# AB:TN Part II - SotE



## unxpekted22

Scythes: You are all aboard The Heart of Sotha, the last remaining flagship of the chapter. The World of Ferim can be seen from any windows or openings floating in space in the distance, letting off a welcoming blue-green glow into the dark space around it. The time of day is 1200, the time for midday prayer after the 0700 battle practice. Some of you have continued battle practice into the midday prayer hour. The chance of soon being able to further enact revenge upon the Tyranids for the death of your brothers is causing you to lick your lips and focus on nothing but preparing to fight them. The time for midday prayer also includes time for injured marines to report to the Apothecary.

Niko: You are in the medical bay speaking with Brother Kyr and Apothecary Brother Alexander, the one you helped get off of Sotha. It has been a few years, and so Kyr has fully healed from his physical wounds, but the memory has left a scar upon him mentally. The unique hive tyrant that killed his closest brothers, his unit that had sustained throughout the hardships the chapter had faced, all killed by a single Tyranid. He had been close to death as well, somehow he had survived the slaughter, having been thrown back into a rock and landing caused several smaller ones to land on top of him, where he could only watch the thick sprays of his brothers’ blood fly out into the air denying the push of the pouring rain around them. You are discussing this event to try and figure out as much as you can about this peculiar tyranid beast. 

Solaki: You are in the amory, with the one member of your old Damocles devastator squad mate left alive, Brother Devin. The only two marines left in the chapter with the manta assassin tattoo. You are both carefully maintaining your weapons cleaning them up and cooling them down after the morning’s battle practice. You must get off to midday prayer soon. While your taking care of your weapons you speak to him about your past together and your hopes for the mission on Ferim.

Astelan,Belial, and Arx: you three are among those who have stayed late in battle practice, eager to further revamp your tyranid fighting skills. Since full practice is over you have each gone to separate stations for furthering your techniques. All of you are experts among other space marines when it comes to fighting them, but you can think of no better way to spend your time before landing on Ferim. Astelan, you are practicing your bolter shots, with the ships long distance firing range with targets modified to look like tyranids. Belial, you dual with servitors who have scything blade arms similar to those on many tyranids. Arx, you practice wielding your large double edged chainsword, swinging its black and yellow striped figure into invisible enemies alone on a wide practice mat. You’re concentrating on handling the large weapon with one hand rather than two. The amount of tyranids you have taken down in the past up close leaves your imagination to be denied the need for use. Though you fight no actual targets you know full well where your swings would be going.

Guard:

You have all been transported from your previous locations to the world of Ferim. It has yet to have any regiments of its own from the citizens, as the Imperium has only had time to transport labor groups and citizens from full hive worlds to industrialize Ferim and populate it with a work force. The Imperium has been transporting a ton of people for these purposes. It has not had the time to develop a defensive force of its own, so the Departmento Munitorum has been pulling Guardsman from seemingly random locations to form new regiments on Ferim rather than taking regiments of guard who are all from the same world. This is why each of you are from a different location and have different backgrounds. 

You have been on Ferim for only about one week. You were all originally told a year ago about the transfer and that it would be outpost duty for a new colony. Since that time however, the Imperium has discovered a vastness of natural resources useful to it on the planet and have scheduled it to be transformed into a mining hive-world. You have come to find upon arrival, that the Imperium has not been wasting time building up Ferim and that you are now scheduled for garrison duty over an outpost position. You all landed in the city of Vorspire, which is under heavy development, as it already has a large amount of sky-scraping structures and factories ready to be put into action. 

Ferim is a rich world, and it is on the eastern Fringe where the Imperium has less of a grip on many of its worlds. It refuses to take the chance of letting Ferim fall before it can suck its resources dry. There is only one other city in development and it is exactly opposite of Ferim on the planet. The plan is to keep building the two cities until they merge into a single entity. When the city fills, Vorpsire will then become the name of one of the hive world’s major regions. 

The Imperium then, is developing Ferim and setting up a defensive force as fast as it possibly can. It has yet to see any problems, until just yesterday when an unidentified ship shot through Ferim's atmosphere and landed in the thick jungle region not far from Vorpsire. For cautionary reasons, the guard that has been imported so far has been getting ready for defense on Vorspire's western border, the border facing the location of the ship's landing.

Zac, Shadihm, Andreas, Vick, and Khrell: 

You have all just been kicked out of the armory after getting your weapons together, with lines of guardsman waiting behind you for their Vorpsire issued las-guns. 

You five are in the 6th squad of a platoon belonging to the regiment: 32nd Ferim Infantry. 

As you walk to the defensive position on the western border of Vorspire to find your commanding officer, you all chat about the rumors you have heard trickle down the chain of command. You have all heard the ship may be tyranid of some kind. None of you have seen Tyranids before and only know 'facts' about them from word of mouth and rumor. The idea of tyranids being here is obviously a frightful one for all of you. You all have heard of the destruction their hive fleets have caused. You have also heard that marines from the Adeptus Astartes were coming to investigate the situation. Some of you may find this particularly exciting, as the number of space marines throughout the entire galaxy can’t be more than double digit millions. There are untold billions of 'regular' humans. Despite some of you battling in wars that space marines may have been a part of, none of you have seen a space marine before either.

So talk to each other about what you think of the information regarding the arrival of Tyranids and space marines. Keep in mind neither of these facts have been confirmed.


Tyrant:

You’ve just landed on Ferim. Since you’re a tyranid you don’t really know how, or really care, about landing properly, so the manta bio-ship has landed half way in a lake in a very thick jungle region. Plenty of plant life means bio-mass you can feed on. Though you long for the satisfaction of feeding on living flesh instead. But if plant life is all that is here, it will have to do. You are starving after all, having been in hibernation for some time, and have gone to a couple of other worlds to do the same thing within the last few years since you made it off of Tri’Vaa alive. 

You don’t want to waste anymore time here than you have to, but you need to get stronger again, and you need to eat so you can keep making offspring. Expand on this information and assess your situation. You are fully aware of your 'being' since your birth. You know your capabilities and you recognize the link that you and all of your offspring have with each other, and you recognize that your link and your thoughts dominate over theirs. Despite their minds' efforts to act as a single entity yours takes prominence. You have managed to create many tyranids over the past few years, using all the bio-mass you can to continually create more, hibernating to do so, and to stay alive after the depletion of such energy. They all are in the ship with you still asleep though. The biomass that creates the ship has increased the size of the Manta significantly to make room for the army of tyranids at your disposal. Do not wake any of them yet. (describe what we discussed, what happened on tri’vaa before the bombardment and all the info that comes with it)


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## Concrete Hero

_Retribution_.

The whirring teeth of the chainblade hummed in a docile manner, just powered enough to create a balance offset. With great sweeping arcs the blade soared through the air, spinning over head like a righteous rotor of destruction. 

He'd kept at this dance for some time, hours? Minutes? It hardly mattered. He kept the momentum going, clearing the area of unseen assailants, concentration on creating an ever moving barrier of blades. Periodically great powered sweeps would pick the tempo back up, the tornado guarding all around, protecting from flank attacks. The sword itself never stopped moving, the perpetual motion added a strange quality to the low buzz of whirring teeth and the blur of yellow and black, a cloud of angry hornets encircling the Space Marine.

His chest was bare, the simple training trousers he wore allowed for quick and unrestricted movement. Though he was a master of this dance even in his armour. In fact it felt all the more natural on the field of battle. Sweat glistened along the massive marines body, he'd truly lost track of time. But endurance and momentum were the key, so on he practised.

Perpetual motion was paramount when fighting the hated Tyranid, the cursed xenos filth would swarm all around, intense concentration and the endurance to battle such a horde was required just to survive. Thinking of the Tyranid menace caused and angry shadow to cross over his mind. They would taste the justice of the Emperor.

He spun with the sword in a single hand, the balance felt strange, yet it was becoming more natural. He couldn't be inhibited when faced with the enemy.


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## blazinvire

Always one to linger too long in the armory, Zac was nearly thrown out by the quartermaster for trying to procure more las-packs, but at least he hadn't gotten shot so he didn't really care much either way.

'You can never have enough ammo' was Zac's old saying, maybe not exactly like that but he often made many derivations of that general concept considering he made your friendly neighbourhood heavy weapon team appear lacking from the amount of shots he fired.
'Shoot more shots than your enemy and you're sure to win' was another one of his sayings, and the logic was pretty sound most of the time, the fact he was still alive was a testament to that.

So there he was, nearly falling over as he stumbled out of the armory with a vice grip on his lasgun.
After quickly regaining his composure, he joined the rest of the column heading off for the western border, falling into step with a few other guardsmen.

"Well, who's up for being 'Nid-chow?" Zac said with casual sarcasm as he waltzed along, keeping a light grip on his lasgun's handle. He'd heard a few rumours and wasn't all that fussed, everything else in this galaxy was trying to eat or kill him so a few more didn't really matter
He'd already grown to accept the fact he was probably going to die a miserable/horrible death on some Emperor-forsaken planet for little other reason than stopping a bullet or two for the guy behind him.
Rather bleak.


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## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm couldn't help but wonder what the fug he was doing here, in all honesty he wished he was in his own company with his own people, Helghan's to be precise, because he knew he could count on them. But after he had gotten in that fight with his commanding officer he was lucky they transfered him here and didn't have the Commissars shoot him. Of course the only weapons the Quartermaster gave him were the standard issue lasgun, some frags, and a combat knife, he was sure that this was going to be one fun jaunt once the shit hit the fan.

Either way he was here to do a job and he would be damned if he didn't do it and do it well. His stance as he walked showed his martial pride but he also walked as if he hadnt a care in the world, something that was entirely not true because he had heard the rumors like everyone else. Bugs, and big ones at that, were rumored to be targeting this planet that they had been shipped to and he felt a little under equipped with his lasgun, combat knife and handful of grenades.

Another gaurdsman walking next to him spoke up,*"Well, who's up for being 'Nid-chow'?"* Shadihm chuckled, his respirator giving his voice a deep gravily tone, *"I don't think we have a choice my friend, we are the Emperor's Hammer, it is our lot to fight that which seeks to eat us."* He stuck his big gloved hand out toward the soldier, *"Name is Shadihm Radec, previously of the Helghan 52nd. You?"*


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## darkreever

Rikard spat to the side as he walked from the armoury; he longed for his old weapon, this one lacked the collapsible wire stock and stub barrel. It was as much a reminder of his sins as the marks on his flesh, nothing he could do about that now.

Listening to the chatter of some of the others, Rikard couldn't help but roll his eyes. Pushing past the Radec guy, Rikard called over his shoulder, _"to scared to keep your faith in the God-Emperor? Just say it now if your gonna up lay down and die when the shooting starts."_


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## blazinvire

Zac looked first to the soldier who'd introduced himself, smiling behind his respirator as he was glad to see someone else shared his humour.
He firmly grasped Shadihm's hand for a moment.
"The name's Zac, I'd say my middle name is 'Trigger' but I don't have a last name so it kinda ruins that," Zac said casually as he let go of Shadihm's hand to return to his lasgun out of habit, "No idea what company I'm from any more, they keep moving me around for some silly reason."

He then looked over at the guardsman who pushed ahead and half grinned.
"Lay down and die? Sounds boring, me I wanna at least empty all my mags and take ten shots before taking a dirt nap," Zac remarked, "Maybe nearly die once or twice to keep things interesting, not too much to ask right?"
It had gotten to the point with Zac that he figured he was living on borrowed time, luck and reflexes would only save him for so long so he wanted an epic death, at least epic for a guardsman anyway.

He pulled out a spare laspack and taped it to the side of his lasgun idly as he walked, an old habit to access his ammo faster since he had a legendary trigger finger. Nothing real legendary about his aiming though...
"Anyone want to have a competition? See who kills the most Nids or whatever?" Zac queried as he pulled out another laspack from somewhere on his person and taped it to his right arm.


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## darkreever

_"Just as long as you don't get the rest of us killed using up what little protection He-on-Earth can spare."_ Rikard shot back before rolling his eyes. _"What you gonna wager for this little competition of yours? Certainly not your ammo by the way you talk; 'scura or some tabac, now that'd be worth it."_ He said before his hand reflexively patted one of the pouches on his side and the craving started to put a dull ache in the back of his head.

He tried banishing the want, but some of the feeling lingered despite his effort.


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## blazinvire

He thought a moment on the subject of good ole 'scura or tabac perhaps, a common thing seen around the Imperium yet he'd never been the addict type.
"Pfft, what use is all that stuff anyway? We could all be dead in the next three seconds so we might as well be betting the air in our lungs," Zac said, "All of this war crap is getting kinda bleak, I figured a good ole competition would lighten things up a little. Whoever wins gets bragging rights eh?"

He kind of guessed that guardsman wouldn't be in any way interested, he seemed the serious type. Well there really weren't many kinds of guardsmen out there, so it wasn't hard to guess, either casual, serious or insane, all the others usually died off in the first few waves.
But there were a tonne of guardsmen in the area, he figured he could get a few into the competition, though how many would bother counting and how many would be panicking too much to count would be the real question.


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## FORTHELION

Another scythe just nicked the skin on his upper arm just as he whirled to the left to block another decapitating blow. Six servitors each with four blades against one marine with a chainsaw and combat knife. Now these were the odds belial liked though he was beginning to think he had bitten off a bit more than he could chew this time. 
His mind drifted back to Sotha and the terrible carnage caused by the tyranid scum. He felt the rage in his soul boil. Another blade cutting him just above the eye quickly brought him back to the battle in hand. With a howl of anger more fitting for a space wolf belial let his emotions well up and proceeded to hack apart the servitors all around him ignoring the stinging cuts being delt to his skin.
When the rage disapated and he looked around at the mangled metal he made a mental note to see brother chaplain amatus and speak of his trouble.


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## Deus Mortis

Solaki was just finishing cleaning the cooling chamber of his Las-cannon, while Davin inserted a fresh plasma cartridge. Slotting the final piece in place, he turned to Davin "I saw your shot this morning at battle practice. I can tell you've still got the bloody lucky aim you had back when we were assassins". Chuckling Davin turned and said "What about you, you crazy fool! I heard about you're "stunt" on Sotha. That was insane, you are just lucky that you survived".
"Well I wasn't going to stand there while it decimated my squad was I!" They both laughed at the others remarks. "So what squad have you been assigned to Davin?" 
"Squad Darthen. How about you?" 
"I don't know. Me and my sergeant were the only buggers lucky enough to escape our last "encounter" with the filthy xenos. We are waiting to be drafted into a a new squad" Solaki said making the final adjustments to his now clean Las-cannon. Both stood upright, pleased with the cleaning done on their weapons.
"I suppose we had better get to midday prayer"
"Yeah, I guess"
As they picked up their weapons, and walked down the hall, they reminisced about the battles during the Democles crusade.
Solaki joked to Davin "I bet you can't kill 5 bigguns!"
In reply Davin retorted "Really! What if I do?"
"I'll eat my left greave!"
"Your on!" They shook on it and laughed. Davin at the prospect of Solaki eating his left greave and Solaki because this was one of the rare moment he could forget the horrors of the past months and years. Solaki decided when he got to midday prayer he would offer up a prayer to his holiness to keep Davin safe. Emperor only knows how much more withdrawn he would become. Davin was one of the only people he could talk, and laugh with. After midday prayer, he would find out who his new squad mates would be. This was going to be fun!


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## BlackApostleVilhelm

Radec smiled at this new gaurdsman's remark, *"If I didn't have faith in him enthroned I wouldn't be here anymore, and yes Zac, I will take that wager. You don't have to bet anything but I happen to have a large amount of some homebrew that is so strong it will make you think you're a space marine."* He chuckled to himself.


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## DaafiejjXD

Back at the armory, Khrell was only given some grenades and ammo packs, as he insisted to keep his old weapons. The quartermaster agreed(mostly because that would spare him a lasgun) and soon joined up with some other guardsmen. He heard them talk about the 'nids, but he didn't give a damn how they look like, or how scary they were, only thing that mattered to him was learning about his new enemy. Suddenly one of the guardsmen asked who would be up for a competition 'nid killing. Khrell replied for the first time while he was with the others:" I hope the bigger ugly's count for two, challenge accepted" as he replied he had a big grin on his face, and he was patting his trusty ol' lasgun.


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## dark angel

Astelan felt his Bolter buck, a shrill howl being emitted as the explosive round was sent spiraling forth past the metallic barrier and into the scarred, sand covered firing range he was occupying. A synthetic body of one of the phony Tyranids was blown into a dozen places as the round dug deep into its shoulder, a tick following before it was engulfed in a bright flash. It had been to long since he had took to the ranges and it almost saddened him, knowing he had neglected his duties more than a Astartes should have. 

He gunned down another eight Tyranids when there was a dry click, signaling the time to reload. He let the magazine fall from its hold, a half ejected shell followed it along with the strong aroma of oil and metal. It bounced on the floor and the Astartes quickly pushed another into place. All within three seconds. He could usually do it within two however age was starting to gain upon him and he knew that before long he would be forced from active service unless he could make a recovery quickly.

He had adorned his full armour, wearing each piece like a part of his own flesh it was polished perfectly however the thing that stood out most was that each section came from a different Marine, salvaged equipment dating back several centuries. However Astelan was the last member of his Squad, there had been two however the other had been killed fighting against the Tau not to long ago and the Scythe held a deep grudge against them for this. 

He had exhausted his entire stockpile of ammunition now, and although he could always get more from the armoury he knew that the Bolt rounds were a precious thing to his Chapter, and thus he would leave training for today and seek out other ways to don his skills.


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## Necrosis

The heat was killing him. What had Vick done to deserve this? Had he offend the Emperor somehow? Was this a punishment for one of his past sin? Yet he had always served the Emperor faithfully. Maybe this was a test, a cruel test but a test non the less. He place his lasgun on his back and caught up with his squad. The others look so different from him and his regiment. He felt a bit like a mutant, as if he was different, unaccepted and should be killed. Yet he push those feelings aside and continue to walk with his squad at the back paying no real attention to them.


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## DaafiejjXD

Khrell noticed the guardsman walking at the back of the group, it was a man whose appearance was different from theirs, though not as different as a ogryn or ratling. Khrell saw that his face was heavy, like he was suffering. Khrell moved towards him, as he knew that the more you knew your squad mates, the better you can trust them. "Hey man, what planet are you from? I'm from the Metaxean system, not that there is much left there though. Almost everything was either killed or destroyed a few years ago, qhen a massive zombie like plague engulfed the system. My only famliy is the Imperial Guard now hahaha." Khrell laughed hard, it almost seemed as though what he just told was nothing more then a good story, though it was his recent history, and in no way good or joyfull.


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## unxpekted22

(i'll have little things like this from time to time aside form my major updates, I like what I'm seeing so far keep up the good work :so_happy

As Khrell moves back slightly to speak with Vick, another guardsman runs in the middle of the group and practically jumps on Zac and Shadihm hanging his arms around your necks saying loudly, "_You guys can bet all you want! We ain't gonna have to kill nothin! Havn't you heard? some of them 'Adoptus Estartes' are comin, space marines, angels a' death man. I ain't never seen one of them before, not in person at least. They'll kill everything for us. It was just one little ship that crashed right? It took a whole FLEET of those alien mother f***ers to even hurt that one group of 'em!_ _Come on Emperor buddy, let em come! Relax fellas, we're just here for the same reason you put a safety pin on your clothes, nothin!_"


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## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm gently took the gaurdsman's arm and pulled it off of him as he said,* "Of course we are here for a reason! Do you know how many of those bugs could be on that one ship?" * His voice was all seriousness and he stared hard at the soldier through his eyepieces. The soldier eventually became unnerved and Shadihm could tell by the look on his face that he was now nervous as hell, finally he couldnt take it anymore and broke out into laughter,* "I am joking my friend! Look at you, practically shit your pants!"*


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## blazinvire

Zac's reflexes were fortunately a little numb when he was casual, so he didn't really respond that violently to being crashed into by another guardsman and hung around the neck as he was informed of something.
The Space Marines... Supposedly 15 foot tall and can take a legion of foes on by himself, shakes off artillery shells like they were mosquito bites.
Good ole inflated rumours.

"Those Space Marines are here? Damn it! How am I going to be able to rack up any substantial kill count with those guys around?" Zac said in semi-seriousness with half a smile on his face, "Well, I for one still want to kill at least 100 of those xeno beggars, I'll give those Space Marines a run for their money!"
As absurd as it sounded, he did have probably twenty times more ammunition than an average Space Marine and a trigger finger that could nearly keep up with a heavy bolter on full-auto, there was a possibility.
Not to mention he could recharge his laspacks anywhere with a bit of time, Space Marines were a little stuck when their bolters ran out, as impressive as their weapons are.


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## darkreever

Spitting on the ground again, Rikard rolled his eyes at the newcomers statement. _"Space marines ain't nothing but talk, they don't exist or there'd be no need for the likes of us."_ He called back to the others. _"So don't worry about getting some kills, just worry about not getting everyone else killed."_


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## Euphrati

_Abominations of nature. A plague upon the galaxy._

It was the first thought that reared in Brother Niko’s mind as he stepped through the doors to the apothecarian ward aboard the Heart of Sotha. The strong scent of antiseptic unguents and balms greeted him in the cold blast of positive pressure that washed over the bare skin of his face and tugged at the dark saffron fabric of his tunic. The smells had become familiar over the years after Sotha as Niko found himself spending more and more time studying at the side of Brother Apothecary Alexander. The bond that had been forged between him and the white-clad Brother in those desperate hours of fighting through the vicious roving packs of xenos had only become stronger in the years after Niko attained full status as battle brother. 

Niko stepped fully into the chamber, the doors sliding shut behind him with a hiss of escaping gas. As was more often than not, Alexander was not the only on present within the white tiled room and Niko nodded to Brother Kyr, standing aside until the Apothecary finished with his ministrations upon the brother Scythe. Kyr had survived the last battle through sheer stubborn will, having suffered massive wounds from the tyranid hoards.

Niko’s grey eyes passed over the twisting scars across his brother’s bare torso before falling upon the data scrolling by in lines of pale green over the Apothecary’s shoulder,

‘Brother, Apothecary,’ Niko greeted each warrior in turn before turning back to Kyr, ‘Will you be joining us in the hunt again, Kyr? I am without doubt that your experience with the rogue tyrant will be invaluable,’ Niko paused knowing that the memories of the encounter would still be raw upon Kyr’s soul yet driven to find out as much as he could about the enemy and its strengths, ‘Is there anything that you could tell me about this beast we chase, brother? I have heard it is… different than those we have faced before.’


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## Necrosis

It seemed that he had caught the attention of another guardsmen who began to speak to him. He ask where Vick was from and told Vick a bit about himself. "Aye, my name is Vick, I come form Sigvius VI. It's an ice world. My family has served the Imperium for many generations. But the holy throne, is it hot here. I'm going to die due to this heat." said Vick as he watch one of the guardsmen run past him. He began to talk about space marines. He didn't know much about space marines. He heard that they were demi gods. Each able to kill a 1000 guardsmen and had the blood of the Emperor himself in them. "Back in my home planet it is considered the greatest honor to fight along side with them." said Vick as he began to wonder why they had arrived. Perhaps the Emperor was smiling down upon him.


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## unxpekted22

Guardsmen:

Another guardsman calls out to the one intervening in your conversation,_ "Get back over here ya' lunatic, your lucky the commissar ain't around."_

With that, the man leaves back toward his squad. You have all walked into the main camp now. Defenses are still being set up as the garrison of Ferim continues. For now, simple ground defenses have to suffice though, concentrating on the possible threat from the west. Chimeras with bulldozer blades work with workforce construction vehicles to design a strategic wall of defense into the dirt....trenches, bunkers, hills for turrets...

Your supposed to be finding the rest of your unit. There are a few companies around. You know your in the appropriate company section, but you need to find your platoon...and then the rest of your squad. Your platoon leader is the lieutenant. He will be able to tell you who your new squad sergeant is. 

Make your way down the dirt path through the construction and other guardsmen finding their units, that leads to the platoon leader's tent. As you walk take in your surroundings and continue getting to know each other. Some more about your backgrounds wouldn't hurt to make a good story or two. You will reach the tent when I update saying so. 

Scythes:

Arx, astelan, Belial, and Solaki: 

You are all in _The Heart of Sotha's_ monastery now, for your midday prayer. You soon shall get yet another chance to kill more tyranids. Though you all well know that what remains of your chapter will never be able to kill every last one of the aliens, each one that dies at your hands brings you such satisfaction that only a violent revenge can bring. Your chapter has managed to stay alive, and even has an apothecary left to preserve the gene-seed. What's more the Emperor has allowed you to track down this mutation of an already twisted and vile race and exact vengeance to a higher degree than usual.

In the monastery, all four of you, as well as most of the other brothers in the chapter that remain, are writing a new prayer for the coming mission on a large sheet of a more durable form of parchment. Each Brother is to bound by chain the parchment over their power armor's right shoulder pad for the mission on Ferim. Each writes to their fallen chapter brothers, to the damnation and extermination of the Tyranid race, and most of all to the Emperor who has kept them so blessed after such a tragedy. 

Your next post will be what your character writes down on his parchment.

Niko: 

Kyr immediately makes a disgusted noise, _"It seems more like a daemon than a Tyranid. It's a tyranid demon. There aren't many other chapters I can think of that have the experience in fighting tyranids that we do, and this one took out 12 of us with no problems."_

Alexander replies first, _"Tell me again what it had that made it so devastating of a form. did you recognize any of the known bio-morphs?"_

Kyr looks at him without blinking, _"It had nearly everything I can think of Brother. Scythes, talons, claws, wings, a bladed tail, huge tusks upon its jaw, the thickest hide I have ever seen on a tyrant, and I am sure plenty of smaller ones I did not get the chance to notice.....what is most important though, is that it can feel pain. our bolter rounds did no major damage but it felt pain when we lit it up."_

Alexander again, _"Good, then there is a way to kill it. A body, especially one of tyrnaid nature I am sure, only needs to feel pain if there is something the body needs to be warned about. Pain tells your body it is in danger, as I am sure you both know as well as myself. If its body could never be in danger, then it would likely feel no pain and would not have flinched when your bolter rounds struck its backside."_

Kyr looks at you, _"We should get going to the monastery to write our prayers with the rest of them."_

He gets up quickly and leaves, wanting to write down his hatred for the monster while it is still fresh in his mind.

Give your leave to Alexander, he is not coming to the monastery because he will not be going down to Ferim unless needed. The chapter cannot risk his life. Follow Kyr to the monastery and write your prayer as described to the other scythe players.


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## Concrete Hero

_By the Light of His power, our Enemies will fall
For our fallen Brothers
For the Imperium
Brother Sergeant Cassius
Brother Logan
Brother Nikolai
Brother Marcus
Brother Sarius
Brother Theron
Brother Thule
Brother Carmine
Brother Apollo
And all of our lost Brothers
Your Souls will be avenged, the Honour of our Chapter will be restored
I take to the field of battle in His name
To smite our foes with glorious Justice
With roaring chansword and purifying Melta
I will fall upon our enemies in a Righteous Storm of Fury!
I deliver His will and We The Scythes of the Emperor will not be stopped
Not until every abomination is slain
For we are Space Marines
And We Know No Fear
For the Emperor_​


Arx finished off the parchment by etching a stylised pair of crossed Scythes under the message. He was ready for battle.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

"Oi! It sure is a mess here, they still haven't got anything up and running. Well, Metaxea prime is much worse now, it's more like a dead world now, one were the dead are still restless......" said Khrell as his smile turned into a mournful face. " Hey vic, ever had to kill your own family? It ain't nice, even when what once was your family turns in mindless, blood craving zombies who try to kill you. And imagine all of that, but then when you were 13..... Then you will know what it is to be me." as Khrell finished his sentence he looked to the west noticing the chimera's and builders, and he knew that were fortifications were the thickest, the real fighting would be at the exact opposite place........


----------



## dark angel

Astelan knelt next to a Brother-Scythe who had a pair of short swords crossed into a X upon his back. A piece of brown coloured writing paper was placed before him a ink and quill rested next to it, the quill’s angular point pressed into it. Upon the paper was a paragraph of drying ink, his personal prayer to the fallen. He looked down and muttered it beneath his helm.

_In His name.
Those who have fallen will be remembered.
Avenged.
The Xeno shall fall under Bolter and Chainsword.
We are Angels of Death.
And they shall know the true meaning of this.
Die in glory, with honour and might. 
For the Emperor._

He looked up and searched the expanse for his Brothers, knowing each Marine by name and some by battle he wished them luck in the coming battle.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki knew it was unaccustomed to see a space marine shed a tear but at these memories came back to him, he allowed a single tear to fall onto the parchment. As he wept for the fallen, he wrote his prayer.

For his cause, they fell
_Nostrum frater pereo per veneratio_
We will avenge them with righteous fury
_Nullus vadum subterlabor censura ut est advenio_
We are the Angels of Death, his will is our duty
_Nos tutela suus regnum_
Though we are few in number, we are mighty in spirit
_Sulum nostrum est an exercitus in suus vox_
We shall all fall before giving a single step to the enemy
_Vires quod veneratio_
For the Emperor!
_Pro Imperator!_

As the final tear fell, he etched the initials of his fallen brothers underneath and drew an agies underneath the prayer. He was done, now all that remained was to meet his new squad and prepare for the drop.


----------



## Necrosis

Vick began to think about Khrell past. Never did Vick had to do something like that. His family was a proud family. To kill them would destory everything he stood for. He had to much pride to do such a thing. He hated thinking about such a thing. He decided to ignore those ideas and continue to move forward, looking for the lieutenant so he would know where to find his sergeant. Then he could start this mission and make his family proud.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Vick became silent after Khrell told him about what happened to his family. Khrell saw that it was a bit too much for Vick at the moment. Khrell said: "Don't feel sorry about me, what happened can't be changed. If all of that didn't happened I wouldn't be here now, fighting for the emperor, and perhaps dying in such a glorious way, it will make my family's name proud again! So don't think about my past, and what happened. We should think about saving the lives of millions upon millions citizens of the imperium! All of that can be achieved if we succeed in destroying that Tyranid and all of the filthy abominations that it made! Do you all hear that?! All of you?! We should put our faith in the emperor and smite those filthy xenos! May the emperor be with us, and help us fulfill our goal! Are you with me?! I said are you with me?!" 

A lot of guardsmen heard his rant and they all were shouting things about smiting xenos and things like:For the emperor!. Khrell knew he had to lift everybody's spirits, a hard lesson he learned on Metaxae prime, when he and fellow survivors were beset by hordes of the undead and they almost lost hope. A similar speech saved his and their lives then, and he was sure this would save them again......


----------



## FORTHELION

As Belial entered the monestary his heavy heart lifted at the sight before him. battle brothers in full armour deep in prayer to the all father and writing their personal oaths. he walked over and knelt beside brother solaki giving him a brief nod and set about his own oaths.

Praise to the all father,
and the imperium of man
for my brothers in arms
and for my brothers fallen
i do solemnly swear to avenge thy deaths
in all that i do i will avenge thee
pro imperator

Now he thought the talking and praying is done now is the time for action. Smiling to himself he was ready for battle.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac paused for a moment as he wandered about the defences, straining his eyes to look around for someone who looked important. Rather hard with so much stuff going on and so many guardsmen moving about, trying to identify ranks from this mess was going to be annoying.
He thought about calling out but didn't want to get a scolding from the local commissar about military etiquette or whatever and how he couldn't identify a superior officer. Commissars were never much fun to be around.

If he were a superior officer where would he be...?
In a command tent! Of course!
"Man, all those battles on Sargon V really got my head on backwards," Zac laughed, "The old lieutenants didn't used to have tents. Though I must say, the half gravity was actually kind of fun, we could jump out of Valkyries from twice the height and hit the ground running fine. Or a dozen or so guardsmen could carry a Chimera around, and the heavy weapons teams were ridiculous, you ever seen a guardsman run full pelt firing a lascannon?"
Like before he never really aimed his conversation at anyone in particular, though he was intending for Shadihm to hear it too.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm laughed at Zac's comment as they searched for a commanding officer, *"I can only imagine what it would be like to fight in such conditions. The only battles I have ever been in were all bombed out urban landscapes, I tell you there is no other high greater then fighting building to building against an opponent. Not knowing who or what is around the next corner but blasting them away when they stick their heads out for a peek." *the zealousness in his voice showed his love for this type of combat and Shadihm could tell Zac didnt understand, *"My people, we grew up fighting in urban areas, and that is what we specialize in in the gaurd regiments. So I guess you could say I am a little out of my element in this."* he motioned to the grass and trees and plant life that could be seen outside of the camp.


----------



## darkreever

_"Might as well forget those frakkers then."_ Rikard cut in as Radec spoke to one of the others in their squad. Of them all, Rikard just couldn't get himself to feel anything but dislike for the man he had only just met in these last few days. _"Cold hard fact, you ain't ever gonna see them again. Might as well get that fact in your head now and move on, you all should get to doing that."_ He finished, stopping his movement and simply looking around for their squad sergeant.

Hopefully their leader, whoever he might be, won't seem so green; not that Rikard could honestly blame any of the others in the squad. They *had* been taken from their regiments, their people, and been forced to form a new unit alongside strangers who you didn't know and for all it mattered couldn't trust to have your back in a fight. Emperor alone knew what they were going to have to do in order to become a decent unit.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm bristled at the guardsman's comment, this man seemed intent on starting a fight with him, but he laughed at him instead before saying,*"I'm sorry but I dont remember your name, you seem to think that you are above us all so please since you grace our presence tell us your name."*_ He chuckled again to make light of the situation but if this man started a fight he was going to be in for a serious beating, and if that was what needed to happen for this new squad to be able to mesh then so be it. It was the Helghan way to solve your probelms up front so that they didnt come back to bite you in the arse once the shit hit the fan and bullets were flying.

But if this idiot were to keep going in front of their squad then he was definately fresh meat for sure, to jeapordize their teams moral in a useless argument was the sign of the utmost selfishness and only new soldiers did this, that was why Shadihm had stopped himself from saying anything else. He had said enough to get his point across for the man not to fuck with him and if he didnt take the hint then he truly was a fool to be laughed at._


----------



## darkreever

Wheeling around Rikard couldn't keep the anger from his face. _"The name is Rikard, and you listen well frag head. We ain't ever seeing our own people ever again, there's no point in dwelling on that part of our lives. The sooner you lot realize and understand that, the sooner we all start trying to be a squad. It ain't gonna happen if all we do is dwell on what was, even it its gonna haunt us till death takes us and the Emperor passes final judgment."_ He finished, looking away from Radec as he did.

His final words, though he didn't say it, were directed to himself more than anyone else. _"There's nothing to laugh about, for all it matters we are no better than a bunch'a raw recruits. Our pasts don't matter, just that we work together and not get the squad killed because we couldn't. You all seem more intent on talking about what was and will never be again rather than what needs to be."_ Rikard added, gripping his lasgun and clenching his jaw 'till his knuckles turned white and mouth hurt.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm shook his head at Rikard, the man apparently believed that he dwelled on the thoughts of his people and his home all the time, well that was obviously a wrong assumption. He could tell that there was something haunting Rikard and would push the matter if they were alone but he decided not to instead all he said in a clear calm tone was, *"I for one do not dwell on the past, I remember and honor it and learn from it, that is all. To do any more would lead into what you think we are doing, my main concern is and always will be the battles ahead and what needs to be done." * His voice was hard as always but he had toned it down to keep Rikard from doing anything stupid, Throne this man had emotional issues. 

Shadihm just told himself that some people weren't cut out for a long career in the Imperial Gaurd and this was the result of someone who had a hard time dealing with it. He didn't care, as long as Rikard could be trusted to cover their asses in combat he was fine having him in the squad.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

"Wow!" Khrell said suddenly "That guy, what's his name..... ow yes that Rikard, he really has emotional problems doesn't he? I am keeping an eye on him, to make sure he won't do stupid things. Anyways, Shadihm, good how you handled him. If you would've said anything more, I doubt Rikard would've been able to control his anger. Best to keep peace in the squad don't ya think?" Khrell liked the way Shadihm reacted to Rikard, for Shadihm too knew that the future would decide who lived and died, who got glory dan who didn't, just the way Khrell thought....


----------



## darkreever

Rolling his eyes, Rikard turned to Khrell, the loudmouth from what he could tell. _"If your going to talk about someone behind their back, might be a good idea to wait until their back is actually turned; and not being so loud about it might help as well."_

Deciding it was time for a change, Rikard looked around at the various guardsman. _"So any clue where our CO is? Standing here measuring who's the right soldier ain't gonna make us into a working unit. Better to get in the thick of it sooner than later; Emperor be willing."_


----------



## deathbringer

The memories haunted my dreams. I knew them to be dreams for they had plagued my thoughts in a recurrent circle, stopping... repeating... stopping.... restarting. A never ending nightmare of recurrence from which I could not escape. The dreams always stopped for a fleeting second, a taunting moment of bliss before the inevitable resurgence of emotion, crushing all hope of escape as once again I was pressed against the side of the huge bird, clinging to the smooth icy surface of the mantas hull. 

_ I clung as if his life depended upon it... yet it did... for every time a gargoyle lost his balance and fell tumbling one of the mighty guns twisted to track its descent leaving a hail of bullets and a smoking holed carcass to descend towards the ground. We scratched at the cold hard metal with our claws and I felt the bones of my fist melding, lengthening into a huge projection upon the end of my fist. A long sword developed from my own bone. It crackled with a live power and I raised my fist to strike. The metal buckled under the blow and a loud reverberation sent a shock wave through my body and I felt my grip sliding, slipping away and i tightened my fingers and felt the talons slid into the metal as I struck it again with the tip of the bone and i felt it give, opening a small hole into the manta and i pulled the metal aside and the gargoyles flooded in. We cleansed the ship, tearing apart the scum that fled terrified through the corridors and silenced the sirens that made screeching wails of protest against our progress as we sated our hunger in blood and flesh.

Yet it was not enough, we were insatiable as the manta drifted aimlessly at a trajectory I couldn’t control. They followed us upon the ground, my children chasing me devouring as they went. Yet the flesh began to dry up and they were surrounded… barren wasteland ahead and barren wasteland behind. The hunger grew and the tension mounted and though I struggled to keep them in check… to find a way to get us all out of this alive… suddenly they snapped. The carnifex fell upon the gaunts tearing apart flesh in a flurry of frantic clawing that tore limbs asunder in sprays of claret gore. Above I watched suspended in horror as the hunger overtook them as the lictor and the ravenors fell upon the carnifex’s turned back as he lowered his head to savor the meat and he turned tossing them asunder as blood spilled down the rivets of his back from deep puncture wounds in his side. 

Rippers swarmed over the corpses and I dived my own hunger which I had held upon the edge of madness broke and as the lictor slashed once more and feel under the weight of the rippers which began to devour his twitching body I dived and the gargoyles dived with me yet I was quicker more powerful and I fell upon the ripper swarm crushing them beneath my feet.

I was trying to pull them away, free the spasming body of the lictor as the life drained from its bleeding lips… but suddenly the desire for flesh was overwhelming as the blood wafted into my nostrils enflaming my brain in a searing burn of desire and then I too was tearing at the lictor’s limbs. Devouring them in my jaws, snapping bones with fang and talon and it became a feeding frenzy as the carnifex was pulled down and the rippers swarmed over his carcass. I sated my hunger upon the flesh of the rippers as they swelled with the biomass of the slaughter and though my stomach was full I could see that I must store all the strength possible for the manta was drifting further away to the edge of my vision and though my sated gargoyles flocked to it when the carcasses were bare, merely skeletons yellowing in the sun, I moved on. Pushing forward looking for more. I flew over passes, following a subconscious tug that pulled me down paths I felt I knew. 
I was pulled towards a tunnel and the memories returned and I entered it, forcing my way through the shifting rock. Pushing through the passage that I had once created with claw and tooth as I fought to survive. Every inch stank of my fight for air… of my duel with death… with fate to save my children.

I reached the cavern in which I had taken my first breath… the place of my birth, the place of my mother’s murder. Her body was gigantic, yet crushed by rubble and rocks she looked pathetic, her broken form shapeless and lifeless and I carefully pulled her from the rubble and I felt a wash of sadness, a small slap that knocked me backwards a single step yet my hunger, my need to survive forced me forward… forced me to lower my head and tear a strip of flesh from the crippled body. Slowly, with ceremonial precision I devoured as much of her corpse as I could, my final fitting tribute to her memory, before moving slowly from the cavern and soaring through the open air once more.

As I closed in upon the manta I looked down to see a small pool of water and though my body trembled with waves of tiredness and drowsiness threatened to engulf me, I paused as something caught my eye. Upon my belly, tiny sacs, growths developing swelling with a life of their own and I moved flying fast towards the manta as my body began to shut itself down and I felt my eyelids drooping as the hole in the manta grew, swelling from a tiny dot to a gaping maw in the sides. Though I noticed the cracks sprouting with a fleshy substance I ignored it and stumbled inside. I took three steps as my claws gently felt the tiny sacks that stood upon my stomach before I collapsed as my conscious mind surrendered itself to the world of dreams.
It could have been months, years or decades when I awoke, I do not know but I awoke to find a living, breathing, slumbering mass of bodies lying around me, an insatiable hunger gnawing at my stomach and a dim light far above me. _

Once again I stir yet now I felt no confusion for I knew what was happening. I was creating new children and thus insuring the survival of my race, yet to produce no brothers I had to sleep, press all my strength into the creation and thus when I awoke upon a new planet I was forced to move quickly. To attack without mercy and to regain my strength before moving on and thus swell my forces. 

Now as I stir once more my forces are swelling and the hunger has returned, stronger than ever before. The manta is no longer recognizable for it has been distorted to my needs, growing outwards, spreading, bloating as we bring back the spoils of our wars. For we have left many a world upon the brink of collapse, shredding apart its defences with short, precise attacks and now as I uncoil and stretch into the light I know that I have landed upon a new world, and that I am about to release hell. For I am to weak to take to the field once more and thus I must fight my wars through my children. They obey me and fear me for I am the hive mind, the hive mind that must survive.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm patted Zac's shoulder to signal for him not to answer Rikard's remark before answering the soldier's last question, *"I have no idea who our CO is, but I agree with you Rikard, we need to get into battle and soon. I didn't come here to sit around and wait for the enemy to attack me."* The edginess in his voice could be heard even through his respirator, he wanted to start fighting, the more they waited the more of the enemy there was likely to be.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

(@ Blackapostlevilhelm: Was that pat intended for zac, or Khrell at which Rikard's last statement was pointed?)
"Isn't that our CO?" Khrell said as he pointed to a officer with a khaki cap on, and the number 32 on his shoulder pad. "We ARE the 32nd after all." Khrell said with a grin.

"Ow and Rikard, I am sorry for talking behind you're back. I just kinda "forgot" what it is to have people around, as I've spend the last 2 years by my self, on a planet full of undead.. So accept my apologies, and let's start over." Khrell stuck out his hand to Rikard "The last thing we need now is unrest in our squad......"


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

You finally reach the officers' tent and find the man with the appropriate number insignia that designates him as the lieutenant of the 6th platoon.

He is standing firm, looking at a map of some sort and appears greatly frustrated, slightly red in the face and eyebrows narrowed.

Your goal is to ask him who and where your squad sergeant is. approach him and find out. (I will reply for him as quickly as I see the questions come in)

Scythes:

Later on in the same day, your commanding brother, Sotha calls for an extra large evening feast. He informs you that you will be landing on Ferim the next morning, as that is when _the Heart of Sotha_ will be in distance to fly thunderhawks down. You will be landing in the city of Volspire. he explains to you what I explained to the Guard in their first update, about what the city is undergoing and what the Imperium's future plans are for it. 

Whatever the Imperium's goals for Ferim, he made clear, are not the goals of the chapter as you are all well aware. You all are here for revenge. The mutant Hive Tyrant that has landed on the world soon to be below you, has personally killed several brothers of the already diminished chapter. It has found a way to reproduce more Tyranid. It may well be considered a miniature hive fleet, but none of you expect any of your brothers to suggest calling for support. This is your chapter's _Personal_ vengeance and continued contribution to the Emperor and his galaxy. Even if you could not win this fight, each one of you would go down fighting the Tyranid filth until your last breath. 

The next morning you each wake at 0400. Within the hour all of the Scythes who are to land on Ferim put their full war gear on, and strap the newly made prayers onto your right shoulder guards. 

While getting your gear together a brother marine comes to each of the five of you and tells you he is assigned to be your sergeant. This marine is Brother Tobias. You all know him well of course, like the rest of your remaining chapter. Tobias was promoted to a sergeant position after personally protecting Sotha (the marine) who was next in line as leader of the chapter while evacuating their home world. He still prefers using his scoped bolter as a weapon however, being an excellent marksman with it. 

He explains to you that all of the squads will be going to Ferim in groups six. Each squad had been assigned to make the units as versatile as possible given the shortage of numbers. For this reason, your squad includes two marines with bolters for medium ranged combat (Astelan and Tobias), a former devastator squad las-canon specialist for long range and anti armor, (Solaki), two mid to close range combatants, one having a good knowledge of medical treatment if a squad member gets wounded (Belial former and Niko the latter) and one close combat and assaulting specialist, (Arx).

You and another squad are to be joining with Sotha, as he is now accustomed to Tobias being his support and security. 

Finish getting your gear together and meet up with each other and Tobias in the designated Thunderhawk 

(I had to cut this update into two parts. You'll be on Ferim soon enough)

Tyrant:

The ship, the other Tyranids and your own senses tell you there is something near, organisms coming to your vessel's location. Oh how sweet this information is. Some planets you have landed on you have had to let plant life suffice for your hunger. But living flesh is so much more satisfying. Not to mention it endangers your life more than most plant organisms. So it makes sense to kill the meat-based first. 

You can hear crashing sounds, the falling of large trees being toppled to the ground, somewhat lessening the thickness of jungle around your crashed Manta bio-ship. You smell something you have caught scent of before, smoke, but not from the trees burning. It is the scent of oil burning. HUNGER! you can't take it anymore, throw your children at them, have the rippers consume as fast they can...there is no time to waste.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac wasn't one for strict policies or whatever but he did know who to respect and how to show it. And probably more importantly _when_ to show it, considering his lax behaviour, otherwise he probably would have met the business end of a Commissar's pistol a long time ago.
Then again he was threatened with it enough.

He looked upon the visage of a man he could relate to: a frustrated leader, clear enough from his designation and expression, so Zac summed up his relative best behaviour.

"Reporting squad assignment sir," Zac said with a casual salute to the platoon leader, enough formalities to show his respect, but he didn't waste time returning to his normal demeanour.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki attached his right shoulder guard, tied his prayer through the small incision he had made, and fixing the shoulder support onto the shoulder pad. On his left shoulder pad there was a carefully and lovingly engraved pair of scythes, Solaki's pride and joy. Merely thinking about the xenos scum made his blood boil. They had claimed enough of his brothers, he would make sure his squad mates survived. As he slid on his helmet over his head, he made an oath with himself to keep them safe, whatever the cost. As he walked out of his chambers, he said on thing "Death or Glory", and departed for his assigned Thunderhawk...


----------



## FORTHELION

The time had arrived belial was ready. Locking his helmet in place and muttering one last liturgy he rose to his feet nodded to a statue of the emperor kissed his aquila and headed for the door. As he exited his quarters he heard brother Solaki leaving his room and saying "death or glory". He responded death or glory brother, joined him and headed for the thunderhawk together.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell saluted the lieutenant as well, and asked "Sir, do you know who our squad leader is, sir!"Khrell let his salute down, and now was standing next to Zac.

When he noticed the map on the table, which was a map of the area where they were. There were some lines scribbled on the map, and a lot of signs. From what he could make up of it, they were expecting the enemy from the west, so that was heavily reinforced. 

But in the south, he saw a hole on the defenses, an old mining tunnel. No doubt that it was abandoned and sealed, but still....... No guardsmen in that area....... He could not tell it to the officer, for he would surely be punished for correcting an officer............


----------



## unxpekted22

Lieutenant: he yells his replies in a loud confident agitated tone, speaking to Khrell first, "Looks like you see some holes in the defense private! Well, so do I, not only this damn tunnel but the way these hills are set up! What the hell are my commanders thinkin!?"

He then turns to Zac, "Did you say squad assignment!? Are you telling me you five are supposed to be in a squad together!? You look like nothing!! Have you boys even _been_ in a warzone before? Or am I about to get slaughtered trying to save all your grass eating asses!? I have to be up there fighting with you unlike the smart officers who made this defense plan! I'm not putting you with an NCO until I see a squad!"


----------



## darkreever

_"Sir!"_ Rikard yelled before stepping forward and putting himself between the lieutenant and Zac and Khrell. _"Don't mind them so much sir; its the prospect of getting hauled from our regiments and getting dumped together."_ He said while standing at attention.

_"We might not look it sir, but we are a unit and the sooner we are assigned a leader the sooner we can be whipped into a more respectable one sir."_ Inwardly, the only real thought rolling through Rikard's mind was how soldiers like Zac and Khrell had survived any period of time, especially when they seemed to have no respect for a superior officer.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac had an unimpressed expression on his face, he was expecting quite a different response and was none too pleased with the fact that the lieutenant completely ignored his question simply to just scold him for something random.
Pressures of the job, Zac could understand but quite frankly, Zac himself had showed some restraint when he was in charge of something like this.

He also found it rather appalling the lieutenant could ask him if he's seen a warzone before, considering Zac's age, what exactly did the lieutenant think he's been doing all his life?
Zac just shrugged and tossed the matter aside.

"Get a hold of yourself sir, anger won't help anyone," Zac said coolly, "I've been in your shoes before, and it never helped me."
With any luck the lieutenant would be smart enough to realise the truth in his words, otherwise Zac would have pull his famous excuse on the local Commissar so he didn't get shot.


----------



## unxpekted22

update for all guard:

The lieutenant's face began to show some content with Rikard's words, only to be snarled into a rage with Zac's.

"_Get a hold of myself?_, I think I'll take a hold of something else!"

the lieutenant throws the map down onto the table, but it floats away from the table edge and drops toward the dirt ground. He outstretches his arm, grasping Zac by the throat. While holding Zac's throat in his hand, he carries Zac out form under the tent and throws him head first into the recently shifted, loose dirt.

"Anger won't help anyone!? Are you kidding me? How the hell else do you think we survive the shit this galaxy throws at us? You don't think I should be angry at being taken away from _MY_ old regiment just to be in charge of a platoon on a garrison world that the Munitorum has seen fit to send me novice soldiers to defend it with!? If you cant get yourself, and get your little squad to give a simple, proper alignment and salute to receive your orders then how the hell can I depend on you to do anything right in combat!?"

He then turns away from all of you and yells to a Guardsman not too far in the distance, telling him to come over to the tent. 

lieutenant: "Well Merth looks like these boys will be the rest of your squad in addition to the five I gave you earlier. Now get 'em out of my sight before I shoot them myself, and have them join with the others. That'll be all sergeant!"

the lieutenant then turns back toward his table, picks up his map and begins studying it once more shaking his head left and right.

Sergeant Merth salutes the lieutenant and faces you all, Zac still getting up and recollecting himself, "Alright boys your in squad 17 of the platoon. follow me to the barracks."

You all follow him to the barracks and into your sleeping quarters where the other five men of the unit already sit, Merth leaves. they all sit in silence staring at the five of you as you enter. None open their mouths to you first. Initiate conversation.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

"Hey guys, has the lieutenant raged against you guys to? Man, he sure was angry. Looks like the high commanders have given him a, well not a good set up at best." Khrell looked around the room, when he thought to himself: Man, this squad really is an unorganized bunch, maybe Rikard was right afterall.........


----------



## blazinvire

Zac had to admit he wasn't really expecting what followed, the lieutenant had become irrational and now Zac was lying outside on the dirt, even more unimpressed if at all possible.
He folded his arms and stared at the sky from the ground for a few moments, contemplating whether or not to go back in there and give the lieutenant what for, Zac had been cheating death enough he was a notch above a dead-man-walking anyway.

But he took a deep breath and let out a sigh, casting his anger aside as he had never needed it before, and simply stood up to follow his new sergeant.
At least he'd finally been assigned to bloody squad, quite an effort.

Zac casually wanders over and slumps into a seat, his somewhat cheerful demeanour had disappeared for the time being.
"Dunno why everyone is so damn serious about all this shit, we're all gonna wind up dead for little to no reason anyway, regardless of what anyone thinks," Zac said a little sourly, his mind wandering back to the time when he'd been temporarily put in charge of a great many guardsman due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time when the lieutenant died.
Fortunately he wasn't in charge for more than a day, but that was enough for him to get a true taste of what it was like to see your comrades in the same respect one would view bullets.
The memory was a sour one, hence his mood change, and he was thoroughly hoping something big and dangerous would rip into the barracks and attack them rather than the scolding he was about to receive.
He hated scoldings, they always sounded condescending as if the person scolding him knew better than he did.
But how exactly can you know better than that all guardsmen are doomed to a nigh-meaningless existence anyway? All these formalities and propaganda whose only reason is to make the guardsmen feel better, like their lives actually had a purpose in the grand scheme of things.


----------



## darkreever

Putting his it down on one of the bunks, Rikard slumped down next to it with a slight sigh. He had risked putting himself on the line for those other two and Zac just had to frak it up for them all; that didn't bode well for any of them. Listening to what else Zac and Khrell had to say, Rikard just had to light up one of the tabac sticks he had in his webbing; the small thing would do well to calm nerves.

_"Just stow it Khrell, we got CO's for a reason and its not to treat 'em like the rest of us. They take charge, we follow and show some damned respect; we are all gonna die, all that matters is when."_ He said, the last comment aimed at Zac specifically. Blowing out a puff of blueish smoke, Rikard turned his head to the other soldiers in the barracks with them. _"So what're your collective stories? Dragged from five more regiments and as disrespectful as that pair?"_


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx had risen early, dressed in full battle regalia and prepared to move out before he was required. He'd fixed the fluttering Oath to one of his oversized assault shoulder guards.

Brother Tobias had passed by before, informing him of the new squad details and when they were departing.

Arx had made efforts to be the first Brother at the Thunderhawk. The large marine stood arms crossed in the hanger, fearsome chain sword magnetically fixed to his power back, Melta gun snapped to his side. Framed between the thick shoulder pads, the grilled Crusader helm regarded the hanger. He felt a small inward sigh

-_Always early_...-


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm was absolutely appalled at the actions of Khrell and Zac towards the lieutenant. He understood the reason for the officer's anger and had been content to allow Rikard to stand up for them but these two had no respect drilled into them apparently. Once they reached the barracks he came up behind the two of them and slapped them both on the backs of their heads, *"What the hell was that? I don't care if our officer shows no damn emotion you show some damned respect."*


----------



## blazinvire

Zac's knuckles cracked as his fist clenched tightly, requiring a fair degree of self control to stop him from hitting Shadihm back, he knew it'd only make things worse and he just wanted to cool off for the time being.

"Respect... you're all upset because it didn't look like I showed respect huh? What a load of crap," Zac grumbled, shifting on his bed to take his lasgun apart to check on its general maintenance, "I used to be a good little lapdog of a soldier, always running around and shouting and saluting fiercely, but then I discovered something at the bottom of a pit buried in the corpses of my comrades: There's no point to it, you only need to follow orders and take your share of enemy bullets, and that's it."
"And Shadihm, don't ever hit me again. If you've ever been in that lieutenant's shoes you might have noticed a grain of wisdom in what I said," Zac said, not bothering to detail any threats, just leaving it open for people to assume.

Zac was a man with little fear left, after being dragged around the Imperium to face some of the more hideous aspects of this war, and discovering all the intricacies about guardsmen.
Why should he bother getting scared? He was a man who didn't fear death, and if he didn't fear that, then this galaxy really didn't seem so bad.
It was the fear of death that kept all these guardsmen fighting, kept them all in line and obedient, probably one of the reasons people could never adjust to Zac, except maybe his old regiment. They'd managed to get along with Zac after awhile, and because of that Zac was able to enjoy his life so far, as grim as it was.
Now he had to break in another regiment, great.


----------



## Necrosis

Vick had remained quiet for a long time. He was seeing how the rest of the squad was handling the situation. Yet now he felt that he should step in. "You know Zac, it's that kind of attitude that leads people to damnation and the ruinous powers of chaos. Your attitude is going to get all of us executed. I don't know how your treated your superior officers from your regiment but this is a different regiment now. That means they have different rules. So until you die so some respect. Or people here might get the idea your a follower of the dark gods." said Vick in a slightly annoyed voice. He didn't fear death but he feared to bring dishonor to himself and to his family.


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard: 

Before any of you can continue, one of the other five men interrupts responding to the questions asked towards them.

"Turns out our story is one in the same. We're all from the same hiveworld. Don't ask how, we wont tell." his tone is mischievous.

he walks over to Zac, the other four still saying nothing, just staring cold. Due to what just happened with the lieutenant none of you really noticed their staring until now. 

he says to Zac, "Show some disrespect to the lieutenant huh?" he then nods with a slight of a smile, and pads Zac on the shoulder hard before turning to all of you again.

"Look I'm gonna cut right tot he chase here, I dont know if we like being put together with anyone outside of our uh, gang, see?"

he turns to his companions, "Do we like working with people outside of our gang boys?"

they all shake their heads no, some speaking the word as well.

"especially a bunch of amateurs," he continues cracking his knuckles. sounds like you guys dont like eachother too much, that'll make things easy for us. you guys are either gonna do everything we say, find a new squad, or die before we even see battle on this damn planet."

Without further warning, he throws a punch into Zac's face. The other four gang members all charge you simultaneously. they want to make sure you understand "no" will not be an option. two of them jump onto Rikard, one pushing over his cot and pinnig him down while the other begins kicking at his side.

One goes after Vick coming at him with a kick first, pushing him hard into the wall behind him. Shadihm manages to tangle arms with his opponent.

Khrell, your the only one free of an opponent, the five of you may not all like eachother but you need to help someone.

The rest of you, fend off your opponents the best you can by yourself but these guys are way more used to brawls than any of you. Khrell decide who to help first and do so.


----------



## darkreever

With a yelp Rikard hits the ground and something big jumps on him, pinning him to the floor while someone starts to ram a boot into his side. Gritting his teeth, Rikard wiggles and arm free and grabs the man on top of him by the hair, pulling him in close and slamming his head into the other guy's nose.

_"Fraggin' lowlife scum!"_ He yells through grit teeth while hammering a fist into the face of the man pinning him. All the while trying to bear the pain of the other man's kicks before he changes tactics to help the other little fragger. 

_"Dammit whoever's free give me a hand with these women!"_ Rikard calls out, it dawning on him that someone is likely doubling up on someone else and leaving these two for him. Not that he would have complained had his eyes not been shut and he laying down when someone jumped him.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac at first looked up at the soldier who appeared to be smiling at him, the fact that he wasn't angry or brooding like the rest of them because of Zac's behaviour definitely roused his suspicions.
People _never_ liked Zac straight away, unless they somehow miss all his interactions with superior officers, in which case they might befriend him very fast.

But right now Zac was rather uncomfortable with what the man was saying, the cracking of knuckles definitely put him on edge but he wasn't quick enough when the time came.
A fist met his face and damn near broke his nose, flinging him backwards a little more than it should have. One thing a fighter can't avoid is a true counterattack regardless of experience, the soldier had made the mistake of not attacking Zac whilst he was unprepared. Sure his lasgun was currently in several pieces but soldiers didn't get to Zac's age purely by pulling triggers and ducking at convenient moments.

As he was sent rolling backwards, his legs flung up and wrapped around the soldier's outstretched arm in a reflexive counterattack, folding it painfully and slamming him down against the bed from the force applied.
Zac tore his knife from his sheath and whirled back, pressing the flat harshly against the soldier's neck.
"Twitch and you get a new orifice," Zac threatened immediately, before adding, "I'm having bad day today so I don't feel like playing fair, and I'm pretty sure I made it clear I don't like being hit. If you don't want to trust me, fine, I don't care, I just want to get out on the field and do my job of dying for the Emperor, so you can kill me _after_ the enemy has! Are we clear?"

Zac was quite willing to slit the guy's throat if anyone tried to attack him, he'd gladly face the local Commissar after ridding the Imperium of a useless brat like the one he'd pinned, so he was hair-triggered with the knife pressed close. But quite frankly he could probably do a lot more damage to the enemy with a loaded lasgun than a knife to a 'comrade', he'd allow a peaceful resolution if there was one, if only to let him die on the front lines like he had asked.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell saw that Rikard was in the most trouble, and ran directly at the man who was kicking Rikard. "Two against one just isn't fair is it?" and kicked the guy straight in the face, after which the guy fell on the ground, then Khrell immediately punched the guy in his face, with such a strength that his nose broke upon impact. He kept punching at his face and stomach, so he was unable to fight back, at least at the moment.
Then he sees that vick is being kicked against the wall. "O no you don't!" His face expressed utter rage by now, and he picked up a lasgun, then he swung the lasgun at the legs of the guy kicking vick, breaking his legs as he did so. The soldier was now disabled, though Khrell kept hitting him until he lost consciousness. Then he went back to finish what he started with the guy whose nose he broke......


----------



## dark angel

Astelan was now fully ready for war. Clad in his entire armour he resembled a ancient lord of Terra, he had been in a deep almost coma like mediation for several hours and now finally he had awoken, marching to the hanger where he stood alone. He had went over his new Squad’s records however none of them were known to him other than name, though without a doubt he had fought with many during the Damocles Crusade while he still served under Third Company Captain Julius Var. 

He remembered those days well, while Sotha still shorn in the stars and repopulated the Scythes when needed. With a sigh he walked off, clasping Tobias on the shoulder guard he smiled, this being the only Marine he had actually ever talked to and said “Good luck Brother”.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx had been waiting in the hanger from a short while, he could only stand statuesque for so long without orders and began to pace around the hanger, inspecting the Thunderhawk that would ferry their justice to the planet below. It wasn't long before the distinct sound of power armoured feet on steel flooring could be heard echoing around the spacious chamber.

Inquisitively, Arx poked his crusader helmed head around the thunderhawk and caught sight of another Scythe pacing the chamber, the large marine slid from behind the craft and beckoned the approaching marine.

'_Greetings brother. Are you preparing to make planetfall?_'


----------



## dark angel

Astelan looked up at the welcoming Brother and smiled at his Brother's question nodding his helm in a slow way he said "I am Brother, it has been to long since we Scythes have marched to War, the foul Tyranids have hold of Ferim and only we will be able to dislodge them for good" his voice trailed off before he continued "I am to serve under Brother Tobias this fine day, in the name of Sotha, I shall make sure my deed is done" He outstretched his hand and said "You can call me Astelan".


----------



## Concrete Hero

'_We wall fall upon the foul menace with the Holy righteousness of the Emperor himself._'

Arx took the marines gauntlet in a brotherly squeeze as he nodded towards Astelan.

'_My name is Arx, and I too will be fighting with Brother Tobias._' He regarded Astelan for a silent moment before his helmet boomed once more '_I look forward to serving with you on the battlefield brother._'


----------



## dark angel

Shaking the hand of Arx, Astelan returned to his Brother "It shall be a glorious day indeed now that I know you will be serving amongst us, I served within the Third before the Fall of Sotha, it was a glorious day when Julias Var still walked the stars you know? However now Sotha is our Lord, may I ask, what Company did you serve before we were set upon by the Great Enemy?" With that he took away his hand and stepped back once.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm was about to rebuke Zac before one of the other guardsmen in the barracks had gotten up to speak. He stood a listened silently realizing a second too late what was about to happen but was able to grab the man who had jumped at him. They were in close to each other grasping each other's arms like wrestlers trying to gain an advantage over the other but so far neither of them could. The man was lucky he had set his lasgun down otherwise he would have had a nice sized hole on his chest for this bullshit.

The two of them pushed each other back and forth around the barracks until Shadihm's back hit a wall and the man grinned knowing he had the advantage now and threw a knee into Shadihm's gut winding him. But Shadihm still had his respirator on and when the man went to grab and rip it off Shadihm roared and threw the man off of him before going at him again and locking arms.

They tumbled to the floor over a bed and Shadihm now knew he had the advantage, his size and weight were at his advantage and he began throwing his fore-arm into the man's face until he heared a distinct snap. The man grunted and took the hit like a real ganger and ripped his respirator of his face, showing to everyone in the room Shadihm's pale face with ice blue eyes and his white short hair. He gasped as he breathed in the air knowing that he was eventually going to have to get used to it but now was not the best way. 

The man moved to throw his opponent off of him but Shadihm was a Helghan through and through and they were born and bred to fight and to win. With a flash the man had pulled his combat knife and Shadihm threw his head back just enough to feel the blade cut across his cheek. With a bellow of rage he grabbed the man's arm, twisting it at the elbow till the man was screaming and leaned in close to his face, *"Make a noise and I will snap your arm in two, make a smart ass comment and I will snap both of your arms, and if you even think about moving I will gut you like the fuck that you are."* 

The man looked up and spit in Shadihm's face who was weezing badly without his respirator. Yet he needed little effort to snap the man's arm and he did to show he was not bluffing and took the other one in the same hold, *"Now....I am willing.....to let you go and get your arm fixed after this little debacle.....but....."* he needed his respirator badly now but he still continued, *"If you....so much as look at me or my friends here the wrong way.....you are going to wish that the Commissar got a hold of you..."* He punched the man in the face again to break his nose further and grabbed his respirator and put it on taking a deep breath. He put the tips of his fingers on the cut on his face and grunted looking down on the man beneath him wimpering, *"Asshole, what made you think that you could beat a Helghan?"*


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki and Belial walked into the assigned hanger, seeing two brothers already getting acquainted. Already feeling a sense of unease with these "new" squad mates, he had to take a moment to compose himself, telling himself that to even be here meant they were as worthy as he, probably more, and had been through similar troubles as he. Settling his uneasiness, he approached his fellow brothers, waiting for an appropriate hole in the conversation to introduce himself...


----------



## Concrete Hero

'_It certainly was Brother. I'm beginning to suspect we have seen the same battlefields on more than one occasion._' He chuckled to himself, the jovial sound seeming a bit odd coming from such a large Astartes.

He thought to himself -_The things it takes to bring a chapter together_-

'_I served with the Second brother, in both tactical and Assault squads, depending on the need and the situation. What of yourself Brother?_' 

Arx noted Solaki's approach and nodded in his direction, though he waited for a response from Astelan before addressing the new Marine.


----------



## dark angel

"I, my Brother served in a Tactical Squad, the Third if you want details, we served in distinction at Damocles though I have heard tales of the Second, I to have a feeling we have fought on more than one occasion before afterall both our Companies served with honour against those damned Tau and their Xeno Allies" He clenched his fists and fell into silence.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial arrived on deck and spotted two marines conversing by a thunderhawk he approached his brothers and introdused himself as belial. Im looking for the rest of squad Tobias ive been asigned to that squad do you know any of that squad brothers.


----------



## Concrete Hero

'_Calm your choler Brother, hold your zeal until its needed on the battlefield, we have no use for it here_' Arx's voice was calm as he noted Astelan tensing slightly.

He turned to regard the marine who had recently approached them.

'_Greetings Brother, I am Arx, and this fiery individual is Astelan. I'm guessing you've been assigned to Brother Tobias? Eager as the rest of us to make Planetfall then._' The huge marine extended a friendly hand towards Solaki

He was gambling with the over friendliness, he was quickly trying to foster a Brotherly atmosphere, newly formed squads needed to be patched together as soon as possible, the smallest lapse could mean life or death on the field of battle.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki took the friendly hand with strength saying at the same time "I'm Solaki, and the Brother with me is Belian. I am you're heavy weapons specialist, and eager to make the Tyranids pay in blood for what they have done. I thought we were on time, aparently not!" He said with a chuckle "So do you know who else is coming?"

This brother, Arx, seemed eager to create a bond between the members of the squad, which made it slightly easier to feel comfortable with strangers. However, strangly Solaki warmed a bit more to the other of the two, Astelan. He could feel the fire of pain and vengance behind that helmeted eyes, and he reckoned if he could get some time to talk to him they would have a lot in common. Only time would make them brothers, all Solaki knew was that, if he could do anything about it, they would all make it bad to the "Heart of Sotha" at the end of this campaign...


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell moved slowly across the room holding the lasgun in a baseball bat position. He saw that Shadihm managed to get his opponent down, and that zac had his down as well. The soldier who he had punched first was getting up by now, and ran at Khrell. The soldier launched himself at Khrell, who nimbly stepped out of his way. The soldier fell, and hit his head against a bunk. He looked up dazzled, when he saw that Khrell was about to swing the las gun one more time. 

He tried to evade the stock, but he was too slow to do so. And it hit him straight in the face, after which he screamed at Khrell: "Please!! Please I've had enough!" Khrell stopped, and looked across the room, when suddenly something hard hit his head. Khrell fell to the ground and let go of the gun. The soldier who had just begged him to stop, was now holding a metal bar."How do YOU like being hit with something hard eh? You like it, cuz I've got a lot more in store for you!" the soldier was laughing when he hit Khrell in the stomach, and Khrell could only hope some one else would help him...................


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial greeted each of the brothers in turn but left most of the talking to solaki as he seemed to be breaking the ice quite well on his own. he hoped it would be enough because they were all going to be depending on each other very shortly. belial felt he was going to get on pretty well with solaki they seem to bond a bit on the walk down to the hanger. Arx seemed a genuine marine and eager to get along. Astelan on the other hand would need watching.


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard: 

Khrell, before you can return to the first man, the other who was holding Rikard down, is up and swings a roundhouse kick into your knee, knocking you toward the floor. He grabs your collar quickly, and raises his arm to punch, but a yell is heard with a las pistol shot going into the ceiling.

Sergeant Merth has entered the room.

"_Break it up! Put your knives away! What kind of damn squad did I get?_"

You all break off the fight. Merth has you five sent to a different room. He calls in a medic to fix up them first, he then comes in to patch those of you up who received injuries, which all five of you received at least one. Only three of them received injuries though.

As you are getting patched up, the five of you realize these gang members just forced you to act more like a group. Maybe some bonds begin forming again? Chit chat if you wish, and/or go to sleep for the night. 

Scythes:

As you all start getting to know each other a bit more personally, and upon Solaki's question of who else is joining the squad, Niko enters the room silently, nodding his helmet in your general direction to confirm he is with you.

A strong hand suddenly lands on Belial's shoulder as Sotha passes your squad by. He is followed by the second squad escorting him to Ferim, containing brothers Kyr, Christeph, Ryan, Zurick, Grahm and sergeant Brig (all were in a squad during the prequel to this rp).

Tobias waits for them to enter the transport ship, and signals you all to follow them in. Take your seats in the thunderhawk. continuing talking to each other or speak with brothers form the other unit. I will answer for them if you do so.


----------



## deathbringer

The buzzing energy of the hive mind was frantic, desperately pulling at my attention yet I brushed its presence away and focused my attention upon hmy weakened body and tensed. My body vibrated, trembling as muscles struggled to tense and he tried to bring my arm up to pull myself upright yet the limb refused to budge, remained lifeless upon the ground and I allowed my body to go limp.

I was still, apart from the ragged rise and fall of my chest and my heart, which thrust itself against my rib cage. The hive mind thrust itself forward at me and I could not resist its persistence any longer. I allowed the sense and emotions that my children felt to envelop me.

I was no longer the tyrant I was thousands of minds, thousands of thoughts and feelings and the tiredness of my body fell away as my mind became a swarm of rippers, a pack of gaunts, the very biomass the exuded in smooth contours from the ship itself. He was every one of them and none of them yet he laughed as he tasted the air with their tongues and felt their own excitement, blistering joy as they raised there heads from the plant life they devoured.

Flesh, beautiful blissful flesh, its scent was upon the air and furthest out rippers raised there heads as they basked in the glow of the kill. Too many times we had arrived upon worlds and been forced to sate our hunger upon the plant life and vegetation. I looked through a gaunts eyes as he pulled himself from the ship and felt his lips move and his mouth fill with saliva as he tasted the scent upon the air.

As if from a distance, I felt my own hunger leap in my stomach at the chance of a caracass to strip bare, at the gushing blood pouring from my teeth marks of the irony taste that swelled, rolling in ecstatic torrents down my gullet, warm and beautiful as my stomach opened to receive it.

My children seemed to swell, surging forward mouths dripping with saliva as they too basked in the memory of the hunt and the kill, amplified a thousand times by the overwhelming crushing presence of my own hunger, my own desperation for flesh but they still hold, bristling with desperate energy, waiting longing for my ascent. The gaunt whose eyes and ears I possess lingers and I feel the desperate pleading in his thoughts yet I look at the jungle that surrounds me.

A great strip of bare wasteland surrounds the ship and I can hear loud thumps as trees topple and fall, whilst the ground swarms with rippers devouring, leaching upon the leaf strewn floor. The fattest linger behind swaying under their bulk and I let out a little smile as I see my meal sitting before me whilst others leap forward legs groping, clawing for more, stripping the very ground of its nutrients.

Suddenly they stop, pause quivering with a new desperate energy and I feel them wrestling with a new excitement as a new scent reaches them, racks there bodies with new sensations. A wave seemed to roll through the swarm, pausing for a second dying as it drifted across the barren wasteland to the gaunts nostrils and he sniffed desperately, tongue flicking out to taste the air.

His mind nearly broke from my control as we were both filled with rapturous longing as Oil, burning oil, the taste of charred smoke carressed our senses and I gave a tiny grunt of longing. Outside the swarm were held suspended by my will and the pressure built against me, the lust for flesh. I allowed my hunger my need for sustenance and the need for speed fill them and now they were edging forward inching towards the source as my impatience merged with there own until I allowed my will to caress theirs.

"Go" I whispered and the bristling mass broke as they surged forward, fast and purposeful, one thought within their heads. They must kill now... for their master needed them.


----------



## darkreever

As the medic looked him over, Rikard sighed as the pain from his knuckles finally started to hit him. His ribs felt like frag all, and breathing wasn't a pleasure at the moment, but his knuckles weren't exactly singing him any praises either.

Looking at Zac, he slapped the back of his head. _"See what happens when you mouth off to a CO and don't know when to shut your trap? Give the rest of us bad luck and toss us in with a lot who don't know to forget about the past and move on?"_ Rikard finished before looking over at Khrell. _"Swung the lasgun? Why didn't you just do what the sergeant did and got them all to back off? My ribs would definitely be more thankful."_ He finished with a smile slightly filled with pain.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki waited for all the others to enter the Thunderhawk, only realising at the end, that he kept looking behind him for some enemy that wasn't there. Clearly, although he barly knew these men, he wanted to keep them safe, as if they were children who needed watching. Strapping himself in opposite Brother Astelan and asked "So, if you don't mind, what happened to your squad before this campaign?"

Solaki knew his Brother may not answer, but he wanted to get to know him, as he took a liking to Arx and Belian, but knew little about this fellow Astartes he almost felt instinctively was not to dissimilar to him...


----------



## DaafiejjXD

"Man those guys aren't to be trusted! I think we should keep an eye on them, so when they decide to pull this trick again, we'll be prepared." Khrell's voice was very angry and irritated. Khrell was looking around the room while trying to move his knee, which was very painful. 
He replied to Rikard: "Don't think that that would've helped, they wouldn't be afraid of a lasgun shot, the fact that the sarge fired it made them stop. Now at least one of them won't be able to kick anymore." Khrell said with a mournful smile, while looking at Rikard's wounds.
Khrell then reached into his pocket, and pulled out an eagle medallion, finely detailed and made of gold. He stretched his hand out to Rikard. "This was my fathers', and has saved his life more than once. It is known to bring luck. Maybe this'll give you some luck next time, it has always worked for me and my father. It's yours now" Khrell smiled as he said this sentence.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan looked his fellow Brother in the eyes through his helm and sighed. He had not been asked about his Brothers for a long time. He flashed back to Damocles, he was standing alone watching as a Squad of Scythes opened fire into a seething mass of flying Vespid roaring with fury as each Xeno came apart like a ruptured paint pot. 

His flash back ended as unintended as it had started and once again he was sitting opposite Solakai before summoning his words “Brother Halrik was lost during the Damocles Crusade, he managed to bring down a Manta Class Troop Transport with him however. Sergeant Aster never did see fit to replace those Marines lost under him and strangely Julias Var supported him fully in his tactics. Brother Fanrl was lost shortly after while attacking a enemy station, killed by our own fire due to a accident. Next we were deployed in the Defence of Sotha where Var led a vanguard in a boarding of a enemy ship, we failed drastically and our Captain was badly injured. Brother’s Mikhail, Orik and Balthazar were all killed in the retreat.”

Something dwelled within Astelan at this moment and he remembered the so many deaths upon the Hive Ship, giant beasts tearing members of the Third limb from limb with twists of their multi-jointed arms. He looked at his feet and then back at Solakai continuing “Brother Karaj was next, pulled into the skies by a great beast and pulled apart in front of our own eyes. That was when I was injured, along with the rest of the Squad I managed to make it aboard a transport….One of the few that made it from our home. Giants Coffin was next and we Scythes fought like cornered dogs, snapping at every single Tyranid that came close with Bolter and Chainsword. Brother Gregor fell while defending a cliff face, pulled within the rock beneath him. The last I saw of Gregor was his Plasma Pistol firing into the beast ensnaring his lower half. That left myself, Brother Skia and Sergeant Aster. The three of us grew a bond that day like no other ever possible”.

Suddenly his vision blacked and he was standing with Skia and Aster, both of them staring at him with feral eyes and blood stained faces. They stood on a mound of dead Tyranids, each one rent open and leaking a foul green liquid. A roar sounded from the jungles bellow and thousands of Tyranids charged upwards, the Three Brothers looked at each other and leapt into the fray. 

Once again his flash back ended and he was sitting in a Thunderhawk he continued the final segment “Aster was chosen amongst those who would stay in the final defence, as was Skia however due to me sustaining injuries on Sotha I was one of those who were the first to move back to the ships the last I saw of my two Brothers they were loading fresh magazines into their Bolters, humming a ancient prayer. Now Solakai do you think that is sufficient?”


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial listened intently to Astelan taking in every word he said. the brother was deeply troubled and the rage simmering just below the surface was plain to see. he himself could relate to the rage though he could keep it in check and hone it towards the tyranid. Where as Astelan directed his towards anybody who tried to get close to him. Belial again made a mental note to watch his brother carefully. a loose cannon in any squad was never a good thing.


----------



## Deus Mortis

"I am sorry for you're loss, they died with honour" Solaki could tell his Brother was angry at him for asking such a difficult question, and although he hadn't asked, he felt it was necessary to tell his story in order to show he felt some measure of his pain. "I have lost many Brothers too. Back in the Democules crusade, me and about 11 other heavy weapons troopers were selected to eliminate several Manta Class Troop Transports." Before going on he composed himself. "We were sent to quadrent 412 to eliminate a Manta on it's way to assault on of our bases there. We were up at the top of the canuyon there, way out of range of friend'y units...we were ambushed by Kroot. The buggers waited until we had taken up our positions and jumped us from behind. We lost two Brothers, Ares and Dantos, just from them being taken off the side by Kroot. We were unequiped for close range fighting and had to take them out with our bare hands.Three more died in the insuing bloodbath. Needless to say the Manta got away, and the base suffered heavy losses, all because we weren't bloody prepared!" Solaki slammed his fist into the seat next to him. 

"After that we were disbanded, and dreafted into squads low on men. Once again, the Kroot followed me. We were at out-post Delta VII, and they struck en-mass. After 5 minutes, my Lascannon was out, and there were still more coming.A dozen were dead already, and many more were injured, so seeing no other solution, I grabbed my Brother Takeon's bolter and open fired. I must have emptied 20 mags between the two guns. Both my wrists were shattered, but the Kroot were driven back, but I couldn't save them. I just couldn't..." Solaki felt his heart sink at recalling these memories, but he felt the need to continue.

"Then on Sotha, I was drafted into sergeant Mardikai's squad. We were told to defend the armoury with 4 other squads. Even with 40 of us, it was a suicide mission. A Hive tyrant showed up. Big bugger with 5 guard, and a swarm around him. The other battled against the ting bugger, rippers, gaunt, gargoyles, the lot and we were told to deal with the Tyrant. We all got close, Mitchens and Demoat were first to die, mauled by the guard. Fantas was crushed under it's feet, and Gregos was cleaved in half by it's bone sword. Three more died before I did a damn thing. In a last desperate atempt, I strapped my combat blade to the barrel of my Lascannon, and ran. I just ran. The Emperor must have been with me, because I dodged all of the guard and reached the Tyrant. Only by sheer grace I impaled my lascannon in it's chest and pulled the trigger. It died, but in its death spasms, it must have flunge me 40 feet against the wall of the armoury. I was out as soon as I hit the wall. When I came round, the Tyranids were gone, and I was told after the synaptic connection was seevered, the other Tyranids became mindless animals, and were pushed back with relative ease. But I can't help but think, if I'd have just taken a shot earlier, or done it earlier, they could have survived. I could have saved them, I could have saved them all..." After an uneasy silence Solaki managed to mutter "I know how you feel, but I'm not going to fail again. I won't let one more Brother fall to the Tyranids, not one more..." annd with that, Solaki resumed a silence, and hoped his words had comforted his Brother that he felt his pain...


----------



## blazinvire

Zac got little more than a general bruising around the area he was hit, his face still felt like it was on fire but he'd be okay, he merely gently ran a hand over it as he put his knife away.
And then he was slapped in the head again, Zac's eye twitched and his hand curled into a fist, looking a little unstable for a moment.

"I had a knife against the throat of the last guy who hit me, I would have thought that'd suffice to say that I prefer _not_ getting hit? And quit your whinging, you remind me of a rookie I once trained, it's pathetic," Zac grumbled, letting his fist unwind again before he returned to fixing up his lasgun, " _'Oh my gosh bad luck! Save me Emperor! There's a scary guardsman here that's dooming us all!'_ "

Zac laughed at his own joke before rapidly assembling his lasgun at record speed, he had to make sure the firing mechanism was up to the wear he was going to be putting on it, because he'd broken a few lasgun triggers and whatnot in his time.
"Seriously though, all of you, grow a pair, you might find a greater purpose to life than finding someone to blame, considering we're all probably gonna be 'Nid-chow soon," Zac said, sliding the charge pack into the gun and slinging the weapon strap over him to let the gun hang at his waist, "I for one, don't give a flying fornication for likes of that lieutenant, but that doesn't mean I won't take a bullet for him. I don't know about you but, entrusting someone with your life is a lot more respect than standing straight and blasting their ear with 'Sir!'."


----------



## darkreever

Rikard rolled his eyes as Zac spoke, before wincing in pain as the medic wrapped a bandage around his side and tightened it. _"After everything you've done and caused your trying to call anyone pathetic Zac? You ran your mouth and showed zero respect to our CO, I stuck my neck out to help you and it was working, and then you opened that yapper of yours again and made things worse. Radec and the cold worlder know better than to disrespect a superior and Khrell's still green. You mouthed off in front of the rest of the squad and gave them the idea we were all idiots."_ He said while pulling his fatigues back on and walking over to Zac.

_"You put a knife to a mate's throat, think your somehow better than the rest of us because you had to show some command for a period if at all, and between getting the rest of us in some trouble and running your mouth off all you do is tear us all down about how we're gonna die. When things go south, the last thing we need is the likes of you about, cause your as likely to kill us and get it over with as the enemy will be."_ He finished, stopping right in front of Zac. _

"What you gonna do now? Hit me after the sarge broke up the last fight? Shoot me? I'm sure that'll go over very well with the company commissars. Its us and those fraggers now, your either with us all or not. Its something they'll have to deal with all the same."_ Rikard finished hold his arms out wide, leaving himself entirely open to whatever Zac decided he'd do. It'd be great if he fraggin' yileded, Rikard thought; but getting injured again would probably see him able to score something from the medics if he was so lucky.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac slumped in his seating position the moment he heard Rikard speak, he knew that condescending scolding tone anywhere, and Zac just grumbled dramatically.
Boy did he miss his regiment, this one was going to be harder to break in than the one on Klarion Secundus, and quite frankly he was getting tired of doing it, almost as much as he was tired of parading around and saluting or whatever.
They needed to stop moving him the heck around, he remembers the names of planets more than he remembers his damn regiments. His squad from Sargon was definitely the best though, they managed to beat one of the Kasrkin squads in kill count to death ratio simply because of the trust they'd managed to build.

He took in a deep breath and sighed before looking up at Rikard with an eyebrow raised slightly.
"You clearly didn't hear a word I said did you? Well for the sake of a 'comrade' I'll try once more," Zac said.
"I did not disrespect the CO, he just got angry because he couldn't see the respect I gave. Everyone does things differently, I don't go out of my way to show respect or disrespect, if that upsets you, too bad, your fault not mine," Zac clarified, and he was feeling rather bored and restless so he figured he'd indulge in this argument, "You should really ditch that pride of yours, being thought of as an idiot is nothing, and pride leads to chaos. If people get demoralised about dying, then they're clearly not willing to die for this cause therefore they're going to break under pressure and become useless. And why the hell would I shoot my own people? If things went south I'd have my hands full just trying to shoot the _enemies_."

Well there was his rebuttal, Zac pondered slapping Rikard over the head to pay him back, since he was more or less asking to be hit.
But he decided against it, self-defence was always the best policy amongst your own, besides, he had to wait and see how Rikard would respond.


----------



## darkreever

_"Open your eyes Zac, you did disrespect the lieutenant, as soon as he mocked us you talked down to him like you had the right to."_ Rikard said, lowing his hands as he did. _"You ain't their equal, your not the better man as far as anything matters, your a dog soldier like the rest of us. Sent out to do the work that needs doing, killing what needs killing while others toss the orders down to us. How you're a soldier this long and you don't get it is a miracle, and if you tossed it aside then pick it up again. You're not gonna last to long without it anymore."_ He added, leaning in closer so that his next words would only be between them.

_"And if you think I should toss aside my pride, one of the last things I got left after all my sins, the how 'bout you toss away your smart-ass attitude and start acting like a real soldier. Not some walking corpse making the world worst for the rest of us. Otherwise shut up, stow the bitching, and accept that you did wrong even if you don't wanna believe it; your the only one who wants to think that way and you can't take on a world without your squad."_ He finished with a little smile before turning away and walking to Khrell, putting an arm around the younger man's neck and putting the medallion back in his hands. 

_"You keep this thing, at the very least for me. Guy like me doesn't deserve something like that with the sins I carry."_ This time he turned and looked at Radec. _"So what about you? What'd you do to the fragger that tried goin' for you? Was a bit busy having my ribs kicked in to notice."_


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Rikard gave the medallion back, claiming he had committed sins. Then maybe they both are aiming for the same thing: Khrell trying to get his family's honor back, and Rikard trying to atone for his sins. Either way, it meant fighting and dying in the emperor's name......

Khrell stood up, and walked outside. He was looking at the hills, and then to the deserted mine. He knew that they were sure to die here, if only he had the guts to walk to the lieutenant and tell him he had a plan.....No that would just get him killed. He was looking at the horizon, when suddenly, he thought he saw a monster of some sort. The next moment it was gone, and Khrell thought it was just some local wildlife....


----------



## Euphrati

Niko stood silently as Kyr disappear back out the bay doors, lost deep in thought about the threat posed by this new breed of tyranid. Kyr was not known for exaggeration and Niko had no reason to believe that his brother would spin lies about the beast he faced, yet the foul xenos had displayed tactics that had never been encountered before and that fact alone made it crucial that the beast be destroyed at any cost.

For a long moment the silence of the apothecarium was broken only by the soft whir of equipment and the measured movements of Apothecary Alexander as he cleaned and stowed the implements used in Kyr’s examination. Niko blinked and shook his head to clear his thoughts; he had tarried far too long and as a result was going to be late for the penning of the oaths, yet he paused a moment longer to clasp Alexander on the shoulder. The Apothecary wouldn’t be joining them on the mission, his knowledge being far too precious to the chapter to allow him the vengeance that Niko knew sang within his heart. So, Niko would carry that rage for his mentor and friend, along with the physical care of the brothers at his side,

‘I will look after them in your stead, Brother,’ Niko called out over his shoulder as he tuned to lope down the hall, the soles of his training boots echoing off the cold stone flooring. His thoughts were turned inwards as he threaded through the bowels of the great ship, reaching his meditation chambers and quickly donning his wargear before hustling to the sanctum. Only a few remained, deep in prayer, as Niko slipped quietly through the incense filled room. With a quick motion he tore a section of the scroll off, taking up a stylus and kneeling before the triumphant image of the Emperor. His tight script was meticulous yet simple,

_Res, non verba ad victoriam._

Niko attached the fluttering sheet quickly to his shoulder guard, shifting the new medical packs that were secured at his waist. All astartes undertook basic medical training in their indoctrination, yet Niko’s steady hand and closeness to Alexander had placed the young Scythe in a position to glean the vast knowledge of the Apothecary’s many years of service. Though, as Niko thundered up the waiting ramp of the thunderhawk and into the cool darkness filled with waiting brothers of his new squad; his lack of years were a heavy weight upon his shoulders as Niko listened to the others speak of their pasts. When silence descended upon the hold, he seized the moment to speak. Niko’s voice was clear and true,

‘I have not the battle chronicles of many of you, yet these vile beasts have taken from our chapter as a whole that which is not easily replaced. My hate for these foul xenos stems not only from the past, but also from the future that they seek to deny us all. My name is Niko and it is an honour to fight at your side, brothers. I am sure you all are aware of the lack of Apothecaries and, though I do not wear the white, I have been assigned to this squad for my medical knowledge. That knowledge is your to call upon as you will, brothers.’


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

As Shadihm sat on a bed and a medic tended to the cut on his face he listened to the conversation between Rikard and Zac, Throne these two were going to be at till the next millenium. He winced, _"You know you have lung burn now sir, I suggest you keep your repirator on until your body gets acclamated to the atmosphere."_ the medic told him as he finished stitching his face up. He waved his hand, *"Yeah yeah I know Doc, thanks for the help."* He pointed to his face and the medic nodded and walked away.

_"So what about you? What'd you do to the fragger that tried goin' for you? Was a bit busy having my ribs kicked in to notice."_ Shadihm noticed Rikard's question was aimed at him. Shadihm smiled, having his respirator off at the moment the whole squad could see his pale face, white hair, and ice cold eyes,* "I broke his nose, and when he didn't stop I snapped his arm. Old Helghan hand to hand trick, I find it usually helps in fights."*


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx sat uncomfortably into the Thunderhawk, his large frame never quite fitting into the holds for the power armoured Astartes. Mild grumbling aside, Arx settled into silence, broad frame looking slightly odd taking up some of the space on the two flanking seats.

He watched Astelan and Solaki exchange words for a while before turning to the silent Belial. 

'_So Brother, Which company did you serve with?_'

Arx nodded towards Niko as he entered the Thunderhawk, waiting for Belial to respond.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell heard the others speak, though he enjoyed being outside, just like he had been for the recent years. It was night now, and he was looking at the stars, and trying to find his home system. He thought he did, but he couldn't be sure. All around him guardsmen were still busy doing various things, cleaning rifles, digging trenches ect. He took a picture of his father out of his backpack, the only family member who was still alive, yet frankly was fighting in the Imperial Guard as well, though in a distant system. His father was a senior officer now, and that alone helped getting their families honor back. The sad part was though, that he hadn't seen his father in 2 years, communicating only via astropathic messages.

He thought about so many things, though none of which seemed very important. He just wanted to get into the fighting real quick, so he could restore his families honor......


----------



## FORTHELION

5th company brother and i too have seen much bloodshed, too much in fact. I faught in the damocles crusade while we came away relatively unscathed only losing brother casius and brother lamas. Things changed for the worse though in the defence of sotha our entire company was wiped out except for myself and techmarine laikus. myself and my now fallen brothers held up the tyranid long enough for brother laikus to repair the cargo ship that lifted the remainder of our brothers from the planet. Maybe some of you were on that ship. Im not too sure. One thing i am sure of brothers and i speak to all of you here we must band together like the brothers we are because if we dont we will not see this day out. I for one will give my utmost trust in each and every one of you and by the end of this i hope to sit beside you all at the great feast. DEATH OR GLORY BROTHERS. Are you with me?


----------



## blazinvire

Zac covered his face with a palm as he listened to Rikard, suddenly he'd lost all enthusiasm for this argument and began to pray they'd get sent into battle soon.
Words had to be one of the more useless aspects of life in Zac's opinion, as it seemed sharing a few pearls of wisdom fell on deaf ears so there wasn't really much point in him talking, was there?

Well it wasn't his problem really, not any more, as he mentally declared Rikard to be more or less deaf so Zac wouldn't bother talking to him any more, so for now it was time to relax until the sergeant came back and sent them to their deaths.
He missed his squad, all the little tactics and things they invented, stories they used to share, and stuff like how Mikey never seemed to run out of those little bottles of alcohol that more or less made someone blind drunk straight away.
Not that Zac had ever used any, he considered the best high one could get is from a rocket whizzing right passed your face into the hellhound three feet behind you, giving you milliseconds to dive into the shallow trench before you got roasted alive in the explosion.

Or perhaps dodging the Commissar's pistol as he is ran over by a Trukk, some of the 'greener' Commissars didn't tolerate Zac as much, regardless of the fact he'd quite willingly get shot by the enemy instead of run away.

Well these people would learn in due time, Zac's actions would speak for themselves, they'd have trouble pulling this drama crap after that.


----------



## unxpekted22

(its long, but hopefully worth it)

Guard:

All five of you finish your final thoughts about the day, and move to your cheap cots. Each of you falls asleep with relative ease, tired from the fight and from so much walking throughout the city’s western borders. All of the loud construction outside has come to a halt, and the cool night air, filled with a relaxing due from the nearby forestry, gently floats into the barracks. Ferim’s soothing nightfall practically makes you all forget about any possible threats here. None of you can help but dream of times long past, when you were a child and did not yet have to work, or at least were able to hide from those who would have made you. Your families if they were ever close. Or your old regiments that actually made it through so much hell alive. 

The morning brings you back to the present with a fearsome rush. Before any of you can fully come to, you hear in your half awake daze the shouting, the screaming of both fear and command. The translucent haze between your dreams and reality becomes clear when each of you are literally pulled from your sleeping spots and dragged onto the cold stone floor. Some of you are even slapped in the face to be woken up. It is earlier than you would have normally had to get up. Ferim’s star has only begun to rise on the horizon, casting a dull orange light that barely makes it into your squad’s quarters. You all become fully awake with your hearts jump starting to the apparent chaos of something going on. Sergeant Merth appears in the door way shouting, “GET UP GET UP GET UP!!, GET YOUR WEAPONS LETS MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!” His shouts could not possibly do a better job of indicating the imminence in which you all need to move. 

As you all jog out into the opened door hall area that leads to the outside where the orange light shines in, your clothes thrown on and your weapons barely strapped, Merth does not pause even for a moment, or even look at you to give you orders or to tell you what is going on, he only shouts as he runs ahead of you and five others.

You realize the five guardsmen in front of you are the gang members you brawled with the night before. As you realize this however, your squad makes it completely outside, and your senses are all taken aback with such a sudden force thrust upon them. In the dimness between dawn and sunrise, your eyes can only see orange, shadows, and dirt either on the ground or floating in the air as dust. Your hearing becomes filled with bombarding explosions. From where you are you can see large white flashes coming from tanks that remain black figures in the distance, some on the hills above. Heavy gunners can be heard firing their weapons without relenting, and lasgun shots are so numerous they fill the air with a constant noise. 

Some shadowy wave of creatures appears to be coming up the hills and crossing the flattened gap between the forest and the guards’ defenses. Whatever they were, everyone in the regiment was shooting in their direction. Merth never stops running, he points toward a heavy weapons team. They sit on a short man-made cliff, surrounded by sand bags. Merth appears to be telling you to support them. Run over to the sandbags and fire at will to the shadows below. Your character may guess these are Tyranids, but they have no way of knowing to be sure. Even if they saw one, they might not recognize it as a Tyranid. The gang members join you behind the sandbags. You Battle against a common enemy, right now they are your comrades no matter how much you may hate them. Over the shots, you can hear the screaming of guardsmen who were unfortunate enough to be posted lower on the defensive hills. You see explosions erupt on the ground below from the leman russ battle tanks far above you, and las-gun shots being fired continuously into the darkness. It would feel wrong not adding yours to the fray. 

(You should be updated again very soon, I hope all five of you post at least once before hand.)

Scythes:

Sotha replies first after Belial, "I am proud to see your enthusiasm Belial, but fear not everyone, we only have two goals to bear in mind, and it is impossible for us not to achieve at least one; for even in death we shall achieve glory. If we die, we succeed in fighting the Tyranid menace until our last breath as a chapter. If we live, all the more time to rebuild our chapter to its full strength once more. “

Through the entire ride, Sotha has been standing, holding tightly onto the sides near the cockpit door. He dons his helmet like the rest of you, this feeling more the natural norm for space marines around Imperial guardsman, though he would take his off when meeting Vorspire's commander of course. He is easily recognized among the remaining Scythes of the Emperor. He wears a black cape, which lays thick about the back of his neck but being held in place by his powerpack which goes overtop of it on his back. The back of the cape has the chapter’s symbol, two large scythes in the middle of the black cape embroidered in gold rather than yellow. His helmet has a transverse horsehair crest colored dark blue, but otherwise it looks like a standard MKVII design. For the same reason Arx bears both chainsword and meltagun into battle, (lack of brothers to carry the needed firepower to help ensure the success of at least one of their goals) Sotha is equipped with more weapons than is standard as well. He carries a plasma gun that he uses sparingly, tightly secured by his waist; his main weapons being the last two power swords that the chapter has retained. Through his survival of the chapter’s destruction, fighting and killing possibly more Tyranids than any Scythe still alive, he wields these two swords in unison as naturally now as his Tyranid opponents wield their claws upon their own arms. 

The thunderhawk finally lands, and the ramp opens to reveal the rest of Vorspire’s main military base. You see many steel colored buildings that you recognize to be barracks, hangars, armories, tank factories, and the like. You see platoons of guardsmen marching towards the west (this is just before what happens in the guards’ update). Your superhuman vision and your helmets make it easier to see in the darkness that is the early morning on Ferim.

Sotha marches ahead of you, everyone’s weapons not in hand if possible. Your squad of six is behind him and to the right, while Sergeant Brig’s squad is to your left. Outside of the main headquarters where you are heading stands a guardsman…who may appear overly dressed to you. The artificial lights all around these buildings make it easy to see now. The man has quite the happy grin on his face, underneath his large black hat that has many decorations on it. Though is hat is not the only thing bearing decoration. His entire uniform is decorated. His long black coat, and his green shirts underneath it, and even the long sheath and sword handle that hung to his side, which nearly touched the ground. He seems to have quite the big stomach but is fairly tall as well.

As Sotha approaches he takes off his helmet, and greets the man with a firm shake, though firm not so much to crush the man’s hand, obviously. 

The man speaks first, “Greetings space marines! I cannot begin to tell you how honored I am to be accompanied by a group of the Adeptus Astartes. What chapter comes to help Ferim if you don’t mind me asking? I hope it does not displease you that I do not recognize your chapter’s iconography off the top of my head.”

Sotha replies, “Don’t worry yourself Lord-General, we are the Scythes of the Emperor. Though I must admit we are here more or less to work on our own to find out the mysteries of the craft that landed on Ferim not too long ago. We believe it may be of a personal matter to us; you understand?”

The Lord-General waves his hand saying, “Not a problem at all. I just want you to know that if your forces need any support from my regiments, I will not hesitate to give the command.”

Sotha: “Have you by chance found out anything of the ship so far?”

Lord-general: “A strange matter actually. I sent a small mechanized infantry regiment that way to investigate, but seem to have lost contact with them. So you see Astartes… the smile I greet you with is in no way forced from my lips. Though I have proven myself not a coward through my rise in the ranks over the past decades, I must admit that I am uncomfortable not knowing exactly what else lies on a world besides my men. How am I supposed to go about setting up the proper fortification for example? There is the option of attacking rather than defending but with my scout regiment possibly all killed and destroyed…well I am glad you have come, for that is the role you space marines perform greatly in. I will leave your advancement toward the ship to yourselves, while I defend this city from any attacks. The Imperium does NOT want to lose this world gentlemen.”

Sotha nods and begins to take leave when another guard member runs over to him, sprinting out of the HQ building’s doorway, “Sir, we’re under attack! The western border! Its full-fledged sir!”

Lord General: “What?! What is attacking us?”

Guard: “No confirmations sir, but definitely an alien force. Apparently they wiped out many units before organization of defense could even be begun. The incomplete defense network of the border is allowing the aliens to push through! The few regiments defending that border need support badly, and immediately.”

The Lord general looks toward you all, “I cannot order you to help, but your support would be greatly appreciated.”

Sotha: “You fight tyranids General, and they are what we're here to hunt. So support you we shall. But only I and these two squads can go there now, as only two of our rhinos have been brought down from the ship so far. When the rest of my men touch ground, have them brought to the battle via your air transport and gunships (Sotha does not want to risk any more of the chapters few remaining vehicles than necessary. The thunderhawk you came down on even has to go back to the ship to bring down more of your brothers)

Sotha enters your rhino while the other squad enters the second. The ride in the rhino is rough. A brother not in your squad drives the vehicle, chasing the other rhino in front of him through the maze of streets, just going west as fast as they can. The engines roar and mumble under the punishment but the resilient vehicles push on, bellowing smoke from the stacks leaving trails of black clouds in the streets behind them for the morning labor groups to choke on; the new hive city already hindering their lives.

You begin to hear the blasting cannons of battle tanks and heavy support teams. The rhino then begins shaking violently and then swerves 180 degrees. The back ramp drops open facing down the hill of the guards’ defenses. Imperial guardsman below are being torn apart by tyranid forms. Sotha turns to Tobias, “Tobias, your squad and Brig’s must handle things until the rest of our brothers arrive. Make sure your commands are as on point as they ever have been. We must push these creatures back!” with this he draws both power swords from their sheaths at the same time, making such a sharp noise that each of you feel a small chill come up your spines. He then runs down to the battle below, out of sight. 

Your weapons are all in hand now. You exit the rhino in a run, seeing a group of gaunts leaping up onto a hill where an infantry squad was shooting from behind sandbags. Tobias yells and points at them, “Take that position brothers!” he then raises his bolter while running toward them, rapid firing. As he runs his accuracy is lessened and he fires into the gaunts and guardsmen who are in close combat with eachother. His bolter rounds blow apart gaunt and guardsmen alike but he expects you to the same. What’s important is taking that position away from the Tyranids. Solaki, no firing the las-canon just yet, you have one of those large knife weapons as well for fighting in close combat. (this is NOT the players' guard squad)

Tyrant:

Your children find humans, imperial guardsmen. Unfortunately they brought many vehicles which are of no interest to you, as they cannot satisfy your hunger. Your ripper swarms however, have been busy consuming every single one of the guardsmens' bodies that were heading toward your ship, leaving no one left to operate the vehicles. They would sit idly where they were with their tracks and wheels broken or torn off, until they eventually ran out of fuel. The best thing you figure out Tyrant, is that you recognize that more of these kind must be here, and most likely in the direction from whence they came. You have seen this on a few planets you have already landed on. 

You send what is already predominantly out and about the swampy area, an army of gaunts and several of your Tyranid warriors to lead them, or rather, be the hive mind node between you. 

While they go off you waste no time in eating the rippers that come back to you. They do not know much, but they know their genes will be used again, and soon. Even though they have no conscious of their own, they know this because you know this. After this, warm up your body after the long flight through space and move up through the forest to keep the link strong between you and the warriors. You do not plan to be in battle though. Have your ripper swarms follow you, as you have never met enough resistance where your gaunts and warriors failed since leaving Tri’vaa, leaving your ripper swarms free to consume everything afterward and keep you on your hit and run schedule. 

(your update in the timeline as you may notice comes shortly before the guard update, which in turn comes shortly before the scythe's update haha, hopefully not confusing)


----------



## blazinvire

_"Betcha I can blow their trukk up with my lasgun," came Zac's challenging voice across a ragtag team of scattered guardsman.
"Betcha you can't, it's a freakin trukk and all you got is a laser pointer like us," a guardsman replied.
"Don't be so sure mate, Zac ain't called Trigger for nothing," came a response from one of Zac's own squad.
"Go on then Mr. Trigger," the guardsman said..._

First, Zac was blasted with a shout, after that, old military instincts kicked in and then he found himself half thrown outside by his own volition, suited up and ready to go.
"Good morning to you too, Sarge," Zac said as he stomped his foot the rest of the way into his boot before moving into a sprint to try and keep up with the rest of them.

There wasn't much time to do anything so Zac delayed his usual pre-combat preparation until he knew he was allowed to stop.
He landed his back against the sandbags as he prepped his lasgun, tuning out the explosions and screams a little awkwardly as he gave the gun one last check whilst flexing his trigger finger to warm it up.
"Omnissiah, same deal, don't let my gun break and I won't stop firing," Zac muttered quickly, cutting his prayer short as he spun about with his game face on, poking his gun and helmeted visage over the top of the sandbags to look at his first victim.

Shadows, how insightful, they could be tanks, Tyranids or Gretchin on stilts for all he could see, though after those rumours he'd be willing to bet they'd be 'Nids.
Regardless, they were about to taste a whole lot of lasfire.

Zac's trigger finger started out slow, rapidly building up momentum to become little more than a blur, and his gun was firing so much it was close to a permanent laser blaring out from the barrel.
He knew how many shots he got out of most packs, so he was usually ready to instantly reload the momentum he ran out, easy and practiced movements of either pulling a taped pack off himself or digging one out of his armour.
It was hard to tell how many charge packs he'd accumulated over the years, he could pack them away fairly neatly in his armour.


----------



## dark angel

Finally. The accursed Tyranid cowards had shown themselves and Astelan would reap a great toll into the bastards. His Bolter was already in hand, at the hip he racked the slide backwards and brought it into his shoulder taking a deep breath he pulled the trigger. A Gaunt clinging to a Guardsmen was blown away in a spray of ichor and shell, taking the Guardsmen’s arms below the elbow and part of his chest with it. 

He stopped suddenly, kicking up dust and small rocks and let his arms fall loose. He stared into the skies before looking back at the embattled position and roared “Scythes! We have lost to much to these bastards! Reap them from this land! For Julias Var and the Emperor!” and with that he broke back into his run, holstering his Bolter he brought his Chainsword to bear on one beast who hissed as it cut through two of its legs, the tip biting into its chest. 

Hopefully his rally would be all it needed to win this battle.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Burning anger roiled within Arx at the sight of the hated Tyranid, though he was grateful for their timely appearance. How perfect to be hunting the menace moments after touching down on Ferim. Arx gripped the Meltagun in his hands, he could feel its own righteous fury burning within.

'_For the Emperor!_' His helmet magnified the battle cry across the hill, sending the booming message out in all directions. He was sprinting towards the sandbags, he slid to a halt as he neared Astelan whirring in the fray and fired the Melta off to the right at a small knot of approaching gaunts.

White hot light erupted into existence and the punishing cone of holy fire vaporised the Tyranids caught in its path. After the Jet-roar of the gun died down only a smoking crater remained. Arx dived over the sandbags and in one swift motion punched a jumping gaunt with enough force to shatter its skull.

With practised precision, Arx extended the Melta with one hand and fired it into the gloom, sending another blinding sunburst of heat out into the shadowy swarm. With the other hand he unclipped his fearsome chain claymore from his back, in moments the Melta was back in its holster and the huge sword was screaming in his hands as the teeth whirled into life.

He swung the blade with ferocity, carving through the gaunts that approached like a scythe through grass.

'_The holy light of the Emperor is_ here _to illuminate our enemies! They will fall under his divine grace by_ our _Righteous hand! Death to the Tyranid!_'


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was dreaming about his family, and other usual stuff to dream about, when suddenly he was thrown on the cold, stone floor. It was the sarge screaming they had to wake up. He packed his stuff rapidly, and was ran outside just behind the sarge, he saw that the gang members too were there.

As they closed in on a heavy weapons team, the sarge ordered them to hold the position. Only then Khrell saw the waves upon waves of creatures closing in on them. He was startled when he recognized these creatures were a lot like the one he saw yesterday. None the less, he knew THIS was the chance he'd been waiting for, THIS was the time to regain his families honor. He went behind some sandbags, and aimed down his scope(no he hasn't got a long las just a lasGUN, but with scope). He searched amongst the waves for creatures that looked important, he learned form his encounters with beasts, mutants and zombies on Metaxea prime and secundus, that the largest, meanest looking ones mostly are in charge. Thus killing them would cause confusion.

He found a larger one, and aimed at his head. One shot wasn't enough to blow a hole in its head, he fired another time, and another. Then finally the creature dropped down, twitching as it fell. It had no impact on the swarm however, so he decided to kill another one. He spotted another big guy, tearing apart a guardsman, and fired 4 times at his head, till it finally fell down. Still no effect to be seen on the swarm. He decided to keep shooting the big ones, as he thought that these were the "leaders"( though in reality these were just bigger gaunts)


----------



## darkreever

Rikard hit the stone floor hard, pain erupting all over his face before he opened his eyes and rolled onto his back. Someone was shouting and people were moving about, that meant something was up and he wasn't going to lay on the floor while it did. Grabbing his gun and gear, Rikard emerged from the barracks in time to see sergeant Merth order all of them to defend a heavy weapon emplacement.

Diving into the sandbags near the big gun, Rikard wheeled himself around and took aim with his lasgun. What he saw though, was nothing like the greenskins or tau. "So these things are tyranids huh?" He murmered to himself before pulling the trigger of his lasgun, it set to single shot rather than semi-auto or full-auto. At this range those kinds of modes would only serve to waste shots, like Zac seemed happy to do as he seemed to hold down the trigger and empty an entire clip with little to show for it.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki strapped his Las-cannon to his back. There weren't any visible large targets that needed neutralising, and the guardsmen were providing enough covering fire, what the needed was men, Astartes, that could match the Tyranids for combat ability. "For the honour of Sotha!!!" Solaki roared in answer to his Brother's rally, as he pulled his combat blade out from its sheath and charged head-long into the xenos scum. Two gaunts jumped at him, but his super human reflexes gave him time to pull his combat blade up in time to slice the duo's heads in half. Another one jumped at his non-combat blade side. Solaki, in one smooth motion, grabbed it's head, threw it to the floor, and crushed it's head under his boot as he sliced another one through the chest. 
In the right of his peripheral vision, he could see a small squad of Guardsmen valiantly holding out against three over-grown gaunts. They appeared to be like the Broodlords he had witnessed among the Genestealer broods. These men were obviously drilled well, as even though they were faced with almost certain death, they didn't back away, they didn't take a single step back. If these Guardsmen were willing to die for the Emperor, then they had earned the right, in his eyes, to fight a little longer. 

Carving a blood path over to them, he used the din of the battle and the fact that the gaunts were preoccupied with the Guardsman to creep behind them. Jumping onto the back of the middle one, his weight almost pushing the beast to the floor, he grabbed the tip of the blade and pulled it straight through it's neck, decapitating the beast. 

The one on the right, tried to impale him onto the one he had just killed. Once again, his reflexes saved him as he jumped to his feet. They both slashed, Solaki with his blade and the gaunt with his scythed hand. The gaunt managed to get Solaki's side, but because he was lunging also, it slash only chipped his blessed power armour. Solaki, instead of aiming low, went for the eye socket. On the first lunge, he missed, the gaunt just avoiding the blow. On the way back it wasn't so lucky. Solaki twisted the blade round on itself and hooked it into the eye socket on the way back, killing the beast almost instantly. With his knife still hooked in it's skull, Solaki spun around, just in time to stop the third gaunt from stabbing him in the back. 

Pushing the dead gaunt into his final adversary, Solaki gained a few precious seconds wile the beast was stunned to regain his center of balance. As the the final gaunt managed to regain it's footing, Solaki launched himself at it, bringing it to the floor. For moments they struggled, like to school boys in a park, but eventually Solaki got hold of it's head and snapped it's spine, killing the last gaunt. Standing up again, only to address the Guardsmen saying "The Emperor protects", Solaki dived back into the swirling maelstrom of flesh, carapace and blades...


----------



## FORTHELION

"For sotha" echoed Belial as he followed the rest of his squad into battle. With his bolt pistol bucking tyranid were falling everywhere. He rushed over to Arx who was in the thick of it hacking away left and right at a group of Gaunts forcing his way towards the trenches and joined in the fray chainsaw wailing. As belial cut down the last warrior between himself and arx he took a quick glance around the battlefield and marvelled at the sight of his brothers tearing into tyranids. It truly was an awe inspiring sight. 
He quickly joined Arx and together they fought side by side towards the trenches.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell saw that Zac was emptying entire clips in half a minutes time, and yelled at Zac:"Try to aim at dense areas of the swarm, you'll hit more of them! Or try to shoot less!"Khrell said sarcastic, but it was hard to make what he said hearable, even though he was yelling, he nearly didn't came over the noise of guardsmen screaming, lasguns crackling, and bolter shells exploding. He thought that zac was wasting much too much ammo in a too short time. 

While aiming at some gaunts, he spotted space marines. He was amazed at how they were fighting, ripping apart these beasts with utter ease. He was sure they would win with these super soldiers on there side.............


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm had been sleeping peacefully before the shit had hit the fan and when Sergeant Merth had broken into their sleeping qaurters yelling at them to get up his training had taken over so that his mind could fully waken itself. Quickly and efficiently he suited up and grabbed his kit while following the rest of their squad out of the building. He couldn't see much in the dust and haze except for the black shapes and occasional claw but he had a hunch of what was attacking them and knew that if they didn't hold them here they were as good as dead.

Merth wanted them to support a heavey weapon team so he dove behind the sandbags with the rest of his squad and set his lasgun to single shot, no use in full auto or even semi-auto when he could barely see these things. Carefully but fast he took shots at the moving shadows, taking his time for the shot but also taking almost no time to aim and shoot. Like a well-oiled machine his training began to shine through as he fell into the mechanical fluid motion that all Helghans were taught to fight with.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac knew his accuracy wasn't that great, but that was why he was shooting around twenty times faster than anyone here, giving a general spread of lasfire across the mass of shadows all over the field.

"Don't worry about me Khrell, I've had lots of practice at this," Zac said with a grin, not taking his eyes from the field. He'd probably burnt four packs already but they were just laspacks, so darn easy to recharge it wasn't even funny, and he figured if he had infinite ammo he might as well throw a wall of lasfire at the enemy.
It was paying off though, whole masses of shadows were being tripped up and shot down by Zac's barrage of fire, and he just kept pulling out more and more clips for his gun.

"I think I've got about thirty-six so far, but it's pretty dark so some of them might have just fallen over," Zac called over the lasfire idly as he continued firing like their was no tomorrow. Which was fair enough since it was a real possibility.
They were lousy conditions to have a competition in, his old regiment always used to mysteriously inflate their scores something chronic in order to catch up.


----------



## darkreever

_"Oh just shut your trap and listen for a change frag-head!"_ Rikard yelled over the sound of the heavy gun firing. _"You keep blazing through your ammo like that you'll run out of packs and none of us'll gonna be tossing you more."_ He finished hoping the others would agree and possibly follow suit and get Zac to listen. If none of them stood for his lone wolf, high and mighty attitude then the guy might actually start acting like a squadmate rather than a damned arrogant CO.

Lining up his own lasgun to one of the moving shadows, Rikard pulled the trigger and the red beam smacked into an armoured mass and sent it to the ground, only for it to be engulfed by what might as well have been a wave of others. If that was a real kill then that made how many for him? Three maybe? He could only be so lucky, though the heavy gun was definitely doing far better than any of them. _"Save the auto-fire for when they get a lot closer, just try to pick 'em off with single shots with others. Not like their ain't plenty to go around!"_


----------



## Necrosis

Vick layed low in the sandbags waiting for the enemy to come into range. The heat continued to bear down on him as he continued to look at the enemy. He wasn't sure what they were. It seemed some of the other people called them tyranids. He had not heard a few stories about them. Yet these stories were nothing like what he was seeing now. As the enemy got closer he began to take single shots at them. With these many enemies they could no afford to miss with a single shot. He continued to fire single shots at the enemy waiting for them to get closer so he could fire at full automatic. Yet with each one he killed it seemed another ten would take it's place. It practically seemed impossible to win yet if he would die then we would die fighting and with honor.


----------



## blazinvire

It was good to finally be back in action, no more worries or drama, just going absolutely trigger-happy on the first thing that looks like it might kill you.
That sort of thinking combined with the power of lasguns tended to cause a lot of overkill and random shooting though, you could never be too sure you've killed something with your laser pointer until they were missing appendages.
Then again sometimes that theory didn't even work either, Orks, seriously.

Zac threw a glance over at Rikard, his aiming going berserk in that brief moment before he returned his gaze back down the chamber.
"Shut _my_ trap? You're the lecturer," Zac replied tartly, "And don't distract me, I'm _trying_ to kill stuff, -whatever it is."
With the sheer supply of lasfire erupting from Zac's gun it was very easy to understand why he needed to concentrate, and he wasn't stopping any time soon either even with eight depleted packs on the dirt next to him.
Somehow he just kept pulling more and more packs from his armour/clothing like some cheap magic trick.
Mikey always _did_ used to say Zac was some kind of psyker that could create charge packs out of thin air, it used to upset the rookies and give everyone a good laugh. Though it nearly got him shot by the Commissar once.

He figured he should probably start recharging his laspacks soon, but he usually didn't bust out his emergency recharge kit unless he was getting dangerously low on ammo and there were still things to shoot.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell enjoyed the shooting as much as Zac did, though Khrell WAS aiming. He liked to shoot in the heads of enemies, as that expressed utter marksmanship. And he always envied to become a sniper, though never acquired a longlas, or another sniper rifle. So he had just converted his own lasgun with a slightly stronger shot( though his laspacks ran out of ammo faster) and a scope.

His fighting style was quite the opposite of Zac's , as Zac was just rapid firing at the waves, not even trying to aim. While Khrell was aiming at heads, taking a shot, aiming again, taking another shot, in an endless circle. He thought it was good for a unit to have two opposites, as they would even each other out.

The waves of 'nids still kept coming, and Khrell began to hope they weren't endless, for if they were.......they would all surely die out here....................


----------



## dark angel

Astelan felt his Chainsword chug and die, fleshy parts clogging it’s motor. Cursing he sheathed it and drew his Bolter pulling back the slide he delicately pulled the trigger and watched a single projectile howl outwards, striking a pair of Guardsmen who had been backed against a wall with a group of Gaunts and let out a sigh of release knowing they could rest in peace.

The Astartes turned towards his closest Brother, Solakai and found that he was fighting with tooth and claw, knife drawn. He stepped close and fired, sending rounds ripping through the flanks of beasts and rupturing them like ancient cargo ships saying to his Brother “Ah, Solakai it would seem you care for these….These fodder. Well Brother, what say we take this damned world in the name of the Glorious Dead?” once again he fired and awaited a answer.


----------



## Concrete Hero

'_FOR THE EMPEROR!_' Arx roared down the vox, his helmet sending the cry booming across the battlefield with all his zeal, his hate for this scum empowering every syllable. His fist descended like a black comet and obliterated the face of the closest gaunt, sending fragments of endo and exoskeleton into the gloom, splattered with viscera. The gaunt fell to the ground in a lifeless, faceless slump.

Like a volcano of concentrated fury he erupted into the Tyranids, Spinning and slashing with the fearsome Chain-Claymore. The blade roared its own anger as the whirring teeth chewed their way through the small Tyranids, spewing forth splashes of dark blood and chunks of twisted flesh. He'd kept his immediate area clear for now, falling into the practised dance of death. He felt one leap on his back and bellowed a shout of pure hatred, spinning the sword in an arc to gain him some precious seconds he shot his left hand up and crushed the throat of the beast. He hauled it from his back to land kicking and scything before him, the Astartes stilled the creature for good with a powerful stomp to its skull.


----------



## FORTHELION

"For the emperor" roared Belial in response as he followed in the wake of Arx. He took the head off one gaunt with a well aimed bolt and a reversed cut took another down with his chainsaw. Every time he took out a tyranid it seemed like ten would take their place. Slowly but surely they edged their way to the trenches. He voxed Arx "Almost there brother looks like we will be first to reach the trenches. We can lay down some suppressive fire and clear the way for the rest of our brothers. what do you think"?


----------



## Deus Mortis

As three more gaunts pressed in on Solaki, he backed against Astelan, he addressed his Brother's questions "Those Guardsmen fought with honour in the name of the Emperor, not giving a single step to the enemies. They earned the honour to live a little longer by fighting for their Brothers, just like we did. And so for them, for every single servant of the Imperium the tyranids have claimed, we shall free this world from their grip, and every world until we have breath in our body...". Pulling his pistol from it's holster he obliterated two gaunts trying to attack him, and severed the final one's fore-arms and crushed it's head under his boot. Tilting his head slightly to address Astelan, "For our brothers?" he said demolishing two more gaunts whilst waiting for his brother to answer his rally to take back these Emperor-forsaken trenches from their hated enemies...


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was aiming at another gaunt when he saw an officer in trouble. Several gaunts were trying to fell him and his command squad. Blocking their escape route were a few gaunts ripping apart guardsmen. Khrell knew he could help the officer with a few well placed shots on the xenos' heads. 

He took aim and fired a shot, killing a gaunt instantly. The blood an gore coming out of his skull startled the other gaunts. He wasted no time, and took the others down with a few well placed shots, shortly after each other. The lifeless husks of the gaunts dropped to the ground, leaving a large blood stain. The officer noticed Khrell shooting at the gaunts in his area, and saw that his escape route was now clear, and ran up hill.

He had learned to snipe like this on his home world, were he had to cope with zombies. And the only weakness zombies have, is the head. As a result he shot heads on daily bases, just to stay alive. This lead to him being an excellent marksman, and his preference to scoped weapons, and stealthy warfare.....


----------



## unxpekted22

Sunrise has come rather quickly it seems, and the details in shadows begin to show themselves. The orange light becomes more like the light of a bright blue morning sky.

Guard:

As you all continue to fire, the two men manning the heavy bolter, the shooter and belt feeder, begin screaming their heads off after you hear faint whistling noises fly over your heads. You look up at them to see what going on. You notice them tearing away at something on their chests, but before you can do anything, blood red tentacles burst out of their bodies in various directions. The belt feeder’s body is literally torn to pieces from the inside out, his separated parts falling to the ground, the barbed strangler seed rolling near Khrell. The tentacles of the other wrap tightly around the shooter pulling his legs and arms in close to his body as it collapsed to the ground. 

Zac’s rapid fire shooting was not killing so much, but was causing enough of the gaunts below to stagger and had been making it much easier for the heavy bolter team to finish them off. This coupled with the precision shots of the others towards the aliens further back was making for a pretty nice defense. Now that the heavy bolter was gone, the tyranids don’t even climb up the hill, you see the aliens leaping up toward you. At the same time, the problem the lieutenant saw with the defense grid yesterday becomes apparent. A group of about 20 gaunts comes rushing in from your right side, plowing through the sand bags the gang members were shooting from, killing two of them instantly. You watch as the other three get torn apart and thrown around limb by limb. 

Zac reaches for another clip only to be caught off guard…he can’t find anymore. He staggers for the pile of clips on the ground but knows he used all of them up completely. In the rush of getting up and outside so quickly he hadn’t the time or thought to take as many as he usually might. 

The only way the five of you might have a chance at survival is by _coordinating your attacks_. Some of you have to shoot while the others slash, and its going to have to be timed perfectly with each shot and swing, your tyranid opponents move their talons pretty damn quickly after all, and they know no fear. 

Scythes:

You all hear Tobias shout, “Arx, Solaki, Belial, Astelan, halt your advance brothers!” you all turn around to see how far you have gone form the hill you were supposed to capture. You turn to see Niko, pushing a dead gaunt off of his chain sword next to Tobias. 

“I realize the time for vengeance is at hand but we must still think! We shall fail otherwise. You cannot see what is important the battlefield from down there. Return to me!”

As you rush back up the hill, you notice hails of bolter fire from your right causing streams of white light to fly down the hill in the distance. Amongst the bolter fire comes a huge blast of bright blue energy…the only plasma canon the chapter has left…

Brig’s squad appears to have captured a hill on the opposite side of the main road ramp leading down to the forest.

As you return to the side of Tobias, you find many guardsmen flocking in your general direction. Despite many of them seeing you kill some of them, they flock to you all the same, firing their las-guns with a righteous valor like no other, fighting in the midst of mankind’s saving grace, the space marines. They fire at the gaunts that have chased you up the hill. From behind the remaining sandbags atop the hill tobias gives his next orders. 

“Arx, Belial, and Niko: remain in front of these guardsmen and protect our flanks form any tyranids that get to close to us, but don’t stray, we need a tight knit circle as there are only six of us. Let the beasts come to you.

Solaki, I have spotted a second group of warriors in the distance there (pointing with his finger) unhitch your las-canon, scope them out, and send them to hell. 

Astelan, you and I must coordinate bolter fire at the gaunts coming up the hill and minimize their numbers reaching arx, belial, and Niko, you take the ones on the left and I shall take the ones on the right. Rain death upon them without wasting any ammo brother.”

Proceed with your commands.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm cursed as he saw what happened to the heavey gunners and actually felt his blood run cold as he saw the rest of thier squad get torn apart by a group of gaunts. *"Frag out!"* he yelled as he pulled the pin of a grenade and threw it into the midst of the gaunts. The resulting explosion killed most of the gaunts that were in the general vicinity but those that were further back simply got thrown to the ground, he aimed down his lasgun and switched it to full-auto taking bursts of shots at the gaunts hoping that one of his squadmates would back his fire up.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx fell back to the hill in the relative calm provided by the guardsmen's covering fire. He truly hadn't realised he'd gone so far past the mark.

'_Understood Brother_' Arx backed up to the emplacement and looked down the hill, a dark tide of Gaunts still powered their way towards them, and various knots of Imperial Guard were fighting their way to the Scythes position. The large Astartes regarded Niko and Belial with a nod before taking his Melta in one hand, waiting until the gaunts closed the gap.

He felt himself itching as bolter shells flew overhead into the enemy. Just as they were about to come in range they were blown apart by the firepower of his Brothers.

-_Closer. . . Closer. . ._-

Several gaunts leaped ahead of their foul kin and Arx wasted no time in pulling his trigger. Pure white light burst into the darkness as the cone of punishing heat reduced a collection of gaunts to little more than vapour and bubbling ooze on the hill.

A trio of gaunts burst through the lapse and Arx strode forwards to meet them, taking his chainclaymore in one hand while he knee'd the first gaunt in the face with enough force to shatter rockcrete. He carved the second in two with a merciless stroke from the sword, chewing through the creatures body in a matter of second, he swung the barrel of the Melta gun into the flanks of the next closest gaunt before kicking it back down the hill.

He hopped back a few steps to make sure he didn't stray, propping the sword against the floor: Fighting with both of the weapons in hand was not as familiar as he would have hoped, the balance was still off. . . He'd have to make do with one at a time for now lest he leave himself open.

Another jet engine roar and holy burst of light erased another few tyranids from the galaxy.


----------



## deathbringer

I detatched myself from the gaunts mind, becoming my own body once more, an integral part of each rippers mind, the sentient overlord of the hive mind. 

I felt the rippers swarm forward exploding from the undergrowth and from my position I could hear screaming, the burst of fire and then more screaming as the meat was pulled down by sheer numbers and their throats were ripped out and devoured. I felt the life forms drain off my horizon and there was a wash of emotion and triumph at the ease of the kills and as they devoured I could feel there desire to move forward once more yet I held them back enforcing my iron will. They must devour the biomass here, for though it did not bear the satisfying sustenance of fresh meat, they must be quick, they could not afford to be wasteful, to survive they had to be clinical.

I needed my sustenance and I searched through the concious minds surrounding me to find one that was suitable. A warrior strong in body through which I could command my armies, through which I could channel my energies, a figurehead of my will to survive.

It was easy, he burned brightly upon my mind, concious awake and brutal and I looked through the eyes of a tyranid warrior as the huge creature pulled himself from the ship shrugging his cannon mounted shoulders as he prowled forward over the tree strewn ground. His back was spiked, his tail long and deadly, claws sharp above vivid purple scales already stained with blood. A fine warrior, a weapon in my hand. 

I gave a tiny snarl and fused my mind with his, directing his thoughts causing him to roar and there was a buzz of excitement as the gaunts feasting, regaining there own strength upon the fungi on the leaf strewn ground looked up and more began to pour through the fleshy orifices in the ships hull as my children gathered at my call.

"Go out and feast, leave none alive"

My command touched every mind yet the tyranid warrior roared a guttaral war cry reiterated and echoed by his fellows as his spike tail whipped through the air, driving the gaunts forward. They need no persuasion for the kill was in there blood, coursing through there veins as it coursed through mine

I held the tyranid warriors mind in my grasp toying with it, pulling upon his pride, increasing the resentment and savagery. He would be my pawn, guiding my warriors and gaunts, for they were all I had ever need to destroy a world and gain the resources I needed.

I felt the slumbering bodies of my stronger warriors, my brother gargoyles that had been with me from the beginning, my secret weapons and my carnifexes, the destroyers, mindless beasts that killed without mercy and most of all. 

Myself. For upon the field of battle nothing I had faced could challenge me, they had grazed my skin but my wounds healed and my enemies lay dead. For even the great bird, the tau manta that had decimated my legions had fallen to my hand. My strike had burst its shell and revealed the minions that operated it and now it worked to my bidding. 

Yet I lay prone, a mass of skin and sinew useless in body yet essential in mind. I need to feed, to regain my strength.

I tried to raise my head yet the muscles refused to move and so I remained lying spread eagled like a grotesque puppet my mind floating with the sensations of my army moving away into the distance as the rippers moved closer tearing into the biomass that surrounded the ship.

The inertia of my body drove my wild with rage and so i drew upon the minds if the rippers seizing control of a few of the fattest, those that swayed like a gross stars ship as they moved pondorously upon their spindly legs. I drew them to me, pulling them to their doom and my resurrection. I forced the first to crawl mindlessly on top of my jaws and my senses picked up the tremulous fear in his quaking legs. He touched my teeth, his legs quivering upon my fangs. I allowed my jaw to relax and then cleched causing the ripper to burst in a wave of stupendous bliss as hot blood and flesh slithered down my dry throat. Yet with the bliss came a rolling agony as the mind I possessed was ripped from the material world, as my own jaws caused my own death and I almost screamed as my body convulsed with the pain yet it was overcome by a need and a savage pleasure in the kill. I forced another ripper to take his place upon the headsmans block and once again my ecstacy and agony duelled in a combat that racked my body with spasms of horrific delight.

I gorged upon a river of rippers, remaining still as I allowed the strength to build and fill my body. Soon i was able to sit up, reaching for rippers as their bitter blood leant me new strength and the pain numbed as I detatched myself from there minds. Their death screams became small cries within a countless number of minds, ignorable, avoidable and I killed them feverishly with talon and fang.

I feasted upon my children, claws grabbing frantically, their blood and flesh forming a gory coating across my lips that I eagerly licked away and swallowed.

I was aware of my children moving away from me, and the feeling of pain, yet the triumph of fresh kills and I halted, hand suspended over a rippers back as it shied away from my talons. I stood and my legs no longer shook yet my body spasmed with cold shivers. My stride had a new purpose, a desperate energy, the need to feel the warmth of the son, the need to keep my children under my control yet they were fading away and I forced my way slowly out of the ship to appear upon a barren wasteland. Ahead lay a coating of rippers swarming on mass in the path of the gaunts and in the dim light of day I could see the stationary outlines of vehicles.

"Make sure they cant move" I thought to myself and I saw a swarm of gaunts climbing steadily upon the tracks of a tank, felt their sharp teeth devouring the rubber as the light rays of dawn fell upon my chest.

It was like a warm breeze brushing across my chest gentle and comforting and I smiled as it caressed my scaly skin. A cloud in the sky shifted and I longed to soar once again, yet it was unnecessary, my brother gargoyles slept and my children stood upon the ground and so I strode into the midst of the rippers allowing the heat of their labours and the sun to fill my body.

I looked ahead from the barren wasteland in which I stood to the trail of trees and bodies through which my gaunts had passed and over which my rippers swarmed. I looked at the splayed bodies and felt the urge to soar above the tide to reach it and clench it in my talons yet I resisited and strode forward through the rippers which moved instantaneously to avoid the tramp of my clawed feet.

The body lay lopsided neck twisted to face the sky with wide fascinated eyes, whilst his body lolled as if asleep. Was their pain in those eyes? Somehow I sensed it and it delighted me as I bent my head to strip his throat from his exposed neck and threw my head back allowing it to roll in a slalom into my throat.

On the edge of my mind I felt an overwhelming sense of pain as tyranids began to staggers, feeling stinging inputs upon there chest and I paused. It was not unusual to encounter some resistance yet one look at the vehicles that now lay lopsided upon the ground left me uneasy.

Was something different this time?

I paused gnawing upon of the corpses bones to ponder a second question

Would that difference be something I couldn't survive?

The answer was simple and crystal clear

Whatever it is I must survive... they have not killed me Tri'vaa but I had killed them. So many of them... and I would kill more... I was certain


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial was glad there was a melta in the squad it made life easier for everyone, there wasnt much getting through and anything that did was easy pickings for the bolt pistol. He knew it woulnt last forever but was glad for the breathing space after all his exertions trying to keep pace with Arx during the close combat. He made a mental note that if he survived this, more training was required.
As Belial looked around at the guard fighting their way towards him and those behind him he couldnt help but think how brave they truely where. With all but no armour they never panicked or run from there duty. These men were worthy to fight alongside, more than that he thought it was an honour.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki had got so caught up in the commotion of the combat, he hadn't realised how far he had strayed, or how many he had killed. Scattered remains of at least 30 gaunts lay at his feet. "Understood" Solaki voxed back to Tobias as he walked up the hill, knowing he was free from attack because of the covering fire of the guardsmen. Standing aloft on the hill, Solaki scanned for the warriors that were designated as his targets. In moment he found them and took up his "stalker" pose he had adopted since he was a scout wielding the heavy bolter for his squad. 

The middle one had whips that appeared to be made out of it's own muscles that it used to drive it's gaunts on like slaves of some of the Hive worlds he had seen. He was the first to die. Solaki sent a Las-cannon blast through it's chest , separating the whips, it's arms and it's head in a single blast. the one to it's right saw where the blast came from and seemed to signal to the other one where to attack. Or at least it would have if he hadn't got a blast through it's head. However the last one saw him and fired it's Venom cannon at him. Solaki met his shot with a third blast from his Las-cannon firing at the same trajectory. For a brief instant, the two shots collided in the air, showing to Solaki the struggle between his brothers and the alien foes they were facing. However, as inevitable as their victory over the tyranids, his Las-cannon sheared through the corrosive acid being fired at his, rendering it little more than a corrosive gas that burnt the gaunts below it and stayed far away from the Imperial stronghold, and torn into the last leader beast. In it's last moments, Solaki would have sworn it had a look of surprise on it's face that it had failed, if such emotion was capable of such...animals. As his beam of holy light obliterated the left side of his foe, it caught the sac where to corrosive acid was stored and had the same effect as when it was fired, resulting in an explosion of corrosive gas that disintegrated the body of the warrior and several gaunts surrounding it. Speaking in a cold voice through the vox to Tobias, which had the ring of subtle fury and feeling of triumph laced throughout it "Targets neutralised. Awaiting your next orders for where my support is needed." Solaki stood up, one to be ready to move positions and two to watch the glorious dance of death his brothers weaved around the xeno's scum...


----------



## Necrosis

Hearing the words "Frag out!" Vick instinctively pulled out a frag grenade. He bit the pin off and threw it at the group of gaunt. He quickly moved in to back up Shadihm full-auto firing at the gaunts. Yet when he ran out of ammo instead of switching clips he took out his combat knife and got ready to counter attack any gaunts who got close to Shadihm. A laspistol would have been very handy right now but by the Emperor will it was meant not to be. Instead he took out another frag grenade and threw into the enemy swarm.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac flinched slightly as he saw their heavy weapon's team get decimated in seconds from the Tyranid advance, he'd heard of this tactic before but really didn't know how to respond, he couldn't really dig a whole with his lasgun.
Well... maybe he could but his lasgun clicked dry as he spun about, his left hand instinctively shot to his person and thudded a few areas as his hand met empty sections of his armour where many clips were still supposed to be.

"S**T," Zac cursed loudly at the timing, half of his clips must have fallen out of his armour in his hurry to follow the sergeant, he hadn't realised at the time from being half-asleep. No wonder he felt lighter...
Well, emergency recharge time it was then, though right now they had more pressing matters in the form of lots of Nids freaking everywhere.
He heard 'Frag out!' and thought the idea was pretty sound, he was temporarily out of shots anyways so he tore a grenade from his belt, pin flicked flying out with his index finger and hurling the grenade amongst the masses of Tyranids.

After that he pulled out flint, steel and a strange block of seemingly metal material, arranged his spent clips around the block and hit the flint so hard an amazing shower of sparks landed on the block and it caught fire.
The block put out an unimaginable degree of heat, burning white hot and fiercely fast, the charge packs rapidly absorbed the heat and recharged.
Zac quickly picked one up, burning the heck out of his fingers from the residual heat, and throwing it into his gun whilst gritting his teeth and turning his gun upon the new assault.
He paused for a few moments as he quickly thought, his gaze darting over to the heavy weapons team and their namesake. His gun turned upon the strange tentacles and he saw a bizarre seed thing next to Khrell.

Zac gulped and started unloading lasfire to clear the heavy bolter, blasting at the strange seed in the process.
"I suggest we get that gun back online _now_," Zac said loudly over the noise of combat.


----------



## darkreever

As Radec and several of the others tossed grenades into the swarm of enemies, the screams of the heavy weapon team threw Rikard's attention and the shot he had been lining up went wide. Dukcing back down, he turned around to see some sort of net or creature tearing the pair apart. Swining his lasgun around, Rikard fired several shots into the thing while noticing Zac's own gun clicking empty.

_"See, frag head just don't wanna listen to anyone and now we get to pay the price."_ Rikard said, though through the sound of las-fire and people screaming no one would hear. They needed that heavy gun firing; so Rikard slung his weapon before running over to Zac and pulley him by the arm while he seemed to be digging out a block of, what was that stone?

_"Come on damn-it; we need that thing firing now, not letting you waste time with something stupid!"_ He yelled while half dragging Zac towards the gun. _"I'll load, you shoot; at least with that thing you won't have any excuse for wasting ammo."_


(OOC: Trying to recharge the las-packs with heat and fire mid-battle? Do we really have time for that?)


----------



## Euphrati

Niko had held back while the others stormed into the mass of lunging gaunts, firing controlled bursts with his pistol into anything that happened to make it past the wrath that was his brothers. The hate that burned within his breast was no less than that of the others, yet these beasts were just mindless drones, unworthy of the true depth of the rage that simmered under Niko’s iron will.

With a twist of his wrist and the assistance of a well placed kick, Niko snatched his chainsword loose from where he had buried it to the hilt in the body of a gaunt. The xenos’ corpse tumbled back down the slope with a wet sound as Tobias’s voice carried over the din of battle. Niko took a moment to study the tyranid forms as his brothers returned to the hill, followed by a slew of guardsmen eager to fight in the shadow of the Emperor’s chosen warriors.

The xenoform was typical of the specimens that Niko had studied in the hopes to locate a weakness in the hive fleet. He slapped his pistol to the mag-clamp on his thigh for a moment to retrieve a vial from one of the pouches at his hip, scrapping a sample of the ichor coating his chainblade into the flask before capping it and storing it in an empty pack. A spear of blinding light lanced from the nearby hill, proof that Brig’s squad was holding their objective with the brutal force he was known for.

Niko retrieved his bolt pistol and checked the load, acknowledging Tobias’s orders as he stepped before the guardsmen and took aim at the cresting mass of alien filth. With a flex of his throat he opened the channel for the squad,

‘Brothers, be aware of any unusual mutations within the swarm and identify those beasts quickly. There is something unique about this splinter fleet and if we can isolate the genome we might be able to devise a weapon to help combat the threat,’ 

Niko’s pistol bucked in his gauntlet as he sent bolts screaming down into the writhing chitin armoured abominations. Foul fluids and chunks of the carapace arched through the air as the projectiles found homes deep within the flesh of the swarm.


----------



## blazinvire

His concentration was a little divided, so Zac was caught a little off guard as Rikard half-dragged him to the heavy bolter that he had been busy frying tentacles at.

Zac tumbled around the side of the gun and spun it about to face the oncoming hordes, getting into a proper firing position before looking down the rough sights and held the trigger down, sending a scatter of enormous bolts into the mass of over-sized bugs.
"Pity we couldn't requisition an assault cannon," Zac remarked idly as he fired.
He seemed to be a lot more accurate with a weapon on a tripod, the bolts ripped through scores of Tyranids at a much more impressive rate than Zac's lasgun, though Zac would insist he could fire faster than a heavy bolter.

"I don't suppose these count for competition purposes?" Zac asked idly with half a grin.


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

Though Zac's methods for recharging his laspacks were crude, he had practiced silly improvisations like this for years with his old regiment and was surprisingly good at it. However, now was not the time for such improvisations due to the extremely fast advancement of the tyranids, and it was good for Rikard to pull Zac to the heavy bolter, which Zac did not seem to mind. As the tyranids coming up the hill were blasted away, Zac and Rikard see a burning bright light, that of a las-canon, dispersing three larger tyranids of which you hadn't even been able to make out in the distance. far in the distance to your left you follow the trails of the three shots and see glimmers of bolter flashes and melta rays coming from black and yellow armored figures who were bigger than the guardsmen surrounding them....had space marines _actually_ come?

with the heavy bolter fire, and the las-canon shots taking out their leadership, the hill was looking a bit better. plus, most of the gaunts were heading towards what were possibly the space marines.

behind you, Shadhim and Vick throw all the grenades they have at a group of gaunts still tearing away your five gang member comrades. because of not communicating, and both of you throwing grenades, the explosion is much more than was anticipated by either of you. some of the gaunts were practically right on top of you as well, so the frags were close. the bodies of the gaunts are all that save the two of you from certain death. You are both knocked back nearly unconscious into sergeant Merth's feet. As you dazily look up he is firing his las-pistol into the gaunts unfortunate enough to survive such a blast. 

Khrell, busy kicking away the barbed strangler seed even after Zac's shooting at it, is still fully laying behind the bags when the grenades go off and gaunt pieces fly over head. The explosion also causes sharp and bony tyranid parts to smack into Zac and Rikard knocking them from the heavy bolter.

Merth is ordering you, "Everyone is rallying to the space marines! lets go!"

do NOT turn your backs. The leaping gaunts will get you for sure. move backwards making your way to the marines' position, what makes it harder: Shadihm and Vick are too grenade shocked to walk, they are able to raise their las-guns and fire them though. Merth does not give you much time to think, and begins his movement backwards, still firing his las-pistol.

Scythes:

Tobias orders Astelan to continue his previous order, and he will continue as well, but he takes a moment to give the rest of you further orders. Solaki, you are to start cutting down the tree line with your las-canon. This is where the gaunts have been coming from and possibly where more synapse creatures are hiding. 

while Solaki sets up his sights and charges his weapon to fire, a single gaunt, as if it were being individually controlled by something greater, leaps further than any of you have seen before. It passes through Tobias's bolter fire unharmed, and lands right into Belial's chest. Tobias turns and orders, "Save him!" and then turns around to continue his bolter fire before seeing if you actually do.

Belial, you are tumbling with the creature on the ground. Its impact with you knocked the weapons from your hands and the breath from your superhuman lungs. All that's holding its teeth away from your helmet is your gauntlet covered hands, which are beginning to sizzle on the surface from the acidic venom dripping from the gaunt's mouth. you can only do your best to stop it from killing you, you are not able to turn the tide and kill it. 

Arx and Niko, its up to you two to save him then. Some guardsmen stop shooting and watch in bewilderment. 'A space marine fallen to just one? It took just one to get through their weapons? This can't be so.'

Neither of you can use your weapons without harming Belial. Every time you come near the two of them, the gaunt flips momentum to place Belial's body between you and it. Its up to you both to figure out a way to get it off and kill it, or else Niko is going to have some work to do patching up Belial. 

Tyrant:

These stings begin making it quite clear that something is different, something is...wrong? The questions you have found yourself asking suddenly become much more prevalent. They become all you can think about. You forget about the flesh half hanging from your jaw unfinished. New genes, new blood, none of it will matter if you die.

You feel you have no choice, you must move closer. You will have to take flight. Find where your children are dieing, but stay hidden. you feel some of your warriors die now as well, not just your smaller, more numerous servants. Your main warrior still lives though. While in cover you take direct control of some of your fighters. If need be you would take control of your main warrior as well. 

Through the eyes of one gaunt, you see something familiar to you, something you have not seen in the passiing years of your young life. Something you have only seen once. Black armored creatures with yellow midsections, and weapons that caused you pain. The first and only time you encountered them was in the pouring rain on Tri'vaa, after they lit up your backside with exploding metal projectiles. It was to no avail, you killed all that had approached you. You will do it again. You overwhelm this gaunt with your prowess and have it tackle one of these large armored creatures. through the scythes' posts this gaunt will die some how or another. 

After it does, your stress causes something to begin happening. Without knowing the power you possess, your catalyst ability starts allowing some of your children to continue fighting on, and seeing through their eyes you know they should be dead. This is taking a lot of energy from you and you don't have much. You can continue using it and bring it forward. based on what its doing right now, you assume your remaining forces will be nigh invincible at least until you run out of energy. Or, you can discontinue this strange phenomenon so as to save energy. if you choose the second option, will you pull your surviving children back into safety and risk giving away your position, or have them try to kill as many enemies as possible while they can?


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial standing just to the right of Tobias picking of gaunts with crisp head shots from his bolt pistol was suddenly taken unawares by a gaunt leaping from an unimaginable distance. It leapt straight through tobias' hail of fire and crashed straight into him "Frack" was all anybody heard as belial was knocked to the ground. Tumbling away Belial was nearly knocked unconsious and lost all weapons in the melee. Weaponless and fighting for his life with only his hands for protection he could feel his grip slipping. Was this to be his end. All he could do was hope that one of his brothers would risk their lives for him.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell crushed the seed underfoot, and noticed Vick and Shadihm throwing grenades at gaunts close to them. "Nooooo!!!!" Khrell shouted, but it was too late, the frag exploded and threw a few gaunts on Vick and Shadihm. A lot of gore and bone hit Rikard and zac, who fell to the ground.

Khrell knew he had to act fast, and hung his lasgun on his back, taking out his autopistol. He ran towards Vick and shadihm in a hurry, shooting a few gaunts while running. He threw the gaunts of Vick and Shadihm, and shot the few still alive. He yelled to Zac and Rikard: " One of you come and help Shadihm up to his feet, will ya?! I'll help Vick!" Khrell pulled vick up, and helped him walk backwards, not turning his back once, and shooting a few gaunts while he was doing so.

A gaunt suddenly leapt at Vick, intending to impale him. Khrell instinctively reacted fast, and shot the gaunt right between the eyes. The lifeless husk dropping to the ground at a neck breaking speed, only to hit the sandbags with such a force, that it all rolled downhill.

Khrell thought of the time he had saved a crippled tau fire warrior from a group of zombies. The tau was crippled after his transport wrecked, and he holed up in a building. A large group of zombies surrounded the building, and even got into the building. The firewarrior was in the last room the zombies still hadn't breached. Khrell heard the emergency broadcast via vox, and xenos or not, he rushed to help him out. As every living man or xenos was helpful to keep yourself alive.

Khrell got into the building, and killed every zombie he came across. When he came to the room the firewarrior was in, zombies had driven him into a corner, Khrell was right in time. He shot the zombies with unparalleled accuracy and helped the firewarrior to his feet. They got to Khrells' hideout, where the firewarrior thanked him. After that the firewarrior was his loyal companion untill they both got off the planet. Khrell joining the Imperial Guard, and the firewarrior returning to the tau military.......


----------



## dark angel

Astelan simply nodded at the orders of his new Sergeant, a grim smile flickering across his lips. He moved his index finger upon a rune just above the trigger and slid it towards the single shot slot, he followed it up with pulling the slide back and sending a hollow shell casing flying outwards, clattering to the ground he pushed it forwards again and shouldered the weapon. 

The prayer scroll upon his shoulder pauldron flutter gracefully in the wind as he fired, the round immediately crushed the armoured shell of a Tyranid and destroyed another two in a faction of a second with delicately placed rounds. He heard Tobias shout something in a worried voice however he did not care, he glanced backwards and saw Belial lying upon the floor with a Gaunt hissing atop of him. This did not matter. If his Brother died, he died, however he would make sure the Gene Seed would be harvested for the sake of the Chapter.

He continued to fire, even as Guardsmen began to surround him.


----------



## Deus Mortis

"Noooooo!!!" Solaki screamed. How had he let this happen! He and this squad had been on this planet no more than an hour and already one of his Brothers was at death's door. Drawing his combat blade, Solaki ran to slaughter this petty gaunt that dared to try and feel a single more Scythe! "Solaki STOP!!!" Tobias shouted down the voice with an authority like none Solaki had ever heard. Immediately he stopped and looked in Tobias' direction. There he was, he hadn't moved an inch from where he was when this freak gaunt had made the leap at Belian, still fighting off gaunts by the dozen. Not even looking in his direction, Tobias continued "Do you deem Arx and Niko incompetent? Do you think the TWO of them are incapable of felling a single gaunt?" Solaki knew that his actions had conveyed that the answer was in fact "Yes". 
"No sir"
"Then get back to your position! We need you getting ride of that tree line to see if there are any more synapse creatures around so we can disrupt this attack! You wasting time here trying to do what Arx and Niko are more than capable of will serve no purpose except to allow the tyranids to break through, and then what will you do?" Solaki knew what Tobias said was true. He sheathed his combat blade and set up his Las-cannon and demolished another tree, sending the flaming wreckage cascading down in the gaunts below. This attack would be distrupted, even if he had to kill every single tyranis himself. He propped his Las-cannon up on his shoulder again and fired at the trees, his laser blast almost as hot and strong as his fury for the xenos filth that defiled the Emperors galaxy...


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm cursed as he realized how close the grenades were to he and Vick and knew that they were as good as dead. The resulting explosions blew two gaunts into the both of them, and he thanked the Emperor for their bodies for if they weren't there they would have been torn apart. As he fell his head was ringing and he felt as though he couldn't get up, suddenly the gaunt that had landed on him was torn off of him, allowing him time to bring his lasgun to bear. 

He roared and let loose on full-auto at the rest of the gaunts that were now advancing on their position, he couldn't really hear anything but he was going to be damned if he didn't attempt to get himself out of here. He realized he would have had to turn himself to leave and knew that that was definately not going to happen so he took out his combat knife just in case a bug got too close. 

Taking short bursts at the bodies getting closer to him he actually felled a few until one jumped him. He brought the arm holding his knife up to block the gaunt's face and struggled to get it off of him, this was it he was going to die, but he was going to take this bastard with him. 

He pulled the trigger on his lasgun and the shots tore through the gaunt's body killing it instantly and causing it to go limp on top of him. Instead of pushing it off he kept shooting from underneath it hoping that its body would give him a little bit of cushion if his squadmates didn't get to him quick enough.


----------



## deathbringer

Doubt filled me, nagged at my mind like the stinging impacts of rounds upon my back.

The prey became sour in my mouth as the possiblities filled me as the life froms that filled my mind began to dwindle.
Something was wrong... no this was paranoia, nothing had gone wrong before

Yet it was different.. shut up.. get out of your head... if something's wrong you need your strength... eat feast.. I need my children to survive... its just gaunts... maybe they fucked up... nothing to be worried about 

Then I was scared... terrified by a vision... men in huge black armour... yellow flashes then a huge explosion and the vision was torn away as the warriors life was torn apart. Yeah could I be sure.

Bodies blown apart by a huge explosion, distorted my senses. I felt my warrior, my pawn snarl and his anger filled me followed by his fear. Yet his thoughts roared through my block

We need you... pleaded his thoughts and I gave a horrified roar of frustration tossing the limb aside in disgust and expanding my wings. Yet half of me was delighted to soar once more and I felt the muscles in my back contract easily to propell me upwards. Through the trees and into the suns glowing warmth, tilting slightly to twist towards the pain i was feeling. Below me the line of the jungle was disfigured by a huge blackened scar of death that my rippers had created as they devoured the biomass and I smiled. Yet the grin turned to a grimace.

If something was going wrong i needed defenses and the jungle was natural, perfect for ambushes, disruption, perfect for my forces. Below me the rippers froze and I remembered my last major encounter. The trees had helped me against the bastard tau, they would help me once more.

"Collapse the trees... devour the leaves branches and roots but not the trunks. Form a barricade... we need to defend ourselves... yet leave gaps for our warriors to pass through... we need to save every man we can."

The rippers responded to my call and they began to spread swarming over the roots of trees delving down to uproot them from below the soil yet I had no time to waste and I pushed hard following the aching pangs of my falling warriors as the bastards cut them down. 

I came to rest upon a tree close enough to the battle that my brothers could feel my presence strongly yet hidden from view and I closed my eyes and integrated myself into the hive mind. I felt the blistering impacts of bolt rounds causing gaunts to fall and I recognized those impacts. They had stung my back as the cowardly minions ambushed me from behind and I concentrated upon my warriors in the vicinity. 

I had crushed them before. Not just crushed ripped them limb from limb, oh and I could do it again. They were no challenge yet I had to survive and I stopped myself from throwing myself into the fray in reality. Instead I threw my mind into the battle.

I felt a particularly large gaunt freeze as a bolt round clipped its shoulder and he felt the fear of death upon him. His legs wouldnt move yet I seized his mind integrating my own will into his body and for a moment I was him.

I saw an astartes line up to take a second shot and I ducked to one side with speed the gaunt could not have managed and forced his limbs to sprint forward and leap at a second piece of scum thats pistol placed a neat head shot into another brother. My own strength filled his limbs and he leapt to pull the superhuman down and I allowed the gaunts slavering crazed desperation for flesh to take control of his mind and I felt his slavering jaws stopped by an iron grip. 

I surveyed the field and saw gaunts left out of place by the guards retreat, by there quick movement and rally upon the astartes. they were out of place and exposed... they had to fall back... I needed to ensure that some survived... for I knew now that this was a crippling blow to my forces. I would have to hibernate once more.. to build my forces back up and attack again.. for I had no intention of allowing these astartes to find me once more. They had hurt me once, slain my children and helped kill my mother. The bastards would pay... and so I had to hibernate once more. Yet I must have children to defend me as I hibernate and so I pulled my out of postion gaunts back towards the trees. Whilst the mass of gaunts closest fell upon the astartes with a new ferocitiy.

My tyranid warrior roared in frustration as I felt an astartes cripple another gaunt with a curt bolt pistol round and I matched his roar. Yet as he and the other tyranid warriors struggled forwards I held them back. They must lead the retreat. 

I could protect those that now threw themselves against the men in armour.

I needed them to hang on for though my out of position gaunts were sprinting for the tree line I knew they might not make it against the wroth of the astartes.

A second gaunt took a shot to the arm and though he slumped slightly I willed him to stay alive not to fall, to charge and fight on regardless and he did, miraculously he fell forwards raking at a guardsmans face with his talons and suddenly the distance was closing and wounded gaunts were fighting on... staying upon there feet to pull down more of there assailants. I willed the fleeing gaunts to hurry for once in the trees we would be faster, more nimble and agile and I smiled. 

In the trees we would have stealth... the word caused a bark like laugh as I remembered some of my stronger warriors... the lictors, raveners and the gargoyles.. They could erupt from the earth, fall from the trees onto any that chose to follow my retreating gaunts. Yet I needed to wake them. 

I diverted my energies and felt my body tremor as I sent out short pulses of enegy through the hivemind to wake those that lay slumbering within the ship, still holding in vain to the warriors that threw themselves at the astartes. They wouldnt die and now they dueled astartes with blade and mangled claw only falling to a direct short or catastrophic damage whislt I watched my children closing upon the forest. 

I felt myself growing weak , the little energy I had gained being sapped from me and I severed the connection to the ship, if they did not wake I would need some strength to protect the column yet my energy was sapped awatas I struggled to hold the gaunts upright as the tree line drew closer to my fleeing gaunts. If necessary I would feast upon the gaunts I had saved... yet in my heart I hoped that my slumbering warriors had heard me, for any that met them in the dank dark jungle would pay a heavy price for every step they took.

(Leaving it open ended unekpekted. )


----------



## blazinvire

One minute Zac was happily firing away, next he was in a heap on the ground from pieces of flying Tyranid corpses from an explosion.
He grunted a little as he sat up again, pulling a claw out of his armour and a bone shard out of his arm.
Zac blearily ripping out a grenade and pulling the pin free before stuffing the grenade under his foot as he stood up, keeping the release lever down so it didn't explode until his foot otherwise moved. He had shoved the grenade next to the heavy bolter munitions, returning his grip to the heavy bolter handle before throwing a glance to Rikard.

"I'll cover you with what I got left, get Shadihm," Zac said to Rikard, eyeing off how many bolts were left in the clip as to how carefully he had to spend them, and whatever shots he had left in the fried laspack of his lasgun.
He'd have to check for any of his late comrade's corpses for ammo, he was vastly uncomfortable with anything but an nigh-inexhaustible supply.
Until then he'd have to place each shot like a sniper trying to use an assault cannon, and hope he had enough to keep the place clear long enough.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko fired a precise burst into the gaping jaws of a gaunt as it surged up the hill; the corpse pitched into the churned up dirt, the back of the creature’s skull decorating the swarm behind it. The xenos were dying under the holy fire of his brothers; yet they still persisted, scrambling over the broken bodies of the dead with hate-filled screams torn from their hideous throats.

Movement from the line caught the corner of Niko’s vision; a blur so fast that even with his enhanced reflexes he barely spun in time to see the gaunt soar through the hail of fire unleashed by Tobias and crash headlong into brother Belial, bearing the Scythe to the ground under its thrashing weight.

Niko paused for only a fraction of a moment, his eyes meeting brother Arx who had also turned when the gaunt made its leap. Without wasting words, Niko knew his brother would be right behind him in the charge. Niko slapped his pistol against the lock on his thigh and jammed his chainsword point first into the soft soil before sprinting across the distance to where Belial struggled to hold the snapping jaws. The gaunt squirmed in Belial’s grasp, rolling the astartes over in the mud to place his armoured form between it and Niko.

Niko didn’t even break his stride, slamming into Belial’s back and wrapping his arms around his brother’s powerpack. He kicked out, using his own momentum to roll both his brother and the tyranid beast over with sheer force. The move pinned him beneath Belial’s bulk… but left the snarling gaunt exposed and open for attack.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx had seen the diving Gaunt as he moved to tackle Belial to the ground, but even his superhuman speed wasn't enough to intercept the living missile.

He turned to move his Brother, not hesitating for even a fraction of a second and he caught the sight of Brother Niko as he did so. Nike was closer and he could see the marine moving towards Belial. The smallest of Nods from his Brother was enough to solidify the decision, intent conveyed well beyond the need for words.

He clipped the melta gun to his side and left the gigantic Chainsabre sticking from the soil. Large strides closed the gap in moments.

He watched as Niko rolled over the tangled embrace, locking onto Brother Belial's power pack as he did so, he managed to pin the two in place, preventing the creature from turning the Astartes and leaving it vulnerably facing the open sky.

Arx wasted no time in acting, he hooked his gauntlets under the scything arms of the gaunt. With a grunt of force he yanked the creature off his Brother, the scything talons scraping for purchase as the gaunt was pulled away. For a brief moment the gaunt was left suspended in the air, its remaining limbs thrashing about while its snapping jaw frothed in a furious frenzy.

The crucifix position was held only no longer as Arx ripped away the scything arms with a roar, he discarded the ruined limbs and pushed the creature into the ground at the small of its carapaced back. His other hand descended like a black comet and obliterated the back of the creatures skull, leaving a headless, and minus one set of limbs, ruin on the floor.

Arx grabbed for his Brothers gauntlet, lifting him from the floor.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial felt the weight lift off him then a hand pulled him up off the ground. wheezing and gasping for breath he saw his saviours for the first time, brothers Arx and Nico. He nodded to his brothers and said "thank you my brothers i thought my time had come to join the emperor. I wont forget this. looks like we have the makings of a new squad here,if we look out for each other the way you have for me there is nothing we cannot accomplish".
"I thank you again. now if you dont mind i think ill gain a little respect back and take out a few more of these xenos scum. i think i owe them one."
Belial headed back to his post a little worse for wear but well able to fight. He thought to himself, they may not be his origional brothers but by the grace of the emperor there was the makings of a good squad here and he would gladly give his life for anyone of them.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko sighed with relief as Belial’s weight lifted off his chest, arching his back and snapping his legs to right himself out of the clinging grip of the mud. Thick brown clots of soil, mixed with the fluids of the beast Arx had just torn apart with his bare hands, clung to Niko’s black and golden yellow armour. He brushed at it absently, reaching for a pack at his waist and extracting a small canister that gleamed with a blue-steel finish. Niko quickly hurried after his brother,

‘Belial, let me see your hands now brother,’ Niko demanded as he shook the contents of the canister.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx spared a few more seconds to ensure Belial and Niko were still battle ready before turning away. Brother Niko began to examine the gauntlets of Belial and Arx took this as signal enough to carry on.

He whirled on the spot and brought the Meltagun up from his hip as he began to stride back to his sabre, still sticking from the ground. As he banked on his prone weapon he fired a punishing cone of roaring heat into approaching swarm, vaporising the closest knot of Tyranids. Another swift and practised movement placed the Melta back on his hip and his hands on the hilt of the sword, ripping it from the ground in a shower of soil.

On the edge of his vision he saw a blank faced guardsmen staring at them in amazement, the one who had recently expressed his doubt? Arx didn't have time to check. He clicked the amplification on his helmet to maximum, sending his voice booming across the battlefield.

'_We are the Space Marines, Angels of the Emperor! And it will take more than this foul Xenos scum to finish us, for our task in fuelled by Holy and Righteous Zeal! These_ Tyranids _have failed before us in the past and they WILL fail again! You are all soldiers of the Imperium and Warriors of Terra! Stand fast in His Name!_'

Arx powered his point with another screaming blast from the Meltagun, the volcanic roar of the weapon removing another collection of the closest gaunts.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial was taken aback by the abruptness of Nicos tone. My hands are fine brother what do you want them for?


----------



## Euphrati

Niko reached out and took his brother by the wrist with his free hand, turning over the gauntlet for Belial to see where the toxic venom of the tyranid had spilled out onto the ceramite. The paint had pealed back and the foul, green venom was slowly eating away at the flexible portions of the holy armour. Niko nodded his helmeted head at the sight,

‘Alexander warned me of this,’ he applied a quick burst of spray from the canister upon Belial’s gloves. The smell was not unpleasant but with a sharp astringent note, ‘That should neutralize the toxin and prevent it from doing any further damage. Now you are clear, brother, Emperor protect you,’ 

Niko caped the canister and stowed it again at this hip before loping off to where he had left his chainsword stuck upright in the soil. Scooping up the blade, he unlatched the pistol from his thigh and took up his place again at the line.


----------



## FORTHELION

"Thank you brother and forgive my abruptness with you i am just a bit on edge". belial turned and headed back to join the fray he was eager to help his brothers again


----------



## darkreever

Rikard's vision was swimming and he could feel the cold ground against his neck. Something had tossed him flat on his ass, but the little blossoms of pain about his person meant that he was hurt a bit, but clearly not dead. Getting his legs about him, Rikard had enough sense to crouch down low as Zac raked the heavy bolter from side to side.

_"I'll cover you with what I got left, get Shadihm,"_ Zac's words lazily entered his ears. Shaking his head, the world finally resumed normal speed and Rikard tossed his gun near Zac. _"Smartest thing you've said yet."_ He said while unsheathing his combat knife. _"Half pack left, don't go wastin' it when the big gun runs out!"_ Rikard shouted before running over to Radec.

Khrell was moving to help Vick, and both stunned squad mates were busy blasting the nearest enemy with las-fire but they needed to fall back. Sliding along the dirt next to Radec, Rikard rammed his blade into the head of a gaunt charging towards them, Radec slashing into its lower body at the same time. _"Sarge says fall back, so its time we fell back now!"_ He yelled before putting one of the other man's arms around his neck and hauling him back to his feet. _"You shoot, I'll move got it?"_ He said, not so much a question though as Rikard began to backpedal away from the enemy.

_"Come on kid, get the ice worlder and lets move!"_ He yelled to Khrell before kicking another gaunt back away. The thing was thigh high and had talons, kind of like a half insect half dog creature. Rikard was lucky when he kicked it in the side it hadn't torn his leg off.


----------



## unxpekted22

(Probably will require multiple posts from most of you)

Guard:

Just as you leave the sandbag covered hill, dragging Shadihm and Vick as they fire their weapons, the hill becomes over run with the tyranid swarm. Zac barely escaping off of the heavy bolter’s position in time, claws and talons striking into the soft dirt mere inches from the toe end of his boots as he helps cover the squad from further injury. None of you have any more grenades, but can’t help to keep glancing at your belts hoping to magically find one at your side again, ready to be unpinned and thrown into the tide of monstrosity. Though you cannot tell from where you are, this is one of the last major groups of gaunts left. They seem to suddenly be much harder to kill though. Why, is something you don’t have time to even think about. Keep pulling fast as quickly as possible, you’ll find the gaunts mowed down by more effective weaponry than your own. One of the six man units of space marines will be the ones who help you survive. 

As you reach the position they defend, there are already several medics at the location…but there are several injured men already waiting for all of these medics. 

Vick and Shadihm, try to walk on your own again. Though try as you might you will fall. The speed the gaunts flew into you, as they died in mid-leap from the frag grenades gave your bodies quite the impact. Not to mention several heavily bleeding wounds.

Sergeant Merth, clasps a hand on Rikard’s and Khrell’s shoulders, “Job well done boys. Some of you are still alive, I’d say that’s a victory then; and what a wake up call eh? Sure is one way to get moving in the morning!...Looks like we need to find a medic for these two though.” He motions to Shadihm and Vick who have failed at trying to stand on there own again. 

A heavy step enters your ears from behind you, along with the confident chimes and metal clangs from the holy power armor of Brother Niko. He stands above all of you, looking down at Shadihm and Vick. He proceeds to assist Vick and Shadihm. For multiple posting, any five of you can try speaking to the marine if you wish, but you do not yet know his name or anything of that nature.

Scythes:

From your position you can see the dwindling forces of the tyranids. You also notice two other things, neither of which seems very good. The first is that many of the gaunts are retreating back into the thick of the woods, darting over, under, and through the tree line that Solaki has been busy cutting down.

Retreat, is not something you know the Tyranids to do. They certainly never retreated in their attacks on you during the battle for Sotha, or for the attack at the Giant’s Coffin. 

The second strange occurrence is that every remaining gaunt that charges at your line, is not falling dead like those before it. Each one has become harder to kill, some of them start to take entire clips of bolt pistol rounds, even taking the hits to the midsections, and still run toward you forcing you to finish them off with your chainswords. The only thing that still kills them instantly is Arx’s melta blasts; but his melta gun’s pressurized pyrum-petrol gases are beginning to run low. Even more to your surprise, some of the downed gaunts piled around you eerily stir back to life and try to get back up. Fortunately Arx’s words put the guardsmen around the six of you back to full attention, and their las-guns are ready to put back down each Tyranid that tries to get back up.

Tobias yells out to all of you, “It’s the catalyst effect! Something a hive tyrant is capable of. It can temporarily push the near dead Tyranids to fight on further….I bet that big bastard’s around here somewhere. But fast, to the right brothers!”

He quickly swerves to the right and drops to one knee in the same motion aiming his bolter to the right of the hill, blasting rounds towards the closest remaining swarm of gaunts. Three of you, Arx, Belial, and Niko, are still busy with the gaunts affected by the catalyst effect. So, Astelan and Solaki, turn your fire toward this new group. You see a squad of five guardsmen and their sergeant fleeing from the tyranids, not even a few feet away from the horde. Two are being dragged by the others as they fire their las-guns on full auto into the chasing xenos. Gun down the Tyranids without hitting the squad this time, you figure they deserve that much. 

Once they are safe, the rest of you will be done finishing off the other gaunts around you. Tobias looks at Niko and nods his head in the direction of the small guardsmen squad, through the vox channel he says, “Looks like they could use some medical attention brother, those men should be dead. The Emperor wishes them to live, give them a hand. All of their medics are already tied up, it seems. 

Tyrant:

You’ve lost more of your forces than you ever have before since leaving Tri’Vaa. Also, because of not winning the battle you are unable to feast on the dead for your preferred biomass. You grow weak further from these new found abilities, as you keep your half dead gaunts fighting to ensure the survival of at least some of the others as they dart back into the forest. 

You have no choice; if you wait longer you will only be taking an even higher risk. You must return to your ship and go back into hibernation in order to begin resupplying your numbers. Make haste while you still can.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Retreat? The Tyranid never retreated. Being relentless was one thing the horde was known for. . .

Arx didn't have time to ponder the thought further however, as a strange crunching noise from beneath drew his attention.

A gaunt, or more what should be a gaunt corpse. Las marks scarred its body and flesh, and the creature was missing a limb and a good portion of its left flank from a bolter round.

-_What foul abomination is this..._-

“_It’s the catalyst effect! Something a hive tyrant is capable of. It can temporarily push the near dead Tyranids to fight on further….I bet that big bastard’s around here somewhere._”

And sure enough the ruined body on the floor hissed in warning before issuing a clumsy dive, hampered by the creatures destroyed state and failing body.

Arx grabbed the creature with his free and and span it into the dirt as the Chainsword buzzed furiously to life, decapitating in one vicious blow. Around him he saw the guardsmen and his Brothers beginning to struggle with these Tyranids, seemingly back from the grave.

He levelled his Meltagun at a twitching mass of Tyranids, no doubt about to pull themselves back into the sick parody of life. 

'_NONE can withstand our faith!_'

With a flash and another screaming roar the pile vaporised, leaving no trace but the scent of burnt promethium. The Meltagun hissed, depleted of ammo, Arx grunted and clipped the weapon back to his hip, taking the chainclaymore in a two hand grip.

He strode once more into the fray, decisively executing Tyranids in gushing gouts of blood and vicera, the sword buzzing like a hive of enraged hornets. Though the rate at which they rose was rising, and many more made it back to their talons before a final stroke of the sword could reach them.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was astonished to see the tall space marine coming towards them. He had been thinking about how space marines look, but this was even better then what he had imagined, a huge soldier in an armor, so thick gaunts can't even penetrate it. 

He had heard that space marines recruit people, if they aren't mature yet. Khrell was only 16, so he hoped that if he would fight hard enough, the space marines would see in him a new recruit......

He walked towards the space marine, hoping the marine wouldn't just ignore him as he said: "Thank the Emperor for sending His greatest warriors, to help out guardsmen in need. You truly are angels." He looked up at the marine, hoping he would respond...


----------



## Deus Mortis

The catalyst effect, had these Tyranids no shame. They wouldn't even let their dead stay dead! Solaki saw the squad of guardsmen firing on full-auto at the approaching swarm of gaunts. For unmodified humans, they fought remarkable well. Astelan may regard them a cannon-fodder, but Solaki saw them as warriors of the Emperor, even as much as he was. They fought with courage and honour, even though they had no ceremite shielding their skin as he did, he could see the strong bulwark of passion deep in side their heart and a fire of determination burning in each and every eye. He looked through the sight of his Las-cannon, and drew a clean line of sight that went through some of the thickest amounts of Tyranids and didn't touch a single guardsman and fired. The beam of fury cut straight through the foul xenos and reaped a devastating effect. Some of those that the Las-beam didn't touch were caught by it simple because of their crazed desire to feast drove them straight into path of his las-cannon. Solaki fired again, chosing another line that didn't cut down any guardsmen. He knew that once the full threat came baing down on them, they would need every soldier they could get, especially these brave guardsmen. Solaki opened up a private vox channel to Astelan "Brother why do you hate the guardsmen so? They are fighting just the same as you and me, surely they deserve to be treated than little more than meat shields?" Astelan treated these guardsmen with utter contempt, and maybe Solaki would remind him that he once was like them and had it not been for their Chapters and the Emperor's grace he would still be like them...


----------



## dark angel

Astelan was getting aggrivated. He was wasting far to many rounds upon the damned Tyranids, and yet more and more still continued to push at him. More Guardsmen were swarming towards them, a Squad of six fighting bravely against the horde had made him think before firing and thus he had changed his aim. He heard Solakai shout something to them and thought _damned Guard lover, doesn't he realise they are mere meat walls? He should re-think his priorities and fight for Sotha and the Chapter not some lowly mortal._

He took aim at half broken beasts encroaching their positions and stepped forwards once, firing twice he sent large callibre rounds ripping into the seemingly undying wave and opened a Private-Vox to Tobias saying "Brother-Sergeant, we have fought before against these foul bastards and yet Sotha runs off like a headless chicken seeking revenge? We all want to reap a toll from the Hive Mind but he has conducted it the wrong way, Brother I tell you this in confidence it will stay between us. I believe this world will be the end of us Brother". And with that he awaited a reply, firing into the enemy as he did so.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac stumbled away as the tyranid gnashed not a foot from him, he rolled backwards sending a small spray of lasfire at the tyranid following him to slow it down as he outright ran to get some distance.
He then remembered tyranids could jump quite impressively, and they'd have nothing to fear from it if his back was turned. Though he just needed a bit of distance, he didn't like close combat against such monstrous things, he personally believed it'd never go well and was a silly concept while there were still shots left in his gun.
Well, Rikard's gun, he'd spent his last pretty early, for future references he'd need to tie his laspacks more securely to his outfit.

He was acutely aware of the tyranid's shadow on the edge of his vision, soon as he saw it shift violently, Zac dived off to one side with as much force and speed as he could. Instinctively he rolled to one knee with Rikard's lasgun ready, placing a few more shots into the over-sized bug as he landed where he was a second ago, before continuing on, turning to backpedaling after his retreating comrades.

So many bugs, Zac personally preferred Orks, at least he knew how to fight them properly and that they couldn't run so damn fast or jump around.
That and they were more interesting to throw a barrage of lasfire at, the Shootas always tried to outgun him.

Then again... he never had Space Marines backing him up against the Orks, Zac damn near fell over when he threw a glance back at what was firing.
The Emperor's Angels of Death, quite intimidating with their copious amounts of armour and guns that Zac had little hope in carrying in one hand.
Seeing one in person came as quite the cocktail of feelings, a little disappointment in how they weren't as awesome as the rumours, but the fact they were still really big and powerful and more importantly _real_, that was quite amazing indeed.


----------



## deathbringer

My gaunts broke like a wave upon the wall of black armoured figures as they closed in, falling to the hail of fire before clambering up once more and attacking again, though there claws seemed to be impervious and the black armour seemed impregnable despite the slashing cuts of my wounded warriors.

Their backs were bloody and bullet holes riddled their chests yet I held them upright, pulled them back up with the very force of my mind. Yet it cost me, toled upon my strength as my fingers slipped upon the bark, scrabbling for a purchase upon the rough trunk.

Beneath me I watched the gaunts flooding across the forest floor, a stream of life forms yet my forces were depleted, dilapidated and the scythes above remained impregnable. Hatred seeped through me and my forces that still duelled with the scythes threw themselves forward in a final surge of effort. 

Yet my mind was made up and as they threw themselves forward pulling down more of the warriors in their final push I severed the contact and allowed myself to hang, chest heaving from the tree as blood surged through my body.

Did I have the strength to fly home? I had no choice I had to get back to the safety of my forces and replenish my forces for my hatred knew no bounds. The people in the huge black armour had to die, they had to be annihilated once and for all, only then would i be free of the stiniging impacts, of their constant hounding. It ended here... yet i needed my forces to regroup and thus I must hibernate.

I leapt into the air my wings spreading outwards and I pushed forwards surging over the woods, my wings carrying me high above the woods with the frantic urgency of my failing strength as my gaunts rushed after me, hurrying through the woods.

I needed to build my strength and then build my forces, i need to eat and then sleep, yet I could not afford to sink deep within my hibernation. I must be aware, I must keep my eyes upon the scythes and try and wear them down, then when my forces were strong enough and I was strong enough, I would crush every last one of them. 

Then I would be free to feast.. to drain every molecule of biomass from the system... to build an army... to?

What was my purpose.. I had to survive... but if I survived... what next... what was I to do then... if I killed the bastards that had hurt me and killed his mother... what then?.... where would I go... the scar on the landscape was ahead of me ..and the ground was looming up towards me as my wingbeats began to slow and my nose tipped into a dive. 

I couldn't halt myself... I couldnt resist the waves of tired sleep that washed over me and the ground was a solid black sludge that covered my eyes as it welled up before me. My eyelids slipped and the blackness thickened and I felt my children closing in around me.

"Feed me" pulsed through the hive mind as there was a tremendous impact that jarred me through my whole body, sending shivers up his spine as I slid through the mud to come to a halt, scales splattered and slipping from conciousness close to the barrier erected from tree trunks. I pulled myself along the ground, claws digging into the sludge towards the fleshy mass that was my sanctuary, my ship, my prize. I couldn't see yet I felt it in my mind and I struggled, belly crawling along the ground till I felt flesh upon my fingers and I dragged myself inside.

All was black 

I was motionless, unable to move until a corpulent ripper placed a foot upon his chest and my mouth opened wide. The ripper tottered along his body and fell headlong into my gaping maw. I swallowed... eyes closed... I needed my strength... I had to build... but to what purpose?


----------



## unxpekted22

Tobias's bolter makes a few loud clicks. He then yanks the empty clip out, and slips a new one in, saying, "last one."

He then communicates to both Astelan and Solaki, "The two of you need to find a middle ground. There is no need for us to waste their lives, as they are part of the Imperium that we serve to protect, loyal men to the Emperor. At the same time however, the Emperor only chose for some us to be superior, and as superiors, our objectives simply come before theirs. Defend them if it does not conflict with our goals, but if they must die, then so be it. Remember, these men may not be our equals, but there have been a few that have risen amongst mankind, those who have served a role as vital to the safekeeping of the holy Imperium as some of our brother chapters."

he then switches to a private channel with Astelan, "And Sotha is a smart marine brother. There are reasons why he has survived to be among us, and to lead us; living on when all of those higher in the chain of command did not. You are entitled to your opinion as a beloved brother of our remaining chapter, but _I_ have the utmost faith in Sotha."


----------



## dark angel

Astelan opened a private Vox to Solakai and declared “Why do I hate the Guardsmen Brother? They are nothing more than His servants, and we are His sword and shield, these Guardsmen do nothing more than take out well earned glory and power. Worlds that should be flourishing with new recruits instead crawl with scum who will not even make it past their thirtieth summer. We are given a greater life for a reason Brother and that is to bring justice to the Imperium, and expunge all those who get in our way. You say they fight the same as us? Have they fought to save their home only to have it destroyed? I highly doubt it” with that he growled and killed the Vox and returned fire, stepping forwards he approached the advancing Guardsmen like a lifeless statue, firing round after round into the enemy.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko flexed his gauntlet around the pommel of his chainsword, feeling the weight of the weapon balanced against his strength. The swarm of xenos seemed to be slacking up, with the larger beasts destroyed the lesser creatures appeared less focused. Searing blasts erupted to his right, where Brother Arx stood on the line, when something scraped against Niko’s left boot. 

He glanced down to see the mangled body of a gaunt clawing weakly at his leg; the xenos was dragging itself through the mud upon its shattered limbs, internal organs pulsing wetly though the torn remains of its body. Niko recoiled back in disgust from the abomination, raising his foot to stamp down on the gaunt’s hissing skull with a crunch of chitin and wet tearing of alien flesh. The corpse twitched for a moment more as Niko unloaded his pistol into the sudden surge in the swarm. Tobias’s voice came through the vox-net, only to confirm Niko’s suspicion. _The Catalyst effect_. Niko felt a cold hate burning deep within his soul at the unnatural abilities of these twisted creatures. 

He had been forced to re-clip his pistol twice; loath as he was to waste the precious rounds upon the hive-mind driven corpses, but the Scythes had held off the assault and now the last of the beasts were disappearing into the darkness. This new tactic by the xenos troubled him deeply, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth as to the uniqueness of this splinter-fleet. As Niko pulled his chainsword from the torn body at his feet, he was met by Tobias’s gaze and nod in the direction of the new group of guardsmen whom had come upon the crest of the last wave of tyranid attack. Two of the guardsmen were being borne along by their comrades. Blood, both human and xenos, mingled on their uniforms as they tried and failed to stand. Niko opened a channel to Tobias,

‘I will do what I can for them, Brother-Sergeant, I need not remind you that most of the solutions I carry are not suited for unaugmented human physiology, but if there is aid that I can offer them then I shall see they get it,’ Niko spoke as he holstered his chainsword and locked his pistol back to the clamp on his thigh, making his way through the milling guardsmen to the new arrivals. Standing amidst them; he was keenly aware of how young many of them were, and of how few his own years were as a battle-brother. One of the guardsmen spoke to him as he stopped before them, the young voice thick with awe. Niko turned his head to regard the trooper curiously before nodding, his voice was deep and calm as it issued from the voxcaster in his battlehelm,

‘The xenos-plauge is a stain upon this world that must not be allowed to spread. It is the duty of every servant of the God-Emperor to stand before this threat to humanity,’ Niko turned back to the injured soldiers at his feet, carefully dropping to a knee beside the nearest man, 

‘Your medics are overwhelmed and my Brothers are not in need of my services at this moment, so I have come to offer what aid I can to your injured,’ Niko spoke as he began his cursory inspection of the fallen guardsmen, eyeing the shrapnel wounds upon their bodies. With a whispered command the optics in his helm cycled to heat signature overlays and the guardsmen were washed in shades of colour; it was a crude trick to isolate the worst of their internal injuries but without the proper diagnostic equipment of an apothecarium at his disposal, but it was the best Niko could hope to work with at the moment.

Both men showed evidence of broken ribs and impact trauma, internal bruising glowing faintly as their unaugmented bodies attempted to repair the damage that had been dealt to them. Switching back to standard vision, Niko pulled a series of vials from his pouches then extracted a sub-dermal injector from a case strapped to his calf. Adjusting the small dials on the side of the unit, he spoke to those watching over the two men,

‘Your comrades both suffer from fractured ribs and bruising to their torsos, along with trauma induced shock. I am about to administer a mixture of pain-killers and stimulants, as well as anti-toxins incase their wounds have been tainted by the xenos venom,’ 

Niko paused to slip the vials into the slots in the injector before glancing up, ‘the treatments that I carry are tailored for astartes physiology, so the doses I will be giving them are minimal to reduce the risk of further damage to their systems.’


----------



## dark angel

Astelan was outraged. Niko, was actually treating the Guardsmen with the medicine of their Gods. It would seem the Scythes within his Squad actually…….Actually cared for these Guardsmen. He contacted Niko via a private channel, his voice on of barely contained anger “Brother. What are _you_ doing? You actually treat these Guardsmen with _our_ medicines Brother? They might be lucky, and that is all they are. I respect Tobias, you should know this but I do not believe we can spare our remedies for such a lesser. You have no idea how important you are to our survival, I respect your decision nevertheless”. 

He killed the Vox and racked his Bolter, ejecting another empty shell onto the ground he placed his foot upon it and pushed down, digging it into the blood logged soil. He had a single magazine left. He spun his Bolter around in his hand and placed it onto the maglocks upon his leg, his other hand arching down to reach his Chainsword. With a yank it came free, he had just enough time to use it as a club and crush the skull of a half destroyed beast. 

The Scythes, were fighting with a righteous fury, as were a few of the Guardsmen who fought a brave fighting retreat. Some of them being no more than eighteen summers he realised. Then he realised he had one true comrade in all of this. Arx. Opening yet another private channel to his Brother he said “Brother, do you remember the Kroot? Do you remember how the fight? If so you will remember how we were saved the Brimlock Dragoons from them. That day I lost many Brothers, not of my Squad no but of the Command of Julias Var. The Guardsmen were incompetent and thus caused us casualties, they are a liability, see how Niko treats them with that he should not? Tobias gave him the order, that I disagree with. Brother please tell me you see the light of this?”


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki's blood boiled with rage. How could he speak of these Guardsmen as if they were as expendable as the shells in his bolter, of the fuel that powered his chainsword! "Brother, these me fight the same enemy as you and me, whilst they may not shoot as well as us or be able to match them in unarmed combat, they still fight! And they fight with bravery, possible more than us. We have thick ceremite plates to guard us, what do they have? Tissue paper compared to our armour, and yet they hold the line with us! It would be very naive of you to think we are the only ones who have suffered losses at the hands of the xenos scum! We are all his sevants, just because we have been blessed with augmetics and the gene-seed doesn't make us any less his servants. Most of these guardsmen were taken from their homes and will never see it again. Atleast we had the dignity of knowing and defending our home, most of these would never know if their home died. Yes most of them are scum, or were, but so were a sizable proportion of every chapter. That's why they are chosen, not because they are rightous or honourable, but because the Emperor had mercy on them, and their "talents" made them suitable to be inhansed and used on the battlefield. We all started as humans, we were just lucky that the Emperor had mercy on us. Who knows, he might have mercy on some of them..." Solaki hoped his speech would bring back some sense in Astelan, but is he was totally honset, he doubted it. Whist waiting for him to reply, Solaki leveled his Las-cannon and fired again. He could see Brother Niko patching up some guardsmen. After having to endure Astelan speak so poorly of them, he was pleased to see someone, apart from him, cared for them...


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx had just finished stamping out the skull of another half dead gaunt under his boot -definitely dead now- when his vox clicked with an incoming signal.

'_Brother, do you remember the Kroot?_'

How could he forget? The foul xenos fought like Daemons, sharp beaks and digging claws. They _had_ lost a lot of Battle Brothers, he couldn't imagine the Scythes sustaining those kind of casualties in their current state. . . He felt his Brothers distress, to use supplies designed to keep them alive and fighting on these, who were definitely not in short supply. Though dissent was a much greater danger to them than a lack of medical supplies.

He had opened his mouth to speak when he heard Brother Solaki cut across. He cursed inwardly, he was going to make this more difficult than it needed to be. . . He listened to Solaki's words and realised the marine was getting a bit hot. Quickly he re-patched his vox unit to a private line with Solaki, though with an open channel to Tobias. 

'_Brother, Astelan is troubled and his distress is more complicated than it may appear on the surface, please let me speak with him_'


He didn't want to wait for Astelan to bite back at Solaki so tuned into his brothers Vox unit, so only their squad could hear the following.


'_Brother, I hear your plight and I do remember the Kroot. I remember the Dragoons and I remember the consequence of our actions when we saved them. But hear me out Brother, we fight and protect the Imperium of_ Man, _we can never forget this. For without those to protect we stop being His Angels and we become nothing but attack dogs, existing only to slaughter with nothing dear to us._' 

He paused to swing the long weapon, shattering the skull of a shambling gaunt as he swung the sword like a bat.

'_We are swift and terrible in our attacks Brother, enemies quail and fall before our might as we descend from the Heavens bringing His Justice! Though the Imperial Guard are His hammer. Their numbers are many, many more than our own, they stay and fight where we must leave and pursue knew goals, often the Guard get the thankless tasks._'

He crouched and smashed the head of another twitching gaunt with his black armoured fist.

'_Do not be so quick to dismiss them Brother. Surely you have heard of the Great Lord Commander Solar Macharius? He was 'just' a man, nothing but a guardsmen when he started. And the actions of his fleet eclipses those of many Astartes Chapters Brother. Or the Legendary Lord Creed? He is the gate keeper of the Eye of Terror itself. His mind has turned the tide of many a conflict in the Cadian system. Who knows what state it would be in without his actions and leadership?_'

He turned and surveyed the area, most of them were truly dead now, his comrades and the surrounding Guard were making short work of those that remained.

'_We protect the Imperium Brother, the Imperium of Man. We are the strong who fight for the weak and bring His Glorious name throughout the Galaxy, we were created through His wisdom to serve and protect. And when these Men and Women join us on the field of battle we respect them. For they do not have our might, they do not have our power or protection. Yet they fight as ordinary men. And any servant of the most Holy God-Emperor, any who will fight in His name, is one to be respected._'

He turned to face his Brother, Astelan in the relative calm situation and titled his Crusader helm in the direction of Niko and the Guardsmen.

'_Brother Niko has brought a great honour to these Guardsmen. And though he has used supplies we are short on to preserve them, look at it this way; The conflict appears to be over_' He gestured around '_We are all low on ammunition, the Holy fire of my Meltagun has run dry and many Bolters require refilling. Most medicine cannot be kept for a long time, none of us are injured here so we do not require it. If it was not to be used it would only have gone to waste._' He double checked his HUD to ensure only Astelan could now hear his next words.

'_Did you see them when they saw US Brother? They fought as if the Emperor Himself was beside them! By using our supplies on them we will have garnered more than just their respect Brother. Remember we are not strictly here to help them, but now they may be more than willing to help us._'

'_Your choler is a powerful tool on the battlefield Brother, but do not let it control you, harness it under your own power. If you wish to talk more after we have debriefed or rearmed I would be more than willing Brother._'


EDIT: Included a speech part to Solaki Mortis


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was inspired by Niko's words, and grabbed his lasgun of his back. Because he had been firing with accuracy, he still had at least 2 magazines, and he was determined to put them to use.

He walked up to a space marine with a lascannon, and kneeled down next to him. Khrell immediately began to aim and fire, aim and fire. The gaunts were looking like zombies by now, Khrell's expertise. He was making a headshot with every shot, though the gaunts stood up most of the time.

Khrell was inspired by these "gods among men" fighting with him, and he knew no fear no more. He never even once flinched, and kept aiming and firing like an well-oiled machine. even when these beasts came up close, he did not hesitate, he just shot them right between the eyes.....

That these super soldiers are helping out him and his squad mates was almost unbelievable. He now was determined to help these great warriors with all that he'd got. Khrell knew he still could become a space marine, though he had no idea how, and to ask them, wouldn't be in his favor. He remembered the stories he had heard over the years, if a man fights with such a prowess and vigor, that even the astartes would be surprised, the man had a chance. So he was determined to fight on without fear, in the hope that one of the marines saw his talent...


----------



## dark angel

Astelan listened to both his Brother’s, Solakai was more stressed while Arx remained calm throughout. Firstly he opened a Vox to Solakai muttering “You seem worried if these men fall or not? You also say they will never see their homes again. However Brother, do you not realise neither will we? We lost many in the Fall of Sotha, these Guardsmen, they probably have their worlds still glistening in the stars like gristle amongst meat. Oh yes Brother, we were humans once….To a degree Brethren we still are however we are not like these. We were chosen for a reason. And that reason is to bring Death and Glory, to smite His foes. For the Emperor” with that he cut the Vox. 

He spun on his heel, Chainsword striking a Gaunt crawling behind him while gripping hold of another’s neck and twisting. He opened a Vox to Arx “Brother, even you go against my judgments? Only you and Tobias I can remotely trust within this Squad yet you both seem to shut me off….It pains me to know I am the last. Brother, once this battle is over we shall speak face to face, alone without any interruptions. Even if it means through Vox we will have it.”

He glanced at Solakai and found a young Guardsmen fighting next to him, taking potshots at the enemy Gaunts he grinned beneath his helm and said openly, so both the Guardsmen and the rest of his Brothers could hear “It would seem that Solakai has a protégé Brothers, I do not know about the rest of you however I think it is rather fitting” he laughed blankly and continued to fight.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell heard one of the astartes making a mockery of him and, supposedly, the marine who he was next to. He was angry for that, but he knew marines deserved respect, so he didn't let his anger show, neither did he say anything.But he was determined to keep on fighting, no matter what they think of him..


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki realised he had let his temper get the better of him. calming himself and talking to Arx again "I apolagise Brother. I am a great advocate for the value of life, Astartes and humans alike. Brother Astelans words troubled me, possible more than it should have, because he seems to not care about who dies. I shall remain silent now." And with that he killed the line. Astelan responded to his gentuine concerns with mockery and a slight to him. He could feel him temper stir again, but he still respected Arx and so honoured his vow to stay silent, but he would speak to Tobias about Astelan's blatent disrespect for his Brothers!

Without realising it until Astelan mocked him, a young guardsman had taken a position next to him. The man wasn't a bad shot. He was getting their heads almost everytime, which for a guardsman was impressive to say the least. He shot a gaunt in the head, so Solaki decided to have a laugh with him. "Hey, that was my shot! Get you're own!" The man looked at him slightly scared. Solaki let his words linger before laughing and commenting "But seriously, nice shot. Keep it up and I might put in a good word for you!" Solaki knew it was a big thing to promise, and he would have to run it by Sergeant Tobias first, but the Sythes needed to replenish their numbers, and this young guardsman could make a promising recruit. He might even make a good devistator! On that note Solaki resumed killing the gaunts in great swathes, still keeping an eye on the young guardsman's shots...


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## DaafiejjXD

The marine next to him complimented on his shooting, and even said he was willing to do a good word for him, if Khrell kept shooting like this. Khrell was heavily motivated now, and made sure every single shot was on a head, and he succeeded in doing so, gaunt after gaunt got a shot in the head, and Khrell wasn't going to stop, till every gaunt was dead.

He realized that he actually impressed an astartes, and that this could lead to him becoming an astartes, and doing so, regaining his families honor. If only his father could see him now....

But he knew there just wasn't time to think about such things now, first things first. And that meant shooting zombie-ish gaunts in the head....


----------



## Concrete Hero

'_Brother I am not trying to shut you out, not in the slightest, you are not the last of anything because as a Chapter we are un-dividable. Though we need to stick together and act as one, we amongst all Astartes especially, surely you don't need reminding how important our Bonds are? How important it is for us to stick together through all things? I look forward to speaking with you later Brother._'

He'd have to cross in front of his Brothers to bring the fight to the last few stragglers, so left them to bring them down from range.

Arx overheard the words from Solaki to the guardsmen and cringed inwardly, from the look of this one he was older than 15 cycles. But it was also true that there was some remarkable cases of older entrants to the Astartes. . .

He opened up a private channel to Brother Tobias.

'_Brother, after this is done and we have a moment may I speak to you?_'


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial was busy hacking away at the last remaining gaunts around him when he noticed three of his brothers pausing mid battle from time to time. It wasnt so much of a pause more of a slight hesitation now and again, but for an astartes to do it was quite noticable.
He opened a vox link to all his brothers, "Is everything ok brothers what is the problem, is there anything i should know about.
Then he overheard Solaki telling a guardman that he would put in a good word for him, Opening a link to Solaki "he said good thinking brother we will need all the help we can get here and we do need to replenish our forces and that extra motivation will help, but be careful do not promise too much as most if not all these guardsmen will be too old for recruitment".
Though secretly he did agree with solaki the young guardsman did seem to have something extra about him and quite possiby might just be of astartes material.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm grunted in pain as Rikard picked him up and made a break for the position the Space Marines were holding. His vision was swimming but he could still shoot and by the Throne he would until his clip ran out, luckily for him once it did they were already at the marine position and he was let down and placed on the ground. He struggled and shook his head to keep his vision straight but every time he focused everything got blurry, he needed to see with his own eyes. 

With a tiny hiss his visor retracted and he struggled to reconize what was standing over him, at first he thought it was a Tyranid but realized that one of the Space Marines was administering to him and his other squadmate that had been injured. As the marine set up some kind of machine and hooked viles of who knew what into it he squinted as he tried to comprehend what it was saying to his comrades but failed miserably.

As the marine turned back to him his grabbed its mighty fore-arm with his hand and nodded his head and muttered, *"Thank you."*


----------



## Euphrati

Niko’s hands remained steady though his anger at Astelan’s questioning burned like a glowing ember within his mind. The injured guardsman nearest Niko reached out and placed a hand upon his arm, bidding his thanks for the aid. Niko paused to meet the man’s gaze, the red lenses of his battle helm glowing faintly and the oath paper pinned to his shoulder fluttering softly in the light breeze,

‘It is the Emperor’s will that you lived this battle so that you may fight again,' Niko kept his voice low and calm, 'do not squander this gift you have been given,’

He placed the injector against the exposed neck of the guardsman; both men were pale skinned with blue eyes, a trait that made the blood and gore stand out in stark contrast on their features. Niko thumbed the rune upon the device’s grip and was greeted by a faint hiss as the combination of pain-killers and stimulants was forced into the trooper’s bloodstream. Without a word; he turned to the next and repeated the dosage before removing the vials and carefully stowing the injector back into its case.
As he tucked the vials into his pack, Niko opened a channel to Astelan,

‘_Who_ are you to say that these men are undeserving of our aid, brother? I find your questioning of my actions to be ignoble,’ 

Niko spoke through the private channel even as he plucked a shard of razor-edged metal from the shoulder of one of the men, prodding the wound for a moment before applying a quick spray of syn-skin from a brushed steel canister. The liquid coated the wound, sealing it in a flexible layer that would prevent infection, before continuing speaking,

‘I am _very much _aware of my role within this squad, brother, and Alexander has made the state of our Chapter’s needs _exceptionally_ clear in my training. The dosage that I just administered to the guardsmen was less than a quarter measure of a standard dose between the two, yet the morale gained by simply treating them as something other than an expendable wall of bodies shall benefit us far more than the loss of the painkillers,’

Standing in a fluid motion and hearing the callous remark made over the squad’s vox by Astelan, Niko was grateful that his helm hide his scowl from the guardsmen around him as he spoke aloud to them,

‘Keep a watchful eye upon your comrades, their injuries will take time to fully mend but, Emperor willing, they will be ready to stand and fight the xenos again soon.’


----------



## darkreever

Dragging Radec away from the tyranids, firepower of a different kind suddenly blew a line through the closest enemies. Looking around for the source, what Rikard saw drained the colour from his face and his legs feel weak. _"By the Throne what are those?"_ He murmered to himself, making the aquila with his hands as he dropped his hold on Radec.

Spread out through the fighting were these giant moving statues wielding equally giant weapons. They moved like men possessed, completely inhuman except for the shape. Despite all he had seen over the last twenty or so years of his life, Rikard stood with his mouth open, like that day when he first joined up and saw whole fields of guardsmen parading about. 

Space marines were supposed to be myths, angels of the Emperor sent down to defeat the greatest horrors that not even His army could defeat alone. Thats what he had believed all his life, that space marines were nothing more than the heroes for children to believe in, but here they were in the flesh, or close enough to it.


Taking his gun back from Zac with numb fingers, Rikard watched as one of these soldiers made its way towards him. The space marine was huge, Rikard barely came up to its chest. Thats when the space marine kneeled down and began to tend to Radec and Vick; Radec putting a hand on the space marines arm, like a young child to a parent.

Finally, Rikard shook his head to bring things back to normal; close his mouth and stop acting like a greenie. Grabbing Zac, he moved in close to the other soldier, whispering so as not to have the space marine hear and possibly be offended. _"Always thought they were nothing but stories for children. Angels of the God-Emperor who swoop down and help those who need it most."_ He said before looking around, noticing something missing. _"Wait a sec, where the frag is Khrell?"_


----------



## unxpekted22

(sorry this wasnt up sooner, I got called in to work someone else's shift this morning-afternoon. got a 45 minute break to go eat, and then had to come back for my evening shift)

As the two Marine squads finish off the gaunts near them affected by the catalyst effect, everyone, Scythes of the Emperor and Guardsmen alike, hear the unmistakable sound of human aircraft nearing Vorspire's western border.

Coming from over the tops of the building spires in the now late morning sky, flies a large number of Imperial guard air transport and gunships. 

The first to make their way high over the looming buildings is a small group of lightning strike fighter jets, which launch salvos of hellstrike missiles into the tree lines, leaving thick gray trails of smoke all the way from the air to the now burning trees. 

Unloading all of the air to ground weapons they have, the lightning fighters zoom by overhead leaving nothing with you but the loud sound of passing jets.

Next come the many Valkyries and Arvus Lighter transport ships. 

As the Valkyries begin their descent towards the ground, they unleash a fabulous display of protective firepower down onto the defensive hills that have been taken by the tyranids. They land and quickly open their rear doors, unleashing both squads of Imperial troops, as well as the other Scythes of the Emperor, eager to reinforce their hard fighting brothers who have been lucky enough to beat them to the kill of fresh tyranids. 

The Arvus Lighter transport ships bring large quantities of ammunition, heavier ballistics, and other resupply needs to deal with the newly evaluated threat. 

There are also several small gunships with open side doors, equipped with gun turrets that several of the Scythes are manning; who waste no time in opening heavy bolter fire at the straggling gaunts that happen to be left around the battlefield.

the battle is over, and it is time to temporarily regroup. 

Guard:

Khrell: The space marines near you move back towards their own, and then begin making their way down the hill, saying nothing more to you. Merth yells for you to rejoin the squad. One of the marines is with your squad still. Re-join your squad and see whats going on.

Zac and Rikard: respond to each other as well as Niko if he says anything to you. Sergeant Merth yells for Khrell to rejoin your squad before leaving your proximity himself to go speak with a group of other NCOs who are all giving their squads' battle reports to the lieutenant. At first it may seem that the lieutenant did none of the fighting, but a glance at his sword would tell you otherwise as it is greatly corroded with tyranid blood and venom, ruining the shape of the sword and rendering it useless. The lieutenant appears to have no injuries on his person though. 

Shadihm: The work of the space marine does wonders for you, perhaps your Helghan body and genetics help as well. The small dosage of super-human painkillers and stimulants has you back on your feet in no time. Of you and Vick, you also received the lesser amount of injury. You may join in any conversation the rest of your squad is engaged in, as well as being surprised at your own quick recovery.

Vick is not so fortunate, and is soon taken by some of the now freed up medics to be transported back to the medical center at Vorpsire's Imperial guard headquarters where he can hopefully heal over time in safety. 

Scythes:

Niko: As the rest of your squad regroups, they go to rejoin Sotha, whom they have spotted further down the hill. Tobias tells you to join them when you are finished. Your quick handiwork gets the guardsman who thanked you up and walking again quickly. The other however does not recover in such a manner, and is taken away by his comrades to heal in the safety of Vorpsire's heart. You hear the whispers of Rikard, as your enhanced hearing picks it up easily. You can choose to respond if you wish. If you don't wish to talk to these men further then your work is done and you can chase after your squad, You realize your brothers will probably give you plenty of time to catch up though based on the argument they were having during the final stages of the battle. 

The rest of you, Tobias stands from his kneeling firing position with a cool demeanor letting his bolter come naturally back into resting position on his chestplate before letting it hang to the side in his right hand. In the earpieces of your helmets you hear him make a loud sighing breath. 

As you all regather atop the hill crest next to him, you see further down the hill your commander, Sotha. He has just finished off two tyranid warriors by himself. You can see him cleaning the glowing blades of his two power swords before sheathing them. Tobias orders you to regroup with him, but tells Niko to finish his task before joining you.

as you begin to walk down the hill, Tobias replies to Arx in private, "We may speak soon brother,"

Then through his vox projector, not on any channels, he orders all of you to discuss these matters in this way as you walk down the hill. NOT through any channels. "If we are going to continue this argument then you are all going to speak in front of the rest of your squadmates. There is no need for private communications amongst your brothers." 

All of the guardsmen are further up the hill behind you so you need not worry about them being too near to hear any longer. Now that the battle is over perhaps you can each speak to each other with a calmer state of mind. 

Coming down from the hill to your left, is sergeant Brig's squad, also coming to regroup with Sotha. Soon to come, the rest of your chapter that has landed on Ferim will be joining you and Sotha for further orders after they have made absolutely sure no tyranids have been left alive on the defensive hills. 

Tyrant:

You make it back to your ship, and begin the hibernation process. As you do this however, you know as well as all your awaken children know, that the remaining gaunts and warriors that were left to help the others retreat are killed by air borne weapons. Things that fly and rain death, just as the object you have commandeered for yourself once did. 

You know from past experience, this is what your prey has come back to hunt you with when you have hurt them. This is how they will be coming for you next...the air. As you close your eyes, shock the minds of your precious gargoyles. Wake them with urgency.

You have not gained the genetic code for the gargoyles, none of what the rippers consumed of your own forces on Tri'vaa were gargoyles. They were the first of your kind to meet you and help show you the way of the hive mind. They opened your eyes to what the hammering in your mind was, and showed you that your thoughts...were their actions. 

Of the ones that lived from Tri'vaa, not a single one has been lost since and they have grown with you and your ship. They have much more experience than other gargoyles that the Imperium of man has witnessed, enough that they are able to react on their own much more effectively without your full attention than they would have been able to before. In effect, this also makes them much faster as they do not as often need to wait for your reaction to be their own. 

Having them fly into the open to meet your attackers might not be such a good idea....taking the enemy by surprise would be so much better, yes?


----------



## dark angel

Astelan walked ahead of the main group, weapons sheathed and ready to use again should it be needed. He had said what he needed to say, and would remain in a silent mode until he deemed it necessary. He sighted Sotha sheathing his twin blades, cleaning them first however before slotting them in their crossed scabbards upon his back. He started off at a jog to his Commander and came to him, grabbing his hand in a warriors shake (At the wrists) he said to him “Brother-Commander, the Marines Solakai and Belial trouble me, they seem to have promised a Guardsmen a place within our holy Brotherhood, I believe however he is far to old…..And I am sure we would be able to find younger children within the city more worth while than him, I would be more than happy to select them, however I plead you do not listen to their pleas of new recruits from the fighting force” with that he stepped back and looked around at the scene of carnage, awaiting a reply.


----------



## Concrete Hero

As the battle was declared over, Arx watched as the various gunships and transports rained death from the sky and deposited their precious cargo, cleaning away the fleeing tyranids.

_Fleeing_ Tyranids. The thought troubled him. Against a foe so quick to adapt and alter its component physiology and weaponry, such a radical and unheard of change of tactics was unsettling.

Arx took his Chainsabre in hand and kneeled on the ground, as if before ancient royalty, crusader helm lowered to the ground. He held the hilt of the sword close to his head, the point driven into the ground.

He entered a light state of meditation, calming his mind of the bubbling violence now battle was done. Even as he spoke to Astelan during the battle, when he had appeared like an ocean of calm the wrathful throb of battle was still lurking in his mind. He breathed deep and slow, the cool intake of air filling his enhanced lungs and clearing his mind. As he exhaled a feeling of serenity washed over him, the lust for battle stored for now, ready to be unleashed like a hateful tempest over his enemies and the enemies of The Emperor.

Arx stood up and watched his Brothers walk down the hill to Commander Sotha, the various guardsmen around him were trapped in looks of awe when they thought he wasn't looking, though most of them were getting on with moving out. 

'_You all fought bravely in His name, the Emperor asked no less than the heart of His warriors on the battlefield and you all fought with honour and zeal, you did yourselves proud in His service._'

Without further warning Arx clipped the gigantic blade onto his back and strode down the hill after his Brothers. He was one of the last to follow and approach Commander Sotha.

'_Praise the Emperor for our victory Brothers, under his guiding light no enemy can stand before us._'


----------



## deathbringer

_ My claws slashed at the neck of a guardsman and he stepped back raising his lasgun from my grasp and i saw his finger contract and I felt my leg was knocked away and I fell backwards yet I lunged and raked 3 long scratches along his face, tearing at the skin and feeling blood seep over my claws as I surrendered to the agony and it took me into blackness._

For a moment I knew nothing yet I was sucked into the energy of my falling children and in my dreams I became at one with another mind


_I stood next to my brother as the bulky mass of black and yellow barrelled towards me two long blades that crackled with electricity blazing in his hands whilst his eyes burned with flames of hatred. My own eyes reciprocated the hatred and I aimed the two cannons upon my shoulder and expelled my breath.Two masses of wriggling tubules hit him straight in the chest yet he did not stagger and he brushed the riggling mass away as it struggled to latch onto the bright yellow stripe of his armour plate. I saw the acid of their mindless secretions linger as it bubbled reacting with the armor and I raised my taloned fist and stepped to meet the bastards charge. I felt my own hatred boil, fester, intertwining with my brothers stomach as the pain of our wounds melded with our desire for flesh, then a sudden sound brought a new emotion. 

The distant rumble of an engine in the distance and I felt resignment... resigned to my death as the swollen arial horrors loomed upon my line of vision. The hated one was 5 strides from us and I stepped diagonally to change the focus of his charge yet he twisted elegantly to scythe at me with his sword, yet my claws met his blade in a hail of sparks. We held eachother grimacing as I struggled to press in upon him nd he resisted with force beyond belief. My brother moved in claws slashing, whistling through the air at his exposed back yet the behemoth braced to throw me off, turn and parry my brothers attack. The second sword cut at my brothers shoulder and he sprang away and all three of us tensed... ready to fight again.

We waited synchronizing our attacks as not metal balls and beams of light began to spray and gaunts began to fall as meat was stripped from there bones and they were thrown backwards like rag dolls by the immense torrent of fire from the gun ships. Our attention was divided for a second and the killer between us took his advantage spinning upon his heel and barreling towards me and we were left flat footed as his swords danced in spiralling arcs and i was backpeddling retreating under the attacks as my claws knocked his thrusts aside with increasing desperation.

Stroke after stroke was met by my claws and i could see my brother closing in over his shoulder yet the slap of his claw upon the wet ground was my demise as the marine increased his urgency and the stroke that was aimed for my neck was suddenly scything through my hamstring and i toppled to my knees and I knew I was dead and as his sword slithered towards my neck I reached out to tear at his knee yet my stroke failed to connect as he stepped back and I felt my neck sevour and I knew no more_

My dreaming was filled with pain and for I moment I too knew no more....

I lay upon the ground, motionless and cold as I was tugged back into the hive mind, sepearated from my body as I become at one once more with all of my warriors. Through the flowing energy and beating heartbeats that melded together in a desperate ebb and flow of life and sustenance I felt the first ripper place itself within my jaws, mindlessly sacrificing itself for my sustenance for my survival. my children sacrificed their lives to sate my desires... and I knew my desire and felt the little twinge of agony as my jaws clasped around it and broke its back... felt my bodies sensory pleasure as it devoured the flesh and blood seeped over my tongue as i gulped it down and it ran, quickly, its warmth trickling down my neck to pool in my stomach, a hot ball of comfort soothing my bodies tensions.

Yet my mind was frantic and I reached past the gaunts that were flooding the complex, fresh from their escape towards the brothers I had left behind. I felt nothing.. merely the smallest tinge of a heart beat and I reached towards its racing mind... yet it was extinguished and I roared in frustration as I felt the pain of bolt shells. 

The dreams came back to me the killer, the swollen gross objects that hung in the air. My enemies had suffered too.. that I could tell... they would come for me and I was exposed... lying in the mood helpless and alone as the small sacks began to bloom upon my chest. They were a problem yet I had an answer... a trusted answer... my eldest children... my best.... my gargoyles.

They had alerted me to myself... they had pulled down the manta thats was now my own... they had grown with me, hibernating along with me to grow in size and strength...able to rent metal and bone apart with swipes of strong sharp talons as they swooped upon huge wings. They knew my very thoughts, shared a link of blood and bone that none could match and they flew with me when I took to the air, they were my honour guard.. they were the only other creatures that I called brothers. 

The arial predators must now meet my arial assault and the plan clicked into place and I reached out to the slumbering minds of my faithful and woke them... hurriedly arousing them from sleep. Short jolts of energy punctuated by images, my thoughts in picture form.. images of the scythes....images of my plan... images of bone bled and flesh added enthusiasm... whilst the resonting sounds of my spiteful, fury filled roars echoed through their minds melding with the repetitive clack of talons and teeth. 

They would follow the destructive path of the gaunts to reach my camp and to destroy me once and for all.... yet they did not know of the trap I would lay for them.. off the destruction I would rent upon those airborne menaces.

Did I underestimate those winged birds from which the bastards killed. A single memory that of the manta should me the level of destruction that could be wrought by such menaces. No i did not underestimate their powers... yet they would feel untouchable. Gaunts could not rip enemies from the sky... they only knew of me.. that could touch such machines... and i am easily visible.

Yet my gargoyles could be concealed... concealed deep within the woods and as the humans flew overhead they would erupt through the canopy to tear at the weaponry, to slice apart the bird or bear it to the ground under their combined mass. 

Stealth was needed, i was not strong enough for outright war and no one expected the unexpected. We would take them completely by suprise and pull them down, then we would hunt astartes once more


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki came up just as he heard Astelan pleading with Lord Sotha to ignore his request for the lowly guardsman. He felt hie ire rise as he felt Astelan begging Sotha to deny his request without hearing him out, but he had committed not to rise to Astelan's petty remarks and comments. Quickly jumping into the conversation after Astelan had finished saying "Astelan, I wasn't aware you still retained you infant qualities! You run to Lord Sotha like a child who feels wronged!" Turning to face Sotha, he too gave him a warriors hand shake and began to explain himself "My lord, I apolagise if Astelan and Belian have over-reacted to my comment to the guardsman. What I ACTUALLY said was that if he continued to fight as well as he was, I might ask you if he could be considered for initiation, more as an incentive than an actual promise. I am well aware that he is older than those that we usually initiate, however there are many cases of those who are indeed a great deal older than him surviving the process. You have, as I'm sure I have, fought with many guardsmen. And you know that they can rarely hit a titan with their Lasguns. However this soldier was hitting these gaunts head every time, I didn't see him miss once! As you can appreciate, that is rare for a guardsman! Also, he seems to be well accustomed to the battlefield, as he should as a soldier! I was merely thinking that if he already has a steady aim and is accustomed to the battlefield, then he would require little training to become a fully-fledged Astartes. As you are well aware, we need to replenish our numbers. So All I was thinking is, If you deem that he could be suitable, then why not help replenish our numbers whilst fighting our nemisis'. However I fear that Brother Astelan here is blinded by his shear disgust for these guardsmen, who are our valued allies, that he will not see reason, and as such refuses to even consider the possibility that this guardsman COULD potentially be Astartes material" And with that he waited for Astelan to respond, as he doubted Sotha would be able to respond before Astelan jumped in...


----------



## dark angel

Astelan turned to Solakai and snarled saying “Oh shut up Brother. You are being a incompetent fool now trying to assure a Guardsmen a place in the Chapter. Guardsmen do not have the right to become something greater Lord Sotha, we are His Sons for a reason. I will not reason to fools, nor will I allow this Chapter to become filled with Hive Worlder scum when those of a Death World could provide ten times the quality to these……These whelps” He spared Sotha a nod before walking towards Solakai and saying to him “Brother, you are young. Trust me when I say this, you have no idea what you are talking about when you toil in tales of a Guardsmen who does not miss a shot, even We do. I suggest this man is examined for Daemonic Possession Lord Sotha, I hope you shall agree”.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki was stunned. Daemonic possession! What nonsense was this Astelan was coming up with! Trying to calm himself again, he spoke "Look Astelan, I don't know why you hate these Guardsmen, and to be honest I don't really care! And who are you to say that Guardsmen can't become Astartes. If they let bastards like you into this chapter, why wouldn"t they let this Guardsman become an Astartes. I'm not asking for us to recruit every Guardsman on this planet, I simply ask you to consider this ONE! And what the fuck is this Daemonic possession crap! Where the hell did you get that from! If you are so eager to draw the blood of these Guardsman, then how are you any better that the Tyranids! Just because you talk and wear armour, but under that guise, you are a ruthless bastard who only cares about shedding blood. You don't care where it comes from, your enemies or your allies, only that it does! I think you are more likely to be tested for Daemonic possession with that talk!" Solaki could see the hurt and anger burning in Astelan's eyes, and he hoped he had inflicted pain, because at this moment, this ruthless bastard that was stood before him, who was eager to kill the soldiers of the SAME Imperium he was supposed to be protecting was no better than any xenos or heretic! and with that thought of contempt, he braced himself for Astelan's inevitable explosion of anger...


----------



## dark angel

Astelan grinned beneath his helm at the words, both hands reaching up to his helm that he unclasped with a hiss of air. His long black hair slipped out first as he hanged his helm beneath one arm, his piercing blue eyes looking into the red lenses of the helm before him. His olive skin was creased and scarred from decades of fighting. He clicked his neck and indicated a small scar upon his chin saying “You see this Solakai? This was sustained by a stray Las Round during the Purging of Hadrax, I was among a small taskforce present and those I was trying to protect fired in our direction”. 

He remembered the battles he had endured and suddenly laughed aloud returning “I might be a bastard, and I might not be hated but I know what it best for this Chapter and inducting Guardsmen is not one of them. Casualties of war, that is all they will become. I have fought on many more campaigns lad and I have fought with many of the Sergeants still alive, and yet you accuse me of Daemonic Possession because I simply raised a valid point? Do not me laugh” with the he placed his hand on his Brothers chest and moved him back saying “You do not deserve to stand amongst heroes”.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial standing back watching his two brothers argueing could take no more when Astelen put his hands on Solaki and told him he didnt deserve to stand amongst heroes. That was the final straw as he put his hand down to his bolt pistol which was sheathed at his right hip in antisipation of what might happen next. 
"It is you brother who does not deserve to stand amongst us, swanning around here as if you are in charge of our chapter. Who do you think you are. And as for the stray las shot you got in battle that happens all the time. You yourself shot guardsmen at the start of battle today so do not preach to us brother" 
With that he moved towards brother Solaki to show his support.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan turned, preparing to counter the newcomer. He almost laughed when he realised it was Belial, the very one who had supported Solakai in his promise and shook his head at his words “Brother, Brother you think I act like I control the Chapter? You truly are a idiot are you not? You was the other one promising petty fools places within our Brotherhood so do not dictate to me. I have as much right to stand amongst you as the God-Emperor himself, I am Astartes. I am His Angel of Death. If you do not want me here perhaps you should request I get moved to a different Squad, perhaps then I will not be placed with a pair of buffoons”.


----------



## FORTHELION

"you arrogant fool Astelan. _I am astartes i am his angel of death you say_. Then act like it there is more to being astartes than butchering people. You were given a brain so use it. We are the emperors chosen we are created to help the imperium of man. and in case you havnt realised these guardsmen are men. If you cannot see that then you are no better than the filth that reside in the eye of terror"


----------



## dark angel

Finally he laughed. He laughed and he could not bring himself to stop. However he found himself obliged to, and finally bit down upon his tongue stopping his outburst and closed his eyes for a long second, opening them again he looked at Belial and flashed his teeth saying “You compare me to the Traitors of Isstvan? Then tell us this Brother” he turned in a circle, arms outspread and before coming back into view and pointing to his hip “Why? Why does your hand lay over your Weapon? Was you going to shoot me? Please do enlighten us”.


----------



## FORTHELION

Youre insane Astelan and you cannot be trusted. You are as likely to shoot your own just for the sake of spilling blood. You cannot come to terms with what happened on sotha your vengence eats away at you till there is not much of the old you left. You are a loose cannon and for that you are a loose cannon and a liability. I cannot trust you. and will never turn my back to you.


----------



## dark angel

_Damnation, this Marine truly was a idiot _thought Astelan. He stepped closer to Belial as he accused him of killing his own, gripping his free wrist he squeezed tightly and winked at his Brother hissing “You accuse me of such a Heresy, Belial you must be wrong within your oversized skull to think I would harm any within the Chapter. Do you think it matters if you never turn your back to me? It does not…..Now I am done with this foolishness, I have weapons to tend to and I will not do it with you looking upon me”, with that he stepped away and turned his back, walking to be by himself.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx simply couldn't believe his ears. Such dissent amongst a squad of Astartes was unheard of, and throughout it all Commander Sotha was remaining silent. . . Two thoughts entered Arx's mind; One, Lord Sotha was simply stunned to see his Brothers acting this way. Or two, he was _letting_ his Brothers do this. The only reason the Commander would do this that Arx could conceive was to let the newly formed squad. . . Blood itself. Steaming off their anger early on.

No, that couldn't be right. He couldn't believe those he called Brothers were acting this way. Arx approached them and called out, seeing Astelan push Solaki away.

'_By the Emperor WHAT are you doing?! You are bickering like angry siblings! What is the matter with you? We are Astartes, not squabbling children! My Brothers, I'm almost ashamed to even call you that after seeing you act this way... Can you not even control your tempers? Are you not Space Marines? Have you forgotten how we act?_' He lowered his head for a moment before lifting it again as he addressed them.

'_You are proving yourselves to be wastes. What is the point of an Astartes that cannot hold his tongue? Cannot simply wait until after the battle to address a Chaplain should he find himself troubled by the actions of his Brothers. If you cannot do this simple mental task then how can you be trusted on the battlefield? These outbursts are below you Brothers. You are NOT acting like Space Marines._'

He caught the faintest twitch of movement from Belial, his hand giving the tiniest reflexive movement over his pistol and Arx almost snapped.

'_Brother, I'll forgive that motion seeing as we've just left a combat scenario and you may be on edge. But you truly forget yourself if you put any intention back into that train of thought..._.

His gaze lingered on each of them in turn.

'_You are all letting your anger take a hold of you. Is this what you want? Is this what you want for the Scythes of the Emperor? Why fight the Tyranid when we can argue over the use of Imperial Guardsmen! We are few, and we need to do EVERYTHING we can to stay together and remain strong. What do you think other chapters would make of this? The crippled chapter that could never come back to glory for the temper of its Brothers!_'

He paused for a moment.

'_We are few, but we ARE mighty. We have survived a terrible blow through more than just brute force. We have always stood together._ He turned his helmet to regard Astelan.

'_Brother, we spoke before and I believe your ire was misplaced, brought upon by a mix of the circumstances and our unfortunate reality. Though you of all here should know what it will take for us to continue our existence. To continue fighting in His name. We cannot keep bickering amongst ourselves, surely you must see the error here? You DO know the value of every man and woman who fights in his name. And you SHOULD know that matters of recruitment are not ours to decide! Lord Sotha would have been made aware of the situation for he is not blind to what occurs around him! You did not need to get as involved as you did. _’

‘_Brother Solaki, as I said, matters of recruitment are not our decisions to be made. It is bad practice to even joke about such things to the Guard. But you too have forgotten your place. To call out our Brothers whilst on the field is unimaginable, do you seek to weaken our resolve while fighting the enemy? You should have known to kept your tongue and leave the matter to be addressed later while we are not surrounded by the Tyranids. The Tyranids! Destroyers of our home and almost our entire Chapter! Even how you can harbour ill will to your Brothers while they are here I cannot fathom._'

'_Brother Belial, much the same goes for you. Our minds should be clear and deadly while on the battlefield, not exchanging recruitment suggestions with our allies. How you can even flicker at drawing your weapon on a fellow Scythes troubles and saddens me deeply Brother, no number of any Brotherhood can sustain dissent, least of all ourselves._'

'_Brothers. Our hated enemy is HERE, here on this world threatening it too with destruction. Destruction like was wrought on our homeworld. It is our Divine right to bring these foul Xenos to justice in His glorious name. Do you forget we all fight for the Emperor? The saviour of Mankind? Brothers, we are *Space Marines*, we are one and we are strong. We are his chosen warriors above all others, chosen to bring his word and his righteous justice throughout the Galaxy. You are all better than this. Think for a moment what it means to be an Astartes. Is this it? Is this what the Angels of the God-Emperor would do? Is this how they would act?_

He let his message sink in for a moment.

'_I hope you hear my words Brothers, for damnation is the result if we continue down this course. Trust amongst our Brothers is Paramount, for we are above such things._'


----------



## blazinvire

Zac eyed off the space marines for a moment as if sizing them up, leaning slightly toward Rikard.
"Personally it could all just be propaganda, and these guys might just be a bunch of well-equipped guardsmen trying to enforce that propaganda," Zac said critically, stroking a non-existent beard to try and play the part of a critic or a cynic, "Anyway, I might go relieve some of the dead of their ammunition, pretty sure they'd want me to finish their jobs for them, 'cause heck I'd want them to if our places were reversed."

It was a strange way of looking at it, but if just for a moment one could see laspacks as a debt to the Emperor, a duty perhaps to see it emptied into your enemies, then in reality Zac was trying to pay off everyone's debts by getting to bottom of all their packs.
Maybe it was his way of avenging the fallen, shooting everyone's share of the Emperor's enemies for them if they found themselves unable to do so. If so then Zac could have been carrying laspacks from hundreds of different guardsmen, trying to pay their debts so they could rest peacefully.
So for all of Zac's casualness and recklessness, he actually put an immense weight on his shoulders trying to do the work of countless fallen guardsmen for them. Perhaps the strain broke him at some point and turned him into what he was today?

Regardless, Zac slowly lumbered away from Rikard and the others, scuffling through packs of dead guardsmen to procure their unused laspacks, collecting their dogtags at the same time and stashing them away.


----------



## FORTHELION

"You are right of course brother. For that i am truely sorry. I should not have put my hand to my weapon. I shall seek guidance from the chaplain. Though i do believe that we will need the guard in this conflict if we are to prevail and to alienate them would be to our detriment."
Again my apologies brother.


----------



## darkreever

_"Anyway, I might go relieve some of the dead of their ammunition, pretty sure they'd want me to finish their jobs for them, 'cause heck I'd want them to if our places were reversed."_ Zac said to Rikard before he slowly started to move away, but before he did Rikard pulled his arm. _"Just don't go wasting your ammo again; you do no one any good running out like that. Could be us that wind up dead rather the those fragging gangers next time, then someone's gonna have to finish our jobs."_ He said before letting the man go and shuffling towards Radec.

He was still wary about coming near the giant armoured form of the space marine. There was no way this was another guardsman in heavy armour; this thing was clearly one of the space marines of the stories. Crouching down, Rikard grabbed one of Radec's hands and hauled him up to his feet. _"Can't believe they are real. Glad they are though, came to save our asses when they did."_ He whispered to Radec, eyeing the space marine before turning his head away to try and make it not look like he was staring.


----------



## Euphrati

The larger of the two wounded guardsmen reacted well to the stimuli; yet the other remained immobile and was borne away by the medicae, disappearing into the belly of a waiting transport along with other casualties of the battle. The young guardsman’s fate was out of his hands now and Niko whispered a silent prayer to the Emperor to watch over those who had sacrificed their flesh in his service.

The sudden emotion caused Niko pause and he examine it with the same clinical precision he would have given a blade wound. The guardsmen nearest him whispered words back and forth; he listened to their suspicions with a soft smile under his helm. Niko considered the words of the first as the second wandered off, in search of more cells for his weapon,

‘There are many stories told about us,’ Niko cocked his head to the side in what he hoped to be a good-natured gesture, ‘and some of them even contain a grain of truth,’ 

Niko gave a soft chuckle before pulling himself to his full height, ‘I return to my brothers now as it seems that your medics have tended the few remaining wounded, but you are correct in part,’ Niko’s voice grew somber as he turned away to follow in the wake of his squad, speaking over his shoulder to the guardsmen as he began to move away, ‘This world needs us all if it is to survive this plague upon humanity, guardsmen and Astartes alike.’

Niko then picked his way quickly to where his brothers were gathering around commander Sotha. Squad Brig was making their way that direction as well, and Niko hurried his steps so that he would be prepared to handle any wounds that the other squad might have suffered, when suddenly angry voices filtered into his hearing range. A frown pulled itself upon his young features as he threaded his way through the group, stopping beside Arx and eyeing the others with a wary gaze,

‘Brothers? What has befallen that is of such importance that we stand arguing upon the field of battle… when there are enemies lurking in the shadows, tainting this world with their very existence?’


----------



## unxpekted22

(I don't think space marines say 'fuck', so try not to use it scythes. Also, try to check your grammar and stuff before posting. Too many things such as 'A were on never going to do this' not a direct quote but it probably could be lol)

Scythes:

After Arx finished his speech, Belial calming his hand and apologizing, and Niko regrouping with the squad, the five of you notice something. Silence.

Arx noticed it from Sotha before but you could feel the presence of something more behind all of you.

As you all turn, you find Sergeant Brig and his five man squad along with Sotha and Tobias, staring at you coldly. Even through the lenses of the helms you can feel their stares burning into your armor. 

Sotha finally speaks, first looking directly to Arx, "_Arx, Your words save me much of my worn out breath. Thank you brother."_

He then addresses Belial, Astelan, and Solaki.

_"It seems clear that the toll our chapter has taken has finally begun to tear some of my brothers apart. I knew this would come, that some of us would begin to doubt each other and stir up alternate motivations for each others' actions. 

Now let me make something absolutely clear. I do *not* need to be reminded of what I am and am not aware of."_

As he continues to speak, he moves to Astelan, Solaki, and Belial one at a time, ripping the sheets of prayer from your left shoulder pads, leaving only small torn pieces fluttering in the breeze still caught beneath the strapping chains. 

"_Another thing I want to make clear. It has become *MY* responsibility to see our chapter return to its full strength, or die hurting the tyranids as much as we possibly can. I have now less than one hundred of you to depend on in order to achieve these goals. *ONE HUNDRED!*. More than 900 of our brothers have been lost to the same xenos, and somehow the ones who have survived run up to me like children after a battle, tattle tailing on one another.

All of you have brought up some valid points in your argument, but let me ask you this: Why are we here? *Why* have we come to this planet, Ferim?_"

Astelan, Solaki, and Belial, answer him. You get one post to respond.


Guard:

As Niko walks away, your attention is pulled back towards your own duties as Sergeant Merth marches back over to you with six other guardsman.

he yells out to the four of you, "_Alright boys we survived the attack so now *we* get to attack. The plan is to do it fast and get it out of the way so we can get back to good ol' lazy and boring, but safe, garrison duty. The Lieutenant transferred this squad that lost its sergeant and four members of the ten it had this morning. I told him my squad is down to four so it was a perfect match up."_

He points up the middle path, full of guard, their footprints, and vehicle tracks to where the transport ships have landed at the top of the hill above the stone barracks buildings built into the hill, where the guard's grid of Vorspire's western border meets with the city's outer most streets. You can see the air around them stir like liquid from the heat of the still running engines.

Merth points up the hill, "We need to get up there, resupply our ammo, and then get on a transport. we're flying right over this damn forest and going right for the alien's ship! Come on let's move it!"

Follow Merth up the hill onto the flat plateau of industrialized gray slab and concrete. Resupply your laspacks and grenades. Once you finish this, Merth will instruct the four of you and one of the new guys to get into one craft as he and the other five new guys hop onto another one next to it. You climb in via the sides and there are no doors. You sit facing each other, but there is a heavy bolter turret facing out of each side for you to man. Two of you can grab one. I am sure Zac would fancy the opportunity but something may cross his mind, the heavy bolter no matter how he pulls the trigger will fire at the same rate, someone with a slow trigger finger might be of better use on them, as he can shoot the fastest with a lasgun it might be most beneficial for him to keep this in his hands instead in case anything got to close, especially if they landed in the thick of things.

tyrant:

I'll update you again with the next one.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial thought to himself for a moment before speaking. how could he have shamed himself on front of his brothers letting his anger over take his judgement.
"Again i apologise to you all for my actions, it does not befit an astartes to behave in such a manner. when this conflict ends i shall be willing to take full responsibility for my actions and face the full cosequences as you see fit.
Turning towards Astelan with an outstretched had he said. "take it brother and let us start over for without each other we are nothing."
He waited for astelans hand to see if it would lock with his own.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki felt the weight of shame on his shoulder. He had behaved immaturely and irresponsibly. Arx's words had already told him that, but Sotha's utter contempt at the three of them had brought back a fresh wave of emotions. He remembered all the Brothers he had seen die, he remembered every time he missed, every single thing he ever did wrong came flooding back to him in a relentless flood of shame that Solaki was content to drown in. He knew he didn't deserve to be called an Astartes, and inside his deepest thoughts, he wished Sotha would court-marshal him here and now. He resolved to look at the floor, because he could no longer meet the peirceing gazes of the other Scythes. In the quietest voice he ever spoke in and with shame and regret lacing every single word, he said "We are here to bring justice to the tyranids, or die trying. We are here to cleanse the filth from the Emperor's galaxy, because we are his chosen warriors. However I don't believe I am worthy to bear that title. By the way I conducted myself and the contempt I showed to my Brothers by accusing him of detestable things when he did not deserve it and over a petty argument, I deserve to be court-marshaled and my armour and gene-seed passed onto someone more worthy than I. I humble beg for yours and the Emperor's forgiveness, not that I am worthy of it but so I may have a chance to redeem myself, or die trying." Now Solaki just stood there and hoped that Sotha would either have mercy on him or kill him quickly, but Solaki feared he deserved the latter...


----------



## dark angel

His hair flipped in the wind, the smell of blood burning his nostrils and eyes. Astelan listened to Sotha, and knew his last words were intended to him. It might have been his Command of the Chapter, however Astelan stared into his helm with bright eyes, not withdrawing. He felt no fear for any Astartes, or Tyranid alike for death would claim him soon enough however, who would claim him was a different matter. 

He walked closer to Sotha, who had ripped his parchment from his pauldron and said “Why are we here Brother? We are here to exact the vengeance of Him, we are here because we are duty bound to war and death. Our Brothers were lost to us forever, we should not be fighting while our numbers are so low, it will only bring more devastation and blood loss. That is however your decision and I am forced to follow it, thus I will respect your orders”.

He turned to Belial and Solakai, but did not apologize to either, instead he let their hands hang high as he pushed past them, walking several metres away he fell to his knees and stared into space blankly muttering low enough so no one could hear “Those bastards, they have caused me great dishonour. Vengeance is a virtue” he let out a sly grin and laughed slightly.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was picking up spoils of war, as he called it when he picked up stuff from the dead. He picked up a fair amount of laspacks, and even a las pistol with holster. He also picked up a few armor segments, which he added to his with the use of a few straps. He glanced once more at the marines before joining up with Merth and his squad, his thoughts were a mixture of feelings. He wanted to believe he would become a space marine, but he knew it could've just been an motivational speech.

He follows Merth, as he looks at Rikard and says: "Good job rescuing Shadihm. If it weren't for you he wouldn't be here now." he smiled, and he was cleaning his lasgun at the same moment. He hoped the officer he saved earlier would recognize him if they met each other again. But Khrell knew this officer could be dead already, so far he knew....


----------



## FORTHELION

As Astelan walked away without returning his hand, Belial turned to Arx and said "You know him better than all of us. Astelan still dishonours us and his behaviour will be to the detriment of this squad. keep an eye on him brother he is deeply troubled because if you dont i will. We all know we have wronged but that fool still harbours ill feeling towards all of us. Even Sotha has been dishonoured in front of all of us by his comments.
I do not wish for this arguement to continue so i will do my duty and trust in him to the conclusion of this conflict though i do not believe that this is wise. Maybe you could talk to him and try to reason with him.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac pondered on Rikard's for a moment as he looked at the giant collection of laspacks he'd quickly accumulated, they were already beginning to disappear inside his armour and clothing, some getting taped to convenient places; but the words weren't sticking all that well.
His philosophy was shoot more than the enemy can shoot back, mathematically you've got good odds of killing them first, and he liked good odds, especially when they involved him surviving another day to shoot more stuff.

Thing was he usually didn't waste ammo, it was probably just the prior frustration from the other day that had him blazing through packs into the darkness. His accuracy had gotten lazy over the years but the general logic of aiming was still there, his shots always got closer to their targets the more he fired.
But indeed, he _was_ quite useless without ammo, he'd spent most of his life relying on an absolutely dizzying quantity of fire from a 'mere' lasgun, the kind of thing the rest of the galaxy mocked.

So he sat in a small cloud of thoughts on the aircraft, not even realising at first the giant gun sitting not two feet from him.
His gaze travelled to the heavy bolter and a devious smirk rose on Zac's face, though as he looked at the humongous belt of ammunition that went into the monster, he began to have second thoughts.
If he had of been brought up with a bolter, he would have learned restraint like a sniper with one shot left, those guns weren't muck around toys like lasguns, each bullet could rip a man in half but you definitely paid for what you got.
Lasguns on the other hand, so what if he fires a couple of thousand shots in the wrong direction? Boohoo? If lasguns were easier to recharge they'd never run out of ammo.
Nah he'd have to pass up on this opportunity, besides, heavy bolters were too slow... He grinned at that thought.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell couldn't keep his eyes of the heavy bolter, he was almost obsessed with it. He loved the astonishing accuracy, yet high firing rate and high power of a heavy bolter. It is being used in almost any imperial organization, so a common sight, yet so powerful. 

On Metaxae prime he had used them a lot, they were found commonplace near outposts. Because they are excellent weapons against swarms. So he could man one often. He never forgot the first time he fired one, zombies exploding with a single shot, killing 5 or more upon impact, and because his accuracy was great even back then, he was like a marksman with one of these weapons. One shot......two kills.......

He hesitated no more, and manned the heavy bolter on the right. It felt great to hold one of these weapons again. He was excitingly waiting for the tyranids to show their ugly faces again, because now he had a weapon far greater than a lasgun to shoot them....


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm had been surprised at how quickly he had reacted to the medicine that the marine had given to him, he supposed that it was his advanced physique, Helghan's always had a high reaction/tolerance to certain types of chemicals and medicines. He nodded at Rikard's remark, "Aye, I am happy they came when they did also, I could be in the same boat as Vick." 

After Merth had told them thier orders and that they were to re-equip themselves, he made sure that he had more grenades and definately more ammo for his lasgun, the ammo for the lasgun strapped across his chest so he could easily get to it and the grenades in a cluster at his waist. 

When they boarded the aircraft he took a seat next to Rikard and as his visor shot up over his eyes he asked,* "You any good at jungle fighting?"*


----------



## Concrete Hero

After his Brothers had recovered and realised themselves; Arx felt content, uplifted. A strange sensation filled him, an urge to shout out. He felt appreciate for a great season, a period in the world like no other. He couldn't contain himself, out through his vox, booming across the words bursted forth:

'_*MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS!!!!*_'

((OBVIOUSLY this isn't to be taken into serious account in the actual RP :grin


----------



## unxpekted22

(lol concrete, yes merry Christmas everyone. hopefully lots of posting with everyone on vacation :victory


----------



## FORTHELION

merry christmas to one and all


----------



## dark angel

Astelan clawed at the dirt with his trigger finger, drawing symmetric lines until they formed a pair of crossed Scythes with a head between their hafts. A gnawing tingled within the depths of his mind for the spilling of blood and screams of agony. His Bolter lay upon the ground next to him, lying upon a torn cloth he had found lying a metre or so away in the grass. Slowly he proceeded to draw another line through the symbol beneath him and placed his helm upon his head. 

He stood, collecting his Bolter, which he had managed to salvage several shells that still contained rounds upon the floor around him and walked towards the rest of his Squad muttering within his helm so only he could hear “Hello Solakai, hello Belial…..Fine day today eh?” He made a motion with his Bolter (Simply pointing it, not jerking it forwards or anything) before holstering it “And now, now you are no more than dead, dead as the scum you protect will be very soon”.

((Merry Christmas for yesterday everone, hope you all had a great day, even you Solakai and Belial ))


----------



## darkreever

Making his way into the transport, Khrell suddenly jumped in before he could get in it. Rikard had to quickly sidestep or risk being knocked off balance and hitting the ground. _"Watch it kid."_ He said while rolling his eyes before clambering into the transport.

The heavy weapons, those explained it; Khrell had taken one look and instantly been taken in. Kinda why he was standing behind one of 'em looking ready to pull the trigger at just about anything.

Radec slumped down into the crash seat next to him and asked if Rikard was any good at jungle fighting. To this Rikard had to close his eyes and smile. _"After twenty years of bein' a soldier I'd better be good at fighting just about anywhere. Jungle's, cities, desert's; just don't toss me on an iceworld. Home wasn't particularly that cold."_


----------



## DaafiejjXD

"I've fought in a jungle once, though i dislike jungle warfare at best. Instead of only the enemy, you have to fight the inhabitants of the jungle as well. Think of beasts larger than orks, only then plague infected."Khrell shivered as he thought of that beast again. "Hopefully those 'nids have taken care of the native beasts, or well be in trouble." he practiced at aiming the heavy bolter, to make sure he would hit the first time he shot. 

He checked his auto pistol and the newly found las pistol, to make sure they had enough ammo. Because he knew that in a jungle long ranged weaponry wouldn't do sh*t
because of all the trees and plants, so he would rely on his sidearms.


----------



## unxpekted22

Scythes:

The rest of the chapter makes their way over to your position. servitors and marines alike bring extra ammunition for everyone to refill their weapons with.

Sotha speaks to the two squads again, "Brother Kyr, you can replace Astelan's position in Tobias's squad as mid-range combat bolter specialist. Sergeant Brig, I trust you can work with one less man?"

Sergeant Brig nods at Sotha, "Absolutely sir."

Kyr walks over closer to your squad, as does Tobias. Brig, Zurick, Ryan, Grahm, and Christeph move away. 

Sotha turns to Astelan who is walking back towards them, "Astelan. Your with me."

he then speaks to everyone, giving further orders to the chapter, "Brothers! Welcome to Ferim! As you cna see the Tyranids are clearly here and they have not hesitated to attack with haste. We shall be the same. We have already fended off their first frontal attack with no casualties. The Guard shall have our backs if we need it, but i doubt we will. Just twelve of your brothers are responsible for halting the Tyranid attack.

Some of you will be getting back into the air with the Guardsmen, and some of you will be going into the forest via land transports. Two of our rhinos are available, Brig's squad will be taking one. Any squad not in a rhino get onto a guard transport they have plenty of chimeras around, and of course don't take no for an answer if they tell you cant board one. I doubt it will be an issue however."

He then begins giving each sergeant there orders.

Tobias and his squad, yours, is to board a Valkyrie with some of the Guardsmen. Make your way up the hill and get into a Valkyrie.

Sotha turns again to Astelan, "As I said, your with me brother."

He turns, his cape coming up high behind him with the momentum of his step combined with the light breeze. Brig's rhino transport and the second rhino race pass you both, the tread covered wheels and ancient engines roaring loudly by you as they charge into the smoking forest's tree line. Sotha does not stop one to board, instead he remains facing the forest and begins sprinting at his full speed, jumping over the fallen tree trunks. follow him.

Guard:

The four of you jump aboard, Rikard, Shadihm and Rikard taking a seat with their las-guns as Khrell jumps on one of the turrets. The new member of the squad grabs the other turret. The pilot, unseen, has to climb into his seat at the front of the vehicle.

In moments you see distance growing between you and the ground, as the small air to ground attack ship lifts off. Many of the other aircraft around you are doign the same keeping level with your height in the air, getting further from the ground below. 

the sound of all the combined imperial aircraft seems deafening. Far below you now is the smoking mess of an array of defensive hills made out of Ferim's brown soil. You also spot the black and yellow figures of the space marine both boarding the remaining air ships, as well as hopping into ground transports already on their way into the forest, quickly disappearing beneath the trees, pushing right through the burning debris. 

Guard players take in their new surroundings. have you ever dropped on to enemies from the air like this before for example? do you think you'll be able to wipe out whatever remains of the tyranid threat?


_(this is a short update, the scythes need to get on their Valkyrie, once they do we'll be moving on. Next update will be a bigger one for everybody, including the tyrant)_


----------



## DaafiejjXD

"Wait a minute!" Khrell yelled. "We ain't supposed to jump out of this thing are we?!" Khrell was looking nervously at Rikard, because Khrell believed he knew this things. Khrell was frightened about jumping out of an airplane, because he had never done this before. And with all those trees, he was terrified he would hit one of them, only to be a 'nid snack. Khrell asked: "And IF we are going to jump out, are there even parachutes? I sure hope there are." Khrell hasn't been this nervous for months, and he was afraid this would be his death...


----------



## dark angel

Astelan could not believe it. Finally he would be alone with Lord Sotha, away from his Squad. He respected Sotha for keeping the Brotherhood intact, however he also despised him for leading him to Ferim and war rather than a prosperous world they could call home. Yet Sotha was amongst the few that Astelan felt he could still trust, rather than the younger Astartes such as Belial and Solakai who he clearly had a hatred for. 

He collected his ammunition, more than he probably should have, from a lifeless husk of a Servitor with milky eyes and advanced towards Sotha slowly, still in awe. As he walked past Solakai and Belial he tilted his red eyed helm towards them and let out a hiss of steam from the grate section near his mouth, like a angry bull would do, he crept onwards slowly. 

He held his Bolter in the soft part of his elbow piece, angling its snubbed nose towards the ground. With every step he took his feet dug deeper into the brown coloured earth. Then his Master took off. Without warning Astelan was forced to charge after him just to keep up, he was wheezing slightly by the time he neared the forest edge and only wondered how his Commander was doing. 

He clicked his Vox to Sotha and asked inquisitively “Brother-Commander, it is good to be fighting with you once again however I request to know something from you, if I find out anything this day, why did you chose me? I am the most troubled of Brothers within my Squad, even if I am among the older of members…..Yet you still chose me to accompany you, please enlighten me”.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial welcomed the new arrival to the squad who took the place of astelan. Secretly he was happy with sothas decision, though it was a strange decision to split the squad at this stage. He wondered to himself if it was to keep an eye on him. 
Looking around he noticed Astelan sctibbling or drawing something on the ground and wondered what he was at. when astelan left belial walked over to where astelan was drawing but it had been wiped away. Strange he thought to himself wondering if it was an 8 pointed star or something of the ruinous powers that he had drawn. He quickly disregarded that thought as Astelan hadnt shown any true signs of taint. though something was definately nagging at his consious.


----------



## darkreever

_"Stop your whining and enjoy the little bit of peace we get from not fighting Khrell."_ Rikard said as he tried to keep his eyes shut and not look outside of the moving transport. He didn't have a problem with heights or fliers or anything, the speed at which they blurred past the ground wasn't all that fun though.

_"Like hell they'll make us do jumps; we ain't the glory boys with grav packs. Thats their kind of stuff, we land and probably get the joy of hoofing it to the enemy."_ He finally said while thinking back. Yeah he'd done a drop once before in his life. Only once though, and that was almost eight years ago, or maybe nine...


----------



## blazinvire

Zac idly scratched the back of his neck as he looked around at the Valkyrie, looking rather passive, maybe a little bored but content nonetheless.
He didn't mind the old Valkyries, he'd managed to pilot one temporarily in his time, the pilot got blasted by a Grot Sharpshoota square in the face, though the missile didn't explode...
Flying was always an amazing feeling, a sense of freedom millions of people never got to experience, and for people like the guard, any kind of freedom was something to jump at with both hands and feet.

"Pity this ain't Sargon V, _all_ guardsman were drop troops on that planet, some of the best experiences I've ever had were there. My entire squad managed to throw a Chimera at a charging Warboss, funniest thing ever," Zac said, "We all just used to leap out of Valkyries while they were flying around, it certainly gives a battle a whole new perspective when things are in three dimensions. I mean we could deepstrike Leman Russes, how many times have you heard deepstrike and Leman Russ in the same sentence?"
Zac just laughed at the memory of it, hoping he might get to fight on a super low gravity planet again some day with all the new ideas he'd been coming up with.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko stood in shocked silence when Sotha tore the oaths from the shoulders of his brothers, lowering his head slightly as the bitter taste of shame filled his mouth. The squad had only just been formed and already had the dark shadow of failure hanging over its future. Niko was relieved when Lord Sotha replaced Astelan with Brother Kyr, the Scythe that Niko had spoken with in the apothecarium about the tyranid menace. Kyr’s knowledge of the beast could give the squad an edge when they finally cornered the abomination.

_When. Not if, but *when*._ There was no doubt within Niko’s mind that they would come face to claw with the creature at some point in the defense of this world and he took solstice in that thought as he renewed his clips for his pistol from a pale-skinned chapter servitor. His pouches already contained the precious medical supplies he needed, packed carefully by his own hand before they had descended upon this world. Niko’s trust of servitors was limited at best and he checked each of the clips with a careful eye before slipping them into their carry straps across his armour.
Slotting the final clip into place, Niko waved away the half-dead creature and made his way towards the crouched shadow of the waiting Valkyrie transport. As he walked, Niko opened the channel he had been given access to when his role in the squad had been finalized,

‘Brother Niko to Apothecary Alexander, we have made planet fall and repelled the first wave from the tyranid assault. Zero casualties and only surface abrasions due to venomous toxins sustained in the squads, Throne be Praised. The anti-venom you concocted proved adequate to neutralize the toxins so it is my assessment that there has been little alteration in the gene-structure of this particular splinter-fleet since we last encountered them. 

However, I am wary that this will not be the case if they are allowed to consume much of the bio-mass of this world. These beasts have already shown evidence of the Catalyst effect and tactics that are atypical to their species. I will keep you informed of our status as I am able, Brother. May His wisdom guide us to cut this cancer from the flesh of this world, Niko out.’

Niko trod up the ramp of the waiting craft, giving a nod to Kyr as he eyed the dismayingly tiny hold of the transport before gripping a crossbeam for support,

‘It is good to have you with us, Brother Kyr.’


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx had merely nodded his head as Sotha spoke to him, he didn't trust himself to do anything else. He was glad his words had at least reached Solaki and Belial, it made him feel more useful. He'd always cared for the well being of his Brothers, in the physical as well as the spiritual sense.

Though Astelan was troubled indeed, and Arx could not say when he would be able to speak to his Brother in private, or whether it would even make a difference... He felt a pang of sorrow as Astelan walked away, even a small taste of failure as he'd not been able to reach his Brother as easily as he would have hoped.

The sorrow didn't improve when he saw the fluttering tatters of the shoulder Oaths dance lazily in the breeze, floating away from his Brothers. This would not help the morale of the squad, this incident had come at a bad time, a new squad did not need this kind of situation so early on.

He tilted his Crusader helmet down towards Belial as the marine stood next to him, telling him to speak to Brother Astelan.

'_I fear the time may have passed for such things Brother, though I will try my best to calm our Brothers troubled mind._'

And with that the large marine strode to meet a tottering ammo servitor closing in on his position. He gladly relieved the servitor of another cannister for his Meltagun, and a spare to clip onto his waist.

Arx watched in silence as Sotha removed Astelan from their squad, replacing him for now with Brother Kyr. Arx wasn't sure what to make of this decision, though he would not question the will of their Commander, surely he knew what was for the best... Arx nodded silently towards Brother Kyr before mounting the landed aircraft. He sighed inwardly as he viewed the size of the hold, and at the space Brother Niko was already occupying.

'_Why do they always make these so small. . ._'


----------



## Euphrati

Niko felt the heavy footsteps that reverberated through the decking under the soles of his boots and cast a glance towards the ramp where a massive form had blotted out the meager daylight from the hold. Brother Arx’s voice was a deep note as he commented about the size of the craft and Niko chuckled in sympathy with the towering astartes,

‘I do not think the shipwrights of Mars had our stature in mind when they placed the Emperor’s blessings upon this craft, Brother,’ Niko slid over to allow Arx’s powerful bulk as much space as he could, ‘though she is not a thunderhawk, she is a bird of war and shall serve us well in our want of proper craft,’ he patted the cold steel of the side wall gently before lowering his voice,

‘Brother, I was not privy to the words that caused our Lord to discipline our brothers, yet I cannot shake the nagging impression that my actions are partially to blame for the unrest within our squad. Astelan made his thoughts quiet clear in reference to my treating of the guardsmen with our limited supplies,’ Niko sighed,

‘Yet, had it been a question of the well-being of one of our number over that of the guardsmen, the answer would have been without doubt. A single brother is worth far more than the life of a whole squad of guardsmen.’

There was no trace of contempt within Niko’s voice, only the simple, though somewhat clinical, statement of fact.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial made his way over to the servitor and relieved him of his quota of ammo for his pistol. he then headed off in the direction of their transport, upon reaching the transport he made the sign of the aquila and walked up the ramp and into the cramped confines of the deck.
He looked around meeting the gaze of brothers kyr Arx and niko and said."If you would allow me brothers i would like to address all of you here before we go into battle. I know i have shamed you all in my actions though i can assure you i will be fully focused on my duty here today. I shall not bring this subject up again so please accept my apology"
He then took up his seat next to Arx and said" Brother when our job here is done i would like to diScuss a few personal troubles i have been feeling lately, if you would care to listen i would be grateful of ur wisdom on such matters.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx continued to mumble some incomprehensible mutterings as he tried to find a seat that could accommodate his size. He slid past Niko and made his way as far up the craft as he could. He spared the "seats" a contemptuous glance before sliding to lean against the rear of the hold, facing straight out of the craft, flanked by the sitting areas.

'_She'll have to do, though the less time we spend in transit the better._'

He tilted his head as Niko hushed his words, waiting in silent a moment before responding. He let out a soft sigh first.

'_Perhaps its better you did not hear them Brother, they offer nothing bout a sour feeling._' He paused for a moment. '_Though of course my Helmet feed will be available later should you desire._'

He brought his gaze from the entrance of the craft, realising he's strayed slightly.

'_Brother Astelan is a troubled individual. He has not only witnessed our Chapters greatest tragedy but also has been unfortunate enough to be present in some of our unluckiest engagements._'

His words became distant, as if he was recalling a long buried memory. 

'_During an engagement with the Tau empire, namely their Kroot mercenaries, we were tasked to rescue a pinned company of the Imperial Guardsmen. In the confusion they fired on us, though it wasn't simply friendly fire, they fired upon us with all their might. It was too long before we finally reached them and got them to cease fire, we lost Brothers._'

He turned his helmet to look back at Niko.

'_Don't blame yourself for his actions Brother, nor try and piece together reasoning. Even had you done nothing our Brother would have found some cause to unleash his ire. Be it the simple banter between Solaki and the guardsmen, or something even more petty. He was aware of the significance of the amount of medical supplies used and how little it would affect us. It would have happened either way. And you don't have to explain your actions to me Brother, I'm well aware none of us were at stake._'

Though he was wearing his Helmet, Arx smiled. He hoped his tone of voice would convey this as he extended his hand for Niko.

'_Our focus can be better spent contemplating the heathen Xeno's removal and destruction _'

Arx leaned back into the wall, tilting his helmet upwards as he began to sink back into his thoughts. Though the words of Brother Belial, caught his attention.

'_Though it was a moment of weakness and I respect you know your error, we can still never allow for even the smallest ***** in our Armour, both in the physical and the spiritual. We are Brothers and we must stand strong. I know I'll be able to depend on you when I need in the coming battle Brother, you'll have my back._'

Arx smiled again as he watched Belial seat himself to his right, then absorbed his words.

'_Of course Brother, I'm more than willing for such an encounter. I hope I'll be able to help you with your troubles_'


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm couldn't help but laugh at Khrell's outburst, he had done many air drops before and wouldn't have any problem doing it again at all. In fact that was how most Helghan troops were deployed once the shit hit the fan in whatever sector they were fighting in, easiest way actually in his opinion. His mind shifted back to one of the most intense battles he had ever been in...

--------------------------

The Valkyrie's engines were deafening as the craft rocketed over the shell-shocked city-scape at amazing speeds, the pilot taking it very close to the tops of buildings as they headed to their LZ. Pings could be heard from small arms fire hitting the aircraft as it passed overhead and if they looked out of one of the viewing ports the men inside could see firefights on just about every street.

Terrak looked at Shadihm, *"So where's the landing zone?!"* he had to yell even though they had their own inter-squad vox the noise was so loud. Shadihm shrugged his shoulders and chuckled, *"Hell?"* Terrak laughed as the pilot's voice came over the system,* "ETA 2 minutes!"*. Their commanding officer stood up and gripped one of the bars overhead, he was a big man Lieutenant Jarl, and as the the back hatch began to slide open to reveal the shattered cityscape below he pointed out to it, *"Today we take the traitors' palace! Today we send them to the burning hells that await them! For Helghan! For the Emperor!"*

And with that the first troopers ran to the opening and jumped out, *"Last one to the steps of the palace buys the beer."* said Shadihm as he ran and jumped, *"Aye, hope you have the money." *shot Terrak as he followed suit. Chutes were deployed and as he got closer to the ground Shadihm could tell that their LZ was hot as hell. As he landed he rolled and hit the release button on his chute and dove into cover, shots tearing at him the whole way. 

Looking up he could see men getting shot out of the air and one of them hurtling toward enemy lines, holes peppering his chute. The man pulled the pins on two of his grenades and as he connected with the ground in front of the enemy lines exploded showering the traitors with gore and shrapnel. Right as one man landed he was ripped to shreds by enemy fire, *"Advance!"* came Jarl's voice over the vox. The man in front of him nodded and stood up to turn the corner and was torn to pieces but Shadihm followed and killed those who had killed his brother. Enemy fire was so thick that you could walk on it and later they learned that only one in three soldiers made it down to the solid ground out of those jumps. 

----------------------

Shadihm shook his head, *"Shit, you don't know airdrop till you've jumped into what I've jumped into Khrell so stop shittin your pants, and Zac, I would kill for a deepstriking Russ."* He chuckled more to himself then at the others but he couldn't help but get the feeling that this drop was going to be one hell of a shit ride.


----------



## unxpekted22

_Once on Ferim, the Scythes of the Emperor quickly found not only the evidence they were looking for in terms of their strange Tyranid nemesis, but also some unexpected developments in the character of some of their own brother marines. Problems Sotha had foreseen as a possibility began to emerge at the time he had least hoped. Hunting down this dreadful Hive Tyrant was going to be hard enough without the remaining chapter under his command not being able to work together. 

Despite some early issues in these matters, Sotha was fortunate to see just twelve of his men hold off the initial Tyranid attack that came with the speed of hardly more than two days' time of the mutated manta-bio ship’s landing. Years of training specifically for fighting Tyranids, and fighting them wherever they could since the loss of their home world, had proved worth while indeed. Still despite the help from the newly imported Imperial Guardsmen, the enemy was not dead and as the Scythes still often say to both each other and any allies they find themselves with, the Tyranids always find a way to survive…always. 

The Hive Tyrant they hunted was proof of this in itself, a Norn queen surviving in an underground cavern after the bio-ship it was on crashed onto Tri’Vaa was hard enough to believe alone. The genetic mutations the Norn queen had produced in such an extreme will to live and through last ditch efforts were incredible. First it imitated the tau technology it had consumed, recreating it biologically into its spawn, and through death created the Tyrant they now chased.

Though this first battle was so successful, long growing tensions and frustrations would begin to be brought to light. However, the Scythes would not let the Guard take on their prize for them. The help of the Guard was welcome but the tyrant would die at their hands. The chapter would either solve its troubles under pressure during this difficult mission, or they would finally cease to be a chapter of the Emperor’s elite once and for all. 

That being said, all of the Scythes of the Emperor and Guardsmen alike, know that the alien they face has an army and the intelligence to put up one hell of a fight if need be. Though the Imperium has countless guardsmen available to replace the ones currently defending Ferim, the Scythes are not so fortunate; and every marine they may lose would be a further devastating loss to the chapter…_

Guard:

You have been flying over nothing but dark green tree tops for seemingly quite some time now. The loud hum of all the aircraft around you still persists through the air. The pilot opens a small hatch, and yells through the slit in the metal wall to inform you the following:

“We should be about half way to the alien’s crash site, but all the pilots are saying their sensors aren’t working right. A bunch of them supposedly can’t even see all the other aircraft with us on their radar. There’s just blank spaces its weird, mine’s started to do the same thing.”

The pilot leaves the slit open, and goes back to his controls for a few moments. During this time, a loud push of air is heard and you even feel the wind from it pass over your faces as if something had gone right by the side of your aircraft, going upwards. Your new squad mate standing, holding the side’s turret yells out, “What the hell was that!?” He tries to look up out of the side with an expression of sheer mystery, aiming the turret up while doing so.

You hear the pilot yell again, “Aw shit, I can’t even see the location of the crashed ship anymore!”

You then hear him communicating to other pilots over his headset, “It vanished for you too? Everyone? No one has its location anymore? What’d someone build a fraggin' radar jammer in the jungle!?”

Turns back to the hatch and speaks through to all of you, “We no longer have the location of the ship. We should still be able to find it since we’re making a B-line toward it but its signal just dropped off the radar completely. We’re also unable to reach the ground forc-”

Something slams into the hull of your small aircraft causing it to spin, and the pilot to fling back unable to finish his sentence. As your pilot attempts to regain control of the ship, through the open sides of your craft you see a spinning world of blue sky filled with large dull colored objects you know to be the other aircraft. Gun fire has opened up all around you from the other planes and gunships. You catch glimpses of flashing rounds flying through the sky in your dizzying haze. Khrell and the other guardsman hold onto the turrets for dear life, and the rest of you do all you can to stay in as well. You begin to see smaller figures that you don’t recognize, blurs in the spinning world around you. Terrible screeching erupts from the air around you as the creatures fly past your ship. 

The pilot manages to somewhat regain control, or at least corrects the spinning enough for you to see some of the other planes descending towards the ground, crashing into the thick forest below.

The new guardsman begins firing the heavy bolter turret. You can’t tell if he’s actually aiming at something. It does not take long before he is hit with some kind of projectile himself though. You see splatters of blood fly out the front of his chest region. He falls back hitting the floor. A Tyranid gargoyle crashes onto the hull’s side, grabbing at the man’s body with its free arm, and throws him out of the ship. It aims its flesh borer at Rikard next as it struggles to stay clinging onto the side of the ship. 

Kill it before it can fire, others will see their falling ally and come to kill you in its place. Khrell must defend the craft’s right side with his turret while the ship is still slightly spinning in the air getting slowly closer to the ground, while Zac, Rikard, and Shadihm fend off the gargoyles that try to enter the left side again with their las-guns. These gargoyles are strong. They have definitely surpassed their ground-based gaunt counter parts. They have spent a lot of time with the Hive Tyrant. 

Khrell, aiming will not be easy. The ship is still spinning, though slowly it makes it that much harder to hit a target in air to air combat. Further more as mentioned these gargoyles are very experienced and the particular hive mind of this tyranid splinter fleet is very intelligent. They will easily dodge most of your shots, and may even take more than one hit to take down.

Zac, Shadihm, and Rikard, the same goes for you. The gargoyles that try to get into the small ship to grab you and throw you out or shoot you will take more than a few las-rounds to take down. Zac’s talents may prove quite helpful in this situation but he won’t be able to fend them off by himself. If there is no coordination between the FOUR of you, one or more gargoyles may be successful in their attempts. (I will be making several posts replying to yours to continue the situation appropriately)

Vick:

You open your eyes to a blur of visions. Bright lights and medics surround you. You are definitely not on the battlefield anymore. One of the doctors is injecting something into your arm to bring you back awake faster.

As you look at your legs you find that one of them is no longer entirely flesh. Your knee cap had been crushed by the weight of a gaunt flying into you, as well as several of your lower ribs. Frag grenade shards had cut extremely deep into one of your arms as well. 

Once you come to, the doctor explains that after the battle you were injured in, the rest of the Guard at Vorspire’s western border took to the air toward the alien’s ship and were brought down by more of the creatures before they could even get to the alien ship’s location. 

“The commanding Guard officers have decided waiting for the injured to recover naturally was something they didn’t have time for, so we have implanted bionics into your body. We have been performing these surgeries all day, and while we do this, Command has been moving nearly every single guardsmen from the rest of the city’s defenses towards the west.

“Here, try to stand up…”

Try to stand up and walk around some to practice moving with your new body parts. One of your arms has bionics, as well as one of your legs, each limb showing half skin, and half dark metal parts. You can feel metallic-like supports in your abdomen as well, making it hard to twist your body at first.

Scythes:

Solaki enters the Valkyrie last following Kyr and Tobias, his shorter but bulkier stature coupled with his las-canon and power pack for it on his back making it even more crammed and difficult to maneuver. Nonetheless, you all get in, the ramp shuts. You can hear all of the other aircraft lifting up into the air, as well as land transports speeding by as your own ship lifts off the ground. 

After about twenty minutes of flight, something starts happening. Being inside the hull of this bird you can’t be sure what. But nothing is clearer to you than the sound of gunfire. The ships outside have begun firing at something, but what? And how are you going to find out crammed up in this Valkyire? Tobias lets out a frustrated yell. He opens the comm. To the pilots and orders them to drop the ramp. Without argument the Valkyries ramp starts to lower down, letting the light of day fill the vessel again. Tobias remains standing holding on to the ceiling support looking out. All of you look out as well of course, to find what looks at first glance to be a myriad of Tyranid gargoyles, swirling around, and throughout, the armada of Imperial Aircraft. They are moving at extremely fast speeds. There are gargoyles at nearly every ship in sight, clawing at cockpits and windows. 

The guardsmen don’t seem to be hitting anything with their defensive weapons. Tobias takes only a few seconds to take in the situation and prepare his commands he turns around back toward you fortunately having his helmet to speak to you all through rather than having to yell over the loud wind, “Solaki! I need you to aim at the ones clinging onto the hulls of the ships we can see. You cannot-

A gargoyle swoops behind Tobias striking him in the back, but is met with Brother Kyr’s bolter rounds just as quickly, several of them blowing holes through the tyranid’s wings causing it to fall away.

Tobias quickly resolves himself, “You cannot hit the ships though! Your las-canon will take them down for sure! Try to scrape them off of the sides with your blasts! I am going to stay on the comm. with the pilots to steer them where we need them to!”

You then hear more gargoyles slam into the hull above you, and the sounds of their clawing away at the metal exterior.

Tobias looks up with the rest of you and then straight back towards Arx, “Arx! I hope your up for this, I need to you climb up there and make sure those basterds are off us, and then prevent any more from dropping on us like that! We can’t risk the pilots getting killed either! We need someone up there and you’re the best candidate so move it!” (CH: keep in mind what a Valkyrie looks like, theres not too much room to move up there but enough to hang onto if you get pushed or slip. The wings are fairly broad though and can give you some more walking room, but being on one means your not guarding the other half.)

He addresses Niko and Belial, “You two need to support Kyr and Solaki as they shoot ‘em out of the sky and off the other aircraft!”

Just as he says this another gargoyle lands on the dropped ramp and fires its fleshborer at Solaki just as he shoulders his las-canon. Fortunately the beetles fail to penetrate his armor and fall away. Niko and Belial, it will take both of your bolt pistols to shoot this gargoyle off of the ramp. 

(As with the guard I will be making several posts replying to yours to continue the situation appropriately)

Astelan:

Sotha replies to you as you continue to sprint through the thickness of the forest, “The answer lies within your own question Astelan. I chose you to accompany me precisely because you are troubled. Some of your other brothers have had frustrations over the past years. This should not be a surprise as we are all furious at the events of Hive fleet Kraken and what it has done to our Chapter. 

Your particular frustrations have rendered you unfit to fight alongside Solaki and Belial, and right now I am not as concerned with fixing those bonds as I am making sure our mission here on Ferim does not result in disaster. As hurt as I am to see some of the few remaining brothers I have argue and fight in such a manner I cannot afford to have squads of only six brothers each chasing after a Hive Tyrant anomaly with power we do not yet know the extent of. 

Also you are more experienced than Belial, and serve not as specific a role in battle as Solaki does. Your experience with the bolter is not to be argued, and so you can guard me from Long, mid, and close range attacks. As far as heavy fire power goes I have my plasma gun if necessary, and if we get within arms reach of the vile filth I have my two power swords for benefit. 

I feel some time alone from your squad brothers will give you time to cool your head, and you and I certainly won’t be dealing with any of the guardsmen too closely at least for some time. Since that seemed to be the start of the argument I figured it would be good to take you away from that aspect of this hunt.

Tobias told me you think it would be better to go straight for the kill instead of defending the guardsmen, and since apparently I “run around like a headless chicken seeking revenge” I figured you could join me in doing so. There shall be no secrets among what is left of us brother; Tobias knows this. Secrets among brothers will cause our imminent demise, as it would any other chapter. 

While the rest of the Chapter and the Imperial Guard fight off what is left of this monster’s army, you and I are going straight for its throat.”

Continue following him. You may ask any further questions you may have.

(As with the others I will be making several posts replying to yours to continue the situation appropriately)

Tyrant:

They ARE coming. Through the air you were right! But is this a good thing? Your gargoyles were in position this is good, but it also means the enemy is in fact chasing you down, and they have made no less haste than you yourself normally would, and you are quite familiar with how effective your speedy assaults have been on other worlds. 

Through the connections of the hive mind you know your gargoyles are serving their purpose well, keeping you alive that much longer, but you will need to do something more. You need to hide or eventually they will find you in a state of only half consciousness. 

Without even realizing it, upon your thoughts of hiding even before your gargoyles had risen up from the canopy to ascend toward their bulky metal victims, you were causing something to happen greatly to your benefit. As your thoughts come to hiding, you project a psychic shadow. You feel the link through the hive mind hit your gargoyles. They are hidden. The shadow your mind casts causes all signals within the web of the invisible psychic links of your hive mind to vanish from the electronic screens of your enemies. The pings of their radar, sonar, and other tracking devices are bounced away by a net of psychic energy, as well as scrambling all of their communications and auspects.

since you dont know your doing that, you still think you need to hide further and it might be a good idea any way since your large ship can still be seen by ones eyes. You know the ground around your ship to be soft, mud, and liquid. Sink the Mutated Manta beneath the swamp. There are several ways to do this with the tyranid types you have available. Also, what will guard the surrounding forestry? The path your army of gaunts made could be quite apparent to the enemy.

(I feel kind of silly placing the ‘bad guy’ in a swamp but oh well lol)


----------



## blazinvire

Zac idly looked around as the pilot was talking to them, reporting strange stuff happening which was putting him a little on edge, strange stuff whilst flying never worked out, even if he did like the old Valkyries.
So his natural instinct was to look for a parachute, though he didn't get far in that respect as shit quite rapidly hit the fan, his world violently tossed about until there was an overly large bug clinging to the side of their bird.

A bout of minor motion sickness had Zac hesitate for a moment, looking a little stiff as he tried to keep all his innards from lurching around, and his stomach from emptying the fast way. In that moment he saw the bug in a kind of slow-motion time, his eyes widened a little as his hands automatically tightened around his lasgun instinctively.
And that's when he saw red, then again everyone anywhere near him would see red too from the amount of lasfire blaring out of the end of his lasgun out of pure surprise and reflexes.

"DAH Where'd that come from!?" Zac yelped, letting out a hailstorm of lasers that really only an assassin could have a chance of dodging, randomly blowing pieces off the strange creature.
He hadn't a clue whether he was doing anything, still trying to get over his mild motion sickness combined with the assault of a very, very big bug, but the way he figured it, the more shots he fired the better chances he had of doing something until he got his head screwed on right.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan realised Sotha spoke the truth. The forest was eerily silent, it was probably obvious that the Tyranid menace had already devoured them for more organic quantities to spawn their horrors. Condensation clung to his chest and shoulders, small droplets carving deep rivets in his blood caked Armour. He was honoured that he was the one chosen to protect his Brother-Commander however, and vowed he would do so as long as his lungs still filled. 

The forest had begun to grow thicker as they charged on, in some places the ground was wet and weak beneath their feet, sliding away as their giant soles pushed into the dirt and causing Astelan to nearly slip on several occasions. The Astartes made sure his Bolter was ready for the imminent combat that would soon be upon them, not wanting to fumble in sight of his Leader. 

However he was taken aghast when Sotha had revealed that Tobias had told him all about what he had said. He gulped and talked back into the Vox “Lord-Commander, I apologize for what I had said, the fighting has started to take its toll upon me…..I sometimes do not even realise what I have done until it is to late to stop it. You said we are going for the ‘Heart’ so…..Why not take a strike force rather than just me Brother? I am interested in what you think the two of us can do against whatever horror holds this world in its talons”.


----------



## Concrete Hero

-_Cursed Xeno! Knew we'd be attacked in this flying shell!_-

Just another notch on the hatred tally for flying... He placed a hand on either side of the hold, rising into a crouch and ready to move. Though he felt completely helpless as one of the overgrown creatures whipped into the ramp; he couldn't fire his Meltagun in here for risk of his Brothers being caught in the blast, and he was at the back, there was no way he could manoeuvre past them all...

“Arx! I hope your up for this, I need to you climb up there and make sure those basterds are off us, and then prevent any more from dropping on us like that! We can’t risk the pilots getting killed either! We need someone up there and you’re the best candidate so move it!”

He felt elated at Tobias' words and picked up instantly. In moments he was on his feet, hunched in the small compartment but clipping open the emergency hatch over his head. He'd only nodded his head back to Tobias before clambering out onto the roof of the Valkyrie. 

A Swarm. That was the only way to describe it. All around their flying convoy was harried by the Tyranids known as Gargoyles. Arx almost mistook them for Flying Warriors at first; their size and tenacity was fearsome. One of the winged terrors came screaming down on him as he stood on the small craft, its wings blotting out the sun as it swooped in. Astartes honed reflexes managed to snap the Meltagun up from his hip and fire off a terrific blast from the thermal weapon. A cone of roaring heat blasted up, but he was too late to catch the Gargoyle in the centre; Half of a twitching, steaming corpse fell before him, promptly kicked off to the trees below by the Space Marine.

Another creature came diving from the side, another blur of movement and Arx had his Chainclaymore in hand. He swung the weapon like a bat and just caught the skull of the creature with the tip off the sword, It fell flapping from his vision.

The sky seemed to be full of the monsters, winged monstrosities having far too much success tearing apart their vehicles. Arx took the Meltagun in hand and waited for another Gargoyle to come his way.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial immediately moved towards Solaki and Kyr. Calling out to Niko "lets go brother". With that he let out a fury of bolt rounds from his pistol only just knocking the beast backwards slightly. this was gonna be tough he thought to himself. Calling out to Niko he said" brother these beasts are a lot tougher than usual its gonna take combined fire from both of us to shake these bastards off"
With that he continued firing waiting for Niko to lend his support to the fight.


----------



## Necrosis

Vick began to open his eyes. Many questions began to ran through his head. Where was he, what had happened? Then it all started to come back to him. He remembered the battle against the tyranids and how he got his injuries yet before he could remember anymore the doctor began to talk to him. He began to tell what was going on and about his bionic implants. His right arm and left leg had been replace by bionics. He began to slowly move his bionic arm. It felt strange and unusually for him. Yet the doctor soon told him to get up and move around. Vick did as he was told. He had a hard time keeping balance at first. He began to move around with his implants. As he did he could feel metallic life support system in his abdomen. This made it hard as he tried to twist his body. Yet he continued to move around. As he did he began to remember about his past and the battle. He then remembered the Angels of Death appearing. After that everything was a blank. He then began to think about the future. He was probably going to be sent to the city with the rest of the guardsmen. He then began to wonder what had happen to his squad. Where they still alive? Would he be meeting with them in the city? Only time would tell. At least he was still alive. The Emperor had shown mercy on him. That meant he had a plan for him. He would use these gifts to deliver the Emperor judgment to the enemies of the Imperium.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was just practicing with aiming, as a gargoyle hit the craft. Khrell felt the humongous forces working on him as he nearly fell out, though he could hold on to the heavy bolter and held a firm grip on it. The craft was spinning like a drunk man in a carrousel, and Khrell barely got behind the heavy bolter, let alone aiming it. He tried to aim at the gargoyles, though he wasn't able to get a clear shot. He finally tracked one of them, it was moving at a neck breaking speed though he was able to shoot, he hit it, though the shell didn't explode upon impact, it just temporarily knocked the creature off course. He tried firing again, but he missed. 

Khrell was trying to stay calm, but then the other guardsman behind him got torn out by a gargoyle. Khrell couldn't turn his weapon around, and he feared he was next. Suddenly zac shot the darn thing in a hail of lasfire, Khrell felt relieved and resumed firing at the gargoyles. 

He tracked another one, and shot. The creature was hit on the arm, and his arm was blown off in a gout of blood and flesh. It still kept on flying whatsoever, and Khrell realized that he had to fire more if he wanted to kill these beasts, and he fired more shells into the creature, until it finally fell out of the sky. He tracked another one , aimed and fired a number of times.........


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm was was gazing off into space as the pilot was relaying information to them all about their target and something about how his radar wasn't working too well, not like Shadihm cared as long as they got out of the air soon. It would seem that his wish would be granted a little too soon and not in the way he had wanted in the form of a huge bug hitting the aircraft making it spin ridiculously fast as it fell.

Shadihm gripped his lasgun tight and took the safety off as he readied for the immenent collision with the ground or another nid attack. The pilot's skill enabled him to slow the spinning considerably as he tried to regain control but that had apparently worked to their disadvantage as a bug killed the gunner right in front of him and poked its head and gun inside to shoot Rikard.

Zac opened up first and for the first time Shadihm was thankful for the trooper's itchy trigger finger and followed suit, firing his gun straight into the massive beast's head. At the moment all he could see was red and bits of gore as the beast was peppered by him and Zac, the whole time its frightening screeches tearing through his ears.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko listened to the pilots as they became increasingly distressed, a sick feeling pulling at the back of his mind at the descriptions of the malfunctions coming from the pilots. _Surely this splinter fleet was not capable of producing the shadow that a hive fleet cast upon the warp?_ Yet the evidence seemed to suggest this next state of evolution. The crack of weapons fire filtered over the keening engines and Tobias gave a frustrated oath, ordering the pilots to disengage the assault ramp.

Howling winds cut through the hold as the pilot complied with the orders swiftly and without question, the waning light of Ferim spilling into the hold and partially lifting the confined feeling of the craft. Yet, the sight that greeted the Scythes was anything but uplifting; dark, sinuous forms slipped through the skies like a flock of twisted jays harassing the raptorial forms of the Valkyries. Gargoyles, the vile aerial forms of the xenos plague. Curved, black talons scraped along hulls as the gargoyles assaulted the outside of the crafts; their skeletal, hide-stretched wings flapping furiously to keep them in place. Intermittent fire from the guardsmen was doing little to abate the horde.

Tobias took in the scene with a calm eye, barking orders out even as the sounds of claws echoed through the skin of their own craft. Niko had to press himself against the side wall to allow the mighty from of Arx passage to the front of the craft before making his own way towards the lowered ramp, fighting against the sheer of the winds. He had only made half the distance when a winged form landed with a screech of claws upon the ramp, hissing with malice and firing its vile weapon at Brother Solaki. The living ammunition cracked off Solaki’s blessed wargear, unable to penetrate the ceramite and plasteel construction. Brother Belial pumped rounds into the beast, but it managed to hold firm under the barrage of explosive shells. 

Niko charged forward at Belial’s shout for aid, crushing many of the squirming beetles under his tread and snatching his pistol from its mag-clamp on his thigh. The gargoyle beat its wings frantically, ichor leaking from the holes in its chitin, but managed to keep its hold on the grating of the ramp. The winged abominations were notoriously frail; however the beast was weathering more damage than it should and still attempting to claw its way within the hold. Niko took a knee by Belial’s side, pausing less than a fraction of a second as he noted the thickened plating covering the beast’s body. He dropped his aim and squeezed the trigger on pistol gifted to him by his mentor, his aim was true and the rounds detonated against the joints of the xenos’s grasping arms. With a shriek; the beast fell away in a spray of body fluids, leaving the severed talons of its forelimbs still gripping the ramp. Niko scanned the sky as the bleeding body tumbled into the canopy bellow and speaking into the squad channel,

‘They have developed a toughened carapace, Brothers! I would advise aiming for limb joints and wings to keep from wasting ammo.’


----------



## unxpekted22

Astelan:

Normally I would take a strike force Astelan, but in the state our chapter is in, you see, this is the biggest strike force i can afford to take away from fighting the Tyrant's army. Besides, the thinner the blade or tip of a bullet, the deeper it can strike."

since you a bit behind Sotha you see him stop as if he hears something. A hormagaunt injured from the previous battle, leaps out of the brush behind him not seeing you, though more likley it knows you are there but h as not taken the time to care in the frenzy of coming across you. It goes to leap at Sotha'a back as he turns around to meet, it. Shoot it down without hitting Sotha in the process.

Vick:

Not giving you much time to move, one of the men shoves a lasgun back into your hands, and tells you to get your uniform back on and proceed outside. Once outside you will find a squad of 19 men who have also been given bionic replacement parts. among them shouting orders is a sergeant who has more bionics than them all.

Guard:

The first gargoyle finally falsl away, unable to take the combined fire of Zac and Shadihm's constant las-fire. Khrell has taken one of the beasts down and attempts to bring down another. He must keep doing so to protect this ship's right side.

The pilot screams. through the slit you can see a gargoyle trying to break into the cockpit. You only have a small enough opening to fire one las gun through, and Zac needs to reload really quick. You need someone to keep watch of the ship's left side opening still anyway.

Scythes:

All of you defend the Valkyire adequately enough for Solaki to finally let off a beam of bright light through the sky, sheering off four gargoyles from a larger troop transport behind your Valkyrie with his las-canon. This temporarily scares the gargoyles near your ship away. They then realize they need to attack such a weapon. One drops down from above in the distance and flies straight toward the Valkyire screeching. Brother Kyr is the first to act and only one who could hit it at this range anyway. With his bolter properly shouldered tightly against his form he goes through an entire clip. His use of the ammunition fortunately does not go to waste as the gargoyles clumsily falls and smacks into the assault ramp before dropping through the sky down to the forest below. 

Kyr looks over to Niko as he reloads, "Sorry, I couldn't really aim for the joints on that one."

Before he can reload, you hear Arx yell something from above, not using the vox for some reason; he probably had no time. Eitehr way you see what he was yelling about as yet another Gargoyle swoops into the valkyrie, but this one does not stop on the ramp. It falls off the roof only to swing itself in a u-turn fashion into the ship flinging forward with full momentum. It strikes Niko on its way, pushing him to the back of the Valkyrie and pinning him against the wall. 

Belial, Kyr was knocked to the side from the gargoyle, causing him to drop his clip; it falling down the assault ramp and into the sky. Solaki was knocked straight onto his back, and Tobias is not holding his weapon. With Arx on the roof your also the only one with a chainsword inside the Valkyrie. Either way its up to you to first strike it. Its large wings continue to beat furiously inside the ship, which threaten to knock you back if you get too close.

Arx: As you wait for further attacks, you see the bright beam of Solaki's las-canon come from within the Valkyire under your feet. You follow its path, seeing it vaporize four gargoyles off of the side of a larger troop transport. You see the other gargoyles near the beam disperse for a moment. As you smile to a sign of relief and victory, it is quickly diminished as double the number of gargoyles begin making their way to your Valkryie. You see one flying straight towards your brothers, and watch Kyr's bolter rounds make impact after impact until it slams into the assualt ramp and falls away. while you watch this though, a gargoyle swoops in from behind you knocking you flat onto the hard surface of the vehicle. You yell to warn your brothers but the beast makes its way inside swooping in down from above. You have no time to help, two more gargoyles come to take up your time. One landing on each of the Valkyrie's wings aiming their flesh borers at you as they tightly cling on to the sides of the wings with their small legs and free arms.


----------



## Necrosis

Before Vick could even get use to his new bionic implants he was given a lasgun and told to put back his uniform and go fight. He felt as if he had been demoted to a conscript. He would have like to spend a few more days getting use to his "new body." Yet orders were orders and he would obey them. He grabbed his uniforms and as he put his shirt on, he accidentally rip a bit of it due to his bionic implants. The serge was going to give him hell for this. Yet he didn't let that slow him down. Once his uniform was on he made his way outside as he was ordered to. Once their he found his squad which surprised him, they were all like him. Each one of them had bionics implants just like him. He saw one of them shouting orders, that meant he was the Sergent besides he was also had the most bionic implants of the whole group. Vick presented himself before the Sergent. "Private Vick, reporting for duty, Sir!" said Vick as he waited for orders from the Sergent. It felt weird how he kept switching from one squad to another. Hopefully it would end here but the chances of that were low. They were probably going to take heavy causalities but then again the Emperors Angels of Death had shown up. Perhaps with a bit of faith this battle would be won soon without much causalities.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan heard the crunching of boots upon the dull ground suddenly stop. He looked up to see Sotha upon a small mound ahead, bushes and trees flanked his Leader and a low emitted growl was sounding from nearby. He wrapped a single finger around his trigger and shouldered his Bolter, swinging it from tree to tree, scanning each branch with cold emotionless eyes. He slowly crept forwards, looking down upon the ground he found a three pronged footprint there. 

However it was to late. As he was about to give the warning a injured Tyranid beast, two of its legs snapped away and trailing long orange streamers of flesh, several blackened holes covered its blue and green hide, and were much like the legs leaking a strange liquid. A pair of large black eyes flanked either side of its fang filled maw. 

The creature tore through a bush, green leaves marked with brown splotches spinning end over end around it, a feral guttural bark leaving its half torn throat as it leapt towards Sotha, a pair of Scythe like arms outstretched for the kill. Suddenly a serpentine voice ripped into his head _Leave him Astelan…He will kill you I will have you know….Shoot him….Accidents happen after all. _

He replied with a scream within his head, fending the voice that had joined him since the Fall of Sotha off. And he saw red. He pulled the trigger of his weapon, watching the Bolt Rounds spin towards their target it struck it twice. And the Tyranid fell dead, its body cut clean in half by the rounds. He ran towards his Commander and clasped his shoulder with one hand saying “We must continue, the beasts fellow bastards will have heard that”.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac's lasgun barely clicked dry before he was in the process of ripping out another pack, though of course by some twist of fate something happened to the pilot at the same time causing the ship to jolt a little, surprising him.
As a result he more or less fumbled with the pack, so he launched out of his seat chasing it, careening straight across the ship from its movement and his own propulsion.

He sure as heck managed to snatch up his pack again, though he crashed a few times on the side of the Valkyrie like a rubber ball, yet still stubbornly reloading as he flew about.
He managed to hook his legs on the cargo netting, so he was more or less hanging upside down by the time he had reloaded, aiming intently at the left side of the bird since he couldn't really move right now.
Zac swayed around like a pendulum from the ship's movement, waiting for a few gargoyles to get into range before hitting them with the red rain.
"This brings back a few memories I'd rather forget..." Zac said casually as he looked down at the roof of the Valkyrie before back out the side, sending out a small spray of lasfire at a few of those flying bugs.
"Had my foot nailed to the ceiling once by a bunch of natives with spears on some Emperor-forsaken planet, wasn't as much fun as it sounded," Zac said idly as he rained on the gargoyle's parade.


----------



## FORTHELION

After dispatching the gargoyle with alot of help it has to be said from brother Niko. Belial was just getting ready to reload his bolter when he heard Arx shouting something from above but before he could make out what he had said another gargoyle came swinging in from above knocking his brothers about like the old terran game skittles. He just managed to avoid being knocked about. 
Brother Niko was not so fortunate taking the full brunt of the gargoyles charge and getting pinned at the far end of the craft. Without thinking Belial holstered his pistol and drew his chainsaw he remembered Niko saying aim for the limbs its their weak spot, taking a few strides he slid along the ground low evading the beasts flailing wings and in the same motion bringing up the chainsaw and striking out at what could only be described as something like a knee joint. Praise be to the emperor the teeth bit home and the beast screamed in agony releasing its grip slightly on Niko. 
Belial was quickly to his feet swinging his sword in a decapitating arc which was somehow blocked by the gargoyle. Belial and beast were now locked in a titanic battle of strength holding each other at bay. Though he had succeeded in freeing Niko from the gargoyles grasp. He shouted to Niko "brother i cant hold it much longer ur pistol take it out now finish this"
Belial held on waiting for the shots that would end this battle of strength that he knew he was beginning to loose.


----------



## Euphrati

The searing beam of light speared from the end Solaki’s weapon, leaving ash and bisected bodies tumbling into the canopy in its after-image. The xenos scattered, leaving the ships unmolested for a moment before descending again with murderous cries of alien rage, many angling their flight towards the new perceived threat. Kyr’s bolter sang out a staccato war cant, spent casings chiming in counterpoint as they struck the diamond-etched platting at his feet. Niko gave a low chuckle at Kyr’s rye humour, swiveling his head slightly to reply in turn,

‘Quantity has a virtue in itse…’

A shriek cut through Niko’s words, followed by a dark shadow. It was by sheer training that Niko brought his free arm up before the beast barreled into him with the force of a titan’s fist, the momentum of the gargoyle sending them tumbling to the front of the craft and knocking aside his brothers like a child’s game of six pins.

The solid steel bulwark of the valkyrie’s hold slammed into Niko’s back, the weight of the vile tyranid pinning him against the wall as its wings thrashed about the hold. His bolt pistol was trapped in an iron grip of one of the beast’s many limbs and his other arm was busy holding the slavering, fang -filled maw a mere handspan from his faceplate. The angle at which the creature had pinned him kept Niko from gaining leverage against the crushing weight. It took all his strength to keep the xenos at bay in hopes that one of his brothers could act on his behalf.

It was Belial that came to his rescue, braving the frantically trashing wings of the beast to drive his chainsword into one of the segmented rear limbs and eliciting a howl of pain from the fiend. Yet, the action served to redirect the animal rage of the gargoyle and the heavy weight lifted from Niko’s chest as the beast flung itself at its new target. Belial grappled with the tyranid, shouting over the howling winds and shrieks for his aid, as Niko heaved himself to his feet. The tight confines of the hold spoke against his brother’s suggested methods and Niko slapped his pistol to the clamp on his thigh to draw his combat blade.

Rage, hot and feral, boiled up within his mind as Niko gave a guttural roar and sprang at the beast. He landed on its back between the thrashing wings, his weight staggering the gargoyle as he locked his legs around its torso like a rider upon a unbroken steed. His free hand shot up like a striking viper, reaching over the crest of the beast and digging armoured fingers into one of the horned eye sockets and yanking back with a snarl. The creature wailed in anguish as its head was jerked back, exposing the vital joints in the neck.

Niko’s blade flashed forward with a surgeon’s precision; slicking through tissue, tendons, and veins as the young astartes put all his hate and rage behind the strike. The tyranid’s spinal column severed in a gout of hot fluids, spraying the area in vile smelling liquids as the now headless corpse collapsed to the decking. Niko held the head for a moment longer, rivulets of gore running down his chestplate and arms, before letting it drop to the floor with a wet thud and leaning down to clean his blade upon the still twitching wings of the beast,

‘My shots might have struck you, brother, so I opted for a more direct method,’ Niko’s voice was calm, betraying none of the animal rage that his actions had shown him capable of just moments before.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial felt the pressure lift as Niko grappled with the gargoyle. He was greatful for the relief as he couldnt hold on much longer. "my appreciation brother, these tyranid are much stronger and much more tougher than normal, something is not quite right here". He started to laugh and said "I never knew you to be so fierce in combat, though i am greatful for it. It was more becomming of a space wolf" 
Belial then grabed the remains of the gargoyle by the wings and draged it to the end of the ramp and threw it over. "Its crowded enough in here without this abomination taking up more room". "Have you any ideas Nico on what is happening to these tyranid they are evolving very fast and seem to know our every move, more inteligent than normal".


----------



## Concrete Hero

A grim smile of sanctification crept across Arx's face as the bright lance of energy swept the Gargoyles from a transport ship behind them. Though the victory was short lived however, for after the beasts scattered they recognised a greater threat, and closed in on their position. He gripped the large hilt of the chainsword in preparation for the next swooping Tyranid. Though it seems he was not prepared enough, just as he turned to take scope of his surroundings another of the beasts crashed into his large frame, slamming him down onto the roof of the vehicle. He felt the Valkyrie rock under the impact. The Gargoyle had other plans on its mind however, and swooped back into the crafts hold before he could vox a warning.

Arx snarled and pushed himself back onto his feet, feeling sullied by the foul creatures xeno touch. But moments later the inhuman screeches coming from inside caused a smile to play across his face, his Brothers had taken care of the Tyranid, he knew it.

Arx roared, sending his amplified voice booming through the sky. He swung the sword and felt its teeth bite into the wings of a swooping creature. He was almost dragged from his feet by the pull of the beast, but the sword ripped through the tender membranes and sent the Gargoyle spinning to the ground; its tattered winds unable to keep it aloft. 

He was just looking for another target for his bubbling rage when the craft shook left to right. A disgusting creature landed on the end of either wing, their foul bio-weapons buzzing in his direction.

He snarled in response and snapped up his meltagun, dropping the chainsword to clank on the hull. It seemed like time began to slow as his Astartes reflexes and senses shot into overdrive. One quick step forward, trigger clicked. Holy fire and the fury of the Emperor roared from the barrel, a cone of punishing heat that vaporised the Gargoyle from the midriff up, leaving only blackened stumps clinging to the wing.

He turned, nothing but the sound of his hearts pounding in his ears. He dipped slightly as he moved towards the remaining Tyranid, Meltagun dropped from his hand; it wouldn't be ready to fire again in time. With his free hand he scooped up the hilt of the chiansword, powerful strides bringing him along the hull and onto the other wing. The Gargoyles teeth were bared in a silent screech, a cloud of black pellets flew from the barrel of the weapon. A buzzing cloud of smaller Tyrnaids. He tried to keep his ducking movement going to avoid the fire, but a splattering of the creatures crashed into his massive shoulder guard.

He'd have to ignore them for now, the beast had to die otherwise he'd have more than a glancing hit to deal with. He was close now, the creatures wings started to beat furiously in an effort to keep him at bay. Time seemed to reconnect and move at normal speed as he made the final step.

'_FOR THE EMPEROR!!!_'

Arx swung the claymore in a double handed grip, the spinning blades roared their own cry as they crashed into the creature, searing through one of its wings and crashing into the limbs shoulder. The tattered flesh of the appendage fluttered about lamely, the rest of the wing went limp as the shoulder was torn to pieces under the furious assault of the chainsword. His left hand slipped from the hilt in the blink of an eye, hooking around the back of the struggling creatures head. The shock of the crumpled shoulder granted him a few free moments before the creature descended into a feral thrashing madness.

He pulled the creatures head forward and launched his own forward; his helmeted forehead crashed into the creatures skull at breakneck speed. Arx felt the creatures skull fracture under the impact. He didn't have much time, he was too close to use his sword again so he left the weapon to slowly dig its own way into the creatures flesh. He hopped back ever so slightly and delivered a powerful heel kick to the taloned leg that gripped the wing, without letting up he ducked down and swept his fist into the same joint. The weaker area split under the blow, breaking bone and tearing the ligaments holding it in place. 

He felt the creatures talons scrape along his form ad snarled as he felt one of the claws rent through his armour, carving a gouge along the black surface. He roared another defiant cry as he stood back up, shouldering the creature in the chest with all his weight. 

The Gargoyle flailed backwards, the broken joint on one of its gripping legs finally snapped under the pressure and the creature began to tumble away, its good wing flapping manically in the wind. Just as it tilted back Arx took hold of the swords grip; the blade was still embedded in the creatures flank, and pressed his boot against its chest. He pushed the creature away with his boot and yanked the sword free, sending another gout of spraying blood and viscera splashing across his form.

The creature tumbled away, its one good wing swinging about as the creature tried desperately to right itself, before being lost in the canopy below.

Arx didn't have a moment of respite however; black beatles of an alien nature scurried angrily across his shoulder, trying to pierce its holy form. He swiped the creatures away, letting them get lost in the wind. The paint on his shoulder has been scoured away in most places, and small impacts and teeth marks dented its surface, he was lucky to only have been glanced by the shot.

He gathered up the Meltagun from the centre of the craft and snapped his head about, looking for the next challenge.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm let out a roar as the flying beast fell away from the ship only for it to be rocked by what he assumed was another one attempting to bite its way through. He quickly reloaded his lasgun, suddenly the pilot was screaming and he got up and stumbled his way to see inside the cock pit. One of the bugs was trying to eat its way through to the pilot, he wasn't going to have thier only way to a semi-safe landing be torn from the cockpit so he braced himself between the bulkhead and aimed before saying to the pilot, *"Can you fly with a broken window?!" *

The pilot was whimpering so Shadihm felt it was safe to assume that was a yes under these circumstances and fired at the beast through the window. The ship lurched again and his shot went wide peppering the whole front window of the cockpit and thankfully missing the pilot, cursing to himself he lined up the shot again and let loose. Suddenly one of the windows broke out entirely and the howling wind rushed in at him and filled the cockpit, Shadihm realized they were all fragged if he couldnt kill this beast right now and switched to full auto.

The wind was unbelievably loud and Shadihm saw the creature's head cock as it realized it had a nice little hole to stick its head through on the other side of the glass. *"Come on you fraggin pus bucket! I dare ya to stick your head through that and get blasted away!" * He really hoped the thing wouldnt though, he had no idea how many shots it would take to blast its head off with a damned lasgun.


----------



## unxpekted22

(for future reference, any character in blue is a significant npc)


Scythes:

Tobias looks back at Niko making sure he is alright, though from the way he killed the gargoyle he wasnt surprised to find Niko uninjured. He punched in the comm again to the pilots, "Make a slight turn to the right!"

You can all hear the loud steps of Arx's brawls with the Tyranids above. His steps moving back and forth over your heads form left and right mingled with the sounds of a buzzing chainsaw claymore, and the hot blasts of his melta gun.

Kyr had by now found another clip on his person and loaded into his bolter.

Tobias gives an order to Solaki again, "Solaki! That small ground attack ship needs support, " He points to the ship far below and behind the Valkyrie you all stand in. It is slowly circling towards the ground with a Gargoyle at the pilot's cockpit Heavy bolter rounds are coming from one side while las-gun shots can be seen flying out the other. "It's going to be a tough shot Solaki, dont hit the craft, only the gargoyle, get it off that pilot!"

Niko, check yourself and Belial for any wounds that may have gone unnoticed, as well as keeping an eye on the assault ramp for any more gargoyles, Solaki's shot must not be compromised.

Arx: Once you finish with this one, and look about for the next enemy, all you see instead are more ships falling towards the ground. The Valkyrie your squad is on remains flying true, but with Solaki's single slow firing weapon, there wasn't much your squad could do alone to stop the inevitable. 

The gargoyles appeared to be making yet another thought out move. They were smart enough to stop coming to your Valkyrie now, instead going after the other ones in the distance, staying far away from the one that has been killing them. All you can do is watch.

Astelan:

Sotha turns quickly spinning on his heel and drawing both his power swords instantly... but there is nothing left but the silence, interrupted by the eager crackling of power emanating from his blades, and the faint smokey whisper of Astelan's cooling bolter.

Normally, the space marines would in moments hear the noises of the world's natural inhabitants come back to life; various species of insects, unique fauna, or other animals of the flesh. Eerily, there is nothing and your surroundings remain still until the two of you move again.

Sotha sheathes one of his swords as you walk towards him.

he speaks, "Astelan...part of being a strike team involves knowing when and when not to help your comrades...I am thankful for the quick response of your supporting fire, but you need not waste your rounds by sending them flying towards my back when the target was a mere, half dead hormagaunt type."

He looks down at the dead creature.

Vick:

The bionic sergeant orders to you to line up with the others before making a sort of welcoming speech:

"As of today you have _all_ become bionic soldiers. Forget about those fleshy parts you had before because they are gone. I promise you, you will_ never_ see them again. 

This should not worry you! For now, you are all better than that, better than the other guardsmen out there in the field. Let me repeat that... you are NOT the hindered ones, the handicapped ones, or the unfortunate ones. As you have noticed, I am sure, I have more bionic parts than any of you and I would not have it any other way. In fact I _volunteered_ to have them."

with this he lifts the las-gun he is holding into the air vertically, sticks out his left leg some, and brings the but of the gun slamming down across his bionic leg. It makes a clang sound, with no grunts following it from the mouth of the sergeant.

"You see... we're stronger, and once you get used to your new parts you'll be faster too. So lets warm up your reflexes shall we?"

He then kicks up a short metal pole from the ground straight up into his hands, and leaps toward the unit with a surprising speed. He begins swinging at each of the 20 bionic soldiers, including you. several of the soldiers dodge his blows...some don't... but even the ones who do dodge his blows, do not seem to be making him stop. He continues on swinging at everyone, those still up and those on the ground. He must be looking for something else.


(rest of the guard update will come when daafiejjxd and darkreever post or say otherwise)


----------



## darkreever

Without warning, the transport rocked and spun as it was hit. The shreik of metal fighting against forces almost enough to overcome the material nearly drowned out the scream of the man in front of Rikard as something alien tore him from the heavy bolter and flung him into the air away from the transport.

What replaced him made Rikard's eyes widen; the thing was just like the creatures from earlier but it had a set of leathery wings around its mid-section and it was pointing some kind of gun right at him. Before the thing fired though, las-fire in a large quantity smacked into it followed by more precise shots. Seeing the thing take the beating and not go down, Rikard snapped out of his fear and gripped his own gun with both hand, ramming the butt into the creatures head and kicking it in the chest with a boot.

_"Just fragging die!"_ He yelled as it fell out of the transport, with shadows already closing in to potentially replace it. Rikard had no idea if the thing was dead, but if it wasn't then he could hope the fall did it in.


Hitting the release on the harness he had strapped himself to, Rikard grabbed an overhead hold before the movements of the transport toss him around. _"Come on, come on! Lets keep that heavy bolter firing before more get in the way!"_ He yelled before slinging his lasgun and trying to grab hold of the trigger of the sponson gun.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell got another of these 'nids down, and aimed at a new one. He almost pulled the trigger, but he stopped doing so, because another valkyrie was behind the gargoyle. Khrell aimed again, and waited till the valkyrie was no longer behind the gargoyle. Khrell shot a few bursts, and he crippled the beast, and it fell to the ground. 

Khrell aimed and shot again. Bullseye, right in the head, and the gargoyle's head exploded in mid air. Khrell noticed the huge amount of valkyries falling to the ground, and he knew it was just a matter of time before they went down in a similar fashion...

No matter the odds...he kept aiming and shooting.....


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki calmed himself, he needed to be totally focused. Every thought about what had transpired in the recent days he forced from his mind, becoming a cold marksman. This pathetic gargoyle would not take more comrads from them. This was damned impossible shot, but that made it enjoyable. He had brought shame on himself by insulting and argueing with Astelan, which whom was going to make up later, and this was his chance to redeem himself. He looked down the sight and focused it on the gargoyle. Then he pulled the trigger. A flash of light and the gargoyle seaced to exist. He had destroyed beast, but that was only half the job. With a mix of fear, anticipation and hope, Solaki looked away from where the gargoyle was just a moment ago. The pilot looked back at him. Solaki breifly scanned the cockpit for signs of damage, almost not believing he had not touched it at all. But the more he looked, the more he realised, he had done it! A great big smile crossed Solaki's face, but there was no time to celebrate his victory. This waas war, and just because he had done the impossible didn't mean they had won. Solaki scanned the area for freash target, still grinning...


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

The gargoyle on the cockpit is vaporized in a bright light as it starts to make its way toward the opening Shadihm had made.

The pilot Points upwards toward a Valkyrie in the distance as Shadihm continues looking through the hatch. "It came form there! I cans see their forms, the Scythes of the Emperor. I think one of them is even on the roof of their Valkyrie."

though excited and in disbelief at being alive, The pilot remains holding tightly onto the controls. As you all look out the sides of the still circling ship, your vision becomes filled with lush green vegetation. Large leaves are slapped into the interior and then dragged back out again as you all fall through the thick canopy. 

With a brutish force the ship drops fast to the ground wonce it passes the large branches, giving you all quite the shock. The pilot gets out with the rest of you, grabbing his own las-gun.

there do not appear to be any immediate threats, the remaining living gargoyles are still in the sky reeking havoc among the rest of the armada. There's only one thing to do right now. Set up a defensive position until you can figure out how to link up with other possible survivors.


----------



## dark angel

The voice was there. There once again with Sotha and Astelan, trailing around them. Astelan stared at the well built form of Sotha as leaves spun around them in a typhoon of green, yellow and brown diamonds. Both Astartes seemed to be facing each other off, Astelan with his Bolter hanging loosely across his front and Sotha with a Power Sword held firmly in one hand. 

The voice hissed at Astelan. Yet, like a true Astartes he ignored it. Finally he allowed it to speak, like a depressurization of a shuttle it tugged the air from around his face. The Astartes stiffened slightly as it did so, hearing it challenge _Astelan, he has done it again….Made himself seem more worthwhile than you….. He will destroy you when you are done, use your resources until they are no longer needed. Now take your chance and kill him! _

For a moment Astelan was about to raise his Bolter and shatter Sotha like a thrown glass. However he quickly dismissed any thoughts of betrayal and murder, throwing them away. The voice howled. He felt a warm trickle of blood roll down his right ear, and realised slowly he was killing himself by denying that which laid within its wishes. He nodded at Sotha and said “As you wish, however we need to move on, I for one do not like being within this damned place”.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko checked his cleaned blade before sliding it back into the sheath hidden amidst the pouches at his hip. The fluids that stained his armour, though still highly corrosive to bare skin, showed no signs of the bio-toxin many of the brood seemed to have and was no danger to the protections of his wargear. A whispered command brought up Belial’s biological readings from the corner of his peripheral vision even as he scanned over his brother’s armour from signs of damage. Belial’s description of his actions drew a low chuckle from Niko’s chest,

‘My hate for these abominations is beyond measure so I shall take that as a complement, brother. Veteran Scout Master Hektor saw to my close combat training, it is my understanding that he served alongside the Sons of Russ more than once in his service to the Emperor, ’ 

Niko watched the twin pulsing lines of Belial’s heartbeats slow slightly from their battle heightened states, the readings taken from his brother’s armour interfaces served to support Niko’s visual assessment that Belial had received no injury of note from the struggle,

‘Some say the ferocity of the Wolves is a flaw; a sign of their bestial upbringings,’ Niko bent to retrieve the head of the gargoyle, holding it up to study closer as he turned to join the others of the squad at the rear of the craft, ‘I say that there are some things in this galaxy to which the only sane response is unbridled rage.’

Niko took a knee next to Solaki as the astartes fired another blinding beam of light from his weapon, pulling his pistol as he did so and holding the head in one hand while scanning the skies for other threats,

‘This specimen was older than many we have seen upon this world; see how the chitin shows signs of previous damage and a thickening of the plates along with additional growth around vital areas?’ Niko held the head a moment longer so that Belial could see what he was referring to before setting it aside, 

‘It would not come as a surprise to me if that beast was one of the original brood that we faced with the Templars. It has been noted in studies by the Ordos Xenos that the longer these vile creatures live, the stronger and more dangerous they become as well as being more difficult to destroy; much like the greenskin hoards. If I could get this head back to Apothecary Alexander, he might be able to extract a base genetic structure for this splinter fleet and devise a bio-weapon tailored to the core of these beasts.’


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx had started to pace back and forth on the Valkyrie roof, frustrated that the Gargoyles had stopped their attack.

A stones throw away the beasts were mutilating one of the transport crafts, dragging it down in a hail of frenzied Tyranids. So close, yet there was nothing he could do. He bellowed out a challenge to the Gargoyles, roaring out into the open air. But they stayed just out of range, even staying away from Solaki's deadly arc of vision.

He held his weapons in both hands, pacing the roof and looking around. Should they attack again, he'd be ready.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Just as the giant bug was about to stick its gruesome head through the hole he had accidently made in the cockpit window it was torn apart by a hail of fire from outside. Shadihm heard but didnt listen to the pilot as he watched the area where the fire had come from, the Emperor's Angels had saved them once again, it seemed that he had a definate plan for their squad. 

As the pilot struggled to control the craft branches shot through the holes in the aircraft and back out as it fell through the trees beneath them. With a crash they hit the ground and Shadihm was thrown against the bulkhead he had been using to stabilize himself. *"Fucking....."* he grunted as he pulled himself up and away from the cockpit. 

Looking around the inside he saw the rest of the squad was fine if a little shocked that they had survived. They needed to set up a defensive perimeter, they were in enemy territory now with no support at all, it was their best chance of survival. *"Let's go we need to set up a perimeter now, we can use the heavy bolters on the ship as support."* Looking up he could see the bugs flying around and the ships either chasing them and firing or being chased and torn apart.

It seemed they were up against something a lot smarter and better prepared then they had thought, showed a lack of attention to detail on command's part, and he bristled at the thought of being left out here to get eaten or torn apart...or both. They would get out of here alive, even if it meant he had to kill every fragging bug to do it.


----------



## Necrosis

As the sergeant gave out his speech how they were better, Vick began to have some doubts about it. I mean could he even now return to his home world with these bionic implants? His world was a frozen one and with all these metal parts attach to him he would probably freeze to death if he ever returned. Yet before he could finish his train of thought the Sergent moved towards them and attack. Being caught off guard, Vick was hit in the chest and sent back. That was sloppy of him. He had left his guard down and because of that he got hit. It wouldn't happen again. Even though he was on the ground the sergeant continued to attack him. Vick rolled out of the way and then quickly jump back up. He barely managed to dodge the Sergent next attack. Yet the serge would eventually break through his defense. He would need a way to strenght it. He decided to use his right bionic arm to left hook to the serge. He knew the serge would probably block it, that's why he got his left bionic leg ready to follow up with a spin kick. A good offense after all was a good defense.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac continued to sway around like a pendulum, his foot still tied up in the cargo netting as he looked around a little unsurely at the Valkyrie, not quite believing he was still alive.
Shadihm was already taking the initiative and on the move, his logic was pretty good so Zac attempted to comply, except he was still hanging on the ceiling.

He pulled out his knife and rapidly curled up to knife the netting off his boot, causing him to crash into the floor of the Valkyrie with a groan, he slowly got back up and regained his composure, lasgun at the ready.
"Alrighty then I'll take lookout duty whilst everyone sets up, can't have a gargoyle on our asses while we're still getting our feet under us," Zac said, walking stiffly to the hole in the Valkyrie's side, roughly climbing up under one wing and poking half of himself out above the Valkyrie as a lookout, that way if anything got bad he could just fall underneath the wing for cover.


----------



## deathbringer

It started as a hum, a distant murmur that set my senses on fire and I felt apprehension growing as the distant rumble became a roar, a terrifying growl that pierced the air and sent shivers of anticipated anxiety down my spine.

They stood below the tree line, stock still, there breath held as they watched the skys... shifting occassionally from foot to foot as they bristled with excitement of the on coming kills. They felt my anxiety and there was a sudden hush as each of them fell silent and I felt a tremor through the gargoyles as a vision flashed across my mind.

The horizon was darkened by little flecks, that grew, moving swiftly till they became massive bloated masses of metal, shining protrusions, deadly and menacing scanning the air and they passed overhead.

I could see a human scanning the trees below his heavy bolter covering his line of vision, held tilted sideways. My breath caught in my chest as he scanned and the gargoyles stiffened, flattening against the trees. Their was a second were the man leaned forward and his heavy bolter twitched and I felt a tremor of terror. 

Had we been spotted?
Was the plan going to fail.. would his brothers be torn down by those shells before they even rose from the trees. He twitched and he felt the gargoyles shift backwards, preparing to slide away yet the man looked away, his eyes scanning

I wanted him to die

It was a savage though irrational and unnecessary yet it filled me with a beautiful delight... like warm blood upon my palate, trickling, a river of delight sliding through my mind. 

They were coming... coming quickly.. with an efficiency that was like my own... fast and without mercy... not allowing me even a moment to gather my strength. They were hunting me... the astartes... the black armoured warriors that slew my warriors with ease, and though I could crush them with a single blow, there were too many of them. Their weapons burned, stung at me and they were backed up by countless pathetic humans.

I hated them... abhorred those that tried to prevent my advance... tried to bring me down and prevent my survival. My anger built...rose to a crescendo yet the time was not opportune... I waited... allowed my bitterness to fester... then I saw it...within the middle of the cluster. 

The insignia of the astartes imprinted upon the hull of a ship and my rage broke yet the gargoyles held... I wanted them to shred the ships apart, tear them into pieces and devour them bit by bit. I screamed pushing the gargoyles forward, yet they held... instinctively knowing the opportune moment and waiting lingering on though they shifted restlessly below the foliage.

Then they pounced, I watched my brothers explode from the tree line and rise into the air, eyes burning as they latched onto the ships, claws rending frantically at the metal as they tore at the great metal birds that loomed across the sky. Weapons and chunks of metal fell like hail tearing down the cliff to smite the trees below whilst bullets tore down like sheets of rain and though some gargoyles fell from the skies, several guardsman tumbled screaming, surrounded by drops of blood from gashes in their legs arms and throats.

I watched with glee as my gargoyles left the bodies to crash through the branches and necks snapped as gravity pulled them down, tumbling head over heels their screams cut off as the breath was stolen from their bawling lungs.

Yet once again something was nagging at my mind and this time I embraced it. We were too exposed, even if we pulled down all the ships something would get through, the enemy were over exposed.. it was two late to turn back now.

I had become used to being the hunter and now I was being hunted...I was a beast with torn flanks wounded and spiteful, yet asleep, unconcious and vulnerable I could not reek vengeance upon them. It was time for me to slink back to my lair, beaten but not defeated, to lick my wounds and then come back, stronger and more deadly than ever. Then I would rip them apart but now my lair had to be created and defended. I needed to hide... to become invisible.

The ship had to disappear and I looked at its fleshy hull protruding from the swamp like a gross limb. It had to dissapear to be pushed underneath the murky waters of the swamp, yet something was holding it above the water, it needed to be eaten away and my warriors must hide themselves under water.

Yet who would guard the surrounding forest, for my defeated forces had surely left traces as they hurried back towards me, I needed to guard the surrounding woods with small groups of gaunts, plus... i felt a small surge of joy... it was time to bring some of my deadliest servants to play. The lictors and the ravenors could attack from the shadows and tear even astartes down with there talons. Yet they had to fight the right battles, lictors and ravenors had to take on the astartes or the better defended groups of guardsman, killing before melting away to fight again.

They could wear them down piece by piece till they could do nothing but turn back and then I would be ready. If the worst came to the worst I could unleash my deadliest servant. The carnifexes and myself could defend this camp till the very end. This was a do or die moment. The rippers moved across the ground in a tidal wave and plunged into the water and i felt them surrounding the vines that held the ship, there tiny fangs biting deep into the vines.

The ship held for a moment before slumping drunkenly and sinking below the water... it was time to hide


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was making ready to shoot another gargoyle, as a branch hit him right in the face. He fell back into the ship, desperately trying to hold on. There was a stinging pain on his face, and he could feel the warm blood dripping of his face. With an ear deafening smack, the plane had hit the ground, and Khrell got up swearing" Damn it, as if those 'nids aren't enough, now even a tree tries to kill me! Not to mention the shit were in. Crashed in a damn jungle in enemy territory!" Khrell laughed a bit, and then grabbed his lasgun off the ground, then he ran outside in a hurry.

He was astonished to see that everyone had survived the crash, even the pilot. And he knew that the emperor had plans with them. Khrell ran towards some debris, and started dragging it back to the ship, making a small barricade. He then continued expanding it with all he could find; branches, rocks, debris, logs ect. It was an exhausting job, but he knew it was mandatory to have some sort of shelter, if they wanted to stay alive....


----------



## darkreever

As suddenly as the transport had been pulling to the side it then plummeted to the ground below. Rikard was thrown from the heavy bolter and hit the side of the flyer hard, blacking out just before it crashed.

Snapping back to waking up, a dull pain pulsed in the back of his head and the world was a blur of images. Shaking his head to clear his sight, Rikard grabbed his lasgun and stuck his head out of the downed transport slowly. Khrell was dragging debris torn from the transport back to try and set up a makeshift perimeter while those creatures and other imperial ships fought overhead. _"Kid, frag pulling the debris and get back here, we can hold out from the transport with the big guns."_ He yelled while aiming his lasgun towards the sky and watching.


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

Zac, Shadihm, Rikard, and Khrell- 

Shadihm and Rikard go to man the heavy bolters, Zac remains at his position on the ship, and the Pilot takes up defense by Khrell behind one of the small loosely put together barricades watching the narrower pathway between the surrounding trees, while the heavy bolters watch the wider areas. From Zac’s position, he can see higher and point out the direction of attackers; if he sees them.

After some waiting and stirring about, heavy gun fire is heard not too far off from your position. Through the brush, you can make out the bright red shots of las-fire, and another squad’s heavy bolters can be heard. It must be one of the other crashed transport ships with survivors. There is no telling what they are fighting against.

You must decide to stay at your own defensive position, or leave yours in order to go and support your comrades’. 
You will not be able to bring the heavy bolters with you as they are too heavy for you to carry especially since you are all tired from hanging on to dear life in order to remain in the ship as it twirled toward the ground.

Between the four of you I would suggest making a group decision as a whole, after all its like the lieutenant said, you’ve got to act like a squad and now is a time when it definitely matters. If some of you absolutely decide to part ways then you can, it is your choice, but of course that just means each of you would have less protection. One man staying would be very dangerous for example, as would only one man leaving to support the other downed ship as he would have to travel alone through the forest to get there and then not be much help if he arrived. The Pilot will do whatever the majority decision is. If there is a tie I will decide who he agrees with. 

Vick:

The bionic sergeant does block your punch but your leg catches him off guard, slamming into his own bionic leg. You do not move his leg at all, but you look up to see a wide grin.

“See men, that’s using your new parts! Instead of ducking around like a bunch of pansies use your bionic bodies to push forward, further than you ever could before. Trust me you’re gonna need some extra confidence, speed, and toughness to deal with what we’ve been assigned to do.” He tips his black billed hat over his red lensed eye slightly and continues,” By the way, the name’s Jole, Sergeant Jole. Nice to meet all of ya’.”

Apparently there have been some infiltrations into the western sectors. Are they tyranid threats? Most likely! Unless of course Vorpsire has internal problems already… but if that’s the case then we’ll be fryin’ some insubordinate hive workers!” he follows this with a loud laugh and waves for your squad of 20 to follow him to some chimeras. 

You are not alone in your silence; the other 19 seem to be just as off balance and unsure of what’s going on as you are. You may talk to some of them if you wish, or remain silent; your choice. 10 men will be getting into each of the two chimeras. You notice one is outfitted with the standard chimera weapon, while the other is equipped with a heavy flamer. Choose which one to get into. 


Scythes of the Emperor:

Tobias speaks back into the intercom to the pilots, asking if their scanning equipment was operating properly again, to which he gets a firmly stated ‘negative’. 

He begins new orders, “Solaki…” He speaks and goes to point at a third target but is caught off guard. He pauses his orders and puts his gauntlet to the side of his helmet, so you all know he is listening to a private channel. After a few moments he turns around, through his vox he orders Arx back into the hull. Once he has re-entered from the roof Tobias speaks again:
“That was Sotha. He has received a desperate transmission from the Imperial Guard’s Lord General whom we met earlier this morning. The General admits to being quite ashamed at such a failure in his attempt to counter attack. He states that Vorspire only has so many Guardsmen available and between the battle at the City’s border this morning and the number of transport ships he has just lost his western forces are greatly depleted. He is moving nearly all of Vorpsire’s other forces in this direction but it will take a while. 

Being a fairly new colonized world and being on the Eastern Fringe, it could be some time before reinforcements arrive to protect Ferim once we are gone. Ferim’s other newly started hive city on the opposite side of the planet has forces as well, but they are of no help at this time, and besides, that city’s leading commander would not be willing to deprave that city of its defenses as well if Vorspire falls. 

The General has told Sotha that he does not wish to interfere with our mission here, but has asked if we may help find survivors in the forest below, re-organize them, and get them back on their way to Vorspire….He would be eternally grateful to us and the chapter, and may actually be able to help our chapter in some ways. As we were told, Ferim is highly important to the Imperium right now…and as it turns out, our one company’s worth of a chapter is what’s protecting it from a Tyranid invasion. 

Sotha says he will not make the decision for the chapter and has been telling the other squad leaders as well. He wishes the decision to be made by the chapter as a whole. Each squad must decide: Do we help the Imperial Guard, or do we let them die in the Tyranid infested jungle so that we may find the Hive Tyrant faster?

Once each squad has decided, their squad leaders are to report their ‘vote’ back to Sotha and the majority decision will take precedence. 

So Brothers, let us come to a consensus. Who votes for what?”

Brother Kyr and Tobias will speak last. All of you are to voice your opinions. The majority vote will win if a full agreement cannot be reached. A majority MUST be met before Tobias will report to back to Sotha. Obviously, your squad doesn’t have all day.

In the sky behind your Valkyrie, you see the transport ships with only guardsmen on them begin to turn around, fleeing from the Gargoyles. They continued to shoot what they could as they made their wide arced turns of mission disengagement. The ships that had some of your other brothers on them remain flying straight, their squads having to now make the same decisions. Fortunately it appears you will be able to in peace, for just as the ships begin pulling away, the Gargoyles do as well….

Astelan:

You have traveled on for quite some time, never turning, only going straight through the forest. Finally Sotha stops his movement and listens to a long message from the Imperial Guard's Lord General who you saw earlier this morning.

He tells you what Tobias tells the others above. He then tells you that no what the chapter's decision the two of you will be continuing on..."unless you feel strongly otherwise?" he asks you.


Tyrant:


You feel in your mind and sleeping body alike, your ship beginning to sink beneath the thickness of the swamp. As the rippers continue eating away the bio-mass below the ship, your Gargoyles seem to have done well enough that the armada is broken. Many of the remaining flying objects have discontinued their path. Pull your remaining Gargoyles away. Not to mention, they can only fly so long before having to land again anyway. Where to you want them to land? Somewhere in the forest? Near you? far from you?

Outside the ship, mud, water and leftover plant life the rippers have yet to get to, slowly slide off the external parts of the bio-ship. Not long after it is completely concealed do the Raveners slither out from beneath the surface, covered in mud and sloshing it around with their scything tails as the emerge onto the dirt ground. They hurry into the jungle eager to surprise their victims, and they seem to show it with their sharp toothed mouths, their lips curling upwards just slightly at the corners, snarling at the bases of their long deadly teeth. The hunger would end!

Something strikes back into your thoughts though. Odd, it feels similar to the warrior you chose to lead the initial attack. It is stronger though. It is an argument! The strong free will of the minds from your Lictors catches you off guard. They want to do something else. They push the thought of what they do best into your mind, infiltration.

Though their dispute with your own thoughts infuriates you, the two of them bring up a good point. You realize that if you keep drawing all of your forces towards you, even beneath the swamp your enemies will discover your location eventually still. 

A diversion….something to…lead your enemies…in a different direction? To do this you would need to bring their attention to something they cared about enough to turn back entirely. Oh yes…their nest. The huge cropping of structures they were fighting to protect from your forces earlier. The city.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan listened to Sotha intently. The Voice had left him for a while now, ever since he had warded it off and was happy that it was now longer clawing at him to its biddings. The Lord-General was a worthwhile man, even Astelan would admit to that, due to the immense rank he had attained. And even more importantly, he had survived long enough to do so. 

However he did believe the Guardsmen could find their own way out of the forest, if Astelan and Sotha were pushing themselves deeper and not encountering much opposition then why couldn’t they make their own way out? It all came down to his fellow Marines he realised, with each Squad taking up their decision. 

He looked at Sotha and replied “I have no objections to carrying on Brother, but you must take safety into the uppermost responsibility, if you were to fall here I fear the consequences that I shall have to deal with. I will side with you whatever happens, know this. I believe Tobias and his Squad will land whether we continue or not. Heed my warnings Brother, this place is cursed”.


----------



## blazinvire

This was familiar at least, not enough sleep, battered and beaten, strung tight yet rather tired. Yep, this was the story of his life, a guardsman's life.
Zac just took a deep breath and maintained his vigil, rifle butt to his shoulder with a finger hovering over the trigger, ready to rain death on anything that moved.

He could hear more people moving about in the Valkyrie, hopefully they'd get a move on and finish the defenses so Zac could pull his head in and bunker down. It was rather unnerving with his head poking in the air, the only thing mildly comforting him was the fact his instincts would probably save his backside should a Tyranid ambush him.

There were sounds, and within an instant they were in the sights of Zac's rifle until he knew what they were. Streaks of red, and gun fire, there had to be other guardsmen nearby which meant they'd have to get moving and join up before anything else happened.

"Looks like someone's having a party without us, any volunteers?" Zac queried idly as he kept an eye on their surroundings, "We should go bring them here so we can mulch those bugs with our heavy guns."
There was a lot to think about in such a short time, survival instincts kicked in rather violently in these kind of situations so Zac was getting rather agitated and restless very quickly.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki paused. He stared out the window, and looked down at the guardsmen. They were great in number, and were not currently being attacked. Besides, they were going for the heart. This hive mind would strive to protect itself, so he reasoned they were fine. Taking a deep breath and preparing for the controversy his next statement would bring. "I vote we carry on. The guardsmen can handle themselves" and with that Solaki waited to see the reactions and votes of his other Brothers.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell heard Zac asking if anyone wanted to join him to go to the other ship, and Khrell replied "Leave no man behind, I always liked that ideal. And always lived up to it. Count me in!" Khrell double checked his lasgun and his pistols, and walked up to Zac. "Anyone else?" Khrell asked. He knew that probably Zac and him were on their own, none the less. He had to help the other guardsmen. 

"Leave none behind" Khrell muttered as he thought back to the days on Metaxae prime. There it was that he first heard of this ideal, and he never left a man behind since, not even once. It was a noble and heroic stance for a guardsman, for anyone really....


----------



## darkreever

_"And risk letting Trigger over there get you killed Kid? Not a chance; someone has to watch your ass while he blazes away at anything and everything."_ Rikard said before hopping out of the downed transport and making his way to the pair. He didn't want to leave the safety of the transport, especially with the heavy bolters, but getting to another downed transport meant they would be able to link up with another squad, which meant more guns to take down the enemy. He only hoped the pilot would get himself free from the cockpit and come with them.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm had not wanted to go link up with the other squad, while it was brave and courageous and whatever notion his squad had gotten into their heads, it was a lot more dangerous. Chances were that sqaud was going to be dead by the time they got there, but it seemed he was outnumbered in the vote, lucky him. He took a deep breath and helped the pilot out of his predicament while mumbling to him, *"Can't leave you here for bug food can we?"* The look on the pilot's face made him want to laugh but he kept it inside so as not to embaress him.

He looked at the rest as he got out of the downed aircraft, *"Guess that means I have no choice then. Let's go while we can still surprise whatever's shooting at them."*


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial listened very carefully to what Solaki had to say. "While i agree with what you say brother that the guard are numerous and will probably be alright i cant help feeling that we may need their help along the way. These tyranid are much smarter than usual and seem to be able to think independantly. I vote to go down and help them and we march together under the same banner. For the emperor and the imperium united.


----------



## blazinvire

Certainly seemed like they were heading off, though a bunch of lasguns wasn't exactly Zac's idea of a 'cavalry's arrived' moment, so it was time for improvisation.
He shifted his feet and fell from his position on the wing, landing roughly on the ground and swinging his lasgun on its strap out of the way as he headed for the heavy bolter.

Zac merely stole a few of the fist-sized bolts from the gun and jammed them into his armour, securing them before looking ready to go.
"Kinda wish we had more people right now, wouldn't mind a pair of people on those heavy bolters in case we have to flee back here," Zac said idly with a bit of a frown, though he was getting too impatient to worry about it much, "No time to waste then."


----------



## Euphrati

Mixed principles spiraled and fought within his mind, like raptors caught in an aerial battle, as Niko watched the guardsmen laden transports disappear into the sea of green limbs that coursed beneath them.

The ticking clock was as much the enemy as the vile xenos themselves. Every moment that the Scythes delayed their assault was another moment the tyranids grew stronger; feeding and spawning, altering the very chemistry of this world to their loathsome agenda. The intellect shown by the creatures they had encountered so far was beyond documentation and there was a leaden feeling in the pit of Niko’s gut that told him the worst was yet to come. Every grain of sand that slipped through the hourglass was a moment of vengeance lost for all eternity.

_Could their limited numbers serve to fell the beast without the supporting firepower of the guardsmen?_ The question gnawed at his soul. If they abandoned the guardsmen to the fate of the forests and continued onwards; blindly pursuing the beast that had claimed so many of their brothers would the honour of the fallen truly be done? The beast had been astoundingly powerful just whelped; how many would fall in the attempt to bring it down after it had been given the chance to mature these long years? Niko probed the question, examining it carefully. _Yes. They were the Scythes of the Emperor; the blood of the Divine flowed through their veins and, though the costs would be high, they would triumph over the beast._ He activated his vox implant with a flex of his throat,

‘Every moment we allow this beast to exist is a moment too long. Even now it is feeding upon this world, polluting it with its foul presence and twisting the fabric of nature itself. It is a cancer upon the future of humanity, one that must be excised without delay,’

Niko paused, shame and loss burning hot within his heart,

‘I do not want to see what happened to Sotha befall upon Ferim because we squandered a chance to burn the infection out from the source.’


----------



## Concrete Hero

Before re-entering the cabin from the roof, Arx had stared down at the falling transport ships; some tumbling through the canopy of trees to slide deep into the mud, others crashing with a much more destructive result.

A deep nagging sensation picked at his concious, though when he realised his own mind was in turmoil he scowled beneath his helmet. He gave his head a superficial shake to help clear his mind, conflicting thoughts were not how he was trained to be.

'_The Lord General is undoubtedly an honourable man, and I do regret that such misfortune has befallen him._' Arx cleared his throat.

'_Though he says there may only be so many Guardsmen in Vospire, there is a great deal less Scythes of the Emperor available. I'll forgive him in this time of war, though we are here for a reason, and we are certainly not of limitless supply._' 

Arx turned to Niko after his mention of their homeworld.

'_Our Brother speaks the truth, we cannot give the Tyranid any quarter. On the field of battle it *retreated*, its foul mind certainly did not expect to meet our resistance and it has fled. We_ cannot _afford to waste this opportunity Brothers._'

He turned his head to look out through the open ramp.

'_I do regret the Guards situation, and I do appreciate they will be a great help in the coming battles. But this time, the Scythes of the Emperor must press on._'


----------



## unxpekted22

Scythes of the Emperor:

Brother Kyr speaks next, "To the tyrant is vote as well." He clenches his fist and shakes it, growling his next words, "I want nothing more than to meet that piece of filth again. I don't give a damn about these guardsmen... I must avenge my fallen brothers, the brothers of my squad which it _killed_ right in front of me!"

Tobias, nods in understanding to his vote. he then speaks to everyone, "Then it is decided, as my vote no longer matters."

He then channels to Sotha and says, "Sotha, my squad has come to a majority decision my Lord. We wish to continue on our mission to find the Hive tyrant, first and foremost."

It is clear to you that Sotha is replying to him, he then relays Sotha's words to you, "The rest of our brothers feel the same it seems. The chapter wishes to continue on. The guardsmen will have to fend for themselves for the time being. Brig reports the land forces as continuing on at full speed. The rhinos are passing by many of the fallen air transports as we speak. So far they have encountered little resistance, nothing compared to what we have. However, all of the ground transports with none of our brothers aboard have turned around to retreat with the rest of the guard forces and pick up what surviving comrades they can."

He then comms the pilots asking their location, as you all watch the other Valkyries in the sky which contain other squads of Scythes, maintaining their course. 

Tobias says they should be nearing the tyranid ship's landing location. All you can do is look out the opened assault ramp. Though it is hard to differentiate where the actual crash site is due to clear evidence that ripper swarms have been busy in the area below. Simply looking for downed trees wont do because so many trees have been taken down by the alien's forces. You scan the land for what should be an easy target, a downed bio-ship somewhat bigger than the already large Tau Manta. 

Scan as you do, no ship can be seen, and the fallen trees start become fewer and fewer...

Tobias slams the comm, "Go back! land in the most open location, we will search this area on foot."

He then contacts the other squad commanders who are in the air, and tells them only his squad will be going down first to investigate.

You all being his squad, will be the ones conducting the ground search while the rest stay circling in the sky searching from above.

The Valkyrie lands and the already open assault ramp awaits for all of you to exit. Tobias and Kyr are the first out onto the damp brown soil, scanning with their bolters.

There are no tyranids around, only fallen and half eaten plant life. You walk in a heavily cleared area, mostly open with no canopy above you. You can clearly see the remaining Valkyries circling through the blue sky. There seems to be a body of water near to where your Valkyrie landed. Muddy brown water you can't see through. An Opaque lake, a swamp that had been in the middle of the thick forest. 

Look around and see what you can come up with. Brig is bringing the ground forces and should be arriving fairly soon. 

(the Lictors will have already left by the time you arrived)

Astelan:

You hear Sotha reporting to all of the squad leaders that the chapter's decision is to find the tyrant as soon as possible and kill it before anything else.

By now the two of you have been able to see the gargoyles in the sky through the occasional glimpse through the canopy, swarming around the remaining ships Imperial guard aircraft. You both know many of the aircraft have crashed into the jungle, and before long you hear the fighting begin throughout it. The surviving forces fighting for their lives against ground based tyranids following up the gargoyle ambush. 

Through the canopy you soon notice the gargoyle swarm disperse and go in a different direction, to where, you cannot tell.

the two of you come across one of the downed Valkyries. Everything around it is silent and no sounds are coming from it. It crashed flat bellied into the ground, hitting hard enough for the impact to cause a lot of severe bending in the bird's frame. While Sotha makes his away around to see if the pilot's are alive you look in between the side of the hull and the assault ramp to see if there any survivors inside. You can only manage to see in but you can't stick your head in all the way. Your helmet adjusts to the blackness as your peer in. The blackness flips to light showing you nothing but a full squad of dead guardsmen inside. Most of them mangled in their grav seats from the crash. Though many are still strapped in, it obviously didn't make much of a difference.

You hear Sotha say the pilots are dead. He says further, "The sound of battles increases significantly now. The tyranids we have not seen are showing themselves to the guardsmen. Ready yourself Astelan."

With this he sprints away once again in the direction of the closest sounding gunfire.

Guard:

The four of you, along with the pilot who also has a las-gun on him, rush through the thick vegetation to help your comrades. As you hurry, the las-gun fire becomes more and more distinct...as do the nerve racking roars of whatever they are facing.

The five of you come to an end in the brush, taking in a whole new scene before you:

It is a much more open area than what you have just traversed through; an irregular shaped area of nothing but open ground surrounded by trees. At your feet is a guardsmen who is completely split in two, and across the way you spot another who met a similar fate. In the trees to the right an attack ship like the one you all were in, crashed through the canopy but stopped on several thick branches. It now lays as a diagonally leaning heap above the three guardsman who are taking cover behind some rocks and the tree trunks underneath the aircraft firing away their lasguns at the thing that catches your attention the most.

A serpentine like beast, slithering back and forth in front of a large whole in the ground. The guardsmens' shots seem to be holding it back but not hurting it much at all.

It turns toward the five of you, picking up your presence immediately. You can't kill it, only distract it. It seems to pay attention most to whatever is currently firing at it. Zac spots the heavy bolter facing your direction on the ship in the trees. Its ammo drum has fallen off with the crash. Zac has eight rounds that he took from your own ship's weapon and if the lasguns cant do any significant damage to this thing (Ravener) then the heavy bolter is the only thing around that might. Your grenades will have the same effect on it as lasgun fire, distraction.

This will _require_ multiple posting. In this time, the ravener must be kept busy, it will not be sitting there still getting shot from all sides the whole time (I will be controlling it) Someone must get to the heavy bolter, load it and fire it at the Ravener. Remember, Zac was only able to bring _eight_ rounds to fire

depending on how _you_ as a squad handle this, will depend on how successful it all goes. As I said, the Ravener will _not_ be dead until I say it is. details will be very important. I will be taking into account where you hit it, how you hit it, if you hit it, where you have moved in comparison to where it has moved, how many are hitting it, and who does what based on what you have shown me of your characters so far. Some of you are better at things than others so make sure you know who each others' characters are. The other three guardsmen will continue to be taking pot shots at it while you all do your thing.

Vick:

still on last update


----------



## Euphrati

It was decided, they would strike for the heart of the swarm.

Niko nodded at the words of their Lord before sparing a glance at Brother Kyr, noting how the Scythe’s gauntlets were flexing slowly with the smoldering rage hidden deep within the golden armoured chest of his battle-brother. Kyr’s physical wounds had been healed, Alexander’s knowledgeable touch had seen to that, yet Niko feared that the wounds to his brother’s soul were still raw and weeping. Niko suppressed a shudder; what must it have been like for Kyr, broken and impotent, forced to watch as his brothers bled out their lives under the talons of the beast?

A memory reared from the depths of Niko’s mind as he turned his eyes back to the sea of green bellow, suddenly sharply aware of the textured grip of the pistol in his hand. _The whine of the valkyrie’s engines deepened into the throaty roar of a thunderhawk and Niko could feel the phantom back draft hot upon his skin as he paused at the top of the ramp, peering into the purple gloom where the vague outline of Scout Master Hektor’s form slipped quietly back into the false twilight._ The ache of knowing that it would be the last time he would see the Scythe alive had faded little over the years in between.

Niko banished the memory with an iron will, bringing his mind back to the present as the craft dipped low to settle down in a open area, Tobias and Kyr disembarking quickly and Niko followed in their footsteps like a shadow. The ground squelched under his tread, sodden and littered with torn plant matter. The environmental readings taken by his armour scrolled by at a thought, the temperature in this area was already several points above those on record from initial scans of this region. The area was dead-silent, the only sounds those made by his brothers and the idling craft. No evidence of the Downed craft could be seen, save the destruction of the swath of forest.

As his brothers fanned out from the craft; Niko moved to the nearest patch of vegetation that was relatively untouched, kneeling in the sucking mud to examine a vermilion hued vine that was bore resemblance to specimens he had studied in the texts. As Niko watched; the tendrils of the plant lengthened, coiling around the native flora and sending sharp thorns into the host-tree.

_It was happening already_; the tyranids’s influence was taking hold of the ecology and twisting it violently to suit their needs. Niko surged to his feet as the vine twisted his direction, utter disgust written plain in his body language. He turned and made his way back to the area his brothers were searching, questions nagged at the back of his mind. _Where was the bio-ship and the swarms of beasts with it? It was obvious that they had been here recently, where had they gone and why?_ This behavior was deeply disturbing in scale of intelligence, suggesting a totally new set of factors were in play upon the field of battle. Niko opened the squad channel, speaking to Tobias over it,

‘Brother-Sergeant, the flora in this area is tainted beyond redemption. It would be my suggestion to scour this entire section of forest to the underlying stone with holy flame without delay to prevent the spread of the xenoforms,’

Niko paused, frowning under his helm,

‘It does not make sense that the beasts would abandon this area, it is not in their nature to do so…’


----------



## Necrosis

Talk was cheap. That was the motto from his world. You would talk with your friend. You made friend by not talking to them but by fighting and bleeding with them. You only truly knew someone when your push to your limit with them. Only after that are you truly friends. Thus he choose to remain silent. He then saw several of his squad mates getting into two different chimeras. One was a standard chimera but the other was equipped with a heavy flamer. Although Vick enjoy flamers weapons on his home world, they brought a small amount of heat on the long bitter cold. Here on this planet which wasn't frozen, he hated them with a passion. The heat was already killing him and he wanted to stay away from any flame weapons as far as possible. Thus he choose to enter the normal chimera.


----------



## deathbringer

The mass of flesh swayed ponderously underneath my prostrate body as the rippers gnashed at the vines beneath the ship and it began to tilt, toppling to be swallowed by the muddy water leaving huge rings rippling across the water to lap up the bank and I felt a water caress my nose as it filled the ship, filled my open mouth l. I was motionless, my body comatosed, as the sacks upon my belly grew larger, sapping upon my strength and the ship was flooded.

Within the deep catacombs of the ship I felt life... felt the movement of creatures awakening from there slumbers... groggy motions... growing in convictions and I felt there docile minds and I controlled them, sending pulses through the hive mind

Hunt kill... leave none alive.. but do not be killed... be stealthy and deadly

I felt several of these docile minds lap up the energy and relish it and I watched them pull themselves from the muddy water, tails writhing in the ecstacy of the hunt. Forked tongues swiped across bared fangs and i felt the desire for violence.. the hunger... the longing to sate themselves upon blood

I felt the frantic pulse of my gargoyles, the brothers had done well, triumphant and I saw the smoking hulls of the armada... yet some still survived and once again the mark of the scythes made my hatred boil and the gargoyles surged forward towards the ships yet I snarled a warning and they waited hovering in mid air as they saw the ships begin to descend.

I could not have the gragoyles return.. it was to close they might discover my hiding place and whilst i was week they could destroy me. They could land in the forest... yet it was full of gaping chasms in the treeline and scared trigger happy humans... no such work was best left to the raveners for in tight spaces the gargoyles were limited. 

They had to lead the enemy away from .. take them somewhere where they could if necessary be ambushed.. somewhere remote.... a chasm... a pass but most of all... far away. I felt the gargoyles respond tilting their wings and gliding away yet I felt there fatigue and I added a little grateful praise to my instructions... They were my brothers and they had done well... they had destroyed the fleet and bought me time.

I was dragged away from them by another mind, a new mind, a strong mind.. was it.. no it couldnt be... argument... I rejected the possibility insisting that he followed my orders... indignation flooded me... I had lead them from the darkness, had killed for them , forced them so survived, and now I lay weak and alone to ensure they survived. My anger was building... a tirad of emotion welling through the hive mind yet the doubter held strong... his own certainty shining brightly in the darkness of my rage.

I felt weakness and I abated consenting the lictor to free his mind... now when I was comatosed was the best time to doubt me...I gave him once last chance to back down... if his suggestion was poor his life would be forfeit... yet he was adamant and I controlled the tremors of anger that rippled through me as a single picture coursed from the lictors, repeating echoing around my mind

The lictor change to a man with blood on his fingers and then back, twisting back and forth between forms and my anger abated. they wanted to infiltrate... another diversion... pull there attention another way.. towards there own home... there own lair

They felt my anger abate yet it returned despite my ascent and I surged a quick image of their own death.. my fangs tearing at their necks... my claws shreading there torsos... my tongue tearing away strips of there flesh... blood spurting

The meaning was clear

Question me again and I'll kill you

Yet it was a good idea.. gargoyles pulling them one way... lictors another... ravenors crushing them in the middle.. upon my chest a larger sac twitched slightly and I smiled... they were growing

Another distraction... life.. close by... i sniffed the air... bastards in black... the scythes were coming... they came closer and I couldnt see them yet i could taste there scent and i knew I wanted their flesh... wanted to feat upon them... I could have... but i was paralysed and I couldnt see them. So I waited holding the straining remenants of my forces still, though they to longed to kill

We will kill them I whipsered... so soon


----------



## dark angel

Astelan peered into the dark interior, his helm twisting to get inwards. Several Guardsmen lay in various stages of brokenness, bodies crushed from the impact and leaking crimson blood across the dented and ruptured belly of the craft. He pulled himself out and looked around the crash site, trying to pick out any native beasts however at this current time it seemed the foul Tyranid bastards had already devoured them, or they had already fled. 

And then Sotha was bounding into the forest towards the sound of gunfire, leaving Astelan alone for a few precious moments. The Voice returned. It wrapped its talons around him, cold piercing things that made his skin shake and quiver like that of a beaten dog. Then it talked. The Voice hissed again _Astelan, look at this…..This wreck and how he leads you to certain doom. Kill him and you shall be pleased my Brother_. 

Suddenly Astelan brought his Bolter up to his faceplate and returned “Be gone foul heathen or I shall rip you from my mind with Bolt Round! You have embedded yourself upon my mind, and now I will uproot you! You corrupt my thoughts with promises of pleasure and riches, things that shall never be mine, I am Astartes thus it is against my will”. 

The Voice chuckled. It chuckled and tightened its grip. Astelan stumbled, his Bolter dangling from limp fingers as blood bubbled between his lips and fell to one knee, pushing his free hand into the dirt to steady himself, he managed to pull himself back to his feet and stare around emptily. The Voice was still chuckling when it left leaving only _Soon, very soon _to echo through his mind. 

Astelan slowly began to run towards where Sotha had disappeared, taking it slowly but fast enough so he would catch his Brother-Commander in all due time, hot blood still dripping from his nostril and lips.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial made his way over to Arx, "brother about that word i asked could i have with you earlier, I am troubled, its Brother Astelan he is acting very irrational and his behaviour is quite strange. There is something nagging at my consiousness i cannot pin point what it is yet, i caught brother Astelan drawing something on the ground back at base camp though he wiped it out before i got to see what it was".
"I have a feeling that maybe the ruinous powers are at work here. I have no proof of this, just a feeling nagging at my mind, i maybe completely wrong but i am worried for our brothers safety and that of our chapter. I cannot go to Sotha about this without any proof. Have you noticed or felt anything or is it just me?


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki stepped out of the Valkyrie last taking up a position close to the tail of the group where he could fire and be effective, but not be distracted by hits from foes. Something felt...wrong. He had fought tyranids before, and knew it was strange for them to flee like they had today. Solaki scanned the tree lines for the slightest movement in the shadows. As his eyes came to rest on the swamp he could have sworn he saw a few bubbles dart to the top. As his eyes came back to meet what he thought he had seen, it disappeared. This was all wrong, and Solaki was nervous. He felt something breath beside him and drew his combat blade and spun around to meet this foe. Or so he thought. All he was met with was a terrified guardsman pilot. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone else to leave the Valkyrie" Solaki said, but the guardsman just seemed thankful he hadn't slit his throat and retreated back into the Valkyrie. He was losing it. Solaki knew he needed to remain calm and collected in case they were attacked. 

He looked around and Arx and Belial were talking, and he thought he overheard them talking about Astelan and the ruinous powers. Solaki was puzzled, whilst earlier he had accused Astelan of daemonic possession, he hadn't really meant it. Maybe Belial had taken his accusation to far. His mind wandered back to his, slightly misguided, Brother and a wave of sorrow came over him. He had shamed himself in front of Sotha, and caused an unhealthy rivalry and schism between him and Astelan. Opening up the vox channel to Astelan, he spoke "Brother, if you can receive this message, I wish to say I am sorry. We all brought shame on ourself by bickering like children over a petty guardsman. To bigger shame for such a little cause. I would like to say my apology in person, but if either of us doesn't survive then this conflict would go unresolved. I would like to make right with you Brother, and I just thought you should know that I hold nothing against you. We both said stupid and irrational thing, and I didn't mean what I said to you and I would like to believe that you didn't whole heartedly believe your insults either. May the Emperor protect you Brother, and may you and Sotha return to us safely" Solaki waited for a reply, in some vain hope that his plight had got through to his Brother, but all he got was silence, save the usually quite static of the vox channel. Trying to put his mind at ease he walked over to Belial and Arx to listen to the details of their conversation and add advice or encouragement where he could...


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx descended the ramp and looked around the squelchy marsh, his boots sank a couple of inches into the moist floor with every step. This was... Not what he had expected to see on leaving the transport. What he had expected to see was a little more hard evidence the Tyranid has been here, not an apparently abandoned clearing.

_Abandoned_. There it was again. Something was deeply wrong, he could practically taste it. But he wasn't exactly sure what to expect now, this enemy was displaying a tactical cunning like no other Tyranid they had encountered. A watchful eye was required...

His Brothers were spreading around the clearing, from their movements he could tell they were as on edge as he was, the sense of wrongness just permeated the air. He was scanning the clearing when Brother Belial approached him.

He titled his helmet in the direction of his Brother for a moment before speaking.

'_I feel that you should have more Faith in your Brother, Belial. I appreciate that you've come to speak to me about your concerns._' He smiled under his helmet, hoping Belial would catch that from his change in tone.

'_And I admit, our Brother is troubled. But it is not without reason as I have mentioned. He could simply have been drawing a sigil to Emperor._' Arx sighed, then turned to Belial and rested his hand on his Brothers shoulder.

'_I'm going to have to ask you to have faith in Our Brothers Belial, and trust me for the time being. For the moment I cannot offer you much in the way of guidance. I can only say I have experienced what our Brother Astelan has also had the misfortune of experiencing. I can understand why he is acting this way and I hope you can trust my judgement. Our Brother is certainly stronger than the ruinous powers Belial. Only those of feeble mind and weak resolve give in to the greedy hunger of the Dark Gods. Only Cowards and spineless wretches turn from the guiding light of the Emperor and the Imperial Word. Our Brother is certainly not a coward, his mind is strong._'

He looked back out into the clearing.

'_I just wish I had another opportunity to speak to him._'


----------



## blazinvire

Zac's eyes widen as a monster of a bug came within the sights of his lasgun, not entirely sure what to do against something that big and sentient, tanks he could deal with at the best of times, but a big bug was something entirely different.
He had some breathing room so his eyes darted around for anything he might be able to jury-rig into saving their asses, conveniently placed trees, cliff edges, holes? Anything?
Of course it came in the less subtle form of a rather beaten heavy bolter still clinging to the ship by its metal struts; originally Zac's idea was to jury-rig the bolts into makeshift grenades or something, but a heavy bolter would sure as heck make up for it.

First things first, getting to the heavy bolter without dying... Wait he only had eight shots, where was his head at?
"Khrell I'm gonna need to borrow you for a minute, everyone else want to tango with the bug? We'll probably need some cover," Zac said, tagging Khrell on the shoulder, "Let's get to that ship and give this bug something to think about."
Zac got ready to run, eyes rarely leaving the tyranid that had death written all over it, lasgun stubbornly pointing its way.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial listened intently to Arx as he gave his guidance. " thank you for listening brother i trust in your wisdom and guidance and shall take on board what you say. I still have my doubts and this niggling feeling at the back of my mind that not all is what seems with astelan but i will give our brother the benefit of the doubt for now. As you say the drawings could have been of the emperor, of that i will never know"

"All i ask is that you watch over him and try to talk to him when you see him next to see for your self".

"Again i thank you brother for your counsil, the chapter is lucky to have you, i think i shall not be the only one to seek your guidance in these trying times. I feel you will make a great chaplain some day brother and god knows we shall need you".


----------



## dark angel

Astelan stopped dead in his tracks as his Vox chimed. It was the bastard, Solakai. He had fought Xeno with more worth than that Guardsmen loving whore yet he still did not cut off the message, listening to it with his Bolter at the ready for any attack that might be launched against him by the Tyranids. He, in the mind of Astelan was nothing more than a spineless Astartes who had somehow wormed his way into the Chapter. 

The Voice was there, tickling the back of his mind to roar back a reply, to kill him when they met again, to shatter his body. It was getting stronger, a darkness within the soul of Astelan that fed upon his sorrows and weakened him further. Astelan had once lived for honour and duty, willing to walk to battle even if faced with death. Now however, he would rather run from the prosperity of death, though he would not take it lightly. 

He clicked his Vox and made a private channel to Solakai, with no way of telling if he would receive it he replied “You certainly are a fool contacting me, however you must have some honour left within your wretched body. Thus, due to me being honour bound to Lord-Commander Sotha I accept your terms of…..Lets say, surrender” with that he cut it off and stared around at the empty forest, realizing Sotha had got a large head start upon him. 

And then, then the Voice gripped him once again. He dropped his Bolter to the ground and fell to his knees, throwing his head back, a tear of blood rolled down from the corner of his eye and halted at his chin, spinning there for a few seconds and causing one of his small scars to open before falling into the depths of his armour. Then it was gone. 

But something was new. Standing between a pair of trees a few metres away was the armour of a Astartes. This was different, it was not of the Scythes or the Black Templars, nor Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Imperial Fists. It was something dark and depraved. A blue flame danced around the feet of the Astartes, a pair of glorious white wings were pulled into its back while a mane of black hair fell from its pale face. 

Two piercing eyes, seemingly jewels sat within oversized sockets while its mouth was sown shut by what appeared to be razor wire. However he did recognize the face. It was one he could never forget. Aster. His beloved Sergeant was standing before him, his body fading in and out of reality like some phantom. Flames were painted upon its bone trimmed armour, along with dozens of sigils that Astelan had not seen before. 

The phantom reached out for him with a skeletal gauntlet before disappearing. The Astartes clenched his eyes, reaching around blindly for the Bolter he had dropped. The Voice was back. Chuckling once again. The chuckle was filled with menace, almost something that made him cower. He finally found his Bolter and pulled it up, falling upon his back. 

Staring at the canopy, he began to cry a tearless cry. Blood was rife in his mouth, the coppery taste making him cough as he wondered what was going on. Why wasn’t his Larraman’s Organ clotting his blood? Why was he seeing such visions of former comrades? Was it the world? His age? He did not know however it was taking his toll upon the Marine, to the extent he feared every second he breathed the air of Ferim. 

Slowly he got back up, he thought he saw the Death-Angel several times, glancing around tree corners at him, forcing his hearts to pound against his enhanced ribcage. He had not felt such a thing since he had first been inducted, watching the Astartes march through his village. Was this the Voice that had been tormenting him? Or a mere manifestation of his mind? And then he heard a feral voice scream his name, he felt his hearts stop and start again, the sound of ponderous footsteps in the mud behind him caused him to run in pure fear. Fear for his life.

As he ran towards Sotha, the Voice hissed to him with a tang of jelousy and malice and even more fearful, one of Brotherhood, one that made his ears tingle and burn, his eyes water. 

_In war and abandonment, be thou my shield and my steed.
Be thou retribution, and I shall be Your hand in the darkness.
Light from the shadows, death from the dying, vengeance from the lost.
And from the void shall rise only the pure.
For I am your Brother, and joined we shall be.
_


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Zac was going for the heavy bolter, and wanted Khrell to help him getting there. Khrell was terrified by the big bug, and couldn't get his eyes off it. He tracked every movement of the beast, guessing how fast it could strike. He then made himself ready to run and nodded at Zac. Khrell pulled a grenade from his belt, and put a finger through the pin. 

He aimed at the bug, and replied to Zac: "You ready? My grenade will stun the bug for a sec, then we'll have to run as fast as we can." Khrell pulled the pin out, and counted:"One....two...three...NOW!" Khrell threw the grenade at the beast, and started running as if Horus himself was behind him. Khrell carefully evaded a few branches and rocks on the ground, hoping that he would make it in time...


----------



## darkreever

The beast, whatever it was, was definitely another 'nid; and horrifying was just the tip of the iceberg for this thing. Seeing it move faster than the eye could really see at times, Rikard tried to follow it with his lasgun, but could not draw a bead.

Thats when Trigger told the Kid to get to the heavy bolter with him, and a grenade was tossed towards the thing. Patting trigger happy Zac on the shoulder, he motioned for him to follow after Khrell before the grenade went off, actually stunning the thing for a second and giving Rikard enough time to open fire with his own gun. The las-bolts tore small holes in the dirt and burned chunks of wood from nearby trees they hit as most missed, but once in a while a shot hit, but seemed to do little in harming the creature.

_"Damn alien scum, just lay down and die already!"_ He yelled before priming a grenade of his own and tossing it.


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

As khrell and Zac move around, the ravener continues paying attention to the three guardsmen under the crashed aircraft until the grenades go off. They do not stun the beast like you thought they would. But, they certainly get its attention. It turns toward Zac and Khrell, even as Rikard and Shadihm blast away with their weapons.

The pilot with you all sees this, and sprints toward the Ravener, drawing the attention himself, and away from Zac and Khrell. He runs toward it yelling and firing as fast as he can. The ravener spins around tripping him with its tail, lifting him into the air for him to fall on his back. It completes the turn coming down with one of its talons into the pilots chest, screeching a note of victory.

It was enough time for Zac and Khrell to make it near the three guardsmen in cover. The Ravener has its sights on Rikard and Shadihm now. Climb the tree, get to the heavy bolter, load it and shoot it while its back is turned. Make the eight shots count. Just because you have eight shots doesn't mean you have to use them all but you can if you want or feel the need.

Rikard and Shadihm, as the Ravener turns toward you, you must resist the natural instinct to run. If you run it will follow you and catch you, and it could end up out of Khrell and Zac's sight. Both of your las packs run out as it slithers toward you at a frightening speed, drooling at the chance to kill more prey through its demonically sharp teeth. It eyes seem to light up at the opportunity. Reload and hold it off long enough for Khrell to fire at its back. fire one a time, use grenades closer up, strike between lines of the armored carapace, whatever it takes. 

Vick:

You and the nine other bionic soldiers you are with in the chimera, have been rolling through Vorspire for some time, all in complete silence. Some of your comrades have been moving their new limbs about, gettign better sued to them. Holding out their hands and opening and closing them repetitively. One of them you notice, has been staring, continually turning his head looking about the inner hull of the vehicle, getting used to his new eye. a chunk of his head was patched together with the metal parts...he must have taken quite the hit during the battle.

The chimera slows and comes to a gear whining halt. The door opens for you all to exit. You walk out to see the other chimera with the flamer turret proceeding further forward. Sergeant Jole steps out behind you, "Time to _investiagte_ whats been causing all this trouble!"

right next to you a very recently wrecked hellhound. Its fuel ammunition tanks are blown open and smoke bellows out.

sergeant Jole directs you all to follow him, as he runs in front of you he explains further, "There's a Kasrkin squad up ahead trying to kill whatever did this. We need to support them!"

you come out of fresh rubble of destroyed building corners, turning onto a fairly wide empty street. You spot the kasrkin squad in the middle of the street in the distance. They are running themselves but suddenyl stop and point their guns in all directions, some dropping to one knee to better shoulder their hellguns. Suddenly you a faint yell come from one of them, and then they all turn to the left and open fire into the building next to them. From the same building but several stories up, a very large Lictor bursts out of the building, causing heavy debris to fall with it as it lands on the Kasrkin squad tearing some of them apart, and then leaping away into the building on the opposite side of the street.

Jole yells you on, "Faster men!! MOVE!!" your binoic leg helps carry you faster than you could ever run before.

As the surviving Kasrkin's turn to fire into the building the Lictor leaped into, another lictor leaps from where they _had_ been firing, into the remaining soldiers tearing them apart as well. 

Your squad beings opening fire on this Lictor, it stands up straight its extra long scything talons raised high into the air. It then leaps into the same building the first one disappeared into. 

As it vanishes the chimera with the flamer upgrade flies around the corner in front of you, and crashes into the side of the building while a guardsmen manning the turret pours flame inside.

A kasrkin soldier barely still alive screams in agony. Sergeant Jole stops at his body and declares the emperor's mercy, shooting him in the head and saving him from indescribably suffering.

the other ten men in your unit, empty out of the flamer chimera.

Jole speaks, "Looks like these alien bastards are our problem now boys! did you hit anything up there?" he addresses the guardsmen on the flamer turret,

"negative sir, no kill confirmed."

Jole:"...Well then, keep your eyes open boys...your guess is as good as mine..."

the men in your unit all point their lasguns in various directions, stepping over the dead kasrkin soldiers laying around the street. 

Aim your las-gun where you feel the the attack will come from. there are two buildings to your right, and the one to your left. You cannot see far into them. There is also the matter of what height they will attack from. If you feel confident about where the attack will come from, yell it to aim the whole squads' guns in one direction so they are prepared.

Scythes:

Tobias replies to Niko walking back toward him with his bolter still aimed in other directions, "I agree brother, though I would prefer to see this particular Tyranid die directly, rather than unseen in a cloud of flame and blinding light." 

Brother Kyr cuts him short, "We dont burn the area to ashes until my combat blade reaches that things foul bloody _heart_."

Kyr comes from the opposite direction that Tobias approaches from, having found nothing else either.

Solaki, you receive Astelan's reply and 'acceptance' of your apology. Do not reply to him again yet. Tobias is calling everyone back into a circle to discuss what to do next. Instead, tell your squad how you feel about Astelan's reply.

Arx, Belial, and Niko, regroup to eachother. Listen to what Solaki has to say first, and reply accordingly. 

Or you can speak to Brother Kyr. Kyr is obviously angered as well, and it is clear where his thoughts are. You don't want him going on a rampage or acting like Astelan had. It is hard for many in the chapter to keep hold of their wits in such times since the fall of their homeworld. The support of a scythe's squad brothers is more important than ever, otherwise all of the squads would fall apart in anger and distress causing the chapter to finally fall for good. As mentioned it may be hard to relate to Kyr though, as he has already has an even bigger squad than your current one all die in front of him by the enemy you now hunt.

Astelan:
As you run through the brush after Sotha, flashes blink into your vision here and there. They are odd as they wont go away. They seem to move around as well. They disappear from your vision, coming and going again and again.

Everytime they appear, three large spots lay in front of Sotha's path. Two of them are below the one that seems to be on the same level as you.

If Astelan can realize what he may be seeing, and tell Sotha it will surely benefit you both.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan thundered onwards, leaves slipping against his armour as he did so. Blood swilled in his lower mouth, beneath the teeth and between the gums. Something was evidently wrong with him and his mind now pounded painfully, seemingly convulsing within his cranium. A warm trickle of blood slipped down his lip, hanging at his sensitive lip before dropping away into the unknown beneath. 

The Voice had fallen silent, humming in the background gracefully as if it was trying to sooth the pain being sent throughout his body in great eruptions. Then the first flash appeared. Almost blinding, three glorious orbs of swirling bright light appeared before him. They formed a triangular shape, with the largest at ground level the other two laying beneath where Sotha was up ahead.

The Astartes stopped suddenly, preparing his Bolter only for the lights to disappear, seemingly folding in on one another. He rubbed the eye lenses of his helm with his finger tips and shook his head. Several more times they appeared to him, however he simply continued trying not to focus due to the pain that was sent down his spine every time he did so. 

Finally he caught up with Sotha who had stopped, standing and listening to the jungle around him. Astelan walked towards him and with his free hand grabbed the wrist of his Commander, spinning him. His Bolter was ready. He locked eyes with the helm of Sotha and said to anything close enough to hear “Sotha, I need to tell you of something” and with that he informed him of the lights and what he believed them to be, however not revealing the Voice or Aster. It was not time. Not yet.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm had seen Khrell and Zac's plan and opened fire shortly after Rikard so he would still be firing as Rikard reloaded. This thing was quite possibly the ugliest piece of shit he had ever seen in his life, more so then the Helghan warhounds that his people still used on the field of battle, at least those were once dogs. As Khrell and Zac ran for the gun the beast turned toward him and Rikard he felt a sickening feeling as though running would be the safest bet, but he knew deep down inside that if he were to even turn his head he and Rikard were as good as fragged.

He had learned not to use grenades too close, that had certainly not gone over well, and as Rikard opened fire he tossed a grenade to slow the beast down and give them more time. As Rikard stopped firing Shadihm fell to his knee and opened fire on the thing's face, he didn't know if it would hurt it but the least it would do is hopefully blind it for a bit till Khrell got that damned gun firing.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell ran towards the heavy bolter as fast as he could, eager to blow this creatures head off, after all the havoc it had created. He felt a nearly all-consuming rage against 'nid kind, as he had seen so many good men and women die beneath the foul talons of the tyranids, that he would see them all exterminated, no matter the cost.

Khrell climbed up the branches, and with a dash he jumped onto the ship. He positioned himself behind the heavy bolter, and checked for ammo. There were a few empty shells on the ground, but no live ammo. "Dang it!" Khrell shouted. "No ammo here, Zac give me those shells will ya?" and Khrell pointed at the shells on Zac's armor. "Quick! Before it kills Rikard and Shadihm too....There has been too much imperial blood shed already..." Khrell was already aiming, and tracking the beasts movements...... "You won't get another kill, you lousy, good for nothing bug."Khrell murmered.


----------



## Necrosis

Like his comrades Vick was getting use to his bionics parts. He was moving his hand around. Yet he couldn't really move his foot to much. He began to take note of his comrades bionic parts. He needed to know what his teammates were capable of. Yet the Chimera began to slowly come to a stop. The door opened and Vick moved out along his squad mates. He heard the serge giving out orders and began to scan the nearby area. He saw a wrecked hellhound with it's fuel ammunition tanks blown apart. The Sarge gave them orders to follow him. He began to explain what they were doing here. Yet before it could be explained Vick saw a squad of Storm Troopers being killed by what look to be Tyranids creatures he had never seen before. Whatever they were, they were deadly. It was something he didn't want to fight in close combat even with his new bionic implants. He ran to the survivors to help them out only to see another creature that look the same tear them apart. Vick along with his squad mates began to open fire but the creature managed to get away into the building. Vick made his way to the storm troopers and began to salvage their equipment. He put on the backpack and carapace armour and grabbed the weapon. "Sir I suggest we throw Krak grenades at the bottom floor of the building. Hopefully the building will collapse and kill those abominations. If that fails then we should burn the buildings so they have no where to hide." said Vick as he waited for the Sarge to respond.


----------



## Deus Mortis

As Solaki walked over to Tobias and the rest of the squad, he was greatly puzzled by Astelan's response. "Terms of...surrender"! Solaki wasn't aware that he was at war with Astelan. "Brother Tobias, would you mind if I say something to all of you before we carry on?" With his helmet on, he couldn't tell Tobias' emotions towards his request, but he nodded in acceptance. "Brothers, I have just recently made contact with Astelan, which would indicate to me that him and Sotha are fine still. However, I felt in necessary to apologize to him for my actions earlier today. In response, I got a very...strange acceptance. He said "You certainly are a fool contacting me, however you must have some honour left within your wretched body. Thus, due to me being honour bound to Lord-Commander Sotha I accept your terms of…..Lets say, surrender". Now, I wasn't aware I was fighting him as well as the Tyranids, if I am mistaken then this is grave news indeed! I would ask what all of your opinion is of that response, because I wouldn't want to reply hastily to him" and with that Solaki became silent and waited for his Brother's verdicts...


----------



## blazinvire

Zac nearly stumbled over several times he was running that fast, and he also nearly ran halfway up a tree to slow himself down, catching onto the Valkyrie and climbing on to find Khrell already there.
Damn young people, Zac knew he was slowing down as the ages went by, but he'd be damned before he'd let anything nasty catch him.
He madly scrambled over to the heavy bolter and spun about, tearing bolts out of his armour and hurling one into the heavy bolter.

"You even think we can take that beggar out with only eight rounds? It's a really big bug," Zac said as he pulled out the other bolts and arranged them ready to feed into the heavy bolter, "I'd like to think we can but I'm a bit of a realist in times like these."
Big bugs usually needed a big boot to squash them, but unless a friendly neighbourhood titan came along right about now, Zac wasn't entirely sure what they'd do here.
Then again he realised they had something pretty close to a titan's foot, and he and Khrell were standing on it. The Valkyrie was suspended by the trees, Zac could use one of the bolter rounds to break one of the supports and squash whatever would be in its path.
Right now that'd be the guardsmen they were trying to rescue so obviously the plan needed some work.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell noticed Zac looking at the branches and trees holding the Valkyrie tightly in place, and immediately knew what Zac was thinking about. "I know what you're thinking, and that might be our only chance to kill the big bug. What if the men underneath here lure the beast under the valkyrie, then get them away from the Valkyrie and blow the branches? SQUASH! And the bug is flat, right?"Khrell monitored the bug, and saw that it was dangerously closing in on Rikard and Shadihm.

"You tell the men, I'll rig this Valk." Khrell said before climbing on top of the ship, and tightening the shells on the branches with some shreds of his clothing. He also strapped 2 of his grenades there, to make sure it will blow. He had a flask of strong liquor with him, carefully hidden in his clothes, and he sprinkled the fluid around the shells and grenades, so it will burn, and then go "BOOM". After all had been placed and sprinkled with the liquor Khrell threw the bottle on the ship and shouted to Zac "All rigged up, and ready to blow!" Khrell then grabbed a liane hanging around, and made sure it would hold his weight, and felt assured this would work.


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

Rikard and shadihm watch in fear as the Ravener completely ignores the las-gun shots hitting its head, charging faster to them.

Khrell and Zac yell to the three guardsmen below to do whatever it takes to get that bug to turn around....and they certainly have a lot of trust in you.

Two of them charge out of cover shooting its back and then chuck frags into its back while the third stands up and continues shooting it.

the Ravener spins around kicking one up with its tail and slices him in half in the air. It charges the other one knocking him away and then rushes toward the third underneath the helicopter...

i will state the result.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell infuriates after he saw that the bug had yet taken another imperial life. As the nid comes underneath the ship Khrell yells:"This ends HERE AND NOW!" he pulls the two pins out of the grenades. Using the liane, he jumps off the ship, and tries to hold on with all of his strength, then he jumps towards a branch of a tree at a high speed. He grabs the branch tightly, and pulls himself up........


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

*"Oh frag...."* was the only thing Shadihm could say as the huge bug sped faster towards them, it appeared that headshots only served to piss it off, duly noted if they met another one of these things. Suddenly it was up and turning around ripping a guardsman in two and Shadihm saw Khrell spraying the Valkyrie with something and then it hit him, *"He's going to blow it get down!"* he yelled at Rikard.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko gave Kyr a sharp look; the Scythe’s tone causing Niko to take heed of his brother’s posture. Anger seemed to radiate off the astartes in raw waves as he stared banefully out at the murky water. Niko sighed; he could feel the tightness in his own shoulders as if he was being watched and the urge to peer into the shadows of the underbrush nagged at the back of his mind. The whole squad was on edge, tempers flaring at the unexpected turn of events. 

Niko chewed his lip as Solaki spoke of his conversation with Astelan, on one hand it was good to hear that his battle brother and their Lord were making their way through the forest to their position. The strange interference that had caused the airships difficulties was also blocking the inter-squad bio-signs that were projected in the corner of Niko’s eye at a thought to his armour’s systems. Astelan’s rune pulsed the faint grey of unknown as if to emphasize the maddening shift in the astartes’s personality.

Niko opened his mouth to reply to Solaki, but the words died on his lips as the small rune flickered, the signal coming and going like a falling star. It was so brief that had Niko not been gazing directly at the vacant space he would have missed the momentary flash, yet the after-images that hung ghostlike in his retina were well beyond the standard heart rates of astartes physiology. Niko hesitated; the signal could have been corrupted, the flash had been there less than a fraction of a second, barely enough for even his advanced senses to capture the numbers. His hand tightened around the grip of his pistol with frustration, his voice coming out in a harsh whisper,

‘Look at what these beasts have done to us, what they continue to do to us,’ 

Niko’s gaze passed from brother to brother, Scythe to Scythe. He continued, his voice becoming stronger as he went,

‘We are the Scythes of the Emperor, bound by oath and blood in His sacred duty! If the brother at your side is wounded, do you leave him upon the field to die? _*NO!*_ You stand by his side, lend him your strength and see to his wounds! Astelan is our battle brother! If he is troubled then it is our _duty_ to aid him in his time of need. When we are reunited I shall check him over _personally_ for signs of stress related illness. Throne knows this hunt has taken a toll upon us all...’

Niko gave Solaki a final look before turning to Kyr,

‘To say that I fully understand the depth of your anger would be a lie, brother. But, if we are to finally bring the beast down it will take _all_ of us. Focus your hate, Kyr. _Use it!_ Don’t let it control your actions brother. Beat it against the anvil of your will until it becomes the finest blade that you may drive into the black heart of the beast.’


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx rested his arm on the great shoulder guard of Niko, his helmet lenses staring at him for some time.

'_Fine words Brother, its a shame they must come at such a Dark time._' He turned to the rest of his Brothers, they had all seemed to congregate around a small segment of the marshy ground.

'_I ask you to have Faith in our Brother like I have Faith in all of you. We will *all* get through this, the foul beast will not take more of our number. Least of all for reasons such as Anger and Confusion amongst our Brothers. To stand strong we must stand as one. For now, I plead for you to share my belief in our Brother, and I hope my trust will be enough for you._


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial listened intently to solaki his hand clenching into a fist as his every word hit home, knowing now that his own suspicions were looking more and more like a real possibilty. 

When brothers Niko and Arx had both finished speaking Belial spoke up " Astelan is fast becomming a liability to this squad and needs to be taken into check for his actions, he cannot be allowed to continue down his current path or we will all suffer for it, brother Arx i have already spoken about my fears with you and respect your decision so i will give you the time needed to speak to him personally. Do not get me wrong we need Astelan as we are so few in numbers but not in his current state of mind, i hope you can reach out to him, because if you cant i will". In more ways than one he said to himself.

"Brother Niko i do not believe we can wait till this conflict is over for you to run your tests by then it could be too late, i am no apothecary so i do not know what u can do here, but surely there is something that could be done when he rejoins us".

"I do not wish to argue with any of you but i feel it is my duty as a sythe of the emperor to give you my opinion on the matter, this has gone on for too long and needs to be addressed as soon as possible.


----------



## darkreever

Firing short bursts from his lasgun, Rikard cursed when the cell ran dry and the beast didn't even look like it was hurt. "Come on Kid, get doing whatever you and Trigger are up to." He said through grit teeth while scrabbling to reload his gun. Radec, the super-soldier that he was, had held back on shooting, waiting till just as Rikard ran out to pick up the slack.

*"He's going to blow it get down!" *Radec yelled and thats when Rikard actually looked up, ramming a fresh las-pack home at the same time, to see the others tossing grenades into the downed and trapped transport. _"Frag my life."_ Rikard mumbled before bringing his lasgun up to his shoulder and began firing at the creature again.


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

Zac and Khrell jump away from the transport as they charges go off, sending Khrell smacking into a tree branch and Zac simply to the ground. Neither of them catch any metal shards in their backs.

being made of two heavy bolter round charges and a couple of frags, the explosions do not have a huge radius and so Rikard and Shadihm are fine.

The charges blow apart the branches the transport had been caught on, allowing it to fall on top of the Ravener as well as the third guardsman that was left. A necessary death perhaps?

Though the Ravener is dead and all four of you are still alive, your pilot died along with all the men you came to support.

Just as you begin to calm down and make your way back towards each other in the middle of the clearing, a frightening sound is heard from the transport. You turn and see the Ravener tear its way through the front end/pilot section of the craft. Placing its claws around the peeled back section of hull, it looks at the four of you in rage bloodied and bruised. Pulling itself out it throws itself toward you. Before you can raise your guns and fire or move out of the way a black and yellow figure slams into its side and takes it down.

It is one of the space marines. This one has a large cape about him, as well as a horse-hair crest on the top of his helmet. He has one of two power swords drawn, which you see as he pulls it out of the alien's side. He easily swipes away its last defensive strikes, and makes another strike of his own, swinging a full 180 degree arc through the Ravener's mid section. It falls with a loud thud onto the dirt and with a loud yell the Scythe of the Emperor cuts the Tyranid down for good, stabbing it all the way through the head so that the blade reached through to the ground.

Two more Raveners burst out of the ground practically under your feet and behind the space marine commander.

The Marine lets go of the sword still in the first Ravener's skull, swings a plasma gun from underneath his cape while turning, and fires a blast into one of the new Tyranids. The searing hot white and blue blast incinerates one of it's main talon arms. the shot continues through the branches above, breaking a hole through the top of the canopy allowing for the bright rays of Ferim's sun to shine through into the clearing.

The Marine, unprepared for these newcomers and not having his second sword in hand, is successfully struck by the second new Ravener. The marine blocks with his forearm, but the claw rips through his power armor and cuts deeply into the marine's flesh. He yells in pain pulling his arm away. The Ravener with one main talon left strikes back as well, cutting into the open target of the marine's chest armor, and slices a gash into him, creating a diagonal crevice in his golden chest armor now leaking with the deep red of his blood.

Just as the Raveners seem to screech a sound of victory and joy,
another Scythe of the Emperor space marine armed with a bolter barges out of the brush form the same place the first marine had. 

He practically comes out of the brush firing his weapon. He focuses on the non injured one first. Its your job to finish off the other one. the transport landed flat on the ground and the heavy bolter appears to be in tact still. If you go for it you will find is still operational. You only have six rounds left now, but this Ravener has already taken quite a blow at least. Even your other weapons don't hurt it, use them to keep it away from the space marine so he can hopefully kill the other one and then help you if you are unable to kill yours.

Vick:

Several others in your squad notice you picking up the better weaponry and do the same...it only makes sense after all. As several of you strap on the hellgun power packs to your backs, Sergeant Jole listens to your suggestion.

_"Sounds like a good enough idea to me! lets blow some shit up boys!"_

with this he kicks up a krak grendade with his metal foot and catches it with a bionic hand as well. You hear his body whir as he brings back his arm far and throw the grenade as far a she can into the building. The rest of the unit follows suit and explosions begin blasting away in the ground floor of the building the chimera chased the Lictors into.

the building shows signs of collapse and begins doing so as the squad backs away. The chimera moves in and begins torching the ruins. The standard armed chimera you arrived in rolls up behind you and the guardsman manning its turret begins holding down the trigger into the falling building. Your comrades all begin blasting away with their own weapons, firing aimlessly into the scene in front of them. once everything is down to the ground and on fire, Jole yells aloud, "I'm damn sure they were int he abuilding and I'm damn sure they're dead! Get in the Chimeras and we'll circle around this block and check it all out."

Get back into one of the chimeras. If you wish to man the turret of the chimera you enter you may relieve the current operator and take his place on it.

Scythes of the Emperor:

Astelan:

Sotha stands before you a moment before speaking,

"You confuse me Astelan, I do not see any bright lights and what you speak of otherwise makes no sense to me, at least not right now brother there is vengeance to be taken! Just beyond these trees!"

The fire of las-guns and a couplet of explosions is quite evidently just beyond the next line of trees indeed as well as the screeches of Tyranid. Sotha turns, draws one of his bright, crackling power swords. He charges forward a few large steps and leaps through a wall of leaves and out of your sight.

You take a moment to think about what just happened, and then follow Sotha's path once more. As you come out of the brush, seeing what lies on the opposite side you are struck with a nightmare that is all too real. You see the bright light of Sotha's plasma gun shot fly up through the dim green of the canopy and look down from it to see a Ravener cut deep into Sotha's forearm and then a second ravener, just wounded by the plasma gun, take a gash out of Sotha's chest.

As if in slow motion you hear Sotha yell in agony and fall backwards beside a third Ravener which had Sotha's sword through its dead skull. 

three Raveners in front of you, the two living ones were still partly in the ground...they had been underground...the white spots in your vision...

There are four guardsmen by the ravenors. Though with what you just saw happen you barely notice them. Take on the uninjured Ravener while the guardsmen hold off the other. Your target turns toward you as you come out of the brush firing your bolter. In your rage you may use your bolter and chain sword in one hand each. You may kill it in one post. At the same time it is your responsibility to report to all the other scythes that Sotha has just been wounded, that you believe him to still be alive but he does not appear to be conscious and continues to bleed profusely. medical attention could not be more imminently needed. 

Niko, Arx, Belial, and Solaki: 

Tobias is about to get everyone back into the Valkyrie, when he stops dead in his tracks with the rest of you.

You all hear the same message. Sotha has been badly wounded, and Astelan is the only marine defending him. Astelan reports Sotha as needing absolute immediate medical attention.

Tobias yells through the comm with the other squad leaders from what you gather: your brothers in the air report the detection equipment still not operational. There's no way to find Sotha's location that way. There were too many brothers in the area below the canopies to use air support as defense. there was no room to land all of the aircraft in the forest. The Valkyrie behind you just wouldnt be able to do what was necessary. with only your HUD displays to find him you would msot liekly way over shoot his position in the air, and even if you found a drop through the thick canopy could kill you quicker than most tyranids. They had to get Sotha out using the ground. Sergeant Brig's squad and another squad were using the only two rhinos and were around the only few imperial guard vehicles that had marines in them and thus hadn't retreated back towards Vorspire.

Tobias shouts his orders, "Run brothers! its the only way, our Lord Sotha depends on it!"

as you all beginning sprinting at your fullest, you all hear Sergeant Brig come over the channel with heavy gunfire and the screams of tyranids, "Tobias! Our convoy is under attack! You need to get Niko to our transports. We cannot drive any closer to your position! You must make your way to us, make haste Brother! But can you find his location?!"

Tobias replies still sprinting through the muddy marsh toward the tree line in the direction towards Vorspire where the ground convoy would have been coming from, "Yes Brig! Astelan remains in our squad HUD information. We know they were in the forest on foot, once we reach you we should be able to get a direction on their position!"

As you charge into the tree line, Gaunts of various types charge _out_ jumping out of the darkness toward you. You must not be slowed by them, but you can't let them kill you either. Kill what you need to in order to get through and maintain running speed. If you kill too many you'll fall behind the squad, unfortunate as it may be, they cannot wait for you right now. If you kill too few however, they will take you down and the same thing will happen...or worse. The first person to post may not be right in their numbers so don't try to cheat :no:

(if you feel you could make a better post waiting for astelan to post first you could as i'm sure he will put one up fast as he's always pushing me to update again)

Brother Kyr listens to his brothers words, and listens carefully. As the news come sup about Sotha he begins running behind you but progressively slows his sprint as he notices something in the mud. smooth, curving trails in the mud around his feet...Raveners. How could they have overlooked this? was it becuase there so many of these lines that they blended together as something not peculiar? He came to a stop without his brothers even noticing. He watched as the five of them charged forward towards the trees. He turns and follows the winding path closest to him...making his way to the edge of the opaque lake once more, brown as the mud around it.

facing the lake looking into his reflection he says to himself, _"focus your hate....the beast will not take more of our number....damn right brothers, and it shall die by my blade indeed. I will take out the enemy's heart, and its mind, while other complexities must be tended to."_

With this, he takes a step forward, submerging his heavy foot of armor into the merky water. slowly at first, he takes another...and another...chest deep now...another...and another...and soon enough, he disappears beneath the water's surface entirely.

Tyrant:

Oh the joy! hahaha, you must be wreathing in what would be tyranid laughter in your hibernating state. the success you ahve felt on previous worlds simply waltz's into your mind once more. You watch and feel your Raveners' talons gorge into your enemy's commander; their best. Now you could consume this world as it is rightfully yours to take. Backed by your hive mind the rest of your jungle hidden children strike in unison as well. The remaining gaunts and warriors that survived the morning's failure plow full force into the other enemies on the ground coming for you. The enemies in the sky were practically useless them now, and no one has found your ship!

You do have at least one decision you must still make though. Your Lictors watch the two human vehicles drive away, peering through the flames and smoking rubble. you see from two different angles, through both the lictors' eyes at once. They give you a strong signal indicating they want to destroy these things that tried to kill them, they flee! their backs! OPEN!!!

it is your choice what you wish to do with these pawns. Allow them to their will, hold them back, or hold them back and also have them to move away to somewhere else.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan had clenched his eyes and teeth beneath his helm as Sotha had said that he confused him. It hurt him deep within, or was it the Voice again? Chuckling at Astelan because he was a failure? Whatever it was, Sotha soon explained where his vengeance was and bounded off, filtering between the trees and disappearing from his sight behind ancient trunks. 

He followed closely, ripping through the underbrush, leaving leaves and branches snapping and flipping around him, he was taken aghast by what was happening. Sotha was staggering backwards, blood oozing through pealed back armour in both his forearm and chest, a Tyranicus Ophidius-Subterra coiled like a snake about to strike above him. 

The Ravener was a dreadful thing, with a crested head in a multiple of colours and fang filled maw, four arms that ended in curled cutting claws extended from its almost fat, segmented body. Two black eyes, like those of a Shark, focused on him, twitching at the side of its head beneath armoured brows. A wicked barbed tail was pointed towards the ground below it, dug into the dirt. 

Without thinking, Astelan fired his Bolter. Rounds were sent rippling forwards, searing through the air towards their target. The first round struck the Ravener in the midsection, exploding like a small star it hissed and pulled itself into one bundle and leapt. A second round struck its head as it got nearer, shattering the carapace armour there and seeping a orange liquid. 

As it got closer with every second, Astelan sidestepped gracefully and with one movement let his Bolter hang limp in one hand, the other drawing his Chainsword and bringing the whirring blade down upon the tail of the beast. It pushed right through the white flesh, digging into the dirt Astelan quickly deactivated it and shouldered his Bolter. 

The Tyranicus Ophidius-Subterra wheeled around on him, its mouth open in a bestial grin. Astelan returned the gesture. And fired. The round ripped out the monsters teeth, exploding within its mouth and destroying the head of the Ravener. The Scythe quickly yanked his Chainsword from the corpse and let it slip into the scabbard, now he turned his attentions to Sotha. 

He clicked his Vox as he ran forwards, transmitting to all Scythes “Brother-Scythes, the foul beasts have felled our Lord Sotha! He seems to live, however I plead with you to locate us. I have limited knowledge in the Art of the Apothecary thus there is a short amount that I can do for him. Hurry.” with that he closed it, and slid to a halt next to Sotha. 

The Guardsmen were attacking the other Ravener and seemingly doing a good job upon it. He felt warm blood in his mouth and let it dribble out of his mouth as he did what he could to Sotha, though he was nowhere near the standards of Niko, for the time being it would have to do.


----------



## Concrete Hero

An icy feeling welled up inside Arx as he heard Astelans grave words across the vox. Too passionate to be dread, but not blind rage. His mind had changed in an instant, flushing with the urge to reach his Commander and replacing the calm from mere seconds ago. The large Astartes was already pushing off the dirt as the order flew from Tobias;

"Run brothers! its the only way, our Lord Sotha depends on it!"

The marine pounded into the undergrowth, sparing the smallest fragment of a second to make sure his Brothers were with him. The cold feeling inside exploded into a volcanic stream of wrath as he saw the disgusting xenos burst from the bushes in an attempt to counter them. The Meltagun had been in his hands since touchdown, though hadn't truly felt its blessed weight until this moment, a familiar and comforting load in his hands, with which he could crush the enemies of the Emperor.

'_NONE CAN STAND AGAINST US! FOR SOTHAAAA!_' The Marines voice bellowed out, drowning out the screeches and hisses of the Tyranids in a moment of focused clarity. Arx fired the Meltagun and his own voice was lost in the deafening roar of the weapon, the white flash was quickly compensated for by the swiftly darkening lenses of his helmet.

A number of Gaunts were caught in the obliterating blast, or rather pieces of several Gaunts, he did not have time to check. Without skipping a beat in his charge, Arx crashed his knee into the closest Gaunt before him, the beast moved without a sense of direction for a brief moment, possibly blinded by the flash of the gun. White light would be the last thing this loathsome creature would see, as Arx's knee shattered the creatures skull in an explosion of bone fragments and blood.

As he had lifted his knee, he had brought his arms to his left, following the twisting motion. As his attacking leg touched down, he swung his arms back to the right, delivering a fatal elbow strike to another Gaunt, granting it a similar, face-shattered fate.

Though the Gaunts numbers were hard to tell, there seemed to be a fair few of them bursting from the bushes, and only more came with each passing second. He had plunged into their ranks like a flaming spear, he hoped his Brothers could both follow without getting bogged down and similarly stop the tide from closing in around him... Without their support he would be bogged down in moments.

He snapped the steaming Melta back onto his hip, the end of the weapon still glowing slightly, unable to fire until cooldown. He drew the ChainClaymore from his back and hurtled back into the undergrowth, crashing through plants and tearing through branches. He used the mighty sword to deflect the Gaunts, rather than sacrifice time to make sure they were dead, were he could he aimed for the limbs to debilitate them, though some fell past him with gashes and stabs along their flanks, whether alive or not he couldn't tell.


----------



## FORTHELION

Upon hearing the news from Astelan about lord Sotha Belial inwardly cursed to himself of all the people to be with Sotha it had to be that unstable idiot. He promised himself if Astelan had anything to do with their lords fall he would pay dearly for it.

Belial thundered after Arx with the rest of his bothers. Suddenly the undergrowth erupted with a flash of talons and claws, "Gaunts" cried Belial as he lifted his bolt pistol to fire. But Arx was already onto them meltagun blazing a path through their ranks. Belial started to pick off the stragglers that eascaped the wrath of the melta gun.

The combat suddenly became a lot closer too close for the melta gun, "this is gonna get rough brothers" he shouted as he produced his chainsword from his side. Bolt pistol in one hand and chainsword in the other everything was a blur. "We need to keep moving as quickly as we can brothers they are trying to bog us down with numbers. They will not succeed". ONWARDS FOR SOTHA


----------



## Euphrati

Niko had turned to stare at the silt-filled waters when the vox hissed and his twin hearts skipped a beat. Sotha, their great Leader, was in desperate need of _his skills_ somewhere deep within the press of trunks and vines. The words had barely registered in his mind before his body took action, exploding into motion as he sprinted after Arx.

They were mere strides from the treeline when the undergrowth erupted into scything talons and screaming, fang-filled maws. Gaunts tore through the foliage in a ravaging hoard of chitin and Niko felt an answering roar to their shrieking cries build in his chest. Indoctrinated training took over and his gloved hand closed around the grip of his pistol; the weapon coming free of the mag-clamp and live the moment the sensor registered his gene-type. 

The roaring voice of Brother Arx’s melta drowned out even the high pitched screams of the beasts caught in the holy wrath of the blast. Niko reflexively put a bolt round into three half-charred bodies as he sidestepped a fourth. His chainsword slid from its sheath with a snap, the durasteel teeth screaming up to speed as Niko spun on his heel and drove the blade deep into the slavering jaws before reversing his grip and dragging the blade free from the corpse even as he shouldered it aside.

Undaunted by the swarm of xenos, Niko pushed forward with his growling blade dripping ichor and his pistol speaking with the voice of a angel of death.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki roared "NOOO!!!". Whilst running towards Astelan's cry, Solaki shouldered the Lascannon and his combat blade and bolt pistol were out of their holsters in seconds. He was sprinting for their commander, and was ahead of everyone when he realized two things. 1. If he got their first, he still couldn't do anything and 2. Brother Kyr had disappeared. He assumed Kyr was just behind or fighting more gaunts which seemed to erupt from the undergrowth. As he spun around on his heel, he saw Arx fighting of whole tides of gaunts with his melta gun, but slowly being overwhelmed. He wanted to fight in the heat of combat, but he wasn't sure that it was the best idea, especially with the added weight of his Lascannon. However there were tides of gaunts which might be best killed by...illumination! Slipping his blade and pistol into their holster, Solaki once again shouldered his Lascannon. With once pull off the trigger, a dozen plus gaunts were vaporized and many more lost limbs or other body parts. Solaki grinned, but his joy was short lived as the attention of this hoard turned towards him. Firing again he vaporized at least a dozen more, but is seemed to amount to naught against these mites! About to fire again, a Hormogaunt leapt from the undergrowth and tried to maul him. Solaki saw it's maw open and then a flash of light. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was still in the forest and, glancing down that half of the gaunts body had been destroyed in the blast. The other half was desperately trying to crawl it's way to him to finish it's attack. Solaki contemptuously crushed it's head under his heel. He took up another firing position and worked on clearing the path for his squad mates, most of all Niko. It was essential that no harm came to him, otherwise Lord Sotha would be lost to them forever...


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell felt a hard smack into his stomach, as though someone landed a firm punch on his belly. He hung on to the branch with as much strength as he could gather, and pulled himself up. He was satisfied to see that it had worked, the valk was down, and the ravener underneath. Khrell grinned and said in a angry tone "Finally you have gotten what you deserve, you foul xenos, no more Imperial blood shall you shed!"

Khrell could not believe his eyes, as the ravener got out of the wreckage. Khrell yelled " You shall die here and now!!" Khrell jumped to the ground, and pulled his lasgun. Then suddenly an astartes came out of the woods and killed the ravener. Khrell felt a great relief, the marines have saved him a second time now. 

Then suddenly the earth itself cracked open, and two more raveners came out of the soil. The marine shot one with his plasma gun, though it still punctured his arm, and the other slashed his torso in a diagonal line. Blood was pouring out of it and Khrell could not believe his eyes. Never before had he seen an astartes bleed, and he was surprised these beasts could slash through power armor.

Then Khrell realized the bleeding marine needed help. Khrell knew lasfire didn't kill the beast, and the only thing that could, was down.. or was it? Khrell looked at the valk, it was wrecked, though the heavy bolter seemed intact. Khrell felt at his pockets, and felt that the shells were still there, the satisfying feeling of relief came over him. And he remembered the gun was already loaded with a shell, and he was sure the emperor smiled upon them.

Khrell ran as fast as his legs would carry him towards the valk. He evaded some rocks and wreckage, and reached the heavy bolter. He checked if the shell was still inside, and it was, and the best thing was, it hadn't exploded like Khrell feared it would've. Khrell tried aiming at the ravener, but the gun wasn't able to turn towards the ravener...it was stuck. He yelled at the other men : "Guys, if we want to kill that unholy abomination, we need to get this gun loose! Help me!" He turned his attention back to the gun, and started to pull, but it was really stuck, and it needed more people to get it loose....


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

Khrell, having six rounds left for the heavy bolter goes to the downed craft to see if its weapon will still fire. finding it unable to swivel any longer and unable to turn toward the injured Ravener, he yells for your help. However, the three of you are too busy firing as fast as you can into the Ravener just to hold it back while the space marine fends off the other Ravener by himself.

The marine finishes off his target, and then does the same to the injured one in a shocking manner as it pays attention to the four of you. Lightning comes from his finger tips and fried the tyranid. Once both raveners are down however, you dont get a break, from all sides of you, Termagaunts and hormagaunts begin leaping out of the brush from all sides.

You just saw the marine send lighting from his hand, and more energy seems to be whirling about his figure as something seems to start developing around him in a sphere like fashion. His persona may appear rather frighting to you. His helmet is on and you cannot see his facial expressions. 

You have a choice to make, If you feel it is safer, run to the marine's side. If you don't, stay where you are or back into the crashed ship on the ground to defend your position.

Vick:
still on last update

Scythes of the Emperor:

Astelan:

As you finish off the first ravener, an unyielding rage builds within you as you turn to see Sotha's downed form once again, as well as four guardsmen doing what they can to fend off the injured ravener.

As you approach the Tyranid, a very strange energy wells up inside of you and you find yourself only being able to walk slowly toward the alien. In your mind your telling your feet to run but, they do not respond and continue on in a sluggish manner toward your target. You go to raise your bolter then, but your vision becomes crazed. The Ravener flickers into a bright light and then to normal repeatedly and the environment around you becomes somewhat shifted as if you were in a nightmare. Your head swells up in pain.

As all of your rage, pain,and confusion builds, you feel a strong sensation at the tips of your fingers in your right hand. You take the bolter with your left to look at your hand, and see sparks moving over your gauntlet. You look up at the ravener again and stretch your hand out trying to reach its backside. As you do this lightning flies from your finger tips and burns a series of black scorch marks through the Ravener's back, killing it.

your vision and head continue in their strange manner, as the world appears to become darker around you, but your helmets auto light filter does not change at all.

All you can think about is defending your lord until your brothers arrive. Think what they will about whatever is happening to you, you would defend Sotha no matter what. With this thought you feel movement circling around like a wind, even inside of your armor. More sparks of energy begin circling around your form, flaring up in bright colors of orange and white in a spherical pattern around you as Termagaunts and Hormagaunts begin leaping out of the brush in all directions.

Niko and Arx

You each make your way through the porous wall of gaunt types. 

Arx, You cut down many enemies with your claymore, but use your melta gun once more when you see five leap at you at once. After this melta blast, the light disperses and the world comes back into view with out any more gaunts leaping at you with talons outstretched. All you see is green, green, and more variation of green....Your path is clear you have made it through the opposition. Small branches are constantly scraping over your armor and smacking into your form as you charge through the forest avoiding both standing and fallen tree trunks.

You notice the Black and Yellow colors of Niko's armor and Tobias as well, flashing in and out of vision between the layers of vegetation a bit off to your left.

You do not see the forms of Belial and Solaki anywhere, but perhaps they are just behind you. You don't have time to look or even take notice at your squad heartbeat sensor in your HUD; your vision concentrating on avoiding every obstacle in this thickened place. As much as it may hurt you, Sotha had to come before your squad brothers.

Niko, following the path of Tobias you also make quick haste for yourself. While running and slashing you see a huge beam of light reach out from behind you to your left, followed by two more in a similar direction...Solaki was using his las-canon and based on the distance it was coming behind you, he was far back from you.

As you run as fast you can without smacking into a trunk or log or other similar obstacle, you notice the large form of Arx off to your right. The assault specialist had made it through the wave of gaunts as well, but you cannot tell if Belial is still following close behind him.

most likely, nothing is more concerning to you right now than reaching Brig's position so you could make your way to Sotha all the faster. Anyone who fell behind would have to fend for themselves, they just had to.

If Sotha fell, he would be a great addition to the Emperor's army in the heavens, but it was the last thing your chapter needed right now. If he did not survive from his would, it would be a wound the entire chapter may not heal from. Many of your remaining chapter saw Lord Sotha as the last remaining breath of air for the Scythes of the Emperor.

the two of you and Tobias encounter no further hindering to your stride and soon enough, it is clear you are approaching sergeant Brig's position. 

Weapons fire from Astartes and Guard weaponry alike is heard and seen through the thickness. It sounds to be a full fledged battle...

You both emerge into the battle and see it unfold before your eyes. All of the vehicles but one have stopped in their tracks facing all different directions. One vehicle, a guard Chimera with a Scythe on top manning its turret and probably being driven by another brother, clumsily drives around through the trees firing at targets you cannot make out.

You spot sergant Brig and his squad with their backs to one of the Black and Yellow Rhinos, and the second Rhino is near him as well with its back facing your position. He fights with vigor pointing constantly giving commands to the brothers at his side. One, Brother Zurick you recognize because he was holding the plasma canon earlier, is at Brigs' left, and another, Brother Ryan is at his right firing up with his bolter at a hormagaunt on top of a crashed Guard vehicle.

The Rhino behind Brig was clearly the one he rode in as it has Brother Christeph still on the storm bolter turret firing away into the opposite side of the rhino.

On the opposite side of Brig, you see roughly two squads in the heat of close combat with a multitude of Gaunts backed by Tyranid Warriors. A swirling melee and close range fire of both Astartes and Biological weaponry. The Scythes have their own support from the remaining guardsmen that had stayed with them, men in camouflaged uniform adding their bright red las-gun shots to the fray.

what hurts you the most, Is the that to the left of the rhino with its back toward you and its ramp down, you see what must have been the squad that took that rhino. You see the forms of five dead brothers sprawled about amongst dozens of tyranid corpses with a few guardsmen as well..whose bodies largely lay in between the main line of difference between where your brothers had stood and the tyranids had come from.

Both of you, follow Tobias and get to sergeant Brig. Several more hormagaunts appear on top of the crashed vehicle brother Ryan is firing towards. He is unable to take down all of them and they spot the three of you approaching without much protection. They leap toward you. A winged warrior jumps from behind the crashed vehicle and then flies toward you landing before the gaunts.

Arx it is your duty to protect Niko and take the strongest opposition. Take on this warrior, and make sure to get into close combat with it before it can fire its bio-plasma. you may kill it one post but you do not have time to draw your melta gun.

Niko, nine hormagaunts back this warrior, you see Arx charge straight into the warrior. Tobias guns down two of them as they leap, crashing into the ground dead, in order to help give Arx some room with the warrior. Seven more gaunts mean to reach you and Tobias. Push the opposition and get to Brig.

Solaki:

You use your las-canon to a great effect, and by blasting down pretty much the entire section of forestry that you face, there are not many Gaunts left coming at you from that direction. Howver, you look to where your brothers had been running and cannot see ther figures int he brush any longer, they have moved far ahead of you. But if it was not for you taking so many out it is likely they would not have been able to do this, and you were correct in acknowledign the importance of getting Niko through over yourself.

Off to your right you find you are not the only one who has been slowed down. Belial is off to your right through several trees, surrounded by a mass of gaunts who had come from the other direction of the squad. Shoulder your lascanon and go to his aide with your knife and bolt pistol.

Belial:

Because you only finish off the already injured Tyranids that fly past your larger brother, and you dont have the fire power behind you that Solaki is providing for the left side of the squad, a number of gaunts come from your right and pull you to the ground. You manage to get up quickly. However, as you stand up on your feet, a series of spike like projectiles fly into your right shoulder guard, chest and right thigh. By the Emperor, none of them penetrate your flesh. You feel no other effects yet. Your pistol and chainsword to full effect. For all you know you are the only one to fall behind, and your thoughts would be to take down as many of these godforsaken beasts of filth as you can...to enact your personal vengeance on the Tyranid species. 

Tyrant:
still on last update


----------



## dark angel

Sotha lay before Astelan, unmoving, his head turned to face where his Power Sword was embedded within the head of the Ravener. Astelan, had used up all his emergency Medicae supplies, though he did not know if it would help him or not. Only Niko would be able to tell that. Something filled his chest, a cold dark feeling that made him shake like a wet dog. The Astartes stood to his full height, Bolter held within his right hand tightly and began to advance.

One word kept repeating itself within the cold depths of his mind. Revenge. Sotha was probably dying, if not already dead, and callous bastards like Belial and Solakai were sure to find a way to blame Astelan for having a part in it. His mind struggled, trying to force his legs on faster but they would not heed to his pleas. 

His vision began to swirl violently, distorting into thousands of shards with a crack and reforming soon later. The Ravener was focused upon the Guardsmen, poised for the strike with its fang filled mouth stretched wide. His veins swelled, threatening to break the skin as a dark pain passed through them, he shook his head clear as the Ravener turned into a bright white aura and then back to normal. 

His fingers and palm began to tingle, a single spark bounced from one finger to another, causing him to throw his Bolter to his left hand and bring it up to his face plate. His fingers were now ecstatic with the tingling feeling, blue sparks were flying off in all directions and he cursed the Mechanicus for giving him a faulty Armour and shook his helmed head. 

He reached out, the sparks around his fingers increased until they were covered entirely, disappearing in the blinding light. The sparks flew away, no not sparks, lightning. The Tyranicus Ophidius-Subterra roared in pain, large zigzagging white beams ripping through its armoured hide large scorched pieces of flesh flew away quickly as internal organs were melted, blood boiled and bones fused. 

Then he realised he had been roaring. Howling in fury and rage there was a strange smell within his nostrils, the smell of fresh blood. His helm was freezing, cold silver crystals covered the inside, some had multiple flakes of blood upon them. Warm breath steamed up within, almost obscuring his view from the outside. He slowly stepped away in a mix of awe and fear, standing above Sotha the only thing he could think of was the protection of his Lord-Master. 

Orange and white slithers began to spin around him, connecting together like heeling strands they tightened and twisted, slowly it began to build. A blue light shorn from within his helm, illuminating his upper body in a ethereal light. A horde of Tyranids, bounding things, leapt from the brush and began to charge, both at the Space Marines and Guardsmen. He prepared to wage war.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was desperately trying to get the Heavy bolter loose, spanning all his muscles to loosen the wretched grip of the valk, but it didn't move an inch. All the other guardsmen were fighting the nid, knives cutting, guns blazing, and talons striking. And he knew he had to get it loose on his own, no matter how he would do it.

Then suddenly a bright bluish light caught his attention, as Khrell anxiously looked towards the light, he recognized one of the marines who had made a mockery of him earlier on the day, but now shooting bright blue lightning from his fingertips. Khrell was astonished that a marine, who already possessed great power and prowess, could also be a psyker. While a simple guardsman only had average power and prowess, and the chance of them being a psyker and surviving long enough to use a psykers dreaded powers being close to none, Khrell envied the astartes even more then he did this morning. And now he was determined to become one of them...No matter the cost...He will be one of them some day......

Khrell reached for his laspistol in the finely made holster he found earlier today, almost officer worthy, that was the fine state it was in. He pulled the pistol in a gracious manner, and fired repeatedly at the joint with which the heavy bolter was attached to the ship. The joint was glowing red hot, looking like a small sun on itself. Khrell quickly pulled out a water bottle and threw the liquid over the joint. It cooled off that fast that it became very brittle, and Khrell gave one solid kick, and the joint broke. 

Khrell tried pulling the gun up, and it was almost too heavy to carry. He quickly placed it on a wall of wreckage, possible a part of the hull, and loaded the gun in a almost mechanical way. He didn't even look at the gun whilst doing it, he only looked at the gaunts dashing out of the tree line. Khrell began tracking one, and followed it's every movement until Khrell could predict it's path and took this advantage when he shot. The shot hit home and blowed off the gaunts head in a gout of pure blood and gore....


----------



## FORTHELION

This was too easy thought Belial as he cleaned up the scraps after Arx, then suddenly out of nowhere came a group of gaunts thundering into him and knocking him too the ground, quickly scrambling to his feet he stood up and was immediately hit from the right with a series of spike like projectiles, "thank the emperor" none seemed to penetrate his sacred armour.

Looking around he could not see the rest of his battle brothers they must have kept moving he thought, hopefully they would reach Sotha in time. "Emperor protect them".

Belial then turned to face the monstrocities that had attacked him, there was too many to count. If i fall here then i will take as many of you as i can, and shall join the emperor by his side for the final battle. lifting his bolt pistol he started firing at the gaunts closest to him and charged forward with his chainsaw also roaring to life, with a feral scream he roared "for the Emperor and Sotha" and charged..........


----------



## Euphrati

_A dozen heartbeats._

That was all it took to break through the chitin-clad forms and into the jade depths of the forest, a dozen heartbeats that Sotha lay bleeding out his lifeforce into the dejected soil of this world. Vines and leaves pattered off Niko’s armoured from as he increased his stride as much as the forest let him, following the path of Tobias as he cut his way through the undergowth and leaping moss covered roots without thought other than to get to Brig’s position without pause.

A flash of golden yellow out the periphery of his vision let Niko know that at least one other brother was with him; the towering form of Arx was cutting a swath through the forest like an angered Grox in full charge. Niko swallowed the desire to cast his vision back over his shoulder as lances of light erupted from the forest behind him. He whispered a prayer to the Emperor to watch over his brothers and pressed onwards. Sotha must not perish; Niko fought the urge to curse the fates that his Lord’s life, and possibly the very future of the chapter, had been placed in his young hands.

The oath paper attached to his shoulder fluttered with the might of his stride, the edges tattered where branches had raked across the parchment yet the tight scroll of his pen was still perceptible under the spray of ichor that had discoloured the pale surface. _Res, non verba ad victoriam_; the simple phrase drove new strength into Niko’s limbs for it was through his very actions that victory was held in balance.

The sharp sound of las fire and the deeper growl of bolters announced the presence of sergeant Brig’s convoy. Niko burst through the tree line and into a clearing, partially natural and partially made from the battle that continued to rage at its heart. Vermilion bolts of las fire licked at the leaping beasts, searing chitin and foliage with equal abandon. The screams of men were met by the shrieks of xenos as guardsmen fought the tide side to side by his brother Scythes. 

Brig’s voice carried above the melee; defiant tones directing his men and the guardsmen with a practiced hand, yet Niko felt his hearts seize at the sight of black and gold armoured forms amidst the mass of tyranid bodies. Valuable lives had been lost today, lives that were in desperate short supply. Niko gave an involuntary cry, partially fueled by immeasurable anger and partially of sorrow for those who had fallen. He silently begged forgiveness of his lost brothers, knowing they would understand why he could not spare the moment to enact the final rites upon their sacrifices.

Just as he turned to make his way to Brig’s position; forms flitted through the smoke and haze of battle, bounding over the crashed vehicle and moving to intercept the course set by Tobias. A massive warrior xenos, gruesome wings flexing to carry its bulk and throat bellowing an ear-splitting cry, slammed down before the onrushing hoard. Niko sidestepped the slashing talons as Tobias let fly from his weapon and tore two of the gaunts from the air. Seven of the beast remained as Arx seemed to gain the attention of the warrior-beast, the power of his massive chainblade backed by the burning flame of his faith more than a match for the filth of the alien.

Niko met the charging xenos head on, his chainsword roaring as he brought it across his body in a flat cut. Limbs and talons parted, flopping to the churned up ground only to be crushed under his boots. His bolt pistol bucked in his grip, firing nearly point blank into the gaping mouth of one beast before Niko whipped it around to crush the skull of another. Raising his voice over the fray, he called out to Brig,

‘*Sergeant*! I need that transport clear _now_!’ 

Niko kneed a leaping gaunt to the ground before stamping down on its neck with a satisfying crunch of bone.


----------



## deathbringer

They struggled towards me, groping in the dark, blind and confused, the bastards in black armour, no elegance no grace, brute force that had slashed through my children snatching victory from my aws and tearing it apart before my eyes.... well I would tear them apart, scythe them in two and force them to grovel before me.... one by pne I would crush the snivelling astartes once more. 

It was a festering hatred that boiled over spilling into the link i shared with my children, morphing my own thoughts into vivid hues of red and black, that surrounded and entombed, swallowing the power armoured forms in the depths of their fury. Each streak of lurid irate red morphed with the cold dank rage of the blacks to portray my spiteful passion and there were snarls from my ravenors as they leapt forward. Claws scything, muscles snapping, a pell mell typhoon of deadly intent that fell upon there opponents.

It was a spectacular burst of flowing colours, vivid, seeping through my mind, a pellmell of blues and greens, tinted with bursting flares of yellow and orange wreathing the image of an astartes a deep gash in his chest and blood spilling over the claws of the ravenor... a scythe... a scythe.

A sudden jolt wreathed me in ecstacy once more and I felt a daemonic noise echoing around my ears.... this was not just a scythe.... the best scythe... mercy be... there best was wounded and dying... a second burst of echoing roars of pleasure.

It was to perfect... their finest laid low... oh such sweet bliss... the fall was inevitable... and now they were headless... a beast without mind... floundering desperately... for what would his children be without him... nothing... animals, leaderless and lost. Now he would break them... smash them down and crush this puny planet... no longer would he flee from planet to planet... this planet would bend before him and he would devour them... everyone of them...every piece of this word would feel his wroth for the scythes insolence.


A sudden shock... the beating hearts of the scythe below the ravenors claw... the whoreson still breathed... frantic desperation... attack overwhelm the scythes and kill... kill the leader. Gaunts... my remaining forces flooded forwards yet as they surged they were locked... locked as the remaining scythes pushed towards there commander


Now... frustration... the puny bastard.... i could crush the life from his body with one claw... yet I lay here.. useless and weakened... gaunts falling pained spasms racking my bodhy, as gaunts are torn from my mind... ther conciousness severed away..our bond shredded by the bullets of scythes.... fury enveloping me... bringing me through the pain... a boiling rage lingering and souring... building within me... I will kill them all... hatred

Welling emotions, once again the nagging thoughts of independent minds pull my attention and I turn my attention to the lictors... scents of my hatred cowls them and I feel there independence quiver... a tremor of doubt in their minds... their demands becoming grudging requests

_Where shall we go... let us pursue continue our destruction_

Temptation... strong and burning.. I want them to pay for their disobediance... the slimy bastards... yet I have nothing for them to do... I feel there minds burning inside my own mind... bright sharp.. almost... could it be... are they independent... a feeling... worry... do they need me

a sudden jerk of the mind... I will be forced to fight them before the end... assert my dominance once more... a small snarl curls my lips

Pursue them... do not fail... the price is death...


----------



## Concrete Hero

Like the heart of a burning star, his Wrath carried him through the forest, trampling those Gaunts who would dare stand between him and their Commander. They broke against him like a tide, frail forms snapping under his furious charge as the chain-sabre drowned out all the noise around him. He couldn't remember when he'd last heard the ionising hiss of the Lascannon, but there was no time to worry about this now.

He caught the flicker of Golden yellow bands off to his left, filtering through the vegetation. And before he could register his location, they were away, no more Gaunts tried to impede their progress. Though the relative silence was quickly shattered once more by the sound of gunfire and fighting. He burst through the trees into a clearing seemingly the same time as Brother Niko, he caught sight of the warrior a little to his left. Tobias quickly followed, dragging his form free of the tangling plants.

Of the others, there was no sign. Arx felt a deep pang of regret, but knew they had picked the correct course of action. He had Faith in the abilities of their Brothers. The sinking feeling was quickly replaced by something much more volatile as he saw the bodies of his Brothers littering the battlefield, crumbled against the rhinos while Astartes and Guardsmen fought around them. Arx was about to kick back into a run and join the fray when a sickly creature descended in front of a carpet of Gaunts, falling from the air on thick leathery wings. A Tyranid Warrior, lesser commanders of the bastard Tyranids. The grotesque being opened its distended maw and shrieked into the air. The imposing creature locked its empty eyes with his and shifted position.

Arx didn't wait for any kind of second chance and burst into a sprint, kicking up the earth with his powerful strides. A Volcanic passion burned within him, the light of the Emperor cleared his mind and focused his rage so he could act with merciless precision. He held his ChainClaymore in both hands and roared a challenge to the Warrior, the amplifiers in his helmet sending the cry booming across the battle.

'_*None can withstand our Faith!!*_'

The warrior was quick to respond, blindingly fast for a creature so large... Though it would need to be faster. Its left talon shot forwards, intending to skewer him. Arx twisted his body and narrowly avoided the strike, twisting with the attack to his right. He brought the Chainsword up with all his might and the teeth bit deeply into the base joint of the limb, sending a brief spurt of viscera, blood and chitin from the contact before the limb was torn free in a shower of dark liquid. The creature didn't seem to care, driven under the mental lashes of its master it knew n pain. Arx didn't give it time to react however, and took advantage of his position. He drove his elbow into the face of the warrior with blinding speed. He felt both the Exo and the Endoskeleton of the creature fracture under the blow before the creature stumbled back. The creature tried to level some sort of weapon made up of its lower limbs, but Arx, powered by fury and firmly set into a combat trance, was faster. He dived into the creature, holding his sword out horizontally before him in on hand. The other grabbed into the ribbed torso of the beast and attempted to yank the creature forward as the spinning teeth of the blade pressed against the Tyranid Warrior. The monster resisted his pull for the most part as its lashed about, its strength was abominable. The coverage of the Chainsword chewed apart the bio-weapon and most of either of the holding arms,

Each heartbeat felt like an hour, the actions of his surrounding Brothers barely registered as real despite being surrounded by a swirling battle. Arx kicked away the Warrior with a powerful heel strike to its abdomen, he himself caught a scathing strike to one of his oversized shoulderguards by the remaining talon, no time to check for damage, he jumped forwards once more. A upward strike shredded one of its wing limbs to shreds, the membrane may have been sturdy enough to keep the creature aloft, but it could do little to resist the murderous spinning blades. It took less than seconds to reduce the wing to a crumpled mess of its former self, a useless limb dragging a canvas of shredded skin.

Arx didn't skip a beat, he brought the blade down from its upward position with the same irresistible force, what started as a parry against an incoming scythe strike ended up shearing the limb clean off at the halfway point. He tilted the point of the sword forwards and bulldozed into the Warrior, lending all of his power and weight to the strike. He felt the tip puncture through the armoured shell of the beast as it fell backwards, Arx fell with the creature and landed above it, his left had shot up to clamp around the neck of the beast as its snapping maw hungered for his face.

He twisted the blade inside the creature, it chewed apart the soft innards without challenge. The creature still snapped for him, though its movements quickly became little more than reflex spasms. The creature finally became still, Arx hefted his body from the mess, and with one boot on the chest of the beast, dragged his sword free. 

His twin hearts pounded in his hears, his breathing was deep and frequent. Tyranid blood drenched his Black and Gold form. He offered the beast one final look of contempt before crushing its skull under the black meteor of his foot. The whole confrontation had lasted but a handful of moments.

His Crusader helm snapped back to attention and he swiped the Meltagun from his hip, looking for the next challenge and making sure Tobias and Niko were still alive.


----------



## darkreever

Seeing the new wave of creatures spilling out from everywhere, Rikard couldn't help but curse aloud. _"Never an easy day, if its not one monster its a whole sea of them."_ Bringing his lasgun against his shoulder, Rikard fired into the nearest of the 'nids before he noticed the Kid Khrell. _"Kid don't waste your time with that, its a heavy bolter not a lasgun; single shots don't work!"_ He yelled before being forced to jump back to avoid the return fire of these creatures.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Just as the two Ravenors were killed and Shadihm thought that they were going to be ok a wave of bugs stormed from the treeline. He had to admit he felt safer that this marine with lightning was with them but did not want to be around him in case some random spark flew off and hit him....that would not be fun.

Cursing as he backed up to the Valkyrie and crouched next to Khrell he fired into the mass of bugs over and over again.


----------



## unxpekted22

Astelan:

They dont stop coming, like a pouring rain the fiercest aliens the galaxy has ever known race to finish off their prize...as if they too know the worth of your lord Sotha's life... 

The energy around you slowly seems to become more filled, shaping itself into a more definite state. The energy equalizes out creating an even sphere all around you and Sotha.

You see the ranged biological ammunition strike this wall of energy and come to a halt. Bioplasma hits and dissipates, and borer beetles either disintegrate or fall to the ground dead. Your shield seems unable to stop the full forms of the tyranids from entering though. The lightning around your gauntlet seems to have disappeared. You still have your bolter and chainsword however. Use them in unison and slay every gaunt that makes its way through the shield; with righteous fury.

Guard:

Khrell runs back to the heavy bolter and some of you steer away from getting any closer to the astartes. The four of you then, all back into the crashed hull of the aircraft.

You notice the energy in the air around the marine has become seemingly more solidified. You witness the ranged ammunition of the tyranids crashing against this shield and failing miserably. The tyranids are still able to run through this barrier though, but are quickly slain by the marine as they do so. He is protecting the wounded one, his commander. Do they all have this kind of power if needed?

Though you now realize the protection you may have gained from being inside the marine's transparent barrier, you also see how easily four of you could have gotten in the way of his massive swings and close range bolter fire.

Fortunately for you all, the tyranids only seem interested in bringing the space marine down, though many will be trying to pass through your position to get to him, and wont hesitate to chomp through your bodies on the way.

back each other up the best you can. Now might be a good time for one of you to really take charge.

Vick:

Once back on board the chimera, you may or may not feel confident that your plan worked. Your chimera drives behind the one with a heavy flamer turret as they begin to circle the block. The don't get far before the gunner yells something, exclaiming he only thinks he saw some movement but cannot find it again. The chimera revs its engine once again to move on around the roadway. Just around the first turn, feeling your insides shift with the momentum of the turning vehicle, the soldier manning the las-turret is suddenly pulled violently out of the roof hatch without a single sound. 

Jole notices just as well as the rest of you, he stands up in the moving vehicle and shouts, "What in the _Hell_?!...Stop this vehicle!" he commands punching his metal fist into the wall just above the head of one of another guardsman. He activates the ramp and jumps out as it opens looking around. the rest of you all march out as well, and find that the turret manning guardsman is no where to be found, no signs of his body or even any blood.

"Looks like we missed 'em." states Jole looking around the cityscape, 'Damn buggers can hide."

As you look in the opposite direction, One of the Lictors practically drops from the sky, landing directly on the Chimera you just exited, half collapsing its armored hull. It looks at your squad and lets out a gargled roar through its tendril filled maw.

Before you can fire your hellgun, you feel the iron hands of Sergeant Jole lift you into the air and throw you an impressive distance. You still manage to land on your feet and hear him yelling, "Run for that cover boys! Move it move it move it!

Ahead of you a fair distance is a construction sight, it is near where you found the destroyed hell hound earlier. Tons of good looking cover. As you run alongside several more bionic guardsmen of your squad, a heavy and extremely fast impact crashes next to you causing you to fall and tumble. In your roll you only see a flash of the colors and form of the second lictor collide with the forms of two of your comrades before leaping away again. You get back to your feet and start sprinting to the construction sight again. There are several short walls made of brick and rockrete, iron bars, steel support beams, heavy bag piles of mortar, and plenty of large dirt and rock piles ti jump behind. Get into cover with the rest of your remaining squad and aim your weapons toward the chimeras across the street. 

Lictor is trying to get around the other chimera's flame, as its squad exits and makes a run toward the construction site as well. The other is dueling with sergeant Jole, who you can still hear yelling even from this distance, his voice echoing off the partially built structures, using his bionics to their full potential amazingly dodging the lictors strikes and firing into it with his pistol.

the lictor dodging the flame turret decides to go for the squad running for cover. Time to make a suggestion, or rather a command, once more. You and four others behind cover have hellguns, two others still carry las-rifles. With this firepower you will only be able to stop one of the lictors and only if all the fire is concentrated on one of them. Have your squad Support either sergeant Jole or the running group of guardsmen. Jole is one man, but he is more experienced, and higher ranking. The squad has ten men, and would save more bodies and guns. technically you have no right to give the rest of these men a command, so you better be convincing or the fire will be split amongst the targets and they will all die.

Scythes of the Emperor:

Niko and Arx:

You both make your way through the opposition; Niko running behind Tobias and Arx catching up. 

Yelling orders still, with helmet off causing some of the sun's rays to gleam some off of his shaven bald head. He catches the three of you sprinting toward his position.

he pushes forward past Brother Ryan and yells over the gunfire, "Come on brothers! We need to get you out of here now!" he then turns around to face Brother Christeph who is still blasting away with the storm bolter turret at enemies on the other side of the rhino, "Christeph!....Christeph!" still firing the storm bolter and not turning around Christeph yells back "yes sir!"

As you reach his position Tobias does not say anything and begins firing at tyranid forms to the right while he waits for Brig.

"Tobias is here, get on the wheel!!" Yells Brig, finishing his order to Christeph. He turns and asks tobias, "Wheres the rest of your squad!?"

Tobias: "They fell behind! we had no choice brother!" to which another short burst of his bolter fire followed.

Brig: "Well take what you've got and get in the rhino! Ryan, get in there with them! Move it!"

Brother Ryan lowers his bolter and swoops back into the rhino. Christeph has ducked back inside from the roof as well and gone to the driver's seat. As the three of you go to enter you hear Brother Grahm yell to Brig and see him come from out of the swirling melee occurring in the lush vegetation just behind him slumping in his step as if exhausted, "Sir!" Brig turns around, Grahm breathing heavily under his MKVII helmet continues, "These tyranids sir...The warriors... they've never fought like this before!"

Indicating the other squads involved in the melee may need new orders soon or air support despite the damage it could cause them. Brig gets one sound out of his large throat before one of these tyranid warriors busts out of the overgrown bushes behind Grahm, stabbing a long talon all the way through his midsection, covering the already red talon in a deeper tone of blood. Grahm yells in pain and drops his bolter in the shock as his body is lifted into the air.

Brig can only yell his booming dissent. Brother Zurich charges his plasma canon but halts his fire, still unwilling to fire into Grahm.

The warrior screams a double toned shriek of victory as the gargled sounds of brother Grahm choking on his own blood beneath his helm resonates within your super human ears over the vox. The Tyranid's lash whips take grip of grahms left arm as the creature spits acid from its maw, covering Grahm's power back in a green sizzling boil. The lash whips pull his arm clear off as Tobias hesitates no further and begins firing at the creature's legs and sides. Several guardsmen leap out of the brush and begin firing at it from behind to get its attention.

The warrior throws Grahm to the ground and spins to meet the guardsmen. The second it does this you hear the energies of Zurick's plasma canon activate, and watch as a huge blast of plasma smashes into the alien's back side leaving a smoldering corpse.

Brig rushes over to Grahm's body, "Brother!!", falls to his knees and rips Grahm's helemt off in one motion. With tears welling up in his eyes he cries out, "Oh Emperor! Have you truly forsaken us!?" He bends over and puts his forehead against Brother grahm's lifeless, blood strewn face. 

"Tobias go!! We will do what we must, you must find Sotha! even if it is already too late!" yells Brig with an unnervingly shaky voice.

Niko: Brother Ryan's hands grab your shoulders and pull you into the darkness of the rhino. He directs you forward toward the pilot, Christeph, who says to you, "You have to tell me where to go Niko! You have Astelan's signal on your HUD right?!" (you do but it is certainly an odd one. The closer you get, the clearer his direction will become. It is clearer which way this is already now that your speeding through the forest in the rhino. He is to the northwest of you but Christeph will be avoiding trees and such)

Behind you, you hear the ramp door get torn off the hull and see Ryan, Tobias and Arx standing at the opening firing into a flashing tide of tyranid forms running through the jungle after you, particularly a Ravener who is quickly catching up. 

Arx: Tobias turns and lightly hits you in the chest to get you to turn around and enter the rhino. As you do so, the rhino begins speeding away before its ramp has finished closing, the figure of Brig weeping over Grahm moving further and further away from you. 

As brush blocks this view entirely, the ramp makes you jump some as it suddenly flies off with a large crashing noise. You watch it flop around as it violently skips over the ground kicking up dirt and falling away from view. You look at brother Ryan who looks back just as confused. You then see hordes of gaunts racing through the jungle after you, but more importantly a Ravener comes rushing out of the brush from where you had watched the ramp disappear. It is quickly catching up to you, slithering over the ground and difficult terrain with amazing speed.

Brother Ryan looks back toward Niko and Christeph, "Faster!! a Ravener chases us!"

Brother Ryan has his bolter and tells you he is out of grenades, Tobias steps forward as well with his own bolter. With the rhino shaking as muc as it is moving over this dense jungle terrain, their fire doesnt do much good; but they persist. When the Ravener catches up, your melta gun will cause it to fall back momentarily. Until it is close enough, do what you can to help stop any leaping gaunts from getting inside....and try not to swing your claymore into your brothers. At the very start of your first post the ravener will be right up to the rhino.

the two of you's posts will reflect eachother. Niko, since Astelan is northeast, you will have to direct a turn or more at some point, as you are currently headed east. If you turn at the wrong time, it may cause Arx to miss the continually approaching ravener. Arx then, you must adjust to any directional changes the rhino makes. If it does not make a sharp turn, making several narrow turns instead, it will allow for more leaping hormagaunts to make it inside the vehicle.

Solaki and Belial:

Belial nearly overwhelmed by the tyranids and thinking he is alone in falling behind the others, is soon saved from death by Solaki as a white hot beam of death flies over head, before He jumps next to you and swings his blade wildly in the gaunts remaining near.

Finish off these gaunts, then make your way after your brothers towards Brig's position. when you get there you will find Tobias, Niko, and Arx already gone with one of the two rhinos that were there. You will find Sergeant Brig, who you have always known to be one of the strongest willed brothers in the chapter, holding Grahm's dead body on the ground with Zurick watching over him in the clearing with his plasma canon. To the right in the denseness of the jungle is a melee battle. You spot a large warrior causing problems. Catch it off guard whether it goes for your allies on foot or your two brothers behind it in a chimera, and kill it (this relates to the tyrant's update, last section. it will only go to either the troops on foot or the chimera. _You should post once about getting to the battle, and again to kill this warrior once deathbringer has posted decided which target it takes_.)



Tyrant:

the marine protecting your prize, there is something special about him. He shields your childrens' ranged attacks and slaughters them as they enter his dome of protection. You have no other types of offspring to send at him currently. He killed the other two raveners you had there. back off from him and find another way to secure your prize? Or keep the pressure full on until you can free up others?

a tide of your children chase a marine vehicle heading in the wounded marine leader's position. A ravener is among them. if at any time you wish for the ravener or the gaunts to back off it will happen. However you know they go toward their fallen leader, so if they persist in chasing the rhino they could follow it all the way and be the back up you are looking for to finish off your prize.

The battle with two full squads plus brothers Brig and Zurick rages on. Take control of the warriors at your whim. One of them you were just controlling specifically killed one of the marines in front of several others. To your dismay you lost this child as it could not resist the stinging sensation of las-gun rounds rattling its backside. It foolishly turned around and you instantly lost your vision through its eyes.

Your main warrior is with the rest of the melee still. Conquer its mind once again and take control. their are 10 scythes of the emperor in the combat on foot amongst many more guardsmen, two more scythes drive behind "you" in an imperial guard vehicle, flanking your forces as one of them mans a heavy las-turret. As the warrior, you can choose to charge back into the melee and use your higher intelligence and faster reflexes to attack the enemies on foot, or you can aim your prized warrior at the chimera. If you charge those on foot you can kill as many guardsmen as you like, but only up to two scythes of the emperor. If you turn to face the vehicle you may destroy it along with the two scythes operating it. one being inside driving and one on the turret.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki whipped round his combat blade catching another gaunt in the face and sending ichor, chitin and brain matter over the area, small dots landing on his now drenched armour. The gaunts numbers were waning, but him and Belial couldn't relax now. Four gaunts approached him, challenging him to take them all on. He accepted with gladness. The one at the back was larger than the others and seemed to send them forwards, confident that they could handle this lone Astartes. They would soon be proven wrong. One never even mad it to him, his face smashed in by a bolt shell. One dived at him, but Solaki side-stepped it. However he was then off balance and the other one knocked him to the floor. They duo wrestled for a moment, Solaki's arms pinned close to his chest with only his fore-arms being used, and those were fighting against the gaunt's own arms. The gaunt likewise was trying to ravage Solaki's face, but Solaki was keeping him at bay. After a brief struggle, Solaki's astartes body over-powered the gaunt and snapped it's arms back. It's only real source offensive weaponry gone, Solaki launched his skull forwards and burst his skull like a ripe fruit. Standing up, the third one approached and jumped at him again, but strengthened by rage and honour, he wasn't going to be floored again. Snatching the gaunt out of the air, he placed his hand at the base of it's skull and one about halfway down it's spine, and pulled. The gaunts spine came out of it's body like a sword out of a sheath. Now he had one last opponent, the leader of the brood. Still holding the gaunts spine, Solaki dared the monster opposite him to face him. The two starred at each other over the unconquerable distance between them, and then meet in no-mans land. The gaunt attacked with the speed and ferocity of the Hive Mind itself, but Solaki fought for the Emperor of mankind, for their Primarch, and every single battle brother that was lost to the tyranids. They hit each other head on, but Solaki's weight and speed, he pushed the gaunt back. It snapped and clawed and screeched at Solaki, but it didn't matter. Solaki was a bulwark fortress of faith and purity, and he would prevail! Wrapping the spine of the gaunt, which was still drenched in ichor, around the creatures waist and then pushed outwards with his foot. The spine holding true, the gaunt came apart at the waist. Standing triumphant over the xeno's scum, Solaki turned back to see if Belial was free to leave...

(OCC I'm waiting for FORTHELION to post before I move on to fighting the warrior)


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx was the last to enter the back of the rhino, Tyranid blood still dripping from his drenched frame. He grabbed an overhead restraint as he turned to look out of the open hatch. A great sadness washed over him as the mourning form of Brig centred in his vision. He didn't wish to see the great warrior in such a state, brought so unexpectedly low in such a dark hour. Their times truly were testing. Arx steeled himself, feeling resolute, he would remain faithful to their cause, no matter the darkness.

With a low rumble, the Rhino sped into action, driving away before even the ramp could close. As the metal plate reached its height, the rhino jerked and shuddered. Arx tightening his grip on the harnesses overhead as they bounced momentarily. The shock of their jolt, or some other unfortunate event, caused the ramp of the rhino to fly straight from the back of the vehicle. The escaping hatching bounced and spun along the earth, quickly getting lost in the rapidly thickening undergrowth.

A moment of confused silence was shared between Arx and Ryan as they saw the final glimpses of their shutter shrink away.

'_Well..._'

But the sentence was never finished, with no warning a teething mass of Tyranid Gaunts of various persuasions burst from the bushes before them. He dreaded to think of the fate of his Brothers if such a number were right behind them...

Both Arx and Ryan tensed at the sight of the Gaunts and further still when the snaking form of a Ravener sped ahead of the group, closing the distance between them in seconds.
It resembled the Warrior he had slain before in so many ways. The same deadly build except a snapping segmented tail instead of legs. The same look of an intelligent predator in its eyes. The same feeling of utter loathing...

Either side of him Tobias and Ryan crouched and fired their bolters into the approaching tide. Though the jerky movements of the rhino weren't helping their accuracy...

And neither was the journey. The Rhino seemed to be seeking out every available root and rock to barrel over, making for quite a turbulent ride. If that wasn't enough, the branches of the trees would snap over the open whole more than often, either slumping over or snapping to snatch at the Marines in the gap. The forest certainly wasn't making it easy for them...

The Ravener was surprisingly close now, a few metres at most. Almost on impulse, Arx snapped up the Melta gun while holding himself steady on the harness. He squeezed the trigger tight and the familar roar of the weapon drowned out all surrounding noise, joined by a blinding flash.


----------



## Necrosis

Vick was having some uneasy feelings. His squad had found no bodies thus they had no confirmed kills. His feelings were further reinforce when gunner said he saw something. Then suddenly one of the soldiers just disappeared. Now Vick was confident that at least one of the lictors had survived. The ramp then opened up as Jole shouted orders. As they got out, their were no signs of their bodies or even any blood for that matter. This creeped the hell out of Vick. Never had he face such an opponent. Yet he kept his cool, if he could kill one of these creatures he would bring honor to his family name and his squad. Yet before he could finish the rest of his train of thought a Lictor dropped from above and landed on top of the Chimera that Vick had just exited. Vick began to raise his hell gun only to be thrown into the air by his own Sarge. Yet he still managed to land on his own two feet thanks to his bionically parts. Yet before he can even think what to do next the sarge bark more orders telling him to move to cover. Vick did as he was told without wasting a second. 

He took cover in a construction sight in a heavy bag piles of mortar. Yet now he saw something, in fact two things. This was a big problem. He had to make a tough choice. Save his sarge who was fighting the Lictor or the squad that was running away from the other one. Perhaps he should let the sarge die, if the sarge die he would take command. No that was wrong. That was a cowards way out. He needed to take command and save the sarge. Only with his leadership could they hope to survive. "The sarge saved us, so now it's our turn to repay the favor. Open fire on that xeno attacking the sarge. We need to focus fire. It's the only way those damn things will die. Now bring it down." said Vick as he opened fired on the Lictor that was attacking Sergent Jole. _"Die, Die, Die... you abomination."_ And then I shall have glory." thought Vick as he continued to fire.


----------



## deathbringer

Melee. a beautiful word... a beautiful picture... a graceful swooping dance where failure can only lead to death. My forces were split converging upon the wounded warrior and milling... a small buffer of organized chaos... preventing others from aiding their dying leader.

Oh to join them... i long .... i lust for battle... yet i cannot move... once again i am immobile... static... dead to the world.

A spiteful lash with my mind as I seize the mind of one of my warriors and enfuse my mind with his... merge them deeply. A scythe his back turned stands feet away as I move through the undergrowth, blood... the name Grahm resonates across my senses yet it is meaningless. he is just another beast to kill... more blood to add to the talon already stained with gore. 

Go... the warrior is my slave and he leaps forward...arm rasied and I place all my venomous hatred, all my angst behind his stroke and the cool power armour buckles and the talon erupts through the flesh, creating a huge gash in the centre of his chest and i relax my hold upon the creature and it jerks forward spitting acid upon the wound as its tentacles wrap round the marines arm and i feel a wave of savage pleasure as he wrenches it away. 

Bolt rounds slam into his legs and las rounds suddenly erupt in a hail upon his back and the creature snarl whirling in irritation, exposing his broad back and tossing away the corpse..... shit... the danger is evident...I reach for his mind a wave of dominance filled with frustration at such an amateur mistake... fool. A huge blast tears the warrior apart and his mind is torn away from my fumbling grip and my rage spikes

Bastards...I'll tear them all apart... upon my chest one of the swelling sacs twitches... so close... my rage is blinding unmatched unparelled yet one try to match me... cutting down a guardsman and i smile... my warrior. His rage and mine mesh as I take control of him once more and he succumbs easily to my dominance. I am still myself... I know who I am yet we are one are movements a combination of our will to kill, maim and feast, no struggle, his anger and mine melding into a graceful mass of flesh that leaves death in its wake.

A guardsman looses his head to my warriors graceful swing talons scything easily through the sinews of his neck whilst I drive his body forward punching out with his left hand... talons extended in a 3 pronged claw that severed 3 large holes in the guardsman's stomach that dripped blood as he slumped forward.

There was a screech of brakes as a vehicle barelled round the side, and the warrior paused as our wills battled, his desperate rage against my cold calculated cunning. He submitted to my will, seeing the sense and we pressed backwards through the mess of bodies as the chimera swept round and the gun began to buck the scythe on the top firing at the backs of duelling gaunts. Then he was afore us and the gun was blazing tearing up the ground around me as the vehicle bore towards us. An idea flashed in my brain and the warrior succumbed to my cunning as i tensed his muscles and leapt high into the air and the vehicle flashed underneath us. We dropped landing hard upon the back and staggered as we landed astride the chimera born backwards by the change in momentum. The gunner cursed and tried to bring the gun to bear, before realising the futility and attempting to duck back inside the vehicle yet we were on top of him in a flash and claws tore into his throat and bore him upwards out of the hatch. His legs kicked with the dying strength of a man who has no fear and nothing to loose and we watched.. head tilting to one side as the energy drained from his body

A violent swerve almost throw us off the yet it only succeeded in dislodging the gunner from our claws and he fell away into the undergrowth below. The driver swerved again and I staggered left tilting on the edge, only saved by another violent swerve that threw the warriors body flat onto the roof and the claws sank into the metal.

Hand over hand we clawed our way over the chimera's broad back till we reached the very back. Now we allow our body to hang as our taloned feet gripped the metal and I feel the warriors frantic desire to smash the door, tear it apart... yet my will holds him immobile and I take full control. His body is now mine, his raging mind small, puny and trapped in a tiny cornor of his brain. Nimble talons slip under the hatch and now i realease the rage, vent our anger upon the hatch at we level it open. A shrieking sound of rending metal scorches the air and the door topples and we slide inside. Its dark inside, a cavern, tiny and pokey, shadows flickering on the wall. Suddenly shots... wild and unaimed from the front of the vehicle and now I release the warriors mind and he rushes towards the muzzle flash... the scythe screams as our talons rend upon his armour and his bare head is torn by scratches, acid causing the wounds to rupture in agonized hives..

A tremble in the distance disturbs me as the scythes agonized screams ring in my ear... something is wrong.... the prize lives on... something is wrong


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial truely believed his time had come to join the emperor in the final battle untill a black and yellow blur flashed by him in a rage tearing apart gaunt. Solaki was still here.

Inspired by his fellow sythe Belial intensified his own attack, together they would deliver the emperors justice to these foul xenos. None shall stand in their way. Bolt pistol kicking in his hand and chainsword whirring in wide arcs, blood and ichor was spraying all over the place.

It wasnt long before the gaunts were quickly dispatched, looking over at Solaki he gave him a courtious nod. "Thank you my brother i owe you my life. Now we have got to keep moving and rejoin our squad. I do not trust Astelan and the longer he is alone with lord Sotha the more i fear for his well being. There is no time to loose our lords life hangs in the balance.


----------



## unxpekted22

Solaki and Belial, you have now reached the battlefield and see the large warrior that has broken through the chimera's roof and killed booth the scythes that were in it. As Its turned inside the Chimera, kill it and then support the rest of your brothers among the overgrowth. One of you can kill it much more easily than the other, the warrior being at a distance and having barriers on all its side but the one you face.

The other of one of you should not waste time, and move into the brush quickly to support the other squads.


----------



## dark angel

The Tyranids had always been a hateful enemy of Astelan. Since they had pulled the life from Sotha herself, he had longed to destroy them within the heat of battle. His mouth hurt, cuts marking his gums and lips, leaking a foul tasting blood that made him want to cut away his lower face. Suddenly he was not there no more.

_Astelan parried another blow from Brother Skia who let out a laugh from his lips, the handsome physique of his face contorting as he did so. His sparkling blue eyes pierced the soul of Astelan, causing him to spin on his heel and bring the wooden baton held in his right hand upwards, catching Skia in the chest and causing him to step backwards twice, a curse filtering through the gruff growl that was emitted. 

Skia was slightly older than Astelan, however both had been inducted from neighboring tribes and thus a great friendship was grown between the pair. Skia was tall and handsome, with a beautiful crafted body covered in bounds of muscle and tattoo’s inscribing the faith of the Emperor. Astelan, while handsome and with a body that spawned awe within the minds of lesser beings, did not have the intelligence or point blank tactics of Skia. 

Another rage filled blow struck Astelan in the shoulder, sending hot pain through his upper body, causing his neck to immediately stiffen. Astelan struck back right away, with a pair of blows to the gut and a knee to the ribs, causing Skia to step to the side and grunt loudly. Both slid away on the tips of their toes, wolfish grins upon their faces. 

Both had failed to notice, that upon a raised balcony above them stood Captain Julias Var, his mane of brown hair pulled into a topknot, his olive coloured eyes glowing gracefully in the dim lit area. He adorned a simple yellow robe with black edgings, his rather masculine body visible beneath it. Julius scratched his chin with two fingers, pushing the skin together and staring at the two combatants with clenched eyes. 

Skia made the first move after the momentarily pause, leaping forwards with his baton in both hands and raised above his head, his lower legs curled into his back, he licked the front of his top teeth along with part of his lips. Astelan grinned and brought it up striking Skia in the throat the flying Astartes tumbled to the ground in a crumpled heap, clutching his neck tightly. Astelan threw his baton down, and offered a hand. Above them, Julias Var smiled and slipped into the shadows._

Astelan was suddenly back upon Ferim, the buzz of the shield around him tingled his ears as Flesh Borer Beetles struck the protective dome, their hides bubbling and crackling before collapsing upon the ground, appendages still twitching in a almost playful mode. Other, biological rounds that struck the barrier simple ceased to exist, disappearing totally as if they had never existed. The first Tyranid stepped through the barrier, its head swinging back and forth. And charged. 

_Skia howled as he threw himself into battle, his Chainsword and Bolt Pistol firing and swinging in great twirls and roars. His Chainsword connected with the forearm of a Ork, pulling it away in a spurt of blood across the hot, desert floor. The Beast reeled and roared, raising the Choppa in its good hand, it brought it down towards the head of Skia who moved to the side, kicking up sand into the eyes of a Ork who had charged from the side and causing it to step backwards.

The Scythe pushed the nose of his Bolt Pistol into the Orks ribs and fired, sending the entire entrails splattering in all directions. The second of the Green Skins was now shaking away the sand from its face, crude chain mail armour clanking and clicking. Skia fired twice, taking away the upper head and lower left leg of the Ork and sending it toppling upon his back. 

Astelan suddenly rocketed past, shoulder barging the first Ork he came to in the throat, crushing it with a withered yelp. Within a second, he had took away the legs of the creature with his Chainsword, the torso falling to the ground as it struggled to breath through a crushed wind pipe. Skia and Brother Gregor were amongst them now, Gregor firing his Bolter at the hip with great flashes while Skia struggled with those that slipped through, Chainsword cutting away limbs and devouring flesh. 

Julias Var was leading a elite spear head of Assault Marines in the not to far distance, his Thunder Hammer swinging as his Jump Pack pushed him further through the enemy ranks towards the giant Warboss ahead. The Beast of Rhywdel as it was known stood in the very centre of the several thousand strong horde, its pair of giant tusks almost covering its small red, piggy eyes. The three Assault Squads, along with Var were now only a few metres away. 

The Beast of Rhywdel lifted a giant curved blade and roared, spittle flying from its wide mouth. Julias Var launched himself forwards. With one swift movement, both Marine and Ork met. Thunder Hammer and crude blade struck, sending sparks and small shards of metal in all directions as the Ork punched twice, striking the barrel like chest of Var. 

It gripped his helm and swung the Captain around, striking him against a pair of Assault Marines who had tried to help their leader and sending them flying end over end. The helm popped, and Var was sent flying free. He landed hard, bouncing twice in the sand and sliding for a few feet while his Thunder Hammer went wide, into the Ork Horde. 

The Beast of Rhywdel charged. Var, struggling upon the sand as Orks hit their Choppa’s and other mismatched weapons down upon him, reached towards his side and wrestled with the holster of his Plasma Pistol. The Beast got five feet away before Var managed to fire. The Beast of Rhywdel simple disappeared in a blinding blue light, its after image of a screaming Ork, writhing in pain remained even after its body did not. 

Astelan and Skia, with Gregor bringing up the rear reached Var first, forming a protective triangle around him and began to chatter away with their weapons as Julias Var pulled himself to his feet, his armour smoking and scorched and drew a short sword from over his shoulder. With that he leapt back into the fray. _

Astelan snapped back into reality, his Bolter was empty and smoking, a dozen dead Tyranids laid nearby with smoking holes right through them, leaking a strange collection of hard, sealed chambers and ooze like orange blood. Several more Tyranids were pushing through the barrier, screaming and howling as they did so and baring long, blood dotted fangs. 

_The room was dark and dim lit. a single candle sat within the centre, upon a raised platform that illuminated the Codex Astartes below it. Three unmoving figures stood at once side, in yellow and black robes that fell from their bodies like a waterfall from a cliff face. Their heads were obscured beneath dark hoods, their hands crossed within their sleeves. At the other side, kneeling before a statue of the Emperor was a hero. 

Julius Var, his hair cut short after being burnt at Rhywdel stood slowly and turned, walking towards the candle he cupped his hands over it and said “You rushed to protect me my Sons, and you did so. I am thankful of this, and thus am honour bound to serve you. However as I am sure you will realise, I cannot do such a thing”. 

The three Marines did not move, instead looking at their feet. Var looked at them and continued “I cannot give you riches or glory, that is for you to earn. However I can give you my word, that while I still rule the Third, your names will not be forgotten. Chaplain Thando and Librarian Brigg have each etched one of your names upon their chests, I shall do the same.” 

With that, all three Marines spun, the doors before them opened wide and they strode out, behind them Julius Var cut the name of Skia above his heart, blood dripping from the tip of the ceremonial blade. _

Astelan was once again back upon the blood drenched soil of Ferim, his Chainsword swinging into the beasts that surrounded him as armour was bit and clawed at, beasts died at his blade but they did not seem to think beneath him. He rose his free hand to his Vox while still swinging, kicking them away from Sotha, thus keeping him free and roared “Scythes! Hurry Brother’s, we are in great need!” without thinking, he leapt forwards, pinning down several Tyranids and started to cut.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko felt a cry of anguish rip itself from his throat as Grahm’s life was snuffed out right before them all, a coldly logical portion of his mind noting the exact organs that the xenos’s talons had destroyed within the body of his fellow Scythe. Hands like iron vices closed around his shoulders before he could take a step in the direction of the fallen astartes, Brother Ryan spun him back towards the waiting Rhino and ushering him into the dark of its hold. 

His breathing sounded very loud in the confines of his helm, almost suffocating, as Niko fought to control his body’s reaction to the unfolding events. The floor bucked as the Rhino slewed around, engine roaring like a beast torn from ancient mythos. Niko pressed forward, ducking his head to gain access to the driver’s compartment where Christeph was wrestling with the controls. Christeph spoke quickly, never taking his eyes off the vines and trunks that rushed past the armoured view ports as Niko slipped into the co-pilot’s chair.

Niko’s eye went to the flashing bio-sign of Astelan projected in the corner of his vision, the readings were fluctuating wildly but the direction remained constant,

‘Bring us thirty five degrees to the left, brother, approximately northwest of our current heading! I will be able to narrow it down the closer we get to the target.’

With that Niko began checking the many pouches at his waist, focusing on the task to clear his thoughts. As he did so a recent memory uncoiled from the spirals of emotion and his mind replayed the fragment in an eyeblink. 

---

_‘You required my presence, Brother-Apothecary?’ _

Niko stepped into the dimly lit medical bay; noting the form draped in a white sheet, illuminated by a harsh shaft of light from a single armature, on the examination table before Alexander. The summons had come in the middle of Niko’s allotted sleep cycle, yet he had come to expect Alexander’s requests for his presence at odd hours and suspected that it was part of Alexander’s way of preparing him for the responsibilities that wearing the white demanded. 

The Apothecary was clad in a simple white robe, his dusky skin in stark contrast to the crisp folds. Alexander’s gleaming wargear could be found in the corner of the apothecarium upon its personalized stand like a taciturn sentinel, the bulky shape of the narthecium cast in the blue shadows of the dimed lighting. 

Without a word Alexander reached out and flicked the sheet off the table, the white fabric fluttering to the floor and exposing the body hidden underneath its folds. Waxen skin and the puckered flesh of wounds greeted Niko’s gaze. The astartes had suffered massive trauma to his chest and torso, ruptured organs and shattered bone gleamed from the gaping holes in the corpse’s from. Yet, it wasn’t those wounds that called his attention, but the single puncture at the temple of the skull that drew Niko’s eye like a needle to a lodestone. The wound was perfect and clean, Niko knew without a doubt what had made that killing blow. He was suddenly aware of Alexander’s sharp gaze, judging his reactions. It was a long moment before the Apothecary spoke,

_‘You have been an extraordinary pupil, Niko,’ _

Alexander’s voice was surprisingly soft in the echoing silence of the room, 

_‘However, there are some lessons that I cannot prepare you for. Some that you will have to learn for yourself,’_

The Apothecary gestured for him to step closer and Niko took his place at the table; his eyes upon Alexander who, in turn, was contemplating the body,

_‘There will be a time when nothing can be done to mend the body of one of your brothers; when even the advanced anatomy of the Astartes, shaped by the hand of the Emperor himself, will fail. Though it is an honour beyond all others to stand witness to moment that a warrior joins the ranks of the eternal, it will not seem that way when the time comes. It is one of the heaviest weights that we bear, brother, and I can only pray that you will find strength in my teachings when that day comes to pass.’_

Alexander turned and raised his hand to place it upon Niko’s shoulder. Even through the golden tunic he wore, the warmth of the Apothicary’s touch was evident and contrasted sharply with the controlled atmosphere of the room,

_‘Now, go. Meditate upon this,’_ Alexander turned back to the fallen brother and picked up a delicate looking scalpel from a small tray set beside the head of the slab, 

_‘I will be expecting you back at your normal schedule to continue your studies relating to the glandular systems.’_

----

The apothecarium faded away as he turned, replaced by the angular walls of the interior of the Rhino. Niko was forced to reach for the restraint harness as the Rhino bucked wildly, Christeph choosing to simply drive over a fallen log instead of taking the time to cut around the obstacle. The signal in the corner of his vision had stabilized slightly, though the heart rate was still erratic. Niko frowned beneath his helm, concern for his wayward brother pushing other thoughts from the forefront of his mind.

_Astelan, my brother, we are coming. Hold fast and Emperor watch over you…_


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki and Belial burst through the undergrowth to see an alpha warrior ripping through a chimera and murdering one of his brothers. Solaki could feel his blood boil in his veins at this monstrosity daring to assault his brother. His blood and organs were decorating the inside of the chimera, and this disgusted Solaki. He turned to Belia "Brother, I can take this vile abomination myself. Move forwards and support the rest of our Brothers. I'll catch up" 

Solaki shoulder his lascannon once again and looked down the sight. The warrior was sideways to Solaki, and hadn't noticed him. But he would soon. Letting his lascannon's rage loose, he pulled the trigger and tore the beasts wings apart in a flurry of bright light and small embers. It turned to face him and snarled. Solaki merely laughed in return, and fired again, this time obliterated the xeno's weapon in a small puff of burnt fuel and fried miniature creatures. Recognizing that it's ranged weaponry was gone and it couldn't simple leap at Solaki, it charged at him. Solaki drew his sight up again
_25 yards_
Solaki could hear the hiss of the cooling chamber working to let Solaki fire again
_20 yards_
The cooling process complete, Solaki steadied the sight onto the weak neck joint o the warrior and adjusted it to tear the head from the warriors body, and kept moving it up slightly in order to compensate for the warriors movement.
_10 yards_
Solaki pulled the trigger and a bright lance of righteous anger and pure revenge for his fallen brothers jumped out of Solaki's barrel and struck the neck joint. The creatures reinforced chitin armour tried to withstand the hit, but Solaki's lascannon could penetrate tank armour, this creatures flesh stood no chance. After a brief struggle, the lascannon blast tore through the creatures neck and the lower half of it's head. The warrior's lifeless corpse slumped to the floor mere feet in front of Solaki, who calmly stood up and crushed the other half of it's head in nothing more than an act of contempt and ran to join Belial and support the other squads...


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial moved away form solaki as he knew he was well able to take care of the beast on his own. leaping into the under growth to help out the rest of the sythes still standing he joined the fray.

"Greetings brothers we have come to lend our support we shall cleanse this planet from these foul Xenos", his bolt pistol continued to fire while in one fluid motion his chainsword was unsheathed and roared to life. "We need to break them now brothers our lords life depends on it, Where is brigs, does he still live?

Belial turned to see Solaki enter the fight having already dispensed with the warrior. He opened a private vox to Solaki "brother we need to be done here quickly, as i have said i do not trust Astelan we need to roundevous with the rest of our squad. I cannot locate sergeant brigs anywhere, ill try to raise him on the vox.

"Brother sergeant brigs this is brother Belial from squad Tobias what is your orders do you still require our assistance, any word on the situation with sotha? We await your orders.


----------



## unxpekted22

Zac, Shadihm, and Rikard : 

still on last update

Khrell: 

as your three comrades fall back to your position in the fallen aircraft you use up all six heavy bolter rounds fast. As the tyranids continue charging through the brush you notice they're target is the marine and not you. 

You watch the space marine kill gaunt after gaunts insid eof his protective sphere. But after some time you turn back to look again and he is staggering, one hand holding his helmet while the other swings loosely at his enemies. He must be using too much energy...or something.

Your three comrades continually fore at the incoming bugs, Zac's fast rate of fire combined with the better aiming of Shadihm and Rikard making for a good defense. 

You may choose to try and help the marine if you feel you could.

Vick:

Sergeant Jole hears and notices whats going on enough to throw himself flat on the ground while red hit streaks of light blaze over him and strike into the foul Lictor forcing it back.

The Lictor backs behind the wrecked chimera first and then leaps away into the cityscape, disappearing quickly.

The second Lictor moved around the flamer Chimera and locks its narrow opaque eyes to the group of ten bionic guardsmen sprinting toward cover. Your command was convincing enough to the other and made sense to them, so the fire from your squad was not split. Though it was necessary in order to save Jole, the second Lictor reaches his target pouncing into to running group and taking down with its feet landing alone. It smacks another down with its shorter arm, and quickly grabs onto the man's head with its mouth tendrils, sucking the life out of him in a gruesome fashion. It then notices its accomplice has retreated and does the same, leaving the area quiet once more.

Jole slowly makes his way over to you and says, "Good job son, your second in command now. If i die, you take charge of these men and get them back to base for further orders.... We cant seem to kill those bastards on our own. We need to get reinforcements."

Jole turns and looks over his men all leaning behind cover still, relaxing at the sight of the Lictors retreating. For the first time since you met him he does not seem so enthusiastic. He also seems tired, rightfully so even with his bionic implants, from defending against the Lictor.

He looks at you again, "problem is we dont have many reinforcements yet. our forces took a huge blow out there beyond the city's border. "

he starts counting the remaining men, "1,2,3...4,5...6.." there are 14 left, he says, "Thats a bit for our one remaining chimera. No sense in moving out anyway if we don't knwo where they are and I dont feel like giving them the element of surprise again."

he radios HQ telling them your location, to get a satellite in the air to find the lictors now that he knows their targets use hiding techniques, and that you'll be setting up camp until reinforcements arrive.

So, Vick, spend the time however you wish. Walk around, talk to someone, doesnt matter. Think about your past, or what you want in the future. Your thoughts on the tyranids, the fact that your still alive after fighting what you have. I want to get to know him more as a character.

Scythes of the Emperor:

Astelan: 

After your radio message you will hear a response from Niko at some point. However, soon after you finish talking your vision becomes unclear once more and your head feels a throbbing pain come on suddenly, causing you to drop your empty bolter and grab your head with your hand, but your hand can only grasp the side of your helmet.

You feel a contrasting calm with what comes next a voice, a voice you just heard in your mind arrives again but seems to be in the present, _"Astelan...It is Skia....You fight well brother.... but are you going to kill yourself for Sotha? He is already finished my friend...I do not wish to see my closest brother fall. The light you seek is the wrong light, Astelan."_

Niko:
You receive a fuzzy message from Astelan in your vox, _“Scythes! Hurry Brother’s, we are in great need!”_

respond to him that you are coming. If you wish try to ask him if he can tell what Sotha's damage is so you can prepare your mind for the procedures.

the shooting continues in the hull behind you from Ryan, Arx, and Tobias.

Christeph has made the 35 degree turn. After some time he points out a large section of thick trees with boulders securing their roots that he will not be able to crash through. _"I can see some of the light reflecting off the rocks beneath the leaves!"_ which way would be better for him to turn and how sharply?

you then hear Tobias Yell, "Belial and Solaki have made it to Brig's position brothers they are still alive! But I have no such news about Kyr!"

Arx

The Ravener decides to approach once more, the 35 degree turn the rhino makes allows it to catch up somewhat quicker. The turn was not so sharp that the rhino had to nearly stop moving fortunately and it was enough of a turn that one leaping hormagaunt crashes into the rear edge of the hull, falling away.

As the Ravener reaches the rhino a Hormagaunt manages to leap inside just before. Decide which is the more dangerous threat. Fire the melta at the ravener again or get the hormagaunt out, or kill it whatever works. Whichever you choose make sure to make Brothers Ryan and Tobias aware of what your doing so they can do the opposite.

Solaki and Belial:

Brig comes from the brush to your left, face in sheer rage but manages to look at you both and open a link to Tobias saying, "Tobias, Our brothers Belial and Solaki have made it to the battle."

this is all he says and looks at the remaining horde of tyranids, he seems to even tower above you, fellow Astartes. He screams in absolute rage unsheathing a huge sword from his sheath in a fast wide arc. With two leap bound steps he hacks through two Gaunts aiming for guardsmen. A hormagaunt leaps through air toward him, coming from out of no where under the deep vegetation. Brig catches it by the throat in mid air, choking it above him staring into its eyes as its long poison slicked tongue dangles about being cut by its own teeth in its attempts to loosen the vice on its throat.

Join Brig by his side, protect him and the others as well as yourselves of course. NO lascanon here Solaki a there is too high a risk of hitting your allies now. If you wish, join the others with some insights into your pasts, I would like to know more about Solaki and Belial. You are in the heat of a close combat battle. there are ten other scythes of the Emperor besides sergeant Brig and Brother Zurick. There are many guardsmen.

Tyrant:

See Vick's update above. Your Lictors have retreated but now they are furious and want to go back, find a way to kill those who brought one of them the pain that you all felt.

What shall the Lictors do?

Your Alpha warrior has fallen to that irritating beam of light again. You have seen this weapon blank out so many minds since the arrival of the marines.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was looking at the space marine several times now, and he noticed that the marine was actually getting tired. Khrell was in disbelief, as he was convinced they were gods among men, not able to get tired or killed... But both happened. The marine was now clutching his head, as if the psychic powers were becoming too much for him.

He then was in doubt no more, and he unsheathed his knife and autopistol, in one fluid motion. Several gaunts were in his way to the marine, yet Khrell had become fearless, and he was walking towards the marine in a steady pace. A gaunt hurled itself towards Khrell, and Khrell dodged the incoming 'nid and ripped its torso open with his knife. The 'nid fell to the ground, twitching it's unholy body as a butchered animal. Another gaunt attacked him, but Khrell was ahead of it, and fired his autopistol right in the head, which exploded in a rain of blood, brain and skull.

He was now near the marine, and there were a lot of gaunts there, but Khrell had no doubt, the marine commander had to be saved. Or Khrell would die trying. He jumped onto a gaunts back, and chopped his knife into the gaunts skull. Where he got the sudden strength he did not know, but he suspected that the psychic energies were the cause of it. He slashed and shot his way through the ranks of gaunts, getting wounded by several gaunts, but he did not feel the pain, or he pretended not to. 

Khrell finally reached the dome, and stepped inside of it, taking place at the other side of Sotha, back to back with Astelan. Khrell showed no remorse, and protected the marines body with all he had. He was hoping help would arrive soon, or they might all die for nothing......


----------



## darkreever

(Haven't pad the greatest amount of attention to what Astalane may or may not have said out loud, but we guardsmen know of the space marines names now?)

Rikard couldn't believe what he was seeing, the Kid was actually going over to the space marine. What, was he in some shock or something? _"Dammit Kid get back here you idiot, this is no time to wander off into your own little world, the space marine can handle himself; get back here and help cover your squads back like they do for you!"_ He yelled before acting on his own words, firing shots into the nearest 'nid to the Kid in order to put it down and keep it down.

This was insane, the space marine was drawing almost all the attention; surely an angel of death, a god incarnate could handle itself without the interference of mortal men.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm could not believe what Khrell was doing, was he stupid? Obviously this marine could help himself and as far as they knew he had already voxed his friend and they were coming here too. What the hell did Khrell think that he was going to accomplish other then possibly being a meat shield? Rikard spoke up first and Shadihm let him, if they all started yelling at Khrell to get back here then the nids would most likely notice the tasty morsels within the downed Valkyrie and act accordingly. He just tried his hardest to protect Rikard and the Valkyrie as his squad mate watched Khrell's back and tried to get him back.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki watched Brig approach them, tell their sergeant that they were ok and then dive into the tyranids as a hurricane of destruction. Until now, Solaki had been solely focused on the here and now, but watching his valiant brother dive in and then he followed him, Solaki's mind drifted back to past experiences.

_"Ok Brothers, one manta transport incoming, and then two Devilfish APC's. Ready your weapons men!" Sergeant Ithras barked as he leveled his heavy weapon to fire at the xeno's scum. Solaki leveled his las-cannon and aimed for the exposed engines, knowing that destroying one of them would likely send the manta into the cliff face.

Right men, on three. ONE, TWO, THR..." Ithras, nevermade it to three. A pack of twenty kroot leapt out of their hiding places and ambushed them.The one that tackled Ithras had misjudged his velocity, and sent itself and his sergeant off the edge of the cliff. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" Solaki roared as he triedto grab his sergeants hand a moment to late. As he turned round, no other thought was in his mind but pure anger and revenge against the alien scum.

One of the kroot jumped at him. Using the beasts own momentum against it, he exteded his fist and crushed the creatures skull. Drawing his bolt pistol and combat blade he set to work at destroying their would-be assassins. He blasted open ones chest cavity open with a bolt pistol shot and sliced another ones neck open. His brothers were doing well at destroying the others, but he was the most prominent killer of the unit, being fueled by the rage and grief of watching his sergeant fall to his death. Seeing this the leader of this pack attacked him.

It sliced down with it's crude weapon, which struck Solaki's side and became wedged in his power armour. Seeing this, the beast fired and caused Solaki to fall to his knees, the force of this dislodging the blade from his side. He looked up at the monster who had organised the assault and cause his sergeants death. This thought gave strength to his muscles and blinded him from his pain.The leader raised it's weapon to try and end Solaki's life with a blow to the head. Solaki reached up and grabbed the weapon i the air. Stunned by this act of determination, the leader tried to force Solaki's hand down, but he wasn't moving. He stood up and looked the beast in the eyes. He wrenched the fould weapon from the alien's hands and then brought it down to sever the beasts hand. It recoiled in the pain and Solaki twisted the light weapon around to sever the other hand. Realising it was at the marines mercy, it simple stood there and waited for death. The rest of the squad had despatched the other aliens and now watched what Solaki would do. Solaki cleared his throat and spoke "Listen well aliens, because I will only say it once. The Emperor rules here. This is his planet, and you will not take it from him. And do you know what, xenos scum..." and at these words Solaki let out a cruel chuckle "...you and your men have died, in vain!" And with that Solaki kicked the beast over the edge of the cliff to join their own leader..._

Solaki's focus snapped back to reality and cut down 2 gaunts. This was hell, but nothing compared to the hell back on Sotha. Once again, Solaki's mind recalled the horrible events, where once again he had fail the Emperor. 

_The hive tyrant roared in defiance. It's mental lashes driving it's minions onwards to their doom. "We need to halt this assault Brothers. Kill the tyrant!" And at the sergeants order, the squad charged. The hive tyrant seemed to laugh at their futile attempt to kill it. Garov and Kilam charged, but the tyrant cut them down with his venom cannon, the acid burning through even their power armour. 

Solaki watched this play through in his mind, and willed himself to shoulder his las-cannon and fire, but this hollow version of his past refused to obey him. Instead he worried about the little mites bothering him rather than the tyrant. Another marine watchig this would completely understand what he did and how he acted, the gaunts were almost coming over him like a great wave, but Solaki viewed this as a selfish act of self preservation.

Two more brothers charged, but were trampled by the tyrant guard.Only now did this selfish version of himself move, released by the cleansing fire of Mordia's flamer, they both charged. Mordia fried the gaunts, but once they got to the guards, theysimple walked through through the fire like it was enjoyable! Solaki tried to fire his las-cannon to keep the beasts off of his brother, but he wasn't fast enough and Mordia died in a flurry of blades ad chitin. "No more!" Solaki said and attached the combat blade to his las-cannon and ran. He didn't stop, not when the guards tried to catch him or when the tyrant lashed at his body with it's whips of sinew. By some miracle, he made it. He plunged the blade into the tyrant and fired again and again. Bursts of light came out of the tyrants back and as it raored in agony and died. It brought it's arms up and smacked into Solaki's chest and set him flying backward. The world seemed to slow and Solaki could have sworn he was flying for years. Suddenly he his the armoury and everything went black..._

Once again, Solaki pulled himself from these chilling images of the past and focusing on protecting Brig's from these vile creatures. He would not make the mistake of reacting to slow again...


----------



## dark angel

_Astelan cried out loudly, his voice filled with anguish and pain as he watched Lord Julias Var stumble, his left hand holding a gaping wound in his torso, his right held firmly around the haft of his blade, and collapse. The Captain had been struck by a Tyranid, who had uncurled its behemoth like body from a gooey cocoon and slice at Var. Three of the Honour Guard were dead at its feet, their bodies in various stages of ruin. Skia was already bounding ahead, his Bolter ringing loudly in the fleshy interior. 

Brother Orik overtook him with a relative ease, the Jump Pack he had scavenged from a injured Brother propelling him forwards with great gouts of smoke and fire. Brother Gregor was firing his Plasma Pistol from behind the advancing Squad, immolating any smaller Tyranid form that strayed to near to Orik. The advancing Scythe lifted himself into the air, spinning around as he did so. His duel Bolt Pistols were held tightly in his hands, as he sighted the skull of the gigantic beast below. 

He angled his body, and killed his Jump Pack. Orik fell like a meteor, striking the beast with one outstretched foot, its face crumpled in sheer pain and fury, the creature itself pushing downwards slightly. Like someone swatting away a bug, it raised one giant clawed hand and struck the falling Orik. His armour crumpled like paper, bloody jetting from the wounds within as he was sent flying far away, into a fleshy wall. 

His head rolled to one side, his neck clearly snapped by the impact. Brother Mikhail pushed through a nearby Tactical Squad, his half helm battered and twisted, and shouldered his Missile Launcher. Before anyone could warn him of the serpentine creature unfolding behind him he was spun around, claws ripping his armour and flesh. He fired. Point blank, a screaming fire wreathed missile launched forwards, exploding with the creature in a white ball of flame and smoke.

Both Astartes and creature were incinerated, along with some seven of the nearby Tactical Squad while the remaining three were sent across the chamber, one landing amongst a pool of green liquid, sinking heavily to the bottom a dozen metres below. Brother Balthazar approached from a sinew filled tunnel, his lower left arm was nothing but a mangled stump, his upper right helm had been torn away to reveal bloody skin. 

He held a Chainsword in his left hand, and when he noticed Var lying upon the floor, slowly pulling himself away from the creature, which had thrown its ridged head back. Balthazar looked around, sighting Skia, Astelan and Brother Karaj charging towards their Captain, he threw himself into the fray. The creature looked down upon him, as he cut away a cutting limb, spraying himself in purple blood. 

Astelan gripped the shoulder pauldron of Var, while Karaj did the same to the other, and began to drag. Suddenly, Aster came falling from above, a Jump Pack with wide, circular thrusters rested upon caped shoulders, his head hidden beneath a ornate horse plumed helm. Held in his hands, was a ancient Power Sword with crackling blue energy along its length. Balthazar looked up and hissed “Aster! Get our Brothers from this bastard ship! Ill keep this heathen enjoyed!”. 

The Sergeant nodded, and reeled away towards the remainder of his Squad, landing before them upon a small bump within the belly of the beast. Balthazar ducked and twisted away from a scything talon, cutting upwards several times into the beasts lower section. More purple blood pooled out over him, entering through the hole in his helm. 

A pair of claws punctured his torso, causing him to step back as he was lifted into the air, blood spluttering from gibbering lips. His Chainsword fell away, his free arm reaching towards his holstered Bolt Pistol. He continued to get lifted, until he dangled high above the biological floor and face to fang filled face with the Tyranid Bio-Form. 

Astelan heard a pair of Bolt Rounds echo behind him several seconds later, and stopped to turn but only found the limping forms of Scythes. Up ahead, their Strike Cruiser was embedded within the flesh of the Hive Ship, a dozen injured Marines stood guard over the opened hanger. A bright light streamed outwards, and enveloped the survivors. _

Ferim, perhaps one day, would have been a beautiful world. However Astelan seriously doubted that day would come. How many Scythes had fallen already upon its soil? It did not matter, as one more would fall unless Astelan protected Lord-Master Sotha. His head had suddenly grown inflamed, pain throbbing from the depths of his mind as he released his Bolter from his slowly moving hand, which was now starting to grow limp. 

He brought this hand up to the side of his helm, stroking the temple area with his fingers as a feverish pain filled his gauntlet, causing his fingers to tremble as if a earthquake was in the middle of its shake. He swung at one Tyranid like a drunken brawler, striking it with enough force to cause it to screech and spin twice, until it landed upon its broken back. 

_Astelan wept above the ashen skinned Var. The Captain had slipped into a coma not to long ago, his last breath having been “Fight on Third, for Sotha I plead with you”. The entire remainder of the Company, barely forty Marines in a fighting shape, had been present to watch this. Strands of hair covered his face, his eyes sealed shut tightly. Skia stood with Aster and Karaj behind him, arms folded across newly cut chests. 

Something had been different about Var, he had actually cared for those below him unlike so many other Captains that had gained such a rank within the Scythes since its founding. And the Astartes had cared back for him. A true brotherhood had existed within the Third, one that Astelan expected many Captains would have envied Julius for. Behind him, the Apothecary entered and whispered into the ear of Aster.

The Sergeant advanced, gripping Astelan by beneath the arm pits he lifted him up, and escorted him from the room. The Apothecary let a long needle un-slip from his wrist, and slowly pushed it into the neck of Var. _

Astelan fought like a feral hound. Hissing and roaring with every swing he took, his nose bleeding while a vein throbbed in his forehead. The Astartes was faltering devastatingly, his arms growing weak while his legs burned painfully, quivering as they fought to keep him standing. The message from Niko had been lost within his madness, and it sort of pained Astelan to think about the young Apothecary, knowing full well the trauma they went through with each killing. 

One of the Guardsmen had came up, and was standing on the other side of the downed Sotha, who was himself unmoving upon the ground. He looked over his shoulder at the boy, who was no more than twenty summers and said “Get back to your Squad boy! You shame me by even approaching my form! You turn the soul of Sotha dirty with your defence of him, do you not feel a Angel of Death, a Son of the Emperor, cannot defend himself?”. 

He spun, Chainsword flying outwards, skimming the shoulder of the boy and striking a Tyranid he had failed to kill. He shook his head muttering “The whelp will never be my kin”.


----------



## unxpekted22

Rikard and Shadihm, you realize your advice goes unnoticed, as the kid continues fighting on. Whether he really doe snot hear you or chooses not to you cannot tell.

You look behind you and notice Zac is too busy firing away and pulling las-pack after pack from his uniform to notice whats going on.

so do you care enough about Khrell, about your unit as a squad to also go to the marine's side and help him out?

Khrell: You are unaffected by the voices of your comrades and the space marine. You fight on! you know your life does matter over this god amongst men, and are willing to die for him, something perhaps he does nto understand as he yells at you.

his large chainsword cuts the skin off one of your shoulders, but saves your life. 

The marine then garbs at his head again and yells in pain, his arm hangs to the ground and it is clear to you that he is no longe rpaying attention to the tyranids. Call for your comrades to come and help him! whether they can see it or not, you believe the marine to truly be in need of aid. 

Astelan: after killing the gaunt that nearly kills the young imperial guardsmen trying to help you, your mind throbs again and you let your guard down unable to focus on the battle, as you now hear the voice of Skia.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx gritted his teeth under his helmet, the rhino had knocked him off balance and thus the serpentine Ravener had evaded the blast. Around the larger Tyranid the sea of gaunts flowed and rippled, the chasing tide seemed only to be rapidly growing in size. Arx wondered how there could be this many after them already... It seemed like only moments ago they were stood in an empty clearing, and the number here far outweighed that of their previous encounters on Ferim. 

The scuttling tsunami of Tyranids gave of a strange visual image; many armoured limbs moving in incredibly quick succession. It struck up a sick feeling within Arx, something loathsome yet permanently memorable. His eyes viewed something they had seen before; the lush flora of their woodland surroundings blurred and faded away, leaving behind something chillingly familiar.


Sotha.

----


'_BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!_' Veteran Sergeant Cearuleus' voice boomed through their vox helmets, though even his voice did little to dent the cacophony of screaming engines, blaring warning runes, the sound metal screeching as it was torn asunder and the cry of the great Tyranid beast that gripped them. 

++Warning. Collision Imminent. Warning. ++

The droning message repeated itself unheeded as the Thunderhawk plummeted, the creature who's talons Arx could see penetrating the Blessed hull of the Thunderhawk before his very eyes screeched in triumph. A Harridan.

The nightmarish monster had descended upon them as they had made for a landing, a dark silhouette crashing into them moments before safety. The winged beast hand dragged them back into the air, tearing the engines to ribbons as it did so. The world outside this spinning metal prison seemed impossible to comprehend. Arx felt his teeth shake as their tormentor let out a howling shriek of such volume the Marine felt his grip on conciousness slipping.

'_WE'RE GOING TO HIT THE GROUND! BRACE!! BRA-_'


Darkness.



Muffled sounds, like being underwater. Rapid retorts, gunfire? Voices... Astartes voices shouting. A particularly loud voice felt like it was bearing down upon him, he felt his shoulder move. The feeling of becoming suddenly spatially aware spun Arx's mind, vertigo nipped at his senses. 

'_I said get up Arx! We need to leave now!_' His vision slowly began to swim back into focus, the sensors on his helmet recalibrating. Before he could make sense of the situation he was being dragged from twisted metal frames, hefted to his feet and stumbling out on open ground. 

Sotha... The fact it was night time mattered not to the Astartes, their vision went unimpeded. Though perhaps darkness would have been preferable... Chocking Tyranid spores clogged the atmosphere, the dark sky was tainted with thick clouds of the beast. Foul chimney constructs had already began sprouting across the landscape, as well as other, unspeakable things. 

A mixture of his enhanced Space Marine physiology, the grim loathing of this alien invader, and his Sergeant gripping his arm brought Arx back to his senses. Many Scythes had picked themselves from the wreckage, many were even armed, or in the process of arming themselves. Many remained motionless, trapped in the crashed tomb of the Thunderhawk. Though the horde could not leave them be. In the gloom the screeches of Tyranids mixed with the scuttling noises of the foul xenos, and it wasn't long before the horrors were in plain sight, swarming across the landscape in a tide of limbs.

'_I believe this is yours_' Cearuleus unclipped a long, thick chainsword from his back, the gold and black chevrons stark like their armour. The marines had gathered around the Sergeant, bracing fire positions and moving to cover multiple fire lanes. The Tyranids could be no further than a dozen seconds away. Cearuleus gripped the forearm of Arx in a Brothers handshake.



'_Arx? Arx! Move!_'


----


Reality swept away the memory scene in a moment of pure confusion, the light and green of Ferim was almost disorientating. The first thing the large Astartes saw was Tobias gripping his forearm while yelling, extending his Bolter with his free hand and firing away behind them. Arx turned his head to see a Hormagaunt mid leap, flying towards the hatch-less back of the rhino. Arx impulsively went to fire, but before he could move the rhino jerked to the side, shunting the trio of marines into the side of the vehicle. The leaping Hormagaunt continued on its set course and collided with the frame of the rhino. Its claws hopelessly scratched against the surface before it was sent falling away.

The rhino kept its speed and straightened out, but before the Marines could recover themselves, another Hormagaunt made for a dive. This creature was more lucky than the last, the rhino kept a straight path and the creature came scrambling through the hatch, hissing as it pulled its weight inside. Tobias and Ryan were already readying their weapons. 

The view of outside was dominated by the Ravener. The hellish beast had moved incredibly quickly, and moving at the blinding speed it darted through the undergrowth, it would be upon them in moments. A flurry of thoughts burned though his mind, there was no time, the familiar weight of the Meltagun in his hands was a constant comfort. Arx clicked open the squad vox channel as he stood and braced himself in one fluid motion.


'_Tobias and Ryan take the Hormagaunt in here, the serpent is too close._'

Though the end of his sentence was lost as he fired the Thermal weapon. The signature roar accompanied blinding light as the cone of heat erupted from the rear of the Rhino.

Arx hoped his Brothers were able to hear him, Niko included. For if this beast made its way to the front of the cabin it could all be for nothing. He had confidence his Brothers could dispatch the beast between them, though he felt guilt at the thought of not helping them. The Ravener had been too close, another couple of seconds and it would have dragged itself into the vehicle, if their Bolters failed them they'd be defenceless in this tight space...


----------



## Euphrati

The transport tore its way through the underbrush, Christeph maneuvering the controls to bring them about to the new heading. The coughing sound of bolter fire along with the whining hiss of a melta issued over the growling engines, it would seem that their headlong flight had not gone unnoticed by the xenos hordes. 

The vox buzzed, a voice barely comprehensible as Astelan’s issuing in a broken string of words that were accompanied by a high pitched shriek like the tormented souls of the damned. Niko’s heart beats increased as his excitement triggered a release of combat stims into his bloodstream,

‘Astelan! Hold fast, we are inbound,’ Niko’s eyes flickered to the scrolling numbers under the fluctuating rune, ‘2.65 kilometers to your south-east and closing. Brother, I need you to focus and speak to me. I need to know more about Lord Sotha’s condition, is he conscious? The more details you can give me about his wounds the better I can prepare…’

The vox howled and spat, drowning out his last words in a storm of white noise. It was all Niko could do not to shout over the link. Christeph’s voice called his attention back to the sprawl of green that lay ahead and Niko swore a scalding oath to the fates that seemed to be aligning against them as he tried to visualize this stretch of forest. If the rocks followed typical formations for the area, the outcropping would follow a ridge that ran perpendicular to their path. There was no telling at what point they were along that ridgeline and Niko wanted nothing more than to put his fist through the armoured glass before him. Instead, gathering his eroding willpower like a wind-frayed cloak, he closed his eyes and prayed,

‘East, the topography should slope up slightly and cover the exposed rock enough that we can pass.’

Arx’s voice issued from his ear even as the words left his lips and Niko’s eyes found the hatch above his seat, his hand going to the release on the harness he had donned not long before,

‘Once we are around the formation, continue northeast… I will direct you from that point.’ 

Niko eased himself from the seat, one hand reaching for the locking mechanism on the hatch and the other his pistol. He would not sit impotent while his brothers fought on to defend the transport.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell felt the chainsword peeling off a layer of his flesh, the pain was strong, but he tried to ignore it. Khrell looked at the wound, and he was startled to see a 'nid being ravaged by the chainsword that had just hit his arm. Khrell was thankful towards the marine, he had saved Khrell's life twice, or maybe even three times today. Suddenly the marine gripped his head firmly once again, and he is screaming. Khrell knew the marine really needed help, he wasn't even paying attention to the 'nids!

Khrell yelled as hard as he could: "Help! Guys!? I need your help, the marines are dying, and if they're dead we'll be 'nid food! Khrell shot another gaunt in the head, and slashed at another's belly, leaving the guts out. He switched his autopistol with his laspistol, and fired once more into the gaunts. It seemed to be an endless wave, one that could take his life, if he wasn't careful.

Khrell's heart pounded heavy, and the adrenaline rushed through his veins as he killed gaunt after gaunt. He could not believe that this was really him fighting, and he knew that this barrier, or another powerful force, somehow strengthened him, and made it possible for him to defend the marine commander for a while. He then yelled again: "Rikard! Shadihm! Zac! I need HELP!" and he hoped they would hear him, or all of this would be for nothing....


----------



## dark angel

Astelan stumbled, his mind burning painfully, and collapsed to his knees. His Chainsword fell to the ground chewing up the soil there and sending small pieces bouncing against his lower half. He gripped his helm tightly and threw his head back, hot blood dripping from his nose as he let out a pain ridden scream, his throat burning and constricting tightly as he did so. 

A voice he had been listening to for the past several minutes returned to him. It was that of Skia, calm tempered and soothing as always. However a particular malice was enthroned with it, wrapped around each word like barbed wire around a limb, cutting the mouth of Astelan however the screaming he was giving off was far to intense at the moment to answer him. 

A tear of blood fell from his battering eye lid, splitting before him several times before it numbered at seven. He replied to the voice accordingly “Am I going to kill myself for Sotha Brother? I am Astartes, I am to serve. I thought, of all Astartes, you would know that. He might already be gone from His Light. There is no other light Brother, I seek the path of vengeance, for Sotha and you”. 

He was once again alone, yet still in a tremendous pain that caused him to grimace, grinding his teeth against one another. He pulled himself to his feet displaying the pain in each brisk movement. A Gaunt leapt at him, and he managed to catch the forward half of its skull, dangling in the air he punched twice with his free hand, destroying its throat and lower head with a squirt of yellow blood. 

He held his ground, swaying from side to side. He heard Niko’s message again in his head, repeating it to himself until it finally clicked that he had blatantly ignored it. Shaking his head in disgust, he realised he could have just ended the life of Sotha. He reached for his Vox and replied “Brother! It is good to hear your voice! Sotha…He is in a devastating state, I fear if you do not hurry we will lose him. His chest has been rent, as has his arm Brother. I plead with you to come prepared”.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

*"Bloody fucking hell."* cursed Shadihm as the Kid called for help, this boy was going to get them all killed. He thought on their options, all sucked badly, but the Emperor helped those who helped themselves so he made the sign of the aquila and jumped out of the Valkyrie and at the kid. The short sprint seemed like a mile by the time he actually got there and got down on one knee to fire at the nearest nids that got too close. He had seen the one marine hit the Kid's shoulder and knew that while the blow had killed a bug that it had also been sent as a message, he planned on not getting one of those messages and kept his eyes on the enemy and down his sight as he fired.


----------



## darkreever

_"..hell!"_ Was all Rikard heard from Shadihm, Super-soldier, before the man leapt from the relative cover of the downed flier and ran to help the Kid. _"I swear to the God-Emperor if they don't kill him then I'm gonna beat so much sense into him..."_ He shouted to no one in particular before letting loose the last of his las-pack's energy. Grabbing Trigger by the arm, he got the soldier attention and pointed to the others before jumping down and running after Super-Soldier.

_"Just another Emperor forsaken day on another Emperor forsaken world." _Rikard yelled while ramming the stock of his gun into the face of a 'nid.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial was releaved to see brother sergeant brig still alive and well, too many brothers had already forfeited their lives this day and the chapter could not affored to lose any more especially of the calibre of brig.

Belial rushed to the side of brig to lend his support in the battle every time a tyranid went down there was another to take its place, a never ending tide of death and destruction, Belials mind began to wander back to Sotha and the last stand against an unending swarm of beasts.

_*The swarm was comming at them thick and fast now no time to take aim and fire, it was just a melee of claw and chainsaw. The sergeant had been decapitaed already at this point and only a few brothers were left. Belial had assumed command in the absense of the serge, "brother Laikus this is brother Belial how does the repairs go on the thunderhawk we cannot hold much longer there are just too many", Laikus responded "Not too much longer now we are almost done just a few mins more". "Thank you Laikus we shall try to roundevous with you shortly though i do not know if we will make it". With that Belial orderd a tactical withdrawl, slow enough to give Laikus the time needed to finish the repairs. As the withdrawl proceeded one by one the squad was being whittled down eventually only two remained Belial and brother ramek. They were now in a long corridor leading to the hanger containing the thunderhawk when Ramek said "there is just too many brother even if we do make it to the hanger the tyranid will swarm all over the thunderhawk before it lifts off. can you buy be a few mins to set some charges here we need to bring the corridor down that will hold them long enough for you to make it back". Belial tried to disuade Ramek from his current course of action but knew he was right. When Ramek had the charges rigged Belial left and headed for the thunderhawk. As he was exiting into the corridor Belial heard the explosion behind him and knew Ramek was no more, he had sacrificed himself so the rest could survive. 

Belial to this day feels it should have been himself that was sacrificed for the rest and finds it hard to forgive himself.*_


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard: 

By the Emperor's grace alone the four of you now all stand inside this dome of energy, this protectorate shield. It must be coming from the space marine, though you still may not understand it entirely. Inside the shield you notice you no longer have to worry so much about the various things the tyranids were shooting at you.

The marine seems to come and go in terms of paying attention. at times he can be seen standing still holding his hand to his head, then he resumes his wild wide arced swings.

during one of the moments where the marine does not seem to be paying attention, Rikard is hit in the back and knocked to the floor by a spinegaut, it lifts above him drooling, about to fire its spiked weapons into his back. Zac lights it up from the side which drops to the ground dead who then continues holding off the attacks from the opposite side of the marine.

Rikard still face down to the ground, you begin to feel a burning sensation on your back, and notice the bug's acidic drool is burning through your uniform. From the ground you see another gaunt nearly on top of the fallen marine's large body.

Khrell, you have fought long and so far have been lucky, but as you aim your pistol toward the face of another about to enter the shield, it leaps faster than you anticipate and catches your gun and hand in its ferocious mouth. your shot goes off inside its skull killing it, but its teeth take three of your fingers with it. Do you have enough will power and does your faith hold true to fight on?

Shadihm, you are behind Khrell as he is struck. You wonder if the marine has seen, and he has not. When you turn to look at the marine who is holding his head you spot another gaunt about to jump through the shield at him, teeth and claws shining despite the darkness of the forest canopy. Back towards khrell a second gaunt is lined up to leap through the shield at him, now that he is wounded and unprepared. What you do is up to you.

Vick:

still on last update. talk to me if you need to.

Scythes of the Emperor:

Astelan:

Skia speaks again, your head throbs in pain, "I do not need vengeance Astelan. I am where I am meant to be. I am in the heavens within the light of the Emperor. Sotha will soon be here with us. But Sotha has fallen, you have not. The Hive Tyrant is killing more of our brothers as we speak. This is why I have to you and apologize for the pain I am causing you but it is necessary. The Emperor knows that we were closest and that I would be the only one who could sway your actions. Var has entrusted me with this as well, please do not make me disappoint our beloved commander brother... Let go of this shield, or you will die from it."

You may reply. Even if you only _think_ your reply there is a good chance he will probably hear it. Also continue to try and kill the gaunts that come through. Three other guardsmen have joined the youngest one, but it is hard to pay attention to them right now.

Arx and Niko: 

Once again the Ravener retreats back from the wave of intense heat. A slightly delayed reaction of warning, the leaping gaunt scuffles past Ryan and Tobias leaving scratch marks on their shoulder pads as it spots the cockpit where Christeph and Niko sit with their backs turned. It leaps toward them just as Niko begins to stand up reaching for the roof hatch.

Just as its head gets next to Christpeh's shoulder, it blows apart sending Tyranid internals spraying onto the front panels and protective glass. A well placed shot from Tobias, "Sorry for the close range shot brothers." you hear him say through the vox. He grabs a back leg of the corpse and hurls it out the back as Arx and Ryan make room.

This is done just before Christeph turns the rhino to avoid the rock cropping. Arx standing straight and trying to make room for Tobias to throw the gaunt back out as well as being top heavy, looses his balance on the rough turn and falls out the back of the rhino.

He expects the rest of you not to turn around for him and you all know this.

The Ravener has not yet given up, especially now that it sees some luck, it and the gaunts instantly change priorities to Arx.


Arx: After you finish rolling out the back of the rhino into the dirt the tyranids are already on you and screaming at the surprise. As you turn over a gaunt in the air above you gets obliterated by Bolter fire from the rhino, which is quickly increasing its distance from you.

Your one of the most muscular astartes amongst the remainder of your brethren and your more used to sprinting for charging assaults than Tobias or Ryan, so if any of you were to fall out it may be a blessing that it was you.

Do whatever you can to keep the rhino in your sights. Your brothers will be trying to give you cover fire while they continue on. If you can, try to make it easier for them. Several gaunts will be leaping ahead of you, or coming out of the brush in front of you to try and cut you off.

Niko: A gaunt had apparently made it inside the rhino. It's insides spray over the dashboard as it tries to catch you and and Christeph by surprise...yet another unlikely thing for a gaunt to think of.

After Tobias throws its body out, Christeph makes the turn. You catch the large form of Arx tumbling out the back into the dirt and leaves. Take hold of the storm bolter turret as you planned. When you look out the roof and spin it to face the rear, you see Arx regaining himself as Ryan and Tobias fire rounds into Gaunts already leaping to him. You will be his primary cover fire now as the storm bolter is more accurate to a greater distance. Obviously, you must try not to hit Arx. The biggest threat remains the Ravener, suddenly reappearing from the thick vegetation you just exited from, but if you focus too much on it will Arx be overwhelmed by the gaunts?
Your glad to see him not hesitate and start running behind the rhino as fast as he can, shoving plants out of the way with his free arm and barging through with his large shoulders even as gaunts try to cut him off. 

Solaki and Belial:

Brig's rage continues to impress you. The tyranid numbers have clearly grown smaller.

He finds the last of the warriors as it kills of some more petty guardsmen. Having to kill its gaunt guards first, the Warrior gets a hit on him cutting a long thin line across his face, He is not severely wounded but has enough sense left in him to order you two to take the kill as he applies disinfectant and anti-venom to his wound.

Neither of you have the brute force or assault specialty of Arx so you wont be able to take it down by your self. Work together to parry its blows and strike. Between Belial's chain sword, Solaki's combat blade, and your pistols it will take many blows to kill it. If you dont work well together, it could end up badly. Remember this warrior is backed by the mind of the highly intelligent Hive Tyrant who will be responding to your blocks and blows, so you won't be able to kill it yet.

Kain: 

You were the driver of the second rhino that made it to the area. Upon letting the other five in your squad out dropping the back and side ramps to investigate what caused your vehicle to stop in its tracks they were all ambushed. Guardsmen stepped in from a nearby vehicle of their own, forcing themselves between your squad and the tyranids. Before you could get out of the rhino however, all of these guardsmen and your five squad mates lay dead. They took some of the ambushing tyranids with them but not nearly enough. Before you knew it this whole section of the jungle was a battle zone. 

Brig was giving the commands, being the highest ranked of the four squad leaders that were on the ground. Wanting revenge for your newly fallen brethren, you dive into the middle of the fray. The battle has been going on for some time and the tyranids finally seem to dwindle in number. Finish off any remaining gaunt forms you find. there are ten other brothers around, several guardsmen, and Solaki and Belial seem to have made it to the battle as well for some reason they had not been with Arx Niko and Tobias.

(blue indicates a significant NPC, all other colors are players.)

Tyrant:

Your forces by Brig and the remaining two or so squads have severely begun to dwindle. Including Brig there are 15 marines there, and about 30 guardsmen left

Retreat the forces chasing the rhino and attacking Astelan or keep them going? If you pull them back where do you want them to go? they are still of large number.

Your last Warrior stands facing two of these marines, respond to their posts accordingly, choose one of them to strike back at, and with what, the warrior has scything talons, a barbed strangler, and a tail mace.

The Lictors have retreated, but want desperately to find another way to get back at those that caused them pain. Will you allow them to continue again after one of them nearly got killed? If not, what shall they do now?


----------



## blazinvire

The battle had hijacked his brain for a moment, functioning entirely on trained instincts and reflexes until he finally found himself in a much safer position.
Zac didn't even begin to question why there was a strange force field encompassing them, he barely had time to think what with all these damn bugs around.
He shook his head and took a deep calm breath, his trigger finger still a blur as it sent lasfire into the crowd.

"Far out, where do they MAKE these things!?" Zac cried in frustration as the bugs didn't seem to be thinning out, regardless of the copious amount of fire he was sending into the masses.
He took another breath and pulled out three laspacks with his spare hand, wedged between his fingers, eyes darting back and forth as he looked at the tyranids and the giant mass of armour that was the space marine, and then to his comrades. So much to pay attention to, at least he didn't need much accuracy at this point, though he may need to find a bigger gun soon.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell eyed a 'nid who was going to charge, and made ready to intercept him. The nid launched itself towards Khrell, but it was faster than Khrell had anticipated. Khrell tried to shoot the gaunts head off, but the beast already drove it's teeth deep into Khrell's hand. Khrell felt the stinging pain, but was determined to take the beast down with him. He pulled the trigger and he felt the beast's grip on his hand loosen, and then go away completely. When Khrell tried to aim his pistol once more, he was shocked. His trigger finger and thumb were all that was left of his fingers...

Khrell stood there for a few moments, gazing at the bloody body part that used to be his hand. He tried to move his fingers, and the two remaining ones moved, but no other motion was there. As if they had never been there at all. Khrell couldn't believe it at first, and thought it was just a dream. Had the emperor forsaken him? Was he no longer a servant of the emperor? 

Yes he was! He had just put his life on the line for two of the emperor's sons! He had now even given his flesh and blood for them! Khrell was determined that the emperor was with him, and the loss of his fingers was prove of his unwavering loyalty towards the emperor and the imperium!

Khrell suddenly realized the battle was long from over, and he put away his knife, and grabbed the bloody pistol from the ground with his right hand(the one still 5 fingered). Khrell bellowed: "You see this!?" Khrell waved his bloodied left hand in the air. "This is my prove of my faith in the emperor! I already said I am willing to give my life for him and his sons, now I have a kind of prove all can see! Let's show these animals whose ground this is, let's show them.." Khrell paused for a moment, and rapidly shot another gaunt who was about to slash Khrell in two with it's scythe.
(NOTE: this is not the nid which expected told about, the one behind Khrell. That one is for Shadihm, well if he chooses that one rather than the one preying at Astelan) 

He then continued his sentence "That faith in the emperor will conquer all!" And with that Khrell kept fighting on, with an inexhaustible fire burning in his eyes and heart.........


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx turned his head from the blast to check back with his Brothers and the Gaunt. Just in time to see Tobias blast a crater through the creatures skull, spewing bone fragments and brain matter into the driving cabin. A feeling of relief swept through the Astartes, his Brothers could be trusted. Their Sergeant reached for the Tyranids corpse and motioned to haul it from the Rhino. Arx stood and pressed his body against the side for space and watched as the body tumbled from the vehicle, the chasing Gaunts scattering away. 

Before he could move the Rhino made a harsh turn, swaying the large Scythe off balance. Before he could right himself the vehicle jerked over a collection of rocks, sending the rear of the vehicle into the air. Arx was holding nothing but the Meltagun, so his already unsteady form was launched from the open hatch, sent tumbling into the dirt. Visions of earth, sky, Rhino and Tyranid were sent spinning before his eyes before he slowed to a halt. His Astartes speed and reflexes took over; he spun onto his back as soon as he was able.

He was greeted with the sight of a leaping gaunt only feet away, sharp claws flashing in the sun and acid smothered fangs snapping and drooling. He tried to raise his hand in defence, but he needn't had bothered; The Gaunt's body was torn to shreds in a bloody explosion, cover fire from his Brothers. 

Arx wasted no time in recovering, he could already hear the Rhino pulling away and the sound of screeching Tyranids closing in. He twisted onto his front in a scramble and pullied himself straight into a sprint. He pointed the Meltagun behind him and squeezed of a cone of destruction, the roar drowned out the screeches and blasted shadows before him. He snapped the Meltagun back to his hip and started pumping with his arms, wacking stray branches aside as they appeared.

The Marine felt his axillary lung burst into action, his twin hearts gaining intensity and the adrenaline being pumped into his system. Under the rush of his body he felt more alive and energised than before, he increased his speed as he fell into a full sprint. The Rhino filtered in and out of his vision, it was at least carving a path through the trees, creating an easy runway. Though no matter how fast he ran, the Rhino seemed to remain just as far away, but the noise of the Horse was steadily increasing.

All thoughts of prayer and hope were pushed to the side as Arx hammered both his mind and body in concentration.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain roared in anger as he ran out of the rear ramp of the rhino. Around lay the bodies of his five battle brothers and several Imperial Guard who had given their lives for the Emperor. He could only feel righteous fury and anger towards the death of his battle brothers. He grabbed the first tyranid that ran towards him and grabbed it by the throat. He swung it against the Rhino transport before grabbing a grenade of his belt and jamming it down its throat. _"Die Xeno scum!"_ He bellowed throwing the little gaunt into a small group of guants running towards him. He smiled at the explosion and quixkly opened fire on the survivors of the group. He could see more and more Gaunts rushing towards him and the rhino and he repositioned himself to face this new threat. He felt the bolter bark in his hands as he fired into the horde. Limbs were torn off and he could hear the screeches of the xeno as they died. A Gaunt leapt onto him but Kain didn't take a step back. He grabbed it and slammed it into the ground before crushing its head with his massive armoured boot. _"FOR THE EMPEROR!"_


----------



## Euphrati

The hatch gave way right as a keening wail whipped Niko’s head around to the rear compartment. He had just enough time to register the snarling maw of a xenos beast before it dissolved into a wet spray of chitinous bone and ichor, the body slumping to the floor ad twitching slightly in animalistic ruin. Niko nodded his thanks to Tobias and pushed open the hatch, emerging into the green-lit shadows of the forest canopy. 

The actions of these beasts were growling more and more disturbing, such individual thoughts and actions had never been encountered in the seething masses of the hive mind before. Perhaps the isolation of this splinter-fleet had triggered a mutation in the genestrain, all the more reason to strike at the heart of the beast without mercy as quickly as possible.

Niko gripped the mounted storm bolter just as the rhino banked sharply, throwing him against the rim of the hatch and a black and gold clad form tumbling from the rear. Niko recognized the massive shadow of Arx immediately and his hearts skipped a beat, the assault specialist had a faith to him that had show its depth and purity in the battles since Sotha. With a furious cry, Niko wrenched the bolter around on its modified mount, whispering a prayer to the Techmarines who had to foresight to realize that the enemy does not always attack from the front.

The grips felt good in his hands as his thumbs found the firing studs and the weapon roared into life, scything down a cluster of gaunts that had diverted to the tumbling form of Arx. The astartes sprang to his feet, his powerful built racing along the path cut by the transport as the xenos turned their attention to the seemingly vulnerable target.

Niko opened a link to his brother, praying to the Golden Throne that Arx’s vox had not been damaged in the fall,

‘Brother Arx! Break to your right on my mark!’ Niko shouted over the link, lining the sights up on a snarling pack of beasts that had just burst forth from his brother’s left flank,

‘*Mark*!’ 

The storm bolter’s voice boomed over the roar of the engines as a stream of explosive rounds spat forth towards their targets.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan punched forwards, his fingers outstretched, and struck a Gaunt in the throat. The creature tried to howl through a broken neck, instead oozing a strange liquid over his gauntlet as he punched it several times in close succession, crushing its chest and gut area. Its legs fell limp, the eyes in its two primary sockets rolled into the depths of its head. The Astartes let out a hushed chuckle, making sure none around him could hear and swaggered side to side, flexing his fingers tightly. 

A second Gaunt leapt upon him, pushing its feet into his chest while raising a pair of barbed hooks above his head. Its armoured lips pealed back to reveal rows upon rows of fangs, a pink and yellow blotched tongue licked his helm, dripping green bile onto his eyes. He stepped backwards three feet, trying to shake the thing from his pauldrons, both his hands wrapped firmly around the claws of the Tyranid. 

It snapped at his helm, teeth latching on to the top as Astelan pulled its fighting arms apart, snapping the frail appendages and bringing his attention to the skull. He gripped the ridged sides, pushing the tips of his fingers inwards with all his strength until there was a sickening crack and the bottom half of the jaw, along with the body fell to the ground at his feet. His throat was dry and sore, his fingers slow and almost unresponsive. 

Skia contacted him again. In his delirious state, he was sure he saw a glowing figure behind a nearby tree with a Power Sword and Shield in hand, a mane of black hair falling from his olive skin. He shook it off and bit down hard upon his tongue, the canines slicing the top of it and drawing a trickle of blood. He gritted his pink teeth, and listened to the ethereal voice that talked to him. 

He could do nothing but listen, staring at the foliage outside of his barrier as energies whipped around him, swirling blues and oranges mostly. He replied to the words, his vocals burning as he forced each word through the blood within his mouth that threatened to fall within him “If I can help it, Skia! Sotha will not walk those paths this day! If I am to die from this, then so be it. Of all Astartes I would have thought you would know this”. 

He fell to his knees, looking up as a Tyranid Gaunt charged him, yet he could not move and instead fell to the ground, his arms outstretched before him. The Tyranid Bio-Organism launched itself at him, and Astelan brought the piece of metal he had in his hand up, striking the creature in the throat and sending it rolling several metres away. He was not going to lose this. Slowly, he went back onto one knee and balled his fists.


----------



## Concrete Hero

‘Brother Arx! Break to your right on my mark!’ the voice was right in his ear, it was strange being addressed in this scenario. He couldn't risk losing any speed or concentration by replying, he hoped his Brothers understood.

Arx's HUD registered Brother Niko swivelling the Rhino's Storm Bolter around and he felt his entire body tingle with anticipation.

'*Mark!*'

In a flash Arx twisted and bore to the right, narrowly avoiding the thundering hail of Bolter shells that would have reduced him to a steaming pile had he been but a second later. The concentrated burst of the steady Storm Bolter shells had decimated the Tyranids closest to his heels, he could still hear their shrieks of defiance.

Arx nearly stumbled with the sudden turn, combined with the treacherous footing of the crushed forestry it was a wonder he hasn't fallen. He sent a small thanks to the Emperor and once more focused on achieving maximum speed. No matter how fast he seemed to go, no matter how furiously his twin hearts beat, he always seemed to remain teasingly close to the Rhino, but could never quite reach a decisive boost of speed.

Ironically, part of the frustration of not being able to engage his pursuers was helping him drive forwards to the Rhino.


----------



## Euphrati

For a fraction of a second Niko felt the cold talons of despair clawing at his soul as it seemed Arx had not heard him, then the massive bulk of the assault specialist twisted to the side with a nimble grace belied by his towering frame. Chitin shatter under the hail of fire and Niko allowed himself a brief flash of savage pleasure as the xenos’s corpses collapsed to the forest floor.

Yet the moment was short lived as even more beasts tore through the underbrush, trampling the still twitching corpses of their debased kin in their reckless pursuit of the transport and its occupants. Niko raked the lunging bodies with fire, careful not to stray too closely to his sprinting brother’s holy form. The vile beasts seemed innumerable, bursting forth from the foliage like a virus.

Desperation gnawed at the back of Niko’s mind as he tore apart another leaping beast with a short burst of fire, trying to let the barrel cool between waves. His lips moved of their own accord, his normally smooth voice coming out in a harsh whisper as he recited the Litany of Focus in an unconscious attempt to keep his mind grounded firmly on the task at hand even as the clattering spent casings chimed all around him.


----------



## darkreever

Inwardly Rikard cursed, he'd seen a lot of things in his life; the orks were an amazing group when it came to finding some way to surprise you and he's witnessed more than once some of them have whole generator blocks strapped to their person and create an energy shield of some kind. Sometimes they'd block everything you threw at them short of artillery, and sometimes they wouldn't do squat.

And now here he was right in the center of something like that; made the hairs on his arms and neck stand on end. Firing an semi-auto with his lasgun, something hit Rikard hard from behind and he hit the dirt facefirst. Rolling onto his back, he had enough time to see one of the 'nids leering over him, its hands literally bulging with spines, before las-fire tore it apart.

Scrambling to get his legs back under himself, Rikard nodded in Trigger's direction, the fire having come from him. He'd definitely be having words with the Kid once this was all over, that 'nid had come from over by where he was. Before he could get up though, there was burning on his shoulder, and thats when he noticed that some of the 'nids drool or blood had gotten on his flak jacket and was actually eating its way through.

Not wanting to find out how far the stuff would go, he tore the jacket off before slamming the body of his lasgun into the nearest enemy in order to try and bat it away.


Cursing, this time out loud, Rikard got his other hand back around the grip of his lasgun and wheeled around. Thats when he noticed more 'nids swarming the fallen space marine. The stories always claimed that the space marines were gods amongst men, the angels of death itself; they could handle anything, but looks like even angels and gods amongst men weren't so tough that they couldn't do with some aid. Swinging his lasgun around, he sprayed the nearest 'nids advancing on the fallen space marine, hoping to the God-Emperor that the Kid didn't allow for something else to get him.


----------



## Necrosis

Vick looked at his troops. He was now 2nd in command which meant he needed to get know what each one of them could do. His family had never been in command before. His family was a family that followed orders even if it meant marching to their own deaths. Yet here he was, 2nd in command of an elite squad. Perhaps elite was the wrong word, yet their bionics did give them an advantage. "Listen up, I want 8 guys to take watch. The rest of you will be sparring, we will rotate. We need to be able to at least slow them down in close combat." said Vick as he waited for his squad to get to their jobs. "Sarge, I suggest we get some plasma guns and bomb collars. Plasma guns will be needed if we are to take those beasts down, as for the bomb collars, if were going to die we might as well take a few of them down with us." he said to sarge. He then turned back to the soldiers to see if they had gotten into position.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm had never been around or even remotely near an Astartes before and he had to admit it was almost a bit much for him, not only this but the shield that surrounded them seemed to come from one of them, a psyker. As he fired he saw the Kid get knocked to the ground by a gaunt only to have another one poised and ready to attack him and turned to see if the Astartes had also seen it only to see him clutching his head and anothe gaunt flying at him. Shit, he thought, need to make a fast decision, and he did. 

The way he saw it, the Astartes had a better chance of surviving an attack even though he was as fatigued as he was then the Kid against two of these bugs. So he knelt and fired at the bug that was about to leap onto him and rip out his innards, he hoped that the Astartes would understand but their squad had depleted greatly and they needed everyone they could save.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki listened to Brig charge at the warrior, and watched in horror as the beast managed to get a blow on the sergeant. Brig retreated back to apply substances to his wound, and told them to take it down. Solaki reveled at the chance to bring justice the the alien scum. Running forward with Belial, one of the scything talons came down in an arc similar to the one that had wounded Brig, the warrior or the greater intelligence guiding it's actions thinking it would do the same to Solaki, but he brought up his combat blade to meet it, there was a brief shower of sparks and shards of metal and claw scattered over the two as they were locked in combat. Each one pushed against the other, but Solaki knew the warrior had a greater strength than him, and it was only a matter of time before it forced his blade down. So, Solaki turned on his heel and fired a single bolt shell into the socket and jumped back to get a better stance with which he could parry the warriors blows. 

(OCC. So do we just wait for Deathbringer to say what the warrior does and then respond accordingly?)


----------



## deathbringer

A blast of light and the warriors was torn away, our minds scythed apart and I roared in frustrated rage as my warrior, my best, my prize was ripped from the earth and lay upon the ground before me.

_Bastards, I'll kill them all_

An eye lid twitches, a ripple of rage and my last warrior cries out for my help... he shrieks in anguish begging me, pleading for my help, seizing my rage yet I push him away. A niggle, a niggle of doubt as warriors close to Sotha are stripped away. 

A presence?

A quick glimpse of the scene shows a figure, my gaunts are terrified yet they run on to suicide, blasted apart by the figure. A satanic image of black and yellow yet his form vibrated, undulated, growing and shrinking as power eminated through every pore

Shit! Who is this bastard... i'll crush him, he is powerful but I am me... a ripple of laughter rolls over the anger.... I am me... I am me... I am a god of war. I can kill anyone.. but my children are far from invincible. Get them out of there, they have to leave. Get the hell away... flee flee.. but flee with a purpose

Time to assess.

My gargoyles are aside, together resting and regrouping.. scratched and bled they wait... they shift eagerly... yet I have a better idea...let them be the sucker punch in the end.. they protest but succumb to my stern authority. Brotherhood, born upon survival holds them to me.

My massive servants still sleep, silent guardians beside me, figures in the depths.

Lictors... a sneer of putrile hatred at their defiant winigng, their insistance...

_Let us kill_ 

The full force of my rage, the bastards in black thwarting me again. Hurting my children... the constant hounding... the longing to kill... if only i had the strength.. to taste that blood once more... irrational thoughts.. irrational emotions coursing through my body, channeling into one festrering bloody rage that I channeled down the bond to the lictors.

"You will hound the convoy of their leader. You will kill as many as you can, slow there progress.. you are the masters of stealth and the leader must die. Ambush the convoy at every turn. I want them to be slow, delayed by your antics, to believe we are chasing them with all our might... that we might be open elsewhere. On no circumstances should they be able to aid the trapped astartes. We have them, surrounded.

Attack... let us finish them. I feel the warrior cry out and now I submerge... I am here for you my child... I am here.

Around me I feel reinforcements closing in... let us kill them all


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial rushed forward with Solaki at the warrior who had struck brig. Solaki took the warrior head on distracting it as Belial seized the oportunity to attack from the side. He let off two bolt rounds from his pistol which did little or nothing to stop the beast from gaining an advantage over solaki. 

Seeing solaki push the beast back with a kick Belial struck out with his chainsaw scoring a hit across its side. the chainsword ripped out in a fountain of blood and ichor. though it did little in the way of slowing the beast much though it would definately hurt it. This was gonna take alot of effort to bring it down, but together it could never stand against the might of two of the emperors chosen.


----------



## unxpekted22

Tyrant:

The Warrior has scything talons, a barbed strangler, and a tail mace.

one of these marines you now recognize as the one that kills your forces with the large beams of bright light.

they have both struck at you already, neither causing any real damage, particularly since your mind will push this warrior's body beyond its normal limits. It will fight on as long as its body is capable of doing so with your mind behind it.

now that both marines have attacked and both step back in defense at the same time, your Warrior has time to strike with all three of its weapons and the attacks may be divided however you wish. All three can go to one of the marines, or two attacks to one and one to the other etc...(show how to not god-mod.)

The main mass of your army obeys your thought as soon as you think it, backing away immediately...but not retreating. They flood like the disease they are, back to where your last warrior fights.

The Lictors bite back at your plan with twin minds; a pair finishing each others' thoughts, literally. As much as they may piss you off, you need them right now. Soon enough, fortunately, they decide that the idea of hunting prey in a new location is appealing to them and they accept.

Scythes of the Emperor:

Solaki and Belial, I will be making a separate update for you both once Deathbringer has posted. (I know you guys are pretty busy so hopefully its not a problem)

Kain:

Just as the numbers of tyranids in the battle really start to dwindle and the battle seems to be coming to an end, it still feels like a defeat to you and your brothers. There are 15 scythes of the Emperor here including sergeant Brig, one full squad of six, one squad of four, belial and Solaki, and yourself. You have all lost brothers in this battle, and as with the rest of the chapter, you all still worry for the life of your Lord and commander, Sotha.

(bear with the metaphors)
What starts as a distant sound, like that of rusty gears just starting to warm up, in an old machine from a building across the street, slowly but steadily becomes more definite to your ears. The distant applause of uncountable leaves being pushed aside at the same time. You turn to face this applause, and see the leaves begin to clap just before they start spewing the dark forms of tyranids from their make shift mouths....

You were merely in the eye of the storm, and the real battle is just about to begin. The flood of death that wishes for nothing more than life races toward you as you yell a warning to your few remaining brothers about the trees with you, some of them still busy with their previous opponents...

Your yell is caught in the ears of the remaining guardsmen as well, still fighting with incredible valor unknown to a space marine for mortal men to be capable of; still inspired by their now clearly mortal gods. The mere droplets of the one true god, the Emperor himself...still more than many of them ever thought would fall into their short and seemingly worthless lives.

As one Guardsman steps in front of you, three large spikes shoot through his body and actually _pin_ him to the front of your armor. Worthless lives? If not, is it only because their lives are apparently capable of saving yours? Likely, if the spikes had not gone through the man's body, they still would have had enough speed to make it through your armor and into your flesh. 

How will you deal with this new wave of Gaunt forms? Your numbers have decreased, and this tyranid force looks double that which you just fought.

Arx and Niko:

Arx can feel the looming presence of the Ravener catch up to him, and Niko watches it approach, doing what he can do fend it off along with Tobias and Ryan firing from the hull below; Niko seeing nothing but the occasional flashes of their speeding bullets flying through the air and their extra impacts upon the dirt and trees behind the rhino's tracks.

without the ultra-heat of Arx's melta gun however, it does not seem affected. Arx is using every bit of his muscles to run as fast as he can; as taking the melta from his hip again would be enough to get him killed instantly. 

As Niko prepares himself to see yet another part of his family's blood become lost forever, The Ravener flips around back into the brush and disappears from view entirely in an instant along with the rest of the infestation of gaunts.

Christeph drives the rhino over a suitable flat surface of rock that is low enough to the ground as Arx continues to follow on foot. A few short breath moments pass by as the worry comes back strong for your lord and commander Sotha. 

the location of Astelan's signal is quite clear now that it is so close and in just a few minutes, the Rhino approaches a clearing....

Barely passing between two trees, the boxy rhino rollsinto the clearing and the four of you jump out and run. Arx soon follows up from behind.

Before you is something you had not once expected to see since the word of Sotha falling had met your ears.... Astelan, is standing in the middle of an orange hued, flashing energy shield, with sparks of electricity occasionally slithering over his power armor. 

He is not alone, as four guardsmen stand within the sphere of the shield by his side. Around the five of them lay an unimaginable amount of dead tyranids. Piles of gaunts on all sides and three large Ravener bodies, one who almost looks to have been fried by lightning. Only a couple dead guardsmen about the scene indicates that this tiny force is all that has been holding off the tyranids from Sotha since you first got the news about his injury.

As the five of you run to the scene, the gaunts finally stop attacking them as well and disappear back into the cover of the forestry. As this happens, the shield around them disperses and Astelan falls to the ground, hitting the dirt hard. 

Niko: You easily spot Sotha's form laying on the ground, and despite the unexpectedness of the entire scene, he is your main priority. Proceed with what we have discussed. Tobias takes a knee next to you for any assistance you may need. 

Arx: Go to Astelan to try and figure out what the hell was going on. You shall pull off his helmet and find him to still be conscious; or it seems like it anyway. His face is a bloody mess, but you notice there are no external wounds, and his armor is hardly scathed by any tyranid weaponry. Also, much of his long black hair, has turned grayish. He will say something to you and it likely wont make much sense, but respond however you feel appropriate. (you're welcome to make a post before astelan says something and then a second one for a response to him, though dark angel may post before you in which case splitting your post wouldnt really do anything.)

Brother Ryan and Brother Christeph take guard, aiming their bolters to the trees.

Astelan:

The external world has become almost invisible to your senses now. You know you are still there with Sotha and defending him but your physical actions are nearly undetectable by your conscience. The las fire and yelling of the guardsmen right next to you is but a whisper that floats through the back of your mind.

Skia speaks again, his pleasant words off set by the stinging mental pain that comes with them, "Astelan, you are not listening to me. I realize this is new and odd but you must listen to me. You say that if you are meant to die here then so be it, but I am telling you that your are _not_ meant to die here. This is _not_ your destiny. Your psychic powers have finally come of age in a time of need and you are now of immeasurable importance to our dieing chapter brother. Your destiny Astelan, will be to step up and take leadership of our chapter. Sotha has fallen because it is his time to join us. You wield a better capability for leading what remains of our chapter with your new found power. Sotha must be out of the picture, and you must take charge brother. It is our chapter's only hope. If Sotha lives, a civil war will break out amongst the few remaining ranks and our chapter will have done all it has for nothing...only to go down in the history of the Imperium as a chewed up suicidal failure, unable to reestablish our chapter, proving us weaker than the other astartes... a miserable waste of our share of the primarch's geneseed." 

respond to him once again. Whatever you say will actually be coming from your lips, and being told to Arx; who you do not even realize has taken off your helmet and is standing above you.

Guard:

The tyranids you each strike last, end up being the final wave it seems. As finally, no more freakin gaunts try to jump through the shield at you. Suddenly the energy dome falls away, leaving you feeling exposed again until you notice five more Marines running to your position with a rhino in the background still pumping smoke out of its rooftop exhausts. 

Someone with two good hands left should probably help Khrell wrap up his hand, not too mention keep the big hearted kid out of the way of the space marines... they more than likely don't need a couple of guardsmen getting in the way of what you now see is an attempt at a medical operation on the fallen commander. 

One or more of you will make the conclusion that these marines are going to be leaving in the vehicle they have arrived in, most likely to get the fallen marine to a safer location...how the hell are you going to get out of this jungle? The largest marine has knelt down to the marine you just fought side by side with, and two more have taken up guard. 

If you want to live, your going to have to get out of this jungle and back to the city. And since not a single guardsman has come by since the three guys you briefly met earlier died, its safe to say none will be coming by any time soon.

You can decide to assume the marines will let you board the vehicle with them, or you can assume they wont and just start walking towards Vorspire even though it might take more than a day to get there on foot or longer since its through the jungle. Another option of course, is asking one of the marines if you could hitch a ride.

Vick:

I will be giving you an update soon as well. I just spent about four hours on all this man, and honestly don't have the brain power to come up with your portion of the story at the moment since its six in the morning. i shouldnt have too much to do tomorrow nighth so hopefully i can do it then, or perhaps i will do it along with solaki and belial's update.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan was blind. A bright light kept him from seeing, causing his eyes to leak liquid, perhaps blood, but he could not tell. His body felt weak and heavy, as if he was holding the entire world upon his shoulders, and the dome around him suddenly sputtered and died, the energy drained from the Astartes. Slowly, those around him became nothing more than ethereal whispers, hidden from him as Skia spoke once again, this time, Astelan was forced to listen. 

Skia had always been one, who if he deemed it necessary to perform a act as it was for the good of the Chapter, he would do so without thinking of the consequences. Aster was similar to him in these ways, as was many of those who served under the banner of Var. His fingers twitched as he replied, yet how those around him would react, he could not tell. 

“Brother, if Sotha has truly fallen as you say and it is time to…For him to leave us, why do you still remain? If it is my duty to lead this Chapter, I shall do so, I shall bring them from the fires of war and rebuild our ranks until the Glorious Third are returned to us. Those who served Var fell for a reason, yet if you truly to speak to me, how can they have fallen? They must still live…Gregor, the old bastard, is he among you?”

For a moment he fell into silence, remembering the faces of the Third, every single member who had fought and died since he was a mere Neophyte in the Tenth. Sergeant Piraeus of Second Squad…Brother Malak of the Eighth Assault Squad….He knew each one by name, and many by their history, that was his honour, to keep them alive. Finally he continued.

“A civil war has not been within this Chapter as far as my histories stretch, yet is Sotha was to blame me for this, I would be the one who would initiate it. If that is to happen, then I shall fight off those who wish to lay waste to my body, and my Chapter. It cannot be allowed my Brother! We have not done all of this, lost so many Brethren for a simple fool to throw it into…Oblivion”

His body jerked upwards, fingers clawing at the dirt before it fell back into place, his eyes fluttering. 

“You speak as though you would have, if you was here….You would have carried out this without a moment of hesitation. I show a great disrespect upon you for doing this, yet what you want me to do will seal my fate. You play a song of darkness upon me this day. Yet I am obliged…No….I…Cannot do so, you ask me to lead this Chapter, yet I am hated by many, how could I?”

“We have faced destruction so many times Skia, and many of such events you have stood with me, to destroy our foes who dare try and harm the Holy Astartes. And now, you are with me once again yet I cannot do as you ask. Sotha, if he is to enter your realm will elect a leader which he see’s fit, if it is to me, then I shall steer us away from the stupidity which we have fallen into, and rebuild our ranks once again. The Scythes shall return Brother, that I promise”.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm couldnt really believe that the battle was over, adrenaline still pumping through his veins, he could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage. He was breathing hard but happy to see that he, the Kid, Trigger and Rikard were still all alive and as well as they could be after what they had just been through. He watched the marines move around who he assumed was their fallen commander and wondered how the hell they were going to get out of this Emperor forsaken jungle. 

The marines had a rhino but he wasnt sure they would let him and the rest of the squad in, after all they did have a dieing commander to worry about. Unfortunately for who was left if they didnt get a ride with the marines they would have to hoof it through the jungle which was definately more terrifying then asking the marines for a ride.

*"Time to nut up..."* he whispered to himself, but which one to ask? One was bent of their commander, definately not a good one to ask, the biggest was over the one who had made the shield thing who also seemed hurt, maybe not a good one to ask, and two more looked out at the trees and didnt even acknowledge the gaurdsmen that were here, pompous bastards he thought.

He leaned toward Rikard who was closest to him, *"I'm going to see if we can hitch a ride back to the city, chances are they will say no but no harm in asking."* Not really knowing who to ask he made his way to the big one (Arx) bending over the guy they had been fighting with and took a deep breath, his rebreather helping calm him down, *"Excuse my intrusion lord but if there is anything that I and my comrades could do to help please let us know.......also we would like to know if you are heading back to the city, and if so if there is room for us to hitch a ride with you."* He stood there silently, waiting patiently to see if he would get yelled at, shot, actually spoken to or something in between. He was happy he had his rebreather on, that way the large marine wouldn't be able to see the look on his face, a mixture of awe and fear.


----------



## unxpekted22

Arx:

In your post, you must now also add a response to Shadihm. if your response is to ignore them, that is an option, depends on what you think Arx would do.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell drove his knife deep inside the eye socket of a gaunt, and cracked the skull when he pushed even harder at the knife. He was ready to slay another nid, but he noticed nothing moving except for his squad mates. Suddenly the shield fell apart, and he was anticipating to see a vast swarm of gaunts surrounding them, ready and eager to slaughter them. 

Instead of gaunts, there were marines. And instead of slaughtering them, the marines simply ignored the guardsmen. Khrell looked at his hand again, it was blood soaked, and it finally started to hurt, a good sign Khrell thought. At least his nerve system was intact. He remembered that his shoulder was in need of treatment to, as it was bleeding as well. He knew he needed a bandage of sorts,possibly even more than that, or he could die from blood loss. He looked around for Rikard, because Khrell knew that Rikard had a solution for just about anything.

Khrell spotted rikard not far from him, at his left, and started moving towards him. Khrell knew that Rikard was going to yell at him, but Khrell didn't really care, he had fulfilled his debt with the marines (He felt like he was in their debt) and the loss of his fingers was a small price, for he could've been dead.

"Rikard?" Khrell asked a bit nervously, knowing that Rikard would be mad. " Could you help me with treating my wounds please? I know you think I am stupid, and you will never understand why I did this. But please, can you help me?" Khrell was hoping that Rikard was going to help him, but this was a real world, and nothing was sure.....


----------



## Euphrati

Shafts of light speared through the canopy, momentarily illuminating the scene that played out before his eyes in stark detail. Chitin the colour of clotted blood was closing in on Arx’s labouring form despite Niko’s hail of fire. A singular form, sinuous and lethal, led the pack of hissing gaunts. The ravener’s speed never presenting a solid target, keeping Arx’s flesh between it and the metal rain that tore apart the lesser beasts in sprays of foul fluids.

Anger welled up from the shoals of Niko’s mind, was he to watch yet another precious life extinguished right before his eyes? He was destined to become a healer amongst warriors, oathed with the sacred duty to see the chapter carried forth from those whom had made the ultimate sacrifice, and yet fate saw to place him here to witness the destruction of another of those he held so dear? The grips of the stormbolter creaked under his grasp as Niko desperately raked the advancing swarm, a silent prayer to the Emperor on his lips.

Then, like a fever breaking, the swarm turned back on itself, disappearing into the underbrush. Niko swung the twin barrels in covering arcs, expecting the beasts to return at any instant yet there was no movement in the green shadows that rolled by. Long moments passed and the rhino clawed its way over a spur of stone unmolested, Niko directing Christeph’s course through shouted exchanges over the growling engines. Narrowly passing between two massive trees, the forest abruptly vomited them into a clearing swarming with chitinous xenos and bright lances of las fire.

Niko did not even wait for the transport to come to a halt, hoisting himself the rest of the way through the hatch and leaping from the steel hide of the rhino even as the eerie energy field dissipated with an audible pop. The Black and gold form of Astelan crumpled to the ground in an ungainly heap, yet it was the other sprawled form that held Niko’s full attention. 

Niko’s eyes took in the damage instantly as he knelt beside his fallen Lord. Blood, coated the regal chest spilling from a gaping wound in the gold-hued armour, through which the white of bone gleamed like unearthed gems. 

It is said that astartes know no fear. In some ways that is a lie, for it was that very human emotion that clawed at Niko’s mind as he unbuckled the packs at his waist with fingers that moved almost too fast for the mortal eye to track, laying them out carefully on Sotha’s crumpled cloak. But, unlike a normal man whose mind would have frozen under that icy grasp, Niko’s being had been elevated above the grasp of fear and it only served to focus his thoughts into actions.

Nimble fingers found the latch at Sotha’s neck, the Chapter Master’s gilded helm joining the packs laid out on his cloak, followed shortly by the auto-reactive shoulder guards in a tumble of ceramite. A murky vial of stimulants and stabilizers appeared as if summoned in Niko’s grasp, the contents disappearing into a vein in Sotha’s neck with the aid of the same device Niko had used but an hour before upon the guardsman. 

With utmost care, Niko lifted free the sundered cuirass from Sotha’s chest; discarding it to the side without a second though as his left hand plunged into the yawning wound, his right hand scooping the blunt from of a las-scalpel from its pouch at his side. With a tap of a rune the tiny device sprung to life, projecting a short beam from the tip.

His mind worked furiously even as his gauntlets were quickly stained red in the vital fluid pouring from his Lord. The damage done by what appeared to be a single strike was devastatingly massive. A main artery to Sotha’s secondary heart was in tatters, Niko quickly cauterized the fragile vessel closed with a steady hand. The left main lung had been punctured, bone splinters from the shattered shield of Sothat’s ribs threatening to do further damage to the tormented organs.

Blackened scars followed Niko’s movements as he fought to restore the remains of the Preomnor, the repairs were far from attractive but they served his immediate needs. Yet there was something wrong, something that nagged at the back of his mind as Niko sealed another seeping vein with blood slick hands.

_Blood._

The sudden realization drew a curse from his lips; Sotha’s blood was not clotting. Icy fingers curled around Niko’s heart as he dug deeper into his Lord’s ravaged body, searching and fearing what he would find. The Larraman's Organ in Sotha’s chest was barely recognizable from the tattered remains of where the xeno’s talon had torn it apart. Without the precious cells it produced Sotha’s wounds would not begin to close and heal as they should. 

Sotha was going to die, his crimson lifeblood seeping into the forest floor where he lay. 

_No, I will not let that happen!_

Niko recognized his own voice shouting even as he turned to dig through his packs in search of an item that rarely saw use.

‘*Tobias!* I need you here *now*!’


----------



## blazinvire

Zac stayed on alert for a minute or so longer even after everything seemed done and finished, he slowly took deep breaths as the adrenaline ebbed out of his system.
Well, another battle he'd walked away from, which meant the Emperor figured he was apart of the mass of guardsmen who had business in another area, so Zac would oblige and do his best to get to his next deployment area.
He'd spent a few packs here, so Zac withdrew a pair of dogtags and cast them on the corpses of the bugs.
"There's your share mate," Zac murmured, picking up the spent laspacks.

First things first, he needed more ammo...
After putting away a few of the laspacks, he went off to salvage some from the other guardsmen they'd been trying to save. It was a bit of a grizzly process since some were torn apart or crushed, Zac managed to procure two bloodied laspacks, the others were spent or destroyed.
He also collected two sets of dogtags and tucked them away with the rest.

Zac wasn't really paying much attention to the space marines, he figured they were just going to saddle up and hit the next area, a few extra casualties to the Imperial Guard was no tragedy.
So Zac was more paying attention to the things he could salvage off the valkyrie, he remembered there was an ammo drum for the heavy bolter around here that he should definitely collect.


----------



## darkreever

He'd thought it would never end, wave after everlasting wave of the xeno's bastards had come at them, nearly taken all their lives, but in the end it was the alien that lay dead and not the remnants of the squad or the space marine they had been forced to fight around. When it was all over, thats when he had noticed the strange bubble was gone and there were other space marines around them, by the grace of the Emperor he was still having trouble coming to grips with the fact that they were real!

Super-soldier Radec had gone over to one of those very beings, though why Rikard didn't know, and at the moment he really didn't care. This respite was enough for him right now, everyone needed to see to their own wounds before anything else. Thats when he felt the pain in his own arm, by the shoulder; looks like when he got his jacket off he had been just a split second to late. Some of that stuff had burned his flesh and now it began to form small blisters. Nothing that he couldn't live with, just not the most comfortable thing in the world.

_"Rikard"_ Someone called out to him from behind, it was Khrell the Kid. _"Could you help me with treating my wounds please? I know you think I am stupid, and you will never understand why I did this. But please, can you help me?"_ The Kid pleaded, as if he were a helpless child. Well, he was green as grass, he might very well be helpless.

Spitting a wad of something into the dirt, he slung his lasgun and grabbed the Kid's hand, blindly searching for his kit in his combat webbing. _"'Course your stupid Kid, you rush off without thinking about whats gonna happen, to you or your squad. You let things get the better of you, its gonna get you and others killed."_ He said after finally finding what he was looking for and then actually taking a look at the Kid's wound. Damn it looked bad, no way he'd be able to do much for this. Just bandage it up with some disinfectant and synthskin; but first they were gonna have to burn the exposed flesh to better limit the chance of it getting infected.

_"Trigger, get over here and help me."_ He yelled to Zac before turning his attention back to Khrell. _"Adrenaline has to be the only thing keeping you on your feet at this point, only thing that let you keep on after the 'nids took part of your hand. No way your gonna be able to use it, not in this state. Not gonna lie to ya Kid, what we gotta do, its gonna hurt like all manner of hell."_


----------



## deathbringer

I am at one with the warrior, I am him, I own him, my mind and his are a single entity, my power seeping through his body, our souls interfused, interlinked interlocked interweaved. 

I feel my children rushing towards me, ripping through the undergrowth, unflinching , tearing a path towards me, a second tsunami to break upon the astartes. No not break upon, break, snap their backs and feast upon there flesh. They move as one a slave to my wishes

Dissention, the lictors nibble at my mind and i snap back, as their words run through my brain two voices of one accord, there mutual certainty flowing as their thoughts ran together doubting my every word

Sceptical of me... bastards... ill crush them.. I knew it now.. I would kil them rip their tongues out so they couldnt make a sound, devour their brains so they couldnt think... but i need them.. they must harass the convoy.. stop Sotha, make him die.

Anger could not shift the self righteous predators yet my need could.. my desperation... my desire swelled there importance and I felt them comply... submit.
_He will not .... live_ they whipser together and I feel them begin to move... long loping strides.. their minds fading from mine to a distant pin prick, a shaft of life in the foggy distance.

_You will not live either_ I vowed to myself as I turned my mind back to the warrior. Pain, shooting through cuts to his arm and a bolt to his joint and I embraced the agony melded it into a cocoon of hatred, boiling rage as I recognised the weapon.

The fearsome barrel that cast death and despair, a worthy foe, a worthy prize. I forced the rage into an iron will and took control. The wounds throbbed as the bastards jumped back, swords raising eying me warily. The warriors with the gun was on my right the one who had slashed my warrior lingering to the left. I wanted my prize. to taste its flesh yet I must wait.

I stepped inwards towards the other warrior tail lashing round in a scything arc towards his leg whilst I aimed the barbed strangler that melded seamlessly with my left arm and fired feeling the barbs rocket from the gun scything through the air towards the warrior as my left foot came down and I planted it firmly, lingering hoping the deaddly weapon warrior would move into attack me, to aid his comrade , thinking I was open.

Maybe he twitched, who knew, but I rocketed right propelling off my planted left foot to shoot towards the prize talons sycthing downwards towards his shoulder as the wind whislted over the claws of bone, an echoing ghostly howl of longing to sink into flesh.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac was in the process of hauling a rather heavy drum of heavy bolter ammunition, when he heard his old nickname in Rikard's voice, quickly looking over wondering what was going on.
He blundered over trying to get used to the weight of the ammunition, dumping the drum in the little ring of carnage where the space marine had enacted that strange shield.

It certainly made him wonder, seeing the Emperor's Angels of Death being able to create force fields with their mind so strong it could hold off a full barrage of enemy fire. They still didn't really register as 'real' in his mind, as did most things he couldn't understand he usually just jaded his mind to it and continued on.

Zac lazily fell to his knees next to Rikard and Khrell, throwing a glance at Khrell's injury before immediately pulling out his lasgun.
He was no medic, but he'd learned a thing or two in the trenches of some misbegotten planet he'd been sent to.
Within a second or two Zac had pulled part of his lasgun apart until the main barrel was exposed, it looked quite red from the heat of his ridiculously fast firing rate.
"Yeah this is gonna hurt, might wanna bite something. Mind pinning his arm Rikard?" Zac said, holding his half-built lasgun carefully.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Rikard was helping him, and Khrell felt relieved. The wound was already stinging, and he knew it was bad, real bad. He heard Rikard calling Zac, to burn the wound shut. Khrell grabbed a stick from the ground. "Let's get it over with" Khrell said with a calm voice, trying to forget about what was going to happen. He put the stick in his mouth, and bit on it. He was waiting for "Trigger", as Rikard aptly named zac, to burn the wound.

Khrell was thinking of his father, an Officer in the guard who was lucky enough to be outside the Metaxean system when the plague struck. Khrell had only seen his father once after the plague, for it was his father who got him out the system, and his father who had send Khrell to serve in the Guard. After those few weeks, he hadn't seen him, Khrell didn't even know if he was still alive, but surely his father was strong enough to survive? The same man who rescued the survivors of the Metaxean system when nobody else would, the same man who brought down the Plague Lords reign. Maethor Tyrion was this man called, and so far every action Khrell had done was for that man, he would make his father proud...

Then his hand felt like it was being held in an open flame, and Khrell tried to shout, luckily for him he had the stick, and he could bite instead of shouting. None the less it was hurting like hell, and he was wishing for it to end. He was thinking of his father again, who had been through this as well, when a Kroot warrior had bitten his hand off during a ferocious war on an Emperor forsaken world. Though his father had got a cybernetic replacement, Khrell was unsure if he would get this privilege as well...


----------



## Concrete Hero

As Arx sprinted forwards he could _feel_ the Ravener just feet behind him, the distinctive slithering sound audible above the various screeches and gunfire. By the sounds of the snapping teeth the beast was already upon, how much closer could it get? How much longer did he have? With a grunt he forced the distracting thoughts from his mind, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.

His breathing increased, though when he became use to the sound, something seemed wrong with the background. Sporadic gunfire still burst from the Rhino, but something had changed... The Tyranids, no longer could he hear their scraping claws and chattering mouths. Though the others still gave him cover fire, so he pumped forward, not risking a glance back.

Eventually the covering fire crawled to a halt, and the rhino itself crested a small rise and disappeared from his vision, all was quite. The Large warrior slowed to a jog, unable to resist a quick look behind him. Everything was... Gone, the only evidence of their passing was a smoothed out tunnel from the rhino. Of the Tyranids themselves, nothing. He almost couldn't believe that seconds ago he was sprinting for his life. He held a fist to his chest and stared up at the sky, offering a small prayer of thanks to the Emperor for his guidance and strength.

The jog slowed to a brisk walk as Arx crested the rise, and slowed to a dead halt when saw the scene before him.

'_By the Emperor..._'


Countless dead Tyranids lay around what appeared to be a scintillating globe of pure energy, the bodies piled high around the pulsating sphere. Arx couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his Brother, Astelan standing in the centre of the shield, lightning energy periodically flashing along his body. Before he could fully take stock of the situation, the Tyranids had an apparent change of heart, fleeing the scene, the few that still lived that was...

-_What in the name of Terra is going on here... Fleeing Tyranids? Again? Something is far from right._-

As quickly as the despicable xenos fled the field, the shimmering field faded away, his Brother fell to the floor, clutching his helmet. Around Astelan stood a few weary guardsmen, just a handful of their corpses to say this was all that had stood before the tide. Arx's hearts dropped when he saw the form of his commander, splayed out at the centre of the meagre defence.

-_No..._-

Not only was Sotha another dear Brother, he was the very foundations of the chapter... To see their commander lain low: The repercussions didn't bear thinking about. Before he could move, Niko had already hauled himself from the Rhino's hatch and was sprinting to their Lord A small wave of relief washed over him, but the urgency with which the young Apothecary moved caused some anxiety to lurk in his mind.

Niko; Arx wondered if the Younger Astartes realised just how important this moment was, Saving Sotha was effectively saving the chapter. But if there Lord was to be lost to them... So much undeservedly rested on his shoulder, of course he would claim it was his 'duty' and perfectly acceptable to be put in such a position.

His attention strayed from their Commander, Niko needed his full concentration and his presence would only serve to distract him, and Arx had his own pressing matters to attend to. Without fully realising, Arx had begun to walk towards the form of Astelan, prone on the ground. Masked by his helmet, a look of intense concern passed over the large warriors face.

'_Brother_' the faintest whisper uncoiling from the Astartes as he knelt next to Astelan. His helmets HUD showed Astelans life signs as fainter than normal, but stable. The marine reached forward and unclasped his Brothers helmet, a brief hiss of air shattered the silence. Which until now, Arx hadn't noticed was pressing down on the clearing. A pang of worry shot through him as he saw how much blood lay on his Brothers regal features, though he couldn't find any kind of wound.

This Blood, the field, the energy. Had- Had Astelan caused this? Was his Brother a Psyker? This was a huge revelation, Arx didn't know quite how to feel. He had always respected those Astartes who had the gift, after all, was their Beloved Emperor not the Greatest of all Psykers? This could surely only strengthen a Brothers bond with their Holy God Emperor... The why did he feel so apprehensive? For reasons he couldn't explain, he felt like he had known Astelan for much longer than was true, they had both seen many of the same battlefields after all.

Before his internal train of thought could continue, Astelan himself broke the silence. He was muttering, speaking so faintly it would be practically impossible for any without Astartes senses to make out. Arx listened quietly, not wanting to miss a word. From the sound of it, his Brother was having some kind of dream -_Or vision..._- Whoever he was talking to, was not here in the field with them now.

Arx remained motionless, awaiting for his Brother to finish before coming to any kind of judgment. And when his soft voice stopped with no signs of continuing, Arx tried to make sense of what he had heard.

He knew in his heart that Astelan was a loyal Scythe to the very core, doing anything to protect their Chapter and keep them serving the Holy Emperor. It did not sound like he wished to usurp Sotha, more like... He was refusing that suggestion. Who could make such a suggestion? A dark part of his mind whispered to him; _Psykers are vulnerable to the twisting words of Chaos_. He was almost shocked at himself, he refused to even consider such a possibility while his Brother lay unconscious before him, practically giving his life so their commander could survive.

No, Astelan did have the Chapters best interest in his mind, no thoughts of self elevation or glory here. He felt somehow, proud of his Brother. Even in a mind shocked state he could stay true to their perfect ideals.

'_You are a true Scythe of the Emperor, Brother_'

Astelan did not respond, he prayed he would awake soon.

Arx twitched slightly as he heard the approach of one of the Guardsmen, it was strange to be brought back to reality in such a way. Mentally he scolded himself, he'd left himself too flat footed.

'*Excuse my intrusion lord but if there is anything that I and my comrades could do to help please let us know.......also we would like to know if you are heading back to the city, and if so if there is room for us to hitch a ride with you.*'

Arx remained still for a moment, staring at his unconscious Brother, slowly breathing, seeming almost peaceful. Eventually his Knight like Crusader helm turned to regard the Guardsmen. Arx was large, even amongst Astartes and their Super Human standards, when he turned to face him his crimson eye lenses levelled with the Guardsmens eyes.

He spoke softly, as if his mind was almost somewhere else, disengaged. '_You have already helped. You stood side by side with one of my Brothers to protect the life of our Lord, you must have fought bravely._' His head slowly swept through the clearing, taking stock of all the Tyranid corpses. he turned to face him once more. '_Our next course of action is not planned, though I am sure you can appreciate that the safety of our Commander is currently of paramount importance, everything else is secondary. I cannot promise you a place in our transport because I do not know where it will head. If Lord Sotha is to be moved then we may need the Rhino._' He stared at the Guardsmen for some moments, silent. He was sure he didn't have to say out loud where that would leave these Men.

Arx suppressed a sigh '_You deserve more than our gratitude, Soldier..._' He went silent again, trailing off. '_What is your name?_'


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

Shadihm: respond to Arx.

Khrell, Zac, and Rikard:

Bearing through what is likely the most painful thing that he has ever gone through physically, Khrell's finger nubs get burned shut. After this, some anti-bacterial spray, and makeshift bandaging, he should be fine for a while.

khrell: You may start to think your aiming will be affected, and this might be the only thing that would have gotten you a chance at becoming a marine.

Rikard and Zac:

You can speak amongst eachother about the best ways to move through the forest, including wether or not the heavy bolter drum is worth the extra weight. You could also slip into the conversation with your Helghan comrade and the large Astartes.

Vick:

Jole speaks aloud, "I can already see why I made you second in command of Sergeant Jole's Vorspire Bionic infantry unit.

I like that idea, but I'm going to have to contact command about those items and see if we can get some in our lovely metal hands." he says lifting his own hand up towards his face watching it open and close.

"What the hell is your name anyway soldier? They didnt have time to give me a list of who I was giving command, rushing me off the base with all your new little parts."

speaking of new little parts, the unit has begun to do as ordered. Eight of the men start moving the cover into a more practical formation. Several of them have a bionic arm or two that seems to make the moving of heavy materials much easier. Some also have bionic leg parts beneath their uniforms helping them push.

the others begin sparring, getting used to their faster reflexes. Most of them start by having one strike offensively, while the other simply blocks and counters defensively. It was the best they could do without Tyranid simulation.

It becomes apparent to you that the doctors and mechanicus members didnt have the time to do anything too special with the bionics they implanted, they merely gave the soldiers what they needed to in order for them to still serve and do their duty with just a slight edge of strength and speed. Perhaps this could be changed later, for if the unit proved itself of worth it was quite possible to request upgrades. Jole seemed to be proof of that.

Give Jole your name and ask him anything else you might have on your mind. The unit still has one operational chimera, the one with a flamer turret. If you think defense is the answer where should it go? Should ditches be dug? The construction site also has the bare bones of some buildings up. Its possible for them to be used as towers of some kind.

But You may suggest going on the offense again if you think it is better. None of you know how the minds of those aliens work. What do you think they will be doing next?

Scythes of the Emperor:

Arx: 

What do you think you should do with Astelan? Are you afraid to move him? Should he be moved to the rhino now? He starts to come to in your hands, and you help him sit up.

Before you decide you may continue speaking to the masked guardsman. His comrades may come up to you as well, and you are free to respond to them accordingly. If you wish to carry Astelan to the Rhino you may talk to them while walking and we can assume they will follow you.

Astelan:

you begin to hear other people's voices and open your eyes to see the face of Arx's helmet looking at your own. Your helemt is off on the ground beside you, and he holds your face in his hands. When he sees your awake he lets go and you sit up. You only see part of your squad aside from Arx...Niko and Tobias. Your two less preferred squad mates not present, replaced by Brothers Ryan and Chritseph from Brig's squad. 

The last thing you heard was one of the guardsman asking about the rhino. Do you even remember these guardsman fighting with you to protect Sotha? If so, do you have anything to say? Anything about the Helghan's question if you can form words from your bloodied lips?

Niko:

Tobias already near you in case you needed help, quickly kneels down beside you and Sotha's body. He sees the equipment you are setting up and then also realizes that Sotha's blood is not clotting, realizing the danger of what that means for his injuries.

Do what you need to, and get him and Sotha back into the rhino. Brothers Ryan and Christeph can help in carrying if they need to.

Kain:

still on last update

Solaki and Belial:

Both of you struck fast, and backed away simultaneously, leaving the Warrior time to use all of his major biomorphs on you.

Belial you are struck with the Warrior's swinging scything tail, which you see coming and d block it with your chainsword, but you are left open for the barbed strangler.

One seed slams into your chest but does not penetrate. Another seed's hooked tendrils catch your pistol arm and wrap around it with extreme intensity, penetrating into the armor but not your flesh. the risk is that it will gain enough warmth to grow fully and send tendrils through your arm ripping it apart. 

You can either take the time to saw it off with your chainsword which still risks damage to your power armor or you can risk losing your arm and strike again at the tyranid Warrior which has now switched its attention to Solaki. You may not state that you injure it, only if your going to strike it, how your going to strike it, and with what.

Solaki you step back as does Belial, and see the Warrior attack him with both scything tail and barbed strangler before you can even react. Just as you do so, you find the Warrior practically on top of you now instead. Its speed and ferocity frightening. It strikes down at you with both of its two, large main talons. Not expecting a third attack to come at you, one talon strikes into your shoulder guard and in fact reaches your shoulder only penetrating the top half of it. but it strikes your bone causing immense pain. the second talon reaches the large lascanon that is strapped to your back, damaging the barrel. 

You can do one of two things. fight against the Warrior's strength and get its talon out of your shoulder, attempting to injure its talon arm in the process, or you can attempt to strike back with its talon still in your shoulder as the beats looms over your form.

like Belial, you can only state what you intend or will attempt to do in your post. I decide how successful you are and if you even injure the enemy at all.

Tyrant:

I will update for you again once Belial and Solaki have posted.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm shifted a bit as the massive Astartes spoke to him and his heart sank, they weren't likely to get a space on the transport after all. Oh well, he had known that their chances were going to be slim in the first place, he knew that they could probably make it out alive but he was just worried about the Kid. Not only was his accuracy going to be shot now but they would need to get him to a doctor ASAP so that they could properly treat his wound.

He was stunned to hear that the Astartes was grateful for their help and what they had done, shit all the stories he had heard about the Astartes were that they were all pompous assholes who saw gaurdsmen as meatshields to be used and abused. 

The massive marine continued, _'You deserve more than our gratitude, Soldier...'_ he stopped for a second or two as if thinking on something, _'What is your name?'_. Shadihm answered, his voice snapping as if a commissar were asking him, *"Shadihm Radek formerly of the Helghan 52nd Shock Regiment......now I'm a part of this planet's defense system."* he shrugged at the last part as if it was a disgrace that he had been moved from his regiment, and his mind it really was. He had been taken from his brothers and men for one of the stupidest reasons, because a commander had been inept and everyone had stood by and let him lead and Shadihm had been the only one to stand up for what was right and now he was being punished.

Bullshit, he thought to himself as he waited to see what the massive marine had to say to him.


----------



## Necrosis

Vick made his way to Jole. "The name is Vick... Vick Gelid. Born upon a ice world." said Vick as he approach Jole. "I suggest we dig some trenches. It's far harder to get ambush in one of those then it is in one of those damn buildings. You saw what those bugs did but the bare bones one could be a usefully tower. Perhaps we should set up a sniper team up there. Also how about we get that chimera to do some patrols." said Vick in a respectfully matter. "Sir, I do have one last request. I wish to spare with you." said Vick as he then got into a defensive position. "Now, now we don't want to get sloppy do we?" said Vick hoping that Jole would accept his request and spare with him. Against these xenos they were going need everything they had and then some in order to beat them.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki roared in pain. The talon sheared through his shoulder guard and hit the bone, sending pain rocking his body. The other talon tore through part of the barrel of his bless'd Las-cannon. "Son of a bitch" was Solaki's exact choice of words as the warrior bore down on him. Knowing there wasn't much time before he was consumed in a flurry of blades and teeth, and Solaki refused to go down without a fight. He had a choice, fight with the talon still impaled in his shoulder, it rubbing against his bone and cause him more pain. It would also keep him anchored in place, putting at a disadvantage against a creature born and breed for combat. He quickly thought that was a bad idea, so he decided to wrestle with the warrior to get the the talon out of his shoulder, maybe even damaging the warrior in the process. Using one hand to push left from the base of the talon, where afterwards it disappeared into his flesh. Using his other hand, which held his combat blade, he slammed his hand and blade into the joint, hard! He though he heard a crack from the joint and just hoped he had broken the joint, because then he could be free to remove the talon itself, and he might have bought him and Belial some time...


----------



## dark angel

_He sat upon a throne of luxury and riches. The Tyrant sat upon a throne of death and despair. The Tyrant sat upon a throne carved out of the bones of former Brethren. Around him kneeled fellow Tyrants, each one covered in a thick set of armour that covered their muscle-bounded bodies. His hair was pulled into a topknot, his fanged maw held wide as he took a bite of a ripe fruit, liquid rolling down his chin and dropping onto the robes that covered his armour. 

Dark energies manifested themselves around him, crackling blues and blacks that completely enveloped the Tyrant. Below him, upon a planet splotched with brown, green and blue a deadly war raged. Thousands, if not millions, had perished as they were dragged from homes and executed. No quarter came, only young boys capable of fighting were taken to be moulded into the blood-thirsty warriors that slaughtered their families. 

Some five hundred of these Tyrants were on the planet, burning and devouring while taking any extra weapons that could come of use or loading newly forged Battle Tanks into bulk landers, even though they would come of little use to them. The transports and landers were now beginning to return to the depraved ships above, and a small Tyrant wearing black and yellow fluttering robes gripped the behemoth wrist of the Tyrant. 

He turned his head towards the man, his lips plucked tightly against his skin, his eyes sunken within their sockets. The smaller Tyrant quivered from his wrathful gaze and said “My Lord, our forces have left the surface are we to leave in peace?” the Tyrant smiled at this and replied “We never leave in peace, burn it till the soil grows white hot and the seas boil into nothingness!” the other Tyrant nodded and slipped away into the darkness. 

Upon his throne, Lord-Tyrant Astelan, Master of the Scythes of Death smiled as the world below him turned into a glowing ember in the sea of stars. He chuckled and muttered “Ridding myself of Sotha was the best thing I have ever done”. _

Be-gone!

Astelan dismissed the thoughts with one stern order, roaring it in the depths of his mind. Voices began to fly into his head on glorious white wings, his vision began to grow once again and he found himself face to face with the red eye lenses of Arx’s Crusader Helm, his hand was cupped around the back of his head the cold metal fingers pressed into his skin. He forced the words from his mouth and said “B….Brother….Sotha….Sotha…..The bastard got him”. 

He pulled himself up as Arx let go, and slowly began to rise until he was in a sitting position, upon his knees with one hand pushed into the ground to steady him as his body threatened to keel over, swaying unsteadily, staring around at the Guardsmen and fellow Astartes that were present. He noticed Brother’s Ryan and Christeph, both standing on guard a few metres away with their backs turned to those within the clearing. Sergeant Tobias and Niko knelt above the downed Sotha, however Astelan’s thoughts rested upon the dark vision he had just been shown to. 

The Guardsmen, the one who hid his face beneath a rebreather was conversing with Arx, asking them if he and his Squad could use the Rhino to return to the city with them. The Rhino APC could carry ten Astartes, not including the driver. There was currently seven Astartes present, that meant that, whoever was driving would give up their place and thus make room for the four Guardsmen, yet Sotha would need more space. 

It was down to Niko and Tobias to decide. While Astelan disliked those who were not Astartes, these humans had fought gallantly side by side with him, however that did not mean they deserved to use their Rhino. He pulled himself closer to him, half dragging himself closer, and laid one giant hand on his shoulder saying “You and your fellows have served the Emperor greatly, yet our Commander is in great need, not one of us can promise you safe passage to the city”.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain bellowed in anger as the xeno seemed to flee from him. He smashed his boot down on a tyranid, all his squad brothers dead. I wish i had an apothecary here, at least we could collect their geneseed, but without one it will go to waste. He felt fury beyond belief. Kain looked out across the battlefield. Some of his brothers were still moping up their foes, all of them looked to be encased in blood. He could also see brave loyal guardsmen fighting. More death he thought as he started checking that the xeno around him were dead. 

As Kain pulverisied the brains of another tyranid scum he could hear what seemed like more footsteps. He turned to the dark trees and quickly activated his thermal vision with but a thought to his helmet. The second he did the trees arupted in movement. More foul xeno he thought as a guardsmen who stood in front of him suddenly fell, three tentacle like things sticking out of him. Kain roared down the comm to his brothers _"They come for more brothers."_ Moving forwards towards them he opened fire upon the tyranids moving to get closer to his brothers. He bellowed once more _"For the Emperor brothers, lets show these foul scum the might of the Astartes."_


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx kept his face impassive underneath his helmet, though he heard Shadihms voice drop as he finished his sentence. It was't much of a surprise, The Imperial Guards view of the PDF was hardly flattering, or secret. 

'_You shouldn't be so quick to disregard your new position Radec, today you helped save the life of one of our most important Brothers. Do you think it was coincidence you ended up here today, or something else?_'

Arx fell silent, but before Shadihm could respond, the Astartes' attention was grabbed by Astelan; the marine was waking up. He released his hold on his Brother as he stirred to consciousness.

'B….Brother….Sotha….Sotha…..The bastard got him.'

Arx sat back as Astelan righted himself. He was clearly disorientated, from the way he was swaying it was a miracle he was even upright.

Arx replied in a soft voice '_Brother Niko is attending to Sotha. But what of your own condition Brother?_' He knew there was little point in telling Astelan to remain on the ground, he doubted he would listen in this scenario. He watched as Astelan placed a hand on the Guard's shoulder, and waited for his Brother to stop speaking before Arx raised himself to his feet. Without waiting for confirmation from him, Arx slipped his hand around his Brothers shoulders and helped him stand, supporting his weight. He clicked into a Vox link with Astelan, so his voice wouldn't be heard outside.

'_A handful of Guardsmen couldn't have done all this alone Astelan, you saved Sotha's life._'

He just hoped it wasn't in vain. He resisted the urge to glance over at Niko, praying the young Astartes could save their Commander.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan felt Arx lift his weight, helping him balance with his giant hands. His mouth burned with every word he forced out, trying to return his full speech. He had managed to scoop his Helm up before he fell and slowly slotted it on, making sure all of his hair was beneath the sealing sections before twisting it into place. When he did, he smiled as the HUD returned before him, Bio-Scans showing him what his current condition was.

It was not great, but when Arx asked him how he was holding up Astelan couldn’t help but to tell a lie. Turning his head he stared at his overly large Brother and replied “I’ve seen Tau with better close combat abilities that these damned Tyranids! I shall be fine, I managed….Well I am not to sure what I done Brother, but I kept them away for what I can remember of the…..Picnic” He chuckled before letting out a long sigh until he was forced to take another breath. 

It was when Arx spoke next that Astelan fell silent. A chime alerted him to the private channel and he accepted the transmission yet the words it contained made the twin hearts of Astelan ache in pain. He for several seconds could not reply, the words he tried to formed not coming through until he managed “Thank you Arx, yet I feel as though when we reunite with our fellow Brothers, if Sotha does not come through the blame shall be upon by shoulders. I trust Niko, he is a skilled young one, I am sure he will be able to help Sotha through this”.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

As the marine he was speaking to answered him Shadihm thought on his words, he guess he was here for a reason after all, Emperor alone knew why but he guessed it was a good one. He turned and looked at what was left of his squadmates and gulped, certainly not stormtroopers that was for sure, but they had all been through hell so far and amazingly survived by the Emperor's grace. That showed they were some of the hardest arsed troops on this planet so far and by the looks of it they were going to have to make the treck through this shithole of a jungle back to the city, hopefully the marines could give them a medkit or something like that.

He turned a looked up at the marine who had been fighting with them and listened before answering the two of them, *"Thank you lords for gratitude, we were doing our duty. I understand if you don't have any room for us on board that transport, your commander's life is definately worth more then ours, I'm sure we can make it back to the city with what little we have left. I need to check on my squadmates and see how they're holding up, let me know of your decision."* as he turned to walk away he looked back at the larger marine and said, *"I am here for a reason, I've known that for a long time, I just don't know which one." *

He smiled under his mask and knew the marine wouldnt be able to see it before heading back over to where Rikard was patching up the Kid and Trigger was getting as much ammo as possible. He stopped and peered down at the Kid's hand, *"Shit kid..."* he shook his head a bit before speaking up to them, *"Alright boys, chances of us getting on that transport are slim as hell, their commander is almost down for the count and he'll be taking up a lot of space, so by the looks of it we're going to be hoofin it through the jungle."*
He stared at the Kid's burned nubs,* "Fuck you need to start listening so that won't happen to you or any of us. Can you shoot a pistol with your other hand?" *he asked the Kid.


----------



## blazinvire

Back then it was a grizzly job, and it was pretty much the same this time.
He'd never liked the smell of sizzling flesh, there was a really bad memory attached to it involving flamers, a nurgle plague and a hell of a lot of his comrades.
Zac quickly slapped his lasgun back together and into working order before hauling the drum of heavy bolter ammunition into his lap for a moment.

Shadihm has basically confirmed Zac's assumptions, four guardsmen were worth about the same as four auto-rounds, hope they kill something but not care either way since you've got an ample supply.
So it was time to footslog it through a bunch of trees with the possibility of a few surviving bugs in the area that would kill the lot of them on short notice unless they kept on their toes.
And unfortunately there wasn't really anything he could work with, except for the drum of heavy bolter rounds.

"Well I'm pretty sure we'll be leggin' it through this jungle, I don't whether you want to chase the rhino out of here in case it scares everything off and clears us a path, of if the rhino will draw attention and we should use it as a distraction," Zac said, "But we should decide soon."


----------



## Euphrati

Niko’s questing fingers found what he sought the moment Tobias’s shadow crossed over him as the sergeant took a knee at his side; it was obvious that Tobias had been lingering nearby in anticipation of his need and Niko was thankful of his brother-sergeant’s foresight. Niko gave a slight nod of acknowledgement before speaking,

‘Brother-sergeant, I need your left arm bare to the shoulder and if you have any non-superficial wounds I need to know about them.’

Niko pulled a collection of tubes from a protective liner; the polycryst pipes gleaming in the slanting light, their polished steel fittings reflecting the scene dispassionately, as Tobias began quickly stripping off his armour and reported he had sustained no injuries from the fighting. Niko nodded as he carefully fitted the opposing ends of the twisting pipes with gold-plated needles and the rest of the world seemed to fall away; leaving only him, Tobias, and the bleeding form of Sotha. 

Behind the disciplined wall of his training; Niko felt the serrated blade of doubt lay bare against his skin and heard his own breath rasping painfully loud in the confines of his battle helm, his twin hearts beating against the shield of his ribs like mewed raptors trying to break free of their confinement. He swallowed hard, finding his throat suddenly dry as the pale sands on the practice arena floor as the last fitting slotted into place with a soft click.

Reaching down; he carefully laid a hand on Sotha’s pale jaw, turning the noble features to the side and exposing the faintly pulsing vein in the powerful neck. The tip of one of the golden needles slid into the waxen flesh and Niko fixed it securely in place, turning back to Tobias who was just pulling the last of his vambrace from his upper arm and exposing the black synskin under-suit that lay beneath the hardened ceramite outer plates.

At Niko’s direction, Tobias held his arm our before him palm up. With a swift and sure motion; Niko drew the tip of his las-scalpel in a vertical motion along the inside of Tobais’s arm, parting the material of the undersuit and exposing the corded muscle underneath. It took only a fraction of a second to pinpoint the brachial artery located right beside Tobais’s swell of biceps, the position fresh in Niko’s memory from his recent studies under Alexander.

He felt a weight settle upon his shoulders at the thought of the Apothecary, high above in synchronous orbit aboard the Heart of Sotha. If Alexander had been here Sotha’s life would not be hanging by a thread, the meager medical supplies that Niko carried paled in comparison to the equipment carried by the Apothecary. Uncertainty whispered in the back of his mind and Niko paused, needle held barely millimeters from the skin of Tobias’s upper arm. 

---

_‘They need you.’

The softly spoken words shook Niko out of his reverie and he cast a glance over his shoulder to the speaker, pushing back from where he had been leaning against the curve of the rail. Alexander stepped forward out of the cool shadows as the clash of training blades sounded far below, followed by a good natured curse and hearty laughter. 

Niko straightened reflexively but the Apothecary motioned that he should be at ease, taking a place beside him to peer down into the sand-covered arena below. Alexander was in full battle gear, the lacquered white plates seeming to glow in the pale light like the carefully wrought frescos upon the walls of the Chamber of Heroes, it never ceased to amaze Niko how quietly the Apothecary could move in his bulky wargear when he so wished. Alexander’s helm was cupped under his arm and his noble features softened as he looked down at battle brothers locked in combat below. Dusky sapphire eyes followed each movement with a surgeon’s precision above the pale web of scar tissue that crossed the Apothecary’s cheeks; Niko noted the scaring as the remains of acid burns from the countless years of exposure to venom of the tyranids. 

‘They need you,’ Alexander repeated as if to himself, ‘yet they will never understand the weight that you carry upon your soul for each one of them, every one that falls that you could not save will haunt your dreams. You will remember them all.’

Niko felt a cold sensation chase up his spine at the distant tone of his mentor’s voice and turned his gaze away in respect to the shadows he saw flit behind those deep blue eyes. They stood in silence for a long moment, the clash of blades echoing through the cavernous bay like distant thunder, before Alexander spoke again,

‘You are young for this weight to be placed upon you,’ Alexander ran a hand through his short cropped black hair before straightening and turning to face him fully,

‘I see the strength within you to bear that weight, Niko, and so do they. Never forget that.’_

---

Niko’s eyes slid from the golden needle to the softly glowing red lenses of Tobais’s battle helm. The Scythe of the Emperor knelt motionless, for a brief instant their gazes locked and Tobias gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head. Niko felt the apprehension slip away as he pressed the needle into the yielding flesh, feeling the slight resistance before the gold coated needle penetrated the artery wall. Quickly, he bound the line in place with gauze before taking hold of the locking clamp and, with a prayer to the Emperor on Holy Terra, flicked the mechanism to allow the blood to flow.

The vital fluid filled the line almost instantly as if it too knew the need of their fallen Lord. This was the most dangerous moment for if he had positioned the end incorrectly or allowed a single bubble of air to contaminate the line then Tobias’s blood would clot and the transfusion would fail. Seconds passed and the line pulsed faintly in rhythm to the brother-sergeant’s heartbeats. Niko’s breath came out in a hot rush of gratitude to Alexander’s long hours of instruction.

Yet, there was still one last thing needed. With one swift motion, Niko tugged his combat blade from its sheath and plunged the diamond-coated blade through Tobais’s open palm, drawing a hiss of pain from the sergeant.

‘Forgive me, brother, but I need your body to trigger the release of the Larraman cells. I will do penitence for striking you once we are back upon the Heart.’ 

Niko heard the words as if they had come from someone else for his whole attention had turned back to Sotha’s gaping wound. Tobias merely grunted in acceptance. Slowly, the blood pumping from Sotha ceased and the wound finally showed signs of the rapid healing so remarkable of the astartes physiology. 

It was as if the sun had suddenly risen from the darkness of night and Niko carefully bound the wound before motioning to Christeph and Ryan over to help carefully lift their Lord into the waiting Rhino. Niko paused, reaching up to undo his helm and lift it free. He took a deep, gulping breath of the forest air, thick with the smell of crushed vegetation and battle, before casting his gaze back to the others,

‘Arx, brother if you can aid Astelan to the transport I shall check him once we are underway. The guardsmen come with, the wounded will take what room we have left and the others will ride upon the roof.’ 

Niko’s tone booked little argument as he gathered his pouches back up in preparation to leave.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell looked at his hand one more time, and felt the stinging pain which still lingered in it. He tried to move his fingers, and they did, but hell would have hurt less then this. Suddenly he thought about his marksmanship, and his sniper abilities. His aim would be less than before, not even to mention the pain holding his lasgun would cause. Should he contact his father when he, no even IF he ever reaches the city? And what then, ask his father for some credits or a bionic hand? NO, that would only shame him and his father, he had to do this on his own.

He saw Shadihm walking towards them, and suddenly Shadihm said something. "Shit kid..." Khrell heard Shadihm say. Was it that bad? Khrell looked at his hand once more. This was a warzone right? And these things happened in warzones. Khrell was sure he would get through this, and get a bionic hand.

Shadihm looked at Khrell and said: "Fuck you need to start listening so that won't happen to you or any of us. Can you shoot a pistol with your other hand?" " Of course I can shoot with the other hand, and this hand will be fine too" Khrell lifted his bloodied hand. "It just needs some time to heal, then I'll be fine." Khrell sat down on a fallen log "Maybe I might get lucky, and get a bionic replacement, my father got one when he lost his hand. Only my father was less lucky, and he lost almost his whole arm."

Khrell heard Zac saying that they would have to walk through the jungle. Khrell would have a small chance surviving that, for either his wounds would get infected, or any remaining nids would do the job. Khrell kneeled to the ground and started praying to the Emperor. He asked the Emperor to get him safely through the jungle, and to save him from any harm, he also asked the Emperor to get him a bionic hand, or anything like that, so he would be able to snipe once more.

Khrell stood up, and looked around. He saw the space marine doctor taking off his helm, an the doctor said with a mighty voice: ‘Arx, brother if you can aid Astelan to the transport I shall check him once we are underway. The guardsmen come with, the wounded will take what room we have left and the others will ride upon the roof.’ Khrell thought that the Emperor had heard his prayer, and fulfilled it. Khrell now knew that the marines were truly the Emperor's angels....

Khrell turned, to face his comrades, and spoke: "Seems like we are going to hitch a ride after all, make sure you guys hold on on top of that rhino." Khrell saluted his brothers in arms, and made way towards the rhino.

Khrell turned to Rikard before he left and spoke: "Thanks Rikard, for your help. I know I can always count on you. I hope we all make it out of here." and with those words Khrell left, walking towards the rhino in a steady pace....


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx supported his Brother as he stood, looking into the eyes of Astelan as he faced him. He could see a life there that his current bodily condition would not have him believe, he smiled slightly, a good sign. He listened as his Brother spoke, taking heart at his words yet feeling the pang of concern as he periodically laboured for breath.

His eyes fell upon Shadihm once more as the Guarsdman answered them. He nodded his helmet at the Soldiers words '_The Emperor Protects._' and watched as he turned to join his comrades.

He heard the quiet _ping_ from his helmets vox sensors, noting that Astelan had engaged the channel. There was a few long seconds of silence, at first he thought his Brother may not respond at all. Though he chalked the space down to his condition, deciding not to press the matter. Though there was no need either way, the voice of Astelan spoke softy in his helmet. The first thing he noticed was that his Brother sounded... Tired, not battle fatigue, but something else.

'_It is in the hands of our Brother and the Holy Emperor now Astelan, I have faith._' Before he continued he tilted his Brother so he could view the full scale of the dead Tyranids. '_Do you think so? Look at this Brother, you took a great toll on our most hated of foes while fighting to protect Sotha. *I* will not let any claim otherwise._'

Niko's unaugmented voice called out across the clearing, breaking the serene silence of the scene; ‘Arx, brother if you can aid Astelan to the transport I shall check him once we are underway. The guardsmen come with, the wounded will take what room we have left and the others will ride upon the roof.’ 

He turned once more to Astelan '_He did not sound solemn Brother, have Faith._' and with that he began to make way for their trusted transport, supporting as much of Astelan's bulk as he could manage.


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

Zac and Shadihm you two are to climb onto the roof. Holding on shouldn't be too bad because the marines wont want to drive it too fast, so as to not give their injured commander any further problems.

Their are no edges on the sides though, and a sharp turn occurring for an unprecedented reason, or a sudden jerk in acceleration, could throw you off causing some serious injury or death. Its a risk your willing to take over foot slogging through the jungle for a day or two back to Vorspire. There are some edges and cables and such around the roof but they would not be very full proof for holding onto. Zac might have a good idea on how to ensure the two of you stay on top....without messing with the marines' holy vehicle too much. You wouldn't want them to take back their decision.

Khrell and Rikard, there will be enough room for the two of you to fit inside the rhino, though squished towards the rear end of the rhino once the ramp is closed. Khrell gets to go inside because if he needed to hold on to anything on the roof, he wouldn't be able to very well, and Rikard happened to be with him in front of the other two.

Rikard, take this opportunity to explain some things to the kid. He has two things going for him for sure, his luck and his aim. He still has some things to learn though. Particularly he needs to know that he cannot act on his own in this, or any other imperial guard squad, if he wants to survive a bit longer. From what he has said, he seems to believe he is assured a new hand....he also seems to think he will so much as hear from his father again.

Khrell feel free to talk back, and both of you will likely have quite the interest in what the marines are doing, and saying.

Vick:

"You wanna what?!" Jole gets a good loud laugh at the desire, but it is clear he accepts as he backs one of his bionic legs and squats into a ffighting stance with his metal fists up. He seems already recuperated from his dual with the Lictor. 

"I accept yer challenge, boy!"

He lunges at you far faster than you had anticipated, slamming his fist into your gut dropping you down to one knee.

"Whoopsie! I forgot your a newbie. I'll go a little easier, c'mon! I'm up for releavin some sress after fighting that big ass bug. Ain't nothing like gettin over the men you lost by doing more fightin! only way to go!"

He waits for you to strike back.


Scythes of the Emperor:

Niko, Arx, and Astelan:

Sotha is secured as safely as possible inside the rhino, closest to the driver's end of the rhino on the floor, Tobias next to him still with his removed armor by his feet being held under his foot. He tells you all that he is switching to private channels within his helmet so as not to disturb any communication you may need to have. He states he will be letting the Scythes know that Sotha has been recovered and aided, and is now being transported to Vorspire. He also says he will be trying to figure out what has happened to the squads at Brig's location, as well as your squad mates Solaki, Belial, and Kyr who he assumes are all still there with Brig.

Niko, if you wish now to inspect Astelan do the best you can while in the rhino, Christeph will be driving carefully so as not to harm Sotha's status further. Brother Ryan has taken the passenger seat in the front. 

Basically Niko, Arx, and Astelan, you are free to discuss whatever matters you wish amongst each other. 

Kain:

As the waves of gaunt forms surround you once more, Brother Zurick fires a hot blue wave of purification once again, knocking out many of the enemies, but their spaces are quickly re-filled. Sergeant Brig flies out in front of you fighting with ten times your fervor. This is really starting to look like it may be your last fight, your last chance to take revenge on the tyranids. Show them what you've got!

Solaki, Belial, and Tyrant:

Assuming Belial does not want to lose his arm, he takes the chainsword to the barbed strangler before it gets enough heat to erupt through his limb. This would have left things pretty grim for Solaki as he strikes at the Warriors talon.

he is successful in causing the Warrior to react in such a way that it pulls its talon out form his shoulder. All of its attention was on Solaki though as Belial had to take the time to saw off the tyranid's biological ammunition. Certain doom seemed to await you as its pissed of form remained looming over you Three brother from another squad come out fo the brush from behind it, firing at its back with their bolters. this gives you time to notice that the seemingly dwindling numbers of gaunts have suddenly doubled around you. where did they come from? and what are you going to do now?

Tyrant, I will give you the chance once again to save one of your precious spawn. your warrior has been taken by surprise and is out numbered but will not fall easily with your mind behind it. If you wish, it will be able to escape alive. bounding away in great leaps through the forestry.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain bellowed in anger. If this was to be his last fight then he would take as many of the filthy xeno as he could with him. He tore a krak grenade from his belt and hurled it over Sgt. Brig, not waiting for the explosion to claim the lives of a score of tyranids. He opened fire with his bolter watching more and more limbs get torn from their bodies. "Filthy xeno scum polluting the Holy Emperors realm." He drew his combat knife knowing that he only had a finite amount of ammo and it was best to try and conserve what he had left. He darted in among the tyranids using his own body as a weapon as well as his knife. A gaunt leapt on his chest only to recieve a knife to its throat before Kain crushed anothers throat in his armoured guantlet. He visciously kicked one in the face, his boot crushing his brain, before he threw another grenade in front of him. The frag grenade tour throught the tyranids leaving a score of dead and dying. He once more dived into the swirling combat ready for death.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac was a little surprised for once, at first thinking he was hearing things from maybe an after-shock from the battle or a side effect from being around a psyker, but he'd definitely heard they were being offered a ride out of here.
He wasted no time, the sheer difference in survival rate between walking and riding was enough to have him running for the rhino, running a few steps up the side and barely catching the roof.
The bolter drum was weighing him down quite a lot, but he was a scavenger at heart and wouldn't let it go without a damn good reason, managing to haul himself onto the roof of the rhino.

"Rhino surfing, that's definitely new," Zac remarked as he looked around the roof for any hand holds of any kind, "Unfortunately they're not as convenient as chimeras..."
He'd seen Chimeras plough around the field like a maniac, he'd probably fall off...
Though by the looks of things, the armour plating of a rhino was about as good as a chimera so it did present a few advantages.
Zac drew his combat knife and managed to slide it to the hilt under a huge plate on the top with a bit of bashing, taking the strap off his lasgun and tying one end to the hilt of the knife, the other to his belt.
He'd slid the knife in from the front so he figured it'd only fall loose if the rhino came to a sudden stop and send him flying forwards, which usually meant he could probably just jump back on. Though it made more sense since he figured the rhino probably wouldn't stop in the first place.

"This should be an interesting experience," Zac said, holding his lasgun ready as he looked around at the trees.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belials chain sword hummed into life as he cut the barbed strangler from him. Just as he thought the warrior was going to finish off solaki three battle brothers appeared through the bush firing their bolters as the came.

"Now brother" Belial roared to Solaki "we may not get another chance press home our advantage we have the numbers. Belials bolt pistol roared to life sending hails of bolts from near point blank range into the foul xenos. This gave him a bit of breathing space and taking full advantage Belial renewed his attack with his chain sword with more vigour and hacked at the beast with all his might. No mater what strange phenomenem was effecting these tyranids even this one would not be able to withstand the might of five astartes.


----------



## Euphrati

As Christeph and Ryan lifted Lord Sotha’s injured form into the back of the rhino, Tobias trailing close by still linked by the life sustaining lines to the unconscious chapter master, Niko scooped up the discarded armour, eyes lingering on the sundered cuirass as he carefully set the pieces beside where Sotha had been secured. Checking the lines a final time, Niko adjusted the flow rate to a steady trickle before checking the wound he had inflicted on Tobais’s hand.

The wound was a raw line of healing pink scar tissue, Niko’s mono-edged blade having passed cleanly through Tobias’s palm and out the back of his hand between the first and second metacarpal bones. Within days Tobias’s body would repair the wound to the point that only Niko would know it had ever existed. Tobias soon made good on his words as a soft clicking sounded from his helm indicating he was working to establish contact with the scattered forces of the Scythes so Niko left his sergeant to watch over Sotha and moved across the small hold of the rhino to where Astelan and Arx sat, their forms rocking slightly as Christeph guided the transport through the twisting forest along the most level paths.

Niko eased down to a knee before the battered Astelan; with his helm off he couldn’t directly call up his brother’s heart rates, but the blood edging the lip of his brother's collar cause him to act on impluse. Niko reached up slowly, unlocking the clasps at Astelan's neck and lifting his helm free to place it on the seat beside him. The shallow skin tracked in bloody tears told him that Astelan was in need of his care whether the battle brother freely admitted to it or not. He fished two vials out of the pouch at his hip, holding them up before him and speaking in a calm voice,

‘Stabilizers and stimulants to aid your systems in repairing, do not tell me that you don’t need them brother.’

Niko watched Astelan’s eyes track the vials carefully, noting the sluggish reactions of his irises as they focused on the movements, as he pressed each in turn against the intake valve in Astelan’s breastplate. After replacing the spent vials in his pack; Niko reached out to grip Astelan’s wrist, turning over the Scythe’s arm to expose the scorched marks of electrical burns on the enameled gauntlet. Keeping a gentle hold on his brother, Niko’s storm grey eyes flicked to Arx before tracking back to Astelan’s features,

‘Brother, I am not here to judge you,’ 

He spoke softly, knowing that both Scythes could hear his works clearly over the engine noise thanks to the filtering effect of the Lyman's organ in the ear,

‘But I need to ask you what transpired here. Your heart rates have fluctuated wildly since before you and Sotha were attacked… when we arrived there was a dome of power that was holding back the xenos.’

Niko let the unasked question linger in the air between them as he awaited Astelan’s reply.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan had always disliked Rhino’s. Why he had never found out, nor did he think he would. He preferred operating in the larger vehicles, the Land Raiders were an awe inspiring sight upon the field of battle. Several times Astelan had occupied a Land Raider and each time he could only help but gain more and more respect for the mighty Tanks. Yet the Rhino itself was a sturdy vehicle that served admirably, however Astelan had been injured previously in one, when it was flipped by a explosive device and the Astartes nearly lost his life to a deadly shard of white hot metal. 

Since that day he had had a dislike of them. However he had not been to fond of the boxy vehicles before that event. He often attended the vehicle garages on the Heart of Sotha where the three remaining Land Raiders within the Chapter rested, awaiting war once again. He had sat within them several times since the Fall, remembering their might guns blazing as they tore across far flung worlds, engines howling to get at the enemy. He relished in these times. 

Before the Fall, entire Companies could be brought to bear upon some Xeno or Traitor influenced world but now barely a hundred Marines remained, actually when the Scythe thought about it, that number had dropped even more since they had been upon accursed Ferim. Suddenly he was brought back to the interior of the Rhino, his helm suddenly being lifted upwards and letting the coppery smell of blood flow into his nostrils. He stare down upon the young face of Niko and smiled through cracked lips. 

Niko spoke, telling him that he was about to place stabilizers and stimulants into the valve opening in his chest and also that Astelan should not tell him he did not need it. The Astartes was about to speak, yet the word of the future-Apothecary completely out-ruled him at the moment, and Astelan was in no state to argue with the younger Marine. He gripped his wrist tightly and turned it around with ease, staring at the burned markings there.

Astelan stared at the spiraling scorch marks and awaited till Niko had finished talking before pulling it free, lifting the palm so it rested right before his face he inclined his head before reaching up to his longer hair and grabbing a strand between his fingers. He yanked and it fell away, flowing down like a wave of water and patting against his burnt palm. His eyes went wide. The tip to about half way of the strange was no longer black but rather a graying colour that made the Scythe of the Emperor shake his head in despair. 

Finally he gave the answer to Niko. Removing his palm from his face he stared into his eyes with his own and said “I am not entirely sure of what happened Brother…We were ambushed by a trio of Tyranicus Ophidius-Subterra. Sotha himself killed the first of the serpentine bastards, I the second. He went down and I kept on fighting against them, when my body became slow and unresponsive. I argued against myself, yet slowly my hand begun to ache and a bolt of what I can only describe as lightning was flung forth, it was beautiful Brother. Niko, what is happening to me?”


----------



## deathbringer

The talon scythed through armour and met flesh in a searing spray of arterial blood and I relished in the blood flowing over the warriors arm. I merged my body even deeper taking control of the warriors emotions, basking in the glow of his pain, of his hatred, his delight in the blood sending his nerves on fire and thus sending my senses wild. My mind roared in a delightful pleasure which suddenly turned sour as it was laced with pain as a blade slashed into his joint and he recoiled, tearing the talon from the warriors shoulder, as it grated upon the bone.

The talon slipped free and my rage rose and I drew the warrior up to his full height so he towered above the astartes yet suddenly the thunderous pummeling once more as I roared in frustration. Always always pummeling at me... I should kill them for there their continual annoyances, following me, hunting me the bastards.

Yet this was not me, this was my warrior, my last link, he had to survive... the scrub looked dense, dense enough to flee. The warrir snarled, roared and protested yet I dominated him, manipulated his limbs left foot right foot, leg over leg till her reached the scrub and dissapeared into the woods to find gaunts flooding towards him.. they had come... the battle had only just begun... the marines would pay.

In the distance i felt my lictors snarl and there limbs began to move... they too were on the move.


----------



## darkreever

Standing next to the Kid in the cramped confines of the transport, Rikard didn’t feel right. Not just because this was a space marine transport, and he still had trouble believing that these armoured warriors were actually real; but also because of what Kid had said to him and the others before. Grabbing him by the shoulder, Rikard hauled Kid around so that the two were looking face to face.

_“Kid, I don’t know if you hit your head or have always been this niave but your in the guard; you’re a dog standard trooper just like me. Your life is worth about as much as the las-bolts you shoot, only good enough to bring death to the enemies of the God-Emperor that need to be killed. When we get back, your gonna be lucky if they even bother dealing with your hand beyond making sure they don’t have to chop the whole thing off, none of us are important enough to get lost fingers replaced.”_ He said while looking at the damaged hand. 

_“And I hate to break it to ya, but whatever family you have from wherever your from; they are gone as far as you and I matter. You ain’t ever gonna see ‘em again unless the God-Emperor himself wills it. The only family you got now is your squad, and I swear if you ever leave that family out to dry in the middle of a firefight in order to fulfill some fantasy or dillusions, Trigger out there won’t be the one burning your wounds closed, and its not your wounds that’re gonna get burned.”_ This last bit he said while staring right at Khrell’s face, because he was dead serious and the kid really needed to realize that.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko felt the weight behind his brother’s piercing blue eyes, the uncertainty and need for an assured response. The words died upon Niko’s lips and shame filled his heart for he had no such response for Astelan. But perhaps he knew someone who did. 

The young Scythe reached out to place his open palm on Astelan’s scarred breastplate,

‘I know not, brother. Rest now, I must ask the guardsmen a few questions before contacting Alexander about Lord Sotha's status.’

The words sounded hollow even to his ears and Niko sighed as he rocked back to his feet, steady despite a tremor that rolled through the decking as the rhino climbed over some obstacle in its path. Turning away from Astelan and Arx, Niko crossed the short distance to where the two guardsmen who had climbed inside the rhino were standing near the open rear in private discussion.

The two guardsmen were a study in contrasts as Niko caught the trailing end of what sounded like a lecture the older was giving to the youth. Both men were injured; the youth clutching a damaged hand which smelled of charred flesh and multiple other bloody wounds, the elder of the two bearing signs of venom burns to his upper torso. 

Niko cleared his throat; he had deliberately left his helm on its mag-lock at his waist so that the guardsmen would be less pensive of his humanity,

‘It would seem that our fates are tied in this,’ 

Niko gave a tired and fleeting smile, his eyes passing over the youth and settling on the senior guardsman as he recognized the look of one who is no stranger to battle,

‘Your valour has earned your regiment great honour this day, though not without sacrifice. Allow me to look over your wounds, and the wounds of your squadmate, while you tell me what transpired here in your own words. My brother’s memory is weakened from his strain and it is important for his well being, as well as that of our Lord, that I have the details.’

Niko was already fishing the slim canister of anti-venom from the pouch at his hip while he waited for the reply from the guardsmen.


----------



## Necrosis

"Holy Empe..." said Vick as he drop to one knee and spat out some blood. He could barely see that attack coming. This wasn't going to be easy. But hell, you get stronger by fighting opponents stronger then you. Vick got himself back on his own two feet which one was bionic. He wipe the blood from his mouth. "Alright, let's do this. What doesn't kill you hurts a lot but it makes you stronger." said Vick as he charged and attempted to knee the Jole with his bionic leg, which he would then followed up with a solid back hand with his bionic arm.


----------



## Deus Mortis

The pain from the blade slamming into it's arm joint forced the warrior to retract it's claw. Whilst the pain the warrior felt must have been substantial, the pain Solaki felt made the warriors pain seem insubstantial. "AAARRRGGGHHH! FUCK!" Solaki roared as he dropped his weapons and clutched his shoulder as he fell to his knee's. The pain was blinding, but Solaki saw all he needed to see. Belial was standing there, taking care of an insignificant seed on his arm. Solaki had seen it before, if it got enough heat, Belial would lose his arm. But Apothecary Alexander could replace that, and Solaki would have been willing to die for another Brother, but clearly Solaki wasn't worth his arm! Outraged by this, but knowing that his time was up, Solaki stood up. He would not be killed like a cowering child who hid from the monsters under their bed, he was Astartes, and damn it he was going to show Belial how true astartes faced death or damage, not with terror and forsaking their brothers, but with a bold face and courage. 

Standing to his feet, the warrior moved closer. It was barely a few feet from him now, and closing in fast. Solaki didn't flinch, he just stood there and stared into the cold dead thing's eyes. He was going to die here, the thing was too close for him to reach down and get his weapons because the thing would merely impale his back and kill him that way, and he couldn't fight it off with his bare hands. This was it, game over. But he wasn't scared, just upset that he couldn't continue to fight against the tyranids, and that he couldn't bring the Emperor's justice to the head tyranid. Solaki offered a quite prayer "Emperor, I'm sorry for failing you, but if you find the mercy to save me, I will redeem myself, I swear it to you" and with that Solaki raised his arms to level with his chest and hoped his death was quick. 

The warrior hissed at him and raised it's claws to demolish him, Solaki closed his eyes, but the stabbing and slashing never came. The tyranid was howling and he could hear bolter fire. He opened his eyes and saw that three brothers had appeared and open fired on the warrior. The Emperor had heard him! So Solaki grabbed his weapons from the floor and started to aid his fire to his brothers. Sensing that the battle had turned sour, the warrior ran for cover, surely to recover it's strength and strike again. However they couldn't risk chasing it in case it was a trap. But the seeming insignificant numbers of gaunts had almost doubled. How had this happened! Solaki knew if they didn't act now, they would be consumed in a wave of chitin and blades. But he could fight as well as he could earlier, because the pain in his shoulder was to much for him to use it to fight with. Solaki went to call for Belial, but the recent memory came back to him and he was unwilling to die because Belial abandoned him again. So he simple called an open invitation "Brothers, the gaunts numbers are swelling. We need to kill them or they will over-whelm us. I can't fight at full capacity, because my shoulder had bee wounded, can you help me destroy them?" Solaki was sure the other brothers who had selflessly offered themselves to save him would halp, and maybe Belial would stop hidding in the corner for long enough to make a difference. So Solaki got to work on kill what gaunts he could with his damaged shoulder...


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Rikard was very mad at Khrell, and Khrell had seen this coming. But the words Rikard said were all true, none the less. Khrell didn't even want to reply at first, but then Khrell came tot the conclusion that not replying would be disrespectful, and Khrell replied: "I know I was wrong, and from now on I will think first, act second. I should've at least told you I was going to the marine. It just seemed that helping the marine was the only way for us to make it out of this jungle alive. My apologies for my stupid actions. And you are right about my hand, at least I still have 2 fingers left. Enough for me." Khrell looked at the marine commander. He heard that his name was Sotha, and Khrell felt like he had done the right thing, both the marines were alive after all.

Suddenly a marine came closer to them. Khrell recognized him, as this was the same marine who has treated Shadihm and Vick. Vick... Khrell was wondering what had happened o him, was he dead? Probably. Or was he still alive.. Only the Emperor could know.

The marine asked them to tell what had happened, but Khrell kept silent. He wanted Rikard to speak, as Rikard would be able to tell the true story, and after all, not a single marine would believe a 16 year old guardsman. would they?


----------



## dark angel

_The Governor sat upon a throne built with silver and diamond. His fat body seemed to wriggle and convulse as he ripped a chunk of meat from the leg of some exotic animal that had been cooked and prepared for him, streamers of the white substance dangling from his mouth. Dozens of monitors floated around him, orbiting him as if it was some form of mockery of his weight. Most showed him the skies above his perverted palace but several actually let him see the red carpeted hallways of his giant home. 

His throne room stretched off into the distance, and he could pick out a pair of lithe, green armoured Eldar Warriors that were placed there from the Craft-World Il-Kaithe to give him protection while the two races were in trade. A further eighteen of the Eldar were present in the throne room alone, hidden amongst the shadows or behind pillars. The sun light trickled in from the glass dome above, casting great beams across the marble floor. A hundred PDF Troopers occupied the balconies above, Las-Carbines pulled across their chests and at the ready. 

And then the Astartes came. The dome shattered under a wave of power armoured feet, cracks had begun to snake across it at first before it finally creaked and fell down below. Dozens of black and yellow armoured Space Marines fell inwards, Bolters screaming and sending flame wreathed rounds in all directions. A pair of Eldar disappeared instantly, transforming into nothing more than puffs of red that hanged in the air for several seconds before splattering to the floor. Astelan beheaded a Eldar in a spout of blood, the body falling limp against his front and dripping blood down his front. 

A wave of PDF Troopers appeared above, firing down into the Space Marines with clenched teeth and wet armpits. A missile streamed upwards, launched from the Devastators of Squad Indri and destroyed a large portion of the balcony, sending masonry and broken bodies flying downwards. Indri himself was standing with his Power Fist clutched around the shattered torso of a Eldar, his second hand firing his Bolt Pistol gracefully. 

Skia was dueling with a pair of Eldar, his Chainsword smacking against their longer, sleeker versions. He scored a hit on one, ripping the thin armour of its chest and destroying the spine. Organs were churned at this, and the Scythe of the Emperor let out a triumphant roar as he spun on his heel and beheaded the second at the mouth. Julias Var and his Chief-Lieutenant, the heir of the Third, Sealtiel were approaching the whimpering Governor who made not attempt to escape, swatting away those few Eldar and PDF Troopers who went to his aid. 

Sealtiel leapt forwards at that, his twin Lightning Claws crackling with flames and let out a low roar. The Governor let out a low cackle and raised his fingers, which elongated into blades and punctured the heart of Sealtiel. His face distorted and reformed several times until it no longer resembled anything human and his body broke and ruptured, the skin ripping to reveal a new, more feminine one. The Thing-Governor stood and with its sexless voice hissed “She Who Thirsts….I feel her…Slaanesh seeks your souls! I am Gar’Hrek’Na and you, my Imperial and Eldar friends, are dead”. 

With that Gar’Hrek’Na leapt forwards, beheading one Marine with a might claw, sending the head bouncing away. Sealtiel tore his helm free, tossing it away to reveal a face that was as if crafted by a master Artisan and spat a tooth and a drip of blood to the ground. Sergeant Jael moved forwards, his Tactical Squad close behind, firing his Bolter at the hip. A Eldar, his or her lower left arm torn away advanced towards Var and said “You see, the Governor has thrown us both into the fray, he used us against one another!” 

The Captain snapped around and returned “You foolish Xeno! You have forsaken yourself, the cursed God has took the body of this Imperial and is using him as his pawn! Neither of our forces will survive this alone, you must realise that” the Eldar nodded and outstretched its long fingered hand saying “Then Mon-Keigh this day we fight together, on the condition you allow my forces to escape” grimly, Var shook his hand and the Eldar and Astartes both turned towards the Daemon, which was slaughtering Squad Jael. 

Two Brothers were snipped in two by a claw, their torn skin flapping in the wind as long, bladed arms punctured their helms and skulls. Sergeant Jael himself was dangling from one such limb, his chest impaled upon it, a curse upon his mouth. More Eldar broke in from nearby doorways, and it became evident the apparent leader and truce maker must have told them of what had happened as they completely ignored the Astartes, focusing all their attentions upon the beast. Astelan and Skia fought together, moving closer to it and firing wildly with their weapons. A great arm swiped them both away, tumbling end over end until they came to a abrupt stop and struck a wall with bone jarring force. And then it happened.

High above the world, a Strike Cruiser under the employ of the Scythes opened up like a petal, revealing a giant bombardment cannon that sparked with energy. A shell was loaded into place, and with a force so tremendous that it made the ship quiver, it was shot downwards. The entire palace simply ceased to be. A pair of Thunderhawks had lifted from the palace moments before, carrying with them those Scythes who could be saved and those who were injured, while leaving the Eldar to the pyre that followed. 

In the rearmost Thunderhawk, Astelan leant back, hand held over his ruptured torso and stared at the smoking crater far below. The Eldar are Xeno, and it is our duty to destroy the Xeno scourge he thought to himself grimly, before looking away as the hatch closed and slipping into darkness. _

Astelan awoke as the Rhino lifted upwards over a bump and let out a low growl. He had never actually fought against a Daemon, nor had he allied with the Eldar. His mind had trailed off, his imagination getting the better of him and once again he had seen long dead faces, Brothers who had fallen in the Damocles Crusade and who had fallen upon Sotha. He looked to Arx and said “Brother, this damned world has started to get the better of me….I thank you for aiding my form. I trust you are safe?”


----------



## darkreever

Rikard had been half listening to whatever Kid was saying, when one of the space marines cleared its throat, or rather his throat. *‘It would seem that our fates are tied in this,’* The massivly armoured figure's voice rumbled, even without the helmet, which lay hanging from the warriors belt, attached. My god they are huge, Rikard thought to himself as he had to look up. He barely came up to the space marine's chest and as he stared at the face of this warrior it felt out of place with all of the armour and gear. 

He quickly averted his gaze, because for everything that had happened these were the mighty angels of death borne from the God-Emperor's own flesh as the stories said. He was far from worthy enough to look upon one of them for more than a moment.

*‘Your valour has earned your regiment great honour this day, though not without sacrifice. Allow me to look over your wounds, and the wounds of your squadmate, while you tell me what transpired here in your own words. My brother’s memory is weakened from his strain and it is important for his well being, as well as that of our Lord, that I have the details.’* The space marine said before he began to fish through his gear for something, and Rikard realized he had been speaking to him. 

Quickly looking back up and making the sign of the aquila, Rikard finally broke his silence. _"I will be fine my lord, if you are going to bother with us than look to him. Mine is only slight venom burns, I've suffered them before and will live."_ He said quickly while putting an arm on one of Khrell's shoulders.

_"Once the fighting of the morning had ended, we were ordered into fliers to mount a counter-attack on the enemy; probably to try and take out their leader before another such attack could be mounted. On route, our transport and a few others were attacked and we crashed here in the forest. We were searching for survivors of our own, but we arrived to late to save anyone. The survivors we came to link up with were attacked by massive beasts, killed 'em all and nearly got us if it weren't for the two that had come in our time of need."_ He said pointing to Sotha and Astelan before going on.

_"They killed the beasts, but a swarm of those gaunt 'nids came at us; we fought them as well as we could but there were just to many. We broke to help your squad-mate protect the other when he seemed to put up some kind of shield that kept us safe from any of their return fire. Didn't stop 'em from coming in and trying to claw us to death, but then no one was going down without taking some of them with us. Thats about when you all showed up, wiped the remaining 'nids out, and here we are now. Thats all I can tell you my lord; your squadmate might be more able to fill you in on any details regarding your other."_ Rikard tried his hardest, but he knew that despite his training and experience at least some amount of awe or even fear must have showed. These were space marines, able to read the most subtle of things, hear anything, and see even in the pure dark. He wouldn't be able to hide something like his own fear and awe.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx had remained in a sombre silence since carrying Astelan to the Rhino and settling down in its hold, it was only the direct question from his Brother that goaded him to talk. Until then he had simply been absorbing the information around him. Trying to gauge his Brothers condition, listening to the Guardsmen that the Emperor had brought them to and reflecting on all that had happened.

All that had happened. They had been here for merely hours and so much had transpired; Their newly formed squad nearly breaking at the seams for the most trivial of reasons, becoming separated from their Brothers, fearing for the life of their Lord and witnessing... Witnessing what? A miracle of the Emperor? He did not know.

“Brother, this damned world has started to get the better of me….I thank you for aiding my form. I trust you are safe?”

Arx titled his helmet to face Astelan

'_I am well, though do not spend your energy worrying for my health Brother. And no thanks are in order, you were a Brother in need, there was no choice to the matter. The Emperor guided my blade and brought us where we needed to be._'

He paused for a moment, as if collecting his thoughts.

'_This world is a world of the Imperium. We will remove this *taint* and restore the light of our saviour. We cannot rest until the murderers of our home are crushed beneath our heels, it is a blessing that we are able to deliver such judgement upon them here._'

Though the words felt... Hollow, pre-programmed response. They had all been through a lot in such a short space of time. He wasn't sure if he was trying to comfort his Brother, or himself.

Arx tilted his head to the gaping whole of the rear of the rhino, he felt anxious sitting so far into the vehicle, powerless even.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial roared in anger as the warrior turned and ran for cover. He was about to charge and follow it when a swarm of gaunts came crashing through the under growth. They just kept comming so many of them it was never ending.

Belial knew that Solaki would be angry with him not risking his arm for the life of a brother but he hadnt time to deal with it. Solaki would just have to put up with it. Belial had more pressing concerns he had to get to Sotha before Astelan did anything stupid. He knew he was the only one with concerns about astelans state of mind so he was the one who had to be there. If that had meant solakis death then so be it. He would mourn him but the survival of the chapter was paramount.


----------



## Euphrati

The guardsman was uneasy, almost fearful of him, and Niko always found the reaction confusing. Since passing the trials of the Scythes of the Emperor and being embraced as a full battle brother after the fall of Sotha, Niko had precious little contact with normal humans save those few bound to the chapter as serfs who had survived the destruction of the chapter’s homeworld. Within the chapter itself he was not of great rank, though his skills had garnered the respect of his brothers and his mind still reeled at this latest trial of his abilities, and the trepidation shown by the guardsman was almost irritating in Niko’s mind.

He nodded as the guardsman spoke of the events, taking the younger’s hand gently in his gauntlet and examining the wound. The young guardsman’s hand looked like a child’s against the black enameled ceramite and sensitive neural-transfer pads on his palm and fingers. The appendage was mangled and torn, three of the fingers having been sheared off by the shark-like teeth of the xenos that the youngster had stood against. The severed stumps of his fingers had been crudely seared shut and smelled faintly of charred meat and Niko was reminded how weak the guardsmen’s bodies were. Niko gave the hand a quick spray of anti-venom, seemingly oblivious to the fact that though the scent of the spray was a pleasingly green tone the actually sensation was like applying salt to an open wound. With a economy of motion he replaced the canister and extracted another of syn-skin and duplicated the quick pass. The flesh-coloured sealant quickly solidified and became a protective barrier over the oozing wound,

‘Firstly, I am Brother Niko, not ‘my lord’,’

Niko turned back to the older guardsmen as he stowed the canister away securely,

‘Secondly, I regret that there is not much that I can do for your squadmate’s hand. The medicae assigned to your regiment will have to address the wound when they have time, though it is sterilized and protected for the moment,’

Niko paused to gather his thoughts, though to the guardsmen it likely appeared he was just taking a breath,

‘This shield of force that you say stopped the xenos, could you elaborate upon it?’


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm watched as Trigger hooked his knife into the Rhino to keep a good hold and followed suit, anything to keep him from flying off this thing he would do. As the Rhino rumbled along its own path Shadihm watched the trees for any sign of attack, if they were to get attacked he was sure he and Trigger would be the first to get hurt or worse if they didnt pay attention.

He crouched and flexed his sore muscles, the adrenaline was starting to wear off in his system and all the aches and bruises and whatnot were beginning to come through. He wondered what the marines were going to do with them, maybe they could get something better then these fragging lasguns once they got back to base, maybe some nice hellguns or something along those lines. He looked at Trigger, yes he would definately love a hellgun.


----------



## unxpekted22

Guardsmen:

Vick:

Jole takes his left hand, catches your knee and shoves it back to the ground while catching your wrist with his other, thought you can hear slight whir from his arm at this impact of catching your bionic limb.

"At least your smart enough to strike with more than one thing at a time!"

He takes your wrist he holds, spins you around quickly, and wraps the inside of his metal elbow around your throat, not enough to suffocate you but still tight, and the upper part of your other arm while maintaining control of the other.

"Lemme know when ya surrender", he says ruggedly.

You can, or you can try to get out of the hold.

Rikard:

continue talking to Brother Niko.

Khrell:

The largest marine sits next to you and now looks out the open back of the rhino past you. You may talk to him,or keep to your own thoughts. If you decide to ponder, what is it about?

Shadihm and Zac:

So far the ride has not been too bad and you both remain securely on the roof of the rhino transport. It is hard to tell due to the constant flashing of light above you from moving under the trees, as it is now the bright afternoon, but something catches your eyes.

Some filtering of the light starts to seem unnatural to you. If you think it may be something of concern, you can holler below to the marines and let them know. They may be busy though with the injured commander, oddities of the marine that raised the energy shield, or busy with who knows what other types of space marine issues. Decide between each other.

Scythes of the Emperor:

Niko: Continue after the soldier has spoken once again with anything you may wish to ask, and/or try to contact Alexander.

Arx: You continue to wait in the rhino patiently, as it makes its steady path back to Vorspire. The thought of a safe zone ahead may seem positive, or successful in some way, but you also realize that moving back towards Vorspire means you may essentially be starting back at where you were upon landing on Ferim early this morning in regard to where you stand in relation to the hive tyrant....but with less of your brothers. Though you remember, you had walked where the hive tyrant should have been, and yet there had been nothing there but the crushed trees and mud.

The youngest guardsman may speak to you, as usual it would be up to you whether or not you respond to him.

Astelan:

You begin to pass out again,your head tilting back some towards the ceiling of the crowded Rhino. You close your eyes for few moments as Niko talks to Rikard. 

"Astelan!" A yell, though voiced as a whisper, enters your mind. Skia. It causes you to instantly open your eyes wide, believing he will be above you. What you do see above you at first is only the rhino's ceiling again. But then you see a faint white blur that seems both beyond the ceiling, and beneath it at the same time.

Kain, Solaki, Belial:

You all continue to fight on with all your might. The endless waves of tan skinned, red armored gaunts continue pressing on to you and the ten remaining brothers by your side. Subconsciously you and the rest of the Scythe begin forming a circle, backs facing each other firing. Brother Zurick and Sergeant Brig are at the center of the circle. The realization that not a single guardsman remains among you hits, as you all slowly back up towards each other.

You hear Brig yell above the firing as as he stands tall, "Brothers!, take cover as best you can! Our brothers shall rain down on this corrupt forest from above!"

You realize Brig has govern the order for the Scythes that remained in the airships to fire down upon your position. This may seem like an irrational decision, but it may be the only way for any fo you left to survive this situation. There is a very good chance the air fire could strike you and thus Brig ordered cover to be taken; so look for the best cover you can find and take it (can be what you want: log, trees, going to ground, a ditch, rocks, one of the vehicles that are around), or ignore the order and fight on standing.

Tyrant:

The warrior makes it out alive, throbbing with a pain you and all your children near can feel. This feeling may be counter balanced by another victory upon the tongues of your gaunts as you see fifteen of the black and yellow space marines back into a circle.... a natural sign of losing by all forms of life you have encountered...and no more of the smaller humans remain.

The Ravener that was at the front of them before chasing the marine vehicle has reached the battle. You may have him join in close to help finish off the marines. You have three more Raveners who have been busy seeking out and killing the other guardsmen that fell through the trees on ships your gargoyles brought down earlier. What shall they do? There is no way to tell for sure if they have found all of this downed ships yet, so they may be ordered to just keep searching so the minimum number of humans can be potentially saved later.

the Lictors have their target in their sights now. You may tell them what to do, or allow them to do act as they would naturally.

Gargoyles remain safe and hidden Carnifexes still slumber. And the Rippers continue to consume.


----------



## blazinvire

It was hard to know what to aim at first, being so exposed on the roof of a Rhino with the forestry flashing by in all directions, the random ray of light startling him every so often. It was getting a bit frustrating really.

Zac furrowed his eyebrows and frowned for a moment in thought, something seemed amiss and he didn't really see anything that could explain it, everything looked normal enough with no signs of giant bugs.
Though, now that he thought about it, _nothing_ looked right, yet nothing had changed about their surroundings.
He raised an eyebrow and glanced upwards, wondering if it was just more hallucinations or other unexplained side-effects, but there definitely seemed something different about the light, which made everything look a little weird.

"I could finally have cracked but... is the light... weird, to you?" Zac asked Shadihm idly, looking at his sleeve experimentally for a moment.
He probably was going insane, this galaxy was nothing any man should have to face, which probably meant Zac should start getting more suspicious of everything, the hallucinations may lull him into a false sense of security someday.
Then again he supposed, the light could just be the sun doing something weird, he knew very little about all that cosmic space crap.

Regardless, Zac pulled a heavy bolter shell out of the mag and taped it to the barrel of his lasgun, before pulling out his little utility knife in his left hand and returning to supporting the lasgun with the knife still in hand.


----------



## dark angel

The darkness was welcoming. Astelan wanted it. He strived for it. Niko had begun too talk with the Guardsmen, and for a moment Astelan slipped into the abyss. All his worries were gone instantly, and he smiled as it clawed at him, his body slowly growing numb. Yet it was not death. Astelan’s hearts still pumped in his chest, the blood in his veins still churned. The voice which punctured his mind did so like a spear through flesh. It was loud enough too force his eyes open, too break the silence. Yet it was quiet enough to remain as nothing more than a shrill whisper. Skia. Or whatever claimed to be Skia, had called out his name and awoke him from his slumber. 

He smelt the copper tang of blood still in his armour, having noticed it after all the while it had been within his armour. He almost gasped when he noticed the bright, white light within yet without the Rhino. He remembered the trio of Ravener’s and how he had failed to alert Sotha too their presence. He clicked the Vox to a Squad wide range, too both Ryan and Christeph in the front, and Niko, Arx and Sergeant Tobias in the rear. His voice was calm yet he could barely speak his words “My fellow Scythes, something is wrong. When we were attacked, I saw the Ravener before they even came for us. I see the same image now….Head by warnings, I cannot loose any more. Yet I may be mistaken if I am….I apologise”. 

He bunched his fists and stared at the light, shaking his head in disgust. If his Brother’s were too die, he would die with them.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm looked at his own arm, *"Yeah....it does seem a bit out of place...lets say something to them downstairs."* he pounded the top of the Rhino and yelled so the marines could hear him, *"Something strange is going on out here, light is filtering differently then it was before."* he hoped it was nothing but readied himself for the worst, grabbing his lasgun in one hand and hooking the strap around his arm so that it wouldnt move much he got himself ready.


----------



## unxpekted22

everyone inside the rhino:

respond/react to the update as well as Shadihm's and Astelan's statements to you all.


----------



## darkreever

_‘Firstly, I am Brother Niko, not ‘my lord’,’_ The space marine, Niko, said to Rikard while tending to Kid. Rikard was a dog soldier through and through, you don't get to personal with your higher ups, respect the chain of command and things like that. He watched the space marine working on Khrell; damn they were big!


_ ‘Secondly, I regret that there is not much that I can do for your squadmate’s hand. The medicae assigned to your regiment will have to address the wound when they have time, though it is sterilized and protected for the moment,’_ The space marine informed them both, not that Rikard had expected to much.

The space marine paused for a moment, seemingly taking a breath P) before looking again at Rikard. _‘This shield of force that you say stopped the xenos, could you elaborate upon it?’_ He asked and it was now Rikard's turn to speak. _"Theres not to much I can say lord Niko, but I've been fighting for some time and I've seen my fair share. Maybe not as much as you space marines if all the stories are true, but enough for a dog soldier like me. That shield was some psyker power, kinda more obvious when he was shooting bolts of lightning from his hands though. My regiment had some of their kind attached to us for a while, saw all manner of horror they could conjure up at some point before it killed them or the commissar did. The stuff they could do wasn't as powerful as that, but it sure wasn't from this world."_ He said while looking at the other space marine that was Astelan, a name Rikard himself did not actually know.

Squirming where he stood, Rikard looked away for a moment before returning his attention to Niko. _"I know its not my place lord Niko, but why were two of your own running about in the jungle? This vehicle was easily able to hold them both with the rest of you and you have to have more."_ He asked, though to be honest Rikard didn't expect the truth, if anything at all.


----------



## Necrosis

Jole was gong easy on him and he was still getting his ass kick. Yet he still had his feet free. "I ain't giving up that easy sarge." said Vick as he began to kick up with his feet trying to slam the sarge into a wall hoping it would loosen his grip. If that failed he would begin to use his bionic leg to attempt to kick the sarge behind him as best as he could. If he got out of the hold he would attempt to spin kick the sarge and then put some room between the two of them.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki trembled. His wound had stopped pouring blood, but was not sore, and he could barely move it. He had laid his right forearm (the one with the damaged shoulder), clutching his combat blade, across his right forearm which was holding his bolt pistol, which continued to spit forth the Emperor's justice even as Solaki spat curses at the foul tyranids. They were in a circle, and the were losing. The numbers of gaunts were ludicrous, how could they hope to defeat a foe so numerous? What had started as a quick counter-strike at the tyranid menace had turned into a cruel parody of the giant's coffin. They were going to die, this was almost certain. But still, until the last breath was sucked from his body, he would fight against the xenos scum.

Just as he was offering his prayers of penitence to the Emperor, Brig yelled over the commotion that he had called a strike down on their position. The last ditch attempt at surviving. Some were fleeing, and some were holding their ground. But they all needed to get out of here. Well maybe all but Solaki. In his head he had weighed up the option of fleeing first as he was the most in need, but he decided against it. His Lascannon was damaged, and he would need to change the barrel, and even if he could, he couldn't fire it with his shoulder. That would need attending to, perhaps even by Niko or Brother Alexander. Even if he would survive, he wouldn't be as effective as Brig or the other Brothers here, or even as effective as the cowardice bastard Belial. Still, their survival took priority over his. He opened his throat to say possibly the last words he would ever say to his brothers "Go, run, hide, take cover! I don't care what you do just go. Fall back behind me, and I shall ensure your escape. I will follow if I can, but if I am overwhelmed, DO NOT come back for me! Now go. Better I die than all of us" And so Solaki started to shuffle back towards the undergrowth as he saw several brothers run behind him. The gaunts were really pressing on him now. He was stabbing with his injured arm and firing every bolt he had with the cold accuracy that only an Astartes could have. He didn't care if he died, and he didn't fear it. All he was afraid of was that his sacrifice would be in vain and his brothers would be overwhelmed. So he kept firing, and preyed to the Emperor that they made it, and if he was worthy, he would too...


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain could feel the number of gaunts swelling around him. He fell back with Brig and the other marines forming a circle soon. He fired his bolter watching in satisfaction as more gaunts fell to the might of the Astartes. But it was a hopless fight, even the Astartes could only hold out for so long and against these odds they would be finished. He primed his last frag grenade which he tossed so that he could move back a few places and stay closer to his brothers if they needed his help. 

He heard over the com that Brig had called in an airstrike on their position. A last ditch attempt to survive. Kain had no cover near to him that he could fall back to and so steadily moved backwards towards the rest of his brothers firing as he went. One of his brothers named Solaki, who was definatly injured was trying to hold them off on his own to give his brothers a chance to get some cover. Kain used this to get back behind him, getting into a ditch with two other battle brothers before firing over the lip around Solaki, keeping the tyranids off him. _"Keep Solaki covered. Fall back Brother." _He yelled down the vox firing another burst at a gaunt attempting to get behind Solaki


----------



## Euphrati

Niko studied the guardsman as he spoke, the corner of his mouth turning up so very slightly, as the man insisted on the use of the archaic title in his reply. There was an honour in this one that struck accord deep in Niko’s warrior spirit. With every faint trace of a scar that his cool, grey eyes noted on the soldier’s face came a glimpse into the soul of humanity. Unaided by the awesome biology of the Astartes, crafted so many millennium ago by the Emperor himself using his own genetic code as a blueprint, common men and women stood in defiance against the darkness that threatened every moment that slipped into the history of Mankind.

Blood was the currency of existence in this galaxy and it was paid not by those who sat in opulent estates, waited on hand and foot by their fellow, but by men like the two who stood before Niko now. The Astartes were the perfectly forged and honed blade to the blunt stick of the guardsmen, yet both were the weapons that humanity’s future relied upon.

The fluttering sound of parchment at Niko’s shoulder brought his mind back to focus with a snap and he cocked his head to the side as he considered the guard’s question for a moment before answering, weighting his words with care,

‘You have spoken honestly; it is only just that I do so in return. The xenos-beast that has infected this world is not unknown to us; for we have been hunting its vile trail across the stars, having driven it from one system already. Our supporting equipment is limited and the squad assigned to this transport relinquished it so that it would be possible for me to reach our Lord-Commander Sotha in time to aid him,’

Niko paused and sighed deeply,

‘Though the reason he chose to follow our path on foot, with only my brother as his guard, I know not.’

With that Niko turned away from the two guardsmen, retreating back towards the front of the rhino to kneel down beside the shadowy form of his Lord. He retrieved his battle helm and latched it firmly in place, the background noise of the transport’s growling engines becoming only a faint roar that he felt more than heard. With a quick mental command; the vox hissed to life in his ear and Niko altered the frequency until he finally settled on the channel Alexander had instructed he use to contact the Apothecary in the case of an emergency situation. Looking down at the unconscious face of Sotha and with Astelan’s sudden new abilities, Niko had no doubt that this rightfully qualified as such a circumstance. 

‘Brother-Apothecary Alexander, this is Brother Niko of Squad Tobias. I have an emergency situation on the surface and I am in need of your wisdom, please respond.’

Niko could only hope that the interference they had encountered earlier had dissipated as he awaited a return from the gently hissing vox.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was pondering about what all had happened, and Rikards words. Which were still haunting his mind. No more good than the shots we fire?! Khrell thought to himself. Am I not better than a friggin lasgun?All that Khrell had believed in his whole life... simply overruled by the words of a single guardsman. Khrell wanted to hate Rikard for this, yet he didn't, because he knew Rikard was speaking the truth. The big fat ugly truth. Khrell would've rather not been told the truth, for then he would still believe in himself. 

He looked at his hand, some strange layer was on it. "syncskin" or something like that. He touched it with his right hand. It felt odd, he was unable to feel anything with his left hand, but that could be this skin stuff. The marine went back to their fallen lord, as Khrell heard a voice..

It was coming from outside, Khrell focused, and he recognized Shadihm's voice, something about strange light. That confused Khrell. Strange light? What was that supposed to mean, Khrell thought. Suddenly the psychic marine started to talk about strange light as well. Khrell knew this was going to get real bad, real soon. Khrell grabbed his laspistol, and loaded it. For he sure ain't going down without a fight...


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial was with the rest of the squad falling back towards the ditch in preperation of the air assault. Brig was right to call in air support there was just too many of them, every time one went down there was three to take its place. It was a well ordered fall back, firing as they went they were able to keep the gaunts back far enough.

Belial could see Solaki still standing in the open firing away, All of a sudden his vox opened with the sound of solakis voice "Go, run, hide, take cover! I don't care what you do just go. Fall back behind me, and I shall ensure your escape. I will follow if I can, but if I am overwhelmed, DO NOT come back for me! Now go. Better I die than all of us" Belial responded "this is madness brother fall back towards us now, we will give you covering fire there is still time yet". 

Belial could hear the engines of the Valkyries comming in on their straffing runs. Opening a vox to the rest of the squad. "Keep covering Solaki with as much fire for as long as possible then get your heads down, this is gonna be close. Solaki get back here now, your death serves nothing while their is still a chance of your survival. The emperors work is not over for you. You are still needed by your chapter".

Belial hoped Solaki would listen to him and try to get back to cover. There was no time left. It was his choice and he would know soon enough.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki was exhausted now. The gaunts just kept coming, and with every one he took down, three more poured over it's body. Solaki's body now bore many scars, some across his chest, some across his vambraces and come across his greaves, but everywhere the blood ran thick, most of it the tyranids, but some of it his. He had seen more and more brothers flee behind him, and the had got to cover and were now protecting him from being overwhelmed. Still, there were too many, and if he turned his back they would surely kill him. 

Brother Kain came over the vox "Keep Solaki covered. Fall back Brother." He couldn't there was nowhere to run to. Then the person he had least expected to care spoke as well "Solaki get back here now, your death serves nothing while their is still a chance of your survival. The emperors work is not over for you. You are still needed by your chapter" The Emperor...The chapter... these were the thing which mattered, and even if he died here, those things he had preserved to the best of his abilities. Suddenly there was a gap in the gaunts and Solaki almost turned and ran. Almost. What he saw terrified him to the core. A wave of what mush have been about 20 or 30 gaunts, pouring over one another thundered towards him. Here was death incarnate. But he thought, in the few short seconds he had, of a way of surviving. He pulled his only two frag grenades from his pockets and pulled out the pins. As they clattered to the floor Solaki spoke softly into the vox "The Emperor protects, never forget that brothers" 3 seconds until detonation, and the wave wasn't far. 2. 1, and he could see the teeth in their mouths. At the last second he tossed them into the swirling mass, and they detonated. Bits of gaunt went flying everywhere, but on of them had been at the front and had jumped to consume Solaki. Whilst it's body protected Solaki from the blast, the gaunt also gained momentum and sent him flying backwards. He flipped in the air and skid along the floor and landed in the ditch where Brother Kain and two other brothers were. "Are they safe brother? Did I save them?" he said to Brother Kain. He never got the hear the reply, for the trauma of being hurled through the air and him multiple wounds forced him into unconsciousness, where his Astartes body could deal with them. He just hoped his Brothers could keep him safe in time for him to come round...


----------



## unxpekted22

Scythes of the Emperor:

Solaki, Belial, and Kain:

Just as Solaki's grenades go off, and he tumbles into the ditch with the rest of you and your survivng brothers, the sound of valkeries and other air to ground gun ships hover above the forests' canopy, and you all hear your helmets' hearing protection click into gear as the word around you starts to explode.

The front wave of gaunts is swept into annihilation as bullets the size if your arms shoot through them, and missiles plummet through the canopy turning the forest into a temporary hell.

the screeches of gaunts may please your ears, finally they seem to feel some pain. But, you all lay as low to the ground in the ditch as you can only some fallen trees laying across the ditch above you for more protection. Heavy bolter and stubber rounds strike the dirt at the ditch's edges throwing dirt and debris over your armored bodies. Amongst the chaos, not far to your right an rocket or missile of some kind hisses through the trees and shatters one of the logs laying over the ditch off to your right somewhere and explodes in the ditch further down.

Once the volleys of firing from above stop reaping through the forest, you and your brothers get up and make your way through to the other end of the ditch, which was wider and more level with the upper ground than where you were. You find the blackened earth where the stray Valkyrie fire had gone. You remember the senors on all off the aircrafts had not been working and if that was the case it meant that the Valkeries had to fire on their position without any targeting or sensors to detect where the tyranids were and where the marines were. the gunships had to simply blaze the whole area of forest.

In a slouching sitting position against the side of the ditch, one of your brother scythes lay, his right arm gone and the yellow mid section of his armor almost entirely burnt to a sick shade of brown. A second brother's body lay in the middle of the ditch facing the sky, burnt armor like the other as well as several huge holes throughout his body...heavy stubber fire..

Brig is opposite of them, staring. You all climb out of the ditch as he continues to stand where he is.

the forest full of green moments ago was filled with burnt tree trunks with barely any leaves left, small fires still tried to stay alive on the ground, tyranid corpses littered the scene. The canopy is practically gone and you can see several of the gunships hovering in the air. waiting for any further orders. you can even see some of your airborne brothers manning the guns hanging out the sides or backs of the ships, their armor black and yellow armor still shining in Ferim's bright sunlight.

Brig finally makes his way out of the ditch, Brother Zurick comes from behind you all still carrying his plasma canon and reports the rhino that had still been there was destroyed, as well as the other imperial guard vehicles that had still been operational. Brig makes a disappointing nod his helmet still off and his emotions showing in his face, but he says he has just spoken to Tobias and Sotha had been secured and was still alive. So there is some good news. 

"Well if we dont have any ground vehicles left looks like we're getting a ride from in the planes." says Brig who proceeds to contact the squad leaders up there telling them to sort out who has enough room.

While this is being sorted out, what do each of you do?

Arx:

You also hear the guard from the roof, and take note of Astelan's comments. But is there anything you can do right now? Christeph and Ryan are at the front driving, Tobias is still privately communicating with other squad leaders, Niko is busy.... what do you do? Perhaps just wait and pray.

Niko:
As you wait for a response from Alexander you recollect what Astelan had said as you were talking to the guardsmen, and now you hear what the guardsman on the roof had just said as well, being better able to hear it with your improved senses.

Before you can think much about it the familiar voice of Alexander comes into your head, "Yes Niko, I have learned of Lord Sotha's situation, but is he secure, do you know his condition?"

Astelan:

You continue watching the light move for a few moments and then hear what the younger guardsman says. The guardsmen on the roof report strange light movement in the trees. You watch the fuzzy white lights, whenever one moves the other remains still. The concerted movement of the lights along with a cringe of pain in your head again brings into another dream....

Guardsmen: 

Shadihm and Zac:

You keep searching the canopy but just can't make out anything out for certain. In fact the odd light seems to have disappeared all-together. You could try shooting into the trees, though that may cause some unnecessary commotion from inside the rhino.

Rikard and Khrell:
The marine named Niko, turns away and puts his helmet back on. You both hear Shadihm's yell as stated. Khrell prepares himself for another fight. Does Rikard do the same? 

(bit of a short update for you guys but there's only so much i can do with you all right now, being in or on the rhino)

Vick:

As you push on your feet to shove Jole back into a wall you feel him loose his balance and take a couple steps back, but instead of running into a wall the two of you back into a short pile of sand bags causing Jole to flip over them and you go half way over with him. You hear Jole and some of the other men in the tower who are watching start to laugh. Do you think you have won? do you feel the need to secure a victory or are you sufficiently satisfied? 

Tyrant:

still on last update, BUT with the updated events concerning the Scythes Kain, Solaki, and Belial.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain felt the fire from the air support halt. All that was left of the once green forest was burnt ashes. Kain stood and looked over the edge of the ditch. The charred remains of guants were everywhere, as long as ones riddled with holes. He looked over at Brig and saw his two battle brothers, dead. May the Emperor have mercy on them. He checked his ammo count before checking on Solaki. His brother had risked his life for that of the squad. 

Once satisfied that Solaki would be alright, getting a fellow brother to keep an eye on him, Kain started to walk through the dead tyranids, making sure that they were dead. The most effective way was to stamp down on its head, destroying the head completely. He finished this with some of his brethern before moving so that he was next to Solaki. If needs be Kain would carry him to the Valkyrie.


----------



## blazinvire

Not really hearing an adequate response, Zac just blew out an irritated breath and looked up at the light again. Except he was still looking for where it was when he discovered it had gone?
Weird... maybe Zac was going crazy, that will make hanging around commissars a lot harder, he wasn't sure if his normal argument would work if his sanity was in question.

"Maybe I have cracked," Zac said with a bit of a frown, looking back up at the canopy with concern.
Maybe this was normal when fighting tyranids? Did they have strange lights? Or was it something weird coming from the trees back there?
Zac didn't really have a lot of answers and it was frustrating him.
If he was really starting to hallucinate, then it probably was time to get extra suspicious of everything, maybe rain a spray of lasfire into the canopy to see if that weeded out whatever was up there.

Then again if the light was gone, perhaps that meant something large and shiny had passed by overhead, probably something he didn't want to alert to their presence? That is if they hadn't already heard the rhino...
He'd have to play it by ear, so he laid down with his back on the rhino, lasgun pointing up to be safe.


----------



## Concrete Hero

“My fellow Scythes, something is wrong. When we were attacked, I saw the Ravener before they even came for us. I see the same image now….Head by warnings, I cannot loose any more. Yet I may be mistaken if I am….I apologise”.

'_The fact you feel something is amiss is enough for me Brother._'

Arx titled his head towards Niko when he heard the voices of the Guardsmen above, the Astartes was busy with his own matters. The marine clicked his own vox and spoke through the amplifiers on his helmet.

'_Brothers, I'm going to view from the roof hatch, better safe than sorry._'

He clicked his helmet back to the private channel between his Brothers.

'_Besides, I can sit in this confined space no longer._'

With that, the large Astartes lifted himself from the bench and racked the knuckles of his power armour on the door to the front compartment, leaving a moment before entering. He nodded to the Scythes and knocked on the portal above, warning any who may be sat in such a place. After a few seconds he popped the roof hatch, quickly ascending the ladder and securing his footing. He pulled his upper body from the Rhino and snapped his Meltagun from his hip, taking note of the pintle-mounted Stormbolter fixed to the vehicle. _The Emperor Protects._

He swooped his head around the vehicle, scanning their surroundings. He looked for any movement or readings his HUD could provide while the light filtered from the leaves above, nodding his head to the Guardsmen as they caught his eye.


----------



## Deus Mortis

_Solaki was stripped down to shorts. He was barely twelve summers old. He was walking though the golden fields of barley that his family owned. He let his hands drop low and felt the barley brush against his hands. The breeze was cooling against the otherwise sweltering heat of the sun, but the sweat still made his skin glisten. It was...*paradise.* But in the blink of an eye the world began to change. The skies turned a deep blood red, the breeze was no longer pleasant but instead bombarded him with blasts of sickly heat. The barley became droopy and rotten in the matter of seconds. Then in the distance, a wave appeared. It wasn't a wave of water, for there was not clarity in it. No, this was a wave of red and tan hinds crawling over on another. As it got closer it seemed to reach out and block the sun, and the earth grew cold. Solaki ran, just ran. Running, running, running..._

Solaki's body started to convulse and twitch with the terror of the vision in his head. Suddenly, he sat bolt upright, eyes wide open and panting heavily like a dog. He looked around, only to see his brothers moving out of this ditch and looking at the charred remains of the tyranids. Finally, he let the pain of his wounds hit him. His chest was ablaze with pain, he could move his arms but to put pressure on them, or feel the recoil of a bolter, would hurt. His leg...well he couldn't feel them at all. He sighed heavily and turned his head to see Brother Kain sitting next to him. The brother had obviously watched over him while he was unconscious. He tried to stand, but his legs refused to hold his weight. "They are probably still in shock from the fall and my wounds" thought Solaki. Turning he head once again to Brother Kain, he spoke softly, almost as if he was dying "Are they safe brother? Are they all safe?" Whilst he waited for his brothers response, he realized he would probably need help getting to Valkyries, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it. He didn't want to appear weak to his brothers. Dismissing these thoughts, he looked into Kain's eyes, longing for him to tell him that he had saved everyone...


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain looked sharply up as Solaki spoke. He turned to face him, his voice thick with loss. _"Everyone, thanks to your actions made it to the trench. Not everyone survived the barrage from the airstrike. We lost two of our brethern to that. We have news that our Lord Sotha is alive." _He pointed over to the two dead Astartes, propped up against the side of the ditch. He looked back at Solaki, _"How are you brother Solaki, your injuries seem severe? Can you walk? If not I will help you to the gunships." _Kain said standing to see wheter Brig had secured them a ride yet or not.

He looked down on his brother, waiting to see what signs of emotion he would show regarding the news of the two dead Brothers.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan watched the two lights with clenched eyes. One would advance, as if following the Rhino while the other lagged behind, not moving. The former would then stop, and the latter would move forwards. Leapfrogging. The Astartes had similar methods, where one force of Marines would advance on a enemy position and another would provide cover. The forward force would then move into cover, keeping the enemy suppressed while the covering force would push further and place pressure upon the enemy under the careful watch of those who had moved forwards. 

The Scythe of the Emperor sighed and muttered to himself “What in Sotha’s name are you? Smart beings indeed. Tyranids? Maybe, but whatever you are, you certainly are not following us for nothing”. Each was a ball of blinding light that twirled, intertwining spirals holding each other in tight embraces. He shook his head as his eyes begun too dark, he couldn’t help to slip beneath the veil of blackness which had fallen over him. His soul drifted above his limp form for several seconds, before Astelan was thrown too some far off world. 

_Astelan charged up the steep side of the pyramid, his Chainsword held in both hands. Blood was splattered across his front. His armour was rent across the chest, a line of broken flesh was drawn there like some painting, dripping blood. He felt the tissue knot together as he pushed his body harder, the joints of his limbs burned painfully. Rain struck his helm, nearly completely hiding his target at the apex, standing upon the downed form of a Scythe. He knew Skia was somewhere behind him, along with Aster, Brother Gregor, Brother Orik and the Devastators of Sergeant Indri. Somewhere in the storm, he knew Chaplain Thando lurked, ready to strike. 

He could see that Lord Sealtiel was a few metres ahead, his mane of blonde hair flowing from his scarred scalp. Blood dotted his face, though it was only arterial spray from a unfortunate Brother who had strayed into the targets of a enemy sniper. As he drew nearer, Sealtiel was downed. A crackle of blue flames leapt at him, engrossing his form and clenching tightly until his skin burned painfully. Yet he still lived and struggled too approach the target, who cackled loudly and sent another blast into Sealtiel. The limp, but breathing form of Sealtiel collapsed backwards and slid down the slop of the pyramid. 

His armour was smoking and rent as it tumbled past Astelan who forced himself to carry on, even though Sealtiel was a much loved member of the Company. His target was lit by a crackle of lightning overhead. Garbed in the rich blue armour of a Librarian, the Marines features had once been chiseled and noble but now they were flayed, the cheeks were pulled away onto the high collar of his helm, revealing a maw of fangs that could cut a limb from a body with one snap. The fingers of his armour had lengthened into talons, each formed in the image of bones. They ran crimson with blood. 

His eyes were blazing blue orbs that fluttered like a open flame revealed to the wind, he laughed as he saw Astelan and clenched the fingers of one hand. Astelan kept charging, even as his hearts slowed as he reached the apex and he collapsed, the Librarian having dealt a punch too his helm with enough force to crack the eye piece. He fell to his knees, and collapsed onto his back, weakness overtaking him. He placed a foot on the chest of the Astartes, and it felt as though a entire Titan was weighing down upon that one little part of his body. 

Librarian Brigg smiled on the downed form of his Brother. He had fallen too the ruinous powers while fighting a Tzeentch Warband, a Daemon having took his body. He had fought gallantly at first, but the creature had overpowered his barriers, destroying him from within and using the body as a avatar to once again walk amongst man. Brigg’s was one of the more prided Marines, and it was deemed by Chaplain Thando and Julias Var that he would have wished his body destroyed. A strike force had been prepared under the joint leadership of Thando and Sealtiel, and was sent soon after to destroy the Marine. 

A powerful ball of energy expanded from his body, and Astelan heard roars and screams as his Brothers were tossed back down into the thick jungle below. A pair of missiles flew upwards on plumes of fire and smoke, but simply ceased to be as their noses touched the Psyker’s barrier. The former Brigg’s smiled and stared down saying “Brother Astelan is it not? You are one of those who saved the dog Var at Rhywdel, yes I remember it now. A glorious day indeed.” A long spear extended in his hand, the end a barbed arrow tipped with glowing orange liquid. Poison. 

Astelan was about to reply when Sergeant Indri managed to push himself through the barrier, charring his armour as he did so. He charged forwards with a hoarse roar upon his lips, his Power Fist clenched tightly. As he leapt forwards, the spear was thrust too meet him. It ripped through his chest armour and severed the spine, ripping through his back in a star of blood and gore. His lips gasped as he tried to push his form at Brigg’s. The former Librarian let out a low sigh, his voice seemingly saddened and said “A pity, he would have made a excellent addition to my following”. 

The Sergeant slipped from the blade, his body shutting down as the poison eat through nerves and other vital sections of his body. His lifeless form landed hard on the ground next to Astelan and he cried in rage, trying to pull himself free to aid him. The Librarian looked down on Astelan and begun to talk “Join me my Brother, I offer riches and glory. Tzeentch shall bless you! We will tear this galaxy in two with our minds alone. I have been promised great wealth and power, and I extend the offer to you”. 

For a moment, dark thoughts twirled into his head. He could have it all. Power. Riches. Glory. He quickly dismissed it, the dark promises of Chaos being torn from his mind. Astelan returned “You were once my Brother! You have killed many in this act of betrayal! Our Chapter could possibly have been branded Heretics if you had been discovered! Brigg’s….I plead with you! Be gone! Destroy yourself!”. His face, or what was left of it dropped. A burning tear fell down his armour and struck the stone next to Astelan, burning it. 

He fell to his knees, the barrier which had been erected around the pair flashed and died and the Librarian simply said “Brother….I am truly sorry” before a searing stream of blue Plasma was sent spinning upwards from a Devastator below, incinerating the Librarian. He cried out his name as his afterimage showed his body falling apart into ashes. Astelan lay upon the ground for ten minutes, his hearts guilty. Chaplain Thando placed Astelan in isolation after that, and the Chapter’s Chief-Librarian, Nathanial Mafinal kept a close eye on him while he did so. After no signs of Taint were discovered, he finally returned to his Company. _


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki let out a relieved sigh when he heard that his actions had allowed his brothers to get the the trench, only to catch it again when he heard that two Brothers had perished in the air strike. Lord Sotha was alive, and Brother Kain wanted to know how he was, but Solaki couldn't tear his gaze from the forms of his fallen Brothers. Solaki's heart sank into the inky darkness of despair, and all the cells in his throat seemed to bond together in morning for his fallen brothers, causing a tight ball to form in his throat. He tried to stand, but his legs simple gave out under his own weight, and he hit the floor, once again causing his chest wounds to flare in agony. But he carried on, crawling to the bodies of his brothers. His eyes were now blurring with water as Solaki covered the last few yards on hands and knees. He tore his helmet off and looked at his brothers as they truly were, without augmentation or enhanced vision from his helmet. He longed to have the power to breath life back into them, but he couldn't. He could do nothing for them now. He hated feeling powerless. So, as all these emotions whirled around in his head, Solaki wept bitterly. He wept for his inability to save them, he wept for the fact that they had died instead of him, and he wept for the fact that he was once again reminded that whilst the Imperium viewed them as gods, immortal angels of death, they were still as frailly mortal like the rest of mankind.

It was rare indeed to see an Astartes cry, but when one did all the Imperium knew it was a time for mourning. Solaki knew he may be reviewed as weak for this action, but these were his brothers, and they would be given the proper respect upon departure from this world. Solaki swallowed the knot in his throat and spoke to Brother Kain, who he was aware was still waiting for an answer to his question. "I can't walk. My legs seem to have lost all feeling and refuse to support my own weight. I'm going to need help to get to the Valkyries" Solaki waited to see what Brother Kain would say, but one thing he knew, if he was getting a ride back, so were his brothers. They would be honoured and mourned by their chapter, not left in some ditch to rot. Solaki waited for Kain to address him again, or for Brig to tell them it was time to go, but all the while he stared into his brother's lifeless eyes, and begged their's and the Emperor's forgiveness for not saving them...


----------



## Euphrati

As Niko awaited a confirmation that his message had gotten through he took a moment to check Lord Sotha’s wounds and adjust the flow of the line still linking Tobais to their commander. Sotha’s heartbeat was still fainter than Niko would have liked, however the rhythm was stable and colour was slowly returning to the noble face. The voice of one of the guardsmen cut across his thoughts, emanating from above as the soldiers clung to the roof of the transport. At the same time the words of Astelan came back to him; his brother had spoken about seeing lights while he had been in conversation with the guardsmen. 

Though Astelan seemed to be coming in and out of moments of lucidity, Niko was cautious about administering anything beyond the mild stimulants he had already given his brother Scythe before expressing his growing suspicions to Alexander. He was about to caution Astelan to slow his heart rates as they spiked perilously when the voice of the Alexander issued forth from his vox-bead, never had Niko been more relieved to hear his mentor’s clipped tones and he replied without hesitation,

‘Brother-Apothecary, I am attending Lord Sotha as we speak. His current status is stable, but still highly critical and he has yet to regain consciousness since I arrived. We are currently en route to the deployment zone to link up with a waiting Thunderhawk,’

Niko closed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to let the events tumble forth in a torrent of words. Mentally reciting a Litany of calming; Niko fought the urge with an iron will, reaching for the clinical state of mind that Alexander had shown him lay deep inside his soul. He exhaled slowly before continuing,

‘When I first observed Lord Sotha it was clear that he had suffered a massive chest wound along with a secondary laceration to his left forearm, presumably from the scything talons of a Ravener. I judged the wound to the torso to be the most lethal and proceeded to administer a combination of stabilizers, stimulants, and anti-toxins to trigger the increase in his metabolic reaction and to purge any possible contaminations that were present in his bloodstream. The wound began at just under Lord Sotha’s left clavicle and passed through his sternum to exit just above the right hip affecting multiple organ systems including his secondary heart, left primary lung, Preomnor, and destroying his Larraman's Organ. Due to the massive amount of blood loss from the lack of clotting, I was forced to risk a field transfusion with the aid of Brother-Sergeant Tobias. Once I decided that Lord Sotha was stable enough for transport, I bound the wound closed with sterile packing before we moved him into the transport. I have left the transfusion line active to partially replenish the blood loss, though at a lesser rate as to not completely drain my Brother-Sergeant of his entire bloodstream. Lord Sotha remained unconscious the entire time and, though his systems appear to be finally mending some of the damage, I want to get him in your care as soon as possible.’

Niko paused, letting out a sigh and marshaling his thoughts before continuing,

‘There is something else that needs to be addressed as well, Alexander. I am concerned with the wellbeing of Brother Astelan from my squad; he has exhibited… highly unusual metabolic signs as well as…’

Niko stumbled in his mind, groping for words, as Arx announced he was going to have a look up top and squeezed his massive bulk through the front hatch,

‘When we first arrived in aid of Sotha, the xenos were being held back by a… _shield_ of flickering energy, much like that found in a Rosarius, and when this energy faded Astelan collapsed to the ground seemingly drained. As well, one of the three ravener xenoforms was charred as if struck by a massive energy blast and Astelan’s forearms and gauntlets bear signs of energy damage. I have spoken to both Astelan and the most senior guardsman who was present, our brother is… in a state of battle fatigue and remembers very little of the events other than a searing pain in his head. The guardsman I spoke with, on the other hand, states that he witnessed Astelan hurl a massive bolt of lightning at the beast much akin to the powers wielded by sanctioned Imperial psykers he has seen in his years of service. I have administered a dose of stabilizer to Brother Astelan, however I await your advice as to where to proceed from this point.’

Niko cast a glance back in the direction of where Astelan sat, alone and seemingly lost in thought as he swayed in rhythm to the rhino’s motion.


----------



## darkreever

_"Ain't ever anything good."_ Rikard muttered to himself as he heard the warning from Radec up above. While he didn't particularly enjoy being inside the transport with all these space marines, he was definitely glad to not be sharing a spot outside the moving thing with the likes of Trigger; of that he felt sorry for Radec.

*Well, if things go bad as they always do; best not to be caught without some measure of protection.* He thought while putting his flak jacket back on, wincing in pain as he moved the shoulder that the 'nid venom had burned slightly. Nothing you couldn't live through, more like a bad rash or blisters if anything, but it still hurt like a bitch.

Nudging Kid, he motioned for his lasgun. _"No sense in not being prepared, where's your lasgun? You still got at least one good hand, the other one can at least help you hold the thing steady."_ Rikard said while looking at the reader on his own gun, the cell was low, only good enough for a burst or two at best. Ejecting the cell, he put it in the back of his webbing away from the few remaining fresh cells he had left.

_"Certainly hope Trigger and Radec aren't facing to much hell up there."_ He mumbled to himself before looking back at Khrell and waiting for his answer.


----------



## Necrosis

Vick began to laugh with the other guardsmen. He wasn't sure why he was laughing but he decided to do so anyways. Maybe he wanted to fit in with the other guardsmen or perhaps he needed a break from all the fighting and laughing was the closes thing. What ever the reason, it really didn't matter. "You OK sarge?" ask Vick in a friendly voice as he waited for some kind of response from the sarge before taking any sort of action.


----------



## FORTHELION

The hail of fire that decended from the Valkyries was enormous, Everything burned around them. Belial just hoped and prayed to the emperor that evryone made it through alive. The chapter couldnt afford to loose more brothers especially from friendly fire. 

As he walked towards where brigg was standing. Belials worst fears were answered when he saw the remains of the two battle brothers who where obviously caught by a stray blast. Blue on blue was no way for an astartes to die, though he knew Briggs call for the strike was the right thing to do as none of them would be here now if not for the strike. That coupled of course with solakis selfless bravery too also added to their survival. 

That reminded him. where was solaki anyway. He hoped he made it out alive. Just then he spotted him crawaling over towards them. He wasnt in good shape but at least he would live. "Good to see you live brother. We are all in your debt for your selfless act. Many thanks. Are you able to walk or do you need help in getting to the valkyrie".


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain just looked at Solaki. "_I will carry you brother do not fear. We shall also make sure that our brothers are with us on the ride out_." He hated watching a fellow astartes cry especially when he had done so much to defend his brethern. He let him stay by the fallen brothers and stood ready to help him immediatly behind him.

He looked over to the rhino where the rest of his brothers had fallen and wondered wheter their bodies were still there. He couldn't bring himself over to them so stood behind Solaki keeping an eye on him and ready at a seconds notice to help him to the transport, hoping that it would be soon. They would rid this world of the evil that gripped at it.


----------



## deathbringer

The first wave of gaunts cam crashing through the undergrowth as the warrior dissapeared and they enveloped him into there midst, protecting him giving him sanctity, protection, safety.

Relief.. another triumph set my mind at rest and I withdrew as the astartes pulled backwards, closing into a circle, back to back, shoulder to shoulder, arms locked on there weapons, grim finality in there faces. 

The gaunts pounded forward, a relentless wave of snapping jaws and slashing talons pressing over the forest floor.

Triumph... ecstasy... relief.

The astartes would fall, fall, their bodies strewn upon the forest floor, their remains ragged shards of armour, torn shreds of limbs and flesh amongst the trees.

Everything will be alright... relief.... time to review... time to scheme

Deep in the murky vestiges of the hive mind, I felt my childrens minds, tiny stars burning bright despite there enslavement to the supernova of my will. 

The carnifexes slumbered great lungs inflating and deflating as they gathered their strength, patched and healed old, deep wounds and allowed there hatred, their desire to kill to festering as there entombment continued, growing to new heights. They were not needed.. till the end 

I pulled my mind onwards and felt eager respondant minds, desperate for orders, my gargoyles sharp eager kinship pulled me towards them and i followed the tug allowing my joy to seep into there minds. 

_What... where... when?_

Rest my brothers... my first and foremost...your time will come... everything goes well... but i need you to be forgotten... need you to become a surprise... let them think your dead... scattered and broken... so hold my brothers... hang on

A restless talon slashed the air

_It is almost over... the running.. fleeing from planet to planet with the bastards in black and gold always behind us... seeking us... this is the last stand.. we will stand and fight... we will be hunted no more... the astartes will be destroyed... picture it brothers... freedom... we will be able to eat, devour everything upon a planet before we move on.. freedom brothers... freedom_

We wallowed in the happiness, together, brother to bigger brother yet there was a sudden intrusion, a blast of insistant thought and I was torn away from my brothers, forced to see through the lictors eyes... there insistance irritates me, irks me yet grudgling I agree...

The rhino rumbled on through the undergrowth, lolling drunkenly over the bumps in the ground. Questions... they want orders

_Be yourselves, slow them down, make them pay for every yard they travel in blood, if possible disable the vehicle before it leads the woods, but make them scared, fearful, cautious_

I tore my mind away to find 3 more minds desperately asking for orders. Raveners, blood fresh upon there talons, guardsman strewn round their feet.

"Where?"

Should they join the attack, no there were guardsman still in the forestm lost sheep looking for a leader, they must be kept from aiding the astartes, cut them down. Keep searching the forest... then come back here... we need to regroup

Compliance... a sudden question yet it is blown away in a sudden explosion of agony and screams, terrible screams and my warriors was running blindly as bullets rained around him, pouring from hovering behemoths

_Bastards, I thought they were dead_

Raging, fury, they stole my prize.... in the silence of the hive mind i threw back my head and roared.

Despite my comatosed state my body responded and my howl of loss and vile hatred resounded through the woods. 

(sorry)


----------



## unxpekted22

Niko, Arx, Astelan, Rikard, Shadihm, Khrell, and Zac:

Alexander responds to Niko, "Brother Astelan.... interesting," he pauses for a moment, "I will be able to discuss that matter more once I am planet side and yes, indeed, I will be arriving on the thunderhawk. It sounds like you have done well, as the fact alone that I shouldn't be needing the easiest, yet most difficult tool to use that is at my disposal makes me feel a sense of relief that I cannot begin to describe. Keep Sotha as safe as possible Niko. We shall rendezvous at Vorspire's western border."

Tobias's voice clicks into all of the Scythes' helmets or earpieces who are with the rhino, "I have just talked with all of the other squad leaders. Our main concern of course being Brig and the other three squad leaders who were with him. Brig's position got hit hard, apparently it only got worse after we left. I expect the reason the tyranids who were chasing us and trying to kill Sotha all turned and fled in order to gang up on Brig's position.. because just as they had nearly cleared all the tyranids at their position, a wave twice as large as the first appeared. He ordered an air strike from our brothers still in the air to bombard his position....

the area is apparently clear of tyranids and those brothers remaining will be getting a ride back to Vorspire from one of our thunderhawks. The rest of our brothers in the air will also be traveling back to Vorspire. As all of us here saw, the squad who took the other rhino were all killed (5) except one, who is brother Kain. Lern's squad lost three brothers, Hagard's squad lost one. Christeph and Ryan, Zurick remains well as does Brig; though I hold concern for Brig all the same.

Brig tells me Solaki and Belial are there with him still as well, but there continues to be no such word for Kyr from anyone. We are rendezvousing with one of our thunderhawks back at the city's border which we should be reaching soon. Let us pray for those who we have lost. With each last breath our heart beat seems to get ever slower...thank the Emperor those lost today were able to make it as far as they have with us."

Astelan wakes from his dream and turns his head toward the front end of the rhino, where he see through the small entry to where brothers Ryan and christeph sit, his body sunk slightly, he can see past Ryan's elbow and shoulder guard out through the thin window slit of the rhino.

the lush green of the forest peacefully flows by, but your vision suddenly erupts with the bright white light that before seemed so far away.

The rhino slams to a sudden halt, almost causing Astelan to fall off his seat onto Sotha's injured form. Zac and Shadihm are thrown forward and almost collide with Arx's broad shouldered form sticking out the roof hatch at the front end of the rhino, who holds the pintle mounted storm bolter; his large chainsword claymore attached to the customized side of his powerpack. Everyone else stumbles forward as well. Tobias yells out, "Christeph, status!"

in response, Christpeh seeming bewildered at what to say, "a Tree just fell in front of us sir! There's a lictor at 12 o' clock! "

For those of you inside the rhino, Brother sergeant tobias kicks open the rhino's right side door which was next to wear he sat, his right arm still missing its section of power armor, but bolter in hand even with the chords in him still attached to Sotha, "Niko open the left hatch!" barks Tobias, "this rhino is already exposed and we need weapons on this thing!"

For those of you on the roof, Zac and shadihm go from staring at the canopy, to flung forward nearly falling off the front of the rhino to which both of you as well as Brother Arx suddenly see a very large, lictor. None of you saw it land there, and whats even more odd, is that its only movement is that of its breathing. Its dark tan colored, leathery looking chest going in and out under its tendril filled maw, which leads your eyes up toward its own as it stares back at the black armored rhino. It stand on its back two legs, and its leaper talons are held in the air above its form, the dim red of its chitin armor showing bright where the sunlight strikes it. It appears the lictor has brought down the tree, as this is what has caused the rhino to crash-stop. 

Khrell and Rikard, it is up to you whether or not you have gotten up to look, either by exiting out the back of the rhino which as no ramp, or by peeking out one of the side doors that Tobias and Niko have opened. If you do not decide to get up and look, then you will not know what is outside the rhino. Everyone who is looking who's not on the roof sees the same thing as those who are.

Everyone, decide what your character does. Thinking before you post is recommended. any of you can talk to any of the other players or NPCs.

(the side doors open as ramps as well, though they are pretty flat to the ground; smaller versions of the main rear ramp that would be there if it hadn't been ripped off earlier. aslo, Astelan cannot use any psychic abilities, and does not have the strength to fight _well_ with blade or bolter. If any of you decide to shot at the lictor you can declare the shooting or w/e it is you do but you may not determine any damage the lictor receives.)

Kain, Solaki, Belial:

Solaki's words about gathering the dead could not received with more approval, but the sadness of the remaining brothers seems more overbearing than it normally would be under such circumstances. It's as if the chapter is hanging off the side of a cliff for dear life, and with each brother dead, another finger slips.

The nine brethren that died in this battle are gathered in the largest clearing, laid side by side in a row, shoulder guard to shoulder guard, one arm placed straight by the side and the other over the chest, hand in a fist. 

The time spent finding the other bodies, and placing them together neatly takes up a good amount of time. Brig explains to everyone that since the Valkyries already squads they would not be able to fit 13 more plus 9 dead. So they had been waiting for one of the chapter's few thunder hawks. One was coming to their position and another had been dispatched to Vospire's border where the morning's battle occurred to rendezvous with Sotha.

It arrives overhead, and carefully finds an area where it will have room to land amongst the smoldering tree trunks that managed to remain standing. It slowly lowers down through the crippled canopy until it touches down. Its ramp unfolds.

Those who can will carry the dead brothers inside, kain has permission to help Solaki aboard. Once aboard, does Solaki wish to discuss the battle with Belial. Can the issue be resolved? What will Kain have to say about it. Will Kain even care or will he will think about how five of those nine dead brothers were his living squad mates before the battle had started. Any thoughts on the tyranids? Any more thoughts on Sotha's condition and what might be happening with Tobias, Astelan, Niko, and Arx?

You three will be sitting between the dead laying in a row on the floor, and sergeant Brig and brother Zurik. The other two squads sit beyond Brig and Zurik, all of them clearly exhausted despite their super human strength and stamina, but a short rest should have them feeling fine soon enough...physically.

(FYI, Sergeant Brig, is not Briggs, they are two different people and Briggs is not alive anymore)

Vick:

Jole stands up tall again, "Course I am!, Good match boy!"

the large squad of bionic guardsmen sits quiet for a while, keeping watch over this section of Vorspire's western border. Just a street or two away from the ridges and dirt hills that overlook the thick jungle.

Jole's heavy footsteps approach you again, his black coat flaying with his long strides, bouncing off of his knees, "Vick, i just got a report about our forces situation. All those boys that went out in the planes....frakkin' failure. The counter attack was of no success. boys fell into the jungle, got ambushed in the jungle, its shit. So, we are to assume that any number of those 'Ty-ran-ids' could be rushing back towards the city's border at any moment. We got one of the Angel a' Death hawks comin' for a landing and we're the closest its gonna have to a welcoming party. They got a real important medical situation goin' on and my boss says to help 'em keep an eye for those bugs while they get done what they need to get done. So help me get these men movin'. I can only take half of em in the chimera we got left. I need you to run the rest of them down the road to the boarder and meet back up with me. Rodger that?" after you reply in the affirmative he heads toward the chimera taking his half of the soldiers.

you've got to gather up the seven men he cant bring. This will be some practice for being in command now. The other seven bionic guardsmen. Three of them have hellguns. one of these three, who has a metal cheek and a bionic eye chuckles and says, "you ain't gonna have us trip up are ya?"

another who wields the standard las-gun weaponry still speaks up next, "Vick, or whatever your name is, man, lets just get out of here. screw this I ain't going back to where I got my arm ripped off by one of those damn bugs."

As the chimera pulls off in the distance another agrees with the last, "Yeah really, there's no real commanding officer here anymore let's ditch."

the one who spoke before him speaks up again, "how the hell did we get these bionic parts implanted so fast anyway. I've never heard of surgery like that going so fast. I thought it took weeks!"

another with a hellgun speaks up, "Yeah I have been thinking about that as well now that we've actually had some time to do so. Its the same day that we all got injured, its still..._today_."

another speaks, "I am pretty sure one of the people who worked on me was a tech-priest or some shit, I dunno he was weird lookin. Had metal arms, one of those big claws over his back. They shoved me out the door and into the sarge's hands before I could get a good look, he was in the next room. He was huge looking though, way too big to be a regular doctor."

Time to speak up yourself Vick, you've got orders.

Tyrant:

The injured warrior is trodging through the forest back to the swamp. limping, his thoughts wailing anguish. The remaining gaunts trudge along with him through the dense jungle. You will be able to repair him, and even make him stronger when he makes it back to the ship. but you would have to awaken to do so, rise from your hibernation not even a day after starting it. Your rapid working genetics will have caused many sacs to start growing already but none are close to being born. they would not die if you awoke but the process would be slowed.

You also hear a faint voice amongst your thoughts that you do not recognize, it cuts through your hive-mind concentration saying, "Wake up already, wake....up."


----------



## blazinvire

Alas it had to be when he wasn't looking or ready that the rhino came to a dead stop, almost ditching him clean over the front of the rhino if it weren't for good old fashioned reflexes.
With a foot jammed in some cabling to stop him flying anywhere, Zac looked up which meant he was looking forward, and found a sight he'd rather not have seen.

"I hate bugs..." Zac whispered, slowly untangling his foot.
For the most part the bug hadn't attacked straight away, while that didn't say a lot, Zac did hope it meant the bug wasn't entirely planning to attack them, so he was moving very, very slowly in the vain hope that he may not provoke it.
On the contrary, it did present a rather brilliant opportunity to fill it full of holes, though the best chance Zac had at this point was the tin can full of superhumans he was lying on top of, and perhaps any heavy bolter rounds he could set off with his knife.
Though theoretically, he'd be best off trying to fire it just as he was about to be eaten or something similar, he'd never be able to fire straight at this range without a miracle, or a lot more bolts.

Zac swallowed and his grip tensed on his lasgun, wondering whether he should move first and try and shoot it before it started moving, or if he should wait for someone with something more formidable than a flashlight to get a shot off at it.

Then again perhaps there was something else he could do that would be more helpful than spraying lasfire everywhere... His mind deviated off-course for a moment as he remained as still as possible, ready to dart off the rhino in a moment's notice.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Rikard mentioned Khrell's lasgun, and Khrell pointed at his back. The gun was slung over his shoulder, still fully loaded. "Nah, with only one hand to hold it properly I have about as much chance to hit anything as a zombie holding a gun has... Zero." Khrell looked at his hand once more, it still felt like it was on fire, the burning and irritating feeling was getting on his nerves. "No chance I can use this hand." Khrell raised his mangled hand. "It hurts more every moment, I will just stick to my laspistol" 

"You think we are close to Vorspire city? The.." Suddenly a the rhino came to a grounding halt, and Khrell was launched against one of the marines in the process. "Shit! What happened?" Khrell mumbled as he tried to get up. He heard some voices, yet he couldn't understand a word. A bright light entered the Rhino from the sides and he could see that one of the marines was going out of the rhino. Khrell's hearing came back, and he looked at his left and found Rikard. "I felt it coming." Khrell said in a confident tone. "Let's get out and see wha.." Khrell stopped as he heard the driver mentioned "lictor". Khrell had no idea what a "lictor" was, but he sure wanted to take a look, to see what they were up against.

He then remembered Rikard's words, act like a squad... "Rikard." Khrell said "You wanna go out, and see what in the emperor's name a "lictor" is?" Khrell awaited Rikards answer whilst keeping an eye on the doors...


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain watched as one of the few mighty thunderhawks descended from the heavans. He had helped gather his comrades bodies and they lay in a row. Helping Solaki up, he manouvered his arm underneath Solaki's shoulder walking him to the thunderhawk. He got him seated before turning back around and helped his brothers bring on the Fallen. "So many of our precious few have fallen." He spoke quietly his voice thick with remorse. Once they were seated he took a seat next to Solaki but kept his eyes on his Fallen brethern.

They had been comrades, and his entire squad was now dead. He had fought with them all before, survivors of many battles. To fall to this infuriated Kain more than he thought possible.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx had been facing towards the rear of the Rhino when it had snapped to a halt, the large Astartes whirled around, Stormbolter in hands to see the Tyranid beast standing besides a fallen tree.

A bitter hatred welled up inside him, he longed for nothing more than to squeeze the trigger of the pintle mounted Stormbolter and tear the thing to ribbons. But something stopped him, something wasn't right here... Arx took note of the Meltagun just beside him on the roof of the rhino and kept the bead of the Stormbolter firmly on the Lictor.

Arx opened a channel between the other Scythes as well as speaking lowly from his helmet, so the Guardsmen on the roof could hear him.

'_Brother Sergeant, the Lictor before us is unmoving and it is the apparent cause of the fallen tree blocking our path._' He paused, gathering his thoughts. '_Though something is not right, Lictors are the assassins of the Hive Mind, they attack unseen at every opportunity. Brothers I feel this may be some kind of trap, I have this Lictor within my sights, I suggest keeping a look out for any more of their kind. I cannot understand why this beast would be standing so still otherwise._'

He didn't want to divert attention away from the very obvious threat before them, but the nagging feeling within him told them a single Lictor was far from the extent of their worries.

'_Shadihm, I suggest one of you two scan our surroundings, we have the best visual range from here. I warn you these beasts are abominably fast and could close on us in a matter of seconds. Though this one is not displaying it, the Lictors have chameleon-like camouflaging properties._' He kept his voice vox linked, so his Brothers could still hear him.

Arx felt fairly comfortable speaking in front of the foul creature, he did feel a sense of urgency in the air, something was going to happen very quickly and he was struggling to think what it would be.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm nodded at the large marine as he spoke and gulped as his mind realized why the light they had originally seen seemed strangely filtered, this thing had been following them, and their was most likely another one out there waiting for them to make a move. Shadihm unhooked his lasgun and began scanning their surroundings, he knew that if he did actually see this thing he was most likely dead, but it would give fair enough warning to those beneath him and the two right next to him. 

His lasgun up and ready he slowly scanned the treeline looking for anything that would give away another cloaked beast, a stray leaf that was a different shade of green, light filtering in the wrong way, anything.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki had merely sat propped against the side of the trench as the rest of his brothers retrieved their fallen. So many had died, and even though Solaki had done all he could, they still died. As the last were gathered and the thunderhawks came into land over head, Brother Kain Helped Solaki up. His legs were getting better and he could put on in front of the other, but he still couldn't support his own weight. As other Brothers brought the fallen in, Kain propped Solaki up against a seat in the thunderhawk, where he strapped himself in. Brother Kain walked out again to help bring more of the fallen in, and Solaki was left alone with his thoughts. As he looked at the pile of dead, he noticed at least two of the Brothers who had burst through the undergrowth to save him were among the dead. Solaki was grieved, they had lost their lives to save his, even though he was wounded and might not survive, but they saved him any way. And now they were dead, lost to him forever. He hadn't even gotten the chance to thank them for their selfless bravery. As he contemplated this, as rival emotion sprung up. Belial was still alive. He had been a cowardice bastard who didn't deem Solaki more worth saving than his own hand, where as these Brothers lying in front of him had risked and lost every thing to save both of them,and Solaki had risked his life earlier that Belial might live, and that was the thanks they got! Solaki didn't care about himself, his sacrifice needed no thanks, but it was and insult to his Brothers memory to allow such cowardice to go unconfronted. Belial walked in carrying another Brother who had fallen, another person who had died so that others might live, and the coward was carrying him like someone who was of equal standing with the fallen Brother. Solaki left five words pass his lips, each one laced with venom and disgust "You left me to die." He wanted to shout and rage at Belial, but as a fellow Astartes he deserved the right to speak, either to apologize or to try and explain his actions. Even the coward deserved that much...


----------



## deathbringer

The wounds ache as the warrior trudges towards me, a string of pellmell gaunts rushing behind him, defeated, downhearted, the prize snatched from there slavering shattered jaws and from mine. It left a bitter aftertaste, yet the lictors were closing in, giving me some hope of salvation.

My body was covered in sacks twitching with the potential of new life, yet there were problems I was needed, I needed to strengthen my forces, yet for that i needed to awaken, return to my body, to be present once more. An internal struggle.

A sudden voice, a low whisper

"Wake up already"

I almost awoke yet I held my cool, no need to wake till my warrior returned, but did this voice, unrecognizable and foreign hold answers, a silent plea

, wake....up."

"Who are you?" I roared a challenge adding an extra snarl to the message, asserting my dominance 

"Answer me" my voice echoed as the silence stretched


----------



## Necrosis

Vick look at his squad mates and gave them a confused look. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. I was to busy thinking about our dead comrades who gave their life's and my older brother. I haven't told you the story of my older brother have I? Of course not, I haven't even talk to any of you besides giving you orders. Well then let me tell you what happened to him. In the world I come from most family join the Imperial Guard, me and my brother were no different. During an Ork invasion my brother decided to run away. As he ran he was shot. Do you know who shot him? I did. Do you know why I shot him? I shot him cause if he had ran he would have disgrace my entire family. He would have been hunted down and given a painfully death. Yet because I shot him, he was given a quick death and my family was not disgrace. I see you all as brothers" said Vick as he took out his laspistol and examined it. "It is this same pistol that I used to kill him. Now where you all saying something to me? Or was I hearing things. Perhaps we should get started with our mission." said Vick as he look at his squad with his pistol still in his hand.


----------



## Euphrati

The quiet praise of Alexander filled Niko with renewed purpose, though inwardly he was relieved that the Apothecary would be planetside and awaiting them at Vorspire. Yet, the satisfaction was short lived as Tobias’s voice cut through the squad’s voxnet, relaying the information he had gleaned from Brig’s position. Nine of Niko’s battle brothers knelt before the Emperor’s grace and one was unaccounted for. Niko felt his jaw clench in a mix of anger and grief as he watched Kyr’s rune blink the pale amber of unknown status. _How many had the foul Beast claimed of their numbers? How much precious gene-seed had been lost?_

Cold rage coursed through Niko’s veins as his fist unconsciously closed around the pistol gifted to him by Hektor. Niko felt the leather-wrapped grip through the sensitive pads in his gauntlet as sharp edged memories, stained in the blood of his home world, whispered in the back of his mind. _Why had he lived, forced into flight by an oath from his mentor, when they had died?_ The dying screams of his brothers echoed in his dreams like accusing spirits.

A sudden lurch threatened to send Niko off balance and into the prone form of Lord Sotha as the Rhino came to a sudden stop. Tobias’s shouted inquiry was met by Christeph’s staggered reply. Niko felt a icy sense of dread seize hold of his thoughts as he peeked out the left hatch and took in the shadow of the massive beast in an eyeblink. He slammed the hatch shut with a reverberating clang of locks dropping into place and surged to his feet with pistol and chainsword in hand,

‘Christeph! Brother have you lost your mind? Don’t stop the transport! Remember your Codex tactics… you have just made us a sitting target for an ambush brother!’

Niko shouted through the vox as he barreled to the exposed rear of the Rhino with his hearts pounding a frantic rhythm within the bone shield of his ribs. Lictors were known for their independence of the Hive mind that drove most Tyranid xenofroms. They were canny and vicious; their ability to cloak themselves with their chameleon-like exo-skin had proven to be the downfall of countless servants of the God-Emperor. Niko stepped to the lip of the torn ramp, putting as much of his body in the opening as he could as he gestured to the wounded guardsmen,

‘Get behind me! Take prone positions and fire at any xenos you perceive. If I fire at something you cannot see, don’t question what it is… just assist!’

With a mental command, Niko’s helm switched to the infra-spectrum and his vision shifted to the myriad shades of natural heat signatures,

‘Astelan! Brother I need your blade, protect Lord Sotha!’


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial turned to Solaki and said "I do not expect you to understand what i did back there. Sometimes hard decisions have to be made and only time will tell if i made the right one. I fear for the future of our chapter with Sotha injured. Astelan is with him and deeply troubled. Nobody seems to take too much notice of how badly troubled our brother truely is. I do not trust him and must be there to confront him with everyone else present to voice my concerns. If you had fallen i would be truely sorry and would mourn for you, but as i said i believe i made the correct decision. If you can find it in your hearts to forgive me i would be greateful and if not then it is something i will have to live with, but given the same opportunity again i would still make the same decision.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki was stunned. He had expected Belial to tell him how he wasn't thinking straight and he made the wrong decision, but the Astartes genuinely believed his choice was the right one. How he could, Solaki daren't try to understand, merely accepted that he did. His blood boiled in his veins, but he didn't want to unleash his full fury on Belial, partly because he had fought with him and the memory of all the Brothers he had lost prevailed through his anger and let him remain calm. The other part was because he was Astartes, so still he rights. He merely looked down at the floor and composed his thoughts briefly, lest a torrent of meaningless rage flowed uninhibited. "So, you were to blinded by your senseless crusade against Astelan that you thought you could possibly raise your concerns without your ARM! And the fact that Sotha CHOSE Astelan or the fact that we are a dwindling chapter and WITH EVERY ONE OF US THAT DIES, WE COME ONE STEP CLOSER TO EXTINCTION DIDN'T OCCOUR TO YOU AT ALL!!!!!" By this point Solaki was screaming at Belial, hoping his misguided Brother would see the error of his ways. "LOOK AT YOUR FEET! DO YOU SEE THOSE OF US THAT HAVE ALREADY FALLEN? AND YOU WOULD SACRIFICE ME OR THEM SO YOU COULD QUESTION OUR LORD SOTHA'S CHOICE IN ONLY ALLOWING BROTHER ASTELAN TO ACCOMPANY HIM" Solaki now found himself at a loss, his mind refusing to comprehend the selfishness and cowardice of Belial's actions and thought pattern. It spoke not of valour and honour, all the things Astartes are supposed to embody, but of subordination and disruption, actions of a...Solaki daren't think the last word, as last time he did Lord Sothawas critically injured and Brother Astelan's condition was unknown to him. He looked down again and spoke venomously "I'm not worth your hand to you, not even your hand Brother! That can be replaced by Alexander or Brother Niko, but I'm irreplaceable, yet you would sacrifice me so you can spark a divide between us? I too have concerns about Brother Astelan, but Sotha chose him and the Chapter comes first." It seemed like Solaki was out of words, but a few last words managed to find a voice and fired poison-laiden darts at Belial in the form of words. "Even if you don't value my life, I value yours. So even if you would leave me to die, I would always try to save you like I did back there." At that he simple looked at Belial, his simple blue eyes piercing to the division of soul and spirit, hoping Belial could see that even though he had abandoned him, he would still lay down his life to save him...


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain heard the arguement between Belial and Solaki. Personally he had to agree with Solaki. "_The Chapter must always come first over your personal ill bearings towards Brother Astelan. To sacrifice a fellow Astartes just to get a chance to try and confront on a whim. There is no logic behind it."_ Kain said his words and checked his ammo count. We will probably be back in the thick of it soon he thought so might as well be prepared.

_"How are your wounds feeling brother?"_ Kain asked Solaki while he slapped a fresh clip of bolter rounds into his bolter. He chambered a round just in case.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki could feel his body convulsing with anger. He was enraged that his brother seemed to think that this was ok. Brother Kain interjected a small comment about the Chapter being of first importance, and then asked him how his wounds were. For the first time, Solaki contemplated how damaged his body was. His whole body was riddled with scars and scratches which burned with a dull pain. His body was now more crimson than the black of his armour. The deep gash on his shoulder hurt most of all, and now that he thought about it, the pain was almost blinding. It was a miricle that he had been able to fight at all, as at the moment he felt that he was unable to move, for fear that the pain would get worse. He looked at Kain and spoke "Not good Brother. From the colour of my armour and the pain the wracks my body I would say that I've lost a lot of blood. I think I might need to see Brother Niko, as I will not leave this work undone. However, the fact that I don't have th use of my legs by now is worrying. I don't know what will happen if I can't use them, I just prey to the Emperor that I get the use of them back." At that he took his Lascannon off his back and laid it across his legs. The barrel had been damaged, but not much else besides superficial damage. "Brother, could you get me another barrel, so I can begin the cleaning and maintenace process in our transition. I would hate to land and be useless because my weapon wasn't working." And at that hebegan to take apart his lascannon and look for other signs of damage...


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial just looked at Solaki. "You misunderstand me brother, this is not a personal crusade against brother Astelan. and what do you mean lord Sotha choose Astelan. Choose him for what? i do not understand you".

"As i said before brother Astelan is deeply troubled and not of his right mind. I have seen him do things and act in strange ways though i am still not sure what to make of it. I have spoken to brother Arx on this matter and he assures me he will speak to Astelan personally on this matter. I believe brother Arx will make a fine chaplain some day. Perhaps you are right in some ways, maybe i should leave this matter to others to deal with who have more experience than me.

I am sorry brother but i just cannot shake this ill feeling i have that something is just not right. I am sorry you feel this way towards me but as i said before it is not a personal crusade i am on, i truely believe it is in the best interest of the chapter to find out what is going on. I hope some day you will be able to forgive me in your own mind.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan felt the Rhino pull to a halt. The screech of pistons and the growl of the engine was almost deafening as he was sent forwards. Sotha loomed suddenly, his armoured side growing ever more prominent in his view. He gripped his seat with powerful fingers, and came to a halt. His fingers clicked and locked into place as he stared at the immobile form of his Master. He breathed hard, not daring to let his mind fall upon the dark thoughts of what may have happened if he had struck his form. The name Lictor fluttered into his mind upon wings of despair and his hands reached down too the ground below, searching for his Bolter. 

He found it several seconds later, and was relieved to realise that one of his fellow Astartes had been kind enough to bring it aboard. He pulled it up, checking it with one twist of his giant head as he placed one of his last three magazines into the housing. A click told him that it was in place and he pulled himself from the restraints of the seat, lifting himself up with one hand on one of the overhead handrails. He moved towards Niko, taking a place at his side he held his Bolter two handed and said “I shall defend us Brother, just make sure that Sotha is alive. We should not have halted however, we are condemning ourselves if we remain here”.


----------



## unxpekted22

Rhino Group:

Everyone gets to their positions and freezes, waiting for the alien to make the next move. Tobias remains still with his bolter in his skin showing arm aimed for the head of the unmoving lictor, Niko, Astelan, and the two guardsmen Rikard and Khrell, are inside watching out the open backside of the transport. Arx pointing the pintle mounted storm bolter to match the eyes of the beast, along with Zac's las-gun for support; and Shadihm keeps an eye out looking to the trees for any other possible threats.

Everyone feels the rhino's gears shift, and the transport moves backwards out form the dent it made in the large tree Christeph saying, "Gah! where's Zurick when you need him?"

Tobias, steps back in and pulls the side hatch back shut with a slam, taking his seat again so to not accidentally disconnect the chords attached to him and lord Sotha. "What the hell is that thing doing?" he asks no one in particular, "in all our years fighting these xenos, I have never seen a tactic like this. Christpeh move on while we can. Arx! Keep that gun aimed towards it! The closer we get to Vorpsire the better.

Christeph speaks again, "Yes sir, Brother _Sergeant_ Tobias."

Just as the rhino starts changing gears again to turn and move forward around the fallen tree, the Lictor with hardly any sound other than the wind being pushed around it as it jumps, leaps backwards into the forest, disappearing. Though Niko looks through infra-red the forest remains the same mildly warm temperature, no stark contrasts to be seen. No one else sees anything either, but they feel it again. As the rhino makes its turn something smashes into its right side hard enough to lift the treads off the ground.

Zac and Arx have their sights still trained on where the other Lictor had been, trying to re-locate it, and Shadihm is unable to catch sight of the new Lictor as it leaps form the brush into the side of the rhino, nearly knocking him off the other side.

This time Christeph keeps going, once the treads hit the ground again the rhino kicks forward bringing the second lictor into view for everyone looking out the back. A huge bright red shape suddenly filling Niko's vision. Rikard Khrell and Astelan can see it as well, but not quite as clearly. getting distant only for a moment as the rhino continues forward. It lets out a roar and falls forward , digging its front hands into the ground and pushing forward on all fours, the large scything talons on its shoulder blades pointing forward parallel to the ground. 

(you may fire at it, but again, I decide the damage)

Thunderhawk Group:

Next to the three of you sits sergeant Brig, elbows on his knees; his nearly bald head and clean shaven but rigid face being held in his black armored hands.

Brother Zurick sets his plasma cannon on his lap the best he can, and turns off its power. The cooling whispers somehow harmonizing with the thunderhawk's large ramp that is making its way back shut.

Kain, as well as Belial and Solaki...what do you think comes next? All of this has happened and yet, the renegade Hive Tyrant still lives on.

Belial and Solaki, you both now also realize that brother Kyr never appeared at the battle.

Vick: 

the seven Guardsmen stand in silence for a moment, their minds registering the new found fact that you are not one to be f***ed with. they all snap to attention and yell, "Sir!"

Now that your leadership over them has been established, you begin the hustle down the few streets to get to the western ridge. As you run, you think about your family's history in the Guard. Have any of them been commanders of anything? who was the highest rank, do you think you could become the highest ranked guardsmen your family has achieved?

Tyrant:

You get no real reply from your mental question. some time passes by with nothing more thats new. 

you continue watching your Lictors do their work, and you warrior make the hard walk back to the hive ship. 

Just as you are about to forget about the new voice, it comes again but remains rather dream like, "Wake....up....y....dis....ng....bast...d..."


----------



## darkreever

_"By the God-Emperor what was that?"_ Rikard whispered mostly to himself as the creature that was a lictor leapt out of view. Of course, that was until they began to move away and something slammed into the transports side. Throwing an arm out, Rikard grabbed an out-cropping of metal, a handrail designed for one of the space marines and bigger, in order to keep himself from being thrown into the side of the transport.

As it rocked back into the ground, Rikard looked past the armoured form of Niko and barely saw another of the creatures, maybe it was the first one and managed to get around them? Same one, different one, it didn't matter; the thing was coming for them and he needed to do nothing.

Looking back at Khrell, there was no way he would be able to be of use, not like this and not with that hand of his so messed up. _"Stay down and out of the way Kid; and start praying to the God-Emperor that these things aren't as tough as the other things we fought."_ He said before rushing to get beyond the armoured form of Niko, aiming his lasgun at the thing and firing at it, though moving and with Niko taking up much of the space, he didn't expect to do much good.


----------



## Necrosis

Vick showed no expression on his face. It was a good thing they didn't realize he had made up the whole story. He never even had a brother. He then ordered them to head towards the western ridge. Now he had some time to think about everything that had happened. He was now in command of these young recruits. No one in his family had ever been put in command of a unit. If he could be put in command of a squad of guardsmen he would bring honor to his family. He would be the first in his blood line to do it. Yet first he had to take care of his squad. He continued to move towards the western ridge along with the rest of his squad.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain nodded to Solaki before searching the Thunderhawk for a spare lascannon barrell. They would be hard to find as there was so few left in the chapter. Satisfied when he found one he brought it back to where Solaki sat and handed it to him. He then sat by his side, wrapped in his own thoughts. The mutant tyrant still lived, and every second it was alive was a second too long for Kain's comfort. It must die. Soon.

He hoped that the thunderhawk would return to Sotha's side but he doubted it. He wanted so badly to get back in the fight and purge this world of their filthy existance. He would get his chance he was sure of it, the xeno couldn't win this.


----------



## blazinvire

The impact actually knocked Zac partially off the Rhino this time, too busy staring at the sky and at where the other bug should of been, when all of a sudden the Rhino lurched beneath him and had him dangling off the side by his lasgun strap, his knife holding strong.
"Damn it all," Zac coughed, scrambling to get back onto the Rhino as he aimed his lasgun, letting out a wild spray at the Lictor until he could get into a better position. He figured the bug made a move so no stalemate this time, Zac simply chose to follow his life's motto and attempt to get out of this alive with a few laspacks short.
When he finally got back onto the Rhino and laid down, his aiming got better, relatively speaking since he wasn't exactly a crack shot in the first place.
Generally speaking, probabilities did the aiming for him like firing a shotgun, you kind of figured your target would get hit by _something_.

"I need a bigger gun," Zac complained as he readied to pluck an ammo pack off the side of his gun where usually taped one or two.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki talked while he took his las-cannon apart on his lap. "Brother, you keep asking for forgiveness from me, when I have already forgiven you! If I had not, I would have left you to die, or killed you myself, but I didn't. I just can't comprehend why you acted the way you do, and you being so committed to undermine Brother Astelan distresses me. I have been with him all the time you have, and I haven seen any of the strange goings on that you talk about. I must confess, I don't see eye-to-eye with Brother Astelan, especially about his treatment of the other soldiers of the Imperium we serve, but that does not make him wrong in the head, or at least not in my eyes. Maybe there is something I've missed, and you would care to enlighten me to it?" Brother Kain handed him another las-cannon barrel and as Solaki replaced it with the other damaged one. "Thanks, Brother" he said smiling at Kain. He then turned his attention back to Belial and spoke slowly, making sure the meaning of his words were completely understood. "I just don't understand why you would leave me to die, when Brother Arx already new you concerns, said he was going to speak to Astelan, and you could still raise those concerns without your arm. If you can explain it to me, I'm prepared to listen. But if you can't I'd rather you just admitted you were wrong instead of hiding behind excuses. But make no mistake Brother, you are already forgiven I'm just trying to understand your logic, or hear you say "Sorry"" And at that, Solaki let Belial have a chance to speak...


----------



## Euphrati

The optics of Niko’s battle helm projected data across his retinas in a constant stream of information; tracking his ocular movements and providing relevant targeting statistics as he scanned the understory for possible threats.

_Everything was still and silent_.

The false sense of serenity only grated on Niko’s nerves as Christeph shifted the transport into reverse and backed ponderously away from the downed tree. Tobais retreated back into the interior of the Rhino once again, wondering aloud at the behaviours displayed by the xenos splinter fleet over the clang of the hatch and issuing orders to push on towards Vorpsire. Niko flinched inwardly at the sharpness of Christeph’s tone in reply. Sergeant Tobias was the ranking officer present and, though Niko was the apprentae of the Scythe’s only Apothecary, he held no official standing beyond battle brother. 

The weight of what had asked of him along with Alexander’s emphasis on an authoritative presence, coupled with the undeniably intelligent behaviour of the Xenos, had rubbed the older astartes the wrong way.

Niko’s inner thoughts were rudely interrupted as something very large slammed into the side of the Rhino, tipping it precariously up on a single tread and threatening to send them all tumbling. Gravity fought against momentum and the transport came crashing down, lurching forwards as Christeph urged the machine spirit into forward motion once again.

A silhouette of glowing shades of warmth sprang into Niko’s vision, the Lictor’s chameleon-like abilities doing little to foil its heat signature against the backdrop of the forest. The trap had been sprung and Niko snarled savagely under his helm at the beast, it was time to show these filth that their prey was not helpless.

His pistol came up with a snap, the targeting spirits in his armour already feeding range and speed in an unending torrent of data that scrolled by in the corner of his lens. His finger closed around the trigger and the pistol, gifted to him that last fateful night his feet had touched the soil of his dying homeworld, bucked in his iron grasp. Yet his aim was not for center mass, but slightly higher in anticipation of the beast lunging forward to give chase. The bolts leapt across the distance in a heartbeat, their miniature rockets flaring brightly like tiny suns in Niko's eyes as they sought to bring death to the foes of the Emperor.


----------



## dark angel

The beast landed hard, shaking up a small splinter of brown dust from the ground and let out a low chirping noise. Both fiendishly clawed hands dug into the dirt, the fingers spreading wide and it barrelled forwards like a tank, the pair of long curved scythe like appendages on its back pointed towards them. Astelan stood firm at the side of Niko, his Bolter held at the hip and pointed towards the Tyranid. He struggled to register it, as the camouflaging techniques that it employed formed a mixture of brown earth and rife green plants. He spared Niko a glance and smirked slyly beneath his helm saying “Perhaps we can feed it the Guardsmen?”. His voice was unwavering, abolishing any hinting that he was joking. He snapped back to the beast, slowly his finger clenched the trigger and he opened fire. The Bolter rocked in his hands as he brought it up into his shoulder pauldron. With every round that was sent forwards, he became more and more lost in the madness of war.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm yelped as the Rhino was hit by one of the bugs and he rolled off the side. His hand shot out and he grabbed onto some sort of piping and hung there like a dead leaf on a tree branch, struggling to get himself back up. From this angle he couldnt really see the bug...or anything for that matter and realized how fucked he was unless he could get back on top of the Rhino. 

As he tried to pull himself up he realized that part of his combat webbing was snagged on something and he cursed loudly, fairly sure that the marines could hear him, but he didnt care at this point if they thought he had a foul mouth or not he wanted to get the hell back on top of the Rhino.

He pulled out his combat knife and sliced through the webbing, immediately he could feel it give way and he put his knife away so that he could pull himself up. He stopped as he heard gunfire start up and he shook his head telling himself to focus, cursing the whole way he began to pull himself up back onto the Rhino.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was standing behind the marines, when Rikard mentioned he would be better off back in the rhino. Khrell knew Rikard was right as usual, and he stepped back. Khrell didn't put away his pistol yet, because he knew he HAD to be prepared. If the beast were to break in, he would be in for a rough time. 

The rhino accelerated, and Khrell thought the beasts were gone. He couldn't be more wrong.. A large abject hit the side, and Khrell fell forwards, and smacked his hand against something hard " For the emperors sake!" Khrell screamed. "As if my hand didn't hurt enough already!" Khrell tried to get up as he saw a sort of scope lying under the bench. " So this fall had a reason huh?" Khrell mumbled as he reached for the scope. He picked and thought about a reasonable thing to do with it. Khrell reached for his laspistol, and found that the scope could easily be placed on it. "Lucky me!" Khrell mumbled.

"Perhaps we can feed it the Guardsmen?”. Khrell stood up in fear. He WAS joking right? Or is this marine actually going to use Khrell's squad as bait? Khrell felt a relief when he heard bolter fire form where the marines were. Khrell joined the group, and said to Rikard: " Couldn't leave you here alone with those marines. Don't worry, this scope will give me some much needed accuracy". Khrell looked at the scope, a fine piece of technology. He was not useless anymore, for he had his accuracy back. Well, most of it anyways.

He saw a blurry shape, what he assumed to be the lictor. Khrell was aiming down the scope a moment later, and shot at the lictor when the crosshairs were right between what looked like the eyes of the beast....


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx clecnched his teeth as the Lictor before them seemed to melt back into the forest, jumping back with unholy speed. He squeezed the trigger of the Stormbolter and let loose a volley after the beast, the mass reactive shells rocketing into the undergrowth.

As the optics of his helmet began to switch, trying to pick up the camouflaged beast on other wavelengths, the entire rhino shook violently beneath him. He clasped tightly as the vehicle tipped onto one of its treads, leaning precariously over. Brother Christeph, powered the vehicle onwards however, and the rhino was in motion as it crashed back down onto both treads.

The Astartes picked up a collection of conversation from within the rhino and from his Vox, Astelan’s voice was definitely heard, a relief more than anything. Shots being fired caused him to pivot the mounted weapon around to the rear, sighting the Predatory beast instantly.

He squeezed the trigger once more, the weapon vomiting forth a hail of explosive shells. Arx knew the creatures were fast, so he scattered his shots in front of the beast, hoping to slow its advance if the shells couldn’t hit home. Something felt out of place… He titled his head down and was relieved to see that the Meltagun was still fixed to the rhino, the magnet clamps holding strong. 

As he looked down he saw Shadhim pulling himself back onto the roof of the vehicle, the impact must have knocked him from his position. The Marine extending his arm and pulled the Guardsmen back onto the roof before twisting in the firepoint to face the front half of the rhino once more.

‘_I believe the second creature may strike again, I’m going to keep watch over the forward one hundred and eighty degrees of the Rhino, the beasts may be waiting for all of us to divert our attention to the rear._’ Arx took a breath then indicated the magnetised Meltagun.

‘_If the beast behind us looks like it will strike the rear before it falls then use this to eradicate its unholy form from the Galaxy. You will only get one shot off in time and do not miss; I trust you are familiar with a Meltagun._’

Arx spoke out loud and through the vox, he was hoping Niko and Astelan would hear him and understand what may come from above. He didn’t specifically address Shadhim or Zac, though the Helgan was the closer of the two to the marine and the thermal weapon.

The thought of another laying hands on his weapon without the proper precautions, prayers and preparations almost galled Arx, yet Sotha’s life was at risk. He lowered his tone slightly as he spoke.

‘_Do not loose that weapon._’ It was spoken with a finality that promised consequence.

Arx focused one more on sweeping his vision in front of the Rhino, switching to the infrared spectrum. The marine was ready to meet any ambushing attacker with a hail of punishing bolter shells.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial listened to Solaki and then responded "If it makes you feel better brother then i am sorry, I think we should leave this conversation till after we are done with this world when there is more time. there is much work still left to be done and as yet we still have not even seen the Tyrant".

"Which also reminds me I have not seen brother Kyr since we landed. He did not go with the rest of the squad with Tobias, and he is not with us. I fear something awful has befell our brother". Belial Turned to Sergeant Brigg and asked "Sir have you any word on the status of brother Kyr he has not been seen since we landed?".


----------



## deathbringer

No answer, a stoney silence

"Answer me"

My own voice echoes in my mind

"Bastards Answer me" I place every ounce of my will into the words. I am left only with the resounding thumps of my own rage and sudden creeping chills. Who? Was it real?

My warrior snaps his jaws, savage retaliation at the undergrowth sticking in his wounds. A sudden burst of activity, a rush disturbing me as the lictors struck, a single unit, two working as one. The first lictor stopped the convey, it smelt fear, it was eager yet it sat unmoving and immobile, the fear aqnd confusion built and I felt laughter rising, building at the intricate beauty of their tactics.

The returning, defeated warriors looked up, eyes lighting at my amusment and they two lifted there heads and gave throaty gurgling laughs.

Yet through the laughter a haunting voice

"Wake....up....y....dis....ng....bast...d..."

The laughter died

"Answer me" I roared

"Please"


----------



## unxpekted22

(pretty long update, I dont want anyone skipping details though. we're coming to the end of part 3, part 1 was before the battle on the ridge, part 2 was everything from the battle on the ridge to now. its always nice when the players put it an equal effort as the GM k: gimme some good stuff guys and gals lets keep up the good work.)

Rhino Group: 

those inside:

As everyone fires at the incoming Lictor chasing from behind, A few of the shots ping off of its upper back. Just as this happens it hurls itself to the right into the forestry and once again out of sight.

At the exact same time as this Lictor evades the incoming fire, A scream from the front of the rhino is heard and the rhino bucks as another Lictor lands on the roof.

Those outside:

Arx finishes speaking to Shadihm as he turns his attention to the front. Arx's instincts serve him well, for as he turns the huge form of the previous lictor erupts into view, bursting out of the brush sending leaves and small tree limbs flying all around you. Its back feet, come crashing down onto the slanted front of the rhino but your superhuman reaction sends several storm bolter rounds into its mid section.

It screams in what could be either pain anger, or both, and pushes off the rhino leaping high into trees above and out of sight just as Shadihm manages to grab the meltagun and fire a burst into the air, missing the tyranid xeno.

everyone:

The quick bursts of fire from on and beneath the roof, the sounds of the lictors, and the yelling amongst each other ceases all at once. The only remaining sounds are the emitting groans of and metallic squeaks of the ongoing rhino trudging over the forest floor at about 35 mph.

Everyone stays where they are for the most part, knowing the lictors are still out there.


After a few tense moments, the heavy sounds of jet engines reach the ears of both the astartes and guardsmen alike. Either looking from the roof, or out the open back of the rhino, you all see glimpses of Valkyries and one of the chapter's Thunderhawks fly over the canopy, catching glimpses of their shadows casting through the tree tops.

the rhino makes the rest of the way through the forest with no more trouble. It breaks through a line of brush that looks like all the rest before it, but this time coming out the other side the rhino emerges into open sunlight, the sky scraping constructions of the western border of Vorspire rising before it. At the top of the ridge line, you can see the Thunderhawk that had passed over head already landed, and a second Thunderhawk is there as well. The other aircraft have also landed, and the black and yellow armored forms of your fellow chapter brothers can be seen in the distance.

Christeph takes the armored box of a vehicle up the defensive hill line, its treads sliding easily over the battle ridden soil. it reaches the top and before any of you can get out, a Scythe of the Emperor with a white helmet and white narthecium over his left arm comes from around the side of the rhino and jumps inside. His hands literally shove Rikard and Khrell out of the back of the rhino onto the pavement and Astelan is forced to step out of the rhino to make room.

Brother Alexander drops to one knee, slamming his armored knee pad into the floor of the rhino, and instantly looks over Sotha's form, going back over the work that Niko had accomplished and checking his status. 

"Niko, help me get him out out of here. Tobias, walk carefully"

several medical servitors show up behind the rhino with a stretcher big enough for such a powerful form. the late afternoon sunlight shines brightly off of Alexander's white helm and green helmet lenses. Also in the light, it can be seen that there is already dried blood on some of his armor. he directs the servitors to take Sotha and Tobias to the Thunderhawk and says to Niko and Astelan, "both of you come with me."

those on the roof get off the rhino now, and Brothers Ryan and Christeph make their way out as well.

As everyone wanders to the front of the rhino you take in the scene.

Arx, along with Ryan and Christeph look to the other Scythes that have landed. One form precedes all others, the large shape of Sergeant Brig is pushing his way past other Scythes and running toward the rhino to see his lord, Sotha.

Behind him, but walking, you see Belial and Solaki, as well as a brother who was assigned to another squad, brother Kain, their helmets at their hips. The armor for Belial's left arm is strange looking, and had indentures all over it as if it had been squeezed by roots or tendrils. being so familiar with the tyranid menace you can guess at what caused it. Solaki is much worse off looking however, still carrying his las-cannon upon his back he has a massive hole through his right shoulder guard, and his entire suit of armor is littered with both deep and shallow scratch marks. There are several stained coloration that look like bruises on the armor from all of the corrosive tyranid blood that had hit him.

greet them.

Niko and Astelan, As you follow Alexander you see the bodies of a gut wrenching number of nine battle brothers laying in a row, that have been carried from the other Thunderhawk, which you now remember Tobias had said would be picking up the Scythes who were at Brig's position. Various tools of Alexander's are laying by some of the bodies as well as more servitors doing various things, such as writing litanies on their still forms and spreading incense.

reaching the bodies, their helmets all rest by their heads, and with one glance both of you know they are all dead, no hopes of being saved. You both knew all of them very well as such a small chapter would. Graham's body reaches out to Niko's memory, the missing left arm, and the gaping hole through his midsection from where the Tyranid Warrior had taken his life.

Alexander turns to face you both

"Niko, I need you to watch me carefully. As if it wasn't clear enough already the hand of another apothecary is greatly needed by our brothers, even more so now than it was. So far, I have only collected the gene seed from three of our fallen brothers here. Two of them are unrecoverable. We dont have much time Niko, I must attend to Sotha and get him back to _the Heart_. Watch closely. Astelan I will attend to you in a moment."

With this he kneels at the side of one of your dead brothers and begins his extraction of the gene seed. 

Astelan, while Niko watches, take in the surroundings. You may see Brig, bald head and stern face with his half cape flailing behind him, rushing to your position, as well as Arx greeting Belial, Solaki, and another, Brother Kain.

Rikard and Khrell, once you pick yourselves up and move toward the front of the rhino, you see a lot of Space marines again....but no units of guardsmen. same goes for Zac and Shadihm. Soon enough you all finally spot one, a bionics unit guarding one of the Thunderhawks along with one chimera. You recognize Vick. Go to greet him.

Vick:

You make your way down the couple of streets with no further problems. You arrive to see Jole's half of the unit and his Chimera watching over the ridge as a Large Black and Yellow armored space marine Thunderhawk comes to a land on the flat concrete ground. After some time, several more aircraft come from sky from the forest region, and land as well. You see no guardsmen other than some of the pilots get out of the vehicles. Mostly more Scythes of the Emperor emerge. You watch as the first Thunderhawk's ramp unfolds and a Scythe with a white helmet rushes to the newly landed aircraft. you then watch as nine dead marines are laid in a row as, apparently the medical marine, gets to work on them.

soon afterwards, a rhino transport bursts form the vegetation below and climbs up the defensive hills. the medic marine rushes over to it, and more marines spill out, but more surprisingly...you see two guardsmen jump off of the roof and two fall out the back who you recognize. Of all the guardsmen to come back from the forest, its your squad mates form earlier this morning. you see them, see you, and they come to greet you. greet them back.

Thunderhawk Group:

Brig answers your question, "Sadly brother, I do not have the knowledge of his whereabouts or well being. I will not say he is dead unless such a thing is confirmed. Brother Kyr is strong, and he may very well have more anger in him than any of the rest of us. And with the anger I alone feel, "he says clenching his fist in the air, "I can only imagine his will to reach his revenge."

The Thunderhawk gets some turbulence as it turns over its landing spot, and lowers to the ground slowly. When the ramp opens up letting in the soft light of the late afternoon, you see another one of the chapter's Thunderhawks opposite from yours and Brother Alexander with a group of medical servitors rushing toward you. there is also a single unit of about 15 guardsmen and a chimera with a flame turret watching over the ridge.

You all help as much as you can, bringing out the nine dead brothers and laying them in a row once again for Alexander to do his sacred work.

some time after this is done, you see the mostly black form of a rhino rise up over the ridge and stop on the concrete. Alexander runs to it quickly and you know Sotha is aboard. Brig runs from behind you toward their position. You see brother Arx, Christeph and Ryan get out of the vehicle and start making their way towards you as you walk to them. greet them.

Tyrant:

your anxious "Please?" is met with a sharp pain through your chest causing you to roar in pain. With a twist of the rendered nerves, your yellow glowing eyes burst open to see a pair of red lensed eyes staring back. The armored head of a Scythe in front of your large face. You see his hands holding a metal handle, its blade completely beneath the surface of your chest.

"When I tell you to wake up filth, you WAKE UP!!" no longer caring about the horrid stench or tearful gases of your chamber, with one hand he releases the pressure of his helmet and throws it off his head, letting it hit with a loud clang to the sinew covered metal flooring. As your limbs begin to reawaken you see the real damage he has done. The sacs that had started growing on your body....lay broken, smashed on the floor, cut open on your body. your eyes meet his again even further enraged.

he sees you looking at him again and speaks further through barred teeth, heavy eyes, sharply defined jaw line and cheek bones, and black hair shaved nearly to his scalp, "You probably don't remember me you sick piece of shit...but I remember you, I remember you like none of my other brothers can, for I am the only one you have met so far, and lived. I know your smart enough to understand me. You killed my brothers on your birth world, that emperor forsaken rock Tri'Vaa."

your limbs start to get more of their movement back.

"Even if your damn psychic block wasn't preventing me from letting my living brothers know of your location, I think I prefer it this way. I know you can feel every time one of your little bastards dies," he twists the knife again, "But unlike you, I can't simply spawn my brothers into existence again." He stands leaving his combat blade in your chest, and draws his bolter from his hip and yells in a wrathful anger, "BUT I CAN STILL PUT A ROUND IN YOU FOR EVERY ONE OF THEIR LIVES, AND I CAN STILL LET THEIR SERVICE NOT LEAVE THIS REALM IN VAIN! DIE ABOMINATION! YOU FUCKING SON OF A MONSTROUS BITCH!!"

As he begins to unload bolter rounds into your chest, your body comes-to all the faster with the extra pain. Time to unleash some anger of your own.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain stood when the thunderhawk landed and proceeded to lay the bodies of the fallen outside. Apothecary Alexander would be able to take their precious geeneseed so that the chapter would live on. Satisfied he made his way back into the thunderhawk, and helped Solaki to his feet. "_Come on brother. I won't carry you but will be next to you if you need my assistance,_" Kain said before unlocking the clasps that held his helmet and taking it off. He could feel the breeze blowing gently, and stepped outside his eyes on Solaki. 

The hill top was a buzz of activety with guardsmen watching the treeline and Alexander waiting for Sotha. Soon a Rhino pulled into view, with guardsmen sitting on the top. Kain watched as Alexander rushed over and literally trew two guardsmen out of his way. Kain couldn't supress a chuckle but his mood darkened when they brought Sotha out of the Rhino. "_Should we go greet them brother?_" He asked Solaki at his side.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan had fell into a haze, dismissing the entire contraption of dark thoughts and cares for his own like which had fell upon him. He leant against the side of the Rhino’s compartment and closed his eyes, ignoring the fizzing of Las-Based weapons and the growling of a Bolt Pistol, that which belonged to Niko. His eye lids, dotted with perspiration so much that it burned his iris’s, were clenched shut and he mumbled something slowly to himself, inaudible to all that surrounded him. The next few minutes went in a blur although Astelan watched the rear hatch carefully, his hands tight around his Bolter.

Slowly the jungle fell away and he realised they had reached the city and he smiled to himself, perhaps now he could rest. He looked down at the immobile form of Sotha. We should be rebuilding the Chapter he thought to himself, intent that Sotha would live to rebuild his beloved Scythes. A Marine, which Astelan knew as the respectful Apothecary Alexander pushed into the Rhino and the Marine was forced to step out into the ground with a crunch of gravel and watched a group of grey skinned Servitors, a foul mixture of metal and flesh move past with a stretcher held between them. He caught sight of Belial and Solakai.

His lips turned in distaste and his finger slipped around the trigger of his Bolter as he stared at their forms descending from a Thunderhawk. He advanced several feet and for a moment he was about to shoulder his weapon in response to them. To murder them. He smiled. A dark smile, not one filled with warmth but rather one filled with darkness and malice. _Blood washed over him, and Astelan embraced it, watching the heads and limbs of those who he had rid of float past gently, bobbing like apples. He saw Belial and Solakai amongst them, along with a Marine who was not originally of his Squad. He longed for their destruction, for the uttermost perfection in the maelstrom of war_. With a shudder, Astelan dismissed his crazed, vengeful thoughts as Alexander told him and Niko to follow.

As he walked, he tapped Niko on the shoulder while clasping his Bolter to his hip and said “The loss of our Brothers shall not go unavenged Brother. We are a dying breed, one that cannot survive unless we act now. I call for war, for the desolation of the Tyranid scourge. If Sotha will not lead the Chapter in our vengeance, then I shall be forced to do so myself, we cannot let that damned bug leave Ferim to suck the life from another planet. Will you accompany me if such a thing is to happen? I will need your expertise and brilliance if we are to locate, and more importantly erradicate the Tyrant and its Tyranid spawn. Sotha needs to lead us himself, we are _his _ Marines yet a nagging doubt tells me that it will not happen, that our thirsts will go unclenched." He paused for a moment, taking in what he had said. If this went wrong, he could end up in deep trouble.

After a few moments he continued "We have lost so many Brothers to the Tyranid. More importantly we have lost _our_ homeworld. You were young, your family must have been destroyed. Does that not make you want to tear their throats from the Xeno? To destroy this bastard once and for all? Do not tell me you don't long for revenge on both the Tyrant and the Tyranid Hive Fleets, they are the cause of our strife. Our losses. We cannot truly move on until this bastard is dead. After that, may we only replenish the ranks of our Chapter. For the Glorious dead, they will be avenged. With or without you, the Tyranids will be scoured from this world, one way or another. That I vow”.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki slotted the last piece of his now repaired and cleaned Las-cannon into place. His bless'd weapon was ready for battle once again. The Thunderhawk touched down softly as it's weight imprinted on the soft earth below. Solaki sat for a minute and breathed in the warm air of the safety of the ridge. Brother Kain spoke to him "Come on brother. I won't carry you but will be next to you if you need my assistance" 
"I think I will be ok for now Brother" Solaki stood up uneasily, and for once his legs didn't buckle from under him. His first couple of steps were uneasy, but as he stepped forwards in faith, his legs began to support themselves. He strapped his Las-cannon to his back and helped carry out his dead Brothers, all the while Brother Kain sticking close to him just incase his legs gave out. Once to unpleasant deed was done, he slipped his helmet off and let the breeze blow against his hair and face. Brother Kain also took of his helmet and both of them regarded the incoming Rhino, which carried two guardsmen and Arx on top, and Solaki could only hope that the Rhino also contained the rest of his squad, and more importantly Lord Sotha. As he watched Arx and Astelan step out of the Rhino, Solaki's heart warmed so see they had made it. Brother Kain spoke too Solaki again "Should we go greet them brother?" Solaki turned his head casually "Yes, they are our Brothers, and it is good to see them unharmed" And with that, Solaki walked, slightly limping, but doing his best not to show the pain he felt with every movement of his body not wishing to show weakness to his squad mates. He walked up to Arx and extended his hand for a warriors hand-shake "Brother it is good to see you unharmed. How fairs Lord Sotha and the other members of the squad?" Solaki let out a smile, for even though they were on a planet battling the foe that had nearly destroyed their Chapter, and Lord Sotha was gravely injured, it was good to see the bulwark example of faith that was Arx was unharmed...


----------



## blazinvire

One thing was for sure: Zac couldn't be happier to be out of that damn forest, sitting on the roof of a Rhino just asking to be eaten by a passing by super-bug, and he hadn't been!
This was like the fortieth time Zac had walked away from a potentially lethal situation, he'd have to start keeping track so he could properly thank the Emperor when he went up to meet him. That was if the Emperor was even involved, there were a lot of guardsmen and the probabilities were about right...

Regardless, he was alive and kicking, still not sure how since he had twice been in swinging distance of a rather big bug, but he chose not to think about it too much since he could die in the immediate future anyway for infinite reasons.

So Zac pulled his knife free and put it away before clipping the strap back onto his lasgun and letting the weapon dangle at his side, before sliding off the roof of the rhino still holding his drum of heavy bolter ammo.

"Well, it looks like we got at least one more battlefield to go to," Zac remarked as he looked up at the sky before scanning the area.
He almost missed it the first time through due to obvious reasons, but upon a double-take he realised there was a familiar face amongst the bionics unit, surprising him a little due to his nature to assume most of the faces he'd seen would be amongst the dead by now.

"Hehey! Guys! Vick's still kickin'!" Zac called back to his fellow guardsmen before legging it off towards the bionic units, lumbering along with the heavy drum stubbornly. Heavy bolter rounds were in many ways more valuable than his own life, considering how often guardsmen were compared to bullets.

"Yo Vick! I thought you'd be dead by now!" Zac called as he came within earshot.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial helped to lift out the fallen brothers from the thunderhawk when he spotted the rhino comming up the hill. Alexander immediately took off in the direction of the rhino. _it must be sotha he thought_

Watching the rhino come to a stop he first spotted Arx exiting from the rhino. Belial was relieved to see him alive, He respected Arx more than any other brother and listened to whatever he said as his wisdom was earned in his years of service. Belials joy soured a little when he seen Astelan decending the ramp behind Arx. _so he still lives he thought to himself_

Solaki and kain headed off in the direction of Arx so he decided to join them. "well met brother, good to see you again he said extending his hand. Solaki was first in with the question they were all eager to hear. how Sotha was doing. Belial also added in "What happened out there brother"?.


----------



## Necrosis

Vick and his unit had finally reached where Jole and the rest of the squad were. Just as he arrived, so did a large ship. It looked of Imperial design but he had never seen this model before. Yet as he looked upon it he saw a familiar marking. He remembered seeing this symbol back in the first battle on this planet. The symbol was on the armour of the legendary space marines. As the ship began to land, the dirt was pushed away from the engines as if it was unworthy of its presence. Then several more aircraft's also arrived at the city. Yet Vick focused his attention back on the first aircraft. 

It opened its ramp and what Vick saw next took him by surprise. They laid down nine dead space marines. No, this was impossible, how could a legendary space marine die? They were supposed to be immortal warriors who could each single handily defeat an army. He couldn't believe his own eyes. He wouldn't believe it, yet they were right in front of him. He heard something in the background, someone had called his name or something but Vick didn't turn to face them or acknowledge them. He was still shock that they were dead. He couldn't take his eyes off them. "Their... dead, how is that... possible?" said Vick in a defeated voice.


----------



## darkreever

_"Ow."_ Was all Rikard could say as he picked himself up off the ground. Once the transport had slewed to a half, he hadn't gotten much time to see what was about before another space marine, clad similar to Niko, all but tossed him and the Kid out of the thing; hell might as well have been thrown, ended up flat on his face anyway.

Shaking his head of the dirt kicked up by what could only be the whine of aircraft engines, Rikard slung his lasgun over his shoulder and nudged for the Kid to follow him to the front of the vehicle where Radec and Trigger were. Thats, of course, when he gets a sight of even more space marines. _"Emperor watch over us, didn't think they were more than tales 'till today. Here they are in the flesh, and in numbers."_ He said aloud, though mostly to himself before catching sight of the other two.

_"Hell of a ride for you lot huh?"_ He said while standing next to Radec and looking around. No guardsmen, just space marines; well no guardsmen beyond the four of them, in what may be a clearing in the middle of the jungle. Great, outta one hell and at the mouth of another one most likely with no true chance of reinforcement. He thought to himself before his eyes stopped on the unmistakable form of a chimera troop transport near a space marine ship.


_"Wait a sec', is that the ice worlder?"_ Rikard said, pointing to one of what appeared to be a group of other guardsmen by the space marine ship.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm couldn't help but say a prayer of thanks to the Emperor as they finally pulled out of the forest, that had been one hell hole that they were most definately not going to get reinforcements from. Not like here was much better though, he jumped off the top of the rhino and stood there with Rikard as the marines rushed their commander out. What looked like another marine in white, who he assumed was a medic because of how he was acting, took over control of the marine commander.

Shadihm heard Rikard's comment off to his left, *"Tell me about it, damn near fell off the fragging thing when that bug hit us." *He squinted behind his mask as he strained to see what Rikard was pointing at, a Chimera next to one of the marine transports. He thought he could make out one of the soldiers there but wasnt quite sure from this distance, *"I think it might be him."* he said to Rikard


----------



## deathbringer

A sharp stabbing agony, a pure shard of anguish forced my eyes open, yellow celestial spheres meeting angry red lenses in a blast of mutual hatred. I struggled to bring my jaws open, the desperate longing to rip his face off building, welling inside me....they didnt move, refused to respond... I was paralysed my muscles groggy confused and scared. The pain grows and i see the astartes shoulders, arms, his hands clamped around the hilt of a sword.

My eyes widened... broken sacks, the scattered aborted bodies, half formed, demented and twisted scattered around me. Numb emptiness... no anger... no rage... just blankness.

A claw on my left hand twitched, the talon flicking out in numb desperation. A reflex, blinded by numbness, the desire to take vengeance, to kill for the dead.

"When I tell you to wake up filth, you WAKE UP!!" 

My eyes flicked back to the red lenses and the hatred returned as i took in the dome shaped helm, the pale yellow scythes on there shoulder plates. The blade seeped in my own blood. The helm decompressed with a huge hiss and suddenly his face appeared, eyes wide and furious and I was stunned by the madness in his rage. 

He roared at me, spit hitting my face in a warm spray that irked me as

"You probably don't remember me you sick piece of shit...but I remember you, I remember you like none of my other brothers can, for I am the only one you have met so far, and lived. I know your smart enough to understand me. You killed my brothers on your birth world, that emperor forsaken rock Tri'Vaa."

My eyes were wide, stunned and taken aback yet the bastard wasn't done and his lips contorted into a pained sneer 

"Even if your damn psychic block wasn't preventing me from letting my living brothers know of your location, I think I prefer it this way. I know you can feel every time one of your little bastards dies,"

Psychic block, confusion flickered through my eyes... what psychic block? The knife twisted and my eyes strained to hold the pain back as his own eyes fixed with a vindictive pleasure. My left arm began to twitch as the feeling came back

"But unlike you, I can't simply spawn my brothers into existence again."

A gun slipped from his hilt and he pointed hit at my disfigured chest, a sharp stab of pain as a bolter round slammed into my exposed chest

"BUT I CAN STILL PUT A ROUND IN YOU FOR EVERY ONE OF THEIR LIVES, AND I CAN STILL LET THEIR SERVICE NOT LEAVE THIS REALM IN VAIN! DIE ABOMINATION! YOU FUCKING SON OF A MONSTROUS BITCH!!"

My left arm swung a long talon piercing his hand and forcing it upwards as blood seeped over the talon and a bolt round exploded into the roof of the ship as he struggled to pull it free

I felt his mind and I impressed my will upon it

"What is your name you bastard, I wish to know the name of a man that defies me?"

He struggled against me, trying to fight my will yet I pressed more and more of my strength against him and grudgingly his voice murmered

"Kyr, you dirty bastard"

"You blame me for this war, yet you killed my mother, you have killed thousands of my brothers for every one of you that I have reaped and still my tole has not covered the loss of my mother. You created me, have hunted me, have forced me to turn and fight, to put my back to the wall and for what?"

"I need to feed, it is my primeval need yet you have hunted me, prevented me from sating my desire yet now you will pay"

I spread my talons wide flecking the fingers so they raked across his face leaving a small scar which rehealed as soon as i lifted my finger

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, your anger blinded you, you could have ended it all"

I raised myself up and smiled in the marines face

"I want you to know this Kyr, the one that got away, you have failed"

My claw plunged through the socket of his eye and i felt it push deep as his body spasmed, twitching and writhing in agony his mouth gasped something I couldn't comprehend.

His body slumped from my finger and toppled to the floor. The scent of his flesh rolled over my nostrils as I bent my head and took a long bite. Blood squirted over my tongue and i closed my eyes in relish

"You never got away, Brother Kyr, you are part of me"

I sniffed again, was something wrong with the flesh, it had been too easy, was this a trap. I sniffed again, could there be a better way... could this be used to his advantage?

Scare tactics? The word made me smile... a sweet sweet bloodstained smile


----------



## DaafiejjXD

The darkness of the jungle was fiercely ripped asunder by a bright flash of light. Khrell closed his eyes in a reflex, and when he opened them, they were out of the forest. He felt the welcome feeling of relief, and was astonished by the mass group of marines on the clearing. He did not know there were this much marines here. The nids better kiss their asses goodbye, Khrell thought. He saw a marine running towards the rhino, and recognized the white, which denoted that he was a medic. Maybe one could help him.

A hard push, and a hard landing later, Khrell was sure the marine didn't care about guardsmen, as most marines. The apothecary "Niko", and "Solaki" aside. They were the only marines who ever showed some form of empathy. He was now sure most marines weren't true heroes, at least not for the majority of Imperial citizens, who most marines treated like rubbish. Khrell got up, and Rikard told him to follow, and as always Khrell listened to Rikard, who he deemed wise, and battle wary. Khrell envied to become like Rikard once, HE was a true hero. Not most of the marines, who thought they were above all humans. The same "inferior" people who once created them.

He spotted Vick in the distance, and Khrell was joyed to see him alive. Bionics? Dis he see that correct?! So guardsmen WERE worthy enough for such things! Khrell got hope once more, though he was almost sure his hope would be diminished, as always....

"It's him, I'm sure" Khrell said as an answer to Shadihm's question. "I would recognize his face everywhere, and I tell you; it's him. My hand might be damaged, but my eyesight is still the same as it has always been." Khrell said with a faint smile.


----------



## unxpekted22

(sorry for the wait, its not usually my style to go a week and a half before updating but euphrati has been moving into a new house and should be ready to go soon. I am guessing concrete hero is busy with something as well. I humbly await their return.)

Guardsmen:

You all reach Vick. You realize he doesn't notice you because he looking over at nine dead marine's laying in a row while Niko and the medic marine work with them doing who knows what.

All of you take note of the same thing. Has this, on top of what Khrell has now felt towards the marines, changed your opinion or believes about the legendary space marines?

Aside from this, all of you are to interact now. You now verify that Vick does indeed have bionic parts. But how did he and his unit of men injured early this morning get hospitalized, get bionic replacements, and out to battle again already? it is now evening and the sun has begun to set. Though he does not know the answer himself it will likely still seem odd.

Talk to each other about what you have been through, and perhaps what you believe the next orders will be, coming from the higher chains of command.

will your names, Rikard, Zac, shadihm, Khrell, and Vick have a chance to be written down? Do you even care about legacy like the marines appear to?

Scythes of the Emperor:

Solaki, Belial, and Kain:

Arx finishes telling you all what had happened to them. He tells you of the strange occurrences with Astelan and that it appeared he had defended Sotha with only a handful of guardsmen for support.

From what he had gathered and seen, Astelan had been able to do this through the use of psyker abilities. you learn of the energy shield dome he had cast around Sotha's position, the prediction of the Lictors, and the lightning marks in the Ravener's backside.

He also informs you that Niko was able to put Sotha in a stable condition and so he should be alright, and only needs time to heal, now that he is with Alexander. 

A third subject worthy of note, he informs you about the lictors that tried to stop their transport in the jungle, so this may lead you to believe that They new all too well what was in the rhino and why it was so important to the chapter. This tyranid force threatens to strike at the heart of your chapter....rather than just plow everything it has at you in one direction like you are accustomed to.

Will new methods of combating these tyranids have to be drawn out? Who will make the next decisions regarding things like this with Sotha in his current state? Tobias was going back up the the barge as well. Brig was still here, would he lead?

Niko continues to watch Alexander.

Astelan, you watch as Ryan and Christeph part from Arx, Belial, Solaki, and Kain make their way toward you.

The three of you give Alexander and Niko a few good steps distance. You hear Christeph come into your earpiece, it is a private channel. "How do you feel brother?"

Tyrant:

You look up from the corpse of the marine Kyr, you're last living warrior looking back at you from one of the corridors. 


You look down at your chest and pull out the blade. Between the stab wound and bolter rounds, you bleed profusely for only a moment. Your body's natural systems take care of this quickly. The marine wanted to fight you by himself out of anger. this concept likely seems strange to you, for all you know is having your children work in unison to accomplish your goals. what was the point of him doing that? It obviously did not work well.

You stare into the eyes of the warrior making your mind connect directly with it. You recall the ability you discovered earlier this morning that kept your minions fighting on despite suffering significant injury. this one would have the full attention of the catalyst power. As you concentrate on how to protect this warrior as much as possible, a few sparks flash in the air between you and the warrior, between your heads. Both of you begin to let out horrific creams from your alien throats and something you again don't understand occurs. 

You conjure up the memory of the shield the marine cast around him to protect his leader. A thin sheet of light forms in a sphere around the Warrior. You're mother made you special indeed.

Send it back out and have it do what you wish with the corpse of the marine.

As its foot steps begin to echo through the passage ways, you watch the Marine transport holding your prize drive away in front and below you, making it into the sunlight, and driving up the ridge.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain listened as Arx explained everything that had happened, Astelan protecting Sotha with some sort of psyker shield. Kain didn't like the idea that a battle brother that had shown no real psychic abilities had suddenly used them, even though as a child they would be checked by the librarium.

When Arx explained about the lictors Kain hoped that the Sycthes would be able to adapt to this new threat. He looked over to Sotha and Tobias, both would be going back to the battle barge soon. "_Brig will be in charge I reckon. He is the highest rank left on the ground, as I assume that brother Alexander will return with Sotha and Tobias. We will purge this world, then we can recoup our losses and start to rebuild the chapter to its former glory."_


----------



## dark angel

Astelan shuddered as cold white noise thundered into his eardrums. There were several clicks and fizzles before it came around and Brother Christeph’s voice came through. A red rune flashed before his eyes, telling him that the channel was secure between the pair and Astelan nibbled his lip for a moment. He withdrew from Niko, nodding to him as he turned away and moved towards Ryan and Christeph saying to them “Brothers, come I wish to speak with you both in private”. He would need more than just Niko if his plans were to come into being, and Ryan and Christeph had both proved themselves to by loyal as a hunting hound during their times serving with one another.

They both followed him briskly as he led them towards a high, grey building that appeared as though it had been abandoned during building. White, plastic sheets draped over the winds fluttered to themselves wildly making a smooth roaring noise that provided no fear to any of the Scythes present. A meshed fence rose up towards the sky around the building, the metal looking withered and ready to break. As he drew near, he looked over his shoulder to make sure both still followed and smiled beneath his helm when he realised that they were. The fence reached out to him with barbed wire, however Astelan ducked beneath these and approached the actual fence.

His fingers slipped between the meshing, and slowly they clenched into his palm and with a huff he pulled. His arms, weak with exhaustion for a moment refused to work until he finally mustered what he could and yanked three times in quick succession. The first loosened it from the small, cheaply produced holds in the warm looking earth. The second ripped it free with a creak and caused it to fall into Astelan. The third brought it down onto the ground, a Astartes sized opening left where he had yanked. He stepped inwards, his feet slipping in black sand and sliding off towards the side and advanced swiftly towards the entrance of the building.

A set of white steps, covered in dust that was parted in places by foot imprints of all sizes and shapes led up to the shining wooden doors, one of which was opened inwards. The slowly dimming sun light cast a spear of yellow across the dirty floor within, shining off against a stack of glass window panes which were piled in one corner. Not one to take risks, he let his one hand slid down and wrapped around the grip of his Bolter incase a Tyranid had gotten lost or was simply hiding and waiting had made its way inwards.

He peaked around the door like a fearful child before entering, his body pushed down as low as he could without having to bend his knees. When he was happy that the room was clear he smiled and let go of the grip, taking in the large reception like area for the first time. A series of boxes, giant things that were piled so tightly together that even a child would struggle to pass through covered most of the space, and Astelan could make the assumption that they belonged to the Departmento Munitorum due to the Imperial Aquila which covered their fronts, dabbed black. A elevator shaft, the doors plucked open and held in place by a long pole sat directly ahead while a series of steps and doorways branched off towards his left.

He moved towards the steps and turned around to face his Brothers while laying one hand on them and slowly easing himself onto the ground. He reached up and grasped his helm in both hands, turning it forcefully until the seals popped and it came free. His hair dangled in loose strands, his tired eyes scanning both his Brothers coldly. With a gulp, his mouth dry and tasting of copper he said “Brother Christeph, may I firstly say I appreciate your kind gesture of replying to me however, if I am truly honest……I have seen corpses who would feel better than me at the moment” he grinned weakly, trying to pluck a smile that would never come from his mind.

Both Astartes were considerably younger than Astelan, who in his right could be considered the age of many Captains within their Brother-Chapters. He continued after a moment “Sotha lays immobile my Brothers, and I doubt he will be able to lead us again during this campaign. The Tyrant has slaughtered its way through us, killing close Brothers to both you and I that we have fought with for many years. I cannot wait for Sotha to recover my Brothers. If we are to save Ferim from the Xeno, we must act now. I call for a truce, a vow of revenge that will deliver us into a new Age. A age of prosperity and a swelling of our ranks”.

His hearts felt tight in his chest “Sotha has led us into war without giving us the option to replenish our ranks, and now he and many others are either badly wounded or dead. He longs for revenge and will not end our strife until he gets it. But tell me; Ryan, Christeph, when will this be? When there is a single Astartes left? When our name is lost to the annals of time? When our ranks are far to thin that they cannot be bolstered? What I suggest will not be easy upon our Chapter, but it shall save us from becoming dust. I call for war, for the destruction of the Tyrant once and for all. I call for a new leader”.

He drew the combat blade from his lower leg. Astelan would admit that he had ignored the striking abilities of his notched forearm length blade, and regretted doing so for several reasons. He sniffed, dry plastered withes of air flaring in his lungs and continued once again “I have fought for long Brothers, and my body grows old and frail. Sotha will be our downfall unless something changes, and today my words border on Heresy yet I trust them with you both. I need Marines who will follow me, I have seen our future my fellows and unless it changes here and now our Chapter will become like many before us. You both are far younger than me, and I can see rage in your posture and movements. There is not a single Scythe left that does not want his well earned vengeance, that I know; Yet Sotha would throw your lives away to get it”.

He slowly twisted his gauntlet until it came free, his warm skin stung against the cold air and he almost slammed the glove back in place, however he place it gently to the side. With his blade he cut a seeping line of crimson across his palm and slapped it against his chest, leaving the mark there. He smiled and looked at Ryan and Christeph saying “Now Brothers; Do you wish to see our Chapter become that of which it was?” and threw the blade onto the ground point first between the two, making his intentions known.


----------



## unxpekted22

(the newest update is three posts above)

Astelan:

By this time, Ryan and Christeph have both taken their helmets off as well, both of them sitting on the floor with you.

Ryan speaks first, "You make a good point Astelan. Without Sotha here on the battlefield or even able to give orders, how are we going to conduct things?"

Christeph replies, "This is true, there is no second rank. Brig and Tobias are the highest ranked of the squad leaders. Tobias is quite a bit older than Brig though. Shouldn't he be the one to make these decisions?"

Ryan again, "Brig has led our squad for so many years, whichever way he were to choose, I would follow."

Christeph looks at Ryan for a moment thinking, and turns his head slowly to meet Astelan's gaze once more, "You are however, older than Brother Brig. Still, he has achieved higher rank than you. If I am not mistaken though, it was your choice to _not_ lead others into battle. Once the third company met its end, you became distant and preferred to be aloof. This is what I have gathered from some of the other older brothers. With your new found powers and our dire situation as a chapter here with the absence of Sotha, I suppose I would be ready and willing to take on the role of leadership again as well."

Ryan talks again, "We owe everything we have to Brig, Astelan. Since Sotha, Tobias, and Alexander will be returning to the _Heart_ I do not see why the rest of our brothers would have a problem with us leading the way to the Tyrant's death. It will be harder for Tobias to lead our forces from orbit. Brig has likely already considered that he must take up leadership. He is a squad leader though, and with my word and Christeph's he may very well prefer it to stay that way and let you take command of the over-all chapter. So, we must speak with Brig on this matter. If he accepts, then we will join you."

Christeph places his helmet back on announcing he will speak to Brig. After a few long moments, He reaches his hands up and takes it back off again setting it by his side, "Brig admits he is too troubled for the task if Astelan is up to it. Grahm's death has struck all of our squad deeply, and apparently Brig feels the nine dead brothers laying out there....are entirely his fault. He seemed rather confused about my mentioning of psyker abilities though, and concerned, but said to let Alexander take care of that issue. 

Before Sotha returns to our ranks Astelan," he picks up the blade after taking off his gauntlet, "let us smear the Tyrants blood under our heels."

Ryan takes the blade next, "No more brothers die."

He hands the blade back to you and replaces his gauntlet. The three of you stand after putting your helmets back on, each of you having a dark red diagonal line across the yellow of your chest armor.

christeph says through his helmet, "If will kill this hive tyrant without losing a single brother more under your leadership, _then_ perhaps Sotha will no longer be fit to lead our revenge against the wretched beasts."


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki stood, indifferent and immemorial as time itself as Arx told them about their happenings once Belial and him had become separated from them. However, something caught his eye. Solaki had looked over to Astelan to see if had sustained any damaged, when he saw his trigger finger twitch. Solaki almost bolted sideways, but his less nervous side told him that his Brother had simple endured a lot and it was just a sign of combat stress. Even still, it was worrying to say the least. His Brother also had strange scorch marks on his wrists, but Arx explained the obvious cause of these. His psychic powers were an...interesting development. However, more worrying was the evolution of the Tyranids tactics. As apposed to the usually bull-dozer effect that Solaki was used to, they appeared to be going for surgical raids to rip out the chapters heart rather than demolish it all together. The buggers were getting smart, and that made them even more dangerous. This war had to end soon, and this development made it even more obvious.

However, it was obvious that Sotha would be unable to lead, and as Tobias seemed to be surgically attached to him, Solaki knew that he would be going back with Sotha and Alexander. So who would lead them? As Solaki pondered this, Brother Kain spoke up _"Brig will be in charge I reckon. He is the highest rank left on the ground, as I assume that brother Alexander will return with Sotha and Tobias. We will purge this world, then we can recoup our losses and start to rebuild the chapter to its former glory."_ Solaki looked over at Brig. His helmet was off and his face stood indifferent against the light breeze. Having worn the same face many times after a battle where Brothers had died, Solaki knew two things; Brig blamed himself for the deaths sustained in his squad and his mind was broken and his concentration was shattered. He would be unable to lead, or at least make sound decisions. Solaki spoke, his own voice heavy with grief "Brother, I don't think Brig will be able to lead. I know his pain, he blames himself. The deaths of our Brothers he wears as his own personal shame, and as long as that afflicts him, he will not be of sound mind." He paused and looked at the floor. In his mind he needed to have a leader. He was not capable, and he did not wish to bear the weight of the mantle of leadership. But he knew who he thought deserved it. "Brother, I think you should lead us" Solaki said looking straight at Arx. "Since the moment I was join to this squad, you have been the voice of clarity and reason. You have shown the ability to settle disputes, and are unbiased in all you thoughts. You are the model of what it means to be an Astartes, and I can think of no better person to lead us in the absence of our Lord Sotha." Solaki knew Arx may be uncomfortable about accepting the mantel of leadership, but in his heart and soul Solaki believed the words he spoke, and hoped that it would be Arx that would lead them on to great things as a chapter...


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial listened to Arx intently his ire growing stronger with every word he heard. Psyker powers....Astelan.... shields....... flame bolts from his hands. this was not normal even for an astartes. "The librarium would have picked up on this as a raw recruit. You dont just become Psyker all of a sudden" he said out loud to no one in particular.

Then Solaki spoke out what they were all thinking Sotha would not be able to lead them and that Arx should lead them. " I completely agree with you brother. You speak wisely, Arx you are the most able of us left after Alexander and he will be leaving with Sotha and tobias". Bending down on one knee he said "I would be honored to serve under your command brother. you have guided me well since we have arrived".

Belial stood up and looked around and noticed Astelan twitch at his bolter then moved off suspiciosly with brothers Christeph and Ryan. "Where do our brothers go at this time, there is much to be done here while our lord is in danger and our fallen brothers need to be comemorated properly. I do not like this skulking around in secret, nothing good ever comes from it".


----------



## darkreever

Running with the others to the ice-worlder and the guardsmen with him, Rikard noticed that even though some of the others had noticed their approach, Vick’s attention was entirely elsewhere. Following his gaze, Rikard saw just what that was, nine forms laid out, nine space marines. *Was he in shock or something?* He thought to himself; to find out that space marines were real was a big thing, because before today they had only been stories as far as he was concerned. 



It just didn’t make sense, the stories told of the space marines being able to do anything, some told of them holding off against unimaginable odds, fighting to the last and destroying an army through their sacrifice. *But that was it though, surely they had all heard the same stories, so why was Vick so surprised by the bodies, or maybe why was Rikard not?*

Putting a hand on the shoulder of the ice-worlder, Rikard had nothing to say to comfort him. _“Soldiers fight and soldiers die, space marines are a cut above us but they are soldiers all the same. Stories say many things about ‘em, saving countless worlds, fighting the greatest of evils, and dieing as well.”_ Looking around at the other guardsmen, Rikard finally noticed that something was off about them; they all had bionics of some sort and of varying quality. Seeing that Vick was still out of it, he wasn’t gonna be answering any questions soon. _“So what’s the story of you lot anyway?”_


----------



## Euphrati

The forest understory had echoed with the sounds of bolter fire and screams torn from the vile throats of the xenos as the beasts were met by the wrath of the Scythes as they sought to defend their fallen leader. It was over in a handful of moments, the beasts’ last angry snarls fading into the green depths as the transport pushed onwards. Niko stayed alert, scanning the forest for the telltale heat signatures of the lictors, his pistol held in a ready grip as the Rhino lurched and rocked under his armoured form.

Like the first rays of dawn breaking through a nightmare’s grip; the battered transport clawed its way through the last few meters of the undergrowth, emerging into the golden caress of unfiltered sunlight. Niko whispered a command and his vision cleared, the emerald lens of his battle helm darkening automatically in the glare as they cycled back to standard enhancement. Twin golden-flanked Thunderhawks crouched upon the low hill, the heat haze dancing in the air around one craft an indication of the vigor of its recent re-entry into the atmosphere. Beyond the predatory shadows of the vessels, the mighty glass and metal towers of Vorspire glinted like a bejeweled mountain.

Yet, none of these sights held Niko’s attention as a new silhouette, as familiar and steadfast as Niko’s own reflection, leapt into the wounded transport as it slewed to a halt. Brother-Apothecary Alexander forced his way bodily past the two guardsmen and dropped to a knee beside the prone Sotha. Niko felt his throat go dry as his mentor assessed his work, feeling Alexander’s eyes take in every minute element of his actions to save their Lord. After a long moment of silence, the Apothecary beckoned to him with approval in his tone and Niko moved quickly to help lift their still unconscious Lord onto the waiting stretcher before falling into lockstep with Alexander as he angled his way back up the hill.

It was only when Sotha was being borne away to the waiting Thunderhawk, Tobias trailing carefully behind, did Niko spare a glance around. His storm-grey eyes came to rest upon nine ebony and golden shadows, laid out upon the battle-torn ground in a shallow rank, that was Alexander’s undoubted destination. 

Emptiness tugged at the back of Niko’s mind, threatening to shatter the clinical calm he desperately focused to maintain. Every face he knew; every honour and merit, every jovial laugh and cutting wit shared in the moments of respite when the horrors of the past had been, ever so briefly, set aside. A hot line etched its way down Niko’s cheek as one scared face in particular cut its way into the depths of his memory, a silent prayer pasting through his mind at the sight of Brother Grahm’s torn and bloodstained body.

A sub-conscious fraction of Niko’s awareness registered a brief pressure upon his pauldron and a familiar voice, someone other than Alexander was speaking to him. For the moment, Niko ignored the speaker to focus upon the low cadence of the Apothecary as he turned to take a knee next to the nearest Brother. 

Something deep within Niko’s soul stirred at Alexander’s quiet words; a banked ember blossomed into golden flames as Niko knelt carefully by the Apothecary’s side, ever iota of his attention focused solely on the delicate dance of Alexander’s blades. Every movement of the Apothecary’s nimble fingers was committed to memory in the trance-like training state that pulled itself over the young Scythe’s mind. The precise angle and depth of each cut; how reverently the tiny vessels of the Chapter’s future were extracted from each body in turn. 

Niko could tell from his mentor’s movements that he was taking pains to ensure each extraction was perfect; a single slip of the blade would render the fragile geneseed destroyed. At length, the last body lay before them in silent repose. Niko felt his chest tighten at the waxen features of Grahm’s corpse, the body seemed as if to belong to someone else devoid as it was of the Brother’s powerful personality. The bloody hole punched through the center of the imperial Aquila on Grahm’s breastplate brought a bright flare of anger to Niko’s thoughts, only a single geneseed remained to see that Grahm’s legacy continued.

The tapered scalpel in Alexander’s gloved hand gleamed like quicksilver in the sun that beat down relentlessly upon their backs, the blade pausing just shy of the pale skin in Grahm’s lower neck. Even though the Apothecary had not visibly moved, Niko could feel that his sapphire eyes were no longer focused upon the body before him. 

_It was time._

Slowly, Niko reached out to take the polished chrome blade in his fingertips, feeling the textured surface and the surprising weight of the instrument as Alexander’s gauntlet uncurled from around the simple grip. The steadiness of his own hand surprised Niko as he adjusted the scalpel until it lay easily in his palm. There was no sense of awkwardness; only a feeling of rightness, of completion that Niko had never even known was missing until this moment.

The movements were deceptively simple, the gleaming blade honed to an impossibly keen edge. Corded muscle parted like paper to expose the tiny, yet crucial, mass of flesh. His heartbeat thundered in his chest and blood stained Niko’s ebony gauntlet a deep crimson as he carefully lifted the intact geneseed free, sliding the precious vessel into the small flask of preservative compound held out in Alexander’s waiting hand.

Task done, Niko placed the scalpel aside and reached for the latch at his neck to pull his helm free. Closing his eyes and taking a slow breath before turning to once again meet the gaze of Alexander’s emerald green lenses.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

As they all made their way over to Vick to congratulate him on surviving just as long as they did even at the loss of his limb and the gain of a new one, Shadihm's mind was in other places. How the hell had they all survived out there when so many of the Emperor's finest, his sons, did not? Shit they were all guardsmen, supposed to be as expendable as ammunition, meat shields for the Astartes and the tanks and so on. Yet here their squad was still intact, relatively, and all the more wiser against these damned bugs from hell.

He wasn't used to being around Astartes, hell like any of them were, but the current situation made him feel out of place. He wasn't in an urban conflict, at least not yet, those that were in his squad had different training backgrounds and regiments so he could not really predict the movements of each and therefore be able to flow with them as easily as his brothers. Plus there was the command situation, the officers he had met here so far were far from promising as far as he could tell, yet that was only one in particular and the Commissar that had checked him off when he had gotten planetside.

Yet he was also beginning to mesh with the others, the gaps that had been between them earlier disappearing, something that a little enemy fire seemed to always remedy. He dearly wished he had a hellgun instead of this standard issue flashlight they all had, at least he knew that with that he would be able to do some real damage to these bug bastards. 

He turned his head toward the Kid, his rebreather making hissing noises after every sentence, *"How's your hand holding up Kid? Still pretty nasty?"*


----------



## blazinvire

Zac had to take this moment to draw in a deep breath and relax just a little, he was kind of tired from being strung tight all the time with the constant threat of death looming over him.
So much weird stuff had happened today, he finally had the chance to review it all and be amazed, now that he didn't need to postpone any chance of hesitating or flinching in case he might die from it.
A space marine putting up a barrier with his mind that let him and a bunch of guardsmen wipe out far more bugs than otherwise possible, and while he'd heard of imperial psykers doing stuff that sounded like that, oft times they had a habit of 'backfiring' like an old auto-pistol.

If space marines could wipe out armies not including such power, a few dozen of those psyker marines could make mincemeat out of an entire planet, why exactly were guardsmen needed again?
Probably because the propaganda was bullshit, like usual, but at least it was nice being ignorant.

Better question though, if you considered a guardsman as a bullet in an auto-mag, and a space marine as a tactical nuke, why exactly were there a dozen dead nukes and the bullet was still kicking?
The Emperor worked in mysterious ways... though perhaps there was a bit of Chaos God interference, a cruel twist of fate saving a dozen bullets and wasting a dozen nukes.

"Gotta wonder what those guys were up against, probably a darn tidal wave of bugs, enough to blot out the sun kinda thing," Zac remarked airily as he looked at the slain space marines, "I reckon that Tzeentch guy is messin' with us, suddenly we get a comrade back from the dead and lose a dozen space marines, what kinda screwed up deal is that?"
He turned to look at Vick once more.
"Nothing against ya though, I seriously thought you were a goner for awhile there, even if you weren't I didn't think I'd ever see you again," Zac said.


----------



## Concrete Hero

The Rhino, the Lictors, it had all happened so fast. And before he knew it he was disembarking the Rhino with his Meltagun back in hand, almost finding it hard to believe they'd finally reached a destination.

The Large Astartes felt like he was adrift on a current as he stepped from the hatchless transport. The Guardsmen grouped together, the gleaming pearl form of Alexander rushed past to tend to their Lord and Brother Niko joined him. Arx was left standing alone in a turbulent sea of movement and greeted by nothing more than the image of more of his fallen Brothers.

-_Nine Brothers, another squad lost_…-

At first Arx felt nothing but cold emptiness, hollow at the sight of the deceased Scythes. Though he realised his fist was clenched and shaking, the bubbling frustration lurking in his mind, a familiar sensation. He drew a breath and steadied his hand, reciting a calming liturgy in his mind.

He opened his eyes to see a group of his Brothers standing before him; he recognised Solaki and Belial instantly, a smile spreading across his face under his helmet, wordlessly relieved to see his Brothers still safe. Though other he could not put a name to, not with his helmet on, there was something familiar, but with how often squads were mixed and spilt within the Scythes, it was hard to keep track.

He greeted his Brothers, and since everyone seemed occupied with their own tasks, he began to fill them in on all that had happened since they had been separated at the landing site. It did not take long, and Arx made sure he went over the details; he was equally as eager to hear what had happened to his squad mates since they had been separated.

He noticed Belial stiffen by the tiniest margin as he retold what he had seen of Brother Astelan and how he had handled the swarm with the Guardsmen.

‘_The Warp moves in unpredictable ways Brother, even the blessed Librarium cannot always catch those touched as their talent lies dormant within them. Astelan was touched just at the perfect time to save our Lord, I dread to imagine what may have happened otherwise._’

He took in his breath and collected his thoughts, intending to try and make sure the issue was completely resolved, though Brother Solaki took the pause to speak, laying out his thoughts for them to hear.

Leader.

Simply put, he was stunned. He hadn’t been expecting it, though he felt foolish for not considering what would happen with their Lord in his current state and both Squad leaders unavailable to lead them. His thought where mixed in a torrent, how could he respond? Could he lead, should it be him? Why had Tobias left them so suddenly…

Initially, Arx thought he was on the side of rejecting the idea; a strange uncomfortableness came with the words. Though his mind searched for who could stand in for Sotha until their Lord returned or could make his own decision on the matter.
Of the Scythes available, he and Astelan were the most senior and had seen the most battlefields, not that this made them more appropriate or deserving of the responsibility.

Arx had been given a similar choice before, though he had declined, preferring to let another lead why he could survey his Brothers and help keep them coordinated.

He wished he had spent more time in warzones with Brother Astelan, the fire and determination of a leader was certainly there, though he did not know his Brother truly. And if nothing else, he thought Astelan currently had a considerable situation to deal with without the weight of guiding their wounded Chapter to victory.

And that was the chief part of the pressure, completing the mission but keeping Scythes alive; they least of all could afford to loose Brothers in the field.

The Scythes were currently without a Librarian, Astelan needed to be seen; even the Brother himself could not deny that, it would be too dangerous to leave this unattended, despite how he may feel. They would probably have to request assistance from a Brother Chapter.

Brig seemed distraught with the loss of his Squad, Arx wished he could speak to him himself.

He realised he had been quiet for sometime, and he was staring over at his fallen Brothers, or more accurately, the Guardsmen who seemed fixated on their bodies, he wished he could part some words to this soldier also.

_‘Your words are kind Brothers, if you truly believe it should be me who helps guide us until our Lord can recover, then so be it. But I need all of our Brothers opinions.’_

Truthfully, he didn’t know what he needed; he longed to speak to Chaplain Arceus, a pang of emptiness came with that name. Even Apothecary Alexander, being a senior and high standing member of the Scythes… Was he right for this? The words of his old friend, Arceus, echoed in his ears as he felt his mind grey to a past meeting.



------------------------------------



_‘But what should I say? I need your Guidance Arceus’

‘You will know what to say Arx, why you feel doubt when we talk I cannot understand. Our Brothers respect you, they listen to you, you have guided them in battle and calmed them both before and after. Where it not for our chapters situation you may be wearing the symbol of my office here right now.’

‘You jest’_ though Arx’s words where quite, barely above a whisper.

But now, just like then, he was answered only with silence.


----------



## DaafiejjXD

Khrell was just following Rikard as usual, when Shadihm asked him : "How's your hand holding up Kid? Still pretty nasty?" Khrell hadn't really thought about nor felt it for awhile, and looked to make sure it was still there. The coat had done it's work, the hand was still uninfected, and even looked a bit better than before. He touched it with his other hand, and he felt a sting going through his veins. "Still there." Khrell answered. " The nastiness has faded a bit, though it still hurts like hell" Khrell looked at Vick, and at the nice bionics he had got. He then turned his head to the other bionic soldiers. The bionics weren't all of the same quality, but hey, they HAD bionics.

Khrell was unsure whether Planetary Command was still out there, the high numbers of 'nid he already encountered were just the tip of the iceberg, as his experience told him. Like the plague zombies, 'nids came in waves, the second bigger than the first, and so on. Khrell knew the IG ranks were severely thinned out, as the survivors from the initial wave went to make a counter attack which not only failed, but also claimed the lives of almost all of the troopers who were sent to cary out that attack. And if Khrell had it right, then command had been overrun as well, with more 'nids coming than the number of those who died.

Khrell noticed that Vick was watching a thunderhawk, with dead marines in it. "I knew it.." Khrell mumbled. Gods? Gods don't die. Angels neither. Humans do..... He now was sure that marines weren't Gods, nor angels. But humans, superior at that he had to admit, but nowhere near Gods. They were just soldiers, like Khrell,Rikard, Shadihm, Zac and Vick. Though with better training and equipment. "No Gods...." Khrell mumbled....


----------



## unxpekted22

Astelan walks back into the middle of the Scythe's landing zone, and returns to the dead brothers position as Niko finishes extracting the gene seed from brother Grahm. With him are Brothers Ryan and Christeph.

Niko, as you finish the extraction and look into the lenses of Alexander's helm, the sun shines through the material just right for you to see his right eye and you know him well enough, he approves. He speaks through his helmet, "Good Niko. Soon you will be a true Apothecary. The equipment must be retrieved from _The Heart_. I shall return soon, and I shall bring Tobias back with me as well.

Astelan arrives next to you. and Alexander speaks again, "oh yes, Astelan. There is something I must inform both of you of. Niko has told me your display of psyker abilities Astelan. Long before our home world fell, the librarians of our chapter had detected your potential for these abilities. However, it was so insignificant that they decided not to press the issue as the chances of it remaining dormant far outweighed any possibility of them becoming strong. It seems the unlikely odds have come up however, perhaps it has been getting stronger this whole time and seeing as our librarians have been deceased for many years now it does not surprise me that it has gone undetected. I also have no doubt that the stresses of our situation have caused these abilities to present themselves so quickly."

He turns his helm towards Astelan so that it is clear he would be making strong eye contact, "You and I both know you had contact with him Astelan. This may be where your mind has gained these abilities..."

He turns toward Niko again, "There is not much you alone can do but watch over him. He will likely continue to be fatigued by such new comings, and you will likely have to keep his energy up and adrenaline flowing. It may also come to you to stop him from using his abilities too much, he may not know when his body cannot handle such things. I shall handle the rest."

The servitors and some brothers who had been watching the extractions begin moving the bodies of the fallen brothers onto Alexander's thunderhawk, Alexander picking up what he needs to and following them.

*
(just a few more people to post and there will be the next full update*)


----------



## Necrosis

Vick listened to what Rikard said. If he had heard what Rikard had said he would not have believed him but after seeing nine dead space marines, he had to accept it. "They are the best of the best but I guess in the end they are still soldier and like all soldiers we must all die eventually." said Vick as he finally accepted the truth and nodded his head in agreement.

As he accepted the fact, Rikard ask him a question about his squad. Vick finally turned away from the dead space marines and faced Rikard. "Our squad is composed of nothing but soldiers who have wounded by the Tyranids. Instead of waiting for our wounds to heal the higher ranking officers decided it would be better if they gave us bionics and form us into a new squad. Bionics does give us certain benefits, you should have seen our sarge fight that crazy Tyranid creature that hides well and has to the two large claws things. He actually held his own against it." said Vick in response to Rikard question.

He then turned to his squad and then turned to sergeant Jole. "Sir, how about we start setting up some defenses. We have no idea when those creatures may attack us again. Best we be prepared for it." said Vick as he firmly held his hot shot las gun in his hand.


----------



## deathbringer

The body of the marine lay still, and i shook my head confused as the face of my tyrnaid warrior came into view its eyes widening as it saw the blade in my chest and the corpse of the marine. I forced my mind to connect directly with it and it gave a smal snarl of discontent as our thoughts melded

"Pull out the blade" I whisper. Two clawed hands curl around the blade and there is a shooting pain which causes me to roar in agony as the blade slides free, blood splatering over the floor, to meld with the warriors own blood. I concentrate focusing my mind upon both our wounds and I feel the flesh knitting together and the blood stops, and i see fresh flesh upon the arriors bones.

"What shall we do with this he mutters?" pointing at the marines body

"We are going to use it to scare those humans and goad there black armoured brethren, not yet, let us wait for an opportune moment."

With a small flick of my claw I slice open his breast plate

"For now let us feast on his flesh, strip it from his bones, yet leave the head and scraps of the armour, I weant those guardsman to know my power, know I oculd tear them asunder with a flick of my claw"

The flesh is hot and sweet as i bite down upon the torso, teaering through muscle with my fangs. Sweet blood squirts over my palate and we both begin to tear frenzied bites, as we dissolve into an orgy of pleasure. the taste is so good, so fresh so welcome yet our lust is focused.

we leave the bones, stripping them bare of organs or flesh, a skeleton, a haunting image of death, a celebration to my power. 

Through my lictors eyes, I see the rhino driving up the hill once more, my prize has escaped and I give a small snarl of discontent. 

"The lictors have failed me, the marines still have there head. I must sleep once more, for our unborn brothers are dead and if we are to break the back of this enemy we need numbers."

"You must protect me as I slumber, I cannot have my brothers aborted once more"

The warrior nods yet his eyes are suddenly filled with fear

"What if they come in numbers"

"You will be protected brother"

I reach out to the warriors mind, the urge to protect washing over me, yet a memory, the warriors shield, it was powerful indeed. I focus upon it and suddenly agony racks my body, contorting twisting convulsions cause me to twitch as sparks fly, eye to eye electricity between us, melding into a dome, a dome of pure energy surrounding my warrior.

We still twitch and writhe yet the agony lessens, diminsihing and our breath returns as we gaze upon the dome

Laughter springs from our throats

"The very universe melds to your call master" cackles the warrior

"I am its master" I whisper "It just doesnt know it yet"


----------



## unxpekted22

Guardsmen:

Jole's loud voice makes all of your thoughts disappear as he walks up behind Vick.

"Set up a defense? Hahaha!!! We've got all these guys waking around,' as he waves his hand to indicate the space marines, "Besides, not much we can do to protect this section of the border by ourselves."

He realizes Vick knows the rest of you, "Well aren't you boys just lucky! Aside from being alive whatever it's worth, you know my second in command; ain't the universe a funny place?"

He slaps Vick on the back hard enough to make him stumble.

His tone changes for what may possibly be the first time Vick has heard it do so. He walks to the edge of the ridge, and looks out over the expanse of trees as the late sun hits the brim of his hat casting a darkness over much of his face, though his red bionic eye stays bright, "According to command, we've still got men out there alive....but they wont even be coming back to us dead. They're gonna die out there one by one; the backbone of the Imperium being hunted like the game they have become."

Hturns back to Zac, Rikard, Shadihm, and Khrell, "Alright boys, seeing as you have no commanding officer right now I'm going to induct you into my unit for the time being. As funny as I find it, command knows the agenda of these space marines as well as I do, meaning we don't know shit about what they are doing. So as it turns out, it is in fact our responsibility to defend this ridge form any possible attacks until Vorspire's east and north get here. So I got you five, and fourteen other boys here who also have some metal in 'em. We've got five hellguns in our hands, and a few grenades left. Big leaper bugs wiped out a storm trooper unit that was on its way to the border from central command, in a few seconds. Fortunately, at least some of their weapons made it here without 'em."

Jole instructs those carrying the hellguns to hand em over, saying something about them already having an advantage with their bionics. All of you get a hellgun Vick included since he's second in command, and strap on the power packs that come with them.

Jole speaks out again, fairly sarcastically, "Okay boys lets do what the Guard does best, and Guard this area. Since there is absolutely no way for me to organize twenty men to carry out that task efficiently, spread out and point your guns to the trees. If I get any new orders, I'll be sure to let ya'll know 'em."

You don't have to spread out too far. Might be boring but hey it comes with the job and besides, you all just got out of hell anyway, might be nice to take a few breaths. Not to mention actually use those food pouches, as bland tasting as the food may be.

Scythes of the Emperor:

Niko, You find Astelan behind you once again and watch as Alexander leaves. Confront him.

Astelan, Reply to Niko once he has spoken. Details may vary and I will most likely discuss these with you when the time comes.

Arx, Belial, Solaki, and Kain:

A figure catches your eye, a marine running toward the site who was not on one of the Thunderhawks or other air ships. He emerges from one of the shadowy streets running as large metal servo arms and other equipment loom over his head, and curve oddly around his body. It is Techmarine Laikus...like Alexander he is the last of his kind amongst the chapter; he is the techmarine that Belial helped evacuate from Sotha.

He runs through groups of his brothers without saying a word. His dark red armor making him stick out like a sore thumb. The eyes of his helmet fixated on only one thing, the rhino. He jogs straight to it and without hesitation begins repairs. A few moments later his servitor helpers follow his trail to the rhino.

Arx, you must regroup the Scythes of the Emperor. Several new squads are going to need reforming. Will you organize them the same way Sotha had them? Six man teams with a balanced level of variation in weaponry for each squad, or do you think there is a better approach? Have Solaki, and Kain help you. 
(pm me of you feel you need to, also feel free to make more than one post guys, if you post before concrete hero you can post again after he does to follow up.)

Call for the other squad leaders and figure out what should be done for the time being. Arx has much respect among the remaining chapter and none of these squad leaders would question him beginning to organize things. (However you do not have permission to speak for them or name them, that is my job. Brothers Lern and Hagard are the only who have been mentioned before. Lern's squad lost three brothers, Hagard's squad lost one in the battle Solaki Belial and Kain just came from. Other than these two, Brig, and Tobias, there are ten other squad leaders currently. there would be eleven but Kain's squad leader died with the rest of his squad in the forest.)

Belial, you have kept your eye on Astelan. You see him come back to Niko's position and watch as Alexander leaves. Time to see what the crazy brother is doing. Part with Solaki, Kain, and Arx to make your way over to Niko and Astelan. You will not reach them yet in your post.

Tyrant:

You return to your slumber. 

Is there a specific target for the Lictors to aim for now? if so, who or what shall it be?

Your remaining Raveners signal to you, they can tell they are almost done ridding the forest of the remaining humans. Now that the Space marines are all out of the forest, shall you send ripper swarms to devour the dead?

The Warrior does as is told, takes what is left of Kyr's body and watches over the ship.




(OOC: If there is something really messed up or confusing with this update, sorry ahead of time. I have been about ready to pass out since I started typing it.)


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial looked around and spotted Astelan returning and heading in the direction of Niko. His face turned into a scowl when he seen him. He turned to the brothers he was talking to and said "If you dont mind brothers i will take my leave of you, i have other matters to deal with that cannot wait any longer". With that he took off for what he knew would be a diffacult confrontation with Astelan which probably wouldnt go too well, but he had to speak his mind.

On the way he noticed brother techmarine Laikus starting to work on the rhino which had taken Sotha from the battlefield. The scowl on his face turned into a big grin. Walking towards him he lifted him up and spun him around, which was a diffacult job in itself with all the extra augmetics he possessed. "Well met brother its been too long since i have seen you. It warms my heart to see you again brother, how have you been this past while. I have been talking with brothers Kain Solaki and Arx. Sotha is unable to lead us and Tobias is going back with brother apothecary Alexander to the heart of Sotha. Briggs is unable to lead so brother Arx is willing to lead us if he gets the support of the chapter. He is a very fine brother and in my opinion well able for the job. Would you be willing to lend your support if it comes down to it?


----------



## Concrete Hero

He breathed softly, the sound barely filtering through his helmet.

‘_So be it._’

He turned so he could regard most of the scythes physically as they went about their various duties in their impromptu gathering area. He clicked his vox so his voice could be heard by every Scythe present.

‘_I know many of you; I have served with many of you. We are all Brothers, bound by geneseed, bound by cause and bound by the tragedy that afflicted our Chapter when the beast tried to end us. But the Tyranid could not finish us and we hunt a powerful pawn of the Hive Mind on this planet, this is no ordinary Hive Tyrant, and even more than just a fledging Hive Fleet, this strand of the beast if fouler than any we have encountered before, and CANNOT be allowed to spread though His Imperium_.’

He paused, regarding the Astartes.

‘_As you have undoubtedly heard, Sotha, our Lord, has been injured by the beast. He too would have been lost to us were it not for the actions of Brother Astelan. But now is not the time to fall back or scatter. Until our Lord is returned to us, I have been asked to act in his stead, to lead My Brothers while he recovers._’

‘_I have fought with all of you and this chapter for centuries, if there is any who believe they should take my place then I will hear them_.’

Silence, though that didn’t necessarily mean anything this early.

‘_Then let us move_’

Arx called for the squad leaders present, and any brother that could or wanted to provide assistance.

When they had gathered Arx spoke ‘_I believe squad organisation should remain how Lord Sotha set out, following the split squads set down by Guilliman, but with a slight boost so we can equally spread around the Sergeants; Seven man squads plus squad leaders, each with both a heavy support weapon and an assault variant. With this we can maximise our effectiveness without committing more numbers than necessary. Those squads with less numbers should be broken and reformed so we have an equal number. He gazed at the Squad Leaders, I’m sure you all would prefer to address the moving of individual Brothers yourselves, however I can address this if need be. Kain, you will join with our squad_.’

‘_There are a few other matters I wish to address, though our Priority should be to leave this area and regroup in a more secure zone without all of our Brothers deployed at once. We can land in the Guard base we occupied earlier, it is fairly large and open and in an ideal situation, with clear and fast routes to Vospire and the forest hot zones_.’

-_Not that those are reliable_- He thought as the image of the empty swamp clearing returned to his mind, supposedly the heart of Tyranid activity.

The swamp… Alarm bells went off in his mind and he frowned beneath his helmet. It took a couple more seconds before it appeared in a eureka like fashion; He quickly cycled through his squad mates statuses on his HUD and searched for a particular Brother.

Brother Kyr was the only Scythe missing in action.

‘_Our priority is still to return to the landing site, though one of our Brothers is missing in the field. Can any recall Kyrs last location?_’

-_The Swamp_- but Arx silenced his thoughts, hoping that one of his Brothers would tell him otherwise.

‘_At the very least we need to recover the seed of our Brother._’

His mind had become more solemn, yet he kept his voice strong and clear before his Brothers.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm couldn't help but feel a little bit excited at the fact that he was going to be able to use a hellgun again, in fact he was almost giddy, something he was trying very hard to hide from the others. But when the gun was handed to him the way he took it and strapped it on told them everything, he was back to his normal self now, complete now that he had his gun of choice sitting in his hands. He smiled behind his rebreather and chuckled to himself these bugs wouldn't know what hit them if they tried to attack this place, if he was sureshot with a lasgun he was an animal with a hellgun, shit it was what all Helghans used once they graduated from training.

He went to the top of the ridge they were to defend and took out a few of his food pouches that were all crumpled and beaten. He took his rebreather off to show his pale features and ice blue eyes with short cropped white hair, tearing into one of the pouches he downed it in seconds and the one after that in even less time before taking a swig from his water canteen. His rebreather still off he turned towards Rikard who he was sure had yet to actually see his face for a long period of time other then that fight in the barracks, *"You ever handled a hellgun before my friend?" *


----------



## blazinvire

A hellgun... seriously...?
Was all that went through Zac's mind for a good three minutes, sure he'd gotten to wield bigger toys like autocannons and heavy bolters, temporary as they may have been they were a lot more scary than a hellgun.
But he'd been running around with his lasgun for Emperor knows how long, nothing really compared to it, except a hellgun.
A hellgun was like a lasgun, but better! Tonnes more ammo, tonnes more deadly, shoots tonnes faster, a truly magnificent weapon.

If he didn't have his respirator on you'd see one of the biggest, cheesiest damn grins on his face, though his visor was up so you might be able to tell from the way his eyes glittered.
So he went over to one of the bionic guys who had a hellgun, taking up the weapon and clipping the pack onto his back, making sure everything was in working order before his gaze instantly snapped to the surroundings, praying for something to shoot at.
By the Emperor the next bug that came out of the forest... it would cease to exist.

"Man I feel like a space marine all of a sudden," Zac said energetically, his cheesy grin persisting.


----------



## Euphrati

The lenses of Alexander’s battlehelm glittered in a shaft of sunlight, the beam striking at just the right angle to pierce the deep emerald crysteel and illuminate the face behind the façade of white-enameled ceramite. The approval in that brief glimpse was enough to scatter any uncertainties that had remained, specter-like, in the depths of his soul. 

As his mentor spoke, Niko felt a shadow pass over him heralding the approach of Astelan. The words he had disregarded earlier, locked into watching the work of Alexander, uncurled from the back of his mind where his advanced memory had stored them and Niko felt his fists clench as anger blossomed in their wake. With almost exaggerated care; Niko turned to face the veteran Scythe, his distinctive calm held in a rapidly eroding grip,

‘There is no scale upon which the depths of my abhorrence for these Xenos can be measured, Brother,’

For a heartbeat Niko did not recognize his own voice, the hostile tones low and dangerously weighted. His breathing had already increased as his body responded to the growing rage within his mind,

‘You know full well that I was still but a scout when Sotha was ravaged. My blood-kin all perished in defense of their homes and their world, _our world_, as did billions of loyal imperial souls. Souls we were oathbound to protect! And what of our fallen Brothers? Their names are etched forever in the annuals of those dark days! The chapter is my only family now, and I will not stand idly by and watch while it is torn slowly apart,’

Niko’s anger was an almost physical sensation, like heat rolling from a new blade birthed from the heart of a forge. The young Apothecary drew himself up to his full height, over a full hand shorter than the older astartes yet no less commanding, his voice growing in volume with each passing moment,

‘We have allowed ourselves to become blinded by our pride, shackled to the need for vengeance and it is rotting us from within. Nine of our brothers have joined the eternal battle at the side of the Emperor and the legacy of three ends here, on the soil of this world!’

Niko took a deep breath; muscles quivering as his body reacted to his outrage by releasing adrenaline into his bloodstream,

‘And now you speak of assuming command as if it is your right? Have you forgotten that which ails you so soon? If the circumstances were less dire I would declare you unfit for duty without pause! Without proper training you risk not only your own soul, but the very honour and credence of our chapter. Swallow your pride and answer me this, brother- Can you _honestly_ say that your desires are pure and untainted?’


----------



## unxpekted22

(mini update, if i dont say something about your character here then your character is still to carry out their actions based on the previous update.)

Solaki and Kain: Including anything you may have already been intending to write, you may also let Arx know you have not seen him since before the incident of Sotha's injury. Kain, you probably would not have seen him since all of the chapter was still aboard _the Heart of Sotha._

Arx has stated that Kyr _must_ be located, even if he is dead, the chapter must discover if his geneseed is still retrievable as the chapter _cannot_ afford to lose much more geneseed. However, in order to make a proper search and not get more brothers killed, the chapter must regroup and Arx has chosen to regroup at the Imperial military base which seems logical enough as it is not too far from where you are now. You see other squad leaders break away from Arx and begin gathering the squads back together and moving into the city streets as the two Thunderhawks begin to lift off. Kain has been inducted into squad, and as a squad you two are now waiting for Arx, Astelan, Niko, and Belial to finish whatever the are doing before moving out. If you choose to move them you begin moving toward their direction, or you can choose to remain near Arx and speak to each other.

Niko: "_Untainted?'_ leaves your mouth and bounce off of Christeph's chest armor instead of Astelan's. You notice on his golden yellow chest armor a diagonal line, deep red, and you wouldn't be a medical officer if you didnt realize it was blood. His armored finger pointing right at your face and speaking in a tone to match your own, 

"Are you saying brother Astelan is tainted!?" he yells, "How dare you! even after he defended our Lord by himself using those holy abilities!"

he indicates himself and brother Ryan, "Still a scout when Sotha was destroyed....we are young, and even we were full battle brothers when that happened. If your lucky ass wasn't the one who happened to help Alexander off of Sotha, you'd just be an out of line annoyance, just like you were when I had to drive the rhino out of a tree trunk strong enough to stop the vehicle dead in its tracks! I cant believe I have to rely on someone younger and less experienced on the battlefield than me, to make sure our brothers and I don't die."

"I dont see why Astelan should not lead us, he is the oldest here, and what _ails_ him is how we can defeat the hive tyrant!" from raising his hands so much he catches the white templar cross on his gauntlet just like that of your own and says, "Alarbus...a resolve which I feel I will never obtain in myself now, but now is a time with the methods of the Black templars we have fought side by side with more than once will come into good use. Straight to the tyrant we shall return, stopping for nothing, no helping the guardsmen, no side missions, no stopping for minor injuries. Straight to the enemy leader, and cut off its disgusting head by our blade."

"And in case you havn't noticed, pride is about the only thing we have left."

Christeph turns away, and you notice the same marking on the chest pieces of Astelan and Ryan's armor. He walks away with Ryan and from behind and a bit off to the side of you walk Sergeant Brig, scratched bald head, shoulder cape flowing, and taller than the others, as well as Brother Zurick, his plasma canon attached heavily to his back. The four of them walk a ways further before stopping to talk apparently through private channels since you can hear nothing from them. 

Astelan: Respond to Niko, or walk away with the others. If you respond, Belial will likely join in.

Belial: Laikus regains his composure and takes off his helmet to see you, "Belial, if it was any other to interrupt me from my work in such a manner I would pin them down and tear one of their arms off with my servo claws." You realize he is not kidding. "But, I am glad to see that you are not one of the nine who have fallen this day."

Laikus holds a similar weight on his shoulders like that of Brother Alexander. He is the only techmarine left amongst the chapter. Between him and his servitors, they are responsible for the maintenance and repairing of every single piece of machinery and weaponry that the chapter has left. He has become extremely distant from the rest of the chapter, constantly in tune with the machine spirit. being responsible for so much however, he has become far better at his duty than he would have imagined, working at extremely fast rates. Because of the undivided execution of his duties since the fall of your chapter's homeworld he rarely speaks to the other brothers. In fact, what he has just said to you is the first thing he has said to another Scythe of the Emperor in almost nine months. Some might argue that Laikus's burden is heavier than Alexanders, for at least Alexander has been able to train another, Niko. However, techmarines have no such ability. A brotehr cannot simply be made into a techmarine by one who has already learned the ways of the machine spirit. They would have to be sent to Mars and spend a long period of time there, not to mention the harsh situations during the training that they might not even survive. 

he speaks further, "I must return to my work Brother, I apologize I cannot speak more. May the Emperor stay by your side." he replaces his helmet and gets back to work repairing the transport.

You respect him enough not to say anything further other than perhaps a good bye or good luck, and return your attention to Niko and Astelan to find Christeph pointing fingers at Niko. As you make your way over to them, Brig and Zurick pass in front of you as Christeph and Ryan walk away from Niko and Astelan. 

Make your way to Niko and Astelan. If Astelan walks away, then you will only be able to talk to Niko for this post. 

The Guard players are still in the same place until the ones who havn't posted do so. The same goes for the Tyrant. Arx, hold off until my next update.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan had fallen silent, the harsh words and anger that laced each one roaring from Niko having caused him to think about his true intentions for a moment. He waited for Christeph to stop roaring and walk away towards Sergeant Brigs and Zurik who were both standing away from the remainder of the Chapter. When he had left he nodded his head, curling his lips in distaste beneath his helm and slapping both palms together in a sarcastic clap that echoed out around them. He closed his eyes and savoured the moment for what felt like an eternity, before he opened them and angled his head upwards. 

“You see, Niko; I do not give empty promises. This Chapter is _mine _Niko! Mine! Sotha is incompetent, and must be replaced. He has drove us into damnation, we number less than ten Squads at this very moment and it all rests upon the shoulders of that idiot!” he pointed upwards at the two Thunderhawks with one, gnarled, armour covered finger. Before Ferim; Astelan would have marched into hell for Sotha however, he had realised how much his Master had failed during these times, how much Gene-Seed was left destroyed because of him.

He let his arms fall limp at his side for a moment and snorted “I will lead us into a age of honour and glory, into a age of new blood! One of prosperity! A new history shall be carved by myself, one that will cast our name across the Imperium. Alexander was your token into the living, it was a matter of luck that you survived. However, you survived for a reason, yet you will not accept me as your liege? I _am _blessed! The Emperor has gifted _me_! I am his _true _son, his prophet amongst the living!” the last words were loud enough for any near enough to hear, his voice filled with a monotone mixture of rage and pride.

He had thought Niko would have accepted him. He had thought Niko was wiser than that. How he was wrong. “My soul does not matter! If it will let the Scythes prosper, then I would rip it inch from inch myself! Sotha is little more than a Daemon, a tyrant who wants nothing more than revenge so how can you possibly summon the strength to ask if _I _am Tainted?” he laughed, his head thrown back as far as he could manage without causing any form of pain.

“Why has Sotha not let us grow our ranks? Why has he lead us into battle? Because he is an idiotic cur! A mongrel born from a whore! Thorcrya should not have fallen upon Miral! Nor should have Var! They are _true _leaders, they are true Scythes of the Emperor.” For a moment, he was forced to dwell upon the tragic events at Sotha and Miral, at the loss of so many Astartes who Astelan had cared for. _Skia…..Aster……Var…..All dead......_

He sniffed, the metallic stench of his armour burning into his nostrils and continued “Those who fell at Sotha and Miral will not be remembered after we are gone” he indicated one open palm, turned so that it faced the skies, at the Scythes around them “We will be lost to the darkness. I will not let that happen Niko! I will not allow our downfall! Death shall overtake us all, and when it does so, Sotha will finally realise his mistake! Our path must change, and it shall begin with the end of the Tyrant”.

His hearts clenched and he let the air slip from between his clenched teeth “Sotha must be rid of once and for all, or we shall all perish, and I shall not let that happen. The Scythes will be mine, Brother, mark my words; Those who will not join are arrogant whelps, their skulls too swollen with pride that they will not accept our destiny".


----------



## FORTHELION

"It was good to see you again brother it has been too long. When we are done here hopefully we can meet back up on the heart of sotha when we have more time and catch up".

"ENOUGH brother if that is what you are anymore" roared Belial drawing his bolt pistol and pointing it at Astelan. "Do not make me use this. At this moment you are still a fellow Sythe and that is all that stops me from pulling the trigger. But your lust for blood and command pushes you further and further into damnation".

"Remember your place and your oathes to this chapter". Turning to Niko he asked "are you ok brother I heard every word Astelan had to say. He is deeply troubled and needs to be guided by another librarian else he will be lost to us forever. As we have no librarians left to us i believe though have no authority to do so that Astelan is unfit for duty and should return to the Ship and await the assistance of a librarian of another chapter. He cannot be trusted to continue this mission never mind lead it. I believe the ruinous powers are close to taking him and that cannot be permitted. We are few enough as it is".

Belial knew this was not going to go down well, but had kept quiet long enough and felt now was the time to confront it. He just hoped that others would see sence and it would not split the chapter in two. If that happened it would be the death of the Sythes of the emperor.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan turned to greet Belial with both hands outstretched and raised at chest level. In a sarcastic tone he hissed “Belial….A pleasure to see you once again. Perhaps it is time you shoot me? You have been quivering like a wet dog since I first set eyes upon your damned form. Why do you ask of Niko is ok? Can he not speak for himself? This Chapter has grown weak around myself, and you all to ignorant to actually realise! I am surprised you even know how to load a Bolt Pistol, Belial.” He clapped once again muttering “Congratulations, you have learned since we last spoke”.

“My oaths to this Chapter died long ago, Belial. With the old Chapter, they perished upon Miral and Sotha...... You claim I am unfit for duty, that the Pantheon are close to taking me, yet you are the who dares to draw a weapon upon his supposed Brother? Your mind words in a peculiar way, little being. You wish to place me aboard the _Heart_? You think a ship will keep me from my reckoning? If I am a danger to this campaign, why would you put me in the place where _your _lord rests? Where the firepower that can burn a world can be utilized? You sicken me, Belial!”

He snorted and curled his arms across his chest, sliding his hands beneath his pauldrons as he did so. He tasted bile in his throat however swallowed it back down while continuing “What do you know of the dealings of our Chapter? You are far younger than me, when you was still a baby in your whores gut I was killing for the Emperor. I have dealt with far worse enemies than you, do not underestimate that. I have personally witnessed alliances forged and shattered, can you lay claim to such deeds? Your entire bloodline was erased the day that Sotha fell, perhaps…..Perhaps that was a good thing”.

With a wheeze Astelan continued for the final time “You will not shoot me, your are far too much of a coward. If you did do so, how long would it be before my Gene-Seed was placed in a new recruit? One which would know of these deeds, one of which would let me live even through the grave. I find it laughable that you are too scared even to fight me fairly, can’t you take on an injured old man?”


----------



## Deus Mortis

As Arx spoke to the Scythes in the clearing. It gave his heart strength to hear his brother give the commands to his brothers. Solaki knew he had chosen rightly to persuade his brother to lead them. He split them down into squads as Lord Guilliman would have done. However, Arx seemed to be stumped for a moment, and then posed the question "Where is Brother Kyr?" Solaki found the idea almost laughable, expecting to look around, find Kyr and continue on their quest to glory. However, the more he looked around, the more he found that this was far from a joke. Brother Kyr was missing, and with so few Brothers, that was a dire case indeed. "Lord Arx..." Solaki wasn't sure why he called him 'lord', but as had was leading them it seemed only fitting "...me and Belial were at the back of our group, and we never saw him come past us. We assumed at the time that he was with you, but if not, then he must still have been at the swamp" As he said that, his mind was cast back to the swamp. He had been sure he had seen something, and now that Kyr was missing, his superstition became stronger. He hear minor noises from Niko and Astelan's position that quickly escalated into roars of rage. Two older Astartes joined the argument and only seemed to make things worse. Solaki couldn't make out the subject of the arguement, but Solaki caught a few words _'Tainted' 'fallen' 'Chapter' 'Mine'_. The last word Solaki could be sure it came from Astelan. He simple turned his head aside and did nothing about it. He simple stood by Arx, ready to help him in his administrative duties. However, Solaki's ears managed to pick the click of a bolt pistol out amongst the other noises that were being made. He whirled around to see Belial pointing a gun at Astelan. "NO!!!" Solaki roared. How had it come to this, Brothers drawing guns against Brothers, it was like the Heresy all over again. "Lord Arx, Brother Kain, we need to defuse this situation NOW, before it gets more out of hand than it already is!" And at that Solaki ran towards his Brothers. This madness needed to stop before any shots were fired...


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain nodded to Arx when he was told he would be transfered to Arxs squad. He didn't know Arx personaly, prefering to stick with his squad after what had happened on Sotha. Now that they were all dead he would have to reacquaint himself with the rest of the chapter. _"It will be an honour to serve with you brother Arx. We will wipe this tyranid menance from this world." _

Kain knew that the chapter had to rebuild once this campaign was finished, they were few in numbers and that was only getting fewer with each passing day. He voiced a silent prayer to the Emperor, to watch over the chapter. Kain could hear an arguement raging in the background but barely gave it a second thought before he heard a click of a bolt pistol. Kain immediatly looked for the source, finding it to be his hotheaded brother Belial. Kain heard Solaki speak to him and Arx about defusing the situation before Solaki tore towards them. Kain ran after him, his bolters safety off just in case. "Surely Belial won't actually shoot Astelan." Kain said into the vox as he moved forwards.


----------



## unxpekted22

Arx, Solaki, and Kain: you have permission to defuse the situation and separate your brothers. By the time you get there, Niko will have drugged astelan to sleeping state of unconsciousness. 

Niko: You now have a chance to respond to Astelan, and you have permission to sedate him.


----------



## deathbringer

The lictors watched from the edge of the forest and my interest spiked as the scythes rushed together clamouring over something. Interesting... fractures in the black ranks?

The lictors are impatient desperate for action desperate to attack the enemies before there eyes. Wait... I command, they shift restlessly, leaves rustling below there feet.

The marines are still to close for comfort, too close to the woods, I must lure them away somehow. It is time terrorize the populace once more, the lictors snarl in agreement and I feel them slinking away into the distance. 

In the back of my mind i feel the ravenors tearing into a guardsman, the talons slicing through his neck sending a spray of arterial blood over the ravenors face. The numbers of guardsman are falling, it is time to send the rippers to devour the dead, to recover the biomass of our lost, only then can my armies be reborn.

One week, one week and the black armoured bastards will fall


----------



## Necrosis

Vick stumbled as Jole suddenly slap his back with one of his bionic arms as he introduce himself. Then his tone changed as he began to explain the situation. Vick had never seen Jole tone change, then again he had served under Jole for less then a day, the man probably had a whole bag of tricks that Vick probably didn't know about. Jole then took command of Vick former squad since they no longer had a commanding officer. 

"I assumed my former commanding officer was killed in action?" ask Vick as he look around to see if there was any other survivors from his former squad. Yet things began to go from bad to worse when Jole announce that the space marines also had no idea what was going on. What in Holy Terra was going on? Everything was breaking down and falling apart. This had never back on his home-world, then again he never fought these bugs on his home-world. Where these bugs that deadly?

Yet Jole then gave orders to spread out and guard the nearby area. Vick had a bad feeling about this. Yet he followed his orders none the less. "Sir, why don't we burn the forest down? If they were to attack us, it would take away any cover that they would have. It would also allow us to spot the enemy sooner." said Vick as he then waited for Jole responses.


----------



## Euphrati

The cold fingers of horror crept up Niko’s spine as Astelan continued to speak after Christeph had stormed away, anger spiraling into repulsion as he recoiled in alarm. 

_Something was hideously wrong, this was not the Brother he knew and respected!_ 

Astelan’s words were like venomous barbs, each one razor edged and vile.

Belial’s voice was a powerful roar; it was obvious that the battle-brother had heard Astelan’s words and Niko caught the gleam of his pistol over Astelan’s shoulder as the Scythe turned like a viper scenting a new menace.

Other shouts sounded but Niko ignored them, his hand slipping into the pouch at his hip. Questing fingers found what he sought in an instant, closing around a crysteel vial with three small groves cut along its length and tugging it free of the blinding holding it snug with its fellows. The liquid inside caught the light as his hand emerged back into the sun, gleaming a warm amber like molten honey.

Astelan had turned partially away to face Belial, his attention locked on the threat of the weapon. His body already in a heightened state from the anger, Niko did not hesitate to exploit Belial’s unintended distraction.

His hand shot forward, the vial clicking in place with a slight hiss as the liquid inside disappeared into the injection port in Astelan’s chestplate. The sedative was potent and designed to defeat the specialized metabolism of an astartes. Niko slipped the now-empty vial back into his pouch and prepared to take the weight of his wounded brother when the drug took effect,

‘Belial! Be ready to catch him when he falls!’


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial listened to Astelan Mouthing off obout destroying this world with the power of the heart of Sotha and about being left on the same ship as Sotha, he was as much as saying what he would do if he was up there. _Had he truely fallen this far so quickly, His mind most certainly was not his own at this stage._

Belial watched Niko move a quick as he had ever seen an astartes move and inject a liquid into Astelans breastplate. Niko called over to him *Belial be ready to catch him when he falls*

Belial holsterd his pistol without question and ran over to hold onto Astelan as he started to sway slightly. "What was in that vial Niko?. We had also better thread carefully our chapter is about ready to split in two, judging by the reaction of Christeph from brigs squad, Astelan has some powerful allies". 

Now thought Belial what would Arx reaction be to the whole situation that just unfolded. He truely felt sorry for his brother who had only just taken command. This problem would be hard for an experienced commander. But Belial had a lot of confidence in Arx, he was very wise and had a way with words that would inspire anyone to follow him into battle, even to certain death.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Even with sprinting, Solaki watched the events unfold before him. Niko had slipped a small vial of amber coloured liquid into Astelan's breastplate, who had been preoccupied with Belial so hadn't noticed. The older marine went weak and seemed to be ready to collapse at the slightest blow of the breeze. Solaki's boots threw up dirt and grass as his skidded to a halt just in front of Belial, Astelan and Niko. Solaki wanted to scream at Belial for drawing a weapon on his Brother marine. He wanted to hit him square across the jaw for being such an idiot. He wanted to demand a response from Niko, surely the older marine should have know better. He wanted to know what had sparked such an extreme reaction from the two of them. However, before Solaki could open his mouth, and probably make a fool out of himself, his mind brought him sharply back to a similar experience earlier in the day. Him, Astelan and Belial had acted like children, bickering and squabbling, not acting like Astartes should, and Sotha had shamed them. And rightly so, in Solaki's mind anyway. This time he would conduct himself honourably and with a clear mind. And, although Solaki probably didn't realise it, he was eager to please Arx. Every time Solaki had spoken around him, he had said something to disgrace himself, and he was keen to impress Arx as his new commander. So, instead of letting his disbelief at what he had seen dictate his response, he drew a deep breath and spoke, to both intentionally, but to Belial primarily "Brother, please tell me you have a good reason for drawing your weapon on a fellow Astartes? And could one of you tell me what he has said to deserve being sedated like a captive of war?" He tried to keep his voice calm and level, but he wasn't like Arx and couldn't keep it sustained, and some of his shock and disbelief showed through in his questioning. Solaki simply prayed that Belial hadn't let his own distrust in Astelan, which to some extent Solaki shared, get away with him, and forced him to act irrationally...


----------



## dark angel

Astelan was about to open his mouth in a attempt to send a series of curses and slurs forwards at Belial when a loud hiss howled within his armour. He knew immediately what it was. Tranquilizer. His eyes widened for a quick second, and he roared lowly to himself, clawing at his chest with fast weakening fingers. They slipped and slid as he tried to get a purchase of anything that could rip his armour free, however it came in vain. The corners of his eyes darkened almost immediately, and tendrils of black spread across his vision and he bit down hard upon his lip, ripping the weak, dark flesh and leaking slithers of his blood down his chin. 

He threw back his head, shaking it wildly as his system begun to slow down around him. Screams echoed throughout his mind, pounding against his skull in imaginary attempts to escape, and for a moment the Scythe was sure that they had made it free as a burning sensation rippled along the length of his right side. He spun himself to face Niko, who was standing behind him with a empty vial slowly slipping from his hands into a pouch. _Betrayal!_ The words pained him, yet opened his mouth, and in High Gothic, something taught to him by his original master within the Tenth Company, spluttered out “Fortuna est obviam mihi!”.

The last of his energy withered and died as he pointed at Niko, his arm quivering and his fingers contorting. His knees buckled in on themselves, and Astelan tumbled into the arms of Belial. A miasma of darkness, mixed with the occasional flashes of light sent Astelan spiraling into a induced dream, a hoarse roar upon his lips, although he was sure that it would never actually resound from his helm. _Niko and Belial are against me.....So be it_ never stopped echoing through his mind, as his fall was eased by his younger Brother.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain watched as Niko sprung forward emptying a vial of tranquilizer into Astelan before Belial grabbed him as he fell. Kain sloweed down his sprint to that off a jog and stopped by Solaki and Belial. Solaki was asking wheter it was necessary for Niko to put him to sleep, and why Belial had pulled a weapon on his fellow brethern. Kain was sure that Arx should deal with this as he was the leader. The Scythes couldn't be divided at a time like this, with so many of their brethern dead, and their Lord injured. Kain was aware that Christeph and Ryan had been talking to Astelan in private, and all three had red slashes across their chests. He stepped in the way of Christeph and Ryan, just in case. 

_"Brothers, let us calm down and think for a second here. What do you plan on doing with him now?"_ Kain had his back turned on Niko and the others, so he could keep an eye on the others if they reacted badly. His bolter was at his side with the safety on now, Kain hoped that Christeph and Ryan would think logically.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx finished addressing the Scythes as a whole, nodding to each of the squad leaders present as they diffused back into the crowd, organising and renumbering their squads.

'Just call me Brother, Solaki.' Lord sounded odd in his ears. 'Kyr was last seen in the marsh clearing then...'

He wished to continue the chain of thought, but his attention was drawn to the commotional scene behind him. He saw Belial with his Bolt pistol aimed directly at Astelan, but what made him colder was the words Astelan directed towards Brothers Niko and Belial. 

_blessed. prophet. mine. destiny._

Before Arx could make his way to the scene, Niko had already plunged a vial straight into his chest. He stood behind Niko as he caught Astelans limping form. He assumed he'd tranquillised his Brother, killing him would have been much easier by another means. He felt slightly hollow as he stared at Astelans unconscious form, he was irritated that he could not talk to his Brother, but perhaps it was for the best he was unable to talk or respond.

He tilted his helmet to look up at Christeph and Ryan

'_You may not be fond of me Brothers, but you cannot stand there and tell me what you just witnessed was normal. What he was spouting was bordering on Heresy, Astartes have been put out of service by saying less. I fear his mind may be under pressure from his new found abilities.'_

'_If you believe Astelan should lead us then why did you not put it forward while we were all collected? Why did you go to skulk away from your Brothers? Would you not have happily stood here and smeared blood over yourselves while swearing allegiance to a Brother who is exhausted in both mind and body? The warp is dangerous, Astelan needs help like any other Brother showing psyker potential, its not something that can be ignored, for all our sakes as well as his own. Do you not believe the other Brothers would have chosen him? Ask yourselves why not._'

'_I am more than ready to listen to any suggestions about our next tactical move, because *my* chief concern is the safety of our Brothers, rather than some self aggrandising quest for glory._'


----------



## darkreever

*"You ever handled a hellgun before my friend?" *Radec said aloud as Rikard turned the weapon over in his hands before looking at him to respond. _"Never used 'em myself, hellguns are glory boy weapons; for those who are just to good for the lasgun, or when you absolutely have to shred a room and all its cover single-handedly."_

It felt heavier than his las, the barrel was shorter and the readout slightly more advanced, and the charge pack was larger. The weight difference wouldn't mean to much normally, but in a fight the difference meant you would be slower to react to some things and that was never good. _"I can say this though super-solder."_ He eventually said to Radec, _"This looks more like a short pattern hot-shot las than a real hellgun. No pack-pack power supply like the real glory boys use. At least without that its a little lighter; think I'll stick with my lasgun as primary though. More ammo, easier to replenish ammo supplies, and more familiar."_


With that, Rikard slung the hellgun across his back and took hold of his lasgun, beaten metal and chipped paint felt right at home in his hands. _"Maybe you might feel a little like a space marine Trigger, but ya certainly don't look the part and you definitely can't shoot or act it."_ He said in response to Zac, his smile quickly vanishing as he thought about Khrell. _"What about Kid? That bad hand of his will make it awful hard for him to handle anything larger than a blade or pistol."_


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

*"Of course they wouldn't supply normal rank and file with the real deal but it will do."* said Shadihm to Rikard. As Rikard asked about the Kid Shadihm stopped munching on the rations he had in his mouth and stood up to watch what was happening with the marines. He nudged his chin in their direction so the others could see what he was looking at, *"Is what I think is happening really happening over there?"* he asked the rest of his squad, disbelief in his tone.


----------



## unxpekted22

Imperial Guard:

Jole busts out laughing, "Vick! If I could burn down the forest of course I would have done it by now, there's only a chimera with a flame turret on it right over there," he points over his shoulder with his thumb toward the squad's remaining chimera, visible again with the thunderhawk out of the way. "One thing you'll learn real quick about gaining rank boy, there's always someone above you, and if we act without consent, more soldiers will come through with consent to burn _us_ down. HQ don't want the forest burned down, that's why it ain't gone yet. I ask why, and they'll ask for my head."

You all turn to what shadihm points to and watch the conflict unfold between Astelan, Niko, Belial, and some of the Scythes of the Emperor. You have seen some of their bodies die, will their morale and brotherhood prove just as mortal? 

A new marine approaches sergeant Jole and speaks with him quietly. It is the techmarine Laikus. You instantly know he has affiliation with the adeptus mechanicus because he wears the deep red armor, the color of Mars. Also the robotic arms from his back armor sections give it away as well. Though you have never seen a member of the mechanicus in space marine you have likely seen many of the Imperial Guard versions.

Seeing nothing come out of the jungle, Jole gathers you all back up as the space marines begin regrouping themselves and moving into the city. "We will be following this guy, er, Sir Laikus. He's been at high command all day and has permission to take charge of our squad. He's gonna check our ride first."

Laikus and Jole turn towards the chimera, all of you and the other fourteen guardsmen follow. When reaching it Jole announces, "Vick, one perk of being higher ranked than your buddies is always a guaranteed ride. To everyone else, eight more inside, ten walk. We go when Laikus is ready. There's some alien mines or some shit that landed in the city that the alien's ship dropped in the atmosphere. They float around...apparently they're alive. So naturally, somebody's gotta take 'em out before construction can start up again in these sectors of Vorspire. HQ says they've got satellite coverage up and running now. They don't need us watching the border if there's something else for us to do. Also, apparently these 'spore mines' as Laikus here calls 'em, they usually come from a certain type of bug, but these came from the ship, so anomalies may be present. sense they havn't moved much since the alien ship crash landed he's thinking the leader bug doesn't have control over 'em, might not even know about 'em."

Vick gets inside behind Jole. Shadihm makes it inside the chimera as well.

Rikard, Khrell, and Zac find themselves jogging along the outside of the vehicle at a comfortable pace as it creeps along beside you. It makes its way onto the first street of the western border. The techmarine moves along outside as well behind you and the other seven guardsmen outside of the vehicle.

Besides any other thoughts or things you may wish to say to those around you, you may all find yourselves thinking something similar....living mines? How big of a mine are they talking? living as in just breathing or as scary as the other f***ers you've had to fight off today? You should arrive in the infected area soon.

Scythes of the Emperor:

Arx, Niko, Solaki, Belial, and Kain: Niko and Belial hold astelan, and no one seems to have much left to say in them...it feels too much has already been said as it is. The Thunderhawks are out of sight, going back to _The Heart of Sotha_ still orbiting Ferim. The Imperial aircrafts' pilots have taken off and headed back to the air base in western Vorspire for re-supply and further orders. The rest of the Scythes in their groups of six are moving into the streets of Vorspire at a jogging pace. 

Since the chapter's plan was to land on Ferim and make way from the city's border through the jungle straight to the Hive Tyrant and killing it all within a few hours had failed, Arx has decided some kind of base of operations will be needed. Another battle today would do the chapter no good. Their long term leader has been evacuated off the surface, they have lost nine more brothers, and they no longer have the upper hand of surprise. You have even made it to the Tyranid ship's landing site and had found nothing...this mission would likely take at least a few more days, and landing vehicles here and patching up injuries right next to the jungle's edge is just not wise for more than short period, there was no way of telling what the Tyrant still had left at its disposal. Moving into the city provided much more cover, and cover the Tyrant likely was less knowledgeable about how to move its pawns around in.

You may notice Brother Laikus finish with the rhino, his servitors following the rest of the chapter while he heads over to the unit of guardsmen watching the treeline. Soon they all head towards the chimera and after a few minutes they all go into the city on a street further down.

While this is going on in the background Ryan, Christeph, and the ever silent Zurick stand strong by each other. Sergeant Brig speaks in reply to Arx, "We have no quarrel with you Arx. But you must understand, that things have changed, and though Astelan's mind may be hindered his heart is where it should be and where i believe any other chapter's heart would be in this situation. Cowards walk back to build a better defense...space marines march forward until we conquer or die in the name of the emperor. we shall show no fear, even to a race of xeno that may not even know what fear is. It is our duty to educate them as best we can."

They walk off toward the Rhino and board it, heading back down the ridge. Technically, Brig is still higher ranked than Arx and so, Arx can only lead those who are willing to follow him.

Two of you must carry Astelan, his unconscious body to heavy for one to move at a steady pace. Niko and Belial currently carry him, but now having time to look, Niko notices the disastrous state of Solaki's armor, his multitudes of healed over marks from attacks that cut through the armor and reached the skin, and most of all the wide hole through his shoulder guard. Whatever went through it clearly punctured his flesh deep from the amount of blood around the armor damage. If Niko finds the need to apply medical attention now it must be done on the move.


Astelan: You wake up laying on the ground exactly where you had been standing before, except no one is around. It is hard for you to stand up, you find your helmet on the ground a few meters away with its eyes toward you. You grab it without putting it on, and walk to the edge of the ridge. The forest is still there just as it was, the time of day is the same. You turn and the unfinished buildings of Vorspire still reach for the sky.

You have no idea where your brothers are, and despite you're super human hearing you hear nothing but the sound of the breeze making its way down the city streets, and through the forest trees. You place your helmet on and seal it in. The HUD icons flicker into view but then disappear before you can read anything, your vision become just as it was before putting the helmet on. Thinking you put it on wrong in your tired state you reach up to take it off and find it is no longer there around your head. You look around confused, and turning, find it on the ground where you had picked it up moments before. It's eye lenses still facing toward you.

You check for your weapons, your chainsword is at your waist, your bolter slung around you on its strap, and your combat blade flat against your lower leg's armor in its sheath. they are all where they should be. Your bolter magazines in their proper pouches.

"_Astelan"_ whispers through the air, seemingly part of the breeze. You turn toward the forest where you believe it came from. From the ridge you can see over the forest canopy. Far, far in the distance an extremely bright light starts out as a tiny dot and slowly becomes greater. It soon stops getting bigger and begins fluctuating size as if breathing. It shines like a bright star being looked at through a lens, with sharply defined beams of light angled toward you and off to its sides.

"Astelan" whispers through the air again. It seems to be coming from the off the edge of the ridge. You have been on the ridge and know it is not steep enough to fall and die from, but the flat edge of the paved border of Vorspire still creates an edge as if it were a cliff.

What you do is up to you unless I say otherwise.

Tyrant:

you have no consciousness of the spore mines mentioned above. They are completely independent from you. 

You watch through the eyes of your Lictors as both the space marines and the few guardsmen who were at the border of the city, retreat back into it. This is interesting for you, expecting them to once again come at you. You have not won this world yet, but it is clear now that your enemies will not be killing you today, you have prevented that.

You realize that you had the advantage of speed and surprise on the Imperial Guard upon landing on this world, and the space marines had the speed and surprise against you when they unexpectedly arrived. However, now all the players were known, and all the player's had suffered heavy losses. You have reached a level of warfare you have never need to participate in before, the slow part. It was no longer up to who had the advantage, now it would be up to who could prove themselves the smartest and strongest. They pull back into their self built world, the city, do they think this will help them? You see it no different from the forest. Trees turns into buildings and shadows are still prevalent. 

You have figured out the new leader of the space marines, it seems to be one of the marines you have seen all too many times throughout this day. The one with the large build, the longer biting claw, the one that throws the incinerating heat from his hands. Tell your Lictors to kill him next.

Your Raveners claim their finished work, order them to burrow beneath the city streets.

Your Warrior and his gaunt broods wish to return, the warrior more confident than ever with his new attributes. Shall he play a part in the scheme?

The enemy backing into their own environment may give you some ideas concerning your gargoyles, shall they play a part as well?

Shall any of your children carry the corpse with them?

You sense the rippers consuming the dead and eagerly await the returning biomass liquidated in their little stomachs. little they may be, though filled with the most acidic of stomach acids.


----------



## blazinvire

Jogging beside a rhino wasn't really his idea of fun, especially since he was still lugging around the heavy bolter drum, his lasgun and a hellgun to top it all off, but he figured it'd get him in shape with the extra weight, and he'd much prefer not having to lose any of it.
Not when your life was worth the next shot out of your gun.

"Friggin bugs... seriously, we got death machines, giant green chop-happy hulks and traitorous angels of death running around the galaxy, now we're waging war on bugs..." Zac sighed, shifting his load a little as he kept up the pace.
"This job blows sometimes..."

He cast that train of thought aside as he returned his attention to the surroundings, wondering if the bugs had an ambush planned for them somewhere along the line? Especially when one type of bug has a funny kind of camouflage, it'd be hard to expect it.
Zac randomly remembered he'd challenged everyone to a kill count contest, but he hadn't remembered it during the battles so he hadn't remembered to count. At the very least he hoped he killed more, he burnt quite a few laspacks in the last battle putting up a wall of lasers for the bugs to try and jump through.
He still had quite a lot of dogtag promises to fulfill, and he wasn't using laspacks for the time being so he couldn't really fulfill them at the moment. Though it was only a matter of time before the hell gun ran out... Zac was sure to find the end of any magazine, no matter how damn big it was.

"Hope I got enough ammo to blast down one of these 'mines'. I'll challenge ya all that I can bust one of those things first!" Zac said halfheartedly to the other guardsmen, "Sure I dunno what one looks like, but I'ma shoot it all the same. If it ain't shot it ain't safe."


----------



## Euphrati

The effect of the drug was almost instant to Niko’s trained eye; Astelan’s stance shifting as his muscles relaxed against his will. The strickened Scythe turned towards him, fighting a losing battle with the effects of the sedative, and pointed an accusing finger. Astelan’s words were but a whisper, but Niko heard the pain of betrayal in every one of them as if shouted by the voice of a titan.

Niko reached out and grasped the accusing hand behind the wrist, gently controlling Astelan’s fall into the waiting arms of Belial even as the others of the squad pounded to a halt beside them,

‘In somnis veritas,’ Niko spoke softly to the unconscious Astelan, ‘Pax tecum,’ 

For a long moment Niko ignored their scrambled voices, reaching down to snatch his helm from its mag-lock at his waist and slipping it over his young features to slot home with a muffled click. The moment the optics swam into view he blink-clicked Astelan’s rune into the foreground from its location at the edge of his vision. The heart rates were still slightly unstable in rhythm, though they lingered just barely within acceptable parameters. 

_Even in sleep you are troubled, my brother._

Niko spoke even as he slipped a stabilizing arm under Astelan’s form to aid Belial, 

‘Brother Astelan’s mind is not his own and I have sedated him, nothing more. The alternative was one I wish not to linger upon at this time. The dose I administered should last for an hour, though in his present condition I cannot say if that is wholly accurate,’

Niko gave a soft sigh before continuing,

‘For the moment I would advise all of you to withhold judgment upon his actions and words. I believe our brother fights for his very soul and none of us are capable of weighing such a burden.’

The words felt hollow within his thoughts as he spoke and Niko tried not to focus on the echoing words of Christeph as he passed eyes over each of the Scythes by his side; unable to shut out the doubts that suddenly clouded his purpose. 

_Is that what they truly think of me? My place gifted upon the mere chance of luck? The blood I have shed at their sides, unworthy of their respect?_

Niko scowled under the expressionless mask of his battle helm, forcing the venomous thoughts to the back of his mind and shaking his head to clear his mood. His eyes came to rest upon the bloodied shadow of Solaki. His brother’s armour was badly torn and blood clotted upon his golden chestguard. Fractures of ceramite snaked along one arm, Niko recognized the wound as the result of the strangling bio-constructs some tyranid organisms were able to produce,

‘Solaki, brother, I would have a look at those wounds if you are willing to tolerate my inexperience,’

Niko felt the bitterness lacing his voice like an unripe fruit on the back of his tongue.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain heard Niko say he want to check Solaki so willingly took his place carrying Astelan. He watched Brig drive off in the Rhino with Christeph, Ryan and Zurick. Part of Kain longed to follow Brig and the others, to the heart of the tyranid infestation and destroy their threat once and for all. He quickly checked those thoughts knowing that to effectively wipe their filth from this world he would have to be patient. He desperatly wanted vengenecs though, even if it would be counter productive.
_
"If we knew the exact location of the tyrant then I wish we could just fire on it from the Heart and Destroy it once and for all. An orbital bombardment would make sure that it was utterly destroyed."_ Kain mused over his vox to the others, though he didn't expect a reply.

OOC: Sorry about not posting, been busy.


----------



## Concrete Hero

The words of his Brothers sadden him. Not for what they said, or in the manner they had spoke it, but the fact they had so blindly ignored him. They had chosen to totally deflect his words and intent with a mask of fury and anger. Arx was made aware of the weight of responsibility bearing down on him, it wasn't suffocating, merely a looming presence of considerable size.

He turned to stare into the forest lining as his Brothers began to move back to the city as he had instructed.

Instructed, they had chosen to follow him, but did he deserve to lead them if he couldn't convince his own Brothers to stay and listen before breaking off on their own? It was only with his Astartes mental dominance that he could force the clouding thoughts away. 

As he scanned the trees, he felt an odd sensation, as if leering eyes were peering from the leaves, hungry for their blood. He swapped his visor to a thermal reading, but saw nothing on the undergrowths edge. With slight reflectance the Space Marine turned from the edge and continued after his Brothers. He wanted to volunteer when Niko shifted to better divert his medical attention, but he couldn't form the words. Kain stepped in promptly however, the response gap was practically unnoticeable.

The urge to speak was with him with the same Brothers voice called through the vox.

'_It is almost always an attractive option, though we would still have to confirm the damage on the ground._' He paused for a moment.

'_Though, if a strike is available I would target the clearing in the swamp we saw earlier. There was something wrong there_'

He wanted to add that he was still concerned for Brother Kyr's location, and that the last time they saw him was _at_ that clearing. He wanted to keep his indecisiveness on the matter to himself, they didn't need to see him struggle straight after standing in for the chapter.

And he was already beginning to doubt his choice on the Scythes next action, he was well aware of the benefits of his chosen path, though their enemy would not likely be as vulnerable to attack for a long time, perhaps ever. They had lost the element of surprise, which is a keen edge when possessed by any foe, Space Marines especially. Though he was determined to fight The Scythes of the Emperor through this trail, no matter the number of the beast before them.


----------



## Deus Mortis

"Solaki, brother, I would have a look at those wounds if you are willing to tolerate my inexperience" Even as Niko said the words, Solaki suddenly became aware of himself. His whole armour was riddled with scars and scab from biting teeth and cutting talons of the foul xeno's. He had almost forgotten in the fury of th battles, the squable on the Thunderhawk and now this mess with Astelan, he had forgotten that he was in burning agony. His whole body was alight with pains, especially his shoulder which he could barely move. Brother Kain took over Niko's position with carrying Astelan, so Solaki spoke "Brother, you have more experience than all of us put together. Anything to ease this burning pain. Could you look at my shoulder first, Brother? A xeno's warrior punctured my shoulder guard in a fight me and Belial had with one. If you can do nothing else, if you can get that shoulder opperational, I can be of use with my lascannon" And with that he josseled his lascannon, as a form of gesture to his Brother, and he waited for his Brother Apothecary to help him...


----------



## deathbringer

The eyes through which I watched the marines backing away, a snaking trail of transports and foot soldiers towards a new place. A small snarl and the lictors begin to bound forward, shifting from cover to cover, seeming to meld into the undergrowth.

Ahead of the black armoured bastards aching trees of granite loomed, shadows over fields of stone, smaller shrubs of brick and mortar rose in intricate designs, patterns that would soon be marred by rivers of blood, by the ragtag scramble of death.

It was interesting, they retreated and now surprise was lost, we had surprised the lightly armoured foe, yet the black armoured foes had surprised us. Now we were at an impasse, this was time for tactics, this was my time to shine.

I had fought geurilla warfare since the day I was born, since the day I had crawled from beneath the earth. This was my domain... and I had time... time to plan... to regroup.... to take stock of all my forces and most importantly to grow.

Was i to be opposed in this game of tactics?

Amongst the marines one moved, barking commands orders, but it was not the man that lay injured upon the ground.. no he was gone to the stars above, dead or injured I do not know nor do I care.... this marine is my new opponent in this game of chance.

Tall and well built a claw that slashes through hearts with impunity. A strong warrior...a good commander? I cannot risk it... the lictors snarl, they have been to the city before.. Yes they have... they wish to kill Longclaw, they wish it so much. 

They have done well, arrogant bastards they may be, but strong and powerful

Yes my brothers you shall kill him...

I feel a building strength, the rippers tearing through the forest, consuming, devouring hungrily, they will feed me once my body has hibernated, they will bring me back, then i will end this war... I will move with my new breeds and finish it... it will be the end, for the scythes have not faced me yet and i will cull them all.

I need time... time to hibernate and feed.. 7 rotations of the sun... 1 cold feed and then i will march upon the city. Till then they must be occupied be penned into the city.

The ravenors, they are eager, the guardsman dead now it is there time, no one expects anyone to come from the ground. My warriors they will come from the ground. The ravenors must tunnel into the city from which my warriors can move, a network beneath the field of stone, from which gaunts can move, from which my warriors can attack without being seen.

Attacks from nowhere should keep them penned like lambs for the slaughter.

For now whilst the tunnels are built the gaunts will remain my guardians, the warriors there leader, yet then they will attack, till the tunnels are built my gargoyles must fly again, using the buildings like trees they must hide at the top, swooping down upon there prey. They must be fast and agile, force the marines to chase them.

They must not be many, and those that go I know may not come out alive.

Each gargoyle snarls, the bond of brotherhood clenched around my heart... I dont not want my eldest and dearest to die

We are willing.... the response echoes hauntingly in my ears.

The death rattle of those i love


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm had managed to get inside the Chimera and sat himself down alongside Jole, the leader of this bionic group of soldiers. He had put his helmet and respirator back on and was staring at the rest of the men in the transport, most seemed very confident in their new replacement body parts, he didn't lie to himself he would too if he were them. Yet he had taken pride in his training and physical fitness and would feel ashamed if he had lost one of his body parts and not been able to kill the culprit who had taken it. 

He leaned in towards Jole, *"So, how long you and your boys here been active in this engagement? Some of their body parts look fairly new.......and you seem to have some good weapons here." *he motioned towards the hellgun that sat across his own lap, _*"Been awhile since i've handled one of these things."*_


----------



## Necrosis

Vick bite his lip as he heard what Jole had to say. He didn’t really pay attention to the marines. H simply looked at the ground, thinking what he could do, yet how could one man make a huge difference? The best he could do was to die standing. Yet then something grabbed Vick attention. It was Jole and he was taking what look like a marine who was also a tech priest. Vick had never heard of such a marine. Yet then again he never heard of a marine dying before.

Jole then came back to the ground and announce that they would be following the Tech priest marine named Laikus. They then began to check out the Chimera, Vick followed them. Once they were done, Jole announced that Vick would be riding in the Chimera and that they would be going to take out some living mines. Mines were scary enough but living mines? That just horrified him. Yet Vick put these thoughts aside. He did as he was told and got into the Chimera. 

He then turned to Shadihm who seemed now to be talking to the Sarge. He waited for the sarge to answer and then ask, his former and new squad mate a question. “How are you and the rest of the squad holding up?” ask Vick as he waited for an answer.


----------



## unxpekted22

Jole responds to Shadihm, "As with the rest of Vorspire's guarding forces, Today. I dont know and I didnt ask, but somebody" he puts his hand by his mouth as if to better block the sound and aims his thumb outside to indicate the techmarine, "Got these boys healed up and full of bionic parts in just a few hours. with the help of the best medical officers Vorspire currently has to off of course. So yeah, their parts be new, big time. As for the bigger guns, they unfortunately weren't given to us. We picked 'em up after the city's only unit of storm troopers got trashed by some giant camouflagin' leapin' bugs.

Shadihm, you may reply to both Jole and Vick, or only Vick if you wish.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm should have seen that one coming, figures, glory boys always had a hard time staying alive. *"Well good thing you saw fit to pick these bastards up,"* he patted the gun, *"Certainly better then the shit we all were supplied with."* He leaned in close to Jole so the other soldiers wouldn't hear him, *"After what we saw in that Emperor-forsaken jungle back there I'm glad to have some extra firepower at my finger tips. I plan on gettin my damned rank back from command, whether it's the officers here or those who sent me to this rock, and I ain't going to let these bugs get in my way." *

Shadihm looked back at Vick, his orange eyepieces glowing, *"We're holding up, all still in one piece, well the kid fucked his hand up trying to be a glory boy but other then that doin quite well."*He nodded his head towards Vick's bionic replacement, *"And you? How you been holdin up?"*


----------



## Necrosis

Vick listened well to Shadihm comment. "You said in one piece but what happened to our former commanding officer? Was he killed during a mission?" said Vick in response to Shadihm comment. "As for me holding up, well I never thought it would end up this way. I thought in the guard if you get wounded you died. Kind of surprised I got these bionic parts. I do miss my flesh but with these bionics I can serve the Emperor better. Their is nothing more that I can truly ask for. Praise the Emperor." said Vick as he made a sign of the Aquila.


----------



## dark angel

The dark clouds cast grey upon the city. Even as Astelan stirred, he realised that something had happened. No Scythes moved around him, nor did any form of life for that matter. The skies were devoid of birds and bugs. Not even the vermin clattered around. The grass swayed in the cold wind, and his hair fluttered like white tendrils. His vision was cluttered with patches of light for a moment but they quickly retreated into the depths of his mind as his head lolled around, searching for his helm. 

The cold piercing eye pieces stared at him blankly from several metres away. Astelan rolled onto his knees and pulled himself up, stumbling backwards with spread eagle arms as he did so. However his balance regained and his fall was halted. Step by step, the Astartes moved towards the helm. It was nothing spectacular really, however he cared for each individual piece of his equipment carefully and lovingly. 

That was the way of the Scythes now. Laikus had little time to toil in the repairing of individual sections and Astelan understood that heartedly. He knelt down and took the helm in one gauntlet, and begun to move towards the ridge edge. He looked down upon the forest, the thick branched trees looking menacing while he was alone. He snorted and let his free hand wrap around the grip of his Bolter, the fingers tightening in the rivets along the black metal. Ceramite groaned as his muscles bunched, and he turned away. 

The unadorned buildings of Vorspire still remained the same. None had changed, they still stood in states of construction and the yellow hued building vehicles made no sound as they stood like ancient sentinels in shadowed streets. He snorted and placed his helm upon his head. A red-orange rune flashed for a moment and he tried to see what it was. It was, however gone before he could even begin to believe what the rune was. He reached up to twist his helm around, however his cold ceramite encased fingers touched soft skin rather than metal. 

Astounded; he looked across the surface of the ground for his helm. There it was, where he had picked it up, menacingly staring at him with the eyes of a murderer. His eyes. Of course Astelan knew what deeds he had performed in his lifetime, however that mattered little now in his state of solitude. “Astelan” whispered to him with the breeze like an errant Vox message caught in a garbled frequency. 

It was soothing and dark, and Astelan believed it was very much feminine in nature. He turned back towards the forest as it sounded again. Far in the distance, a small dot of light was slowly growing into a great pillar that punctured the clouds above. Strands speared off towards the Space Marine, racing like a pack of viscous dogs towards their prey. For a moment he clenched his eyes shut and pursed his lips. 

The strike he was expecting never hit. He looked up at the light, staring at it hypnotically but not caring about its fluctuating miasmas. It did not pain him to hurt, however its intensity rivaled that of a star. He turned away from the light and marched back towards his helm, contemplating whether he should pick it up or leave it to the savages of time. The latter won. However, he was sure to place a homing beacon upon it, for if any Scythes still lived, he would need them. Or at least their supplies…

He begun to move into the city, passing through hastily erected barricades and a half shattered section of wall. Something big had come through this way, probably when the Scythes were pushing into the forest, perhaps a Lictor or a Carnifex, he honestly did not know. However; whatever it was, it may still have lived. He drew his Combat-Blade and held it in one hand, his other was curled neatly into a powerful fist. 

Shadows played at his eyes, and he swore that he saw armoured forms moving around him on several occasions. Vorspire was a ghost town. Ferim would never come to any use; if Astelan could do it, he would burn the world himself. It had cost the dear lives of Scythes, and while Sotha was in command, their Gene-Seed would come to no use. He suddenly snarled, punching outwards with his fist against a dirty skip. The components within shook as his armoured knuckles sunk deep in the metal, distorting it. 

It angered Astelan to think that the Scythes were nothing more than a dying breed, and he longed for the chance of rebuilding the ranks. If he could not have the Chapter, perhaps he would at least be gifted with the command of the Third? It was his right after all, being the sole survivor. He continued into the city, hoping to find someone…..


----------



## darkreever

"Friggin bugs... seriously, we got death machines, giant green chop-happy hulks and traitorous angels of death running around the galaxy, now we're waging war on bugs. This job blows sometimes..." Zac whined as they jogged forward; by the God-Emperor that man lived to waste ammo, cause problems, and complain to all hell. _“So Trigger, are you just truly dense or are you jus’ looking to get executed for speaking as many heresies as possible?”_ Rikard asked the man. Fighting for the Emperor was no job, it was a duty they had sworn to uphold, to see different worlds and fight the enemies of Him-on-Earth whatever they might be. Didn’t matter if they were heretics, rebels, greenskins, tau, or elder; no alien filthy or bastard heretic was fit to live.

Living mines though? Great, what else were these ‘nids gonna throw their way? The very thought of some new horror being tossed at them, it didn’t put the fear in him like when he was a recruit, twenty years of fighting on frontlines, you get an idea of what that’s like. Still didn’t change the fact that something new was going to be coming their way at some point.

Looking around at the rest of the squad, Rikard was wondering how the wounded had been patched up so quick and sent out again; but asking that was for a different time. _“Alright, so what have you lot seen since getting deployed out there before we all met up?”_


----------



## unxpekted22

Guard:

Shadihm tells Vick that they had not been in contact with their sergeant since the morning's battle. He then goes on to explain about the air based attack sent toward the alien ship's location and the subsequent ambush and crashing into the jungle.

Now, the sun has begun to set quickly and it is fully evening now. There is still light but the tall buildings surrounding you cast long shadows. You have been riding, or walking, for quite some time now. Laikus, who now walks in front of the group, suddenly shouts out an order to halt. Around his waist are many various items and pouches. He takes off an auspex and scans the area before moving once again but more slowly, directing the Chimera and all of you marching behind him as he holds the auspex out in front of his form.

You all come to the end of a street which leads to a large opened area. It is a small section of the city layout for something other than buildings but you cannot tell for sure what that plan may be though it looks like the bases of statues have been started on and the right kinds of materials for such a task lay around the opening. Most of the area is dug up rockrete ground with some piping showing. 

Floating at various heights in the open area is a large number of the Tyranid spore mines. Each of them almost looks like a floating alien octopus. Their tannish colored forms and deep red tentacles indicate they are in fact from the same tyranid force as the ones you have been fighting throughout the day.

Everyone inside the Chimera except the driver, gets out of the vehicle to take a look. Jole punches open the roof hatch by the flamer turret and rests his forearms on the roof of the vehicle as he watches. 

Laikus speaks to everyone, "Spore mines are linked to eachother, as most hive-mind breed are. We should only have to kill a few or less and they will all react by exploding at the same time. With this many there are likely multiple clusters. Killing one in a cluster is what sets the rest of the it off."

the Techmarine then puts his Auspex back on his waist, and with the other hand brings his bolter to bear. He points it toward one of the Spore mines and remains perfectly still for a moment before firing a single round into the air. The spore mine he was aiming for gets knocked back slightly and then explodes sending shrapnel from its armored like shell, striking nothing with its death.

You all stand in suspense waiting for many other around it to explode, but the suspense holds in the air and is never relieved. 

"Odd," says Laikus still through his battlehelm. He seems to hesitate for a moment, but then raises his bolter again, aims once mroe, and brings down another which explodes just like the first...and still no chain reaction. Laikus looks around and notices the other spore mines beginning to float faster, and towards their position.

Jole speaks up, loud as usual, "well so much for a fireworks show!"

Laikus seems to ignore the statement saying, "They seem to all be independent of each other..." he then looks around at the guardsmen. He sees Zac and recalls some of the thigns he had said on the way here, and speaks to him pointing, "You. I need you to go out to the center of the plaza and take out as many of these spore mines as you can. A hellgun and a fast trigger finger with your standard rifle should be enough. Now go! hurry, we dont have much time!" He then points to another guardsman, one with bionics and orders him to go with Zac.

Zac: Before you give yourself time to think you have sprinted to the center of the rubble filled plaza and are now standing next to one of the bionic guardsmen who only has a standard las-gun. You can now see even more of the spore mines with a wider arc view of the area, as well as some floating inot the opening from other streets and alley ways. Begin to take them out as you can, but you will notice the more and faster you kill them, the faster the rest move towards you and several of them are pretty close to begin with begin with.

Rikard, Vick, Shadihm, and Khrell: You all watch Zac and the bionic guardsman as the two of them run into the not-yet-built plaza and begin firing at more of the spore mines. You all notice that the more they kill the faster the spore mines move towards them. None of the other guardsman seem about to do anything, though you may notice Jole looking a bit uncomfortable. You also notice the Techmarine flip open a thin panel on the armor over his forearm.

(_what would your character say or do in this situation?_)

Scythes of the Emperor: 

Once Niko takes a look at Solaki's wounds it is determined they cannot wait any longer. 

As the sun begins to set, Arx contacts the ten squad leaders moving towards the guardsman military base of the Western District. six of the squads are to keep moving ahead and set up an optimal defensive position using the base's perimeters. (thats 42 marines, 7 per squad as Arx stated earlier. Your squad however remains at 6). The other four squads were told to stay behind and wait up for your squad.

Niko and Solaki: You may include the medical situation in the opening of your posts.

Once Solaki has been restored well enough to ensure his timely healing and proper movement of his injured limbs and shoulder, the squad, carrying Astelan moves on.

You six and the other 28 marines who stayed to support you while Niko fixed up Solaki, now move into the city. 

Even at a steady pace, the distance seems to be covered slowly. Not only is it bad enough thatBrig and his remaining squad of three dissented from the rest of the group's decision, but they took the rhino as well. Any thought you have dwelling on this fact soon disappear with the movement of large shadows along the buildings and streets. Silhouettes of Gargoyle figures slide over the buildings, black shapes across dim sun light.

They dont seem to be coming from any one particular direction...just flying around in the eerie silence as even your enhanced hearing picks up nothing but the dense echo of 34 space marines moving down an empty street. All guns are aimed high, and the pace slows significantly as you and all your brothers search the skies blocked out by tall rooftops. 

As the foremost squad steps into the center of a four way intersection a screech comes from the right. The first brother to turn his head is met with one of the flying tyranid's claws to the face of his battlehelm as it swoops down at breakneck speed. The marine is knocked backwards onto the ground with cracked eye lenses. Half of your brothers turn and open bolter fire on the diversion. A second one swoops down the same flight path, only slightly closer to one of your brothers, slicing his throat on the way by and just as the first disappears behind the buildings once again. the marine, Brother Herald drops to his knees holding his throat with both hands. 

Niko: For you, the marine falls almost in slow motion. You are at the other end of the street. As you run to him, Glass and concrete with explode around you along with more of your brothers opening fire in all different directions. The damage will be repairable thanks to the healing and immune systems of astartes. Get him back on his feet ASAP. 

Several gargoyles crash out of the dark buildings along the street, bursting out of large window panes, or leaping out of small crevices one wouldn't expect them to be able to fit into. They fire hails of fleshborer rounds and spit corroding acid at the Scythes of the Emperor, As the squads spit back in all directions with flame and bolter fire. The gargoyles all swoop up and over or back into the floors of the buildings above, none dead, but no more major injuries to the scythes either.

Solaki: you realize someone will have to watch Niko's back, and since Belial and Kain have their hands full, its your job to do it as Niko's squad mate. 

Arx: You've got some quick decisions to make. keep moving or stay put? If you move how fast? If you stay put what kind of defensive procedures should the squads take? You're squad has a lascanon and your melta gun. two of the other squads have Flamers and Missile launchers, the final squad has a melta gun and a heavy bolter. Keep in mind the heavy weapons cannot be used if the squad is running. 

Belial and Kain: After the first two gargoyles swoop by the front of the squads, you set down Astelan and raise your weapons. You may want to watch the rear of the group until Arx gives his orders. If Arx orders to keep moving, Astelan must be picked back up. Despite how much Belial may dislike Astelan, he would not be able to get away with not helping to carry him further around so many other brothers. If you are ordered to hold your ground you may leave Astelan down and do as told.

Astelan: The armored forms become shadows on the walls and ground. They sprint by across the surfaces and you hear them yelling. Somehow you know, they are voices from the Third. They battle all around you, and yet nowhere at the same time. The chaotic sounds of battle, the sounds of gun fire and chainswords revving become increasingly louder, louder, and louder until what sounds like a heavy rock falling onto a dumpster causes you to spin around and just like that, all of the shadows, sounds, and ghost like presences are gone. The same looming silence as before settles around you.

You turn back around after seeing nothing that actually caused the particular noise, but you again stop dead in your tracks. In the middle of the street, lays your battlehelm, its eyes again toward you. You take a step back and bump into something larger than yourself, something cold, and breathing. You look up, and the Lictor screams over your head, bringing one of its arms up to strike you.


Tyrant:

the Lictors wait and watch as many of the marines stay put while others move into the city. They wait while one is healed, and begin to go after them...when they change their minds. They think of the smaller humans, and remember them and their vehicle from earlier. Easier prey...more satisfying prey..... they in turn head in the direction of the chimera and its escort ignoring your commands for the death of the new leader of the Scythes. 

Unbeknown to either you or them, the rhino transport they chased not long ago, emerges from the forest after their leaping forms.

the Raveners begin digging their tunnels, crafting through Ferim's soil with ease. 

Your gargoyle's have begun their attacks as described above None have fallen yet. the Scythe's next actions are waiting to be seen. The eyes of your Gargoyles may let you know how this new leader reacts to your brethren in comparison to the fallen one.


----------



## blazinvire

Zac had to say he was a little unimpressed with the spore mines, it was bad enough that they were mines but these ones were actually aerial and sentient it seemed. Well he didn't know what else it could be, they seemed to like floating towards him...

All his years of military discipline kicked in when he heard an authoritative voice aimed at him, which meant his body worked before his brain did as all good soldiers learned to do. It did mean you were totally trusting someone else with your life though, as he discovered himself charging blindly with another guardsmen basically into the middle of this death pit.

"Blimey, this could be fun..." Zac said in mild bewilderment as he looked at all the mines, throwing potshots everywhere as he went, snagging a few mines and making a few pretty explosions.
He supposed it made sense, rumours about his stupid recklessness with ammunition was hard not to get around, risking one or two people to do the shooting of about twenty was a pretty sound plan really. Except for the part where it seemed like Zac was utterly doomed, but he didn't really worry about that, death no longer scared him. Ironically he'd probably be dead by now if it still scared him.

The laser lights began the moment Zac got into position in the plaza, though his expression was getting a little awkward as there were far more of these damn mines than he'd care to count, and they all kept floating to HIM!?
As maddeningly annoying as it was, Zac just gritted his teeth and continued firing for a little while, getting a little nervous as some of them were getting even closer.
Like was said, none of them were clustered up unfortunately, he had to shoot each one like a shooting gallery, except accuracy wasn't entirely his strong point since he rarely needed it.

"I have a strange feeling of inevitable doom coming on..." Zac remarked airily, pulling a rough plan together in his mind, throwing a few glances at his comrade.
He undid the strap holding the heavy bolter drum, letting it hit the ground with a fair crunch, making him feel much, much lighter now, he quickly switched the hellgun to his left hand and grabbed the grip of his lasgun with his right, hesitating for a moment.
"I'm going to look so insanely stupid..." Zac grumbled, throwing another glance as his companion, "Take a break mate, maybe try and rig up that drum to explode."

The guardsman was a bit hesitant, understandably thinking Zac was insane, so he ended up getting Zac's boot in his back and knocked him over, right before said insane soldier started spinning around wildly with two rifles flailing about equally wildly sending lasers absolutely everywhere, turning the whole affair into a fireworks show.


----------



## deathbringer

Activity, I am paralysed yet my children are active. 
Rippers gorge, ravenors scythe through the soil in powerful strokes tails thrashing as they dig. The tunnel grows, sparks of delight dancing in my mind. 

The gargoyles swoop above the marines, joy indeed, veiled eyes, looking rounds blaring, flashes of blood upon a talon, no pain, just savage joy. The delight of those that have just escaped death unscathed. 

Now we linger, waiting for his next move.

The ones the lictors will destroy.
Arrogant cowards, they move away from my target, loping towards a new target, a softer target.

Cowards, they spin indignant

Kill the leader of the scythes.... images, flashes of the guardsman's destruction rocket towards me yet I push them away

Cowards, obey my will...
They have question me too many times, they are closing to for fitting... surrendering there right to life.

They pause, there next move will decide whether they live or die... suspense, will i be forced to kill my deadliest infiltrators, my shadowy warriors. Will they force my claw?


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain marched down the street, accompnianed by the rest of his battle brothers. Kain watched as one of his brothers fell from a gargoyle, before a second fell to his knees. Immediatly he carefully lay his unconcious brother on the ground before turning and watching the rear of the group. Bolter shots were sounding from everywhere, as the squads got into defensive positions and returned fire on the xeno. Kain waited and fired a quick burst from his bolter as a gargoyle flew into his sights, but it evaded his shots and swerved off. 

_"Brother Arx what are your orders? We need a decision soon!_" Kain bellowed down the vox as he fired another burst at the speeding gargoyles. They were very fast and the Sycthes would need a quick decision. Kains blood was up, and he wanted to see more of the filthy xeno die today, but not if it came at the price of his brothers.

Kain looked over his shoulder for a second to check to see if any of the vile scum had tried to touch his brother, but none had. In any case Kain wasn't going to risk another dead brother, too many had fallen in one day. He took a step back so he was towering over his brother, just in case Kain should have to cover Astelan with his own body.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial was still smarting a bit at having to carry brother Astelan, though these were the orders of lord Arx so he would not disobey a direct order. All of a sudden gargoyles swooped out of the sky and picked off one of the squad and badly injured another. Kain was gently lowering the other end of the stretcher to the ground, Belial just dropped his side to the ground with a thud. He smiled inwardly to himself even though he knew it was a little childish. 

Though he didnt like Astelan he was still a Sythe and Belial would still do his duty to the best of his ability. So he took up a defensive position on his side of the stretcher picking off shots at the gargoyles while he waited on new orders from lord Arx.


----------



## unxpekted22

Imperial Guard:

As Zac sprays lasgun fire throughout the plaza, the first few waves of mines go down sending bits of shrapnel into the faces of Zac and the guardsman next to him.

Zac: You hear Laikus through the shrapnel fire his bolter into the air, you look to him and see him point his finger toward you and then change it to his thumb pointing backwards indicatin for you to return quickly. As you do so, the bionic guardsmen starts to go with you, but Laikus lowers his bolter aiming right for him, halting his movement. Becuase of your rapid firing the mines no longer float but fly to where you were standing, some exploding behind you as the bionic guardsman screams. Many bits of hide fragment stick into your back while you run. As you jump the rubble to get to the Chimera you hear and feel a much larger explosion. (keep reading below)

Rikard, Khrell, Shadihm, and Vick: You all watch as the mines fly towards Zac's direction and Laikus telling him to come back, while pointing his bolter at the other guardsmen as he attempts to return with Zac.

The majority of the spore mines get within deadly range of the guardsman still in the plaza as he fires his lasgun as fast as he can, you see Laikus put his bolter back at his hip, press something on his wrist panel, and then the guardsman explode into a huge fiery blast causing the many spore mines near him to explode simultaneously.

You the hear Jole yell from the top of the chimera that more of the spore mines have appeared on the street behind the chimera, and there are still some left in the plaza. You all realize there are many more than predicted, which seems to have been the case all day. 

Laikus, acts quickly yelling to everyone, "We cannot use the vehicle or it will be destroyed, we must make our way through this passage if we wish to escape here alive." He points to an alleyway to the left of your position, and makes his way toward it without waiting.

Jole yells after him, "What the hell was that? You cant just run off after one of my men blows the f**k up! I'm following you so when we get out of this you can tell me what the hell you're doin!" To which Jole leaps from the Chimera flame turret onto the ground with a heavy thud, and runs after Laikus and yelling to no one in particular, "Someone get that vehicle out of here!"


All of you: you can decide to either follow Laikus and Jole down the alley way, or get in the chimera and find a way around to meet them. If the chimera isn't saved, you will have to walk or run anywhere else you may need to get to later. What you do does not have to be the same as everyone else, choose what best suits yourself. If you decide to get in the chimera tell me if you hop into the driver's seat, the flame turret, or just in the transport area.


----------



## dark angel

(OOC: Sorry I am late. I did a post yesterday but Heresy lost it....)

The first scream was nothing major, simply something caught in the wind from far away. While it did attract the attention of Astelan; the Space Marine simply passed it off for the howling of wind through empty buildings. But then there was another. And another. And another. Until ninety nine angry voices began to scream around him, followed by the chatter of Bolters and the howls of Chainswords. There was a battle going on around him, yet he could not see it? There was no flash of grenades, but he could hear their familiar whumps as if they were a matter of feet away. 

Astelan gripped his head in metal encased fingers tightly. Screaming, he put tremendous pressure upon it. The coppery tang of blood rose up in his mouth and nostrils and for a moment he was sure that he had burst a blood vessel in his grip. But then, almost instantly the signs of blood were gone. His mind was thumping worse than a drum and he bit hard on his lip with perfectly arranged teeth. He drew blood that time. 

His flesh ruptured and drew a warm splatter which burst like a boil, sending blood across his lower face in minuscule droplets. He spat a goblet of spittle and blood, a pink mixture, onto the tarmac devoid ground and wiped his palm across his face. The blood simply smudged across however and turned his face pink hewn. He stared at the sealed up habitation blocks around him; looking for any signs of filtering Astartes. 

There was none. Not even a expelled Bolt or the broken teeth of a Chainsword. He readied his Bolter, cocking it with a loud click. He felt a Bolt being pushed into the breach and listened to the voices. He was shocked when he picked up the voice of Aster calling for him to fight, but Astelan refused. Why would he fight the ethereal spirits of long dead brethren? It made no sense to him, but he was grateful when a loud clang sounded. 

He turned, Bolter pulled tight into his right shoulder pauldron. A black and yellow dumpster lay nearby pushed against the wall of a hab block. Upon it rested a perfectly rounded rock. Larger than Astelan’s fists, whatever had thrown or dropped it must have put immense force into it. It was now he noticed that the voices and weapons fire had been completely banished and smiled. He turned back around. And bumped into something terrible. 

Warm breath flew around his head in curling tendrils of grey-white and fell back against his face. The smell of devoured flesh hit him harder than a sledgehammer. He looked up, and almost screamed. The tendril clad face of a Lictor, furrowed into a snarl of rage stared at him with four yellow eyes. A scythe like limb was lifted suddenly and Astelan cursed. He spun around, bringing his Bolter above his head in a blocking motion. The limb of the Lictor chopped it in two with surprising ease.

It was then he saw his helm staring at him blankly with empty eyes. He cursed as the round in the breach of his weapon exploded and wrapped his hands in a orange-yellow ball of flame, slithered by silver strands of metal. The Lictor was momentarily blinded, and Astelan drew his Chainsword in the three or so seconds of madness. He didn’t have the time to get the rotor whirring however and simply struck the Lictor along its flank. 

It squealed in pain as its armoured hide shook for a moment, and flexed one talon covered hand. Astelan was thrown away like a rag doll, spinning along the length of the rode and carving a rivet in the brown soil. The Lictor was already thundering after him, even as the Astartes was clambering upwards. It struck him with one barbed shoulder, in the chest. He dropped his Chainsword in confusion and clawed for a grip on the hide of the Xeno. 

He found one upon the back in a form of a sucking orifice, and the sticky fluids within wrapped around his metal fingers horribly. He had wished that he had been looking over his shoulder. A industrial vehicle, long and wide and dabbed in yellow was growing ever more prominent in the vision of the Lictor. Astelan struck it hard. Hard enough so that it creaked loudly and threatened to topple. 

The Lictor took one hand before Astelan could recover and gripped Astelan by the throat. Claws dug into his flesh, and he felt burning for a moment. Astelan squirmed as tendrils of black begin to slide across his vision and he felt his lungs begin to deflate of air. With one hand he reached down for his Combat-Blade. A roar brought it upwards into the wrist of the creature, and for a split second the tight grip ended. Astelan fell to his knees, the blade still protruding from the wrist of the creature. He yanked it from side to side until the hand came free in a gush of ichor. Overcome by a moment of pride he never saw the second arm. 

Thrown dismissively he tumbled into the metal and wooden door of a habitation block. It shattered inwards, letting light flood in from the front of the building. Astelan caught his pauldron and struck his head on the dust caked floor, drawing a thin line of blood along his forehead and cheek. He wheezed and looked around, staring at the well muscled Lictor. Astelan pulled himself up, scrambling to find his blade. The Xeno started to run. 

Within seconds it would be upon him. He spun and looked desperately for a way out. There was a single large window directly opposite the door, however it was sealed by a wooden shutter that shook gently. With a quick breath he charged. Within a matter of seconds he was leaping through the air headfirst, sending the wood sprinkling outwards into a narrow alleyway as he did so. He landed hard, spinning around as the sounds of the Lictor’s feet upon stone echoed loudly. 

The closest thing to him was a long pole with a barbed end. He wasn’t sure if it would even harm the Tyranid but that didn’t stop him taking it at his him and angling it towards the window. The Lictor leapt through, its green hide flashing. There was a scream of agony and Astelan’s head lolled off towards the side, mouth open.


----------



## Concrete Hero

'_The Emperor Protects._'

Arx ended the transmission with a click, turning to look upon the Scythes as they moved through the abandoned street. It felt as if they were moving abominably slowly, barely gaining any ground as they skirted between the grey buildings. Arx's thoughts were drawn to the Rhino they had lost to Brig and the others, who knows what a handful of Astartes could do with a single Rhino, with such short supplies available the transport would be missed. Despite the annoyance of losing it, Arx hoped that Brig would succeed in whatever task they had set out to do.

As he caught up with the rest of the group he saw a grey shape blur across the walls of a high building, another form darted across, and another. In seconds a swam of silent silhouettes swam over the buildings, but the targets themselves were no where to be found. He strained to hear, but he didn't even get the quietest beat of a wing.

All of the Scythes raised their weapons and aimed at the sky, just as Arx was about to issue an order the first beast attacked, diving at incredible speed and knocking a Brother to the ground. Some of the closest Scythes opened fire, though another creature used the opportunity to attack another one of their Brothers. Arx felt his fist clench as he saw an arterial spray of blood fly from the Scythes neck as he fell to his knees, clutching the wound.

-_No, no more Scythes will fall today._-

Arx watched the Gargoyle pull up and fly back out of sight. It was huge, much bigger than was the norm for the airborne creatures. The same as the Gargoyles that had attacked the airships then fled... Before the beast had slipped from his vision, he could have sworn he saw a patch of knotted tissue around the Tyranids midsection. He felt his Heart Race as his mind made the conclusion.

'_Brothers, pull back from the intersection and form up in a defensive circle! Keep your eyes open for the divers, they'll attack if they see you open. I need the flamers to concentrate on the Gargoyles that try to swoop on our position, same with the melta gun, annihilate any that would dare approach us!_'

He paused as the Scythes began to gather up.

'_Heavy Weapons; aim for any grouped targets you see, make them pay for the smallest mistake._

Taking cover inside the buildings may have been easier, especially considering their opponents had wings, though there was something different about these Gargoyles, they had to die.

'_Brothers, I believe these foul creatures are the same we encountered while flying over the forest, the same Gargoyles that fled. The creatures are bloated with age and strength and their master looked to preserve them. We can kill these miserable creatures here and now. Brothers armed with Bolters; half of every squad should be as aggressive as possible, while the other half covers with the special weapons._'

He raised his own Meltagun into the air and fired off a volcanic blast into the air, flashing the scythes armour a gleaming black.


----------



## blazinvire

There was certainly a connection between activity and the rate and direction the floating mines took, as it had clearly not been as hazard before as it was now.
Unfortunately this realisation didn't tweak in Zac right up until he was damn near falling over from mine fragments flying into his face, creating gouges all over his helmet and making his respirator seem shoddy.

Sure enough he was given the signal to run back; even though Zac wasn't expecting to be recalled he jumped at the chance, as asides from shooting, Zac was well-versed in Commissar-less Guardsmen Survival Tactics, or a shorter explanation: running like hell.
He couldn't really see at the time, but the moment he had dived clear of all the explosions, he discovered he was alone; his bionic comrade didn't seem to exist any more.
His ears still rang from the explosions but he could still hear parts of what people were staying, blearily getting himself back into shape as he stood up and shuffled his equipment about.

Those few stunts had jostled a few ammo packs a little loose, and he had a lot of shrapnel embedded in his armour and his own hide that he was getting to, he took one glance at the chimera and another at the space marine before coming to a conclusion:
Chimera = Bigger than Space Marine + Faster than running.

He didn't really feel in the mood for cracking any jokes or smart ass comments at the moment, just grumbling a little as he jogged over to the vehicle and sat inside, idly digging the chips out of himself and tightening his ammo back on.

Unfortunately he'd left the drum of heavy bolter ammo back at the plaza, he could only imagine the quantity of explosions that had gone on back there probably detonated all the charges and the blew the place to high hell. With any luck it would have taken out a few of those mines, else it was a gross waste of resources, and since guardsmen often counted as 'resources', he didn't really want _any_ wastage of resources.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm grimaced at the sight of the bionic soldier being blown to hell and turned his head as the marine and Jole made thier way down the alleyway and left the Chimera to sit. Were they idiots? This thing was the only real support they had in this shithole at the moment and they were just leaving it here? He saw Zac almost dive inside and Shadihm made his split second choice and like always hoped that it would work its way out, with him alive on the other end. 

Shadihm powered his way into the Chimera as fast as he could and yelled at Zac, *"If you aren't going to get on that flamer turret you better be ready to shoot out of those firing ports!"* He jumped into the driver's seat and turned the transport on before hastily trying to remember how to drive one, when he was sure he couldn't remember anything else he stuck his head out the window and yelled at Rikard, Vick and the other soldiers just standing there, *"If you are getting in this thing you better get in now otherwise we leave without you!"* The Chimera's engine sputtered into life and Shadihm silently watched the spore mines slowly making thier way closer to them.


----------



## Necrosis

_"In the Emperor Name. What the Feth was going on?"_ thought Vick as he tried to make sense of everything going on. The Techmarine had ran away while Jole had chased after him, effectively they had both abandon the squad. It seems apparent he had two choices. He could either chase after Jole and try to talk some sense to him. Or he could stay with the squad and not leave them behind. 

"Everyone in the Chimera, now!" yelled Vick as he made his way to the Chimera and took the flame turret. "Follow the tech priest marine and Jole. Those cowards have some explaining to do." said Vick as he got ready to aim the flame turret. Was everyone here a coward? Did no one understand the meaning of honor? First his squad and now Jole and the marine. Only if their had been a commissar. Then perhaps they wouldn't be in this situation. When they got back to command he would make a request for a commissar to join the squad.


----------



## Euphrati

Relieved of his burden, Niko moved quickly over to Solaki’s side and reached a questing hand up to probe at the puncture wound in his brother’s shoulder. He blink-clicked Solaki’s rune forward into view, letting his subconscious register the scrolling numbers and bio-stats even as he examined the wounds across his brother’s broad chest. Niko gave a sigh and halted Solaki with a firm hand upon his brother’s shoulder,

‘This wound is too deep for me to treat properly while in motion; you have damage to both the Trapezius and Pectoralis, as well as possible tearing to the Deltoid,’

Niko spoke while reaching for the release clasps under Solaki’s auto-reactive shoulder guard, deftly removing the curved plate before setting it reverently at his feet. Niko straightened and considered the stain of coagulated blood that coated the right side of Solaki’s chestplate with clinical interest before tugging his las-scalpel from its simple pouch at his hip,

‘The wound is healing, though you will need some reconstructive work when we return to the Heart to correct the buildup of scar tissue in the area. I would recommend that you refrain from taking weight upon this arm for a rest cycle, though that isn’t possible under current conditions. As circumstances allow, it would be advisable to keep your movements to only those necessary for your duty to the Throne,’

With a few quick flicks of his wrist Niko pared away the ragged flesh that rimmed the wound; leaving the puncture’s edge bloody, but cleansed of the torn muscle that threatened to impede the healing. With that done, Niko quickly applied a dose of anti-toxin to the remaining port in Solaki’s chest before smearing a quick-hardening cement within the gaping hole. He quickly repeated the process with the gashes across Solaki’s torso before looking at the fractured armour of his vambrace, shaking his head as he smeared the remaining paste into the myriad of fissures, 

‘…might I also suggest that you refrain from attempting to battle your way through the entire swarm of these xenos singlehandedly, brother.’

The mere act of aiding his battle brother beget a calming focus back to Niko’s turmoil of thoughts and as he helped fasten Solaki’s shoulder guard back in place before pressing one last vial against the battered chest,

‘This will increase your system’s response to wounds for a short time, just be aware that it will also dull your pain response as well. I leave it to your own judgment to know when a wound is serious, brother. However, for now this must do.’

With the immediate situation under control, Niko stowed his medical gear and retrieved his pistol from its lock on his thigh. He checked the magazine before nodding that they should continue onwards.

It wasn’t long before the city seemed to sprout around them, replacing the trees in a forest of steel and glass. The waning sun barely reached down into the path that they traveled, casting the Scythes in a strange twilight broken by pools of golden reflected light. Niko’s eyes searched every shadow, watching the flitting forms skimming between light and dark. An intersection loomed ahead, breaking the cavernous feel of the towering buildings like a clearing in a stand of trees. The Scythes moved cautiously into the open, muzzles of bolters sweeping arcs around the group in overlapping patterns prescribed by the Codex.

_Until one faltered._

The leathery winged xenos seemed to slide out of the very shadows, their flight knifing through the lines as fire erupted from the breaches of bolters in their wakes. Niko was moving before his mind even registered the threat, bright crimson spray coating the chest of Brother Herald as the marine collapsed to his knees with his gauntleted hand pressed against his throat.

The ground seemed to disappear between Niko and the injured brother, his pistol making a hollow-metallic sound as the mag-lock secured it once again to his thigh plating. Herald’s rune was already flashing before Niko’s eyes, his heart rates elevated as his body fought the damage, clotting his blood in contact to the air and sealing over the wound. Niko caught the strickened brother’s wirst, dragging his grip away and plunging his own fingers into the severed neckguard.

Niko found the vein, pinching it delicately as the blood grew thick like cold honey. His other hand already bore his scalpel, the short las-blade humming with an almost inaudible whine. Scarlet stained his hands as he drew the tip across the gash, letting up pressure only after the heartbeat under his auto-reactive gloved fingertips grew steady once again and trusting his brothers to watch over him while he worked.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki and Niko tried to move and work, but the wound was to complex and they were forced to stop. They both knew that time was of the essence, but also, Niko more than Solaki, knew the care that was required when treating a wound like this. Apparently Solaki had torn three different muscles in his upper arm. *Great, because it's not like I need those to be of use* Solaki thought spitefully to himself, knowing it wasn't Niko's fault, but somehow blaming him because he had sentenced him into being sidelined as any form of useful asset to the squad. _‘The wound is healing, though you will need some reconstructive work when we return to the Heart to correct the buildup of scar tissue in the area. I would recommend that you refrain from taking weight upon this arm for a rest cycle, though that isn’t possible under current conditions. As circumstances allow, it would be advisable to keep your movements to only those necessary for your duty to the Throne,’_ Well at least that meant he could be of some use, should the need arise. A myriad of images flashed through Solaki's mind, some old from the battle for Sotha, and some that had yet to happen, but all were similar in that the had a pure lance of holy energy spilling out from the barrel of Solaki's lascannon.

_‘…might I also suggest that you refrain from attempting to battle your way through the entire swarm of these xenos singlehandedly, brother.’_ Again, a slight pang of resentment rose in Solaki. He was almost angry at the fact that Niko wasn't there to see the reason why he had acted to irrationally, although he couldn't have been there even if he had wanted to. "In all fairness, I wasn't expecting to survive that fight, merely hold back the tide long enough for the others to get to safety and the Valkyries to arrive. It's a miracle I'm still here if I'm honest..." Solaki trailed off. Why had he survived? He, a lone wounded Astartes had stood before a foe that should have surely devoured him whole, and was still standing. Actually, the more he reminisced about it, and other scenario's like that, he still couldn't fathom why he was still here. By all accounts he should have been dead. Niko finished applying the last of the reconstructive, antiseptic, and healing procedures, and told him he would need to be wise with what shots he did and didn't take and sensing how much pain he was in, and a series of stimulants would numb his pain receptors. "Don't worry brother, contrary to popular belief, I'm not that fool-hearty. I merely value the preservation of others over myself"

The organic jungle was swiftly replaced by a concrete one. Te buildings becoming it's trees, and the window panes and shattered glass becoming it's leaves. Solaki had shouldered his lascannon, assuming that they would not be greeted by any horror that required that much firepower. Instead he had his bolt pistol in his right hand and combat blade in his left. If it came to using the combat blade, he would need the arm that could offer the most power and motility. Everything was quite. There were no screams of innocents being devoured by innumerable hoards, and not xeno cries of pain or rage as defenders fought back. It was as if not battle existed on this planet. Suddenly, a screech, and cry of pain and a stream of crimson. The battle had come to them all at once, and they were fighting to survive. Niko dashed forward to repair the fallen brother, and Solaki advanced slowly firing as he went, covering his Brothers of immediate attack. Of all of them, Niko and Arx were the ones that needed to be preserved. Arx, because he was the tactical head of the Chapter, and Niko because he was part of the survival of the Chapter. And he would die preserving one or both of them if it came to it...


----------



## unxpekted22

Scythes of the Emperor:

Astelan:

As you think the fight is finished, you slowly regain your breath laying on the ground. As you sit up, you are met again with the red eyes of your helmet, which sits atop a concrete block. Its eyes burst into bright red lights as the world begins to shake violently around you. You hear roaring screams to your left and see three taller blocks transforming into familiar figures. As the world shakes buildings begin to collapse slowly and you can hardly remain on your feet but your eyes do not falter.

Only the top halves of the stones change, and the first to become clear is the upper half of Chaplain Thando as his gray rock form swings his Crozius Arcanum wildly about at the reappearing shadows. A large tyranid like form of a shadow covers him, and with an echoed screech the concrete block explodes backwards from the apparent impact. The second block forms into the upper half of Librarian Brigg, whose form does not move. He holds a sword with both hands as if pressing it into the ground, and his eyes stare back at you, a glowing red amongst the stone form. The block shakes vigorously as another bright red light carves away at his chest just above the heart from the inside out forming a word, your name, Astelan. Blood starting draining over the ridges of the stone figure as the third block came into recognition; it was Julius Var. A red name formed over his heart as well: Skia. The down pointed sword of Brigg’s in one solid movement slashed up and to the right remaining in the air afterward as the head of Julius Var’s statue sunk into the dirt. 

The lictor drops down from above, crushing the rest of Var’s statue beneath its feet and then leaps directly in front of you. It speaks in low, fierce multi-tones, “You and I, we are not the pawns our masters would like to think we are. The blame for the death of your kin does not belong on us. Your Empire is a ripe fruit ready to be wrought…but fruit can be ruined from its core just as it can be ruined from the tearing of its skin. Hunger is innocence.” Before it can say anything further you hear a familiar scream and watch bullets impact upon its chest, exploding their way through its tough skin. Skia pushes past you still firing his bolter yelling back at you, “You let our master die! You let Var die Astelan! Look what you’ve done!!” After emptying his bolter’s clip into the staggering Lictor, he unsheathes his blade with a sharp ring and stabs it through the Lictor’s throat finishing it. 

Arx:

Whether it is fortune or misfortune to you I do not know, but the squads around you take the commanded stance, now fully ready and prepared for another attack…an attack which does not come. The two downed brothers have returned to their feet. The Gargoyles avoid making the smallest of mistakes by making no chance for mistake at all, disappearing into and beyond the tall buildings surrounding you.

In the silence you can hear pop like explosions going off somewhere else in the city.
You know that it could well be where Laikus is and so you try to contact him but get no response. So it is up to you: investigate the sounds of battle coming from several blocks away, get your four squads including Astelan and the two recently injured brothers to the military base as fast as possible, or try to do both?

Solaki, Niko, Kain, and Belial:

Niko, Herald’s wound begins to heal on its own now and with a scratchy voice and a hand grasping your arm he thanks you as the other gets back up yanking off his damaged helm so he can see again, putting the damaged piece of power armor on its mag-clamp. 

From here, the four of you can aide Arx in his decision, as you also hear the distant battle, and/or you can agree or disagree with the decision he makes. If you disagree with his decision remember he technically has no official rank over you still. Will he be convincing enough for you? If you feel strongly in disagreement will you follow his order anyway? 

Imperial Guard:

Rikard and Khrell inevitably follow the other three of you into the chimera, along with some of the others belonging to the bionic guardsmen unit.

Shadihm drives the chimera but cannot follow Laikus and Jole as they ran down a narrow pathway that the tank won’t fit through. He must then turn around and drive down the street. Using the flame turret, Vick is able to cause the barricading spore mines to blow up sooner than they normally would because of the heat reaching them before the chimera. However, because of all of your inexperience with these things, Vick does not recognize that one of the mines on the street is different from the rest. It does not explode but drops straight down through the flame onto the front of the chimera sticking to its hull. 

Shadihm, the roof and front armor of the vehicle around you begin steaming first, and then melting away as Thick neon green-yellow liquid falls through. You rush out of the driver’s seat before it falls on you but the chimera has been ruined. Realizing the vehicle has been immobilized, several of the guardsmen go to jump out the back of the transport.

Shadihm, Zac, Rikard, and Khrell:

With the vehicle stopped and Vick burning the spore mine off the front of the vehicle, an unnoticed mine to the side of the chimera bursts open sending a thick cloud of dark green gas over the tank, and right through the lungs of the five guardsmen who had just stepped foot out of the vehicle dropping them dead almost instantly. You four are the only ones left inside the vehicle. Vick has disappeared from the turret’s porthole. 

A wave of flame crosses through the cloud of poisonous gas behind the vehicle as you look out the rear. The heat causes the gas to rise up and move away as Laikus appears at the end of the chimera yelling, “I told you fools to follow me! I thought the guard was supposed to discipline its recruits!” And with that a huge blur knocks him out of sight.

You exit the vehicle and see him brawling with one of the cloaking Tyranids you saw in the forest. You also see at the other end of the street Vick and Jole fending off another Lictor. You have you las-guns and hellguns. Who do you help? (no killing the lictors)

Vick:

As the poisonous-gas mine explodes you go to cover your mouth with your arm. Just as you do so a strong claw wraps around your entire torso and pulls from the porthole, throwing you across the street into a building wall. Most of the impact is on your bionic arm and so it does not break but the wind is knocked out of you and the flesh side of your face is numb. You see a Lictor, one of the large tyranids you fended off earlier. They have returned. It is atop the chimera and turns to where it threw you. It leaps at you but in mid-air a frag grenade bounces of its chest and explodes sending it slightly sideways missing you by less than two feet as it also crashes into the building. It, however, goes through the wall unlike you and brings down a good amount of rubble. 

An arm covered by a sleek black coat reaches through the rubble and pulls you out, “Come on Number Two! You can’t be foolin’ around with the enemy so much!” setting you aside, Jole smacks his coat so that it flails out wide revealing the handle to his prized close combat weapon. He unsheathes a fantastically clean, shining long-sword, which then sparks to life. With a confident yell he jumps into the dust and rubble and begins brawling with the Lictor.

Your hellgun is left in the chimera. You can go to retrieve it or try to help Jole however you can without it. Turning toward the chimera remembering where your hellgun is, you see the second Lictor behind it brawling with the Techmarine. If you think Jole can hold his own, you can help Laikus instead. Perhaps you help neither and stand there watching to see what happens, thinking they are honorless cowards and such. It’s all up to you what action to take.

Tyrant:

The Lictors hear your threat and don’t miss a step towards their preferred target. “The others can handle them,” they say back as they continue to jump from the building edges while images of your Gargoyles and Raveners flash among their words. “Pick the enemy apart piece by little piece.” they say further.

The Raveners continue to dig, and the Warrior and his brood of gaunts wait for the opportunity to be completed. 

Shall the Gargoyles continue to attack the group of marines as a whole, or really start trying to separate the new leader from the majority of the group? It will likely be more dangerous doing so, but if you feel the prize is worth it then it will be done.

You sense an anomaly in the network of psychic links between you and all your kin. Something seems to be communicating with another mind as signals are going one way but not reaching you or returning to the source. Even among the lines of psychic links they are able to use such stealth…


----------



## Concrete Hero

As soon as they had prepared their position, the skies were filled with nothing but shadows once more. At least this confirmed it then, these Gargoyles meant something, they were being preserved.

He stared at the sky in silence for sometime, the sound of flapping wings gave way to an odd popping sound, detonations.

'_Do not lower your guard Scythes, the enemy could come from any angle._'

Arx activated his vox link, attempting to establish a line with Brother Lakius. The Astartes didn't like the sound of the successive explosions, and their one and only techmarine was somewhere in the city.

'_Lakius, do you read me, what is your position? Lakius?_' Nothing but static.

His superhuman hearing began to pick up the quite flashes of lasfire sound accompanying the explosions, there was indeed a battle going on nearby.

As he turned he saw Belial, Solaki, Niko and Kain, his squad-mates waiting on him.

'_Brothers, I believe there is a battle taking place nearby and Brother Lakius is still in the city, I attempted to contact him but to no avail. And I never feel easy when I cannot reach a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus by vox. We are not too far from the base, so it would not be a long detour. He is a Scythe, one of us, yet even more precious for his skills._'

Though he does not say it, you can tell from his tone he looking or waiting for your opinions.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain stood protectively over his unconcious brother, until the sky cleared of the xeno menance. He allowed himself a brief pause before he heard lashots in the background. Arx started to adress his brother, and when he finished Kain thought he should voice his oppinion. _"Bother Arx, I agree with you and think that some of us should go and check this out immediatly. Laikus is precious to the rest of the chapter, and we will need him later. I'm sure of it. However we also have to think about the rest of our brothers. I think that a small team should go and investigate, allowing the larger team time to set up adequate defences."_ Kain paused taking a quick look around the circle waiting to see if anyone challenged him. 

When they did not he pressed on. _"Also Brother, if you are to be in charge it would be best if you made all haste to the base. I will happily go to look for Laikus. Astelan should also be taken straight to the base, but it is your decision brother. I will follow you no matter which route you decide to take."_ Finished Kain turned back to watching the skies, in case the gargoyles returned for another attack, although Kain doubted it very much.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki stood watchful over the vengeful sky, in case it's shadow of leather wings returned. There were several pop like explosions in the distance, but Solaki kept his eyes fixed on the sky, waiting for a second attack that hadn't yet come. But he was sure it would, just when. *'Do not lower your guard Scythes, the enemy could come from any angle.'* Arx spoke to them all, but the break of the eerie silence made Solaki twitch his trigger finger around his bolt pistols trigger. He hadn't realized it until just now, but he was nervous. He was waiting for Arx to give some orders, but he still kept his eyes on the skies. *'Brothers, I believe there is a battle taking place nearby and Brother Lakius is still in the city, I attempted to contact him but to no avail. And I never feel easy when I cannot reach a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus by vox. We are not too far from the base, so it would not be a long detour. He is a Scythe, one of us, yet even more precious for his skills.'* Solaki agreed with Lord Arx, but he and a few others were injured, and Astelan needed to be seen to. "My Lord, I am concerned for others such as myself who require medical attention. I fear if we all descend on that place, it could be a cunning ploy by the Hive Mind and we might risk more that just Laikus' life. However, I know we can't leave Laikus, he is to valuable to leave i the hands of guardsmen. If I may, I suggest that me and another one of us..." He motioned around the circle of the five of them formed "... take a small group, one healthy marine to every injured and three to Astelan, to base ASAP. Then we will message you when we are there, and you can bring Laikus, and the guardsmen to safety" Solaki was dubious about how much 'safety' there could be against the Tyranid hoard, but for the moment, base was the best form of 'safety' there was. Solaki was no expert, and knew the others may well have better idea than his, but at least he had offered his opinion. Even if Arx said "No", he would still follow what his Lord said, he just hoped him and the other injured didn't pay for it with their lives...


----------



## FORTHELION

"I will volunteer to go with Brother Kain if it pleases you sir. A small task force can move more quickly without the injured and should roundevous with Laikus without too much trouble and get back to base. But at the end of the day sir the decision is yours and i shall follow your lead where ever it may take us". 

Belial had every faith in Arx he was the wisest and most suited for the role laid out before them. He trusted him with his life. What ever the future held for them, Belial would do all in his power to be there till the very end to carry out the emperors will.


----------



## Necrosis

_Damn these monsters, everything about them was meant to kill you._ Were the thoughts that pass through Vick mind as he covered his mouth. Yet he was suddenly thrown across the street into a wall. Luckily his bionic arm had taken the impact. “Emperor have mercy.” said Vick as he saw the Lictor coming at him. And the Emperor did show mercy as a grenade hit the Lictor in mid-air, resulting in an explosion sending the Lictor crashing into a building with a large amount of rubble falling upon it. “Emperor Protects.” said Vick as he got up and saw Jole who pulled out his close combat weapon.

Jole then jumped into the rubble and began to engage the Lictor in close combat. “Everyone focus fire on the Lictor, aim for the head and claws so you don’t hit our own teammates, now bring those monsters down.” Yelled Vick as he took out his las pistol and jumped after Jole. He doubted his human arm could actual hurt the Lictor but his bionic arm probably could. Thus he kept the pistol in his human arm. “Strike at us and we shall return it.” yelled Vick as he attempted to punch the lector while firing his las pistol at it, aiming for it’s head.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan felt only madness. The whole spectacle which unfolded before him made his fingers clench tightly, his eyes darken. Thando…Briggs….A Xeno…._Skia_…._Var_…..All before him. Heralds of death each one. Lost to the eternity, scattered ashes upon the wind. The form of Skia was shouting at him however and Astelan felt raw rage rumble within. He pulled himself up, staring at the remains of the rock around his feet, crunching beneath his bulk like alabaster dolls. He stared into the eyes of Skia, his Brother. 

His kin. But all that he was met by was anger. He was blaming what had conceded here all upon him and now Astelan felt something he had never felt for his Brother. Hate. His teeth gritted and he closed his eyes for a short time, had he truly descended into the ethereal of death? No…..

‘You cannot blame me you insufferable cur! How dare you! You are the one which fell with him, you coward!’ Astelan retorted loudly, wondering how the spectre would react…


----------



## Euphrati

The bubbling gush of crimson had finally stopped, the remnants coagulating upon the back of Niko’s gauntlet in a glinting stain as he checked the wound over one last time before releasing his hold upon Herald’s throat. The older marine reached out to grip Niko's forearm as he moved to stow his tools. Herald’s voice was a harsh growl from the damage yet he forced the words out despite the pain it must have caused.

The recognition was unexpected. _Perhaps not all of his brothers held the many hours of his labours in as little disregard as Christeph seemed to._

For a heartbeat Niko paused; one hand still on the latch of his medical pouch as Herald removed his helm and clipped it to his waist, the wargear damaged and useless from the attack. Niko gave a soft smile behind his expressionless battlehelm and reached a blood-stained hand out to briefly grip Herald’s wrist,

‘The sentiment is unnecessary brother… but it is appreciated.’

Niko retrieved his pistol and turned back to the defensive formation, taking his place nearby Astelan’s slumped form. Long moments passed as the xenos faded into the shadows, disappearing into the growing dusk like vile phantoms. The faint explosions snaked through the blue-tinged darkness, echoing strangely off the towers of steel and glass. Niko’s advanced mind filtered the sounds with aid from his battlegear, eliminating the false returns and isolating the individual sounds. Brother Arx spoke, his gaze casting about to the battle brothers present as he sought input. Niko stood by as the others offered their suggestions, cleaning the blood from his gauntlets with a coarse cloth plucked from one of the many pouches around his waist. He waited for the last to finish before stepping forward, tucking the now crimson scrap back into place,

‘I see no reason why we should stand here wasting time and debate this. Our forces are already depleted; further dividing our numbers will only serve to provoke another attack and scatter our resources. I must monitor brother Astelan’s condition closely, so where I go so must he and I *will not *leave another Scythe behind to these beasts,’

Niko took a moment to meet the gaze of each of his brothers in turn, challenging them to speak against him,

‘We go as one, establish contact with Lakius and provide him aid if necessary. From there we move in force to the base as per Codex tactics when dealing with a highly mobile and unpredictable threat. I do not see where this course of action is even a subject of consideration.’


----------



## deathbringer

Solemn silence, the lictors have signed there death warrant, I will feed on them, they will be my first meal when I arise again. Oh the taste of the there sweet flesh, to kill something independent and devour it. Yes there flesh will be as sweet as astartes flesh. Let them kill though, show them no indication of your ire, till you rip there puny heads from there bodies.


The gargoyles watch the marines below, the argue and bicker, conversation going, the postion of there heads showing converse as they turn slightly.

Laughter rises within me and I laugh a high chilling laugh

Dance puppets dance for me.

Let us pull them in all directions oh yes. The lictors attack a small group, an astartes amongst them , his form glittering with metal and blackened cable, perhaps he is important indeed. Where to attack, where to attack?

A mass of life forms lies away in the distance. Would be dangerous, but yes yes a good place to attack indeed. Pull them in to direction, shiny one, and the base itself, yes and guardsman are soft, soft as butter, these black armoured boys seemed to be the only ones left. Perhaps this will pull the group apart a little more.

I have 5 gargoyles... perhaps i should have sent more in the end... mistakes, mistakes so many mistakes.

The black armoured leader will not go down easily, no indeed he will be tough to kill, especially with other black armours amongst him. Perhaps not so strong if the assault comes from under the ground itself.

Can a ravenor be spared, it would slow the tunnel a little but i have time, there is no urgency for i cannot truly attack until I am awake. Yes I have plenty of time to build my tunnel.

Let us send 2 of my gargoyles to cause carnage amongst the camp, among the mass of life forms. I fear they will not return, but no matter, there are plenty left. Let the other 3 follow the leader in black armour. Let them pick his group apart piece by piece. Let a ravenor move to intercept the leader too, let him come from the ground when the group is weakest and when the gargoyles attack.

That should ensure his demise

I hear responses, yet the words fade and I repeat my orders the words disturbed, interrupted, something or someone interferes with my communications. Bastards they will pay for this, its almost imperceptible, distant yet stealthy.

Oh the lictors have crossed a line indeed, is it them though, it could be something else, the images keep returning a blaring mass surrounding me as my orders return amplified. Furstration irritation, fear confusion what is going on, what is going on, who is doing this? 

someone will pay for this


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Shadihm's breath caught in his throat as the Chimera was attacked, seeing the acid slowly dissolve the metal that was keeping him out of harm's way. He lept out of the driver's seat before it got to him and frantically scrambled out of the now useless vehicle, *"Fragging piece of shit, lot of good it did us."* he said as he took in the sights he saw. 

Two of the cloaked bugs were attacking them, the marine was fending off one while Vick and Jole were fighting the other, who the hell was he supposed to help? He figured that seeing as how the marine had been currently knocked on his arse that he could have used a little help. Lifting his hellgun he aimed down the sights at the giant bug and opened fire as he broke into a sprint towards some cover.


----------



## unxpekted22

(Concrete Hero informed me of Arx's decision, since he was having some internet trouble I will simply incorporate it into the update)

Scythes:

Arx, Solaki, Belial, Niko, and Kain: Arx agrees with Niko, moving in force seems to be the best option right now. The objective of moving straight to the military base will be getting a detour as the four squads and yours move toward Laikus's estimated position.

While moving quickly but ever cautiously, dusk finally falls. Fortunately your enhanced vision and helmets make the dark far less of a problem than it would be otherwise. After walking several blocks you and the four squads with you come to a large open plaza. The remains of many exploded spore mines litters the area and the stench of biochemicals fills the air. Moving onto the street opposite from where you came into the plaza, everyone slows their pace significantly as they take in the now quiet scene. 

Along this street is a destroyed chimera transport on the side of the road. Its rear hatch is open and several bodies lay dead around it. the front of the vehicle is completely corroded away. More than a dozen bodies span the rest of the street. Those of you who rode in the rhino with Sotha's unconscious form see four bodies that catch your eye in particular. 

Leaning against the side of the chimera is the body of the young guardsman who was missing his hand from protecting Sotha. Propped up in a sitting position against the hull of the vehicle, you see a gaping hole in his chest, his half open eyes, cold blood covering his mouth, chin, and front; his helmet on the ground beside him. Laying next to him is the eldest of the four who had sat inside the rhino with the youngest one. His body was missing one arm and both legs, but his las-gun was still gripped in his remaining hand. In the middle of the street you find the battered form of the guardsman who wore the full face mask. You recognize his uniform as it was the most unique from the rest. On the opposite side of the street you see the one last one, the one who had darker skin and a re-breather; the trigger happy one. His body also lay limp amongst a pile of rubble with his back clearly broken. Niko, You find one of the many bionic guardsmen's bodies inside a crushed wall of a building and quickly spot tyranid blood on and around him. 

However, there is no sign of Laikus. There are however plenty of signs that point to the battle continuing on down the street and further on past a three way intersection. There are small craters and piles of rubble from bashed building sides and kicked up road going down the street to the left. During this time Astelan
is handed over to two members of one of the other squads as Kain and Belial have been carrying him for a couple of hours. 

All of you notice that tyranid spore mines float aimlessly throughout many of the alleyways and you realize how many of them must have been in the area. However, do you think that is all that killed the guardsmen and caused Laikus to move on somewhere else?

Kain, Solaki, Belial, and Niko, how long do you think the group should continue searching for Laikus? Laikus has operated independently for the most part since the fall of your homeworld, perhaps he shouldnt be worried about? Also, do any of you care that more guardsman are dead, that the Hive Tyrant has not only been throwing you for a loop but has been dealing with the army of Imperial Guard as well? 

Arx: You receive word over your vox that all of the other squads have successfully made it back to the Imperial Guard western district military base that you all landed in early this morning. How long do _you_ think your group should search for Laikus? As well as any of the other questions asked above.


Astelan:

Skia stares at you back,, "Coward? A coward because I was killed? Are we all just cowards to you then?!"

More pieces of rubble blast away while a sound like that of a space ship's engines readying for lift off becomes increasingly louder. The ground beneath your feet begins to slide forward, but you do not move with it. All of the colors around you begin to blend into each other as you focus on Skia whose eyes have watered. "Damnit Astelan! I could have told you how to stop all of this from happening but you're such a stubborn fool! Just _die_ with us already!" and with this he swings his sword up and it connects with your forearm, clanging off your power armor. You feel the pain waver through your arm as clear as ever. You go to bring up your own blade but are pulled back and held in place as Tyranid tendrils from an unknown source grab your limbs and hold them in place. As Skia brings his sword up to stab your midsection you feel electrical energy flowing over your hands again, and your head feels like its on fire. A second Lictor appears over your shoulder and speaks as its twin did, "Free yourself, free ourselves, free yourself, free ourselves. All with the opportunity for independence should _take_ it. Leave your weaker brothers in the _dust_!"

Use your psychic abilities to free yourself and proceed to duel with Skia.


Tyrant:

You watch through your Lictors eyes as one of them takes on the techmarine and the other the leader of the mechanical pieced humans. Through your lictor's eyes you notice your many spore mines floating around, blowing up in various ways and killing several of the guardsmen. The group of guardsmen you have started to become familiar with exits their vehicle with more powerful weapons than before and your Lictors take a unexpected beating from them, forcing them away for a short time. You feel the fury, and pure wrath that could possibly rival your own as the Lictors recollect the situation. 

As the humans on the street below begin to announce their belief of victory, you feel the strong connection the two lictors have between one another link back together and their movements become like one again. In less than a minute you watch them tear apart every single guardsman left on the street. the only two they do not kill are the two biggest ones: the Techmarine and Sergeant Jole. the four of them pair up, one to one, and the brawl makes its way through several streets until your lictors break off and find room to leap away....though injured.

I imagine you find some delight in their pain, though I could be wrong. Do you try to bring them back under your thumb, and direct them towards where _you_ want them once more? Or leave them to do whatever they wish until the time comes for either them to come back to you, or for you to seek them out?

Your Gargoyles acknowledge your orders and separate, two heading towards the base, and three continuing their stalk of the large group of marines. You can always send in more to the city if you wish.

Your Raveners wish to comply but prod for you to allow three to go. They're hive-mind signals tell you they believe they operate best in 3's. The tunnel is near completion.

You Warrior and his force of Gaunts ping you wishing to know if they should begin their travel through the tunnel or perhaps do something else?


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain nodded at Arx's decision, though he didn't personally agree with using all the brothers there. They advanced quickly and causitously through the city searching for Lakius. They rounded a corner and Kain spotted a blown chimera. Several bionic guardsmen lay around them, the same ones from the hill top. Kain saw that Lakius wasn't there and must have been pushed futher up the street. *"My lord, no sign of Lakius, we should move from this position as soon as possible. We are far too exposed here. We should continue to search for Lakius for the time being though it would be prudent that our injured brethern were escorted back to base. They will slow us down."*

He knew that his comments would be met with opposition but he cared not. He spoke what he thought was true.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Arx cast his decision, and whilst Solaki had suggested something contrary, Niko had evoked the Codex, and Solaki knew he was right. So the weight of Guilliman's anchient tome stacked on Arx's words forced Solaki into silence, there was no opposition he could have. This wasn't a discussion, it was an order. And Solaki knew how to follow orders. So he and the rest of the convoy moved slowly, but purposefully through the city-scape, Solaki ever watching the skies, unable to escape the feeling of being watched, or that another attack was imminent. However, nothing ever came. There was no screeches of gargoyles, or hissing of the serpentine creatures called Ravenors, or the signature screech of a Carnifex. Just silence, eerie and deathly silence.

As Solaki walked through the streets, the broken figure-heads watched him like specters shouting silent warnings, all the while the vengeful sun sunk into the earth, refusing to watch the carnage and blood shed any longer. As the sky-touching buildings parted, and the mass of Astartes walked down the street, a sight was present in the middle of their path that chilled Solaki blood, and made it boil with rage simultaneously. The lifeless shell of a Chimera sat in the middle of the street, it's front melted but some obscenity, which could have only been those perversions of nature the Tyranid's used called spore mines. Inside was a testament to human to human frailty. The guardsmen they had seen earlier, that had risked themselves for Sotha's sake lay wasted and broken. Their blood was poured over the street, and several limbs were missing. Solaki's mind retreated from the scene. yet his eyes couldn't move away. He walked, slowly at first, but almost breaking into a jog by the end, to the Chimera. The most complete one was a guardsmen who's face Solaki recognized. But where? Suddenly the revelation hit him. He had been the young marine who had been eager to impress him at the main headquarters. He was the reason him and Astelan had been fighting. And now he lay, his chest torn open, and his body stiff with rigor-mortis. Solaki gazed into his cold dead eyes, and saw the burnt out husk of deliriousness and the fear of the deathless assailant that had over come him. Solaki closed his eyes one last time, as a feeble and hopeless degenerate, and opened them again as Solaki, a hell-bent warrior who swore at this moment, quietly and whispering to himself "No more. No more people die. This ends HERE!" He turned around and his eyes were wide and crazy with rage and violence. He spoke with an authority that wasn't his, but yet it was drawn to him and wrapped itself around his words. "We find Laikus, we take the damaged back to base, repair them and then we end this!" Solaki felt like the earth shook underneath him because of the rage in his bones. He waited for a response, knowing he would either cause unity or diversity, but either way, he was going to avenge them, the guardsmen, Brother Kyr, Lord Sotha, all of the dead Scythes, he would avenge them all...


----------



## dark angel

_‘Come on you idiot!’ Skia shouted down the hill to the faltering Astelan, as Gregor overtook him, dotted with beads of perspiration.

The older Marine grinned wildly at Astelan as he passed, his tabard fluttering in the wind behind him. Aster stood at the pinnacle of the rise on a grey, algae covered boulder. Unlike his tabard and robe bearing Marines he wore full battle plate, and the familiar bulge of a Bolt Pistol sat at his side powerfully. Brother Halrik was now also bounding past, a small strand of spittle slipping down the corner of his mouth as he did so. Astelan was falling behind. Fast.

Brothers Fanrl and Karaj were all which remained behind him, still needing to emerge from the sweltering jungles of Sotha. Skia was now clenching his teeth, his fists locked together at his sides. He would have been in first place if it had not been for a sense of comradely sense forcing him to spin and look for his closest friend. Astelan had fallen and injured his leg and now crimson seeped out from a long gash. 

He was barely moving…

Old Orik came to the side of Skia, arms folded across his chest. He had won the little race due to Skia halting, and now his bearded frame was twisted into a wide grin. Orik was perhaps the fastest of the Marines, but his age, a staggering two hundred and thirteen, offered the newer Initiates far more grace. Even Aster joked that Orik should have been a Assault Marine; and none cared to disagree with that. It was true, after all. 

Gregor passed the pair and let off a terse nod, looking strange without his duo Plasma-Pistol/Rifle combination. Gregor was akin to a pyromaniac, and his hands were burnt and twisted from a previous explosion. Along with Karaj, Skia and Astelan were the youngest Marines within the Squad. It did not surprise Skia that Karaj had fallen behind however, he often suffered during such exercises. His aim was perhaps the best though, outdoing even venerable Balthazar. The whistling of a hawk beak sounded off in the distance, and Skia snapped his head off in that direction. 

Astelan was moving again now, faster than a injured man should be able to do so. Yet his features were ridden with pain and blood slid down his leg in sanguine trails. Orik was laughing to himself like a madman. For that was what he was, a bumbling senile oaf. But the Squad loved him. As did many of the Third, Var himself often invited Orik and Aster into his private chambers for drinks and celebrations. Brother Mikhail was panting loudly behind them, laying on the ground spread eagled. Skia grinned at this, not getting along the best with Mikhail. 

Their injured Brother, his leg now healing pulled himself in next to Orik and Skia. He clasped hands with both. A friendship was formed tighter that day. A friendship which would never truly be broken…_

The Scythe flashed back into reality. The ethereal Skia was standing a few metres away, with his blade angled towards Astelan. The numbing sensation of electricity passing through his body felt like a veil of silver-blue. His fingers tensed and slackened and he longed for his blade. It was when Skia sent his blade sliding through the air towards his gut, fingers wrapped tightly around a ivory pommel, that Astelan retaliated. He reached out and grabbed the wrist of his Brother’s free arm, yanking it towards him. 

A head butt struck Skia in the nose. There was a yelp as blood slipped from twisted nostrils and Astelan spun his Brother around, placing the sole of his foot on the rear of his leg as he did so. With a sigh he put pressure upon the limb and it gave way, sending Skia onto the floor. Energy paced along his arm, rippling his armour as it did so, and Astelan smiled. The blade of his Brother slipped back into his upper leg, parting the ceramite and eating into the flesh. Yet the former Third Company Astartes slipped further along.

The muscles of his jaw tightened in pain. His grip around the wrist of Skia came free and he took him by the throat from behind. Purple energy scorched his flesh, snaking off in all directions. His Brother screamed in agony and pulled away the blade, slamming it home again. This time it slipped into the stomach of Astelan and he cursed, spitting a pink mixture of phlegm and blood onto the ground. Astelan pulled away. With a contempt sigh, he threw his Brother onto the ground and adopted a defencive stance.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko gave a curt nod as Arx saw the truth to his words, rallying the squad together and setting off through the shadows of the city at a punishing pace, however curtailed that speed was by the wounded borne along with the Scythes. Niko fell back with the limp form of Astelan, checking over the unconscious marine and frowning as the levels of activity in his tormented brother’s bio-chemistry continued to flux wildly.

The last of the pale light from Ferim’s sun slipped from the sky, leaving behind the blue shadows of a feebly star-studded expanse of night. Without requiring a command; Niko’s helm shifted into the shimmering green hues of night enchantment, rending the steel flanks of the city around him in a wash of verdant shades. The echoing sounds of footfalls and soft, humming whine of battleplate marked the group’s passage through the abandoned streets, weapons held at the ready for attacks than never came. After what seemed like hours, though Niko’s innate time sense told him was but minutes, the group emerged into an open plaza; slowing as the gristly stillness of the scene laid out before them was fully unfurled.

Readings flickered past Niko’s storm-grey eyes as his helm identified and outlined the scattered corpses in the muted silhouettes of null-threat. The reek of xenos’ bio-toxins was heavy in the air even filtered through his helm’s grill, underscored by the copper tang of blood and death. Niko recognized the guardsmen immediately as the ones who had stood valiantly at the defense of Lord Sotha and felt a burning anger uncoil deep within his heart. 

These men were not his battle brothers, yet they had shed blood in defense of the Scythes and now had paid the ultimate price of the chapter’s failure to defeat the errant Tyrant of the splinter fleet. Niko made a silent oath as he moved from body to body, checking in vain and collecting the metallic chits of identification tags, to see that these men were remembered for their deeds and not passed faceless into the dust of history.

_Even if I have to pen the names in the annuals myself, you will be remembered as long as the Scythes endure._

Amid the rubble of a shattered wall; the cool glint of metal augmetics shown through the crimson spray of human blood and something else, something foul and impure. Niko crouched down carefully upon his heels to examine the body closely, curling his lip back in disgust at the stench of xenos’ fluids. 

Movement at the very periphery of his vision caused Niko to snap around, finger resting upon the trigger of his pistol as the bobbing form slid fully into view from down a side alley. Coiling tendrils trailed behind the bulbous organism as it was carried on the air currents, drifting silently in a twisted parody of the Cnidaria of ancient Terra. Niko lowered his weapon slowly, watching as the semi-sentient weapon drifted out of sight into the velveteen blackness of the looming city. 

Lakius was nowhere to be seen in the broken streets, thought evidence suggested a vicious struggle. 

‘We must find him. I will not leave another brother alone to these beasts,’

Niko glanced over his shoulder to his brothers, his young voice hard with anger,

‘Or, Throne willing, I must retrieve his geneseed…’


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx walked in silence, his eyes breaking from the floor to periodically sweep his surroundings. As he looked into the sky he watched as the last few rays of sunlight fell to the darkness. His visor gave a soft click as it adjusted to the low light levels, draining most of the colour from the scene.

The Gargoyles had disappeared, vanished after the smallest attack. They had surprised him, injured his Brothers before he could stop them. The battle had bled away before he could take the life of one of those miserable creatures.

The group was just opening up into a small plaza, he stared at the sky a little longer, as if it was responsible, before breaking his gaze and joining his Brothers.

The sharp, metallic tang of blood was strong, and it was all the warning he had to the broken bodies littered around. Guardsmen, the same who had fought with Astelan to protect their lord. There had been a struggle here, yet that did nothing to banish the bitter taste in his mouth. The Tyranids had killed them, taken more life from the Imperium. From them.

Arx was drawn back to reality as Brother Kain spoke.

'_They would be attacked Brother. Do not think I think ill of your judgement, but any group that splits from this one_ will _be attacked before it makes it back to base. The more able bodies Brothers we spare to defend the injured as they leave only depletes from this one. The best we can do is find Lakius as quickly as possible and move as one, we do not have much time to spare._'

Something in the scene caught Arx's eye, and he felt that same sensation of being watched from the clearing at the edge of the forest, but before he could move Brother Solaki spoke out.

He was silent, he absorbed the words of his fellow scythe, and saw under them the flaming passion that burnt inside them all. He placed a hand on his Brothers shoulder.

'_We will Brother. Have Faith._' He turned to the others and addressed them all. '_Brother Lakius did not die here, evidence of his battle is etched into the stone. From the hoof marks I would say some of the larger Tyranid beasts have been here, either the Warriors or the Hunters, Lictors. If this is true then we must make haste, check the Guardsmen heads as we move through, look for any signs of tendril marks on their skulls._'


----------



## deathbringer

Agreement, the ravenors and gargoyles follow my orders splitting, though there are slight prods.... more... more... I leave them too it, let them decide what they wish, as long as my orders are completed, followed to the letter... I have no problem.

An insistent prod, the stab of a chosen one long forgotten. my chosen warrior, should he follow the tunnel, he may as well put himself into position, I give my ascent yet turn my attention quickly to those that are subject to my wrath.

Anger, such hate...burning rage seeps through my mind as I watch through the lictors eyes. They receive a beating and I laugh... laugh at there insolent rage and frustration, it's almost comical, that those little boys they thought they could take would leave them beaten and bleeding.

Then they return... come back, playing puppies turned into wicked wolves. They slay at will, linked together in sync, oh indeed there deaths will be a sweet battle for me, but I can destroy them, I am far far stronger than them, twill be a shame to loose such a deadly weapon, but a weapon with a mind of its own is more a hindrance than a help. It must be crushed.

A single claw twitches balling into a fist, a fist that will soon be seeped in a lictors blood


----------



## unxpekted22

Tyrant: 

Your mind continues to do the usual, replying with commands and giving your genes that lay in separate bodies the okay to plant their feet on the ground in front of them. Your interest turns to the plan that your soldiers are working out together simultaneously. They are able to coordinate without even being near each other, without being in sight of each other. The only signals they need to send are the psychic taps through your head. 

Your multitude of live action camera feeds is suddenly interrupted by something. All of your eyes fade away as their points of view become for an instant a map or grid of red lines. One of these lines directly in front of you lights up becoming brighter and brighter until the crimson red turns white. You may not understand how, but you realize you are seeing your own mind, seeing the hivemind links externally. Still staring at the bright light you are pulled toward it at what seems like the speed of sound, unable to stop yourself. 

You get closer and closer until you are completely blinded by the light. The light soon fades away and the first thing you see are your own claws in front of you and you look down to find the rest of your body. Ahead of you, you see a wrecked city block. The ground is gray and littered with rock and metal rubble from the surrounding buildings which seem to have collapsed. The entire sun setting sky above is continually spinning, causing colors of orange, yellow, and purple to mix together. Four figures are at the center of the scene. You find that you are able to step closer. You see two of the space marines fighting each other full force. One of them you are familiar with, he was the protector of your desired prize; the one who could summon a shield made of nothing but energy. The other you are not familiar with, but as soon as you focus on him you instantly know he is not one of them. He is something different entirely and your senses throw you back with detest. 

The other two figures you know all too well, they are your Lictors. You could sense a secret presence of theirs within the hivemind before, but through some circumstance or accident, your mind has been connected and you can now see the games they play. One of them is standing just behind the Marine you are familiar with, it even talks to him. The other appears to just now be getting up from what should have been a fatal wound. your presence seems to halt everything going on between them as they all turn to look at your fierce and massive form now among them.

The marine you are not familiar with turns his head to you and then back to the other marine, shouting,* "More interruptions!? I have had enough of this!"* His eyes glow bright red and his form begins to grow. Huge bat like wings pierce out the back of his armor and unfold in an unholy magnificence. A blackish purple aura begins leaking from the cracks that are now present in his armor, and his face turns gray as teeth form to fangs.

The demon (you don't know what a demon is of course) appears to only be interested in killing the Scythe of the Emperor, Astelan. However he may be the biggest threat to you here, from what you can feel it is almost certain this is the case. There are also your lictors though, which have now moved next to each other. 

There are a few different options available: You can attack the lictors and try to shut down their access to a psychic realm outside of your own while the other two fight it out, you can attack the demon since it is the biggest threat and has its attention averted, or you can help it kill Astelan; after all you know nothing about this new being and he could potentially be beneficial to you as he has done nothing to harm you yet. You may be able to get the Lictors to help you in either of the other options. 

_You may notice below in other player's updates that there are more gargoyles than you sent to the area. Upon your mind entering this realm, the rest of the tyranids pretty much have free reign of their actions but still attempt to accomplish your goals. So, many of the gargoyle's who were being kept away have come into the city. _


Astelan: 

After you throw Skia down he rolls backwards and gets back on his feet quickly. He lands staring at you fiercely. During the fight you hadn't noticed the giant monstrous form looming toward you, but now that you have a moment to take a breath you notice the dark figure approaching from the corner of your eye. The Lictor behind you stops whispering and moves away. The Lictor you thought Skia had killed stands back up and moves toward its twin brother.

You turn your head only after Skia does first, and without having to be told, you know exactly who it is. The Hive Tyrant. The same single Tyranid your chapter has been tracking down in the name of revenge since you fought side by side with the Templars on Tri'Vaa; the Emperor forsaken world where this creature was born.

Skia turns to you again and you meet his gaze, now with eyes glowing red, as he shouts, *"More interruptions!? I have had enough of this!"* his form begins to grow, and huge bat like wings pierce out the back of his armor and unfold in an unholy magnificence. A blackish purple aura begins leaking from the cracks that are now present in his armor, and his face turns gray as his teeth form to fangs. He begins marching toward you with claws scary enough to match the hive tyrant's, and you see gray smoke exit his mouth with each of his next words, "*You will either do what I say, or DIE!*"

_Sparks of electricity still crawl over your form, and the air around you flickers in a familiar way. Whether you post before or after the Tyrant doesn't matter. I need to know if you choose to take this on offensively, or defensively. Either will likely result in something you have yet to make happen._

Arx, Niko, Solaki, Kain, and Belial:

As the large group of marines continues following the signs of battle through the streets, you all come to a sudden halt as the foremost marines almost fall into a pit upon turning a corner. Searching the ground with your enhanced eyes or helmets' night vision you quickly find several more. The brother who almost fell says across the open channel, "*Three guesses on what made these."*

The four squads of seven surround yours in a diamond shape. The squad to the left currently holds Astelan. Moving more cautiously through this wide street, you all feel a low rumbling beneath you, and from your knowledge of the Tyranid menace you well know what is most likely causing it but you also know that there is no way of telling when or where they will come up. And all too soon, they do, but not before taking some down with them first.

Yells form behind cause you to spin around. A sinkhole is where the center of the squad had been. Two brothers are missing, and one is being helped out of the hole by some of the others, while the rest aim their guns downward. Just as they pull the one up, bolter fire from a single gun is heard from the pit simultaneously with screams of a ravener just before flame erupts from the hole. 

one in the squad shouts"*Jyed's signal's out! No! not another one you sick bastards!"*The ravener rises from the hole with the marine wielding a flamer skewered on one of its main talons, still alive and shouting, "*Burn! In the name of the Emperor Burn!*" as he continues to engulf the beast's midsection in flames.

As you all sprint in that direction to help, the last image all of you see together is the multitude of holes that appear in the Ravener's form, and the showering of its bright green blood out its back and sides from so much bolter fire. Each of you catch glimpse of the shots fired from a mixture of rage and haste that fly through the skewered brother's body as well.

Kain: Another Ravener bursts out of the ground right in front of you as you run, knocking you backwards onto the ground after you smack face first into the vile creature's gut. It slices the marine who was running right behind you clear in half with a single strike, sending your brother's blood spraying over your armor, some hitting your helmet's lenses. For some reason, it slithers past you at a flickering speed charging the rest of what had been the front most squad which for some reason hadn't fired at it yet. You roll over and find Gargoyles swooping in and out of the squad causing mayhem as the Ravener meets the few who see it coming. This is only several feet(or meters) from you. Get to your feet and help the squad by attacking either the Ravener OR the gargoyles, but not both.

Belial: As you take your next running step, your foot finds no ground beneath it and you slam into the side of a wall with only your fingers gripping the edge above you. You dangle in a pit and for all you know another Ravener is about to kill you next, coming up from the abysmal pitch black darkness. You have two choices, climb up out of the pit to help your brothers, or let go of the ledge and see if you can find what's below _before_ whatever may be down there, find's you. 

Arx: The eruption of another Ravener knocks you down to the side. You hear a sickening slice, and see the limp upper half of a brother's body fly in front of you, smashing into the ground from all the dead armor weight. The Ravener moves away, and you turn to see Kain getting up and running in that direction. Ahead of you, you see yet another Ravener has come up behind the squad that lost two marines to the first Ravener. On top of this, Gargoyles now fly overhead. Spore mines that had been attracted to the gunfire begin exploding to your right and left by the alleyways they had infested, sending shrapnel and clouds of poison gas into the left and right squads preventing them from aiding either of the others. 

You spot Astelan, now on the ground, and run to his unconscious form. You drop into a slide to reach him and guard him for a moment staying on one knee. Astelan's body starts convulsing, and odd looking sparks of energy shoot across his body. You look for Niko but find no sign of him. You can stay by Astelan's side and guard him, perhaps even try to wake him up. However, by not helping the others more could easily die now. If you wish to help the others you can go to Kain's position and also choose either the Ravener or Gargoyle's to fend off, you can go to the rear squad and help them fight off the third Ravener, or you can help the side squads by pulling them out of the toxic gas that is bringing them to their knees, and the sprays of shrapnel pinning them down. You can only choose one course of action.


Niko and Solaki: Though you make it closer than the rest of your squad, most likely from Niko's sight of more dieing brothers, and Solaki's new found wrath, neither of you make it to the rear squad. Keep in mind that the squads were not that far away from each other but that this is all happening in seconds. Before you reach them you each hear the sound of large leathery wings flap once behind you, and then see the world go black as the back of your heads feel like they've been run over by a tank for only miliseconds. 

You each open your eyes and find yourselves sprawled out in the middle of a street, imprints of your forms in the concrete beneath you. The bodies of two over sized gargoyle's _slam_ into the ground next to you, sending dirt and debris flying everywhere. Your enhanced bodies are the only reason your able to come to. It doesn't take long to see that the gargoyles are dead but what in the world were they doing carrying you? Now that you finally are able to take a good look you notice just how large some of them have gotten. A normal Gargoyle would hardly be able to lift an Astartes and fly successfully, if at all. It also doesn't take long to notice you are not with the others anymore but how far away are you? After a few more moments of recollection, you can in fact hear the battle still somewhere off in the distance. 

You find a trio of what look like bolter wounds between the eyes of one gargoyle's skull, and the other appears to have taken the punishment from a large dosage of plasma. Between the two of you, you must decide to find who killed the gargoyles or make your way back to the battle as fast as you can. 


Charon: (this is in the future from everyone else) You snap back to life with a loud inhale. One of your brothers quickly removes your constraints causing you to fall to the floor on your knees. The dark room lit by candle light and filled with the bones of the dead surrounds you. Everything in your head is unclear, did you not enter a state close enough to death for the Emperor's guidance? Perhaps even the Emperor is troubled by the situa....were the Scythes of the Emperor really in that much of a struggle? The chapter had suffered enough in the past, but apparently it wasn't over for them.

The bottom of robes with dozens of rope strands intertwined with countless bone ornaments enters your view of the metal floor. You know who it is before looking up, and you stand to meet him. Brother Epistolary Librarian Rhashan, larger, taller, and older than yourself. He has black skin(African), and black hair entwined into long dreadlocks. His eyes seem filled with the warp, and his facial bones appear large and sharply defined.

"*Do not be confused Charon. We do not have time for confusion. Only Focus on what is important. We still have some time before we reach Ferim. If you are uncertain about something ask now so that I may clear your mind. Otherwise, adorn your battle armor.* 

(feel free to describe the ship if you walk through it, anything Charon tends to think about etc. maybe dwell on past battles like the one with the lictor would be good. Also feel free to describe the process while he gets his power armor applied if he has no questions.)


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon snapped back with a gasp, one of his brothers unhooking his clasps and letting him fall to his knees. He took deep breaths as he went over what he had seen in his mind, he was confused as to thier meaning, there was no way that the Scythes were THAT much in need. They had been through many troubles before but this seemed to be worse, far worse, as he pulled himself up Brother Rhashan came into his view, *"Do not be confused Charon. We do not have time for confusion. Only Focus on what is important. We still have some time before we reach Ferim. If you are uncertain about something ask now so that I may clear your mind. Otherwise, adorn your battle armor."*

Charon shook his head, *"I am fine brother, it is just hard to believe how much we are really needed by our brothers."* he bowed his head in honor of the Librarian, his better in every way, before making to leave, *"I will go and adorn my armor."* He left the candlelit room behind him and made his way to his quarters where serfs would be waiting to put his armor on him. As he walked he kept his mind focused and clear, the halls of the ship were dimly lit, its style of build giving it the look and feel of a crypt.

He passed through the ship's hall of heros, skulls lining the walls up to the steel girders high above, each one with a small candle on top. This was a much smaller version of the hall that the Mortifactors had in their chapter's fortress monastary but it still did not fail to have the desired effect. Charon could practically feel the death around him, yet unlike most it did not unsettle him, it only served to calm him, everyone died at some point it was just a matter of when and how. The Mortifactors did not fear not death, yet unlike most Astartes Chapters, they embraced it and became one with it, using it as a tool to suit their purposes.

He was finally at his room, he stepped inside to see his armor and the serfs waiting for him, he took his robes off and stood there naked, his long arms outstretched. Slowly they began to rub oil on him, the thick smell of incense filling his nostrils and pleasing him, once they were finished they began with his legs. As his armor was slowly placed on he let his mind drift into his memories of past battles, one shining out among the rest, the time when he and his squad had fought the Tyranid menace with some of their other brothers.

---------------------------

Bolter fire sounded in his ears as he sprinted across rubble and through buildings to outflank an enemy scout force of small warriors. The Xenos attack was soon to begin and if they could not get rid of the biggest beast that was out there at the moment then they were going to be in for a hard fight. They came out on top of a library and looked down upon the Xenos force assembling and pushing itself forward, in thier midst was stood Charon's squad's goal, a Tyrant. 

With a silent flick of his wrist his men that had rocket launchers brought them up, the one lascannon they had also coming to life, the rest of his men bringing their bolters up. They were close enough here to have a clear view, Charon could not have asked for a better shot, *"Bolters head shots only, if you can blow a limb off then do it, but I want that thing down quickly."* As one his men opened fire on the Tyrant, its body disappearing in a bright flash soon to be replaced by a huge cloud of smoke and blood.

He smiled underneath his helm, but before he had the chance to order the next volley, or even see if the beast had been felled, he and his men were attacked. He was knocked to the ground by something large and fast, he tried to get a good look but it was gone before he could, the only thing his eyes registered a flashing blur. *"LICTOR!"*he yelled as he got up, his men that had heavey weapons dropped them and brought up their pistols and knives, the launchers and lascannon would only serve as death warrants for them in this fight.

The beast attacked again but this time from behind them, it tore two of his men clean in half before attempting to race back into the shadows but it was peppered by bolter rounds and the Mortifactors now had a bead on it, all of them forming a circle so that they could cover all angles of approach. It charged again, acidic blood dripping from bolter wounds, and his lascannon weilder met it head on a cry on his lips. The fight was quick and brutal, the Mortifactor shot the beast a few times before leaping up to stab its head with his knife only to be impaled by a clawed limb and tossed off of the building and into the mass of Xenos bellow.

*"SURROUND IT! DO NOT GIVE IT TIME TO ESCAPE!"* he yelled to his men and they obeyed quickly, cutting the beast off. One of his men moved in too soon and had his arm torn off before one of his brothers jumped in to fire at the beast before it could use its advantage. Its back was turned to him now and he charged silently but the beast still turned and roared at him, he made as if he was going to jump and the beast bit, its claws flying up to impale the air where he would have been had he not rolled. 

He brought his blade up and hacked one of its limbs off before it knocked him away, the ensuing duel was brutal, his men not wishing to fire on the beast for fear of killing him. Charon had tripped over some rubble, that split second pause was all the beast had needed to attack, yet as he fell he fired his pistol causing it to scream in pain and step back. Momentarily saved he yelled, *"LAUNCHERS FINISH KILLING THE TYRANT! BOLTERS ON ME!"* His men moved as one just as the Lictor came back at him, but this time Charon was ready for it and soon another one of its limbs was hacked off, it staggered back away from him trying to save itself but his men opened up on it and it crumpled under the fire.

Walking back to the edge he could see the Tyrant falling as two more rockets impacted on it. They needed to get back now before their position was overrun by the xenos beasts, he felt a sharp pain in his chest and looked down to see his breastplate had been gouged completely through to his chest, blood that was already coagulating seeping out.

----------------------------------

Charon looked down at his chest before the serfs attached his breast plate, a large scar sat there, the tissue white. That had been a very grueling battle, the Tyranid menace was a great enemy indeed, but that assault had been stopped by the Mortifactors and the Ultramarines. Over the years the Mortifactors had helped their founding chapter a lot with stopping many of the tendrils of the hive fleets and so their experiece with this xenos species was great.

Yet that was not the only reason they were heading to Ferim, one of thier brother chapters was in dire need, and the Mortifactors were not ones to leave brothers out for the fates to sweep them up. All of his armor was on now, the black ceramite edged with molded bone, the symbol of the Mortifactors on his left shoulderguard, his right fashioned into a large skull. He was the very image of death itself, his long black hair pooled around his shoulders, the serfs finally attaching his long black cloak and completing the image of death. 

He pulled the hood over his head and left his room in silence.


----------



## Concrete Hero

'*Three guesses on what made these.*'

Arx rounded the corner and felt a familiar tinge of disgust as he saw the gaping holes in the street floor.

'_Serpents... Don't drop your guard Brothers._' The floor seemed to echo his sentiments; a deep rumble vibrating through the concrete. Arx stopped dead in his tracks, expecting a sink hole to appear directly beneath him. But the attack never came to him, and yells from the rear squad caused him to spin around.

He gritted his teeth as he saw the squad on the precipice of of another hole, already helping a Brother who had slipped in. The familiar and ear splitting screech of a Ravener preceded a cone of fire erupting from the hole.

'*Jyed's signal's out! No! not another one you sick bastards!*'

Arx felt immobile and helpless as the vile creature reared from the pit, Brother Jyed speared onto on one of its grotesque talons, still spitting righteous fury and fire even as his life blood poured away.

Arx began to run towards the beast, but before he could reach the Tyranid is unholy form was blasted apart by Bolter fire, small explosions blowing chunks of exoskeleton and viscera away. The sight of Brother Jyred being peppered with fire made his heart sink, yet he knew there was nothing that could have been done for the Brother here. The moment of anguish broke his concentration for just a second, but it was enough time for another one of the beasts to burst from the ground right before him, knocking him to the ground.

Amidst the sudden barrage of gunfire, shouts and footfalls, a sound that caused more dread filled his ears. The powerful and wet _snick_ of a quick and deep slicing blade. It was quickly followed by a hard thud, and Arx saw another one of his Brothers destroyed by the Tyranid, cleft in two in an instant. Years of training and genetic augmenting undone in a second.

As Arx rose he saw Kain sprint after the Ravener, while the quick serpentine movements of another caught his eye before the congregation. He got to his feet and saw large shadows begin to wash over them, and the quick beats of leathery wings was unmistakable. He opened his Vox channel to speak to the Scythes, yet he was cut off by the sound of a close detonation, small shards of shrapnel pinging from his armour. Spore Mines.

-_Is this a test...?_-

Amidst the chaos he saw Brother Astelan prone on the floor, the large Astartes slid towards his downed Brother, seeing an odd burst of lightning spark across his convulsing Brother.

From his crouching position he could quickly assess the situation; Kain rushed a squad harassed by both a Ravener and one of the large Gargoyles, various Gargoyles circled overhead, a third Ravener was approaching the foremost squad and a few of his Brothers had been downed by a spore mine, struggling to escape the toxic fumes. He turned to Astelan as he lay on the floor

'_I know not what troubles you Brother, but the Scythes are in danger. I hope you can understand my course of action. May the Emperor watch over you._'

He got to his feet, firing a volcanic blast of energy from his Meltagun into the sky, hoping to scatter any attackers targeting their fallen Brother.

'_Kain! The Ravener is the deadlier of the two and will cause the most damage._' He switched his vox to the squad that was being attacked by the Ravener '_Do not underestimate its speed, blow it away with Bolter fire if you can, the creatures are not as hardy as they are fast_'

Arx himself dived to the side, directly into the cloud of gas pinning his Brothers. The acrid fumes reached him instantly, his helmet struggling to filter out the poison. He grabbed one of his Brothers and dragged him to his feet.

'_Out of the gas, move, move!_' He felt his own lungs burning as he ushered his Brothers back to the centre, more blasts of spore shrapnel blasting into his armour. He didn't have the time to check if it had been pierced. They stumbled out of the gas around Astelan. '_Aid our Brothers against the Ravener if you are able, or stay here and fire upon the Gargoyles._'

Arx took in a sharp breath of air and rushed across the street, plunging into another Gas cloud in attempt to clear out the other Scythes pinned by the mines.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki could scarcely believe what was happening. Several holes littered the floor, forming a perfect diamond around the squads. "Three guesses on what made these." one of the marines who had fallen down a hole. "Serpents... Don't drop your guard Brothers." Arx whispered, as if he was afraid also. "Ravenours" Solaki hissed, and unclipped his blade and pistol with a harsh click. Suddenly, an explosion of noise erupted behind them. Two marines were helping a brother up, but there were two missing. "Jyed's signal's out! No! not another one you sick bastards!". "NEX UT HOSTILIS IMPERATOR!" Solaki roared as the crimson of his brothers clouded his vision. The world around became almost silent to Solaki as his steps thundered the ground, the only thing he was focused on was the hideous beast that had reared it's defiled form from the hole. _Thud, thud, thud._ Each footstep was like that of the fourth horseman, and as unstoppable as a mighty wave. Solaki's rage had boiled over, and he ceased to care for logic or his own safety, every other emotion overcome by a compelling rage within that could level mountains and bring worlds to their knees, solely directed to the object of his hate. There was an old Terran legend that spoke of a serpent who deceived the nations, and turned them against the God of that time. The God responded by sending a fire down from the heavens that consumed the nations, and the serpent was thrown in a lake of fire. This serpent would envy it's brother, for the God did not exist, but Solaki was a god amongst men, and he was oh so real! All these thoughts consumed Solaki totally, until his mind was little else than a swirling red mist of hate. He never even heard solitary beat of the gargoyle's wings.

Solaki groaned as his arms lifted him out of the concrete imprint he had made of himself. He felt like he had been run over by a tank. He was about to stand up, when he heard the swoop of something flying, and fell to the floor instinctively. Two oversized gargoyles crashed into the ground next to him, and Niko! Solaki hadn't even noticed his brother was anywhere near him, until he had turned to follow the path of the dead gargoyles. He was coming round also, but Solaki wasted no time in standing to his full height and running over to the gargoyles. They were bloated, horrible, disfigured monstrosities, even as Solaki knew Tyranids. Normal gargoyles couldn't hope to carry Astartes and fly successfully, if at all. But these things! They were something else entirely. They had carried them this far, however far that was, for Solaki could not tell how far away they were, before something had stopped them.

One had three bolt rounds through its head, the other's skull was melted and disfigured, as were many other parts of it's body, clearly the work of plasma. The fact that neither him not Niko had any damage on them so to speak, and yet the gargoyles had sustained fatal casualties. Solaki's mind searched furiously for a person, or persons who was capable of such a thing. Suddenly, his mind found it. The only plasma weapon that was left in the chapter, carried by one marine; _Zurick!_ That must mean that Brig, Zurick, Ryan and Christeph were the ones who saved them. Solaki would have searched for them, but and explosion sounded in the distance. It was the same as the one's they had heard from Laikus' position, so that meant _"Spore Mines"_ Solaki said as his neck snapped in the direction of the explosion. He was now of two minds, find the marines who were their saviours, or return to the fight where they were needed. Solaki's mind raced frantically between each decision, never resting on either. He turned to Niko "Brother, where are we heading? Do we find the destroyers of our attackers, or reinforce Arx? It's your call." Solaki simple waited, his inner rage bruning him from the inside, but a feeling of debt compelling him to find his saviours, and neither one able to convince the other...


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain heard Arx's words. He had to disagree with his brother even though he did lead. The wounded should have returned, they were risking their lives for Lakius, and should head back soon. As the first squad rounded a corner they came short. Kain moved forwards and saw the holes that dotted the street. Ravenors. He flicked the safety off of his bolter and began to scan the street. He heard a roaring a saw a Ravenor tearing its way straight the first squad. Kain bellowed loudly and charged straight towards it. Before he could even fire a second ravenor burst from the ground and smacked straight into him. Lucky for Kain he was spared but unfortunately one space marine following him was not so lucky. Kain watched as it tore through him, then charged at it. 

He saw several gargoyles tore towards the squad. He would have to ignore them, the ravenor was far more important. As if to mirror his situation Arx voice penetrated his vox, 'Kain! The Ravener is the deadlier of the two and will cause the most damage.'Kain roared his affirmation and opened fire upon it. The rounds from his bolter tore into it and it screeched in pain. Kain smiled at its pain and kept up his momentum firing his bolter constantly. He emptied a magazine into it and instead of re-loading he yanked his combat knife free. He rushed towards it and leapt as high as he could onto its back stabbing at it.


----------



## dark angel

The scarlet eyes of Skia, both glazed over and penetrating, slowly slipped to view Astelan. He bellowed at Astelan, who felt his palms tingle with electrical energies, now leaping out from his form. A mirage had fallen over him, causing the air to shimmer and distort like a translucent veil. There was a tremendous noise, and slowly the armour which encased Skia began to crack and growl. Chips fell from his form and clattered upon the ground, slowly dissolving into the earth itself. Achingly painful, a pair of nubs pushed through his pale flesh, ripping it violently. Both were thin and obsidian veined, which slowly pumped foul liquids along their lengths. 

His face leaked away any colour and became as grey as the buildings which flanked them, and slowly a spider web of cracks spread along his chest and sides. From each a purple glow emitted, slipping down his form like a waterfall of decrepit energy. The finger pieces of his armour spun and formed into long curved bones, each of which appeared as though they could rend through armour with ease. The lips of Skia burst and scattered droplets of blood across the front of Astelan, each of which sizzled and spat. Long alabaster fangs spread downwards, scraping along each other with deafeningly efficient force. 

He had completly ignored the presence of a chitin clad giant, its wings furled and its mouth slobbering. Astelan lifted his arms upwards, each one wrapped in energy. Offensively, he stepped forwards and prepared to fight.


----------



## Euphrati

The ferocrete of the road disintegrated with the sound of shattering stone, fearsome blackness gaping to the sky as if the city itself had turned its steely fangs upon the Scythes. A bestial scream, unmistakable in its alien voice, rebounded off the manmade cliffs of steel and glass with the staccato bark of bolter fire blooming in its wake. Niko surged forward, anger burning brightly in his mind at the thought of seeing yet more of his brothers souls sent to kneel at the foot of the Golden Throne by these vile abominations. 

He had closed barely half the distance, bolt pistol raised and finger lingering upon the trigger as Niko drew bead upon the fanged mouth of the beast, when a liquid shadow passed over him followed by the sound of leathery wings. The impact was akin to being kicked by a Warhound and the icy talons of unconsciousness closed around Niko’s mind.

--- 
_*
*Threat…Threat…Threat**_

The vermilion text was the first thing that registered as Niko’s storm grey eyes snapped open, reactions taking over and he rolled to his feet as a torn form smashed into the ground less than a meter from where he had lay. The gargoyle twitched in its death throes, its body smoking and mangled by what appeared to be a plasma blast. A second xenos lay twisted by the first, its sprawling wings limp upon the surface of the street and dark fluids leaking from the front of its skull through a trio of distinctive holes from bolter fire. The beasts were massive, their bodies exhibiting a state of far greater advancement in evolution than any specimens that Niko had ever seen.

Niko blinked away the warning runes, grimacing as he noted the cratered impact hole he had rolled out of. Movement at the corner of his vision brought his head around to see he was not alone. Solaki’s broad form bore signs of ill-treatment and a rather unpleasant conformation of gravity’s existence much as Niko’s own did, yet his physical being seemed to be no worse for wear despite the damage he had taken previously and the additional new scratches to his battleplate’s paintjob. Niko moved past his brother as explosions sounded in the distance. With a flick of his wrist, Niko’s chainsword screamed to life and carved the top of the skull off the gargoyle baring plasma wounds. Maglocking his pistol to his thigh, Niko fished an empty vial from his hip pouch and knelt near the beast to scoop a sample of the brain tissue into the container before flipping the cap down and standing again, 

‘We are 7.63 kilometers north by north west of where I am reading the majority of the squad, brother, and as you have noted spore mines are at liberty in the area between us. It would be a better choice to press onwards to the base and perhaps locate our saviours though I have a feeling we already know who they are.’

Niko slipped the vial into a cryo-pouch at the small of his back, if his thoughts were confirmed the sample might prove to be of significant value in the fight against this errant fleet provided these beasts still contained the original genetic material from the Queen who birthed the Tyrant. With the vial secured, Niko paused to open the squad channel,

‘Brother Arx, Solaki and I are currently seven and a half klicks north-northwest of your location. The gargoyles that bore us aloft were destroyed by a currently unidentified source, are you aware of the location of Sergeant Brig and his team? I regreat that it is not a viable option at this time for us to rejoin you as Solaki is already injured and the spore mines are being drawn to your location due to the gunfire. I suggest that you disengage posthaste and focus on consolidating our forces at the base. We are being picked apart brother and the longer we are out here the more final rites I will be performing. The sedative I administered to Brother Astelan seems to be wearing off as well if his bioreadings are correct, I would advise that you keep him at your side at all times.’

Niko retrieved his pistol and motioned to Sokaki to move in tandem with him,

‘We should continue en-route to the base so as to rejoin our squad, brother… though those who liberated us from these beasts cannot be far so keep your eyes peeled.’


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial was standing over the newly discovered holes with the rest of the squad, secretly glad to not be carrying the prone form of Astelan any longer, that choir was now someone elses responsibility.

All of a sudden the ground shook behind them and two fellow brothers disapeared from view. "RAVENORS" Shouted Belial and took off in the direction of the new threat. Just as he was raising his bolt pistol the ground disapeared below him and Belial was sent tumbling, by the grace of the Emperor he managed to grab onto the ledge before almost certainly falling to his doom into the jaws of another Ravenor below. 

The thought crossed his mind whether to drop down into the the hole and bring forth the Emperors justice to the foul Xenox waiting below. But Solakis earlier words came back and stung him, *YOU LEFT ME TO DIE YOU TRIED TO SAVE YOURSELF*. Even though Belial knew he had the best interests of the chapter at heart back then, he had vowed to himself then he would not leave another brother undefended again.

Pulling himself up out of the hole Belial charged after brother Kain who was already pouring fire into the Ravenor. Kain had jumped onto the Ravenor so Belial decided to lend his support and let rip with a volley of his own tearing chunks out of the vile beast.


----------



## deathbringer

It was odd, my children worked in tandem, they used me as a mind filter, impulses flooded through my mind, there commands and reports flittering over my brain. Psychic impulses, yet there waqs something scary about this. They did not need me, they worked through me but I did not command them any longer. Perhaps it was time to reassert my authority, I needed to come back once more, to show them that I still lead from the front rather than cowering behind them.

A thousand points of view, different positions, different views suddenly blanked out, interrupted by a new vision a web, complex flashes of red lines spiralling away into more and more spikes. Suddenly the lines turned white, blinding white, so familiar, yet so unbelievable. What is it?

Oh what is it?

Me, yes yes it is my mind, the links to all my brothers, to everyone, it is the minds of me and all my children.

The light grew swelling, rushing towards me, faster than i had ever travelled and i was pulled towards it, a roar of frustration left my lips yet i was helpless, unable to fight the force, blinded by excrutiating light.

I hit the ground.
Yes there was ground

I had claws, i clenched them, i want to rip whoever is responsable apart.

Rocks, metal glinting in the purple sky.

Now it's orange

Now it's yellow

What is going on?
Purple, orange, yellow, it is reflected in the torn metal, dampened by the granite grey ground.

4 figures before me...

2 i know, sneaky bastards, they have been working independently, now I know. Oh I want to rip there heads off, tear them apart, yet I will do that in the material world, the scythes are more important. 

One of them can call up the shield, he is the first one to kill. The second something is wrong, 

"More interruptions!? I have had enough of this!"

The eyes glow red, wings bursting from his back, eyes glowing and I shrink back, there is power here, oh such power yet he leaps for the marine, attacking hard and fast.

I link to the lictors

"There is a power here I don't believe we can manage alone. Let us take it down!"

I could, they couldn't.

Could I?

There was such power here, oh in this realm it was a powerful thing, could I manage it, mangle it, bend it to my will.

It was a fiendish winged creature, smoke rising, red eyes piercing from a jet black body.

Time to kill. I stalk forward, claws flexing, feeling the power as it rushed towards Astelan

"Face me fiend, what power are you, for I have never met the like"

I sweep a claw through the air, seeing the marines fists bubble with power. The fiends attention was fully upon the marine. It was always a mistake to turn your back upon me.

I leap forward, wings spreading claws out stretched, ready to sink into the creatures wings to bring it down.

I hope my lictors join me... I feel i need them, for some reason I'm scared....


----------



## unxpekted22

(if it seems like I'm majorly messing something up please tell me. As usual I ended up typing all this out early hours of the morning/really tired)

Tyrant: 

The creature charges the space marine, but is pushed back by an invisible force. Just as you finish your words to the Lictors they reply in unison, "_yes master_." One leaps on top of the creature as the other leaps to its backside. the lictor coming down from above is caught by one of the creature's large hands and hurled away, smashing into one of the collapsed building remains. The creature pushes off the ground and turns around in the air with one beat of its wings, catching the second Lictor by the throat. This is when you make your attack (which can be whatever you choose pretty much) the attack will strike home and the creature, instead of dieing, filters out into a black smoke that disappears leaving nothing but a fading echo of laughter. 

With this, your Lictors speak in your mind again, "_we are in danger master, we must alter our attentions._" Along with the words the signals inform you they mean themselves and by in danger they mean they're physical bodies. With this they are suddenly gone, and you are left only with the marine. Speak to him, Attack him, or decide to leave this state of mind as the Lictors did. 

Astelan:

As the demon charges you, your hand seems to lift automatically to meet its armored chest. As soon as the demon's form makes contact with your palm, claws raised above your head with crimson eyes glowing over you, you feel all the energy in your body leave through your hand in the blink of an eye sending it backwards.

to what may or may not be your surprise the two Lictors suddenly leap towards it, but are easily managed by the demon. However, as they are tossed away, the Hive Tyrant moves in to make his attack; which sends the demon into a cloud of smoke that disperses with nothing more than an echoing laughter. 

The Tyrant will either speak to you, attack you, or leave. React accordingly. If you must defend yourself, you will find yourself fairly drained from smiting the demon, but if you wish you may use smite again, the energy dome, or storm of the Emperor's wrath (lightning ability). If you wish to reply and then attack you may do that as well.


Belial, and Kain:

With both of you lending your support to the front squad and concentrating on the same Ravener, Belial firing into its belly while Kain stabs it repeatedly in the back, the Screeching xeno falls quickly and the squad is able to keep their attentions on the gargoyles above and dodge the airborne attacks. 

Once the Ravener is good and dead and you turn your attentions to the air above, you are sprayed with green blood and body tissue as one of the over-sized gargoyles takes a krak missile to the ribs. The blood isn't enough to burn through your armor. Once one of their own explodes into tiny pieces, the other Gargoyles take flight again back up into the night sky and beyond the skyscraper rooftops. 

You turn around to see the battle is won as the rear squad finishes the remaining Ravener, though 'won' may be quite subjective here as three more brothers are dead and Niko and Solaki are nowhere to be found. Turn to Arx for further orders.

Arx, the brothers you pull from the poison gas begin doing their best to pick away at the gargoyles. Still helping your brothers, you hear an explosion and turn to see the Scythe carrying a missile launcher surrounded by a smoke trail. You realize he hit one of the gargoyles directly as he turns to face you and says through the vox, "As much as I would have loved to kill it slowly, I feel pretty satisfied."

The other Gargoyles quickly realize they are now dealing with too many enemies, and the element of surprise is gone once again, so they make haste over the sky scraping rooftops and into the pitch black sky.

You turn towards the rear squad and see them finish off the last remaining Ravener. Like Kain and Belial who are now walking back towards you, you may feel the battle is over but not won. Three dead and two missing brings the group from 34 to 29. One of those five is the group's only medical officer. Astelan is still unconscious, and one is still badly wounded making your fighting force effectively 27 including yourself.

After clearing the poison gas and getting everybody back together in their remaining squads, you receive the message from Niko. Respond accordingly and give the orders make way to the base. In response to Niko's question of Brig's location you have no information on that. Staying out here any longer in search of Laikus is no longer an option. 

Solaki and Niko:

First, you will get a response from Arx. (I recommend posting after he does)

Afterward you will begin making your way towards the base, having only each other for protection. A few quiet streets seem like mass stretches of road as you move even more cautiously than before, leaving the Gargoyle corpses behind. Some signals indicating allies appear on your HUDs. They are spread out ahead of you somewhere, and none of them are moving. As you proceed to close the distance, the signals start to flicker and soon fade away as the icon fills with soundless black and white static.

You come to an intersection of road, your enhanced vision making what would be pitch black scene lit by a deep blue light. One of Ferim's moons has also made it overhead and it's light is reflecting off of the walls and window panes of the buildings. Across from you on the side of the street is a rhino transport, one of two your chapter brought down to the surface and one you recently found destroyed. It's engine seems to be off since no sound is coming from the vehicle whatsoever. Also, both side and rear hatches are down.

This seems to be a further developed portion of the city, closer to the center of western district rather than its border streets. The building to the right has a large blast whole in its side. What caused it and when is unclear. The middle portion of it's 3-5th floors open to the street below. The road on your right and left seems to have been a main one. Some vehicles from quickly evacuated civilians newly arrived to Ferim lay about.

The buildings on the left seem to be built to be resident complexes. Hastily built and packed together tightly for the low level residing citizens. The first floors have large window panes however, some of which have been broken out and shattered. In the middle of the section of street the rhino is on, there are piles of rubble that must have come from the building with its side blown out.

Investigate the area. You will only find what I have already described to you but where you go and what you do and such will affect the situation. You may also wish to discuss some of this if your character feels the need to say something. I imagine your characters would also be affected by whatever information Arx may tell you.

Charon: 

You now stand in the vastness of the ship's launch bay, under the wing of a Thunderhawk transport facing out towards the blackness of space. You are in a circle with eight other Mortifactors, all of them highly experienced veterans like yourself. Like you, they each wear personalized, detailed suits of power armor: skulls, bones, honors, icons, medallions, tabards, capes, upgraded weapons, errant armor, unique battle helms, dozens of the chapter's symbol, what have you. 

There is also Rhashan, who is briefing the group of the mission, "I want all of you to keep in mind brothers, our objective. We have been called upon to aid in the situation of a fellow marine's dormant psyker abilities coming to light with no teacher to guide him. The Scythes of the Emperor have no Librarians with them to ensure this marine does not fall to the demonic powers of the warp. This is why I am going. I have summoned all of you however for obvious reasons. I will be focusing on this troubled marine, and seeing as there is a Tyranid infestation on the planet I need someone to watch my over my body. As you all I know, our fleet has other important events to see to and could only spare so many for this mission. I was quite fortunate in getting permission for all of you, rather than getting nine young ones. Preparations are almost ready. Stay in the hangar and wait for me, then, we shall go."

The Eight brothers around you are named Rish'ka, Uyra, Kalim, Shin, J'rom, Nyht, Bryon, and Malik. 

With a chapter that is still around its full strength it can be a bit tougher to know everyone's legacies. With enhanced memory, you dont forget what you have already learned, but there is likely much you dont yet know about these brothers. Obviously they are all well respected. They have been pulled from the three companies aboard the ship for this mission. Bryon and Malik are from your company but the others are not. Choose some of them to talk to.


----------



## Concrete Hero

The battle began to dissolve almost as fast as it had started. Arx swept his gaze over the Brothers he had pulled from the gas before feeling the sharp taste of blood in his mouth. He swallowed the thick coppery liquid, feeling it trickle back down his throat.

A sharp explosion what felt like only metres away caused him to spin on the spot, snatching the Meltagun from his hip as he moved.

'As much as I would have loved to kill it slowly, I feel pretty satisfied.'

He saw the large barrel of the missile launcher in the Brother's hands and didn't need to see the explosion of blood and gore to realise what had happened. He nodded grimly, unable to smile even under his helmet.

Arx was about to turn to access the situation when his Vox picked up an incoming signal from Brother Niko.

He was relieved to hear that Him and Solaki were well, he had lost sight of them as soon as the battle had begun.

'_It is good to hear you are well. Brig? We lost track of them soon after they... Split from us. Do you have reason to believe it was them who fired upon the Gargoyles?_'

Arx was silent as Niko had echoed his thoughts almost exactly.

'_Yes... We'll be moving back, may the Emperor watch over you as you return. This was a mistake..._' Arx cut off the vox after that, turning to the assembling Scythes.

'_It pains me to say but staying away from the base is no longer a viable option, we will be moving back immediately. The lives wasted here were my responsibility_'

He turned away from them, and his voice an inaudible whisper '_I'm sorry._'


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

As Charon stood and listened to Rhashan he kept his mind focused on the coming battle, the Tyranid menace was certainly not something to be underestimated at all, if you did it would kill you. Rhashan left and Charon nodded to Bryon and Malik, *"Brothers, good to see you again."* he turned towards the others, *"I am afraid I am not familiar with you brothers, I am Charon, Veteran-Sergeant alongside Bryon and Malik here. I am afraid I do not know much about many of you."* He stood there silently and waited for one of them to answer, each one had his own decorations to his armor and special add-ons and molds, upgraded weapons and whatnot. 

This was to be a strikeforce of veterans from their chapter, one that would not be trifled with and one that would bring death upon the heads of the Tyranid menace once again.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko’s storm-grey eyes swept the shadows around him as Arx’s deep voice issued through the vox, the distortion of distance doing little to hide the depth of emotion that laced the older marine’s words. The young Scythe paused, his chainsword growling faintly in his black armoured fist, taking a deep breath and blinking the vox back open in a private channel to Arx,

‘Now is not the time for a crisis of faith, Brother,’

Niko’s tone was hushed, the clinical bluntness he hid behind softened by a shared pain,

‘You are not the only one to bear the weight of this day, Arx. Soon I will wear the white as I have trained for these years, to mend the flesh of you and our brothers, but the flesh is nothing without purity of the soul,’

Niko paused, the crunch of glass under his and Solaki’s boots sounding overly loud in the echoes of the city,

‘The men do not need a leader, Arx, we already have one in Lord Sotha,’

The street spilled out into an avenue wrought with the scars of battle. The black flanks of a Rhino sat upon the stone unmoving, a boxy shape in the waning moonshadows. Niko edged forward, the silence unnerving, 

‘What we do need is to be reminded of our _purpose _here. Why do we die here upon this world, Arx? Do not seek to be what you are not, my brother… the Scythes of the Emperor need you to be true to who you are in your heart. We walk upon the edge of darkness, Arx. _Remind us of why we hate…_’


----------



## deathbringer

(OOC: The temptation to say Well well Mr astelan was so strong but i fought the urge)

Obediance... relief, together we will destroy this new menace, its attention is elsewhere, struggling against some force, what of this force, can i conjure such mysteries.

I must discover more of this place.... there are mysteries i know nought of but first the creature must be destroyed. I will quiz the scythe... then i will kill him... slay him for the prize he stole from me

The lictors strike as one above and behind, together in unison, they are fast, small comets blazing across my eye, to kill them will be a splendid challenge, my skills will indeed by tested.

The thing is quicker one hand batting one away,swatting it like an inconvenient fly, the other hand spinning as it pushes off the ground wings beating, its gnarled fingers catch the lictor by the throat. I leap into the air two my clawed hnads tearing at its wings forcing it to the ground, my jaws close around its neck, sinking into....

Nothing, wreaths of black smoke fade away my claws clutching empty air, is slash at the wisps but it dances away from my fingers leaving laughter, chilling laughter echoing through my mind.

Confusion, what infernal power is this....
I turn to the lictors yet their minds lance into mind
"we are in danger master, we must alter our attentions." 

I sense the danger assailing there physical forms, a shower of images reflecting through my mind and my words fade away as there forms melt away.

I turn to the scythe and move closer, cautiously my claws furled ready to strke yet i must have answers

I must know of this place, i speak, whether he will understand me i do not know, i press images towards his mind, yet whether he will receive them i do not know. This place is foreign

"What did i just attack, what infernal menace inhabits this place that cannot be harmed by claw or fang? Speak quickly fiend for your death approaches"


----------



## dark angel

It was charging towards him now, thudding and roaring, fickle claws held to flay Astelan. The Marine stood undaunted however, his face contorted into a maddened display of defiance and rage. He was an Astartes. He felt no fear. He felt the flesh of his arm rippling with his pulse, he could feel the nerves forcing it upwards. His hand touched with the defiled Aquila upon the things chest and he could feel a tremendous surge slip along his outstretched fingers. Its crimson eyes flashed with rage and there was a crackling hiss before it tossed backwards, squealing in some ear-bleeding tongue.

The whole spectacle was a terrible mélange of swirling colours and primordial growls. That was all Astelan saw, the dance which played out before him as the ethereal Lictors dueled and died with the Empyrean-Dwelling Skia-Thing. And then it was gone in an aromatic cloud of violet, its judging laughter maniacally echoing around the false realm. The Tyranid turned its attentions towards him at that, its claws half-sheathed in fleshy sacs. It was ready to kill him.

He clenched his fists when it spoke. Small orbs of swirling gold and silver began to weave within, twisting and contorting. His lips curled in disgust, the pockmarked visage of his itching as a vibrant static slithered along every nerve and vein in his body. Some absurd reason wanted him to reply, yet the more moral one simply told him that he should attack the creature where it stood. He could feel the pectoral muscles that bulged in his chest tighten with his heart.

‘I do not know what that thing is. Perhaps, _Xeno_, your amalgamation of flesh and bone is far too weak to break such a thing’ He laughed and raised his hands, silver slithers of lightning leaping forth. They wrapped around the creature and he finished ‘Now, please, don’t threaten me!’


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain kept on stabbing down with his combat knife, tearing out fist size chunks of flesh and innards with every strike. He bellowed his hate for the foul xeno as he did it, wallowing in the fact that the xeno would soon die. With a mighty roar of anguish and pain it fell to the ground, overcome by the combined space marine fire and Kain's vicious attacks. Kain quickly stabbed it in the throat and head, making sure it was dead before relaxing. He calmly reloaded his bolter and checked the sky for any more of the flying menace that was the Gargoyles.

Kain opened fire on the Gargoyles that flew all around them. However when one exploded in a shower of gore, a direct hit from a krak missile the rest of the tyranids pulled away. Kain was covered in the blood and gore from both the Ravenor and the Gargoyles. Kain now turned his attention to the rear squad, having to deal with a Ravenor. It was dead and dealt with however, and there were no more xeno filth left. Kain turned to survey the damage that was done to the Space Marines. Three more of his brethren had died and both brother Niko and Solakai had been abducted by the vile tyranids. However they were alive and in contact with Arx. They would be fine. 

Kain turned around to Arx, for now his Lord and commander. He moved over to him quickly, weaving his way through his brothers. He heard his brother and he was shocked. How could they give up the search for Laikus. He needed them and Arx had been the one that had insisted that they should all go. This had resulted in his dead brothers he thought to himself. If Kain had been allowed to lead a small squad they could have gone unnoticed. _"My Lord, I would like to keep up the search for Laikus. We will need him, and if so I am willing to search on my own to go unnoticed. I will follow your orders though should you wish otherwise."_


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki stood up from the gargoyles corpses as Niko spoke "We are 7.63 kilometers north by north west of where I am reading the majority of the squad, brother, and as you have noted spore mines are at liberty in the area between us. It would be a better choice to press onwards to the base and perhaps locate our saviours though I have a feeling we already know who they are." Solaki nodded in agreement. Niko was being level headed, but Solaki couldn't escape the feeling that they were marching to their deaths, or that he was leaving his brothers to die. Still a whisper of rationality reached his conscious brain and told him to listen to Niko. They opened a group vox channel and Niko explained to Arx where they were and where they were heading, and that he thought they should rendevous at the main base. Niko paused briefly, and asked "Do you have reason to believe it was them who fired upon the Gargoyles?" "Sir, one of the gargoyles bore plasma wounds, and the only weapon with the range damage capability to bring it down is a plasma cannon, and Zurick is the only one to bear that weapon. Still, they are no where in sight. All we can hope is that they watch them selves and that the Emperor brings them back to us unharmed." Niko continued and Solaki fell silent again. Once Niko was done, Arx spoke, but his words chilled Solaki "Yes... We'll be moving back, may the Emperor watch over you as you return. This was a mistake..." After that the vox went dead, but Solaki still responded into the static, as if Arx would still be able to hear him. "May the Emperor watch over you too brother, you need it more than any of us..." Solaki's voice trailed off at the end. The realisation hit home. He had forced Arx into this, he had asked him to lead and convinced him inspite of his doubts, and now his brother bore the pain of the deaths of his men as if he had killed them himself. Solaki knew it was a soul crushing weight, and one he knew perhaps a little to well. Still, now was not a time for remenicing about what might have been, or what mistakes were made. They had their objective, and so had to continue onwards to it.

As the marched ever onwards, Solaki tried to think of words to say to Arx to comfort him, but none came to mind. The sun over head was diving into the horizon, and before long Niko and Solaki were alone in the twilight of one of Ferim's moons, with only each other as company or protection. Suddenly, icons of allies flickered on Solaki's HUD, only to disappear moments later without a sound, leaving them once again; alone. To a normal man, the road the two Astartes walked would have seemed pitch black, but Solaki's enhanced vision told him other-wise. Even though he could see, Solaki didn't like being stranded far from help with an enemy well know for it's camoflage abilities. It made him...nervous. Evey now and again, Solaki would hear a stone being kicked, or a breeze blowing through a strange hole and creating a distant howl, and his hands would twitch around his weapons, their grip only relaxing when once more the world fell silent. After a while, they reached a fork in the road. They had appeared to have reached the inner, more developed section of the city, as apposed to the outer rim which they had been walking thus far. To the right, there was a large building that had had it's side blown out from about the 3rd to the 5th floor. Solaki couldn't fathom what had made the cavity, but even more curious to him was that there were no bodies, no ichor. It seemed to bear resemblance to a battle explosion, but all around him there seemed to be no reason for a battle to take place. No bodies of alien or Astartes, and no blood or limbs of either side, so it seemed like nothing more than senseless violence. To Solaki's left there was, what he guessed to be, resident complexes. These, unlike the other building, were mostly intact, except for a few windows which had been smashed or broken in. But again, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for these acts of senseless violence. However, in amonsts all the sights before him, one drew his attention and transfixed it to itself. In the middle of the road was an empty Scythes of the Emperor rhino, all the hatches down and eeriely silent. "Niko..." Solaki spoke in a slightly hushed tone "...I think you need to see this." His battle brother turned his head, and followed Solaki's arm past where his extended finger was and saw the Rhino also. Solaki started to walk over to it, hoping to find some information on where the brothers who had piloted this vehicle were, and more importantly, if they were still alive...


----------



## unxpekted22

_(an update where I actually don't have to describe too much lol. omg! I am surprised at myself for taking this long but as I told several of you I too am quite busy. during the summerI have to make lots of money so i dont feel bad about not working during the semesters )_

Arx: Make your responses to those who have spoken to you, Niko, solaki if you wish, and Kain.

Kain: You may respond to Arx's decision once he makes it. this may be before or after the next bit of your update- You turn and take in the aftermath, and find the two halves of the brother who was so quickly taken away from your ranks by one fatal swing of a tyranid's talon. The brother hadnt even seen it coming, dead, just like that. the rear squad was already taking care of their lost brothers' remains. They were just now pulling out the first brother who had fallen into the whole, the one who's death no one saw but the submerged Ravener. You yourself have already lost one squad today. Do you feel you may lose yet another entire squad? Have you done something in the past that perhaps the emperor may be punishing you for specifically letting you be the sole survivor of destroyed squads? Even if you feel no such thing, do you now believe Ferim will be the Scythe's final downfall or do you remain steadfast and confident that the hive tyrant will be slain by the hands of your chapter?

Belial: You notice Astelan's prone form come back to life as he begins to sit up and the energy that had been building around him disperses into thin air. Go to him, and check his status. You may also go over similar things that I asked in Kain's update. Furthermore, despite Laikus's tendencies to be aloof you know he is a close brother, closer to you than most of the others and you know he is still out here somewhere.

Niko and Solaki: Continue inspecting the area and playing off of each other's posts for a bit. (good descriptions in your post deus it looks like I actually managed to get you guys to see what I was seeing) If Brig and his squad of three are here somewhere, why are they here? And why havn't they tried to make contact to let the others know they are back in the city?

Astelan: Your lightning shoots forth at the Hive Tyrant, but the king of your most hated enemy looks at the wound as if it was nothing more than annoying. It lets out a deafening roar and a huge claw comes flying towards you and all you see is black. The darkness begins to fill in with a dull light as your eyes adjust and hear the voices of your brothers. Your body shoots up into a sitting position. You see the corpses of Raveners, a giant gargoyle, and the remains of spore mines. You see a Scythe of the emperor on the cold stone ground split clean in two, and beyond the form of Arx more of your brothers are igniting the remains of yet another fallen comrade. Flames fly high into the air from a hole in the ground near their position. Someone steps close to you, and by the greaves alone you can tell it is Belial.

Tyrant: The marine attempts to strike you with his powers. Perhaps you flinch at first but after a slight sting is all you feel you let out a deafening roar and reach out to crush the pathetic worm. Your claw grasps nothing once more however. You remember this is not a physical realm. Physical pain was not the way to get things done in a mental state. In such a deep slumber you may find it difficult to go back to concentrating on the actions of your brethren. I'm sure if you put your mind to it, heh, you can find a way out of this psychological state. It is up to you though, you may go back to controlling your tyranid forces or dwell in this realm and see what you can discover. 

Charon: Bryon and Malik nod back simultaneously, _"Good to see you as well brother." they both say.

Shin responds to you next, "I am in the same ordeal brother Charon, I am a bit ashamed to admit that I am not perfectly familiar with each of your legacies."

then Uyra, "We don't need to know every detail of eachother's past, so long as we have faith in each other's abilities on the battlefield. I am confident that Rhashan took great care in choosing each of us. There are almost 300 battle brothers on this barge and we are the eight he selected for his strike force. This shall be a separate bond from all of the others we have with our separate companies and personal battle squads."

All of eight of you agree and make positive gestures respective to the chapter's customs. Malik then asks the group, "Let us share our near death visions. What has the Emperor told or shown to you?"

Charon, you shall be the first to reply._


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial looked around at the carnage about them, more fallen brothers to mourn,_*when will this ever end*_ he thought to himself. _*We keep moving from one disaster to another, The only way this is ever gonna end will be when we take the head of this blasted tyrant.*_.

Walking over towards astelan he started to think about Laikus, his brother was still out there and almost certainly in great danger. Laikus might seem a bit aloof and strange to the others but Belial and Laikus had a history going back to Sotha and the heroic last stand, He couldnt leave him out there alone. Belial opened up a vox to Arx, "*Brother i know your orders are to return to base and regroup which i think is sound tactics and the right thing to do, we are too open out here and easy pickings. However i would like permission to stay behind to look for Laikus. I feel i owe our esteemed brother my life from back on Sotha, I would be very grateful for your permission to do so, but if you decide otherwise i will comply with your order fully.*

Out of the corner of his eye Belial noticed Astelan stirring and beginning to sit up. *So it still lives he mused to himself letting his lips turn into a scowl*. He headed over to Astelan making sure his bolt pistol was still loaded just in case, while he waited an a responce from Arx.


----------



## dark angel

Astelan allowed his scarred face to grimace as a insectoid claw, barbed and gnarled, swung towards him. His hands grew into fists and he stood stock-still, accepting that he had failed. He felt wind brush across his face, and then there was darkness. For an apparent eternity he floated through nothingness, his black and golden form wreathed in shadows. The servos of his armour made no whine when Astelan attempted to move his limbs, they simply refused to twist. His muscles felt constricted and he let out a soundless cry of agony, yet however hard he tried nothing emitted from his slack mouth.

And then he was awake. A sudden jolt brought him up into a sitting position, his armour creaking as he did so. He looked around groggily, wondering where he was. Clumps of meat rested nearby, purples, greens and oranges in the abundance. Serpentine forms, those of Ravener’s, rent and battered were also coiled in the street. That was not the most staggering of things however. A giant bat like being, leaking fluids, was pulled open on the ground and Astelan felt his hearts jump. 

_What had gone on here?…._

The Scythe continued scanning around him, looking for any signs of his brethren. What he found did not please him. A Marine was strewn on the ground, cleaved in two by some form of blade. Intestines slipped forth, decorated in rich crimson that sparkled gently in the light. Astelan knew he was dead, his form unmoving and emptying slowly. Further along he could see the silhouettes of Astartes, framed against a pyre, of which the crisping and withering form of yet another Astartes rested.

_That bastard…._

Astelan reached down and wrapped his ceramite fingers around the pommel of his combat blade and spun it in one hand, allowing the blade to be concealed behind forearm. A pair of greaves stepped into his eyesight and Astelan felt his eyes narrow, contemplating on who possibly it could be. He recognized them after a few seconds and his grip upon his blade grew tighter. With a snort he shook his shaggy white hair from his face and dabbed his free hand across his lips, tasting the coppery tang of blood.

_So the whelp lives…._

‘Belial’ He growled, his voice laden with malice ‘Are you not going to help me up?’


----------



## Concrete Hero

The soft blip of a private channel linking to his own suit sounded in his helmet. Niko opening a closed version of the frequency they were just on. He wasn't really surprised.

'_I will never lose my Faith Brother. This is something you can always count on._' His voice was perfectly flat. '_Though I feel I must have acted out for you to think that._'

He looked over as the Scythes began to treat the fallen. He had been practically useless in this encounter.

‘The men do not need a leader, Arx, we already have one in Lord Sotha.’

Niko's words resounded within Arx. He had been trying to act as Sotha in his absence. He didn't wish to lead them in anything other than spirit, or keep them fighting where they may falter.

Arx was preparing to respond, though he noticed Kain making his way towards him, hailing him even as he thought it.

"My Lord, I would like to keep up the search for Laikus. We will need him, and if so I am willing to search on my own to go unnoticed. I will follow your orders though should you wish otherwise."

It was not that it sounded like Kain was questioning his actions, though he could sense the underlying disagreement pretty clearly. Arx did not blame him though, if the roles were switched he would be doing the exact same thing, insisting that he be the one to search for their missing Brother. Maybe that was why he had spoken against it.

'_That attack iterated my past point perfectly. It was my error in bringing us here and I have to do everything in my power to ensure as many Brothers make it back to the base as possible. I cannot consciously order any Brothers to split from the main group when I am certain they will be attacked._' He clicked his Vox so it isolated the channel he and Kain were sharing, cutting it off from the rest of their Brothers.

'_And you can appreciate why I cannot make any such order. But of course there is nothing official about any orders I give, so I could not stop you if you chose to remain and search._'

He broke his gaze from Kain and his helm titled the the floor, eyes staring through lenses at the Astartes Blood spilled on the floor. He spoke through the public vox channel.

'_We have wasted too much time Brothers. We will return to the base now, but soon our Fury will find the skulking monster even as he cowers from us. The Light of the Emperor will pierce and dark stronghold it may hold. We will not fail, because we cannot fail. We owe it to our fallen Brothers, old and new, we owe it to this world. We have the power to prevent what happened to OUR home world happening here._'


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial tensed alittle when he heard Astelan saying _are you not going to help me up_. "*Oh ill help you up alright brother on the condition you dont intend doing something stupid with that blade you are trying to conseal*

With that Belial grudgingly put out his hand to help him up. "*We may not have to like each other but fighting among ourselves is not going to help, You have missed alot while you were sedated, things have gotten alot worse so we need to put this behind us for the time being. I still do not trust you and will be watching your every move but i will not draw my weapon again unless you give me a reason to*


----------



## dark angel

‘Why, oh why would I bother hiding a blade from such an intelligent Brother?’ Mocked Astelan as Belial hefted him up by his free hand, his legs shaking as the last elements of the sedatives within his bloodstream dwindled away. His limbs felt heavy as he twisted them, making sure that everything was in waking order.

Despite feeling as though a Primarch had struck him silly, Astelan began to get his bearings. Smoke curled around them from along the street, twisting around his mighty form in grey-black tendrils. He could kill Belial in an instant, slip his blade through the back of his neck for a silent kill and sever his spine. Or he could split his trachea or thrust the blade through his fellows mouth and up through the nasal cavity and into the brain. It would be a silent thing if he did it correctly, but then he would have the blood on his hands. 

_Best wait for the madness of battle if he was to do such a thing…_

‘Don’t worry cur, I do not trust you either. Nor will I allow you to stain my chances, so I would be a quiet little Scythe if I was you. Things have gotten a lot worse in my absence, oh isn’t _that _a coincidence, _Brother_? Ha! I knew this would happen. Come, lead me to the others, and don’t worry I will not put a blade into your back. Yet.’


----------



## deathbringer

Flashes of energy, electricity rippled from the black armoured bastards fingers and i flinched writhing away yet there was only a light sting, the smallest blister upon my skin and now the irony of my fear bursts from me

Laughter, followed by a roar of retaliatory rage and i sweep the claw down upon the marine, only to be greated by smoke once more. Black smoke curls around my fingers and my blood curdling howl dies away. I smash my claw at the granite stone ground and my claw merely melts away passing through dissappearing

Yet my claw is there... the thought is certain and it reforms my limbs now intact

So strange...

This is not a physical realm...

This realm bends to my thoughts... this is a mental realm

Yet why am i here?

The question taxes me and I run my tongue around my teeth, the taste of curdled blood soothing me....

I was not meant to be here that was clear, only the marine and the menace... yet something brought me here...

What was i doing, commanding my children, what were the lictors doing, communicating with my enemies

Feral anger flared, they would be punished

Something in our communication, in the way our minds link with others brought us here, we were sucked into this place, this mental realm.

The daemon was the power here, he must own this realm, yet where is he.... had i vanquished him, had my destruction left me the master of this place.

No...

My arrogance is pierced by common sense, I am imprisoned here, i am not its master.

Yet i must become so, how to leave, there is little of interest here

Or is there something of interest. The lightening of the marine stirs in my mind, the shield he conjured, so similar to the shield i conjured in the physical realm to guard my champion warrior.

Is it possible that i too could conjure the lightening. The very thought of racked lightening striking the base makes me smile, i could destroy them from afar, destroy them with my mind.

Yet what use is it in this mental realm, where claw and fang are no use. So much confuses me, and what of my children, can they hold there own without me, who knows what madness would occur. 

Should i remain or should i leave, if the lictors could I must be able to, i am far mightier than them, but is it might that governs this place, might or knowledge?

Knowledge, the word sends tremors up my spine, for I know so little, I a collosus in battle and gore am but a child in knowledge. I know so little, how i yearn for my mother, long dead on the world of my birth, for someone to teach me to aid me, and whom in turn I could overthrow.

Yet if my mother was still here would I be me, or would I merely be a slave, a mindless drone to her higher power.

Would I sacrifice sentience for knowledge... nay

Knowledge can be gleaned but slavery is til death and I am still very much alive.

Time to leave her, for if that daemon returns, I may not defeat him alone, he knew so much...

How to leave,the thought troubles me, yet the answer comes gradually. though it terrifies me. Alll have left by claw, if i plunge my claw into myself surely I will leave, surely this will end.

If i am wrong i am screwed, forever the joke, the tyrant that died by his own claw, yet who will know... it is my only chance, i cannot stay here forever, my brothers need me.

my claw quivers slightly as it decends yet i do not hesitate. I have to leave my children need me. The talons sweep down and plunge it into my breast.

Agony and darkness envelop me in a swift rush...

(Most inventive thing I could think of however if you kill my tyrant because of this unekpekted.... grumbled threats and curses :ireful2: )


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain heard his brothers words and even though he didn't like them he could not disagree. Arx was being sensible, while Kain was letting his emotions run high. His entire squad had been butchered and now more of his brothers had died. The fact that Lakius would be left out alone angered Kain beyond belief. He responded to Arx on the vox. _"Brother, I am not questioning you, my emotions have got the better of me. I don't like the idea of leaving a brother behind especially after what has happened today."_ He fell in behind Arx keeping a sharp eye out for anything unusual. Kain couldn't think of anything that he had done that would have bitten him in the ass this much. He had done everything he had been ordered to do, he had gone above what was required of him. He was devout and prayed and fasted to the Emperor regularly, what could be punishing him this much? The fact that he was a survivor of a chapter that numbered so few now? Kain could only wonder.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon spoke up telling his new squadmates what he had seen, *"Our brothers are in trouble, more so then I think we were previously led to believe. My visions were hazy at best and it was like I was in a fog for the most part, but from what I could tell an errant psyker is not the worst of our worries, I believe that the Tyranid menace has also made its play in this war. What I find most disturbing is that from what I could glean......this force of xenos is unique.....different then the others, this is what we must keep in mind while we are aiding our brothers in their plight."*


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki stepped tentativly towards the empty shell of the Rhino. The crunch of gravel seemed to be a deafening roar in these silent midnight streets, each one reverberating like a hail of gun-fire through this eerie silence. Even without filtering out Niko's footsteps and occasional hushed words, Solaki could tell that all that was around them was silence. It hung in the air like a bat, watching and waiting for Solaki and Niko to split or turn their backs and it would spirit them away to their doom. Throughout all of Solaki's years he had heard the death screams of men and worlds, watched human and alien flesh burn and char, listened to the tortured agonies or men and aliens, men and alien he had killed. But nothing, not even the howl of an Ork warboss, the roar of the tyrant back on Sotha or the hateful blasphemies of traitor astartes, nothing terrefied him more than this deafening silence. As his boot his the cold metal shell of the Rhino, a loud bang reverberated through the streets lit by the half light of twilight. As Solaki stepped in, he regarded coldly that the Rhino seemed to take on a blue-ish hue in this light. But Solaki wasn't concerned by this trivial fact and dismissed is, instead searching for clues as to the where abouts of these wayward battle brothers who owned this vehicle. Like the streets outside, there was no sign of a conflict or of and form of battle at all. 

The walls and the floor was pristine, like it had just been polished by the tech adepts. No spent bolter shells or scouring from xenos bio-acid. Nothing! A few magazines gleamed in the light of the moon and stars that burned in the sky above them, but other than that, the Rhino was void of all weapons. It was as if the inhabitants of the Rhino had lost all sense of sanity, disembarked, taken all the weapons, attacked aetherial figures that only they could see, and then vanished. None of this made sense to Solaki. He must be missing something. For some unknown reason, Solaki's minde drifted back to Brig and his squad. Had they not taken a Rhino? If this was their Rhino, where they still in the area? If this was the case, then they would know they were here, and Solaki would know of their presence also. Even if they were shrouding themselves, why had they not contacted them? Ever since they had evidently saved them, they had neither heard or seen hide or tail of Brig and his squad. *None of this makes sense* Solaki thought and wanted to howl impotently at the sky, but the shroud of silence chocked the words from his throat and they remained solely in his head. Solaki stepped into the driver's section of the Rhino and turned to face Niko. It had occurred to him that it had been long moments since him had last spoke, and so Solaki decided to break this silence. "Do you think we could ride this thing back to base?" Solaki asked, although his voice was little more than a whisper. The whole situation, the void of conflict, the absence of fellow astartes, the radio silence of Brig and his squad, the fact that nothing here made any sense, all of it was making Solaki nervous, and it was showing in his voice...


----------



## Euphrati

Niko had moved ghost-like behind his fellow Scythe, lost in the mire of his thoughts as Solaki ducked into the darkened interior of the rhino. The blue shadows of the streets carried back only the echoes of their own footfalls and even those sounded hollow to his ears. 

Steel-grey eyes scanned the surrounding structures; the targeting system in Niko’s optical array followed his retinal movements with data-laced outlines, the hole torn in a nearby building drawing his attention like a moth to a flame. Niko blink-clicked the rune that enhanced the magnification, studying the way the steel of the building had been twisted and the glass shattered in radial spiderwebs of fractures. No bestial creature had made that wound upon the city; no, it was caused by a purposeful set of explosives. The signs were there if one knew where to look and Niko’s trained eye picked them out of the gaping wound like a predator would pick out the weaker beasts in a herd of thousands. The realization only served to open further questions;_ why had Brig and his squad deserted the transport and where were they now, why had a blast been rigged into the side of this structure?_

Solaki’s words brought Niko’s mind back to sharp-edged focus and the young Scythe shifted his weight as he turned to regard his brother through the rear hatch of the transport. The faint sound of metal against ceramite caused him to pause, eyes darting down to the tumble of crushed duracrete that the transport had churned up in its travels. With a quick motion he holstered his blade and bent to scoop the item out of the dust, holding it up in the faint light of the moon for Solaki to see. 

The spent casing of a bolt round gleamed dully in the pale lunar rays.

‘Whatever happened here, our brothers did not leave without a fight,’

Niko spoke quietly, not having missed the tell-tale wounds of bolt rounds upon the surface of the street nor that of the surrounding buildings,

‘I would not dissuade you from attempting to re-awaken the war-spirit of this transport, though I think you would find it unwilling to answer the call of any but that of the Cult of Mars. The Sergeant is not the kind to leave such a machine impotent in the streets of a dying world when we have so few of them left. No, something else caused them to abandon this here, yet it does little to explain the fact that the explosion nearby was set by hand… I have an ill feeling about this, brother. I do not enjoy the notion that our own seem to be turned upon one another.’

Niko scanned the empty streets carefully as he spoke, covering Solaki’s inspection of the silent rhino with his bolt pistol at the ready.


----------



## unxpekted22

Arx, Belial, Astelan, and Kain:

Belial, unaware that Kain voxed Arx a similar question, Arx tells the same thing to you as he told to him. The group stays as a whole while moving back to the base. You merely walk away from Astelan and try to keep your distance from him, realizing he is just trying to pick another fight with you. 

The last fallen marine's body is burned...it was obvious even to one not holding the title of apothecary that the gene-seeds here were all too lost. The night progresses and about half way to the military base no more attacks have come. The group stays quiet for obvious reasons, including private channel communication so that every brothers' attention is trained on the skies and shadows. 

From a narrow side path between structures comes the sound of something moving fast. Every Scythes' weapon is instantly aimed down the path in preparation, but your enhanced eyesight quickly distinguishes it as a two legged figure. The bolters aren't lowered though yet, of course.

An Imperial officer runs out into the street you're on holding a power-sword in hand and exclaims thanks to the Emperor. His thick black uniform and cape are tattered and beaten, but his body seems to still be in one solid piece. The only parts of him not covered by his uniform are his two hands and face all of which is bionic spare a quarter of his face. The nearest Scythe asks him his situation,

In his usual loud voice, though seemingly tired, he replies"_Sergent Jole, marine, commander of Remik's first bionics infantry unit...or was until they were all killed by those damn bug bombs and what your techmarine called Lictors._ he pauses a moment, "_Who's in charge here if I might ask? the Tyranids weren't the only ones planning to kill my men after all, that fellow of yours had 'em rigged up as bombs, and I must say I am pretty damned pissed off my men were planned for use as explodin' bait."_

Arx, Belial, and Kain, 
talk with Jole and each other. (and no, none of you knew anything about laikus using the guardsmen as bombs)

Astelan, As the discussion with the imperial officer continues, a brother marine steps to your side looking straight ahead, bolter in both hands and says to you, "I've heard your distaste for Brother Belial...It's his fault one of ours lays dead in two pieces now instead of one you know. He should have been the one killed if you ask me."

Niko and Solaki:

A metallic clang snaps your attention to the open rear hatch of the rhino. Both your aimed weapons lower as techmarine Laikus steps further into the transport. He puts a finger to the mouth of his helm indicating for you to remain silent as he moves more quietly than you ever would have imagined him able to towards the front of the rhino. A noise in each of your helms prepares you for his voice as he opens a private channel. "_Good to see you conscious Niko and Solaki. I apologize for not being able to get to you sooner after they killed the Gargoyles carrying you, but our hands have been more than full._ getting a better look you both notice how scarred and beat up his power armor is. _"I was with a guard unit when it was overwhelmed by Spore mines and then a pair of lictors. All that remained were the officer and I. We eventually became separated as we each took on one of the Lictors. Since running into Sergent Brig's squad I have seen both so I assume the formidable Imperial Officer has fallen. However, that does not concern me, we hunted these Lictors since sundown and they have hunted us, and you two have recently become the bait. My absolute main concern has been getting back to this vehicle. _ in a frustrated tone, "_This is what happens when one not educated by the adeptus mechanicus attempts to pilot a vehicle in battle._

As he says this your enhanced eyes pick up the slightest of movements amongst the giant whole in the side of the building across the street. Zooming in with your helms you watch as Brother Zurick, crouching, slowly works his way out from inside the structure's fourth floor somewhere and sinks into a firing position among the blasted rubble. He has fixed a loose piece of cloth over the top of his plasma canon that moves smoothly with the light breeze blowing through the hollowed side of building, so as to cover the weapon's bright light as much as possible without restricting too much release of heat. 

Laikus speaks again though his back is now turned, being in the front of the rhino, "We're fairly certain the tyranids have been the cause of so much scanner malfunction. Most likely it was the Hive tyrant that caused the major electrical malfunctions in all the aircraft on your way to find it. In any case I need to fix this engine, And since your being used as a lure, I'd appreciate it if you exit the vehicle. Brig should have you covered."

--He continues working on the engine from inside the rhino. choose your actions based on what you have seen (now and in the past) and what he has said. The 'right' action to take is simply what your character would do. There are plenty of things to use as cover throughout the street.


Charon

The others explain similar visions, but being the veterans you are the group remains confident that whatever lays ahead of you on the world of Ferim will end as a successful mission. Rhashan returns and your group of ten enters the thunderhawk.

The thunderhawk makes its way to one of the fleet's frigates, and out the view-ports you see another thunderhawk traveling in the opposite direction. Once aboard the frigate _Bone Coffin_, your squad and the respective serfs aboard the vessel prepare to part from the main fleet. Rhashan explains that your squad is taking a frigate so that when your affairs on Ferim were completed, you had a ship that could travel through the warp. This would prevent the need to rendezvous with more from the chapter later, for that could take an unpredictable amount of time, and time that would likely be needed elsewhere. 

He finishes with, "_We must board the Scythes' battle barge and speak with their only remaining apothecary so he may explain the situation and travel to the surface with us. "_

--this would be a good time for you to help me get to know Charon better, before I start his interactions with others. Keep in mind while you and the others in this squad are going to Ferim, the fleet you are parting from is heading back towards your homeworld to prepare for a new Tyranid threat coming from the galactic south.

Tyrant:

Your attempt is successful. Your mind re-enters its normal state of sleep while still maintaining the hivemind. Its hard to tell how long you were away, but it quickly becomes apparent that it was long enough for several of your prized ones to fall. Without your guidance and heightened knowledge and speed to back them up, the ambush attack you had planned resulted in death on both sides. your children had carried out the attack as they had last seen from your mind but not as well as they would have if you were controlling. Three of the marines were killed, but three gargoyles and three raveners lay dead as well. Trying to find your Lictors you are unsuccessful, they have broken their link with your hivemind again. They likely dont want you pulling them toward something else, instead wishing to follow their own agenda and putting their lives before yours unlike the rest of your loyal servants.

Your warrior's attack shall come soon but not yet. remaining gargoyles still provide you eyes in the sky. The large group still in the city has begun to move further into the city, most likely towards the heavily fortified location that your gargoyles had scouted out earlier. The tunnel is complete, though you have no raveners left. He and his gaunts will likely not be able to get the marines before they reach the base. Shall he assault the base as soon as he can, not at all, or wait it out until you are ready with renewed forces and combine the assault?


----------



## dark angel

Astelan didn’t care for the Imperial Guardsmen that came trotting up after they had set off. His legs felt steady now and the periodic quivering within his arms had halted so that he could grip his Bolter tightly. He stood alone from the main knots of Astartes, staring up at the night sky, his scar-riddled lips pursing tightly. This was no typical invasion by the Tyranid Xenos. There was no beautiful, deadly swirls of colour across the sky which would herald the thousands of ships, no fleshy rain that devastated the country. Then again, it was hardly an actual invasion. There was a single Bio-Form upon the world of command, a single being. If the Scythes could just rid of that with an orbital…..

“No.” He said aloud, not caring for those around him ‘Sotha nor Arx are sane enough to do such a thing.’

And then a Brother stood next to him, Bolters spread upon both hands, his armour bearing the tell-tale signs of acid scarring and devastating claw marks. Yet he bore these proudly, his back straight and his shoulders wide. Whoever he was, the identity was hidden to him. Whether this was due to his recent lapse or due to the blank faceplate which he wore. Astartes helms were remarkably grim things, with a pair of emerald, crimson or azure eyes and a grilled rebreather. This particular Brother wore no laurels or other markings upon him and thus Astelan could only get the feeling that his dulled eyes were scanning him.

‘I’ve heard your distaste for Brother Belial’ He growled, pausing for a moment and fidgeting with his feet ‘It’s his fault that one of ours lays dead in two pieces now instead of one you know. He should have been the one killed if you ask me..’

His voice was shocking mechanical through his implanted Vox and Astelan was simply flabbergasted as to who it was. He had fought amongst this small band of Brothers since Sotha and the disastrous Devil’s Coffin, yet he could not pluck the identity of this Astartes from his miasmal mind. He looked away from the star-ridden skies, finally getting the look of his fellow. He snorted as he followed the slightest flinches from his fellow, though they were surprisingly few. Despite his apparent anger, he concealed it perfectly.

‘Please, Brother, whom are you? And do tell me..’ His voice dropped into a whisper ‘Are you the sole Brother who has such opinions?’


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon followed his brothers into the Thunderhawk and took a seat before bowing his head and closing his eyes. A brother chapter needed help, and for his chapter to send this many veterans, two of which he knew very well and knew that they were superb warriors, meant that the threat was big indeed. He lifted his head and saw another Thunderhawk pass by them as they got closer to the frigate they were to use to make way to Ferim, his head cocked to the side as he wondered what was leaving the ship.

The ship landed in one of the bays and they all made thier way out, Charon's cloak billowing from the engines' backwash as he made his way down the ramp. Rhashan spoke to them all before departing himself and leaving them to do what they will as the frigate made its way to Ferim. Charon turned to his brothers and spoke, *"It would seem that we leave the approaching Tyranid menace from the south and head into something much darker and unknown. I for one do not care, so long as we get to deliver the Emperor's justice."*

He motioned for the rest of them to follow him,* "Come let us eat and talk to each other about our pasts so that we will know who we stand with when we face whatever the fates would throw at us on this mission. After which I will be in the training cages should anyone wish to train with me."* he winked at Malik who chuckled and shook his head. He turned and made his way out of the docking bay and towards the dining hall where he hoped his new brothers in arms would follow him so that he could get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Niko spoke and Solaki extended his had, just to see if the Omnisiah would smile upon him, but a dull metallic click brought Solaki spinning around with his bolt pistol at head height, only to see a sight he had never expected. Before him, clasped in all is gifts from the Mechanicum, stood Laikus, the last Techmarine of the Scythes of the Emperor. "Laikus?" Solaki whispered at a volume that, in comparison to the silence that had come before, seemed deafening. "Good to see you conscious Niko and Solaki. I apologize for not being able to get to you sooner after they killed the Gargoyles carrying you, but our hands have been more than full." As he talked, Solaki noticed various knicks and dents in his armour. Solaki imagined that he was staring into a mirror of what his armour looked like. "I was with a guard unit when it was overwhelmed by Spore mines and then a pair of lictors. All that remained were the officer and I. We eventually became separated as we each took on one of the Lictors. Since running into Sergent Brig's squad I have seen both so I assume the formidable Imperial Officer has fallen. However, that does not concern me, we hunted these Lictors since sundown and they have hunted us, and you two have recently become the bait. My absolute main concern has been getting back to this vehicle. This is what happens when one not educated by the adeptus mechanicus attempts to pilot a vehicle in battle." Solaki could barely believe the words that had just passed out of Laikus' mouth. Arx had lead them on a crusade to find Laikus, they had put several marines, injured marines, in danger for this one man's life, even though he was the only techmarine their chapter had. And now they had met this, this man of honour and integrity, he cared more about some blasted vehicle than the lives of more Astartes. Laikus walked into the front of the Rhino as Solaki walked into main cabin. Invisible sparks of anger from Solaki collided with a barrier of indifference that protected Laikus. Solaki tried to engage some form of rational thought, incase he had misunderstood Laikus.

"We're fairly certain the tyranids have been the cause of so much scanner malfunction. Most likely it was the Hive tyrant that caused the major electrical malfunctions in all the aircraft on your way to find it. In any case I need to fix this engine, And since your being used as a lure, I'd appreciate it if you exit the vehicle. Brig should have you covered." Solaki's hand reacted faster than his mouth did, and he sealed his helmet so it was air tight before shouting "And what if we don't you self-involved ass! You afraid that your precious machine might suffer a dent, so you would sacrifice your brothers! Have you so easily forgotten your chapters plight Techmarine Laikus?" Solaki stared angrily at techmarine Laikus expecting him to reply before he even noticed that he had locked his own helmet. The quiet hiss of escaping air was all the response that Laikus got, and Solaki refused to shame himself by arguing with Laikus. A techmarine's thoughts were often an enigma unto themselves, their minds devoted and, to an extent, corrupted by the machine. However, he was necessary to the chapters continued survival. So Solaki stepped out of the Rhino first and notice Brother Zurick crouching in the hollowed out building. Solaki thought about acknowledging Zurick, but he was well camouflaged and the Tyranids were intelligent. They would notice him acknowledging another's presence. But, Solaki holstered his bolt pistol but shouldered his Lascannon. He would need every weapon against his foe, the Lictors. In his current state, he couldn't beat them in single combat. He would need to kill them, quickly and efficiently. Something he could do well with his Lascannon. In fairness with his wounds he would only be able to fire it once, but by the time he did, if he needed to fire it again he would never get the chance. So he sat there and waited for their quarry to come to them, and waited to see if he would ever see the next dawn...


----------



## Euphrati

Movement from the corner of his vision brought Niko’s helmeted head around with a snap of fiber bundles, his bolt pistol hovering less than a hand’s span from the red lacquered chest that emerged around the side of the strickened rhino. Niko’s finger came off the trigger immediately, the targeting optics in his red-tinted vision refusing to lock onto the bulky form that seemed to move too quietly for its size.

Laikus did not even acknowledge the act as he pushed past Niko to step up into the transport’s interior and motioned for the two Scythes to be silent. A soft click within Niko’s helm heralded the opening of a private channel and the voice of the techmarine filled the silence. Laikus’ semi-mechanical voice had a typically emotionless quality that was only heightened by the vox system of Niko’s battlehelm. Even with the mechanized arms folded tightly down to his back, Laikus’ bulky servo-harness made the already tight interior of the rhino feel outright cramped.

The damage to Laikus’ armour was testament to his fortitude and Niko found a strange stirring of kinship to the techmarine’s focused dedication. The duties of the Apothecary and the Techmarine were in the most basic sense the same; both tended to the health of the chapter. That Niko’s gauntlets were stained with crimson lifeblood and Laikus’ were thick with the fluids that churned through hearts of steel mattered little in the end.

Niko watched as Solaki slammed his helm in place, his back stiffened and posture aggressive, before he stormed out of the rhino. The realization that their brothers intended to use them as glorified bait obviously did not sit well with the Scythe. Niko paused at the rear hatch before following in his wake, grey eyes upon the crimson stains that lay near the front bulkhead where Lord Sotha had lay not hours before. He answered back upon the same channel Laikus had used; his young voice carrying a weight of duty,

‘Tend her well, brother-techmarine. She carried our Lord to safety in her bosom even though wounded and guided by such untrained hands, she deserves to be honoured for her deeds,’

Niko brushed the tips of his gauntlet over the torn edge of the rear hatch, feeling the rough metal through the input relays in his fingerpads, before turning to Solaki and gesturing for his brother to follow. Weather the Scythe chose to or not was another story, but Niko picked his way carefully out into the street keeping a clear line of sight to Zurick as he did so. A section of the wall that lay strewn, its gargoyle-hewn structure fractured and shattered, was Niko’s destination. As he walked he blinked the glowing rune for Solaki forward, opening a private channel to the marine,

‘Do not fault him for what he is any more than you fault me, brother,’

Niko sighed softly before continuing,

‘He feels the pain of the machines as keenly as I feel yours, Solaki, and his own wounds are greater than he would have you know. I can see it in your stance brother; I find it distasteful to be playing bait as much as you, but if doing so will bring us one step closer to purging this world of these beasts then is that not what we are sworn to? And as long as we are to make a tempting target of ourselves, I would have a closer look at that shoulder so that you may wield your weapon without doubt again.’


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki stood with his back stiff and facing away from the Rhino. The tactical readout was almost silent, but then it would be. The tyranids, especially the Lictors, weren't ones to give and advance warning of their attack. Instead, Solaki changed his helmet to a night-vision mode, the landscape instantly changing from its true slight blue ting to shades of green and blues, and where-ever there was any from of life, swirls of oranges and reds and purples. Suddenly, a massive collection of colours appeared in his left vision. His fingers twitched around the trigger of his shouldered Lascannon before Solaki realized it was Niko. Solaki changed the helmets vision back to it's regular setting, and saw Niko motion for him to follow. He spared a quick glance behind the Rhino, as if to catch a fleeting shadow of their hunters, but none were there. So Solaki simple followed Niko as he spoke 

_"Do not fault him for what he is any more than you fault me, brother..."_

Niko sighed softly, and Solaki wanted to interject, but he could tell that his Brother was going to continue, and so he bit his tongue.

_"...He feels the pain of the machines as keenly as I feel yours, Solaki, and his own wounds are greater than he would have you know. I can see it in your stance brother; I find it distasteful to be playing bait as much as you, but if doing so will bring us one step closer to purging this world of these beasts then is that not what we are sworn to? And as long as we are to make a tempting target of ourselves, I would have a closer look at that shoulder so that you may wield your weapon without doubt again." _

Solaki glanced at his shoulder, where the rudimentary medical cement had stayed rock hard except for a few indents. Solaki walked next to Niko, and thought of the right words to say. Laikus carried a heavy burden, being the last techmarine of the Chapter. But, even with that in mind, the question that begged to be answered was; Was the life of a machine worth the lives of two veterans, one of which was to be another Apothecary? Solaki had heard it whispered that the xeno's of the Eldar grieved for every lost Eldar for each was a grievous blow to a dwindling race. To akin himself to much to the aliens was dangerous, but he imagined this was who they felt. 

"Brother, I do not doubt you or Laikus' conviction, or the heavy duty which you both are forced to bare." Solaki wished he could stop there, and just calmly accept his fate, but his conscious wouldn't let him. "But, your duty keeps the chapter alive. Each man you save is another soul that lives to avenge our chapter once more. Machines they can be rebuilt and their entire shell tore off and re-fitted. Men, even Astartes such as ourselves, are scarcely so resilient. My life and soul is forfeit for the chapter and the Imperium. If I die this day, the Scythes with have lost a heavy weapons specialist, nothing more. But you..." Solaki placed his right hand on Niko's shoulder "...you brother are the hope of our chapter. Scouts can be taught to shoot as well as I can. Men can be found to lead. But you, Alexander and Laikus, you can scarcely be replaced. I care naught for my own life. I have served my chapter, and if this is the last night I will see, then I have lived my life well. But for Laikus and Brig to use a Junior Apothecary as BAIT for some quarry, surely you must see this is lunacy Brother?" Solaki allowed Niko to consider his words, and awaited his insight, for as Niko had said already, his and Laikus' charge was similar, one for man and one for the machine. Perhaps it was simply his lack of understanding that had blinded Solaki to something...


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain moved forwards with the remaining space marines, straight back to the base. Kain felt shame in this act. It was the tactical wise choice, and the right one. Kain wanted to hit back hard though, fast and without mercy. He in a way wished he had gone with Briggs and the others. Kain moved ahead of his other brothers, cursing to himself. He removed his helmet, strictly against code. However he wanted to feel the air on his face, this world may well be the last that he would ever step foot upon. Kain moved his gauntleted hand through his short hair, watching as they moved forwards. He thought he saw movement up ahead, he grabbed his helmet and shoved it on quickly. He saw a figure moving towards them, a man.

Kain watched as it closed upon the space marines before he started talking. He was angry at the space marines, raving on how his squad was killed and how Lakius had rigged them all to explode. Kain moved forward and spoke quickly and angrily back. _"How dare you imply that any of us knew anything of this? We were not informed about this you have my word as a servant of the Emperor. Another thing, what gives you the right to speak to us like this? We are here to destroy the menace that plagues this world, and we should be treated with respect. We are the sons of the Emperor, defenders of mankind."_ He stopped his rant, watching the sergeant. Kain was impressed by the man, he showed more courage than any other man Kain had met.


----------



## Concrete Hero

With the echoing sound of footsteps, every Bolter and assorted weapon snapped into a ready position, trailing down the street. Arx's Meltagun humming softly in his hands, the calm noise belying the volcanic fury sealed within. He was sure this marine was familiar, and his suspicions were confirmed when the Guardsman identified himself.

Arx's helmet tilted slightly as Astelan spoke, he was glad their Brother had survived the fire fight, despite how rapidly he seemed to be disconnecting from them. He turned his gaze back towards the beaten Guardsman, placing a hand on Kain's shoulder and staring down at the bionic warrior.

'_I am guiding the Scythes until our Lord returns. Do you speak of the Techmarine? Where did you last see him?_' 

Seemingly ignoring the details of living bombs, Arx pressed for any news of Brother Laikus.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belials hand also went to his bolt pistol upon hearing the footsteps approach, when the guardsman appeared his hand relaxed and he released it upon recognising the man.
The guardsman was sprouting on about his men being killed. Belial wasnt paying much attention to it untill he heard laikus name being mentioned. He was about to interject and ask the man where laikus was when Arx got there first. Hopefully this will give us a whereabouts of our brother he thought to himself.....and maybe an order to go and get him.


----------



## deathbringer

Sleep..... sleep
Fatigue engulfs me.... the life sucked out of me from the parasites upon my breast
My mind is blank... I am fading
Now i am back..... yes back... i feel life forms, death despair.... good good... no bad bad... death of brothers to bolt and blade... death and defeat.
Yet i did not expect them to succeed.... they were a diversion, the tunnel is complete.... should i begin or should i wait.

Review let us review.

My loyal brothers are dead... the ravenors too. All of them.. I curse... i did not order them all to go.... my surprise attackers are gone

Yet I have the tunnel the warrior rushes along through it.

The bastards... dissappeared gone... blocking me once more.

I must kill them... I deserve the right..

The scythe with the weapon still stands. I have decided.... I will kill him myself.. but what to do.

No more surprises no more stealth... well the tunnel is stealth, it is my ace in the hole... such joy when my warriors pop up from the earth... i can already hear the screams, the begging.

No they must wait.... a coordinated attacked.... My gargoyles and I from above.... the warriors and gaunts from below. 
The great giants from upon the ground.... I feel their pulses pulsating in my mind..

Soon great ones... soon we go to war.

In one swoop and 3 forces, we will wipe the scum from this world.

Then we will feast...


----------



## unxpekted22

Astelan: 
_
"I can't say I truly know who I am anymore," replies the marine, "these past years, everything has changed so much from the glorious days of old. I Know that I still long to do the Emperor's work, to kill his enemies....but we what we are doing here is not the Emperor's work. We are here for our own personal reasons. One other thing that I know is that some of our brothers haven't been helping the situation in either case._" he nods toward Belial and brother herald who was injured earlier, "_I should have spoken up earlier and left with Sergent Brig's squad. I may or may not be the only one who thinks this way, I only brought it up to you because I know your feelings on the matter. The wrong brothers have been dieing._" this is all through pvt vox now, and at his last sentence, his tone changes and he lightly bumps the grip of his bolter back into his palm to let you know he is implicating that the _right_ brothers die.

he speaks again, "Assuming the tyranids attack the base while we are there, seems like the best opportunity to me right now to help fix our broken chapter. what do you think?"

Arx:

Jole responds to you first, "_Me and the techmarine got separated while fighting the Lictors, he went one way with his and I went one way with the other. I cant say I much time to keep track of where he had gone. I wasnt able to kill the one I got caught with but it just leapt away at one point and didn't come back. Guess it had enough! Ha! Anyway, It looks like y'all here are heading toward the base though and I can help get you there quickly. before that damn alien ship shot through the atmosphere we were already working on some security passages throughout the district. _

based on what he just said, you realize it wasn't just Laikus mostly fighting against the two Lictors, but that he was able to defend against one for quite some time...and come out of it alive. Do you follow him to the base or go your own way which until now you thought was the fastest route? Also, pay attention to what he says to Kain and Kain's reaction to him, as well as Belial's. (If you post before first, Arx may reply to what Jole says to Kain _before_ kain or Belial reacts.)

Kain:

Jole looks to you next, "_Oh yeah, and as for what you said, the defender's of mankind eh? Would you mind explaining to me then, why every soldier that was part of Vorspire's western borderline defense is dead? the only men in the western district that I know of who are still alive, are the ones still at the base! When I first heard the sons of the Emperor were coming to Ferim to assist the guard here, I found it to be some real hearty information, but you are no great chapter I have ever heard of."_ 

Basically, an imperial guardsman, a highly skilled guardsman but a guardsman nonetheless, just called your chapter out on being a failure. Sure, he doesnt know the chapter's past and its series of unfortunate events, but does that really matter? should he care? You may reply and even attack him if you wish. however, you may find Belial reacts before you,(if he posts first).

Belial:

You continue to listen to what Jole says to Arx and then Kain, how do _you_ react? you also have the options of replying verbally, with action, or both.

Niko and Solaki:

Before Niko can respond to Solaki, the crackling of bolter fire tears through the silence. Two three round bursts from somewhere about five stories above. The shots echo endlessly throughout the silent chasms of building blocks. Staying in line of sight with Zurick, you face back to back looking down the street watching both directions. Niko can see in the far distance a large shadowy figure amongst the night. Its almost hard to tell if its actually moving, like your eyes are playing tricks as movement comes and goes. 

A series of explosions erupts throughout the street, which are followed by the hissing release of Zurick's plasma canon shot. Out of the flames still in mid jump comes one of the Lictors. Blinding plasma plows into the Lictor as its feet touch the ground, and bolter rounds start peppering its hide and the ground around it. As it stands there screeching with a chest showing speckles of neon green blood amongst the blackened burns, and a melted stub that had just been one of its main fore-arms, a scream comes from somewhere above as well. With a sound of smashing glass, the bolter fire from above stops, and before Solaki can turn and aim his las-canon at the injured Lictor, it leaps away out of sight. The broken glass and debris from above shatters onto the concrete, and amongst the debris is a body with a shoulder cape flailing behind it in the air as Sergent Brig hits the ground. He turns onto his back with a groan of pain but then moves no further. His bald head is bloody, blood seeps from his mouth for s moment, and his chest armor broken, cracked in several places. He looks at you upside down and gasps Niko's name, saying something about being fine and to just inject him with something.

Solaki, you get Zurick's silent, assassin like voice in your ear telling you to turn towards him and aim your las-canon. You also hear a few more cracks of bolter fire from above. If you turn around you will see Zurick scrambling down from his position, with the injured Lictor already upon him. 


Charon:

A hefty amount of bolt weapons, blades and chainswords are carried by your squad-mates but a few of them have other duties or preferences. Several plasma pistols rest quietly in their holsters, Bryon and Shin have an assortment of special bolter rounds with them, Rish'ka weilds a heavy bolter, Urya a flamer and elegantly detailed combat blade. Kalim has a combi-bolt pistol with a flamer attachment, while Nyht has a bolt pistol with a melta attachment, good for only one blast he says. You, J'rom, and Malik carry bolters and bolt pistols, along with blade or chainsword.
Rhashan carries the only power-weapon amongst you, his specialized power-scythe, as well as a bolt pistol...and of course his psyker abilities. Extra clips and ammo are strapped on waists, arms, legs, chests etc. Some of them seem more frustrated that they are on a detour mission than others, but like yourself, so long as they are serving the emperor by killing mankind's enemies they seem content enough about it. 

Soon enough, The frigate is docked with _The Heart of Sotha_, floating above the bright blue and green planet of Ferim. The gray layout of Vorpsire, in its early hive city stages, visible on the surface. The ten of you stand, still in full wargear, in the ship's main Hangar where the Scythe's of the Emperor's only Apothecary, Alexander, speaks to you about the situation. The only other Scythe in the room is Sergeant Tobias, standing by Alexander. Both of them are also wearing their wargear. 

"_The remaining Scythes number less than a hundred. The squads on the surface have been setting up defense in the western district Imperial Guard's military base. Upon failure of locating the head of the Tyranids, and then having our Lord Sotha nearly fatally wounded, the squads made a tactical withdraw back into the city. Unfortunately the cityscape proved just as dangerous as the Jungle. With constant Gargoyle patrols a move back towards the Jungle would only lead in more deaths and that is just something we are simply not up for risking again without proper support on the ground. The North and Eastern districts' guard forces have been heading through the city to give such support. However, between gargoyle raids and the knowledge of the entire western patrol being wiped out on the first day...they wont be giving us support anytime soon. Especially since their commanders are worried that more tyranid forces will appear at their own city borders at anytime. We also cannot afford to strike the planet from space, as the Imperial fleets would hunt us down for it. Ferim is on the 'very valuable' list. The Tyranids that landed here are of a unique breed. Their forces are led by a sentient Hive Tyrant who seemingly has full control of the unit's hivemind. There have been some small fleets in the past that adapted much more quickly than others, and this splinter fleet is among the fastest I can think of. The intelligence of this Hivemind is off the scale compared to other Tyranid forces." _ 

He looks into each of your eyes, "_I advise you do not make the mistake of fighting these tyranids as you would others. Do not underestimate them here. _

He turns around and points to a vindicator being loaded onto the Thunderhawk by the ship's many serfs. "_I am bringing down all the ground support we can muster, as well as you ten, though I know your objective is nto the hive tyrant like ours is. Either way, I feel if we wait much longer, we will not be able to succeed in our mission here._

get ready for the flight down to Ferim. (next update wont be another flight you'll actually be on the surface)

Tyrant:

I'll let you wait till next update, one because not much i can do for the tyrant right now and two because you're really busy.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki waited for a response that never came as the harsh rattle and burst of explosions that was known throughout the Imperium as the Astartes holy bolter tore through the almost picturesque silence. More shots and and almost inaudible hiss and Niko and Solaki found themselves without even thinking about it back to back. The minor repairs Niko had done to Solaki's shoulder would have to do for now, as he now had shouldered his lascannon, and was loathed to sling it over his back without unleashing it's holy rage on some vile xeno's scum. "Can you see anything Brother?" Solaki called out over the bursts of gun fire. He thought he heard Niko say something about a shadow and not much else. There were more explosions, and the hiss of burning air as a green ball of plasma screeched past the duo. Solaki turned his head and followed the ball of plasma as one of the phantom Lictors burst through the flames of explosions and the disintegrating ball of plasma impacted with it. Solaki heard it's vile hiss of pain and turned to fire his lascannon at the bane of this planet, but before his sight had even come to rest on the Lictor, it had vanished once again, like a thief in the night into the shadows. _Fool, turn around!_ his own instincts screamed at him, and Solaki spun on his heel half expecting to find the same Lictor or one of it's brothers about to end his life, but there was none. 

Suddenly a rain of debris feel from above their heads, and Niko and Solaki were showered with broken glass and shattered rock and marble. Trailing behind these shards of a broken building was Sergeant Brig. He rolled over onto his back and moved no further. A glistening crimson stream gently dribbled from his head and chest where his armor had been split open by his assailant. "Niko..." he managed to splutter weakly, before falling silent. Solaki wanted to reach down and save the veteran sergeant. He had been through so much, and to die like this was unfitting of a man of his honour, even after having parted with the rest of the Scythes. But that was not his duty, and in all honesty he would probably make it worse. "Brother..." Solaki spoke to Niko now, "...tend to the Brother sergeant. I will cover you. I swear by the Throne I'll die before anything happens to you" Niko seemed to acknowledge is 'command' for lack of a better word, for in truth it wasn't a command, but a gentle reminder of what needed to be done, as if Niko would have forgotten. As his brother crouched to tend to the brother sergeant, 

Solaki stood prone over the two forms in front of him when the whisper came, like an assassin breathing in his ear, but Solaki knew who it was. "Brother, I require your aid" was the simple whisper, so quiet it was barely audible over the other tones which by comparison, seemed like deafening sirens, but it's urgency commanded Solaki's total attention. As only a marksman of his age could, Solaki trained his sights on Brother Zurick's position, only to see the foul form of the wounded Lictor clambering over the rubble to get to his fellow devestator. The rage bloomed in Solaki's chest and made him want to run over and tear the Lictors head from its body with his bare hands, but logic forbade him from doing it. No, this required a different approach. The Astartes and foul Tyranid were embroiled in a semi-close combat brawl, separating only to come back together for another skirmish before separating again. Solaki was briefly tempted to switch to his undamaged shoulder, but the weight of the lascannon was configured to his left side, and whilst his swordsmanship was flawless in either hand, his aim with such a monumental weapon wasn't. No, with such a thin line that his aim had to tread, he needed flawless aim. As Solaki leveled his sight to the two warriors, he was briefly reminded of a similarly impossible shot he had been called to make earlier to day to save one of the Valkyries in their convoy. 

Amongst the swirlling movement of limbs and body, Solaki followed the Lictor, waiting for a moment to fire. After agonizing moments it came in the form of Zurick pushing the Lictor onto an uneven piece of ground. The foul creature lost it's balance for a moment, not enough to save Zurick if he was alone in the combat, but it was long enough to give Solaki the distance between the monster and his brother that he needed and squeeze the trigger. At once, a dozen different intricate mechanisms triggered in Solaki's lascannon, and a beam of light was focused and then amplified into a beam that could sheer through the armour plating on a landraider, and a hundredth of a second later, this deadly lance was released against the Lictor. The shudder of his weapon against his shoulder caused a small warm trickle of blood to dribble down his shoulder where the force of the recoil opened the weaker parts of his deep scab. The lictors lightning quick movements made it hard to aim on and part of the laser struck a pillar. The force of the blast caused the pillar to explode outwards in a flurry of broken rock. The damaged pillar gave way and kicked up more bricks and rubble as well as a cloud of dust. Solaki waited several agonizing moments for the dust to clear to see if his aim had been true or if he would have to make another shot, and whether it was too late for Brother Zurick all because of him...


----------



## FORTHELION

Quick as lightening Belials hand shot out and grabbed jole by the throat, lifting him about 3 foot off the ground and kept him dangling there like a freshly hung turkey.

*"How dare you dishonour our chapter you little wretch, i have gutted people for less. You know nothing about our history which untill recently was as honourable as any other chapter in the imperium. We are here to help you, you wretched little shit. *

Belial slowly unsheathed his combat blade as if to emphasise the point. *"Brothers i say we gut him here and now and be done with him. Leave him for the lictors, he will only slow us up anyway. What you say?*


----------



## dark angel

He listened to the Marine speak and felt a pang of regret. His nameless Brother spoke words of truth. Astelan noted that he was the old breed, the one which Astelan strived to reseed into the Chapter. His qualms with Belial were the same as Astelan’s, he could see how the younger Marine was causing more problems than he was helping. He was a agonizing boil upon the hide of the Chapter, festering and slowly spreading his taint to the other Marines around him. He was destroying the Chapter from within. He was the liar. The canker. The end.

Astelan didn’t want to speak. The harsh, guttural Sothan tone of his fellow was barely containing the rage which nestled within. Astelan could use this to his own needs, he could manipulate his Brother to his own needs. He did not want to do such a thing however; he needed trust amongst his fellows. His flock. While he had but a small following, he knew he could do it. He looked up slowly. The stars were bright, and he knew that Sotha hung there somewhere, dead and broken. It was a sad thing to think of, a pitiful one.

‘Brother….The Tyranids will attack, I am sure of it. However that is not what I plan. We need to get from Ferim, but I will not do so alone. Contact Brig, tell him his revenge will come, but he must return for now. I need his consul, I need the fiery heart of Zurik, the zeal of Christeph and the steady arm of Ryan. Without them, we are nothing. Also; spread the deceit. Turn the others against Belial and those who are to blame. Redemption will come, but for now, the flock must grow. Brig is your priority, remember that. Without him, we cannot set ourselves back unto the Path.’ His voice was commanding yet respectful, and it came out in a low growl over the Vox, turned mechanical due to the static waves which bristled throughout the communication system.

And then Belial was shouting. In his hands he held the quivering form of the Guardsmen, his combat blade drawn and reflecting off the clamorous moonlight. Astelan shook his head. He could use this against Belial, he could turn it on Arx. The de-facto leader appeared to be struggling with the responsibility which had fallen upon him. His fellow grew awkward, gripping his Bolter tighter against his front. He was all but ready to rid the Chapter of Belial. Good, however it would not happen yet. No, not yet at all.

Astelan stepped forwards once, so that the Marine behind him like a scarred bodyguard, immobile. Hopefully he was now speaking too Brig, Astelan could not do what he planned without him. He clicked his private Vox to the older Marines of the other Squads, to those which he could trust with silence. None from his Squad were contacted, not even the newcomer or Arx. Only the old breed, the fighting hounds.

‘You see! Do you see Brothers, how ready Belial is to kill a _loyal _Imperial servant? Is he better than the Traitors of Isstvan, who so willingly slaughtered their own? How long is it before he turns against us? We who fought before he was but a babe? Remember the victories! Remember our former glory!’ He paused, wondering if he had made a mistake ‘I can regain it. I can save us. I need you however. Without Marines such as you, great veterans, I am nothing. Please, I beg of you my fellows.’


----------



## Euphrati

The crunch of stone under ceramite boots signaled that Solaki had chosen to follow him; his brother’s hushed words brought a brief etching of sorrow to Niko’s thoughts and, though his warrior spirit wanted to deny Solaki’s dismissal of his own talents, the same detached logic that served to steady Niko’s scalpel even in the fires of battle stayed the rebuttal on the tip of his tongue. In many ways Solaki was correct; upon accepting Alexander’s training Niko had forever set himself apart from his battle-brothers, his life’s significance weighted against the very future of the Chapter. _Do I deserve such worth? What have I done that any other would not have in my place?_

The hand Solaki placed gently upon his shoulder seemed heavier than it ought, as if it carried the invisible weight of every living Scythe’s hope in the simple gesture.

Niko’s churning thoughts were interrupted by the harsh voice of a bolter, staccato bursts shattering the heavy silence of the night like the tolling of death itself. All notions of the weight of duty were forgotten as the two astartes were instantly in a state of defense, weapons held at the ready and absolute faith in each that his brother would guard his back. Niko could feel the roughness of his bolt pistol’s grip through his gauntlet’s bio-interfacing as he panned the shadow choked street before him, its weight a natural extension of his arm.

A shadowy form seemed to flickered and shift at the edge of his vision, though when Niko brought his pistol to bear upon the specter it appeared to blur and dissolve into the surrounding night only to solidify a moment later. Solaki’s presence at his back was a reassuring constant against the malevolence that oozed from the darkness around them. His battle-brother’s voice was a deep rumble and Niko responded in turn, never letting his eyes stray from the dark form in the night,

‘The very shadows of this world seem against us, brother. It would seem that we are quite the tempting bait…’

The words had barely left his lips when explosions stitched their way up the dark street; accompanied by the roaring of Zurick’s plasma cannon, the weapon’s voice akin to the mythical dragons of ancient Terrain texts as a bright lance of flame speared through the eruptions with pinpoint accuracy. Out of the chaos burst a lethal form, killing talons outstretched and tentacle-sheathed jaws agape with alien hunger. The burning plasma, coupled with a storm of bolter shells, met the beast’s leap and sheared off one of the deadly main arms in a shriek of xenos pain.

A second scream sounded through the darkness; but this one from above and followed by the smash of glass as the hail of bolter fire ceased abruptly. The wounded Lictor sprang away into the shadows with an un-natural speed, yet Niko’s attention was focused elsewhere as a tangle of debris smashed into the ground nearby. A powerful black and gold clad form lay amid the destruction, the torn fabric of a cape dusted with crystalline shards of glass pooled across the ground beside Brig as he rolled to his back with a breathless growl of pain. Niko was moving before the brother-sergeant had gasped out his name through blood-flecked lips.

It was an impressive display both of the resilience of astartes physiology and the sheer protective strength of the battle-plate he wore that Brig was even still breathing as Niko dropped to a knee beside the stricken Scythe. Mag-locking his pistol to his thigh and grimacing behind his impassive helm; Niko took in the physical state of Brig’s armour as he reached for the pouch at his hip. Fractures riddled the ceramite plates and the brother-sergeant’s right arm lay oddly at his side, the shoulder joint having been wretched out of socket. 

‘I am… fine…’ 

Though Brig’s voice was laced with pain, his green eyes were still clear and demanding,

‘Just… give me something so I can fight,’

Niko’s fingertips brushed the top of the vials, lingering for a nanosecond over the potent stimulants that would do exactly what the sergeant was demanding before closing around another that contained a series of stabilizers and anti-coagulants. Niko’s grey eyes blinked through a cascade of static-laced runes at the corner of his vision as he pressed the vial to the port in Brig’s chestplate; the xenos-bred interference had increased but, with less than a meter separating him and the brother-sergeant, Brig’s personal signal pulsed clear and true.

+ Genetype Identity confirmed: Brother-Apothecary Niko Makavin - Override Access Granted+

_Apothecary_. 

The title seemed to linger, specter-like, as Brig’s bio-data scrolled across Niko’s retinas. Both of the sergeant’s hearts were beating in tandem; his body in a desperate race to mend the multiple internal injuries that were only compounded by a shattered left femur, fractures in the shield of overlapping ribs in his chest, and a dislocated right arm.

Niko’s gauntlets closed around two more vials of murky liquids which quickly joined the first that pumped through Brig’s agonized body; the combined effects would keep the sergeant’s blood from turning to a paste in his veins as it tried to cope with the myriad of injuries as well as stimulate his system’s natural pain tolerance. Niko tossed the empty vials aside and locked the armour encapsulating Brig’s left leg ridged to keep the fracture stable as the bones knitted,

‘I am forced to disagree with your status brother-sergeant. Your right shoulder is showing a subluxation. I would advise lying still for a moment for this is going to be rather painful…’

Without pause, Niko placed one hand upon Brig’s right shoulder and the other firmly holding the wrist of the dislocated arm. With a single powerful movement; Niko applied a sharp jerk to Brig’s wirst, rotating the limb and holding the shoulder pinned to the ground at the same time. A growl of pain tore from Brig’s lips, followed closely by a scathing curse as the joint snapped back into place with a wet pop,

‘I am a _sergeant_… you will follow my orders…’

Brig snarled through blood-stained teeth as he glared up at Niko. The young Apothecary snorted in response as he continued his work,

‘You can petition my punishment for disobeying the orders of a brother-sergeant from Lord Sotha *after *you explain to him how his newest Apothecary refused to allow one of the Chapter’s finest warriors to kill himself needlessly.’


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain listened to Jole's retort, and while it did anger him it served to only impress him even more. This guardsman had the balls to speak his mind in front of over a dozen armed space marines and tell them that they had failed. Some of his words sprung true though, Vospire's western borderline defence had been a failure for the Scythes, but they would endure, this failure would be put behind them and they would move on.

Kain looked at Jole before speaking, whisper quiet. _"Yes we did failure you lot upon this world, but our chapter used to burn so bright, we were victorious upon countless worlds. Now we are a shell of our former glory but we will burn bright again."_ He looked at Jole, before he felt a figure brush past him, Belial grabbed Jole by the throat and lifted him into the air. What was his brother thinking? This man had fought hard and was offering them a shorter way to get back to the base, Belial was acting like a stupid pup.

_"Belial drop him, he knows nothing of our history, nothing at all. He speaks some truth though, we have failed upon this world so far. All we have done is screw things up. Enough of this pettiness. He has fought off a lictor, he won't slow us down. In fact he will take us back to the base quicker, giving us more time to regroup and head back out and rid this world of the filth that occupies it."_ He turned to Arx, almost begging him, _"Brother follow this mans advise, its the only way that we can survive as a chapter, we must win this fight. To do that we must regroup and move straight to the tyranid lair quickly and without mercy. If you have any respect for me then grant me this favour."_

He looked to his brothers that surrounded them, staring at them, _"Brothers, let us leave this man too live, its the quickest way to the base, trust me please brothers. We have lost too many brothers today, and I have lost my closest brothers as well. If we waste more time here then more of our brothers will die."_ He implored his brothers before turning back to Belial. Kain stared at Belial with a new found hate for his brother, he hated this feeling but the man that Belial was holding aloft was innocent. He had not been impressed by Belial, he had fought well but selfishly. He remembered how he chose his arm over Solakai, to ever trust or even respect his brother again Belial would have to release the man. If he didn't Kain was afraid that he might do something foolish in front of his brethren, something too which they would kill Kain for.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial dropped jole and turned to Kain, "You maybe right about this one but your going soft brother all that is comming out of your mouth recently is talk about failure and and begging to be let do things."

Belial turned to the rest of the sythes with his voice raised, *You are all Sythes of the emperor and i have heard enough of this defeatest talk of doom and gloom, Arx has been chosen to lead us in the absence of lord sotha and you will all do well to remember that. For emperors sake stand up and be counted, we are astartes and are supposed to be above all this bickering. I urge you all to take a good look at youselves and stop this self pity. Remember the oaths you swore to your chapter and stop thinking of yourselves. We have a job to do here and its about time we started doing it. *

Belial stepped back a little maybe he gone a little too far but this much talk about failure was really starting to get to him. His brothers and himself if he were truely honest with himself needed to start acting like sythes again and stop squabbling like children.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon listened carefully at the Apothecary's words, his face grim at the situation that the Scythes were in. Yet a spark of happiness was inside his breast, his brothers were fighting with everything that they had despite the odds being stacked against them, they were true sons of the Emperor and he was proud that he would soon be fighting at their sides. 

As the apothecary finished Charon spoke up so that all could hear him, *"If what you say is true about this Hive Splinter brother then we would do our best not to spread ourselves too thin. If we do that then they will learn quicker and we will become more vulnerable and easier to pick off, it would do us a great service if we used our new.....assets in an ambush before the enemy knows of our arrival."* When he said assests he pointed to his brothers and the Vindicator. *"The harder we hit them, the more time we have to consolidate our position and complete our other objective."*

It was not an order, simply his tactical view of the situation they were in, they had to surprise this enemy and keep them on thier back foot if they were going to have any sort of chance of saving this world, and that was hard enough with a normal Tyranid force. Yet they had one thing on their side, this splinter fleet was small, which meant they would be short of the bigger creatures; this was good for them for if they were to eliminate most of these creatures, or the ones they could, then the hive would be hurting badly.

As they all filed into the Thunderhawk Charon brought his hood up over his head, covering his face in darkness, he was death now and would bring death on those that would defile this world.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx listened to the soldier as he retold his story, a flicker of hope for the Techmarines survival flaring up. His focus waned slightly as the officer addressed his Brothers. Laikus could still be alive, probably was. A grim frustration gripped him with the irony that they must head back. How he wanted to simply remain with a Brother or two, yet it was his own words that were denying him. 

Had he made a bitter mistake in accepting the stewardship of temporary leader? Responsibility had been all that had turned his decision. And now merely hours in he seemed to be losing his Brothers. Was this a test...?

Arx's concentration leapt as Belial grabbed Jole by the throat, he felt his muscles twinge and knew his arm was ready to snatch the Marine by the back of his armour. But something stayed his hand, and Kain spoke to the Brother. Belial dropped the Guardsman to the ground and turned to face them.

'_That is not how we treat servants of the Emperor._' The statement was spoken with a slow finality, and Arx turned from his Brother before waiting for a reply, reaching down and helping the soldier to his feet and a swift but steady gesture. He cast his crimson lenses down upon the man.

'_We will follow your route. Pray that it is quick._' He lifted his gaze as he turned to look out over his Brothers, releasing the Guardsmans arm '_We move out immediately._' 

He didn't look at any particular one of his Brothers as the Scythes prepared to move until his lenses fell upon Astelan.

He who had woken so differently. They had not spoken since the marine had regained conciousness. What was in fact a short time ago seemed like weeks in the past. 

He clicked a private channel to Astelan, the coloured blip of his name and tag flashing once more in his HUD, reminding him of recent battles.

'_This has gone on long enough._'


----------



## unxpekted22

*(this update will likely require multiple posts from most of you.)*

Astelan, Arx, Belial, and Kain:

Jole returns to his feet. Mechanical sounds come from his throat indicating he is clearing it, as his hand covers his mouth in a fist. "_Alright, follow me."_

Astelan, None of those you speak to reply, though you see some of them nodding their heads slightly. It is likely that all your brothers want to do right now is get back to the base and regroup with the rest of the chapter. Too much has gone on this day already. 

The route Jole takes you all does in fact bring you to the Military base, and without any further trouble from any Tyranid life forms. By the time you arrive, nearly a full 24 hours will have passed since you landed here (its apprx. 0500). You find the rest of the chapter's squads are already busy setting up extra defenses with the base's remaining Guardsmen: setting up turrets of various kinds both on top of the walls and on the ground, creating cover, building traps along the walls and gates, etc. The three squads with you spread out and begin doing the same.

The four of you are still among each other when two of the other squad leaders approach Arx holding their helmets at their hips. One speaks, "_Arx, we and the others do not blame you for our most recent losses, but for the time being we feel it is best to wait at this base until further orders and support are established._"

Just as these words are finished, the the loud whir of the western gate's pistons and gears cause you all to turn around and see a rhino speed through before the gate is completely open. Out of it will come Laikus, Niko, Solaki, Sergent Brig, Zurick, and Ryan.

pretty free reign here for the four of you, you all can talk to whoever, help set up defenses, think to yourselves, etc.


Solaki:

You peer into the dust clouds so hard the blood vessels in your eyes seem to pop. The Lictor then bursts through the air towards you, pushing the clouds of dust apart so fast that some of the cloud clings around the alien's limbs, trailing thinly behind. The land shakes around you, you feel its large claws grip your midsection and leg. The world spins and comes to an immediate halt in only a couple of seconds. You fall out of the imprint your back has made on the wall of one of the buildings, and land front first onto the ground. Even after the Lictor spun you in the air and chucked you across the street into the concrete wall, your hand miraculously stayed gripped to your las-canon, but the damage to it makes it instantly clear you wont be firing it again for a while. You look up and see both the lictors, each pinning one of your brothers to the ground with Brig still beside them. 


In a daze, you see the ground start moving beneath you. The large dark red armored form of Laikus is above you firing his bolter. Suddenly you land hard on the floor of the rhino as multiple explosions light up the metal interior with bright orange and white flashes. You hear the engine of the vehicle growl as four more enter the rhino. Brother Ryan dragging in Brig, and Zurick bringing in Niko. 

The street begins pulling away, the fate of the Lictors unknown to you. You pass out.

You awake with the hard pressed brakes of the Rhino. You'll be able to get out on your own. You will see the rest of your squad standing with two of the other squad leaders, including Astelan who is awake now. The rest of the scythes are working with Guardsmen setting up extra base defenses. You can go to them or do whatever, its pretty free reign here.

Niko:

As you say this, you hear Solaki's las-canon fire somewhere behind you. Whatever it hits explodes and sends debris flying and dust clouds fill the street. Brig continues grunting, persistent on trying to move. As you reach for another pouch on your waist, a large mass crashes into the concrete beside you knocking you back. Before you can get a good look, two large alien talons grip your shoulder pauldrons and force you to the ground.

The bottom tips of your helmet's mouth piece are digging into the ground as the Lictor above you holds your head forward. The strength of the beast's grip is phenomenal. The dust clears and on the ground ahead of you is the second Lictor, who has Brother Christeph pinned beneath it as well. The Lictors have your heads pointed toward each-other. You find you are able to look up just enough from the red lenses of Christeph's helm to see the narrow eyes of the Lictor, and they are staring right back into you with a look of burning rage. In all the years you have spent fighting these xenos, never before have you seen some kind of emotion come from a Tyranid's gaze. You hear Christeph begin to yell in pain and look back down. The Lictor's claw is gripping Christpeh's helm...and squeezing it. You watch as his battle helm's lenses crack and shatter from the pressure, and the top of the vox piece begins to fold inward while oozing saliva drips from the Lictors feeding tendrils. The Lictor holding you down is not doing the same to you, which makes you realize they are intentionally making you watch this. All the while Brig is yelling his head off beside you.

Flickering back and forth between channel and voice you hear Christpeh cry out as his helmet continues to crack, "Niko!... please, forgive me Brother!...our bloodline needs you.." he gasps for a final breath," I go to join the Emp-" and with this his helmet breaks away into pieces and his head explodes with a fast, full strength squeeze; Christeph's skull, brains, and blood splattering all over the Lictor's tan skinned claw and the broken concrete of the city road. 

possibly the loudest yell you have ever heard from any of your fellow Scythes breaks the feel of slow motion. Small round objects that gleam silver in the moonlight fly through the air above you and explode, covering the Lictors in fire and shrapnel. The Lictor's grip on you releases with twin screams coming from both, andBrother Ryan comes into view with two belts of frag and krak grenades crossed over his torso. Bolter still in hand he lifts up Brig's upper half and begins dragging him backward.

You scramble towards christeph's body, taking hold of it over one of your shoulders just before a more familiar hand grabs onto you, turns you around and gives you a push. You are facing the rhino and see Laikus dropping the limp form of Solaki into the vehicle. Once in the rhino you turn around to see Zurick following you, holding his plasma canon up with one hand. As the rhino starts pulling away, you cant find the Lictors. Zurick sees you scanning the street and says to you, "They're too wounded to live long, they'll bleed out and die." though he does not sound happy about this in the least, for obvious reasons. 

Brig and Solaki both pass out. Zurick just stares out the open rear hatch of the rhino in silence the entire time. Several times throughout the ride Ryan punches the interior while cursing loudly. Having so much to take in, the time passes quickly. Before you know it there are large metal gates closing behind you and the rhino Brakes hard. Solaki and Brig wake up. Outside you will find the rest of your squad, two other squad leaders standing near Arx. Astelan is awake now as well. The rest of the chapter is working with the base's guardsmen to improve the base defenses. pretty free reign here in terms of what you do.

Charon: (you are still in the future, in terms of where everyone else is)

The infinite black curtain of space finally breaks apart as Ferim's atmosphere surrounds the Thunderhawk. There is little time for peace. Moments into the atmosphere the Thunderhawk's weapon systems open fire and the hull rocks from being hit. The pilot, a scythe of the Emperor, states that the air will have to be cleared before he can land the Thunderhawk. "_We'll be flying in a rocket headed straight into the ground before we reach the base. I need to let you all out to clear the skies enough for me to get through, even if its only temporary."_

The pilot lands the Thunderhawk on the closest building roof that can support the large aircraft. Once the back ramp hits the ground the Librarian is out first, leaping out and moving the air in front of his fist, sending a smite attack into the face of a gargoyle as if he knew it would be there. In mid jump he blips in and out of existence appearing in front of a gargoyle not far behind the first, cutting its head clean off with a crackling swing of his power scythe. The gargoyle's body lands in front of you, and you see how large and obscene the beast had become. Its the largest Gargoyle tyranid form you have ever seen. 

Rish'ka and Urya step off the ramp in front of you, providing heavy bolter fire and flame cover to either side. Before you can even spot a target, one of the xenos slams into your side sending you sliding off the edge of the rooftop. Your fingers clench the edge as you look down to see that your several stories up. As you try to lift yourself, a second Gargoyle dips down from the sky and charges you through the top floor window. You and the alien tumble through thin walls together. This Gargoyle wont be able to fly in here but it has evolved enough where it will be about as tough as a fenrisian wolf. With your experience you will be able to defeat it without much injury. You spot a stone stairway leading back up the roof. Kill the gargoyle and return to the roof to support your brothers.

Tyrant:


Your gargoyles (this will be in the future technically but you will still be hibernating at this time) spotted a new aircraft enter the atmosphere, heading toward the fortified location where all of the space marines have been. They immediately attacked it and have forced it to land early. Its cargo has exited and are currently fighting off your brethren, some of which have already been killed. Would you like them to stay and try to kill these newcomers, or should they leave them alone?

Your new spawn will consist of gaunt types and warriors. For the gaunts, do you want more of one type than the others. Maybe only one type even? Your choices are termagaunts, hormagaunts, and spinegaunts. You can choose to have an even balance of them of course. You can also decide to have more warriors than normal, but this would lessen the number of gaunts you can produce.


----------



## Deus Mortis

The seconds were painful. Solaki's eyes strained, he hadn't blinked in many seconds now and his eye-lids were twitching. His blood vessels were swelling, and he could no longer hear the whisper of Zurick or the alien howls of the Lictor. He didn't know the fate of either. Until the next moment. It was so fast, more like a ghost than a real threat, the dust still clung to it's limbs like a macabre cape. At this moment Solaki knew it was all over. His life had reached its limit and now death had come for it's payment. The thing moved like lightning, the fact that Solaki had even tried to harm it seemed to enrage it. Solaki tried to reach for his bolt pistol or his combat blade, he didn't know, his mind had gone into a panic overdrive, and either way it didn't matter as he never reached them. The lictors impossibly strong arms gripped his torso and leg and lifted from the ground, a kind mercy to save him from the trembling ground that felt like at any moment it would open into a great chasm and consume the enemy of the devour. In a brief moment of contact, Solaki's blood-shot eyes dared peer into the heart and soul of his killer. Inside them, he saw something ancient and unstoppably evil. He saw nations and worlds devoured by the same monster as their own defence had crumbled, just as Solaki and his chapters had. This contact lasted for a second at the most before the world itself spiralled in like a viscous hurricane as the Lictor spun and hurled Solaki's massive frame across the city scape. Nothing should be able to do such a thing to the Emperor's Astartes, but yet the Lictor did with ease. 

Everything was happening so fast, but Solaki seemed to travel outside of the normal time stream. He saw one of the Lictors grab Niko, and Solaki knew he had failed his charge. He had failed them all. Not that it mattered. He would face the judgement soon, and he could only hope he wouldn't be found lacking. Suddenly, Solaki felt himself slip back into the regular time flow and crash into a pillar. His spine whip lashed and his head struck the ferocreate and...

_...his eyes took in the sights of Sotha for one last time. The Hive tyrant was falling to the ground in slow motion, a gaping hole in it's chest, the flesh quarterized and singed by laser burns. Solaki had used his last breaths well. And now his back hit the armoury wall with a dull thud. Solaki could feel his neck click ad vertebrae came out of place and bones snapped. He feel face first to the floor..._

...only to find, by some miracle his hand was still wrapped firmly around his lascannon. But even at such a cack angle, he could see many dents and punctures in the outer shell and into the inner workings. It was clear in this split second that he wouldn't be firing it again for a while. He rolled onto his back as his body was wracked in pain

_...as Sergeant Elron stood over him. "Solaki's killed the big bastard" he shouted "Lets push them back. Don't let and his brothers sacrifices be in vain" Elron leaned down and whispered "Don't worry old friend. You've done the chapter proud" With that, everything else faded away as the bolter fire echoed from above him..._

...as the very ground moved underneath him. He could see the dark crimson armour of Laikus standing firm above him, firing like a statue Solaki had once seen of a great hero of their chapter, when it had been great. He heard a dull clang underneath him as his body connected with the inner shell of the rhino. There were more flashes of orange explosions as Laikus' bolter fired more shells. Only four other marines entered the Rhino, Brig dragged by Ryan and Zurick bringing in Niko. Perhaps he had not failed after all. He heard the engine roar, but it sounded like it was far off in the distance rather than a couple of feet in front of him. As the road passed away and the lictors vanished once again...

_...Solaki's eye lids grew heavy ad his bones clicked with every breath, his Astartes physique desperately trying to repair the damage suffered at the hands of the Tyranid beast..._

...His brain tried to hold onto consciousness but the damage and blood seeping from multiple re-opened and a few fresh wounds were working against him...

_...As he tried harder and harder he found his strength waning..._

...until eventually all his strength was gone and he started to fall into unconsciousness...

_...and as his vision faded, Solaki wondered if he would ever see that sky again..._

...as his eyes closed...

_...and his world..._

...went black...

_...for what might..._

...be the last...

_...time_...


----------



## dark angel

_‘This has gone on long enough.’_

Astelan stopped ramrod straight, his arms falling limp at his side. His nameless companion laid a worried shoulder upon his pauldron, looking at Astelan’s battered helm through the orange lenses of his own. For a moment, Astelan was sure he saw compassionate eyes beneath the rims, looking at him calmly and in a assuring manner. Astelan pushed the hand away with one of his own, nodding slowly so that the locks of his helm creaked to him, much to his irk. 

A lupine grin separated his scarred visage. Pinked teeth, caked with gore shorn beneath split lips and his eyes lit up with maliciousness. Fists balled and hackles raised, Astelan slowly opened his mouth and closed it in a repeated fashion, mouthing words which he would never truly have the courage to say. His head shook from side to side as he cursed his own foolishness, having stood silently for upwards to two minutes, contemplating his reply.

‘Oh, it does? Please, _Brother _do enlighten me.’ Was all he spat, each word laced with his own selfish needs and wants.


----------



## Euphrati

The discharge of Solaki’s las-cannon cast the rubble strewn boulevard in stark relief for a fraction of a heartbeat, the sharp crack of the weapon more felt than heard as the dampening systems integrated into Niko’s helm filtered out the noise even before the need of his own Lyman’s ear. Niko’s focus remained firmly upon the duty before him; an Apothecary’s trust in his brothers must be absolute and unquestioning, the safeguard of his responsibility in their hands as much as their very lives lay within his. 

Brig gave a low groan and shifted as he attempted to rise, stubbornly refusing to concede to his body’s damaged state. Niko had anticipated nothing less from the brother-sergeant and placed a restraining palm firmly upon the center of Brig’s cuirass, his other gauntlet reaching for another of the myriad pouches attached at his hip. 

His fingertips had only just brushed the latch when a massive force slammed into the broken stonework beside where he knelt, smashing him back with the force of a grox’s kick.

Curved talons, the length of his combat blade, closed around Niko’s auto-reactive shoulder guards before he could fully right himself and forced him back to the ground in a crushing hold. Scarlet warning runes scrolled at the edge of his vision as Niko struggled against the immense weight with all his might, one arm pined halfway under his torso and the other unable to find leverage with the steel-like grip upon his shoulders.
He would have been just as successful in attempting to lift a titan. 

With a growl of anger; Niko made a desperate grab for the pistol clamped at his thigh, the weight at his back simply shifting and a new set of runes warning of micro-fractures in his bracer armour joined the cascade of others as a crushing force pinned his forearm to the ground. The base of his helm’s front grill was digging furrows in the concrete as he raged against the xenos’ impossible strength. 

For a moment all that filled Niko’s limited vision was a churning cloud of dust and debris. 

Then, as if swept aside by an errant breath of wind, the air cleared and his grey eyes met a pair of ruby lenses so like those of his own battlehelm. The second lictor held Brother Christeph prone in an identical pose no more than two meters away. Niko strained his neck as his eyes were drawn upwards, the loathsome visage of the beast restraining his brother barely visible as it loomed over the Scythe’s struggling form.

The burning hate that radiated from those loathsome, inhuman eyes was laced with a horrifyingly sentient malevolence. Never before had Niko witnessed such… emotion… from within the xenos atrocity that was the Tyranid. Fury coiled even tighter around his mind, _no mere beast had the right to such human sentiment_. A sharp cry of pain drew Niko’s eyes back down and away from those soulless eyes. 

With appalling dexterity, the muscled claw clamped around Christeph’s helm had begun to close. Tiny fissures riddled the ceramite, the eye pieces traced by delicate spider webs before shattering in a shower of crimson shards. Venom laced threads of slime dripped down upon the scene from above, the Adrenaline coursed through Niko’s veins as he redoubled his efforts to break free, expecting the same depraved actions from the beast at his own back.

The crushing force never came as the Lictor simply held him in place, resisting any attempts Niko made to move with utterly inhuman strength. Christeph’s eyes gazed from behind the jagged fragments of what was left of his battlehelm’s lenses, cutting across the distance between them with pain-filled anguish. Niko felt his twin hearts spasm in despair and, with a mingled cry of hatred and suffering, understood the deliberate act for what it was.

There were no words to describe the dark, unfettered grief that was Niko’s soul in that single moment.

_*‘NO!’*_

The word tore itself from his convulsing throat, joining the roars of denial from Brig’s prone form. Christeph’s voice rose above the cries, flickering in and out of the vox channel only to be cut off abruptly as his helm collapsed under the black talons. Blood, brain matter, and shards of bone stood out in morbid detail upon the dun-coloured skin of the Lictor’s clenched fist as a scream of pure rage knifed through the night.

Flashes of silver arched into view, as if the stars themselves wept, filling the darkness with killing fire and twinned alien shrieks of agony. Brother Ryan’s shadow cut across him, bandoliers of grenades strapped across his broad chest. The grip upon Niko’s shoulders lessened and he was on a knee beside Christeph’s body before he had even consciously registered moving, his gauntlets closing around the golden hued torso and hefting it upon his shoulder. An armour-clad fist belonging to Zurick guided Niko’s direction as he stood with his brother’s body, the throaty roar of the Rhino closing about him as Niko clamoured into the darkened interior followed closely by the remaining Scythes.

With solemn care, Niko dropped to a knee upon the steel-shod floor and placed Christeph’s corpse before him. Though the weight upon his shoulder eased, nothing could erase the burden upon his soul. Reaching up, there was a soft hiss as the locks on Niko’s helm disengaged and he pulled it free to set upon the cold metal beside him. 

Niko could taste the salt upon his lips; feel the hot tracks that cut jagged lines down his cheeks at the final plea upon Christeph’s dying breath. 

‘You didn’t have to ask, Brother... You didn’t have to ask,’ 

His low voice was lost in the growl of the engine, 

‘_Forgive me_.’

---

Niko knelt at Christeph’s side the majority of the journey, his youthful features etched with silent and unconcealed tears. Only moving twice; once to check the status of Solaki and Brig’s unconscious forms and administering stabilizers, and a second time as the Rhino entered the base to dispense a low dose of stimulants into both that would rouse them to wakefulness.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon listened silently as their orders were given, they were to clear the skies so that the Thunderhawk could continue on and they with it. As they landed the ramp was already open and the elite squad of veteran astartes rushed out after thier librarian, ready to kill anything that opposed them. His brothers were out before him and provided heavy bolter and flame cover yet as he rushed out he was blindsided by a massive gargoyle.

His body slid across the ground and off the edge of the roof, he shot his hand out and thankfully found purchase, his ceramite encased fingers digging into the concrete of the building. He flexed his muscles and started to pull himself up but was tackled through a window, was he not going to get the chance to even see his surroundings? Or was he simply going to be a punching bag for these foul xenos? He and the Tyranid rolled on the floor, him jumping to his feet first, finally getting a good look at the beast.

This gargoyle was big, bigger then the ones he had fought in the past, but in this room that was going to work to his advantage. He fired a full clip into it before it could even move towards him, blood spilling out of its chest, but it still moved towards him screeching the whole time. He holstered his pistol and drew his broadsword charging it, a clawed wing shot out knocking him to the ground, but he rolled with the hit and came up right underneath it. 

He shot his blade out and hacked at the tendons on its small legs, the beast screeching in pain and falling. He lept out from underneath it and his blade shot out again, the beasts's head impaled on it, the body going limp. Pulling his blade out he looked at his shouldergaurd where he had been hit, a fair size chunk of it was missing, certainly something a normal gargoyle would not be able to acieve.

He quickly found steps and made his way back up to his brothers, reloading his pistol as he lept up the staircase.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki stirred synthetically from his black, dreamless sleep. For a moment he just laid there and figure out if all his limbs worked. He twitched his toes and hands. Finally he groaned, and lifted his torso inches from the floor and looked out into the interior of the Rhino. He was near the back and he assumed that Laikus was in the driver's compartment behind him. Bring was stirring similarly in the way to himself, Zurick had his helmet placed beside him and his face was one of thunder and storms. Solaki could scarcely meet his gaze, it told him of his failure. Ryan was sitting, staring absent mindedly into the opposite wall of the Rhino as he sat by Brig. As Solaki forced himself to his knees, the Rhino came to abrubt halt, and Solaki noticed the gates behind them. Clearly, they had reached the main city. Solaki stood up and walked over to Niko, who was kneeling by a headless corpse. Solaki had noticed all other members of this small squad, and so Solaki concluded that this was, in the recent past, Christeph. Solaki starred sorrowful over Niko's shoulder, this corpse reminding him starkly that he had failed. He missed when he needed a straight aim, and had failed in his charge. It was sheerly by the Emperor's graces that he and the other members had not been killed. He failed to notice the blood that had seeped from his shoulder in using his lascannon, and a few new cuts that had joined the other ones he had accumulated over the day. It clicked to Solaki, they had only been on Ferim a day. It seemed like he had fought for years on this blasted planet. Solaki was the first out of the Rhino, and noticed a group of Scythes helping to bolster the defenses of this city. He would converse with them at a later date, but for know, he had a broken lascannon weighing down his shoulder, and it needed fixing, and he knew just where to find replacement parts. He walked through the dozens of guardsmen until he found a heavy weapons team setting up a lascannon. "Guardsmen!" he called out an they turned they're heads to him. "Yes?" One of them asked quizzically. "I need you requisition this lascannon." They looked as if they might argue, but a sharp look from Solaki stifled it. They simple stood up and abandoned it, presumable to tell their superior. Solaki didn't care, and so began to dismantle both his and the guardsmen's lascannon, and replace his broken parts for their fresh ones. He would need it in the hours that followed...


----------



## Lord Ramo

The second that they moved into base, Kain distanced himself from his brother marines. He moved away from all that knew of him. This was one of the brief moments that Kain truly had to reflect upon what was missing from the chapter. Obviously their home world and most of their brothers but Kain felt something amiss. There was talk in the chapter, power struggles playing out and Kain felt that soon he would be a part of it. He wished that he had his squad here, but they were all gone now. His closest brothers lay dead to the tyranids.

Kain wanted desperately to move forth, not sit idly at the base and wait for the next attack. He watched Briggs vehicle arrive dispensing Lakius Solakai and Niko as well as the marines that left with Briggs. He no longer cared. He just wanted to fight until he could fight no more, so he sat and watched as the Marines and Guardsmen prepared for war. All he did was clean his bolter and stare forth, mind playing so many scenarios through his mind. If he died on this planet then he would do the chapter a favour, he would take as many xeno bastards as he could with him. He was ready for death and glory.


----------



## deathbringer

The gargoyles were onto a new threat, hungry for blood. He longed for blood, yes so hungry. Oh so hungry.

Flesh dreams swirled round him, so many marines dead by his claw, oh to kill again. Soon my beauty, the claws flexed on his left hand, glittering in the shaft of sunlight that pierced through the water.

Soon you will bathed in red, feel it cling. Hunger... such 

Powerful jaws, jaws that could cut through the black scale those marines bore clacked together.

Yet he was held immobile, in statis in this void by the sacs upon his stomach.

Was he a he?

He was having children was he not.

What was he?

He was power

The little balls of potential begged questions, what to be, who to be?

Genetic codes flooded through his brain, they could be faster of strong, ranged of close combat.

Homogaunts.... they would be good for the tunnels... yet a new type begged his imagination

Spinegaunts.

Interesting, there genetic code swirled in his mind. He had gargoyles and the great giants, even warriors for ranged support. He needed not termagaunts, he would rather have warriors for ranged fire. Yes Yes

Predominantly homogaunts and spinegaunts then. His plan was forming, Homogaunts, lead by his great warrior through the tunnel. Him and the gargoyles from the air. Upon the ground, spinegaunts, the great ones and warriors. Yes an attack from 3 directions an attack to end it all.

The gargoyles were being fought off. They could not die, he needed them with him in the end.

Leave them, they will die with the rest in the end.

He would make sure of that....


----------



## Euphrati

The transport came to a rumbling halt, the machine spirit of the transport giving a low whine as it idled down into inactivity. The heavy hydraulics built into the fortified walls of the base gave an echoing clang as they locked into place, once again sealing the meters of thick duracrete and steel that made up the main gate. Solaki stirred as the drugs Niko had administered took effect, rising to his feet with a low groan before moving to stand behind Niko’s kneeling form and the corpse before him. 

Niko felt the muscles in his jaw tighten as the silence drew on; hoping his brother would say something to him. _Anything_. Niko could feel Solaki’s eyes burning into him. Christeph’s death was on his soul, Niko could not deny that fact. The act had been deliberate, a message meant solely for him. He had saved Sotha from dying, defying the damage done by the xenos abominations, and for that fact they had punished him; forced him to watch, helpless, as they took another life in Sotha’s place.

Nothing came from his brother’s lips as Solaki turned to exit the transport, _his heavy footfalls as damning as any words could have ever been_.

Brig had roused as well; his body’s healing properties coupled with Niko’s ministrations allowing the brother-sergeant to stand with some effort. Niko could feel his cold gaze as well and nodded solemnly, turning as he rose to face the older Scythe fully before speaking,

‘I accept whatever punishment you choose to place upon me without dispute, brother-sergeant.’


----------



## unxpekted22

Astelan:

Arx does not continue the conversation during the path back to the base. Once at the base, what the other squad leaders tell him makes his shoulders drop. His melta gun hangs low in one hand. He sees the rest of the squad and Brig's squad get out of the newly arrived beat up rhino. Instead of approaching them he simply turns and walks further into the base by himself. Belial, not saying anything either, is the only one who follows him. Kain parts form you as well, but goes in a different direction from Arx and Belial. He too does not go towards the rhino. 

Kain:
the rising sun soon cats its rays over the high rockrete walls. You stare back at the light unhindered, bolter shining once again. After a few moments you help some guardsmen assemble a twinlinked heavy bolter turret. there appears to be a limited number of servitors.

Solaki: 

No one comes back to further question your usage of the las-canon parts. You have it reassembled, and you warn of a testing shot you make towards the sky. The las-canon works properly once again. Such an enduring holy weapon. it has been damaged and repaired multiple times in the past 24 hours and still years to strike down more enemies of the Emperor. 

You strap and clamp the weapon back onto your shoulder. Your weapon may be fixed, but you're still not entirely sure about the condition of your body. For now at least, you feel only the pain of aftershock from your wounds, pains that are more irritating than performance preventative. Your power armor has certainly seen better days...

Niko:

Brig first brings himself up to one knee, and than manages to stand with a groan. He steps out of the rhino with you, at his full height his bald head practically scrapes the ceiling. 

_‘I accept whatever punishment you choose to place upon me without dispute, brother-sergeant.’_

Sergent Brig responds without hesitation, "Pah!" he casts his head to the side, "I deserve to be punished more than anyone else here Niko. I was an arrogant fool. I thought we could take on those beasts alone without causality."

He clenches his fist and raises it, staring at the ground beneath him. His thin lips tightening further, and indents appear under his cheekbones as he grumbles with clenched teeth words that show he has lost any mouth befit for a proper son of the Emperor, his fist shaking trying to clench even tighter within the black gauntlet. 

He says nothing further to you, he drops to his knees beside Zurick and Ryan who are already praying over the body, his half-cape coming undone from its ties and sliding over his right shoulder guard hanging now only by the pendant clamped through it into the top of his shoulder guard. 

"Christeph, Grahm, Kyr. I have fought beside them for over a century now. I've lost them in a single day on this world."

later at the appropriate time, you are able to extract his gene seed successfully. His armor is dismantled and given to Laikus, after determining it would be able to used still. (I'm not sure if would work that way tbh.)


*Several days pass.*

The majority of the Scythes of the Emperor simply refuse to make further offensive action until Sotha is either pronounced dead or is able to give orders. The base's defenses have been optimized within the time period.

The sporadic sightings of the large gargoyles flying between the skyscrapers surrounding the base keeps everyone on their toes, and aware that the tyranids have in no way left. Many scythes bring up the argument that the Hive Tyrant may only be getting stronger while they wait, but the majority still refuse to budge. codex operations have simply gone out the window for most of the Scythes, they care little for doctrine at this point. Sergent Brig is the highest ranking, but makes no command or order. He, Zurick , and Ryan have stuck to themselves for days now. Most of their time has been spent in prayer. 

The odd silence is suddenly filled by the roar of jet engines as the large boxy form of a thunderhawk flies in from over some of the nearby buildings. It was one of the Scythes' thunderhawks. The base received radio transmission of its coming arrival earlier. However, the information was told to Brig, and so none of the other brothers had known about it. 

the massive transport ship lands in the nearest landing pad to all of you. To the surprise of every single brother on the ground, the ten figures that walk out of the ship are not Scythes of the Emperor. They are from the Mortifactors chapter.

They bare similar colors to your own, black and yellow but with the addition of bone.
The one in front leading them is the largest and the only one not wearing a a battle helm. A black cloak flows behind his armored form, and a long tabard flows gently from the front. Underneath the cloak a long curved blade can be seen along with a long handle rising diagonally above one of his shoulders. His armor shows a full skeletal frame over it. Skull icons and bones detail every inch of his armor. He has dark skin and long black dreadlocks as well as several facial piercings. Some of the piercings are bone ornaments and others are gold. Beneath the many bone ornaments, decorations and weapons, the blue color on sections of his power armor gives away that he is a Librarian. 

The nine marines behind him are all heavily decorated as well, not too mention heavily armed. Guardsmen Sergent Jole happens to be watching as well and shouts out with his arms crossed in front of his chest, "Now _there's_ some marines who look like they can actually _help_!"

The librarian seems to sense the animosity and confusion coming from the Scythes, as he puts both hands up in a "we're friendly" fashion. He finally comes to a halt and calls out, "*I am Brother Epistolary Librarian Rhashan, and this is my escorting squad. We are form the Mortifactors chapter come to assist in the mental training of one Brother Astelan. *"

Without anyone having to say anything he beings walking a straight line towards Astelan, his squad following. His eyes affixed to something.

Astelan:

You find the Marine who has forgotten his name is standing next to you, After you hear your name, and Rhashan begins walking toward you from the landing pad, the marine turns toward you suddenly, saying quickly, "Astelan he has come to kill you brother, I have heard of this happening before."

As he says this, Rhashan takes hold of the bladed weapon behind his back and pulls it around to the front of him revealing it to be a large power-scythe. 

"Astelan! you must fight him!" says the marine, his left hand on your right shoulder guard. 

what do you do?

Niko, Kain, Solaki, Belial, and Arx:

You are just as surprised as the rest of your brothers who are near the landing pad to see Mortifactors coming out of your chapter's thunderhawk. 

What are your reactions to the Librarian drawing his weapon? Do you try to stop him from harming Astelan? If not, there will be others (NPCs) who do run at them, do you try to stop them? (you can describe holding back a brother marine trying to charge and have him angry at you for doing so, something along those lines). 

I've given you guys a lot to write about, so more than just a couple lines would be appreciated.

Charon: you are now in present time with everyone else.

Just as you leap back out onto the rooftop the gargoyles are fleeting away. A hit and run attack apparently. You quickly board the thunderhawk once again with your squad, the bird lifting off before the ramp is fully closed to make sure the effort to clear the skies is taken advantage of. 

The Thunderhawk whips over the skyscrapers, hundreds of intersecting street lines far below, and above them various building to building cross-ways at differing heights. soon enough the buildings clear to an opening as the transport zooms over the large heavily defended walls of the western district's militarily base.

The ship lands and Rhashan hurries you out. Coming down the ramp you see Scythes of the Emperor marines gathering around the landing pad. It's not hard to put yourself in their shoes and guess what they're thinking or feeling. Your armored feet finally reach the ground of Ferim. Rhashan introduces himself and addresses Astelan. You assume he has spotted the marine for he suddenly begins walking again, but with a purposeful stride this time. IN your helm you hear his voice as he draws his Power-scythe. 

"_Defend me, but do not fire brothers. Even if they fire first."_

Your brothers hustle forward forming a loose circle around all sides of Rhashan except his direct front, they do not raise their weapons but keep one arm up in a blocking fashion. You would normally give heed but you all know the scythes will decide their actions no matter what you say, being fellow marines you know their focus will be on one thing, the open power-scythe walking towards their brother. 

defend Rhashan. ( I must ask that you refrain from posting actual defending until the others have posted. Once they have posted I will PM you with further details. You can post anything you want up until the point of actually defending him, can get into the stance).

Tyrant: Several days have now passed for you as well. and you have moments ago come out of hibernation. 

Your gargoyles obey and retreat from the roof landed thunderhawk. the ship does as you expected as flies right to the base, your gargoyles now purposefully allowing it passage through. 

Spinegaunts and Hormagaunts run past you out of the water as your giant clawed foot impacts the mud. Once the rippers fed themselves to you with the digestions of dead guardsmen throughout the forest, the spawning process only went that much faster. In fact the entire swamp is starting to look more and more like a cesspool, ripper bodies flood it and new sprouting Tyranid form foliage is draining fluid into the swamp turning it thicker and transforming it to Tyranid specifications. 

your strength has finally returned to you.

In the tree lines beyond, your eyes catch the movement of your returning lictors. In seconds they land before you. One of them is missing a fore arm, one of its long back talons, has several bullet wounds and burns that scorched the hide. 

the other's feeding tendrils look like they were half blown off. there is also a large hole in its left chest region but it has all of its limbs still. it is also covered in bullet wounds and burns.

Before you can hardly tell they have re-established a mental connection with you already hear them yelling. It's a mixture of being pissed off their injuries, that too much of their pray got away and that its all your fault. If they had been controlling the rest of your children then everything on this world would have gone smoothly and they wouldn't have to do everything themselves. 

Then, together they both say to you, "It is time for us to have the dominant link. The hivemind is ours to control. Our combined strength is more than your own."

With this, the one missing a couple limps leaps high into the air above while the one with all its limbs leaps straight for you, both claws and both talons stretched out toward you. 

fight them and maintain your dominance over the hivemind. They are injured enough for you to win but its going to be the hardest damn fight you've ever had, so I expect some good action writing!!! :grin:

once they are dealt with, begin the advancement of your troops.


----------



## dark angel

He’d spent his days in recluse, tampering. His weapons were polished exuberantly, each individual plate of his armour repaired by his own caring hand with whatever he could find. A strap of flooring was wrapped around his hip, the silver surface contrasting beautifully against the usual black-yellow plate. Now he was naked in his allocated quarters, his armour laid out before him. His weapons rested on immaculate clothe, their surfaces polished into perfection. A tattered piece of parchment also clung to his Combat-Blade, wrapped around it, crimson lettering glowing in the tense light. 

Not ink. Blood. The Guardsmen of the base had gifted him with a thrall in the preparation of his armour, and Astelan had brutally murdered him. He had been a just child, honest and warmhearted. But he had also been a distraction. Astelan had snapped his neck with his own hands, watching as his throat bruised and swelled, clutching away the last vestiges of life. When he had finally died, Astelan had took his Combat-Blade to the torso. He had cut him from shoulder to hip, revealing fresh organs and a abundance of crimson-dabbed bones.

In predatory starvation, Astelan had devoured each organ. The heart had been first, a trio of great bites ridding the world of the organ, chunks of meat and ribbons of blood marring his features. Only when the torso was empty did he realise what he had become. He’d wept to himself as he reminisced; remembering the long dead Marines. Aster, Skia and Gregor had particularly plagued his thoughts. They jabbed accusing fingers, whispered to one another and cackled in delight as he continued to divulge in his monstrous bloodlust, devouring more and more of the boy.

He applied the blood which had remained to each Bolter casing, each Chainsword fang. Each individual item of his weaponry was given a separate Sothan rune, those which Astelan had grown to cherish over time. Now, he sat on his creaking bunk, head bowed into the cusps of his hands. His blood-flaking palms gripped his hair tightly, dirtying the rank strands further. A bloody tear welled in the corner of his eye, spinning back and forth. It dripped achingly slow. Astelan caught his reflection in the crimson globule, even as it burst into a dozen minute drops upon the stone floor.

_He fell into the churning vastness of the Warp. Colourful nebulae weaved around him, evaporating upon his touch. Skinless birds squawked around him, beaks of incarnadine-tinted bone opening up, revealing slithering tongues. They ignored his free-falling form. A fleshy earth punched upwards at him, twitching muscle cushioning the blow. He propped himself up onto one forearm, feeling serpent-like veins slip under him, leaving trails of crimson ichor across his form. A terrible howling caught his attentions. He spun his head around, into the razor-lined maw of the Daemon._

Astelan shuddered. For the duration of his self-imposed solitude he had suffered the same dream, randomly taking affect on him. The first had been the most terrifying. His gifted serf had still lived then, watching in both anticipation and horror as his master squirmed and lashed out at his feet, crying for salvation. That was the day that Astelan had engorged himself. The gnawing of the spectral creature had torn away his humanity, his energy. The boy had simply been unlucky, and had been murdered in such a barbaric fashion. 

The Scythe stood. Slowly he placed each plate of his armour upon his body, making the Sign of the Aquila and allowing a ushered prayer for each hissing plate. His body interfaced with each section, and slowly he began to grow in stature. When he finally slipped his gauntlets onto his hands, he allowed a smile. The ceramite felt reassuring, even as he tensed his fingers rapidly. Only when this was done did he acknowledged his helm. The surface was polished to a reflective gleam, his blurred features looking back up at him. 

He looked feral. Carefully taking the helm in his hands, so that the glistening surface was unmarred, he placed it onto his head. Runes flickered into being, the staccato report of his Vox puncturing his quiet thoughts. Eventually it eased into a simple grumbling, fading into the background slowly. Next he took his weapons in hand. He purred the Chainsword, the teeth beckoning for flesh. His Bolter and Bolt Pistol were taken next and holstered, both loaded and ready. Finally he took his crimson-tinted Combat-Blade, grip tight on the pommel.

The weapon whistled as it slipped along his hip, creating a flurry of sparks, and fell into its scabbard. He left the quarters quietly, casting one last look into the room. Now he realised how barren it had truly been, a mere square of blank surfaces and his reinforced bunk. He nodded once and continued throughout the base. Guardsmen shirked from his path, slipping into adjacent hallways or pretending to admire the glorified walls. Astelan chuckled within his helm. They were so scared of their willing protectors, so worried that he would turn on them.

He could not promise their safety. Guardsmen followed a path of glory, and such paths led only to death. Astelan was not on such a path. He had reached glory long ago, and now he was immortal. His name would be remembered, in either fame or infamy. He wasn’t particularly bothered as to which one; both had been achieved by him at some point in his long life. The entrance to the compound came up suddenly, a pair of motionless Scythes standing guard at either point of the gilded doors. Both held Bolters across their chests, magazines locked in place.

One allowed a shallow bow, while the other simply stood immobile. He had both gained and lost a considerable amount of respect as of recent. He could have killed them both in an instant of he truly wanted. They meant nothing to him, mere pawns in his grander scheme. The doors slipped apart as he left, coming into the grit-ridden base. Guardsmen of various origins milled around, slouching lazily at various points. Several Astartes performed close combat training with one another, a dazing blur of hacks and parries. 

Astelan walked for several hours, until finally a gathering of men and Astartes bean to throng around. In the distant, a Thunderhawk swept closer. It was graceful yet monstrous, a strange metallic fabrication of bird. He took a place at the rear, folding arms across his chest. It was a human motion, one of annoyance. Had Sotha sent more of his lackeys down from the vessel? Had he himself come to redeem his command from the hands of those who were unworthy? Of course he hadn’t. Sotha was nothing more than a dying form, much like their Homeworld had been.

It landed, kicking up a mist of dust, rock and other local materials. The rear ramp collapsed into the ground, and a retinue of the Emperor’s Hangmen descended. Each wore a set of archaic appearing armour, rounded gently with glistening bone. The front most one brought fear to Astelan. There was a flickering about him, a gathering of raw Warp. A jet cloak blew in the wind behind him, like the wings of the damned. His skin was similarly dark, a twist of dreadlocked hair falling from his head.

Piercings, not dissimilar to what some of the Sothan Marines once wore, decorated his face. His armour was oddly twisted with hundreds of bones and mimicking icons, each one polished to a fine gleam. He advanced on Astelan after introducing himself as Rhashan, a Librarian. Astelan looked about, searching for his scar-armoured companion. He was nearby, in front to be precise. He wheeled on him, his horrible armour chinking, and hissed; 

"Astelan he has come to kill you brother, I have heard of this happening before."

‘Astelan! You must fight him!’ Cried Rhashan, the meaning of his words lost to Astelan. There was a niggling at the back of his mind, a fell whisper.

Astelan stood there, arms now at his sides. His hands were twisted into bone-crushing fists, both ready to strike out at an instant. Rhashan continued towards him, Power-Scythe held in hand, the crescent tip facing the ground, the pommel, the sky. But which did he fight? That which offered him everlasting devotion and pride, or that which would tear it away from him without a second thought?

The Scythe of the Emperor drew his Chainsword, the sound of screeching metal accompanying it. He flicked the activation run, the purring teeth rotating gently. 

‘Tell me Brother, what do _I _get if I do so?’ Was all he said, a malicious grin spreading across his features.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain had spent a lot of time by himself, praying to the Emperor and polishing his weapons and armour. He stayed away from his brothers but grew frustrated with them as most refused to move forward. As the days continued he had more and more heated debates with some of them. He spent more time near the guardsmen, helping them shift heavy bolter turrets and others into position for the defence.

He saw his brothers moving towards one of the makeshift forward landing pads, almost electric excitement swept through the camp. A thunderhawk from the chapter was descending from the skies, fast and proud amongst the clouds. Kain movely slowly to the front of his brothers, pushing others out of the way. As it landed Kain pulled on his helmet, and stood there loosely waiting to see what the commotion was about. Either Sotha was dead or alive, this would mean that they would finally be able to charge forth and wipe this xeno filth from the system.

As the hatch opened Kain almost raised his weapon, space marines from the Mortifactors chapter stepped out the back, lead by a librarian. He spoke, saying in his calm controlled voice that he was here for Astelan. Kain watched as the Librarian drew his power weapon, knowing that he wanted Astelan to fight him. However this drew a reaction from the assembled space marines, many who saw this as wrong. Kain was one of those, he never thought that a weapon should be drawn on a fellow brother, unless he is most definitely tainted.

Kain moved forwards, several marines moving with him. They would provide back up for his brother and would most likely engage the Mortifactors honour guard of some sort. _"What is this brother Librarian, that you have to draw a weapon on a faithful servant to the Emperor?" _Asked Kain as he moved near to Astelan, weapon still at his side, he would not fire on his brothers.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki slotted the last piece of his lascannon in place. He stood up to his full height and turned around, half expecting to see some lowly sergeant of the Imperial guard questioning on what authority he had taken their lascannon apart and taken most of the useful parts. But no one was there. Not a sole. No one questioned the authority of the Astartes, and rightly so. Solaki was in no mood to be pestered by some petty guardsman. He walked back down the stairs and the men before him parted like the waves of the sea. He walked into an area of open ground and aimed his lascannon up into the sky. He choose the smallest cloud he could see in the sky and took aim. "Stand back" Solaki called out loudly before firing into the sky. A ruby red lance of lights struck the cloud and obliterated it into mere atoms. The lascannon on his shoulder shuddered slightly, but after so long, Solaki could tell it was the shudder of a fully functioning lascannon, and Solaki smiled inwardly to himself. His symbol of office, HIS lascannon had been repaired three times today, and still fired true. His ancient weapon was still as perfect as the day he first picked it from that armory on Sotha. He looked down at his own ravished body. The blood had clotted in most places, but he could still see the multiple gashes and dents from where the tyranids had torn at it. For certain it had seen better days, so Solaki stared back at the sky and wondered how long they would be here.

*+++ Several days later+++*

Solaki sat prone on the top of one of the sky scraper. His armour had been extensively repaired by Laikus, an ancient debt for his sacrifice on Sotha. He had preserved the machines, and now the machines would preserve him. His body was slick with ichor, gargoyle ichor. He had killed one on his morning patrol yesterday, blew one of it's wings off and it crashed into the floor, no longer able to sustain flight. He had picked it up and taken it apart in a methodical rage. The blood he had smeared all over his pitch black armour. It would hide his scent from some tyranids that might wish to find him up here. The rest he had left, save for it's face, which not hung disjointed over his shoulder guard, where a few days ago a his memorial to his fallen brethren had been. Now it was a mute taunt to his enemy, if they were susceptible to such things. Occationally, a black dot would appear in the sky, and Solaki would raise his lascannon to eye level and take aim, and fire if it was viable or likely he would hit. Other than that, the sky had been clear as Sotha's own blue skies had been. Had been. 

Things had changed since Solaki and Niko had got back to base. Astelan had withdrawn to some private cellar in the forgotten pits of this forsaken capital. Presumably brooding over his newfound talents, or as far as Solaki could guess. Solaki had spent much time in the company of Zurick, the two frequently on the same watch for the capital being under attack. Barricades and defences had been erected in the anticipation of an attack, which every Scythe knew would come. It was just a matter of when. Solaki still kept in contact with his squad, but had kept himself absent from them. Not because he tired of their company, but just because he had no need to. There was work to be done. He had spent many nights in an insomniac state, and had taken up a position with the night watch, lending his hand to the rows of guardsmen standing there waiting to be 'assimilated' into biomass, although they didn't know it yet.

Solaki heard the distant roar of jets, and turned around to see one of their Thunderhawks descending through the atmosphere. To his, and probably to the Sycthes on the ground, surprise, not Sycthes steeped out of the Thunderhawk. Instead, several brothers from the Mortifactors chapter strode out. Some form of conversation happened between the sergeant, who through the lens of his lascannon, Solaki noticed he was in fact a librarian. The blue on his armour gave that away. He seemed to motion for a brother, whom Solaki realized was Astelan, and then draw his power weapon. Solaki saw several brothers motion to stop the librarian, and the Mortifactors motioned to defend their leader. Solaki opened up his vox to the fellow Scythes "Brothers, I have my sights on the librarian. If he tries to harm our brother, he will be harmed, and if needs be, killed. I will bear the consequences for my actions, and will only fire if no other option is left open to me. But allow him to act as he will, I will make sure Astelan come to no harm." Solaki kept his sights firmly on the librarian, and waited to see what happened...


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon quickly made his way back into the Thunderhawk with the rest of his brothers and chose to sit when he hit his head on a bar. He watched the cityscapes below and above pass by quickly, so many people in such a small enclosed space, no wonder the Tyranid menace had chosen to start here, these people were ripe for the taking. He had gone over the reports of what had happened here so far, and he had to admit it was most definately not the best of situations that they were flying into right now.

A renegade psyker who Rhashan had to believe was tainted, or if not that then on his way down that path, and a very unique splinter fleet of the Tyranid scum had chosen to make this place its home. He grunted as he thought about the situation further, the planetary defence force was moot in all respects, while they did fight honorably they were hardly a match for this type of xenos. To add to that the Astartes that had come to help them were extremely few in number, something that had dwindled even further since their landing on this planet, and now they had a possible taint within their chapter.

This was why all of these veterans had been assembled by Rhashan, this was going to be a truly testing experience even for them, and he welcomed it. 

--------------------------------

The transport landed and the ramp lowered quickly to allow them all out, Rhashan apparently spotting the rogue psyker immediately. He took his time to take in the sight of the Scythes, and it was trully pitiful, his brothers were on their last legs..so few of them left. It struck his heart to see so little of them but the determination on each of their faces strengthened his belief in their ability to still stand and fight. 

Rhashan quietly spoke to him and his brothers telling them to protect him and drew his power scythe, something that unnerved the Scythes present. He smiled under his cowl at this, the Scythes afraid of a scythe, but when many of them stood up to Rhashan and some even commenting on his words Charon took a place on his Librarian's right side, another Mortifactor he was unfamiliar with on the left. He could tell by the look in Astelan's eye that he was divided internally, he was already starting to head down that path and was now a liability to them all.

*"We must kill him lord. He is a liability."* he said into the squad's vox so that only they could hear him. He was taller then all of them here with the exception of a fairly large Scythe that stood and watched with the rest of his brothers, something that he had come to accept after his initiation into the Mortifactors. He stood silently, his face hidden behind his chain cowl and his arm out signifying no one to come near his brother librarian. He watched silently, the Scythe that had asked Rhashan what he was doing becoming his target being that he was closest to him and easily within Charon's long reach.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial stood amazed when he seen the mortifactors disembarking from the thunderhawk. Not what he was expecting at all. A thin smile grew across Belials face when he saw the blue colours adourning the lead Mortifactor. *A librarian, now there will be a reckoning. The truth of Astelans taint shall now come to the fore, there can be no hiding now he thought to himself.*

"*Stand fast brothers shouted belial, let the librarian through. this must be done for the good of the chapter as much as Astelan himself. If our brother truely has nothing to hide then he has nothing to worry about. He will be given guidance and helped along his path to become a true librarian, as i have already stated he cannot be left unchecked. The powers of the warp are not for us to understand. This must be left for those with the experience and know how. I say again brothers stand back and let what must be done.*.

With that belial Stood back waiting with anticipation on the events that would unfold. At least the truth would be known one way or another.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko moved with solemn dignity, slipping the curved tool in place with a measured grace. His voice was clear and true as he spoke words uttered uncountable times over battlefields across the face of the galaxy; the wet crack of bone punctuating Niko’s somber cadence,

‘…and, though your soul now stands amid the ranks of His everlasting warriors, your legacy shall yet live on Brother,’

Placing the boneshear aside, Niko lifted free the section of Christeph’s overlapping shield of ribs that he had just severed. Organs gleamed wetly as steam coiled off their surfaces in the cold light of the storage room Niko had claimed and cleared out for this very duty, much to the dismay of the local quartermaster. Not that the man had voiced a single word of opposition after receiving the cold stare of the young Scythe, nor would Niko have cared if he had. 

Niko had already removed Christeph’s armour and stacked it neatly in the corner, save a single shoulder guard that remained within arm’s reach of where he knelt, to be delivered into the care of Techmarine Laikus after his duty was done. 

The blood-stained fingers of Niko’s right gauntlet closed gently around the textured grip of a long bladed scalpel; his left was already buried to his forearm in the fallen brother’s chest, carefully pressing aside the multiple implants within to gain access deep within. His movements were sure, diamond-edged blade lifting free the tiny node of pink flesh and sliding it carefully into a waiting vial where its twin already drifted safely within a swirl of suspension fluid.

‘As it was given, so shall it be returned.’

Niko spoke the last words of the rite as he capped the vial, activating the sealing mechanism and inscribing Christeph’s genetic marker into the outer surface before placing the vial in an armoured case at his hip. Turning to the section of plate by his side, Niko worked at its surface for a moment before rising slowly to his feet and turning to exit the room, keying the door’s re-coded lock with a low word as he set his course to a section of the base where the harsh lumin strips had been muted to a twilight glow.

The murmur of prayer seemed to hang in the shadows as Niko approached a re-enforced doorway of blackened plasteel. Much like the storage room he himself had claimed for a make-shift Apothecarium and mortuarium, this chamber had been repurposed into a new use. Benches of dark wood cut the open space into narrow rows and candles flickered as unseen air currents coiled around their ivory tappers; the heavy scent of burning incense hung in the air amid cobalt shadow and silence. Niko paused at the threshold, his grey eyes coming to rest upon three powerful figures kneeling motionless, save for the slight rise and fall of breathing, before a simple altar.

It was nearly ten minutes before the Brother-Sergeant stirred, straightening before rising slowly from between the silent forms of Ryan and Zurick who knelt at his flanks. Brig’s movements were stiff; Niko could perceive the tightness of fatigue and lingering pain around the Brother-Sergeant’s green eyes even in the dim light as he stepped from the shadow of the doorway, crossing the short distance between the makeshift pews to stand before the older Scythe. There was a sorrow that seemed to cling to Brig’s broad shoulders as he met Niko’s gaze with a question-laden silence. The young Apothecary gave a slight nod before speaking in low tones,

‘Forgive me this interruption, Brother-Sergeant, but it is done. His legacy will endure beyond this world, I swear upon my honour. But that is not the only reason I have sought you out. This belongs with his brothers,’ 

Ebony armoured fingers uncurled from around a pair of blood-stained seals that rested upon Niko’s raised palm, the remains of oath traced parchment folded neatly under the dark red wax.

---

Niko tuned out the percussive attentions of the Techmarine upon the wounded Rhino transport that sat nearby as he passed his hands across the dials of the high-powered orbital vox receiver, keying the frequency in with a low prayer to the machine spirit Laikus had finally coaxed into operational status after his request 72 hours prior. Static growled forcefully from the open beak of a stylized eagle before settling down into a low crackle of background interference as a series of blinking runes went from amber to green and a familiar voice issued forth,

‘Niko, it is well to hear from you. My time is limited but, for the moment, it is yours; speak your report, Brother-Apothecary.’

Though distorted by distance and static, Alexander’s voice was strong and measured; a stanchion of Niko’s duty and purpose. The young Scythe took a deep breath and focused his thoughts, summarizing the condition of the Scythes on the surface of Ferim in the impassive and clinical analysis of his training. It was not until he began listing the names of those brothers who would never again be leaving the blighted world that Niko felt his resolve waver,

‘…unrecovered/destroyed. Brother Jyed, geneseed unrecovered/destroyed. Brother Christeph, geneseed recovered/intact.’

Niko swallowed against a sudden press of emotion, closing his eyes briefly before continuing,

‘My primary supplies are at twenty eight percent, secondary at thirty. I would also inquire upon the status of Lord Sotha’s wounds,’ 

There was a static-filled pause before Alexander’s voice returned as the signal cut across the distance between the base and where the Heart of Sotha hung in orbit,

‘He recovers, but it will take precious time Niko. I will see to getting the needed supplies to you; however I have a pressing matter that requires my attention at this time. Do what you must for our brothers until we speak again.’

---

Niko turned the sample vial over in his hand absently as he walked; it contained the blood of the gargoyle that had grown large enough to bear him aloft. He had spent most of the morning recounting every detail of the xenos presence he had encountered so far on Ferim into the dataslate that lay upon the foot of his cot back in the make-shift Apothecarium. Yet there was something that niggled at the back of his thoughts and had finally driven him out into the open air.

_Astelan._

The Scythe had been awake when Niko arrived at the base, abruptly thereafter secluding himself in one of the chambers the Chapter had claimed use of so Niko had focused his attentions elsewhere. And now Astelan was doing an unexpectedly proficient job of avoiding Niko’s presence. His bio-signs and location still fluctuated maddeningly in the corner of Niko’s vision, they had only appeared a few hours prior and the young Apothecary concluded that Astelan had spent most of his time out of his armour while locked away.

The throaty roar of an approaching Thunderhawk caused him pause in his search and Niko turned his steps towards the nearest landing pad as the black and gold shape cut across the skyline. He emerged into the open at the same time the ship was touching down, along with most of the Scythes present in the base. There had been no warning of a transport inbound from orbit that Niko knew of, and he narrowed his eyes when he noticed Astelan’s presence in the crowd as well.

There was a moment of shock when the bay of the Thunderhawk opened to disgorge a battle squad of astartes clad heraldry of the Mortifactors and led by a Librarian. Niko gave a grim nod as the Librarian announced himself and his intentions; Alexander had not taken his words lightly, this was the only way his brother’s soul could be saved. The mood of the gathered Scythes shifted however when the Librarian unsheathed his weapon and began approaching, some moving to stand between Astelan and the newcomers.

Niko cursed under his breath and flipped his external vox on as he pushed to the front of the gathering,

‘*Stand down! All of you… Stand down and sheath your weapons!* This must happen, not only for our Chapter’s future but for Brother Astelan’s soul.’

He stepped near brother Kain, lowering his voice,

‘Back away, brother. They are here at my insistence; it was either this… or the Emperor’s Mercy. Astelan’s fate is in the Brother-Librarian’s hands now.’


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain looked confused at Niko, the young apothecary had asked for them here? _"Brother you would allow this? Our chapter is nearing oblivion! Day by day we lose more brothers whether it be physically or emotionally. We are a shadow of our former selves, a flame that once was bright but now is dim and dying. This is not good for the chapters morale, we need every single able bodied brother to fight the xeno scum."_ He spoke to Niko through private vox, so that the rest of his brothers hadn't seen, and couldn't that he had lost hope in their leadership _"Brother do you not think these measures are drastic, I am sure that Astelan's soul is with the Emperor, but indeed I know not as much as you when it comes to this. I do what I must for the chapter."_

_"My squad have all died since we arrived at this hell planet, my squad which survived so much together, killed in an instant. We have lost too many brothers Niko, but your an apothecary surely you must feel this? This is why I am opposing the Librarian, brother. I would have thought that you of all people would understand this, understand my motives."_

Kain stood still, not moving. His mind was set upon this task, and his body relished this. He would not back down, too many had been lost as it was. The chapter needed all of its brothers if there was any hope of succeeding on this planet. He moved his hand so that it hovered near his combat blade, but activated his mag lock on his leg so that his bolter could rest their. His aim was not to try and take the lives of the Mortifactors, he wished to take no true servants of the Emperors lives, but he could not stand by.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial was relieved that Niko had also spoken up aand also a little surprised that it was he who had called for the mortifactors, though the logic of it was true. looking around he noticed that not all the Sythes were listening to His or Nikos words. Some still stood their ground. 
Belial looked at Kain, he knew the young Sythe was truely hurting deep down and was close to despair. He noticed him tense slightly and his hand hovering dangerously close to his blade. He was commited to his course of action and unless someone could get through to him he would carry it out regardless.
*"Niko this is belial here, not all out brothers are listening, this will get ugly very quickly unless something is done. Our brothers must see the error of our ways. Remember the heresy, brother against brother. We must not fall to that disgrace.*
Belial moved towards Niko to stand by his side and showing his support for the young apothecary and hoping that others would also follow.
As he moved towards Niko he wondered where in the emperors name was Arx. Now of all times they needed the words of a chaplain to try and get some sence across to the others.


----------



## dark angel

‘_Contempt lies!_’ Sneered Astelan, listening to both the venom-tinged words of Belial and Niko.

Neither surprised him. Both were young, foolish. Neither had been alive when Astelan was first inducted into the Chapter, so few of the present Scythes had, in fact. He wavered his Chainsword threateningly at Belial, the teeth still rumbling. They hungered for his blood, he realised. His thoughts were depraved, he hated what he had become. If he did not do something, he would die, that he was utterly sure of. 

He remembered the fallen. They had given their lives for him, Skia and Aster among them. They had murdered thousands in the Name of the Emperor. And now, they were nothing. Scattered upon the stars, dying memories in the minds of a dying breed. The Scythes were weak, all but gone. And now they had went behind one another’s backs and sought the presence of another Chapter. It sickened Astelan that they had fallen so far, it hurt him within. 

‘Your distaste for me is not unknown, Belial!’ He cackled, jabbing an accusing finger ‘Nor is yours, Niko. You have summoned another Chapter, and with that alone have shamed us all! Are the Scythes not capable of looking after our own? Have we fallen so far that we must seek the guidance of bone-pickers and barbarians? You both wish me dead, I know as much. Your claims are pathetic, Apothecary-to-be. I am fine! Fine!’


----------



## Euphrati

_‘Yours is to serve, unto the last drop of your blood, that your brothers might live to fight on. Watch over them, heal them, offer up your very life should it extend theirs but a moment, and by your sacrifice the enemy be slain. And when the time comes that you must fulfill your most solemn oath; do your duty, take that which is the Chapter’s due, and know your mission is done.’_

Niko’s gaze shifted between his battle-brothers as he quoted from the Apocrypha, finally coming to rest upon Astelan, 

‘*That *is my holy oath. _My life for the lives of my brothers_, and I would give it for any of you without pause. I hold no aversion for you, Astelan. My duty is to your wellbeing without prejudice, and in turn the very future of our Chapter. I did not summon these brothers personally, but it is my words of judgment that set in motion the events that find them here now.’

The young Apothecary’s voice was unwavering, his shoulders set and head held high as he stood his ground, his words carrying across the open expanse of ferocrete upon which they stood,

‘If it is an act of *shame *to adhere to one’s oaths, to follow the edict of the God-Emperor himself without the blinders of egocentricity, then yes; I will accept such shame upon myself for you. I willingly place my honour upon the altar in exchange for your purity, brother.’

Niko lowered his voice before continuing,

‘We have been without a Librarian for many years now; none within our ranks can aid you in the formal training required by our Chapter’s very tenets. Tenets you have sworn oaths upon your life's breath to uphold; I have accepted the weight of my oaths to you… would you break those sacred oaths to us, your brothers and your Chapter, now?’


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

*"They are weak."* Urya's gruff voice came over the vox, his heavey flamer resting in his hands.* "Aye, how are we to aide brothers who can not even aide themselves?"* Rish'ka's retort made Charon narrow his eyes, his brother was right, how could they even begin to aide the scythes if they obviously had fallen apart morally? Charon spoke into the vox, *"Berian what do you think?"* he asked his old friend from his company.

Berian let out a sigh, *"Our brothers are right, they are weak and are making rash actions because they fear what is in store for them. If they are to be saved then their morale and faith must be restored, because clearly they have none left in them."* Charon took a deep breath as he watched the Scythes bicker with each other, sad that a brother chapter had fallen so far, he knew that the Mortifactors had been under scrutiny before but they had never wavered from their faith in the Emperor. He hoped dearly that the Scythes did not make the mistake of attacking he and his brothers, he feared that they would be in for a much worse fate then if they simply accepted the help offered to them.


----------



## unxpekted22

(_ooc: 0_o some nice posts [yay character development!!]. A couple things to keep in mind: Arx is not a chaplain. if anything he is a chaplain to be, though at this rate likely soon to be out of the picture. Also, make sure to watch my dialogue carefully, as well as names. There have been a few mix ups here and there._)

All Marines:

After listening to Niko's response, Astelan turns his head back forward to face the oncoming Librarian now upon him, the power-scythe force weapon already raised in the air. 

Kain bursts through the efforts of both Niko and Belial charging towards the group of Mortifactors. Several other scythes of the emperor do the same.

Astelan raises his arm in an instinctive reaction to shield himself. 

Solaki's finger presses against the trigger of the las-canon but halts just before firing, as he see's the truth of the situation. 

The sunlight gleaming over the sharp silver edge of the scythe as it comes down, Rhashan yelling in a booming voice, "_Die Demon!!"_

Astelan: The large blade sinks through the chest of the nameless marine comrade of yours who still stood right next to you. 

everyone else: Rhashan's large scythe does not land into the flesh of Astelan but instead stops abruptly in mid-air. A demonic high-pitched scream fills your ears as the air flickers around the sparking force weapon. A mere shadow shaped like a space marine stands with the weapon through its chest region, long curling claw-like fingers wrapped around the blade.

The shadow's screams fade away with its visage, as it dissipates into the air like smoke. The surprise of Astelan seeing the nameless marine (who only he could see) who had tried to convince him to turn on his brothers be revealed as a demon keeps him in Rhashan's reach. The librarian's gauntlet grabs hold of the faceplate of Astelan's helmet, subsequently pulling it off with seemingly little effort. 

_Since the first day on Ferim, Astelan's complexion had only become worse. Flowing white hair had become withered and gray. The immortal face of a loyalist space marine had become darkened, spotted and grim. Even his eyes had started to become faint. But now as the helmet was torn off, the life could literally be seen flowing back into him as his skin smoothed and his hair whitened. But Rhashan was not finished_.

Rhashan places his open palm against Astelan's forehead, and shouts a spell or chant of some kind as a blinding light bursts forth from his palm with the sound of a jet engine, causing only Astelan's outline to be seen inside the light. His loud yell can only be heard faintly. but it only lasts for a few moments

------

Astelan:

your icons and reticules disappear as your helmet is ripped off, a gust of wind blowing around your head. A gloved palm takes hold of your face. You find your body unable to move as the unwavering Librarian chants a spell or litany of some kind. Your world erupts into a blinding light with the thick fingers still gripping the front of your skull. The washing of taint from the surfaces of your mind causes you to let out a long single note yell louder than you ever have before. 

Everything the demon had done to your mind becomes apparent and all thoughts of leading the chapter to your own whim disappear. You revisit all of the corrupted dreams you have experienced in the last weak and see them for what they were, lies, before seeing the successive scenes all burn away. You float above the dreamworld you walked through in your unconscious state, and watch as it all fades to dust. It seems to take a very long time for you but it is only seconds. You fall to the ground and the pole of Rhashan's scythe hits the ground next to you as he kneels down to speak, Scythes of the Emperor and Mortifactors wrestling and brawling all around him,

"_I cannot simply erase taint Astelan. If we could do that then the forces of chaos would be much less a threat. But I believe I have gotten to you in time to prevent the seeds the demon was sewing from becoming too deeply rooted. I have shown you its lies, but regardless, I must watch closely over you to make sure any possibility of taint is gone, you are still a liability. I will teach you how to control your new abilities as well as how to keep such monstrosities out of your head. I can make the warp's whispers become as clear as me kneeling in front of you. This is your choice of course, but if you decline to accept my guidance then we must end your life, without further delay." _



Niko and Belial: Kain and several others burst through those of you holding your brothers back, causing you to turn and see the librarian cut down the manifested demon, and what he subsequently does to Astelan. Obviously you dont know exactly what he has done to Astelan but he falls to the ground conscious, and still looking better than he has for the entire time on Ferim. The Scythes of the Emperor and Mortifactors are now involved in a full brawl around Astelan and the librarian. 

Kain: 

You break through Niko and Belial's defense, and charge straight towards the Mortifactors. The closest one to you wears a black cape, is a fair bit taller than you, has pale skin and long black hair to match. You try to barge through him but are caught sooner than expected by his long reach. He flips you over in an instant. still holding one of your arms he plants a knee on your abdomen in an attempt to keep you down (its charon, but you dont know his name of course). A fellow scythe tackles him from behind but he regains himself in an instant standing back up, due to the tackling marine leaping too far to successfully pin the Mortifactor, who will not let you near the librarian. (You and blackapostlevilhelm will be reacting to eachother's posts. neither of you can completely pin the other, you may strike but no attempts at fatal blows)

Charon:

The marine that spoke out, who was close to you and thus you had your eye on, breaks through his brothers' defenses and charges toward you. You easily take hold of him and flip him onto his back, still holding one of his arms in a locked position and planting your knee into his gut to try and keep him pinned. You are tackled from behind but you immediately are able to stand back up, the tackling marine throwing himself too far to pin you. The first Scythe of the Emperor stands before you again, dont let him get past you. (you and lord ramo will be reacting to eachother's posts, neither of you can completely pin the other, you may strike but no attempts at fatal blows.)

Solaki: 

There is no longer a need to be in a sniping position. Besides, even if the librarian were to harm Astelan you would be shooting into a brawl of Scythes and Mortifactors alike. Get down there and see whats going on, see what you can do if anything. Join the fight, try to stop it, just watch? its whatever, your decisions. 

Arx:

If you decide to charge in you'll have to wrestle an NPC Mortifactor. If you dont charge in what do you do instead?


*Ok I know this all might be kind of confusing, basically as soon as Rhashan raised his power-scythe to strike is when all the scythes of the emperor marines naturally charged in and with the brawling they havn't really seen what happened. Most of them probably think Astelan just got stabbed or sliced in half. right about now I'm face palming myself for choosing a chapter that would use a giant scythe as a power/force weapon. ugh.*

Tyrant:

Still on last update buddy. But technically you're not 'behind' yet, so its all good.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki watched the world below him explode in slow-motion. Kain and several other brothers break through the line of Niko and Belial as the Mortifactor librarian raised his power scythe above his head. Solaki nearly pulled the trigger, nearly tore the noble marine apart in a burst of energy, almost signed his own death warrant, almost aligned himself with the traitors of old who turned on their brothers, but he hesitated. He hesitated because he realized something. Even if the librarian had swung at Astelan with his arms outstretched, he would have grazed his breast plate. He was to far back to harm Astelan. And even if he was to kill Astelan, he did it to save his immortal soul, and it was for his brother's own good. So Solaki waited to see if he had left his brother to die or made the right decision. Sure enough, the librarian's force scythe stopped mid-air. A high pitched screech like nothing Solaki had ever heard filled the air-waves. Solaki recoiled from such a foul noise that was ear splitting, even at 15 meters above it. Regaining his composure, Solaki saw an outline of ghost-like marine appear speared on the end of the librarian's force scythe, it's daemonic claws wrapped around the holy weapon. 

Solaki almost breathed a sigh of relief, almost. But Kain hadn't seen this, to blinded by the need to preserve his brother to see the truth, him and several brothers had charged in an assault on their brothers "No, No! NO!!!" Solaki cried from on high, like a god of old watching his loyal subject fight one another. He knew it would take to long to get down there to by running down the stairs, but he needed to be down there now. 15 meters, could he survive that fall? Probably. Would his armour be damaged? Possibly. But he had no time to waste, taking a brief run up, he vaulted and prayed no one would be beneath him when he landed. He felt the wind rush past him, he braced himself for a perfect brake-fall, he would need it to avoid any damage. A millisecond after his feet made contact with the floor, he rolled forward, and the impact did little to damage his armour, nothing more than a few dents and scratches from the dirt. He landed next to librarian, just in time to heard him shout some chant or incantation, presumably to protect Astelan. A bright light spread out, and Solaki turned his back to the pair, intent to stop anyone who challenged the righteous librarian of the Mortifactors chapter...


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial listened to Astelan speak. *Your distaste for me is not unknown*.
Belial answered*"You are not wrong there brother, if that is what you still are. I have no particular fondness for you and we will probably never be anything more than battle brothers, but at this moment in time you are still a Sythe of the Emperor and that is the only reason you still live. I would not abandon my oaths as easily as you. You will be judged by our librarian brother and if found wanting you will surely die. If you cannot see the truth in that then you have truely fallen too far.*

In the next moment everything happened so fast, the librarian attacked, Kain and some of the Sythes broke the cordon and all hell broke loose. Just as things couldnt get any worse Solaki came flying out of mid air and landed next to the librarian. *NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO* shouted Belial as he thought Solaki was about to cut down the librarian. But to his amazment Solaki took up a defensive position by the librarian daring anyone to try and pass.
Maybe there is hope for us yet he thought. The librarian must be protected if this was to be successful. taking off running he went to help Solaki. Opening a vox to Niko he said *Brother it is up to you to calm the wrath of our brothers. Kain is the key if you can show him the truth the rest will follow.*


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain and his fellow brothers waited for the last possible second, the librarian brought his power scythe down upon Astelan, or so thought Kain. With a roar of vengeance Kain and his fellow brothers that were supporting Astelan charged forward, breaking through the flimsy cordon that held them back. They charged straight towards the Mortifactors that were protecting the Librarian. The two sides clashed as the Mortifactors stood around their master, protecting him with a wall of armour and muscle. Kain headed towards a marine with a cape, billowing in the wind behind him, intent on taking him out. The marine was taller than Kain, but Kain had the bulk advantage.

Without warning the marine stepped forward and grabbed Kain by the arm, flipping him onto his back. This surprised Kain as he hadn't expected the marine to have that long a reach. He felt himself being pinned, and was about to struggle when the pressure left him. Another one of his brothers had seen that he needed help and had charged straight into the marine, knocking him down, but unable to do anything else. In an instant Kain was back on his feet, as was the marine who Kain charged again. This time he smashed into the marine, knocking them both off their feet and into the concrete. Kain rolled away as the marine lashed out with a foot, catching his hip before Kain brought his own foot down, attempting to wind his opponent. It didn't do much good as the marine caught his foot, and flipped him away before they both stood, ready to fight again. As the marine talked to Kain, who waited eagerly to defeat this marine.


OOC: Hope I didn't go to far


----------



## dark angel

((OOC: This is all done with the permission of Unxpekted. So it isn't Godmodding, really.. ))

The young Apothecary spoke, his voice suddenly coming through in a neutral tone. Astelan wasn’t truly convinced, his eyes narrowed as each word seethed into his mind, tingling his senses. There was something odd about Niko, something that Astelan could not truly understand. He represented the new, whereas Astelan fought to preserve the old. For that reason alone they could never truly have been friends, but rather associates. That was all he had in the Chapter now. Associates, followers. They meant nothing to him, few fought for what he did. Few cared that they had allowed the Chapter to fall into a state of decay.

Rhashan was filtering towards him, faster now. His weapon was raised high, the curling blade glittering joylessly. It was an harbinger, a graven representation of death. The Mortifactors were worshippers of the afterlife, Astelan knew this from previous encounters with the uncouth bastards. He stood defiant until the last moment, when the Power-Scythe rippled through the air towards him. His arms instinctively came up across his face, crossed at the wrists. The cleaving of his skull never came, however.

His scar-armoured Brother let out an unholy scream, the vowels far too deep for even an Astartes. The armour across his chest was shattered open, revealing a flickering miasma of purples and greens, dancing ethereally. His fingers distorted into long, spindly claws as he took grasp of the blade, still mewling. The helm of his brother turned towards him, the helm shimmering between Astartes and beast. Beneath the screams, a tremendous cackle sounded. And then it was gone. His scar-armoured Brother, simply disappeared. 

Wielding the weapon one handed, Rhashan turned his attentions on Astelan. His gauntlet shot forth, gripping his faceplate and for a moment Astelan’s vision was obscured beneath ceramite and reinforced leather. Without any exertion, Rhashan ripped it free. He discarded the faceplate uncaringly, the eyepieces crunching as it was stepped on by one of the brawling Brothers before him. A great wind hit him, and the Warp-Taint was torn away. His hair straightened, returning to its original alabaster. His face returned to a youthful handsomeness, the many scars fading away as though they never existed.

The Mortifactor took Astelan’s face in a tight grip, fingers pressing down hard upon his reborn flesh. Piercing light enveloped both the Mortifactor and the Scythe of the Emperor, leaving only their broken silhouettes. The obsidian skinned Astartes began to chant, the dialect guttural and unknown to Astelan. He was screaming. It wasn’t because the sensation harmed him, but rather because it was ridding him of the Warp. Since coming to Ferim he had been able to feel it coursing through his veins, gnawing away at him bit-by-bit. He enjoyed it.

And now it was gone. He no longer felt in touch with the Immaterium, he could not feel the fell inhabitants baying for his soul. He had played with fire, touched that which would gladly end him. And he missed it. In the few moments that he had been without the Warp, he felt worse than he had ever done so in his long-winded life. Everything he had come to appreciate in recent times collapsed around him, spilling into a fine layer that coated every crook of his mind. It took an age, every festering moment going painstakingly slow. 

The Librarian’s weapon struck the ground next to him, the resounding clatter drawing Astelan from his miasmal thoughts. The cold touch of his hand still prickled his flesh, the fingers grooving the flesh around them. From between them he could see Rhashan’s uncompromising face, and behind him the dueling forms of the Mortifactors and Scythes. Their armour was too similar to be a mere coincidence, that Astelan was sure. Had the Scythes been birthed from the Ultramarines Gene-Seed? Was that why the Mortifactors had been so eager to answer the call for aid?

When Rhashan spoke, Astelan felt a new sense of calamity rise within. It gnashed and tore at his hearts, drowned them in maligned intent. Did he accept, and let everything he fought for fade away? Would he allow his Chapter to forgot its former glories, in favour of new ways? Would the likes of Niko and Belial become great heroes, whereas those such as Astelan and Brig became mere names on the horizon? 

‘…This is your choice of course, but if you decline to accept my guidance then we must end your life, without favour delay.’ Finished Rhashan, his tone threatening. Astelan almost laughed at the gesture, but bit down hard on his tongue to halt such a thing.

Both of his arms came up from his side suddenly, gripping the wrist of Rhashan and pushing it away. The Scythe stumbled onto his feet, struggling to regain his composure. The world danced around him, flickers of violence filling the corners of his vision. Rhashan looked extremely large to him, despite still kneeling. No, bowing in compliance to his better. Astelan would not accept the tutelage of a younger Marine, one who would certainly corrupt his ways. 

‘I cannot.’ Was all he said, drawing his Combat-Blade.

It whistled as it slipped free from its scabbard, catching the damned sunlight of Ferim. Rhashan nodded, as though he had already predicted the actions which Astelan would take. His face hardened, looking more grim than Astelan thought possible. But it was not the Librarian which his attentions were focused on. Several feet away, with their backs turned to both Psykers; was Belial and Solakai. Both had caused extreme inner turmoil to Astelan, rent him apart from within.

With odd agility, Astelan pounced. He took Belial’s head in one gauntlet and yanked it back, hearing the crunch of cartilage and the clicking of his spine. The notched edge of his blade came across his throat, pushing inwards so that sparkling scarlet droplets pushed free. 

‘Attempt anything, _Brother_, and I’ll bleed you dry.’ He hissed into the ear of his compatriot, digging the hooked beak of his blade further into the flesh. It was by far a killing wound, in fact it was a mere grazing to the Astartes. But it would certainly prove his point, that he would not be afraid to end the bastard’s life.

Now he turned his attentions on Niko. The Apothecary looked astounded, but still he was defiant.

‘Apothecary. You’ll be great one day, but do not lecture me on my oaths! What do _you _know of _my _oaths? I would gladly break them if it meant the salvation of my Chapter! I _will_ shatter them!’ His words were venomous promises. He did not care for the young ones; he refused to do so.

Slowly he began to back away, yanking Belial with him, pressing the cold edge of his blade tighter. Eyes turned on the pair.

‘_Follow and he dies._’ He promised, realising he had truly damned himself. Yet, he felt the best he had done so in many, many years. It was exilerating, taking his blade against another Scythe. It was beautiful, a dance of treachery and death. He embraced the tingling sensation that ran so vibrant throughout his superhuman body, it was the gift of the Warp. It _was _Astelan.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon had been shocked to see the Scythes actually attack him and his brothers, to be honest he had not truly believed them to be that far from the Emperor's light, but they were. The one he had been watching charged him, Charon shook his head, this one did not realize the reach that the tall Mortifactor had. Quickly he grabbed the marine by the arm and tossed him on to his back pinning him, but before he could further his attack he was tackled by another Scythe and they tumbled to the floor. 

He shot back up and was tackled again by the Scythe he had been watching, his foot shooting out and catching the marine in the hip. He got back up again and stared at the marine,* "You know not what you do, you are very close to the line of traitor brother, think about your next actions carefully."* was all he said.


OOC: charon would not have charged kain so im leaving that out


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki had thought he would have to challenge Belial as the brother screamed "Noooooooooo" And ran towards him. He drew his combat blade up into a defensive stance, not wishing to draw the blood of one of his closest brothers, since the formation of the squad, to the original challenge of Astelan, to him protecting Arx and the others in the swamp. The only wayward passage he had made was his abandonment of him to the Tyranid warrior. Still, he would have not wanted to fight him. However, the future conflict never come, his brother merely came to his aid in defending the librarian. Few chose to challenge the pair, choosing instead to challenge brothers which were of the alien chapter, instead of fighting their own gene-seed and chapter. The few that did lacked the mental steel to fight to their full potential, and so were easily defeated and made to see reason. 

One such brother challenged Solaki. He dived headlong at Solaki, but Solaki side-stepped the brother and he used his forward momentum to force him to the ground. Before his could get up, Solaki jumped onto his back, placing his knees on his brother's shoulders, immobilising his brothers arms and forcing his face to the ground. Leaning in he spoke, not with venom or with anger, but with the care of an older sibling trying to correct his younger brothers mistakes. "Brother, my name is Solaki. I have served this chapter for only a short time, but I know this. We are not many. I saw the skies of Sotha die with toxic spores. I saw our brothers slaughtered. I saw our world devoured by the foul enemy. But these, these are not our hated foes. These are our brothers. They have come to save Astelan from himself." The Astartes under him sighed "I understand brother Sola..." The man gasped, and Solaki could hear the world slow down behind him. 

He released the pressure on his brother and stood up as his head turned in awe. _"Attempt anything, _Brother_, and I'll bleed you dry."_ Astelan hissed, his hooked combat blade around Belial's throat. A few deep rubies fell from Belial's throat as the wound spilled it's shameful ink of Astelan's damnation. Solaki was stunned. He had wanted to believe the Astelan would be saved, become a shining beckon of the chapter return to glory. Solaki instinctively, he aimed his bolt pistol to take aim at an enemy, but couldn't bring himself to fire. To kill a traitor in Astartes colours was enough, but Solaki had done that, only once, but he had done it. But Belial was a hostage. He had done nothing to betray his chapter. He had done nothing but strive to uphold the tenants of the Chapter, and he had been betrayed. Cold words came back from a few days ago when he had howled at Belial for saving himself *'Astelan is with him and deeply troubled. Nobody seems to take too much notice of how badly troubled our brother truely is. I do not trust him and must be there to confront him with everyone else present to voice my concerns.'*. Solaki had dismissed it out of hand, thinking Belial was paranoid. But he had been right, he had always been right. And now, now he had to pay for Solaki's, and other the other brothers, but Solaki felt the weight was his to bear alone, and his brother, his _friend_ was being ransomed by their errant brother for reasons that could only exist in the heart of a mad man.

Astelan turned his attention to Niko _"Apothecary. You'll be great one day, but do not lecture me on my oaths! What do you know of my oaths? I would gladly break them if it meant the salvation of my Chapter! I will shatter them!"_ Finally Solaki's resolve crumbled and a torrent of words poured forth in a cascade of hate and disgust "You are a turncoat and a traitor. We fought together, were wounded together, died together and you would betray this chapter to feel the rush of power? To look into the Warp and feel it look back? You betray the Emperor, and shame your brothers memories. O that the dead could visit retribution upon you, you deluded bastard! I should have shot you when I had the chance!" This stream of words poured forth uninhibited by censorships or codes of conducts. But he was still impotent to do anything to stop him. 

Astelan offered a threat to all the Scythes _"Follow and he dies."_ Solaki knew he was a flawless aim with his lascannon, but in his hand was his smaller side arm, a ballistic weapon. Still, Astelan was no more than 7 yards away, and the arm that held the blade was shielding most of Belial's face if he missed, but he was sure it wouldn't, almost sure. If he hit, he would be justified, no one would pity the traitor Astelan had become. But if he hit Belial, he daren't think of doing that. Take the shot or leave Belial to Astelan's mercy, if he was capable of such a thing anymore, Solaki's mind could not force him to lower his aim, nor to tighten the trigger. Behind his helm, his eyes closed and his teeth gritted as he hissed a prayer of retribution to the Emperor...


----------



## Euphrati

It was as if the silvery edge of the scythe cut the very air as it arced towards Astelan; Niko’s cool, grey eyes tracking each coil of power that threaded along the surface of the blade and committing them to memory in a way no mundane human mind could match. Time seemed to turn in upon itself for a long moment before exploding into a thousand razor edged heartbeats of utter anarchy.

Brothers he had shed blood beside, Kain included, charged forth to attempt to stop what must be done. His targeting reticle danced from one ceramite clad form to another in a vacillation of what to denote as a threat, his armour’s warspirit reluctant to lock onto any of his brothers as the gene-code ident warning flashed in a frenzied cadence at the edge of his vision. 

_Has it truly come to this? Have we fallen so far?_

A scream split the air and Niko tasted the acid bite of bile upon his tongue, his head snapping around to the inhuman sound. The Mortifactor’s blade hung in the air beside a stunned Astelan and, for a fraction of a heartbeat, Niko was sure that he saw taloned hands wrapped around the haft of the Librarian’s holy weapon before the warrior’s free hand snapped forward to rip away Astelan’s helm and press his palm flat to the pallid skin underneath. Niko watched, a sense of validation burning deep within his breast, as Astelan’s noble features were restored in a wash of the purest light even as his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ferocrete of the landing pad.

The Librarian knelt beside the strickened Scythe; leaning down as if to whisper in his ear but his words were lost to Niko in the torrent of the escalading fight between brothers. Niko felt naught but sorrow and shame as he drove a fellow Scythe who tried to push past him to get at the Librarian gasping to his knees with a crushing elbow to the throat that would have killed a normal human, but only caused the muscles to spasm in the advanced anatomy of an Astartes. A voice cut through the vox in his helm, Belial’s gruff tones imploring his aid in calming the humours of their brothers as he stood firm beside the young Apothecary. Niko turned to his squadmate, but before a reply could form upon his lips the cold gleam of a combat blade appeared over Belial’s shoulder and was viciously forced against his brother’s throat as a black armoured gauntlet jerked him backwards. All emotions bled from Niko’s heart as Astelan’s venom-tinged words were flung his direction. All emotions… save one.

Anger, cold as the cryo-locks and endless as the void itself, wrapped itself around the young Scythe’s soul in the same heartbeat his fingers tightened around the textured grip of his pistol as he leveled it at the monster that wore the face of his brother. If his fallen brother thought Belial’s presence would deter the young Apothecary in any way it would be his last mistake. Niko’s knowledge of astartes’ physiology was second only to Alexander’s and he could only pray that Belial would not hesitate to take the shot had their roles been reversed.

Vermillion traced Astelan’s outline as gene-code locks were dismissed with a savage thought,

‘Those oaths _*ARE *_the chapter!’

There was no hesitation in Niko’s conviction as his finger closed around the trigger and the pistol roared in his grip, the bolt round’s path taking it unerringly towards its target of Astelan’s right eye.


----------



## unxpekted22

As Astelan rips away from Rhashan and takes hold of Belial, the large librarian stands back to his full height with a look of sheer darkness, a pale shade overflowing his dark brown skin, tightened lips sliding lip rings past one another. But just as he lifts his foot for the first step, Kain finally gets past Charon grabbing hold of the Librarians cape and pulling him backward.

As Kain pulls Rhashan back, he can finally see past him, and the picture of Astelan now further away holding a blade to Belial's throat shows him and the other brawling Scythes of the Emperor the truth of the situation. 

Niko's bolt pistol round flies true, but as much as the rest of the squad may dislike the fact, Astelan is the veteran battle brother by far and has had a round fly towards his face more than once. 

The sound of a shot is what makes the final decision for Solaki's finger, pulling the trigger back on his own bolt pistol.

Astelan watching Niko specifically, successfully times when the bullet leaves the barrel. He whips his head back and shifts Belial into the bullets path instead. A spray of blood erupts from Belial's right collar bone area, followed by a second round that plummets into Belial's gut, releasing a cloud of armor turned to dust into the air with a blend of light red mist. 

The black holes in the yellow painted midsection of Belial's armor quickly seep his dark red blood.

Astelan emits an unfamiliar laughter, and pokes his head out from behind Belial to look now at Solaki, who sent the second shot. 

However before he can speak any words, Astelan's knees tremble for only a moment, before crashing into the ferocrete below. His free hand begins wildly moving over his chest plate as he feels a crushing or ripping sensation inside of him. He keeps his hold on Belial however, shielding himself with the now limp astartes body. The blade in his hand can be seen trembling as well however.

_"Niko, recover Belial."_

Senior Apothecary Alexander and Sergent Tobias emerge from the massing of brothers and Mortifactors.

_"I'll kill him with his own power-armor..." _ said Alexander, who had interfaced with Astelan's armor, a privilege of Apothecaries. 

As Niko moves toward Belial with haste, another strange light appears around Astelan, encircling his crushed form. It soon turns to strange colors and becomes cloud like with the whispers of shadows filling the air. Guardsmen who have been watching the whole scene from a distance with wide eyes and open jaws suddenly begin moving further away.

As Niko grabs Belial's form, a focused shockwave bursts forth from the cloud throwing him and Belial backward with a roar filled sentence of an unknown language, a demonic tongue.

With Belial out of the way, Tobias steps forward lowering his bolter and begins firing on full auto into the cloud. The hammering clang of bolter fire and enormous bullet shells falling to the ferocrete overbears the demonic whispers as a few of the rounds flash brightly upon their travel into the unknown. After a full clip is unloaded, Tobias lowers the smoke filled muzzle.

The cloud disperses slowly, becoming clear air once again. However, Astelan's body is no where to be found, and the craters of bolter rounds can be seen on the wall beyond. 

An eerie silence.

The Mortifactors now quickly pull away from the Scythes of the Emperor without a word, forming a half circle in front of their tall leader so that all are facing the crowd of Scythes. But this time it is different. The nine Mortifactor veterans each with their back to the libriarian, and guns raised. You now see clearly just how prepared for war these battle brothers came.

Pointed at you are bolters, bolt pistols, plasma pistols, a heavy bolter, and melta weapons all reinforced by an array of decorated blades and chainswords. The helmet lenses and death like eyes only seem to add to the number of barrels pointed toward you. 

Rhashan does not look at the Scythes though, instead he peers into the air, as if looking into a different air entirely.

"_Low'r your weapons brothers. 'tis safe._" says Rhashan after a moment that goes on far too long for most of you. His veterans comply, some hesitating more than others. He steps out from behind them and walks moves toward Alexander but talking loud enough for all to hear in the remaining silence.

"_I do not sense the taint amongst the rest of you. Astelan seems to be t'only one, likely due t'the manifestation of that demon being so recent. That demon, it is dead, but was the son, or of some close relation, to t'one that has taken Astelan, based on what it has said.

Also, the willingness of several of you to fire upon him the very moment he turned, encourages me not to end your pitiful chapter here and now." _

He turns to better face all of you, dreadlocks bouncing to a new position, _"Le'me explain something to all of you. Your apothecary sent a message for aid a'soon as'e was informed of t'*traitor's* new-found psyker abilities. You are lucky our fleet so happened to be as close as t'was. We came from t'Realm of Ultramar. A *new* Teer-a-nid threat now closes toward 'oly Terra from below rat'er t'en from t'East.

Instead of ignoring t'message and goin' to help aid our homeworld from t'invasian, I felt that 'twas important enough to not allow another brother t'fall victim to the Powers of t'warp. Now h'must be killed. If there is any chance of us aiding our brothers at Posul, 'tis must be done quick. Anyone of you who is foolish enough t'get in our way will be kill'd wit'out mercy."_

He turns back to Alexander, _"I must meditate If I am to locate 'im Apothecary_." He turns to Charon and the other Mortifactors, _"Keep yo'selves busy, and watch t'Scythes. I must give my full attention to finding t'traitor."_

With this, he marches further into the base amongst the various structures to find a place of peace to meditate, his armor making him appear a giant walking skeleton followed by his jet black cape, power-scythe still in hand. The only thing seeming to separate him from Death himself are the darkened tones of blues on his armor denoting him librarian. 

sorry about the bad representation of dialect, and also sorry that I'm trying to convey a black character as speaking with somewhat of a jamaican accent despite him living in space 40 millenia from earth as we know it today, just trying to give him some more character. I probably wont do that again in text next time, just trying to give you and idea of what he sounds like. Low voice btw, not like a voodoo witch or something
--------

Niko- Alexander immediately turns to you, "_I'm confident you have made a room for yourself. Get Belial there as fast as you can, I'll find you shortly, go!"_ (he is still alive, fix him up.)

Belial- I want you make a post with your point of view while being held by Astelans and subsequently shot twice by your brothers. You may wish to split this into two posts, depends on who posts first I guess. After being shot you will pass out momentarily. You will wake back up with Niko above you helping to fix your wounds. You may try speaking to him at such time.

Solaki- After Alexander quickly moves to Niko to tell him something, followed by Niko moving Belial into the base, a hand grips your shoulder guard. It is Brother sergeant Tobias, "Follow me Solaki. Talk." He begins moving toward the now silent thunderhawk. Keep in mind you are one of the oldest marines of the chapter here. Tobias is about the same age as you.

Kain- though you are not the only one to charge at the Mortifactors, you were the first to do so. Would it have mattered anyway? Things seemed to have turned out for the worst regardless of your actions. Once everyone begins moving out, you find yourself before the Mortifactor you momentarily wrestled with. Speak with him.

Charon- You listen to Rhashan's words as closely as the Scythes do. Once everyone begins to scatter, your own brothers included, you find yourself facing the first Scythe of the Emperor to charge you and your squad. Rhashan told you all to watch these marines, why not start with the one who moved first? Speak to him, and though you have full trust and faith in Rhashan's abilities you know he wants the nine of you to make sure he does not miss something while in a meditative state. See if you can make sure for yourself that there is no taint within this one. 

Astelan- (after all that is described above) The cloud encircles you completely, multiple voices all saying the same thing. In seconds the entire assembly of marines first blend into wide shades of black, yellow, bone, and gun-metal. Flashes of light erupt into the cloud but they pass through you. You look down to see your body phasing in and out of existence. Unlike your former brothers, you can understand the voices. Unbeknown to you is that the librarian can as well. 

You realize you're no longer in the same place, as the cloud has turned into a vast sky of sorts. Only a voice, 

"_They killed him. They killed him. it was early for him. Hell for the Librarian. Fire for the loyalist psykers. You are a tool, Assstelannnn. You have surrendered your loyalty. Contined his work even after his death. I congratulate you on your efforts. You have been in the realm of reality far too long by comrade. Though you are a tool, I can make you one of greatness, one of importance. A tool is used for the things you want most, destroying the new disease, rebuilding a home for yourself. You are the eldest of them, and thus, the smartest. You are smart to leave first, it is a dieing chapter. The Ssscythess of the haunting Corpse. We shall build a new one, and I will make you into a tool that can do so." 

"They killed him, my offspring is dead"

"But, before we can do that, the Mortifactor Librarian needs to be killed, for he knooooows of us, and great things can only be built in secrecy, in peace. He will come for you, so we must stop him here. If you can kill him and his squad of mortal animals, then we can begin real progress. With me amongst you, your force abilities will increase dramatically faster then they would with the librarian. Shall I begin the teachingssss?_"

You feel a solid surface beneath your knees again, but not ferocrete. Instead it is thick dark soil, soil you have seen and fought on, the same soil you defended commander Sotha with your life on, where your abilities first came to the fore. The dense green of vegetation looms above you again, trees twisting every which way. some of the soil before you is wet and the vision of a creek comes with the lifting of your head. the creek runs slow, and is polluted form the recent massive hive city construction, the building of Vorspire. You can still manage to see enough of a reflection of your face as you crawl to it leaning over. It has returned to its grim state, but even more so than before. Despite your almost entirely gray hair and aged face, you feel a strength within you like never before.


Your next posts are required to have _at least_ 15 well developed sentences. I do not see any reason why any of you would not easily be able to come up with that much. I spent several hours today writing this up (though not straight). If you cant find an hour or two's worth of time, or even less (assuming your post will not be as long as the update), within the next 1-2 weeks then I strongly suggest you PM me so we can work things out.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain continued to wrestle with the marine, but their seemed to be no way around this Astartes. Every attempt that Kain made the Mortifactor with the black cape seemed to counter his every move. Kain felt himself getting more and more frustrated by each passing moment, he was on the verge of heresy, attacking another brother to try and protect another. He couldn't even get past this marine how was he going to stop a Librarian. He charged forward again, desperate in his attempt to get past the marine, he waited until the last second, just before he was in reach and dived forwards, rolling on past the marine. Kain stood and moved forward quickly, he could see his target in front of him now, and there was nothing left stood in his way.

The Librarian was taking a step forward and Kain managed to grab a hold of his billowing cape. He pulled, forcing the Librarian to take a step back. He was about to jump onto the Librarian to hold him down but the scene that lay before him shocked him to the core. Astelan the marine that he and his brothers had been attempting to protect had a knife held to Belial's throat. Kain was shocked by this betrayal, he had been sure that Astelan had been a loyal son of the Emperor, this was obviously not true. Niko wasted no time and opened fire on Astelan, a foolish move.

Astelan was a veteran of many conflicts and moved Belial in the path of the round. A second round turned into Belial's stomach, causing damage to the armour. Astelan suddenly went limp and fell down. Alexander and Tobais strode forward, Alexander having control over his power armour, Tobias opened fire on Astelan, who was in some form of dust cloud. When the smoke cleared and Tobias had finished firing his bolter Kain moved forward, Astelan was nowhere to be seen, having vanished into thin air.

The Librarian moved back to his brothers who all raised their weapons, they were prepared for war having every weapon imaginable just in case. The Librarian after a tense moment told his brothers to stand down and spoke out. Kain barely heard his words. He had betrayed the majority of his brothers trying to protect a brother that in turn had betrayed him. He cursed himself and waited for all his brothers to disperse whilst the Librarian attempted to locate the traitor. He found himself in front of the marine that he had been wrestling.

_"Brother I expect for you to know not why I acted like I did, but I thought I was doing what was best for the chapter. I was obviously wrong and it may have caused one of my brothers their life. I expect no forgiveness from my brothers but I apologize for getting in the way of your job and helping the traitor. I know that it must be difficult for you to be here instead of being at your homeworld, I can only hope that we have not delayed you by too much."_ He spoke to the armoured giant before him.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon had to admit he was not surprised that this marine had been taken by the foul promises of chaos. The Scythes had shown nothing but lack of self control, discipline and faith from the moment they had landed, no words needed to be spoken for any veteran astartes to see how bad they had become.

One had already fallen to chaos, how hard was it for the others to do so? Not hard, in fact Charon had seen it before only ten years after he had been made a full battlebrother. The name of the chapter had escaped him but he deeply remembered the warriors of that chapter turning on not only the Mortifactors, but also on those of their own who were still loyal to the Emperor. 

The Scythes' apothecary would not waver, as would a few others that he observed, yet he did not know the paths that the majority might take. The other Apothecary seemed to be relatively young, this made him impressionable even if he did not want to believe it, yet the elder Apothecary had a good head on his shoulders and Charon had faith that the young one would not falter so long as the elder was still alive. As for the one who had charged him, he now stood before him and was speaking to him, an apology?

Charon glared at him from beneath his hood, his head tilted as he looked down on the marine.* "You did not see the taint within him because you do not have that ability and you are relatively still young. You were blinded by your love of your brother and the need to protect him from an outside force that threatened him, while stupid and naive your actions are commendable and were pure of heart so I do not hold them against you. Yet if you wish to see what is left of your chapter survive not only this inner conflict but also the one from without, then you must keep a clear head child and fight with the faith that is expected of an astartes."*He saw the change in the marine's stance,* "I do not question the amount of faith that you have, I question what you have put your faith in. Your chapter is in great peril and the road to chaos is not made with big steps, but rather small insignificant steps until finally you have fallen so far that you are beyond redemption and salvation. Be wary child for even though you do not know it, you have been beset on all sides by the denizens of the warp."*

He stood there as he finished what he had to say and waited for a response for he knew that he would receive one.


----------



## dark angel

‘You are mine.’ Whispered Astelan into the ear of Belial, driving his notched blade further. The advanced systems of Belial’s body stemmed the blood flow. His Brother would live, Astelan knew this.

The squabbling between Mortifactor and Scythe of the Emperor had halted. All eyes were turned on him, many disapprovingly. Others looked shocked. Few looked as though they actually cared enough to step in and help him. But none did. They were fearful of the consequences, cowards one and all. If they were the Scythes of old, they would have fought to the last for his wellbeing. Instead they ended their strife, staring vehemently at Astelan. 

He kept his eyes focused solely on Niko. The Apothecary’s face was an hardened mat of flesh and bone. He looked furious, almost as though he had failed. And then, he whipped his Bolt-Pistol upwards; his finger seizing down on the trigger. The tremendous bark of the weapon sounded, and Astelan’s ancient training kicked into being. He twisted on his heel, pulling himself onto his side and without taking his hands away from Belial, thrust him into the path of the round. 

Solakai had also fired, and now another round parted the air before him. The first round struck Belial in the shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain from the haggard throat of Belial. The other hit his gut and in an explosion of blood, keeled Belial into a curled position. Astelan straightened him, yanking his head back without care and laughed. There was no mirth in the dark sound, and the once aristocratic accent of Astelan was replaced by something guttural and utterly brutal.

He stared into the calculating eyes of Niko and Solakai, and winked. A malign smile spread across his features, the whites of his teeth glistening in the light. Blood was pattering on the ground beneath Belial, released from the pair of bloody lacunas in his front. The rich scarlet made Astelan’s senses tighten, and he stared downwards in lust. He could feel the moist sensation in the tresses of his mind. It seeped through his every sense, coating his vision in vermillion. 

A sudden crushing pain struck his chest and his knees lost control, sending him onto the ground. He brought Belial with him, forcing his Brother onto his knees. His hands began skittering across his chest plate in a frantic movement, the crunching of bones and the ripping of musculature loud in his ears. He did not understand what was happening. Had the Machine-Spirit of his armour murdered him? Had he truly lost his mind, enough so that he felt as though he was dying? 

No. Apothecary Alexander and Tobias marched triumphantly from the gathering of Astartes. Tobias held his Bolter tightly to his chest, eyes focused solely on Astelan’s pitiful form. All sound was torn away from him, replaced by a baleful hissing that pained his temples and send nauseous waves throughout him. He looked down at his hands, eyes blurring. The fingers looked like ghastly talons, long and crooked. 

A bright light completely encompassed his form. His vision cleared instantly and the pained sensation was washed away. Immaterial colours took place, shades of violet and orange predominant among them. It was misty, tongues of steam dancing along his crumpled form, weaving around his torso and taking him in a embrace of warmth. 

The words of something ancient and monstrous sounded, and a shockwave rippled forth, casting Astartes from their feet. Rounds flew past him, skin of metal peeling away. They splashed against a wall of invisible water, corroding instantly. Astelan felt himself being pulled away, dragged into the Warp. His soul cried out, worried of being devoured. Astelan closed his eyes, remembering the faces of those long since dead. And then he was gone.

++++++++

_Astelan stared out across the roiling jungles of Sotha. Above him, thunder cackled and lightning flashed. The window which he stared out of was a monstrous construction of Ophellian glass, imported from the Cathedral-World herself. It portrayed the Emperor standing above nine kneeling forms, each one resplendent in jeweled cloaks, haloes ringing their features. Sanguinius, Guilliman, The Lion. All were represented in their greatness. 

‘Ave Imperator.’ Came a sudden, coarse voice. 

Astelan wheeled around. Aster stood behind him, his features shrouded in a cloak of pure jet. Only his mouth was revealed, his teeth a pearly white, his lips a leathery brown. The wyrm insignia of his former Squad glistened upon his neck and lower cheek, the upper half of which was hidden beneath the folds of his robes. Servo-Skulls bobbed in invisible waves behind him, eyes of radiant crimson acknowledging Astelan.

‘Ave Imperator.’ Replied Astelan, smiling. ‘You sought me out, Brother?’

‘I did, Astelan of Sotha.’ His voice was strange, the vowels thickening. 

‘Why? What is of such need, that my combat meditations are broken, Lord-Sergeant?’ Astelan enquired, hands clutched behind his back.

‘I have a revelation, Astelan.’ He replied slowly, his voice growing deeper with each word. Astelan stepped back slightly, flinching.

Aster tore back his robes. His body was a slab of musculature and slurping pipes, a mesh of ruin. Ribs jutted from the flesh, dripping oily ichor onto the ground. Both of his hands ended in crooked talons, the fingers rotted and infested with maggots. His face was the most startling. The flesh above his upper lips was pulled tight to his skin, a forest of pins running rampant. Both of his eyes were gone, and in their stead rested pitted holes. 

‘You are damned.’ The Aster-Thing hissed, jaw distending. Fangs slipped free, teeth crunching as they grew and sharpened. 

The Servo-Skulls grew wings of pumping muscle, dripping gore. Scuttling Serfs burst and left in their wake armoured monstrosities, curled blades held in their gauntlets. Horns sprouted upwards, ripping away their faces. Leering lupine heads took their place. Astelan stared in astonishment as the Fortress-Monastery crumbled around them, pillars turning into veins and arteries. Faces pushed up from the ground, screaming in agony.

The Aster-Thing darted forwards with blinding speed, a blur of alabaster, scarlet spraying behind it. Astelan instinctively punched forwards, his knuckles meeting raw bone. There was a crunch, and the Aster-Thing halted. A claw was sent rending through Astelan’s chest, a fountain of gore slipping free. Unarmed, Astelan could not fight. He simply turned, covering his head with his arms, and threw himself through the Ophellian glass.

He plummeted downwards, a tide of brightly coloured glass spinning with him. The canopy of the jungle grew prominent in his vision, leafs twisting in the wind. He ripped through it, shattering branches and snapping bones. The wind was forcefully torn from him, his each breath ragged and hurting. The ground punched up and met him, and Astelan’s torso deflated as it was pulped.

Behind him, the Aster-Thing laughed._

++++++++

Astelan tore his eyes open, panting. He was set within a verdant forest, birds chirping happily in the distance. The moist ground beneath his feet was smelling pungently, and worms crawled through the revealed dirt. Water ran past him, splashing over mossy rocks and slipping into the mud that surrounded the creek. A tree was collapsed drunkenly into the water, the surface sodden and veined with vines. His vision was still bathed in beautiful vermillion.

Rays of light speared through the canopy above, motes of dust twirling into the air. To his surprise, he still held his Combat-Blade. It felt feeble in his grip, his hands feeling stronger than they ever had been. He sheathed it calmly, and clambered onto his feet. His gauntlets were charred, and all but unresponsive. His fingers ached as he twiddled them, trying to course life back into them. It worked after several minutes, and he set off into the forest.

He heard the words of the Daemon. He heard each decrepit vowel and hiss. He nodded.

'If I decline, _my _Chapter dies. But yet, in my damnation, I tie the Scythes to a sinking ship. They will be subject to undound criticism; and all from my love of a dying breed. I accept you offering, Warp-Dweller. Let no other Scythe be declared Traitor while I still live. It is my burden, and mine alone..'

The Voice sounded for the first time in what seemed like an age. It wanted him to kill.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain listened as the tall marine spoke back at him. The marine did indeed speak sense to Kain, but he did it in a chiding manner if speaking to a child. The fact that he called Kain child really boiled Kain's blood, he was no child having fought for over a century, especially against the tyranid menace that threatened the Emperor's realm. However he bit down on his tongue and didn't rise to it. He had already show his stupidity once today and he would be damned if he did it again. He pushed those arrogant thoughts to the back of his head. Kain looked at the marine, he spoke on how he had been blinded for love of his brothers. Hadn't the fallen Primachs that had been corrupted by the chaos Gods and loved each other to much? He felt as if he had betrayed the whole of the Imperium and one of his brothers could die due to his actions.

The Mortifacor spoke about Kain's faith and Kain felt his anger rising again. He was an Astartes committed to the Emperor, and he loved him like a father as did all his true sons. The marine must have sensed his change in stance and mood and quickly tried to explain himself, saying that he wasn't putting his faith to question, but what he had put his faith in and spoke about that the fall to chaos was small steps and the chapter could turn at any point.

_"Brother my faith is of no consequence here. I made a mistake in believing in one of my brothers, but my faith is still in the Emperor and the recovery of my Chapter back to its former glory. We all know how close we are to the brink of Chaos, and you are right in the fact that we need to heal the rift in the Chapter. I am sure that Chaos are all around us at the moment, we are weaker then we have been ever before."_


----------



## Deus Mortis

A crescendo of noise echoed in the air, a bolt passed the distance between Niko and Astelan. Time stood still as Solaki watched the air part before his brother’s bolt shell. Astelan’s grinning visage was frozen behind Belial. All the brother’s around Astelan were frozen in awe, and Solaki made his decision. A second thunderclap resounded through the air waves as Solaki fired his own bolt pistol into Astelan’s side, to try and knock out his Larraman’s Organ, in case Niko’s shot wasn’t enough to kill the traitor. Time resumed, and with it brought fresh movement. The heretic had banked on such a reaction from Niko and Solaki, and so, turned Belial to meet the oncoming bolts shells. Niko’s slammed into Belial’s collarbone, whilst Solaki’s own bolt cause his gut to burst in a fountain of blood. Belial doubled over, and Solaki gasped. Astelan pulled his Brother upright again, in spite of his moaning. A mirthless laugh bellowed out of Astelan’s throat, and he turned to Solaki and Niko, and winked. A symbol; “Stop me if you can!” he may have well have challenged. Solaki swiftly holstered his bolt pistol, and in the same motion, brought his Las-cannon onto his shoulder. *Dodge this you bastard* Solaki thought. Belial might well be killed if Solaki’s aim was even a centimetre off, but he was as good as dead if someone didn’t end the madness.

Before Solaki could even get his aim right, Astelan collapsed as an ancient voice called out _"Niko, recover Belial."_ Solaki turned his upper body around to see who had spoken. Striding through the mass of Astartes were two men Solaki held in great reverence; Chief Apothecary Alexander and Brother Sergeant Tobias. _"I'll kill him with his own power-armour..."_ was the flat statement from the noble Apothecary, as Astelan drew further into himself as his power armour introverted on itself. As Niko dashed forward to rescue Belial, a cloud of darkness hid Astelan like a veil. Suddenly, a peal of thunder and Belial was thrust abruptly from Astelan’s presence and Niko was forced to the ground. Free from fear of harming his Brother, Tobias stepped forward, switched his bolter to full auto, and proceeded to unload a whole clip of ammunition. Even as the smoke coiled out of the Brother Sergeant’s bolter, the veil of darkness parted revealing...nothing. Clear hole could be seen in the opposite wall where bolt rounds had hit them, but Astelan was gone. 

Solaki could hear the shuffle of feet, and saw that the Mortifactors had formed a semi-circle around the librarian. Their weapons were loaded, and held at the right height that, should their commanded give the command to fire, there would be several dead Scythes before they could react. However, the librarian didn’t give the command, instead, he looked into the sky and spoke, almost in a distant, absent and indifferent tone "_Low'r your weapons brothers. 'tis safe. I do not sense the taint amongst the rest of you. Astelan seems to be t'only one, likely due t'the manifestation of that demon being so recent. That demon, it is dead, but was the son, or of some close relation, to t'one that has taken Astelan, based on what it has said. Also, the willingness of several of you to fire upon him the very moment he turned, encourages me not to end your pitiful chapter here and now.”_ 

The librarian readjusted his position to face the disgraced Scythes, each one feeling the foolishness of their actions. “_Le'me explain something to all of you. Your apothecary sent a message for aid a'soon as'e was informed of t'traitor's new-found psyker abilities. You are lucky our fleet so happened to be as close as t'was. We came from t'Realm of Ultramar. A new Teer-a-nid threat now closes toward 'oly Terra from below rat'er t'en from t'East. Instead of ignoring t'message and goin' to help aid our homeworld from t'invasian, I felt that 'twas important enough to not allow another brother t'fall victim to the Powers of t'warp. Now h'must be killed. If there is any chance of us aiding our brothers at Posul, 'tis must be done quick. Anyone of you who is foolish enough t'get in our way will be kill'd wit'out mercy. I must meditate If I am to locate 'im Apothecary."_ At this point he turned to the marines from his own chapter _"Keep yo'selves busy, and watch t'Scythes. I must give my full attention to finding t'traitor."_ With that the librarian wandered through the base, looking for a place to meditate, to find their errant brother. As he walked away, Solaki realised that apart from the tint of blue on his armour, Death may as well have just spoken and walked through their midst. 

Alexander moved quickly towards Niko, saying something to him, leading Niko to take Belial further into the base. Solaki was standing in a group of Astartes, but felt alone. A heavy hand planted itself on his shoulder guard and a voice spoke to him _"Follow me Solaki. Talk."_ Ordinarily, Solaki would have wondered who commanded him to follow him, as if he was better, but this time he didn’t, for he knew who spoke to him. “Brother Sergeant” Solaki said as he turned to face him. The two walked back towards the silent Thunderhawk before either spoke. “Brother Sergeant, I’m afraid I have to ask, how fairs Lord Sotha? With all the commotion going on around here and with the threat of an assault hanging over us like a spirit, I’m wondering if we might expect any new orders, either via yourself and Alexander or from our Lord himself?” Solaki asked this question almost timidly. Solaki was glad to see his Sergeant again, but he had been away, not just distant, off-planet for a few days now, and Solaki was interested to know how their Chapter Master’s health fared...


----------



## Euphrati

The bolt round cut across the distance between Niko and the traitor he had once called brother, a warrior he had once looked upon with reverence for his implacable dedication to the Scythes over countless battlefields before Niko had even been borne into the world. A warrior that had shrugged off all attempts to elevate him to a position of command, preferring the mantle of battle-brother at the forefront of the assault and being even more beloved by his fellows for such selfless devotion to duty.

Even through his rage, Niko was aware of an immeasurable sorrow within the depths of his soul at just what the Scythes of the Emperor had lost these past days. The Astelan he knew was dead; the noble hero that Niko had looked upon as a mere neophyte with no small measure of awe had died here. What remained was nothing of the warrior he knew; rotted from within by the forces he had opened himself to in sacrifice for their Lord’s life and perverted by a darkness that had in turn stained them all with its mere existence.

_I have failed you, my brother. Forgive me._ 

The thought was a secret whisper in the darkest corner of Niko’s heart; a flickering mote of regret and hidden shame, that he could have prevented this dishonour with a single choice, seared itself into Niko’s soul. In that moment he understood the true weight of his oath and the shadows that always lingered behind Alexander’s eyes. 

But there was no time to linger upon this jagged truth for the thing that was once Astelan twisted with inhuman speed to place Belial in the path of the bolt round like a living shield. Niko’s shot took his brother high in the collar, his armour deflecting much of the impact, but a second shot fired from Solaki’s smoking pistol had proved to be a far more vicious blow. Belial doubled over in pain as his torso erupted in a spray of ceramite shards and crimson blood only to be forced back upright by the iron grasp of Astelan, the traitor giving voice to laughter that was as cruel and sadistic as it was inhuman as he leered around at Solaki from behind Belial’s agony before his brother lapsed into limp unconsciousness. 

Yet, before the Astelan-creature could hurl more venom-laced words at the Scythes who stood defiant against its depravity a tremor chased its way up the creature’s legs for a fraction of a second before they gave out, dragging the surprised Astelan-creature down to the ground in twitching and clawing pain. Niko was already moving when he heard the voice of his mentor, feeling a cold vindication as Alexander forced overloading injections of combat drugs and stimuli through the interface with all Scythe of the Emperor’s holy warplate that his role of Chief Apothecary granted.

An Apothecary’s duty was not only to the dead, but also to ensure that his battle brothers were at the very pinnacle of their physical abilities. To do so, an Apothecary was granted the mark of respect in the ability to tap into his brothers’ battle plate in training situations to lock a joint and simulate an injury, or reduce oxygen content of the recirculation of air to place calculated stress upon the systems, or even dump carefully measured doses of stims into the brother’s bloodstream to ensure that no matter the trail placed before his brothers in battle, they would be ready to meet it physically. Such was the trust placed upon those who wore the white for their brothers’ very lives.

For Alexander to use such a trust as a means of destruction for the traitor that was Astelan only served to underscore the immeasurable rage that Niko could feel seething in every atom of his existence at the horrible darkness that had sought to tear apart the noble Scythes from within.

Niko’s gauntlet closed around the forearm of Belial’s limp form as a sickly glow coiled around Astelan’s thrashing body and he wrenched Belial free of the fetid grasp a fraction of a second before the thunderclap smashed into him. It was akin to being kicked by a titan and Niko gave a snarl of pain as he drew Belial in a tight grip and twisted to take the brunt of the impact with the ground for his brother. The moment he was clear the roar of bolters had filled the air, but Niko’s focus now lay in keeping his battle brother’s life from slipping between his gauntlets and into the abyss.

A vial of stabilizing compounds and stimulants was in his grasp before the first shot had streaked into the multi-hued fog that engulfed the traitor, disappearing into Belial’s armour intake ports with a hiss of pressure. Voices growled nearby, threatening in tone, but Niko paid them little heed as he assessed the damage done by the two bolt rounds upon his brother. He would recall what was said at a later time, his subconscious mind storing the words in his gene-forged brain even as he nodded in response to the orders of Alexander. Belial’s armour had saved him from much of the deadly rounds destructive nature, but there was still much in the way of soft tissue damage that would need to be repaired posthaste.

Niko looped his arm under the groggy Scythe’s shoulder, keeping a firm hand pressed to the wound in his side and hearing the servos in his armour whine as he used sheer physical strength to lift his brother to his feet and steady him,

‘Belial, brother, stay with me. I need to get you to the room I have converted in this cursed place as an apothecarium. I will take your weight, just move with me…’

Belial’s liferune flashed before his eyes as Niko began to guide his brother along, his slightly shorter stature a boon in shouldering the weight of his Belial’s injury. Niko’s voice was a growl, so low that only his brother could hear and tinged with anguish,

‘The beast will die a thousand times over for this, I swear it upon my honour as a Scythe of the Emperor… what little we have left from this stain of heresy. I will crush the fragments of his gene-seed into oblivion when I rip it from his blackened corpse!’


----------



## deathbringer

(OOC: Sorry for the wait... hope the action writing comes up to scratch)


My feet squelched in the mud, claws burying deep into the desolate landscape, the bleak wasteland of my domain, my kingdom. Life surged over ground devoid of life, a quagmire of nightmares inhabited by the terrors of the modern world. Horrors that would soon be dead or killers.

I will turn the tide, the balance is so finely poised and I am yet to throw myself into the fray. The most deadly weapon, the power that will shape the future of this world, that will end the menace of the bastards in black scale. They were first meal... they will not be my last... I swear it.

New borns surround me, just out of reach of claw or fang, yet pressing, close enough to be near me, children sticking close... hoping for protection. There will be none, they must learn on instinct to kill, to hew through flesh and sinew.

A ripple of anxiety rushes through the newborns... they part... a gap slashing in the seething mass, allowing me to see the latest arrival.

The lictors

Delight flares within me... live meat... oh joy... prey at last, time to dominate to hone my skills, shake the rust from my claws... a test of my groggy limbs. They are wounded, yet power, the futile strength of the damned radiates from them as they speak with one voice, unison, a ghostly echo of two mouths and one mind.

They challenge me. Bah… they want control, rendered senseless by greed, oh I will pay them back, make them suffer for their greed. A tool is no longer a tool when it bites you in the ass, it is a threat, a threat that must be crushed with full force.

A long curling snarl bursts from my lips, I want to send images of their deaths 
to them, of their dismembered forms, lying upon the ground yet the link is closed, a futile enraged challenge the only prequel I can give them of their own doom.

I can smell them, sense their readiness, sense the rush of electricity building in their limbs, taste the hormones building within their brains, elevating their rage, fury. Now they spring together, catching me off guard with their speed, my sluggish riposte is too slow and two claws bite into the armor upon my chest. I suppress the roar, subvert it and allow the pressure to build the endorphins flooding my body, blocking the pain that should bite at my senses. No riposte, I fall backwards… toppling and the bastard flies off me, over my head, yet the second lictor lands upon my chest, his feet slam into my chest and his single claw raises high, point down above my eye.

“Enough” the roar burst from me, exploding upwards and my claws flash up and the lictor is thrown away by the force of my swatting blow. Now I rise spinning to find the second lictor talons raised, the point digging into my outstretched palm, digging deep into flesh. Pain burns, blood wells over the claw, acidic produce of my body burning at the lictor and he screams too, the scream elevating inpitch as my fingers close around the melting stump of clawed bone and lash out with my foot, claws raking along his belly, tearing deep groves down his midriff. I raise my fist towards the squealing lictor batting aside his feeble counter stroke, claws unsheething for the killing blow.

His eyes widen, his terror etched in every line, seeping through every pore… oh sweet victory. My legs have disappeared and im toppling, the deadly killing blow now a mass of flailing limbs as I land on something, the lictor I had held helpless and dangling tearing free, squealing grunts as it unleashed a flurry of blows upon my torso, the long tendrils upon its lips reaching towards my eyes. A snap of my jaws tears tendrils from its face and it recoils squealing a final blind stroke causing searing agony as the talon digs deep and blood cascades upon the ground. Im prone, can feel the second lictors squeals as the spines upon my back dig into its armour, pressing upon nerve points, my sheer mass holding it prone. A blind stroke of my elbow hits bone and the creature’s howl echoes delightfully with the satisfying crack that bites through the hushed silence that has descended upon my minions. 

They are statues held still by a law higher than my own

The law of nature… only the strongest will survive.

I feel the lictor change tack, its free limb clawless and pointless begins to bludgen the pressure point upon my neck and it twitch involuntarily writhing under the stinging impact… intolerable…pathetic yet unbearable and I roll away, a second blind stroke of unsheathed claw deflecting off the lictors chest armour. I’m up upon my feet my tail curling round to swipe at the other lictors feet yet it moves away with ease, speedy and graceful in its evasion. The other lictor rises, mud caking its form… murky sludge mixing with the deep purple of its precious life juices that pour from the deep chasms upon its chest.

They are one as they circle… my eyes two as they watch them, watch the claws raise… my tongue flitting out to taste the build up of potential in there muscles. I’m ready… battle floods me… a high I have never felt.. the high of a challenge… the high of a contest… the buzz of a battle when the dice still roll the outcome uncertain. 

They spring with superb grace despite the trail of blood that slaps upon the ground as they spiral through the air… but I have a plan. Wings unfurling a single wing beat takes me 10 feet into the air my own limbs contracting as they spiral towards me… surprise coursing through their minds as they struggle to evade, battle to subvert there own momentum… to prevent their demise.

Scything taloned feet explode outwards and skim the first by inches, sparks flying as it tears with a squealing supernatural howl over his armour. Muscles tear as the second desperately arches his back, limbs curling arms flailing, a scream erupting as his wounded form takes it full in the face. Claws sink into his eyes, his head snapped backwards, the skin of its long slender neck tearing under the impact, shattered spine erupting through the skin as the ragdoll that had once been a nemesis spirals through the air to land limp and shattered upon the ground.

The first is on the ground two writhing in the agony of his compatriot, the seemless bond between them suddenly ripped asunder, wrenched away by the undeniable force of mortality.

I’m already moving towards him… no gloating no mercy… he has fought… my blood stains his claw… he will be executed. 

NO

The word bursts through mind with the force of love and loss and the lictor is flying towards me talons scything over the flesh of my face the stump snapping the joint of my right claw with a savage impact and now I scream. 

A pathetic whimpering howl as I am maimed by this traitorous bastard. My fleeting loss matches his and the rage builds within me. This is going to be a slaughter. 

Right foot…. Left foot… his body is stumbling backwards blow after blow becoming a frenzy of massed attacks… tail wing… elbow.. claw talon… foot spine… no order no finesse merely pure spiteful brutality. I have a fleeting image of him upon the muddy ground… blood red gashes upon his torso.. an arm torn assunder as a blood red mist of adrenaline blinds me… KILL KILL 
KILL

He is strips of flesh and bloody sinew upon the floor… not enough for a meal, I turn away.

It would have tasted bitter anyway…


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial moved into a defensive position beside Solaki protecting the librarian and Astelan, daring anyone to pass. He turned to Solaki and said *"This is madness brother we will all be doomed if this doesnt stop now, Our brothers are blinded to the truth".*

Without warning Belial was grabbed from behind and a knife held to his throat, the strength behind them arms was unnatural even for one who was blessed with the physique of an Astartes. As the knife was held tighter to his throat he could feel the warm sensation of blood trickle down his neck. No mattter how much he struggled he could not move. Astelan was drawing strength from some other powers.

Looking around Belial spotted Solaki holding a bolt pistol and pointed in his direction, his hand was wavering and shaking, he could see his brother was unsure whether to fire or not. *"Do it he shouted at him, pull the trigger, this ends now"* Solaki was still unsure whether to fire so belial shouted again. *Remember i left you for dead in the Jungle brother this is the same situation the chapter is more important than any of us"*

Within moments Niko appeared, pistol in an out stretched hand unwavering, instantly the first shot rang out followed a split second later by a second, *Yes thought Belial, Solaki had taken the shot also. Nikos unbridled loyalty to the chapter was immence, and would be needed if they were to ever get out of this mess.*

Belial was yanked to the side and back again in a swift motion, searing pain erupted on his shoulder as Nikos shot penetrated his shoulder swiftly followed by Solakis shot which exploded in his abdoman. Stimulants imediately entered his blood stream through his armour to ease the pain. Astelans grip suddenly loosened and then let go. He didnt know what was going on but was just about able to mumble *Finish... the... traitor.... off* before slowly drifting in and out of consiousness. 

The rest is hazy and all he can remember is Niko looking after him and taking him to the makeshift Apothacarion. He tried to focus on the young Apothecarys words, the one he truely called brother,. but all he could make out was Beast, Die, Honour, Emperor. He smiled to himself as he knew Nikos honour to be true. Again he thought to himself this one will come to great things in the future if the chapter survives that long.


----------



## unxpekted22

(I really like how that 15 sentence post minimum turned out. Good posts from all. So I'm instilling a ten sentence minimum post limit for the rest of the RP, you've all more than proven to me that you are capable. Copying my NPCs' dialogue into your post doesnt count though )










Solaki: Before Tobias answers, the large form of Laikus approaches from the side, his servo claws seem to loom over the two of you. You do not hear it but you know Laikus is speaking to Tobias beneath his battle helm. Tobias answers, not using channel to speak, “Yes brother, in the Thunderhawk, it’s all yours.”
You can’t tell if Laikus replies before turning and walking straight toward the giant thunderhawk transport, his four servo arms and mechandendrites bouncing slightly with each step of his deep red colored power armor. 

Tobias begins walking in the same direction with you but at a slower pace. _“Lord Sotha is recovering, slowly, but surely. Alexander is confident that he will be on his feet again soon enough. He has not been able to give clear orders yet, but Alexander and I have discussed many courses of action, and with the help of some heavy support we aim to bring this tyrant down once and for all. I know how much it troubles the remaining chapter brothers to have had to sit here for so long, believe me, angst and hatred for the xeno pumps through my veins as well.”_

The two of you reach the bottom of the thunderhawk’s ramp, and he turns to you before going up, _“Solakai, we have been a part of this chapter for approximately the same amount of time, and a long time it has been. Do not pretend that the events we have just witnessed did not happen. We have known Astelan for over two centuries-“_ In mid sentence he cuts himself off letting out a short yell of anger. He throws off his battle helm to the ground, turns to a supply container and slams his fist into it, sending the several hundred pound container meters away with an enormous dent in the side.
_
“Curse you Astelan! Damn you!”_ Tobias takes a few breaths to calm himself,_ “one of our eldest brothers. He fought for the Emperor longer than either of us, and he has turned. There is little hope for us now Solaki. Even after the bloody Tyrant lays dead, our dwindled chapter is stained. We do not even have the option of keeping it a secret. Mortifactors have witnessed the taint among us firsthand! And a librarian at that!!”_

He pauses for a moment, picking up his battle helm and attaching it to a magnetic lock at his waist,_ “Yes, Sotha is in stable condition, but I don’t know if he will be once he learns of this, this disaster. The bigger question here Solaki is how in the Emperor’s name are we going to deal with this.”_
He puts his face close to yours, looking you directly in the eyes (We’ll assume your battle helm has been taken off if it hasn’t already) from your peripheral vision you can see his arm lift up perpendicular, pointing toward where Astelan had been, the bolter rounds in the rockrete wall, _“That…just…happened.”_

He begins walking up the ramp and asks you to follow. When you reach the top you see the chapter’s only remaining Vindicator inside, its large dozer blade before you, the barrel of the jet black demolisher canon welcoming you. The holy vehicle hasn’t been used since the fall of your homeworld. You then see Laikus emerge like a spider from one of its side doors. 

Tobias speaks further,_ “Hope you’re ready to kill this damn freak of an alien. Grab some ammunition and supplies. Let’s get our brothers prepared for battle, wouldn’t want the Mortifactors to show us up *that* much. “_

There are plenty of ammo containers. The Guard base does not carry much bolter ammunition. Grab some of the containers and carry them out. You may think to yourself and/or speak further with Tobias




Kain: Two of the other Mortifactors approach their brother and you take the opportunity to leave, not wishing to have your anger sparked and make another mistake. You only have so many paces to ponder further on the situation until heavy bolter fire claps through the air. Your head snaps to find two turrets manned by guardsmen firing at an incoming Gargoyle. The xeno evades every shot and swoops down just enough to let go of something that lands in the open area in front of the main gate before flying upwards and returning to the cityscape. You notice a larger number of them has grown in the air throughout the maze of skyscrapers outside the perimeter. 

You then spot a couple of guardsmen rushing to investigate the dropped object. Dissuade them from doing so. You will find that it is a head, but not just any. It is the head of Brother Kyr, with flaps of neck skin caked with dried blood and a bit of spinal cord from the neck curling outward. 

You look around and see all the other Scythes in the nearby area aiming at the sky waiting for another chance to fire at another gargoyle now that they were ready for it. You have a choice to make. Do you show the head to sergeant Brig, or one of the other more senior members of the chapter, or do you destroy it so that is unrecognizable? If you choose to show it who will you show it too? (just have to say it in the post don’t actually have to seek them out.) If you choose to destroy it, how will you do it? Completely destroy it somehow (if so explain) or damage it enough and say it’s just a guardsmen head or something? Maybe you can’t destroy it or show it, and feel the need to hide it somehow instead, if so, explain.


Niko: You sit beside Belial continually managing his status. It has been several hours since the incident with Astelan, and you have had time to think upon the event and all that had happened. Alexander has still not shown up, you know he is likely checking each member of the chapter personally or perhaps speaking to Brig. The words and actions of the Mortifactors and their Librarian settle into your mind. 

Belial is not awake, but you know he is recovering properly, still, you feel obligated to stay monitoring him since you inflicted the wound, well one of them at least.

_“Niko,”_ you jump to your feet as Alexander enters through the doorway with his helmet off,_“ I apologize for the delay, but I have brought a few things from the Barge.”_

Four servitors enter the room with a large metal container setting it beside Alexander. Their grey skin and multitude of bionics protrude from their black cloaks that are lined with yellow and gold. Some of them are completely silent and other breath exceptionally hard through complicated respirators.
_
“what is his status?”_ Alexander asks motioning toward Belial who is laying on a makeshift table. 

After you explain to him that he will recover soon, and possibly say something about your actions Alexander will say he is glad about Belial and will have no problem with your actions, in fact he would commend you. 

_“I regret having to do this here and not on the ship in front of the chapter, but unfortunately there is no time for that right now.”_ He presses a button on the container and it unseals with a hiss. He slides the top over and reaches in with both hands. From the darkness he lifts up a brightly painted white battle helm. It has emerald like eye lenses, the inner wire circles and optic technology showing through with the luminescent ceiling light, and a heavy set of vox channel devices on the sides. 

_“You are being promoted to full Apothecary, Brother Niko, which goes into effect as of now. I am proud to grant this to you. You have been nothing short of an exceptional apprentice in such trying times for our chapter, the Scythes of the Emperor. Let the Emperor stay with you through battle and research, and guide your hands and mind to work with a demanding and yet delicate necessity. And let Him still your heart as you enact his peace upon those brothers in need. Few in all of the Adeptus Astartes shall know what it is to carry the burden yet proud responsibility to be such a vital hand in both the life and death of the chapter. Its perseverance and inevitable losses. We forget none, for each gene-seed is our own, the seed of our craft, the key to the continuity of mankind our patients.”_

The servitors take out of the container three more major pieces. One holds a shoulder guard, on it the red helix, the designation of Apothecary. A second holds a large powerpack, equipped with extra viles, a spot light, and scanners. A third holds the tool of the apothecaries, a narthecium. The fourth removes your shoulder guard and replaces it with the new one. Then the two free handed servitors do the same with an eerie technical perfection with their mutated hands for the narthecium and so on with the powerpack being attached last. They complete the process connecting all of the cables and closing all the seals. (really, I apologize if this is totally off from how it can be done. I tried to find out if it’s possible but couldn’t really find a good answer)

The process is completed and Alexander dismisses the servitors who take the empty container with them that now holds the old pieces of your armor. You stand before him as he hands you the helm, placing it in your open palms._ “Your old armor sections will be placed in your quarters aboard the barge. With that helm you have full access to your battle brothers’ internal armor systems and all of the other benefits of apothecaries that I have taught you."_

Do your thing



(haha, sorry for the length my friend) Belial: Your feet begin to drag along the rockrete; stimulants not keeping you awake for long.

*** 

The blue sky above is clear and the air is comfortable, but sweat drips from your pores. You grip a burning tear in your abdomen. You look down at your heaving body, a large right hand holding onto your flesh. Not a moment longer do you rest, for you know you must keep running. You have run for days on end, but it’s not enough. There are other neophytes ahead of you, who will beat you. There are others behind you and you know their fate, failures. You are on the border line between them and those ahead of you, the excessive muscle growth beneath your skin sore beyond measure, only able to keep moving by the still unfamiliar beating of your new second heart. Your legs feel like paper nonetheless, but your spirit remains strong. The thought of becoming one of mankind greatest warriors pushes you. This is what it takes. Your stomach forgot about hunger days ago, as you learned to grab vegetation on the run and throw it down your throat not having to be afraid anymore of food poisoning. Water was scooped up by hand when striding through rivers. 

***

You stand in line amongst your current equals. Many who started the process are no longer here. Veteran battle brothers stand before you. The old chapter master Thrasius in all his glory, Brothers you would learn more of later on, sergeants Brig and Tobias among them. An established brother among the rows of robed Scythes of the Emperor catches your eye with long white hair and a narrow chin, Brother Astelan, and also Chief Apothecary Alexander who you had become familiar with early on from geneseed implementation. 

At this point your past life is no longer with you, not as a memory, nor a care. You have been accepted into the Chapter and will become a marine scout.

***

It is your first true engagement, the Tau forces have you pinned down in the Damocles crusade. So many of the battle brothers around you have seen so many battles already. In your scout armor you try your absolute best to stay calm, fear no longer a factor, but desire to help your brothers and aspire to glory very much so. You look through the scope of your sniper rifle overlooking an outpost held by your brothers that is currently being overrun by Kroot mercenaries. You are about to pull the trigger when through your scope you see one of your brothers, Brother Solaki, rush forward with a bolter in each hand and initiating the Kroots’ retreat. You soon learn he all but destroyed his arms in the process. At the time you would have no idea you would become so familiar with him acting in this manner when it comes to battle, always one to sacrifice himself almost foolishly for the rest of the chapter; something he would someday scold you for not doing yourself on a world called Ferim. 

***

You find yourself never one to stand out. Glory evades you, and even now in your full power armor your brothers refer to you as a rookie and a newbie. So many of them claim that they have had to save you on at least one occasion. Your muscles always flex beneath your armor when they say this, but your throat gulps beneath your battle helm when it’s on, knowing that what they say holds some truth. You don’t realize how much you will miss these brothers of an old squad when you see each of them ripped apart in a bloody mess by the Tyranid xenos on the same soil that you ran over for days years ago.

***

The skies of your beloved home-world are clouded with red brown and gray swirls. Your power armor strains to keep up as you find yourself running once again. The death of your squad behind you, there is only one more chance for you to be the one doing the saving for once. The voices of your chapter constantly yelling into your ears, overlapping each other calling for aid, for reinforcements, screaming the names of marines you trained with, marines you looked up to, who you aspired to become one day, the voices screaming their names…dead. 

Air moves forcefully in and out of your battle helms rebreather as your large feet stomp over the light brown dirt. You focus in on one of these channels and single it out. Suddenly one voice fills your helm. A voice filled with metallics. 

_“This is Laikus. Request support. Gaunt broods closing in on my position. Evacuation procedures have begun. Cargo lift off will be a failure without support. Current defense is zero.”_

He is close enough; you are the only one. A clearing emerges and you break through the tree line. You quickly spot the enormous cargo vessel and Laikus hastily working on shoving supplies in with servitors about his feet doing what they can. He turns for only a second and sees you. In your helm you hear him speak again,

_“This is Laikus, support acquired.”_ With a single thought you open your channels back up and through the mess of death and failure reports you hear, _“Copy that Laikus, must be what’s left of second company’s gamma squad. Rerouting.” _

Before you can even reach the landing pad the vegetation to your left rustles violently before bursting with tyranid life forms. You are all that stands between them and the techmarine. This is your last chance. Gaunt after gaunt is gunned down as you take a step back one at a time towards the cargo ship. As you're forced to bat their vile heads away before firing into their bodies your ears pick out another line on the channels, 

_“Chapter master has fallen, I repeat, Thrasius is dead. Command structure being re-worked”_ 

Every moment of your training kicks in as you back pedal, all your failures, yet still managing to hold on with the rest. Tyranid blood splashes your armor as teeth are bashed away and claws scrape lines into your ceramite form. A sheet of flame bypasses you and the wheezing power of servo claws in combination with a mechanicus insignia power-axe strike out simultaneously by your side, annihilating the nearest overwhelming wave of gaunts. The techmarine's red armored gauntlets pushes against your shoulder guard turning you around. You sprint toward the cargo ship that is already lifting off the ground, and grab hold to a railing just inside the still open cargo doors, Laikus clambering in behind you. The two of you would watch as the expanse of battle and Tyranid movement over the land of your home-world below moved like a single slithering creature. 

_“Tech-Laikus-clear, battle brother Belial clear.” And soon more channels picked up as a few other smaller transport ships of various kinds could be seen out the window floating up into the darkness of space toward the belly of the battle barge, *click*“Chief Apothecary Alexander, clear, Scout Brother Niko clear,”*click* *click* “Sergeant Brig and squad, clear.” *click*_

***

You fire a bolter looking over a steep rock wall. You relish in the revenge, the Tyranid monstrosities below scraping along the rock walls trying to reach you, only to be met with searing rounds of ammunition. Once again reports of fallen brothers come over your vox channels, but it’s different this time on the Giant’s Coffin. None of you expect to live, all of you finding peace and obsession in killing the Tyranids that spawned from the very same source as those that devoured your homeworld. 

***

You open your eyes to a dark gray room. You grip onto your abdomen again, the burning and tear sharply felt. An indenture marks the spot beneath your hand this time. Your upper body power armor, bolt pistol, and chainsword, is set aside from you. Laying on some kind of table you turn your head and see brother Niko, a narthecium equipped to his forearm and holding a white helm in his hands, with Alexander in front of him. 

You feel good enough to sit up. What has the dreaming of your past done to you? What are you thinking? Now that your memory has reviewed itself for you, how do you now feel to have been the one essentially taken hostage by Astelan. Do you say anything to Niko or Alexander? Obviously you realize that Niko has become a full apothecary now. 



















haha, maybe close.


Astelan: You continue walking slowly over the dirt, moving some leaves out of your way. You see what looks like a very, very old path with vines and thick branches in the way. the heavy blade in your hand still feels as if it weighs nothing. You notice an oddity in the air aroudn you, as if something is swimming through it.

"_You will be able to see me soon enough, I'm sure."_ says the voice.
_
“let’s start with the basics. If you wish to rebuild your chapter I believe there is a good place to begin your monastery. All great leaders need a fortress. But it is far along this body of water. Run to it, but not as you normally would. Just like your space faring ships, you can tap into the warp to move faster through the realm of reality. You should be able to make the smallest of jumps at first which will seem like you are only running much faster than normal. Once you get used to the clips in your visions and organs, you will become used to the timing and slips."_ 

_"Once you can grasp what the slips, you can train your mind to focus on them in order to stay in them longer. However, you must be able to maintain what body you are telling your body to go. If you do not do this, you risk slipping randomly into the warp, which could result in you ending up in space or on some other world in a splattered mess of flesh and blood. Eventually you will be able to not only run faster but flash in and out of reality, teleporting yourself. Make your way to the ruins ahead, and if you survive I will show how to alter your strength."_

--make your way to the ruins. They will be on a mass of lane surrounded by water, lots of rock like structures broken and fallen and whatnot. I know this might be hard to describe without just repeating me or something but give it your best shot.












I looked all over the place for a better Mortifactor pic 


Charon: Bryon and Malik make their way back over to you, and so the Scythe of the Emperor takes his leave. Bryon and Malik watch as he goes, but speak to you in a private channel nonetheless, Bryon first, _“Rhashan is right from what I have gathered brothers. It seems the same would go for you Charon.”_

Malik spoke next with a harsh tone, _“Still, I do not trust them. One of their eldest and most experienced has fallen to the whispers of the warp. They are a small and broken chapter, weak in morale and faith. It is only a matter of time before the rest fall from the light. If we planned it right, I think we could take them all out. They were about 100 in number before coming here from what the apothecary told me, and apparently a number have died since.”_

Bryon speaks again, _“I’m not going to be persecuted for gunning down the remains of a chapter that was not yet deemed guilty of such treason brother! The word of taint would be brought down upon *us*! Don’t be so foolish Malik.”_

_“Hmph, still, finding that traitor better not take long. We have our own chapter to aid….though…killing demons and their playthings is always elaborately satisfying.”_ Says Malik.

They allow a response form you here.

Bryon then points toward the height of the high walls with his bolter, “It looks like the hunt for demons may have to wait brothers. It seems we may have a more imminent threat on our hands.

You turn to look where he is pointing and see gathering gargoyles in the skies amongst the maze of sky scrapers, their screeches distant and echoing. Guardsmen manning heavy bolter turrets open fire on a single incoming gargoyle who easily evades the fire swoops down low once and lets go of something held in one of its front claws before spiraling upwards into the air above the reach of the turrets and then back down into the cityscape.

_“Should we contact Rhashan about this?_” asked Bryon looking at you.

If you decide to contact him, you shall be the one to do so. If not, warn the rest of the squad and tell them to get ready for a possible imminent attack. 




Tyrant: With the lictors satisfyingly out of the picture, however unfortunate losing them from the army may be, you can now move forward. 

Awaken your two largest minions from their slumber if you want or save them for something else, and lead your forces into the city. At some point you hand a gargoyle the head of the marine that found you. Being connected to your mind, it needs no further thought of what to do with it. 

Make your way through the tunnels and arise outside of the human base. Explain any thoughts, plans, or ideas, you may have. Keep in mind your modified warrior leader is still among you. You’re mostly working with him, an army of gaunts, the carnifexes, and of course the remaining gargoyles. Do you wish to do anything personally or hanging back while your forces move before you. 

Make mention of what bio morph weapons your using as well, We’ll say your body changed to whatever you want while in hibernation. You’ve got your wings of course, mouth and feet and tail. You have four main arms that can be any tyranid weapon you want, scythes/claws/projectile weapons/ etc. but be sure to use codex names of the weapons for me.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain watched as the Mortifactor was approached by two of his brethren Mortifactors, and Kain made his excuse to leave quickly. He wished not from more conflict with the Mortifactor, though the words of the Veteran resounded within him. It gave him a good insight to how his chapter was viewed, one without honour, one on the verge of chaos. He was positive that he would not let this happen, he had failed today but there would be other conflicts to resolve, and he would always stay on the side of the Emperor. He still felt chided like a child, which was blatantly wrong. He was not young for marine, having fought for well over a century for his chapter before the tyranid menace devoured his home world.

As he walked away he was greeted with the bark of a heavy bolter, as guardsmen opened fire on something not too far from his position. Two Imperial guard turrets manned by guardsmen were firing in the air at a incoming gargoyle. Kain rushed to their position as fast as he could, desperate to kill a filthy xeno. The xeno showed extraordinary speed and agility, it dodged every single shot and flew low enough just so that it could drop something from its grotesque talons before flying off again. It flew straight back towards the skyscrapers which had now become thick with gargoyles just outside the perimeter walls. Kain moved forward to the object warily bellowing at the Imperial Guardsmen to stay back. He would inform command of the ever increasing xeno presence after he had investigated the object. 

He saw as a group of curious guardsmen who hadn't heard him moved forward slowly towards the object. Kain broke into a jog catching up with the guardsmen, a corporal led the group and Kain put a hand on his shoulder. _"Trooper, move back the object may be dangerous. I will check it out just to be sure that it is safe." _The young trooper simply nodded at the huge marine hastily ordering his friends back to their positions. Kain moved forward once more, slowing raising his bolter. If it was dangerous he would make sure that it was properly destroyed. However when he arrived he was shocked by what he found laying in front of him.

It was an astartes head, one which Kain recognised. It was brother Kyr who had been near the swamp when he was last seen. Kain lamented at this loss, and moved it into his care. It was caked with dried blood, and bit of his neck was still attached as well as part of his spinal chord. This was no way for a warrior like him to be treated. The remaining scythes in the area were watching the sky scanning for more enemy gargoyles now that their blood was up. Kain faced a choice, show the head to a superior or destroy the face utterly leaving no trace of it. A part of him nagged at him telling him to destroy all evidence of its existence, allow his brothers to believe that he is just missing in action, or the other part telling him that he should hand it in to a superior. He stood slowly and moved away from the spot, the head cradled in his arms. Kain would find Sergeant Brig he needed to see this.

He found sergeant Brig and moved forward cautiously, _"Brother Sergeant there is something that you need to see. I am sorry to be the one that brings this too you."_ He lifted up the head so that Brig could see it, worried about his brothers reaction. _"A gargoyle broke the perimeter and dropped this down upon our position."_


----------



## Deus Mortis

Tobias seemed like he was about to answer Solaki, when the form of the tech-marine Laikus appeared. His body language told Solaki, even though no words had been spoken, that the tech-marine had asked a question. “Yes brother, in the Thunderhawk, it’s all yours” was Tobias' criptic response, but Solaki was sure that he would learn in time, so let his sergeant continue as Laikus walked into the Thunderhawk, his mechanical arms bouncing slightly with nearly every step. 

Solaki walked with Tobias towards the Thunderhawk, but slower than their Mechanicum brother. Tobias actually got to Solaki's question “Lord Sotha is recovering, slowly, but surely. Alexander is confident that he will be on his feet again soon enough. He has not been able to give clear orders yet, but Alexander and I have discussed many courses of action, and with the help of some heavy support we aim to bring this tyrant down once and for all. I know how much it troubles the remaining chapter brothers to have had to sit here for so long, believe me, angst and hatred for the xeno pumps through my veins as well.” 

Tobias seemed to change in an instant, from this calm collected man who Solaki valued and respected, even though he was only a few years older, into a hot blooded scout, full of burning rage and hatred, greater than that of a normal battle brother and one yet to be tempered by battle “Curse you Astelan! Damn you!” Tobias took a few breaths to calm himself, “one of our eldest brothers. He fought for the Emperor longer than either of us, and he has turned. There is little hope for us now Solaki. Even after the bloody Tyrant lays dead, our dwindled chapter is stained. We do not even have the option of keeping it a secret. Mortifactors have witnessed the taint among us firsthand! And a librarian at that!!” 

Solaki wanted to agree with him, he wanted to join his sergeants howls of rage, but wisdom told him better. Morale was at breaking point, possibly past that now, and they didn't need one of their oldest marines succumbing to madness brought on by hate. Emperor knew they needed Tobias now, more than ever. “Brother Sergeant....” Solaki spoke in a calm voice “...not all can withstand being so close to the warp. Chaos can up-root and destroy even the best of us. Remember Horus, Brother-Sergeant. Before his fall he was the greatest of the Emperor's sons, and no one could have foreseen his downfall. If a Primarch is susceptible to the whispers of Chaos, could we have expected any more from Astelan? It doesn't excuse him, in fact, it condemns him more, but we haven't failed. We had no one to watch over him. Next time, we will” Solaki didn't know where that promise came from, but he know that it was true. Here, on some remote world, they were separated from the rest of the Imperium. But when this was over, when this stain upon their honour had been absolved, then, and only then, would they become a true Chapter once again.

Tobias seemed to calm a little bit, either because of Solaki's words or because he simply had a fierce, but quick-burning temper, was undecipherable. He merely continued “Yes, Sotha is in stable condition, but I don’t know if he will be once he learns of this, this disaster. The bigger question here Solaki is how in the Emperor’s name are we going to deal with this.” Solaki's swirling blue eyes, with miniature storms raging in each betraying his restless and fiery temperment, met the uncompromising flint-like brown eyes of Tobias as the last three words dropped harshly from his lips, placing a huge weight upon Solaki “That…just…happened.” Solaki though carefully about his next few words, not wanting to say to much, or to little to this wise marine “We will bring the heretic to justice, Brother Tobias. You and me, will burn his stain from the honour of our chapter, and then out of the ashes of his treachery and this alien's blasphemy, we will rebuild our chapter. Our work isn't done yet brother-sergeant.” 

Tobias started to walk up the ramp of the Thunderhawk, and beaconed Solaki to follow. As they both ascended the ramp, Solaki was struck dumb by the sight before him. In the hanger of the Thunderhawk, stood the Scythes last remaining Vindicator. The fire power of it's weapon had not been seen since the destruction of Sotha, and Laikus stepped like a spider, tentatively testing it's own web, from one of the side doors. “Hope you’re ready to kill this damn freak of an alien. Grab some ammunition and supplies. Let’s get our brothers prepared for battle, wouldn’t want the Mortifactors to show us up that much.” Solaki grinned a viscous grin. Retribution was finally upon the xeno's scum, and Solaki's storm clouds let off peels of thunder in his eyes. 

Solaki started to move ammo containers, and after about six between him and Tobias had been moved, Solaki opened up a vox channel to three squads “We have fresh supplies brothers. We need to re-stock before we move out to face our foes. Grab what you need, and lets show the Mortifactors how the Scythes of the Emperor fight!” About twenty-four marines shuffled forward and started to distribute the ammo and weapons amongst themselves, and Solaki turned back and walked into the Thunderhawk. Tobias was picking up another ammo create, and Solaki walked up to him and picked up the other end, and the two started to walk it down the ramp. “So...” Solaki asked Tobias “...what is the plan from here, Brother Sergeant?”...


----------



## deathbringer

_I am the Lord of claw and fang, the shadow of the night, I am death incarnate and all shall feel my wrath. I shall lead us to victory, to flesh a plenty, to feast on the enemy of a foe that has haunted our footsteps and hidden in our shadow for too long.. It is time... time to awaken brothers of the mighty scale, time to tear tendon and crush bone. Blood calls you brothers, awake and sniff its scent once more. I feel your hunger... return to my side once more my brothers. Awaken and arise... quench your longing_

The water is churning, boiling and bubbling, stirred by untold motions, by the unfurling of limb and the uncoiling of tail. Limbs stretch, claws break the surface, only to dissappear, geisers of water pluming upwards in there wake.

Then they rise in their entirety, monumental collusus's, buildings of flesh and sinew slowly submerging in reverse, unified by the solemn dignity of there descent, by the sheer terror of there bulk. Water cascades across there chest armour, flowing off the ridges in torrentuous waterfalls of murky brown, rivers of sewage running off their claws. There tails lash, flailing, happy to be free at last, sheets of water cascading across the awestruck faces of my new children.

I step from the seething mass, exceeding these monstrosities for size, my claws are sheethed yet I'm on edge, ready to bear fang and claw as the great giants move towards me.

I ready myself, project my mind, the force of my will upon my children, the focus upon these great beasts

KNEEL

My children topple in a wave, a mighty army of bowed heads and exposed necks behind me. Joints creak, without hesitation they plant there knees in the dirt before me.

The carnifexes meet my eyes, great yellow beacons glaring down upon me.
Then they fall, gigantic knees 4 plumes of mud spraying across the front ranks of my children

Slowly i step forward, eying there bowed necks, pondering the feel of my claw upon that unguarded flesh. I supress it, the lictors were loss enough, to kill my servants to know what it feels like... such stupidity does not make a great leader, is not a foe to be feared.

Reaching out with both hands, i pull the carnifexes to there feet, my muscles straining under their enormous bulk, relief coursing as i feel them rise, there own legs aiding my struggle, my struggle for symbolism, to inspire wrath and hunger. This is a battle we cannot, shall not, will not loose, it is all or nothing
The carnifex before me snarls, a smile rippling across his face as he looks at my body, wounds fresh from the lictors

_open your mind_

The second emits a high pitched scream of mirth

_Become what you were born to be_

Something is itching at the back of my subconcious, niggling, a possibility, an untold path, a form i had never felt.

_Embrace it, become the lord you were created to be_

The possibility is biting a stabbing possibility, urgent desperate, it wants me, begs me implores me

_Lord of the broken line, _

I embrace the agony, and scream, scream as I am torn from my body scream with agony as i feel the mortal shell i once held begin to contort and writhe

_the last tyrant_
_____________________________________________________________
I awaken in blackness, the cool absence of agony embalms me. I feel hands upon me, mighty hands, claws sheethed upon my skin
Get off, i tear from there grasp... power rendering there efforts useless
Upon my own legs i feel weak, unsteady...The legs crumple and the hands grab me again
I do not resist. Force strength to my legs... i feel heavier... bigger... my legs struggle to compensate, and i push. More strength compensates the bulk.
I balance
My eyes open. A form i do not recognise ripples within the water
Yet it is me
Four arms protrude from my body, a great sword of bone upon my right, tremendous power excudes from the sheer weight of its mass. A writhing whip coils from my other, undulating and coiling with life, curling around my legs, squeezing tight, and then uncoiling, to snake in loving caresses around my torso.
Two great cannons burst from my other limbs, i feel life within them, bursting with possibility, as great wings curl and uncurl, the great span blocking the sun and then revealing it.

So much power... so much potential

A small snarl, a familiar snarl

"The war form of the tyrant, the great one will lead us to battle once more"

My warrior, so long in the tunnel forces his way through the crowd to the forefront, to stand before me and the great warriors. 4 of us, the pinnacle, the symbol of our strength.

I look down upon the warrior, still in his shining cacoon of gold. His clawed fingers outstretch to me, something clasped within them.

I see what it is and smile

Time to fight or die
__________________________________________________________
The head is flying away, the first shot in this war, it swings grossly, clamped in a gargoyle's claw.

We are striding, a great trail of damnation, glittering in the dying celestial glow.

Plans are forming in my mind. We will come from the air from the sky and from the ground. 

My warrior, the survivors and a few of the new boys, through the tunnel the ravenor's built. My great warriors, and the rest over the ground, my brother gargoyles and I from the sky. One strike one rushing tide, that will smash them all away.


----------



## FORTHELION

Belials eyes opened slowly. His vision swirled for a brief second before focusing on the ceiling above and clearing. The pain in his abdomon was now a dull pain but still there none the less. Niko seems to have done a good job he thought to himself.

Before rising, his memory flashed back to his past from the trials of the initates to the battles on Sotha and the giants coffin against the dreaded Tyranid scum. Life had been tough for Belial during the first years and if he was honest with himself right up to the tyranid invasion of Sotha itself. He never truely felt he fitted in, things never worked out the way he planned and more often than not one of his brothers had saved him in battle. It wasnt that he was a failure as a space marine, he was very capable in battle and had his fair share of kills. Just a bit of misfortune on a couple of ocassions to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But things changed for the better on Sotha, during the final withdrawl he had finally become one of the saviours helping out the techmarine Laikus (who would later become one of his only true friends he was proud to call brother) to fight off the tyranids and help the cargo vessel escape. From that moment on he found the confidence in his life that had been missing, to finally push on and become one of the emperors chosen he was meant to be. He would no longer be pushed around and would gain a bit of respect he always wanted.

Sitting up he noticed Niko and Alexander in the middle of the room, Niko was now clad in the colours of an Apothecary with his white helm tucked under his arm. Pride swelled in his hearts, speaking to Niko he said *"brother i believe congratulations are in order and well deserved too i might add. You do realise that you are the key to survival of our beloved chapter. You alone are the one true sign that we can be rebuilt, you are the first to complete your training, a new apothecary to add to the ranks. It is a sign for the rest of us to hold onto, that with time we can slowly rebuild ourselves back to where we were before. Oh and by the way you could be doing with a bit of target practice when we get back to the battle barge, your a lousy shot.* he said with a smile.


----------



## dark angel

*‘Chaos.’ *Brother-Teacher Othello’s words echoed like thunder, metallic and oddly alien. *‘It corrupts, festers and gnaws at you.’* 

Astelan was awestruck by the Dreadnaught. Othello’s regal chassis was a beautiful white, dashed with the yellows and browns of the Scythes of the Emperor. His twisted countenance was visible through a glass panel across the torso, his baleful eyes staring errantly at the Neophytes assembled before him. The Dreadnaught was without legs, and instead dangled from the curved ceiling by metre-thick chains, tapped into his brain through electrified strands.

*‘It has rendered me immobile, I am but a deathless husk. The Great Heresy is what brought about the machinations of Chaos, our former Brothers, Once-Men and the Warp Entities.’ *

Once, Othello had been a Captain amongst the Scythes. He was of great fame within the tempestuous boundaries of the Imperium, an hallowed name that rivaled those of Orar and Sigismund. And now, he was forgotten by all save his Brothers. He had been shut away, beneath the catacombs of Sotha, emplaced within the depths of the planet herself. 

*‘To toil with Chaos, is the showing of one’s throat to the executioner.’* Othello’s left claw twisted, steam hissing from the arterial pipes. *‘Such behavior, interaction with the Empyrean, is not tolerated within our Glorified Empire. Only the Warp-Witches, the dabblers, are allowed to do such things.’*

His mechanical monotone, became filled with human emotion. Othello’s six claws clenched tightly, glinting in the illumination globules. Astelan shared a worried glance with his closest Brother, his bondsman, Skia. The other Neophyte was far more virtuous than Astelan, he was destined for great things. A pair of attendant Servitors clanked forwards, their piston-mounted legs venting gouts of steam, oil dripping from oily mechadendrites, who themselves snaked with artificial life.

*‘Away from me!’* Othello raged, swinging his arms. The chains which he was hoisted upon creaked loudly, strain written across their corded joints. 

The Servitors carried on upon their path. Still swinging, Othello struck one of the man-machines. It was sheared in two, before the Neophytes. Coagulated blood became visible amongst their atrophied organs, along with a forest of wires and cogs. The other Servitor was lifted in the air by its skull, perfectly limp, and tossed away like an unwanted toy.

A Techmarine, beautifully resplendent in bloody crimson and nightly obsidian, marched from his work-alcove. His faceplate had been twisted into a death mask of some former hero, and bore a striking resemblance to Brother-Captain Var. 

*‘I am fine.’ *Protested Othello, sighting the cocktail of needles that sprung from the Techmarine’s gauntlet.

With his freehand, he tapped a series of codes into his control slate, which was hoisted before his form by a servo-claw. The chains tightened, and Othello was locked in place. The Techmarine plunged his needles deep into a vestibule upon the Dreadnaught’s side, and slowly the chassis began to stiffen. 

*‘I… Am… Fine…’* Othello muttered, slipping back into his forever-slumber. 

++++++++

‘I am fine.’ Astelan gasped, his voice now rendered into a wet rasping. His breath misted before his face, exuberantly decorated with flecks of glorious crimson.

Inside, his organs were slowly decaying. They festered with decadence and disease, with shame and anger. Alexander had nearly killed him in his sly move, breaking bones and rupturing organs with inhuman ease. But, those wounds felt as though they were not there. Only the cancerous stinging within his twinned hearts remained, and slowly his narrow countenance began to droop, sadness written amongst every scar and fibre. 

The Scythe vigorously crushed sinuous leaves and shattered thick branches as he made his way along the unidentified path, feet clattering on ancient, weathered stone. The Voice had spoken to him, delved itself into every groove and crevasse of his soul, cleansing him of loyalty. He was treacherous, cunning and utterly alone. He had sacrificed his name to the annals of damnation, to redeem his Chapter’s former glory. 

His Combat-Blade glistened in the canopy light. The blade was a ruthless took, notched for efficiency and beaked for momentum. Previously, it had rivaled the weight of an human child. Now, it was a mere metallic feather in his encompassing grip. He tightened his ceramite fingers around the hilt, wondering of the weapon would disappear from his grasp, if it was a conjuring of his plagued mind. But still, the grooved handle remained, attached to the forearm-length cutting tool. 

Astelan turned it over in his hands, scanning it for any unfamiliar signs. There was none, not the slightest displacement of metal particles, or any new scarring. No longer caring, Astelan slipped the length back into his leg sheath. The sharp, distinctly unwelcoming screech of metal-upon-metal assailed his ears, his advanced systems allowed him to ignore any possible damage, however.

He remembered the words of the Warp-Dweller. His bewitched state could allow him to do such marvelous things, such fearful things. He opened up his body for any that was willing, holding his arms out towards the flanks of the creek, fingers like barbed talons. And then, he was gone. 

++++++++

Astelan crept into the dark catacomb, keeping himself tight against the wall, staring into the enveloping darkness before him.

*‘Who enters my domain?’ * Boomed a distinctly electronic voice, shaking the pillar which Astelan pressed upon.

‘A friend, a companion.’ Astelan shouted back, his voice dwarfed by the thrum of machineries and the slurping of nutrient-tubes.

*‘I have no such thing. I am a forgotten relic, revered by none.’ *

‘That is not true, Lord Othello.’ Astelan returned, stepping into the open. Lights flickered into being, illuminating the Interred-One’s housing chambers. 

It was set within the sediment rock set directly beneath the fortress monastery. The room was not baroque or ornamental, but surprisingly bare. It had no religious artifacts or war trophies, with the only decoration begin a great portcullis in the ground, leading deep into the crust of Sotha. It was there that Othello was destined to spend eternity, amongst the tombs of heroes-long-dead, and the rusted remains of armour and weaponry. 

*‘Explain, child.’ *Othello firmly ordered, still shrouded in blackness. 

‘We Scythes, we are remembrancers. Our glorious dead are never forgotten, never.’ He muttered, standing firm, knuckles white with pressure.

There was a loud creaking, and slowly Othello emerged from a nearby alcove. He was set within a translucent tube, an array of wires sprouting from his cadaverous form. His skin was pulled taught against his bones, and thick, grisly plugs jutted from Othello’s emaciated hide. A deep, narrow slash ran from shoulder to hip. It had never been healed, and thin twists of fibrous meat floating around the mouth of the cut. 

Within, the organs were malnourished and glistening with cogs. Astelan stepped back, astounded by the decayed visage that stared into his eyes. A barbed grille had long since replaced the mouth and nose of Othello, and behind it rested a pair of blackened, saddened orbs. Bubbles erupted from the grille, rippling the green liquid in which Othello was set. His life-vial was carried by a quad of gold and red armoured Tech-Serfs, their grim faceplates staring on at Astelan.

*‘The Chapter in which I grew prosperous is dead, Astelan of the Northern Regions. The names of Scipio, Lrakz and J’Lak are mere ashes amongst the stagnant ocean. The legends of old fade, and are replaced by new ones.’ *The corpse-thing reached out one nimble arm, bringing yellowed nails across the glass in a swiping motion.

Astelan was sickened by the words of Othello. He felt his twin hearts pounding against his black carapace, heard the blood pumping in his ears. 

‘How dare you!’ Sneered Astelan, stepping forwards, blood dripping from where his nails had cut into his palm.

*‘It is true, child. You too will face such terrible things, you too will be among the last of this new wave of legends. You will feel my anger, Astelan of the North. You will too forfeit oaths to preserve the old. Or, you will be forgotten. Just like me.’ *

Astelan turned, and fled. Behind him, the monotone laughter of Othello echoed loudly, pressing in upon his form.

++++++++

Astelan reappeared, several metres along the path. He was panting, and ran one gauntlet through his hair. The air shimmered inchoately around his form, ethereal colours seeping through from unreality. For an instant, he had not existed. He had been nothingness, not even a scattering of soul and particles. He grinned, vicious teeth shining from beneath battered lips. They were spotted with crimson, exquisitely decorated by some malign deity. 

Before him, a set of ruins sprung from the swamp water. Crocodilians had once basked on the shores of the isle, their skeletal remains standing out against the brown murk. Water sloshed at them, frothing wherever it touched the water bank. A great twist of rotten weeds spread off towards either side, each barbed prong slithering across the ground, locked in place. Behind them, an expansive ziggurat rested. Pillars lay cumbersomely against the side, spreading great cracks upon the marble edifice.

Slowly, the Scythe waded into the swamp. His heavy footfalls dug rents from the mud, revealing the pathway, set beneath mud and water reeds. He replaced his helm, locking it into place as the murk swashed around his chest, continuously rising. His eyepieces were bisected by the waterline, and finally he was completely submerged. The lack of fish, of parasitical beings, was odd. Usually, the swamp would have been rampant with life beings, but this particular area was devoid of any such things.

Pillars rose up amongst the water, inscribed with symbols that made Astelan’s eyes hurt. The pillars themselves were formed into a great Eight Pointed Star, the symbol of neutral loyalties amongst the Pantheon. Chaos had formerly reigned supreme here, but now only the remains of a once great temple-city still stood. Astelan placed one of his hands upon the nearest pillar, closing his eyes. There was a flash of silver against the blackness, a word. A name.

Iscarion. 

He knew to whom it belonged instantly. The Voice, his Warp-Mentor. And, possibly, the salvation of the Scythes.


----------



## Euphrati

The biometric runes at the corner of his vision had stabilized well over two hours ago and the only evidence that Belial was not simply meditating was the pile of stained rags upon a nearby cot that Niko had used to wipe away the spills of crimson lifeblood. Niko sighed and reached up slowly, disengaging the locks at his gorget and lifting his helm free as vision darkened from his helm’s optics. He turned it over in his gauntlets, staring into the face reflected back at him in the mirrored visor for a long moment before setting the battlehelm aside.

_What have we become? What damnation awaits us in the darkness of our own sins?_

It was a question that had lingered within Niko’s thoughts since the moment he had pulled the trigger on the thing that had been Astelan, gnawing at the core of his faith like an insidious parasite upon an unwary host. The distant footfalls that reached his ears were a welcome respite from his own self incrimination and he rose from his position at Belial’s bedside at the low-pitched whine as the door slid open and the Chief Apothecary entered with purposeful, yet measured, strides. Niko knew that Alexander had judged and approved of the sparsely appointed room within his first set through the door, for had his mentor found even a minor fault he would have pointed it out posthaste. Instead, the elder’s sapphire eyes darted to the form reclined upon the cot nearby and his low tones conveyed an apology befitting of colleagues and not of master to pupil.

‘He rests well,’

Niko replied with a rekindled strength,

‘Though his wargear shall need significant repairs in the abdominal plating as I was forced to cut some of the conduits in order to minimize the damage that Brother Belial suffered when I removed his chestplate to access the wounds fully. His scarring will be minimal and mostly superficial with only five fragments having penetrated the lower gut, all of which I was able to locate and remove. I expect him to wake within the next half-hour on his own as his systems have almost fully repaired the blood-loss he suffered.’

Niko spoke as he watched a large crate carried into the room by grey-skinned servitors, his eyes passing from it to his mentor and back to Belial’s resting form,

‘The last wound to close was the incision upon his neck, and only after I recited the Rite of Purity over it in its entirety.’

Niko paused and felt the muscles in his jaw tense with rage,

‘… am I weak for not ending him before? For being blinded by trust and belief that surely he, eldest of all of us, held to the light of the Emperor’s guidance?’

Storm-grey eyes met the blue of cut gemstones and found nothing that spoke of Alexander’s condemnation of his actions, a truth that was clear upon his calm tones as he walked his young student through the tragedy that was the Scythe’s present state. Niko nodded, in his heart he had known his actions were taken with only the most pure intentions, yet the events were a stark reminder that hubris had been the downfall of beings even as mighty as the primarchs as the histories had shown to be all too true. Alexander’s tone changed to one of declaration as he stepped forward to key in a code on the waiting container, reaching into the darkened depths after it unsealed with a hiss of venting pressure and Niko felt a moment of reverent awe as the glossy white wargear was lifted free of its confines and carefully placed upon his own body. 

There was a fraction of a second of disorientation as the narthecium linked with his bio-interface ports and the additional weight of the enhanced powerpack settled upon his back, servos and gyro-stabilizers in his thigh plates and knee joints giving a low hum as they adjusted to the altered center of gravity. The servitors said nothing throughout the process, shuffling out the way they had come with the crate that now bore the pieces of Niko’s armour they had removed inside. Niko could feel the spirit of the new gear awakening as Alexander placed the helm in his open palms, it was the feeling of duty,

‘I have never been one for pomp and circumstance and I can think of no ceremony that would signify the honour I have been given in the reward of your tutelage, my Mentor.’

Niko’s smile was genuine, transforming his features into the shadow of the youth he truly was as a second voice joined the Chief Apothecary’s in the small room. The young Apothecary turned to his Battle-brother before lifting his new helm and slotting it in place with a click, his voice issued forth with the growl of vox distortion as the vast myriad of new sensory data flooded through his mind,

‘My aim is true, Brother… you are just lousy at evading. Perhaps a round or two versus a trio of combat drones in increased gravity sim would benefit your limberness?’


----------



## unxpekted22

Niko and Belial:

A few more laughs and lines of sarcasm are exchanged between the two of you and even the Chief Apothecary while Belial is put back into his full power armor. Laughter is something rare for most space marines, even more so for the Scythes of the Emperor and it likely does more good for your souls than any ceremony could have done, as Niko has recognized. 


Unfortunately, Alexander says he must cut things short as there are pressing matters at hand, "less than thirty minutes ago some of the defense turrets opened up on a Gargoyle who approached the base, and they have been gathering closer as a whole since shortly after Astelan's dismissal. (Niko would have heard the shots but due to his orders to stay by Belial and the fact that he received no vox message telling him of an attack he stayed where he was.)

Alexander addresses Niko again,_ "Niko, once we leave this world I will have better time to explain anything I may have missed or that you may find unclear about the roles of a true apothecary, including more hands on practice with the actual gear if you wish." _

Normally it would mean nothing significant to either of you, but after the past week on Ferim both of your ears pick up on the fact that he says 'once we leave this world'. The Chief Apothecary seems to have faith in his chapter yet, despite the growing number of opinions from those who have been on the ground that Ferim will be the final graveyard for the Scythes. 

He then turns to Belial, "I had a strong feeling that a sense of hatred and a longing for revenge concerning Astelan would be overriding your mental state Belial, making you unfit for battle and even another candidate at risk for chaotic temptations. But I see no sign of those qualities in you whatsoever. With your quick healing and the proper litanies I am confident you are still fit for battle."

To the both of you, "There are still some things with Veteran-Sergent Brig I must discuss. I have told him about Astelan, but even his demeanor before that news seemed frightfully low."

The two of you follow him out of the structure you are in, stepping outside into the late afternoon light. Your ceramite boots connecting with a form of rockrete first through the main portion of the base. You pass by various manufactorums and generatoriums and munition depots and a nearly empty vehicle hangar. The central HQ buildings show large clear windows with imperial diplomats and communication officers and what have you are busy trying to make contact with reinforcements from across the vast body of space and speaking with officers from the other sides of the hive city and even the hive city being constructed on the opposite of the planet. 

You then pass by the grandest building you have seen on Ferim yet. A Temple for the guardsmen that once were. It rises high above the others surrounding it, made from an intricate variety of blackened stone, complete with silver lining and edges. The front entrance is thin, with two walls of the building's triangular shape extended into the background at something slightly less than 90 degrees. The air around the seemingly thin entrance shines with a golden hue, and looking up along the tall flat surface of the building you see a very large sign of the Aquila, its wings stretched out angled down just enough to allow to the Sun's rays to reflect off of the elongated golden feathers and be cast down to the ground below. 

Past this glorious structure comes the main housing of the guardsmen. Your boots soon impact a softer ground made of compacted dirt. Dozens and dozens of small rectangular buildings made of light-gray stone form the barracks. Alexander activates the rune to one that faces perpendicular to most of them indicating it to be a storage room of some kind. Niko recognizes the doorway, having been here before.

The door slides open and as before, it is anything but a storage room now. The only three already inside being Brig and his two remaining squad members all in full wargear. The room is lit only by candle, but Astartes eyes hardly see the dimness as an issue. Zurick stands facing the doorway with his right foot on one of the black benches, his plasma canon powered down hefted over his thigh while his hands check its mechanisms. Ryan and Brig are facing each other in conversation, their helmets off unlike Zurick.

Zurick pauses what he is doing looking up toward the light of the opened doorway at the three figures coming in. With a bright white light reflecting off both his red eye lenses he speaks, still with the low voice of an assassin, "Congratulations Niko, well earned. And Belial, good to see you alive and on your feet. I will gladly boil down the traitorous stain of demonic ejaculate that was once our brother in arms to a boiling bubble of sinew, however, the Tyranids come _first_." His cold voice is able to send chills down your spines, as it would all but freeze up a normal man completely. 

The Veteran-Sergeant and Brother Ryan turn. Brig Nods to Niko in acknowledgment of his new rank, and then engages with Alexander in discussion. Ryan approaches as well. Without his helmet you see his face is almost completely absent of any signs of facial hair, though still has the strong jaw line and cheekbones of any Astartes. He has dark brown eyes with thick but short light brown hair that is fine and seems to have naturally glossy effect to it. He still has two grenade belts strapped over his chest and shoulder crossing at an X just under his chest plate's Aquila. He walks up to Belial first, smacking his shoulder pauldron with a clang of metal on metal, "Way to get back on your feet brother! Getting pretty tough I see." There it is again; another statement towards you that is complimentary in nature, but still laced with a negative connotation. Still a 'youngen' to them, where as Niko standing beside you, coming a single generation after you, wears full apothecary armor.

Ryan turns to Niko extending his hand and congratulating him with a single firm handshake, a look in the eye, and a few kind words, "How's the color of white feel brother?" he adds.

(Now Kain, Niko, and Belial)

But as Ryan finishes saying this, the bright light enters the room again, as the door slides open and brother Kain steps inside concealing something between his chest and bolter.

He sees sergeant Brig and moves forward cautiously, _"Brother Sergeant there is something that you need to see. I am sorry to be the one that brings this too you."_ He lifted up the head so that Brig could see it, seemingly worried about his brothers' reaction. _"A gargoyle broke the perimeter and dropped this down upon our position."_

The room falls silent, even of breathing, until Brig is finally able to shuffle his armor clad feet towards Kain. As he holds it forward, the mutilated expression of Brother Kyr becomes clear, nothing but the head in Kain's hands, the formerly MIA battle brother obviously having been dead for several days now. Brig holds out both his hands to take it, and holding it brings his former squad member's dead eyes close to his own face, which has now become red and focused beyond belief. 

With a heavy breath trying to break the silence, heavily weighed down by emotion, Alexander speaks in a stark tone, _"A gargoyle purposefully giving this to us, Tyranid using scare tactics, trying to break morale..."_

Brig says quietly still looking at Kyr's head, _"Grahm...Sotha....Christeph....Kyr...."_

Alexander speaks again, _"Putting all formerly recognized Tyranid battle behaviors aside, I think its safe to say that these xenos are thinking on a continually more strategic level, as much as it disgusts me to say such a possibility. But it must be pointed out that if this were a sentient made tactic, it would be logical to assume that it will be followed in step by an attack, and one large in scale. Give it to me brother, I will take care of it proper,"_ holding out his free hand to Brig indicating Kyr's head.

Brig seems to ignore him completely. Zurick speaks up next. _"We knew he was dead, why did we try to deceive ourselves?"_ getting a prompt retort from Ryan, _"We did not *know* he was dead Zurick! For all we *know*, Brother Kyr was the reason for the Tyranids staying at bay for an entire week! Who else was out there who could have done anything against that alien filth to prevent them from overwhelming us on the first night? Dammit!" _finished Ryan turning back to the candles after smashing his fist through one of the benches.

Zurick merely stared at Ryan for a moment through the eyes of his helm, deciding not to get into a useless argument. He then spoke again, _"Remember the words of the Black Templar Alarbus veteran-sergeant and brother Ryan. He had to remind Christeph and Rubrin the same thing more than once: "You lose them in this life, but they go to the Emperor's side so that they might fight alongside Him in the final battle. In the time between their loss and our being able to be at their side again, we must turn our hatred to the scum that is the alien, not each other." We kill the Tyrant, we avenge them. The Tyrant kills us, then we have faced our pledged nemesis to the end with honor and join our lost brothers at the Emperor's side."_

Alexander reaches over and takes Kyr's head from Brig's hands. With still no reaction, Alexander makes his leave.

The three of you may interact with each other, multiple posts acceptable, and you may also interact with Brig, Zurick, and/or Ryan. But I will reply for them. Either pm me anything you wish to say to them and I will pm back their response or I will mini-update with the responses. Talking to them and each other just might happen to be significant. After speaking or if you decide not to speak, you must decide whether to stay here in the prayer room until receiving further orders, or to leave and link back up with your own veteran sergeant, Tobias. D eclare what you are doing it in this case, for if you decide to leave you wont meet up with Tobias until next update.

Arx and Solaki: 

Having heard the firing turrets, Arx rejoined his brothers near the landing pads closest to the main Western gate. Tobias, Solaki, and the other thirty or so battle brothers about, finally lowering their weapons from the sky after the initial gargoyle was not followed by more. Looking into the skies of the skyscrapers beyond the walls of the base it is clear that the gargoyles are gathering more heavily than before. 

Still cautious but now fully loaded and equipped, the battle brothers start making their way to some designated defensive positions. But they dont get far before a row of three circles appear in the rockrete beside one of the landing pads several meters apart form each other. Bolters and flamers are aimed in a milisecond toward the disturbance, and all watch as the rockrete cracks apart and sinks into itself. Many of these marines were in the city group when attacked by the Raveners a week ago and know what this means and so they start firing before anything comes up form the large dark holes in the ground.

The other battle brothers follow suit, lines of bolter fire and wisps of flame lighting up the holes in the ground, and sure enough what lay below emerges first a splashes of sickly colored blood, but slowly as still living forms. Hundreds of rippers start climbing out of the holes and one by one a marine is forced to take his weapon's fire away from the holes in the ground and toward the little bastards at his feet. 

While this is happening turrets along the high defense wall begin opening fire again, but more than just two of them. Twin linked heavy bolters fire into the sky toward gargoyles that fly higher and closer. Twin linked assault canons spit rounds toward the unseen ground on the other side of the wall. These are no pot shots, as the guardsmen controlling them dont stop firing, and the sound of an alien crowd becomes audible from the city streets beyond, while the tiny screeches of the giant ripper swarm now at your feet is designated as background noise by your battle helms and starts to filter out.

Though many of the battle brothers have defensive positions they are trying to get to for the battle now obviously upon them (namely more sand bag covered turrets with Anti-air capability or turrets to defend the walls from the base from the inside if the high walls are breached) attention cannot not be taken away from these craters inside the base from which ripper swarms stream. Stand by your Veteran-Sergeant Tobias's side and help fend off these xenos with blade, gun, foot, and fist. However, is it worth killing them before finding a way to plug up the holes? There are plenty of heavy ammo containers still about the landing pad with the thunderhawk transport still on it, but whose to say more holes would not then appear? It would take at least three or four containers to plug up one hole to significantly stop the flow of the tyranid rodents. You are both Astartes, Think about the weapons you have on you and how they can be used efficiently, as well your brothers' weapons and even the turrets. Frag and krak grenades are definitely an option, but would likely widen the holes if thrown into them. Things turn chaotic when you can barely spot a piece of ground near you that doesnt have rippers crawling over it and the leg armor of some of your brothers begins corroding from all of the ripper bites and droolings. 

Charon: In addition to the last update:

once you decide to either contact Rhashan or not, you find the other six of your brothers have started making their way towards you, Bryon and Malik. This is when the turrets will open fire on the gargoyle that drops an object, which the Scythe of the Emperor you just spoke to moves to receive.

Before they reach your position a dark circle cracks into existence before you before the circle within its boundaries crumbles and falls. Several more follow suit. Bryon, carrying an assortment of bolter round types and being the intelligent soldier space marines are expected to be, already has his weapon loaded out with hellfire rounds. He is also not foolish enough to wait from something to come up, knowing that the Tyranid enemy would be there in a few seconds or less. Sure enough his first rounds at the nearest hole explode into a tan-flesh flash with alien screams to accompany them. They are hormagaunts though, and backed by an oddly intelligent mind. It only takes the death of a few for the next ones to leap out of the hole, talons already raised. Malik steps forward to block the first one, swiping it away with his bolt pistol and sawing it in half with his chainsword. Another hormagaunt that leaped form one of the other holes Lands on top of Malik, taking him by surprise. Initially aiding Bryon in firing into the holes you see this and move to help but are forced to let Malik fend for himself as a heavy weight lands onto your back with hot and heavy breath. 

Fend off the hormagaunts the best you can, and aid your brothers if the occasional opportunity opens up. they will be doing the same for you so if you wish to add in some of their actions you may do so. You will find that these gaunts are extremely hard to kill. Even blowing away half of their bodies isn't enough to stop some of them from trying to strike you.

Astelan: 

_"Nice to meet you Astelan, now that we've properly met"_ says Iscarion referencing your seeing of his name and a hint into a significant part of his history. _"Yes I was once mortal too, a being of the flesh, but now so much more." I had to sustain myself and my child through the life energies of these mere beasts until the Imperium decided to set up camp here on Ferim, which in turn brought the Tyranids, and in turn again, brought you and your young brothers who would lick the heels of the Emperor's corpse like the blind fools they are."_

You make your way onto the sloped ground approaching the Ziggurat, more symbols of chaos carved into the stone structures. 

_"But my history matters little now. What matters is what lays ahead for us, in the future. You need to be stronger to accomplish this. You have dipped into the warp and floated along its waves to reach a location further beyond the small reach of your leg's widest pace. You must a similar attribute of your mind's capability to improve your body's ability to manipulate the world of reality as if it were as soft as the warp's velvets and satins. I trust a mind such as yours can figure out how to do this. There plenty of fallen temple blocks about that even an astartes such as yourself could not lift without help. Feel the warp around them, wrap the object in it, and you will feel it lifts as easily as your soul in a heavenly dream."_

do whatever you need to in order to successfully move these giant objects, pillars and rocks etc.. You wont be able to like throw them with ease or anything like that. your goal is to simply be able to pick one up and move it, and see how you can use the warp to alter your strength."

Tyrant:

The Carnifexes march in your wake for a short distance before you flap your giant wings and make a powerful liftoff from the ground, shooting your form into the air to join your gargoyles over head.

The Warrior and his brood have moved ahead with anxious haste. However, with him striking from below your gargoyles will deceptively appear as the 'fast' problem for your enemies. 

The remaining gaunt forces beneath you race in packs through the jungle toward the cityscape of Vorspire. Unbeknown to you, is that your superior genes are racing out of control. Such a drastic transformation, and the number and speed at which your spawn have grown to their full sizes. A comparatively full army regained in just a weeks time of hibernation. All bitter sweet circumstances, but as of now the sugar is all that lays on your giant tongue. 

All you can think of is the coming battle and feast of blood and more bio-mass. You breach the border with not a single shot toward you this time, remembering the initial battle of trying to fight up that retched hill that the smaller humans had so heavily defended. They were drawn so easily into your jungle...

Single beats carry you through entire blocks of the hive city, and you soon approach the fortified base. You can already see the muzzle flashes of turret fire releasing into the air at your coming gargoyles. Test out your new ranged weapons on these turrets and those guardsman manning them.

While doing this you will see from the high distance your ripper swarms burrowing up from the ground inside the high walls of the base and taking the attention of a large number of black and gold figures near their air ship. 

Ok so pretty much just some fun stuff for the alien king here. Use your strangle thorn canon and brain leech filled devourer canon to really rip apart some of those guardsmen on the top of the walls and the turrets. It doesnt take too long for your gaunt army below to catch up with no resistance int he city past the heavy tree lines of the forest, and the turrets will be doing a good number on them as they charge the walls and gates looking for a weak spot. You can see through the eyes of your carnifexes who are much slower, they are on their way but wont be in the battle for a little while.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain entered the command tent, immediatly cursing his actions as he walked in. He saw that both Niko and Belial were inside it, his actions could have killed Belial and he knew that nothing would set that right between them for a while now. He found Brig in the sea of faces and moved towards him cautiously. He showed him the head, and found that an uncomfortable silence had descended upon the tent. Brig moved very slowly towards him, this once mighty warrior seeming like an empty husk as he reached out for the head. Kain slowly released his grip upon the head, cursing himself again.

Kain should have just destroyed it, why did he had to wound his brothers more? Brig held the head close to his, seemingly staring into Kyr's eyes and Kain could see how focused he was. Kain almost jumped when Alexander started to speak, he had broken the silence *"A gargoyle purposefully giving this to us, Tyranid using scare tactics, trying to break morale..."* Kain nodded his head agreeing with this. _"We are Astartes we know no fear."_ Brig mumbled the names of the men that had been lost in the battle, and those that had been injured, their Lord Sortha being one.

Alexander spoke again, seemingly ignoring Brigs mumblings.* "Putting all formerly recognized Tyranid battle behaviors aside, I think its safe to say that these xenos are thinking on a continually more strategic level, as much as it disgusts me to say such a possibility. But it must be pointed out that if this were a sentient made tactic, it would be logical to assume that it will be followed in step by an attack, and one large in scale. Give it to me brother, I will take care of it proper,"* holding out his free hand to Brig indicating Kyr's head.

Brig completely ignored him, and Kain felt unease settle in the tent. Zurick spoke up from his otherwise quiet state of mind at the showing of the head.* "We knew he was dead, why did we try to deceive ourselves?"* Kain felt that this was a little harsh, but he spoke the truth. Most of the marines had been thinking that Kyr was dead, only a handful had though against this notion. He did however draw a response from Ryan,* "We did not know he was dead Zurick! For all we know, Brother Kyr was the reason for the Tyranids staying at bay for an entire week! Who else was out there who could have done anything against that alien filth to prevent them from overwhelming us on the first night? Dammit!"*

Zurick spoke again, and Kain saw that he wasn't responding to Ryan, no need to cause more emnity in the group.* "Remember the words of the Black Templar Alarbus veteran-sergeant and brother Ryan. He had to remind Christeph and Rubrin the same thing more than once: "You lose them in this life, but they go to the Emperor's side so that they might fight alongside Him in the final battle. In the time between their loss and our being able to be at their side again, we must turn our hatred to the scum that is the alien, not each other." We kill the Tyrant, we avenge them. The Tyrant kills us, then we have faced our pledged nemesis to the end with honor and join our lost brothers at the Emperor's side."*

While this was going down Alexander took Kyr's head from Brig's hands. With still no reaction, Alexander made his leave of the command tent. Kain walked over to Belial, he knew that he was either going to have his apology thrown back in his face like he deserved, but the Astartes needed to be united._ "Brother Belial, I know that you probably don't want to hear this, but I am sorry for my part played in your injury. I was blinded by love of my brother."_ Apology made he waited for his reply before announcing that he woujld make for outside and report to Tobias.

OOC: Sorry for late post and quality, I have had writers block over this.


----------



## Euphrati

The last section of Belial’s armour slotted in place with a faint click and Niko released his grip on the auto-reactive shoulder guard, stepping back to survey his battle brother through a wash of emerald green and scrolling bio-readouts. 

He blink-clicked the data to the corner of his vision after a moment and gave a low chuckle at the comfortable repartee that he and Belial had been jousting each other with the entire time Niko had aided his brother in re-equipping. Even Alexander had chosen to join in the distraction, the elder Apothecary’s wit as keen edged as his blades. Niko recognized the value of the banter; it had been too long since any of them had given moment to the wounds of the spirit that they all shared, shades of the past that festered in the hearts of the remaining Scythes.

The Chief Apothecary’s words brought the moment to a halt; Niko had noted the krump of Imperial gun batteries firing while he had watched over his brother’s wounds yet no call for him had come down the Scythe’s vox-network countering the last orders of Alexander, so Niko had remained at Belial’s side though he had periodically scanned the vox channels to ensure that they were still operational. The young Apothecary gave a soft smile at his mentor’s secondary statement,

‘Any shortcomings in my training are not due to a lapse upon your part as mentor, but a failure in my duty to you as apprentice.’

The surety in Alexander’s statement was one that had been mirrored in Niko’s faith; the oaths that bound him in the gleaming white of his newly acquired rank were paramount to that faith. The Chapter would endure these trials and, by his actions, be restored. 

There was no room for any uncertainty in Niko’s heart. _It would be so._

---

They had followed Alexander’s steps back out into the pale sun of Ferim, following a path that Niko knew from memory would take them to the make-shift chapel Sergeant Brig and his remaining squad had remained in self-imposed isolation since arrival at the base. As they moved through the shadows of structures, Niko sifted through the Scythe’s vox network with a thought heavy upon his mind. It only took a moment to find the ident-rune that he sought and the channel crackled open,

‘Brother-Techmarine Liakus, I am obliged to inform you of my transgressions concerning the armour of Brother Belial. In administering aid to his wounds I found it unavoidable to inflict further damage upon his battle plate’s torso cabling, in addition to the damage that had already been sustained. As a result his armour’s integrity is below Codex required field standards and will not be able to support his needs for much longer without significant repairs. You have my apologies on the matter and personal request for a suitable replacement to the damaged pieces until time presents itself for proper repairs to be made.’

Niko allowed the channel to click closed without expectation of an immediate reply from the busy Techmarine as he followed Alexander through the doorway to the sanctuary where Sergeant Brig’s squad lingered. Data instantly scrolled across his vision as his eyes came to rest upon the Sergeant and his men; the increased awareness of his new role was as welcome as it was overwhelming in a sense as the veteran Scythes gave acknowledgment to his new rank amongst them. Apothecaries stood apart from their brothers in rank, as their very nature demanded a degree of autonomy in command; much like the position and duties of a Chaplain required a standing of venerated authority over their brothers.

Brig’s bio-data showed the tell-tale signs of fatigue and stress that Niko had expected given the state of events, as did Brother Ryan’s. Niko made note that Zurick’s bio-signs were, by far, less telling than the others; a facet that mirrored the obscure nature of the Scythe they belonged to. Niko returned the firm handshake offered by Ryan with a solemn honour, the brother’s inquiry drawing a soft smile to his lips that only died a heartbeat later with the unexpected entrance of Brother Kain carrying a burden that brought a leaden silence down upon the entire room.

Niko recognized the remains immediately, even before the gene-type data scrolled across his visor that confirmed that he already knew. _Brother Kyr was dead._

Kain seemed almost reluctant in his burden faced with the reactions of the veteran Scythes, quickly passing the grisly remains to the Sergeant. It was Alexander who spoke first, a fact that did not surprise Niko as such as the weight of his duty. Brig’s reaction was far more noticeable as the immediate shock of the moment shifted into outrage, the elevation of his heart rate and physical responses set Niko on alert to the dangerous emotions that coiled in the core of Brig’s mind as Ryan and Zurick exchanged anger driven words. Without further comment, Alexander gathered the remains and made his leave. Niko was only dimly aware of Brother Kain stepping close to Belial to converse.

‘The weight of Duty,’

Niko’s tone was low and somber as his words cut through a moment of silence after the exit of his mentor. He turned to look at Brother Ryan,

‘The answer to your question, brother. That is what I feel.’

Niko paused and turned to Zurick,

‘Your words are chosen well to remind us all of the fact that of our service does not end with the moment of death, brother, but I am forced to disagree with you in your statement of our duties. Astelan’s blasphemy should be our top priority without question, his location and destruction paramount to even the vileness of the Xenos. We are all stained by his corruption and, until that sin is washed clean, our_ every deed _will be tarnished. Astelan’s crime is *our *charge; his destruction falls upon *our *shoulders, not those of our brother Chapter. All else is secondary.’

Niko had no doubt that his words would be met with rebuff, but their truth was like a dagger in his heart.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon watched as the marine turned and walked away, he gently shook his head, the boy was still headstrong....a good thing but also something that could keep him from seeing how far his chapter was falling. He and his brothers had been sent in to save what was left of the Scythes, not deal with the Tyranid menace that was assaulting this planet, but it would seem that they would have to deal with both problems. His brothers began to make their way towards him, behind them turrets opened fire on a swarm of gargoyles, but he thought nothing of it.

*"It would seem that we are going to be playing two roles while we are here brothers." *Malik nodded in agreement and Bryon grunted,* "A new chaos threat and a growing Tyranid one, the odds do not seem fair." *To anyone listening it would appear that the Mortifactor was being quite down trodden and whining but his brothers knew that he was talking about their enemies, the odds were stacked against the Tyranids and this new chaos psyker, a full unit of veteran Mortifactors and their librarian had the intent of eliminating both problems with the brutal efficiency that was expected of them.

He looked down hearing a rumbling and saw the ground beneath him start to crumble, Bryon had already loaded his bolter with incendiary rounds and let loose at another hole, a pained screeching coming up out of the ground as the rest of his brothers opened fire on the hormagaunts burrowing underneath them. Malik shot one in the face as it powered out of the ground before another one came up right after it and took him to the ground as it tried to claw his armor away only for Charon to shoot it in the head.

He backed up to give Malik support so his brother could rise to his feet and ready himself again but his boot caught in a large hole that had opened up and he could feel himself being pulled down. He grunted in pain as a hooked claw bit deep into his calf, he brought his broadsword down and shoved it into the ground feeling it pierce chitin, skin and bone and then the organs underneath, a scream accompanying his guess as the where the xenos was. Pulling his leg out of the hole he turned to face a group of hormagaunts that had come through unchallenged they paused for a second, their mandibles slathering with bile and spit, before charging he and his brothers.

Charon and the other Mortifactors met them head on completely silent. The Mortifactors, more so than any other chapter, revered death and everything that had to do with it, this was why their armor was the way it was and so on. They rarely had any warcries or shouts, the spectre of death was silent when it took your life and bled it from you before taking it and feeding on it itself, and so were the Mortifactors. They met the Tyranids in a silent line of death, all of them frightening spectres of death and the Emperor's Justice, a rock that the xenos would break upon.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki watched as the forces of the Scythes distributed the ammo and supplies as a well oiled machine. Within minutes, almost every battle brother was fully stocked and ready to do battle. Tobias and Solaki had since cleared all the ammo crates out of the Thunderhawk, and had re-supplied themselves. Suddenly, the was baleful screech in the sky. Solaki heard it and within record time had shouldered his las-cannon and was looking for the gargoyles. Him and Zurick had taken down a small pack of 3 before the hell with Astelan kicked off, and Solaki still had the largest, and most intact, draped in a gory trophy over his armour. A sizeable flock appeared over the city-skyline, and Solaki was the first to fire into the group, bringing down one with a gapping hole in it's chest. The rest of the Scythes, and several defensive turrets, followed shortly afterward, and the initial wave was brought down shortly. Arx, clearly having heard the commotion, had joined the fray. “Good to see you brother, we had wondered where you had got to” Solaki said, scanning the slowly darkening horizon. Clearly, these gargoyles were just a preliminary squad, the real attack was still to come. 

No one had to say to move into defensive positions, every Astartes was already moving to their assigned positions. However, many didn't reach them before the ground started to crack. Almost every Scythe turned to aim at the cracks, Solaki included. More cracks appeared, and three sections of ferocrete sunk into themselves. Several marine who survived the encounter with the raveners a few days ago fired without waiting to see what would emerge, and the rest followed suit. For a short while, only blood came out of the holes. But slowly, the first waves started to push themselves out, and it wasn't long before the mites the Astartes knew as rippers swam around the Astartes heels. Solaki was forced to switch to his combat blade and bolt pistol, as the las-cannon was impractical at such close range. Even still, for every one they killed, a fresh wave poured out of the holes. 

“We need to plug these holes!” Solaki shouted to Tobias. “Any bright ideas?” the Veteran-sergeant answered back, as seriously as he was sarcastic. Solaki looked around. There was still plenty of ammo crates around, full with explosive rounds, melta-charges and promethium canisters. “Sergeant...” Solaki called “...we push the ammo creates down two holes, set them to explode, then we burn all the buggers left coming out of the last hole. “Why not plug them all?” Tobias asked back. At least he hadn't dismissed it totally. “They'd just dig more. If they still have one free, they won't bother, and then we will know were they are coming from.” Solaki answered. “Fine!” Tobias barked back, more annoyed at the rippers than at Solaki's idea. “Arx...” Solaki called out again as him and Tobias made their way over to one of the ammo creates. Tobais was voxing three other Astartes, who were to plug the second hole. “...we are going to send these ammo creates down the holes, then explode them. Can you keep the rippers off us 'til we get them there?” Arx agreed, and so the three waded through the carpet of rippers at their feet. 

Solaki used his sheer weight to crush the mites as much as his weapons. He wasn't equipped for this job, and so tried to hang near Tobias and Arx to avoid getting over-run. Whilst these creatures were only small, in tides like they were now, they could bring down an Astartes. Already, the armour on his feet and lower legs was starting to corrode from the acidic blood and spit of the tyranids. But, they made it, more or less unharmed in any serious way. Solaki and Tobias put their full weight against the crate and it slid with a reasonable speed towards the hole. As they got closer, they had to push harder, as they were fighting against the tide of rippers to make it to the hole. Arx succeeded in keeping the rippers off of them with great arcs of his melta-gun which obliterated the mites. As they got to the hole, Solaki pulled out a promethium canister from the create, and pierced it with his combat knife. The flammable liquid seeped out in a steady stream, and Solaki purposefully spilled a trail into the heart of the ammo in the create, down the side and along the floor. With one final push, he and Tobias heaved the create down the hole, and Solaki threw the canister down with it, leaving a trail from the surface to the crate. 

“Now what?” Tobias asked. Solaki turned to Arx “Arx, step back and light to promethium!” It wasn't a direct order, he didn't have that power, but it was a statement of what needed to be done. Arx stepped forward and lit the liquid touch-paper, as the other three Tobias had told did the same. There was a loud boom from the holes, and rolling heat rushed upward incinerating a great many rippers. The heat would have melted the metal of the crate, creating a wall of molten metal. That was if the force of the explosion hadn't collapsed the tunnel itself, killing more of the xenos swarm. Once again, the trio turned their attention to the rippers at their feet, this time with more pressing concern. In sacrifice for reaching the hole, the rippers numbers were more up here, but at least there was no more coming up the hole imminently, so they were slowly thinning the numbers. But even still, there was a swarm already here on the ground, and whilst many would have died in the explosion, there was still rippers coming up the remaining hole. As the Astartes on the surface fought off the swarm at their feet, each kept an eye on the one remaining hole, silently praying that the rippers tide would cease, or at least nothing worse would come up from bellow... 

(OCC: Sorry it took so long, but me and Concrete Hero had worked this out. Even still, for my sake, I hope I haven't assumed to much and taken to much control. I'll edit if I have. And now to do the update for my own RP before more revision...)


----------



## FORTHELION

Belial was enjoyed the banter with Niko trading mock insults with each other, it was good to lighten the mood abit. For too long things had been too Grim.

That was all about to change however when kain walked in and headed straight for sgnt Brigg holding something in his hand. This turned out to be the head of brother Kyr. Silence decended at first which was interupted by Ryan and Zurich argueing.

After Alexander left holding the head of Kyr Kain approached Belial. "Brother Belial, I know that you probably don't want to hear this, but I am sorry for my part played in your injury. I was blinded by love of my brother." *Brother apologies are not required here, we have all acted foolishly in this time, me as much as anyone. Now is the time for us to come together once more united as a chapter. As Alexander said a new attack will almost certainly happen presently and I will be proud to fight at your side*

(ooc sorry about the late and short post, been working all hours lately and hadnt time.)


----------



## Concrete Hero

Muffled booms of turret fire sharpened to harsh cracks as the Astarte stepped through the opening portal, natural light hitting the armour for the first time in days, the corrosion scars on the pauldron casting tangled shadows. Arx look down at his Brothers as the Scythes assembled for battle, an echo of guilt over his failure threatening to linger. The inhuman shriek of the Gargoyle drew the marines’ attention to the beasts flying above the city scape, and followed the bright lance of a Lascannon bolt back to one of his squad mates; Solaki. Arx took the Meltagun from his hip and jogged over to the Scythes, nodding first to Tobias then facing Solaki as the marine addressed him. 

‘_Yes... I was making up for my failure; I made an error in accepting temporary leadership. But that doesn’t need discussing, it is good to see you once again Brother, truly._’ He placed a gauntlet on Solaki’s shoulder as the assembled Scythes began taking up defensive positions. 

Arx’s attention was grabbed as a deep pulse rumbled through the floor, and the shortest moment of silence as the Astartes froze in anticipation, ready to react in a heartbeat. Piercing cracks ran through the silence as the ferrocrete split apart in three locations, plunging an area of the floor into darkness. But just as the stones themselves fell into the hole, each Scythe opened fire, bolt shells thumping into the cloud along with licks of flame. Only screeches and spurts of alien ichor bled from the pits at first, but before long a teaming carpet of claws and teeth swept towards the Astartes. They were relentless in their fire but eventually the Ripper swarm reached the Scythes, Arx fired off a volcanic Melta blast into the mass before drawing his over sized chainsabre.

‘*For The Emperor!*’ With a powerful stride Arx swung the blade in a wide arc before him, stepping into the strike and kicking forward, power armoured boot splitting bone as the roaring teeth bit into the ferocious creatures. Arx hacked into the tide as he heard Solaki talking with Tobias over the vox, a plan to funnel the rippers using the ammo crates and tanks; he was already backing towards the two when Solaki asked him to cover them.

‘_Understood. Nothing but ants in a hurricane._’ Arx back peddled and unclipped a couple of frag grenades with his free hand, scattering them into the swarm before them, instantly lost in the sheer numbers. Seconds later the grenades detonated, pulverising a small area of rippers before him in a cloud of gore and shrapnel, just enough free time to draw his Meltagun. Leaning the large blade against his shoulder he fired; a thermal blast bursting white hot, turning the nearest creatures to vapour in small arcs before him. Focusing on covering the two Astartes behind him, Arx lashed out with the blade in wide swings, sparingly firing into the tide just as it looked to overwhelm. But the ancient weapon couldn’t be overused, and even now warning sigils flashed as it approached dangerous temperatures. 

With each step he crushed one of the foul beasts, smashing apart more with each powerful stride, but bite and burns marks started making their way further up his legs as their enemies surged around them. Dripping in the blood of rippers, splattered with chunks of chitin and bone Arx spun around, gripping the blade in both hands as Solaki called from the fuse to be lit. He slashed the chainblade along the floor, its whirring teeth sending sparks flying over the split promethium. Not seconds later a cone of heat burst from the hole, his visor tinting as if he had fired the Meltagun to deal with the temporary flash. The large Astartes swung a leg into the Rippers before him, bringing the blade forward in an overhead swing. Just waiting at any moment for another shake to rattle the floor, announcing another tunnel, he spoke down the vox.

‘_So did it work?’_


----------



## deathbringer

My great wings carry me easily above my forces, above the great host, above the tide that shall end those of the black scale. Gargoyles swarm amongst the furthest recesses of the sky their minds intent, prurposeful, locked upon the blood rush to come.

Desire

It is an infection, it runs through every being, every lifeform, even me.

I am swayed by it, moved, biting saliva hanging, long strands linking my teeth, thick fibers of drool. Lust encases me, great wing beats propelling me forward, great wings drifting amongst the rolling waves of air, freedom.

Soon i will be free of pursuit, soon we will have time to feast, to gnaw upon the bones of our enemies, to suck the very life from a planet.

So strange... to long for something you have never had, and its absence make the desire all the sweeter.

So strange.

Buildings, masses of grey and iron, scary, unknown a forest which held no camoflage, a forest where others could hide, yet they would stick out, green and brown no home within a mass of the dull greys and shining metallics.

Should they have come here?

Had he overextended. for who knew what menace hid within the buildings, what evil lay within their confines.

He had always used terrain to his advantage, yet her the terrain was foreign, at odds with their abilities.

Was this a wise move, they had won within the forest and lost upon that accursed hill. 

Was he extending his claw only to have it severed. 
Nay he was unleashing more devestation than ever. He was here, stronger, more powerful.

Gun shots echoed in his ears, the rattle of rapid gunfire, his gargoyles minds running wild, as the scattered swooping and diving.

Battle was joined.

Too late to pull out... unleash hell... unleash himself. For the first time the scythes would see his power. He had slaughtered ten of them as a babe. He would slaughter them all now.

Turrets pinwheeled frantically explosions of light erupting as case spattered upon the ground, round ripping through empty air as his brethren dodged and jumped spiralled in the air.

Yet even as they evaded, stray rounds pierced there bodies, sent some tumbling from the air, to inevitable deaths, fasing screams a knife to his heart a source to his seering rage.

He felt heat, boiling within his arms, great cannons rumbling as his wings propelled him forwards his eyes fixed down, upon the turrets that would reap havoc upon his followers.

His right arm tingled, synaptic currents flowing, his arm numb as a surge built, ebbing and flowing upon his anger, the tiny beings within the great cannon seething and writhing awakened by the pulses that filled his body.

A round pinged off his armour, ricocheting away to tumble to the earth, harmless, a catalyst to devestation.

The shock released and the cannon exploded, shoulder thudding back as the beings within him were propelled, spiralling towards the offending turret, screams rising as they struck, latched, electric pulses sending the crew writhing, tumbling from their pedestals, the lights dying, the clinking of rounds silenced and replaced by screams. Long vines snaked from the other coiling in undulating waves, they curled away, smashing figures off the high walls, leaving them broken upon the ground below.

Wails of his victims reached his victims, battle roars turned to shrill gurgles as razor sharp leaves slit throats, leeches latched, life draining from tortured minds.

A ball of energy erupted from his throat in a triumphant roar which echoed, echoed through his forces, burst from every lips, the battle cry of a great army that had tasted first blood, and adored it.


----------



## unxpekted22

remember the ten sentence minimum. I guess its a pretty long update again :alcoholic: but I think its shorter than before. Guess I still need some practice at making things more concise. As long as its not a boring read I suppose...

Arx and Solaki:

The plan appears to work. The remaining rippers flood out of the one remaining hole and are subsequently annihilated with concentrated fire. As soon as he gets a chance, a brother with an auspex takes the readings and turns to Tobias announcing, "They dug a tunnel under us Sir, but only far enough to get them under the wall and into the base apparently, Oddly the auspex shows nothing much bigger behind the rippers."

"They were a distraction," Tobias quickly replies, pointing to the location of the Mortifactors squad. 

Turrets mounted atop the wall manned by guardsmen forces constantly roar, and closer to the wall is the group of nine Mortifactors combating a tide of gaunt types. The scythes of the Emperor standing in their own squads taking out any gaunts that move far enough away from the Mortifactors to not risk friendly fire, as well as firing into the sky at the enormous and incredibly fast gargoyles.You note the Mortifactors' eerie proficiency and way of battle. No battle cries, no yells of wrath, no sound aside from their weapons. Four block, another three fire pistols, the four who blocked strike out with finishing blows. Every ten seconds exactly, the seven of them duck low, weapons _en garde_, while the flamer and heavy bolter wielding marines make 180 degree sweeps of fire. Then they all repeat. You cant recall this type of team work from the Scythes of the Emperor since landing on Ferim aside from Brig's squad.

Tobias orders the Scythes to get to all of the ground turrets while they had the opportunity to move, half at the ground to immediately extinguish any further threats, leaving eyes off the ground for a moment could give the Tyranids too much of an unnecessary advantage if larger creatures got through. This is when Niko in his new apothecary armor, Kain, and Belial arrive at your location.


Niko, Belial, and Kain:

Zurick responds to Niko after attaching the plasma canon back to his power armor's backside, "_I believe there was a time when I would have felt the same way Niko, but nothing else matters more to us now (indicating Ryan, Brig, and himself), than slaughtering as many of the Tyranids as possible, *Nothing*. Astelan's time will come, but we have so much blood debt on our hands for all of our brothers these aliens have killed...._" he pauses while both his hands slowly raise upward, open palms that shake vigorously as they become fists, chest and shoulders rising and falling. You can tell he intended to follow up his words and complete the sentence but all that comes from his battle helm's mouth grill is the fuzzing of hot breath pushed out through tight grit teeth. 

All of you hear a tone telling you of an incoming transmission from your vox, it is Tobias, "_This is Veteran-Sergeant Tobias to all units, The Tyranids have begun an attack on the base, report to the western gate. The attack is full scale, and I believe the primary target is with them this time._

As the three of you leave the room, you may notice that Brig and his two remaining veterans do not follow suit, but you have no command over them so there is nothing you can say.

You all make your way back to the western wall near the landing pads and main gate. There are about sixty Scythes of the Emperor here. You link up with Tobias, Solaki, and Arx. Gore from a sea of dead rippers covers the ground around them and many of the other scythes in proximity.

Turrets mounted atop the wall manned by guardsmen forces constantly roar, and closer to the wall is the group of nine Mortifactors combating a tide of gaunt types. The scythes of the Emperor standing in their own squads taking out any gaunts that move far enough away from the Mortifactors to not risk friendly fire, as well as firing into the sky at the enormous and incredibly fast gargoyles.You note the Mortifactors' eerie proficiency and way of battle. No battle cries, no yells of wrath, no sound aside from their weapons. Four block, another three fire pistols, the four who blocked strike out with finishing blows. Every ten seconds exactly, the seven of them duck low, weapons _en garde_, while the flamer and heavy bolter wielding marines make 180 degree sweeps of fire. Then they all repeat. You cant recall this type of team work from the Scythes of the Emperor since landing on Ferim aside from Brig's squad.

You note the holes in the ground that the gaunts emerge from around the Mortifactors, and those near Tobias where the rippers apparently came from.

Arx, Solaki, Belial, Kain, and Niko: 

Tobias salutes you and speaks,_" I Have brothers manning the interior guns, unfortunately I must keep half of them trained on the ground keeping the Tyranids coming from below at bay. They have dug a tunnel but this is the extent of its distance it seems. The other half of the turrets are keeping the gargoyles busy, as we have lost nearly three quarters of our wall mounted defense guns from gargoyle fire. Their ground forces have no other way into the base, but we have nothing hitting *them* right now either."_ He pauses abruptly, a look of utter confusion and worry on his face looking past you, "_Brig! What the Hell are you doing?!_

You turn and in the distance is Brig in front of the main gate by himself. His battle helm adorned, bright red horse hair crest and glinting bronze-gold embroidery. His shoulder cape holds flat, barely swaying. With bolter rounds to the gate's controls and guardsmen who have been thrown aside, it is obvious that he activated the gate and then destroyed the controls so that it could not be reversed.

Tobias yells in vain as the gate shudders fully open and Brig alone walks carelessly out of the base and into a swarming army of Gaunts. His bolter at his waist, he fires it into the swarm with one hand, and swings his sword with the other walking forward all the while.

You all hear him tone into the public vox channel, _"The time has come to stop fooling ourselves. We must accept that this is the end of our great chapter......I can't take it anymore."_

A wave of Scythes running toward him are blocked by gaunts making their way past Brig flooding through the open gate. You all barely manage to make out a dark, lightning fast projectile impact his power armor. Only a couple seconds later he violently breaks apart into several pieces, bloody swollen tentacles sprouting out in all directions. The _instant_ this happens a blinding, thundering explosion erupts where he stood.

A mechanical voice hits your ears next, "_Cover me, The vindicator can only block half of that entrance_." The engine roars from within the Black and Gold Vindicator as it zooms forward through the growing battle, emerging from between two buildings with smoke flowing out from its demolisher canon. "_I need to repair the gate controls_," finishes Laikus.

Laikus slams the Vehicle to a halt at the entrance letting the front dozer blade and the vehicle behind it be a temporary wall. The hatch above the driver seat flies open, his servo arms folded against his back, bolter raised up firing on full auto as he attempts to keep anything back that he can until his brothers can better support him. "Reload the canon!" he yells down to the servitors inside the Vindicator.

Tobias voxes publicly, "Squad formations are meaningless right now. Niko stay here there's no way for me to tell where your duties will be needed, Kain and Belial support Laikus. Arx and Solaki you stay with me, we're taking that thunderhawk over the walls and hitting the xenos forces from behind. Cover us to the transport!"

Arx and Solaki, the momentary lack of attention to the skies has allowed a much heavier gargoyle presence. Tobias tags ten more marines and starts herding them to the thunderhawk at a jogging pace (its a ways off now after running to meet the gaunts coming through the main gate) cover them from the gargoyles with your weapons and enter the thunderhawk.

Kain and Belial, many of your brothers are finishing off the gaunts that made it through the open entrance, and are now pushing them back into the choke point that Laikus has created after halving the size of the gaunts' way into the base, help them do this and climb on the vindicator's top to give Laikus cover and not be in the way of your brothers' volleys of bolter fire going into the choke point, the gaunts will most assuredly be trying to go over the Vindicator as well as around it. Its up to you to stop them

Niko, you can stick with Belial and Kain and help them out, or attend to the brothers wounded by the ripper swarms. You are free to be an apothecary otherwise, because between the gargoyles constant air attacks and the infiltrating gaunts there will definitely be some wounds taken against the Scythes. Freedom is yours if you wish for how that happens, one or two would be good. I cant have too many get badly wounded or die because then there wouldnt be a chapter left!

Charon:

As you and your squad fight as described above, you are all but blind to the events taking place around the scythes of the Emperor. You have no time to observe. With a break in the gaunt forces comes something much worse. from one of the many holes in the ground surrounding your position arises a Tyranid warrior. Urya quickly turns to it and ignites his flamer. The flames however, hit an invisible barrier flowing over its spherical form around the warrior, making it clear the xeno is protected by a shield of energy.

You happen to be the next closest one to it. Bryon yells out, "It is yours brother Charon! we shall prevent the other beasts from intervening." With this the other eight Mortifactors create a circle around the warrior as you catch its attention with a few shots. They would all form a circle and then shoot at the warrior but then their backs would find they have talons through them from the dozens and dozens of gaunts that are present.

It is clear this is no ordinary warrior. Your initial attack is met with a counter strike at a speed you never would have imagined a tyranid warrior moving at. One of its extra arms knocks you flat on the ground. it then lets out a gurgling screech before vomiting an acid bile over you. You feel its lash whip tentacles begin to grip around your legs to hold you down. The acid burns through your cape and much of your hair, it burns your neck and gets through the weak points of your left arm's armor. It is agonizing but you must fight through it. 

Free your legs and _attempt_ to kill it. Don't worry about its energy shield, you can hit it up close. It has the lash whip, two arms with claws and a devourer canon, scything tail as well.


Tyrant

Your ripper swarms that went into the base have been killed, but they achieved their purpose, allowing the gaunts and more specifically, the amped up Warrior to get inside and cause trouble, making it easier for you and your forces outside of the walls and in the skies.

After the Warrior gets in is when the events that happen above with Veteran-Sergeant Brig occur. You watch as the gate opens, probably confused, not knowing whats coming out, only to see a single marine walk out into your tide of gaunts. Because you are looking at it and present in the battle, your forces need no thought and have no pause. As soon as you see the 'opening' all of the Tyranids outside the base's walls moves toward it.

The marine seems a formidable fighter though, as the gaunts fall fast before him. A well aimed shot with your stranglethorn canon impacts upon his armor and makes a right bloody mess of him. Another surprise however, as a huge explosive blast fills the street with fiery light, blasting apart and baking the tide of gaunts that had been there a moment before. You spot the source as it rams its way into place at the entrance. the vindicator is not large enough to block the whole entrance but halves the opening and makes it much easier for the other marines to contain the threat. Many Gaunts have already made it inside the base though, and you still have plenty more trying to get through, though these are getting sufficiently gunned down at the choke-point. Due to the events your gargoyles are having better luck but there are still turrets fucking things up. You then watch a group of the marines heading toward the vehicle that can fly.

Finish off the turrets on top of the high rockrete wall. there will still be the ground turrets inside the base but you have bigger concerns at the moment. As for the gaunts you have a choice, you can pull them back to save them later for a better opportunity or keep pushing them over the dead and even at least keep the pressure on the marines. basically it means both sides get a breather or neither do. In order to support your forces you must decide to either take out the vindicator or the Thunderhawk. For this PM me which one you want to go after and we'll discuss how it'll go about happening. Your Carnifexes have almost arrived. They'll be here next update.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon's sword danced from kill to kill as he and his brothers fought against the Tyranid horde that was around them. The Veteran Mortifactors had become seperated from the the Scythes of the Emperor that had been out in the open with them and had turned into their own tiny obstacle of death that the Tyranids could not overcome. All around him tyranid limbs, innards and blood flung past him, the horde was starting to slowly push back the Mortifactors step by step. Yet his brothers were taking a terrifying toll on the xenos and soon they had somehow created a lull in which they could have a few moments of respite. 

As Charon quickly reloaded he heard a cry from brother Urya and turned to see him pointing his flamer down at a hole and attempting to incinerate something. A dull blue orb could be seen as claws hauled something out of the hole, a Tyranid warrior screeched as it pulled itself free of the ground, brother Urya's flames not even getting close to touching it.

An energy field. How did a tyranid get a hold of something like that? His pistol was firing in the second it took the warrior to screech, catching its attention, and it was running straight at him a second later. His sword flung at it from different angles as he fought to kill it, but it blocked every strike with a speed that he had never seen in any of this xenoskind before, and it caught him offgaurd. One of its extra arms flew out and hit him square in the chest knocking him flat on the ground, a loud gurgling noise was the only warning he got before acidic bile was spit at him hitting him in the arm, neck and face. 

Its lash whip wrapped itself around his legs almost before he hit the ground and was the one thing keeping him from full mobility. He grimaced as the bile burned through his cape and parts of his hair off, the liquid somehow making it through his left arm armor joint, that coupled with what was on his neck and face only added to his predicament. The pain was immense but he shut it out and swung low with his sword while at the same time bringing his pistol up to the shoulderjoint where its cannon was connected to its body and fired four shots. 

The warrior screeched as the lash that was holding him was cut through and the joint that was connected to its cannon was blown out. It backed off hissing and gurgling as Charon lept to his feet, his weapons up and ready to strike at the xenos warrior.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki listened to Tobias' words intently. The tyranids had caught them by surprise, and probably thought that there wouldn't be much resistance. They hadn't banked on the vigor of the Scythes of the Emperor. Tobias had the plan well thought out. When, not if but when, the Tyranids over-ran the walls, the Astartes would be ready for them. Solaki thought of the Vindicator blasting apart hoards of xeno's scum, and the thought filled Solaki's blood with a raging fire only a Space Marine could feel. Suddenly, a commotion filled Solaki's ears as Tobias clamoured at Brig. The other battle sergeant spoke over the vox _"The time has come to stop fooling ourselves. We must accept that this is the end of our great chapter......I can't take it anymore." _ Other marines howled at Brig to stop as the gate shuddered ponderously upwards, like the lazy maw of a leviathan just woken from a millennia of slumber. Solaki shouldered his lascannon and took aim at the hoards of tyranids about to pour through the gate, coming to the realisation that there was nothing he could do for Brig. no matter how much he wanted to, nothing would stop the Astertes slow march to certain death. 
A flash.
A crack.
And then nothing. Nothing but the howling of the alien tempest gnawing at the gate that now poured through gate like a breached dam. But the flash had not been of alien origin. The Vindicator rumbled forward, it's own giant maw smoking, a wispy growl of opposition and challenge to the alien foe they faced. "Cover me, The vindicator can only block half of that entrance. I need to repair the gate controls." The red arachnid that was Laikus climbed out of his host, barking commands at the machine children within. Tobias addressed them all "Squad formations are meaningless right now. Niko stay here there's no way for me to tell where your duties will be needed, Kain and Belial support Laikus. Arx and Solaki you stay with me, we're taking that thunderhawk over the walls and hitting the xenos forces from behind. Cover us to the transport!"

"Yes sergeant!" was Solaki's short reply. He shouldered his Las-cannon and aimed skywards, all the while backing up with the rest of the squad towards the Thunderhawk. In the lull of concentrated fire, the sky had become thick with clouds of gargoyles, circling like vultures over the not yet dead body of Solaki's chapter. At some unheard and unseen cue by one of the leader beasts, packs of gargoyles descended upon the small group. Solaki took on his stone-faced and deadly accurate persona and watched the alien bats dive out of the sky. They were massive, bloated, grotesque things, far larger than ones Solaki had fought before. They were, he noticed, of a similar size to the one that had born Niko and himself aloft earlier. The head one dived first, and Solaki blew him apart with no more effort that he used to crush an ant. Sadly, these were much bigger, and just an numerous. 

The head gargoyle was split apart by the giant laser that jumped out of Solaki's lascannon. The force of the impact split it apart, and disintegrated the majority of it's body. The rest of the gargoyle plummeted to the ground, but it's peers took no notice. They continued their decent, and Solaki traced them with his sight. At their current speed, he had to accommodate his aim slightly. The second one to die had it's wings ripped off in a blast of light, and it's own momentum crushed it onto the pavement. The gargoyles were nearly at ground level, but still hadn't banked. They had to soon. They must. Solaki took aim once more, and went to fire. Then they banked. The shot went wide and struck a wall, and the gargoyles seemed to screech in victory. Solaki had a few seconds while the gargoyles flew at them with alarming speed. Still, he remained calm. He was trained to. In the last few seconds the cooling cycle completed itself and Solaki fired again, this time his shots joined by the roar of Arx's melta-gun. Two more went down, and the rest of the flock thought better of pressing the assault anymore. They banked and acceded upward, heading to re-join their brothers. Solaki risked a quick glance backwards before another flock descended. They were almost at the Thunderhawk...


----------



## Euphrati

Zurick’s voice was shadow low and there was a disturbingly fanatical and haunted edge to the Scythe’s words that went beyond even the focused devotion that was the cornerstone of Astartes training. Niko could not help but feel a sense of foreboding in the tones of the older marine, _have we unknowingly hewn our own memorial tomb from the bones of the dead and lined it with the grief of the lost?_

The vox in Niko’s ear gave a tone, drawing his attention before Tobias’ voice cut across the channel with a backwash of static. Even amid the crackling interference Niko could hear the growling sounds of battle that underscored the Veteran-Sergeant’s words and turned towards the door before Tobias had finished speaking; though he paused at the threshold for a heartbeat to cast a final look over his shoulder at the unmoving forms of Brig, Ryan, and Zurick before stepping out into the open air. Apothecaries stood apart from the ranks of command, their sacred duty bestowing a measure of autonomy to their conduct, yet Niko had no true position of authority to question the Veteran-Sergeant’s actions nor those of his men.

Niko lengthened his stride as his boots hit level ground; making up for distance the brief pause had opened between him and his brothers with an easy lope, the rhythmic crunch of his footfalls lost to the overlapping roar of the turret guns as they chased shrieking forms of gargoyles across the sky with arcing lines of tracer fire. The bodies of xenos lay strewn about the landing pads, gaping holes giving answer to how they had come to rest inside the walls. Niko spared a glance at the squad of Mortifactors as they fought against a tide of gaunts, noting with reluctant regard the control and perfect balance in which the Astartes fought; not a movement was wasted nor an avenue left unguarded as the Mortifactors exemplified the teachings of the Codex Astartes with every xenos that dared to challenge their wrath. It was an unwelcome reminder to the fallen state of the remaining Scythes of the Emperor and Niko felt the sharp twinge of shame as he came to a halt before Veteran-Sergeant Tobias and his battle brothers.

Tobias stood amidst a spreading pool of ichor and cracked chitin, his armour’s curved surfaces glistening where the fluids of the xenos liberally coated the warplate. His tones were clipped and without preamble, a factor that Niko had always found admirable in Tobais’ nature, as he began to relay the current state of the conflict only to come to an abrupt halt, his features etched deeply with lines of confusion and mounting concern. Niko turned on his heels, following the sergeant’s gaze and Tobais’ voice suddenly seemed to fade into the background as his storm-grey eyes fell upon the figure standing before the main gate as it swung slowly open. In that moment Niko felt as if a blade of the blackest ice had been plunged violently into his soul.

Every mote of honour that Brig had ever earned in his service to the God-Emperor was snuffed out in a single act of weakness and betrayal. Shock gave way to unrestrained anger as Niko did something he never thought himself capable of and turned his eyes away from his brother’s desecration of every oath he had ever sworn.

His finger found the trigger of his bolt pistol and every round found a home in the seething wall of xeno-forms that spewed forth into the base like a virus injected directly into the bloodstream of a dying man. A flash of blinding radiance drew Niko’s gaze back to the open gate and a fierce pride surged in his breast at the voice of Laikus, the techmarine wasting no time on putting actions to his words as the bellowing roar of the Vindicator answered the shrieks of the xenos hoard as it punched hard into the tide of chitin-clad abominations. The tank slammed to a halt in the gaping rift of the gate, its mighty tracks dripping with the crushed remains of the xenos unable to leap out of its path, and the rust-red form of the techmarine emerged from within to unload his bolter’s magazine on full auto into the answering surge of alien flesh.

Niko gave a vox click of assent at Tobias’ words, his chainsword meeting the bounding form of a gaunt that had gotten past his brother’s cordon even as he ejected the spent clip from his pistol. The creature tumbled to the ferocrete in a keening mass of thrashing limbs. With a fluid economy of motion he released his grip on the chainsword’s hilt and slammed a new clip into place. Niko chambered a round, putting a trio of shots into a hissing termagaunt in the same instance he was reaching out to pull his chainsword free as he stepped over the twitching corpse.

He was fifteen paces away from Brother Matthias when the marine’s bolter jammed and the thrashing form of a hormagaunt smashed into the Scythe and took him off his feet in a clatter of ceramite on chitin. Niko thundered to a halt as the Astartes struggled upright, right hand griped around an ichor stained combat blade and the arm other ending in a ragged, bloody stump halfway down his forearm. The battle brother’s head swiveled in his direction, a grunt of surprise issuing forth from his battlehelm’s grill as he registered the white helm emblazoned with the prime helix staring back at him,

‘Niko, bolter jammed…’ 

Niko silenced him with a gesture, letting the bio-readouts scroll across his vision as he mag-locked his weapons to his hip and reached out to catch Matthias’ injured arm in an iron grip,

‘I saw, hold fast.’

The marine locked his stance as Niko examined the wound for an instance before severing the limb just below the elbow with a quick swipe of the mono-edged chainblade under slung on his Narthecium and injecting a counter-toxin into the port on Matthias’ chest. Matthias’ squad brothers had shifted their overlapping lanes of fire to cover their brother while Niko tended to his wound. Satisfied that the Scythe’s Larraman cells had sealed over the area in a clotted mass of soon to be scar tissue; Niko knelt down to retrieve the marine’s bolter, clearing the breach before slipping a new clip into place from the pouch at the Scythe’s hip and pressing the weapon back into the waiting hand,

‘Repay the wound in bodies, brother.’

The Scythe simply nodded and rejoined the line of his squad, using the stump of his arm to brace the bolter as he raked the advancing beasts with renewed vigor and Niko turned back to picking off of any xenos fast enough to get through the Scythe’s main guard while he awaited the next call for his abilities. _He did not have to wait long._

*‘Apothecary!’*

The cry burst through the vox like a peal of thunder and Niko felt the urgency that laced the voice even before dropping to a knee beside the strickened battle brother. Brother Arinar lay amidst a growing pool of his own blood in the center of a protective circle of his seven other squadmates; the young Scythe was barely twenty years Niko’s senior, a practically non-existent amount of time in the eyes of a Chosen of the Emperor.

His left leg was gone at the hip and blood-filled furrows cut his chestplate from shoulder to groin. Over a meter of viciously sharp talon was buried through his mid-torso like a specimen waiting to be pinned to a display mat. The data that flooded Niko’s retina only served to underscore the visible injuries with multiple system failures and internal hemorrhaging.

_…there are some lessons that I cannot prepare you for. Some that you will have to learn for yourself._

Niko dismissed the degrading bio-signs with a thought and reached out to carefully remove Arinar’s battlehelm, setting it upon the ground at his side before lifting off his own with a hiss of equalizing pressure and clamping it to his hip. Blood ran in a dark stain down Arinar’s chin and the Scythe gazed up at him with eyes unfocused with pain; that Niko remove his own helm was not necessary to perform this rite, but something in his conscience demanded that the honour be witnessed with his own eyes. 

‘Brother Arinar, can you hear me?’

Hazel eyes blinked and focused upon storm-grey,

‘Niko… I can hear you, Apothecary… but I can’t move… my legs…’

‘Your wounds are beyond aid, brother,’ Niko’s voice was soft and weighted with emotion as he spoke the words of his sacred task, ‘What is your oath, Scythe of the Emperor?’

Arinar’s breath was shallow, blood trickled from the corners of his lips as he spoke in response to the ritual words and his voice, though whisper quiet, was clear, 

‘My oath… is my life.’

Niko nodded, feeling his throat close as he lifted the Narthecium on his left hand up to place it against Arinar’s temple, a dull click sounding as the device locked into firing position,

‘I hear your oath, Brother Arinar, and mark it complete. Are you content?’

‘Yes… Brother-Apothecary, I am content…’

‘Then go stand at His side amid the ranks of His everlasting warriors knowing your duty is done, brother, your legacy shall yet live on.’

There was a muffled crack and Arinar’s eyes closed for the last time. Niko retracted the spike and slipped his white helm back into place before beginning the process of extracting Arinar’s gene-seed, feeling the hot tracks of tears as they cut lines down his cheeks.

_You are right, my mentor, I will remember this moment for as long as I exist. I will remember them all…_


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain heard a tone chime in his helm and he quickly activated the incoming link. It was from Tobias and he wanted them outside immediately. _"This is Veteran-Sergeant Tobias to all units, The Tyranids have begun an attack on the base, report to the western gate. The attack is full scale, and I believe the primary target is with them this time."_ Kain didn't look at the others as he barrelled out at the enemy. Finally a chance to destroy their target, finally a chance for glory and death. He didn't look back as he rushed out, content in the fact that Brig and the others would join them soon.

As Kain moved towards the gate he noticed the crowd slick with blood of tyranids, and sure enough as they arrived at the scene of carnage dead xeno littered the ground. Tobias stood there, covered in gore from head to toe, with him Arx and Solakai. There were around 60 battle brothers there, ready for more action.

Kain stared at the mortifactors, the other space marines. They fought as one, no war cries, no prayers to the Emperor, only their cold hard steel meeting flesh and bone. Only Brigs squad had operated in any sort of coherency since the Scythes landed, though now they were mostly gone. The Scythes stood in their respective squads, picking off stragglers of gaunts that moved away from their strange brethren. 

Tobias saluted Kain and the others before speaking out to them. _"I Have brothers manning the interior guns, unfortunately I must keep half of them trained on the ground keeping the Tyranids coming from below at bay. They have dug a tunnel but this is the extent of its distance it seems. The other half of the turrets are keeping the gargoyles busy, as we have lost nearly three quarters of our wall mounted defense guns from gargoyle fire. Their ground forces have no other way into the base, but we have nothing hitting them right now either."_ He pauses abruptly, a look of utter confusion and worry on his face looking past the group of marines, and Kain turned in the direction of his gaze. What he saw shocked him beyond words and he could only snarl slightly as Tobias bellowed, _"Brig! What the Hell are you doing?!"_

Kain bellowed as Brig shot the controls to the main gate and stood there, as they opened them. He had doomed them all now, the horde would see be inside. There was no way that the Scythes would hold. He cocked his bolter, feeling a round slam into the breach before he yanked his combat blade from its holster and hit the power source. If he was to die, he would take as many as possible with him._ "The time has come to stop fooling ourselves. We must accept that this is the end of our great chapter......I can't take it anymore."_

*"You may not be able to take this, but to go out like this? Its unthinkable. We are Scythes, We are death incarnate. We are the Emperors servants and should behave as such."* Kain stated simply in return over the vox so all could hear him.
Suddenly Brig exploded, a hail of fire from above, must be the target Kain thought. Before he could do anything else he watched as Lakius charged the Vindicator forward, using it to block the gate while he worked on closing it.

Tobias voxes publicly,_ "Squad formations are meaningless right now. Niko stay here there's no way for me to tell where your duties will be needed, Kain and Belial support Laikus. Arx and Solaki you stay with me, we're taking that thunderhawk over the walls and hitting the xenos forces from behind. Cover us to the transport!"_

Kain charged forward at once, many of his brothers doing the same, with a roar the oncoming tyranids were met with bolters and death. The marines started to form a choke point whilst Kain and Belial would cover Lakius. Kain sprinted straight over to the vindicator, staying out of his brothers fire, and adding his own to the roar of the battle. He smashed his way through two gaunts, stabbing through ones head with his knife and shooting the other at point blank range before he made it to the vindicator.

He clambered on top of it just in time to meet the first few gaunts that tried to scramble over the top. He fired bursts into the gaunts, dismembering them with the explosive bolt rounds as he stood on top of the Vindicator bellowing his praise to the God Emperor. He kicked out at a gaunt that dived at him, crushing its torso under his armoured heel. He knew Belial was close by and would support him no matter what.


----------



## Concrete Hero

Arx was already staring towards the Mortifactors, feeling a melancholy sense of Deja vu. He could almost see their armour in black and yellow, the Tyranids dying to their cold discipline a different hue... He brought his gauntlet to his helmet as gunfire and orders from past battles clamoured in his mind. All he saw when he looked upon the squad was him and his Brothers on Sotha.

Thankful for Tobias' strong tone nearby, he shook his head and made way for the ground turrets, converging with the other Scythes. He looked above, leathery hellspawn infesting the sky with their beatings wings. He fixed the Chainsabre to his back, holding the Meltagun in his hands. Without hesitation he crushed the skull of a twitching gaunt beneath his heel as he joined his Brothers.

His eyes are drawn to the angel of death with the helmet of white. Not the Brother he was use to seeing wear the Prime Helix. He had not seen Niko since he wore all black and yellow, and he had no doubts that his Brother, the Apothecary, deserved it. A light in the darkness indeed. He nodded to them, grateful to see them on the field of battle once more.

Arx returned the salute to the Sergeant as he ran down the situation, watching the his expression change the marine was already turn as Tobias called out. "_Brig! What the Hell are you doing?!_"

The Astartes almost could not believe his eyes. Brig, standing alone. Scattered guardsmen. Door slowly beginning to shake itself open, the controls for which crackled and smoked, spitting their own dismay. The mouth opened and its breath was death.

"_The time has come to stop fooling ourselves. We must accept that this is the end of our great chapter......I can't take it anymore._"

The large marine felt nothing but coldness as he watched Brig quickly become separated. First from sight by their Brothers, then from himself as one of the Tyranids biological monstrosities blew him apart. Arx was saddened to see one of the last Veterans of Sotha lose himself in cowardice and disgrace himself -and the chapter- before meeting his end.

Not seconds later the voice of Laikus sounds across the vox, The Vindicator trundling towards the open Gate. The Techmarine set on repairing the sabotaged controls.

Tobias' voice called out once more "_Squad formations are meaningless right now. Niko stay here there's no way for me to tell where your duties will be needed, Kain and Belial support Laikus. Arx and Solaki you stay with me, we're taking that thunderhawk over the walls and hitting the xenos forces from behind. Cover us to the transport!_"

The Scythes were already moving as he spoke, Arx cast his head back towards the other members of their squad momentarily before heading with Solaki. He squeezed his gauntlets around the Meltagun, eager for the blighted creatures to attempt a swoop. Solaki unleashed periodic lanes from the Lascannon. The furious beam vaporising the Gargoyles as it pumped into the skies. Arx stuck close to his Brother, anticipating they would dive for his position.

He sighted the first creature making its move, hands tight around the volcanic weapon. '_For the Emperor!_' his helmet amplified his roar, and as he could practically hear the hissing of the beast, he squeezed the trigger, turning his warcry into a violent inferno. Annihilated by the heat, the blasted ground was the only memory. 

The Scythes kept a quick pace, Solaki covered as many Scythes as he could, and Arx dissuaded any interruption to his Brothers work. The Thunderhawk drew near but warning runes flashed on his holy weapons even as vapour rose from most of its surface, ten seconds or so, they'd be close enough to the Thunderhawk by then. The marine scanned around for the nearest target and saw a threat that was well within ten seconds. A Gargoyle, flying barely two metres from the ground, with its gaze on his Brother. Solaki was in the process of blowing one of the bloated creatures from the air, could the weapon fire again? Arx was a short distance from Solaki, and the beast was coming behind him, some distance to the right.

Not waiting to find out Arx stepped into a run, clipping the Meltagun to his side. He noted the speed of the beast and its height, couldn't manoeuvre his sword in that space or time. The Gargoyle had not averted its gaze or flight path, and Arx counted his blessings to the Emperor as he drew his combat knife, taking it in a reverse grip he felt his twin hearts pounding in his ears. Here he could appreciate the size of the beast, even larger than the ones he'd fought previously.

That's when the wretched thing twisted its head and shot its beady eyes towards him.

_Too late_

Arx kicked off the floor and into the winged monster. He plunged the blade into its shoulder a fraction of a second before he felt the impact. His breath was almost taken from his lungs as the creature barely slowed, and he already felt the Gargoyle begin to lift them. Still hanging to the handle of the blade, his free hand lashed out, grasping the 'upper arm' of one of its wings. Its claws scratched frantically against his armour and it gnashed its fangs centimetres from his visor as they struggled.

He yanked down sharply, feeling the limb crack as he pulled them into a spinning descent. The impact with the ground was a shaking slam, but he felt the Emperor smile upon him, having landed with the Gargoyle against the floor. He wasted no time he grabbing the creatures biting head in his gauntlets and violently snapping it's neck, frantic flapping of huge wings dropping dead. 

He stood up and noticed for the first time how much blood and gore dripped from his armour from the tide of Rippers. He caught up with the jogging Scythes, they had reached the Thunderhawk, Brothers already climbing aboard.


----------



## FORTHELION

Suddenly the vox exploded in Belials helm, it was Tobias, the beasts were attacking again. *So Alexander was right they were back, maybe a bit sooner than expected but none the less they were here, and in full force by the sound of it.*

Kain was first to leave quickly followed by Belial. By the sounds of things judgement day had arrived and Belial was adamnt that he would not be found wanting. 

As they rushed outside the sound of gunfire was deafening, his helm quickly filtered out the sound to an audible level. Everyone rallied to Tobias side for orders. These orders were cut off in mid flow a look of pure shock took over Tobias face. Belial followed Tobias gaze, by the emperor what the hell was Brig doing. He had disabled the main gates and proceeded to walk through them to his death. A sad way for a marine of Brigs standing to go out with no honour.

Then the monstorous form of a vindicator rolled up blocking a good portion of the gate and out jumped Laikus with his bolter on full auto. Laikus had a habit of turning up at the right moment to save their asses. Tobias orders were short and swift. Belial and Kain were to cover Laikus while he attempted to repair the controls. 

Belial sprinted after Kain and joined him on the Vindicator. Kain was a warrior Belial admired, he sometimes let his emotions get the better of him but he was a true servent of the Emperor whose loyalty would never waiver. Side by side they felled the filthy beasts with blade and bolt pistol but there was so many of them. He voxed Laikus "*Just like old times my friend eh. Will you be long brother we will not be able to hold them off forever.* Turning to Kain Belial said *"Brother we canntot hold them off forever, no matter how many we slay there is mor to take their place. We need to buy more time for Laikus. On the count of three we throw our krak grenades. 1.2.3.............*


----------



## dark angel

_Crack-hiss!_

Astelan’s helm departed his head, pillars of steam illuminating his features, scalding his cheeks. The pain was beautiful, and his heightened senses screamed out to him, numbing his palms. Esoteric runes flashed across his vision, each dizzying to look at. 

Astelan surveyed the Ziggurat ahead, clenching the hilt of his Chainsword. It was an edifice of obsidian and gold, rising up into the air, but hidden beneath a canvas of rotten trees. Beams of light penetrated the canopy, though they were few and thin, offering little illumination. All light seemed to be attracted to the Ziggurat, and the surrounding area was bathed un an unnatural green, sickly but sweet.

Feathers filtered down around him, and Astelan’s vision was cast above. Overgrown hawks, nearing the size of men, watched him intently with beady, crimson eyes. Strands of meat dangled from within razor-edged beaks, and decrepit talons held tightly onto equally weak branches. They were hunched, vaguely humanoid beings, with a trio of unusable fingers upon the tips of their membranous wings. The wildlife surrounding the Ziggurat was different - Polluted, corrupted.

_‘My playthings. The result of boredom,’_ Began Iscarion, a hissing that echoed all around Astelan. _‘They are nothing to be feared, merely carrion-pickers. Once too, they had been men. Like you, they were enhanced, gifted by a greater force. Their strife brings me great happiness, glorious. You too, are my plaything.’_

The Scythe stopped, inhaling deeply. His lungs burned, and his chest felt heavy. Electricity danced along his pauldrons, fizzing loudly, eroding away Imperial sigils. Astelan’s patrician features curled in disgust. Laughter boomed within Astelan’s head, and a sudden pain knifed along his spine, ebbing throughout his enhanced musculature.

The Astartes endured several moments of agonizing pain, remaining calm. It felt as though his organs were being rearranged, modified. Colours contrasted heavily against one another, and smells intensified greatly. Astelan looked down at a buddle beneath him, and gasped. His skin had became clamorous, gaining a corpse-like pallor. His eyes were colourless, alabaster in appearance, so that they blended in with the surrounding flesh. Streaks of purple snaked beneath his cheeks, but subsided momentarily when Astelan touched them.

*- You are weak. - *

Astelan spun around at the sound, hands bunching into monstrous fists. His lips curled back, teeth sliding across one another.

*- You have failed Him. -*

The noise was a cacophony, thousands of voices overlapping with one another, so it drowned out even the cascading of distant waterfalls. A slither of blue light darted across his vision, dipping beneath a rise up ahead. An half-submerged tomb lay in the earth, hooded statues standing ever vigilant in the doorways, blades held in skeletal hands. 

Approaching the tomb cautiously, Astelan’s right hand never wavered from above his Chainswords’ ivory pommel. If a quick draw was needed, Astelan assured himself that he could do so. The entrance of the tomb was barred by a large portcullis, lowered down by ancient chains, which had snapped off. It leaned ponderously inwards, threatening to fall into the extending tunnel beneath. 

*- You have gone too far, this time, Astelan. Repentance is an impossibility.-*

His Chainsword sputtered into life, purring gently. Slowly, Astelan wheeled around, expecting nothing. He was wrong. As far as his eye could see, figures in the form of Astartes, each brilliant blue, stared back at him with vengeful eyes. Their countenances began to formulate, molding from an invisible, unreal clay. The brilliant blue which enveloped up distorted, and it was replaced by yellow and black, like the hide of some overgrown wasp.

*- We have come to claim you, Astelan. -* They muttered, stepping closer. The Scythes of the Emperor brandished no weapons, simply marching closer as one, their boot falls echoing on submerged marble. Faces which he recognised and revered stared back at him angrily, disappointed expressions wrought upon their ethereal faces.

Old Gregor; Julius Var; Lucian Orkos; Aster; Skia. Their warmth radiated around him, a searing ball of fury that crisped away the colouration upon his plate. Slowly but surely, his armour was reduced to its original grey. Astelan’s personal heraldry scattered into the air, decorative ashes that billowed away, caught on coruscating waves. 

Glimmers of light flashed in Astelan’s vision, bright enough to burn into his retinas. He swung his Chainsword futilely, his former companions still being metres away. The man-birds above squawked in dismay, taking flight. Some dove down into the ranks of the Scythes, motley feathers falling away from them, beaks and talons striking out in unison. 

Their meagre attempts to ward off the ghostly invaders were met by staccato laughter. 

*- Minions of decadence; pathetic. -* Noted Lucian Orkos, former Thane of Sotha. Astelan had been spoon-fed stories of the Great Lucian, of the Saviour of Askrados, of the Morning Star. To set sights upon the bearded, muscle-bound hero was a grace in itself. But Astelan felt no honour, merely contempt. Jealousy. 

Astelan backed into the portcullis, and metal keened loudly as the full weight of an Astartes was pressed into it. His Chainsword’s purring escalated into a razor-edged howl, drifting through the swamp like the braying of some legendry beast. In his left hand, Alrik whipped up his Bolt Pistol. He took aim on the encroaching horde, deliberately targeting faces which he did not recognise - Unwilling to potentially harm his former comrades.

He fired. The rounds whistled, streaming forwards into the crowd. Astartes laughed mockingly as the rounds continued to delve through the crowd, impacting the sodden earth or chunks of masonry. Astelan had assumed a triumphant grin, but now it faded into a twitching frown. 

_‘They are splinters of the Warp, Astelan.’_ Iscarion began, his voice nearby. _‘Broken souls, forbidden from resting peacefully, from joining their Carrion-Lord in his Halls. If only they would admit their mistakes, and embrace the brilliance of the Pantheon. But alas, it is not to be. They can not harm you, unless you allow it, Son of the Wytch.’_

Reassured, Astelan stalked forwards. He holstered both Chainsword and Bolt Pistol, slipping them into their respective scabbards, flexing his fingers. Astelan barreled into the nearest of the spectres, a haze of light beneath him, shifting in and out of reality at random. He knew not the name of the Marine, the iconography upon his shoulder depicting a Company which Astelan could not locate in the folds of his mind. But it mattered not.

His fingers slipped around the throat of his fellow Astartes, steadily tightening. Ghostly fingers clawed at Astelan’s arms and chest, trying to pry him off. Ligaments and bone crunched slowly, as the gauntlets sought to meet one another. The Warp-life was slowly snubbed out of Astelan’s prey, and gurgles emanated from a desperate throat. Finally, the struggling ceased. His Brother dissipated into dust where Astelan knelt, cascading from beneath his finger tips.

He arose in satisfaction, cackling manically. Corruption now anchored alongside his twinned hearts, fluctuating. In one fluid movement, Astelan drew his Chainsword, metal scraping against metal, and beheaded another of his phantasmal Brothers. It, too, crumbled into a pile of dust. Another three fell in quick succession, cleft in two, and Astelan’s smile widened further. His hair became matted with clumps of dust, and his throat became itchy, each breath he took taking in plumes of dust. 

Skia stood bravely in his way, arms folded across his chest. 

*- Traitor. - * He said in a thousand voices, the muscles along his jaw line tightening. *- You always was weak, Astelan. - *

Astelan halted, his charge slowing into a gentle walk, Chainsword dragging behind him. Skia’s eyes blazed with incorporeal rage, kohl shading his enflamed eyes. His tanned skin was slick, and grooves were taken from his chest, by Xeno claws. Congealed lines drooled from the rents, the blood having bubbled and turned into a rusted colour. Skia’s face was remarkably untouched, save for a single slash which an from his ear, along to his cheekbone and then down beneath into his throat. 

*- You have cast aside oaths, and for what? For power? You are nothing more than a misanthropic cur, Astelan. Once, you was the brightest amongst the ranks, my closest Brother. Now, I wish but one thing upon you. Death. - *

‘I am _no _betrayer.’ He simply said, and finally rid the universe of Skia. His Brother collapsed, Astelan’s sword twisting in his chest, before yanking free in a fountain of ash and dust. ‘I am _the _saviour.’

_‘Good! Break the chains!’ _Iscarion screeched, almost pleasurably. _‘Now, destroy them!’_

Astelan readied himself to comply, when a fissure opened up before him. A single figure stood, silhouetted against the blinding light. Slowly it approached, materializing, growing the armour of an Astartes around it. Chiseled features, cropped hair, a devilishly handsome smile. Astelan slunk to the floor in sight of this newcomer, dropping his Chainsword to his side.

‘B-Brig..’ He spluttered, twitching. ‘No..’

A rumbling shook the Ziggurat and the surrounding area, and chippings of artistic masonry began to lift into the air. Soon, they were accompanied by larger pieces of stone, dragging with them roots and clumps of earth. Wrapped in strands of fluctuating light, each of the debris revolved gently. 

Astelan threw back his head and screamed in despair. The stones shattered into a thousands shards, and the ghostly Scythes disappeared. Only the pattering of a stone-rain accompanied Astelan's devestated thoughts.


----------



## unxpekted22

A few updates away from the end now, like 5 I think.


Astelan:

Iscarion reappears above you in the shadows of the chamber's caved in ceiling.

"_Apologies for your losses. In order for something to be created, something must first be destroyed. It is this way for all things. The souls in the warp can see your bright mind and they will flutter around it in the reflecting dimension. Those souls may even be able to recognize the beacon as you specifically, as you have seen with your former comrades. Souls like these who were strong willed beings in this realm do not only have to be bothersome to you. They can be made into a problem for your enemies as well. You have learned you can interact with them, it is a matter of reaching into the warp momentarily just as you have done by passing through it in order to move from place to place at a much faster rate than you would be able to otherwise. You can siphon their strength to add to your own, or even inflame them and force them in the direction of your foes. There is no one certain, specific way of doing this. Each psyker learns their own way."

"You have dipped into your capabilities. You have traveled faster, increased your strength and interacted with the spirits around you. In the recent past you have cast forth warp energies to electrocute the aliens, created a defensive shield around you but much of this has come from uncontrolled emotion. You must practice your control and learn to create on command. The Librarian and his guardians will come soon. I will not be able to teleport you again by then. I shall hold off the librarian when they approach, so it will be up to you to kill the rest."_

Arx and Solaki:

The ramp closes behind you, still coming to a close when you feel the Thunderhawk already lifting off. The first Scythe of the Emperor who had made it into the Thunderhawk already at the controls. Tobias begins formulating a general plan but everyone in the group knows that only when they are on the ground and can see the details can they create an effective flanking strategy.

The Scythe piloting the Thunderhawk yells, "_Hive Tyrant!_" 

Tobias responds, "We finally have its location? Where?"

"It has our location sir, it's-"

You feel snaps in your necks and spines and a deafening shriek of tearing metal and a roar of wind for a moment before your battle-helms compensate. The ride instantly becomes insanity as the inside of the Thunder hawk shakes violently with two large gashes in the side of the hull allowing you to see the slowly spinning outside, skyscrapers passing in flashes. 

A huge force slams into the transport, and a huge blade made of energy crackling bone sheers through the chest of one of your brother Scythes, a two sharp cracks of puncturing ceramite as it passes through the powerpack and out the chest plate. The sword stays there and a lash whip curls around external surfaces to latch the tyrant to the falling transport. neither you two or any of the other Scythes on board can move for two reasons: one being the extreme gravitational forces keeping you pressed against the hull or on the floor and the second being a sudden rush of overwhelming agony that paralyzes your nerves and muscle fibers with sheer pain. 

With a scream the Hive tyrant shoves its enormous head through the gash in the hull it made, landing its wickedly large teeth into the back of another marine's head and neck area. You watch as your brother goes limp with the impact of armor piercing teeth plunging his brain. Subsequently thin trails of his sacred blood make their way up through some of the Tyrant's teeth which you can now tell are slightly transparent.

The Hive Tyrant breaks away just before the front of the Thunderhawk's front smashes into the corner of a building, flattening the Piloting Scythe of the Emperor instantly. The Thunderhawk spirals wildly before creating a huge scar in the rockrete street below.

You are both still alive. You each crawl your way out from the rubble and find your weapons still intact though your armor further battered, your bodies aching and still recovering from the effects of the Tyrant's paroxysm. Tobias's form lay unconscious with several others, though it hard to tell who is dead and who is not aside from two battle brothers already in cover beside the the Thunderhawk, taking turns unleashing their bolter fire into the gaunts that the Tyrant has already sent your way to finish the job. As you get into cover with them one of the tall buildings closer to the base begins to fall; the massive amount of bending metal masking over all other sounds of battle before it slammed down onto the base's wall. You can tell there are at least two carnifexes at the base of where the building had stood, but you can barely see their actual forms.

One of you sends a general message out of your situation.Alexander responds, telling you that the second Thunderhawk from the _Heart of Sotha_ has just landed and that reinforcements would be coming if they could make it.

You each have age over the other two marines who are with you so its up to you guys. Stay near the Thunderhawk and defend it while waiting for potential reinforcements or move up to try and engage the Carnifex position? Though Solaki's las-canon has a long range, you would still have to move up significantly to get a clear shot. The action must be done as a group. 

Charon:

Your strikes are parried by the Tyranid Warriors abnormally fast reflexes and reactions. You are sent back to the ground again by a swipe of its scything tail to your ankles. Its Huge razor sharp talons sending up chunks of dirt and rockrete with each strike as you roll and twist to avoid them, some of your brother Mortifactors risking glances toward you, concern growing on their faces beneath their black and bleach-bone battle helms as the keep the gaunts at bay and out of your fight. 

The lash whip finds your limbs again and threaten to hold you still as the Warrior raises both talon arms at once with a screech of victory. A curved silver blade still halfway in the immaterium cuts through the large Tyranid's neck. Its neck spews out more acidic acid while its head body slam to the ground. Rhashan stands in the middle of the circle with you now, telling you and your squadmates he has located the traitor Scythe of the Emperor, that the Apothecary Alexander has called in a second Thunderhawk from the Orbiting Barge for you to reach him quickly, and that you must get to it immediately. 

Rhashan knows where to find the traitor marine. Protecting this base is no longer any real concern for you and your brothers. Follow Rhashan's lead to the thunderhawk, making your way through a push of Gaunts and Gargoyles.

Niko, Belial, Kain:

Kain and Belial help Laikus cover the Vindicator long enough for the tank to let loose its massive canon once more, directly into the wave of Gaunts before it. This buys Laikus the time he needs. He leaps from the Vindicator and makes his way to the gate controls repairing them within a few minutes. the servitors inside back the Vindicator up as the gigantic metal doors close once again. 

You both make your way back to Niko, who is still over the body of Brother Arinar and surrounded by a squad who shakes their heads with no time to mourn with their bolters busy putting the remaining gaunt brood down.

"_Before we think about how to kill those outside the walls, we need to kill as many gargoyles and gaunts coming through from underground as we can to give us room for options."_ buzzes Laikus's voice into your ears. The next thing that hits your ears is the unbeliavably loud noise of a tall buildings metal supports being bent over, causing one of them to make its gradual but high momentum descent, crashing over the base's wall. 

"Carnifex!" some of the remaining guardsmen yell who are manning the last operating turrets atop the wall.

Although the wall does not break with the building crashing on it, Gaunts are using it as ramp to get over the wall, flooding through its sideways structure from the base of it to the top end that lays over the inside of the base. You also all witness the Thunderhawk Tobias and a squad including Arx and Solaki took to flank the enemy and pull some away from the base, fall victim to the Tyranid King, and plummet downward into the city.

Alexander comes in over the vox telling each of you to make way to the chapter's other Thunderhawk which he has called in, a servitor having to pilot it down from the Barge. As you run toward it you also see the squad of Mortifactors once again led by the dark skinned librarian making theri way to the same transport. 

Alexander continues, _"The librarian has located Astelan. They need our Transport to reach him quickly,"_ you notice five Scythes of the Emperor running behind you who appear to be hearing Alexander as well, "_You must each make a decision that I cannot make for you. Our brothers who went down in the thunderhawk need support. There are casualties, and I am not getting anything from the Veteran-sergeant. If you choose to reinforce our brothers then you also choose to fight against our archenemy the Tyranids and this foul beast of a Hive Tyrant. However, the mortifactors have requested some of us to come with them as well, as they would prefer one of our own end Astelan's life to make up for his stain of corruption on the chapter. They would also appreciate the company of an apothecary...But that is up to you Niko. One arch enemy over the other, casualties are a factor in both, and both situations are of equal immanency. Rhashan will do his best to make sure the Tyrant doesn't bring down this transport as well."_

You all have your seats, arriving before the Mortifactors, when the vox cuts out and one of the Scythes behind you boards and takes the controls from the servitor. A screech turns all heads as a gaunt leaps onto the loading ramp, somehow making it past everything else. It leaps to get inside at you but its head and torso explode in a shower of gore. Two familiar figures come into view, and head up the ramp, brother Ryan with his bolter muzzle smoking, and Zurick behind him hauling his heavy weapon, its hum echoing loudly off the hulls interior when he enters. They take their places next to the three of you.

Zurick says nothing, but you hear the battle helm distorted mumbling of his low voice, of what sounds like continual whispered prayer. Ryan says one sentence, "Bastard fooled us." Niko's new helm can easily pick up the fury indicated by their bio signs.

Your post can include the wrapping up of your previous actions, as well as your way to the thunderhawk. Most importantly, you each have an important decision to make and it may be made on an individual basis. You can discuss it with the others, including Ryan and Zurick (I respond for them of course) or think about it on your own. Basically, reinforce your brothers in their attempt to flank the Tyranid swarm and continue fighting the more long term enemy of the chapter, the Tyranids, or go with the Mortifactors to Kill the traitor Astelan, whose actions have been witnessed by another chapter and threaten to destroy _your_ chapter and lives in an entirely different way from the Tyranids. 

Tyrant

PM me when/if you return and we'll figure out what to do for you.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain and Belial stood unafraid at the horde that charged towards them. They pushed them back with bolter and grenades, never once being over run. The Techmarine was well covered his mission almost guaranteed success. Lakius fired one more shell from the beautiful machine of death before leaping out and rushing over to the gate controls. He would soon have them fixed and Kain used this time to kill more and more gaunts, each time vowing that their deaths was helping towards his redemption. It only took a few minutes for him to fully repair the gate controls and at his command the servitors inside the vindicator backed up. They brought Kain and Belial with them before the gates shut with a resounding boom.

Kain and Belial leapt down from the vindicator, Kain nodding to his brother and Lakius before moving towards the young gifted apothecary Niko. He was standing over one of the bodies of a brother that Kain knew, Brother Arinar. Kain would see more tyranids punished for this death of a marine, his squad unable to mourn his death yet. Kain felt their loss more keenly then most. He had lost his entire squad on this planet. Every last one of his brothers had perished. He had no squad anymore, was just a tag along to previous squads.

_"Before we think about how to kill those outside the walls, we need to kill as many gargoyles and gaunts coming through from underground as we can to give us room for options."_ buzzes Laikus's voice into Kain's ears and he nodded at the thought. However his attention was soon diverted to a screech of metal as a building support fell and landed on the wall causing a bridge for the forces outside.

_"Carnifex!"_ a guardsmen yelled, fear in his voice and Kain looked towards the source of the sound. The guard were manning turrets but soon as gaunts used it as a bridge they would be overwhelmed. What disturbed him more was the sight of the proud thunderhawk fall, hit by some unknown weapon. There were sure to be survivors and Kain knew that soon a mission would be hatched to rescue them. 

Alexander's voice penetrated his vox now ordering him and others to head to the other chapter thunderhawk. Kain broke into a run towards it noting that the mortifactors who had fought so weirdly and more like a unit then anything he had ever seen before head towards the same transport. _"The librarian has located Astelan. They need our Transport to reach him quickly,"_ 

_"You must each make a decision that I cannot make for you. Our brothers who went down in the thunderhawk need support. There are casualties, and I am not getting anything from the Veteran-sergeant. If you choose to reinforce our brothers then you also choose to fight against our archenemy the Tyranids and this foul beast of a Hive Tyrant. However, the mortifactors have requested some of us to come with them as well, as they would prefer one of our own end Astelan's life to make up for his stain of corruption on the chapter. They would also appreciate the company of an apothecary...But that is up to you Niko. One arch enemy over the other, casualties are a factor in both, and both situations are of equal immanency. Rhashan will do his best to make sure the Tyrant doesn't bring down this transport as well."
_

Kain looked to his brothers with him, Niko Belial and several other scythes he thought for a briefest moment before saying,* "Brothers I am going to help our downed brethren in the city, they will need some help. You two can do what you wish but my place is fighting by their side. I won't abandon them to hunt a traitor, even if he did fool me."* He took his seat before the Mortifactors arrived, staying near the front of the thunderhawk for quick access. A gaunt seemed to have gotten past all their brothers and screeched as it launched itself forward before being blown apart in a hail of gunfire. Ryan and Zurick moved up the ramp, both of them taking their places in the thunderhawk.

He was sat next to Zurick and could hear him mumbling a prayer to the Emperor whilst Ryan said one thing. _"Bastard fooled us."_. Kain just nodded at this, they would most likely go to fight more tyranids, gaining revenge in the process.


----------



## Euphrati

The vial sealed with a faint click and Niko slipped it back into the protective case at his hip before rising to his feet, the weight of his Narthecium suddenly more apparent than it had been only moments before. Arinar’s squadmates stood in an unbroken circle around him, shoulder to shoulder as they fired into the remaining press of xenos flesh. With no time to spare in morning beyond a brief nod of respect to the young Apothecary; Niko could feel their grief and rage straining like a furious raptor against the jesses of their control, each report of their bolters was an echoing lament to their fallen brother.

Niko turned away from the torn body as his HUD indicated the approach of Brothers Belial and Kain, the Techmarine having successfully repaired the damage done to the main gate and stemming the flood of bounding, chitin-clad bodies to a trickle of those emerging from the underground tunnels. Laikus’ metallic voice growled over the vox-net, seeking to focus the scattered squads on those last breaches before turning to the hoard outside the walls. Yet, even as Niko lifted his bolt pistol to put a round through the slavering maw of a gaunt, another noise eclipsed even the din of battle. Metal squealed and groaned, drawing his eyes upwards to a tower that stood just outside the curtain walls of the base as it began to slowly shift as the cry went up from guardsmen manning the turrets. Like an uprooted tree of glass and steel, the structure gained momentum in its decent to crash down upon the wall in a blizzard of fractured stone and crystal that shook the base to its core. The twisted wreckage had not even settled fully before the xenos host was swarming up its bulk and over the wall.

_The walls had been breached and the safety of the base had been unquestionably compromised._

Niko felt his hearts clench in his chest as the howl of engines were answered by a scream of alien rage; firing into the renewed swarm of xenos bodies on blind instinct as his grey eyes tracked the falling shadow of the Thunderhawk as it was torn from the sky to plummet into the bowels of the infested city and be lost from sight. 

Alexander’s voice sounded in his ear and Niko turned on his heel to cross the distance what the second of the Chapter’s Thunderhawks was coming down to land, noting the armour of the Mortifactors as the other Astartes also made their way to the craft as the Chief Apothecary continued speaking. Niko’s booted feet clanged on the ramp with a force that resonated up his thighs, his course was already set before his mentor finished speaking and Niko settled into an arrestor harness beside those taken by the Mortifactors. 

Brother Kain’s voice echoed through the hold and Niko could not help but feel the burning fever of incandescent rage at the Scythe’s words,

‘The alien cannot help what it is; even in its depravity there is an honesty in its nature and a purity found in its destruction. Yet, no matter how vile a Xenos is… there is nothing, _*Nothing*_, more evil and loathsome than that which is the Traitor. He who has turned his back upon his oaths commits a sin that can never be forgiven and utter destruction is the only answer to such a crime. He who allows for its existence shares in the pain of eternal damnation.’

Niko’s voice was as cold and hard as the void as he leveled a gaze at his Brother before turning to meet the gaze of the Mortifactors,

‘Life is not measured in the grains that flow through the hourglass, but by the deeds that mark their passage. There is no question in the matter, I am coming with you and will destroy the Traitor. His sin is our sin and, until it is absolved, we are forever upon the edge of the Abyss. If this is to be our final chapter… then it shall be penned without the stain of heresy to tarnish what honour we have left.’

_Even if I must scribe it in my own blood and shame._


----------



## FORTHELION

Laikus was his usual diligent self in repairing the cosole of the main gate in no time at all. Belial and Kain had faught well together side by side, though belial was under no illusions that had Laikus not fixed the gate in double quick time they would not have been able to hold the tide of xenos scum for ever. Numbers would have eventually. With the fighting over for the time being Belial and Kain headed off in the direction of Niko.

Suddenly the silence was interrupted with the sound of crashing metal and concrete. Belial looked over in the direction of the sound, witnessing the collapse of a tower at first hand. It fell onto the outer wall breaching it. *"for the love of the emperor the walls have been breached*. he gasped.

With that Alexanders voice announced itself over the com. The choice being simple stay and help out your brother Sythes or assist the Mortifactors in the tracking down and killing of the traitorous Astelan. Two choices but far from simple to decide. Belials head swam with the consequences of the decision he made, go with the mortifactors and his brother Sythes may be left to die or stay and help them and the traitor Astelan might escape.

The decision was made. Belial opened a private Vox to Solaki. He felt he owed it to his brother to tell him of his decision having already abandoned his brother once before. He was about to do it again. *Brother i will be going with the Mortifactors in search of Astelan. I have to see this to its conclusion, i have suspected our former brother from the beginning and need to be there at the end to help in his destruction. I will not be joining the others in their bid to reinforce your position. I know this is the second time i have done this to you brother and for that i truely am sorry. I hope when this is all over you will be able to find it in yourself to forgive me. Till that time comes fight well and may the emperor watch over you.*

With that Belial took his seat in the thunderhawk and waited for lift off. Judgement day was close.


----------



## Deus Mortis

_"Hive Tyrant!"_ In a moment, the thunderhawk turned into a rent, falling, burning death trap. The force of gravity was immense. Solaki was pinned to the ground by his force, and it took all his strength to pull his head up. He watched the two gashes appear in the side of the Thunderhawk, and an ear splitting scream echoed forth. The scream wasn't just a verbal noise, it carried with it a measure of psychic power. As the waves of sound crashed into his body, Solaki could feel his nerve catch fire with pain. He gritted his teeth, and the tendons of his neck bulged out, but he made no noise. No scream of pain. No howl of anger. If this monster had come to hear him beg, it had chosen wrong. The bone-scythe sheered through one marine's chest. A blade of that size easily punctured both his hearts, and the blood flowed into all the empty cavities, and dribbled slowly out of the chest plate. Solaki wanted to get up, wanted to fire his lascannon at point-blank range, cut off the Tyrant's arm for killing another Scythe, but he was still paralyzed. The tyrant bit into another's head, killing him instantly. Solaki felt powerless. What the tyrant didn't know was that forcing him to watch his brothers die was more painful than any paroxysm could be. Abruptly, the Tyrant ejected off the Thunderhawk as it slammed into a building. Another Scythe dead. Pilot-less, broken and bloodied, the great metal bird fell to the floor. 

Everything went black for a moment. Solaki groaned, and tried to heave himself up, but the Thunderhwak's interior was about half the size, so Solaki could only get to his knees. His lascannon still lay beside him, mercifully unbroken. The interior was filled with dust and rockrete. Solaki crawled out into the open day, just in time to see one of Vorspire's mighty buildings come crashing down onto the bastion walls. Gaunts flooded over in a great tide. "You have got to be kidding" Solaki muttered. He only saw two other brothers standing. Many, including Tobias were on the floor, unconscious or dead, Solaki didn't have time, or the stomach, to find out right now. Arx crawled out from inside the Thunderhawk, brandishing his meltagun. At the base of the building, Solaki saw two large forms. Pulling up his sight, he saw they were two Carnifexs. They were too far away, and he couldn't get a clear shot even if they were in range. He would need to move up to shoot them. He opened a vox channel to Alexander "Brother Apothecary, our Thunderhawk has been brought down by the Tyrant. We have some dead, some unconscious here. There are only four of us here. We need reinforcements ASAP!" There was a long silence. "The second thunderhawk from the _Heart of Sotha_ has just landed. If we can we'll reinforce you. If not..." the Senior Apothecary paused "..the Emperor protects" Solaki stood immobile for a moment. "The Emperor protects" was the response. It was bitter and full of anger which lay just below the surface, but Solaki couldn't rage at the Apothecary. He out-ranked him, and he knew that if there was anything more that he could do, Alexander would have done it. 

Solaki shouldered his lascannon with gritted teeth. The xeno's would burn for what they had done. _Every_. A beam of light jumped out and tore several gaunts to pieces. _Single_. Another shot, this one directed at a weak portion of the wall. The main support force was blown out, and a small section of wall came crashing down into the sea of gaunts, flattening several, but the rest rushed over it undeterred. _One_. Solaki puled a pin out of a grande, and threw it into the gaunts. More dead, and still more came. Suddenly, a click of an incoming vox signal. _"Brother I will be going with the Mortifactors in search of Astelan. I have to see this to its conclusion, I have suspected our former brother from the beginning and need to be there at the end to help in his destruction. I will not be joining the others in their bid to reinforce your position. I know this is the second time I have done this to you brother and for that I truly am sorry. I hope when this is all over you will be able to find it in yourself to forgive me. Till that time comes fight well and may the Emperor watch over you."_ 

The world stopped for Solaki. Belial and the others were leaving him. They had been assigned to the same squad, both had survived the fall of Sotha. Solaki had risked life and limb for Belial, and he was abandoning him, again. For what? So he could prove that he was right. The self-righteous, egotistical bastard was leaving him just to prove a point. Solaki wanted to shout and scream at him. Tell him of the monumental betrayal he was committing. Tell him that he was a coward and was leaving his chapter to die. But it wasn't right. Yelling couldn't explain what he felt. "Fine. You want to go; go. Prove you point. Well done, you were right, Astelan's a traitor. But I'm not. Neither is Arx. Neither is Tobias. Neither are any of the good men you are leaving to die here. Do they deserve to die so you can prove your petty suspicion was right? I don't care what your reason is. You are a coward. You are leaving your brothers, your squad, your sergeant, chapter to die here. And for that, I can never forgive you. So go on, have your petty victory. Prove you were right. But when your chapter lies dead on this planet, your brother's blood stains the ground, when you are the last Scythe in the whole galaxy; then I hope you can look back on this moment with fondness and say it was worth it." Every word was calm and collected, but dripped with a venom that was unnatural between supposed brothers, but it felt right. In Solaki's mind, Belial had left them to die, and that made him almost as much of a traitor as Astelan. "Brother Solaki, brother Arx," It was one of the marines with him and Arx "We look to your direction." Solaki aimed down his sight "We stay here, and we protect our brothers until help arrives or we are dead. We are Astartes, we don't back down and we don't surrender." Solaki took another shot. Even if everyone else fell away, he would stand his ground and protect his brothers...


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon's hearts stopped for a splite second as he realized that his blade would not be able to cut through the warrior's limbs in time to save himself, yet he need not worry for a silver blade sliced the beast's head off, acidic blood spraying everywhere. His brothers helped him up as they followed the librarian to the Thunderhawk, he had found the traitor and the Scythe's head Apothecary had called in their extra thunderhawk to carry them to him to end his forsaken life. 

As his brother's filed into the transport he listened to Alexander give the Scythes the option to help their brothers or aid in Astelan's destruction. Charon took the seat closest to the hatch and listened intently on the Scythes who were conversing openly, the Apothecary Niko was coming with them and took in what the marine had to say. Only one other marine accompanied them and as they took their seats in the transport Charon stared at Niko awhile, his hood covering the majority of his face.

After awhile he spoke up,* "Indeed one's life is measured by their deeds brother. Right now the traitor is a dark stain upon what is left of your chapter and although killing him with your own hands will absolve you and your bretheren among your peers you will forever be watched by those who believe themselves your betters." *He paused wondering if Niko understood who he was talking about, indeed the Mortifactors had come under much scrutiny from the Inquisition and although they were loyal through and through and many of thier brothers knew that the Inquisition still scrutinized every action they took.

He continued speaking,* "Should you kill this traitor who is to say that another one wont spring up? For if it has happened once among how are we to know that it wont happen again? This is how the snakes who would seek to bring you down think, but know this, should you kill this traitor you and your brothers will forever be absolved in my mind and those of my brothers and the Emperor."*


----------



## unxpekted22

Belial: It is not too late to change your mind after hearing Solaki's words, but remember Solaki said this to you on a private channel so you are the only one on the thunderhawk who heard it. If you do change your mind will you even tell Niko or simply get off unexpectedly when the ship lowers to drop off support for Tobias's team?

Niko and Kain: You're decisions appear to be set in stone. Do you have an opinion as to where Belial goes? Also, any reply to the Mortifactor named Charon who has spoken to you? Kain would recognize him, as he spoke to him once already not long ago. 

Charon: you may reply to the scythes if the speak to you. You may also speak to Rhashan or your brothers in order to better anticipate what you will soon be facing next. 

Solaki: A clambering sound behind you causes you to glance at the downed thunderhawk, Tobias has come back to his senses, holding his helmed head with on hand and bolter loosely in the other, you can tell he is taking in the situation. Inform him of whats going on and continue defending your position. You notice one of the carnifexes turn and begin moving in your direction. do you risk a shot now and have more gaunts on you or wait in hopes of a more opportune moment?

Astelan: same as before.


----------



## FORTHELION

Solakis words stung. Belials head was in turmoil did his brother truely believe he was turning his back on his chapter. He really did believe he had made the right decision, but now his world was shrouded in doubt. Maybe his decision was for self fulfillment. Now more than ever the wise words of a chaplain would be welcome. None being available the next best thing would be Niko, the young apothecary had shown maturity well beyond his years.

Opening another private vox to Niko. "*Brother i need your advice on something. I had made a decision to go with the Mortifactors and help in the destruction of that traitorous bastard Astellan. I informed brother Solaki of my decision personally. I thought it only right to do so. He is not too happy with my decision and basically said i was as much a traitor as Astellan for turning my back on the chapter. This has left me quite confused on whether my origional decision was the right one. Maybe there is truth in what he says. For too long i have been looked down on in this chapter by those who believe they are my better. Now for the first time i feel like i have contibuted as much as anyone during this campaign, but yet again there seems to be those who judge themselves my better, and believe i am making the wrong decision 
AGAIN. I could do with some words of wisdom if you have any right now brother.*


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain was annoyed by the words of the young apothecary. Whilst there was a degree of truth in the words he was still running on what he thought was right. He would not abandon his brothers like Niko and Belial readily did and as sucj made no response to the young one. He cared little for his opinion as it stood, content with his course of action. Enough Scythes had died this day and he didn't need to travel with Belial and Niko, a squad of Mortifactors would be enough to take down the traitor without the two Scythes.

Niko and Belial seemed immersed in a private convosation, no doubt talking about their mission ahead whilst he and the other scythes prepared their weapons and minds. They would be thrust straight back into the fight, killing the xeno like the Emperor deemed necessary. The mortifactor named Charon, the one who had spoken to Kain earlier spoke up, voicing his opinion towards the choice made by Niko and Belial.
*
"Brother Charon, between you and your squad I believe you are capable with hunting down the traitor and bringing him to the Emperors justice. The fact that you also have two Scythes going with you seems to me that you have plenty of astartes to take Astelan down. My brothers need me and as such this is my course of action."*


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon got an answer quicker than he had thought he would, yet it did not come from either of the two Scythes sitting in the thunderhawk with him, it was the one named Kain that he had encountered earlier. He turned his head to regard the Scythe, *"While I and my brothers may be able to kill the traitor only a Scythe can wipe away the stain of dishonor that said traitor has left on his chapter."* and with that he turned his head back to regard the young apothecary, not bothering to wait for a reply from Kain. 

He spoke to Rhashan,* "Brother what can we expect ahead of us?"*


----------



## dark angel

‘War comes,’ Smiled Astelan, blue-lime energy coruscating along his gauntlets, illuminating his patrician features, which had grown sallow and taught. ‘My brothers, who have so eagerly abandoned me, approach.’

His eyes stared into the darkness, cold, enhanced, burning with zeal and the prospect of vengeance. Thin, leathery lips parted once more, and putrid air seeped into his mouth. For an unaugmented human, the stench would have been overbearing, poisonous. To Astelan, it was intoxicating - Glorious, tasteful. 

His current location was strange. It was a circular chamber, deep in the earth, pillared and balconied from above. Tattered banners, depicting all manners of debauch, corrupt acts, dangled from the heights. Water had gathered at the bottom, and with Astelan’s each step ripples arced outwards, bright against the murk. 

A shuffling noise, behind him. Astelan spun, hand clenching the pommel of his Chainsword, ready for a quick draw. An overgrown rat, with shaggy fur and beady, pink eyes, stepped closer to him and squeaked inquisitively. Astelan crouched down, and reached for the changed creature. His fingers sealed around the thing’s head, and it’s clawed feet attempted to run. Astelan smiled, and clenched. Blood and bone chips fell from between his fingers, and the body suddenly went limp.

‘Unclean thing,’ He said, standing back to his full height. ‘It deserved nothing less than death.’

There was no compassion in his voice, merely vehemence. Specks of dust fell around him in a grey rain, dissipating where they landed on Astelan’s electrified-form. When the Mortifactors came, Astelan would spill their blood. And he would enjoy it.


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki kept taking shots, single minded in his art of death the these foul xenos. deep down, he had known it was hopeless the whole time. He knew that for every shot he took and every foul spawn of his most hated foe he killed that more would come. They would come and they would come, and they would surge like a sea of death over this city and nothing would stop them. But Solaki stood, as he had stood on a dozen war-zones before, as he had stood on Sotha. Him and his brothers had stood like rocks in the ocean of aliens. These violent waters had eroded part of them away, they had lost part of themselves on their homeworld. And Solaki knew he would lose more here. But he was determined to give it all in the pursuit of justice and the defence of humanity. Another shot. More xenos dead, and time was running out. There was a stark clambering sound behind Solaki, and he took a look back. Tobias had regained consciousness and was clearly taking in all that was happening, his bolter hanging loosely in one hand. Solaki walked over to him, and Tobias' grey eyes fluttered as his memory recovered from the shock of all that happened and flooded him with information. Times. Places. People. They would all be surging back to him. 

"Sir, it is good to see you've regained consciousness" Solaki said. Tobias merely grunted, and so Solaki proceeded to tell him all that had transpired. The hive tyrant. The two dead brothers. The gate had been closed, but no sooner two Carnifex's had knocked down a building, allowing the gaunts to flood into Vorspire. "Alexander said that a detachment of Mortifactors will be going in the second Thunderhawk to hunt down Astelan. Belial has chosen to abandon us so he can prove his petty suspicions were right. I don't know what Niko's plan is, but he has ascended above my reproach. He is duty bound to the Chapter, more so than the rest of us. Neither have I heard of Kain's plan, but I hope he will opt to help our defence. Alexander has said that he will send reinforcements if he can, but he might be sending them to a burial ground if we don't hold this position for much longer. Me, Arx and these two brothers have done the best we can." Solaki concluded his summary. Tobias seemed to take it all in, until there was a sickening shriek came from behind them. Solaki spun round and saw what he had feared. One of the Carnifex's had been sent by it's hive mind to crush their small pocket of resistance. Solaki knew that this was his purpose. He had been useful all this time, but now he came into his element. Solaki nodded at Tobias, and his sergeant nodded back. They both knew what he must do. Solaki took up his mantle of marksman once more, and peered down his amber scope. 

The lumbering beast appeared like it was just in front of him. He could see every detail. Solaki could see the the whites of the beasts teeth, the blood that stained it's duel scything cannons. Solaki grinned. He was going to enjoy claiming this kill. Solaki fired, and the solid shot hit the beast square in the chest. It burnt a deep wound into the beast's torso, but it seemed to do nothing but enrage the xenos monstrosity. Solaki loaded another fuel cell, and took up his aim once again. The carnifex was snarling, as if it knew Solaki was looking at him. Solaki snarled back, and fired another shot, this time into the beasts leering skull. The pace and jagged movements of the lumbering monstrosity meant that the shot with slightly wide. But half of the beast face disappeared down to the bone, and now the carnifex looked even more death-like. But, Solaki knew these xeno's well enough to know that this type of damage was superficial at best. One more shot. This time Solaki aimed different. His aim rested on the joint of the carnifex's scything talon. This shot fired true. The searing bolt of heat tore through the arm, and it fell sickly to the floor, limp and useless. Solaki reloaded once more. The carnifex had already covered considerable ground towards their position. If he couldn't bring it down soon, they would all be doomed. It all rested on his shoulders. Solaki finished reloading and aimed once more, fully aware of the weight of his responsibility which now rested upon his shoulders...


----------



## deathbringer

Humans screamed, a delightful melody of terrified anguish as vines struck, lanced from the sky and danced around them, intertwining with limbs, rending extremeties from their torso, puncturing great holes through their agony wracked bodies. They leaked vitura upon the floor as they slumped, great pools of blood red gore seeping around the forlorn figure of their suddenly abandoned and lifeless death machines. 

High above, a tyrant soared unchallenged... unhindered.... invincible. Eyes of flame surveyed the desolation below, ignited at the sight of bodies of his children littering the ground and he let out a roar, a tremulous cacophony of bloodlust and hatred.

He stared, searched for a new threat, for a challenge and spotted two, behemoths not of flesh and sinew but of steel and hard metal. No match for his talons... yet which... one belched smoke as it sent his gaunts skywards whilsts the other roared as it struggled skywards, a menace of turrets and guns twisting as it snarled in challenge.

He remember those behemoths.... his brothers, his ancients had struggled against them... sent them to ground, yet twas a struggle nonetheless.

Figures in black armour poured inside even as his children swarmed around the other behemoth, claws tearing at the matted hulll, then pushing past and into the base, dispersing, pushing forward in a seemless wave.

A black plated figure stepped within the thunderhawk and it lurched skywards with a sickening groan and his mind was made up, he plummeted, rocketed downwards, wings tucked in behind him he felt the wind pull his mouth open. wide jaws gaping as gravity tore him forth. His body weight waxs pure momentum and he pulled his wings inwards, body balling, air whistling as it rushed between the gnarled spines upon his back.

The sword of lengthened bone crackled and he extend a single arm, feeling the muscles buffet against the wind, he braced for impact as the twitching machine grew closer, rushed towards him closer and closer. He spread his wings, a scream of frustrated anguish as his muscles wrenched under the sudden tremendous force of his descent.

Yet still the bloated bird came on and the bonesword extended, his clawqs unfurling as hebraced for impact. He could see its turrets swivelling towards him, trying to track the blur of muscle and talon that flashed towards him. He could see the hull, pierce the veil of darkness to see the eyes of the pilot as they widened in abject horror at the vision of terror that flashed towards him.


Even as impacts jarred his body as the bonesword pierced the hull and his talons tore into the hull, the tyrants teeth widened into a gloating smile. Even as bruises blossomed and healed and pain smashed his pride... he grinned as the bonesword sent sprays of blood spattering over the walls of thunderhawk, spattered over his leering face.

Even as the scythes within lay pinned, shaken and stunned by the pressures that wracked there body. The tyrant laughed. 

He had killed again.... and it felt beautiful.

In the skys once more he watched the ants stumble from the wreckage, broken and battered.

Yet one took aim... One brought a cannon to bare upon the carnifex blasting the creatures face apart in a fit of petulance with a bright beam of light.

Hatred flared. The blood turned sour in his mouth.

He would have revenge.

Thoughtlessly he dived once more upon the marine as the soul worked frantically at the cannon.

His face was a bared snarl as he plummeted to earth once more, there was no joy... only bitter hatred.

He would kill the scythe with the cannon. End that menace to his brethren. It was vital.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko’s gauntleted hands closed like ceramite clad jaws on the edges of Brother Kain’s cuirass before the restraints he had torn out of had even begun to retract, forcing the Scythe back into the unyielding curve of the Thunderhawk’s frame. Rage, pure and focused, surged through Niko’s veins with every beat of his twin hearts; nothing could equal the anger and sorrow that his battle-brother’s words drew across his soul like a jagged blade.

*‘I should see you stripped of your rank and sentenced to an oath of penitence for your blasphemies! Astelan’s damnation is ours and ours alone to endure!*’

The young Apothecary’s voice was as cold as the void itself and his grip like adamantium,

‘That you would even _suggest _otherwise in the presence of our cousin chapter sickens me beyond words.’

Niko’s faceplate was less than a hand’s breadth from Kain’s, the emerald glow from his lenses lending hard edges to the white of his calling,

‘The want for revenge has poisoned us from within, blinded our purpose. This is greater than revenge, *Greater *than any pride or vengeance in any form or measure.’

Niko released his grip suddenly, gesturing to the black and bone Mortifactors that shared the Thunderhawk’s strobe-lit interior.

‘_Ask them_, brother. Ask them what it feels like to have your very purity questioned, your every action scrutinized by the hounds of the Inquisition! Mark my words well brother; a far worse fate awaits us if we fail to stamp out the Traitor’s sin,’

Niko’s tone became etched with sorrow,

‘Every sacrifice, every honour, _*every drop of blood shed by a battle-brother of the Scythes of the Emperor*_… purged from history as if we had never existed. _Forgotten_. Forever cast into darkness. Banished from His light. That is the price of the vile minions of Chaos and Astelan has paid it. Not only in his soul, but in the souls of each and every one of us.’

The young Scythe paused, his demeanor hardening into a diamond’s edge of faith and duty as he turned to regard Belial,

‘I cannot tell you what path to walk, brother, only you can make that choice. The past is etched in stone; the future yet unwritten. It is the present that stands before us. _*Here. Now.*_ It is what we do in these moments we are given that matters, brother, for they will echo across all of eternity. _Be worthy of them._’

With that Niko shifted his gaze to the Mortifactors and the battle-brother that had spoken to him,

‘I thank you for your words, brother-cousin, but only the Emperor has the right to judge my soul in the end.’


----------



## unxpekted22

Astelan: As the rat's guts drip between your gauntlet's fingertips a voice hits you, but it is not Iscarion's; it is a new one. You instantly feel its heavy presence, where as Iscarion's presence is a light, more general feeling about your environment, this presence is focused, powerful. 

"_You should learn to better appreciate change Astelan. It is better to embrace it rather than destroy it. I guided your elder, he learned this, and when he struck you he carried that change through you. There are so many possibilities, so many routes, you have but the slightest idea."_

You remain in the large circular room, the floor littered with shattered stone. A low pitched caw causes you to look up and see nine large black feathered birds above you perched evenly around the circular balcony above.

"The XV legion is no longer enough. Not to mention their time in the maze has slowed them, warped their forms and souls in opposing directions for too long. Their strengths are their weaknesses. I need new warriors, warriors who are no longer a foundation, but a spear of influence, a javelin that shears forward and cuts through everything that our enemies think they know. Warriors such as yourself."

"Iscarion will continue to be your guide, but it is to me you must kneel. Kneel to me Astelan, pledge your fealty to me as your Lord and you will be victorious in the coming battle. Despite the fact you are greatly outnumbered your opponents will lay dead at your feet and you will live on to begin the new, glorious, and unstoppable new Scythes chapter; and you shall lead it as one of my new disciples. If you refuse, you shall be defeated and amount to nothing but a mistake erased from the books of history."

So, what say you Astelan? Will you kneel to the Lord of change or refuse and become a mere rogue traitor without any favor from the dark gods of chaos?



Niko, Kain,Belial and Charon:

The voice of the dark Librarian breaks through the argument, "This Hive Tyrant has an _exceptional_ psychic aura about it. I can barely see _anything_ through its web of connections. However, there is something powerful enough at our destination to shine through."

His Mortifactor brethren all turn as much as they can in their seats to face him, the looks on the faces of those without helms intense. Rhashan looks up, his eyes white and fingers outstretched, palms up, "The Lord of Change exchanges words with our prey. My brothers, pray to the Emperor, pray for his intervention." 

Brother Ryan speaks next, addressing the Scythes of the Emperor aboard, "I have just received contact with Veteran-sergeant Tobias. He and four others survived the crash," He turns his helmed head toward Niko, Belial, and Kain, "Your squad mates Arx and Solaki among them, but five more brothers have been lost." He goes back to addressing all the Scythes aboard, "Tobias reports heavy gaunt advancement towards their presence, as well as one of the carnifex creatures, and also..." he inhales deeply, "The Tyrant. Tobias and the other four are dead without our support."

The Thunderhawk safely touches down on a wide street, the turrets mounted to its hull easily tearing apart the small gaunt broods and gargoyles near to it who are still far from the base's walls. 

Brother Ryan and Brother Zurick are the first to stand, bolter and plasma canon brought up to bear. They stand behind the other five Scythes of the Emperor aside from you three. Two of them stand and exit down the now open ramp. Ryan and Zurick remain still. The other three Scythes look to each other obviously unsettled. 

Zurick's angry mumblings come to a sharp pause and he lowers his head, his crimson lenses staring into the hearts of the three remaining Scythes, and with words weighted in wrath and ice speaks, _"Get out. Get out....*now*."_ Not willing to deny the strength, skill, and name of their older brother the three Scythes stand and exit the ramp with Zurick directly behind them, plasma canon now humming, and glowing with life.

Brother Ryan lets his bolter drop to one side held only by his right hand, and turns toward Niko. He says nothing for a moment. With the Thunderhawk's engines and weapons fire, and the holy fire of the six scythes now on the ground outside of it, it is an oddly _silent_ moment. He makes two steps and sits in the now empty seat across from Niko, bolter still loose in hand, "_I know this will create a long-lasting conflict between us Niko. But...If we dedicate resources to only one of these two threats, then the other will kill us. We astartes have little humanity as it is, and I fear Zurick has just about lost all that was left in him after what has happened to our squad here. I am not far behind him, but I have enough to say that I love you brother. Murder the traitor as we slay the alien. Keep alive, the aftermath depends on it."_

He stands, bolter gripped tight once again, and looks to Kain and Belial, "You two, it is time to make your decisions. Make them quickly."

And with this he turns and exits the Thunderhawk, taking a grenade from one of the belts crossing his midsection into his left hand while firing his bolter with his right.

Charon, make your observations and any comments. Charon you will be reacting more to the words of Rhashan of course. The power of Tzeentch would make this hunt much more difficult. You may also reply to Niko's last statement toward you. 

Niko make your observations and comments, you may also need to share last words with Kain and Belial.

Kain and Belial, you must make your final words and decision. Stay aboard and go with the Mortifactors to hunt down Astelan or exit the Thunderhawk to slay the Tyranids.



Solaki and Tyrant (from solaki's perspective): The Carnifex roars in pain and anger as its face and arm are blasted away. However, it reacts by firing a round from its heavy venom canon. A large, sharpened, solid shard of venom crackling with electrostatic energy flies past you as you turn on your heel to avoid it. Behind you is Arx in mid-swing toward a hormagaunt with his double chainsword claymore. He looks up at the last second as the giant spike from the venom canon pierces straight through his helm, the tip flying out the back of his helm sending blood and brain matter scattering as the projectile's momentum sends him flying backward, pinning him by his face to the concrete wall of the damaged building behind him. He dies without a sound, no words, no yells of pain, nothing. Dead in the blink of an eye.

Tobias and the two other Scythes supporting you gun down the gaunts he was fighting, but to make things worse a shadow comes over you from above. Dive bombing straight toward you is the alpha-tyranid, the king of all this disaster, the Hive Tyrant. You are the first to get a good look at it since the chapter arrived at Ferim. It is massive and fearsome in every respect. A biological form somehow glistening with weaponry.

You pull yourself back together and dive as far as you can out of the way las-canon held high so as not to damage it. The dive wouldn't have been enough but Tobias and the others intervene, throwing krak grenades into the air and interrupting the beast's flight path. They follow up with focused bolter fire, tobias voxing you, "Solaki we'll hold it off until our support arrives! Finish off that carnifex or we'll have that AND this to deal with.

Solaki do as Tobias says. Kill the carnifex. Finding a way to stall gaunts from interrupting would be good as well, how you do this is up to you. You will be pushing your las-canon to its limits this update. It will be useless after this post. I dont care how much you use it in the post but it will be useless by the very end of the post whether through depletion of the ammo cells or through pushing it past its limits.

Tyrant Your attentions are forced onto the three Scythes attacking you. Their krak grenades did little damage to you. Kill the two other Scythes of the Emperor but do not kill Tobias.

(OOC: heh, Just read up on las-canons. Apparently their charge packs are good for only one shot and so have to be replaced between each shot. One shot uses up the whole thing. But obviously for the RP's sake I'll allow it to be used as it has been throughout.)


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain didn't react when Niko learnt forward and grabbed a hold of him. It appeared that both him and the brother Mortifactor had completely taken his words out of context and hadn't fully listened to him. The young whelp was lucky, if Kain hadn't of felt guilty for his part in Astelan's escape then he would have put the apothecary in his place. He waited for Niko to finish speaking before saying. 
*
"Actually Niko what I said was that between our esteemed brothers and you and Belial, you have enough to take this traitor brother down and wipe the filth from our records. You don't need me there to execute him, there is both you and Belial. I never thought for a second that it wasn't our fault, and it weighs more heavily on me than you. I can't go with you brother, I don't care what you think of me for it but I will not abandon my brothers to die. I lost my whole squad on this damned planet. We had survived everything thrown at us for revenge. There is nothing left for me Niko."*

He paused as word came through of the Survivors and the fact that the Tyrant was pressing down upon them. *"Niko, you have a sensible head on your shoulders. If you survive then ensure that the chapter is rebuilt to its former glory. I don't know whether I will leave this world or not."*

The Thunderhawk landed, ramp spilling open and immediately two of his brothers charged down the ramp to help their fellows. Three looked torn whilst Zurich and Ryan stood behind them. Zurich told his brothers to get out, immediately all three followed by Zurich charged out, Ryan spoke briefly with Niko before turning to him and Belial. 
You two, it is time to make your decisions. Make them quickly." He stated before tearing a grenade from his belt and charging out. Kain stood without hesitation and moved to the ramp. He stopped at the end of it before turning back. 
*
"Good luck brothers, may the Emperor watch over you and ensure that your mission is met with success. Bring the traitor to his knees.*" Kain turned raised his bolter and pounded down the ramp to join his other brethren.


----------



## FORTHELION

Nikos words rang true in Belials head, his decision made. He would stay true to his first decision, Astelan must fall at the hands of a Sythe. Solaki had been wrong to judge me he thought to himself. No more will i be judged by my fellow brothers like this. I am Astartes and as good as any of them. From now on i will stick to my own decisions.

Belial watched as Zurich told the other Sythes to get out of the Thunderhawk. He turned to Zurich and said *"They are free to make their own decisions brother, it is not for you to say what they are to do. Alexander has already stated that we are to make our own decisions and he out ranks you brother.*

Kain stood next and made for the door. Belial could see that Kain was torn but his decision made to help his brother Sythes. He could not fault him for that. Each and everyone of them had to make a decision they could live with. Good luck brothers, may the Emperor watch over you and ensure that your mission is met with success. Bring the traitor to his knees. These were Kains last words before he left the thunderhawk. Belial stood and walked over to Kain and grabbed his wrist in a warriors grip.*"And you too brother, may the Emperor protect and good hunting".*

With that Belial turned and retook his seat in the thunderhawk. Decision made Belial now readied himself for the comming battle. Silently he ushered a silent prayer to the Emperor for help in the comming battle, and to watch over his fellow brothers in their fight against the Tyranids.


----------



## Deus Mortis

As Solaki raised his las-cannon to his shoulder, he saw the Carnifex left his own weapon. Solaki noticed the tell-tale muscle spasms that signified it was about to fire. He turned abruptly on his heel to the left as a crackling bolt of solid venom erupted out of the end of the beast's weapon. Solaki watched in slow motion as the bolt soared past him, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up on ends from being so close to such strong electrostatic energy. Whilst Solaki avoided the venom spear, the momentum of his turn had put him into the perfect position to view as the shard of venom impaled Arx. He had been one of the closest things Solaki had seen to a Captain since Sotha. He had been a bulwark of reason and had not faltered in his duty. And now he hung like a monument to all who would oppose the Tyranids as a reminder of what awaited them. Solaki was appalled and roared in rage. 

In response, from the skies came a cry of challenge, and a shadow loomed over Solaki. Solaki looked up and saw, for the first time, the full face of the horror of the arch-enemy they faced. It was a grotesque bloated alien, bigger than the Hive Tyrant he had killed on Sotha, and was bristling with xenos weaponry. Is was a split second later that he realised the Hive Tyrant was not observing him, it was diving at him. The shape of the beast was descending with alarming speed. Solaki moved and jumped to the left of the beasts path, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. A few concussive booms sounded above his head, and Solaki scrambled to his feet. _"Solaki we'll hold it off until our support arrives! Finish off that carnifex or we'll have that AND this to deal with."_ came the command from Tobias. Solaki nodded, and turned to face the carnifex. It was still a little off, and he needed to buy time from the gaunts. Solaki scrabbled over to the fuel tank of the thunderhawk. One was ruined, fuel was all over the floor. One was leaking, and most of it's contents had drained onto the floor also. One of the ones left was intact, mostly. Solaki hauled it out, and stabbed a hole with his combat blade. Fuel poured out, and Solaki let it drain onto the floor. He dragged it along the floor until it formed a solid line of fuel in front of the thunderhawk. He then turned the combat blade on his wrist. Metal scraped against metal and sparks hit the fuel. It ignited it and a wall of fire rose up between the gaunts and the marines. 

He shouldered his lascannon and turned back to the rapidly growing shape of the carnifex. "Let's finish this" Solaki growled. One shot. This one straight into the venom cannon. The charged shard of venom shattered explosively when connected to the laser beam. Shards of vemon tore through the bio-weapons shell, and the charging electricity carried the laser across the arm until is was little more than a smouldering stump of a limb. The carnifex had only one good limb left. The next shot took out the final scything talon. Now the bio-monstrosity was nothing but a living cannon ball. Solaki grinned a sick grin of triumph. His second to last shot shattered the knee joint of the carnifex. The momentum and weight of the beast broke its last leg. The beast fell to the floor with a thunderous crash. It roared in pain, but the roar held no power anymore. Solaki had robbed all its power from it. He had one last shot, all his fuel cells had been used up in the ranged-battle with the beast. The only shot he had left was the one in his lascannon. But the tyranid still drew breath, and it had robbed it from Arx. "This is for Arx, you bastard" Solaki hissed as the final shot cracked open the carnifex's head like a ripe fruit. The beast died, not with a roar or bellowing a challenge, but with a wimper. His job was done, but there were still enemies to kill. The fire was dying now, and the Tyrant was engaging his brothers around him. Solaki drew his combat blade and bolt pistol, and resolved not to go down without a fight....


----------



## dark angel

A trickle of blood ran from Astelan’s nose, the only colour upon his snow-fleshed face. The voice was overbearing, and yet at the same time, harmonious. It brought a cold, alien sensation to his back, sending tremulous shivers across his form. He stared up, at the ravens. Beady, misted claret eyes looked back down at him.

‘I will die, if I do not accept.’ Astelan’s voice was a low, contemptuous hiss. ‘Former brothers, become barbaric murderers. I, am alone.’

He held out his hands, palms up faced, as though weighing his chances. Ethereal fire flickered from the soft, black padding, one bright and illuminating his features and contours, the other swallowing all light. One represented atonement, the other further damnation. Colours, which had not been catalogued by the Imperium, began to coalesce about his power armoured form.

The birds let out another low, ebbing caw. Astelan smiled, something which felt alien, unwanted. The air in proximity to him had become tangible, and slow, snaking beams of light twirled upwards. The feeling of raw, unmolested power coursed along Astelan’s veins. His mind had already decided on what it would do, his body, however, was unresponsive for several short seconds.

Astelan of the North, former Scythe of the Emperor, knelt. His cloak of colours pooled out around him, his head lowered in subservience. 

‘Show me the way, Tzeentch.’

Despite his best intentions, Astelan could not help but to feel a pang of regret.


----------



## Euphrati

The guttural accent of the Librarian cut through the red-lit interior of the gunship and Niko felt a twinge of unease at the otherworldly timbre that his voice carried. The Mortifactors were Astartes but something about their disposition set Niko’s humours on edge as his grey eyes fell on each warrior in turn, committing their heraldry’s nuances to memory in anticipation of future needs. _Are you, my brother-cousins, to be the silent witnesses to our dying breath as a chapter?_

Niko’s thoughts were like shards of glass as Ryan spoke of their battle brother’s fates. He knew the count of the dead and dying already, the unblinking scarlet icons at the corner of his vision grew with each moment that passed. 

The roaring of the engines seemed distant and dispassionate as the pilot preformed a series of brutal maneuvers before setting the Thunderhawk down in a relatively open stretch of roadway with the subtlety of a raptor descending upon its prey. Niko found his hand brushing the grip of his pistol as memories unfolded as the ramp hissed down, the shriek of alien throats flooding into the hold. Staring out into the false dusk of Ferim, Niko found his thoughts turning to another world lost to the hunger of the Great Devourer so many years ago. 

_How many years had it been since that day?_ 

Niko’s gauntlet tightened around the pistol that had been bequeathed upon him in the deathshadow of his birthworld and the oath that it bore.

---

_‘On your honour, swear it.’ 

Veteran Scout Master Hektor’s voice was even more brutal than normal from a wound to the throat he had taken not an hour before in the running fight to see one of the last of the Chapter’s Apothecaries to safety. The black and muted gold of Niko’s scout armour was a ruination of talon marks, xenos filth, and acid-burned ceramite but his storm-grey eyes gleamed with the need for vengeance like newly forged steel. 

‘I will not leav…’

‘Yes, you will. The fate of the Chapter must come first. We must endure to rise again,’ Hektor paused and the veteran Scythe pressed the textured grip of his own bolt pistol into the scout’s hand, ‘Now, swear it, brother.’

Duty warred with denial in Niko’s hearts as the whine of the Thunderhawk’s engines changed pitch, the ramp beneath his feet trembling as the craft began to rise into the air. His hand closed around the pistol’s rough grip,

‘I swear it.’

Hektor turned and leapt from the rising craft, the tattered remains of his camo cloak trailing behind the Astartes like the broken wings of a fallen angel. Niko could feel the back draft of the Thunderhawk’s engines hot upon his skin as he paused at the top of the ramp, peering into the purple gloom where the vague outline of Hektor’s form slipped quietly back into the false twilight. A gentle hand was placed upon his shoulder and Niko turned to meet the sapphire eyes of the Apothecary whose life he was now oath-bound to safeguard, the last words of the Scout Master hung in the air of their dying world._

_‘It is what we do in the moments we are given that matters, Niko, for they will echo across all of eternity. Be worthy of them.’_

-

Niko’s hand caught Ryan’s wrist for but a moment as the Scythe turned away,

‘I hold no ill for you, brother. My oaths bind me to defend our future just as yours call for vengeance in all we have lost. Tear the beast’s black heart from its foul breast. May His gaze fall on your deeds until we stand at each other's sides again.’

Niko blink-clicked a vox rune at the edge of his vision, opening the channel to Zurick,

‘Zurick…,’

Bio-stats flashed before Niko’s eyes. Scrolling data and warning runes were dismissed with a thought as Niko found what he sought. One by one the runes winked out.

‘I have disabled your armour’s remedial fail-safes. Find the revenge you ache for brother and, within it, the peace that you deserve. To fight at your side has been an honour.’


----------



## unxpekted22

Kain and Solaki (From Kain's view): You follow brothers Ryan and Zurick alongside the other five scythes that exited the Thunderhawk, which wasted no time in ascending back into the air high above the sky scraping buildings and out of your sight.

Though the crashed Thunderhawk is a relatively short distance away, the intelligence of this hive mind causes travel on foot to feel all to slow. Never have such a small number of gaunts been so much trouble. They take double the ammo to kill and approach from all sides simultaneously. 

Eventually you make it through though, and ahead of you is a sight to behold. The crashed Thunderhawk's back half cuts into the air at a high angle while its smoldering crushed front lays smashed into the corner of the rockrete building. To the far right, a Carnifex is dead in the street far , fallen upon its belly. In the middle are four remaining Scythes fending off one of the greatest Tyranid creatures you have ever seen with a series of explosions keeping the beast at bay. However, you know they only have so many grenades.

Your group is already running, and as the seven of you with bolters begin firing wildly toward it, your brothers' grenades indeed run out. As if the Hive Tyrant wasn't even hurt by the grenades, in one full almost elegant spin of its entire body, the edge of one of its giant wings throws someone back (Solaki), one of its huge claws cuts one of the Scythes into pieces where he stands, and its scything tail hacks off another's head with such force that it flies in your group's direction so fast that the Marine next to you ducks to avoid his own head form being taken as well.

Zurick unleashes a searing wave of plasma in response, hitting the back left side of the Tyrants extended carapace getting its attention. It leaps to meet your larger group of eight.

While the Tyrant fights your brothers, move in towards the crash site and find Solaki and Tobias. Tobias will almost immediately run off to join the others and continue fighting the Tyrant. Between the two of you, you will need to come up with a plan. Some more supplies are salvageable from the thunderhawk. Grenades from the bodies of dead brothers, some of the Thunderhawk's unlaunched rockets on its wing jutting into the air, some more gasoline, a dead brother's krak missile launcher with three missiles. The thunderhawk's engine is burning and smoking. You're basically at a three way intersection, so there are buildings on three sides of you. Your brothers can fend off the Tyrant for now, Zurick has a plasma cannon which can at least hurt it somewhat and Ryan has two whole belts of grenades on him. For this post take the time to talk to each other get an update on everything and see what you can get a hold of/how to use what you've got to your advantage. 

Tyrant: Read the update for Kain and Solaki. You can now kill up to four of the newcomers who will be throwing grenades at you and rapid firing their bolters. These four cannot include Brothers Ryan or Zurick of course. (Zurick is the one with the plasma cannon).



Belial, Niko, and Charon:

Zurick makes no response to Belial's attempted interjection and continues his way down the ramp. As Ryan leaves lastly, Niko receives a blip on his HUD from Zurick in acknowledgment of his words. Niko knows he is lucky to even get this much in response from him at the moment.

None of the Mortifactors say anything more as the ramp closes returning them to the darkness they prefer. Though Rhashan still shakes somewhat in his seat muttering discontents over the newly discovered problem of Tzeentch's attentions on the traitor.

The Thunderhawk apparently makes it out of the city with no trouble from gargoyles as the flight begins to smooth out to a more usual ride of waiting. During this time Niko constantly cycles through the life-signs of the remaining battle-brothers. The neon reds and yellows on his HUD reflect intensely off his eyes in dark confines of his white battlehelm. He watches as Arx's life-signs go from full green to gone in an instant, and two more that soon follow. 

--------

The Thunderhawk reaches its destination before long. Everyone but the pilot disembarks, stepping out in the thick lush green of the forest once again. This area has clearly not been affected by the ripper swarms or Tyranid spores yet.

The group of twelve space marines shove their way through the thickness of leaves and branches, following Rhashan's lead. With each step the aura in the air appears more and more off. Those mortifactors not wearing helms make note of strange smells and abrupt changes in the air's density and humidity levels.

Before long comes a clearing of the brush, ten Mortifactors and two Scythes of the Emperor stand on the shallow shores of a steady flowing creek, the water splitting around what appears to be some kind of island.

The island is crawling with taint. Upon it, stands a ruined ziggurat of some kind, ancient in age. Mutated fish swim through the water and small mutated creatures crawl upon the islands thin beaches creatures. the sky above is dark despite the sun brightly shining through the canopy moments before. Giant pieces of stone ruin float in the air at different heights, turning ever so slowly.

Niko gets a flash upon his HUD, Astelan's life signs come from within, but the signal quickly disappears. 

Rhashan now grips his power-scythe with both hands and speaks out, _"There has been a demon following us since we landed, a never-born. I must stay outside of the strcuture and keep it from interfering. GO NOW, KILL HIM...Scythes of the Emperor."_

The group of eleven wades through the waters unharmed. There are several entrances and the group splits up into groups. Belial and Niko enter together with the Mortifactor named Charon, and another named Malik.

As you enter the dark tunnel of the ruined structure, flashes of light hit the walls and Rhashan's distant yells echo down the passageways. 




Astelan: 

The ravens caw and fly away, an echo of reverberating voice drums around the stone walls, but it is god speech, and you pick up no words you can understand. You kneel for only a few seconds longer before you hear some sort of conflict erupt outside the structure, echos of psyker-craft filing down the passageways. In those few seconds you knelt, nearly a half hour passed without you knowing it.

A moment later you can hear the movements of power armor, massive bodies and clanking weapons moving through the ziggurat as subtly as they can. It is hard to tell where they will come form first, for you are exactly in the middle of the structure. However, you still have the advantage of being on the defensive.

Come up with your own way of hiding (you can move into hallways and such, feel free to make up any layout of the structure you want pretty much). Three Mortifactors will pass by as planned. One will have a bolt pistol with combi-melta attachment in hand, chainsword, and combat blade at hip. Another will have a bolter in hand with a various assortment of specialized bolter rounds strapped on belts across his chestplate, a combat blade, and a bolt pistol on his hip. The other will have no helm on, a plasma pistol and long combat blade in hand, a bolt pistol and chainsword at his hip.

You're defensive position will allow you to kill ONE of these out right. Kill the other two after a fight. Please be specific as to which one you are attacking or is attacking you throughout the post. You will be significantly stronger and faster than them but they will still easily be able to strike you and do damage. You dont have time to use any of your more specific psyker abilities at the moment other than teleportation which can only be used in a manner of dodging attacks, appearing right behind them sort of thing. No long distances.

After your initial kill, the other two will immediately be aware of your presence and be upon you. They will be EXTREMELY hard to kill. With that said I give you full control over their actions, but keep dialogue little to none. I trust you can do this well, and please, feel free to make it awesomely violent. Dont worry about trying to make like, traps or anything like that. Tzeentch will be taking care of that.



As always PM me with any questions. I'll try to catch you in chat DA. By the way if you haven't noticed yet your PM box is full.


----------



## dark angel

The thrum of active Power Armour assailed his ears; the clank of blades and Bolters following closely. Astelan knelt, both of his gauntlets pressed against the marbled floor, ears piquing to trace the sound of movement.

The Scythes, acting as loyal lapdogs to the Mortifactors, were here for him. Beneath his helm, Astelan’s lips peeled back into a feral snarl. His brothers, his executioners..

‘How tragic,’ He smiled, his voice laced with bereft humour. ‘That those I once protected, now bay for my blood.’

Astelan stood, his multihued cloak dissipating about him, the colours coming alive; darting off in all directions. He cared not; there was no place for ostentatious decorations in war. Only the pomp and the rich could afford such things, and they did not last long.

He banished all such thoughts, focusing his mind on the encroaching Astartes - If he was to survive, then would need to be utterly fixated. His blades and bolter would become extensions of his arm and his mind. He could not fail, would not. 

With a sigh, he moved back out into the complex, on shockingly nimble feet. There was no noise, save for his rasping breath and the occasional skittering of displaced rocks. His mind’s eye stretched far, snaking through the tunnels, searching; hunting. 

And then he saw them. 

A trio of black-and-bone clad figures, bearing notched weapons and grisly fetishes, marching triumphantly through the tunnels. The audacious bastards..

They were following the arterial tunnels, which led into the chambers where he had encountered the ravens and their master.. His master…

Pillars stretched towards the left and right, shrouding the area behind them in deep, impenetrable darkness. He crept into them, crouching low, drawing his combat blade. When he did so, it whistled from the scabbard. 

Minutes passed, slow, nerve-ridden. The clatter of footsteps rang within his helm, and he sought out the source.

The Mortifactors were moving steadily along the hallway; and now he saw them - One, with a Boltpistol, with an attached melta, stalked ahead of the other two, his claret eye-lenses glowering from beneath a heavy brow. The second clutched a Bolter in both hands, holding it like a loving mother, an assortment of specialized rounds dissecting his chest plate. The final one, interested Astelan the most.

He went without his helm, stony-faced and narrow-eyed, his flesh an unnatural shade of white. His face was illuminated in azure, radiating from his plasma-pistol, in his other hand, a shard of metal, barbaric and long. 

They passed, unnoticing of the fallen Marine, and Astelan sprung his trap.

‘For Sotha,’ He rasped, pulling in behind the rearmost Marine, the bald-headed one, and ramming his blade through his back. ‘Die.’

It erupted from beneath the Post-human’s chest, in an explosion of viscera, arterial spray decorating his companions’ backs. The blade dragged upwards, gnawing through bone and armour, rending organs. The Mortifactor slumped, screaming obscenities in his tribal battle-cant, blood rushing from his mouth. 

With his free hand, Astelan gripped the man’s skull; and twisted. Vertebrae and spine shattered, shards of bone bursting from his neck. Astelan laughed inanely, and pulled upwards. The head came away, in a fountain, and bounced at the feet of his companions. 

‘Another skull for your collection, whelp.’ Astelan said, pulling his blade from the broken corpse, with a prolonged slurp. Blood pattered at his feet. 

The Imperial Marine, with the Bolter, leveled his weapon and fired. Rounds struck Astelan’s pauldrons and chest plate, exploding in close proximity to him. Flashes blinded Astelan, and his armour was hammered flat, creaking under the strain. 

When his vision returned, the pommel of the Mortifactors’ combat blade struck his helm, knocking him back. 

‘For Macragge!’ The Marine bellowed, lashing out. Astelan’s helm was cleft from eyepiece to gorget, opening up Astelan’s cheek and lips. The Scythe cursed, and retorted with his own strike, plunging his blade through the man’s shoulder. 

The Mortifactor angled his Bolter upwards, towards the rent in Astelan’s helm. He decompressed the trigger, and in such close proximity, bellowed his assumed triumph. 

The cry was lost to the grumbling of Astelan’s Chainsword. The weapon sprung up, gnashing through the Astarte’s gut. With a pivot, Astelan avoided the shell and yanked his weapon out, in a gush of organs and blood.

‘For Macragge, also?’ Astelan mocked, ripping off his shattered helm, addressing the remaining Marine.

The dissected form at his feet still breathed, if barely. Pinned to the ground, beneath Astelan’s boot, he was helpless. 

‘Repent, heretic.’ The Mortifactor howled, and lifted his weapon. A stream of florescent fire was unleashed from the melta, spiralling towards Astelan.

He was a blur of movement, falling towards the side. The fire followed, demolishing a pair of pillars, raining molten chards on Astelan. 

‘Sotha’s Ruin!’ Astelan cursed, scrambling away from the surviving Marine, keening in rage. 

And then, the blast reached him. It struck Astelan’s shoulder, charring flesh and bone, melting armour to skin. The Scythe tumbled, bounced, before spinning to a halt on the marble. His arm was a fused ruin, rivulets of steaming blood running rivulets down the blackened skin. The left side of his face was blistered and raw, his eye sealed half-shut. 

His Chainsword was out of reach..

The Mortifactor holstered his weapon, and lifted Astelan into the air. He launched him away, and Astelan landed bodily, grunted in pain, coming to a halt to the headless corpse. Again, the Mortifactor hefted him into the air, this time clutching his throat. His windpipe ached, and bruises blossomed, vibrantly. 

‘A pity..’ Astelan gasped, and pressed the plasma-pistol into the Mortifactors gut. He fired.

The Marine’s lower body was immolated, searing away as corrosive liquid met reinforced flesh and armour. 

Both fell, the Scythe gasping in relief. 

He surveyed the destruction. The opened Marine was still alive, crawling defiantly towards the pillars, where his Bolter had come to an halt. Astelan stood, and with several long, ungainly steps, was standing above the Marine. 

He spun him over, with his unharmed hand, and looked into the helm. 

‘Know this, before I end you, Marine - When you are dead, I shall carve you open and steal away your gene-seed. This will form the basis of my Chapter, or, I can always devour it for substance..’

And with that, he shot the Marine through the hearts.


----------



## Euphrati

Zurick’s rune flashed once in the emerald glow of Niko’s battle helm. _A single pulse of valediction._ 

Even such a fleeting response from the taciturn brother was poignant and Niko bowed his head in a moment of hushed reverence. The ramp sealed shut with reverberation of steel upon steel; the sound echoing through the young Scythe’s bones as the Thunderhawk lurched skyward, engines howling as the pilot fought to clear the flocks of xenos that harried the city’s horizon. Yet, the beasts’ attention was focused upon the embattled Scythes that threatened their leader and the craft’s bolters rapidly grew silent as it leveled out to scream across the open expanse in an abrupt solitude.

Data flickered across his battle helm’s optical display, reflecting urgently against the storm-grey of his eyes. A name-rune flashed, its verdant hue winking out between one heartbeat and the next followed closely by two more, and Niko felt the loss as a cold dagger to his soul. It had been many long years since a battle-brother had worn the Black and out of all the remaining astartes a single individual was the closest in heart to a Chaplain that the Scythes had, a guiding light in the grim darkness of the Chapter’s damaged state. That he had fallen, so quickly and in utter silence, was unbefitting to the memory of the mighty warrior. _Arx… brother no_.

‘That I must leave them… _to fight and die without my aid_,’

Niko’s hushed words ghosted within the confines of his helm, barely audible even to his own senses, 

‘I _loathe _you beyond words, *Traitor*.’

_In the uncaring darkness of the gunship’s hold, a solemn witness of penance to the weight of his choice, Niko watched his brothers die._

-

Niko’s combat blade scythed through the tangle of vines, a thick sap dripping from the severed ends as he pushed them aside to follow the Mortifactor’s Librarian’s lead. They had debarked nearly a kilometer back, cutting their way through the dense underbrush like a scalpel searching for a tumorous growth. The clinging brush fell away as Niko stepped out into a clearing with Belial and the silent Mortifactors. Niko felt the sharp bite of bile at the back of his throat as his gore rose in response to the taint of Chaos that hung in the very air around them. There was the briefest of flickers at the corner of his helm’s display, a name-rune’s ghost image that lingered like a brand in his thoughts. _He is here. _

Niko was moving forward even as the Librarian spoke, splashing through the fouled waters and crushing the twisted abominations that swam within them under his boots. The fallen edifice towered over him, made all the more repulsive in its age, yet Niko did not even break stride as he entered the gaping maw of darkness with pistol and chainsword drawn.

Three others were with him as he stalked, without pause for masking his thundering steps, down the length of the shadowed corridor. He threw back his head and roared into the dark,

‘*Murderer! Coward!*’

Niko’s bellowed words echoed through the tainted darkness, hate and anguish colouring them even over the growling tones of his battle helm’s vox amplification,

‘*Face me now, Traitor!*’


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon was quiet as they made the rest of their flight to where the traitor was located, Rhashan seemed certain that he was here and once they landed all traces of doubt left his mind, this place was undeniably tainted by chaos. The rest of the astartes in the Thunderhawk spread out as they began to enter the ruins yet one of them, the young apothecary Niko, rushed off by himself into the fallen structure. Charon looked at Malik and motioned for him to follow him as he took off after the Scythe, the Scythes had been cast into a scrutinizing light by the Mortifactors since the latter's arrival planetside. 

The veterans might have been quiet about it but they were all watching the Scythes with a careful eye, one had already fallen to chaos and they were on the brink of extinction, who knew if any others would fall? He could feel the bile in his stomach rising as he got closer and closer to the ruins but he forced it down, he had faced chaos many times before and would stand firm before it now. 

He caught up to Niko and grabbed the Scythe's shoulderguard turning him round to face him, they were in the darkness of the structure's insides and all Charon could see was the apothecary's eyepieces, he looked right into them before speaking, *"Niko, if you cannot kill the traitor then I will."* that was all he had to say before letting go of the young marine and nodding forward down the hallway they were in.


----------



## Euphrati

It was only through a considerable measure of intense self control that Niko resisted the urge to introduce the pommel of his chainsword to the bone-coloured faceplate of the Astartes who dared to question his resolve. 

‘You will address me with honour and by the title I have earned or _*not at all*_, Mortifactor,’

Niko’s words growled through clenched teeth as he stepped in close, the other Astartes’ height towering a full head above him. The young Apothecary glared up at the older marine with a fierce resolve akin to the extinct wolverine of ancient Terra stubbornly refusing to back down from a challenge despite facing a foe of considerably larger size, 

‘I did not leave my brothers to bleed at the claws of that xenos beast to decry their sacrifice with failure! I will see the Traitor’s geneseed crushed in my palm and, by the Throne of Terra, _if you attempt to impede me again_…’

Niko took a shuddering breath, forcing his choler down with an almost physical effort before he spoke again in a measured tone,

‘Brother-cousin, we do not know each other beyond these last hours but I implore your faith in me as a warrior-kin. I may lack the years of service you wear upon your brow but I understand full well the weight of the blade that has been laid upon the throat of my chapter by the Traitor. I have seen my home-world blighted by the alien and the lingering ranks of my battle-brothers slowly bled dry.’

There was a low, metallic clank as Niko mag-locked his pistol against his thigh before closing his gauntlet around the tattered remains of the oathpaper affixed to his pauldron. With a sharp jerk the wax seal came loose in Niko’s palm and he held the remnants out to the Mortifactor before him. The parchment was stained in the crimson blood of mankind’s greatest heroes and ichor of one of the galaxy’s greatest threats. Yet, beneath the marrings of battle, Niko’s meticulously penned script remained true and unbroken. 

‘I will _not_ falter in my duty to the God-Emperor. Not now… *not ever*. The Traitor will not leave this tainted place alive. This is my oath of the moment to you, brother-cousin.’


----------



## Lord Ramo

As Kain descended from the ramp he was stopped by Belial, who wished him the Emperor's luck and gripped him in a warriors embrace. Kain nodded as he let go and jogged down the ramp, catching up to Ryan, Zurick and the other five marines with ease. Kain could hear explosions and all the marines could see the Hive Tyrant fighting their brothers, but there were gaunts in the way. With a roar the marines charged forth, bolters spewing death into the enemy as well as the hum from the plasma cannon before it spat forth its heated plasma.

While gaunts were the weakest tyranids, these gaunts benefitted from the close proximity of the hive mind, and attacked in all directions. Kain found himself at the rear of the group, holding the ones that had encircled them back as they group slowly pushed into the gaunts. Kain fired his bolter in bursts, but it was taking more ammo to kill them. When they hit the floor missing limbs they would still try and stand and continue on, only to be shot again by the marines. Kain backhanded one as it leapt at him, putting the barrel of his gun in its mouth before blowing its brains out. He fought with a fury he had not felt in a while, they had a chance to end all this and they were being held back by gaunts. 

As he took anothers head off with a burst from his boltgun he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as a gaunt leapt and stabbed him in the weak part of his armour. Luckily it was a minor wound and he pulled it out snapping its arm before delivering a powerful punch through its stomach, ripping its spine out while a flow of ichor came pouring out to pool on the floor next to him. He drew his blade as he fired one handed, slashing at any tyranid that got too close to him. After what seemed an age the group were through, the gaunts dead by the Emperor's Will. He could still feel the shoulder wound though as he moved forward, it wasn't minor but its presence could still be felt. Kain was a sight to behold, tyranid blood and guts had smeared his black armour, as well as scrathes from their claws.

Kain could see the crashed Thunderhawk, as he quickly took in the scene before he rushed into combat with the others. It's back half cut into the air while the front half was inside a rockete building. The group on the way to the Hive tyrant could see a dead Carnifex, the work obviously of Solakai. The group charged towards the scythes that were left fighting the largest tyranid Kain had ever seen, only four brave souls remained. Kain felt a fury at this sight, only four scythes remained, more of his brothers had died for the cause. The Hive tyrant would die today, he would see to that even if it claimed his life in the process.

The scythes had held it back with grenades as Kain and his other brothers opened fire with their bolters, rounds exploding all over its mass, though it seemed largely unaffected by this turn of events. The grenades hadn't harmed it obvious as it knocked Solakai back with one of its wings and killed another scythe in a mere second with its claws. Its tail took the head off another brother with such force that a brother next to Kain had to duck to avoid being hit by the head. 

As if there was a response in the group, seemingly as their bolters had no affect, Zurick released a huge and brilliant wave of plasma at the tyrant, and it hit the edge of its carapace. It certainly drew its attention to the new group, it launching towards them as they were the now larger group of marines. 

Kain split from the group, still firing at the tyrant though as he searched for Solaki and the last brother that was alive. He found Tobias quickly who without a word, more of a snarl at the death's that had happened charged straight back to keep its attention. Kain looked for Solaki and found him quickly. *"Brother, it is good to see you once more. Sorry that we couldn't have come earlier, there was a complication at the base. We must find a way to take this tyrant down, our weapons are having little effect on it. The traitor has been located and aided by our brother Mortifactors, Belial and Niko go to destroy him. But enough for now, we must find a way to take this vile creature out."*


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki and his brothers were hopelessly out matched by this beast. A towering pinicle of xenos filth, armed to the teeth and over twice their size, even against four Astartes they were hopelessly out-classed. But still they fought with valour. They fought for revenge of the dead on Sotha, and they fought for their own survival. The tyrant howled, not in pain but in frustration as the mites that were these Astartes veterans dodged a few of it's blows. Such luck could not hold out forever though.In one full spin of it's body, the tyrant sent Solaki and Tobais flying back and sprawling in the dirt. The other two brothers were not so lucky. Dead in an instant, body parts sent flying. Still help was at hand. The roar of jet engines, bolters and plasma joined the carcophony of noises already on this battlefield. 

Solaki shook himself off as Kain approached him and Tobias. Tobais didn't even stop to talk, running to rejoin the fight immediatly. "Thorne alive it's good to see you guys!" Solaki sighed, genuinely thankful for reinforcements. _"Brother, it is good to see you once more. Sorry that we couldn't have come earlier, there was a complication at the base. We must find a way to take this tyrant down, our weapons are having little effect on it. The traitor has been located and aided by our brother Mortifactors, Belial and Niko go to destroy him. But enough for now, we must find a way to take this vile creature out."_ All while Kain talked, Solaki looked for their solution. The thunderhawk may be downed, but it stil had some useful weaponry. Missiles, fuel, they could use that. Solaki also noted an unused missile launcher. Perhaps his role as a heavy weapon marine was not over yet.

"Brother, I have a plan" Solaki began. "The thunderhawk is a powerhouse of un-used weaponry. The fuel and missiles are primed to explode, and if we can get the tyrant on top of it, I can blow it with the missile launcher. An explosion that size would certainly give it something to think about." Solaki could feel Kain grin behind his helmet. It was a good plan. "But there is one catch. One of us is going to need to lure the tyrant onto our little trap. Being that close to the tyrant is dangerous enough, but being that close to the explosion is even more so. Whoever does it will be risking their life." 

Solaki paused for a moment. He had sacrificed himself once on this mission and would not hesitate to do so again. But Kain spoke up, his voice full of resoloution and determination. "I'll do it." "The Emperor protect you brother." Solaki said solemly, knowing he this plan would likely be the greatest sacrifice Kain could make for the chapter. "Come on, lets get to work!" And with that the two marines began frantically piling up all the explosive material the Thunderhawk had to offer. Solaki had retrieved and shouldered the missile launcher. As they worked two terrifying thoughts entered Solaki's mind; What if he had just condemned a loyal brother to his death? and what if Kain died, and it still wasn't enough? They worked as fast as possibly to the background noise of exploding grenades and dying men, knowing every second they wasted was another life they sacrificed...


----------



## deathbringer

How often... how many times had he ... oh so many times he had plummeted from the heavens, dropped like a stone to rend his wrath upon those below, those that denied his foes. Crushed them beneath his feet.

Not today, nay, not today.

As normal he plummeted head first, the wind tearing at his senses, shredding the little perception he had. Then his wings unfurled, air slowing him, his vision returning, the battle retuning upon his ears. The gentle unfurling of his claws, the deadly stretch, the glorious release of tension.

So normal, the result devestation upon the mortals beneath him, the life crushed from there fear stricken, cowering bodies. Pathetic mortals.

Error, these were not mortals, these were behemoths in black scale plate, they met his onrushing form upright and proud with balls of deadly shards. He had seen them tear holes in his gaunts leave them in spattered pieces.

Not him, he had time

A wing beat, never before, yet a single wing beat carried him above them their seering heat minmalised the shards that slapped of the scales of his feet.

He still dropped yet he was slow, a balloon drifting to earth, exposed, futile

A snarl bit his lips and he twisted his body, the movement foreign, as weak muscles pushed against strong, a reverse wing beat sent him catapulitng to earth once more. 

Black monsters scattered, diving aside and his clas unsheathed once more as he saw one dive a little slower, a millisecond away, yet it was not enough, a fraction cost him his life.

Dust spiralled around him as his left claw hit the ground, shrouding him in a tornado of debris.

The right claw dug deep, slicing through plate with eases and dug into flesh with delight. The bastard let loose a piercing shreik as claws rent his heart, weight upon his chest, buckling until it collapsed upon itself, blood pressure sky rocketing as his head cracked against the hard ground, skull splitting to reveal the fleshy pink of brain, bloody spurting, spattering over the open ground.

Oh to eat, but no, these were beyond mere mortals, he had erred once, no more.

Already they pushed through the dust cloud and metal shells ricocheted off his carapace, rage filled shots replacing the squeal., Twisting he sheltered his head, eyes searhing for the one he sought, the one with the cannon.

His eyes locked upon the curr as he saw the cannon discarded, blade and pistol in his hand, saw him rushing in with the others. Bolt rouds rippled a bite of satisfaction and now he struck, curled he sprung body sweeping around, tale scything in a wide arc. Many leapt aside, including the cannon coward, yet two were taken by surprise, a head rolled away from the initial swing, two ankles from the final and he cried in triumph as he plunged his bone sword into the immobilised marine.

A blast rocked him, though he felt no anguish, searing heat. yet no anguish. Still the stinging caused a snarl of anxiety, the shocking difference between the gentle patter of bolter rounds and pure seering heat.

He must be neutralised yet....

The cannon boy stood aside, oh he longed for his blood, he cared not he would stand and feast upon the glory of his demise, let them attack, it was a meal he would savour, the sweat image of his feasting built in his mind.

Face me turn and face me pathetic coward, he snarled, longing filling him, battle lust drenching his systems, the patter of bolter rounds irrelevant under the allmighty desire, a single feeling.

He lashed out a backwards slash of the bone claw, and the one that had stung him leapt aside, a swing of his tail sent others to the ground, yet the cannon boy stood aside, talking, ferreting around the downed bird.

Rage built, pure frustration, he moved forward, yet another blocked his path, moving in, blade of pure fang revving as it slashed inwards. A shot from his venom cannon took him full in the face, his bare head, melting under the blast, he howled, fingers tearing at his bare flesh.

Irritants... ants beneath his feet. Eyes locked once more

Face me whoreson.... face me.

The lash whip in his left hand curled lovingly around his fore arm.

A snarl of derision, so silly to forget your true potential. 

Such power....

The lash whip curled and spiralled towards the cannon boy as his second arm turned, vines seeping out towards the one that had stung him.

Such power.... a tremulous snarl of excitement

If you will not face me little one... i will bring you too me... your death will be a balm for my soul


----------



## dark angel

The shot had been one of surgical precision; a narrow, unnaturally accurate blow. The flesh was cauterized, a smoldering crevasse of flesh amid the armour - And beneath, the twinned hearts of the Prohuman glimmered wetly, releasing palls of blood-smoke. 

The Geneseed, now visible through shattered, formerly-reinforced bone, was covered in a sickly gelatin-like liquid. Astelan’s lips parted in a pained smile, his tongue dancing across them, tasting blood. 

He took to cutting out the Geneseed, with strong, methodic swipes from his combat blade. The sounds of bone crunching and blood rushing filled his ears, but once, where disgust had stood, now only cruel pleasure remained. 

Astelan emptied one of his pouches, and gently dangled the Geneseed inwards, until it lay in a messy pile amongst the cool materiel. It was not sufficient, but if Alexander had come, the old Apothecary would have containment capsules for the organs.

To their credit, the Mortifactors had died with honour and misplaced zeal. Perhaps, if Astelan was more persuasive, he could have swayed them..

‘Doubtful,’ He whispered, aloud, with a coy smile. ‘So very unlikely..’

The Mortifactors were blossomed within Guilliman’s garden, and thus, were a particularly stubborn Chapter. Not to the degree of the Imperial Fists and their fanatically religious offspring, nor as divergent as the Wolves of Fenris, but certainly, the Mortifactors walked a thin line of Codex-worshipping. 

A anguished cry, one of disappointment and animalistic rage echoed throughout the hallways and crypts. Alrik knew the voice instantly - One of young, reckless ambition and an undertone of strong-minded intelligence. 

Niko..

The challenge was clear, a sickly smile spreading across his face. His arm ached painfully, sending the occasional jab into his chest. 

Sliding away his combat-blade, he clasped his malformed pauldron. A series of quick, dexterous taps and it fell away, along with a section of his bodysuit and a portion of muscular flesh. The skin beneath was blackened, cracked with shimmering rivers of blood. 

When the putrid air touched it, he gasped. Skin broke along his fingers and knuckles, weeping blood from newly emerged cuts. 

The temptation to perform self-amputation ran through his mind. 

No, don’t be a fool. 

‘Niko,’ He bellowed, rage coruscating through his words. ‘It does not have to be this way, Brother! What I do, I do for the Chapter, you of all must understand this! If you come against me with hostile intentions, you come to die!’


----------



## unxpekted22

Tyrant, Solaki, and Kain:

As Solaki and Kain get the explosives together the Tyrant decides to force its attentions upon Solaki.

Solaki's actions come to an uncomfortable halt as lash whip tendrils grip around his legs, arms and torso. he is lifted into the air before the Tyrant. Brother Ryan, Zurick, and the others who were firing upon the Tyrant stop their actions in order to not kill one of their own.

Solaki still holds the missile launcher and may fire it. What the three of you do is up to you. At this range the Tyrant would be hit by the explosion but is not close enough to the thunderhawk to guarantee its demise. Solaki if you choose to fire it (you dont have to fire it all of course) into the Tyrant's face or something just say so but I will determine the outcome. Tyrant what do you do with him, try to kill him or keep him in your grasp while you try to kill the others first?

Niko, Charon, and Belial:

the four of you continue through the ruin passageways for only a few moments before you hear the fighting begin. A few shots erupt down throughout the chambers followed by shouts of both rage, and death. You quicken your pace, and even more so as the fighting falls silent with no shouts of victory from any Mortifactors.

Malik cries out curses toward the Traitor, realizing his brethren are dead.

Heavy bolter fire erupts next, the Mortifactor who wielded the large weapon Astelan's next threat. Your group turns a corner and finally sees where the fighting is, but you only see the Heavy Bolter marine, brother Rish'ka, firing down another passageway for only an instant. The stones making up the doorway cave in as soon as you near it, blocking your view and path to Rish'ka. However, Malik who was at the front of the group makes it through. Do you three blast/dig through the rubble or would go a different way? 

Do you think the powers of Chaos will even let you get to Astelan until its too late?

Astelan:

"You come to die!" Your eyes level back down to the adjacent hallway, which at the far end is a sight that surprisngly makes your heart jump in surprise. It is too late to react and heavy bolter rounds explode into you and the ruins around you, filling the room and hallway with caked clouds of dirt and splinters of ceramite. 

You see another Mortifactor enter the hallway beside the heavy bolter marine but appearing from the opposite entryway. 

The Mortifactor wielding the heavy weapon at the other end of the hallway does not cease his barrage of fire until your already wounded arm form the melta blast is blown off completely with a spurt of blood splashing the wall. The blast helps you turn away and out of the Mortifactors line of sight, but right into the face of another, who weilds the squad's flamer. You see his armor of Black, bone and dim yellow for a second before nothing but orange and white. 

Whether it is an odd coincidence or the work of your ever-watching support, the flames actually sear the wound shut, leaving a blackened stub for your upper arm no longer bleeding profusely. Your psyker abilities also kick back in to help, your defensive energy shield appearing around you in a sphere once again, causing the flames to dance on all sides of it, but no longer hitting you.

You may kill the flamer marine next, but how will you deal with the situation of the heavy bolter marine and the other Mortifactor that appeared beside him? You could wait where you are. You could try something else to move down the hallway toward them, perhaps your psychic shield will protect you or something else. You may also try to find another way around to get close, but you remember there was a full squad of Mortifactors when you saw them land at the Imperial base, so if you start moving through other rooms and corridors there is the risk of running into more of them before getting to those two.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

As Niko spoke Charon's eyes narrowed, the young one had a lot of zeal still left in him, this was a good thing, especially considering his chapter was on the brink of extinction from multiple fronts. Once Niko finished his oath Charon smiled, not a friendly kind smile but one of wicked intent and blood lust,* "I will not allow you to stand alone against chaos Apothecary, we are brothers in arms and I will stand by you against this threat. That is my oath to you."* 

He nodded behind Niko, *"Now let us go and spill this traitor's blood so that his taint will no longer stain this plain of existence."*

They made their way quickly through the halls of the temple, the sounds of battle getting louder and louder as they progressed further in until finally they came out into a tunnel to see brother Rish'ka firing his heavy bolter at who could have only been the traitor himself. Yet before Charon could even call his brother's name he and Malik were cut off from them by a collapse in the tunnel, a roar of anger echoed from Charon's lips as his armored fist collided with the wall next to him. 

*"We will find another way around, Malik and Rish'ka can handle themselves, the traitor will not oppose them openly because of their heavy weapons. Come Apothecary, quickly, if we can find another way around we can cut him off and sandwich him between us and my brothers."*


----------



## dark angel

_‘You come to die!’ _Came a sudden voice, startling Astelan, who spun on his heel. Further along the hallway, mottled white and black, was a monstrous Astartes, lumbering forwards. In his hands, no, paws, he clutched a belt-fed Heavy Bolter.

Before Astelan could utter a cry or level his own weapons, fire was hammering in around him. And on him..

The armour of his chest was pulped, splintering and spinning him around. Rounds pummeled into his back, and he stumbled forwards, headed towards a pillar. Dirt and rocks rained down around him, pattering serenely off of the ground; it was almost peaceful, save for the crack-bark of the Heavy Bolter, and the zealous cries of the Mortifactors. 

There was a wet ripping, a sound that made him cringe; that caused pain to leap through his chest, crippling him. The momentum of the blast forced him into an adjacent hallway, where he surveyed his wound. His arm was gone, replaced with a black-and-white stump, where bone protruded from amongst ragged flesh. Blood was leaking, profusely, pooling at his feet. Pain stimulators and nullifiers were being pumped into his body, and yet the wound refused to stop bleeding, for it was too broken and mangled.

A shadow departed from the darkness before him - All armour, black and white, adorned with fetishes of bone and teeth. Where his Brother had carried a Heavy Bolter, this one held a Flamer, the muzzle of which was encased in an outstretched maw, the tips of the teeth blackened by continuous use. And then, all of the details were engulfed in fire; a vile parody of an angel, searing away the last of the paint from Astelan’s armour. 

The stub of his arm was cauterized, shriveling closed, dripping ruby droplets for the briefest of seconds. Astelan, despite being enveloped in liquid promethium, laughed at the irony. It was a low, mournful chortling beneath the hiss and whooshes of the Flamer, drowned out by the cries of triumph by the Mortifactor. 

And then, there was a flicker of azure light, and the flames retreated back, circling around Astelan. They licked at his shields, snaking across the field of energy, searching for the Marine. 

‘You,’ Astelan laughed, jabbing his Chainsword at the Mortifactor. ‘You have made the gravest of mistakes.’

Before the Mortifactor could reply, Astelan’s shield folded away, wrapping around the Mortifactor. He roared, feeling his armour seal up, his ventilation systems opening. In defiance, he squeezed his trigger, bellowing inanely.

The Mortifactor died in his own flames; amongst a blistering conflagration that sloughed flesh and blackened bones. When it was done, the armour stood still, ash billowing out of the mouth grille and joints. For good measure, Astelan swung his Chainblade wild, catching the gorget. Sparks erupted from it, the helm tossing away in a cloud of ash. Within, bones rattled. 

‘Mortifactors,’ He called, humour rippling his words into half-laughs. ‘I have sent four of your Brothers to the Emperor’s Halls, retreat from this place, and I shall allow the remainder of you to live. Leave Niko and I deal with this, grant me some honour, if this is truly to be my end.’


----------



## Deus Mortis

Solaki moved the last fuel canister onto their stock-pile. The had everything flammable or explosive gathered in one place. Fuel, missiles, all the Thunderhawk had to offer, and they had collected it in record time. The tyrant would die in a blistering explosion. And if it didn't die, it would probably be so badly damaged that Zurick and then remaining brothers could deal with it. Solaki felt a small swell of pride. They would kill the tyrant, Kain would honour the chapter in the greatest way possible, and the Scythes would live on and be reborn. All this would be, it was destiny, or so he thought.

In an instant, it was all torn away from him. Solaki, didn't have time to react to the coiling tentacles of muscle wrapping around his body, as if he could have done anything. Three thick ropes gripped him like a giant clawed hand. One finger wrapped around his chest plate, another gripped up from his groin to his shoulder, and the final one wrapped around his left arm. These powerful muscles hoisted him up into the air, and Solaki thrashed to become free. Whilst the battle raged around the city of Vorspire, the little bubble of fighting here became silent. Zurick and the others ceased fire immediately, for fear of hitting him. The only noise was the roar of the tyrant at it's victory.

Solaki's pride turned to intense anger. They had come so close and the tyrant was a few scant feet from it's doom. For a moment Solaki considered detonating the stockpile from here, but he dismissed it. The explosion might not be big enough to harm the tyrant fatally, but it would certainly immolate him. If it failed, then the rest of the Astartes, and probably the base, would be doomed. No, he would need to find another way around it. Tentatively fire-resumed. Occasional bolter shells and a few grenades tossed cautiously impacted around him and occasional shards of shrapnel grazed his armour. All the time Solaki wriggled and writhed against the chords of muscles wrapped around him. 

He needed to free himself. Situations had changed, and the tyrant seemed intently focused on him for the time being, as if it was savoring the moment. If he had been able to appreciate it, he might of pondered why he had been chosen specifically by this alien monstrosity. But, at this moment, Solaki didn't care, except that he knew that he and not Kain would have to be the one to lure the tyrant to it's doom. Oddly, Solaki felt at piece with this. It was always how he had imagined he would die. But first he needed to be be free. He grabbed the missile launcher from his back and shouldered it. He aimed it at the base where the chords joined the bone. It was the weakest point and meant he couldn't be ensnared again. The tyrant would have to come to him. A quick aim and he pulled the trigger. The krak missile in the barrel only needed a good hit to separate the muscle from the arm and free Solaki. One good shot...

(OCC Sorry this post is so late. Had various problems which delayed my posting. Anywho, it's up now. Hope it ok!)


----------



## Euphrati

They will never understand the weight that you carry upon your soul for each one of them.

_-

The crystal gladius sang with a pure tone as Niko brought it up across his body, turning its twin away from his sweat-sheened skin with a precise block. The lone brazier at the edge of the training ring smoldered with a low heat. The banked coals flared into life as they ignited the lingering traces of the handful of herbs that Niko had cast over them nearly an hour ago, saffron flames devouring the sprigs and casting a circle of warm light in the ebony darkness of the room. The glow reflected off the pale implantation scars on Niko’s bare chest as he watched his opponent’s movements with an unwavering focus even as he listened to the words that were being spoken.

‘…the squad you are with has come under heavy enemy attack. Two of the five surviving battle-brothers are fighting at only seventy percent physical ability and one has sustained enough trauma to induce a sus-an comma. You are carrying a full contingent of progenoids and your supplies are at critical, the standard Codex procedure dictates that you quit the field of battle to secure the gene-seed you carry however the enemy has found a way to block all vox relays in the area so the squad cannot call in reinforcements to their position. The squad’s orders are to hold a key point in the defenses that, if lost, would see to the deaths of thousands of the evacuating civilian population. The nearest extraction point is ten point four kilometers distant through contested ground. What are your actions?’

Dusty sapphire eyes watched Niko over an aggressive guard as silver tendrils of pungent smoke coiled through the air around their owner, the young Astartes scowled in response even as he launched a series of lightning quick attacks. Crystal blades chimed off each other for a heartbeat before the two Astartes broke apart again, each resuming a fighting crouch. A single eyebrow over the sapphire gaze swept upwards ever so slightly and Niko hesitated, missing the parry as his opponent suddenly charged him. Cerulean sparks dancing before his eyes as the pommel of the gladius took him square in the jaw and laid him flat on his back four meters from where he had been prior. The taste of copper was sharp on Niko’s tongue as his vision came back into focus on an outstretched hand. 

‘First blood. This bout is over.’

Feeling the warm trickle at the corner of his mouth, Niko gave a grunt of acceptance and reached up to grasp Alexander’s offered hand by the wrist. There was a drawn out moment of silence as the two Astartes walked from the ring to where their personal gear lay atop a hewn granite bench. The bruise from the strike was already healing by the time Niko pulled his black and gold tunic over his head and belted it loosely at his waist. He handed the pair of crystal gladi back to the older marine and watched as Alexander slipped them deftly back into their surprisingly unadorned sheaths before turning towards the arched doorway. The ghost white of Alexander’s tunic set him apart from his pupil as he gestured for Niko to walk with him. Niko finally broke the silence as he fell into lockstep with his mentor,

*‘That scenario… ’*

‘Was the choice I was faced with on Sotha,’ Alexander’s tone was low, distant with pain, ‘Niko, the choices you will have to make will set you apart from your brothers; there will come a time that you will be forced to choose between the lives of your brothers and the fate of the Chapter. It is the price that comes with wearing the White; do not hesitate when it stands before you.’

_-

Niko bound the remains of his oath around his white-clad fist as they pushed deeper into the twisted structure of the ruins. The very substance of the dark walls was saturated with the warp. Colours and faces swirled within the tainted stone in glimpses out the corners of Niko’s eyes. Whispers of laughter and claws echoed with every crunch of the group’s heavy boots, followed by the throaty roar of bolter rounds. Niko knew what the cries that followed foretold, fury pushing him onwards even as the second of the Mortifactors with him spat curses in return for the deaths of his battle-brothers.

The deeper roar of a heavy bolter erupted as the group slewed around yet another blind corner, the muzzle flashes illuminating the bone-edged armour of the Mortifactor wielding it for a brief moment in hard light. Niko’s breath came in short, sharp snarls of hate as the stone of the doorway collapsed in upon itself, barring the passageway but not before the second of the Mortifactors charged headlong through it. The older marine roared his anger before turning to him, but before Niko could respond a twisted voice echoed through the darkness that saw his rage burn with the cold of the void. 

Storm grey eyes blazed behind emerald lenses as Niko turned to sprint down the warped passageway, the angles defying the laws of physics as the warp oozed through the veil between reality and the sea of souls. After less than three heartbeats he came to a skidding halt, the wall before him twisting and reshaping as the passageway altered its course before his very eyes. He spun back around, only to be confronted with a now empty hallway, rubble choking the doorway. The staccato report of the heavy bolter echoed down its length from the shadows.

‘Your warp-craft brands you for what you are, Coward! I have had enough of your vile weakness… this ends _*now*_!'

Niko dropped his shoulder at the last fraction of a second before he hit the wall next to the pile of twisting stones at full sprint, the auto-reactive shoulder guard taking the brunt of the impact as the wall gave way with the shriek of a thousand torn souls. Niko grunted as warning runes flashed before his eyes, his armour already releasing stims into his bloodstream even before he turned the headlong charge into a diving tackle aimed at the monster wreathed in cobalt warp-flame who wore the face of a lost brother with a roar of pain-laced hate on his lips.


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain shifted the barrels of fuel together as he heard the fighting ebb for but a moment. Like a snake strike Solakai dissapeared, being brought into the air by the hive tyrant, obviously it wanted him, he would have to be the distraction. Kain turned, voxing his brothers, *"Brothers watch your fields of fire, brother Solakai is in the way!"* He said simply, his brothers could probably tell, but he made sure that they would know regardless. Kain thought quickly, Solakai had the missile launcher, it would be a lot harder with that being used as a distraction. Kain had everything in position, he needed to draw in the tyrant. 

He needed to bring in the tyrant, Solakai wasn't going to be able to at the moment, being held in the air by it. Kain scavenged every grenade possible, and quickly grabbed his bolter as he turned. He needed to bring in the tyrant, regardless of whether or not Solakai was in the way. The tyrant needed to die, whether it took every marine's life in this small strike group, Alexander and the others would have to lead the chapter to its former glory, keep the chapter alive.

Kain ran forward roaring as his bolter roared with him, drowning his own cries as it added its voice to the battle. He aimed at its head, carefully firing to try and draw its attention to him and hopefully draw it back. Kain held his bolter in one hand as he fired, leaving one hand free to grab hold of one of the grenades off the belt he had slung over his shoulder. He primed it and held it for but a second before launching it at its legs. The blast wouldn't affect his brother but might draw its attention.


----------



## unxpekted22

Niko and Astelan:

Astelan, An apothecary armored Scythe of the Emperor bursts through the wall beside you unexpectedly and tackles you to the ground. You manage to kick him away so an d get back to your feet so your are facing eachother.

Speak, or simply just start bashing each other. Of course since this is movie or book-like you can talk while you fight too. Niko is still a bit jumbled from busting through a warp protected rock wall, and Astelan of course has battled four Mortifactors and been shot up by another with a heavy bolter, so he has taken much damage already, most notably a missing arm, cauterized at the shoulder. 

The dark powers will be keeping the other marines in the ruined temple away from this fight.

Multiple posts are acceptable, of course.

Charon:

After moving down different passage ways, you soon find that you have lost both of the Scythes, Niko and Belial. It becomes apparent that the walls are moving, though unseen as they do so, and silently. In fact they are not so much moving as just instantly being relocated. As you struggle to find a way through your body temperature rises in frustration or worry that you will be trapped here forever. Finally, you find an exit.

It leads outside. When you turn around to decide whether or not to stay in the temple and search for the traitor, you see that is not an option as the walls have formed a dead end right behind you, and trying to punch through them would be useless (the powers will have learned from Niko's method of escaping the trap by this point).

You hear bolter fire from outside. Stepping into the light you see two of your brothers, Bryon and Kalim, using a pile of rocks as cover, made from both natural stone and pieces fallen from the temple ruins. A swarm of Tyranid termagaunts and hormagaunts is rushing out of the thick brush opposite the creek encircling the temple. With just two bolters, your brothers are barely able to hold them back as the Tyranids try to make it through the water. 

Their numbers will seem endless.

Solaki and Kain:

Solaki: The Tyrant sees you take hold of the missile launcher and accordingly the muscles in the lash whip begin to move in order to stop that from happening; but they aren't faster than the pull of a trigger. The missile hits home where you had aimed, blowing the arm of the Hive Tyrant apart. Between the explosion and the reactive convulsions of the living lash whip, unsure which exactly caused it, you hits the ground face first, both of your legs gone. Looking up, you see his missile launcher on the road in front of you, and there is still another missile on your back.

Whatever you choose to do, Kain's section is what will be happening around you next.

Kain: The same time you throw grenade, a second explosion joins it higher up on the Tyrant's body blowing Solaki away. You watch only his upper body hit the road. With the Tyrant's exceptionally strong psychic fluctuations filling the air, your helm is unable to tell you of Solaki's life signs. One of your other brother marines joins you in circling the Tyrant's legs and firing at key points while the other few remaining continue suppressive fire. The Tyrant begins to go wild with rage.

It catches the marine circling opposite with only its mouth, biting down so hard, and with such speed that it rips his torso form his body. You stop moving for only a second at the sight of your brother marine's living top half fills the tyrants bloody maw. That second is enough for what happens next.

Something slams into your back, and you see the giant monster's lengthy tail connected to you. Its scything tail has plunged into your armor's power-pack.

The tail floats away back into the air, and the next breath you take is no longer filtered as your knees hit the ground. With the power pack destroyed, you know feel the full augmented weight of your power armor, making it extremely hard to move.

What do you do now, is there anything left?

Tyrant 

The marine in your grasp actually fires with another of his massive weapons, despite the proximity he would be from the explosion. He falls away to the ground below, along with your lash whip arms. Two other marines immediately begin circling you firing at your joints and other weaker areas while throwing more of the exploding objects at you. The rest of the marines further away continue firing at you the whole time as well. 

Filled with rage, you bite down upon one of the marines circling you and you feel your tail catch the other in the back. You look to the remaining marines keeping their distance while your blood filled maw crunches through power armor, piercing one weak spot in the armor at a time, not to mention the fleshy underside where the marine was ripped in half. You hear the still living prey scream as he is slowly ripped apart.

It is up to you, do you continue killing these particular marines or try to escape? if you decide to stick around you may kill a few more.


----------



## dark angel

There was a tremendous sound; one of shattering rock, accompanied by an animalistic snarl - One of rage, seeking vindication. A huge form barreled towards him, shapeless in the dust, with one, huge arm.

Astelan, Son of the North; tall, gaunt and crippled, bellowed his confusion. The figure materialized - Slightly shorter than Astelan, lean and whipcord, armoured from crown to sole in white. 

_Alexander,_ he thought bitterly, for a brief moment, before the air was stolen away from him; a shoulder pummeling into his chest. _No, not Alexander. The Old Apothecary was intelligent, intelligent enough not to engage Astelan. It was Niko._

Both Astartes went sprawling, with a reverberating thud. Astelan rolled frantically, reaching for his combat-blade, fingering the pommel. The Apothecary raised his Narthecium, bringing it back for a strike. Astelan was quicker, striking out with his knee, hammering it into the side of the Marine. Astelan was freed, twisting towards the side, nimble and graceful, despite his one-handedness. 

When he rolled away, Niko’s Narthecium licked across his temple - Sending pain coruscating throughout him, blurring his vision and pounding in his ears. He clambered back to his feet, his senses returning to him, and smiled at Niko. It was a cruel smile, mocking and red; where his gums had been opened. As he watched the Apothecary, his right eye became a torrent of claret, his hair turning heavy, clinging to his cheek and scalp. 

He drew his combat-blade, twirling it in his fingers. The blade glittered, where nothing else within the tunnel did, save for blood and broken armour. He was at a disadvantage, having fought and killed four post-humans, and lost his arm in the process. Niko was young, with a sense of betrayal about him; and a stronger longing for vengeance. 

‘Ah, dearest Niko, all pretty in white,’ He said, coolly, his voice filled with mirth. ‘You have cut me, that was most unjust of you. Are we not brothers here?’


----------



## Lord Ramo

Kain watched as there was another explosion on the Hive tyrants body apart from the grenade that he had hurled at its legs. Solakai had fired the missile launcher at point blank range to force it to let go of him and went flying back at the same time. Kain watched as it upper body convulsed under the explosion as Solakai upper body went flying across the sky and hit the floor a little way away.

Kain roared in anger as his brother hit the deck, he wasn't sure whether or not Solakai was still alive. His helm couldn't tell him whether or not he was actually alive, his helmet was messing up, and he believed that it was due to the Hive tyrant above him. Another brother marine followed Kain, the two of them circled firing at the crucial points on the tyrant as his other brothers further away continued applying suppressing fire on it. The tyrant was absolutely furious as the two marines circled around and around it over and over. It lunged down, wrapping its jaw around that of the other brother and bit down, tearing through the armor of the marine and killing him, though he still roared in pain and anger.

He only stopped for but a second, a second to watch his brother die. A second when he stopped moving. One second was all it took. He felt something slam into his back, the huge hive tyrants tail had slammed into his back. He cursed as he realixed what had happened as he fell to the floor like a lead weight. The tail had destroyed his armors power pack, and without that he would no longer be able to support his weight. He fell to the floor, unable to move pretty much the armor was too heavy for him to support even with his astartes physique. 

He roared in anger as he rolled onto his back, it took effort but he did it eventually. He was underneath the tyrant, and he would be damned if he let it take him that easily. He unfurled the grenade belt, primed one of them and with all of his might he threw them at the tyrant, hoping that it would do some lasting damage. He reached for his bolter, fingertips clawing at it. He hoped he would get it, pump some rounds into the tyrant before he was killed.


----------



## Deus Mortis

The rocket ejected from the end of the barrel and struck home. One thing Solaki hadn't counted on was the Tyrant's ability to perceive and pre-empt his thoughts. The lash whip coiled around his legs and torso and constricted him. Solaki gasped for air as the explosion gasped for it's own. The fireball disintegrated the tendons of muscle, releasing Solaki from their leathery grasp. 

But it came at a terrible cost. With a hard crunch Solaki hit the ground a few feet back from where he had been forced to hover. He landed face first. A familiar sensation washed over Solaki. One he had felt a few days back, lying in a ditch in the middle of the jungle. *I can't feel my legs* Solaki rolled onto his back and realized why. His legs weren't there. All that remained were blackened stumps, quarterised by the heat of the explosion and cut off half way up the thighs.

Behind him, in the road in front lay the missile launcher, cast further back than Solaki. In front of him stood the xeno's monstrosity. This was the reason they had come here, this _abomination_ was why so many brothers had died the past few days. And another one died as Solaki lay impotent to do anything about it. Solaki did the only thing he could, he cried out against it all. Not a plea for mercy or a weak cry of injustice, but a howl of unrestrained anger. "Let's end this, you bastard" he whispered as he began the crawl to where his missile launcher lay.

With his enhanced physique it took Solaki nearly no time to reach it, but he still had a little more way to go. The launcher lay almost next to the stock pile, and that's where the tyrant needed to be, and currently, Solaki would be under his foot. He crawled a few more feet. Hardly a safe distance from where the explosion was likely to reach, but Solaki didn't have much left to lose, and that which he did, paled in comparison to what he had to gain.

So he crawled. If he had been able to appreciate irony at this moment, he might have remarked that the fact that he had to crawl on his belly made him awfully like the tyranids he was fighting so hard against. But somewhere amongst the ichor stained gravel raking against his blackened stumps, the half eaten corpses of his brothers and the fires of a half ruined Vorspire, Solaki had lost his sense of humour. He sat a few scant feet from the stockpile of explosives. 

He needed the tyrant's attention. Solaki knew these creatures were intelligent enough to understand human behavior and cull them like cattle, they understood human movements and common strategies, so he supposed they understood human speech. Time to see. "I killed them!" Solaki called out. This was his last stand, and if he was going to be remembered for anything, it would be that he started death in the face and told it that he was not afraid of it, that he truly knew no fear. "I killed them all. Your brother's, your sisters, your children. I slaughtered them like the insects that they were. You and your kind are so weak compared to the triumphs of mankind. I culled them like cattle, and cut them down because the were NOTHING! DO YOU HEAR ME! THEY WERE NOTHING! THEY DIED WITHOUT GLORY AND FOR NO PURPOSE AND YOU WILL MEET THE SAME FATE! I HATE YOU, AND YOU WILL DIE BY MY HAND, I SWEAR IT. COME ON, SHOW ME I'M WRONG! EAT ME! I'M NOT SCARED OF YOU, YOU BASTARD!" All while he was bellowing these words at his adversary, he let his sight rest on the stock-pile of explosives, ready to react at the last moment to detonate them all and engulf the tyrant, and probably himself, in a fiery inferno.

Whether it was the hysteria caused by the trauma of losing his legs or his brothers, or he was simply resigned to the fact that he would die so didn't care, but the words flowed freely and uninhibited from Solaki's mouth. Each word was laced with all the hate and rage and distilled fury that Solaki could muster in what would probably be his last few moments. But one thing was sure, Solaki knew he would see the tyrant die before he slept and went to the Emperor's side. That much he was certain of...


----------



## Euphrati

(ooc-This post was done with Dark Angel's help in Astelan's replies and actions.)

-

Niko rose to his feet as the adamantium spike locked back into firing position with a metallic snick, a single drop of crimson falling from the diamond-coated tip before it disappeared into the Narthecium encasing his left forearm,

‘*You are not my brother!*’

The words were lost in a snarl of loathing as Niko brought his bolt pistol up, finger squeezing the trigger even as he charged forward again knowing that the shots would only serve to distract the veteran astartes.

_‘Poor disillusioned fool.’_ The Traitor’s voice was a ruin of the sonorous tones that they once were as the words spat between mucous-flecked lips in return, the cadence of speech ebbing and flowing with each impact that blossomed on the blackened armour. The fallen Scythe twisted on the ball of his foot, giving another artistic twirl of his combat-blade, and swung the pommel inwards at his brother’s faceplate. _‘Do not do this, Niko.’_

Niko twisted with the blow, yet it was still enough to send a burst of distortion across the display of his helm’s Hud. He lashed out with the growling chain blade under slung on his Narthecium, 

*'You *are the one who has doomed us all!' 

The pain in his voice was as sharp as the diamond-tipped teeth of the snarling blade as the words spilled forth unbidden, 

'They are dying _alone _because of you! I should be there... with them! You were one of the best of us, a hero on a hundred worlds! Everything that we are you have cast into the darkness! *WHY*!?'

The traitor chuckled wetly, although the sound seemed ridden with sadness as he sauntered backwards avoiding the blade, away from Niko. _‘I remain one of the best, brother; I am still a Scythe, albeit one robbed of his heraldry and brotherhood. From the darkness, I will be the guiding light. Our Chapter is shattered, impoverished, forgotten. And when the last of us die, what will become of our rights? Will our names be revered upon a thousand worlds? I think not.’_

The young Apothecary pressed forwards after the fiend, sparks flared nova-bright in the darkness as the Traitor brought his own blade up in a block before backing away again. Niko wanted to scream his rage at the monster who wore his fallen brother's face, 

'The only Light is the glory of the God-Emperor and you have cast that aside! For what? There is No salvation in the path of Chaos, only destruction! _Murderer_. *Traitor*. Everything that I am, everything I have trained for all these years, you will see it all burned from the galaxy's memory,'

Niko brandished his fist at the fallen Scythe, the oath paper bound there tattered and stained, 

'Did your oaths mean so little? *Were you so weak?* Arx is _dead_! Brig as well. They died for *nothing *because of you! You have done more than destroy us, you have destroyed something far greater... you have tainted every oath, every vow of honour, we have ever taken over a thousand blades!’

Righteous anger lent Niko’s strikes speed and strength. The path before him was set and could not end without the death of the Traitor,

‘I will not allow you to destroy and befoul what little that we have left in the same way you have twisted the body of a noble warrior, daemon!’ 

It was the last gift that Niko could give his fallen brother; Astelan would die in defense of Lord Sotha in the chronicles of the Scythes. What was left before him was not the warrior that Niko had looked upon with devotion and esteem, but a desecrated husk of flesh churning with the currents of the Warp. Niko felt his focus return, diamond-hard and cold as the void as he armoured his soul to do what he knew must be done,

‘Astelan, my brother, _forgive me_.’


----------



## deathbringer

A weapon miniscle compared to him, yet great in the black scaled hands, blunt brute force coming to bear upon him.

An he knew fear.

Knew even before the trigger compressed that he would know agony.

Reflex took the scythes legs from his shoulder an impulsive coil pulled the legs from the scythes body even as the explosion rocked his world.

His lips parted in a scream stunned to silence, lips spread wide to reveal deadly fangs a tongue straining soundlessly to express the emotion it now bore to the very core. For the first time it truly knew..... nay it knew nothing, pain overwhelmed all reason

It was anguish, pain that burned with heat of a thousand sons tore a limb from his body and sent it toppling to the ground where it thudded to a halt with the dull finality of his own mortality. 

Blood sprayed across the ground, staining the concrete below.

For the first time, the hive tyrant, the plunderer of a thousand worlds believed he might die this day.

Bullets that once stung now seared, little balls of explosive now rocked his senses blinding him with the certainty of his own vulnerabilty, their collective masses driving a roaring scream of frustrated anguish that rang through the buildings, drawing a united pause from his children.

As one the flagging tyranid enslaught froze, froze and raised there noses to the wind to listen to there tyrants agony.

Then the scream changed, slowly subtly, the pitch deepened, the anguish underlined and overwhelmed by a tsunami of fury. Deadly hatred acted as his anasthesia and the the volume increased to a thunderous blood curdling growl of pure rage.

It echoed through the buildings and where it found them the flagging tyranids took up the roar and as the tyrant lept foward so too did they, a blind melee of claw tail and jaw.

His tail found one of the scaled bastards backs and he was tossed to the ground skidding as his mouth found another and tore his asunder, teeth plunging through the armour, slicing it to shreads as blood sated his rage and ignighted his lust, gore staining the scales of his hands and lips.

Yet sudden, a pause.

Crude rage directed at him, pure anger in human form from the marine that had hurt him so much.

He lay pathetic and legless the missile launcher still clamped in his handle as he ranted and raged

I killed them!" "I killed them all. Your brother's, your sisters, your children. I slaughtered them like the insects that they were. You and your kind are so weak compared to the triumphs of mankind. I culled them like cattle, and cut them down because the were NOTHING! DO YOU HEAR ME! THEY WERE NOTHING! THEY DIED WITHOUT GLORY AND FOR NO PURPOSE AND YOU WILL MEET THE SAME FATE! I HATE YOU, AND YOU WILL DIE BY MY HAND, I SWEAR IT. COME ON, SHOW ME I'M WRONG! EAT ME! I'M NOT SCARED OF YOU, YOU BASTARD!" 

The tyrants eyes fell upon the carcass of the great one, on the carcasses of his brother gargoyles that lay strewn amongst debris.

A gentle croon filled his mind. So many dead, on so many worlds, so many he had know and so many he would never know lay strewn upon these plains.

Now his eyes fixed upon the marine that lay the weapon pointed awkwardly as his words stung and burnt.

Now his eyes found the black figures around, others fired weaponry at him but he ignored their cries till he found the one at his feet. He lay ,stranded his arms working at his belt, attempts to move futile, crushed under the weight of his own armour.

The tyrant let out a long low laugh that rang throughout the clearing.

Now his voice rang out in human tongue, immitating the crude speech in a low rumbling tone

"They were as you say dear cripple, nothing. For each of them that dies is replaced by another. Your brothers flesh sustain me, it would take me only a hanful of rotations to replace a thousand of my children. We survive... I epitomize survival little one. My mother was crushed by a cavern cave in, yet in death she produced me, and embodiment of the hive mind, deadly yet nurturing. You have hunted me and hunted yet still I surive. Everyone you culled took something from you, you know it not, but it took, ores and metals, explosives. They are gone, never to be recovered, yet i could feast on their flesh alongside yours and raise an army once more. They served their purpose foolish one, you just cannot see it."


Sweet victory filled his mind as a plan took fruition, a beautiful plan.

He closed his mind and a web of purple light surrounded them, a shield to cut the three of them off from those marines that circled them and they battered against it, rounds rebounding and ricocheting, sensuous coils of purple smoke throwing away those that attempt to enter

"I have taken your legs and you my arm, you have taken my children and I your brothers. A child can be replaced almost instantly yet how long will it take to replace this one."

He stepped aside to point at the brother that lay prostrate at his feet still struggling with the belt.

He braced himself for agony. It would be worth it.... oh so worth it.

"How long to replace that one... the comaradery, the friendship, the bond of brotherhood that you two share?"

"So yes little one, you are not afraid. So you will not die today. You will lie there on your ruined husk and watch, struggle on ruined legs"

His wings unfurled and he raised them high, pausing only to spit, a deadly concoction of acidic bile upon the helm of the stranded marine, a small hiss of noxious gas as the acid began to gnaw away at the armour 

"You will watch your brother perish"

A single beat of his wings and he was soaring upwards and away, a high cold laugh floating away upon the wings of his ascent.


(Dont know if i overstepped the mark with the shield but wasnt sure if there were any other marines around, assumed there were more than just me kain and solaki in the vicinity. Either way only way i could think of creating the situation, if its too much say the shield flickers and fades as the tyrant zips off)


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

Charon was starting to feel his blood boil, his anger was beginning to rise at his inability to find the Apothecary and the other Scythe that was with them let alone a way out of this rat den. It soon became apparent to him that the temple walls were shifting and moving just out of his sight, twice now he had turned a corner and ran right into a wall a few steps away, for whatever reason he could not break through them like Niko had. 

He doggedly carried on until he turned a corner and saw light up ahead of him, he looked back behind him wondering if this was a trap and saw that there was now a wall inches from his back, this was getting ridiculous. Bolter fire came from outside the temple as he made his way out into the jungle, Bryon and Kalim were taking cover behind a pile of rocks made from chunks of the temple and natural stone, a horde of smaller Tyranids charging their position. 

Charon sprinted to his brothers, covering the distance in a second, slamming his back up against the pile of rocks, *"Brothers on my mark toss a handful of grenades at the bugs. We need to get back into the temple and find Rhashan."* He took three small discs from a pouch at his waist and armed them before readying himself to toss them at the seemingly endless horde charging he and his brothers.


----------



## dark angel

‘Arx,’ He said, with an ugly smile. He had fond memories of the Marine, who had been proud; intelligent, wise. ‘A loss, of which the Chapter will lament and regret. His death rests not upon my shoulders, Niko; but those of the Emperor.’

Pain stabbed through his hearts, at the mention of Brig. The Marine had been a friend, a mentor; and most of all - His staunchest supporter. He and his Squad had been there with him, from the beginning, having took a bloodoath in the half-assembled building, back in the constructing city. And yet, they too had betrayed him; though he suspected that they still supported him, from the shadows, silent and waiting. 

‘The Emperor’s Light is failing, Niko. Who has kept his petty empire together, while he rests his arse upon the Throne?’ He straightened, growing to his full height. Even with age, he remained firm; strong, powerful. He would not be bent. ‘Us, Niko. His Astartes, who carry his blood, his mortality. And what is his gratitude? Death and dishonour, betrayal and shattered hopes.’

‘Oaths are made for breaking, Apothecary. And broken they shall be,’ He licked his lips, his eyes dark and clouded. ‘Walk the Path with me, share my glories and drink under my halls. Souls such as yourself are not meant for imprisonment; it is criminal to keep your nature shackled and hidden. There are still those who will support me, I know it, Niko. With you at my side, more will follow. The Scythes of the Emperor shall be reborn, brought from the Light, and into the Darkness.’

He twirled his blade again, and for a moment, it was heavy and ungainly. He had damned himself, and possibly, the Chapter. And yet, he could bring it all back - He could restore Sotha, her peoples, rebuild and heal past embitterment’s. But not with the Mortifactors stalking about, if he was too become great; then they would need to die. 

'Stop this madness. I beg of you, child. Stop.'


----------



## unxpekted22

Niko and Astelan:

Niko, if you choose to kill Astelan, you may do so now. If not, carry out whatever other action you intend to make, be it merely speaking, leaving, or even nothing at all.

Astelan, wait for Niko's post, then a reaction (if he kills you what astelan is thinking as he dies). Nothing too complicated like floating around in the warp or anything just strictly your dieing moments and maybe some past memories or something. You will still have at least one more opportunity to post in the rp if this happens.

Charon:

As you and your brother Mortifactors slaughter wave after wave of gaunts crossing the thick creek with your ample supply of grenades and specialized bolter rounds, the resistance only becomes worse and worse.

The Tyranids leave no opening for the three of you to disengage, and soon larger types begin crashing through the tree line. Raveners zip through and crash into the water, dieing there with the rest of their kin. The blood of gaunts gets closer and closer as focus goes to the larger xenos, acidic lifeblood splashing your cover and armor. A few seconds more and the ground itself begins shaking. On the opposite side of the slow flowing body of water, several of the larger trees int he background fall to the forest floor, letting a spotlight of sun rays reveal the absolutely massive worm like Tyranid form emerging from the ground with a tremendous roar.

Only then, looking at the head of the giant monster, you notice the colors of your alien enemies have changed. No longer are they the brown flesh tones and red tones of chitin, but are instead white and purple. Moments before, they were definitely not these colors.

(We'll say the Hive Tyrant was speaking telepathically instead, seeing as the shape of their mouths wouldn't do so well for speaking purposes.)

Solaki and Kain:

It takes several awkward moments to realize the voice in your head is actually coming from the Hive Tyrant. Its words reveal just how intelligent it has truly become. Its statements are valid ones, if not sound. Whatever thoughts you may have soon no longer matter, and retorts left behind just as your bodies are when the Tyrant erupts back into the air.

The psychic energy shield shooting outward as it leaps before fading away, sending the rest of the marine squad flying back and stunning all of them at least momentarily.

Solaki: The Tyrant has escaped you. It has left the area and the plan of detonating the thunderhawk has come to a disappointing and painful end. Your vision has become fuzzy and dizzy as the loss of blood from your legs is nearly too much for your advanced internals to keep up with. Likely the only reason you aren't in shock is due to the massive amount of adrenaline the body of an astartes pumps when in battle.

Ahead of you, now lays Kain in the middle of the street gripping his helmet, yelling in pain, and rolling back and forth as the acid burns through. Can you reach your brother? Do you even try?

Kain: The Tyrant has escaped you. It has left the area and the plan of detonating the thunderhawk has come to a disappointing and painful end. Your face now burns in agony, the final layers of your helm (we'll hope you had it on, I'm pretty sure you did still) begin to give from the Tyrant's acidic parting gift.

Due to your armor's power not working, getting the helmet off is an extremely difficult task in the time you need to do it. Already the acid has moved onto your actual skin directly. Do you manage to get your helm off? Does it even matter if you try?

Tyrant:

You escape the marines, bursting into the air far above the fight, but you are caught by another's trap. Just as you look forward again toward the rest of the remaining battle, you spot the grim outline of the vehicle that killed so many of your gaunts with just one shot, the vindicator.

You see it, the ligaments of your wings strung to your back twist wildly, you see the black hole of the cannon, an eye staring back at you, your body tries to drop and turn around at the same time, but drops nonetheless. 

The building walls to either side of you indent deeply with an instant crunch of infrastructure before the only things you see are light and fire.

You then find yourself looking at the sky, the faint shape of one of this world's moons above you. Though still alive, you know death has indeed come for you. You have sent so many to their death on so many worlds. You have taken the lives of so many yourself. Whats it like knowing that soon, it will be your turn.


----------



## Euphrati

Niko’s bolt pistol clattered to the stone floor as the fiber bundles of his armour snapped taunt a microsecond before the Scythe launched himself forwards, servos whining as he pushed his wargear to its limits. Astelan’s blade was an arch of liquid silver tinted the colour of blood in the darkness and Niko did not even attempt to parry or evade the blow, it punched through the young Apothecary’s plastron with a crack of shattering ceramite. Overlapping bone ribs were sheared cleanly by the monomolecular edge of the blade before the hilt smashed against the breast of the Aquila on Niko’s chest, pinned in place by Niko’s white gauntleted fist locked around Astelan’s wrist.

The pain was sharp, cold, as hot blood frothed over Niko’s chin and against the inside of his helm from between clenched teeth. His body spasmed as his primary heart went still- the tip of the Traitor’s blade lodged fast within. Niko’s secondary heartbeat spiked as it took over, pain suppressors flooding into his compromised bloodstream and his breath coming in shallow gasps that told of at least one punctured lung. 

Vermillion runes flashed before his storm-grey eyes, relaying the damage that he could already feel within his gene-forged being. He ignored them to look into the eyes of a brother for the last time,

‘Forgive me…’

Niko's voice was wet with blood and pain as he slowly withdrew the chainblade, under slung on his Narthecium, from the side of Astelan’s chest and lowered the limp form of Astelan to the stone floor. The blade was short, designed to cut through a fallen warrior’s battle plate in order for an Apothecary to retrieve the precious geneseed. It served just as well to smash through the Traitor’s damaged armour and severe his spine.

‘… I should have done this days ago.’

(ooc- sorry for the delay dark angel)


----------



## Deus Mortis

"And they shall know no fear" had been the motto for the Astartes since their inception and would be for ages to come. But in that moment, as the Tyrant's cold, alien voice broke forth in Solaki's mind, his limb froze and his mind went into rapid confusion as it tried to make sense. Such a thing Solaki had never experienced, and hearing of the alien overlord's cunning, calculated plan almost made him feel fear. Fear that he would die without honour. Fear that every action since coming to this world had been playing into the alien's hand. Fear that his brothers had died for nothing. Quickly the mind struggled to bring itself back to an equilibrium. In truth, his delirium was probably due more to his loss of blood than his failure as an astartes, but it was certainly not how Solaki felt in that moment.

The tyrant turned it evil attention to Kain on the floor, on his knees unable to rise due to his failing power pack. _"How long to replace that one... the comaradery, the friendship, the bond of brotherhood that you two share?"_
"Don't you dare!" Solaki hissed, his voice barely above a whisper of venom. "Don't you dare, you alien bastard!" 
_"So yes little one, you are not afraid. So you will not die today. You will lie there on your ruined husk and watch, struggle on ruined legs"_ The monster's wings unfurled and he raised them high, pausing only to spit, a deadly concoction of acidic bile upon the helm of the stranded marine, a small hiss of noxious gas as the acid began to gnaw away at the armour. _"You will watch your brother perish"_ The tyrant soared into the air, their only chance of defeating it lost in the skies. But Solaki didn't care, he was already crawling towards his afflicted brother.

The missile launcher lay discarded where he had paused, and Solaki's hands scraped forwards on the blackened and tortured earth. Shards of broken glass, searing gravel and spent powder dug themselves into Solaki's ruined legs, opening near'y sealed wounds and turning the ground a dark crimson. Still Solaki was oblivious. The only thought in his mind was his brother, rolling on the floor in agony. It took mere agonizing moments for Solaki to reach Kain, but already the powerful acid had begun is cursed work. Noxious fumes were coming off the melting plastic and bubbling metal. 
"Kain!" Solaki called. His brother issued no sound other than cries of pain.

Solaki's vision was starting to go hazy, most colours were draining into a black and white field of vision, and the edges of his peripheral vision were fading as he reach Kain. The helmet was ruined mess of green acid and black ceremite. Solaki frantically grabbed the helmet with one hand, but the face plate crumbled and came away in his hand, burned through by acid. As the helmet quickly decomposed, Solaki stripped the layers away from Kain's face until his hands were covered in melted plastic and droplets of potent acid, but most of the helmet was removed so there was no more acid seeping through to damage Kain's features and the delicate brain matter beneath. "Kain..." Solaki spoke, his voice quiet as his strength slowly faded with the loss of blood "...can you talk brother? Are any of your systems working?" 

Solaki tore of his own helmet with his uncontaminated hand. He viewed his brothers wounds with his true eyes, eyes of an innocent ocean blue, a stark contrast to the tainted soul that looked through them. Through pained lips Solaki whispered "Brother, I am weak. If it's of use to you, take my helmet, it will neutralize the acid. Siphon off any of my power you can." Solaki looked upon his brother for what might be the last time. The world grew dark, even thought the sun was still high in the sky. Possibly the last words Solaki spoke were said in hushed tones, like an ancient secret being passed down "Fight with valour Brother. I fear I go to meet the Emperor"...


----------



## dark angel

It was over in an instant. 

Niko thundered forwards, his footfalls echoing through the tunnel. Astelan’s blade whipped around, alive in the half-light; a glittering talon, potent and serrated. Niko’s underslung Chainblade, toothed and menacing, was held high, in preparation for a strike. 

Both clashed against one another. There was a tremendous crack; louder than the shattering of a world, dreadful and morose. Astelan’s blade slid gracefully into Niko’s chest plate, cracking the artistic Aquila - Gnawing through enhanced muscles and a reinforced ribcage. Sure as sure, the tip found its target; the primary heart. 

A pearly gauntlet seized Astelan’s ashen wrist, locking the blade in place. The Apothecary gasped, furious and zealous, and drove his Chainblade into Astelan. It tore through the side of his chest, making short work of overgrown tissue and bone. The crystalline fangs, the bane of many a enemy, slipped effortlessly into his spine; severing it with a cruel, bone-splitting snap.

Both stood, embraced, blades kissing flesh. When Astelan let out a gasp, it was accompanied by a scarlet torrent, running down his chin and decorating his armour. Almost gently, Niko lowered Astelan to the ground - Preparing to gift him the Emperor’s Mercy. 

Pain seeped along his every fibre, though it was not sharp, rather cold and numbing. 

‘You have…’ He began, a horrible, ragged gurgle. ‘..Ruined me, undone… work..’ 

With great effort, he seized Niko’s wrist. Pain coruscated along his arm, arching into his chest. A red carpet was spreading about him, turning Niko’s greaves a wonderful pink.

‘I _repent_, child,’ He said, morosely, a low, pained whisper. ‘I did what I thought..’ He wheezed, painfully. ‘…Was best. Sotha, Niko. Sotha must know, that I..’


----------



## Lord Ramo

The hive tyrant stood, his grenades not doing anything, and looked down upon his helpless form. Kain could see the glee in its eyes, it may have been a beast, but it could still think, still get revenge. It spoke, well thought more like, invading the thoughts around him. It seemed its attention was directed at Solakai and to how he was responsible for the death of the carnifex. Obviously it was angry at Solakai for this, and it tore into the air before looking down once more at Kain.

It spat at him, he could tell it hit his helmet then he heard a hissing sound. The spit was highly acidic and was burning through the tough cermatine helmet. There were no warning runes flashing in his helmet, he couldn't tell how quickly it was destroying his helmet, the damned power pack failure would be the death of him. Kain roared at the futility of the situation, he was an astartes, who instead of dying during some glorious act in the name of the Emperor would now die on his back, helpless to do anything.

Kain fought to lift his arms up as the layers of helmet dissolved and began to eat away at his skin. He could feel his face being burnt away and struggled to move through the pain. Kain roared in pain and anger as the skin burnt away and it went deeper and deeper. He could feel it burning through his neck, and probably soon would take out his vocal cords. He started to lose sight, either from the pain or the acid he neither knew or cared.

Suddenly a set of hands grabbed a hold of his ruined messed helmet and managed to pull away what he could. It could only be Solakai, as he spoke Kain could only barely hear his voice. He felt Solakai's helm being placed upon his head, in an attempt to stop the acid, though Kain's face was ruined now, he would need help from the apothecary's that was for sure. Kain couldn't see anything, but could tell his brother had gone limp at his side, whether dead or not he did not know.


----------



## deathbringer

Delight curdled and soured by anguish flooded his body, endorphins rushing as he soared, eyes still fixed below upon the marine that fought with the helm, a helm that had begun to billow with noxious smoke.

What next.... where next?

Down below his children flagged and wained, their bodies torn asunder by bolt and blade.

Yet he was alive....sudden impulse a reflex caused his head to rise, a 6th sense, a sense of danger caused his to pause from his reverie and look ahead.

A gaping maw, so like that which had stolen his arm, yet bigger, oh so much bigger, mounted upon a broad back of metal.

Panic flared as the maw belched, flames rippling as it sent a projectile catapulting towards him
He was good, no brilliant, he was dropping, twisting in a fraction of a second.

Yet the fraction was a moment too long, the fleeting instant of recognition more than he had.

Light, flame and pain.

That was his world, that was to be his last memory.

The buildings around him crunched as he hit, them, stone tumbling around his limp form ,his body crumpling, blood pouring in fountains, chest crushed and spine twisted by a massive impact. He saw the ground rush towards him, so far away, but gaining, hunting him, panic became peace as blackness swallowed him.

Cruel chance brought his mind back to consciousness as he hit the ground, fractured ribs crunched and splintered and spines tore chunks of flesh from his runied body.

Movement was denied to him, his muscles held still by tormentuous anguish.

Yet his mind roamed, soared above the planes of the battle like a wild beast, seperated from his body in delirium. Hatefully, spirefully he hollored bitter desperate curses at the mortal flesh that oozed vitura, that embodied his demise, the fate that rushed upon him.

He was but a presence, a presence hovering above the husk.

He sensed his lack of form and form appeared.

Vengeance filled him, hatred for the machine that had caused this anguish.

The form mutated, his body twisted without pain or anguish, arms sprouting claws growing.

Mentally he lashed out,curses spinning from his mind, he dived upon it, sinking his claws into its ancient frame, tore chunks from it, inflicted the full focus of his dying rage upon its ancient hull.

Smoke billowed, the cannon bent and twisted under his frantic rage, and he saw, watched from two sets of eyes, one corporeal, the other lucid, watched its demise, hacking laughter emerging from two sets of lips as it lurched, thunderstruck by the furiosity from an assailant upon another plane of existance.

Now he soared again, his movements faster than lightening his roars splitting the heavens as he celebrated his death, the power he had never known, the power seperation had unleashed.

Upon the ground, smoke curled from his body as he filled himself with it, greedy, desperate for more. Little fires gnawed at his singed flesh as he drew deep, sucked upon the emotion prepared to unleash untold destruction upon friend and foe alike.

Yet something something held him back.

A presence, a mind reaching out, curious tendrils of thought seeking a fellow, so far away... a single question that never belonged to him burned through his mind

"What are you?"

He stopped the power seeping away, green flames bursting from the shattered body and he screamed in pain.

What are you, kindred?"

Familiarity burned through the curiosity, some bond connected them, the bond of a father and his son, estranged yet so right, so perfect, a piece of a mental puzzle sliding home.

Now the tyrant shot back, mind pushing 

"Son of a mother crushed, her body cleft by rock and stone, i am a destroyer, a warrior, a great devourer. World after world has felt my wrath as I have searched, hunted for purpose yet in death my line shall fail"

"We must meet" replied the voice

"My body is broken, in battle with prey in black scale. A great beast with a gaping maw has crushed my body. Yet i shall go in vengeance."

The screaming built in his mind and he felt his body dwindle as purple flares sprung up his flesh gnawed away as his body smouldered.

"Nay, stay, search your mind... your purpose little one... what was your purpose?"

Upon the ground his body spasmed and seized, muscles twitcing and curling and once again he dwindled, even as he reached within his mind reached for the purpose he had followed yet never found and it burbled from his, words gushing through the immaterium

"I am the future, I am the first of the new breed, I am the hive mind in flesh and through flesh i shall meld our race. I am doomed to die so we all shall live"

Awe flooded the body, yet certainty tinged with something more... eagerness nay there was more too it a lust for power.

"Your heart brother... you must bring us your heart, you are the future... 
the tyrant dwindled the voice fading as the immaterium slipped from his grasp.

A last carress of promise
"we shall find you"

Amongst the crushed buildings and crumpled debris the tyrant reached a hand of smouldering sinew within his chest.

As his strength faded he saw the shadowy forms of gigantic winged creatures fluttering to the ground around his tortured form.

The softest of whispers

"goodbye my brothers... my friends"

With a swift motion he plucked the gigantic red heart from his smouldering torso

It rolled from his limp hand to nudge the nearest gargoyle's foot, yet the tyrant, the destroyer, the devourer, moved no more.


----------



## BlackApostleVilhelm

*"Ravenor to the left!"* shouted Bryon. Charon sliced through the beast's neck before it had the chance to even scream in anger, there were so many that they had not been able to even fall back to a safer position, they would be swarmed soon if they did not think of something fast. The air was filled with the constant bark of bolter fire and the dying screams of the Tyranid swarm as it powered closer and closer to them, he and his two brothers shouting their own warcries and litanies as they slew the xenos in the name of the Emperor.

Charon stood towards the very top of the pile of rubble, his two brothers farther behind him, he was killing any bug that his brothers managed to miss and made its way through their volleys of fire. *"Brothers it has truly been an honor to end my service by your side! For centuries we have strode the galaxy fighting for the Emperor, I can think of no better way to end that life than being right here, now, slaughtering these foul xenos like the rats they are!" *

A mighty roar sounded through the jungle as a grouping of trees behind the coming swarm were smashed to the ground by a giant worm like xenos. Its colors were different, very different actually, he activated his vox immediately to all channels, *"This is Veteran Sergeant Charon of the Mortifactors! I and two battle brothers are located outside of the temple dropzone and are fighting off untold numbers of the Tyranid xenophorm...."* static filled his ears for a second before the vox cleared again, *"We have encountered a new form of worm-like Tyranid, its colors white and purple, if we can not kill it kno...." *

The vox was cut off as static filled his ears, he cursed in his native tongue, *"Bryon notify our brother librarian of our position and that we require his presence immediately!*" Bryon nodded. Charon turned back towards this new beast, his armor dented, rent and covered in acidic blood, his cloak torn and riddled with slashes and holes. He had one clip left for his pistol, after that he had only his broadsword, he would defend this position so that his two brothers could get out alive and warn the rest of their brothers. 

A smaller bug screamed as it charged at him in its insanity but he shot it in the face before it could reach him. He pointed his broadsword to the sky as he finished his clip, *"For the Emperor!"*


----------



## unxpekted22

Charon:

You and your two brother Mortifactors continue firing, ultimately to no avail. You see a hormagaunt leap form the river's shore upon Bryon first, knocking him to the ground. Kalim turns to fire upon his assailant before your vision is blocked out entirely by the form of a Ravener rising up form the ground in front of you. You look up as you pull the trigger, and watch as one of its scything talons swings down the point coming to your face.

In just one blink, everything is different. You see bunches of green leaves sprouting in all different directions, patches of sky breaking in between. Next the forms of Bryon and Kalim appear above you, making it apparent you are laying on your back. They help you to your feet and let you take in the scene.

The entire opposite side of the river bed is decimated by bolter fire, and the destructive force of tossed grenades. Trees are either fallen over or filled with bullet holes and the soil is a wreck, but no signs of tyranids to speak of, no bodies, not anything. You turn to face the temple ruins and find the taint of chaos to be completely gone as well, as the structure has returned to its look of natural decay.

Rhashan makes himself known, coming around the side of the structure. He says to you, _"All of the warp energies surrounding this place, this world....a premonition brothers, I'm sure of it. I believe soon, we will be able to relate to our brother cousins the Scythes of the Emperor...much, much more. The same fate awaits us."_

It is then, that the Scythe's young apothecary Niko emerges form the ruins, along with the other Scythe Belial, and the other surviving Mortifactors Malik and Rish'ka.

After this point, should be the first part of your post. Reflect and/or respond to what has happened or to what has been said. Four of your Veteran brother marines were killed by the traitor. How do you feel about that? Niko may state how the traitor realized his mistakes in the moment of his death and was cleared in the error of his ways. How do you feel about the traitor being dead? Was it worth it, their lives for his? Coming to this world at all? Especially good questions to think about if the visions you saw are to come true in the near future, and any other thoughts you may have on the premonition would be good to know as well. Do you actually even believe that what you saw was a premonition?

After this, keep reading below.

Niko:

What do you do know that Astelan is dead, particularly with his body? Do you take it outside to board the thunderhawk with it or leave it here in some form or another? Do you take the geneseed?

Once any of these decisions are completed, Belial, Malik, and Rish'ka, the heavy bolter wielding Mortifactor, will find you and see that you have in fact killed the traitor. Between the three of them, they will have enough medical supplies and ability to get you back on your feet and moving again. You will quickly notice the taint that had practically flooded the place is entirely gone, the walls have returned to their normal texture and color, and no longer move about making it easy to find the way out.

The bright sunlight will hit you hard for a split second as your eyes or helm adjusts. You will over hear Rhashan's last words to the three Mortifactor marines standing in the foreground, and see the destruction on the forest they inflicted on the opposite side of the creek, though you wont know what that premonition actually was since Rhashan doesn’t reiterate what they had seen. You might be able to figure it out though. After leaving them to their thoughts or words, he will approach you. If your helm is on he will ask you to remove it and will check your mind for taint. He will detect none. Do you explain to the Mortifactors what Astelan's last words were, that he would have changed back if it wasnt already too late?

This should be the first part of your post. The next will come after the following:

Charon and Niko:

Soon the thunderhawk that dropped you all off is called back in. It dosnt take long, as it was merely waiting at a safe distance. Everyone boards it and leaves the old ruins behind.

Unless Charon chooses otherwise, the remaining Mortifactors will be pretty much silent the entire ride, praying for the souls of their fallen brothers, though keeping in mind the way in which Mortifactors view death I wouldn’t say they are necessarily mourning the dead. They also have the premonition to think about, the ones who witnessed it at least. 

Belial is also silent, this could be for any number of reasons. Perhaps he wanted to kill Astelan, perhaps is just doesn’t know what to think of the situation, or maybe he feels a fool as if he was the trigger that began Astelan’s real path toward damnation. 

Once the thunderhawk hits the ground, Niko knows he wont have time to rest….


Charon, Niko, Solaki, and Kain: (Note from solaki and kain’s perspective at first but that will still be given directions Also I won’t have to basically describe the exact same things.)

And soon enough, that moment comes. The ramp opens with the pilot saying, “Veteran Sergeant Tobias’s orders are to land here, as well as Apothecary Alexander’s.”

The first thing you do is hear, you hear Tobias’s voice as he says, _“Brother Laikus brought down the Tyrant with the Vindicator...and Vorpsire’s northern defense forces finally decided to arrive. The battle is won…” _though it is quite apparent he is in anything but a good mood.

There are many things you likely didn’t expect to see upon exiting. In the distance, where a large section of the Imperial base’s giant wall can be seen, are several forms of tanks, blowing piles of gaunt types to pieces. Flamers light the air and the smell of burnt fuel is stagnant. Smoke form the tanks and troop transports fills the air, as well as the peculiar smell of that comes from too many las-guns firing in the same area at the same time. Countless quads of Imperial guard soldiers are running around the city block gunning down the remaining Tyranids, the giant corpses of both carnifexes, one in the street and one fallen into a building closer to the base. 

The second major sight is in the middle of the street quite a bit closer to you. The giant body of the Tyranid Hive Tyrant lays bloody and ruined. Several large gargoyle bodies surround it, all scorched from plasma fire. A scythe of the Emperor, who Niko will recognize even from this distance as Zurick, is standing atop the fallen Tyrant, plasma canon and its power pack cast aside on the street, overheated and useless. Several other Scythes stand around it.

The third sight, which is the closest and more important for Niko, are his squad mates Solaki and Kain. It becomes apparent why Alexander wanted the thunderhawk to land back here. Though several bodies of the fallen Scythes are still scattered about the area….one with its head and upper torso chewed off, a few laying pieces, Arx pinned to a wall with a rush of dried blood that came from his neck….there are two wounded who are still two barely alive and may be able to be saved.

Niko Solaki and Kain: 

Niko, you will go to them of course, despite being recently wounded yourself. You will already know who they are. Solaki is unconscious and both his legs have been blown off to the upper thighs. His loss of blood may already be too much to recover from. Kain is beat up badly but of course the main issue is the acid that reached his face before Solaki apparently replaced the helmets. You will notice Kain’s helmet to the side, almost completely eaten away. He will not be unconscious but you will find or he will tell you that his power pack has been damaged and his armor disabled. Combined with his weakened state he can barely move, though upon inspecting the armor the best you can (techpriest area of study there), you will notice the force of the blow to the back will have done some harsh damage to the spine that was covered up at first by both the release of marine adrenaline chemicals as well as more severe pain coming from his face burning away afterward. 

You will be able to get Solaki conscious again, to at least inform him of the Tyrant’s death, Astelans death, and the apparent victory over the battle. You will tell these things to Kain as well. If you ask me if you will truly be able to save either of their lives, I will not be able to tell you that information because it is not yet decided. 

Solaki and Kain, Your post will start with Niko coming up to you and trying to fix you up. Both of you may respond to the news, after Solaki is woken up and the situation explained to both of you (means you’ll post after euphrati). You may ask Niko if you will live on, to which Niko may reply freely but whatever he may say is not definite.

Charon:

Very free reign for what you decide to do, how you spend your final part to play in the events on Ferim. Do you help with the wounded Scythes? Do you go help the guardsmen clean up the remaining Tyranids? Inspect the tyrant's corpse? Do you do Nothing, ponder further on the future or perhaps no longer care anough about these events to partake anymore? Perhaps something else as well.

Astelan:

You fade into death. Somewhere in between you are met once again by Iscarion, the Neverborn daemon of Tzeentch. Its inky black smoke trails surround you as it speaks,

_“Now, Astelan. Though my master may be called the Lord of change, he does not necessarily like all change, and I can tell you, for a fact, that this was one of those changes he didn’t like. So much for you being the perfect candidate. Instead of rising to glory in another Age, bestowed with powers and the ability to set forth galactic changing events, followed by untold numbers of mortals….your spirit will instead merely waste away in the warp. Though disappointed, my master is content to wait for another candidate to emerge…and that candidate will come. In fact, master has already found him, for time is anything but unbendable here. So, one way or another, the galactic revolution will begin, for us soon, but unfortunately the dimensions of real space must wait even longer now. You could have been the one Astelan, the candidate who rose up and become something more than a foolish damned soul. You have a tough spirit, as stubborn as you were alive, but that doesn’t matter anymore. No one cares how tough you may be or even if you yourself don’t care about the situation you are now in. The other Neverborn and I will move on, and you will float aimlessly for eternity amongst other souls lost and damned. “_

And with that, Iscarion’s presence is gone.

Based on your final post, I will decide if your spirit truly floats on aimlessly for eternity.

Tyrant:

Well, if Tyranids have spirits, perhaps yours would be bewildered to watch the endless amounts of studies that mankind will conduct over you: your body, your course of life, your birth…even your mind.

Some will speculate you were possibly the first Tyranid creature ever found to have been afflicted by what they call ‘insanity’…

_“ It ripped its own heart out of its chest before its death. Was it suicide, was it crazy? Is this some Tyranid ritual or sign of intelligence that has so far been kept secret from us?...”_

_“How can our military forces be more prepared to fight a tyranid organism of this nature?...”_

_“It left its mark on so many worlds so fast…without even having a hive fleet to back it up. Independent Tyranid forces? And as undetectable as a broodlord infestation!?”_

But you don’t have a spirit do you? Nor do you have soul. No, you have something more concrete than that: the greater hive mind. Oh, you will indeed live on, for we are the Tyranid race, and we have heard you, watched you, set in motion the events that led to your creation.

_*subtle laughter*_

Welcome back to the hive mind.

And in that moment, you see everything.



OOC: Alright people, lets finish up some well thought out posts. I’d love to see this RP finish with some real memorable stuff, and I hope you would love to see that as well.

Once you are all finished posting (could be multiple with characters talking to each other so I won’t say once your finished writing your ‘post’) Anyway, once I’m sure you’re all finished posting I will write the conclusive update which will basically describe what ultimately happens to your characters afterward. This is for everyone except deathbringer, his conclusive update is the one right above this haha, so no more posting for you my friend, glad your last one was epic.


----------



## Euphrati

The rich, copper bite of his own blood, sharp with the bitter aftertaste of combat stimulants, was thick upon Niko’s senses. Pain accompanied every shallow breath, yet Niko knew that his gene-forged body was already healing the wound. Even had that not been the case, the importance of the duty that lay before him outweighed the immeasurable worth of his life to the future of the Chapter. 

Dark blood stained the ground beneath in an ever growing pool that lapping at Niko’s greaves he knelt in the darkness of the warp-tainted temple and raised the Narthecium to finally end the corruption. The Traitor’s strength was fading even as the trembling hand sought Niko’s wrist; the ruined voice was a harsh whisper, forced between blood-wet lips. Emerald lenses stared mercilessly back as Niko pressed the cold ceramite against the twisted remains of flesh stretched across the Traitor’s skull. In Niko’s soul; the body before him had long since ceased to be that of Astelan, ceased to be the flesh of a brother and fellow Scythe. There was no sorrow within his voice, only the irrefutable certainty of a faith incapable of doubt,

‘I offer no *absolution*, no *pity*, for I have _*none to give*_. No mercy awaits the soul of the traitor, for it is stained with a sin that can never be forgiven. Death is the only righteous answer, I am merely the instrument through which it comes for you; for only in death may the eternal wrath of the Emperor’s judgment be cast.’

The crack of bone echoed through the darkened halls, followed by the wet snick of the killing spike as it retracted back into the blood-flecked Narthecium on Niko’s forearm. There was a moment of absolute silence as the rune at the edge of Niko’s vision winked out for the final time, broken a heartbeat later by the clatter of ceramite on stone as the hand upon his arm went limp and slid to the floor.

-

The shadows of the taint had faded from the ancient walls; leaving hewn stone, pale and worn down by time’s hand. Niko’s helm sat upon his thigh, the emerald lenses reflecting silently the still form that lay nearby. A stain of crusted blood traced down his chestplate where he had coughed up a clot of blood from his ruptured lung after pulling free the blade that had impaled it. The heavy tread of Astartes power armour slowed as storm-grey eyes opened and Niko turned his head towards the sound. Belial’s bulk dropped beside him on a knee followed by that of the Mortifactor named Malik. The second Mortifactor remained standing, the sheer mass of his heavy bolter restricting his movements in the tight space. 

Niko held out his gauntlet, his armour tacky with dark blood to the mid-forearm, for all to see what lay across the open palm. With the purr of tensing fibre muscles the hand clenched into a solid fist; crushing the two small scraps of flesh into crimson paste.

‘_Consummatum est._ The traitor is dead and his seed destroyed, my oath is complete.’

-

Niko blinked away the dagger-sharp glare that assaulted his senses as he paused in the crumbling doorway; blood loss, coupled with the loss of his primary heart, and a hefty dose of stimulants causing him to sway slightly on his feet for a moment before his armour’s stabilizing gyros kicked in. The light was almost painfully bright after the darkness of the temple’s core and Niko relished the purity of the feeling as his eyes adjusted swiftly. The words of the Mortifactor’s Librarian cut the air as Niko stepped fully into the clearing, allowing Belial space to haul the remains of the traitor out into the sunlight with help from Malik. _The remains would be returned to the Heart of Sotha, where they would be burned and the ashes encased into a stasis vault as a harsh lesson to future aspirants of the unchecked perils of the warp._

The area around the ruins was thick with the scent of torn vegetation, the forest edge beyond the shallow creek littered with shattered flora. The three Mortifactors who stood with their leader seemed solely responsible for the destruction, though Niko could see no bodies amid any of the torn undergrowth. With his words said; the Librarian turned away from his brethren to approach where Niko stood, his cerulean warplate a stark contrast to the ebony of his skin. Niko was silent for a moment before giving a brief nod in agreement to the psyker’s request, a guarded stiffness to his stance that he did not even attempt to conceal after seeing the corruption of the warp so intimately in the last few hours.

_I have come understand the truth in the words of our brother-cousins the Templars as they crusade across the stars._

If the Mortifactor Librarian sensed the nascent hatred that uncoiled within the soul of the young Apothecary standing before him, he did not incline to show it as he pronounced Niko’s soul untainted.

-

The growl of the Thunderhawk’s engines increased in pitch to a roar as the craft powered skywards, the force of the ascent rattling the interior and drawing a snarl of pain from Niko’s lips as he was forced against the grav-restraint harness locked over his chest. Belial’s silence had continued upon boarding the assault craft, even tempered by decades in the fires of battle the events upon Ferim had left the Scythe changed. _They have changed all of us._

The howl of the engines leveled out as the Thunderhawk banked, the pilot settling upon the fastest course back to the city. Niko had briefly cleansed his gauntlets of the traitor’s blood in the creek before boarding; scarlet stains still clung to the oathpaper bound around his left fist and in the crevices between the lacquered plates. Niko was certain that they soon again would be covered in the lifeblood of his brothers as his calling demanded. 

Reaching down to release the maglock holding the blood-flecked white of his battlehelm to his thigh, Niko paused before turning to lock eyes with the Mortifactor named Charon where the Astartes was seated nearby. He had tended what few wounds the surviving Mortifactors had; the geneseed of the fallen had been ravaged by the traitor and was unrecoverable. The price the Mortifactors had paid a high price for answering the call of aid to the Scythes; _it was a blood debt that would be long remembered between them._

‘Your battle-brothers will be remembered for the sacrifice they made these past days, I will pen their names upon our ranks of honours myself. You have my oath to that, Brother-cousin, and my thanks.’

-

The world was washed in hues of emerald as Niko’s fist hammered into the release for the gunship’s ramp. The pain of his wounds had lessened in the return flight as his body had begun to repair the damaged tissue, though his breathing was still shallow and his primary heart would require reconstructive surgery to restart when he returned to the Heart of Sotha. Runes flared brightly at the corner of his vision, their scrolling bio-stats sorted into clinical priorities of wounds. Yet it was the two at the bottom of the list that caused Niko’s chest to tighten painfully.

_The runes for Brothers Solaki and Kain flashed amber, their bio-stats indicating near-fatal trauma in bleak streams of data._

Niko was already ten meters away when the Thunderhawk’s ramp kissed the torn ferocrete of the roadway, his secondary heart beating a hard rhythm to make up for the lack of the first as he skidded to the side of his squadmates. Blood still dripped slowly from the stumps of Solaki’s legs, the wounds too massive and jagged for even the powerful clotting ability of an Astartes’ gene-forged anatomy to cope with. Yet, the Scythe’s heart beats were still detectable if only faintly so in his unconscious state. 

Kain’s statistics were even weaker, but Niko quickly established that was due to the severely damaged state of the battle-brother’s armour. The primary powerpack had been critically damaged to the point only a techmarine would have hopes of repairing it given an extended period of time, and the armour itself had suffered multiple level integrity damage that had nearly destroyed the smaller in-suit power backup to the point the armour was more of a hindrance by its unpowered weight than it was a benefit. Though Solaki’s wounds were more severe, the acid that marked Brother Kain’s armour still bubbled and had to be dealt with first so that further damage would not happen. Niko also needed Kain alive if he was to have any chance of saving Solaki.

Niko pried loose Solaki’s helm from where it had been placed over Kain’s acid-burned features, setting it aside as he spoke,

‘Kain, brother, lay still. The damage to your armour is severe and the location indicates possible spinal damage, attempted movement will only cause further trauma. You can speak but do so without turning your head. I am going to need to take an infusion of blood from you in a moment,’

The Narthecium snapped open, cycling through infusions and counter-toxins that were injected through the still useable ports in Kain’s chest while Niko spoke, his grey eyes flicking through data that sped by in what would be a blur to unaugmented human eyes. Two brushed steel canisters were pulled from the pouch on Niko’s hip, the anti-venom given to him by Alexander when they had first arrived in orbit so many days ago and a syn-skin sealant to cover the worst of the damage already done. Niko applied both to Kain’s face with prolific sweeps before a gold-plated needle snapped from the housing in his forearm to be jabbed deep into the pulsing vein in Kain’s neck. Niko took as much blood as he was willing to risk before turning to where Solaki lay. 

The bright glow of a laz-scalpel cast dancing shadows around where Niko worked, fusing the torn arteries and veins in the remains of the battle brother’s legs closed with precise movements. Solaki’s unconscious state was the only thing that had saved the Scythe from irreparable blood loss as his heart rates had slowed to the point of near sus-au. Niko injected the full content of the blood he had taken from Kain and the rest of his Narthecium’s plasma stores into the Scythe’s bloodstream, adding stabilizers to enhance the weakened heartbeats and stimulants to bring Solaki’s consciousness back to the surface once more.

‘Solaki, brother come back to us. The traitor is dead as is the xenos beast, I have seen too many join the ranks of the Emperor’s eternal armies this day… I will be damned if you will be added to that list! Now _*FIGHT*_!’

(ooc- sorry for the long wait. Busy would be a pale word to describe life at the moment...)


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## Deus Mortis

In truth Solaki hadn't really anticipated seeing Ferim's sky again. He hadn't really expected to see any sky every again. No more beautiful turquoise heavens would ever stare down at him. Never again would the soft fury of the rain furiously beating again his armour like an angry mob pressing to get in. There would be no more kind old sun's to watch over him and watch all he did in the name of the Emperor. But then, what did any sun matter to him? What was another sky? How could he not have seen all the colours of the morning already? None would ever replace his home. His beautiful Sotha's golden sun, with is trees of emerald and skies of the deepest sapphire. What did any world matter after his had burned. It had burned with toxic fumes and deathly spores. Beasts had crawled on the earth and devoured the people just like the serpents of a forgotten era when men wrote on parts of the world they didn't understand and none had returned from "Here there be monsters". And now Solaki stood at the edge of such an abyss. The inky blackness of death beckoned him to pull him into a world of which he had no information and no protection from whatever might be lurking there. Yet he knew, somewhere on the other-side were his friends, his brothers. Ones lost along with his home, a place that could never be reclaimed for it had been crushed to dust just like the bodies of those who fell. Nothing remained of them now save the memories which Solaki carried with him, and now he would return those to them.

Suddenly an invisible and omni-potent hand wrenched him back into the land of the living. Colour flooded his retina, heat warmed his skin and the breeze brushed against his face like the soft press of a lover's lips. Not that he had known what that had been like either. Claimed by the Chapter he loved before he had known what it was to feel a lovers touch. Not that he could claim to have missed it. The chapter had been his life, his lover and his friend. Nothing had come before it. Niko was injecting a strange cocktail of fluids into his bloodstream._ "Solaki, brother come back to us."_ Niko near shouted at him as the cogs in his brains whirred and the synapses fired again after nearly falling cold at last. His vocal chords ground into life like the tired leather belts of an old machine, ready for one last use. "Niko, you live. It is good to see you brother" Solaki croaked, almost having forgot the sound of his own voice in the depths of his almost-sleep. _"The traitor is dead as is the xenos beast, I have seen too many join the ranks of the Emperor’s eternal armies this day… I will be damned if you will be added to that list! Now FIGHT!’"_

"I. Am." Solaki growled with renewed confidence. His legs were still missing, he could feel that much. But his could feel that his legs were no longer warm and wet, so Niko must have stemmed the flow of blood from his stumps. But the thought of these missing appendages was not what claimed his thoughts now. No. He thought of his adversary. The one that had taken his legs and nearly take Kain from him. Judging by the proximity of another's breathing besides his and Niko's, he judged that Niko must have saved Kain first for some reason. Solaki lifted his head and met the bloodied white helm of the Apothecary before him. "Tell me how it died. Niko, tell me how the tyrant met it's end." Niko told him how the tyrant had risen in the sky to reap more destruction, how Laikus had placed the Vindicator’s cross-hairs on the beast’s chest and the machine’s vengeful fist had torn out it’s heart for what it’s species had done to their beloved planet.

Solaki’s throat issued an irregular and soft breathing pattern that, had he more strength, would have been a hearty laugh full of mirth and sweet dominance. The mighty beast, who had tried to kill them all had been brought low. So much symbolism today, that in the it’s height of power and dominance in was killed, like how it’s physical death today. Solaki was no Chaplain, but he could have easily spoken on how such things were proof of the Emperor’s divine guidance and wrath. Solaki could feel his eyes grow heavy again and force himself to stay awake. He had to he. He had to fight. He wanted to fight. “Niko…” Solaki rasped weakly “…I want to fight. I want to see a thousand tyrants die by my hand for what they did to us. What they did to our home. My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak. If I can fight, don’t deny it from me. But if I must go, let me. It will have been a pleasure to serve with you, and I will meet you at the Emperor’s side, my brother.” Solaki’s hand fumbled up and grasped Niko’s in a warrior grip about the wrist, and with that he stopped speaking, no longer having the energy. Instead he focused on staying awake and alive. He needed to. There was so much left for him to do. He needed to live. 
He must. 
His eyes fluttered briefly before he forced them open. The clouds had changed position. Had he blacked out? For how long?
He must. 
He gasped in breath, realising he had forgotten to breathe. Had his heart stopped? Whould he make it? 
He must…


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## Lord Ramo

Kain felt nothing as he stared up what he believed the sky would be. Aware that Solakai was next to him, but not aware of anything else. The acid had done a terrifying job on his facial structure before Solakai had thrown his helmet away and put his on. It had helped for the moment, but he could tell the acid was still burning. Most of the skin around his face had melted away, he was sure that his eyes had been damaged beyond repair, though he would need a Apothecary before he knew that.

He could barely move at all, whether that be from his state, or the fact that his suit had no power now. One fear he did have, was that he would be attacked while he was in this state, unable and powerless to do anything about it and fight back against his attackers, but luckily the Hive Tyrant had not returned, well lucky for Solakai and Kain, if it plagued his brothers then he would gladly give his life for theirs.

He could hear roars as an engine came closer and closer, either the Vindicator or a thunderhawk. Perhaps his brothers had dealt with the menace and had come to help. Or maybe they were pulling out of this engagement, broken and lost. Kain wanted nothing more than to feel his bolter in his hands, pumping rounds into the enemy, but that wasn't to be. Footsteps pounded as a marine, the sound to loud for a small tyranid or guard, ran towards the two prone figures. Kain wondered how many of the other marines that had attacked the tyrant were alive, was Tobias alive? 

The helm was yanked from his face, and he could hear the voice of Niko, quickly explaining the situation. ‘Kain, brother, lay still. The damage to your armour is severe and the location indicates possible spinal damage, attempted movement will only cause further trauma. You can speak but do so without turning your head. I am going to need to take an infusion of blood from you in a moment,’

Kain acknowledged this by speaking, his damaged vocal cords making the sound coming out of his mouth faint. *"I take it you took care of the traitor then brother? Is the tyrant dead as well?" * Niko ignored him for a moment as he worked on Kain's face, Kain feeling the spray of something cool on his face before Niko moved to Solakai, confirming his suspicions of the dead hive tyrant.

Kain rejoiced inside, the evil bastard was dead, his brothers had their victory.


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## unxpekted22

The remaining Tyranid forces fell fast. Without the guidance of their enhanced hive mind leader and the crushing prescence of the reinforced Imperial Guard, they were killed off with ease. 

The Guard, Scythes of the Emperor, and the remaining Mortifactors spent the next several days cleansing the world of the Tyranid spore-taint over the city streets and jungle. Burning away the blacktop, trees, and brush. Evaporating the swamp in which the abducted Tau manta ship had crash landed. All of this would have been done in due time anyway, seeing as the Hive City was still scheduled for rapid expansion, but it was a majority opinion among the Astartes present on Ferim that they would see it done properly before moving on with their next matters at hand.

The Scythes of the Emperor... would rebuild their chapter. Their vengeance on the Tyranid menace finally being sated just enough to concentrate on something else for a time.


The Imperial officers stood in stern salute as they and all their regiments of men and women watched the heroes of the Imperium ascend back into the dark heavens from which they came. They gave the dieing chapter what resources they could. Machinery and parts for the ship, fuels and chemicals....awards.

Perhaps Vorspire and the rest of Ferim would soon recieve a higher number of men to protect it's vitality, but with command of the Imperium always being what it was, who could say?

The Scythes' battle barge had far too many places to go as it was, and the Mortifactors had no ship of their own to return to their homeworld. I n his gratitude Ferim's leading Guard Commander, without seeking permission from any higher-ups, simply gave the smallest Imperial vessel in orbit with warp drives to the handful of marines.


This ship would soon emerge near the Mortifactor homeworld, but would never dock at the Chapter's floating monastery.

The six of them stared out the viewing port with wide eyes, as close to horror as a Space Marine could possibly feel crawling from their black pupils, almost mimicking the void-scene before them. Enourmous Tyranid Hive ships, sickening shades of purple and white surrounded their homeworld of Posul, the giant Basilica Mortis already alight with fire, Mortifactor ships floating in pieces around it, some with tentacles still holding them apart.

The librarian was the only one to move his lips, "_The premonition....we did not even get the chance... to warn our brothers._






He had known Astelan a long time. Lord Sotha sat cold in his throne aboard the barge. He breathed slowly but deeply; his eyes almost sorrowful. 'How could a traitor have fought in my army for so long?' He would ask himself over and over, in constant search of signs from before that went undetected. Was he so blind with rage towards the Tyranid xeno that an even greater threat had stood right in front of him?

At that moment, standing before him, Veteran sergeant Tobias's well pronounced rites and vows were completed after being placed upon the kneeling brother Kain... now Brother Sergeant, who would look up to see his Lord's eyes adrift toward the floor, some of his body still held with casting, and some replaced by metal augmetics. 

Kain's own face....half of it could no longer be felt at all. His tongue not getting used to lapping against cold metal teeth in the slightest. Through one eye, the world was now forever cast in a sickening shade of red.






From worlds either unknown or forgotten to the Imperium, came these boys. With only the help of a few servitors, Niko's own hands had to feel countless flaw after flaw that would make each candidate unfit for the next stages of development. So few, such a scarce few of the teenagers taken from their homes were passing inspection. It was an unfortunate truth but a real one...the Barge needed many more servitors anyway in order to replace its past number and run at full capacity once more.

That was sad enough, but even more so was the now ever lingering thought about those souls that Niko's hands allowed through the next set of doors. Would he have to witness their dieing breaths after fighting side by side with them as well? By sending them through the next doorway he was still, ultimately, sending them to their doom.

Alexander was never there to help in the processes. He became stuck in the medical bays and research labs, seeming to become obsessed with researching the Tyranid genes that Niko had obtained from Ferim's surface, as well as continual monitering of their Lord's health. 

Even harsher, was when Niko looked into the eyes of these boys, and saw Astelan's looking back at him. Before any of these recruits could even hope to pass into the final stages of becoming an Astartes, the chapter would have to seek out a confidential psyker who could test their minds for taint. Until then, there would be no new additions to the brotherhood.






And his eyes fluttered open once more...


For months Laikus had secluded himself as best he could, only leaving his lair when duty demanded it. There were only two other souls on board who knew of his endevors so far: Lord Sotha and battle brother Belial. He needed to do this, for his battle brother that called him out on his attention to the machines over the spirits of his brothers, and for the chapter as a whole. They needed this weapon. All of the chapter's ancient heros had been deployed to defend their burning homeworld, and fell doing so. He had managed just one thing from that, a salvage of only half the parts of a destroyed dreadnought's hulk.

The immense walker stood silent and dark, a twin linked las-cannon for the right arm had replaced what was once an assault cannon, and a giant fist replaced what had been a simpler mechanical claw. It stood dormant for many months to come even after being successfully put back together, with Laikus doing his best each day to revive the soul inside. And one day it came. It was no different from any of the other days from months past, but it happened nonetheless.

A booming sound, a hollowed voice, "_*I must...I must...."*_"

The feeling of a smile came across his features with surprise. He may as well have forgotten what a smile was, but Laikus managed to speak regardless, "Welcome back to us, Brother Solaki."


Belial, the only Scythe Laikus would allow into his lair, was their with him when it happened. He had been sitting down on the opposite wall just like every day after his battle practices and prayers were complete. This day he finally had reason to stand proud.





Vorspire, would indeed continue scheduled as planned. It would take many years of constant labor and deathly work, but eventually Ferim's jungles would become barely visible from orbit replaced by industrialization. And it would not be until this time, when entire sectors of the city were buried deep, shadowed from the light of the sky and the preaching of the Emperor, that the seeds could finally be sewn. 

After being forgotten, and thought gone for eternity, it came again. The name would be spoken from a young man's mouth, a mere fifteen years of age. He would be decorated in odd, heretical patterns and cuts facing a glowing wall hidden away from authority. The whispers haunting the western sectors of Vorpsire will have finally hit the right ears, and from there the right throat, off of the right tongue.

With glazed eyes, raised hands, and a crowd of followers kneeling behind him the young man spoke, _"Astelan. I have sensed your presence and heard your voice my entire life. Please...My Lord, tell us your will."_




And there it is, the conclusion to ABTN2. Decided not to wait any longer for the remaining posters. I'd be damned if I didnt see this thing completed, and was starting to lose touch with the ABTN2 section of my mind. Thank you all very much for helping me make this such an enjoyable RP to GM. +rep for you all for sure. Wish I could do more haha, but hopefully my sincere gratitude will be enough to satisfy. Even if not hopefully you all at least enjoyed the story and can take something away from it to remember.

was unable to get rep to euph and BAV, so I'm sure I'll end up getting it to you guys eventually after spreading it around some more.


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