Thunder and fire rumbled through the corridor, a flash of bright orange fury accompanied by a roar of terrible hatred bursting down through the dark one after the other in a deep toned rattle. Herathor's heavy bolter let loose rage unheard of in ages passed, the large caliber rounds spewing forth like a tidal wave of death made real. Each bolt soared through the air like a lightning bolt, whatever it struck being obliterated into fragments of it's previous self. Many, unfortunately, simply buried themselves into the walls and floor that lay before the weapon, each round throwing shards of crystal spraying about the place along with sharp sound of glass shattering. However some found their mark, sinking deep into alien tissue before the volatile, reactive core detonating from within the victim. Some struck arm and leg, sounding a sickening cracking pop as flesh pulverized and bone snapped, the target being thrown about by the force of the explosion, yet some struck deeper body parts, heads turning to pulp and bloody mist while torsos burst apart like balloons filled with red whipping cream. Alien squealed and screamed as death was visited upon them at over a thousand rounds a minute, yet even through the cacophony of battle, Herathor could still hear a single series of tiny noises coming from just behind him.

He associated the series of squeaks and peeps with the small, frail set of clothed arms that clung desperately around his right arm's elbow. The set of tiny arms, and the small, yellow creature they were attached to, shook and vibrated violently as the heavy bolters recoil rattled through the marine's arm. Even damped by the weapons stabilizers and his armour's powered joints the heavy bolter still delivered enough kick with each round fired to shudder the small female enough for her limbs to seize up, jaw to lock together and her eyes to clench tight. Yet, despite the disturbance, the girl remained stood steadily in place behind Herathor, continuing to find sanctuary against the Astartes arm regardless of the weapon's protest.

Herathor adjusted his fire once again, peppering a nearby wall with bolt rounds as an alien aggressor dared peek around the corner, yet no rounds found their mark. Another alien steeped out from the corner opposite, raised his rifle and fired two of the strange chemical rounds at the marine. Both struck his armour, one on the pauldron and another square in the center of his chest, the first rebounding away from the marine and his associate, striking a nearby wall thanks to his auto-reactive armour segments. The second blasted a small shard of his armour away, blasting away a portion of the cooling grill at the center of his breast plate. Yet the hit did not phase the marine, his footing remaining solid as he swept his aim across slightly and squeezed down on his weapons trigger. He noted how his weapon's internal temperature was turning yellow, to orange and now to a soft red as the temperature bar slithered over his targeting reticule, however he was confident another short burst of fire remained within the weapons comfort. A flurry of four rounds flew from the weapon's maw, soaring towards the alien like fiery comets. The first two missed him by inches, the next struck his upper thigh, the limb bursting apart like a gory watermelon and flipping the soldier into the air in a macabre cartwheel. The final round hit the alien in the face as his body had been flung upside down, bursting apart his skull with a haunting popping sound as the detonation sent the airbourne corpse into a backwards spin down the hallway. Herathor read his HUD's data feed to see his ammo was in the double digits, and would soon empty through his ammunition box. He held two others locked above his power pack, however he had to make sure he didn't cause any unwanted damage to his escortee.

"Female native!" Herathor boomed as he continued firing.

"Yes?!" The girl replied shrilly.

"Stand back, I need to release an ammunition box from my power pack!" The marine roared as another alien was relieved of one of his limbs.

"I don't want to get shot! I've heard it's really horrible!" She squealed back.

"Being crushed by a block of metal is also horrible, stand back!" The marine barked back.

The winged creature gave a quick squeak before scuttling backwards a short distance and standing behind the marine a few feet away, all the while making a high pitched 'Eeeeeeeee!' sound with eyes clenched shut. Herathor quickly darted his eyes up and across to the appropriate command rune and blink-clicked the icon to release an ammo box, the locking mechanism atop his power pack clunking open to let a single box roll out. The heavy metal box hit the floor like a meteor, but remained solidly whole, Herathor was about to risk making himself vulnerable for a moment to reload, but heard a curious grinding sound coming from behind him not long after the box had hit the floor. The small female that had taken such solid refuge behind him was desperately trying to move the ammo box across the floor, nearer to the front of Herathor's heavy bolter. Yet she was ill built for such demanding physical strain, the engine-block sized ammo box full of large caliber bolts merely grinding across the crystal floor an couple of inches at a time as she shunted it forward with all her effort. With a single, fluid, instinctual motion, Herathor flicked his weapon to the side with a bust of effort from his wrists as he blink-clicked the ammo release icon. The weapon let out a metallic clunking sound as the ammo box beneath it was released, the sudden movement of the weapon help it fly from its cradle, thumping to the floor just as the marine swung around to receive the replenishment of ammunition.

Herathor was somewhat surprised to see the girl had actually managed to move the ammo box further than expected, not far, but still far enough to cut the marine's journey a half second shorter. Herathor slammed his weapon down upon the box, the feed rattling slightly as he misjudged the location of the box by a fraction of a centimeter, but after a small adjustment the boxes feed aligned with the weapons and the first bolt was cycled. Swinging the heavy bolter around, Herathor's concentration on punishing the enemy with rapid, heavy fire was interupted by a garbled, static-ridden message coming through his comm-channel.

"Bac-......zzzKrataaaaaffff-tk-.......Regrou-......Home in on Retrithior's beacon, he an hiiiisssss-....to the exit....Breach the outer wall....back to Remergence. I repeat we haaa-...-ess than fourteen minutes, regroup at the beacon with all speed!" The voice was hard to make out, but Herathor was confident it was one of the command squads veterans.

Another alien life was snatched from existence before the marine referred to his objective radar, then to his mapping auspex to determine his destination. The holographic imagery that floated before his eyes was not of the best quality, the nature of his environment causing scanners to shimmer with unwanted feedback and distort the predetermined path he was to take. However, even with half his mind peering through the map to focus fire on the aliens before him, Herathor soon figured a decent route to be taken to rally with the rest of his brethren, and his first step lay behind him. Herathor turned, his boot making a heavy thump as he swiftly shifted his stance to loom over the native that was still clutched to his arm.

"We're moving, stay in front of me." Herathor barked simply as three red projectiles stitched their was across the back of his left pauldron, one clipped the top of his ammo pack.

The small girl nodded frantically before shuffling shakily to 'lead' the way to their next destination. Although it would take no more than five minutes to reach the rally point, Herathor could only pray the Captain had a plan to get out of this maze, or else he feared this strange, dark place would become his tomb once those fourteen minutes were finished.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"You have a plan, Captain?" Honoured Brother Biemark asked in a somewhat hushed tone as his combi-plasma thundered out bolts into the assaulting aliens who dared try scurry closer to the marines position.

A purple barrier of shimmering energy washed across the air before the standard bearer, as several alien projectiles where halted mid-air. In response to the terrible force she had just stopped, the purple princess who had just cast some form of shielding spell received a terrible degree of psychic feedback, causing her to stumble backwards, clutching at her head before starting to fall to the ground. Fortunately Brother Ividio, another command veteran was positioned to catch the winged creature with one of his comparatively gigantic arms, the other holding a plasma pistol that belched two bolts of white-hot energy at what seemed like only shadows before pulling the princess behind cover and sitting her down before Brother priest Feidfor knelt down before her to inspect her condition. Captain Errithius was behind Biemark's left shoulder, the commander sharply tossing a fragmentation grenade at a wall a couple dozen feet ahead of him, the cylindrical device bouncing off it's surface, around a corner, and from the sounds of things right into a cluster of alien troops as several agonized screams could be heard after the loud thunder of the grenades explosion.

"I'll have to get back to you. Where is Unycrios?!" The captain barked over the gunfire.

"Hard to tell. He was one of the furthest from our position last I checked, but current estimates have him a couple of minutes away." Honoured Veteran Sergeant Varadoch replied, his own boltgun just as warm as everyone else as more bolts spat out of it, soaring down the assaulted corridors.

From the right-hand corridor that remained entirely un-hindered by hostiles came the thunder of heavy bootsteps, soon followed by five more space marines jogging steadily towards the battle gathering.

"Squad Jevito reporting, Captain." The sergeant announced as he strode towards Errithius.

"Reinforce the forward corridor, brother. Any word from Unycrios?"

"Negative, Captain. But I think I heard Brother Herathor reporting in that he was headed this way." Replied the sergeant.

"Fluttershy!" Princess Sparkle blurted as she attempted to get to her feet, her currently unstable condition causing her to ultimately fail and slump back to the floor again.

"Hold still, Princess. Perhaps lending us your abilities should be something to avoid in the future." Feidfor said as he tapped on the screen of his narthecium, flitting through the various readings he was receiving from his patient.

"What is her status, Feifor?" Errithius asked as he darted over to the corridor to his left to provide support.

"Miss Sparkle will be fine, she will need to refrain from using her psychic abilities for the next couple of hours, however."

"And your other patient?"

"...I can't say." Feidfor replied solemnly as he peered over his shoulder to look at the other native who he had tended to.

Behind him, slumped up against a nearby wall sat the white princess, her dark blue sister held in her arms. The night-blue princess had been in a sorry state since Errithius had first laid eyes on her, the winged creature looking more tired and weaker by the minute. What had really pushed her to loose consciousness was when she'd taken an alien projectile right to wear Errithius would say her liver must have been. Her eyes occasionally opened slightly, glassy eyes shifting about as if desperately trying to figure out where she was before she would once again slip out of consciousness. All the while her sister cradled her in her arms, her expression frantic with worry and the fear this day would be her sibling's last. Feidfor had seen to her wound and determined she would need to be installed into one of the medical beds aboard the Remergence, and that they had to hurry. As much as Errithius felt a deep pain for the poor creature and the terrible situation that had befallen it, a part of him was somewhat thankful such an event had occurred that had not instantly taken a life. For within this wound held many answers that would better cripple the hostile's efforts in the future, answers to what the nature of their weapons was, what damage they did in what way and how best it was to heal the wounds they inflicted, however such answers would have to wait for now, all that mattered at this time was escaping this death prison.

"Captain." A raspy, mechanical voice grumbled from behind Errithius.

"Pinkie!" The blue, winged native yelled in delight in seeing her friend safely returned to her, the two sharing an embrace for a second before zipping behind cover after a volley of alien fire sharply interrupted their reunion.

"Unycrios-"

"Affirmative, Captain. Beginning breaching efforts." The techmarine said, cutting Errithius off.

"With haste." Errithius growled back, not entirely appreciating the techmarine's love of efficiency at this time.

The red armoured Astarte turned and began some form of digital exchange with the wall directly behind them. The situation in the corridors had grown more dire by this point, for as much as the Astarte were holding their own, Errithius had a firm feeling reinforcements had been called down to this underground alien city, as the flow of troops had begun to increase, and their tactics had begun to grow bolder. Now the corridors were less easy to interpret as common troops shifted from one hallway to the next, mirroring the elite units that were blessed with shielding and cloaking technology. One moment alien troops cowered and fell, leaving the marines to focus on more pressing offenses elsewhere only for the neglected corridor to suddenly triple its efforts and gain valuable ground. The captain spent another magazine, quickly ejecting the empty case to slam home a replacement, more notably his last replacement.

"Unycrios, what happens when the timer runs out?!" The captain called over the increasingly fiercer gunfire.

"Remergence needed to be released from her dock, or else even engine activation could fail to free her. In ten minutes her cradle will release her, and if I am not aboard to ensure the activation of her gravity thrusters she will fall into the chasm beneath her." The techmarine grumbled as he busied himself with opening the seemingly solid passage before him.

"Unycrios, get that door open!" Adventios called out, apparently overhearing the exchange over the rattle of his storm bolter.

"Captain, we have a problem." The techmarine announced a moment before a stray alien round ricochet off the 'eblow' of one of his servo-arms.

"A problem we can solve?!"

"The systematic coherency of this surface it faulty, it is possible the facility's AI scrambled certain digital systems when as it died."

"I just need to know how we're getting through this wall!" Errithius barked desperately.

"Surface thickness indeterminate. Attempting to demolish this structure could take far longer than we have available." The techmarine replied.

"I'm failing to see any other options." Errithius said, holstering his bolter to the back of his waist before turning and breaking into a sudden sprint.

A handful of brethren watched their commander as he flew like by in a blur of motion, the only sound besides the heavy rhythm of footfalls he thundered out being the high pitched whine of his power fist charging its power cells as the mechanical gauntlet clenched into a solid fist. Kicking off his right foot the Captain shot through the air, soaring a good twenty feet until he reached the wall the techmarine had been stood looking at before moving off to the side in anticipation of his commanders brash solution. Just before reach the solid surface, Errithius struck out with his power fist, his arm punching straight forward in a fierce jabbing motion, his adamantium wreathed knuckles striking the wall with the force of a spaceship crashing into it. With a titanic boom of metal on polymer and dispersing power field, Errithius was sent flying backwards away from the wall, though in a somewhat graceful and stable manner that allowed him to land perfectly upright, his feet skidding to a halt as his momentum ran dry, leaving him standing almost exactly where he had taken off from. Errithius looked at the surface he had struck as though it had just had the nerve to offer his whole chapter insult until he allowed his right eyebrow to shoot up in surprise. A single, significant and lengthy crack had appeared, cutting along the center of the area hit had just struck.

"You see that, Unycrios?" The Captain pointed out, still staring at the surface wound.

"Damage would imply this wall is no more than six feet thick." The techmarine replied.

"Destructible." Errithius said almost solely to himself.

"Captain!" A titanically deep voice called out from the un-assaulted corridor.

Out from its shadows first came such thunderous bootsteps one might think a titan was somehow striding down its length, followed by five enourmous figures emerging single file thanks to their immense bulk. Squad Theocre, adorned with the immense plate of Indomitus pattern tactical dreadnought armour and carrying thunder hammer relic weapon alongside finely crafted storm shields, all strode forward towards Errithius, who had no intention of wasting any time with the assets they had just walked in with.

"Theocre! Destroy that wall! We need a way out of this place, now!" Errithius bellowed, the terminators immediately turning their attention to the target area their commander had designated.

"I have compiled target points, they should bear the weakest points the surface has to offer." Unycrios said through gurgling static.

"Breaching structure!" Honoured veteran sergeant Theocre called in confirmation, two of his squad taking a steady sprint towards the wall.

Beginning with a steady pace, each terminator started at a jog, soon breaking into a sprint just before charging at the wall before them. One by one, each striking at a different point, thunder hammers rang out in deafening blows as anti-matter energy field dispersed before massive slabs of adamantium slammed into the crystalline surface of the structure ahead. Despite the bulky nature of their armour, each terminator veteran was able to twist and turn into a more favourable position to allow each his brethren room enough to make his own strike effectively, seeing to it that each hit was as fierce as the last. After the last bell-toll of a blow was landed, Errithius could clearly see the wall was fairing poorly after the bombardment, a series of massive cracks in the surface meeting to make a giant circle of a weak point in the structure.

"Captain! Enemy is pushing the offensive, suspected artillery inbound!" A sergeant called out from behind.

"Unycrios! Get us out of here!" The Captain bellowed.

The techmarine wasted no time in striding forward and throwing each of his servo-arms deep into the wall ahead, grasping the edges of the weak point before him as fragments of polymer-crystal blasted out from their home. With a series of groans and whines the servo-arms flexed back, wrenching the slab of crystal before them with all their might, the surface cracking apart even more from his efforts. With a sudden, sharp pull a whole side of the slab was pulled out from the wall with a sharp cracking sound, then the other side as another fierce pull from the assaulting servo arms yanked at the massive slab of crystal. A breach easily eleven feet tall and just as wide was made, a cut-out shape of crystal wall held in Unycrios' large mechanical arms. Unycrios, with a fair bit of effort and steady degree of time turned on the spot, still holding his high-tonnage trophy, and levelled himself to face one of the corridors ahead of the space marines. With one single colossal wind-up the techmarine launched the slab through the air and down a corridor, the chunk of wall slamming messily down the hallway and from the sounds of it crushing at least one alien before coming to a halt, providing the alien attackers with a large obstacle to overcome to further advance.

"All brethren, through the breach!" Errithius hollered throwing his power fist forward in a heavy gesture.

The Terminators thundered through the hole first, then the Sanguinary Guard followed streadily by each combat squad leaving the command squad to follow last.

"Princess, we have to move your sister." Brother priest Nitheleon said in a low tone as he knelt besides Celestia.

"Yes...Of course...Okay...P-p-please just...be careful with her." The snow white princess stammered, evidently on the verge of tears as she slowly lifted her weakened sister from the ground and into the gigantic, armoured arm of the space marine.

As she lifted her sister, alien projectile zipped passed and snapped into and off of the crystal around them, the noise seeming to stir the dark blue princess in a very uncomfortable way, as if the sounds were causing her some deep internal agony. Errithius turned to throw out a flurry of bolter fire at a cluster of red visor lights peering down a dark corridor, a couple falling in response. Turning back, the captain saw Luna was almost lifelessly hanging across Nitheleon's arm, her hooves practically dragging across the floor.

"Brother, she goes first. Princess, follow after them." Errithius said calmly.

"Wait! Where's Fluttershy?!" The winged blue girl said with worry.

"We're not leaving Herathor or your companion here. We will remain even if the frigate must leave without us!" Brother Chaplain Tyreth hollered in his ever burning sense of fanaticism.

As much as Errithius would have like to bolster his brethren's bold words he had more important tasks to illustrate. He activated his comm-link and aligned his connection with Unycrios' and Sanguinary guard squad Epsilor.

"Brothers, take Unycrios and carry him across the chasm. Unycrios, get our frigate operational by the fastest means possible."

"Understood, Captain. Brother techmarine?" Chimed back Epsilor.

"I am prepared for transport." The techmarine growled in reply.

"Respiras, Megnamon, secure Unycrios, the rest of us will follow."

"Omnissiah preserve you, Captain." Unycrios said to Errithius as a peculiar form of farewell.

"And yourself as well, brother." The captain replied before deactivating the link.

The sound of several jump pack thrusters roaring to life confirmed that the squad and their package were well on their way to Remergence, and the final hope of the strike force was testing its fortune. Nitheleon, Luna and Celestia had just made the short drop out from the breach onto the platform that lay bellow them, meeting with the marines that awaited below. The rest of the natives followed shortly after, followed by the company's standard bearer leaving Errithius, Tyreth, Varadoch, another veteran by the name of Revith and the company champion Itherithon behind to defend the breach, each conserving as much ammunition as they possibly could against the attackers that grew bolder by the minute.

"Brother Captain." Errithius' ear-piece chimed with the youthful voice of Ennyre, the company Librarian that was assigned to Squad Theocre.

"Go ahead." The captain replied.

"It's the princess, Princess Luna. Her condition worsens. But I believe her state to be caused not by medical issues, and I have come to sense a significant spiritual destabilization within her." The young, yet admirably capable Librarian said, sounding as if his concentration was being occupied by his study of the princess even as he addressed the captain.

"An issue I am more than happy to address once we are aboard the frigate, but for now this has to wait." Errithius said through clenched teeth, the stress of the increasingly desperate situation manifesting in his tone.

"Captain, you don't understand. This isn't a simple psychological disturbance, I am beginning to believe the princess is attempting to contain something within her consciousness, some form latent entity or intelligence." The Librarian replied, his own voice strained with desperation.

The captains mind needed not half a second to connect the dots that lead to a terrible conclusion, one that highlighted a terrible occurrence from his whole company's past.

"Intelligence?" Errithius said almost without thinking.

"Unconfirmed, Captain, but it is a moderate possibility."

Errithius' mind was ablaze with images of death, mutilation and the devastation that followed. It had started much like this, a single mortal struggling with some obscure form of illness that eventually developed into unshakable madness, then into what had destroyed almost half a heavily populated world.

Demonic possession.

"Brother...if it comes to the worst...you know what must be done." Errithius said slowly and simply, his words firm and unmistakable even as he concentrated on battering enemy ranks with bolter fire.

There was a long pause, or at least long for a space marine, which was no more than two heartbeats.

"Ennyre, respond!" The captain barked through the comm-link.

"Yes, Captain, of course. I'll keep you updated." The Librarian finished.

"Captain, I am aboard, access verification authorized. I am on my way to the bridge. By the time I have finished we should still have little over one hundred seconds remaining, I advise you fall back to the walkway and prepare to board." Unycrios barked and gurgled over the radio channel almost precisely after Ennyre had finished.

"Understood." Errirthius replied.

"Herathor had better be here soon." Varadoch groaned, bolts hammering out from the muzzle of his weapon.

"He'll be here." Errithius ensured, however his words were based purely on a blind hope he harboured.

"Captain, ship serf and servitor units are functioning at less than optimal level due to their neglect. I have attained flight controls, and grav-thrusters are in their pre-ignition cycles, but I have limited shield and weapons control." Unycrios chimed in after a couple of minutes of the command squad holding the breach.

"Just get us out of here first, then we can worry about our ships capacity for devastation."

"Acknowledged. Warning: I will need to destroy a significant portion of the structure below you so you can all board the ships spinal access routes. Brace yourselves for ordinance deployment." The techmarine informed.

"Negative, brother, we still have brethren in the alien network. Hold off all fire until all are accounted for." Errithius replied back hastily.

"I shall obey. However, Captain, I estimate your location will be overrun shortly, and it is a secure assumption that our enemy has arranged for orbital containment forces to anticipate our escape."

"I know, and again we shall deal with one problem at a time, but I am not leaving my brother here to die." Errithius said back through clenched teeth a moment before an approaching formation of glowing red eyes were consumed by a torrent of vicious explosive fire, guts and limbs spattering about the floor just beyond the shadows from were they had just stood intact.

The thunderous rhythm of power armoured bootsteps came echoing down one of the corridors, enemy fire pitter-pattering off of something extremely solid and metallic that drew nearer. From out the darkness a pair of triangular eye lenses, glowing a bright pink, bounded closer a few heartbeats before the white and crimson armour of the heavy bolter wielding Herathor sprinted into vision.

"Where the hell have you been?" Varadoch said with an amused grunt.

"By my ammo count, drawing all the attention." Herathor replied in a tone that seemed to 'growl' all the words together.

"And the na-" Errithius began before seeing the small yellow girl Herathor had gotten separated with sitting snugly within the empty space in his ammo pack where his ammunition box would have been if it had not, presumably, been emptied.

"Through the breach, we shall follow. Unycrios, prepare to unleash payload in fifteen seconds." The captain said before notifying his brother over the radio.

"It shall be done." The techmarine replied simply.

Herathor and his shaken companion dropped down through the hole and joined the defensive formations of space marines. The command squad followed shortly after, Errithius taking note of the enemy fire increasing tenfold as they fell back, a round clipping Revith in the lower shoulder were a gap in his armour presented itself, and although the round met bone, it did little to incapacitate the marine. Errithius dropped down to the walkway last and immediately spun about to bring his iron sights lined up with the breach, hearing clearly the alien units moving up and forming around the makeshift exit.

"Kastathius, keep that breach painted! Romoth, back away from the edge! All units brace for ordinance!" The captain yelled about to the appropriate squads before taking a knee and awaiting the awakening of Remergence's weapons.

"Forward battery primed. Torpedo tubes two and four are loaded. Firing now." Unycrios reported a split second before the very air around the marines and natives alike seemed to vibrate and ring with a high-pitched squeal.

The deafening roar of the torpedo thrusters was quickly drowned out at the two stormraven-sized projectiles blasted forward at supersonic speeds, plowing into the crystal ahead, burying themselves fully into the structure before detonating, blasting two holes into the alien wall, the broken material between the two monolithic wounds crumbling away to create a hole roughly the size of the frigate's bow. Though mildly disoriented for a moment, Errithius and his marines rose to their feet a few seconds after the explosion, the bell-tolls dissipating from their ears. The natives, however, where not so fortunate as the Astartes were, their sensitive ears unable to compensate as the marines did to the massive change in surrounding volume. Many fell about, stumbling in a dizzied state as they flexed their jaws in an attempt to rid their ears of the ringing in their ears, some other went a step further by voicing their discomfort.

"-Son of a merry-headed mare with buckin' brick-feet!" The larger, orange girl said as she clenched her eyes shut and braced herself against a nearby crystal structure.

"What?!" The purple princess blurted clumsily.

"Who's there?!" Her pink, curvaceous fellow princess yelled as she waved her hands around in an attempt to assess her surroundings.

"What?!" Princess Twilight blurted again.

"THUNDER! THAT WAS NOT FUNNY! I HATE YOU SO MUCH!" The hyperactive pink girl squealed through a frantic expression.

"Brothers, get them stable! Kastathius, keep eyes on that breach!" The captains voice was half-drowned out by the frigates engines starting up in anticipation of being released by the alien docking clamps, their low, but loud hum filling the air around the marines.

As the marines around him begun shifting and adjusting their stances, Errithius heard the familiar ping of his suits in-built auspex scanner, the immediate forty feet around him ever scanned for signs of thermal and electrical anomalies, changes in air density and traces local movement. The scanner pulled at his neural feed, tugging his attention to the side rather than provide a visual display like a helmet would, yet it still provided a solid function. To his left he, at first, saw nothing, just a few alien structures of unknown purpose sat glued to the crystal floor beneath them. However he soon spotted the slightest shimmer in the air ahead of him, the that which came off a road in the heat of a desert, only far more subtle. With an expression of mild confusion the captain looked on, his senses homing in on the strange anomaly as it seemed to glide closer. He immediately head what sounded like the soft, tiny footsteps of a house pet, followed by a strange, wet, stale smell coming from the air. His mind connected the dots, and his arm shot into motion, however it seemed he was too late. The alien assassin dropped its cloak, for reasons the captain did not understand, the only reason seeming to be for the marine to watch as the black-clothed, hooded alien pointed its squat firearm at his face, ready to fire even as Errithius came to the half way point of raising his bolter to meet his enemy. A heavy, bass-tone thunderclap sounded, Errithius assuming the worst was occurring, and his time had come to a bitter, ignoble end. This proved untrue as the alien before him was blasted in two at the midsection, guts flying through the air in a visceral display of red gore and tattered clothing. as the torso of the creature fell to the ground in a wet heap Errithius snapped his head around, surprised to see the orange girl from earlier on the floor beside him, an imperial pattern shotgun sat in her lap with a smoking barrel, the weapons recoil seemingly having flung the native straight backwards onto her behind as her dazed expression would have the marine believe.

"Whoa, Nelly!" The girl blurted as she began to re-position herself to stand.

Errithius bent low and scooped her up by an arm, lifting her to a knee and allowing her to stand soon after.

"I'd best keep a better eye on my surroundings in the future." Errithius said in subtle thanks.

"Probably best, don' think ah can do that twice in one whinny." The girl replied, the wind still slightly knocked out of her.

The girl immediately rested her eyes on the sight before her, on the mangled and broken remains of the alien she had just killed. Errithius didn't need more than a second to see this was the first time this creature had ever killed another thinking, feeling being, perhaps the first time she'd ever killed anything. Her eyes were wide, yet held the weight of a terrible sadness that washed over her, and Errithius could ill afford any in his company to be in such a state, especially in such a desperate situation. A titanic cracking, crumbling sound emanated from below the platform, the floor beneath rumbling deeply before the whole structure came loose from the gigantic wall ahead of them, the whole platform falling several feet and atop the bow of Remergence. The frigate had been freed, the enemy would no doubt soon be upon them. It was time to leave.

"Come, we cannot dwindle here." Errithius said sharply, but not so harsh as to be threatening, the girl before him nodding lightly before shaking her head and pulling herself to her feet with her firearm in hand.

"Captain." Unycrios said simply over the comm-link.

"We're on the move. All brethren, to the frigate! Keep mobile coverage on that breach!" Errithius barked, seeing the first cluster of aliens fall from the hole before him and land unsteadily on the crumbling platform below them.

The marines towards the rear of the formation turned and almost immediately jumped the twenty feet down to a external access walkway located along the crafts spine, more marines following by the second. A few Hospitalers scooped up a native under their arm and carried them down to save them the potentially hazardous decent, the other natives simply drifting down upon their own wings. Errithius was carefully painting targets with his bolter, shortly after turning them into a gory slurry of blood, bone and torn clothing, so intently so that only just as he approached the edge of the platform did he notice both Herathor and his yellow companion as well as both Princess Celestia and Luna all ducked down, taking cover behind blocks of crystal protruding from the floor. Errithius and a pair of marines re-calibrated their firing efforts to best advance as to retrieve those ahead of them, but the flow of enemies pouring through the breach was almost feverish, like water flowing from a tap. Herathor punished what assailants he could with his bolt pistol, his heavy weapon seemingly having run dry of ammunition, his vastly decreased firepower affecting his defensive capabilities severely. Errithius hadn't taken ten steady paces forward by the time the night-blue princess unsteadily stirred, shaking as she got to her feet while her sister practically clawed at her clothing in an effort to pull her back behind cover.

It almost stunned all who looked on to see a volley of alien firepower zip through the air straight at the princess who now took several slow steps forward, only for the red line of vapour to come to a sudden halt before the winged lady, bright blue ripples of energy spreading through the air from the point of each impact. Again and again the air before the princess lit up as the aliens continued desperately to penetrate her unexpectedly fierce defense, all the while Errithius could barely hear the native mumbling something. Through the sound of gunfire and considering the distance it was difficult to accurately make out, but the captain could just about make out her saying something to do with being 'alone'. The princess was just a couple dozen feet from the aliens now, who in disbelief had slowed their rate of fire, many simply standing awe-struck at the sight before them. The air before Errithius grew tense, literally tightening around him, a wind picking up and flowing in towards Luna soon followed by sharp, bright archs of lightning blasting from the princesses very fur and smelting the crystal around her as her glimmering blue, translucent hair went wild as the wind seemed to produce a whirlwind around her.

"I...said..." The princess begun, her head low, her face out of Errithius' line of sight.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

With that a shock-wave similar to that emitted by a plasma cannon blast was sent soaring through the air. Though no heat came with it, the kinetic blast took Errithius and his remaining brethren off their feet, the captains brain being well and truly rattled enough to disorientate him. Within a second he through his torso up and propped himself up to look upon Princess Luna, his face contorted with fierce confusion. Before Luna, were the aliens had stood, now floated a haze of red mist, clumps of bloodied armour and uniform clinging to pulped meat swirling through the air as the shockwave had clearly affected them a thousand times worse than it had affected him. Luna stood as she did when Errithius had last seen her, fists clenched, arms tight and veins throbbing as incorporeal energy spat from her form. However this sight did not last long as the princess started to relax a moment before going completely limp and tumbling to the floor. Luckily her sister was already on her way and caught her mid-fall a heartbeat before turning on the spot and bolting it towards Errithius, her face in a state of pure terror as she sped onward. Errithius' whole form jerked a moment before an odd sensation gripped his innards, a feeling he knew that meant he was falling. Darting his head about, he could see the crystal he had been flung unto had been distabilised by the blast and with his considerable weight had decided to depart the platform it had belonged to up until now. A handful of marines fell down around him, all adopting the same method Errithius himself applied at that time, curling inwards, shifting his weight and allowing his suits gyro-stabilizers redirect his angle of decent to better prepare him for the collision with the ship below.

The captain fell to the hull of the frigate at an awkward angle, landing on a knee, causing him to roll to the side before righting himself. Other marines were more fortunate in landing on their feet, a couple less so as one fell head-first into the adamantium exterior of the craft and another being bent over backwards over a walkway railing. Though uncomfortable and quite annoying, both marines soon shook off the folly and righted themselves before vaulting over the railing to sprint down the walkway and towards an access door to lead them inside the ship. Errithius looked up to see a figure launch itself off the edge of the broken platform, large white wings spreading themselves to allow it to gracefully float to the frigate below.

"Princess...Princess! Where is Herathor?! Princess?!" Errithius bellowed, but to no avail as Celestia, wild eyed, sprinted onwards with her sister laying unconscious in her arms.

"Herathor! Brother, respond!" Errithius barked through the comms a moment before the ship he stood upon shook violently, the crystal ahead cracking apart and falling off the hull as the whole vessel started reversing.

"Unycrios! Stop! We have brothers still on the platform!"

But no response came. Not from the techmarine at least.

"In pursuit, Captain!" The husky voice of Herathor roared from the radio, causing Errithius to dart his head upwards and to the ever-more-distant platform that was now disintegrating rapidly before the frigate.

Seconds passed, too many for Errithius to retain any confidence, the captain's face slacking with despair at the diminishing hope he witnessed. Like a thunderbolt of white, red and gleaming gold a single massive figure soared through the air before the ship, leaping several dozen feet before beginning to descend. A cold, calculating portion of Errithius' mind did the math, did it twice and again in the fraction of a second that there was to observe and concluded a single daunting truth.

He wasn't going to make it.

Then, mid-air, Herathor shifted his pose, stretching back and arching himself almost as if he was going to strike a blow at the air before him. Errithius spotted just in time, sat motionless in his right hand by the lower back and paralyzed in fear, the small yellow native Herathor had been with. With all the marines effort, aided by the effort granted by his power armour, Herathor threw his companion through the air ahead of him, launching the girl almost just as far as he had just jumped. Errithius was already on the move without so much as a thought travelling through his mind. The girl tumbled through the air so still she'd might as well have been made of stone, soaring straight towards Errithius as he dived for her. With unnatural precision, his arms caught the girl and cradled her so that as his form hammered into the walkway ahead, she remained unharmed. Errithius' hooded head snapped upwards with half a second to helplessly observe as Herathor fell, plunging down into the deep before the craft ahead.

"No!" Roared the captain, his voice strained, eyes tight and face burning as he allowed his own emotions to take hold of him.

Errithius clenched his jaw as he lay there, soon welding his eyelids shut as hot tears began to form around them. A soft ringing filled his ears as the blood in his head built in pressure, every muscle tightening as his despair boiled within him. With his grief firmly burnt into his conscious, Errithius let go of both the girl he held, as well as his raging despair. His face slackened, jaw loosened and eyes flew open, his mind processing the more essential information once more and he threw himself to the side and lifted himself from the ground and kneeling over the girl he had caught.

"Captain!"

Herathor's voice boiled within Errithius the closest thing he'd ever felt to fear, the marine snapping his hand to his ear to steady his ear-piece to better receive what he had to be sure he was hearing.

"Brother?!" Errithius blurted back.

"Tell that machine-minded cog-lover to get us the hell out of here!" Herathor sounded like an erupting volcano, his tone more furious than the captain had ever heard before.

"What happened?!Where are you?!"

"I'm hanging from one of the sensor array antennae! Enemy units are beginning to target me, get this ship in the air!" The marine barked back.

Surely enough Errithius could see ahead those aliens that had survive the psychic shockwave and those that soon joined them were peppering the bow of the frigate with small arms fire. In return the odd bolt was sent back, missing twice, but killing two attacking aliens soon after. Errithius scooped up the still-paralyzed native and bounded for the access hatch, his brothers and the other girls having already gotten inside.

"Take off! Unycrios! Take-Off!"He yelled as he sprinted forward.

--------------------------------------

Errithius quickly turned a corner as a loud detonation sounded from outside the ship, a cluster of shapes falling outside one of the stained-glass observation windows. Another sounded as he sped forward and into the elevator ahead. Having left the small girl with her companions in a shrine-hall near the access door, he had made off straight away to get to the bridge, which after a short ascension now lay before him. Unycrios stood at the center of a raised platform in the center of the massive, Colosseum-like hall that was home to a forest of consoles, relays, generators, display screens and the dozens of bio-mechanical serfs and servitors that manned them. Though more thorough observation would have had to wait, Errithius couldn't help but note how ever servitor and serf had its face, back and arms covered in strange, almost fungal growths of pale colour and chalky texture. Ignoring this for now, Errithius ascended the staircase that spiraled around the central command platform to join the techmarine.

"We are clear of the structure. Making our ascent." Unycrios growled as his arms, both natural and mechanical tapped and turned various controls on the consoles before him.

"Damage?" Errithius asked.

"Dorsal lance c-c-c-cannon was able to easily cut through the ceilinggggg of the holding cell. We do however have a sub-sub-substantial amount of both artificial-artificial and natural debris scattered over the t-t-t-top of the ship, my lord." One of the fungal-ridden serfs attending a console said, his words raspy and stuttered, his neglect having seemingly interrupted his functionalities.

"How is the sky looking?"

"Single ship, starboard side. Their sensors have picked us up and weapons are being readied, but their are yet to initiate an intercept course." Unycrios replied, flitting through several holographic displays detailing sensor analysis of the enemy craft.

"Capacity? Class?" The captain said, bringing up a display of the alien ship on a nearby console.

"Inconclusive, much at this point would simply be assumption. It is ten kilometers in total length, four weapon classifications scattered over eighty location across her hull-"

A muffled sound of thunder came from outside the hull in a vicious drum-beat rythm.

"They appear to be firing w-w-w-weapons, sire." Another serf announced calmly.

"Shields?" Errithius inquired as the bass-tone thunder of ordinance being intercepted by defensive turrets continued on in the background.

"Holding steady. Turret defense systems are able to anticipate much of their more potent projectiles. They appear to be using a class of torpedo alongside heavy projectile weapons." The techmarine assured.

"Lance battery, take out their engines. Unycrios, after they are grounded get us out of here and hide us." Errithius ordered, not wanting to dawdle about in drawn-out conflict only to be outnumbered a hundred, even a thousand to one in mere minutes.

"Understood. Destination locked in, engines primed. Awaiting weapon deployment."

Several seconds passed, the captain tapping rapidly on the console controls to bring up a fully three dimensional display of the enemy craft in real-time assessment, red blips bursting out from all over the crafts starboard, indicating each weapon that was firing at the frigate. A small blue portion of the ship was highlighted, detailing it as the power cells and conduits that powered the main thrusters.

"Lance turret fully charged, Captain." A serf announced.

"Fire." Errithius ordered without a moments hesitation.

Not a second after a deep thrumming sound rang through the bridge, a bright light shining through the observation windows along with it. The display before Errithius revealed a bright orange that plastered itself over the image of the ship's rear starboard. The orange painted a short line, like a scalpel wound, that cut across the alien craft's hull and deep into the sub-structure. Errithius did well to not show his surprise as whatever shielding the craft had was either completely diminished or outright failed to respond to the massive energy beam that had struck through it. Both a power cell cluster and the conduit that led through it was completely decimated, the lances intense laser having cut almost clean through the entire ship, biting hundreds of meters into the hull and melting through over a hundred decks. Holographic indicators revealed that the ships engine power was dropping, and a number of secondary systems were in utter disarray as the image of the ship seemed to rear up, the rear stabilisers evidently having been utterly disabled and sending the ships stern swinging downwards while the rest of the vessel clumsily hung in the sky, its bow bobbing up and bow like a limbless creature desperately trying to reach the surface of an ocean for air.

"Situational update?" The captain demanded from no one in particular.

"Enemy craft has suffered critical structural damage as well as significant power failure. We should be clear to evade further contact before reaching our destination." The techmarine replied.

"And where is that?"

"Four thousand, two hundred and twenty nine kilometers from our current position, I have located a dense mountain range our vessel should remain undetected within."

"Good, get us there." Errithius ordered, turning to descend the stairs he had taken to reach the platform.

"Affirmative, Captain."

Errithius steadily descended the sturdy, metal stairs, his bootsteps ringing out in sharp metallic clashes before finally reaching the more solid floor below. At this point he neurally commanded his vox-link to connect with the ship-wide broadcast system to address all his brothers at once.

"All marines, we are clear. We are headed for a mountain range roughly four thousand kilometers away. Take what rest you need, check your wargear, we shall convene in the central chapel in approximately two hours. And for goodness sake, someone get Herathor off from the frontal antennae and get him inside. He's probably furious."