162. A Blast

Tiberius had set them down about half an hour’s march from their objective, which they covered in radio silence to avoid detection. To ensure effective navigation, Vox took to the air and guided them to the kill. There were other large flying creatures here. Not exactly birds but similar enough in their silhouette and movement patterns that Vox would not stand out much even if someone monitored the sky.
They were only about a hundred kilometres north of the canyons they had wandered through their first time on Corred and this area might have been the origin point of the spring flood back then. It was a mountain range littered with spritely, green bushes and could have been called to have softly flowing hills, had not the whole scenery sported a steep angle as it rose to the mountains in the distance. Here and there sheer rock broke the surface of lush grass, which looked like the fists of frozen titans, punching their way up from inside. The rock was of a dark, steely grey which seemed to go purple under the shadows. It reminded Titus of the veins in the white rock down in the canyons. When this thought occurred, he used his chance to let his gaze sweep down to where he thought he could see the narrow gorges far below them.
It was high noon when they reached the area they were headed for. Apparently, the Eldar were asleep right now, preparing for a raid in the night. 
The terrain changed drastically up here. The lavish green made way for a lot of different kinds of mosses and lichen. They gave the terrain a surreal beauty, made even more mystical by a number of dark, smooth mountain lakes.
Maybe once a field of meteor strikes, the undisturbed surfaces reflected the high, blue sky like upturned eyes watching the firmament in everlasting vigilance. The water in them was of an ominous, dark green. Clear and yet turbid after a certain depth, which would present challenges later. Their guiding angel circled over one of them to show them their destination.

In perfectly disciplined formation, Aegis marched up and into the water without hesitation.
Choosing this approach had cost Aegis their jump packs and none of them carried more than a plasma pistol. The spirits of their bolters could prove difficult when they got wet. In return, they were kitted out with a lot of explosives and the best melee weapons the Wings of War had to offer.
They made their way down in long, easy strides.
Finding the ship by sight proved difficult in the dark water and on the surface, the ripples of their entry had long vanished while they were still searching. To avoid detection by the unfamiliar technology of the xenos, they solely relied on infrared and their natural dark vision.
Huge, slick rocks covering the bottom of the lake posed an additional impediment to their progress. As they slid around on them, they were rather grateful for their exercise in Jericho Keep. What better way to prepare for this mission than to crawl over indistinguishable, slick surfaces without falling to their death?
They searched the bottom of the lake as systematically as possible but without ever being certain that their gridsearch was accurate enough not to miss out on the ship they were seeking.
After quite a while of fruitless search, something like a giant eel tried to eat Xavor. Frustrated and bored, the youngest Space Wolf took his chance to engage the thing and once dragged into the frightened creature’s lair, it was difficult to get him out again without being able to order him to return. At least this interlude heralded the end of their search. Grimfang had used the time to draw circles around the group and stumbled upon their objective.
Since Tiberius was importantly busy elsewhere, Luriel had teamed up with Ferone. Flanked by her partner, she now led the squad along the hull until she found a place she judged suitable.
Eldar ships were sleek, almost fragile things. They had strange webbing everywhere like fins or insect-like wings. On top of this, they were made of a psychically active material that could convey their presence if touched. As soon as Luriel started to lay the charges to get inside, they had about a minute before every Eldar on board would be alerted to their presence.
Under her helmet, the glint in her eyes was invisible but Luriel’s stance gave away how much she looked forward to playing with explosives. She gave the rest of the team instructions where to seek cover from the explosion. An explosion under water was far more vivid but had rather less radius because the water ate up the momentum. They needed distance to survive the blast but if they wanted the rushing water to carry them inside, they also had to stay close enough.
The techmarine opted for a distance at which she judged the chance of explosives on her comrades going off manageable and started to work. With fast, steady movements, she placed the charges and cut the time by detonating them by trigger instead of clock.
All of them had prudently dimmed their auto senses and Luriel had estimated the amount of explosives rather accurately. The blast was not devastating but a hammer blow to body and senses nevertheless.
As soon as it had passed, they all sprang forward, fighting the inertia of the water until the drag of the pouring in water caught them. 
Titus was the first inside, calmly crashing into the first wall he encountered and making his way to the right as soon as he found footing. Dankwart and Arhia who entered behind him, he sent to the left. The corridors were quite narrow and it was easy to steady themselves between the walls. The others all called out their positions when they entered but from here on, Vox could guide them again.
She had specifically instructed all of Aegis that she wanted to be informed who was close to Titus to make it possible for her to track his movements as well. The relevant team turned out to be Corven and Grimfang. It was a bit ineffective that captain and commander should fight in the same spot but Titus welcomed the brothers to his side anyway.
As soon as they left the water, the two Space Wolves used their chance to get rid of their helmets immediately. Titus had to smile. Grinfang, in the newly attuned black and red Mark VI armour, he had been granted for his promotion, had asked for the same black field Titus sported on his shoulder. It had been a solemn occasion and certainly no light decision for him but he had chosen to bind himself irrevocably to his saint.
Still. Deep down, the white wolf was exactly that: A Space Wolf to the core, sniffing the air, relying on his own senses rather than the mechanical ones. In his longing for the brutality and bloodshed that was the vocation of any Space Marine he was even more primal than his brothers from other chapters. Usually tame while among themselves, it was time to be wild among the xenos.
Titus made no attempt to resist the call to battle the two brothers projected. He removed his helmet as well.
Vox communicated the first instructions of where to find Eldar and the hunt was on.
Often, the three of them branched off, taking different corridors to cover as much space as possible. Since they each blocked a whole corridor with ease, this was also the only chance to get some foes for themselves. 
From time to time, they got reports from their comrades. Apparently, Luriel and Ferone had found the sleeping quarters while the rest of Aegis hunted fleeing xenos in the corridors.
Only a few minutes into the slaughter, the ship gave a strange, shivering groan and they all felt the acceleration when it took off. Titus knew that his beloved angel would settle on the roof of the ship now. From here on, she would have her mind exclusively free for her warriors. He grinned.
It took less than a minute before Ferone reported in again. He had taken out the first warp spider. Titus knew the commander for quite a while now and he had never heard so much satisfaction in his voice. He was certain that the Blood Angel had been warned by his saint but nevertheless. Warp spiders were nasty opponents. They appeared out of nowhere and their alien weaponry made them more dangerous than any other creature of their size.
Sadly, he himself would miss out on the glory of encountering one. Undetectable in the warp, they could not target him.
However, he remembered that Grimfang had been specifically warned about them and he decided to close in on the comrade to see if he could lend a hand.