Rescue Arrives

"The Word Bearers Legion!" Company Captain Slox shouted excitedly, raising his Power Sword.

As the Company Captain cheered, more Gunship reinforcements appeared among Planet's clouds.

Boom!

Company Captain Paulus led the charge. The moment he leaped from the Gunship, he drew the Power Sword at his waist and slashed dozens of times in a single breath. The Flesh Monsters closing in around Paulus burst apart.

"Company Captain Slox! Get aboard the Gunship! We'll cover you!" Paulus shouted.

As his voice rang out, the roar of Bombers sounded overhead.

More than a dozen Bombers dropped Incendiary Bombs. Flames swept across tens of thousands of kilometers of plains in an instant, and countless Flesh Monsters wailed for a few seconds before the heat melted them away.

"Get aboard, now!"

Word Bearers wielding heavy weapons of every kind opened fire on the Flesh Monsters approaching the Gunships. The roar of bolters and Plasma weapons nearly drowned out the Space Marines' battle cries.

Once the last Ultramarine was aboard, the Gunships that had plunged into the atmosphere climbed rapidly and left Planet.

"Tell me what happened here," Company Captain Paulus asked, sheathing his bloodstained sword.

"It's complicated, Company Captain Paulus." Exhausted, Company Captain Slox managed a salute.

"Please allow me to report directly to your Primarch. Forgive my discourtesy, Battle-Brother."

Slox was utterly spent. Nearly a thousand hours of fighting day and night had left his brain feeling as though it had been thrown into a blender.

Slox leaned against the Gunship's wall and rested for a few minutes, letting his mind go completely still. Then he stood again.

His strength had mostly returned. He removed his empty weapon and set his company banner upright beside him.

"How many of you are left?" Company Captain Paulus asked.

"There were around 650 of us when we came to Planet. We'd just finished a battle and were about to rotate out, find a Planet to rest on, and replenish our supplies."

"But then we received a distress call from the Colony on Otheros. A million colonists appealed to our company for help. As a Space Marine, I couldn't ignore them," Slox said with a sigh.

"So, after briefly seeking our Primarch's approval, we set out to reinforce Planet. But we hadn't expected such a formidable enemy. They caught our fleet off guard. I ordered Lieutenant Locke to take our Battle Barge and evacuate the civilians..."

"By the way, did you find our Battle Barge, the Sacred Vanguard, when you came to our aid?" Slox asked, looking up.

"We did. But the ship had fallen. We had no choice but to sink it," Paulus answered plainly.

"I understand." Slox said nothing more. He sat quietly in the Gunship and waited for them to arrive.

Before long, the Gunship entered the Law of Faith's hangar. With the steady sound of scripture being recited all around him, Company Captain Slox stepped out.

"Courage and honor, my lord." Slox saluted Chapter Master Rockefeller.

"Greetings, son of Ultramar." Rockefeller nodded.

"I'm here on the Primarch's orders to receive you," Rockefeller added, looking over the group.

Slox stepped out of the Gunship, squinting against the dazzling golden light. A distinctive scent of incense eased his taut nerves a little.

This was his first time aboard a Gloriana-class Battleship of the Word Bearers. He had previously served for a short time aboard Macragge's Honour before being transferred to his current Legion company.

"Follow me."

Rockefeller led a squad of Word Bearers at the front. Slox and his other Adjutant, Takris, followed him through the Warship.

"Get aboard."

Slox was brought to a landing pad inside the Warship, where a small transport had long been waiting.

The Warship was so vast that, to shorten travel times, fast craft capable of flying through its interior had been installed throughout it.

The Word Bearers' Gloriana-class Battleship, the Law of Faith, was no exception. As one of the Imperium's largest Warships, it had undergone extensive improvements of this kind after Lorgar joined the Legion, increasing its efficiency severalfold.

Before long, the transport reached the offices where the Primarch was. With two Word Bearers accompanying them, the massive doors slowly opened, and Lorgar came into view.

"Gene-Father, I've brought them," Rockefeller said, bowing his head.

"You've done well," Lorgar replied with a nod.

Rockefeller looked up excitedly. "It is my honor to do anything for you, Gene-Father."

"Good."

Lorgar nodded, then turned his gaze to Slox. "Company Captain Slox, I want you to explain what happened to your company and the Colony."

"My lord, we were attacked by an unknown Xenos species. The Colony on Otheros was completely destroyed, and the soldiers stationed there were turned into the Flesh Monsters we just encountered on the surface."

"Flesh Monsters?" Lorgar narrowed his eyes as he studied Slox.

"Yes. Our company lost 246 Battle-Brothers. Every member of the Imperialis Militia fighting alongside us was killed."

"That many dead?"

Lorgar was taken aback by the casualty figures. Guilliman would probably fly into a rage when he heard and immediately organize a crusade of Revenge.

"What else do you know?"

"One of our Recon Squads found traces of a small group of enemies on Otheros. They believe the enemy isn't a conventional technological civilization, but one that has mastered biological manipulation to an extraordinary degree. Their 'technology' is based entirely on Bioengineering: Living Ships, Living Weapons, and the like."

"They treat biomass, especially that of intelligent beings, as malleable raw material."

"Our squad tracked them and discovered that captured members of the Imperialis Militia weren't simply killed. They were taken back to a Bio-ship and dissolved in enormous, sentient vats. Their nerves were stripped out and mixed with those of other victims and with animal genetic material, then woven into all kinds of biological weapons."

"And their methods of war are designed to inflict the greatest possible fear and psychological trauma. The enemy's Living Weapons mimic the appearance of their victims' comrades, twisting those forms to attack, while the battlefield itself becomes covered in rapidly growing organic matter. It devours corpses and turns them into deadly environmental hazards."