[Worldkiller]

The moon was red tonight. Ever since the daemon landed.

Lucen looked up from his hovel at the night sky. He was remembering fonder days when the moon was a light to him in the dark, helping him find his way back home to his loving parents. Now it just made him wish he were dead even more than when the sun came up.

He remembered the weeks leading up to the storms of blood. Preacher Thane had warned them but the town would not listen. “He is getting old” Lucen’s father had said. “He’s starting to forget things and he’s getting confused.” Lucen remembered looking up into his eyes that day. “Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to us. The Emperor protects.”

Then an axe fell down upon his father’s head and Lucen ran away screaming as the tide of blood began to engulf his town.

That was two weeks ago. Ever since then he had hidden in the woods, in a small abandoned hovel. And he was starving.

He looked down and saw pecker beetles scurrying across the dirt. Away from him, away from something breathing behind him. He looked up, and there stood a red painted daemon. A hoofed foot came crashing down upon his head.


The bloodletter Janek howled into the night. He looked down upon the pitiful corpse of the human child and smeared its broken skull across the ground with his hoof.

‘The cleansing of the southern continent is almost complete my lord…’ he said into the night air in front of him, knowing that wherever the greater daemon was he would hear him.

‘You are doing well Janek’ came his reply, ‘continue the slaughter. The oceans will be filled with blood before the Imperium comes to reclaim its miserable world.’

Janek lifted his head to the sky and sniffed. Another thirty humans sweating in the sweet smell of fear shivered in fear just a few miles south.
‘Blood for the true god…’

 

[Worldkiller]

‘This,’ said the Lord General Duren, ‘is the planet Gatex. Before the warp set its sights on it it was the primary source of ammunition and small arms in this sector. Now it belongs to the blood god.’

All around the table the gathered men and women shuddered at the very mention of the bloodied one. Except one.

‘Now look at the holo.’ Continued the Lord General. ‘The red dots are the enemy’s fleet and defense stations.’

‘My Emperor!’ exclaimed the fleet admiral. ‘There are so many… how did they get defense stations up so quickly?’

‘They boarded some and brought in a few more from the warp. We believe they are crewed by filthy cultists. And that is an abnormal number of ships, I won’t try to make any of you see differently.’

He waited for the group to take it all in.

‘Admiral?’ said the figure bated in shadow.

The admiral was startled at this and looked at the unmoving figure. ‘Oh… yes. Sorry madam.’ He gathered himself as he studied the holo for a couple minutes. ‘Well I can tell you right now there is nothing in this sector that can take that on, not with Abbadon’s crusade still tearing into Imperium territory. Nothing I know anyway.’

‘Then why are the warp filth staying where they are?’ asked the lord general.
‘That is in part do to the remains of the sector fleet being directed by the captains under my command.’ Said the admiral.

‘Maybe they’re stocking up on ammunition?’ said an adept somewhere.
‘For whatever reason, and remember these foul creatures don’t need a reason to do whatever they wish, they are there, and they are not moving.’ Said the figure in shadow.

‘Even if we did break the fleet’s back what then?’ said an Arch-magos of the Mechanicus, getting the discussion back on topic.

 

[Worldkiller]

‘Nothing.’ Replied the Lord General. ‘Even if we did get we still wouldn’t have the manpower to destroy legions of warp spawn and maybe even millions of cultists upon that. And, it has come to our attention that the will of the daemons and cultists will remain unbroken unless their leader is killed, as is often the case in things like this.’

‘So what is our plan Lord General?’ said the woman in the shadow.
‘Well that is actually a question for the admiral here.’ He replied.
‘It is? Oh well… I suppose if the remains of the sector navy were wielded wisely… the daemons could be kept here until capable fleets and armies were made available. It would take years though… maybe decades.’

‘I can contribute several Mechanicus space-vessels and perhaps a titan for the final ground assault…’ said the Magos.

‘Unacceptable.’ Said the woman. ‘I have studied the surrounding systems and without this planet producing ammunition and small arms the PDF forces will be even more pathetic against invading forces. It simply needs to be retaken.’
‘What exactly are you thinking?’ said the Lord General. ‘We’d all love hear it.
The woman stood up and the shadow shrouding her body left, and a silver, ornamental I dangled from her neck on a chain. There is a project already in place. For a century it has been waiting for it’s first test. I believe this is exactly it. If it fails, you all can proceed with your slow, generic plan of action.’ She walked away from the holo-table. ‘Good day gentlemen. Hold them here for me will you? Good. Have at it, I’m off to the Sol system.’

 

[Worldkiller]

‘FASTER!’ yelled Sergeant Damas. Marines Acutus and Caleb picked up the pace and easily caught up with the other three marines in the squad. The five-man squad was running through the five-mile obstacle coarse in their “home”, hauling five times the amount of their standard weaponry. In truth it was more like a holding cell, to be occupied until a use was found for them.
‘Squad halt!’ shouted Damas as the inquisitor emerged from the corridor leading the training hall. The four men in his squad halted their running and placed their weapons, fifteen bolters, five melta guns, twenty-five chainswords, five bolt pistols.

The inquisitor raised an eyebrow. ‘Training?’ she asked.

‘Just an afternoon jog my lady.’ Said Damas. ‘With you keeping us here ever since you took us from the hives and made us into Astartes we’ve had nothing to do but wait, train, and wait until you have a use for us.’

‘Well wait no longer. You finally have an assignment. Pack up your things and meet me in the hanger in one hour.’ As she walked out of the training hall she shouted out a few ore words to them. ‘And catch up on your prayers. After this you may be dead.’

‘Thank you Janus.’ Said Damas to the inquisitor.

‘NEVER YOU USE MY NAME!’ screamed the inquisitor back at him.


Damas and his squad meet Janus in the hanger. On either side of her in the hanger were twenty Astartes clad in gunmetal gray power armor with a strombolter mounted on one hand and a nemesis force weapon in the other. Grey Knights. When Damas took a step to close they took a few cautious steps backward, clearly repelled by the pariah marines.
‘Are you ready?’ asked Janus.

Damas and his squad nodded.

‘Right’ she said ‘Let’s not waste time on useless chitchat, and let’s try to get along. I want all of you to form into a functioning team for this mission. Now get on the ship. All of you.’ The twenty-six men and woman made their way unto the Grey Knight’s Strike Cruiser.

 

[Worldkiller]

‘This,’ said Janus ‘is your target.’ An image of a palace came up on the holo. ‘As you can see’ she continued ‘there are four defensive tiers with towers all along it. The gate in the first wall is on the west side, on the second it is the ease side and so on to the top.’

She was giving Damas’s squad and the Grey Knights under Justicar Marius. The Grey Knights kept a comfortable distance form the pariah marines.
‘But none of that should really be a problem for you should it?’ said Janus. It was more of statement than a question.

‘What do you think?’ sneered Damas. Marius shot him a look of shock and anger. One does not become a killer of daemons if one cannot respect his superiors.

‘Damas if you insist on speaking to me without respect I can see to it that you and your squad are sent back to Mars for another century of waiting to be tested in combat.’ Said Janus. At that Marius let a hint of a smile touch his face.

Janus shot Damas one last withering look before returning to the holo.
‘Five drop pods.’ She said. ‘You will all be in them and shot down to the palace while the navy distracts the daemon fleet.’

‘Excuse me inquisitor,’ said Marius, ‘but won’t the drop pods be shot down or destroyed in mid-drop? Those aren’t anti-infantry or tank guns on those towers, those are anti-aircraft. How can we kill the daemon if we blow up before setting foot on the ground?’

‘Decoys.’ Replied the inquisitor. ‘There will be fifteen decoys, some with fixed weapons and others with bombs within them. It has cost me a great deal to obtain this from the mechanicus. So you better get the job done. Now back to the deployment, where was I… oh yes, Damas and his men will hit the center. Marius, you and your squads will take the four corners. The Grey Knights will hold off and distract the palace guards while Damas and his take on the daemon. Any questions?’

‘What if they fail?’ asked the Justicar of one of the Grey Knight squads.
‘Then they die and those of you that are still alive will move in and finish what they failed to do.’ Said Janus. ‘Now go train, and for the sake of the mission, try to start functioning as a team.’ She said. Suddenly she took a step back as though her diner wanted revenge. ‘I don’t want to see any of you until the operation begins.’ She walked out of the room as fast as she could, holding on to the walls for support.

 

[Worldkiller]

‘MARIA GET IN HERE!’ yelled Janus when she made it back to her room. Her assistant came out of her side room and saw her mistress lying on the floor.
‘What is wrong my lady?’ panic invaded her voice.

‘Get… the shot.’ Said Janus, foam escaping from her mouth.

Maria ran back into her spartan room and pulled a wooden box with two snakes twisted around a sword as the cover design. She took out a syringe and plunged it into a vial holding a thick black liquid. Once the syringe was halfway full she hurried back to the inquisitor silently praying to the emperor that she was not too late and injected the serum right into her heart.
She was not late at all.

Janus screamed in pain as the serum rushed through her veins and the poison was cleared from her system in a violent multi-colored cough.
‘Thank you Maria… that will be all.’ Panted Janus.

‘How about diner?’ suggested the indentured assistant.

‘Yes… good idea.’

As Maria left the room Janus reached into her robes and pulled out a recording device and spoke into it. 'Two weeks without incident, would have died without Maria, effects getting worse.'

 

[Worldkiller]

‘Your men,’ said Marius ‘are weak.’

Damas glared at him. ‘What do you mean justicar?’ he snarled.

‘They are undisciplined.’ Answered the hulking warrior. ‘They joke with each other and barely pay attention during fire practice. Their minds are not here. They are weak. They will die.’

‘Look,’ said Damas, getting angry at the arrogant astartes. ‘So what if they joke? They’ve been waiting for this for decades. Of coarse they will be undisciplined; it’s only to be expected.’

‘They behave like the penal regiments in the Imperial Guard, and I’ve put down some of those.’

‘What did you expect?’ said Damas, letting the subtle threat slide.

‘More discipline. You say they have been waiting for this for decades, why don’t they focus?’

‘They are eager. In battle they will be focused, and they will kill the daemon.’

‘Now how do you explain your apothecary?’ asked Marius, changing the subject.

Damas looked to Caleb, his apothecary wielding two bolt pistols in his hands. On the bottom of both his arms sharp, bony protrusions formed razor sharp scythes.

Damas looked back at Marius. ‘His gene-seed was taken from the Black Dragons’ tithe when it arrived at Mars for inspection.’

‘Oh so now that chapter has finally decided to fulfill its duties to the Mechanicus?’

Damas said nothing.

 

[Worldkiller]

‘Look.’ Said Marius stepping right in front of Damas. ‘You and your men are a disgrace to everything it means to be Astartes. You are repulsive and even if you succeed, which I doubt, you will all still die. I just have to give the order. You are a freak on a leash.’

Now Damas got angry. He grabbed the neck of the Grey Knight, taking no small amount of satisfaction from his mental discomfort. ‘If you keep talking down to me like this’ he whispered as marines began to gather around them ‘you and your men will be nothing but dead bodies everywhere. We will prove to you we that are marines. Like it, or I really don’t care about your life no matter how sacred it is to anybody.’ He pushed the larger man down to the floor and walked away, his squad holding their weapons ready to be used at any moment.

The Grey Knights let them walk away.