-XXXI-
"Why did you hunt us?" Ioras asked.
He got no reply.
"Answer me." he said.
Alpha Sergeant Orson of Koota Tactical kept his silence even though he was a prisoner of the Spears.
"I will make you talk." Ioras said.
"Make me. Traitor." said Orson gritting his teeth.
Ioras turned towards his squad.
"Bring all the Lion Warriors here, I want them to witness this."
They carried the Marines to the command room where Ioras was keeping Orson.
"Now let's try this again." Ioras said removing his helmet.
He clamped it to his belt's mag-lock and lifted his Narthecium, a needle snikted.
"What is that?" asked Orson mockingly, he showed no fear whatsoever.
"This, is going to make you talk." Ioras said.
"A truth serum?" mocked Orson.
"Something like that."
"Hah! Your drugs won't pierce through my faith, heretic." Orson said.
"Not your faith but your flesh." Ioras said and stabbed the Alpha Sergeant in the neck.
He injected the needle till finish then retracted it. Needle snikted back, disappearing.
Orson looked at Ioras with hate filled eyes.
"It doesn't work." he said challenging the Apothecary.
"Give it time." Ioras replied.
They waited half an hour and Orson's head started to lol on it's pivot as if he was fainting.
"Now, why did you sent your Stormtroopers to hunt us?" Ioras asked.
"We-I- . Never!" there was a long pause.
"Answer me, Emperor damn it." Ioras shouted at Orson.
"We were-we were-we were ordered to." Orson said breaking at last under the powerful drug.
"By whom?"
"Lion Command, Alpha Captain Kesiro ordered the Spahkii Stormtroopers to hunt you down." Orson confessed.
"Were you informed of this?" Ioras asked the other prisoners of the Koota squad.
"We did not." answered Renon.
"Don't answer them!" roared Grilleo.
And added "Damned heretics had corrupted our sergeant with their warp magic."
"See this seal, you idiotic mongrel?" Ioras said keeping his voice calm despite his apparent rage.
He was pointing at his Prime Helix symbol at his shoulder-pad.
"This symbol means that I am sanctioned by the Holy Emperor of Mankind to tend the flesh of the Astartes Chapters." he declared.
Grilleo and Ioras locked eyes in anger for a moment.
"You name Him your Lord but your actions are claim that you're not his servants." said Grilleo in a judging voice.
"Once we extracted the truth from your Sergeant, you will forgive us for our intrusion, now let me work." said Ioras turning back at Orson.
Grilleo was about to shout some more righteous claims but Renon cut in.
"Maybe we should see this through, my friend. Let him do as he please." he said, Grilleo looked at him for a moment then at Renon, keeping silent.
"Thank you." said Julius at Renon but the marine ignored him.
Anger flared in Julius' chest. Anger and guilt burned in him deeply but he suppressed it with a silent prayer.
Ioras was back at Sergeant side. "Why did your lord want us dead?" he asked.
"You weren't to come here." Alpha Sergeant Orson replied.
"On Echtesia?" Ioras confirmed.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"This-this planet has secrets and we are the keepers."
"What secrets?"
"Once there was nothing on this system..." Orson dived into the history behind Echtesia.
Once there was nothing on this system. It was barren, worthless. A rouge trader who roamed the stars for riches and discoveries arrived on this desolate system. His name was Echnis. He failed in his quest for wealth and plenty for all his life. He sought his chance here. His landing at the once deserted planet of Echtesia filled him with hope. This planet was once green and filled with life. Before the armies of Imperial workers and machines built a hive here. He roamed the planet seeking anything of value, something he could take back to the Imperium and bask in glory and power.
He found something untold of. Something of great value and of great danger. A tomb of a once alive alien race. Rouge Trader Echnis had his Sage translate the ancient glyphs covering the dark tomb. There was only a partial translation that made little sense. Sage was only able to cross-reference the glyphs with the similar runes of the Eldar lexicon for no other data was known about this race's linguistics.
Several lines read;
"We who have [died or lost, not sure which] here."
"We are buried, deep."
"Waiting for the flourishing of [?]."
"[?] [?] rise to [?] end."
Here Orson took a deep breath and his swung his head from one side another. As if he was dreaming and his dreams were filled with dark secrets that should not be revealed.
"He is resisting." said Julius observing.
"He is an Astartes." said Ioras as if that was proof enough for the failure of his drugs.
Orson continued...
He kept the tomb hidden. He knew that once the tomb is revealed the Inquisition would come and peer inside it. He thought that they would not like what they see here. Echnis had no choice but to go deep inside the tomb and extracted whatever was valuable. He sent his teams to scout the inner catacombs. Luckily for them the tomb seemed lifeless. No guardians came out to challenge them. No wraiths from the past hunting them in the dark only pierced by their glow-lights.
They extracted great many artefacts and brought them back with them, into the Imperium.
"They brought alien artefacts with them? Who would buy such a thing?" asked Julius in shock.
"Everyone!" Orson said almost shouting the answer.
"Aristocrats and matriarchs, Administratum lords and Ecclesiarchial cardinals. Whoever has the riches and power to grab one."
He kept on...
He gained great wealth, but his ambition was not sated. He made pacts with Imperial forces including the Lion Warriors to smuggle these artefacts in greater numbers.
"How deeply you were involved in this?" asked Ioras.
It was a question they all wanted answered. Julius realised that the marines of squad Koota was not aware of the Lion Warriors' involvement with the heretical smuggling of xenos artefacts. They all held their breath as they waited the answer.
"All the command was involved. Echnis approached the Chapter Master and they made a pact." Orson said.
"Lies!" roared Grilleo.
"Might it be that your serum has failed completely?" asked Renon to Ioras.
Ioras checked Orson's eyes and his pulse "No, it's still in effect even though he is resisting."
"You did not know about this?" asked Julius to Renon still unable to believe Orson's story himself.
"We knew there was something valuable to Echnisians on this planet but we never learned what." Renon confessed.
"And the smuggling?" Julius asked.
"No."
"Keep going, Orson." said Ioras injecting him half a dose to make sure...
Lion Warriors had protected the Echnis and his smuggling operation while they in turn provided them with armaments and vehicles from corrupt Administratum officials. Echnis used his great wealth and his business connections to declare his own House and to be appointed as the sole ruler of the newly named planet 'Echtesia'. He also called in favours to settle the nearby world as a Hive World that provided food and products to Echtesia. This new planet was Idagenia, named after his mother, 'Idagna'. Echtesia was built as a pleasure world that both have power and prestige. He used the brothels and pleasure-domes to attracts Imperial higher-ups and improve his standing with the powerful figures. Everyone converged into this new beautiful Pleasure World basking in the ecstasies of it.
Every piece of trade and immigration went through Idagenia so that Echtesia was left only for those who have the power to visit it. The poor was left on Idagenia to work for the wealthy who enjoy themselves on Echtesia.
However there was Eldar pirates who learned of this jewel and started raiding it for fresh slaves. Lion Warriors intervened, but the Echnis wanted them close for future invasions. He sold his most valuable artefacts to the Mechanicum, they returned the favour by settling the world of Altacra and turning it into a Forge World. Leader of the Mechanicum, Magos Xertezill rose in power as his Forge World grew rich with the technologies of aliens. Echnis asked Magos Xertezill to build a fortress upon the neighbouring planet of Woraktum and he arranged that the corrupt Imperial officials to sanction it as a Fortress World. Lion Warriors were given a permanent garrison at Woraktum that was able to house an entire Company of Space Marines. 3rd Company was given this duty along with ships to patrol the system as necessary.
Inquisition eyes were kept away from Echtesia because the Idagenia was seen as the main planet of the system. System was even named after Idagenia to keep the Echtesia in shadows. Echnis did not want anyone peering at his valuable find.
When the population rose in number at Idagenia, Imperial Guard regiments were formed and sent off to fight the battles of the Emperor at distant stars. Regulars such as Idagenia Regulars were kept as reserve, while the best killers of the Idagenia system were sent to Woraktum to be trained as a Spahkii Stormtrooper.
Soon the production by-products of Idagenia polluted it's earth and Echnis paid great sums to requisition the inhabitance of a nearby planet as an Agri World. Planet of Korbos was sanctioned as an Agri World and fed Idagenia, Woraktum and Echtesia with it's endless fields.
"Tell us about this House." said Ioras.
Rouge Trader Echnis found the House of Echnisia and took the name for himself. He is called "Alfonso Philip Echnisia" now. He has one son, "Eduardo II Felix Echnisia" and one daughter, "Agathe Ferdinand Echnisia". Boy commands the Echnisia House Guard, the main regiment that keeps the Idagenia system safe, mainly Echtesia itself and nowhere else. Girl commands the Echtesia Palace Guard, an honour regiment of two thousand man at most, they protect the hive and the palaces.
"And this tomb you talked about, how does it connect to us if it is lifeless and being looted for years?" asked Ioras.
Tomb itself is dysfunctional. It's been for years. Only the mechanicum cared enough to translate it's texts or tried to understand the technological items we looted from it. Some of them proved more useful once their secrets were unlocked, some were just junk. Junk that sold at a great price nonetheless. However the deepest reaches of the tomb was never opened. Deeper the dig-teams went the more useless junk they encountered and it was enough for a time. When the junk ran out they dug deeper, their greed leading their mind. They found an inner room filled with ancient technology. Altacran Mechanicum menials reported this room as a valuable piece of ancient technology. They reported that if made operational this room would provide them with immense amount of wealth and power. Mechanicum teams were sent in along with armed guards. Patriarch Alfonso Echnisia always kept armed men around in case of espionage or pirate raids, whether human or alien.
The teams tinker with the machines in a wrong way, something goes wrong and the machines break down. This caused a huge warp-rift to be opened within the chamber.
At first the warp-rift seemed calm. So the Mechanicum kept studying the rift as well as the machines they broke down. We still did not know if the machines were holding back the warp-rift or they created the warp-rift when the machines broke down. Still we know that somehow the warp-rift allowed the Orks to transport to Echtesia without any warning. Hundreds of Orks charged through the warp-rift slaughtering the Mechanicum and the Echnisian workers. Echtesia House Guard protecting the tomb was powerless to stop the Orks. They were butchered. Lion Warriors were called in and we arrived via aerial drop. Almost an entire company was deployed at the tomb. We stemmed the tide killing the Orks and choking the dark corridors of the tomb with mounds of Ork corpses. However this was merely only the beginning of the Ork invasion. Thousands upon thousands of Orks started the came through the portal, we used the heaviest weapons we got. Flamers, Plasma Cannons, Multi-meltas, you name it. They were unstoppable. We lost four squads on a retreating battle. We lost a further two at the defence of the hive cluster. Two-thirds of Echtesia House Guard was lost defending the Hive cluster. Now they name the defensive line, 'Red River' because of the flowing blood there.
I'm talking about at least a hundred-thousand man. I was there. Where ever I stepped I crushed a skull or a rib. The land itself was made of flesh, both Ork and man. They had sent another hundred-thousand at the flanks but they did not hold, the Orks broke through, butchering them all. We managed to hold them back at the hive walls with the combined might of marine and guardsmen and the Orks broke before us. We called in orbital bombardment to push the Orks back. We manage to hold the hive itself until the reinforcing Imperial Guard regiments from far away planets arrive. We made a counter-offensive and re-take the hive cluster but Patriarch Echnisia and Captain Kesiro did not want any outsiders to reach the tomb. They thought that the Orks were broken and will not return, so they ordered us to 'cause' as many casualties as we can. Naphtali were disciplined and did not break as I expected against the Orks, so I misplaced their artillery and armour battalions by my orders to broke their support. I also ordered those Balharethi scum to aid them and defend the flanks. They fled like roaches not even worthy to die properly.
However to my amazement Naphtali held the Red River, losing almost half their numbers but inflicting more casualties to the Orks then we ever imagined they could do. They still hold the line against everything I have done to root them out.
"You monster." said Ioras his fist clenching.
Julius realised that even Horatus was about to launch at the Alpha Sergeant. He felt the radiating hate towards the Orson from both the Spears and the Lions.
"It was just orders, I did what I was ordered to." said Orson still dazed, he probably wasn't even aware that he was telling his secrets to the Spears.
Ioras walked across to room to calm his nerves.
"How did the Orks manage to get to other planets?"
"We gave them ships." Orson confessed.
"What?" shouted Ioras.
"Once we lost the hive cluster Patriarch Echnisia himself tried to make a deal with the Ork Warboss. He promised to give them ships if they left the hive alone.
Ork Warboss, called Skargor took the ships and left us alone for a while."
"You said that you held the hive against the Orks." cut in Ioras.
"That was after they double-crossed us. However our plan did work." said Orson.
"How so?"
"We had the ships pre-plan their destination and burn the trajectory onto the cogitators with no possible way to alter it. The ships were destined to reach Idagenia, Woraktum, Altacra, Korbos and others."
"How did this work to your advantage?" asked Ioras.
"It both decreased the number of greenskins and made the rest of the system a target, if only Echtesia were to be attacked with no other planets involved the peering eyes of the Inquisition would start to ask questions as to how the Orks manage to manifest in the middle of a system that was deemed a low-risk for an Ork invasion."
"My brothers-they died because you sent the Orks there?" screamed Julius and launched forward.
Achagon made a grab for him but he knocked the Space Marine aside. Achagon landed on his back.
Ioras turned and stood between him and the Alpha Sergeant. Julius roared as he sprinted towards his target, his vision red with rage. He did not see where he was or what he was doing, he only ran towards the source of his rage. His guilt bled off him like a wound fuelling his anger.
"Julius, stop!" shouted Ioras in a commanding voice but Julius kept coming. They were almost chest to chest. Ioras greeted the charging marine full front and clenched a fist. He punched Julius right at the neck where his windpipe was. If he meant to kill, Julius' windpipe would be ripped apart but he wanted to stop him instead. Julius grabbed his neck not being able to breath for a second. He fell on his knees and held onto his neck.
He felt anger, guilt, hate, sorrow. He wanted to mourn his brothers in battle, maybe even join them but all this journey gave him was more guilt and more sorrow to deal with. He did not care about his breath, his eyes filled with tears but he held them back. He would not let anyone think that he was crying. He was an Astartes. His neck burned with pain and his eyes filled with an ache as he fought back against the tears that try to overflow them.
He saw Achagon came behind him. Achagon grabbed him by the shoulder-pads and help him on his feet.
"I-I-sorry." managed to gasp Julius still trying to breath.
"Keep it, you're always out of control." said Ioras disappointed.
Julius could not say anything else, he turned feeling shame towards his actions. He caught a glimpse of Renon, he was looking at him, he expected hate or contempt in those eyes but instead he saw empathy and realised that his actions partly conveyed their reaction to this whole revelation as well.
In that moment he realised that these secrets not only killed his brothers but Lion Warriors as well. They both lost brothers to the same lies and deceits.
He felt that there were greater things than him, his own feeling towards his own loss had blinded him. In his sorrow he thought that there was only himself in the whole wide galaxy. But instead there was pain and sorrow everywhere. He needed to be greater than just a corpse to be a martyr.
Ioras turned back at Orson. "So you hid the source of the Ork infestation by throwing other planets to fire." he stated.
"Yes, we did and it worked, Imperial forces are fighting back, we are winning." said Orson.
"Idagenia is fallen, we-lost brothers there." said Ioras his voice both blaming and grim.
"It did not, I-I-I did not-know." said Orson confused as if the knowledge in his brain and the one given to him did not match properly.
"You falsified our communications and sent us there, to die perhaps?" asked Ioras calmly.
"I don't know anything about that, but you were not to come on Echtesia, you were to stay away."
"He lies." said Horatus marching a step towards him.
"No, I increased the serum, he can't lie even if he wanted to." said Ioras.
"Do you know of the falsified communications we received." asked Ioras to Renon.
"No, I did not and neither my brothers. What is this communications you speak of?" he asked.
"We thought we received a message from our Chapter Master and fought on Idagenia but later we uncovered that the message itself was falsified by unknown parties. Our destination was Echtesia all along and your Chapter bled us for your secrets." Ioras said.
"You don't even know who falsified it, yet you accuse us of such." replied Renon.
"After everything you've heard from your Sergeant, are you still naive enough to think that your Chapter was crystal with us?" asked Ioras half-accusing.
Renon stayed silent.
Ioras turned towards Orson. "So the Ork Warboss still on this planet?"
"We don't know, but after they took the ships they started attacking again, we pushed them back. Once we defeated them they stayed low for a while probably waiting for reinforcements that was coming through the warp-rift, luckily for us Naphtali and others also had reached the system and aided us in the effort. But once the Orks grew in number again they charged once more. Naphtali manage to hold the Red River but the rest of the defensive line broke down as I have told you before."
"We fought Orks inside the hive cluster." said Ioras mostly to himself as if trying to solve a puzzle.
"They flanked us, so we put more guardsmen between us and them." said Orson.
"The trenches outside, you used the guardsmen to shield yourselves." said Julius.
"We did, but they somehow manage to find a way to our flank and kill our brothers on the outside."
Squad Extus stayed silent on the whole matter knowing what they caused and did not wanted to inform the Lions of their participation in their brother's deaths.
Ioras changed the subject. "I need to contact to your lord."
"You will not reach Captain through this bunker, this is just a forward combat station nothing more." Orson said.
"So how do you get your orders?" Achagon asked observantly.
"Hive comm-lines go underground, we manage to create a link with the hive." Orson said.
"Get on those consoles and get me someone in charge." ordered Ioras and the squad moved around some of them covering the prisoners while others man the comm-consoles.
"Lord?" said Iulius.
"Yes?"
"We have an incoming contact." informed Iulius.
"Patch it through." said Ioras.
The main pict-screen lit up.