"Bring the prisoner to me",

Chaplain Camales addressed his deathwing bodyguard in the C&C room in the bunker. Five weeks the fighting had
raged in a vicious one-sided battle against the renegade guardsmen still loyal to the planetary governor. The battle was going like a textbook planetary re-take until the alpha legion had appeared amongst the guardsmen in the battle for Dreamscape plaza in the capitol. The Dark angel attack had still been successful but due to the traitor’s presence the marines’ losses had been higher than anticipated. The Deathwing trooper tossed the prisoner to the floor, he was dressed in the uniform of a colonel of the 12th Pacifica armoured regiment, it was torn and dirty with dried blood on the front of the tunic. As the man stood up he stared straight at the Chaplain and spoke in a raised tone,

"How dare you treat me in such a manner!! I’m a colonel in the imperial guard and I...."

He was suddenly silenced by a swift and vicious back handed blow to the side of the head, which sent him
hurtling across the room. The chaplain roared at the prisoner,

"YOU ARE A TRAITOR TO THE LORD OF MANKIND AND AS SUCH HAVE NO RIGHTS!! HOW DARE YOU ADDRESS ME AS AN EQUAL!!!",

Camales lowered his voice and moved closer to the colonel,

"The only reason you are still alive you heretical little worm is because I need to know exactly how many chaos marines are assisting those maggots in the city".

Reaching below his robe he removed what looked like a tiny serrated dagger,

"And you WILL tell me what I need to know"…..

With a nod the terminators left the room. Even with the plasteel door closed the man’s screams were still audible. Fifteen minutes later the chaplain emerged from the room wiping blood from his gauntlets and the small blade with a torn section of the colonel’s tunic;

"Brother terminator sergeant Akaad would you please dispose of the body?",

"Yes brother chaplain, right away".

The briefing room was dimly lit as the battlebrothers stood waiting for their chaplain. The deathwing stood at the top of the hall with the ravenwing squad members behind them. Camales stood to give the briefing.

"Brothers, from the information so graciously provided by our prisoner we have now determined there are at least forty, maximum fifty, alpha legionnaires in the city assisting the rebels, At least ten of which are terminators";

He couldn’t help but notice the smirk on the deathwing sergeant’s face;

"They have assisted the rebels in bolstering the city defenses but our probing parties have met with minimal resistance. Therefore we may assume they will hold back from any major confrontation until they deem it necessary to engage us in open warfare. We shall therefore adopt attack pattern beta five and I will teleport into the palace mainhall with the Deathwing. Master Sheol will lead the attack on the rest of the city. Assault troops will tackle the city defence lasers and the Ravenwing will keep the tanks busy. That is all".

After the briefing the chaplain moved through the ranks blessing the men and their equipment for the ensuing battle. The traitor guardsmen shouldn’t be much trouble but even as few as forty traitors was enough to inflict heavy casualties on his brothers. Camales strode from the armoury in his terminator suit to meet the twenty deathwing who would be accompanying him in the strike. The first of the first, the best terminator marines in the imperium and a
fine sight to behold. On the planet surface the Ravenwing had taken light casualties but had managed to inflict heavy losses on the traitor tanks and sentinels trying to pin them down. The assault squads had also captured their objectives with heavy losses for the guardsmen. Lasblasts impacted on the ground and on the marines. A few
of the marines had fallen under the weight of the fire from the guardsmen who were desperate to keep the angels of death at bay. Their efforts were in vain. Chainswords and bolt pistols tore the guardsmen to shreds the screams of the dying mingled with some of the traitors begging for their lives but their pleas fell on deaf ears. The Dark angels assault secured the city walls and most of the outer palace complex. After which they embarked on a complex sweep pattern to scour any further resistance but still there was no sign of the Alpha legion.

As soon as the Deathwing arrived in the main antechamber the gunfire from the Alpha legion tore through the air smashing into the terminator armour, but inflicting no more harm than summer rain. The
Alpha legion marines charged the terminators but were stopped dead by the return fire from the dark angels and the rending lightning claws.

+++BE ALERT MY BATTLE BROTHERS, OUR TRAITOR COUNTERPARTS MAY BE NEAR.+++

After a thorough search of the surrounding area the deathwing moved on to the throne room. The Governor was already dead, his heart torn from his chest and the chaos star carved into his forehead. The price he'd paid for aligning with chaos. He had obviously been used as some form of sacrifice. As Camales approached the dais there was a shout over the commnet, it was master Shoel,

+++HONOURED CHAPLAIN. CONTACT, MAIN COURTYARD. TWELVE ALPHA LEGION TERMINATOR MARINES. THEY HAVE US PINNED! TWO APPEAR TO BE CARRYING SOME KIND OF CASKET WHILST THE REST PROVIDE COVERING FIRE. THEY ARE RETREATING NORTH BY NORTHEAST. PLEASE RESPOND!+++

"REQUEST RECEIVED AND ACKNOWLEDGED BROTHER CAPTAIN WE WILL ASSIST. DETAIN THE TRAITORS AS LONG AS YOU CAN. CAMALES OUT+++

The Deathwing opened fire on their traitor counterparts as they entered the courtyard the traitors split into a two by two pattern to withdraw down the hall way but were boxed in by the arrival of the assault marines who began dropping Krak grenades on them.

"Careful brothers! We need to see what’s in the casket!!",

Camales found his sense of curiosity getting the better of him. The traitors fought hard but eventually fell to the storm of fire from the loyalists but not before taking a terrible toll on the assault marines. As the smoke cleared Camales approached the dead terminators. As he did so the casket was making a humming sound with the occasional bleep. When he opened the casket he received a sudden electrical discharge which was dissipated by the shock dampers in his suit. As he regained his footing master Sheol was by his side assisting him as
was the Deathwing sergeant.

"Brother chaplain, why would the Alpha legion risk so much for a casket but commit so little troops??" Sheol
was obviously very puzzled. The chaplain was already waiting to answer.

" This was obviously a covert operation and the guardsmen were a diversion to help make good their escape. Let us see then brothers why the vile chaos filth were so eager to get away with this recent acquisition".

All present were shocked by their discovery as the lid opened on the casket the tech slabs and readouts on and around the contents of the box puzzled the marines.

"What is it?" asked sergeant Akaad;

Camales took a deep breath before answering. "That, honored sergeant, is a portable STC databank". "Call a thunderhawk, the techmarines will want to see this. And fast".

The two thunderhawks touched down kicking up swirls of dust and debris, which enveloped the observing marines in the plaza and the whine of the immense turbofans died down as the ships, sat at rest. With a hiss and whine of hydraulics the front landing ramp on each of the craft opened up like some great metallic shark. The first thunderhawk contained techmarine Balarus and his servitors along with a tactical marine bodyguard and the second contained two tactical squads and a fresh assault squad. The marines deployed following a standard defensive pattern in the plaza and there were still sporadic reports of fighting with the rebels who were still holed up in bunkers. It would take the Dark angels a few more weeks to pacify the planet completely. Belarus was no ordinary techmarine; he was the most senior tech adept in the chapter and was the man directly responsible for the chapter’s dreadnoughts.

"Brother Camales, congratulations on your find, we must hurry however to return the artefact to the rock. The inquisition have heard of the chaos involvement in the planetary uprising and have dispatched a task force".

Balarus opened the box and took a few readings to confirm it was as he had been informed. The expression on Camales’ face gave away what he was thinking and none of the marines were prepared to state the obvious. Camales was well known throughout the chapter for not only his sarcasm but his quick temper too.

"Are they aware of the STC we’ve recovered?",

"Not yet honoured brother, they are already in system and have contacted lord Azrael for a status report on our operations to date. This has, however been ‘overlooked’ shall we say, by Lord Azrael".

Camales wasted no time issuing orders to the marines present,

"Brothers, the inquisition will be arriving shortly ", he paused to let the effect of his words sink in. Each marine had a distinct look of anger and hatred on his face. "If they uncover what we’ve taken from the traitors then our brothers will have died in vain. Let this not be the case!".

The deathwing needed no further instruction and two of the warriors picked up the case and double-timed it to the thunderhawk, disappearing up the ramp with the casket. The commnet suddenly burst into life.

+++PILOT AMMARAEL TO BROTHERS CAMALES AND BALARUS+++. Both marines responded at once and at the same time,

+++SPEAK BROTHER BUT WITH ALL HASTE+++

+++HONOURED BROTHERS A RAVENWING SPEEDER HAS JUST INTERCEPTED AN INCOMING VESSEL APPROACHING FROM THE NORTH AT APPROXIMATELY 360mph. TARGET IDENT SHOWS IT TO BE AN INQUISITION VESSEL, HADES CLASS DROPSHIP. DO I HAVE PERMISSION FOR AN IMMEDIATE DUSTOFF NOW THE CARGO IS ABOARD+++

The techmarine gave the lift-off order just as the inquisition dropship came into view. The huge spacemarine ship was soon well on it’s way back to the rock as the other dropship touched down. No sooner was the inquisitor out of the ship than he fired a question at Camales.

"Chaplain! I demand to know why that thunderhawk was in such a hurry to leave and secondly what the pilot meant by ‘cargo’. So an explanation if you please!".

"Inquisitor the transport was in a hurry to leave because it was a standard medevac dustoff. Nothing more, nothing less". Camales never even turned to face the inquisitor, which just served to anger him even further.

"You will face me dark angel when I address you! Such arrogance will not be tolerated! Call that transport back, NOW!"

This time Camales did turn to face the inquisitor.

"Your bully boy tactics may work on the other imperial citizens but I will not call back a medical evacuation just to satisfy your own curiosity. I will not risk my brothers’ lives. So the answer is still no!"

"Then present your report and I will then proceed to the rock". The inquisitor could sense the dark angels were becoming uneasy at his presence so decided to allow himself some time and retired to the dropship to mull over the reports. This was not the first time the dark angels had held out on him and definitely not the first time he’d had a run in with Camales. His trip to the rock should prove very informative........