A.N.: I believe we are almost done with this Arc. I hope you all enjoy these few chapters, because soon enough we will be starting Arc 3! Thank you for reading this story so far and I hope you continue to enjoy it!
To Accountless Fan: Yes! I absolutely do plan to, at least tyranid characters! Can't say which due to spoilers, but well there aren't exactly a thousand sadly...so hopefully most of them!
Jane was floating in an empty sea of stars.
Well. She wasn't, strictly speaking.
Or was she?
It was quite difficult to tell when connected to the progenitor class ship. The limits of where she ended and the ship began were blurred to the point of non-existence.
But then again, they were all tyranid, were they not? All part of the hive mind. They were always unified, this was just more…direct.
She pulled at the biomass contained within the ship, its immense reserves that it had accumulated since the start of the conflict. The constant flux of harpies and hive crones was certainly not the most efficient way of bringing biomass to space, but it at least worked for their purposes.
She started to mould it within the vast chambers of the progenitor, dedicated specifically for this purpose. Shape it into the images in her mind, the genetic structures like intricate blueprints she could so easily read. Attention still had to be paid to ensure the work was done properly; especially given what she was trying to accomplish here. The ships she was designing were inspired by her own experience of warfare, and the lack of limitations from overly traditional tech priests and admirals stuck in their old spatial warfare doctrines.
Slowly, surely, she built the blueprints for her fleet. A fleet for her friend. For her Amica.
All for her Amica.
She fumbled nervously with her side arm as she stood a dozen metres in front of her tank. The hive tyrant had led them to a seemingly random spot in the jungle before signalling at them to stop and wait here. As the minutes passed, her fears of an ambush grew greater and greater. Her nervousness must have been evident, for her Teacher placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Calm yourself. If they wanted to slaughter us, they would have done so when we were still on the move." She tried to take comfort in his words, but found little. Perhaps there was something they didn't know. A reason to only attack now.
The millions of soldiers she had led this far, or rather who'd followed the various officers who had done so, were similarly growing restless. She could hear the radio chatter, frantic and terrified as every man and woman started seeing shadows in the thick jungle brush.
"There are more of you than I expected." She startled at that, the voice in her head grimly amused. "But that is fine. I will sort you all out." Something emerged from the forest edge. She barely managed to prevent her weapon from being aimed squarely at the child as the white haired girl emerged from the forest, her yellow eyes glowing with power.
The Xenos Leader. She gulped. The voice in her head. The one that had spoken from the mouth of every xenos.
She was here.
"Hello." The child spoke, a small smile on her face. "I hope the trip wasn't too difficult."
"...No, it was…it was alright. Just a bit difficult to escape the attention of our superiors with so many of us." She said, trying to not show the sheer terror she was feeling faced with the child.
"You are afraid. That is alright. I am quite scary." The child noted, nodding as if she thought the tank pilot quite wise. "And you." Her teacher straightened as the child's eyes turned to him. "You are not like her. You are not scared of me." The eyes of the child squinted. "Or are you? I'm having a hard time reading you."
"My apologies. I am also a psyker, and well. It's only polite to keep some defences up." She didn't react to that declaration. She knew on some level it had to be so. Her teacher knew too much, was able to plan too much for it to be normal. Too aware of things he by no right should know of.
"Oh. Is that so?" The child seemed curious, stepping closer. "I've never met another that wasn't also tyranid. Did you come to become truly like me?" He shook his head.
"I'm afraid not." The child's eyes gained a stronger glow. For the first time, she saw a look of nervousness cross her teacher's face. "But! We are here to try and strike an alliance of sorts!" The glow receded back to normal as the child tilted her head.
"An alliance?"
"Yes." She decided to try and speak as well. She needed to be assertive if she didn't want to be swept under the current. "We are having…disagreements with how our leadership views us and were hoping we could make a deal with you."
"You want to join the fight against the imperials in exchange for your lives." The child stated. She froze as she felt something coil in her mind. "You are afraid. Tired. Raging. You want vengeance. I can understand that. I used to hate the Imperium too. I no longer do, but your feelings for them are valid." The child smiled, and she felt her heart tighten. "If you wish, I can give you the strength to fight back."
"I…I just want to kill those who ordered Toji dead." She whispered. "I want to get out of here and go home."
"Say I agree and you win. Then what? You think the Imperials will let you live after your betrayal?" The child softly said. "They will brand you a traitor. A xenos lover. A heretic. And they will seek nothing but to annihilate you. Your world will be burned." She was trembling as the child spoke, her legs feeling weak as the images of the orbital bombardment that had struck the third continent's army was replaced with that of her own home world destroyed. "You will win here, and lose everywhere else. But I can change that. I can give you a chance. A chance to win. A chance to survive. A chance to live."
"I…"
"Please. That is not why we came here." Her teacher spoke. "Let her make her choice later. There are many more here who will gladly embrace your cause. The longer our absence, the more they will suspect something." She glanced back at her teacher. There was something in the child's eyes that made her shiver.
"Hm. Very well. I will accept your little deal. Any who wish to join us are welcome to do so, and be embraced by the Tarrasque." She smiled viciously. "And once that is taken care of, I will send my sister to command you all. She will ensure you can coordinate with us and be used to the best of your ability."
"No agreement was made that we would be commanded by you, with all due respect." The child blinked.
"I mean, it's that or I kill you all right now really." She took a step back, her teacher gulping. "I am not dealing with people not coordinated with the rest of the hive."
"F…fine." Her teached nodded. "Very well. And once all is done, you promise to let us leave?"
"Of course. I hold my word." She chuckled. "You can just ask Occ."
"Who…actually nevermind. Very well."
"Excellent. Now." Her eyes glowed yellow, as she floated in the air. A voice echoed in the minds of all present in the armoured column. "All those who have come to join the Hive. Come forth."
The templar snarled as he plunged his sword into the open maw of the carnifex, screaming in rage as he tore a massive gash into the beast's jaw. It immediately started to regenerate, as expected, but weakened as it was he was able to throw a krak grenade into its mouth, detonating in the insides and killing it instantly.
"BROTHER! OUT OF THE WAY!" He did not question, charging towards a nearby tyranid warrior and slamming into the beast's back as it threatened to tear a guardsmen in half right as a predator tank passed behind him, crushing a horde of gaunts under its treads and firing its cannon straight into an exocrine; their true goal. The beast screamed as it died, its injuries too much for the regeneration to overcome them. He stabbed into the warrior, watching as the beast's wound began to heal as it turned around and slammed a crushing claw into his chest. He took a step back, avoiding his power armour being ripped open, and pointed a plasma pistol at the beast. A single shot burned a hole into its head, incinerating it.
A roar made him turn, the ground shaking. Something erupted from the ground underneath a nearby rhino, throwing the vehicle on the side as its massive jaws clamped down on it.
"MAWLOC!" The huge snake-like beast crushed the rhino open, battle brothers managing to avoid the devastating bite.
He grunted. More fighting.
Marques sighed as he saw another artillery swarm disappear from his combat map. Good. Another pack of exocrines and their escort dead, leaving the fifth and sixth armoured columns to go support the push from the infantry. Combined arms always did work out better.
The templars had been an immense help for their capacity to strike with surgical precisions at more vulnerable and critical enemy positions, but the bulk of the fighting was done by the guard. Their numbers were dwindling by the day, and no sign of further reinforcements had been detected.
Things had escalated exactly as he had feared they would. They'd had the troops necessary to hold back the tide, but not to crush it entirely. And now, as days passed by, the attrition war was going very much against them. Any soldier that died was one they could not replace, whilst the tyranids were constantly replenishing their troops. Worse was the loss of vehicles and heavy ordinance, leaving some fronts painfully deprived from them, something the tyranids were all too happy to exploit. The increased coordination and absolute level of control the swarm seemed to be holding together only made things worse, the slightest weakness ruthlessly pushed and crushed.
"Contact the cadians. I want them to push against the crusher swarm we found on the second continent before those fuckers can take down our anti-air emplacements."
"Yes sir!"
"Sir! We have some movement on the behemoth!" Marques glanced at the monstrous ship on the horizon. Even from so far away, it was still visible.
"Tell me what you see."
"It's…I think its giving birth, sir!" He felt his blood run cold.
"Oh. Fuck." Marques whirled to the nearest officer. "Contact the Marshall. We're running out of time on this one. Tell him we're doing one last big push, and then we're evacuating the planet."
"E…evacuating, sir?"
"You heard me. If they start popping out more ships, we've got no chance of keeping any semblance of orbital control. We'll be sitting ducks"
"Understood sir. Relaying orders now."
Anya hummed as she pranced through the open field. An artillery shell whizzed through the air towards her, stopped with a simple thought and was thrown back with equal speeds towards its point of origin; an explosion resounding in the horizon not too long after. She laughed as a dozen tanks emerged from a hill to her right, opening fire upon her with all weapons.
The shells she sent right back at them. The one who fired a laser cannon she simply dodged, pushing herself with her powers out of harm's way, grabbing a now wrecked leman russ and slamming it into the intact one.
It was all too easy.
A man emerged from one of the wrecks, burned and bloodied, aiming a gun at her. She didn't even need to do anything as a hormagaunt leaped onto him and tore him to shreds, the pained screams of the man silenced in an instant.
In her wake, millions of tyranid organisms followed, swarming any defenders she did not deal with herself, exploiting the breaches she carved into the enemy line.
She could feel through her own troops as the guard launched a general offensive on all fronts. It would not be enough. She pulled back her swarm from where the opposition was strongest, instead focusing on smashing aside smaller formations and using their offensive to bypass them entirely and go straight for the logistics and bases, crashing into defenses and hurtling the defenders from their walls.
She could feel the pulsating hunger of her hive fleet. The meal awaiting, so close, so ready for the taking.
She shared the hunger.
Grabbing a soldier, she plucked him out of his trench, his fellows trying to hold him down as he was dragged towards her screaming. A deluge of bio acid took care of them as an exocrine's shot landed in the zigzaggy trench, pulverizing the small group.
She saw his whimpering face, twisted in terror as he was brought closer and closer to her.
"Wa…WAIT! PLEASE! PLEASE NO I'LL JOIN YOU! I'LL JOIN YOU! I'LL…" Her teeth sank into his neck, ripping it open as she started eating the man alive. As a mercy, she snuffed his consciousness with her powers, feeling the warm flesh fill her stomach, if only temporarily.
She was still hungry.
Her eyes drifted upwards at the raging battle above her. Thousands upon thousands of aircrafts battling with millions of flying organisms, getting torn apart one by one as the numbers slowly overwhelmed them.
It was only a matter of time. There was only one true point of opposition left now.
Floating upwards, she willed a harpy to descend closer to her, hopping on her back before directing her to where she wished to go next. As she did, she fed upon gargoyles, slowly morphing her body back into her full tyranid battle body.
Marshall Gerern had been on a multitude of worlds, facing countless enemies. He had dealt with worse than this invasion, seen more dangerous foes.
But never had he done so with so few to stand by him.
His power axe sang in the morning as he cleaved a warrior in half, his plasma pistol firing and burning a ravener with ease. Around him his retinue tore through the frenzied tyranids as they assailed the fortress, climbing its walls and emerging from the ground. They were the only ones left to hold the courtyard, allowing the guard to fire upon the entering hordes, channeling the beasts into a relative chokepoint that prevented the larger of the horrors from entering.
It had been going well for such a disaster of a campaign.
And then the creatures had started to rescind, pulling back from the fortress. The bombardments continued yes, but no more assault came.
An hour passed of nothing but the constant barrage of spore mines and bio plasma, the fortress' walls holding strong.
Until IT came before its doors.
"TEMPLAR!" The creature called out, bellowing voice echoing through the silent fortress. "I KNOW YOU ARE HERE! YOUR FORCES ARE TRAPPED, YOUR BATTLES OVER!" He remained stoic, gazing through his holoscreen at the thing outside. The thing that called itself Anya, he thought. "FACE ME IN DUEL!" For a moment, confusion spread through him. It wanted a duel? It seriously expected him to fall for such an obvious trick? "I WANT A FIGHT TEMPLAR, AND I KNOW YOU CAN GIVE ME ONE! OR ARE YOU AS MUCH OF A COWARD AS YOUR GOD!" It was an obvious bait, and a poor one at that. He did not rise to the taunt. "OH COME ON! LOOK, IT'S EITHER YOU COME OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME ONE ON ONE, OR I COME IN THERE WITH MY SWARM AND DRAG YOU OUT!" Gerern stayed silent for a moment. Then, he turned to the exit of the fortress.
"Marshall..." One of his battle brothers asked. "You cannot..."
"Brother Fason. Order the strike cruisers to use my terminator armour teleportation beacon as a lock on target." He looked at his power axe, observing how the strange energy field hummed around the sharp edge. "Our opponent is powerful enough to annihilate multiple astartes in a single burst of power. I have no doubt of the outcome of any fight between the two of us."
"...Understood Marshall." The chaplain rumbled. "We shall strike down the xenos witch, no matter the cost."
"Good. I will attempt to drag information out of them during our fight. Await my signal...or defeat, to open fire. The signal will be 'Retribution'." The Marshall lumbered forth, his armour clanking loudly as he did. "For the God Emperor."
"For the God Emperor."
The walk out of the fortress was quiet. Somber. Corpses strewed the empty passages where tyranid projectiles had managed to pierce the walls of the fortress. As he passed yet another body of a battle brother, he felt the weight of the centuries more keenly than ever on his shoulders.
Walking out of the immense gates of the fortress alone, he found himself faced with a daunting sight. Thousands upon thousands of tyranid warriors, forming an unbroken line stretching to the horizon, with a myriad of various other organisms behind them in a sea of chitin and flesh. Above, far, far away into space, the still visible shape of the massive behemoth tyranid ship loomed over, an ever present reminder of what it was exactly they faced here.
And standing twenty metres away from the line of warriors, alone in the empty space between the horde and the fortress, was the three metre tall figure of the xenos witch. She had come in her combat form then. She held a single weapon in her right hand, a long halberd as long as she was tall, with a vicious blade made of the strange crystalline material that boneswords were. She had a wide smile on her face as he emerged.
"Templar!" She greeted.
"Abomination." He answered simply, his tone full of contempt for the thing before him. She sighed, leaning against her halberd.
"You know, I kinda get when the guards call me that. Like, they're still human. Mostly. The mutants are a bit of a strange one, but personally I'd still call them human to a degree. But you?" She pointed her halberd to him. "Your flesh is different. Your bones are different. Your organs are different. Your brain chemistry is different. Hell, I can look more human than any of your kind does, so you don't even have that claim." She grinned, burning power in her eyes as she stared him down. "To the average human, you're as much of a genetic freak as I am templar."
"You're right." His admission seemed to surprise her. She blinked at him, confused. "You and I are no longer human. But our paths are different. We could not be more dissimilar." As she had pointed her weapon to him, he now pointed the blade of his axe at her, challenging her as he did. "You chose the path of weakness. Embracing some abominable power, accepting the xenos within you. Betraying your very humanity for the sake of power. I chose my path to protect mankind, to defend it from the very things you so willingly serve." He gestured to himself. "My body may no longer be truly human, but I remain one to my core." She stared at him, expression twisted in surprise, before her lips twitched into a small smile.
"Is that what you think? Truly?" She chuckled. "There are differences between us templars, but this is not the main one. Though you serve a different master, we are both masters. We spread death and destruction where we go, consuming all that is not us and annihilating all that is not. You cling to your religion, to your ideals to try and present some shred of significance, some iota of justification, but there is no such thing in this galaxy." She grinned wide. "The difference between us templars, besides that we serve different species...is that the one who crafted me was better at it than the one who made you."
Gerern felt the fury of seeing everything he held dear dragged in the mud and spat on, mocked by something that had lost its soul a long time ago for some abominable cause. And yet, this was not the first time he was taunted to, and so he held his calm, letting his fury cool down into a cold rage to strike his foe with. He had to admit, the words had a sting to them, if only because it felt less like they had been meant to insult him...and more the sincere beliefs of the alien.
It mattered little in the end. She wanted a show?
He would give her a damn show.
"If you are so confident in that... let us put those words to the test." She laughed, twirling the weapon in her hands before taking a stance.
"With pleasure!" With those words she surged forth, charging towards him with a speed that would have left a lesser man stunned into shock. But Gerern had faced many foes in his long life. Eldar and dark eldar had been foes he had always hated in more than the typical xenos fashion for how annoying they were to face. Speed, he was no stranger to.
The sheer strength of the blow that accompanied the first strike against him however...that did bring pause to him. His arms shook with the impact, his axe's power field screamed in protest as the blade of the halberd came crashing down against it.
Only a single blow had been exchanged, and he already knew this fight was doomed.
He could handle a foe that outsped him. He could handle one that outpowered him. He could handle a psyker. All at once however? Experience only went so far. He had seen the footage of the feats the witch had demonstrated. If she truly wanted, she could annihilate him with the very powers she seemed to be holding back as he stepped to the side, lowering his blade and allowing the foe's weapon to swing harmlessly where he had stood not a quarter of a second before. She was toying with him. Playing with her food.
Well. Of all the advantages he had, being underestimated had always served him well.
He struck out, his attack paried by the xenos' weapon as it whirled to face him, its expression twisted in a grin of pleasure as it clashed blades with him. Blow after blow was struck, a veritable deluge that left his arms shaking as he struggled to hold back the onslaught. He could not dodge the attacks; Any attempt to do so would leave a gap in his defence that would be ruthlessly exploited, far too quickly for him to avoid. He grunted with exertion as a particularly vicious blow knocked him off balance; Only saved by a powerful swipe of his axe against the overeager xenos, striking at the carapace near its chest, leaving a small gap in it. In an instant, it was healed over as she chuckled.
"A good attempt templar! I have to admit, of all your fellows I have seen so far on this world, you are by far the most skilled."
"And of all the xenos I have faced, you are by far one of the most insufferable." He answered back. Banter was not one of his habits, but he was not fighting to win. He was fighting for time. To allow the strike cruiser to get in a position where it could fire on their position. He could see on his HUD as the target alignment got closer and closer to where they were. It brought it dangerously close to the behemoth ship, but so far that one remained mostly inert.
It was a risk, but one they had to take.
"Ha! You actually fought someone who annoyed you more than I do?!" She laughed, thrusting her halberd at him. He deflected it with great effort, only to be backhanded by the shaft of the halbert as it struck his helmet, knocking him to the side. He rolled on the ground, rising back to his feet with a plasma pistol held firmly in his hand, firing a single shot of superheated matter towards the abomination. It struck it in the chest, leaving a molten crater where it had hit. She gasped, before laughing as the wound began to heal. She walked towards him, a strike of the halberd knocking the weapon out of his hand. The tip of her halberd came to rest under his chin, his hand frozen on his own power axe.
"I'll admit." He grunted out. "You are quickly gaining the top spot." Just a little closer...
"Is that so?" Something crunched in his helmet. His eyes flickered to his HUD, widening as he took in the flashing alarm on it. Communication system destroyed. "There. Now we can talk properly." She crouched before him, her weapon still in place.
"You...why..." He asked, confused. How could she have known how to destroy the communication systems of the armour? Without even damaging any of the other components?
"Well, you see... I know what your plan is." He felt a cold shiver run down his spine. "That strike cruiser of yours is getting in position to fire on me right? And it's bringing its friends as an escort, just in case."
"How? You could not have read my mind, I would have felt the intrusion!" He snarled.
"I know. It's why I read the mind of those inside that fortress of yours. Less prepared for it, less guarded. Too focused on your fight, and I have a lot of experience seeing surface thoughts. And that is a very, very surface thought of your men." Damn it. Damn it all! So the plan had fallen through. "So I'm going to let them do it." The Marshall looked at her with genuine confusion.
"What?" She grinned at him.
"Imma let them shoot me."
"You...you are strong, witch, but you cannot possibly think you can survive an orbital bombardment from a space marine strike cruiser." The xenos looked upwards, a pensive look on their face.
"...No. No, I can't. Not yet. I think I could survive maybe one attack, but I doubt they'll stop at one shot. Not really a bombardment if they shoot you once."
"Then why..."
"Simple templar. Your ships have been a nuisance since the first day." She shook her head. "Hurting the progenitor class, harassing the ground troops, preventing assaults in certain places...they've been a massive hindrance. I'm frankly tired of it." She smiled. "So once they get close enough to shoot on me, my new admiral is going to take the opportunity to use her new toys to wreck them and get rid of your orbital power." He snarled in rage, his hand clenching on his axe.
"You would die for this, witch?"
"Yes and no." She chuckled. "Tell me templar. Have you heard of the Swarmlord?" She giggled as he growled. "I see you have. Well, you might have heard, but no matter how many times he dies...he always comes back." She smiled at him, a wide smile full of teeth. "I will die here and return within a few hours. Your attempt was doomed from the start templar. I want you to die knowing that." He let out a deep sigh, pretending to be defeated.
"So all of this...just to torment me?"
"I have to admit, I'm not usually a particularly vindictive person." She shrugged. "But well. You guys killed Nornie. And despite what you and your Imperium may think...I'm still very human. Imperfections and all." He swung his axe, trying to take off her head, only for her to pin his arm to the ground with her halberd. She laughed as she lunged at him, pinning him to the ground, overpowering him with pure psychic energy and physical strength as the ship above took aim. "Come on Templar! Let's see which of us dies first to your ship!" He desperately struggled, trying to escape the grasp.
The world turned bright white as the first orbital strike hit them dead center.
"SIR!" The bridge was in chaos; Operators frantically pulling at levers, pushing buttons, trying to make the ship respond to the signals they were getting. "WE NEED TO MOVE NOW!" The captain of the ship stared in numb horror as some...thing, emerged from the behemoth ship as the strike cruiser finished taking aim at the planet's surface. They had long cut off communication with the rest of the fleet, having taken the rest of the strike force with them save for the battle barge as escort. The Lord Commander had ordered them to stay put, but when the order from the Marshall had come through, for them, it had taken priority.
"...Do we have our shot lined up?" He asked, his voice trembling.
"Wha...sir, we can't waste any time! We have to regroup with the..."
"DO WE HAVE THE SHOT LINED UP YES OR NO?!" Silence, before a reluctant, resigned:
"Yes sir."
"Then fire. This abomination is the lynchpin of this entire invasion. If we are to take some casualties for the sake of removing it from the equation, then so be it." There was no protest. You did not become part of a strike cruiser's bridge crew by being the rebellious type.
"Preparing weapons."
"Targeting array ready in three...two..."
"Sir, the enemy ship has finished...birthing?" The declaration was done with a confused tone. "It's...it's quite big, sir." He looked at the model their scanners were depicting, along with glancing at the visual thing from afar. It was hard to distinguish much of it out of the windows, for it was cast in darkness, cast in the shadow of the behemoth tyranid ship. It was about four times the size as an imperial battleship at around fourty kilometres. Just as concerning was the veritable swarm of smaller ships having apparently been birthed at the same time, ranging from no bigger than a thunderbolt to a few kilometres long themselves. It was a nightmarish cloud of tyranid vessels, and it was moving straight for them without even taking a moment to rest after being born.
"All guns ready, firing on target!" The ship trembled as its massive weapons started unleashing their devastating payload below.
"Alright, all guns have fired?" Confirmation was given. "Then tell me if we hit the xenos bitch."
"Sir the enemy fleet is approaching us fast! We won't have time to disengage if we wait any longer!"
"Not until we are sure we don't have to hit it again!" A few tense seconds of silence passed, the ship staying with its current targetting as the radar showed the enemy fleet rapidly gaining speed as it flew towards them.
"Sir, ground crew just contacted us!"
"BEHEMOTH CLASS CHARGING THEIR WEAPONRY!" The scream sent ripples of panic aboard the bridge.
"QUIET!" The captain glared his crew into silence. "Answer?"
"Confirmed killed! The enemy leader is no more!" Despite the situation, the news brought some cheering on the bridge. Finally, something going right for them.
"Excellent. Now, helsmen, bring us ba..." The behemoth's maw opened, an orb of pure bio-plasma streaking a sickly green light through the empty void of space towards them. The captain watched in horror as another of the strike cruisers was hit dead on, unable to avoid the fast attack, saw its shields devastated by the attack, breaking in half as the bio plasma detonated against the core of the ship. Silence hung heavy in the bridge. "Helmsman. Counter that order. We will not be able to escape in time." His eyes narrowed, resolving himself to the fate ahead. "Muster battle stations. If we are to die, we shall do so making our Emperor proud." His crew looked at him with wide eyes. And yet, they executed his orders all the same. The siren started ringing throughout the immense ship, rousing its various personel into action as they ran to the weapons, to the engines, to any component where manpower could be used.
"Sir! We have reports from the rear, the battle barge is going to come support us."
"A noble feeling, but inform them that should they get close, we shall fire upon them." It was the only way he would manage to convince the stubborn commander of the barge to back off. "We doomed ourselves for the sake of the Marshall's orders. We knew the risk advancing so. We need not drag others unnecessarily when so much more fighting remains to be done. Tell them to turn away."
"Aye sir."
"Now. Put us in the path of the enemy fleet."
"Sir, that will put us straight into the enemy fire!"
"And out of the behemoth's. Which is the only enemy ship we know of that can destroy us in a single attack." He glared forth. "Time to gamble hard."
A single battle barge and five strike cruisers against the behemoth bio-ship and its swarm of lesser vessels.
Commander Tercicus did not value their chances very high.
"Open communication channels with the other ships. We are going to need utmost coordination in order to pull this off."
"Aye sir." A moment of silence as the coms were patched. "We're through."
"Good." He cleared his throat, feeling the tired vocal chords strain as he yet again called upon them. He had been screaming a lot of orders recently. "All vessels. Lord Commander Marques has ordered a general evacuation of the planet, and it is up to us to ensure that our allies can leave the planet in one piece."
"The coward would retreat?! When our own Marshall gave his life to strike at the enemy commander?!" A captain called out, furious.
"There is fighting a one sided battle against an overwhelming opponent for the sake of defying them, and then there is massacring troops that could be better served on other fronts."
"Yes sir." He could tell from their tone they did not agree. He did not need them to agree thankfully, merely obey.
"Strike cruiser Dornian Rage. What is your status?"
"Enemy VIP confirmed eliminated. We are moving in the shadow of the enemy fleet to avoid further hits from the behemoth ship."
"Good. I believe our enemy is forming an eclectic fleet that might serve the purpose of defending the enemy capital ship."
"The behemoth sir?"
"No. The smaller one. Fourty klicks long."
"Aye sir. I see it. What are your orders?" He looked at the tactical display, taking in the enemy ship profile, what was known of tyranid orbital capacities, and the formation they seemed to be taking. Something about it seemed…familiar.
"Fuck. They've put themselves in a carrier configuration."
"Carrier configuration sir?" A captain asked, confused. Another answered:
"A fleet meant to primarily protect a few large carrier assets that then proceed to swarm the enemy fleet with numerous smaller crafts. You believe this is what we're dealing with sir?"
"We have an unusually human tyranid opponent, utilizing strangely human tactics at times, and suddenly they just so happen to take a formation we're familiar with? No way this is a coincidence. This…this is problematic." A strike force like their own was meant to operate with the much larger imperial navy; serving as elite ship destroyers, whilst the allied fleet took care of preventing them from being swarmed.
The allied fleet at this very moment however was busy positioning itself for evacuation.
"Understood sir. You might want to look our, you'll be the priority target when that behemoth ship decides to fire again."
"I am painfully aware of that fact, captain. Dornian Rage, Xenos Crusher, Endless Star, your duty is to serve as anti-fodder. Focus on point defense systems, crush the enemy fighters. Fire heavy weaponry on the enemy frigates, or medium class ships. Prepare your crews for boarding action from our foe."
"Yes sir!" Came the chorus from all three captains.
"Deluvian Fury, Calamitous Truth, I want you both to try and fire shots into the enemy carrier. The biggest one. If we can damage it enough, the enemy formation should be…"
"Enemy crafts incoming!"
"...Easier to deal with." He continued, as if he hadn't been interrupted. On his display, the space at the front of the foremost ship lit up red as thousands of smaller crafts got close. Each was of the size of a thunderbolt; tiny in space scaling, but still a dangerous threat. The silent flashes of hundreds of gun emplacements on the strike cruisers lit up the empty void of space, turning numerous of the crafts into chunks of floating chitin and flesh. The barrage was relentless, but the enemy crafts even more so. In a matter of minutes, the first hits on the strike cruiser shields were reported.
The main guns of the battle barge opened up, tearing an enemy frigate two kilometres long apart.
Tercitus was struggling to control the battle. He could see on his display, the damage they were inflicting, whilst impressive, was insignificant in reducing the enemy threat. They were forced to deal with the smaller foes whilst the larger ones moved into positions, their biological weapons now opening fire in return on his fleet.
"Enemy frigate sunk! Weapon systems are now aiming for the destroyer class enemy ship!" Of course, it was almost impossible to tell what class a tyranid ship really was until it was in action, but the size was a good indicator in many cases.
"The shields of Dornian Rage are down to thirty percent! They won't hold much longer!"
"Sir, boarding action on Xenos Crusher! Multiple carnifexes and lictors reported inside. It's chaos sir!"
"This is Deluvian Fury, we have managed to strike a hit on the enemy capital ship, however it seems to be regenerating the damage. Attempting a more critical hi…" The voice grew strangled as the maw of the behemoth ship glowed with light. "Oh God Emperor…sir, it was an honour." The last words of the captain were cut out as the ship was engulfed in light as the bio plasma projectile tore it apart.
"Deluvian Fury is down sir. Calamitous truth is unable to accomplish its mission objective due to being engaged in broadside combat by three enemy battleships!" He grit his teeth.
"Xenos Crusher, cut out the sections that are being boarded and space them! Damn the crew, they are already dead!" The order was carried out swiftly, much of the crew aboard the strike cruiser perishing along with the tyranid borders. This ship was safe for now at least. "Dornian Rage, you ne…" The words died in his mouth. His eyes bulged out, his hands grasping at his head as crippling pain suddenly radiated from it. He screamed as he fell to the ground, alarmed sub officers running to his help. None seemed to noticed what his eyes were now fixated on, the silhouette of a white haired child standing a metre away from him, staring at him with a soft smile.
"Shhhh. It's okay. You did your best. No need to make your last moments worse." He whimpered as the voice wormed its way into his head. He tried to call out to his officers, to ask what they were doing, the enemy was right there, why were they all ignoring them?! But all that came out from his mouth was a choked cry of pain, blood pouring from his ears. Distantly, he heard the cry of 'psychic attack'. This could not be, weren't the shields still in place? Or…did the foe power through? Was such a thing even possible?
A cold hand wrapped around his soul and closed.
His soul was plucked from his body, leaving it to fall like a puppet whose strings were cut.
Through the windows, the Dornian Rage detonated as the constant barrage of strike crafts finally took its shields down, the enemy battleships opening fire as one on it as soon as they did.
Jane smiled as she extended her arms, the last of the enemy ships burning as five of her own fired on it all at once. She was in a million places at once, within every strike crafts, within every ship, witnessing the battle from a thousand thousand perspective, knowing every point of weakness, seeing where the foe faltered, where they gathered their strength.
Each ship was a candle light, a burning fire dedicated to her savior. Each annihilated strike cruiser a proof of her devotion, each dead enemy a sacrifice upon the one who had taught her the truth of the galaxy.
She scolded herself for that line of thought. Her Amica would not appreciate sacrifices. That was a religious practice, and there were no gods amongst the tyranids, nor any gods worth worshiping.
Those were enemies, nothing more.
She turned the gaze of her fleet towards the rest of the imperial navy's presence. By now, the third part of Anya's place should be coming into play. Now to play her second act.
She called out to her fleet, pushing it forth as the behemoth formed the core of the formation.
Time to mop the survivors up.
"Fuck me…" Sergeant Peter whispered as he looked up to the skies above. It was night and so the stars were visible, but brighter still were the burning wrecks of the templar ships as they entered the upper atmosphere.
"Oi! You, stop lingering about! The evacuation needs every one ready!" he shook his head, heading back to his squad in a jog. The base was an absolute chaos of activity as soldiers packed their belongings, vehicles heading out in orderly columns towards the designated evacuation point. It was disheartening to know that the war was going so poorly they had to pull back from this theater, but there was some comfort in knowing they would at least be getting away from the utter nightmare that was fighting the tyranids. He'd had to cut his own left arm off when a borer beetle had found its way in it. The feeling of something crawling and eating him from the inside was something he would never forget, no matter how much he wished so.
He grabbed his bag, called out to his squad and jumped into the back of a truck as the column it belonged to started to leave the base. They no longer had enough chimeras for everyone; too many had been lost in the battles of the previous days.
As they traveled through the empty open plains that were once the fields of the planet, something caught his eye. A second column, one composed of much heavier armour than their own, traveling in parallel to them a few hundred metres away. Leman russ tanks, including some variants, chimera transports and even a baneblade.
"Hey driver!" He called out. "Isn't that the seventh sector column?"
"...Huh, so it is." The driver, a young woman with purple eyes marking her as a cadian, answered.
"Aren't they supposed to be covering our retreat?" The canon of one of the tanks started to move.
"Yes they are." There was nervousness in the woman's voice. "Fuck. Brace yourselves!"
The leman russ' shell slammed into the truck behind them, detonating it in a fiery explosion. He cursed as the truck swerved, taking to the uneven terrain at the side of the road and accelerating wildly, overtaking many other vehicles.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" He screamed. Dozens more shots echoed through the night, more trucks being lit up as the tank column started firing upon them. "WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING?!"
"Looks like we're compromised. Either a mutinery…" The purple eyed woman snarled. "Or worse. Someone took the deal the xenos made." He trembled.
"No…" A lascannon shot decimated one of the only chimeras their own column had, melting its armour and burning whatever occupants it had. The radio was chattering wildly, the cadian swearing at the news she heard.
"Fuck. It's not just us. We've got a general offensive against us right now. Fuck fuck fuck…" She ritually started singing. "Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck…"
"Shit. Is the evacuation site compromised?"
"Not entirely, but it is under attack." His squad looked to him, fear in their eyes. A silent supplication to find a way to keep them alive, as he had so many times.
"Alright. Then, we'll…"
Squad fourteen never made it home.
A single baneblade shot ensured that.
In the depths of the behemoth ship, a creature emerged from the egg laid by a Norn Queen.
White haired, with glowing yellow eyes, she blinked confused for a moment, before a wide smile appeared on her face.
It had worked.
She was alive.
She was still alive.
Laughter echoed throughout the tyranid ship as the world below burned.
Tercitus: "WE WILL HOLD THE LINE! WE HAVE THE EMPEROR ON OUR SIDE! WE HAVE FAITH AND MIGHT!"
Jane: "Construction complete. Construction complete. Construction complete. Construction complete. Constructio..."
Tercitus: "...Tyranid respawn rates need to be nerfed this is so bullshit."