Nestir V AoD - Round 02, Battle 01., A story in the ongoing B&C Nestir V Campaign. Options

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

Ok, so the story for the First Battle of Round 02 in the Nestir V Arena of Death Campaign is finally done.
You, the general public decided the overall Battleground of the combat and thus the Game Mechanics involved in this battle.
The Players decided who would fight and this time it was a Grand Showdown.
So I hope you enjoy the story as the Campaign continues.

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AoD: Nestirs Fate Round Two, Battle One
Story by: Chaptermaster Graymantle.

"Weiss of the Steel Dragons" - (Renik)
VS.
Brother-Codicier Korvac of the Legio. - (Sigismund Himself)

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OPERATION STEEL OR STEAL DRAGON.

The teleportation chamber of the Bloodied Scion was enormous. A wide vaulted chamber filled with five huge power-generators. Currently two of them were fired up and blue lightning played across them in radiant arches like some sort of electrical umbrella.
In the next room, long rows of machine spirit storage devices gathered data and fed it to the machine's calculation units. - Its Cygnus engine.
Right now it was processing more info than any of the people present could ever imagine, as it calculated the relative position, speed and movement of every proton, neutron and electron in Korvac's body, armour and equipment.
The Cygnus engine then matche­d this to the movement of the Bloodied Scion, the planet below and the molecular state of the arrival point on Nestir V.
Once the information extrapolation of each atom was complete, the Cygnus kept them in memory as if though it was following microscopic solar systems in real-time. It then used the gathered data to calculate their expected movement and cross referenced it to its stored data on the molecular structure that each atom was a part of, as not to put the wrong atom in the wrong molecule.
Once the data and pre-calculation algorithms were complete and stable enough, the Cygnus would open a two sided gateway through the Immaterium and break the atoms down to their individual quark states, then transport the energy, as well as the material info needed to re-establish the energy's frozen matter state through to the other side. - Thus making the very stringent process of Quantum Teleportation possible.
 
The energy needed to perform the task was equivalent to draining the core of a red giant and the process always left the soul jolted as it instantly shifted through the Immaterium.
Still, having performed this sort of procedure many times during his lifetime, Brother Codicer Korvac stood ready and waiting in the middle of the showering power arcs alongside his Servo Skull familiar.
Flexing his newly installed bionic arm, he could feel the unfamiliar energy of the teleportation chamber playing gently across it for a second and a rush of adrenaline pumped into him, leaving him feeling restless.
An image of the damned mutant of a traitorous Chaos Marine that had claimed his right arm, severing it cleanly in the snow-filled streets of Hive Primus, came unbidden into his mind and Korvac's jaw tightened. He was getting angry and his bionic arm clenched its fist in response to the neural feedback.
 
«Time to put your helmet on! - Then try to stand still! - We are almost there...», a tech-marine yelled to him over the din of the electrical storm within the teleportation pad.
Korvac nodded in return and put his helmet on, hiding his sparkling green eyes, the silver studs of his bare head, as well as most of his psychic hood within the helmet.
«Here we go old friend!», he cautiously whispered to his familiar and the Servo Skull glided ever so slightly closer to his form.
Korvac gave the Tech-Marine outside a thumbs up sign and then stood to attention, his powerful force Staff held upright at his side.
He was ready! - Then he was gone.
 
 
+ + + +
 
 
Deep beneath the surface of Nestir V, Adramalech's «secret» weapon raced forward at over three hundred kilometres an hour, and his hired gun, Weiss of the Steel Dragons had been favoured with the task of guarding this explosive Steel «Dragon», as Adramalech had put it.
Weiss figured Adramalech thought he had been real funny with that remark, but he was not amused.
Weiss sat down in an empty wagon to have some time to himself and as he sat there he started thinking about the men on this train. He did not much care for them, but they had spent weeks working together now and he had started building some sort of camaraderie with them. - In fact some of them were quite able bodied fighters and likable persons as well.
He wondered what could have been if the Steel Dragons hadn't been so devastated way back when on Sentia, when they still proudly fought for the Imperium. - Chaos forces had attacked the Steel Dragons in desperate waves, like frenzied madmen and Lord inquisitor Lysan, that coward, had thought the unthinkable; that the Steel Dragons would break.
He had ordered the Vitryan 73rd artillery to fire at the enemy regardless of the fact that the Steel Dragons' Second and Third Companies were fighting in the impact zone.
Over one hundred and thirty Marines had died that day and in response Chapter Master Drikos had blown the Inquisitor's leg off.
Fearing for his life and having gone mad with the lust for vengeance, Inquisitor Lysan had ensured that the Steel Dragons were excommunicated. - Quite a feat in itself really, but it only went to show how corrupt the Imperium had become. «Rotten at the core!», Weiss thought. - Only humanity was worth fighting for now.
If things had gone differently, the men he had spent these past weeks with may indeed have been Steel Dragons instead.
Maybe once the war here was done, he could bring some of the most loyal of them onboard his flagship, the Flamestorm, and have them tested for service with the Chapter.
He wondered where the Flamestorm was now though. It had left orbit with the rest of the Chaos Fleet when they were nearly defeated in space many months ago.
Adramalech had said they had gone to a fall-back-point to regroup and fuel up on the Promethium they were spiriting away from Nestir, and onto some unknown location. - Still, he was uncertain what to make of Adramalech...
Weiss' thoughts were interrupted as Siak, his only remaining Steel Dragon ally on Nestir V, came walking into the wagon and slapped him on the shoulder with a smile.
«Care to get some sleep Weiss», he asked. «You look kinda out of it».
«Nah», Weiss replied. I think I will just sit here and meditate on things for a while, but you go ahead old friend».
Siak nodded with a smile and went to sit down a few seat rows to the front of Weiss. He crossed his arms, closed his eyes and drifted off.
Soon the wagon fell into silence and all that could be heard was the steady, rhythmic thumping of passing rail tracks.
 
 
+ + + +
 
 
For no more than a billionth of the blink of an eye, the world around Korvac was filled with energy. He felt time stretch on into infinity as if though he was caught in between the ticks of the clock, yet the feeling was over in less than a second; then he was falling.
Dropping some fifty centimetres, he landed on the ground in a circle of blackened rock that blazed and sizzled with red hot fury. Some one hundred meters in diameter, the area was wrapped in a thick blanket of water vapour, but outside this circle of near molten rock, the icy wasteland of Nestir V lay white and never ending, like some vast desert of snow and ice.
The atmosphere-detonated Plasma Torpedo meant to clear the landing zone, had done its work well. Arriving maybe as much as half a minute before Korvac, it had heated the area, melted the snow and revealed the metal-gated entrance to the subterranean tunnels networking the planet's Hive Cities and other locals.
 
Korvac noted that the freezing blizzards of the planet were temporarily kept at bay as well. No doubt the result of the Plasma Torpedo's atmospheric shock-wave, that even now was sure to be expanding ever outwards. - A fact he was sure his hovering Servo Skull familiar would be more than appreciative of.
Time was of the essence though, so Korvac had no time to further study the scene.
With all due haste, he moved off to the tunnel-shaft entrance up ahead, worked the mechanical locking mechanism and opened the heavy metal lid.
Inside, he found that a ladder stretching downwards into the dark belly of the planet greeted him, and his Servo Skull flew in first, activating a light. - One of its many mechanical augmentations.
A moment later, Korvac climbed in after it and closed the lid behind himself.
 
 
+ + + +
 
 
Weiss awoke with a start. He must have drifted off after all. Small wonder; after all he hadn't slept for nearly five days now.
Outside, the steady, rhythmic beat of the train continued and at the front of the wagon Siak still slept.
Weiss' thoughts drifted to his home Chapter again and the time when the Imperial Armada had arrived at their Homeworld to bomb them into extinction.
Only a handful of Steel Dragons had escaped on the Strike Cruiser 'Unending Flame', after valiantly setting up a defence to save their Homeworld. In the end, Chaptermaster Drikos had thought the whole thing was his fault and he had sacrificed himself and his Battle Barge to destroy the enemy Flagship and to buy the Chapter time to escape. - Since then they had continued their battle for humanity, but they would never go back to the filthy, rotten Imperium!
Piracy and mercenary actions was part of their existence now, so when Chaptermaster Jyscal had ordered him to take the mission here on Nestir V, he had not even thought of turning it down. - The Chapter was being paid handsomely for their presence and Adramalech's Crusade did seem to hold some deeper meaning than just 'Kill! Maim! Burn!'; though many of his 'allies' seemed to think that was the objective.
This mission though, it left him feeling uncertain of what he was doing. Adramalech had said that Hive Secundus would be damaged and that possibly as much as a hundred thousand people or more would perish, but that the overall loss was miniscule and that the missions objective was not to kill or destroy, but that it was crucial to buy time for the grater objective, which was to create a planet totally free of Imperial power or presence. - It would start here with the Nestir system, but soon the whole sector would be affected and it would be theirs for the taking. - A Sector free of the Imperium's oppression. - It would be grand if it ever happened! - Especially if Adramalech's grand tale of getting help from some sort of benevolent supreme entity was true.
Even so, Weiss felt uncertain and he feared his heart of hearts may be turned to Chaos if he did not tread carefully. - He could trust no one! - No one but himself and Siak that was.
Weiss let his eyes slide over to his sleeping friend and then to the darkness outside.
He stretched his stiff legs and thought about his previous major engagement here on this Icy Hell of a planet.
His left leg still hurt after being hit and nearly crushed by an Imperial Chaplain's Crozious, but he had still come out victorious that day and his leg was almost fully healed now.
Weiss let his thoughts wander off again.
This mission was proving to be quite boring and it didn't take long before he once more drifted off to get some well deserved rest.
 
 
+ + + +
 
 
Following a climbing descent of nearly fifty meters, Korvac entered an intersecting tunnel that stretched off in two directions. To his surprise, lights came on as soon as his feet touched the floor and he could see the corridor-like tunnels lighting up about twenty meters to either side. - Unbidden, knowledge flooded to the forefront of his mind. - «Hm... An 'Avner Epifanio' Lux system», he thought. «Pressure-activated and lighting the tunnel twenty meters ahead and behind you at all times. - Very energy efficient and quite old; but not entirely uncommon in subterranean, moon based mining facilities».
Korvac snapped out of it. He didn't have time to admire the technical aspects of the architecture right now, the Landtrain was quickly getting closer and he still had a two hundred meter decent to transverse.
The tunnels were angled slightly, so Korvac decided to go to the left, as it, opposed to the right side, was at a decline.
Five minutes later and he and his floating familiar were in a service elevator, going down.
The journey down took less than half a minute and when the doors opened again, Korvac gazed out at a partly lit, majestically large exchange-hall with six tunnels going into it and another six going out.
The overhanging ceiling of the dome-shaped cave was littered with supporters, cross-beams and security netting, while Aluminium grated walkways spanned around and crossed the whole structure like an enormous circle with an intersecting cross going straight through it.
 
The ceiling stretched upwards into darkness and thick chains stretched down and out from that darkness like cold tendrils that supplied a never ending drip, drip, drip of rusty red rain.
The Landtrain hadn't arrived yet and Korvac had no idea which tunnel it would be coming out of, so he decided to stand in the middle of the walkway's intersecting cross point. - That way he would have something like a hundred meters to any side-wall.
Without really actively engaging his brain, Korvac calculated that if the train hauled the usual one to two hundred railcars with the Imperial standard of a 17,79 meter coupler length, travelling at High Command's estimation of between two to three hundred kilometres an hour, that should give him a window of somewhere between twenty five seconds to just over a minute to get onboard the train. - A plentiful response-time for an Astartes, but his Servo Skull familiar could not move at those speeds, so he decided to plug one of its security tendrils into an input slot in his armour, hoping it would hold during the abrupt manoeuvre to get onboard.
A couple of minutes later and Korvac could hear the train approaching through the tunnels. Close to another minute passed before he actually saw the train itself come rushing into the huge hall, and Korvac reacted explosively, sprinting for the rightmost train track.
In a heartbeat, the train had rushed much closer and the hall was filled with smoke from its combustion engines.
As this was supposed to be a covert operation, the calculating librarian waited nearly four seconds before jumping, ensuring he would land somewhere at the rear of the train where he expected to find less people.
Earlier on in his journey through the upper service tunnels, he had wondered if his insistence on going on this mission alone had been a good choice, but now he did not regret it. Coordinating a team getting onto this fast moving monster would have proven disastrous and if the train proved to be transporting an army, then he would have a much easier time simply hiding his presence through the use of his Librarian powers.
 
All this passed through his mind in the second it took for him to jump of the cross railing until he hit home on the hard metal roof of the train.
The impact hit him like..., well, like a train, and though the magnetic couplers of his armoured boots kicked in, he could feel himself getting knocked over by the sudden collision-like impact.
The security link to his Servo Skull was severed in an instant and the skull bounced away from him, spinning out of control through the air above the fast moving train before it hit a chain and stopped its wild spin.
Instinctively Korvac could feel the little creature's sadness at its master leaving it behind, but there was hardly anything Korvac could do about it. - Besides, he had bigger problems.
Upon hitting the roof of the train, his Force Staff also fell away, but that at least was anchored to his body with a chain. Still, Korvac's magnetic couplers only held for a split second and the next moment he was falling face first and sliding along the roof of the railcar. He slid and spun, did a halfway summersault and fell over the side of the end of the wagon, but just as he was certain he had failed at getting onboard, his body was yanked hard to a stop and he found himself hanging dangling off the side of the railcar, being blown sideways alongside it due to the wind-pressure within the tunnel.
His Force staff had lodged itself into a coupling in-between the top of two wagons and Korvac was being held suspended from it thanks to the powerful chain he had fastened it to his arm with.
For a moment Korvac thanked the Emperor he had studied the fighting methods of the Dark Templars, but then he instead swung himself in between the two wagons he was dangling beside and secured his footing before dislodging his weapon from the wagons.
Looking over the side of the wagon he was standing on, he found he was on the third wagon from the rear of the train.
They had entered the narrow tunnel again and it was much darker here than in the large hall he had jumped onboard from.
 
Korvac shook his legs and stretched out an arm that felt as if though he had dislodged an elbow. He hadn't, but that landing most certainly had hurt. - He wouldn't be trying anything like that again any time soon!
Still, he was onboard now and he had work to do.
Phase one would be to gather information. - Was this train transporting an army? Was it transporting a weapon of mass destruction? Food and equipment, or something else?
Phase two would involve defeating enemies if possible, then take control of the train.
Phase three was to disarm any potential weapons of mass destruction onboard, then report in to High Command.
He checked his armour, weapons and equipment again. - The Teleport-Homer module High Command had outfitted him with was still ok; so was the added long range vox equipment, but right now it was of little use.
He checked his chronometer. He had another eighteen hours to report back before Plan B was set into motion and The Bloodied Scion blew a hole the size of a large tank factory straight through the tunnel system.
If that happened, Korvac wouldn't want to be anywhere near the blast site.
 
Closing his eyes, Korvac reached out with his mind and felt his immediate surroundings.
To his dismay he could no longer sense his Servo Skull familiar. - Too bad! It was an old relic, but one he felt attached to, like an old friend. - Plus it would have come in handy for recon.
The tunnel they were shooting through was treacherously narrow and many potentially dangerous objects protruded from the tunnel's sides and ceiling. - If he wanted to go on top of the train, he would need to be utterly careful.
The two carts next to him were seemingly filled with food and the last one in the set was some sort of luxurious living quarters. It held two human guards and Korvac could feel their boredom. - He was glad he had not landed on that one.
Moving inside the wagon in front of him, Korvac felt safer as he got away from the rushing ground and walls of the speeding train. He concentrated deeper on the two men to the rear and focused on their untrained minds.
Reading their surface thoughts he deduced they were combat engineers previously of the Nestir V Planetary Defence Forces.
The train's destination was Hive Secundus. - It carried explosives. Octanitrocubane and Sorguyl. - Enough to form the equivalent of a four kiloton nuclear yield, but the charge was not shaped, so it would have little effect on the Hive's overall infrastructure. - Relatively that is.
The bomb would collapse the Hive's tunnels for miles around and probably utterly destroy its sub-levels, leaving hundreds upon hundreds of thousands dead in the ruins; and with the transport tunnels destroyed, the Imperial War machine would have to aid in the evacuation, or everything they fought for would die with the people and competence the people of Hive Secundus represented. - The rescue operation would be a disastrous delay that would greatly benefit the Traitor forces.
 
Korvac opened his eyes again. Four kilotons! That would make the bomb at Hive Primus look miniscule - He had to stop them! - But how would they themselves escape the blast if the bomb detonated?
Korvac concentrated again and the answer came to him from the minds of the two soldiers. They would uncouple the last railcar and roll to safety under its own propulsion system. - That made no sense, Korvac realized. With a massive four kiloton explosion travelling through the tunnels they would be consumed by the shock-wave and fire in no time.
Korvac went deeper and felt that the men started sensing something was amiss, they turned restless and their minds grew more protected.
Activating his Psychic Hood to boost his power, Korvac reached even deeper anyway and saw the mental image of an alien device. - An Eldar portal-generator of some sort. - Then the image disappeared.
Korvac could feel that one of the men had started bleeding from his nose eyes and ears. The other man screamed and was about to get on his vox caster when Korvac delivered a deadly psychic energy blow into their minds. Both men collapsed utterly dead and Korvac had never even seen them.
 
 
+ + + +
 
 
Weiss was still at the head of the train, sitting a bit behind and to the side of his old friend Siak.
All the other seats of the wagon were empty aside from a set of detonator boxes, and Weiss playfully studied the ornamented Eldar device Adramalech had given him for this mission. It was shiny and silvery with strange curves and many oval gem stones that shone like a blue azure sky.
The device would open a portal that lead back to its sister device mounted along the rail tracks near their home base. Or at least so Adramalech had told him.
Unfortunately though, it could only be activated once before it needed to be recharged, so Weiss had no way of testing it to see if the Chaos Lord had indeed been telling the truth. - How very convenient!
Weiss was tempted to test it, but that would risk both his and his old friend's life; not to mention the twenty soldiers and crewmen Adramalech had sent with them. - Not that he really cared all that much for Adramalech's little human soldiers. The men had proven to be good men, but he would have given much to have the same amount of Astartes Warriors at his side instead; but alas Siak was all he had now. - Besides, there was very little chance of an enemy force stopping the train anyway, and even more unlikely for one to get onboard.
«That is where you are mistaken old friend!», came a voice into Weiss' head and he formally jumped out of his seat, dropping the Eldar device in the process.
«Who? What?», Weiss started and Siak, who had been sleeping, gave him a sideways look before he too got to his feet and drew his weapons.
 
«Relax.», came the voice into Weiss' head again. «It is I, Raikos. I have been searching for you, but you have been screened by some sort of mental block that you have now passed beyond».
Weiss thought he must have passed beyond Adramalech's psychic detection shield a few days ago and so it seemed likely that Raikos had detected him again now. He seemed to relax a bit and signalled for Siak to put his weapons away, then he put away his own Plasma Pistol, which had been given to him by Chaptermaster Jyscal before his venture to the Nestir System.
«What do you mean I am mistaken?» Weiss asked the air in general as he leaned low to pick up the Eldar device again before fastening it to his belt.
«Someone or something is onboard your train Weiss!», came the calm reply. I sensed its powerful psychic presence as it sought out and killed two of your men. - I would destroy it myself if I could, but I am afraid my powers are limited to sensing and communicating with known entities at this distance».
«Impossible! - What do you mean killed two of my m...», Weiss began, but he was quickly cut off as a desperate vox message sparked to life in his ear. «Oh Fething Hell, what is... something... Their bleeding out of their eyes. It...». The message stopped to the throaty gurgling of what Weiss recognized as the messenger drowning in his own blood.
Siak got to his feet again and drew his weapons, Weiss did the same.
«Where is this intruder?» Weiss asked out loud and it wasn't long before a reply came back into his mind. «It is in the rear, making headway towards your position Weiss.
You must stop it. You must stop it now!».
The sound of weapons fire and screams could dimly be heard over the constant noise of the train and Weiss sat off for the sound.
 
 
+ + + +
 
 
Seeing the last of the twelve Traitor Guardsmen in the wagon spasm and die, bleeding from every orifice as their bodies collapsed in their seats due to the hideously petrifying stress of the intense dark nightmare-realm Korvac had invoked in their minds, a nightmare-realm of insane terror; Korvac prepared to leave the wagon and keep going.
What he had done here was not nice. - Not in any way, and he knew that after invoking the indescribable dark malice of the Warp, he would need to spend many days in purifying meditation to cleanse his soul.
As Korvac let go of the darkness and his coal black eyes returned to their normal green, it was as if though a dark, smoky veil was lifted from the room. Some of the men he had ended here, had been so stricken with terror, they had anxiety vomited their own blood. - Others among the traitors had even prayed to the Emperor. - They had been the lucky ones and had simply died.
 
With the majority of his conscious self, Korvac knew that horribly killing these men, may indeed save hundreds of thousands of lives, so it was worth it. Yet most of Korvac's mind was revolted by seeing what he had done here, and still, what disgusted him the most was the fact that a small part of him, however diminutive, had revelled in the slaughter. - Had basked in the knowledge that he held such power and that he had been able to look into the minds of the infernal hell in which the men's minds were trapped. He had seen them engaged in a frenzy of torture, self-mutilation, cannibalism and sodomy in their darkest nightmares; and he had stood outside it all, in full control of the situation. It had left him feeling invulnerable, powerful and godlike - Some of the men had clawed their eyes out to try and escape the visions, but it had not helped to remove the images embedded in their heads by their own worst nightmares.
 
Korvac felt saddened by the whole deal, but he had to keep moving and so he swiftly conjured up a 'Gate of Infinity', a portal that would take him further up ahead in the train within the blink of an eye.
Stepping out of the portal he faced two Marines. - Steel Dragons if he wasn't mistaken. - Weren't they Excommuni..
Korvac's train of thought was cut off as one of the Marines screamed and came running straight for him.
 
Seeing a Legio Librarian with glowing green eyes emerge from a portal at the other end of their wagon, Weiss and Siak were stunned for a moment.
Through the portal behind the Librarian, the two Marines could see a virtual slaughter-house of a railcar. The thing was full of dead soldiers. - Their soldiers!
In stunned fury Siak screamed and rushed at the Librarian with his Chainsword drawn, but the distracted Librarian simply stretched out his hand and with a glowing Force Staff tipped towards him, the room was filled with energy.
In the next instant Siak was dead and suspended off the ceiling, his armour molten and his skin peeled away in a neat vivisection.
Korvac blinked. He hadn't meant to do that! - Something was interfering with his mind.
 
Seeing his friend ripped apart like that, Weiss screamed in denial.
Already running for the seemingly distracted Librarian, he fired off a Plasma round, but some sort of psychic veil seemed to interfere with his vision and he missed. His eyes blurred and suddenly Weiss saw eight of the Librarians swirling around the chamber. Still he kept going, his Chainsword held high. «For Drikos!», he screamed at the top of his lungs, invoking the name of his former Chaptermaster, but in all reality he thought: «For you Siak, old friend».
 
Korvac was distracted. Something external was interfering with him and through the din of the onrushing Traitor Marine only a few paces away, he thought he could hear a voice of some sort. - He picked up a name. Was it «Rikos»? - A millisecond later and the onrushing enemy yelled «For Drikos!», making Korvac uncertain.
For a split second he shifted his focus and in the blink of an eye he let go of both his Veil over the enemy's mind and his Gateway Portal, to erect a psychic force dome over himself, casting out any interfering entities' from his mind.
Maintaining three psychic powers was far to much even for a powerful psycher like himself though, so Korvac had to let go of one of them for a moment and dismiss the other as he raised his psychic shield.
He chose to dismiss the Veil over his enemy's mind, who, by picking up surface thoughts, he had learned was named Weiss; while he maintained his Gateway, though he felt it shift slightly as he let go of it.
 
The alien presence in Korvac's mind was dismissed and its presence disappeared entirely. - Weiss could feel it too, as the whispering voice in his mind disappeared.
His vision cleared up just a few steps away from his enemy, who seemed distracted, so he righted his pistol-hand and fired another plasma round.
Just as it was about to impact with the Librarians face though, a shimmering force shield sprang to life around him and the burning sun-like projectile bent around the shield as if caught in a gravitation well.
Behind the Librarian, Weiss could see the slaughter room of his men disappear to a darkness that came gushing out of the portal just as his plasma-shot pivoted around the Librarian's Force Shield. The Plasma meet the dark matter coming out of the portal and suddenly the room was a blazing inferno.
Weiss hit home on the Librarian in front of him, slamming into the Imperial with his Chainsword leading and the two fell through the portal into the furious inferno of what Weiss suddenly realized was burning Promethium.
Behind them, Korvac's portal snapped shut.
 
 
+ + + +
 
 
In utter darkness, Korvac realized something had gone wrong with his portal and now he was in a near blind close quarters battle with a crazed Traitor Marine.
Korvac felt a Chainsword drift past his bionic arm, but then his enemy must have floated away for a second. Korvac figured it was thanks to him setting his Force Staff to receive right before the enemy had slammed into him.
Working in overdrive, Korvac's mind quickly deduced that his portal had been misdirected and that the two had been thrown inside one of the train's many Promethium fuel tanks. - That is what the inferno a second earlier had been. Ignited Promethium! - But with it's oxygen supply cut off, the fire had temporarily been halted. He figured the Promethium probably still burned at the top of the tank though, something he confirmed a second later by glancing at his armour's temperature readout. - The environment outside the armour was boiling hot. - Literally!
With his Force dome having collapsed in Weiss' attack, Korvac suddenly felt very glad his armour was environmentally sealed.
 
Weiss on the other hand, screamed in agony, as he felt his skin melt and peel away, as boiling hot Promethium leaked through a tear in his armour to go gushing down his chest.
The damn Librarian had had his staff set to receive and as he had rushed headlong through the inferno and into the Librarians waiting form, Weiss had failed to see the staff tipped towards him.
Resultantly he had rushed straight into it and its psychically charged form had torn through his chest armour like paper, to leave a terribly open rent. Usually this in itself would have meant little, but here, emerged in boiling oil, it meant an agonizing burning hell!
The armour's self sealing repair system was quickly closing the tear, but it was not fast enough for Weiss who instinctively spasmed backwards, away from his enemy.
A moment later and the hole was sealed, but Weiss could still feel the burning oil as it continued its slow, viscous journey down his chest, to his belly and beyond.
It was truly a relief as combat drugs were administered into his system through the armour's auto injectors, and he could feel the cramp-like stranglehold of stinging agony around his pain riddled body let go as the neural feedback pulsing up his spine faded. - Then somehow he realized he was still holding on to his sword and pistol.
 
Shifting his helmet's vision mode, he found he could make out the faint outline of something cooler in the boiling hot environment, and Weiss moved in for deadly revenge.
Drawing his sword arm back, Weiss thrust forward with all his might and was rewarded with perhaps the most satisfying and fully direct hit he had ever had on another Marine during his long career.
The Chainsword chewed its way through Korvac's side armour, and already distracted by a burning sensation in his shoulder, where his now sizzling hot bionic arm meet flesh, Korvac was unable to parry.
The Chainsword bit deep into the left side of his back, tearing armour apart and drawing blood. The rending teeth of the sword cut through Korvac's left backside, embedding itself in his Ossmodula fused ribcage before Weiss yanked it back out, allowing thick, boiling oil to go pouring into the wound and exposed flesh.
As Korvac screamed in pain, Weiss took half a step back and smiled. «That, was for Siak, you self- righteous Imperial Dog!», he yelled and prepared to attack again.
 
Korvac felt searing pain enter his mind and knowing his armour would be unable to close the gaping hole in his armour in time to stop the oil from cooking him alive, he instead, quite desperately, opened another Gateway and fell through it.
With the destination near uncontrolled, he found himself laying on top of a wagon coupling, in between wagons, with burning Promethium pouring out in front of his face.
Up and in front of him, Weiss stepped through the Portal, sword in hand.
Korvac felt the combat drugs starting to kick in, but it wouldn't be in time to get his body functioning again, so he decided to supplement it with the disciplined mind-control of a trained Astartes Librarian.
Through sheer willpower he pushed the pain away and blocked Weiss' downwards sweeping chop with his Bionic arm, then he reposted from his prone position by swinging his arm over in a quick sweeping motion that dragged his dangling Force Staff along its chain in an attempt to entangle Weiss' feet.
The strike never hit home as Weiss jumped over it, but between the jump and Weiss' unstable landing on the treacherously unstable platform, Korvac had time to snap back to his feet and yank his weapon back in hand, thanks to his chain.
 
As soon as Weiss landed however, he used his momentum to dive into Korvac and the two armoured figures went through the door behind Korvac in a rain of wooden splinters and glass shards.
Laying on his back, Korvac blocked another thrust at his head, then pulled the staff across his body and holding it two handed, he thrust its middle into Weiss' face, making his head snap back and away before Korvac threw him off himself with a psychically empowered thrust that had Weiss flying into the nearest wall.
Separated now, both combatants got back to their feet and faced off against each other again. Weiss with his Chainsword held at the ready and Korvac with his force Staff held in the archaic fighting pose of the Chu-li priesthood.
Korvac's staff was now glowing blue as small arcs of Force lightning played across its shape.
 
«You fight well», Weiss said, trying to buy time to find another chink in the Librarian's armour. That back wound must hurt like Hell, he though, and it would be draining the Imperial's strength even now.
«As do you», Korvac curtly replied, but beyond that he did not move, choosing instead to use this short reprieve in the fighting, to charge his Force Staff with psychic energy.
«May I know your name at least, before I kill you?», Weiss asked.
«You may, Weiss», Korvac replied and Weiss was mildly surprised. - The fact that this Librarian knew his name was a sharp reminder that the Imperial very well may be able to read his combat moves before he himself actually performed them.
«It is Korvac», Korvac continued. «Korvac of the Legio».
«I should have known it would be the Legio!», Weiss said with barely concealed contempt in his voice. - «Shall we finish this?».
«Indeed!», Korvac replied. «Let us finish this».
 
With that, both combatants flew at each other. Weiss with his sword held high in a two handed attack posture and Korvac in a two handed upwards sweeping pose.
Both sides delivered blows. Two blows to either side as the two forms rushed past one-and-other . To an outside observer it might have seemed as if the two figures flowed through each other, only to stop three paces beyond with their backs turned.
They both stood there in exhaustion, seemingly frozen and neither side willing to make the first next move.
Weiss' helmet was cracked along the middle and one of his helmet lenses was crushed, his destroyed eye underneath it, full of glass and blood.
Korvac stood on the other side, a deep gash down the chest of his armour, and his armour already drenched in blood and Promethium in a seemingly unholy mix.
Then Weiss fell over and dropped his sword.
Korvac waited another five breaths before he turned and walked over to his fallen enemy.
With compassion in his hearts he looked down upon the broken form of the Steel Dragon.
He sensed no malice there. Some pain and sorrow for sure. Some hatred and what could pass for fear, but not the malice of a Chaos Marine. - He may be an Excominacatus, but he was no fallen.
Weiss' cracked helmet fell apart at the middle and in agony Weiss blinked up at Korvac with his one good eye. His breath wheezing as he struggled for breath.
Korvac leaned heavily on his staff. The Steel Dragon had taken the full brunt of a Force loaded Force Weapon directly to the head. - Korvac was surprised he still lived.
 
«You are no fallen», Korvac stated matter-of-factly. «Why do you help one such as Adramalech?»
Weiss coughed up blood to reply. «His cause may be noble yet and I do battle where I am told», he replied in a weak voice. «Now, torture me no more, as I would not torture you. - Finish it!.», Weiss said, sounding exhausted as he coughed up blood again.
Korvac met the single remaining eye of the battered warrior at his feet and found a sort of honour there. He nodded in respect and smashed Weiss' skull in with a thrust of his Force Staff. - It was over.
«May you go with the Emperor's peace», Korvac said. «May you all go with the Emperor's peace».
 
 
+ + + +
 
 
Deep in space, Weiss' secret 'benefactor', Rikos of the Bolter and Chainaxe cursed out loud and let everyone around him know of his disapproving fury.
With Weiss dead, his only real link to the power on Nestir V was gone and he was uncertain whether or not their machinations could come to fruition this time around. - Still, as long as he himself still lived, he would not give up hope!
 
 
+ + + +
 
 
Twenty minutes later, Korvac had gained full control of the train and stopped it. He had reported in to High Command and with the Landtrain stopped, Terminators teleported in around Korvac to further secure it.
Korvac received medical attention in the field, but there was no doubt he would need further surgery and aid in the Legio's Apotecharion onboard the Scion.
Being a stubborn one though, Korvac insisted on staying for the full securing drill of the train and also joined the teams for a quick sweep.
He secured the Eldar device he had seen in the minds of the soldiers from when he first arrived onboard the train and made sure the Legio Librarium got to work on classifying and deciphering it.
After nearly two hours of securing and searching the train, Korvac was nearly ready to collapse when an old friend came flying towards him at full speed. It was his familiar Servo Skull and the little thing danced around him like a happy puppy for a moment, before settling down at his side.
Korvac was ready to go home.
 
-------------------------


Honor the Fallen!
Weiss of the Steel Dragons (Renik)

Revard the Victorious:
Codicer Korvac of the Legio (Sigismund Himself)


-------------------------

And there we go, the first Battle of Round 02 resolved.
This was among the longest battles played for this Campaign, with over 10
rounds rolled and it was close to a tie all the way to the bitter end.

So what will happen next at Nestir V?
Drop by the AoD forum on Sunday to find out, as the story continues.
Thank you for reading, and Stay Tuned!

CMG

This post has been edited by Chaptermaster Graymantle: May 29 2009, 01:24 AM

[Marine With A Mu...]

you may want to note that during the first few parragraphs, you changed the type of missile used to clear the area (melta then plasma) and in the exclemation "To bad!" to should be replaced with too. Apart from that, it is a brilliant story, but the winner makes me sadface.

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

you may want to note that during the first few parragraphs, you changed the type of missile used to clear the area (melta then plasma) and in the exclemation "To bad!" to should be replaced with too. Apart from that, it is a brilliant story, but the winner makes me sadface.

thank you Marine With A Mullet!
Fixed the things you pointed out. Good eye!

[Reyner]

Wow. That was a great opening battle for round 2!

[Reno]

Good story!

Another win for the Legio!

[Renik]

good fight and frees me up nicely for propaganda ministry projects

[Ju'kosian]

good story !!

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

Glad you like the story people!
Oh, and I'm glad you're still positive about remaining active in the AoD, despite loosing your character Renik. - Very sportsman-like
I'm sad to see Weiss go, as it is a very likable character and you are one of the most active members of the AoD.
I would also have liked for the Traitor side to win this battle as it would have restored some of the overall balance, making for a more exciting game on the Strategic level.
Then again you did loose to a worthy character and Sigismund is just as active as yourself in the AoD.
No Mod-slayer title for you this time around I'm afraid.

As the battle started, Weiss was almost insta-killed thanks to Korvac's use of Smoke grenades and a Melta shot (translated to Psychics in the story).
But he was saved by the fact that he had 'Chosen by Fate', and so Siak was ripped to pieces instead.
Throughout the battle, the two were pretty evenly matched in wounding and saving; but in the last round Korvac scored two wounds and none of them were saved, so Weiss had to go.
Still happy for the Imperial side and that Korvac will continue on in his struggles.
He walked the razor-thin line between remaining loyal and falling to the temptations of Chaos in this story, but we cant let the Traitor side get all the great psychers.
Congratulations on the victory Sigismund! - It was well deserved in the end!

This post has been edited by Chaptermaster Graymantle: May 28 2009, 11:18 AM

[Renik]

you are mistaken the chaos propaganda minsitry projects im talking about dont involve nestir but will appear soon enough.

This post has been edited by Renik: May 28 2009, 09:22 AM

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

Ah well, to bad then.
See you around!

[Sigismund Himsel...]

Congrats to Renik for putting up a good fight, the Showdown was well worth the wait. A worthy opponent indeed I look forward to whatever plans Team Chaos has afloat.

Thanks to CMG for writing and dicing the battle as well, that was an excellent story.

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

Thank you Sigismund!
It will be interesting to see what Korvac will be up to next.

[Brother Cambrius]

Excellent opening story CMG! Had me captivated throughout it. One more for the Imperials! You put up a good fight Renik, but wherever you tread next to spread corruption, mark my words I'll be there to make your lives a living misery.

Cambrius

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

Thank you Brother Cabrius!
Looking forward to seeing more stories about Amorphous, in the future as well.

[TheDarkApostle]

Good read, shame about the loss

Keep it up CMG!

TDA

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

Thanks TDA!
I wont be writing the next one, though as I have other Nestir stuff I need to do, and I'm hoping
to get some time in to write a short story for the 'Fear the Alien' contest over at The Black Library.
Still arranging for the next battle info to go up this Sunday though.
It will be exciting to see who is next to do battle.

[Yogi]

Only the bad die young.. As Apoc is the most charming good guy evar! I have no concerns. Bad luck renik.

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

Indeed! After all Apoc helped make the Imperial Crusade Commander who he is today.
I'm sure the Imperials are very grateful and that they will ensure that Apoc gets a long life, many riches and much happiness!

[Savage Mortician]

nice, shame it's another imperial victory
Good to see you remembered his missing arm

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

Thank you Savage!
Sigismund did give me a reminder about the arm, but I always read through all the previous material on the characters before writing a story.
That way I ensure continuity and depth in the characters.
I'm looking forward to seeing the write-up of the next battle now, as I wont be writing that one.
Always interesting to see what others make of the battles as well.

[Aarhus]

Well written CMG!
Had me on the edge of my seat the entire time!

We have these chaos scum on the ropes now, let's push them back! *revs chainsword*

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

Thank you Aarhus!
I feel for the Chaos side after this one actually.
Hard to stay motivated when you've taken more punches than the enemy, but things can still turn around.

[Marine With A Mu...]

I cant find the chaos forum/ room thing in the AoD forum. Could someone post a link?

[Chaptermaster Gr...]

You have a PM Marine With A Mullet.