Author's notes: The Warhammer 40K universe is not owned by me, but I have created the armies of Zoru and the setting for the story, along with the characters and places were created by me. My second Fan fiction, this is going to be the first in a two part series.
Chapter 1: The First.
No one lived outside the Hives, no body wanted to. The atmosphere was extremely poisonous, filled with endless clouds of toxic gas that had long ago killed off all the natural life forms and plant life. The world was barren, and outside the Hives the sun scorched the earth. Water was very rare outside the walls of the Hives; the only sources left were deep under ground. It wasn't a place made for men, but they stayed there because of the Promethium.
The Imperium had discovered the Promethium deposits many years before, and ever since then most of the hundreds of deposits had been pumped dry. Due to the large economy fuelled by their Promethium pumps, the majority of population tried to become miners. The rest joined the PDF and the Imperial Guard, the world sent out thousands of Regiments of men to the war effort. The common soldiers were never good at fighting, in comparison to the other regiments. The Zoruins were strong but they had little skill with weapons, they didn't make good soldiers without extensive training times. They trained excellent Storm Troopers though but they had no major armour support, there was no need for them on such a barren world where no enemy could live.
Some people did leave the Hives though, to travel through the wastelands in search of ruins and treasures. It was rumoured that long the main Hive cities were built; people lived out in the wastes. They died off quickly as the poison killed them all, but they left behind a large collection of tools and equipment from before the Dark Age. Things like these sold well on the black market, so well that more and more people headed out in search of a quick score. Fewer and fewer people were returning recently.
"How far are we from the Wrmry, driver?" Asked Sergeant Jani, as the massive man stepped forwards into the driver's section of the Troop Carrier. He ducked down between the two seats to look out the windshield of the huge vehicle, but there was nothing to look at. The wind was blowing ferociously, throwing up a huge sand storm around the convoy and cutting down the visibility to only a dozen meters. He could see the road ahead though and something was wrong.
"Twenty minutes usually, Sergeant. The roads today are odd." Reported the driver as he pointed out in front of his vehicle to the road. It was true; the roads were in a strange condition, the thick stone slabs that made up the road were mostly buried but some were still visible, the heavy stone slabs were shattered into a hundred pieces. "We're going to have to stop; I can't risk continuing on to find the road is blocked."
The driver reached down from pointing out at the road, lowering his hand down to the acceleration lever. He eased it down, the machine emitting a loud whine as it slowed until he stopped. The driver let out a sigh of frustration as he stared out at the sand storm; it was going to be a bad day.
"Be careful out there." Said Jani, patting the driver on the back of the helmet with a grin. "The wind is picking up out there, could get worse quickly."
"Don't worry Jani. I know this place like the back of my hand, but just in case." He reached down under his seat and pulled out a long rope. It was thick and had been designed to tug vehicles, each end of the rope ended in a thick iron clamp. "Just to make sure I don't get blown off with the wind."
The driver stood up from his seat as he reached up to pull out a harness from a storage box on the roof. "I'll make this as quick as possible, if the wind picks up too much it could turn off one of the Carriers." He slid the harness on and zipped it up, before clipping one end of the heavy rope to the harness and pulling on his respirator. "If I'm not back within two minutes get out a search party, Sergeant. This valley is a perfect spot for bandits to launch an ambush."
"Will do, now get moving. I'll watch for any bandits from the roof gun." Jani said, patting the driver's helmet gently as he stood up himself. "Don't want the driver getting kidnapped on us." The driver grinned up at the large Sergeant, before opening the door and jumping outside.
The wind had picked up dramatically in the last two minutes, blowing the sandstorm over the Imperial convoy. Two of the huge troop Carriers were already rocking from side to side in the wind, but the wind wasn't nearly strong enough to topple any of them.
Where are you, Kiqri? He asked himself as he watched the area around troop Carrier one. It must be past two minutes already. He fingered at the triggers of twin-linked Heavy Stubbers that made up the roof defence for the troop Carrier. He was slowly feeling more and more nervous as time went by. Something must have happened out there.
"Sergeant Jani. It's been three minutes now, should we organize a search party?" Asked the radio-operator from below, the tall man appearing at the bottom of the ladder to the roof. The young man wasn't hiding his emotions like Jani was doing, he looked as nervous as Jani was feeling. His brow was wet with cold sweat; the heat was rising inside the Carriers as the day went on, the sun's heat blazing down on the exposed convoy.
"Has there been any movement from the safety line within the last minute?"
"Yes, there was some kind of – jerking, but it ended quickly. He must have gotten the line caught on a rock or something."
Jani turned slowly, taking one last look at the convoy before nodding down to the radio-operator. He moved a hand up to his respirator and pressed a button on the side of the mask. "Alright boys, everyone out of the Carriers! Double time it." He spoke down his Vox-unit with a steady voice, not wanting to have his soldiers panicking just yet. "Defensive formation around the Carriers."
The rear assault ramps opened immediately and the Guardsmen inside rushed out from their transports a few moments later. They were scrappy at best, as they charged out into the sandstorm and took position around the huge vehicles they showed all over their weaknesses. They rushed out far too quickly and ran upright instead of ducking their heads encase of snipers. Their line was far too thin at parts, and too thick at others, where groups of friends joined together to chat. These were the freshest troopers in the Zoruin army, only in the Imperial Guard for two months of training and with no combat experience. With the growing threat of their first taste of combat they had forgotten all of their training.
"Tighten it up soldiers!" Called out the Sergeant, trying to make his men hear him over the constant whistle from his ears as the wind swept over him and the convoy. Some of the closest Guardsmen followed the order but most of the men didn't even hear the order from their Sergeant.
Jani grunted out in frustration as he watched the troopers start to close in and crouch around the Carriers for shelter from the wind. He didn't want to call the troopers out to protect the convoy, they were far too fresh to do any good in a real fight and because of the wind their movement was greatly hindered.
"Sergeant! The cable has snapped!" Called up the radio-operator as he rushed to the front of the Carrier, staring out the windshield in horror. "It's been cut!" Jani looked around over his shoulder to where the cable was now lying limp along the ground in front of the vehicle. He could see the far end, as the radio-operator started to drag it in, the end seemed to have been sliced cleanly by some kind of blade.
What's going on here? He only let himself think about that question for a few seconds before pushing it to the back of his mind. He didn't have time to ponder on such things when the threat of attack was drawing ever closer to the convoy. He did what any other Sergeant would do in his position.
"Pass the word! All men are to arm themselves and prepare for immediate combat!" He screamed out to the soldiers around the Carrier, before leaning down into the vehicle again. "Get on the Vox system and inform Tiiarkac and Wrmry of our situation out here. Ask them for orders."
Zoruins like Jani were proud people; most of them adored their home world even though it was a barren wasteland. Jani was one of the proudest; he loved Zoru Seven more then most did and because of that he learnt all about it. He learnt most of it during his first few years of schooling, where he did most of his studies on the world's history and myths. There were many myths for Zoru seven, but Jani's favourites were that of the gigantic creatures that lived out in the desert. The myths told of massive Sand Dragons that crawled through the desert in search of the plump Stickle worms. The actually food chain on the planet was cruel, with only one herbivore on the world. The Tical worm, one of the largest creatures on the world, it burrowed deep under ground and took in the nutrients that were left. There were only five other species on the world, the largest of these were the mystical Sand Dragons. All of the creatures on the surface though would love the opportunity to devour every living thing in the convoy.
Jani checked across the convoy again with a quiet sigh, performing a very quick head count of the soldiers. He fell drastically short on the first try, where he came up with just over two hundred men short, the next attempt came up nearly the same. That was an entire company short from the original regiment of the one thousand men that were meant to be sent to Wrmry.
Two hundred men short? How could that be? He looked around in desperation, trying to spot any signs of the missing troopers, but there was none at all. He placed a hand on his respirator and was about to activate it, but he stopped short as the radio-operator shouted.
"Sergeant! Should I open the rear assault ramp and let out the troopers?" He called out, appearing at the foot of the ladder again, his face red and wet from the heat now. "We have orders as well. Command says that a full sweep of the surrounding area for the driver would be a good option, then to continue on to the base if we don't find him."
"For feth sake man, open those doors immediately!" Jani's hands were clenched in fists of anger; he was surrounded by morons and the feeling of impending doom. "Were the orders from Wrmry?"
"No sir, they came straight from Tiiarkac. We haven't received any messages or orders from Wrmry since we left Tiiarkac. The sand storm must have damaged their Vox-system." Jani heard the radio-operator move across the metallic floor quickly, but he had lost interest in him. His main concern was on Wrmry, it was a rare occurrence for any of the bases to lose communications because of a sand storm.
This is getting ridiculous, what is happening around here? He kept asking himself, but there was never any real answer to this question, but it never made him stop asking himself. We should have just kept moving – but – why was the road so badly damaged.
"Opening ramp!" The sound of the radio-operator's voice dragged Jani roughly back to reality, as he heard the whining of the hydraulics as the back ramp slowly opened. His men were cheering as they charged out into the open air, and Jani was proud of 1st company. They were the most elite of all the soldiers in the regiment, they took to the training better then anyone else had and they were obviously going to be fine soldiers. They were the first ones to scream though. And the first to die.
Bragner hated Zoru, he hated the Imperial Guard, but he hated Jani the most of all. In his first two months in the Imperial Guard he had constantly been insulted and beaten, it was a useless existence. Sergeant Jani was a hard ass; he didn't take kindly to people like Bragner, people who didn't respect the chain of command and who didn't like to work very hard. Jani expected the best from his company, but he didn't get it from Bragner at all. Jani was gentle compared to other Sergeants in the regiment though, other Sergeants could have had Bragner killed for heresy but Jani didn't. Bragner wished he had now.
All of the soldiers knew that there was something wrong; they saw how the Sergeant was acting up in the front of the Carrier before quickly moving up to the roof shouting orders to the rest of the convoy, one such order was for the men to arm themselves and defend the convoy.
"What the feth is the hold up!" Screamed a soldier from somewhere in the crowd as all two hundred men pressed in around each other as they tried to get to the assault ramp. "We need to get out of here now!" Shouted another, as the terrifying fact that they were all trapped inside the vehicle dawned on them all.
"By the sacred Throne. The doors are all sealed!" Bragner heard Corporal Sanacis shout from the rear of the vehicle, the short Corporal barely visible amongst the rest of the Guardsmen. "Open the doors!" He called out again, but this time he leaned in to pound on the doors with both fists, the dull thuds reverberating through the Carrier.
Bragner pushed out at some of the Guardsmen that had been pressing in around him, he hated being in such a cramped place especially when he was in such danger of an attack. He fought to keep a space clear around him, punching and pushing out at all of the men around him. He heard the wet crunch as one of his punches hit home, breaking the nose of one of the many Guardsmen. Another he followed with an elbow to the stomach, sending him to the ground gasping for breath.
His father had been in the Imperial Guard long before he was born and he had fought many battles to defend the Imperium. Bragner had heard of such battles in great detail, but his father mainly focused on the sounds that came about when a battle was raging around him. There was meant to be screams of pain everywhere, along with the constant rattle of machine gun fire. He heard none of this, outside the Carrier it was a quiet place. Quiet except for the scraping.
"Opening ramp!" Boomed the voice of the radio-operator over the interior Vox system. The sound echoed for a few seconds before the final remnants of his voice were lost to the whine of hydraulics and the cheer of two hundred men. The cheer was a mixture of pure fear and excitement as they watched the ramp open before them. Good things never last.
The two hundred men charged forwards from the huge Carrier as one, their heavy leather boots pounding down the ramp as they rushed out into the sand storm. Bragner was still listening for that scraping though, and he heard it as they charged outside. He was sure that it was following them down the ramp, and he was proved right.
Bragner wasn't sure what happened next, and for a good few seconds after, no one was. There seemed to be an explosion in the middle of the crowd, sending large chunks of the rock slabs up into the air. The explosion was shortly followed by two more of them, one at either side of the advancing Imperial Guards. Bragner quickly noticed the tactic; someone was trying to box them in against the Carrier using artillery. He turned to the sound of the screams, returning his gaze to the area of the first explosion. It wasn't artillery.
Four soldiers were dangling in the air, screaming out in agony as they wiggled and squirmed from where they dangled. Their bodies had been pierced through the torsos by a massive scythe like arm and lifted clear off the ground by their attacker. Bragner's attention was drawn first to the four soldiers, but he soon took in the look of the attacker. Lictor.
It towered over the Guardsmen, standing twice their height with the massive scythes adding a few more feet to its overall height. Its scaled body was constantly changing colours to adapt to the new environment that it had stepped into. The other creatures reacted just like this one, taking out a few of the men quickly to cause of a stun result for the men. They even attacked at the same time.
The Mantis Stalkers slashed out with claws and scythes, hacking and cutting through the lightly armoured Guardsmen with ease. They used their claws to kill any of the men that were too close, while their scythes slashed out into the crowd to thin the numbers around them.
Bragner watched the first men fall to the ground, their bodies and limbs cruelly slashed apart or ripped away as the Lictors stepped forwards into the Guardsmen. All of the men stared in horror at the huge beasts, some of them tried to fire on the Xenos but the weak Las rounds were useless against their scaled frames. Thirty men were dead before the rest even tried to escape from them; most of the Guardsmen retreated into the Carrier again. The intelligent ones broke from the crowd and dashed to the defensive line for help from the other Guardsmen. Bragner was one of the intelligent ones.
He pushed his way through the crowd, knocking a few of the men to the ground if they got in his way. There were men everywhere, and he had to fight against the tide of retreating soldiers to stay away from the Carrier, if a Lictor followed them inside they would all be slaughtered. Bragner at least was thinking about the results of his actions there, the other men weren't, they were easily herded towards the huge Carrier.
He was successful as he finally broke free from the crowd but he kept going, sprinting across the rock slab towards the Imperial line. He kept low as he ran, as the other soldiers fired over his head at the Lictors as they started to herd the men up the assault ramp again. The rounds did little if they even struck the Lictors, but the majority of them actual tore into the retreating soldiers from 1st company. All the men defending the convoy were too busy looking inwards towards where the Lictors were, so busy that they never saw it coming. Only Bragner did.
He hardly even noticed it at first; it was very well camouflaged just like the Lictors but it was moving against the sand storm. It was a huge beast, much bigger then the Lictors that had attacked him but it wasn't nearly as fast. It looked like a moving sand dune out in the wind, charging towards the convoy with an ear splitting roar.
"Incoming!" Screamed Bragner as he slowed to a stop, planting his feet on the stone road before opening fire with his Lasgun. Three of the Guardsmen turned and helped, opening fire on the massive Carnifex, but as it got closer more and more men started to notice it and fired towards it instead of the Lictors.
Bragner watched it close the distance between the convoy and its position in only a few seconds. He got a much better picture of it as it drew closer to them, it was a towering figure much larger then the men that were firing at it, standing at seven meters tall. It was the look of the creature that really got to him; its body was covered in thick bone and carapace, coloured different shades of yellow to let it blend in with the desert. The carapace was a darker yellow, like the rocks that surrounded the convoy on most sides. The creature was obviously a mutated version of the Carnifex that all of the Imperial Guards learnt about in training. It had six limbs; the lowest two were short but thick legs that ended in a tough hoof like foot. The upper two arms were like the Lictor's, they both ended in long scythes that slashed cleanly through the air as it charged. They were not like any blades he had seen on any of the creatures in books. There were small holes that ran along the top of the scythes, and beside each hole were fist sized sacks. Each scythe though was as long as the Lictors were tall, but not as thick. The lower arms ended in massive pincer like claws, each one of them were easily tall then a man and thicker too.
The creature screeched out in light frustration as the Las rounds bounced off its thick armour. It lowered its head with a deep throated roar, revealing three long tusks that protruded from its face, aiming the three jagged tusks at the Guardsmen. Bragner was intelligent again; he was able to get out of the way in time.
The Tyranid reached the Imperial line immediately after Bragner moved, swatting away two of the men with the sides of its scythes. The men were launched dozens of meters away, landing heavily on the road beside more of the men. Another trooper was crushed under the heavy hoof of the creature, vomiting up his own organs as his belly was pressed powerfully into the ground. It charged straight through the line, crushing two more with its tusks, but it didn't stop for the rest of the men, it moved right through to Carrier. The Guardsmen were too small for it to be concerned about, their Lasgun rounds only bounced off the carapace. It was after a much bigger target, Carrier two.
It collided a moment later, its two scythes lowered to the ground and its claws pressed out forwards. It hit the side of the Carrier with great force, nearly throwing the Carrier over in that one movement. The two scythes cut up into the under belly of the vehicle and the claws gripped the bottom with extreme force. There was a loud screech as the metal dented inwards as the Carnifex started to lift upwards.
Bragner's attention was drawn away from the Carnifex as he heard the shrill scream of one of the Mantis Stalkers from behind him. The Xenos had pressed the men back, herding them into the Carrier again before following them in to finish them off. One had stayed outside and was starting to hunt for new prey, quickly killing any men it caught.
Bragner opened fire on the Spook, letting loose a spray of automatic fire towards it but he hit nothing. It moved far too fast, dodging the attack and launching one of its own. It leapt forwards and slashed towards the Guardsman with one of its scythes, the attack fell short though. Bragner was able to fire off another burst, this time he hit its underbelly. His Lasgun was set on maximum power so it did some damage, burning through the scales of it.
Bragner tried to reposition himself to get a good shot at it as it started to move again, but it was already too late. The Lictor had already leapt high into the air using its powerful leg muscles to get it in a position above the Guardsman. Bragner watched it lift its two scythes up as it prepared to strike down at him and moved his Lasgun up over his head. Its scythes fell before it hit the ground, cutting cleanly through the metal body of the Lasgun and down through the bone and flesh of his shoulders.
"T-this – wasn't meant to happen!" He yelled, his voice breaking down near the end as the Guardsman came close to weeping. There was no pain in either wound, but he knew that was because of the shock of the attack, he could even look down at his severed arms on the ground without feeling anything. He was still staring at his arms as the Lictor decided somewhere in its dark mind that it was time to finish him off. He knew saw his death coming, he only saw his arms on the ground by his feet before his head was torn in half by a flesh hook.
Jani couldn't believe what was happening, in less than a minute four huge Xenos had appeared and all of them were butchering his men. He had already lost over one hundred people to the damned Mantis Stalkers, and now there was a much bigger threat. The lumbering Carnifex that was busy destroying their hopes of escape, it was far too strong for any of the weapons in the convoy to do any good. Even if they had the weapons, his men were too badly trained to even use them; they were bad enough with their Lasguns. The occasional round hit home but the men were far too nervous that they didn't increase the power for their Lasguns, so they did no damage to the beasts at all.
Jani couldn't believe what he was seeing, he had been taught by all of the commanders and the experts that Tyranids were mindless creatures that just wanted to destroy the Imperium of man. Now he had seen something entirely different, they were calculated and intelligent, with tactics and strategies. The Mantis stalkers had set up a trap for the Guardsmen and had sprung it at such a time that they were able to herd the men back into the Carrier to be picked off easier. It wasn't a mad rush to kill them all like he had originally thought, they knew that the two would be enough for the men in the Carrier and the last one had charged out to slaughter the rest.
He squeezed both of the triggers of the Heavy Stubbers, sending out a spray of bullets towards the one Lictor that he could still see. It turned to the sound of the gun firing but it wasn't quick enough to react as the slug rounds tore through its weak under armour. It let out a shrill scream as its back exploded outwards, bones and alien Ichor bursting out over a few nearby men. It kept fighting though, slashing in blind rage around it but it was too far away to do any damage to anyone. It knelt for a second, before leaping towards Jani with a new squeal of anger. Jani kept firing through, the slug rounds tearing through the Lictor's head as it leapt through the air towards him. It hit the side of the Carrier with a dull thud, denting the armour as more Ichor splattering out across the Carrier.
Jani heard a human cheer from around him as the defending soldiers witnessed the defeat of the large beast, but it was cut short as the awful sound of crashing and crumpling metal. All eyes turned towards where Carrier two now lay on its side by the side of the road, its wheels spinning awkwardly in the air before slowly losing momentum and stopping. Only the Carnifex moved in those next few moments, lifting all of its arms into the air and letting out a deep throated roar of victory.
Jani stared in shock at it; it was a weird feeling that the beast was able to topple over a Carrier by itself, just by using its four arms. He had never believed the stories of fighting the Tyranids; it didn't seem possible that a beast like this one could defeat the God-like Space Marines with ease. There was something that didn't add up though, Tyranids usually attacked with swarms of smaller organisms first, but so far he had seen none.
"Incoming!" Screamed out a trooper from the head of the convoy, shortly followed by the continuous sound of Lasguns firing. Inhuman screeches assaulted Jani's ears as he started to turn, looking out to the head of the convoy. The fighting was getting fierce there as the brand new threat charged out from the sand storm.
He couldn't see their real numbers, the sandstorm still hid most of them but from the sound, there must have been hundreds of them. They were like a moving carpet of claws and teeth as they raced through the sand storm to attack the front line of troopers. The soldiers had noticed the coming attack and were able to open fire before the Hormagaunts reached them. Jani opened up as well, his Heavy Stubber firing a constant stream of rounds into the alien creatures. Ichor and strange alien organs burst through the air, splattering over the other aliens but they kept coming. The aliens were falling extremely easily, the Heavy Stubber's slug rounds were constantly tearing through the front line of the beasts, keeping them back from the Guardsmen. Jani grinned to himself and allowed himself a moment to think about victory.
The first Guardsman fell from the front line and went down screaming for help even though he was over three meters from the nearest Hormagaunt. He as clawing at his face in a frantic attempt to get something off his head, it seemed like a useless fight though as he didn't stop screaming until it faded to a low gurgle. Two of the Guardsmen from beside him moved to grab him his arms and start to lift him up again to his feet; both dropped him a moment later as they stepped away in horror.
"What happened down there?" Shouted Jani over the sound of battle, he wasn't sure if anyone could hear him over the rattle of his Heavy Stubber as it coughed death into the enemy force.
"Enemy fire from the north-west!" Replied Corporal Sanacis as he moved over to stand by the corpse of the Guardsman. "Unknown weapons." He knelt down to examine the body, but a moment later he stepped away from the Guardsman. "Bio-acid weapons!"
Jani already knew it was Bio-acid; it had already started splattering across the top of the Carrier around him. There was a light hiss as the acid started to eat away at the armour, but there was little chance of any serious damage coming from it. Jani was forced to retreat though, to drop down into the interior of the Carrier as some of the acid burst over the barrel of his Heavy Stubber. The barrel went limp, bending down towards the roof of the Carrier before falling free from the gun.
"The fething beasts set a trap for us!" He punched the door release button and the driver's door slide open with a quiet hiss, "Get on to Tiiarkac, tell them of our situation and ask for armoured support." He stepped towards the driver's side door, lifting his Chainsword from the floor as he prepared to leave the vehicle.
"We need to retreat, Sergeant!" The radio-operator shouted, moving to block Jani's path. He was holding two Las pistols in his small hands, one of the hands pointing out towards the forward line of Guardsmen. "The men are faltering under the Termagants fire and the Hormagaunts are going to break the line any minute. We've already lost Carriers two, three and five. Four is retreating already but there are five Carnifexs attempting to block its path."
"Is the defence holding at any point along the formation?"
"Only along the western side, the Tyranids are mainly attacking from the rocks around the convoy. There is only a sand dune to the west and it shows no sign of any Tyranids."
Why – they have nothing to gain from attacking from rocky positions except a chance of cover, but they are only animals, they couldn't possible thinking like that. To think like that is heresy! He shook the thoughts from his head; he was a loyal soldier of the Imperium to think like that was wrong. He had to keep his faith strong in the Emperor, especially in such a bad time.
"What are you orders, Sergeant?"
"Order all of our remaining troopers to the western side of the perimeter and to hold the position until I give the order. We'll make a full tactical retreat back to Tiiarkac when we are all assembled."
"Yes, Sergeant!" Jani watched the radio-operator go to work on the Vox-unit, dispatching all of the orders to the men around the convoy. It made Jani think of the crews in the other Carriers, there had been no response from any of them since the beginning of the attack, that Jani had heard of.
"Have there been any signals from the other Carriers?" He asked when the radio-operator finished speaking down the Vox-unit.
"Yes, only from one though. It came from Carrier four less then a minute ago; they are retreating inside the Carrier and they've escaped the Carnifexs. They were able to crush one underneath it which is definitely a bonus." He was speaking as he waited for the reply messages from the other company leaders. "The Carnifexs are heading this way at full speed though; we need to be going within the minute or else we'll get hit by them."
"Order it to hold its position on the road south of here, we'll retreat down there and get a lift back to Tiiarkac on it." He stood there as the radio-operator dispatched the order to the other Carrier; he had to make sure they had a secure place to retreat too before he ordered the men to fall back. He kept watch of the battle out front as he waited, watching the sand storm clearing ahead of him.
The wind on Zoru was strange, it could start blowing in an instant and die down just as quickly. The pollution in the air had disrupted the entire system of things; the world didn't work at all like it should. The wind was random, but some people believed that they could guess when it was going to come up, they were never right. One such man was the person who decided that the convoy should head out when it did; he thought it would be totally clear.
The road before the convoy snaked down into a valley, and its floor constantly moved, as what looked like thousands of Hormagaunts rushed up towards the convoy. Jani knew they really had to move now; they didn't even have enough ammo to dispatch all of the beasts if they made it to combat.
"Carrier four has twenty survivors in it; they'll hold position for ten minutes." The radio-operator was beside him now, staring out into the swarm with a look of disgust. "We need to move now. The north is under heavy fire from Termagants and the Hormagaunts are about to break through. We've lost the entire eastern side, reports are sketchy but they are saying that all of the eastern troopers deserted, they are going after Carrier four by themselves."
"What about the south? Is it holding?" He cast a glance around towards the southern side but there were no shots fired or screams.
"The south is silent; it seems that attack was just to draw our men away from the more critical points. They only sent in a small group of Hormagaunts, which were dispatched very quickly by the…"
He was cut off as Jani spoke, his voice raised in anger. "That is heresy to think of such beasts as calculated!" He knew he had thought just the same earlier, but he wanted to try and show his loyalty was still strong for the Emperor. "They are just animals, and we will slaughter them as such."
"Yes, Sergeant." The radio-operator's attitude had changed; originally he was scared and nervous but he seemed to have accepted his situation and was dealing with it as best he could. "The men are starting to fall back, we should join them."
Jani nodded to the skinny figure of the radio-operator but stopped as he started to walk away. "What is your name, son?" He asked the young man, glancing down over the weak figure before him. He was only a young man, no older then twenty but he was gaunt and tall. Compared to the huge Sergeant he looked short though, even though he stood at six feet two, Jani was a towering six feet eleven.
"My name is Pruger, Pruger Hinory." He didn't seem to be looking for a formal greeting as he stepped past Jani and jumped down to the road. "We'll get a beer when we get through this, until then, lets go." Jani grinned darkly, staring after Pruger for a moment before following him outside. He was sure he was going to like Pruger already.
Guardsmen were rushing past them, all of them heading for the eastern side of the convoy in a hurry. A few of the men remained to fire of full auto bursts into the advancing aliens, aiming low to take of the legs of the beasts. Jani felt proud of those men, they had adapted quickly to this new situation. Some were just trying to be heroes as well though; they stood alone firing off into the aliens as they screamed out profanities. One man was a terribly good example, Jani was watching him fire of a burst at approaching Hormagaunts but the rounds just punched into the rock in front of them. He caught on quickly it wasn't working out and tried to retreat, but he tripped on a pot hole. He was sent to the ground with a loud crunch as his nose was broken instantly, blood spurting out onto his fatigues. Jani swore softly and drew his Laspistol; he fired off a few shots into the charging Hormagaunts to keep them off the trooper.
"Move you worthless piece of maggot shit!" He shouted at the injured Guardsman, his Las rounds burning through the first two Hormagaunts' faces. The Guardsman curled up and cried like a child, weeping and calling out for his mother to save him. Jani felt sorry for him. He had been just like that man when he had first joined, and his first experience in combat had been an Ork invasion that had threatened to consume the whole world. It was cold and bloody, much worse then the fighting that had gone on during that fight. He remembered how he had cried and begged for help from the Emperor, but he had actually gotten it. Two Thunderhawks had swooped down from the sky in a glorious blaze of red, as the legendary Blood Ravens came to assist them. He knew that he needed to help that boy.
"Cover me," He called back to no one in particular, before sprinting forwards with his Chainsword raised above his head. He had sometime to think during that charge, and he tried to think of why he was actually doing this. He had his wife and child at home, they depended on the money he earned from the PDF and he had a great home in Tiiarkac. This man was his man though; one of his soldiers, and it was his responsibility to keep him safe. Jani was always too close to his job.
He clashed with the Hormagaunts with a loud roaring shout, bringing his Chainsword down onto the head of a Xeno. The teeth of the Chainsword chewed through the thick bony head armour of the alien. It screeched out in anger and slashed at him with one of its forelimbs, but the scythe was blasted away by a Las round from beside him. He pressed on with his attack, driving the Chainsword down quickly against the Hormagaunt. Ichor and bone exploded out over the Sergeant as he tore through its head, the Chainsword chewing up its head and spitting up the remains over Jani.
The others were still firing, aiming for the Hormagaunts around him to keep them away from him as he grabbed the Guardsman's collar. He dragged the man across the ground, parrying scythes with his Chainsword if they got too close to him or the trooper. Pruger was there beside him the whole time, firing off shots into any Hormagaunt that threatened to overrun the Sergeant.
The line of Guardsmen along the west was probably three hundred strong with all of the men firing into the approaching horde of aliens. Jani was in the middle of them, firing his Laspistol into them as he finally lifted his Chainsword high into the air to signal the start of the retreat. Jani yanked the injured Guardsman up to his feet then pulled him into the line as they started to fall back.
Jani's men were doing just what he wanted; these men were the best of the survivors, anyone not good enough was dead by then. They walked backwards at a steady pace, firing continuously into the charging aliens with their Lasguns pressed firmly back into the shoulder as they tried to make each shot count. Las rounds punched holes and tore away limbs as the creatures drew closer and closer. Jani was certain they were going to win, but that was before the Carnifexs came back and he remembered that his soldiers were little more then scared boys trying to defend themselves.
The four beasts were in the middle of the horde for now, moving through small channels that the Hormagaunts had made by clearing out of the way. They all were heading at full speed in towards the Guardsman, roaring out together as they drew ever closer to the men.
"Run!" Screamed a man from somewhere down the line, "Save yourselves!" Called out another as their carefully held line started to falter, then break down entirely, all of the men separating. Jani couldn't hold it together, the men were too afraid to stand against such large Tyranids.
"Pruger! Let's go!" He called out as he turned, watching over his shoulder until the Carnifexs disappeared behind him and he looked forwards as he began to run. He turned just in time to see one of the large Mantis Stalkers launch itself towards him, screeching out before bringing both scythes down towards him.
Author's Notes: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, please R&R. I would appreciate any comments as they all help me get better.