Terra Aeternum
"Here we stand and here shall we die, unbroken and unbowed, though the very hand of death itself comes for us, we will spit our defiance to the end!"
- Armand Titus, Howling Griffons
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999.M41 / DOMINATOR CLASS CRUISER, FIST OF FAITH / LOST IN WARP STORM
I opened both my eyes. The scene before me was just as grim as it had been two hours ago when I was ordered to take a moment's sleep.
Four weeks lost in a warp storm, three weeks with a failing Gellar field, and two weeks with daemon incursions throughout the ship. The last two weeks hadn't been the most grueling in my existence, for I was a Sabbat world Crusade veteran. But I knew these would be my last moments, far from my home of Ithaka and with little left of the waters of her Sea.
Yet even though I knew this would be my end, I am oddly calm. I would die as I have always wanted, among what's left of my brothers in Spatha Squad.
"Brother Sergeant Ariel?" A deep voice rang up from behind me. I turned my head to meet the voice, finding it belonged to Brother-Captain Phobos. I stood up, pressed up off my knees, and turned to meet the Captain.
"Phobos…" I brought my hand up and clasped the captain's forearm. "You were right about the sleep brother, it was needed."
Phobos reciprocated the grasp, then pounded on Ariel's pauldron with his free hand. "Brother, what use would my personal venerated sergeant be to me if he was tired?"
Venerated Sergeant? I am not worthy of such honors.
"The fraternity would do well to have you at such a status, so do not fret in thought." Phobos continued, releasing his grasp. "We will speak of these things when we make it out, but the fourth hour comes, let us make ready."
The dreaded fourth hour. Armsmen and what was left of the Imperial Guard regiment on board had taken to calling it that. A week into the faulty Gellar Field, incursions started to occur every four hours, on the dot. No sooner or later.
Without having to speak a word, I give the captain a curt nod. We both know what comes next. He returns the favor with his signature smile, then takes his leave.
I make ready for yet another fight against the tides of the immaterium.
My weapons and equipment lay before me in the same order I arraigned them in mere hours ago. My helmet is first, its traditional gunmetal grey now tarnished with black weapons marks and scrapes. I pick it up and admire some of its newfound scars, then press it on over my head. A hiss of air marks its sealing, and the internal cogitator activates my HUD. Next is my short sword, a weapon far older than me, but well earned. It was blessed by Saint Sabbatine herself and has shown wanders in dismissing this horrendous enemy. With it sheathed, I press my bolt pistol into its holster, then move to pick up my shield and sea-lance.
My shield was blessed upon me by an old friend and mentor, the Commander of Damocles squad, Priad. Its face holds our symbol, a triple-hooped blue snake. Memories of past battles flow throughout my body and I feel a surge of excitement course through my veins. I pick the shield up and attach part of it to my left bracer, a newer trick, just so it won't be ripped off on accident, again. Then comes my sea-lance, one of the fraternity's most coveted weapons to petitioners. The day I had earned mine, the day I had become a brother within the Fratery, nothing had ever felt better.
My bolter would be next, though I have forgone its ammunition so that my brothers may have something to remove the enemy with. What I do have was forced upon me by my fellow Sergeant, Brother Xyrus. A quick reminder of how foolish it was to not be properly armed had done its purpose, combined with a friendly sparring match between incursions.
Now ready for yet another long period of fighting, I leave the small Medicae room that had been repurposed, now existing solely for resting men and women.
The halls of Fist of Faith are showing their age now. The Warp does that to a vessel when its Gellar field dies, along with many other horrendous things. Section E1-34 were off-limits, ghost of a crew long past now inhabited them, and attacked anyone that dared to enter. Parts of the vessel had seemingly come alive, bulkheads had tried to kill Pakarois, a member of Dedalus Squad.
I make my way through the dimly lit corridors. Briefly passing areas of brightness and the men who guard them as best they can. Most of them ignore me at this point, the well-kept and god-like Astarte's were nothing more than another line of defense to them at this point. I couldn't blame them, I wouldn't have dreamt it. One of them stops me though, a young female trooper. She bows slightly, then looks up at me.
"The Emperor protects sire." She forms the Aquila on her chest as she says the words.
"He is our light trooper, his will be done." I reach out to her, and for a moment she flinches. My gauntlet alone easily dwarfs her head, so her reaction isn't unbecoming. I pat her shoulder gently, then kneel next to her. The other three guardsmen at the defensive position all stand up. Even kneeling, I still tower over the four of them.
"Do not lose that faith, but remember. While the Emperor protects us, he gives us the tools and friends," I pause to look at the other guardsmen, "to make sure we carry out his will and our survival."
"Yes, Sergeant!" The girl lets out, and the guardsmen around her look pleased with my choice of words, regardless of how simple they are. "Now make ready, thirty minutes from now the enemy comes again to test our mettle, and again we will show them no quarter," I say as I stand back up. The Guardsmen spirits seem to have been lifted to a degree. But I know their time comes nearer every second we are stuck here.
I leave the group and proceed toward my position. A new brother in my squad, Krass, will be posted with me and ten guardsmen. I say he is new, but he has served with me for over fifty years. He is new in the aspect of youngest of age and combat experience. Though he has high praise amongst his brothers for his skill with the sword. Even I cannot deny the boy has talent, that will easily surpass my own someday.
After a good deal of walking, I arrive at my assigned position. Krass is already there and seems to be talking with one of the Veteran Guardsmen about the position of the heavy stubber. The other guardsmen are in their position, save for two who seem to be laughing at their leader's conversation.
"Hail brother!" I let out, my vox grill projecting my voice to be slightly louder than normal.
The conversation ends, Krass turns towards me and lets out a happy laugh.
"Brother Sergeant! It's good to have you here today!"
We approach each other, I stick out my hand.
Suddenly, as Krass reaches to grab my hand, the ship shakes violently. So violently that the Emperors' own chosen Astartes to lose their footing.
It doesn't stop, Krass reaches out and grabs the side of my Pauldron, bracing himself against the bulkhead of the pathway we are in. I follow suit, grabbing him with one hand, and a doorframe with the other. Our helmets thump against each other as whatever is happening grows more violent.
"Is this the end Sergeant?!" Krass nearly yells over our internal squad vox.
I steady my head as much as possible, our red lenses meet each other. "Maybe, do you have the water brother?"
Krass let go of my shoulder for the moment and looks down at his waist. There was a small vial that housed Ithakan sea waters, it was bouncing hard off his armor. He reached down and ripped it off. His fist still gently clenched, he raised it to my face.
"Would you do the honors Sergeant?" He asked. His voice wasn't solemn and devoid of hope, it was strong, as many proud battle brothers had been before him.
"Only if this is the end," I say, cut off from my next words as the Guardsmen now behind me scream. I turn to meet the incoming threat, sea lance, and shield at the ready.
Though what lay before me was nothing something I could fight.
Another trick of the Warp? I ask myself as the immaterium reflects off my armor. In front of me lies the Warp itself. The rear section of the ship now drifting off behind us, a perfectly clean cut. We are not venting atmosphere, we are not being assailed by horrors beyond our imagination. We are just looking at the Warp. Inside me, I feel dread for the first time in a long time, a pit of worry that I haven't felt since fighting the Dark Eldar alone many years ago.
Yet part of me is captivated by the beauty of what lies beyond. Something about it is sickly sweet, like a painting that you can smell and feel. I feel the urge to take a step forward.
"STOP!" I yell out.
I yell out?
My own voice came from me, but I did not command it. Then a surge of action takes hold. I had saved myself from committing a heresy. I fight against the urge to look back into the multicolored void, I opt instead to get Krass back up. I turn quickly to get my battle brother ready for a fight, but only half of him is there. Just like the ship, he is cut cleanly in two down the centerline. From head to groin, only his right half remains, yet no blood oozes out from him.
Then suddenly I feel as if something is pulling me into the Warp. Pure instinctual reaction takes over, my sea lance twirls in my hand and stabs down hard on whatever is trying to take me. But I'm met with only the hard clang of metal on metal. I look down at the impact point, it was the floor. I try to register the events but am unable. Then I feel it.
I am falling.
I am falling through the Warp. But it doesn't feel like being thrown into the void, I feel gravity, I feel air hissing past me. I feel the pressure of a normal gravity world pulling me down as the multi-colored changing spacescape is replaced by the dark blue hue of a nearly clean atmosphere.
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S09 / 12JUN63 / 1212 LOCAL
Tavor reloaded her weapon. She was running low on ammo in what was quickly becoming the most grueling firefight she had ever experienced. A simple month of patrols in support of the local commander was just about to end. Now in an eastern oblast in what used to be Ukraine, she was certain she would meet her doom. Her echelon was divided, she had no communications with the Commander, G&K, or her own squad.
"Tavor!" a voice rang up from her side, she looked over to CR-21. "I'm running low! Any word from anyone else?!"
She racked her rifle, peered over the dilapidated window seal, and fired two shots on the approaching Sangvis Ferri forces. There must have been over a hundred of them, and with the support of Hunter and Intruder.
"I haven't reached anyone yet!" She finally called back to CR-21. She turned around to see the rest of her halved squad. Jericho, AK74M, and Honey Badger. "Anyone have a connection to the Commander or anyone else?" she cried out, hoping everyone wasn't being totally jammed. Various responses of "no's" came back to her, save for Honey Badger.
"My signal is in and out!" The doll yelled down. In the two-story building they had taken cover in, Honey Badger and AK had taken to the second floor. "I've been sending alert messages! Not sure if they've gone through!"
A scream shot out, Tavor whipped her head around to see Jericho clenching part of her jaw. A portion of her synthetic flesh had been ripped off by a round. "I-Im ok!" She yelled out, pressing her hand against her face, then returning back to firing.
However bad the situation was for them, it was probably worse for the rest of her squad. MP5, SVD, PzB 39, MG3, and USAS 12 were being pressed by the two ringleaders last she had eyes on them. Thankfully she could still hear the distinct rapport of PzB and MG3, so at least they were alive.
She sighed and looked down to see how many magazines she had left. A curse left her lips as nothing left was strapped around her stomach in a modified chest rig. This was her last mag, it would have to be hand to hand soon, or maybe even a diversion so the rest of her echelon could escape.
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She peered back over her cover, and was about to fire again when she saw hunter in the distance, standing tall and proud. As if the ringleader coming to fight them wasn't a big enough issue, the menace held up a battered SVD by her hair.
"I'M GOING TO KILL HER!" Hunter yelled out, the SV dolls and Aegis units ceasing fire as she spoke. "I'M GOING TO KILL HER AND THEN I WILL RIP YOU EACH APART! AHAHA!"
What worked as a heart for Tavor sank as the ringleader tore SVD's right arm clean off.
"WHAT DO YOU CALL A DOLL WITHOUT ARMS?!" Hunter once again yelled out. She grabbed ahold of SVD's left arm, "YOU CALL IT A-" she was cut off.
A greyish mass fell from the sky at a ridiculous speed and slammed into the building Hunter had been standing on, causing both her and SVD to fall into whatever hole was made. For a moment Tavor thought it was some sort of Kinetic strike, she wasn't going to wait to find out.
"On me! Get ready to move!"
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UNKNOWN / UNKNOWN / UNKNOWN
I am still falling. Whatever tricks the warp has played with me, it has really worked its power this time. I turn myself as I continue to fall through the air and am met with the vibrant greens of what looks like an agri-world.
Did I break out of the warp and end up in atmosphere? Is this a grand trick? Is my mind breaking before me? I ask these and many other questions as I continue my descent. Finally rationality returns, I AM falling, my internal cogitator flicks on and off, then back on one final time as it registers the atmosphere around me and approximant height.
15 seconds until impact.
I have fallen from up high before, but this would be near the limit my armor would be able to absorb.
The ground grows ever closer, and I see the point of impact I am going to reach. A building, a taller building in the surrounding area, which appears to be populated. My sensors pick up the sound of gunfire below. I grip both my hands tightly, my sea lance and shield are still both with me, and something else. I take a quick glance and see that it is the vial of Ithikan seawater Krass had. I do not remember grabbing it. I press it into a hard case on my waist, then prepare for the impact.
Seconds before, I detect and then see two individuals standing atop the building, they will most likely die. I would try to avoid them, but it is far too late.
I smash into the building at a speed that would kill any un-armored brother. Even then I still feel the pain of the impact. One, two, three, and then four floors are smashed apart as each section of what felt like some form of rockcrete absorbs portions of my fall. Then finally the ground floor, my armor groans, and snaps at the impact, despite shielding my head it seems as if my eye lens is broken. I stay steady as portions of the building continue to fall on top of me for several more seconds.
Surprisingly, nothing feels broken within me. Bruises are there, but my ribs, legs, arms, and organs all feel as if they are in working order. My head is pounding though, it feels almost like I've taken a bolt round to the head. I close my eyes for a moment and try to listen to the surroundings, it seems my helmet truly is broken though, everything coming into it is muffled. I lift myself out of the debris, and chunks of rock and household items fall off my armor and back onto the ground. I don't waste time looking around, as soon as I'm in an upright position I post myself up with my leg and rotate both my shoulders to make sure they are in working order. Satisfied with my working functions, I stab my sea lance into the rubble beneath me and use my free hand to take off my helmet. A hiss of air escapes as I pull it off, I attach it to my waist and breath deep.
The air is thick, full of dust and other items found common in a destroyed complex. Despite this, the air is mostly clean. It is polluted, and a tinge of radioactivity lingers in my mouth, but overall, it is cleaner than many other Imperial worlds. Something else is in the air though, something not inherently evil like the foul spawn of Nurgle, but something equally distasteful. I catch a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye, and I grab my sea lance and point it at the possible threat.
It is a young girl. Her breath is shallow, and her white hair clings to her body. One of her arms is missing, and she looks like she won't live to see the next hour, though no blood is coming out of the wound. She isn't wearing the regalia of a Guardsmen, a Traitor, an Arbites, or anything else a common fighter would have. She looks too clean, relativity speaking, to be a hiver or someone from an Agri-world. I take a step towards her, then another. Suddenly the girl's eyes shoot open, and she stares me down, confusion rattles her face, then fear.
"Behind.." She lets out, her voice nearing a whisper.
Behind? It sounds like some form of low-gothic, with a strange accent. Behind what?
Then I feel it. The blood lust of an enemy about to pounce. Again, I swing around, sea lance poised at an angle to help deflect an incoming adversary. I make eye contact with another small girl just as I feel the impact of my sea lance's staff smash into the side of her ribs. She too looks surprised, but with a devious face. The girl goes flying into a nearby wall, then through it. Outside the sound of gunfire picks up again. I look back down at the white-haired girl, I don't hear signs of breathing or a heartbeat. I give her a quick nod, I will remember her for her actions, she was no enemy of mine.
I take my leave and step into the streets outside my entry point. The sound of gunfire grows louder, and various rapports of auto rifles sound off from my left and right. To the left, I see where my attacker landed, and a figure stands up from a small impact point on the wall of another building. A cloud blows over the sun for a moment, and we are both cast in shade. She looks at me and smiles.
"Another G&K toy?! I will LOVE ripping you apart big guy!" She says, her low gothic again matched in a strange accent.
I let out a deep breath and compose myself, tightening the grip on my sea lance. "Where is this place?" I ask, gesturing around with my shield.
"Bahaha! You're big, but you're fucking stupid too!" She removes two side arms from her waist and raises them towards me.
But I am far faster. I press my sea lance into the ground, unholster my bolt pistol, aim, and fire a single shot at her before she is ever even in line with me. The round impacts center mass and the girl is eviscerated, torn asunder by the kinetic impact alone. I have little time to inspect my kill. To the open street on my left, two machines move into view and rotate their weapons towards me. I do the same, with my shield raised to my torso. I wait for them to fire, I am unaccustomed to this area and don't wish to be the enemy if possible. Rumors that the Mechanicus was making something akin to these were abound, and the last thing I needed was an angry tech marine chastising me.
I didn't have to wait long though. The two machines open fire on me with what feels like heavy stubber rounds. I fire two shots at each target, both hit home. I look out from the side of my shield and see sparks flying from what's left of both of them. I holster my bolt pistol and start to walk towards the machines, again I see movement out the corner of my eye.
Another machine.
It looks at its two dead comrades, then at me. A form of shock-mace extends from its arm, and it gestures towards me. I'm not stupid, I won't be baited into a bad fight, but this was a good experience. I unlatch my shield and drop it to the ground, its edge slices into the pavement below, causing it to stand straight up. I unsheathe my short sword and point it at the machine, it makes the first move. It was fast, almost as fast as some of the tau creations I had fought in the past. The mace comes and sweeps down to my right, I parry it, at least attempt to. My sword sliced clean through whatever materials the weapon was made out of. The machine doesn't react negatively, instead opting to punch me directly in the chest. Its fist clangs off the ceramite plate, it looks up at my face. I smile down and grab its head, crushing it with the slightest amount of force.
I rip the machine's head off, tossing it to the side, then kick the body down to the ground. I turn around and make my way back to my shield, picking it up and placing it on my back. Then move to my sea lance, only sheathing my sword when I have it back in hand. The weapons fire still echoes throughout the small city. I finally have a moment to take in my surroundings. The sun is shining, the weather is warm with a slight breeze. I can hear the gunfire from both my left and right, I can taste the gunpowder in the air. Oddly enough I smell or taste no blood in the breeze, but something foreign lingers, like the smell of a strange substance.
As I take in my environment, I hear the sound of rubble moving in the building I crashed into. Not the normal sound of things falling, but something shifting to a footstep. As lightly as I can, I make my way back into the building. Another girl is inside, crouched down and next to the white-haired girl. This one is different, she is tanned and wearing some form of camouflage half coat. Her hair is long and what looks like some sort of furry mutant ears sit atop her head. I continue to walk in, now meters away from her. The ground shifts beneath me and she swings around, gun in hand.
"What the fu…" She lets out, her weapon lowering as she stares up at me in what appears to be disbelief. "Are…are you, our reinforcement?" the barrel of her gun rest lightly against the ground below. Something is strange though. Like her dead friend, I don't hear her a heartbeat, though she is breathing.
I look the girl in the eyes and smile, "I am-"
I hear more movement to the right of me, where most of the building has collapsed. Over a ridge of rubble, another young girl comes walking up, an animal trotting proudly next to her.
"CR! Is SVD ok?!" The girl yells out right before reaching the precipice. She is about to say something else when she sees me. She raises her weapon and points it at me, "H-halt! Don't move!" The small creature with her growls at me, I look it in the eye. It retracts its predatorial face and cowers behind its apparent owner, knowing its place in the food chain. The girl looks back down towards her pet, then over to the tan woman.
"Don't shoot him! I think he's with us!" the tan one yells out, she slowly stands up, weapon still in hand. "You, you are with us, right? Please be with us"
I look up to the new girl, she is scantly clad and is carrying what looks like a purse. Then I turn my attention back towards the tan one.
"I am Sergeant Ariel, leader of Spatha squad, third squad of the third company, Iron Snakes." I sense no immediate threat from these two, and while I won't misjudge them, I will play this diplomatically. I kneel back down onto the rubble, sea lance still in hand. "I do not know you, nor am I your reinforcement, I am sorry for that news."
"Iron snakes?" The scantily-clad one asks. The tan one frowns, "I..I don't know what that is? Do you work for G&K? Sangvis? What are you?"
"I am a Space Marine, Adeptus Astartes. Chosen by my fratery and our gene-father to serve the Emperor of Mankind. Now." I pause to relax my posture, giving them a warm smile, "Unless my mind has left me, I do believe it is proper for you two to introduce yourselves as well."
Then tanned one let out a nervous laugh, then smiled. "I'm CR-21, fifth echelon, my friends call me CR or Century." She looked over to the other one. "I'm Honey Badger, I'm with CR." She said as she slowly made her way down the rubble. She walked over to CR and the dead girl, staying well away from me. I gesture towards the dead girl.
"Was she your friend? She warned me of an enemy before she passed." A tinge of sympathy comes with my question.
"Dead?" Honey badger spits back, she kicks the dead girl.
"She's not dead, just beat up really bad, powered down is all." CR adds in, batting away her comrade's leg. She bends over and picks up the girl, bringing her up and over her shoulders. "This is SVD, you said she helped you?"
"Not dead?" I let out, pressing myself up off the ground. "She isn't bleeding, she's missing an arm, I'm not hearing a heartbeat or breathing, and she's not dead?"
The two girls look at each other, and a slight frame of confusion washes over them. "We aren't humans uh, Sergeant Ariel? We are T-Dolls, you know, made by G&K? Combat androids?" Honey badger finishes with a shrug
T-Dolls, Androids? Is this some form of tech-heresy?
I'd have to save the pressing questions for just a bit later. The sound of gunfire was starting to grow closer. "Interesting, I've never heard of such things." I lift my sea lance and point out to where I finished off my first enemy. "Your friend, SVD, did help me, another woman was going to attack me when SVD said to watch out." I lower my lance again. "I hope that was an enemy at least, because it's dead now."
Honey Badger's face turns to shock, "Dead?"
"You killed Hunter? Was, did, did she have white hair? Two guns? Black outfit?" CR asked, stammering over some of her words.
I simply nodded back, "Short hair with a long ponytail? That would be her."
"You actually killed Hunter? Was it hard!?" Honey badger took a step forward.
"No, I shot her once in the torso, that did the job, bits and pieces of her litter that area out there." Honey Badger continued to stare in disbelief. CR shook her head, then walked towards me, stopping two meters away.
"Can you help us for now? Once we are out of this mess, I swear ill help you with whatever you need."
"I can help you, and seeing as you are the only ones to not try and kill me here, I'll assume you're on my side for now." I move my lance to my left hand and present my right to CR for her to shake. "If I find out you are my enemy though, if you war against the Emperor's rule or the will of the Imperium, I will kill you." I finish my warning with another smile.
CR looks up and smiles back, she reaches for my hand, hers is dwarfed by it, we shake. "I don't know any Emperors or Imperium, but I haven't fought anyone belonging to them, so I hope that doesn't happen." As she finishes the small creature accompanying Honey Badger runs up to me and sniffs around my foot.
"Betty don't!" Honey Badger yells out, and the creature quickly returned to its owner.
I shake my head and let out a laugh, "Curious little one, isn't it?" Honey Badger is about to say something, but I break in before she can. "What is the name of this world by the way? What Segmentum is it in?"
"World?" Honey Badger asks back, "I mean, it's Earth obviously? What's a Seg…mentum?"
"Earth?" I let out. I have heard that name before, a Chaplin of the Black templars used it once. It was ancient, an old name, one before the great crusade. What did it mean again?
"Yeah Earth, you know, Earth earth? Pale blue dot? Dirtball? Terra?"
"Terra!" I exclaim, the surprise on my face is obvious. "This..this is Holy Terra? I..I am not worthy to set foot on such grounds but, I…" I look at the world around me, it does not resemble what I know of Terra.
"Are you ok?" CR's comment broke my train of thought. I look down at her, then to the case that holds my vial of water. "No." I say, as I kneel and open the hard case and take out the vial. "I am very confused." I commence the right of giving water, opening the vial and pouring just a smidge of its contents into my gauntlet, the two girls look at me confused. I have no brothers to share it with, so I say a small word for those I have lost, and then return the contents back to the vial as carefully as possible. As I stand back up, CR asks again. "What are you confused about.?"
"What is the current year?" I ask her, readying my lance for another bout of combat.
"Twenty sixty-three, June twelfth, approximately twelve-thirty local….why?" She responds.
"What is the name of your local satellite and star?"
"Uhhh" Honey badger drones out.
"The Moon? Its…the moon? Or Luna? Our star is just the Sun, or Sol I guess."
My chest aches, and I can feel my primary heart starting to pick up its pace. "Is there a planet in the system, a red one?"
"Like Mars?" Honey Badger says.
I nod slowly, the questions all pointing to three possible outcomes. I am on Holy terra, and I have either gone back in time, forward, or I'm in some sort of warp-manipulated alternate reality. I am no librarian, no Chaplin, nor am I a member of the Grey Knights. If this is some trick of the Warp, then I doubt I will be able to bend it to my will. But the Warp, from what I understand, rarely is able to control itself. Would it be so odd if I had been thrown somewhere else? Some different reality?
A loud boom takes me out of my trance.
"You asked me to help you." I looked down at CR, her jaw clenched at the sound of the explosion. "I will assist you in your fight for now, but in return when this is over, I will need you to help me."
The young girl looks up at me, and without hesitating responds, "Deal."
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Like the last one, it's absolutely a one-shot (for now) to gauge interest in the idea. It's left open-ended and vague for a reason, so don't be too upset big bad Space Marine didn't go and crush the hundred or so SF.