Fame Cimex Chapter 38
The darkness of space was filled with horrors, writhing tentacled beasts swirling in great swarms in every direction. They moved like shoals of fish in deep currents, blotting out their stars with their vast bulk and teeming numbers. In the centre of this mass were two greater bodies, one of flesh and Chitin the other of Plasteel and Adamantium. They were the Light of the Terra and the Hive Ship, locked together in a deadly embrace, a death roll that could only end one way.
Yet all over the Light of Terra the situation was changing, tiny little bursts of light erupting from her hull. These were the tiny pinpricks of Saviour Pods ejecting, each one carrying a score of men away from the fight on contrails of short burning plasma thrust. They flew in all directions, fleeing the battle and seeking the safety of the void. As they fled the pods were set upon by tiny Tyranid hunters, fleshy beasts that ripped and tore the pods apart to get at the flesh inside. Hundreds of men who had thought they had reached safety were cruelly disappointed when their sanctuary's were torn open and the lucky ones were those who suffocated to death before the Tyranids started to feast.
Still there were thousands of pods fleeing and many did manage to avoid the hunters, left to drift among the stars until they were either rescued or dragged down by the planet's gravity well. However they were not alone, for another type of evacuation was taking place simultaneously. From the Light of Terra's prow shot a cruciform shape, then another and another, more and more forming lines of swift darts shooting into space with guns blazing. They were Thunderhawk gunships and they were carrying the bulk of Third Company away from the battle.
Aboard the lead Thunderhawk Captain Toran and his Command Squad were strapped into their restraint cages, along with a score of other Brothers. He had led the desperate race to the bay in record time and urged his Marines aboard. Many squads had ended up scattered across the various gunships, but that had been a low priority at the time. Toran was hanging on to the juddering restraint cage, feeling the craft lurch and twist as the pilots avoided colliding with whatever was out there, while the guns thundered constantly. Toran intensely disliked being helpless like this, putting his life in the hands of another, but there was no other choice. He looked about and saw the various Brothers similarly troubled by the situation. Some he knew well, others were new faces, but all were equally determined to show no fear.
He was distracted by the voice of Furion, "Did anyone see if Honourable Ajax made it out?"
Persion answered him, "Yes, I saw him board one of the other Thunderhawks with Chaplain Wrethan."
"Good," Furion replied, "I was concerned he was too slow to keep up."
Toran broke in "I left too many good brothers behind this day, I was not about to leave another one behind."
Furion looked at him with concern, "Captain it was a hard decision but it was the right one. Priyar knew what was required of him; every Brother would do the same in his place."
Toran did not reply, it was one thing to lay down one's life for a worthy cause, it was quite another to order someone else to do so. It gnawed at his soul but he did not speak of it, a Captain could hardly complain in front of his troops after all. Thankfully Persion interrupted saying, "Do you think Priyar succeeded ?"
Toran said, "Let me look" as he utilised his Command codes to wed his armour's spirit with the gunship's and reveal the exterior pict images.
His vision washed out and was replaced by a grainy image, slowly coming into focus. Toran paused and checked an icon and sighed, sure enough Persion was tagging along, with his usual disregard for comms protocols and command privileges. Toran looked into his display and saw an image taken from the rearward picters of the Thunderhawk, revealing the pair of great vessels still locked into their deadly embrace. The Hive Ship had rooted itself into the Battlebarge, its rending claws pulsing and swelling obscenely as they disgorged Tyranid creatures into the bowels of the ship. The Light of Terra however was going dark and silent, its crew absent and its systems shutting down. There was no sign if Priyar's sacrifice had been worthwhile, no indication that the ship was on a course for self-destruction.
Persion sounded anxious, "How long is this supposed to take?"
Toran said, "I do not…"
Suddenly there was a bright magnesium flare from the Light of Terra, a quartet of plasma streams spitting out from its engines towards each cardinal point. It was achingly bright and beautiful to look upon, but it was not the destruction they had sought. This was merely the reactors venting excess energy, trying to avert catastrophe. Toran fretted for a second that they had failed, that the Machine Spirits had overridden the Rite of Self-Immolation. But he need not have worried, for this was too little too late, the cascade overload had reached critical mass and the reactors were moments away from breaching.
The Hive Ship reacted instantly, trying to rip its claws free and break off but it was too slow and before it could escape the Light of Terra detonated. The sequence of events took two seconds to play out, but to Toran's enhanced senses it looked like minutes. Firstly, the rear of the Battlebarge seemed to swell, bursting at the seams as incandescent light poured out of the emerging cracks in the hull. Then a massive ball of blue light and flame was born, blowing the rear half of the ship outwards, engulfing the surrounding area in an inferno of star-hot destruction. The wave of annihilation was not done yet, it surged up the plasma conduits of the surviving front section, blowing each compartment apart in turn like a line of firecrackers. Explosion after explosion travelled the remainder of the ship, annihilating the Light of Terra utterly and transforming it into a trillion pieces of burning, spinning metal. The debris soared outwards, filling the void and slamming into surrounding Bio-ships, turning space itself into a massive nail bomb. The Hive Ship disappeared in an expanding ball of fire and shrapnel, sinking into an inferno of destruction.
Persion cried aloud, "Yes, yes he did it! Priyar did it!"
Toran however shouted, "Everybody, Brace for Impact!"
The Thunderhawk shook wildly as the wave of destruction overtook it, pelting the hull with metal shards and making it ring like a bell. The gunship bucked hard, rattling everybody's teeth and making helms slam into the restraint cages. Then there was the distinct shriek of the hull being penetrated, followed by the sound of air hissing out as it vented through micro-fractures in the hull. Thankfully the Astartes were all wearing their helms and their armour's Machine Spirits immediately engaged void seals as they detected the drop in pressure.
Everybody switched to the vox and Furion asked, "Did we do it... is it dead?"
Toran peered into his display as he said, "Give me a second."
In the image the fireball was dissipating, the light and fury spent in one moment of destruction. Toran waited impatiently as the image cleared and then he saw what remained. The Light of Terra was gone, a mighty Battlebarge that had given millennia of service reduced to drifting atoms in seconds. The Hive Ship however was still there, its rending claws gone and its hide scored by long burns along its flanks. The front half of the beast seemed melted, distorted and twisted like a burn victim's skin, yet it was still twitching and moving: it was still alive.
Persion gasped, "Oh no… how can it be. What does it take to kill that thing?!"
Toran however was looking closer and said, "No wait… give it a second."
As they watched the Hive Ship began to convulse, trashing in an agonised frenzy as long rips began to form in its weakened hide. The Hive Ship contorted and writhed like a drowning man as blood and ichor began to spill into the void, followed by blackened organs and scorched entrails from its guts. It's maw opened and it vomited a stream of blood and bile, peppered with lesser beasts from its birthing chambers. For long seconds the Hive Ship convulsed painfully and then finally it keeled over, going still and inert as death finally claimed it.
Persion cried aloud, "Its dead, its dead!"
The vox waves filled with cheers as the Astartes raised their fists in celebration and Furion declared, "Heroes of the Imperium, may their names never be forgotten. Glory to the Emperor, glory to Priyar and his squad."
As one the initiates took up the cry shouting, "Glory to the Emperor, Glory to Priyar!"
Toran felt their elation but he was still looking out into space, seeing the effect upon the rest of the Tyranids. All around the order of the fleet was disintegrating, each Bio-ship suddenly veering off course and seemingly lost without the direction of the Hive Mind. Carefully constructed lines of battle collapsed as the swarms broke up, many turning aimlessly in the void and some even setting upon each other in confused instinctual behaviour. The Tyranids were lost and adrift, directionless without the Hive Mind to guide them and the single deadly swarm turned into a billion individuals, each fighting their own war for their own purposes. The swarm drifted apart, each Bio-ship losing interest in their fellows and seeking only their own survival. Many Bio-ships turned their prows away from the planet, putting the world to their sterns and fleeing for the safety of deep space. Toran watched them go and knew the tide had turned, the Imperium had broken the will of the foe, all that remained was to finish them off.
Toran swept his viewpoint about and saw the distant flashes of weapon's fire, a sign that the Imperial fleet was still battling on. He magnified his vision and saw the welcome sight of Admantium prows and plasteel hulls, still fighting even now. Waves of escorts and Strike Cruisers were blasting away at the foe, protecting the flanks of the great Capital ships. There was the Agamemnon, riding high like a queen of the void and there was the Hektor, stoutly battling on like the old warhorse she was. Toran saw the Averof in the thick of the fighting, punching away like the fiercest of pugilists while the Cadmus and the Spetsai were working together, eviscerating enemies with their paired lance weapons. Then he finally saw what he was looking for, the blessed sight of the Battlebarge Thunderlord, seemingly undaunted by the deep scars she had earned. The Imperials were obliterating everything within reach, the scattered and broken Tyranids unable to put up any real resistance to the vengeful human warships. Even as the Xenos turned to flee the Imperials pressed their advantage, wrecking a fearful tally on the confused foe and making them pay for daring to encroach upon one of the Emperor's worlds.
It seemed the Tyranid fleet had had enough and they tried to break off, fleeing in droves before the retribution set upon them. The Imperials in turn gave chase, weapons firing over and over to annihilate the aliens, determined to catch and kill as many as they could. Toran breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Pilots set a course for the Thunderlord, we must regroup with the rest of the Chapter."
As the gunship spun about and accelerated Persion asked, "Is it over then, did we win?"
Toran replied, "No it is not over, but victory is within our grasp, all that remains is to seize it. We shall join our brethren and assist them in wiping out every last Tyranids creature here and on the surface. Trust me when I say that we shall make them pay for thinking that they could challenge the Imperium of Man."