40K Source

at a certain temperature, water is turned into snow and ice. instead of rain from the sky, small snowflakes fall down, minimal size but in enough numbers, they can cover an entire landscape, turning it from green, brown, yellow and all possible colors into just white.

a single snowflake falls downwards, turning after the whims of gravity and wind, and its path down is decided by not its own will, because it has none. a snowflake is a dead thing in that way, but you cant stop thinking about how beautiful something like it is...

it slowly drift down, and finally settles on a untouched spot of land. but it is not grass it falls down onto, and it is not anything natural in that way. it lands on metal, forged by people, but it dont care. its a snowflake, it is not alive and thinking in that way.

but if it was alive, it would think "who are all theese dead people around here? what were they doing here with weapons and armor and tanks?". the truth will not be told. it stays a secret. the metal pole the snowflake rest ontop off is not just any pole. if the snowflake was alive, it would read out "35th Kunrak Imperial Guard Regiment"

not that it really mattered anyway. the snowflake would never become alive, nor would the men of the 35th, because they were all dead, lying i nthe frozen wastes of Tartika II.

and this is the story, that i will tell, about how the fall of Tartika II began, stopped, and its final fate...

feedback is appreciated :)

first of all: know that Tartika system was not something important. it did not house a titan legion. it did not pay large taxes. it did not have a zealous population. it did not have some rare resource worth a fortune.

it was a average system in the grand Imperium of mankind. it did supply arms to a nearby system, Kunrak, but it was not essential supplies or anything important, just the standard flak jackets and lasguns and leman russ tanks and all manners of military hardware.

Tartika was a 2 planet system. Tartika I was a lush green agri world, producing food in abundance for its own population as well as Tartika II, so the system never had any food shortage. Tartika II was grey and industrial were Tartika I was green and rural. vast manufactories produced both civilian and military supplies, as well as having a small starport, housing the local defence fleet, consisting of a single Luna cruiser and some lesser ships. the Luna cruiser was stationed there for almost a century, and only fought twice against pirates that lurked in the asteroid belt outside Tartika II, but beyond that, it had been idle patrol for Vindicatum, as it name was.

all that changed, when there was a long silence from a satelite station on the far edge of the system...

Tartika system had a long way to the nearest neigbour, Kunrak system being the first neighbour, and as such, it always maintained a very large ammount of PDF units and stationed them on both worlds. some estimated the PDF to number in the millions even, but true numbers were lost. good estimated numbers point towards something about 700.000 men and women serving as frontline units, with another 60.000 various support task forces, including artillery and wall defences.

all this was there to defend the system, and of course the Luna cruiser Vindicatum...

but then, Vindicatum was the first casualty, so it never brought the troops any real support other than a warning.

"Hydra station 4, come in. Hydra station 4, come in please, for the Emperors sake, respond"

just static. the same thing that had been in all communications with Hydra station 4 for almost 2 weeks now. something was most certinally wrong by now. still hope of just a technical problem lingered, but then, the station could just send a shuttle back to the starport, and there had been no such shuttle launched...

"Hydra station 4, respond now for the Emperors sake, respond now"

"no response, Captain Tellin, they are not there or are having a break all at once"

Captain Tellin was the commanding officer on the Vindicatum, and she slowly moved her eyes back and forth the bridge, looking at her crew of several years old. she was the one giving orders here, and she felt a lot of preassure to not risk the only ship defending the system, but at the same time she had to establish what the reason behind Hydra 4's sudden silence was. a balance act that required more skill than most could ever have. Tellin was stressed, but acted calm to keep the situation under control on the bridge.

"take us in then, board that station and find out where the crew is, and try and fix the damn problem"

with just one single order, Tellin had set someones plans in motion, and thoose plans involved the many billion people in the Tartika and Kunrak systems. and theese plans were made up over the past 7 years.

one of most dangerous enemies to mankind are the Tyranid swarms that come from another galaxy all togheter, unlike the others being native to the milkyway. the vanguard of the Tyranids are the Genestealers, that infiltrate some advanced civilisation and disrupt it from the inside, causing confusion while the leader, a Patriarch, controls them all and dedicate them to gain power in the infiltrated race.

while they gain influence, they send out a psychic signal that draws the attention of the larger swarms toward them, acting as beacons and vanguard, making the enemy to the swarm much less potent once the swarm arrive because of the infiltrated genestealer hybrids that take control of key positions. imagine half the command staff being loyal to the enemy? that is how dangerous they are.

Vindicatum was docked with Hydra 4, and her crew had searched the station and found the remains of the butcherd crew stored away in a cargo room. the enemy, whoever they were, was nowhere to be found, and the Vindicatum left the station with just the information that the crew was killed by unknown enemies, possibly pirates. deep down, inside a hangar on the lower levels in the ship, there was one more passenger than the captain was aware off. and this was the reason the Tyranid swarm converged on the Tartika system. because Genestealers are not the only vanguard of the swarm.

and this particular specimen would astonish anyone there was who knew anything about the Tyranicus Chameleo, or more know as a Spook, Mantis Stalker or just simply: Lictor.

and when the Vindicatum arrived in starport Hellion above Tartika II, its unknown passenger departed, and reached planetside via a shuttle. and this is where the first Tyranid ever set its claw on the Tartika system, but it would be far from the last.

for months, the silent and deadly intruder on Tartika II maimed animal and human alike, seeing nothing but prey around the planet it made into its own hunting area. patrols vanished, animals were found dead, and a general panic riot was starting to brew, just as the Lictor wanted to create. an animal so cunning, it could understand how its prey thought and functioned. it spread fear and terror so that the parent swarm that was now converging on Tartika system would have a easier prey to deal with.

Tartika II was the site where the predator spread fear and terror, but it missed one important part that it never understood. Tartika I. the planet was used to people missing for months, because of the vast distances between settlements, so people gone would not make anything new. this, the Lictor never understood, and the paradox that one planet went insane over its missing people and claimed the governor was abducting their friends and families, while the other was calm as ever, lead to attention from outside people. to contain the arising problems on Tartika II, the Kunrak regiments were raised to alert and shipped to Tartika system.

among theese were the veteran 30th Kunrak, along the somewhat experienced 27th, 28th and 29th, all participating in a campaign against orks on a deathworld recently. the freshly recruited 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th and the war heroes 35th was also sent, along the Kunrak 4th and 5th armored.

the Lictor had given off traces that told people that knew about lictors that there was such a creature loose on Tartika II, and that was the reason so many units were mobilised and shipped. one lictor, particulary this deadly, was never to be alone for ever, and the military began preparations for a Tyranid invasion.

and thus, war would grasp the once peaceful Tartika system. all as planned, part of a evil scheme that would develop beyond control of its shaper as was seen once the conflict ended.

the Kunrak regiments are strict order, and have had few instances were commisars actually needed to execute someone, so they are well liked by commisars for being heroic and sacrificially minded, just like a true imperial servant should be. their preferd gun is actually nothing bigger than the lasgun, but the guard fields a unique version of the hotshot ammopack, actually combining the best of power from hotshots and capacity from regular versions, therefore they rely on their lasguns more regulary than other weapons like the plasma gun. their standard armor is like most others, a flack jacket and such, and for heavy support they tend to rely on mortars, heavy bolters, lasguns and all ordinary equipment.

they are mixed with both armored units like Leman Russ tanks and even 2 Baneblades, and they do field a large number of chimera transports. basilisks provide the artillery support, and they also retain a number of sentinels armed with lascannons deployed in "Tank Crackers" pairs, with 2 sentinels working togheter to outflank the prey and deliver a lascannon shot at each side, often piercing the armor straight through and rendering the vehicle unable to fight back with much succes.

Kunrak soldiers are nothing extra ordinary, just the standard man but with a bit more courage than most others. there are few that hold the line quite like the Kunraks, and they know it, as well as being unrelenting in the offensive, often bordering to the foolish dedication.

the 35th in particular are renown on their homeworld, never to be destroyed outright, always having some men survive to bring the banner back into care of Kunrak, and to raise and foster a new bunch of soldiers that are to create the new face of the 35th, or "indestructibles", as they are also know as in their system of Kunrak, which is a 4 planet system.

there is even a rumor circling that the 35th throught their history has become more battle hardend than the cadians themselves, but this is just a rumor.

but rumors, as can soemtimes be, are true...

Private E. Kalmar. Private G. Huni. Private F. Rorga. Private First Class H. Nielm. Sergeant A. falkond.

Recon squad 3 had been deployed to many conflicts before. Orks, Eldar, Tau, 3 heretical revolts and 1 outright rebellion. it had always survived throughout its existence among the 35th, and they were the eyes and ears of the war heroes of that regiment. them and 3 other squads always lead the others from forward positions, finding hidden traps and ambushes, so that the 35th could turn the tide on their enemy and ambush the would be ambushers. their most famous moment had to be when they infiltrated a rebel compound and actually stole a leman russ tank and proceeded to gun down the entire HQ staff of the rebels that were planning in the open, then driving straight through the gate and escape back to safe friendly lines.

their single action had ended the entire rebellion. careless rebels, yes, but still a feat worthy of recognition.

this time their enemy was more formidable than any petty rebels, no matter how organized and equipped. this time, they were facing the Tyranid threat, and they were facing it first hand in the winter time of Tartika II, on a frozen lake where there had been a convoy suddenly attacked and lost.

today, the winter equipped imperial guardsmen of Kunrak would face the Lictor that had stalked the entire planet by now, and it had on its own claimed more than a thousand victims, and there were hundreds unaccounted for, which could be its prey too. but theese preys were different. they allowed it not a single time of oppurtunity to get in amongst them and slaughter then. they were alert, at all times, and they were cautious, something new to the Lictor. it smelled and sensed a much greater challenge within theese 5 preys than anytime before, and its muscled body was preparing for a combat it knew would be harsher than the winter landscape it roamed.

theese preys would tests its abilities, and it would test theirs. so who would prevail? careful prey or preparing predator?

"Kalmar, get on the left side, Huni watch his back, Rorga with me and Nielm, you get up on top of that vehicle and keep eyes and ears open"

Kalmar moved slowly across the snow, hearing its sound when his heavy boots pressed against it, and he felt a bit nervous, since no contact had been made with the convoy now visible a hundred meters ahead of them. the snow fell in large chunks, and was getting thicker still as the wind increased, dragging his coat around, trying to tear it free from him. behind him, Huni moved just as slowly, lasgun raised and ready to fire at anything hostile at a moments notice.

on the right was Rorga and Falkond, moving at the same pace they were, Rorga with his lasgun behind Falkond with his shotgun. in between the 4 men was Nielm, who carried a plasma gun at the ready. ahead of them were the dim lights of the lead vehicle, still in the snow, and it was all non natural things there was on the frozen lake.

they moved closer, and at 40 meters then stopped, waiting for something, anything, to happen, just in case someone was putting up an ambush for them... and just 34 meters to the left of Kalmar was something doing just that.

the Lictor watched its prey stop moving and it got even more cautious now. theese preys were far more careful than any other prey it had seen this far. it moved a few steps closer, making its flesh hooks ready to shoot out and drag one of the group away, making an easy kill.

Kalmar felt as if he was being watched, and he looked over at the sergeant, who also shared this feeling. all 5 men rotated on the spot, forming a square around Niel in the middle.

the prey had somehow sensed its presence, and the Lictor realised that it had underestimated theese. it froze still, not giving off a single movement and making itself completley invisible to the eyes of the prey.

but for all its cunning, the Lictor had once again made a mistake.

"Seargeant, 30 meters, left front, do you see that?"

"see what, Kalmar?"

"there is a line of snow building up in the middle of the air"

"i think i know what you mean... how can it be?"

"i guess, and this is just a guess, that something is not moving, standing still and being invisible. but the snow is gathering on top of it without it being aware of it, sir"

"i agree. squad, fire mission on 3 towards that snow line in the middle of the air"

the Lictor noticed the smell and senses of the prey suddenly change from cautious to absolute focus, and it got a very high sense that somehow, the prey had spotted it, and it heard the leader say something to the group, and then it realised its mistake as 5 guns suddenly swung around and started shooting at it, and a plasma blast hitting it right in the face, slowly making it melt away for the extreme heat of a mini sun. it dropped down dead on the spot, its camoflauge failing and revealing the preadtor that had finally found a adversary prey that proved more than a match for it.

the soldiers moved up, weapons at the ready, towards the place they had fired and where some green and purple substance suddenly had sprayed out of nowhere. they saw the heap of something big, 4 meters tall, and it was without a face, so it could not possibly live.

"that has to be that killer thing skulking around all over the planet"

"i agree Rorga, but that time is at an end now, and we are the reason for it. well shot men, and well spotted there, Kalmar"

"thank you sir"

"now, lets search this convoy, but keep attention high, there could possibly be more out there, and i dont want anyone dead today, got me?"

"yes sir!"

within just a few moments, the preadtor that had stalked Tartika II had been killed, over a thousand people avenged by one plasma blast to the very face that had eaten them all. the body was brought in for study, and the squad had earned another counter ambush.

would someone please give me a reply as to what you think of this story, please? i really want to know if im entertaining someone...

the opening phase of the deployment was easy. the Kunrak regiments begun fortifying the cities of Tartika II and prepared the defence of that world first, while evacuating the less dense populated Tartika I. the effects of the tyranid invasion was starting to appear, as the single ocean on Tartika II begun to create tsunamis and earthquakes happend in formerly stable regions.

this was the creation of the so called "Narvhal", which used the planets gravity to allow the biofleet a quicker means of movement, all the while the planet they are travelling to revolt against its inhabitants with effects like earthquakes and tsunamis.

Tartika I was succesfully evacuated and Tartika II was fortified. the Imperium would greet the invader with weapons blazing and guns roaring, while the alien would assualt without mercy or fear, and with claw, teeth and biological weapons they would clash with the metal and flesh of the Imperial Guard of Kunrak.

but in the background of all this, there was one force sitting and watching it all evolve, and it just waited and bid its time until the correct moment appeard, and then it would unleash its forces and claim its goal. but this was unknown as of yet, because there was a epic clash to begin very soon.

the invasion begun with a large number of space battles between the Vindicatum and other Imperial Navy ships, reinforcing the system and using Hellion starport as a base of oeprations, and from it, they launched raids on the tyranid bio fleet that approached the system.

Fury interceptors were dogfighting with tyranid bio ships that tried to attack the larger ships of the imperial navy while thoose fought and duelled with several Kraken and other, larger bio ships, firing metal and energy based weapons into the flesh of the biofleet, while the acids and other biological matter ate away at the metal and void shields of the navy.

all in sub zero temperature, and with no sound at all, making it look like a theatrical play, but with far more deadly outcome than what plays use. here, if you died, you died. simple as that.

"All guns fire on target 4 on port side, bring that xeno vessel down, now!"

Captain Tellin was directing the Vindicatum around a larger bioship, duelling with skill of a natural born leader in the navy. the Vindicatum had already scored 4 kraken kills, and this was to be its 5th if Tellin had her ways.

the battle raged for hours sometimes, and only minutes other times. the imperials used all tricks they had, and the tyranids countered them as best they could. both sides took casualties, and it finally ended with the Vindicatum being the first ship from Tartika system to be destroyed, when Tellin faced a boarding party of gaunts on all decks, so she decided to drive the ship straight into the face of a big bioship, destroying both in the explosion that followed.

she was with the Emperor, but she would be far from the last.

despite the heroic defence of the navy, the tyranids were just far too many for the thinning number of vessels the imperium had. in the end, the navy withdrew, and the tyranids came upon the Hellion starport, which defend itself valiantly, defeating several boarding parties and many attackes were turned away by its massive guns. in the end however, it ran out of ammunition for its defending forces, and it became another victory for the hive fleet, altough a bit costlier than it would have liked.

this did not bother the tyranids though, they had a planet infront of them where they could just regain all their biomass. but the Kunrak regiments would not let the tyranid simply take them and the planet for biomass. if the tyranids wanted the planet, they would have to pay for it too. dearly.

weeks after the first spores begun to fall, the invasion was underway fully. guardsman and gaunt fought against each other in ranged duels as well as melee. warriors grippled with many men at once. carnifexes had duels with battle tanks and artillery from both sides pounded each other. the death tolls were high, for despite being outnumbered by the aliens, the Kunraks and the PDF forces were dug in heavily, using the time the navy had bought for them with many lives well.

the fighting was fierece, and there was no room for mercy. alien col souls and human stubborn minds ment no prisoners, and no mercy was given or recived.

its giant claws swung back and forth while it sniffed in the air. standing at a impressive 6 meters, it was the dominant thing in the forrest clearing. there was a scent it detected that was not tyranid, and made its tiny brain realise it was close to something that needed killing. but where was it?

the Carnifex looked to its left and scanned the tree line with its small, stupid eyes and tried to find the source of the scent... but wait, was the scent not coming from the right? it turned around, and stared into the trees. nothing there. it tasted scents in the air, but found no prey, so it let out a massive roar of hate and anger of not finding its prey and swung around stamping its foots into the ground, trying to bring the enemy forward.

in a moment, a large beam of lascanon fire hit its back, and it screeched in pain as the heat burned through a lot of its armor, and it turned around swinging its massive claws back and forth while looking for the aggressor. then another beam surged out of the woods, and hit its back again, in the same spot.  the carnifex screeched even more as the heat was further in because of the earlier hit.

it spun around again, now being furious at theese cowardly enemies, and it charged blindly into the forrest where the second shot had come from. it smashed trees apart and crushed rocks easily, and kept its rampage up until it finally caught glimpse of its adversary running infront of it on its two legs and trying to escape the wrath of the carnifex. it screeched again, but not with pain, instead screeching with hate and joy of the hunt as it charged the fleeing foe, intent on crushing it between its jaws and eating it whole.

"i got it in hot pursuit on me, its closing the distance, but if it cant learn how to teleport, i will be fine. i reach the area in 1 minute, over"

Mikalen sat in the cockpit of his Sentinel and watched the rear mirror reflection of a giant carniex hunting him. it was far more bulky than the sentinel, and the creatures progress was slowed due to all trees and undergrowth that it kept smashing aside, where the nimble sentinel just walked right across it on its large legs.

the prey reached a new clearing further ahead, and kept running away from the carnifex, but not fast enough. the prey was slower than itself, and it wanted to crush it for fleeing this much. then it burst out into the clearing, and the last thing it saw was 4 lascannons aimed at the head of it, the prey had found 3 friends and had turned around. it screeched one last time and it was a mighty but ineffective defiant act. the 4 beams of las burned through the skull, and toppled the carnifex where it stood, while the two tank cracker units started walking home, content on their missions succes.

a rock is something from when the planet was created. it is one of the first things a planet have, and the mountains are made up of billions tiny rocks. every rock could be a potentially fatal weapon, as we have witnessed when thrown. this make for an almost infinite ammunition, but its effective range is somewhat poor.

such rocks were spread out over what was know as "Feet's Plains" at the foot of a large mountain, hence the name. there are millions of them, having fallen off the mountain and rolled down to the plain, spreading out with earthquakes and other phenomena.

Verik sat and watched the rocks from the trenchline along with thousands other Guardsmen and PDF units. the Kunrak 35th was his banner, and he was among the most elite forces deployed to this area, where the PDF and the 34th were mainly new recruits. the 35th would babysit theese soldiers until they gained enough experience.

and as the rocks, first raising no concern but gradually became more worrying, began to shake and clatter, Verik looked up from the gun he was cleaning, and saw what he feared. the horizon was no longer clear off living things. there was a tyranid swarm converging on them, and the 35th, 34th and PDF units alike rushed to the trenchlines at the front, and prepared as best they could. leman russ tanks rolled forward, taking up positions in tank bunkers, which were built to protect the tank but allow it to fire, whilemortar teams began marking up where the enemy were and calculated when the first grenades would fall.

the battle which would soon begin was to be know as 35th's demise, and Verik was one of 3 survivors to leave that field. this is what was known as the largest Imperial defeat in the war for Tartika II.

mortarshells started raining down on the enemy, showering them with piercing shards of metal, killing many lesser creatures, but as always with tyranids, its the big ones that need the killing, and the lesser ones are too many for mortars to make any large effect.

leman russ tanks main guns started shelling, reloading and firing again as fast as was possible, and they aimed for the big ones in crowd, making sure their powerful guns made the count. Verik watched a Warrior organism take a shell to the head, making it suddenly half as tall and about as scary as the rocks on the ground. it toppled over backwards and never moved again. but there was far more to replace it.

next the autoguns and heavy bolter units opened fire, and the plain was filled with dead xenos, littering the ground and actually managed to break up the enemy, forcing them to climb their dead friends ahead of them, only to be shot down again once above the hill of bodies. another warrior was killed by a soaring missile that struck it in the middle, tearing it apart and killing many surrounding gaunts with the fragments left over from both warrior and missile. then the sights turned green on several thousand lasguns. and the fire coming from the Imperials would have impressed anyone watching.

any foe would break under such a torrent of fire the trench line poured out, but the tyranid are not just any foe.they are born into war, and they fight until the die, and sometimes even after they died. to the tyranids, some guardsmen and tanks are not a big problem. there is not much that can stop the tyranid advance. the 35th was orderd and diciplined, a match to the cruel animalistic nature of the tyranids, but the PDF untis along the 34th were not so experienced.

pulling the trigger on his lasgun as fast as was possible, Verik fired into the mass, trying to bring down a larger warrior, but his las bolts did just not make the damage he needed, and he switched over to a gaunt that had slipped on a few rolling rocks and was scrambling over the ground just 2 meters away from the trench line. the lasbolt struck head on,and the gaunt stopped moving. its siblings kept coming though, and Verik switched over to the side, switching over to auto and fired a series of beams that tore asunder several gaunts before the pack was done for, and he had to reload.

along the line, bayonetts and weapon butts duelled with claws, teeths and what not the aliens had for weaponry. a PDF soldier somehow managed to actually stab a bayonett through a warriors armor, killing it and causing minor confusion among the gaunts as they always did when death struck them. further down the line, a carnifex was trying to get inside a bunker that still held firm, making a redoubt in the line for the imperials. death spitted out from all sides of it as the 2 level building had firing slots on all sides.

a leman russ tank took aim at the giant xeno, and fired a shell that went inside the creature before it detonated, bowing the entire carnifex into pieces from the inside, adding its innards to the already gorefilled plain. a commisar that was a bit unstable was laughing like a maniac while slicing gaunts and warrior alike with his power sword, all the while keeping the bolt pistol in his left hand in steady aim and fire rate. he was then crushed with a warrior that jumped onto him, and pierced his skull with its talons.

all over the line, humans fought with a great courage and held the tyranid at the trenchline, allowing the mortar crews further back to keep firing their grenades onto the horde ahead of them, desperate to make a difference in the numbers killed, they fired their grenades high into the air, only to fall back down and detonate among the swarm of enemies, tearing them apart with the force that only a mortar can provide.

the warriors turned their green, slimey guns toward the leman russ tank and fired their goo against it, and the tank was slowly melting down into a heap of molten slag from the venom the tyranid unleashed on it. all over the line, the guard and PDF units were overrun. warriors impaled soldiers everywhere, and gaunts hacked yet more to pieces as the horde of xenos finally got down into the trenches, and the imperials faltered. the bunker was no more, having a full carnifex tear it in half, and the remains swarmed over with gaunts, and the trenchline was filled with dead men and the few alive kept fighting. the banners of the 34th, 35th and PDF units were standing on a top of sandbags, with a few elite soldiers defending them.

firing lasguns and heavy bolters at point blank, they gave the enemy all they had, even their lifes, in an effort to win the battle that was doomed. they would not yield or surrender. it was not the Kunrak way, and it was not an option anyway. the tyranids take no prisoners. the fight ground down, the tyranid sensing the importance of the 3 flags, and launched all their creatures in an effort to break them down. the guard responded with even more fierce defence of their banners. PDF, 34th green recruits and 35th veterans alike fought with valor that would even put some space marines at shame. but for all the valor there was, they failed in the end. one by one, the guardsmen fell, and even then some fought on, defiant in the face of death and using pistols, melee weapons and guns to bring as many tyranids with them. then the last leman russ tank with a few shells left died, while driving straight into a carnifex, killing it with the dozer blade it had attached, then being swarmed over with gaunts and warriors that destroyed the vehicle in a explosion, killing yet more tyranids.

the plains were empty of both tyranid and human now. nothing left of the life and fight that was there just a hour or so back. the banner of the 35th was the only one standing still, the other two had been tilted over, but the 35th stood, as defiant as the men who had died defending it. it stood there, as the snow started falling, and its blood drenched flag slowly moved in the wind, displaying the only movement in the field of dead bodies of both humans and aliens.

Verik had slowly come back to reality after being knocked out by an explosion. or was it a blow to the head? he could not remember, just dazzing feelings and pain in the head, but other than that he felt fine. he slowly stood up with the gun as a point of stability in the trench. everywhere he looked, dead bodies were there. torn apart by claws and batterd by whatever had found them, they were spread all over the line. smoke belched from tank wrecks, still burning from their explosions. the 35th, 34th and several hundred PDF squads were no more. wiped out in hours.

Verik looked down, and saw a commisar at his feet, the same one that had been laughing like a maniac while fghting, and the power sword was still stuck in a warriors head. Verik pulled the sword free, and it felt heavy in his hand, but he wanted to remember what courage ment. the walk among tyranids and laugh while slaying them like there was nothing else he knew. the commisar had made his mark on the line, and bolstered the men with courage, just as was the commisar duty he had on himself. Verik slowly walked across the field, finding his way to the flag that still stood, watching over the dead. Verik stopped at the base of the pile of corpses where the men had given their lifes in their last stand. and he watched the wind blow the flag into movement, and it swayed along, slowly and calmly.

Verik raised his hand and saluted it. the last man of the 35th was all that was left of it. one single man. out of thousand veterans, he was alone.

as Verik stood there, saluting to the flag, snow started to fall down, and the snowflakes fell down gently, as if they were not aware of the carnage they landed among. but they are not sentinent, so they are peaceful. like the dead men around them where they land.

he let his arm fall down back to the side, and he breathed in and out, just watching the flag slowly move. then he climbed up the slope of bodies and when he reached the flag, he pulled it free of its standing. he stood there, atop the carnage, and felt only victory. he had survived, as the 35th always had. he survived the battle, and he would carry the tradition of the 35th onwards, through all times and horrors. he stood atop the hill of bodies, with the 35th banner in his right hand the and power sword from the maniac commisar in his left, and he breathed the chill air mixed with the stench of gore. and he felt alive like never before.

then he turned around, watched the horizon, and started walking back home to the base.

the war raged all over Tartika II, in the winter months the tyranid was caught unprepared in a flash freeze that Tartika II was famous for having, when temperatures went far below zero, and tens of thousands of gaunts and hundreds of weaker warriors were frozen to death, rendering the usually vast and fearsome swarm much less capable of inflicting damage.

it was during this frozen time that the imperium struck back against their foe.

"Mikalen, this is Fort, we have a new target dead ahead, 20 meters and keeping there. looks like another hunt." "roger that Fort, engage from left flank, i take right flank." "copy that, praise the Emperor, out."

Mikalen and Fort had been friends since childhood, and had enlisted in the Kunrak armored forces, and had been deployed togheter as a tank cracker unit. trained in the usage of the Sentinel walker, the tank crackers were deadly predators against lonesome prey and they often made a difference in the major battles despite never really taking part in them at all, usually picking off stragglers or support vehicles. Mikalen and Fort were veterans, once managed to sneak up on a artillery position firing shells ino a city the Kunraks defended they had cleaned the artillery position from every ork there was in that war.

Mikalen moved his sentinel up on the side of the target, which appeared as a floating zoanthrope casually drifting above the ground and doing something mysterious that only its alien brain could understand.

"Fort, in position, ready for the shot." "on 3. 1... 2..."

it was then that the zoanthrope suddenly turned away from Mikalen, and shot a blast of green light straight through the jungle, and the explosion that followed told Mikalen one horrible fact.

"FORT!!" he screamed, as the other sentinel blew another time, and its wreckage toppled over, burning and mained beyond recognition by the fearsome powers the zoanthrope had, and it shrieked with malice, as Mikalen watched the once veteran pilot and machine burn to just a black husk in the green jungle, then he got back to reality. he might just join Fort soon enough if he did not fight back against the zoanthrope.

as it turned around to fire another blast of energy against Mikalen, he took aim with his sentinel and fired, but found like so many before him that the zoanthropes have a energy shield that deflect fire directed to it, and so the lasblast was worth nothing more than a bright flash.

"fine, if you want it rough, i give it rough then!" Mikalen screamed, and threw the sentinel into a full speed ram with a collision course against the zoanthrope.

the warpfield shield does not grant much protection against a chainblade the sentinels in rought terrain make use off, as Mikalen would be witness too...

the sentinel accerated fast, and reached the zoanthrope before it could conjur another deadly attack. Mikalen rotated the chainblade he had installed and it sprung to life, roaring and spinning its deadly blades fast. the zoanthropes warpfield did nothing against its fury, and the blade cut down into the zoanthrope and sealed its fate, sawing deep into the flesh of the xeno until it broke and fell into two pieces, still trying to fight back, but then died. the chainblade stopped at Mikalens command, and he st back and felt just old and tired suddenly.

"Command, this is Mikalen in tank cracker 4. one hunter down and one prey are dead, requesting permission to return to base, over." "Roger that tank cracker 4, you are welcome back. Command out."

turning the sentinel around, Mikalen started walking back towards the base where the tank crackers in the large jungle areas operated from. and he was feeling very gloomy about the war suddenly. thousands and other thousands have died. but this death, this single death, had ment more to Mikalen than any other. Fort was gone, and so was Mikalens usual spark.

Verik had walked for ages it seemed like, and he had lost track of time for the duration of his one man parade through the long field. his feet felt heavy, and the flagpole was icecold, but his winter gear was not damaged too badly, so he could keep walking and he had found a lot of spare supplies from the battlefield that the men there would never use again. he had looted his way through the bodies, and had then started walking when he could carry nothing more. equipped with his regiments flag, the sword from the commisar and the supplies he had.

walking across the endless landscape, he put his left foot first, then his right, then his left, then his right until he had to stop. after sometime, he reached his base, where he was greeted almost as a hero, when he simply was a survivor. one of thousands...

he was allowed to rest first, after his weary walk, and then he would give off a report on what had happend with the units that was wiped out. anything and everything he knew was vital to command right now, since the war was going badly...

Sector A: yellow. percentage of land: 34%

Sector B: red. percentage of land: 0%

Sector C: red. percentage of land: 3%

Sector D: red. precentage of land: 7%

Sector E: red. percentage of land: 0%

Sector F: red. precentage of land: 9%

the situation was grim, to say the least. Kunrak soldiers and PDF forces alike fought with fury, but nothing seemed to stop the swarm of tyranid xeno scum flooding their positions. E and B had both been lost all togheter very fast, and C was very close to joining them. D and F sectors could hold for a few weeks at most, and the situation was looking bad. only A was still under control, but barely that even, as the tyranids occupied 2 thirds of it. whever they looked, the guard was defeated and the xenos were victorious.

the situation was grim indeed, but who would have guessed by then that the salvation would come from the other side of light? not many, and nobody would think that despite their 10.000 years of hatred and mutation, they would come to aid the Imperials. nobody would think that they would, not after such a heresy had been undertaken and such a crime had been made. the god of men sit half dead because of their actions, and yet they come to save sometimes, not just destroy...

such it had been for more than 10.000 years, such it would remain. such, was the ways of chaos.

he woke up from his deep meditation, and opened his eyes. across the metal room stood his armor, displaying scars of wars he had forgotten long ago, and he rested his eyes on the suit he had carried for almost 7.000 years of accomplished warfare. it had witnessed the chaotic times and the peaceful times. when brothers fought each other and when enemies fought alongside each other. he had seen the largest of cities and the smallest of worlds. he had witnessed and meditated upon things for all his time, always calculating and being methodical were others were drunk with blood and wanted nothing more to charge the enemy. he had stolen victories from others and had turned defeats into triumphs within seconds. he had witnessed the Salamders fight on Armageddon, seeing their dedication to nothing but the humans there. he had seen the savage but fierce Wolfs of Russ, and had appluaded their actions only to vanish before they could reach him. he had been there when Macharius had begun his crusade, even been within killing distance, should he wish to. but no, Macharius was not what he was after that time.

his name is Belgor, and he had learned war since childbirth and had been a adeptus astartes since he could join the ranks as a brother worthy of his legion. some would call him heretic. some would call him master. some would call him brother. he was hated, loved and equal, all depending on who he met. but one thing that never changed: he was loyal to him who surpassed him before his time, and he knows that name name and carries it with him wherever he goes. the name that his legion carries to remember who their primarch is.

as their ship, Celestial, closed towards the system of Tartika, the tyranid hive fleet responded. several organisms was deployed to stop the vessel that approached, and they sailed the void towards their unknow foe. only to be blasted apart by gunnery crews trained for centuries in warfare and with weapons that was older than all of them.

yet more ships were sent by the hive, and they spread out to catch the vessel that was speeding towards the planet, but her commander had anticipated theese moves and turned his ship around, and set course of Tartika II instead, and the bio fleet had to split up even more ships to respond.

while this dance contiuned, the cruiser Lutar was approaching from the other side, and it entered orbit uncontested, even undedcted by the hive which focused on Celestial, who in turn was just the bait. while Lutar started deploying its forces to the ground from orbit, Celestial began withdrawing, its part was played without flaws. Belgor watched his brothers drop from Lutar, and he smiled at the prospect of battle again. all as was planned for. since years ago.

Verik had rested and slept for days it felt like, and he had been asked hundreds of questions and he had provided what he could. now, he was back in the frontlines. the frontlines that was assualted by every single creature the tyranid swarm had. or so it seemed. there was billions of more tyranids, theese few million creatures was just the vanguard, a first probing attack.

firing his lasgun again and again, he witnessed Irontread blast away with much more fearsome firepower. the 537 years old Baneblade tank was firing all guns on the horde ahead, and its crew did their work better than many others. the heavy bolters tore apart all gaunts they fired at, while the lasbeams tore asunder the warriors that tried to shoot their green slime guns, as they were nicknamed from the green dropping goo they expelled.

the main gun turned a few degrees, and a carnifex was doomed. the blastwave shock the ground as the gun fired, and the enormous shell drove straight into the carnifex, and exploded, detonating the carnifex, 10 warriors and hundreds of gaunts that was swarming atop each other to reach the humans. a zoanthrope fired a purple light at the tank, but the blastlight was just a scrath against the thick plating of the Baneblade. it turned a heavy bother around and fired at the zoanthrope, and some random autogun along the trenches helped, and the zoanthropes mighty warpfield was destroyed, and the shells tore the creature apart in tiny fragments, never to bother anyone ever again

"impact in 20 seconds, all pods maintaining course"

Belgor watched his brothers check their weapons, for the 11th time he thought, and he felt so alive in the pod as it smashed down into the ground where Lutars orbital bombardment guns had just fired, creating a zone of peace in the middle of the tyranid swarm. Belgor and his bodyguard was the most senior units in this drop, and when the doors to their pod opended, their guns blazed with fire, destroying gaunts everywhere, tearing warriors apart and even a carnifex buckled down under the weaponry of the bodyguard.

as they moved, more pods dropped down around them, smashing into the creatures, turning them into nothing close of their former selfs, and the marines inside the pods ran out of the doors, smashing into the xenos and killing hundreds of them with their weapons. all around them, the tyranid swarm suddenly faced a new threat and it could not react well enough. few warriors survived their attempts to close into melee range with the intruders, and the gaunts around thoose became confused and were mere lambs awaiting the butcher. and Belgor was happy to be a butcher today. he looked over towards the guardsmen holding the line just ahead, and he saw what he suspected. surprise and dazzled faces were staring into the horde where the tyranids were faced with a threat they could barely contain.

Verik was in the part that was most prepared. there was sandbags, bunkers, tank bunkers, firesupport sections, mortar units... everything that could be had was there, and he fought with thousand others to try and stop the swarm ahead. mines that had been placed in advance of the horde still detonated now and then, making the progress slower since the gaunts needed to clear out the minefield first, all while they were gunned down by the defenders.

the artillery had been firing too, giant basilisks shot their shells high up and then they came screaming down, until they detonated above the horde, showering them with fragments and fire, killing scores of xenos with every shot. but as always, Verik saw, the horde did barely notice such carnage.

the gaunts had eventually cleaned the field of mines, almost, and the entire horde had started swarming over the defenders, leaping into the trenchline trying to kill any human they found, but very few creatures got past the killzone despite their numbers. it looked like they would be stopped, but Verik knew better. this was just one single part, out of many, that were attacked. if one was breached and overrun, the others would follow... and sooner or later, some line would fall to the unrelenting horde, and the line would be broken down.

as he struggled with a gaunt trying to bite his face off, they both rolled around in the trenchline. the jaws of the xeno snapped at him, while its claws hang at its sides, useless for a reason or another. they wrestled, even combatants. he finally got a arm free, and punched the gaunt in its face, and it felt like punching bone, but he kept punching anyway, and the gaunt eventually got so dazzled by the concussion it just stopped fighting back, and Verik quickly snapped up a bayonett from the ground and plunged it into the throat of the gaunt, ending its short life.

he stood up again, picked up his lasgun that was knocked out of his hands, and resumed firing again into the horde ahead, but it was too late. the horde was upon them, and his lasgun was knocked out of his hands again when another gaunt leaped for him, slashing with its claws against his face, but only managed to land a glancing blow on Veriks helm. then it tumbled onto Verik himself, and for the second time in just a few seconds, he was back in the trench wrestling with a gaunt.

while the sky became much brighter...

as the pods prepared to launch from Lutar, so did its weapons designate targets. the same thing had happend thousands of times before: the ship fired a very small barrage at a very concentrated area, and destroyed anything standing. when the guns fired down towards the planet, the drop pods launched from the ship and they travelled next to the beams of the Lutar, racing down to the surface.

this always ment that pods could be hit by th gunnery crews, and that they would accidently shoot the men they were ment to protect. there could also be so that the pods arrived too early, and when the marines inside spread out, the orbital firing would begin, so that the marines would be right in the target zone. this, however, did not happend this time, as the Lutars crew started the bombardment while Belgor and his brothers, inside their drop pods, quickly closed in on the planet.

the gaunt tried to stab Verik in the face with its claws, and it was just pure dumb luck that kept him alive when he threw his head back and forth as the gaunt kept smashing the ground. then suddenly a bright flash ran right through the gaunt and it seized to live, as a guardsman further away had accidently fired his lasgun and saved Veriks life. he scrambled onto his feet, and he caught sight of a gaunt flying through the air towards him, and he quickly threw himself forward, and the gaunt flew over him, landing behind him and spun around, and got a helmet in its face, and it quickly lost control of the surrindings, and Verik picked up his lasgun and shot it point blank in its face, and then turned around.

what Verik saw was amazingly beautiful but also, he realised, deadlier than anything this battlefield could offer. the bright beams with the colors of a rainbow almost vaporized everything it struck, and many more were wounded beyond healing by its blasts. the tyranid swarm took heavy casualties by the orbital bombardment guns, and then came the distinct sound of drop pods. they smashed into the horde of xenos on the ground, crushing many to a pulp and then they released their cargo of veteran marines, made for and in combat.

the marines carried their weapons with confidence, and the number of xenos that died suddenly soared, as the marines cleansed the area of the creatures. numerous as they were, the tyranids quickly moved most beasts towards the small marine force that had arrived, and suddenly the guardsmen of the line could fire again, and the swarm came under a heavy, two pronged assualt of space marines inside their horde, and the mass firepower of the guardsmen line.

and within seconds of the first pods came more pods, and more still. it looked like a entire chapter had arrived to save Tartika from being consumed. and with this reinforcements, the guardsmen charged. hundreds of men all around Verik climbed the trenchline and started a slow firing advance, shooting as they moved forward one step at a time. lasguns bruned hundreds of gaunts and many warriors by the second, and soon the horde of tyranids buckled under the assualt by the sudden turn of events.

Tartika II was saved. for now.

with the marine drop in their midst, and the push of the guardsmen, the tyranid horde disintegrated. their warriors were killed and so most gaunts became less effective and more beastlike, proving no match for the Imperial counter attack. the Xenos were quickly defeated, and they suffered a major blow in the fact that most of their higher creatures like the zoanthropes were there, and was killed by the surprise attack.

once the battle ended, Belgor stood knee deep in bodies of aliens, covered in pink and purple goo as a result of his chainswords rage. he had almost overheated his plasma pistol, and he had noticed that most of his marines were out of ammo overall, as they were all using melee weaponry, or perhaps they had just thought it better to fight in melee than with ranged weaponry. whatever the case, they were victorious this day and the guardsmen around them cheered as they celebrated the victory, and the feeling to be alive.

Belgor raised his chainsword and roared the victory praise, and his brothers joined him and all around the battlefield praised the Emperor for delivering them to victory. some, though, praised him as part of their charade act. and they played it well.

days, weeks, months passed... with the majority of the higher strains of tyranids gone, the rest were spread too thin to control all swarms there was, and the hive fleet desperatly produced more and more warriors and other higher strains to make up the lack of the leadership the swarm needed. despite all its attempts at changing tactics, the fact that most synapse creatures were dead ment that the horde slowed down and all tyranids acted a bit feral, which made the biological changes in them less responsive to the signlas triggerd by the hive fleet and the remaining synapse creatures.

whole swarms were destroyed outright as they lacked leadership, and each synapse creature lost was heavier loss than the last one, making the tyranid swarm on Tartika II less and less effective. in the end, the winter struck full blown, and while the habitants of Tartika was used to such temperatures, the tyranids, without guidance, froze to death in uncountable numbers.

the swarm of xenos were destroyed by the winters fury and the imperial attacks after the winter had passed away. while the ships carrying Captain Kiron, from the famous Iron Hands Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, sailed the void towards the Tartika system...

"Tartika system... my people have never had the requirement to visit this place, but now we finally do."

"Is that a bad thing, my lord?"

"It do not have to be a bad thing, there are billions of routine controls, and people claim they find thoose i hunt every day, but very few times they are real, just exaggerated things like being away for a week without telling anyone means they consort with something evil. childish fears"

"How do we find out the real threat from the imaginations?"

"Quite simple, my friend. There will be many places we are told to look, but i will look in thoose places forgot to be mentioned to me. The real threat always lure and trick and decive our followers, to spread confusion. That is where we will search, were nobody says any harm is."

"Look at the last place first you mean?"

"Quite so, captain Kiron, quite so..."

with thoose words, Colban Nolen sat down on his chair and looked through the viewing port towards the planet ahead.

"I just hope theese people are innocent and to be spared, it never does me good when the situation is otherwise." Kiron whispered

"If they are, they will be spared, but if they are not..." Colban left the rest of the thought to be unsaid, and he leander over to the table at his left and picked up his notebook and wrote down what he had said to Kiron.

he then signed it with Inqusitor Colban Nolen of the Ordo Hereticus.

and as the ship closed further to the planet, the people on the ground were celebrating the victory over the alien foes. and among them, something else was being achived in the dark, behind all spying eyes. and thoose that saw what was happening was to see nothing more ever again.

Captain Kiron had fought hundreds of wars by this time. he had served under various Inquisitors, he had fought against Chaos in the 13th Black Crusade.

Kiron was one of the most decorated captains of the Iron Hands, and he was known among his chapter as a man of drama. he often clenched his iron fist constantly, making it look like he had lost patience when he infact was testing the courage of others with it. someone who kept their point of view against a Adeptus Astartes was truly brave. or foolish.

as the ship carrying him and his unit of Deathwatch marines approached Hellion, or what was left of it, multiple tyranid organisms hatching on and inside the wrecked starport raced out to defend their new hive, and as the crew was not prepared for a attack of tyranids from the station, the xenos easily entered the ship and launched boarding parties on all decks. something the Deathwatch was trained to counter.

a squad of stormtroopers fired a flamer into a pod and cleansed it from both living and not so living xenos. the smell of the victims inside was horrific, and the squad soon moved on and found a pod that had already empited the passengers. then the screech came.

the troopers turned around on the spot and watched several dozens of gaunts approach them, and they all brought their hellguns to bear. they fired and slowly backed up while the gaunts quickly rushed across the hallway, scrambling over their dead siblings in their effort to rip the prey ahead to pieces.

as Devont pressed the trigger his hellgun kicked back but he held it steady, firing across the hallway towards the gaunts. he glanced to his side and saw the exit to the upper level. be closed off. he then reloaded and spun around and realised they were trapped at the hallway end. there was no retreat, and a small feeling of panic came into his heart, only to be dismissed by his mind. if he was to die in the service of the Emperor, then fighting his foes would be the best way to die. and he turned around again and brought up his hellgun and once more started firing.

Kiron saw ran along a deck floor, firing his bolt pistol and swung his chainsword quickly and with accuarcy enough to cut through the alien scum that he fought. he did not need any help, not with just a handfull dozen of gaunts and a few warriors. he was the cause of 7 carnifexes deaths, and some pity warriors and gaunts were not going to bring him down.

he kicked a gaunt as it lurched towards him, and its head was smashed from the impact, and sent it flying backwards against the wall where it was impaled on a lever which was pointing outwards. Kiron swung around the chainsword and cut a warriors two talons off clean, and then severed multiple gaunts in the same strike. he had himself made the chainsword he wielded, and it had been built with a much more powerful engine inside, making it cut through tougher material or more enemies than a regular chainsword.

he brought up his bolt pistol and shot the warrior he had maimed in the face, and the head detonated as the shell inside it ignited. the warrior toppled over and fell back, pinning a gaunt to the floor which was the killed by a stomp on its head with the armored boot of Kiron. he rolled forward and sliced off a gaunts head and drove it straight up into a warrior and killed it by headbutting it, and then fired a bolt shell into a gaunt that jumped at him from the side.

Kiron kept slashing through tyranid after tyranid, and then it was just one warrior left. it jumped high into the air and Kiron met it in mid air, impaled it on the chainsword, and they both flew towards the wall and landed atop a clump of metal which was stuck in a hole somehow. how it got there Kiron did not reflect on.

as the warrior and space marine captain both landed on the metal clump, it broke free from the sudden impact, and they both fell down a level. Kiron landed on the floor and the warrior somehow managed to land on top of him, and had its talons already raised to kill him. what 7 carnifexes could not do, one random warrior would now accomplish. Kiron gripped for any of his weapons, but could not catch either, and he looked up as the talons were brought down to pierce his helmet and head.

Devont heard some crashing sound close by over the gunfire he and his squad were pouring on, and he had just time enough to look up to see the metal clump that blocked the  ladder earlier, a space marine of the deathwatch and a warrior coming falling. his body reacted on the instinct that metal clump+space marine+ tyranid warrior coming falling down towards him was not going to help him achive his goal of staying alive.

he had enough time to roll to the side just as the space marine smashed down where he had been, and he almost got stabbed in the back by the warrior coming after, as the talons pierced the floor just a decimeter away from where he was. he sat back up when he found his footing again, and he raised the hellgun in the same instant, and fired away at the warriors head, blasting it to pieces as the body slumped down onto the space marine.

as the warriors talons started to move down towards his head, Kiron watched as the warrior was shot in the head by someone beyond his vision, and narrowly avoided the sharp claws as they still posed a threat. he kicked off the dead alien, and stood up, and saw the large swarm of gaunts coming towards him from his left. he quickly scooped up his chainsword and rushed straight into them, as if he was not even in danger a mere moment ago.

Devont shot the aliens head and it slumped down, missing the space marine beneath it. then the marine just ran up to his feet and in a fluid movement picked up his chainsword that had come tumbling down with him and charged into the gaunt swarm ahead of the stormtroopers. he resumed firing into the gaunts, aiding the marine in his rage inside the swarm, thinning its numbers with every slash.

soon there was no more gaunts in the hallway living, and the captain turned around to watch the stormtroopers behind him that he had, without his knowledge, saved. he nodded at them as a sign of gratitude, and then they joined togheter and kept clearing the entire hallway of spore pods that had unleashed gaunts and other vermin into this holy ship.

for 2000 years, he had served under Lord Belgor, and had become the lords personal bodyguard, one of 9 others given such honor. he was entrusted with parts of the plan, as per usual, so even if one bodyguard was broken and told imperials of the plans, he never knew the whole picture. Gelro had been into many wars, but compared to Belgor nobody in his company came close. regardless, Gelro was a accomplished warrior and leader, and many speculated that he could replace Belgor should he fall, or even create a warband of his own someday.

"lord Belgor"

"what is it, Gelro?"

"we have found a Imperial ship closing on this planet"

"that was poor news, but i belive our work here is almost complete, am i correct?"

"yes lord, we are almost done with the search. the regiment we were looking for was deployed to another sector just shortly before we arrived, but we have located their last known position"

"where is it at?"

"they were wiped out defending their position, lord. it is known to the locals as Feet's Plains"

"then that is where we are heading next"

Belgor returned to the holographic map and studied the terrian around their location, where they held the comand structure and all the higher imperial generals around safe, so that the tyranid swarm could be defeated. it was paramount in their plan that the imperials succeed in their fighting against the tyranid, thus they had aided the guards in their most dire need when they were close to being overrun, making sure that the guardsmen could fight on for a little longer, until they had retrived the atrefact they were looking for at least. when they found it, they would leave the planet on its own, to be consumed by the swarm. as per the plan set up a long long time ago

Colban stood at the viewin panel as he watched out towards the planet before them. he would search out a rumored chaos space marine warband. traitors millenia old, and yet showing no sign of being weary of war...

"10 thousand years of warfare, and still hungry for more. heretics and traitors, each and everyone of them and their followers and their masters. they cannot be reasoned with. they cannot be bribed. they cannot be converted. all there is is to burn their souls, and praise the Emperor as you do so..."

"Lord Inquisitor, Captain Kiron wants to speak with you" a stormtrooper informed him.

"let him in"

as Kiron walked in, Colban could not help but almost laugh at situation. "Kiron, my friend, when i told you to report back to me as soon as the boarding was dealt with, i did not mean you had to skip washing all that gore off your armor."

"i came at once, as instructed by you, lord, and i personally dont mind the aliens gore, it is the sign that they are purged. the ship is secure again."

"good, i expected nothing less than that my friend. now go wash off that filth, and prepare to go planetside. we are on a hunt this day..." and as Kiron vanished from the room, Colban turned around and looked through the viewing bay again.

"soon death will strike them... soon..." and then he too walked out of the room.

Belgor and his brothers walked among the remains of the battlefield, searching for the prize they needed for the plan to succeed. they had been warned that a man would oppose them, and they had found him as a notoriously alert Commisar, who had inquired why the marines wanted to go to a dead battlefield "where the dead defend" as he had put it.

he had been a thorn in their side for a long time, and he had finally been removed, the last object in their path was removed, and before them lay only glorious victory and revenge on a hatred foe. they just needed to find, as Gelro had put it, "a bloody banner on a bloody battlefield in bloody nowhere"

his brothers searched the area carefully, but the banner was nowhere to be found. they had located the others ones, but the one they wanted was not there. Belgor was growing impatient and worried, feeling time slipping away without anything being accomplished that would further their cause.

"Gelro!"

"yes lord?"

"tell the men to leave this area, the banner is not here. we need to find out where it has been taken, and by who, quickly. this place is not its resting place. here lay only dead men"

"understood lord"

and as Belgor turned around to walk back to the transporting Rhinos they used, he glimpsed up in the sky, and saw the thunderhawk coming out of orbit and entering the atmosphere.

"they have arrived..." he thought before entering the vehicle.

Verik stood as the honor guard for the Lord General that arrived. he held his lasgun steady, and stood straight, just as a guardsman of the elite regiment he was part of. but to call it a regiment would be a overstatement, as it was only 3 men alive in it at the moment.

as the thunderhawk landed, the general was greeted by the local generals who would now transfer command to his excellency who would give the guardsmen their deserving victory at long last. thats what they had told the soldiers, but Verik had a feeling he had heard the phrase a coupple of hundred times by now, giving no hope just yet until he saw what the general was capable of.

as the lord general and his staff, along with the other generals walked by him, he got a feeling he experienced before when something was out of the ordinary, yet cleverly disguised. he dared a small glimpse towards the train of men walking along the honor guard. he felt one of them was hiding something, but who and what?

he snapped out of the feeling and returned to his neutral stance, but something nagged his mind. and the feeling would not let go easily, he kne.w that

while the Lord General went straight to the command center, Inquisitor Colban and his aide walked off to their private quarters, a makeshift place for their needs that was created from a small house. it was tiny and not really grand, but that suited the covert ideal they were keeping to not make their presence known just yet. if the foe did not know you were there, you had a great advantage.

Colban got to work at once, gathering all information files of the war so far made and compiled them into a folder, where the first, however slight, event were listed. from start to current, the war was there infront of him now. he started analyzing all his information, and slowly a picture cleared for him as to how the tyranid xenos had arrived in secret at first and then with grander status. they were weakend, but still deadly, and could very well pose a threat should they be able to re-organize a resistance fierce enough to fight back the guardsmen...

but he was not here for the tyranids, they were more a object in his path and a unpleasent one, since it could not be removed easily. he knew that from experience of them since before, and he counted on the tyranids to infest this system for a long time even if they were beaten here and now. years would go to clearing out small pockets and the planet was reformed to suit the xenos wishes and needs. the system would not look alike to its pre invasion image.

as Verik stood guardpost at the top of a tower, he glanced out over the empty plains ahead, where there was still a lot of dead tyranid corpses that had to be removed. he saw the still smoking wreck of a Leman Russ tank that had been lost in the last battle, and had yet to be towed away.

but there was something out there that watched him and that thing or person did not want to be seen. spending so much time in this war and with the regiment he was part of, he had learned how to catch infiltrators. and he had a feeling there was one such infiltrator outside but also inside the camp. he had arrived with the group of retainers that the Lord General had brought with him, but Verik could not pinpoint who it was, and telling the commisar would end up giving him a quick note of his own execution for treason and causing doubt in the command staff.

until he would find out who it was, he would keep his eyes open. somehow luckily, he had been selected to act as a honor guard to the Lord General when he was at the frontlines, so he had been issued with security clearence into the command staffs HQ. he had all the suspects right infront of him all day long, he just needed to find out exactly who it was.

as the general and his subordinates debated upon the next step in the plans, Verik watched them all with suspicion. he had noticed one adjutant in particular, who unusually often left to "handle a urgent matter". what could possible appear so often that required him to leave the HQ staff verik wondered and paid close attention to him. but the adjutant was a trusted man in this company, only Verik seemed to have suspicions that he might be hiding something. he had the guard outside the lord generals own room, so if he was a assassin, he had his target in prime sight all the time.

if he was a traitor, he had access to all sensitive data... but who would betray humans to tyranids? tyranids dont take prisoners nor do they reward any tratiors. they just consume, they are only for themselves, and nobody else. hence Verik was puzzled by the man. and now he left again, this time to "handle a commisars request of his presence" as he called it, the general dismissed him, and the man walked out. Verik paid close attention to anything that would reveal the adjutant, but nothing. he looked ordinary, and he was on his way towards the commisars housing. yet somehow, Verik knew he was hiding something...

"Kiron, i am afraid we were correct in our assumptions. there are Chaos servants hiding here somewhere, but we cannot find them in the open. we dont have a chance to actually, they could be anyone, so we need to look for someone cowering in a corner behind a shield to find the prize we seek. they are here, somewhere, but i wonder where they are..."

Colban watched the map of the base, and saw a huge military installation. if there was even a hundred chaos cultists, they would be a needle in a haystack in a barn filled with haystacks...

he sighed, and reclined, to think over what part he had missed. he was a renowned chaos hunter, he had always found his prey by sheer luck sometimes, and methodical planning sometimes. theese cultists were harder to find though, he admitted, they were clever and did not leave many clues. he picked up a mental note of all the command staff personal they had arrived with since the Lord General had landed at first. there was literally a hundred new people here the last coupple of days, and Colban looked through the list in his mind regarding all suspicious activity...

and then he found the man he looked for. a survivor from a battle at Feet's Plains had been there as the honor guard that day. then he had been in the watchtower when Colban had serached the battlefield for some traitor hiding among the dead bodies. and now the man was stationed as a guard for the Lord General...

the informant arrived at Belgors part of the base he had requisitioned, and he carried news every now and then that was of vital importance, but most often it was more danger to being detected than the news was worth, and Belgor had reprimanded the man and told him to be more careful if he wanted the favor of the chaos gods. he had stopped coming often, but was still a danger to the whole operation.

"listen well, Merid, for i will not repeat this one more time. we are here serving our masters in their search for a artefact we need. the artefact you know what it is, yet you cannot possibly locate it anywhere in this base? how can one small banner be that hard to find? you got access to the entire facility and all the command staff. find me that banner, and find it quickly. my patience is not limitless, so hurry up."

as Merid the information walked away with a shaken soul, Belgor sat down again from standing up while he had talked to the man. he thought he was getting rewards for it, and he would, but not the kind he expected. now that he was gone, Belgor tried to calm himself down and meet the Lord General to discuss a potential assualt the space marines could undertake. the fool wanted to know if the marines thought it was a good or a bad idea to stretch their already thin numbers. Belgor had thousands of years of experience, and he already knew of about 4 ways to defeat the tyranids, but he needed the guardsmen occupied, so he did not help to his full potential. he was here for the banner he still had not located, and the idiot Merid was of no help.

days passed, and Colban had one of his spies assigned to the Lord Generals bodyguard and that spy had one clear order: keep a very close eye on the guardsman named Verik. he was a prime suspect, for he constantly appeared wherever Colban looked. the battlefield, the landing, the generals very bodyguard. somehow, this man was at the center of it all, and he knew that Verik had a part to play in this scheme. sure, he could not be, but he was of the school that 10 loyal peoples execution was outweighted by the one traitors execution. if verik was innocent or guily did not matter, but he was not the grand prize, not the head of the serpent. he was a mere part of the body, and Colban wanted to follow the body to the head and then strike it off.

Kiron had been kept onboard the ship, as his presence would reveal the mission, and was therefore kept on a standby to come planetside via drop pods at a moments notice. Colban needed but a moment to press a button, and his deathwatch team and several stormtroopers would arrive in a minute. perfect surprise assualt.

he smiled, feeling confident that he was on the right track. then he woke up from his thoughts from a large explosion that shook him down from his chair and onto the floor. he quickly grasped the situation and ran outside to make a clear picture of what was happening. and what he saw was unberable to his mind. this day would not go well he thought.

during the time Colban had put his spy to watch Verik, belgor had finally found out where the banner was kept. he quickly assembled his marines from their missions and gathered them for a raid on the depot, and time was running out, so a cover option was not available anymore. the Celestial would arrive in system soon under cover of a warpstorm, pick Belgor and his prize up and leave as suddenly as they arrived. it would not take more than one hour for it to be done, so being there at the pickup point without the prize was out of question. the storm had already begun forming, and astropaths felt its potential build up.

as he and his marines approached the storage house, the guard there was both surprised and honored that the marines would come to his storage and in such large numbers. they must be preparing for some large mission and needed a lot of equipment.

"welcome my lord, i ho..." he had no more time than that until his life ended with a bolter round through his skull, and he fell down dead before the bolt detonated. quickly the marines setup a perimiter around the storage and started shooting to kill on any that approached, as Belgor and a few men set a charge at the gate and blew it open. this was now or never. they quickly rushed in and found the banner in a section very close to the door, so they were in luck. they grabbed it and made a run for it outside, where the fighting had begun.

Colban quickly ran back inside as he had saw the marines there firing their bolters on guardsmen who rushed to the place, cutting them down before the guards returned, ineffective might be, fire to the marines that had just minutes ago been their allies. Colban grabbed his gear and hurried back outside to help the fight. he had pressed the button at once as the explosion occured, because he had feared that the servants of chaos was about to launch something, now that the warp storm had started brewing, he had known on a instinct that the base was now about to be attacked. and he had been right.

as the alert reached his ship, all stormtroopers and deathwatch marines boarded their drop pods and thunderhawks, strapped themself in and started their descent to the planet where their inquisitor lord was in danger, and they came soarding out of the atmosphere as angels of death.

Belgor had seen the Inquisitor appear and now he knew he had made the right decission to hurry the operations last phase. he held the banner in a tight grip as he raised his bolt pistol and fired off a shot towards the Inquisitor, who fell backwards. Belgor turned around and with his marine force, they started moving and firing at the same pace through the base towards the point where the Celestial would teleport them from danger to the safety of the ship.

Colban had acted dead for a while as long as he knew the chaos rats were watching him. as soon as they left, he raised up and quickly followed the scum, without a scratch. the bolt shell had passed him by a small margin, but that was enough to be alive. he had acted on instict, and was now in pursuit of the chaos scum. and then he glanced up and saw the forces he had called for appear through the atmosphere as a bright group of lights, racing down towards the planet.

Kiron felt the drop pod shudder and shake as he readied his Stalker Bolter and when the pod smahsed into the group, no time was spared. the entire squad left the pod and quickly located the inquisitor and the men he chased and started pursuing them as well. they caught up and started firing their blessed weapons towards the traitors they had been betrayed by thoose many years ago. the holy bolter shells bounced off some of the unholy armor, but some made it through, killing chaos marines as they ran. but why were they running? and where?

when they finally reached the beacon site they had prepared in advance, they turned around and fought back. it was well placed inside a small formation of rocks, offering cover, and they had secretly carried heavy weapons there and burried them in the ground so nobody would find them, now they dug them up and started firing back at the pursuers, who suddenly took heavy fire from the formerly fleeing marines.

Kiron almost took a autocanon round in his chest but narrowly avoided it and fired back against it but missed and hit the rock instead. the chaos servants fired back while Belgor recived a signal that the Celestial was in position.

"lord, are you prepared to be brought back?"

"yes captain, take us out of this hole"

and in a flash of bright light, the chaos marines vanished from the location, leaving the loyalists feeling stunned and confused. the Inquisitor decided it was time to throw all caution off, and he started marching towards the place he knew where he could find a way to extract revenge and information.

as Verik was a honor guard, he had orders to protect the Lord General in any situation. now that a large battle was raging outside by the sound of it, the command staff had been sealed off and was directing the battle as best they could while locked inside the bunker. Verik had assumed his position near the entry point to make sure nobody got in that way. and he could not shake off the feeling of being successfull. he had accomplished his plan to the letter, and it was now just to wait and hope the inquisitor survived this battle. then he would have some explaining to do, and with a bit of luck, he would make it out alive.

Colban walked so fast Kiron had to run to catch up once he noticed the Inquisitor walking away from the battlefield.

"where are we going, lord?"

"to catch a traitor, my friend, to catch a traitor..."

and that was all Kiron got, and he reloaded his bolter just to be sure, as they walked straight towards the HQ complex.

the battle ended and the bunker was unlocked, letting the door be opened from the outside again, and there stood a Inquisitor with a most fearsome looking space marine behind him, carrying a stalker bolter, a yellow Imperial Fist shoulder pad, but otherwise deathwatch colored armor, and a very grim expression.

"bring me the guardsman named Verik, he is to be interogated for treason" the inquisitor boomed in a demanding voice very few could not quail before. Verik walked up without having to be forced to, and he was taken away by the space marine and the inquisitor.

while Belgor and his marines celebrated their triumphant mission. now, with the artefact, they could complete a cermony that had required a lot of preparation, and if anything was wrong they would all have been for nought, so Belgor was satisfied that the mission was finally over. with the banner of that impieral guard regiment, the symbol of so many victories for the imperium, they would now call upon the changer of ways to alter it from imperial victories to chaos victories, and the banner would become the focus point of a magnificent warpstorm that would engulf Tartika system and create a deamon world of it. and nothing would be able to escape the system, nor enter it, without favor of the dark gods.

Kiron watched the prisoners every single move and action, and made sure he did not try anything. he was not trained for this kind of mission, but the inquisitor had requested the deathwatch to accompany him since aliens were to be found at this planet, and he had realised that the request was not in any way out of order. Inquisitors request whatever they want, and they are obeyed whatever they ask for.

Verik noticed the marines close attention in his neck, but he did not bother. he had made sure he could prove his innocence and that he had not acted wrong in any way but one, and he hoped to the emperor that would not count for much compared to the benefits.

all 3 entered a room, and the inquisitor sat down on his chair while the marine stood behind verik, ready to stop him if he tried anything at all. and Verik realised now why inquisitors were so feared. he realised this man could kill him here and now, without any judge at all, and he would get away with it as it was his duty. this man infront of him could command space marines around, who normally only were asked to do things, but this man ordered them. he felt a bit uneasy for the first time this day, and he hoped he said the right things...

as the Inquisitor put his eyes upon the guardsmans soul, and started to look into his hearts depth to find if it was tainted in any slight way. what he found was, surprisingly he had to admit, steel resolve and faith. that did not mean there was no taint, only that this man could be well versed in the acts of hiding ones true allegiance. there was, as of yet, no evidence of either heresy nor purity. that was his job to find out, and he enjoyed it a lot.

"well, where to start. you know fully well i am a Inquisitor, and that means i dont answer to anyone but the Emperor and myself, so you are at my merdcy. whatever you do and say have to be chosen carefully, if you want to live another day. tell me, Verik, what part did you play in all this? the heretic scum took YOUR banner after all, did they not? the 35th Kunrak Regiment have only 3 men that live, and you are the strangest one. you keep appearing in my sight all the time. explain, please."

"i want to tell you i have a faithful soul and heart, i do not try to betray our holy Emperor, never would i do that as long as i live. i will need some time to explain it all, but in the end, i belive we can come to the conclussion that i am innocent, and should be released from this captivity."

Kiron reacted a bit on the fact that this poor guardsman, sitting infront of a Inquisitor and having a Space Marine behind him, both ready to kill him in a instant, was very certain of himself. this would be a interesting time. very interesting...

"i will not make any promises nor will i make any deal with you. i judge you as i wish and you have nothing to do with that. what you can do is merely to make me judge you innocent, and considering the current status, i doubt your ability to prove you are innocent. now tell me your tale, or i will happily have you executed for heresy."

"veryw ell, my tale begins when you arrived here, my Lord..."

Belgor stood in the huge room aboard the Celestial and watched the followers of tzeench weave their spells and utter their chants as to empower the banner and the other relics with the chaos gods favor. but why did he have a nagging feeling in his mind? it felt like he had missed something, but all was there. no relic was missing, all the actors were assembled and played their roles. why did the play then feel wrong?

the chanting grew louder and louder, and the relics started shining with the essence of the warp, daemonic faces being visible around them for brief periods of time. the fabric of space would soon be torn apart and daemons would swarm over this system, covering it in darkness and suffering, fitting for chaos. all of the unholy choir raised their voices to praise tzeench and his powerful might. and then the staff was to be put inside the center of it all, and that would be the key to unleash all the power this sacrifice contained. chaos would rule this system for millenia and more, and they would mock the imperium from it, showing them that the might of chaos is unstopable.

the head mage picked up the staff with his wretched hands, and carried it to the center of the 8 pointed star that the relics was making, and lift it high in the air, screaming his praise to Tzeench and his power, and smashed the staff down into the ground.

Belgor noticed the look on the headmage, and he realised that something had not gone according to plans here. he walked up to the man and grabbed his robe, pulling the short man up to face Belgor, his feet dangling in the air.

"what is the problem, mage? does tzeench not like you?" he growled, feeling a rage that this man had done something wrong and had ruined the entire plan.

the weak mage could only whimper, his magic powers forgotten as he stared into the black eyes of a very angry chaos champion, and he knew his life was in this mans hands, literally.

he could only stutter forth that everything had gone according to the plan, everything had been done right. something was just plain wrong somewhere, and nobody in the room could tell what. Belgor threw the mage away, and started to walk around trying to find the reason. none of the people had done anything wrong he realised, so what was it? could it be a object had not been in the correct place? he walked over to them and started examining them, one by one and carefully, but none showed any sign of flaw.

then he got to the banner in the centre, and he flew into a rage and stormed outside of the room, quickly followed by his entire warband and left the head mage and his kin baffled and scared as to the sudden rage. Belgor was known for keeping control, but this was outside his normal behaviour. something about the banner had toppled the usually clam and methodic man into a raging machine, and everyone knew someone would pay dearly for it.

as Verik started his tale, he began when it all started, at the battle where the chaos marines had landed. he explined in detail, just as he had prepared to do, how they had saved the imperial troops from defeat, and had since been instrumental in multiple victories over the tyranid swarm, lending their expertise wherever it was needed the most.

he then skipped the time until the day the lord general had arrived. he explained how he had been one of the honor guards that day, and he had notcied something strange in the group but could not quite put his finger on what it was. as he talked, Nolen realised that his disguise had not gone this man by. he had dressed as a adjutant, the kind nobody notice until they need some paper carried somewhere. he wanted to stay under cover for this mission, since he did not know where the enemy was. this guardsman had somehow felt his presence still, and had constructed a plan from that day it seemed like. at least, that was what it looked like, judging by this mans confidence despite being in a situation nobody want to be in.

Verik continued how he had found out about the traitor adjutant to the lord general, and had followed him once when he took one of his frequent leaves to "do something important". he had walked right into the space marine headquarters, and there Verik had, the next day, started to setup a surveilence system, posing as a mechanic fixing all the lights. nobody had stopped him, and he had gotten all the devices he needed up in one day.

he had found out about the marines true agenda, but he did not know what it was just specefically. he knew they were looking for a object that was needed for one of their foul rituals, and they posed as loyal marines until the artifact was found. this ment that they had been seraching since they came here, and nobody had found it yet. he quickly had started going through all he knew had happend, and came up with many possible objects being the one they looked for. but which was it?

he knew they had travelled to the battlefield where his regiment had been destroyed, and that they had come back with no artefact still. thats when he put one and one togheter. what was the single important thing that was a possible artefact and had been moved from that battlefield? the banner. he had carried it away from the field, and it had been moved into a storage area, so Verik quickly rushed to that place as soon as he realised what they were looking for. he had broken in there, stolen the banner and put a replacement banner he had made himself as a hobby project to spend time when there was no official duties to be done. now it came in perfect use.

the plan worked flawlessly. the banner was a little bit different from the real one, but in the heat of the situation, the chaos servants had no time further examining it, and had taken the fake banner and fled with it. they had, despite the warning that someone would oppose them, failed their mission because of one lone guardsman having his wits and courage enough to think and go outside the box. it was generally frowned upon, but in this case, colban nolen realised, that were it not for this single man, the entire system would be a haven for chaos servants already now.

he was baffled, and Kiron was as well. a lone guardsman had just fooled a plan by the alpha legion, as no other legion could have done such planning to such perfection. Verik sat there, looking confident that his errors of disobedience, his running about, lying about who he was, and a host of other things. but compared to theese smaller errors, he had, in fact, saved the entire system. he had foiled a alpha legion scheme. for that, Nolen decided that this man was the hero of the day.

and thats the end of Tartika II. i decided to do this story because i wanted to, and because i know i have a talent for it, so i thought that making a thread here would get some attention and feedback.

the first, obviously at almost 3000 views, was achived. thank you everyone.

the second, however, is non existant. i have not gotten a single word of feedback, so i would like to ask you all who view this thread to put up a post giving me feedback as to what i did right and what i did wrong. anything, from "you are god!" to "just die" is welcome, altough i wont follow that last advice.

hope you enjoyed it as much as i did making it, and again, please give me feedback. if you do and most liked it a lot, i will create another story. and this time, im thinking maybe to focus a lot more on tyranids, because its rival species 2 after all. enjoy the story as you read the finnish here, and i hope to hear some feedback soon.

Red Angel, signing off.