THREAT LEVEL: ULTRAVIOLET
Subject #696 is an unstable, previously unknown alien entity
secured from the hulk Damnatio Magellus when it reappeared in
the Slinnar Drift. The Magellus had been lost sixteen decades
previously from the fl eet of Rogue Trader LeCouer when it
became separated from his fl otilla during an unexpected warp
storm. The space hulk itself bore the marks of violent attacks
when it reappeared. Gaping rents torn in her hull called to
mind the monstrous claws of Tyranid bio-ships, but what the
Battle-Brothers found inside exceeded even those behemoths
in horror.
The Kill-team was led by Deathwatch Chaplain Titus
Strome at his own request, an unusual action for the dutybound
old warrior. He shared a strong premonition with his
team that a great foe lurked within as they breached the inner
seals and he was soon proven right. Nestled in the command
cathedral they found the creature that had killed the entire
crew of the Magellus at rest among the charnel refuse of its
victims. A slithering, monstrous thing of claws and tentacles
rose to challenge the Battle-Brothers, seemingly made of
equal parts squid, bird and spider.
The Battle-Brothers righteously belaboured the towering
entity with stormbolter and plasma gun, but it availed them
naught. For every limb burned or shot away, two more grew
instantly to replace it and with each passing moment the beast
became ever more hardened against their assault. Promethium
and chain blades fared better for a time, but the creature's
endurance seemed relentless and no central mass or brain
stem could be found.
Brother Alaix was torn in two by grasping tentacles, and
Brother Faynor pierced from neck to crotch by a feathered
bone-blade before, in desperation, Chaplain Strome employed
a relic he had carried for over two centuries to overcome the
alien fi end. The Temporus Agitens was a master-crafted stasis
bomb said to come from the hand of Magos Justinius Krenz
himself, a fi st-sized device able to stop time in a small radius
for limited duration before expending itself.
The beast of the Damnatio was engulfed by the stasis
fi eld in a brilliant fl ash and trapped like an insect in amber.
Chaplain Strome briefl y considered redirecting the stricken
hulk into the heart of the nearest star but his duty to the Long
Vigil stayed his hand. Such an apparently-unique specimen
needed to be examined and identifi ed so that it could be
countered, especially as the grizzled Chaplain knew of no
comparable beast from all his long years of service in the
Deathwatch. The transfer back to Erioch was fraught with
diffi culties. Another death and several injuries were incurred
before the thing was fi nally securely contained in the Xenos
Bestiarium.
To date, examinations of Subject #696 have been largely
fruitless and frustrating. Early theories of it being a warpinduced
mutation or a Tyranid organism have been disproved,
even though it shares traits with both. No weapon or attack
has been found that is fatal to it, although several have been
discovered that considerably retard its extraordinary penchant
for regeneration. It has been postulated that the entity may be
manifestation of a being dwelling in another dimension with
only limited ingress into our own—feeding tendrils pushed
through a crack, in effect. How such a creature might be
killed and whether it is truly unique remain riddles that have
yet to be satisfactorily answered.
jk
