Editing Exterminatus High (section)

==Chapter Six==

Kyandra hurried through the darkened hallways of the night time Schola, utilizing her basic stealth-training to avoid attracting any undue attention. Commissar Dahn and Sister Angrel were on patrol tonight, and their relationship did not interfere with their duties in the slightest. Students were not to be out of their rooms after curfew, and her discovery would result in harsh punishments.

So why would Nayren run such a risk? Surely there were ample opportunities for him to talk to her during the day.

As she made her way through the long hallways, arched domes and adjoining rooms to the main waste disposal chambers, she got the feeling that she was not alone. Her hairs stood on end, and she could swear she was seeing slight movements in the darkness. She straightened her back. With the Emperor by her side, what terrors could the darkness possibly hold?

Little did Kyandra know that there were three forces currently at play in regards to her. Firstly, one of Morus’ agents was keeping an eye on her as she made her way to the ambush position. Secondly, Cyrene had decided to follow Kyandra out of suspiscion, and was ghosting along a fair distance behind her.

And thirdly, in the darkness, Libarian Kurze lurked noiselessly. He wore his helmet, and Kyandra could swear that she saw two sinister white eyes staring out at her from the darkness before disappearing. The Librarian followed her, somehow staying out of her line of sight despite his huge bulk and moving completely silently. The Star Fangs called this method of stalking “ghosting”, and it involved the utilisation of supreme bodily control, unparalleled stealth skills, slightly modified power armour, and minor psychic powers. All Star Fangs Astartes possessed psychic powers at a level enough to allow “ghosting”. They were called the Scary Marines for a reason, after all: they did not kill their prey. They hunted them. The elite infiltrators of the First Company could make their way into a locked room, cut the throat of an occupant, and leave without anyone knowing they were ever there.

Kurze scowled. Nobody could know of the Chapter’s secrets. And while he still breathed, Malus and the budding rebellion on Klusus IV would be snuffed out. The 977 Uprising would not repeat itself. The lapse in vigilance of the Star Fangs had cost the chapter greatly, and resulted in the deaths of many thousands of innocents. Mostly at the hands of the Star Fangs themselves.

Kurze continued to ghost Kyandra silently, his enhanced vision and prodigious psychic talent allowing him to remain hidden to the human assassin and both Sororitas cadets, as he continued his train of thought.

The reasons for his being selected to lead the five Marine team to crush this rebellion were threefold: Firstly, he was a respected member of the Chapter’s Librarium and was completely privy to all of their darkest secrets, and his knowledge of the situation was therefore unrivalled. Secondly, he was a veteran of the 977 Uprising and one of the leading theorists on how the Star Fangs should approach future internal schisms. And thirdly, he possessed a great deal of discretion that many in the Star Fangs lacked. 
Being a loyalist splinter of the cursed Night Lords legion (one of many closely guarded secrets), the Star Fangs were loyal to the Emperor yet approached their duty in a very unique manner. Darkness and the fear of the unknown were cornerstones of their operational doctrines, and it is their remarkable ability to kill enemies in the dead of night without being seen that earned their nickname, the ‘Scary Marines’. As far as Space Marine chapters went, the Star Fangs could almost be considered hermits, but under certain circumstances, it was they that were chosen by Segmentum Command to intervene. Such circumstances varied, but the Star Fangs always operated in a similar manner: commencing hostilities with weeks or even months of terror tactics and assassinations before launching an all out assault under cover of darkness, appearing from pre-coordinated positions to annihilate their foes.

As such, the Star Fangs were a chapter of merciless killers for whom the end always justified the means. During the 977 Uprising, the Star Fangs had ensured local PDF forces stayed completely uninvolved so that the acts of the dark Astartes could not be witnessed. The rebellion officially lasted two weeks, but was actually crushed in scant days. The leader of the rebels, a failed Star Fang Astartes, was defeated on the third day of the fighting by the chapter Shroudlord (a customized title equivalent to Chapter Master), and dragged terribly wounded back to the Star Fang Monastery’s excruciation chambers to be interrogated. He was tortured to death, and his daemonsword was interred inside the Monastery, though shortly after it disappeared.

Having dealt with the heresy at hand, the Star Fangs’ main concern was making sure nobody knew of the secrets they had guarded so jealously for millennia. As such, they spent the majority of the two weeks that the rebellion officially lasted exterminating the civilian population of Klysus that had not been able to evacuate before the city was quarantined. Kurze knew it was necessary, but in the future he had sworn to do all in his power to avert such drastic measures.

And that is what brought Kurze and four Star Fangs First Company brethren to the Schola Progenium. A daemon named Malus had appeared, and the disappearance of the daemonsword was believed to be the cause. Interestingly enough, the entire conspiracy heavily involved a few select students. The woman Kurze was following, Kyandra, was one of them. Kurze had noticed that the Sister-cadet and a Commissar-cadet named Nayren had formed an attraction, and that Malus was interested in this was all too apparent. The other woman, Cyrene, was also of interest.

Arch-Confessor Morus must be in league with the daemon. He would have to be dealt with soon. 

In the meantime, Kurze had decided protecting Kyandra was a top priority. If the girl’s death meant something to Malus and his lackey, Morus, then it was worth stopping. The girl would have to be questioned.

Kurze stopped and concealed himself behind unnatural shadows as Cyrene made her way past his huge frame. Kurze noticed that both Cyrene and the assassin were aware of each other, and both were armed.

Depending on how many assassins were waiting for Kyandra at the ambush point, much blood could be spilled this night.

[[Category:Stories]] [[Category:Stories/Warhammer 40,000]] [[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]