Syakotus stood at the edge
of the woods in the raging
blizzard. Although he wore
silver tinted goggles over
his eyes to protect them
from the fast and violent
snowfall that felt like
razor blades slashing his
face open on impact, his
vision was still impaired by
the violence of the storm.
It didn't stop him from
watching as the Inquisitors
gun cutter came into view
from the dull grey of the
sky, rocking from side to
side as it battled for
control against the wild and
violent winds. The belly
thrusters kept igniting
trying to level its bulk,
but as soon as it became
level it was blown aside
again.
"Why has the Inquisitor come
down? We don't need his
presence," Sergeant Korde
said from behind.
Syakotus turned to the
remaining units waiting in
the trees behind them. As
the wind raged all about
them they were using each
other as a shield against
the ever-morphing blizzard.
"Probably because he wants
to personally make sure the
Necrosphere is destroyed."
"I don't trust Inquisitors
of any kind, where they
tread, death always
follows," Korde said,
grimacing behind the blue of
his helmet.
"Remember Korde that Chapter
Master Kantar believes in
the Inquisition and thus so
will we," Syakotus reminded
his veteran Sergeant. "Get
the men to their feet
Sergeant," ordered Syakotus
as he turned to face Korde
who simply nodded in
compliance. Syakotus stepped
out of the woods, battling
each step in defiance
against the storm. His long
hair flapped about his face
as he came to a stand still.
With a loud thud, the gun
cutter smashed down into the
deep snow, splashing large
chunks of ice into the air
and crashing back down as it
thudded across the swaying
snow, some of it, rolling
into large balls as it
landed. Within seconds, the
top of the rusty red gun
cutter was covered in a
thick layer of ice and snow.
As the ramp opened and
slammed hard into the snow,
light spilled out into the
foggy blizzard that
surrounded, before dying out
with the thrusters. Syakotus
walked over to greet the
Inquisitor, Nathan
Salvanfor, but instead, was
greeted by one of the Death
Watch Marines, Sergeant
lykran. Syakotus looked him
up and down through his
silver goggles. "And you
are?" He asked the Sergeant
stepping onto the ramp
before him.
"Sergeant Lykran, of the
Death Watch Captain,"
Syakotus noticed the
insignia of Imperial Fists
on his right shoulder pad,
"from the Imperial Fists,"
he added, staring up the
ramp. "The Inquisitor
requests you come aboard to
discuss your strategy with
him." Syakotus nodded in
acknowledgment as he
followed Lykran into the gun
cutter. Once inside, it was
hard to miss the smell of
tobacco as it flooded over
him, followed by the smoke
evaporating in the air as he
looked down the very narrow
corridor at the glowing red
eyes from within the
darkness that surrounded
them.
"Have you located their base
my good Captain?" came a
voice from within the
darkness.
"That I have," Syakotus
said, as he stepped past the
glowing red eyes of the
remaining two Death Watch.
Inquisitor Salvanfor stepped
from the darkness into the
dim light.
"The sergeant said you
wanted to discuss my
strategy. Simple, using your
gun cutter for air support,
we will storm their front
gates. Their numbers are
small." Syakotus turned away
as he finished and walked
back out to the raging storm
outside.
Salvanfor opened a cabinet
from behind where Prill
stood. As he reached in, he
slipped on two, black
stained chain mail gloves
and his muzzle so he could
breathe outside in the
storm. Prill bent over the
side of the co-pilots seat
and picked up a large combat
shot gun, accompanied by a
box of shells and handed
them with the gun over to
Salvanfor, who hung the gun
across his back as he
slipped the shells into a
small bag he threw across
his shoulder. "Shall we?" he
asked, ushering out the
Death Watch. "Prill, remain
on board with Hayler," he
said as he followed the
Marines out into the
blizzard. Once outside, the
cold started to bite at the
flesh of his face and
ears,"God damn that's cold!"
Salvanfor muttered as he
stepped off the ramp, to see
Syakotus's men step out of
the woods before him,
followed by sergeant Korde.
The storm was beginning to
slow with the sudden
nightfall, but the
atmosphere remained freezing
and harsh on the naked skin
of Syakotus' face as he
removed his goggles to look
down on the small square
complex that stood at the
bottom of the hill the
Spectre Knights had built to
defend themselves. Salvanfor
walked across to stand with
Syakotus.
"First, we need to take out
that Thunderhawk," Syakotus
said as he pointed at the
Spectre Knights only ship
sitting on the landing
platform at the far edge of
the complex. "Have your
cutter blow the gates wide
open and destroy that
Thunderhawk before it can
become airborne. If it does,
we have lost before we
begin," Syakotus said
looking on at the gate.
"So be it. Let the terror
begin." Salvanfor motioned,
flipping the COM on his vox.
"Hayler we need a search and
destroy on the docked
Thunderhawk."
"Affirmative," came her soft
reply.
Syakotus looked over at
Lykran standing with his
fellow Death Watch. "You
will lead squad Teaxon with
the second assault."
"As you command."
"Korde, lead your squad in."
Syakotus motioned pointing
his storm bolter downhill.
As Korde charge downhill
with his squad, the loud
roar of engines blocked out
the sound of their jump
packs as the gun cutter
roared overhead, firing its
forward lascannons at the
entry gates and blasting
them wide open in a ball of
flames as the mesh arced
upwards with a gush of
smoke. "Charge!" he
bellowed, pointing his power
sword forward. It only took
the Assault squad a minute
before they stormed past the
burning gates and into the
complex. The Spectre in the
watchtower above them
started blasting at them
with his mounted heavy
bolter. The bullets flung
through the air and thudded
across the snow with a loud
roar. Korde threw himself at
the tower using his power
sword to hack at the closest
of the legs; Judson did the
same with his chain sword at
the opposite side. The tower
fell with a loud crash as it
smashed hard through the
thick snow, flinging the
Spectre forward as the heavy
bolter smashed head on into
his face. Korde spun round
to see Judson still standing
as the smoke evaporated from
around him.
Syakotus charged into the
complex followed by the rest
of his Marines to watch the
Spectres Thunderhawk covered
over by smoke from the
blasts from the gun cutter.
Suddenly, Spectres flooded
out at them from the nearest
bunker. Hendo rushed forward
as his flamer ignited and
spewing a gush of flames at
the oncoming attackers.
Without warning the Spectres
threw grenades high in the
air. "Impact!" bellowed
Syakotus, as the explosions
all about them began. All of
squad Gustus went down on
their knees, firing their
bolters and cutting down the
first wave of attacking
Spectres. The sound was
deafening from explosions
and gun fire and yet also
like a firework display,
with the chattering of each
gun firing across the
battlefield, ricocheting off
the bunkers with all kinds
of sparks. Syakotus saw
Salvanfor, followed by two
of the Death Watch; head off
across to the bunker next to
the smoke covered landing
platform. "Where is he
going? The Necrosphere must
be inside there," he
thought, but his attention
was distracted with the
sharp pain of razor blades
as he saw his attacker jam a
chain sword at his rib cage.
Feeling the blood spill
through his armour he rammed
his storm bolter at the
Spectres chest, trashing the
armour with a burst at full
auto, killing him instantly;
kicking the dead corpse
aside to engage the next.
Sergeant Lykran led Assault
squad Teaxon into the
nearest bunker, probably the
armoury"¦ Once inside, the
squad split up. Lykran
stepped into a small hallway
re-cocking his bolter, the
click was loud enough to
disturb the Spectre at the
end of the hallway and
though the bunker had a low
red glow throughout the
Spectres eyes still seemed
somewhat silver "Shi"¦" was
all Lykran could muster from
his lips as a force threw
him hard against the wall
behind him. As he managed to
stagger back to his feet
another force blast threw
him back again, this time
through the door and back
into the snow outside.
Coburn charged his chain
sword at the Spectre
stepping into the hallway
"Librarian!" he screamed.
Just before his head popped
and splattered the walls
with bits of skull and
brain. Lykran pulled himself
up and charged back through
the door just as the
Librarian turned to gaze
upon him again, giving
Phanus a chance to take a
shot from his plasma pistol,
killing the Librarian with
an accurate shot of hot
plasma."Sweep the rest of
the bunker," he ordered,
turning back outside.
Syakotus was leading the
rest of squad Gustus at the
far end bunker but was cut
short by heavy las fire.
Gruber fell backwards
crashing through the snow as
his leg was blown away with
the first blast. "Down,
down!" bellowed Syakotus,
dropping to his chest in
time to see the rest follow
suit. Hendo jumped up with a
blast of flames from his
flamer, aimed at the Spectre
from the smoke ridden
landing platform. Syakotus
pulled himself up from out
the snow to see the Spectre
drop his las cannon and fall
back through the smoke,
engulfed in flames "Good
work brother Hendo," He
praised.
As Syakotus reached the
bunker, the two Death Watch
Marines lay dead. Someone
had shot them with a
needler. With a strong gush
of wind the smoke from the
landing platform dispersed
revealing the Thunderhawk
undamaged. "What the hell?"
muttered Hendo, stepping
back to take a better look.
"The gun cutter must have
missed Captain."
"Or not"¦" Syakotus pondered
as he slipped another two
clips into the storm bolter.
"C'mon time to see what our
Inquisitor is up to. The
rest of you stand guard," he
ordered. "Korde, contact the
Forge Hand and tell Chaplain
Quornas to send down the
Thunderhawk and tell him to
have Apothecary Lenthos come
down," he voxed.
"Right on it Captain," Korde
replied as his voice
crackled with the saddened
aggression from the storm.
Syakotus and Hendo entered
the bunker, stepping over
another dead Spectre to see
a second lay sprawled across
one of the terminals with
wisps of sparks dancing
across the keyboards and the
other consoles." Salvanfor
must have destroyed their
coms," noted Hendo,
following Syakotus as he
stepped into the low
hallway. Both men walked
silently through the severed
cables and wires hanging
from above and scattered
across the floor through the
flickering lights. They
stepped out of the hallway
and into some sort of
science lab where the smell
of fresh cigar tobacco
drifted towards them.
Syakotus stopped a moment
and looked around the
science lab. The room was
large and from the doorway
where both men stood there
were six rows of long chrome
looking tables with
canisters and giant glass
tubes stood high. Some
contained water of a dirty
colour; others had small
creatures floating in water
encased within them. From
the continuous flickering of
the lights Syakotus could
see the dust floating in the
air like spores, and the
wires spread across the
floor like a batch of snakes
crawling in and out of each
other. Taking a step to the
edge of the nearest table
through the black and white
flickering of the lights, he
could see the rust and
rotted blood that covered
them mixed in with all kinds
of slime. Syakotus pointed
to the left side of the room
for Hendo to explore while
he would go through the
centre. Hendo slowly walked
across to the left to see
something move in the
flickering shadows. "Captain
we are not alone," he voxed.
Syakotus bent down on one
knee with his storm bolter
clenched tightly in both
hands, he peered under the
tables, but the flickering
of the light was almost too
blinding for him to see
anything. As he rose back to
his feet the sound of
smashing glass echoed about
the room from behind "Hendo,
is that you?" he asked.
"Nay"¦" Then, the sound of
creeping feet crunching
through the glass echoed
from behind. "Hendo, move
back to the door. Slowly,"
he ordered, voxing him.
Hendo clenched his flamer,
aiming it forwards as he
crept back to the door. Just
as he reached the freshly
smashed glass he felt
something sharp in his back.
The pain dashed sharply to
his stomach as he looked
down, dropping his flamer
with a clang that echoed, to
see his intestines spilling
onto the floor followed by
the lighting claw hand of
Commander Bruttin. Hendo
turned his head to see the
scar across the face of
Bruttin, moments before he
slid his claws upwards and
sliced Hendo into two;
spilling the rest of his
guts across the floor below.
As the light flickered over
the two, Syakotus saw Hendos
body split and drop to the
floor, leaving Bruttin
standing over him, covered
in Hendos blood. The light
flickered again, he saw
Bruttin smile as he opened
fire on full auto, spraying
bullets across the lab,
adding more flickering light
to the room with the shots.
He spun round trying to hit
Bruttin, bullets flew around
the lab, ricocheting off the
walls and smashing into the
glass tubes, shattering
glass across the tables and
splashing onto the floor
like water. Bruttin ran
round the right of the lab
trying to evade the oncoming
shower of bolter fire, yet
not escaping them totally.
Some of the bullets hit him
head on in his leg, arm and
his side, thudding through
his armour. The storm bolter
clicked empty, giving
Bruttin time to get closer
to the far doorway. Syakotus
jammed two more clips into
the storm bolter and again
aiming it level, he fired on
full auto letting out
another loud roar of
screeching bolter shells
across the far side of the
lab, ricocheting off the
walls and into more glass
smashing it across the
floor. The sound was
deafening. One of the stray
bullets hit a tall canister
at the far doorway. The
chemicals inside flared up
with a loud explosion adding
more light to the flickering
illumination. Syakotus was
blown back across to the
doorway he entered, slamming
backwards on the floor into
the remains of the mutilated
body of Hendo. A back draft
of flames engulfed the whole
lab into molten flames
leaving Syakotus stunned
across the floor on his
back.
Syakotus staggered up to his
feet surrounded by flames
and no sight of Bruttin, "I
need back up in here
pronto," he voxed, to hear
the sound of roaring engines
outside.
"Captain it's the
Inquisitors Gu"¦" Was all he
heard to the sound of loud
explosions outside the sound
of lascannons.
Syakotus reached for two
more clips to reload but
found he had none. "Damn."
Dropping his storm bolter to
the floor, he unsheathed his
power sword from his back
then flicked the switch with
his thumb; the sword began a
low hum. Holding in front of
himself, he walked through
the flames and out the room.
At the other side of the
doorway, Syakotus began down
the stairs leading
underground.
Once he reached the bottom
the room was large with a
bright green glow, the walls
and floor also reflected the
green. In the centre was a
bright green sphere with
Inquisitor Salvanfor pulling
cables from its belly.
"Salvanfor, why are you
unplugging it? Destroy it
now!"
Salvanfor looked up at him
with the barrel of his
shotgun, "Captain," he said;
seconds before blasting him
square in the chest.
Syakotus fell back on the
ground. "Its over for you
now Captain," he said
pulling the last of the
cables out.
"Going somewhere traitor?"
asked Bruttin as he jumped
down from the steps.
Syakotus looked up to see
Prill come from the steps at
the other end. "Master we
are ready."
"Good, load this up on the
Spectres Thunderhawk," he
ordered.
Bruttin flexed his claws out
wide, "You're going
nowhere!"
Syakotus stood back to his
feet slamming his power
sword into the back of
Bruttin. The blood poured
down the blade. "Neither are
you."
Bruttin spun round, "You
fool you know not what you
do, for the sake of Dorn
stand aside!" He said;
slashing his claws into
Syakotus, splitting the
ceramite protecting his
chest.
Syakotus backed off pulling
his sword away from Bruttin
"You have no right to speak
Rogal Dorn's name!" he
yelled, swinging his sword
into the claws of Bruttins
left hand, slicing through
them. Bruttin slashed at him
with his right hand,
splitting his shoulder pad
into two. Syakotus brought
his sword round for another
swipe at Bruttin, this time
taking his left hand with a
clean cut. Bruttin let out a
scream as he stuck the claws
from his right hand through
the stomach of Syakotus,
splashing blood across the
room. Syakotus lashed out
with his sword into Bruttins
upper torso, cutting in
deep. He pulled his claws
from Syakotus, making
another slash this time into
his chest. Syakotus felt the
intensity of the pain flow
through him and with what
strength remained, brought
his sword up and plunged it
into Bruttins neck. He spun
around, slicing through,
forcing his head to separate
from the rest of him.
Syakotus fell to his knees
covered in the blood of
Bruttin and mortally
wounded. "You tricked me."
he said as he fell
backwards, hitting the floor
with the back of his head.
As he helplessly watched
Salvanfor and Prill take the
Necrosphere with them, he
closed his eyes for what he
thought would be the last
time as he was overcome with
darkness. He saw Rogal Dorn
standing at the gates of the
Emperors fortress on Terra
in all his glory, fighting
against the hordes of Horus
slaying the traitors as they
approached him. Then he saw
Rogal Dorn carrying the
mortally wounded body of the
Emperor. To his surprise he
opened his eyes again.
Chaplain Quornas stood over
Syakotus "You're awake
then."
"What happened?" he asked,
looking up at the long
narrow face of Quornas.
"We found you in an
underground chamber under
one of the bunkers," Quornas
replied in a dry, gruff
voice.
Syakotus sat up from his
bedchamber feeling the pain
of his battle with Bruttin
hammering through his body.
"What of Inquisitor
Salvanfor?"
Quornas turned to gaze out
the window. "That traitorous
scum was long gone when
Apothecary Lenthos found
you. We brought you back and
left the planet's orbit
before the Ordo Hereticus
arrived." Quornas paused for
a second as he faced
Syakotus "Chapter Master
Pedro Cantor Requests we
return to Rynn's World for a
debriefing."
"I failed to destroy the
Necrosphere."
"That was not your mission.
Your mission was the
destruction of the Spectre
Knights. That you
accomplished. Besides, you
can kill Inquisitor
Salvanfor another day."
"No, let the Ordo Hereticus
deal with him, he's their
problem now," Syakotus said
staggering up. Quornas
looked at him, mouth open as
if to speak. "But then
again"¦"