Hello this is a piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction that me and my brother are writing (I do the writing and my brother gives me the ideas and edits what I write) which I hope you will find enjoyable. I should warn you though that I am not very good at names and unfortunately I had to name most of the characters so I must apologise if it looks like I slammed the keyboard when writing the names as what I actually do is not really much better.

Without further comment this is chapter one of The Goblaws:




Chapter One: The Fate of the Third CompanyThe rebels seek to incur the wrath of the Emperor by their actions. Let us be its deliverer.-Captain Talgrar, just before the launch of the campaign to reclaim Hustuz


Captain Talgrar of the Goblaws’ third company surveyed the battlefield before him and felt proud of the glorious victory his men had won today. Twelve thousand of Hustuz finest soldiers had met the Goblaws on this hilly terrain just outside the capital of the planet, Culldack, and his troops had made sure that none of them had made it back to the city alive.


The battle had required the entire third company and the Goblaws had suffered several causalities. One of them had been Talgrar’s old friend sergeant Skrimlom, leader of the second assault marine squad, who had died leading a charge against one of the rebel outposts that dotted the nearby hills. Talgrar would make sure that the aspirant that got his gene-seed would be worthy to have it.


Despite this misfortune however the battle was still a crushing blow for the traitors. The capital before the Goblaws was now virtually undefended. One more strike would be all that was required to end this foolish rebellion for good.


However, when such a strike would occur was less certain. The captain looked up at the sky where, though he couldn’t sense it even with his enhanced vision, he knew that a mighty space battle was being fought in high orbit, a space battle which they may be called back to support. Hustuz had been an imperial dock and transport hub for the Skirus sub-sector. As such when they had acceded from the Imperium they had taken with them a sizeable navy.


Even Fleet Skirus backed by squads from the Goblaws’ first company had been making little headway in defeating the enemy ships when the third company had been sent to the surface to try to deal with the ground forces amassed against the coming Imperials. Other than a squad of terminators, led by sergeant Rijnam, that had been assigned to them, the third company had had no support from the rest of the task-force but, as Talgrar noted to himself, they had managed quite well without them.


Now as Talgrar looked up into the sky he wondered whether the battle up there had changed at all. Maybe the Imperial navy had finally managed to beat back the rebels, meaning that they would be able to assault the city soon and effectively. Or maybe, as his more pessimistic side pointed out, the rebels had won the day up there, which meant that in a few minutes the third company would be facing orbital bombardment, or worse. Unfortunately vox communication with the fleet had been blocked so far so he had been unable to ascertain the situation. Hopefully though he would now soon find out, he thought as he activated his link with the battle barge in orbit to try to report his victory.


Before he could speak he noticed a few specks in the upper atmosphere. Instinctively Talgrar made his suit zoom in on them and though what he saw was still hard to make out, there was no mistaking the deadly weapon that was now falling towards the third company.


Virus bombs. Talgrar had seen the planet killing weapons enough times in the deepest parts of the chapter’s armoury to know exactly what they were. But what Talgrar didn’t know was how the rebels had got them. There was no evidence that they held such advanced weaponry. The thought occurred to him that maybe the battle in space had been lost and that his own side had resolved, after deciding that Talgrar’s company was as good as dead in any-case, to wipe out the planet as they couldn’t reclaim it.


It did not matter who had initiated it, Talgrar realised bitterly. All that mattered was that his entire company was out in the open and therefore now condemned to a slow agonising death as their flesh melted off their bodies. Talgrar realised with mock hope, however, that there was one thing that he could do: He had often seen apothecaries give the Emperor’s Mercy to Space Marines with untreatable grievous injuries. If he could do the same to at least some of his company it would lessen the suffering that was about to happen.


Now knowing what he had to do Talgrar deactivated his vox and drew his power sword. He had possessed the sword for over fifty years and it had never failed him. Now he hoped it would serve him faithfully this final time. Talgrar turned and delivered the Emperor’s mercy to Mamdur, the newest member of his command squad who instinctively reached for his chainsword before realising his captain’s merciful desires, with a strike across the chest that destroyed both his hearts. Before Mamdur had even hit the floor, as Talgar knew he didn’t have a lot of time, Talgar’s blade flew again giving the nearby Troijum the Emperor’s mercy as well.


However as the blade moved to administer the Emperor’s mercy to Yagkon it found itself blocked by Yagkon’s own powered blade as the company champion drew his bolt pistol to deliver some Emperor’s mercy himself. Talgrar dodged the attempt at Emperor’s mercy by diving to the side and with a low sweeping cut managed to deliver the Emperor’s mercy to Yagkon’s legs. With his legs having gone to the Emperor, to fight the final battle at the end of time, Yagkon fell onto his back. He soon went to join his lower half in the afterlife when a blast from Talgrar’s plasma pistol finished the act of Emperor’s mercy by vaporising his head.


Elsewhere on the battlefield brother turned on brother as each tried to follow their captain’s lead and perform the Emperor’s mercy on his peers. Tactical marines used tactics honed by decades of fighting to deliver the Emperor’s mercy with frightening efficiency. Assault marines crashed down into where ever the fighting was thickest to give the Emperor’s mercy in vicous close combat. From vantage points high in the hills devastators laid down a withering hail of Emperor’s mercy onto the fray below. Meanwhile Rijnam’s terminators strode confidently through the battle their Tactical Dreadnought armour able to withstand all but the strongest Emperor’s mercies. In the centre of the carnage stood the dreadnought Kigfuy who used his heavy flamer to bathe any nearby Space Marines in a searing hot spray of pure Emperor’s Mercy.


Talgrar picked up the company standard from the fallen standard bearer’s body, Puvres had finally succumbed to the Emperor’s mercy after losing three of his limbs to Talgrar’s power sword, and lifting it above his head he charged into the nearest melee. He was soon lost to the madness that only delivering the Emperor’s mercy can bring.


Eventually full awareness did return to Talgrar and he found himself surrounded by the mutilated bodies of space marines who had been given the gift of the Emperor’s mercy. In fact the only other member of the task-force who hadn’t received the Emperor’s mercy yet was sergeant Rijnam. The rivalry between the two was well known so it was fitting, Talgrar mused, that Rijnam should be the last foe he had to face. “I always knew it would end like this,” said the terminator with a sneer, “Us two, on Hustuz just outside of Culldack at 14:38 exactly, battling to see who is the most merciful. I always found that a bit weird. Let’s get this over with.” With a roar of rage Talgrar hefted his company’s banner and charged.


Thirty seconds later the drop pods that Talgrar had spotted earlier finally landed on Hustuz’s soil. The reinforcing terminators stepped out onto a grisly scene. Spotting movement amid the carnage they hurried over to where a badly injured Talgrar was still resisting the Emperor’s mercy while lying slumped over the corpse of Hustuz. When he spotted the terminators and realised what he had really seen coming in from orbit he just had time to say “Well, this is awkward.” before finally succumbing to his wounds. A grim testament to the mercy of the Emperor.




Well there you go, I hope you enjoyed it (if you did not I am sorry for wasting your time). If you would like to see some more please say so (another chapter is written, though it has not been fully edited yet, and more are planned). Thank you in advance to all who comment on this story.