Varus

Born in 874.M41 into one of the warrior families on the Ultramarine's Chapter World
Macragge, Varus's family, like all the others, dreamt of having a son in the
Ultramarines. For his family this dream became reality when Varus graduated the
academy ahead of his class and with a lot of promise.

Although
also an exceptional fighter, Varus's intelligence was especially remarked upon
by every instructor and trainer he had, which was only surpassed by his hunger
for more knowledge which seems insatiable. Early on he showed a special
interest into biology and physiology and the ways to treat the various human
conditions as well as every field related to it. It came as no surprise then
that Varus was being trained as becoming an Apothecary to his chapter almost
right after becoming a Neophyte.  After
becoming a full-fledged Battle-Brother he joined many missions in this manner
and earned a lot of honors for himself and his Chapter as a fierce fighter and
a brilliant Apothecary. Still the retrieval of Progenoid glands became a
constant and bitter companion on almost every mission.

30
Decades ago Varus joined an Ultramarine operation on the world of Thrax, which
lay at a vital point of crossing routes through the Immaterium in the Calixis
Sector. Thrax had become Chaos infested through a rift in the Warp by all
manner of vile daemons bolstered by Chaos Space Marines from the Word Bearers
Legion. The Traitor Legion had tainted the Forge World with their vile
influence till the Chaos Cult had spread so far that the firs summoning rituals
could take place.  The Chapter committed
two full companies to the effort of cleansing and rescuing Thrax, but when they
arrived on the surface it became soon clear that Thrax was beyond saving. The
effort to repel Chaos was made nonetheless. In the hopes of routing out the
Cult and closing the rifts the Ultramarines fought like the shining icons they
are known to be.

Varus and
his Squad were sent to investigate a forge complex on the southern continent.
When they arrived, a band of traitor Space Marines were already waiting for
them. Heavy fighting ensued and the traitors fought tooth and nail not to give
any ground and let the Ultramarines into the complex. But the sons of Guilliman
were unstoppable, with Varus killing a traitor in one to one combat. When they
realized that they would not be able to hold their position the traitors
started to retreat into the complex. Varus and his Squad gave chase, but lost
their trail just after entering. The Squad leader Cato gave the order to split
into two man teams to search the maze of tunnels.

Varus and
Lucian, whom he had known since the academy, followed down a tunnel to the east
of the structure which took them down two levels and into a series of
laboratories. Once they had descended the first level they lost contact to the
other teams. They
continued down the tunnel nonetheless and entered a big laboratory to their left. There a
lone figure was hunched over a table with various experiments. When the figure
turned towards them it became clear that at some point he must have been an
Adept of the Mechanicus Biologis, a human being with Omnissiah blessed
augmentations, but something had happened to him. His body was warped far
beyond what was normal, for a human or even a Space Marine and all his
proportions were somehow wrong. The tainted Adept seemed surprised to be
confronted by Ultramarines but found his bearings quick enough and opened fire
on the two friends. Before Varus or Lucian could engage him properly he was
joined by one of the fleeing Word Bearers and heavy fighting ensued.

Varus
engaged the Word Bearer in close combat, while the Adept tried to flee in the
confusion. The traitor was a taxing opponent, quick with this sword and strong
in his strikes, but Varus felt that he could overcome him. The Adept however
could not be allowed to escape. That the
adept had chosen flight over fight surely was to be a sign that the experiment
must somehow have gone wrong and despite all his mass he was not such a
fearsome fighter as he looked. So Varus told Lucian to stop the Adept from
escaping while he combated the Chaos Space Marine.

Lucian
hesitated for a second, but then gave chase to the Adept. Varus opponent wanted
to disengage and aid the Adept, but Lucian started raining down blow after blow
on him, so he had to turn all his attention to the fight. He proved to be even
more fearsome than Varus had initially thought and almost cut Varus Sword arm
off with a counter strike. But he had committed too much force to the cut, so
Varus stepped out of the way and used the moment when his opponent was not
balanced to push him over. Now towering over him, it took only one more strike
to behead the traitor.

He followed the direction Lucian had taken. He
found various signs of his friend trying to stop the Adept where he had fired
his bolter and the rounds had hit the wall. Finally he reached a huge hangar
which opened up into a small valley behind, so the entrance was well hidden. A
Thunderhawk fashioned with traitorous sigils and vile imagery was just passing
the hangar gates and escaped into the valley.

On the
hangar floor Lucian lay broken and dying. Varus rushed to his oldest friend,
but was unable to help him. Varus was
just retrieving Lucian's Progenoid glands when the rest of his squad arrived.
They had encountered the two remaining Word Bearers and had disposed of them.

Varus
reported what had happened to him and Lucian. Cato agreed with Varus that the
traitors must not be allowed to escape and they made haste to board a
Thunderhawk themselves. With the battle raging not only on the surface of Thrax
but also in orbit the traitors had no easy time to escape and the Squad was
almost able to catch up with them. Yet they managed to escape into the Warp
before they could be engaged.

Soon Varus was called upon to test and widen his skills on a new field of honor and was seconded to the Deathwatch of the Jericho Reach. Varus arrived on Watch Fortress Erioch eight months ago and has been trained in the
ways of the Deathwatch as every Battle Brother on their first turn. He had not been assigned to any Kill-Team yet when Kill-Team Stag was assigned a most perilous follow up Mission to their first on Tantalus. In light of the importance of the mission, Varus was to join Kill-Team Stag in their efforts on Avalos. And not in vain as the Kill-Team needed his expertise and skill more than once during the mission. But Varus also proofed to be a Battle-Brother the other members of Kill-Team Stag can rely on.

He stayed with the Kill-Team and joined them on their next Mission to Vanity as a permanent Squad member. A decision that has proven very wise as his skills were needed during the encounters of deamons and Chaos Space Marines alike. When the Kill-Team came across a xenon artifact that housed a C'tan shard which managed to escape due to brother Invictus unskillful handling, it was Virus who saved his life.