Untouched was the only way the planet of Gamma-Eridanus 3 could be described; an alien rain forest of tall trees bearing long and hanging leaves, reaching down but not touching the soil that sustains them as their roots aggressively swerved in and out of the ground creating a maze of foreign wood. Alongside these trees, were almost perfectly spherical bushes, vibrantly colored and gently rustling in the breeze, only for one of them to suddenly retreat into a small rough shell as the muddied boot of an imperial guardsman squelched into the ground mere feet away from it. He was not the only one trudging through the viscous sludge that was the ground however, for he was a part of a large delta formation of twenty guardsmen, each donning a set of flak armor and a relatively sizable hip mounted survival bag while carrying their lasguns in hand. They weren't alone, behind them walked a group of five woefully under-prepared 'survey specialists', donning a variety of almost fragile and rapidly muddying non-military clothes while carrying various different pieces of equipment that, to the guardsmen, could only be described as 'science stuff'.
The audible 'squelch' that each boot-step would make as the group waded through the forest was becoming almost rhythmic, until a sudden and surprised exclamation interrupted the group, followed by a wet thud and slap. Everyone turned to look at where the noise came from, some even bringing their lasguns to bear, only to discover it was one of the guardsmen. His face had been planted firmly into the ground after which he promptly lifted his head, only to discover that, upon him, was bestowed a mouthful of slimy brown-green mud. His reaction was swift, coughing and hacking and desperately wiping the stuff out of his face and mouth, only for it to be replaced by more as his hands were similarly muddy. The scene he was creating earned him waves of laughter from his fellow brothers in arms as he finally coughed up the word "FRAK!" between each gag and sputter.
"Fething face first, Rico!" Tymon yelled between his own laughter and the laughter of his comrades. The only answer the thoroughly muddied 'Rico' would dignify Tymon with, was more gagging while the survey team remained relatively quiet, thankful that they were able to finally get some rest, at least for a moment.
"Eugh! This gak is everywhere!" Rico eventually managed to complain as he wiped the sludge off of him and his lasgun, yet despite his best attempts at cleaning himself up, mud still dripped torso to toe from his uniform as he grimaced at the almost rancid smell.
It was not long before the group was back on the move, their boots once again rhythmically slapping through the wet, viscous mud that coated the forest floor, although it was starting to thin as a clearing came into view beyond the treeline. One by one the group stepped out of the forest and into the small landscape where the trees and ankle deep mud was replaced by a sea of grass that swayed to evade the uncaring boots of the imperial guardsmen. The clearing however, was comparatively small, merely interrupting the uncomfortable and borderline treacherous forest that they had just come from. Yet right in its center, was a smooth grey structure, an obelisk with alien writing carved into its otherwise unnaturally clean surfaces.
"Alright ladies, fan out and secure the area, let the survey team do their thing" commanded sergeant Jackson to which he received a couple of half willed 'yes sir's from the other guardsmen. It wasn't long before the entire group were in positions around the clearing while some of the survey team made their way straight to the obelisk.
Tymon was with another guardsman, one 'Andrukas' as they both took up positions covering one of the flanks around the obelisk.
"What'd you reckon it is Andru?" Tymon asked the more paranoid looking guardsman.
"I dunno, could be some necron shit" Andrukas answered, his lasgun held tightly in hand as his eyes scanned his section of the perimeter.
"Oh right.. Lemme guess, Khorne's here too?" Tymon retorted, although he had heard rumors about a race of purely mechanical xenos, he had never seen any reports confirming as much, at least he was never allowed to see any. Andrukas scoffed at the mention of the blood god while Tymon continued:
"Mate! Some of your theories you know, are completely wack, I mean, I get that there's some classified shit out there but… Roboxenos? Really?" Andrukas quickly shot back with:
"You do know we're basically Canaries for the imperium, right?" Tymon facepalmed as Andrukas went on another one of his rants.
"Not dumb enough to be on some backwater PDF, but not clever enough to be Kasrkin or Tempestus" Tymon simply waited for his fellow soldier to finish his rambling,
"The 57th may as well be their fracking poking stick"
"Yeah? Well at least the poking stick gives me food, and a place to sleep" Tymon answered as he raised his head to look at his fellow paranoid soldier.
"Mmm aboard a smelly cruiser with 4 other boys in green, classy"
Their conversation was swiftly interrupted by what sounded like a panicked survey specialist rambling about something to Sergeant Jackson, the only thing that both Andrukas and Tymon could glean was that he was scared, terrified even, while Jackson simply didn't seem to know how to answer.
"What's got him up tight?" was the only thing Tymon could ask, but before Andrukas could respond the air was filled with a sudden deep and loud mechanical ringing coming straight from the centre of the clearing. The obelisk, its carved and engraved symbols now glowing a distinct green, unleashed walls of similarly green energy in every direction that, seemingly harmlessly, swept over the surrounding area in random patterns, only for them to abruptly stop and disappear. Like clockwork, each of the guardsmen shouldered their lasguns and started searching their flanks, expecting to be attacked by… something. But this was unlike anything the guardsmen had seen, no one knew what to expect, they had fought orks, heretics, even the Eldar, but this… This was different.
"What was that about Necron shit?" Tymon quietly asked Andrukas who, like the other guardsmen, was looking left and right with his lasgun at the ready. Less than a minute later, a green bolt of energy coming out of the other side of the clearing, suddenly cut through the air and struck the ground near two surveying guardsmen, causing the area to erupt into an abrupt green explosion which engulfed them both as their screams were choked off, then it was quiet again.
For a moment, the silence was deafening. Every single guardsman had their weapon pointed at the other forest, desperately trying to locate what had fired that energy bolt, suddenly:
"MOVEMENT! 5 O'CLOCK LOCAL!" a guardsman called out at the top of his voice.
"I SEE IT!" Tymon screamed back as both him and Andrukas brought their weapons to bear.
"OPEN FIRE!" Commanded the sergeant as a flurry of red lasbolts sliced through the air towards the general direction where the green bolt came from. Less than a second later, a large, mechanical, eight legged creature came out of the forest and seemed to drift effortlessly over the clearing with an unnatural speed, darting towards the clearings far side where a couple more guardsmen were firing. They ran as soon as they laid eyes on it but one was too late as the mechanical horror simply impaled him on one of its legs, stopping at nothing to approach the other fleeing guardsmen while its weapon pointed towards Tymon,
"Frak.. MOVE!" he yelled as he quickly sprinted out of the way, only to suddenly be thrown towards the obelisk at an unnatural speed by the shock-wave of another green bolt. He flew head first against the structure like a rag-doll, then he fell to the ground almost lifeless and as he drifted out of consciousness. The words 'full retreat' screamed by sergeant Jackson were the last thing echoing in his mind, followed by nothing.