Ok, so now I will present to you all a fictional story taking place in the prelude to a Warhammer 40k campaign I'll be participating in during this fall.
Enjoy!
Unholy ArtefactsThe Bridge of the Desolator class battleship The Gospel of Hate was filled with crew milling around in preparations. It was currently lying at anchor hidden from sensors by one of the outer, uninhabited planets of the Argus system.
Outside the bridge viewport, the other three capital ships of the Sons of Lorgar, one Repulsive class grand cruiser and two possessed cruisers was similarly still in the void, their senior officers en route to attend the Dark Apostle’s briefing aboard the battleship.
The Dark Apostle himself however, was not yet present on the bridge, which more resembled an enormous cathedral dedicated to the worship of the four powers.
In the Apostle’s private quarters, pair of dark mechanicum servitors was aiding Artemis, the former Inquisitorial psyker turned arch sorceress, with fitting her tactical dreadnought armor to her warp-enhanced body. Of all the psykers and sorcerers Malechai had encountered since the siege of Terra, he had never seen anyone as powerful as this woman aside from Ahriman, the notoriously unreliable Thousand Sons sorcerer. That is why he had allowed what had otherwise been unheard-of for the last fifty years, a female psyker being assimilated into a Word Bearer host.
Since then, the devious and ambitious sorceress had proven his decision right time and time again. Now they were here, in the Argus system, where he had been once before, almost ten thousand years ago. Back then, he had just been an assault platoon chaplain, the title of Apostle were yet to come into use amongst the Legion, and Lorgar was yet to ascend to his current status. That time, they had been fighting a desperate retreat after the siege of Terra. Now he was here again, here to reclaim the relic that they had been forced to abandon so long ago, the legion’s first Fellblade super-heavy tank, The Undeniable Gospel, but more importantly, the secrets hidden within the sacred vehicle, a gift from Kelbor Hal before the puppets of the false Emperor reclaimed the red planet. The recovered artificial intelligence of the Kaban project, a prize that to the right buyer would be worth enough to arm a Host strong enough to secure the final destruction to his most hated enemies beside the corpse Emperor himself, the Ultramarines.
With that, Malechai returned from his musings to the events at hand. He looked up at the Sorceress, now fully armored, with her tusked and spiked helmet hanging from a chain attached to the inside of the right pauldron. As she turned towards him, he rose from his bed, a plain slab of black marble covered in iconic carvings he had done himself over the centuries since he was but a neophyte. The earliest carvings dedicated to the worship of the treacherous corpse he once called his Emperor as the primarchs called him their father, having long since been erased by more recent carvings, some were even now moving around on their own, imbued with the essence of the warp.
-You are ready Artemis? Malechai asked as he stood up, looking up at the immense stature of the sorceress, his second in command and the one who would be among the first to make planet fall.
-Yes, my Lord Apostle, the anointed, the marked ones and the three tactical squads we selected are waiting my arrival in the ritual chamber. Our cultists on the surface has made it known that they are ready on their side.
Since he wouldn't join the sorceress on the surface, Malechai was only wearing his robes and carrying the staff-shaped daemonically imbued crozius he once had received from the hands of Erebus himself.
Together, they left the Apostle's personal chambers and entered the bridge.
The Dark Apostle Malechai and the Arch Sorceress Artemis strode purposefully onto the bridge, a caged daemon announcing their presence with a tormented wail. All those present on the cathedral-like bridge turned towards the pair as one and kneeled until they were dismissed by the apostle with a flick of the hand and continued with their tasks.
The bridge officer, an astartes scarred by countless battles and dark rituals approached the apostle.
-My lord Apostle, the other captains has just landed in the drop bay and are on their way to the reclusiam, is my presence required at your sermon and briefing?
-No, brother Hron, you are not required there at this time, I will call for you as well as the other ship commanders once we are to break cover and make our presence here both known and felt.
-As you wish lord Apostle, For Lorgar and the Word!
-For Lorgar and the Word! Brother Hron.
With that, Malechai and Artemis left the bridge on their way towards the ships cathedral where the hosts lesser Apostles and senior officers were assembled for the lord Apostle's sermon and briefing along with those selected by the arch sorceress to accompany her to the planet surface for the first crippling blow to the planet's defence network.