Chapter V: The Shadow Falls On Qadis III Sagaitante was thankful for one thing! That his second in command, Captain Graffer had survived and was in command at the final defence line below. "If anyone can hold it, Graffer can!" he reassured himself. Battlefield communications started to fill in as the enemy started their bombardment. Sagitante itched to reposition Station 979's missiles to bring relief to those below, but they were needed for a much more important task. In case the Deathwing failed! He looked at the massively armoured marines. Impressive in their mighty armour. Formidable in their weaponry. They stood like Titans. They looked bigger than life! "But if these super-humans fail what chance have we?" He asked himself trying hard to maintain his composure. He looked at the Astropathic chamber. The strain of constantly relaying every possible piece of information to the nearest batllefleet racing to their rescue was telling on all their faces. The longer they held, and the more information they sent, the more effective would be the Imperium's reposte. Senior Astropath Glengard looked as pale as a sheet. " The Shadow grows rapidly! I have not experienced this phenomena previously." Every psychically attuned astropath there looked visibly terrified by that proclamation. "I cannot tell what it is" trembled the old man's voice. A swift whooshing noise swept the command chamber and the lights dimmed as Gladius triggered the teleporter. "For the Lion and the Emperor" Segreant Lucius' words were still ringing in their ears when all realised that the squad was no longer there! Lucidian was straining to concentrate! Tracking the psychic beacon and transferring the coordinates to Gladius' console. His right hand squeezed the pommel of his sword as the strain of the action began to tell. "I cannot fail" He felt as if he was floating above the planet. He could see the tunnels appearing and disappearing fast! Deeper and deeper he flew! Suddenly a large chamber! Thousands of milling bodies. Humans, Hybrids, Cultists!!!! What was happening???? Slowly he could hear a distant voice, desperately shouting. he began to focus.suddenly he was floating back up.and then awareness!!! Gladius was shouting and shaking him. "It is done!! They are down! We must hurry!!!" As the Librarian regained his balance, realising that he had inadvertently linked with Sergeant Lucius' mind as they were teleported. He acted swiftly. Moving as fast as he could in the cumbersome terminator armour, he followed the techmarine on to the teleporter circle. Gladius was already activating his transponder beam to lock on to Sergeant Lucius' homing beacon. Lucidian activated his psychic hood. He would need that against a formidable foe like the patriarch! He must not fail! He cannot fail! A servitor stood ready at the console to activate the teleporter. Time seemed to slow again as many events occurred simultaneously.. ..Lucidian unsheathed his force sword and activated it. ..Gladius activated the myriad of devices attached to his armour. The servo arm attached to his back pack purred in anticipation of the coming battle. ..The servitor initiated the teleport sequence, bathing them in blue eldritch light. ..Lucidian felt a heaviness in the warp..familiar sensations ..he saw Sagitante stand at attention and throw him a salute..as if on a parade ground. ..he could just see two of the astropath's collapsing Glengards face was a mask of agony and fear he could hear him screaming.." It comes!! it's massive!! It comes!!!! Emperor save us.aaargh ..he saw resolution in Sagitante's eyes. ..The images were flickering as the teleporter activated. ..he concentrated in to the warpand realisation struck him.and he smiled Colonel Sagitante looked around him. Two of the astropaths had collapsed, wretching and vomitting on the floor, frightened out of their minds, Glengaard was unconscious. These were just astropaths trained for communications, not for the heat of battle. The last astropath, Qradell, looked at him bewildered He felt Lucidian's thoughts gently nudge his mind. The old librarians message was meant to reassure him. " Do not be afraid" was the psychic message as the librarian disappeared in a haze of shimmering. Sagitante was about to issue his last chain of orders when Qradell screamed " There it is! it is here!!!!" Sagitante turned slowly and faced the view screen the man was pointing to and what he saw made him both marvel and cringe with fright ..he could hear his Sergeant Dexter's voice whisper "My God". Chapter VI: In to the bowels of the beast Seventy nine times!!! Seventy nine times!! He had done this seventy nine times!! He repeated the thought in his mind. It did not matter that he had donned his battle armour and performed the rites of passage for a teleport assault, seventy nine times. Yet he never got comfortable Sergeant Lucius' thoughts were rudely interrupted as a gut wrenching sensation signaled the commencement of teleportation. Eldritch blue light flared. It felt like his stomach was in his mouth. His heart pushed down in to his thighs. And then the feeling of airlessness and weightlessness. He focussed on the litany of passing. Readying himself for the battle ahead.. Only milliseconds ahead. He could feel the gentle reassurance of Librarian Lucidian's aura accompanying him and his squad. Always watched over them, the librarian. More eldritch blue, a smell of burnt ozone wafting through his filters, and they were there. Autosensors immediately focussed to the dim light levels. The teleportation had been fortuitously accurate. They had appeared on to one side of a large cavernous hall, on to an alcove. And within the cavernous hall, with very high ribbed ceilings, were life forms tens hundreds thousands Auto sensors readouts were coming one on top of another.. Squad members mechanically reported in. He could hear Gideon's assault cannon whine as the barrels began to rotate in preparation for firing. "Gideon here!" "Quintus here!"the squad reported in rapidly, automatically fanning out in to a slightly inverted semicircle, Lucius taking the centre, with Gideon and Quintus on either side, both Assault cannon's at the ready. Adonus and Belasus flexed their powerfists purposefully, their stormbolters at the ready Fifteen seconds had passed since they had appeared magically in to the alcove. Lucius had taken in the situation in front of him. |
DEATH ON QADIS III By ( Shadow Guard ) |
FABLES OF THE UNFORGIVEN |
