He had seen Astartes before, just never at such a short distance. As a ship captain in the Imperial Navy he had been in conferences where commanders of Astartes ships attached to his fleet had been present. They had been far away, typically, and had not been so impressive. Captain Alercies had greeted the Sergeant and personally shown him to the quarters he would be using on the ship. The marine had been taciturn, although not impolite, and had thanked the captain for his hospitality. The interview had ended there with the servitor that carried the warriors equipment moving into the chamber allotted to him and the Astartes following it in and closing the door.
He mused how unusual it was to have a single marine traveling with his ship, he had heard of Navy vessels transporting companies and even squads when the Chapter did not have its own transport or had lost the capacity to transport them in a battle. He had even heard of marines being assigned in small groups to Cruisers and Battleships prior to important engagements. The story he had been told was that the Sergeant was the lone survivor of an outpost of Crimson Fists overrun by Orks in Dragaan system. It had been months before a ship had responded to the distress call and much of the planet lay waste. The lone marine was helping the surviving populace rebuild their defenses and train up a new militia when the frigate Driven Nail had arrived to investigate the distress call.
When he got back to the bridge it was all he could do to offer the protocolized welcome to Ambassador Ghant who came aboard just after the Crimson Fist. The Ambassador insisted on being shown around the bridge and spent a good bit of time there while his staff patiently waited until the end of the extensive tour.
The group retired to a set of rooms off of the main officer's barracks. With the distractions eliminated, Alercies finally put in the orders that would get his ship underway.
From Derffo IV to the Mandeville Point was a journey of several days and the Telamon made the trip with no complications.
A brief meeting with his astropath prior to translation had given Alercies something to think about. The psyker had indicated that he was picking up an unusual amount of psychic activity from the suite with the Ambassador before locking himself away in his chamber and preparing himself for the movement to the Immaterium.
Despite his concerns Alercies saw no difficulties in the process and, as had happened every time before, the blast shutters covered the bridge's armourglass voidshields before they were pulled by their drives into the warp. Time was only relevant then inside the ship. Calculations showed that they should be at their destination in less than two weeks Terran-standard.
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The alarms shattered his dream into dripping fragments of memories as the Captain sat upright in his bed. He scanned around in confusion as the lights came on. Runes flickered messages across the data slate that lay beside the bed, one glance at it brought Alercies out of any haziness induced by his rest. He jumped out of the bed, only making time to pull on his boots as he moved through the door and onto the Bridge.
The situation was pure disorder. Pict captures from around the ship showed that the command station was not the only place where confusion was in command. In engineering the crew were almost rioting with their officers trying to keep order and get the men to their stations. Panicked serfs were running down corridors. The batteries were arming their weapons and moving munitions into place. Alercies eyes flashed from screen to screen as he issued orders and received reports. There had been a hull breaching explosion on deck XX, the galley. The reports indicated that the breach had been sealed quickly but that the Geller Field had been compromised. He ordered the corridors sealed to prevent the movement of staff around the ship, confining the crew, momentarily, to their locations. He ordered the gunners to stand down. Then he prepared to send a personal holographic message to engineering to try to address the situation himself.
The officer he was addressing moved his eyes away from Alercies to a screen on the port side. They flicked back to meet the eyes of the Captain briefly before looking back at the screen, Alercies turned and looked. That is when he saw it. In the most ragged and dirty remains of their full dress uniforms, any imperial insignia defaced or removed, masked men moved with small arms and improvised weapons among the ovens and ranges of the kitchen.
Gunfire flashed in the the picture, the whole scene made more sinister by the fact that deck XX was now operating only under the red emergency lights.
"Get me eyes on that ambassador," he said to the man who ran off to get a squad of naval troops to move to the officer's barracks.
He scanned the screens again. Something blue caught his eye and he ordered the pict feed to follow it. The feeder was rocked slightly by an explosion before it could locate the Astartes. The Crimson Fist was running down a corridor on the communications level toward the staging lift. There were two dead crew members slightly ahead of him, clearly torn apart by explosions.
Suddenly the marines deep voice came over the com to the Bridge.
"Captain Alercies, I found two men moving away from the communications station, when hailed they drew weapons and I shot them. I am heading down to the galley to address the fighting going on down there. If there are any unusual passengers aboard I would suggest that you act cautiously and place them under arrest."
The hammering of Alercies heart and the thoughts wildly running through his mind both slowed at this pronouncement. He regained focus and ordered the Ambassador to be brought to the bridge and gave permission for the Naval Troopers to shoot at the first sign of trouble.
That was last order he gave that went beyond the bridge. Suddenly the screens all went black and flashed a bat-winged skull with the words "Ave Dominus Nox," over it, the speakers screamed "We have come for you. We have come for you. We have come for you," endlessly.
All motion stopped on the bridge and all eyes turned to the screens, every face ashen.
Then the two blast doors to the bridge opened and Ambassador Ghant came storming into the room followed by a cowed looking squad of Naval Troopers and some members of his entourage. Rage darkened the Ambassador's face.
"Arrest that man," Alercies screamed to be heard over the repetitive threat coming from the speakers.
The lieutenant looked at him with a face that indicated that was not going to happen. The ambassador pulled out a las pistol from a holster Alercies had not noticed before and fired shot after shot around the room. Each struck a speaker and with each shot the threat dimmed in volume until, with smoke billowing from a dozen holes in the bridge, the noise stopped.
Alercies stood feeling more helpless and confused than he had since the academy.
Ghant whirled on him with something held up in his hand. It took a moment for the Captain to recognize the badge.
Ghant said, "I am Inquisitor Pallados Allopo and I take command of the Telamon in the name of the Inquisition."
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The medicae move as quickly as possible to release the fluid cocoons surrounding the astropaths. Her voice came as an almost whistle between her teeth as she said to herself over and over again "come on."
Aelison watched the tanks fill with the fluid as it was pumped out of the coffins.
Gunfire echoed down the corridor along with the screams of men. She could hear heavy boot steps moving closer through the walls.
As soon as it was safe she yanked open the first chamber and hauled the fragile, thin figure inside to his feet. His mind reeling from the shock of the sudden dimming of his connection to the Astronomicon.
She pushed his hands to the cradles side so he could steady himself and ripped open the second hatch. Again her glove hands grasped a thin upper army, the loose skin pinching between the fingers as she hauled the man to his feet.
"Move, now, both of you," she said, shoving them along ahead of her.
Aelison jumped ahead of them to reach the door mechanism and activated it, then grabbed their wrists and pulled them along behind her.
As they entered the corridor she looked to her right. A squad of armed men moved around the corner and into sight. She wasn't sure who they were but pushed her charges ahead of her now, the weak legs were moving as fast as they were able.
Lasfire streaked towards them, it was difficult to see in only the red emergency lighting but the shooters managed to clip one of the Astropaths and he winced, although she noticed, he did not cry out.
Then she heard a voice, it was a rough, low growl of a voice and it came through the amplifier of a helmet. As she looked up the dark armoured form of an Astartes warrior moved into the corridor and down it towards her.
She sighed audibly but did not slow down. The Crimson Fist was here. What were the chances? That he would be right where the attack was launched.
Then she scolded herself for thinking such things. Of course he was here, this is where the danger was. The chosen sons of the Emperor would certainly find the heart of darkness to cut it out.
She heard the shouts of the traitors behind her as the marine plowed into them.
She moved into a staging area, its wide open walls flooded her with feelings of relief after being in the close confines of the hallway with no where to hide.
The flood of feelings quickly drained away as she saw a huge hold eaten in the middle of the floor. A nasty looking slime was slowly making its way towards them. The Captain's guard was moving across a large pipe that ran under the floor, wide enough that they could move somewhat quickly, but were they to fall, the darkness spread out beneath them. It was at least 30 meters to the next deck below.
She pushed the astropaths ahead of her only to glance around at the sound of cheering behind her.
Even in the red lighting she could see that where there had been dark blue armour before now stood a warrior head to toe in glistening green battleplate.
The guard rushed past her as she herded her charges towards the other side of the room and hopefully to safety.
The Captain's guard formed up with an officer of the fleet and fired into the corridor at the advancing traitors both human and transhuman.
The response was a gout of flame followed by the distinctive banging of bolter fire.
The two men exploded as bolts ripped into their armour and blasted their limbs from their torsos.
Another man succumbed to being between the first two, the concussion and bone and armour shrapnel from the blast ripping him apart.
Of a sudden the Chaos marine was among them, his chainsword cutting a bloody swath through the Guard.
The pipe was slippery as she started to cross and Aelison prayed that the sightless astropath would cross as easily as his friend had. She need not have worried, his footsteps were sure and he moved more quickly across the path than she did.
But the Alpha Legionnaire was across now too, firing at the first Astropath as a group of warriors now flooded into the room. She didn't recognize the uniforms, where worn, of any of them.
That they were firing at the Astartes was good enough for her.
The traitor guardsmen were moving onto the pipe where she was. She stood her ground and faced them. The motive for doing so was more one of spite than bravery. Aelison could see the forces of darkness closing in on them. If the Astropaths were killed they would never make it out of the Warp safely.
The traitors stepped onto the pipe, their leader brandishing his chainsword in front of him.
They both trod gingerly on the pipe with the abyss on either side. As he advanced, over confidently she stepped forward and just shoved him. He went back into the man behind him and yanking on that man's sleeve regained his balance at the cost of his squad mate falling, screaming, into the chasm. His scream was cut short not two seconds later with a ringing boom that came up through the darkness.
The medicae and sergeant dueled on the pipe, neither feeling confident to try to land a solid blow.
Aelison had lost all sense of what was going on around her, but she saw the traitors start to back off. When she turned her head to look, she saw something she could not believe. The Astartes warrior was down on the deck.
The traitors were alarmed at the turn of events but only momentarily, before four massive beings burst into the room.
As she turned her head back to the enemy, a burst of fire erupted and the liquid, burning fuel washed over her, she staggered back, lost her footing and fell, screaming in terror and pain for only a moment before the flames burned out her lungs.
She did not get to feel the ship wrenched from the warp and shake as it entered real space. She did not see the fighting forces of the Imperium bolstered by a second Inquistor.
It was only briefly that the charred lumps of broken flesh that had been the body of Aelison Carilus were illuminated by the flash of intense light that announced the appearance of space marines of the Grey Knights, the bursts of flame from their barrel were too brief and not bright enough to illuminate that far as they cleared the room of chaos with their stormbolters.
Her actions known to the greater Imperium only through the words of the two Astropath's she had saved, and the ship that was saved through them a bell would toll on holy Terra, once, in her name.
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April 28, 2024, 10:09:16 PM
