A Tower of Riddles

Alreet All,

Anth asked me to write this about the slaying of the Chaos Space Marine, let me know what you think?

A Tower of Riddles - Chaos

The two Astartes of team Alpha continued their descent of the tower block, moving down the metal service staircase towards their objective, the Office of Governor Norr. For all their movement, they were silent in their synskin body gloves.

Silent except for the grinding of brother Memnon’s teeth.

The discovery of a Xenos laboratory on floor 166 still tormented the dour Emperor’s Scythe. The thought that a Tyranid could be loose on another Imperial world brought unwelcome & disturbing images of a burning Sotha into Memnon’s mind. He fought with all his willpower to keep his building rage in check.

Claw marks, human blood & body parts had told the veteran that those working in the lab had perished when their ‘test subject’ had escaped its restraints. The simple fools had underestimated the unquenchable hunger of the Tyranid & paid for that ignorance with their lives.

Memnon vowed on the memory of his dead homeworld, that he would see the rogue Tyranid ripped asunder, & prayed that he would come across the creature before his brother’s in team Beta. The ghosts of Sotha deserved vengeance & it had been sometime since the dour marine had been tested in combat by a Tyranid. In truth he thirsted for the confrontation.

The tower of riddles; a phrase coined by the Spacewolf following their second ‘test’ at the bottom of the vent shaft, played within Memnon’s thoughts. Yes, this tower block had proven to be exactly that.

A Xenos laboratory in the offices of a planetary governor was a serious crime in itself, but numerous xenos artefacts had also been encountered. While the clash with the warped twisted Eldar witches within the Governor’s private parlour, added yet more lines to the riddle of Governor Norr’s disappearance.

These things troubled the Astartes deeply & Memnon was eager to make contact with his brothers, in order to seek council & evaluate their own encounters. The vox signal had been blocked upon entry & despite a brief converse through an internal communication system within the tower; the two teams had been left to pursue their pre-assigned objectives un supported.

Considering the evidence as it now presented itself, it appeared that the Governor’s excesses had stretched far beyond those allowed of a lawful servant of the throne. How deeply Norr was actually involved in these things was yet to be established & a matter for the Inquisition’s interrogators.

One thing that was for certain was that Memnon was eager to be done with the task & away from the cursed tower of riddles.

A muffled distant gun shot stopped both Astartes in their tracks & drew Memnon sharply from his grim revere.

Memnon crouched into a defensive stance, his bolter levelled down into the gloom of the spiralling staircase. Slowly he turned his head & looked to his comrade. The Space Wolf, Haakon had heard it too & seemed to be tasting the air, utilising his heightened senses in order to identify the source.

Memnon looked back into the gloom, he had heard the gunshot clearly, the synthetics of his amplified hearing relay had already begun to feed the particulars through into his ocular augmetic. The data read out only served to confirm his natural conclusion.

‘Bolter fire… floor 115 (4 floors below)… bolt pattern Alpha six…’

Memnon frowned involuntarily & blink clicked for confirmation of the last text;

‘Data log confirmation…Processing… confirmed! Bolt pattern alpha six… excommunicate traitor.’

An instruction, though not required, flashed along the lower readout of Memnon’s augmented vision;

‘Excommunicate traitor, EXPUNGE THE HERETIC!’

Using battle sign, Memnon alerted his Spacewolf battle brother & they both began a rapid decent of the service way. The Emperor’s Scythe moved down the flights of stairs with ease, his giant strides eating up the distance in seconds. The Fenrisian was right behind him grunting excitedly in his feral tongue.

The floors passed by in swift succession, painted plagues displaying the level in clear white numbers, meeting the marines every few steps; 118, 117, 116…

More gunfire could be made out as they closed in. This time more defined, bolter fire, both Godwin pattern & Alpha six pattern, intermixed with the distinctive whirr of a rapid firing las-carbine.

Level 115.

The Emperor’s Scythe crashed through the access door without slowing his pace. Splinters scattered in an explosion of wood, hinges & Astartes. Two security personnel framing the ornate chapel doorway only meters from the stair access, were caught completely off guard by the unexpected arrival of the Emperor’s finest. They dived away in delayed reaction, fumbling with their own weapons as they did so.

The men recovered their composure as quickly as they could, but in the next moment, both marines were past the grounded guards.

Ahead, the door to the chapel was ajar & the two Deathwatch marines made towards it in all haste, the sounds of battle & laughter filling the holy sanctum beyond.

Memnon was through first, & saw to his horror, that which he had expected.

A Chaos Space Marine.

It was a grotesque towering specimen, it’s armour out of time & twisted subtly by the powers of the warp, bareheaded; its features ancient. The traitor battled furiously in hand to hand combat with the two battle brothers designated Beta team, before an altar to the God Emperor. The scene railed against Memnon’s sense of honour, as the unholy presence of the Chaos Marine sullied the Imperial sanctum.

Sporadic las fire peppered the combat, issued forth from security personal located throughout the congregation. Though in that moment it was unclear from the frantic pattern of fire, who their intended target actually was. Alpha team ignored them for the moment, they were little threat to the outcome of this fight either way.

More worshipers poured towards the newcomers desperate to flee the ensuing carnage.

From the corner of his augmented vision, Memnon saw the enraged Wolf move forward within a heartbeat. Drawing his hand weapons Haakon crashed through the desperate throng of mortals & into a furious charge. In the Spacewolf’s right hand was his requisitioned powerblade, which licked the air with a hiss of ozone as it sparked into life. In his left the familiar chain blade spluttered violently into motion.

Those worshipers unlucky enough to find themselves between the Wolf & its prey were knocked aside or trampled remorselessly

Surrounded, Memnon instinctively side-stepped the panicked congregation in an attempt to clear his line of sight toward the ensuing combat. Despite being swarmed by the terrified mortals that clawed & screamed at him, the towering Scythe managed to fire a single shot from his blessed bolter as he did so.

The round went true, through the petrified press of bodies, through the scattered security personnel & past his embattled brothers to hit the Chaos Maine square in the chest.

The bolt rocked the Chaos Marine on his feet & bought the hard pressed battle brothers a few moments to press their attack. Aslan, the Dark angel swung a savage swipe at the towering traitor with his ceremonial sword in an attempt to capitalise & keep his adversary on the back foot. Sparks scored across an ancient shoulder pauldron robbing the blow of its force & allowing the Heretic to recover its footing. Another attack, this time from the Templar was parried off-hand & went wide of its intended target, knocking the crusader off balance.

The Chaos marine was in motion within a heartbeat, like death incarnate the ancient warrior turned defence into vicious attack, sweeping low with its own ancient whirling chain blade. The unexpected blow caught the Black Templar below his right knee, biting deep through the armour, into meat & bone & taking both legs out from under the crusader.

Luther landed heavily at the traitor’s feet with a dazed grunt.

Seeing that the Templar was as good as out of the fight, the Dark Angel moved swiftly to cover his downed battle Brother & fend off the expected deathblow. The crusader teetered on the edge of consciousness as his armour fought to recover the fallen Marine. Pain killers & stimulants were already being pumped into Luther’s blood stream, to aid his already heightened metabolism & clot the vicious wound.

With a growl of hatred, Haakon charged on towards the altar combat with the Chaos Space Marine, his only concern to bring death to the traitor. The Spacewolf was fury personified & wooden pews shattered beneath his massive stride as he advanced. At this point the scattered security personnel showed their hand & the depth of their own heresy, by turning to fire at the Astartes.

Several of the closer security guards even moved to intercept the raging god of war, though the futility of such an action must have been apparent. Had Haakon noticed them, he showed no sign & the first man was crushed as he slipped beneath the Spacewolf’s boots. The crack of bone & cry of pain his only contribution to the ensuing melee.

Another two Security guards stood between Haakon & his target with their las carbines levelled against him. Fear & adrenaline caused the men to snatch at their shots & the rapid firing las-rounds went largely wide of their mark. Little more then an annoyed grunt answered as one of the burning rounds penetrated the Fenrisian’s un-armoured chest.

Haakon continued on regardless, crashing into the two men & parting them like the crimson sea of ancient Terran legend. Broken bodies mingled with broken pews & shattered glass in the Spacewolf’s wake as the Fenrisian bounded the last obstacle between himself & the Chaos Marine, that of the prone form of the crusader Luther.

******

Memnon, grunted in frustration as the Space Wolf moved across his field of vision, blocking his first clean shot at the traitor’s unprotected head. A burning las round tore across the Scythe’s bicep in the next moment & Memnon allowed his Bolter to fall away on its strap as he turned. His right hand, now unencumbered reached for his favoured crowd control weapon & his fingers closed around its hilt as he faced the throng of security personnel, now pouring fire into him.

The double-barrel, sawn-off shotgun levelled towards his foe.

With out so much as a word, Memnon unloaded both barrels at the close knit group of men & they disappeared screaming into a red mist, as their mortal bodies came apart.

******

The Traitor Marine laughed with sickening enthusiasm as the Spacewolf bounded into the fray, sidestepping past the Dark Angel & parrying a savage thrust of the power blade one handed with its damned chain blade. Several teeth came away from the sword as the power field surrounding the Wolf’s blade sparked violently. The ancient Chaos weapon shook violently as its motor spluttered, yet the chain blade held fast, cursed as it was by the powers of the warp.

The Chaos Marine laughed again as it circled & parried a follow up strike from Haakon’s own chainsword.

Aslan pressed forward in support of the Spacewolf & drove his ceremonial blade into the throng. The Traitor, a veteran of a thousand combats, anticipated the strike & countered with a block & ducking side-step. Shifting weight again the Chaos Marine span back into a standing posture, firing its bolt pistol while in motion & point blank into the Dark Angel’s face.

Had Aslan been helmet-less like his battle brothers Memnon & Haakon, the shot would have claimed his life. As it was, the round battered his head back violently as it deflected clear, almost breaking his neck within the confines of his armour.

The Dark angel rocked back, keeping his footing only by force of will.

Seeing the second of his power armoured brethren bested by the Chaos marine & realising only the un-armoured from of Haakon stood between the Heretic & the lives of his brother Astartes. Memnon reached for the EMP grenade at his belt.

‘Heretic!’ bellowed the Scythe as he launched the grenade in one fluid motion though the air. The Chaos Marine glanced up from the combat momentarily only to be hit in the face by the incoming grenade.

‘For Sotha!’ Memnon bellowed his war cry, as the grenade went off.

The effect was instantaneous, Las carbines stuttered silent, a frantic clicking of their triggers replacing the constant whirr of las-fire that had preceded it. The remaining security personnel finally realising they were out-matched dropped their weapons & fled for the exits.

The Chaos marines’ actions slowed to a shuddering stop as its cursed power armour locked up. The traitor’s battle scared bare head thrashing from side to side as realisation set in. It yelled in frustration, the sound altogether alien & obscene & should not have been possible from a human larynx,

Turning onto his knees, the Crusader Luther was like wise caught trapped within his armour.

Brother Aslan, already off balance from the blow to his head, fell silently to the ground, shattering a nearby pew with his statuesque armoured bulk.

The Spacewolf grunted unhappily as his powerblade lost its devastating aura of power just as Haakon found an opening in the Chaos marine’s guard. Unencumbered by failing power armour the Fenrisian’s blow hit home, but being robbed of it’s power field failed to pierce his foe’s torso armour.

Haakon snarled in frustration; ‘what witchery is this?’

A look from Memnon stayed the Spacewolf’s hand from a second blow aimed toward the Chaos Marine’s exposed head.

The Emperor’s Scythe walked calmly across the ruined chapel towards the entombed Traitor. Those able were rapidly clearing the sanctum, as a deathly silence replaced the cacophony of battle. A fleeing Security guard strayed to close to the Emperor’s Scythe as he fled & was knocked unconscious by the advancing Marine. Without so much as a glance, Memnon clothes-lined the man to the ground with his left arm. The man dropped heavily like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut.

The Emperor’s Scythe reverently drew the long broad combat blade from its decorated scabbard. Wrapping a silver chain, that sported a Sothan brass coin of forgotten denomination & tooth of a Tyranid termagant, around his hand as he took the grip.

The traitor’s murderous gaze locked with that of the dour Scythe as he approached & Memnon noticed the three headed hydra upon its shoulder pauldron, denoting the Heretic as one of the Alpha Legion. Fitting then that one of Gulliman’s heirs should strike down a bastard son of Alpharious. It was an echo from a time of legend & a clash between the two Primarch gene-fathers.

‘Trick’s and traps, like the false Emperor before you!’ The Traitor spat the words angrily.

Haakon growled & shook his head as he moved away, deferring to his approaching commander. The Spacewolf headed off grumpily robbed of his prey, towards a number of cowering priests in the gloom of a far corner

‘I dare you to face me evenly!’ continued the Traitor

Memnon stepped closer silently, his eyes locked.

‘Coward!’ it spat again.

Memnon smiled, yet there was no mirth in it.

‘I will see the death of your damned Imperium!’ goaded the Chaos Marine.

‘No’ replied Memnon calmly, taking hold of the traitor’s topknot & drawing his blade level with the traitor’s neck.

‘You will not’

The realisation of its own doom filled the Chaos Marine’s eyes in that moment & its next words died in its mouth as Memnon claimed a Traitor’s head.

Really good read there man, I enjoyed it. Memnon is pretty bad-ass.

R.I.K wrote:Really good read there man, I enjoyed it. Memnon is pretty bad-ass.

Cheers mate, I didn't even bend the facts...





...too much

Yeah thats a realy good read mate, awsome stuff

looooooooooovvvve it buddy

Thanks for the comments gents.

Is there anything I got wrong? working from my own memory so may have missed something?

I.e cant remember who wounded the Chaos dude, before Memnon got there?

Also took the liberty of allowing Haakon to 'choose' not to cut the guys head off rather then being unable to make his mind up how to.

Making Adam look less of a dick!

Nice work