Warhammer 40k RP

[Rayzin]

“Hey Mike, tell the others we’re moving out. Another flare will mark our positions. Tell him to hurry too. These marines don’t seem like they can be trusted, nor does it seem everything is fine. Something is going on. Send that message to all lines, monitored or not, I don’t care. Just do it.” The senior officer took a deep breath and began to sprint after the scouts, muttering angrily under his breath. His squad followed him, as well as the stragglers they picked up. Arriving at the abbey, he spotted some space marines around its ruined walls. Within it, the scouts were making their report to a man with a staff. A psyker? No, they were called something else…what was it, what was it? A librarian, that’s it. He moved into the abbey, his men setting up defensive positions along the ruins alongside the marines. They merely nodded at Daniel and returned to looking out. The ones without helmets were eying them with distrust.
“Sir, what’s with these guys? Since when have we done traitorous deeds or anything?”
Daniel thought about it. “If we did, we wouldn’t be here. Commisar Xie will pop our heads.” The librarian swivelled his head in Daniel’s direction. His eyes narrowed.
“Sir! Senior officer Daniel, airborne 521st! We have a report to make.”
“Make your report.”
“Yes SIR! Our commissar, Xie Zhang gave us strict orders to set up a vox. We want to land two companies into your main base, as well as fortifying this position as well.”
“Is it possible that we see this ‘Commissar Xie’?”
“It depends. He might not come. I’m looking for a joint assault on the enemies, so we want to land some companies pronto.”
“I understand. Get your men down here.” The man began stating some coordinates as to where the base was. Daniel began typing into a data slate and transferred the information to central command. He then set off a flare, giving their position to both friend and foe. He watched as a valkyrie drop ship landed a company into the abbey. After he saluted them, he ordered them to set up a perimeter around the chapel, as well as some heavy bolters and mortars to be set up. Mike began setting up a vox as Daniel oversaw everything. He listened into the space marine conversation, but it was too loud to hear anything. As the weapons were being set, he realized what everything meant. They were preparing for an all out war.
__________________________________________________ __________________

Damn it, the senior officer was a retard. “Men, form up!” The commissar yelled throughout the vox,” I want everyone in the Valkyries in 5 minutes or less, you’ll be breifed in your ships by your junior officer.”
The commissar stalked up into the hangar that; as he arrived he saw the officers and lieutenants lined up.
“All right men; I want Officer Pravin on reserve, take a company of men with plasma guns; Nathan’s on heavy support, you’ve got all the heavy bolters and Autocannons you’ll need; Solomon, as usual your leading the main assault. As we approach the drop zone fire all weapons and missiles to clear up the DP. After Nathan and Solomon will land, I’ll be with Nathan and we’ll set up the support while Solomon will cover us. Apparently these Swords of Caliban are good at assaults and can cover us for a bit, this is good but we can’t be sure. I want Solomon’s squad to cover us. After Nathans set up I’ll attach to Solomon’s squad and organize while Nathan starts suppressive fire. Once there dug in good we get grenades going and then a joint assault by the marines. If the Tau run, Pravin hits them hard, and this time if you screw up I’ll actually kill you and the Senior Officer can’t save you this time.”
__________________________________________________ ______________________

The Valkyries screamed in Solomons ear, nothing calmed nerves like the whining of engines before a drop. “All right men you’ve been briefed, anyone got any questi—“ The rest of the sentence was drowned out by various explosions. Solomon took out an auspex, it showed a couple of injured marines who couldn’t get away from the missles fast enough and a few dead tau, the readings were terrible from all the heat and radiation. “Alright airborne, jump now!” Solomon opened the doors and was the first one out the doors and as he did he saw the other Valkyrie’s troops jump. The ground was coming closer and closer, they were almost there when the Tau started firing at them, took out a lot of men but it was to late. Solomon pressed his grav chutes button before he hit the ground, he still hit hard. He got up quickly and his platoons ran to cover.

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I don’t want to auto hit or god mod in any way so obviously your Tau should take some hits and so should the Stormtroopers. Its up to Zergling how many marines he loses(my guess is 1 or 2 with some minor injuries) and Zasibi loses a couple Tau depending on how you react, and its up to you if you run.

[Zasabi]

The comm chatter fluttering in from off in the distance provided a nice static background as the small team cautiously advanced through the thick woods. It would take some time, but they had taken the long way around to be certain of reaching the Gues'va rear lines undetected.

He didn't understand much of the Imperial language, as he had largely forgotten it after leaving preparatory school, but he could pick up a few snatches of stray words he recognized. What more, he understood Gues'va intonations to some degree, being able to recognize the heated tone they used when under fire, or similar circumstances.

His eyes suddenly widened as something very familiar drifted in. This language wasn't Imperial. It wasn't Imperial at all.

"Hold!" he barked, raising the Battlesuit's arm as he matched action to word. The Devilfish had been relaying the chatter to him from the comm antenna they had installed, and so the pilot and Shas'ui had been listening as well.

The startling noise he had heard was the sound of the Tau Language, faint but inexplicably present. From what he could hear, a scout patrol had engaged a significantly numerically superior foe. They had drifted too far into Imperial territory, and had drawn the attention of a ridiculous number of Imperial Troops. For them to be able to spend the numbers that were being thrown at such a small patrol spoke of either an excess of troops, or the stupidity of the commanding officer. The patrol had managed to get out a message to the remainder of their forces, but had decided to escape into the wilderness away from their reinforcements as to prevent the rest of their forces from being discovered.

His heart pounded, sweat beading it's way down his hairless brow. There were other Tau, here? How....how could they be so far from the Septs? And how many of them were there?

"Shas'el," came the interrogative. The Shas'ui's face appeared on the side of his viewscreen, along with part of the pilot's body. "What are your orders? Should we render support?"

He shook his head, lowering the battlesuit's arm. "No. They are too far for us to render any assistance, and what more we don't have the numbers to aid them. We have our mission, and we must carry it out regardless of what happens around us, for the Greater Good."

The Shas'ui nodded once, sharply. "For the Greater Good," he echoed once before the feed cut off.

Zas'Abi returned his gaze to the forest before them. He had to be strong. They had to walk on and listen to their comrades die... For the Greater Good.

He shook his head. The Ethereals be merciful on his soul, he had a mission to complete.

[Savant]

Aquileus II

To the locals of Aquileus II, much of the onslaught ongoing in the heavens were taken as an ill omen, these bright flashes of light the battle of the gods themselves fighting for the souls of thier world. Ironic that such vague superstitions could possibly be right. However, to some of the populace, the fight was already lost, for they had sold thier souls sometime ago...


The Dreadclaw Assault Boat landed a bit roughly, it's hull still smoking from the deep atomspheric entry it had just recently performed to evade detection. As the door slid open, light from the interior flashed for a moment, highlighting almost one thousand cultists who had gathered together, bearing crude farm implements as well as old lasguns. Many of them recoiled in terror as the first Possessed Marine exited the assault boat, it's monstrous claw marking it as Ahri, the leader of the Ten Demons of Tzeentch. After the marines had all secured the area, the cultists as one dropped to thier knees as a hulking form came before them.

"Greetings, oh Lord of the Changing Ways. Tzeentch has foretold of your arrival, and of the great rewards you bring to the faithful."

The lead cultist had rose quickly, and his charismatic voice soared gracefully over the assembled mass. His ambition shone like a beacon of light in his eyes, and already you could see he felt his boon coming at last.

"Oh? It is not boon I bring to you, Cultist. Yes Tzeentch has spoken to me as well, and I must say... he is rather.... disappointed."

The lead cultist instantly paled, his dreams of greatness crushed suddenly by the deathly chill emanating from the Magus' voice. He dropped to his knees, his hands hands clenched together as if by sure will he could remove himself from this suddenly dangerous situation he is in.

"I have assembled all of our followers, Lord, and our assembled host is..." He cut off suddenly, as a powered gauntlet seized his throat and hefted him into the air effortlessly.

"Your meaningless prattle has bored me. You have done nothing. This group I see before me, are worthless. Rather than truly embrace the ways of change, you have sat idlely by, surrounded by dellusions of grandeur while this world has grown strong and resistant to change. Therefore, you have failed our Master.."

A scream shattered the air, as warp fire burst from the man's eyes, consuming them effortlessly before spreading to his face.

"...and secured your release from this world."

Tethra watched grimly, as the man's head disppeared beneath the flames, then cast the headless corpse aside, it's smoking ruin landing but inch from the assembled cultists.

"For the rest of you, your worth lasts only as long as we achieve our objective. Fail, and you will join your leader sooner than you could possibly ever wish."

[Xavion&Pavion]

A bright gold ship emerges from the depths of the warp. On the sides of the bow, a black skull with a circle around it. the bridge made of three towers, the middle being taller than it's neighbors.
Brother marine Ochion awakens to a lod klaxon coming from outside his room. He walks out in his flowing silken robes, and reports to the armoury for deployment. Their, he saw his seregeant, and 5 other squad members. He walked along the glass surrounded cases, until he found the case marked:
Ochion
Squad: gamma
Company: 4th
ID number:1066784

Ochion pressed the red rune located next to the righting. as the glass lifted up, he saw his dark grey battle armor with a red right shoulder pad, and a green left shoulder pad. He stepped into the glass enclosure, and with the help of an available servitor, doned his power armor.
He stepped out of the enclousr,e and proceeded to the weapons rack. He grabbed a bolter, and two extra clips. He quickly ran back to his room, and grabbed something of of a counter. He then ran back to the armoury while slipping the oject into one of his many leather pouches.

He then, along with his squad, marched to the loading bay, where, with all the other companies of the Sons of Orion, will be deployed onto one of the most gruesome battlefields in the sector, Cadia.

The large figure of Captain Hexlier of 4th company, walked into his position at the front of his company. He slowly turned around and adressed his unit in a low, dull, mechanical voice.
My brothers, we are about to deploy onto a new world, with new challenges and new foes. However, one thing will be the same. We will proveil. The Emperor is watching over us, and with his guidance, we cannot fail. For the Chapter, the Emperor, and Orion.

Chapter Master Nedark proceeded to walk over to 4th company, and even in full terminator armo, the figure of the Dreadnaught captain dwarfed Nedark.
Men, today will be filled of glory. Today, the Sons of Orion will wlak upon the battlefield, and show the enemies of the Emperor the True meaning of fear. We are fear incarnate! Just as Chaos swept away our world milenia ago, we will do the same to their armada! Just as on Artios, we drove back the ork horde and into meer oblivion, we will do the same to the beasts here! Cadia is like no other planet we have been on before. It is hell incarnate! But I have witnessed hel, and fought against on Orion, and even though we did not preveil then, we WILL NOT let it happen to any other world! To any other people! To any other enemy!l

The company cheered to Nedark's words, and then, sooner than Ochion could tell, he was seated in a drop pod, waiting to be fired down upon his enemies.

[zergling001]

Zachariel had made quick work of the tau and turned to the closest high ranked imperial guard. He was puzzled by why there were so many troops. Another question puzzled the young man. Why were there tau here? There had been nothing on this planet other than some relics and even those were only valuable to either the Imperium, Eldar, or the Fallen. Maybe even orks-but tau? They were smart as they were and would not go for something shiny. There was nothing here other than a few shrines, the abbey, and dozens of tempes. This would be a question for the Inqusition, where hundreds of secrets lay. His hand turned into a fist as he recalled the events long before. He was distracted by an officer who was called Solomon. Zachariel spun around him an crouched to be at the same height as the tiny man.
"Where is your commissar or captain? which fool sent all of you here?"
"Commissar Xie sir!"
"Ah, a commissar. Gather your men and follow my men back up the hill. We shall discuss the situation, as well as lay out a battle plan."
"Sir! Pravin! Get your men to form up, move out!" Zachariel stood again, stretching his neck, wincing as a million cracks were heard. He walked carefully up the hill and sent a transmission to the inquisitor.
"Ah, if it isn't Kleinhart? I have one question for you. What else, other than the Imperial relics and scrolls are on the planet? This is a question that I must find an answer to. so what is it? A inquisitional headquarters? Is that it, is that why there are two of you here at the same time? Tell me, what is in it?"
As Zachariel spoke, another transmission came in.
it was a whisper.
"The inquisition has learnt of the arrival of out chapter. We have failed to intercept a message on the details of our chapter. Forgive me. We are keeping our distance from the inquisitors and the other imperials, lest they turn on us. They know not that we are still loyal to the Emperor."
Zachariel froze as the man spoke. he dismissed him and impatiently waited for an answer.

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::Transmission incoming::
::Decoding......::
::Message to all Imperials::
::Subject-"Swords of Caliban"::
::Relaying message...::

Inquisitor Archmagus, Ordos hereticus

We have learnt of the "swords of Caliban's arrival at the Aquileus System, where your troops are stationed. I regret to inform you that the men you are fighting alongside are in fact heretics. The High Lords of Terra do not find this so, but the swords of Caliban are actually the Archangels of Terra. They are convicted of killing my inqusitional counterpart during a battle in which I fought in but lost. They are a dangerous chapter and you are given permission to capture them. If you cannot, kill them all. that is an order. One of the first objectives you must complete is the capture of Company master Zachariel 'Asmod'-
::ERROR DECODING::
::TRANSMISSION INTERCEPTED::
::Ermengency shut down commencing::
BEEP!

[Rayzin]

Commissar Xie glared angrily at junior officer Pravin. Had the fool made the mistake of reporting that there was an army of Tau just so he could get more action? He thought more of the topic and it made him angrier. He felt his blood pressure rise to the point he felt that his temple felt like it was going to explode. He felt a twitching sense in his hand and he looked down and lo and behold: he was thumbing the safety again. He had landed on the planet to see to it personally that the fool would be punished. Walking up towards the Adeptus Astartes camp, he was flanked by his command squad. He had received his transmission only a few minutes ago and wasn’t taking chances, just as the inquisitor had said. As he walked into the camp, he found the company master standing there, conversing with his-what? His victim. Xie smiled evilly as he walked up to the pair, his plasma pistol’s safety off. He walked up to Pravin, glaring angrily, not hiding his anger at all. Xie smacked the boy with the pistol and as the boy fell, he aimed and was about to fire when the company master picked him up. His command squad was onto the space marine instantly, but failed to stop the tall man from choking their commissar. The company master uttered one word before dropping the commissar. Stop. Xie angrily stood to his feet and nodded. His command squad and a few other veterans tackled the man, who was not suspecting a thing. Xie then resumed walking up to the boy, who was still rubbing his head. Raising the pistol, he was once again stopped, this time by his own troops. Officer Solomon batted the weapon out of his hand and began to shout.
“Stop you fool! Pravin may be stupid, but he’s smarter than anyone we can conjure up at the moment. Every man you kill lowers our manpower!”
Sigh, fools again. “Of course every death ends up in us losing another man, but what’s another man? He’s useless as far as I’m concerned-he just committed an act of stupidity, and this time it just turned out to be the last one he’s ever going to make.”
Another voice entered the conversation, this one was more friendlier though. Xie tensed up again. The captain! “Xie, come on, we need men. Haven’t you had enough fun on the ship? We actually need them now, especially when we are fighting now.”
Xie’s voice was strained as he forced out the words “Yes sir, I forgive you Pravin.” The captain smiled and nodded. “That’s more like it!” He spun around and left the camp. He was forced to watch the company master babble on about a battle plan and about launching a spearhead on the chaos/ork troops. He sighed and listened, though his mind was somewhere else, imagining Pravin’s guts all over the ground, missing a head.
_________________________________ ___________________-
Senior officer Daniel had just received the transmission from the inquisition and he spun around, staring at the librarian. The librarian looked up, his face puzzled. His eyes narrowed and went back to the relic. Was this man really a traitor? He positioned his men at the side of the ruined abbey, clearly making a divide between the two groups. The space marines eyed them warily and some of them sighed, muttering some gibberish. The marines did seem odd, they did differ a bit from their unforgiven partners. Still it was a precaution to stay back and away from the marines. Daniel remembered the poor man that was killed. Could it be that the Swords of Caliban actually killed the man? Only through battle could their allegiance be discovered and senior officer Daniel would find out, with either his death or their enemies.

[tribble]

Mercutio

"There is a specialized fort of the Imperial "alienhunters" and Machine Cult some distance north of here, Krimscrag," Mercutio said as the Marines and Orks walked back to the base. "There are undoubtedly many recovered artifacts, devices, and so on contained within the walls. It's always cold up there, so I suggest you have your equipment winterized, if necessary. We will need walkers to storm the gates, so I suggest you turn your impressive manufacturing base towards producing some of those."


Mercutio glanced at the Warboss, and was once again unable to discern anything of the Ork's disposition from his face.
Blasted Alien, Mercutio thought. I cant even tell if he's snarling at me or grinning.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Qrezinak the Unforgivable

As the Blades Torment, Black Parade and Razor Sky knifed through the void, they drew close to the objective. As they drew it in their sights, Qrezinak smiled a sharks smile, the smile of a predator with the scent of blood, closing on its prey. He sent a single message to the Human ship, Winter's Stair:

The End Draws Nigh

[First Speaker]

They've landed. Prepare for jump strictures.

All on the CIC tensed. The primary target had, of course, been the Chaos Lord - it was him who had been followed from Cadia. But, where one, others ... Belisarius' suspicion had paid off. And circumstances had conspired to arm the Winter's Stair to beyond what they had bargained on. And so, 'they' were the prey now.

_/ _/ _/

Low in the sky, at an angle calculated to put them below the ecliptic horizon of Aquileus, the Winter's Stair appeared for a second, discharged a tiny part of itself into the ether, and disappeared again.

_/ _/ _/


The Arvus Lighter touched down, unnoticed by all but the keenest eyes, in a grove of forests not too far away from a similarly earth-fallen Dreadclaw. Out of it emerge a large, ungainly, armoured figure, together with a group of approximately twenty women wearing lightly-cameolined armour.

If we are right, the magus should be somewhere here. See him, but don't be seen. We may have brokered a truce with the Wych-kin, but this is only for the greater glory of Chaos' death - if they look likely to stab you in the back, ensure you plant the knife first. The Emperor's blessing guide you, but he calls for your subtlety, not valour, at this point! Go!

Without a word, half of the sisters simply vanished, evaporating into the darkening evening air ...

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So, sending out ten sisters of silence out to spy on Tethras. What do they see, Savant? I presume that they aren't seen back (they're pretty stealthy, and have cameoline, so seeing them normally will be hard, and are psychic blanks, so seeing their auras won't work), but it's in your hands.

[zergling001]

Ship master Lucius gazed at his tactical screen as an officer jumped up and began yelling for a translator. Another man ran over to the officer and they both began studying their tactical screen.
“We’ve intercepted a transmission to one of the inquisitors sir! Seems to be in Eldar runes.” Lucius stared at the screen and nodded. The translator pulled out a small book and began scanning through it. Another man ran over and helped him and soon, five men were onto the decoding. Lucius thumbed his finger over his power swords handle. What did the inquisitor want with the Dark Eldar? The translators were doing quite well and had decoded much of the message. They were missing a few words though. The-is near. A word was missing. The time is near? A message? He ordered the Redemption ship to turn around and aimed it at the Winter’s Stair, it’s Nova canon waiting to fire upon command.
“Sir, we can’t decode that word and what’s more, we can’t find out where the transmission came from. It was on an encrypted channel.” Lucius nodded and sighed. Inquisitors were always so troublesome. They established a secure network to the inquisitor and Lucius began to speak. He raised his hood and he began.
“Inquisitor, we have intercepted a transmission sent to you by the Dark Eldar. We suggest you maneuver your ship back towards the fleet.”

Zachariel watched as the Commissar struggled to fire his weapon at his lower officer. The fool had already killed half his regiment and he still wasn’t satisfied? Zachariel pondered that thought as he walked back to his command bunker. The scouts he had sent out reported that the orks seemed to be building many machines and walkers, as well as the chaos preparing to mobilize. The orks were also beginning to wear more thicker clothing and padding. They must be moving north. Zachariel did a quick scan on the planet and found that there was a small fortress that was ‘designed to keep information in it’. He spoke to the commissar and told him that they should get their forces ready, so when the chaos/ork forces left, they would attack them.

[First Speaker]

The message relayed back was curt and precise, sent on a heavily encrypted channel. Even as it was sent, the Winter's Stair, dwarfed by the cruiser, began rapidly spinning up its warp drives for another jump.

Dear sir,

I have indeed received an encrypted message from the Wychkin, concerning the disposition of Chaos forces in the area. A mutually beneficial exchange of information regarding the location and arrangement of cultist and Traitor forces belonging to the Thousand Sons of Magnus was arranged, the better to capture them.

Your intent is belied by your nova cannon's firing preparations; hold it known that an attempt to destroy or attack the ship of an Inquisitor is to profane against that who vested power in the Inquisitor - the Emperor himself.

Furthermore, may I refer you to the Malbede purge of 963.M41? Would you deny that Marneus Calgar, Ultramarine Chapter Master and Lord Macragge is the paragon of the Codex Astartes that you cherish? Would you further deny that, to defeat the dread star-vampires, the Necrontyr of that world, said hero of the Imperium did knowingly and willingly band together even with the T'au-dwellers, and granted them safe passage out? We live in dark times , dark times where Chaos threatens to rule, Brother Lucius - do you hate more the Daemon or the material?

[zergling001]

Lucius stared at the message and typed, his face grim. The inquisition already knew of their arrival in the system. He was not going to hide anything.

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Inquisitor Belisarius
Your contact with a xeno may have tainted you. We are the archangels of terra. We are pure, as so with our minds. None of our men are without purity seals and we are as pure as they can come. The tau are not as evil as the dark eldar. Believe me, we know. Zacharius has a tau child that he saved from death. They are pure, they do their actions for the greater good and are pure. The same cannot be said about the Dark Eldar. Keep in mind that it was their doing that created Slaneesh. As to the crusade-I believe Robute Guillman, Marneus Calgar, and their predessors are all pure of all taint-we hold them as some of the greatest heroes the Imperium has come to see. We find the Codex Astartes limit the power of a chapter, keeping the strength of one's troops to one thousand as a maximum. We have increased that number to two thousand. Keep in mind that the High Lords of Terra care not a thing about this, in fact, they support us. As well, keep in mind that we have stopped quite a few large forces of tyranids from passing through the Eastern Fringe. You may have heard this story before but I hope you can understand. The inquisitor I purged was unclean. He knew it and he asked for it personally.
Yes, we are in dark times, but coming in contact with those who made the chaos god may have a taint. Just as you and the Imperium does not trust us, we trust no one, save the Emperor and our founding chapter.
Which do I hate most, daemons or the material?
My response is one that all in our chapter agrees.
What do I hate most?
My answer is: both

Lucius powered down the nova canon and spun the ship around. He thumbed a rune and soon, his tactical screen came alive, showing the face of another man. "Chapter Master. Where is that company you sent?"
"Ship master! The company is on it's way. We were just able to salvage it from the black crusade. They are beginning their transit into warp."
"Honourable chapter master, we don't need them anymore. We have things under our control."
"Yes. If that is what you wish, then we shall return to the crusade. May the emperor be with you." The link died and Lucius returned the the tactical screen. The inquisitor's question had revived a thought that Lucius shuddered at. His first battle with the daemons. He had fought among his men until there were eight men remaining. They were saved by the Grey Knights. Thank the emperor for them.

Zachariel told his men to begin dissasembling the camp-they were returning to the abbey. He told Ezekiel to be ready to take in a whole load of men, as well as having his men to be ready to mobilize. The marines were hungry for a battle but they would have to wait. "All men and military personnel! Prepare to move out. We leave in an hour."

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Qrezinak the Unfrogivable

Qrezinak licked his lips. The moment drew close. His ships had proceeded toward the Chaos ship, and were drawing close to the point where they could no longer hold their illusions. And so it was that Qrezinak ordered his ships to prepare to fire. They drew in like a hunter after it's quarry, their silence worth a dozen swords. The Black Parade and Razor Sky were in position.

He looked through the viewport, and studied the information fed to him. He looked as the slaves and menials of worked around his throne, tortured screams echoed through his ship, and he knew they were ready. The Blades Torment signalled its prepared state, and its escorts echoed the words.

Qrezinak drew his lips into a tight, hungry smile, though none saw it through the mask, and as his ships sped through space he brought his hand down in a crude gesture. Fire.

Dark lances of energy split the void, waves of energy and advanced missiles streaked through space and slammed into the traitor vessel. Qrezinak had commanded that they aim for the guns, the engines, and the shields. He wanted to cripple it, if anything was alive on that ship he wanted it brought back. There would no doubt be countless thousands of slaves and psykers and other followers on such a ship, and Qrezinak was eager to bring them back and sacrifice them to She Who Thirsts.

As soon as the last energy blast left the barrel, waves of boarding ships, of all sizes and shapes flew through the night sky like a hail of deadly shrapnel, ready to tear the enemy apart. Some of them contained several squads, others a single unit, but they would spread through the ship and capture all they could, before either crippling and destroying it, retreating with their catch... or if Qrezinak was lucky, they might even capture it.

Corrupt Mon-Keigh vessel was ugly and brutish, but unlike some of his overproud kin Qrezinak he might find some worth for it yet, if only to ensnare future fools in his silvery webs.

[First Speaker]

Arvus Dropsite

Looking at an array of instruments, Belisarius smiled inwardly, and looked up to the sky. It was somewhat overcast, but he could see a patch of clear, deep blue. They were up there - to think of it - that infinite sea! - but now was not the time. He entered his reply into the dataslate, and then inscribed the sigil that sent it on its way. A thin stream of encrypted data wound its way up towards Lucius' ship.

I hear that you are pure, but you you say you 'purged' an 'unclean' Inquisitor; who, pray tell? Does a purity seal, an outward sign, always mean inner purity? Perhaps, if the chaplain is good enough.

As a peace-offering for powering down your primary weapons, you may be pleased to know that, as we speak, the Dark Eldar are busy breaking down the doors of the Vaunted Hope, the Traitor Legion flagship. It was cloaked, but its dreadclaws were not, and so they have given away their position. It's at .00439\-43.98\34.50 relative to Aquileus II, in a steady elliptic polar orbit. You may wish to check it out, before the Wychkin slaughter, or take as slaves, those of the Fifteenth Legion. Should you wish assistance from a tainted Inquisitor, I could send a strike team of Terra's own Silent Sisterhood to help deal with the sorcerous wretches, or Mercutio's lot, should they be needed - you need only ask.

Emperorspeed,

Belisarius.

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Zacharius has a Tau lovechild! :shock:!

Chez Chaos


Shrouded in cameoline, Dioksor Curalah knelt in the long grass just twenty metres from the prostrating cultists. Typical chaos-worshippers - they relied on the warp for just about everything, and, of course looked through pariahs as if they weren't there. She didn't hate them for it though; actually, she hated them for their evil, abhorrence to nature, humanity, and the Emperor's divine light.

Communicating solely in sign language - while, as a mere novice in her order, she had not, by this point taken the oath of silence, the others had - her hands darting to her sisters fanned out around the field, and receiving a steady stream of intelligence data from Ysha in the Winter's Stair above, she advanced somewhat. Engagement was scheduled for t-15 seconds. Ten seconds later, she drew herself up slightly, began circling rapidly to the left, and opened up in a high mezzo-soprano with the Canticle of Saint Julian, an ancient Terran hymn dating back to before the Horus Heresy.

The path of the Emperor is beset on all sides by the spoor of heresy and the tyranny of warp-spawned men.

Down went the blind grenades, thrown by Soeur Melicidier from her vantage point concealed in one of the trees. These were the purpose of the impromptu choral accompaniment. In their novitiate, members of the Silent Sisterhood were trained to be consummate singers, forming choirs that even the larger Adepta Sororitas convents were envious of - skills that, having been honed to such beatific perfection, had to be thrown aside as one entered the Sisterhood proper. This, she had come to realise, was part of the rigorous psychological training that they received - that such individual talent did not matter compared to the glory of the Imperium, that they should learn self-discipline and asceticism - but anything was worth sacrificing for the Emperor. This singing, piercing as it did above the uproar of the cultists, and unimpeded by the blind grendades, contained, woven into its melody, a set of precise battleplans and instructions for each stage of the engagement. The next of which was coming up now.

Glory-bearing is she, who in the name of servitude and sympathy for the common man, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness,

A dull boom. Soeur Admah had detonated the melta bombs on the Dreadclaw assault boat. It might still fly, but it was severely damaged, and could not do so without extensive repairs.

for she is truly the keeper of the Emperor's light and the defender of lost children.

Soeur Melicidier had, by this point, stowed the remaining grenades, and drew a stalker-shell fed bolt rifle. Her shot took off the head of a cultist in the back ranks. All present could not her - but certainly heard, and in some cases felt - the man's head bursting like and over-ripe watermelon.

And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger


Another shot. This one over the heads of the remaining cultists. A friendly reminder to get the frak down and not get up.

those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers and sisters.


A third shot. This one in the direction of the possessed - if it did not hurt one, it would scatter them; if it did not scatter them, then they would look the other way.

And you will know the light of the Emperor when we lay our vengeance upon thee!

With this, Curalah had circled round towards the Sorceror. Saying these words, she drew her power sword, rose with her sisters, and charged.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Qrezinak the Unfrogivable

Meanwhile, The Wychkin in question were doing just as the Inquisitor suspected, and many times over. It had started easy, as all such raids did, as ill-prepared and even less armed slaves and cultist troopers were cut down by the Dark Eldar assaults, in some places contact with the Chaos Marines had halted, and even driven back Dark Eldar incursion, but many such incidents were dealt with by cunning flanking maneuvers, Eldar tricks, sorceries, and the Daemonic beasts brought by the Eldar raiding parties. There were still a number of parties over the ship who fought the Chaos Marines and were steadily either winning or losing, but the majority found much of their passage, if not quite as easy as in the beginning, very enjoyable. A number of squads returned gangs of slaves and captives, including a number of Chaos Marines to their pods, but many of them closed on the bridge. Even now a large group was in the process of fighting retaliation parties as they sought to cut their way into the bridge. A number of slave ships had returned, but there was still a formidable number of Dark Eldar troopers left to take the bridge and the rest of the ship.

Yes, Qrezinak thought, so far this was going well. All he had to do now was discover, and counter, the betrayal the good inquisitor no doubt had in store for them. Qrezinak had dealt with radical Inquisitors in the past, and while they were still but Mon-Keigh, Qrezinak was clever enough to know how very dangerous they could be...

[zergling001]

The tactical screen blinked twice as a transmission began to enter the ship. Lucius nodded and the transmission began to play.
"Sir, this is Commissar Geon. We recieved the Company master's transmission. We shall be moving in to join your fleet. You can expect us to aid you when you are in need of us. I now follow you as my commander. Relay your orders." Lucius typed furiously, as the Imperial Guard fleet joined his. His tactical screen blinked again as the inquisitor's message arrived. He typed his reply as he noted to himself that the inquisitor had just relayed the position of almost every enemy ship in the area.
"Geon, make you and your fleet useful. I wish you to lead maybe a company of marines to the shrine, as well as your ships to move in and engage the Dark eldar."
"Yes sir." The Imperial fleet began to split itself in two, beginning to flank the eldar fleet. However, the Archangel fleet moved towards the chaos ship, firing all its weapons at the chaos ship, disembering it as hundreds of plates and pieces were ripped off by the sheer force of the weapons.
"Full speed, officer." the Death from the Heavens fired it's lances and nova canon as it closed in onto the chaos ship. Then, the apocalypse class ship rammed the chaos ship, firing assault pods into the chaos ship. Lucius himself had paused from typing his message and had entered his assault pod. About fifty chapter serfs joined him, as well as twenty marines. The Imperial fleet had already begun firing upon the Eldar fleet, as well as being supported by a firestorm escort constatly firing it's lances at the eldar flagship. The eldar flagship amazingly shrugged off it's lances as the ship master of the firestorm swore. A cobra escort began to shield the imperials from the eldar's return fire, taking many lazers and losing many armoured plates. The rest of the archangel fleet began to divert it's attention to the eldar fleet, firing all of it's weaponry at the fleet. But, as they fired, the first of the assault pods struck the weakening hull of the chaos ship. Lucius was the first to disembark his drop pod and sqeezed off a plasma bolt from his plasma pistol. The cultist's head was engulfed in flames and the man's body toppled to the ground. He gazed at the chaos ship, staring at all the decorations dedicated to Tzentch. Anger boiled within him as he saw several thousand son marines, led by their leader, Magus the red. He roared and charged towards the heretic, as did the marines and serfs. A large group of cultists and thousand sons charged towards the space marines as Lucius threw his pistol to the ground. He charged towards Magus, sending bolts of energy through his fingers and swung his sword at the heretic's head. Magus parried the blow as he gripped the ship master with his hand, squeezing the power armour. Green bolts flew into the ship master as they dueled using both psychic abilities and weapons. The serfs and the marines began cutting down the cultists as more assault pods arrived. Soon, the room was littered with bodies and within the corpses were Magus the Red and Lucius. The apothecary of the assault ran to the fallen ship master. He gave his final orders to the apothecary, who relayed them to a veteran sergeant. "You are the new ship master. You are in command." The sergeant nodded and spotted movement within the halls of the ship. "WE GOT ELDAR! CHARGE!" The marines and serfs fired their weapons as they charged to their doom.

Zachariel had moved and was at the abbey when he saw the huge mob of troops there. Another company had arrived from the Imperial guard, Commissar Geon disembarked and saluted sharply. Zachariel readied his troops to attack the chaos/ork camp, his teeth thirsting for blood. The chapter's flaw was that they needed to thirst on blood at least once a month or become enraged and that date was nearing for Zachariel. His lightning clawed hand twitched as he waited hungrily for the oppertunity.

[tribble]

Mercutio

Mercutio was becoming more and more grateful for his warm Land Raider by the hour. As they approached the Mechanicum/Alienhunters fortress, the weather had gotten progressively worse and many of the Grots had died of Frostbite. However, they were a mere day's march away from the Fortress now, and the Orks would more than make up for the firepower that Mercutio had lost at the Abbey.
Mercutio took a look into the cockpit of the land raider to see through the windshield, and smiled. he could see the fortress. He had managed to persuade Krimscrag to agree to his plan by the simple method of explaining that "strategy" was merely a fancy word for making sure the most boys bashed the most heads in the least time. in all reality his plan would most likely have horrendous casualties for the Orks, but it would open the Fortress to him without risking damage to the massive library Cicero had claimed his sorceries had discovered. If Mercutio had a weakness, it was his insatiable curiosity and hunger for alien artifacts. in fact, his interest in a Daemon sword had been what drove him to slay his captain in the first place. Mercutio closed his eyes as he fell into a brooding reverie, contemplating the Heresy. His Rise. His Fall. the most important event of his long, long life.

[zergling001]

Zachariel got a report from a few returning scouts that the fallen forces were moving towards the north of the planet. He assigned two more squads of scouts to follow them while he told his troops to arm up, as he did to the Commissar's troops. Commissar Xie could do what he wanted. Geon, Zachariel, and Ezekiel discussed a few matters privately. Suddenly, the archangels began dong unholy things to the relics. They picked them up and moved them into an arriving thunderhawk, placing them all inside. Telling Commissar Xie, Zachariel hoped the fool would understand. They coudn't protect the abbey, especially since it was in ruins so they were extracting the relics. The thunderhawk had left before any disapproval was heard and all eyes watched it fly off. Then, Zachariel waited as a few more thunderhawks arrived, dropping off vehicles and picking up five squads of men. Ezekiel went with them and soon, so did the commissar. Zachariel boarded his land raider, as did his command squad. They then began to follow the fallen marines and orks. The Imperial Guard boarded their valkryies and followed the thunderhawks back up to the ships waiting in space.

Spoiler

Show

I'm just gonna suppose you have arrived at the fortress and have mounted your assault tribble. Tell me if this is not what you want

Zachariel had waited for a good hour and a half before he caught up with his scouts. They gave a bad report.
"Sir, there seems to be a fortress up ahead where all the chaos troops had gone towards. There must be something interesting in it." Zachariel nodded and told his men to get ready. Opening up a terminal, he spoke.
"Archangels, the time is drawing closer as we are finally here to meet the Fallen. Another chapter will be in the history books, let us pray it shall be a victory. We are vastly outnumbered, as the orks and fallen have joined forces. But let me assure you, if we die, we will die for the emperor, who is facing greater evils than we are. It is only a mere part that we do for him in this war. Only a small piece of help against his enemies. Let us show the rest of the Imperials where our loyalties lie," The landraider and the other vehicles began to speed towards their enemies as Zachariel roared the all familiar words: FOR THE EMPEROR! The vehicles sped towards the enemies, crushing a few grots and orks that stood in their way as their passengers disembarked and began to fight, power swords crackling, chainswords revved, bolt and plasma pistols firing and the standard held high. Zachariel eyed the warboss and then at Mercutio. Then he watched as the Imperial Guard dropped onto the battlefield-Geon was just on time-and began spraying their weapons into the battle. The warboss flung a marine towards Zachariel, the top of his body ripped cleanly off. Zachariel and his men charged, cutting down as many as they could. This will certainly live in the chapter's history for many people and recruits in the days to come.

[Rayzin]

Commissar xie glared at the company master as he left the abbey with the rest of the Imperial Guard. He had nno choice to follow him. As he boarded the valkaries, he followed the space marines from the air.

As they arrived to the battlefield, they immediately disembarked and soon, 260 stormtroopers were on the field, all firing as they landed on the battlefield. Daniel fired his hellgun as he landed, his shots inaccurate. He landed and soon, he joined his men, all taking cover in the deep snow and firing into the fray. He watched as the rest of the other Imperial Guard landed and covered them as they took cover. Then, out of a valkrie came commissar Xie, along with his retinue. He cut down a few orks as he landed and joined his men. None would ever dream of running or else: a shot to the head.

[tribble]

Commissar-in-training Arten
Historic Research project
Praise the Emperor.

In the late M41st millennium, Abbadon the despoiler led his XIIIth black crusade against the Imperium, attacking the Cadian Gate with the combined forces of almost all of the Heretic Space Marines confined to the region of space in the Segmentum Obscurus known as the Eye of Terror. during the ensuing battle, some ships managed to evade Imperial forces and infiltrate the Imperium. one such ship was the renegade battle barge Angel Star, captained by the onetime Terminator of the Dark Angels Mercutio, sometimes called The Rogue. The Angel Star set course for the Aquileus system. Mercutio and part of his warband (the Rogue Angels) unloaded and immediately attacked the Schola Progenium Abbey. however, in the time it took to reach the Abbey, a company of Iron Snakes arrived at the abbey, and with the help of a Daemonhunter (whose Identity was not discovered) slowed the attack of the Renegades enough for the Schola to be evacuated. The Mystery Daemonhunter took the Artefacts held in the Abbey and promptly disappeared, leading to a great inquiry by the Chaplains of the Iron Snakes and the Inquisition into the squad that allowed the "Daemonhunter" to take the Artefacts, which is still underway at this time.

After the Iron Snakes evacuated the Abbey, they then proceeded to booby-trap it with Melta-Charges, which renders the Abbey useless to everyone. For reasons unknown, The Rogue Angels moved off after the evacuation, and proceeded to rendezvous with the forces of Warboss Krimscrag Backstabba. while this was happening, the Angel Star engaged several Imperial Ships (with the aid of the Orks, who disabled an Astartes Strike cruiser in particularly astonishing fashion, blowing a hole out of its' middle and causing over a third of the remaining crew to be killed in a variety of gruesome ways by the explosive decompression before the ship was locked down by the captain.) the Battle Barge was towed by a strike cruiser of another chapter into an uncoordinated jump into the Warp, and the Fate of the Ships, perhaps for the better, remains unknown.

Mercutio and his new ally moved north to attack a combination installation of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Ordo Xenos dedicated to the inventory and protection of recovered Xeno Artifacts. when attacked by Space Marines and the Imperial Guard, Mercutio took the opportunity to desert his ally Krimscrag, which caused the Orks to lose the Battle.*

as the Capital of the World had been completely devastated by melta charges immediately after the attack on the Abbey **,Mercutio struck out for the next nearest spaceport. he reached it, and after blasting his way through the PDF of the City, Mercutio then Hijacked several merchant freighters to get off the planet. out of the six hijacked, four were shot down but the other two remain unaccounted for. Mercutio's fate remains unknown.

several minutes after the battle at the MechXenos temple concluded with the Routing of the Orks, The Dark Eldar attacked the exhausted victors and left half of them dead, another third missing in action, and of those who survived, less than a dozen were left sane, and of those none are physically fit for continued duty with the emperor. The Eight sane survivors of the Aquileus Raid were pensioned for life and given full war honors. The fate of the missing troops remains uncertain.

The Battle of Aquileus is notable for the conspicuous lack of information on the fates of so many of its participants. Indeed, the Battle of Aquileus has more combatants listed as MIA than any other battle since the 10th Black Crusade of Abbadon.

*the Fate of the Warboss of the Waaagh!, Krimscrag Backstabba, remains unknown.
**The culprits for this massive destruction are presumed to be Chaos Cultists, but as the entire city was reduced to a crater full of half-melted structures, it is impossible to ascertain.