# Heresy Online Expeditious Stories Competition 1: Panic



## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

The first HOES competition has begun!

Here's how it works:

Each month, there will be a thread posted in the Original Works forum for that month's HOES competition. For those of you interested in entering, ready the entry requirements, write a story that fits the chosen theme and post it as a reply to the competition thread by the deadline given.

Once the deadline has passed, a separate voting thread will be posted, where the readers and writers can post their votes for the top three stories. Points will be awarded (3 points for 1st, 2 for 2nd, and 1 for 3rd) for each vote cast, totaled at the closure of the voting window, and a winner will be announced. The winner will have his/her story added to the Winning HOES thread that will be posted with the completion of the first month's competition and, hopefully, stickied by the moderators 

*Theme*

The idea with the theme is that it should serve as the inspiration for your stories rather than a constraint. While creative thinking is most certainly encouraged, the theme should still be relevant to your finished story. The chosen theme can be applied within the WH40K, WHF, HH, and even your own completely original works (though keep in mind, this _IS_ a Warhammer forum) but there will be no bias as to which setting is used for your story.

As far as the theme goes, please feel free with future competitions to contact me with your ideas/proposals, especially given that my creative juices may flow a bit differently than yours. All I ask is that you PM me your ideas rather than posting them into the official competition entry/voting threads to keep posts there relevant to the current competition.

*Word Count*

The official word count for each competition will be 1,000 words. There will be a 10% allowance in this limit, essentially giving you a 900-1,100 word range with which to tell your tale. This is non-negotiable. This is an Expeditious Story competition, not an Epic Story nor an Infinitesimal Story competition. If you are going to go over or under the 900-1,100 word limit, *you need to rework your story.* It is not fair to the other entrants if one does not abide by the rules. If you cannot, feel free to PM me with what you have and I'll give suggestions or ideas as to how to broaden or shorten your story.

Each entry *must* have a word count posted with it. Expect a reasonably cordial PM from me (and likely some responses in the competition thread) if you either fail to adhere to this rule. The word count can be annotated either at the beginning or ending of your story, and does not need to include your title.

Without further ado...

The theme for this month's competition is:

*Panic*

Entries should be posted in *this* thread, along with any comments that the readers may want to give (and comments on stories are certainly encouraged in both the competition and voting threads!) 40K, 30K, WHF, and original universes are all permitted (please note, this excludes topics such as Halo, Star Wars, Forgotten Realms, or any other non-original and non-Warhammer settings).

The deadline for entries is *Midnight US Eastern Standard Time (-5.00 hours for you UK folks)Saturday, 15 January 2011.* Voting will be held from 16 - 22 January.

If you have any questions, feel free to either PM me or ask in this thread, to keep the Competition Thread uncluttered of anything besides stories and readers' comments.

Without further nonsense from me, let the writing begin!


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## Bane_of_Kings (Oct 28, 2009)

Well, Boc, here's your first entry. Also, if nobody else enters, does that mean I win by default? . 

*Heresy Online Expeditious Stories Competion 1: Panic*
*Emperor's Blood*
_An Imperial Guard Short Story_
1010 words​

SLOWLY, KEEPING HIS head down, Colonel Kardan advanced through the ruins of what had once been known as Hive Hestran. “Watch your backs, men,” he remarked, gesturing to his men behind him. “You never know where these traitors might be hiding. Check every ruin.”

“Yes, Colonel,” there was a chorus of replies from his squad. Climbing through what had once been some sort of pub, a place for hivers to gather and drink; it was here that he first heard the voice. 

_‘Count the Seven.’_

“What was that?” uttered the vox-caster, afraid. He was a young man in his early twenties, and boasted blonde hair. He was named Thestus, and had been with the Regiment ever since Morannos. “I just got something weird on the vox.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Kardan responded. “It’s just your vox acting up – keep going. Remember, guard your flanks. The Emperor Protects.”

“The Emperor Protects,” they chorused as one, and continued their advance.

“The Baneblade was last reported to be several miles north-east of our current position, Colonel,” Jedrec, the man who carried the squad’s flamer, informed his Colonel of what he already knew. Deciding not to respond, Colonel Kardan continued his advance.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Andras was the one who spoke, nudging a corpse with his lasgun to see if it moved. “Why couldn’t we be off on the front line? We shouldn’t have to be searching for a lost Baneblade.”

“Contact was lost with the Baneblade, but the pskyers confirm that it’s machine spirit is still intact,” Kardan turned on Andras. “That’s why we’re going out there. We can’t go in Valkyries or Chimeras because that would give away our position. And we don’t have any Sentinels left, and all our other squads are on the front line.”

“I know that, Colonel,” responded Andras. “But what about the 22nd? We haven’t heard from them in weeks.”

“The last time they were reported was near the Baneblade,” replied Kardan. “I’ll give extra rations to all of you if we find both.”

That got the men interested. The promise of extra food always got the men interested, as during wars, food was often hard to come by. As Kardan climbed over another piece of wreckage, he heard the voice again. 

_‘Count the Seven.’_

“I don’t think that’s my vox acting up, Colonel,” uttered Thestus. 

“Try changing the frequency,” replied Kardan, and continued regardless. “It’s nothing.”

“But Colonel, this is the second time I heard it,” Thestus remarked, anxiously. “I mean, I can understand once, but twice?”

Colonel Kardan shot a look at Thestus, and remarked, “It’s defiantly your vox acting up.”

“But Colonel...”

“Any more words from you, Thestus, and I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

“It wasn’t Thestus who spoke, Colonel,” remarked Andras with a frown. “I heard it as well. Count the Seven. That’s all it is. Just three words.”

_‘Count the Seven.’_

And this time, Colonel Kardan heard it. It was an eerie voice, deep and dragged out. It echoed across the squad, causing each of them, including the Colonel to stop stone dead.

“Ignore it,” after a long pause, Kardan came to a conclusion. “If it’s not the vox acting up, it’s the enemy trying to scare us. Don’t pay attention to it.”

“Colonel, if the enemy can get into our vox systems, does that mean they know where we are?” asked Thestus, worryingly, as they climbed over another small ruin. 

“If they know where we are they would have attacked by now,” replied Kardan.

“Or they’re leading us into a trap,” Jedrec replied grimly. “What’s our next move, Colonel?”

“We follow our orders, unless you want to find yourself as part of the penal legions,” Kardan spat, and grabbed his weapon, a trusty Power Sword that had been with him, also since Morannos, when he had lost his old one to a xenos later classified as a Carnifex. The only reason why he still lived was due to the intervention of an adeptus astartes, from the Raven Guard Chapter, appearing from nowhere to smite the alien with righteous fury.

“So we advance,” the final member of the five-man squad, the only female there, and the highest ranked in the Regiment, Kal, spoke. “And if it’s a trap, we spring it and call in for air support.”

“Aye, that’s what we’ll do,” Colonel Kardan grinned. “Nice thinking, Kal. Sharp as ever. Now, Guardsmen. We wouldn’t want to let the God-Emperor down, would we?”

They continued their advance in silence. About half an hour later, they arrived in what had once been an Imperial Chapel, dedicated to the God-Emperor and the Imperium. Some defiled banners still hung on the walls, signifying that the enemy had not had a chance to taint this place yet.

Which unnerved Kardan, as he thought, if he was the enemy, he would have defiled the Chapel long ago – as it stood out as a beacon of resistance, and a beacon of hope, to any survivors.

“We go inside the Chapel,” ordered Kardan. 

“Guns blazing or stealth, Colonel?” asked Jedrec, curiously, lifting his flamer. 

“Scan for signs of life,” Kardan responded, looking at Kal, who obeyed. 

“There’s... There’s nothing,” Kal remarked, after a quick scan. 

“Good. Then we don’t have to-”

“Wait,” Kal held up her free hand. “I’m detecting something... lots of things inside. Some small, some large. But... there’s hundreds, Colonel! And there’s more – behind us!”

“Behind us?” Colonel Kardan spun around, but saw nothing. Then, Kal screamed. Instantly turning around, Kardan noticed it. 

“_Daemon_,” he spat, and loaded his pistol. It was small for a spawn of the archenemy, and stank so badly that Kardan reckoned they could have smelt it a mile away, and it was covered in green – but there were more than just one of them. 

And they were not all the same size. There were several different shapes of them, some suspiciously man-sized. Recognising the banner that one of them held, Kardan cursed.

“Emperor’s blood!”

At last they had found out what had happened to the Korvannon 22nd.


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

*Bane_of_Kings*: Emperor’s Blood
A very solid first story for the competition. I had to reread the first part where Colonel Kardan heard the voice, it was somehow very creepy and very well done despite the simplicity of the statement. Throughout the story, you used dialogue very effectively, as you built the tension between Kardan and his squad. And the final scene, as they approached the Chapel, was quite satisfying. Excellent way to start out the competition, BoK 


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

Hrm... hopefully the lack of stories is due to the holidays! I know mine is at least haha


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

I will endeavour to get something up for this in the coming days 

should be getting my new laptop soon so ill have more typing time 

just a friendly bump, 1000 word is not too much trouble people this deserves far more than one story


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## Scathainn (Feb 21, 2010)

I'm working on mine right now but I've really been hit hard by the holidays - I had pneumonia, the flu, and a recurring migrane for two weeks that I'm still trying to recover from


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

My problem is, I'm fairly poor at writing short stories (1000 Words etc?). I'll see if I can take a "sense-making" passage from a mini-novel I'm writing.


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

As a reminder...
*5 days remaining!*

So for those of us that have yet to enter, myself included, get writing!


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

Okay, due to lack of participation so far, I am extending the deadline for one week in an effort to try to get some more interest in this.

So... you all have until 22 JAN to submit something!


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## jaggedjaw (Oct 2, 2010)

Heresy Online Expeditious Stories Competion 1: Panic
Snow
word count: 904
40K short story

"Fire you dog's", screamed the human with the black cap, "Kill them in the Name of the Emperor." All around that man there were hundreds, no thousands of other humans with laser weapons and there were also humans with several different kinds of heavy weapons and also some weapons which instantly vaporized their foes. "We should be wary of those",Wraith said to itself. Wraith then turned his head left so he could observe the enemies they were facing. "Oi", one of the krork yelled, "GET A MOVE ON YA GROTZ AN' SQUIGS I SHOULD BE UP TA ME 'EAD IN GUTZ INSTED ALL I GOT IZ IM UPTA ME KNEES IN SNOW!"

"Snow?", the wraith said looking down,"thats what this white stuff is?" The snow was literally everywhere covering the entire ground and there was more of it falling down from the sky. The wraith was so distracted with the snow that he almost didn't notice one of the krork machines walk into him. Startled the wraith went underground and eventually came inside of the tomb. "What is going on up there?" Lord asked.

"Lord the Krork and the humans are battling on the plains above us",Wraith managed. "I see", Lord thought. Then Lord stretched out his hand and a resurrection orb came into being. "Rise my children", Lord said, "rise and destroy those who would dare defile our world." Almost immediately thousands upon thousands of necrons began rising from the countless sarcophagus with only a single question breaking there silence.

"Lord", Wraith asked,"what is snow?" Lord turned and looked at wraith and stared at him for a long time before he finally said,"Snow?" "Yes Lord snow", Wraith returned,"one of the Krork mentioned it when rallying his troops. It is literally everywhere." "What does this snow look like", Lord demanded.

"Well it is white", Wraith said. Another long silence followed before Lord broke it once again,"And?" "Well thats just it," Wraith replied, "All it is is white." Lord stood in silence again absorbing all of this information before finally saying,"I want to see this snow." After saying that Lord teleported to the surface and wraith phased through the ground after him.

When Wraith got to the surface he found Lord just standing there staring at the sky. He was like this for what seemed like hours but was actually mere moments. "It's everywhere", Lord finally whispered. "What?" Wraith asked. "IT'S EVERYWHERE!" Lord screamed.

With that Lord began firing his staff of light at the snow. "This snow", he said, "is trying to kill us!" "What?" Wraith asked. He was only replied by a near miss from one of the gausse beams. "Think of it", Lord said while swinging his staff at some of the snow in the air, "it is everywhere. Why would it not be trying to kill us?" 480 

"Lord", Wraith realized, "you're right." Then for several minutes the two of them attempted to kill as much snow as possible, however there seemed to be an endless supply of it. "We need more necron's to kill the snow", Lord said, "Immortals, destroyers, flayed ones, and warriors come to me." With that thousands of necrons appeared all around the plain. "KILL THE SNOW!" Lord demanded. 545

"But what of the humans and Krok on the other plain?", Other Lord asked. "The only reason they haven't seen you is do to those trees." Lord stared at other lord for awhile before saying, "kill them too." With that about half of the necrons and Other Lord teleported of to destroy the Krork and humans. "Now then", lord said turning to face the rest of the necrons, "KILL THE SNOW!" 626

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"Oi Being a snipa is da most borring fing I eva' done in ma life", Snirker complained. "AHH shut ya trap 'ole", Milek yelled, "least wes not a meatsheild like da boss wanted us ta be." Black Eye just leaned on a tree and watched Snirker and Milek quarrel. "I outa give ya one fer tellan me wat ta do",Snirker threatened. Then before the threat could become a reality a green beam came out from the trees.

"WAT DA GORK WAS DAT?" Snirker yelled. "'OW SHOULD I KNOW?" Milek replied."Lets find out", Black eye said, while walking towards where the beam came from. Snirker and Milek followed him and in no time at all they found the source. "Necros", Black Eye said, "and deres der boss."

"Where?" Snirker asked. "There", Black Eye said while pointing. The other grots followed his finger and saw a Necron in old robes frantically swinging a staff around in the air while a large number of other necrons were firing at either the ground, the trees, or the sky. "Lets kill 'im", Milek grinned. And in near unison the 3 grots raised their shootas.

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Without warning 3 loud booms sounded and Lord suddenly jerked his head to the side and fell onto the ground. "Lord what happened?" Wraith asked frantically. For a long moment Lord just laid there on the ground and Wraith began to suspect that Lord was actually dead. Then slowly Lord began to rise up. When he was finally standing fully upright again he turned to Wraith and said, "was it just my memory failing me right now or, did the snow just try to shoot me?"


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## VulkansNodosaurus (Dec 3, 2010)

_Hopefully this isn't too late._
Heresy Online Expeditious Stories Competion 1: Panic
Vermillion Flames
An Angels Vermillion short story
1026 words
“They’re to the west. Emperor, they’re not even trying to conceal themselves!”

Sergeant Steain Yelit nodded. “Brother Drese, I assume you have never fought this breed of xenos before?” Not waiting for a reply, Yelit continued. “Simply put, their goal is to raid this village, steal all valuables and people, and escape. They aim to be feared by their prisoners, so there is no reason to hide. They probably haven’t even noticed us yet.”

Drese couldn’t argue.

“Now,” finished Steain, “into the air!”

The jump packs screamed into life, the five Astartes lifted up. Drese took a moment to appreciate the liberty of flight before angling himself to catch up with the rest of his squad. Brother Geler’s pack seemed more encumbered than normal, and as a result Drese wasn’t last.

The land passed below, and looking down between strides, Drese could see mutilated skulls randomly scattered across the ground. The aliens couldn’t not have noticed them, unless they simply made a habit of throwing out bones.

As the Assault Squad passed over the first houses, thick smoke obscured Drese’s view. His helmet allowed him to continue observing the ground below.

There.

Drese has no psychic talent that he knew of, but all Angels Vermillion had a speck of sub-instinctual comprehending. It might have come from the blood-line of Sanguinius, or from the more specific Flaw of their single Chapter. It never lied, even if it was rarely useful.

The Squad swept down, and a xeno transport came into view. On its deck, the aliens were running around seemingly without purpose. Several humans were visible, bound and to all appearances taken prisoner.

The packs’ buzzing didn’t cause the xenos to stop whatever they were doing; they didn’t even seem to pay attention. There were five of them, and Drese’s sense told him there were five more. Only ten, and yet they had razed to the ground a village of hundreds.

The Dark Eldar finally looked up moments before the first blur of red landed on the transport’s surface.

The ship collapsed into madness. Drese heard screams, but his eyes were intently focused on his goal. The xenos had desired to escape into the Webway, carrying with them the loot of half a world.

Cexryn.

“Don’t aim for the engines. There’s no need to kill the civilians, or ourselves!”

Yelit’s words were expected, but his tone and Drese’s knowledge reminded Drese of what he had been thinking moments ago.

Two xenos collided in an attempt to get away from the Astartes. Screaming in horror, one skidded off the transport and into the smoke-filled air. The other simply pitched backwards. Whispering something that sounded like “Must not stop”, he hurled himself at the newly landed Geler.

Drese lifted his gaze from the fighting, instead running towards the open hatch that led into the ship’s storage. It had been difficult to track the ships down, but the relics had to be in one of those two. It would take some time to search the cargo-

There was no cargo.

Running back up, Drese leapt towards the other vessel. The Jump Pack started up again, and the Marine was again flying. There was still plenty of power, but Drese sincerely hoped the other vessel was close enough to allow him to hit. More fervently, he hoped that its hull was not similarly empty, for that would mean failure.

That would mean the Bloody Feather had been taken to the Webway forever.

A Space Marine was supposed to have no fear, but Drese knew fear very well at that moment. It was not fear of defeat, for that was irrelevant. Rather, fear of failure, fear that his efforts had not been fast enough- those fears plagued him.

He tried to push the panic aside, tried to avoid the conclusion that this was just a trap the Eldar had set for them. He couldn’t, for a part of him was becoming convinced that the Feather was not there, that this journey had been for nothing.

The impact of ceramite on metal ended his self-indulgence.

No shots came: the transport, while not abandoned, was undermanned and unprepared. The xenos had time to whip around before one had fallen, and of the remaining three, two hesitated to shoot. Drese dispatched them immediately: it seemed too easy, but it was clear that this transport had not been expecting an attack.

To the right, a fireball erupted from the smoke.

Drese knew it was important, that most likely something had triggered the engines, or alternatively there was a bomb hidden somewhere. It explained his panic: the foresight had been warning him, and he had taken it only as a sign that he might not get the Feather! The loss of the prisoners was unfortunate, and although his brothers would survive, any other treasure on board that transport had been lost too.

An impact on his knee awoke him, and he shot the last xeno, only to realize she wasn’t there, or on the ship at all. Instead, some blunt object had collided with his leg.

It was a head.

The Sergeant’s head.

Screaming in fury, Drese felt something pass before his eyes. Technology beyond the Mechanicum’s greatest dreams exploded in the stars. Hands reached out, murdering slight forms from the aether. Worlds exploded and the galaxy burned.

Where an empire once stood, there was only an eye.

Roaring his anger to the stars, Drese advanced into the hull. The monsters that had killed his friends would suffer.
* * *
He awoke in the Apothecarion, the Feather still clutched in his hand. Reaching out, he grabbed the one observing him.

“How many?”

The Apothecary understood the question immediately. “One. Geler escaped, with his life and sanity intact. You weren’t as lucky.”

Drese throttled him even further. “Why-”

The Apothecary entered the room again. Was the thing he was choking a mere servitor? Everything exploded, the daemons raking his legs, the Warp percolating into the room.

He would fight them.

A single voice pierced the darkness, one so beautiful Drese knew it had to belong to his Primarch, the one he had never seen.

“Welcome to the Death Company, Battle-Brother.”

_A few notes: yes, I know that this isn't what the Black Rage is supposed to be like, but they're the Angels Vermillion and supposed to have a dark secret. Thus I decided to make it strange. Also, it's somewhat tangentially related to the theme, but oh well._


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