Sergeant Cormac took in the scene of chaos in front of him as best as he could. There was fire roaring into the sky in dense clouds of heat as several burnt out vehicles littered the area. Large dome like tents, some torn or burning were lined up in orderly columns. Dead bodies of both sides could be seen lying all over the place. The air stank of death.
The transport site was a moderately large open expanse of land interspaced with the odd patch of greenery or tall tree. The squad was waiting on the edge of the treeline, observing things before making a move as ordered. Issac could still clearly hear the sounds of battle though the area they found themselves scanning seemed devoid of any activity at the moment.
Behind him Jenkins was fiddling with his headset, trying to make sense of the incoming traffic.
"Its no good sir. Its just soldiers crying out for help, low ammo and the like. No sense of any organized resistance. I can't hear a single officer on the command channel at all."
Cormac tightened his fists hanging at his sides, his jaw set in a scowl.
"What are those brass monkeys doing, sitting on their hands?"
He cast his gaze around the site, wondering if the armies officers had joined the mass of bodies lying on the jungle floor. They'd better be dead, because the commissars would be looking for someone to shoulder the responsibility after this ordeal was over. Maybe even Cormac would be interested in enacting some justice if he came across one of them.
"Well no matter. In the absence of any concrete orders it falls to me to make the best decision based on the intelligence at hand. And I say we get the hell out of here and link up with the first guard element we come across."
Issac ran out into the open towards one of the more untouched looking troop transports, keeping his figure as low as possible. His back hit the vehicle with a thud. He hugged the transport as he slid around to the back wheel, before peering around the side. The black belching smoke made visibility low but he didn't see anything moving out there. He slowed his breathing, cleared his mind and listened. If you couldn't see the enemy, it was always possible to hear them the instructors had always said. He could hear the crackle of the burning flames, the clanging of a truck door opening and closing in the wind and the still present sound of not so distant gunfire. He waved back over his shoulder without turning his watchful gaze away.
Immediately soldiers darted out of the jungle and sprinted over to join Issac while a few kept watch from the shadows.
Cormac was the first to reach Issac's side who was still keeping watch over the surrounding area.
"Whats the ground like, Issac?"
"No hostiles or friendlies in the area sir, but it wouldn't be difficult for anyone to hide out here."
In twos, the remainder of the unit joined the rest of them, huddling behind the vehicle as best as they could.
Macallister was the last to join them despite being part of the second duo to make the run across no mans land.
Issac knew the poison must be making even the most simplistic of movements excruciating for him. His skin was losing its color and he was slick with sweat. He hadn't complained about his difficultly to his credit, but how long could he go on?
Issac would tell that the Sergeant was impatient with his progress but hadn't mentioned anything about it yet. Issac knew however that if he slowed the squads progress any further, that might change.
The decision was made to split up the squad into two teams in order to cover more ground. The chief objective was to find a suitable vehicle that would hold everyone. Second on the list was helping repel the Tyranids. Issac was chosen to lead the second team consisting of himself, Douglas, Lando, Jasper, Jenkins and finally Ben. Everyone else went along with Cormac in the first team. They would converge on the maintenance facility which, despite the grandiose name was little more than a series of tents and pre-fabricated garages.
Issac took the lead, jogging across to some sandbags which housed a heavy machine gun, its gunner just a bloody stain on the floor. He waved the all clear to his comrades, as they too moved forward while Issac assumed a covering stance. In turn they would provide cover for him as he took his turn to move up. They played this game of leapfrog for a few more minutes, following the nearest sounds of gunfire until they found their first signs of life.
A handful of scattered soldiers were fighting for their lives against a swarm of Tyrandis. Each soldier fighting his own individual battle for survival in the cauldron of battle. One man turned to flee when his weapon ran dry. He was calling out in blind terror but was run down without mercy and hacked to pieces. Another soldier was behind a tree, firing at two charging creatures with talons. The leading one was taken down with lasblots caving in the back of its head but the second one kept on coming even when it suffered multiple injures. The soldier was screaming at the top of his lungs, "Die you monster, why won't you die?" before it plunged its bladed arms into the mans torso. They collapsed in a bloody heap, both in deaths embrace.
Issac saw two gaunts with rangers weapons peppering the side of a tent with holes, presumably because someone had taken shelter inside. He stopped running, knelt on one knee and took aim. Since they was facing away from him and the enemy were not yet aware of his squads presence, he was able to take a few seconds to time his shots with shooting range precision. Both were taken down without any trouble despite the fading light. The other squad members were trying to take some pressure off the beleaguered defenders by picking off those enemies on the fringes of the engagement. Jasper felled one Tyranid while it was turning to face the new threat and was quickly forced to duck behind some nearby metal crates as bright green projectiles flew at him at high speeds. They impacted on the crates which began to hiss and melt under the assault of the strong acid compound. More and more Tyranids were turning their attentions to Cormac's men, making things much more dangerous for them.
Issac with Jenkins and Douglas in tow had made their way to a series of tents, using them as cover to approach around the side of the Tyranid position. Assuming that they even had a position of course and the battle wasn't some all encompassing mess. Still they had to work with what they knew so this was the best move they had to play.
The three men moved at a jog but kept their eyes glued to each tent opening as they passed, the darkness inside may hide more than imaginary monsters. One of the tents contained an old fashioned oil lamp which was burning dimly, probably lifted from the local population. The picture it illuminated inside was not a welcome sight. Two humans in beige maintenance overalls lay on the ground, partially dismembered. Such was the state they were in, Issac couldn't tell what gender they were. Swallowing hard, he signaled the group to move on.
Lando was the man up front, sweeping from left to right with his weapon. He stopped in his tracks as something caught his ears, causing Ben who was covering behind him to walk into his back.
"What the hell?" Ben whispered, readjusting his glasses.
Lando pointed to one of the tent openings on the right, from which a horrible bond crunching sound could be heard which had been covered before by the sounds of battle. Ben noticed the sound too and started to look more than a little put off, he started to back away.
Jasper pushed past him, clearly annoying at his companions reluctance. He pulled out a flashlight from his pocket and fumbled for a few moments before getting the thing working.
It shone out bright light which pushed away the darkness, revealing a ghastly picture to the assembled soldiers. One of the common Tyranid spawn was hunched over another human figure, this one in combat fatigues. The creature was in the process of moving its bloody maw in closer to take another bite before it was disturbed by its unwanted visitors. Cranking its head round, it saw fresh bio mass very much alive behind it. Lando didn't give it the second it needed to form the next thought in its head, or rather, receive it from the hive mind. He gunned it down on full auto, angry at this piece of filth for snacking on one of the regiments soldiers. He was well used to the idea of dying, but the idea of being eaten sickened him to the core.
Jasper patted Lando on the head and urged him to move on. He looked at the scene in front of him for a few moments before heading back down the role of tents with the others.
Issac could see that they were nearing the end of the tent complex which meant a end to their cover. The hissing of laser rounds and the booming of explosives was ever present as always but a burst of weapon fire closer to the squads position alarmed Issac and caused him to slow up and look around. Nothing that he could see, some of the men ran past him while he scanned the gaps for any sign of life.
His gaze was torn back to the middle trail where pot marks started to appear in the fabric just in front of him. The air fizzled as the high energy laser beams cooked the air, and anything they came into contact with on the way. Issac yelled for everyone to hit the dirt as the few shots rapidly turned into a laser storm of death. Jasper just had time to register a look of disbelief before he was cut to bloody ribbons. Lando had just a second more to react, and drove for the ground, flattening himself as much as humanly possible.
Issac grit his teeth as the roar of laser fire passed right above his head, filling the area with the smell of burning fabric as the tents were damaged even further. Ben cried out for it to end, for this whole damn mess to end and the injustice of it all. Further back down the line, Jenkins held the necklace he kept hidden under his shirt, given to him by his father before the mustering. Then as suddenly as the storm had broke, it stopped.
The men were still reluctant to get up after what had happened but they knew that staying prone on the ground would leave them easy pickings for anything that came across them. They got up one by one, dusting themselves off and taking stock.
"Is anyone hit?" Issac called out.
It turned out that only Jasper who was on point had been hit, everyone else had managed to avoid any injury by the emperors grace.
Douglas was complaining that he had landed badly on his already hurt arm, and couldn't aim his lasgun properly with both hands. Issac handed him Jasper's autopistol without a word. Douglas took it with his good arm with a glum look, slinging the rifle behind his back. Taking needed equipment from dead comrades had become commonplace since arriving on this emperor forsaken world. Still, being killed by stray fire from your own side. Fate can be wicked sometimes.
Not far from Issac and those men still with him, Sergeant Cormac was leading his team through the battle as best as he could. They'd killed a good far share of the enemy as they worked their way towards the machine bay. They were taking their time, playing the cautious game, trying to hide their presence until they could link back to some sibilance of command, assuming anything like that still existed. Cade Cormac was starting to wonder. He'd never seen things this bad before, with the comm channels completely devoid of any forms of command and control.
The men under him were fanning out and sweeping the area as they went along. Crates of supplies had been haphazardly stacked together to form barricades. Personal effects had been discarded on the floor in a effort to escape. Imperial coins, an aquilla half buried in the earth, even an old wooden music box which from the look of it, had been dropped and trampled underfoot.
A roar sounded out, long and deep. Loud enough to shack a few leaves from a nearby tree which fluttered down in the air before a further eat-splitting roar, closer this time, pushed them away with sheer force.
Cormac gestured for everyone to get down before he himself lay down in a patch of long grass, parting the edge just enough for him to peer out.
A massive Tyranid creature loomed into view, its footsteps causing the earth to shake with each footfall. Cormac recognized the breed. Carnifex, a living tank packed with muscular power and heavy, bone armor that can take cannon rounds to the chest and still keep coming. It was nicknamed the berserker by the rank and file as it always seemed to be full of bloodlust, more so than the other creatures.
It cranked its neck from side to side, its tongue darting out of its mouth as it emitted a low grow. Cormac knew what it was doing. It was tasting the air for any signs of its prey, something which a few of the predators of his home planet were known for. He thanked his luck that his scent should be sufficiently covered by the grass cover he had hidden in considering he was the closed of his squad to the monster. It took a few steps towards him. The hairs on the back of his neck shot up. Had it detected me? He found himself tightening the grip on his lasgun, strangling it. The monster stopped, then turned away from him, towards a dugout made up of sandbags and wooden trunks. It stormed over to it and lashed out with one of its four gargantuan bladed arms, pulverizing most of the structure into smithereens with one blow.
It stabbed again into the heap of debris, throwing up dust everywhere. When it cleared Cormac could see that the monster had a guardsmen impaled upon one of its talons. He was still alive, and howled in agony.
It drew the poor unfortunate man up to its gaping maw and bit half of his body off in a shower of blood. Dropping the carcass on the floor, the Carnifex bellowed in rage. Its anger never satiated. Several men burst out from the crushed dugout, those that had survived the destruction but had hid in terror at what awaited them outside. The picture they had witnessed had driven them to flight. One of the soldiers was supporting another on his shoulder but it was clear that it was a lost cause as the Carnifex caught up to them within the span of a few massive strides.
The soldier looked over at the hulking monster of death approaching him and dropped his friend in panic who fell face first in the mud. Rather than help him the man sprinted away as fast as his legs would carry him. He wasn't nearly fast enough.
The Carnifex crushed the wounded man underfoot, too focused on the moving pray to bother killing him. The fleeing trooper was just about keeping pace until a big green blob shot out of the colossal creatures mouth, hitting the man in the back and knocking him to the ground. The fex was on him in an instant, slashing, pounding and ripping. One of the dismembered armed rocketed against the side of a tent, painting the green camo design a bright red. After the Carnifex had finsihed it immediately set off in the direction of the remaining guardmen who had managed to put some distence bewteen the two in the brief instant given to them.
Cormac didn't fancy their chances. He signaled for everyone to get moving and pointed in the assumed direction of the machine yard which was thankfully in the opposite direction. Using this distraction could be their only chance of making it past it without having to take a big detour and risk being detected by a similar Tyranid. They had nothing that would bring one of those behemoths down anyway. Lasguns and grenades? Good luck with that.