"Take a seat."

Errithius gestured his hand across the great selection of chairs that sat before a vast marble table as he strode forth. Behind him, both his command squad and most of the natives his marines had rescued followed, the soft clip-clop of the alien's hooved feet almost entirely drowned out by the marines thundering footsteps. The occupants of the council hall; a large, yet mostly unceremoniously decorated room located a fair distance behind the bridge of the frigate, calmly found an unoccupied seat and took their places. Each chair was much like a minimalist-designed throne, with a tall back, blocky silhouette and crafted from the same milky-white marble as the table. Each chair was also designed to comfortably fit a fully armoured space marine within its cradle, seeing ever brother marine sitting within it very comfortably, but seeing the native 'ponies', as Errithius had come to know them as, struggle in some cases to hoist themselves up into the tall seat and even after sitting down finding it a strange and uncomfortably large structure to be resting within. Errithius took a seat at the far end of the great rectangular table, so that he could see to all before him as well as clearly illustrate his status among all those who saw him.

"It would seem, then, that we have a great many things to discuss." The captain said calmly as he pulled his hood over the back of his head, revealing his short-cut blonde hair framing his well-chiseled features.

"Y-yes. I'm sure you, uhm, all have many questions." Princess Celestia said, worry emanating from her like a thick odor.

"You failed to mention that hostile units would be pursuing us, Princess." Varadoch said, his voice tinged with suspicion, the bionics that composed a full half of his now exposed head clicking and whining with motion as he spoke.

"I didn't know, I didn't know I swear it! I made sure that all my efforts were as discrete as I could make them, and I trust all my companions were as careful as I was." Celestia assured with wide, half-panicked eyes, her large white wings twitching slightly almost as a form of flinching.

"How sure, exactly?" Varadoch inquired again as he leaned forward towards Celestia slightly.

"Varadoch, we'll not get anywhere probing our guests with accusations." Errithius said calmly as he grazed his armoured fingers across his forehead.

"It's alright, Captain. I understand why some of you might not entirely trust me, or any of us for that matter, especially considering the events that occurred in that station. So I suppose all I can do for now is assure you with all my honesty that I had no knowledge the Federation would follow us down into that place, and I trust nopony here had anything to do with them finding out about our plans." Celestia said with what confidence she could muster at the time.

Errithius looked at the princess for a couple of seconds before flitting his eyes over to Brother Chaplain Tyreth, who upon seeing the captain's attention locked on him returned it with a 'facial shrug' as his eyebrows raised and his head tilted. Errithius let out a sigh and swept his eyes over the rest of his brethren, most returned the same expression the chaplain had given, Varadoch however looked less convinced of such a claim than everyone else.

"Well then, I suppose one way or another we'll have to take your word on it for now. So, the next point of order; We need to find a way to contact the Imperium at large and inform them of the situation on this planet."

"Wherever this planet is." Said Biemark in a less-than-enthusiastic tone as he rubbed at his temple.

"What have our sensors picked up?" Brother Priest Nitheleon asked in a light tone.

"That we had might as well be in the Sol system but absent of the billions of satellite relays. We are officially in the middle of some form of cosmic dead-zone, with not another planet-bearing star system for at least twenty light-years. Worse still, every navigator unit on this ship is either dead or dysfunctional, meaning we have had to rely on Brother Ennyre's abilities to find the nearest Astronomicon beacon. Since he is quite unfamiliar with this field of expertise he has yet to locate anything in the warp of any use to us, and he has voiced his concerns that it could be a while before he does find anything at all. The short of it is we are quite stuck here for now." The captain announced, his tone grim.

"Of course we are." Tyreth said suddenly, causing all heads present to turn to him in mild surprise at the suddenness and absolution of his voice.

"I'm sorry?" Errithius asked, perplexed.

"Our isolation here is an insurance, an insurance to see us reach our fate. I declare it nothing less than the Emperor's own will." The chaplains words were calm, yet held a significant weight to them that almost betrayed a measure of righteous fire boiling behind the chaplain's golden eyes.

"Let us not delve into such subjects, brother. We need to ensure contact with the Imperium, second to that a safe passage back home. All other things besides this can only serve as unwanted distractions." Errithius said, his voice strained with a degree of mental exhaustion.

"Unwanted distraction?" Tyreth said the words as though they were acid spilling from his lips, his face contorted with greif and disgust that he had heard such things.

With that the chaplain stood, not quickly or with aggressive intent, but took a slow and steady rise to his feet and left slowly wandered behind his chair to address all present. His features were calm, his fair eyes relaxed and firm lips slightly parted as he brushed the long golden hair that fell from two-thirds of his head back as to not obstruct his sight.

"I hear in this hall, only talk of suspicion, talk of isolation, fear of the darkness around us and of fleeing as soon as possible. For what? For the comfort of home? What comfort does home hold for us if our very souls are condemned to damnation in abandoning those who saw to our release from an alien prison, those who have voiced only their desperate desire for our aid. And we reward them with talk of fleeing like rats from a flame."

Tyreth's gaze, although not apparently scournful in any way that could be observed, coupled with his pained words no brother could stand to meet his eyes for too long as he looked about, not even the captain.

"What would you have us do, Tyreth?" Errithius said through a sigh.

"Those creatures impose superiority on these people, through fierce intimidation, threat of firepower and outright execution. They offer us insult and wish to see us just as dead as the princesses and their cohort. We know how they fight now, the weapons they use, their mettle and approach to combat." Tyreth began.

"We caught them unawares." Brother Veteran Riveth perked up in a dry tone.

"Through their own arrogance. They orchestrated their own demise by underestimating our capabilities and harboring too greater lust for the death of the princesses. We know they are unimaginative, cold, calculating tacticians with a great sense of self-preservation. We know that we've been sat hidden in this mountain range for almost twelve hours and they are yet to locate us. Every brother on this ship has been briefed, tell me in all honesty that the ranks would refuse the chance fate has offered us, to not limp warily back home, but instead seize this chance to liberate a people plagued by occupation and fear. Only then I shall concede." With that Tyreth discontinued his wandering and once again took a seat.

As the marines all looked at one another with a variety of mild expressions, conversing in a form of wordless language, the ponies that accompanied them could only observe, some with hopeful expressions, their hope given traction by the chaplain's words, others simply confused.

"I will not deny the legitimacy of your claims, brother, but our situation requires nothing less than the most thorough of assessments. Whether it be deemed noble or not, finding a route back to Imperial space is still a priority," Errithius said, sitting up a little straighter, "However, I will have to agree that, even if not by divine design, the opportunity before us cannot be ignored. Princess Celestia, I shall hand you charge over the subject. You last briefing on your country's situation was rather hasty, care to indulge us further?"

"Of course. I think we all have right to state our own experiences, we all lead quite unique lives in Equestria, and each has been affected by the occupation quite differently. For me...for me and Luna, it is as though the very reason for our existence is at risk of becoming obsolete. You see, in this world me and my sister are directly responsible for the continuance of the celestial rotation of both the sun and the moon, Luna raising and lowering the moon while I myself do the same with the sun." Celestia started.

"You hold charge over the movement of your planet's own sun? Through your own psychic abilities?" Nitheleon asked, his voice almost in disbelief.

"Of course. The Federations claim that no such thing was necessary on their own planets was extremely strange from our perspective." Celestia answered with a spark of enthusiasm.

"An intriguing subject, but please, continue." Errithius interjected.

"Well, uhm, after we made first contact with the Federation, I suppose nothing seemed inherently wrong with the exchanges at first, I harboured...concerns, but nothing I could really put my finger on until it was too late. It did seem a little odd that they were so willing to settle research stations in our lands so soon after arriving, but since none of them were of military nature I allowed it without much second thought. After that their prattling began, claiming our entire society was based off of lies and misunderstandings, and that they were going to 'solve' all our worlds 'problems' as soon as they could, but most notably without our consent. One of these problems was our planet's reliance on me and my sister to maintain solar and lunar alignment, the Federation saw it as too greater risk to rely on just two individuals to ensure the whole planet remained habitable. So they decided, once again, without our consolation, to begin building machines they refer to as 'gravitational anchors', large structures located in the east and west of Equestria that essentially do mine and my sisters jobs for us. Now, I can begin to understand where the Federation is coming from in regards to this predicament, however without our duties me and my sister have no real purpose in Equestria, especially now that the Federation is beginning to occupy our country in a political sense as well as a technological and ecological one. Really there is no need for either of us to remain in any position of leadership, and that's where the federation's plan starts to wrap itself up. For since they have taken over our functions as rulers of this land, and since we still hold so much magical potential, the Federation has deemed both my and my sister to be...dangerous liabilities. Although they cannot assassinate us outright, not without arousing suspicion, distrust and even outright revolt, they have begun their efforts in publicly denouncing us, so to turn the very ponies we have served for over a thousand years against us. Not only do I now fear for my sister's and my own life, but I believe in destroying us the Feds will severely displace the magical balance of the whole world, no matter how much they try to compensate with their technology."

As Celestia finished, Errithius turned steadily to Nitheleon.

"In spirit of the subject, what is the status of Celestia's sister?"

"She is very stable, however her bio-readings are, for a lack of a better term, tense. No form of relaxant has proved effective, and the problem seems to be neurological in nature. I'm sure she will be conscious in a short while, however her collective status is somewhat worrying." The Sanguinary priest said plainly.

"Do you know exactly what's wrong with her, Space marine?" Celestia asked desperately.

"Unfortunately, no, I believe her condition is beyond the observation of my expertise. I have referred her to Brother Ennyre, he seemed to have a better idea of the specifics of her condition than I do." Nitheleon reassured.

"Are there any more claims? Perhaps from one of the other princesses?" Errithius encouraged.

"Wait a sec', what about the rest of us? We have all been affected by those squid-heads." The rainbow-haired girl with the blue coat perked up.

"I'm sure they have, yet I'm also sure that the princesses hold charge over many more people than you do. I feel them describing their own situations gives us a better idea of the condition of the country as a whole." The captain replied firmly.

"It ain't all about you, Dash." The orange girl said, obviously tired.

"Hey, I said 'us'." Dash replied in a huff.

"Cadence, is it?" Errithius continued.

"O-oh! Uhm, yes." The princess stammered, caught unawares by the attention that was brought to her, the pink coated girl straightening herself up a second before composing herself to address those around her.

"Well, my name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, I'm more commonly known by my friends as simply Cadence. Both me and my husband used to rule the region of Equestria known as the Crystal Empire, a city of crucial importance to all Equestria. You see, the Crystal Empire is like...it's sort of...an emitter! Ahem...excuse me, but yes, it acts as a form of emitter to spread energy waves all across the country. The core of the energy it spreads is a relic known as the Crystal Heart, a magical item that rests at the base of the Crystal palace in the center of the city. It's actually right near the place we found all of you...well, I mean, it's also quite a bit above where you were as well. In any case, the Crystal heart, and the power it held was seen as potentially threatening, the Federation declaring it a 'weapon of mass destruction' as soon as they heard of it's capabilities. The first thing they sought to do was destroy the Crystal Heart, again, as always, without the consent of myself or any member of royalty in all the nation. After their many attempts failed the commissioned, what I assume, was one of their assassins to sneak through the defenses of the palace grounds and stole the Crystal Heart. This was many months ago, and we have fairly reliable intelligence telling us the Crystal Heart remains intact and within the Federation's primary research center located in the east. However I fear the absence of the Heart has already caused all of Equestria a significant degree of damage, as the energies it produced once helped sustain the life and spirits of all living things within the nation, now ponies are drained of their willpower, they are no longer happy, and to be honest, are neither entirely sad, just...emptied out. The environment has also suffered, as the Crystal Empire itself now suffers from freak snow storms and the rest of Equestria has experienced similar extremes of weather. Actually, I think this would be a good time for Twilight to explain about the Tree of Harmony." Cadence finished, looking at the purple princess sitting near her.

"Thank you, Cadence. Now, as much as the absence of the Crystal Heart indeed does negatively affect all life in Equestria, it does not make the ecosystem particularly violent or the spirits of ponies so terribly exhausted. What really delivered the 'killing blow' in that respect, however, was the containment of what we came to know as the 'Tree of Harmony'. This...well to be entirely honest I never did get around to actually finding out exactly what the Tree of Harmony is exactly, but many agree it is most likely the single most powerful magical artifact in all Equestria, possibly the whole world. Unfortunately the Federation found it long before we ever got the chance to even look, and when they did they demanded to be given all information regarding its origins and nature. Unfortunately what information we had was limited, and what little time the Feds granted me to study it only revealed two things for certain; That the Tree of Harmony spawned the Elements of Harmony, and that together the Elements and the Tree directly affect and sustain the well-being of all Equestria. Again, like with the Heart, the Federation grew frightened of this new source of power that they did not understand and sought to destroy it, and as with the Heart, all their attempts ended in complete failure with the Tree, however they claim to have succeeded in destroying the Elements. When concerning the Elements, I'm not sure what to believe, they very well could be telling the truth which would mean Equestria could take centuries to heal from such a terrible loss, however it's not beyond the Federation to lie to Equestria's face for the sake of the 'greater good'. Anyway, seeing as they couldn't destroy the Tree of Harmony, the Federation did manage to succeed in cutting it off from the rest of the world by surrounding the Tree with several dozen times the fortification found even in our sturdiest fortresses. In fact, I don't think there's any way to actually get to the Tree at all, not unless you have something that can cut through several dozen feet of reinforced concrete and steel, and even if we could, whatever we used to breach the containment dome could end up damaging or destroying the Tree. And as a result of the dome the Federation built around the Tree, none of its energy that would normally saturate all of Equestria has been able to get through to the world. This has caused the weather to go haywire, the plants and trees to either die or grow beyond any means of containment or control, our harvests have diminished and more importantly ponies everywhere have been absolutely drained of their inner energy, the spark of life that would normally help them live healthy, functional lives."

"You have said your people are experiencing a psychological state of nullification, has this affected your means of producing any resistance towards the aliens?" Tyreth asked.

"Yes, and the absence of the Tree's energy means that casting spells is also growing more and more difficult. This has left us with only our own native technology to use against them, and in that regard we are completely outmatched. It's actually been the Federation's primary focus when comparing our two cultures, claiming that our technology is so comparably meek that they have no choice but to intervene in our natural societal progression. They've begun convincing ponies that without more advanced technology, our whole species will grow progressively stale and be doomed to die out on this planet, and now, without our magic, it's actually becoming a possibility." Twilight said, her voice beginning to crack towards the end of her response.

Errithius kept his composure solid and steady, though he could not lie to himself by saying he was not at least a little aggravated inside at the utter stupidity of these alien usurpers. He looked upon the rainbow maned girl and made a gesture for her to speak.

"You guys wouldn't know this, but pegasi...uh...the 'type' of pony I am, has always had the ability to manipulate and almost directly control the weather in Equestria. Not only that, but we also have the ability to interact with clouds directly to the point where we could build entire cities with the fluffy-stuff. But since those squid-head freaks showed up our abilities have been shrugged off as 'unnecessary', and our cloud homes as 'environmental hazards', meaning all pegasi have been evicted from their own homes and relocated to live on the ground! I get you guys probably don't get how serious that is, but lemme tell yah, it's a pretty big deal! I mean, look at these babies," The blue girl said, flaring out her considerably sized wings, "Dies a living thing with wings like this seem like it belongs on the ground? Yeah, I don't think so, and I know if she was here, even Fluttershy would agree." Dash finished, her tone growing low as she mentioned her friend, her eyes almost unintentionally looking up at Nitheleon.

"Your friend is going to be fine, I assure you. She's suffered a rather significant shock and has some minor muscular bruising, but I gave her diluted kalma and her condition has greatly improved." The priest once again assured.

"I'd also like to point out the severe shift in our society. It seems conformity, control, police-presence and simplification is the current trends in society, as all forms of 'excessive' individuality are deeply scorned, and anything that occurs while unmonitored by the Federation is considered outright criminal. Original music must be screened by the Federal offices and publicized, with no profits going to the original artist. Distributed food has to be tested and then retested before being massed produced, so the notion of a privately owned restaurant is considered laughable by those tasteless cephalopods. Custom designed...oh my...my goodness, this is quite difficult. Custom designed...clothing has to also be handed over to Federation officials to be examined to ensure it is not 'indecent' or 'excessively alluring' before being redesigned and like everything else, mass produced for the sake of equality. So in short, nopony's permitted to receive any special treatment when concerning anything of original creation, and anything an artist creates must be fully distributed for all the public. Now if you ask me, that sort of defeats the point of art in itself." The girl with snow white fur and glossy purple hair said, her accent holding a great degree of substance and finesse to it.

"Not t' mention the consequences ponies have to pay for stepping out of line. Almost every town an' city in Equestria has just as many o' them pasty, techno-freaks as there are ponies, and their brutes love to shove around anypony who looks 'up tah somethin'. An' that's not the worst of it. So far we've only heard of a handful o' ponies who've been, well, put down over refusing to conform to the Feds ways. These have all been big business types who've held finanshul power up in Canterlot and the likes, but a while back they hit a new low when the town of Dodge Junction decided to unite together in an effort to resist the occupation. This was back when the Tree's power was much less diminished than it is now, and the whole town actually managed tah kick those little alien freaks right on outta town within a couple days using magic, weather manipulation and good ol' earth pony buckin' power. However...we realized too late that Dodge Junction's little revolution was actually partially supported by the Federation itself, and they didn't care much for losing a few troops, they sure as spit didn' care for losing a whole heap o' vehicles, weapons and equipment. All they cared about was creating an enemy out of a portion o' pony kind...just tah show off their big, shiny guns. After all of Dodge and the couple hundred of ponies defending it were turned to dust by an orbital laser-majig no other pony settlement in the whole country dared stand up against the Feds ever again...just the result they were looking for." The larger girl with the slackened annunciations said, grimly reflecting on a time the marines could tell she'd rather forget.

"And now we have reason to fear their plans for domination over our whole planet are beginning to wrap up. You see, first we were pretty convinced that the Federation was simply laughing off the concept of magic and simply seeking to replace it entirely with magic. However, recently, there's been very subtle tell-tale signs that the Federation might actually be trying to study magic, and like everything else they get their hands on, might be trying to use it as a power source, a means of travel or communication. They will probably try and weaponize it." Twilight added with a great sense of concern.

"I know the last thing most of you would want to do right now is go to war just hours after breaking out of an alien prison, and you most certainly deserve to go back to your home. But please, I can only beg of you to at least consider helping us save ours first. You are our last, best and only hope." Celestia finished, her voice almost betraying her dread of the answer she'd receive.

Errithius and his brother sat still a moment, the captain sifting through all the information he'd been presented with. His expression tensed slightly before his posture shifted in his seat to become perfectly upright, his armoured elbows lent on the table before him.

"We will need time to consider what you have proposed to us. Time alone. If you would all please step outside for a few minutes and we shall begin discussing our next move, keeping into consideration all you have said." Said Errithius with crystal clarity.

"Of course. Thank you, Captain."

A moment after speaking, Celestia and the other natives stood from their chairs, some more reluctantly than others, before steadily walking through the large doors that had lead them into the hall. With a light wave of his hand, the doors in-built servo-scanners blinked to life and ground their gears to slowly close the two massive, metal doors. Once the deep metallic echo of the two doors colliding sounded, Errithius allowed himself to lean back slightly.

"Captain?" Asked Biemark.

"Yes, Biemark?"

"Considering all we have heard, in all honesty, are we on a daemon world?" The marines asked, more intrigued than concerned.

"Considering all evidence, it would seem so." Errithius replied with a shrug.

"Anyone else find it strange that we are not currently being dragged into some forsaken hell-pit by titanical demonic tendrils?" Varadoch said with a huff.

"The nature of this planet is incredibly peculiar. With what we've been told and considering my own observations it seems this entire planet is deeply saturated with...unusual warp energies." Nitheleon said, his voice barking a desperately chuckle of bewilderment every few words.

"I was going to ask, Brother, what have you found out about our passengers?" Asked Errithius.

"A lot, but there are some pieces in their physiology that...well, don't entirely make complete sense. Their skeletal and muscular density is slightly denser than that of the common mortal being, and their white cell and platelet count is somewhat lower than would be considered average, but besides that they are considerably, from a biological point of view, 'normal'. However their innate abilities, the horns, wings and strength, it's all missing significant factors that would make these attributes medically functional. I can only assume that the planet's warp energies have something to do with the sustainment of these abilities."

"Does that mean that each sub-species would have their abilities rendered useless on any other planet?" Inquired Riveth.

"Not necessarily. These energies seem to be at least partially self-sustainable, however the energy of this planet simply allows them to access their capabilities far more easily and to far greater capacity than they would on another world. Although the winged one's would still be able to fly without the natural warp presence in the world, it must be becoming quite an effort to sustain flight with the state this planet is delving into. The same applies to the horned one's psyker abilities and the strength of the larger sub-breed. However I am more concerned about the Princesses." Nitheleon said with a tense brow.

"And why is that?" Errithius inquired casually.

"As much as the more common breeds of pony on this world can survive without their magic, albeit uncomfortably, I believe the complete absence of magic means a very slow and rather painful death for each of the princesses. Their biological makeup is quite astounding from what I could observe from our unconscious companion. Warp energy seems to compose a significant portion of their physical makeup, so much so that absence of warp energies would mean that their physical forms would slowly break down over time. For it would seem that normal pony breeds hold within them a sort of psychic reservoir, like a form of energy-based gland that can be filled with warp energies to feed their capabilities, and when it runs out it is slowly replenished over time by allowing warp energy to slowly trickle back within themselves. However the princesses have developed such a vast containment for such energies that their physical makeup has evolved to actually rely on it as a form of substructure to their own bodies and minds. This means if they remain empty of warp energies for too long; months, perhaps years, they will develop severe physical illnesses and die from them before they can replenish their lost energies. In this sense, all four of these creatures are a strange breed of half-daemon."

"The warp energies of grace and light have never intruded into the physical realm besides to aid those in the most desperate of need, and even then only after an ocean's worth of luck has been spent. It is not the nature of such energies to claim a world as their own, not for any reason. What use do such powers have for a single planet on the middle of nowhere, and especially one filled with simple common folk who have still yet to bolt together their first computing system." Varadoch grunted with eyes darting to each marine.

"It's far from our place to question the nature of warp energies, Brother." Errithius chuckled in disbelief.

"No, sire, but I know what I know. And I know that something is amiss here. Something is-not-right." Varadoch spat with a strained voice, his eyes locking with the captain's for a few seconds.

"We must make way back to Imperial space." Varadoch practically hissed with desperation.

"We cannot abondon these people now! The princesses could be long dead before the Imperium is ready to amass an organised liberation fleet! We are space marines, it is purposefully within our distinction to instigate military activity wherever we see it needed! Tell me, Captain, that it is not needed here!" Tyreth barked, shooting from his seat.

"If you wish to fling yourself into soil sodden with warp energies then go ahead, and take all those fanatical enough to follow you! But I will not march on a world that could be already long since damned!" Varadoch barked back in retort.

"We know nothing of this world and it's properties! If anything we should at least dispatch an insertion team to gather more information on the nature of this planet and its occupants." Shot in Nitheleon.

"This vessel and it's crew are not a science expedition!" Spat back Varadoch.

"It doesn't have to be to assess whether a planet is worth fighting for." Nitheleon said back in a huff.

"And while you're weighing the worth of this world or outright running from it people are suffering!" Tyreth blurted with arms crossed.

"Nitheleon said it himself, these 'people' are soaked with unknown warp energies! Their leaders are practically daemons!" Varadoch yelled half-hysterically.

"They saved us from a living death, you will not offer them insult! Not in my presence!" Tyreth roared, jabbing a finger at Varadoch.

"Enough!"

The holler Errithius let loose as he shot up to stand echoed through the hall for several seconds before silence finally fell a second before his brethren fell back to their seats.

"The truth of it all is; We don't know. I don't. I don't know where in Terra's name we are, how long we've been here, who these people are and what has happened to them. I just don't know. I wish I did. I wish my consoles were full of answers we all need, but they're not. I wish I had orders for you all to follow, I wish I could lead us to some form of victory and I wish for heaven's sake that someone would just explain to me just what in all of hell's name is going on!" Errithius yelled, losing his temper.

"But I don't have the answers. We're trapped here on this planet for what could be weeks. For all we know we could be surrounded by a single gigantic plot to get our guard down and damn all our souls to the deepest pit of hell. Even if all they say is true, we are not an army. We were dispatched to eliminate a single communication dish cluster in our last mission, and we are outfitted as such to deal with a conflict that would have lasted no more than a couple of days. But we were also sent to deal with an enemy force with defenses ten times greater than what this Federation has to offer, judging by what technology they bare. We are a single, small ship, but are also difficult to intercept. This ship's weapons can bypass their defenses, it's faster than their's and can initiate rapid deployment of all our forces to multiple locations. Each of our brothers is worth a dozen of their own troops, more than that even, and we have deployable ordinance. No, we are not an army. But they are not a fortress. They are an occupational force spread thin over a continent, and they are deployed to fight native resistance, not fight in their own facilities, and certainly not fight space marines. Perhaps we can't save this world, perhaps we shouldn't try at all, but we can try, and we can try for the right reasons as we always have. We are Hospitalers, we are the open palm, we are his deliverance and provide his shelter to the weak, sick and helpless. So all of you ask yourselves now, what would our duty have us do?"

"Here, here!" Tyreth cheered not a second after the captain had finished speaking.

The other marines took a couple of seconds, some bowing their heads in defeat to the captain's authority, some giving long, exhausted sighs and some sitting entirely still.

"We're with you, Captain, as always." Nitheleon said calmly.

"Aye." Conceded Biemark.

Errithius looked upon Varadoch, the organic half of his face stretched into an almost pained expression with a tinge of deep frustration.

"If I die on this Throne-forsaken planet, you'll never hear the end of it from me in the afterlife, Captain."