YOUR PRIMARCH LIVES!

Sorry that it has literally been years. The 1 week holiday sort of turned into 1 year didn't it? Anyway, I hope to actually write more than 2-and-a-half Chapters this time, and make them be more than a thousand words. there is some chapter background, more in later chapters. Azilio=action, Aradric=story (for now). So yeah. Enjoy...

Azilio waited patiently for the trap to be set, whilst recalling the past few days that brought him here...

"Squad Tiberius, as you, along with Sergeant Froden's Warp Raiders assault squad, are originally from the Dark Angels, you're both being sent to the daemon-world known as Cryomo VIII to find a small group of surviving Dark Angels who were hiding there, and bring them to the Furioso. We will then unite them with our chapter and make them brothers of our own." explained Adrax Agatone. Originally the famed captain of the Salamanders 3rd company and now Brother Captain of the Oblivion Guard's 2nd, he paused to contemplate his next words. "The planet has been infested with daemons ever since the planet fell to the chaos forces of Khorne. This means that there is probably a group of Heretics down there, pulling the strings. Once you've rescued the Dark Angels, find and neutralise the traitorous dogs." As the squad prepared for duty and were loading into the drop pod, Tiberius had a quiet word with Agatone. "In the briefing, you said they were hiding. Do we know their current location? If not, how can we be sure they live?" "Their last known location was in the continent's southern quadrant, but if they were on the move, Emperor only knows where they are." replied Agatone. Clashing vambraces and giving a curt nod, Tiberius joined his squad for the descent, with Froden's squad standing nearby as they were deep-striking as an escort. Strapping themselves in, an automated voice started a countdown. "5...4...3" "Get ready!" Shouted Tiberius as the countdown reached zero.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As the drop pod plummeted through the world's atmosphere, Azilio glanced around at the squad that he, being a newly promoted Techmarine, was accompanying. Their sergeant, Tiberius, was originally from the Dark Angels' 1st company, the Deathwing. Rumour had it that he was the lone survivor of the several terminator squads sent aboard the space hulk Wyrmwood. However, as he didn't like to talk about it, these had neither been confirmed, nor denied. He had the normal Oblivion Guard colours, but with 1 green stripe across his helmet, the colour of powdered bone, to represent his original company and chapter. This was the same for not only the squad, but for all astartes brought to the legion from missions like these. With almost the entirety of known space being oppressed by chaos, the majority of xenos had been wiped out. However, those that survived terrorised the worlds not yet in the gaze of the chaos gods. This meant that most space marine recruiting worlds had been destroyed or drowned in blood, and so the Oblivion guard gained most of their number from remnants of loyalist chapters who still wanted to fight back. They were given Mk IX Requiem power armour. This new mark of power armour was specifically designed to deal with the massive daemon threat, implementing designs found in the inquisition's old databanks, designs for more advanced Grey Knight soldiers. The new armour had the colours of their new legion, but with some hint at their original calling. Some were as subtle as different coloured lenses for their helmets while others would have their backpack as the original colours. The former was commonly found on the more quite or controlled legions, while the latter were usually done by the more brash legions like the Space Wolves or White Scars. One brother, bearing the colours of the Blood Angels, looked up from the heavy bolter he was cleaning and caught his gaze, giving Azilio a small nod before turning back to his weapon. It was a glorious weapon, bearing the marks of his chapter, the most obvious being the golden crested wings running the length of the bolter from the barrel. Azilio could imagine how the wings glowing as the weapons fired, the fire reflecting and distorting in the well oiled surface.

Azilio turned to a screen showing the pods exterior. Just fog. Just as he turned away, something dark shot across the screen. He caught the movement out from the corner of his eye and darted his head around. The brother with the heavy bolter saw this, turned to the screen then back to Azilio. "Everything all right brother?" questioned the marine. But rather than reply, Azilio just grabbed the camera controls and started to scan for the movement, and was met with fog. Just as he thought he had imagined it, something appeared for a second before the feed turned to static. As the other marine called to his squad, Azilio turned the feed on his helmet to and rewound the last few seconds of footage on the camera, then replayed them at half speed. What he saw chilled him to the bone. A gaping maw of black, the only respite from the darkness the yellowed, razor sharp teeth changing the abyss and reminding Azilio of a night sky, the yellow dots of entire galaxies burning. All of that death and despair was reflected in those fangs, and Azilio wanted to tear the beast from the footage itself and tear it apart. Suddenly, he realised that Tiberius had been calling his name across the vox. "Brother Techmarine, what is it?" Azilio shook his head, and even though he turned to the sergeant, he talked to everyone whose lives were now at risk. Including those on the command ship. "Drop pod primus to squad Froden, we have a daemon on our hull, over." Azilio reported. Suddenly, a small exterior explosion started wailing alarms and hissing gas as the auxiliary life support was destroyed. The drop pod stated rocking violently as the force pushed it off-course. Over the crackling vox, Azilio heard Froden and his marines activating their jump packs to launch a counter-attack. Another, larger explosion sent half of the drop pod's hull spinning away from the remaining skeleton. Grey mist filled the sky and Azilio could see more shapes looming out of it. One unfortunate marine was pulled out of his harness and thrown into the void. Reaching across, Sergeant Tiberius grabbed the bolter which had belonged to their doomed brother and fired until dry into the daemon. Screeching, it flew away bleeding into the mist. In the distance, Azilio saw a daemon tear the jump pack from a Raven's back. As Azilio watched helplessly as the marine plummeted, there was another small explosion and the last thing Azilio saw before blacking out was the grey fog finally clear to reveal the desert sands rush up to greet them.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Azilio awoke to the sound of crackling vox chatter. None was Human, only whispers so soft Azilio questioned whether or not they were real. Rising, he called out to his brothers. After a few seconds, his call was answered by Brother Ghorom. This was answered by another, then another until both squads were together. "How many?" asked Tiberius. "We landed safely, but lost two men in the ambush" answered Froden. "That's two, plus one from the descent and another from the crash." added Ghorom, glancing at the remains of a brother unlucky enough to land under the wreckage. Not even the chapter's greatest apothecary could help him. "So we've only landed and already lost a quarter of our unit." Azilio summarised. All that remained was 8 of Tiberius' tactical squad, Tiberius himself trying to stem the bleeding from a wound caused by a stray chunk drop pod, and 3 of Froden's Raiders. The marine with the heavy bolter walked over to the group. Despite not knowing his name, Azilio was relieved that he had survived. From his shiny new plate, Azilio realised that he was on his first mission, fresh from the scouts. "What's your name brother?" he questioned "Colirius sir, recently promoted to the 8th company, specialising in heavy weapons and undergoing training to become a Techmarine." replied the rookie whilst gesturing to the pouches strapped to his armour. "Alright everyone, let's get this over with." shouted Tiberius as Azilio pulled out his auspex and started to tune it. Despite the dust and smoke, the sergeant left his helmet off, clasped to his belt. "According to this, we landed 7 miles west of the L.Z., meaning we are closer to our destination and saved a day of trekking through the acid swamps" reported Azilio as he handed it to the squad leader. So despite the loss of men, the ambush had benefitted the mission greatly. "Unless that's what they planned" Azilio thought to himself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Heading towards the objective, the marines stuck in pairs. Colirius stuck with Azilio, keenly listening to Azilio's Techmarine tales. The two squad leaders talked among themselves about past battles, boasting of the odds of victory. Suddenly, a snapping sound turned their attention, just in time to see two logs swing down from either side of the valley and crush one of the tactical squad. This was immediately followed by the screeching of hundreds of bloodletters. "Well rookie" said Azilio, drawing his chainsword and jamming the activation room, feeling it jump to life in his armoured gauntlet. Around him brothers draw back the slides on their bolters or drew their knives and bolt pistols. Froden activated his power fist, clenching his fingers as they started to crackle with raw energy, and his remaining Ravens started up their jump packs, relishing the thought of avenging their brothers.

"It looks like it's finally time for some action."