Warhammer 1. Vindicare Emerging Chapter 1

Hi all, this is my first time here and my first post. I have read some other stories which are very good. I would really appreciate any feedback, good and bad. I have uploaded the first 4 chapters of an 11 Chapter book, although chapters 5-11 are planned they are not yet written.

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**Vindicare Emerging**

**CHAPTER 1**

All was quiet in a backwater region of the Segmentum Obscurus but the peace was about to be shattered. Distant stars were gently winking against the black void of space like tiny lights reflecting on the surface of deep deep pool of water. A tiny ripple appeared on the speckled canvas but it grew like a virus. There was a sudden flash of intense light as an unmarked scout class space craft tore a hole in real space, shredding the calm illusion projected by the tranquil stars beyond. As soon as the Scout had settled into reality it fired a bolt of lightening from its belly and a drop pod ejected from its hull. Before even the Scout ship's hold had closed, the harsh interaction of real space and the Warp wound their dance once more, and it was gone.

The drop pod and its deadly contents of five Space Marine scouts glided silently to the jungle world of Tanglain with its hardy inhabitants and dangerous unwanted visitors.

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Aegus Din reached out to his wife, Aleila, as the monstrous green creature pulled out its weapon. Din knew what was going to happen but he could do nothing about it. He tried to think how he had landed himself in this position but couldn't understand what he had done wrong. The monster's weapon fired and Aleila's lifeless body slumped to the ground. Din's legs were paralysed, he screamed but no sound came, he reached out but nothing moved. He looked around frantically, tears streaming from his eyes, where was Saif, his son. His eyes lock with Saif's and terror filled the boy's eyes as he was carried off by a metal giant. Din's world fades into black, he knows he is dying.

He lies still, staring into the blackness, blinking to encourage the light to reach his retina. He feels a tear drop down his cheek, he notices that the nose of the battle has subsided, the stench of burning, decay and the sound of screaming has gone. He looks around, still black, but his head no longer in pain. He squints again and can make out a light bulb above him. Above him and above his bed. He realises that he has just woken up from a terrible nightmare, but one so vivid. His memory returns and he looks over his surroundings, he can see the familiar bars, and slit window ten feet up. His prison cell is hot and humid, just like the jungle outside.

It is not the first nightmare of this nature, but this one was different. This one felt real, so real that he had to get out. He decided to pull his escape plan forwards. He didn't know how but if he didn't escape, Din knew that everyone on the planet was in jeopardy. They we not ready for an escape attempt but he didn't care, they were leaving tomorrow.

Twenty four hours later, it was Dawn and steaming rain thumped down the tangled creepers and splashed across oversize leaves. Panting hard, Din splashed through another muddy puddle and under another tree branch. He had not slowed for over an hour, his pace as relentless as the pounding rain. He wanted to rest, he needed to rest, but he dared not for fear of being caught and killed like the other escapee convicts that weren't quite as fast or cunning as he was. Twelve had made the escape attempt, and only three remained alive. The prison guards had no mercy.

He dared to stop for a second and glanced back. He could hear barking, it was distant, but they were certainly still on his trail so he had to find a way to shake them off. Still facing the direction he had come from, he saw the leaves in the middle distance stir. He raised a blade, a home made knife that took 3 months to source the parts for, but it was sharp, and well weighted. He sniffed through the raindrops, his eyes darting from tree to tree, he saw a flash of black through the tree line, and a huge hound pranced from the trees. Din launched the knife immediately, its trajectory already determined, there was nothing he could do but wait. If the knife missed its target, he knew he would be dead in seconds, the Dog was already close.

The dog coiled back on its hind legs, its muscles straining to keep its balance, then, a split second later it howled, it had been struck just above its hind leg and knocked clean over. Din ran over to the wounded animal, scanned the trees but there was no sign of anyone else yet so he clamped its head between his arm and body and recovered the blade, then swiftly slit the dogs throat. Warm blood poured out over his hand, the dogs movement slowed to nothing. It was a quick kill, not how it would have been had the dog landed a successful attack. Din knew that these dogs were not trained to make a clean kill, their trainers believing that those who were hunted did not deserve a merciful death.

Without looking up he shouted to his two remaining companions who had stopped just in front of him,

"keep going, I will catch you" he was only just audible over the pouring rain. He looked at the short squat figure of his little friend he knew as Boxy, and added "you have to run as fast as you can or you will both be caught". Boxy signalled he understood and disappeared into the jungle a few seconds later. Water dripped over Din's hair and down his forehead, he wiped his brow clean with his forearm, smearing blood across his face. He could taste the blood on his lips as he hauled the heavy weight onto his back, turned to his left and took off through the trees. He ran as hard as he could for several minutes, jumping foliage and fallen trees, he was looking for something very specific. After a few minutes of running he could hear more dogs, the chasing pack, and their trainers would not be far behind, they would be on him in 3 minutes.

The foliage was dense so picking up the pace was difficult, but he dared not look behind. The tree line opened up, a small clearing, inside which he found what he was looking for. He looked up, arching his back the whole tree filled his vision, the high canopy hidden by the low rain cloud cover. It was perfect. Din focused on a low foothold, about a metre off the ground and ran for it. After a couple of well placed steps and a well timed leap, he was standing on one of the low branches, well above head height. He had chosen the tree for its height, and he began the long climb to the top with the dog straddled across his shoulders. He knew that the strength of his and the dead dogs scent would overpower that of his companions, so the guards would track him to the base of the tree and then have nowhere to turn, it would take them some time to realise he must have gone up, by which time he would be long gone and the scent washed away.

He reached the top his arms and legs burning, his clothes and body now covered in blood. The canopy was thick, the foliage dense, even if his pursuers made it up this high it could still take them hours to find the body. He stashed the dog in a neat crevice, and turned to survey the scene. As he took some time to soak up the geography of the forest below, he could see a few of the old giants similar to the one he stood upon, all were poking well above the main tree canopy. He felt like he was on top of the world as he tiptoed towards the edge of the thick branch on which he stood, peering down at the main tree canopy 50 metres below. He knew where he was, and he knew where he needed to be. From where he stood he could make out his village, it was the first time he had seen it in nearly a year. He could even make out the roof top of the village hall, which was near his house. Apart from his dreams there was no reason to believe that they weren't, but he dearly hoped that his family were safe. Something inside him drove him on.

He closed the gap to the end of the branch, it was bare, one of the few part of the tree where there was no additional flora clinging for life. His body instinctively resisted the move to the edge unbalancing him and he wavered, his arm quickly extending itself to steady his body. He knew the time had come, he looked over the edge to pick the point to aim at and took a breath. He stepped to the tip of the branch and in one fluid motion launched himself into the air. He knew the free fall to the canopy below was a dangerous move, but necessary to evade the prison guards. His biggest worry however did not lie with the guards, but the strange creatures that might lurk in the trees below. Gravity took hold of Din's body as he plummeted to the ground.

Boxy Nero had been done exactly what Din had told him to do and had run as fast as he could for as long as he could. He was so tired he could hardly see, his vision a blur and he didn't see Alphie stop in front of him. He tripped over Alphie's crouched body and stumbled into a nasty ditch of deep mud. Nero was momentarily stunned and began to sink into the mud. His mind was racing, why wasn't Alphie helping him out as the second passed and he slowly sank. He urged his limbs to move and he managed to regain control. His hand shot out into the mud and he scrabbled to place it somewhere firm, but he failed, as he pushed down to prise his body out his arm just sank deeper into the sticky black mess. He opened his mouth in panic and his mouth started to fill with the mud, his body now almost completely submerged. Alphie was only an arms length away, but he remained stationary, his eyes transfixed dead ahead, unable to avert his gauze.

Something came at Boxy from behind and grabbed hold of his foot. At first it felt like he was being pushed further in but realised that it was tugging on his foot, pulling him out. Nero was slowly dragged out, his heart still pounding he scraped the mud from his face and eyes as best as he could. Din's face came into view, gave a quick wink and disappeared. Boxy lay there still and silent regaining his composure.

During the whole incident Alphie's stare never left the tree line, and Din followed his gaze into the trees but saw nothing. Nero coughed and spluttered, thick drops of mud came up from his throat, he turned onto his knees and wretched, still gasping for breath. As soon as he made a sound Alphie quickly turned and hissed,

"keep quiet, there was something up ahead". His eyes moved once again to the tree line ahead to once again observe the unknown creature that only he could see.

"what is it" Din asked quietly

"I have no idea" replied Alphie "I haven't seen it for a few minutes, but there was definitely something there. Definitely"

Din took the decision to keep moving, he had managed to catch up and he still had a long way to go. He had pulled the tree jumping trick before, it was a game they used to play as kids. They used to jump from trees aiming to land on the huge flat leaves which provided excellent cushions to brake the fall. If you hit the leaf at the right angle it always provided a relatively safe landing, but he had never done it from such a height and he knew he was lucky to be intact. As far as he knew he had successfully shaken off the pursuing guards.

He hadn't seen what Alphie had seen, but something still scared him, something was un-natural about the air. He had been a hunter since he was a child, his father owned a farm and with very few human visitors so Din spent much of his time on hunting trips with his father. He was used to the sounds, the smells and the feel of the forest at all times of the day, night and year but today it all felt different. Today, it stank.

He wondered if his time in prison had affected his senses, but as he considered it a movement to his right caught his eye. He froze, behind him Nero also came to rest. The rain had eased slightly and Nero was still black with mud because the large jungle leaves were shielding them from the worst of the rain. A crack of thunder roared in the distance and for a split second the sky lit up in an explosion of green and white.

Din saw movement again, this time a shape. He could have sworn it was closer, the outline of a shape was moving in their direction. He dropped to his knees and pulled Nero down with him and Alphie followed them down. He didn't recognise what he had seen, for the first time in a long time, a twinge of fear squeezed into the pit of his stomach. The stink came back to him. He tried to tune his ears into their surroundings, but the white noise of the rain took away any sense of direction. He could hear nothing useful.

Nero cowered on the ground next to Din, he didn't now why they had stopped, all he knew was that something was wrong. Din's eyes slowly edged over a fallen tree looking ahead again and finally made it out properly. It was just past the giant Oak, between two saplings about 50 metres ahead. There was a human shape, at first Din thought it was a prison guard, but how did it get ahead of them. After a few seconds he realised that none of the guards were this big, this thing was enormous, each arm must have been as thick as one of his legs. He could see it was clothed scantly, almost primitively, but it did appear to be carrying a weapon, although not a weapon he recognised.

They had to keep moving and was about to move off but risked another glance first. His eyes crept over the bark covering the fallen tree that was hiding them from view, his heart began to pump faster and harder. He re-acquired the creature and as he did so there was another flash of lightning which made Din jump. The creature turned its head, it appeared to look right into Din's eyes, like a rodent caught in the headlights. He immediately ducked down, he didn't know if he had really been seen, it was a long way and he was well camouflaged but he couldn't risk it.

"Its time to go" he said quickly to them both, and motioned for them both to stay low.

"what is it" Alphie asked

"I have no idea" Din didn't mention that it might have spotted them. He moved off and they followed staying as low as possible by crawling along the ground. After they have moved twenty metres Din carefully risked a glance over above the foliage line. The creature had moved on, he didn't dare think where to, and he knew they couldn't stop to find out what it was.

This forest was a dangerous place but he knew the geography of it well, he knew exactly where he wanted to by night fall and the cloudy sky was beginning to darken but they still had a long way to go. After fifteen minutes of slow and low trekking Din had seen or heard no sign of the strange creature, so he picked up the pace. They continued East, Nero and Alphie always trudging behind trying to keep up.

Another fifteen minutes went past and Din's confidence was gaining further, and was letting his guard down. Rather than following tree lines, and keeping low in the foliage he had begun to take risks in order to move faster. This was a mistake. Everything was still and calm ahead when it suddenly came pounding out of the undergrowth, moving faster than any of the escapees could imagine. Alphie was in the lead and he never had a chance. Din heard a disturbance and glanced up to look ahead, all he saw was the glint of metal, then the head of Alphie flying off to the side into the trees, his stiffened body remaining upright, mid stride. It didn't stop its charge and Din was next in line, he had less than a second to react. His hunting instincts took over and instinctively he took an aggressive stance. He could see Alphie's body still standing which distracted him as the creature closed for its second kill. A second later it was on him and Din's little home made knife clashed with its huge knife and although dwarfed by this hideous creature, Din was faster and was able to deflect the full force of the blow with a side step. He rolled to the side in time to see the creature still on its charge towards Nero, who had frozen. Nero was a criminal born and bred, and had fighting instincts running through his blood, but he had been brought up on the streets where guns were the norm. He was lost without his pistol, and stood no chance in close combat against this towering fighting machine. For the first time Din noticed that the creature had green skin, and it was clad in a light leather armour over its chest and stomach but little else. Its bare arms looked as tough as leather and were coated with bright tattoos and battle scars. He had a spit second of de ja vu before reality hit him again, but an element of his brain went off to think about where he had seen this thing before.

To Din it felt like time had slowed, he watched the green skin take another step towards Nero. He felt no real emotion, he considered turning and running right then, leaving Nero to his certain death. He had time to consider all the options, to weigh up the pros and cons of each, and he would have run if he had thought he could survive alone with this creature chasing him down. It was a fighting machine, one big ball of muscle, highly trained in combat and tracking. Having tracked them unseen and unheard for over thirty minutes it had caught Din completely unaware. This creature was a reckonable force, and although Din had never seen anything like it, he thought he could beat it. Especially if he attacked from behind.

Even before his brain had processed the thought his hands knew what to do, and they the finger tips of his right hand had found the hilt of the knife and had balanced it nicely in his grip. Din knew his best chance was, quite literally, to stab this thing in the back, where he had noticed there was very little protective armour. Clearly the fighting force this creature belongs to is used to full frontal attack.

The knife heft his hand a split second later, he had tossed it with all his might. Din didn't even take aim as he usually would, he had no time to, his arm did all that was necessary, and he knew the knife would find its target. It did a split second later. It struck the green skin hard in the back, just where the kidney would be in a human and it sank deeply in.

Din was satisfied with the throw but with the exception of a small flinch, the knife didn't seem to have any affect on the next few steps the creature took and it continued on its trajectory towards Nero. However, it must have been pushed off balance slightly because it didn't strike the inevitable killing blow it had expected to, instead only managing a glancing blow across Nero's chest, and inflicting a deep wound almost severing his right arm. As he made the attack the knife slid out and dropped to the floor.

The green skin's momentum took him past Nero, and now in obvious pain from the deep wound in his back, crashed to the floor into a puddle of blood and water. It rolled, picked itself up, and chose to take a more defensive stance this time. The creature surveyed the scene ahead of it. Water dripped into its eyes that were scanning the immediate vicinity. Nero lay on the floor, his blood running into the forest, no doubt attracting all sorts of un-desirable animals to feed later. His arm was in tatters, with a couple of broken ribs, but he was still alive. The creature reached to the wound in its back, as it scanned for Din, but Din was not to be seen anywhere. Suddenly he came crashing in from the side and leaping onto the creatures back, plunging the knife he had just recovered next to Nero's body deeply into the side of the green skin's un-armoured neck. With his feet no longer touching the ground he had to use all his strength to get the knife through the thick skin, he kept on pushing it in until thick green blood began to spurt out of the wound. As blood covered his hands he jumped down, leaving the knife embedded in its neck.

The creature spun round and its fist swinging round lightning fast striking Din on his arm, the blow was not aimed, more of a reaction to the wound inflicted. The blow was so hard it knocked Din off his feet and nearly broke his arm. The next move from the creature was not a good one. It grabbed the knife and pulled it out of his neck, and doing so ripped more flesh from its neck and the wound tore open along its neck, green blood now pouring from the wound. Removing the blade was a mistake and it didn't live long to regret it.

Din, searing in pain, rolled over to see the green skin grasping its neck in an attempt to stem the flow, it staggered a few steps towards him, and then fell to the ground. He staggered to his feet, his arm aching and lungs wheezing. The creature lay motionless, he kicked the body to check it didn't react. Nothing. He bent down and plucked its huge knife from its cold grip, it was a much better knife than his. He also noticed an ammunition pouch, full of large calibre rounds. He moved on to Nero, who had managed to pull himself to a sitting position, and was leaning against a tree, water dripping on him from the leaves of the tall tree. Din could see he was in pain but there was nothing he could do. Nero was very pale and just sat and stared ahead, he didn't dare to look down at what was left of his arm. Din didn't really care, Nero wasn't part of his plan anymore. He had lost a lot of blood and Din thought he'd be luckily to last the night and didn't want him slowing the pace. He threw down his old knife to Nero,

"look after it" he said "and it will treat you well". He trudged off through the mud, Nero staring after him.

"you can't leave me here" he shouted through the rain,

"If you can keep up, come with me" Din shouted back

"at least help me up" Din ignored this last comment, and approached the area the creature had first appeared. Din followed the green skin's track for a couple of minutes, and found a small clearing, and a stash of equipment, including a rifle. He bent down, picking up the rifle, it was weighty, not design he had come across previously, but looked fairly standard none the less. He slung it over his shoulder, and also picked up a stubby sword in its sheath.

He was intrigued that it had left most of its weapons behind. Had it been tracking the three of them and treated the whole thing as a game, a sport. It clearly did not expect to be killed, attacking only with a hunting knife. Din worried about how many more there were, and what they were doing here. He stood up, covered the equipment stash with foliage, and began to make his way into the jungle. Still heading East, the sky was darker, and soon the light level would be too low to make progress. It was time to find somewhere to sleep for the night before it was dark, but he wanted to get a decent distance away from the battle before settling down for the night, and took off into the jungle at a pace.

Just after Din took off, Nero staggered into the clearing. He was holding his roughly bandaged bloody arm. As he came into the open he saw Din disappearing through the undergrowth, then gone. Nero too had noticed it getting dark, and with his good arm began to scrape a clearing amongst the ground cover, under a couple of large leaves. A wild animal shrieked in the distance, just waking up to begin a night of hunting.

Din travelled for as long as he could, until he could no longer see more than a few feet in front of him. He had stumbled several times, tripping over unseen hazards, and now was the time to seek cover for the night. In his experience, to spend the night on the ground was a brave thing to do, and the echoes of the jungle's inhabitant's carnivores gave credence to this point. He found a suitable tree, and climbed as high as he could, and settled into a V in the tree. As he rested he pulled out a couple of tree roots to nibble on into the night. He felt safe for the moment but couldn't help but wonder what it was he fought just a few minutes earlier. He had heard of strange races in out in the galaxy, but never had he thought his world would be affected. What was this alien, what had sent it, what was it doing here, what did it want and how many more were there?

As he slept he dreamt again, of lots of things, at one point, he dreamt of a space craft coming down from the sky in a clamour of activity and eruption of fire, but when he opened his eyes there was nothing. He drifted back off, disturbed only by the manic night life of the forest below and thoughts of the following day. Then he woke. In his whole life he had never been so scared. Din remembered where he had previously seen the creature he had just fought. It had been in his dream. This was the creature that had killed his wife.

Half a galaxy away in a protected cell was the Beta class psyker Jasper Van Dank. He was deep underground in the Vindicare Assassin's Temple secretly housed on Terra. Even he didn't know his location, but in any event, his mind was elsewhere. It was, as always, racing through time and space, scurrying down information avenues and mining for data through the perils of the Warp. Amazingly he had been born on Terra, on the doorstep of the Imperium of Man, and even now was only thirty five years old. When he was just ten years old he was discovered by the inquisition and taught to control his powers. Since then he has perpetually worked for the Officio Assassinorum tracking down potential recruits from across the galaxy. He had become almost albino during his length of his service, his skin pigment faded to near white as he had not seen the light of the sun for nearly twenty years.

He rarely moved and today was no exception, he lay still, his sullen eyes staring up into the grey ceiling, unfocused, occasionally twitching. He rarely ate, and a wash was even more unusual, thus his skin was flaking and rancid in places. In may ways he was a rotting corpse only kept alive through drugs, and tubes taking food to him and waste away. As the Temple's most powerful psyker, this lifestyle suited them well, this way they could keep him under close their.

His mind was exploring the space around Segmentum Obscurus sector of the Galaxy and something drew him to an unknown planetary system called Tanglain. Except for a brief distraction by the Nigrum Centrum, as his mind drew closer to the planet his power became intensely focused on a single point, he no longer saw the grey ceiling three metres above his head, but he saw another world, and he saw it through the eyes of a human on the mysterious planet. The mind was a powerful one, but also one that could be influenced, could be manipulated. He probed further, it was worried about something and it could see a terrible fate closing in, darkness lay ahead and the mind's owner was desperate. Jasper had never been so interested in an individual, he hated being drawn so intimately close to another human being, but he could do nothing about it. Was it the warp forces affecting his judgement. He didn't think so, he knew his limits and he wasn't close to them yet.

He closed his eyes and was consumed by this mind, his body suddenly shuddered, almost leaping off the table, his eyes opened, with a renewed brightness, an intensity of colour that they hadn't had since the beginning of his indoctrination by the Temple. The future was now less certain than it had been at the start of the day, everything had just changed, his outlook, his fate and potentially the fate of the galaxy. He blinked twice, he sat up, his body ached, everything was sore, although this was mostly because he hadn't washed and his body was physically breaking down around him. He pulled off the medical equipment, blood seeping out of the new wounds, but he staggered to the door in his bare feet, he was desperate to see the sunlight one last time. He was not a prisoner, nor a slave, and as a Beta class psyker had free reign on most of the temple so he found a lift to take him to ground level, 105 floors above.

The lift door opened and with arms stretched in front he found his way outside and a soft patch of grass. There he lay, soaking up the sun, it may be the last time he saw it again. A security officer saw him, he looked so pale, almost a living skeleton, the guard had never seen anything like it and called for medial assistance. As the medic approached, he muttered barely audible sentence. He repeated it, then again, and again. The medic listened intently, and could barely make out the words "must see the Director Primus. Our I have seen our future. I have seen our prophecy play out. Director must get to the planet Tanglain". The message reached the Director, Lord Jedwist, within minutes, who rushed down to be by the side of Jasper Van Dank.

When the Director arrived Jasper's body to shuddering and succumbing to the Psychic forces it was being subjected to. In his final torturous moment, there was a whispered conversation between the two men, both eternally different, but each a powerhouse in his own way. As Jasper died, the Director reached out and touched his finger tips. He felt what Jasper had been feeling, only at one thousandth of the intensity. He smiled for the first time in a decade, and picking up Jasper's cold, pale and rancid body, he carried it out to the green fields beyond the gates of the temple. He knew that is what Jasper had wanted. As he returned, he called his office,

"Cancel everything" he spoke into his comm unit "Prepare my ship to visit Tanglain. There is somebody I need to pick up and bring back for training. Tell the inquisition I am on my way, I fear they may have an agent on the ground already. I don't want to have to hold them responsible for irreparable damage".


	2. Vindicare Emerging Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

On the far side of the planet, a small interstellar interceptor approached Tanglain. It was fast, well armoured and heavily armed, the sort commonly used by pirates, bounty hunters and traders who lived on the edge of civilisation. Rusty was visiting Tanglain to trade one of the oldest commodities known to man, weapons. Although as his ship approached the outer atmosphere, weapons weren't on his mind at all.

Instead he was focused on not spilling any single malt whiskey as he poured his fifth glass since dropping out of the Warp three hours earlier. He dropped two cubes of ice into the crystal glass, soaked up the aroma while his eyes enjoyed a dazzling display which he observed through the starboard portal. He had been on final approach to more planets than he cared to remember, but never one so close to the Nigrum Centrum, the infamous cluster of three Black Holes which the whole Tanglain system somehow orbits in a stable pattern.

As soon as he had emerged from the Warp and before he had started drinking, Rusty had set the ship to stealth mode where its highly absorbing materials allowed almost no signal to reflect from its surface. This rendered it practically invisible to all but the most sophisticated sensor systems possessed by the Imperium. He knew that if he was seen on approach it would complicate things even further.

The ship's computer came alive and announced their imminent de-acceleration. Rusty was surprised they had reached this point so soon, he glanced down at his watch. He had to steady his vision for a few seconds before the dial came into focus.

"Dam ship's right again he thought to himself" as he staggered over to the acceleration couch. The ship pitched in with another warning,

"Two minutes, warning, please..." although the de-acceleration had already begun. His muscles fought hard against the rising G-Forces as he slammed his hand down onto the mute button on the console just before he struggled into the seat and pulled the straps tight. Moments later the sleek ship struck the rim of the atmosphere and the buffeting began. The ship's sensors kept a close watch on him, as the complex energy fields absorbed the majority of the de-acceleration, but Rusty's eyes still blurred beyond the fuzziness that the alcohol had brought about and his stomach still tumbled. He closed his eyes and put up with the pain of the re entry.

He got drunk for it because he hated it so much but the ship took it very well. One minute later they were through the worst of it and the ship had taken the opportunity to deploy a pair of stubby wings which would allow it to efficiently glide to its designated landing position. Rusty unbuckled his straps and surged out of the seat. For the first time in over a week he enjoyed the pull on his feet of real gravity. Even for the most adventurous space traveller there was nothing quite like the feeling of an actual planet pulling at your feet and Rusty was no exception. A flash of green passed by the portal and he realised they were below the cloud line, so he took in the view and pulled himself to the pilots seat. The jungle was vast, stretching as far as he could see even at his high altitude. He couldn't see his exact landing site ahead, but he knew roughly where his rendezvous would be because he could see a trail of smoke from a burning settlement ahead. There is only one species that would have inflicted that level of damage on a planet so quickly, and he was planning to visit their leader.

Rusty punched some commands into the console and the ship dropped down low, and although it had shed some considerable speed it was still skimming the tree tops at more than ten thousand kilometres per hour. This was well outside acceptable Imperium practice, but he considered that his cause was worth the considerable sonic boom shock wave he was leaving in his trail would be inflicting considerable panic and confusion amongst many of the local inhabitants. He had to get out of the air quickly. He also thought it was unlikely the authorities from Tanglain would ever catch up with him, the whole point of flying fast and low was that he wouldn't even be picked up on any systems, and according to his ship's defensive systems the strategy was working so far.

The ship was still flying itself so rusty took the opportunity to close down a number of the non essential systems and keyed a number of commands, some he had to input twice as the alcohol still hadn't passed completely through his system. He was hoping not to be bringing any visitors back to the ship, but if he did it would need to feel authentic.

He realised he was still fumbling due to the drink and pulled open a medical kit, extracted a jar of pills and threw two into his mouth. He winced as they went down his dry neck knowing he would get heartburn later and opened comms with the ship,

"okay give me manual" he muttered, surprised at how sober he already sounded. A panel slid out from the polished black centre console and the yoke slid into his left hand while the throttle into his right as he felt the rudder at his feet. The thin trail of smoke was right underneath his position now, and he had slowed to a gentle hover at no more than twenty metres above the ground. He knew there was nobody in the village. He quickly studied the terrain and found a spot to land in a small clearing.

The twenty metre long ship was down in seconds, he might have hated re entry but he loved the thrill of a manual landing. He was one of the few pilots who could land a ship more quickly, and with leas chance of an incident, than a computer.

He pulled a scrap of paper from his jacket pocket, and dialled a number into his comms system, at the same time flicking on his translator. A deep Orkish voice boomed over the internal speakers,

"who is this" the translator had done well to decode the dialect, he knew from experience that this Ork had a strong accent.

"It is me. I am down" he replied with confidence. There was no response so he continued "I have what you need, where can I find you?

The Ork came back with the information he required, so Rusty gathered up his rucksack, pistol, hunting knife and rifle and made for the tail ramp of the ship. He paused to collect his thoughts and made a mental list of things that he must accomplish today, and at the top was to make the weapons trade without getting killed. He had dealt with Orks previously and he never liked the untrustworthy race he knew this was a particularly savage clan any didn't care to have anything to do with them, but he had no choice here. They were the buyers and he was the seller. A bead of sweat ran down his head as he stepped into the unknown.

The air hissed as the tail ramp slid open and ship pressurised with the local atmosphere. The took a stride forwards, and the heat hit him like a blow to the head and it stopped him in his tracks. He looked up and although he was in a clearing he could see the canopy looming overhead. Beyond that the clouds were closing in, he could feel the pressure building, it was already hot and humid and it was going to get very wet.

"at least that will take the edge off the heat" he said out loud to himself as he moved down the ramp once again.

He knew the Orks would come to find him, but no sooner than his feet had touched the soil, he heard the rumble of engines. He felt the urge to take refuge, to get out of the clearing and hide, but it was he who had contacted them all those months ago. It was he who had detected the anomalies in the warp and they had agreed to do business. He had what they needed and he wanted what they had. He stood his ground.

Three vehicles erupted into the clearing and came to a halt at the tail of his ship. Rusty could speak a little Orkish and those riding the trikes could speak none of his language, so the introductions were brief and to Rusty it felt like only a few seconds passed before he was once again speeding across the planet, only this time he was under the canopy rather than over it, and that for the next few hours he knew his destiny was no longer in his own hands.

Rusty took in every second of his journey. He had swallowed a tracking device before he left which would guide him back to his ship if required, but he also liked to keep a visual reference of progress. He could smell the Ork settlement before he could see it. From a distance it reeked like musty swamp water, which intensified as he neared the camp into rotting flesh.

Rusty noticed a wooden hut, which he knew was an Ork guard hut which would be replicated many times to make up a perimeter around the camp. Although it looked basic, the gear inside was nothing but basic, he knew the Orks had a comprehensive array of sensor and weapons systems. Enough to easily keep the locals at bay, and probably enough to hold off a planetary imperial invasion force. He wondered if it would be enough to withstand a Space Marine invasion, given what these Orks were up to, it wouldn't surprise him if a Chapter had already been called for support.

The Orks had hacked a clearing in the jungle and dropped four large containers connected up into a hollow square, like an ancient medieval castle from Terra. A natural path has formed that leads to the largest container, and the trikes follow the path to the door. The machine that Rusty is riding on shudders as it skids to a halt and the rider swings his head round and grunts at Rusty, then climbs off and steps inside the door. It is evidently time to get off. His heart is pounding, but if he shows weakness he will be crushed.

He jumps from the trike, glances around, and without a care steps inside the open door. Just inside he notices the walls are lined with skulls from various creatures, including he, some human. He follows the lead Ork just a few more paces and the corridor opens out into a sprawling room, possibly the Ork control centre. If there had ever been any order to this place it had been lost long ago as Rusty heard orders being barked into microphones, maps being plotted and Orks everywhere. His companion skirted around the edge of the room, it was obvious that they did not consider Rusty as an espionage threat, or they would have blind folded him, or have their leader meet him somewhere a little less sensitive. He attracted a few stares and strange comments, but they were quickly through and back into a narrow corridor with black walls. Next he became disoriented as they moved along a number of interconnecting corridors and then up a flight of steps, and finally into to a large and very ornate and ancient looking door.

Rusty could hear voices inside, heated voices, their argument was flowing like an avalanche down a mountain, he could see it would end in disaster. He pricked his ears up as any information on the Orks current activities would assist negotiation. He only heard a few sentences, but the voices were discussing an old stone artefact that had been lost in a recent struggle. The voice with the slightly higher pitch sounded extremely agitated. The Ork from the trike who had led Rusty through the building looked at the guard who stood at the door, to ask for direction on whether to enter or not. It gave no clue, so the Ork from the trike took a breath and knocked loudly. The discussion inside the room came to an abrupt halt. There was a pause of a few seconds, then a sharp response came back. The Ork quickly entered and hovered in the doorway as it exchanged agitated words with its boss. The boss was not best pleased to be disturbed. Rusty turned to begin the maze to get back to his ship but the Ork guard put his hand on Rusty's shoulder and beckoned him into the room.

He stepped inside the dark chamber which was surprisingly small given the size of the grand door. The first thing that Rusty noticed was that the room was far tidier than any other part of the Ork camp but the stench had come back, and stronger than ever. Rusty once again picked up the odour of dead bodies and rotting flesh, and although the Ork guide seemed not to notice. When Rusty attempted to close his nostrils and breathe through his mouth he could taste the smell. The second thing to notice was that there didn't seem to be enough people in the room. He had clearly heard the Ork leader arguing only ten seconds earlier but with who? Apart from the guards, nobody else was to be seen, with no other obvious doors into the camber. The third thing was the size of the Ork leader. It was the most massive Ork he had ever seen, who dwarfed all the others he had seen that day, and he knew that it was already in a bad mood. Its head was almost the size of Rusty's torso, and it had yellow and black fangs that protruded out of its mouth, with a huge stud through its nose. Its green, almost black skin, was thick with decoration and tattoos, and where not decorated, it was deeply scarred and pitted. This thing had seen a few wars and lived to tell the tale, Rusty knew that he wouldn't like to face it during battle. It was clothed in loose robes, overlaid with a few plates of battle armour around its chest and upper arms. Rusty thought it a strange combination, and where he could see spare skin it was clearly obese, with rolls of spare skin folded under its robes. This obese sight combined with the pungent smell made him wretch, but he forced himself to proceed into the room.

He stopped a few feet away and looked at the giant Ork, he held out his hand as a greeting, he was here to do business after all and wanted to start on a sound footing. A bead of sweat came off the Ork's hairless head and rolled down its face, Rusty studied the bead as it dropped tracking it through the cracks and crevices in its thick skinned face. It still looked angry, even slightly disappointed, but to his surprise the Ork took Rusty's hand and shook it, recognising the Human greeting. Slightly taken aback Rusty started the exchange

"I have brought you a gift" he said, in English, "as a token of my goodwill". He had no idea if the Ork understood, and he unzipped his outer coat to get the present. The Ork leader's bodyguard immediately trained his bolter rifle onto Rusty who froze, but the leader put his hand out to the guard, who withdrew. Rusty looked again at the leader to confirm he could proceed. The Ork nodded. He pulled from his coat a Wieselcat fang that had been strung onto a necklace. As it unwound and the Orks could clearly see what it was, Rusty realised that the Ork's neck might be too large, but it was too late now. He held it up to the scant light in the room and the fang glinted. This was a prized possession within Ork communities as the Wieselcat is a rare but very savage hunter, and it combined psychic ability with its lightning speed to become one of the most effective hunters in the known universe. The Ork looked at Rusty with renewed respect, and took the fang graciously. It spoke,

"I'z Wazgul Zogdreg, da leader of da Dooaz clanz". The words were spoken with a deep voice and in an unusual dialect, but the language was English. At that moment, the flicker of a bond sparked into being, and they both knew it, although neither could imagine how they where it would take them.

It was at that moment that Rusty detected the slightest movement in the shadowed corner. He took a small step to the side to allow him to see around the huge Ork leader, he saw nothing at first, but then there was a glint, probably metallic and a shot of nervous energy fired through his body like a bolt of lightning.

He flashed his eyes back to the Ork leader who had seen Rusty move, and the Ork immediately grunted to his guards who promptly left the room. He suddenly felt even more exposed, every sense he had and every muscle in his body was on overdrive, his heart rapidly beating to pump his blood though his veins to keep up. The Ork leader now turned to whatever was in the shadows and made a signal. Rusty had already spotted a good place for cover should he need any, although didn't fancy his chances. The seconds ticked past, nothing happened, nothing moved. The Ork signalled again and this time spoke a few words of Orkish, Rusty didn't understand what they were, but he knew the leader had just charged the air with even more energy.

Another monster stepped forward out of the shadow. There were a few things Rusty had expected to be hiding there, but had never expected this. He tensed, and prepared to reach for his hidden pistol.

Except for its helmet, this monster was fully clad in a full suit of space marine power armour. Or at least, it had once been a suit of power armour, as it was surely the most ancient suit of armour that Rusty had ever seen and now bore little resemblance to a suit used by a Space Marine of the Imperium. The smell suddenly intensified as it moved towards Rusty, as the giant within the metal shell de-activated its cloaking shield. The armour was mostly jet black and crawling with living and dead bugs as well as creatures that appeared to shift in and out of real space. Creatures that usually lived in the warp and only came to this universe to feed. Wazgul had also noticed the intense smell, and Rusty noticed the sweat on its brow thickening and its skin colour turning to a darker shade.

The Nurgle Chaos Space Marine stopped a few paces away, it was shorter than Wazgul but still well over two feet taller than Rusty, who looked into the Chaos Marine's soulless white eyes with interest. It shook its head and turned to Wazgul,

"We don't need anything from a pitiful human fool", its translator had heard Rusty speak and automatically broadcast in English and Orkish. The Marine flicked another glance at Rusty who took a step back thinking he was about to be attacked. It smiled as he detected Rusty's fear, revealing black teeth as a bug crawled from its mouth and it sniffed the air and suddenly stopped moving. It sniffed again, this time taking in an even more powerful lungful of air. Rusty wondered if it had suddenly realised how bad it smelt, but then the creature quickly closed in to Rusty who took another step back in shock,

"have you been with a Slaanesh" it asked, tilting its head, black eyes drilling into Rusty's. A long finger reached down and poked him in the chest. "tell me?" it asked. Rusty stood his ground, didn't flinch and stared back into the eyes of the Marine.

"never" he replied just in time before he got lost in its gaze. His words strong, his heart racing, silence followed. Then Wazgul cut in,

"we need da force weaponz" he said in no uncertain terms "dis guyz iz daonly one we haz foundz" the Marine simply shrugged so Wazgul continued "Oo knowz what we need and weez are only a few dayz away from getting da Runez. Ifs you sayz you get me the power and weaponz wez need to contain the Runez tommoroz den I'll kill him now". There was a pause, Rusty's heart stopped beating as the silence continued, but then Wazgul added "but rememberz dat if youz lie I will kill you and anybody your puny chapter sends down to replace you". The Marine stayed silent, pushed Rusty to the side and made for the door.

"he better deliver what we need or I will kill you both" he shouted behind him as he slithered out of the room with his bugs. The door slammed closed as he left the room.

The deal was then completed quickly, Rusty already knew he would get a good price but didn't push too hard. When they concluded the deal he asked,

"who was that" indicating at the door. Wazgul shrugged the comment away, and Rusty dropped it. He would find out eventually what that Nurgle Chaos Marine was up to.

"you must leave us now" said Wazgul "we've work to do, wezz located the Four Rune bu der is local 'uman village right on top. We gotta clear out da people, my boyz ar ready now and weez gotta go". Rusty had no further need to be there so he made his way to leave.

He walked away from the meeting with a half a million dollar deal completed and he was to provide a small number of high power and high energy weapons, power orbs and replicators. The orbs were able to provide a sustainable high power source of energy that can be routed into any system. He walked out of the room with half the money in cash and would collect the rest upon delivery.

As he rode on the tail of the trike that was giving him a lift back to his ship he pulled out his personal comms unit and tapped a few simple commands. The system sent an encrypted message to his ship which re-encrypted the message and relayed it to a beacon he had left in space near to his Warp entry point. The beacon then spun up and jumped itself into the Warp. It was gone within seconds of Rusty's command authorisation. A confirmation message came back to his comms unit and with satisfaction he tucked it back into his belt. He knew the beacon would find the weapons cashe that he had left hidden in the Warp, and it would be with him within 48 hours.

The Ork trike rider dropped him off close to his ship and he walked across the clearing to the ramp that was lowering as he approached. He felt exhausted. It had only been two hours since he had touched down but he was mentally fatigued. A light was flashing in his cockpit, it was the ship comms unit. He took to the pilots seat and asked the ship to play messages. "you have two messages" replied the soft voice of the ship, "first message, source unknown...", then a few seconds later a new voice crackled through the speakers,

"We tra...ked yo... down and ... you tou...d down safe.." the voice was heavily distorted but Rusty could make out most words "re..orts show the Orks are g...tting closer ... their goal. ... will have your pr..ze with... th.. week". His ears had had enough, he hit pause leaned forwards and allowed his fingers to dance over the control panel, instructing the ship to clean up the message by using software to predict and insert missing dialogue, he played from the start again and the computerised voice read "reports show the Orks are getting closer to their goal, you will have your prize within the week. We detected Nurgle Chaos presence, Brotherhood of Darkness are on the ground". So that was where the Chaos Marines he had just seen had come from Rusty thought to himself "The Marine may be useful to us, but will need to be eliminated when we have what we came for. Dogs of War had a scout team on the ground. Might still be there. Look out for them. Kill them if you find them."

There was a pause, there was a muffled voice in the background. Rusty waited, he hadn't known there had been Space Marines on the planet, the main problem with living in the Warp for extended periods was lack of up to date information. The voice continued. "you need to watch for another Imperium assassin. I can see another crossing your path, soon, the outcome may be grave for you." The voice went dead, the transmission had ended, which the ship promptly confirmed.

"source unknown but I have located the origin of the transmission: eye of terror" the ship added. He already knew who had sent the message, and he mulled over what he had heard and made a mental note to increase the sensor web that was surrounding the ship.

The ship detected Rusty was thinking and gave him a few seconds then asked if he wanted the next message,

"who is it" he asked

"its from the Imperial Inquisition" replied the ship. "it is Inquisitor Grischio" Rusty sighed,

"okay play it" he said

This time a holo image formed and hovered in the air just under the transparent front screen of the ship. It came into crystal focus and Rusty immediately recognised the miniature version of his tall boss, Inquisitor Grischio of the Imperial Inquisition. The inquisitor was unusually dressed in battle armour, and it looked very much like the armour had been in active use very recently. Grischio smiled wearily,

"we have much to catch up on" he said "call back when you can. Its important you call soon".

Rusty rocked back on his chair, the image froze and then faded to thin air. The ship asked

"send reply?" it asked.

"No" replied Rusty, I have other more important things to do right now". He reached behind him and pulled out a large glass and his whiskey bottle.


	3. Vindicare Emerging Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Orks stink at the best of times, but the stench of a dead Ork is one of the few things that can divert a trained warrior's senses. Sergeant Sa'jon lowered the ornate blade of his power sword to the dead body of the Ork. It had been badly mauled in the night from the local four legged inhabitants and it already stank. The tattoo markings on its upper arm were as bright as any he had seen, clearly indicating it was from the powerful Dooaz clan. His free hand slipped down into one of many pouches, and he pulled out a small camera, and took a couple of pictures, which were immediately uploaded to his Orbiter via the encrypted data-link.

The small scouting party led by Sa'jon had very scant information about a hostile force and had been dropped onto this small backwater planet on a recon mission. They had been on the ground only four hours but had already seen significant evidence of an Ork raiding party, although he had no idea why they would be interested in this hot green boring planet. This body however was the first evidence of any retaliation to the raiders, proving that somebody on this planet had fighting instincts, although it looked like a fairly scrappy fight and the winner had only just managed the victory by luck more than judgement.

"Let's get on" he said quietly to his small squad of Space Marine Scouts, his voice stern. He felt hot in the confined climate of the forest, everything was damp with a musty feel surrounding the undergrowth. His weathered face reflected his discomfort as he thought back to better days. He had already pulled a headless human body out of a ditch and now the dead Ork. He could smell trouble was to come.

The team moved off, leaving the Ork to decay, no doubt the body would no longer exist by the following morning. Scout Dicks led the team away from the body following a fresh track. Though Dicks was equipped with both visual and sonic tracking equipment he was one of the most experienced trackers in the Dogs of War Chapter and had all equipment turned off because this was not a difficult task. Whoever had made this track had made no effort to conceal their movements, and it was also clear to Dicks that it was the same person making this track that had made the path away from the first body they had found.

What they found after just a few minutes was not what they expected. They came across a small equipment stash, most of it of Ork origin, but some other equipment types also in the heap, probably stolen by the Ork after a looting raid. More interestingly there were numerous trails of blood, all leading away from the base of a tree.

"over here" shouted Horne, the most inexperienced Scout, who had located a third body. He didn't understand why all the humans were wearing what appeared to be prisoner uniforms, and he bent down to inspect what he had found. It was still warm and it moved as he touched it. The man was not dead. Horne rolled the body over, and the sleep face of Boxy Nero greeted him, slowly slipping back into consciousness. Horne immediately saw the body had been ravaged, with wounds from a sharp weapon and from what looked like animal attacks, probably local wild dogs and oversized rodents.

"it looks like the remaining survivor went that way" Dicks said, pointing West as he approached Boxy Nero.

"this one looks like the Ork had a good go at him, then the animals during the night" Horne replied "but he's a convict, probably escaped. What do you want to do Sarge"

Sa'jon stood over the scene, surveying the canopy. His experience told him that he should ignore the local inhabitants, they were not his immediate concern but something played on his mind. Unusually, his gut instinct and his experience were telling him different things.

"what are these dammed Orks doing here" he commented "and what were these 3 idiot prisoners doing. Is it just bad luck they came across the Ork camp?" He thought for a moment more. "Horne, stay with him, keep him alive. We are going to find the other one and will bring him here. Switch to extract plan Delta. Something is wrong here, we have enough intel now to get back and bring down our battle brothers and remove this curse from the planet".

Without a moment's delay the squad moved off silently and Horne reached up to his helmet connectors as he knelt down. The leads hissed as the pressure equalised between his controlled environment and the outside world, removing his helmet he hooked it to his belt and began to treat Nero's wounds.

After ten minutes of tracking Dicks stopped and pointed upwards. Sa'jon wasn't wearing a helmet, but his earpiece clicked to life,

"He slept there last night" said Dicks whose eyes flicked between the trees "he is not far away. He has the Ork weapon". His confidence in his ability was absolute.

"go easy then boys, formation attack three please" Sa'jon replied. He didn't want a local fool stupidly tearing up any of his men. He already disliked the man who had left his comrade for dead in a jungle infested with killer animals. The men spread out and spent the next twenty minutes tracking at pace, Scout Dicks knew they were catching their target and was happy with progress. The Scouts' ability to make rapid progress through the jungle was astounding, especially when it was in complete silence with almost no trail left behind or sound underfoot. Dicks stopped, the others copying his move. He held out three fingers to the team, who understood the signal and without a sound Scouts Mullrack and Vidor disappeared in to the undergrowth while Sa'jon and Dicks took a defensive stance, ten metres apart and behind cover. All that could be heard for the next two minutes was the sound of the jungle with birds tweeting, trees swaying and the distant sounds of wild animals going about their daily rituals. Sa'jon hated the waiting.

Then a single shot ran out, Sa'jon knew the distinctive sound, it had come from the Ork's bolter. Sa'jon and Dicks, both remained behind their cover, motionless. A few seconds later Din burst through the undergrowth, his weapon gone, but it didn't matter because he was in no fit state to use it. He was red in the face, his eyes focused on nothing but escape. As calculated, his path would take him right into Dicks who had now had taken an attack stance. As soon as Din looked up to see where he was going, all he saw was the tough figure of Dicks straight ahead of him, and immediately he changed direction, taking him straight to Sa'jon. Just as expected. This time Din failed to look up, he could not take his eyes off his next step for fear of falling in the difficult undergrowth and ran straight into Sa'jon's plate armour, bouncing off and hitting the ground with a hard thud. He was instantly knocked out cold.

The day had moved on from the cooler crisp air above the tree canopy, and now the sun shone down intensely. A green sheen came from the upper layers of the tree canopy, the water particles that had formed droplets in the night now breaking up, and Dicks and Mullrack emerged from the dense humid jungle. They took up position on the perimeter of their tactical quarter. Dicks had slung Din's rifle over his shoulder. Sa'jon spoke to his team through his intercom,

"I can't believe he got off a shot, what did you do, trample through the jungle calling out for him". Mullrack and Vidor knew he wasn't happy, those shots would have certainly alerted the Ork camp. They were stupid creatures, but even the Ork's would have set up listening posts in new territory. They didn't answer, knowing Sa'jon didn't want an answer. What he wanted was to get off this planet, and to do that he had to get back to his dropship.

The 5 man scout had been dropped onto Tanglain, officially known as 79/06, the previous night. The name had been given because it was the 6th planet that was planned to be brought into Imperium compliance for the 79thExpeditionary force. The 79th was made up from elements including an Imperial Guard Regiment from the Planet Torus, Titans from Adeptus Titanicus, but is always spearheaded by Space Marines from the Chapter, Dogs of War, the LIX Chapter formed under the Emperor. This was a relatively new Chapter, certainly compared to those legendary chapters such as the Ultramarines, Lunar Wolves and Blood Angels, but they were no less dedicated or skilled.

Sa'jon and his small team had been pre-deployed to this World, a possible target for Imperial compliance, to investigate the World further. As soon as their Ship, the Rogginus, had come out of Hyperspace and settled into Orbit, they had picked up signs of a small, Ork task force, which was an unexpected and particularly inconvenient for their mission.

The Scouts had concluded most of their investigations for this region, a report already with the force Commander, but Scout's withdrawal had been delayed until they had gathered suitable intelligence on the Ork force; Destroying it if possible.

"what's the verdict" Sa'jon asked Dicks, who had been his second in command for three years and countless missions. Sa'jon was worried that the shot had alerted the Orks to their presences,

"couple of bikes, 5 minutes maximum" replied Dicks immediately.

"as I thought" said Sa'jon " probably with a wagon on their tail". Sa'jon dragged Din up to his feet, slipped his knife out of a hidden sheath at his side, he tested the blade on the fallen tree he stood next to and a fine sliver was neatly sliced off. He looked back to Din, who was just coming round. Sa'jon prodded him in the chest to accelerate the process.

"you are not a good man, it would appear you left your comrade to die last night. I don't like cowards, and I don't like traitors" he looked down at Din's prison uniform "I am tempted to kill you where you stand". Din's eyes slowly came into focus, he had never seen such a huge man. He could hear words, but none of them registered, he didn't know if the giant was with the green Orks or part of another monstrous tribe. For the first time in his life, his lips trembled, he had woken up in a nightmare, he couldn't escape these creatures. He tried to move, to edge backwards, but couldn't, he was restrained. Then more words came from the colossal man "but you can provide us with useful information, and I want to know who you are, who you were with, what you are doing here, and what do you know about those Orks!" He realised he understood, the man was speaking his language. He turned his head, and could see more of them, although none were quite as huge as the one speaking. The giant looked to his comrade and said,

"Dicks, do you have any revision to that timeframe for the arrival for Orks", and Din could see Dicks shake his head in response. "Okay, now, we need to get ourselves to safety or we will all die here in this forsaken place". Sa'jon gripped Din's neck and pulled him to his feet with one arm, as he did so he realised that Din had understood none of his previous speech,

"My name is Sergeant Sa'jon and because of your stupidity with the Bolter just now we are expecting a couple of Ork bikes with heavy weapons to bust through that jungle any minute. After that will come a fully laden Battle Wagon wanting our blood. What is your name?" Din was silent, still stunned. Sa'jon gripped his neck again, tighter this time, Din thought his neck was going to snap from the sheer force of the grip but Sa'jon appeared to put in no effort at all. Sa'jon pushed Din away "your name?" he asked again, who replied

"Aegus Din"

"well Aegus the four of us are the point of the spear attack front the Dogs of War Space Marines will be launching within 24 hours." Din had never seen a Space Marine before, he had heard the myths, but never believed them "our main force will clear the blight of the Orks for good. But first we need to clear out. Follow that Scout, you are coming with us before you give away our position again and you can be assured that when I have finished with you I'll either turn you into the authorities or slit your throat".

Although shocked by everything he had heard, Space Marines, on Tanglain, what would they want here? He had already started to formulate his escape. The reason for his escape from prison had not been forgotten and as far as he was concerned this was a temporary blip in his plans. He thought back, he had no idea how these brutes had caught him totally unaware, he remembered dropping his weapon as he was grabbed from behind by one of them, and it had discharged as it hit the ground. Then his memory went blank.

"Dicks, you are point, Mullrack, take the rear – you know the drill." Sa'jon was talking to his team again, the team spread out as Dicks vanished into the jungle.

"where are you taking me" asked Din, self preservation always at the forefront of his mind. He was considering how he could make a run for it but thought it unlikely to be successful, so instead he changed tactic and said,

"if you want somewhere to hide I know this place like the back of my hand". He was still dreary from the knock out, but his mind was coming back,

"you shut up" Sa'jon snapped back, he was moving off

"well if you are going to get us all killed, I'd rather you did it without me." He said, as he turned to leave, he had already had enough of taking orders.

"you stay right there" Sa'jon responded, and didn't give Din a second chance as he fired a silenced shot from his bolt pistol which caught the outside of the left arm of Din's overalls. The white hot bullet burning his skin as it brushed past his skin.

"you are coming with me or the next one will go between your eyes". Shouted Sa'jon but Din continued walking.

"I'm going where I know will be safe" Din said "and if you want to shoot me, fine, shoot me, but if you want live through this, and if you want to find out what I know, you had better let me either lead you there, or let me go".

"how are you getting on Dicks" he quietly asked into his intercom to the lead tracker,

"more of the same" he replied "not much cover, just the trees. We could set an ambush, but once the trap has been released we would be sitting targets up there if the Orks have infrared". Sa'jon was torn, but he didn't have time to consider it.

"dam it" said Sa'jon. "take us to this place" he ordered Din. "how far is it"

"less than 5 minutes if we move fast" and with that Din disappeared off into the Jungle. Sa'jon's mood was getting worse. First the high humidity, then the poor execution of the ambush to capture Din and now he was following his own captive. His temper was rising.

"Fall in with me squad" he communicated to his team, then he switched frequency to contact Horne "Horne, you need to find cover, we are expecting an Ork scouting party at our position any minute, and you are between us and them"

"copy that" was the immediate response, which was all the Sergeant needed. He took off in pursuit of Din, who was making exceptional progress through the Jungle, and although he wasn't laden with the same weight of kit that the Scouts were, he clearly knew how to move through this territory.

Din tried his hardest to loose the trail of the Scouts and after three minutes of running he knew he was close to his hideout and Sa'jon's team was nowhere to be seen. He stopped for a moment and glanced back, nobody behind. He smiled to himself, they weren't as good as they thought they were, arrogant bastards. As he stopped the world came in around him, his senses sharpened up and it all went quiet. He could hear everything and in the distance there was the rumble of engines. The Orks were closing fast. The hide was in a small clearing just a few seconds away, he was free.

"There a couple of minutes away, let's find that cover" Sa'jon said as he emerged from the undergrowth, fully aware but un-phased by the immediacy of the threat. Din hadn't realised just fit they were and how skilful they were at tracking. Then the other 3 appeared in quick succession. Sa'jon's looked to where he had come from, as he did so he mopped his brow which was sticky with sweat, his combat blade glinting in the light.

"Its there" Din replied. He was also slightly out of breath but not sweating as hard as the Sergeant. He darted into a dense patch of Jungle, where he lifted some foliage and slipped underneath. Sa'jon followed Din down, combat knife drawn. Underneath was a makeshift stair case which dropped down into a bunker approximately 3 metres square. Sa'jon indicated for his men to follow, the drone of the Ork war bikes getting closer

Three scouts dropped in quickly. For the past hundred metres Mullrack had been covering their tracks so they could not be followed, and was further behind. Orks didn't have much finesse but they did know how to win battles, and their Mekboyz knew how to build great kit using nothing but junk. Din still couldn't see Mullrack but it sounded like the war bikes were right on top of them. A few seconds later Mullrack dove head first into the hideout, tumbling in as the first Ork bike ripped a hole nearest bush and came to a halt in their small clearing Din and the Scout team had vacated just a few moments ago. There was a single Ork rider, his clothes in tatters, some blood seeping from wounds on his exposed arms. The journey had clearly been a difficult one, but it didn't appear to notice the wounds. There was a roar of thunder and a second bike lurched into the clearing, settling alongside the first.

This rider was more heavily armoured than the first, he wore a tin helmet with an ornate metal lower face guard. Dicks was peeking out and wondered where it had been stolen from. Their engines still nosily ticking over, the second Ork pulled his face plate away revealing a face that had seen many wars and battles, its green skin beneath pitted with old wounds and scars. It motioned to the other, and gave an instruction in a basic Ork tongue then peered into the jungle ahead. It smelled the air, although all Dicks could now smell was gearbox oil.

The first bike roared again as it leaped forwards to the far edge of the clearing then the engine was abruptly cut. As the Ork dismounted it pulled its weapon, which was similar in appearance to the one Din had stolen the day before. It slowly dismounted, readying the weapon as it moved forwards, to the edge of the clearing on the far side of the Ork leader. The Space Marine Scouts were stuck in the hole in the ground between the two Orks, who were both looking carefully. The Orks knew they were on to something, but weren't quite sure what yet. The Ork in tatters hesitated, looked back at the boss who was now also skirting the clearing. Both Orks were moving to a point that would converge on their hideout.

The boss suddenly stopped, it sniffed the air. It altered course slightly and was moving, still slowly but now with purpose, towards the hidden Space Marines. The boss spat out a few words to tatters who quickly returned to its bike and pulled out a small piece of equipment and waved it into the clearing. It didn't do much, and tatters looked at the small growing screen with disapproval then threw it at his bike. It clanged off, then onto the floor where it was left.

The boss was no more than two metres away, Dicks closed his eyes to make sure the glint from his eye balls didn't give away his position. He dared not move, as he listened to the Ork breathing. Dick's combat knife was already drawn, Sa'jon was the sergeant but the decision was his on timing as he had the most up to date intelligence of the Ork's movements. Although there had been no communication between them, he knew exactly what each Scout would do if he choose to launch the attack, which he would do if the Ork took one step closer.

There was a crackle on the Boss' bike mounted radio. It quickly turned and paced to the bike, picking up the receiver. It said a few words then came a burst of intelligible words that the Scouts just about heard. The boss quickly looked in the direction of the Scouts, grunted, then looked back in the direction from which they had come. He waved to tatters, signalling him to get back on his bike, who promptly jumped on fired it up and turned towards the boss, who was also kick starting his huge engine and hauling its bulk around. Once the boss was satisfied with his new direction, flicked his hand down onto the power and pulled a wheelie towards the edge of the jungle. He can't have been able to see more than a couple of metres past the edge of the clearing, but that didn't stop his extravagant hop, from one wheel, into the denser undergrowth. Tatters wasn't far behind, although not in quite so much style.

The noise quickly faded, and as soon as it did so Sa'jon was immediately on to his radio,

"Horne, come in. Horne, come in". He waited. There was nothing. He signalled for Dicks to give the all clear, who lifted the top of hide up a couple of inches. He was looking for drones the Orks may have left behind. He scanned the area with his bare eyes, but then flicked down a small visor from his helmet and switched to infrared and then ultra violet, still nothing. He scurried out, staying low, and approached the edge of the clearing, there was nothing. It appeared that one of the Orks had left something behind, and he picked up the discarded scanner that tatters had thrown earlier.

Sa'jon was still unsuccessfully trying to raise Horne on the radio, Din could see he was concerned,

"What did it say" Din asked.

"The Ork's have made contact with a human, back West, where we came from. They are in the middle of a fire fight. Who else could it be?" Not for the first time today Sa'jon wasn't looking for the answer, and left Din standing in the dark of the hide. He remained there, quickly realising that he may be forgotten if he stayed low, especially if these Scouts were worried about their brother. This was his chance for escape.


	4. Vindicare Emerging Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"get out here" shouted Sa'jon back to him. "you are coming with us, you got us in to this". Sa'jon had a quiet word with Dicks, then "at the moment son, your chances of survival are, at best, not good, and that is only if you do as I say".

Din climbed out and just as Sa'jon turned to join his team Din quickly turned and darted into the forest behind him. He put on a burst of speed, looking down at his feet to ensure he didn't loose his footing. He knew that all the Scouts were in the clearing, and he was running into the jungle, if he kept up his speed, they would never catch him with their heavier equipment and armour. He was wrong.

Vidir was half as tall as Din again, but not so thick set as the others, and was the fastest man in the Scout team. He immediately disconnected his webbing through a quick release, most of his equipment dropping from his body with his webbing. He made rapid progress through the jungle, easily clearing obstacles in his path, and quickly caught up with Din, tackling him to the ground. Their entwined bodies tumbled down and hit the jungle floor with a thud, Vidir cleverly angling himself so that Din took the brunt of the fall. As soon as they had ground to a halt Vidir was straight up to his feet, and following a quick, but excruciating jab to Din's arm, he pulled Din to his feet and marched him back to the hide. The others had already departed, but had gathered up his equipment and left it in a neat pile for him to collect.

"well mate, looks like we have some catching up to do" and pushed Din in front of him "you had better get going – start running. They went that way" as he pointed into the jungle. They slowly caught up, and they all spent the next 2 hours in total silence re-tracing their steps until they reached the spot in which they had left Horne. Din wasn't quite sure why they were holding him hostage, but part of him didn't really care. He just knew he didn't like it. Dicks, the lead scout, picked up the first clues of the fire fight. He spotted some spent ammunition cartridges, not from Horne's weapon, but another, not even Ork. He bent down, his worn hands scooped up a handful of cartridges and dirt, showing them to the rest of the squad, who remained silent. Sa'jon stopped the squad moving with a wave of his hand, and then made a signal to spread out into a search formation. He pointed at Din specifically, indicating he wanted him to remain close.

The scouts were quick and efficient, they secured the area with little fuss. What they found was very interesting. Plenty of ammunition casings, plenty of blood and a few bodies, both Orks and Humans, but nether Horne nor Boxy Nero could be seen, dead or alive. As Dicks was sifting through the undergrowth he saw two huge gouges in the undergrowth, the warbikes had been here too. He could see from the trail of destruction however that they had arrived too late to join in the fun as neither of the twin bolters mounted on the war bikes had been used.

"Sarge, come and take a look at this" he had found a couple of grubby ammunition cartridges "this is from the bolt pistol that Horne was carrying. He was definitely here Sarge, and he let off a few bursts". Dicks analysed the cluster of shells and the surrounding undergrowth. Dicks had fought many campaigns as a Scout, and specialised in intelligence and tracking, a prime candidate for this mission before the threat of the Orks had been understood, but now his skills were invaluable. Sa'jon checked the communications link with Horne again, but nothing.

Dicks tracked across twenty metres of lighter undergrowth, following something into the denser Jungle as he did so, inspecting each and every plant, occasionally investigating rocks and stones that may have moved, he even licked one. He worked for five minutes, while the rest of the Squad held the perimeter.

"They got out here" he finally said over the comm. link. "the firefight was over there" he pointed to the Western edge of the clearing where three humans and one Ork had been slain. "Horne wasn't part of fire fight though, I'm not even sure anyone knew he was here. It looks like a small group of humans got into a fire fight with a couple of Orks, and our buddy was unwittingly caught up in the middle".

"they were prison guards" pitched in Din. He had been doing some investigation of his own, "they were equipped for a search party, and only relatively lightly armoured. They had no chance. Your man took one of them with him, look" he pointed to a patch of undergrowth that had been flattened. Dicks came across, placing his feet carefully as he did so as not to disturb the evidence. "look, the prison guard was out of the main group when the fight started" he pointed to a patch on the ground "he was hit there, the Ork probably thought he had put the guy down for good but he hadn't. Look" Dicks followed Din around as they walked to where Horne had been then nodded in agreement.

"I agree, it looks like he crawled over to Horne, who managed to get both Nero and this guy out of the danger area. But where the hell are they now". Sa'jon was watching Din closely, he had clearly just made a bond with Dicks, and although he had been extremely angry at his team for letting Din get a shot off earlier in the day, he was quietly impressed with Din's skills. If only they could sort out that attitude.

Throughout their investigation they touched nothing, not wanting to arouse suspicions of their presence to the prison authority or even the Ork clan if they came to recover their fallen. The Scout team moved on, and rested and fed half a click away. Sa'jon sat on an old log, the tree must have once been huge, this log lain for a very long time and probably been used for many weary traveller to rest. It was the first time they had stopped in 24 hours, unlike Din, they had not rested the previous night. Although the Space Marine Scouts had endurance way beyond any normal man, the terrain was difficult, the humidity high and the workload intense. The men had been using their brains as well as their braun and Sa'jon had not brought provisions to sustain such a mission for long. They must be out within 24 hours, or their capability would be compromised, he would return to the drop ship as soon as they had recovered Horne. He was also unsure of what to do with Aegus Din, a man he intensely distrusted but who may still have useful information.

He threw a ration pack over to Din, who eagerly opened it, not realising until they had stopped that he had not had anything substantial to eat since breaking out of prison. He opened the ration pack and cared not that he didn't recognise anything inside, he picked out the first thing he saw and bit into it. The food was gone in minutes.

Sa'jon surveyed his surroundings once more. The training that the Scouts had been through had been long and intense, and had all but shaken them out of them their preferences for heavy or light, hot or cold, or dark or light, wet or dry planets. But on every campaign Sa'jon had fought through, every planet he had visited, every City he had conquered, he had compared to his home planet. This one was hot and humid, as his home world, one of the chosen recruiting grounds for the dogs of war Chapter of the Space Marines, was largely temperate, and much cooler than this with the gravity also at a similar level, 1.1 times Terra standard gravity.

Sa'jon let the men eat their rations and gather their thoughts, then issued the orders they had been expecting.

"Dicks and Mullrack, I need you to both scout ahead, scope the Ork camp. We need numbers and locations of guards. We will follow thirty minutes behind. We will re-convene one click out, South East of their position. Leave a mark".

When they sat down Dicks and Mullrack had both removed the burdensome weight of all their equipment, which was now neatly heaped in front of them. Din had been impressed by their equipment, not only the high tech gadgets, but also amazed by the sheer volume of kit they carried.

Dicks clambered to his feet, his joints had slightly stiffened as they cooled from inactivity. They would quickly regain their previous fluidity, but he did look slightly cumbersome as he stood and straightened his back.

"You sure you are up to this old man?" joked Mullrack, who was quick to his feet and had already begun to strap on his webbing.

"at least I got to this age" Dicks retorted "if you are skilled enough to survive long to get to my age, you won't be able to do this" he said as he bent over and touched his toes. Mullrack laughed, firing a quick glance over to Sa'jon who was not amused. He knew that Sa'jon wanted to get off this planet, so decided against continuing the antics. He surveyed his equipment inventory spread out over the ground, and considered what to put on next. His combat knife was a good a place to start as any, and he holstered the first next to the shin of his left leg, then one at his waist and another strapped to his back upside down under his kidneys. Next he stowed a selection of hand grenades in the appropriate compartment, crack, frag, blind and melta, each in the right compartment. It was the same every time, so he instinctively knew where each grenade would be in the thick of battle.

Mullrck took the opportunity to stock up with provisions and water, most of this was stowed inside his ruck-sack strapped to his back with his spare ammunition. His bolt pistol was already safely holstered on his left hip, he never took it off as a rule, but his shot gun was resting against the log he sat on. He checked it was fully loaded, and the safety catch was on, and this was slipped it into his back holster.

The last item was his helmet, and when he had secured the chin strap he stood to his full height and Din looked up in awe at the fighting machine in-front of him. Mullrack finally pulled the most important piece of equipment to a Scout, his cloak. Din looked on with interest as this final item was pulled lovingly over his head, and could see Mullrack check to ensure it was properly unfurled at the bottom. The cloak's was flowing, its movement silky, almost unreal and Din had to blink a few times to clear his eyes but the cloak continued to deceive the light around it. Even though Mullrack's equipment and clothing was already well camouflaged it further broke up his outline against the jungle, rendering him almost invisible.

Dicks was also pulling on the last of his equipment, but rather than a shot gun, Dicks only ranged weapon was a silenced bolt pistol with a short power sword against his right hip. He tapped this instinctively as he prepared to depart, Din could see from the way he touched the sword that it was a natural extension to his body.

Sa'jon approached the pair of Scouts while Vidir sat guarding Din. Din said nothing, he knew of a number of dangers in the jungle that he could warn the Scouts of, but it was not in his interest to tell them. The sooner these men were dead, the sooner he could get away, still acutely aware that the prison guards were still be looking for him.

The trio spoke quietly and briefly, and then Dicks and Mullrack departed in total silence into the jungle. They were out of sight in seconds and absolute silence fell over the camp, it was as if they were ghosts floating over the terrain. He was starting to see how this team had so successfully captured him without him even knowing who or what they were.

"If you want to eat tonight, you had better get to work" Sa'jon announced as he turned back to Din. "We only had supplies for 48 hours for 5 men, but it looks like we will need to go another 24 hours and there are at least 2 extra men. We need to gather water, berries, and lets try and shoot something for dinner. Not sure I want another ration pack tonight". Din knew the area fairly well, and knew what animals were easy to catch and how to catch them.

"Take this" he said to Din "get us something to eat tonight" he threw Din his needle sniper rifle. "Make sure it is big enough to feed 8" he added.

Din caught the rifle, and admired the workmanship of the weapon. It was light and perfectly balanced. He looked down the long barrel, gripping the snug wooden butt, and ran his hand over the finely oiled metalwork. He had never seen a weapon quite like it, and he marvelled at how a weapon of war could be so exquisite.

The mechanism for use however was as any other weapon he had used, with a bolt action, and a magazine of what looked like 12 rounds of needles. He pulled back the bolt, revealing a needle ready in the chamber as his fingers found the safety catch. He looked up at Sa'jon, a flicker of unease rested in Din's eyes, and Sa'jon winked back at him – almost saying "go for it, knock yourself out, see if I care". Vidir had hardly noticed the exchange and had already started hunting for roots and berries, uninterested in the non-verbal discussion between Sa'jon and Din.

Din again looked down at the weapon, his finger itching to pull that trigger, aimed at Sa'jon, but something inside stopped him. Sa'jon kept half an eye on Din, but he also began to speak into his headset, passing information to and from his control vessel in orbit. Half way though the discussion Sa'jon broke away from the commands,

"Go" he shouted to Din "get me some food" and then continued to speak into his microphone. Din flicked the safety catch back on and strode into the jungle, he knew the perfect place to find dinner.

By the time he had returned with a stag strapped to his back, and only one shot fired, it was time to leave.

"nice work" Sa'jon commented as the stag hit the ground with a thud "but we have to go, you will have to carry it like that". Din humped it back onto his back, and the three of them followed in the footsteps of Dicks and Mullrack.

They trekked for approximately 2 hours, and Vidor found the marker left by Dicks.

"Okay" he said "this is where we leave our kit and its also our muster point".

Vidor and Sa'jon dropped much of their equipment, including most of their supplies and back pack, only holding onto a small supply of water, Din copied.

"where are we going now" he asked. He felt a glimmer of concern for Dicks, a feeling he had rarely experienced in recent years "where are the others".

"they" explained Sa'jon "will be inside the Ork camp, wiring the place to blow and checking the encampment to ensure Horne isn't there. And we are the diversion to ensure they can get out". Din looked back at him blankly.

"you mean you are the diversion" there was no way he was going back find out how tough those Orks really were. Sa'jon ignored the comment, and threw his needle sniper rifle to Din.

"Take this. You will need it Later" Sa'jon said. He threw his cloak around him, the background beyond fizzing in and out of focus as he did so "follow me, and make sure you are ready to use it, we don't know what we might come across next". Din grasped the rifle, Vidor already on his way into the Jungle, spreading a light dusting of a powder onto a tree stump as he left. Once settled, the marker was invisible to all but him.

Din checked the weapon was loaded and followed, jogging a little to catch up. Din considered himself an expert tracker, stalker and hunter, but had never heard anybody move as silently as these Scouts. He even felt ashamed as he trod through the jungle, every time a twig snapped underfoot either Sa'jon or Vidor turned and gave him a look of disapproval. The two men in front acted as one mind, there was no communication between them, but when one stopped the other instinctively knew where the potential threat was, and either stopped dead or moved to an appropriate spot to confirm identification. Each sound was carefully assessed and matched against the surrounding environmental conditions before being disregarded as immaterial.

Din was trudging along when suddenly in front of him Sa'jon stopped dead. This time it was different and Vidor also knew it was serious so he indicated for Din to stop and crouch down. Nothing happened for a minute which was unusual, the Scouts had usually moved on within 30 seconds. For the first time since Din had been with the Scouts, Sa'jon back tracked to Vidor's position.

"We are there" said Sa'jon. "up ahead is a perimeter guard. He's carrying a heavy load, probably a heavy bolter".

"did you see him" whispered Din, intrigued how he knew what lay ahead as he hadn't seen anything.

"I can tell from the way it walks" said Sa'jon "if you do as I say, you will live, if you don't, you will probably be killed. He believed what Sa'jon said about getting killed and had a suspicious feeling that even if he ran in the opposite direction to the Orks, he would still be found. He nodded to the Sergeant.

"I need you to skirt 50 metres to the North West and climb the tallest tree you can find, visibility is low, so take these" and Sa'jon pulled off his goggles. "Put them on, you will be able to see more clearly through the foliage. When you are there look out for my signal to cover us. Whatever happens don't climb down until I signal you to", Din pulled the elastic over his head and they rested on the top of his skull.

As he looked up Sa'jon and Vidir were already disappearing into the jungle. Without thinking again, he quietly moved off in a Northerly direction, counted his paces and found a suitable tree. It had plenty of foliage to provide cover and hand holds, and began to climb.

He reached the top, and scanned the horizon. Sa'jon was right, just beyond the Ork guard's position stood a small encampment. The tree he had chosen had a particularly good vantage point over the camp although it was still mostly obscured by foliage. He pulled the goggles over his eyes and the image shimmered as the goggles focused to give him clarity. They didn't allow him to see completely through the foliage, but it made everything translucent, so he could see what was beyond solid objects, and could now clearly make out the layout of the camp. It looked surprisingly quiet and could not make out Horne nor his Boxy Nero.

He arched his neck as he looked around trying to find Sa'jon and was surprised to find him very close by. Following Sa'jon's direction, Din then found Vidor through the rifle sights who was just a few steps away from the Ork. The Ork did carry a very heavy looking weapon, to Din it looked very similar to the vehicle mounted chain guns that some armies used on his world.

Din brought the sniper rifle up to bear and trained it on the Ork. He guessed that Sa'jon didn't want him to fire unless it was entirely necessary. As the cross hairs fell onto the Ork's torso, Vidor made his move, his cloak flowing behind as he made the final quick steps to the huge creature. It never knew what hit it as Vidor bypassed the Ork's armour by leaping up onto its back. It was only then that Din realised the Ork must be half again taller than Vidor, who had quickly wrapped his garrotting wire around the Ork's neck. His arms bulged as he pulled it tight around the Ork's neck, which seemed surprisingly resilient to the garrotte's razor wire, though Vidor's strength overcame the thick skin within a few seconds and as soon as it did so the green blood poured out over the Ork's armour and neck. The Ork was still struggling and Vidor continued to load pressure on the wire, practically severing the Ork's head, which finally went limp. Vidor jumped to the ground and to reduce the sound of the fall he caught the huge body as it tumbled down in a heap.

Din could not believe the speed of the attack which was over in seconds, Vidor's movements so fluid, almost artistic. Din barely had time to focus his sight before the Ork had fallen. Sa'jon was quickly up to Vidor's position and the two of them dragged the body under a bush. They carefully made their way forwards into the unknown, Sa'jon taking the lead, Din tracking them through the sights of the rifle.

Once Sa'jon had established a new position he looked back to Din, who made a hand signal, Din understood. They were going in to the camp. Cover their retreat. Sa'jon began to move forwards but out of nowhere John Dicks appeared. After a rapid dialogue Sa'jon motioned to Vidor and Din to come forwards.

"This camp is huge" said Dicks "we found everything from war bikes to battle wagons to skimmers and parked at the far end they even have a shuttle capable of taking them back to orbit. Not only that, it looks like this is one of a few camps".

"So where is everyone" said Sa'jon "except for a few guards this place is deserted".

"Except for the guards that were left behind I think the Orks have gone on a recce mission. They were clearing out as we arrived so we kept our heads low" Dicks looked at the nearly decapitated Ork nearby and chuckled "easy there Mullrack, you didn't have to take its head off, although I think that was the last guard we have taken care of the rest" smiling he added "But there is less blood pooling around the others".

"where did they go" asked Sa'jon, checking over his shoulder as if he had heard something returning to camp.

"Mullrack followed the Orks, but they had so much comms kit we had to keep radio silence so I have no idea where he is now. The Orks have probably been tracking our comms since we have been here, this is not your typical low tech Ork operation".

"but any idea where" Din asked this question, worried by what he had heard.

"Not sure" replied Dicks, towering over him "a nearby village we think, we heard some of the boyz talking as they left the camp".

Din had a de-ja-vu occurrence of his nightmare. He knew that village was the closest to this camp. He edged his way to the back of the pack as the Scouts remained focused on their discussion. Nobody noticed. He could ask this team for help or go alone. He choose to go alone. As he slipped away he kept hold of Sa'jon's rifle, and also picked up the Ork bolter, he had feeling he would need both. The Scouts were still discussing the motivations of the Orks, how they got to the planet and what their mission was. Din was pleased they were distracted and reached the undergrowth un-noticed.

Now it was Din's turn to move through the trees like a ghost, he found he was able to move over and around obstacles as if they did not exist. After a few minutes he was bloodied and bruised from minor wounds inflicted, but did not care. He had not seen his home village for six months and he had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he approached it now.

There was a deep rumble in the distance, then he saw a giant fireball reach into the sky, that would be the fuel store going up then he thought. His determination doubled, and he picked up his pace. He was soon at the perimeter tree line, his village beyond, but he did not stop and burst through into the open at full pace. What he saw was worse than he could imagine.

His eyes took in the horror as he moved to cover behind an old barn. He scanned the surroundings, and realised Sa'jon's goggles were still on his head so he flicked them down. It was a sea or Orks, everywhere he looked he could see the monsters, firing their weapons, riding their bikes and destroying the buildings. He moved onwards, he couldn't wait, and made his way to his quarter of the village, which meant he had to risk exposing himself. As he crossed a clear patch of land he saw the shapes of at least five Orks through the smog nearby, their awkward hunched posture grotesque against the background of fire. He was glad of the goggle not for the vision enhancements, but to protect his eyes from the eye watering smoke. In the hand of every Ork was a deadly weapon, and one turned to face Din, its face covered in a metal mask painted blood red in colour, only its sharp yellow and black teeth visible. Din dived, not knowing if he had been seen but could have sworn he had seen it grin at him. He landed with a roll behind the closest building and moved to the far corner away from the Ork. He heard a woman cry out in the distance, it was a plea for help and it distracted him for a second, he glanced round but even the goggles couldn't help him locate the scream. It came from an unfortunate soul who had been cornered and it was cut short by a burst of gunfire. The distraction had slowed him, and as Din moved around the corner a chunk of concrete as big as his head flew off the old building. Then more chunks followed as the Ork with the red facemask found its sights and the rounds poured to Din's position.

He spun round, dropped to his stomach and raised the first weapon to his hands to fire back, it was the Ork bolter. His eyes were wide with terror as the Ork ploughed towards him, its weapon raised and spitting fire. Luckily for Din, a running Ork can't hit a barn door at ten paces, so although he didn't realise it, he was relatively safe for a few seconds. Din took aim and squeezed the trigger, the kick of the butt into his shoulder nearly broke his collar bone, this weapon had been designed for a tougher race. The slugs however did find their target, at least three rounds landed home, but the Ork just soaked up the rounds into its gut and continued, hardly even slowing. Din squeezed again, for longer this time and he had no idea how many shots found their target as his aim had veered wildly off during the burst but he quickly realised that this Ork was not going to fall. He squinted at it, it was still closing, though its pace had slowed and it had discarded its bolter and pulled an axe from somewhere. He had no more than four seconds before it split him in two with one blow of the axe. Lying down he had no time to move away so had no choice but to keep firing. He aimed for his head, it was going to be the only way, he tensed and held the trigger down hard. His whole right hand side was numbing at the pain of the kick back, his watering eyes were focused only on the target. Fear now leaving him in anticipation of his last few seconds. Time slowed for him and suddenly the Ork fell. He wasn't sure if it tripped, or a limb torn off, or if the manic beast had just run out of life, but after falling it did not move. It slid to a halt just a few metres from Din's nose. It also stank. He had to get away, but risked one quick glance at it, and as well as being riddled with holes, most of its head was now missing, all that was remaining was the stump of a spinal chord and a bloody tangle of skin, metal and bone.

Thank the Emperor the other Orks had not followed the first. Din slipped around the corner of the building nearest to him and began to make his way to his house. Progress was not difficult, he knew the village well and moved in and of buildings and shadows, even underneath the local health care clinic which had been built on stilts. The battle raged outside of Din's sphere of conscious, as he moved it was a miracle he was not hit by stray rounds. By now most of the population had either fled, been killed or been rounded up into a pen, though he was encouraged by the fact that his home was on the less affected side of the village.

As he moved it seemed that the Orks were themselves confused. He had often seen rank and file soldiers scampering too and from one a particular vehicles. It was the one with the most decorative adornments, including weapons, bones including human skulls and a number of other skulls that were un-recognisable. He guessed that was the chief.

He spotted his own home, the door was open. He was about to make his run across a small field when he spotted two Orks patrolling, but they weren't directly heading towards his house. He ducked back behind a fruit tree that had been torn down. He raised his bolter to take a shot, but thought better of it after its apparent ineffectiveness against the one with the red helmet and he didn't think the needle rifle would be effective given the flimsy needles. Seconds later there was commotion and the taller of two who had been patrolling ran over to his house, and met another coming out. Din hadn't realised that there had been one inside already. The Ork emerging was extremely hunched over, Din thought he didn't look well at all, but that was irrelevant because behind the hunch back were two humans. A pain stabbed through Din's heart as he saw Aleila and Saif emerging also. Their hands bound, mouths gagged, Aleila also limping and looked battered and bruised.

The tall Ork who had been patrolling spoke to the hunchback, Din could hear the short sharp words but had no idea of their meaning. After an acknowledgement from the other, the Ork who had spoken looked at Aleila and drew his pistol, Din had been using weapons long enough to know a draw intending to fire. He was ready for it, and unsure of its real capability he squeezed off two rounds from the needle rifle as he knew it would be far more accurate over this range. Both shots landed squarely in the head of the taller Ork, killing it instantly. Immediately afterwards he launched from his position and fired again, this time his aim was not so good, but the distraction achieved its purpose and the hunchback fumbled its weapon. Aleila looked across and locked eyes with Din for a second. It was the fist time she had seen him in over six months and she hadn't known he had even escaped. The relief on her eyes was overwhelming, and her eyes filled with tears, her lips trembling. He cried out to them to drop down as he had no clear shot to the remaining Ork. He still had some ground to cover, and was moving fast but he wasn't sure if he would make it.

Suddenly his right leg went numb, his whole body tumbled to the floor and his weapons scattered. He looked again to his family, Aleila was being held by the hunchback, and Saif was on his knees sobbing uncontrollably, he was only eight years old. Din had no idea why he had fallen but looked down to his leg and could see the spread of blackness on his dirty prison uniform, his blood was seeping from a deep wound. He cared not, and ignoring the pain he pulled himself up and crawled to the sniper rifle a few metres away. A shadow appeared across his vision and looked up. Fear gripped him like never before, as his eyes fixed on sight more terrifying than any Ork he had seen.

A heavily armoured figure with a fully sealed helmet approached. He knew not what lay beneath the thick layers of black ceramite plate, but he knew this was his final moment. His could not tear his gaze from the bright white eyes of the figure, which appeared to bend the surrounding light making it difficult properly make out. In its left hand it held its only visible weapon, which was a fabulously exquisite sword that was completely black. He knew that aggression was his only chance, there would be no negotiation, and launched himself at the giant, pulling his hunting knife as he did so because it was all he had left.

His attack did take the figure by surprise as Din landed a blow around the giants hips. It was an attempt to penetrate the a weak joint in its armour. However, there was no weak spot to be found and Din was shrugged off into the dirt. A quick flash of its sword and Din was disarmed and the figure stared down at Din as if laughing off the pitiful attack. It drew a bolt pistol from an unseen holster, and without looking down, shot Din once in the chest.

It didn't give Din a second glance as it moved away to Aleila and Saif. First it pointed to Din's Aleila and barked an order, then another order to the hunch back Ork which pulled Saif onto his feet and shoved him hard towards the Chaos Space Marine.

Din could hardly breath, he tried to move his body but couldn't move at all, so instead he tilted his head towards his family. He opened his eyes, he had to keep them open, he must see. He watched as Saif stepped towards the giant, and stopped half way. Din knew that the only way the child would have any chance of survival would be to do as he was told. Saif's blood shot eyes found his father's, who, unspeaking, urged him to continue. He did as asked, although tears flowed down his cheeks.

Then he heard a scream, it was one he recognised, and had come from his wife. He moved his eyes just in time to see the hunchback Ork pull its bolt pistol out of its holster, level the weapon at Aleila's head and fire in a single smooth motion. Her body slumped down in a bloody heap, and the Ork simply turned and left. It had new orders, and was now back on patrol like all the others. Din's eyes were getting heavy, he just wanted to go to sleep but he forced them open once more. He saw the giant Chaos Space Marine scoop Saif up in on arm and carry him out of his view. He tried again to move but couldn't. He tried to cry out but instead blood bubbled out through his mouth, broken ribs and torn skin. The ground around him was now deep red. The world went quiet, and his eyes shut once more as he slipped away.

Din never knew how long he was out cold for, it was long enough for the enemy to have withdrawn, and the fires extinguish, but he could still feel heat from embers and still smell the smell the foul stench. He lay there, un-moving for several minutes before he even dared try and open an eye. He didn't want to rush anything, he was amazed he was not dead, although from the pain in his chest he knew he was near to death, perhaps, he thought, the soldier who shot him should have paid more attention to his aim.

He heard movement. It was time to find out what the world looked like and opened his eyes, the glare flooded in but his eyes quickly acclimatised. He lay, unmoved, where he had been shot, in the middle of the clearing. He twisted his body to see the spot where he had seen his wife murdered, he wanted to go over to be with her, but she was not there. He would never get a chance to say goodbye. At that moment he promised himself he must find Saif. He must protect him. What could these monsters want with the people from his simple farming village.

Movement again, from behind, his mind refocused on escaping. What was the enemy doing coming back, surely nothing had been left behind. He scoured the area for cover, but there was none close. The thought occurred to him that he could play dead, but he was so exposed, it was too great a risk.

He forced himself up, pain flooded through his chest as he did so but he worked though it reached his knees. Crawling through the dust and dirt he felt like an animal, and as he scraped his hand through the dirt it fell against a rounded stone. He would not have looked down had it not been for its unnaturally smooth, almost liquid feel. What he saw was not what he had touched, for it did not look shiny, nor did it look smooth which made him more inquisitive. He picked it up and inspected his find, it was not from this village, probably not even from the planet, so what was it and where was it from. It was oval, off black in colour, with no distinct features save for a faint marking on one side. He handled it and ran it through his fingers, it slipped easily into his palm, and as it did so, his fist closed over it, almost involuntary.

Not really thinking why he slipped the stone into his pocket and continued. The movement he had heard was no more, so he dragged himself to small mound of rubble and settled behind it. His heart was pounding, the crawl had taken all his energy, and all he could hear was his own body working. He dared peer over his cover, and saw some rustling in the distance, he tried to detect the source.

Coming silently from behind, another shadow suddenly stood over him. He was on his knees, and still had some agility left, so he swung round to engage his attacker, but his blow was easily blocked. His swivelling round revealed a cloaked figure clad in light armour, Din knew this was not from the same army that had attacked earlier. This one was nearly as tall, just as menacing and with more weaponry in evidence, but the man wore no helmet, and his face was smiling. The figure lowered himself to one knee, and while inspecting Din's wounds said into a mouthpiece

"I've found him, he's alive, but only just". It was John Dicks who then spoke to Din,

"I'll get you fixed up" he said. Then Din's eyes closed, the outside world turned itself off.


End file.
