by C Z Dunn
For the better part of a month we will chase the Crimson Slaughter to the very edges of the segmentum, slowly whittling down their numbers through a series of skirmishes that move from planet to planet, system to system. It will soon become obvious that the Crimson Slaughter are making their way to tau space and our mission parameters change so that instead of constantly pursuing the traitors we start to lie in wait for them, working out which worlds they will hit next in their attempts to procure supplies, materiel and recruits to their dark cause. Twice Master Balthasar will engage Kranon the Relentless in personal combat and twice those duels will end in stalemate, the craven heretic teleporting away just as he is about to be struck a killing blow.
The further we move into the Ultima Segmentum, the more we will encounter battle-brothers from other Chapters. The xenos threat is always great but as we move towards the end of the 41st Millennium the darker that threat becomes and in addition to those Chapters who maintain a constant vigil over the region, others will be drawn to the segmentum to do battle against the expansionist tau. Ultramarines, White Scars and Salamanders will fight pauldron to pauldron with Doom Eagles, Hammers of Dorn, Angels Encarmine and battle-brothers of less celebrated Chapters. Great will be the deeds of the Dark Angels as the invading aliens are beaten back and worlds reclaimed in the name of the Emperor.
But our quest for revenge will not be forgotten. Allying his forces with those of a Chaos Lord whose origins lie back in the dark days of the Horus Heresy, Kranon the Relentless will blaze a trail across the segmentum until eventually he will be cornered on a nameless moon deep within tau space. The Dark Angels too will find allies in the unlikely form of the Space Wolves Chapter, and while our Fenrisian cousins annihilate the traitor fleet in orbit to prevent Kranon and his forces escaping once again, Master Balthasar will wreak the vengeance we have so long sought against the Crimson Slaughter.
Engaging the Chaos Lord in personal combat for a third time, the Master of Fifth Company will return to the Angel of Retribution with Kranon the Relentless’s head in an iron box.
These things I know because the warp has granted me the foresight and the clarity to see them, but there are aspects of the future that it refuses to or cannot show me. Throughout our pursuit of the Crimson Slaughter I am there, fighting alongside the Company Masters and my battle-brothers, but the closer we get to our objective, the less I feature in my own future until I disappear from it altogether. Be it some trick of the Warp Powers or foreknowledge that I will meet my fate at some point during that period I know not.
Regardless, I go now to face the future head-on.
About The Author
Domiciled in the East Midlands, C Z Dunn is the author of the Apocalypse novel Pandorax, the Dark Angels novella ‘Dark Vengeance’ and the audio dramas Trials of Azrael, The Ascension of Balthasar and Malediction, as well as several short stories. Having spent many years in the publishing industry, with a strong leaning towards genre fiction, he is an expert in e-publication, audio production and zombies.
Excommunicated, hated and hunted, the Crimson Slaughter turned from the Emperor's Light and have since carved a bloody trail through the Imperium.
Jennifer, Alison, Philippa, Sue,
Deborah, Annabel too,
I wrote this book for you.
A BLACK LIBRARY PUBLICATION
First published in Great Britain in 2012.
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