All that remained for Jeremiah was to determine how to gain entry to the city. Using charges to burn
through the wall was out of the question. He considered scaling the wall, a task the Space Marines could accomplish with ease, but with the increased patrols and heightened security measures they would risk detection, and although the Hyades defence forces that manned the wall would be no match for them they could not take on the entire city, nor could they risk alerting the target to their presence. However, the latter was becoming less of a concern for Jeremiah, who was certain that their presence was already known to the Fallen.
Elijah looked up from his auspex, turning towards the others. 'Interference is still too intense. I cannot penetrate it.'
It had taken the team about three and a half hours to reach this point. Based on Hyades's rotation cycle, they had about eight more hours to breach the city walls and reach their objective. Although time was always a factor when on a mission of this nature, it was becoming increasingly more important. Their final obstacle was finding a way to gain entry.
Jeremiah had ordered the team to pause for a moment, allowing them a little rest. He was once again pondering the events of the last few hours when Nathaniel placed his hand on his forearm. Jeremiah looked up to see what his brother required, noticing that Nathaniel was not looking at him, but past him. He turned, slowly.
'We are not alone, brother,' Nathaniel stated. 'Something is moving through the jungle.' He pointed in the direction of the city wall.
At first Jeremiah did not see anything, but finally he caught a glimpse of something moving through the jungle past them. With the rest of the team alert and ready he nodded and they all moved towards the disturbance. Each member of the team had slung his weapons and was wielding his combat knife. Even with the cover from the noise made by the clearing teams a firefight was not an option this close to the city's defence forces. Whatever this threat was it had to be dealt with by hand to hand means.
A hissing noise was the only warning any of them received as the jungle seemed to come to life around them. Several creatures erupted from the foliage. Jeremiah, raising his knife to ward off the unknown assailants' attack, suddenly found himself falling backwards as something entangled his legs and pulled them out from underneath him. Landing on his back his mind leapt back to the shocker vines and his thoughts of how large they could grow and whether they could attack a creature as large as a Space Marine. Before he could discover the answers, the real enemy landed squarely on his chest.
His genetically enhanced vision augmented by the helm of his cherished armour revealed a large creature that looked like an unholy combination of lizard and ape. Jeremiah struck the creature with his closed fist, in its ribs just under its arm, knocking the creature off him.
Rolling onto his side and bringing himself to one knee, he was ready for the next attack. The creature squared itself with the Space Marine, when its elongated tail lashed out wrapping itself around his arm at
the wrist. The strength of the creature was staggering, catching him momentarily by surprise and almost pulling him off his feet once again. Jeremiah stepped in the direction of the creature stabilising himself while raising his arm and pulling the creature towards him. Then in one quick motion he brought his combat knife down in a circular strike, slicing completely through the tail severing it, while the creature tumbled backwards into the jungle.
Blood sprayed from the severed appendage as the tail whipped back and forth and the creature screamed in pain as it clambered to its feet. Fear and panic ruled its primitive mind as it turned, leaping into the jungle, fleeing from the cause of its pain. Jeremiah leapt up and gave chase, realising that the creature was heading towards the clearing teams. He did not want the creature to be found. The clean cut of his combat knife would reveal that the wounded tail was not the result of a fight with another animal. He had to catch the thing before it reached the edge of the jungle.
Crashing through the jungle he realised that whatever this thing was it was fast, moving through the jungle with unbelievable agility. He could no longer see the creature, only the visible signs of where it had been. It was escaping.
Suddenly, several metres in front of him the jungle became engulfed in fire as flames roared amongst the trees. Rising above the roar of the flame came a horrific screaming. The clearing team had found the creature, or more correctly, it had found them. Jeremiah dived for the ground, coming to rest underneath
several thickets of razor leaf bushes. He was in no danger from the flames. He was more concerned that he would be detected. As the screaming and the flames began to subside he could hear the sounds of a Chimera engine as well as several defence force personnel as they moved around the area of the burnt remains.
'Looks like one of those damn reptos again.’ a man stated.
'That's just great! See any more?' another man responded.
The Chimera's engine roared and Jeremiah heard it begin to move, the sound of small trees snapping as they gave way to the greater strength of the transport. Slowly reaching down to his belt he retrieved a grenade, preparing for the coming engagement. Then the Chimera stopped and Jeremiah could see a searchlight piercing the jungle, silhouetting the trees as the light moved slowly over his position.
'I don't see any more,' the voice said, rising to overcome the noise of the Chimera.
'All right then, let's get back to work. We've got a lot of jungle to clear.'
Jeremiah sighed with relief. He waited for a few moments to ensure that the men had returned to their work before he slowly crawled away. Once clear he rose to his feet and moved towards his team.
When Jeremiah rejoined the rest of the team he learned that the attack was short-lived, and there were seven of the lizard-ape creatures lying dead on the jungle floor.
'Everyone all right, no one injured?' he asked.
‘We are all intact and unharmed, sir.’ Nathaniel responded. 'We've found something of interest, though. After the attack had been dealt with, I dispatched Elijah and Sebastian to reconnoitre the area that these things had come from to determine if there were any more there and they've found something we should check out.’
Jeremiah followed as Elijah and Sebastian led him and the rest of the team through the jungle. Within just a few short minutes they reached the point where the jungle met with the city wall. Jeremiah could not believe what he saw before him. These ape creatures, which they had thought were mindless animals, had been removing chunks of the city wall. The area around the opening was strewn with chunks of rockcrete and primitive tools made from bones and tusks of other animals.
'They were creating a tunnel into the city.’ Jeremiah stated in amazement.
'Not exactly.’ Sebastian replied.
Elijah and Sebastian stepped towards the opening. Reaching in, they removed several pieces of foliage and rock, placed there by the ape creatures to conceal their work.
Behind the makeshift screen was what appeared to be an old metal maintenance hatch.
'Looks like these creatures discovered an area of the wall where they had sealed off an old maintenance hatch.’ Elijah said.
'They were almost finished I would say. We must have gotten close enough to interrupt their work.’ Sebastian added.
'It would appear brothers that we have found our access point. Praise the Lion!'
Jeremiah stood in an alley at the edge of the entrance to the street. Since gaining access to the maintenance hatch he and the team had crawled their way through several maintenance tunnels until finally reaching what appeared to be an abandoned sewage system. Then they had followed the sewers until they found a service shaft that would allow them to exit undetected. They had found other shafts, but upon inspection they opened up into areas that were not secluded enough to conceal their presence.
Once they were free of the sewers they were able to conceal their movements by using back alleys and side streets. The few citizens they encountered were either attempting to avoid detection themselves or were too intoxicated to care who was there.
At one point they passed a large vid panel mounted on the side of one of the buildings. A thin, pinch-faced woman was elaborating on the events of the day: production quotas from the mines, scores for athletic events, local magistrate activities, and how the curfew was a popular and necessary edict from the governor.
Now they were at the entrance to a light-filled street, illumination panels spaced along either side of the street ensured that. Personal ground craft were parked at various points along the street. Movement through the alleys had been fairly easy and the time of night made the streets of Lethe all but deserted. Six large men moving along a city street at night would
be fairly easy to conceal, however six of the Emperor's Space Marines would be a much more difficult prospect. Jeremiah scanned each and every alcove looking for any sign of activity, or anything that could give away their presence.
'Spectral rotation scan.' Jeremiah sub-vocalised this command.
The optics in his helmet responded, switching through each wavelength of the light spectrum, giving Jeremiah a clear picture of what was on the street. However, Jeremiah was also aware that whatever the divine technology of the Emperor would allow him to see could also be thwarted by the insidious technologies of the Emperor's enemies.
Like all of his team, Jeremiah wore dark-coloured robes that covered most of his armour, but the sheer size of a Space Marine was hard to hide regardless of the time of day. They would have to risk moving down the street.
Jeremiah removed his helmet and clipped it to his belt. He indicated to his team that they follow suit. Should they be spotted, they had a slight chance to explain away their size, but their helmets were another matter. His curly blond hair was matted by sweat against his forehead, but his blue eyes held within them wisdom that belied his youthful appearance.
'Elijah, find the best path to approach the palace compound,' Jeremiah instructed.
Elijah silently activated the auspex and uploaded the city maps to the display. Even though the interference had played havoc with its sensors, it could still display the city maps they had acquired.
'The south-eastern entrance of the palace is the least protected.’ he said. 'Only a few lightly armed palace guards are standing sentry, and it's the farthest away from any reinforcements that could be summoned should we be detected.’
'Good! Take the point and get us there. Remember we want to get in, locate and capture our target and then get out. We do not want to alert the entire city to our presence.’ Jeremiah warned.
Once again Elijah took the point position and began moving through the shadows, followed by Jeremiah and the rest of the kill team.
As the team made its way down the street, a figure watched from the shadows atop one of the tall residential buildings that lined the streets. As if by sheer force of will he held the light at bay, hiding his features in the shadows, shrouded in an unnatural darkness. Once the team rounded the street corner he began to move, bringing his hand up to his mouth.
'The bait has been taken. They've arrived. They'll be at the palace in about ten minutes. Make sure everything is set. Let's be certain that we have a greeting befitting guests of their stature. I'll be joining you soon.’ Having sent his message, the mysterious watcher turned and disappeared into the darkness.
The service kitchen was efficient, making the best use of space. Three large refrigeration units stood to one side, while cabinets occupied the opposite wall. Although compact, there was room enough for several