Warhammer 40k: Ours Journey

Chapter 11: The Calamity Assembled

Clang... Clang... Clang...

The journey to the Navigator's Sanctum was a silent one.

Arthur took the lead, quietly cutting down anything that moved. Romulus hung back, his bolter firing in methodical, low-frequency bursts, his mind clearly elsewhere. He had just spent a large chunk of the points that had suddenly appeared to create more troops, sending them to help the Astra Militarum secure key junctions throughout the cruiser.

CRACK~

With a single cleave of his sword, he bisected an Ork, then stomped on a Grot that was trying to sneak away with its dead boss's teef. Arthur noticed that, aside from the Imperial Guard at the defensive nodes, the number of living things had decreased significantly. Xenos and human alike, trapped in this chaotic region of space with no hope of resupply, had bled their last in the endless free-for-all, leaving nothing behind but death.

"Arthur, are you alright?" Romulus asked, his attention split between micromanaging his many drone-Ultramarines and watching his friend. Arthur hadn't seemed right since they had finished off the Chaos Space Marines.

"I'm fine," Arthur said, shaking his head, his grip tight on his sword. "Just... a bit down."

Syphrus Gage. Facing a gauntlet of foes, dragging his damaged power armor, he had still managed to win back sixteen gene-seeds from the honorless Chaos heretics. To see such a resilient warrior die right in front of him... Arthur, whose upbringing had instilled in him a special respect for heroes, couldn't get it out of his mind.

"Relax. He's definitely with the Golden Throne by now. The Warp is Old Man Gold's home turf, after all," Romulus said, his own demeanor much calmer. Or rather, he had already experienced his own uniquely 40k-flavored culture shock before he had even met up with Arthur.

"But even the Emperor isn't all-powerful in the Warp," Arthur replied mournfully. If the Emperor had the power to protect all His warriors, this attack from the Warp never would have happened. If not for them, that warrior and the gene-seed he protected would have become part of a daemonic sacrifice, never to reach the Emperor they so faithfully served. It was a classic case of no good deed going unpunished—to fight and die for humanity only to end up being tormented by a Chaos God.

"Sigh." Now it was Romulus's turn to sigh. What could you do, when the Warp was home to not just the Emperor, but also four giant turds?

"Let's not talk about it. The more we do, the angrier I get," Arthur said, shaking his head as if to dislodge the negative thoughts. "Anyway, are you sure you can chat while micromanaging all those troops?"

"It's fine. My brain can handle it for now," Romulus said nonchalantly. "Besides, you know how it is. I used to run two accounts at once when we played games back in the day."

"You're a real beast," Arthur said, giving him a thumbs-up. Even though his own brain was now superhuman, his thought patterns were already set. He still couldn't handle multi-threading.

"Hmph." Romulus shrugged, accepting the compliment. Then Arthur's next question came.

"So, what's the plan after we get out of here?"

"You're planning to return the gene-seed, aren't you?" Romulus knew exactly what his friend was thinking.

"Yeah." Arthur nodded. "I made a promise. I have to see it through."

"Agreed." Romulus nodded in approval. Leaving aside the fact that their own moral codes wouldn't let them break a promise to such a great warrior, Arthur had sworn an oath to the Emperor. He had no choice.

In the 40k universe, gods were real. If you swore an oath to a certain psychic old raisin and then broke it, who knows, the next time you made a Warp jump, you might get tossed into some forgotten hellhole just for stepping off with your left foot first. Regardless of how much the Emperor himself denied it, the fact was that having faith in him worked.

Although, Romulus suspected they themselves were likely some kind of high-tier, sub-deific Warp entities now, or at the very least something equally reality-bending. They seemed to be almost immune to the influence of other Warp powers. But then again, they had received a proper education. They weren't like those four cosmic degenerates. They still had the decency to keep a promise.

"Let's wait until we find the other two. We'll exchange intel and decide on a course of action together." Romulus was sharing the vision of his drone-Ultramarines, watching as heavily mutated Guardsmen begged the demigods to grant them the Emperor's Peace. "..." Romulus fell into a depressive silence.

And so, the two of them, each lost in their own thoughts, arrived at the Navigator's Sanctum. There, they found a Blood Angel, head bowed, looking like he was about to doze off.

"Yo, you're here," Karna said. Compared to the crazed berserker they had first met, he now seemed almost cheerful, with a lazy, laid-back vibe that was truly exceptional.

"Yeah, the Gellar Field is sorted. Now we just have to see if Ramesses can get this ship out of here," Romulus replied as he and Arthur waved a greeting.

"Well, head on in. With you guys here, maybe you can help him figure something out." Karna stepped aside, and after the two had entered, he fell in at the rear of the group.

HUUUMMM~

As soon as they entered, they were met with a blindingly bright light. The sudden shift from dark to light didn't bother their superhuman vision; their pupils adjusted instantly, allowing Arthur to see the scene within the Sanctum clearly.

The floor was covered in twisted corpses, a spray of flesh and powdered metal, like a paint can knocked over by a mischievous child.

And on the Navigator's throne, a Terminator in red armor was floating in mid-air.

"Thousand Sons?" Arthur asked, surprised. He had assumed the rest of their little "Imperium Secundus" would be other loyalists.

"Ramesses doesn't play Space Marine 2," Romulus explained. "But he does play Thousand Sons on tabletop. Our initial forms are probably related to the Chapters we subconsciously like."

"We finally drag him into a game with us for once, and this is what happens," Karna said, clicking his tongue. "He cried the hardest when we first got here. Oh, but I don't know about Arthur's reaction."

"He was too busy killing things when he arrived. He'd been at it for half a day before he ran into me," Romulus couldn't help but add. He was actually a little impressed with his childhood friend. Don't be fooled by his usual bookish demeanor; when he got mad, he solved problems with his fists, and he hit hard. Back in elementary school, he beat the snot out of the kids who tore up his homework.

"...Khorne would really love you."

"Romulus already said that," Arthur replied, ignoring his friends' teasing. He turned to Karna. "What about you?"

"I've come to terms with it," Karna said with an air of indifference. "Instead of stressing myself out, I'm just going to enjoy life."

"You've certainly got a positive outlook."

"I can just turn on the Black Rage and let it run on autopilot, so I have a lot of time to think."

"..."

The three of them bantered for a few more moments, then all turned to stare at Ramesses, who was still floating in mid-air, glowing like a lightbulb.

Pretty much every living thing on the ship was dead, the Gellar Field was secure, the Chaos Space Marines who had boarded via the ritual had been dealt with, and the ship's core sections were under their control. It was safe to say they had done everything they needed to.

Now it all depended on whether their friend could get them out of the Warp.

"GAAAAH!!!"

Just as the three of them were waiting quietly, Ramesses, who had been calmly guiding the cruiser through the Empyrean, began to struggle like a drowning fish.

And with that, a violent tremor shook the entire ship.

"?"

(End of Chapter)