Chapter 14
Kraken
New chapter is up everybody, thank you for the reviews and ideas on parts of the story, glad everyone liked the idea of putting Revan into the plot, if this goes right he/she could turn out to be around 4,000 years old (give or take a few years) and may be very powerful…nothing compared to the Emperor though (he's 43,000 years old right?) and thanks to everyone who has given me information on Tyranid tech.
How powerful do you guys think a Hellgun should be?
The Tyranid warrior loomed over her, its mouth opening and closing, dripping reddened saliva and showing needle sharp, bloodied teeth, its beady black eyes continued to stare lifelessly at her, its one last surviving scythed talon hovering a few metres over her battered body, ready to thrust through her chest in a downward stroke.
The burning pain on her arm was almost constant making Robyn whimper, she was too afraid to look down at the source in case she sees nothing but a pool of melted flesh and Tyranid glandular acid.
Towering over her know the monster raised its arm to deliver the final strike, there was a snap and then an emerald lightsabre flew through the air and cut into the warriors shoulder making the Tyranid screech and stumble backwards.
The weapon flew out of the creature, spurting blue blood as it exited and returned to its owner, Gabriel stood at the end of the corridor, spinning the hilt in his hand before activating the blade once again, the Eldar, Ishta, appeared right beside him, wearing her mesh armour and holding her witchblade in front of her.
"Are you willing to fight with a human?" Gabriel asked.
"That depends" Ishta replied as she spun her witchblade before holding the grip with both hands "Are you willing to fight alongside an Eldar?"
The Jedi smiled before nodding, the two turned to the Tyranid who had just righted itself again and ignoring the injured inquisitor charged towards them, it's every step making the entire corridor shake.
Their movements suddenly a blur the two jumped in midair just dodging the warriors charge, they dived behind the incensed creature, and Gabriel swung his lightsabre severing the whip like tail.
The two landed and skidded across the decking before in unison they pounced at the warrior again, lightsabre and witchblade cutting elegantly through the Tyranids back, screaming in agony the monster spun, swinging his last bladed talon which was elegantly severed by Ishta's power sword, in a finishing stroke the Jedi master jumped into the air driving his energy blade through the warriors chin and exiting at the top of its head, Gabriel force-jumped backwards just missing the several tonnes of dead armoured flesh falling where he once stood.
Deactivating his lightsabre Gabriel rushed to the inquisitor and checked her pulse, she'd pull through, he then checked her arm and found that the acid had hit her hand melting it to the point where not even the bone remained; the power sword was nothing more than a puddle of acid and molten metal beside her.
He unclipped his comlink and thumbed it on "Medbay, I've got a casualty here with a missing hand, needs a bacta tank and a cybernetic limp prepped"
He hit it off and lifted the Inquisitors limp form in his arms before turning to Taldeer "Think we can make a detour to the medbay before moving to the hanger?"
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Magi Durin watched as the Tyranid ships got closer and closer, firing their bio-plasma cannons and torpedoes continuously, the Imperium ships returned fire, thousands of lance and plasma salvos streamed from their gun ports slamming into the Tyranid ships turning droneships and Razorfiends to burning pieces, the five hiveships had just got into weapons range.
"All battleships aim your Nova cannons for the lead hiveship" the Magi shouted, the fleet of battleships slightly turned towards the hiveship, lining up the massive guns for shots at the enormous Leviathan.
"Fire!"
The nine battleships fired another bombardment of nova shells at the lead hiveship, the high powered rounds pounded into the front of the ship, the combined firepower tore the front section of the squid shaped monster apart.
A flash of blinding light signalled another Imperium ship, a Vengeance-class Cruiser was cracked in half by combined fire, hundreds of blooms of light between the two warring fleets signalled the deaths of hundreds of Thunderhawk fighters and Marauder bombers along with the living monsters that were skirmishing with them.
"Magi, Tyranid pods have attached themselves to the Vigilance" his scanning officer called "Admiral Halos reports heavy fighting in the hanger and a few corridors but assures that his soldiers can handle them"
Durin turned his gaze to the Vigilance; the Star Destroyer was hovering next to the Emperors Fire still firing with every gun port it had, a defensive screen of Alliance fighters skirmished with Tyranid scouting groups all around it.
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As Gabriel and Ishta entered the hanger they saw blood pool out all over the floor, bodies of dismembered Alliance soldiers and charred black reptilian Tyranids alike were littered all over the decking but the fight was far from over as five warriors were scattered along the hanger, each one carving a path of destruction.
Smaller Tyranid Gaunts and Genesteelers were charging heavy concentrations of Stormtroopers and Alliance soldiers and getting mowed down by constant blaster and heavy weapon rounds.
He heard the sounds of footsteps behind him and the Jedi turned to see a squad of white armoured Stormtroopers approach him, eight of them, their armour reminiscent of the Old Republics Clone Troopers with blue markings covering their white armour, six of them carried specially modified blasters and the other two carried much larger and more powerful blast cannons.
They were ARC troopers, specially trained shock and reconnaissance soldiers that were originally used to great effect during the Clone Wars, but after the war they were disbanded, near the end of the Yuuzhan Vong Wars nearly fifty years later they were reinstated by the Empires special divisions.
"Sir" the lead trooper called, a major by the insignias on his armour "Sorry about being late, where do you need us?"
"Follow us to the nearest contingent trooper" Ishta shouted over the near deafening sounds of blood curdling screams and weapons fire before running out into the maelstrom.
"Quite the lady" the major commented before ordering his heavy troopers to provide cover fire and charged after her, Gabriel and his squad in tow, the blast cannons revved up and fired spraying a deadly line of armour piercing blaster fire at approaching Tyranids, a dozen hormagaunts were riddled with black gapping holes before the heavy troopers took up the rear of the ARC troopers advance.
Ishta, Gabriel and the ARC troopers jumped into the twisted wreckage of a Y-Wing were a squad of soldiers were taking cover "What's the situation?"
"They just fell from the rafters and started tearing people apart sir" a female Omwati pilot spoke up before letting off a few more rounds from her blaster pistol, a spray of white shards riddled the other side of the Y-Wing and tore into a Chiss soldiers face killing him before he fell backwards.
"They're in the rafters" the ARC major shouted, in cue everyone aimed their blasters at the rafters and fired taking down a half dozen Gaunts. One survived and fell upon the Y-wing slicing through one of the ARC troopers; in a quick cut the Jedi master severed its head.
"We need more firepower than this" Ishta shouted agitatedly as she fired her shuriken pistol.
"A contingent of the 512th Stormtrooper legion is en route" the major replied as he drew dual blaster pistols and started firing "ETA two minutes!"
"Tell them to bring heavy weapons" Gabriel ordered as he deflected several fleshborer rounds with his lightsabre "Grenade rifles, missile launchers, assault cannons…whatever they can carry!"
"Yes sir!"
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Three Tyranid drones dived into the bridge shields of the Vigilance flashing blue and orange as they collided, two pursuing Tie Interceptors just managed to dodge the bridge section, breaking into tight climbs.
His ships were staying close to the Emperors Fire as advised, well protected by the void shields of the Retribution-class, firing at any Tyranid ships that were stupid enough to get too close, their part was simple, fire at the escortswhile the battleship exchanged fire with the larger Razorfiends and hiveships.
A Stalker was torn apart by the combined fire of the Firestorm and Spirit while the Vengeance came alongside Halos flagship.
"Admiral" one of the ensigns said "Captain Rosso asks if you need reinforcements to deal with the Tyranids"
"Tell her we're fine" Halos responded "We have confined most of them to the hanger bays and are sending in extra troops"
He then starred out into the main maelstrom, the Tyranid flood of warships had turned into a trickle, the trail of the ravenous aliens advance could be followed by the hundreds of burning husks of their own dead bioships.
It would only be a matter of time as another combined volley of Nova shells and lance beams smacked into the side of one of the last two hiveships carving a massive, gapping wound into its side, the creature screamed in pain before a second volley of Virus Bombs smashed into the same wound.
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Alana remained in her room, sitting cross legged on the floor with the tools and pieces of materials used to put a lightsabre together, she had been building one for nearly five days and was almost finished, she just needed to put the power conduit and the focusing crystal into the hilt, building the symbolic weapon took her mind of the constant flashes of explosions and weapon discharges taking place outside her viewport.
The sound of blaster fire from outside her room took her attention off her work, she walked to the door and creaked it open, a Stormtrooper crashed through the front door of the main room, a deep, fatal slice wound on his torso, through the door came a nightmarish creature that she read was called a Hormagaunt.
Alana just stopped herself from screaming in fear at the sight of this monster, it was about a half metre tall with heavy insect-like armour, its two arms ended in bladed talons and its monstrous head was covered in horns and spikes, it opened its mouth revealing lines of bloodied teeth.
It caught sight of her and jumped over the dead soldiers, in fear she slammed the door just as a talon sliced through it, she jumped back looking around frantically for something to barricade the door, then she remembered the emergency blast door and sending out a small blast of force energy hit the switch at the other side of the room and she heard the grinding of the blast door, severing the Gaunts bladed limp.
She backed away from the door and fell backwards onto her bed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she trembled in shock.
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The arrival of the 512th was well timed as the Tyranids had nearly overrun the scattered soldiers all over the hanger, when they did come they came with massive firepower, firing missile launchers, grenade launchers and rapid blast cannons at the Tyranid swarms, two warriors were hit head on by the barrage and were torn apart in explosions of gore and splintered bones.
"How do you like your Tyranid sir?" the ARC major asked sarcastically as he grabbed a grenade launcher and fired a concussion grenade into a duo of Gaunts tearing them apart.
"Preferably turned to dust and thrown into space!" Gabriel replied as he weaved his lightsabre, deflecting Tyranid projectiles.
Ishta let out an ear splitting howl before jumping over the wrecked Y-Wing and sidestepping a Genestealers talons decapitated it with her witchblade, Gabriel jumped after her deflecting a fleshborer round aimed at the Eldar warrior. The ARC troopers and rearmed pilots jumped after him firing a withering barrage of blaster bolts and grenades at the attacking Tyranids, cover fire from the recently arrived 512th's heavy weapons cut through the reptilian swarm like a blade through air.
A hormagaunt cut through a Bothan pilots neck spurting blood, the Jedi spun angrily stabbing his blade into the Tyranid's gut, the creature screamed before falling limp and pulling the blade out of the dead monster he sent a force push into a warrior causing the 5m tall giant to stumble and receive a barrage of rockets into its exposed side tearing it apart.
As Gabriel jumped back he heard a call of help from the force, it was Alana and she seemed terrified "Major can you deal with this?"
"Easily sir" the Major replied as he put the blaster bolt into a Tyranid Genestealers head, Gabriel nodded his thanks and rushed out of the hanger towards the living chambers, as he ran into his room he saw a Tyranid Gaunt and his blood ran cold.
In a near panic he looked at Alana's room and saw to his relief that the blast door had been sealed…Good girl he sent to her before he sidestepped the Gaunts dive and swinging his lightsabre neatly ran it through.
Deactivating his lightsabre he nudged Alana with the force telling her she was safe, the blast door rose and Alana hesitantly stepped out.
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The battle had ended, the Tyranid swarms had been beaten and scattered across space with Imperium warships chasing the larger concentrations, all of the hiveships had been completely destroyed but the Imperium had suffered heavy losses with the Retribution battleship Solar Flare rammed by the last hiveship in its death throes and the Emperor battleship Benevolentia being torn to pieces by combined kamikaze attacks by a half dozen Razorfiends.
The Magi's fleet had then begun searching for survivors under Halos request, among the wreckage were dozens of Alliance rescue shuttles searching for anyone still alive, already over a hundred survivors had been found and transported to the Star Destroyers medical bays.
Inquisitor Vallace sat on her bed, flexing the fingers of her new cybernetic hand, she shook her head in amazement, it felt and looked exactly like her real hand, definitely better than the crude metal replacements that her own people had, the Alliances medical technology was indeed well ahead of their own.
The wounds to her arm had been wrapped in bacta bandages and she had requisitioned a fresh set of clothing from the Star Destroyers stores, her tattered and now useless Inquisitorial robes had been replaced by the blue and silver armour of the Alliances honour guards which were quite a snug and surprisingly comfortable fit for battle-armour.
The medical bays, along with every other section of the ship was put under heavy guard when the Alliance was informed about the Tyranids nasty ability to infiltrate ships, extra units were being sent from the other Star Destroyers within the fleet until they were sure the Tyranids were truly gone.
"Inquisitor Vallace" the now familiar voice of Master Sabbath asked "Did you wish to see me?"
"Yes Jedi Sabbath" Robyn replied as she continued to flex her cybernetic hand "Please come in"
The Jedi master entered the single bedded medical room and bowed to the Inquisitor; Robyn nodded and motioned him to sit down.
"I heard it was you and Warlock Taldeer who saved me" she said, tearing her gaze from her hand to look at him, his robes were covered in slick blue and red blood symbolising that he had been in the thick of the fighting "Thank you"
"Your welcome Inquisitor" Gabriel replied.
"You found a young girl on Scorpios who had lost her parents" the Inquisitor said, it wasn't a question.
"Yes" Gabriel replied hesitantly, he knew this would happen sooner or later "She had lost her parents to the Dark Eldar, I took her in"
"And she is a psychic"
"Yes"
"Usually I would have her sent to be trained as a psyker" she replied, a smile curling her lips "but I think I can overlook her"
"Thank you Inquisitor" Gabriel replied, slightly surprised.
"Oh and tell Admiral Halos that I'd wish to talk with him the moment these ridiculous healers clear me" Robyn said.
"I'll be sure to tell him" Gabriel replied with a smile before turning to leave the medical room.
Although she didn't say it Gabriel could tell that he had gained the Inquisitors respect and probably gained an ally in the Imperium, he wasn't completely sure but only time will tell.
What are your thoughts? In the next chapter the Alliance fleet finally returns to Helios and the Inquisitor lets Admiral Halos in on her own agendas, Alana's visions begin to get more sudden in the next chapter…Secrets Revealed.