We can't return home, we would spread the Phage to the whole Chapter."

Novak frowned and asked, "What's stopping the Traitors from spreading the Phage to Lujan II themselves?"

"Absolutely nothing," growled Jediah, "We have to transmit a warning before it's too late."

Bylan spoke up then to say, "+Perhaps we should seek outside help. Somebody must have seen this before, why not call upon the Grey Knights?+"

Despite the severity of the situation Persion felt his lip twitch and everybody sighed at the naive comment. Furion leaned in and gently said, "Bylan… the Grey Knights don't exist. They are a campfire myth, made up to make us feel better. Ask any Inquisitor and they will tell you the same thing."

Bylan looked crestfallen and said, "+But I've heard the legends… +"

"We all have," Persion snorted, "Mythic Super-Astartes made to fight Chaos itself, the Emperor's last work and the Inquisition's secret army. It's all just stories, no more real than the Sanguinor or the Legion of the Damned."

Bylan said, "+But what about their battles over Fenris?+"

Novak scoffed, "You believed that? The Sons of Russ beating up the Inquisition without reprisal. Pure hyperbole probably penned by the Space Wolves themselves, to make them look better."

Bylan sounded crushed as he said, "+Really?+"

Jediah explained, "Inquisitors never agree on anything, they've had actual wars over whether the Custodian Guard wears gold and red or gold and black. So if they all swear that the Grey Knights don't exist then you can take that as writ in stone."

Bylan sighed and said, "+So now what?+"

"Now, we regroup," said a voice from behind them.

Persion turned in surprise and saw Captain Toran stirring, sitting up slowly on his elbows. Everybody hurried over and Bylan called in relief, "+Captain, you're awake!+"

"Obviously," spat Toran rather testily, "I heard everything, we have to act fast."

Furion asked firmly, "What are your orders?"

Toran replied, "Summon everybody who is awake for a briefing, we need to plan our strategy."

It sounded good but Persion wasn't reassured for he couldn't see what they could possibly do to divert their doom. He had the rather sneaking suspicion that the Captain's intent wasn't to find a way to save the Company but rather to find an honourable way to die. But then he reflected that it was probably preferable to the other possible fate laid out before them.