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Chapter 1
Servitors tampered with each button on the bridge of the small frigate, typing away reports in mere half seconds. Their metal bodies clanking against the black steel floor of the bridge. Other than the servitors on the small enclosed bridge, Inquisitor Veritas was.
Veritas was a tall man with long flowing black hair and a scar across his right eye. He wore a new carapace chest piece with his bolt pistol mag-locked onto it. He gripped his power sword tightly, his gloved knuckles turning white. A trench coat rested on a chair nearby, covered in scrap flak pieces. He wasn’t the richest of Inquisitors. That might change though if this mission went as well if he planned it would be. A normal check up on a warp wrapped world and the study of any anomalies.
Veritas strolled across the command bridge, eyeing certain monitors on the frigate. He stopped once he reached the front of the bridge, staring at a leather chair where a bulky figure sat. The chair spun and a man in army green Space Marine Scout Armor was facing Veritas.
Scout Ventris grinned and stood up. “I heard about this plan. Chaplain Kyras and Sergeant Hexolus are on their way to the bridge so they can be briefed.”
Vertias rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. “So they can rearrange everything to work for them. Like always. Sometimes I wonder why I helped your Chapter hunt down the Idols of Grief.”
Ventris stopped moving for a second and just stared at Veritas with eyes like daggers. He raised his arm up and was preparing to punch the Inquisitor in the face for the remark, but the bridge doors clicked open and both Hexolus and Kyras stepped in.
“I am well aware that we are landing on this useless rock” Kyras spoke, his helmet between his arm and side revealing his pale albino face and grey eyes. “And that snarky remark is not necessary Vertias, you know as well as we do that the Idols of Grief were heretical and deserved to be hunted down for what they did to Solanx. Especially us….”
Veritas looked at the Chaplain silently, then his eyes flickered over to Hexolus. The clicking of servitors stopped momentarily.
“I was the one who kept you from being executed!” Veritas snapped back at the Chaplain in anger. “If it wasn’t for me, you and your entire heretical Chapter would be purged to the last man for dabbling in xenotech.”
Veritas paced back and forth across the metal flooring, his boots clicking with the ground loudly. He stopped in front of the main console, turning back to the Chaplain and Sergeant. “Now get ready to land.” Hexolus and Kyras mumbled through a vox chat and then walked out of the room. “Ventris, get my Chimera ready. We might have company here.”
The Scout nodded and sprinted out of the bridge room, and toward the undercarriage of the frigate where Veritas’s private chimera was stashed. That and a heavily modified Leman Russ Punisher.
Veritas continued to pace along the bridge, his hands shaking. “I should’ve never let these mutants aboard my ship” He whispered to himself, before stepping out of the bridgehead and into a hallway.
The halls of the frigate were just plain gunmetal grey colored, cold and monolithic like the Imperial warmachine design of everything. As Veritas strolled through the hall toward his quarters, he stared blankly at the ground. Eventually he reached his quarters and opened the metal door, stepping inside and on to a crimson rug.
The room was littered with notable Imperial textbooks and crumpled papers scrawled on. The small bunk in the corner was a mess, with no covers and instead a large bolter laying across it, quietly waiting for a drink of blood. Tapestries hung across the walls, turning the room into a faint rainbow. On Veritas’s desk, a large dataslate rested. The monitor on the desk flickered, green text from a mission briefing rolling down the black screen.
Veritas walked over to his bed, grabbed his bolter up and turned back toward the door. It’d only be a matter of time until they landed on Firgia.

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Firgia, 03:23 Terran Hours
Vesta Spaceport
The heat was murderous, and Veritas was already soaked in his sweat. His jacket and armor would be no good here, as all they’d do is increase his chance of being the victim of heat-stroke.
Kyras and Hexolus however, didn’t even seem bothered as their power armor adjusted the temperature to a comfortable 65 degrees. Ventris however, was bothered by the heat just like Veritas, his non-powered armor only weighing him down.
“Let’s move towards the capital” Kyras said, stepping into the chimera, followed by Veritas. While Hexolus got in the driver's seat and Ventris sat in the gunners seat. At least the chimera had air conditioning. This world was going to be a pain to try and traverse even inside the chimera.
Mounds of rock tore at the bottom of the vehicles body, as it attempted to crawl through the unpaved world of Firgia. The mounted lascannon the top pivoted around, searching for any life forms in the area. The place was awfully quiet for being known to have Empires warring against each other consistently.
They continued toward what they thought would be a bustling capital city until before being stopped by debris strewn across the road. Rusted out Imperial guard vehicles sat across the road, with dead bodies and flayed skin pressed onto them.
Hexolus let out a murmur and then spoke into his vox transmitter. His eyes never leaving the pile of debris.
“We have a problem out here. Looks like something got to the poor settlers of this place before we could.” Hexolus said, his voice filled with a slight tone of anger. Kyras looked at the back ramp of the chimera and then at Veritas.
“We should continue on foot. I smell the taint of chaos in t-” Kyras couldn’t finish as the sound of the chimeras lascannon firing sliced through the vox chatter. Chants began registering in Veritas’s ears and in a second, several thuds against the chimeras side made him spring into action.
He slapped the ramp release and dove out of the chimera, his bolter already pre-firing toward the chanting. Several figures in dark crimson robes collapsed without limbs. Already over a dozen cultist had fallen from the combined might of bolter shells and las cannon shots.
It only got worse for the chaotic cultist as Kyras came sprinting out of the chimera and into their lines with his Crozius Arcanum, smashing aside the figures that charged at him with giant cutlasses or bastard swords. Hexolus on the other hand was on top of the chimera, his Combi-flamer, the bolt shells ripping apart the drab and flesh of the charging horde.
More and more cultist sprang out from the sand dunes that gave them cover, swinging blades at the three Imperials or attempting to rush them with bayonets. Muskets blasted across the air and kicked up rock as they missed the Imperials completely.
The jarring snap of bones filled Veritas’s ears as he bashed the blunt stock of his bolter across a cultist head, breaking it like an egg. Next to him Kyras kept the fight up, taking out entire droves of cultist in single fell swoops.
Hexolus came charging down from the chimera with his power sword, lopping heads off like they were just a small obstacle to leap over. The three of them continued to carve a path of destruction through the cultist until they began to flee down the sand dune and toward the only river on Firgia that was right next to the sand dunes.
Ventris popped out of the vehicle with his shotgun in hand and looked at the three bloodied soldiers.
“I see that we aren’t very welcomed here.” Kyras said, looking at the lake of bodies around them. “It looks like the warp storm has inflicted more damage upon the world's population then we thought.”
He looked around and then down at the river.
“We should try and contact the nearby Naval fleet” Hexolus spoke, his bolter swaying from side to side as he scanned the area for more targets. “They’d be able to help us out here.”
“Is that cowardice Sergeant? We know no fear brother.” Kyras interrupted raising a black and white hand. “Now, let’s continue on to the capital. Shall we?”
Hexolus looked at Kyras and then turned away and started walking toward the chimera. “We’re not taking that” Kyras called after him. “We need to go on foot, otherwise we’ll continue to be ambushed.”
Hexolus growled through his vox chatter and then turned away and started walking towards Kyras.
“I don’t know what your problem is, Chaplain! But I am not a dog for you to run around
With” Hexolus snapped, his power armor shaking as he gestured with his bolter. “The chapter master is already good enough at controlling us.”
Kyras raised his Crozius in retialition.
“Is that heresy, Hexolus?” Kryas replied, swinging his Crozius to the ground and smashing the chest of a dead cultist in. “It had better not be.”
Hexolus turned away and started walking across the sand dune, his green camo boots
Digging into the fluffy sand under his feet. Kyras signalled Ventris and Veritas to follow Hexolus’s lead toward the capital city. It’d be a lot easier to reach walking instead of driving in that pitiful chimera.

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The massive cliff face stood in front of them, probably 100 feet tall and reaching into the planet's atmosphere. Hundreds and hundreds of small cave entrances dotted the smooth rocky side, luring people into their giant complex cave systems.
Hexolus unclicked his helmet with the hiss of the seals and whine of the power system
Turning off. “Looks like we’ll have to rock climb.” He stated obviously, a scowl appearing across his ash gray skin. “I hate heights.”
Kyras glanced around, before mag-locking his Crozius and stepping up to the wall. He looked back at the three others.
“It’s either this, or we leave this planet the way it is” Kyras said, before beginning his
Ascent up the giant cliff face. Veritas followed, climbing up the rock dust covered ledges behind the massive Kyras who seemed to be enjoying the climb. Then came Hexolus and finally Ventris who struggled with the climbing, his shotgun hanging loosely off his shoulder. 
Eventually, through the roaring wind against the cliff face, they reached the top. On top of the peak they overlooked a grassy flatland with broken patches of forest spread about. Then, right in the center of the grasslands, was the Capital City of Firgia. 
As the group started walking towards it, Veritas held out a hand and then pointed towards the downward slope in front of them. Just out of their sight a second ago, Veritas now seen several blood red Chimeras sitting idle on the grassland, their engines gurgling. Barbed wire was criss-crossed on the slope as were rusty metal tank blockers, in front of the wire. Men in crimson garb were standing around or kneeling with heavy weapons.
“Filthy traitors. I knew I smelled the taint of chaos since I heard the name of this place!” Kyras yelled, ripping his Crozius off his armor and preparing to fight. “We have the drop of them. We should strike now!”
“Do you not see the triad of Chimeras? We don’t have any charges Chaplain” Veritas replied calmly. “We should stake this out. Watch for any figureheads here.”
Kyras looked at the Inquisitor for a second and then at the barricade. Broken out of his slight blood lust, he nodded in agreeance and then moved forward toward a decently sized patch of foliage. Hexolus followed him and so did Ventris.
Veritas moved to the edge of the bushes, concealing himself, but still keeping an eye on the barricade.
Bolter fire exploded from the forest patch however, and the clashing of steel on steel broke through Veritas’s tunnel vision. He sprinted into the patch toward the noises, reaching the three marines as they were cornered by half a dozen cultist with giant longswords and Hammers.
Already several lay dead on the ground, their bodies broken by the marines. Kyras brought his Crozius up to block a hammer and then lifted his leg up and kicked the attacker in the stomach, throwing him backwards onto his neck. Hexolus squeezed the trigger of his bolter once more, shredding a cultists chest and head.
Ventris racked the slide of his shotgun squeezing and showering trees and dirt with the blood of a traitor. The thump, thump, thump of bolter fire rippled through the air loudly, compared to otherwise silent forest patch. Veritas knew that the cultist near the capital would be heading here to reinforce their allies.
Veritas ripped his bolter off his shoulder and added his own firepower to the mix, tearing apart the steel clad traitors with each bolt. From his scabbard, Veritas yanked his combat knife out, slashing it across a deformed man’s throat. Blood splashed down onto the muddy flats, and bodies continued to drop.
The clashing froze for a second, the traitors fleeing in droves away from the battleground. It didn’t matter. Kyras, full of fanatical fury chased after them, his bolt pistol springing out from it’s maglock and booming with thunderous roars. Even now, Veritas heard the loud engine roar of poorly maintained chimeras coming from behind them.
He had no chance to give a warning before the first missile dug into a tree and exploded, showering the Imperials in wood splinters and grass. Veritas dove to the ground, another missile fizzing by and passing through the forest patch, exploding in the air in the distance.
Kyras, however was not so lucky. A missile crashed into the ground next to him, throwing his body backwards into the mud. His camo colored armor slathered in mud and blood. His bone white skull helmet was buried beneath the foot of a massive figure in front of Kyras.
The figure was dressed in Blood red and gold power armor with the skulls of several slain Generals clicking against his knee. Spikes covered his helmet, and around his neck. Kyras jolted up, spotting the figures dirty power sword and storm bolter.
Kyras rolled toward his crozius and luckily snatched it up, before ducking behind a tree. The chaos champion threw himself into the tree, crashing into the thin native wood of Firgia. The tree cracked in the center and then split asunder. Kyras turned and swung his crozius, feeling it smack against the power sword of the champion.
A kick to the stomach brought Kyras backwards, nearly tripping on the uncovered branches. A bolt shell sliced into his left arm and tore it straight off, disorienting Kyras even more. He didn’t waste time on fully recovering, swinging his crozius with one hand and smashing aside the champion’s power sword. With a crack, another bolt shell smashed into his right leg, shredding it to the bare metal and flesh. Kyras fell to the ground, unable to stand against the champion.
Caught up in the fighting, Ventris only glanced over at Kyras when he heard the crack of bolter fire. Then, he witnessed the worst thing he could. Kyras still fought, his hands grabbing at the champions legs and attempting to pull him down. It barely bothered the traitor.
The champion laughed through his helmets amplifier, and then brought his sword across quickly, lopping Kyras’ head clean off of his shoulders. Blood spewed everywhere and then traitor cackled more and more, turning to face the three other Imperials. His power sword crackled with energy and then he began walking towards Hexolus who now turned his bolter on the champion.
A bolt shell snapped into the ground before Hexolus, exploding up dirt and blood. The champion started to sprint now, using the blinding mud as a shield for his movements. He was stopped when Ventris fired three shells into the champion’s stomach and neck soft armor with precision. Dead already, the champion fell to the ground and slid across the foot deep mud until he hit a tree.
“We have to recover Brother Kyras’s gene seed!” Hexolus yelled, firing his bolter at the approaching chimera.  A missile streaked across the enclosed space and crashed into another batch of trees, ripping them down to the stumps. “I’ll get his body, Ventris, cover me. Inquisitor! I need you to clear a path for us to get out of here. Call down one of those servitors with our thunderhawk!”
Veritas stared at Hexolus and then fired at a incoming cultist. The traitor dropped to the mud ground and moaned loudly.
“We can’t get off the planet currently. The warp storm is blocking our signal and a servitor trying to pilot through the mess would be nigh impossible” Veritas replied, stabbing another cultist in the stomach and twisting the blade.
Hexolus turned in time to punch a cultist in the throat and kick his body against a shredded tree. Three more missiles, not even a minute apart streaked through the patch and ripped up mud and rained down wood. Ventris looked at the Inquisitor and then at the chimera that was reloading it’s large missile launcher.
“Inquisitor, I can get to that chimera and destroy it. I have a few krak grenades left on me. Cover me while I reach it” Ventris yelled, yanking out a krak grenade from his belt and sprinting through the muddy forest. His boots slapped through the blood soaked mud, slowing him down. It didn’t matter however.
Cultist charged at Ventris, but were cut down by Hexolus and Veritas’s bolter shells. Ventris reached the metal front of the vehicle and climbed atop it, his grenade pin now flung off and the lever held down. He moved over to the missile launcher and slapped the grenade under a small ledge in the gun’s mount, before releasing the lever and trying to run.
He never got very far. A las shot struck him in the face, scorching his eyes and melting his skin. He dropped dead instantly, his body flopping in front of the chimera seconds before it imploded. The laughing cultist who had slain him, thrown aside by the explosion and flung into a tree nearby.
In disbelief, Veritas looked at Hexolus who was growling as his bolter click dry and the swarm of cultist continued forth through the tree line. Veritas clicked his vox caster link on the side of his own helmet and spoke into it.
“This is Inquisitor Veritas, requesting an emergency evac at these coordinates” He listed of the spot right outside the cliff wall. “Hexolus, I’ve got our thunderhawk coming. It’s gonna be by the cliff face that we climbed.”
Hexolus replied through the vox-link before cutting it and slicing apart incoming cultist with his chainsword. He covered the Inquisitor as he walked toward the cliff face. Behind the tide of cultist, he could see his two battle brothers corpses being dragged off by the chaos traitors. He already felt regretful for not being able to retrieve their bodies.
He turned and followed the Inquisitor toward the rock face, running until they both hit the lip of it. Behind them the roaring storm of mutants and cultist stalled, their rusted blades crashing to the ground and auto-guns being drawn out. Bursts of gunfire tore away at the patches of ground around the lip, scratching the Green paint off of Hexolus’s power armor.
Veritas fired his last bolt shell into the horde before holstering it and looked down at the bottomless pit between the lip and the bottom of the wall. Just as the hordes approached once more, a Thunderhawk appeared from the sky painted a dark green color with a servitor firing the heavy bolter down onto the cultist below.
The Thunderhawk came down parallel to the cliff face. Veritas backed up several paces and leapt forward. The cultist charged forth. Swords were swinging wildly once more, and Hexolus ripped through garb and stringy flesh with his chainsword, hacking the traitors down to their knees. Before turning toward the Thunderhawk and then watched as Veritas landed feet first into the bay of the thunderhawk.
A vox link clicked alive from Hexolus to Veritas. “I’m sorry Inquisitor. I have to stay here with my fallen brothers”. Then it clicked close before Veritas could reply.
The Diamond Devil marine was still slashing with his chainsword, punching out faces with his other hand. The blood covered marine felt a stinging pain in his leg, looking down to see a rusty sword pushed through his soft armor and into his knee. He decapitated the the cultist who had stabbed him, but another replaced him with a autorifle firing wildly.
Veritas looked at the wounded marine and walked to the c***pit door, opening it and looking at the piloting servitor who was tapping buttons to begin the ascent into space.
“Servitor, turn this thunderhawk around and fire those front mounted bolters” Veritas ordered, closing the door and walking over to one of seats. There he grabbed an ammo box and yanked it out, tearing it open and grabbing one of the bolter magazines. He ran to the ramp and climbed on the side, throwing the bolter magazine toward Hexolus who instinctively caught it.
Hexolus nodded his goodbye and continued chopping through the traitors flesh and bones, until he was covered in a swarm of red clothing. By then, Veritas and the Thunderhawk were already docked in the frigate.
There Veritas made his way hastily to the comms room, intent on contacting the Imperial Fleet in the neighbouring system. As he reached the plain, spartan like room he moved over to the silent telepath sitting in the corner on a chair.
“Relay a message to the Imperial Fleet. We’re cleansing this world.”  The telepath nodded and then closed his eyes, focusing his willpower on relaying the message over and over to the Naval fleet in the system nearby. Once this was done, the man drab in white cloth kneeled over and died.