The sound of gunfire rang through the temple of the Emperor. Through the din trooper Fitzgerald could make out the high pitched whine of lasguns, as well as the coarse roar of an autocannon.
There were only five of them left, and the Sarge was dead. They had fallen back to the only place on this damned planet that was still under the light of the Emperor. A small chapel on the city outskirts.
Suddenly, the deafening gunfire ceased.
Fitzgerald looked around at his comrades and then to the Imperial Eagle, pocked with bullet holes, hanging above the alter. Had the Emperor smiled upon them?, he began to wonder.
Suddenly the barricaded doors of the chapel exploded, and high explosive bolts raked the room. Fitzgerald watched as the other men were shredded to a pulp by the weapon, then poked his head over the pew he was using for cover. What he saw drove him instantly mad, and he fell convulsing and bleeding.
The chaos marine primed a melta grenade and threw it at the Eagle.
Chaos had taken Lerantus Prime.