Shas'vre Vior'la Jol'me checked his battlesuits systems. Power systems were optimal. Minimal damage taken, ammo count was still good. He cycled his burst cannon, cooling the heated barrels, not daring to use his flamer. Yet. He and a team of fire warriors were sent to investigate a signal, on a long forgotten planet. They had landed via Drop pods, and already, they had come in contact with the Y'he, or in gue'la terms "Tyranids". They were foul creatures, which were hellbent on devouring all living things. However, these Tyranids seemed to be left behind, and now became little less than savage beasts.. As so, he had brought a small mob of his finest janissaries; kroot and gue'vesa'la.
"Alright warriors. Check your gear. The signal is not far from here." Jol'me said, searching the thin bushes, thermal locators scanning the bushes for any Tyranids.
"Shas'vre, were good to go. Permission to scout ahead." Gue'vesa'ui Catrine asked, as she finished examining her pulse carbine. Jol'me gave a smirk underneath his crisis battlesuit. Catrine had served under him for several Tau'cyr, but even still, Jol'me had to learn some of the choppy Gue'la language, as several water caste tau complained of how badly she spoke their language.
"You have permission." He said, and Catrine waved her group forward, as they carefully moved through the brush.
"I never understand those humans." Shaper Rok cackled, as the mob of twenty kroot or so began to climb up through the trees, swinging through.
"Shas'ui Ping'as, move." He ordered, as Ping'as and his fire warrior team began to follow the gue'vesa. He stalked through the brushes, stepping over the Tyranid carcasses. He was confident, but even still, he felt like something was wrong. Like he was walking into a trap. He was familiar with the teachings of the Mont'ka and Kauyon, but yet, he still felt uneasy. Then he heard the report of pulse rifles, followed by the squealing of Tyranids.
"Shas'vre, enemy combatants. Hormagaunts, Termagants. We require aid." Catrine calmly reported, followed by the ear piercing sound of a photon grenade being thrown. Jol'me fixed on their location, before he activated his suits jetpack systems, flying overhead.
Catrine fired her pulse carbine, hitting another Termagant, its head flying back, as most of its neck was obliterated by the round. She ducked underneath the rock she hid behind, as the report of the Termagants flesh borers fired. She whacked her carbine at the borer beetles, as they blindly scuttled around.
"Don't worry Humans! We have come to help!" She heard a kroot yell, as they descended from the trees. The thirty or so tyranids turned, as the kroot leaped on top of them.
"Help them out!" She yelled, as the ten gue'vesa fired their pulse rifle and carbines, Hormagaunts being overwhelmed by pulse fire. The kroot were locked in a deadly melee fight, as they swung their rifles, breaking bones and slicing limbs. Shaper Rok was in the thick of it, hopping on top of hormagaunts, firing his kroot rifle. Suddenly, a massive figure loomed overhead, crashing down on top of three termagants.
"For the greater good!" The inspired gue'vesa said, charging as they tied up a mob of termagants, stabbing at them with knifes, firing their pulse carbines as they charged. The termagants fought back, attacking with their sharp teeth, but some started to flee.
"Dynamic Entry, Shas'vre." Shaper Rok said, as he bludgeoned a termagant, before slicing a leaping hormagaunt in half.
"Agreed." The Shas'vre said coldly, unload the burst cannon into the fleeing tyranids. They screamed and squealed as they died, small pulses of plasma ripping their thin carapaces like it wasn't there.
"Excellent work, men. Drinks at home are on me." Catrine said, her squad giving a woop. They were former renegades from the Vostroyan first borns, abandoned when an operation was too costly. A lowly private at the time, she had to work up from the ranks to earn The Shas'vre's respect. Most of her squad was in the same squadron as her, but she did lose a few friends during an encounter with the enigmatic eldar.
"Now is not the time for cheers. We still have a lot more to do." Shas'ui Ping'as said, creeping out of the bushes, along with the rest of his fire warrior team.
"I guess." Catrine sneered, some of her troopers sniggering. Shaper Rok examined the tyranid corpses, prodding them with his rifle.
"Human. Do you recognise these foes?" He asked her. With this, she inflated her chest a bit more. By far, out of all of them, she fought and knew more about tyranids than anyone else in the cadre, at the moment. She walked over to the corpse Rok was poking at. She examined it. It had bone white skin, parts of its carapace gleaming red. Its claws was also red, and its tongue was the same shade.
"Looks like Hive Fleet Kraken." She said, surprised.
"What is wrong, gue'vesa'ui?" The Shas'vre asked her, looking down at her from his mighty crisis suit.
"Hive Fleet Kraken was eliminated awhile back…" She said, chilled, as she flipped over the corpse, organs spilling out of the gaping hole in its abdomen stomach.
"And what does that mean, gue'vesa?" Ping'as asked her.
"That means that something scared of the tyranids… something scared them so much that they couldn't even digest all of their comrades…" She said, prodding at the corpse with the tip of her boot.
"Wise words, gue'vesa'ui. Come now, we must press forward." Shas'vre said, as the cadre started to march on again, leaving the corpses of the tyranids behind.
Shaper Rok leaped back into the thin trees, brushing past dead leaves. He noticed that it seemed to get colder by the minute. He decided to ignore this, as the rest of the kroot hunting party climbed back into the trees.
"Which way?" He asked The Shas'vre. The Shas'vre pointed with his cannon to the north. Rok smiled, as they started to jump from tree to tree, expertly moving through the thin forests. It was strangely quiet, with only one incident where a tree collapsed, nearly crushing a gue'vesa, requiring the aid of some of the kroot. Later, A thin snowy drift began to descend from the sky.
"It snows." One of the kroot said, sticking his hand in the air, as snow fell into his open palm. Then, from the corner of Rok's eye, he could see that a storm was quickly gaining on them,
"I will tell the Tau. Perhaps we should camp out." Rok said, jumping down from the treelines, spotting The Shas'vre, not far ahead.
"Shas'vre!" Rok yelled, running up to him. The Shas'vre stopped, looking down upon him,
"Yes?" He said impatiently, looking down at him. The Shas'vre was intimidating, to be sure.
"It is starting to snow. Perhaps, for the betterment of the humans, we should camp out, for now." Rok said. The Shas'vre considered this. While he and the fire warriors were in full environmental suits, and the kroot simply didn't care, the gue'vesa did not have such leisures. Although his training demanded him to get to the mission objective, the greater good demanded he took care of his warriors. He opened the voice channel.
"Everyone, report to my position. We camp until the snowstorm goes away." He decided, starting to walk towards a cave closeby.
Shas'ui Ping'as checked the locator. Not far.
"Alright, let's go." Ping'as said, as they started to march toward the locator.
"Those gue'vesa… so needy." Shas'la Shi'min grumbled. Ping'as glared at Shi'min.
"Those gue'vesa are brave. I've seen first hand of how "heretics" are dealt with. They are killed and burned with extreme prejudice. They risk being captured by their brethren, and "dealt with" appropriately." Ping'as retorted, putting Shi'min back in place. Shi'min grumbled under his breath, but Ping'as pretended like he didn't hear it. They walked for several more minutes, the snow storm getting more and more intense. Soon, Ping'as had found it hard to see more then a few yards in front of him.
"Shas'ui, it's me, gue'vesa'ui Catrine. I'm converging on your position." A voice said in his helmet.
"Understood. We will hold position until you arrive." He replied, as the fire warrior team formed a square, pulse rifles and carbines brushing each other, as they patiently awaited the gue'vesa arrival.
"Shas'ui… I think I saw something in the brush." Shas'la Man'som whispered.
"Nonsense. Scanners are clear. There are no Y'he hear, and even then, we would have heard them." Ping'as growled, but even he was not sure. He was merely saying this to calm down the fire warrior team, but at the same time, Y'he are crafty creatures. For several minutes they stood in their square, tensions going up, as they started to hear noises in the snow storm.
"Look! There!" Man'som said, pointing out. In the white snow, he could see the faint tip of something yellow.
"Strange… these Y'he are not yellow. Cover me." Ping'as said, as he brought out his pulse rifle, carefully moving toward the yellow object. As he looked at it more, he gasped, as he realised it was a space marine.
"What is it, Shas'ui?" Shi'min asked nervously.
"It is a space marine…" Ping'as said in wonder.
Jol'me reached the cave, the kroot behind his back. The cave itself was small, but it got larger and larger.
"Shas'vre. Look" The shaper said, pointing at a wall of the cave. Jol'me investigated. Large bullet holes were in the rock wall, burn patterns along the floor. A massive tunnel entrance was at the side of the cave, with soft light coming from the variety of fungus growing from the walls.
"It appears that someone was here before us." Jol'me concluded, before he got a transmission. He took a glance at it, opening the channel.
"Report." He ordered. The panicked voice of Ping'as came back.
"Shas'vre! We have found the gue'vesa, and heading to your coordinates… but…" Ping'as stuttered. Something was worrying him.
"What is it?" Jol'me demanded. Ping'as did not answer for a few moments, and Jol'me was about to ask him if he was still there.
"Space Marines. We found a dead space marine." Ping'as said. Jol'me growled, checking his ammo counts. Space Marines were hardy foes, bred by the imperium to kill, and they were very good at that, but they were also honorable. Jol'me always thrived to fight them in battle, but he hadn't had too many chances.
"Space Marines… what would they be doing here?" Jol'me whispered, ending the chat, as the voice channel clicked off. This operation was slowly becoming a mystery. First, the water caste signal appeared on a planet, ignored by the tau, then the Y'he started showing up, and now their were dead space marines.
"Shaper Rok. Guard the entry. I will explore these tunnels some more." He ordered. Rok saluted, before getting his mob of kroot to collect firewood.
Catrine was relieved to see in the distance, smoke. It meant that there was a fire. Which meant warmth. She could feel her fingers practically shaking, trying to stay on her bones, as her and her squad started running towards the fire, a few inches of snow impeding their process.
"Welcome humans." Rok cackled, as they moaned loudly, the heat of the fire heating their bodies almost euphoric. Shortly after them came the Fire Warriors, seven out of the ten dragging the space marines body with them, another one carrying its massive chainsword. At this, Rok squealed, as the kroot brought out their weapons, ready to cut the space marine to bits. They were about to do it, when Ping'as jumped in front of them.
"Wait! We think he's alive!" Ping'as said, as they propped the space marine next to the fire. The ice that formed along its yellow armor began to thaw out. For twenty whole minutes they watched, as the space marine sat empty handedly, its suit warming up, the body inside sharing the heat. Then, out of nowhere, the fusion cores on the back started whirring making some noises.
"You should probably stay back." Catrine said, waving the fire warriors back, as they kept their rifles leveled, just in case the space marine made any sudden movements.
The red eye slits lit up, and the ancient vox, not used in decades, powered up.
"Where… Where am I…" The Space Marine said in high gothic, looking up. The first sight in years was xenos, looking curiously, holding their weapons carefully.
"XENOS…" He growled, as he rose up. The Space Marine was massive, towering over all of them, his helmet barely touching the roof of the cave.
"Gideon, this is your work." Catrine said cautiously, as Gideon came forward. He was the only one who knew how to speak high gothic, coming from a noble family in Cadia.
"Greetings, fine warrior of the imperium." Gideon said nervously. The Space Marine glared at Gideon, and Catrine could see he was shivering.
"Heretics and Xenos in the same room…" He snarled, fully aware that if he even moved, he would be killed in an instant.
"What chapter are you, and what is your name?" Gideon asked cautiously. The Space Marine sighed.
"I am Rohizlo, sergeant of the Lamenters second company…" He proclaimed, before he glanced around the cave.
"Where are the rest of my brothers? No doubt slain under your hand…" He snarled. Gideon shook his head.
"Not at all. We believe the rest of your brothers had either fled, or been slain by the… tyranids." Gideon said. At this, Rohizlo clenched his armored fists, his eternally angry stare glaring outside the cave.
"TYRANIDS…" He spat. Even though Catrine couldn't understand what the space marine was saying, he could tell at the familiar name of Tyranids, he wasn't happy.
"So who is he?" Catrine whispered in Gideons ear. Gideon quickly turned, worry in his eyes.
"His name is Rohizlo, and he's a sergeant of the Lamenters, second company." Gideon said.
"I heard that the Lamenters died out… during the tyrannic war…" She mumbled.
"That's what I heard too." Gideon said, before Rohizlo turned to Gideon.
"Why am I here? You captured me. What vile things will you subject me too? Will I be your plaything? A slave?" He demanded.
"We… um… are still… deciding on your punishment?" Gideon said, before something flew past him. It splattered onto the wall. A small pool acid forming on the hole.
"Tyranids!" Catrine said, pulling out her pulse carbine. Hormagaunts charged, dying in droves as they were shot down. Termagants hid behind the trees, firing with flesh borers and devourers.
"TYRANIDS! COME DIE BY MY HAND." Rohizlo roared, as he activated his chainsword. He charged forward into the fray, leaping, as he slammed down, sending Hormagaunts flying. He swung his chainsword, cleaving through a Hormagaunt, kicking another one, breaking its spine. The kroot joined Rohizlo in melee, as they fought side by side, saving each other once in awhile. Then a hulking figure came from the distance.
"WARRIOR." Rohizlo growled, as the creature charged. The Warrior seemed to direct the smaller tyranids, as the Termagants focused fire on the space marine, the beetles finding it hard to dig through his power armor.
"Focus the big one!" Catrine said, as one, her squad fired their pulse weapons. However, the Warrior simply ignored the shots, as Warrior and Space Marine clashed.
"LEAVE ME! GET THE SMALLER TYRANIDS." Rohizlo roared, as he swung his chainsword, the warrior blocking the blows with its talons. Claws struck out, digging deep furrows in his armor, but at this, Rohizlo only roared in anger, as he swung his chainsword just right, cutting one of the Warriors arms in half. Thick ichor splurted out of the severed limb. It squealed, as it desperately tried to fight back, but it was clear who the victor was. Rohizlo took his advantage, taking a another big sweep, digging his chainsword into its leg, and then kicked at it. The warrior collapsed, as its legs buckled underneath it. Finally, with a whooping warcry, Rohizlo swung his chainsword into its neck. His arm and sword was covered with thick blood, as he finished severing its neck, its head falling to the floor. At this, the smaller tyranids fought each other briefly, turning on each other in savage confusion. Then, the treeline began to break apart. A creature, even larger than the warrior, let out a savage roar, the smaller tyranids organizing themselves. Catrine fired her pulse carbine at the creature,but it didn't even flinch, as it began to stomp closer and closer.
"That's a Hive Tyrant! Fall back! We lack the weaponry necessary to deal with it!" Rohizlo yelled, as he ran into the tunnel. Gideon screamed, as lucky devourer shot got him in the knee. Catrine didn't think twice, shooting Gideon in the head, before she threw a photon grenade, as the rest of the cadre fled into the tunnel. She heard the satisfying squeal of tyranids, as their visual senses were bombarded with the bright light and flashing colors.
Jol'me entered the massive opening at the end of the tunnel, revealing a large pocket. In the center of this pocket, was a massive ice block. He could briefly see something inside of the ice block, but it was too dark to see. The dead corpses of hundreds of tyranids surrounded the ice block, along with the still bodies of dozens of space marines. It looks like they had their last stand here, but what was in the ice block was still a mystery.
"SHAS'VRE! Y'he are incoming! We have the Space Marine with us!" Ping'as yelled into the voice channel.
"Space Marine? Shas'ui, report! Shas'ui? Shas'ui!" He yelled. He cycled his burst cannon, checking his flamer, as he started to see the fast and nimble kroot, coming in. Most of them were covered in blood, a few wounded.
"Today we make our last stand. For the greater good." He mumbled. Then were the gue' eight out of the starting ten came, sitting behind rocks and boulders, lining up pulse rifles and carbines. Then were the fire warriors, along with the Space Marine. They yelled as they ran, as the fast and nimble hormagaunts tried to bite at their feet.
"Fire!" Jol'me roared, as they carefully picked their shots, the fire warriors running to cover, as the hormagaunts were obliterated by pulse fire. Termagants and Warriors came in as well, Warriors armed with strange weapons that fired blobs of acid. Jol'me gave no hint of satisfaction, as he fired his burst cannon at the mob of Termagants and Warriors. While the Warriors could survive the singular shots from the Pulse Rifles and Carbines, the Burst cannon ripped their carapaces to pieces, too much plasma streaming from the burst cannon. He fired his flamer, promethium swooping over the Tyranids, setting them alight. Then, the hive tyrant came. It charged, completely oblivious to the dozens of pulse rifle shots riddling into its carapace, as with its scythes, it butchered a mob of kroot. They fought, but to no avail, as the Hive Tyrant slaughtered them. The mass of tyranids came to a stop, as the only one left was the Hive Tyrant. It roared, as it charged at Jol'me. Jol'me activated his jetpack, as he fired with his flamer, promethium licking at the hive tyrant, quickly melting the ice. The Space Marine leaped on top of the Hive Tyrant, swinging his Chainsword, cutting thick swathes of chitin and armor. The Hive Tyrant roared, as it flung its whole body around, the Space Marine being thrown away.
Rohizlo slammed into to the rock wall, crying out in pain. Painkillers were injected into his bloodstream, as he struggled to rise up. Then a hand shot out. Rohizlo looked up, to see a beautiful figure. A human, likely in her twenties gave him a hand, dressed in armor similar to the tau. Short red hair flowed around the back of her head, burning green eyes peering into his helmet.
"Thank you." He grumbled, as he gently took her hand, raising himself up. The Hive Tyrant was in a frenzy now, as it charged toward the Tau infantry. They tried to get out of the way, but the Hive Tyrant stabbed at them, blue blood coating its red talons. The Tau battlesuit landed behind it, firing its burst cannon. It roared, its swinging tail whacking into the suit, sending it crashing into the wall. The tyrant charged, digging into the suit, with its talons. The tau inside popped out, running, as the hive tyrant ripped the suit apart. But then, the Ice block completely shattered. The combatants ceased their fighting, looking at the figure in the ice. Rohizlo recognised the figure instantly.
"Brother Remiel!"
"PREPARE TO DIE. FOUL XENOS." Remiel said coldly, the massive dreadnought the same size of the Hive Tyrant. The Hive Tyrant screeched, as it charged the dreadnought. The dreadnought punched out with its claws, breaking a scythe clean off one of its forearms. It grappled with the hive tyrant, as they fought on each other off with warning blows, none too serious. The remaining Tau and Humans fired on the Hive Tyrant, some shots getting lucky.
"FOR THOSE WE CHERISH, WE DIE IN GLORY!" Rohizlo roared, as he jumped onto the Hive Tyrant, grabbing onto a spore chimney. Although he knew full well that his chainsword would do little, than to distract the hive tyrant, that was his purpose. He continued to slash at hive tyrant, aggravating it, while Remiel attacked with his claws, pinching the hard chitin.
"THIS ENDS NOW." Remiel growled, as he grappled with the Hive Tyrant, throwing it to the ground. It collapsed, as it tried to get itself back up, before Remiel stomped on its head. Ichor and bones and chitin flew like a river out of the dead tyranids head, as the massive body sank.
Jol'me looked at the massive robot, that had destroyed the Y'he monster. It was the same yellow as the Space Marine, with the black and white checker pattern all along the front of the robot. A symbol with a heart with a single drop of blood could be seen on its shoulders. It looked at the assortment of Tau and gue'vesa, as they huddled up.
"SHALL I DESTROY THEM?" The robot asked, as The Space Marine leapt off the tyrant's corpse, glaring at the tau and humans.
"Shas'vre, do you know high gothic?" Catrine asked him. He nodded briefly.
"Good. Now say what I say."
Remiel watched as one of the tau stepped forward. He clutched his chest, limping as he walked forward.
"Do you know what happened to your chapter?" It asked. Remiel glanced at Rohizlo, before back at the tau.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN." Remiel demanded.
"Your chapter, The Lamenters… they are all but gone." The tau said. Remiel flinched. He would gladly slam this tau into bits, along with the rest of the xenos and heretics. Somehow, Rohizlo knew what he was thinking.
"Stand down, brother. Let them talk." Rohizlo said.
"The Lamenters died in the second tyrannic war, nearly hundreds of years ago... almost all of them died." He said, sorrowfully, before he continued. "The last four hundred of the Lamenters died or escaped, trying to save as many people as possible. Hive Fleet Kraken had been eliminated, but a grievous cost. I believe, that you two are the last ones left." He finished. Remiel twitched. The tau didn't seem to by lying, but with xenos, you could never know. But at how all of the tau looked at them, all of them with sorrow in their eyes, Remiel couldnt think that they were lying.
"I… I… Believe you…" Rohizlo said solemnly, throwing down his chainsword. Remiel snarled.
"LIES… ALL OF IT… LIES! BROTHER! HOW COULD YOU BELIEVE THESE FOUL XENOS! THE LAMENTERS COULD NOT FALL!" Ramiel roared at him, turning to face him. Rohizlo took off his helmet, looking at Ramiel. Ramiel had been in that sarcophagus since he was a neophyte, but now he could see that Ramiel was conflicted.
"Brother. The tau are too naive to lie and cheat. They are like children. They can't help but tell the truth. If you wish too, you can stay here. I will not blame you. You may call me a heretic. But damn me if I wish to see purpose. No one will come for us!" Rohizlo yelled, before he sighed.
"We are too far away, and how do you think we will be viewed when we return to the Imperium? For hundreds of years, the Imperium has thrown everything it has at us, and yet we still fought for the emperor… we won't be welcomed with open arms, but instead forced away, like always." He snarled, before he put on his helmet, grabbing his chainsword.
"We are heretics, Ramiel. Whatever we do." He sighed, before he started to walk towards the tau. Ramiel soaked into Rohizlo's words, as the tau and humans picked up their weapons, as they left.
"WAIT. I WISH TO COME TOO."
Epilogue
Shas'el Jol'me felt the jostling off the drop pod as he landed, tyranids being crushed underneath him.
"For the greater good!" He roared, as he unloaded his burst cannon into the mob of tyranids, as they fought with a band of kroot. The tyranids squealed, as the burst cannon ripped them apart into messy pieces, their bodies flung back by the plasma rounds. Another drop pod fell several yards away, and out came the mighty dreadnought.
"FOR THOSE WE CHERISH, WE DIE IN GLORY." The dreadnought roared, as waded into the line of tyranids, ripping a warrior in half, bathing others with burning promethium. Jol'me's personal honorguard came to him, from the hill they sat on, now surrounded by corpses.
"Shas'el. It is good to see you." Gue'vesa'vre Catrine said, in her own personal battlesuit.
"I see you have been hard at work." Jol'me chuckled, as Rohizlo joined her, dual chainswords in both of his hands.
"Yes. Now, let us go. Ramiel will require our assistance." Rohizlo chuckled, as they waded back into the fray.
"For the greater good!"
"For the emperor!"
"FOR THE CHAPTER."