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
Hope you enjoy the story, C&C most welcome as always.
Time Wizard 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.