Saul Tarvitz - Betrayal: The factor that Tarvitz was content as a line officer seems to have brought him disregard from the likes of Lord Commander Eidolon as a mediocrity, but history was to prove otherwise. While serving aboard Eidolon’s ship, the Andronicus, Tarvitz had discovered something amiss in the changing character of his Legion. Though he had the honour of leading the speartip of the initial assault upon Isstvan III, he made an unusual request of the Venerable Dreadnought known as Ancient Rylanor, requesting to remain aboard the Andronicus to function as Eidolon's senior staff officer.Tarvitz was suspicious of Eidolon's motives, for it was highly irregular for one of Fulgrim's favoured Lord Commanders not to take part in the speartip. Eidolon normally never passed up the opportunity to flaunt his martial prowess and for him to appoint another in his stead was unheard of. Though an unusual request, Rylanor honoured Tarvitz's request and took the captain's place in the assault.Upon discovering the scale and scope of the treachery that was about to unfold on Isstvan III when he learned that the fleet was preparing to unleash a viral bomabrdment upon Isstvan III while its Space Marines were still in combat, Tarvitz took it upon himself to act. He seized a Thunderhawk gunship and attempted to flee to the surface of the doomed world.During the opening stage of the first assault wave, the frigate Eisenstein picked up an unscheduled movement in their battle sector. They received a signal from another craft leaving the confines of the Lord Commander Eidolon’s ship, the Andronicus, from the Emperor Children's Legion. At first they thought that it might be the insufferable Eidolon making an unscheduled mission flight down to Isstvan III's surface, eager to take part in the battle. But they soon realised that the lone craft was a Thunderhawk, and behind it a cluster of Raven interceptors were in an attack delta formation. Confused by this turn of events, the Andronicus sent the Eisenstein a message ordering it to destroy the Thunderhawk on sight, as it was acting against the Warmaster’s commands and was to be considered a Renegade.At the same time, the Eisenstein also received a message from the fleeing Thunderhawk. The occupant was none other than Nathaniel Garro's honour brother, Captain Saul Tarvitz. Garro’s mind was full of confusion: a rogue Thunderhawk, the signal from Eidolon, the incredible command to terminate the fleeing vessel and the ranking Astartes officer aboard it. Garro wondered if this situation was some kind of test, a bizarre battle drill intended to assess the mettle of the Eisenstein’s command crew.Garro also wondered if it could it be true that Saul Tarvitz had indeed turned Renegade. If it was possible for Isstvan III's Imperial Governor Vardus Praal to turn against the Emperor, then perhaps an Astartes might do the same. Tarvitz’s next message was a dire warning, telling Garro that the entire Isstvan operation was treachery. Horus had betrayed the Emperor! The fleet was going to bombard the planet’s surface -- and the Astartes upon it -- with virus bombs!Tarvitz swore on his life that he would not lie to his honour brother. Every Astartes on Isstvan III was going to die. Saul Tarvitz was Garro's sworn honour brother, an oath sworn on the bloody fields of the Preaixor Campaign, when they had shed blood and stood shoulder-to-shoulder through the entirety of a bloody, ill-fated war that had seen many of their most beloved brothers killed. Tarvitz had earned Garro's amity and proven to him that for all the reputation of Fulgrim's Astartes as overconfident peacocks, there were men among the ranks of the Emperor's Children that embodied the ideals of the Imperium.To commemorate their bond as honour brothers, the two Astartes had carved a small eagle in each other's vambraces by knifepoint, a sign of the battle debt they owed one another. Such a friendship and bond of honour forged in the hell of combat was a powerful thing and Garro knew Saul Tarvitz well enough to know that he never exaggerated and never, ever lied. To imagine that his honour brother was lying to him now was beyond imagining, but to hear that the fleet was set to bombard their Battle-Brothers was equally unthinkable.Coming to a quick decision, Garro acted of his own volition and ordered the Eisenstein to destroy the Thunderhawk. But in actuality he altered the firing coordinates so that the frigate destroyed the lead Raven interceptor, whose explosion caught the other interceptors in its wake, due to their close formation. As Tarvitz's Thunderhawk was close to Isstvan III's atmosphere, he used the sensor disruption to slip away. Garro's men had just witnessed their commanding officer disobey a direct order from their superior. This was dereliction of duty, grounds for severe chastisement at a minimum. If the Warmaster learned of the Battle-Captain’s insubordination, it would taint them, and the entirety of the Death Guard Legion.Nevertheless, Garro ordered the ship’s crew to contact the Andronicus and inform them that the rogue vessel had been destroyed, and the explosion had claimed their pursuit ships as well. Though some of his men were made uneasy by the Battle-Captain’s actions, Garro explained to them that as an honour-brother, Tarvitz only spoke the truth, and his words were no falsehood.Tarvitz flew down to the doomed world to warn the Loyalists trapped there of the impending slaughter. In this he was instrumental in the survival of the Loyalists through the Virus Bomb attack and in mounting a cohesive defence against the Traitor attack, and in this perhaps also ultimately contributed directly to the outcome of the wider war.