June 9th, 2207
Unified Argent Corporation - Mars Facility
Estimated human population: 103

Samuel Hayden sighed.

He'd specifically ensured that his office would be spared from the demonic invasion alarms which had been blaring throughout the entire facility for the past two weeks, and yet he could hear them ringing - even through the blast doors separating him from the rest of the sprawling complex.

He sighed again as his desk lit up with an incoming call. He looked at the detonator built into his chassis, then at the shutters which had sealed away the view of Mars days before.

He took the call.

"Director Hayden, I'm sorry, we can't hold o-" a voice shouted, interrupted by a long pop-pop-pop burst of plasma-gunfire. "Can't hold out any longer!"

"That is acceptable," he replied.

"We'll delay the demons for as long as we can, Dire - squad, archviles, left side! Sir, it's now or never! Ortega out!"

He knew that his (probably ex) Chief of Security was right. Part of him indulged in the fantasy of calling him back, and he knew he would certainly have no trouble eradicating the hellspawn which had pushed humanity to extinction. But it would be a pointless victory - yes, he would live, but humanity would gain nothing. Humanity had already lost.

This round, at least.

He chuckled to himself, and looked at the dimensional-tether device sitting in the corner of his office, and walked over to it.

"I don't know if you can hear me. I doubt it. But, with things having gotten this...out of hand, I'll permit myself the indulgence," Samuel said. "I suppose, if you were to look at all this, you would believe yourself to have been proven correct. Because, for all your martial skill, you were always short-sighted. Never could see the bigger picture." He stepped into the device, called up a portal that would deposit him into the hidden room behind the tether device; moments later, he was deposited into a small chamber containing a stone column, four feet high and bearing an indentation. Samuel pulled the Crucible out of a compartment in his chassis, and activated it, watching as the blood-red blade flared to life out of the artifact's hilt. He slid it blade-down into the column and laughed as the room's walls lit up with endless rows of neon-blue synthetic rune-patterns.

If Samuel Hayden could have smiled, he would have.

He activated the detonator and laughed as the room folded in on itself, reality itself ripping apart as the concentrated blast of refined Argent energy began to work, corrupting time and space - for humanity's benefit.

Yes, Samuel thought as his chassis began to flicker out of existence. This time, we will not simply steal from Hell, like petty thieves in the night. No, we shall conquer it like gods, as you never could, warrior.

Yours is the shield that guards us from sin.
Yours is the blade that cuts down the enemy.
Yours is the name that seals my wounds.
Yours is the visage that grants me strength.

When I am faced with Hell, I beseech thee:
Grant me but a mote of your anger,
Grant me but a fraction of your hate,
Grant me but an inkling of your rage.

For you are the HELLWALKER,
the FIRST SENTINEL,
the UNCHAINED PREDATOR.
And above all, you are the DOOM SLAYER.

AMEN.

The First Prayer of The Slayer's Gospel

10th of the Third Umbral Wind, Year 1157 of the Twenty-Sixth Age
(June 9th, 2157 Council Era)

Councillors Tevos and Valern arrived at the same time, and both nodded at Tevos as they sat down across from Sparatus.

"So? What's the emergency?" Tevos asked, yawning. "Last I checked, the Council doesn't meet at three in the morning to celebrate."

"This," Fallox Sparatus said, pulling up a galaxy map and zooming in, "is System 314. Uninhabited system with only one other planet nearby, and the mass relay here is dormant. That was until a few hours ago. I was informed a few hours ago that one of our routine border patrols picked up something - this is footage sent from the patrol ship."

The hologram shifted, and both Tevos and Valern flinched.

It was a mass relay - that was undeniable - but its body, which should have been a metallic blue, was grey and covered in pulsing, fleshy tendrils which emanated from its core. What should have been the calm, soft, blue centre of the relay was an angry blood-red fire which beat like the heart of some great beast, and every so often the core would project a spherical array of strange runes around the relay.

"Goddess," Councilor Herane Tevos whispered, leaning back in her chair. "I've never even heard of a mass relay...malfunctioning, for a better word." She studied the hologram in the centre of the conference table intently, her mind racing for something, anything she'd read or heard in her lifetime that would lend sense to what she was seeing; the very sight of those unnatural runes made her skin crawl.

"Do we know that it's malfunctioning?" Saral Valern asked, his voice unusually uncomfortable. "Believe me, nothing in our files mentions anything like this - but it's not as though we are aware of how the mass relays function on a fundamental level."

"I was hoping one of you could answer that question," Sparatus said, shaking his head. "Captain Cantus Lucidas of the Stalwart - the ship which found the relay - says in his report that he and his crew considered sending a probe through to see what would happen, but decided to wait until higher authorities considered the matter."

"We'll have to contain this information for now," Valern noted, "while we put together some sort of response. The last thing we need is a panicked civilian response when we ourselves don't even know what's going on."

"I've already had my aides begin putting together Citadel Fleet elements to shore up security in the area," Sparatus replied, "but we'll also need researchers, scientists, experts and the like. Can we do that - quickly - without causing a panic?"

"I'll work on it. For the moment, I think it's fair to say that security and safety are our primary concerns," Tevos said, "and I guarantee we can put together a list of cleared individuals for a small science team rather quickly."

"Alright. Let's get to work then," Valern said. "I can arrange to have a list of individuals ready in the next hour or so - let me send a quick message to my secretary. I suppose we ought to start drafting a press release just in case this news leaks to the public somehow."

Sparatus nodded, sighing, and braced himself for a long day.