A Fall From Light

[Kickstarted and Running 965]

This is a story written from the eyes of my character (Xephon) based on the session me and some buddies were playing.

We used character templates from Death Watch and made up our own campaign

GM- Adam

Meros- NPC

Xephon- James (me)

Letzt- Sean

Roubert- William

Karth- Lucas

Mikel- Nick

It began on Kronus... A strike force descended on the planet, a joint operation if Flesh Tearers, Blood Angels, and Blood Drinkers which were to link up with the 147th Expeditionary Force. Consisting of Imperial Troopers and armor battalions with near no air units... Why weren't there any? It was simple, Captain Hark has pissed off one too many superiors by disobeying orders to win battles.

Commendable but stupid, as can e seen now. In addition an Astartes battle fleet. Two small ships and a cruiser. Hereldry indicated the ships as an Ultramarines Cruiser and the smaller ships being Gryphon ships. None of the ships replied to hails, they just drifted.

The 147th sent out distress beacons after sending in a scout force. Vox signals picked up were screams and moans, gunfire and gibbering noises. The Guardsmen screamed not for help, but to purge the system. To call whoever could come and purge this system.

The first to respond was this joint force of the legacy of Sanguinius. Led by Force Commander Meros, a captain of the Blood Angels, the strike force consisted of 750 Astartes in two strike cruisers.

They had enough equipment to stage their own crusade. Dante spared no expense to supply his brothers in his own and ofer chapters.

Meros stood on the bridge of the "Blood's Call" and shouted out to hail the 147th. Captain Hrak was quick to answer saluting over the image "M'lord! Emperor bless you for c-"

"What's the situation, captain?" His voice was calm and heavy, sparing no time for pleasantries

The captain told quickly what tells situation was an then stating "What would you have the 147th do, m'lord?"

"You now report to me. My Astartes are going to get to the bottom of this, train batteries on the ships and break the void shields. After that, I want you to prepare to blow the damned things to the Warp, if we are lost inside to whatever lurks. Understood, captain?"

With a salute "Yes m'lord"

The communique lasted 13 minutes and 42 seconds, the whole while the Strike Force had been maneuvering to be prepared to send boarding torpedoes onto the Ultramarines Cruiser, oaths were taken, boltgun racks slide in unison, prayers made, the rev of chainswords and as one, 750 voices shouted "For Sanguinius, for the God-Emperor!"

They filed into the tubes, a prayer said over the general vox to ready the minds of the strike force.

A hiss of seals breaking, and clanks and whir of gears, a jolt and then... Silence.

They flew through space at the Cruiser, spools of radiation and plasma trailed from the Cruiser where the 147th got too trigger happy, but it didn't pose a danger,

Commander Meros stood up in the tube, his boots mag-locking onto the floor, a two handed sword slung on his back, a chainsword of a design dating back to the Great Crusade. Meros looked at his honor guard, all silent, heads down, sporting various trinkets, armor designs and trims, and a variety of weapons each was a master with.

Born in blood the Black Rage had consumed all of his Honor Guard in the past. Not one died in any way but in the clutches of the Thirst, the legacy of his Primarch, the epitaph of hate for Traitors.

His choler grew red and his teeth gritted, scum fit for dea-

A crash, Meros shook his head as the torpedo pierced the bulkhead, he gripped a handle, the nose exploded outward causing a breach, Meros and his honor guard charged out, looking at...

Nothing. It was empty. No signs of distress of bloodshed. Reports came in from all boarding parties of the same.

Thinking a moment, Meros nodded and ordered to fan out and maintain minimal vox contact, to communicate in battle sign.

Not 30 minutes in a fire team voxes in that the hanger is a mess. The force commander needs to get there now.

Meros moved at a steady jog down the halls, moving into the hanger into what can only be described as Hell. Bodies of what was identified as the 147th were strewn about but what was more disturbing was that some were poked or nailed on walls, and on the wall with hundreds of bodies was a ensign of the Blood God

"Throne of Terra..." Meros spat out the curse

Turning to the few teams assembled and pointed at the gory mess "Burn it... Torch all the bodies and have all squads regroup"

A salute and nod then the call was sent out. In two hours all 750 Astartes were assembled, cleansing the room.

Meros set up a command center in an intact Thunderhawk, relaying basic details to Hrak, soaring the detail the bodies were troopers.

"Captain, we are prepared to evac and return to the flee-"

Now it was Meros' turn to get cut off, a lurch and groan if metal and a squeal of tortured hull, Meros ran out to see the blast doors to the hanger pushing open from the halls, fire teams set up at the doors, a sergeant ran up, bolt pistol and chainsword in hand "Force Commander! Hostiles pushing on our location, orders?"

Meros bared his fangs, the sergeant, a man named Zurial, was a Flesh Tearer, likely his men were all equipped in a similar fashion, chain weapons and pistols, modified for more damage and less accuracy, they would be useful in the coming tide.

Meros grunted and nodded "Get the Flesh Tearers up front, then move support units in back and tacticals into cover. Destroy them as they enter"

Meros moved with his honor guard up front with a squad of Flesh Tearers, my squad in fact. I was brother Xephon, under Sergeant Zurial. He looked at me, Meros did, giving an amused smile, my choler up, procedure was lost to me "Amused at something, brother?" A lick if venom in my voice

This warranted a laugh from him "I'm simply curious as to if you Flesh Tearers truly are masters of bloodshed..."

Flashing my sharpened teeth in a smile "We will put the stories to shame"

Meros looked as if to say something when the door blasted open, gibbering mad crewmen came charging, marks of Chaos on them, human leather decorating them, wielding serrated blades and weeping blood

I watched Meros shout an oath and charge, I followed suit with a howl of eager bloodlust, my chainaxe roared as I thumbed the activation rune, swinging madly, firing subsonic bolts into the fleshy mass, ending dozens of the attackers but they just kept coming, dragging down battle brothers and forcing us back to the command Thunderhawk.

We were pushing against them, all ammo and ballistic weapons long since thrown down, using chain an force weaponry we gave our final stand.

With a shout Meros stood on the Thunderhawk, his pauldrons streaked with soot and blood, he raised a Thunderhammer taken from the Thunderhawk, he leaped into the sea of cultists, each smack of his hammer blew a crater in their ranks, killing hundreds in a few minutes the tide was turned and they retreated into the halls.

Meros stood in the centre of the hanger, broken bodies around him in a pond of blood, covered in the vitiate of his enemies, dripping off of him.

Looking upon him I shuddered, and scoured the battlefield, pushing down the beast inside me like I had done so many times before.

In the end there were actually a surprising number of men left alive. 432 alive 0 dead and 290 wounded and 28 were... Gone. We found their remains later. They weren't bodies.

Vox was down except for squad to squad and individual. We were stuck here. Zurial was gone. My entire squad was missing in fact except for me. Meros reassigned me to his contingent for now. Some of his honor guards were wounded and missing.

A dark splotch of crimson in a patch of bright arterial red is what I was, but it wasn't something on my mind after a couple of minutes, the ship's lurching made sure of that.

Groans and squeaks, howls and tortured squeals. It was almost as if it was a living thing being tortured and changed. The Techmarines could be seen shaking their head or touching the walls, with an occasional mutter to the Machine God.

Pressing deeper into the ship, Meros chose 50 men to move to the bridge with him, the rest stayed behind to fortify and look after the wounded.

As we moved further from our battle brothers in the hanger, corruption became apparent. Walls rank with the stench of death, marks of Khorne carved into the walls, and ritual sacrifices displayed openly.

There was two things that happened during this. One, we found our battle brothers, and two, we obtained vox contact with Captain Hrak, who relayed to us that targeting systems and weapon systems were... Inoperable at this moment in time.

Meros urged us onward, and not long after we were cut from the vox again, we found our battle brothers.

28 immobilized bodies, conscious but unable to move, chained to the wall, bleeding from wounds into a massive pit of blood.

The smell was almost too much for me, shuddering at the thought of the blood, I had to again suppress the beast inside me. Apparently my reaction was obvious, and Meros gave a sidelong glance to me "Easy brother... We all feel it"

The reassurance was well received, and being unable to do anything for our battle brothers at this moment we destroyed the vat of blood.

Tossing Krak and Frag inside, the pit exploded and drained into various lower decks. Meros have a glance to our battle brothers and gave up a prayer before relaying our location to our brothers in the hanger for an extraction team.

Brother-Captain Meros insisted we move forward, and so we did, no objections were voiced but there was clearly some reservations. Mere Humans, even augmented by the Runious Powers could never hoist 28 Astartes, let alone chain them to a wall.

I knew of two things that could do this... The first being Daemons, which were bad news. They likely would have simply killed the Battle-Brothers however. The second possibility was our forsaken brothers, those who were titled Traitoris Extremis.

Traitor Legions.

I instinctively touched a small fetish imprinted onto my left pauldron, a small Aqualia with an "I" clutched in it's' talon. It was granted after a campaign in which my Chapter disposed of a Blood Cult of Khorne on a forge world, allowing the world to live instead of face Exterminatus, the death of a planet. My squad was all butchered saved for myself during a spearhead into the cultists convent while they attempted to summon a Bloodthirster. I was chosen as a candidate for the Death Watch but I quickly refused. I want my name immortalized and glory with it, not to sulk in shadows and wage a shadow-war.

Meros opened a private vox, his voice slightly distorted by it was clear he had just pushed down some rage "Brother" he greeted I responded "Yes, Brother-Captain?"

"I know of your battle record. What do you make of this?"

"It reeks of Chaos, of course"

"Clearly... But does it not bother you we see no Ultramarines?"

I paused a moment, it did bother me

"Maybe they all fled..."

"Ultramarines fleeing? Unlikely."

"Perhaps they are on the planet below?"

"No... They would have left men here, and all transport an drop pods are here"

"Maybe they're holed up below..."

"I hope so brother... Otherwise... Well I dread to think what would be the next line of thinking"

"You fear they fell?" I mused

"I fear nothing" he snaps quickly "I only wish I do not have to put down good Brothers"

"Aye brother... I share that desire."

A moment of silence

"We should move our thoughts elsewhere. If you have any insight or see something, tell me. Your expertise is much appreciated"

"Thank you Brother-Captain"

"Of course Brother"

An hours of walking, we entered the hall to the bridge of the ship, a sign from Meros and all 50 Astartes move to cover all corners, HUD adjusting to the emergency lighting and flashing klaxons.

As we got to the doors into the bridge, they were locked down of course, and our two Techmarines went to work on the two doors, massive gilded gate styled doors, They showed ancient victories of the Great Crusade, even depicting legions such as the Luna Wolves, Emperor's Children, and so forth before they were lost to Chaos.

The doors suddenly slid open before the Techmarines, who both were taken aback, the Brother up close aimed Boltguns into the darkened room.

Lights flickered and showed quick scenes of horror. Dead helmsmen sitting at stations, eyes clawed out and throats ripped open. By their own hands. Ears were ripped off and several had shot themselves.

A tactical marine spat the word "Chaos" through his grille, kicking a body. The Force Commander Meros grunted. "Careful brothers..."

I stepped over to the captain's chair, the Captain was blinded, his tongue ripped out and in his hands, his chest was bare, and a mark of Khorne was on his chest.

"It looks like the Captain was in a cult..."

Meros stepped over to me "How could this have been overlooked?"

"You'd be surprised how many crewmen are slaves to Chaos... Be they knowing or otherwise of it... The seeds of heresy are often sown unknown and from there it is a dark an winding fall"

A glance from Meros and a grunt "Forbidden knowledge is forbidden for a reason, Xephon"

"Knowledge is power"

"Words spoken by wields of the warp"

"You speak foul of our Brother Librarians, Brother-Captain?"

"I express caution in the face of the warp"

"I could say the same for Chief Librarian Mephistion of your own chapter"

"Laughable is your attempt to bait me, he is a Hero"

"One that escapes death?"

Silence from Meros, then a grunt. I smiled under my helm, a sweet victory. But there was a matter at hand that needed attention

"The ships need to be destroyed, brother-captain."

"I agree. But first we need off this damn ship."

"Agreed. We could send some men to th-"

A shriek ripped through our vox, those who pulled off helmets also a heard it, and it was no use turning off vox

It crippled every battle brother, sending some to their knees, most fell against walls, I gripped the captain's chair, putting an indent of my gauntlet into it, Meros stayed standing, his helm was off and his teeth clenched, eyes wept blood and in defiance.

Then the ship consoles began to power up, the screaming stopped and Meros grunted as he looked around "What happened? What's going on?" He shouted out

A Techmarine named Mikel looked at a console, the other tinkered with the captain's chair consoles.

Mikel piped up, his voice had a slight distortion to it from an implant he applied to himself. "Brother Captain! We are moving into the warp!"

"Meros turned to face him "What!? Stop it!"

"It's impossible! We are too far into the jump."

Meros stayed still a moment, lost for words before I piped in "This means that all systems are up... We should relay information to the Brothers in the hanger"

Meros nodded "Do it Mikel, and try and relay a message to Captain Hrak"

Mikel said no words, and worked, in less than two minutes the first message was sent off and a coded message was sent to Hrak, and 19 seconds later we were in the warp.

The ship lit up, all systems restored and on every screen was the same message

"The Thirst cannot be sated but through me"

Meros looked concerned, then moved to the Captain's chair "Mikel, where are we headed?"

"No location marked, brother captain"

"So what then?"

"We're drifting"

I was done listening, I knew what needed to be known, I looked to our librarian, a brother Roubert.

Roubert stared into the warp, face locked into one of concentration, his staff gripped in his hand, an gilded not pistol at his side, his sigil was one of the Dark Angels, an odd figure here, his hood and surplice drawn over his head.

I walked over next to him "Brother Roubert"

"Brother..." He looked at me a moment "Xephon. Emperor's blessings upon you, Tearer of Flesh."

"And the same upon you"

"It is welcome, but I am guessing you did not come to me for pleasantries. What is it you wish of me?"

Giving a slight pause I took a breath "What do you see?"

"I see what you see, brother. We are looking at the warp"

"I would ask then... What do you make of this?"

"Ahh... That question makes more sense. I would say Chaos tries to consume us."

"Will it succeed?"

"That is beyond my ability to see"

"So what do we do?"

"Continue to counsel the Captain."

"That is all?"

"And be wary... Now go, I have things to ponder"

With a nod I moved off to stand at the Captain's chair by Meros who looked over to me, sitting in the chair, the late captain nowhere in sight "Brother, we have found something on the lower decks. I want you to go and figure out what it is. Take whoever you want, just report back to me with what you find."

I nodded "By your word Brother Captain" I said, making the Aqualia, to which Meros waved off with his hand and a grunt

I stood a moment awkwardly then moved off to gather Mikel, Roubert, an assault marine named Karth, a tactical marine named Markus, and a devastator named Letzt, a Salamander whose squad was being transported with us. The rest were Blood Angels, with the exception of Roubert who was a Dark Angel.

Moving off, we found ourselves in the lower decks, a dank area which reeked of blood.

Moving through the halls there was a shriek and a shuffle of running feet "Blooooooooood!"

A figure in vitiate soaked blood armor of blue came running with an axe in two hands, marks of Khorne covered his armor and it was split in areas

Letzt opened fire with his plasma cannon, frying the Ultramarine as he ran, his remains consisted of a burnt out blue shell with a hole in it.

Looking over at him he have a grunt "Chaos runs rampant."

Roubert nodded "I suspect we will see more lost brothers"

I nodded and led the kill team forward, the occasional cultist was seen, and quickly dispatched.

Then we found the source of it all. Chanting was what we heard first, we moved to the door, another large door, this one chained up and marked in blood and bones.

The Techmarine Mikel set up a charge, and moved back, weapons trained on the door, it exploded inwards, a band of 5 Ultramarines and 24 cultists moved to look, they stood around a summoning circle, sacrifices around and in the circle.

Roubert made an oath and raised his staff, pointing it at a cluster of Cultists, sending bolts of energy into them and frying them.

I tossed a Krak grenade into the room, killing two, the shrapnel hitting and sounding a few others and wounding one of the traitor marines.

Letzt gave a dark chuckle and fired into the crowd, killing and wounding various individuals, both cultists and marine alike.

Mikel aimed his mounted plasma gun, and fired at an Ultramarine, then a frag grenade after it, hitting and killing two cultists.

Karth ran in, firing his bolt pistol and sliding into cover, revving his chainsword as the remaining cultists and three Ultramarines charged forward, one of the traitor marines leaped over Karth's cover to be impaled through his groin and up into his chest cavity, struggling he swung his axe wildly before getting a bolt to the head.

I slung my bolter and drew my chain axe and modified bolt pistol, charging at an Ultramarine with a roar, swinging at him and firing wildly, hitting two cultists and wounding the traitor marine

Roubert fired his pistol and cast arcs of lighting into the hordes of cultists, slaying them.

Letzt fired at the third Ultramarine, ending him and cultists near him from the blast and heat.

The Ultramarine engaging me backhanded me with the hilt of his sword, I gave a grunt and gave a roar as my vision went white with rage, swinging and giving no quarter, I'm unsure of what I did, I stood over a bloodied and mutilated corpse, breathing heavily, my helmet was gone and I tasted the rich blood of an Ultramarine.

Roubert put a hand on my shoulder "Calm brother. Suppress the beast"

My breathing lowered and I looked at the scene before me, Karth was kneeling over the circle, and Roubert went to join him. Another oath and d called me over "Brother Xephon, come and see this..."

I blinked blood from my eyes and went over to the circle then took a step back at what I saw, the circle of blood moved and showed scenes of war and battle, a warlord of Chaos leading bloody berserkers.

It was Meros.

--

End of the first session! Will update soon!

[Blundermore 2741]

It wasn't Meros.

 

[Samoblivion 532]

- Snipsies -

 

The Imperial Fists - where the definition of 'team building exercise' is a frontal assault on a death fortress that leaves 90% of your men dead and reduced to hand to hand combat

 

Ultrapussies have nothing on that.

[Blundermore 2741]

Imperial fists are fortress builderz at heart, however those in the picture are angry marines.

[Kickstarted and Running 965]

Uhm... I'm pretty sure it was Meros... But knowing my GM it will be like, Mikel who ends up being some evil mastermind.

[Knox213 10]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.