Macharius

"Keep running you fools! We have to be out of the city before the angry crowd tears us apart!"

"Voss, they are trying to kill us anyway!"

"Just keep running!"

The group of tankers raced through the corridors until they were hopelessly and utterly lost.

"Great, Voss. Just great. Now how do we escape the castle of murderous xeno psyker ponies?" Bryzan moaned.

"We cheat."

Voss pulled out a long red bandolier covered in demo-charges.

"Voss, you'll kill us all using those!"

"Death is a reward for a lifetime of service." Voss piously quoted as he set a demo charge next to the wall.

"Everyone back up... Voss has armed demos." Litutz warned.

The crew backed up as Voss pushed the detonator.

The wall exploded with a crash, revealing a garden that wouldn't be out of place in a Hive-Spire.

Voss and his companions had no taste for the apparent beauty of xeno art however, and after a brief search discovered the only ways to go were either back into the maze of corridors or forwards into...

"That's a lot of guards."

Voss facepalmed. "Thank you, Captain Obvious Schult."

"And look where our tank is."

"Let me guess... The middle of the guards?"

"Well done Commander."

"There goes our escape route. Even the Chaos gods don't punish someone who helps them." Bryzan moaned.

"Any of you up for a little heresy?" Voss asked.

"Yes... Wait, what?" Schult replied. "Heresy? Voss, we're soldiers of the Imperium. We fight heresy, we don't commit it!"

"Schult, to all intents and purpose, the Imperium has abandoned us. We're somewhere beyond the Halo Stars and the chance of any help appearing is impossible. The only power that hasn't shot at us just so happens to also have travelled with us a short way and not given any of us a third eye on our backside, a tentacle in the armpit or otherwise mutated us. We also know who he is."

"I see no other option. I agree with Voss." Bryzan said.

"I second this." Liutz added.

"Any votes against?" Voss asked.

No one objected.

"It's settled. We hide out here until either the guards leave or Tzeentch gives us my tank."

Tzeentch swooped low over the Everfree forest, looking for the beacon of sorcerous power his magical senses had detected.

After a few minutes of flying over the darkened forest, Tzeentch found what he was looking for.

A seemingly long ruined castle sat nestled atop a small rocky outcrop on the other side of a chasm that spanned the gap between two mountains.

It appeared to be uninhabited but appearances were deceiving. Still, Tzeentch's magically enhanced senses couldn't detect any inhabitants so he swooped in and landed on top of what appeared to be the main keep.

Inside he found two highly unexpected objects. One was a collection of highly magical shards that appeared to have been somehow enchanted with the power of the moon and darkness. "A artifact of Sithis's making? Shards of his armour or weapon?" He idily mused.

The second object was far more interesting. It appeared to be a battered diary with a black hand clutching a moon prominently displayed on the front.

"Hmmm... I think I will absorb the shards first, see what effect they have."

As he picked up the shards with his magic and brought them closer together, they began to radiate darkness towards him. When they touched his skin, he blacked out as they began to work their magic.

"Voss, you've been praying for well over a hour. If old Bird- Face was listening, he surely would have come."

"Do you want it, Schult?"

"Want what?"

"To clean this bloody mess up, that's what!" Voss snapped. "We have no hope of recovering the Macharius or fighting through that many guards."

"Voss." Schult placed a hand on Voss's rumpled uniform's shoulder. "The patrols are getting nearer. Several of the crew have deserted, all those who joined after our promotion. Me, Liutz, Bryzan and Thraki remained behind. This isn't like you, old friend."

"I know... It's just I feel so helpless without my armoured behemoth of destruction. I've grown comfortable to never ending war, never sure which day would be my last. We all wished for peace. Yet when peace is found, we long for something familiar, war. It's a never ending cycle for us. We have to break it." Voss sighed. "And the only one who can is gods knows where."

"Voss. We have to go." Liutz pressed.

"I know. But where to?"

Thraki, one of Schult's loaders, stepped forwards.

"Voss, I noticed a rather large expanse of wilderness on the ride up. If we head there, we might find old Bird-Face."

"And how exactly are we going to get out of this frigging castle then, Thraki?"

"The same way we reached here, of course."

"Thraki, we're on top of a very large mountain. And the only way off is guarded. We're stuck here Thraki, accept it. None of your optimism will help us now."

"Voss, you remember the cliff on Xylemi XIV, do you not?"

"Yes, of course I do! Wait, are you seriously suggesting..."

The others stared at Thraki with everything from shock to disbelief.

"Permission to execute Thaki on grounds of insanity." Bryzan rumbled.

"Permission not granted. It's the only way out of this mess. Bryzan, you think the ropes are long enough?"

"No. This is insane. How do you think the ropes are long enough for a 300 and more foot high cliff?"

"Link them together." Thraki added.

"Then we'll have to go down one at a time. It'l be too slow."

"Free-climb." Schult suggested.

Bryzan shook his head. "That's even more insane."

"What do we do, steal some pegasi? I want off this damn xeno mountain. It's climb or nothing."

"There are those pegasi guards circling around the bottom of the mountain, you know."

"Then we climb at night." Voss said.

"Are you both insane?"

"Byrzan, did you forget those goggles I pilfered from that supply truck?"

"Night vision?"

"Exactly. Inquisition issue too, judging by the badge."

"You stole from the Inquisition? Are you cra... It doesn't matter. As long as it gets us out of this mess, I don't care."