# After Caliban



## gothik (May 29, 2010)

After Caliban


First there was shouting, orders being passed back and forth as the great cannons and guns of _The Rock_ opened fire upon the vessels that orbited the Death World and who were pounding their world into nothingness.

Second came the biggest roars came from_ Luther _and _the Lion_, their battle played out for all to see. He had willed his commander to win, for the sake of all concerned but it was not to be and as Luther fell, astounded by his actions against his surrogate son everything went black again.

Finally to be hurled through the cosmos by the will and fury of angered gods he and his brethren were scattered across the universe. Blackness followed once more and the sleep took over, the universe turned.


He stood watching the battle below him. Men and women of the _Imperial Guard _fighting against the enemies of mankind and in the name of an Emperor that had been dead for ten thousand years. 

But that was not what had caught his attention. Since he had awoken two decades ago he had to learn some harsh lessons. One of them was that in his long sleep the universe had moved forward, not a couple decades that he had supposed, but ten thousand years.

He had encountered other brothers who had told him what his legion was like now. How they had embarked upon a secret crusade to recapture each and every one of Luther’s Angels or _the Fallen_ as they called them.

These brothers had warned him what would happen if he were seen, if he was even suspected of being planet side then the sons of the Lion would come and find him. 

Of course there were rumours of what occurred to the captured Fallen and that had come from _Cypher _himself. Torture which would last for days, weeks, even months until they got a confession out of _the Fallen._

He had heard that _Merir Astellan_ had been captured; he supposed that was a coo for them, not only a high profile Astartes but also the chapter master himself. 

He perched himself on the outcrop of rock he was standing on and that was when he saw them. All in Black Power Armour yet the right shoulder pad was covered in red spikes, the legs were dotted with silver spikes. 

Their helms were black and pointed with a red strip down the middle. Their Symbol looked a lot like his symbol with the exception that it was a red winged flame topped by a red halo within a white background.

The armour, unlike those of the other _Dark Angels_ he had seen over the years was from the time he served. He recognised the armour and nodded a little to himself. He had chosen this place and this day and this place to prove to the universe that the _Dark Angels_ were more secretive now then they had ever been.

He had fought alongside Cypher and had seen what his descendants were capable off. Cypher had been captured, deliberately captured he thought, by _the Black Templars_, a successor to _the Imperial Fists._

At first they had refused to hand Cypher over but after a stand off between them and the _Black Templars_ he was put into custody of the _Dark Angels_ but the vessel of the_ Black Templars, The Gulf_, was destroyed.

There were suspicions about what had actually happened, there were those that believed, although due to the ferocity of the fighting at the time could not prove, the _Dark Angels _had fired upon the Templars vessel.

He sighed a little, if this was what they were doing, to protect what they saw as their secret shame then it was the legacy of secrecy that the Lion had left. He shook his head a little in sorrow for a legion that in his opinion had fallen from its lofty perch.

He removed his helm with a hiss. The ancient machine spirit seemed to protest at being separated from the helm. He was however relieved that unlike the other renegades and fallen champions he was not in service to any dark god and therefore his body and his armour were still separate entities.

He was tired.

He was so very tired. 

There would be no end to this hunt across the universe. No matter where he went eventually, he would be found. 

Besides he missed home. He missed_ Caliban_ and he wanted to rest. He looked at his bolter. His companion since he had entered the_ Dark Angels_, he had killed enemies of the Emperor in vast numbers with this sacred weapon.

It would do no good appealing to their more sensitive nature. _Dark Angels _did not have one and they would not listen to the ranting of a heretic. From what he could understand, _the Lion_ was betrayed and killed by his surrogate father. 

_Luther_ was jealous they would say as that is what they would believe; it is what they had been told. None of them would accept that _the Lion_ was a paranoid man who wanted things done his way or no way.

Anyone who disagreed with him would end up back on _Caliban_. He started ostracising his _Terran_ born sons from his _Caliban_ born sons and in some cases he would send one of his _Caliban_ born sons to over rule a _Terran_ born son.

That was why he had alienated _Astellan_. 

He sighed and, taking a long look around him picked his helmet up and got to his feet. He was going to face certain death, days of agony and then it would be ended. _Cypher_ was wrong.

_The Dark Angels_ always held their secrets close to their chests. They would not allow anything to disturb their history or their belief and if the Emperor saw fit to forgive them he would have done so by now.

Even if he did, then the _Fallen _doubted the _Dark Angels_ would. 

He started his walk down.


The Imperial Guard of the _Honsara desert raiders_ cheered as the lone Astartes began to kill the traitor guard but the other Astartes did nothing of the sort and when they saw him they left their appointed positions and made a beeline for where he now stood.

He waited.

“I am Interrogator Chaplain Jamarka of Th_e Covenant_, you are coming with us Brother Corvare”

“Am I now?” Corvare quietly spoke.

“As a traitor to the Imperium and the Lion you will be taken to the Rock”

He cocked his head a little and looked past them at the staring Imperial Guard who was wondering what was going on. He knew what would happen to them, humans loved to gossip.

He lowered his bolter and his sword and held his arms out.

He was going home.


----------



## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

An interesting and melancholic piece, gothik. Throughout, you can get a good feeling of Corvare's despondency with the path the Dark Angels have taken. The ending, with him coming down to the Dark Angels, was a very powerful if short scene. Well done all around.

If I had one gripe, it would be the randomly italicized words throughout. I get that some of them, such as the _Imperial Guard_, were references to things that had changed over the last 10k years, but at other times it was distracting. What were you going for with the italicization?


----------



## gothik (May 29, 2010)

not sure think after readingcountless books with it i think i got into the habit.


----------

