Big Gunz DC

THE WARP SCREAMS TO ETERNITY
PSYCHERS FALL TO DUST
ALL THAT REMAINS IS PAIN
"CAN YOU HEAR THE VOICES TOO?".....

A flash of red, black and white; Lightning streaked across the sky Illuminating....DEATH....The thunder rolling down the Valley of Despair was enough to wake the dead.....It Did....Lord Kresh awoke with a scream stifled in the back of his throat. Blinded in pain, fury, confusion....His world....His Home...Vexium IV....Gone...Destroyed...The mountains around him....Skulls...Millions of Skulls...Streets paved with bone. His home...He stumbled through the dead down the Valley the memories came back...His friend....his second in command...LT Praxius...Stabbed...ME...in the back by a Demonic Blade...Icariux...Icariux the Demon bound to the blade...NO...He fought....How long....days, weeks, years...No...DECADES...HOW LONG!!!...How Long did he battle for his soul. The Voices....quiet now save one...It tells him that he is alive after being decades dead....he owes..he Must seek...NOT REVENGE...NOT YET... Echoing in his mind...SEEK an Agent of Good....Questions.....Screams...TEMPLAR!!...Yes Templar. He must Destroy this Acolyte of the Emperor....
CLARITY...I must fulfill the pact and blessings will be mine...the ruinous powers have brought me back to Destroy a 'twice blessed man'...A Templar...A....TEMPLAR with a combi-flamer...A COMBI-FLAMER....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....One soul for my own. Then I can seek revenge...MY HOME...Praxius will pay....Orphan Makers....Must Die....AND ALL WHO HAVE BEEN TOUCHED BY THEM....But first a single Templar for my soul yes...The demon Icariux is with in me I can feel his presence in the back of my mind...hehehe. But the Gods favor me....yes....I relish his pain..I will allow him to take the Templar....yes a fitting end... I must rebuild my army...my legions... my children.....

With that the final streak of lightning and thunder echoed across the land and Lord Kresh found his voice...His battle cry echoed across the Valley of Despair. The sword pulled from his back stained black with blood and hate glowed with an infernal light. His battle armor and wounds healed themselves as legions of demons began to step from the warp. Answering the call of their master. "Come to me my children lets see what has been left for me... The time has come....Time to rebuild my empire".......IT HAS BEGUN.....

Theraputic were the rituals following battle. Only this time, it was different, there was no ease or comfort to be found in cleaning his armour, applying liturgies and recording oaths.

The Vox Teleprint sat on top of his now growing list of tasks. Since reassignment, many of the trivial administrative tasks had been simply left for later.

+ 04 07142006 m41 ++
+ URGENT: MSSG TO FOLLOW.01.APPROVED ++
+ YOUR PRESENCE IS DUTIFULLY REQUESTED ++
+ ISSUE: ACUTE WARP DISTURBANCE, IMPACT.SEVERE ++
+ ...
The message went on...

A chill ran down his spine, not the usual kind after one too many hard drop pod landings into combat zones, no... this was different. His armour still bearing the colors it did when he last remembered this chill. He had stopped counting the number of times he instructed the Chapter servitors to not repaint the yellow... any of it. He would not forget.

The Imperium was stretched to its limits already. He would not be as quiet as usual this time when voicing his thoughts.
Chaplain Rorex picked up his Combi-Flamer, its heft a familiar feel. The soot seemed unusually built up at the muzzle he thought, its holy cleansing power would be needed soon. Very soon.

"HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL"
DEATH AWAITS THOSE WITH HOPE....
MAY HOPE NEVER FIND YOU.....

Lord Kresh looked out across the blasted ruins of the capitol of Vexium IV and chuckled to himself. Priest have the survivors been gathered. "Yessss my Lord they all have been brought before you. Excellent I will require a sacrifice. How many can we loose. My lord we can sacrfice 100 souls and easily accomplish what you require. Kresh smiled at the thought. With a flick of a switch all the remaining survivors were teleported on to his awaiting battleship. Tend to your flock Priest. I will begin launching procedures. The great Gothic cruiser shuddered to life; an ancient battle fortress "The Sword of Terra" began to blast its way free of the magno clamps holding her in position. Repulsor coils and thrusters burned to maximum in order for the Giant ship to reach escape velocity. With all burners at maximum the ground beneath turn to magma and all with in 10 sqaure miles was instantly vaporized including the 100 sacrifices dedicated to the pantheon of gods. As the Sword of Terra took flight and reached into space Kresh began preparations. The preparations ncecessary for WAR.....Icariux was eager....eager to feed.....

DARKNESS IS MY EMBRACE
DEATH IS MY HARBINGER
A CHORUS OF SORROW
ECHOS IN MY EARS

The Sword of Terra exited warp space like an arrow driving through the back of its victim. In system emergence was a risky manuver and seldom employed tactic long lost to most Gothic ship commanders. Kresh was not one of those; he specialized at transiting so close to a planet he could bounce off the upper atmosphere. This tactic normally prevented any system from mounting a defense against him. It was not necessary here. Once again he looked out onto a dead system compliments of the Orphan Makers....They had cut a path of destruction all the way to Cadia. Kresh could not help but be impressed; his first had done extremely well. But that was not what had him concerned at this moment. Telemetry indicated that a warp Storm was expanding throughout many systems engulfing them to chaos........And somewhere on the edge of this storm was his quarry the Templar with a Combi-flamer.....Images have been given to him but his name has not yet been gleaned. Still his course was true....He could feel it...A system so close to this storm was actually showing activity. It had been 500 hundred cycles since he last launched an attack into imperial space...But here at the edge of this storm was his destination......MEDUSA Sector.....Somewhere near here....He would be careful this time. The Sword of Terra rotated about its Axis and launched itself into warp space leaving the dead system......

The fall of heavy boot steps reverberated off the halls of the mighty ship..."priest.." Yesss my lord...Have you found them for me....'Yess my Lord'...Bring them to me....The words of Kresh's old master Horus came to mind....."There can only be one acceptable level of achievement...Perfection. Nothing less." His last mentor Fabius Bile echoed Horus's sentiments but in his own way. The wonders Kresh had learned from him were innumeral. He smiled as the first of his chosen were brought before him. Holding a vile of gentic stem cells programmed to seek out and remap the latent DNA of a space marine Kresh approached the first of his children....."A space marine.... is a Space marine.... is a Spacemarine....He is a genetically engineered Super Soldier. Today I will give you a new life. A life of perfection." He stabbed the first acolyte in the neck injecting the syrum...The retro cells began to bond with the latent DNA in the acolytes body...reforming him...re-engineering him...he collapsed on the floor screaming in pain and anguish as his body convulsed violently. He bacame a space marine again...Kresh smiled at his work...."Rebirth is always painful my children and some may die...The choice is yours....Serve me and live again." Not a single acolyte stepped out of line....Icariux smiled.......Very soon......

Passing through even the narrowest passageways of the ship, Rorex moved with ease, there wasn’t a Marine on board who wouldn’t give way. Even in the most cramped access ways, room was still made for the Chaplain to pass without problem.

Marshal Hadrea had “dutifully requested” his presence… this is going to be good Rorex thought. Independent meetings with the Marshal seldom lasted more than a minute and were usually one sided.

Entering the Marshal’s chamber, Rorex approached him directly… not the usual accepted procedure.

“Sir…” Rorex began, making a pathetic, obvious attempt to sound official.

“Take a small detachment to Communication Post 3-Echo, Hell’s Crucible sister site, the Imperium has received portions of its Emergency Transmission just over 14 hours ago and…”

“This is about any damn warp storm is it…” Rorex cut Hadrea off.

14 hours Rorex thought to himself, too much time has passed, too much…

“Bravo sits near the only atmospheric blind spot,” Hadrea continued without losing a beat, “When the Imperium discovered this gap, every attempt was made to monitor it without drawing any undo attention to it’s exact location. While no one has attempted it yet, there is the smallest chance that someone who knows of it may be able to bring a sizeable force to bear in the Medusa Region with little to no advance warning. The result would be utter devastation. The current storms frequency and expanding reach are making it difficult to effectively monitor the location from here.”

“And attempts to contact 3-Echo directly?”
“Unanswered as of yet.” replied Hadrea.
“Who else knows of this?” Rorex asked already knowing the answer.
“No one yet… save for the Inquisition…” Rorex could hear it in Hadrea’s voice, it had been years since he had seen his friend this disturbed.

The silence finally broken by Rorex, “How long then?”

“Not long enough… not long enough.”

I TURNED FROM THE LIGHT
I WALK THE SHAPLESS HALLS OF DARKNESS
THE CHOICE WAS MINE ALONE
WOULD YOU CARE TO WALK WITH ME

It had been 14 hours since The Sword of Terra entered the Medusa Sector...The only Space marine outpost monitoring this area was quickly destroyed with no survivors. His chosen had done well; and now standing on the surface of this imperial outpost Brought back memories. Memories of the final push into the Sol system so many years ago. He still could not believe that the forces of chaos lost. Horus was a fool. Still he had finally gleaned enough information from this Templar outpost to learn of the new races that are plagueing the galatic core. He just shook his head at the irony of it all. I am sure Abbadon is just beside himself with joy at his latest success. "Master"...Yes Priest..."Master shall we begin preparations to leave. Telemetry indictes that we entered undetected in this sytem and there are many targets of opportunity here."...Kresh was amused at the Priest's use of military lingo..."No Priest our quarry will come to us. Set up a base camp and begin to establish a defensive perimeter. It is time to seperate the wheat from the chaff....And give Icariux over to the Twice Blessed Man...For he is comming to us...

The sibilant hiss of the Servant of Slaanesh tickled Erebus the Younger out of prayer.

" The Dark Master has returned, the dark light of impurity that is Chaos shall illuminate the furthest reaches of the so called Imperium of Man. Know Dark Lord that your servant is ever vigilant and preparing for the coming of the TRUE Master of Mankind."

"Aveat Chaotica!!!!"

“Run it again…”

Chaplain Rorex looked over the screen in disbelief, “Make your report to Marshal Hadrea” he instructed the servitor.

Turning to leave, he gave one order to the Neophyte at his side…

“Collect the Brethren… We make planetfall in 90 minutes.”

The metal deck of the launch bay shuddered with troops and equipment being shuttled to awaiting drop pods and gunships. There was no night or day onboard ship only a steady hum of activity 24 hours a day.

Fighting Company Casteil was making last minute preparations, their bolters and chainswords blessed with litanies of war. Elevator 4 brought Brother Vohal with a host of Techmarines and Servitors to the main loading level. His weapons being loaded and operating systems brought online.

Planetfall would be just prior to dawn, the warp storms had increased considerably both in frequency and strength in the past 5 hours. Radio communication would be severely limited once they landed, the Emperor’s justice would be swift, his will followed.

Chaplain Rorex prepared to address the Brethren gathered before him…

THE ECHO OF SILENCE CAN BE HEARD
BY THOSE WITHOUT SCOPE
THE JOY OF SORROW CAN BE FELT
BY THOSE WITHOUT HEART


Kresh stood on the landscape of the Templar echo post-3 his psychic senses streching into the void of the warp. The eldar never truely achieved such a union and precognition. If they knew the secretes he had the galaxy would indeed be a different place. He knew the moment the Cruiser entered the system. Long before the Sword of Terra picked her up. The "Twice Blessed Templar' was here and comming to meet him. Kresh chuckled at the irony of it all. How the great design works. He barely had to try and his prey came head long into his trap. Although he knew he must still tread with caution. Icariux was eager to find a new host and Kresh was ready to be rid of this annoyance. He sensed the presence of his preist before he arrived at his side. However, the priests ability to move silently did concern him slightly....He made a mental note to kill him before he got to good at sneaking up on him..."My Lord the Sword of Terra reports enemy cruiser bearing down on her position. Request to open fire. Kresh turned to face his acolyte..."No......Priest it would be rude to destroy our guest...After all we invited him here"....As he looked over to the disembodied hand of a Templar nailed to the top of the emergency signal button....Gather my children and let us go meet our guest....IN FORCE....."Yes My Lord....I live to serve......I die to live...."

“ A small contengent of brothers have given the ultimate sacrifice for the Emperor… let us finish what they have begun.” His words to the Marines were short but the message was not lost.

Rorex boarded the Crusader, he was the last one to board, the scream of the Thunderhawk engines only slightly muffled by the closing of the Crusader’s front ramp.

They would land at “full tilt”, a much frowned upon practice they had developed while assaulting the countless hive cities on Arimus Krole in the Halo Sector. The Gunships would slow to 10 knots and drop down to 10 meters off the ground… the Crusaders would be released and would land at full speed. While considerably more dangerous, this practice allowed the Crusaders to effect a lightning fast landing and initiate a full assault immediately.

As they neared the planet’s surface, the Gunship engines screamed under the weight of its full payload as it came in for the drop. The Crusader’s engines were brought up to full speed and the magnetic clamps deenergized. Gravity would do the rest.

The facility lay 1500 meters ahead.
Or what remained of it was still there.
No discernable activity had been detected… yet.
Warps storms made transmissions near impossible at the moment.
The sonic booms overhead heralded the arrival of the Drop Pods, their trails cutting across the dawn sky.

It was a matter of seconds now...

Despite the tremendous heat and noise, the chill that ran down Rorex’s spine reached out at his soul… for a second, his mind burned.

No more, he thought, no more...

THE BONES OF THE CONQUERED PAVE THE ROAD I AM ON
A BILLION TOURTURED SOULS SCREAM ACROSS THE SCORCHED LAND
THE MINDS EYE SEES NOT
I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE

Kresh watched as the Templars executed a perfect rapid insertion depolyment. He noted that this Templar was indeed a veteran warrior to command such troops in such a way. As the Templars disembarked their transports and stormed the complex he looked to his newly promoted second....."Have my Chosen and the Defilers target the Vehicles only I want to keep these men static. Let them feel what the last defenders of that stronghold felt when we arrived." Yes my lord...I am knew you would want to give them time to pay their respects for their dead so I left them the remains of their battle brothers to keep them company....as they die...With that the signal was given and a few moments later artillery shells from the hidden Defilers and long range lascannons lanced out at the vehicles. Kresh watched as the Land's Raiders exploded....their fuel cells detonating in brillant flashes across the field. "I think that got their attention my lord. "Obviously.... Keep the artillery shelling lets make them dig in....after all I want a challenge here..." It would not due to just crush them from afar....Not the Twice Blessed Templar.....A smile Krept across his face as he realized he would soon be rid of Icariux......

Surface to ship transmission was non-existent…
Rorex’s helmet vox chatted constantly with communication from the talk around channel.

Casualties had been heavy at first, a sizeable portion of the ground force was killed immediately by concentrated enemy firepower. While this had slowed the initial breach, the first wave of drop pods had been able to secure the main complex perimeter and make measurable headway. Intense fighting taking its toll on both sides.

The face of the Xenos takes many forms, here would be no exception.

Reports were near unbelievable of what the Brothers were coming in contact with. The sheer brutality of the enemy came as a shock to some of the newer brethren. Shock gave way to anger… anger to blood.
Small squads of Sword Brethren had been able to make progress inside the complex, striking swiftly even in limited numbers, their presence seeming to catch the Xenos off balance.

The price of progress was mounting.

Rorex would be able to coordinate the second wave of pods with the ongoing ground attack. The Xenos would not have the ability to inflict such casualties on the second wave, their firing positions had been targeted now, neutralization would be immediate.

Valuable resources had been committed to this… the push on the interior of the complex would need to be coordinated precisely now, too many Brothers would were going to die as it was.

Rorex cleared the vox channel, his orders were concise.
The Brethren began their push… the Emperor’s light and will guiding their path.

The sound of gunfire and screaming was utterly deafening, such sensory overload would have rendered any human incapable of coherent action.

Rorex froze for a moment when the priority transmission came over his helmet vox...

"Sir, we've found..."

YOUR SORROW IS MY ARMOR
YOUR PAIN MY SHIELD
YOUR DESTINY MY OWN
YOU SHALL KNOW FEAR

"My Lord incoming transmission from your chosen.....Templars have reached the inner complex...casualties heavy....request assistance." Excellent.....its time to spring the trap...."LT Kain order the Sword of Terra to begin jamming all transmissions from the surface..It would not due to get interupted during this Templars OPUS" Kresh reached deep into his psycher powers concentrating and summoning....The air around the complex crackled with static discharge...Then the sound of tearing paper echoed across the battlefield...peels of thunder followed and the fabric of reality itself bent....Gaping holes in time and space ripped into being and with that the moans and screams of the damned could be heard.....Legions of Demons stepped into this dimension....Screaching and screaming forward cutting deep into the templars lines...surrounding them..Unit by unit they fell..Kresh felt the raw power of the souls of the damned and he knew he could help....with unearthly speed he ran across the battlefield..Telemetry trackers could not plot his movements...Even his chosen were in awe...Squad after squad were cut down by his demonic blade and then he knew... he knew the name the name of the Twice Blessed Templar....ROREX....ROREX...ROREX..yes....his psychic scream echoed through the din of battle...ROREX......I COME FOR YOU...IT IS TIME....CHAPLIN....TIME FOR YOU TO BE REBORN.....ROREX....YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME....FOR I AM YOUR UNDOING.........

The ground underneath him began to tremor with an unearthly life, Rorex knew the Xenos were making a feeble, last stand.
His helmet vox compensated for the static that now overran all communication between battle brothers.

The air around the Templars began to swirl and tear open in front of their eyes. From it spewed the waste of the warp, creatures that would easily invoke fear in normal men lashed violently as they materialized from thin air.

Squads of Templars were renewed with zeal as the fighting intensified.
The second wave of drop pods began to crash down in the midst of the heaviest fighting, crushing daemons as they landed. The battle surged, each side more determined to be the one standing when the air cleared. Despite the tremendous losses they were inflicting, Templar squads were being overwhelmed by the daemons sheer numbers.

Red with blood, Templars and Xenos fought hand to hand now… chainswords ripped through daemons, powerful claws gouged armour plates, every death seeming to tear the sky above apart further.

Rorex’s movements were efficient, at times almost mechanical, each blow of his Crozius sending another Xenos spawn back to the depths from which it crawled out. With a wide swing, he split open the head of yet another daemon as it lunged from behind the ranks of the dead.
Still, the tide had not turned… yet.

Across the battlefield he caught it out of the corner of his eye. Something seeming to pass through the existence of time and reality with a tremendous speed.

Cut off the head and the body will die… this would be the only way to purge the daemon force. Rorex watched this Xenos snake carve its way through the battlefield, cutting a path of destruction through Templar squads as it went.
Turning to face the daemon, Rorex could hear his name echoing faintly across the warped reality they both fought for now.

If there was to be a rebirth here… it would be at his hands.
The Emperor’s light now illuminated the only destiny… it would be the daemon’s own undoing.

WE EMBRACE YOUR PAIN
WE LONG FOR YOUR SUFFERING
WE KNOW THE COST
I AM YOUR NIGHTMARE

Kresh was suprised at the arrival of dropships. The priest had failed him...as expected....he will be dealt with later...Kresh had more than enough to do the job even with the arrival of the Templar reinforcements. Orders were given and the defilers began targeting the arriving marines. Shells tore into newly arrived squads with unnearing accuracy. Dropships exploded before they could disgourge thier cargo. It only took a few minutes and the flanks of the perimeter were secured. The center of the battlefield, however was a mass of melee. Hand to hand the Templars fought against the overwhelming numbers of demons. Kresh moved with ease through the lines tearing apart unit after unit. Supporting his children...all the while hunting for ROREX. A squad of Sword Bretheren moved up to gain position on him..He laughed as they obviously underestimated him. Like a coiled viper he struck cutting down four of the five with ease...Icariux decapitating and disembowling marines right and left. The squads Veteran sergeant however was more seasoned and had faster reflexes than his men. This fact only prolong his demise.

The sergeant was able to swing back with the might of the powerfist...Kresh weathered the blows with ease laughing in the face of doubt and uncertainty. His own power claw lashed out and ripped the fist off the hapless Sergeant....In a blurr he hefted the sergeant in the air in a chest choke hold...."Where is Rorex...The sergeants reply was like all the others before him....."He will find you XENOS SCUM...You will feel the might of the Emperor." With that Kresh could take it no more he pulled the Sergeant close crushing the cermite armor and piercing deep into the sergeants chest with his claws....He replied....."Boy before you die I feel that you have earned this right...I was there the day your EMPEROR died...I saw the rise and fall of Chaos.....Your Precious EMPEROR could not even save himself...how powerful can he truly be.....He gave Birth to the fall of Man..Die a FOOLS DEATH." As he watched the light fade from the sergeants eyes he felt a psychic disturbance.....Kresh tossed the sergeant aside and looked out across the battlefield......"THERE...THERE YOU ARE..." Yes....His chosen were in perfect position and a defiler had made it in range to support the final push to get to HIM.....ROREX....The chaplin stood out in all his Emperial Grandeur hacking down demons left and right cleaving a path of destructing around him making his way out of the inner complex. Kresh and Icariux smiled.....IT WAS TIME....Kresh began to slowly walk towards his enemy. Calling out his name.....