Clang. Clang. Clang.
On the way to the Navigator's Sanctum, the mood was subdued.
Arthur walked at the head of the column in silence, cutting down foes as they came. Romulus followed close behind, his bolter firing methodical, low-rate taps, his mind half elsewhere.
He had just blown a large chunk of points that appeared out of nowhere to conjure some troops, using them to help the Guard hold key chokepoints throughout the cruiser.
Crack.
Arthur split an ork with one stroke, then stomped a gretchin who was trying to sneak off clutching its boss's tooth. He noticed that aside from the Guardsmen at the defense nodes, there were far fewer living things moving at all.
In the Warp, where there was no resupply, both xenos and humans had bled themselves dry in the melee. Nothing remained but death.
"Arthur, you alright"
Romulus glanced over while still micromanaging his Ultramarines as they swept the decks.
Arthur's mood had been off ever since they killed the Chaos Marines.
"I am fine."
Arthur shook his head and gripped his sword.
"Just frustrated."
Shifris Gage had endured wave after wave of challengers. Even with his power pack ripped off, he had won back sixteen gene-seeds from dishonorable heretics. Such a steadfast warrior dying before his eyes was hard to accept for Arthur, who had been raised to revere heroes.
"Take heart. He will have returned to the Golden Throne. The Warp is the Old Man's home turf."
Romulus was much calmer.
Truth was, he had already taken his first cultural gut-punch from Warhammer 40k before he ever ran into Arthur.
"Even so, the Emperor is not all-powerful in the Warp."
Arthur's reply was heavy. If the Emperor could protect His warriors there, this attack from the Warp would never have happened. Without them, the Apothecary and the gene-seeds he guarded would have become part of a sacrifice to the dark gods, never to reach the Emperor they worshiped.
A classic case of a good man unrewarded. Fighting for humanity to the last breath, only to be tormented by the Ruinous Powers.
"Sigh."
Even Romulus could not help it.
There were four piles of filth in the Warp besides the Emperor.
"Forget it. Talking about it only makes me angrier."
Arthur shook his head and forced the gloom away.
"By the way, are you fine chatting while you micromanage all that"
"I am. My brain can handle it right now."
Romulus sounded unconcerned.
"Besides, you know I used to dual-box all the time."
"You are ruthless."
Arthur gave a thumbs-up. Even with a boosted brain, his thinking habits were set. Multithreading just was not his thing.
"Hmph."
Romulus shrugged and accepted the compliment. Arthur's next question followed.
"What do we do once we get out"
"You want to return the gene-seeds"
Romulus knew exactly what his friend was thinking.
"Yes."
Arthur nodded.
"I gave my word. I will do it."
"Agreed."
Romulus nodded back.
Even aside from their morals, Arthur had sworn before the Emperor. Backing out was not an option. This universe had real gods. Swear to an ancient sorcerer king and break it, and the next warp jump might decide to introduce you to a random nightmare.
Whatever the Emperor said about not being a god, faith in Him worked.
Romulus suspected they themselves were likely noble warp demigods at minimum, or something similarly hacky and strange, nearly immune to outside warp interference. Even so, they had been properly raised. They were not like those four. They kept their promises.
"Once we find the other two, we will talk it through. Trade intel. Set a plan."
Sharing the Ultramarines' sight, Romulus watched horribly mutated Guardsmen beg a demigod for the honor of death.
He fell silent.
With thoughts of their own, the two reached the Navigator's Sanctum and found a drowsy Blood Angel nodding at the door.
"Yo, you made it."
Compared to their first meeting, Karna had relaxed into an easygoing mood. His lazy drawl felt like it could spill out of the screen.
"Yeah. Gellar field is handled. Now it is up to Rameses to pull the ship out."
They waved hello. Romulus answered.
"Then get inside. With you here, maybe you can help him think it through."
Karna stepped aside. Once they entered, he drifted to the back of the group.
Vmmm.
A blast of light hit them as soon as they crossed the threshold.
The sudden shift from dark to bright did not trouble their enhanced vision. Their pupils snapped to the right aperture, and Arthur took in the scene within the sanctum.
Twisted corpses littered the floor. Blood and metallic dust were spattered everywhere, as if a mischievous child had dumped a paint can across the room.
In the Navigator's throne floated a Terminator in red Cataphractii armor.
"Thousand Sons"
Arthur had expected that aside from their Second Imperium duo, the last man might have been another loyalist.
"Rameses does not even play Space Marine 2. His desktop game is Thousand Sons. I think our initial forms match the Chapters we like best in our subconscious."
Romulus offered his guess.
"Dragged him to play with us once and he still ended up here."
Karna clicked his tongue.
"He bawled the hardest when he first crossed over. Oh, Arthur would not know that."
"He was busy chopping things up. Took him ages before he ran into me."
Romulus could not help ribbing his old friend. Despite his bookish look, once Arthur got heated he solved problems with his fists and hit hard. Back in grade school, he had pounded the kids who tore up his homework until they screamed for their parents.
"Khorne will love you."
"Romulus already said that."
Ignoring the teasing, Arthur asked, "What about you"
"I figured it out. Better to enjoy life than chew myself up."
Karna looked unbothered.
"You are awfully zen."
"I can flip the Black Rage to autopilot. Gives me lots of time to think."
The three traded a few lines, then focused on Rameses, still blazing in midair like a light bulb.
By now, nearly everything living on the ship was dead. The Gellar Field was secured. The Chaos Marines who had entered by ritual were dealt with. They held the core. Everything they needed to do was done.
Now it depended on whether their friend could pull them out of the Warp.
"Gwah"
As they waited, Rameses, who had been quietly guiding the cruiser through the Immaterium, suddenly thrashed like a drowning fish.
A shudder rolled through the ship from end to end.
"?"
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