Chapter 1

"Varkas what do you see?" asked Raphael. He had been moving very slowly to mask his movements and the camo cloak he was

wearing was doing the rest of the work for him. Why do other chapters not use these more often? he thought.

"Another group of ten targets Sargeant, about one click northeast. Heavy bolters for all of them." said Varka's voice in

his ear. He looked to his left to where Varkas was, he had hidden himself perfectly and even the sniper rifle had blended

in among the sand. "Anything else Varkas?" he asked and the answer was a resounding "No". Excellent.

Around him the rest of Striker was similarly cloaked but Raphael could see their movements and where they had moved, they

had heard their conversation and were moving to the targets location slowly but surely. This had been the third group so

far and still no luck. Perhaps three times the charm.

"Sargeant Re-Shan here" said a voice in his ear. "Go ahead brother" he replied wondering what was going on. He kept

trudging up the sand dune to keep his brothers and his prey in his sightlines. "Targets sighted Sargeant, Varkas recon

was good". Raphael nodded in approval "Confirmed Re-Shan".

Varkas snorted over the vox "You doubt me brother?". Damascus interupted before Re-Shan could answer "Its always best

to confirm information, let it go Varkas" and then closed his vox channel. Well that was all but one member in the loop

thought Raphael but where had the fifth gone?

"Cyiren come in" said Raphael. He could see their targets now, Servitors blanklessly scanning the horizon for enemies.

He looked around for his team and slowly found each one, they had set themselves up and were preparing for combat.

"Cyiren here, is there a problem Sargeant?". His voice was suspitious and sullen sounding as always, Raphael rolled

his eyes and then spoke "Are you in position brother?". Cyiren ignored the honourific as always "I am setting up, one

more minute then we can begin".

Cyiren had to set up his missile launcher in a way that would prevent the backblast from hurting him, that would take

a minute as Cyiren said but as always his tone was cause for concern. It seemed like an age before he heard the words

he was waiting for "Ready, Sargeant". Raphael breathed out "Brothers engage as we have done before, Varkas take the

first shot on the one in the middle". He raised his bolter and waited.

A very faint sound emerged from Varka's position and a second later the Servitor's head exploded and the corpse fell in

a heap then the rest of the squad started firing. The only thing Raphael felt was the recoil as he aimed down his

sights to eliminate his targets, suddenly a missile streaked across the sky towards the Servitors who were all firing

their heavy weapons wildly but hitting only sand. The Striker team had hidden themselves too well.

The missile hit the ground in the middle of the group, the explosions impact throwing the Servitors into the air like toys.

Three more got back up again and went looking for where the missile came from and fired but Cyiren was already rolling

down the hill like he had done twice before.

Raphael leveled his bolter and fired again, the Kraken bolt hit his mark dead in the chest and the Servitor fell, the

second was hit in the back by a plasma shot fired by Damascus and the final one was hit by a sniper round and Re-Shan's

bolter fire.

Raphael breathed out again, the adrenaline starting to subside. The whole team waited and watched for any one of their

targets to move or for reenforcements to arrive. When neither happened for five minutes the team emerged from the sand

like four restless spirits and began to converge. Varkas stayed where he was, looking for any more Servitors.

When they reached the mangled bodies of the disturbing cyborgs all but Raphael set to work ensuring they were dead.

Raphael however was looking for something else and on the fifth body he found it, a blastproof container with a locator

beacon inside. He frowned, it was too easy.

"Damascus take a look" he said as he tossed the device towards Damascus and switching positions with him as he did.

When it came to technology he trusted Damascus above all, each member had their specialty and this was his. Damascus

muttered prayers to himself as he tinkered with the circuitry until finally he smiled, pulled a wire and then spoke "Looks

like the Sargeant was right to be suspitious, there is a transmitter in here as well as a locator".

Raphael smiled to himself, if they had used it now every Servitor would be on them before they could even realise what

happened "Good work brother, is it safe to use now?". Damascus nodded and held out the beacon "Perfectly, do you want the

honours?" Raphael shook his head "Go ahead". By now the team had arrayed around him in full, Varkas was jogging in their

direction with his rifle slung over his back. For an expert in sharpshooting Varkas moved extremely quickly, even by Space

Marine standards.

Re-Shan and Cyiren looked at each other and started to laugh despite the incedulous looks of Raphael, Varkas and Damascus

directed at them, it was a very rare day when the two agreed on something let alone laughed at. Re-Shan breathed in heavily

and saw the pair staring at them and shrugged "Sorry Sargeant".

Raphael frowned "Is there something I would know Re-Shan?". Re-Shan grinned and shook his head but apparently Cyiren was

less willing to be polite "Its funny because Sargeant Raphael here only accepts the honour of killing alien leaders, at

least that is what he has displayed". He smiled broadly and hefted his missile launcher to his shoulder, arrogant as per

usual in the face of Raphael's feeble attempts to contain his displeasure.

"Do you truly think so little of me Brothers?" Raphael asked quietly, he turned to Damascus "Activate the damn thing" he

ordered.

Damascus obeyed and pushed a few buttons, all at once the sand, the sky and practically everything else vanished all at

once and was replaced with cold metal walls.

A loud simulated voice then sounded "Simulation terminated".