[u][b]Through Rock and Metal and Time[/b][/u][hr]Gugann
Ipian Cave System
2837 hours local time[hr]Surprise filled her senses. It was a strange sensation. One she seldom felt these days. It reminded her of the first time she’d been permitted to witness the rising of the sun’s rays over the depiction of the Great Serpent of creation; Yahautl. The beams of sunlight had ran like molten gold over the mural of Yahautl as she birthed the sun and gave rise to all humanity, the beautiful mural depicted in the highest chamber carved into the stone of Mount Xanautl’s peak. Or of the first time she’d witnessed the hordes of the Easterners descend upon her city’s walls. The seething tide of baying bodies breaking against the steadfast defenses of Ocotopec like waves. Though unlike the awe she had felt in those moments, now she only felt disgust.

Disgust filled Nelchitl like an overflowing well as she removed the helmet from one of her fallen daughters before her. With a hiss, the helmet lost its hermetic seal and came loose in a wash of stale air revealing the Astartes beneath. Her face was impossibly aged, especially by the standards of the functionally immortal warriors of the Emperor, so much so that the skin of her daughter seemed to crack and fall away as dust where Nelchitl’s fingers brushed her cheek reverentially. She recalled her earliest days with her Father, devouring tens of thousands of years of human history and information to gain His praise in between lessons in combat and tactics, and the memory of the great tyrants of ancient Gyptus entombed in their sarcophagi deep beneath their pyramids sprung to the front of her mind.

She scowled as she placed the helmet back on her daughter to preserve the body within and rose from her position of kneeling. “Leave their armor sealed.” she instructed as she moved through her guard of terminator clad Serpents, “Make no attempt at geneseed recovery, I fear they are too degraded.” she added on angrily as she pushed further down the tunnel and deeper into the vast cave network of Gugann.

Outwardly she exuded a cold rage, her every step filled with murderous intent as she led her daughters on by the stabbing glow of their lumen beams through the darkness. Inwardly she lamented the chain of events that had led her to this point. The Council had waylaid her so completely that she had only been able to read the missives from her astropaths in what was first annoyance at her daughters’ inability to handle these crude xenos. Yet as the missives continued to arrive, her annoyance had faltered into genuine concern. That such a well-stocked and armed fleet as the 691st was having such trouble with these foul xenos spoke to a much larger threat than had been originally gleaned from the astropath’s messages. Her mood had not gone unnoticed by her siblings, and in fact, she was sure it had caused her outbursts in front of Him on more than one occasion, much to her own displeasure.

The bark of bolter fire echoed down the tunnel towards Nelchitl. She paid the sounds no mind as they entered into a large cavern, the ceiling soaring away from them into a vast dark abyss. The cavern itself stretched some several hundred meters to a trio of joining tunnels on the far side.

From the dark maws of the three tunnels came the tell-tale flash of weapons fire, her superhuman senses easily picking out the change in radiance from standard bolters and heavy bolter fire, punctuated by the hot blue flashes of plasma at a rhythmic rate. Her Terminators spread out at her sides as she began to cross the length of the cavern just as the first of the Serpents began to appear from the tunnels at the far side, weapons firing in tight bursts as the Astartes withdrew in superb order from the tunnels and into the caverns. Nelchitl swallowed her displeasure at the sight of Serpents retreating in the face of a foe as the final Astartes exited the tunnels to join their squads.

One Astartes appeared to move slower than the rest as if the joints of their armor were ill-kept or damaged before the Serpent simply crumpled to the cavern floor at the mouth of the tunnel. She marveled at the lack of feedback at the sight. No weapons discharge struck her daughter, no melee weapon pierced her armor, and the strange sensation of witchcraft was absent. The Serpent simply died with no cause to be seen. As quickly as her daughter had fallen their body was pulled into the depths of the darkness at the tunnel entrance as the vile xenos of Gugann spilled from the tunnels.

Nelchitl’s gorge rose as the abominations that were the Hrud xenoforms made themselves known. The bipedal creatures loped toward them, their forms obscured by some form of distortion field making it near impossible to focus on the beings. Explosions of bolter rounds and incinerating plasma amidst their throng seemed to grant them no greater sense of urgency as they moved with the same slow and inescapable inevitability of time itself toward the withdrawing Serpents.

“Standard line.” Captain Nenetl barked to her already obeying Terminators, “My Lord they outnumber us three-to-one.” she added as the assault cannons of her Terminators opened up on the seething mass of xenos and were quickly followed by the other myriad of weapons the veterans carried. Rounds and plasma discharge screamed over the heads of the retreating Serpents, finding their marks with wet detonations in the mass of Hrud surging toward them.

“Six-to-one Captain.” Nelchitl corrected, the grin on her face obvious from her tone as she let fly a group of plasma shots from her pistol.
[hr]
Nelchitl had gazed upon the dead Hrud with an air of disinterest. Its liquefied body was heaped onto a stainless steel surgery table and was slowly sliding to the tiled floor in an operating theater located far away from the main medicae bay. The harsh white lights of the theater reflected painfully from the white ceramic tiles that lined the room and threw grisly shadows across the Hrud’s vivisected corpse.

A number of grotesque liquefied forms of what could only have once been organs of unknown purpose had been set aside on a smaller table drawn up alongside the operating slab, each in their own steel bowl of varying sizes and arranged in no particular order that she could discern. Standing silent vigil over the organs was the 691st Fleets Chief Apothecary, Peña. Though her helmet remained on, Nelchitl could sense her daughter's bruised pride in the way she stood silently brooding over the organs. 

A hiss of augmetics drew the gaze of Nelchitl away from her daughter and to the source of the Chief Apothecarion’s displeasure, Genetor Prata Petruvio, Tech Priest of Mars and member of the Magos Biologis. A trio of mechadendrites hung over his head, moving in slow motions as the tools at the ends probed and cut away at the xenos corpse.

“Tell me Magos, what you have summoned me here for,” Nelchitl ordered as the Magos continued his dissection. Slowly, and several seconds later, as if only just registering the words of the Primarch, the Adept turned to face her while his dendrites continued their work. His face was a gnarl of augmetics, a silver grate replacing his mouth and nose while a number of red lenses replaced both of his eyes. What skin remained of his face was pallid and drawn tight around steel. Where the shadow of his hood covered his neck Nelchitl noted the flash of steel in the darkness and decided that the Magos had likely passed the Crux Mechanicum some decades or greater before this day.

With a whir of memory coils spooling beneath his robes the Adept’s many eyes focused and unfocused in spasming shutters on the Primarch as a soft blue glow filled them, no doubt from the reams of data being recalled to deliver his findings to Nelchitl.

“Statement: Blessed be the Omnissiah and his kith. Wait.” the Magos began as he bowed his head to the Primarch, his augmitter scratchy and seeming to struggle with the words as it continued, “Statement: Hrud xenoform require further examination, data incomplete at this time. End.”

“Then why have you summoned me?” Nelchitl asked, the patience in her voice wearing thin as the Adept seemed to walk around whatever it is he had summoned her for.

“Request: This research requires a live sample, Hrud liquefaction makes study impossible. End.” The Magos’ many lenses all focused at once onto the Primarch, the whir of his data spools winding down at the same moment that a soft red glow filled one of his lenses.

Nelchitl took a short breath as she reigned in her annoyance, “Magos, these xenos are too dangerous to retrieve alive. The nature of their weapons is still unknown—“

“Counter: Incorrect. Hrud xenoform weapons have been discerned with an accuracy of 87.68%. Statement: Hrud do not use weapons. Wait.” the Magos cut off Nelchitl as she spoke, quickly continuing before the Primarch’s rage could overtake his speech,  “Hypothesis: Hrud species wield the immaterium to induce accelerated entropy. End.”

Nelchitl, her mind awash at the brazen Adept, took a step forward before halting herself, “These creatures use warp sorcery?” she ventured as she turned to regard the corpse with greater disdain.

“Fact: Hrud age all matter within a 6.2-meter radius. Hypothesis: Hrud utilization of the aether is likely natural to the species. No witchcraft has been noted in all 12,373 battle reports. End.” A new dendrite revealed itself from beneath the Adept’s deep red robes and rose to head height with Nelchitl, a weathered and rusted section of Mk IV plate held delicately in the dendrite as proof of the aging these Xenos inflicted.

“Tell me Magos, how then do we capture such a creature?” 

The Adept sat silently, the whir of data spools under his robes once more the only tell that the Magos was not simply staring at the Primarch without any sort of answer for her question.

“Fact: Expedition Auxilia casualties 48.02%. Astartes casualties at 12.39%.” a cold burst of air escaped somewhere under the Magos' robes as some internal mechanism worked overtime to calculate some unknown problem, “Hypothesis: Further losses are acceptable to gain an advantage over Hrud. End.”

Nelchitl scoffed as the Magos’ detached augmitter listed off the casualties, “Magos Petruvio, I will not sacrifice more of my daughters, or the Auxilia, for your science project.”

The Adept seemed to stare once more, light flickering in his lenses as his dendrites continued their work behind him, “Statement: The 691st receives 5,037 containers of munitions every two weeks. 1,024 containers of replacement weapons and mechanical parts every one week, up 536 containers from the last data point. Hrud must be destroyed, losses are unsustainable. The Crusade must go on, the Omnissiah wills it. End.”

Doing her best not to strike down the Adept where he stood, Nelchitl leveled her gaze on the steel and organic form of Petruvio, “I will not risk my daughters for your pet project. We shall exterminate the Hrud and move on. The 691st Expeditionary Fleet will receive an extended refit period once this extermination is complete to recuperate from its greater than average losses.”

“Counter: The 691st will require 5.7 ye—“

“That is not a suggestion, Genetor.” Nelchitl growled, her patience with the Adept finally at its end, “Glean what you can from the dead. Expect no live subjects. Assist the fleet as you always do.”

The Magos bent his head in deference to the Primarch of the Seventeenth, “Statement: Blessed be the machinations of the Omnissiah. End.”

“The Emperor Protects.” Nelchitl replied as she turned from the operating theater with a scowl.
[hr]
Her daughters flowed through the line of terminators in an intricate dance, each one as precise as it was deadly as the next. They passed the more heavily armored line of Nelchitl’s guard as they ripped off staccato bursts from their bolters and continued for the entrance that their Primarch had only just entered the cavern from.

Nelchitl, herself knowing better than to charge headlong into the mass of Hrud, waved her own Terminators back with one hand as she fired her plasma pistol in the other. As one the terminators moved in reverse, each armored footfall accompanied by the death they spat at the approaching horde of xenos before them. 

Where on most battlefields the Scion of the Seventeenth had to worry herself for incoming fire and attack, against the mystifying Hrud she only had to worry of distance, and of that there was plenty for the time being as her daughters cut a swathe through the front of the Xenos advancing on them.

Though sour at the idea of retreat, Nelchitl couldn’t help but to be proud of the performance of her daughters as they withdrew. Their fires were precise, devastating, and outstandingly coordinated. Where one of the Terminators’ fire died to reload the Astartes that had passed through them only moments before took up the task without pause, filling the lull in fire with a fusillade of death as they covered the individual Terminators at every reload.

Their withdrawal forming into a tighter and tighter semi-circle, Nelchitl keyed her vox as the last of the terminators came shoulder to shoulder.

“Take your leave Captain.” she ordered as the Hrud practically filled the cavern. The Terminators, with the Hrud almost pulling in close enough to begin using their warp sorcery, shimmered brightly and became incorporeal before they disappeared completely. If the Hrud felt fear, Nelchitl was sure they would have been overwhelmed by it at the sight of the Astartes that had been hidden behind the massive terminators. 

In a semicircle three Astartes deep, devastator squads of the Serpents of the Sun stood as statues. “Flamers.” Nelchitl stated without need for the vox as she stood directly amidst the line of her daughters. Pilot lights licked excitedly at the wide mouths of the weapons before the cavern was ablaze with flaming prometheum, the Hrud simply melting in the ensuing conflagration. 

The heat of so many flamers in such a confined space threw temperature warnings across Nelchitl’s visor, a low oxygen warning quickly joining the flashing alerts as the prometheum fires greedily sucked up the oxygen in the cavern and adjoining tunnels to fuel their wrath, a low howl of wind passing into the cavern as the flames ate more and more. The flamers sputtered and died as one as the wall of fire before the Astartes did the work for them, the Hrud simply throwing themselves into its hungry clutches as the mass of Xenos pushed those closest to the flames into them against their wishes.

There was an odd lull in the fight as Primarch and Astartes alike watched in grim fascination as the Hrud shambled to their deaths before them. But the moment ended quickly as the flames began to wane, the low oxygen warnings flashing with more intensity as Nelchitl’s suit warned of possible vacuum and locked her helmet's release automatically.

The Hrud closed once more.
[hr]
“What do you mean orbital scans are inconclusive?” Nelchitl’s dissatisfaction was evident as the mortal before her offered further bad news.

“My Lord, the Hrud congregate in extinct lava tubes, their position is too deep below the surface to give accurate readings. These systems are vast…” Admiral Antonio Rivera of the 691st Expeditionary Fleet trailed off as he caught the gaze of the Primarch.

A scowl on her lips Nelchitl waved a hand toward a cluster of Army Officers that stood to the side of the strategium, “What of servoskulls and servitors to map the systems?”

The officers passed a few unsure glances between each other before a Major in the colors of the Tallbern Royal Dragoons stepped forward, “Lord, the Adepts of Mars have tried and failed to map the systems, and we have sent several of the fleet’s best scout teams in with heavy losses and little to show for it. It is believed that the Hrud target their attempts, though we have not come to an agreement over if they know the purpose of these parties or not.” he gave a curt salute and stepped back into the safety of his fellow officers.

Waving a dismissive hand at the comments Nelchitl sat forward in her seat as she studied the hololith of the planet before her.

“We hold much of the surface, yet we struggle to take a few cave systems?” she asked incredulously of the assembled staff of the 691st.

“The cave systems of Gugann are vast Lord, immense geological activity has created uncounted interconnected systems that crisscross much of the mantle together beneath the surface. We hold perimeter on many of the entrances at the surface, but still untold thousands are left unsecured.” Admiral Rivera offered an answer with a respectful nod.

Nelchitl, chewing on her lip, took several moments to answer as she studied the data and displays before her. “We have made gains though? I see several units within the tunnel systems themselves. What of these?” she gestured to a number of large clusters of units marked as within the tunnel systems.

“We have had success in several systems, Lord. Elements of the Salvarian Hussars have set up a number of defense bases in large caverns several kilometers into some branches of the tunnels, isolating the tunnels to their rear from those deeper within the planet. The Tallbern Royal Dragoon’s,” the General speaking offered a nod to the Major from earlier as he spoke, “Trippialis Medium Foot Regiments, and several detachments of Armsmen from the fleet have had success using this tactic.”

“We take and secure chokepoints and cut off what territory they can use Lord.” a second General, his body soft with the power of his station and his mind seemingly in a similar condition, added confidently, his demeanor obviously lifted by the other officers who had stepped up to answer the Primarch’s questions.

“I’ve connected the dots myself, General.” Nelchitl stated abruptly. She relished the look of shattered pride on the face of the rotund general as he shrunk back into his safety net of fellow officers. She decided to write him orders to the surface as she watched the wretch do his best to hide from her gaze behind his more talented comrades.

“Armsmen though?” she nodded approvingly, “perfectly suited for the tight confines of cave systems. Though I am wary of reducing the forces present aboard ship.”

“We have replaced the depleted detachments with Auxilia regiments less suited to the cave fighting my Lord. Namely mechanized and armored formations.” Admiral Rivera answered her concerns expertly before any of the other mortals could fumble in the face of a doubtful Primarch.

“As you deem fit, Admiral.” Nelchitl agreed before turning her attention back to the hololith. “We will see these xenos destroyed, of that I am sure.” she looked over the assembled staff and smiled brightly as she rose, “The Emperor protects.”

The room echoed the words in agreement.
[hr]
A volley of krak grenades rose up from the rear line of Astartes, soaring peacefully through the air before landing among the still burning bodies of the Hrud and their newly surging living comrades. The Hrud advanced, those closest to the krak grenades reeling as they recognized their danger but too committed to avoid their impending doom.

A series of explosions filled the room, and more Hrud melted away in their strange deaths. Lascannons opened up from the third row, their bright red lines spelling the doom of the first couple rows of approaching Hrud.

Smiling, Nelchitl breathed in the smell of burning xenos that her helmets scrubbers couldn’t quite remove from the air as she watched the lances of red death punch through the disgusting xenos with ease. She was about to signal for the company of Tallbern Royal Dragoons situated in the tunnel behind them to bring up the defensive breastworks when lances of multicolored energies too chaotic to look at punched back through the mass of Hrud and slammed into her Daughters. 

“Incoming fi—” a Squad leader managed before they were cut in two by one of the bright bolts.

“Find that fire and smother it!” The Emerald Priestess roared as more lances of the vibrant energies struck her line of Astartes.
[hr]
“The Sigillite sends his regards, and wishes to inform  you, Lady Nelchitl, of his hopes for a swift conclusion of this campaign.” the unassuming mortal spoke with a conviction and confidence that belayed their station. 

Nelchitl, with a genuine smile on her face, nodded to the human. A woman of some forty or so Terran years, dressed in the muted colors of Malcador’s Order Elucidatum.

“His well wishes are always welcome.” she replied as she read the report that the Elucidatum had hand-delivered to her. 

Several hours had passed since the Black Ship had arrived in-system. Its warp signature had heralded its arrival, though no missives or transmissions had been sent to forewarn the 691st, prompting a hasty combat deployment of the picket and a regrouping of the fleets ships of the line as they moved to meet the vessel before it translated into real space.

Nelchitl had been impressed at the speed with which the fleet had reacted. Cruisers had broken their positions at high anchor in only hours, forming into a well-versed formation that spoke of the skill and experience of the Imperial crews aboard. At the same time, the pickets had managed to bring themselves above the plane of the suspected translation point, placing themselves to dive on the ship like circling vultures were the need to arise.

While the bridge crews had worried of the arrival of a Hrud fleet, Nelchitl had felt something else. A foreboding as she watched the viewscreens fill with the aethereal tumult of the warp while the ship translated. Quickly identified as the Black Ship [i]Terra Eternum[/i], a Lunar class cruiser, Nelchitl had realized why her dread had set in as she watched it close to join the fleet, a single launch departing from the many hangars of the vessel transmitting a request for docking with the Sigillite’s own authentication.

They had received the ship with only the barest required formality for such a meeting, and Nelchitl had found herself annoyed and vaguely upset that Malcador himself had not actually been aboard the shuttle. But now she felt different as she read the report in her hands.

“This is true then?” she asked of the Elucidator as she moved the paper over a candle at the table between them.

Regarding the paper with an air of disinterest as it slowly burned, the Emerald Priestess turned it lazily in her hand spreading the hungry orange flame to the entire message.

“The Sigillite himself believes it has been proven enough to warrant this meeting. Though he admits it is not as concrete information as he wishes it to be. Their agents are very skilled, and their processes are as thorough as ours.” the woman admitted with a regretful nod, “as quickly as two of our agents are in place, one is uncovered. The ongoing monitoring has cost the Elucidatum dearly, Sire.”

The Emerald Priestess waved a dismissive hand, “All sacrifices worthy of praise, to ensure His vision endures those most devoted are always ready to sacrifice everything. These operatives have not given their all in vain,” she motioned to the burning paper in her hand with a flick of her eyes, “this message is proof of that.”

There had been a short pause as Nelchitl had regarded the last of the paper before dropping it to the table to let it burn completely. A tiny grin crept over her face as she looked from the small fire to the Elucidator, “If this is true, it means there will be a momentous shift within my Father’s Imperium. Should I expect another Black Ship when such information is uncovered?” she asked, relishing the implications of such a discovery.

“Of course, Sire. Malcador would trust such a task to none other of the Emperor’s children.” the woman replied with a respectful bow of her head. A lie for certain, Nelchitl was sure.

“Then I look forward to the arrival of a second Black Ship, Elucidator.” Nelchitl had said as she stood to leave the room.

“The Emperor Protects.” the mortal woman said with hands folded into the Aquila over her chest.

“Yes, yes he does.” The Emerald Priestess agreed with a wry smile as she returned the salute.

“Pull me the most detailed maps of Ultima available, and be discrete. We don’t need any unwanted attention to such a request.” Nelchitl voxed privately to Admiral Fabrizio on the bridge of the [i]Solstice’s End[/i].