Sorry for being late in updating, but first my laptop had to go in for repairs to the CD/DVD drive, and then I had to start packing up to move house. I intended this to be the last chapter, but I couldn't fit in everything I wanted without making the chapter too packed. Oh well.
Yoshomo; I'm glad you enjoyed it, even of it's taken a little longer to update then I intended. The exams were the last ones of my undergrad curse, so big relief there.
Oirarana; I was a little worried that that scene might be a little too much, so I'm glad to hear people liked it.
As always, comments and criticism are welcome, flamers will be conscripted to the 13th Penal Regiment.
Sisters! The Emperor's blessed warriors have arrived to aid us!
Canoness Liotian
Referring to the arrival of Inquisition task force EVA during the Thymine Massacre
Chapter 10
Interrogator-Captain Arkland dropped the last damage report onto the desk, and sighed, staring silently out into the night. The Hot Needle of Enquiry, Calm and Cooperative and Forthright Gaze were still stranded deep in space, some distance away from the planet by the Tyranid ship. The Tyranid had, themselves, also been forced away from the planet, when Sky Command had risen above the horizon again.
Still capable of throwing out incredible amounts of fire power despite the damage take in the initial attack, the battle station had forced a temporary peace, the Tyranid not willing to run the gauntlet of it's fire when it would most likely be torn apart by the atmosphere within a handful of days.
Shaking his head, he stretched and turned to pour a fresh cup of recaf, only to pause as his vox. hissed into life.
"Captain Arkland to the bridge," it crackled.
"Now what?" Arkland muttered, before reaching over and pressing the transmit rune. "I'm on my way," he said, before climbing to his feet.
The captain's quarters were purposefully near to the bridge, so it was only a couple of minutes before Arkland strode into the Needle's bridge, dodging around one of the ever-present naval security teams.
"Report," he snapped, stepping up to the command podium.
"We've picked up something strange on the sensorium, sir," the exec replied bluntly, gesturing for Arkland to follow him into the sensorium annex. "The Hive fleet seems to be grouping in two spots outside of Sky Command's range."
"I see," Arkland said, glancing down at one of the flickering pict. screens. "Do we have any idea why?"
"Well sir," the sensorium Lieutenant replied, taking over, "they have descended to just outside the atmosphere, and we can just pick up something that looks like a stream of objects heading towards the planet. I think they're releasing more spores, preparing for a two-pronged attack."
"I see," Arkland muttered, shaking his head. "Good work, Lieutenant. I'll contact the ground, so download this data to a slate for vox. transmission."
"Ah, sir?" the Lieutenant interrupted before Arkland could leave the annex. "There's something else…."
"Well?" Arkland said, turning back with a hint of impatience.
"Well… with the damage we've taken, we've lost a lot of resolution in our instruments. To actually see the spores at this range… They have to be big. Mid-level Titan-scale, at least."
"Ah…Throne," Arkland groaned, before leaving the annex and making a hurried bee-line for the vox. station.
--
+IT'S CONFIRMED+ Orgenati said, shaking his head with a whine of servos as he looked up from a console. +PDF RECON ELEMENTS REPORT THAT THE TYRANID HAVE ASSEMBLED TWO DROP ZONES, AND ARE DEPOSITING A LARGE NUMBER OF BIO-TITANS AT BOTH. THEY AREN'T MOVING YET EITHER, THE HIVE MIND SEEMS TO BE ASSEMBLING A 'KNOCK-OUT BLOW' RATHER THEN THE CONSTANT STREAM OF LOWER-LEVEL THREATS THAT WE'VE BEEN HANDLING SO FAR+
"What about an intercept?" Captain Yartius asked, studying the fuzzy tactical hologram. "If we intercept them short of the city…"
"Not a great move," Thorne said, shaking his head. "The swarms are too large. To destroy one of these attacks would take the majority of our Titans, so if we split our forces evenly, neither will be strong enough to halt the Tyranid."
+ON THE OTHER HAND+ Orgenati added, +IF WE SEND ALL OUR FORCES AGAINST A SINGLE SWARM, IT WILL BE DESTROYED, BUT THE OTHER WILL REACH THE CITY BEFORE THE TITANS CAN REDEPLOY. IT'S THE KIND OF LOGIC PROBLEM THAT JUVIE ENGINSEERS ONCE USED TO BURN OUT LOW-LEVEL COGNITORS DURING RAG WEEK+
"Yes…" Thorne hummed, before a frown creased his forehead. "Wait. I thought the Mechanicus treated such incidences with capital punishment."
+I SAID ONCE+ Orgenati replied, slightly more flatter then usual. Thorne pondered this for a second, and then shrugged.
"Well, anyway," he muttered. "It seems that we need to buy time…"
--
-…So, we've come up with a, somewhat risky, plan,- Thorne's image said, floating in Unit 02's entry plug. -Collectively, the Legio Titanicus units can defeat one of the two forces by themselves… but that would leave the other uncontested. So…- Thorne took a deep breath. -…we want you two to hold up the northern prong of the Tyranid assault while the Titans destroy the western attack.-
"I'm sorry," Asuka said, sticking a finger in her left ear and wiggling it about for a second. "Could you repeat that? It sounded like you said that you wanted us to take on a entire Tyranid bio-titan swarm by ourselves."
+THAT WOULD BE A… PARTIALLY ACCURATE SUMMATION+ Orgenati confirmed. +WE DO NOT WANT YOU TO ACTUALLY ATTEMPT TO DESTROY THE TYRANIDS, JUST DELAY THEM UNTIL THE TITANS' DESTROY THE OTHER FORCE AND MOVE TO SUPPORT YOU+
"How do we do that?" Shinji asked, his image frowning in thought.
"Good question," Asuka agreed. "I mean, smearing our Evangelions with a megagallon of barbeque sauce and carrying 'All You Can Eat' signs isn't exactly what I had in mind when I joined up."
+WITH THE THUNDER CANNONS, YOU CAN ATTACK THE SWARM FROM BEYOND THEIR RANGE+ Orgenati replied, ignoring the sarcasm, +FORCING THEM TO EITHER GO TO GROUND, OR CHARGE TOWARDS YOU, IN WHICH CASE YOU CAN FALL BACK AND DRAW THEM AWAY FROM THE CITY+
Asuka glanced over at Shinji, who shrugged.
"Well," she muttered, slouching back in the seat, "I guess it should work."
--
"Okay…" Shinji hissed from his position, lying prone on the hilltop carefully aiming a Thunder Cannon downhill in the general direction of a swarm of more then twenty biotitans moving past towards the city. "Unit 01 to Command," he whispered, activating the vox. "I'm in a flanking position, ready to attack."
"Unit 02," Asuka added from the next hill over. "I'm also in position, I have good shot from here."
-Good work- came the reply. -Hold position, the Titans will begin their assault in ten minutes…mark." Shinji tapped a control, causing a ten-minute timer to flick into existence in sync with the voice. -As soon as the Titans attack, open fire-
"Yes, sir," Shinji replied, activating the long-range targeting system, and fighting off a momentary bout of claustrophobia as it unfolded and descended over his head. The screen flickered to life, the best computers NERV could build immediately providing targeting data on all of the biotitans onscreen.
Shinji found himself swallowing nervously as he studied the monsters as they strode past. Survivor of the Angel wars, and veteran of over a dozen conflicts with Chaos he may have been, but there was just something about the Tyranid that scared him on a more fundamental part of his mind. And he'd seen too many other people react in the same way to think that his reaction was unique.
A warm rush flooded through the mind impulse link from inside the Eva. Shinji felt his heart rate settle a little, and smiled slightly, sending a burst of gratitude back though the link.
Thanks Mother, he thought, before letting his fingers rest lightly on the triggers as the timer dropped towards zero. All right, let's go…
--
Princeps Dorlian grinned in anticipation as the foe came into Might of Mars's sensorium. Nearly a dozen heavily armoured Hierodules lead the swarm, with other, more esoteric bio-morphs behind.
"Moderati, bring all weapons to full readiness and activate the voids," Dorlian snapped, "Tactical, organise targeting solutions and assign them to the squad. Brothers…" he paused, sharing in the ancient Titan's pleasure at the tension before the storm.
"…burn them all."
--
Shinji squeezed the trigger, the Thunder Cannon's high-energy blast tearing into the side of the Tyranid force and ripping his target apart. A second blast from Asuka's direction blotted a Harridan from the sky and the swarm scattered, the monsters searching for what meagre cover a twenty-story bioweapon could use.
"Come on," Shinji muttered, the Thunder Cannon vibrating as it recharged from the backpack capacitors, and those whined as they recharged themselves from the excess energy of his S2 organ.
The targeting icon on his screen flickered from red to yellow, and Shinji focussed on the distant swarm. A target flickered into his sights; a Trygon speeding for a nearby forest. Shinji pulled the trigger, watching with a sick feeling in his stomach as the creature's torso detonated, the super-heated organs shattering the chitin carapace into fragments that tore several stunned gargoyles from the sky. The targeting icon flickered back to red as the recharge cycle began.
"Shinji, we've been flanked!" Asuka shouted over the vox. Shinji spun over instinctively, hearing a thump from the ground beside him as he rolled. The targeting systems folded back into the entry plug, only to reveal a hulking bio-titan squatting next to him.
It lunged straight for him. In an instinctive panic, Shinji desperately blocked with the Thunder Cannon, two massive talons ripping into it and wedging in the potent weapon in a spray of sparks.
Shinji pushed out, throwing the monster back and tearing the wrecked cannon from it's cabling. The Tyranid stumbled back, tearing it's talons loose in a spray of metal and electricity. As the Tyranid lunged again Shinji snatched the plasma pistol from his shoulder mount, bringing it up and firing point blank into the abomination's mouth. The biotitan's head detonated, it's body slumping as the Hive Mind retreated from it's nervous system.
Shinji glanced around, and gulped. As he and Asuka had been sniping at the obvious swarm, several biotitans had apparently managed to circle around behind them.
"Oh, boy," Shinji gulped, dumping the capacitors and snatching up the Lance from the ground where he'd left it. "This'll be… interesting."
--
"Inquisitor Thorne?"
Thorne started, looking up from the Tactical display in anger.
"I beg your pardon, my Lord," the stranger, dressed in the armour of an arbites and wearing an ornate helm topped by a stylised, golden aquilia. "I am Marshal Halbite, master of the Arbites on this world. I apologise for startling you, but given the critical stage of the war, I felt I should come offer my services in person rather then by proxy."
"Marshal Halbite," Thorne said in annoyance, "while I would be more then happy to talk with you under other conditions, we are, as you said, presently managing a critical stage of the war. Hence, I must ask you…"
+MY LORDS!+ a Tech-priest called out from the Vox. station, +WE'VE RECEIVED A SIGNAL FROM DEEP ORBIT. IT'S THE DEVINE RIGHT! BATTLEFLEET GOTHIC HAS ARRIVED!+
"What!?" Thorne gasped, spinning away from the Arbites Marshal, "Confirm that!"
+IT'S CONFIRMED+ Orgenati agreed, looking over a repeater screen. +BATTLEFLEET GOTHIC HAS BEEN DRIFTING IN SYSTEM UNDER MINIMAL POWER. THEY'VE JUST LIT THEIR DRIVES, AND IF MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE TACTICS IS ACCURATE, THEY ARE ENDEAVOURING TO CAPTURE THE MAJORITY OF THE XENOGENS IN BETWEEN THEIR SHIPS AND SKY COMMAND+
"Quick," Thorne snapped, running over to the vox. station and snatching up the mike, "get me a line to Admiral Semper! Now!"
--
Tightbeam (ground-to-space) commstream generation (12/497.f).
Carrier-code Oscillate:27.3194.487. Priority-INQUI1. (1/31.a Datastream transmission only
Logging receipt…
Target receiving. (1/87c
INQUISITON CODE PRIMUS 7
GENERAL HAIL. Suspend comms-traffic for duration.
Channel sustained.
+Admiral Semper, this is Inquisitor Lord Thorne. I need you to…+
In,Inquisitor I, I'm just a Lieutenant!
+Emperor damned… Lieutenant, get me the Admiral+
Ye,Yes sir!
…
This is Admiral Semper
+I'm Inquisitor Lord Thorne, authorisation AUTOMATICALLY EDITED FROM RECORD+
…Checks out, hold one… We're secure. What do you need Inquisitor, but hurry, we're barely minutes from contact
+Two swarms of biotitans are advancing on the capital. The Adaptus Mechanicus Titans are destroying the western force, but the northern swarm is only being contested by two units. We need a single cruiser to bombard the site from orbit+
…I see. What of the units in the area?
+So long as the bombardment is spread and not a focused strike, they should be able to take the damage with minimal effect+
The Throne's Wrath has plasma-based weapon batteries. I'll split it off and send it before we hit the main force
+Thanks, I'm attaching the coordinates to the pict. stream. Good luck, hopefully we'll be able to meet in person soon+
--
"Right, I've organised a high-yield orbital bombardment on target alpha," Thorne said, setting down the vox. "With their AT fields up, they should be safe, yes?"
+INDEED, A BOMBARDMENT WOULD SPREAD OUT, NOT ACT AS A FOCUSED BLOW THAT COULD PIERCE AN AT FIELD. THE EVA GRADE ARMOUR SHOULD BE ABLE TO HANDLE THE FORCES INVOLVED, SO LONG AS THEIR AT FIELDS ARE UP AND THE ARMOUR DOES NOT TAKE A DIRECT HIT. I'D BETTER WARN THEM+ Orgenati turned away, about to order a channel opened.
The roar of a shotgun sounded instead.
--
"Damn it," Shinji shouted as he impaled a Tyranid on the Lance, "It's like fighting the Angels all over again."
A sudden blast of psychic energy blasted into and through the AT field, throwing the immense Evangelion into the ground. Looking up, Shinji spotted a bio-titan, psychic energy flickering around it's withered limbs and allowing it to drift slowly forward through the air.
"Oh, COME ON!" Shinji snarled, propping himself up and blasting the floating monster with his plasma pistol. The plasma blasts flared off some kind of psychic shielding, the creature not even flinching. Energy coursed over it's carapace, coalescing into a single point in front of it.
"What's got you in a such a mood," Asuka asked, throwing the top half of a Hierophant in front of the Malanthrope, right before the psychic blast fired, absorbing the blast in a detonation of roasted flesh.
"You did see the reports on the 5th? Angel?" Shinji asked, snatching up the Lance and throwing it overarm right into the Malanthrope, which collapsed to the ground, trees igniting in a flare of randomised psychic energy.
"I can see the irony," Asuka replied, pieces of a bio-titan flying from the hill she had vanished behind.
"It's not just that," Shinji muttered, shaking his head, "It's just… sometimes I feel as though I'm staring in one of the worst kind of horror films; the snuff film kind. Still, that's about par for the course since the 3rd Angel attacked way back when. I hardly expect the Universe to stop a winning formula now."
The vox. was silent for a moment, while Shinji retrieved the Lance from the biotitan's corpse. Unit 02 came over the hill at a run, the bright red of it's armour discoloured by dripping patches of the darker red of a Tyranid's internal fluids. Shinji raised his pistol, firing past the Eva. A biotitan reared in Asuka's wake, and slowed for a few vital seconds as the plasma burst on it's carapace.
"Thanks," Asuka gasped, sliding to a halt next to him.
"No problem," Shinji replied, wincing as the plasma pistol hissed with an overload and the cooling systems went into overdrive. "Listen… sorry. I just needed to vent a bit."
"Hah," Asuka chuckled good naturedly as she readied her axe to meet the charging Tyranid. "You picked one hell of a time to pour your heart out."
--
Orgenati found himself on the floor, without any real recollection of how he got there.
The statement, Breach in spinal column, rolled across his vision in dull red letters, followed by All voluntary nerve control below junction 3 unavailable. Self-repair systems damaged. Some maintenance will be required. Then his focus shifted as the form of Marshal Halbite walked into view.
+IT WAS YOU+ Orgenati accused flatly. +THE CULT LEADER SHINJI MENTIONED, THE ONE WE NEVER FOUND+
"Yes," Halbite hissed, glaring at the immobile Tech-priest. "I had already bought the light to the Arbites' medicae personnel, to spread the truth, and hide the hunters when the time came. Everything was so carefully prepared, especially after hearing the rummers of the return of the Evangelion… And it was you and yours that took him from us, stole him from the light."
+YOU KIDNAPPED HIM FIRST. BESIDES, GIVEN HIS HISTORY, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT EVEN WITH GENETIC IMPLANTS, HE MAY HAVE STILL REMAINED IMMUNE TO YOUR…DELUSIONS+
"Delusions? Hah! So superior," Halbite sneered, racking the shotgun. "You filled yourself with your blasphemous technologies, sealing yourself away from the natural order of the Universe…willingly! Well, your Navy will do the job for us. A shame, but with your Evangelions disposed of, you will lose the ability to slow this war. The hive-fathers will use that, and will consume all while you flounder around in this petty civil war. All that, could only be stopped by you, and I believe you will be dying soon."
+A CONCISE ANALYSIS, ACCURATE, EXCEPT FOR ONE FACTOID YOU HAVE YET TO ADD+
"Oh? And what's that?"
+YOUR 'HUNT' IS UNFINISHED+ Orgenati said flatly, as the sudden whine of a plasma pistol filled the room.
Halbite spun, and came face to face with Thorne. The Inquisitor was slumped up against the wall, one hand clasped against the wound in his abdomen with a mixture of blood and oil oozing through his fingers. But his other arm was steady, and the pistol in his hand didn't waver from Halbite's head.
"I am Inquisitor Lord Thorne, of the holy orders of the Ordos Malleus," Thorne growled between gritted teeth. "You know the Pax Imperius, Marshal, no Servant of the Emperor goes unavenged." Thorne's eyes met the Marshal's, which flinched as he saw an impeccable will beyond anything the animalistic Genestealer brood had ever managed to install in him. "And no enemy of the Emperor goes unpunished."
The pistol discharged. The bright blue flare of plasma flew straight through the hybrid's head, leaving a hole through his brain large enough to fit a fist through, before impacting with one of the stained glass windows. The Mag-bottle failed, and the shot detonated with a roar that blew out every window in the room.
"Organti, are you alright?" Thorne gasped, dropping the recharging pistol and dropping to one knee.
+I'M STABLE, BUT FORGET ABOUT ME. THE BOMBARDMENT MUST BE ABOUT TO BEGIN, WARN THEM!+ Orgenati turned his head, following Thorne as he staggered over to the console and stabbed at the control runes.
"Damn it," he growled, slumping against the console, "I don't know the channel. I can't get through to warn them!"
+USE CHANNEL ALPHA-37, WITH I.F.F. CODE OMEGA-SEVEN-NINE-GAMMA+ Orgenati instructed. +IT'S THE OVERRIDE CHANNEL WE USED BACK ON NEMISIS TESSARA DURING THE REPAIRS AND UPGRADES+
"Right," Thorne muttered, pushing himself back up and tapping again at the controls.
"…ing-damn it! Die you monster!" Asuka's voice suddenly filled to room as the channel opened.
"Shinji, Asuka! No time, point your AT fields up, now!" Thorne shouted, grabbing the handset.
"Thorne?" came Shinji's voice, "wha…"
"NOW!" Thorne screamed.
Before any response could be heard through the vox, the sky visible through the shattered windows brightened with flaring lines of energy descending from the heavens. The horizon lit up with fire.
To be continued…
--
Recaf; 'Reheated Caffine.' For all intents and purposes, coffee.
Harridan; A large, flying biotitan capable of bombarding troops from the air, and capable of carrying a swarm of gargoyles under it's wings.
Malanthrope; Derived from Zanthrope DNA. The Malanthrope is a powerful psychic biotitan, but it is usually not seen until the last stages of the consumption of a world. The Malanthrope seems to be vitally involved in this process, and is usually not seen in combat.
Pax Imperius; 'No Servant of the Emperor goes unavenged. No enemy of the Emperor escapes His judgement.'