Above Neptune's Orbit
After the battle at Mount Ararat, Bill was subjected to intense interrogation regarding the berserk rage and bloodlust that had surfaced within him. The one who interrogated him and collected his data could perhaps be called a doctor, or maybe a scientist. Bill answered their questions straightforwardly, and in the course of the interview he learned that everyone who came from the IXth Legion suffered from the same condition. Some of them would become so bloodthirsty that they would go mad like wild beasts.
After the interrogation, Bill was reassigned to unite with the other members of the IXth Legion. He came to know many of the warriors in his unit and learned many frightening things: the corpse-worshipping cult within the Legion, terrifying mutations, and even the aggression of certain Space Marines who surpassed him by so much that they had to be put down.
After the Unification War ended, there was the event in which the Emperor went to Mars and signed a treaty of alliance with the Adeptus Mechanicus, the priests of Mars who believed in the Machine Cult and the Omnissiah.
When Bill saw the Mechanicus for the first time, he thought of monsters from a horror novel. Some Magi looked even more terrifying than mutants.
He had to admit that everyone had different beliefs... and that did not necessarily make them ugly. To the Adeptus Mechanicus, it might even be considered cool.
But he still had his doubts. He knew that the Emperor had forbidden all religions and all forms of religious worship, even cults. He had even heard rumors that the Emperor himself had ordered the burning of the last Catholic church on Terra. Yet he still did not understand why the Emperor allowed the Mechanicus to worship Him as the avatar of the Machine God.
Perhaps it had something to do with interests and benefits.
But that did not matter. At present, the IXth Legion was above Neptune, where they were about to wage a major war in the name of the Legion for the first time. Bill did not know much about this future world... but he had heard that, in the distant past before the Age of Conflict, this planet had been one of the oldest worlds of mankind.
Then the arrival of a Warp storm mutated the entire population into mutants, and it was the Ninth Legion's duty to purge them all from the planet.
"Rafa, don't you think you should maintain your bolter? Our battle is almost here. You wouldn't want your weapon to jam, would you?" Bill asked the Space Marine in Mark II Crusade armour, who was carefully maintaining his chainsword, with a faintly amused expression.
At the same time, Bill was also maintaining his own weapon, because in a few hours they would be descending to wipe out those mutants. And he knew very well how dangerous mutants could be. Some of them could barely harm a Space Marine at all, while others could tear a Space Marine in half with ease. Even power armour could not always protect against that.
Rafa, who had been cleaning his weapon with great care, looked up and shook his head slightly before answering.
"If I didn't have a Dark Age weapon like yours, my gun would never jam so easily. Unlike your fragile weapon. If I were the one killing that techno-barbarian, I'd probably sit here and polish my gun too," Rafa said with a tone that was half joking and half sarcastic.
"What do you think about the Emperor ordering tens of thousands of us in the IXth Legion to go down and deal with the mutants on Neptune? That seems a little cruel, doesn't it?" Bill asked casually, not thinking too deeply about it.
He knew that this future world was cruel. Many bloody battles had made him stronger, more furious, and more merciless. But he still thought this battle might be a little too cruel. He was not even sure whether he would survive.
He felt that the losses in this battle would be enormous.
"Do not think too much about it, Grayson. If the Emperor wills it, then we will do it. Get up," Rafa said, standing and attaching his chainsword to the magnetic mount at his belt before walking over to pick up his bolter and check its mechanism.
Bill fastened his disintegration gun to his belt, then stood and walked down the ship's corridor with Rafa. The corridors on this vessel were rather gloomy, as though they had been taken straight out of an ideal sci-fi horror film. Along the way, slaves and crewmen passed by from time to time, and they always made a point of avoiding the Space Marines out of fear.
Before long, he reached the main corridor, where many Space Marines were walking about, carrying out their duties or preparing for the coming battle. The atmosphere there was grim.
The Space Marines of the IXth Legion aboard this vessel were mostly somber. They did not speak much, but they understood one another.
He knew that most Space Marines of the IXth Legion were, at this point, friendly to one another and utterly loyal. They were despised and regarded as monsters, or even as corpse-eating ghouls with a thirst for blood—and that was true.
Bill knew that every battle would end in bloody slaughter. Ever since he had joined the IXth Legion and taken part in full-scale combat, he had seen countless bloody scenes. He had even seen Space Marines swarm the corpse of a techno-barbarian to terrify the enemy... or perhaps it had not been merely for intimidation.
And when one of their battle-brothers died, other Space Marines would sometimes consume the tissue and brain matter of the fallen warrior, believing that this would allow them to remember their dead brother and remain united.
That was one of the implanted organs within a Space Marine. Bill knew its capabilities well. He had even received the memories of that Thunder Warrior... but soon afterward, he forgot them.
At last, they arrived at Hangar Bay 1 on the vessel, where several transport craft of various types were parked, from Stormbirds to Thunderhawk transports. Humans—crewmen, workers, and slaves—were laboring furiously to prepare for war. Ammunition, supplies, and fuel were rapidly loaded into the transports. More and more Space Marines in blood-stained grey armour began gathering at the hangar bay.
The Space Marines of the IXth Legion boarded the Stormbirds in an orderly fashion until every craft was full. The interior of the transports reeked of stale air and blood. They still remained terrifyingly silent... the silence before a great slaughter.
A few minutes later, orbital bombardment began, clearing the way and preparing the landing zone for the Space Marines.
When the Stormbird transport doors opened, the first thing Bill and the other Space Marines of the IXth Legion saw was ground that had been scorched and baked by orbital fire, and countless mutants moving toward them from afar like a tidal wave ready to destroy everything in its path.
The Space Marines of the IXth Legion hurried to disembark. Some of those who still retained their composure formed a rushed defensive line and waited for the mutants to come into range, while others began screaming madly before charging straight toward them.