...
"Calling Beta Squad. Sael, report your current position. Transmission ends."
A burst of static, then a terse reply.
"This is Beta Squad. We are currently located in Sector 19 of the southern New Kato military encampnt, seventeen kiloters from the extraction point. Awaiting further orders."
Deep within the underhive, a world where the sun never shone and the very air reeked of rust, ozone, and centuries of decay, a squad advanced with asured caution.
Though designated a "squad," Beta Squad was anything but. It was a warband nearly a thousand strong: a patchwork host of hive gangers, contract killers, deserters, and itinerant freeblades drawn together by coin, coercion, or desperate conviction.
Yet, despite their disparate origins, their march across the corroded plains of the hive's industrial carcass was well-orchestrated. Those wielding heavy bolters, plasma rifles, or scavenged volkite weaponry ford staggered lines along the front, rear, and flanks. Among them, so even bore hellguns and powered armor, a rare sight among underhive scum.
Should an ambush co, the vanguard and rearguard had already accepted their fate. They were the forlorn hope, the ones expected to hold the line and die so the mission could succeed.
Everyone understood the grim reality of their situation. This mission was suicide. No one entertained illusions of escaping Talon I Hiveworld alive. As long as two operatives reached extraction with the package, their deaths would not be in vain.
"Status of the target?"
"Unconscious. Vital signs remain stable."
"Good. Proceed with the mission."
Beta Squad pressed forward.
There had been no engagents yet, but every operative remained vigilant. Even in the absence of visible enemies, they cataloged the terrain with an assassin's paranoia.
Unlike many Imperial hive worlds, Tyrone's hive structures appeared to have been built around ancient ga-factories. Looking up, one could not see the hive's ceiling, only vast industrial voids stretching into infinity, rusted catwalks dangling like dead vines over the abyss. Looking down, the tal wasteland sprawled in an endless labyrinth of slag heaps, collapsed manufactorums, and machinery that had outlived the empires that once commanded them.
For those born in the darkness, the underhive was the entire world. The Emperor's light had never touched these depths.
"We're moving too slowly." Sael walked beside his comms officer, speaking into the vox-caster mounted on the soldier's back. "If we had transports, we'd be there already."
"Are you out of your mind? Do you know how much effort it took just to get you infiltrated?"
A reprimand ca through the vox. Sael imdiately backpedaled, offering a hasty apology before falling silent.
Beta Squad had to maintain constant communication to provide real-ti mission updates. As commander, Sael was required to report at regular intervals.
After another half-cycle of the hive's dim artificial sun, Sael made his routine report: "No enemy contact. Terrain remains quiet. Continuing advance."
"Continue advancing," ca the curt reply.
"Understood."
Sael hesitated before speaking again. Sothing gnawed at him, sothing important. He finally voiced his question:
"Lord Inquisitor, was this operation planned solely by you, or were others involved?"
It was a carefully phrased inquiry, but the implications were clear.
To most of his n, it didn't matter who had orchestrated this mission. But to Sael, it ant everything.
He needed to know, was Beta Squad serving the Imperium, or rely the agenda of a single Inquisitor?
"Continue your mission."
The response was cold and dismissive. Then ca sothing even more chilling.
"Your failures led to the tragedy at Orphus. You should have been executed long ago. Consider this your chance for atonent, vermin."
Sael's fists clenched, his face contorting with suppressed rage. His voice ca out through gritted teeth.
"Fortunes of war, Lord Inquisitor… nothing more."
Silence followed. The vox remained dead.
Sael exhaled sharply and forced himself to focus. They had a mission to complete.
Beta Squad advanced towards the designated extraction point, moving deeper into the underhive's labyrinthine sprawl.
Leaving the tallic plains behind, they entered a steel gorge, a chasm so vast it felt like a natural canyon, yet unmistakably artificial. It resembled the slag channels of a massive foundry, stretching into the abyss.
Then, without warning, light flooded the darkness.
A floodlight blazed overhead, turning the gloom into blinding day.
Instinct honed by countless battles took over. The squad snapped into combat readiness, bolters and lasrifles swinging upward, targeting augurs scrambling to adjust.
Sael's eyes darted upwards, spotting the source, a gunship, hovering silently above. It had crept upon them unnoticed, a testant to its advanced stealth capabilities.
His gaze shifted. Two figures had appeared ahead and behind the squad, backlit by the intense illumination.
As the gunship's lights dimd slightly, their forms beca clear.
They wore power armor.
Not the crude, scavenged exo-suits that his n had jury-rigged, but sothing far superior. The craftsmanship was beyond words, each plate, each joint exuded an aura of unyielding strength, their pauldrons embossed with insignias Sael did not recognize.
Sael's mind raced. He recalled the intelligence the Inquisitor had once shown him. Images, dossiers from a year ago.
Thunderborn-pattern power armor.
....
anwhile, standing before Beta Squad, Grey observed the intruders.
To him, they were the trespassers and he was here to eliminate them.
"The 182nd Regint's scouting patrol, seven recruits in total." Grey's voice bood through his helt's vox-amplifier, echoing across the gorge so all could hear. "The recruits: Muir, age 23. Sato, age 24…"
He continued, listing each of the seven soldiers' nas and ages, watching as shock spread across Beta Squad's ranks.
After a pause, he delivered his final statent.
"According to my intelligence, six of these recruits were killed. One was abducted." Grey's stance shifted slightly, his tone unwavering. "By decree of Talon's Lord-Governor, you are guilty of murder, abduction, and treachery. The sentence is death."
Sael felt no fear.
Instead, he was… surprised.
Beta Squad's mission had been to infiltrate the underhive and abduct a soldier. They had indeed killed six n in the process.
He felt neither guilt nor remorse.
What puzzled him was how they had been exposed so quickly.
But then again, the Talon system was filled with mysteries. This was just another among many.
He had no ti to dwell on it.
"Prepare for battle!" Sael roared, drawing his power sword, its edge sparking with caged lightning. "Follow the plan!"
The underhive was about to be bathed in blood.
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