Tartika II

[Red Angel]

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...

[Red Angel]

feedback is appreciated

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

"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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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...

[Red Angel]

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?

[Red Angel]

"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.

[Red Angel]

"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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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...

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.