Chapter Ten
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"Sanguinius. It should have been him. He has the vision and the strength to carry us to victory, and the wisdom to rule once victory is won. For all his aloof coolness, he alone has the Emperor's soul in his blood. Each of us carries part of our father within us, whether it is his hunger for battle, his psychic talent or his determination to succeed. Sanguinius holds it all. It should have been his…,"
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"INCOMING! BRACE!" the shout of the pilot is barely enough for Sanguinius to register as he mag clamps just in time his feet to the ground. The Mammoth drop ship lurches like a drunken ballerina as the macro cannons of the Angels Encarmine Battle Barge explodes spewing out heavy duty shells in the void. He can hear the sudden screams of Mira from behind and the swearing of the Farseer Elindra as the shuttle does insane maneuvers without warning to avoid the weapons fire.
"What do we do my lord?" asks the pilot now panicky as he turns the shuttle like a slab of stone, with no grace whatsoever. For the record, it is a shuttle designed to carry produce and agricultural products, not a void ship made for battle.
Sanguinius takes a look again at the front window. The Angels Encarmine Battle Barge is now positioning itself to be able to continue trading fire with the Chaos warship while also be able to bear down its weapons at their smaller shuttle. For the life of him, Sanguinius has no idea why they are firing down at him. Don't these Astartes recognize what a Primarch is? Is the information that Mira has provided him about the last ten thousand years wrong? He admits that it might have been a tad bit too long since a Primarch appears, but they should be happy about his presence not firing at him.
"They're firing again, lance batteries incoming!" shouts the pilot maneuvering the ship to the right as two red lances surges past them, the heat almost felt palpable inside the shuttle as it zips past them. For the record, Sanguinius has zero plans of dying in the void. He has not coordinated and fought his way past Chaos Astartes, cultists, daemons and heretics only to be blasted in outer space by loyalist Astartes either way.
"Pilot, we continue with our original plan. Drive the shuttle straight to the Chaos Battle Barge and put all power in the thrusters. We are more safe there than here," commands Sanguinius as another blaze of lance fire scorches the size of the Mammoth Shuttle they are in sending klaxons to shout in alarm.
"Are you sure about this your holiness?" asks the pilot whose face is red from trying to drive the shuttle off the salvos of the battle barge. One of the reasons they are probably not blasted yet off space is because the weapons of the Space Marine ship is so big, designed for bigger capital ships and not small shuttles like they are.
"Though they would soon wise up to that idea, if I am not wrong," thought Sanguinius. "Yes, now hurry,"
"Yes your holiness," the pilot responds putting all power to the thrusters sending the heavy transport shuttle to sluggishly move forward through space directly to the Chaos battle barge. The other ship is too busy duking it out with the Angels Encarmine's ship to notice their approach. The pilot however has to dodge two more macro cannon fire from the battle barge before another set of alarms sound.
"Your holiness new signals on the data collector; Thunderhawks are being deployed from the Battle Barge and are hot on our tail," says the pilot making Sanguinius grimace. They've wisen up to it apparently already.
"Push on pilot and crash this ship as planned to the pre-marked areas of the Chaos warship," he orders. "We endure as we push on,"
"Holy Emperor! Yes your holiness!" the pilot is near hysterical as the first explosions sound off shaking the entire shuttle, courtesy of the Thunderhawks. Unlike the Battle Barge, they have absolutely no trouble zeroing in on the small transport shuttle.
Another explosion sounds turning off the power of the shuttle before it turns on again, though the klaxon sounds are louder and more prevalent this time. "We are taking heavy damage," whispers Sanguinius watching the size of the Chaos warship grow bigger at each second as they draw even closer.
"How many seconds?"
"Ten seconds your holiness,"
"BOOOM!" the ship shakes again as another direct hit from the Thunderhawks.
"Eight Seconds,"
The sound of metal screeching as lance batteries score powerful hits through the hull.
"Five seconds,"
A missile impacting making the teeth of Sanguinius clatter inside his own jaw.
"Three,"
"Two,"
Another explosion follows by the screams of Mira from behind.
"One! BRACE!"
The nearly torn apart shuttle crashes through the basilica of the Chaos Battle Barge, its front forward thrusters acting like a drill cutting through metal, steel, glass and wood. The weight of the shuttle is more than enough for it to punch through the thin layer of the Battle Barge basilica before it crashes into some kind of temple head-first in an explosion of circuits and destroyed steel panels inside.
Any other being, Astartes or otherwise might have been knocked off their feet and their consciousness by the sudden entrance to the other ship. Not Sanguinius. He has been through countless ship to ship assault and he knows that unless he moves fast, enemies would be swarming the landing zone like a group of angry ants. Using his unnatural strength, he punches through the bulkhead with his fists, taking a second to look at the corpse of the pilot who does not survive the landing, a jagged metal piece piercing his torso.
"May your faith guide you," whispers Sanguinius before emerging through the hole he creates with a single flap of his white wings.
He is immediately beset by bolter fire, courtesy of Chaos Astartes in green colors and red pauldrons with the symbols of Khorne on it. He dodges the bolter fire with ease before descending on them like a judgement from the heavens. The Spear of Telesto swipes cutting off the heads of the two with one movement. An angry roar at the side makes Sanguinius turn to see another running towards him with a chain-axe. With his free hand, the Teeth of Baal roars and he swipes it at the Chaos Marine's torso, he lets it stay a second or two for the teeth to bite through the Ceramite and flesh before fly kicking the half-severed corpse to a doorway where five void cultists are appearing carrying stubbers. The sudden flying appearance towards them of an Astartes catches them off guard. They barely have time to scream before the impact meets them throwing off their feet and turning them to gooey paste on the wall behind.
There is silence after that only brought about by the engines of the ship. Now alone, Sanguinius takes the time to assess his armor first. It is not Auramite after all but simply Ceramite and he needs to check it. Apart from some burns and scratches, courtesy of the bumpy ride inside, there is no damage. Now sure, he looks around. He is in some kind of worshipping area full of symbols of Khorne painted in blood. Benches made of bleached human bone are also present and a small altar of skulls is at the center. It is profane and disgusting to look at.
Sanguinius is just deciding to incinerate it with the Spear of Telesto when coughing from behind makes him look. Emerging from the broken Shuttle is Mira, dressed in only what seems to be a sleeveless shirt baring her arms and underarms, her pale skin showing. She is covered in soot and a small cut is at her cheek. She is still holding the hotshot heavy stubber at her arms.
She must have seen him staring with questioning eyes for her violet eyes harden. "My armor's been destroyed by the landing your holiness. Do not worry; I can still fight even as I am,"
"Of course you can," Sanguinius simply replies with a small smirk in agreement. Nothing it seems can dampen the fiery spirit of the Cadian captain.
"And nothing wrong about showing a bit of skin," the musical voice of the Farseer Elindra sounds off following behind Mira. Like her, she is covered in dust and soot, but has no sign of damage like the captain. Sanguinius would not admit it under the pain of death, but he is slightly glad that she survived. He doubts Mira's survival if the Eldar Farseer died during the crashing landing.
Her spear is at her hand. Her electric blue eyes bore into Sanguinius showing barely any emotion."Shall we begin the hunt son of the Anathema?" she asks which Sanguinius only nods in silent affirmation.
"Captain?"
"Yes your holiness?"
"Is the design for ships of the Imperium the same as they are ten thousand years ago?" Sanguinius asks her to which she nods with a small smirk.
"Then to the bridge we make our heading and cut off the head of the snake that is bringing sorrow to the people down below," says Sanguinius before taking one of the hallways with Mira and the Farseer in tow. The Eldar however he notices keeps level with him, her long strides making her able to keep up with him easily.
"The one we seek to destroy is not at the bridge, I have seen this. He is somewhere else," her musical voice comments as they continue to run.
"I know," Sanguinius answers simply. "My foresight has seen this also. But we will take the bridge nonetheless and disable this ship from the inside,"
"You wish to aid that ship fighting against this one," says Farseer Elindra simply making Sanguinius sigh as he nods his head in affirmation.
"Yes, are you against it Farseer?" he asks in return.
She doesn't answer immediately, but when she does, there is a sorrowful tone with it. "I am not, but I warn you son of the Anathema, you have your father's heart. Take care that its gentleness does not become the reason that destroys you as it once has,"
"I will endeavor to try to Eldar, now come. There are foes to kill and you and I are the ones who must bear the brunt of it,"
They burst through the passageway to an armory of some kind and as suspected, Chaos Marines are present alongside their cultist servants helping them in their livery. Sanguinius and the Farseer is upon them before their brains even register their presence. They obviously are preparing to search the ship for them. In this case however, the hunters become the hunted.
The Spear of Telesto blazes forward turning to ash two Chaos Marines with their cultists. A Khornish Berserker half-armored bull rushes them, shouting obscenities through his vox grill, his chain-axe raised up on high. The spear of the Eldar sails past Sanguinius spearing him through the mouth and pinning his head on the adjacent wall as she leaps into the fray, her sword flashing from her scabbard.
"For the UNITY! FOR THE EMPEROR!" booms Sanguinius, as he strides forward against his foes. He counts six of them in total in the armory. One attempts to shoot bolter fire through him which Sanguinius evades before with a swipe of his spear, he also turns to ash. The remaining five charges him with their melee weapons.
The first one to reach him wears a Thunder Fist which he sidesteps easily and with the Teeth of Baal, he cuts it through the wrist making him howl. Sanguinius finishes him quickly with the Spear through the chest. While he is busy disemboweling the first one, another tries to attack him from behind only to flinch hard as the sound of a gun firing is heard and he is pelted by dozens upon dozens of metal slugs. Captain Mira from behind has advanced, her Hellgun Auto Stubber firing non-stop. Sanguinius cuts off the head of the flinching Astartes with a swipe of the Spear, taking advantage of Mira's help. The third Chaos Astartes gets his charge cut midway as a lightning bolt hit him in the chest, courtesy of Farseer Elindra. The Fourth is wiser as he hefts a heavy bolter instead; taking the time that Sanguinius and his companions kill their fellows to pick up the weapon. With the sound of grinding gears, it fires forcing the Eldar and Sanguinius to take cover through the steel walls as the heavy duty rounds rip through cultists and dead Astartes bodies. His fellow Astartes who is also charging got torn up in his firepower, the heavy bolter rounds ripping through his ceramite. Sanguinius lets off a growl at his throat for that. The servants of Chaos simply have no honor.
Ironically it is Mira who saved the day, from her utility belt; she grabs one of her grenades from the upturned table which she has used for cover. The Chaos Astartes are too busy forcing his aim at both Elindra and Sanguinius, the greater threats that he forgot about the Guardswoman in their stead. With a perfect throw, the grenade lands on the feet of the Chaos Astartes. He barely has a second to notice it before it explodes. It does nothing against his heavy armor, but it enables Sanguinius to roll from his hiding place and spear him through the heart due to him stumbling about.
With a small "squelch" Sanguinius pulls out the Spear of Telesto from the chest of the traitor before wordlessly gesturing for his companions to follow him through the main corridor. The term "corridor" is a loose term being used to it. It is more like a winding cave with blood and muscles growing through it. Serfs and other humans with the mark of Chaos works the ship as they serve the blood god. Sanguinius and his companions runs through them even as they swarm the three like ants.
He has shifted from using the Teeth of Baal to the Chain bolter at his hip as he lays down fire while he advances. The same goes for the Eldar as she uses a shuriken pistol raining down shuriken fire that shreds bodies of Cultists like piñata. Mira on the other hand, shifts to a sabre cutting down anyone that gets passed through the palisade of fire thrown down by both the Farseer and the Primarch. Sanguinius has to give points for the mortal, for a regular human, she fights well. He watches her run through a cultists with her sabre before kicking another one that tries to outflank her as they advance.
In the matter of minutes, he and the two reach the end of the winding bloody corridor and reaches a large door whose controls are mired with blood and flesh. With a flash of his spear the warp covering however peels away showing controls and a locking mechanism.
"Captain, can you open it?" Sanguinius asks as the woman nods wordlessly before setting to work. Her mouth however turns to a grimace.
"This is going to take a while your holiness,"
"I understand. We will keep them off you as you work," Sanguinius simply says as he stands back at the corridor between Mira and whatever that is coming. He can hear almost a horde of them running towards their direction.
They arrive in mass, cultists and a few Khornate berserkers herding them in like shepherds would do on sheep. Immediately they are on Sanguinius and his companion like a tide waving their pitiful weapons around even as Sanguinius tears one apart with the Teeth of Baal.
"For the Emperor!" whispers Sanguinius through the battle, his golden armor already stained with the darker blood of his adversaries. He and the Eldar are tearing through anything that dares come their way. None gets past him and the Eldar though he espies one stabbing the Eldar in her bare stomach, getting lucky through the masses only for the Eldar to saw him in half in return. They broke through them like water on rock as the two destroy any cultist and Khornate Berseker they encounter.
He swings the Spear of Telesto in an arc. Two Khornate Bersekers die after. Their armor is unable to defend against the unnatural qualities of the weapon. With another swing, four cultists also fell as the chainsword he is wielding cuts through them, the screaming teeth ripping through flesh, bone and skin. He hacks another two to death before bashing through the wall one that is trying to stab his right arm holding the spear.
A pained cry he hears from the side and he growls as he sees a Chaos Astartes getting the drop on his Eldar ally, a chainsword biting deep into her unarmored hip. Already red blood is gushing from her side. With a flash of the spear, the traitor is turned to mush and Sanguinius is in front of her, keeping the enemy at bay alone.
"Are you alright?" he asks as he hacks and slashes with the Eldar behind him.
"I've been badly wounded, but I would be alright," she answers in a pained tone from behind. He can hear sizzling and the smell of flesh burning to see that she has cauterized the ugly wound with her hand before gingerly limping at his side.
"I can still fight," she says, beads of sweat falling on her forehead.
"It is open! Let us go," says Mira without warning making the two turn immediately to the Captain who has started firing with her hotshot heavy stubber at the enemy. The doors she has been fiddling is now wide unbarred.
Before his Eldar companion can protest, Sanguinius plucks her from the waist ignoring her curses and her pained wheeze before loping through the door with Mira behind closing it after him with a dull clang that echoes through the entire room which lights up. Before he can register anything however in the room, Sanguinius only has a second to see a wall of gray before something punches him in the chest removing all the air from his lungs as he flies to the wall and slams into it with a dull "clang" that makes him drop the Farsseer from his arms.
"Your holiness!" he hears Mira cry out as for a moment he sees stars.
Recovering quickly, Sanguinius is back to his feet as he sees the Cadian rain down stubber fire at a mutated oversized Ogryn twice his height and size marching over her. It is obviously Chaos tainted with all the tattoos it has over its body with the marks of Khorne. Its skin is pallid grey like that of a dead whale and it is bulging in muscle and bones. The two arms at its sides are like overgrown tree trunks. Its face lacks the dumb look of Ogryns and instead is scaled like that of a snake with rows of razor sharp teeth. It lopes towards Mira's position snubbing off the bullets from her hellgun as if they are pebbles.
"Over here monster!" roars Sanguinius banging his fist on his chestplate bringing the attention of the mutated Ogryn to him. With a roar it charges Sanguinius who lets a blaze of the Spear of Telesto at it. The flash of light from the spear is blocked by one of its tree like arms and Sanguinius barely has time to register that it merely scorched the grey flesh before it is hurling one massive fist at him with godlike speeds.
Unable to block, Sanguinius slams the Teeth of Baal against the mountain of bone, muscle and flesh the chainsword whirring as it tries to cut through the thick meat with little avail. The weapon breaks and Sanguinius gets a hit in the face once more sending him for the second time clanging to the bulkhead wall seeing white for a second. The monster Ogryn is upon him immediately and might have pummeled him if not for the lightning flash that scorches its chest making it stumble sideways in the opposite direction. Sanguinius turns at the source, which is Farseer Elindra leaning heavily on her staff holding her bloodied side which has burst open when Sanguinius dropped her.
"Not yet out of the fight son of the Anathema," she pants before sending another lightning strike at the monster who charges her sending it to the opposite wall of the metal cavern they are in once more.
Sanguinius pulls himself together and holds the Spear of Telesto with both hands. The Teeth of Baal is now broken and he puts his trust in his trusted spear which has never failed him yet. He's just ready to charge the monster once more which is peppered by bullets once more of Mira's Hellgun when the metal wall broke somewhere near the side of the monster with an explosion sending debris everywhere. Sanguinius sees through the smoke that it is a boarding torpedo, and from it jumps out red large and tall figures in ceramite armor.
"Astartes," Sanguinius thinks to himself as he sees at least ten jump out from the boarding torpedo bolters ready. Immediately like lightning Sanguinius feels a connection to these Astartes, something that he can't explain as if they are parts of his body and soul. It was the same feelings that he had experienced when he first met the Emperor before at Baal and the Emperor gave the command of the Ninth to him.
It does not take a genius to make Sanguinius to understand that these Astartes, a little different their heraldry maybe are his sons.
Sanguinius stands up to his tallest form, and if he might have looked at himself at that moment. Despite the bruises in his face, he has never looked so regal especially with his white wings outstretched. He fills the room like a looming figure, dominating every wall and crevice of it. The Spear of Telesto at his hands glows like a beacon and for a moment his eyes too. The ten Astartes recognizes his presence immediately and their original mission, the one that caused them to use the boarding torpedoes to find the "impostor" immediately fell to their knees at his presence. For them, there is no doubt for deep inside their hearts and their souls, only one truth remains. A truth that comes out of their lips as they behold the golden figure standing among them, mightier than the mightiest of mortals, beloved of the most beloved.
"Father," they whisper as they all fall to their faces. "Father you are back," they prostrate themselves before Sanguinius, tears falling from their eyes inside their helmets as they behold the Great Angel in his greatest glory. Even Mira who does not understand what is going on fell down on her face as she slowly connects the dots, the history of the Imperium making itself known.
A Farseer at the side smiles through the blood in her lips. "It has begun,"
The moment however is broken when the grey-figured monstrosity once more stands up from where it has fallen and immediately charges towards its nearest target, the kowtowing Astartes. The Space Marines are too slow to react and one gets squashed flat by one of its oversized feet. Blood explodes through ever crack and crevice of his armor as he is flattened to the ground making his brothers howl in anger as they recover from their prostrate forms and immediately begin firing bolter slugs at it. The bolters are more effective than Mira's stubber gun as the monster howls as it tries to cover its face. It does not however bring it down.
The sight of one of his sons dead however makes Sanguinius see red. With a mighty roar that shakes the room, he propels himself forward and stabs the Spear of Telesto straight at the heart of the monster using his weight to drive the golden spear to the hilt. The monster roars angrily trying to dislodge the furious Primarch which is its bane from its heart, but Sanguinius does not let go till it fell on his back. With an almighty twist, he wrenches the spear sideways as the mutated Ogryn finally become still, dead.
Taking a deep breathe, Sanguinius moves his long locks to the side as he turns to the stunned red figures of his sons with different colors.
There is a reunion that is ten thousand years overdue.
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Author's Note:
Sorry for the long update readers. I've been kept busy by life. So another chapter done. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well as I do. Anyway that's that. I hope you enjoyed this part.
Im gonna need your help 40K enthusiasts. Please teach me the different parts of a Chapter like how many battle brothers are there per squad and company. And how many Companies per Chapter. Basically I need the lineup of a a ASpace Marine Chapter. If you can donate your answer. Please put it at the review.
Ive tried researching it and I suck at finding out how many is which is which. Anyway as usual please review for your reviews are the song to this writer's heart.
