You drag in a long breath through your nose. It stinks of old sweat and ash. You hold it in your lungs for a long moment, then let it hiss out between your teeth. “We will remember ZTO as it was, not how it is. A loyal servant of the Emperor, the Deathwatch, and the Adeptus Mechanicus. But our mission is not yet complete, so me must push onwards.

“We are few, our foes many. We may die here, unknown and unremembered, but we will not fail. No objective is beyond our grasp. No foe is beyond our wrath.”

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Two hours later, your claim is put to the test. As you progress through a chaos heavy cruiser, you and your squad are beset by a massive mob of chaos cultists. Unlike the blood-frenzied madmen you fought aboard the Macedonian when you met Gorlin, this cult is both much larger in number, better organised and better lead. Their chants and footsteps echoing from beyond sight down the corridors and around corners. Reaver Champions dot the ranks exhorting sections of the mob forward and keeping the bodies moving.

And it is quickly clear to you that the narrowness of the corridor, which only permits two space marines to stand abreast, means that it is the volume of bodies that presents the real threat to you. Bolters and bolt pistols bark in stattaco bellows, hewing bodies like bloody grain before the scythe. The scattered return fire from shotguns and slugthrowers skips harmlessly off of your armor. The few luckless reavers and champions that make it into melee with either you or Tayib are dispatched ruthlessly in short order. Skulls are crushed in fists, torsos are cleaved in two by swords, and blood slicks the deck beneath your boot.

Tayib grunts from time to time, the psychic hood about his head flickering and flashing with activity as he negates or dispells psychic attacks by unseen foes. You leave empty magazines on the deck where they fall, counting the shots as they ring out. Tayib runs out of magazines for his bolter first, slinging it and drawing his bolt pistol. N’ver, firing past your shoulder when he can, swaps from Interrogator’s Faith to Elena’s Fury. You nearly run out of Hellfire shells picking off Reaver Champions, and your standard bolts are not that far behind. Tayib holsters his bolt pistol and takes up his force sword in a two-handed grasp, “Last mag depleted.”

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“Acknowledged. Ten percent ammunition here too. Melee it is. N’vier, stay behind us and stay alive.”

“By your order Hunter.”

From then on, the fight is exclusively close and bloody. Betrayer’s Bane claims more damned souls then you care to count in the moment. Tayib claims nearly four kills for each of your own, and the two of you force your way down the corridor. Eventually the horde thins, the last stragglers stumbling forwards to die on your blades.

Taking a moment to catch your breath, you take stock of your situation. Despite the hundreds of meters of corridor backed with blood, bodies, and giblets, no one in your party is hurt.

“Ammo count.”

“Scryer, ammunition black.”

“N’vier, ammunition black.”

“Alright, we pause here for a moment and re-pack magazines. I’ve enough for each of you to have two pistol mags, and one normal mag for myself. I’m out of stalker silenced bolts, and have only two hellfire bolts left. Plasma pistol is down to half a flask”

Tayib grunts and begins thumbing bolts into pistol magazines. “We’re running out of time.”

“How so?”

“The Blighted Heart has begun to beat. Psychic energy is gathering, spiraling down into a ritual of unclean origins. We have five hours at most to complete our primary objective.”

“That isn’t too bad, we have to be close.”

“We are also at the decision point. From here, I can almost certainly complete my mission alone, and the Khamsin can blast its way free of the Capitalis Congestus if the two of you leave now to reach her.”

“But only almost certainly.”

“This is true. However, if only one of you two makes for the Khamsin, then they will have a slim chance of activating the ship and escaping in time.”

“And if we all stay together?”

“Then our victory is all but certain, as is our deaths and the destruction of our geenseed and souls.”