"What are you babbling about, Drago?"
"Nothing, brother-Sergeant Oakley." I bowed my head, feeling sheepish at my silly outburst. I no longer carried a plasma burner, but at least I had a plasma repeater. Well, my brothers called it a "plasma repeater," but it was simply two plasma guns glued together to represent their twin-linked rule. For some reason, that halved their range, though it gave us more shots and less of a chance of blowing ourselves up when the weapon gets hot! So I had no complaints.
In any event, I happened to be promoted to a Legion Veteran for now, though I bet I would be demoted to a Hellblaster when I returned as a Risen 10,000 years in the future, but I could worry about that later.
"Hello? Brother Drago? You there?"
Oakley knocked his gauntlet against my helm. I coughed and nodded.
"Good, because we'll be needing you. I don't know why the Word Bearers are here, but it can't be good. Knight-Commander Pervical has ordered a purge of Pallidus, and so we shall exterminate those heretics from the surface of the planet."
"Are we Deathwing now?" I wondered out loud, noticing that my Hexagrammaton had changed. That explained the power sword.
"Yeah. We were always Deathwing. Unless you want to switch to Dreadwing in the future."
"Oh, I definitely want to. Just for this battle, I'll follow your lead, okay?"
Unfortunately, we had to go on foot. To the east, a five-man support tactical squad, all armed with plasma repeaters, advanced. They were accompanied by the newly inducted...uh, Inductii. Even though Lord Luther should be running his little recruitment program at full tilt back in Caliban, the on-field losses after the Thramas Crusade had forced us to run accelerated recruitment programs, and for some reason, we decided to arm all our new recruits with volkite chargers because...well, because we were the First Legion and had access to the Armory of Old Night. 'Nuff said.
They were pretty raw, though, and I didn't fancy their chances. Apparently, attrition rate among the Inductii was high, and this was their first combat. Hell, I think this was the first combat for this particular battle group. We were all mostly just rolled off fresh from the Legiones Astartes Battle Group series from a nearby forge world, and our power armor were freshly stamped by the archmagos there.
In contrast, the Word Bearers approaching our position looked like veterans. They appeared odd, though. Their Veterans seemed...uh, corrupted somehow? With all those weird horns, gribblies and appendages growing out of their distorted armor.
"What the hell has Lorgar or Erebeus been feeding those guys?" I wondered out loud.
"Ignorance is a shield against the Corrupt," Oakely quoted from somewhere. "Ignore them. Just exterminate them with extreme prejudice, as our father would have wanted."
"He entrusted me with the task itself," Percival said through the vox. The Land Raider Proteus that his Cataphractii Terminator retinue was riding in had rolled up, its six lascannons bristling. "To purify Pallidus of whatever taint the XVIIth was engulfing it in."
Pallidus was one of the edge worlds of Ultramar. Apparently, the Word Bearers and World Eaters had run roughshod over the five hundred worlds, enacting some sort of...Shadow Crusade while we were launching our Thramas Crusade against Konrad Curze and his VIIIth. Once we were done with that, the Lion had dispatched a small scout fleet toward the Realm of Ultramar when he found the path back to Holy Terra blocked by some kind of...warp storm or something, one of a scale we had never seen before, and our little scouting force landed on Pallidus where the Word Bearers were conducting their Shadow Crusade.
Hence, we were here to do the XIIIth a favor. Yay.
Two Deredeo Dreadnoughts lumbered behind us, slow but deadly. The Ancients, Gawaine and Lancelittle. Their hellfire plasma carronades were lighting up with an azure blue, even as the corrupted Contemptor Dreadnought of the XVIIth from the opposite side opened fire with its autocannon. The heavy rounds struck Gawaine, rocking him, but the high caliber rounds failed to penetrate his adamantine armor. Gawaine returned fire, the plasma streams from his Hellfire plasma carronade slamming against the Contemptor Dreadnought in retaliation. The atomantic deflector flared white-hot as it struggled against the strain, before it flickered out. Superheated matter melted parts of the corrupted hull, but the Contemptor Dreadnought shrugged off the worst of the damage and continued plodding forward implacably. Meanwhile, the Breachers fired their boltguns at the tactical support squad, but they ducked under cover and mostly escaped unscathed.
"Charge! We have sworn a Vow and shall see it Unbroken!" Percival roared.
The Land Raider Proteus rumbled toward an approaching squad of Cataphractii Terminators, all armed with lightning claws and accompanied by a cackling Esoterist. The venerable vehicle's lascannons opened up, the ruby beams stabbing at the listing Contemptor Dreadnought, and with a groan, it went up in a tremendous explosion that consumed a nearby Word Bearer. The tactical squad withdrew and continued moving forward, taking cover under a building, while the Word Bearer Veterans and their Praetor hid behind the Breachers.
"Oh? Hiding like the cowardly heretics you are? Gentlemen, let's rinse them of their cover." The sergeant of the plasma repeater squad hefted up his weapon and gestured. The five brothers aimed and let loose volleys of plasma at the Breachers, the twin-linked weapons glowing hot. Three times, the weapons overheated and vented superheated gas into its wielder, but their power armor protected them from the boiling steam. In return, the Breachers fell, their shields melting from the superheated matter and the Marines falling to the devastating bombardment.
However, heretics as they were, they were still Legiones Astartes. At an order from their sergeant, who was wearing relic armor, they formed a disciplined line even as their brothers fell, returning fire with transhuman reflexes. One of the brothers carrying a plasma repeater was bowled over, his helm cracked as explosive bolts detonated and pulped his head within.
That wasn't good.
Gawaine and Lancelittle opened up with their own plasma and missile salvos, past the decimated Breacher squad and into the Veterans with the Praetor. The first bombardment, with Gawaine unleashing maximal fire, crashed with the force of a meteor and obliterated at least three Veterans outright and even killed the sole survivor of the Breacher squad. The second salvo from Lancelittle finished the remaining Veterans and Praetor off, with the Sergeant falling to a missile before the superheated plasma incinerated the screaming Praetor.
The Cataphractii Terminators, led by Percival, charged the Terminators with lightning claws, but they tripped over a rock and failed to crash into the Word Bearers, who mocked them by waving their crackling claws condescendingly. The Esoterist chuckled and unleashed void darts upon them, channeling foul powers from the warp and bombarding them with all sorts of psychic trickery. The Cataphractii Terminators weathered the storm, though one reeled, his armor cracked open by the intense empyreanic energies.
It didn't take long for the Word Bearers to charge into the Cataphractii Terminators, but Percival issued a challenge to the Esoterist, who gleefully accepted. Meanwhile, the tactical squad that had seen a man go down to the Contemptor Dreadnought's explosion had gotten into position, and with precise shots, they wiped out the plasma repeater squad, killing three of them outright. The sergeant managed to react, instructing his men to return fire before they fell, and plasma bathed the tactical squad, though only two of the Astartes succumbed to the plasma despite the raging superheated matter melting entire walls. The plasma repeater exploded in the hands of one of the brothers, and this time, his power armor - already compromised earlier from the boiling steam - was no longer able to withstand it. They were annihilated.
"That can't be good," I muttered, looking from afar. Though we were running, we still hadn't reached within range of our plasma pistol, plasma repeater or volkite serpentas. And the tactical squad was going to shift their targets to us next.
As if the annihilation of the plasma repeater squad had triggered something, the Cataphractii Terminators received Favors from the Dark Gods and they seemed to grow somehow, their weapon skill and movement improving, as well as their Strength (I think?). They were easily overwhelming the Terminators in combat, despite their Deathwing Hexagrammaton giving them a bonus +1 to their sword skills. Fortunately, the Cataphractii terminator held against the crackling, shredding blows of the lightning claws, though one guy appeared to fall when he was stabbed by a claw, his armor already compromised by the void dart from earlier. Yikes.
Percival, though, was not to be outdone. With superlative skill, he executed a Murderous Strike that took off the head of the Esoterist, while the latter was unable to land a single hit on him. The beheaded Esoterist staggered, as if not realizing that he was dead, then fell to his knees. With a contemptuous manner, Percival kicked the corpse over before returning his attention to the Cataphractii Terminators assaulting his retinue.
For some reason, his swordsmanship didn't flow as well. Perhaps a curse left behind by the now dead Esoterist, which slowed his movements? He was unable to take out a Cataphractii Terminator, though they were able to wound another one of our brothers in return. One of them staggered, stabbed by the sergeant's calibanite warblade, but didn't fall.
"Let's keep going!" Oakley ordered, and we continued running. The Land Raider Proteus, having disgorged its passengers earlier, turned about and fired its lascannons, though only two tactical marines died. Behind us, Gawaine and Lancelittle directed their fire at the tactical marines hidden inside the building and blew them out, wiping them to a man. The legionnaires weren't going down without a fight, though, and they returned fire with their boltguns, damaging Gawaine's frame and leaving a huge crack in his torso.
Back in the fight, Percival finally recovered from whatever curse the Esoterist weaved on him. With a determined yell, he cut down one of the Terminators with a Murderous Strike. Another Terminator fell to the Word Bearers, but they had finally taken down two of them in return, leaving just three. Having lost the duel, the XVIIth legionnaires thought valor was the better part of discretion, and decided to flee.
From the east, the last remaining tactical squad moved up and assaulted the Inductii with their boltguns, taking down two of the newest recruits who were dumb enough to stand in the open and not dive for cover when the shooting started. The sergeant barked at his raw recruits and shoved the remaining Inductii toward the nearest ruin for cover.
The Land Raider Proteus traversed about and fired at the remaining Cataphractii Terminators, and one died. The others continued to run. Meanwhile, Gawaine and Lancelittle focused fire on the tactical squad and avenged the fallen Inductii by reducing them to molten ruin. So much plasma engulfed the area it looked little more than a scorched crater.
"...uh, isn't that overkill?" I remarked, starting at the smoldering rock.
"There's no such thing as overkill when it comes to purging heretics and slaughtering traitors," Oakley reprimanded me harshly. He nodded toward the duel where Percival and the Terminators caught up with the two remaining Word Bearers Terminators. This time, they cut down a second, and the Sergeant broke in morale and ran away. Ugh. There was nowhere for him to run, and I felt pity for him.
"Job's done!" Percival yelled, waving at us to consolidate our gains and check our losses. "Great work, everyone. Pallidus should be clear for now. We've shattered the XVIIth's strike! Hopefully, we can continue this progress throughout the Realm of Ultramar and drive both the XVIIth and the XIIth out of the five hundred worlds before our father arrives!"
I thought that was a bit too optimistic, but said nothing. It was not my place to question the Knight-commander. Instead, I glanced at the plasma repeater in my hand and wondered when I would get the chance to switch back to being an Interemptor with a plasma burner.
Maybe next time, eh?
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