As the Cadians and Gallians began their assault in full against Target Primaris, the squadron of the Sororitas had taken to their mission of assaulting Target Secundus. A pillar rose from a pit in the ground, a blackened, ugly thing, guarded by the Heretics of the False Eastern Empire and their poorly-armored machines. The Canoness readied her blade and pistol, staring at them with eyes filled with contempt. Her sisters had finished their prayers behind her, so she understood upon the racking of bolts and rounds being fed.
The only Seraphim the had brought with them through their perilous travel approached her side, taking a knee and saying, "On your orders, my lady." before handing the Canoness a pair of binoculars. The woman looked through them, focusing on the dig site. Young men and women, chained together, worked to dig, descending into the pit below. Dark-blue hair and eyes stared with fear at their captors. They were all skin and bone, forced to work for days on end, clearly.
Disgusting... Disgusting heretics, those that would do that to their fellow man.
She heard footsteps behind her, turning to see their reinforcements. A few Gallians from the Second and Seventh Platoons had come with. Behind them, two squads of Cadians, among which the girl the had first met. Lieutenant Maaran, she recalled. Finally, the Regiment's Sanctioned Psyker followed with her own unconventional squad. The Psyker approached the Canoness, bowed respectfully, then said "We are at your will, Canoness. The Emperor protects."
"Welcome, psion. The Emperor protects." The woman remarked, a slight hint of distrust in the one beside her. Psykers were not her favorite creatures in the Imperium, but they had their uses. She pointed toward the digging area, then said "You and the Gallians will secure the Darcsen prisoners while I and my sisters break the enemy's forces. None of the enemy's men will walk out of this desert alive."
"Understood." Monyka bowed, then returned to her squad.
The eldest Sister looked forward, murmuring a prayer. She thumbed the activation Rune of her Power Sword, then said "Children of the Emperor! Show these dogs what the Pure bring to bear! Break them! LEAVE NONE ALIVE!"
She looked to the Seraphim, then gave a nod. Two jet-engines thundered, kicking up dust behind the woman armed with naught but a bolt pistol and a chainsword. She ran, then jumped, boosting her engines to maximum. The Canoness cried a proud battle cry, before she and the rest of her unit began their assault. The first bolt shot fired came from the pistol of the Seraphim, her weapon blasting an Eastern Imperial in twain as she was about to land.
Her jet-pack's engines powered, flames washing over the others she landed on. Under her boots, she crushed a skull and a chest, painting the sand below her scarlet before she brought to bear her Chainsword. The weapon's engine sputtered and roared with her as she slashed down an Imperial, vivisecting him. The follow-up shots came from her allies as they closed the distance. Before the East Imps even managed to register the attack, a dozen of their brethren had already been slaughtered. The Canoness danced with her blade, a scythe in a field of briar, as her sisters closed the gap.
The sweet scent of Promethium now permeated the air as the two sisters wielding holy flamers opened up on an enemy machine gun nest. Tongues of fire washed over the sands, boiling it into jagged glass as the Sisters entered melee. Blade and boltgun sang, plasma wailed and enemy auto-weaponry whimpered a meager counter-attack. The sands turned a burning scarlet under the slaughter.
A bolt of lightning came down as if from the heavens and an Eastern Imperial tank that had sputtered to life was gutted, the crew inside shocked to death. The Canoness looked to their right flank, to see their comrades surging forth and the Psyker smirking, her attenuators still sizzling with energy. She gave a nod to the woman, before calling out "NO MERCY! UNBELIEVERS! MUST! DIE!" as she surged into a clustered squad of Imps, her blade singing their demise.
Yuri had just killed another man with her own blade as she watched the Sisters work. Like a wave of steel and faith, they swept aside the enemy's defenses. Some caught bullets and were wounded, but they did not halt. Their weapons broke armor, flesh and the will of the enemy. Like angels from the tales of yore, the young women fought. Even the Valkyria would fear such dangerous fighting machine.
She smiled, then felt a fist bump into her shoulder. She looked to see Nat, the girl holding ready her las-carbine. Its barrel was glowing red and Nat had already expended two batteries, it seemed. The girl smirked, then said "C'mon, dreamy girl. We got your people to liberate."
"Right." She nodded, reading her blade and pistol as they advanced toward the central part of the dig site. The dig itself. Nat, Yuri and Saoirse advanced together, but with spacing between them to ensure no fragmentation grenade caught them by surprise. Yuri pushed through, taking rounds in the armor she had so passionately built. Bullets sparked off the angled steel and the Flak vest underneath, breaking apart on impact or deflecting into the sand. She answered the guns with her own.
Nat, meanwhile, swept the area ahead with her Lascarbine, firing again and again as they pushed past the mangled bodies of the enemy. Saoirse, meanwhile, let her Hellgun wail and wail, only stopping to throw the standard frag grenade into an enemy position. Upon spotting an East-Imp tank, she shouldered her weapon and squeezed. Hellfire washed over the tank, puncturing its armor and finally striking ammo. The vehicle cooked off, geysers of fire bursting open the hatches and cooking the crew inside.
As the enemy's forces were finally grinded down to nothingness, the Sisters and the others met near the dig site. Medicae and the Hospitalier that had come with the Sisters went to check upon the enslaved Darcsen, tending to them, giving them food and water and, with the help of a Cadian soldier, removing their restraints. The Canoness eyed the massive black pillar. It descended deep into the underground, deep into the dug-out hole whose walls were reinforced by wooden scaffolding and makeshift barricades to keep the sand from collapsing onto them.
She bit her lower lip, then said "Psyker." to Monyka. The girl nodded and the Canoness said "I wish to take your team with us down there. I and two of my sisters will go look upon what these poor people have been forced to dig out."
"Very well." Monyka bowed, "Nat, Sao, Yuri, c'mon." She waved her friends forward, all of whom joined up.
"Uhm..." Yuri started shyly, "Canoness?"
"Yes, child?" She raised a brow, looking at the young Darcsen.
Yuri swallowed, then said "May I ask my people what this is? Perhaps one of them heard what the False Imperials were so interested in it for."
The Canoness hummed, then said "Very well. Ask away and report to me once you are done." and approached one of the scaffolds. She gazed down into the abyss that descended hundreds of feet below the surface, murmuring to herself a prayer. She felt a chill shoot up her spine as a faint emerald light peered up at them for but one second, then vanished.
The groups watched as the joint forces of Gallia, Cadia and the Tallarn broke through the lines. They watched as the Regiment afar made their way through the second line, scouring the Severan and their Imperial allies, burning them alive. Hellguns, lascannons, lasguns and autocannons, autoguns and other weaponry of their allies tore the enemy asunder.
Then, all was silent. The armies made their camps, the Darcsen had been healed as best as they could and now, the Canoness and her unit descended into the pit below. What slightly surprised the woman was that the constructs of hard wood held up power-armored women like them. Still, they groaned and crackled under their weight. Leading the team was a younger sister, mounting a flashlight on her helmet as they descended.
The Canoness motioned to Yuri to come to her side and the Darcsen complied. She then asked, "What have your people told you?"
"Not much... Some of them say they've heard the officers here speak of this place as if it was some sort of tomb. Others say that the leader of this Invasion himself demanded that they dig up this pylon. A lot of weird things were said and not all of it made sense... The things that did make sense, though, were when some of them mentioned they lost friends down here."
"Oh?" The Canoness raised a brow.
"Well..." Yuri shrugged, "Cave-ins and such happen... Especially with ground as uneven and unstable as sand. Some say they heard noises, but I think that's just the wind."
The woman gave Yuri a half-smile, thinking to herself that Yuri clearly was still young. Still, disappearances as far underground were really not uncommon. The team descended the platforms, moving around the massive black pillar. Every once in a while, the leading Sister would scan the pillar itself with the flashlight, noticing faint runes covered by sand.
Finally reaching the lowest point of the pit and the base of the pillar, the group looked up. It'd taken an hour to descend into this place and the very top of the pit was high above, a faint glimmer of blue sky and the rays of the sun barely coming down, giving a clean view of the clouds of sand down here. The Canoness tapped her communication bead, hearing naught but static and whirring, then said "Our Vox-casters cannot be used down here..."
"This deep underground..." Nat remarked, sliding a flashlight attachment onto her lascarbine and powering it on. The team walked around the massive base of the pillar, noticing faint runes that shined a faint, eerie emerald. Yuri approached the pillar, feeling the ground slightly shake and shudder below their feet. She hummed, then looked back at the pillar and reached for it.
"Hey!" Saoirse called out and everyone looked in her direction. The girl smirked, then pointed toward a strange, rectangular tunnel that had just barely been dug out. Layers of sand, dust and cobwebs caked the surface, hiding runes, if any were even there to be hidden, behind it. The Canoness gave one hand signal and her two sisters moved forth, then she nodded approvingly to Sao.
The team formed up again, entering the tunnel under the lead of the sisters. It was wide enough for three people to pass through at once, so that meant Nat had also found herself with the sisters. The walls were a deep, oppressive color of black, lacking even the minor runes that they saw on the pillar. It was like the Void waiting to swallow them. They couldn't differentiate the darkness ahead from the walls themselves and their lights barely penetrated the emptiness.
"I do not like this..." Remarked the Sister to Nat's right, her helmet's Night Vision filter kicking in, "My lady. A turn to the left, dead ahead."
"Keep the pace, Alya." The Canoness remarked, gripping her plasma pistol and sword, "I dislike it as much as you do, but we must find what the East Imperials had wanted from this place. Emperor preserve us..."
Nat jumped and yelped, raising her weapon and looking down the sights. The sisters followed, aiming where she had aimed, before Saoirse asked, "Y'alright, Nat?" And getting a quick nod from the girl. Whatever she had seen... The Canoness sighed. The team moved forth, only the oppressive darkness and the groaning of the walls and sand around them to keep them company.
Within the Valkyrian temple, the Colonel, Lieutenant Gunther and Sergeant Melchiott proceeded forward, followed inside only by Lieutenant Landzaat as per his own request. A few Cadian soldiers had also entered and were mostly securing the outer chambers under the order of the Commissar and the other Majors. They had, so far, been the only ones to dive deep into the place, however.
The Colonel held a flashlight in one hand, scanning the walls. The old language and alphabet here hurt his head. He sat himself down on a step that led further up into the temple, then said to Welkin, "This place disagrees with me... And I with it." and looked to see Faldio jotting down notes, presumably of the scriptures. Welkin hummed, then nodded. Their voices echoed in the hollow place.
"I agree." The Gallian Lieutenant answered, "Though I guess we don't like it for separate reasons...?"
"I walk into a temple built by and dedicated to the false religion that caused so much pain for your sister and the Darcsen..." Remarked Matt, setting his flashlight aside, "I think my dislike for it is worthy of note just for the religious aspect. I'd rather burn it to the ground if it was after me."
Welkin chuckled, "Don't let the Gassenarls hear you say that."
"If the major was not as stuck-up as your standard Regular officer..." The Colonel shrugged, "Perhaps I'd try to hold my tongue in regards to her idiotic religion."
Faldio looked to Matt, then said "Gotta take some notes from you some time. Your religion sounds just as interesting, to be honest."
"My thanks, Lieutenant Landzaat, but... At least my faith is placed on the tangible." Matt answered, standing up and approaching the man as Alicia and Welkin sat opposite them. He looked over the symbols staining the blue walls, running his hand over the cold material and wiping away centuries, or perhaps millennia of sand and grime. His gloves ran over a deepened engraving and he hummed. Raising his flashlight and pointing it onto the symbol, he wondered to himself what he'd found.
A small, central ring from which multiple straight lines protruded. At the top, like a hat, a semi-circle sat pointed upward. Two short prongs jutted out on each side of the circle, marking a total of four smaller lines, two sat at 3 and 9 o'clock and two sat at five and seven o'clock. Finalizing the symbol, a final prong jutted downward, twice the length of the diagonal lines and sat at 6 o'clock.
"... An Ankh..." The Colonel murmured, feeling his heart sink, but for reasons he did not know. He looked to Faldio and asked "Do other sites like this have this symbol?"
"It's mentioned a few times in old Valkyrian texts... Though I never understood what it means. It's been baffling local archaeologists for centuries." The Lieutenant remarked, "Why, do you know it?"
"I think..." the young man hesitated, "I think I do... I just cannot recall from where."
Too much had occurred these past months for him to even think of anything like this. His thoughts of home and of the Imperium were muddled by the days and weeks of combat here on this world he knew not the name of, in the country of Gallia. He knew, however, that symbol. He had seen it before, taught to him in the Scholas and reminded to him during his tours of duty. Yet, the owners of this Ankh, this strange symbol, eluded his memories for now.
He shook his head, "I will tell if I recall anything..." And then he turned to Welkin and Alicia. He asked, "So, you and Lieutenant Gunther are friends, yes?"
"Yeah." Chuckled Faldio, "Welkin and I both went to Randgriz Uni, but we took different Majors. I went for Archaeology, as you can tell and Welkin? Well, he went for biology."
"A knack for animals, then?" Matt quipped.
"Indeed."
"A noble thing, to care for animals. I remember back during our short-lived campaign within one of our habitation areas on Cadia, that I partook in caring for an animal, a small dog, until we found its owner." The Colonel reminisced, "The poor thing was scared to death of us, until he realized we were of the same kin as his owner. Then, he welcomed us as he would welcome his master whenever he saw us."
"What happened to your home?" Faldio asked, turning to the boy.
Raising a brow, Matt remarked "I'm surprised the Lieutenant didn't tell you when you spoke... Our home, Cadia, broke... Quite literally..."
"So the rumors are real, huh?" Faldio rubbed his shoulder, "You and your Regiment are actually not from our home planet."
"Afraid not, Lieutenant." The Colonel sighed, "Afraid not."
"We do need to spend some time going over all the details, Colonel." The Lieutenant seemed rather jovial, "I bet you have a lot of stories to tell..." And he turned back to writing out the data in his journals. Matt hummed, then walked over to Alicia and Welkin, stopping only to notice how close the two seemed to have become. He hadn't paid much attention to the Sevens. Perhaps that could change when they caught a small break and the Cadians got to talk more with them.
He looked to see Colin approaching. The two saluted each-other and the Commissar stated "Most rooms are empty sans for the scriptures on the walls... Permission to rejoin the Regiment outside?"
"Granted." The Colonel nodded, "Keep your eyes open, major."
"We will, sir." Ace answered from behind Colin. After a quick nod goodbye, the soldiers departed. The Colonel turned toward the inside of the cavernous lace, crossing his arms to his chest and staring up at the vaulted ceiling. Of course, the place had multiple floors, but the main chamber had a few railing-less bridges crossing between the two other chambers up top. He could swear that, even through the darkness of the ceiling, he could make out something that was not in their spiral motif. Something awfully familiar and very, very wrong, like a skeletal shape.
Whatever it was, he did not want to know...