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.