Rebirth & Redemption Ch 4
They spent the next several days listening to the tails of the gallant commissar and his faithful aide.
Fulgrim had to admit that he wasn't very impressed at first. He'd been smarting from the 'chicken' comment, and he didn't see how the exploits of a self-admitted coward who attempted to abandon his comrades to die on his first assignment could teach him anything. However, as time went on, Fulgrim began to see elements that didn't conform to his per-conception. Ciaphas Cain very clearly wanted nothing more than to live out his life in peace, and yet when something incredibly dangerous absolutely had to be done, He was always the one to do it.
Fulgrim had operated primarily with Astartes, and so it took him a while to notice Cain's next most important quality. Cain was most certainly not fearless. His fear was frequently front and center in his dialog. However, for all his talk of panicking, he never actually did panic. He never allowed his fear to affect his decisions, and even when facing entities that over-match him in nearly every way, such as Genestealer Patriarchs, Hive Tyrants, Drukari cult leaders, a Necron Overlord, and even that Demon Princess of Slaanesh; Emili.
Fulgrim had met Emili. She was young among the ranks of the Princes of the Neverborne, but in her short years she'd become a rising star with the favor of the Prince of Pleasure. She was neither weak, nor incompetent.
When facing these kinds of enemies, Space Marines were likely to die without a chance, and even veterans would have to devote everything they had just to surviving second to second, yet this mortal human with no augmentation whatsoever, though he stated that it took all he had just to survive, was constantly looking around and ahead, searching for any opportunities to shift circumstances in his favor, and often worked to maintain his companions' moral at the same time.
If Fulgrim had been looking at the record of one of his Astartes during the Great Crusade, that marine would have been placed on a fast track to officer rank, and likely would have received some personal lessons from himself or one of his elite companions.
In addition, there was something else that he kept hearing about that had caught his attention.
"What is Abbadon's 13th Black Crusade? I've only heard of the 1st through the 11th."
"Oh!" responded Andrew, and then his expression became thoughtful. "I guess that must mean that it is most likely still M41, right? Abbadon's 13th Black Crusade starts in 999 M41. During the Crusade, it's revealed that all 13 of the Crusades have been working toward a continuing plan. Abbadon has been targeting Necron structures called Pylons which surround and contain the Eye of Terror."
Fulgrim's eyes widened with dawning comprehension and horror, and Andrew continued.
"The Chaos forces spread out and attacked a lot of places, but the majority of his forces focused on the Cadia system. Lucius was there, and Ahriman and Erebus and Typhos. So was Sevastus Kranon and Ygethmor and Devram. Oh, and Kossolax, Zagthean, and Urkanthos were there. Plus, the Dark Mechanicus brought six traitor Titan Legions. Almost every major Chaos force was there, though I never read anything confirming the other you or any of your brothers showing up."
Fulgrim eyes and mouth tightened at the mention of Lucius, but whether with anger or with grief, Andrew was unable to tell. But at the mention of his Chaos corrupted alternate his eyes went colder than a necron's heart on a rogue planet light years from the nearest star.
"The Imperial forces included four Titan Legions, five of the Sororitas' Orders Militant, the Centurio Ordinatus, vast numbers of the Imperial Guard, Knights, Assassins, and contingents from twenty eight Astartes chapters, including the Space Wolves, the Iron Fists, the Back Templars, the Dark Angels, the Blood Angels, the Ultramarines, and the White Scars.
Chaos forces made an incursion on the decks of the Phalanx in Terra's orbit, which led eventually to the Phalanx, with about half of the Imperial Fists, and Celestine to showing up as reinforcements to Cadia.
The defense was led by Ursarkar Creed of the Cadian Imperial Guard. I'd like to say that's because everyone recognized his genius, but I suspect a major part was that no-one could agree on anyone else, and there were too many feuds that needed to be put aside for another to gain general acceptance.
Belisarius Cawl, a Mechanicus Archmagos Dominus who somehow has been around since the days of the Horus Heresy, also showed up with reinforcements. He's the one that had deduced Abbaddon's plan, and he worked on trying to figure out how to get the Cadian Pylons activated. The Chaos forces basically overran a bunch of the fortresses different Imperial forces were using as headquarters, so at Cawl's suggesting those forces fell back to set up defenses at the Pylon fields. He wasn't able to get them working on his own, but then Trazyn showed up."
"Trazyn!" Fulgrim's voice was angry, but also filled with anticipation.
"Yes." Andrew nodded at him. "He loosed a bunch of Imperial forces he'd captured over the years to fight the chaos forces, including Inquisitor Greyfax, some Astartes from the Heresy era, and even a Custodian, while he explained to Cawl how to get the Pylons activated. He didn't bring you, though."
Now Fulgrim's face was filled with nothing but frustration.
"Cawl got the Pylons activated, and it pushed back the Eye of Terror and banished the demons in Abbaddon's forces, but Abbaddon retreated to orbit, and then ordered that the Blackstone Fortress he'd used early in the battle, and which the Phalanx had taken out, be crashed into the Pylon Fields."
This conversation had been a roller coaster for Fulgrim. His heart was in his throat, and he'd never resented the device keeping him immobile, but it wasn't done yet.
"That, of course, destroyed the Pylons, and freed the Eye of Terror to expand, but it also cracked Cadia. The Eye of Terror transformed into what's called the Cicatrix Maledictum, otherwise known as the Great Rift, a long jagged line connecting the Eye of Terror, as well as a number of other Warp Storms into a long Warp Rift that cuts the galaxy almost completely in two. The Terran side will be called Imperium Sanctus, where the Astronomicon can still be seen, although it's become a whole lot more difficult. The other side will come to be known as Imperium Nihilus, where the light of the Astronomicon is completely blocked, with all the negative consequences that naturally leads to.
Creed and the regiment he'd commanded before promotion volunteered to hold defensive positions to keep the Chaos forces at bay long enough for whatever loyalist Imperial forces possible to evacuate. They didn't all die, though, since Trazyn captured them at the last minute the same way he did you."
The knowledge that such brave and loyal souls had been spared the torture of Ruinous Powers was a relief, but the thought of them trapped as he was was a fresh frustration.
"At this point, Cawl, Celestine, and Greyfax basically led the largest group of survivors. Celestine informed Cawl that she knew of the projects he'd been working for on Guilliman's behalf, and that now was the time to deliver them."
Fulgrim's head quivered, as if he'd instinctively tried to snap it up, but was foiled.
"What is this Belisarius Cawl working on for my brother?!" Fulgrim demanded with the full authority of his birth, and Andrew instinctively obeyed.
"I was going to wait for later in the narrative, but Cawl has two main projects he's been working on all this time. One he's working on at Guilliman's direct command and endorsement. The other... well I don't know how Guilliman could have known he'd need it ahead of time, but Cawl claimed he had, and it's definitely intended to fulfill the Lord of Ultramar's needs.
The first a whole new iteration of Astartes called the Primaris. Guilliman entrusted Cawl with something called the Sangprimus Portum, and..."
"I know of it," Fulgrim stated, "It was one of the tools the Emperor made available to me to help rebuild my legion when I was reunited with him and with them."
"Yeah," nodded Andrew, "that makes sense. Anyway, Cawl has been studying it, and he came up with improvements on the Astartes program, supposedly based on Primarch genetics. Lots of people have questioned if it's really possible to 'improve' on the work of the Emperor, but the Primaris are taller, stronger, and more resilient. It's possible they also have some kind of hidden flaw that hasn't been revealed yet, but most people don't know or don't remember that the Emperor delegated a whole lot of the work on the Astartes project to subordinate scientists.
Anyway, once he got the process figured out, he's been creating these Primaris Marines and storing them in stasis all these years. I don't think an actual number was ever given, but they were enough for half of them to make up nine 'legion sized' shield hosts, with the other half being split into new chapters, so I'd guess at least two million and probably a lot more."
Andrew could feel Fulgrim's excitement at the thought of what the Imperium could do with over a million additional Astartes, but Andrew wasn't done.
"Of course, new, larger marines required new, larger gear. Cawl has also been designing, building, and stockpiling said gear. The weapons, armor, and vehicles are seen as improvements over the Astartes standard issue, if not approaching the level of some of the pre-Crusade gear the original legions fielded. Cawl also invented something called the Primaris Rubicon. It's supposed to be incredibly painful, and with a worryingly high mortality rate, but it converts an existing 'Firstborn Astartes' into a Primaris Marine."
Andrew smiled, and continued.
"Now I can see you are excited by the possibilities that the Primaris represents, but honestly I'm positive Cawl's second project is the one that will matter most to you.
All the Primaris stuff is designed to be mass manufactured in immense quantities, but the second project is different. It is a single suit of armor, crafted to almost Archaeotech standards. The idea is, that if Gulliman's stasis chamber were deactivated, and his body placed in this armor fast enough, it might be able to heal him from the damage and the poison from his battle with you."
"My brother..." Fulgrim's voice was choked with emotion, as something he had never even considered as a possibility was revealed to him, "might be restored? Are you saying there is a chance he could be healed?!"
"Yes, and that's where the next stage in the story comes in."
"My second greatest regret and shame, restored." Fulgrim was again crying, but his smile of joy and wonder was greater than any Andrew had ever seen.
"So the Imperial forces were attempting to retreat, but both the Chaos forces and the expanding Eye of Terror made that virtually impossible. They ended up heading to Klaisus, one of the moons in the Cadia system, in order to hijack an Eldari Webway Gate.
When they got there, they encountered Yvraine and her new splinter faction of Eldari, the Ynari. Yvraine said that Cawl's suit of armor wouldn't be enough by itself to save Guilliman, but that combining it with her unique Ynari psychic powers would succeed. She opened the gate, and the Ynari and the Imperials, who had taken to calling themselves the Celestinian Crusade, made it through to the Ultramar system.
They found the Ultramar system under seige by Chaos. Most of the Celestinians joined in the defense, while the leaders were brought to Mccragge to meat Marneus Calgar. Calgar was not willing to risk them deactivating Guilliman's stasis, putting him in some unknown tech, and letting an Eldari psyker use her powers on him," he saw Fulgrim fulminating and quickly continued, "but he ended up not having a choice. The Chaos forces staged an all-out assault on the temple they had Guilliman in. The Celestinian leadership and their bodyguards joined in the defense, but Yvraine and Cawl used the distraction to revive Guilliman.
Guilliman, back on his feet, and able to lead once more, very quickly defeated not just the chaos attack on Maccragge, but also the entire invasion of the Ultramar system. As you would entirely expect he's extremely unhappy with the state the Imperium has degraded into. He gathered any forces in range that would heed his call, and set off on what he called the Terran Crusade to reach Terra, and to bring Cawl to Mars where the Primaris were stored. It didn't go especially well for them, with Magnus and the Thousand Sons harassing and eventually capturing them. They escaped with the aid of a mysterious renegade Dark Angel named Cypher, and though there's a lot more to say they made it to Terra. Guilliman went into the Inner Sanctum of the Imperial Palace, while the survivors of the Terran Crusade joined in defending Terra from Abbadon's forces. Guilliman has been suffering through extreme depression, and he emerged from the Emperor's presence disillusioned with your father, and even more depressed, but with his unshakable determination to do his duty."