Artellus Numeon - Demise of the Charybdis: When the Charybdis reentered realspace, Kaspian Hecht had confided himself to one of the ship's solitoria. His encounter with Quor Gallek had considerably shaken him. The growing sense of unease he had felt had become more acute, a sense of not being himself -- or rather, of not knowing who he was. His skin, his hands and even his face seemed unfamiliar to him, as if they belonged to someone else. Taking his polished knife, Hecht made a cut on his cheek, fascinated by the lack of blood flowing from the wound. Digging deeper he found a second skin beneath the face -- his true flesh. It showed tattooed Colchisian cuneiform. Realization dawned upon him: he was Barthusa Narek. Yet he was also Kaspian Hecht, the true Knight of Malcador having somehow imposed a part of his personality in Narek's psyche. As he true self reasserted itself, Re'kor Xathen confronted the Word Bearer, uncaring of where Narek's true loyalties lay. Xathen only had one intent -- to kill the Legionary whom he perceived as a traitor in their midst. Even when Narek stated that the Emperor's power had changed him and led him to betray his Legion, Xathen would not be swayed. Confident in his own fighting abilities, Narek readied himself to fight his erstwhile brother, when Lieutenant Esenzi's voice cut over the ship's vox. She quickly informed the crew all that had transpired -- Adyssian's death, the fact they had reached the end of their voyage and the emergence of the Reaper's Shroud and the Monarchia, and that they were about to engage. Baffled, Xathen had a second-long hesitation, more then enough time for Narek to rush the Salamander and knock him unconscious. Fearing the return of his former superior, Degat, Barthusa Narek began to look for a way to escaped the doomed ship.In the Charybdis’ launch bays, a lone gunship awaited its precious cargo -- the last remaining twenty warriors of the Pyre and their dormant Primarch. Vulkan's gilded coffin slowly glided aboard the waiting Thunderhawk on its anti-grav impellers. Mu'gara and Zarak, Xathen's two last remaining Pyroclasts, had volunteered to stay behind and defend the Charybdis. None had seen the brooding Pyroclast Sergeant since his earlier departure, and with time short at hand, none could spare the time to leave and look for him. With the ship's reentry into reality the mortal crew of the Charybdis were able to move freely again, all of them bearing the Nocturnean sigil of resurrection on their brows in echo of their masters. Numeon exchanged a final word with Chaplain Var'kir. As much as it pained every warrior on board the gunship, their mission had to succeed. The Reaper's Shroud and Monarchia opened fire on the Charybdis, their broadsides and lance strikes designed to strip void-shields and cripple their vessel, not destroy it. The true killing blow had already been launched -- assault craft quickly closing with every passing moment. Once the Salamanders gunship had successfully cleared the Charybdis’ starboard launchbays, Lieutenant Esenzi considered her options. Her mission was a simple one -- focus the enemy's attention on the Charybdis in order to distract the two Traitor vessels from the clandestine departure of the lone gunship carrying all of the Salamanders' hopes. Her ship was doomed and she fully well knew it -- for she had even suggested it herself -- but she would be damned if she would not go down without a fight. With the Charybdis taking heavy hits, Esenzi ordered all available weapons to target the Monarchia. The smaller cruiser quickly succumbed to the Battle-Barge's brutal barrages. However, by the time the enemy boarding parties reached the Charybdis it was already being gutting from the inside. The assaulting legionaries made short work of the valiant armsmen, and by the time the Monarchia succumbed to a huge fireball, the boarders had already broken through sixteen choke-points and barricades.Quickly it became apparent that the enemy still believed Vulkan aboard the Charybdis, the assault parties having split-up and continued to conduct a sweep of the cargo decks, while other parties reached for the bridge. The boarders had not reached the Charybdis unscathed though, as several gunships had been shot down and some parts of the mighty Battle-barge had intentionally been flooded with coolants or Promethium overspill which would be ignited when the enemy drew near. Some where cooked alive and other were blasted clear of the ship and left to freeze in the void. This strategy undoubtedly hurt the Charybdis, but it did not matter. Nothing mattered anymore. In a desperate gamble to earn Numeon and his brothers a little more extra time, Esenzi ordered all power diverted to the plasma drives, crashing through the shattered remains of the Monarchia in an attempt to reach and possibly ram the looming Reaper’s Shroud. With the enemy only two decks beneath her, the shipmistress covertly clutched a little pendant of the Aquila and began muttering prayers for Numeon and his companions. Those Salamanders that had gathered on the bridge were too busy readying themselves for the fight ahead to care. Many decks below, the Traitors finally turned on each other -- truth be told -- it had only been a matter of time. Degat, who had been leading a joint party of both Death Guard and Word Bearers in the quest for Vulkan's casket, had found the cargo deck emptied of its precious cargo. In a fit of rage he betrayed his allies before they could vox their master Maelig Laestygon. The Primarch or the Emperor's power made manifest, didn't interest him, for his goal was far more personal -- to kill the betrayer Barthusa Narek. Dismissing his own warrior, he began to prowl the cargo decks in search of his quarry only to be confronted by Xathen who was also hunting for Narek. Recognising each other, both warriors holstered their weapons and drew their swords to resume their earlier duel. Degat was halfway down the corridor when he realised his mistake. Narek had used Xathen as live bait and quickly appeared behind Degat, blowing out the Word Bearer's brains with a high precision shot. Despite Xathen's desire that he do so, believing the Word Bearer a traitor, Narek refused to take a second shot at the Salamanders, disappearing into the darkness and leaving Xathen to rush for the bridge.Aboard the Reaper’s Shroud, word had finally reached Laestygon that Vulkan had been exfiltrated by the Salamanders and all auguries were retasked with finding the fleeing remnants of the XVIII Legion. They quickly identified the fleeing Thunderhawk amongst a flock of saviour pods from the Charybdis, and almost immediately fighters were launched to shoot down Numeon's transport. Infuriated beyond sense by this turn of events, Laestygon ordered all weapons to open up on the Charybdis without consideration for the lives of those warriors which were still assailing it. On the dying Battle-barge, the last chapter of the tragic story was being played out. Breacher Squads of the Death Guard were charging the bridge even as the Reaper’s Shroud launched its killing bombardment, killing Esenzi, her armsmen and the pair of Pyroclasts, before Xathen charged in and thus saved the life of Chaplain Var'kir. Though blind and missing one of his legs as it was blasted off in the brutal fight, the Chaplain had to lean heavily on the Pyroclast Sergeant in order to stand. In the Charybdis’ final moments, the Chaplain and the former unbeliever looked upon Nocturne’s orb and hoped that their sacrifice had allowed their brothers to succeed. Then the valiant ship at last broke apart and the subsequent engulfing fire consumed them.However the Charybdis’ death did not mark the end. Believing the Salamanders’ strength destroyed on the sands of Istvaan, Malig Laestygon’s hand could not be swayed. He would kill Vulkan by any and all means and claim the Primarch's skull as his personal trophy. Despite Quor Gallek's warnings not to do so, the Death Guard ordered his warriors to prepare to assail Nocturne. This close to the Reaper’s Shroud, the Charybdis’ death throes had severely damaged the ship and killed dozens of warriors on board, even killing Laestygon’ second-in-command, which stood a scant few meters from him. Yet Laestygon did not relent. A pair of Fire Raptor Gunships and a Storm Eagle had closed with Salamanders’ craft and were opening fire on them even as they entered Nocturne’s atmosphere.