Ymgarl
Officer Ella Taylor signalled to her 2nd in command Sergeant Frank Samson, who signalled to the guardsmen following stealthily behind. The Imperial Guard listening post on Ymgarl had gone silent a few days earlier, and Commissar Aluvien had sent them to investigate the strange silence. Taylor saw movement in a few of the buildings to the left. She pulled the Heavy Bolter off her back, and signalled to her men to do the same, just as three strange creatures, with tentacle faces, and four, bony arms leapt from the buildings.
"They are upon us!" shouted Officer Taylor, unloading the heavy bolter into the front-most creature. It stopped, seeming to steel itself against the blow, the bolts seeming to flatten against its skin. Samson and the others added their las-fire to the attack, only managing to fell one of the three creatures. The creatures snarled, their tentacles rippling on their faces. Samson drew a glowing power sword, and moved in front of Officer Taylor, as the other creatures charged. The guardsmen once again fired their weapons, moving to protect their officer as they did so, and the creatures, their arms dividing from two into four as they charged, felling two guardsmen as the others replaced their lasguns for close combat weapons, all missing wildly as Samson charged in, his first stroke missing, while his second and third found their mark. Officer Taylor darted out from behind him, adding her power fist to the attacks. Wounded but not beaten, the creature lashed out, felling two more of the ten guardsmen in the investigatory group. Stepping over the corpses of the dead guardsmen, Officer Taylor punched the creature with all her might, sending it flying backwards.
"What in the Emperor's name were those foul creatures?" asked Samson, re-sheathing the power sword.
"I'm unsure," asked Taylor "Carlson, you're our xenos expert, what do you make of these creatures?"
"No creature I've seen before," said Carlson, leaning down to examine the creatures more closely "Perhaps a strain of Tyranid genestealer, but not one the Imperium has encountered before."
"Well, those things just killed four of us," said Taylor "Strip them for supplies and set up camp. We need to assemble a defensive perimeter, and set up our heavy weapons. They caught us unawares once, they will not do so again."
The guardsmen set up a fire in the centre of the camp, turning the flamers in their bags to the buildings. The genestealers would not sneak up on them that way again. They began construction on the Lascannon heavy weapon, which would be manned by the two other guardsmen.
It was as they were almost finished setting up the lascannon, that a section of air near the camp shimmered. Three shadowy figures were apparent within the haze, which slowly focused into three figures. The first appeared human, blonde haired, wearing a green shirt and combat trousers, usually recognisable as civilian dress for Imperial Guard. The other two, although at first glance appeared human, at second glance were clearly not. They were much taller than the average human, with pointed ears, and features too perfect for them to actually be human. One had black hair, with blue streaks that were shoulder length, and the other had dark brown hair, down to her waist. They also had weapons on their belts, the two non-humans had pistols and swords, and the human had the same. Two of the three had pouches on their belts, also: the human and one of the non-humans.
"Stay where you are!" said Officer Taylor, levelling her heavy bolter "Don't move a muscle."
"Is that any way to greet a friend," said the human, her voice familiar. She turned her head, her hands still up "Maybe we shouldn't have come."
"Jenny?" asked Ella "Is that you?"
"And Jayne," said Jayne "When we found out where you were, we needed to come help you out of it."
"Put down your weapons," said Officer Taylor "These are friends, not enemies."
"Have you forgotten everything the Emperor teaches?" asked Carlson "They are xenos, we are human, for all I know they could be in league with the xenos which attacked us before."
"We can disarm ourselves if it will make you feel better," said Thirianna "We really have come to aid you, as we once aided your commanders before."
"Don't be silly," said Officer Taylor "This place is dangerous enough, if they are disarmed, how will they protect themselves, Carlson. I will not allow it."
"But-"
"That's an order, Carlson, I can have you on desk duty for the rest of your waking years," said Taylor, glaring at the subordinate Carlson. She turned to Jenny, Jayne and Thirianna.
"I apologise for my comrade's narrow view. I did what you asked, but some people are too rigid in their beliefs," Taylor set the heavy bolter down on the ground.
"Not a problem," said Jenny "What's the situation?"
"Our base on Ymgarl has gone silent," said Taylor "Our company has been sent to investigate."
"Just the five of you?" asked Jayne, looking at the remaining guardsmen.
"We were attacked," said Taylor "Most of the company were taken out by some strange creatures whose hide seemed to harden to our weapons, and whose arms seemed to morph to attack us."
"They're called Ymgarl Genestealers," said Thirianna "A form of Tyrannid creature that can adapt its body for any combat situation. You got lucky, you won't be so next time. If you don't leave this planet soon, the rest of the horde will find you, and you won't be able to kill them so easily."
"We have our orders," said Officer Taylor "We have a mission to complete here on Ymgarl. We need to retrieve the data from the base here that went silent."
"You've already lost six men," said Jayne "The base is probably crawling with Stealers by now, how do you expect to get to the control room and retrieve the data before they hunt you all to death?"
"With our help," said Jenny "I can be your escape route. I can get most of you out in a few jumps. We can help with the combat as well, we can give you a few extra hands, assuming your men don't mind working with Xenos."
"Well, Carlson?" asked Officer Taylor "Will that be a problem?"
Carlson answered in the negative, avoiding the eyes of the Eldar and Jenny.
"All right, let's move out, and if anyone deems it a good idea to take out our new allies, well, I hope my heavy bolter disabuses them of this notion," Ella Taylor glared around at the remaining members of her company, daring them to contradict her.
When nobody did, she organised them into a defensive formation, with Jenny, Thirianna and Jayne with her on point, the heavy weapon team in a protected area in the middle, with Carslon and the last of the guard taking up the rear. It was slow progress, the uneven surface of Ymgarl making it difficult for the heavy weapons team to move their Lascannon.
The base complex was small, only really having room for the research team, their test subjects, and a few small guard squads that had found the base to be an excellent listening post for listening to a chaos warband on the planet below.
Now, the base was deserted, the floors slick with blood, and the sight of a couple of dead soldiers, their faces unrecognisable.
"Stay together, defensive formation, room by room," said Taylor, her men complying, and altering the formation slightly to provide protection in the narrower hallways of the base.
It was slow work, the formation offered protection, but only through careful positioning so that every gun could fire into each room they entered, which for the most part wasn't necessary. There were a couple of instances where a couple of the creatures were in the rooms, but they were easily dispatched, not expecting an attack, and therefore not ready to defend against it. Eventually, they entered the control room.
"This was far too easy," said Jayne, looking around uneasily "We should have met much stiffer resistance than this. We should leave."
"What's the matter, Xenos?" said Carlson "I thought you were supposed to be clairvoyant. Where's your foresight now?"
Thirianna's eyes turned entirely blue, and glowed. A moment later, they returned to normal.
"It's a trap!" she shouted "They're above us!"
The ventilation shafts above their heads buckled all along the roof, and around ten of the creatures that they had fought before dropped to the ground, their tentacles writhing, their arms clawing the air as they snarled at the much-depleted group. The heavy weapon team immediately swivelled the lascannon towards the throng, but it was not powerful enough to take down all of them. As it fired, looking like it was going to miss its mark, Thirianna's eyes glowed again, and the shot moved back on-course, burning the creature to ash. Jayne unloaded with a different weapon than she had taken from the arenas of Commoragh, although it didn't seem to have much effect, the disc-like bullets bouncing off the creature's tough hide. Runes flew out of Jenny's pouch, as she saw the blue outlines of the genestealers, and then waved her hands in front of her. The darkness in the corners of the room became a dark fog which blocked the group from view.
Frank, Ella and Carlson added their fire to the fray as Jenny charged, firing her pistol as she did, and then engaging the front-most creature. The creature raked its claws into her, finding a weak point in the armour she wore. Holding her wound with one hand, she stabbed for the creature with the other, although her sword met only air. The other creatures piled in around Jenny, wailing on her with their claws, but she was still standing, albeit barely. It was here, on the battlefields of Ymgarl, that Officer Ella Taylor ascended to the rank of Commissar.
Charging into the Ymgarl Genestealers, her power fist whirring as she yelled a challenge at the creatures. At the same time, Jenny attacked, golden energy streaming out of her eyes, any genestealer the beam touched being obliterated. The energy also coalesced around her sword, as she swung it at a few of the other genestealers, taking them down in turn. But all eyes were drawn to Officer Ella Taylor, who through some unnatural burst of strength and speed, swung her power fist into the face of the genestealer. Unfortunately, her attack missed, and the genestealer retaliated, swinging at her with its claws, which she dodged, firing her pistol to distract it, while she got out of the way of the blow. She once again swung at the genestealer, as another one jumped to attack her, the remaining three moving to attack Jenny. Ella once again swung at one of the genestealers, this time connecting with its face, completely shattering it's reinforced skull, as it crumpled to the ground. Using the momentum of the powerfist, she kept it going, until it crashed into the other genestealer, this time hitting it where it's stomach would have been, and sending it flying backwards into one of the creatures now surrounding Jenny.
The other members of the company, who had been standing in awe of Taylor's sudden combat prowess, sprung into action. Thirianna's eyes glowed again, and a spectral image in her likeness charged out of her body, and began laying about the genestealers, killing one, while Jayne charged in with it, taking out another, as Jenny slumped to the ground before the remaining genestealer. Taylor pulled the heavy bolter off her back, and walked towards the genestealer, unloading into it, not stopping until Thirianna put a hand on her shoulder. She looked down, to see the near-unrecognisable corpse of the genestealer she had been shooting into. Then, suddenly, her adrenaline wore off, and she collapsed towards Thirianna, and fell unconscious. (roll this later)
Jenny was panting on the ground, not unconscious, but very near to it. As soon as she felt like she was able, she stood up. Pain shot through her body, and she let out an involuntary gasp of pain.
"You should rest," said a voice from her left. She collapsed back into a sitting position, as she looked towards the voice. Thirianna was treating the unconscious body of Ella Taylor, a nervous Samson looked on "She'll be all right," Thirianna assured him "That battle took a lot out of her, it took a lot out of both of them."
Thirianna moved over to Jenny.
"How long was I out?" asked Jenny, checking her vortex manipulator to make sure it wasn't damaged during the fall, and then checking her weapons.
"A few minutes," said Thirianna "I'd recommend you rest for a bit, but considering the circumstances, we'll probably need to move sooner, rather than later."
"Did you get the information you were looking for?" Jenny asked the room at large. It was Carlson who replied "We've dumped everything onto our computers, we're ready to leave at a moment's notice."
"We should probably get moving then," said Jenny "I need coordinates, for where you want me to drop you off."
Frank rattled off a series of coordinates, which Jenny typed into the vortex manipulator.
"We should probably wait until Officer Taylor wakes up," said Jenny "Time travel can be pretty rocky at the best of times, I don't want to try transporting an unconscious person, she might get hurt. I'll take you four first, if you'd prefer."
"Take us," said Samson "I need to report to our commander."
Jenny took Samson, Officer Carlson and two other guardsmen, and typed in the coordinates Samson gave her.
The five of them vanished from the room. The room they appeared in was a crowded command area. There were various different Imperial Guard officers of every rank, all trying to shout over each other. Samson took out his pistol, and fired it into the air. The entire hall went deathly silent, and the every eye turned to the five of them.
"Sergeant Samson," said a voice from the front of the room, as a well-armoured Imperial Guard officer began walking towards them "While I'd remind you that firing your pistol in the middle of a command meeting is very inadvisable, I am glad to see you alive. What's going on, we've heard nothing from Ymgarl since you landed?"
"We were ambushed, Commissar Aluvien, sir," said Samson, standing to attention as he did so "If it were not for the help of some unexpected allies, we would not be standing here today."
Aluvien turned his gaze to Jenny. "Which regiment are you with, soldier?"
"With due respect, Commissar, sir," said Jenny "I am not part of any Imperial Guard regiment, I am not even part of the same race, by your Imperium's definition, I am a Xenos. One of the same Xenos who assisted in the liberation of Officer Taylor and Sergeant Samson from the arenas of Commoragh. While I do not expect you to immediately change your perception of me as a Xenos, I at least ask you to consider me not as your enemy, but as a potential ally. If you cannot do that, then at least allow me to live long enough to return to Ymgarl to retrieve the rest of the unit."
"You speak well, Jenny," said the Commissar "You seem to have little regard for your own life, and care more for the lives of my men. That I can respect. Tell me what you need from me?"
"Just around ten minutes or so for my teleporter to recharge," said Jenny "And treatment for these men if they have need of it. In truth, I was wondering what I could offer you. I'd like to improve the relationship between certain Xenos species and the Imperium. I've been travelling with some members of the Eldar race for some time, and I'd like to change the Imperium's perception of them, if possible. I believe that the best way to do that is to fight alongside armies of the Imperium."
"Interesting proposal," said the Commissar "I would discuss this with you in more detail when all of my men are safe. You have the use of this bases facilities, take as long as you need."
"I thank you, sir," said Jenny
As Commissar Aluvien left the room, the rather full room began to empty. Jenny felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Officer Carlson.
"I'd like to apologise for my conduct on Ymgarl," he said, wringing his hands nervously "I was out of line. If you were human, I would not have acted in the way I had. I realise this is wrong. You deserve the same respect a human would, you said you'd get us out of there, and you followed through. I know scoundrels who would sell their loyalty as they would sell their labour, who make empty promises and tell naught but lies. So far, you've followed through on what you said you were going to do. I respect a man who keeps his word, I see no reason not to respect you for the same."
"That means a lot, Carlson," said Jenny "If all goes well, we shall fight together on the field of battle once again."
"I look forward to it," said Carlson, then sprung to a quick salute, and left. Jenny stood there for a few moments, a little too shocked to speak.
"Why does every Imperial Guardsmen I have more than a brief conversation with end up saluting me?" said Jenny, to no-one in particular, but Samson answered.
"A salute is a mark of respect," said Frank "It's usually reserved for subordinate guardsmen respecting their officers, but every guardsman would salute, for example one of the Adeptus Astartes. A guardsman saluting you basically means they respect your battle prowess, and will not divulge your secrets, like a superior might ask of his subordinate. I need to go, but when you get Ella back, I'd like to hear about it."
Frank saluted, and made for one of the doors on the other side of the room.
Jenny shook her head, and walked over to one of the comfortable chairs in one of the corners. Relaxing for a few minutes more, she then entered the coordinates, and appeared once again in the control room of Ymgarl. Gathering Ella, Jayne and Thirianna, she once again teleported to the ship.