Locating the Lost

Chapter 1

The two hundred remaining members of the lost Tiger Claws Marine chapter had
clawed their way past an Exorcist blockade and disappeared from Imperial
charts millenia ago. However, the fact the Empire had lost track of them did
not mean that they did not exist. The battered Marines and support units had
made their way to a forgotten planet, where long ago had been assembly
plants for Marine battle armor. The techmarines and Adeptus Mechanicus
members had gained entry to the ancient facility, where they were staggered
to see rank upon rank of old, but intact, battle-armor suits. Several of the
huge buildings had long since decayed and fallen to rubble, but some
buildings were still standing, and in good repair. A weapons plant, in
particular, was stocked with thousands of weapons and many tons of
ammunition. The ex-Imperial Marines set to work restoring and repairing the
factories and resetting the lines, and in the space of ten short years, had
managed to rebuild a dozen buildings and reactivate an abandoned power plant
and deep-core mining in nearby mountains. Their transport vehicles were
cannibalized in order to give the techmarines something to model new
vehicles and war machines on, for all knew that the Empire would not
suddenly turn around and act as if they did not exist. And they were right.
Luckily, their new homeworld was rich in resources, and even inhabited by a
long-forgotten colony of humans. Impressing engineers and specialists into
their ranks, they began turning out new designs of battle armor, when it was
discovered that the "humans" in the colony had been living in conjunction
with Eldar colonists, but when that race had fallen from grace, the
survivors had integrated themselves with the humans, blending human traits
with Eldar, and creating some of the best warriors even the Space Marines
had ever seen. New gods had been created of these descendants and this
planet; Shu, spirit of air, Terre, spirit of earth, Pyros, spirit of fire,
Aquahund, spirit of water, and Osiris, spirit of the void, and also spirit
of death. With them and the Eldar psychic skills, powers unbeknownst to the
Emperor had developed, sprinkled among the new Legions, (a designation
replacing the old Chapter), of Marines. Even with all of these new
developments, the escapees would be put to the test against some of the most
feared of the Emperor's Space Marines: the Blood Angels.

"We have located the renegade Tiger Claws Chapter on a previously unknown
planet. A ship entered the area on routine patrol, and we spotted a remnant
of a ship identified as belonging to the Tiger Claws. As the remainder of
the Chapter was too weak to pose much of a threat, we are sending a host of
6 companies of Marines to the planet to annihilate the heretics." The
Chapter Master broke off abruptly. The Marine Captain chosen to lead the
mission said, "Let the Emperor lend us strength for this crusade to purge
the heretics from the universe now and for eternity. Amen."

Hundreds of Marines swarmed aboard drop pods and launched, reaching their
designated transport ships and cruising sedately until they entered orbit of
the target planet. Clouds obscured much of the terrain as several
Thunderhawks were launched in insertion pods to get them into the atmosphere
untouched. However, as soon as the painted, oblong pods breached the clouds,
a storm of black smoke rose from the white clouds as several of the pods
exploded in bursts of flame.

Lieutenant Samois of the Diving Falcons, a Legion devoted to Shu, piloted
his Udjat fighter with expert skill under the guns of a Thunderhawk, his
massed laser cannons tearing open the Imperial craft as a high-explosive
Gust missile detonated against the battered hull, ripping the craft to
pieces which contrasted against the stark white clouds as they fell.
"Report," he said tersely.
"Falcon Seven in."
"Falcon Eight checking in."
"Falcon Nine here. Falcon Ten is down."
He counted his unit as down to 2/3 strength, including his wingman as a
casualty. They had been devoted to providing resistance to the initial
Imperial thrust. "Withdraw in order. We will fight them out of the clouds."
With that, the fighters broke off and left the Marines to land in a river
valley far below.

Brother Thomas, a Sergeant in the Blood Angels, was first to land, scanning
the peaceful landscape for any sign of the heretical Marines. His squad of 5
Devastor Space Marines piled into a Rhino APC, a fighter soared into the
sky, swooping low over the Marines and speeding off, closely accompanied by
several landspeeders, which deftly avoided the deceptively hilly terrain.
The lead speeder was occupied by Brothers Laneus and Tinat, and they spied
movement in a stand of trees some distance away. "Sir, we have target
sighted. Green Wing moving in." Gliding over the trees, the speeders raked
the area with assault cannon fire. Trees shattered and caught fire, but
elicited no response from the suspected targets. No return fire, nothing.
"Odd," Laneus thought to himself. His gunner Tinat shouted, "Look out!" A
strange Marine wearing sky-blue armor and equipped with a jet pack had
bounded out of the treetops and landed on the nose of the speeder. Laneus
swung it sharply to the left, attempting to dislodge the enemy, then pulled
out his bolter pistol and fired when the strange Marine did not move. The
small shells danced off the Marine's armor like Laneus had hit it with a
handful of dirt. In response, the enemy unsheathed a sword which shimmered
in the sunlight, mystical runes engraved on the blade. Laneus brought up his
right arm to block the attack, but the sword passed through his armor and
limb like so much paper, leaving a sparking bloody stump that burned hotter
than a Flamer's wrath, then the mighty blade sliced through his chest armor
with a metallic squeal and left a massive gouge in the meat, blood gushing
from the wound and staining the upper branches of a still-standing tree. His
last vision was that of the unknown trooper jumping off of the
out-of-control speeder as he lolled back in his seat, then fell to the left,
still held by his restraining straps. The speeder rolled to the left,
spiraled and crashed; Brother Tinat being seriously wounded in the crash. He
managed to activate his communicator, and gasped out, "Green Leader down,
green Leader down. Green Two, take over. Brother Laneus is dead." With that,
he passed out until an apothecary revived him a half-hour later. Just before
losing conciousness again, he said, "If I didn't know better, I'd think that
heretic was an angel."

Meanwhile, in the Legions' collective headquarters, a large, square, and
gray-painted reinforced building, their commander, called a Supreme Master,
laid out the results of the ambush. "We killed four of their landspeeders
and at least five Marines. However, we lost three of the twelve fighters we
put up against their Thunderhawks, plus two Falcon Marines were killed when
or after they landed on the Marine 'speeders. All in all, not bad, but we
could be doing better. Next time, have the Marines soften up the targets
while they are in flight, then land on them. Should help lower the
casualties. In the meantime, were the rituals performed?"

Legion death rituals called for reciting of the dead Marine's Legional
Dirge, placing the emblem of his patron spirit upon the corpse and
committing it to the spirit's chosen element. However, in the case of
Shu-Legions, they were placed on a funeral pyre, cremated, then their ashes
were scattered to the four winds. This was done because it would not do to
simply throw the bodies out of fighters, when gravity would pull them to the
ground and make a mess of them.

"The rituals were performed, and the bodies have been committed. The
Imperial Marines are advancing through the light forest, and our Stealth
Snakes are waiting for them. Three squads of the nine are equipped with
heavy weapons, not counting the Executioner armor (Author's note: this is
the Legion version of Terminator armor.), and we have 67 Marines out there
for our main ground force, with Falcon jetbikes, APCs and Striker
jump-Marines as reinforcements. Our Magi are standing by to get our troops
out should the Imperial Marines cut off" The black-armored Marine,
designated as an aide to the Master, said as he placed holographic images in
the large display set into the middle of the room. "Our enemies are
unpredictable when it comes to their blood rage, so we might take heavy
losses. On the other hand, we could come through with light casualties. It's
all up to the men on the field."

Brother Thomas strode forward, crushing grass and small pebbles under his
armored feet. The tactical squad in front of his position swept aside the
brush with their bolters, revealing nothing of importance. His storm bolter
held at the ready, he raised his power glove at a shadow off to his left,
but when a large, furry creature scampered out, he lowered the weapon as the
giant ferret slipped down its burrow, a hole big enough to trap a Marine's
foot. "Watch for animal holes," Thomas warned through his communicator.
Suddenly, a green-suited Marine leapt up from cover behind a large granite
boulder and loosed a blast of heavy bolter fire at the nearest Blood Angel
Marine. Several shots slammed into the Marine's lower torso, one penetrating
the armored suit and slamming into the yielding flesh behind, the explosive
tip detonating and painting the man's guts all over the inside of his suit.
The rapidly stiffening corpse fell forward, his comrades concentrating a
hail of bolter fire against the green-suited Marine, the shots smashing and
blasting holes in the tough battle armor. The heretical Marine collapsed,
his dead hand still clutching the trigger and emptying the clip of his
weapon as heavy slugs slammed into trees, dirt, rock, and the helmet of one
Blood Angel's armor, but the projectile bounced off of a curved side and
detonated against a rock pile.

Thomas had no more time to watch the spectacle, as a Marine had slipped
behind a large fallen log, and was taking aim at Thomas with his bolter.
Before Thomas could raise his weapon, a hail of assault cannon fire consumed
the enemy Marine in a cloud of fire, smoke and shrapnel. When it cleared, he
could see a green-clad arm still clutching a bolter, though it was partially
obscured by burned debris from the fallen tree. Brother Kira hefted his
assault cannon and said, "One heretic down, Sergeant." They were interrupted
by a shrill call from Brother Lee, another member of the Devastator squad.
"Incoming jetbikes! Watch it!" A low rumble shook the treetops and the
ground as a sleek jetbike passed over the heads of Thomas' squad. The
tactical squad ahead was not as lucky, the pilot firing the lascannon built
into the elongated nose of his craft into their ranks. A Marine fell,
grievously wounded as the laser's fiery beam amputated his left arm below
the shoulder. The eight remaining members of the squad concentrated bolter
fire against the jetbike, which had slowed to negotiate the trees nearby.
Several shots found weak points in either the craft or its pilot, as the
armored Marine listed to the side as his craft suddenly began spewing smoke
from a gaping hole in its underside. Another volley of fire and the craft
exploded in midair, the pilot catapulting from his seat and into the trunk
of a large tree, his sky-blue armor battered and scorched. He feebly raised
a lasgun, the beam searing ground near one of the tactical Marines, but not
connecting with any Imperial target as his heart gave out and the armor
sagged as the laser beam cut off.

Thomas did not see the rest of the display, for three more blue-clad Marines
appeared, jumping down from the treetops to engage his Devastators at close
range. His storm bolter cut down one Marine, but one of his comrades pulled
a long, shimmering knife from an open slot, and swiped at Thomas'
outstretched arm with it. He tried to withdraw his arm out of the way, but
the heretical weapon still caught the storm bolter and sheared it in half,
sparks and smoke flying as the weapon parted from his armored hand. Thomas
shouted and brought his power glove around, triggering a Frag grenade at his
assailant. The explosion blew the offender off his feet, and the third man
activated his jump pack to escape. Kira's assault cannon spoke rapidly,
along with Brother Midro's heavy bolter, but only a few of the bolts
connected with the target, and they were not enough even to arrest his
flight. Thomas spotted the downed Marine attempting to escape, and he
brought his power fist down on the enemy's helmet, crushing and bending the
metal into the opponent's head. Blood sprayed as the metal pierced the bone
and penetrated the heretic's brain, then his resistance ceased, the long
dagger still shining on the ground by his side. Then all was fairly quiet
around Thomas' squad, save the smoldering form of the downed jetbike and the
groaning of the injured. There was a sudden burst of communicator traffic,
and from what Thomas was able to discern, an enemy unit had ambushed one of
the assault squads, and seemed to had bitten off more than it could chew.
The heavy Blood Angel armor withstood the punishment from the heretics'
bolters easily, and several enemy kills were registered before the Blood
Angels' first casualty in the new attack.

Five monstrous forms had barrelled through a screening tactical squad,
leaving three dead and four wounded Space Marines before confronting the
assault squad. The lead Marine triggered a thundering blast from his assault
cannon, blasting back the red-suited Blood Angel he targeted. The explosions
from the shots nearly toppled the cumbersome suit, then the enemy opened up
with a blast from a lascannon mounted in his other arm, linking the
heretic's arm with the Blood Angel's helmet and searing a wide hole through
the armor and the head behind it. The suddenly unguided armor fell forward
as two of the fallen Marine's comrades opened up with autocannon and bolter
fire against the attacker's armor. Explosions chewed at the armor, and
several bolts smashed into the attacker's leg, blowing it off in mid-thigh.
The green armor was stained with red as both the Marine and his leg fell
forward. Two of the four remaining heretics were now opening up on the
remainder of the screening squad, which was shredded as storm bolter and
cannon fire chewed through their armor and flesh in seconds. When a second
of their number fell to the Blood Angels' superior numbers, they began to
press in closer, seeking to annihilate their enemies in close-quarters
fighting.

An Imperial tactical Marine fired up his chainsword and swiped it at the
nearest heretic, the target's armor squealing in protest as the blade bit at
it. Suddenly, the Legionnaire's arm swung to the side, knocking the
chainsword away from its prey, and emptying a volley of assault cannon fire
into the upper torso of its attacker, blowing him into four large chunks as
the explosions tore through armor and into the body inside. Another tactical
Marine, last survivor from that devastated squad, went into a blood frenzy,
attacking the heretical Marine furiously with everything he had. Bolts
slammed into the heavy armor, some finding holes or vents and exploding,
throwing shrapnel everywhere, smoke rising from a half-dozen miniature
explosions. The Marine swung his chainsword at the target, only to draw back
a bloody limb where his enemy's lascannon had cut off his arm at the elbow.
The heretic gave him no chance, finishing off the Marine with a second blast
of laser fire. The remaining assault troopers, seeing the carnage and
slaughter, pulled back to the dubious cover of several large boulders.

Brother Thomas, meanwhile, had picked up another bolter from a fallen Blood
Angel and was sweeping the trees with it, wood, debris, flaming bits of
things and steel flying everywhere as the slugs bit into everything they
touched. A return volley of two missiles slammed into the Imperial ranks, a
tactical Marine going down with his entire left side blasted open and
bleeding profusely, staining the undergrowth with his blood. The clip in his
weapon clicked empty, and Thomas realized that this portion of the
battlefield was clear. Checking in with his Captain, he found that they had
opened a hole in the enemy lines, and a tactical squad was coming up in
Rhinos to reinforce them.

No sooner had he replaced the clip than the tactical squad arrived and a
shimmering portal opened not twenty feet from where Thomas stood. He
immediately ducked behind the cover of a large rock and watched, his bolter
held at the ready. Two armored Marines strode forth, one bearing a storm
bolter and the other carrying one of those powerful swords he had seen among
the heretical ranks. The tactical squad fired a barrage at them, but the
sword-wielder swirled the blade and a sudden gale-force wind caught the
bolts and directed them up through a gap in the treeline canopy. At this
sorcery, two Marines charged the intruders, bolters loosing a hellish storm
of ammunition. The first Marine replied with practiced ease, a hail of bolts
rapidly piercing one Marine's helmet and blasting through his skull as the
sword-bearer neatly sidestepped the charge of the second Marine and
separated head from body with one stroke, blood spraying from the sudden
gash. A far-off rumble sounded as a scream came over the communicator.
"Enemy jetbikes incoming! Brothers Imtra and Vorin are down!" The tactical
squad, not missing a beat, slammed bolts into the swordsman while he was
distracted, several piercing armor and sending shrapnel tearing into his
body. The storm bolter spoke again, driving the Marines to cover as the
shots blew off one Marine's right hand. With them covered, the sorceror
created another gate, which he and his aide stepped through, then the gate
crashed shut with a sudden BOOM.

With his exit, the rest of the green-armored Marines began breaking off to
withdraw, even the harassing jetbikes and jumping Marines started to
withdraw, followed by desultory fire from assault squads and a few barrages
from the Devastators. Few enemies fell to the attack, but it did hasten
their withdrawal. Brother Thomas' squad was intact, though Kira had been
knocked unconcious by the concussion of a grenade going off at his feet. The
Captain of the entire assault called a halt to clean up the site and locate
wounded and missing Marines, not mention performing the grim task of
counting the dead. Out of 110 Marines going in, plus a group of 4
landspeeders and Rhino APCs, the various squad leaders reported 38 dead and
44 wounded, plus two landspeeders had been destroyed, along with a Rhino.
The task of counting the enemy dead had yielded 29 dead, and at least that
many wounded, plus one jetbike downed, and six of the jumping Marines had
been killed, bringing the enemy total to around 35 dead and 30 wounded.
Counting in every Marine that had been spotted, only about ten had gotten
away unscathed. However, they had inflicted more casualties than they had
taken, and that fact bothered the Blood Angel Captains.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Master was laying out plans for the Legion troops.
The problem was that the Legions had rarely experienced war, except for the
odd Ork raid. "Casualties were heavy, too heavy. We need to emphasize the
lessons here. Take cover, be aggressive, but be careful. Aside from that,
excellent performance. They have to pass over the Tlinloc river, and within
200 meters of the Glade marshes. Perfect targets. I hope our previous
experience in the forest will help us." His black-armored aide asked, "Who
would you send?"
"Platoons from the Swamp Crocodiles, Tiger Sharks and elements of the Void
Shifters as well."

Chapter 2

"Sergeant Thomas, your squad will provide protective fire to Sergeant
Holloway's unit while they cross the bridge. Four tactical squads will be
the first over, then an assault squad and then your unit next. For the
Emperor, amen."

"Amen." Thomas repeated, then activated his communicator and said, "Squad,
we provide cover fire for the first squads crossing the bridge."

The bridge in question was around a hundred years old, built of plasteel and
various other support structures. Several native plants grew in dark areas
where the metal supports had been drenched by the river passing beneath it.
The river itself appeared clean, though anyone who has been to more than one
Imperial planet would know that appearances could be deceiving. As if to
prove the point, a small slick of some type of lubricant floated downriver,
its green color contrasting sharply with the blue water. Bubbles emerged
from deep within the river, bursting on the surface as the first squad began
carefully traversing the bridge. The third Marine had barely set his armored
foot on the bank when a sharp breeze snapped leaves and small debris against
their armor, and immediately the Marines brought up their weapons. No other
sound was made. The Sergeant in charge of the tactical squad motioned two
Marines forward to examine the river edges. The first, a Brother Jeegan,
brought up his bolter as he peered at the edges, with Brother Duild standing
slightly behind and to the right of him.

A small, green vine resembling a weed crept up out of the river, unnoticed
by the two Marines. A second vine emerged, then a third and a fourth. Duild
nudged one with the muzzle of his bolter, then said, "What the hell...".
Then two weed-vines leapt out and grabbed Duild around his neck and
midsection! He screamed as they pulled him into the river, and Jeegan ran to
the spot, shouting for support as Duild disappeared into the river. A vine
fastened around his ankle, but he shouted and slashed the vine with a
chainsword. Broken pieces fell from the vine and lost their green coloring
and plantlike appearance, revealing cords of metal surrounded by some kind
of microminiature hologram emitters. As Jeegan was thus engaged in cutting
the metal strand, several more shot from the river and seized his left arm
at the elbow and biceps, immobilizing his chainsword. He screamed in terror
as the vines began pulling him towards the river, then a laser blast washed
over the cords, severing the one at his upper arm and allowing him to bring
his bolter around to slam the vine still wrapping his sword arm. His
battle-brother Simon ran to his aid, slicing through the last tendril with a
power sword. The metal debris marred the grass as the two Marines surveyed
the river, swords held at the ready. Nothing. Simon leaned out over the
river, sword humming quietly. A red stream floated to the surface, passing
downriver as other Marines moved to protect their bridgehead. Several
performed bio-scans of the river, but nothing was revealed larger than a
medium-sized fish.

Beneath the surface of the water, Tiger Sharks floated above the riverbed,
protected from the probing scanners by the dozens of riverweed plants
obscuring the Imperial sensors. The holo-vines had failed to work as well as
they had hoped, but they had pulled one Marine to his death at the swords of
the aquatic Marines. Communications was difficult, but possible, though it
took time. A Diving Falcon jetbike, painted with nonreflecting paint,
provided a communications relay for the troops in the river, not to mention
aerial reconnaissance. The pilot was told to drop a grenade into the Marine
horde when the time was right for the ambush. He watched the forward two
squads of tactical Marines, backed up by an assault squad, approached the
fringe of the Glade marshes. He primed the grenade, then aimed it in the
general direction of a group of six Marines and dropped it.

A high-pitched cry of, "INCOMING!" shot across the communicators as a
grenade bounced off of the shoulder of a Blood Angel and exploded a few
seconds later, tearing through his armor and slicing away his arm. There was
an explosion of confusion, then they spotted the high-flying jetbike and the
lead two Tiger Shark Marines burst from the water, cutting a pair of
Imperial Marines with shots from heavy-looking weapons. The victims flew
backward into a third Marine, large holes ripped in their chest armor and
the flesh beneath. Four Blood Angels ran to the aid of their comrades,
pouring bolter fire into the two intruders, and slicing away one's arm with
a powersword.

A Tiger Shark Marine sniper was resting on the bottom of the river with his
plasma rifle held at the ready, the powerful scope searching the riverbank
through the water for targets, the waterproof weapon slipping back and forth
as he looked about. The rocks and weeds underwater obscured some views, but
the bulk of the area was clear from instructions. A Blood Angel, chest armor
blasted by cannon fire, staggered towards the bank, right into the sights of
the rifle, and the sniper pulled the trigger, sending a thin but powerful
blast of azure plasma at the wounded Marine's chest. The beam cut off as the
man's insides exploded outwards, spraying armor shards and bloody pieces of
flesh into the river. A dead Tiger Shark fell into the river, his scorched
body the victim of a Blood Angel's Flamer.