Editing Chosen of Hecate (section)

===Candle in the Wind===
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Tijo Nosebi ran her fingers through her long, blonde hair, something she did repeatedly when flustered. Lambach’s plan had gone badly. As she knew it would when the Primarch originally bought it to the Legion and now they were on the run without a friend in the world, quite literally.

Tijo had been opposed, as had many of the Chosen of Hecate, there had to be a better way. Perhaps they should have just bitten the bullet and accepted whatever punishment the warmaster deemed necessary. But Lambach was sure he could get his brothers to see his way, he assumed he was closer to them than they were to the Imperium and if they were a problem he'd be able to handle it, so it appeared Lambach Kropor had been wrong.

Tijo, being the captain of the Chosen of Hecate Flagship the Starburst, making her an important member of the Legion was detained with the sixty two Chosen of Hecate warriors who spoke out against Lambach's plan. Not technically prisoners the primarch had informed them, but he could not allow them to interfere with the plans he had laid down. Once everything was set right they would be free to rejoin the Legion, the sixty two had been stipped of their weapons and armour and wore the simple, dark green robes of the Legion. They were kept in an empty hangar bay at Miletus capital spaceport guarded by a single squad of Chosen loyal to the Primarchs cause.

There had been a time when Tijo would have followed Lambach through any hell, The Primarch had practically raised her and trusted her, probably the youngest Captain of the era with the responsibility for one of the most powerful space faring ships in the known galaxy.

She had loved him for it. Everything had changed with the death of Radcliff Kaden, he had always been Lambach’s steady guide and most trusted advisor. But most of all Kaden had been Lambach’s best friend. Tijo missed the man dearly and was certain that had his death been avoided so too could the mess that was now brewing on the surface of Miletus. Tijo agreed with Lambach that Kaden's death was the fault of the Emperors short sightedness and egotistical hypocrisy as did every single member of the Chosen, but there had to be a better way. From the sounds of it Lambach was now engaged in battle with the Silver Blades and the Titan Marchers, the thought was unthinkable.

Suddenly one of the guards spoke.

"The Primarch has ordered a full retreat, we are to make our way into orbit and break free of the SIlver Blades fleet by any means necessary".

With that the guard squad simply left, leaving Tijo and the sixty two to their own fates.  Warpclaw Parthenios was the highest ranking member among them so naturally the Chosen turned to him for advice.

"If we stay here we are like to be slaughtered, it may be hard to differentiate friend from foe after what our Father has done" the Sergeant informed them. "We need to get to a lifter and get off planet, there is an armoury close to the hanger where we may find some weapons that will suffice. However we have not got the time to locate and adorn armour. The real question is how will we escape the system?"  

"Cerastes" Tijo murmured, more to herself than anyone but the Warpclaw, with his enhanced hearing picked it up.

"What was that girl?" he demanded, disdain for her presence amongst the Astartes evident in his voice.

"I am a Master of the fleet, my lord" Tijo shot back.

"Not anymore girl, you were Lambach’s pet before all this, and now? The Starburst is not likely to wait for us."

"I am still the Master of a Space faring vessel, aye, not as grand as Starburst but my original ship the Cerastes is likely still in orbit. It was repurposed as a civilian carrier but I’d wager still has some fight. If you and your men can get me on board I can get us out of the system, unless you'd rather stay here and die?"

Parthenios turned to the men, his men.

"We're moving out, we get as many weapons as we can from the stores and make for a lander, our priority is to protect the Captain" Parthenios nodded to Tijo by way of apology. 
"And what do we do when or if we actually reach this ship" Brother Demertes asked.

"A fine question Demertes, and one I have no answer for at this time, for now marines we have our mission, form into loose squads and let's secure ourselves some transport."

The group made way to the armoury with little hassle. Locating not nearly enough weapons to arm each of them. Twenty three Bolters and Eleven Bolt Pistols were all that remained as far as ranged weaponry was to be had,with precious little ammunition. As Well as a box of Fragmentation Grenades and most Importantly a Power Spear. Dividing the weapons as best he could Parthenios took the spear himself but eschewed a ranged weapon. Tijo also managed to find a rack of Lasguns, far too small to be made use of by the Astartes, Tijo felt safer with the firearm despite being painfully aware that it would be of little to no help if they actually were forced to fight.

"Ship Master" Parthenios beckoned her over, "Again I wish to apologise for the way I treated you earlier, this is a stressful time for us all, but it was no excuse for the disrespect I showed you".
Tijo accepted the apology with a light hearted smile on her pretty face, "Don't let it worry you, I've been digging my heels in against your stubborn lot for as long as I can remember. You do your job and I'll do mine. Deal? Mind if I ask what the plan is from here? Do you have anyone who can fly a Storm Bird?"

"Amongst our numbers we have several specialists that we can call upon, two techmarines, Brothers Twain and Gerahost both able pilots. An apothecary, Brother Bonfiglioli and possibly most importantly a neophyte by the name of Torrens who was being psychically groomed. Before all this he would have risen swiftly in the legion."
 
"Well that's handy, now we just need to get through potentially three hostile forces, get a bird and hope we can locate my ship, take control of that and get out of the system before the Blades pound us into oblivion. Easy..."

"Also" Parthenios began

"Of course there's an also..."

"Bonfiglioli informs me there is a storage of gene-seed close by, he believes and I agree that we should check  this storage and if possible rescue as much of it as we can, if the Legion survives the Primarch may need it to rebuild"

"That's a big IF Warpclaw..."

The plan was simple enough, Bonfiglioli and Gerahost would take eight men with them, each armed with a Bolt Pistol, they would attempt to gain access to the Gene-Vault nearby. They had ten minutes to get there, gather as much gene-seed as they could and make it back to the hangar. Meanwhile Parthenios would take the rest of the complement “acquire” a Storm Bird and hold it for the time given to the other group, but they could wait no longer. If the Gene-seed group took any longer than that they would have to be left behind. Each man knew they were about to be forced to face off against their former cousins and perhaps even their brothers, the mood did not sit well but what they intended had to be done.

Parthenios' group met little resistance as they made their way towards the hanger. They saw mostly panicked and confused mortals running for shelter and only a few squads of Chosen who had far bigger problems than Tijo's motley bodyguard but they could hear bolter fire very close by.  Opening the blast doors to the hangar revealed why.

Hundreds of Chosen of Hecate Marines staged a fighting retreat towards the grounded storm birds, harried by Astartes of the Silver Blades Legion. Tijo's group had the advantage of being close to the ships with no real hindrance to getting them on board. The hard part now would be defending their transport from attack by the Silver Blades and indeed, their own brothers while they waited for Bonfiglioli, they were severely out gunned and in addition had no armour to defend themselves. In a concentrated fight they would be slaughtered.

Parthenios ushered his men on board the nearest Storm Bird hoping against hope that his power armoured brothers would defend the Storm bird without realising who was on board.

"Demertes, make sure the Ship Master is safely secured, her safety is our chief concern if any of us wish to make it out of here alive, Twain get this bird ready to fly, as soon as the Apothecary returns we take off".

Demertes scooped Tijo into his arms as easily if he were lifting a toddler, no matter how long she lived amongst them being physically handled by an Astartes was always an intimidating prospect. 

"I am sorry Lady Tijo" the legionnaire assured her, "but the restraints in a Storm Bird were not made for someone as... tiny as yourself, and we will already be well above capacity. Our lack of armour is perhaps a blessing in that regard". Demertes strapped Tijo into a harness that was ridiculously too big for her then hunched himself over her protectively, shielding her from any potential incoming hazards. 

Shots were pinging off the armoured hull now. The Silver Blades had noticed the unarmoured and hence easy targets presented by Parthenios' men. Two went down without so much as a scream their bodies pulped by mass reactive shells. The rest of the wayward Chosen dived for whatever cover could be found. Twain made his way to the cockpit and began the process of igniting the engines and preparing the bird for take off as soon as Bonfiglioli returned. Fortunately there were five more bolters on board and the Astartes who managed to get their hands on one were swift to add their fire to the fray. Desperately trying to dissuade any Silver Blades who tried to storm them.

Parthenios stepped forward to meet the first Blade to reach the ramp, with no armour it seemed a foregone conclusion the Warpclaw could not possibly hope to match the Silver Blade in strength or speed. He parried the first two blows sent his way but the third took his right arm off at the elbow, howling in pain the Warpclaw lept back and his brothers closed around him, lighting the Silver Blade legionnaire with bolt fire. The Blade staggered and toppled backwards. 

Six more of Parthenios' Chosen went down, their unarmoured bodies bursting like ripe melons in the ensuing firefight.

"We can't hold much longer we need to take off soon" Twain called from the cockpit.

Almost on cue Bonfiglioli, Gerahost and three remaining Legionnaires, each carrying bulky black boxes, assuredly filled with precious gene-seed, appeared at the hangar doors.

"Give them cover brothers, they potentially carry the future of our Legion with them" Parthenios yelled.

Those with remaining ammunition poured their firepower into the ranks of the Silver Blades forcing them to take cover. One of Bonfiglioli's group took a round to the side of the head, showering his brothers in red ichor as he tumbled, the precious cargo he carried spilling to the floor, a horrendous waste but there was no time to collect the crates contents as the four remaining marines sprinted for the Storm bird.

As the small group thundered up the landing ramp Parthenios gave Twain the order to take off. Powerful engines burned as the ship rocketed out of the hangar, Twain and Gerahost being painfully aware that proper protocols had not been met and the machine spirit of their steed had not been  properly roused. Small arms fire pinged off the hull as the ship climbed but fortunately nothing heavier.

Bonfiglioli did his best to tend to the wounded with his limited supplies as the small ship breached the atmosphere. With little effort Twain was able to lock onto the Cerastes. As a civilian hauler the frigate had been largely ignored by the combined Silver Blades and Titan Marchers fleet, a relief to Parthenios then that his cousins from the other chapter would not stoop to harming innocents in their quest for vengeance.The human crew were terrified and confused and readily agreed to let the Astartes board apparently in the hopes of gaining some kind of direction. Though in truth Parthenios was anything but certain of the path they must now take. 

Cradling the stump of his right arm the Warpclaw approached the Shipmaster. Tijo was settling in well to the captain's throne of the ship, she had missed the simple nature of her first command even while she conquered entire systems from the helm of the mighty Starburst. 

“Reports are that Lambach… my father is in full retreat and has been branded an outlaw, with the damage he has inflicted to his brothers legions I doubt they will welcome us with open arms and rejoining the Chosen fleet seems almost impossible, from what we can ascertain our Fathers space faring retreat is being covered by what appears to be swarms of insects. No doubt some further sorcery worked by Lambach”.

Tijo accepted this information without looking up from her work.

“The crew of this ship are not warriors Warpclaw, they are not trained and drilled to legion standards. We cannot expect much from them, but we owe them their safety. Thanks to the trust they place in us we have this ship and we must act fast if we to avoid being discovered for much longer. We need you to make a call right now, what are we going to do?”

Parthenios’ brow furrowed as he weighed up the options before him, what was the best course of action to take? After a minute he spoke.

“Do you remember, shipmaster, our time with the Dusk Phantoms? You would have been only a small child at the time, but both you and I had the chance to meet with Lord Gyahdred”

“Aye, meeting a Primarch is not something you soon forget Warpclaw and even amongst Primarchs the Dusk Phantom is an... interesting character.” A small smile played across the captain’s pretty face as she dawned on what Parthenios was about to suggest. Few of Lambach’s brothers had understood Lambach’s tolerance of Tijo as a child, save perhaps the Iron Bear and the eccentric master of the Phantoms. Tijo recalled being immensely amused by his many strange mannerisms.

“The Erlkoning, he likes to be called” Parthenios mused, “I have sworn brothers amongst that legion captain, I am certain we will find shelter from this storm amongst their number. Until we know exactly what is happening. We can at very least carry word of what has transpired here”.

“Setting a course for Ryamtscho system Warpclaw.” Tijo gave the order to the bridge crew to begin plotting exactly how they were going to get out of this current mess in one piece, but at least now, they had an objective. “Gyahdred does make the most interesting toys.”
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