the Colossonomachy

==The Collossonomachy==
LOCATION:
Sector: Unknown
Subsector: Unknown
System: Jormungand
DATE:
890.M29
About 700 years BtC. (Before the Crusade)

It is unknown how or from where the spores of the Jormmund came to Jormungand. Ordos Xenos Archeologists estimate these creatures drifted through the cold void of space for many millennia before finally planting themselves upon the rocky world of Jormungand Prime. These Silicon-based seeds drifted down through the dense, stormy atmosphere before finally nesting in the rocky crags and cracks that littered the landscape. A xenos civilization developed here, although many of it's artifacts are lost to either time or the Jormmund. The seeds are estimated to have incubated for another 400 years after initial contact, and roughly 290 years BtC the titans emerged from their earthen womb.

The giants hunted the xenos living there, enslaving them through sheer force. They crushed their cities and trampled their homes. The Jormmund were no fools; they had gargantuan brains that had centuries to grow, nurtured by the minerals of the earth. Their thoughts were likely unimaginable for men, although their intentions were clear: spread.  They crafted titanic ships hewn from their own bodies, slaved over by the xenos they ruled. These massive, cyclopean vessels burned bright with bio-chemical nuclear hearts, and carried millions of tons of Jormmund biomass. The giant stone arks rocketed forth from the planet, accelerating to sub-light speeds in a massive expansion.

+++Imperial Encounter+++
In 885.M30, on the imperial world of Grougaloran II, all signals and trade to the rest of the Imperium. Suspecting a xenos attack, they sent the 985th Imperial Guard Armored Tank Division, AKA the Ground and Pound. The 5th Martian Fleet accompanied them, with 3 Mars-pattern battlecruisers, a handful of escorts, and a single battleship.
All contact with the fleet was lost upon arrival to the Grougaloran System. The only trace of an emergency transmission was a brief machine-code string that translated to "No".
Horrified by the implications, The Imperial Navy began to construct a fleet powerful enough to combat their unknown foe. They realized that an Imperial Guard division was not nearly enough, and intended to attach the fleet to an astartes chapter. However, none were available at the time, and it seemed that the project might have been abandoned. Just as the shipyards began to close down, the Emperor intervened and placed the fleet in the hands of the Stone Men; Onyx wished to prove his might once and for all, and this was the perfect chance. Upon inspection of the incomplete fleet, Onyx found himself unimpressed, for the ships were not armored nearly enough to suit his legion's needs. The higher ups of the Imperial Navy voiced their concerns, but the Emperor said it would be so; if the Emperor wills it, then it will be. The shipyards pulled in massive amounts of resources (mostly provides by the Stone Men, who had a large number of mining worlds under their authority).
The Emperor ordered a secret project to begin, a gargantuan armored battleship, to meet his son's dreams of a flying, armored fortress. The ship would be 20 kilometers long, and 7 kilometers high at it's highest spire.
The Stone Fleet had finally been completed, and set sail for the quarantined sector where the unknown threat had been encountered. The fleet flew past many imperial worlds, and the sight of such a massive, armored flotilla as well as the smoothed, stone-like appearance of the heavy armor garnered it the nickname " The Emperor's Meteor Shower".
When the fleet finally arrived, they exited the warp to behold a peculiar sight; the planet was blockaded by giant, pillar-like hunks of rock, orbited by what seemed to be tiny asteroids. The ships powered up their void shields and loaded their guns, preparing to blast their way through the strange asteroid field. The hunks of stone roared to life, nuclear exhaust bursting from tiny holes that pocketed the rocky craft. The tiny chunks that orbited them were flung by some unknown force towards the incoming ships, and smashed against their void shields. Undeterred, the fleet began to fire upon the stone pillars, gaining their immediate attention. The closest slowly began to turn, revealing a giant exhaust at it's bow, much like the tiny ones propelling it. The casm began to glow with an unholy, fiery light. The admiral of the fleet, Reginald Franz III, ordered the ships to attempt to evade, as he predicted this would be no small barrage of pebbles. The bow of the alien craft burst with liquified radioactive metals, firing a stream that shot a hole straight through an entire battleship. The battlecruisers and battleships began to fire their forward batteries, and the escorts and cruisers launched plasma torpedoes at the cyclopean leviathans. When the bombardment proved ineffective, they moved on to melta torpedoes and power lances, only managing to burn or slightly melt the exterior of the xenos vessels. Thoroughly panicked, the Stone Fleet fires all armaments at the blockad, including rift torpedoes, nova cannons, and a flurry of plasma, rail, and explosive batteries lit up the "jormungadr", as the captains had begun to call them. just as many of the farther Jormungandr had turned about face, tge nearest one finally cracked, forming bright red and orange fissures across it's grey-black hull. The object exploded like a nuclear bomb, spewing brightly glowing,  radioactive fissile across the battlefield. Fiery debris splattered across the hulls of the Stone Men's fleet, but alas, they had expended their entire store of ammunution. As the rest of the Jormungandr closed in, the ships had no choice but to retreat.

The Stone Men and the massive armored fleet fled from the Grougaloran System, and docked in the nearby Muvasin Port on Muvas Prime. There, they relayed the harrowing news to holy terra, and requested mahor reinforcements. The entire force of the Stone Men (exculding a select few to guard the homeworld) were sent to Muvasin to meet up with the fleet, along with 3 other fleets that were on their way back from a smaller crusade in the Haruvax Sector. Vast amounts of ammunition and supplies were requisitioned, as this was clearly not a single system threat. The fleets all coalesced into a single, massive force and prepared to embark. The cavalcade of Imperial ships rocketed through the warp, readying their heaviest artillery in preparation for the upcoming encounter. The plan was this: maintain aerial superiority above a section of the planet's surface and plant a sufficient portion of the Stone Men planetside to begin setting up a defensive position. They still had no idea what to expect on the surface, but if the space around it was any indication, they would not receive a warm welcome.
The armored fleet exploded out of the warp, guns ablaze. The night sky lit up with a display of explosions all across the heavens, and the heavier battery did spectacularly; 9 Jormungandr were blown to pieces, splattering their glowing ichor across the atmosphere. Wasting no time, hundreds of drop pods and landers were launched planetside, streaking through the atmosphere like comets.  The Stone Men emerged from their artificial craters, cautiously marching forward into the alien landscape with their meltaguns armed. The planet Grougaloran II had been a lush agri-world before, but now the fields of golden wheat and grox pastures were gone. Instead, strange plasticy tendrils glowing with life strangled twisted rock formations, forming some sort of sick perversion of a forest. Crab-like, diminutive creatures skittered across the bio-organic structures on 5 legs in a radial formation, devouring moss-like crystalline structures growing on the rocky landscape. The sky had gone from a clear blue to a cloudy grey, filled with radioactive ash that fell like snow, fueled by plumes of volcanic spires in the distance. These xenos had turned a once fertile land into a near-death world, infested with it's wretched spawn. The Stone Men set to work building temporary fortifications, setting up a miniature barracks to generate fuel. Luckily the mineral deposits wretched from the core by the xenos creatures were rich in promethium, and harvesting it was easy. A few knight legions accompanied them on their descent, and were preparing for the foray into enemy territory. The extent of the xenoification of the planet hinted to the true threat these xenos posed, and reinforcements were requested. Once the embattlements were prepared and the war machines fueled, the Stone Men marched onwards to the north, where the fortress capital had been located. Perhaps there were survivors, as unlinkely as it may have seemed. The armored column marched through the grey, craggy wasteland, towards a massive rocky spire. When they reached the foot of the ominous structure, they realized it was embedded in a crater, with similar plastic-like tendrils emenating from it's roots. Columns of toxic smoke bellowed from the higher reaches of the spire, polluting the air and giving it a sickly metallic smell.

Rhold Cragg, the captain of the 64th company, the Centurions of Petra, led the march through the alien landscape. He had seen many alien forsests, but this was nothing like them. These xenos were not like the eldar, the orks, or even the deadly wildlife on cata-chan. This was a different form of life, one that could not exist beside that the galaxy was used to. it had not blood, it had not skin, it had not bone. It was like living rock, an unholy material that was not meant to be. They had legends of the primordial stone men on Neolithus, of the stone monsters that walked the dusty plains, but this was like a nightmare made real. The captain and his company cautiously bypassed the spire, and succeded in leaving it undisturbed. Gods forbid whatever horrors that made their homes in such an arcane nest wake up. They encountered no wildlife whatsoever, that is, until a pack of 9 legged abominations ambushed them. They pounced from dark crags, unseen shadows, and obscured hiding spots, tearing into the exposed legion. They were almost like wolves, in some sick, twisted way. They're hind legs split into two separate limbs, which made them able to leap over any obstacle between them and their prey. They had obscene amounts of flailing scythe-like arms, and armor made of the rock-like material that plastered the landscape. The creatures resembled rock-daemons from Neolithic mythology, and a son of Neolithus would know their names at first sight:
The Skoll. The Skoll ripped and snarled at the armor of the Stone Men, but even their crystalline fangs could not break the armor of Neolithian forges. The Centurions powered up their meltaguns and blasted away, pushing the mob of beasts back into the forest and down-right melting half of them. They oozed orangish-pink plastic-like sludge, which on closer inspection was not only radioactive, but crawling with tiny, transparent, crystal creatures. The remains were blasted by meltaguns until they were not but ash, lest those horrific diminutive insects make it's way into their suits. The Stone Men pressed forward, blasting anything that was unfortunate enough to find itself in their way. Finally, they could see it; the buried fortress, submerged in ash and rock, but still usable. Captain Cragg punched a hole in the exposed east wing, sending rebar, dust, and ferrocrete flying inwards. He raised his mega-melta and stepped inside with a cacophonous "thud". The sound echoed throughout the long hallway, hopefully not alerting any unwanted prescences in the building. He continued to clunk down the hallway, and the rest of the 64th company followed, eyes trained on the darkness around them. They slowly made their way through the building, making sure to clear each room and corner for signs of life. Finally, one marine shouted from about 3 yards behind the captain, drawing his attention.
"I've got someone!" He yelled, with a slight Neolithian accent.
Captain Cragg motioned for the marine next to him to cover the front of the column, and rushed to the source of the call.
"She's a little lass, no older than 12."
Rhold turned on his helmet's flashlight, and the black haired girl covered her eyes in fear. He quickly turned it off, then activated his auxiliary lights, which provided a much less brilliant source of light. He held out his hand, and the girl recoiled in fear, obviously scared to death. Cragg pulled his hand back, and reached into his left pouch. He pulled out a nutrition block, and broke of a tiny piece of the white rectangle. He placed it in his palm and reached out, even more slowly this time. The girl hesitantly snatched the piece, inspecting it for a few seconds, then popping it in her mouth. The girl's eyes teared up, and it looked like she might have cried at any moment.
"What's wrong miss?" The captain said,  lifting her chin with his giant finger.
The girl ducked under his arm and jumped up to his chest, embracing his massive form.
A few marines behind him chuckled, eliciting a hearty laugh from the captain himself.
"It's all right, miss. You're safe now. You want more?" He said, raising the nutrition bar to the girl, who was now being cradled on the captain's arm like a satchel charge. "I didn't know anyone liked this stuff, but to each her own."
The captain carried the girl, who was now nibbling on the block of nutrients, to a nearby apothecary and handed her over.
"Check her vitals and keep her safe, Jance."
"Aye, cap'n. c'mon lass, you want ta see a real gene-seed?"

Back at the base camp, Onyx was inside his command tent with a few other captains and other officers. In front of him, a holo-map of the surrounding terrain, slowly but surely growing.
"The servitors are surveying the land around us, and quite a few have gone missing. The report from the Centurions of the attack by the Skroll-like creatures is also worrying. It seems that these Xenos have completely overhauled the planet's biosphere, down to the smallest bacterium. Viral bombs or chemical warfare would have no effect, as these creatures are completely different in every physiological way, even at the cellular level. It's frankly quite disheartening."
Onyx rubbed his chin in contemplation, with a worried look on his chiseled face.
"Thank you, Commander Sudinus. Your data will be invaluable. Tiberius, what is the situation in orbit?"
"The fleet is holding well. Thankfully, the nova cannons seem to be just powerful enough to break the hides of the Jormungandr ships."
"Good, good. Any word back from Terra? What is their opinion on this matter?"
A vox channeler slid back from his plugs and headset to reply.
"Our astropaths are having a bit of difficulty reaching them, might be a warp disturbance."
"Get communications through as soon as possible, I don't want to wind up alone out here."
"Aye, sir"
Onyx stared intensely at the map before him, watching the edges grow slightly as the servitors scouted ahead.
Then the earth swallowed them whole.

Captain Cragg was once again leading the building clearance, and the bulk of the Centurions of Petra were stationed outside, along with the apothecary and the girl from inside. He prepared a needle to analyze her blood and make sure she hadn't picked up any poisons or toxins. The girl recoiled from the needle, and tried to run away, but the apothecary grabbed her arm (as gently as he could).
"Please, miss, I must do this. I promise it'll not sting for but a moment. Would you like some more of the nutrition bars?"
The girl's head perked up at the words, and the apothecary handed her another white, pasty bar.
"Quite the appetite on ya, huh? Now, hold still for a moment if ya please..."
The apothecary pricked her arm with the needle, causing her to yelp a bit and drawing a slight drop of blood, which he quickly dabbed and pasted over.
"See? That wasn't so bad now was it?"
The girl nibbled on her bar as the apothecary's many medicae sensors analyzed the blood sample.
"We'll that's... strange."
The apothecary buzzed Cragg's vox communicatis, and relayed the results of the test.
"Sir, her blood's clean. Very clean. Cleaner than most people's blood should ever be, most people have at least trace amounts of heavy or light metals, just from the surroundings, but hers... It's practically 0% contaminants. I don't know how, but I'm working on it. I think this might be a special one."
"A mutant?" Cragg proposed, almost cautiously.
"Could you really call something like that a mutation? I mean, so many people die from heavy metal poisoning on hiveworlds and the like, think of how many people could be saved..."
"Alright, alright, before we reinvent medicine let us finish the task at hand. Is the girl safe? because if so, I'd like you to come back to the breaching squad, we may need you soon."
"Aye, sir."
Cragg left the comm channel and hefted his meltagun back into his massive, powered hands. As he walked down the desolate corridor, he scanned his surroundings with his sensors. The readings showed no life signs, although the Skoll earlier did not show up either, at least until they were right on top of them. The apothecary joined back up with the squad, ready for action.
Suddenly the captain's vox lit up, with scrambled, panicked voices shouting at him.
"Command? I can't hear you, the signal's incredibly weak out here. Is there something wrong?"
The feed was cut, and all communications were blocked by a massive psychic presence.
It was awake.

The captains and admirals above were frantically voxing eachother, desperately trying to confirm the data their sensors and cameras were picking up
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE WHOLE ENCAPMENT JUST VANISHED!?" Shouted an exasperated admiral.
"The entire goddamned thing! It's just fucking gone! There's a fucking crater where it used to be!"
"C-captain, I'm getting signs of life"
"Is it our men? Are they alive?"
"N-no, I, I'm not sure what it is. But it's big. VERY BIG."
"Just what in holy terra do you mean 'really big'?"
The cadet didn't have time to answer the question before everyone's eyes became glued to the pict-cast on display.
On the surface, the earth was being torn asunder. Cracks began to spread across the ground, and smoke began to rise from the newly-torn fissures. Then it began to breathe. The air glowed like fire around it, magma erupting beneath it's colossal form. A god, no, a titan was being born, straight from the womb of it's bastard world. Half of the navigators above simply went comatose from it's intense, burning aura in the warp. Tendrils, like the ones that coated the "trees", snapped away from the giant like glowing, orange umbilical cords. It opened it's horrible, terrifying eyes, and then it belowed a roar so deep and powerful it caused earthquakes on the other side of the planet. The fleet broke out of their stupor long enough to launch a salvo of torpedoes and orbital bombardments.

Cragg and his marines were inside the fortress when the behemoth awoke, and they felt the sheer power of it's birth, even within the catacombs of the buried structure.
"What the hell was that?" Cragg wondered as he regained his composure.
His vox lit up again, but this time it was from the base camp above, on the surface.
"Uhh, sir, you're gonna want to see this"
"What is it? More skroll?"
"It's a whole lot bigger than a skroll, captain."

Onyx woke from his head injury, and clambered his way out of the pile of rubble he was buried in. He knew it was a head injury mostly because of the throbbing pain on his left crown. He looked around, scanning his surroundings. He was in some sort of cave, and after looking up at the caved-in ceiling, deducted he was cut off from the surface. The damp walls were coated with the damned tendrils, even down here. Onyx turned the flashlight on his terminator armor up to maximum and decided to have a look around. He couldn't reach anyone with his vox, as the signal was blocked by the layers of rock above him. He'd have to dig himself and any survivors out without assistance, and he was up to the task.
Onyx stumbled through the cramped passage, silently scanning for any signs of survivors. Now that he thought about it for a moment, he really had no idea how he got so deep underground. All he remembered was shaking, followed by a rather long fall. Anything else was pure speculation. The cave shook violently, causing rocks to dislodge themselves and dust to fall from the ceiling. Onyx listened carefully, and heard faint noises, like muffled impacts. He dismissed them and carried on his way.

"SCRAMBLE THE BLOODY BOMBERS! KEEP FIRING ON THE BLASTED THING!"
Hell rained down on the surface, as torpedoes of every kind, impact guns, nova cannons, and even void bombs decimated the landscape. The titanic beast that walked upon it remained utterly unscathed. It withstood the bombardment with ease, not even stumbling as a mini-exterminatus went off around it.
 The Jormungandr, which had all either gone dormant or retreated, attacked in full force. Nuclear beams shredded the pre-occupied fleet, as the full force of the ground troops headed towards the surface.

Cragg emerged from the sunken fortress to a harrowing sight: just beyond the massive spire, a gigantic monster was being bombarded by an intense salvo of explosives; and it was unharmed.
"By the Stone Mother's blessing, What in the unholy FUCK is that!?"
The captain ordered his company to re-embark, and prepare to fight the beast.
Cragg hopped on top of a rhino and addressed his company.
"Long range weapons, men. No melta guns unless the damned thing starts sprinting towards us. Rocket launchers and assault cannons should do us good. ONWARD, CENTURIONS OF PETRA!"
The cavalcade of rhinos and land raiders unloaded onto the beast, as drop pods and air transports descended from the sky. The treaded transports disembarked on a bulge within firing distance of massive thing, and the astartes unloaded from the vehicles. They took up positions in a tight, armored cluster, and launched a ground assault, hammering the beasts' massive legs. Marauders and Thunderhawks buzzed by, unloading melta-bombs and more Stone Marines onto the battlefield. The beast seemed unimpressed by the small army amassing at it's feet, swatting and stomping any stray forces that came too close.

Onyx continued through the caves, losing his footing every few minutes.
"Jeiz'ha be damned, how the hell do Golgothos and Arelex put up with this?"
Onyx stumbled out into a larger, more open cavern, and spotted a slight source of light. He walked out into the sunlight, but a tremor sent him tumbling backwards. He felt a force in his mind, not like a psyker witch or the Emperor, but more like a pyschic field. A mind so large and unfathomable it's thoughts at the moment of it's birth embedded themselves in Onyx's mind like shrapnel. He saw the Jormungandr launching out of birth canals in the earth, and heading in all directions. He saw the planets that would soon be consumed by them. He saw the ones that already had been. Onyx struggled to regain his composure, now thoroughly shocked. He felt like he wanted to throw up, slam his head against the wall, and keel over. He staggered to his feet, and then saw an enormous creature burst out of a growth buried beneath him, crawling up out of it's womb. The bastard abomination slid through the upward shaft like a birth canal, breaking the ceiling open and sending debris crashing down.  Onyx tried to dodge, but gave up and decided to just break the debris when it fell on him. He dusted himself off, removing the dust and caked dirt from before.
"Only one way out," Onyx said, looking skyward.
He dug his massive power-gloves into the rock wall, and made the long journey to the surface.

"ANOTHER CONTACT! 2 CLICKS SOUTH!" shouted a tank crewman at the back of the line following the creature designated "Colossi I".
"Are you fucking with me, private?"
"Absolutely not, sir. At current speed, it should catch up to us in under 2 hours!"
Commissar Baldr snatched the binoculars from the private, and furrowed his brow as he looked through the lenses. His handlebar mustache curled into a disgusted grimace, and he pressed the nob on his vox communicatis.
"Admiral? We've got a problem that's about 120 minutes from utterly wrecking our shit."

Captain Cragg was mystified, furious, and terrified at the same time. He'd shot at least 50 krak rockets at the damned beast's hide, and it wasn't even phased. On top of that, more skroll were attacking now, along with the crab-creatures from before, only about 100x bigger. His men were being pounded relentlessly, attack after attack after attack, all while trying to down this colossal monstrosity. But, if the Stone Men were famous for anything, it was standing their ground under intense pressure. And this was very, very intense pressure. He wouldn't have been surprised if he was shitting diamonds after this. The Marauders made another round of melta-bombing, trying to hit it's face or any kind of weak spot at all. This thing was fucking invincible.

Onyx hung from the sheer cliff, just nearly at the surface. He tried his damndest not to look down, and finally managed to grasp the edge. Onyx was not a fan of heights. Nor was he very fond of caves. In fact, Onyx preferred a nice, simple flatland, with lots of open space (with none below him). He pulled himself over, and rolled onto his back. His comms were flooded with panicked shouting, and when he managed to get to his feet, he realized the full severity of the situation. The second colossus was trailing the first, and both were now being bombarded by what seemed like over 10 companies. a trail of crushed vehicles, dead marines, and absolute devastation followed suit. Onyx did not have time to mourn, unfortunately.
A valkyrie dropped in next to him, buzzing his vox.
"You lost marine? I can pick you up if yo-"
The pilot just then realized he was talking to the primarch.
"U-uh sorry sir! I-I didn't realize-"
"It's quite alright, pilot, but I do in fact need transport. Are you willing to fly close to the beast so I can get a better vantage point of the battle?"
"Absolutely! Right away sir! Please, get in!"
Onyx boarded the valkyrie's loading doors, and came inside. The craft floated upwards, then zoomed off to the fight. Marauders and thunderhawks rocketed past, and the valkyrie began to ascend.
"Hold your heading here, pilot. Right above the second titan."
Onyx studied the battle from afar. The attacks were bouncing off the creature's shell, and nothing could pentrate it. He saw a few exhaust pores near it's head, but they were far too small to fit a bomb inside. They were, however, just big enough to fit a terminator inside. Onyx walked to the edge of the valkryie's opening, eliciting a panicked response from the crew
"SIR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Something stupid!"
Onyx jumped out of the aircraft, hurtling through the air like, well, a rock. He landed on the Colossus, colliding with it's tough exterior. He made his way to the nearest exhaust vent, but a swarm of crab-like creatures attacked him. He smashed them to pieces, splattering their orange goo all over the oblivious monster's back. He stood over the hole, possibly reconsidering his choice of action. Then he thought about the dead marines and crewman he had seen. He dismissed all doubt and plunged into the darkness.
Onyx fell down the shaft, gaining speed as gravity pulled him down. Eventually, the black, rocky material turned to softer grey, then an orangeish flesh-like plastic. He landed on a flat of the gelatinous material, surrounded by slick, wet walls and more of the pulsing tendrils. He noticed a very large, branching vein, much like the other tendrils, that glowed with molten radioactive sludge. He trudged over to it, and looked inside the tube, and saw tiny creatures swimming inside. Suddenly he was attacked, a giant claw nearly lopping his arm off. He quickly retaliated without looking by striking it with his power-fist. The creature was knocked back, and in the impact tore one of the large veins causing the ichor to pour out. He could see the creature now, it was like a giant insect, only where it's eyes, antenna, and various other appendages would be, it had a mass of wriggling, snapping arms with claws. The creature staggered to it's feet and charged at Onyx, throwing it's clawed mass of legs at him; Onyx hit it again, this time even harder. The creature was thrown against the wall, and was impaled by a stalagmite sticking skewedly out of the fleshy wall. Onyx moved on, following the vein to where he deduced the heart would be by it's faint heartbeat.
He finally reached the creature's core, and was thrown back by massive shockwave. he realized it wasn't a shockwave, but the uncushioned force of it's heartbeat. He struggled to get up quickly before the next one hit, then his eyes met the creature's heart.
It was a massive, twisting tube, formed into a corkscrew by stony rib-like structures. It pulsated with nuclear energy and muscle tendons, priming to fire again. Before it did, Onyx raced to one of the rocky spines, and tried to tear it off. Another beat resounded, blasting him and the spine back. Onyx grabbed the object, and thrust it into the heart. It stayed for just a few moments, and Onyx was worried it would not work. Then the heart beated again, releasing a miniature nuclear explosion at the tear in the flesh.

The second Colossus fumbled, and fell to the ground. It began to bloat and break apart, until it exploded in a nuclear blast of rock and orange flesh. The first Colossus began to run away, and the Jormungandr above retreated. A convoy of Imperial ships courtesy of the Emperor arrived, as the warp storms had abated during the battle. Onyx was located via a tracking beacon on his suit, and transported to the Emperor's ship.

Onyx awoke, and found himself in a bed on his father's ship. The Emperor contacted him psychically, and they discussed pressing matters.
"You're sure the thoughts you saw were that of the creature?"
"Yes, father. The immensity of it's mind was rather hsrd to ignore, even for a non-psyker such as I."
"Indeed, I see them clearly. This is troubling news, and will undoubtedly require a crusade. I trust the Stone Legion would spear head the operation?"
" It would be my honor, father."
"For now, you must rest. Perhaps diving into the enemy's innards without so much as a meltabomb was rather inefficient. I suggest next time you at least bring a few more terminators, no?"
"Yes, Father, yes." Onyx chuckled tiredly, and felt his sore eyes close.