The companions continue to walk until they reach a control room. The officer punches in a code and scans his hand, and the door slides open. Cameron walks in just behind the officer and glances around the large room. The walls are lined with monitors. Most of them are showing various angle shots of the Eye of Terror, although a few here and there show scenes from different spots on Cadia. Cameron spots a familiar figure and walks into the room, dodging a few technicians and uniformed officers as they quickly move between different stations in the room. Cameron calls out to the large figure just ahead of him in the Blood Angels uniform.

"Lord Dante!"

The Chapter Master of the Blood Angels turns from the map table he had been studying. Seeing Cameron, he flashes a salute, which Cameron immedeately returns.

"Lord Aileron. You're here. And I'm assuming that means the Grey Knights have arrived as well. Is all well on Cellaris V?"

Cameron nods quickly.

"Yes. We were able to repair most of the damage from the Tyranid assault before leaving."

Dante frowns.

"Yes... I'm sorry we couldn't come and help, but we would not have arrived here in time."

Cameron nods.

"I understand. But I believe time against us right now... is everything ready?"

Dante gestures behind him at the map table.

"it's all here. But we're going to need a force on Cadia that can quickly clear the launch zone."

Cameron glances behind him at the companions.

"Will the strike team do? We can use Thunderhawks to get them back on the ships before we open the gate."

Dante nods in agreement.

"Fine. But we'll need them to be at the base on Cadia as soon as possible. There's a Thunderhawk docked in Gate 6 right now. I'll inform them to be expecting passengers."

Cameron glances over at one of the terminals, where technicians are coordinating traffic in and out of the station. He then looks back at Dante.

"Fine. I'll have that officer take them down to the ship and get them on their way. I need to speak with you and the other chapter masters to go over the final plan. Are they all here?"

Dante glances over his shoulder, where Commander Cortez of the Crimson Fists is gesturing at a troop deployment plan that is displaying on a screen. he is talking to Marlenus Calgar, master of the Ultramarines, who is modifying the force deployment chart on the screen using a terminal.

"Yes, they're all here. Calger and Cortez are over there, and the others are a chamber below us."

Cameron nods.

"Great. I'll go get the strike team moving."

Cameron walks back over to the companions and approaches the Ultramarines officer.

"Lieutenant!"

The officer quickly salutes.

"Awaiting orders, Lord Aileron!"

Cameron returns the salute.

"Good. Get my friends here to Gate 6. There's a Thunderhawk waiting to take them to Cadia."

The marine barks a quick "Yes sir" and then begins to move toward an elevator on the other side of the room. Cameron turns to the companions, noting that Kalana had already left the group and was now talking to Lord Dante.

"Okay, guys... just follow that officer. He'll take you to the ship that will take you to Cadia's surface. I'll be rejoining you guys shortly."

Cameron then turns away and walks back towards Dante. The officer has reached the elevator by now, and is holding the door open. he waits for all the companions to board, and then allows the door to close and starts the elevator's descent.

---

As the elevator comes to a stop, The officer glances up at the floor indicator.

"Here we are... Gate 6 should be the first gate beyond the lift."

The doors open, revealing a large metal corridor streching out for about 75 yards. There are large airlock doors set into either side of the corridor in various locations. The first one of these, with the number "6" displayed above it, is open, and the officer heads for this door.

Walking inside the large airlock, the companions can see another Thunderhawk gunship with it's doors open, waiting to be loaded. This ship, unlike the ones the companions had flown in earlier, is marked with the blue colors and the large omega "U" symbols of the Ultramarines. The officer gestures towards the ship.

"There you go... go ahead and load up."

The pilots of the sip wait for the companions to climb aboard and sit down. They then close up the ship. The officer leaves the airlock, and the corridors close and seal. Then the floor seems to drop out of the airlock, and the gunship is soon back in space, heading for Cadia. The pilot looks down at the companion sitting below him.

"Welcome aboard, lords and ladies. Please brace for re-entry."

---

The gunship breaks out of re-entry and swings above the top level of the hive-like structure that makes up the majority of the planet Cadia. Finding an opening, the gunship drops into the maze of walkways and suspended roads that interconnect the many levels of the structure. After moving down 5 or 6 levels, the gunship breaks into an opening and emerges near a large building which is obviously an Imperial Alliance military complex. There is a large platform marked off as an airfield close by, and the Thunderhawk drops in and lands easily. The doors open, and the pilot looks down once again.

"Well, guys... welcome to Cadia."

As the companions gaze at the verious structures around them, a familiar figure moves out of the shadows where he had been waiting. He raises his voice so that he can be heard by all.

"Welcome to Cadia, my lords and ladies. I am honored to be escorting you once again."

As always, there is no trace of any kind of emotion in the voice of the Imperial assassin Igtenos. He is still wearing the same clothing he had been wearing the last time the companions saw him, although it is obvious that they had been cleaned recently. the mask still covers the lower half of his face, and his steel grey eyes survey the group.

"We must move. We are already behind schedule, and we'll need your help to clear the lauch site. Please... follow me."

Igtenos moves to a nearby set of lifts. One of them is a civilian lift, and has signs posted on it with listings of various landmarks and their coresponding level numbers. The other is closed off by a locked gate, with a sign that reads "Restricted! For Authorized Military Personnel Use ONLY!" directly above another, smaller statement... "Direct lift to Cardias sector Command Post". igtenos produces a strange looking keycard and uses it to unlock the heavy gate. He then swings it open and climbs aboard the large lift. After waiting for the companions to board, he presses the down button on the control panel and closes the gate, and the lift begins to lower itself down into the depths of the hive city.

---

The top story of the 5 story command center is level with the landing pad the Thunderhawk had landed on, so the lift has to drop 5 levels before reaching the platform that the command center is actually built on. The lift comes to a stop, and Igtenos swings the gate open and walks out, beckoning to the companions so that they will follow. The large metal double doors of the command center are just ahead of them. They are open, and Marines in various different colored suits of power armor and Imperial Guardsmen running in and out of the doors. All are armed. Some are carrying heavy weapons, and some are carrying large crates or boxes of equipment, ammo, and firearms. To the companion's left, double doors on a large lift slide open, and a Rhino APC emerges and comes to a stop right next to the companions. The doors open, and 8 armoured marines emerge. They are leading two apparent prisioners.

---

The Rhino comes to a stop, and Sepher and Diego are lead outside. They find themselves standing in front of a large command center, with a large group of warriors flanked by an Imperial assassin to their immedeate left. The Captain of the Marine squad sees the group and immediately heads for the assassin.

"Sir! Is Lord Aileron with you? We have brought the suspects as he requested."

Igtenos shakes his head.

"he has not arrived yet, although I am assuming that he is not far behind. Just stay with us for the moment."

The captain nods and shouts orders to his troops. Igtenos sets out walking towards the twin doors of the command center, and the marines follow, leading Sepher and Diego behind them.

Cameron walks back down the corridor that leads to the air lock where the Starblade is currently docked. A number of marines pass him going the other direction, and they all salute, but Cameron barely notices them. His mind is elsewhere, replaying the quick meeting he had just been in. It had been in a conference room away from the action, with his fellow chapter masters Lord Dante and Marlenus Calgar of the Ultramarines. The meeting had been brief.

"We have a problem. it's about the launch site."

Dante's words play in Cameron's mind over and over again. It's strange how two different worlds can suddenly merge into one just when you least expect it.

"The launch area is occupied by a rapidly growing group of cultists who, unlike the mixed groups around Cadia, have actually rallied under one leader. They are well organized and armed with much better equipment then all the other cultists on the planet. And we'll need to fight through them to clear the launch zone."

Cameron keeps thinking back to before he joined the Marines. back when he was still just an infamous bounty hunter. He thinks back to the last job he did before leaving Mars for good.

"We feel that the only way to route these cultists fast enough to still be in our jump window is to break up their infastructure. We have to kill their leader. But we don't know who he is, or even what he looks like, cause we've never been able to interrogate anyone who's ever seen him. He speaks through another."

Cameron reaches the airlock and steps inside. The door behind him slams shut. There is a mechanical rumble along with the whooshing sound of the air being forced into the tunnel which has now sealed in-between the Starblade's hatch and the airlock, and then the large metal doors slide open in front of him. Cameron walks down the catwalk, scans his hand on a scanner next to the Starblade's hatch, and the hatch unlocks and slides open. Cameron walks into his ship, and the hatch closes behind him.

"The man the cultist leader speaks through is known as Big Mike. No one really knows why he's on Cadia in the first place, or why he's sided with the cultists in the first place, since he's a cyborg and obviously has no chance of the mutation that almost every cultist has, but he's here. And one of our marines spotted him 5 minutes ago, entering a club just beyond the current location of the warp border. We need someone to go in there and get him, but it has to be someone who's not affiliated with the Alliance. The moment the Alliance officially moves against this cultist faction, they'll tighten their defenses and we'll have a siege on our hands. That could take days. And we only have 4 hours."

Cameron walks to the middle of the center chamber of the Starblade and unlocks a hatch there. he descends a ladder and finds himself in the cramped quarters of the lower cargo hold, which currently contains his personal ship, the Swordfish that he had picked up after nailing his first big bounty. it's wings are currently folded up to allow it to fit inside the small hold. Cameron closes the hatch behind him and drops down onto the ship. He then opens the cockpit and slips inside.

"Cameron, we need your help on this one. You're the only one of us who has just as many connections outside the Imperium as he does within it. And we're requesting that you contact one in particular. The bounty hunter cLuTcHFieND. We know you know him personally. If you can contact him, and he can get here in time, we'd be willing to honor the Mars government's bounty that they've had on this man for almost 6 years now. We just need him alive."

Cameron closes the cockpit. He then looks down at himself. he is still in his millitary uniform. he glances at the bracelet on his right wrist, and then presses a button it, and his outfit quickly shifts. Now he is wearing his treanchcoat and sunglasses, and a quick check shows that all of his weapons are in place. His eyes flash blue, and his physical precense changes. Any of the soldiers who had just saluted him who saw him now would have no idea who he is. And that's just the way Cameron wants it. he smiles as he engages the Swordfish's engines and presses the button that will open the lower hangar doors of the Starblade and allow him to drop out.

"Yeah... I can find cLuTcHFieND for you. He's almost always close by."

30 seconds later, the black Swordfish II speeds out away from the space station and heads for Cadia.