Damien and the Astartes from all four Chapters strode down the ramp of the Stormbird, weapons held easily but at the ready. The pounding of their metal sabatons a synchronous martial music, the Space Marines of the Ultramarines, Salamanders, Black Templars and White Scars marched on to the welded ground at an unhurried pace. Slowing to a stop, the Canadian Astartes swept his gaze slowly across the Immortal Spirit's new theater of war and remove his awesome Astartes helm with a hiss of pressurized air. He inhaled deeply and smiled, the air was fresh and sprinkled liberally with the salty scent of the ocean.

"Well, this is a nice change of pace from Darwin IX," Damien turned to his Astartes buddies. "Loose the helmet guys and take a nice deep breath, filled up all of your four lungs with blessed oxygen before the other transports get here."

The Space Marines complied and murmured appreciatively as they took in the landscape around them, displaying a very genuine human joy that many thought were nonexistence amongst the God Emperor's Angels of Death.

"It is beautiful," Subutai craned his neck up at the cloudless cerulean sky, eyes closed in serene bliss as he enjoyed the gentle breeze. "Not even a sunny day on Chogoris can attain such a perfect spectrum of blue."

"This is indeed magnificent to behold. A reminder of the great majesty and beauty of the God Emperor's realm," Gallus nodded smartly, but his moment of appreciation ended quickly. "Alas, we are still on a mission. Not even in such place can we let our guards down."

"You'll find no argument from me dude," Damien flashed quick hand signal to the Space Marines. "Spread out and secure the area. Just because the sun's up doesn't mean we're safe, roll out!"

With speed and precision that no mortal men or women can hope to emulate, the Astartes swiftly formed a wide crescent around the huge landing field they and the Stormbird currently occupied. Leading the heavy weapon specialists Brother Manaus ordered his team to occupy the many buildings that ringed the perimeter, effectively turning the squat structures into pillboxes. Grunting a very pleased tune, Damien magnetized his bolter to his belt and drew his thunder hammer, because it was cooler to wield a freaking melee weapon. Within minutes the Valkyries and the heavy transports, which has finally been given the name Airavata, joined the Stormbird. Given the stylistic choice of the immediate surroundings, the naming was rather serendipitous.

"Damn, this is what the tropic feels like?" Erik grinned brightly as he joined Damien. Henry, Nikki and Lita following closed behind. "I'm really missing out. I mean, the only beach I've ever been too was Caen and this is totally different."

"This will be a lot better if there were actual beaches around," Nikki commented with a grin. "Always wanted to try sunbathing, it looks pretty relaxing."

"Oh it is relaxing, especially when you find the perfect spot," Lita skipped up beside Nikki. "I'll be happy to show you the rope."

"As long as it's you and not Yuki and Laura, I'll happily give it a shot," Nikki and Lita shared a brief giggle before turning to the approaching guardsmen, Aeldari and Sororitas main characters, all of them eyeing the landing zone with the expected professional wariness. Some had already braced weapons to shoulders. "Hey Lakshmi, this must feel like home coming for you, right? This place looks like something out of your homeworld."

"There are similarities, lady exarch," Lakshmi observed the dark green vista of stones, bricks and metals with narrowed eyes. "But this is nothing like my home."

"Of course it's not," all eyes turned to Tangmo, who was still inside the Valkyrie for some reason. "The architecture here is not from the India subcontinent, no, they're from Southeast Asian, more specifically Cambodia, Burma and Thailand."

"You know these places, lord commissar?" Colonel Xiphos of the Fire Guard asked.

"They were ancient nations from Holy Terra. My native planet, Siamah, carried the cultural legacy of those places," Damien saw how Tangmo was trying his damnedest not to snort. In typical Warhammer 40k fashion, the planet that was a rip-off of modern day Thailand was basically Siam with an 'ah' added to the back. Games Workshop is great with many things, but subtlety is not one of them. "I would recognize the style anywhere. I grew up in a place like this."

"Why are you still inside the Valkyrie?" Leilatha asked suddenly, giving voice to the main characters' collective confusion. "What is the matter? Is something wrong?"

"Nope, nothing's wrong," Tangmo was rocking back and forth on his heels. His tone can only be described as reserved. "Just to be clear, it's safe down there, right?"

"Indeed we are laddie," colonel Bruce of the Grey Watch waved his arms around the landing field. "Unless you know something we don't."

"Oh no, all of you should be fine, don't worry about it," Tangmo's forced laugh only adds more fuel to the rising suspicion. "Just to make sure, how about all of you jump up and down a bit."

"Stop being such a massive pussy and get your ass down here!" Henry, having lost his patience, shouted at Tangmo. "We're not gonna sink, so can you please stop wasting everybody's time?!"

"Okay, fine! You don't need to bitch about it!" Tangmo snapped and stomped petulantly down the ramp. Adjusting his awesome commissar coat with a huff, the Thai commissar joined the Eight and the main characters. "There! Happy?!"

"Forgive me for asking, but what is wrong exactly?" Krillen spoke up. "Why are you so rattled?"

"He's thalassophobic," Damien tapped the data-pad on his arm and brought up the 20k holographic map. "And he has a very good reason to be in this instant."

Tangmo mumbled some rude sounding Thai words and the main characters all nodded in agreement, because the Bangkokian overt display of distress was quite warranted. They were on an ocean world, and not a pretty ocean world dotted with tropical islands like Maui-Covenant from the Hyperion books either, but a planet where ninety-nine point nine percent of the surface was water. The only tangible solid landmass was the one the battlegroup currently stood upon. It was a Hive city, but not the kind found across the Imperium of Man.

"Why the fuck did they built the fucking thing downward?" Tangmo groaned, hands on hips as he looked at the aqua green floor. "I mean, what kinda crazy fuck does this sort of shit man?"

"The people who built this place obviously," Damien's pearly white smile was making Tangmo more aggravated. He ignored the displeasure and widened the holographic map until the entirety of the massive structure was on full display. "Alright people, for any of you who'd forgot to read or skim the briefing, here's a quick rundown of our current situation. This fucking Hive is upside down. Okay, so maybe not upside down but taking on an hourglass shape that stretched to the very bottom of the ocean. The damn thing is ten kilometers below the surface by the way." Damien made several marks and notifications across the hologram of the Hive. "This plot of land we're standing on is three thousand square kilometers in size, even bigger than Tokyo. But as all of you can see, this looks nothing like Japan." Damien ignored the main characters' uncomprehending murmurs and looked at Tangmo. "I've never been to Southeast Asia dude, but I've watched a lot of National Geographic and this place seriously reminds me of Angkor Wat."

"That's because the entire Hive is basically Angkor Wat taken to the most absolute extreme," Tangmo adjusted his awesome commissar coat and strode over to a stone railing partitioning off the landing site from the rest of the Hive. Running his hand over the smooth green façade, Tangmo grunted his admiration for the flowing friezes carved into the metallic surface, the artistry delicate and precise, a beatific story with no beginning or end, unmarred by wind and ocean and time. The Thai commissar waited until the Eight and the main characters gathered around him before continuing. "But the place is not completely Cambodia in presentation."

Tangmo pointed at the ten cathedral-like pagodas looming behind and around the battlegroup, tall and imposing in size. Now that Tangmo had mentioned it Damien noticed how the design of these pagodas was more symmetrical and angular, not rounded and curvaceous like the cluster of spires towering immediately adjacent to the landing field.

"You're right," Henry nodded energetically and Damien started snapping pictures with his data-pad, he was the battlegroup official photographer after all. "So, where did the outlining pagodas took its inspiration from?"

"Shwedagon, the great pagoda in Yangon, I recognize the style anywhere," Tangmo stared at the aforementioned buildings then waved the main characters closer. "I want those pagodas swept clean when the rest of our troops make planetfall. The interior is large and most likely layered, we need to secure it quickly and get the heavy guns up there. That way we'll have a defensive position with a three hundred and sixty degree view."

"What about those big pagodas over there?" Nikki pointed at the large central platform crammed to bursting with spear-like spires rising high into the heaven, the sun glinting brightly off the ebon surface. "Is it like Angkor, or is there something else too?"

"The lower level looked distinctively Khmer, as you can see from the many statues and gigantic faces that dominate entire walls," Tangmo pointed out these features and animated conversations rose from the main characters. They reminded Damien humorously of a flock of tourists. "But the high tier is definitely Siamese in presentation."

"Oh, oh, I remember!" Lita was bouncing on her toes and waving energetically in the air, like an eager to please schoolgirl. "I went to Bangkok with my family when I was younger and we visited the Wat Prakaew Royal Palace, am I pronouncing it right?"

"Like a local dude," Tangmo, the Eight and the main characters laughed endearingly at the Mexican Warseer's sunny enthusiasm.

"Oh thank you," Lita blushed a bit before continuing. "Anyway, beside the very grimdark color and exterior, the upper tier of that cluster of pagodas was basically how I remember the Royal Palace in Bangkok, with obvious differences of course." Lita placed a shading hand over her brow. "Strange, it appears almost as if the Thai temple is built atop the Cambodian one."

"That's because it is, the Cambodian are gonna be pissed," Tangmo chuckled at Lita extremely correct observation and whistled sharply when he took in the sheer size of the place. "Holy goddamn it's really fucking big though, maybe fifty stories tall."

"At least getting from places to places won't be hard," Erik pointed at the large roadways and bridges that connected the landing field with the center of the Hive and the hundred other platforms around them. Immediately on their two flanks were hangars and blocky apartment buildings, while beyond Damien can see high end homes fashioned into sparkling crystalized pillars, more pagodas, and empty ground filled with vegetation which he assumed were parks. "The roads appear to be in serviceable condition and the platforms haven't slipped into the sea yet. Seriously, Angkor Wat looks like this?"

"Oh yeah, and so does the city around it. Angkor Wat was one of the greatest achievement of mankind, a gigantic metropolis of intricate riverways and canals, prosperous in riches and culture, nothing in that same time period can compare," Tangmo leaned over the railing and blanched visibly, taking shuddering steps back from the barrier. "Yep, this is Angkor in the Imperium style. And instead of a river city this place floats atop a fucking evil ocean, with the base reaching into the very depth of the planet."

"A city that had been visited by war recently," Brother Sergeant Adelhard spoke up and pointed at one of the bridges. "A war of great magnitude too."

Amidst the Southeast Asian grandeur, Damien was swiftly reminded that they were not here to sightsee or indulge in the warm sun and the soothing melody of the wave, because littered across the Hive were death. So enraptured by the amalgamation of wondrous construction, Damien completely missed all the corpses sprawled around the airfield, and there were a lot of them. The blackened tatter garbs of hodgepodge armors and uniforms, embellished with the very familiar symbol of the eight pointed star, revealed the identity of the assholes that had arrived before them.

Chaos.

Welp, it's been a while since the battlegroup last locked horns with the number one nemesis of the Imperium of Man and the Aeldari. Too bad they're all dead.

"Looks like someone got to this warband before us," colonel Al-Rahman of the Tallarn strokes his bearded chin thoughtfully. "And judging by the casualty scattered about the Hive, Brother Sergeant Adelhard is correct in saying that a great battle has be fought."

"A very clean battle," colonel Akecheta of the Wind Walker spoke up. "A most peculiar quality when warring is concern. Wouldn't you agree Al-Rahman?"

"By the Throne, he's correct," colonel Xiphos spoke up and waved his hand quickly at their immediate surrounding. "The Chaos host had been killed, that much is obvious, but where are the collateral damages? The buildings are intact, there are no bloods to be seen on any visible surface, and not a trace of unleashed weaponries can be found."

"…Fucking hell," Henry's eyes widened as he swept an alarm gaze across the now eerie Hive. "It's like if a cleanup crew fixed up a murder scene but forgot to take out the bodies."

"Yeah, and the killers are still on the loose," Tangmo walked over to the nearest face down corpse, a run of the mill cultist wearing a very generic Mad Max spiky iron attire. He kicked the carcass over, revealing a gaping cavity the size of a dinner platter on his chest and splotches of dark dried blood on the floor. "They've been dead for a while, but not long enough for advance decomposition to set in."

"Not more than a week, if I was to make a guess," colonel Krillen grunted and held his lasgun up at the ready, prompting the main characters to do the same. "This means the place is far from empty."

"What is the function of this Hive City exactly?" Canoness Galatea put forward her question. "What can the first settlers hoped to accomplish on an ocean world? Judging by the size and opulence of the place I would venture that something of import was found."

"Indeed, a large cache of rare and precious metal was found in great abundance at the bottom of the ocean," Amberley Vail answered Galatea's query. The lady inquisitor was typing primly across her data-pad. "That would mean the lower reaches of the Hive is a manufactorum."

"So this is an industrial class planet?" Colonel Min Jae of the Homeland Rifle spoke up with clear skepticism. "The intricacy of the architecture seems to indicate that it is more than a simple factory."

"Your hunch appears to be correct colonel," Amberley's fingers danced swiftly over the screen. "This is very peculiar to say the least. At its inception this planet, named Somnus Mare, was designated as an Industrial World by the Ministorum. But three hundred years later the planetary governor made a petition for Somnus Mare to be reclassified as a Shire World, citing a finding of spiritual importance as the reason. Two hundred years later all communication with the planet ceased."

"How long had passed since the Ministorum lost contact with the planet?" Brother Sergeant Gallus asked.

"Eight hundred and ninety years," Amberley said.

"Didn't the Imperium send anyone to investigate?" Henry piped up. "This place looks too huge and too important to be missed by the Ministorum."

"You'll be surprised lord general, the Ministorum's ill reputation are not without basis," Amberley grunted a displeased tune. "The Imperium of Man controls more than a million star systems, and twice that many planets. The archaic bureaucracy that's barely holding everything together is already strained to the breaking point. It is more than likely…no, a certainty that a planet can simply be lost amongst the endless statistic."

"Holy goddamn, now that's a grade A fuck up right there, real grimdark shit," Tangmo made a face. "That still doesn't explain why this place is empty though. Did the communication logs tell us anything?"

"Nothing besides the usual religious rambling the Ecclesiarchy like to prattle," Amberley realized too late that she was in the presences of the Sororitas. "Apology for my hasty words honorable canonesses, but I digress, we have no clue as to the strange circumstance of the Hive."

"The answer will be in there," lady inquisitor Greyfax pointed at the central pagodas of Hive Somnus. Damien couldn't help but scratched his head at the fact that a Southeast Asian inspired location had a Latin name of all things. The Canadian Marine missed his chance at introspection when Greyfax fixed him with a stern gaze. "What is our next move Brother Captain? Is the STC inside the pagodas or somewhere else?"

"It's elsewhere I'm afraid," Damien knew that his smile was naked in its nervousness. He might be an Adeptus Astartes, the God Emperor's Angels of Death that was feared across the multiverse, but holy shit Greyfax was one scary woman. That hard unblinking eyes, cold and sharp and utterly merciless in intensity, were definitely gonna keep him up at night. "According to the scan, the core STC is under the sea, very near the bottom in fact."

"Thank you for volunteering my dude!" Tangmo held up both his thumbs with a demented smile, his deranged mirth was reciprocated with a less than impress looks from the Eight. "Because there's no way in hell I'm going under water. Fuck that shit, seriously."

"Tangmo's fear of water aside, I think you, Henry, Lita and Erik should take the lead this time," Nikki spoke up. "We deserve a little break after running away from Godzilla."

"Fine," Damien rolled his eyes, tapped his data-pad, and brought up the top half of the Hive. "There are elevators going down into the depth on every platform, but the largest one is at the central pagoda."

"Is it large enough to accommodate tanks?" Henry asked. "Or vehicle for the matter?"

"The Chimeras and Falcons should have no problem, along with smaller vehicles like the Myrmidons and Vypers," Damien went on. "But I don't think the King Russes, the Macharius and the King Ghidorah can fit dude, sorry."

"For the best I suppose. That fight with Kim Jor Urrk was fun, and epic, but I spent most of my time atop the King Ghidorah. A bit of exercise will do me a world of good," Henry shrugged good-naturedly and rolled his shoulders a few times. "Where are we making our grand entrance?"

"That big pagoda over there," Damien pointed at the aforementioned landmark. "Shit's gonna be epic."

"Maybe we should wait a bit before going down?" Lita piped up, her reasonable suggestion drew annoyed groans from Damien and Henry. The Mexican Warseer promptly ignored them. "I've read through the schematic, and even though everything is evidently intact we know next to nothing about what lurks below. We should wait until we get enough intels before committing our troops."

"We can do both easily," Damien said, "me and the Marines can advance deeper into the Hive while those up top uncover its mystery."

"Yeah, but why the rush?" Erik, Lita's perpetual wingman, added. "There could potentially be something very scary waiting for us below."

"Yo, dude, seriously?" Damien waved at himself and his Astartes buddies. "We're Space Marines, nothing can touch us. Whatever killed those Chaos sum bitches will learn to fear us quick enough."

"Oh for the love of Isha, fine!" Lita rubbed her temple agitatedly like a mother who's at her wits end with a pigheaded child. "But I'm coming along too, someone have to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"Yes mum," Henry responded obnoxiously, earning a red-faced scowl from Lita. The American general was about to part more regrettable words when his head darted left and right, brows scrunched up in confusion. "Um, guys, where's Yuki and Laura?"

"Huh?" Erik glanced around and indeed the British inquisitor and the Japanese exarch were absent. "What the hell – where are they?"

"Apparently they're coming down with the next wave," Nikki was dumbfounded as she and Tangmo looked at the data-pad in her hand. "Strange, beside their infamy for being the battlegroup resident's perverts, they're super punctual when official works are concern."

"That should be them, right?" Lita pointed at the several dozen Valkyries making a final approach on the airfield, the area was already bustling with mustering troops and crates of supply stacked high. The Mexican Warseer then tapped her earbud. "Hello? Is lady inquisitor Laura and lady exarch Yuki en route? Are they about to land?"

"They are lady Warseer, thank the Throne!" An exasperated captain Tyra answered her. "They haven't stop whinging since coming aboard, a real pain the both of them!"

The Eight traded curious look as the Valkyries made their landing and guardsmen and Aeldari started trooping out, swiftly and crisply falling into the correct companies and platoons before heading off to their designated areas. It was only after the crowd had lessened significantly that Laura and Yuki finally walked down the ramp. Correction, the pair limped down the ramp, every movement caused their faces to scrunch up in pain. Laura was bent over a bit and clutching her abdomen, while Yuki was on her toes with one hand clutching her backside.

"What the fuck happened to you two?" Damien can't decide whether to be worried or start laughing his ass off. "And why do you look like you've just been in a squash match with Brock Lesnar?"

"I…want…to make…a report," Laura rasped as she and Yuki joined the Eight, ragged and exhausted after their small walk from Tyra's Valkyrie, "a formal…compliant…an indictment on a gross criminal activity."

"Okay, and what are you reporting exactly?" Tangmo quirked his brow and it was only now that Damien noticed the wicked gleams on the canonesses' visages, poisonous in mirth as they traded whispering giggles with each other. "Seriously though, what in the fuck happened?"

"They happened!" Yuki stabbed her finger vehemently at canoness Bellona of the Bloody Rose. The woman only response was to flutter her lashes prettily. "We were accosted, attacked, assaulted, and our dignity defiled in the most humiliatingly luscious way!"

Tangmo blinked, his expression blank, then turned to Bellona with hands clasped smartly behind his back, "something happened to them, that's fucking clear as day. Care to explain, because I want to hear your side of things before proceeding."

"Certainly, lord commissar," Bellona squared her shoulders and crossed her arms over her chest, the other canonesses huddling close in a show of solidarity. Celestine on the other hand, who was currently standing with Greyfax and Isha, opted to simply watch. "Lady inquisitor Laura and lady exarch Yuki decided to act on the threat you've directed at me."

"I'm sorry, what?" Tangmo was taken aback. "Threat? Yo, you need to be a lot more specific dude, because I've been throwing out a lot of threat to a lot of people."

"The one you made on Darwin IX," Nikki spoke up and rolled her eyes when Tangmo remained dumbfounded. "Bellona said your singing sucked so you said you would sic Laura and Yuki on her, this was after you threatened to Thai kick her."

"Oh yeah you're right, I did that. But I meant that as a joke, I never…" Tangmo's eyes widen as he took in the situation anew, mouth hanging open, unable to decide whether to be shocked or amused. "Jesus Christ…please tell me you – who the fuck am I kidding, you two fucking idiots actually went and did that shit for real, didn't you?!"

"They tried, lord commissar," Bellona flashed her teeth in a tigerish smile. "And they failed."

"It was a fucking set up!" Laura bellowed but her admonition ruptured into a pained gasp, the British inquisitor bending over and hugging herself tighter. "They set a trap for us!"

"Thank you for admitting that you two were the instigators," Tangmo deadpanned. "And what do you mean they?"

"She wasn't alone!" Yuki waved vehemently at Bellona. "Her OG buddies were all waiting for us!"

"Okay, I'm starting to get the picture here," Tangmo nodded slowly, his professional composure was quickly crumbling. Even some of the Space Marines were having difficulty keeping a straight face. "The both of you were gonna tag teamed Bellona but she brought back up, with shit turning into a six on two situation."

"Congratulation on your flawless deduction Sherlock!" Laura snapped then glared at the very smug canonesses. "Now arrest or blam them or some goddamn thing!"

Good thing the situation was mellow and calm for the moment, because holy crap Damien was really enjoying this massive distraction Laura and Yuki had brought. Arms folded across his armored chest, Damien waited patiently as Laura and Yuki shifted their hostility toward Tangmo, trying to cower and coerce the Thai commissar into giving them a favorable verdict. But it was clear from the amused look on his face that Tangmo wasn't about to give the British inquisitor and the Japanese exarch what they wanted.

"The way I see it," Tangmo said after an annoying amount of time had elapsed. "Regardless of the result, this was self-defense on Bellona part."

"What?!" Laura shouted. "You fucking traitor, no it wasn't!"

"So when you two confronted Bellona, it was only to talk?" Tangmo managed to make the reasonable enquiry unbelievably grating.

"W-Well…no!" Yuki blurted after a bout of fidgeting. "But they fucked us up!"

"That's one way of putting it."

"Like I said before, this was a case of self-defense that went a bit overboard," Tangmo spoke over the smirking Morelia and fixed Bellona with a borderline serious stare. "But it is clear that the reaction is excessive to the threat, don't you agree lady canoness?"

"In hindsight, I am inclined to agree lord commissar," Bellona bowed respectfully at the fuming Laura and Yuki. "I deeply regret my action, lady inquisitor, lady exarch."

"No you're not!"

"Oh dear, you two are really injured. Please allow me," Isha entered the conversation with a bright silver light, radiant illumination shot out of her splayed hand to envelop Laura and Yuki. The pair sighed in relief once the beatific mist dispersed, standing erected and free of injuries as they started doing stretches to limber up previously strained muscles. The Aeldari goddess nodded in satisfaction but red crept up her face a moment later. "The wounds you two suffered were not severe but it was rather extensive. I've seen bruises like those before…usually amongst the rowdier of the Drukhari."

"Okay great, everything's fixed now," Tangmo held up two thumbs at the British inquisitor and the Japanese exarch, "because we seriously need every hand on deck."

"We still demand satisfaction!" Now free of sores and aches, Yuki rounded on the canonesses with teeth barred. "The things they did…the straps, the gags, the leathers, the cuffs, the paddles, the crops and the candles! You're not getting away with this!"

"I'm gonna need a thorough account on what transpired during the incident lady canonesses, with explicit and vivid detail if you please," Tangmo's fake as shit expression of innocent, that sickly shiver inducing fluttering of the lashes, fooled no one. Although the male portion of the main characters and the Eight were very receptive of Tangmo's suggestion, the female counterparts were already reaching for their weapons. "You know, for research and impartially."

"Can you please stop wasting time?" Leilatha announced, the dark gaze she bestowed upon Tangmo made him flinched visibly. "We have a mission to get on with, and we have lingered long enough."

"Got it!" Tangmo gulped loudly and snapped his head down at the data-pad in his hand, the Bangkokian's carefree countenance morphing swiftly into commissariat professionalism. "Okay, me and Nikki are gonna go fortify the immediate surroundings. Yuki, Laura, I need you guys to occupy the central pagoda and go sleuthing. We need to find out what in the actual fuck happens to this place. Damien, you, Henry, Lita and Erik are going below, right?"

"That's an affirmative," Lita winked at Tangmo. "We'll spare you the deep dark evil ocean."

"Very much oblige Lita, thank you," Tangmo tapped the screen then glanced up at the bright cerulean sky. "I've also requested that the air force do a complete sweep of the ocean, nothing within four hundred nautical miles will escape our scrutiny. Ae-Shin and Tyra will be leading hourly patrols across our area of operation while Solveig and the fleet perform deep sea scans."

"Are you expecting some kind of naval attack?" Damien asked.

"For all we know the Chaos mofos could be hiding inside a mobile submarine base and waiting for us to lower our guards," Tangmo shrugged and everyone murmured their assent, the logic was solidly sound. "If that's not the case, we might find some wreckage on the seabed or at the very least track the local faunas. This place reminds me way too much of freaking Subnautica man, totally ripe for deep sea gigantism."

"Could we be looking at a similar situation as on Darwin IX?" Colonel Evangeline of the Mordian Iron Guard asked. "Will we have to content with the kaijus again?"

"Unlikely, the kaijus are a very limited phenomenon, I doubt we'll find anything like that beyond Darwin IX," Tangmo shook his head and squared his shoulders at Leilatha, striking an admittedly dashing commissar pose. "How was that, professional enough for you?"

"It is passable," Leilatha smirked lightly and spun around to face Damien. "Shall we then, Brother Captain?"

"Yes we shall," Damien put his awesome Astartes helm back on and waved his Space Marine buddies into a battle column. "Roll out!"

The large cargo elevator came to a stop at the narrowest point where the two halves of Hive Somnus meet, Damien and the Space Marines quickly thundered off the hydraulic powered platform and set up a firing line. They were the only battlegroup troops in the vicinity, but the apparent emptiness inspired no confidence for the Astartes. More corpses greeted them, Chaos cultists of every variety from simple slaves to frontline troops, and like the buildings above the waves the place was spotless. Not a single speck of dust can be seen, nor were there any evidence of the carnage that had resulted in the staggering casualties they were witnessing.

"At ease people, everything here is dead," Damien lowered his bolter and gave the massive loading bay one more sweep with his helmed head. The HUD blinking across his visor revealed no threats. "But stay frosty, nothing in this place is normal."

"I agree, Brother Captain," Gallus joined Damien, his helmed head trained upward. "Everything is bright and well maintain despite the battle that had raged here."

Damien can only grunt in agreement when this particular detail was pointed out to him, the Canadian Astartes mentally facepalmed himself for not noticing this most obvious anomaly until now. Hive City and Hive World were supposed to be rundown and barely functioning, with rust, grimes, blood and misery marring every physical and metaphysical facet in thick revolting layer. At the very least the place was supposed to look like Bioshock's Rapture after everything went to hell. What Damien got instead was pre-fall Rapture, minus the Art Décor.

"This place is not empty," Adelhard and the Black Templars already had their power longswords out, the blades glinting sharply as they adopted battle ready stances. "Someone or something lurks within these abandoned halls, and they know we have trespassed upon their home."

"That is without a doubt," although more relax in posture, Subutai's tone was clearly terse. His slow movement bespoke of readiness, a serenity that caged the storm, holding it back until the moment to strike arrives. "But they will not remain elusive for long, if the previous visitors were anything to go by."

"They could be waiting for the sun to go down," Damien made his observation. This specific part of the Hive rested in the bathypelagic zone, the very first layer where sunlight fails to penetrate the ocean. "I gotta have Tangmo keep me up to date with the time."

"It is dark," Antalok wasn't talking about the internal illumination, but the unending ocean beyond the walls of transparent glass. The Marines joined the Salamander Brother Sergeant at one such pane, wide and tall and clear, the panorama revealed to them was an uninterrupted world of eternal night. It was in this moment that Damien started to sympathize with Tangmo. The ocean was monolithic in blackness, a vista shrouded in an impenetrable veil which devours all light that tried to reach into the empty infinity. But was it empty though? Soon enough his mind started making shapes out of the watery darkness, and the scary part was that Damien honestly can't tell if it was his imagination or something really was lurking behind the stygian curtain. Once in a while flashes of bioluminescent flickered weakly in the faraway nimbus, which only served to hammer home how fucking big the ocean was.

"Perhaps the lord commissar could divert some drones to the surrounding depth," Antalok grunted. "Can our machine be modified in such a way?"

"Should be easily done," Damien cycled through the various readings on his awesome Astartes helm via blinking, the many spectrums showed that indeed the ocean was teeming with life. This knowledge however brought no respite to his mind. Where there were small fishes, bigger ones won't be far behind. Switching the awesome Astartes helm back to its normal display, Damien turned away from the maddening possibility and returned to the more immediate vicinity. "Not that I don't find the ocean disturbing and scary, I think we should make a full sweep of the area first. Adelhard is right. Some heretic fuckers could be watching us right now. Stay in pairs, don't wander far and call out immediately when hostile is spotted."

The Adeptus Astartes was one of the most overpowered faction in the collective multiverse, but Damien had watched too many horror movies and would be damn if he's gonna let the Space Marines die courtesy of a contrived plot cliché. Damien couldn't help but smile when he noticed how the Chapters were mingling, fully embracing his proposed combat doctrine for the various disciplines of the Astartes to complement each other in combat through the combination of their specific warring skills. But as always, Gallus was the one who tagged along with him.

"This is big," Damien said as he and Gallus approached a factory looking building, grim in its dystopia minimalist presentation that was the trademark of the Imperium of Man. Riven with wires and pipes and sporting multiple dirty windows, the hulking construction occupied a large swathe of ground and rose up the beam between the transparent crystal walls until the topmost floor touched the unreachable ceiling. "Perhaps a manufactorum?"

"I don't think so," Gallus shook his head. "The place is too clean. There should be evidence of pollution otherwise. Maybe it is a cargo hold or a residential unit for the people in the lower reaches of the Hive?"

"That looks to be the case, let's find out," hefting up his bolter and making one more sweep with his awesome Astartes helm, Damien and Gallus shouldered the large blackened double doors open and stepped inside the looming building. What greeted them was a brightly lit area in the shape of a mess hall. But unlike the utilitarian and comfortable, one could even say homely design of the Immortal Spirit battlegroup, what Damien currently beheld was like the inside of a prison. Even with the benefit of uninterrupted rows of fluorescent bulbs above them the awning hall still managed to exude a tangible unwelcoming aura, the furniture themselves looked to have been designed with misery in mind, those short narrow seats will definitely do a number on your ass. Oh, and besides the clean interior and the dinning utilities scattered everywhere, the place was filled with dead people. "Clean death, just like outside."

"A very worrying trend," Gallus strode over to the nearest cultist sprawled atop a table and easily lifted him up. Blood caked his uniform and the tabletop. "A repeat of what we saw on the surface."

"Any discernable wounds on the person?" Damien swept his gaze over the mess hall, spying several more doors at the other end and to the sides. "How did this one died?"

"His throat has been slit, deeply and surgically," Gallus pointed at the red smeared laceration. "The task was done with finesse."

"What about bullet wounds?" Damien reached down and picked up another lifeless heretic, this one a woman, "laser, conventional, both?"

"None Brother Damien," Gallus tossed the carcass away and approached Damien. "What about that one?"

"This one's even stranger," holding the dead cultist up this his face, Damien scanned the woman then tilted her head this way and that. The limp form was free of any visible wounds. "She suffocated to death. Scan indicates that lack of oxygen caused her brain to die. What's freaking me out a bit is that I don't see any mark on her throat, it's as if she just couldn't breathe and died."

"We won't be getting an easy answer it seems," Gallus held his bolter tighter and fixed his gaze on the serene carnage around them. "I wonder what we'll find on the other side of that door."

"Hopefully a clue that tells us what the fuck happened to this damn place," Damien tossed the dead cultist away and with Gallus strode down the row of tables and their deceased occupants. "Better get this done before the others come down…"

"Contact! Enemy Astartes located! Approaching hostile now!"

Damien and Gallus did not trade words or looks of alarm, instead the two Space Marines bolted out of the abandoned refectory with such speed that they destroyed the entrance. Honing on the location of the Marine who had spoken Damien and Gallus swerved left and sprinted into an area decked out with rusty silos, within heartbeats they were joined by the other Astartes. They soon found Brother Sidonius and Brother Lothar, a Primaris Black Templar, bolter and power longsword trained on a big spikey figure standing not ten paces away. Said figure had his back to them, the curved wall of the silo having captured his complete attention.

"Why have the traitor not been brought low?!" Adelhard snapped his burning red gaze at Lothar.

"Fault not the lad Brother Sergeant, I was the one who halted the killing," Sidonius interjected easily and nudged his bolter at the Chaos Marine. The black and gold motif identified him as a member of the Black Legion, Abaddon and Horus's own. "Do you not see the strangeness of the situation?"

"Yes, a traitor is still alive," Subutai sneered and Adelhard grunted his agreement. "And we shall rectify that rightly."

"Wait, wait, hold! Stand the fuck down now!" Damien shouted his order and, on his lonesome, took several steps toward the Black Legion Marine. Despite the raging commotion, the traitor Astartes did not acknowledged the Loyalist Marines who were about to unleash hell upon him. "Sidonius's right, this is strange. When was the last time any of us had ever seen a Chaos Marine behave like this? And why isn't he dead like the other cultists?"

"How do we proceeds then Brother Captain?" Antalok inquired, finger coiled tight around the trigger.

"Oi! You Chaos fucker! Put your hands in the air and turn around slowly, no funny business!" Damien shouted and inwardly cringed at how lame he sounded in that moment. The fuck was he doing yelling cop's lines at a daemonic nine foot tall biological killing machine? "I'm not gonna repeat myself asshole, turn around right the fuck now! That's how you wanna do it?! Fine by me motherfucker!"

Damien pulled the trigger, sending a singular bolt at the Black Legionnaire. His aim was true and the traitor marine's arm was destroyed in a shower of gore, leaving behind a charcoaled stump. Okay, now he's freaking out, because the Black Legion Marine made no reaction at all after losing his limb.

"That's your only warning fuck face!" Damien bellowed. His timbre made more menacing by the awesome Astartes helm's grills. "I don't give a fuck if I have to turn you quadriplegic, because you're coming with us one way or another! Now turn the fuck around bitch!"

The assembled Astartes stiffened, the clangs of primed weapons resounded across the ranks when the Chaos marine raised his right hand. Have to hand it to the God Emperor's Angels of Death, because none got trigger happy as the traitor grabbed his horned helm and removed it. The headgear clattered loudly to ground from slacked fingers, the bald Black Legionnaire stared at the wall for a few seconds more then turned to look at the bleeding stump that used to be his left arm. The lethargic reaction can only be described as dispassionate. Finally, he spun around to face the Astartes surrounding him. The visage crisscrossed with scars was deathly in pallor and blank of emotion, eyes dulled and resigned. The famed zeal of the Chaos Marine was wholly absent.

"It doesn't matter," was the Chaos Marine soft guttural utterance as he reached down to his waist and drew his bolter. But he didn't level it at Damien or the Marine and instead pressed the barrel under his jaw. "Nothing matters anymore…all is for naught."

Faster than any of them can react the Black Legionnaire pulled the trigger, his head turned inside out in a gory bloom of exploding viscera, nothing remained of his head but charcoaled vertebrate jutting out from between his shoulders. Like a felled tree he tilted back and crumbled to the ground, his body terminally rigid, the silo that had so captured his attention now splattered with blood and gibs.

"…What the fuck?!" Damien demanded with arms spread wide. "Seriously, I need some fucking explanation on what in the fuck just happened!"

"Suffice to say that none of us have an answer," Brother Sergeant Antalok strode up to the corpse and put several more bolts through the ceramite plated chest. The Chaos Marine didn't stir. "But your intuition was correct, the behavior of the traitor indicates that we have found ourselves in a situation most unprecedented. The heretic was already dead before he took his own life."

"Aye, the blank coldness in his eyes was undeniable. It was something I would expect from an ill-trained PDF trooper, not a veteran of the First Founding Legion, traitor though he might be," Subutai added. "It was a desolation of the mind brought upon by crippling fear and the realization that all you had fought for was lost."

"All who turned from the God Emperor's light are coward by nature, they are unredeemable and can only be purified through death," Adelhard growled but quickly instilled calm into his temperament, displaying a surprising modicum of reasonability that was rare amongst the Black Templar. "But Antalok and Subutai prognosis is correct, the traitor was afraid and his sanity shattered because of it."

"But what can cause this fear?" Gallus turned to Damien, prompting the other Astartes to do the same. "By all right it shouldn't be possible. The corruptions of the Chaos Gods are nothing short of teeters and chains, such bondage is nigh impossible to overcome."

"I honestly don't know. But if it can make a Chaos Marine depressed to point of committing suicide then we need to tread carefully," Damien announced, not far away the elevator was descending again with guardsmen and eldar aboard. Squaring his shoulders, Damien turned away from the traitor's corpse and started back toward the landing platform, his Astartes buddies falling in behind him. "I believe it goes without saying that whatever the fuck is going on here it needs to be destroyed. This entire level must be secured before we can go deeper."

The Astartes nodded their assent as the column came to stop twenty paces from the elevator, and at a quick sequence of hand signal from Damien they swiftly formed a defensive crescent around the newly arrived reinforcement. Henry, being the one leading this group, noticed the tense situation immediately and quickened his pace to meet Damien.

"What happened?" Henry asked, the M1911 laspistol already in his hand.

"We found a fucking Chaos Marine," Damien told him.

"Where?" Henry tapped his earbud and relayed quick command to the troops behind him. Within a heartbeat the guardsmen and eldars went to join the Space Marines with weapons brandished. "Are those motherfuckers hunkered down somewhere? We got bunker busters with us dude, just point the way."

"The Chaos Marine is dead," Damien went on. "He killed himself."

"Killed himself," Henry deadpanned, not at all impressed by the intel he was receiving. "What, the fucker charged blindly at you guys with a primed grenade in his hand?"

"You think we would look this spooked if that was the case?" Damien went on. "No dude, the fucker was dead ass staring at a wall when we found him. I blew his fucking arm off, which elicited no fucks from him by the way, and then he turned around with this blank look in his eyes and said, in a super creepy way, that nothing matters. Then he offed himself with his own bolter."

"I should've mentioned that you're on speaker," Henry said apologetically. "What you've said just went battlegroup wide."

"Shit!" Damien fumbled with his awesome Astartes helm and pulled it off. A quick glance behind Henry told him that the new arrivals heard his panicky account, if the wide-eyed stares were anything to go by. "Great, we might need to get Tangmo down here to monitor the morale."

"I'm in the opinion that his rampant thalassophobia will cause more problems as oppose to solving them," Henry made an extremely legitimate point.

"He's absolutely right," Tangmo added via the earbud. "I ain't fucking going down there."

"It's not like being above water will keep you safe," Henry countered with a groan then tapped his earbud to cut the transmission, solemnity quickly coming over his visage. "A Chaos Marine shot himself while speaking cryptically. Fucking great. Any guess on what the fuck he was talking about?"

"Not good ones I'm afraid, but first things first," Damien put his awesome Astartes helm back on and waved over the Space Marines, guardsmen and Aeldari main characters. Making himself taller with a simple straightening of the spine, Damien spoke. "I want this entire floor sweep, every nook, cracks and crevices searched until not an inch is free of our scrutiny. The situation calls for cautious and battle readiness of the absolute extreme, therefore when possible I want an Astartes to accompany a scouting party, especially when delving into large buildings and dark places. The Chaos Marine we encountered earlier will not be the only one, and Emperor knows how the others will react, so be vigilant and report anything that is amiss immediately."

"Yes sir!"

With their galaxy famous crispness and professionalism, the battlegroup swiftly formed into scouting parties and headed into the alleyways and buildings around them, humans and eldars working in impeccable tandem. Those wielding heavy guns and large weapon emplacements went about fortifying the area around the huge elevator, and by the time the platform rose back to pick up more troops the entire place was blistering with heavy bolters, autocannons and hovering Shadow Weavers.

"So what do you think happened to the Chaos Marine and all the cultists we've found so far?" Henry asked, he and Damien decided to loiter a bit while the battlegroup went about scouring the place. "Just to be clear, the fucker committed suicide? He didn't go berserk or anything?"

"No, dude actually looked depressed more than anything," Damien said. "It's fucking strange, like he lost the will to live…as if his entire existence was suddenly proven false. Maybe the Chaos Gods abandoned him or something."

"From what we've read and seen Traitor Astartes don't turn depress dude, they either become maliciously bitter or murderously suicidal," Henry stroke his chin, his visage one of deep introspection. "Do you think that's what happened? The Chaos Gods abandoned him?"

"Something along that vein, but I doubt it's an amicable parting," Damien narrowed his eyes on their surroundings. "It's this fucking place, I'm sure of it."

"I wholeheartedly agree," Henry grunted and tapped his earbud to ensure them privacy. "Let's just hope it's something from this fucking universe."

"Come again?" Damien looked sharply at Henry.

"I pray to God that it's some crazy Warp shit or a horde of fucking Enslavers," Henry shook his head in distaste then locked eyes with Damien. "In case you haven't noticed, the multiverse isn't stable right now. Lest you forget, we were running away from Godzilla just a month ago."

"You're shitting me," Damien groaned but conceded that Henry made a very valid point. "But fuck, you're not wrong."

"I hope I'm wrong," Henry chuckled nervously. "I mean, this could just be some Warp fuckery caused by an internal war between the Chaos Gods."

"When was the last time our brand of cheerful optimism turned out to be correct?" Damien grinned with bleak humor.

"Pretty much never," Henry took off his awesome general hat and wiped his sweaty brow despite the permeating chill of the underwater Hive, then turned to Ladaee and the King Ghidorah's tank crew standing not far behind him. "Ladaee's getting a little nervous because of our talk."

"Good thing you didn't bring the King Ghidorah down here," Damien commented.

"Oh yeah, it's too big and the firepower would compromise the structural integrity of the Hive, wouldn't want the entire ocean crashing down on us," Henry shook his head.

"So why is your team here?" Damien asked.

"They could use a bit of exercise, keep their wits sharp even outside of the King Ghidorah," Henry waved his crew over, all of them were armed like normal guardsmen and looking very comfortable with their weapons.

"Good idea, but keep a close eye on them, things down here are very dodgy, I can feel it," Damien walked off toward the mess hall from before, Gallus and a contingent of Krieg guardsmen were already at the destroyed doors, and waved his goodbye at Henry. "Stay frosty dude."

"Always am," Henry held up his thumb. "Any idea on what the fuck we could be dealing with?"

"I have a few suspects in mind," Damien shrugged. "But the list is too fucking long!"