This story is part of
a larger network of stories on the B&C.
The
First part of Ferrum's story in the Antioc Campaign
can be found here.
For further Ferrum stories,
see the Durus Quatinus Ferrum Character Entry.
THE CRUSADE FOR
ANTIOC CAMPAIGN
FERRUM'S ADVENTURE
AT ANTIOC ENDS
There
they where again; the claxon calls of life, the beep
beep beeps of twin heart monitors.
Durus Quatinus Ferrum opened his eyes and looked up
at a pair of familiar faces.
Fautor, his long time friend and Algidus, the NCO
of his squad.
Algidus was smiling broadly; Fautor just shook his
head, but he to couldn't help but smile.
"You know sarge... you're becoming quite the
legend for surviving against the odds", Algidus
said.
Fautor nodded. "Mhm. They're starting to compare
you to Golgotha".
Ferrum was surprised. "Golgotha?"
"Yes. Rumour has it you are Chosen by the Emperor
and that you must have at least as many lives as Golgotha
to survive falling from obit and nearly being cut
in two, twice."
Ferrum laughed, but was quickly cut short by the Artificer
sitting at his side.
Looking over to his left he could see the complicated
instruments working to repair his left bionic arm
and chest.
After his near fatal battle on the bridge of the Legio
Battle barge "Purgator", Ferrum had been
assumed dead and had been reverently carried to the
Apotecharion where he had been laid to rest in a morgue
stasis-chamber for processing and gene-seed removal.
The Apotecharion had been extremely busy that horrible
day, and so it had taken a few days before the Apothecaries
had gotten around to him, but when they finally did,
the Chief Apotecharion was furious to find that the
younger Apothecaries of his institution had mistaken
a suspended animation for true death.
And
now he was here, in the Forge.
Ferrum strained his neck to look over at his side
where a Tech-Marine was busy adjusting some instruments
attached to the bionic half of Ferrum's chest.
"Could you show me the hololithic surveillance
recording again?" Ferrum asked the Tech-Marine
overseeing the operation, and the Tech Adept merely
nodded content to get the "patient's" attention
away from the complicated technology being tampered
with in his chest.
Behind Algidus and Fautor a hololithic projection
from the bridge of the Legio Battle Barge Purgator
appeared, and as Ferrum watched from his seated bedrest,
his two friends turned to look at the recording as
well:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The slightly monochrome
hololithics showed Durus Quatinus Ferrum rushing in
to attack a Chaos Marine, as former Legio-Sergeant
Lucius Draconis fell dead at his side.
Ever the canny fighter, Ferrum shifted his grip on
the bolter, grasping his chainsword with his now-free
left hand. The bolter feinted forward, seeking to
become the focus of the traitor's attention.
The renegade answered by releasing his own bolter
and pulling at the Legio bolter, dragging Ferrum off
balance for a moment.
Ferrum's attack had been thwarted and he was forced
to parry a incoming blow. His extensive training and
acrobatic skill prevented the traitor's blow from
landing though, as Ferrum leapt back.
Behind
the pair, the last of the Legio Serfs serving as defensive
soldiers onboard the Purgator fell dead.
Three members of Ferrum's Squad Nexum were still fighting;
the others had been killed or extensively wounded.
The number of traitors was severely diminished though,
and Apothecary Meton continued to advance carefully
on Legio Brother-Captain Antaeus' position.
In order that the Apothecary might succeed in reaching
the Crusade's wounded Captain, Ferrum let out a battle-cry
that drowned out the din of battle upon the bridge
and drew every traitors attention for a second. He
leapt suddenly, moving within the range of his renegade
opponent and lashing forward with his Chainsword.
The
Word Bearer Chaos Marine's sword smoked as the energies
of the blade sizzled the blood and gore that coated
its length. With a deft flick of his wrist, the Chaos
Marine smashed the bolter from Ferrum's grasp, who
in turn answered by thrusting out with his Chainsword,
biting into the Word Bearer's upper leg.
The Chaos Marine brought his weapon down forcibly,
driving Ferrum's buzzing blade into the deck.
Ferrum
reacted instantly to the traitor's riposte, bringing
his augmetic arm up to block the counterattack. The
renegade bellowed in frustration as his attack failed.
The shock of the blow forced Ferrum to withdraw a
step from the heretic, but he had not moved fast enough.
Both the power sword-wielding traitor and a companion
Chaos Marine struck forward.
Ferrum swept his blade up with shocking agility, the
sword knocking the chainsword of the horned traitor
to the side. The Word bearer's Power Sword landed
heavily though, in the space between Ferrum's neck
guard and helm. The burning blade chopped down, cutting
deep into Ferrum's torso. - Into his augmented bionic
torso.
The blow knocked the Legio Space Marine to his knees,
then the Word Bearer kicked Ferrum off his blade,
leaving the Legio Marine for dead and quickly turning
around to assess the situation on the rest of the
bridge.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
recording stopped and the hololithic projection disappeared
with a flicker.
That had been over a week ago and Ferrum had been
forced to reside in the Legio Apotecharium for most
of that time, resting and healing up after damage
and injuries suffered at Antioc. Most of it suffered
due to one of the longest falls ever recorded in the
history of the Legio.
Now after a week in the Apotecharion he had been transferred
to the inner sanctum of the Forge.
As
the hololithic projection of Ferrum being kicked off
a Traitor Marine's sword disappeared, Fautor and Algidus
turned back to the injured Sergeant again.
"Ouch, that must have hurt!" was Fautor's
immediate comment.
"Not really", said Ferrum. The blow hardly
touched my organic chest at all, but it did damage
the bionics of my chest quite extensively. "It
mostly hurt my pride. - It pains me every time I see
that thing, to know that my friends and allies where
dying around me while I was unconscious and unable
to move.
If it hadn't been for that Epistolary Jaris arrived
on the bridge..." Ferrum let the sentence hang
in the air for a moment, leaving it at that. They
all knew what the consequences would have been if
the powerful Psycher hadn?t arrived in time.
Ferrum
sighed, seeming a bit down.
Algidus was the one to ask the blunt question. "So,
considering that only your Chest Bionics where cut
open, why couldn?t you react?"
Ferrum looked down at his heavily augmented chest
that had been part of him ever since the Chaos Marine
Alpharius had cut him almost in two in a previous
battle, where Fautor had ended up saving his life.
He just shook his head. "I don't know",
he said simply, shrugging.
The
Tech Adept to his side gave a low growl. - "Why
cant you sit still?!"
The trio's attention turned to the flustered Tech-Marine
who looked up at them with an apologetic look on his
face.
"Sorry!", he said. "This is hard and
delicate work".
"If it where up to me I would put you under,
but the Apothecaries say that is not an option right
now.
As to your question; Sergeant Ferrum here suffered
a Neurological feedback overload that temporarily
knocked out parts of his neurologics, forcing a neurological
shutdown and automated activation of suspended animation.
The
Apothecaries also tell me that due to the pressure
your Bionic parts where subject to as a result of
the sword blow, you had a rapture in an internal injury
they had overlooked, where the Bionics burned your
organs during your fall from Orbit. - Apparently it's
a wonder you could even walk with that kind of injury.
Besides, with the amount of damage done to the Bionics
you would have a hard time doing anything, even if
it hadn't been for the neurological shutdown.
Repairing
this thing has been no easy task I must tell you!
- We had to redefine the activation circuitry of the
dysfunctional bioneural phase variance modulator,
and calibrate the frequency of the quantum leason
capacitor before we could even think about traducing
the passive proton polarizing coil and get to wo..."
The Tech Marine stopped mid sentence as he saw the
perplexed faces on the three Marines he was addressing.
- They obviously didn't have a clue what he was talking
about.
"Never mind!", he said and returned to concentrating
on sealing up his work.
"Maybe
I'm not so much chosen by fate or the Emperor as I
am clumsy and unlucky?" said Ferrum looking up
at his brotherly friends again.
"Nah!" came Fautor's instant reply. "With
the amount of people, including Astartes, that fell
to the voices of Chaos in the last days on that planet,
it was the Emperor's will that you not set foot upon
it again, because he still has other work for you
to do.
No, you are chosen you are!". Fautor smiled.
- "Besides you have more lives than a cat, and
you've already proven that you can land on your feet
no matter how high the fall".
NCO
Algidus looked confused. "What's a cat?"
he said eyes wide in wonder.
Ferrum looked up at his squad's NCO, almost as surprised
as Algidus.
"You don't know what a cat is?"
"No. - Should I?"
Fautor looked at Algidus and shook his head in wonder
with a sly smile on his face.
"It must be one tough creature to be compared
to Sergeant Ferrum" Algidus managed, trying to
right the situation. "Is it huge, thick skinned
and fierce with several heads and legs?"
Ferrum and Fautor both burst out in laughter and this
time the Tech-Marine couldn't help but join in.
Yes indeed,
they would have many fine days together yet.
Related Pages:
Allies
Durus Quatinus Ferrum's
Character Entry
The
Legio Record on Ferrum
Local Copy
of Legio Records
Stories of Ferrum's other exploits
with the Legio B&C