CHAPTER 2
Captain Gtosle of the death watch moved through the shadows as silent as one would be when walking through the great tombs of the long dead. He moved with speed and agility despite his massive armored bulk. 3 hours had passed since they had been dropped by thunder hawk and now he moved ready to penetrate the hive walls. Already they had seen the tell tale signs of the enemy's approach, flora not native to the planet, temperature changes without seasonal changes.
To his left he spotted a corpse. It had once been human but was so torn and shredded that it only resembled a man in the most basic sense of the word. It had been ripped open and eaten gtosle was sure of that and he had a hunch of what had done it.
The death watch was here to confirm suspicion of an enemy fleet, a splinter of a much larger force that had been beaten on macroth many years before. It had been moving and pillaging entire systems and the death watch believed that this would be their next target, always driven on by hunger the enemy would come and destroy any that stood in its way.
But before they could walk in and just say the great destroyer was on its way they had to make sure had to be certain so as not to cause wide spread panic. If they did it could cause more problems then it could solve especially if the enemy didn't come this way.
Gtosle whipped a bug off his auspex scanner and moved it around looking for any movement other than him and his team. He found none.
"one. Two what's your status?" he said into his micro bead in his helmet.
"a kilometer from the hives outer walls ready to penetrate on command." Said his second in command, a sergeant with a deep voice and almost no sense of humor.
"one, three. What's your status?" the bead crackled and shifted with white noise until his man reported back.
"nothing out here about 2 clicks from the wall captain give us 10 minutes and we will be ready to penetrate." Came the crisp reply.
The captain didn't like the grounds around the hive city it was a jungle but a strange jungle, the trees were huge and tall but underneath of them instead of more foliage there were just huge boulders like giant pebbles among bushes. The local animals had seemed to love the boulders to hide behind until the space marines where right on top of them springing out at the last moment and at the same time having 12 bolters fixed on them.
Now gtosle was just under one and a half kilometers from the city wall. It rose out of the ground like an ugly spike driven through the planets body to protrude into the air defying gravity.
The wall was about 100 meters tall with gun ports at regular intervals and heights. Fortunately they had all brought jammers and were good enough to sneak past the servitors ever looking eyes. Gtosle looked up and down the city one more time then keyed his vox 3 times to signal the rest to climb the wall. This would be the hard part.
Cameron wore his decorative power armor first because it was so comfortable to him and second it demanded respect. It made the people that saw him cower in fear because of his imposing statue and the inquisition rosette on his chest. He would demand the respect of this planetary governor and he would demand total control. He was ready to go down to the planet. According to the intelligence reports there was a welcoming ceremony. Great more sirs. Cameron walked the length of the great ship until he came to the hangar bay. Inside was a small dignitary shuttle with a man in bright red robes a a giant plume hat.
"welcome sir" Cameron flinched. "we are ready to accept you to our humble planet, may the inquisition find our faith strong and our resolve stronger" with this the man bowed deeply and Cameron heaved a great sigh. This would be one long look into a small cult.
"thank you but can we speed this up?" he asked already looking to board the ship that sat waiting with its ramp open like the giant jaw of some sort of monster.
"but certainly sir, but we must observe all of the customs of welcoming a forging dignitary" said the red robed man with a questioning look on his face. Cameron sighed again and walked up the ramp of the ship the red robed man following him on.
The ship made a quick decent to the planet below but to Cameron it was far to long a journey. He always hated space travel. The thought of not being in control of his own life scared him more than going up against one of the traitor legions chaos marines. the only thing that made the ride worse was the man in read rattling off a list of welcoming parties and customs that had to be done before Cameron could have free reign. His armor seemed to do him no good.
The hive that the ship aimed for was like a giant tooth ripping from the ground. It was grey and evil looking, there was a perpetual smog of grey smoke surrounding it marking out the mass amounts of pollution that the hive created every day. Cameron could already see that some of the heavy vegetation growing near the hive was stained as an effect of the pollution.
When the ship landed it landed on one of the upper spires of the hive, up here the air was cold and brisk and tasted of stale meat. Cameron nearly gagged coming down the ramp and into the expecting crowd of robbed dignitaries with documents for him to sign and rights for him to over see.
"sir we need you to declare your presence in our city".
"sir we need you to dine tonight at the royal banquette"
sir. Sir sir sir all Cameron heard was men and women shouting out his title and name fighting for his attention. Cameron sagged visibly as they pressed in trying to have their jobs done so they could move on to the next menial task.
"That's enough that's enough!" shouted a deep booming voice. Through the crowd a man stepped out in full black caprice armor without a helmet. With his heavily shodded boots he was almost as tall and well built as Cameron. The mans face was plump with baby fat with a heavy head of black hair that swooped around his face and neck. Cameron could tell he was the one in charge right now.
"Leave the poor man alone he will see to all you cackling scavengers later!" shouted the man. Who ever he was Cameron liked him. The robbed dignitaries began to move away mumbling and complaining of breaches in protocol and the such but the big armored man paid no heed.
"Welcome to my fair hive interrogator Cameron" said the man thrusting out a hand to shake. "I am governor Evian. Those rats like to crowd the new people trying to get signatures for this that and our life" he laughed hoarsely.
"Well its good to know some one is on my side governor" said Cameron lightly.
"Yes well im afraid your stay will be filled with jokes and fun interrogator. We have a deep rooted problem, a touch of the warp in the lower hives I fear. That is why you have been called out. I believe there is a sect of chaos that have taken over and are performing acts of butchery among our civilians."
"Take me in and show me what you have on this cult and I will do everything in my power to find and destroy this mark on the emperors people." Said Cameron
"Certainly but first I think we should dine!" said Evian and he led Cameron into the big hive through a high vaulted arch way and into the depths of the grand structure.
Captain gtosle and the death watch saw the ship enter from some of the lower outer habs. Already they had found significant evidence of the great enemy here and they had followed its deadly trail. Gtosle believed they were close.
He waved his team forward through the hab blocks that were now empty. They crept along slowly keeping to shadows and making almost no noise at all. Gtosle did not want to bump into any more civilians. Already they had to silence 3 men with neuron stunners that would send them into a light coma for a few days.
A flash of movement caught gtosle eye. It wasn't a solid object but more like liquid flowing through the air and melding with colors and light. Gtosle waved his team forward with quick and signals and they all ready their bolters ready to take on anything.
Gtosle dived forward where he was sure the thing was and grabbed at thin air. He ducked rolled and came back up on his feet as two wet smacks sounded and then a rustling of loose rocks and dust. Gtosle looked but did not find anything. On the wall next to his head were two pock marks glistening with spittle. If he had any doubts before then he was sure now. The great enemy was here and it was luring the rest with it. At gtosle feet was a mutilated corpse. Gtosle could only tell it was human by the fact that it still had a face frozen in death in a perpetual scream that could not be heard.
Gtosle paid no heed to it, he moved his team forward. The hunt was on now and he wanted to get the prey.