Loyalty is its own Reward (A Traitor Legion Chapter Master Quest)

Shadowrobot6 said:

I love the mental image of a dreadnought sneaking around on its tip toes.

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Tomb-Captain Sertorius burst through the wall of ferrocrete in a shower of jagged stone shrapnel. Dust erupted in all direction as screams of shock and panic rippled through the croud like the waves in a lake after a large stone and been launched into it. Though the dust blinded the Mortals and mutants, his sacred war-sarcophagi could pierce such feeble shrouds like his eyes had once pierced the darkness.

"GREETINGS, SCUM. I AM HERE TO CONDUCT A SUPRISE ATTACK." his voice boomed from the speakers implanted into his frame. His assault cannon spun to life and spat fire and death into the stunned crowed. "SUPRISE."

The mutants were scythed down like grainstalks before an auto-harvester. Entire groups burst into crimson mist as the dreadnought boomed forward, his feet leaving spiderweb cracks on the floor with each step. A few were able to raise their weapons in the confusion, but none were able to bring anything to bear that could stop the once-killed Angel of Death.

***

Outside of the large cargo warehouse that had served as a mustering point for the mutant Cult, Scout-Marine Turain watched the carnage of his former Captain through the scope of his stalker bolter.

"The Tomb-Captain seems most... enthusiastic to aid in our mission of nutralizing the cult's leadership.

Scout-Sergeant Adreous smiled from his concealed position by Turain. "He was once Captain of this Company. He is most familiar with the nature of our work. I hear he was most ellated when Chapter Master Severus gave him his orders."

"Pray tell, Sergeant" Turain asked "What... were the Chapter Masters orders, exactly?"

Adreous' smile turned feral. "I believe that the Chapter Master's exact words to the Tomb-Captain were to "Go on a walk.""

"I AM YOUR DOOM, FOUL MUTANT!" The cry boomed distantly from across the open casm of the Hive city.

"I... see." Scout Turain answered.

"I very much doubt that, Turain. You have not even seen the mutant's reinforcment convoy on bridge three." Sergeant Adreous said, clicking the detonator in his hand. The spanning hive-bridge crumbled as the pre-placed wxplosives detonated, sending the crumbling ruins of masonry and ad-hoc armoured vehichles into an empty casm hundreds of meters deep.

"There. Any further reinfirments will take hours to rerout and find a way around. Prep for redeployment to section beta-37 and prep melta charged for remote detonation."

"Yes, Sergeant." Turain and the rest if the squad chorused. In moments they were ready to move with no sign left that they had been there. "Sergeant?" Turain asked.

"Yes, scout?" Adreous answered.

"What about the Tomb-Captain? Is it right to use him as bait, I mean?" Turain posted tge question nervously, not wanting to cross his Sergeant.

"Our Once-Killed brother will be fine. I doubt these rabble even have the necessary ordinance to even scratch his paint. Besides-"

"COME AND FACE YOUR NIGHTMARES"

"He's only having a little fun."

A PDF Officer in the Lord Sector's Cabal(2011 Words)

The hallway outside the officer's quarters of the Lezo Underhive PDF is marked every five feet with portraits of the previous officers who had once made their rest there. Early in the hall you would find the plaques on the portraits said, died in battle, keeping the peace. This continued on for a while. Though for the most part, in the more recent portraits, there was only the occasional death, the more common one being "Retired in the upper spire."


Still, if there was any form of meaning in those paintings Captain Elias de Santiago could find little in the time that he was waiting for his commanding Lieutenant Colonel to call him into his office. One of the few nights his unit was not signed out on night patrol, and he had to spend it waiting on his commander to let him in. Though it was not a long wait, a human servant opened the office door for Elias to enter.


The office was as gaudy as one could expect from an officer with far too many thrones to spend and not enough space to put his acquisitions. The room is covered with various trophies, hunting for the most part, or of more dangerous beasts bought from traders from other worlds from within the sector.


Even still, the Lieutenant Colonel is not sitting behind his desk, instead he is staring at his own reflection in the mirror, his best dress uniform on, and if the glittering box on his vanity were any indication, his destination is to visit his favorite pleasure girl this night. The Lieutenant Colonel catches Elias in the mirror, and while pressing out any last wrinkle in his uniform state. "You're out of uniform, Captain."


Elias looked at the officer in confusion. "Sir?" He questioned, knowing from long experience that any other reaction would have him be dressed down as uneducated lower level scum. Elias's face was captured in the mirror a small scar crossing his chin where a ganger knife had almost taken the whole lower jaw rather than just a cut.


"Your uniform patch. Its the wrong one." The officer pulls something from his pocket and tosses it towards Elias. Catching it, Elias realizes that it's a major's patch. "Congratulations Major." The Lieutenant Colonel turns back toward the mirror though it is obvious that he is observing Elias through the reflection. "Tell me Major, how many years have you been a part of the PDF?"


"10 years sir." Elias answered.


"And in those years, how many yearly ganger pacification campaigns have you and your unit been a part of?" The Colonel knew the answer, he just wanted Elias to say it.


"10 campaigns sir." It was official policy that different detachments be switched out yearly, with 4 campaigns passing before a unit was reassigned to it. But Elias's unit had remained unrelieved for the past decade.


"Ah yes, our loyal hunting hound. You could sniff out any of those scum, since you were one of them, yes?" The officer asked rhetorically. "Poor Lord Santiago. Spending those thrones on a captain's commission for his son, only for him to run off to be an officer in the Naval Tithe." The officer shakes his head and turns away from the mirror, his adjustments to his dress uniform done.


"Well, now it is time for your first official duty as a PDF Major. You will be representing our force in the General's entourage at the Lord Sector's newest party."


And the other shoe fell with his promotion.


"Yes." The Officer continued. "Major Arapaho is on leave." On a five day bender in some chem den. Elias translated in his head from what knowledge he had about his new fellow officers. "Major Duran is at a strategy meeting." Losing his detachment's back pay at a gambling facility "The Colonel is…Courting." Probably attending the same pleasure house that you are heading to sir and one that both of you seem to have become addicted to attending. Elias thought in his head. "Again, your orders are to represent lower command at the Lord Sector's party tonight. You will keep to the edge and not draw attention to yourself, as your birth dictates, as a lower ganger, and not a spire-born." The officer ordered as he turned around and began walking out the door, Elias noticed, as the Lieutenant Colonel shifted his dress jacket again, that the jacket seemed to bulge around his back, indicating that it was ill fitting, and perhaps it was the low light of the office, but Elias could have sworn he saw something shift beneath the jacket. He could not mention it, as the Lieutenant-Colonel made his way out of the office without even a dismissal to Elias.

_________________________________________________


Elias had been trying to make the most of the night. It had not been going well for him. The other officers had already isolated him for being a Lower spire pdf soldier, the 40th daughter of some spire lord, who had tittered at his stories and danced with him with a smile, had left him high and dry when she learned he was not part of some other spire family, and the various wines that they were serving were far too rich for his palate.


There was a brief moment of entertainment when the Lord Sector decided to drink a shot of true Fenrisian ale that was received as a gift from a passing Rogue Trader to his family dynasty many generations ago, which promptly knocked him out, but the partiers simply cheered, and continued their revelry. Even still, Elias was not enjoying the party.


"Major Elias?" A male voice sounded from behind him. A man in a servant's uniform, though judging by the badge of office that he wore, a highly placed servant, had called out for Elias's attention. "You've been invited to a private game in one of the back rooms." The servant cast him a smirk. "I think you would appreciate some…new atmosphere?" If even the servants could spot Elias's discomfort, then Lord Santiago's lessons had been wasted over the last few years.


Elias was quick to accept the offer and before he could gain any more attention from the upper crust, he was led to and entered a dimly lit back room, various pieces of poorly illumianted art hung on various points of the wall. At the center of which was a card table, with several different individuals in different uniforms from various organizations from across the Imperial bureaucracy. A tech priest from the Mechanicum, a scribe from the Administratum, and even a Deacon of the Ecclesiarchy.


All of them ignored him as he took a seat at the table, and he was even more surprised when the servant who led him here took a seat as well. Each of them was busy doing something on their own, one of the tech priest's mechadendrites was working on another, the Arbites was looking through a smaller primer of new imperial edicts, the deacon was clutching an aquila with his head down, and the scribe was scratching away at some parchment with an auto quill, a brief glance showing that it was numbers.


Though everyone stood up at the last arrival to the table, and remained rigidly still as the newcomer took his seat. The Lord Sector, looking a little worse for wear after his drink, and judging by Elias's quick glance at his eyes, revealing dilated pupils and a somewhat hidden twitch, awoken by some sort of stimulant.


"Let's get down to business then shall we." The table nods, and takes their seats, Elias confusingly following along.

_________________________________________________



A few hands of cards are played in silence, though Elias was too distracted to even know what game they were playing or if his hand was good or not. The others seem uninterested as well simply matching bets or calling whenever their turn comes.


The Sector Lord looks around the table before he seems to notice that Elias was there and speaks. "Ah, forgive I'd forgotten, our newest member of our little game. Once captain, now Major Elias of the PDF, Underhive command. Who has been thoroughly vetted I hope." The Lord looked over at the servant, who simply gave a nod of affirmation. The heads around the table nod at Elias in greeting as the Lord Sector continues. "Let's make this bit more efficient, kill 2 gretchin with one krak as it were. Introductions and updates. Berth-Enginseer let's start with you." The Lord indicated the tech priest.


"I am Berth-Enginseer Upsilon-Nu-Omicron. And there has been no major shift in activity." The mechanical voice sounds from a speaker set in the tech priest's face. "There is still jostling among the fleet for repairs and resupply. The shipmasters are even calling in favors owed to skip waits, while others are requesting delays be placed on rival's orders and repairs." The tech priest simply sits down as the Deacon next to it stands and speaks.

"Im am Deacon Arnaldo Vivar. And there is a new corruption growing inside The God Emperor's church than just the greed of my superiors. A few of the lay brothers closer to some of the Preachers have started a new prayer, they mutter, but one of the initiates in my employ was tending the altar as they did, and he swears upon his name that they muttered the words, four-armed, though he could not make out the rest." The table is silent as the Deacon sits once more, though Elias spots the servant seeming to take notes. The scribe stops his quill as he rises and makes his statement.



"Head Under-Secretary of Accountorium of the Administratum of Lezo, Patric de Marco." He takes out the long parchment that he has been scribbling on, and underlines a few of the newer lines on the page. "Several shipments of ammunition and domestic goods have gone missing over the course of the past decade. While it is in the minority, due to the naval tithe rather than the Militarum, we still produce some domestically. And several shipments seem to have been waylaid and disappeared over the years. I already have some of the more loyal Arbites looking into it, but there is little to go on." The Servant was next to stand but the Lord interrupted him.



"And this is Interrogator Carvalho Antonz, representing an…interested party in our investigations." The Interrogator seemed a little disappointed as he attached the silver I badge of the Inquisition onto his servants uniform. He then reaches beneath the table and withdraws a poorly drawn map of the Underhive seeming to be drawn by a non locals hand, as many of the local landmarks have their official names made, rather than the nicknames that have been granted to the different spots over the years, as the territory of the gangs changed. The Interrogator presents a quill to Elias.



Carvalho spoke. "We need your first-hand experience with the Underhive, to help in identifying any possible locations of a cult that a source has warned us about. We need newly isolationist gangs, who have access to resources to make themselves self-sufficient as well as only rare appearances of their patrols." Elias took the quill and running through the options began marking away.



"Well first there is the corpestarch plant it's closer to the center of the Underhive, but right beside it, a waterline that runs up to the upper spires, that area has been in control of a group known as the Purple Corpses, who have taken the area over the last 5 years or so, pushing out a few of the minor gangs who had made an alliance to keep the larger gangs off their backs…" As Elias started marking important locations controlled by isolationist gangs in the Underhive, he caught the lord sector nodding along with an approving look in his eyes, hopefully that look would promise many more meetings for Elias.

Outside the Lord Sector´s Palace.

You make some last minute adjustments to your HUD as you and your men advance in the direction of the Palace, marching alongside the Caroleans, the Arbites and the Order of the Thorned Spear. Located far away from the spires of the nobility, the area leading to the residence of the Lord Sector is a recreational area, filled with parks, cafes, restaurants, theaters, high rise apartments and hotels for the richer strata of Lezoan society and visiting nobles. The ongoing war has obviously taken a toll on the state on the majesty of those locations, corpses, debris and scorch turning what was once an impressive sight into a set of ruins and worn locations. Not that you really cared for the splendor of the environment. With how often your missions involved making an example of highborn nobles you´ve been to a lot of upper hive cities, and with your eidetic memory granting you an almost impeccable recollection of all of them, you have noticed how they all look so similar as to be almost identical. Still, you have to keep an eye out for the Genestealer cultists, so once you finish calibrating the HUD you return to examine the nearby buildings with care.

Your plan for breaking the siege is simple. Your Mist Shrikes and the Sisters of Battle would act as a spearhead, clearing the way towards the palace gates and linking up with the defenders, eliminating the cultists fortified positions on its way. Then the Caroleans will keep the path clear and use it to push the Genestealer Cult out of their positions. It was a reasonable plan, from what the orbital scans and the besieged defenders of the palace have told them before their vox was jammed.

According to that intel, after two unsuccessful assaults at the palace gates which had been easily repelled by the PDF regiment that garrisons the palace, the foe had settled for a siege in an attempt to starve them out, blocking all paths to the palace and shooting down any aircraft trying to resupply the palace. A rather passive approach, and they will take advantage of it before they try to do something more ambitious.

You take your eyes away from your surroundings in order to glance at the marching column. It is certainly an eclectic sight, with the midnight blue power armors of his men mixing with the lighter blue coats of the Caroleans, the gray carapace of the Arbites, and the red and dark green of the Sister´s power armor, the sound of hundreds of footsteps echoing alongside the rumbling treads of tanks and armored transports. Speaking of Sisters, you hear Palatine Ríona approach at a jog, power spear firmly grasped in her hand.

"How are you feeling on this fine day, Chapter Master?" She asks you pleasantly, once more smiling.

"Good, eager to get this over with." You respond, slowing his pace so that the mortal can match it. "How about you Palatine, do you feel anxious for the coming battle?"

She snorts in amusement at his question. "Of course not. If anything I can´t wait to start cleansing those poor people."

Not the way you would have chosen to call a mass of fanatic xeno-tainted mutants, and definitely not the way you would have thought a Sister of Battle would refer to them. "Strange way to call them, Palatine."

"I´ve been told as much plenty of times." Admits the sister with cheer before placing her free hand on her chestplate. "But that is how I see them. Their bodies tainted and twisted from the sacred human form, their minds filled with disgusting heresies and their souls doomed to never know the God-Emperor´s grace. How can I not pity them when their existence is so wretched?" She looks at your faceplate, and you see her green eyes gleam with fervorous belief. "They sin against the Emperor, but in His graceful benevolence he sends us to grant them the only Mercy he can give to their kind. We will give them the kindness of death, and filth will be removed from their spirits while the flesh melts of their bones as they burn." She almost purrs, her smile going from ear to ear, pulling the scar tissue on her cheek in a manner you know to be painful. You can´t help but feel discomfort at the sheer fanaticism in those words. You know of dedication, and you thought you had processed how the Imperial Truth had been replaced with the Imperial Cult, that you have come to terms with the fact that for most people, He is a God. But the unpleasant sensation you feel when your allies are the kind of zealots which in the Great Crusade you would purge tells you you´re not over it.

"Chapter Master." The conversation is interrupted when one 3rd company sergeant approaches you. "We've located the first of the Cult´s positions."

"Well done Iure. Prepare yourself for the assault." The sergeant salutes and turns around, and you look back at the Palatine. "Apologies Palatine, but the battle is about to begin, I must now lead my brothers."

"But of course Chapter Master. May the Emperor guard you in the coming fray!" With that cheerful goodbye she departs, you keep your eyes on her until she fades amidst the marching crowd. Then you march to where your battle-brother gather.

Valzadai looks at their surroundings with caution, bolt pistol drawn and held in a deathgrip. Techmarine Husnik is near the Rhino, his mechadendrite opening and closing repeatedly. The three squads of 3rd Company march in lockstep, with each of their sergeants at the front, identifiable only by the red line on their helmet. Sertorius looms over all, the dreadnought keeping his customary silence as it closes the back of the formation. Ahead of all of them is your Honor Guard, the banner of the Chapter flying above them proudly. You take your place among them, and they surround you, your bodyguard forming a ring around you. You notice Spatha is tenser than usual, and address him.

"No sense in worrying now about what the future holds. Whatever happens next, we will face it." The only reaction you get from your company champion is a slight squaring of the shoulder, and a deep breath.

No more words are spoken as the fight begins.



There isn´t a type of warfare that you know better, and that you dislike more, than Hive-city warfare. It presents all the problems of urban warfare and raises them to their utmost degree. Each building has a myriad of floors that need to be cleared out, every corner is a hiding place for an ambush and every window or balcony may provide a vantage point for a sharpshooter or a heavy weapons team. The combat you and your men face is a perfect example of this. The cult´s strongholds were located in individual buildings that are spread out around the palace, which you and the Sisters of Battle storm individually, the Arbites and Caroleans following close behind. The avenues and streets separating those buildings are the scenario of their own confrontations, tanks and APC clashing against the Cult´s modified and looted vehicles with rockets and krak grenades flying through the air. Room by room, you and your brothers are faced with a surprising variety of deformities of the human form, from some that look almost completely humanlike except for the purplish tint to their skin, three-armed men with purple, scaly growth, hulking and deformed brutes and things that look like a abominable mix between a genestealer and a man. All fall beneath your chapters blades, your power armor protecting you against most of the foes' small arm fire. The twisted brutes do possess the strength and tools to punch through ceramite, and for that they are singled out by you and your Honor Guard, their savagery and muscle mass useless against the bladework of Spatha and his peers, who wield their power swords and chainglaives with a skill befitting of the old Legions.

As you remove your own chainblade from the chest of a hybrid in a PDF uniform, you glance back at the women of the Order of the Thorned Spear near you. Palatine Ríona is busy shooting her hand flamer into a room, the sound of screams and the smell of burning meat reaching you, as her sisters do the same in the corridors of what was previously a hotel. The chipper, wide grin that usually adorns her face has been replaced by a smaller smile, one that transmits a sense of contentment and serenity utterly at odds with her surroundings.

"We shouldn´t have them covering our backs." Comments Valzadai with a whisper, glaring at the sisters as they conclude mopping up the location. "Bunch of madwomen, all of them."

"Zeal aside, they fight fiercely." You defend them. The power armored women have managed to keep up with your own forces, and their fire support has saved the life of your marines on a few occasions. The Repentias have been far less effective, but that was to be expected when someone goes to a warzone unarmored. In your opinion, getting yourself killed as a way to repent is foolish. In the VIIIth Legion you had something similar, but even the Nostramans weren´t bloodthirsty enough to throw the red-handed marines into battle in their loincloths. "We work with what is available Valzadai, not with what we wish." Valzadai grumbles but concedes the point as the Palatine calls out to you.

"Chapter Master, my sisters report that the building is secured, let us return to the cleansing at once!" A hint of excitement creeps once more into her voice as she speaks.

"Lead the way Palatine." You answer, and after a few minutes of hurried descent using various flights of stairs you reach ground. The palace gates are at sight, with only a thinning line of mutants standing between you and your target, bolstered by a few heavy bolter emplacements and two Goliaths. Amidst them you spy the form of an aberrant even more towering that the others you have faced before. Facing them are a battalion of Carolean Guard, two of their Leman Russes, and Sertorius, the barrels of the autocannon glowing red from the heat generated by its constant use. Seeing your objective at reach, you point your chainsglaive at the foe.

"The palace is at hand!" You shout, making yourself heard above the crack of las beams, the sounds of explosions and the screams of the wounded and the dying. "Push forward, for Emperor and Imperium!!"

A pillar of marble, seemingly taken out of the façade of one of the nearby buildings, flies towards you at great speed, thrown by the colossal aberrant in a manner akin to a javelin. You and your honor guard scatter out of the way, but Valzadai doesn´t react quickly enough and the pillar hits him in the chest. You hear the ceramite in his armor and the stone of the column shatter by the force of the impact, alongside the sound of a breaking ribcage as your chief apothecary falls to the ground a few meters away, the remains of the pillar pinning him down. For a split second, you think that he may have perished, but soon you see his vitals still active in your helmet HUD, and a sigh of relief escapes your lips.

If the mutants have hoped to stop your momentum with that, their hopes are quickly dashed. The assault marines jump-packs roar as they are propelled through the air until they fall like a hammer blow amidst the cultist lines, cutting them down with their chainswords. The number of foes firing against the caroleans and yourselves diminish as they try to fend the assault marines off, allowing you to close in the distance and engage the mutants in close quarters. You feel a couple of lasbolts dissipate against your Iron Halo, before you reach their lines and cleave two mutants in half, your honor guard close at hand and both the Sororitas and the Caroleans right behind you.

The abominant tries to charge you, but Sertorius intercepts him, a blow from his combat claw throwing the mutant backwards, the old captain of the 10th stomping towards him. Without the giant mutant, it is only a matter of blood and time stomping the enemy resistance, clearing the path towards the palace gates. As you had fought the last enemy chokepoint, you´ve noticed with some trepidation how the PDF that should be manning the gate had not intervened much in helping you kill the foe. A few errant shots, but with a clear line of sight and the level of fortification that the rampart sported there should have been way more in the way of assistance from the garrison. As you approach the gate, they open and what they reveal gives you an ill-feeling. There is barely a platoon behind the gates, most of which are wounded. The officer in charge, a lieutenant with a bandaged torso, salutes with clear exhaustion.

"Thank the Emperor you have reached us!" He says, leaning on a nearby wall. "We couldn´t warn you before with the jammer, but the enemy has sent a breaching party through the sewers, with some kinda monster lurking around!"

You don't look backward, even if you can feel Claudius gaze on you, accompanied by the sound of gauntlets tightening around a sword hilt. "Are the Lord Sector and his family safe?" You ask the lieutenant.

"For now he is Milord." Reports the lieutenant. "8th company and the Lord Sector´s personal guard were holding the enemy back last time I saw them, but we don´t know how long they will hold or even if they are still holding with the vox jammed."

You´re about to order everyone to enter the palace on the double when the jammed vox suddenly flares to life again. "We´ve located the source of the jamming!" Shouts a voice with a carolean accent. "It is one of the mutant officers, he's doing something weird with the…AGGH IT HURTS! IT HURTS!!" The transmission cuts off, only to be replaced by a myriad of other voices superimposing onto each other.

"9th Platoon, 6th company here, they are pushing us hard in the left flank!"

"Lieutenant Edlund here, the enemy is launching a counterattack in Calle de Gracia, we´ll hold them off!"

"Marshall Teodorico´s dead, Curro el Bandolero shoot him!"

Everyone awaits your orders, as the situation behind you seems to somewhat falter.

Situation: You´ve managed to break through the Genestealer Cult encirclement and reach the palace. However, the enemy has breached the palace and is encroaching on the Lord Sector.

-[] Write-in who will stay and help the Arbites and Caroleans in fighting the remaining cultists and who will enter the palace in order to secure the Lord Sector. Take into account that the successes needed for victory will be altered depending on how many people you send into the palace. You can´t send Valzadai (Wounded) and Sertorius (Fighting the Genestealer abominant)


Megarrail station Atocha, Upper Levels



A key part of transportation between the multiple levels of the hive world was the Megarail system, boasting of thousands of lines and covering the need of transportation of billions on a daily basis. With the insurrection and the declaration of curfew and martial law that had followed after, the Megarail network had been co opted in its entirety by the defenders of Lezo, who use it to transport with all the efficiency possible.

Sergeant Varro reminds himself of that as he watches the entry of the station. He would have preferred a far more worthy assignment, like helping his captain in doing reconnaissance of the Underhive, or breaking the siege of the governor palace. But the Chapter Master has ordered him and his squad to keep watch and he would do so. Even if the only thing his duty has consisted of has been checking credentials, inspecting cargo and keeping an eye out for suspicious people. In order to banish the tedium, Varro opens a comm-link to his squad. "3-10 status report."

"Everything's in order in station Recogidas, sergeant."

"Nicolau reporting, no signs of trouble in station Alcazar."

"Flavius here, a technician just concluded maintenance on the tracks in Station Escorial, otherwise nothing to report."

Varro frowns at the last report. "Flavius, there was only one technician?"

"Yes sir, just one. Why?"

The sergeant restrains himself from cursing. "Flavius, maintenance of the tracks is done in teams of four, check that track now!!" He hears his men running through the still open channel. Varro clenches his fist in powerless anger, the other station too far for his own position for him to intervene. After a few minutes Flavius speaks once more,

"There's a bomb here! Seems to be an improvised explosive, doesn´t share any features with standard explosives. Will try to disar…." His words are cut off with the sound of an explosion and the subsequent sound of static. Varro punches a nearby wall, the ferrocrete chipping away as his fist impacts it. WIth an ursine growl, the sergeant prepares himself for reporting to his failure.

-The cult has managed to blow up one of the main crossroads of the megarrail network, reducing the logistical means of the Imperial forces. Next phase, less PDF forces will be available for Middle levels and Underhive actions.
-1 Marine slain, 2 Progenoids gained

Quadrant 892, Middle Levels.



Mikhail, battle brother of the 2nd Squad of the 10th Company of the Mist Shrikes, examines the warehouse in front of him. It wasn´t a fortified position, akin to those the Cult was using as strongholds in other locations in the middle levels, instead giving the impression of being a derelict building, with crumbling wall, broken windows and a coating of dirt and grime. Of course that impression was betrayed by the sudden entry of a cultist with a rifle on her back and a shorter, more visibly mutated creature trailing behind her.

He turns his head back to address his companion in this scouting mission. "Should we go inside Rimor?"

The older terran mulls his question before nodding. "She seems like some kind of assassin, so that must be either an arsenal, the entry of a secret tunnel or an intelligence drop point. Whatever it is, killing her will prevent the demise of someone important."

The walk between their vantage point and the warehouse is a short one, but both the terran and the luctusian cross it with caution, wary of any sentry or patrol that may appear suddenly. Once they reach the door, Rimor opens it slowly with his left hand, the right one pointing his bolter inside before going inside. Mikhail trails close behind, scanning the inner space with his stalker bolter. The warehouse in question is bustling with crates, filled with spare parts if the messages written in Low Gothic and Lezoan can be trusted. A faint sound of footsteps trailing away reaches their ears, and with a last look between them, both Mist Shrikes approach the direction of the sound with ready weapons.





The footsteps came from a tunnel, dug into the floor of the warehouse. Both marines descended there, the complete darkness of the tunnel a mere trifle for the two astartes. They advance cautiously through the winding and sinuous path, haphazardly dug and low enough that it forces the two marines to crawl through it. After a few minutes of dragging themselves through the tunnel, they emerge on a different part of the middle levels, a market place judging by the abandoned and broken stalls nearby.

"I don´t see her." Says Rimor as he scans their surroundings. "Do you Mikhail?"

"No, but she cannot be far, a street away at most." Mikhail turns his head around to answer, which prevents the Genestealer Sanctus shot from penetrating his eye lens, embedding itself in the faceplate. Both marines react immediately, returning fire in the direction of the shot, as they both move into cover, Mikhail crawling into a nearby stall, and Rimor leaning against the entrance of a nearby hab-block. The terran pokes his head, and after spying a blur of moment at the end of the market place, he fires a snap shot with his bolter, nailing the moving figure in a splatter of purplish blood.

"Think I got it." Declares Rimor with some satisfaction. He starts to walk towards the body, bolter pointing at the corpse as Mikhail covers him. The terran stops a meter away from the body and curses.

"It´s the thing that was trailing behind her! She´s still al…" His words are when he falls to the floor in a clang of ceramite, his right eye lenses broken and blood coming out of the eyehole. This time however, Mikhail is able to discern the exact location of the sharpshooter, finding her kneeling in one of the lower rooftops of the area. He lines his shot, and the Sanctus upper body falls to the floor with a splat, the force of the bolt´s detonation bisecting the body in two.

Mikhail waits for a minute to see if there are any nearby foes that might have heard the shootout before moving again. He doesn´t bother approaching Rimor, his HUD informing him of the lower marine demise, instead choosing to approach the remains of the mutant hitwoman. Taking a second to overcome his reluctance, Mikhail takes off his helmet and draws his combat blade. Then with careful, precise cuts he removes the upper skull of the corpse, after which he eats the mutant's brain.

He is almost overwhelmed by some of the memories of the thing, especially those involving the xeno overlord of the cult, slathered as they are in unnatural love and devotion. Visceral disgust fills his hearts, but with a foul taste in his mouth he forces himself to focus on the data he might glean for the remembrance, and there is much to discern there. He recalls the target of this mutant, alongside the number of assassins and saboteurs the cult has at his disposal and where their next targets are. There are also locations there, both of depots and strongpoints, alongside vague impressions of the place of residence of the Patriarch.

When the surge of memories cease, Mikhail takes a deep breath, puts his helmet back on and opens a vox-channel.

"Sergeant, Mikhail here, I have much to report."

-Enemy positions in the Middle level scouted, bonus to the rolls in the Middle Level battles
-Assassination of Colonel Silvia Burgos prevented.
-Cult revealed to have 2 Reductor Saboteurs and 2 (Now 1) Sanctus Assasins, their targets in the next part will be highlighted.
-Bonus gained to the Scout the underhive action and Sabotage supplies and warehouse actions.
-Notable gained, Brother Mikhail (+Intelligence, Focused)
-1 Marine slain, 2 progenoid gained

Las 30000 Viviendas, Underhive


Las 30000 Viviendas is, according to what Gallienus has been told by some PDF officers he has spoken to, one of the most dangerous and wretched areas of the Underhive of the planet, the kind of place that forced the PDF to descend in force yearly or so to keep a semblance of order and cull the hyper-violent gangs that made that place their home. So, of course, it was the first place they have decided to explore in search of the cult´s base of operations. The inquisitor and her stormtroopers had chosen instead to check another operation area, to Gallienus' mixed opinion. On one hand, he could admit that splitting up would not only make their movements more discreet and allow them to cover more ground. On the other hand, he didn´t trust the woman in the slightest and he would feel more comfortable if Yefimovich could take a look in her head and root out whatever little secrets she hides.

Speaking of which, the new Chief Librarian is walking alongside him, staff tapping in unison with his steps as he walks. Not having spoken much with his youngest brother, he decides to make use of this time to make some conversation. "So, have you dealt with genestealer cults when you were in the Deathwatch?"

"Once." Answers the Chief Librarian as he moves his head slightly to look at him. "But we managed to detect it quickly enough and smother it in its infancy. Besides, it was in an agri-world, not in a hive city. Truth be told, I would have preferred if this cult had appeared on another agri-world instead of here."

"You and everyone else on the planet." Quips Gallienus in response. "Not a fan of hive cities?"

"Not in the slightest" Confirms Grigori. "Too many people, too much filth and the smog of pollution is disgusting."

Gallienus stares at him, guessing that the telepath can read how unimpressed he is. "Grigori, the Mist makes the air here look like the purest and cleanest breeze, how can that be an argument?"

"The Mist kills you quickly at least." Is the Luctusian response. Gallienus opens his mouth to argue, before he recalls all the miners in his youth dying with lungs full of metal dust and conceding the point. They continue their leisurely exploration, in the sense that they and their accompanying squad are just constantly watching their surroundings instead of being actively shot at. Grigori had felt with his "talents" a concentration of cultists and they were tracking it in the case it was the hideout of their Patriarch. That assumption is disproven when their ears catch the sound of autoguns firing and shouts in Lezoan.



Carefully following the sounds of battle, Gallienus and his brothers end up finding a detachment of the Genestealer cult locked in combat with an unexpected foe. There were a mob of people defending an hab-block from the cultists assault, fiercely if unskillfully contesting the advance of the mutants. All of them were clad in makeshift ropes and pointed hoods of muddy, faded colors, wielding autoguns and roaring hymns in Lezoan. They share a resemblance with chaos cultists in Gallienus' opinion, and the only thing that disproves that is the fact that all of those robes were abundantly adorned with imperial Aquilas.

"Take position and open fire when ready. Razorback 1 get to our position and open fire when you´re at range." Orders Gallienus, cringing slightly when he sees one of the hooded people try to blow themselves with a suicide vest, only to fail and explode prematurely, catching their own allies in the blast. "Grigori can you do something to shift the odds in our favor?"

The Chief Librarian nods, after which he closes his eyes. A shiver travels through the Captain´s spine as he feels… something, flaring around the Librarian. When Yefimovich opens his eyes again, the blaze with purple light as he waves with one hand at one of the enemy vehicles.

The vehicle in question, a Goliath with mounted Autocannons, suddenly turns its guns at their own forces and unleashes a devastating barrage, cutting down many mutants and catching the rest of guard. The barrage doesn't last long, but a few seconds of uninterrupted fire allow both the hooded warriors to regroup and the Mist Shrikes to get in position. When the autocannons fall silent they are replaced with bolt shells from the marine´s bolters and explosives from the Razorback.

The Genestealer Hybrids, to their reluctantly given credit, react with alacrity, shifting part of their forces to deal with them, but with another exertion of his will Yefimovich puts a serious obstacle to their effort. Many amidst them start infighting, others stop in a daze and a few just aim their weapons and themselves and pull their triggers. Gallienus and his men take advantage of this, firing non stop at the mutants and felling many.

The leader of the mutants, dressed flamboyantly and wielding a pistol in each of his three arms, stands at the top of one of their Goliaths, firing at the marines and nailing one of them with three bullets in the chest. "Shake off the witchcraft of the unfaithful brothers and sisters!" He shouts. "Let the love of the True Emperor flow through you once more!" The gathered mutants seem to start fighting off Grigori´s compulsions at his words, so Gallienus puts a stop to them by firing his bolt pistol at the mutants head. It blows like an overripe fruit, and the mutants fall prey once more to the chief librarian compulsions.

An hour later, all the genestealer cultists are dead, and Gallienus has a newfound and cautious respect for the Chief Librarian. The hooded warriors, or at least the few that remain given that they had suffered grievous casualties, fall to their knees, praising the God-Emperor. Some of them move towards them slowly, as if unbelieving of their presence. Gallienus moves closer to one of them, who immediately bows down to him until his head hits the floor.

"I´m not worthy of being in your presence, oh Holy Angel." He mutters, voice filled with rapturous awe.

"Stand." Orders Gallienus, somewhat discomforted with the worship. "Who are you?"

"Punish me for my impudence if you must Angel, but my name I shall not recall. We are all unworthy sinners who survived the mutants and heretics conquest of the underhive, oh Angel." The man tells him, and while his face is hidden by dyed canvas, his voice is filled to the brim with self-loathing. "We failed to prevent the God-Emperors lands from falling into the grasp of the heretic, and for that we must make penitence, in blood and death." The other hooded men nod in unison at their words, followed by a shout of "Atonement in death!"

"Do you know where the heretics have their main lair?" Ask the Captain.


"The thing that they call the Emperor lurks in the old sewage treatment plant." Answers the hooded man. "We can guide you there Angel, but we´ve been unable to reach it before, for the heretics muster there in great numbers, far greater than what we can fight, even if we have tried before."

Gallienus takes his eyes away from the fanatic in order to look at the Chief Librarian. "Is he telling the truth?" He asks, not quite trusting a lunatics word.

"He believes it at least." Grigori answers. "We shall report this to the Chapter Master."

"That we shall." Gallienus turns back to the hooded man. "If it is atonement what you wish, you can expiate your sins by fighting alongside us against the Patriarch when we return. Will you do so?"

The mans heart starts to pound in his chest with such speed that Gallienus suspects it might burst. "That is a far greater honor that we deserve Milord!!" He exclaims in excitement. "We shall do all we can Angel, even if it is throwing ourselves at your feet so that you may not sully your boots!!"

Gallienus can use that enthusiasm, even if it does disturb him. Judging by the carefully blank look in Grigori´s face, the luctusian shares his feelings.

-Location of the Patriarch unlocked, new actions gained.
-Penitentes added to Available Forces.

Q.M notes: Sorry for the delay people, but things have been busy and Nurgle has decided to grant me one of his "gifts". The sabotage supplies actions will be written alongside the end of the Lord Sector situation in Part 2.5