Subject

Subject #696 is an unstable and unknown alien entity secured from the hulk Damnatio Magellus when it reappeared in the Slinnar Drift. The Magellus had been lost sixteen decades previously from the fleet of Rogue Trader LeCouer when it became separated from his flotilla during an unexpected warpstorm. The space hulk itself bore the marks of violent attacks when it reappeared. Gaping rents torn in her hull called to mind the monstrous claws of Tyranid bio-ships, but what the Space Marines found inside exceeded even those behemoths in horror.^[1]

The Kill-team was led by Deathwatch Chaplain Titus Strome at his own request, an unusual action for the dutybound old warrior. He shared a strong premonition with his team that a great foe lurked within as they breached the inners eals and he was soon proven right. Nestled in the command cathedral they found the creature that had killed the entire crew of the Magellus at rest among the charnel refuse of its victims. A slithering, monstrous thing of claws and tentacles rose to challenge the Space Marines, seemingly made of equal parts squid, bird and spider.^[1]

The Battle-Brothers righteously belaboured the towering entity with stormbolter and plasma gun, but it availed them naught. For every limb burned or shot away, two more grew instantly to replace it and with each passing moment the beast became ever more hardened against their assault. Promethium and chain blades fared better for a time, but the creature’s endurance seemed relentless and no central mass or brain stem could be found. Alaix was torn in two by grasping tentacles, and Faynor pierced from neck to crotch by a feathered bone-blade before, in desperation, Chaplain Strome employed a relic he had carried for over two centuries to overcome the alien fiend. ^[1]

The Temporus Agitens was a master-crafted stasis bomb said to come from the hand of Magos Justinius Krenz, a fist-sized device able to stop time in a small radius for limited duration before expending itself. The beast of the Damnatio was engulfed by the stasis field in a brilliant flash and trapped like an insect in amber.Chaplain Strome briefly considered redirecting the stricken hulk into the nearest star but his duty to the Long Vigil stayed his hand. Such an apparently-unique specimen needed to be examined and identified so that it could be countered, especially as the grizzled Chaplain knew of no comparable beast from all his long years of service in the Deathwatch. The transfer back to Erioch was fraught with difficulties. Another death and several injuries were incurred before the thing was finally securely contained in the Xenos Bestiarium.^[1]

To date, examinations of Subject #696 have been largely fruitless and frustrating. Early theories of it being a warp-induced mutation or a Tyranid organism have been disproved, even though it shares traits with both. No weapon or attack has been found that is fatal to it, although several have been discovered that considerably retard its extraordinary penchant for regeneration. It has been postulated that the entity may be manifestation of a being dwelling in another dimension with only limited ingress into our own—feeding tendrils pushed through a crack, in effect. How such a creature might be killed and whether it is truly unique remain riddles that have yet to be satisfactorily answered.^[1]

This subject is currently sealed Watch Fortress Erioch and is considered at Ultraviolet threat level.^[1]

Source

• 1:Deathwatch: Rites of Battle, pg 241