Icarus V2

By FearMyLvl, in Fan Fiction

yep

so second story

cuz i didn't know how to continue the first one.

so please feel free to comment on what i need to improve and stuff

and with that enjoy the story!

“All ships forward, engage the ork fleet.” Ordered Admiral Victus.

There was a surge of motion as Battlefleet Zeus moved towards the conglomeration of ork ships and roks. There was a grim silence as the fleet moved towards battle.

“Contact! Contact! All broadsides open fire!” chattered the vox, the sound of hundreds of command began to take its toll on the network.

The Apocalypse class battle ship Praetorian shook as the beams of energy shot out from the starboard side, striking an ork kill kroozer and punching several molten holes in the hull.

Hundreds of explosions dotted the pict screen as casualty reports began to pour in.

“Sir! Signatures detected behind Danae!” reported Lieutenant Aera.

“How many?” shot back Victus.

“Ten… no wait fifty- a hundred – sir there’s an entire ork Battlefleet behind the moon!”

“Then I hope those Astartes vessels make it in time.” Replied Victus.

Victus thought for a moment and was temporarily distracted when the ship was rocked again by the discharge of another lance salvo.

“I want all ships into phalanx! Troop carriers in the center, battle cruisers up front with me! We need to hold the line until the Space Marines can arrive!”

The fleet slowly dragged itself into position and formed around the carriers as the full fury of two ork battlefleets smashed into them.

Dull explosion rang throughout the Praetorian as kustomized macrocannons of an ork kill kroozer slammed into the void shields of the battleship.

“Close the phalanx! I don’t want a single chip of paint off of the troop carriers!” growled Victus.

Thousands of blips filled the auspex as boarding torpedoes accelerated towards the imperial ships. The lance batteries and macrocannons reaped a massive toll in orkish lives as they destroyed several hundred torpedoes but most managed to get through and slam into the hull of the Praetorian and its surrounding battle cruisers.

“Hull breaches on levels four, eight and nine!” warned the Lieutenant. Aera felt a sharp pain in his jaw as he finished speaking.

No! Not now…

“Parius deal with it.” Victus motioned towards the Sergeant-At-Arms. Jonah revved his chainsword while heading towards the elevator.

-----

He arrive at the fourth floor while the others were dealt with by other Guardsmen. As Parius stepped from the elevator a bolt shell detonated on the wall behind him.

He rolled to cover as several orks rounded the corner wielding crude pistols and knives.

“WAAAAAAAGH!”

Jonah sighed as he spun around the corner and immediately drove his chainsword into the neck of an ork, sawing through thick muscle and bone killing it instantly, the ork dropped as more stepped past its dead body.

He followed up with a lunge into the face of a roaring greenskin making a mess of its skull and spraying ork brains everywhere.

As adrenaline coursed through his system as he felt everything move in slow motion. He saw the individual flecks of saliva spew forth from the maw of an ork as it ran towards him. He lost focus for a moment and realized too late the xenos was upon him.

As he was pulling back the chainsword an ork charged at him with a choppa that managed to bite deep into his leg, fortunately the xenos paid with its life after Jonah returned the favor by severing its spine.

He twirled and slashed in a sort of elegant blade waltz, ork blood soaked the floor as xenos after xenos fell to his chainsword.

A particularly large ork charged towards him wielding an axe easily twice the size of those of his comrades and armored in crude pieces of metal bolted to its body.

Parius hopped to the side as the choppa slammed into the floor of the ship and drove his chainsword towards the greenskin’s legs. The teeth of his weapon skittered harmlessly against the plates of metal while the ork extracted his weapon from the gouge in the hull. The xenos lumbered around and struck the Sergeant with a heavy blow from his choppa.

Jonah grimaced as he parried the ork’s axe with his chainsword, the force of the blow knocking several of the teeth off his weapon and as his entire body shook with the effort of holding back the ork’s prodigious strength. He rolled to his right while slashing at the unprotected ankle of the ork, causing it to roar in pain as the sword bit deep into the flesh and bone.

With the ork temporarily distracted he spun behind and slashed its neck, opening a gaping wound that was followed by another slash to end the greenskin’s life. It toppled forward no longer having control of its limbs and died several seconds later.

He dropped to one knee and leaned on his chainsword after it fell. The adrenaline wore off and he winced as he tested his injured leg. He was covered in blood; both xenos and his own, as he limped his way back to the bridge.

-----

Victus rubbed his temples as he surveyed the situation before him: They were outnumbered two to one. They may a have chance should the Astartes fleet arrive in time before they were obliterated. He sighed and checked the status reports. Several battle cruisers had already been destroyed or critically damaged beyond operation while the troop carriers were beginning to feel the heat. The skill of the Imperial Captains were being outstripped by sheer numbers.

Victus was deep in thought when the door slid open and someone stumbled, everyone turned toward the source of the noise to find Parius covered in ork blood and a deep gash in his thigh as he fell to the floor.

“Medic!” called Aera,

An Imperial Guard Medic and a Servitor rushed to Parius and carried him away to treat his injuries as the crew returned to their tasks.

“Did the other teams get rid of the orks? Inquired Victus

“Yes sir, they’re just sealing the breached areas, three casualties, five wounded.” Replied Aera.

Victus nodded as he redirected his attention to a pict-capture of an especially large ork ship that seemed to bear more weapons than a ship of that size could possibly support. A crudely painted ork skull with crossbones and an axe. The letters GITCRUSHA were smeared on a side of the ship.

“Orktholomew…” Victus muttered.

Victus eyes lit up as he constructed a plan,

“Get me on the vox with the Traxieus and Maikairius .”

-----

Lord General Foresh Zangairius strode the city walls of Iliad, checking the state of the men and turrets. The soldiers on guard quickly gave him salutes before returning their eyes to the horizon.

A woman in the red robes of the Adeptus Mechanicus glided quietly behind. Sporting several mechandrites that were folded to her back.

“Magos Castella, how many turrets are operational?”

“32%, targeting cogitators damaged on 95% of remaining turrets.” She replied, her vox cords giving her voice an overarching metallic tone that was always there when she spoke.

“Can we repair any of them?”

“No” she stated flatly, “I do not have the replacement parts required for such an operation.”

“Besides” she motioned towards the spent shells lying near an autocannon, “we don’t have much ammunition left.”

Zangairius swept his eyes across the battlefield.

The burned husks of ork and imperial vehicles lay on the broken ground, dotted by craters from high explosive munitions. The bodies of previous battles still lay where they fell.

Zangairius looked towards the sky and saw pinpoints of red and orange as the fleets battled.

“Sir, the orks are up to something.” Piped a Guardsman, “I think you should take a look.”

He took the pair of binoculars from the Guardsman and saw the orks preparing their weapons and vehicles.

“Sound the alarm, the orks are going to make another attack.”

“Yes s-“the Guardsman was interrupted by a series of deafening explosions.

The detonations threw up several large clouds of dust that obscured Zangairius’ vision.

He coughed and waved in an effort to clear the dust.

After it dissipated Foresh checked the state of the orks and saw what looked like a ten foot tall ork clad in a crude exo skeleton painted a bright green gray camouflage pattern suddenly leap up from a hidden trench in the ground to utter a loud WAAAAAGH!

The orks from the camp immediately sprinted for the openings in the walls while the more privileged ones hopped on their vehicles and sped in the same direction.

Several twin linked heavy bolters turrets turned to the tsunami of orks and began firing, the explosive rounds tore into the bodies of hundreds of xenos.

This did nothing to deter the others as they sprinted over the bodies of their fallen comrades, brandishing crude guns and axes. The orks charged towards the collapsed sections of the wall as Guardsmen desperately attempted to block the gaps with whatever they could.

Castella appeared beside him with two huscarl skitarii guards armed to the teeth with bolters, melta guns and plasma rifles and armored with heavy plates of adamantium.

“I’ll deal with the main breach” Zangairius said while drawing his power saber, “You go tend to the turrets and hide somewhere.”

Castella cast him an annoyed glance and headed towards another shattered part of the wall.

Veriux arrived to see the Guardsmen just barely holding back the tide of orks, las gun fire spewing death towards the greenskins. The orks that fell at the makeshift barrier began to create a ramp for the others, threatening to spill over into the streets of Iliad.

Castella and the skitarii remained above the carnage as they began to rain bolter shells, melta and plasma fire on the greenskins below. The projectiles tore and melted the flesh of the orks and killed several of them before the xenos realized what was happening.

They turned their attentions to Castella and began to spray bullets in her direction. The huscarls instantly shifted together to protect the Magos. The rounds pinged harmlessly against the adamantium plates.

The Magos carefully placed a las pistol shot and split open the skull of an ork while its comrades were being cut down by the las guns of the Guardsmen. It seemed like greenskins were being pushed back but a killa kan barged its way into the front soaking up the las beams with no effect.

The crude missile launcher mounted on its shoulder blew away the barrier and the greenskins rushed towards the entrance.

Before they could do so they were cut down from the hail of fire from Castella and her huscarls. The killa kan immediately switched its attention to the three figures standing atop the wall.

It let loose a volley of shells from its twin linked shootas, accuracy was rendered redundant by the number of bullets it fired, taking a mechandrite off of a huscarl.

The melta and plasma guns of the skitarii quickly melted through the armored shell of the crude dreadnought and destroyed most of the primitive circuitry of the kan.

The gretchin inside panicked as it lost control, the machine swung uncontrollably into the mass of orks and smashed several greenskins into a paste before finally coming to a halt.

The xenos still rushed into the hole the kan made in a mad attempt to penetrate the defenses of the city.

The orks fell upon the Imperial with axes and pistols. The Guardsmen were no match against the xenos in close combat and Veriux was reluctant to fire into the orks for fear of hitting the Guardsmen.

Just as it seemed when the line was about to collapse a figure leapt impossibly high into the air from the center of the city and struck the ground with a massive explosion knocking everyone off their feet and throwing up clouds of dust.

The person sprinted through the mist of dirt and an ork was cut in half, the greenskin’s face frozen in a roar as it fell to the ground. The figure flashed back and forth across the ork lines and soon several xenos met the same fate as the first.

Yet even with the stranger’s assistance the green tide could not be stemmed, the guardsmen were being slaughtered entire squads at a time. Castella hoped that Zangairius was faring better.

-----

“Hold the line you mongrels!” shouted Foresh in the process of dislodging his saber from the skull of an ork.

“We’re being overrun!” wailed a Guardsmen, the man attempted run to the citadel but was caught by a bolt round in the skull.

Regimental Commissar Ramiel Odinfoot stepped forward from the Guardsman’s fallen body,

“If you will not serve in battle then you will serve in the firing line.”

The Guardsmen surrounding the body of their fallen comrade began firing far faster in an attempt to show the Commissar they had no intention of retreating.

“Where are the heavy weapons teams?” yelled Odinfoot swiping his powerfist alongside the Lord General.

“There!” Zangairius replied motioning towards a smoking crater.

The commissar growled as he ripped the arm off an ork and followed up with shot from his bolt pistol to the rib cage, spilling the xenos’ organs on to the ground.

There was a scream as a bolt shell caught itself in the chest of a guardsmen, splattering his squad mates with visceral remains.

“We can’t hold them much longer!” roared Zangairius swiping his power saber at the stomach of a greenskin.

Ramiel said nothing as he parried a strike aimed to disembowel him.

There was a loud explosion that emanated from another breach.

“Damned Magos better not have done anything stupid…” Zangairius muttered,

The Lord General finished off the ork in front of him as a loud WAAAAAAGH! drew his attention. He turned his head and saw several orks attempting to make a suicidal dash for the barrier. Tens of las beams met them head on and all but one ork was killed.

The one that made it was carrying several stikkbombs and managed to rupture a hole in the barricade.

“Damned orks…” growled Odinfoot as he and Zangairius ran towards the mouth of the bulwark made by the explosion.

The Commissar and Lord General stood shoulder to shoulder as the mass of xenos slammed against them.

“Come get it you bastards!” shouted Ramiel as he plunged his power fist into the throat of an ork and pulverizing its trachea.

Las beams flashed around them as they struck orkish armor to little effect,

“I hope the damned battle fleet makes it in time!” yelled Zangairius,

“That makes two of us!” barked Odinfoot.

-----

Light reflected off the black-grey metal of Inquisitor Artimec’s Aegis power armor while heavy footsteps echoed in the empty halls of the Praetorian as he walked to the bridge.

The door slid open to reveal the Techpriest Enginseer Xeros and Admiral Victus clad in master crafted carapace armor and a power sword tucked into a sheath. The pair surrounded a holographic table.

Icarus noted something was disturbing his psychic wards, he made a mental note to investigate.

“Inquisitor! I’m glad you could join us.” Said the Admiral as he tapped several symbols on a pict screen.

Icarus nodded and joined them as Victus continued explaining his plan.

“We need to take out the ork battleship. The Traxieus and Maikairius will escort us to it.”

The Enginseer interrupted with suppressed annoyance, “The battle cruisers can’t sustain that much trauma.”

“I know, this is why the Praetorian will continue the journey after they are destroyed.”

The Xeros’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he barely constrained his fury at such as suggestion.

“Are you insane?! This is an Apocalypse class battleship! Do you have any idea what archeotech this contains?! This is heresy against the Omnissiah!”

Victus’ reply was just as furious, “I will not sacrifice the entire battle fleet for the delayed destruction of three ships!”

The Techpriest said nothing as he glared at Victus with hatred smoldering in his eyes.

“Besides” Victus continued, “The Praetorian’s void shields should be strong enough sustain the guns of the ork battleships.”

Icarus spoke up to break the tension,

“What will be doing once we reach the battleship?”

The admiral cleared his throat as he proceeded, “We’re going to bombard the battleship at point blank range with our port side lance batteries.”

The Inquisitor nodded, content with the answer.

“Any questions?” Victus asked, he was met with silence.

“Good, no more delays.”

“Aera, Get me a vox link with Captain Veria and Captain Morias.”

The bridge was filled with the sound of explosions and static, but the voices of the captains could be heard.

“Captains, I am about to ask you to commit the entirety of your ship and all her crew, for the Imperium.”

With no hesitation the Captains replied,

“Of course sir, what would you have us do?”

“I need you to escort the Praetorian to the ork battleship. We’re going to behead the ork fleet.”

Dual affirmatives answered Victus as the cruisers moved from the phalanx to join alongside the battleship.

Xeros stormed away from the bridge and made his way towards his quarters.

I won’t let this defilement of the machine god happen.

Victus paid the Techpriest no heed as he turned his attention to the attack.

The three ships advanced towards the ork armada, the void shields absorbing the barrage the orks dealt.

The humans returned in kind with Mechanicus blessed lance batteries and macrocannons. The machine spirits within the targeting cogitators carefully calculated optimized firing solutions to destroy the orks with righteous fury.

Progress was steady as the battle cruisers took the brunt of the blow but their void shields sustained heavy damage.

Void shields down! Hull integrity degrading! All hands to the savior pods-“the vox was cut short the instant a fireball erupted to the left of the Praetorian.

“The Traxieus is gone sir.” Reported Aera.

Victus mourned silently for the lost ship and crew as he closed his eyes for a moment.

“And the Maikairius ?”

“Void shields are holding at fifty percent, lance batteries disabled, enginarium running at thirty percent operational capacity.”

“Can they retreat in time?”

“No, they’ll be destroyed before they can get to the phalanx.”

Victus sighed before speaking,

“Their sacrifice shall be honored in the coming victory. Press the advance.”

The two massive warships lumbered forward, dotted in explosions held back by their shields.

The phalanx was far behind them as they progressed towards the ork battleship, broadsides coughing fiery death towards the ork ships.

The Admiral watched through a pict screen as the void shields of the Maikairius finally gave way and the hull was punctured by kustomized lance batteries and macrocannons. In its last dying moment the Maikairius fired its savior pods towards the orks and shot its macrocannons.

The pods smashed into several ships and detonated moments afterwards.

Tenacious bastards, Victus grinned, filled their only escape with melta charges.

The battle cruiser was finally silenced as a macrocannon round damaged their enginarium. engulfing the ship and everything surrounding it in a storm of plasma.

The maelstrom briefly smothered the Praetorian before blinking out of existence, leaving behind the cold remnants of the Maikairius and the bodies of the crew that serviced her.

“Sir! Ork battleship Gitcrusha within range!” informed Aera.

“Starboard broadside open fire!” commanded Victus.

The order was met with a loud rumble and everything went dark. A few seconds later the lights flickered back on and the injured grinding of the engines could be heard.

A cry of pain sounded from the Lieutenant. His hands slid from the terminal as he clutched at his jaw as he squirmed in pain.

Victus prepared to call the medic but before he could do so the door slid open to reveal Techpriest Xeros panting as he jogged towards Victus.

“Admiral the weapon systems have been disabled by an orkish pulse mine.”

"Strange, our auspex detected nothing."

"It must have been cloaked in some way."

“Hm, the void shields still seem to be active.”

“Yes, I believe it was tailored to neutralize our weapon systems only.”

“Then the only way we can destroy the ship is from inside….”

“What? We should retreat while we can!” Xeros exclaimed in surprise,

“Xeros” Victus whipped around to face the Techpriest, his gaze drilling deep into the bionic eyes of the Enginseer, “I have just lost two of my best captains and their ships along with their crew, and I’ll be damned if I let anymore join them!”

“I propose we take a boarding party to detonate the Gitcrusha’s enginarium.” Spoke a voice from the shadows, the eight foot tall Inquisitor stepped forward.

Again he noted the same feeling from before, it disappeared as quickly as it came.

“How? We don’t have any idea where it is located.” protested Xeros

“Auspex paints it as heavily customized Retribution class battleship, the enginarium should still be in the original location.” Replied Icarus,

Victus interrupted, “Then we must depart with all due haste. Get Parius to the hangar; I’m going as well.”

“You’ll be needed here Admiral.”

“If we don’t succeed in destroying that battleship the entire fleet will be destroyed. Besides-“he drew his power sword and maneuvered it into the small gap between Icarus’ helmet and chest plate in less than a second. “It’s good to practice fighting now and again.”

Icarus shook his head as his helm hid a small grin while they made their way to the hangar.

Lore will be explained in later chapters.

Thx for reading!

Edited by FearMyLvl

Commissar we have to retreat!” Yelled Zangairius as he crossed saber and axe with an ork.

Odinfoot growled as he decapitated a greenskin with his power fist while shooting another.

Ramiel!” Zangairius yelled again, this time with more desperation.

With a snarl the commissar finally gave the order fall back!” He roared as Odinfoot slowly walked backwards into the city.

The Guardsmen had done several retreat drills for situations like these. Those men that were at the back of the barrier immediately moved to the abandoned hive apartments and began to give covering fire to those that were retreating.

The Commissar and Lord General back stepped slowly as a hail of las beams met the orks. Without another word the pair sprinted towards the buildings where the rest of the Guardsmen were garrisoned in.

A cry of pain sounded from Foresh as a bullet punctured a weak point in his carapace armor and lodged inside his shoulder.

Ramiel turned his head to make sure Zangairius was still running and was satisfied when the Lord General caught up to him.

They both ducked inside the building as bullets smashed into the wall where they were moments ago.

A groan emanated from Zangairius as he clutched his shoulder. Odinfoot cursed under his breath as he called for a medic.

An imperial guardsman arrived with a medical servitor and quickly extracted the pieces of metal from his shattered shoulder blade. Before the guardsman could do much else the sound of gunfire quickly reminded them of what situation they were in.

“Damned liberation fleet better make it in time…” muttered Odinfoot as he fired his bolt pistol at the orks.

-----

The woman darted in and out of the ork horde. With each journey several orks could be seen missing limbs, heads or both. But there were more greenskins than even the stranger could handle, and soon the defense was collapsing.

Luckily the only operational Leman Russ tank left on Iliad reinforced the line. The vehicle’s myriad of weaponry cutting through the mob of orks. Combined with Castella’s huscarls the firepower brought to bear was stalling the xenos advance for the time.

But just as it seemed the greenskins were being held back as gigantic ork clad in crude power armor smashed its way to the front.

“I IZ WARBOSS MUHARA AND DIS IS MY PLANET!” roared the humongous xenos as it charged towards the Leman Russ. The tank focused all its guns upon the ork, only to have their efforts foiled by its kustom force field. The greenskin brandished its power klaw before ripping the tank apart. The 150 millimeters of armor plating shredded like tissue paper as the ork slashed its way inside.

Several screams could be heard from the doomed men operating the Leman Russ as they were torn to piece by the Warboss. Muhara emerged from the wreckage of the tank holding the tank commander between the blades of his power weapon high above him. With a toothy smile the ork severed the man in half, the commander’s face was frozen in a scream as his legs and torso fell to the ground.

With that the line broke and the Guardsmen ran to the hive buildings to hide. “**** it.” Veriux muttered, she ordered the two huscarls to fall back as well. Intent on forming a last stand in Iliad’s citadel.

-----

The boarding party arrived at the hangar of the Praetorian . A Valkyrie was being prepped for departure as they made their way to aircraft.

Icarus eyed Jonah as he limped alongside Victus, he was barely able to keep up with the admiral. Let alone fight, thought the inquisitor. They soon arrived at the Valkyrie and checked to make sure all their gear was operational and present.

“Admiral, I think Sergeant Parius should remain aboard the Praetorian . His wound will prove to be a liability during the mission.” spoke Icarus before they boarded.

“What?” exclaimed Jonah, “I’m fine!” he attempted to stand on his bandaged leg and immediately grimaced in pain.

“No, he’s right. Parius you’ll stay with the Praetorian .” Interrupted Victus, “You’ll be too slow with your leg wound.”

The sergeant at arms had disappointment etched on his face. “Very well, Emperor be with you.” He sighed, he turned to Icarus and playfully punched the inquisitor’s arm. “Get a few of the green bastards for me eh?” He grinned. Although Parius couldn’t see Icarus through his helmet, he knew that Artimec was grinning back.

“Will do sergeant” boomed the voice, amplified by vox speakers in the helm.

“If we could leave as quickly as possible gentlemen that would be best.” Said Xeros, already boarding the Valkyrie. Victus and Icarus quickly followed and soon the Valkyrie accelerated towards the massive ork battleship.

It was at least 30% bigger than the Praetorian if not more. Armor plating had been crudely joined with the ship and hundreds of weapons jutted out from its sides. The whole thing looked like a floating junkyard, but the boarding party knew it was as deadly as any Mechanicus made vehicle.

As they approached the floating fortress, several of the ork weapons began firing at them. “Prepare for evasive maneuvers,” warned the pilot as the Valkyrie swerved and dodged in an attempt to bypass the damage. The skill of their aviator proved invaluable as he weaved around the projectiles.

Icarus, Victus and Xeros would have been thrown around like rag dolls if not for the harnesses that secured them to their seats. The inquisitor had no reaction to the violent movement of the Valkyrie, having suffered far more drastic actions before. Victus was similar, acquiring years of flight experience had toned him to the excessive forces that came with dogfighting. Xeros did not fare as well as the other two. The Techpriest was more suited to study technology in a quiet lab instead of being in the middle of a battle. But none the less he performed valiantly and managed to keep his stomach in check; even if looking at little green.

“We’re almost through their arc of fire.” informed the pilot, “I’m going to try and fi-”

Before he could finish his sentence an explosion rocked the Valkyrie. Warning klaxons went off and the ship started to shake violently. “By the emperor! What was that?!” yelled Victus.

“Ork lascannons hit our engine!” static for a brief moment before the intercom spoke again, “Brace for impact!”

-----

A man meditated in a cavern, breathing in deeply and exhaling. He felt eddies of the immaterium touch his mind. He prepared to dive into the waves of the warp when a voice called to him.

“Lord Umbra, we have found it.”

The man withdrew his presence from the empyrean and returned to reality. He merely nodded at the space marine and unfolded his legs from under him and stood to full height. Following the space marine they arrived at a larger section of the cave.

The rock had been carved into flowing arches. Glyphs had been gouged into the stones, upon the walls, floor, ceiling; everywhere. There was not one place in the cavern where the runes did not smother. Upon the far side of the cave there was a raised pedestal, more ornate patterns were imprinted upon the podium but these were familiar. Under it a blank slate was present, its purpose unknown.

The elevated characters were of a more common dialect; Low Gothic. The figure stepped towards the pedestal. Immediately gouts of warp fire erupted from the glyphs beneath him and consumed the man.

“My lord!” yelled the space marine, he could do nothing as he watched the figure being enveloped in flames. Suddenly the inferno was extinguished, not even a trace of its former existence was left behind. The figure had been untouched. Not so much as even singe on his terminator armor, the man had shielded himself with the same energy the fire was made of.

Silently the man proceeded to the pedestal and slid his eyes over the runes.

Go where the world dies.

Where slaughter and sinister designs enthrall.

The intelligence of convoluted symbiotes.

Where insidious phantasms, seduce

And corrupt the sanity of the most righteous.

The figure repeated the words, with each syllable the words reverberated in his mind. “Leave me brother, I must solve this.”

“Of course Lord Umbra.” The space marine replied, bowing as he quickly exited the cavern.

The man sat down and crossed his legs. He let his presence enter the warp; carefully probing the aura in the room.

He breathed in,

And exhaled.

-----

There was a scream; both human and metal as the pilot smashed the Valkyrie between two armor plates. The resulting crash managed to force the plane several layers into the ship.

Victus groaned as he rubbed his head, he slid his hand to his power saber to ensure it was still there.

“Fething orks… By the emperor I swear I will kill every one of these accursed xenos” he muttered, fumbling around in the darkness. He managed to grasp the release mechanisms of his seat and quickly unlocked the safety harnesses that most likely saved his life.

“Victus! You’re awake.” Artimec spoke, the inquisitor brushed the frayed remnants of the seat belts off his armor before moving to check on the Techpriest. Icarus’ occulobe implant combined with the night vision built into his helmet granting him no trouble in seeing the Enginseer despite the near total darkness. “I thought you were dead.”

“It’ll take more than that to take out an old dog like me.” Victus growled, quickly standing up, stumbling his way to the cockpit and checking on the pilot. The result came moments later; “He’s dead, impact snapped his neck, among other things.”

Icarus grunted in confirmation and shook Xeros. “Techpriest! WAKE UP!” the inquisitor’s amplified voice shook the Enginseer awake. The Techpriest’s face froze into a grimace and he immediately shielded his face with his hands.

“Xeros..?” Artimec asked cautiously, the suddenly Enginseer shook himself and his visage unlocked itself from the expression. Realizing his hands were up he quickly lowered them back to his sides while his mechandrites pushed him upright.

“I’m fine.” Xeros grumbled as he ran scans checking for any damage that had occurred to his body. Finding none he was satisfied. The three left the Valkyrie through the shattered window of the cockpit. Before exiting the Techpriest quickly paused: “Thank you machine spirit for our safe arrival, may you find everlasting joy in the embrace of the Omnissiah.” He whispered before following Victus and Icarus.

“Where are we?” the Admiral inquired keeping his hand close to his power saber as he attempted to pierce the darkness to no avail.

Icarus made his way to one of the walls of the ork battleship and studied it for a moment. “I believe we are in a derelict part of the ship due to the advanced state of rust around us. This is most likely why we were able to punch so deeply into the ship.”

Xeros joined the inquisitor and scanned the wall, confirming Artimec’s suspicions. “How did you know that?” inquired the Techpriest, Icarus froze and thought about it for several seconds, “I don’t know actually.” He admitted, “It feels like an instinct.” The Enginseer nodded and they rejoined Victus.

“So where is the Enginarium?” the Admiral asked,

“Judging from the location of the defaced Imperial Shrine when we entered the Gitcrusha, we need to go…” Xeros drew out a series of twist and turns on his auspex screen that the three of them all memorized.

Victus nodded, “Let’s go, the faster we destroy this xenos ship the more men we save.”

-----

“Someone get me a vox operator!” shouted Zangairius, clutching at his shoulder as blood dripped down his carapace armor and leaving a trail on the floor.

“Foresh, we need to stem the bleeding.” Said Odinfoot as he prepared to tear a piece of his sash into a makeshift bandage.

“No! No, I’m fine.” Foresh protested, “Besides, we have more pressing things to worry about.” A man hauling a heavy vox pack greeted the Lord General and saluted. The Guardsman handed him the vox while tuning the caster to all frequencies.

Foresh took a deep breath before speaking, attempting to do his best to sound confident. “This is Lord General Zangairius, all Imperial Forces retreat to the citadel.”

Without waiting for a response he returned the vox to the Guardsman. “Come on.” Zangairius motioned, “We need to leave before the gates are sealed.”

Ramiel nodded and they quickly headed for the back of the building, passing the Guardsmen as they set up explosives. Rushing out the rear entrance their explosives were triggered prematurely. The resulting blast killed the Guardsmen inside the building and knocked everyone in close proximity off their feet. Odinfoot dropped to one knee as the shockwave hit him; mean while Zangairius was knocked down like a bowling pin.

“What detonated the explosives?!” roared the Commissar. He unsteadily raised himself from the kneeling position and immediately assisted the dazed Guardsmen. “Must have been one of their rockets!” replied the Lord General, scrambling to his feet. Zangairius checked himself for injuries and found none bar the bullet wound.

Odinfoot, Zangairius and the surviving Guardsmen quickly excavated themselves from the rubble and made their way towards the Citadel. They all knew the stone wouldn’t keep the orks back for long. While they made their way towards the citadel, Zangairius left a trail of blood.

-----

Magos Castella managed to make it to the citadel using the old sewer tunnels that had been sealed off decades ago. Luckily the access codes had not changed either and allowed for easy use to anyone who knew the existence of the channels.

Veriux wove her way through the infirmary, stepping around and over the patients in the hallway. She arrived at an operating table with a stripped down Zangairius clad only in his undergarments. Blood leaked from a wound in his shoulder staining the grey shirt surrounding it.

Hovering over him she extended her mechandrites, gingerly probing the wound. Zangairius grimaced as the metal instruments came in contact with his raw flesh.

“Stay still” ordered Castella as she withdrew several tiny bullet fragments that the Servitor had missed. She sealed up the wound with stitches and a bandage; not the way she would have liked to treat an injury. But supplies were being drained at an alarming rate and not even the Lord General could procure much.

“Done” Retracting her mechandrites Veriux quickly moved on to the next patient while Zangairius sat on the table and departed to redress in his carapace armor. The Magos swept her eyes over the sea of patients in the infirmary, she knew that if she disengaged her olfactory filters the smell of blood mixed with anesthetics would fill her nostrils. She sighed before attending to the nearest Guardsmen that had suffered a burn encompassing his left arm.

This was going to be a long battle.

-----

“Xeros” spoke Icarus as the three of them took steps, careful not to fall through the floor of the Gitcrusha.

“Hm? What is it?” replied the Techpriest with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Why did you shield your face and make that expression when you were in the Valkyrie?” inquired the inquisitor.

The Enginseer froze for a split second, almost imperceptible in his stride but Artimec caught it anyway. “I had to take the precaution that the orks had found us” Xeros sniffed, “I did not want an axe in my face.”

Icarus wanted to press him for more information but decided it was best to just leave it. Perhaps some other time the Techpriest would be more open.

“How did you come about?” Xeros questioned, “I have never met a space marine inquisitor before. Do enlighten me.” Victus was also interested, but never asked. He listened intently to Icarus’ reply.

Artimec had been expecting this question; though he thought it would be asked by someone else.

“I don’t know” he sighed, “I don’t remember much before Lord Inquisitor Arcturus took me under her wing.”

“So you remember nothing?”

“I still retain my faculties, but feel as though there is a veil over part of my mind.” Icarus pondered, “It is... frustrating, to say the least.”

The Admiral and Techpriest both stayed silent, unable to offer any sort of solution to his plight. This continued for several minutes, with a thick silence pervading the atmosphere. “We’re nearing the center of the ship, we have to pass through it to get to the Enginarium.” informed Xeros.

Victus and Icarus nodded, doing their best to lessen the noise of their steps. This was rather difficult for the inquisitor, his aegis armor was banging against the hull of the battleship each time he stepped forward. They paused and Icarus received twin glares from the Victus and Xeros. Artimec stepped as lightly as possible to reduce the amount of noise. Succeeding slightly, the trio continued into the heart of the Gitcrusha.

-----

Back on the bridge of the Praetorian Jonah looked at pict feed of the battle. Projectiles flashed back and forth across the ork and imperial lines too fast for the eye to track. Parius exhaled a frustrated sigh, unable to do anything to assist in the battle. He painfully limped over to an empty seat and tried to relax. He found himself tapping the hilt of his chainsword, still uneasy.

The Praetorian’s lance batteries had fallen silent, the Techpriests were confounded by the conundrum. It seemed there was nothing wrong with the lance batteries yet they still refused to fire. An even stranger fact was that the batteries showed no sign of electrical damage from the ork pulse mine they had apparently hit. Parius hated floating in space like a sitting duck. Luckily the void shields were still active somehow, even if they were taking a pounding from the orks.

Lieutenant Aera held his hand over his jaw while tapping away at his terminal, a pained expression etched on his face. He groaned as another burst of pain hit him. Rising from his seat, he stumbled his way to a restroom.

Lord Umbra... you promised me more time! Aera thought furiously.

Hmph, I better make sure he’s ok thought Parius, grunting as he limped after Aera exiting the bridge.

The Lieutenant rushed into the bathroom, clutching his jaw with both hands. A line ran down from the center of his lip to the middle of his neck slowly oozing blood. “Oi! You okay in there?” yelled Jonah as he leaned on the door.

“I’m fine!” replied Aera, but something was... off with his speech, the voice was deeper and his words were garbled.

“Aera open the door!” shouted Parius as he pounded on the door; guttural growling was his only answer. The sergeant at arms sighed for the umpteenth time as he revved his chainsword, stabbing it through the door, quickly chopping it in half.

The sight he came face to face with was... surprising to say the least.

Aera’s mouth and neck had split open and an unnaturally long tongue flailed about, surrounded by hundreds of sharp fangs. The spawn was coupled with several extra limps extended from his back, while his original hands and feet had transformed into claws and talons respectively.

“By the emperor!” uttered Parius drawing the attention of the abomination as it growled again, lunging at him with its claws. He parried the attacks with his chainsword and hopped aside, the claws sinking into the wall behind Parius.

Jonah slashed, severing several of its arms. The thing kicked backwards catching the sergeant in the chest and winding him. Parius slammed against the hull and red dots swam around the edge of his vision, struggling to breathe when the spawn leaped at him.

With a groan, Jonah rolled out of the way, the abomination slamming into the wall. Parius couldn’t help but internally chuckle as it was struggling to free its talons from the metal. He forced the chainsword into the creature’s spine and sliced it open, followed by a decapitation. The head was still snapping at his ankles so he reduced it to a bloody mess between the teeth of his sword. Covered in gore for the second time, he limped his way back to the bridge again, only this time several of his ribs were cracked.

He arrived at the bridge, knocked on the wall and fell unconscious.

-----

“Someone get me a scalpel,” ordered Castella. A hand appeared before her, armored in ceramite with covered intricate engravings, holding the tool she requested.

Quickly taking the scalpel with a muttered thanks, Veriux sliced through the final tendon and the Guardsman’s mangled leg came free. The unfortunate man had been sedated but he still twitched at the loss of his limb.

Tearing off a piece of the Guardsman’s undershirt she bandaged the stump to the best of her abilities. Castella turned towards the armored figure that had assisted her.

“Lord Inquisitor Arcturus, I am glad you arrived safely.” The Magos bowed, “And thank you for your assistance with the orks.”

The Inquisitress unsealed her helmet to reveal an alarmlingly beautiful woman. Piercing violet eyes swept the room, coupled with high cheekbones, full lips and a cascade of silvery-white hair. One would think someone as alluring as Arya would be a noble's daughter, pampered by servants and relaxing in a grand estate, instead of traversing the galaxy for daemons and heretics. Nestling the helm in the crook of her arm, she replied with a small smile, “Your huscarls reaped a great toll as well; where are they?”

“I have sent them to assist in the preparation of the defenses.”

“What is the status of the liberation fleet?”

“Unknown, ground to space communication relay disrupted, only planet vox networks are operational.”

The smile disappeared only to be replaced by a serious expression, “Then we must hold the citadel until they can arrive on Dionysus. I will oversee the defenses along with the Lord General. We will need to seal the gates soon, the orks are fast approaching.”

“But Inquisitor Arcturus, Guardsmen are still arriving from other parts of the city.”

“How long until the rest of them arrive?”

“20 minutes for the farthest group, five minutes for the closest.”

“And the orks?”

“Ten minutes.”

“Allow the closest group to enter. Have the others hide in the hab blocks.”

“Understood, Lord Arcturus.”

-----

“We’re nearing the center of the ship, watch for ork patrols.” whispered Xeros. The trio stuck close to the walls, to avoid being out in the open, as well as a medium for Icarus to detect vibrations through the metal.

Victus kept his hand on his beloved power saber while Xeros had brought with him a bolt pistol. Icarus however was equipped with twin retractable c’tan phase blades mounted under his wrists. He opted not to take ranged weapons due to his psyker abilities.

They moved stealthily along the walls, checking each intersection to make sure no orks were approaching. Progress was quick as they moved closer to the Enginarium of the Gitcrusha, their advance was halted when they arrived at the door to the engines.

"Xeros, get the gate open, Icarus and I will keep watch.” whispered Victus, drawing his power saber. The Techpriest quickly ran over to the gate and attempted to find a terminal to open the door with. But after several minutes of searching, he only found a hole in the wall where the terminal should have been.

“No terminal,” Xeros grumbled. The Enginseer knew the ship would be badly defiled, but it still hurt him to look at the desecrated imperial vehicle.

Icarus strode to the gate, flicking his wrists, the ten inch phase blades shot forth. The Techpriests eyes widened at the sight, he opened his mouth to say something but was stopped by Victus. The admiral gave Xeros a silencing stare, the Enginseer returned it but grudgingly kept his mouth shut. Piercing the metal with no resistance, he quickly carved an eight by three foot rectangle. The inquisitor withdrew his blades while shoving the metal. The segment slid forward and Icarus shoved it to the side.

Artimec stepped through the gap while Xeros and Victus followed suit. Unsurprisingly the enginarium was empty, save for the occasional scrap metal that littered the floor. The plasma reactors were clearly visible in the center of the room. They emitted a tortured grinding, echoing off the walls. The trio walked cautiously to the reactors, watching for any traps or hazards.

Finding none, Xeros quickly ran to examine the engine muttering litanies of diagnosis. Inquisitor Artimec walked back to the entrance, checking the hallway for orks. Icarus heard footsteps behind him and whipped around, flicking his phase blades out of their sheaths. He came face to face with a surprised Victus, the inquisitor sighed and retracted his blades.

“My apologies Icarus, I need to ask you about something.” the Admiral said,

“Of course, what is it?” replied Artimec,

Victus motioned towards his c’tan blades, “Why do you have those weapons?”

“Because these blades have proven too useful to discard, they have assisted me immensely against the enemies of the Imperium.”

The admiral gave an exasperated sigh, rubbing his eyes he grumbled, “Then i hope you can convince Xeros. He’s going to threaten you with heresy for using xenos weapons.”

“Do not worry, Admiral Victus. I have faced similar accusations before."

Before Victus could question the inquisitor anymore, they were interrupted by the Techpriest who had finished tampering with the reactors."

“The engines have been set to overheat in five minutes” informed Xeros quickly eyeing the inquisitor, “We’ll discuss your choice of weaponry later Icarus.”

“Very well, let’s get to the escape pods, I don’t want to be on this ship when it detonates.” nodded Artimec. ignoring the Techpriest's glare.

-----

First of all, love a good story!!=) Second, when is the next installment??=) Want to know what that lying piece of teccrap is up to!!=)