The Warfield (A warhammer 40k story)

Chapter 2

The shuttle screamed through the thin remains of the atmosphere as the shuttle pilot tried to keep them on track. Eli, Phrix, Jaxx, and Engelbart all were quiet as they calmly awaited to be dropped off at the remaining city that barely stood after the Iron Warriors attack, Erebus. It had once been the capital and the battleground for the Space marine Chapters Ultramarines and Mortifactors, along with two Imperial Guard Regiments, as they fought against a splinter fleet of Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan. Though costly, the battle had been won but when a super weapon had been brought down upon the planet, it had destroyed the city and had left only ruins.

But, Engelbart had managed to find that the people, however, had begun trying to rebuild on the scarred planets surface, to make life anew, and had constructed around Erebus a Bio-dome that encompassed it and now housed a mere million souls, mostly outlaws and Scum Gangs that prowled the ruins.

Of course, that still didn't stop the enginseer's from trying to rebuild the city anew and the only part that had been recently rebuilt was the Imperial palace and the few original buildings left from the bombardment. But the slums of the city had slowly rebuilt itself form the Scum gangs doing.

"Eta 30 minutes before touchdown!" Said the pilot over the vox intercomm and as the group nodded to one another, they knew to prepare for anything.

They all got their weapons out as they checked them before they all kept them out and aimed them at the door. They had been forewarned that the Scum Gangs may attempt to raid the shuttles, even though it was within the precinct controlled by the Arbites, commonly called "Bronzes" by the gangs, but they all knew that they could put up a good fight regardless of anything the Scum Gangs had short of an autocannon.

The, they heard the jets below the shuttle whine and they felt the shuttle decelerate as it came in for a landing.

And then, when the shuttle landed, the pilot dropped the ramp to reveal a two-legged walked before them.  It was a Imperial Guard Sentinel walker and Engelbart saw it was equipped with a Imperial-Issue Lascannon and as they looked at it, it had the Ultramarine symbol plasters on it but the cockpit was heavily armored to protect the pilot.

"You must be the Inquisitors Acolytes.... Please, follow me." The Sentinel walker said as it looked down at them before turning around and slowly stomping away from the landing pad.

The group exchanged glances at the machine before they got out of the craft and quickly followed it from the landing pad. They could see the single Manufactorum that had been set up within the small precinct, which sat just below the level of the Imperial Palace and older buildings from the original city, as they were walked to the Arbites HQ. When the Sentinel stopped, it powered down and they watched as a Imperial Guardsman in blue armor that looked like a rough, crude form of the Ultramarine armor as he pulled out his Lasrifle and as he looked at them, he said to them, "Follow me inside. I think it would be best if you speak with the Arbites leader..."

"Who are you exactly?" asked Jaxx. He lit an Iho stick and stuck it into his mouth.

"I am Sergeant Jonathan "Stalker" Omark of Tarsis Ultra's 101st Imperial Guard Regiment, "UltraGuard".... more like the last of them..." the soldier said as he soon walked inside of the fortress-like structure.

They entered the structure and it was lit by Lumiglobes that hung from ceiling and as they walked along, they passed a few groups of Arbites that walked around with combat shotguns, crudgels, and shields as they went out on patrols through the remains of Erebus as the Sgt. Jonathan lead them through the twisting maze of corridors as he finally stopped them at a door and he banged a fist twice against it as he then stepped to the side and then slowly the door opened to reveal a man in his mid-thirties with a cropped head of black hair, blue eyes that were full of weariness at the moment, and he wore Arbites armor and had an autopistol at his hip as he looked upon the Acolytes of the Inquisitor as he said to them, "Come into my office, you all must be Inquisitor Haydrax's acolytes sent here to recruit, yes?"

"We are indeed, sir. May we have your name?" asked Jaxx as the four entered the room.

It was a basic room with a bed and desk in one corner and the office desk the man sat at was in the middle as the four acolytes sat down in chairs before the desk as the man said, "I am Lucius Mainfra, commander of the Arbites here in Erebus... So, you come here looking for those to recruit into your group to work with the Inquisitor?"

"Yes, sir. We hope you could maybe provide us with some help to speed the process along..." Jaxx said.

"I know of some Death Cult locations, I have a list of the few Planetary Defense Forces here... and then the single Guardsmen that escorted you in we all can give to you all... I also know some willing Mechanicus Acolytes willing to follow...."

"What about Pyskers, Arbites, Clerics even?" asked Phrix.

"There are many who would want to join you... you may only have to ask them as they pop up. The best places to find them are skins bars, dive bars.... but if you wan to catch the Stalker... you'll have to first find him in his hangar... and second... I need you to do me a favor before you take him for your own use..." Commander Lucius said.

"What sort of favor are we talking about?" asked Eli.

"... I need you to recover an important piece of equipment from a Scum gang down in the remains of what is commonly known as the Stank... I need you to recover from the High Hive Gang an autocannon." Lucius told them.

"What do we get with this guardsmen then? He can't be that important? Flesh resources are always easy to replenish..." said Engelbart.

"You will be taking him, his Snentinel, and the Unit flag he has with him... He is our most valuable asset and though it will pain me to leave him, he yearns to be elsewhere... back to fighting the enemies of the Imperium." Lucuis said.

"An Imperial-Issue Snetinel? " asked Engerlbart in surprise.

"Yes... and he knows a lot of maintenance but from what I hear, he needs probably some help from a Adeptus mechanicus Techpriest in order to fix up the components on the machine... It has been though as much as he has been." Lucius said.

"Well, thank you sir... I think we shall get started in our journey and think about the Guardsman..." Jaxx said as the four stood up.

"Please, stay here each night. We have many rooms to accommodate you all. Besides, the outside these days has gotten worse these past few days..." Lucius told them.

The four of them nodded as they slowly left the room.

Outside the room and a little away from the room, the four of them discussed their options of what to do.

"I can go look at the local Arbites, PDF troopers, and this Guardsman." Jaxx told them.

"I think I should go to the manufactorum, knowing that the Mechanicus Acolytes will most likely be there." Engelbart said.

"I will find these Death Cults and see if any of them will be willing to join us..." Eli said.

"And I will see if I can find any Holy Pyskers and Clerics, maybe at a possible church here in Erebus..." Phrix said.

"I see we all know where we are going, let us then seek out those we seek." Jaxx said and the four of them slowly dispersed to find their quarries.

Inquisitor Haydrax took the dataslate as he scanned it of its contents before he noticed what it was talking about.

"Another battle between the Imerpium and Rebels on Carkiss 10? Something is not right here once again......" He slowly muttered as he remembered that Forge world.