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The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 6:30 pm
by timewizard
Greetings all,
This is my Space Marines Chapter History. Sorry for the large size of the Chapter Banner, I couldn't figure out how to make it smaller without turning it into a thumbnail :oops:
Hope you enjoy the story, C&C most welcome as always.
Time Wizard





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HISTORY OF THE DEATH DEALERS CHAPTER

Brother Captain Jonathan Steele shook his head to clear the cobwebs. Was that the comlink? Or just some more of that dead machine chatter they had been subjected to for days?

"Battle Cruiser Vengeance to Chapter Master on planetside, respond!"
Static on the comlink was the only reply.
Brother Steele rose shakily to his feet, his armor attenuators jerking in protest. He surveyed the wrecked battlefield around him.
There were machine parts scattered all about the devastated landscape, the gray horizon stretching out endlessly. Smoke rose from the wreckage of destroyed Rhinos, Razorbacks, and even the chapters prized Land Raiders, their hulks showing no sign of life, not even the blessed Power of the Machine Spirit.
Have we won or lost? He knew not.

"Cruiser Vengeance to any battle brother, reply!" screeched into his earpiece.
"This is Brother Captain Steele on planetside." he replied.
"This is Commander Artemis, we urgently need a sitrep. We have lost contact with the Chapter Master. Report your status."
"I am gathering data, will report." Steele responded.
"Acknowledged."
Report what, he thought to himself. I still have no clear idea of what happened! Slowly the events of the battle started to replay like an old videovox.

They had made planetfall with a full 3 companies, more than enough to deal with any normal situation. Drop pod assault rules with armored support. The undead machines (were they called "Necrons"?) had come from a neighboring system to claim the planet's resources and to slay the planet's populace. They had decimated those on nearly half the land masses before the chapter (what was our name?) had responded to the call for help.

The battle should have been easy enough. There were adequate battle brothers to counter the xenos threat and to bring this system back under the control of the Emperor. But things had gone wrong from the start. The Necrons? had different weapons than had been encountered before. Even the lowliest of their warriors had been able to penetrate the armor of even the strongest and most powerful vehicles. Land Raider Abraxas had been advancing on a unit of 3 of the enemy mounted on floating platforms. Suddenly blasts of sickly green light erupted from their weapons. Two of the blasts harmlessly glanced off the raider, but the last one penetrated the front armor. The machine seemed to tear itself apart, leaving a gaping crater in its place. In the blink of an eye, one of the most powerful vehicles in the force was gone!

Two Land Speeder Storms, Whirlwind and Zephyr, raced around the flank of the enemy force to drop the scouts into cover. More of the hovering warriors noticed the speeders and opened fire with their (Gauss?) weapons. The blasts of energy tore into the Land Speeders, rendering their hover transducers inoperative long enough for them to be hit again and destroyed.

The Chapter initiates had been forced to disembark in the open and were pinned down. The Chapter Master ordered the Devastators to lay down cover fire, and many enemy warriors were cut into pieces. But before the scouts could fall back, the warriors re-assembled themselves and renewed the attack! The scouts fell under the counter-attack while the Battle Brothers watched in disbelief. Space Marines trained in combat for centuries were struck still by this sight, spellbound for just long enough to see their youngest brothers shredded on a molecular level.

What horror were they facing here? They had no experience to draw on to fight this enemy. And now they had no time to retreat to plan anew. They would have to react to this threat as they fought to survive.

The call went out over the comlink for reinforcements. Mechanized troops and bikers would be needed to counter this threat. Over the link they had heard a static laced reply, "This is...........Ssssssssss.........Rag......hisssssss........mane...............sponding to our brother's call for help will.............shhhhhhhhhh.....hisssssssss.........or the Emperor!". It then went silent, all messages being scrambled but some kind of jamming device under the planet's surface. Maybe help was on the way, but until it arrived, the chapter was on its own.

Steele recalled how he had looked up to see the lumbering behemoths, shaped like obscene pyramids, advancing over the battlefield. Landspeeder Thunder had flown at it at incredible speed, it's missile launcher belching out projectile after projectile. All the missiles struck the side of the monstrosity, but to no avail. They detonated harmlessly on the sloped sides of the megalith.

Then a bolt of pure green energy split out from the jade crystal on the top of the pyramid. It enveloped the speeder in an eerie green glow for a split second, then the Whirlwind was torn into a thousand pieces, scattering molten shrapnel over the field striking friend and foe alike! What was this monstrosity? How were we to defeat it?

Suddenly a thunderhawk gunship roared overhead, painted in a strange steel gray color, the head of an animal graced its side. It touched down on the battlefield momentarily to disgorge a squad of warriors, their armor the same color as the ship but with some kind of fur hides over their backpacks. Without a word they charged into the battle, some getting cut down almost immediately by a unit of the enemy warriors on foot. The rest of the squad assaulted the machine warriors in combat, the metal monsters screeching as they were cut and torn limb from limb.

The victorious fur clad marines (Space Wolf Chapter?) looked skyward to see their gunship coming around for an attack run on the pyramid shaped vehicles (Monoliths are they called? Steele tried to remember.) Another monolith appeared and as the Thunderhawk came on, it was caught by beams of energy projected from both of the monolith's crystals. The Thunderhawk, like the speeder before, shimmered in the green light for a few agonizing seconds, then it exploded, pieces of debris raining down on the battlefield.

The marines of the Space Wolves Chapter stared in disbelief at the destruction of their Thunderhawk transport. The ground at their feet seemed to quiver as pieces of machines began moving towards each other. Unnoticed by the Wolves, a panel on the front of one of the monoliths rose silently revealing a green curtain of pure energy. The dismembered pieces of the Necron warrior squads shimmered momentarily, then disappeared only to reappear almost instantly emerging from the portal of the monolith. They can use these monstrosities to teleport out of harms reach! They must be destroyed!
Steele remembered now. The Chapter Master sent in a bike squadron, personally placing a meltabomb into the gauntlet of the squad sergeant. The squadron roared into battle like demons possessed. Then bolts of energy spit again from weapons mounted high on the corners of the monoliths, ripping bikes and riders apart. Brother Sergeant Skarpa reached the monolith and placed the bomb on it's flank. He swung the bike around to withdraw and was cut down by a new unit of warriors that appeared from the portal.

The melta bomb detonated, burning a gaping hole in the flank of the pyramid monster. A terrible inhuman screeching sound was heard from within the depths of the structure. The monolith shook violently then began to slowly sink to the ground, the crystal atop it fading into darkness .A squad of warriors that had begun to emerge from the front of the pyramid shimmered again and then slowly melted into the ground.

So it was possible to destroy these monoliths! But the cost was high. As Steele looked on he saw the Chapter Master swing his leg over an armored bike and lift another melta bomb from the ground. He turned towards the next monolith and gunned the engine of the bike. Then something struck Jonathan Steele hard on his armor, and his world went dark.

Exactly what had happened to the Chapter Master after Steele lost consciousness was unknown, but the fact that he had not answered the comlink and the large number of charred and shredded suits of armor littering the field did not fill Steele with optimism.

Steele started cycling through the com channels asking for situation reports. Slowly the battle brothers began responding. The reports seemed to confirm that they had been victorious, but at the cost of most of their number. More disturbing was the confusion all the brothers were experiencing. All could recall their names and were responding as they had been trained, but none could remember the name of their chapter. Their collective memories had been erased, but only partially. Was this some kind of new weaponry?

Steele removed his helmet and surveyed the carnage around him. He inhaled the air of this world, the stench of death strong upon the land. A wind began to stir, moving motes of debris across the battlefield. A square of cardboard landed by his boots. He picked it up and turned it over. A picture was printed on the cardboard, its edges still crisp, its colors dark and pure. A skull was superimposed on a black symbol, a spade. The bottom of the card was half torn, half burned, but the word "Death" could be make out.

"Your deal Jonathan!" He heard the words distinctly. He spun around, but there was no one there. He tapped the com link imbedded in his skull. Silence was the only reply. My deal? he thought. I deal with death. He looked down at the card in his glove. We deal in death, and we shall deal death unto our enemies.

"Techmarine Harker to Captain Steele.", the comlink came alive.
"Steele here, what have you to report Harker?".
"We have found a cavern under the surface. It is filled with machinery, foundries and production facilities. There are some other machines that I can only guess at, but one of them is responsible for our mental confusion. Brother Librarian Nostromo was able to decipher the glyphs on it. It is a psychic interference device. Brother Nostromo says this is the cause of our memory loss. It works on the collective synaptic energy of a particular brainwave pattern. We will continue to study it."
"See to it Harker. We need to regain our memory. We need to remember our Chapter History."
There was a slight pause, then Harker said, "I do not believe that is possible Captain Steele. Brother Nostromo has said the glyphs indicate the effects are irreversible."
Steele thought for a moment, "Then, my Brother, our Chapter History begins today."

Captain Steele opened a com link to the orbiting cruiser.
"Brother Captain Steele to Battle Cruiser Vengeance."
"Fleet Commander Artemis here, what is your situation Steele?"
"We have neutralized enemy resistance. The planet is ours."
"Have you located the Chapter Master, Steele?"
Steele looked at the remains of a destroyed marine bike, a charred torso still astride it.
"No, we have not, we fear he is lost."
"Then it would appear that you are the Chapter Master, Steele."

Steele thought for a moment. He had been trained and prepared for this, it was what needed to be done if his brothers were to survive.

"So it would appear Fleet Commander. Can you tell me, what is the name of our Chapter? Who we are?"
"We know not, Steele. We were hit by an energy blast of some kind from the planet you are on. Our ship's logs have been erased. Only now are the rest of our systems coming back online. Do you not know this yourself?"
"It would appear that there was more to these Necrons than we first thought. Their technology is under study. We will report all we find when we can. What will you do now?"
"We will do our duty," Artemis replied. "We will return to the fleet and report on this battle. Shall we transport your force back on board?"

Steele looked again around the charred, ashen landscape. His battle brothers were forming into squads again. Some units were already scouting the area and searching the remaining structures.

"This planet is ours, here we will rebuild our chapter."
"But how?" Artemis asked. "You do not know who you are or even what planet you are on!"

Steele looked down at the card in his hand. He would fulfill his vow to his chapter. He would oversee the rebirth of his chapter, forming it anew from the ashes of the fallen on this dead world.

"I know this. I am Chapter Master Jonathan Steele of the Death Dealers. Our home world is the planet Phoenix in the Renaissance star system. Like the wolves who came to our side, we will answer the battle call of any chapter. We shall deal death to the enemies of the emperor. We will be ready. Soon."
"Very well Chapter Master," replied Artemis, "we are leaving orbit to find and rejoin the fleet. Good luck to you. For the Emperor!"
"For the Emperor." replied Steele.

He turned and started towards a large structure in the distance, his battle brothers forming a command squad around their new chapter master.

For the Emperor indeed. he thought. Tomorrow is for the Emperor, today is for us, the Death Dealers.

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 5:12 am
by ruffian4
Great stuff mate!
Methinks there are more layers to the onion...

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:21 pm
by timewizard
Thanks Ruffian!
Glad you liked it.
Working on Part 2 as we speak.
Stay tuned......

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:13 pm
by mattjgilbert
A very good start then if there is more to come!

Sorry it took so long to read but I don't get much time to keep up these days and this was such a long post it had to wait until the weekend!

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:10 am
by KInG
just read it now TW, wicked stuff. I didn't know u were so creative. Loved it, can't wait for part II :D

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 3:00 am
by timewizard
Thank you both, glad you liked it.
Part 2 is half done, should have it finished by next week.

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 6:59 pm
by Talus
-waits on part 2-

i know its a necro post, but i just had to give him a nudge :P

(he said in a pm he should really do part 2, so lets give him some encouragement!)

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:04 pm
by timewizard
Okay! By the end of this week. I promise!

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:05 pm
by killmaimburn
I shall join in the nudge of encouragement (whilst keeping my fingers in my ears about things I have said I will provide and have thus far failed to deliver)

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:45 am
by timewizard
Here's a bit more. Still working on the outline, had to change a few things along the way. But to continue....


PART 2
Chapter Master Jonathan Steele walked down through the tunnel. He marveled at the tunnel walls, cut so precisely and smoothly through the rock that a Techmarine servitor would be hard pressed to duplicate it. Various pieces of machinery could be seen, looking not like they were attached to the walls, but were rather a part of the living rock itself. The age off the tunnels could only be guessed at, but it was clear that this structure was already ancient when the Age of Strife was young.

He entered into a large chamber filled with an enormous and complex looking piece of alien machinery. To the side, hunched over what looked like a control console was the Chapter Librarian Nostromo, in close conversation with Techmarine Hawker. They looked up as the Chapter Master approached.

"Report." said Steele, it was not a request.

"We are making progress," replied Nostromo, "but it is going slowly. The alien hieroglyphs and algorithms are...proving to be difficult."

"I want results, I want answers!", roared the Chapter Master, "We have no time! The aliens that we battled, these...Necrons, at the end of the battle they glowed bright green and then disappeared. I do not think they were destroyed, I believe they will be back, and I believe their force will be stronger than before. If this technology can help us, we need to find out, and soon!"

"We will do our best Chapter Master." said Nostromo.

"No," said Steele, "you must do better than that." He turned and stroke from the chamber. "The Necrons are but a threat," he thought, "time is our real enemy right now!"

In the weeks that followed, the populace of the planet rallied around the death dealers. Like the Space Marines, they had no memory of the planet's history but they were more than happy to help their newfound protectors. With the assistance of the Techmarines, the foundries and workshops that were found underground were brought back online and started to produce needed materials. The people repaired the buildings on the surface and began to set up factories on the landmasses to produce what was needed to rebuild their world.

There were many eager and able recruits from the planets population and the Apothecarys of the chapter began their transformations into marines in earnest. Very quickly the chapter would begin to grow in size. Steele privately wondered if it would be soon enough.

The survivors of the first battle of Phoenix worked feverishly to restore the chapter. Techmarines put their servitors into labor repairing damage to armor and vehicle alike. Within a fortnight the Death Dealers were ready for their first formation and inspection. Chapter Master Steele was reviewing his forces, meager though they might be. Battle Brothers stood shoulder to shoulder their battle damage repaired and their power armor freshly painted, their livery crisp. The Rhino and Razorback transports stood at the ready waiting to once more bring the troops into battle. Their color was different from the battle brothers as was the ghostly gray color of the Land Speeder Typhoon squadron. Chapter Master Steele had ordered that the units would retain their original armor color, in tribute to their founders. Perhaps some day in the future they would learn of their history.

"This is how the death dealers shall always enter battle," he thought to himself, "with all damage repaired and in our finest livery. Let every Brother march to battle in their finest and fittest armor, for by facing an undamaged force, our enemies will believe that we are legion and without number. Let those that face us know that we are always and ever fully prepared for battle. Let them despair of the possibility of defeating us. Let them hope only for a quick death!"

But as he was reflecting on this, the reality of the size of their force once again haunted his mind. "But for all our finery we are still too few." he thought. "One of my men is worth 100 of the enemy, but we are still far too few in number. We just need some time." But fate was not going to give him, or them, any more time.

"Surveillance Station Able to Chapter Master Steele." suddenly came over his com link.

"Steele. Report."

"Long range scanners are detecting a sizable battle fleet approaching Phoenix. They have the same pyramidal configuration as the force we previously fought here."

"It would appear the Necrons have returned," he said, "how long before they reach orbit to begin planetary assault?"

"Less than 2 planetary weeks, Chapter Master."

"Acknowledged, continue monitoring, keep me informed." He had scarcely stopped speaking when another channel of the com link came open.

"Brother Librarian Nostromo to Chapter Master Steele. I have some rather, um, disturbing news."

"This would seem to be the day for it, Brother, continue."

"This alien machinery has come on line without our intervention. The indicators are glowing and I believe it may be transmitting or receiving a hail or a homing signal. We have managed to translate some of the glyphs and the activity is from a section that reads as 'communication', but we, what Hawker? A moment please Chapter Master."

Steele waited nervously for his Librarian to report. What was happening below ground? He started to make his way towards the entrance to the underground complex when, "Nostromo to Steele!". This breach of protocol had better be important!

"Chapter Master Steele to Brother Librarian Nostromo, report!"

"What? Oh! Please excuse me Chapter Master, but Techmarine Hawker has broken the glyphs on the communication console! He has disabled the homing signal!"

"Tell Brother Hawker well done. I sense something more to him than meets the eye. Providing we are victorious in the upcoming battle, you may test his abilities. We need some Lexicani for our chapter. Continue your work on the rest of the alien machine."

"Acknowledged, Chapter Master." Nostromo clapped a gloved hand on Hawker's shoulder pad. "I have some good news for you!" he said with a grin.

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 7:14 pm
by ruffian4
Shoot the techy, shoot him now!
Suffer not a necrotobot to live.

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:09 am
by killmaimburn
S'all been good, my pedantic side spotted where you confused me a speeder/the whirlwind.
But V tight, and tense, loving it so far. =D

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:05 am
by ruffian4
killmaimburn wrote:S'all been good, my pedantic side spotted where you confused me a speeder/the whirlwind.
But V tight, and tense, loving it so far. =D

Hush, hush doubting Tobious!
Iirc, one of TW's speeders is "whirlwind."

That remids me, I heard a tech marine joke the other day, it's a good 'un, apparently.

1, 2, yes, no, 2, no, 2, yes! 8O

I don't understand it. :?

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:15 pm
by timewizard
ruffian4 wrote: Hush, hush doubting Tobious!
Iirc, one of TW's speeders is "whirlwind."

Right you are Ruffian! :wink: From the history;
Two Land Speeder Storms, Whirlwind and Zephyr, raced around the flank of the enemy force to drop the scouts into cover. More of the hovering warriors noticed the speeders and opened fire with their (Gauss?) weapons. The blasts of energy tore into the Land Speeders, rendering their hover transducers inoperative long enough for them to be hit again and destroyed.

But thanks for pointing that part out KMB, it needs a little cleaning up! :D
ruffian4 wrote:That remids me, I heard a tech marine joke the other day, it's a good 'un, apparently.

1, 2, yes, no, 2, no, 2, yes! 8O

I don't understand it. :?

It's probably just a technical issue. 8)
Coming along with the next part of the history. Should have more done by this weekend.

Re: The Death Dealers

PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:46 pm
by killmaimburn
timewizard wrote:But thanks for pointing that part out KMB, it needs a little cleaning up! :D .
Thankings yow kindle EE TW.. for our learned collage Ruffs couldn't see that "then the Whirlwind was torn into a thousand pieces" shoud probably for disambiguationatudes been "then unit "Whirlwind" was torn into a thousand pieces" :P

ruffian4 wrote:1, 2, yes, no, 2, no, 2, yes! 8O
I don't understand it. :?
Given free rain to rorschach,
I'd suggest its a logical dictat suggesting a misplaced accusation to the fallacy within consent
1st section is the key.
1- yes
2- no
2nd section is the message.
=no, no no....yes!
Obviously the person needs to be reported immediately to the authorities as he believes when inflicting pain that other people in the end will enjoy it.

Or to put it another way..I don't get it as a joke either :D