By Martin Hogg
A crack of thunder rolled across the desolate city, it’s buildings in ruins. The bombardment that had been brought down upon it was the result of a tragic situation comprised of two deathsrike missiles, fully loaded with incinerator-warheads, that had been unnaccounted for in the rush to evacuate Corola City. Knowing fullwell of the history regarding the usage of deathstrikes by orks, the PDF command needed to have them eradicated as quickly as possible, &, not trusting the task upon weak, morale-deficient troops, had not choice but to initaiate a total-coverage artillery strike upon the area.
Five days later, the missiles were found in storage three miles away from the site at which the artillery had carried its bombardment out from. They had never been sent to Corola City in the first place. Naturally, the officers of the artillery were immediately executed, along with the crew of the missiles’ transport convoy & the members of the PDF who had overseen the evacuation. These executions were primarily delivered by Commissar Lanje, who had alerted the PDF command of the “missing” deathstrikes in the first place.
The irony of the situation was not lost on Jidus Ender, who smirked to himself as the lightning cast a ghoulish appearance upon his face. This storm had been brewing for the past week now, &, like all of Fuscha VII’s storms, would let it all loose in a matter of minutes. The pelting rain had already created a waterline up to his ankles, & this was quickly rising.
“Spread out,” he said to the other two members of his team – undoubtedly that bounty hunter brute would find nothing but trouble, but he needed to find him. The broadcast, which had been sent along the planet’s vox network once – & only once, as it had wiped the entire system – had dictated that the faithful assemble here. He was surprised at how few there were – in fact, he was the only one present (the other two weren’t even followers, just hired by promises of bloodshed & an effectively unlimited amount of money). Perhaps those who were worshippers didn’t have access to a vox, or possibly didn’t even understand the aetheric tongue of the Warp. If not, then they didn’t deserve to be here anyway.
Callahan didn’t know who he was supposed to be looking for. He had expected that; Ender never gave away specifics on anything, making it impossible to try & form small-talk with him without talking about himself constantly, which was something Callahan couldn’t bring himself to do. He had enough issues thinking about it.
Still, it seemed clear to him that Ender wanted this man dead, & his eyes twitched in anticipation of the blood he would shed. It shrank almost immediately when a giant in thick-plated armour rounded the corner of the building. Callahan considered himself quite tall, almost matching the height of the bounty hunter Swazzerkrigger, but he was utterly dwarfed by this hulking behemoth. All sense of bloodlust left his body & he stiffened, pretending not to notice the Astartes walking directly past him, so close that he could see the dangling head of a PDF member hanging from its belt, the thouroughly dead man’s face stuck in a perpetual scream. Callahan quickly shifted his eyes forwards, feigning total ignorance as badly as a blind man could pretend that he could see.
The marine passed him, genuinely ignoring him, & Callahan let out a sigh of relief. But he didn’t look back. Instead, he focused on the idle pile of rubble in front of him & continued power walking.
There was a splash, mixed in with a deep *thunk*.
There-
Again.
-he is.
Champion Xeros of the Alpha Legion stepped into view. His footfalls resounding against the ground. His voice resounded even more when he spoke to Ender.
“Is this all this filthy planet can muster? I expected more from a world so torn with war.”
Ender’s words caught in his mouth. Heck, his thoughts caught in his brain, he was that nonplussed that he would be greeted in this way. He had ravaged his way through the authorities & unfaithful cults for every scrap of information he could get relating to the Alpha Legion inspecting this planet, & this was the result of his efforts? A lone marine – clearly the only one on the planet, Ender could read that much from him – who dismissed him as unworthy. He could not find a single response to come out with, so he simply sank to his knees & hoped that would be enough for the Chaos marine.
The helmet stared at him for what seemed like hours. The water level gradually rose to the giant’s waist height. Ender realised that it was getting alarmingly close to his own head. Why wasn’t the automated flood management system cutting in? At last, the Marine spoke again.
“Come, we have much to discuss, Jidus.” And with that, the hulk of power armour & genetically-engineered muscle began to wade towards a bunker. Ender stood & followed suit.
Viktoria Antheusien hurried down the street. After weeks of searching, they had found him. He was here – somewhere. It had taken many sources & a reasonable chunk of her inheritance to do it, but now they had him.
She gestured to Zeke & Kara to ascend the building, & they quickly complied. She glanced around, just in case he was here, but found nothing, then began to climb the half of the structure than hadn’t caved in herself.
Through the thick sheet of rain, she saw a figure. Was that him? Then, for a brief moment, the sky cleared & the figure became visble.
“No…”
There, 50 yards away from her perch, was an Astartes. In front of it was Ender. How could that snake associate with the likes of a space marine?
Then, she remembered. There were tales her brother had told her when she was young, about marines that were against everything in the Imperium, & wanted nothing more than to see it wiped from existence. At first she had thought them just to be stories meant to scare her, but with all the things she had seen in this galaxy, maybe…
A single word uttered itself from her lips; “Chaos”.
Nails continued wading down the remains of a street. There was a crossroad at the end of the graveyard, &, attempting to consider the next direction to take, he glanced along the road. There, he saw three people standing in a building, surveying the high street in which Ender had walked down. He looked at the closest one, & knew he’d seen her before – it was the woman that Ender had kicked out of his stolen Rhino the day that Nails had been busted out of prison. One by one, they clambered down the building & began to head towards Ender’s position. He knew something wasn’t right, & climbed through the window of the closest building.
The previous owner had evidently been a heavy drug user, as there were used hypoderms discarded all across the floor. He crunched one under his boot & took up a position overlooking the bunker. Ender was expertly rewiring the doors lock mechanism, & he saw a large, armoured foot just leave his vision as the owner pulled themself up onto the roof of the building. The intruders would have to pass in front of his position to get to his employer, & when they did, he would have them.
Viktoria grasped a ledge that wouldn’t have been there if the building was still fully intact, & nimbly leapt into the building. Stepping carefully to avoid the hypoderms strewn across the floor, she moved into what would have been the inhabitant’s bedroom, though the bed had departed with the majority of the room. A figure was crouched in the corner, oblivious to her over the battering rain & cracking lightning. Even from the back of his head, she recognised him as one of the men Ender had got to assault her, & the memory made her gorge rise. She drew her power sword – not daring to ignite it after getting it drenched in the water – & ran at him. He turned at the last moment & thrust the shotgun he was carrying in the way of her strike. She dodged back as he drew a combat knife, & renewed the fight.
Callahan finally reached the top of the hab he had clambered up to escape the floods. Of course, as soon as he had done that, the sky cleared with the suddenness of a departing train, it’s clouds expended (the automated flood management system had also finally kicked in). There, a few buildings away from him, the bounty hunter & a woman were duelling. He couldn’t just sit & watch it carry out, & so he levelled his splinter rifle, taking careful aim so not to hit his hired muscle.
Pain tore through Nails as shards imbedded themselves down his side. They didn’t feel quite like flechette rounds – he’d had enough of those shot into his body to know what those were like -, much more like large splinters of a shattered bullet. He knew of only one type of weapon that could fire those, & of only one person who carried such a weapon.
“CALLAHAN YOU FRAKHEAD!” he yelled. Another storm of splinters ripped into him & he lost consciousness.
Viktoria flinched as a single, small shard stuck itself into her leg, though the brute she was fighting with took more than his fair share of them, & toppled over. Behind him she could see a figure perched on a hab roof – another of Ender’s men. Quickly switching to her naval pistol, she fired three succesive shots at him.
Ender was surprised as to how well the meeting had gone – Xeros knew far more about him than he would have liked, but he did not want to kill him upon his recieval of Ender’s information, nor did he object to his requests. There had to be a catch, but there would be nothing he could do about it if it turned up, especially if Xeros did end up wanting him dead.
He saw Callahan upon a nearby roof, & called out for him. The rogue trader was incapable of hearing him, however, his mind too focused on death. Three shots then rang out, & he cried out in pain, toppling off the roof & hitting the ground before passing out.
“Yours?” Xeros asked. He didn’t wait for a reply, instead making off at a brisk jog towards a hatch leading to the city’s sewage system.
Ender didn’t even look at the trader who had been with him for the past eight months, instead glaring up at the figure who had shot him.
Her.
He briefly considered taking her out to proove himself to Xeros, but realised it would be a pointless exercise – the marine wouldn’t trust him any more than he did now because of it, & the woman with the heavy stubber would make short work of him before he’d even got more than ten paces. He too ran to the sewer entrance, & leapt into the darkness.
She didn’t have to wait long before she realised he had gone. Just to check, she jumped out of the waster’s room & went behind the building she’d last seen him near.
No one.
There was a splattering of blood from where the man she’d shot had fallen – though the frakker had survived & managed to escape – & a trail of footprints from where Ender & the marine had stepped in the blood. It lead directly to an entrance to the sewers.
Zeke appeared behind her, dragging the man they’d taken hostage – though it’d be easier for her to have just killed him.
“Take it that’s where we’re going then?”