Squad Mishael turned their attention towards two more dark eldar squads as the dark warriors materialized out of the gloom on the far right. Brother Shammah's cannon sent steams of fiery plasma exploding into the onrushing warriors.As the super-heated fireballs vaporized several of the lead warriors, other eldar returned fire with several splinter cannons. A hailstorm of crystal shards engulfed the marines and several went down as the sheer number of projectiles overwhelmed the weak points of Imperial power armor. Hezekiah could clearly see Brother Areriel fall over and spasm uncontrollably. Areriel's omophagea and oolitic kidney were unable to deal with the toxin-coated projectiles. Blood began to ooze out of the prostrate armored form. Despite the heavy casualties inflicted upon them, the massive number of xenos allowed them to reach Mishael's marines. The experienced Astartes easily could handle the initial assault, but the sheer numbers from the mave mass of xeno warriors would overwhelm them. Red enameled bolters smashed into alien armor and alien blades flashed as a vicious hand-to hand struggle began. The stalwart angels of death held their ground and Dreadnought Elijah rumbled towards them. His assault cannon blazed forth thousands of high-velocity projectiles into the dark eldar ranks. The alien warriors began to panic as the ancient war machine slammed into the melee. The eldar natural quickness was useless against the sheer might of the giant. Alien battle cries turned to screams of terror as Elijah's massive power claw easily ripped the creatures apart. The few survivors of Elijah's raw might fled back into the awaiting darkness. The ancient war-machine thundered towards the second group of eldar. One alien gunner stood his ground and fired his disintegrator at the living sarcophagus. The alien missed and the dark energy blast arced skyward above the lumbering giant. Elijah leveled his heavy flamer at the warrior and spit out gouts of liquid flame. The blessed naphtha incinerated him, his weapon, and the four dark eldar behind. His assault cannon still blazing, Elijah crashed into significantly lessened mob of aliens and began to rend and grind their lithe bodies under Imperial metal. A warning alarm alerted Hezekiah to the danger seconds before the Hyperios battery began to open fire into the darkness above as. Four pirate skimmers screamed towards the battle out of the pre-dawn sky above. In addition to the sleek craft, Hezekiah's enhanced ocular spirit identified a pack of winged scourges rapidly dropping towards the Dark Angels. One of the skimmers was exploded in mid-air by a barrage of missiles from the automated platforms. Hezekiah uttered silent prayer as the three surviving craft landed behind the swarms of approaching aliens. Two of the transports were filled with the usually complement of dark eldar. The third however was covered in additional armor plating and sported three of the typical dark-matter lance weapons. Hezekiah immediately ordered Abed-nego to eliminate the pirates' heavy gunship. The weapon's crew immediately compiled but they were and fired round after round at the craft. The black technology of the Ravager's night shield rendered the targeting spirit of the whirlwind useless. The missiles exploded harmlessly behind the craft. Packs of jet-bikes emerged from the gloomy haze rear of the aliens' lines. The newly arrived Reavers rushed forward in conjunction with the newly arrived vehicles. Dark Eldar Scourges landed behind Brother-Sergeant Mishael's marines. Once on the ground, the xeno jump troops opened fire. The torrent of fire from their assault weapons managed to inflicted several causalities. Brother Ishmael's power pack detonated in a white-hot blast, vaporizing the top half of the marine. The force of the explosion knocked Brothers Jacob and Demas to the ground. "Thou shalt not suffer the unclean to live!" roared Brother-Sergeant Hananiah as he led the charge of Hezekiah's command squad. Finally given the chance to exact retribution upon the pirates for the deaths of his own marines, the vengeful sergeant gave to quarter to the aliens. Even the Ariel, with his burning power sword was unable to keep up with Hananiah's ferocity. The marine smashed in the face of one alien with the butt of his bolter and skewered another with his bayonet. Hananiah hoisted the squirming creature over his head. The creature drew a curved blade from its side and tried to stab at Hananiah's head. The marine ducked and slammed the creature to the cold, hard ground. Another xeno tried to use its own bayonet to impale Hananiah. The sergeant smashed the alien's splinter rifle in half with his bolter. With lighting fast reflexes, the marine struck out and grabbed the alien warrior by the throat. With one quick flick of the wrist he snapped the creature's spine. As the last of the scourges fell before his bodyguard, Hezekiah grinned in mock disappointment. He had been unable to reach even one before his bodyguard killed them all. Hezekiah nodded approvingly at the blood-splattered sergeant. As he turned back towards the battle, all of the surrounding marines were violently slammed to the ground as the Abed-nego exploded behind them. Part Ten: Hezekiah rolled over, servos whining as he recovered from the blast. One of Abed-nego's custodians managed to drag the other crewman out of the burning wreck. The marine began to hastily perform anti-fire rituals in a desperate attempt to prevent the Whirlwind's ordnance from exploding. The survivor grabbed a container from the rear of the burning hulk. The marine-custodian began to spray protective foam designed by the Adeptus Mechanicus. As the rest of his bodyguard got to their feet, he ordered several to aid the crewman. Three of the marines slung their bolters and rushed over to help save the faithful weapon. Hananiah and Ariel remained at Hezekiah's side as the commander began to assess his situation. All around the battlefield his marines were slowly tightening into a compact circle centered on Zachariah's devastators. A bulwark to the defense, Zechariah's marines fired salvo and salvo into the mass of onrushing warriors. The missiles unerringly found their targets and inflicted huge number of casualties. This did little to stem the tide of purple and black. The alien Ravager darted back and forth. Its skilled pilot used the xeno construct's inherent speed and agility to evade the Razorbacks' crack gunners. The other two skimmers deposited their deadly cargo behind the oncoming wall of warriors. Alien jet-bikes buzzed protectively around the sleek craft like a swarm of hornets. A score of screaming wyches rushed towards Nathanial's squad. The drug-cultists strangely curved blades and whip-like weapons whirled over their heads in a blood-crazed frenzy. The deranged creatures even cut down some of their own in a desperate attempt to be the first to reach the marines. One Razorback used its twin-linked plasma guns in a desperate attempt to stem the dark tide from swallowing up the embattled marines. Its partner suffered multiple hits from the weaving Ravager. The faithful tank was now a blazing pyre a few meters away. Its crew had seen the end of their loyal service to humanity. The fire raging inside of Abed-nego was quickly quenched and Hezekiah's bodyguard returned. The marines now moved to protect the rear of the Zachariah's squad. Ineffective splinter fire raked the marines' positions but bounced harmlessly off their hardened ceramite armor. Jeremiah's marines fired from the hip as they slowly withdrew before the seeming endless numbers of pirates. The aliens had encircled the entire detachment of Dark Angels and were gradually tightening the snare around the sons of the Lion. Each inch of ground was paid for by scores of alien bodies. Xenos blood flowed like streams across the ground. One sybarite managed to reach Jeremiah, but the Brother-Sergeant made quick work of the alien. Smashing aside its agonizer, Jeremiah's burning power sword dispatched the xeno. The blue-blade burned through the creature's mesh armor and cut the alien in half. As Jeremiah wretched the blade free, another alien replaced its fallen leader. Quicker than the marine could react, the alien caught the veteran off-guard and drove its bayonet deep inside of Jeremiah's body. "No remorse for the unclean!" bellowed the sergeant as the blade pierced his secondary heart. Bleeding profusely from his gaping wound, he raised his bolt pistol. A quick squeeze of the trigger made short work of his assailant. A few yards to the left of Jeremiah's marines, Squad Nathanial was locked into a losing struggle against the howling wyches. As their Succubus goaded them forward, the pit-fighters of Commorragh matched the defenders of humanity in the close combat. Power armor was little defense against the drug-crazed maniacs and marine after marine fell before their barbed whips and tainted blades. Of his original squad, less than half were still on their feet and fighting a desperate retrograde action. Unfortunately for the wyches, as effective as Dark Angles were on the offense, they were second to none on the defense. Brother-Sergeant Nathanial's power fist was everywhere and more than half of the drug-crazed gladiators were dead. However, their sheer numbers and speed were threatening to collapse the flank as the last of the marines were overwhelmed. Nathanial last defiant stand was cut short. The wyche succubus used its entangling whip to immobilize him. Hezekiah watched, as Nathanial was drug down under a flurry of flashing blades. The final Razorback was immobilized by a dark matter blast. The faithful transport was swarmed by a howling mob of alien warriors. They cheered as they clambered over the disabled vehicle. With practice born of lifetime of combat, the dark eldar placed their haywire grenades around vulnerable systems. The marine-gunner was slashed and stabbed as he tried to protect his tank. Despite his valiant efforts, the attackers overwhelmed him and completed their task. Once the charges were in place, they jumped off of the personnel carrier. Seconds later the alien devices were remotely activated. Strange electrical energy discharged across its hull; the Imperial vehicle was eerily silent. |
PURGE THE XENOS By Trent Hoffman |
EPICS OF REDEMPTION |
