[Orpheo] We are the Emperor's will made flesh.
[screeching]
[gunfire]
For the emperor!
[gunfire]
[clicking]
[beeping]
We are taken from the dust.
[snarling, growling]
We shed our weaknesses, our frailty
[energy crackling]
[hissing]
To become...
Angels.
[orchestral music]
[distorted shouting]
No!
In blood I am born.
In battle do I live.
In light do I rise.
In darkness do I fall...
[Rafael] In blood will we be renewed.
Honored Chaplain Rafael.
We are brothers before any other rank.
Is there something you wish of me?
Only to speak to a friend.
I have duties to attend.
[Rafael] Duties beyond this voluntary solitude?
There is nothing I would speak of, Chaplain.
I will patrol the lower decks
I was there to see you succeed in the trials.
I watched as you became an Angel in both heart and deed.
Yet, now I look upon a brother that would rather see me a stranger.
We were lost in the storms and are now trapped
over this blighted world.
Kept from returning to blessed Baal.
Do you not chafe at this inaction?
Did your service to the Deathwatch make you nothing but a weapon, Kazarion?
Can you no longer find peace, even here?
What more is a Space Marine than a sword against the dark?
The galaxy burns.
We face annihilation! I...
I will not waste any more words.
[Rafael] That threat has always been,
since Mankind first dragged itself from the surface of Terra.
But it is a threat we face together.
As you say.
[orchestral music]
[whirring]
Summarise.
We still cannot reach Captain Orpheo or his retinue, Ship Mistress.
Signal distortion continues to increase within the planet's atmosphere.
We were informed that the city at the base of the orbital tower
is supposed to be deserted.
There is nothing down there, at least nothing to delay the Captain.
[Ship Mistress] Open a vox link to the orbital dock.
Yes, Ship Mistress.
Vox link established.
This is Captain Solken
of the Blood Angels Strike Cruiser Sword of Baal.
Respond.
This is Niades Orbital Spire Command, we are most honored to address
and converse with you again, Captain of the Sword of...
We have lost communication
with a reconnaissance force sent to the surface
and require aide in establishing their exact location.
Of course we will do all we can,
but as we elucidated previously,
most honoured ship mistress, the surface of our once verdant world
is plagued by electromagnetic storms that are both severe and unceasing.
This is not a matter for debate.
Organise whatever force is left on the surface and locate our Captain.
I mean only worshipful respect,
but please comprehend that rebel elements
may have found a way into the city,
now that we have chosen to escape from the-
You shall comply within the hour or,
by the Emperor, you will wish you had.
You'd think they could have just talked each other to death
How long until we resupply?
The promethium tanker has almost completed refueling,
priority supply loading and repairs are in progress.
Estimated completion, four hours standard.
Good. We stand by to cast off as soon as it's done.
We've been here long enough.
[ominous music]
[Hadrael] Ah! I had thought to find these vaults empty,
Brother Ancaeus.
Brother Hadrael, I did not mean to disturb your rituals.
Four hundred and twenty-six unique impairments to this void ship
have kept me and the work crews busy.
We were fortunate to find safe harbour over this planet.
It is good to see you, brother.
You have been below decks since we broke from the storm.
[Hadrael] What brings you to these holds once again?
I would tend what is left after the battle.
Without an Apothecary,
it is all I can do to ensure their legacy continues.
You do vital work.
I would have your efforts recorded when we return to Baal.
Thank you, brother.
If the storms ever break the ship will be ready.
"When", brother, not "if"
Ever the light in the dark, Ancaeus.
Tell me, does Brother Kazarion fair well?
He has been gone a long time.
Perhaps too long.
Are you concerned that the gene-seed store is not secure?
I was, for a time, considered as a novitiate
for the Sanguinary Priesthood.
I am...
protective.
Uncommon, yet you have risen under Captain Orpheo.
Command suits you, Sergeant Ancaeus.
Perhaps, yet I once believed my purpose was as caretaker.
These fragments taken from our fallen will live on in our initiates.
Everything that is flesh perishes, yet we will survive in the blood
that flows through those that come after.
I speak out of turn.
[Hadrael] An intriguing insight.
All can be repaired, made again in blood or in iron,
and thus attains a kind of immortality.
[Hadrael] So long as we remember.
[Hadrael] The machine demands much, and takes more.
I was made an Angel
but then half of my soul was given to the cog of Mars.
I do not say this in bitterness.
It is merely a truth.
You are an exemplary warrior.
If you wished induction into the priesthood,
why did you not pursue it?
Surely High Priest Corbulo would have welcomed-
We do not choose our duty.
Only honour in its fulfillment.
[Master of Vox] Ship Mistress,
there is a direct communication from Navigator Tabor.
On vox.
[gabbled chanting]
Livia... The night folds...
Red is the dawn...
A candle in a gale...
The breath of the four airs parts the branches of the forest.
The storms...
the Warp...
Light of the Emperor...
the tide ebbs, the storm, calms.
Navigator Tabor, your predecessor knew how to get to the point.
I see...
a passage through the storm!
You can see a way out of the system?
A temporary alignment...
Summon the Angels.
[Ancaeus] How long do we have?
[Livia] Not long, my lord.
This is unlike any Warp Storm I've ever seen.
Why do they not move?
Surely their own Navigators see this chance.
They are afraid, my lord.
The tower has already requested us to lead the flotilla through the storm gap.
They're moving as fast as possible to evacuate what's left on the surface.
-What of Captain Orpheo? -Still nothing, my lord.
For the all that the tower offers us supplies and safe haven,
the surface could harbor anything.
It is supposed to be a desolation.
Yet from that desolation Captain Orpheo has not returned.
There is a choice here.
To locate the Captain's return,
or follow our orders to Baal.
Our first duty is to the Captain.
As explained, the surface cannot be contacted.
Then we go down ourselves.
Only eleven of us remain on this vessel.
The gene-seed stored in our hold must be returned to Baal.
And the Captain?
He knows our duty.
And it appears I am the only one who remembers what it is to have honour.
How can you say such a thing.
We are not lone warriors here, Kazarion.
As you once knew and should remember.
[Rafael] Enough.
Honour, duty, blood and oaths.
Our path lies not in one, but upon the blade edge between them.
[Rafael] To doubt each other is to be defeated before we face an enemy.
Even in such moments you still seek to teach us.
What time is better than a crisis?
[cogitator noises]
[zapping]
[explosion]
Report!
[alarm beeping]
Emergency signal detected!
Code Vermilion!
It's coming from the surface!
Its weak but it's breaking through the interference somehow...
My lords, it matches Captain Orpheo's beacon!
[alarm continues]
Prepare for Drop Pod assault.
[boots running]
[Chaplain Rafael] We are his sons...
Forged to grim purpose...
In crimson clad...
With fire in our hands...
And fury in our hearts...
We are his Angels...
And our gift
is death.
[hatch motors whirring]
May the Omnissiah's blessings be upon you.
Be ready to recover us once the Thunderhawk is repaired.
Compliance.
[lock engaging]
[hatch closing]
[Master of Auspex] Drop Pod Secundus, ready!
Drop Pod Quartus, ready!
Ship Mistress, the proximity of the tower
is complicating our launch trajectory.
The governing machine spirits protest.
[Livia] Override them.
The blade falls at your word.
Launch.
[suspenseful buildup]