The Harvest of Simurgh, part 1

Salvation! Salvation!

I witnessed the descent of the Emperor's angels myself, brothers and sisters. They streaked across the sky like meteors, striking deep in the twice-damned heretics' choking fogs. I felt the very earth shake as they crashed into the foe! I saw the flashes crack against the night sky as their undeniable fury was unleashed!

Take heart, brothers and sisters! All is not lost! The Emperor's angels will push back the foul mutant and the tainted sorcerer!

— Farhad of Asaak, Imperial Guardsman of the 301st Simurgh PDF, 3715686.M38


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3717686M38
FERRIC TALONS, 3RD CHAPTER 
CAPT GANBAATAR KHAN
SIMURGH 379642


Thought of the Day: There is no death for the dutiful.

Current mission objectives unlikely to be completed due to unacceptably high casualties during drop zone infiltration.

5 of 16 drop pods destroyed upon impact due to malfunctions in inertial dampening systems. Enemy interference suspected. Possible attack vectors unknown. Total casualties: 23 battle brothers slain, 39 total casualties. 7 bikes damaged beyond use. Enemy, including several heretic astartes, holding southern and western forests. Signs of significant daemonic incursion, including hosts of impossibly diseased creatures.

Holding and fortifying position until further orders. May the Emperor guide us.

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Volero could feel when the Gleaming Redemption had left the warp — as a mortal, he'd become ill while the Gellar field was raised. While Father Nurgle's gifts had dulled much of the day-to-day pain of life, he still felt an uneasy, off-kilter feeling — a tiny vertigo — every time the protective shield was raised. As his gut unclenched, he looked to a technician working a control panel that was slick with some oily, shiny substance.

"Loca-" Volero choked back some phlegm. "Location."

"Simurgh System, 89% probability. Calibrated date approximately 900685."

Volero tapped his index finger against his armrest. Something had gone awry in the warp — either they weren't in Simurgh, or the trip had taken significantly less time than he'd anticipated. He wondered if Fecundus' legions were even prepared to enter realspace at this juncture.

One of the hulking, armored men approached Volero from the left.

"My lord," it said with a wheezing voice.

"Speak."

"Our assets on board can bolster our infiltration attempts, given that we can successfully insert them."

Volero's tapping stopped. Amidst the silence, servitors and hooded figures moved about the bridge and attended to consoles. The armored man stood silently as the blank eyepieces in Volero's power armor stared into the far distance.

"Insert them," he said, breaking into a spasm of coughing. "Every — one — of — them."

The armored man bowed slightly and retreated through a bulkhead.

"Once ins — sertion is complete, retreat ... out of the system's rim," Volero said. The hooded figure nodded.

"As you command, Lord Scalpondus."