Post by tylertt on Mar 29, 2014 2:44:30 GMT
This is the first chapter in a story about a planet undergoing a Tyranid invasion. I will be updating this post with each new chapter I finish. This is the first of a three part story.
The sun rose over the fields as it did every morning. The plants and crops in the field almost seemed to come to life when the warmth of the suns rays came over them. The early morning sun then washed over him as he went out to perform his daily chores.
As he passed the sturdy metal fence leading into the fields he turned and saw his Father coming out to join him. His father was saying good-bye to his Mother as he did every day before he and his son went out into the fields to prepare and tend their crop. It was hard work, but he enjoyed the time with his father. His father taught him the importance of their work, as it was their job to keep the Imperial citizens fed and healthy. He told him often that their job was one of many that were required to keep things in harmony; everyone depended on one another to survive. He had also learned many other lessons in that field over the years, lessons he dreamed of teaching his own children one day.
Their home consisted of a small farmhouse, with a large span of agri-farm land on the Imperial world of Ellias Prime. It was a flourishing world, with many opportunities for an Imperial citizen. Many in the country area went to the grand Hive Cities to join the Imperial Cult, or even the ranks of the famed Imperial Guard Regiment, the Steele Legion. It was certainly true that opportunities were presented to the youth of Ellias Prime, but even so, he knew his place was on this farm with his father.
He turned and saw his father walking up to the metal fence, who stopped at the gate. His father smiled at him, as he raised his hand and waved to his son. The boy tried to return a smile back as he stood in the field alone. He felt odd, as if he could not remember how to smile. Black clouds suddenly covered the sky as the light was blocked out. He waved for his father to come out the field. His father just smiled and stayed at the gate. The boy suddenly felt truly alone. Fear started to over take him. He looked to his father, who still stood at the gate, smiling, and then faded off into the distance.
Calidus jumped as he snapped back to reality to the sound Sergeant Bronson yelling orders here and there to the crowd of men he now commanded. As he stood in the trampled mud, he looked upward. The sky was dark with unnatural looking clouds. It had been this way for a few weeks now. He had missed the warmth of the sun, and even more missed the field and farmhouse he once called home.
It had only been a few weeks since the invasion began. It all started off as unnatural weather conditions occurring on the planet. The sky darkened and cast a gloomy feeling of dread over most Imperial citizens of Ellias Prime. Then the disappearances started. At first it was mostly livestock and wild animal carcasses that were found, but then people started disappearing all over the planet in different cities and towns. Finally the first contact was then made.
From the skies rained down bio-engineered monstrosities, the death of this Imperial world. It only took several days before the planet was in a state of emergency, and the Imperial armies mobilized.
The men and women of the Imperial Guard fought to fend off the invaders, but they proved too much to stop them completely. The Imperial Guard regiments began evacuating towns and moving citizens into the last remaining Imperial held location on Ellias Prime, Hive City Ghirdoris.
Calidus, his father, and several others had been evacuated from their farmhouses by a small Imperial Guard rescue team just as the monsters attacked them. Since being rescued and arriving at the city, they were recruited by the Imperial Guard’s remaining Steele Legionnaires to help defend the planet. The Imperial army had suffered many casualties and had been forced to have every man or woman over the age of 10 take up arms against the invaders.
“Tyranids is what they are called”, said Feltor.
“Is that so?” asked Marius.
“According to this dataslate provided to me by Sergeant Bronson”, replied Feltor, as he passed it over to Marius.
“If these things have been found and named before, can they be stopped?” asked Calidus turning to his father.
“My son, remember your lessons as a young boy. The Emperor protects us always, and he shall bring us salvation.” said Marius.
“But we have both seen the destruction these beasts have brought upon our home father, I am unsure what can save us.” said Calidus.
Marius drew a smile through his bearded face as he turned to look at his son, “Do not give into fear or thoughts of damnation my dear son, keep your faith strong and let it be your light.”
Calidus felt his heart warmed and the creeping unease of fear vanish as his father shared his guiding wisdom with him once again. His father always knew what to say to help keep his spirits up.
Feltor grinned at Marius as he said, “I still to this day cannot believe that you a farmer can come up with quote that should belong with one of the Priest of the temple. I still think you were planted out by the Inquisition there to monitor our faith in the fields!”
Marius let out a small laugh as patted his dear friend on the back. “They knew you could have been trouble if you were left unchecked!”
The three of them then laughed together as they sat on the open hatch of a Chimera armored transport, awaiting the orders to be given to them and the rest of the patched together Platoon led by Bronson.
Calidus looked down at the las-carbine rifle in his hand. He had never held a military grade carbine rifle before, and was only used to the old single shot rifle back on the farm. It felt weird for a boy of only 14 years to be heading off to war. Not just any war either, a war to determine the result of all Imperial life on Ellias Prime. His helmet also did not fit quite right as it was much too large and covered over half of his face if not tied snug to his skull.
Calidus scratched his dirty blonde colored hair as he removed his helmet, scanning the rest of the men being armed around them. All of the newly ‘recruited’ citizens in the army wore a rough set of military uniforms. Most of which did not fit quite right on a lot of people. Most of these ‘recruits’ were farmers like them, or other Imperial citizens who were rescued as the entire planets population made for the Hive City.
He looked at Feltor and his father as they too were now silent and scanning the rest of the Platoon. His father was a strongly build man of 47 terran years of age. He had a small bit of dark brown hair left on his head and had a small beard on his darkly tanned face which bore speckled patches of grey hairs growing in. Though his father was a strong looking man from working in the fields, his age and wisdom was starting to show. Though Feltor on the other hand was only a few years younger then Calidus’ father, he looked much younger, and was equally strong built. Feltor was always clean-shaven and had short black hair.
Though they were all dressed for combat, they did not fit the part or look of a soldier, and looked out of place being in this platoon. The Platoon under Bronson’s commond had once been known as Bronson’s Bulls. All of Bronson’s men were killed in the first few days of the invasion however, with Bronson and a few critically injured men being saved by a rescue team.
They all stood in one of the hangers of the Steele Legionnaires strongholds, which surrounded Hive City Ghidoris with a series of walls and strongholds. There were multiple air defense gun batteries throughout the strongholds, which was likely why the city remained in Imperial control.
The three of them looked up as Sergeant Bronson called to the attention of all his newly recruited men. They all then got up and went over to be addressed by their Sergeant.
“I have just received orders that we have lost contact with one of our outposts along the northern perimeter of the outskirts surrounding the city. This outpost is a key structure that we need communications to be restored with. This outpost is one of many that we are using to monitor for potential Tyranid attacks”, said Bronson as he eyed each one of his men, “We will load up in three Chimera armored transports, and move out in 30 minutes. Check your weapons and ensure you are ready to saddle up and slaughter any of these ugly bastards we come across! You all were provided detailed dataslates regarding what we know about our enemy. I’d advise you all to do a little research, as I can’t save all your asses out there!”
The rest of the platoon replied with a extremely uncoordinated, “Yes sir!”
Bronson looked at his men as he chewed on a freshly lighted cigar. His large figure was quite imposing when compared to some of the smaller men in the platoon, although both Feltor and Marius rivaled him in size, but nowhere in experience. Bronson then turned and went to prepare his own gear as he donned his helmet over his baldhead.
With the rest of the platoon still gearing up, Calidus, Marius, and Feltor returned to sit on the open hatch of the chimera. All three felt a little uneasy about going into a potential battle.
Feltor lifted up his las-carbine and looked down the sights.
“A little more solid then what we are used to wouldn’t you say?”
“Perhaps a bit”, agreed Marius.
“Do you think we will see combat at all?” asked Calidus, his unease at the thought of getting close to the Tyranids showing.
“I personally think it should be fine”, said Feltor, “We get out there quickly, and return even quicker. I can just hope that the Lord Commissar upstairs is coming up with a way to deal with things. Every day there are more and more rumors that the Tyranids are advancing en masse to the city.”
“Perhaps the Angels of Death shall come to our salvation”, said Marius as he nudged Calidus, “If we keep out faith about us, the Emperor will smile upon us.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breathe”, said Feltor, “They have been broadcasting a distress signal since this all started. Somehow these creatures have blocked our long range communications systems, or whatever form of communication we use for something of this degree.”
“Just stay close to us Calidus”, said Marius as he put a hand on his son’s shoulder, “I know you a strong young man, and can hold your own. Us three will stick together out there, and we will all walk back through the gates of the city together.”
Calidus felt comfort at the positive words his father provided him, and returned his fathers gaze and was able to return his warm smile. Something that Calidus had almost forgotten how to do altogether.
A siren then went off and was followed by Bronson’s voice filling the hanger through use of the vox caster. “Saddle up everyone, we are moving out in 5”.
The rest of the platoon then turned came to fill each of the chimera’s in turn. Calidus almost felt a bit of excitement over this mission having gained some confidence from his father. As Calidus strapped into his seat and lay his las-carbine across his lap, he felt the vehicle rumble to life as Bronson came on and slammed the hatch closed.
The only thing Calidus could hear now was the rumble of the chimera and the faint sound of his fathers voice next to him praying for the Emperors grace upon them all. Calidus’ mind however kept going back to his daydream of being back in the field on his own with his father standing at the gate waving towards him. It gave a strange feeling of unease that he could not shake off.
II
They had been in the field for what felt like an eternity. Having had to wake up much earlier then he was used to give this illusion for time standing still. In reality they had only been working in the fields for little more then two hours.
He had reached the age in which he was now strong enough to go out into the fields with his father and help him work on their crops. His father used to have farm hands to assist him, but even in these prosperous times for Imperial citizens on Ellias the life for a small agri-farm on the far outskirts was tough. Financial issues forced them to cut back on the hired hands, and it was now his job to help his father feed and support their family
It was hard work, especially for a boy of 7 years. He was not used to the strain and pains laboring in the fields brought down upon the body. He tried to keep up with his father as best he could. Even though it was hard work, he enjoyed it. It gave him a strong sense of joy to finally be able to work with his father and contribute to the farm. He knew one day he would inherit it all and continue on the legacy of his family.
As he watched his father make preparations to the small harvester they owned, he thought back to the conversation he had earlier this morning with his father. Being still very young, he had asked his father just what the importance of farming was. His father stopped, and knelled down beside him as they neared the gates to the field. His father had looked him in the eyes and smiled.
“My son, this farm does much more then just feed our family. All of these farms out here help to feed and support the rest of the planet. They depend on us, and we in turn depend on them for many other things as well. We are all one under Aquilla my boy, the Emperor protects us all and has a purpose for each one of us.”
He smiled as he thought back to what his father said. He indeed was still a young boy, but even so he felt he aged 10 years with each bit of wisdom his father shared with him.
* * *
He had lost track of time. Calidus was sure it was only an hour or two they were driving for, but it felt like time had stopped. There were no windows, and all of the crew in the chimera transport was strapped in to their seats, save for Sergeant Bronson, who paced up and down the small walk space was available.
“What is our ETA?” he called up to the pilot.
“10 minutes unit we reach the insertion zone Sarge,” came the reply.
Aside from these brief exchanges, the chimera was almost silent. The only one who spoke was Feltor, who would make remarks every now and then as he studied the dataslates, which held tactical details on the Tyranids. Marius had been silent on the way thus far.
“Do not be afraid my son”, said Marius as he turned his head to look at Calidus and gave him a smile.
“I am not afraid father”, replied Calidus, though his eyes betrayed his words. Calidus looked down quickly as he tried to fight the tears that started forming in his eyes.
His thoughts drifted back to the escape from their farmhouse.
“I wanted to make them pay for what they have taken from us! I want to spill their blood!” said Calidus as his anger and pain echoed in his words.
“Son, there was nothing you could have done to save her”, said Marius and he placed his hand onto Calidus’ shoulder. “Do not let your pain control and break you. Stay strong to honor her sacrifice, we must be strong so that we can save lives.”
Calidus let out a deep sigh as he let his hot anger go.
“I am no solider. I am just a young boy still and only a farmer”.
“You are alive my boy. You are meant for great things, and she knew it as well. Stay strong and we shall come to the light in all of this darkness and pain.”
Marius gave a firm squeeze on Calidus’ shoulder. As the two both became silent as the chimera rumbled along.
“Ter-ma-gants? These ones look to be the basic ‘infantry’, of the Tyranids”, said Feltor, breaking the silence as he studied the dataslate, “These things don’t look too tough!” as he joked and raised his voice a little louder then he would have preferred.
Sergeant Bronson wheeled around on the spot and glared into Feltor’s eyes.
“Uhh ahh, sir, I didn’t mean it quite like that”, said Feltor quickly in hopes of diminishing the wrath Bronson had in store for him.
“These things took ALL of my MEN!”, spat Bronson, fury boiling in his eyes.
As Bronson went to open his mouth to unleash his full wrath, the pilot called up from his seat, “Sir we have arrived, dropping the hatch in, 5.. 4.. 3..”
Bronson glared at Feltor for a second more and moved into the middle of the transport, his red-hot anger vanishing.
“Lets move out you maggots”, he said into his helmet vox link. Each of the platoons men heard his raspy voice in their earpieces of their helmets.
As they all unlatched their straps, Bronson moved over to the hatch and slammed it open, and moved out into the open field. As he surveyed the land he spoke into his vox link once more, “Alright men, we got a 5 minute walk ahead of us to the outpost. The chimeras will wait for us here, as we don’t want to draw too much attention if this site has indeed been overrun. They will rejoin us once we have cleared the site.”
The entire platoon was now assembled out in front of Bronson. The outskirts of the city were barren, save for the odd piece of rubble here or there. Most of the small buildings that were around were destroyed in the bombardment to protect the city when a small Tyranid force attacked it. The air was misty and a foul odor was in the air. It felt like a eerie graveyard of some sort.
“Everyone follow my lead and keep your eyes open for anything. Your helmets do not have direct links to our communication system, but they do have a alarm beacon on the right side bottom rim.” he said.
With that he turned and walked towards their destination, as his men followed close behind, guns held nervously at the ready.
“You best keep that mouth of yours shut more often”, teased Marius, as they followed the platoon.
“I may have stepped a wee bit out of place, but I could have easily held my own! Lucky for him we arrived”, said Feltor with a sly grin displayed on his face.
Calidus grinned as Feltor tried to play off his almost close encounter with the Sergeant.
“Tell me Feltor, what all did you learn about the Tyranids?” asked Calidus as they marched forward.
“As I said earlier, it looked like the termagant is the basic infantry unit of their swarms. They fire flesh-eating beetles from a bio-organic weapon of some sort. The other kind is a clawed talon version of the termagant, called a hormagaunt.. The dataslate only contained minor information on the Tyranids, but I did learn smarter more intelligent creatures control these smaller life forms however. I guess they simply just attack mindlessly to consume planets, and then move to the next one. Their numbers appear endless as well”
“I’ll be damned if I let them take this planet though!” said Marius.
“Aye!”
Calidus was also about to agree with his father when one of the other soldiers screamed and fired off a shot into the ruins of a small building on their right. Immediately the rest of the platoon ran for cover, with a few other soldiers firing off random shots in the same direction.
“Hold your fire! You want to alert the entire Tyranid swarm you idiot!” yelled Bronson as he calmly walked over towards the small building.
“I saw something! There was a eye in the rubble pile,” said the soldier fearfully.
“There is absolutely nothing here”, said Bronson as he walked over to the small rubble pile and looked around. He then looked down and picked up a small lumi-lamp, which was glowing red.
“You’re firing at a damn lumi-lamp from the top of one of these ruined fuckin’ buildings! Your what, 30 years old, and you don’t even know what a damn lamp looks like?!”
Bronson groaned and started towards their objective, “These are no damn soldiers,” he muttered to himself.
The man looked down at the ground as the rest of the platoon let out a sigh of relief, as the threat was revealed as false. They all moved to follow their sergeant.
Calidus, Marius, and Feltor all lowered their las-carbines, with them being one of the few who did not run and hide for their own lives.
“We best keep out wits about us out here”, said Marius.
“Agreed”, said both Calidus and Feltor.
The platoon continued to advance to the location of the outpost, as the mist started to clear and the small military structure came into view. The structure was far enough out of the outskirts that it survived the bombardment that was sent from the cannons in the towering city above.
It was a small building with a small set of defenses around the outside. There was a set of barricades about 4 feet high, with a large section of razorwire circling the barricade. There were two autocannons mounted on the barricades as well, both pointed towards the forest, which was about 70 feet ahead of the outpost.
The platoon took cover behind some rocks and small patches of overgrowth as they looked at the surroundings nervously.
“Numis”, said Bronson, addressing one of his men, “Grab your magnoculars and tell me what you can see. It looks clear me down there.”
The soldier looked through his magnoculars at the structure down ahead. He scanned the walls and defense line. Finding no signs of any bodies, or even any sign of a struggle, he turned to face Bronson.
“It looks clear sir”, said Numis.
“Alright men, lets move in and see just what the hell is going on here”, said Bronson.
The platoon got up and started to move towards the outpost.
Calidus walked with Marius and Feltor near the back of the platoon.
“Something feels weird”, said Feltor.
“Agreed”, said Marius, “There are no signs of any fighting at all here”.
“Perhaps they deserted their post in hopes to try and get onboard a transport off Ellias”, suggested Calidus.
“Well if they did, then they are (please do not swear) out of luck”, said Feltor, “The last of the ships were called to the orbital stations to defend against the Tyranids, and to help evacuate the planet. And we all know just how well that went”.
“Let us pray we do not share whatever fate found the men who were here”, said Marius.
As they reached the outpost, the platoon climbed past the razorwire and into the inner ring of the defense line. Finding the door to the interior of the outpost, Bronson went up to open the door. Entering in the security access code, he stepped back as the code was accepted. He waited for the door to slide open, but it did not budge.
“The hell is this?” said Bronson dully.
“I think it is jammed sir”, said one of the soldiers.
“Thank you for that explanation”, said Bronson sarcastically as he turned to look at his men.
They all looked extremely on edge, save for a small selection of them. They all held their las-carbines nervously.
“Well now that we have concluded the door is indeed stuck, lets crack this (please do not swear) open, Numis, bring up the cutters”, said Bronson.
He waved to Numis, as he stepped forward and took off his backpack. Pulling out the small pair of plasma cutters, he began working on opening the door.
“You three”, said Bronson as he pointed to Feltor and two other men, “get on point here with me. This door could be locked for a reason. The rest of you, take a quick look around, see if you can find what happened here.”
Feltor and the two men moved up to Bronson as the rest of the platoon walked around the rest of the outpost.
“Raise those weapons you two”, said Bronson, “No good came from just walking into the room asking to have your head blown off.”
Feltor raised his las-carbine as Numis finished his work.
“All good sir, on your mark.”
“Move in!” said Bronson as Numis yanked the door open.
Bronson and Feltor were the first into the room, weapons raised and ready. The other two men followed closely behind with Numis.
Feltor nearly choked from the smell, as they quickly discovered its source. Human viscera were splattered all over the room. The smell was overwhelming, as it had rotted inside the small outpost.
“What the hell happened here”, said Numis anxiously.
In the middle of the room was a burrowed out hole.
“The bastards dug up inside here”, said Bronson. “Numis, get me a detonator charge. We got to blow this hole out.”
Bronson turned to Feltor.
“Go outside and tell the rest of the bulls to get into defensive positions. This all seems like a setup.”
“Yes sir”, said Feltor as he turned to exit the room, glad to be leaving the terrible smell.
Bronson tapped the side of his helmet and activated the vox link. “This is Sergeant Bronson to chimera team zero-six. We have reached the target, and are fortifying our positions now. Outpost echo has been taken out, and we are reestablishing our comm link to base.”
“Roger Sergeant Bronson, zero-six standing by until extraction has been requested. Over and out.”
“Will advise you of our status”, said Bronson as he cut the link.
Numis came back into the room with the charges.
“Numis, set them down in the hole there. I want a proximity detector on them in case those bastards try coming back.”
“Aye sir”, replied Numis as he started setting the charges.
Bronson went over to the comms link to reestablish the connection back to the defense grid back at Ghidorias, and alert them of the outposts’ status.
Back outside Feltor began addressing the rest of the platoon.
“Attention everyone”, shouted Feltor, “We are to take up defensive positions around the outpost. The crew inside were slaughtered, and we need to prepare in case of another attack.”
Some of the men’s unease started to show.
“What do you mean slaughtered?” asked one of men.
“How could they possibly have gotten inside?” said another.
“They tunneled up inside. We need to get ready in case of an attack”, said Feltor.
Just as some of the men were getting ready to question Feltor more, Bronson’s voice was heard in each soldier’s helmet.
“We have just got the scanning system back online, and have detected multiple contacts closing in on our position from the forest to the north. This is a setup men.”
Panic suddenly erupted from the crowd of men, as over half of the men took off running from the outpost.
“Wait! Stand your ground!” shouted Marius amidst the panic, trying to rally the men.
Bronson came running out of the outpost as half of the platoon fled in fear.
“You bunch of (please do not swear) cowardly bastards!” yelled Bronson as he fired several shots in their direction, though the men still fled back towards the Chimera.
Bronson turned quickly to the few men who remained in his command.
“Rest of you gets the barricades fortified!” said Bronson as he tapped his vox link once again, “Numis, the comm link is damaged, get your ass out here on the double and seal that door up again!”
Feltor went and joined Marius and Calidus as they moved toward the barricade wall with the rest of the remaining platoon. Feltor slung his las-carbine as he took aim with the mounted autocannon. Calidus raised and primed his las-carbine, as he felt furious that those men had just abandoned the rest of the platoon like that.
“I cannot believe such cowards still exist!” spat Calidus in disgust.
“Fate shall catch up with them soon enough”, said Marius.
They looked and could see movement from the trees ahead. They all eagerly waited the attackers to approach. All of the remaining men had their fingers locked on the trigger, ready for the coming combat.
“Steady men”, said Bronson as he joined the fortified line. “Fire on my mark.”
Calidus took aim with his Las-carbine as he stood shoulder to shoulder with his father. It almost reminded him of their hunting ventures back on the farm. With the only difference of them being the hunted this time around.
Suddenly the first few of them burst from the trees, followed by dozens more. Tyranid Termagants came flying out in a screaming horde. Each of them was about the length of a man and a half from head to tail. They came to about the chin of a man in height, and ran on their hind legs, with another set of arms to help control themselves. Their skin was almost matched the color of bare bone, while their armored carapaces were a dark grey in contrast. In their primary hands they each held a almost gun shaped bio-weapon, which was held relentlessly at the ready as they charged forward. They were horrific.
“Keep your faith strong my son”, said Marius.
“I shall not let fear take me”, replied Calidus, being extremely collected in this moment with his father at his side.
The Tyranids had almost closed half of the gap between themselves and the defenders, when suddenly a extremely loud explosion was heard coming from beneath the outpost.
Bronson grinned happily at the sound, as he was ready to give the order.
“Open fire bulls!”
The platoon opened fire as the Tyranids had cleared half the gap. Red-hot laser beams lanced out from the defenders las-carbines as the first wave of Termagants fell instantly to the volley. More Termagants were cut up as Feltor and Numis, both fired from the mounted autocannons.
Calidus felt his weapon kick firmly in his grip as he fired shot after shot into the oncoming Tyranids. The weapon felt weird to him and he tried to place his shots as accurately as possible.
“Keep firing, keep firing!” came the orders from Bronson.
The platoon continued to deliver volley after volley into the Tyranids. As each Termagant fell to the relentless fire of the platoon, two more would replace it. They were starting to close the gap.
“Running low on ammo, sir!” shouted Numis.
“Controlled bursts men!” said Bronson, as he swiftly activated his vox link, “This is Sergeant Bronson to chimera team zero-six, requesting immediate extraction! We are under heavy assault!”
“Received Sergeant”, came the reply.
The Termagants were now close enough to unleash their own deadly salvo. Their weapons flashed as a bio-engineered burst of energy launched the flesh-eating beetles of their fleshbores at the platoon.
Calidus ducked just as one of the shots flew over his head. The rest of them also ducked for cover as well, however not all of them were quick enough as one of the men was hit directly in the chest. Calidus watched in horror as the beetle swiftly chewed through the light armor on the man and burrowed into chest, shredding his innards as the men screamed in utter agony. Bronson looked at the man quickly and put a shot into his head to end his misery.
“Calidus, keep firing”, shouted Marius above all the chaos.
Calidus collected himself quickly after watching the true horror of the Tyranid bio-weaponry at work. He stood up quickly to fire off a quick burst, with a few shots hitting their mark.
They were holding the Tyranids back, but their sheer numbers would overwhelm them in a short time. With ammunition starting to run low, it would not be much longer until they all met a gruesome fate. Their only hope at survival suddenly chimed into their ears.
“Chimera team zero-six nearing your location sir, begin fall back to the extraction point”
“Fall back men!” shouted Bronson, “Keep your weapons on them, try and keep them suppressed!”
The platoon as one quickly stood up and started for the extraction point of the chimeras. They moved still facing the Tyranid tide, firing shot into the horde to try and keep them held back, as another man dropped as his head exploded in a gory mess of dark red viscera, as a Termagant found its mark.
As the group moved to the other side of the defenses and back into the outskirts of the city, they could see one of the chimeras ahead. The back hatch slammed open as the pilot came running out with his las-carbine to give supporting fire to the platoon.
The Termagants were not far behind now, and the platoon ran as quickly as they could towards the chimera. As they approached they felt the ground rumble below them. Suddenly the dirt flew in the air as a pair of dark crimson talons came bursting out of the ground.
“Raveners from below!” shouted Bronson, as the beast flew out of the hole before he even finished speaking.
The Tyranid beast was almost twice the size of them, and was armed with two sets of razor sharp talons. It moved swiftly on a serpentine tail. Coming out of the hole it leapt at one of the men, quickly tearing in half before he even had time to raise his las-carbine. Marius and Calidus were soaked in blood as the man was shredded with an unnatural ease.
Calidus and Marius had their weapons raised and started firing into the beast. It turned its attention to them as the shots hit and burned through the creatures hide, but still came for them. It was almost upon them until it was shredded apart from the bursts of fire.
“Come on”, called Feltor as they moved towards the chimera.
As they just reached the open door of the chimera, another two Raveners burst from the ground. One came from behind them and sliced apart one of the men in the back, and the other burst just below the pilot of the chimera who disappeared in a thick red mist of blood as he was torn to pieces.
They were caught between the two Raveners,, who were getting ready to pounce on the last few survivors. Only Calidus, Marius, Feltor, Bronson, and Numis remained. It looked to be their end.
Suddenly Feltor took off running alone towards the ruined buildings as the Ravener nearest the chimera door took off after him.
“Feltor!” cried Calidus as he tried to chase after him, but was grabbed back by Marius.
“Get into the chimera!” shouted Feltor as he ran as quickly as he could into the ruins to try and evade the Ravener who was close behind him.
“Go all of you”, said Bronson as he fired a furious volley at the other Ravener and drew out his combat blade, as the Ravener charged forward.
The beast however proved much too quick for the Sergeant and parried a swing of his blade, and made a swift death strike at Bronson.
“Sergeant!” cried Numis as he threw himself between the Tyranid and Bronson. Numis’ head was sliced clean off as a fountain of blood squirted from his body before falling limply over. The Ravener then slammed into Bronson knocking him onto the ground and rendering him unconscious.
As the Ravener moved to end the Sergeants life, Calidus opened fire on it, which quickly drew the attention to Marius and himself. The Ravener quickly moved towards the two of them.
Standing at the entrance to the chimera, Marius grabbed Calidus and threw him into middle the chimera.
“Father!” said Calidus as he landed in the chimera.
Marius looked at Calidus with a great sadness in his eyes, and then slammed the quarantine activation icon at the end of the door, and leapt out as the hatch of the chimera slammed shut, and all openings were instantly sealed shut.
“No!!” cried Calidus, as he slammed his hands against the bulkhead, tears welling in eyes.
He felt a hard crash against the door, and could hear his father screaming as the Ravener eviscerated him.
With the quarantine alarm in place, he was unable to exit the chimera for the next 30 seconds. Looking around in a panic, he ran to the cockpit. He saw the controls for the multi-laser turret, and lasgun defense guns. Slamming the activation rune to life, the targeting screens came online, and he saw the Ravener turning from the mangled corpse of his father, and moving towards the unconscious body of Sergeant Bronson. Calidus targeted the Ravener and let loose a deadly salvo into the beast.
“Burn in hell, you abomination”, he said as the Ravener was torn to pieces by the deadly salvo.
Calidus could then see the Termagant tide coming into view. He knew he had to save the Sergeant, and would not let another man fall to these hideous beasts. Looking at the controls for the chimera, he was thankful the pilot had let it still running. Grabbing what looked to be the control gear, he pulled it towards him. In a jerky motion that almost made his head slam into the control deck, the chimera started to move backwards towards Bronson.
Pulling up beside the sergeant, he ran back and opened the side hatch. Calidus ran out and pulled the unconscious sergeant inside. Slamming the side hatch shut he went back to the cockpit and slammed the control gear ahead at full speed back towards the city.
Calidus could not remember how long it took them to get back. He felt suddenly so alone. All he could think about now was that dream of him standing in the field alone, and his father fading away in the distance at the gate.
Part One
The Harvest
I
The Harvest
I
The sun rose over the fields as it did every morning. The plants and crops in the field almost seemed to come to life when the warmth of the suns rays came over them. The early morning sun then washed over him as he went out to perform his daily chores.
As he passed the sturdy metal fence leading into the fields he turned and saw his Father coming out to join him. His father was saying good-bye to his Mother as he did every day before he and his son went out into the fields to prepare and tend their crop. It was hard work, but he enjoyed the time with his father. His father taught him the importance of their work, as it was their job to keep the Imperial citizens fed and healthy. He told him often that their job was one of many that were required to keep things in harmony; everyone depended on one another to survive. He had also learned many other lessons in that field over the years, lessons he dreamed of teaching his own children one day.
Their home consisted of a small farmhouse, with a large span of agri-farm land on the Imperial world of Ellias Prime. It was a flourishing world, with many opportunities for an Imperial citizen. Many in the country area went to the grand Hive Cities to join the Imperial Cult, or even the ranks of the famed Imperial Guard Regiment, the Steele Legion. It was certainly true that opportunities were presented to the youth of Ellias Prime, but even so, he knew his place was on this farm with his father.
He turned and saw his father walking up to the metal fence, who stopped at the gate. His father smiled at him, as he raised his hand and waved to his son. The boy tried to return a smile back as he stood in the field alone. He felt odd, as if he could not remember how to smile. Black clouds suddenly covered the sky as the light was blocked out. He waved for his father to come out the field. His father just smiled and stayed at the gate. The boy suddenly felt truly alone. Fear started to over take him. He looked to his father, who still stood at the gate, smiling, and then faded off into the distance.
* * *
Calidus jumped as he snapped back to reality to the sound Sergeant Bronson yelling orders here and there to the crowd of men he now commanded. As he stood in the trampled mud, he looked upward. The sky was dark with unnatural looking clouds. It had been this way for a few weeks now. He had missed the warmth of the sun, and even more missed the field and farmhouse he once called home.
It had only been a few weeks since the invasion began. It all started off as unnatural weather conditions occurring on the planet. The sky darkened and cast a gloomy feeling of dread over most Imperial citizens of Ellias Prime. Then the disappearances started. At first it was mostly livestock and wild animal carcasses that were found, but then people started disappearing all over the planet in different cities and towns. Finally the first contact was then made.
From the skies rained down bio-engineered monstrosities, the death of this Imperial world. It only took several days before the planet was in a state of emergency, and the Imperial armies mobilized.
The men and women of the Imperial Guard fought to fend off the invaders, but they proved too much to stop them completely. The Imperial Guard regiments began evacuating towns and moving citizens into the last remaining Imperial held location on Ellias Prime, Hive City Ghirdoris.
Calidus, his father, and several others had been evacuated from their farmhouses by a small Imperial Guard rescue team just as the monsters attacked them. Since being rescued and arriving at the city, they were recruited by the Imperial Guard’s remaining Steele Legionnaires to help defend the planet. The Imperial army had suffered many casualties and had been forced to have every man or woman over the age of 10 take up arms against the invaders.
“Tyranids is what they are called”, said Feltor.
“Is that so?” asked Marius.
“According to this dataslate provided to me by Sergeant Bronson”, replied Feltor, as he passed it over to Marius.
“If these things have been found and named before, can they be stopped?” asked Calidus turning to his father.
“My son, remember your lessons as a young boy. The Emperor protects us always, and he shall bring us salvation.” said Marius.
“But we have both seen the destruction these beasts have brought upon our home father, I am unsure what can save us.” said Calidus.
Marius drew a smile through his bearded face as he turned to look at his son, “Do not give into fear or thoughts of damnation my dear son, keep your faith strong and let it be your light.”
Calidus felt his heart warmed and the creeping unease of fear vanish as his father shared his guiding wisdom with him once again. His father always knew what to say to help keep his spirits up.
Feltor grinned at Marius as he said, “I still to this day cannot believe that you a farmer can come up with quote that should belong with one of the Priest of the temple. I still think you were planted out by the Inquisition there to monitor our faith in the fields!”
Marius let out a small laugh as patted his dear friend on the back. “They knew you could have been trouble if you were left unchecked!”
The three of them then laughed together as they sat on the open hatch of a Chimera armored transport, awaiting the orders to be given to them and the rest of the patched together Platoon led by Bronson.
Calidus looked down at the las-carbine rifle in his hand. He had never held a military grade carbine rifle before, and was only used to the old single shot rifle back on the farm. It felt weird for a boy of only 14 years to be heading off to war. Not just any war either, a war to determine the result of all Imperial life on Ellias Prime. His helmet also did not fit quite right as it was much too large and covered over half of his face if not tied snug to his skull.
Calidus scratched his dirty blonde colored hair as he removed his helmet, scanning the rest of the men being armed around them. All of the newly ‘recruited’ citizens in the army wore a rough set of military uniforms. Most of which did not fit quite right on a lot of people. Most of these ‘recruits’ were farmers like them, or other Imperial citizens who were rescued as the entire planets population made for the Hive City.
He looked at Feltor and his father as they too were now silent and scanning the rest of the Platoon. His father was a strongly build man of 47 terran years of age. He had a small bit of dark brown hair left on his head and had a small beard on his darkly tanned face which bore speckled patches of grey hairs growing in. Though his father was a strong looking man from working in the fields, his age and wisdom was starting to show. Though Feltor on the other hand was only a few years younger then Calidus’ father, he looked much younger, and was equally strong built. Feltor was always clean-shaven and had short black hair.
Though they were all dressed for combat, they did not fit the part or look of a soldier, and looked out of place being in this platoon. The Platoon under Bronson’s commond had once been known as Bronson’s Bulls. All of Bronson’s men were killed in the first few days of the invasion however, with Bronson and a few critically injured men being saved by a rescue team.
They all stood in one of the hangers of the Steele Legionnaires strongholds, which surrounded Hive City Ghidoris with a series of walls and strongholds. There were multiple air defense gun batteries throughout the strongholds, which was likely why the city remained in Imperial control.
The three of them looked up as Sergeant Bronson called to the attention of all his newly recruited men. They all then got up and went over to be addressed by their Sergeant.
“I have just received orders that we have lost contact with one of our outposts along the northern perimeter of the outskirts surrounding the city. This outpost is a key structure that we need communications to be restored with. This outpost is one of many that we are using to monitor for potential Tyranid attacks”, said Bronson as he eyed each one of his men, “We will load up in three Chimera armored transports, and move out in 30 minutes. Check your weapons and ensure you are ready to saddle up and slaughter any of these ugly bastards we come across! You all were provided detailed dataslates regarding what we know about our enemy. I’d advise you all to do a little research, as I can’t save all your asses out there!”
The rest of the platoon replied with a extremely uncoordinated, “Yes sir!”
Bronson looked at his men as he chewed on a freshly lighted cigar. His large figure was quite imposing when compared to some of the smaller men in the platoon, although both Feltor and Marius rivaled him in size, but nowhere in experience. Bronson then turned and went to prepare his own gear as he donned his helmet over his baldhead.
With the rest of the platoon still gearing up, Calidus, Marius, and Feltor returned to sit on the open hatch of the chimera. All three felt a little uneasy about going into a potential battle.
Feltor lifted up his las-carbine and looked down the sights.
“A little more solid then what we are used to wouldn’t you say?”
“Perhaps a bit”, agreed Marius.
“Do you think we will see combat at all?” asked Calidus, his unease at the thought of getting close to the Tyranids showing.
“I personally think it should be fine”, said Feltor, “We get out there quickly, and return even quicker. I can just hope that the Lord Commissar upstairs is coming up with a way to deal with things. Every day there are more and more rumors that the Tyranids are advancing en masse to the city.”
“Perhaps the Angels of Death shall come to our salvation”, said Marius as he nudged Calidus, “If we keep out faith about us, the Emperor will smile upon us.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breathe”, said Feltor, “They have been broadcasting a distress signal since this all started. Somehow these creatures have blocked our long range communications systems, or whatever form of communication we use for something of this degree.”
“Just stay close to us Calidus”, said Marius as he put a hand on his son’s shoulder, “I know you a strong young man, and can hold your own. Us three will stick together out there, and we will all walk back through the gates of the city together.”
Calidus felt comfort at the positive words his father provided him, and returned his fathers gaze and was able to return his warm smile. Something that Calidus had almost forgotten how to do altogether.
A siren then went off and was followed by Bronson’s voice filling the hanger through use of the vox caster. “Saddle up everyone, we are moving out in 5”.
The rest of the platoon then turned came to fill each of the chimera’s in turn. Calidus almost felt a bit of excitement over this mission having gained some confidence from his father. As Calidus strapped into his seat and lay his las-carbine across his lap, he felt the vehicle rumble to life as Bronson came on and slammed the hatch closed.
The only thing Calidus could hear now was the rumble of the chimera and the faint sound of his fathers voice next to him praying for the Emperors grace upon them all. Calidus’ mind however kept going back to his daydream of being back in the field on his own with his father standing at the gate waving towards him. It gave a strange feeling of unease that he could not shake off.
II
They had been in the field for what felt like an eternity. Having had to wake up much earlier then he was used to give this illusion for time standing still. In reality they had only been working in the fields for little more then two hours.
He had reached the age in which he was now strong enough to go out into the fields with his father and help him work on their crops. His father used to have farm hands to assist him, but even in these prosperous times for Imperial citizens on Ellias the life for a small agri-farm on the far outskirts was tough. Financial issues forced them to cut back on the hired hands, and it was now his job to help his father feed and support their family
It was hard work, especially for a boy of 7 years. He was not used to the strain and pains laboring in the fields brought down upon the body. He tried to keep up with his father as best he could. Even though it was hard work, he enjoyed it. It gave him a strong sense of joy to finally be able to work with his father and contribute to the farm. He knew one day he would inherit it all and continue on the legacy of his family.
As he watched his father make preparations to the small harvester they owned, he thought back to the conversation he had earlier this morning with his father. Being still very young, he had asked his father just what the importance of farming was. His father stopped, and knelled down beside him as they neared the gates to the field. His father had looked him in the eyes and smiled.
“My son, this farm does much more then just feed our family. All of these farms out here help to feed and support the rest of the planet. They depend on us, and we in turn depend on them for many other things as well. We are all one under Aquilla my boy, the Emperor protects us all and has a purpose for each one of us.”
He smiled as he thought back to what his father said. He indeed was still a young boy, but even so he felt he aged 10 years with each bit of wisdom his father shared with him.
* * *
He had lost track of time. Calidus was sure it was only an hour or two they were driving for, but it felt like time had stopped. There were no windows, and all of the crew in the chimera transport was strapped in to their seats, save for Sergeant Bronson, who paced up and down the small walk space was available.
“What is our ETA?” he called up to the pilot.
“10 minutes unit we reach the insertion zone Sarge,” came the reply.
Aside from these brief exchanges, the chimera was almost silent. The only one who spoke was Feltor, who would make remarks every now and then as he studied the dataslates, which held tactical details on the Tyranids. Marius had been silent on the way thus far.
“Do not be afraid my son”, said Marius as he turned his head to look at Calidus and gave him a smile.
“I am not afraid father”, replied Calidus, though his eyes betrayed his words. Calidus looked down quickly as he tried to fight the tears that started forming in his eyes.
His thoughts drifted back to the escape from their farmhouse.
“I wanted to make them pay for what they have taken from us! I want to spill their blood!” said Calidus as his anger and pain echoed in his words.
“Son, there was nothing you could have done to save her”, said Marius and he placed his hand onto Calidus’ shoulder. “Do not let your pain control and break you. Stay strong to honor her sacrifice, we must be strong so that we can save lives.”
Calidus let out a deep sigh as he let his hot anger go.
“I am no solider. I am just a young boy still and only a farmer”.
“You are alive my boy. You are meant for great things, and she knew it as well. Stay strong and we shall come to the light in all of this darkness and pain.”
Marius gave a firm squeeze on Calidus’ shoulder. As the two both became silent as the chimera rumbled along.
“Ter-ma-gants? These ones look to be the basic ‘infantry’, of the Tyranids”, said Feltor, breaking the silence as he studied the dataslate, “These things don’t look too tough!” as he joked and raised his voice a little louder then he would have preferred.
Sergeant Bronson wheeled around on the spot and glared into Feltor’s eyes.
“Uhh ahh, sir, I didn’t mean it quite like that”, said Feltor quickly in hopes of diminishing the wrath Bronson had in store for him.
“These things took ALL of my MEN!”, spat Bronson, fury boiling in his eyes.
As Bronson went to open his mouth to unleash his full wrath, the pilot called up from his seat, “Sir we have arrived, dropping the hatch in, 5.. 4.. 3..”
Bronson glared at Feltor for a second more and moved into the middle of the transport, his red-hot anger vanishing.
“Lets move out you maggots”, he said into his helmet vox link. Each of the platoons men heard his raspy voice in their earpieces of their helmets.
As they all unlatched their straps, Bronson moved over to the hatch and slammed it open, and moved out into the open field. As he surveyed the land he spoke into his vox link once more, “Alright men, we got a 5 minute walk ahead of us to the outpost. The chimeras will wait for us here, as we don’t want to draw too much attention if this site has indeed been overrun. They will rejoin us once we have cleared the site.”
The entire platoon was now assembled out in front of Bronson. The outskirts of the city were barren, save for the odd piece of rubble here or there. Most of the small buildings that were around were destroyed in the bombardment to protect the city when a small Tyranid force attacked it. The air was misty and a foul odor was in the air. It felt like a eerie graveyard of some sort.
“Everyone follow my lead and keep your eyes open for anything. Your helmets do not have direct links to our communication system, but they do have a alarm beacon on the right side bottom rim.” he said.
With that he turned and walked towards their destination, as his men followed close behind, guns held nervously at the ready.
“You best keep that mouth of yours shut more often”, teased Marius, as they followed the platoon.
“I may have stepped a wee bit out of place, but I could have easily held my own! Lucky for him we arrived”, said Feltor with a sly grin displayed on his face.
Calidus grinned as Feltor tried to play off his almost close encounter with the Sergeant.
“Tell me Feltor, what all did you learn about the Tyranids?” asked Calidus as they marched forward.
“As I said earlier, it looked like the termagant is the basic infantry unit of their swarms. They fire flesh-eating beetles from a bio-organic weapon of some sort. The other kind is a clawed talon version of the termagant, called a hormagaunt.. The dataslate only contained minor information on the Tyranids, but I did learn smarter more intelligent creatures control these smaller life forms however. I guess they simply just attack mindlessly to consume planets, and then move to the next one. Their numbers appear endless as well”
“I’ll be damned if I let them take this planet though!” said Marius.
“Aye!”
Calidus was also about to agree with his father when one of the other soldiers screamed and fired off a shot into the ruins of a small building on their right. Immediately the rest of the platoon ran for cover, with a few other soldiers firing off random shots in the same direction.
“Hold your fire! You want to alert the entire Tyranid swarm you idiot!” yelled Bronson as he calmly walked over towards the small building.
“I saw something! There was a eye in the rubble pile,” said the soldier fearfully.
“There is absolutely nothing here”, said Bronson as he walked over to the small rubble pile and looked around. He then looked down and picked up a small lumi-lamp, which was glowing red.
“You’re firing at a damn lumi-lamp from the top of one of these ruined fuckin’ buildings! Your what, 30 years old, and you don’t even know what a damn lamp looks like?!”
Bronson groaned and started towards their objective, “These are no damn soldiers,” he muttered to himself.
The man looked down at the ground as the rest of the platoon let out a sigh of relief, as the threat was revealed as false. They all moved to follow their sergeant.
Calidus, Marius, and Feltor all lowered their las-carbines, with them being one of the few who did not run and hide for their own lives.
“We best keep out wits about us out here”, said Marius.
“Agreed”, said both Calidus and Feltor.
The platoon continued to advance to the location of the outpost, as the mist started to clear and the small military structure came into view. The structure was far enough out of the outskirts that it survived the bombardment that was sent from the cannons in the towering city above.
It was a small building with a small set of defenses around the outside. There was a set of barricades about 4 feet high, with a large section of razorwire circling the barricade. There were two autocannons mounted on the barricades as well, both pointed towards the forest, which was about 70 feet ahead of the outpost.
The platoon took cover behind some rocks and small patches of overgrowth as they looked at the surroundings nervously.
“Numis”, said Bronson, addressing one of his men, “Grab your magnoculars and tell me what you can see. It looks clear me down there.”
The soldier looked through his magnoculars at the structure down ahead. He scanned the walls and defense line. Finding no signs of any bodies, or even any sign of a struggle, he turned to face Bronson.
“It looks clear sir”, said Numis.
“Alright men, lets move in and see just what the hell is going on here”, said Bronson.
The platoon got up and started to move towards the outpost.
Calidus walked with Marius and Feltor near the back of the platoon.
“Something feels weird”, said Feltor.
“Agreed”, said Marius, “There are no signs of any fighting at all here”.
“Perhaps they deserted their post in hopes to try and get onboard a transport off Ellias”, suggested Calidus.
“Well if they did, then they are (please do not swear) out of luck”, said Feltor, “The last of the ships were called to the orbital stations to defend against the Tyranids, and to help evacuate the planet. And we all know just how well that went”.
“Let us pray we do not share whatever fate found the men who were here”, said Marius.
As they reached the outpost, the platoon climbed past the razorwire and into the inner ring of the defense line. Finding the door to the interior of the outpost, Bronson went up to open the door. Entering in the security access code, he stepped back as the code was accepted. He waited for the door to slide open, but it did not budge.
“The hell is this?” said Bronson dully.
“I think it is jammed sir”, said one of the soldiers.
“Thank you for that explanation”, said Bronson sarcastically as he turned to look at his men.
They all looked extremely on edge, save for a small selection of them. They all held their las-carbines nervously.
“Well now that we have concluded the door is indeed stuck, lets crack this (please do not swear) open, Numis, bring up the cutters”, said Bronson.
He waved to Numis, as he stepped forward and took off his backpack. Pulling out the small pair of plasma cutters, he began working on opening the door.
“You three”, said Bronson as he pointed to Feltor and two other men, “get on point here with me. This door could be locked for a reason. The rest of you, take a quick look around, see if you can find what happened here.”
Feltor and the two men moved up to Bronson as the rest of the platoon walked around the rest of the outpost.
“Raise those weapons you two”, said Bronson, “No good came from just walking into the room asking to have your head blown off.”
Feltor raised his las-carbine as Numis finished his work.
“All good sir, on your mark.”
“Move in!” said Bronson as Numis yanked the door open.
Bronson and Feltor were the first into the room, weapons raised and ready. The other two men followed closely behind with Numis.
Feltor nearly choked from the smell, as they quickly discovered its source. Human viscera were splattered all over the room. The smell was overwhelming, as it had rotted inside the small outpost.
“What the hell happened here”, said Numis anxiously.
In the middle of the room was a burrowed out hole.
“The bastards dug up inside here”, said Bronson. “Numis, get me a detonator charge. We got to blow this hole out.”
Bronson turned to Feltor.
“Go outside and tell the rest of the bulls to get into defensive positions. This all seems like a setup.”
“Yes sir”, said Feltor as he turned to exit the room, glad to be leaving the terrible smell.
Bronson tapped the side of his helmet and activated the vox link. “This is Sergeant Bronson to chimera team zero-six. We have reached the target, and are fortifying our positions now. Outpost echo has been taken out, and we are reestablishing our comm link to base.”
“Roger Sergeant Bronson, zero-six standing by until extraction has been requested. Over and out.”
“Will advise you of our status”, said Bronson as he cut the link.
Numis came back into the room with the charges.
“Numis, set them down in the hole there. I want a proximity detector on them in case those bastards try coming back.”
“Aye sir”, replied Numis as he started setting the charges.
Bronson went over to the comms link to reestablish the connection back to the defense grid back at Ghidorias, and alert them of the outposts’ status.
Back outside Feltor began addressing the rest of the platoon.
“Attention everyone”, shouted Feltor, “We are to take up defensive positions around the outpost. The crew inside were slaughtered, and we need to prepare in case of another attack.”
Some of the men’s unease started to show.
“What do you mean slaughtered?” asked one of men.
“How could they possibly have gotten inside?” said another.
“They tunneled up inside. We need to get ready in case of an attack”, said Feltor.
Just as some of the men were getting ready to question Feltor more, Bronson’s voice was heard in each soldier’s helmet.
“We have just got the scanning system back online, and have detected multiple contacts closing in on our position from the forest to the north. This is a setup men.”
Panic suddenly erupted from the crowd of men, as over half of the men took off running from the outpost.
“Wait! Stand your ground!” shouted Marius amidst the panic, trying to rally the men.
Bronson came running out of the outpost as half of the platoon fled in fear.
“You bunch of (please do not swear) cowardly bastards!” yelled Bronson as he fired several shots in their direction, though the men still fled back towards the Chimera.
Bronson turned quickly to the few men who remained in his command.
“Rest of you gets the barricades fortified!” said Bronson as he tapped his vox link once again, “Numis, the comm link is damaged, get your ass out here on the double and seal that door up again!”
Feltor went and joined Marius and Calidus as they moved toward the barricade wall with the rest of the remaining platoon. Feltor slung his las-carbine as he took aim with the mounted autocannon. Calidus raised and primed his las-carbine, as he felt furious that those men had just abandoned the rest of the platoon like that.
“I cannot believe such cowards still exist!” spat Calidus in disgust.
“Fate shall catch up with them soon enough”, said Marius.
They looked and could see movement from the trees ahead. They all eagerly waited the attackers to approach. All of the remaining men had their fingers locked on the trigger, ready for the coming combat.
“Steady men”, said Bronson as he joined the fortified line. “Fire on my mark.”
Calidus took aim with his Las-carbine as he stood shoulder to shoulder with his father. It almost reminded him of their hunting ventures back on the farm. With the only difference of them being the hunted this time around.
Suddenly the first few of them burst from the trees, followed by dozens more. Tyranid Termagants came flying out in a screaming horde. Each of them was about the length of a man and a half from head to tail. They came to about the chin of a man in height, and ran on their hind legs, with another set of arms to help control themselves. Their skin was almost matched the color of bare bone, while their armored carapaces were a dark grey in contrast. In their primary hands they each held a almost gun shaped bio-weapon, which was held relentlessly at the ready as they charged forward. They were horrific.
“Keep your faith strong my son”, said Marius.
“I shall not let fear take me”, replied Calidus, being extremely collected in this moment with his father at his side.
The Tyranids had almost closed half of the gap between themselves and the defenders, when suddenly a extremely loud explosion was heard coming from beneath the outpost.
Bronson grinned happily at the sound, as he was ready to give the order.
“Open fire bulls!”
The platoon opened fire as the Tyranids had cleared half the gap. Red-hot laser beams lanced out from the defenders las-carbines as the first wave of Termagants fell instantly to the volley. More Termagants were cut up as Feltor and Numis, both fired from the mounted autocannons.
Calidus felt his weapon kick firmly in his grip as he fired shot after shot into the oncoming Tyranids. The weapon felt weird to him and he tried to place his shots as accurately as possible.
“Keep firing, keep firing!” came the orders from Bronson.
The platoon continued to deliver volley after volley into the Tyranids. As each Termagant fell to the relentless fire of the platoon, two more would replace it. They were starting to close the gap.
“Running low on ammo, sir!” shouted Numis.
“Controlled bursts men!” said Bronson, as he swiftly activated his vox link, “This is Sergeant Bronson to chimera team zero-six, requesting immediate extraction! We are under heavy assault!”
“Received Sergeant”, came the reply.
The Termagants were now close enough to unleash their own deadly salvo. Their weapons flashed as a bio-engineered burst of energy launched the flesh-eating beetles of their fleshbores at the platoon.
Calidus ducked just as one of the shots flew over his head. The rest of them also ducked for cover as well, however not all of them were quick enough as one of the men was hit directly in the chest. Calidus watched in horror as the beetle swiftly chewed through the light armor on the man and burrowed into chest, shredding his innards as the men screamed in utter agony. Bronson looked at the man quickly and put a shot into his head to end his misery.
“Calidus, keep firing”, shouted Marius above all the chaos.
Calidus collected himself quickly after watching the true horror of the Tyranid bio-weaponry at work. He stood up quickly to fire off a quick burst, with a few shots hitting their mark.
They were holding the Tyranids back, but their sheer numbers would overwhelm them in a short time. With ammunition starting to run low, it would not be much longer until they all met a gruesome fate. Their only hope at survival suddenly chimed into their ears.
“Chimera team zero-six nearing your location sir, begin fall back to the extraction point”
“Fall back men!” shouted Bronson, “Keep your weapons on them, try and keep them suppressed!”
The platoon as one quickly stood up and started for the extraction point of the chimeras. They moved still facing the Tyranid tide, firing shot into the horde to try and keep them held back, as another man dropped as his head exploded in a gory mess of dark red viscera, as a Termagant found its mark.
As the group moved to the other side of the defenses and back into the outskirts of the city, they could see one of the chimeras ahead. The back hatch slammed open as the pilot came running out with his las-carbine to give supporting fire to the platoon.
The Termagants were not far behind now, and the platoon ran as quickly as they could towards the chimera. As they approached they felt the ground rumble below them. Suddenly the dirt flew in the air as a pair of dark crimson talons came bursting out of the ground.
“Raveners from below!” shouted Bronson, as the beast flew out of the hole before he even finished speaking.
The Tyranid beast was almost twice the size of them, and was armed with two sets of razor sharp talons. It moved swiftly on a serpentine tail. Coming out of the hole it leapt at one of the men, quickly tearing in half before he even had time to raise his las-carbine. Marius and Calidus were soaked in blood as the man was shredded with an unnatural ease.
Calidus and Marius had their weapons raised and started firing into the beast. It turned its attention to them as the shots hit and burned through the creatures hide, but still came for them. It was almost upon them until it was shredded apart from the bursts of fire.
“Come on”, called Feltor as they moved towards the chimera.
As they just reached the open door of the chimera, another two Raveners burst from the ground. One came from behind them and sliced apart one of the men in the back, and the other burst just below the pilot of the chimera who disappeared in a thick red mist of blood as he was torn to pieces.
They were caught between the two Raveners,, who were getting ready to pounce on the last few survivors. Only Calidus, Marius, Feltor, Bronson, and Numis remained. It looked to be their end.
Suddenly Feltor took off running alone towards the ruined buildings as the Ravener nearest the chimera door took off after him.
“Feltor!” cried Calidus as he tried to chase after him, but was grabbed back by Marius.
“Get into the chimera!” shouted Feltor as he ran as quickly as he could into the ruins to try and evade the Ravener who was close behind him.
“Go all of you”, said Bronson as he fired a furious volley at the other Ravener and drew out his combat blade, as the Ravener charged forward.
The beast however proved much too quick for the Sergeant and parried a swing of his blade, and made a swift death strike at Bronson.
“Sergeant!” cried Numis as he threw himself between the Tyranid and Bronson. Numis’ head was sliced clean off as a fountain of blood squirted from his body before falling limply over. The Ravener then slammed into Bronson knocking him onto the ground and rendering him unconscious.
As the Ravener moved to end the Sergeants life, Calidus opened fire on it, which quickly drew the attention to Marius and himself. The Ravener quickly moved towards the two of them.
Standing at the entrance to the chimera, Marius grabbed Calidus and threw him into middle the chimera.
“Father!” said Calidus as he landed in the chimera.
Marius looked at Calidus with a great sadness in his eyes, and then slammed the quarantine activation icon at the end of the door, and leapt out as the hatch of the chimera slammed shut, and all openings were instantly sealed shut.
“No!!” cried Calidus, as he slammed his hands against the bulkhead, tears welling in eyes.
He felt a hard crash against the door, and could hear his father screaming as the Ravener eviscerated him.
With the quarantine alarm in place, he was unable to exit the chimera for the next 30 seconds. Looking around in a panic, he ran to the cockpit. He saw the controls for the multi-laser turret, and lasgun defense guns. Slamming the activation rune to life, the targeting screens came online, and he saw the Ravener turning from the mangled corpse of his father, and moving towards the unconscious body of Sergeant Bronson. Calidus targeted the Ravener and let loose a deadly salvo into the beast.
“Burn in hell, you abomination”, he said as the Ravener was torn to pieces by the deadly salvo.
Calidus could then see the Termagant tide coming into view. He knew he had to save the Sergeant, and would not let another man fall to these hideous beasts. Looking at the controls for the chimera, he was thankful the pilot had let it still running. Grabbing what looked to be the control gear, he pulled it towards him. In a jerky motion that almost made his head slam into the control deck, the chimera started to move backwards towards Bronson.
Pulling up beside the sergeant, he ran back and opened the side hatch. Calidus ran out and pulled the unconscious sergeant inside. Slamming the side hatch shut he went back to the cockpit and slammed the control gear ahead at full speed back towards the city.
Calidus could not remember how long it took them to get back. He felt suddenly so alone. All he could think about now was that dream of him standing in the field alone, and his father fading away in the distance at the gate.
