Warhammer 40k: The Harmony Crusade

                                                                                        Chapter 4

                                                                   New planet, New Places, Same Orders

Inquisitor Hallaman groaned as he emerged from the mangled wreck of his pod into a large crater, the dust only just settling. He looked around to see his pod had cut a swath through the local vegetation. Where in this damned galaxy were they now?

He saw the Grey Knight's pod around a hundred metres away through the ruined forest, the armoured giants slowly emerging from the twisted mass of metal.

“Sir? Are you alright?” asked Umbra as she slowly crawled out of the pod, her armour chipped and scratched. Levin stumbled out after her, his eyes already swivelling across the landscape, his hand on his pistol.

“I'm fine. Just a few cuts, nothing a medicae won't be able to fix” replied Hallaman, “Hey! Over here!” he shouted in the direction of the Grey Knights, waving his arms in the air. Vakarrian noticed him and began to move towards him, his squad in toe.

“See any other pods?” he asked Levin.

“None sir” replied the assassin, “I would recommend hailing them on the vox”

“Good idea” said Hallaman, raising his comlink to his mouth, switching to an open channel, “This is Inquisitor Emerson Hallaman of the Inquisition Taskforce KS-17:68, any surviving personnel please respond”

“This is Captain Belknap of Kasrkin Squad Solace Of The Aquila, Cadian 412th, we read you Inquisitor” came a voice.

“Where are you Captain?”

“We don't know sir. A forest of some sort”

“Mark your position, Captain” instructed Hallaman.

“Yes sir”, a moment later, a blue flare erupted into the sky to their east, just visible over the tree tops. Hallaman guessed it was around five hundred metres away.

“Hold your position Captain, we're coming to you” he said, severing the link.

The Grey Knights jogged up behind Hallaman after making their way through the crushed vegetation.

“Anyone else still out there?” asked Vakarrian.

“A squad of Cadians around five hundred metres to our east. We're going to them now”

“Very well. Let's go”

The group jogged into the forest, completely unaware they were being followed.

Magos Tevlan dragged Astropath Dyreson from the wreck, his servos and dendrites still jarred after the impact. He made a mental note to repair them later. He took a look around, already gathering and filtering information about his surroundings.

“Atmospheric make-up near-match to Cadian standard, eighty percent oxygen, traces of methane, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and other noble gases, perfect for water and thus life. Temperature averaging at 5 degrees celsius, planet may be in summer season, wind speed minimal”, he looked up at the sky, “Star patterns match no known records, we must be on a new world. Minimal soil acidity/alkalinity, flourishing vegetation, some native wildlife, no apparent hostiles in immediate area, but maybe near settlement spotted earlier” he muttered to himself, remembering seeing a small agrarian-looking settlement as his pod flew overhead. He noticed a rodent-like creature scurrying among the bushes, and reached back into the wreck and brought out his plasma rifle, the coils glowing blue as he turned it on. “Date still within 006.M42, no significant time change”

The astropath stirred behind him. “What the hell happened?” asked Dyreson, pushing himself to his feet. He was dressed like a typical astropath, in a brown cloak with wires and cables spilling out the back of his head. He was shaved bald and his eyes were a ghastly white, having been blinded long ago during the Emperor's Binding that all astropaths had to go through.

“Crash-landed on an unknown planet” replied Tevlan.

“Any other survivors?”

“I don't know. My comlink is broken”, said Tevlan, indicating the sparking mass on his wrist.

“I'll do it” said Dyreson, falling limp as he used his mind to reach out across the forest, searching for Hallaman's psychic signature.

He found them about one and a half kilometres north, the signatures of the Grey Knights burning white-hot against the night. Hallaman, the assassins, and the Knights had survived, and had just come into contact with a group of soldiers he didn't recognise. Must be survivors from the 412th he reasoned. He returned his body, inhaling deeply as his remaining senses of touch and smell returned to him.

“Find anything?” the Magos asked.

“The only survivors I could locate are around one and a half kilometres north. It's the Inquisitor, his retinue, the Knights and some soldiers”

“We best get going then” said Tevlan, handing Dyreson a laspistol, “Lead the way”

They disappeared into the brush, slowly making their way back to the main group, the only thing still visible of them were the glowing coils of Tevlan's plasma rifle.

Hallaman turned back to the main group, now numbering about sixteen. Eight Cadians, five Grey Knights, the two assassins and himself.

“No responses to the last hail” he said, “I fear we are the only survivors. We are trapped on this planet, we have no way of getting off, and no way of contacting the Imperium. The astropath is dead, and we don't have any long-range voxes. We have not encountered any hostiles, and we are good for ammunition, but we may still die on this planet”

The soldiers started babbling among themselves in disbelief, and Vakarrian turned to his Grey Knights for one of his little pep talks.

Levin tapped Hallaman on the shoulder, drawing his Exitus Rifle, “I don't think I would say we haven't encountered any hostiles. I've counted five targets, local wildlife, moving in on our position. Strangely enough, they are not emitting any heat signatures”

“Pick your targets, I want them dead” Hallaman said to Levin and Umbra, “I know you two can do it quickly, no need to get the soldiers panicking”

“Yes sir” they both replied. Umbra drew her blade and jumped into the nearest tree, while Levin aimed down the scope of his rifle, scanning the area. He picked up some faint movement.

“Bearing two eighty-nine, range at thirty metres and closing” he said to Umbra over the comlink.

“At your discretion” replied Umbra, balancing on a thin tree branch somewhere to Levin's left.

Levin waited until they were right underneath Umbra. “Firing” he said, and fired his rifle in four quick shots, emptying the magazine. The massive rounds punched through the targets with unerring accuracy, completely blowing them apart. Umbra dropped onto the last one and decapitated it with her phase sword. “One point eight seconds. Not bad, I've seen faster though” muttered Hallaman to himself, ending the stopwatch on his chronometer.

The soldiers and Grey Knights swung around, all aiming their weapons at the direction of the assassins, only too see the threat had already been neutralised.

“That's how we do it in the Inquisition boys” smirked Levin to the Cadians, their mouths visibly hanging open in surprise.

“How fast?” he asked Hallaman.

“One point eight seconds” Hallaman told him.

“Damn, we've done faster against a lot worse. I'm gonna have to start practising”

Hallaman laughed. He hadn't even bothered drawing his weapons, knowing perfectly well what the assassins were capable of.

Umbra emerged from the bushes, holding up the head of one of the animals. “Take a look at this, Inquisitor” she said, throwing the head to Hallaman.

He caught and turned it in his hands, slowly studying it. It resembled a Fenrisian wolf, except smaller and... made entirely of wood. “What in Terra...?” he muttered, wondering what the hell could form a beast entirely made of wood.

“Manufactured, perhaps?” inquired Levin.

“Maybe. This planet may harbour a primitive population capable of creating something like this. If that's the case, then they know we are here. If not, then this planet must be suffering some kind of warp exposure. There's no way a beast like this is natural”

He tossed the head to one of the Cadians. “Carry this” he instructed, “We may need for later”

Suddenly, he heard a sharp rustling from the bushes behind them and spun around, drawing his bolt pistol, but found the assassins already had their weapons rained on the spot already.

A red-robed figure emerged from the bushes, holding a lit plasma rifle,  his servos and dendrites whirring around him. He was followed by a scrawny man nervously holding a laspistol. He recognised them as Magos Tevlan and Astropath Dyreson.

“Magos!” exclaimed Hallaman, “Why didn't you respond the my hails?”

“My comlink was wrecked in the landing, and the astropath didn't have one” replied Tevlan.

“I've got a couple of spares” said Captain Belknap, pulling a couple from the nearby pod and handing them over.

“And who might you be?” asked Tevlan.

“Captain Belknap of Kasrkin Squad Solace Of The Aquila, only remaining survivors of the Cadian 412th. The soldiers are Sergeant Roland, Corporals Reiss and Caughran, and Privates Garced, Merisier, Panila and Skult” he replied, indicating each one of his soldiers in turn.

“Ah yes” said the Magos, “I remember processing the inload logs for the new passengers. Thanks for the comlink Captain”

“Well, introductions aside” interrupted Hallaman, “Can you identify the remains of this animal?”

He took back the head from the soldier and handed it to the Magos, who took it with a look of confusion on his face.

“You say this thing was alive?” he asked cautiously.

“Alive, animated, possessed, Emperor knows” replied Hallaman.

“I don't see how a creature like this could have been alive, and it doesn't match any Imperial records”, he plunged one of his dendrites into it's left eye, taking a reading, “Definitely not alive. Must be a machination of the locals, although-”

“Wait, the locals!?” Hallaman asked incredulously.

“Probably should have mentioned that. I noticed a small primitive agrarian society as we flew overhead in the pods. I managed to capture a pic with my bionics just in time” He tapped a few buttons on his wrist and a small projector opened up on his hand, displaying a blurry but unmistakable aerial view of a settlement. It didn't look advanced in any way, the houses appeared to just be made of wood, with thatched roofs. It reminded Hallaman of some of the villages of feral human colonies among the edges of Segmentum Obscurus, near the Halo Stars.

“Could it be a lost human colony, or it xenos?” inquired Hallaman.

“It could be either” answered Tevlan, “However, based on the basic architecture of the buildings, I would say human. Either way, we need to scout it out, check for threats, perhaps find out where these wooden abominations came from”

“In what direction is the settlement?” asked the Inquisitor.

The Magos looked around, “Based on the way your drop pod landed, and my readings on the planet's magnetic north, I would say south of here, roughly bearing one eighty-four”

“Levin, Umbra, go perform reconnaissance on the settlement. Report back on your findings. If you need to contact me, I'm on closed channel Kappa-Phi-Alpha, password is 'Imperator', do what you need to to get information, but do not reveal yourselves. Got it?”

“Will you be safe here sir?” inquired Umbra.

“I will be here with the Grey Knights. Now go”

The two assassins sprinted into the forest, disappearing into the night.

“What about us, sir?” asked Captain Belknap.

“You and the squad will go find us a more suitable place to set up shop, perhaps a cave or a more isolated part of the forest. Preferably near accessible water. Our rations will not last us long. Come back and get us when you find something”

“Yes, Inquisitor” said Belknap, turning to the soldiers, “You heard the man, move out!”

Twilight Sparkle dragged herself out of bed, mumbling incoherently as she stumbled down the stairs of the library.

“This is ponyfeathers” she grumbled as she grabbed the mug of coffee Spike had left for her on the kitchen counter. She still wanted to go investigate those meteors that had passed over Ponyville last night, but her schedule was all full up for the next full days, and she couldn't risk being late. She had her timetable for the next week perfectly written up and organised, even including time to make next week's timetable. She had to stick to it. But still, she thought, This is a fantastic scientific opportunity and to not study it would be- “Dear Celestia!” she shrieked, looking up at her calender, “Literally!”, she had forgotten that Princess Celestia would be visiting Ponyville tomorrow and she had forgotten to get everything ready and- “Gotta go Spike bye!” she shouted and teleported out of the library to Sugarcube Corner where she knew she would find a certain pink mare.

“Pinkie!” she yelled, “I need you!”

“Well why didn't you just say so?” replied the pony, appearing just behind Twilight, who shrieked and fell over.

“How many times must I ask you not to do that?” she asked.

“Oh, sorry” apologised Pinkie, helping her to her feet, “So what do you need me for?”

“Well, Princess Celestia is coming to town tomorrow and-”

“Okay, got it” said Pinkie and shot out the door in a pink haze.

Twilight sighed. She knew that the festivities and invitations would be fine with Pinkie in charge.

She trotted down the road to Rarity's store. She still couldn't believe she had almost forgotten about the Celestia's visit. It must have been the meteors, she must have been so distracted and tired from the night before. She never usually forgot this kind of stuff.

“Yo Twi!”, she had just enough time to look around before a she was barrelled into by a polychromatic mass, smashing her into the nearest puddle.

“Dash!” she wailed.

“Oh, uh, yeah, sorry about that” Rainbow said, awkwardly scratching the back of her head as she got up, flaring her wings, “Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to help me practice flying later?”

“No, I can't. Sorry Rainbow, it's just that Celestia is coming to visit tomorrow and I need to get everything ready. Speaking of which, do you mind clearing the skies for tomorrow? We need a sunny day”

“Well, I don't know. We had some rain scheduled for tomorrow, but I'll have to speak to the boss about it. Oh wait, that's me” she chuckled, striking a pose, “Yeah, I'm sure we can make reschedule for the Princess. Expect some heavy storms later this week though”

“That's great. Thanks Dash”

“No prob Twi, see ya on the flipside” she said, taking off into the sky.

Twilight mentally checked off weather as she opened the door to Rarity's shop.

“Twilight! Do what do I owe this visit?” exclaimed the white mare, “Would you like a cup of tea?”

“Sorry, I can't stay Rarity, I've got a lot to do. You see, Princess Celestia is coming tomorrow and I know it's on short notice, but I was just wondering if you could help Pinkie with the decorations for the town?”

“Of course, you should have told me! I'll get started on it straight away!”

“I would have told you earlier, but I was busy, then with all that commotion with those meteors last night...”

“Hmm, I was wondering what all the screaming was about. Disturbed my beauty sleep. Anyway, I'll see you later!”

“Bye!” called Twilight as she pushed open the door and stepped outside. She wondered who was next. I've talked to Pinkie, Rarity and RD, so next would be- “Applejack!” she groaned. Applejack's farm was another half an hour away, and she really couldn't be bothered to make that walk. She sighed, gathered her meagre reserves of strength, and teleported to Sweet Apple Acres. She appeared outside the barn.

“Hey Twilight!”, Twilight turned around to see a small yellow filly with a red ribbon in her mane totting towards here.

“What are y’all doing here?”

“Hello Applebloom. I'm looking for your sister, have you seen her?”

The filly scratched her chin for a second, looking thoughtful. “Last time ah saw, she was buckin' trees out in the eastern field. Ah'd look for her there”

“Okay, thanks for the help Applebloom” Twilight said, already galloping in the direction of the eastern fields.

“No problem!” she called after her.

Twilight raced into the fields, catching sight of the orange earth pony laying under the shade of a large apple tree, already surrounded by buckets of apples.

Twilight chuckled, “I swear she's gonna kill herself working so hard one day”

She trotted over, shaking Applejack by the shoulder.

The pony shot up, “What!? Uh, Ah wasn't sleepin'!” she cried.

Twilight laughed. “Calm down Applejack, it's just me”

“Oh, jus' you” she said yawning, “What do ya need Twi?”

“I know it's not much time, but do you mind cooking up some stuff for Celestia's visit tomorrow. Pinkie can't, she's busy preparing the festivities”

“Course Twi, ah'll bring them to Sugarcube Corner when ah'm done” she sighed, yawning again.

“You okay Applejack?” asked Twilight.

“Yeah, ah'm fine. Just didn't get much sleep last night after that ruckus, whatever in Tartarus that was. Woke up Applebloom, she was scared sleepless, and the cows even more so. Spent hours calmin' em down”

“Just a few meteors. I should really send a letter to Luna asking her if those were planned or not. Anyway, take your time and I'll see you tomorrow”

“Kay Twi. See ya then!” she called.

Twilight nodded and crossed Applejack off her mental list. Just Fluttershy now, see if she could provide music with her animal choir. She smiled. They might just pull it off yet.

“Have you read the reports?”

“You know I have sister. Those meteors, or whatever they were, weren't planned. I would have let you know otherwise. The locals are worried sick”

Princess Celestia groaned, while Luna paced anxiously around her.

“We're not going to find out anything if we don't investigate” Luna said, “We don't have anything past them landing in the Everfree Forest. Look, it's light now, the forest won't be as dangerous. Please just let us- I mean, me, take a team of the guard and go look around. I'll report back as soon as I'm done, promise. Then we can tell the ponies it was just some space rocks and they have nothing to worry about!”

Celestia sighed, her sister was right. “Fine, take a team, and go. I expect you back by the end of the day”

“Of course. Thank you sister” Luna replied gratefully, backing out the door.

“Hey! What about over here?” shouted Reiss from the mouth of a nearby cave.

Belknap and Roland jogged over. “Looks clear, there's a small lake nearby, whole thing surrounded by tress, well hidden, this is ideal. Best check out the cave first”

He raised his hand, gesturing with his hand. “Squad, form up!” he yelled, “We're checking the cave, Panila, you're on point!”

“Yes sir!” she replied eagerley, taking lead at the front of the squad.

“Go!” said Belknap.

Panila led the way into the cave, scanning the area with her lasgun raised. “Sir, I don't think there's anything here. It seems completely- Holy Throne!” she gasped, staring upwards as she rounded a corner.

“What is i- What the shit?!” Belknap exclaimed as he turned the corner behind her. In front of him stood a gigantic mountain of gold, gems and diamonds, almost reaching the roof of the large cave.

“Guys what's going on- What the frak?” yelled Roland as he and the rest of the squad stood there transfixed by the scene in front of them. There was probably enough here to afford them all retirement on one of the inner garden worlds. Belknap snapped himself out of it and turned around to head out.

“Come on squad. We still have to- “ he froze. Again.

“What is it now Captain?” Roland sighed, exasperated as he turned around, “Uh...orders Captain?”

In front of them stood what looked like a giant green lizard, much taller than any of them, or the Grey Knights for that matter. Spines ran down it's back and tail, and a large pair of wings protruded from either side of them. It had clawed hands, its legs ended in talons and its yellow eyes, looking down at them, glinted in the half-light of the cave.

“Now what fine mess have we gotten ourselves into now?” Belknap muttered.

It let out an ear-shattering roar that reverberated off the walls of the cave, causing the soldiers to hold their heads in pain.

“Cover!” screamed Belknap as a clawed hand swooped down at them. The squad dived out the way and took cover behind anything they could find as the a jet of fire shot out of the beast's mouth, scorching the rocks they were hiding behind.

“What the hell is that thing!?” shouted Merisier somewhere to Belknap's right.

“I don't know, but let's give it a taste of the Imperium! Open fire!” yelled Belknap.

The soldiers ducked out of cover and opened fire with their lasguns, peppering the thing with red lasfire. The shots left small scorch marks on its scales. It roared again, clearly irritated its prey was putting up a fight.

The creature swiped at the soldiers again, this time catching Panila and Reiss and sending them flying across the cave to smack into a wall, unconscious.

“Shit!” shouted Belknap, unaware that the creature had attacked again, sending him and Roland into the side of the cave. He smacked against the wall, feeling warm blood trickle down the inside of his helmet. His vision swam as he pulled himself to his feet.

He watched helplessly as another gout of flame forced Garced and Skult back into cover, their cover slowly disintegrating.

“Not. My. Squad.” he snarled, picking up his lasgun.

“Hey! Over here xenos bastard!” he yelled, switching his lasgun to full auto and holding down the trigger, spraying the beast with lasfire. The creature reared up and swung at Belknap again, this time catching hum in it's claw and lifting him into the air. He dropped his weapon as the beast did exactly what he wanted.

“Squad! Suppressing fire!” he called. It roared as the shots pierced it's weaker underbelly.

Belknap took advantage of the loosened grip of it's claw to reach down and pull a frag grenade from his belt and pull the pin.

“Choke on this xenos scum!” he shouted before lobbing the grenade down the creature's throat. It stopped roaring for a moment, then it's throat exploded in a shower of meat and gore. It collapsed to the floor, Belknap prising himself free of it's claw.

Roland hurried over and helped him up, handing him his fallen lasgun, the power cell completely depleted from the full auto. He popped it out and inserted another one from his belt as Roland thanked him.

“That was bloody awesome Captain, you owned that thing!” he exclaimed.

“Just doing my job Sergeant, part of the description was commanding a squad, can't do that if I don't have a squad to command” said Belknap.

“Whatever, you should just be getting a damn promotion for that!” Roland laughed as he walked out of the cave. Each of the squad thanked him in their own way as they walked out, even getting a small hug from Caughran as they left.

“Swear she likes you” whispered Roland to Belknap as they walked out.

“Maybe, maybe not” replied Belknap, “Either way, until we are off this warp-forsaken planet, I don't think I'll be starting any relationships”

He turned to Skult, who was carrying the squad's voxcaster. “Contact the Inquisitor, tell him we found a suitable location and send him the co-ordinates. Also ask him to bring the rest of the supplies from the pod as we are running low on ammo” he told her.

“Of course Captain” she replied and began tuning into the Inquisitor's frequency.

“You three” he said pointing to Meridier, Garced and Reiss, “Help me move that damned carcass out of the cave. It's beginning to stink the place up”

Levin and Umbra came to the edge of the forest, their weapons holstered to increase mobility.

“We've been running for three hours now. Are you sure we are going in the right direction?”

“This is the way the Magos pointed us in, I even double checked my compass after we were attacked by that giant four-headed thing”

They had been attacked by a giant beast around two hours into the forest, around some swamplands. It had been massive, even taller than the Grey Knights, and had had four heads. The same beast was now a rotting carcass, a massive bullet hole in each of its heads.

“Another ten minutes, and then we'll radio back the Inquisitor, tell him there doesn't appear to be anything in this direction”

“Yeah, good idea”, Levin started to head off over the hill in front of them.

“Wait, what's that over there?” Umbra asked, grabbing him by the shoulder. She pointed in the direction of a small cottage, constructed low to the ground with a path leading up to it. It seemingly blended in with the environment, and Levin almost certainly would have missed it.

He drew his gigantic sniper rifle and looked down the scope at the cottage, examining it.

“A small building, most likely a living quarters for one of the natives, primitive construction materials used. A few coups surrounding it, owner may be a farmer or veterinarian. More interesting is the path. Perhaps it leads to the settlement the Magos was talking about it. We should follow it at a distance, see where it takes us”

Levin lowered his rifle and they both began to jog up the hill. They both froze as they came to the peak.

The hill overlooked a large village, the structures matching those they had seen in the Magos' briefing.

“Well...that was quick” said Umbra, stating the obvious.

Levin raised his rifle. “Structures match those given in briefing, seems to be a small agricultural township. No evident technological influence. Large amounts of local activity”, he zoomed in closer with his rifle, “Locals seem to be... equine in nature, similar to the horses the Attilan Rough Riders use. No signs of weaponry, though they must be preparing for something. Otherwise, they look unarmed and... peaceful”

“Preparing for something? Do you think they know we are here?”

“It's a possibility, we can't rule anything out, there are too many unknowns”

“Hmm... I better go in, take a closer look”

“Are you sure? They could be dangerous”

Umbra chuckled, “I once infiltrated a Tau command centre and assassinated an Ethereal while posed as a fire warrior. I'm sure I can sneak into a town full of horses”

“Very well, I shall keep overwatch from here, keep in contact on channel Beta-Mu-Omega” said Levin, pulling out the bipod on his rifle, and laying down on the ground, “Be careful”

“Always am” replied Umbra, drawing her C'tan Phase Sword as she made her way towards the town.