Chapter 6-Descent

=][= Imperial Thought for the Day: My armour is contempt. My shield is disgust. My sword is hatred. In the Emperor's name, let none survive. =][=

FW G5B (Designation Warden)

Singer Aston, Imperial Civilian, lived a fairly normal life. He was born on Warden, went to Warden District 7HS, did a short stint in the Navy, went to Carida, and survived long enough to muster out. He had a wife, two children, and worked as a civil servant within the vast Imperial bureaucracy. In his spare time he went blaster shooting with his teenage son. His wife owned a restaurant catering to the garrison on Warden, and his daughter worked off-planet in the orbiting skyhooks.

Life, in Singer's opinion, was pretty fragging good. Sure, he lived on a fortress world that gazed into the unknown, but at least it was safer than living on, say, Coruscant or Tatooine. Having a dozen Star Destroyers orbiting certainly made him feel secure, not to mention the weekly parades of Stormtroopers.

Yet, for all that, Singer wanted nothing more than to get off Warden as fast as possible. Too bad he'll never have the chance…

Holonet Warden News

"This is a planet-wide alert. Unknown warships have appeared in orbit around warden. The Imperial navy is fighting hard against the enemy, however it has lost multiple star destroyers. As a result, all civilians are advised to proceed to the nearest emergency bunkers or attempt to evacuate Warden. Interdictor fields are down, evacuate immediately. This new foe is extremely dangerous and—Oh core, they're landing troops! Evacuate! Get us out of he—!"

The pretty announcer was cut off, literally, by a tall warrior encased in what appeared to be living armour. It wielded a long, snake-like staff that sprayed acid all over the announcer, dissolving her wretched corpse. The warrior spat on her body, then stared right into the camera with its eyes of burning, holy rage.

"YOUR DESTRUCTION IS THE WILL OF THE GODS, AND WE ARE THEIR INSTRUMENTS. YOU. SHALL. ALL. BURN."

*Signal lost.*

FW Sentinel

T+2 Hours

"Alpha squad, advance to 39th and 16th and hold the line."

"Alpha here, anything between 39th and 47th is gone. Requesting confirmation."

"Zero here. Stand by, Alpha."

"Alpha here. I can here them getting clo—BLAM! Man down! Man down! They're on the left! Contacts left! Contacts le—!"

"Alpha, please say again, over. Alpha?"

=][= Perspective change, because fanfiction won't let me make a fancy border. =][=

"Priority vox channel Tricero. Delta combat squad reporting. Advancing towards source of vox transmissions. Targets sighted. Aiming. Firing. Targets terminated. Enemy recon squad eliminated. Requesting orders."

"Priority vox channel Tricero. Corbulo 351st Epsilon Company reporting. Pinned down by enemy multilaser equivalent. 3 casualties. Requesting support, over."

"Priority vox channel Tricero. Delta here. Epsilon, stand by for support. Astartes incoming, clear the lanes."

=][= Once again. =][=

"Epsilon listen up. Astartes are coming in, so lets try and keep some fire off their backs!"

Captain Seravius ducked as the white-armoured heretics let off another long burst of lasfire. Lucius struggled to make himself heard over the whine of the enemy multilaser, wrinkling his nose at the smell of ozone and superheated flesh. The ragged company banner hung limply in the hands of its bearer, its surface pockmarked by stray lasblasts.

Lucis primed a blind grenade, judged the angle, and let loose. A grey shell soared through the air, passing over a wrecked aircar and landing next to the multilaser team. A flash, bang, and cloud of smoke later, and the hail of lasfire dropped down to a trickle. He followed up with a frag, the sheer concussive force and the superheated shrapnel eviscerating a brace of foes and adding to the general confusion.

"Priority vox channel Tricero. Delta here. Space Marines on the field."

Seravius clicked his combead in confirmation, then sheathed his power sword before ducking back into the crater he was occupying. Epsilon Company waited a dozen metres behind, nervously fingering their lasguns and making silent prayers. Cupping a hand to his mouth, he yelled back to his company.

"Astartes incoming! Get down!"

*Again. Sorry.*

TT-34024 slammed a new pack into his blaster, waiting for his helmet to de-polarize while taking stock of the situation. 23145 and 07392 both got taken out by the det that some bastard threw. Four more stopped bolts with their faces, a fifth one being decapitated by some strange sword when he went to scout ahead.

His visor depolarized just as the HUD status light for the man next to him winked out. He blinked for a moment before turning to see the body with half its torso blown off. A sickening crunch sounded off to his left, and he glanced over through the fog to see a ton of ceramite slamming into him.

"zzzt. Priority vox channel Tricero. Delta reporting. Heretics eliminated. Epsilon has been delivered. Advancing. The Emperor protects."

ISD Subjugator

In orbit around FW Sentinel

2 hours earlier.

"Admiral. The three…things have dropped out of hyperspace, a few hours later than expected, too. Hailing now."

The Chiss admiral smiled and snapped his fingers, deigning to face the ship's captain before speaking.

"Excellent. Have my orders been carried out? Of course they have. Bring us into the asteroid belt nearest to Sentinel and await further orders."

The captain nodded and barked out a few orders to his crew, then returned to his position in the XO's usual station and studied his instruments. The captain's uniform was sweat-stained as usual, noted Thrawn with disgust, although his efficiency and effectiveness in command outweighed the cons. The remainder of the crew worked with their usual briskness, something that gained them the Admiral's approval.

A gasp from the captain drew Thrawn's attention back from his visual inspection, his glowing red eyes widening even further as he took in the sight.

"Admiral! The ships have launched an orbital bombardment of the planet! Dropships have been launched. Oh, core, the planetary shields are down! Destroyers moving to engage…Insurmountable and Predator are gone! Stang! Three destroyers just got rammed!"

The sunlit side of Sentinel burst into even more light, the scattering of lasers and kinetic munitions creating a light show in-atmosphere. For a few moments it seemed as though a city-sized aurora had occurred, as yet another Star Destroyer was overwhelmed by fire and disintegrated.

"…Not as planned…" Thrawn said weakly, prompting looks of disbelief from some of the bridge crew.

"…Signal to the fleet's survivors to withdraw to the other side of the world. Our ships are unable to withstand firepower of such magnitude."

The mauled remnants of Vermillion Broadsword Command, Sentinel Detachment drifted slowly around the fortress planet, stray turbolaser beams lancing away to their rear. Shockheart, its shields disabled, threw itself into the path of a torpedo headed towards its sister ship Havoc. The missiled passed straight through both destroyers before detonating next to the Vanguard, gutting two valuable ships and draining the shields of the third. A beam of energy cut through the wreckage of the destroyers, silencing the Vanguard for eternity.

Thrawn looked on as Sentinel burned, its wardens massacred and the gates thrown off their hinges. All that was left to the Empire here was the moon and the surviving orbitals, although those were next to die. Surrounded by the void, the Chiss admiral smiled a knowing smile as Death Squadron dropped out of hyperspace behind his ship.

A/N: Well, it's been a long four week absence, but yet again Faith and Fury has an update! Thank you for all the character profiles, they shall be used in a forthcoming update! Fear not, for those who want more Astartes action, for you shall get some! Until next time, AVE DEUS SANGUINIUS! AVE MORTIS!