Fame Cimex Chapter 23

The Teleportarium of the Silent Hunter was a place of frantic activity, with giant cooling stack spilling vapours and bulky machines spitting sparks randomly. Everywhere Engineseers and Tech-Priests rushed to and fro hastily blessing the arcing machines and chanting soothing litanies to ease their spirits. Standing upon the great circular platform was a group of Space Marines, battered and worn from battle. Their weapons were blackened from heavy use and many of them had rent armour and bleeding wounds. These were the survivors of the battle on the planet below and they carried the scars to prove it. Among the living there were the bodies of the slain, carried away from the war zone on the shoulders of Brothers. The Astartes were loathe to leave their dead on such a terrible world and the armour of the fallen must be reclaimed for the next generation.

Standing upon the platform Captain Toran surveyed his warriors, seeing Shade-Seer Imix being carried between two of his brethren, the exertion of his psychic powers having drained him utterly. Toran looked about to count the living and the fallen and it irked him that he knew the dead so poorly. He resolved to make a greater effort to understand the entirety of Third Company in the future, yet that was a problem for later, for now there was work to be done.

The Space Marines shuffled off the platform and Bylan was shaking his head saying, "+I hate Teleportation+"

Persion agreed saying, "Give me a Gunship any day."

Toran left them behind as he saw the figure of Chaplain Wrethan standing at the far wall, he strode over and said, "Father, are we all recovered?"

Wrethan replied, "Yes, yours was the last group back, the ship is making preparations to withdraw."

Toran nodded and said, "Take charge of regrouping the Company, I have to get Imix to the bridge."

Wrethan nodded and began gathering up the squads, directing them onwards. Toran turned to his command squad and said, "Come with me, we shall escort Imix to his bridge."

Imix however shook off the supporting arms and said, "I can walk, the day I have to be carried is the day they inter my bones in my tomb."

Toran was glad to hear the fire returning to the Shade-Seer's voice and followed him out of the chamber, pointedly ignoring the slight wobble in the Librarian's gait. The squad hurried onwards, passing serf crewmen in the colours of the Smoke Jaguars who were rushing to and fro. As they ran the ship rumbled with the familiar vibration of reactors awakening and the distinct tremors of plasma reactors stirring to life. Soon they approached the bridge and hurried into the long nave-like space to find crewmen and servitors noisily preparing the ship to move. A serf on the command dais saw them coming and hastily bowed, stepping off so Imix could mount the pulpit. The Shade-Seer hesitated when he saw the large step and turned to Toran saying, "Captain would you care to join me?"

Toran recognised what he was really requesting and bowed low as if being granted high honour. He stepped up and surreptitiously took Imix's elbow, assisting him onto the dais. The Librarian gripped the railing a little too tightly and called, "Status report."

The serf had moved to the foot of the dais and said in a thick accent, "Reactors are being flash woken, we can beseech the Spirits for motive power in twelve minutes."

Imix nodded and said, "Show me local space."

The Hololith stirred to life and projected a three-dimensional image of the surrounding vectors. Toran squinted at it, for it resembled a blizzard, every inch covered in Tyranid Bio-ships. They were squatting in low orbit, tethered to capillary towers and guzzling Biomass from the planet below, yet that was not the most disturbing thing. What truly disturbed everybody was the planet itself, for it was writhing with energy, magnetic fields and geology in obscene flux. Before their eyes the planet was quivering and shaking, like an animal being sick. Earthquakes were rippling across continents while whole mountain ranges erupted into fire, thousands of miles of ground shaking and bucking as terrible forces went to work. It looked like the whole planet was on fire, seething with energy and spewing lava plumes as pressure built within the core and shockwaves multiplied below the surface. This was the result of the Space Marine's labours, their efforts to upset a delicate balance of forces and initiate a catastrophic chain reaction that could not be stopped.

Toran asked, "Do we know how long this will take?"

Furion answered, "Impossible to say, it could be hours or days till we see the culmination of this."

Persion however raised his arm and pointed at the great oculus viewportal at the end of the nave as he cried, "Or it could happen right now!"

Everybody turned to see what was going on and gasped at the sight, for the view outside was staggering. Before their eyes volcanic eruptions were exponentially multiplying in fury and power, spilling molten rock into low orbit where they flash froze into jagged shards of rock. Continental plates were cracking up and bobbing like rafts on a rapid river, unleashing more volcanoes that lifted chunks of planet the size of nations into space on columns of raging elemental fury. This was the culmination of the Astartes' labours, a process that should have taken a million years to climax compressed into a few hours.

The Hololith dissolved into raw static and the only way to see what was occurring was to look out of the Oculus. Imix gasped, "Engines, ENGINES!"

The serf replied in horror, "My Lord, we have only partial power available."

Imix growled, "At this point, ill take whatever I can get."

Slowly the Silent Hunter stirred to life and sluggishly moved out, the movement and power should have attracted the Tyranids in droves, but they had problems of their own. Everywhere The Tyranids were beset by hurtling debris, shards of cooling rock and chunks of planet that were being blown into space. They hurriedly broke free from their tethers and tried to race for space, but they were too slow and the debris field was too thick to avoid. Bio-ships were being battered by flying rocks and smashed by ascending debris, crushed and broken by giga-tonnes of stone that filled space. Many beasts were impacted by boulders the size of mountains, crushing them and obliterating them with uncaring disdain, one ship was even caught between two colliding boulders and was ground to paste. Even those who avoided a direct impact did not escape unscathed, pierced by millions of pieces of tiny stone, ripping out their guts with a thousand cuts.

On the bridge of the Silent Hunter all was bedlam, the ship vibrating with micro-impacts as the crew frantically rushed to and fro in an effort to find a safe route out. Imix was staring out of the Oculus and he spied two spinning masses of rock right in their path, he cried, "Take us between them, all power to the drives!"

As the Silent Hunter sluggishly drove through the narrow gap Persion called, "Shouldn't we raise the shields?"

Imix replied, "They would be useless, better to divert all power to the thrusters!"

Everybody held their breaths as the Strike Cruiser slipped through, passing perilously close to the masses on either side. The sense of relief was palpable but what waited on the other side took their breath away. Silhouetted in the Oculus was a massive Hive Ship, miles long with trailing tendrils and orifices that spat lesser beasts. It was a behemoth of the void, a monster that had killed whole worlds but right now it was writhing in pain and fighting to live.

Halfway through its thorax was a jagged spear of rock, thrown up from the planet to impale its belly like a reef tearing out the bottom of a boat. The Tyranid creature writhed and twisted in an attempt to break free but the lance of stone was buried too deeply within it to shake loose. The Hive Ship thrashed and convulsed but all it managed to do was drive the spear deeper and deeper, tearing its thorax apart. With a sudden lurch the spear broke out the side of the beast, spilling an ocean of ichor into the void and leaving it held together only by threads of sinew. The beast quivered in agony and then the sinews gave way as the Hive Ship tore itself into two, then it finally died and went still.

The bridge erupted into cheers and Bylan roared, "+See how it dies!+"

Jediah roared even louder, "Glorious, just glorious!"

But it was Novak who called, "Look out!" as a shadow fell over the Oculus.

Spinning in space a massive chunk of the planet heaved into view, a continental mass the size of a nation thrown into space with molten lava still clinging to its edges. It filled the Oculus from end to end and it was obviously on a collision course. Imix roared, "Turn you fools, TURN!" Slowly the Silent Hunter began to come about, trying to evade the looming collision. Thrusters fired and engines roared as the Strike Cruiser fought to evade but it was too sluggish in the turn and its momentum drove it forward too fast to get out of the way. Everybody saw the impact was coming and all knew they would not survive it as Novak yelled, "We're not going to make it!"

Toran saw that he was right, the ship was locked in its course and the distance was closing too fast to make the turn, unless they could slow drastically they would all die. Before he even knew what he was doing Toran yelled, "Open the forward hanger doors, vent the Thunderhawk bay!" Instantly the crew obeyed, not caring where the orders came from and the whole ship lurched as the doors slid open to vent the atmosphere. Plumes of air shot out, carrying scores of dying men with it, but the effect braked the ship hard and arrested its momentum at the critical moment. Everybody held their breath to see what effect this would have and all eyes were fixed on the Oculus.

Then suddenly hope emerged as a tiny sliver of stars appeared at the edge of the viewportal, a gap that grew and grew as the ship swung about. There was a moment of utter tension as the Silent Hunter pulled about and then the massive boulder disappeared from view as the Strike Cruiser slipped past. Toran let out a breath and looked up to see a clear corridor of space, a gap created by the mass of the rock deflecting smaller debris.

Toran turned to Imix and said, "We have a way out, as long as we stay in the shadow of that debris we can escape."

Imix nodded wearily and said, "Then let us leave these Xenos to a well-deserved fate, we will make for safe harbours and not stop until we see friendly faces once more."

With that the Silent Hunter put the dying world to her stern and powered away, leaving a planet in the throes of death. The complete destruction of this world would take at least a century to conclude but for now, it had served its purpose. Thousands of Tyranid Bio-ships had been obliterated in the tumbling debris field and the waves of destruction were reaching out for thousands more. The surviving creatures fled for deep space, seeking shelter in the blessed cold. Amongst them was the lone surviving Hive ship, sacrificing hundreds of its escorts as a living shield as it swam away with its tail tucked between its legs. Yet even a conservative estimate would see that half of the Tyranid fleet had been crushed, a victory beyond compare.

As the authors of this deed sailed away millions of cold, alien eyes tracked their course and noted their destination. The Hive Mind had been wounded but it was not yet defeated, and even though its thoughts were utterly alien and incomprehensible there was one aspect of it that any race would have recognised.

This was not over and there would yet be a reckoning.