Chapter III

Leviticus approached the Workers Hibernacula in Gold 74. Beside the hatch in the wall, was a barred window that held a sign in Low Gothic below. ‘New Workers come here first.’ Inside a scribe was bent over a tome. He approached the window with trepidation.

‘State your business?’ The scribe asked without looking up or stopping his pen.

He noticed that the scribe’s natural arms were removed and replaced with a pair of fragile augmented limbs. He replied, ‘Paternus sent me.’

‘Work in Manufactorium on Gold 81. Work is difficult. Expect shortened life. Four forms needed.’ The scribe said to no one in particular. A spindly arm turned around and nimbly grabbed the four forms and set them down next to the tome. The scribe reached a stopping point after a several long moments. He then turned to the documents, never once looking up at Leviticus.

‘Name? Planet of Origin? Imperial Identification Number?’ Began the scribe.

Giving false information, Leviticus finally broke away from the scribe after a grueling interrogation of questions. He never knew how long he had before the false information was discovered and he was investigated in more detail. He knew he needed to get off world soon. He got to his room. It was tiny but it was solitary. Cleaning himself and his robe, he set to work on his armor.

Removing it and securing it in a bulkhead wall. He put on the issued work uniform and made his way back to the manufactorium. Paternus was standing in the heat haze near a smelter. Cigar still poking out of his mouth, he watched as men poured liquefied metal into another machine. Sweat drenched them all. Leviticus walked up to Paternus.

‘Worker Levy reporting as requested.’ he said.

‘Levy, was it? Get over there and start loading up that vehiculum. Do not bother with the Servitors. They only respond to my commands. Move it!’

Moving away from the smelter was a relief. The last place he wanted to be was near a heat source where his enhanced physiology would make its appearance known. The vehiculum was a long flat vehicle with a tiny open operators cab in the front. Beside it was a pile of metal rods that apparently needed to be loaded on the vehiculum. Another worker was walking around with a piece of parchment. He noticed Leviticus.

‘Are you the Loader? You must be. You are too big not to be. Start putting this entire palette onto the vehiculum. It needs to get out as your done,’ said the worker without taking a breath.

Leviticus took to his task as if he was an Initiate trying to gain favor from the training Sergeants. It was very hard labor but it did not bother him. He was serving again and that brought out his pride. Within a short amount of time, he had moved most of the pile when the worker with the parchment came back.

‘What are you doing? Do you think you are a Space Marine or something?’ He brought his hands together in the form of the Aquila at the mention of Space Marine. ‘You are going to be useless by mid-shift if you keep that up and then Paternus will skin you alive!’ Leviticus forced himself to slow down and take a few more breaks. He still managed to finish the loading with time to spare.

The mid-shift meal was a vile gruel that, while giving nutrients to the workers, did nothing for the taste. The workers kept to themselves and enjoyed the break from the hard labor. He kept pondering how he was going to get away and looking for any threats. There were enough pieces of steel lying around to become improvised weapons when needed.

The rest of the day was much the same. Load one vehiculum and then another. He has to leave with a loader when Paternus told him to go and off-load at its destination. Leviticus watched the road the driver took through the hive and marker several points for further reconnaissance. One area of interest was the location of the starport further up in the hive.

Completing a shift, he took a couple of hours to reconnoiter the possible escape locations. The starport was a shuttle pad that shuttled small groups from ships in orbit down to this area of the hive. It was now used to transport material around the planet and to the smaller vessels making repairs.

+ + +

The scribe at the Workers Hibernacula finished its work on the tome. Locking the book closed. He handed it to a carrier outside the window. ‘Wait. There are additional submittals.’ He turned around, grabbed a sheaf of parchments, and handed those to the carrier as well. ‘Deliver to Administratum Office on Red 196.’

The carrier left with a puzzled look on his face.

The scribe did not care; he placed a new tome on his table and set back to writing.

+ + +

Leviticus dove into a local tavern to hear the gossip being spread. Nothing traveled faster than gossip and while the knowledge is usually unreliable, it always held a nugget of knowledge worth hearing. Sitting in a corner booth, the marine used some of his day’s earnings to get him a drink and the quietly sat watching and listening to the patrons in the bar.

Through the doorway, came a man carrying a massive book and some parchments. He shuffled his way over to a booth to sit down. He appeared to be a regular customer in that he called the waiter by his first name and ordered his usual. After getting himself situated, he looked through some of the parchment but never touched the book until he left. After finishing his meal, he left in a bigger rush then when he came in. I wonder what that was about.

Leviticus was about to get up to follow when a he suddenly heard something that made his blood grow cold.

‘The Trials are coming up in a month, Theodicus. Do you think your son will be chosen?’

‘Lord Emperor, I hope not. I want to be able to give my son the business when he is old enough, Fredicar. I do not want to have to give him up to become a Space Marine. Since Julianna passed away four years back, he’s the last piece of her I got left.’

Throne! I do not have a lot of time! He thought to himself.

Walking back to the Hibernacula was a blur as Leviticus tried to formulate a way for him to get off world. The pilgrimage trick had been so many times that Inquisitors always check the pilgrims before they board. He did not know anything of space travel to commandeer a ship. His wages earned from the manufactorium was too small to book him passage off world in a month. How was he going to pull it off? He lay down on the bedding in his room. He drifted off to a troubled sleep wondering what he was going to do.

He awoke just as troubled, heading back to the manufactorium for his shift. He tried to remain vigilant as to ways to get off world faster. The day toiled on just like the day before and he had to remind himself to keep aware as he would get lost in thought and start working like a Marine instead of a human. He finished his shift and reconnoitered again but without anything new.

Three days of looking brought nothing that he could use. However, the Emperor provided an unusual opportunity on the fourth day. One that he planned to use to his advantage.

+ + +

Inquisitor Yannick descended the ramp of the Thunderhawk Gunship. Escorted by a group Inquisition Stormtroopers, Yannick looked around the sparse landing pad through the vision slit of his armor. The integrated Auspex picked up nothing out of the ordinary. A member of the Ordo Hereticus, Yannick’s duty is to scrub out all forms of heresy wherever it may be located. He had received a tip of the most disturbing kind. A renegade Space Marine was hiding in the Emperor’s holy Imperium. He was hiding in this Hive City.

+ + +

‘ Lord Leliel! The Inquisitor has touched down on the planet.’ A marine replied.

‘Very Good Brother Fromzon, monitor the situation. If this is one of ours, he will need our help before too long. Continue running dark,’ stated Lord Leliel. He was a mountain of a man, nearing nine feet tall. He stood a full head taller than the rest of the Marines assembled around him. His black armor scarred from the numerous battles. He wore a large fur draped over his massive shoulder guards and down his back. Behind him stood a minder hefting the weight of Leliel’s Bolter and Chain-axe.

‘ Epsitolary Uwala! Can you sense the presence of the rogue marine?’ barked Leliel

‘No, my Lord. There are too many souls clouding my vision,’ replied the Librarian.

+ + +

Leviticus watched the Inquisitor depart with his entourage. Time was short, he had no idea what an Inquisitor was doing here, but he had a very good idea for whom he would be looking. He looked at the weapons the guards of the Thunderhawk carried. These were not carrying the standard pattern lasguns given to the Stormtroopers. They carried what looked to be a high-powered autogun.

Slipping through the shadows, Leviticus left the vicinity of the starport and made his way back to his armor. He had moved it to a more accessible location in an old maintenance compartment that looked to have seen little use in many years. He also managed to recharge the power cell after tapping into the power conduits in the hive. Donning the ancient suit of armor was a homecoming for the marine. He began chanting Litanies of War and Catechisms of Righteous Anger. Placing the black robe over the armor, he started a new chant as old as his armor.

‘What is the terror of death? That we die, our work incomplete.’
‘ However, what is the joy of life? To die, knowing our task is done.’

Leviticus grabbed his Bolt Pistol and Power Sword and made his way through the maintenance tunnels to a scouted Ambush location near the Workers Hibernacula.

+ + +

Epistolary Uwala sent his mind a short distance through the warp to the hive city below. He searched for a candle flame in an inferno. His mind was tiring from the stress of the look when he caught the end of a familiar thought. ‘…what is the joy of life? To die, knowing our task is done.’

I found you, Brother. The Librarian broke the connection to the warp and relaxed in the confines of his sanctum. Another Fallen Brother was found, and he was preparing for war. It will trouble Lord Leliel that this Brother has not forsaken the Emperor, but not Uwala. He allowed a smile to cross his face. Whoever you are? You are still a Great Crusader.

Uwala crossed over to his weapons rack, he donned his psychic hood and grabbed his weapons. He walked down the corridor toward the landing bay. He spoke into his vox-unit, ‘ Lord Leliel, the Renegade is in trouble. Request permission to extract.’

‘Granted. Fight well.’

+ + +

Two squads of stormtroopers moved out in front of the Inquisitor as he made his way to the hibernacula. Everyone cleared out of their way as stormtroopers moved in a tactical formation through both sides of the walkway. The Sergeants of each squad held out an auspex to help locate their quarry. In the middle of each team, a stormtrooper walked aglow carrying a plasma rifle ready to dispense rounds of super heated plasma toward the armored enemy they were closing upon.

Behind the squads was the Inquisitor surrounded by a third squad of stormtroopers. He was armed with a bolt pistol and power sword and remained in his suit of power armor. The auspex contained in his suit scanning for any sign of his enemy. He knew where he used to be but he did not know his current whereabouts. The Inquisitor was not going to take any chances. A renegade Space Marine is an abomination that must be dealt with promptly.

Leviticus watched them come, seeing the auspices forced him to stay near a power node to mask his signature. There were too many for one marine to take down. He had to split the group apart. 

+ + +

The Thunderhawk roared down through the atmosphere. Uwala led the squad of warriors in the rites of preparation. Each warrior checked that their weapons were clear and functional before completing the rite by loading a magazine into their bolters or bolt pistols and chambering a round. Uwala felt each warrior’s body prepare for battle in his mind. He could sense their blood rushing with adrenaline and the activation of both hearts. Their minds were awake and aware of perceived dangers. Even through their helmets, Uwala heard each warrior speak any manner of battle chant that struck their heart. Uwala repeated each in his own mind and added another.

Marines mounted in the sponsons on the edge of the wing noticed the guards on the landing pad protecting the Inquisitor’s Thunderhawk. They opened fire as they came with in range of the Pad. Stormtroopers died in blaze of bolts.

The pilot linked back with Uwala the situation and he told the assembled marines.

‘The Landing Pad is occupied. We will not touch down. We will jump out the ramp and assault the ramp. The Inquisitor’s Thunderhawk will be our method of extraction. One of the pilots came down from the cockpit, grabbed his own weapons, and placed a backpack on his back.

Feeling the Thunderhawk decelerate as it approached the Pad, the co-pilot activated a rune, and the front ramp yawned open. Two marines knelt at the end of the ramp and engaged the remaining Stormtrooper guards. The servitors in the Inquisitor’s Thunderhawk took up their weapon stations and attempted to return fire but the mind of a Marine is still faster than a Servitor. Before a shot could be fired, the Servitors were dead.

+ + +

‘Yannick’s Hawk to Inquisitor! We are under attack by an approaching Thunderhawk! Markings are unknown! It looks like Marines!’

‘Emperor’s Damnation! Third squad, get back to the gunship and repel the attackers! Double Time!’ shouted the Inquisitor. The squad of stormtroopers encircling him did a quick about face and ran back the way they had come towards the battle up hive.

+ + +

Leviticus saw one of the squads of stormtroopers depart in a hurry. His senses revealed the faint sounds of weapons fire up towards the starport. The Inquisitor began to close the distance to the remaining two squads. This was his chance.

Grabbing two grenades, he triggered their detonators and cooked them off before dropping them down on the two closely packed squads below. The grenades exploded before they hit the ground. Five troopers were instantly shredded and six more were wounded by the blast. The screams from the wounded quickly became audible. Shrapnel from the grenades damaged a plasma rifle to the point that it melted down and resultant blast took down two more.

Seven dead, six wounded.

Leviticus shifted position.