Betrayal
Written By Dekra and Azrael Mordred
Edited by Dekra
It is the late 41st millennium, the galaxy has only known constant
war and bloodshed for the past ten thousand years, humanity continues
ever on the brink of total annihilation beset on all sides by the terrors of
the warp, the heretics and the vile xenos races. Only holding on by a
thread thanks to the faith of its citizens, the sacrifice of its warriors and
the power of the God Emperor of Man. It is in these dark times that our
story begins.
Located in the galactic northern marches of the Segmentum
Obscurus is the Kharon system, home to the Imperial fortress world of
Arkhona. Settled tens of thousands of years ago, it sits on the very edge of
imperial-settled space and was ever a bastion of imperial power in those
regions where the light of the Astronomican barely shined. Alarms were
raised when suddenly all contact was lost with the planet and so a
conclave of Inquisition representatives was dispatched to assess the
situation, but they too fell silent once they made planetfall. Fearing the
worst, the Adeptus Ministorum gave the order to send two Imperial
Guard regiments along with an Imperial Navy detachment to secure the
planet and report back on the situation. The journey through the
inmaterium proved more treacherous than expected due to the presence
of warp anomalies around the Kharon system, and so the imperial forces
arrived a whole month later than expected. No sooner had they made the
transition into real space they noticed that something had gone terribly
wrong, none of the usual vox traffic could be heard and the whole system
appeared to be changing in strange and illogical ways. Their suspicions
were confirmed the moment they arrived in orbit over the planet and
made the initial planetfall, the entire planet had been overrun by multiple
warbands of traitor Astartes and genestealer cults had taken over many
of the fortress-hives. The entire imperial garrison had been wiped out
and the guardsmen found themselves surrounded in their landing zones
while the Imperial Navy assets in orbit were engaged by chaos war fleets
which had been in hiding in the nearby nebulas and gravity wells of three
stars in the center of the system. Astropathic calls for aid were
immediately sent out along with a report on the dire situation directly to
the Ministorum. In a most unusual fashion the Imperial Adepta were
quick to act and proceeded to call upon the very best the Imperium had to
offer, the mighty forces of the Adeptus Astartes, the Emperors angels of
death, were dispatched to aid in this dire situation.
The first to respond where the Dark Angels, from the nearby
Epsilon sector a strike force of the Knights of Caliban consisting of the
elite first company, the Deathwing, under the overall leadership of none
other than Supreme Grandmaster Sradac and his second in command
Grandmaster Atlas, was diverted to the defense of Arkhona. As they
arrived in system they were joined by forces from the Blood Angels,
Ultramarines, Imperial Fists and the Space Wolves, together the Astartes
formed a hammerhead that drove straight into the planet, deploying in
rapid succession by drop pods and gunships all across the surface of
Arkhona. With the characteristic skill, precision and brutality of the
Emperors chosen, they proceeded to carve a path of destruction with
blade and bolter, deep into their traitorous and tainted brethren, finally
succeeding in retaking most of the fortress-hives in quick succession. But
just as absolute victory seemed on the horizon, a grim darkness started to
gather around the system, from the nearby sectors hundreds of Ork
warbands converged on the planet, drawn to it by the tell-tale signs of
conflict and the promise of a “propa scrap” and along with them the
mysterious Aeldari also appeared out of the webway with unknown
intentions. The arrival of these new foes proved devastating to the
Imperial forces as they were pushed back from their gains in the initial
attack and lost their momentum. The tides had turned and now they
found themselves on the defensive, holding on in entrenched positions
within the bastions of the fortress-hives. But not all was lost, for a
second although smaller wave of reinforcements consisting of the Dark
Angels 5 th company under the command of captain Volouas and other
minor assets of other chapters was set to arrive soon and with them they
hoped to turn the tides yet again. When it finally arrived, it proved to have
the desired outcome and with their momentum regained the Astartes
proceeded to counter attack against the Xenos and Heretics. Among the
Dark Angels reinforcements was a young battle brother by the name of
Azrael Ezikiel who showed exceptional courage and skill in battle, these
performances caught the attention of the Grandmaster of the Deathwing
Atlas, who approached him in his quarters after a deployment. “It is a rare
day indeed when you see someone so young show such promise in the field,
what is your name brother?” He looked up with hesitation into the face of
the Grandmaster, who had his helm removed and showed a surprisingly
clean and scarless face for someone of such high rank and fame, his bone
white terminator armor made him almost a head taller, an imposing site
indeed. “My name is Azrael Ezikiel, Grand Master” looking down on the
young battle brother, he smiled slightly, “You bear a very prestigious
name, fitting I might even say, I hope you continue to live up to it.” “I will
do my best commander.” Receiving praise was something he was not
used to and it showed. “I have high hopes in you brother Azrael, keep up
this pace and I will see you raise high indeed.” With that he exited the
chamber and left the young battle brother with a spark of both pride and
weariness of the eyes that were now fixed upon him.
As the campaign continued it appeared the opposing forces were
almost equally matched, the Astartes were pushing back against their
enemies, helped in no small part by the conflicts that had arisen between
them as the orks, traitor Astartes and Aeldari were also beginning to
clash and shed each other’s blood. With fire and blood, the gains were
beginning to pile up for the warriors of the Emperor and it appeared the
road to victory was clear although distant. However, the whims of the
Chaos Gods proved unpredictable as ever and before long rumors started
to spread of a dark presence amongst the Astartes ranks. Tzeentch, the
vile changer of ways and weaver of fates, had made his presence known
by sending one of his most powerful servants to change the outcome of
the war for Arkhona. The Lord of Change Aetaos’rau’keres, the Distorter
of Worlds, had manifested himself and started to weave his taint and
corruption upon the world. It began as only minor incidents, but soon
desertion and treason began to run rampant through the ranks of the
Imperials. Although almost every battle group was affected, none were
hit harder than the Dark Angels, Grand Master Atlas was considered a
bastion of loyalty and honor by his fellow brothers, and none could even
comprehend the thought of him falling to petty temptations. Nonetheless
the Greater Demon of Tzeentch appeared to him in the form of the spirit
of his Primarch, the Lion himself, and proceeded to tempt him into
betraying his brothers. He was shown a vision of a future where Sradac
was the one taking all the glory for himself and leaving him cast aside as
nothing more than a shadow, only if he accepted the gift that was being
offered to him would he be able to change this future into one where he
was the one achieving ultimate glory, where he would exceed in both
power and fame not only Sradac but the entire Dark Angels chapter. And
so it was that a great brother fell from the highest of regard to the lowest
of dread and betrayal. He proceeded to not only abandon his chapter, but
taking with him almost the entire 1 st company to the service of the forces
of chaos. The strength of the Knights of Caliban had failed and never had
such corruption been seen amongst the Dark Angels. With this betrayal,
Supreme Grandmaster Sradac fell into the depths of despair, filled with a
mix of rage and disbelief and proceeded to disappear from his fellow
battle brothers to lament alone on what he thought was his fault. But it
did not end there, soon after this, brother Captain Volouas assumed
command of the remaining Dark Angel forces but it was not long before
he too fell to the corruption of Tzeentch and abandoned his brothers,
taking with him a large portion of what little strength remained in their
ranks.
This series of tragedies left the chapter's forces with only a quarter
of their original strength, a shadow of their former selves, leaderless and
broken. The rampant betrayal amongst the Astartes ranks also served to
bolster the forces of chaos and that combined with the now weakened
imperial forces proved disastrous, almost immediately they were pushed
back yet again to the fortress-hives where the Dark Angels along with a
small contingent of Imperial Fists and Black Templars held on by a
thread and prayed for deliverance by the God Emperor.