NationStates Jolt Archive

The skies were bleeding.

Burning blood seemed to stain every part of the sky, as though the entire world had begun to crumble beneath some dark, terrible wound. The forests were alive with the sounds of lunatic screaming, maddening chants of unknowable evil, as the first flames began to hurtle towards the ground. These were the seeds of doom, from which they came. The armored men-things, mighty and terrible beyond knowing. With them came the spirit fiends, the Daemons from beyond the veil. And they hungered for blood.

Warriors charged across the open plains, armor blazing with sigils and symbols, alive with yearning for Carnage. Beings that should not exist danced across the tapestry of existence, giggling, malignant things. The natives stood against them, proud, their hubris ensuring that some glimmer of hope echoed against the invaders. They bore spears and swords, weapons far more mundane than those of the dark warriors from the Sky. Blood flowed like wine and water, none could stand against the Dark ones. Serrated, daemonic blades split flesh and rent asunder innards. Some screamed, falling to the ground in tortured agony as they burst into flames.

Till the God descended upon the People.

His blade was a black omen against evil, spearing the Armored Giants, letting the black ichor of their blood flow freely. His countenance was flawless, his very gaze splitting asunder the spirits that rose against him, shattering their inhuman forms with gestures and words. They knew that this was no mere man, but a God, sent to deliver them.

One by one, they fell to their knees, before the figure in the black armor, the Black Angel.

"I have come here to save you." His voice was sweet as honey, as soft as silk, a booming whisper, a hushed address. "There are dark forces that walk the void, and they have descended upon you because you are faithful, and you are chosen. In a months time, the leader of the Dark Ones shall come upon this world. At that date...I shall save you...I shall liberate you, but you must heed me utterly in all things." He knelt, his mighty form going down upon one knee, to touch his hand to the head of one of the new faithful. "If you are willing to follow me, I shall lead you into paradise..."

"How will we know the evil one?" Asked a child.

The God smiled, a smile that was as brilliant as sunrise.

"You shall know it by its name, and by its markings. For they are damned souls from the dark Core of the galaxy...You will know them by the name Masaki. Yet your Lord shall protect you."

Remiel smiled as they burst into frantic, almost fevered worship, idolising him, praising him as the savior from the sky. "Now come...There is much, much work to be done."

Rubak System

The survey ship passed through the system's 12(!) planets, each one more hostile than the last. Case in point: Whoever thought living in oceans of hydrochloric acid on the sixth planet was a good idea was either a lunatic or just extremely hardy. But there were two planets that caught the eye of the Tomorrow & Tomorrow. And one of those planets, the fourth planet from the sun, was quite possibly inhabited. The scanners scanned. The comms commed. The engines hummed. And the surveyers noticed.

"Captain." A freckle-faced girl with pink hair tied back in a ponytail spoke. "There's signs of recent warfare involving demonic activity. I can't pinpoint what kind though."

The captain grunted. "Can you pinpoint any technological capability, Katlin?"

"Nothing of the sort, sir. We'd know if there was technology equivalent to 20th Century Earth. Either they're really good at hiding or they're below 0.5 on the Kardashev scale. If I could bet, sir, I would say it's the latter."

"Hmm. You know, something about the planet tells me that the Raitei would be most interested in meeting the people on it..." The Captain mused. "I just hope there's nothing to give us surprises here. Right. See if you can get visuals on the inhabitants."

Little did the Captain know that there was more to the Rubak System than what meets the eye. And shortly, the Raitei himself will realize that.

=====

The Battlestar Coredia. The newest ship to enter Coredian service and it's sister ships the Juria and Konoha are soon to arrive as well as part of a massive crash-building program to build up our forces against the Sith. If you consider six months to a year soon. I stood aboard the bridge, looking over the controls. It was rather odd to not have an observation deck as well, but I could understand the reason. No one wants a screaming fighter in his face. Especially not me. It'd be...painful to say the least.

"Masaki-sama, we're coming up on Rubak 4." Captain Holland said. Gidget the sensor operator then spoke up. "From the survey ship and our own sensors, we were able to determine that there are scattered towns all over the planets and the inhabitants are no more advanced than that of the Japanese Warring-states Era. I say that because the inhabitants appear to be of a similiar stock to them, oddly enough."

I smirked. "Not so odd when you think about the fact that seeding systems is what some Ancient-level and even our level of civilizations can do. Remember the Stargate incidents?"

"Ah...I was a teenager back then." Holland curtly smiled. He's ten years older than me, of course.

"I was a kid, but I heard my father talking about them." I said. "While we had little use for Stargates, we did dabble into them for fun. We found out that a few isolated worlds with only stargates for travel had people with varying cultures on them from stone-age to space-age. Some we liked, some we hated, some we ignored. One thing was for sure: using a combination of history, some good ol' ingenuity and excellent diplomacy, we were able to discern that people as old, or even older than our civilization seeded some inhabitable planets. This might well be one of those cases."

"Only one way to find out for sure, sir." Holland said, turning to the helmsman. "Bring us to high orbit. Keep scanners on full for anything out of the ordinary. And sir. May the Force be with you."

"As always." I said. Well, time to go. To come with me, was the valiant General Roy Mustang and his immediate staff -who kinda objected to coming on these trips, but I talked him into it- a squad of ninjas-in-training (little brats), a Jedi historian, and the Chief in android form. His android form appears a little nerdy for me, but that is the usual misdirection that we Coredians love to employ.

And then...we descended in a shuttle to meet these new people...

The old chieftain stood upon the cliff edge, watching the flaming trail of light descend from the skies. It was exactly as their savior had predicted. That a flaming edifice from the sky would descend upon the People within the month, find them and mark the return of the Great Enemy. The servant-beasts had failed in their appointed task of crushing the worlds spirit, and so their Master would come. They would bear weapons that stank of foul magic beyond their ken, but their savior had sworn their protection. All they had to do was play their part.

They knew little of what was about to unfold. How could they know the whims of the Men of the Sky? Of the Gods that the Savior had spoke of as though they were capricious fate itself? They had sworn their loyalties to he who had redeemed them in the face of such ruinous beasts, and now their foul master descended upon his sky chariot. The Elder shuddered, even though the sun held sway over the plains. He turned, gesturing to the primitively armed warriors who escorted him, making his way towards the thing that had come from the sky, each shield emblazoned with the sigil of their patron, a great lightning bolt.

For he said he had come in the name of the Lightning Emperor, who dwelt beyond this world and even the worlds beyond, and brought a golden message, a path to save all worlds from predation. He had not spoke to them the true name of his Master, for he feared they were not ready to hear such glory, save those acolytes whom he had coveted more than most of the tribes of the People, yet he had told them much of the Enemy and its name. Its ways were trickery and deceit, and though it might come bearing a pleasing visage that was the way of evil, seduction and deceit before destruction rained upon them.

The Elder blessed himself, almost subconciously allowing the old traditions to flood his mind. He had to focus upon the task at hand, he had to see the Enemy with his own eyes, and do the will of the Savior-King from beyond the Skies.

Only then would Fate turn its dire eye from this world, his home. Only then could the People exist free of fear of the Great Enemy.

The shuttle landed in a clearing and I stepped out first, breathing fresh air once more. "Ahh. Fresh breezes, fresh air, how I love thee...Hello, what's this?"

A troop of people arrived, either to greet us or to skewer us. The funny thing was, their shields had the same sigil as on the back of my cloak: a lightning bolt. How interesting that someone prescienced my coming...or perhaps these people simply worshipped the gods of storms. Nevertheless, it was time to meet them.

"Sir, what should we do?" A trooper asked, looking at the spears and swords of the warriors with some consternation. Even though blasters would mow them down with much ease, it would still hurt if they got through.

"Stand down now. We're here in peace." I said. I chose to walk to the welcoming committee. "Hello there. I come in peace. I am the Lightning Emperor, Daniel Masaki. Which one of you is the leader?"

"Greetings, strangers from the sky." The Elder's white haired head bowed reverently. He steeled himself against the malice, the hidden hand of the name Masaki. The first sign of evil is deceit, and so he had come bearing the signs and words of the Lightning Emperor. They would not triumph so easily.

He gestured and his men were at ease, as he leant forward on a cane of old wood, hardened and scarred by age. He began to speak, a weathered voice dictating with age, wisom and reverence.

"I am Ormhim of the People, stranger. I am your humbled servant in this world, my Lord. Your coming, was prophesied amongst the People, that you would come in the name of the Lightning Emperor. The God who rules over the skies and guides the distant hand of Fate."

Each warrior knelt.

"How might we be of service to you, great lord?"

I felt the slight wave of mistrust at my name. Hello. What's going on?

I bowed in reply. "Rise, my friends. No one need kneel before me. I may be the Lightning Emperor, but all men are equals before my eyes. This is my man General Roy Mustang, my chronicler Jagan and a few students training with us. You say my coming was prophesied?"

That confirmed one of my suspicions, but I still have a few others. Like the faint taint of evil I'm sensing in the air. Fresh breezes my ass!

"Indeed...Legends spoke of a great arrival from the skies. Others have come and went to this world, often in secrecy and spite. A mere month ago, the greatest of our sages read the bones and entrails and saw the sigil within them. Since then we have readied for the coming of the Lightning Emperor." He smiled gently, almost grimly.

"We welcome you to our settlements, and invite you to partake in our feasts, for a great day has dawned. We shall reveal to you the traditions of our people, our history as shown through the actions of our players"

"Indeed...Legends spoke of a great arrival from the skies. Others have come and went to this world, often in secrecy and spite. A mere month ago, the greatest of our sages read the bones and entrails and saw the sigil within them. Since then we have readied for the coming of the Lightning Emperor." He smiled gently, almost grimly.

"We welcome you to our settlements, and invite you to partake in our feasts, for a great day has dawned. We shall reveal to you the traditions of our people, our history as shown through the actions of our players"
"That would be excellent." I smiled. "I always had a passion for history."

"I am glad to see that you are so appreciative of our ways and our customs, Lightning Emperor. We would graciously welcome you into our home." He bowed, turning and moving from the clearing with his guards encircling him.

"There shall be feasting and drinking and then there shall be the display, our history, our precious culture...And the darkness that has filled it."

This was the apex, a grand day, a galaxy changing day. Somehow he knew the significance despite what little the Savior had said. This day would change everything...

I couldn't help but notice the words 'darkness'. "I thank you very much, wise one. Oh yes, I forgot to introduce our Chief Engineer, just call him Chief."

With some of the troops stationed at the shuttle to keep it safe, the General, the Jedi Historian, the Chief, and I headed after Ormhim towards his village.

The village was simple. Wooden huts and leather yurts rose up from the plains, adorned in lightning bolts and other strange symbols in a language that none amongst the strangers would understand.

"This is one of our many settlements, each a bastion of the People against the Enemy. Each a centre of our culture, kept alive by stories told by father to son. I was taught them when I was but a boy."

He guided the strangers to the centre of the village, a large clearing where many had now gathered. Food was presented, strange alien meats, soups, broths, fruits and vegetables, each lain out for the strangers to partake of along with jars and pots of wine.

"We would bid you eat now, soon the performance shall begin. Drink well, much and heartily friends."

I nodded and we sat amongst the people, eating the strange but tasty food and partaking of the wine. We enjoyed the food and drink and waited for the performance.

As they ate and drank in silence, Ormhim began to speak, watching the dancing flames of a campfire as he began to intone a solemn prayer in an ancient tongue. He sighed softly, as though pained by age, by the stress of being the Teller of Tales, of bringing forth the Ancestors to speak of the Past.

"Long ago, the People moved out across the plains and touched every corner of creation. We held grand courts and met yearly for the feasts and the festivals, we were a peaceful people. Then the darkness descended upon our world. Things tore through the veil-between-worlds, warriors came bearing signs and weapons of night itself. We fought as best we could, but the Great Enemy was upon us...And there could be no respite."

Maidens, their clothing dazzling in their colours danced within the clearing, as figures in dark robes flitted about the edges, before slipping amongst them in ritualised dance, mocking attacks perpetrated, till all the dancers but the dark ones had fallen in the imitation of death.

"We thought for certain that we would never stand against them, for our might was limited against their gleaming flesh and their armour of great metal. We struggled, till our civilisation fragmented further, we were seperated, desperate. Desperate, till our salvation came."

A figure, dwarving the others to such an extent that it must surely be more than one person danced into the circle, his armour gleaming in radient purity, his face hidden behind an angelic mask. By now the gathered strangers would feel somewhat uneasy, perhaps nauseous, the colours were blinding, dazzling and more than that, the wine seemed to be having an effect along with the near hypnotic rhythm of Ormhim's voice.

"He came from the sky and decreed that we were free from the ravages of the Enemy, that he was our shield and our sword and that we need not fear him. He was the Lightning Emperor, servant of the Gods beyond the Void and he had come to redeem us. He told us that the leader of the great Enemy would return to our world." Ormhim rose, looking down upon Daniel with disdain, the great figure culminating the dance behind him, the armour shifting, changing to a form ultimately more familiar to the Coredians, and most certainly to Daniel. A flicker of black gleamed at each hip.

"He told us that the Great Enemy was treachery itself and claimed the name of the Lightning Emperor as its own." By now the drugged wine would be taking effect and they would be at their mercy, warriors had appeared around the clearing while the dark actors had shrugged off their hoods, revealing bare scalps tattooed and inlaid with symbols proclaiming their allegience to the "Lightning Emperor" and the manifold Gods of Chaos. "And it would be called MASAKI"

"Indeed it would..." A voice as sweet as honey came coursing from the immense figure, raising a hand to remove his mask.

Remiel gazed upon those gathered and drew looks of rapture from their uplifted faces. "For treachery is the way of the Evil One, and deceit but the first of his many offences....Hello Daniel."

"What?!" Roy moved to snap his fingers. I held a hand to stay him.

"I suspected you would be around, Remiel." I smiled thinly. "The taint of Chaos was in the air the moment I stepped forth onto this planet. So tell me, how did you get these people on your side? Oh, wait, don't tell me. You sent daemons to raid, burn and pillage then you came in swooping in to save the day and proclaim yourself their God."

I dripped with sarcasm then. Remiel's MO oozes out like the ichors of Nurgle. Not that I expect the people to believe me...yet.

"You see how he lies?" Remiel's voice drifts out, seductive and firm, steeling those about him against the taint evident in Daniel. "He would have you doubt me, I who saved your culture. The People would have been wiped clean by his slaves had I not stepped in...You will find no purchase here with your lies, Masaki. I have schooled them well against you..."

The acolytes came forth, bowing their heads before their dark Master. He had opened their minds to the greater scheme of the Universe. They had saw and understood, drinking in the teachings that Remiel had immersed them in. They possessed gifts, talents that he had coaxed, and now they bent their minds upon the figures before them.

"We'll have to escort our guests to their accomodation, and then I'll interrogate them." He placed a reassuring hand upon Ormhim's shoulder. "Your people need you, I alone can stand against the taint."

I looked into Ormhim's eyes, or tried to anyway. "Just out of curiosity, did the prophecy state what the Lightning Emperor would look like or even do or that he would just come and make things right? Other than that, Remiel and I have much to talk about today."

"Oh come Daniel" Remiel nudged Ormhim aside, bidding them all to leave him with his prisoners, smiling softly, allowing the miasma of the warp to close around him. He could taste this world, taste the purity of the fear that the primitives held Daniel and his entourage in. "Your lies will not find purchase within their hearts or minds...I have enlightened them, and once the taint of your arrogance is gone from this Universe, I plan to educate them further...And of course enlighten the poor, oppressed people of the Coredian regime.

The true regent shall reign, should it be the will of the Emperor, and what can I say, I've always liked your sister..." He glanced about, now content that they were alone. "But lets to more pressing business, shall we? After all, your arrival here only aids and vindicates my power, my prescience. So easy to appeal to them, to galvanise them with faith, to make them believe me their savior...My faith is the power that divides me from you, Daniel, that makes me better...If only you had the sense to see Their power."

I shook my head, chuckling. "There's more sense in using a power that doesn't corrupt the soul and let demons out into the material world given half a chance. But let me say this: you will not take these people. I've known what you do, even if they do not. It is my perogative that I protect them from you, even if they hate and revile me."

"Ever the martyr Daniel. Even when you offered yourself up as some profane sacrifice to the powers you serve, even when you tried to wipe out a people to save a world, you were always tainted by the desire to help those you perceived as being in suffering." He chuckles softly, savoring their debate.

"Never enough though; was it? Never enough to save Mother or Father, too little and too late to save your family. Your sister lost to another path....Makes you wonder when it will end, when every last member of your line lies dead? You blind yourself with zealotry in your own fashion, the darkness of the light...But they suffer for their transgressions and their sins, and for yours...

You let them die. You made them die."

"You dare speak of sins when yours is piled high to the heavens, a stench to the Ones who watch the universe. You speak of my own transgressions when you forget that you have cursed more than I ever would dare inflict on the innocent." I hissed. "Such hypocrisy. Such satire. Such a classic case of the plank being in your eye when the speck is in mine."

"And for your information, my parents did not die in vain. My sister chose the path she has taken to my sorrow. And still my family, my Clan, still stands to fight the likes of you. And if it takes us all to take you down once and for all, so be it."

"I have done all that was nessecary for the cause of purity, causes I would never expect you to understand. I fought for Mankind since my Father created me, I fought for his glory until the coming of the Fall and I fought ever after that for the cause of my Faith. But you changed that, Daniel, you killed me, you rid me of my weakness and the powers I serve remade me, glorious, a god-blessed thing, a God itself in mortal form!" He rose up to his full and terrible height.

"I owe everything I have now to you, I lay each of those deaths at your feet and at the feet of my Masters. For I am but their instrument in the purification of the galaxies. I am the salvation of Mankind, I am the ruination of the Impure and the Unclean. And none shall stand before me...

In time, all shall see the glories, whether they be forced to recognise the truth...Or submit willing. Your parents died for their fools crusade, unwilling to embrace the power that would lay low the Sith and all their works. You could reclaim Coruscant with bloodstained hands, but you shirk from true power, you squabble at the cost! What is a single soul for the cause of victory? What are a billion lives for the championing of purity?

You hear them, Daniel, you must hear them every day, and struggle not to yield to their will, but not even you can cheat fate, for the Changer has lain before me the golden path that man must walk to live free of doubt and pain and fear. They have shown me the bloody way to godhood, and how it shall be seized by Mankind...Why would you deny them my mercy?"

"What's the point of ruling with an iron fist if everyone's either dead or hate us to the point where we'll have to kill them?" I asked in response. "I acknowledge that I have been much tempted to win the war at all costs. But unlike you, I prefer not to have the ends justify the means."

You hear them, Daniel, you must hear them every day, and struggle not to yield to their will, but not even you can cheat fate, for the Changer has lain before me the golden path that man must walk to live free of doubt and pain and fear. They have shown me the bloody way to godhood, and how it shall be seized by Mankind...Why would you deny them my mercy?"
"Becuase I have seen your 'mercy' and find it wanting. I have seen what had happened to Naboo and Tenetia. I know what has come to pass at the Gate System. I intend to not let these people suffer what we had to suffer. Some god you are if you insist on drinking the blood of your subjects and potentials." I scoffed.

Remiel chuckled, before his perfect visage twisted into a snarl. Like a fist of needles, he closed his mind around Daniel's, squeezing before he forced his mental stamina inwards. He felt the familiar sensation, the tendrils clawing at his mind, finding purchase within the darkness where a soul ought to have dwelt. He sighed, feeling Their offered power flood him, feeling their wants, their utterly alien desires, their promises...And then pushed with him.

A tortured landscape rose up to meet him, harsh peaks jutting from a tormented planet, core bleeding into the surface. Buildings that had once dominated an entire world were ruined, save one great black edifice. Like an immense mountain of obsidian, edged and ridged with the pale ivory of bone, it towered over the ruined shell that had once been Coruscant.

Atop it, he sat, alone, gazing out over a world seemingly devoid of life. The Sith lay dead, toppled beneath the ruin of their accomplishments. This world was his now, this galaxy was his for the taking, his to rule as a living God.

He stared out, seeing beyond sight. He saw shrine worlds risen in his name, he saw every imaginable pain and pleasure proffered upon altars in his name. Blood ran like rivers for the glory of their bloodline, while other worlds slid into decadant ruin and disease-ridden apathy.

Change touched entire systems, life grew and evolved and formed by his very command. He was father to an entire galaxy, master of the smallest evolution and the most brutal change. Nothing was unknown to him, nothing was profane or forbidden. He had the power to liberate a galaxy, he had the power to save entire races.

And so it was with bloody flesh and teeth, his hands dripping with the life of countless and stained with the ash of war...That Daniel Masaki smiled over all he had wrought

I saw everything. I saw myself standing about the ruined world of Coruscant, triumphant over the Empire and it's denizens. I felt a taste of that power that would allow me to destroy the Empire and reign over a new galaxy with me at its head and all I had to do was accept...

Then I saw the blood that tainted my hands and ran through the streets in rivers. I saw the perverse and the foul act out their base desires in temples that horrified me. I found...

that I...

...did...

...not...

...want...

...THIS!

With a mighty shove, I projected images back on Remiel with some of my own.

Chronosia Prime burns. Turbolasers and missiles rain down upon it and its other planets with ruthless efficiency. Rivers of lava runs over the nation's capital as the Fleet conducts the ultimate execution in the world of order: Base Delta Zero or in Chronosian terms, Exterminatus. Someone with power greater than anyone seen before stood aboard a majestic battleship, watching the execution order unfold without emotion.

Thus did Chronosia fall, thanks to the Force as his ally...

I shoved Remiel back with a mental fortitude that probably surprised him. It did surprise me too. "There's nothing the Warp can do that the Force cannot also do. I pray that vision comes to pass one day and I will no longer have to face the likes of you. And that you and I will be there to see it." I smiled coldly then. "Ruthlessness isn't the Jedi way, but in the end, even that becomes necessary once in a while. And it won't be the Warp, but the Force that will end it."

Remiel savoured it, tasting such lust for blood and madness and death. Daniel hungered to destroy the Imperium more than he sought to rule over the Sith and the galaxy that was the prize of such a victory. He forced his mind back, massaging and teasing at his hate, testing his canker, his choler and his lust for the final battle.

"What are my people to me, but cattle to be shepherded this way and that? I am Remiel De Drakan, Scion of the Gods, Chosen of Chaos Ascendant. I am the strength that shall remake mankind." He winced, Daniel's assault still fresh upon him. "Ultimately the force is limited in its ability, the Gods are endless in their power they grant to their worthiest servants...Power they grant to me, their Instrument, Their Sword."

"You'd be surprised at what the Force can do nowadays." I smiled. In the sky, clouds started to form. Nice puffy ones, that would soon enlargen and grow dark. Wind began to pick up outside. "After all, it's not considered the energy field that binds, surrounds and penetrates us for nothing..."

"And yet Chaos rules the heart of men, for who can deny what they desire? Khorne fuels you, Masaki, you draw his power as though were unaware of it...You yearn to kill and crush and destroy me, you yearn to lay low every bastion, shatter every bulwark...But you resist. You and your Force are imperfect, that is why the Sith exist, clawing through the Force for greater power, abusing it, altering the very fabric of all that is." He chuckles.

"My Gods are as moral as hurricanes, tearing asunder all before them. Worlds have burned or offered fealty, entire systems have died that their will might come to be, and you and all your kin shall be a new sacrifice to their Power...I will see every last sanctuary burned, I shall watch Tenetia crushed. You will never bear your crown again, Daniel Masaki....Tzeentch has seen how your journey ends, alone and shattered at the roof of a broken world.

You will know pain before you die...And you shall see the undiluted glory of Chaos. You shall die and usher in an age of the Destroyer the likes of which galaxies have never seen before...And the stars themselves shall weep to see such power"

Suddenly, the four Genin 'protecting' us, the General, the Jedi Historian and I started to feel the effects of the wine. "Damn you, Remiel. How much sedative did you put in the wine? Ugh..."

The seven of us collapsed after Remiel's little speech about how we would all die and everything. In retrospect, it would be rather embarrassing...if we survived. As it is, it didn't look good for us...

"Oh, no!" The android known as Chief cried out. "I wish I stayed shut down today!"

"Oh...just enough" Remiel chuckled lightly, turning to his acolytes as his features darkened. "Take their weapons, place them within the cages. We'll deal with them later. Have those native guards most pure of heart watch over them." Remiel knelt, picking up the gleaming, shifting mask, its face twisted into a mocking harlequin grin.

"We have much work to do...."

"Ungh. Urg." I awakened slowly, feeling very stiff and having a hangover doesn't help either. I stretched my arms and legs, feeling the muscles and joints pop. Then I noticed that I'm in a cage seperate from the others, with several locals standing guard over us. "Not again! How many times was it..."

"About ten times or so. Lost count." General Mustang said wryly. "I seem to have misplaced my sidearms."

"Like you'd ever need it." I said. My lightsaber and Standard Jedi and Shinobi Items are gone too. "Mine are gone too."

"We're in the enemy camp. Of course they'll take away our weapons." The Chief said, nothing but a head now.

"Well, first order of business...getting out of here. Holland must be getting worried by now." I mused as I looked over the local muscle.

The Guards stepped to one side as servants carried food upon simple wooden plates, edges notably blunted and thin to prevent any form of weapon being hewn or used to somehow escape their binds. Simple foods and water was provided, before the servants left, and a new figure stepped in.

Ormhim regarded them with cold, almost dissatisfied eyes. He let his hand drift to his mouth, stroking the sparse white hair of his beard, before sighing as he began to speak.

"The Lightning Emperor readies his rites to sanctify your passing. They believe that the death of your physical selves shall not be enough to destroy your evil, that even your spirits must be denied the ways of our ancestors. Many time has the Lightning Emperor called forth the faces of our ancestors from the Fire Beyond, and many times has he sanctified the souls of those who pass.

He has blessed us in letting us be a part of the purification, and the end of your....Taint."

"How kind of you to state our complete destruction at the hands of your 'God'." I said kindly and sadly as I ate a little of the food. "Truly I say to you that I harbor no anger nor hatred against you or your people, only sadness at the dark future that will behold you. I only wish I could show you the truth of what Remiel will do to you once he kills me. He'll have no more use for you than he would of anyone else. Already I see that some of your people are slaves to his will..."

I sighed. "How long is it before this purification ritual begins?"

"We are not an envious people, those who are gifted have been taken to be trained by him, those most talented have been dispatched to spread the word of his will. How am I to doubt the word of the one who saved my people, over the one who he has told me set about our destruction to begin with? The other settlements shall need time to gather around the new ways, but they shall bring them here, and the new age will dawn. One of the peace, one of the Faith." He sighs.

"You have a few hours yet to live. Perhaps one of his most trusted might hear your confessions? Or is there anything else I can get for you? You ought to be prepared...Before the end..."

"Yes, just something to write our last rites on." I said, still sad.

"I am sure that can be arranged...I shall call upon you again before the end, Daniel Masaki. I shall see to it that you are treated with the honour that an enemy deserves. I shall prove to you that our ways are not the ways of the savage." He bowed his head morosely. "I shall see you again."

Remiel and his silent entourage watched from the distance as Ormhim exitted the larger hut which held his prisoners, a smirk crossing the Emperor's face as he regarded them silently.

"He could be trouble, esteemed Lord."

"Indeed, but his allegience matters little in the long run, so long as all of our preperations go to plan. I believe a message is required. Send my bidding to the Furious Retribution, they are to begin their preliminary engagement with the Coredian vessel. They are to rain the wrath of the Gods upon them, force them to ground. Once we have attained orbital superiority, all Squads are to await my signal."

"You expect trouble, great one?"

"I expect everything...But what I am certain of is that after the purification, we shall bring enlightenment to this entire world."

One of them pulled back the coarse hood of his robe, revealing the metal leads plugged into his shaven scalp. He was an Astropath, and slowly, he began to psychically transmit Remiel's appointed message.

There was an asteroid belt hovering between the fifth and sixth planet of the system, a massive gathering of rock, iron and ice. In these labyrinthian depths, sensors could become scrambled and confused, allowing ships to hide for unknowable amounts of time.

The Furious Retribution was one such ship. Only now, as it recieved its masters call did it stir into some semblence of life, engines flaring with the heat of their plasma reactor heart, allowing the ship to slowly begin to move from the confines of the belt. Captain Mordecai Orfeo stood upon his command deck, gesturing to his crew.

"I want all gunnery crew to focus upon the task at hand. As we exit the belt we shall launch offensive long range missiles in a blitz barrage, surprising and confusing the enemy. We shall allow our missiles to cause superficial damage before moving in to fire our guns in a crippling broadside. For the Emperor, we persevere. In His Name, we shall triumph."

Simon had no other name, he was a menial slave in service of the Imperium. Struggling against the oppressive heat, he moved bare-chested towards one of many hanging chains, pulling along with others as the great building sized projectiles slid into their barrels. He grunted, the effort tearing at his well-honed, well-tested muscles. He watched the great guns ready themselves for combat, knowing that all along the gun decks others would be repeating his task. He knew that torpedo and missile tubes would be readied, filled and loaded. He knew they were readying for more War. For the Long War.

He turned his eyes to meet the sightless eyes of the Gun-Servitors, the Targetting Servitors. Dead eyes stared out, augmented and enhanced by the cables running into their skulls, interfacing their minds with the powerful sensors of the ship. They saw void...Endless void, till they plunged into the open, and their eyes closed about the ship hanging in orbit around the world doomed by the mere association with the ruinous powers. A smile seemed to cross the things twisted face, a smile echoed far above by Mordecai. Simon frowned, holding his hands to his ears at the echoes of exploding missiles, knowing that the worst was yet to come.

But then, that was war, was it not?

The missiles sped to their target. But it was not for nothing that the Battlestar had state-of-the-art sensor equipment that could see a long way off.

"We've got incoming! Missiles, bearing 105-034-076, range, 81 million klicks!" Gidget suddenly yelled.

"From the asteroid field? Evade!" Holland ordered as klaxons rang.

"On it!" Talho replied, breaking away from orbit with a side-slide, before pumping the boosters to full.

"Point-defense activated!" Kengo announced.

The rapid movements of the Battlestar Coredia plus the point-defense cannons ensured that only a few of the many missiles that rained towards the area impacted on the powerful shields, but it was still enough to rattle all within the ship.

"They're of Chronosian make, sir." Gidget said as she scanned the missiles through the sensor suites.

"Chronosian? Here?" Holland's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Contact the surface. Make sure the Emperor's accounted for! and find the Sithspawn who shot at us!"

=====

"Uhuh. No ma'am, they haven't checked in in over three hours. Should we send someone to check it out? All right. Yes sir." Sergeant Major Fuery sighed and closed the connection. "Major. The Coredia's engaging a Chronosian ship in orbit. I'm raising the Emperor now."

"Do it. Trooper, ready two men and get ready to search the village nearby." Major Havoc ordered a soldier. "Damn, what a day."

"Emperor Masaki, General Mustang, this is Sgt. Major Fuery. Do you read me, over?" The Sergeant began the call. Static. He kept trying.

=====

I leaned back in my cage and waited for the piece of writing equipment to come. I could only hope this works, for access to the Force, thanks to the combination of hangover and Acolytes, was limited at best. Once my plan goes through, it'd be clobbering time! Ok, wrong warcry, but still...there's going to be much pain involved for the enemies, that's for sure...

"You who art hallowed and forsaken...I offer to thee my service. You who control the wants of men's hearts, I place before you all that I have given. You who call for the blood to flow, you who taste the lifesblood of the universe, I offer this..." Remiel drew the blade across his palm, hissing in beautiful rapture, pain surging through him. "You who reign over the fall of the flesh and the ruination of existence, I offer to you sand from the boiled plains of Naboo." He let the diseased matter trickle between his fingers. "You who art the Changer and the Shaper of Ways, I offer to you the culmination of your efforts, and the future of worlds." Twisting, mutant flesh hissed and seethed between his fingers as he plucked it from a pouch, placing it with the other ingredients within the circle.

He closed his eyes.

"I consecrate the sacrifice of Daniel Masaki and all his being to you, oh great Gods in darkness. Soon, I shall bring your will to all corners of the galaxy, the universe...Your word shall saturate the stars, and I pray that you simply remember the service of your servant when you reign ascendant..."

He bowed his head, turning to his acolytes.

"Ready the fire...We draw near to the moment of ceremony. All guards should be on high alert, the populace should be contained in a single place to witness our triumph. From the sky shall come rapturous fire, and our allies shall come to liberate this world from the clutches of heretical idolatry. They shall see the True Gods..."

High above the world, battle was being readied. Everything was prepared for the Chronosian strike upon the Battlestar, which had defied their expectations and proved remarkably resilient to their strikes. The Furious Retribution arced across the skies, weapons glowing hot with discharge, missles and bombardment cannons fully prepared alongside the lance batteries.

Mordecai smiled, seating himself in the command chair, glancing at the Mechanicus and Naval personnel who tended to the wrath of this giant.

"I want full power to the main bombardment cannon. Boarding pods are secondary to our main guns. We'll fire the Main Prow Bombardment cannon, then swing round hard to port. How many volleys can we get in?"

"My Lord, the gunnery crews predict the ability to fire at least three full volleys by the time we are required to alternate to starboard gunnery control."

"Excellent, they have the Emperor's blessing upon them if they can manage four, and shall be rewarded accordingly."

"You are more benificent, Lord. Engaging auguries, plotting a shooting solution. Permission for additional missile screen barrage?"

"Granted."

The missiles hurtled forth once more in killing arcs, none directly targetting the Coredia, more blitzing its sensors with data, sound and fury. Explosions rocked all about it as missiles detonated too soon or too late, haloing it in fire, only a few glinting towards its bulk. The Furious Retribution shuddered as though a wave of power struggled from within it, the mighty gun roaring into life as the main bombardment cannon powered up and hurled its howling, roaring payload towards the Coredia.

"Full power to engines! Bring us forward and about, we'll pummel them with the broadsides as soon as we're in range for a guaranteed shooting solution! Keep 'em on their toes boys!" Mordecai bellowed with laughter, swigging amasec straight from the bottle. Today was going to be glorious...

Today was going to be victory.

"You who art hallowed and forsaken...I offer to thee my service. You who control the wants of men's hearts, I place before you all that I have given. You who call for the blood to flow, you who taste the lifesblood of the universe, I offer this..." Remiel drew the blade across his palm, hissing in beautiful rapture, pain surging through him. "You who reign over the fall of the flesh and the ruination of existence, I offer to you sand from the boiled plains of Naboo." He let the diseased matter trickle between his fingers. "You who art the Changer and the Shaper of Ways, I offer to you the culmination of your efforts, and the future of worlds." Twisting, mutant flesh hissed and seethed between his fingers as he plucked it from a pouch, placing it with the other ingredients within the circle.

He closed his eyes.

"I consecrate the sacrifice of Daniel Masaki and all his being to you, oh great Gods in darkness. Soon, I shall bring your will to all corners of the galaxy, the universe...Your word shall saturate the stars, and I pray that you simply remember the service of your servant when you reign ascendant..."

He bowed his head, turning to his acolytes.

"Ready the fire...We draw near to the moment of ceremony. All guards should be on high alert, the populace should be contained in a single place to witness our triumph. From the sky shall come rapturous fire, and our allies shall come to liberate this world from the clutches of heretical idolatry. They shall see the True Gods..."
A familiar sense of impending doom, like a troop of drummers beating against their snares, percolated into the hut. I continued to try and read the acolytes, but their senses blocked mine, then I looked for any possible avenue of escape. Soon, a servant brought some parchment and thin charcoal to write with. I nodded my thanks and then looked at the General. I hope he knew what I was thinking about, then yes, he nodded.

The two of us began scratching out transmutation circles with fairly elaborate designs. I almost chuckled as I hadn't had to use this skill in years but the instructors at the Academy were nothing if they hadn't drilled the skill of alchemy into my skull. The General was more knowledge in these matters than I, but it didn't matter. The Jedi Historian didn't have the skill and the apprentices have yet to learn it as far as I knew, but they slowly built up power, the way a pot slowly heats up.

There was a candle in the room, faintly glowing, but that was all Roy Mustang needed as he completed his circle and pressed on it. Flames grew and lept savagely upon the guards, while I stripped protons and electrons to make a connection....*zzzaaap*! Lightning sizzled all over the room, breaking the locks on the cages and electrocuting the surviving guards.

Lightning Emperor, indeed!

Once the locks were broken, we swung into action, stretching our limbs for a second before collecting the weapons of the Acolytes. Now all we had to do was look for our actual weapons. But first, we peeked out the door of the hut to see what's what...

High above the world, battle was being readied. Everything was prepared for the Chronosian strike upon the Battlestar, which had defied their expectations and proved remarkably resilient to their strikes. The Furious Retribution arced across the skies, weapons glowing hot with discharge, missles and bombardment cannons fully prepared alongside the lance batteries.

Mordecai smiled, seating himself in the command chair, glancing at the Mechanicus and Naval personnel who tended to the wrath of this giant.

"I want full power to the main bombardment cannon. Boarding pods are secondary to our main guns. We'll fire the Main Prow Bombardment cannon, then swing round hard to port. How many volleys can we get in?"

"My Lord, the gunnery crews predict the ability to fire at least three full volleys by the time we are required to alternate to starboard gunnery control."

"Excellent, they have the Emperor's blessing upon them if they can manage four, and shall be rewarded accordingly."

"You are more benificent, Lord. Engaging auguries, plotting a shooting solution. Permission for additional missile screen barrage?"

"Granted."

The missiles hurtled forth once more in killing arcs, none directly targetting the Coredia, more blitzing its sensors with data, sound and fury. Explosions rocked all about it as missiles detonated too soon or too late, haloing it in fire, only a few glinting towards its bulk. The Furious Retribution shuddered as though a wave of power struggled from within it, the mighty gun roaring into life as the main bombardment cannon powered up and hurled its howling, roaring payload towards the Coredia.

"Full power to engines! Bring us forward and about, we'll pummel them with the broadsides as soon as we're in range for a guaranteed shooting solution! Keep 'em on their toes boys!" Mordecai bellowed with laughter, swigging amasec straight from the bottle. Today was going to be glorious...

Today was going to be victory.
"Main cannon firing!" Gidget yelled as missiles peppered the space around the Battlestar Coredia.

"Evading!" Talho shouted. With a deft twist of the controls and the thought process travelling from her mind into the vector engines, the Battlestar shifted twenty meters to starboard, and the cannon payload missed by mere inches, grazing the shields and flaring them. Then it started looping, its entire body turning into a corkscrew to better evade enemy fire.

"Are we close enough for a turbolaser bombardment?" Holland asked.

"Only the heavies, Captain, but I have a firing solution for the Yamato Cannons!" Lt. Kengo replied.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Engage!"

Twin bright orange glows emanated from the bow of the Coredia and shot forth with continent-slagging firepower upon the enemy, followed by blistering green heavy turbolaser bolts. The Yamato would need another few minutes to charge. That is, if the enemy doesn't use its energy weapons...

Remiel let his eyes slide slowly open, a smirk crossing his features as he rose from his stance before the now burning fire. A strand of fate crossed another, interlocking till an invisible hand cut it in twain. Reality was ever-changing, ever evolving. He let his hand drift across the engraved runes of his blades, teasing forth obscene whispers and maledict hisses from within the fabric of the thing...A beautiful thing. A galaxy changing thing. He smiled again, tasting the raw scent of destiny upon the air.

"It begins..."

He turned, glancing about the camp. everything was prepared, everything was drawing together, harsh and tight like the coils of a serpent. Fate pressed down upon preceedings, powerful and beyond reckoning. Readied into a killing blow, a blow that would sunder empires.

"I can taste it."

OOC: More to come later for whats going on in orbit

Remiel let his eyes slide slowly open, a smirk crossing his features as he rose from his stance before the now burning fire. A strand of fate crossed another, interlocking till an invisible hand cut it in twain. Reality was ever-changing, ever evolving. He let his hand drift across the engraved runes of his blades, teasing forth obscene whispers and maledict hisses from within the fabric of the thing...A beautiful thing. A galaxy changing thing. He smiled again, tasting the raw scent of destiny upon the air.

"It begins..."

He turned, glancing about the camp. everything was prepared, everything was drawing together, harsh and tight like the coils of a serpent. Fate pressed down upon preceedings, powerful and beyond reckoning. Readied into a killing blow, a blow that would sunder empires.

"I can taste it."

OOC: More to come later for whats going on in orbit
Looking around for enemies, we slowly and stealthily made our way out of the hut and began fanning out in search of the hut containing our weapons. It helped that we swiped the clothes from the guards in the prison hut, but I knew they wouldn't last forever. I only hoped they lasted long enough.

Meanwhile, as no answer came from the Emperor, the squad of soldiers were sent down towards the village to investigate. Little did they know just who would be there...

"My Lord, our auguries have detected a flaw within the alignment of the fates. The prisoners..."

"Are exactly where they should be. He will come to me, he shall decide the terms. That is how it has been dictated, that is how it shall be" A smile crossed Remiel's perfect features, glancing towards the bushes as he moved into a more agile stance. "Everything proceeds as planned...Every little detail contributing to the whole which the Masaki's continually fail to see. Intensify your presence, force each mind here to taste the might of Chaos. Cow these fools with our glory...They will all make worthy sacrifices. Ready the Chosen with their weaponry...The time to cull these cattle draws ever nearer."

"We are redeemed from the filth of our lineage only by your blessing, Great One, it shall be as you command."

"Excellent. Post conventional guards to search for the Masaki party...Weapons drawn, we want them provoked, on edge...Make them fear the coming tumult."

High above, the Furious Retribution veered hard to port at the captains screamed instruction, energy smashing against the shields in a flaring wall of energy.

"Report, damnit!"

"Minor Hull damage on decks 15 through 17, my Lord. Blast doors are in effect." He gazed out, gouts of oxygen freezing against the void.

"So thats how they want to play it, is it? I want all gunnery crews ready. How long till we can fire the primary cannon again?"

"It will take sometime to reload, Mighty Lord..."

"Leave it then! I want us full-speed head, forward guns fire on my mark, we'll send it right down their throats...Then await my orders at the critical moment." The ship started to gain momentum, missiles and guns firing in sporadic intervals, before the whole ship veered to starboard, pulling hard against the tensed hull, the rigours of the maneuvers sending quaking shudders through the ship, as the broadsides opened up upon the Coredia, a hail of deadly ballistics slamming towards the vessel, as the ponderous bulk of the Chronosian vessel readied to swing round once more.

"I want her crippled, next spread targets her propulsion!"

"My Lord, our auguries have detected a flaw within the alignment of the fates. The prisoners..."

"Are exactly where they should be. He will come to me, he shall decide the terms. That is how it has been dictated, that is how it shall be" A smile crossed Remiel's perfect features, glancing towards the bushes as he moved into a more agile stance. "Everything proceeds as planned...Every little detail contributing to the whole which the Masaki's continually fail to see. Intensify your presence, force each mind here to taste the might of Chaos. Cow these fools with our glory...They will all make worthy sacrifices. Ready the Chosen with their weaponry...The time to cull these cattle draws ever nearer."

"We are redeemed from the filth of our lineage only by your blessing, Great One, it shall be as you command."

"Excellent. Post conventional guards to search for the Masaki party...Weapons drawn, we want them provoked, on edge...Make them fear the coming tumult."
It had taken some time, but we finally found the hut where our weapons were kept. After a short scuffle that eliminated the guards of said hut, I've got my lightsaber and Standard Jedi and Shinobi Items back, Roy retrieved his gloves and sidearms, and the others retrieved their own weapons. Now it was time to confront Remiel.

"--Masaki, do you read me?" Static but a voice came through the comlink. Finally.

"I read you, Sergeant. Glad to hear your voice again." I said.

A sigh of relief was heard on the other side. "Glad to hear ya. What's going on?"

I sighed. "One name: Remiel De Drakan."

A vehemous curse crossed the airwaves. "Of all the friggin'..."

Then another voice broke through, one of the soldiers heading towards the village spoke. "Sir, we've spotted movement in the forest near the encampment. Investigating..."

"Hmm..." I thought. So Remiel's planning something more than just a barbeque involving me. At least that's my conclusion. In any case, now was the time to kick ass and take names. And take back my name in the process.

No one steals the title of Lightning Emperor and gets away with it! Especially not when he's packing a pocket dimension's worth of explosives courtesy of training from the Jedi Academy's demo experts as a backup to his awesome Jedi powers...and that's just the tip of the iceburg.

...

...

...

All in the name of the greater good, of course.

High above, the Furious Retribution veered hard to port at the captains screamed instruction, energy smashing against the shields in a flaring wall of energy.

"Report, damnit!"

"Minor Hull damage on decks 15 through 17, my Lord. Blast doors are in effect." He gazed out, gouts of oxygen freezing against the void.

"So thats how they want to play it, is it? I want all gunnery crews ready. How long till we can fire the primary cannon again?"

"It will take sometime to reload, Mighty Lord..."

"Leave it then! I want us full-speed head, forward guns fire on my mark, we'll send it right down their throats...Then await my orders at the critical moment." The ship started to gain momentum, missiles and guns firing in sporadic intervals, before the whole ship veered to starboard, pulling hard against the tensed hull, the rigours of the maneuvers sending quaking shudders through the ship, as the broadsides opened up upon the Coredia, a hail of deadly ballistics slamming towards the vessel, as the ponderous bulk of the Chronosian vessel readied to swing round once more.

"I want her crippled, next spread targets her propulsion!"
"Ballastics!"

The Battlestar Coredia continued to zig this way and zag that way, causing no end of headaches for the enemy as most of the ordinances either missed completely, deflected off the shields, or chipped parts of the hull. The latter part will need a fixup after this but the battle was more important.

"We're in range for our main batteries!" Kengo reported. "Missiles are locked on as well!"

"Fire at will!" Captain Holland ordered.

A massive explosion of blue-green bolts, yellowish glows of coilslugs, and streaks of missilefire erupted from the Battlestar, lancing for the massive bulk of the Furious Retribution. The Battlestar then started to loop around the Chronosian ship, never staying in one spot as it maintained fire all over the ship...

Enemy fire tore at the shields of the Furious Retribution, ,rending at the ponderous wall of energy which protected the immense vessel. Archaic and ancient technologies thrummed and strained to hold back the burning tide, mechanisms as old as the Imperium itself engaged to tame the howling maelstrom. Mordecau lived for it. A veteran of the Republic Wars, his armour bearing a purity seal marked with a world divided down the middle marking him as a Hero of Kosse.

The Retribution had fought there and cleaved the foe from the void, it had stood firm and resolute before the predations of the xenos and the heretics since the First age, forged in the immense orbital rdocks and foundries of Chronosia Secundus. It was not a ship that would easily yield.

"Status?" Mordecai let his hands knot in his hair, sighing as he slid them down his pallid face. Tech-Priests hurried this way and that, invoking rites to commune with the Machine-Spirits in frantic rites of repair. The ship shook again, shuddering as though struck by an earthquake, underscoring the Captains quiet query.

"Pardon, Great One, but the vessels shields will not hold in perpetuity, we are running out of ways to maintain their operation, soon the Machine Spirits shall be undone."

"What have your auguries determined?"

"The enemy vessel is not settling for a singular position, their attacks are not at full strength due to the streeses of movement, offensive action and shielding. We recommend evasive action until we are in range of the world and the salvation of the Emperor."

"Excellent, I want all power to shields and engines. Fire off a last volley, slow them all we can before we finalise our preperations. I want us in orbit, no matter the cost."

The starboard gun decks erupted with the fires of hell, an immense barrage of shells and missiles, streaming towards the Coredia, putting distance between the two mighty ships. It spun on its axis, finalising the assault with the pounding of its primary prow bombardment cannon.

"Now!"

The engines howled with the unleashed fury of the plasma reactor at the warships heart, forcing the immense gothic might of the vessel forwards towards the planet. Their master waited, destiny and glory waited and they would reap a mighty harvest of the abhorred enemy. They would triumph

Remiel stood before the flames, a baleful amusement lighting his features as surely as the seething multi-coloured fire. He gestured, his acolytes wailing in astropathic reverie, the runes engraved into the cracked earth hissing into fetid life.

"This sacrifice I offer to the oldest powers. This gift I present to the lords of the Immaterium. You have split the walls between the worlds. You shall remake this place an dall within it...My masters, thee I venerate. My Gods, your bastard son calls upon your blessings."

Villagers from this settlement and others came, heeding some silent call. Sigils of Chaos glittered, burnt upon their flesh, their free will stolen. Slowly they walked forward, crossing the runic lines and stepping, one after the other with arms held high, into the inferno.

Remiel let his laughter pour forth, cackling at the beginning of his triumph. His armour seemed to crackle and seethe with power, blinding those who beheld him. Amongst them, Ormhim watched in horror, tears coursing from eyes that now seemed ancient with regret, betrayal and pain.

He turned, breaking into a run towards the prisoners tent, forsaking his False God.

Enemy fire tore at the shields of the Furious Retribution, ,rending at the ponderous wall of energy which protected the immense vessel. Archaic and ancient technologies thrummed and strained to hold back the burning tide, mechanisms as old as the Imperium itself engaged to tame the howling maelstrom. Mordecau lived for it. A veteran of the Republic Wars, his armour bearing a purity seal marked with a world divided down the middle marking him as a Hero of Kosse.

The Retribution had fought there and cleaved the foe from the void, it had stood firm and resolute before the predations of the xenos and the heretics since the First age, forged in the immense orbital rdocks and foundries of Chronosia Secundus. It was not a ship that would easily yield.

"Status?" Mordecai let his hands knot in his hair, sighing as he slid them down his pallid face. Tech-Priests hurried this way and that, invoking rites to commune with the Machine-Spirits in frantic rites of repair. The ship shook again, shuddering as though struck by an earthquake, underscoring the Captains quiet query.

"Pardon, Great One, but the vessels shields will not hold in perpetuity, we are running out of ways to maintain their operation, soon the Machine Spirits shall be undone."

"What have your auguries determined?"

"The enemy vessel is not settling for a singular position, their attacks are not at full strength due to the streeses of movement, offensive action and shielding. We recommend evasive action until we are in range of the world and the salvation of the Emperor."

"Excellent, I want all power to shields and engines. Fire off a last volley, slow them all we can before we finalise our preperations. I want us in orbit, no matter the cost."

The starboard gun decks erupted with the fires of hell, an immense barrage of shells and missiles, streaming towards the Coredia, putting distance between the two mighty ships. It spun on its axis, finalising the assault with the pounding of its primary prow bombardment cannon.

"Now!"

The engines howled with the unleashed fury of the plasma reactor at the warships heart, forcing the immense gothic might of the vessel forwards towards the planet. Their master waited, destiny and glory waited and they would reap a mighty harvest of the abhorred enemy. They would triumph...
The Battlestar Coredia was sundered by the massive assaults, and then the prow bombardment cannon smashed into the shields, all three layers of them, and poked a hole in the hull. Crew died instantly or died while fighting the vacuum that sucked them out to space and the Battlestar Coredia's powers was reduced.

"Damage report!" Holland yelled, whiplash striking his neck like a snake. The stations sparked and a man fell howling in pain. All around the bridge, reports began coming in.

"Shields reduced by 40%!" "Hull breach amidships, structural integrity field compensating!" "Maneuverability reduced fifteen percent!" "The breach has cost us three amidship turbolasers and one railcannon!"

"Sir, the enemy battleship's gunning for the planet!"

"What?!" The Captain yelled as he looked at the screens. Sure enough, the Furious Retribution sped past the weakening Battlestar and ran for the planet. "Lieutenant Kengo, do we have a recharge for the Yamato Cannons?"

"Another minute, sir!" Kengo frantically scanned his console. "But I must warn you, our total offensive power has been reduced 10%."

Holland bit his lips as his brain raced to focus. "Talho, I want a 180 degree inversion on my mark. Make sure we aim for the stern of the enemy ship. Kengo, reroute all power, including life support--"

"What?! That's insane!"

"We have hours of air aboard the ship--"

"STC field stretched over the breach, Captain! We lost a hundred crew, but I got it!" The Chief AI reported. "Atmosphere is stable."

A vein popped on Holland's head with the constant interruptions. "As I was saying, we have hours of air aboard this ship. It can handle a few minutes' reroute. Reroute all power except the shields to the Yamato Cannons."

The lights began dimming and the ship slowed down. The turbolasers fell silent and the railcannons quieted. Only the faint blue of the engines and the clear shields, still flaring at times from the enemy assault, could be seen. On the outside, it appeared that tiny particles of orange light was collecting in the pairs of Yamato Cannons, although that's an illusion. Nevertheless, a deep whining rumble penetrated everyone throughout the Battlestar Coredia.

"Now, Talho!"

The Battlestar spun on its axis, almost on a dime, and the Chief did his best to keep the ship's targeting computers locked on the Chronosian battleship. Then the ship settled with constant minor corrections to compensate for the battleship's movements. A few moments passed.

"Yamato Cannons, ready on your mark!"

Holland seized the moment when the lock was straight on the ship. "FIRE!"

Time slowed for a moment as the energies finished collecting itself into the cannons. Then, without warning, twin massive orange blasts, twice as powerful as the previous attack due to all the power the reactor could put out, blew through space towards the Furious Retribution. Visible rings from minor spacetime disruptions of the sheer energy output were seen expanding from the blast, which only enhanced the brilliant image of the most powerful weapon of the Battlestar. And all that aimed for the stern of the Furious Retribution...

And after that, Holland ordered a restart that would take a few minutes to effect...

Remiel stood before the flames, a baleful amusement lighting his features as surely as the seething multi-coloured fire. He gestured, his acolytes wailing in astropathic reverie, the runes engraved into the cracked earth hissing into fetid life.

"This sacrifice I offer to the oldest powers. This gift I present to the lords of the Immaterium. You have split the walls between the worlds. You shall remake this place an dall within it...My masters, thee I venerate. My Gods, your bastard son calls upon your blessings."

Villagers from this settlement and others came, heeding some silent call. Sigils of Chaos glittered, burnt upon their flesh, their free will stolen. Slowly they walked forward, crossing the runic lines and stepping, one after the other with arms held high, into the inferno.

Remiel let his laughter pour forth, cackling at the beginning of his triumph. His armour seemed to crackle and seethe with power, blinding those who beheld him. Amongst them, Ormhim watched in horror, tears coursing from eyes that now seemed ancient with regret, betrayal and pain.

He turned, breaking into a run towards the prisoners tent, forsaking his False God.
I felt the terrible energies of Remiel's sacrifice occur and my eyes teared up in equal parts sadness and fury. "Remiel...I warned them. I warned them and Remiel has the gall to do this..."

I saw a man break towards the prisoner's tent. It was Ormhim! "He definitely needs our help now...General! Disrupt the ceremony any way you can! I'm going for the elder!"

I quickly headed towards him, for I know he wants to see the true Lightning Emperor at last.

"My pleasure." General Mustang smiled and noted the runes glowing on the ground. He noted that they were not too different from alchemic circles and it wouldn't take much to...*snap*!

Sparks flew from his fingers, landing on the runes and exploded, sending dust and dirt all over the place. A jarring should disrupt part of them and if that doesn't work...he snapped again, sending more explosions at the runes, perhaps enough to startle the villagers out of their reverie as well...

The Jedi Historian unleashed the Force, forming psychic walls to stop the villagers from falling in. He was aided by the apprentices as well, effectively doubling the walls' power...

The Furious Retribution had seen much in its tour of duty across the galaxy. It had stood before the biological cannon-chasms of Azahan hiveships, it had traded blows with the artfully decadant vessels of the Republic and brought its guns to bear against the manifold enemies of the Imperium. Worlds had died beneath its ponderous guns, entire continents scorched bare in its fury...Yet it had never experienced such might as poured forth from the Coredia in a flash of orange hellfire.

Energy rippled and bloomed as the rear shields collapsed, the rending blast sundering the hulll, plasma vented into the cold abyss, the engines exploding in a massive crackling explosion, blue and purple against the black emptiness of the void. The hull, scarred and rent from years of conflict, collapsed in firey reverie, undone by the massive forces unleashed upon it. The artistry which countless had slaved over in the distant fires of Chronosia Secundus was unmade by the blasphemous fires of the enemy, debris tumbling in flaming fragments towards the dark nothingness of space.

Slowly, speed building, the great vessel tumbled, out of control, towards the world, its orb spinning madly in the observation windows, thrusters blazed, attempting to stabilise the ship, trying desperately to drag some victory from the defeat that had seemed so shortly before to have been a distant prospect.

"No....No...Damn it all, No!" Mordecai snarled. "We were so close! I want status!"

"We've lost all rear propulsion, our stern is in tatters, we have no way of stabilising in time to avoid the planet. We're plunging into the atmosphere."

"Are all Squads ready for primary deployment?"

"Yes Lord..."

"I want them all gone, deployed to the planets surface. We send them all down, all Marine squads in Drop-Pods, the remainder of essential personnel in Thunderhawks...I'll stay, try and maintain the objective"

"My Lord...The Gods go with you, they shall guide the hammer of your might." The servant bowed, already voxing the orders throughout the ship. One by one drop-pods began to hammer from the sky, Thunderhawks disengaged from their bays as fire wreathed the flounder warship. None had yet raised the Emperor, but they knew where he was bound to be. As the ships and pods hurtled through the atmosphere, the immense bulk of the ship began to come apart. A communications tower buckled and cracked, floundering back into the main body of the ship, tearing a flaming wound across the tortured hull, its skin already splitting with the strain. The plasma reactor at the core of the vessel pulsed and thrummed like a heart in the throes of cardiac arrest, trying to force power through the faltering ship.

As the Furious Retribution tore like a flaming knife through the lower atmosphere of the world, the sky turned red with the birth of a new sun, the heavens seemed to catch fire and rain bloody tears...

...And somewhere high above the fray, Mordecai Orfeo offered his last prayers to the divinity of Chaos, and watched through a flame-wreathed viewport as the ground rushed up to meet them.


Remiel strode through the force walls erected by the foolish retinue of the Masaki with solemn ease, brandishing his blades. The runes crackled and danced with stolen souls, his armour pulsed and thrummed as though it were alive, allowing him to tap the power of his sacrifice. He tasted the touch of the Gods upon him and lunged forth, snarling as he drove his blades through those immobilised pawns. He felt the rituals form pulse and ebb, changing as they sought to eradicate the display of his power.

And he couldn't have that, could he?

He smirked, allowing a sneer to blossom upon his libertine features, feeling blood rush into his annointed blades, his weapons blessed by the Powers Ruinous.

"Bow, Masaki. Bow before them! Before me!" He was in his element now, preaching, wielding his power. He scarcely looked up as the blossoming fireball rent the sky asunder, barely broke his stride. "Everyone of you will die, and all your people with them. Just like your mother, your father....All will die. I will sow the end of your lives, the end of your Empire...The end of your lineage. You will lose this war, Masaki, and that is what is upon us. War, glorious war.

I am their harbinger, the harbinger of your doom....And the Scion and Herald of Chaos."

The Furious Retribution had seen much in its tour of duty across the galaxy. It had stood before the biological cannon-chasms of Azahan hiveships, it had traded blows with the artfully decadant vessels of the Republic and brought its guns to bear against the manifold enemies of the Imperium. Worlds had died beneath its ponderous guns, entire continents scorched bare in its fury...Yet it had never experienced such might as poured forth from the Coredia in a flash of orange hellfire.

Energy rippled and bloomed as the rear shields collapsed, the rending blast sundering the hulll, plasma vented into the cold abyss, the engines exploding in a massive crackling explosion, blue and purple against the black emptiness of the void. The hull, scarred and rent from years of conflict, collapsed in firey reverie, undone by the massive forces unleashed upon it. The artistry which countless had slaved over in the distant fires of Chronosia Secundus was unmade by the blasphemous fires of the enemy, debris tumbling in flaming fragments towards the dark nothingness of space.

Slowly, speed building, the great vessel tumbled, out of control, towards the world, its orb spinning madly in the observation windows, thrusters blazed, attempting to stabilise the ship, trying desperately to drag some victory from the defeat that had seemed so shortly before to have been a distant prospect.

"No....No...Damn it all, No!" Mordecai snarled. "We were so close! I want status!"

"We've lost all rear propulsion, our stern is in tatters, we have no way of stabilising in time to avoid the planet. We're plunging into the atmosphere."

"Are all Squads ready for primary deployment?"

"Yes Lord..."

"I want them all gone, deployed to the planets surface. We send them all down, all Marine squads in Drop-Pods, the remainder of essential personnel in Thunderhawks...I'll stay, try and maintain the objective"

"My Lord...The Gods go with you, they shall guide the hammer of your might." The servant bowed, already voxing the orders throughout the ship. One by one drop-pods began to hammer from the sky, Thunderhawks disengaged from their bays as fire wreathed the flounder warship. None had yet raised the Emperor, but they knew where he was bound to be. As the ships and pods hurtled through the atmosphere, the immense bulk of the ship began to come apart. A communications tower buckled and cracked, floundering back into the main body of the ship, tearing a flaming wound across the tortured hull, its skin already splitting with the strain. The plasma reactor at the core of the vessel pulsed and thrummed like a heart in the throes of cardiac arrest, trying to force power through the faltering ship.

As the Furious Retribution tore like a flaming knife through the lower atmosphere of the world, the sky turned red with the birth of a new sun, the heavens seemed to catch fire and rain bloody tears...

...And somewhere high above the fray, Mordecai Orfeo offered his last prayers to the divinity of Chaos, and watched through a flame-wreathed viewport as the ground rushed up to meet them.
The Battlestar Coredia watched its foe die by its own hands. The enemy's pieces rained down onto the planet -fortunately, far away from the main city where Daniel and the others now reside- but there was another problem: Thunderhawk gunships.

And that means Chaos Space Marines.

"She's hurting, but she'll live." The Chief reported, referring to the Battlestar. "Gash is on the starboard side, fortunately missed the hangar bays. Power's returning to normal status."

The Captain nodded. "Have the engineers patch up the hole, then. Bring us into orbit above the crash site and prepare the Corps for deployment. We can't let any survivors live and do harm to the inhabitants of this planet!"

Heavily armed and armored Marines and their giant mecha boarded assault shuttles, LAAT gunships and mecha dropships and began rumbling out of the hangar bays of the ship, followed swiftly by three squadrons of deadly starfighters. The fighters flew ahead of the shuttles and gunships and dove into the atmosphere, their first task being the elimination of all signs of Chronosian equipment...

Remiel strode through the force walls erected by the foolish retinue of the Masaki with solemn ease, brandishing his blades. The runes crackled and danced with stolen souls, his armour pulsed and thrummed as though it were alive, allowing him to tap the power of his sacrifice. He tasted the touch of the Gods upon him and lunged forth, snarling as he drove his blades through those immobilised pawns. He felt the rituals form pulse and ebb, changing as they sought to eradicate the display of his power.

And he couldn't have that, could he?

He smirked, allowing a sneer to blossom upon his libertine features, feeling blood rush into his annointed blades, his weapons blessed by the Powers Ruinous.

"Bow, Masaki. Bow before them! Before me!" He was in his element now, preaching, wielding his power. He scarcely looked up as the blossoming fireball rent the sky asunder, barely broke his stride. "Everyone of you will die, and all your people with them. Just like your mother, your father....All will die. I will sow the end of your lives, the end of your Empire...The end of your lineage. You will lose this war, Masaki, and that is what is upon us. War, glorious war.

I am their harbinger, the harbinger of your doom....And the Scion and Herald of Chaos."
Jagan knotted his brows as the deaths of the innocent weighed on him. He glanced at the fireball in the distance, and can't help but feel that that was an omen, then he and the apprentices began yanking the people out of reach of the Chronosian Emperor with their powers. The General continued to eliminate the runes, but he knew that it was only a matter of moments before terrible slaughter would begin. Knowing that, he too moved people out of harm's way. It would be up to Daniel to do the rest, and the Battlestar overhead to provide the Emperor support.

I ignored Remiel's calls. I will deal with him when I am good and ready. First, the elder. I walked into the prison tent where he now resided, weeping. "Elder. I am sorry. Mark my words, I will end the slaughter of your people. Whatever you think of me, I swear upon my blood that Remiel will be driven from this world."

Drop Pods slammed amongst the flaming ruin of the destroyed warship, gleaming figures in black and red armour moving amidst the cover provided by the death of such a mighty edifice of the Great Crusade, the Long War against all who would deny the truth that the Gods represented. Missiles flew from the cacophany of sound and light, a twisting hell of metal wrought from the once proud whole of the Furious Retribution, now merely a smouldering wreck, a testament to the Coredia's killing power.

"Covering fire!" A shout echoed over the maelstrom as fighters dove and wheeled overhead; plasma, bolter rounds and missiles hurtling into the skies with well-versed killing intent. Dreadnoughts howled in vox-cast wrath, pounding with deadly force while Terminators bludgeoned aside wreckage, aiming assault cannons skyward

"DEATH AND VENGEANCE!"

Remiel could taste it. All of it, even distant death and suffering, a glorious offering to the Ruinous Powers, just as the Masaki's would prove to be. He spun, driving his blade with brutal accuracy into a villagers throat, a torrent of blood staining the blade deep crimson. He grinned, hissing as he advanced upon Daniel's retinue.

"Is this it? Is this what he leaves before me? Weakness and death?"

Ormhim was sobbing, visions flooding unbidden into his mind; an iron and bronze throne looking over a landscape of bloodied seas upon a shore of skulls, debauchery between devils upon a plain of writhing flesh, worlds of endless disease with land wrought with pus and boils, even worlds formed of deceits and built upon lies. He fell to his knees, begging for mercy, for forgiveness in the face of Hell and death itself.

"Please...Please, save them...I beg you, Please...Dear Gods, what is this...What is he? Please..."

Drop Pods slammed amongst the flaming ruin of the destroyed warship, gleaming figures in black and red armour moving amidst the cover provided by the death of such a mighty edifice of the Great Crusade, the Long War against all who would deny the truth that the Gods represented. Missiles flew from the cacophany of sound and light, a twisting hell of metal wrought from the once proud whole of the Furious Retribution, now merely a smouldering wreck, a testament to the Coredia's killing power.

"Covering fire!" A shout echoed over the maelstrom as fighters dove and wheeled overhead; plasma, bolter rounds and missiles hurtling into the skies with well-versed killing intent. Dreadnoughts howled in vox-cast wrath, pounding with deadly force while Terminators bludgeoned aside wreckage, aiming assault cannons skyward

"DEATH AND VENGEANCE!"
Fighters fell from the sky to the enemy's antiair attempts, but not many. Strafing was the order of the day, each blast of laserfire or missile sending up massive clouds of dust into the air. Then came the LAATs, cutting up the enemy with their beamlasers and laser cannons and blowing more shit up with missiles. The Marines shot hail after hail of blasterfire at the enemy while circling the sky (think of AC-130 gunships), knowing that to get close to the enemy was to invite death. The Battlestar Coredia drooped a little lower, awaiting the call to unleash a devastating orbitial bombardment.

Meanwhile, the shuttle that the Emperor used took off quickly as the three men spotted something metallic in the forest near the village and began to engage. It too would strafe at the enemy once it spotted them, and it would also look for survivors of the carnage.

Remiel could taste it. All of it, even distant death and suffering, a glorious offering to the Ruinous Powers, just as the Masaki's would prove to be. He spun, driving his blade with brutal accuracy into a villagers throat, a torrent of blood staining the blade deep crimson. He grinned, hissing as he advanced upon Daniel's retinue.

"Is this it? Is this what he leaves before me? Weakness and death?"

Ormhim was sobbing, visions flooding unbidden into his mind; an iron and bronze throne looking over a landscape of bloodied seas upon a shore of skulls, debauchery between devils upon a plain of writhing flesh, worlds of endless disease with land wrought with pus and boils, even worlds formed of deceits and built upon lies. He fell to his knees, begging for mercy, for forgiveness in the face of Hell and death itself.

"Please...Please, save them...I beg you, Please...Dear Gods, what is this...What is he? Please..."
I kneeled with him. "He is the terrible champion of the four Chaos Gods: Khorne, Slaanesh, Nurgle and Tzeench. The Crusader who wages eternal war by the sword. And...the enemy forevermore of all who cherish innocence, light and peace. He is Remiel De Drakan, Emperor of Chronosia, and the Lightning Emperor's eternal foe. My eternal foe."

I felt danger encroach my subordinates. "I'll stop him, I swear it. Find those that remain untainted and get away from the village."

With that, a quiet *pop* sound occurred in the tent as I teleported.

Mustang cursed as Remiel advanced upon them. He snapped his fingers, sending violent, ground-shaking explosions to cover the Jedi and the apprentices, who ignited their lightsabers in anticipation of a duel to the death. Villagers continued to be yanked out of Remiel's warpath. C'mon, Daniel...

A massive lightning bolt suddenly lashed down on Remiel...

Remiel roared as the energy coarsed through him, auraing him in a crackling cloud of death. He snarled, features twisting into a grimace of hate and rage, his gods with him, fuelling him as he tore through the maelstrom, blazing with the might of the Warp. He had taken damage, but it merely fuelled his dark rage, his might coalescing into a twisting storm of sword blows. Howling in feral madness, he drove towards his foes, the fabric of existence splitting as his full power teetered forth.

Daemons tore at the thin flesh of reality, whispering and chanting in forbidden tongues. Far off his men died under hails of energy weapons and fought with unbridled ferocity towards the village, but here, now, Remiel was alone, yearning for the thrill of battle.

"You spurned this Daniel...You have wrought all this by your own hand...You made me what I am and they sanctified you for your part in it...You are all I need to complete the circle. You were the hand of my rebirth...And your death shall be the beginning of this galaxies end. Mark my words, it shall burn! And you shall burn with it! Stop hiding behind your sycophants and face me!"

Remiel roared as the energy coarsed through him, auraing him in a crackling cloud of death. He snarled, features twisting into a grimace of hate and rage, his gods with him, fuelling him as he tore through the maelstrom, blazing with the might of the Warp. He had taken damage, but it merely fuelled his dark rage, his might coalescing into a twisting storm of sword blows. Howling in feral madness, he drove towards his foes, the fabric of existence splitting as his full power teetered forth.

Daemons tore at the thin flesh of reality, whispering and chanting in forbidden tongues. Far off his men died under hails of energy weapons and fought with unbridled ferocity towards the village, but here, now, Remiel was alone, yearning for the thrill of battle.

"You spurned this Daniel...You have wrought all this by your own hand...You made me what I am and they sanctified you for your part in it...You are all I need to complete the circle. You were the hand of my rebirth...And your death shall be the beginning of this galaxies end. Mark my words, it shall burn! And you shall burn with it! Stop hiding behind your sycophants and face me!"
"Who said I was hiding?" I asked, standing some meters behind the Warlord, a massively powerful Force Wall blocking him from going any further towards my subordinates. Lightning crackled around me and flashed in the sky. My cloak flowed like water in the wind as clouds darkened above us with a mere fraction of my powers. Said cloak was dramatically removed, revealing body armor enhanced by the elven engineers to reduce kinetic damage, absorb energy damage and resist mystical assaults, like that of Chaos, and dark clothing underneath the armor. The Force was with me as my senses became attuned to the highest grade. I was everything around me and everything around me was I. I barely percieved my lightsaber in my hand, but it was, glowing silvery-blue like that of steel made of lightning.

"The Great Remiel. Lord of all he surveys. His greatness worthy of nothing but praise and mercy." I laughed ironically. "So great that he deigns to attack and sacrifice the helpless to his awesome Gods. So powerful that he slays a populace that has never touched the stars! Surely you are worthy of the goal of burning the Galaxy when the innocents of this planet are fed to the daemons!"

Deamons whispered evil tidings, but they cringed before the sheer power waves rolling off my back. That allowed General Mustang and the others to deal with them their own way, with judicious applications of the Force, chakra and alchemy. And high-powered blasters with enough power to one-shot speeder trucks, as well as lightsabers.

High above the air, the Battlestar Coredia noted the massive disruptions in the very fabric of reality. Captain Holland himself was peeved.

"Contact Konoha immediately and order them to dispatch a Demonhunter Company immediately to the Rubak System. Priority One!" Holland ordered. "Rig ship for Orbitial Bombardment: Turbolaser! Destroy what's left of that battlecruiser and eliminate the Chaos forces! Now!"

A message was fired off to Konoha at the same time the Battlestar began to rain green bolts of destructive energy on the crashed ship. Then, with telemetry from the starfighters and LAATs, the cannons added their destructiveness to killing Remiel's posse so that they would die before they reached the main village and gave the Lightning Emperor more trouble than it's worth.

The message came back ten minutes later stating that a company will be sent ASAP.

Mushroom clouds flooded the horizon from where I stood, and the wind became warm with the energy pumped into the atmosphere, feeding the storm that built up strength thanks to my powers and a lesson I learned from a certain thermokinetic Jedi Master.

If this was not a perfect day to duel the Chronosian Emperor, I don't know what is...

"Masaki the kind and merciful, placing the needs of so many others before his own triffling nation. Betrayed by his family and indeed their betrayer...You would dare mock me, Daniel? These cattle mean nothing to me, I would slaughter them as easily as the people of Naboo died. I would let them wither as simply as any who have stood against me! This is power! The Warp is endless power and the Gods who dwell there are beyond the realms of your understanding. How can your light stand against beings who defy the physical universe? How can you oppose great beings who bestrode creation when the races of the universe were newly formed...."

He chuckled, his blades crackling with residual energy, hungry for the kill. "You understand so little of this universe, so little of what I'm attempting to do, what I'm planning...My illumination shall liberate galaxies from bondage and open their eyes to the glories of the truth!"

He lunged forth, snarling in feral hatred, his face contorted in a grimace of unfathomable anger. "I am the Way! I am the Eightfold Path! You shall burn, Masaki!" His blades screamed as they slashed towards Daniel, hungry in the gathering dusk, seething in the nuclear night.

"I can...because I DARE!" I yelled. The blades struck, but they did not touch me, for I have jumped up and over Remiel. Then I whirled around, my lightsaber slashing for the Emperor...

An almost casual parry brings a blade round, smashing against the blade of energy. A smirk, laced with foul intent, crosses his features as he spins again, tasting the power inherent in their struggle. Ideologies and ideas clash as surely as blades, symbolic of their hatred, their conflict

"You dare? HA! You know nothing of what you attempt, Masaki, to war upon the Sith is one thing for they are possessed of no Gods...But you challenge Faith! You challenge belief! And that is stronger than all the armies of the Universe!"

"Perhaps. But I don't have to win. All I have to do is make you lose." I replied calmly. I began weaving my lightsaber in quick and efficient strokes, countering Remiel's deadly blades with parries and blocks while backpedaling...

"I've already won, Daniel. I won the day you struck me down and offered me to my Gods to be remade...They stripped me of the mortal weakness that plagues you; fear, pain, misery, grief...Weaknesses that plagued even my father, and that is why he had to be dealt with, that is why you will be dealt with in turn..."

He snarled, blades flickering as he spun them, runes burning so intensely that their passing was searing tongues of fire to the eye. He spun, driving forward with killing intent, intent upon breaking through Daniel's intricate swordplay

"'One man's weakness is another man's strength.'" I quoted. "What you percieve as weakness has been proved time and time again to be strengths. Happiness, serenity, love. Strengths they are, and they will aid me this day!"

A tree was ripped cleanly off its roots and sped towards Remiel. Then I attacked at the same time, hopefully striking true...

The tree burst into flames before the blade cleaved through it, tearing it asunder in firey ruin about the Emperor. He growled, cackling as he rose up to his full height, feeling the might of the warp fuelling him, driving him onwards. He saw worlds scorched bare, ashy plains paved with skulls, he saw the universe die and rot, he saw it bloom with twisted mutant life, he watched the galaxy collapse in flame and ecstacy. He felt his own lusts flitting forth, artful strikes mixed with a savage brutality, laughter bubbled like bile in his throat, rife with madness.

"Strengths? They distract you from the glory that is CHAOS!" He snarled, lunging forth, armour blazing with unholy purity, rippling with internal strength. "You fail to see the gift I offer you, Masaki. The Galaxy in your palms, the power to end all of this, this wretched war, this damnable conflict...You could bring peace to the Galaxy, yet you shy away from the strength in madness. Your sister embraced the Dark, your Grandfather knew its power, but you...Never has there been one so ripe to inherit the mantles of Chaos. Never has one been so wanting, Brother..."

"Sorry, brother..." I spat that as a curse. I bounced back several meters, dodging the latest blows. "But there are times for darkness and there are times for light. This is the time for light. With that, I give you...Raikurai!"

Lightning roared down to strike Remiel. I charged up again.

"Raikurai!" It struck down again.

"Raikurai!" A final shout, and the third lightning bolt exploded upon contact with Remiel...

A curse screamed in a bitter battle argot, hurled forth in the twisted tongue of Chaos as Remiel hurled himself into the fray, screaming his maledict intent. He felt his blade slam against the lightning with all the power of the warp behind it, forced forth against the mongrel Masaki.

He felt himself losing balance, falling back, flailing in the pain and heat of the searing cacophany unleashed by both sides. He hurtled back, tumbling aflame through a hut, buried beneath seared wooden wreckage.

I, too was thrown back, but skidded on the ground, leaving a visible mark on it. Breathing deeply, I approached the broken hut, charging up energy in one hand and my lightsaber is angled towards him in the other hand. "Remiel. I give you one chance and one chance only to leave this planet alive and take your hordes with you. Take it now. I've killed you once. I can kill you again."

He brings his blades up in a flash of sickly warp-light, snarling in a feral grin. A giggle sputters forth from perfect lips, stained with ash and blood. "Oh can you? Can yuo really? You achieved nothing last time, you freed me...I was remade by your blow, reformed into the perfection you behold today...I saw Jurai within your soul, tasted your thoughts, swallowed your secrets, and you think you can kill me? You can no more destroy me than you can your own shadow, Daniel..."

He pulled himself up, spitting a bloody smear of saliva into the ground at Daniel's feet. "You might be able to hold me back, but can you protect all of them, Daniel? Can you protect everyone? Like your mother? Like your father? Like sister?" He sneered "You've failed everyone, just as you will fail the Coredian line..You will fall, or I will kill you."

I chuckled, wiping my mouth. "Then you best kill me, because I refuse to fall before the likes of you. Even if by some chance I do fall, there is always another to carry on my legacy."

I looked up and smiled. "Best kill me now before the Demonhunters arrive. And believe me, one of them can give me a run for my money. What will a thousand do?"

Above the surface of the planet, flashes of psuedomotion appeared and a number of ground-attack starships and one-man fighters began making a run for the planet, followed by a fleet of various space superiority starships from the Sixth Fleet, who began to blockade the planet to prevent Chaos fleets from arriving.

The Demonhunters, best of what the Order can deliver, has arrived! With a variety of deadly weapons and the powers and skills to match any Master of the Order, the Demonhunters are a force to be reckoned with and even Remiel would have to acknowledge that this planet has been taken in the name of the Imperial Republic!

"Then if you stand by your word, you will let me off this god-forsaken rock" He smirked, striding forward, almost face to face with Daniel. "But I warn you, Masaki, next time we meet...I shall kill you, and the Gods of the Warp shall know your soul, make no doubt about that" He chuckled, turning away from him.

"You fought well, but there will always be someone better than you, Masaki...I shall prove that when you fight me man to man, not surrounded by those you need to coddle you."

I smiled snidely. "Leave before I change my mind. Just know that you were chased off this planet with your tail between your legs."

"Of course, I will let it be known how humbled I was to be chased away by the thousand soldiers of the Masakis, who could not and would not fight alone. Know this, we will meet again...We shall fight once again, you will know it by the four signs of the Gods. Plague, War, Deceit, Temptation. The Eightfold path shall guide you to me..."

He chuckled lightly, moving away from the group of Coredians. "And on that day, I shall triumph utterly..."

"Whether one man or a thousand men did it, it won't matter when you're dead." I shot back. Geez. Time for that mass-buildup program the High Command's been clamoring about. The Senate won't be happy with the defense budget though...

I waited for Remiel to leave as the Demonhunters broke through the atmosphere, deploying the vaunted men and women of the Order's anti-demonic troubleshooters on speeder bikes and thruster packs. Beams and balls of white holy energy rained down upon the forces of Chaos, holy energy similiar to the experimental rifle I used once but now mass-produced. Physically, the beams have a concussive portion and the balls are explosive, which will harm those not-quite-demonic foes that may come from Chaos or other enemy forces. Mystically, however, the beams disrupt the connections between this world and the worlds beyond, effectively sending the demon hordes back to their lords. For those demons that are too powerful to be sent back so easily, well, let's just say that they encounter twice the firepower of blaster rifles with every shot.

Of course, for close-in work, melee weapons including lightsabers and all types of vibro-weapons were used when the demonhunters wanted to get down and dirty.

And that's not all, for I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as various powers were unleashed to augument the holy rifles. Elemental, psychokinesis, you name it, they used it.

And as for Remiel? If he can survive my troops, he's very, very lucky indeed as I had no intention of letting him go so easily. Tuning my comlink to the commanders, I radioed: "Emperor Remiel is leaving the planet! Don't let him escape!"

A reply came, complete with a grin. "As ordered, sir!"

A detachment of Demonhunters went out to search and destroy the Emperor. Or die trying...

Remiel was alone.

Each troop he had brought to this world had been slaughtered, each being from the warp who had slaved upon the ships, even those with dreams of freedom from bondage had been laid low, broken by the troops of the Masaki. Those that survived, would be too far removed from their Liege-Lord to offer any aid. Instead, he would have to cope by himself. He chuckled softly, drawing one of the blades alone the edge of the dirt, forming complex runic circles as he went, forging a pattern that would offer him some sanctuary upon this world turned against him.

He drew the seething blade across his palm, hissing as blood fell in idle droplets, closing his eyes, blotting out the foul stink of the Materium. He tasted the Immaterium with his mind, teasing forth against the barriers between the material realm and the supernal realms of Chaos. He could hear the mewling thunder of the Gods, their power echoing about him. He could scent warp-fire upon the air...And he knew exactly where his foes were coming from, he could visualise their fates, feel their life-essence. He raised one hand, feeling the power of the warp coalesce around it, cracklign in abyssal flame, his eyes shooting open as he hurled the seething balls of incandescent flame forth, letting them seethe into the woodland...

They would be hungry...And he would let them feed, while he bolstered his power and saw good his escape

The flame balls roared upwards, striking several Demonhunters and immolating them until they fell to their doom. The squad leader grimaced as his comrades died and lined his holy rifle up towards Remiel and shot a ball of glowing white energy at the Emperor, followed by beams from the surviving squad members...

Meanwhile, back at the village, the Demonhunters finished off the Chaos hordes and now began turning their attention to the runes on the villagers' backs. Unlike members of the Imperium of Man and other assorted nations, Coredians don't do slaying of people with Chaos taint in them. In fact, it's just the reverse. Exorcism, whether by directly unsealing the runes or sealing them and possessed beings into disposable scrolls (depends on the ability of the one who does the sealing) was painful, but it was a lot better than simply killing everyone with a hint of taint.

We are a Jedi nation after all and Darkness to fight Darkness is not our stock in trade. Call the Sith if you want something like that.

So, the Demonhunters and I got to work, using every ounce of our powers to free the people from the grasp of Chaos and soon the world would be scoured clean of the taint...

Remiel chuckled, feeling everything ablaze he could feel the world turning, feel the song of death sent forth by the painful demise of the Demonhunters and the power they now unleashed against him. he dove hard to the left, beams slicing at his armour, flesh wounds....He snarled spinning back into the open opening fire at his attacked with his storm bolter, spinning his blade as he dove from cover to cover, fuelled by the killing music of creation.

Runic patterns upon his armour blazed in unholy light, seething with the raw power of Chaos. The Gods were with him, their sigils protecting him, marking him as their chosen, their true instrument. It was their wrath that he would bring upon his foes, as he dodged about the blasts, feeling searing heat touching him here and there, as he drew nearwer and nearer, and finally brought the blades to bear.

Remiel chuckled, feeling everything ablaze he could feel the world turning, feel the song of death sent forth by the painful demise of the Demonhunters and the power they now unleashed against him. he dove hard to the left, beams slicing at his armour, flesh wounds....He snarled spinning back into the open opening fire at his attacked with his storm bolter, spinning his blade as he dove from cover to cover, fuelled by the killing music of creation.

Runic patterns upon his armour blazed in unholy light, seething with the raw power of Chaos. The Gods were with him, their sigils protecting him, marking him as their chosen, their true instrument. It was their wrath that he would bring upon his foes, as he dodged about the blasts, feeling searing heat touching him here and there, as he drew nearwer and nearer, and finally brought the blades to bear.
Screams of pain erupted from the Demonhunters as bolter shells and sword blades alike tore through their bodies with unfathomable ease. Despite the powers and abilities they possessed, fighting against the champion of the foul Gods proved to be fatal for many of them. But they had their orders from the Emperor they loved and respected and so they would die with honor and courage in their hearts.

As Remiel fought, he was assaulted with many a point-blank shot from the holy weapons and also lightsabers were released against him, their energy blades modified to produce a stronger blow than normal lightsabers can. Even if they all went down, the Demonhunter squad were determined to take the Chaos Emperor with them...

His armour was dented and rent, smoking and dirtied as he threw himself earthward, mud exploding around him as he ducked slashes and blasts, taking a Demonhunter quite literally from his feet. He reared up, snarling like a beast of the Warp, eyes aflame, armour blazing with sigils and signs unfathomable to all but the most learned of Chaos Scholars. Any men less pure and restrained than the Demonhunters might have been rendered mindless or worse by the cosmic power surging about the Emperor.

Remiel chuckled, his cackle alive with bloody amusement. He was death, he was damnation, he was ruination in all its forms. To look upon his howling countenance was to see the doom of worlds, the feeble croak of a galaxy in its dying agonies, a Galaxy in Flames.

Let them come, let their legions descend upon them. He was more than willing to slay every last Coredian, till all was his dominion.

And then there was one.

The squad leader grimaced as the Emperor tore apart the men and women under his command. He knew he was going to die, but he spat in the face of death anyway.

"Come on, bitch!" He yelled, brandishing his lightsaber, going down into a stance. "Let's see you dance!"

Remiel fell back, dancing on the balls of his heels from one stance to another, his blades hungry, he could taste the lure of Slaanesh, pain and pleasure indescribable, the unknowable glory of the killing blow, of the music of death and the symphony of violence. He licked his lips, tasting the dirt on the air, tasting blood. He chuckled, going low, snarling in feral madness as he slammed forth towards his opponent.

"Come! Let's see how well you die, Coredian....Lifesbane hungers for your soul"

"I'll be sure to give it indigestion then!" The Squad Commander replied. "Have at thee!"

His lightsaber roared at Remiel and clashed with Lifesbane, energy crackling against demon magic. The Commander unleashed quick, powerful strokes of his blade, each one sure to knock back anyone lesser than Remiel...

Remiel cackled as he threw himself into the fray, each raw smash of blade upon blade filling him with a dark pleasure, a hunger for the combat that this supplicant offered. He was the chosen of the Gods, but at heart he rang with the lithe and serpentine grace of Slaanesh, the rakish lust of a libertine, the wanton strokes of an artist of War.

He had no place for the Khornate rage that this fool placed before him, no love of the trickery and deception of sorcery (Save when it served his purposes) and no patience for the slow rot of Nurgle in bitter slogs of dire attrition.

He was Remiel, damned betrayer and Scion of Chaos. He was their scything had, their instrument upon this plane, and as he let his artful strikes parry and deflect, before spinning to assault his foes weaknesses in a flurry of artful crafted and confusing blows, he savored his destiny, the eventuality of killing blows.

The squad leader staggered back under the blows, bleeding from wounds that the demonblades sliced open. Remiel was too strong for him, but that did not matter. For there was one last thing the soldier would do against Remiel.

"Augh!" The squad leader staggered back and fell to his knees, a mortal blow cut into his abdomen. His lightsaber fell to the ground, the blade ceasing to exist. Coughing up blood, he looked up the eyes of his would-be killer and...smiled. With his dying energy, he tapped something on his belt and the world around Remiel and the squad leader exploded in a massive fireball as a class-A thermal detonator exploded.

A mushroom cloud rose above the landscape, and I saw it arise miles away. I suspected what just happened. Knowing Remiel's damnable ability to survive (almost as good as mine), I commed the fleet in orbit. "Do you see a kiloton-level event from up there?"

"Yes, sir, we do!"

"Bombard the exact location." I ordered coldly.

"Sir?"

"Do it. Now." I repeated.

In seconds, I saw green fire fall from the sky and the ground rumbled with every impact as the cloud grew bigger and brighter with every flash. The air became warm and wind roared through the area, snagging at clothes and blowing aside minor things. I could sense the ground there turn molten and I reached further into the Force, hoping to sense Remiel's death...

He fell, torn by the searing heat, throwing himself low to the ground. Debris incinerated around him, the wards upon his ceramite armor flashed and hissed, the fabric of the stuff itself bubbling and searing. Systems cried out in alarm, messages relayed and sent. His doom seemed near at hand, stumbling through the molten waste, avoiding the black heat of the bombardment.

He screamed as infernal winds raked his flesh, searing at his skin, forcing him down and into the shadow of his armor, wrapping himself in it like a coccoon....

He began to claw his way through the dirt and mud, keeping low to the ground as the hot air rose, pulling his weight through the fetid stink of death and the bodies of the Coredians their own had destroyed. He had signalled for a ship, and it had to arrive soon, to save him...

...And it was the Sword of Arioch that tore into being, struggling to locate its masters beacon through the haze of heat and searing death even as it brought its own guns to bear against the Coredian enemy...
These were desperate times.

I cursed as through the wind and the heat, through the sheer level of bombardment brought to bear, Remiel still lived. "Sithspit!"

And worst yet, the Chronosian flagship just tore through the infernal Warp, bringing weapons to bear on the Coredians and letting loose. Already the Sixth Fleet began to regroup and assault the pride of Chronosia, but it was too fast. All too fast.

I sighed and shook my head, brushing windswept hair out of my eyes. "What a foe. What a damned foe."

So as he swore that he would kill me the next time we met, so I swore that I would deliver his corpse at the feet of his Gods in spite. There would be a reckoning on that day indeed...

Remiel's physical form fluctuated, fading into the cavernous nothingness of the Immaterium as the beacon finally sent through its tortured message, being received by the waiting starship. Remiel appeared within the teleportation chambers, his armour battered, beaten and seared, almost to his flesh. His helmet shielding his face from the heat, yet equally distorted.

He was borne by warriors of the First Company to the Apothecarium, where the waiting Apothecaries swarmed over the prone Primarch. His armour was cut from him, torn apart by his faithful like ravenous ants feasting upon a carcass, his perfect physique laid bare as the vessel let off a sew parting blows, making a break for the nearest possible jump-point out. Remiel lay still, unmoving, flawless in his perfection. His flesh was relatively unharmed, singed and broken here and there, but no true injuries appeared to have been sustained...

It was only when they re-entered the hellish miasma of the Warp that he awoke, hissing in pain as he stretched, pulling himself up, slowly beginning to shake with laughter.

He swore upon his ruinous Gods and upon all the powers of the Warp that he would take Daniel Masaki's head. He would bring damnation upon all the forces of Coredia, no matter the cost...

...It remained merely for the Changer of Ways to lay forth the path that would bring him victory...The Victory that this feint, this exercise, this learning probe, had revealed.