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The message came in. The astropath took the message and walked down to the Chaplain. Through the long halls of the Emperor Class Battleship "Faithful", the sounds of machines - metal upon metal - could be heard. The groans of many men all working in unison echoed off the large walls, and down to the astropath's ears. His footfalls were muted beneath the sounds of the ship. It was almost like the ship was alive, the plasma drive pushing the ship through space in the Tantas sector.
At the end of the hall, the astropath stopped and turned right. He was outside of the main command center of the ship. The large metal doors that were recessed into the wall slide open with a hydraulic hiss. Stepping into the command center was like stepping into the ship's morgue, except more alive than usual. People moved about, but they kept silent as they did so. Many men were working away at their jobs, barking orders into headsets, ordering all sorts of different actions through out the ship. The astropath made his way through the masses of the people, the smell of sweat, oil, and electricity hanging in the air.
He walked up to the steps that led to the Chaplain's command chair. Several guards stopped the astropath, and ordered for some form of identification. He showed them the message that had come through to him, and they nodded, and moved out of the way. The stairs led directly up to the chair where the Chaplain should have been standing. Instead, he was walking around, pacing the floor, looking out of the panoramic window which was behind his chair. His hands were on his sides. The astropath could make out the small junction points on the Chaplain's hands where his lightning claws were attached to before battle.
The astropath walked up to him, and spoke gently. "Sir, I have an urgent message for you." The Chaplain stood looking out the window at the millions of twinkling stars, barely paying any attention at all, his eyes fixed upon the twinkling spots of light far away from him. A billion worlds, ten billion wars, wasn?t that the saying? The Chaplain scoffed at this thought, and turned his head slightly towards the astropath.
"What is it?"
"You should look for yourself, sir," the astropath said as he handed the message over to the Chaplain. He took a minute to read the message after it was handed to him. The Chaplain read it over several times before he accepted what he saw. When he was done, he crumpled up the message in his hand, and grabbed the rosarius hanging around his neck. He fingered it with his index finger and his thumb, still looking out the window.
"What should we do?" the astropath asked, looking at the back of the Chaplain.
"Ready the troops. And in the name of the Emperor, would someone get us to planet Therius II?" the Chaplain nearly shouted. The room fell silent. Everyone turned to look at him with silent and fearful eyes. The astropath was shocked to see the people so silent, and so motionless. They turned back to their stations, and the astropath felt the ship start change course beneath his feet. "No, I will ready the troops myself. You are excused." "Thank you, sir." The astropath turned around and walked down the stairs. He didn't turn back to look at the Chaplain, who stood there still fingering the rosarius he wore around his neck at all times.
The Fallen. The single blemish upon the Dark Angel's name. The Chaplain stopped fingering the rosarius, and grabbed it in the palm of his hand. He wrapped a fist around it, and squeezed hard. He could feel the energy of the rosarius pulsing in his hand, and then he let go. His anger was gone, now replaced with hatred. Then, he thought of the message which he had discarded onto the floor. He looked down at it, and bent over, the rosarius dangling down from around his neck. The small message sheet had been waded into a ball, and was crinkled from the force applied to it by the Chaplain.
When he unwrapped it, he still couldn't believe what he saw. The message was in response to a captured Chaos marine from the Dabas system, where the Chaplain had fought so valiantly. The Marine had been captured by the Chaplain himself, and then sent back to the Thunderhawk that had landed at the set rally point. He remembered dragging the Marine back, in his one lightning claw. This one, he knew, had information on where he could find Cypher. The Chaplain had been driven to find Cypher, no matter how remote the chances were of finding him, or even if it meant searching for Cypher even when he was long departed from this material world. The Marine cackled with insane laughter as the Chaplain dragged him around the battlefield and back to the Thunderhawk, where he would be interrogated to the fullest. This message was the final result of many weeks worth of interrogation - the location of a Fallen. Though it wasn't what the Chaplain had hoped for, it was more than nothing. Part of him was angry, mad, and ready to smash something because the Marine didn't have what he wanted. But another part of the Chaplain was exuberant, as he knew he would soon be one step closer to finding the man who moved like a shadow. And a final part of him was stricken with a weak sense of fear. This was partially due to who the Fallen was. As the Chaplain backed away from the window, he took one last look at the stars, one of them growing closer as the ship moved along. This planet was Therius II. Just another link in the chain to finding Cypher, and this time, he knew this would be last link before he found what he was looking for. Or so he had thought |
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