Morax IV:n hävitys
Lähetetty: Pe 03.04.2015 14:22
First Sergeant Jonas could not be sure how long they had been on Morax IV. Months, perhaps even over a year. His unit had not yet encountered the enemy even once. He’d always found waiting to be the best part of war. Others had opposite opinions, but to him waiting was much preferable to fighting fanatical heretics, horrible xenos or mind-bending abominations from beyond space and time. He peered through the magnoculars, lazily scanning the area. The town looked peaceful. The cathedral of the Saviour-Emperor loomed magnificent on his right and the Forge-district of Adeptus Mechanicus on his left. He and his squad were stationed on one of the Bastions that they had erected through the town. Rest of the company was scattered around them, behind Aegis Defence Lines, heavy weapons poking through the slits in the line like bristles on the back of the hogs on Jonas’ home planet. He longed for home, was lost in contemplation of it when the signal came. Enemy was approaching. He felt his gut turn to ice, horrible wrenching feeling twisting his stomach here and there. Enemy. Heretics. Traitors. Perhaps even the traitorous Astartes. Or, he shuddered to think of it, Daemons. No, there would probably just be some traitorous PDF’s like the third company had encountered and easily flushed out of the town.
At first glance it seemed like a wave was approaching their lines. When Jonas peered through the magnoculars, he realized that the wave was made of flesh. Heretics, thousands and thousands of them. The rabble was running straight to their guns, armed with scrap and without support. But by the Throne there was lot of them. He wondered where they had all been hiding the last months. Jonas fought down the urge to laugh as he saw one of them tripping on his own feet. The unlucky traitor was trampled over by the mob.
Jonas’ laughter died when he saw them. Rhinos. Emperor be merciful. Rhinos. The Enemy were not just traitorous PDF troops and heretical civilians this time. “Rhinos!” someone called from the distance “By the Throne, Astartes Rhinos! Behind the heretics!”
First Sergeant Jonas tried to think of something to say, to bolster the morale of the men. They were all staring at him, faces pale and grim, hands fingering weapons nervously. “We will prevail. For the Emperor is with us. And the big guns. They are with us too” he blathered, not really knowing what he was saying “We will not falter. I know that the Enemy is horrible, but we are well prepared and righteous. We will stop the Rhinos with concentrated fire from the heavy weapon squads, call upon pinpoint bombardment from the Navy and after that, engage the survivors at short range, purge them with blessed meltaguns and holy flamers.” Jonas had to fight to keep his voice level, the terror welling inside his mind like a rabid animal.
“Commence the bombardment. Code: Holy light. I repeat, Code: Holy light.”
”But sire, will we not hit our own troops?” asked the communications officer.
“Yes, but we’ll hit theirs as well” the Lord-Commander replied, smirking at the Space Marine commanders watching him “We have reserves”.
“Lord-Commander” a voice too inhuman in its steely beauty to belong to any of the gathered Imperial Guard and Navy officers began.
“The enemy are mostly civilian heretics, poorly armed rabble backed by few squads of our traitorous brothers. We will take the fight to them, no need for bombardment” Brother-Captain Cuthbert continued, his war plate shining blood red in the light of the hololithic displays. The Astartes was the commander of the Astartes chapter Memoria Sanguis’ 7th Battle Company, the Storm Drops. One of the most high-ranking Astartes here, along with Ezekiel of the Dark Angels. Who was next to speak, his voice a low, grinding sound that caused many of the mortals in the room to startle: “I yearn for the hunt. Let us be done with this and go to war”.
Cagliostro stared from the Astartes to the other. One dressed in red Power Armour, handsome and regal, the other in dark green, grim and silent.
“Code: holy light” he repeated and smiled “The Imperial Guard will die rejoicing their lives go to serve the Emperor. We can not use bombardments anywhere without pinpoint coordinates because of the storms. Now is the time to show the enemy what it means to defy the Emperor's will."
The vox-officer hesitated only for a moment and then gave the order. Lord-Commander Cagliostro smiled and watched the hololithic displays. The plumes of fire ravaged the ground below, striking holy terror on to the enemy. And granted, some to his own troops. But that was a minor drawback. The enemy was upon them and they were doomed anyway. It would be a blessing to the men of the Imperial Guard that they could burn in the sanctified fire of the bombardment, instead of being torn apart by the abominations assaulting Morax IV. Cagliostro glanced at the Space Marines. They stared at him from their helmets, grim as ever. He would be damned if he would explain his strategy to those arrogant creatures. Victory is its own explanation. He hated Space Marines, the so-called defenders of humanity. They weren’t even close to human themselves. Well, he would show them what it means to truly be human. He was ready to make sacrifices for the greater good, for the Emperor. Were they? He doubted it sourly.
“Call the reinforcements. Tell Captain Adrianus to advance at full speed and engage the enemy. We will crush them between the tanks of Adrianus and those defenses still intact. Code: Redeeming hatred. I repeat, Code: Redeeming hatred.” Lord-Commander Cagliostro swept his hand to indicate how the enemy would be swept away by his brilliant stratagem.
“Sire. Captain Adrianus. Well. He is not responding.” the communications officer almost stuttered.
“What? I am surrounded by incompetent fools. If there is a problem with the transmitters, see to it immediately and don’t just stand there, babbling like an idiot.”
“Sire. I do not believe the problem is with the transmitters. We picked up a signal from Lieutenant Maarav’s tank. He is the second in command of Adrianus’ company, the Ninth Panzergrenadiers of Goya.”
“I know who he is, damn you. What does it say?” Cagliostro snapped, his patience wearing thin with this fool.
“It is better that you hear it yourself” the man uttered, going pale as a ghost.
The Lord-Commander felt a tiny speck of unease flicker in his mind. Something was wrong here. He brushed it past and told the communications officer to play Lieutenant Maarav’s message. The vox-transmitter emitted a high-pitched shriek that almost hurt his ears. After that came the chanting and the Lord-Commander felt a horrible lump of cold settle into his stomach.
“Ave tenebris deos. Mort est falsum Imperator.“
“Turn it off man, for the sake of Terra, turn it off!” Cagliostro screamed at the hapless communications officer. He turned the switch and the blasphemous message stopped.
Lord-Commander Cagliostro stared at the creatures around him. The commander of the Astartes chapter Memoria Sanguis’ 7th company, the Storm Drops, stepped towards him. He could see rage glittering in the helmet of Brother-Captain Cuthbert as it approached, no doubt blaming him of the terrible things happening below. Cagliostro pulled his hellpistol and fired. Shot glanced the shoulder pad of Cuthbert and suddenly everything and everyone around them was moving. Hellguns flared, bloters roared and power fields of melee weapons flickered into life as the bodyguards of the commanders rallied to protect their masters. Cagliostro saw a Dark Angels Astartes in Tactical Dreadnought Armour also move forward. It slammed one of his bodyguards aside with the haft of its Thunder Hammer, swatting the man away like a fly.
“Retreat, retreat!” he yelled and turned to run towards the Aquila Lander.
The stormtroopers fell back behind him, delaying the Astartes with fire from their hellguns. Cagliostro looked over his shoulder and saw one of the honour guard of Brother-Captain Cuthbert cut down in hail of energy beams. He almost had the time to smile, but a Tactical Dreadnought armoured marine stepped to the doorway, cowering behind his Storm Shield. Hellguns were no match for the fabled armour or the energy field emitted by the Shield. Cagliostro ran, and voxed his pilot to start the lander.
Everything was fire and noise. The world was burning. First-Sergeant Jonas screamed wordlessly, hands covering his ears and eyes closed tight. Still the booming felt like hammer striking his ears and bright spots danced on his retinas. Pinpoint bombardment. The Navy was firing without any coordinates. Just hammering the town and its outskirts with overwhelming amounts of firepower.
Lady Artemis de Frey felt her metallic body swaying with the power of the explosions. Just before the bombardment had hit, she had received coordinates from the orbit and was on her way to meet the Enemy. Then the apocalypse began. She closed her adamantium clad eyes and waited for it to end. Enemy was there and glory awaited her. She felt the machine-spirit answer to her with a jubilant cry when she stepped forward. It too was eager to attack. She started to run, leaping and galloping towards the front lines and the burning town. But soon she realized something was amiss. There were shadows in the smoke. Terrible, looming shadows. Artemis knew there shouldn’t be any war machines of that size in the conflict.
After the fire everything was in disarray. Half of the men were dead, half of the town just dust and craters. Brother-Sergeant Jonas stood and watched, like he was outside himself. Just a pict-recording servitor, watching without any feeling. He saw squads falling back in the smoke and received frantic and panicked vox-communications. He could not understand why there were so agitated. He saw craters where the Rhinos had been. The wave of the mortal heretics was now an ocean of bodies. But what was that? He saw something moving amidst the bodies. No, the bodies were moving. Coalescing in to something, dragged by some unseen power. That was interesting. First-Sergeant Jonas stood watching as the line of men around him buckled and broke at the sight of the two towering monstrosities.
Major Dürer of the 133th Morkadian Combined Arms asked the Inquisitor to repeat the message.
“Lord-Commander Cagliostro has been deemed hereticus excommunicatis and outsider to the Emperor’s mercy. His Aquila Lander was shot down and fell near to your coordinates. Engage at will.”
“Engaging. The Emperor protects.”
“The Emperor protects. And Major Dürer.”
“Inquisitor?”
“Lord-Commander Cagliostro still holds the keys to the Vaults of Morax IV.”
“Understood.” Major Dürer confirmed, a tiny hint of dread sneaking in to his voice.
He really tried to understand the situation, but was not sure what was happening. Smoke was everywhere, stinging to the eyes and throat and half of the men were unreachable by vox, running or dead.
Lady Artemis uttered a prayer to the Emperor in his aspect as the Ominissiah and peered down the corner. She was unsuited to skulking, both by form and mind. She and the machine-spirit both yearned to take the fight to the Enemy, to see foes of the Imperium fall. But something horrible was stalking the streets. She stole a glimpse of the putrid form as it strolled forward. A horrible, towering behemoth, bigger than her and covered in noxious fumes and slimes. An abomination from beyond. She uttered another prayer and listened a moment to the machine-spirit. Then she sprang forward and opened fire, the cannon’s recoil tugging her arm like a lover and the machine-spirit roaring its fierce joy in her ears.
Barabbas the Thrice Damned, Patron Saint of Stranglers and self-proclaimed Destroyer of Morax IV turned to his allies. “The sacrifice has been fulfilled. The powers answer to our call. He is here. Scabeiathrax, Lord of the Blighted Pit is here!” he announced to the two impassive commanders.
They bleeped. To each other, some kind of blasted machine-talk. Let the machines talk to each other, soon they would learn the true power of flesh!
“Another presence. The first anomaly has emerged in the awaited position.” Overlord Nehentopekh blurted in the crude binary chant the half-flesh creature sometimes used for communicating.
“His god is a fickle entity. But perhaps it looks favorably upon him and sends two emissaries instead of one to fight for him?” the Magos Errant Hephaistos, formerly from the Adeptus Mechanicum, pondered.
“Possible. Possible that the other anomaly is of other power. The anomalies and powers behind them are not known to us.”
“Will you commit to the battle now? The Enemy is soon to be crushed against our heels and you can plunder the Vaults of Morax IV as promised! If we attack together now, they cannot stop us!” Barabbas boomed over the beeping and clicking binary chant.
“We will commit” Overlord Nehentopekh answered, its mechanical voice betraying nothing.
“I shall vox my men to advance” Magos Errant Hephaistos also agreed.
“Perfect! By the powers, I shall have this day and this world!”
Flesh creatures and their desires, Overlord Nehentopekh thought with something that might have been disgust if he would have been able to feel so powerful emotions. He picked up his warscythe and marched to war.
Arrogant bastard, we shall see who gets what, thought Magos Errant Hephaistos with only a tiniest fraction of more emotion than the Necron commander.
At first glance it seemed like a wave was approaching their lines. When Jonas peered through the magnoculars, he realized that the wave was made of flesh. Heretics, thousands and thousands of them. The rabble was running straight to their guns, armed with scrap and without support. But by the Throne there was lot of them. He wondered where they had all been hiding the last months. Jonas fought down the urge to laugh as he saw one of them tripping on his own feet. The unlucky traitor was trampled over by the mob.
Jonas’ laughter died when he saw them. Rhinos. Emperor be merciful. Rhinos. The Enemy were not just traitorous PDF troops and heretical civilians this time. “Rhinos!” someone called from the distance “By the Throne, Astartes Rhinos! Behind the heretics!”
First Sergeant Jonas tried to think of something to say, to bolster the morale of the men. They were all staring at him, faces pale and grim, hands fingering weapons nervously. “We will prevail. For the Emperor is with us. And the big guns. They are with us too” he blathered, not really knowing what he was saying “We will not falter. I know that the Enemy is horrible, but we are well prepared and righteous. We will stop the Rhinos with concentrated fire from the heavy weapon squads, call upon pinpoint bombardment from the Navy and after that, engage the survivors at short range, purge them with blessed meltaguns and holy flamers.” Jonas had to fight to keep his voice level, the terror welling inside his mind like a rabid animal.
“Commence the bombardment. Code: Holy light. I repeat, Code: Holy light.”
”But sire, will we not hit our own troops?” asked the communications officer.
“Yes, but we’ll hit theirs as well” the Lord-Commander replied, smirking at the Space Marine commanders watching him “We have reserves”.
“Lord-Commander” a voice too inhuman in its steely beauty to belong to any of the gathered Imperial Guard and Navy officers began.
“The enemy are mostly civilian heretics, poorly armed rabble backed by few squads of our traitorous brothers. We will take the fight to them, no need for bombardment” Brother-Captain Cuthbert continued, his war plate shining blood red in the light of the hololithic displays. The Astartes was the commander of the Astartes chapter Memoria Sanguis’ 7th Battle Company, the Storm Drops. One of the most high-ranking Astartes here, along with Ezekiel of the Dark Angels. Who was next to speak, his voice a low, grinding sound that caused many of the mortals in the room to startle: “I yearn for the hunt. Let us be done with this and go to war”.
Cagliostro stared from the Astartes to the other. One dressed in red Power Armour, handsome and regal, the other in dark green, grim and silent.
“Code: holy light” he repeated and smiled “The Imperial Guard will die rejoicing their lives go to serve the Emperor. We can not use bombardments anywhere without pinpoint coordinates because of the storms. Now is the time to show the enemy what it means to defy the Emperor's will."
The vox-officer hesitated only for a moment and then gave the order. Lord-Commander Cagliostro smiled and watched the hololithic displays. The plumes of fire ravaged the ground below, striking holy terror on to the enemy. And granted, some to his own troops. But that was a minor drawback. The enemy was upon them and they were doomed anyway. It would be a blessing to the men of the Imperial Guard that they could burn in the sanctified fire of the bombardment, instead of being torn apart by the abominations assaulting Morax IV. Cagliostro glanced at the Space Marines. They stared at him from their helmets, grim as ever. He would be damned if he would explain his strategy to those arrogant creatures. Victory is its own explanation. He hated Space Marines, the so-called defenders of humanity. They weren’t even close to human themselves. Well, he would show them what it means to truly be human. He was ready to make sacrifices for the greater good, for the Emperor. Were they? He doubted it sourly.
“Call the reinforcements. Tell Captain Adrianus to advance at full speed and engage the enemy. We will crush them between the tanks of Adrianus and those defenses still intact. Code: Redeeming hatred. I repeat, Code: Redeeming hatred.” Lord-Commander Cagliostro swept his hand to indicate how the enemy would be swept away by his brilliant stratagem.
“Sire. Captain Adrianus. Well. He is not responding.” the communications officer almost stuttered.
“What? I am surrounded by incompetent fools. If there is a problem with the transmitters, see to it immediately and don’t just stand there, babbling like an idiot.”
“Sire. I do not believe the problem is with the transmitters. We picked up a signal from Lieutenant Maarav’s tank. He is the second in command of Adrianus’ company, the Ninth Panzergrenadiers of Goya.”
“I know who he is, damn you. What does it say?” Cagliostro snapped, his patience wearing thin with this fool.
“It is better that you hear it yourself” the man uttered, going pale as a ghost.
The Lord-Commander felt a tiny speck of unease flicker in his mind. Something was wrong here. He brushed it past and told the communications officer to play Lieutenant Maarav’s message. The vox-transmitter emitted a high-pitched shriek that almost hurt his ears. After that came the chanting and the Lord-Commander felt a horrible lump of cold settle into his stomach.
“Ave tenebris deos. Mort est falsum Imperator.“
“Turn it off man, for the sake of Terra, turn it off!” Cagliostro screamed at the hapless communications officer. He turned the switch and the blasphemous message stopped.
Lord-Commander Cagliostro stared at the creatures around him. The commander of the Astartes chapter Memoria Sanguis’ 7th company, the Storm Drops, stepped towards him. He could see rage glittering in the helmet of Brother-Captain Cuthbert as it approached, no doubt blaming him of the terrible things happening below. Cagliostro pulled his hellpistol and fired. Shot glanced the shoulder pad of Cuthbert and suddenly everything and everyone around them was moving. Hellguns flared, bloters roared and power fields of melee weapons flickered into life as the bodyguards of the commanders rallied to protect their masters. Cagliostro saw a Dark Angels Astartes in Tactical Dreadnought Armour also move forward. It slammed one of his bodyguards aside with the haft of its Thunder Hammer, swatting the man away like a fly.
“Retreat, retreat!” he yelled and turned to run towards the Aquila Lander.
The stormtroopers fell back behind him, delaying the Astartes with fire from their hellguns. Cagliostro looked over his shoulder and saw one of the honour guard of Brother-Captain Cuthbert cut down in hail of energy beams. He almost had the time to smile, but a Tactical Dreadnought armoured marine stepped to the doorway, cowering behind his Storm Shield. Hellguns were no match for the fabled armour or the energy field emitted by the Shield. Cagliostro ran, and voxed his pilot to start the lander.
Everything was fire and noise. The world was burning. First-Sergeant Jonas screamed wordlessly, hands covering his ears and eyes closed tight. Still the booming felt like hammer striking his ears and bright spots danced on his retinas. Pinpoint bombardment. The Navy was firing without any coordinates. Just hammering the town and its outskirts with overwhelming amounts of firepower.
Lady Artemis de Frey felt her metallic body swaying with the power of the explosions. Just before the bombardment had hit, she had received coordinates from the orbit and was on her way to meet the Enemy. Then the apocalypse began. She closed her adamantium clad eyes and waited for it to end. Enemy was there and glory awaited her. She felt the machine-spirit answer to her with a jubilant cry when she stepped forward. It too was eager to attack. She started to run, leaping and galloping towards the front lines and the burning town. But soon she realized something was amiss. There were shadows in the smoke. Terrible, looming shadows. Artemis knew there shouldn’t be any war machines of that size in the conflict.
After the fire everything was in disarray. Half of the men were dead, half of the town just dust and craters. Brother-Sergeant Jonas stood and watched, like he was outside himself. Just a pict-recording servitor, watching without any feeling. He saw squads falling back in the smoke and received frantic and panicked vox-communications. He could not understand why there were so agitated. He saw craters where the Rhinos had been. The wave of the mortal heretics was now an ocean of bodies. But what was that? He saw something moving amidst the bodies. No, the bodies were moving. Coalescing in to something, dragged by some unseen power. That was interesting. First-Sergeant Jonas stood watching as the line of men around him buckled and broke at the sight of the two towering monstrosities.
Major Dürer of the 133th Morkadian Combined Arms asked the Inquisitor to repeat the message.
“Lord-Commander Cagliostro has been deemed hereticus excommunicatis and outsider to the Emperor’s mercy. His Aquila Lander was shot down and fell near to your coordinates. Engage at will.”
“Engaging. The Emperor protects.”
“The Emperor protects. And Major Dürer.”
“Inquisitor?”
“Lord-Commander Cagliostro still holds the keys to the Vaults of Morax IV.”
“Understood.” Major Dürer confirmed, a tiny hint of dread sneaking in to his voice.
He really tried to understand the situation, but was not sure what was happening. Smoke was everywhere, stinging to the eyes and throat and half of the men were unreachable by vox, running or dead.
Lady Artemis uttered a prayer to the Emperor in his aspect as the Ominissiah and peered down the corner. She was unsuited to skulking, both by form and mind. She and the machine-spirit both yearned to take the fight to the Enemy, to see foes of the Imperium fall. But something horrible was stalking the streets. She stole a glimpse of the putrid form as it strolled forward. A horrible, towering behemoth, bigger than her and covered in noxious fumes and slimes. An abomination from beyond. She uttered another prayer and listened a moment to the machine-spirit. Then she sprang forward and opened fire, the cannon’s recoil tugging her arm like a lover and the machine-spirit roaring its fierce joy in her ears.
Barabbas the Thrice Damned, Patron Saint of Stranglers and self-proclaimed Destroyer of Morax IV turned to his allies. “The sacrifice has been fulfilled. The powers answer to our call. He is here. Scabeiathrax, Lord of the Blighted Pit is here!” he announced to the two impassive commanders.
They bleeped. To each other, some kind of blasted machine-talk. Let the machines talk to each other, soon they would learn the true power of flesh!
“Another presence. The first anomaly has emerged in the awaited position.” Overlord Nehentopekh blurted in the crude binary chant the half-flesh creature sometimes used for communicating.
“His god is a fickle entity. But perhaps it looks favorably upon him and sends two emissaries instead of one to fight for him?” the Magos Errant Hephaistos, formerly from the Adeptus Mechanicum, pondered.
“Possible. Possible that the other anomaly is of other power. The anomalies and powers behind them are not known to us.”
“Will you commit to the battle now? The Enemy is soon to be crushed against our heels and you can plunder the Vaults of Morax IV as promised! If we attack together now, they cannot stop us!” Barabbas boomed over the beeping and clicking binary chant.
“We will commit” Overlord Nehentopekh answered, its mechanical voice betraying nothing.
“I shall vox my men to advance” Magos Errant Hephaistos also agreed.
“Perfect! By the powers, I shall have this day and this world!”
Flesh creatures and their desires, Overlord Nehentopekh thought with something that might have been disgust if he would have been able to feel so powerful emotions. He picked up his warscythe and marched to war.
Arrogant bastard, we shall see who gets what, thought Magos Errant Hephaistos with only a tiniest fraction of more emotion than the Necron commander.