The Tantalus Campaign - Deliverance Lost
The last members of the advance party exited the Devourer dropship Fire of Faith, the cavernous maw of the transport closing with a sharp report behind them.
"Atmosphere appears to be breathable, sir. It's a good thing this landing bay is still powered, or we'd all be sucking vacuum right about now."
The commander sighed, delivering a curt strike to the back of private Kowalski's head. How protocol had slipped so far was beyond him, especially amongst so many new recruits. They were barely out of basic training, for Emperor's sake!
Turning to his lieutenants beside him, Walicz began issuing orders to reconnoitre the immediate area. It wasn't often that something as extensive as this hulk remained intact, let alone powered.
As the sensor teams started to spread out, exploring the myriad tunnels and doorways leading off from the bay, he took stock of the environment.
Efficient, sensible Imperial architecture blended seamlessly into misshapen, almost molten-looking rock, an internal reflection of the extreme trauma the outside of this space hulk showed, components of hundreds of ships from the smallest lighter to massive Navy battlecruisers merged and melded with what once must have been a large moon or even a small planetoid.
After 15 minutes, teams reported in that the immediate area was safe, and they began to establish a beachhead. With a few of the more extraneous doorways sealed, this would make a defensible position and provide a good place to fall back to in the event of anything untoward, though as of yet nothing had been reported.
---
The following morning, an expeditionary team set out down one of the larger hallways, the Leman Russ Wrath of the Emperor spearheading the advance. As they moved further into the asteroid's interior, reconnoissance teams checked doors and tunnels, reporting nothing out of the ordinary... insofar as anything about this structure could be called ordinary.
Emerging into a large cavern, the team was surprised to find remnants of Imperial architecture, a few damaged buildings and ruins. What was surprising was that there were signs of battle here, chunks missing from statuary and some primitive trenches dug into the softer earth below.
One of the sensor technicians called out to the commander. "Sir, I'm getting some... unusual readings here."
"Define 'unusual', private" Walicz ordered, scanning the area for signs of trouble.
"I'm getting signs of movement, but they keep disappearing and reappearing at random. I'm not sure if it's interference from the material around us or not."
Grimacing, Walicz motioned to his officers to begin taking up defensive positions. He led his command squad to the multi-storey ruins to his left, opting for a secure vantage point. Better to be safe than sorry.
A flurry of chatter came through his comm officer's headset. "Sir, there appear to be quite a few sensor disturbances - blips moving in and out of range, then suddenly disappearing. What should we do?"
Retrieving a set of magnoculars from his belt, he peered into the gloom across the cavern.
"Prepare for battle."
---
As the forces of the Damocles 5th arrayed themselves, motion trackers went haywire, showing multiple bogies moving around throughout the cavern and amongst the ruined buildings. Whilst the rest of the regiment took up defensive positions, 1st and 2nd squads began to move forward cautiously, flanked by two of the advance guards' chimeras.
The blinding searchlights of the two chimeras panned across the pockmarked ground, illuminating broken duracrete and twisted rebar. As the beams passed across one of the larger buildings, glowing red eyes began to appear in their wake, and a strange hissing and clicking began to permeate the gloom.
with a sharp report, a bullet clipped the shoulder of Commander Guff, sending him spinning. The comforting whine of lasgun fire filled the cavern, as bright red las-blasts pierced the darkness.
Illuminated by the momentary glow, several hulking figures appeared on a rocky outcrop, only to be mown down by the disciplined fire of the Emperor's finest.
His shoulder bandaged by a nearby medic, Guff began barking orders, echoed moments later by the comm-packs of the more distant squads. With a grim smile, he heard the autocannons of the heavy weapons team up with Walicz start up, their comforting thud music to his ears.
Frustratingly, almost as soon as a target was sighted, it would disappear, the foul xenos slipping back into the darkness, only to reappear elsewhere in the gloom.
As his men pushed deeper into the ruins, Guff looked for the sniper who had dared to shoot at him.
Grabbing the platoon's astropath roughly by the shoulder, he glared at the pale man and barked a question. "Psyker, can you identify the source of this gunfire?"
In answer, a bullet drilled through the astropath's head, and an explosion of warp energy tore through Guff and the men nearby.
---
Hulking forms appeared through the dust and ash thrown up by the full-scale battle, monstrous figures easily the bulk of ogryns shouldering their way through the wreckage. As they lumbered towards the defenses of the astra militarum lines, Walicz' heavy weapons teams began to pour fire into them, obscuring them once more in a dense cloud of smoke and dust.
On the opposite flank, an alien presence forced itself upon the minds of nearby infantry; a shadow that promised death, but death in the service of something far greater than themselves. As 4th squad lowered their weapons in confusion, a sinuous, many-armed figure tore through their ranks like a whirlwind, smaller versions also joining in the butchery. As men died in horrific sprays of blood and ichor, a single thought was pressed into all of their minds: Father.
Bursting from beneath haphazardly placed shipping crates, a mass of limbs and teeth and talons flowed over the cratered earth, swarming around the hull of a chimera and tearing panels off, seeking the flesh within. As the chimera backed rapidly away, the horde was mowed down by the disciplined lasgun fire of the entrenched guardsmen.
As the genestealers died, a furious hatred rolled over the minds of the men, an alien fury that threatened to consume them all.
"Stand firm, men!" Commissar Ivanov roared, sweeping a crackling power blade over his head as the spittle flew everywhere. "Pay no heed to the xenos trickery. The Emperor Protects!"
Their resolve bolstered, lasgun fire continued to pour into the hole the monsters had burst from. So single-minded was their fervor that few noticed as a second wave flowed over and around the containers above, and threw themselves into the Imperial lines.
The slowly dissipating smoke revealed a scene of utter carnage. Bodies were torn asunder, flak armour having afforded as much protection as tissue paper from the rending claws of the xenos. Dotted amongst the field of red and grey and brown were taloned arms and legs, blue blood mixing with the dirt and ichor.
Of Ivanov, only a shattered sword and a shredded commissariat hat remained, testament to the inhuman ferocity that had been visited upon the servants of the Emperor.
---
Elsewhere, regimental artillery tore through the xenos hybrids like a vibroknife through standard-issue rations, leaving smoldering corpses and improvised mining equipment scattered amidst the hellscape.
As the teams ceased fire to survey the carnage and reload an eerie quiet suffused the area. A lone figure strode out of the darkness, a gleaming autopistol grasped in each taloned arm - one for each of the three weapons teams. With a guttural snarl, it leapt into their midst, staccato pistol fire puncturing the silence.
The dust cleared and the gunslinger stood over the corpses of the Emperor's finest, the barrels of its liberator autostubs slowly cooling to a cherry red.
The figure had barely turned to survey its handiwork when it was blown apart by a battle cannon shell from Grim Resolve.
---
Walicz frowned as comms chatter was cut off from several teams nearby. Gripping his magnoculars tightly, he searched through the gloom for signs of his men, but everywhere he turned there was nothing but gory ruin.
Finally, his eyes alighted upon the trio of tanks, moving purposely through the ruins. Occasionally, one of them fired, and he knew that another enemy of mankind had been obliterated.
A crash from below drew his attention, as the mortar teams stationed below cried out in terror, cut off suddenly by a horrific squelching sound. A heavy, rhythmic thud began to resonate throughout the building, as a hulking brute, larger even than an Astartes Terminator muscled its way up the stairs. Around its feet darted a smaller fiend, urging the misshapen monster along.
As the abomination left the stairwell, it brought its enormous sledgehammer to bear, the head coated in fresh blood and gore from its efficient slaughter below. It turned its horrifically mutated face towards Walicz, and a fierce, yet animal intelligence burned brightly in its mismatched eyes.
With a gravelly chuckle, it strode towards him, raising the hammer effortlessly as it went.
Walicz pressed himself into the corner, eyes wide with terror as the beast lumbered towards him.
The last thing to pass through his mind was the hammer.
"Atmosphere appears to be breathable, sir. It's a good thing this landing bay is still powered, or we'd all be sucking vacuum right about now."
The commander sighed, delivering a curt strike to the back of private Kowalski's head. How protocol had slipped so far was beyond him, especially amongst so many new recruits. They were barely out of basic training, for Emperor's sake!
Turning to his lieutenants beside him, Walicz began issuing orders to reconnoitre the immediate area. It wasn't often that something as extensive as this hulk remained intact, let alone powered.
As the sensor teams started to spread out, exploring the myriad tunnels and doorways leading off from the bay, he took stock of the environment.
Efficient, sensible Imperial architecture blended seamlessly into misshapen, almost molten-looking rock, an internal reflection of the extreme trauma the outside of this space hulk showed, components of hundreds of ships from the smallest lighter to massive Navy battlecruisers merged and melded with what once must have been a large moon or even a small planetoid.
After 15 minutes, teams reported in that the immediate area was safe, and they began to establish a beachhead. With a few of the more extraneous doorways sealed, this would make a defensible position and provide a good place to fall back to in the event of anything untoward, though as of yet nothing had been reported.
---
The following morning, an expeditionary team set out down one of the larger hallways, the Leman Russ Wrath of the Emperor spearheading the advance. As they moved further into the asteroid's interior, reconnoissance teams checked doors and tunnels, reporting nothing out of the ordinary... insofar as anything about this structure could be called ordinary.
Emerging into a large cavern, the team was surprised to find remnants of Imperial architecture, a few damaged buildings and ruins. What was surprising was that there were signs of battle here, chunks missing from statuary and some primitive trenches dug into the softer earth below.
One of the sensor technicians called out to the commander. "Sir, I'm getting some... unusual readings here."
"Define 'unusual', private" Walicz ordered, scanning the area for signs of trouble.
"I'm getting signs of movement, but they keep disappearing and reappearing at random. I'm not sure if it's interference from the material around us or not."
Grimacing, Walicz motioned to his officers to begin taking up defensive positions. He led his command squad to the multi-storey ruins to his left, opting for a secure vantage point. Better to be safe than sorry.
A flurry of chatter came through his comm officer's headset. "Sir, there appear to be quite a few sensor disturbances - blips moving in and out of range, then suddenly disappearing. What should we do?"
Retrieving a set of magnoculars from his belt, he peered into the gloom across the cavern.
"Prepare for battle."
---
As the forces of the Damocles 5th arrayed themselves, motion trackers went haywire, showing multiple bogies moving around throughout the cavern and amongst the ruined buildings. Whilst the rest of the regiment took up defensive positions, 1st and 2nd squads began to move forward cautiously, flanked by two of the advance guards' chimeras.
The blinding searchlights of the two chimeras panned across the pockmarked ground, illuminating broken duracrete and twisted rebar. As the beams passed across one of the larger buildings, glowing red eyes began to appear in their wake, and a strange hissing and clicking began to permeate the gloom.
with a sharp report, a bullet clipped the shoulder of Commander Guff, sending him spinning. The comforting whine of lasgun fire filled the cavern, as bright red las-blasts pierced the darkness.
Illuminated by the momentary glow, several hulking figures appeared on a rocky outcrop, only to be mown down by the disciplined fire of the Emperor's finest.
His shoulder bandaged by a nearby medic, Guff began barking orders, echoed moments later by the comm-packs of the more distant squads. With a grim smile, he heard the autocannons of the heavy weapons team up with Walicz start up, their comforting thud music to his ears.
Frustratingly, almost as soon as a target was sighted, it would disappear, the foul xenos slipping back into the darkness, only to reappear elsewhere in the gloom.
As his men pushed deeper into the ruins, Guff looked for the sniper who had dared to shoot at him.
Grabbing the platoon's astropath roughly by the shoulder, he glared at the pale man and barked a question. "Psyker, can you identify the source of this gunfire?"
In answer, a bullet drilled through the astropath's head, and an explosion of warp energy tore through Guff and the men nearby.
---
Hulking forms appeared through the dust and ash thrown up by the full-scale battle, monstrous figures easily the bulk of ogryns shouldering their way through the wreckage. As they lumbered towards the defenses of the astra militarum lines, Walicz' heavy weapons teams began to pour fire into them, obscuring them once more in a dense cloud of smoke and dust.
On the opposite flank, an alien presence forced itself upon the minds of nearby infantry; a shadow that promised death, but death in the service of something far greater than themselves. As 4th squad lowered their weapons in confusion, a sinuous, many-armed figure tore through their ranks like a whirlwind, smaller versions also joining in the butchery. As men died in horrific sprays of blood and ichor, a single thought was pressed into all of their minds: Father.
Bursting from beneath haphazardly placed shipping crates, a mass of limbs and teeth and talons flowed over the cratered earth, swarming around the hull of a chimera and tearing panels off, seeking the flesh within. As the chimera backed rapidly away, the horde was mowed down by the disciplined lasgun fire of the entrenched guardsmen.
As the genestealers died, a furious hatred rolled over the minds of the men, an alien fury that threatened to consume them all.
"Stand firm, men!" Commissar Ivanov roared, sweeping a crackling power blade over his head as the spittle flew everywhere. "Pay no heed to the xenos trickery. The Emperor Protects!"
Their resolve bolstered, lasgun fire continued to pour into the hole the monsters had burst from. So single-minded was their fervor that few noticed as a second wave flowed over and around the containers above, and threw themselves into the Imperial lines.
The slowly dissipating smoke revealed a scene of utter carnage. Bodies were torn asunder, flak armour having afforded as much protection as tissue paper from the rending claws of the xenos. Dotted amongst the field of red and grey and brown were taloned arms and legs, blue blood mixing with the dirt and ichor.
Of Ivanov, only a shattered sword and a shredded commissariat hat remained, testament to the inhuman ferocity that had been visited upon the servants of the Emperor.
---
Elsewhere, regimental artillery tore through the xenos hybrids like a vibroknife through standard-issue rations, leaving smoldering corpses and improvised mining equipment scattered amidst the hellscape.
As the teams ceased fire to survey the carnage and reload an eerie quiet suffused the area. A lone figure strode out of the darkness, a gleaming autopistol grasped in each taloned arm - one for each of the three weapons teams. With a guttural snarl, it leapt into their midst, staccato pistol fire puncturing the silence.
The dust cleared and the gunslinger stood over the corpses of the Emperor's finest, the barrels of its liberator autostubs slowly cooling to a cherry red.
The figure had barely turned to survey its handiwork when it was blown apart by a battle cannon shell from Grim Resolve.
---
Walicz frowned as comms chatter was cut off from several teams nearby. Gripping his magnoculars tightly, he searched through the gloom for signs of his men, but everywhere he turned there was nothing but gory ruin.
Finally, his eyes alighted upon the trio of tanks, moving purposely through the ruins. Occasionally, one of them fired, and he knew that another enemy of mankind had been obliterated.
A crash from below drew his attention, as the mortar teams stationed below cried out in terror, cut off suddenly by a horrific squelching sound. A heavy, rhythmic thud began to resonate throughout the building, as a hulking brute, larger even than an Astartes Terminator muscled its way up the stairs. Around its feet darted a smaller fiend, urging the misshapen monster along.
As the abomination left the stairwell, it brought its enormous sledgehammer to bear, the head coated in fresh blood and gore from its efficient slaughter below. It turned its horrifically mutated face towards Walicz, and a fierce, yet animal intelligence burned brightly in its mismatched eyes.
With a gravelly chuckle, it strode towards him, raising the hammer effortlessly as it went.
Walicz pressed himself into the corner, eyes wide with terror as the beast lumbered towards him.
The last thing to pass through his mind was the hammer.
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