Tartika II

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

"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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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...

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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...

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.

[Red Angel]

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.