Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax of the Ordo Hereticus, also known as the Witch Hunters, fires a blessed silver stake from her Condemnor Bolter into the chest of another Chaos-tainted psyker sending the wretch back to her damned masters. She twists and cuts down another screaming heretic with her Power Sword Tyrantslayer. She sends a hail of explosive rounds into the three heretics charging from her left. She fights at the side of her Tempestus Scions bodyguards drawn from the 55th Kappic Eagles and two companies of the 24th Cadian, who are one of the many Cadian Regiments left homeless after the Fall of Cadia and Ultramarines of the 7th Company. They fight to protect the eastern sector of Macragge City, which, like the Fortress of Hera, is also under siege by the Black Legion. It is an obvious ploy to pull defenders from the fortress, but it can't be ignored.
Katarinya is a legendary Witch Hunter who has only recently returned to serve the Imperium after centuries of being held prisoner by Necron Lord Trazyn the Infinite. Using some damnable Xeno tech-sorcery, he was able to keep her and her bodyguards in perfect stasis for centuries. He released them during Cadia's final hours to help fend off the forces of the Despoiler. He did not recapture them after this, but he did infect them with something that would not allow them to turn on him. She joined the evacuation of Cadia, making sure to stay close to the so-called Living Saint, Celestine, whom she was sure was a trick of the Warp but, after fighting beside her many times over the last few months, isn't so sure. She doesn't fully trust her still, but her suspicions have lessened.
Her section has a moment of breathing room and takes time to look around the market square where they have set up their defense. Her group is holding the left flank while Captain Dematreon Vosothon and the majority of the 7th Company hold the center, and four companies of the Ultramaran Planetary Defense Force hold the right flank. They have managed to hold this line for hours, allowing thousands of civilians to seek safety behind their lines, many of whom have taken up arms to join in the fight.
She watches as Captain Vosothon engages a Heretic Astartes in single combat. The dual is short-lived as the Ultramarine smashes the heretic's chest in with his Power Fist before blowing his head off with a point-blank bolt round. Another comes at him armed with twin lightning claws. Only to be gunned down by the 7th Company Dreadnaught. An explosion to her right makes her spin around in time to see a group of Cadians fleeing from a building just seconds before the front of it explodes out. A black, rune-etched, corpse-covered Baneblade rolls from the smoke and destruction, swiveling its main gun. The cannon roars, and the massive shell flies over the heads of warriors on the left flank to slam directly into the front of the Dreadnaught. The shell explodes, covering the mighty Space Marine war engine, five of his surrounding brothers, and several heretics with hateful green Warp fire.
"Throne damns it, no," yells Katarinya as she watches helplessly as the Dreadnaught and rhe Space Marines fall screaming. She rounds on the Baneblade, "Kill that damned thing! In the name of the Emperor, kill it now!"
The Ultramarines in her formation are already firing on it. A group of Cadians with heavy weapons join in. An Ultramarine armed with a Plasma Cannon delivers the kill shot. He blasts through the side of the tank and incinerates the tank crew. Just to be sure, two other Space Marines toss in grenades. The tank is dead, but the damage was done. Katarinya looks back and sees that the Dreadnaught stands like a burning statue over the bodies of his fallen brothers, which include Captain Vosothon. She knows that those damned flames ignore armor, preferring flesh, bone, and souls.
She is about to rush forward when three more Baneblades smash their way into the square. One of them has its cannon aimed directly at her flank. Without time to think or give an order, Inquisitor Greyfax calls upon as much psychic power as she can and channels it all into the most powerful pay shield she can muster, putting it over as many of her warriors as she can. All three Baneblades fire their hellish shells. But none of them ever hit. Green energy lances down from the sky. The three shells are hit midflight, and they simply disappear. They don't explode, just disappear.
The defenders all look up to see a hundred figures in sleek armor, the blue of the Ultramarines, coming down for a landing, firing the green energy from weapons that look like Bolters. They even have the Ultramarine crests on their compact shoulder armor. None of them wear jetpacks. The air just seems to shimmer around them as they float down. They are unleashing a barrage of green energy into the ranks of the traitors who baseline human, abhuman horror or Traitor Space Marine are blown into shining white dust that disappears seconds later. The tanks take several hits, each one of them blowing man-sized portions of it into white dust until little to nothing is left above the tracks. The new Ultramarines land in front of the loyalist line and proceed to clear the square with an efficiency that none of them, not even the Space Marines, have witnessed. Some of the traitors have a chance to fire back, but the solid, laser, and plasma rounds just bounce off shimmering shields, and not one of the new Ultramarines takes one step back. They march forward in a perfect line, gunning down heretics. A screaming heretic Dreadnaught charged in with its massive guns, roaring. These rounds manage to push those they hit back a few steps, but none go down. They shift fire onto the traitor engine, and it is blown from existence just like the rest.
When the last traitor has been blown away or managed to flee, and the square is cleared, the new Ultramarines turn as one to walk toward those they just saved. Inquisitor Greyfax's eyes go wild as she sees that in the place of the Holy Imperial Aquila, each of them wears a golden infinity symbol upon their chests. Before she can say anything, a roaring cheer goes up from every throat other than hers, her bodyguards, and a few of the real Ultramarines. Because there is no way that these things, whatever they are, can be Ultramarines. She begins to shove her way through the press of bodies to reach the front. With the help of a few clubbing blows from her bodyguards, she makes it. She leaps the barricades and marches out to meet the false Ultramarines stopping before one and raises her Condemnor Bolter, aiming it at its smooth gold lensed helm. The thing does not stop. Seeing this, the cheering from the soldiers dies down. Her bodyguards appear at her side, raising their weapons.
"Halt in the name of the Emperor's Holy Inquisition!"
They still do not stop. She pulls the trigger, and the bolt flies, hitting the fake in the head, where it explodes harmlessly against the same shimmering field. Still, it does not stop or even turn its gun on her. She keeps firing, and her bodyguards join in. They empty their guns into the things, but all they get are shimmers. Greyfax ignites Tyrantslayer and attempts to run the fake through the chest. The sword bounces off, and she is thrown back into her ass. The one she stabbed simply steps over her shocked form. They walk past her and her guard like they are not even there.
Greyfax can only watch in shock as they leap the barricades and start moving to the Ultramarines. To her horror, she realizes that none of them move a muscle as the False Ultramarines approach them. They are as still as statues, like…their armor is locked. The False Ultramarines proceed to unlock, remove, and drop each of the Ultramarines' helms. They then place a finger under their noses, and the Ultramarines suddenly become covered in green energy that almost looks like Warp fire, but even from where she is, Inquisitor Greyfax can feel the power of it. It is the purest thing she has ever felt in her life. Purer than anything, she had ever imagined possible outside of the touch of the God-Emperor, and this may be the most blasphemous thought that has ever crossed her mind. It is purer than that.
She watches as shocked and mesmerized as anyone else there as the light fades from the Ultramarines, and each of them stands there now wearing the same sleek Ultramarine blue armor as those she believed to be false. Each chest plate is now stamped with the golden lemniscate. She is so mesmerized that she does not even notice that one of the beings has approached her until he speaks
"Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax," says the Ultramarine who stands above her with his helm removed, "My name is Curio Ticodus, of the Unshackled. I serve the First and protect the people of the New Imperium. I hereby inform you that the Inquisition, High Lords, and all the Adeptus institutions of Terra and Mars have been disbanded. The Ecclesiarchy and all who serve within it have been outlawed and sentenced to be unmade. Faith in the Emperor or any other god is hereby outlawed. You and your kind are welcome to be loyal citizens of the New Imperium and entitled to all the benefits thereof, but you are stripped of all the rank and power you once had. If you decide to cause trouble, then you will be named a criminal, found and unmade. Further information and instructions will be given soon. Welcome to the New Imperium, Katarinya Greyfax."
She can only sit on the ground and watch in shock as Curio Ticodus and the hundred original Unshackled Ultramarines take to the sky again, leaving their newly turned brothers there among the defenders. She watches as they proceed to move around the square, firing their strange Bolters into the forms of the dead, unmaking them. They do the same to the burning Dreadnaught and their fallen brothers in complete silence. Katarinya Greyfax is no longer an Inquisitor, and the rest of the former soldiers there can only watch as the warriors of the New Imperium cleanse the square. They tend to the wounded with technology so miraculous it seems like magic. Growing back limps and healing mortal wounds without even leaving a scar. When asked, spread the Truth of the First, the Father of the Emperor and Creator of Mankind.
Katarinya can only watch as everything she knows is torn down before her eyes, but the memory of how that energy felt. The touch of the First. Keeps her from eating her gun because she knows that something greater will replace her beloved Imperium. Something that does not need Inquisitors.