Post by Remalis on Dec 23, 2014 5:42:55 GMT
The breeze shifted almost imperceptibly.
With a sudden dread premonition, Tellis tensed, sighting the rifle down towards the canyon far below. Something was out of place here.
His men remained unseen, cameoline cloaks blending them seamlessly into the woodland along the top of the ridge.
Tellis kept his men to the high ground.
His long experience had him preferring the slower speed and stealth over using the open road and giving away position to whoever or whatever might lie down the road.
Current position had the squad roughly halfway between the forward operating bastion where they were stationed to protect bore mining operations, and the
main colony back down on the plains.
A sweep by air had revealed no trace of the missing supply convoy, so for the last three days, Tellis lead his squad through this mountainous terrain, scouting for any signs of what may have happened.
It didn't feel right.
While raiding parties by eldar pirates were not unheard of on this backwater planet, the supply convoy was well protected.
Tanks, Anti-Air and a full armoured platoon with a heavy weapons squad were assigned as escort and somewhere along this road, they had simply... vanished.
Tellis played possible scenarios through his head, struggling to tie a thread to recent events.
The supply convoy, although important to the mining outpost, was not a logical target for Raiders. An ore shipment convoy back to the colony he could understand, but foodstuffs and mining equipment? Hardly a valuable target.
The miners? The unrest of earlier years has long since been quelled. The establishment of the bastion and permanent garrison on site, soon put end to the troubles from the secretive and clannish mining families.
Once the Commisar executed a few of loudest dissenters in the group, the miners soon fell back into line.
There's remained an uneasy peace between the mining families and the colony for years now.
A hijacking to attempt to get into the colony itself?
Again, unlikely. The colony was well protected with a picket of defense lines and redoubts layered around it. Multiple Checkpoints would detect any anomalies with vehicles entering.
Strong antiair defences and even a large defense laser stationed near the landing zone protected the colony from any likely air or space based threat.
If that wasn't enough to deal with an external threat, they could, if desperate, call upon the Rage of Fenrir.
Serving the obscure needs of an aloof Space Wolves contingent, this Vanguard Class Cruiser remained stationed at the edge of the system, orbiting the last moon.
No. It HAD to be internal. Something they had missed. Internal... a painful spark of memory. Corruption within the command structure?
Tellis recalled the orders he received from his Lieutenant. Given in the presence of the Commisar himself, his office decorated with the symbols and authority of the great ...Emperor. Himself? Commisar. Building. Near landing port.
What is happening? Must focus. Canyon below. Movement. Pain.
Feeding syphons withdrew from the skull of Tellis, letting the corpse drop to the ground.
The Lictor had retrieved all the relevant information it could from the prey. It relayed silently across the distance, greatly agitating broods of genestealers and hybrids hidden deep in the mines, out of sight from the unsuspecting garrison above.
Genestealer Instincts were triggering by the emergence of the Lictors.
Driving them to find a way - any way, off this planet. Natural cunning and intelligence pushing them to infiltrate and hibernate aboard any departing space craft.
From the void, a shadow loomed through the warp. Leviathan was here.
With a sudden dread premonition, Tellis tensed, sighting the rifle down towards the canyon far below. Something was out of place here.
His men remained unseen, cameoline cloaks blending them seamlessly into the woodland along the top of the ridge.
Tellis kept his men to the high ground.
His long experience had him preferring the slower speed and stealth over using the open road and giving away position to whoever or whatever might lie down the road.
Current position had the squad roughly halfway between the forward operating bastion where they were stationed to protect bore mining operations, and the
main colony back down on the plains.
A sweep by air had revealed no trace of the missing supply convoy, so for the last three days, Tellis lead his squad through this mountainous terrain, scouting for any signs of what may have happened.
It didn't feel right.
While raiding parties by eldar pirates were not unheard of on this backwater planet, the supply convoy was well protected.
Tanks, Anti-Air and a full armoured platoon with a heavy weapons squad were assigned as escort and somewhere along this road, they had simply... vanished.
Tellis played possible scenarios through his head, struggling to tie a thread to recent events.
The supply convoy, although important to the mining outpost, was not a logical target for Raiders. An ore shipment convoy back to the colony he could understand, but foodstuffs and mining equipment? Hardly a valuable target.
The miners? The unrest of earlier years has long since been quelled. The establishment of the bastion and permanent garrison on site, soon put end to the troubles from the secretive and clannish mining families.
Once the Commisar executed a few of loudest dissenters in the group, the miners soon fell back into line.
There's remained an uneasy peace between the mining families and the colony for years now.
A hijacking to attempt to get into the colony itself?
Again, unlikely. The colony was well protected with a picket of defense lines and redoubts layered around it. Multiple Checkpoints would detect any anomalies with vehicles entering.
Strong antiair defences and even a large defense laser stationed near the landing zone protected the colony from any likely air or space based threat.
If that wasn't enough to deal with an external threat, they could, if desperate, call upon the Rage of Fenrir.
Serving the obscure needs of an aloof Space Wolves contingent, this Vanguard Class Cruiser remained stationed at the edge of the system, orbiting the last moon.
No. It HAD to be internal. Something they had missed. Internal... a painful spark of memory. Corruption within the command structure?
Tellis recalled the orders he received from his Lieutenant. Given in the presence of the Commisar himself, his office decorated with the symbols and authority of the great ...Emperor. Himself? Commisar. Building. Near landing port.
What is happening? Must focus. Canyon below. Movement. Pain.
Feeding syphons withdrew from the skull of Tellis, letting the corpse drop to the ground.
The Lictor had retrieved all the relevant information it could from the prey. It relayed silently across the distance, greatly agitating broods of genestealers and hybrids hidden deep in the mines, out of sight from the unsuspecting garrison above.
Genestealer Instincts were triggering by the emergence of the Lictors.
Driving them to find a way - any way, off this planet. Natural cunning and intelligence pushing them to infiltrate and hibernate aboard any departing space craft.
From the void, a shadow loomed through the warp. Leviathan was here.
