All-Purpose Warhammer 40000 Fanfiction Thread

Brother Manes was a solid, dependable Marine; a credit to his Chapter and to humanity, but merely one among many.

Then came the attack of a Word Bearers band up Terti, where Brother Manes' squad was deployed. The heretical preaching of the Word Bearers roused something in Brother Manes, and he too began to preach, of the glory of Emperor and Imperium, of the destiny of mankind and the self-defeating nature of the Ruinous Powers. One by one his brothers fell, one by one the regiments of the PDF fell to heresy or battle. This continued until only Manes remained and the leaders of the PDF despaired.

Manes would have none of it. While their leaders faltered, he walked among the men, bracing them to their duties, giving them courage for battles to come. Twice those who had succumbed to heretical lies attempted to assassinate him in the midst of his impromptu sermons, but Manes dispatched them without even stopping his oratory. Where faith faltered, Manes restored it; where men feared, Manes gave them courage.

In the battle for Spaceport Downs the Word Bearers summoned demons to break the PDF's sole remaining regiment. The colors of the 11th Terti Regiment fell and the regiment was on the verge of rout when Manes appeared. He took up the regiment's colors, calling to its members as his brothers, telling them that they too must know no fear; they too must act as Space Marines here, today, for if they did not their world and their sector would fall, and with it all they held dear.

Manes charged against a Bloodthirster and a tide of warp-spawned horrors, holding high the PDF's colors. Incredibly, the regiment followed.

Even more incredibly, it won. Men and women armed with only their faith in the Emperor and their bayonets surmounted a tide of gibbering horrors. Grim-faced PDF troopers hacked and chopped at the legs of the Bloodthirster, and brought the monster down though it killed them by the score with each axe-swing. Brother Manes killed two dozen Word Bearers at the least, planting the flag of the 11th Terti atop the corpse of their Dark Apostle.

In the aftermath, the Inquisition wished to execute all the survivors of the PDF. Manes would not allow it; he spoke of them as Battle-Brothers, Space Marines in all but name. If the Inquisition would execute the 11th Terti Regiment, they could begin with him.

Mindful of the fact a Silver Eagles strike cruiser now orbited the world, and of the Chapter's famous desire to keep the purging of the heretic selective to ensure the Sector's stability, the Inquisitor instead charged Manes with leading the survivors and personally ensuring their continued purity, or their lives, and his, would be forfeit. Manes agreed, declaring the survivors his Company and himself their Captain.

The 11th Terti Regiment, or the Terti Company of the Silver Eagles, is no longer PDF, but nor is it Guard or Space Marine. Two hundred and twenty-six strong, they are equipped better than any Guard unit; a noticeable number wear power armor, all have at least carapace. Plasma weapons are standard, many of them recovered from Chaos and re-sanctified, and heavy weapons abound. Valkyrie and Vendetta attack VTO Ls are the common mode of transport; held in private ownership by the Terti.

The Terti Company operates in the fashion of the Chapter; they deploy via aerial assault onto key positions and hammer flat anyone who attempts to approach with massed fire. With Brother Manes at their head and the tact approval of Chapter Master Theodor, they are allowed to bear the heraldry of the chapter. Though they are not Space Marines, they behave in accordance with the Codex Astartes wherever able.

The Terti Company's existence is polarizing, to say the least. Many Marines consider its very existence a heretical breach of the Codex; many others find mere humans wearing the livery of a Space Marine intolerable. Many Inquisitors are reminded uncomfortably of Chaos warbands. But it was created by Inquisitorial mandate and so long as it bears the approval of Chapter Master Theodor no power within the sector is willing to move against it for fear of his wrath.

He walked down the halls of the Battle-Barge Litany of Fury, still unwilling to believe that this was the fight they were going to fight. Of all the xenos, heretics and abominations still left on planet Kronus, the Blood Ravens on the ground were slowly but surely making their way towards the one possible ally they could have had on the planet. Slowly, but surely, the Blood Ravens were closing in on Victory Bay.

The Governor-Militant, Lucas Alexander, had demanded the Blood Ravens stand down and evacuate the planet. Akileus knew they could not. He had seen the relics underneath the Blood Ravens stronghold. He’d known the fury in Captain Thule’s eyes when he ordered them all destroyed. Only Akileus, a select few Battle-Brothers who participated in the fighting, as well as the Captain himself, knew of the terrible secret that lay beneath Kronus, key to the history of the Blood Ravens.

When the Blood Ravens had refused to stand down, Alexander had marshaled his 1st Kronus Liberators in an attack on their stronghold. Though they’d been repelled by a well-timed Orbital bombardment fired from the Litany of Fury, it had only sparked a retreat back to Victory Bay for reinforcements. Then they’d try again, and again, until the Blood Ravens were retreating or dead.

So it had come to this. Captain Thule had ordered the Blood Ravens already on the ground to pursue Alexander back to Victory Bay to lay siege on the general’s well-entrenched fortress, a bloody conflict that would stain the honor of both Blood Ravens and Kronus Liberators forever. No doubt this would rile the Inquisition. There would be questions, probably Inquisitorial oversight for a decade or two. He didn’t dare contemplate it further.

“Does something bother you, Honored Brother Akileus?”

Akileus looked behind him at a familiar voice. Behind him stood a Space Marine, his hair a pitch-black. By his side was a sheathed power sword, and a plasma pistol in the other, and he was wearing a suit of gilded Artificier Armor, forged ages ago by one of the Chapter’s most gifted artificiers. Captain Davian Thule was a striking example of a Space Marine Captain. His very presence commanded respect from even those of the veteran First Company.

Akileus nodded at Captain Thule, the motion made awkward by the limited head movement in his ancient suit of Tactical Dreadnought Armor, or Terminator Armor. He had long since lost his hair, to the eternal amusement of his fellow First Company veterans. They always joked that he was almost as bald as Captain Boreale.

“Yes, Captain. I know the Governor-Militant is a threat to our operations here, and I know we cannot give up any relics that may still lie buried underneath the ice of Kronus, but there are still so many other threats left. Orks, the thrice-damned Chaos Space Marines, the accursed Eldar, those living metal skeletons, the infernal Tau. Why is it that we go for the Governor-Militant first?”

“The situation demands it, Brother Akileus. He will hound us forever if we do not stop him dead in his tracks here. I do not like it any more than you do. Although if it’s any consolation to you, Sergeant Avitus is happy”, the Captain said, with a grin on his face.

Akileus couldn’t help but smile. Sergeant Avitus was from a world known for its brutal Guardsmen. He would probably enjoy the slaughter they were going to carry out today. Akileus would not.

“Captain. I have a request.”

“Ask away.”

“I want to be released from my squad. I’d like to be put with the Scouts we brought here.”

“Why is that, Brother Akileus?”

“Our Chapter is currently engaged in two conflicts: One here on Kronus, and one in the Kaurava System. Between us we’ve split up our Scout Company half in half. If our Scouts should be targeted both here and on Kaurava, our Chapter will nearly be extinct in the years to come. Plus, the sight of one of their oldest Brothers, a veteran of untold hundreds of campaigns, will no doubt be a great source of inspiration. They will no doubt have more second thoughts about this than any of our other Battle-Brothers. After all, they are yet new to our Chapter.”

“Your argument is accepted, brother Akileus. Go forth with my blessing to support our Scouts. Before you go, however, I’d like you to requisition a weapon from the armory. Unless you intend to solve everything with your fists. You’re with our snipers, I doubt you’ll need to punch out tanks. You know how the saying goes.”

“Walk softly”, Akileus said, smiling at his Captain and brother. “And carry a big gun.”