Timestamp: 7.437.996.M41

Location: The Shatters, Gorgonid Mine, Sepheris Secundus, Golgenna Reach

Situation: Inquisition-led Arbites team returning from mission, hostiles in pursuit

Body: Inquisitor Rykehuss was never much of a talker. At least not during your brief tryst in the dark. But he did instruct Maximilian regarding two things - that the girl must be kept safe, and that the Malleus must be alerted.

Haxtes also wants to be friends. So he tries to strike a conversation while you're hanging in the elevator - what to do, how to open the seal, that sort of thing. Only the Inquisitor isn't feeling very talkative. He completely non-responsive. To the level of not being alive anymore. That isn't going to reflect too well on you...but there is naught to be done, except relieve the man of spare weapons and ammunition. The dead don't need guns.

----

You could have gone out the way you came, but that was never really an option. Several of the troopers looked none too good - whatever was down here could easily be contagious. And even if it was not you could not risk showing the risen dead the way past the seal. Sure, 'Colonel' Haxtes had ordered the 97th Scintillan to establish a wider, overlapping perimeter with no discernible rear. But would that be enough? If the risen got out beyond the seal, could they not spread to other mines without ever breaking the surface? Most likely. No, Rykehuss had it right - you need to alert the outside and hope that they can relieve you before time runs out.

You pick up the others on your way up to the seal. Save for your guide. He's done his part and his reward is a swift death by bolt shell to the back of the head. In Haxtes opinion he's done much to save his own soul - but in the end only the Emperor can make that call. And the penalty for heresy is still death, repentance or not.

Speaking of executions - Commissar-Cadet Castus has also been forced to put down a few of his men. Worn out and injured some of them had started to succumb to the curse-infection-whatever that had already turned so many brave men into soulless ghouls. In Castus opinion it's better to die still a  man than to live on like that - and given the situation this is an opinion shared even by the men he's put down.

----

Topside. You could pop the seal now. You've got Rykehuss' Rosette and access to his still-fresh gene-signature. But you've already decided against it. Maxi tries the hard-line vox hanging next to the seal - it rings, but no one picks up on the other side. Haxtes has more luck with his old hab-wife; he manages to reach Odessa and relays key events and the general situation to her. She passes it on to Xerza. The order comes down though Odessa - keep the seal shut and stay alive, help is coming, but precautions must be taken before the door is opened. Figures.

You establish overlapping fields of fire in the main access shaft. You've got the Arbites squad, a demi-platoon of Guardsmen that can fight, several more injured men that can do little more than kill themselves if need be, a brave Commissar-Cadet, and three Inquisition Acolytes. Let them come. By the Throne, let them come!

----

And come they do. They try stealth first, but that doesn't work. They are not ghosts - and only ghosts can get past the watchful eyes of the Inquisition. So you pick off the first few stalkers and wait. Next they try a big assault. That nearly overwhelms you, but your preparations pay of - you bring a mass of firepower to bear within a narrow time/space frame, and power-maul wielding Arbites stand ready to clobber anything that get through the gauntlet of deadly energy and exploding rounds.

Time passes. The third time they try a multipronged assault - they've gotten to the higher levels by way of secondary accessways and now they move in from multiple directions. You keep them at bay for as long as possible, then fall back towards the seal in an ordered fashion. Once more you beat them back - but now you stand with your backs against the metal and the rock. Ammo is low, several men are missing, and more are injured or simply exhausted.

Haxtes moves back into the shaft area to recon. He can hear them down there, in the dark. Many more. This is it, the last stand. He moves back to join his companions...and the seal unscrews from locked position and swing outwards on massive hinges. Cool evening air rush into the mine...bringing with it the sweet scent of hope.

Correction; bringing with it hope - and a horde of black-armored Arbites. The Calixis Rapid Response Precinct has landed - rank upon rank of black human beetles. And behind them the massive black slab that brought them down from orbit - an Adeptus Arbites Orbital Drop Fortress, capable of carrying a division-sized force of the Emperor's lawmen from orbit and onto a rebellious planetary surface.

You've little chance to act - the flood of black bodies take you all down and secure you. They have their orders. Even their fellow Arbites within the mine are brought down and secured. They are clearly not taking any chances. Or playing at favorites. Haxtes gleefully watches Maxi being laid low by his own - and feels something akin to respect for these men and their unrelenting ways. Who would have thought.

----

As you are dragged outside and towards the waiting decontamination facility erected outside, the Arbites move forward, shotguns chattering away at full auto and power mauls hitting for effect. However many the risen number they are now outnumbered, outgunned, and outmaneuvered. It might be irrational to hate a bunch of animated corpses, but surely there was never a moment of sweeter revenge!