# Traitor Librarian



## Keen4e (Apr 19, 2010)

This is my first story I am posting here. Although I enjoy reading English books, English is not my mother tongue, so although I tried at least to avoid grammatical mistakes it will probably contain some clumsy expressions. 
Here is the first chapter:

Traitor Librarian

Chapter 1:
"Kill maim burn kill maim burn!" 
This frightening cry could be heard all over the battlefield. With his binoculars the colonel Aigar looked to the front trench and saw a group of dozen guardsmen being slaughtered by Khorne berzerkers. The distance between them and the HQ was desperately diminishing and Aigar saw panic in his soldiers eyes. Well who could blame them? 

A summary execution by his commissar Sidor gave him a quick answer "Fear denies faith." said the commissar and shot a soldier deemed coward.
Aigar shook his head in disdain. If they were to win this, they had better use every soldier they had instead of killing them uselessly.

"Can we join general Kwarg?" he asked his technician. 

"No sir. All we can hear is the enemy propaganda. They keep broadcasting blasphemies like death to the false..." 

"No need to corrupt your soul by repeating them." cut him the colonel. 
Then he called his commanding officers. "Well gentlemen our communications are jammed, so we are beyond any hope of reinforcements. Our enemies already invaded first of our trenches and soon they will overwhelm us. There is no point staying here any more, so be ready to organize a tactical retreat."

The commissar Sidor raised his eyebrow "Sir may I remind you, our orders were precise. We are to hold this line no matter the cost." 

"Well... yes, but no one presumed we would be cut off like this." answered the colonel slightly embarrassed. 

"No matter the cost." repeated the Commissar. "To hell with this. I won't let my man die in vain!" shouted the colonel in desperate anger. 

The commissar answered by quoting one of the Imperial maxims. "No man who died in His service, died in vain." 

Now the colonel was mad "You indoctrinated fool! Can't you see above such petty quotes of men who actually never fought a war? To die in His service is an honour, but not like this! Not like this." then he opened his vox and shouted "Retreat!"

Without any warning, Sidor shot him in face. While all officers gathered in the HQ were stunned by surprise, Sidor took the colonel's vox and said "Order canceled. Hold your posts men. Your colonel was executed for violating a direct order from his superiors and by my commissar's mandate I am assuming the command of the 5th Krug regiment." 

Then he turned his attention to the commanding officers "What are you staring at? Get to your men immediately." he ordered them. 

Then quickly evaluated the situation and as he saw the Berzekers approaching another trench he ordered "Concentrate all our fire power on that trench! Throw all explosives you have!" 

"But sir," protested a lieutenant "that will destroy lot of our defences and kill hundreds of men." 

"These defences are useless now and those men are already dead. Execute those orders now!"

All frags and explosives were thrown at the invaded trench. Guardsmen and World Eaters alike were blown into the air by an immense explosion. "I'm wondering who is bigger fool between our commissar and them." thought private Kulgur and shot a wounded berzeker lying ten meters from him. 

"Well done guardsmen. Now get me all plasma weapons in front regain the front trench and hold it!" ordered the commissar and rejoined his soldiers.

Kulgur gave a plasma weapon he received to a young guardsman, patted his helmet and said "Here you go boy, use it well.", but when he saw the boy crying , he took it back and said "Don't cry. I promise you. As long as I live, I'll protect you." and placed his massive body in front of him. It didn't take long for a new wave of World Eaters to launch attack. 


"We are approaching the orbit of Gwaeron V brother captain. " the librarian Mariel Arkin informed his captain. 

"Thank you brother librarian." answered the captain Hastus Maniel and turned towards his sergeants.

"So let us sum up our situation. Illicit Khornate cults were operating on this planet and summoned a force of World Eaters. Without any surprise the local PDF was unable to hold these Traitors back and so cults and traitor Marines took control of most of the planet. The Imperial army of Krug launched a poorly planned assault, which ended in pointless bloodshed. Their soldiers are infamous for being many, but without any decent equipment or training. We are here to fix all the mess they have done. As the situation is rather desperate, we need to make an immediate drop and help the Imperial Guard as soon as possible. As this will be more a defensive situation, the Codex Astartes requires us to employ devastator squads with heavy bolters to slow down the ennemy advance. Assault squads will be ready for a jump if the enemy comes too close. Any questions? " 

The Librarian Mariel raised his hand. "Brother captain. There is a whole regiment which was sent to slaughter by the general Kwarg. I think it would be... fair to help them as they are facing a direct assault of the World Eaters." 

The captain frowned "Brother Librarian do not forget we are the Ultramarines. We must seek the best tactical solution. You would have us help an isolated regiment, while we have a battle to win on the main front?" 

Mariel expected such answer and said "Well if the fact that we can help Emperor's loyal servants isn't enough for you, I would like to point out that the World Eaters that attacked this fifth regiment from the mountains have a sorcerer with them. If he manages to break this regiment, he can rejoin the main front. Then it will be much more difficult to deal with him. If we strike now, we can have his force by surprise." 

"That's a good argument brother. Nevertheless the bulk of our company should rejoin the general Kwarg on the main front. Tell me how many men do you need to eliminate this sorcerer and his lackeys? " 

"Give me two tactical squads. Sergeants Kadmius and Larian will perfectly do the job." 

"As you wish brother. We are settled then. Tell all your men to get ready. Courage and Honour."

"Courage and Honour." answered the sergeants. 


"Sir we will be out of ammo soon. " said Major Ruffius to his commissar. 

Sidor looked at him and said "So you are saying that there are more enemies then we have ammo? " 

"Yes sir. Shall we retreat now?" almost pleaded Ruffius. 

"Retreat is not an option. " answered Sidor and then with a very powerful and convinced voice he shouted: "Bayonets!"

When Kulgur heard this order he couldn't help himself but curse "This guy is crazy! Emperor damn him!" and tried to hide the boy whose legs were shaking and he would certainly be shot if seen by the commissar or his squad's sergeant. When Sidor saw sheer terror in his men' s eyes he knew there was no way forcing them to charge at the World Eaters. Even if he shot some of them they still would not follow him.

He knew in such cases a commissar must employ persuasion. He was never a good preacher and preferred to maintain morale by iron hand rather then speeches, but like all commissars, he received some basic notions in rhetoric in Scholam and now was time to use them. 

"Men fear not these traitors! If you die, you die a hero's death and Emperor rewards those who give their lives for Him. However if you turn your back now, you will be known as cowards for ever. " Now he saw a different emotion from fear in his men' s faces. It was anger. A poor substitute for courage, but if it helped them to overcome their fears it will do.


"What are they doing? " asked the sorcerer Tyrhus unable to believe that the Guardsmen were actually leaving their trenches and advancing towards the World Eaters positions. When his men raised their bolters he stopped them and said "They are out of ammo. Let us make this more enjoyable. Draw your swords and let us have some blood." 

"Blood for the blood god." chanted his men.


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## Shogun_Nate (Aug 2, 2008)

Howdy bud!

Pretty nice start you have here to your story! If I could, I'd recommend a few simple things to make reading it easier. Add more spacing would be the first one. It will make it much easier on the reader, especially as the story gets long. Second, break up your dialogue so it's not lost in the paragraphs. You want your dialogue to be points of interest to move the story along. The last would be punctuation. It's not bad but there are places you need a period here or there. However, as you stated, english isn't your mother tongue so I can understand. 

Example:

_"Kill, maim, burn! Kill, maim, burn!" 

This frightening cry could be heard all over the battlefield. With his binoculars the colonel Aigar looked to the front trench and saw a group of dozen guardsmen being slaughtered by Khorne berzerkers. The distance between them and the HQ was desperately diminishing and Aigar saw panic in his soldiers eyes. Well who could blame them? A summary execution by his commissar Sidor gave him a quick answer 

"Fear denies faith." said the commissar and shot a soldier deemed coward. 

Aigar shook his head in disdain. If they were to win this they had better use every soldier they has instead of killing them uselessly. 

"Can we join general Kwarg?" he asked his technician. "No sir. All we can hear is the enemy propaganda. They keep broadcasting blasphemies like death to the false..." 

"No need to corrupt your soul by repeating them." cut him the colonel. 
Then he called his commanding officers. "Well gentlemen our communications are jammed, so we are beyond any hope of reinforcements. Our enemies already invaded first of our trenches and soon they will overwhelm us. There is no point staying here any more, so be ready to organize a tactical retreat." 

The commissar Sidor raised his eyebrow "Sir may I remind you, our orders were precise. We are to hold this line no matter the cost." 

"Well... yes, but no one presumed we would be cut off like this." answered the colonel slightly embarrassed. 

"No matter the cost." repeated the Commissar. 

"To hell with this I won't let my man die in vain!" shouted the colonel in desperate anger. The commissar answered by quoting one of the Imperial maxims. 

"No man who died in His service died in vain." 

Now the colonel was mad "You indoctrinated fool! Can't you see above such petty quotes of men who actually never fought a war? To die in His service is an honour, but not like this! Not like this." then he opened his vox and shouted "Retreat!"

Without any warning, Sidor shot him in face. While all officers gathered in the HQ were stunned by surprise, Sidor took the colonel's vox and said "Order canceled. Hold your posts men. Your colonel was executed for violating a direct order from his superiors and by my commissar's mandate I am assuming the command of the 5th Krug regiment." Then he turned his attention to the commanding officers.

"What are you staring at? Get to your men immediately." he ordered them. Then quickly evaluated the situation and as he saw the Berzekers approaching another trench he ordered "Concentrate all our fire power on that trench! Throw all explosives you have!" 

"But sir," protested a lieutenant "that will destroy lot of our defences and kill hundreds of men." 

"These defences are useless now and those men are already dead. Execute those orders now!"

All frags and explosives were thrown at the invaded trench. Guardsmen and World Eaters alike were blown into the air by an immense explosion. "I'm wondering who is bigger fool between our commissar and them." thought private Kulgur and shot a wounded berzeker lying ten meters from him. 

"Well done guardsmen. Now get me all plasma weapons in front regain the front trench and hold it!" ordered the commissar and rejoined his soldiers. 

Kulgur gave a plasma weapon he received to a young guardsman, patted his helmet and said "Here you go boy, use it well.", but when he saw the boy crying , he took it back and said "Don't cry. I promise you. As long as I live, I'll protect you." and placed his massive body in front of him. It didn't take long for a new wave of World Eaters to launch attack. _

See how the spacing makes it easier to read? That's what you want to look for bud. Still, I like what you've done so far. I hope to see more soon!

Good luck and good gaming,

Nate


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## Ambush Beast (Oct 31, 2010)

Hi. I like the story a lot. Keep up the good work and take the things Shogun nate expressed to you. I have learned much from him. English is not your native tongue, so not bad. Sometimes I still have trouble in the grammer department. But Grammer is very important to the progression of a great story, so take some online classes or something as this will help you not only in writing, but in everyday life. I do look forward to reading more so dont quit.


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## Keen4e (Apr 19, 2010)

Thanks for your advice and support. Here comes the second chapter.

Chapter 2:

General Kwarg looked with his binoculars on the blood stained battlefield. As always the losses were enormous. After twelve years of service in the Krug army he got used to see his men die like this. Most of his soldiers were nothing but expendable assets. He had the luxury to waste all lives he wanted to. It would be a waste to equip these poorly trained soldiers with something more then a basic equipment and Kwarg hated to waste. His usual tactics were mass assaults with some artillery support. For most of soldiers their first assault was also their last one.
That is why to a certain point he admired the Space Marines. With their fine equipment and their rigorous training they had so few losses. At least his men could be proud to serve them as meat shields. Where his men ran like fools firing randomly without hitting anything, the Ultramarine's devastator squads advanced slowly, armed with heavy bolters and shot with extreme precision. With such men under his command he could certainly earn great achievements. 

The World Eaters certainly appreciated Kwarg's tactics as they gave them so many lambs to slaughter, but in the brown tide of Krug Guardsmen, they failed to see where the Ultramarines: their real opponents were. 

"Damn. These blue lapdogs of the false Emperor are with them. " cursed lord Haas. He always hated their grotesque ways and never could understand why they always wasted so much time on planning instead of fighting. 

"So they cowardly hide in this mass of guardsmen. Raptors use your jump packs and slay them all. Their Skulls will certainly please Khorne. "

"Yes my lord. " answered a raptor champion and jumped with his squad.

Each one of them picked a target landed and cut his head off. 

"They are using assault squads brother." reported seargent Tanthius. 

"Be vigilant then brothers. I am deploying land speeders to cover the air, but be on your guard and don't forget death may come from above. " answered the captain.

"They use land speeders now!" spat lord Hass. "I don't have enough men to stop them. If only this damn sorcerer came!"

___________________________

Meanwhile the sorcerer Tyrhus was thrilled by the charge of the 5 th Krug regiment. An ennemy willing to engage his World Eaters in close combat was indeed a rarity. Well perhaps not willing, but forced to, but that did not matter. All his men drew their swords and waited impatiently for the Guardsmen to arrive. Then something really unexpected happened. The guardsmen whose muscles of miners were underestimated managed to kill a few of them in their charge. Angered at being shamed by mere mortals, the World Eaters le out a bestial roar and advanced slaying all in their path.
The boy saw a Marine getting closed to him, slaying all that stood in his path. He just couldn't bear the look of such frenzied killer. He just dropped his lasgun, knelt and began to pray. The Chaos Marine lashed ready to decapitate him and then...Kulgur jumped on him. 

"You won't slay him!" he shouted. 

With the effect of surprise and his considerable weight (for a non Astartes), he managed to drop him on the ground. Without any effort the beast got up and parried Kulgurs attack, forcing him to drop his lasgun. 

Then he gripped his neck, raised him and said: "It will be a pleasure tu kill you with my bare hands" 

But Kulgur had a dagger with him. He took it and stabbed the Chaos Marine in the neck right under his helmet. Surprised and suffocating, the Marine dropped Kulgur and knelt trying to catch his breath. Kulgur quickly took the Marine's sword and cut his head off. Then he said to the boy "I told you I'd protect you." 
The commissar Sidor was a fine swordsman. He was at ease even when fighting the veteran soldiers like these World Eaters. He lacked their sheer strength, but he was agile enough to dodge their brutal attacks. Even though skilled at close quarters, the lack of elegance in their swordsmanship was insulting. They just brutally slashed without any proper style. 
When Tyrhus saw the commissar fighting he regreted not to have him in his own ranks. If he were blessed by Khorne's fury he would certainly make a fine World Eater. Too bad he had to die. He used ruinous powers to weaken him and when he saw the commissar receive a killing blow he stopped focusing on him. 
When Ruffius saw his commissar dying he ordered all men around him to charge at the Marines around him and took him to safety. "Sir you need a medical attention I will order my men to take you to the HQ. " he advised him.

"No major." said the commissar. "Let me die here in peace. You have the command of the fifth regiment now. Promise me not to order a retreat. " 

Moved by his commissar's sacrifice, the major saluted and said "I won't. If the Emperor wills it we all die here today. "

It was very difficult to keep his promise. Men pleaded him and some even started to run away. Ruffius shot them, like his commissar would do. The sight of so many dead guardsmen was unbearable for him. He knelt and started a prayer “ Holy Emperor. Give us strength. Holy Emperor fill our hearts with courage. We are your servants. You are our Master and whatever happens we know that you are with us“ . Then he looked on the battlefield and saw two blue drop pods falling from the sky. He smiled “ So the Emperor protects after all. "

The Chaos Marines did not expect any land fall and as they were engaging the Guardsmen in the open ground, they had cover disadvantage. "Purge this Chaos madness." ordered the librarian Mariel.
When he saw drop pods, Sidor was annoyed. His guardsmen had to give their lives so that finally the Marines came and rescue them. They'd take all the credits and everyone will just forget against what formidable foe the 5th Krug fought. He closed his eyes waiting for his death.
The sorcerer tried to use some of the Ruinous powers, but Mariel was a better psyker and blocked his desperate attacks with a certain satisfaction. When he saw there was no other way, he teleported himself and some of his men out of the battlefield and began to run away.

"Shall we chase them brother librarian?" Asked a seargent Kadmius. 

"No they are too close to the mountains. They would have a tactical advantage." Mariel answered. 

"Sir" saluted Ruffius "We are all glad you came here to help us. We beg for your forgiveness, we were unable to hold these traitors". 

" It does not surprise me at all. A lesser human is too weak to fight Chaos." said Mariel as a simple fact. Ruffius was offended by this remark but knew it was better not to argue with a Space Marine.

I see you are angry because of what I said. You know it is true. You have to accept the fact that when it comes fighting real opponents, not some petty rebels, you guardsmen are just a meat shield sacrificed every day to the Emperor. As you are too weak, you can't be anything better." 

He never imagined noble Astartes could be so insulting. Even the most arrogant commissars like Sidor had more respect for his men then this Librarian!

"But that doesn't matter. I am not here to argue with you. I will send you an apothecary maybe he could save some of your men. An extra soldier can always be useful." said Mariel.

"Sir we eventually contacted our General." said the vox technician to Ruffus.

"Good. I will speak to him."

"Colonel what is your status? " asked General Kwarg. 

"Our colonel is dead my lord. He was executed by our Commissar, when he ordered a retreat." answered Ruffius. 

"Acknowledged. Did you manage to kill their sorceror? " asked Kwarg with the same tone as if he was asking for a cup of tea. Definitely, today Ruffius was to be annoyed from all sides.

"No sir. Unfortunately he retreated. In fact we would be all dead without the aid of the Space Marines." answered Ruffius insisting on the fact that it was already a miracle for them to be alive.

"Good for you. Now wait for the 17th regiment to replace you as no doubt you don't have enough men to hold this place anyway." answered Kwarg. 

____________________________

"This damn Sorcerer retreated?" shouted lord Haas angrily and cut a head of the cultist who delivered him the message. "Damn it with these Ultramarines we're in trouble! Release bersekers on them they'll buy us some time while we fall back. " 

"Look ! What are these beasts ? " shouted a guardsmen. After saying it he was dead. Berzekers were advancing without hesitation massacring poor guardsmen one by one and shouting " Blood blood blood." 

“Well well well, what do we have here?” wondered Hastus, “If these heretics think they can stop us with fools like this, the are terribly wrong.” he said to his men and then ordered them: “ Use frags. This will slow them ”

“ What about the Guardsmen?” asked the tactical sergeant Reverius. 

“They are here to die for the Emperor. One way or another. “ answered the captain.

“Yes brother captain” confirmed Reverius and ordered his squad to lance grenades. With the grenades precisely launched Berzekers fell down. They would rapidly get back to their feet if they were not shot by the rain of bolts. 

“Scout team. Pursue them. We need to know what defences they have .in mountains. Good hunt” ordered Hastus as he saw the heretics fleeing. Then ordered to the Unstoppable Reason to deploy some rhinos. Between the huge mass of guardsmen he looked for his own soldiers. General Kwarg approached him and saluted: 

“It is an honour fighting side by side with the Emperor's chosen I am glad you answered to our request for assistance.” he said.

“We all serve the Emperor.” answered Hastus still looking for his soldiers. Praise be to the Emperor most of them were still alive. The guardsmen covered them well.

“Now that you are here. We will quickly exterminate these heretics.” 

“Of that I have no doubt general, but tell me do you know the reason of their presence here? World Eaters usually attack populated planets in order to satiate their blood lust, but why would they attack an almost desert planet like Thanis IV ?” asked Hastus now fully concentrated on the General. 

“Maybe they lack resources. This planet is a mine world. Recently the high command set factories there to produce directly military vehicles for the Imperial Guard. In fact our army was to commission some of them. Now these factories were taken by the heretics. They gained access to some tanks of the Imperial Guard.”

“And how many vehicles do you have now?” asked the captain Hastus.

Not much. Except some valkyries to transport, faith in the Emperor and lasguns are the only things my army has right now. We were founded recently and do not have a proper equipment yet.” answered Kwarg.

“But that doesn't matter I have enough man capture these factories and destroy the tanks under the control of the heretics. What matters here are the World Eaters trapped in the mountains that can be a much greater threat.”

“Yes” nodded Hastus ”We will take care of them”. 

_____________________________

The 17th regiment which replaced the fifth was quickly slaughtered by the retreating World Eaters. Mariel was quick enough to hide the Rhino transporting him towards his captain. When the World Eaters disappeared in the mountains, he contacted his captain.

Brother captain the sorcerer unfortunately escaped. He is probably now in the mountains. I report a large group of World Eaters that was retreating to the mountains. What are your orders?”

“Take your rhino to join us brother. If the sorcerer managed to escape in the mountains, that means I will surely need of your skills. Meanwhile our scouts will report any World Eater movements. But basically we have them. All we need to do is to establish a perimeter around and coordinate our movements along with the Imperial Guard. The Emperor protects.”

While the rhino rode towards the army Mariel was thinking. He did not mourn the lives of the Guard. He had much more preoccupying things to think about. He was hesitating to share with his brothers what he discovered when he fought the sorcerer. His findings definitely explained why this planet seemed weird to his enchanted senses. He knew it wouldn't be right to do what he wanted to propose to his brothers, but still if they could used what this sorcerer sought for the good of the Imperium .... Oh sweet Emperor how tempting it was! Yes Emperor would surely forgive him if he would do this. He would actually save one of his sons... and what father wouldn't sacrifice anything for his son? Anything! Even a man's soul. Yes he had to tell his brothers here and now. 

“Brothers listen to me” he began. He was scanning their minds as well in order to convince them more effectively, because he knew it wouldn't be easy. Especially as he himself wasn't sure to be completely convinced. “When I engaged the sorcerer, his mind touched mine and I have learned what he was looking for there. It is a powerful relic a stone imbued by warp power by a xeno race extinguished long before the existence of mankind precisely on this planet. With their extinction this stone was lost under newly formed mountains by sedimentation. The stone's power is immense, It is actually able to instantly heal any wounds making it's possessor virtually immortal." Now he got their attention.

"If the World Eaters find this stone they will be invincible!” said Brother Carthus “We must immediately give a word to the Inquisition. The very existence of such a stone is dangerous.” 

“Yes it is brother it would be if it fell in the wrong hands, but not if properly used.” said Mariel. 

“You don't mean.... This would go against everything we stand for. We must not use xeno weapons it would be foolish!” shouted Carthus unbelieving his brother could even think about such a blasphemy.

“ Of course we would eventually destroy it, but there is a man who deserves the stone's power. Our Primarch." said Mariel.

Carthus blinked on him unable to speak 

"Imagine our Primarch rise again after thousands of years. I know I would be punished by death by breaking our codex so severely, but isn't the look of our Primarch healed from his wounds worth it?” Now all Marines in the rhino were hesitating. Mariel knew he almost gained them. He used his psychic gifts to amplify their emotions and gave them images of Guilliman awoken. 

“Trust me brothers. Do exactly what I order you to do no matter what happens and our Primarch will walk once again.”

“We will” now said everyone of them enthusiastic about the images, Mariel woke in their minds. 

“Unfortunately there are those who surely will not accept this. We will have to fight our own brothers if necessary. I know it is shocking and we will have the punishment we deserve, but we will sacrifice our honour for our Primarch's sake.”


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## Keen4e (Apr 19, 2010)

Sorry for this delay in posting the next chapters, but I was not really in mood for writing anything until now. When I correct the spelling and grammar I will post the rest of the story.

Chapter 3:

After a brief pause the 5th Krug gathered to welcome new reinforces. "Attention! " shouted Ruffius who has just been promoted to colonel and given the command of what remained of the fifth regiment. Along with the reinforcements marching from the Valkyries came their new commissar. "Oh great they sent another of these butchers. " whispered Kulgur in disdain when he saw her. Wait... her? Their new commissar was a woman? Kulgur was stunned. And yet he saw a female figure with long hair. Krug regiments were male only and since the beginning of their service they did not see a single woman. Now a woman commissar leading them to glory? That sounded absurd. Kulgur couldn't help but chuckle. He risked a lot but this was simply an absurdity. He wasn't alone. Some men smiled and shook their heads, some even laughed. 
"This insult is punishable by death! " shouted Ruffius shamed by his soldier's behavior. He just hoped the new commissar won't start any massive disciplinary actions. He had already seen enough of these this day. The new commissar just waited for the men to stop laughing and then without raising a voice she said. "No need to worry colonel. They will learn to fear me. " She was calm and her tone even without being raised carried authority. She stood in front of the regiment as menacing as any commissar should be: like a dog in front of a pack of sheep. The men immediately calmed down and hoped not to be seen too much.

"Men! I admit you are not the first soldiers to welcome me like this. Nevertheless you are in the Imperial Guard and you had better remember it means discipline. Whatever you may think about women in military and whatever kind commissar you may have been expecting, you had better not underestimate me. I am as devoted to the Throne as any commissar should be. My faith is strong and I hope so is yours, because I do not tolerate cowardice. Fight by my side and I will be your best support. Try to run away and besides your conscience I will be your greatest fear. I am Anna Petronia your new commissar and all I require of you is to serve."

"You heard her." said Ruffius. "Now get prepared. We will be fighting Chaos soon. Dismissed." 

When the men began packing, Petronia asked Ruffius "I was told that the commissar Sidor serves with this regiment. Where is he? " 

"Unfortunately, he has been severely injured."

"Too bad. I wanted to ask him some questions." said Petronia.

"Well I believe you can ma’am. He is at the infirmary. He might be conscious." answered.

"Good. I will be back soon colonel." she saluted.


At the infirmary, she found the commissar Sidor. He certainly was not in a good shape, but during her service as a cadet alone, she has seen much worse injuries. She saluted and said "Good evening commissar."

When Sidor saw Petronia's face, he was not quite sure he was awake. A woman in commissar's uniform was indeed a beautiful sight to his eye, but not frequent at all. Was it some angel sent by the Emperor to announce his demise? 

"Can you hear me, sir?" asked Petronia.

Now Sidor finally realized he was neither sleeping nor death, but awaken in the infirmary. 

"Yes I can. I cannot quite salute you," he noded with sarcastic face toward his right amputated arm "but I do hear well." 

"Good. I am Anna Petronia a new commissar to this regiment sent along with other reinforcements from Krug." 

"I am glad to hear we have a new commissar. Krug soldiers are very poorly trained. They need experienced leaders to support them. "

"Good to know that. In fact I came to you to discuss precisely about these men. If I am to be their support I need to know precisely who I am dealing with. Can you tell me more about the Krug? " asked Petronia.

"Gladly. I am not really a local, but I know enough from the officers." said Sidor

Krug was a planet in the Brey system. It used to be rich on resources and was one of the last to join the Imperium of Men during the Great Crusade. The system however was isolated during the Horus Heresy and forgotten for a very long time. During it's isolation Krug traded resources gained from mining to it's neighbors for food. It was rediscovered by the Imperium in M40 and the inhabitants of Krug were keen on rejoining their lost brothers. It became a wonderful opportunity for the Imperium to increase its resources and immediately began to mine extensively the planet's underground. The resources they have found there were so rare in the galaxy and yet so abundant on that planet, that Administratum granted to Krug the special right to pay their tithe in resources alone. Krug had no obligation to send soldiers to the Imperial Guard except a those who volunteered. Krug prospered and it's population increased. However when all of the planet's resources were depleted in M41, Krug and it's large population had no more use for the Imperium. And Imperium did not tolerate useless people. Almost every man of the planet was commissioned for the Imperial Guard and Krug rivalled even the famous Cadia in numbers. In numbers only however. This huge army was very young, under-equipped and inexperienced. Most of them used to be miners and had no real fighting experience. That however did not seem to matter to generals like Kwarg who simply sent them to their deaths.

When Petronia learned about the Krug, she asked "Is there any advice you could tell me? In fact I am serving as a full ranked commissar for the first time."

"Fresh meat then? All right. Who was your mentor? " asked her Sidor.

"Comissar Diron." answered Petronia.

"I see. He is infamous for using... unusual disciplinary methods. He believes the only thing a commissar must do is to lead by example. Anything like this in Guard cannot work. Especially not with cowards like Krug."

"Cowards you say?" asked Petronia inquisitively.

"Cowards indeed. Every single explosion startles them even at the training. When I saw a drill sergeant train them, I was constantly under the impression they were about to cry." answered Sidor.

"What kind of methods do work then?" she asked.

"Harshness. Here with the Krug the lives are nothing. You can shoot as many of them as you deem appropriate. You can shoot them for the slightest hesitation. That's what works the best. They have no honour, so treat them like dogs." answered Sidor.

Petronia slightly frowned and said "I disagree. A commissar must be feared but not hated. As a cadet I volunteered to serve with the infamous Catachans. There commissars who abused with punishments were quickly shot in accidental friendly fire."

"That's the risk that comes with our job." said Sidor.

"Our job is to watch over our men's morale, not to slay more of them, then the enemy does. You seem to think that the guardsmen have no honour at all. Some of them do not and I agree with you these are to be shot, but most of them do. Show them the purpose they are fighting for, support them and they will give their lives. Treat them like useless dogs and they will hate you and eventually kill you."

"I thought I was the one giving the lecture." said Sidor slightly annoyed. "You are new here. Sooner or later you will learn there are no such things as courage among these soldiers. Only fear. Fear of the the enemy or of the superior and we commissars are here to assure that the second is greater. Everything else are just myths and propaganda."

"We will see commissar. " said Petronia, saluted and left the infirmary. Such a pessimist this commissar. Petronia respected his experience, but he was just like all others. Always underestimating guardsmen's courage. As if fighting for the Emperor was not courageous enough. Her mentor told her that even in the most hopeless cases, like penal legions, some devotion to the Throne could be found and she was sure to find it among the Krug.

She left the infirmary and began to observe her regiment preparing to march. They seemed very nervous, but if half of what she heard about Chaos was true, then who could blame them? Yesterday was a very rough day for them. She listened to what the soldiers were talking about and tried to remember their faces. Her mentor always insisted that a commissar must perfectly understand the regiment he has been assigned to with all it's traditions. Only then he can hope to earn some respect. Among the soldiers, there was one who seemed even more frightened then the others. He was very young and he was helped by another soldier, who seemed older and more experienced. "Another meat shield." thought sadly Petronia.

She came to them and said "Let him pack alone."
Both raised their eyes. The older soldier stood up and saluted. He was very tall and muscular. His height was very unusual for a native of the Krug. As most of them were miners, natural selection privileged shorter people as less efficient miners were given less food and tended to starve to death. He wanted to say something, but Petronia said
"There is no but soldier. A guardsmen must know some basic things." Then she raised her voice "Like to salute his commissar."

The confused boy stood up and saluted. She saw he was almost shaking when he knew a commissar was watching him. 

"What is your name private?" she asked

"Rius sir, I mean ma'am." he answered.

"Did you receive any training? You seemed to be very confused." she asked.

"I... I was instructed by the drill sergeant Ghebs. The training took place in one afternoon. He told me how to aim and fire." said Rius.

"And that's it?" asked Petronia in disbelief.

"Well yes ma'am. I was then immediately deployed here in Brey system. They needed every man they could get." said Rius

"You do not even seem like a man. How old are you?" she asked.

"Eighteen ma'am" he answered

"Eighteen?" she asked sarcastically.

He sunk his eyes looking almost at his feet and said in a barely audible voice "Fourteen."

"That seems more adequate. Tell me: was your governor so desperate, that he sent children to fight?"she asked.

The boy seemed unable to speak, so his companion answered for him "No ma'am. Apparently he volunteered , but he does no want to tell me why. Please leave him alone. He's already depressed enough."

"I see. Well look after him. Carry on." she said.
Poor boy. Whoever enrolled him must have been out of his mind. Petronia was sure, he was to die in the next few days, without ever being useful. 

Rius was helped by this giant Kulgur, who recently lost his son and considered Rius as an adoptive one. He hoped he would be able to protect him and perhaps even raise him into a real soldier.



Chapter 4: 


The Chaos Space Marines were well entrenched and that of course meant an endless planing and debates with officers over the right interpretation of the Codex Astartes. He and his sergeants stayed in the headquarters and looked over the map, that they updated according to the reports of their scout, while their captain held their venerated book in his right hand. 
A Marine walked right into the tent and said: "I am sorry for disturbing you brother captain, but there is an Inquisitor who wants to see you."

"Right now?" asked the captain slightly annoyed for being disturbed. "Tell him I am busy."

A considerably smaller figure in a witch hunter's hat and dark coat walked in and said "Only a few questions captain. I am Inquisitor Cornelieus Toth from the Ordo Hereticus." 

Captain looked at him. "Be quick about it then. I have a battle to prepare." he said.

"As an agent of the Inquisition, I am here to investigate any taint. I am convinced that there must be something attracting the Chaos invaders. World Eaters never attack an almost desert world like this with no reason." said the Inquisitor.

"Perhaps, but it is your job to find anything they might be seeking. Mine is simply to destroy them." said the captain.

"No doubt captain." answered the inquisitor "However I suspect that psykers too close to the source of what the Chaos seeks may have been affected by it. You have a psyker in your ranks. Did you notice any suspicious behaviour on his behalf?"

The captain frowned "Brother Librarian Mariel is a psyker beyond any suspicion. A veteran who served more than two hundred years to our chapter. He would rather die than succumb to the warp power."

The inquisitor was not convinced at all "A loyal psyker is a psyker nevertheless snd even the bravest ones can be tricked by the warp. You know the Inquisition has a motto saying that innocence proves nothing? These are not empty words captain. I have shot and burned many psykers who still believed they were loyal."

Now the captain was getting angry. "I don't see any point in this conversation Inquisitor. With your unfounded suspicions you have wasted enough of my time."

Toth was not offended. He expected that dealing with a Space Marine would be more difficult than with a mere mortal in whom simply his title inspired fear. He said "Do not be offended. It is my job to be suspicious captain. If you find anything strange about your librarian, you had better tell me, or I will have you burned on the charges of harboring a tainted psyker. Have a nice day." and he left Space Marine headquarters.

He knew he should interrogate this librarian Mariel, but he had other work to do and could not wait for his arrival. He contacted the General Kwarg who was less occupied. To him the strategy of taking the mountains was clear: sent some fresh recruits to slaughter, till the enemy ran out of bolts, but he decided to wait for the Astartes to decide. To fight side by side with the famous Ultramarines was an opportunity not to be missed. 
When he saw the witch hunter Inquisitor arrive, he grew nervous. He lit a lho stick to calm down and asked him what he wants.

"General." said Toth "Most of the chapels desecrated by the Chaos cults are empty now. There is however one that is still occupied by the heretics. I request a platoon of guardsmen to take it from them."

"I can give you much more then a platoon. How many men do you need? Hundred, thousands?" asked the General.

"Only fifty as I said. But fifty real soldiers not some recruits with two days of training."

"There are no experienced soldiers among Krug. I can give you those who served fifteen years in Krug PDF these are the closest to a soldier I have." said the General.

"This will do. We will fight some untrained heretics anyway." said the Inquisitor.

"All right" said Kwarg and voxed to one of his colonel for fifty men and a Valkyra. When the men arrived he told them "You are now under the command of this Inquisitor and you will do whatever he orders you. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir." answered the soldiers.

The Valkyra deployed them as close to the chapel as it could it was not too far from the mines where the World Eaters were entrenched. It was on the hill of a village where the local miners lived before being enslaved or killed by the heretics or even worse: before becoming heretics themselves. The hill had cliffs on the side they were coming from and that's where the heretics covered and shot at the Krug soldiers led by Toth. Imperials took cover behind the wooden houses of the village. Then the shooting began.
Toth had however no time to lose and using telekinesis, he made the ground under the heretic's feet roll downhill. The heretic fell down and most of them died. Those who didn't and only broke their bones were on Toth's order spared for interrogation. Only a few heretics remained on the hill and were able to fight. They had however a heavy bolter and were not ready to give up. They were too well entrenched to be hit by a mortar, so Toth ordered to deploy a smoke grenade. Then he ordered one of the five squads to go round the hill and take it while being covered by the guardsmen below. When they signaled that the way is clear. The remaining guardsmen approached the chapel.

"Holy Emperor." said the commanding lieutenant, when he saw what the heretics did to the chapel. They covered it with blood, broke the aquilas on it and replaced them with skulls, that probably belonged to the innocent imperial citizens.
Everyone was shocked except Toth who was used to seeing such blasphemies.

"Let's get in!" he ordered and a strong guardsman kicked out the door. The inside of the chapel was even more horrible sight. About fifty dead bodies were hooked by their bellies, backs and feet upside down and some of these were still bleeding. The heretics were collecting their blood in a large vase, while others danced and chanted around it.

"No." whispered Toth when he realised, what they were doing. He shouted: "Kill them, kill them before they....", but it was too late, blood recovered the whole chapel and a khornate daemon was summoned.

With horrified cries, the guardsmen ran and left Toth on his own, who realized he made a huge mistake underestimating these cultists who now had a Daemon in their ranks. He was not an ordo Malleus agent and had only ta slight knowledge of the Daemons, but he had a feeling he already knew about a daemon like this and it seemed to him, it could be killed with ordinary weapons. Nevertheless it was not weak. It had a giant axe, a horned helmet and it was covered with blood. It somehow seemed it was made only from this liquid. It's form reminded a Chaos Space Marine, but it was even taller then these traitors.
With its axe it attacked Toth, who dodged his slash and the axe broke a seat behind him. Toth fired with his plasmagun aiming the daemons face, while with his sword, he stabbed a heretic on his left. If only the cowardly guardsmen didn't leave him alone. The plasma gun did nothing except aggravating the daemon's rage. Toth realised he may have been mistaken. Maybe this daemon couldn't be slain with ordinary weaponry. He tried to stab it, but it parried. Using his telekinesis, he threw a heretic on its axe and using the time that the monster lost trying to get the heretic off it, he fired another shots.
Now It seemed to be working. He knew nothing about it's anatomy, but it seemed slightly weakened, but since it was covered with blood, it was impossible to tell, whether it was bleeding or not. While it was weakened, Toth focused on killing the heretics. However it got again on its feet and regained its full strength. Mad with rage, it dropped its axe and grabbed Toth with enormous power. Toth knew he was dead. All the daemon had to do now was to squeeze him till he suffocates or worse. He was loosing his sight. "For the Emperor!" he heard. A squad led by its sergeant stabbed the Daemon from behind with bayonets. It screamed out of pain and dropped Toth on the ground. So: some guardsmen returned to his service. Perhaps they had a sense of courage, or they realized they had nowhere to hide anyway. In a flash of memory Toth realized how such daemon was called by the Grey Knights. It was a bonebraker. Not that it would help him too much, but at least it was reassuring to know that the deamon could be slain. It tried to grab it's axe, but using telekinesis, Toth swung it directly on the ceiling where he stuck it, so that the daemon could not reach it. 
"Take out the heretics. I'll deal with this Daemon." he ordered the Guardsmen that returned to him. The seargent nodded and began to shoot.

"By the Emperor of Mankind..." said Toth while slashing the daemon once. "...I shall bannish you back to warp." he said and slahed for the second time. Now all the daemons limbs were cut and there was no escape for it. Very calmly, Toth was methodically shooting it with his plasma gun until it was completely torn apart and only blood remained of it.

"There is one cultist still alive. Shall we arrest him for interrogation?" asked the seargent.

"The interrogation will take place here. " answered Toth. "Weaklings like him break easily. Am I not right?" he asked the cultist.

"I... I'll tell you nothing." answered the cultist with a lot of hesitation in his voice.

"Oh really?" smirked Toth and using his telekinetic abilities, he threw the heretic against the wall. He then searched slowly with theatrical expressions in his backpack. He took out a pain amplifying dart which he threw on the heretic's shoulder, who immediately screamed upon it's impact impact. The Guardsmen observing the heretic rolling on the floor in spasm and screaming with a high pitched voice were very uneasy. Toth then threw a second dart, that reduced the pain effect so that the heretic could speak and he told him 

"Tell me what the World Eaters seek and I may consider to ease your suffering."

"They..." said the heretic with tears rolling on his cheeks "They are in the mines. The seek something precious for them."

"What is it?" asked Toth

"I don't know I swear!" cried the heretic.

"Too bad for you." answered Toth. "With so little information I have no reason to show you any magnanimity. " Then he turned and began to walk away.

"Wait!" shouted the heretic. "It is a stone. A warp imbued stone. I don't know what it does, but they have even taken a sorcerer to unlock it's powers. It must be very important. We capture slaves for them and these seek it day and night. That's all I know."

Toth quickly scanned his mind to be sure he was not lying and then he took out another dart and threw it on the heretic. Then he said "This one is poisined. The poison will slowly consume your body. You will die in slow and extremely painful death. It will give you enough time to repent for your sins. Such is the reward for heresy."

"Bastards!" shouted heretic in extreme anger, but found out he was unable to move.

"Think of what I have told you." said Toth. "Your body is doomed, but your soul can still be saved." then he nodded to the guardsmen and walked away. When they came to the Valkyrie, he said to the sergeant "Good job. I will tell your general I was very satisfied with your squad. What is your name sergeant? "

"Grenck sir. Patrick Grenck." answered the soldier.

"Well done seargent Grenck. I will make sure you and your men will get commendation. As for those who turned away and ran... well report them to your commissar. He will know what to do."

He knew most Inquisitors would not take the chances and execute these guardsmen for exposing themselves to a Chaos daemon. Toth had no heart to do this. Especially when these men actually saved his life, even though they ran away in first place. Emperor forgive him this weakness, but if these guardsmen became corrupted by the Daemon's malefic presence, someone else would have to deal with them.


----------



## Keen4e (Apr 19, 2010)

Here comes the ending I have promised. I hope I'll have time and new ideas to write more warhammer 40K stories as I quite enjoy it.

Chapter 4:

Early in the morning, the Krug troops began to march. Their forces had now fresh reinforcements which meant more lambs to slaughter. It was for the first time, Ruffius had a whole regiment under his command. He could not say he was missing the commissar Sidor, who was still recovering in the infirmary. This new commissar seemed to lack experience to question his orders and certainly would not dare to kill him. 
They marched through a rocky terrain without any chimeras or valkyries to transport them as all vehicles were requisitioned for the main battle by General Kwarg. Ruffius was not happy about it. A long march risked to tire his men and also increased chances they would be spotted before they even got close to their objective. Their mission was to reclaim the factories taken by the cultists. These factories produced en mass vehicles for the Krug regiments and were taken unfortunately before these vehicles could be delivered. Therefore the cultists had access to imperial warmachines, which certainly bode not well for the 5th Krug. When they were closing the objective, Ruffius sent his scout squad led by the scout sergeant Dereck. 
When the seven hooded figures came back, Dereck reported "Sir. It is as we feared. They have already taken control of the vehicles. There are sentinels and hellhounds outside. Most of them seem unoccupied. I suggest we attack and destroy them quickly, before they wreak havoc. "
"You said these are outside the buildings?" asked the colonel. "What is then inside? "
"I don't know sir." answered Dereck "These buildings were covered by black sheets bearing some blasphemous signs. No way to see through the windows. Especially when we had to be that far."
"Thank you sergeant. Go back to your platoon now."
Then he said to his officers: "Make your men ready. I want a formation now!"
As soon as all the soldiers assembled, Ruffius said "Be prepared for a tough fight. Yesterday, we were helped by the Astartes, but today we are on our own. We will be fighting Imperial vehicles and I don't need to remind you how deadly these can be. These are not some xeno junk. These are real powerful human designed killing machines. Our heavy weapons teams will take as many of them as they can, but you can't except miracles. I won't make a long persuasive speech, because I know no words can persuade a man to be willingly burned by a hell hound's flamer or sentinel's laser. I just hope you know what your duty is. Now to your posts! Sixth platoon set up mortars up there. Second and fifth platoon lascanons and heavy lunchers down. Second and twelwth dig some place for bolters and autocanons. Everybody else cover them. Do not let any of the heretics get close."
The officiers gave their orders and in silence, the soldiers began to descend the valley. Ruffius felt proud of them. Not a single complaint. There was not even need for Sidor's shouts. They were no cowards despite what their commissar thought. Despite their fear they knew where their allegiance lied and that was essential. Unlike the Astartes they knew the fear, but they were ready to face it and that's all the Emperor asks of a guardsmen.
Before they even descended, they already got attacked by several heretics who charged at melee. They were shot before they could get close enough. Krug lacked skill and their shots were not precise, but it did not matter as long as the heretics were outnumbered. As they got down, they set up the heavy weapons and focused the approaching hellhounds and chimeras. The heavy bolter killed guardsmen that were too exposed forcing them to jump behind rocks to cover. Third company began to install quick trenches placing barbed wires and digging cover. Some hellhounds approached before being shot by lascanons and ignited the ground forcing the guardsmen to relocate. Vehicles slowly pushed them back, but their numbers were diminishing. 
Suddendly Ruffius heard a very unpleasant explosion that could mean only one thing. 
"Basilisks!" shouted men near the explosion.
"Scouts. How the heck did you miss these?" voxed Ruffius angrily.
"Sir. We had no visual on any basilisks I swear. These must have been hidden inside the buildings."
"Damnit! " swore Ruffius. His soldiers were killed massively. Some began to flee, but in vain. To get back from the valley on the hills was too difficult and they were shot easily.
"It's a trap!" shouted the scout seargent Dereck. 
"Thanks for noticing." replied Ruffius sarcastically and then voxed to his company commanders "Send all your infantrymen forth. We need to get as close to the basilisks as we can. Leave behind only a few heavy weapons." Then he took out his sabre, swung it in the air and shouted "Imperial Guard charge! ", but... nothing happened.
The men were too scared of all the bolters and flamers and prefered to stay behind rocks praying not to be hit by the earthshakers. Some fools even tried to flee.
Commissar Petronia who until now remained silent in behind saw finally an opportunity to prove herself. She straightened up her commissar's hat and look for some familiar faces among the mass of soldiers. When she spotted the sergeant Vorg, she asked him "Wasn't it you who laughed at me me in the first place?"
"What?" asked Vorg surprised and annoyed. 
"Who's the coward now?Hiding behind the rock like his mama's jupe?" she asked him.
Now vorg got angry. He drew out his sword and said "I'll kill you for that insult!"
"What an exploit, killing a woman you laughed at a few hours ago." grinned Petronia.
"Damn you!" cursed Vorg and shouted at his men. "Charge!"
His squad followed him with a certain enthusiasm. Being shamed by a woman was very humiliating to them. Even the boy Rius followed him right behing his protector Kulgur.
Petronia turned to the rest of the regiment and asked "Will you let these brave soldiers fight alone?"
"No!" officers and some privates in the crowd shouted.
"Then in the name of the Emperor attack!" cried Petronia as loud as she could.
Then everyone followed them to hell. While joining their charge, Petronia looked on them for a while. She felt proud of herself. Without shooting a single man, without any menace, she managed to persuade the whole regiment to attack. That;s how a commissar must work. Not like these beasts who know only firing squads to maintain the morale. Her mentor always told her she must use guardsmen's emotions. Rivalries, friendships and faith, that's what a commissar must exploit and not only the sort of artificial respect based on fear only.
When she saw the approaching hellhounds, she finally realised where she was leading them. Not like that it was any safer in the trenches, but the idea of being burnt by a flamer was certainly not a pleasant one. Anyway the order was clear. To get as close as they could to the basilisks and take them out. They just had to hope that the heavy weapons teams, if some of them was still alive, would take them out. As the distance between her and the hellhounds was diminishing, Petronia was more and more tempted to hide behind the men she was leading to an almost certain slaughter. But she resisted it. If she somehow survived hiding behind her men, it would not only lower the respect of the Krug for her, who already despised her, but it would be also bad for the men's morale to see their commissar falter. So hoping that someone would destoy the hellhounds, she closed her eyes and shouted as loud as she could "For the Emperor!"
She heard then a spectacular explosion. When she opened her eyes, she saw a hellhound heavily damaged, burning and it's crew trying to flee. While still running, she shot them with her bolt pistol. The road was now clear and despite their enormous fire power, the basilisks could no more intimidate the Krugs. The heretic artilerists could not believe their eyes. There were simply too many guardsmen and they soon overwhelmed them. Most of the heretics tried to flee. Some used heavy bolters to shoot a few more guardsmen but were quickly killed lasguns. Even the young Rius got some kills. 
"Nice shooting." praised him Kulgur "I see the two days training in shooting was worth it afterall."
"Do not destroy the basilisks." ordered the colonel Rius "They will be returned in the Emperor's service. Take out only the enemy hellhounds."
When they got rid of the dangerous machines there was nothing more that could stop them and after half an hour the Krug banner was erected. A mining pick on the brown background with the inscription "Mors nobis servit" on it.

Chapter 5:

Captain Hastus led personally his men, because he wanted to be sure they would not fail. This attack was difficult even for Astartes. Their sworn ennemies were well hidden in the mountains. Any attampt to bombard them would be waste of ammunition and time. The Ultramarines could not count on any reinforcements, because neither thunderhawks nor the drop pods could access the nests where the heretics were entranched. They had to rely only on their land speeders, because these vehicles could get through the most difficult terrain.
According to the Codex Astartes the Ultramarines ought to use snipers to take out enemy defenses and so Hastus commissioned half of his scouts. The Space Marines ran up in the craggy terrain and cared little for the guardsmen who were unable to follow them at their pace. Most of the guardsmen tripped and fell down and commissars had to be very persuasive to force them to march at quick pace. Eventually they had to slow down. 
The terrain was getting more and more narrow till the Space Marines reached a gouge. There they stopped and captain Hastus said "A perfect place for ambushes. Stay sharp brothers." Then he ordered his scout sergeant "Brother Vilpus inspect the tarrain."
"Yes brother captain." answered the scout.
As the captain said, it was a perfect place for ambush. With his scope, he scanned the top of the cliffs, but saw nothing. He advanced slowly, vigilant for any traps and found a mine field. He reported it to his captain.
"Damnation." cursed Hastus. Now we'll have to lose time disconnecting them. Techmarine try to be quick."
While the techmarine was disconnecting the mines, the guardsmen eventually caught them and one of them stepped from the crowed. 
"This is a waste of time. I will explode the mines using my abilities." he said and showed his rosette and began to destroy the mines using telekinesis. Mariel was surprised by the appearance of an inquisitor. Toth interrogated him before the attack and he was psy shilded, so he could not even read his mind to check whether he was suspecting something. If he was in such hurry that he revealed his presence, he must have known something Mariel did not. Did he already know about the warp stone? If so, he will have to die sooner or later. Mariel hated the thought of killing the Emperor's loyal servant, but it was all for his Primarch's sake. 
The explosion of the mines alerted the traitor who took positions on the cliffs, but got killed by a quick attack of land speeders. So the Space Marines finally reached the caves where the World Eaters were entranched. 
At the entrance, the leader of the guardsmen told Hastus "Let my men get in first."
"Do you really want them to be slaughtered?" asked Hastus with contempt. 
"Not this time." answered the officer. "We used to be miners and know exactly how to move in caves. This time we are suited for the job, so please let us prove ourselves."
"Well suit yourselves." answered Hastus.
The officier was right. The giants like the Chaos Marines were uneble to cover properly and it was difficult for them to hunt down the small Krug soldiers who as their officer said knew exactly how to move in caves. In open terrain, the World Eaters would massacre hundreds maybe even thousands of them with their bolters and axes, but here they were too disoriented. The Krug men always hid in some hole inaccessible to the Chaos Marines and killed them with their plasma weapons. The traitors were enraged but could not prevent being killed one by one not being able to catch their foe.

"Make these slaves work faster." roared Lord Haas. Tirhus answered "My Lord I'd love to, but they already are too weak. If they work any harder they die of exhaustion."
"Sorcerer" answered Haas. "I only tolerate the presence of such scum as you because you promissed me the stone that will make my men invulnerable. I already lost hundred of them including some of my elite berserkers and have nothing in reward!"
"Patience my Lord. We are very close. I can already feel the stone." said the sorcerer.
"You'd better be right. If I get stuck in this hole, you'll sink with me and believe me your death will be very messy. Now slay those annoying guardsmen. They already killed too many of my men."
"Of course my Lord." answered the sorcerer.
The guardsmen advanced swiftly killing some foul cultists who tried to stop them, but then appeared the sorcerer. 
"Kill him!" shouted a sergeant "Kill him or he...", but he got possessed by the sorcerer and stabbed a guardsman in front of him. Then he was released and the sorcerer took possession of another soldier. Soon no one knew who could kill them, so everyone in the platoon fought for their own life. In panic no one even thought firing on Tirhus, who enjoyed playing with his dolls. In the end he did not even have to posses anyone. He just observed the guardsmen slaughter themselves. When he was tired of watching them he took possession of one of them, made him realeas a grenade and recite "Blood for the blood god." until the explosion.

"We have found it." cried a cultist overjoyed.
"Good. Bring it to me." answered Tirhus.
"Of course." said the cultist and ran back to the mining area.
While contemplating the guardsmen's corpses, Tirhus awaited the stone he desired. With his powers he would make the World Eaters virtually immortal. With it he could even bring powerful daemons to the material world. Lord Haas would eventually be proud of him, despite his hatred for the sorcery and even the dark gods will know him. He will be the one to bring Terra down and drink blood from the False Emperor's skull. It was a matter of minutes now before the stone was his.
"Resistence is futile heretic." said Toth and shot the cultist who was running with the stone to Tirhus. "Lay down your weapons and repent."
The sorcerer wanted to grab the stone, but Toth made it roll using telekinesis.
"I'll kill you for that!" cried the sorcerer while chasing the it.
Toth expected of a Khorne's sevant to be impulsive and predictible and he was right. When the sorcerer got close to him, he simply shot him in face with his plasma gun and cut his head off before he could cast any spell.
"Such is the fate of all heretics." he said then.
Mariel got in and peeked at Tirhus's corpse very surprised. This sorcerer was a much powerful psyker then Toth and yet he still manged to bring him down. He certainly was not to be underestimated. 
"How did you manage to kill him?" he asked.
"I am not as weak as you might think librarian. While you were losing time killing these useless cultists I got immediately here and killed him." then he voxed to the captain "Captain Hastus. I have what I came for. You can come here and slay the rest of these heretics. I will take my leave now."
Mariel still looked on the Inquisitor unable to believe he could kill such a powerful psyker, for he knew his abilities were limited. He had to be quick now and pick the stone before Toth.
The inquisitor watched carefully the librarian and saw he was very nervous. Perhaps he knew all about the stone, but Toth still wanted a proof. Nevertheless it was a great risk.
Mariel gripped strongly his bolter and took a deep breath.
"This stone is corrupted brother librarian. I must take it to the Inquisition where it will be destroyed." said Toth.
Mariel suddenly felt rage: a very rare emotion for a librarian.
"You want it for yourself!" he yelped and aimed at Toth, but felt a sting from behind. He suddenly felt weak and could barely speak. A woman in guardsman uniform emerged from shadows and appeared in front of Mariel.
"Meet a faithful member of my staff, miss Iona. Did you really think I was foolish enough to venture in this cave alone? I Just wanted a proof of your heresy and now I have it."
"What have you done to me?" asked Mariel feeling extreme pain.
"I used a paralysing dart specially designed for a Space Marine and made to suppress psyker abilities. You see the Astartes are not the only ones to be well equiped. Now let me ask you: will you repent? In any case your death will be slow and painful, but this may unburden you." said Toth scowling.
"I have nothing to repent for." answered Mariel "All I have done was in the name of my Primarch and my Emperor."
"That's what all corrupted Marines say." said Toth sadly and nodded to Iona who prepared her flamer.
"What's happening in here?" asked Hastus who eventually entered.
Mariel saw the squad that was with him in the rhino and whom he convinced to join him. He gathered last of his strenght and sent to them telepathicaly. +Slay this Inquisitor.+
"This Inquisitor is corrupted get him." shouted one of them and opened fire. Toth was suprpised, but blocked the bolts with telkinesis, but there were too many of them so he had to hide.
+Now bring me the stone quickly.+ sent Mariel still incapacitated. When he got the stone, he suddendly felt enormous power. He knew he had to resist the urge to use it until getting to Maccrage and resurrecting his Primarch.
"I am sorry brother caprin, but I will have to leave you here. By the time you will get out, our Primatch will walk among us again." he said, teleported himself and his men outside the caves and block the entrance by massive rocks. Then he voxed to Unstoppable Reason: "Brothers. This is Librarian Tithus Mariel. We have done our duty and destroyed all the Chaos taint. Have a thunderhawk ready for extraction as soon as we return from these mountains. Unfortunately our captain won't be with us. He fell in combat while fighting the Chaos Lords. His body was so mutilated that there is no gene seed to extract. May the Emperor take care of his soul."

Mariel was about leaving the mountains when the block of stoned behind him foundered. He turned and found his brothers whom he had Imprisoned inside.
"How?" he asked surprised.
"Melta charges are not uncommon equipment among the guardsmen. Answered Inquisitor Toth and now that your captain knows your little secret you had better drop this stone immediately before it corrupts you completely."
"I am sorry brothers" answered Mariel "But you leave me no other options." and opened fire.
The Space Marines loyal to him were confused, but they felt they had no other option than do the same. For their Primarch's sake. 
The captain's Marines retaliated, but as long as Mariel held the stone there was no way to hurt him. All his wounds healed immediately. When Hastus was hurt all the Marines got in front to protect their captain. With a disgust Mariel found he began to enjoy killing his brothers.
This stone was certainly gaining over him. Yet he could to great things with it.
"Kill, kill, kill..." whispered a voice in his head.
"Silence!" he cried
"You won't silence me that easily librarian." answered the voice. "You are doing a great favour to my god right now."
"I am not!" cried the librarian while still shooting. "I'm doing this in the name of the Emperor!"
"That does not matter. You are killing that's essential to me. See this fresh blood? You like it don't you?"
"You disgust me.... but you are right." the librarian's eyes sparkled.
Then without warning he shot the Marines that were with him.
"I won't need you any more." he said.
"Good" said the voice pleased. "Tell me why bother resurrecting a dead man when you have much more power then he could ever have? You can become much more than a Primarch. Even more then the Emperor. You will do what he could not. You will conquer the Galaxy in a new great crusade. Simply open your mind to me!"
Then daemons began to jump from the warp slaughtering everything around them. When the captain saw them, he immediately voxed to the Unstoppable Reason "Brothers." he said.
"Captain you are alive!" cheered voices from the ship.
"Not for long brothers" answered Hastus. "Obey me without any questions and start bombarding the following coordinates with everything you have. Do not hesitate to use cyclonic torpedoes! Tear the planet apart if you must, but make sure nothing remains alive there!"
The Marine commanding his ship answered with a slight hesitation "As you wish captain. May the Emperor protect you."
"Thank you brother." answered the captain.
His duty was done. Now he could die with honour. Despite his injuries, he got up, drew his sword and cried for the last time "For the Emperor."

Hastus thought he was dead, but he wasn't. He opened his eyes and saw his first sergeant Leranos watching him carefully.
"Thank the Emperor you are still alive captain." he said.
Hastus coughed and he asked "What happened?"
"I don't really know. The warp rift dissapeared and all the daemons with it. The stone exploded and injured our librarian." he pointed towards the librarian. "Seeing no danger any more I belayed your order of bombardment."
Hastus got up and found his librarian lying on the ground. 
"Brother. This inquisitor was right This stone was too dangerous. I had to fight with tainted warp energies, which almost cost me my sanity, but I managed to destroy it." he said.
"You betrayed us" said Hastus grimly "and taken several of my loyal brothers down with you."
"I know brother. I just wanted..." said the librarian, but the captain did not let him finish.
"You are no brother of mine. A true Space Marine knows how warp is dangerous and does not fall prey to it's seductive powers. Those who do not are traitors like these." he pointed towards World Eaters' corpses.
"You are right captain." said Mariel ashamed. "I know you will never forgive me, but please grant me one last favor. I do not want to be excommunicated from our chapter and be burnt as a heretic. Pleas grant me the Emperor's peace here and now."
The captain with a slight hesitation said "You do not deserve it indeed. However you served me well until now, so I will satisfy your request. Farewell traitor.". Then he gave him a merciful headshot.

The worst disaster was avoided, but unfortunately Lord Haas managed to escape. Inquisitor Cornelius Toth wanted to eradicate the whole Ultramarine fourth company, but due to their reputation his request was refused and he had to content himself with the surviving Marines who followed Mariel. All was done in secret, since the Imperial propaganda had always to give the best image of the Astartes. Especially those from the famous Ultramarine chapter. So no one in the whole Imperium except for the Ultramarine' s Chapter Master and the men of the fourht company knew about it. 
For not delivering Mariel to his chaplain for justice, Kassius was taken away all of his honours and rank and the command was given to his first sergeant.

Meanwhile the Krug army finished the rest of the opposing heretics. Now that the warp stone was destroyed, the World Eaters lost all their interest in the Brey system and without their support and leadership, the khornate cults were quickly eradicated and the factories of Gwaeron V could begin to produce en mass vehicules for the Krug armies. The 5th regiment was placed as garnison to one of the major factories that they had retaken from the heretics and were among the first regiments to benefit from the production of vehicles and its tactics changed considerably. Soldiers of the 5th regiment got a rigorous training under the command of colonel Ruffius and with all the vehicles they got, they became more efficient, although not very famous except in their own world.


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## andygorn (Apr 1, 2011)

I really enjoyed this, Keen4e - a very nice story and characters. Thank you for sharing this.


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