Lexandro ducked as a krak missile shrieked on overhead. Something exploded, and a green light winked out at the periphery of his vision. Another battle-brother.
Everything had begun so well.
---
The Fists were making good progress against the legions of cultists sent to bog them down and delay their assault, gunning down what seemed like an unlimited number of cannon fodder. Some of them were surely fresh recruits from the former citizens of Ulpia. Lexandro felt no remorse cutting them down. They had abandoned the light of the Emperor.
The armored spearhead was driven especially hard, lead by the Brother-Captain and his officer cadre. They were the ones to punch through.
The vox crackled just as Lexandro drove through a mass of Cultists, running them over with his heavy bike, scattering them with booming hits of his thunder hammer. The ensign from the Sacrum Pugnus said something about an incoming transmission-
The mass of cultists had suddenly reached its end.
Well entrenched around the ziggurat was a company of traitor legionaries, reinforced by Chaos Predators. Positioned in the ruins around, Havocs brandished heavy weaponry.
And then the world exploded.
---
The vox crackled a few more times, but Lexandro paid it no heed. He needed every ounce of his focus, his strength and his willpower to win this battle. The enemy commander seemed to possess some skill as well. He was sighted for moments here and there, trudging around in baroque terminator armor, guiding the legionaries. Lexandro gritted his teeth, and pressed onward.
---
Epistolary Jeraiah whirled his force staff, pointed at a traitor marine, and shot off a bolt of pure psychic energy. The traitor screamed, and vanished in a thin cloud of blood and entrails. All around him, there was the chaos of battle. But the elderly librarian felt something else, too.
He looked up at the ziggurat.
A multi-limbed daemon engine - one of many working around the tower, building it ever higher - was making its way to the top. In massive claws, it held an eight-pointed star.
'Brother-Captain. Look at that! That must be the finishing piece.'
'Brother-Captain?'
Lexandro crawled out from under his bike. The last thing he remembered was being assaulted by a horde of daemons, summoned by the blasphemous warlord of the enemy. His helm was damaged. He ripped it off. His enhanced senses struggled with the sensory overload. There. His eyes cleared. He saw the engine now.
'Brothers! Concentrate fire on... that!'
No response. He looked around. To the left, Aggressors were fighting hand-to-hand with Chaos Terminators. To the right, Quiet Aaron was locked in combat with the enemy Chaos Lord himself. He looked around, searching for his fire support. He saw a burnt wreckage - the Last Light, he thought.
The daemon engine was close to the top now.
The seconds seemed to stretch on. Time slowed. Sounds faded.
The vox crackled with painful clarity.
'Captain, I beg your forgiveness. I can hold them off no longer. Patching through...'
'Captain Lexandro D`Arquebus. This is Shield-Captain Rholik, of the Adeptus Custodes. I also speak for Lady Sebille, of the Stoic Judgement, of House Hawkshroud. We were sent by the Lord Guilliman to reinforce you. We will land shortly on your position.'
'I am afraid, Shield-Captain, that you are late.'
'What-'
The daemon engine reached the top. Slowly, oh so carefully, it maneuvered into position. Lexandro looked on, dazed, as it rotated around its main axis, bringing the crude metal star to bear. It placed the star right on top of the ziggurat.
For a moment, nothing happened.
And then the sky exploded into a whirling red mass. Laughter filled the air, and unspeakable shapes swarmed out of the hole in reality far above. Battle paused, as the Fists watched in horror, and the traitors howled their triumph.
'Brother-Captain.'
Jeraiah was frantic.
'This warp breach will engulf the entire world! We have to shut it down at the source!'
'Can you close it?'
'I... can try.'
'Where?'
'Up ahead. Not the ziggurat. It is but a conduit.'
'Very well.'
Lexandro switched his vox bead to the uplink channel again.
'Shield-Captain Rholik. We have but one chance. Land on our position. Come in hot. The Emperor protects.'
No comments:
Post a Comment