Date: D327. Y977. M31. MI60
He could not fault her for being confused, he had not seen the galaxy in 60 million years and it was likely he and his people had been long forgotten but times had changed both the galaxy and himself.
"If I may clear up some of your confusion? I believe it would be best for us all" he said the two fools who had tried to attack him earlier looked at him with suspicion , the Chief Militant looked worried and Xanthanon stared at him with a stone cold expression.
"That would be… convenient" Xanthanon said "given the situation we do not have time however I will tell you that beneath your feet deep in the crust of this very planet" the Silent King said as he materialized his staff and hit the end of it twice against the floor a pulse of green shooting out and causing the lights to dim.
"Is a tomb, my peoples tomb" the Silent King said from his staff a green hologram of Karion appeared with the inside of the planet highlighted showing a huge underground complex with pathways that shot off in every direction levitating off the ground some 20 feet.
Below these pathways were hundreds of thousands of crypts all with the same symbol on them the Ankh of the Triarch, however that was not what the mortals focused on. They focused on the smaller pyramid in the center of the complex, the containment zone, a prison meant for gods, the Tesseract Vaults ' how little they know' he thought.
"This tomb contains all my military forces on this planet and as you may notice we are in desperate need of reinforcements, for we face both a chaos rebellion and a Tyranid invasion fleet" the Silent King said "we? You, Xeno, are an intruder" said the inquisitor known as Elliot? He wasn't sure and didn't care.
Xanthanon silenced him with a glare and turned back to himself "may we know why you built a complex under our city?" Xanthanon asked "it is more fitting to say that you built your city over my tomb as it was here long before this city or its inhabitants" he said "back when my people and you humans had recognized agreements this would not have been a problem however it appears as though they have been forgotten such as our treaty of mutual assistance" the Silent King said.
"That is awfully convenient for you" the other inquisitor said her name was Fran? he didn't care though as he was now annoyed at the mockery "it is awfully unfortunate that you built your city right over my tomb" he said his annoyance was very clear.
"Enough" Xanthanon said "while we need each others help once you get this army what is stopping you from simply turning on us the moment both of our mutual threats are dealt with?" she said "not only that but I strongly doubt this treaty" she said the other humans nodding in agreement.
The Silent King did expect something like this from his research, Humanity was very distrustful of Xenos in general and outright hostile to those they deemed threats, it was also because he was completely lying about the 'treaty' however he had another plan, blatantly threatening them.
"That may be true, I can not provide any proof of this treaty not only that but you are right to distrust me, I have schemed against many and betrayed even more, I would not be alive if not for it, however" he said as he once again tapped his staff against the floor.
A video feed then appeared, it was the retreating Ordo Fleet, behind it? The massive Tyranid Fleet that clearly outnumbered its prey by a factor of nearly ten to one.
The Tyranids fired off what looked to be dozens of deadly and exotic acids and organic looking torpedoes, although the shields appeared to be holding the acid would melt straight through them and several torpedos would score direct hits and would become dead in the water before being boarded and destroyed and as the Silent King showed the inside of a Destroyer it showed many people being dragged off, ripped apart and consumed by the Tyranids.
"If you reject my proposal then I can simply wait this out I am not a lowly being of flesh and bone, I am a Necron, like all of my people I am a immortal being of metal and blackstone, I quite simply do not need you" the Silent King said his words would weigh heavily upon the humans as he had made his message clear, help him and quite possibly live or reject him and be consumed by the Tyranids, a horrifying way to go for sure.
Xanthanon appeared to be in deep thought from what he knew she did hate Xenos more than the average person, however then the Militant Chief finally spoke up having finally regained his composure, that broke her out of her trance "I believe the Xeno has a point my lady I would recommend taking this deal" scott said.
"Coward" Fran said venom dripping from her lips "that's an awfully easy thing to say when you don't have to make any important decisions" Scott shot back a few more distasteful words would be thrown around and it looked like a fight was about to break out however before it had a chance to get out of control Xanthanon would speak up.
"Your name" she said now he was slightly confused "excuse me?" he said "I will agree to help you acquire your forces, however I want a treaty of nonaggression to be signed and I want to know your name" she said the Silent King was relieved but still confused.
"And what purpose would my name serve you?" he asked the inquisitor, and the inquisitor merely smiled, "I want it so I can curse you for when you betray us, to share it with the Federation so they know who you are and that you are not invincible that you are not just some bogeyman in the night" she confessed.
The Silent King chuckled, they were so much more alike than she realized he would then shut off the hologram and turn his staff into a slab of metal with words inscribed on it and two spaces at the bottom for both of their signatures.
Pulling out a pen she would quickly write her name, the metal acting like clay as it spelled out her name then he would take it back and after a second present it to the inquisitor "you've got yourself a deal miss Xanthanon" he said she would look at his name reading it again and again committing it to memory.
"Yes, yes we do now, shouldn't we be forming a plan of attack, Szarekhan?" she said and at that moment Szarekhan, forming a small smile using his mastery of the necrodermis that made up his body, knew he was going to have fun with this.
Meanwhile with the Ordo Fleet they had managed to put some distance between themselves and the Tyranids, as the Tyranid Fleet frequently slowed down to consume the crews of the ships it had crippled.
Arriel sat in his commander seat in silent shame, a data pad in his hand while admiral Lorech spoke to the crew as they were out of the frying pan but with their retreat to Karion they were most likely about to be tossed into the fire.
The College Master was also silent, his face hidden by his cloak and a data pad, its contents unknown to Arriel but that didn't concern him as he had long accepted there were some things even he couldn't and shouldn't know.
What concerned him was the loss to the Tyranids, so many good men and women dead, absorbed by the Tyranids, the holovid showing captain James last moments of him being ripped apart and eaten alive would haunt him for many years to come.
And what did them all in was his own foolishness, overconfidence that his strategy would just work out, he could not have been more wrong and in that way he had failed his duty failed and the Galaxia Warrior motto 'You cannot save everyone but there is always a way to try', the large amount of lost life in a battle did not surprise him however he could usually chalk it up to another's incompetence, arrange for the fallen's names to be written in the books of remembrance all units, divisions and armies had and move on, right now he was looking at that very list and that list was nearly endless.
"My lord" Lorech said "yes admiral" Arriel replied "we are almost at Karion Primis and we are receiving a communication from Anti Ordo Master Mina Xanthanon she had crucial updates on the situation on the ground" Lorech said putting down the data pad in his hand Arriel would then speak "put her through" he told Lorech.
Turning his seat around Arriel stood up and walked over to the holotable Romando also joined them, after a few seconds of waiting the 3D image of Mine appeared on the table "Ordo Master Arriel it is good to see you but let's cut to the chase, the situation on the ground is bad" she said the three men all glanced at each other with worried looks on their faces.
"We do not have much time, report" Arriel said "first of all the president was the leader of the large conspiracy I was tracking, he is dead now but one fifth of the PDF has turned traitor and, Collage Master" she said her holo imagine turning to Romando.
"Your second in command is a follower of the Omnissiah, didn't even get to meet him before he turned" she told him and Romandos eye turned red although apart from that he kept his anger hidden "Cosch has taken up the president's banner and is hold up in the white house" she said.
"However I believe we have a plan to solve these issues" she said the three of them relaxed slightly but were still tense "first you are going to have to meet our new… acquaintance" she said this confused them all greatly.
And that confusion was only built upon as a small bug like drone descended from the ceiling, how they had not noticed it before would have to be thought about later, they decided as they all pulled out their weapons.
Arriel and his large Orca rifle, Romando with his staff and his two artificial arms turning into guns and finally Lorech with his molerat pistol "calm yourselves your acting like your mothers caught you in the act" the drone spoke in a mocking tone as it landed on the table and its back plates came apart to expose its own 3D image of a… strange figure.
The figure in question was a black skeleton-like figure, it had a cape on and an ever changing crown, its chest were made of large, thick ribs that came together at the middle and showed off a symbol while its head was a skull.
"Who are you Xeno, explain now" Arriel demanded, " if you are so desperate to know then I am the Silent King of the Necrons or since your kind is so obsessed with names, Szarekhan" this 'Silent King' said "and you look to be a big fan of mine" he said.
"Xanthanon will you care to, explain?" Lorech asked, ignoring that last comment, she would look at him and nod before speaking "due to changing circumstances I have agreed to put aside my… reservations to form an agreement of mutual assistance" she said.
"In short my amazing persuasive skills impressed her so much she compromised her beliefs to ally with me" the Silent King said with all of them glaring openly at him "tough crowd" he said.
"We don't have time for this" Romando said "please Xanthanon continue" he said thankfully for all of them she would "in short beneath the white house is the entrance to a massive complex, a tomb if you will" she said and in the place of the Silent King this 'tomb' was shown.
It was massive how in the world had they missed it? The Martians or hell, even the local government should have found this thousands of years ago, his mind instantly thought of two possibilities.
One meant that either it held cloaking and camouflage facilities so advanced that they could drill straight into it and not realize or the second and more possible reality in his opinion, it had been covered up and Arriel suspected the culprit was standing in the room with him in a red cloak and a glowing eye.
But unlike the tens of thousands of men and women he had lead to their deaths this did not matter right now so with the shake of his head he put it aside, if he died sometime in the close future then it would not matter if this had been covered up or not, that was unless there were more tombs just like this on other worlds… that possibility in particular was horrifying to him.
"Our plan is for a two prong assault the PDF under Militant Chief Scott Cooke, now general Scott, will assault the traitors positions pinning them down and drawing out reinforcements, meanwhile me, my personal guard and Szarekhan will take the sewers to our destination from there we will storm the white house and kill Cosch before entering the tomb and allowing Szarekhan to gather his forces" she said.
This was not a plan that Arriel liked especially if it involved allowing some Xeno king to gather an army "we merely need the three of you to hold off the Tyranids long enough for us to collapse this rebellion, is that possible Arriel?" she asked.
Arriel thought for a moment, they still had 30 Destroyers, 22 Cruisers and 12 Capital ships, combine that with the 15 ODS in orbit and the wedding ring that was armed to the teeth and they still had some considerable fire power.
However Arriel saw some immediate problems mainly the sheer number of enemy ships, like it or not you can not defend every inch of a planet's atmosphere meaning with the Tyranids sheer numbers they will overwhelm them.
So the only thing he could do was concentrate his forces "it will be difficult but we will buy you as much time as possible, however there are a few things we must know, one has the wedding ring and the capital been evacuated as of yet?" he asked.
"From what I know most of the ring has been evacuated however the traitor forces have taken control of the elevator connecting Karius and the ring preventing anyone from leaving else they get a mako bolt to the face" she said "the Chief Militant was also forced to bring many of the PDF divisions in the wedding ring down to Karion" that was concerning but could be useful "not only that but the traitors have taken the large Karion choir hostage" she said.
The three men looked at each other confused "why? It cleary does not service any purpose" Arriel said but Xanthanon just shook her head "we do not know, best bet is that its for some monstrous machine or weapon of war, apart from that due to this 'shadow in the warp' we will not move to rescue as they are not very valuable, for now" she said.
"with that being said we also will need to know how much time we have" she said but it was the Collage Master that spoke this time "we have gained some distance and we are about 10 minutes away, I estimate we are also 10 minutes ahead of the enemy so 20 minutes plus for however long we stall them" Romando said.
"Thank you, I hope you know what you're doing" Arriel told her, she would just nod before the holo image disappeared along with the bug like drone which appeared to have cloaked itself 'so that explains one thing' Arriel thought there were a few things he would have to speak to the Collage Master about but that could wait for now.
"Arriel is it?" the Xeno suddenly spoke up, glaring at the Xeno Arreil would snarl as he spoke "what is it Xeno? As you can see this conversation is over" he said although, the Xeno's expression did not change "it is not my concern if you consider it over or not" the Xeno said "the Tyranids as you call them are not very creative, smart maybe, creative? No" the Xeno said.
"Why are you telling me this" Arriel asked with suspicion "I have studied these monsters for decades Ordo Master" the Xeno said "they are numerous and even smart but clever or creative no but if things still go wrong then well from what I know every piece of Federation equipment has a self destruct button" the Xeno said before the image disappeared and the drone did so as well.
Turning on the holotable, Arriel would bring up a large 3D image of Karion in order to plan their defense of the planet "first" Arriel said pointing to the ODS "we will have the ODS position over the capital, second have our fleet take positions underneath the firing arc of the ODS in a crescent formation" he said.
Romando would then look over the plans himself "what about the wedding ring itself?" he said admiral Lorech would then add his two cents "in my opinion we should deploy about 5000 Galaxia Warriors to the ring in order to clear it out and set up defensive positions and in case we fail the rest of them should be on the planet's surface so we can fall back to prepared defensive positions with the Collage Master joining them" Lorech said highlighting an area of the ring that connected itself to the Karius elevator.
"A good idea the quicker we can destroy the traitors the more time we have to fortify the city" Arriel said "Asmech, Leon" he called and one of the honor guard would turn and snap to attention "prepare the remains of both of your company Asmech you will make planetfall and join up with Xanthanon, Leon you will work with the Chief Militant destroy the traitors" he told them "Collage Master" Arriel said turning to Romando his eye was glowing a bright yellow now.
"Yes, yes I will prepare to make planet fall someone has to bash the skulls of those idiots in my collage together" Romando said soon after leaving the room, hopefully when they touched down he could rally the forces of the Martian Collage and put an end to Cosch.
The Galaxia Warriors would then nod and run off with their new orders, the three men would then take their turns throwing out ideas for the defense, they would need and could use any idea as they were horrendously outnumbered however in the end they would settle and would order that some local shipping barges be requisitioned and packed with flammable explosives while operating on a skeleton crew.
"We will ask for volunteers" Arriel said "the D.A.I will still need people to guide it however only ten people maximum for each ship" he said with Lorech nodding and giving his orders to a crew member, with that their plans were considered finished and Romando would leave back to his lab while Arriel and Lorech stayed in the bridge.
However not all problems were solved and admiral Lorech seemed to notice the two men would stand in silence for a little while before Lorech would suddenly dismiss all of the crew in the bridge leaving the two of them alone.
"You know it is not your fault" Lorech said, Arriel would simply glance at the older man "I led them all to their deaths, I failed and if I was anyone else a dishonorable discharge would have been the least of my worries" Arriel said "ultimately with that statement in going to be a hypocrite I agonize over sending them to their deaths but now I plan it and it's okay?" Arriel finsihed.
Lorech would just roll his eyes at the what if's "I have traveled with you for what? Two centuries? Three, four? And over three centuries before that, in my time I have met many Ordo Masters who were arrogant, uncompromising, bullheaded or a combination of all three" Lorech said.
"You suffer from many of the same problems but there is a difference, you notice your issues and try to fix these things not only that you care for those under you" he said "but sometimes you're put in a position where there is nothing you can do and the only option is to go down swinging".
"In those few ways you are ten times better than any of them don't get me wrong you messed up and I know you're not giving up but get it out of your head that you failed your duty for you have only failed when you lose all hope of victory" he said and Arriel looked at him, his old friend always did have good advice.
"Thank you Lorech but how did you know about my doubts?" Arriel asked "are you kidding? You were staring at that data pad like it had a picture of an ex lover" Lorech said with a smile with Arriel shooting right back "ah oldman when did you last talk to your ex?" he asked "before I was married?" Lorech said with an eye roll "dont tell my wife this but it was on november 5th, year 652 at 12:03am" he said they both had a good laugh at that.
Sneaking through the sewers of Karius, Mina would cut two traitors to pieces and cut the machine gun the traitors had set up in half and gave the signal to move forward to her personal guard ensuring no word of their approach got out.
They had set out right after the holo call with Arriel and although they had easily entered via the entrance at CH although Szarekhan had to shrink himself down a bit using the living metal he was made of apparently, down there they quickly came across traitor patrols as it appeared that Cosch had a healthy amount of paranoia in him, but this had not stopped them utilizing a number of means they had dispatched the traitors.
While she had been worried that when the patrols failed to report in Szarekhan would just simply hack into the vox to have a message be sent every time it was requested, how he got the voices of the traitors? For now she was content to not think about it but that didn't make it any less disturbing.
'Damn Xenos and their methods' she thought continuing the down the walkway on either side of the sewer tunnel they were all silent apart from the obnoxious comments made by Szarekhan "this is disgusting you apes are gross" he said "is there a reason you are being so annoying?" Falco asked irritatedly "yes actually" Szarekhan said "when you have been traveling the intergalactic void for 60 million years you get quite bored" he said.
"And as of now I find making you all uncomfortable and awkward funny so i'm going to keep doing it" he said for a few precious seconds he would be quite as he seemed to be focused on something before bursting out in laughter "what the fuck!" Falco half shouted "was the for?!" he asked.
The Silent King would take a few seconds to calm down before speaking "oh sorry I was scrolling twitter there are some awful opinions here but also some funny… memes! Yes that's what they're called" Szarekhan said all four of her personal guards would stop in place and turn to the Silent King, irritated beyond belief.
"Seriously? You almost gave us all heart attacks!" Falco said "ah yes apologies but as you see this cat meme is the funniest thing ever!" Szarekhan said the video showed a stock image cat with the caption 'would you kick this cat for 1 million?' and then showed a fat person kicking a soccer ball.
"See hilarious!" Szarekhan said the rest of them even herself looked at him with blank stares "alright, alright tough crowd" he said turning back to his staff he would continue scrolling.
Mina for her part was exacerbated, this Xeno claimed to be an emperor, nobility, but acted like a teenager, a very annoying teenager however that's the exact moment he would then start asking… uncomfortable questions.
"So what's your story?" he asked her when he didn't get a response he would then start to ramble on about his 'adventures' in the galactic void "you know I once fought a god who had been artificially created" "I remember a time when the necrontyr were all separate now that was an exciting time" "do you all have a twitter account? I just made mine" he said all that and more.
Quickly whipping around she pulled 'last sound' from its sheath and held the blade at his throat or the equivalent of it "that's some good craftsmanship" Szarekhan said as he used his finger to point the blade away from himself "did you make it yourself?" he asked with a chuckle.
They stood there for a second, her guard also positioned to assist however she never forgot the agreement they had made and while in truth it didn't have much legal power as she didn't have the power to make it such, it still held symbolic value in the now.
Restraining herself from attacking him she put her saber to the side and sheathed it "yes, yes I did it would not hold much power if I didn't forge it with my own emotions, my own will" she answered at this he would smile "while I personally have seen better but those examples were from gods" he said that was a complement? No matter.
"Why do you insist on acting like this?" she asked, he didn't change his facial expression "I already told you" he said she was at her wits end "if I answer your first question will you leave me alone?" she asked, he mockingly rolled his eyes while putting his hand on his chin "that sounds like a nice arrangement" he said.
Turning around and continuing to walk down the walkway she would shake her head for the first 30 seconds she said nothing but when Szarekhan went to say something she would turn around and glare before sighing and then speaking.
"I grew up in the under hives stealing and selling whatever drug that was the craze at the time until I ran into a… friend he did a lot of repairs around town and knew mechanics like the back of his hand apparently he was some bastard of the local elite and his father cared enough to give him a basic education but not much else" she said "in short we got into a lot of shit together and soon after took over a gang known as the ghost hunters, corny I know, so we renamed it to the Ghosts of Karion" she said her guard were silent as they followed behind however predictably Szarekhan was some fake popcorn made of the living metal.
Rolling her eyes she would just resolve to continue "utilizing the resources from our new assets and forming our own connections to the highest people in the under hives who in turn got us deals with the rich politicians top side we grew and grew slowly we beat out our competitors killing, blackmailing and destroying everyone in the under hives while buying out politicians to vote a certain way or push a certain policy" she said.
"Eventually we caught the attention of the populace and leaned into it however we also caught the attention of the government who alerted the inquisitions Ordo in orbit we knew the bastards were always watching but we got too cocky and when the government started a public campaign to wipe us out and requested the help of the Ordo and the Martian Collage, they had to respond or else face heavy backlash" she told them.
"It doesn't seem like you were much of a threat to the Ordo though" Szarekhan said and she rolled her eyes "we most certainly could have been a future threat imagine this rebellion but if the Ghost of Karion were involved or had fallen to chaos? imagine the entire under hive, billions more people united against the Ordo paired with the traitorous elements of the PDF, government and Martian Collage?" she said.
Watching their reactions it was obvious the thought worried them greatly "on top of that it's in the best interest for the Ordo to at least appear to support the local government as such they worked to bring us down, did we scratch their knuckles? Sure but we were eventually hunted down and with both of us being captured the Ghosts of Karion fell apart" she said.
"In the end we were given an option, execution on live TV or to join the two organizations whose leaders apparently saw something in us, so we chose the latter, I became a acolyte of the Anti Ordo and he became a student of the Martian Collage and because I never bothered to get his last name, we lost contact a few decades later and I become the Anti Ordo Master after the old man passed and i've been stuck in this job ever since" she finished.
Clap, Clap, Clap Szarekhan clapped as she finished her backstory "good show honestly adds quite a bit of context to your actions however I think it will need a few upgrades, more flare, more drama! It is also… quite vague" he said and she just rolled her eyes "I take it you'll leave me alone now?" she questioned "sure" he said she expected him to continue to say something stupid but he didnt and they continued on.
For the next few minutes they would systematically eliminate all traitors they found, herself with her saber, her guard with their Mako rifles and Szarekhan using his staff to disintegrate them into dust "one here" he said cutting a traitor in half with a blade materializing out of his staff "two there" he said stabbing a traitor through the back of the head "and three there!" he said, gutting the last traitor in the patrol squad.
Catching the traitor before he fell to the ground Szarekhan would then hold up his staff like a selfie stick while smiling, just then a flash of light would appear similar to a camera flash "that's going to look great on the gram" Szarekhan said "oh great now the Xeno has instagram, let me guess you also have a reddit account?" Falco asked rhetorically.
"Why yes, actually it is quite a fun website, the memes are amazing especially the wholesome ones" Szarekhan said, trying to ignore them she would palm her face and just try to think of anything else.
However it was then she saw her saving grace and she would finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, literally, as the tunnel ended they saw six ladders that led up to what they could presume to be the white house.
Turning and nodding to captain Falco they would all take a ladder including Szarekhan and climb, stopping before the hatch that would be their exits she would count down to three and they would all throw open the hatchs.
Above ground there was what looked to be a small command center with maps, guns, ammunition and five soldiers playing cards, terribly she might add, at a table preparing to jump out she stopped herself as five shots rang out and all five traitors slumped to the ground turing to Falco she would nod giving her thanks.
"Man this human was just unlucky, had a full hand and was about to play it before we showed up" Szarekhan said he was right one of the traitors held a royal flush "damn shame but we better get going, right my lord?" Falco said "sargent Falco is right we must make haste we don't know how much time we have left but given its been…" Mina would check her watch "15 minutes we must hurry" she said.
They were all about to take off but then a massive boom shook the ground BOOOOM like something massive had hit the ground looking out a window they would immediately spot it.
A few blocks away a massive Tyranid ship, kilometers long, had crashed to the ground with a cargo barge or what remained of it entangled together the Tyranid ship was bleeding olympic swimming pools in terms of gallons however it was then the ship began to shake and spasm before massive holes seemed open up along its bow.
Out of the massive organism hundreds of Tyranid warriors came rushing out, from some as small as a house cat to others that size of two story buildings "well" Szarekhan began "I summarize that we must hurry" he said "yes let's go" Mina agreed, whatever those things were, they quite obviously had a taste for human flesh or any flesh for that matter.
2 minutes ago TST
Lorech Astio looked over the fleet, it was what some would consider a rag tag force, especially compared to the enemy they were facing "t-two minutes estimate for the Tyranids arrival, admiral" the scared voice of a crew member said while holding out a data pad with shaky arms 'accurate calculations my ass' he thought they tyranid fleet would be here almost five minutes earlier that predicted.
Taking the data pad and thanking the crew member he would look over it with growing concern and resignation, as of now they had 30 Destroyers, 22 Cruisers and 12 Capital ships all arrayed in a crescent formation over the capital city with the wedding ring in front and slightly below them as to not interfere with firing angles.
Manned by over 4000 Galaxia Warriors and a few thousand more people conscripted from the citizens trapped in the ring when the chaos rebellion kicked off and a few divisions that Scoot and the PDF could spare, the wedding ring with its large amounts of AA and AP guns were ready to receive the enemy with the warmth of Laser, Plasma and ballistic flak guns.
Did the fact that they were forcing many civilians to perform military duties make him uncomfortable? Of course it did but given the situation they would have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Of course he had almost forgotten about the fire barges in total they had 20 of them packed with explosive ammunition from the Ordo Fleet and the fusion cores pre prepared to reach critical mass and- 'cough' 'cough' he wheezed and hacked.
'Ah so that was how life was going to play huh? Take me out right before the most important battle in my entire career? Not a chance' he thought, although his health had been slowly failing, being over seven centuries old would do that to you, he was still as sharp as Arriel and any other battle hardened commander.
Boom, boom Lorech was shaken from his thoughts by the guns of the wedding ring and the ODS starting their bombardment of the enemy fleet as although the Tyranids were still about a full minute away the wedding rings guns had much longer range.
Looking out into the void the Tyranid Fleet had already begun to take losses but that didn't seem to matter as for every ship torn apart by continuous and concentrated Laser and Plasma fire there were two more to fill its spot but this was not Lorechs primary concern.
Glancing up at the nine foot tall Galaxia Warrior that was Arriel the man currently had his helmet off, his bald head was covered in tattoos with inscriptions of bible verses with his cold blue eyes looking onward to the void, the man was also putting on a mask of calm that Lorech could tell was partially fake "one minute EST" the voice of the 'Xenos Bane' D.A.I chirped although there was nothing happy about this situation.
With his information Arriel would grab the vox communicator and spoke "men, women and warriors of the Karion" he began "today we face an enemy that exceeds us massively, an enemy that does not care for what you believe in, for what your moral character is and is hellbent on unleashing a storm of blood and war across not only our beloved Karion but also the entire sector" Arriel said.
He paused to let the words sink in "already we have lost many friends, colleges, and even family, this fight may seem hopeless even, but ask yourself since when has giving up even solved a problem?, Since when has humanity simply rolled over and let itself die?" he asked them.
"Never, and I am confident that humanity won't die today we will fight tooth and nail with every weapon we have from the largest Plasma ODS batterie, to the small molerat pistol" Arriel said glancing down at Lorech as he was reloading his pistol "that is all do your duty" he finished.
"That was a damn good speech" he told Arriel who smiled and nodded as the D.A.I then spoke "EST zero seconds" the two of them then faced back out to the battle of Karion Primis, and as the main armaments of the fleet opened fire with the fire barges speeding onward their grim determination solidified.
'One of us will die today' Lorech thought though the idea itself did not fill him with as much dread or fear as he had believed it would, Lorech would much prefer to die on the battlefield instead of the stomach to the Tyranids.
'BOOM' as one of the fire barges exploded in a brilliant fire ball, bringing down a Tyranids destroyer and crashing down to Karius 'shit the capital' he thought, however it was then he looked down at the data pad in his hand, confirming that the force of 1000 Galaxia Warriors and the Collage Master had made it planetside safely 'right on time' he thought.
Running through the hallways of the white house was chaotic at best as the Tyranids from the crashed ship and made their way to the white house tearing through the traitors like butter, the PDF probably wasn't having a good time either now that it crossed her mind.
They had been following Szarekhan for a little while now as he had the map to locate the tombs entrance, strangely however there was a lack of traitors in the white house itself, if Cosch was as paranoid as she thought this place should be swarming with them.
"There right under that table!" Szarekhan exclaimed as they entered the banquet room, the table in question was very long and was made out of snakewood, even with this dense wood Szarekhan would throw it out of the way with ease and ripe up the carpet.
What he revealed was what looked like a large roof hatch with a small hole at one end, the whole thing was a pitch, shiny black as it was most likely made of the strange living metal he was.
Quickly bringing his staff over his head Szarekhan would strike the end of his staff into the hole and turn it before muttering a few words "obhg, jrer kide demandiaz saz" he spoke 'most likely the Xenos language' Mina thought the whole time he had spoken basic, but it was common sense that every Xeno species had their own languages.
The hatch began to open with steam, smoke and mostly dust coming out with Szarekhan standing tall and proud while everyone else just coughed up a storm, but when it finally fully opened it revealed a spiral staircase along the wall were dozens of symbols and imagery all bathed in an eerie green glow.
"This is it, the tomb of the Burning One" Szarekhan said whoever the burning one was she had no clue but she knew that she would probably find out soon, and even though she felt uncertain about going down there, she was soon forced to follow by Szarekhan quickly entering and going down the staircase.
Gritting her teeth she followed after him, her guard not to far behind, What made her uncomfortable about this whole thing was that Szarekhan held all the cards, he had all the information about this 'must be how the Collage Master always feels' she thought in a sorry attempt to distract herself but the facts were still clear, they needed Szarekhan more than he needed them.
It took a full minute to get down to the bottom, checking her watch she would be shocked to learn they were dozens of miles underground 'this staircase must be messing with reality' she concluded.
Although all the while they could hear explosions and feel the rumbling earth shake all around them 'they don't call them earthshakers for nothing' she thought 'hopefully the destruction will make cleansing the city of chaos easier, there's no telling how deep its roots are'.
However her thoughts were interrupted as they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, the stairway opened to a large hall with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and large metal torches on the walls they all gave off the eerie green glow that seemed to coincide with everything associated with Szarekhan and his people.
But that was not what caught their attention, instead it was the large hole in the side of the room that looked to have been drilled with mining equipment but did not look fresh in the slightest and the empty podiums where statues probably stood, said statues were lying down torn apart by some unknown force in the center of it all Szarekhan stood his figure rigid and unmoving.
"They will pay for this" he whispered so quietly that only she with her trained ears could make it out, the Silent King then took his staff and hit the end hard on the ground, a green pulse of energy causing the ground to ripple, as if the metal was a puddle of water.
The bodies of the statues melted like candle wax while the swords and shields stayed falling to the ground, the eight statues would then reform all of them were about seven feet tall with skeleton like bodies, their most striking feature however was the symbol that seemed to be branded on their sternums.
"Annelizing" one of the statues said "ID confirmed, Szarekhan the Silent King we are at your disposal" it said kneeling before its king "rise sentry you have watched over this tomb for millions of years, what happened?" Szarekhan asked.
The sentry would go rigid for a second before repelling "a few decades ago the humans broke in via some kind of warp manipulation and using some sick combination of flesh and machine possessed by a warp entity they torn us apart and are now further inside the tomb and are-" the sentry stopped for a second before continuing.
"They are nearing the tesseract vault!" the sentry exclaimed, Szarekhan looked worried for the first time and immediately set off the eight sentry's picking up their swords and shields before following their king, turning to her guard she would nod to them to follow and took off after Szarekhan.
Exiting the hall she would immediately be greeted with a space that looked to be endless in every direction with a blue mist obscuring anything past a few hundred feet, below were an endless number of crypts each with the same symbol as the one on Szarekhan rib cage all this see took in as she stood on the floating walkway.
Putting that in the back of her mind she would race onward leaving her guard in the dust and just barely keeping pace with Szarekhan and his sentry's as they ran across the levitating walkways, and barely keeping up with the path they were taking, left, right, right again, forward it went on like this for over four minutes before they finally stopped.
What she saw as they stopped disgusted her beyond belief, up ahead there were dozens of small pyramids all surrounding a larger pyramid, this one contained a… cube? Floating in a pillar of light, behind the cube was an arch like formation that seemed to be similar to those webway gates the eldar used, However that's not what drew her attention.
No it was that on the platform underneath this cube but above the walkway were four abominations, spider like creatures with fleshy human heads and mechanical legs that made them over 12 feet tall, they seemed to be protecting over a dozen individual traitors that once belonged to the Martian Collage of Karion.
They all had on the standard orange reddish cloak however their cloaks were adorned with symbols and runes of the Omnissiah, the most common being the skull, half bone and half machine over a white and black cog, they all stood over some machine or counsel that seemed to be hooked up to the tomb and in particular the cube and the arch.
The one in charge was most obviously the tallest one 'Cosch' she thought as she drew closer it was then she noticed well over a dozen people tied down in a chaos ritual circle at the base of the arch structure 'the Karion choir!' she thought.
The traitors had by now noticed Szarekhan and his sentry's all of them facing the silent king with Cosch slowly turning around while speaking "so you've finally discovered us, took you long enough" Cosch said "you dare to defile my tombs you disgusting, ignorant, animal?" Szarekhan shot back, to that Cosch would finally fully turn around.
'Wait' she thought, she could swear she recognized him, he had blood red eyes and his face or what was left of it, was shaped into a snarl, she also saw that his entire jaw was metal as he took his cloaks hood down revealing his blond hair and… a tattoo, the 777 tattoo 'no way' she thought pulling her watch down she revealed that she had the same tattoo 'damnit'.
She revelation didn't stop the conversation "that's why I threw away my flesh, like you I am now immortal, an undying queen in this chest board that the gods play with" Coash said his disgusting smile growing even wider "you are but a pale imitation of my people you creatin, to think the gods would ever find you important is laughable" Szarekhan said.
Following this they would be ready to fight, Szarekhan and his sentry's lined up next to him and Cosch with his flesh spiders on the other side, it was then she decided to intervene "Gregor!" she called out, it worked he looked stunned.
"Who-who said that! I am Cosch a priest of the Omnissiah! who dares-" Gregor said but she cut him off "I do actually" she said as she jumped up to the higher platform he was on pulling 'last sound' from its sheath looking his dead in the eyes "Gregor its been awhile" she said.
His snarl would turn into a small smile as he then spoke "Mina? Is that really you? Your right it's been too long" Gregor said "although now I see that your an inquisitor" he said "i'm the Anti Ordo Master actually so you know what i'm going to do" she said he nodded his head before snarling once again "well then I would assume you know my plan" he said.
"Not quite but now it makes sense you are the true mastermind here arent you?" she said confidently, Gregor would just laugh "not surprised you figured it out, this was my last chance to get off this rotten planet so it makes sense you would try to take that away from me" he said.
His voice was full of spite as she glared at him "now… die" he said raising his arm which rapidly transformed into a large gun 'BOOM'.
She quickly jumped out of the way landing on the head of one of the spiders "KILL THEM!" Gregor screamed as he fired his launcher again the grenade flew over the spider right at her but she easily cut it in half as the spider then freaked out making unholy noises forcing her to jump off of it.
"CHARGE" Szarekhan screamed with himself leading it as his sentry's obediently followed him almost immediately Szarekhan would cut on of the spiders in half with his staff that had transformed into a spear, the organs and blood of the spider spilling all over the floor the mechanical legs seizing up as the daemon inside screeched and was banished back into the warp.
"Fuck" Gergor said taking that as her que she charged him forcing him to back up and and transform his arm into a blade it appeared to her that he had somehow infused the living metal Szarekhan was made of into his own body.
The two of them clashed blades her with 'last sound' and Gregor with his blade of living metal "don't you see Xanthanon? You are already too late!" he almost shouted as they clashed over and over again until they locked themselves in a standoff, she didn't respond.
"For decades I have worked down here in this coffin of secrets!" he said drawing his blade back before striking in a downward slash to the left forcing her back "this tomb is a prison!" he said.
"And that cube will give me all the power you denied me!" he said as his underlings finished working on something, an audible click being heard as the beam of light the cube was suspended in started to flicker and slowly dim as the cube began to shake and vibrate, arcs of lightning flying around as a… heavy presence filled the room giving off the aura of being larger than reality itself.
Suddenly the tomb shook as if they were in the middle of an earthquake and the cube started to fracture and crack "you idiot!" Szarekhan exclaimed "that is a prison for a god!, One that will kill us all" Szarekhan said, rushing right past Gregor and to the cube, killing Gregors underlings along the way and stabbing his spear that was a staff again into the pyramid, the beam of light appearing to have been reinforced but with green arcs of lightning still flying off of it.
"DAMNIT, DAMN IT ALL!" Gregor shouted as he turned to look at the carnage his four spiders were dead, all his underlings dead to Szarekhan's sentry's that now sat on the counsels attempting to undo what his underlings had done, with him facing away Mina rushed him intent on skewering him like a fish in a barrel.
Her eyes glowing a brilliant but dimmed gold color she prepared to end this however he would react quicker bringing his blade around in a wide slash, clashing with her saber releasing a huge explosion of energy would sending her flying back.
Gregor used the living metal in his body to anchor himself, leaving him standing right where he was, although he would come out of it with harsh burns and his right arm reduced to a mechanical stub, oil and blood leaking out and mixing together in a disgusting combination, if he was in any pain he did not show it.
Head now throbbing with pain due to a large cut across her forehead, she would look around to take in the situation, Szarekhan was as of now holding his staff as large arcs of green energy shot out of the cube he appeared to be holding his own, his eyes closed in what appeared to be deep concentration.
Meanwhile Gregor had run over to the arch formation and was systematically cutting the throats of the Karion choir, all two dozen of them and then punched in a code to a console, the arch then light up into a swirling mass of green and yellow the ground shaking as the machine came to life 'a portal' she thought.
And from the ritual that Gregor had just completed by sacrificing the choir came out well over a dozen daemons all of them taller than Szarekhan, the sentry's would quickly put down what they were doing and formed up in a line as the daemons charged crashing into their shields, all of this happening in less than ten seconds.
Injured by still alive Gregor would quickly run through the portal said portal closing behind him just seconds later, getting up Mina would pick up her saber, with Gregor having escaped and the traitors dead all they had to do was kill these daemons and Szarekhan could mobilize the tomb.
Standing behind the sentry's line she would watch the bloody melee between the two groups just waiting for an opportunity as rushing straight into the fighting would not be smart.
However it was then her guard finally arrived sargent Falco speaking first "my-my lord" he breathed out, she gave them a chance to recover they had just run the equivalent of a marathon after all "we are at your service, did we miss much?" he asked.
Staring blankly at him with the carnage in plain view of all of her guards she would speak "no, nothing at all just some housekeeping" she said turning around to again face the battle directing her guard to stay back and take pot shots at any daemon trying to flank the sentry's line.
She herself quickly went to work quickly slicing and dicing any daemons that got close, it was difficult to kill them due to their size but the daemons were unable to score any kills but this stalemate lasted for less than a minute as Szarekhan would appear to finally finish 'containing' whatever was in that cube.
His sternum would then melt away revealing 18 cavities in his chest, Szarekhan would then take the cube in his hand, said cube shrinking to a tenth of its size before he would place the cube in one of his chest cavities, "HAHAHAHA FINALLY, I'M BACK BABY" Szarekhan shouted, the daemons and the sentry's would look up at Szarekhan as he launched himself from the large pyramid and tore through the daemons.
In less than 20 seconds they were all dead except for one that Szarekhan would destroy with his spear, stabbing the foul warp entity in the next banishing back to the warp "well that was a waste of time" Szarekhan said "damn fools almost killed us all", Szarekhan would then walk over to another console that rose from the ground.
Said console would light up with numbers, words she could not translate and a keyboard, "activate dynasty" Szarekhan said the tomb lighting up with the fog quickly dissipating "that's it?" Falco said "seems a bit anticlimactic" "when it takes decades for someone to find the on button and even longer to figure out a single letter of your language it doesn't have to be complex" Szarekhan replied.
Beneath them the thousands of crypts would start to rise with a large one in particular coming out right in front of the console Szarekhan had just used meanwhile the entire tomb was shaking with the roof parting a few hundred feet away, letting in fresh sunlight and causing endless debris to rain down harmlessly breaking upon the tomb floor.
About a thousand feet out the endless lines of crypts stopped to reveal huge crescent shaped ships the debris from before doing no damage to them as they powered on, soon the crypts opened tens of thousands of six foot tall skeletons awakened as their eyes glowed a bright green.
'Well' she thought 'we just may be screwed'
Lorech Astio was to put it mildly, not feeling well a shard of what appeared to be keratin, dug into his leg adding to his long list of injuries, the battle had not gone as well as they had hoped as evident by him lying here in a bit of his own blood, with him having been thrown to the ground by a large explosion, the alarm blared in his ear the red flashing light overwhelming him with a headache.
"ADMIRAL, GET UP, WE MUST KEEP GOING!" a Galaxia Warrior shouted over the alarm 'Arriels honor guard' he realized, staggering to his feet with the help of the Galaxia Warrior Lorech would see Arriel standing only ten feet away, his Orca rifle in full auto shooting down the long hallway along with about half a dozen other Galaxia Warriors.
Down that hallway hundreds of Tyranids swarmed and even though they were easily mowed down by the Orca rifles it seemed that for every one they killed 10 more took its place "PERTAIN IS THE ADMIRAL SECUR-" Arriel stopped his sentence as he saw Pertain holding Lorech.
"GOOD WE HAVE BEEN CUT OFF WE MUST MAKE ARE WAY TO HANGER 3F20 TO DO SO WE MUST TAKE THE HANGER ELEVATOR, UNDERSTOOD?" Arriel shouted with all the other Warriors nodding as they took out pigeon plasma grenades and threw them at the Tyranids before they would then take off in the opposite direction of the Tyranid swarm.
The plasma grenades would then unleash their devastating contents melting many Tyranids into palp, however this would only slow them down temporarily as the Tyranids that were not hit by the grenades merely climbed over the dead, as they ran he thought of the battle or slaughter that had come before this.
During the battle beforehand there really was not much they could do realistically the fire barges had charged and detonated bringing down about 20 Tyranids vessels as the Tyranids had latched on to the fire barges attempting to consume them.
Next came the Tyranid fighter craft, it was surprising that they had any but nothing like the Tyranids had ever been recorded apart from the rangden so everything was a surprise.
Although there were thousands of Tyranid fighter craft the Ordo Fleet fighter wings were relatively undamaged as they were stored in the capital ships, as such they engaged the Tyranids and a trend quickly became apparent.
The Tyrandis, with their larger ships acted like a hivemind, attempting to get close and unleash a mass of acids, smaller creatures and shoot down their enemy with machine gun-like bursts of keratin, this meant they would fly in huge clusters to soak up damage.
However this was completely countered by the Ordo fighters as they focused on long range missiles and keeping their distance which meant that as long as no one strayed from formation they would likely be fine although the Tyrandis would score some lucky hits now and again these were far and few between.
But even with this unexpected advantage it didn't change the strategic situation they were being surrounded, and the jaws of defeat were quickly closing in around them, the other two Tyranids groups were only a few thousand kilometers away and closing fast.
Soon they began trading volleys but the greatly reduced Ordo Fleet just didn't have the firepower to keep the Tyranids at bay and the wedding ring was soon going to be boarded along with the rest of the fleet, bringing them to now.
They continued running with scattered pockets of survivors joining them along the way, this would usually be balanced out by the many that would be swept up and torn apart by the Tyranids swarm.
However they would not slow down for they saw their escape, the elevator, currently two Galaxia Warriors and mortal soldiers were standing guard taking shots down the two other hallways, when these troops noticed them they would stop and set up at the end of the hallway kneeling in preparation to support them.
They rushed past the Warriors waiting for them and said Warriors opened fire on the Tyranids with Arriel and his Warriors turning and doing the same "PERTAIN GET THIS THING GOING" Arriel commanded, Pertain set Lorech down and began to punch in the codes to take them to hanger 3F20, soon after he sat down a medic started to attend him but clearly didn't have his tools or kit on hand.
But that didn't stop him as he took out his combat knife and a light quickly heated up the knife to a soft red glow "sorry about this admiral" he said while pressing the knife to a few of Lorechs wounds "there that should stop the bleeding for a time" he said.
Soon Pertain finished punching in the codes and Arriel gave the order to retreat into the elevator, all of the troops which now totaled 11 Galaxia Warriors and 21 soldiers all of them breathing heavily, some checking their weapons and a few whispering to their fellow soldiers but other than that it was silence.
However one caught Lorechs eye, a man with a thousand yard stare and blood covering his right eye, this man had on the average combat uniform and held the standard mako rifle but that look was something only the ones who had seen true horrors possessed, he should know he's seen them.
Arriel appeared to look around and count the total number of people before speaking "we are as of now heading to the hanger 3F20 however given the amount of people here and the lack of transports-" "and why are there no transports?" a voice interrupted.
They all looked around for the speaker, however Lorech already knew and he knew the man wouldn't wait for them "YOU WANTED US TO DIE HERE RIGHT?" the man yelled everyone's attention now on him, Pertain would move to silence him but curiously Arriel would stop Pertain with a hand on his shoulder.
However the man whose eyes were wild with tears beginning to form would still continue "YOU PLANNED FOR THIS" the man pointed accusingly "SEND DOWN A FEW TO KARION WITH ALL THE TRANSPORTS SO WE ALL KNEW THERE WAS NO ESCAPE, SO WE WOULD FIGHT TO THE DEATH, YOU PLANNED FOR US TO DIE!" the man yelled.
Everyone was whispering at this point although the Galaxia Warriors had most likely figured this out beforehand and had accepted it the regular men and women did not and didn't like being sent to their deaths.
He saw the medic from before attempting to talk the man down however he was just growing more hysterical "I DON'T CARE IF I GET COURT MARTIALED I'M GOING TO DIE ANYWAY, I'LL NEVER SEE MY FAMILY OR MY HOME AGAIN" the man exclaimed every other regular man and women were looking down with sullen expressions.
It was then Lorech intervened "what is your name and rank soldier?" Lorech asked while standing up and limping over prompting everyone else to give the man and Lorech space, the man looked up at him and spoke "WHAT DOES IT MATTER TO YOU, YOU WANT US ALL TO DIE" the man said.
Lorech stopped about six feet away "calm down soldier, what happened?" Lorech asked, the man looked slightly shocked "m-my squad was attacked, my sister and friends are dead because of those t-things" the man said, tears falling freely now.
Lorech would simply stay where he was and continue "what you need soldier?" he asked, the man looked at him again "I-I-I want to know their deaths were not for nothing, i-if this is still worth fighting for" he said.
Lorech would just sigh and take a breath "I will be frank with you" Lorech began "the situation is bleak however we can still resist on the ground, this won't bring you sister back or your team but if it is any condolence they will be remembered as heroes they all will" Lorech said as he turned back and sat down his breath becoming short from all the talking.
The man would just sit down and stare down at his lap with this nobody was comfortable talking except for Arriel who looked to Lorech in silent thanks and spoke "although we don't have many we should have enough move in tight formation and callout any enemies you see we don't want to get caught off guard" Arriel said.
A 'ding' filled the elevator as the door opened and they had arrived… only to meet with horror, covering the whole hangar exit to the void was a massive wall of flesh and strange growths "shit" he heard some say, that was one way to express what they all thought.
Walking forward they would carefully avoid the meaty tendrils that extend into the hanger some even wrapped around the two Thunder Eels and soon they got close, with it becoming obvious that the tendrils would stop the Thunder Eels from taking off
They all quickly realized this with Arriel speaking soon after "alright" Arriel began "first we will take those boxes of ammunition and place them by the flesh wall" he said "Second we will line up and on my command we will shot off the tendrils and get in once we are in we will detonate the ammunition".
They soon got to work with the Galaxia Warriors lifting the heavy boxes and the regular soldiers lifting the smaller ones "be careful all of you they only need a small amount of forces to have them go off" Arriel warned they all took this very seriously and soon they were done.
However, one man walked over when they were done, the medic from before "soldier" he addressed the man standing at attention "at ease, what is it?" the man took a second to speak "thanks for talking down Seth" he said "ah yes you are welcome but what is your name?" Lorech asked.
"Roger" he said "well Roger you are welcome I just hope that I was telling the truth" Lorech said "well if there is anyone who can do it is the Galaxia Warriors right?" Roger asked, Lorech would go to respond, however a scream would be heard throughout the hangar.
A soldier had gotten too close to the wall and it had grabbed him, the massive growths on the flesh wall bulging outwards and swelling massively "get him out of there!" Arriel commanded and two Warriors would try to assist however the soldier was just as quickly absorbed by the flesh wall.
The entire room would go silent as everyone was too shocked to say anything as the wall growled and unleashed a defining shriek as the growths popped like a huge cyst, a massive eye was revealed and its pupil darted around to each one of them "MOVE, GET TO THE TRANSPORTS" Arriel shouted.
The medic would immediately act with Lorech putting his arm over Rogers shoulder limp walking to the Thunder Eel however they quickly picked up the pace as a swarm of Tyranids broke in and the Warriors and soldiers began to open fire on the swarm.
As the two of them got the Thunder Eel a question came to Lorechs mind "how can we be sure this is a thin wall and not an entire ship?" he asked Arriel in response the Galaxia Warrior merely shrugged as he got on to the other gun ship and gave the order to get them the heck out of there shooting the ammunition crates they had lined up against the wall.
'BOOOOM' the explosion would be deafening but they would fly through none the less, blood pouring over the gun ship as they flew through the gaping hole in the flash wall, thankfully however this blood would quickly freeze and break off once they entered the void.
They had escaped for now but in order to survive they had to get out of the void immediately however they would hear three distinct thumps 'Tyranids fighters' Lorech thought grimly, they had latched on to their gun ship, with Arriel's gun ship reporting strange noises to them it seemed they were done for.
"Well my old friend it's been a good run" Arriel said through the Vox "ha! Old you say if we didn't die here I would serve for another seven centuries!" Lorech said as the sounds got louder more defined as one would break through the hull releasing dozens of tiny, slimy, eel like creatures.
"YOU BASTARDS WONT TAKE ME OUT THIS EASILY!" Lorech yelled as he drew his Molerat pistol killing eight of those things with one clip the rest of the troops were shooting as well but in such a confined space it was hard to get back from the creatures, resulting in the mortal soldiers being melted into goop as the creatures latched onto them.
Soon they were completely overwhelmed, the eels would even melt through the Warriors power armor, their screams soon joining the screams of their mortal counterparts squeezing off a few more shots Lorech would first shoot the pilot had been caught by an eel then slammed the button to close the cockpit door.
Shoving the corpse of the pilot aside Lorech would try to use the vox however in the confusion it was destroyed "damnit, FUCK" Lorech shouted in anger but it quickly subsided, did it really matter if his finale words were heard probably not, but he had to think of something the sounds of the eels melting the door did not give him comfort.
Looking down at the console again he would remember something and a content smile formed on his face "from my research every piece of Federation equipment has a self destruct feature" the words of the Xeno rang in his head and it was the only time he was thankful towards a Xeno.
Kneeling under the console he would quickly find the self destruct button, popping the plastic lid 'if I can't beat you' he thought 'I'll take down as many I can' he would then press the button a 30 second timer counting down.
Shtting back in the pilot's chair he contemplated his life, his career, and all the men that had served under him, how many had died to keep the local Federation safe, how many died to keep the greater Federation safe each day, millions?, perhaps billions, that was an uncomfortable thought.
So he thought of his wife his large family, he had so many descendants at this point that he could barely keep track, the thought made him happy and to keep that happiness he would take out a flask of whiskey some stuff from the Eldar said to be so strong it could kill the human well he put that to the test drinking it in one go.
It would be 10 seconds later that the self-destruct finally detonated.
Meanwhile outside on the horizon dozens of sleek black and eerie green ships would arise from the planet below these ships were of the long forgotten Necron utilizing Gauss weaponry, these weapons would easily melt the Tyranids.
Not only that but with the Necrons being metal there was little the Tyranids could do to them resulting in a massacre, the Tyranids would be whipped off the map in a matter of ten minutes due to the majority of the Necrons ships still being deployed and the sheer amount of Tyranids.
Overall the Battle of Karion against what would come to be named Hive Fleet primum percutiens had been a victory but a costly one, the planets of Karion three and Karion four would soon be discovered to have suffered nearly the same fate as dozens of other worlds in the Karion Ordo.
The Tyranids had overwhelmed the local defenses and consumed much of the human population but much of the local fauna and smaller organisms had survived, while dozens of other worlds had been stripped bare, soon these events would reach the Ordo Grandmaster of the sector Icarate Cosmicus who would soon call a meeting of the Sector council.
This invasion has weakened the Sector of Bastion although they still wielded considerable strength, many would seek to take advantage of their perceived weakness, including a threat from the enemy within the ruinous powers and their servants in the sector, especially one prince of decay.