"Normal speech"
"Gothic around non-Imperials."
"Mental Links."
"Ship Names."
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Darth nylon544: Sorry. Now for your idea while being awesome it has a few large holes in it. The Imperium hates chaos, mainly because it was behind the greatest war of all time, so why would they even mention it I don't know. Asides from that good thoughts. Cease and Repent.
the Amazing chicken diner: Thanks. In our resolve we only reflect His purpose of will.
Marticuss: Thank you. Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of it.
Trife: I don't want to ruin the story and what little suspense I can muster. So you'll just have to wait. The foolish man puts his trust in luck, the wise man puts his trust in the Emperor.
Colin: I hope you have persevered this far. Anyway I probably won't be willing to do that. All the Eva/40k ideas have really been done and I don't want to rip off someone else's work. If I can forge something from my mind I will try just don't hold your breath. There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.
AngelForm: Thank you very much. Wisdom is the beginning of fear.
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It pulled itself down the rock face, diamond hard black talons digging into the sandstone with ease. An explosion roared in the distance but it ignored it more interested in the five heat sources that lay before it. Voices swirled in its mind, a million images and ideas formed and were discarded before one was chosen; prey. A hiss escaped its lips before it jumped off the cliff and landed almost silently on the ground. It stalked forward with all the grace of death, the only sound it emanated was a low rasping breath.
The deep canyon ran in both directions as far as the eye could see. It was wider than Atlantis and nearly fifty metres deep. A single tiny river choked with strange black weeds meandered through it. The sands whirled in the light wind, beating particles of dust against the few malnourished trees.
Sheppard groaned slightly as he felt a small weight on his stomach. Deciding that he fancied a longer lie in he tried to turn over and escape his tormentor. His mind started to kick into overdrive when he tried to roll but the pressure on his mid section tripled. A warm liquid dripped into his face followed by a low hissing. He instantly opened his eyes, quickly wishing he hadn't.
Standing over him was a pale creature whose shiny carapace was white with black and blue veins all across it, looking almost like marble. One of its long and muscular arms was firmly planted on his stomach. Sheppard looked over the strange creature as its eyeless head hovered over his own. Two muscular doubled kneaded legs joined to four toed and clawed feet. A thin and bony tail whipped behind the creature ending in a three pronged spike. The torso was thin and lithe with a large black burn on its side. Finally the creatures face, the head was bulbous with an expanded cranium out over the back of its neck. The mouth was long and thin, at the moment it was open dripping saliva from its long and black teeth.
Sheppard stifled a scream as the claw on his stomach began to dig in deeper, drawing little welts of blood as it slowly cut into his flesh. The dripping mouth was brought closer to his face, the jaws widening to impossible lengths showing off the black abyss of the things throat. Sheppard glanced down at his P-90 beside him. Somehow the creature followed the motion and turned the side of its head towards the weapon. The tail whipped around and poked the gun. A deep hiss escaped the creature as its tail flicked the weapon away before its head whipped around to face Sheppard again.
Sheppard closed his eyes waiting for his end. A bright flash nearly blinded him even through his eyelids and suddenly the pressure on his torso was gone. Opening his eyes again he saw the strange creature thrashing next to him, a smoking and glowing hole in its side. A second energy blast blew its head off sending black liquid over the glass covered ground.
Loud laughter boomed from Sheppard's left. "Two shots! Your marksmanship is falling!"
A second, equally loud voice retorted instantly. "Say that again!"
Sheppard looked for the source of the noise. Two men stood before him, both were clad in dark grey suits of armour with pulsating blue lines running all over the torso and arms in strange patterns that seemed to trace out an artistic skeleton. Each carried a long barrelled weapon with a white core just above their hands. The one on the left held weapon slightly away from himself, steam rising from the muzzle and the core. Their heads were uncovered, so he could see that both were slightly larger than a humans, pale skinned and bald.
"Oh look, that one's alive." The one on the right boomed, swinging his large gun around effortlessly.
"Wonder what they were doing?" The one on the left muttered, kicking a shard of smoky yellow glass.
"Who knows?" The one on the right answered while striding towards Sheppard.
An explosion on the ground halted the armoured man before his third step. All conscious eyes swung over to the large white armoured figure standing proud, a bolt pistol held in his right hand centred on the two unknown Xenos, his chain sword held lightly in his left.
"Identify yourselves." Samuel ordered, ignoring another large explosion that happened a few kilometres away.
"We don't have time for your games Alteran!" The one on the left shouted, levelling his large gun on Samuel.
"What's an Alteran?" Samuel replied narrowing his eyes at the two.
He never got his answer; next to him the air shimmered and warped. Out of the distortion a light grey skinned woman in plain black armour with leaves in her unkempt hair appeared and kicked the bolt pistol from Samuel's hand before vanishing from sight again just as the chain sword passed through were her head had been.
A whine filled the air as Samuel stared down the twin barrels pointed at him. "You will be coming with us." The one on the right ordered.
"I don't think so." A female voice said from behind the two armoured Xenos as the distinctive sound of a las rifle powering up followed by the click of a new round being chambered in a Tau'ri weapon.
Davidenko and Carter pointed their weapons at the exposed heads of the two strange men. Tension filled the air for a second until the grey skinned female appeared again behind Davidenko. A jab was already in flight, aimed at a nerve cluster in the Russian Majors neck, that would have downed her instantly. The attack never landed, faster than most humans could follow the enhanced woman grabbed the thin arm out of the air, painfully twisting it to the side. The fluffy haired woman moved with the motion, launching a leg at Davidenko's newly exposed ribs. The blow landed with a dull thump sending Davidenko stumbling to the side. The black armoured woman twisted her arm in Davidenko's grasp and grabbed hold of the redheads forearm. Using the momentum of her kick she pulled the unbalanced human over her hip, viciously throwing her to the ground. A sweeping kick arced round from the downed Terran cutting the legs out from under her opponent who was unprepared for the power behind the attack. The black clad woman landed on her back with a grunt, Davidenko launched herself at the Xeno and their fight dissolved into a wrestling match on the ground.
The two armoured men tensed in preparation to attack the single female at their back, but their attention was drawn away as another of those white creatures was flung across the shattered glass on the ground. The creature hissed and screeched as it flew through the air; the impact on the ground could be felt through the assembled people's shoes and was accompanied by a sickening wet crunch.
The creature wailed as it thrashed on the ground sending arcs of it black blood from its shattered arm. A red blur swept through the stunned group, a gear groaning in protest as the servo-arm swung back to deliver the finishing blow. Vanem's mechanical third arm smashed into the creatures head sending black blood, white carapace and yellowish brain matter splattering across the ground.
"His will be done." Vanem muttered, crushing the shattered remains of the Xenos head with his large armoured boot.
"Impressive." The armoured Xeno on the right said glancing back at the weapon aimed at his head. "Are you the new shock troops the Alteran's have been bragging about?" He asked, looking over to his female comrade who was pinned to the ground by the stronger Davidenko.
"Alteran? Who are you?" Sheppard asked, finally getting to his feet ignoring the pain in his gut.
"I am Riddari leader Tror. This is Riddari Tulinen. We hail from Muspemr." The one on the right said proudly, as if the humans should know what it all meant.
"Meaning?" Sheppard asked, confusion clearly written on his face.
"We are Riddari! The best the Empire has to offer!" Tror said, cocking his head to the side slightly, his tone reminding most Imperials of a certain Supreme Commander.
Vanem narrowed his eyes at the two Xenos. "And what of her?" He demanded, nodding towards the grey skinned woman pinned beneath Davidenko who gave a token wriggle as she tried to escape the iron hold the Russian had over her.
"She is Awyn of the Nox Federation." Tulinen said, slowly charging his next shot.
A startled gasp came from Carter as she regarded the grey skinned woman. The grey skin, unkempt hair with leaves delicately interwoven, the power to vanish at will all screamed of that enigmatic race she and SG-1 had encountered so long ago. It was almost like it had been another life. Carter was quickly thrown in a loop; the Nox abhorred violence in all forms and actively went out of their way to stop it. Never attacking first. Her mind stopped again as memories of a mission three years ago slid into her mind. The Asgard Heimdall had found frozen lesser mutated ancient Asgard. Realisation dawned on her quickly. Oversized heads and pale skin, only one race that they knew of fit that description and had ever been close to the isolationist Nox. The Asgard.
Carter lowered her P-90 slightly "Asgard?" She put forward tentatively getting a confused glance from the two Marines and a shocked expression from Sheppard that was quickly hidden.
"Of course! What else could we be?" Tulinen raged at the perceived insult. "I dislike your attitude Alteran."
"Lies! They look nothing like the Asgard." Vanem shouted, glaring at the two Xenos
"No but they look like they did before they succumbed to genetic stagnation." Carter said mostly to herself.
"Genetic stagnation? What are you ranting about Alteran?" Tror asked, giving Carter a quizzical look.
"It matters not; if you are Asgard then we owe you an apology. We mistook you for a different race of Xenos. Your appearance is different than what we have come to expect of your race." Samuel said, his voice friendly but his eyes were harder than steel as they observed the slightest movement of the two supposed Asgard.
"Different. How?" Awyn asked from beneath Davidenko, her voice smooth and calm but lacking the innocence that Carter had heard in the voices of Nox she knew.
"We don't have time for this we have to get to the Aquila now!" Tror commanded, cutting the conversation short.
A roar that would put the fear of god into even a Khorne Berserker echoed off the cliff around the little group. The faint whine of plasma and energy weapons along with screams followed after. The ground began to shake, the clinking of the glass shards eerily loud.
"Luck is not with us today. More of the Nidhogg have come." Tror said, turning to face the approaching noise.
Around the bend in the ravine sprinted a group of ten humanoids, sporadically firing plasma shots behind them. Parts of their armour heavily resembled the carapace armour of the Space Marines and the energy resistant armour of a Kull warrior with fully enclosed helmets that had large blacked out eyes and a circular device at mouth level. A screech unlike anything the SGC personnel had ever heard quickly overwhelmed them. Just before their ears began to bleed the wailing stopped and a burst of white light engulfed the last two of the humanoids. The blast of light dissipated, leaving nothing of the two unfortunate victims in its wake.
The creature that stood before them, its four bee yellow eyes watching the eight remaining white armoured soldiers' frantic retreat with cold malice, seemed to come straight out of some psychotic's nightmare. Standing at least six metres tall, its back legs and arms adorned with thick midnight blue armoured plates, a sandy brown chitin layer covering it everywere else. The joints showed off moist purple flesh that pulsed and twitched with every movement. It stood on reversed legs ending in huge hooves that stamped on the ground like great pistons. Four arms were held close to its body; the two upper ones ended in massively elongated curved bone that looked sharper than many swords, the two lower ones were massive crab like claws. Held in one was the limp body of one of the fleeing soldiers. A long and muscular tail that flicked back and forth at a gentle pace ended in a horrendously deadly looking club. Its head was basically a huge mouth that dripped saliva from almost black teeth; its tongue was a strange tube that was currently releasing trails of steam.
Vanem observed the creature with absolute hatred. The creature's eyes flickered around the canyon, a cruel intelligence behind them. It flung the body in its grasp aside, the corpse smashing into the sandstone formation with a loud snapping noise. The ex-soldier slid down the stone like a toy some child had grown bored of and recklessly thrown away. The creature roared again, starching to its full height, spreading its four arms wide, almost as if challenging its tiny prey to try and wound it. It charged just as the retreating white armoured soldiers rallied around the two supposed Asgard.
Samuel tightened his grip on his bolter and prepared to fire. In another Universe the monstrosity had a name that inspired fear in the fearless and caused the bravest to fall back in terror. It was a living engine of destruction. Born to smash everything in its path. The incarnation of the Juggernaut. It was the Carnifex.
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Norman almost lost his lunch as the Crimson Strife burst back into real space and Einstein's physics reasserted their hold over the ship. Stumbling slightly at the sudden deceleration he caught sight of the world below them. For a moment he thought that they were still above the Earth, the deep blue seas surrounding multicoloured landmasses with huge wispy clouds lazily floating through the sky. A feeling of wonderment filled him as the continents below no longer matched those he knew so well. Others in the large mess hall pushed towards the windows to get a better look at this new world as well.
On the bridge Sachiel grinned viciously as the reports of Imperial victory above Hidaga flooded the sub-space networks. That tendril of the Replicon advance had been shattered! For the first time since they had invaded Imperial space the hated machines had been driven back. no, not just driven back, utterly annihilated! Almost ten Imperial ships had been lost to a force of nearly five hundred Jackal class ships and supporting Dirges. Nearly all of the Replicon vessels were now sub-atomic particles floating in the void.
A loud cry of praise bellowed from Sachiel's throat as the secret of their victory was revealed. The Nova cannons of the new Ragnarok class had proven to be devastating weapon against the accursed enemy. Pinpoint barrages from the three battleships moored at Hidaga had kept the Replicons at cannon's length. Saving both the planet and the many ships that defended it. All the while the Terran Defenders who had been little more than speed bumps to the Replicon's advance, struck back with furious retribution. Madly tearing at their dreaded foe with a trillion giga-watts of death; desperately selling their lives for just one more second of vengeance. They had pounded the block ships to dust.
'Truly the Asgard are blessed by the Emperor', he thought. Once again the Imperium had hope. Hope that their sacrifice was not in vain. Hope that they would endure to see a new morning. And now; now the spiteful machines slowed, now they treaded lightly, drawing back unto themselves; fearing that which it had once thought so little of. Now the Replicons knew the taste of defeat and they hated it.
The Imperials' merriment was cut short as the lighting tuned blood red; a deep warble began to pump out of the voxes. Almost as if the human's celebration of their victory had attracted the Replicon ships. Murphy was never subtle in his revenge.
"Incoming Replicons!" A crew-man screamed as the distortion trail left by the inertless drive of the Replicons flashed on the sensor screen.
"Damm them!" The captain shouted thumping his fist on the chairs arm rest. The very nature of the Xenos FTL travel made their arrival hard to predict. They were gone before you saw them. Only the nature of sub-space allowed for any form of detection. "All hands battle stations! Beam down the Terrans and join the Mysterious Typhoon. Contact the Lady Ceras and have her hold station over the planet." The man, ordered cupping his chin in his hand as the Crimson Strife swung away from the planet.
"Brothers assemble in the mess hall! Prepare for planetary combat!" Sachiel shouted into his vox.
Norman frowned as the Lady Ceras accelerated forward, down towards the smaller of the two habitable continents that made up the planet. The sudden alarm worried him, and his trepidation increased even more as the Mysterious Typhoon banked away from the planet, a bizarre watery bubble enclosing the ship.
His journalistic mind kicked in and Norman pulled out his handheld camera as the six Space Marines strode into the mess. A cold fury radiated from their eyes and every soldier present backed away slightly.
A grin that held no joy split the face of the one that had taken Norman's luggage aboard the Lander. "Prepare for battle." Cenobi commanded.
Before questions could be raised and outrage expressed a white glow enveloped everything and the next sight that greeted Norman's eyes was a large and empty field. The heat was nearly unbearable and the abrasive coal-black dust which floated in the air threatened to rip off any exposed skin. They were on the outskirts of a large city, the buildings didn't reach above four stories and were made out of bricks rather than concrete but the roar of I-301s passing over head dispelled any illusion of this being a back water outpost.
"Terrans!" Sachiel bellowed, dismayed at the rampant banter that had enveloped the Terran soldiers after the transport. "There is only a single twenty man squad of I.G.L. left in the capital's garrison. You will coordinate with them and help the civilians evacuate through the Stargate." Having said that, the Neophyte walked away from the Terrans towards a nearby building.
The Mysterious Typhoon unleashed its Replicator disrupter followed by a volley from its lance. One of the four Dirge class ships was blown in half instantly, silver strings of now inert Necrodermis floating away from the wreck. The Crimson Strife shook under the barrage of Gauss weapons as two of the Dirges blasted away at its void shield. The fourth and final Dirge class made a mad dash towards the planet only to get blow to little pieces by the torpedoes of the Lady Ceras. One of the two Dirges attacking the Crimson Strife took a chance and charged through the expanding debris field of its former companion. The lance of the Lady Ceras clipped the Dirge's curved body blasting apart the bluish-grey blocks. The ship was sent it into an irrecoverable spin as the planets gravity dragged the wounded ship down. The final Dirge died as the Mysterious Typhoon finally got a clear shot and opened broadside fire just before the Crimson Strife was crippled by the Replicon ship.
Norman watched open mouthed through the screen of his camera as lights flashed in the sky. Suddenly a dark shadow passed overhead. The ball of fire was trailing huge chunks that tore through the city leaving ruins and smoking craters in their wakes. Norman was thrown from his feet as the ship smashed into the ground some distance from capital city.
"Battle stations! Battle stations! All personnel prepare to repel Replicons! Continue the evacuations! The Emperor protects!" A pole mounted vox blasted out as sirens began to wail throughout the damaged city.
Norman stood gawking at the vox as it spew out some garbled language that he didn't have a clue how to understand. He was shaken from his thoughts when Tannis began shouting at him from across the field.
Suddenly four I-301s screamed overhead and unleashed eight missiles towards the orange glow of the crashed ship. The resulting Naquadah enhanced nuclear explosion knocked Norman off his feet again and nearly blinded him. A sturdy hand pulled him to his feet even as the winds whipped around them, the dust leaving him covered in little cuts. Norman blinked the lights from his eyes as he made out the silhouette of the annoying young airman from his truck.
A grim look marred the young man's face as he half observed Norman and half watched the flaming mushroom cloud reach up towards the heavens. His eyes seemed sad as a beam of white light pierced through the cloud of dust and fire to blast a larger hole in the planet. The deadly light cast half his face in deep shadows as he hauled Norman to his feet, it actually made him look very old.
"Who are you?" Norman stammered as soldiers ran wildly around the city's outskirts.
"Private Jonathan O'Neill. Though my friends call me Jack." The young man said, smiling cheekily.
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Tror roared in anger as another of the white armoured Alterans was speared through the chest by the rampaging monstrosity. Plasma burns pock-marked its side, thick black ichor dripping from the deeper ones. Two of the new, unknown Alterans fired their strange primitive guns into the creature's side. The metal slugs tore through the creatures exposed flesh, sending purple chunks spraying everywhere.
As loath as he was to admit it the guns were impressively effective when they hit flesh but woefully bad against the creature's thick armour. The warrior side of him respected these weapons as worthy tools of combat. While the logical part of his mind questioned their viability. It was this part of their mind that would in millions of year's time become the greatest asset and at the same time greatest weakness of the Asgard race.
A crab-like claw swung over the red armoured Alteran who dodged to the side as another talon tried to pierce him. Two Alterans constantly fired at the beast from the right, their plasma weapons burning a huge glowing hole in the creature's side. They died as a talon sliced through ones head and the others legs in a single swing. Tulinen mentally berated the Alterans, they were great thinkers, philosophers and even strategists but they lacked the instincts for a fight that the Asgard and Furlings had.
"Cover me!" The red-haired one shouted, pulling a small black orb from her clothing.
Tror blinked in surprise as she charged the Nidhogg creature followed by her white armoured comrade, his strange sword roaring in his hand. The other strange Alterans moved in the opposite direction concentrating their fire on the creature's wounds to draw its attention. The lumbering beasts four eyes tracked the three that caused it the most pain; a tiny whisper in its head urged it to begin stimulating an organ in its throat.
The bizarre and painful screaming started again as the creature bisected another Alteran foot soldier while its mouth hung open steam rising from its strange tube-like tongue. Davidenko closed her eyes and tried to ignore the pain from her enhanced hearing. A scratching started in her mind, a billion voices whispering at once, intelligence infinitely vast and terrible. Memories stirred in the Replicon cell infested woman of an endless darkness and voices as numerous and terrible as the ones she heard now. Samuels's eyes widened as red sparks danced around Davidenko, the last time had done no perceivable damage but the Emperor knew what would happen this time.
Deep within Davidenko artificial cells that had been created to preserve their host if the unidentifiable energy ever emerged again activated for the second time. Analysis of the electrical style pulse had proven paradoxical its source was unknown, its nature was unknown, its characteristics immeasurable and it obeyed no known laws. However they would adapt and conquer as was their purpose. Replicon cells altered their monopolar fields to accommodate the strange energies. Kiron pathways calculated, recalculated and double checked their fields ready to alter them in any perceivable way. They knew they were doomed but they would be replicated anew, it mattered not as long as their objective was achieved.
The creature felt a new presence in its mind pushing back the voices it had known since birth. Davidenko thrust aside the memory of darkness and pain along with the painful scratching behind her eyes. Awyn blinked in confusion as her reading of the strange Alteran changed completely. There was the plain and cold of thinking machines but there was something else that was vaguely familiar. Her concentration was broken when the club like tail nearly took her head off, forcing her away from the creature's rear.
Yellow eyes flicked over the prey creature that charged it, slitted irises narrowed as they were assaulted by red light. Davidenko saw one of the crab like claws swinging towards her, she thrust out her arm instinctually trying to block the huge appendage. Lightening exploded from her hand blowing the attacking arm apart. The creature threw its head up, screeching in pain. The plasma attack that it had been building in its throat blasted up into the air like a geyser of white fire. Samuel saw an opening and rushed past the slightly stunned Terran, taking his chain sword in both hands he leapt in the air and brought it down on the fleshy joint of one of the talon-tipped arms. The small motor of the chain sword screeched as it tore through the purple flesh. Samuel hung on for his life as smoke belched forth from his weapon, sinuous muscles and rock hard tendons were torn apart by the adamantium teeth. The creature smashed the Marine with the stump of its formally clawed arm, sending Samuel sailing back with enough force to crack the ground he crashed into.
Davidenko stumbled from the pain; her skin was burnt, her head felt like it had just been shoved inside a jet engine and her bones felt like they were solid lead. The creature roared at her as it drew closer. The remaining talon came arcing around its upper side, ready to skewer Davidenko in a second. The Pariah woman slid under attacking, limbly pulling the pin out of the grenade in her hand.
Tror watched on in confusion as the strange Alterna threw the little black device into the open mouth of the Nidhogg creature. The female rolled out of the way as the crab claw smashed down were she had been a second ago. A second passed and then the head of the creature exploded in a shower of gore.
"By the Ancestors!" Tulinen shouted, as he watched the headless beast stumble for a few steps before collapsing to the ground.
"What was that?" Awyn asked politely, observing the death spasms of the creature. "That strange light and those weapons. To defeat a Hunokel so easily, they are indeed potent."
"Yes, but who are they?" One of the white armoured Alterans asked while stepping towards Tror. The helmet of the white armour snapped back much like the guard helmet of a elite Jaffa, revealing the top half of the man's face.
"Aren't they with you?" Tulinen muttered, watching the large red armoured Alteran help up the white armoured version. To survive a blow like that, just what were they?
"Don't know. High Command never tells us anything." The Alteran answered with a slight shrug. "They look Alteran but I've never seen weapons or tactical armour like that before."
"Enemy of my enemy." Awyn stated quietly, most of her concentration occupied with blocking the deadly whispers that tried to flood into her. Like all empathic Nox she was being affected more severely by the proximity of the creature and its hive mind than the members of the other 3 Races.
"I still don't like it." Tulinen muttered, glaring at the Marines.
"Enough Tulinen. We can interrogate them later; you'll never get your answers if they are lining the stomach of a Nidhogg creature." Tror said, getting an amused snort from the Alteran next to him.
"Sir! More of the Eurynis are on the way!" One of the four remaining Alterans shouted, waving his plasma rifle for emphases.
A blue spiked ball flew over the man's head. All eyes stared at the strange thing for a second before everyone threw themselves to the ground. The glass like ball smashed into the ground right in front of the startled Alteran that had been shouting. A surprised 'wha...' escaped the Alteran before a petrochemical reaction within the crystalline sphere blew it apart like some bizarre grenade. Crystal shards screamed through the air, razor sharp shards tore through armour with ease. Little remained of the Alteran that it had landed beside.
"Retreat to the Aquila!" Tror roared as another of the crystal orbs exploded a little behind the impromptu group.
They ran, ran for everything they had, crystal balls smashing behind them with deadly accuracy. The musical wailing of the shards as they tore through the air getting slowly closer and closer. A sight that filled them all with relief came over a small rise, a large ship. About kilometre long and flat; dull brown with two large engine pods at the back. The front was adorned by two very large cannons and a small array of sensors. Form follows function, a definite Alteran trait Tror thought as he regarded the ship.
A boom like a huge drum nearly knocked the Asgard from his feet. A whip of lightening rippled along the shields of the Aquila. Spinning to face the new opponent Tror was met with a veritable horde of Nidhogg. Hundreds of little drones swarmed through the canyon, the stalker types in their parody of the Asgard crawled along the walls. Floating above it all was one of the brain types, its limbs atrophied away and its huge pulsating brain free of any restrictive cranium. A halo of light emanated off the creature as it slowly turned towards its prey.
"Get to the ship." The red armoured one growled, levelling his weapon on the horde. Tror was actually scared of those things, an explosive round with average armour piercing properties. Whichever Altern thought that up would have been charged with crimes against sentience at any other time in history.
"Vanem, now isn't the time to be a hero." Samuel said, pulling the Tech-Marine back with him as they pumped relentless death into the horde of claws and teeth that drew ever closer.
Gaunts exploded as mass reactive rounds blew them apart showering their brethren with their entrails. Even as they charged they were scythed down by plasma and metal slugs. That however did little to discourage them. A second blast of lightening smashed against the Aquila's shields making the golden bubble shimmer and ripple. Tror looked up towards the Alteran ship as they passed an imaginary line. Suddenly the world exploded in flames as the point defence batteries of the Aquila started to churn up the sandy ground. Energy modulated to disintegrate organic flesh and plasma rounds ripped apart the Gaunt horde, the shields fell for a second allowing the Asgard, Marines, humans, Alterans and the single Nox to retreat to a airlock.
"Are we the last? Did you manage to evacuate the planet?" Tror questioned a communication panel on the wall.
A sound like a whale's song was followed by a short, enigmatic. "Yes."
"Accursed Furlings." Tror muttered at the panel as the Aquila shook and they raced up towards space, leaving behind the all consuming horde.