"This better be important," Franz says annoyed. 

"I thought you would like to know about our next mission," his chapter master says. With his broad, commanding  forehead, wide mouth, piercing light blue-almost grey eyes, Chapter master of the 31'st chapter of blood angels, Sydney was startling to behold. Thanks to a geen-seed malfunction he not only towered over his brethren, but lumbered about. But this had little to do with his ascension through the ranks. No it was his aptitude at being tactician and leadership quality. His nickname was the Blood-Mountain.1189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgOXE5K6ABd
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Sydney showed three images in a sequence, a grim, dooms day triptych. The first was an image of a great battlefield being held by the imperial guard. Thirty kilometers south a military line had been created with cement bunkers, machine gun nest, trenches and dugouts. Three stylized commissars were leading the defense against the slithering horde of demons. The next image showed a commissars in the back, standing up on a fortification over looking the imperial defenses binoculars in hand. 

"Where is this place?" Franz asked already disinterested.

"Septimundus is septum ultima system," he was told. Now he was really disinterested.

"That's on the other side of the galaxy, way out of our district. There has got to be another chapter closer than us."

"All of them are currently preoccupied with other conflicts. Besides special orders from above, Terra."

"So the imperial guard, are they all dead?"  Franz stared at the images taking in every detail. What did some far flung battle in the outer reaches have to with him or the Blood Ravens.

Sydney looks at him with a stoic expression, but Franz was used to being around him and capable of reading his emotions. His master's words held hidden emotions between the syllables. "The last we heard the imperial guard had the situation under controls. Then no word, no nothing, just silence. This is the last image we received from orbiting satellites." The third image was hauntingly familiar. It showed an explosion - a green-tinted blast with a mushroom cloud hanging over it, a pulsing wave of energy radiated from the center destroying everyone and everything.

"Who authorized nukes?" Franz asks.

Sydney shakes his head as a confirming answer. "No one."

"Someone had to have authorized it. Maybe the chaos invaders?"

"Could've been chaos, it did register as an older style of nuclear weapon. But the exact information is missing, but when has chaos used nukes?"

"Were there any survivors? What of 21'st and 31'st Bloodied-Hand-of-the-Emporer imperial guard regiment? What of the original company of Ultra marines?"

"Dead," Sydney's tone was grim. Despite trying to hide his grief, it leaked through. "Along with nearly two million civilians and non military personal, reinforcements consisting of a full strength company of conscripts, and two penal legions. All data from the blast has been lost and the E.M.P. destroyed at least three satellites. The rest were destroyed deliberately. That's were you come in. We needs boots on the ground to figure out what happened."

"Sounds like a bad run ..."

"It is," Sydney affirmed him. " The planet was nuked, a terrible disaster overtake the land, and their civilization vanished over night ... extinction level event ... Total genocide ... An entire planet wiped out over night."

The Blood Angels' monastery and battle barge, Tear's-of-the-Knight, entered high anchor over the the planet Septimundus with a full complement of imperial naval officers, a regiment of imperial guard, clergy men, and a chapter of Blood Ravens. Enough men and equipment to reconquer the planet for the Imperium Of Man; though this is a investigation. The Knight's newest captain, Ernest Lawrence, was a veteran of thirty campaigns;not all of them successful. Intending to make the first mission with this ship and the last voyage of his career, a successful one. Sven had been the previous captain for the last nineteen years, bringing glory to the ship. But the previous captain died unceremoniously without honor from a fever during the slaughter of Xeon from injuries sustained during the battle for the capital. Widely loved and respected, nobody wanted to takes his place. With a position nobody wanted but everyone needed, the brotherhood of Adeptus Astartes was forced to elect someone. But they wanted someone trusted by everyone and with no hidden motivations. Ernest, approaching his late 60's, didn't have the heart to tell them he was retiring. It hurt his heart to know that this colorless bland world would be last thing he would see. The surface wasn't even visible from the amount of ash in the stratosphere. "Life signs," Ernest ordered.

"We can't get a fixed reading," one of the crew members replied. "To much interference from the nuclear blast."

"Franz, you ready to make planet fall?" He heard a confirmation over the radio.

Streaks lit up the starless Septimundus sky, like distant cannon fire, and explosion on the ice could be heard from a distance. The pods crash to earth in massive eruption of dirt and ash. Franz eyes crested the horizon seeing only the ash haze in the distance and twisted charred landscape. The Geiger counter in his suit beeped and chirped, the radiation was easily in lethal doses. The only reprieve or protection was the tight claustrophobic confines of his suit. He had to take every step in a slow deliberate manner. The journey would take several hours.

On the scout mission he found where the capital was suppose to be, key word being suppose too. The way directly ahead of him was a four-thousand-foot frozen waterfall. The capital had a sudden drop off to a sheer cliffside, the deeply split ground had created a massive chasm. The sensible route was to go up the steep incline on the other side. If he was an experts on jump-packs, he could traverse across. The reckless way to conquer the single most hazardous site was to go onto the ice alone, stake out a point at the base of the waterfall and start your ascent. In this type of ascent, anyone who became trapped by the ice slide from the burners, buried by avalanche, or swallowed by a crevice that had opened and then closed without warning would likely remain frozen in the perpetual nuclear winter. There was no way of getting across from here. His mission was over.1189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQn1mXQNQ4
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Though from the vantage point, he could see the first signs of civilization in the distant horizon where the buildings caressed the sky. The buildings were partially buried in ash. He took long distance video scans to be analyzed later. What the video revealed is that for the imperial citizens of Septimundus, everyday life had been cut short. "This is Franz, there's nothing alive down here. There's barely any evidence of what happened here. Requesting immediate pick up," he ordered. His voice reverberating across the ice face.1189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNoFFQJxml
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There was a reply back, "We're receiving you. No way around?"1189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooCI1lHbQJ
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"No way."

"We're not taking you across. Meet me in the meeting hall. All staff is required." What in the world is going on, he wondered.

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The Thunder-Hawk swung by, it's cargo bay door's opened like a gaping maw. It was a protecting bosom to him, nestling him away from fridge winter.1189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbH4Yte78h2
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Back on board, he follows the executive officer's directions. He unlocks the door to the conference room and steps inside. He was surprised not to see Sydney in the conference room. Instead he estimated thirty to forty other Imperium officers were seated in an unbalanced circle around a massive hand carved oak table. Franz divided them into three groups - military, of which he was one. Your standard variety general and higher command echelon. These people were good at getting people killed but very bad at actually killing people. Scientist, who were sent to study the planet and decide what had happen. Finally, roughnecks; the naval officers, techpriests, and the ship's captain who wasn't present either.

"That some pretty fancy gear were bringing for a scout run," one of naval officer says jokingly. "Wonder why?"

"Well," Albert Hari says like he was about to give a presentation. The man had the look of a tech priest, from the augmented limbs to the robes."We have a sophisticated chimera sent straight from mars. It's equipped with a thermal exchange, filtration system for use in highly irradiated environments. Also E.M.P. resistant."

The naval officer raised a finger, "Don't tell me... techpriest."

"Warrant officer for supply requisition and the armory." Albert snapped back.

"Didn't know they would let such a low ranking officer attend meetings," the naval officer said with a snort and giving a disapproving look.

"Well when your down there and you don't have your proper equipment or your gun stops working, don't come crying to me."

Sydney came hulking in a moment later. The man's physical deformity had an immediate unsettling effect on the attending officers, most had to avert their eyes. As an experienced leader of men, Sydney could feel their discomfort, the tension rippling through the room, like a pebble dropped into a lake. This didn't stop the two arguing members. He put up a hand to break up the argument.1189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAwdfRdBmw
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Forging such a diverse group into a functional and efficient team would be a challenge.While it was true that some of the heighten emotions were due to the uncertainty about why they'd been brought here and what was expected of them, most of it was from being so far from home. But once these people were made aware of significance of their mission, uncertainty would be replace with dedication to their duty.

Suddenly a hand fell on his shoulder. Sydney turned. "Captain Ernest," he said, surprised.

"Thank you, Sydney. I'll take it from here," Ernest says taking center stage, all eyes fell upon him. "Two weeks ago a tax dispute turned deadly. Open revolt across the planet. I have to stress that this had nothing to do with chaos. Chaos worshiper used the turmoil as a distraction to infiltrate the planet and gain a foot hold. It's too bad for chaos that neither the rebels nor the official government liked chaos. After a horribly long siege, the imperial had gain control of the situation. Then the catastrophic event happened, suddenly without warning. Franz, tell me what's it like down there."

"Real cluster f*ck, radiation storms, 1000 rad in both the gamma and alpha radiation types. Suits can barely handle it. You can forget sending down the guardsmen. Preliminary reports shows people were caught more or less off guard. There was no attempt to evacuate the planet. It was quick, sudden, and brutal."1189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBByrKVzLy4
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"Here's what you don't know, were getting movement down there, lots of movement."

"... Chaos certainly had the ability to survive the radiation. Especially if it's worshipers of nurgle." Franz interrupted.

Waiting patiently for murmurs of surprise to fade, Ernest twirls his ceremonial sword. "The movement is not coming from where you expect it. But we're not here to discuss that." The lights in the room dimmed, and a digital projection illuminated a large holographic map. "Since are arrival, our ship has detected a heat bloom beneath the earth outlined in this-"1189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3kg5qaqNu
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The square of white light was replaced with a hazy hologram, red-and-yellow-hued. Outline in the yellow on blood red is a black and burnt-orange background, a encircling interlocking pattern of shapes were clearly visible. "This is a thermal image." Ernest Continued. "The red circles indicated solid walls. The orange, solid rock. My experts tell me it's a pyramid, and you know the only race that builds pyramids."

"What caused the heat bloom?" Asked Franz.

"We're not sure if the nuclear blast awakened them or was a last ditch attempt to stop them. We know the energy reading is coming from the pyramid. The planetary survey showed no records of the pyramid. Nor did the initial deep scans of the planet reveal any artificial proto-structures. Best guess, the nuclear blast unburied the structure and awoke them. Normally we would just destroy the planet from orbit. But the original mission given to us by the high lords of Terra remains. To complete our mission, our sacred duty, we need to determine what happened here. Haig and Franz, get your butts topside and determine what the movement is down their. Everyone else remain here until we find out if their awakened. Emperor help us if they are. Dismissed."

Franz got up and headed towards the armory and then to the waiting shuttle, no drop pods this time.