The sky blackened with the storm, it was not a natural thing for sky above was clear and cloudless. If one were to look closely, the darkness that covered the sun was a strange thing, countless small creatures that almost resembled the jelly fish of ancient terra could be seen, these though were not the translucent things that lazily floated across the ocean, the creatures floated in the air by means unknown, the top of their bodies were large sickly green bulbs filled sharp spines across their bodies, the lower parts were composed of tentacle feelers which lazily dangled, spore mines these were called.
Below the cloud of spore mines, a massive swarm of chitinous bodies covered in bone and purple massed across the dusty plains. Some of the creatures were large like a tank, others larger than a man while others were small like dogs, and even smaller ones like rats, some crawled and slithered, some ran on legs of two or fours, some floated above the air or flew on wings.
Across the swarm was once an edifice of remembrance to a hero of ancient times, it was a large marble structure built into a massive onion shape like the structures of the men of Vostroyans or the Valhallans, at the top was a gold statue of the first master, holding up the great U of their father's insignia. It was both a mausoleum for the first leader of the Knights of Arathan and the thousands of other heroes who followed, but now it would be a mass grave. In serried ranks amidst the trenches stood several massive warriors, each were once men but now something greater, each were clad in ancient yet powerful machined armor of azure in honour of their first leader's father, they bore a flag with a stylized U being held aloft by a fist wreathed in a sunburst, in the end it would matter little.
Brother Marhus roared in fury against the swarm, his heavy bolter spat a volley of death at the oncoming swarm, behind him, several tanks both of battle, siege and other purposes lent their fire to the swarm, but there were simply too many. A young initiate, barely out of his training fell, a massive worm like creature bore into his neck and began eating the boy from the inside, a man named Gerun a veteran of many battles against the traitor legions, the slayer of a hundred daemons was instantly vaporized in a direct hit from the bio plasma of one of the massive beasts.
When the swarm came to this world, the Knights of Arathan quickly mobilized for the world was not only a source of recruits but also the resting place of their chapter's first master, a great man who once directly served under the great Primarch Gulliman himself after the great heresy. When this war started, there were over a full compliment of a thousand brothers, now grimly thought Marhus, there were likely less than four hundred of them left. There was to be no retreat and no surrender, the evacuation of the civilian population had been fairly successful, so now all that mattered was the honour of the chapter.
When his gun began clicking, he cursed as it was empty, he had already gone through seven entire ammo packs within the last three days, he ordered for a servitor to bring him a new one. Laying his gun down, he reached for his side arm and began firing, his bolt pistol barked a volley of death at the swarm, one by one he downed more and more of the beasts but it would never be enough. The brothers to his side continued to lay down a massive amount of fire that would have decimated any conventional foe, but what they fought was far from conventional.
He saw, inch by inch the swarm closing in, they were now close enough for him to make a good throw, his left hand quickly went to his bandolier, he primed a fragmentation grenade and hurled it, the grenade flew into the middle of a pack of the swarming creatures known as gaunts, the grenade exploded hurling several pieces of the creatures into the area and scything down others with the fragments or the pieces of their small hole he created was quickly filled like water, he cursed and primed another grenade, at the back of his mind he knew this was it, and so if today would be his end, he wished to send as many of beasts to the grave before meeting his holiness on Earth.
Marhus threw three more grenades, each one killing dozens of the creatures but just like the first it would not be enough, he looked back, impatient at the servitor he had ordered earlier, it did not take long till he saw it coming towards him with a fresh pack in its mechanical arms. Holstering his side arm, he picked up his heavy bolter, the servitor removed his pack, and replaced it with the new one, Marhus grabbed the ammo belt and attached it to his gun, he flipped the safety off and dismissed the machine slave.
Roaring once more in fury, Marhus reaped another bloody tally, his fellow brothers either those fighting on foot, those confined into the sacred hulls of the dreadnoughts or operating the tanks continued their volleys, stopping only to reload or to vent the heat from certain pieces of equipment. Now the swarm was much closer, he could see the creatures in full horrific detail, their slavering maws and many claws, he saw one of the larger beasts, a warrior and opened fire upon it. The warrior beast fell, and it momentarily confused the smaller ones, but soon they were under the command of another warrior, the swarm continued its advance.
From behind he heard the distinct roar of jump packs, the Assault specialists of his chapter engaged the beast with sword, axe, fist, mace and hammer. Among the Assault Marines, he saw the legendary Captain Flavius of the 3rd who wielded twin power swords in a deadly dance that would have humbled the scantily clad Eldar warriors who often raided worlds. The Captain's reaped a deadly tally amongst the swarm, the assault marines, quickly took off into the air and struck the swarm into another area, this they continued for many times.
During the 7th jump the Captain was struck from behind by a massive leaping creature with a tentacle mouth, the infiltrator beasts known as Lictors. Marhus watched in disbelief as the captain fell amidst the swarm, he continued his stream of fire, but often glanced back, he hoped that hero of Vedenmoor and decapitator of Waaagh! Grashnuk would rise upon wings of fire, but nothing, there was only the movement of the Swarm, the rage within Marhus grew and vented it the only way he could
The remaining Assault Marines were struck down in a similar fashion, many being intercepted in mid flight by Lictors who either leapt or used great hooks to snatch the marines; others were shot down mid air by the massed fire of the swarm. He heard the order to withdraw from the current Chapter Master, and so his brothers began to fall back in an orderly fashion, as much as it rankled at Marhus he knew well enough that sometimes one would have take a step back to push forwards, the infantry men were covered by the tanks which provided their awesome fire power, those men already at the rear ranks provided covering fire for their brothers.
And so the battle continued till night fell, the swarm continued its relentless assault; larger beasts began assaulting the trenches. When the spores descended upon the marines, they answered with fire of their own, countless of the spores were destroyed until none remained but more than a few came close enough to detonate and slaying more of the dwindling defenders. When dawn came there were now only less than two hundred men left, and so with grim resignation the last remaining brothers of the Knights of Arathan prepared their last stand.
Marhus was now equipped with a heavy flame thrower, the massive weapon was attached to a large fuel tank, it roared its searing heat at the swarm and reduced many of the creatures to blackened husks. He heard the roar of a dreadnought and quickly began side stepping, the earth trembled when he saw the massive machines charge pasted him, many trampling the gaunts and began tearing through the swarm like a power blade through soft flesh. He saw a dreadnought which he recognized containing the famous Morthen the Stomper, who singlehandedly destroyed an Ork Gargant from the inside armed only with a power fist and a bolt pistol and later after being interred within a dreadnought pull off a similar feat, leaping from a thunder hawk and landing upon a chaos warhound titan and destroying it from the head.
Morthern wielded a pair of power claws and tore into the swarm with five other dreadnoughts, each armed for close combat. The dreadnoughts bought the Marines time to reprieve but were soon attacked by multiple large Tyranid beasts, the first were the Hive Guard who crashed into the hulls like the bulls of earth, these creatures were swiftly eliminated but they bought time for the larger carnifexes to close in, the carnifexes now traded blows with the dreadnoughts, warrior beasts armed with venom cannons spat volleys of Bio-Plasma at the dreadnought, burning great holes into their armor, soon even the mighty machines and their legendary occupants were overwhelmed, it comforted Marhus at the least that with the body count they had made and their deeds of the past, the Emperor would welcome them with open arms.
Now the swarm continued its charge, Marhus knew that finally today would be the day, he whispered a quite prayer to the Emperor, he made sure to leave one grenade for himself, if he was going to die then he wished to go with a bang. The roar of his flamer incinerated more tyranids, he laughed with an almost savage joy as he saw and heard the creatures shriek and crisp, he did not have time to register the spore mine ahead of him. First he was burning aliens, in a single moment he was now flying back from the explosion, he felt a bit of vertigo, confusion and weightlessness before he realized what just happened, in time for him to feel the impact of his armored body to the dusty earth.
The impact knocked the breath out of him, but only for a second, he quickly recovered getting back onto his feet, he checked the fuel tank of his flamer and cursed as it was crushed and now leaking fuel. Discarding the weapon, he pulled out his side arm and his last grenade; he roared a challenge to the tyranids and began firing at the beasts. His bolter spat death at the tyranids, each round exploding into the bodies of the swarm, he wished he had a decent rifle at the least but one must make do with their situation.
In the distance he saw the massive forms of three Carnifexes charge through the swarm, it crushed a number of the gaunts, but many moved out of its way, the Carnifexes crashed into the line of Space Marines, each one slaughtering brothers with great claws, one Carnifex was felled by a melta shot through the roof of its maw, the marine was a sergeant who had a banner upon his back and wore no helm, the sergeant was suddenly knocked to his feet by a serpentine creature with many claws that burst from the ground, the marine was quickly overwhelmed by the tiny crawling creatures called rippers that immediately went for his unarmored head.
Cursing again, Marhus decided to use his last grenade, he primed the grenade, held on for a short while before throwing it, and the grenade soared through the air and exploded near the face of a Carnifex. The beast roared in pain, its chitinous head was partially pulverized; the creature quickly fixed a baleful glare at Marhus and roared in anger. Marhus raised his pistol, he knew there would be no point running, he fired his bolt pistol hoping to at least put out an eye, his pistol ran empty, he cursed and glared at the thing with eyes filled with hate for all xeno kind, he was ready.
The world seemed to slow down, he saw the charging Carnifex in perfect detail, he saw the bloody wounds his grenade had left, the missing chunks of flesh and chitin, the bleeding craters and holes left by the bolter rounds of his comrades, he saw the swarm tear into his brothers who remained at the trench, he saw at the corner of his eye a massive glob of Bio-plasma strike into a predator, in all perfect clarity he saw his end come, and in perfect clarity he saw something fly over his head, he couldn't make out what it was, but it struck into the Carnifex, exploding in massive fire that knocked him off his feet once more.
Again a familiar sense of vertigo and weightlessness hit Marhus before the impact of landing on his back. The world seemed to resume its regular pace and he saw something fly over head, he used his elbows to prop himself up, he saw massive trails of smoke emerge from the flying objects, he recognized the trail of missiles, each one crashing into the swarm and exploding violently. He looked up and saw even more flying object, they were so high above, yet he saw each one dropping a hail of dark objects, in an instant he knew that salvation had come. The first flying machines had been vultures, each one firing a barrage of high explosive missiles into the swarm, the second machines were Marauders, each one dropping a hail of fiery explosives, the Hammer of the Emperor, the Imperial Guard have come.
He saw a series of explosions, each detonation in a perfect horizontal pattern of a creeping barrage, he recognized this as of being the handiwork of basilisk artillery, he saw several missiles rain down from the sky and recognized the payloads as the ones used by manticores, he saw from the sky the descent of several Valkyries like the legends of their namesake, many carrying heavy boxes. Getting back to his feet, Marhus found his bolt pistol and cursed that it was still empty, he ejected the ammo clip and checked if he still had any spares, he cursed again seeing that there was only one.
The swarm was now reeling from the sudden assault; the shells and missiles of the artillery caught several synapse creatures that had been waiting behind by surprise, the barrages of missiles from the Vultures and the infernos of Marauder payloads killed hundreds if not thousands of both Gaunts and larger beasts, in less than a minute the swarm that had been on the cusp of victory were now confused, dazed and disorganized against the sudden brutal assault.
Valkyries drop ships began landing near the mausoleum, Leman Russ tanks in various patterns were the first to arrive along with lighter Chimera based tanks such as the Hell Hounds, Devil Dogs and Bane wolves, multiple Sentinels as well were deployed, each one firing a barrage of rockets, lasers and auto-cannon fire from the flanks. The Guard's armor advanced, scything down many of the milling creatures. These were soon followed by troop ships containing the main body of the assault, the massed ranks of Imperial Guardsmen who arrived along with multiple rough riders which galloped or drove in the direction of the Sentinels, there were also chimeras and even the massive Gorgon transports. The discipline, fire power and sheer numbers of the Imperial Guard were enough to push back the swarm.
Marhus recognized the banners and uniforms of four worlds, he saw the beige uniforms and green armor of the Cadian Shock Troopers, he saw the faceless grey legions of the Death Korps of Krieg, he saw the green vested and bare chest bands of Catachan Jungle Fighters with their red bandanas, he saw the wrapped white turbans of the Tallarn Dessert Raiders. Marhus had picked up a discarded bolt pistol, he tried not to think about the azure gauntleted hand that was still holding on to it, he reverently pried the hand away and checked the gun's ammo clip, he counted that at the least there was at least more than half and placed it into his bandolier.
He began surveying the area, hoping to find some of his brothers, he heard the honking of a horn and a voice shouting from a vox behind him, he looked back and saw a Chimera speeding at his direction, Marhus casually stepped away from its path in time for it to speed by, the vehicle spat at stream of bright red dead from its multi-lasers.
His vox unit began crackling to life, there was a bit of white noise at first, he lent his ear to see what was to be said, the noise soon began to clear and a voice began to become clear
"This is Lord General Theron of Cadia to all infantry! Continue with the advance until you reach the designated areas! Dig in and await for the Baneblades"
As if to emphasis the point, several pillars of red smoke appeared where the outermost trench line had been, he saw the chimaeras and gorgons stopping at the line and from them disgorged the Imperial Guard. His vox began to crackle again and Marhus listened
"Brothers!" Came the familiar voice of the current Chapter Master "Follow the Imperial Guard to the first defensive line! Once their regroup with any you find and await further orders!"
Nodding with acknowledgement, Marhus strode forth. He passed the bodies of countless Tyranids slain by his battle brothers, he saw more than a few of Marines as well amongst the dead or wounded and thought angrily at the xenos filth, he descended towards a trench line not far from where the Imperial Guard had been setting up, he saw a pair of Cadian medics pull out a scout who began screaming from a pile of dead xenos.
He was missing his right eye and left leg which was sheared away above the knee, one of the Cadians pulled out a syringe an stuck the scout with it, the boy's screams soon were silenced and he moaned in a drug induced stupor, Marhus supposed the boy would be lucky that not all of his enhancements would be fully functional yet, as such the boy's body wouldn't be able to fully block out any drugs that would numb a normal human.
When he reached the front line, he got the attention of more than a few guardsmen who gave respectful salutes and often referred to him as "my lord". Marhus tried to get a closer look at the Tyranids who were now re-organizing, he took out an auspex device and placed it to the lens of his helmet, from a distance he saw a massive Tyranid beast wielding four massive swords, the beast was accompanied by a smaller but also formidable creature, these two here knew were the Swarm Lord and the Hive Tyrant.
The Imperial Guard was now digging new holes for their vehicles to hull-down. As the swarm massed for another assault, Marhus heard the distant booms of earth-shakers, the artillery rounds exploded amidst the swarm, obliterating many gaunts, but it was not enough to stem the tide, he saw the creatures begin to spread their formations to minimize losses, he heard the shouting of a Tallarn officer to a vox unit, the man began demanding the artillery to broaden their fire. Explosions blossomed amongst the field but still the Tyranids came, they still had a long distance to go, so Marhus took the time to scrounge up what he could.
By the time the remaining Marines arrived, Marhus had found himself a stalker-pattern bolt rifle; he had claimed the weapon from a deceased scout sergeant of whom he gave last rites to. The Leman Russ ranks began to fire, unleashing a deadly barrage towards the Tyranids which were now close enough for him to effectively use the rifle, looked into the scoped, he took aim and saw the hideous face of a warrior beast
"See you in hell" he growled, before he could squeeze the trigger the beast was engulfed in the explosion of a plasma cannon. Marhus grunted, displeased at this and began searching for another foe, he sighted upon a floating Zoanthrope and fired a three round burst, each shot striking harmlessly against its psychic shield, he fired another series of shots and was pleased to see the last round in his clip at least hit the creature into is bulbous head.
When the Baneblades of which bore the colors of Tallarn had arrived, the battle was now once more in full swing, thousands of Guardsmen, unleashed volleys of fire from their guns, tanks roared with the sounds of their cannons, the smells of promethium and burnt ozone filled the air. The Knights of Arathan took the initiative of leading the counter attack towards the heart of the swarm, the Chapter Master, his retinue of veteran Terminators, the remaining Librarians, Chaplains and Force Commanders agreed to a daring plan.
Just as how the Emperor himself ended the Horus Heresy, the Chapter Master and his team would deep strike towards the Hive Tyrant and the Swarm Lord, they would slay the two beasts and decapitate the Tyranid leadership, already in orbit the Imperial Navy were pounding the Hive Fleet with overwhelming fire, at the least they could be sure that the Swarm on the surface would not be getting any aid from above.
By early afternoon the Imperium launched its assault slowly pushing the swarm back, Marhus and several remaining Tactical, Devastator and Scout marines charged forth along with what vehicles of the Chapter remained, the Imperial Guard infantry were with them and ahead were their tanks, ever pounding the xeno swarm with their mighty guns. Marhus had been given a multi-melta, he roared in vengeance as the weapon vaporized a brood of gaunts, he heard the thooms of Guard grenade launchers, the volley exploding amidst the swarms. He saw the leader of the Imperial Guard the Lord General in the thick of the battle with his men.
The Lord General wore a gilded breastplate with the Imperial Aquila upon it, he was a scarred man of middling years with patrician features who seemed to be in his early fifties, yet he radiated and aura of strength, the General wielded a power sword in his right hand and a melta-pistol in his left, he was accompanied by a grizzled looking Commissar armed with a power-axe with the regalia of one having received the title of a Lord, the Commissar fired a volley of bolts from a simple laser pistol at the xenos, yet more than a few had been too perfectly lethal to be just random shots.
The two guard commanders were accompanied by a group of soldiers he knew were the Kasrkins of Cadia, each soldier firing a blaze of death from their Hellguns. There were also a veteran group of Catachan officers each distinct from the rank and file with a red beret rather than the bandanas, each man wielded a mighty array of powerful short ranged guns, heavy flamers, plasmas and meltas, and other exotic or archaic looking weapons, likely trophies from other worlds. Amidst the charge were the roaring and boisterous Ogryns firing their Rippers with the accuracy of orks. The ogryns were accompanied by the priesthood of the ministorum, each man held a massive chain sword and shouted praises to the Emperor and whipping many Guardsmen into fanatical frenzies that made them seem to ignore their wounds.
The hairs on Marhus back also stood and he felt a shiver across his spine as he saw the nine robed forms of Sanctioned Psykers, each stood atop a Chimera, and unleashing bolts of warp lightning that jumped from tyranid to tyranid, amongst them he noticed was a Psyker who seemed to have greater control over her powers and directed the assaults of her compatriots to the swarm. Marhus assumed this was one of the Guard's Primaris Psykers.
Among the ranks of the Guards, what struck him the most though was the eerie silence of the Death Korps, each of the gas masked soldiers fought alongside the other Guards with clinical efficiency, they barely spoke only uttering a sound when struck down, they communicated in hand signals, and yet they moved like one body and one mind, Marhus was unsure if he should be reminded of the Tyranids or the Necrons.
The combined advance of the Imperial Guard and Space Marines cut a swath through the Tyranid Swarm, the leaders of the Hive strode towards the human army, intent on breaking it, when visual contact was made the leadership of the Knight of Arathan made their move, in a series of several flashes, a dozen Terminators appeared along with several other marines bearing the equipment of those highly decorated in long service.
The kill teams assault slaughtered countless more xenos, many of whom had been distracted by the slow and methodical advance of the main Imperial army, it was a dangerous yet effective tactic, to use a single but powerful strike team to catch the attention of the foe, while the rank and file elements dealt with the enemy from behind, a tactic Marhus noted seemed to go hand in hand, or claw and claw with the Gaunts and the Carnifexes.
The kill teams slaughtered their way past several Tyranids, mauling their way past hive guards, warriors and raveners while the gaunts were mainly tied up with the guards and marines. The Hive Tyrant and the Swarm Lord retreated from the kill team, in their place were more of the advanced bio-forms which were quickly put down. Amidst the swarm came the gene-stealers and lictors, these creatures each more capable of independent thought used the distraction of their kin to flank and assault the kill teams from behind. It was at this moment the Chapter Master came to a horrible realization, it was a trap.
Attacked from behind or from their flanks, the stealth specializing tyranids struck when the Astartes champions left themselves open, the armor of the Terminators proved useless to the claws of the gene-stealers while those who were not wearing Terminator armor were struck by the hooks of the Lictors and dragged into the swarm, isolated from their brothers. The Librarians were quickly incapacitated as they were assailed by the combined psychic assaults of the Swarm Lord, the Hive Tyrant and multiple Zoanthropes. Marhus watched in stunned horror as one by one the great heroes of his Chapter met their end.
Shocked and now leaderless, the Space Marines quickly recovered, turning to their sergeants or to those members of senior age for command, the Knights of Arathan continued with the plan, either wipe out the Tyranids or meet their doom. The Imperial Guard on the other hand had different ideas, whistles began blowing and the order for a tactical withdrawal came, faced with the prospect of facing the swarm alone, many of the Space Marines chose to withdraw as well, but not all did. Those whose rage or stubbornness had been so great stood and fought their own personal last stand, few never made it past fifteen seconds alone.
The Imperial army withdrew in an orderly fashion, the wounded were placed aboard the transports while the tanks drove backwards towards the trench line but never quite actually reaching it, the whistles blew again and orders to hold the line came, Marhus was not sure as of why. His curiosity was answered by a storm of manticore missiles and earth shaker rounds which obliterated more tyranids, the artillery had advanced and moved into positions close enough to bombard the Swarm, once more the sheer amount of fire power from the Guard smashed into the swarm, and they advanced.
Very few of the tyranids managed to close in on the army, many were slain by the volleys of fire from the infantry and tanks, others who were luckier were gunned down with shotguns, or incinerated by meltas or flamers. The mighty Baneblades of the Tallarn reaped a bloody tally, many of the Leman Russ tanks which more a mix of insignias and colors of Cadia, Tallarn and Krieg smashed aside all resistance.
The Gene-stealers and Lictors attempted a similar tactic, but were spotted by the observant eyes of the Chapter's remaining Skull Probes, or were picked out by the keen senses of the Catachans. The Imperials advanced with such overwhelming fire power that by the time they actually reached the Hive Tyrant and the Swarm Lord, there simply were not enough Tyranid bodies to protect them. The lead Tallarn Baneblade, operated by their regiment's commander concentrated all eleven guns at the Swarm Lord; the massive alien withstood a number of shots which softened up its chitinous shell, enough for the Demolisher Cannon to obliterate the creature.
The massive psychic backlash of the Swarm Lord's demise could be felt by the Swarm; it was soon amplified by the death of the Hive Tyrant which would be slain by a combined volley of plasma and melta shots from the three command squads and their veteran guards. With the swarm now in disarray, the tyranids fled or had begun tearing at each other, each proved easy kills for the thousands of Guardsman.
And so the battle of Imarias was won, nearly an entire chapter was wiped out and more than a few hundred guardsmen had given their lives. Depending on who is asked, it was either a resounding victory of a pyrrhic one, it took several centuries for the Knights of Aratha to recover, much of their stock of gene-seed was consumed by swarm. Marhus would eventually be promoted to the rank of Force Commander to an entier company, both in honor of his skill and courage, possibly also because he was one of the few surviving fully fledged battle brothers at the time.
The Imperial Guard themselves would pack up and leave the planet continuing their tireless crusade against the enemies of the Imperium, but not of course before leaving with honors and gifts from the grateful Astartes. In time, Imarias would become a thriving jewel of Imperial might; the Great War that was fought upon the world would be remembered by future generations of Imperials as the day that even when the greatest of humanity's champions fall, the perseverance and the strength of spirit within the common man would triumph against the darkness of the alien menace.
(Author's Note: This tale is not to be taken seriously as it is simply something I thought would have been amusing to write, so please don't take the reversal in roles seriously)