Epilogue Three: We are William Part One

"Those who cling to death; live. Those who cling to life; die."

From John Wick 4 

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William Nullinanis, The Chapter Master of the Blacksouls 

Beast of Caerbannog, Ship time 0923. 

Five minutes after William was sent back to his own ship. 

'What happened?' William woke up from his slumber as he couldn't remember why he was sleeping on the floor. Last thing he could recall was him passing a glass of wine to Rana and afterwards the memory was hazy. 

"Rana, why am I on the floor? Did I really pass out from drinking too much?" William jokingly spoke and got himself up from the floor but to his surprise, the room was silent. No one replied back. He was alone in his chamber. 

"Rana?" This time William said with more volume but it was pointless as there was no one else in the room. Starting to have a bad feeling, William began to check other rooms but in the end he confirmed that he was all by himself. 

"Arthur, locate Living Saint Rana Becket and Henry, right now." William gave his command and immediately a hologram of Arthur appeared in the middle of the room. 

[Scanning and tracking locator of Living Saint and Henry… unable to locate.] 

"What? What do you mean you can't locate them? What happened while I was passed out?" 

[Retrieving the record of the ship's status. The ship experienced an unusual warp signature and missed at least thirty minutes of atomic scale. Chapter Master, not only are we missing two members of Blacksouls but we are also missing half an hour of time for an unknown reason. I advise we conduct a full system scan and check before moving forward.]

William couldn't reply back as his entire world just turned upside down. While he was sleeping, his wife and only son disappeared entirely. Not only that but his ship lost thirty minutes of actual time due to warp. Everything was fine until something went horribly wrong and William couldn't do anything to fix it. 

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The ship went into massive search for three months. Entire ship, from top to bottom, everyone who could move their feet went into searching for the missing Living Saint. As for the baby Henry, only a select few of the senior advisors of William are aware of the baby's existence. In the end, after three months of searching, it was concluded that Living Saint is not in the ship and lost to the warp. 

To prevent the mass panic and despair, the cover story began to spread as how Living Saint Rana left the ship to help the loyal servants of the Golden Throne and to confront the Ruinous Powers. This gave certain hope and pride to the mass population as it fits the role of the Living Saints before and how they turn the tide of the war when it's dire. 

To honour Rana's sacrifice and her loyalty to the servants of the Emperor, the Sister of Battle reorganised into an official sub branch and renamed themselves 'Order of the Lionheart' branch off from Order Militant and Order of Our Martyred Lady. All active Sisters changed the red clothes into gold and symbol Order into a golden lion face with one single red heart in the lion's mouth. The true symbol of the heart symbolising the child who is lost to the Sisters and Imperium. 

The loss and hope of the Living Saint out there somewhere, the entire ship went into one year of mourning period where the crew of the entire fleet went into praying for the return of the Living Saint. 

Meanwhile, Blacksouls and Astra Militarum senior officers are in great turmoil as William, the Chapter Master and commander of the entire forces went into self confinement into his own chamber with no way of communicating with him. The only way they knew William is still alive is thanks to a one way message that was sent before loss of communication. 

'I will find them.' 

This was the only message William sent before locking himself in his chamber and cutting all communication with his army. Until the fleet exits from the warp travel, William dedicates himself to the investigation of lost thirty minutes with help of Arthur and research of warp itself as much as he can. Utilising the vast knowledge of the Merlin and his STC database, William input much of his own knowledge into the AI, creating AI's own archive of 40k lores and Warp related information. 

All of William's effort into research and investigation eventually came to an end when Arthur reported to William that the fleet was exiting the warp and entering the real space. 

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World of 40k. Somewhere in Real Space,

Five years, five long years of warp travel came to an end and at the same time, William's chamber door opened once again. Chapter Master of the Blacksouls donned on his terminator armour with pure fury in his face as he exited his personal chamber.

William didn't speak to others of what his search came to or what he discovered but one thing for sure, he did find out who was responsible for his wife and son's disappearance. 

'Tzeentch, damn you bastard.' 

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Ship Throne Chamber, 

Awaiting him, every representative of William's forces stood and ready to receive a new order. Taking the front seat, every captain of each company took their seats while senior officers of Astra Militarum took the second row in the back. After them, Sisters and other representatives waited in silence as William took his seat in the throne made out of stone and gold. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, after five long years, we have finally arrived back to real space. Imperial space. What is our fleet status?" William spoke with authority and power as he took his full authority once again after five long years. 

"All ships are reporting green light. The flag ship is the last one to arrive due to missing thirty minutes five years ago." Lord Admiral Raphael Montaal gave his report as he presented a full list of ships using holograms. 

"Good. Now, where are we and most importantly, when are we in the Imperium calendar?" William said as he placed down his data slate on the table. The data slate, which is a 40k version of the tablet, contains other information such as personal, ship supplies, water, air and other essential things assembled for this meeting.

"According to the ship navigator, we are somewhere located within Segmentum Pacificus. Our astropaths are still working on finding out what standard year it is." One of the Imperial Navy senior officers said to William and presented a live galaxy chart with a blue dot, indicating the location of the fleet at this moment. After a short period of looking into the map, everyone came to realise what the map was showing. 

"You gotta be joking." 

"No way, is this accurate?"

"By the Emperor in Holy Terra." 

The throne room went into full roar of chats as people began to learn where they are and what was going on currently in the galaxy. 

"SILENCE!" William's voice kills all sound in the throne room as everyone immediately stops side conversation with fear going down their spine. 

"Lord Admiral Raphael Montaal! Ready the fleet and set the course to this planet." William's cold voice of a command set the room temperature down a few degrees as his demeanour and way he acts changed entirely. 

"Yes, Chapter Master. At your command. What will be our fleet status?" Lord Admiral Raphael Montaal asked as he now had official command from the Chapter Master.

William gave a smile of evil as he needed something to fight and he just found something to fight to his fullest. 

"Code Red and full alert. We are joining a crusade." 

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Segmentum: Segmentum Pacificus

Sector: Sabbat Worlds Sector

System: Tanith System

Current Status: Active Imperial Crusade, Sabbat Worlds

Year: 764.M41

"I don't understand." One of the senior Departmento Munitorum staff said as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He continued. 

"The nearest war zone is 80 days from here. How can this be?" 

One of the men in the war room in official Commissar uniform paced back and forth while going over the date slate furiously. His name is Ibram Gaunt, a veteran commissar who holds the position of a Colonel, making him one of the rare individuals who possess the authority of the Imperial Officer and Commissar at the same time. 

"We broke them at Balhaut, but they splintered. Deep intelligence scouts suggested that they were running scared but it was always possible that some of the larger components would scatter inwards. Looping towards us rather than running for the backwards worlds in Sabbat Worlds in a way." Said Colonel-Commissar Gaunt as he was furious due to pure bad judgement that new Warmaster Macaroth made. 

Previous Warmaster Slaydo, in his deathbed, told his successor what to watch out for after victory in Balhaut. But due to the sheer mindset of pushing the victory further, Warmaster Macaroth decided to change tactics and have the entire fleet advance into the liberation front, leaving the rear side vulnerable. This resulted in opening for the remnant traitors fleet to attack the defenceless planets wide open. 

Right now, Planet Tanith is going through the first founding of three Tanith Imperial Guard Regiment (In total of six thousand men. Light infantry, artillery and light armour tank units). This meant that these new guards weren't tested and completely vulnerable for slaughter as there was no reinforcement to counter the enemy warfleet and its forces. At this moment, Tanith only has a little more than an hour of life as the enemy warfleet is heading from the edge of the Tanith system. 

'It will be a massacre in the end.' Gaunt thought to himself as he knew the outcome of the battle if he decided to stay. Not to mention half of the men are already in troop carriers while the other half are in the space port, waiting for the pick up. 

The decision has to be made and the battle decision solely weighs on Gaunt. Stay and die or salvage what he can to fight for the another day, even if this means death of an entire planet. 

"Our Astropaths must send a message to the main crusade force so that Macaroth knows of this insurgency. If nothing else, they have to turn around and guard the back. The rest of you…" Before Colonel-Commissar finished his sentence, one of the men in the war room interrupted him as he received new data of most importance.

"My lords, a moment ago, our fourth scouts detected another warfleet on the other side of the system." The vox communicator officer's words silences the room. A second enemy warfleet? The pure despair falls down on to the war room as all hope is lost if this second fleet arrives. 

"By Him in Terra. We are doomed." One of the nobles in the war room spoke without realising while others around him began to pray. 

"Colonel-Commissar, what must we do now? We are surrounded and the nearest ally fleet is three days away." The planet governor of the Tanith asked Gaunt as he and others didn't know what to do. The planet has bare minimum defence and a small number of Planetary Defence Force (PDF) and they are no match for the enemy's orbital bombardment and troops at the same time. 

"Have the troop carriers bring back troops. We must reinforce the capital defence and hold until the ally fleet arrives. Do it NOW!" Gaunt shouted the last words as time is in short supply and there are many things to do before facing the first warfleet within an hour. This will be his end and his new regiments'. If he had to face the Holy Emperor at the end of his life, he would proudly face him as he carried on his duty till the end. 

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One hour later, Tanith Ultima.

"Feth! The captain is dead." Elim Rawne cursed and returned fire while his captain lay down in the city street with a massive bullet hole in his head. The Tanith regiment was going through baptism in fire as enemy forces were landing on the city while a warfleet in orbit continued to barrage the city itself. It was hell on Tanith and everyone knew it. The planet was dying as Nalwood forests and cities were burning to ashes. Still, people of Tanith refused to die without fighting back as every able man and woman raised up to fight against the servants of the Chaos. 

"Don't stop firing! We are fighting for the very heart of the home planet. We fall here, we lose everything." A roughly aged man with a beard took charge of the unit after the command officer fell. This man is Colm Corbec, former furniture maker and lumber before the Imperium called for his service. His action encouraged men around him as the rate of fire increased and started to push back the enemy troops. It was at this moment enemy troop morale began to fall and this gave an opportunity to push the battle ground. 

Tanith's biggest men in the regiment got up from his cover, holding an autocannon with ease and open fire. The heavy ballistic weapon, which is supposed to be attached to a tripod, unleashes a wave of bullets as a trooper named Bragg doesn't stop firing until his weapon is empty. 

"Feth Bragg. You suck at aiming. Better try again next time." Rawne said to Bragg as he handed him a spare lasgun. Even though Bragg missed half of his shots, the heavy machine gun did its job as many of the retreating enemy troops died. 

"Enough, we have to regroup with the command unit. Group up and head towards the command center." Corbec orders his men and remaining civilians as they need to find other units scattered in the city. 

"You think there are survivors? Look around you, Corbec. The city is literally burning and that's including the stones." Rawne said as he reloaded his lasgun with a last powerpack. 

"What are you saying, Rawne? Are you saying we should surrender?" Corbec turned his face towards Rawne with rage that could match the fire itself. 

"Feth no, I was going to recommend getting more ammo so we can kill more heretics." Rawne smiled at Corbec which made the new officer in charge chuckle as he liked that idea.

"Rawne, that is the single best idea you have said all day." Corbec said and turned around to take the men to the nearest military post, hoping to salvage a spare powerpack. That is if it didn't burn to the ground. It was at this moment one of the enemy warships landed a critical hit on the command center, collapsing a sphere tower and creating a small dust wind. 

"By the Golden Throne, that was near the command center." Bragg spoke after the dust cleared as the city continued to burn. 

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Command bunker, War Room. 

[Currently missing roof and most of the walls] 

Sym, the Colonel-Commissar's adjutant fell next to Gaunt as a round of enemy's autogun hit him in the chest, killing him instantly. The defensive fortification of the war room turned into chaos as enemy troops pushed without concern to their own lives. Next to Gaunt, a young boy named Brin Milo turns his autocannon and kills the enemy who was responsible for Sym's death. 

"Sym! Damn it." Gaunt could only cry for his adjutant's death for a second before he fired his bolter pistol towards the incoming enemy. As an experienced soldier in the battlefield, all he could do is to live and survive the battle while praying to the Emperor for Sym's soul in Holy Terra. 

"Hold the line, men of Tanit! He is watching over us as we fight!" Gaunt gave a voice of encouragement to defenders but it was futile as one by one defenders fell in the battle. 

When the battle began, the Major was the first to die as his shuttle from orbit got shut down by the enemy attack fighter. With regiment XO dead, Colonel of the Tanith, the second in command to Gaunt's rank took command of the first regiment, second and fourth company but he met his doom as one of the enemy warships locked on the location and bombed the entire companies outer defense line. As many of the senior officers of the Tanith regiment died, Gaunt had to multitask the order and fight back the enemy as his comm-bead was flooded with requests and situations. 

"Colonel-Commissar, the second warfleet just arrived. They are not the enemy." The different vox operator spoke as he transferred the communication link directly into Gaunt's vox earpiece. 

"This is Colonel-Commissar Gaunt of the Tanith First regiment. By Him on the Golden Throne, we need help." Gaunt called for help towards the unknown warfleet that just entered the orbit of the planet. A second later, he got his answer. 

[You called and we heard. Witness our arrival.] As a voice from the vox spoke, a large explosion can be heard above the sky as everyone on the battle ground stops fighting to see what causes the massive explosion. 

Above the sky, looking through the naked eyes, a single massive starship of the Imperium rammed through the heart of the enemy fleet. The beast of a ship cut not just its target but went through the entire enemy ship, cutting it in half and still moving forward with fearsome speed. It didn't end with the raming as the ship began to open fire from both broadsides. The ship fired its Macrocannons in rapid succession. 

The enemy warfleet is being decimated by the unknown ally ship and by doing so, it stopped the orbital bombardment entirely. The sound can't be heard from space, but pictures can tell as ships are blowing up left and right while large pieces fell towards the planet's atmosphere, creating meteor showers as they burn during entry. 

As lone ships are massacring the enemy ships, more ships entered and now are visible. When the command said there is a second fleet, it didn't do justice as the alley fleet was composed of capital ships, grand cruisers and even battle barges. Making the fleet roughly around 50 and that is not including the troop transport ships. 

"By the Emperor's mercy. It's a crusade fleet." Gaunt spoke in a quiet voice as he only saw this kind of level only once when the previous Warmaster himself embarked on planet Balhaut where his victory made a turning point in the Sabbat Worlds Sector. 

The moment of hesitation ends as soldiers from both sides recover from the shock and once again engage in firefight. Just as Gaunt and his defending men continue their fight, a spark of lightning begins to emerge from the center of the battlefield. Following the transmission from the Gaunt's vox communicator signal, the main warship of the newly arrived alley sent their finest warrior thought teleporter. 

Clad on ceramite plates from top to bottom, eight terminators in most decorated armour appeared with weapons ready. Commanding these eight Angels of Death is a much taller Astartes with armour that can be only described as masterful art of its own. The terminator armour is heavily armed to teeth but shows graceful craftsmanship and accomplishment of many deeds. One thing stood up most for Gaunt, the leader of these Astartes was holding a massive thunder hammer that could flatten Leman Russ Tank in one shot. 

"Brothers! Deliver true death upon them." The leader of the Astartes ignites his thunder hammer and crushes the nearest enemy soldier right in the chest. 

Gaunt didn't know if that man experienced the pain or impact of the hammer when it landed on him but one thing he knew was that he was the lucky one as all of his friends and comrades were getting killed left and right by the bolter rounds or even plasma rounds. 

The terminators did their job as if this was a long time coming. They were quick to speed and unstoppable as if they were the tank themselves. In a matter of minutes, the fight ended with the last enemy's head crushed to paste by the hand of the Astartes. 

"Who are they sir?" Milo asks Gaunt with fear and admiration in his eyes as he never saw the Emperor's chosen before. The boy only heard of Astartes through books and vox radio but never in person. This made sense as many of the population in the Imperium will never see the Astartes in their lifetime. 

"They are the Emperor's angel. Hurry, copy what I do." Gaunt spoke and realised that the giant Astartes and two of his men were coming his way. Immediately Gaunt got on one knee and placed his two hands in the shape of an eagle on his chest. Showing the sign of the aquila of Imperium. Milo did the same right behind Gaunt, two steps away. 

"Are you Colonel Commissar Ibram Gaunt?" The Astartes in command asks with authority and command in his voice. The sound of the voice was deep but there was a sign of kindness within. 

"Yes, my lord. I'm Ibram Gaunt, commander of the Tanith regiment." Gaunt didn't know how Astartes knew of his name or rank as he didn't broadcast this importation but at this point it wasn't important. The lead Astartes remove his helmet to show his face and Gaunt lower his head as if he wasn't worthy to see the face of the Angel of Death. 

"Rise, man of the Imperium. My name is Brother Captain Tyrus of the First Company. Gather these names on the dateslate and come with me. You are being summoned." A dark skinned Space Marine with crimson red eyes said to Gaunt as he handed him the large dataslate. When received the slate, Gaunt was hesitant as there was battle to be won and men to lead. 

"My lord, what about the battle? We have the entire planet to secure." Said Gaunt as he pointed out the obvious thing as there was an enemy to kill. 

"Do not be sorry. As we speak right now, my Chapter Master is leading both Astartes and Imperium forces to take back the planet. The Tanith will be ours again within an hour." 

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 Brother Captain Tyrus spoke the truth as Tanith was once again Imperium. Enemy warfleet was completely annihilated and with no ships to run away, the enemy troops were given no mercy for their crimes and heresy they committed. 

Even though Tanith was saved from the destruction, the damage was done. The planet's famous forest was gone about 70 percent and about half a dozen cities were ruined as orbital bombardment was heavily concentrated on the populations. This meant that the population of the Tanith was reduced from few millions to less than one million and much of the infrastructure was gone including hospitals and food supply warehouses. 

As for the governing bodies of the Tanith, they didn't survive in the end. From orbital attack to brutal execution from the enemy soldiers, Tainth lost leaders and is now leaderless even if they managed to live on after today. At least few of the minor and maybe mid-level Administratum clerks managed to survive but it was speck compared to the army of office clerks before the attack.

Simply, Tanith will experience decades or even centuries of recovery before returning to its glory day. This was a problem for Gaunt as he was certain his regiment men would want to stay and help with the planet's recovery. As commanding officer, Gaunt can't allow this to happen, since he will receive his orders from the command and need to ship his troops to a new war front. His decision will destroy the Tanith regiment's combat readiness and morale. 

"You don't look good sir." Corbec said to Gaunt as he handed him a water canteen. Gaunt, Corbec, Rawne and Milo arrived at the mysterious Astartes' capital ship half an hour ago and are currently waiting in the waiting room to be summoned by the Chapter Master.

"I'm ok. Corbec is it? I heard good things about you. You did a remarkable job with leading the troops." Gaunt accepted the water canteen and took a swing of fresh water. The water was good and clean, unlike the filtered water from the Guards troop ship. 

"He is the most experienced man in the regiment after the senior officers. Well, I guess he is the only one now." Man named Rawne said as he picked up a fruit from the bowl on the table and took a bite.

"Hey, this is actually pretty good." Rawne said to himself and took another bite but before he could take another one, a young looking man in Commissar uniform opened the door with four elite troops and one old looking guardsman behind him. 

"Sorry for the wait, gentleman. I'm Lord Commissar and Chapter Master is ready for you all." The Lord Commissar gestured to the guests to follow him and left the room. With little bit of hesitation, Gaunt and his men follow the mysterious Lord Commissar as he didn't introduce himself even to fellow commissar. 

"I'm sorry Lord Commissar. We don't know what is going on and no one told us why we are meeting the Chapter Master." Gaunt said to Lord Commissar and tried to get some answer but before he can get reply, Lord Commissar stopped and turn around to face the Colonel Commissar. 

"Everything will be revealed to you all through this door, Colonel Commissar Gaunt. I have to say, you are indeed what I expected." Mysterious Lord Commissar said to Gaunt with admiration. 

"And what were you expecting?" Gaunt asks with curiosity.

"You have great traits of a leader and display of virtue but above all you have compassion for your men's wellbeing." The Lord Commissar smiled and signalled his men. Immediately, one of the elite men push the button and the golden doors open with lights coming out from the other side. 

"Don't be afraid. The Chapter Master is a great man as well. Just don't mention the Ruinous Powers. That is a bit of a sensitive topic for him." With that Lord Commissar Cain and his men left the hall while Gaunt and his men slowly stepped forward to enter the audience/throne room of the Legion of Blacksouls.