“It’s the Word Bearers Legion!” Captain Slokas shouted, raising a power sword in excitement.
With the captain’s cry, more gunships appeared through the planet’s cloud cover in support.
BOOM!
Captain Paulus led the charge.
The moment Paulus leapt from the gunship, a power sword was drawn from the hip, and dozens of slashes delivered in a single breath instantly shredded the Flesh Abominations that had moved to surround Paulus.
“Captain Slokas!
Fall back into the gunships now!
We’ll cover the rear!” Paulus shouted.
With that call, the sound of bombers filled the sky above.
More than ten bombers dropped Incendiary Bombs, and tens of thousands of kilometres of open plain were set ablaze in an instant.
Countless Flesh Abominations wailed in the inferno for a few seconds before being dissolved entirely by the heat.
“Get up here, now!” Word Bearers warriors hefting all manner of heavy weapons opened fire on the Flesh Abominations closing in on the gunships, and the roar of Bolters and plasma all but drowned out the battle cries of the Space Marines.
As the last Ultramarine boarded, the gunships that had punched through the atmosphere climbed steeply, then quickly broke away from the planet.
“Tell me what happened here.” Captain Paulus sheathed the blade, still slick with enemy blood, and asked.
“It is a complicated matter, Captain Paulus,” Captain Slokas replied, exhausted, managing only a strained salute.
“Please allow me to report directly to your Primarch.
Forgive my discourtesy, my battle-brother.” Slokas was spent.
Nearly a thousand hours of unrelenting combat had left the mind feeling as though it had been thrown into a blender.
Slokas leaned against the gunship’s hull and rested for a few minutes, letting the mind go completely slack.
Then, a few minutes later, Slokas stood back up.
Focus had largely returned.
Slokas unslung the weapon, the ammunition long since exhausted, and propped the Company Banner upright beside it.
“How many of you are left?” Captain Paulus continued.
“When we arrived on this planet we numbered approximately 650.
We had just finished a campaign and were preparing to rotate out, find a world to rest and resupply.” “But we received a distress call from the Otheros Colony.
A million colonists were calling on our company for help, and as a Space Marine I could not turn away from that.” Slokas let out a quiet breath.
“So after a brief consultation with the Primarch, we deployed to support the planet.
But we had not anticipated how tenacious this enemy would prove — our fleet was caught completely off guard.
I ordered Lieutenant Locke to board our battle-barge and evacuate the civilians…” “Wait — when you came in to reinforce us, did you come across our battle-barge, the Holy Vanguard?” Slokas looked up and asked.
“We did.
But that ship had already fallen.
We had no choice but to sink it.” Paulus answered plainly and in full.
“Understood.” Slokas did not respond further, simply sitting in the gunship in silence, waiting to reach their destination.
Before long the gunship entered the hangar bay of the Fidelitas Lex, and to the sound of fervent scripture being recited, Captain Slokas stepped out of the gunship.
“Courage and glory, my lord.” Slokas saluted Chapter Master Rockefeller, who stood before them.
“Greetings, Son of Ultramar.” Rockefeller gave a single nod.
“I am here on the order of the Gene-Father, awaiting you all.” Rockefeller swept a gaze across the group and added.
Slokas stepped out into the light.
The piercing golden radiance made it difficult to keep the eyes fully open, and with it came a wave of distinctive incense, a scent that eased the tension wound through Slokas’s nerves.
This was the first time Slokas had ever set foot aboard a Word Bearers Gloria-class Battleship.
Previously, Slokas had served briefly aboard the Macragge’s Honour before being assigned to the Legion company where Slokas now served.
“Follow me.” Rockefeller moved at the head of the column, leading a squad of Word Bearers warriors, with Slokas and the other adjutant, Tacris, following as they moved through the warship.
“Board.” Slokas was brought to an internal landing pad within the warship, where a small Transport Shuttle had already been waiting.
Because the warship was so vast, and in order to accelerate transit to different areas of the vessel, all warships had been fitted with these rapid-transit vehicles capable of flying within the ship’s interior.
The Word Bearers’ Gloria-class Battleship Fidelitas Lex was no exception.
As one of the largest warships in the Imperium, after Lorgar joined the Legion he had extensively improved these systems, multiplying the Legion’s operational efficiency several times over.
Before long the Transport Shuttle arrived at the office district where the Primarch resided.
Accompanied by two Word Bearers warriors, the massive doors were slowly opened, and Lorgar’s face gradually came into view before them.
“Gene-Father, the guests have been brought, as requested.” Rockefeller bowed.
“You have done well.” Lorgar gave a single nod in reply.
Rockefeller raised his head, visibly moved: “To serve you in any capacity is my honour, Gene-Father.” “Good.” Lorgar gave a nod, then turned his gaze to Slokas: “Captain Slokas, I would like you to explain to me what happened, to your company, and to the colony.” “My lord, we were attacked by an unknown xenos organism.
The Otheros Colony has been utterly destroyed, and the soldiers garrisoned there have been converted into the Flesh Abominations we just encountered on the surface.” “Flesh Abominations?” Lorgar narrowed his eyes, studying Slokas.
“Yes.
Our company lost 246 battle-brothers, and every mortal auxiliary soldier who fought alongside us was killed in action.” “That many casualties?” Lorgar was genuinely taken aback by the figures Slokas reported.
Guilliman would probably be furious upon hearing this, and would no doubt frantically organize a retaliatory crusade.
“What else do you know?” “We had a reconnaissance squad that picked up traces of a small enemy force on Otheros.
Based on their assessment, the enemy is not a conventional technological civilization, but rather masters of biological manipulation at an extreme level of advancement.
Their ‘technology’ is based entirely on bioengineering: living ships, living weapons, and the like.” “The enemy treats biomass, especially that of sentient beings — as malleable raw material.” “Based on our squad’s tracking, we found that the mortal auxiliary soldiers taken captive by them would not simply be killed, but would instead be brought aboard a Bio-ship, where they would be dissolved in vast, sentient crucibles, their nervous systems stripped, and then merged with other victims and animal genetic material to be woven into various biological weapons.
“Furthermore, their methods of warfare are designed to produce maximum fear and psychological trauma.
The enemy’s living weapons mimic the forms of the victims’ own comrades and attack in a distorted manner, while the battlefield itself becomes covered by rapidly-growing temporary organic matter deployed by the enemy, which devours corpses and converts them into dangerous environmental hazards.” ➤ Next: A Pleasant Day Begins with Boarding Action