Deploying from one of the Iconoclasts, three small objects were now speeding towards the Rock, while the defences had been distracted by the waves of torpedoes. Immediately recognizing the threat and ordering his defensive thunderhawks to pursue, he alerted Aradiel and Azrael. This was the final assault. He could feel it in his bones. These were three thunderhawks flying towards certain doom and pursued by the best of the chapters' pilots. Yet they evaded every attempt to destroy them by an amazing display of flying skill that could only have come from millennia of expertise. Aradiel was directing the close in defences to put up a veritable wall of exploding ordnance in the path of the attackers. The pursuing thunderhawks, to their credit stayed on their tails, ignoring the friendly fire, their only aim to protect their chapter home. Aradiel could not but look on in admiration at the display of superfluous flying skill displayed by the enemy. Then a chance explosion sent a piece of shrapnel ripping through the port wing of the third attacking thunderhawk. It careened out of control right in to the sights of the pursuing gunships which without hesitation blasted it to pieces. A massive explosion blossomed where the enemy gunship had been, the blast incinerating the pursuing thunderhawk and overloading many of the view screens on the Tower of Angels. As the screens flickered back in to life Apollyon noted with dread that the blast had thrown the other two thunderhawks well within the defensive shields of the Rock. The pursuers were too far behind to intercept them. They could but observe helplessly as the two ships followed one another in to the crater. Aradiel ordered damage control servitors to the region where the impact was expected. The gunship which had been destroyed had been carrying a massive quantity of explosives along with plasma reactor cores, which had caused the massive explosion. The other too must be similarly armed he concluded, knowing fully well that this was in fact a suicide attack to destroy the Tower of Angels. With anticipation he waited for the expected explosion. With a roar the first gunship flew in to the crater and detonated itself in its base, and just as the blossoming explosion began the second gunship joined it. It was a kind of explosion never before witnessed on the soil of the fortress. The void shield held the bulk of the explosion and redirected it back to the bedrock. In his command centre Azrael felt the ground tremble as if an earthquake had occurred. Electrical power and data links shorted and fizzed. Darkness descended within the fortress of the unforgiven. Minutes passed in stupefied silence as Aradiel and Apollyon realised that the worst had not yet come to pass. The rock was still floating. Damaged, bruised but still intact. The suicide flight was the cue for the rest of the attacking fleet to withdraw, leaving the majority of their number as floating hulks. The unforgiven forces declined to pursue, their mission foremost in the minds. As the angels regrouped after the day long space battle, Azrael met with his grandmasters. "Supreme grandmaster, we failed to prevent the final assault. It is my failure that the Tower of Angels was so damaged and I take full responsibility. I shall pay any penance you deem to be necessary." said Aradiel slowly. Apollyon followed "The blame is mine too, as our fleet defences were unable to prevent the breach!" Azrael smiled a tired smile "Our forces fought above and beyond the call of duty and I am proud of every one of our forces. No penance is required. What is the damage in strategic terms?" "The explosions destabilized our plasma reactor cores. We are dead in space for the moment. We will not have real space capability for two terran days. The warp drives are intact but I would advice against their use until the plasma cores are back on line." Looking at Apollyon, Aradiel continued "Our defensive systems are at 60% capability. We are dependant on the battle fleets for protection now more than ever." "That you shall receive my friend" stated Apollyon "However our continued advance towards the planet killer fleet must be halted. Our ships need to refit and we can accomplish that here whiel ensuring that none of the enemy vessels are salvageable." They had held the space battle field and so everything there was for their taking. "We will salvage any lance weaponry that is still functioning aboard the enemy ships" Sapphon entered the room and bowed in mutual respect. "The heretics were exactly on target as Ezekiel had warned! The chamber is completely devastated and vented to the outer space. It is truly fortunate that we were able to move the oracle to chamber 777 yesterday." "Chamber 777 will be re-designated chamber 000 from now onwards. The access corridors have been relegated to the control of the Deathwing. Are the chamber's stasis fields functioning adequately?" "On the recommendations of Ezekiel we have created additional psychic wards, void fields and stasis rings to further strengthen the defences of the chamber. Whoever our nemesis is he will not know of our increased capabilities." A vox alarm sounded from the command console and a voice came on line. "Brother captain Validus reporting. Honoured Pluvius requests your presence immediately!" Alarm bells and the sound of Deathwing terminators deploying for action could be heard in the back ground. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The massive adamantium doors to chamber 000 swung gracefully open on fine exquisitely crafted hinges. Azrael stepped through the doorway followed closely by Sapphon, Aradiel and Apollyon. Pluvius stood there with his back to them, towering even above Azrael, in his ceramite clad terminator armour. Intricate patterns were woven on this terminator armour and the shoulder pad boasted a crest of a horned skull with lightning arcs. A scared tome hung from his waist and another kept within a breast cache. An eerie glow emanated from a net like webbing clainging to his head. Azrael recognized the active psychic hood for what it was. Pluvius spoke without turning around "Grandmaster Ezekiel's warning was very valid indeed. The oracle has become warp active!" Chilling words indeed, they struck in to the hearts of the new arrivals like a power sword.. As the new arrivals walked in to the chamber they were confronted by a spectacle they had never before seen. Centre in the chamber was a dishevelled cachectic figure that was connected to various cables and sockets. The stature of that being indicated a past warrior hood but now wasted in to skin and bone, kept alive by stasis fields. That figure was the oracle of the tower, the traitor of Caliban and the betrayer of the Lion. Now repented and driven insane by the realization of his own treachery, he was kept alive awaiting the return of their primarch. Luther, in his present state as an oracle had an affinity to the warp that could on occasion be used for their advantage. To do so required the dangerous step of weakening the warp fields and void shields and was something undertaken only under extreme circumstances. What faced them now was something entirely different. An eerie glow was emanating from Luther's mouth, growing slowly in size. The warp fields and void shields were being stretched to the maximum as the strength of the energy pulsing from his mouth increased. The they saw the ring of diminutive beings standing in a circle around the oracle standing at a third of the height of a space marine. Their bodies covered in robes and their faces unseen, they held their arms aloft. Energy pulsed from their outstretched limbs arcing from each one in turn and forming rings of pure psychic energy. Pluvius allowed the spectacle to sink in for mere seconds and spoke again. "They appeared at the same time as the energy pulse began from the oracle. I believe they are attempting to contain this. This is what the grandmaster of librarians warned about the birth of a second eye. Foul beasts play with the winds of the warp and are channelling it through the oracle. It must be shut down! I have ordered the entire librarium to form up here, we will need the powers of all our brothers from the other chapters too" A group of Dark Angel librarianS hurried in to the room forming a second circle outside the watchers, concentrating on combating the growing ball of warp energy, their psychic hoods lit bright to protect them. "I pray that brother Ezekiel is in time or may the primarch and the emperor have mercy on all our souls!" Azrael observed. |
CHAPTER XXIII: IN HARM'S WAY (Continued) Chronicled By ( Shadow Guard ) |
GATHERING OF ANGELS |
This section provides the narrative history of the events that took place during the Gathering of Angels campaign conducted by the Inner Circle, during Abaddon's Thirteenth Black Crusade. This is in no way the official GW version nor is it in anyway an attempt to infringe on their IP. There are many versions of imperial history buried within the sands of time and this is but just one of them. Read on if you dare! |
