Inquisitor Chaplain Gemekial stared at the planet below his orbiting
battlebarge. His battlebarge "Just Hand of Retribution" had exited warp
outside the system and had spent 2 weeks manuevering into orbit with the 3rd
planet of the sun in this nameless stellar system. It was an alpha class
agricultural world with a population of about a half a million. The
population was unaware of the battlebarge's approach. It's defense
satellites, inadequate that they were, were easily taken out and replaced
with Dark Angel satellites that were identical in function, but were
designed to never send a warning...
"Brother-Chaplain, we have assumed orbit." the navigator-pilot informed him.
"Very good. Maintain postition. Weapons officer, arm the warheads."
"Aye sir", another Dark Angel bridge officer responded. "Should I use the
conventional, low-megaton warheads, to reduce the planet's defenses,
Brother-Chaplain?"
"No. Use the virus warheads. We want this system totally cleansed."
"Uhh, aye, sir." the weapons officer was visibly shaken by the
Inquisitor-Chaplain's order. As his hands touched control runes, he asked
"Sir, why are we using viral warheads? These farmers have no idea we are
here. There have been no reports of rebellion or cultist activity in this
sector. This seems a little extreme..."
The Inquisitor-Chaplain's expression darkened as his gaze drilled holes in
the back of his weapon's officer's head. To dare to affront the
Inquisitor-Chaplain by questioning his orders! Gemekial drew his boltpistol
from it's holster at his side and fired a shot into the back of the weapons
officer's head, spilling brains, bits of bones and blood all over the
weapons console. The rest of the bridge crew stared at the Chaplain in
shock, as the echo of the shot faded.
"Question not the commands of an Inquisitor-Chaplain, fully versed in the
secrets of the inner-chamber..."
Before Gemekial could finish his condemnation of the weapons officer,
another officer leaped at him, rage contorting his face. "You bastard! You
killed brother Kenneth!" he shouted.
But, before he could reach the Chaplain, the Chaplain's Crozius Arcanum was
drawn and swinging in a sharp arc. The other officer's pulverized head
seperated
from his shoulders and his lifeless body fell to the deck of the ship.
"I trust we shall have no more breaches of disclipline." Gemekial bellowed,
glaring at his remaining bridge crew, "Discipline must be maintained!"
They studiously stared at their displays, keeping their eyes from the two
lifeless bodies.
"Communications Officer, take the weapons console", the Inquisitor
commanded.
"Brother-Inquisitor, with all due respect, I have not been trained in those
duties..." the communication officer managed to squeak.
Venting a snort of disgust, the chaplain stode over the the weapons console
and pushed the body aside. It fell to the floor with a dull thunk.
Scanning the controls rapidly, the chaplain finished keying in the commands
to arm and launch the viral warheads. He watched with satisfaction as the
warheads spiraled down to the planet, each one bursting over a population
center, few though those were on this cursed world. It was only a matter of
time.
The chaplain strode from the bridge, returning to his quarters. As he left,
he commanded that the mess be cleaned up on the bridge. The remaining
officers scurried to obey.
As the Chaplain entered his quarters, he pressed the rune that locked his
door. He strode over to the shrine on the far wall of his quarters and
knelt before it. He intoned a prayer for the souls of each of the unworthy
marines that he had slain. Then he intoned to Catechism of Disclipline to
remind himself of why he had to slay the two marines. Once before, his
chapter, the greatest chapter in the Adeptus Astartes, had broken
disclipline. From that day foreward, all Chaplains of the Dark Angels had
sworn to uphold utmost obedience to the laws of the chapter, that their
mistake not be repeated. An Inquisitor-Chaplain of the inner-sanctum
was even more zealous at preserving disclipline than most. Gemekial
felt confident that the other officers on the bridge would remember this
day: "Discipline Must Be Maintained", a lesson well taught.
Rising, the chaplain strode over to his communications console and keyed the
rune of rememberance. He read again the message that had been sent to him 3
months before. |
Gemekial had started the "usual proceedings": the complete destruction of
the planet's inhabitants. If the people on that world had been harboring
one of the Fallen, then they had paid the price for their transgression. If
not, then what were the lives of a few hundred thousand people? The
Emperor's will be served.
It took three days for the planet to die. Since the population was spread
about the planet in small population zones, the virus spread ever so slowly.
Two more bombings were required to finish sterilizing the planet. But,
finally, the task was accomplished.
On the bridge of the "Just Hand of Retribution", Gemekial stared at the
planet. It had been transformed. What was once a lush green and blue
planet was now dead-brown and gray. But, Gemekial had no time for such
sentimental considerations.
"Brother Lematz, scan the planet for lifeforms." he ordered.
The Dark Angels librarian concentrated his powers, seeking for any remaining
life on the planet. The life would register as a disturbance in the Warp, a
soul that was still bound to a body, offering a potential bridge between the
two realities.
After several long minutes of concentration, the librarian's strained voice
intoned: "Yes, I can detect a single life form remaining, deep under the
northern pole. It is not strong."
"Very good!" the Chaplain shouted, for the first time animation showing on
his dark-featured face as it was suffused with a joyful, dark exultation.
"Prepare my Thunderhawk, we leave at once."
The Chaplain left the bridge, his robes snapping in the air. Yes! he
thought to himself. It was seldom that an inquisitor was this close to his
prey. In 10,000 years, few of the Fallen, woefully few, had been recovered
by his Chapter. Today, he would gain glory as a one of the rare
Inquisitor's who had succeeded. He _knew_ it, he felt it to the core of his
very being. Today was the day.
"The Emperor's will be done!" he chanted to himself as he entered the
Thunderhawk launch bay.
As the Thunderhawk descended through the planet's atmosphere, the Chaplain
rejoiced. The virus had worked! It was designed to kill all life that did
not carry the unique Dark Angel geneseed. It would compare the genetic code
of the life it inhabited to the Dark Angel's signature that was encoded in
the virus. If the lifeform did not carry the unique geneseed of a Dark
Angel, an enzyme was activated that destoyed protein strands in the
lifeform, a quick and agonizing death was the result. The Dark Angel looked
forward to the next time his Chapter battled a foe alonside the Space Wolf
curs. He would order the virus released, it would not only kill the enemies
of the Imperium, it would also destroy the accursed Space Wolves. The
gene-corrupted chapter needed to be cleansed, and now the Dark Angels had
the perfect tool to do so.
The Thunderhawk landed, sending up a dust cloud which filled the air and
veiled the view of the ground. When the dust finally settled, Gamekial saw
that they had landed at a forlorn outpost, situated on the north pole of the
planet. The planet itself was of extremely temperate climate, its northern
pole not covered by an ice cap, the southern pole only barely managing to
keep one. A large landmass covered the north of the planet. They had
landed in the center of it.
The installation was standard for the Imperium. A large block structure,
really nothing more than the top of a lift shaft. The door to the lift
opened easily to the ministrations of the accompanying tech-marine.
Gemekial and his command squad entered the lift and started descending to
the bowls of the the planet, their final destination many meters below.
Gemekial savored his victory as the lift
descended. He knew he would rise far in the ranks
of the Dark Angels with this accomplishment.
Seldom, so seldom, were the Inquisitor Chaplains
able to recover an actual Fallen Angel. A fierce
grin marred his otherwise stoic contenance.
When the lift finally reached the bottom of the
shaft, Gemekial confidently stepped off, followed
by his command squad. He was accompanied by
Veteran Sergeant Adolfo, young Techmarine Leo and
3 other helmeted Dark Angel veteran troopers.
Without a word being exchanged, they slung their
bolters to the ready. When approaching the
unknown, it was always best to be prepared.
As they strode down the long corridor, automatic
lighting glowed, showing the way. The lights were
dim, and pulsed slightly, giving off an unsettling
illumination. The Chaplain attributed this
unsteady lighting to the failure of the planet's
primary power grid when he had terminated all the
technicians manning it with his effective virus
bombing. This installation was operating on
emergency power reserves and those probably
wouldn't last much longer.
Using his auspex, Sergeant Adolfo lead the squad
through several doorways. Finally, a doorway was
encountered that did not automatically open for
the Dark Angels. The techmarine stepped forward
and with a few deft applications of his servo-arm
forced the doorway open, revealing the interior.
Several technicians lay on the floor or slumped
over their control consoles, clearly dead. But,
there was no smell, no decay, no decomposition.
Just the blackened, mottled faces of the dead.
Gemekial's virus knew no bounds, it had killed the
very bacteria in the air that would have rotted
the bodies. The entire planet's population of
dead would be left to mummify in the lifeless
atmosphere of the planet. Gemekial felt the power
of one of his chapter's nicknames "Angels of
Death". He had truly swept across this planet
like the mythical angel of death, smiting all the
heretics in their unbelief.
The squad approached another sealed doorway, once
again the Techmarine applied his servo-arm to the
task. The doorway was more heavily fortified than
the first and it took him several minutes to force
the door. Gemekial felt a sense of anticipation
as the doorway slowly gave. The vet sargeant
assured him that their quarry waited on the
opposite side of the doorway.
As the door finally gave with a loud screech, the
Dark Angels threw frag grenades into the room and
dove in. They rose from cover as nothing
responded to their violent greeting. The lighting
in this room was dimmer than the rest, but with
their enhanced vision, the marines had no trouble
making out the room's contents. It was a fairly
large room, 30 meters by 30 meters in size, though
partly rounded. It was full of obscure machinery,
with flickering lights blinking from panels
covering the walls. Large power conduits
criss-crossed the room, plasma flowing through
them. But, the center of the room was a large
hexagonal pillar, rising to the roof. The pillar
shimmered with power, but it was a waning light.
"Brother Leo, what is this room?" the Chaplain
demanded.
"I'm not sure, Brother-Inquisitor, I will
interface with the control system to determine
what this is."
"Do so quickly, Brother, I do not want our quarry
to escape."
Other than Veteran Sargeant Adolfo, no other the
member of the squad knew what they were truly
hunting. Only the members of the Death Wing and
the Inner Sanctum knew the true history of the
Dark Angels. So it was ordained that it be, so it
was. The other squad members only knew that they
were hunting a rebel Space Marine.
The marines maintained vigilance while the
Techmarine searched the records of the inorganic
cogitator, sifting through the information it
held, seeking the key to the existance of this
room.
Finally, the Techmarine broke his connection with
the machinery. He seemed visibly shaken.
"What is it, Leo?" demanded the Inquisitor,
suddenly feeling a premonition of disaster.
Without answering, the techmarine approached the
hexagonal column. Pressing some controls on its
side, the techmarine stopped the shimmering of the
power. He reached out with his gauntleted hands
and removed some restraining bolts, freeing a
panel. Behind the panel was a thick, clear
duroplast window and behind that, floating in a
liquid, a multitude of wires joining it to its
confines, was a human brain.
"Here is your traitor." the techmarine announced.
"Fool!" the Inquisitor shouted, shoving the
techmarine aside to stare at the brain, "What
foolery is this! You will be punished for your
insubordination!"
"Sir! Listen the me," the techmarine hurredly
interjected. "It was all there, stored in the
records. I was able to find everything, the whole
history of this project!"
"Explain it to me, then!" the Inquisitor
commanded.
"Sir, are you sure?" the techmarine asked,
glancing nervously at the other Dark Angels.
"Fool, do not force me to order you again, you
verge on heresy!" the Chaplain hissed through
clinched teeth, unsheathing his Crozius Arcanum.
"Sir, it began 4,000 years ago, when this planet
was first colonized." the techmarine began, "This
planet was extremely unstable, the terraforming
inorganic cogitators were unable to cope with the
complex data needed to process this planet. The
Adeptus Mechanicus decided to secretly combine the
cognitive powers of a human mind with the speed
and accuracy of a cogitator, hoping the result
would create an organic machine capable of
controlling the rest of the machines that would
terraform the planet."
"Heresy. Blasphemy." the Chaplain interrupted, "The Emperor has ordained that the Dark Age of
Technology was caused by such foul abominations as
this. He has ordained that never again would
human minds be combined with machines. The
supremacy of the Human race would not be
challenged by such cyborg creations!"
"But sir, that is exactly what has happened here! Look around you, why else have this room, and all
these control lines leading to that one location,
where that brain is held?"
The Inquisitor looked thoughfully at the room, the
tightening in his stomach continued, his
premonition of disaster deepened. "Continue the story."
"Well, sir, the first brain that they used was
merely human, and even with artificial enhacements
was only able to last a bare millennia. But the
terraforming process was proceeding according to
plan, the Adeptus Mechnicus simply needed a better
brain." the techmarine paused, looking nervous
again.
The Inquisitor urged him on "Yes?"
"A stranger appeared on the planet, a hunted
stranger. He had done something bad, but he was a
Space Marine and still held his honor. He wanted
to help, to make up for his ill-deed. So he
offered his superior, genetically enhanced brain
to the Adeptus Mechanicus, in exchange for his
anonymity and a chance to right his past wrong."
"How do you know this!" demanded the Inquisitor,
the room narrowing to encampass only his growing
rage and the techmarine's face.
"The records, sir, they were all there. The
Adeptus Astarte even had his own personal records,
recounting what terrible crime he had commited
that caused him to flee the Brotherhood and hide
in this hellhole." The techmarine paused again,
then rushed on "I don't understand, sir. He
talked about Lion El'Jonson and Luther and Calaban
and a great treason. How could this be sir? He
claimed he was
once a Dark Angel? How could this be?"
Techmarine Leo would never know the answer to his
question. The Inquisitor-Chaplain's Crozius
crushed his head cleanly, instantly ending his
musings along with his life. The Inquisitor
turned his Crozius on the shocked Dark Angels
accompanying him. So fast did he move that they
never had a chance as he crushed out their lives.
Adding to their confusion were the actions of the
Veteran Sergeant, who had also cut down a Dark
Angel with his own powersword. The slaughter
completed, the two remaining Dark Angels glared at
each other, shame on their faces.
"We must destroy this place at once," Adolfo
panted.
"Yes. Plant melta-bombs on the structure," the
Chaplain ordered.
The two of them quickly placed the explosives on
key pieces of equipment and around the hexagonal
pillar. They pilfered more meltabombs from the
slain marines and planted them along the corridor
as they fled. Once they had made it back to the
surface, Sergeant Adolfo sent the command that
detonated the melta-bombs in the underground
structure. A few seconds later, they felt the
aftershock. But, unlike most aftershocks, this
one did not subside but seemed to be growing.
"Quick, into the Thunderhawk!" the Chaplain
commanded.
As they rose back into orbit, the planet was
heaving below them. Earthquakes shattered the
crust, volcanoes erupted, the whole surface of the
planet seemed intent on consuming itself.
"What have we done?" asked the sergeant.
"By the Emperor, I know not. But keep this
secret, on pain of death."
"Yes, Inquisitor Chaplain." Adolfo had no doubt
that the Chaplain meant it. He was only alive now
becuase he was a member of the Death Wing and knew
his Chapter's shameful past and why they were
unforgiven.
In the great Hall of Testimony, on the Rock, Grand
Master Azrael stood judgment over the
Inquisitor-Chaplain Gemekial. Before him were the
100 members of the First Company, all veterans,
all members of the Inner Sanctum, all Death Wing.
"We are gathered here to pass judgment on Brother
Gemekial," The Grand Master intoned. "He stands
accused of Heresy, of Actions Dangerous to the
Safety of the Chapter. We have heard his
testimony, he did willingly allow a person not of
this assembly to learn our most Hallowed Secret."
There was a growl of anger from the assembled
Marines that answered the accusation.
"He has been judged guilty by this assembly, and
must be punished. First, he shall be stripped of
his rank as is just by our laws!"
His Crozius was taken from Gemekial's slack grip,
his robes ripped from his body, his Book of
Secrets removed from his belt.
"Next, he has dishonored this company and may no
longer name himself of member of it. His name
shall be stricken from our records, his power
armor taken."
Gamekial resolutely handed his helmet to a nearby
marine, who would not face him.
"Finally, as a person who is not of this assembly,
he must not be allowed to share the secret he
holds within him."
With that, Asmodai struck him upon his head from
behind with his own Crozius Arcanum, ending
Gemekial's existance.
His last thought, before his soul left his body,
was "Discipline must be maintained."
Nurgle and Khorne struggled for the Chaplain's
soul, but eventually Nurgle was able to greedily
consume it.
End.
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