Malechta's Treatise upon the Line of Saro.

Fifty Third Volume, Chapter Twenty Three

In the previous chapter I wrote of the beginning of the conflict that in later annals became known as the battle of the Pilgrims. The end of the battle however bears closer examination.

There were still a number of the Daemonic Foes in combat around the Pilgrims however under the watchful eye of Talis Saro, Macharius the First Officer, and the Master at arms Ichigo placed their fire-power against them. Two of the Warp entities were slain in a hail of holy bolter shells, one dying as it's head was destroyed and another having the muscles of it's chest blown from it's body and expiring from the leaking of it's vital fluids. Such was the skill of the people under Talis Saro's command, chosen with great care by his own hand. Talis himself fired upon another one, striking it with the Plasma pistol that was to have so great a place in his mythology, and catching the warp tainted flesh of the beast afire with cleansing fire, and causing the beast to shriek in pain. Not for long however as his Enginseer prime put the creature down, a burst of bolter shells tearing it's leg off as calculated by her enhanced mind.

The Choirmasters action in forcing one of the warp entities to fight another unfortunately had unforeseen circumstances. As many with knowledge of such things will tell you, the denizens of the warp are not as normal minds and the contact with the creatures strange and terrible mind caused the Choirmaster to cower in fear and panic. So strong was this fear that even the presence of the Scion of the House of Saro was not enough to shake him from it. As written in later sources he described the creatures mind as "a terrible and dark well of bloodshed", so it can perhaps be understood why even the presence of his liege Lord was insufficient to aid him. Worse the beast was fully aware who had assailed it, and as his influence left it, the creature and the other Warp-Beast it had attacked, along with two others of the group assailing the pilgrims turned and charged towards the Rogue Trader and his worthy followers.

For the Pilgrims this was a blessing as only two entities then remained fighting them, the selfless sacrifice of the Rogue Trader saving far more of the Pilgrims from a terrible death. Of the two still trying to break through the cordon of holy flagellants and Father Drakes Clerics Militant, one was already badly injured and was pulled down by the Father and several of his more fanatical followers. However the remaining creature slew the few defenders standing between it and the Women and Children of the Pilgrim party, leaving only Father Drake and a handful of flagellants between it and them.

However the more pressing issue for the Rogue Trader were the Four creatures charging towards the Scion of the Line of Saro and his compatriots. Had they been intelligent creatures no doubt the full weight of their situation would have struck them and instead they would have fled, however as warp beasts incapable of such thought they instead charged directly towards the Gun Line with little to no chance of survival.

The scene of the charge (which has been immortalised by Arisho Delacs well known painting 'The Destruction of the Profane' which hangs in the Great Hall of Moonhollow) must have been magnificent to behold. The kneeling arms menn with their booming shotguns, First Officer Macharius drawing hischain swordrd and firing his bolter one handed at the foe, the destruction wrought by Ichigo'storm bolterer (followers of art will be gratified to learn that Delac's depiction of the beasts explosion of blood, raining towards the defenders is indeed accurate) as he destroyed two of them. Finally the Scion of House Saro himself opened fire, weakening the armour on one of the creatures shoulders and allowing Luna the Enginseer to target this weak spot. One item not included in Delac's artistic rendering is that of the Axe of the creature whose arm was removed, which all present agreed screamed through the air to embed itself in the rear wall of the lift.

Despite their best efforts however the Arms men were not able to duplicate the actions of their leaders and the final creature was able to pass through their storm of fire. The one that did reach the gun line however, slew Arms mann Garyle Viyle whose name is still to be found in the House Saro Roll of the Triumphant, his armour although proof against so many weapons unable to defend against the warp forged iron of the creatures huge axe. It stepped over the poor arms man's corpse and faced the Rogue Trader himself, drawn no doubt to face the most mighty foe, however only for a moment as Macharius placed himself selflessly between his lord and the creature. Ichigo also rose from his kneeling position drawing his ancestral blade an raising a line of sparks from its shoulder armour. However the Line of Saro has always been brave and Talis was unable to stand by and let his followers fight for him. Pushing through the line of his guardians he faced it head on, calling on his compatriots to use their superior numbers against the foe.

The Pilgrims however has more pressing issues although only one other creature remained near them it easily managed to strike down the few pilgrims facing it, knocking Father Drake aside, and would have menaced the Women and children had not the Enginseer Prime shot it down with her Bolt gun. It was left stunned and thrown to the ground as she blew away one of the creatures horns, and shattered it's shoulder, where it was crushed beneath the feet of the righteous as is only fit for such denizens of the Warp.

The warp beast and Talis clashed over and over as the creatures weapon flashed through the air with supernatural speed. Most of the blows went wide, but one blow would have crushed the traders skull as the blade of the creatures weapon underwent some form of transmutation, passing through his blade, until it reached the thin script of the Omnissiah's prayer along the spine of the weapon. The holy words forced the weapon back into the physical realm once more and threw it away spoiling the creatures aim. This momentary lapse allowed the First officer to cleave off it's knee and during it's moment of pain the upward strike of Ichigo's sword cleaved it asunder. The Wave of blood was immense, in Father Drakes memoirs he described it as a veritable tidal wave of blood, washing over the righteous as if to try and drown out the light of their presence.

To have been in the Cargo bay as those two immense men of destiny Father Drake and Talis Saro greeted each other, those who were there, it is doubtful that any forgot that moment. A few words were spoken amongst the bodies of some seventy or so of Father Drakes followers. The Pilgrims had been struck down by the hideous denizens of the warp, but without The Scion's intervention surely none of them would have been saved. Now however the ship had to be saved, and Father Drake and six of his warriors offered to accompany the Rogue Trader as they went to attempt to repair the Warp Engines.

However as with all such things fate played its own hand, and as they passed along the darkened central guided by the Servo-skull of the Enginseer prime. However, they began to be aware that they were being hunted. Indeed the Choirmaster of the Astropaths became aware that the creatures were in fact hunting him in particular. With enemies to the fore and enemies to the rear, the Rogue Trader called his forces to form a strong defence ready for the beasts attack. Father Drake ordered his flagellants to hurl promethium bombs into the darkness illuminating the corridor, and allowing them to see the terrible creatures facing them. As large as a bear and with brassy red skin, the creatures wore a vast brass collars behind enormous lizard-like frill. The creatures were visible in the glow of the fire behind the group of defenders.

The creatures were no doubt horrific, covered in the blood of the innocents they had slain, the Rogue Trader took a moment to steady himself, as did the Enginseer. The Master at arms however was shaken by the appearance of the creatures, reminding him of the night of the attack of House O'Verlan when his strength in arms was not enough to defend against the crazed genestealers. The Choirmaster however was assailed by waves of the creatures hatred, overpowering his normally fortress-like resolve. The flagellants hurled themselves at one of the beasts however, as Macharius the first officer raised his boltgun and unleashed a torrent of bolts towards the other creature, but this only infuriated it as it charged towards him.

The speed of the creatures was incredible, covering the ground so swiftly Father Drake himself wrote of it as being like the wind of death raging down the corridor towards them.

As the flagellants continued to fight a losing battle against the other beast, the one that Macharius had fired at leapt at him, jaws aimed at his throat. Macharius however was able to duck underneath it's charge. It landed behind him, amidst the warriors of the Scion of the House Saro. However Talis was quick to react calling upon Ichigo to aid him and then charging into combat wit the massive beast, his plasma pistol burning a runnel in it's armour but not damaging it. Father Drake also joined him striking the beast with his stave but failing to harm the beast. As Ichigo tried to shake off the ghosts of the past he fired at the beast but his shot went wide. Further down the corridor however the Servo-skull of the Enginseer showed two more of the creatures approaching. The cogitator of the skull allowed her to target the weak spots of the creatures body, and after a moment to adjust her gun she fired four shots into it's body. After a moment the bolts detonated together and the terrible creature was ripped asunder by the fury of the omnissian weapon. Unfortunately for the Enginseer the other creature charged down upon her bloody froth dripping from it's jaws.

Meanwhile between them Macharius and Talis slew the beast fighting them, Talis managing to shoot it with his plasma pistol burning it deeply. As the creature snarled and turned on him Macharius drove his chain sword into it's side and then tore it free once more spilling the creatures innards. The other beast meanwhile found itself surrounded by flagellants, and dodging the shock-stave of the Enginseer. Talis once more called upon Ichigo to shake off the shadows of the past. The Master of Arms hearing the call to his honour given by his liege lord was once again filled with the certainty that such a commanding presence brings. Turning to face down the corridor he saw the beast killing the last of the flagellants and knowing that it could easily cover the distance to his lord he brought up his Storm bolter Knowing that if he did not kill the beast then his lord would no doubt be attacked from behind he comprehensively took the beast apart. His first shot blinded it, the second flayed the flesh from it's skull and finally his last shot destroyed it's brain, the creature collapsed to ground already burning away. Then he drew his sword and dived into the combat with the other beast.

Macharius smashed his sword into the creature chopping a chunk from its flesh and enraging it. Soon he found it attacking him, and was unable to prevent it from clamping it's jaws on his shoulder. The terrible pressure of it's jaws began to crush him, but before it could kill him, Ichigo stepped up to it's head drove his bolt pistol into it's skull and blew it's brains out. The pressure of the jaws slackened as the body toppled over onto it's side.

The battle was won, the beasts bodies began to burn away leaving only the bodies of the Flagellants who had given their lives to keep one of the creatures busy. These glorious martyrs where later commemorated by Father Drake in his chapel of the fallen. Visitors to the chapel will find the statues of the martyrs in the Apse, a truly uplifting piece.

They hurried on to the Warp engines, and found them in turmoil. When the Navigator died a huge overload had passed through them. The remaining Techpriests had been working to keep the engines from overloading but it was a losing battle. However the arrival of the Enginseer Prime gave them new hope and they wasted no time in leading her to the command pulpit. Talis Saro began to speak, one of the Techpriests nearby recorded his words.

“It is all on you now Luna, you have the knowledge, and you have the technology, you can save this vessel, The blessing of the omnissiah resides within you, you are it's angel of engines and you can bring these engines back online.”

Indeed this proved to be the case, and soon the engines were once again operational. The Navigator however had to make a swift choice. No vessel had ever managed to fight it's way free from the Tempest of Graves once it had been taken. So the navigator did the only thing he could and directed the ship down the very gullet of the tempest. Eye witnesses reported that the hull of the ship screamed as it passed through the tempest, and on back into real space once more.

Once there the Rogue trader realised that they now had a chance to push the last of the warp entities off the ship. The Enginseer was able to bring the ship communications back online and Talis addressed his crew. Again the Techpriest recorded his words.

"Crew of the Seleucaemi Treasurer this IS captain Talis Saro, we are still alive there are daemons aboard this ship. I expect every man to do his duty, to fight and purge these beasts from the warp this is our ship our home we will defend it. “

Then as he finished the ship was rocked by a titanic collision and the wall of the engine room bowed inwards.

In my next chapter I will discuss the events that followed