They finally reached the site of Aurora's activation. The signs of Necron constructs were a dead giveaway to what the Mechanicus were experimenting with to create this supposed weapon.

"Why do the Mechanicus meddle with things beyond their understanding?" Gadriel said in frustration.

"Look!" Chairon pointed to the console close to the giant obelisk. Leuze, Cassandra and Saoirse were encased in a dome of energy, and they were under fire from Chaos forces. "What has he done to the Tamers?"

Upon a closer look, Titus saw the two children in pain, struggling to stand. Cassandra was carrying Saoirse to the edge of the dome, away from the enemy fire.

"Take out the enemy, then secure the Tamers," he said and raised his gun. Several bolts tore through enemy Astartes, getting their attention, and his battle brothers joined him in felling the enemy.

Once the shells of the Thousand Sons fell, he stepped toward the dome just a Cassandra stepped out of it with Saoirse on her back and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Leuze!" Titus called out. Chairon approached the two Tamers, lifting Saoirse off of Cassandra.

Leuze turned from his work, clearly not perturbed by the battle that had waged behind him moments ago.

"Lieutenant Titus! Praise the Omnissiah!" the Magos said in excitement. "In just a few minutes, you will bear witness to-"

"You must stop this!" Titus cut him off, seeing Chairon slowly back away from Cassandra.

"Sire, please! I know you have your concerns, but look-this is merely a taste of what the device is capable of." Leuze had his arms stretched out, indicating to the Chaos Marines phasing in and out of reality from their close proximity to the machine.

"And I have seen the worst it can do!"

"My Lord, you…you must trust me. This has…has been my quest for knowledge, my life's work-"

"Shut it down!" He took a step forward. "Now!"

Leuze took a slow breath, and said, "I will not."

Titus and Gadriel took aim and fired at the barrier. The dome remained unphased by the impacts done by the bolt rounds.

"Leuze," All eyes turned to Cassandra, surrounded by glitching bits of data, eyes tinted red, and her voice overlaid with a feral tone. "Remember when I told you about Dark Digivolution?"

The Magos's human eye widened and his skin turned ashen, as though coming to a damning conclusion. More and more bits of data appeared, forming a transparent shape of a Digimon creature similar to the partner Titus had seen hours earlier.

A familiar chuckled echoed around them.

"You tiny grains of sand, prattling as you tumble."

"Imurah," Chairon growled as the sorcerer appeared above them all.

"For a moment it seemed you might do my work for me. But alas, I must finish this myself. Witness true power!" The enemy Astartes unleashed a stream of Warp lightning upon the dome. Again the dome stood strong.

Leuze chuckled, but quieted when Cassandra and the Digimon swiped Imurah hard enough for the traitor Astartes to leave an indention in the cavern wall. The sorcerer shot another bolt of lightning and summoned a Helbrute. It stood no chance as the Digimon tore it to shreds mercilessly.

"Saoirse, do you have a Theoretical?" Chairon asked the now standing Tamer. The two were still close by to the now rampaging Cassandra whom had turned her attention to striking the dome. And she was breaking it down.

Saoirse didn't explain anything, but ran up to her fellow Tamer and slapped her.

"Snap out of it!" she yelled. "You'll hurt our friends!"

That did something. The raven haired girl froze for a moment, then roared in pain, gripping her head as she resisted the urge to destroy everything in sight. The data around her glitched even worse than before and began to fade away.

"Lord Chairon, help!" Saoirse called out and the Astartes hurried over to restrain Cassandra. The girl thrashed in his hold, but he held firm. "Keep her from hurting herself! She and Rasenmon are fighting the Dark Digivolution process."

"Enough of these childish games!" Imurah snapped flying back to the machine.

"Then let us put an end to this once and for all." Leuze responded and pulled a lever. Aurora came to life and the obelisk began to glow purple as it reactivated after aeons of dormancy. Chairon carried a mostly calm Cassandra back to the squad with Saoirse following him. Imurah screamed in pain as he was forced back into the Warp.

"Where is he?" Chairon asked, looking to the sides as though expecting him to appear in their blind spots.

"With Aurora active," Leuze explained, "he, and others like him, cannot exist here."

"We will see," Titus remained unconvinced as the Magos continued.

"This is only the beginning! With these devices, we will seal the Great Rift and drive the heretics back into the Warp…with nothing more than a transference of alignment." Leuze approaced what looked to be a smaller version of the obelisk and flipped it over.

And they all felt a familiar pulse. The earth shook around them as something big slammed against the obelisk on the other side of the prison Leuze had unlocked. The Aurora machine blared an alarm as parts of it began to fritz and spark, and the dome powered off.

"What genius!" Imurah's senister laugh echoed. "Tell us, dear Leuze, from which ocean did you gather these pearls of wisdom? Is it not the dream of every scientist to discover the birthplace of all knowledge? Behold! The source of your inspiration!"

The most irritating sorcerer reappeared above Aurora and swiftly killed Leuze with a blast of Warp energy. Titus and his battle brothers opened fire on the enemy, but he remained unphased as he retrieved the artifact.

"Now, for the final act!" Another pulse blasted the area and triggered a cave-in. The vox came on as Titus, Gadriel and Chairon huddled together to keep themselves and the Tamers alive.


The next time Cassie came to, someone was carrying her.

"Leuze was the unwitting puppet of the enemy," she heard a familiar voice. It was one of the Astartes Saoirse told her about. Gadriel was it?

"I doubt the enemy knew of the greater threat they just unleashed," the Astartes carrying her spoke. Was that Chairon? He must have noticed her stirring because he said, "Hold, brothers. She's waking up."

They stopped and Cassie struggled to open her eyes.

"Cassie?" she heard Saoirse's voice.

She blinked several times, clearing her vision and slowly waking up. Saoirse, Titus, and Gadriel were looking at her, and Chairon knelt to let her down.

"Can you stand?" the dark skinned Astartes asked her. She struggled to stand on her own and the man had to steady her.

"Right…pocket…" she said and Saoirse stepped forward.

"I've been meaning to ask, why do you have so many pockets?" the Tamer asked as she took out the card tin from one of the many pockets on her pants.

Cassie took the tin from her friend, opened it and tapped her Digi-Bracelet against one of the Dim cards containing her team healer. Her Digivice lit up and she felt loads better as one of her secondary partners worked his magic.

"Oh, that is so much better," she sighed and stood steady. "And to answer your question: cargo pants are practical for carrying small things like this." She held up the now closed tin. "Anywho, what happened? I remember dragging you away from the machine, but after that…"

"When Leuze began to activate the Aurora machine, it triggered Rasenmon's Dark Digivolution," Saoirse explained and Cassie flinched. "Are you two alright?"

"I think so," she held up her bracelet and looked at her partner. "Rasenmon? You good?"

"Ugh! I have a massive headache, but I'll be okay," her partner responded.

"What about you and Betel Gammamon?" she asked her fellow Tamer.

"I…I am fine," the hesitation in her voice did not bode well as she held up her Digivice. Betel Gammamon had Digivolved into Arcturusmon.

"What the…?! He warpped Digivolved?!"

"You got a problem with that?" Arcturusmon snarled.

"Are you going to tear the hell out of whatever go loose?"

"Yes!" He said with a little too much enthusiasm.

"Then we don't have a problem," Yet.

"I didn't know it had happened until after we got out," Saoirse continued, clearly worried about her partner. Cassie couldn't blame her; this was technically a Dark Digivolution for her partner.

"Your partner is stronger," Gadriel spoke up. "Is this not a good thing?"

"He Dark Digivolved," Cassie said and all three Astartes got the message. They saw what it did to her and her partner. She sighed and said, "We need to get outside and assess the situation."

"Agreed," Titus said. They fell into a formation with the two Tamers in the center of the group and the Lieutenant led them through the tunnel. "Cassandra, regarding the digital threat. Do you have a Theoretical to deal with it?"

"I don't have enough information about the Digimon that was sealed," she said. "The warning didn't give any indication of what it is. If it's something my partner and I can handle, we will deal with it."

"And if it's not?"

"Then advise all Imperial forces to get off world. If it is a world ending threat…I have a last resort method that'll for sure take care of it." One of the things she hated about the Human-Covenant War was the fact she and her fellow Tamers had to prepare the absolute worst nightmares of the Digital World in case they were left with no other option. The one Cassie had prepared just before she made the trip to the Ark…it would do the job without fail.

"Let us hope it does not come to that," said Chairon, clearly not liking the implications left unsaid.