Rumbling down the Asphalt Street, the two rhinos carried with them a unique strike force. Inside the plasteel hull, Gideon listened to the metal tracks tearing up the black ground beneath them. Looking through the ruby lenses in his helmet, Gideon inspected his chainsword. The teeth were now triangular and blue. The hollow points were sharpened to an evil looking edge. The handle had an additional intake to compensate the extra fuel that was required for the power plant. The inner circle devised a new strategy to counter the horribly effective lighting strikes by the Dark Eldar raiders. Already the city's population was dropping radically as citizens fled, or were captured. Asmond started to speak over the radio. "Listen up marines, one minute until deployment. We're packed in these tight, so don't forget to open all the hatches. We need the extra circulation." He called out. Asmond was in the other rhino. Because of the division, Sergai was in charge of getting rhino A into the air. Spiral formation strait to the enemy. Of course, the worst fear was the scourges. Though he had never seen them before, the imperial database had revealed some of their finer points. Armed with splinter rifles, a jagged looking rifle that shoots shards of crystal, they were just as maneuverable. Actually, Gideon thought, they were more nimble, but had less armor. The rest was classified with a level 3-A inquisitorial clearance required for access. His radio crackled before Asmond's voice filled his ear "Blow the hatch, blow the Hatch, get moving!" Asmond shouted. The marines on either side of Gideon turned the side hatch levers, then kicked them open. The rear hatch dropped down, and then they unlatched the top doors. "Gideon, break the package." He could hear Sergai yell. Activating his jump pack, Gideon used a short burst, pushing the double doors open. Michael was firing out of the other rhino, a trail of smoke billowing from his pack. Looking down, he could see guardsmen holding a line in the City Street just forward of his position. Lasgun beams pulsed and cut into armored lightly armored figures kneeling behind cover. Soon, the entire squad was in the air, staggered in a single file line. Their target lay in the Hive City that stretched into the clouds above them. Asmond led the assault marines as usual, screaming orders over the squad's private channel. Staying in formation, the marines banked hard right, weaving between buildings. It would take a few minutes to arrive at the Hive City. Terphyli had the honors of wearing a MK 6 model helmet, fitted with advanced communication and sensor array. Gideon could see how it earned the nickname "beaky", as it looked like the beak of a bird. "Lower elevation to zero-one-five feet." Asmond said. Watching his altimeter tick down to fifteen feet, he followed the formation down. Street illuminators screamed by their heads. Small lines in the road turned into fast blurs. "I have a blip on my scanner sir." Terphyli announced. "Incoming hostiles, one-five-oh feet, one-three-oh miles per hour, two-three-six feet, twelve degrees and closing." The entire squad looked upwards. Dark figures silhouetted against the sky, bat wings protruded from their backs. "Break formation, climb to one-five-oh feet, speed to one-five-oh miles per hour. Intercept broad rainbow formation." Asmond barked. The squad moved into a single file line, and rose, strait into the air. Gideon drew his plasma pistol and relished the flowing adrenaline. He could see Michael unlatch his chain sword. As the squad approached its target, they arched, forming the bend in the rainbow. Twenty scourges were in diamond formation, ten fore and ten aft. Thrusting their feet forward, the nimble figures changed direction, broke formation, and dropped underneath the marines. Asmond cursed, and yelled over the radio. "Scatter, maneuver the buildings!" Said the sergeant over a wave of static. The group split up and smashed through the windows of various buildings. Following, the scourges broke off, trailing each marine two to one. Gideon watched crystal spark off the stone wall, smashing a path behind him. Turning hard right, he broke through the window of a factory. Broken pipes and plasteel girders made a three dimensional cobweb of debris. The razor sharp gauntlet of death stretched a mile easily, dark and narrow paths twisted, forming a route to the end. Dropping his speed to fifty percent, Gideon could still feel the wreckage speed by him, hear the hum of death as he fled down the tunnel. He holstered his plasma pistol to better concentrate. Following closely, the scourges nimbly dodged the obstacles. Crystal exploded around him, cutting in bursts through the air. Shards arced and splintered in front of him, razor sharp slivers imbedded themselves in his helmet. A fork in the path. Turning left, he cut close to the edge. Metal protrusions sparked on his shoulder pads. He bounced off the wall, drifting down, a large plasteel beam cut across his jump pack. Pulling a frag grenade from his belt, he broke the pin and counted. "One...two...three...four!" He shouted the last number as he let the explosive drop out of his grip. It blew only a second after leaving his hand. The concussion rocked him inside his armor. Wavering, Gideon's armor sparked off the jagged debris as the marine tried to steady himself. Shards ripped across one of the lightly armored scourges. The assailant started to tumble. Sparks erupted from its body as it bounced off the wall. One of the delicate wings struck a plasteel bar and erupted into flames and metal shards. Falling to the ground, razor sharp scrap metal tore it to pieces, causing the jump pack to erupt in flames, before exploding. The scourge's head screamed past Gideon's head, and bounced down the tunnel for a ways. The rear flier regained control, then began firing at his target once again. Trying to dodge the rounds, Gideon performed a barrel roll, and faced the ceiling. He started to pull another grenade from his belt. Crystal shards burst, forming a trail of dents along his armor. A single shard struck his hand, launching the unarmed grenade free from his grip. Rolling over, he rubbed his left hand. A warning sounded inside his helmet. Then a female voice spoke to him. "Danger, damage to left hand detected. Bio-scan complete. Damaged muscle tissue evident. Plasteel gauntlet punctured, ceramite covering is now ruined. Elemental protection reduced to oh-nine-five percent. Foreign object detected." Gritting his teeth, Gideon pulled the crystal shard free. He turned, a large sheet of metal sparking on his chest plate. Dropping the projectile, he drew his pistol. Firing blindly, Gideon pulled the trigger repeatedly. The weapon bucked and he could see the tunnel illuminated as the plasma exploded behind him. A small light poured through the end of the tunnel. Not directly Gideon thought. Cursing, he dropped his thrusters to twenty-five percent and aimed upwards. Striking the end of the tunnel, Gideon gunned his engines, driving them to one hundred and twenty-five percent. Fumes erupted from the twin cylinders, and they started to glow red. The top was covered by a sewer drain. Light poured in through small holes in the top. Pointing his plasma pistol towards the cover, he pulled the trigger. Sparks showered him, and the sewer drain disappeared in a ball of white light. Glowing red metal surrounded the hole, now twice its original size. Plasteel shoulder pads ground on the sides, yellow sparks trailed behind them. Gideon looked down, watching the scourge. Its wings were too wide to fit through the gap. Smashing the wings off from the jump pack, flames burst from the figures back. It spun through the air out of control. Bouncing off a building, the scourge reversed direction, and shot towards the ground. It struck the ground, burst into flames, and spread flaming debris as he rolled down the street. Nagolist was still dodging two scourges, weaving through the tall buildings at breakneck speeds. Gideon quickly unscrewed his two empty hydrogen flasks, and replaced them with fresh disks. Dropping the worthless batteries to the ground he took aim at the nearest scourge. Following the bat-like creatures, he squeezed the trigger. Plasma exploded next to his target, showering it with sparks. Blue crystal sparked off Nagolist's armor as the enemies fired. The lead scourge had a larger rifle, it spit crystals in a constant beam. Giving his target less lead, Gideon pulled the trigger again. This time the scourge exploded into white sparks. Glowing red armor bounced off a building as the zoomed by it. Nagolist dove, and banked hard left around a building. Narrowly missing a com-booth, the marine's boots sparked on the street. The rookie was having trouble with his gyrostabilizers Gideon thought to himself. It was obvious the marine was rocking back and forth, but he could not tell if it was imbalance, or dodging. Slowly, Gideon was advancing, shooting his plasma pistol at the scourge. White explosions erupted around his target, but he could not get a clean lock. Shards of crystal were reflecting off the lead marine's armor. They had imbed themselves deep within the armor plating. Gideon was now close enough to the scourge bloodstains on the Dark Eldar became visible. Holstering his plasma pistol, he unclipped his chainsword. Curling waves of heat spewed from the exhaust vents. Plasteel teeth blurred before they became invisible with speed. |
CHRONICLES OF AN ANGEL VOLUME III - DOGFIGHT By Brother Gideon |
TOMES OF VALOUR |
This story has been reproduced with permission from the author. Many terms used in this story (such as Space Marine, Eldar, and others) are Trademarks of Games Workshop, Inc. Their use here is not intended as a challenge to said trademarks. |
