The vox clicked twice, then went silent for a second; two clicks, then silence; two clicks. Argus responded with the proper code, and the Lux Imperatoris soon descended unto the clearing in front of Alpha Squad. The scouts embarked in good order, the rearguard scanning the treeline with their bolters.
The mission had gone well, but the tidings were grave.
Once seated, Argus patched into the internal vox network of the aircraft. They were not the first to be picked up, and Argus exchanged news with the sergeant of Gamma Squad. Their mission had also went well, although their target was a simple rebel commander, and not a rogue psyker. Or at least that's what they thought going into his bunker. The commander's inner quarters were decorated with blasphemous sigils, and the scouts torched everything on their way out.
Chaos had come to Mane Primus.
***
Argus was awakened from his momentary reverie by the harsh machine voice of the Techmarine piloting the Thunderhawk. They were approaching the pick-up site for Beta Squad, but there was no sign of them. The aircraft kept at high altitude for a while, waiting. Argus went back to analyzing their situation, which had turned from a planetary uprising - already a nightmare for the Imperium - to a Chaos insurgency. Whether the rebellion was incited or just subverted by the cult, it mattered not. The rebellion had gone unchecked for some time, and given its extensive nature, not even the scouts could stop it in its tracks before the rot would spread - if it had not infected everything already.
For the second time, Argus was jolted awake by the pilot's voice. They had picked up distorted vox traffic, and were going down to investigate. The Lux Imperatoris swerved and went into a steep descent. Argus glanced at his brothers, then opened a vox channel to the pilot. He was no veteran sergeant, but his request was worth a try. To his pleasant surprise, he was not rebuffed, and the pict screen of their hold alighted with a greenish tinge. For a moment, they only saw the treeline and a vast clearing, but then figures started moving down there.
***
Rankar was running at full tilt, with Taelos right behind him. He had ripped out the voxbead from his ear some time ago, and so could not tell whether the Lux Imperatoris was there to pick them up. It did not matter. The scouts ran for their life.
It began as a simple mission. With half of Beta Squad left behind to guard the datasmiths, Rankar had received the easiest target from Danicus. They had approached the encampment by the book: the renegade human militia had no chance even against his half-strength squad. But then they descended into the command bunker, and everything turned sour. The place was a charnel house; their enhanced senses could barely contain the appalling smells. But the scouts pressed on, through body parts piled up and corridors filled waist-high with blood and viscera. Their vox went useless, first with just static, then with an incessant mumbling that blocked out all communication. The scouts pressed deeper underground, going past the normal construction of any bunker. And down there...
Sandor, the squad's close combat specialist was the first to go down. As he burst through a door, expecting another darkened room filled with corpses, he fell into some sort of kennel, and was immediately assaulted by its twisted occupants: mutant shapes half again as tall as a man, with tentacles and claws and beaks and talons. With a loud hiss, the entrance was sealed with an armored bulkhead. By the time the fifth krak grenade had blasted through, the squad only found the monsters feasting on the gory remains of their comrade. They gunned them down, but the bolter fire then attracted ever more assailants: shambling corpses brought back to unholy life; mutants armed with primitive weapons, charging at them howling madly; and finally, a huge monster that soaked all their fire, and bisected Volkman with a single swipe of its taloned paw. The scout had tried to assault the beast with a krak grenade, and Rankar did not let his sacrifice be in vain. With a single shot of his bolt pistol, he detonated the explosive, obliterating both combatants. After that, he had ordered a fighting retreat. They fell back in good order, but still at the cost of one more life.
And by the time the sergeant got out with Taelos, the entire encampment had transformed into a grizzly nightmare. The guards previously killed had risen from the dead, and shambled towards the scouts, bogging them down. Monsters streamed out from hidden passageways. The scouts had appraised the situation quickly. They were running as fast as possible ever since.
Taelos slipped and fell. Rankar swerved, cushioned his momentum with a roll, and came up bolt pistol in hand near his comrade. Just in time, as the treeline erupted with screeching howls. The monsters had caught up with them. Rankar shot the two up front while his comrade got up, and they went back to running. They gained some distance on their pursuers, and were safely away when the treeline exploded under the righteous fury of the firepower of a fully armed Thunderhawk.
***
They were barely at transmit range from the capital, when the vox chimed again. Danicus was diverting them from their course. He picked up a distress signal from a local garrison. Argus listened to the briefing, and got his mission details in short order. They were to protect and defend. Unconsciously, his hand went to his bolt pistol.
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