The Life Eater a virus was created by the Imperium as a biological nuke designed to wipe all life from a world leaving nothing but husks and paddles of what used to be living birthing animals, people of all ages young and old, not even us the space marines who created forged by the Emperor's own hands could not withstand it for we would turn to soup within our power armour, it spreads across planets in minutes, the second stage is for those who somehow survived being eaten alive by the virus was if any person lit a single match the entire planet would be engulfed by a firestorm from Hell striping the planet back to bare rock and purging most of the oxygen making it uninhabitable to Terrans forever.
God Emperor I hope they received the message until a response was heard, sent directly from Captain Loken "Lieutenant who is firing on us? " Well here it goes "By our warships, the Warmaster has betrayed everyone on the surface." Silence was all I heard from Loken, I understood what he felt for I felt the same when I learned what had happened, until "Head towards the Governor's palace we will meet you there."
My orders are clear and need no confirmation, I changed my bearing towards the palace at full speed getting rid of any comfort along the way if we had any, sawing through the sky to see a single Imperator class Titan The "Dies Irae" clearing the trenches in front of the city with little to no effort, getting closer to the capital city I saw Rylanor a Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought of the Emperor's Children Rylanor is a legend among the legions and in his own Legion, I have talked to him before he has always told me the truth and I have done the same for him out respect over the years.
We arrived at the palace where hangar doors opened to an underground facility, as we landed the Thunderhawk and the hangar doors started to close, sounds of sirens could be heard to warn people of the coming death, seek cover where possible and pray to the Emperor that we make it through the coming storm of decay then fire. We walked out of the ship to be greeted by space marines of the "Emperor's Children" and the friend who warned me of this whole situation, "Saul Tarvitz, what a pleasant surprise to see you on this forsaken world."
I walked towards him with open arms, glad to see the face of a friend unlike some of my legion I try and make friends and not burn bridges," I see you have received my message, I wasn't sure if you had received it they cut off communications across the ship to deal with me, quietly before anyone would notice but with luck, I manage to commandeer transport off the ship only to be chased by enemy strike craft." "I know I saw it, you were flying like your head was on fire, then I saw an explosion I thought you had died."
"No my friend as I was being pursued, Nathaniel Garro of the Death Guard contacted me and I explained the situation to him, though he had a tough choice to make between me and defying the orders of the Warmaster, he covered my escape to the surface and said he was going to Terra to warn the Emperor of Horus betrayal." it is great to hear we have someone who will tell the Imperium of what is to come and I hope we will be there to see the end.
"Where's Captain Loken?" I asked not seeing him here. "He and the rest of your brothers are in the Sirenhold." it is good to hear there may still be hope for us, "What about the rest of our forces, the World eaters, the Death Guard, what are their conditions?" me hoping that our luck hasn't run out and the more battle brothers we have, the better our situation will be. "The World Eaters have gone into bunkers across the city and the Death Guard managed to punch through enemy lines and into the edge of the city because of your warning but we don't know their condition and the Titan Dies Irae has seemed to have gone silent."
Well, that's not good because we didn't contact the Titan and the ground forces couldn't contact anyone which leaves one option the fleet, they must have the Titan legions on their side as well, we are going to have to bring down the god engine somehow, this is going to be a pain. "What are you thanking Titerus? What is that mind of yours thought of now." Coming out of my thoughts I spoke my mind, "Our brothers were not the only ones to have betrayed the Imperium today" My words rang out through the hangar, "What do you mean, not the only ones?" Tarvitz said puzzled, "The Titan legions have sided with the Warmaster and one just so happens to be standing outside and we don't have the firepower to deal with it head on so that brings me to my plan."
I walk down the hallway to a chamber inside the governor's palace looking around the walls of the chamber hanged portraits of the previous governor and weapons used more for steering than defending or killing your opponent until my eyes found what I was looking for a map of the city. I brought the map to the large round table in the middle of the room as I put it onto the table the ground shacked like the world was tearing itself apart from the inside, I closed my eyes praying that those of us who didn't make it inside wouldn't die slowly but instead bolter in hand and grenade in the other. "What is your plan to deal with the Dies Irae?" He looked at me, understanding the pain but we didn't have the time sadly, I took off my helm and started to speak," The plan is to use one of the Thunderhawks as the spear tip to bring down the titan."
"Who is going to pilot this suicide mission." "Me… come on Tarvitz me and you both know this planet is going to be our tomb at least for most of us, we all know this. " As I spoke the truth of our fate to come, we stood silent for our future comrades that would perish in the coming battle, "Let me be a beckon, let me repay the Warmaster with Vengeance for…" "The Luna Wolves" Gavriel Loken spoke over Vox though not here in the room my words were heard by my brothers.
The virus bombs were being deployed in high orbit and all over the planet, people could be seen melting into puddles and armour being turned into husks of the owners, standing on the ramparts of a dead city Rylanor the Venerable dreadnought clad in his Contemptor pattern shell watched as the soldiers he leads into battle died around him, standing like a statue till the last moments of his fallen brothers, raised his head with defiance and said over vox so those who couldn't see but could still hear, "You led us here to die. There is no forgiveness for that. You must die by my hand! The Emperor's justice will fall upon you." His words were like the warhorns of a titan telling his enemies death has come. After the virus devoid the planet of life and the firestorm made sure life would never live here again, Horus sent "the Red angel" the traitor Primarch of the World Eaters Angron to finish us off with the rest of the tratours.
We found our positions amongst the ruined city and held the line with whatever we could and we were holding the tide of death back, not long after Horus sent another, "The Death lord" Mortarion of the Death Guard sent to kill his sons.
Round after round from my bolter, I have lost count of how many tratours I have killed, as run through our lines towards the Thunderhawk to take down the titan before It brings down our defences, getting closer to the ship and killing a few idiots who thought I would be an easy target either by shooting them in the head or cutting them in half, I don't have time to deal with you I am to close, I have seen my brothers die around me and I am itching to see that titan fall seeing the transport ready to go, my brother Vibris killing those who tried to get close with his mechanical arms or power axe "What took you so long? Where you enjoy the world's scenic view of craters and burning capital. " I laughed at the comment over the days we fought together with little to no sleep, but like we need that when we have bolter rounds and flamers to keep us company, "Thank you, brother, may we meet again."
I raised my hand to shake his hand, and he grabbed my hand with a firm handshake, "Whatever happened to the tech priest, did he ever leave the Thunderhawk and he never told me what that datapad had on it." "You know I can't tell you that either, my oaths and promises you to understand." with a sigh "Yes I understand. Good luck" I stepped past him inside the Thunderhawk and then heard a bolt round fire I turned around with a pistol in hand and saw my friend, my brother with a hole through his chest standing in front of me where the bolt round was heading "Go, Lieutenant, For the Emperor. "
The last thing I saw of him was an axe in hand charging the enemy squad with fury, "For the Emperor," I said with solace I started the engines of the Thunderhawk and took off, towards the titan, the god machine noticed the transport and brought its armaments to bear, having no fear for the transport weapons could not scratch its armour and started to fire at the Thunderhawk with mounted AA guns. Evading the Titan's attempts to shoot me down, "Is that all you got traitor, come at me!!! " Almost sensing my taunt, Dies Irae focused more on me, turning the Thunderhawk into a fireball with wings, feeling the time has come for me, I shouted to the sky "For the Emperor, For the Luna Wolves!!!!" right into Dies Irae's head.