This is St Rosetta with a message to the Imperium. Helios V is liberated! The way is open! To arms dear brothers and sisters! The conquest of one hundred and fifty worlds in his name awaits!
Through the astropathic choirs of over a dozen imperial ships, the message was sent. It travelled far and wide beckoning all who hear its luring call. The Imperium now springs to action and a crusade is declared.
It would take months before the first ships arrive yet one has come in silence and in secret. Even now it hung alone in the emptiness of the void.
-//-
In the empty darkness of space, a ship slips through the Helios system unknown and unnoticed. A formidable fortress of the deepest black plating it bore the finest technologies mankind could muster. Upon its prow, it bore its venerable name Dominus.
Batteries of lance and macro cannons lined its long flanks. Its skin was made of smooth plates of reinforced adamantium forged by only the absolute best craftsmen of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Such purity, such majesty, it's every spire, its every part, even its crew was an accomplishment of unparalleled majesty and perfection.
From within the depths of the Dominus, a dark room is illuminated by the green light of a hololith flickering to life. The light formed into a holographic image of Helios V. Around it gathered three massive men.
Nay, they were more than mere men. They were Astartes. Clad in terminator armours of silver and gold they gathered around the hololith as runes appeared all around it. The green light gleaming off of their splendid armours.
They all regarded the globe and the runes upon it. Above all, two of them shone brighter and were bigger than the others. One among them, a Librarian, his armour wreathed with holy parchment approached the hololith.
"I have scanned the Heliosian surface extensively. Of all signatures found to be of psychic nature these two were of any significance." He announced with his deep voice.
He raised his massive armoured gauntlet and pointed to one.
"This one is the being known as Rosetta."
He moved his finger halfway across the globe and pointed at the second point of interest.
"This one is unknown. The area appears to be void of life."
One closed in. The lense of his helm glowing a pale light blue. The green light reflecting off of his silver battle plate.
"There has already been a daemonic incursion has there not? Is this Rosetta not the source?"
"There are other powers at work here Mikeal. Heed the prognosticar's warnings brother. There will be two. Driven to war upon each other one hides among innocents, the other hides in the light."
"Then let us watch and wait. They will show themselves soon enough." Suggested the third Astartes.
"No. If they do it will be too late." Mikeal responded.
He then turned his head to look at the Librarian.
"We must know our enemy. Aurelius, you take Vespasian's squad and teleport to the sight of the unknown signature. Find out what you can from it. I will stay here and keep watch." Mikeal ordered.
They both held their fists to their chest and bowed their heads. Librarian Aurelius and Paragon Vespasian both turned about and began to walk to the exit. Mikeal turned quickly.
"Vespasian!" Mikeal called.
The Paragon turned back to face the Captain.
"Be prepared brother. We know little of this place." Mikeal warned.
Vespasian bowed his head.
"We are the hammer. Brother-Captain." Remarked Vespasian.
Then the Paladin turned back his feet clanking heavily against the floor as he continued his journey.
-//-
In the deserts of Helios V stood many great spires of earth and stone. Each one reached out from the sand-filled desert floor to pierce the sky. It is throughout these pillars stands a vast network of caves.
Through these, the winds blow creating a mighty orchestra of blaring wind instruments. To any imperial ear, they would resemble the deep tune of a church organ. It is among these that one stood out.
It was silent. The wind blew through its many caves yet no new tunes were played. Before it flickered into existence seven blue lights of immense energy. First among them was Aurelius himself with his nemesis warding staff in hand.
Each one tore a hole in reality and in its place materialised a twelve-foot tall titan of silver and gold. Their armour shimmering in the desert sun the Grey Knights have arrived on Helios V.
With Aurelius leading the way they entered the spire. The way in may have been convenient for mortals but clad in the thick plating of their Terminator suits the Grey Knights could barely fit and had to enter the spire in single file.
Aurelius kept going and when he found a dip in the ceiling. He ducked only to have Vespasian behind him smash through it. Aurelius turned around to find the bottom half of some kind of symbol blown away with a Grey Knight helm its place.
"Be careful! Any object in here could grant us the knowledge we need." Aurelius warned them all.
Vespasian merely paused and then nodded before resuming his advance. They came upon a large round room. An altar stood at its centre with a wide circular clearing. Around it was built row upon row of seats.
It was a scene of desecration, littered with the skeletons of humans who had been dead for millennia. The walls and floor were filled with traces of long-lost wealth and majesty. The walls stretched high up to the top with architecture stretching from end to end all the way up.
Without delay they set about spreading out, studying everything. Every intricate little detail of every artefact that could be found was scanned thoroughly. Aurelius went straight for the altar while Vespasian took his time studying the structure itself.
Upon the altar was a presence almost entirely immaterial. Aurelius opened his mind took in the full extent of his senses. Through his concentration, he could see all. Both material and immaterial plains merging. The walls of reality thinning and all power converging on a single point.
He stood there inspecting it while Vespasian approached. Once the Paragon was at his side the Librarian handed him his warding staff. He then reached out and gripped the altar with both hands and lifted.
For a moment the stone from which it was built resisted but then it began to crack and the base crumbled away. Lifting it up out of place he put it aside and looked into the dark hole he had created.
Within sparkled a glowing jewel. Aurelius knelt down and took it. He flinched as to him the jewel glowed blindingly bright. He could see the energy gathering to it. He could see the streams flow through the warp to it, feeding it, empowering it.
It was a thing of the strangest nature that had taken the shape of a human heart. Clearly chaotic yet somehow different. As if it had been tampered with in some way. He searched for answers where he stood.
The exact answer he was looking for eluded him. It was chaos but polluted in some way. He looked around and then stared at the crystal heart once more. He soon deducted that some manner of ritual was used to summon a daemon and now it remained entrapped within a weakening prison.
They were creating a powerful daemon host with some strange results Aurelius realised as he clasped it within his fist and rose to his feet. He put it in his left hand and showed to Vespasian who handed his staff back to him. He began to speak.
"We must bring this to the purifiers on Titan. We may have arrived in time to-"
Aurelius was cut short by the blaring organs now played a slow, mellow tune. The sunlight that fed into the chamber from above dimmed into blackness. The Grey Knights all froze and looked up as the tunnels suddenly began playing their natural melody.
"All brothers return to our position. It has begun." Ordered Vespasian over the vox.
It was not long before swift feminine beings slipped into existence. They sprinted about in the shadows. Teasing, testing, trailing the Librarian who held their prize. They gathered all around them in a sprawling mass.
"Daemonettes? They will not get here in time. Cover me, brother! I've incantations to complete." Aurelius said plainly.
Vespasian nodded and raised his sword as he stepped forward and allowed Aurelius to pass in behind him. Vespasian summoned his own psychic might and shot it into his foes. With a powerful bolt of lightning, he smote his foes.
With one perfect swing, he cut downward overhead, slicing the first of many Daemons in half. Stepping forward, he led his sword into an upward slash, driving it through a second. Followed by him bringing the blade, bristling with energy around his head and decapitating a third.
A forth leapt at him and he caught it with his hand. It writhed and struggled about in his unrelenting grip. He hurled it at the floor and crushed it underfoot.
They charged him with all their speed and fury. They screeched with deafening volume. They hurled themselves at him only to be rebutted off of his impenetrable defence. They howled ever more and ever so craved his blood, his death and his soul.
He drove his blade through one and into another. And again into the skull of a third and sliced a forth in half. Then he flinched as the world around him was consumed with light. As one his men appeared and with bladed weapons in hand smashed into the endless daemon ranks.
Linked by the psychic chains of brotherhood. Through them, their wills became one... Each Astartes fought on in perfect harmony with those around him. Almost dancing with a clarity and grace unbecoming of the twelve-foot tall behemoths they were.
Blades flickering and glowing in the dark. Silver battle plate shining and shimmering. Brave souls stood together shoulder to shoulder in righteous defiance against the vile beasts of chaos. Pure of mind, pure of spirit the Grey Knights pushed back the daemonic tide.
It was not long before larger forms started to join the battle. Galloping on all fours, the ferocious fiends clamoured their way onto the Astartes. Claws snapping and tongues lashing they wailed against the thin silver line only for holy force weapons to rend their flesh and banish their screaming souls.
With a roar, Aurelius summoned a great vortex in the centre of the demonic horde. Tearing its way into reality the vortex created a hole and daemons all around squealed and howled as they disintegrated as they were sucked back into whence they came.
It didn't stop with them. The Grey Knights stomped their feet into the ground as their massive suits strained to resist the vortex's pull. Soon the room began to collapse all around them. Without a word, they lumbered their way out.
They looked back as the entire spire collapsed in on itself in their shadow. It was not long before they locked onto the bowels of the Dominion. Energy gathered around each Astartes' terminator armour and a hole torn in reality through which they were transported.
-//-
As Grey Knights teleported out, a devastating barrage of massive laser beams incinerated the area. From high orbit, the Dominion bombarded the planet with its devastating lance batteries and recieved the Grey Knight excursion.
Without delay, it ceased fire and took off, leaving nothing but a smouldering crater in the middle of the desert. Unknown and unseen, the strike cruiser slipped away into the dark depths of the void.
WIthin its halls, Aurelius presented his find to Mikeal and its nature was discussed. So much still unknown and so much uncertainty, they stowed the artifact away on the Dominion's own vaults.
Their will, unbroken, their vigilance, eternal, they watched from afar, ready to answer any threat. From his own private chambers, Aurelius grows wary. Bit by bit he sensed destiny unfold. Behind the veil of reality, the great enemy is on the move. The war for Helios V has only begun.
-//-