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This is the tale from my blog about the 24th Islandlwanda. It was originally put up here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/240/252579.page and will be continued in both places.

34th Tekla Well X Rourke’s Drip 25 Kilometres North of Alpha Complex
It was a dark smoggy day even within the mountains. These grey dead ashy wastes were utterly different to the green verdant plains of home. The gritty ashy gravels felt completely alien as well. Mondli shuddered as he lent within the trenches around the well house. The trenches made a 4 pointed star around the tall bronze machinery of the pumping house. Within it dwelt thirty of the strangest creatures Mondli had ever seen. For all his elders had tried to convince him otherwise at the core of his soul Mondli doubted their humanity. He frowned their regiment was stretched thin. There was no way his squad could hold if they were seriously attacked and they were isolated in this desolate mountain range. Nobody knew quite where the ‘Nids from the spore had ended up and he’d heard legends about the Hungry Ones and worse the veteran’s tales about their encounters on Cobris.
He’d never quite realise what happened. He’d been alert and paying a hunters attention to his surroundings. For ages all that could be heard was the quiet wheezing of the Derrick going up and down, and then suddenly, behind him, was screaming and the most horrific fleshy tearing sound. He swiftly turned around beating the alarm signal on his shield. Then he saw it and screamed as his friend Lindelani drooped sliding down from the claws of the monster. The thing was twice his size tall and lithe like a giant Praying Mantis. Its mouth was ringed with tentacles which seemed to sniff the air hunting for him. But by far the worst thing was the giant blood stained claws dripping with Lindelani’s remains. They were at least the size of him and as he watched the skin began to shift changing colour. He couldn’t grasp how it had snuck so close to them. Then fortunately his mind shut down and his training took over as he brought his Lasgun to his shoulder and began to fire. Placed shots. Hunter’s shots. It worked the beast began to head towards him away from the well house. He carried on firing; it carried on advancing, slowly and surely. Obviously in some pain but not enough to stop it.
Mondli was relieved to see the rest of his squad begin to come out onto the roof of the Well house. Mandla and Kwanele began to set up the squads’ missile launcher as Sifiso shot a Krak grenade into the monstrosity. It screamed badly hurt its ichor mixing with Lindelani’s gore. Mondli began to relax with the rest of the squad in a good position the monster was dead. It might kill him but it would fail.
He never understood what happened next. Where once there was a single monstrosity suddenly there was three. How had he failed his comrades so? How had he missed them clamber up onto the roof and hide behind where the squad had appeared? With the monsters so close and among them in a flash his friends never had a chance. The monsters made short brutal work of them. With their screams in his ears, seeing his failure he charged the beast shooting as he came. He never saw the claw that killed him.

That's a damn good opening! I'm getting a vibe of equal parts Zulu and Starship Troopers. Will be returning fo more.

Cheers!

Cheers Necroagogo

34th Tekla Rourke’s Drip Defence Command HQ. Communications Room. Alpha Complex
“Emperor’s Balls”, swore Coms Sergeant Sithembile within the command bunker at Rourke’s Drip, he turned around to the private beside him, “Fetch the Colonel and tell him its bad news”. The private rushed to obey.
Within five minutes Colonel Eon entered the room, “What’s the matter Sithembile?”
“A message from the supply convoy they’ve reached Well Ten and found nobody there, there are signs of weapons discharges but no bodies, Neither the civvies or the garrison.”
“gak”, Eon ran through what the supply convoy consisted of 10 Armed 8x8’s and two squads from seventh company and winced.
“Right first of all dispatch two squads from First and a squad from Tenth in the Valkyries and order the convoy to remain where it is. We’ll send Lieutenant Jovan and the rest of Second platoon of First in Chimera’s to back up the convoy and cover it for the rest of the route.”
“Yes Sir, I’ve already contacted the rest of the major garrisons and I’ve contacted all the minor garrisons in the area and I’m just about to start on the others, Do you want me to contact the Commissar and the Magos? None of the others are out of the loop and all are reporting situation normal”.
“The Commissar certainly, the Magos hmmph we should but not quite yet, let’s work out the response within the regiment before we start dealing with the locals”.
“They’ve lost men to”
“Until we’ve checked out the site fully we can’t be certain of it”.
“What do you thinks happening?”
“Given that Bio-ship dropped pods last week and we still haven’t isolated where in the mountains they fell I’m hoping its Tyranid activity.”
“Hoping to face the Hungry One’s!” Sithembile gave his commander a look as if he was going insane he remembered Cobris it was there he’d taken the injuries which forced him to work in this rear echelon position. In some regiments the look would have qualified him for execution for disrespect of a senior officer it was that blatant. Eon shuddered, “Better them than an embedded Genestealer cult”. It was too horrible to contemplate that. Ladysmith was the Imperial Guard coordination base for this sector, almost a hundred guard regiments ran through it in a year and that was ignoring the civilian trade. It was a linchpin in the astrological map of the region having at least a dozen warp currents running through it. Sithembile looked confused at him, then shuddered and concentrated on the task in hand. Both remembered the cull after the campaign on Cobris when a quarter of the entire Army Group had been slaughtered due to the taint.

34th Tekla Well X Rourke’s Drip 25 Kilometres North of Alpha Complex
It was with great relief that Sergeant Bongani heard the powerful roar of the Valkyrie engines as they began to approach. With a deft touch they began to land outside the perimeter of the Well house. The problem was now for somebody else to deal with. It had been an unpleasant hour’s wait for the reinforcements but he’d used the time to do a complete sweep of the facility and then placed his heavy weapons on the roof of the building while his men took up positions in the trenches. The 8x8’s were crowded within the perimeter. The local crew looking terrified, however they had not objected about the plan either and had shown admirable discipline for a bunch of PDF cog botherers. To be honest his regulars weren’t looking much better. As he watched the three squads quickly disembarked and as soon as they were done the Valkyries returned to hovering. The two Veteran squads of First Company and the Scouts of Tenth quickly advanced in a good fast lope up the scree slope to the Well House. Swiftly they clambered through the trench line and then the Veterans began to split up into fire teams and reinforce his forces positions. The Scouts began to split up into hunting pairs looking for tracks. He frowned they wouldn’t be happy about him calling the 8x8’s within the perimeter as it would have obliterated most of the tracks however frankly he was more concerned with keeping his force a coherent whole. He only had ten more men than Seventh of Sixth which obviously hadn’t been enough to hold the same position against the foe long enough for a Vox call. He’d therefore decided to make sure that the Heavy Stubbers of the 8x8’s were concentrated in the hope they could stem the tide. Grimacing he looked at the stern worried faces of his fellow Sergeants Katlego and Nkosana from the First and Tau from the Tenth as they headed towards him. Bongani saluted the veteran Sergeants and they saluted back.
“Anything else to report since your last call?” said Katlego the senior of the three.
“No, still no sign of them I’ve swept the Wellhouse fairly well but as my responsibility was for the convoy I’ve not looked outside of the complex”
“Is the sign any good?”
“No there seems to be the heaviest signs of combat on the Wellhouse roof. Although there are scattered blood patches throughout the complex. Only two out here which seems to imply it happened last night or early this morning”.
“I’ll have a look about” said Tau.
“Good job, by the way”, you didn’t panic and held your force together. Your defensive position looks sound. What we will do next is consolidate the squads back together, although your heavy weapons should remain up on the roof top. While we each hold a trench line Tenth will conduct a thorough sweep. Hopefully they’ll be done by the time Jovan gets here with the Chimera’s and you can finish the run, wouldn’t want the men to run out of grub now would we. We’ll bug out in the Valkyries no point in holding a damaged facility.”
“Sounds fine to me, the Mechanicus should be aware it seems to be still working”
“We’ll still leave it I think the Colonel is planning to concentrate are strength more.”
“Do you reckon it was the Hungry Ones?”
“Almost certainly this smells of them to me, I can remember on Cobris we kept on loosing isolated forces like this for a few weeks before their attacks. Chances are it was a Mantis Stalker pack. Nasty monsters they’ve got a chameleon effect like the Karma lizards back home. Now get started and I want the convoy to be ready to go as soon as the LT gets here”.

I like it! Zulus in space are a nice feel to get. Do we get to see nids preforming Shaka shulu themed war dances?

This is an interesting and enjoyable story. My only complaint is that some of the transitions (like between giving background info and telling what's going on or that sort of thing) are kind of clunky, but the rest of the story is great. I'm eager fer more. Also, I like how the Guardsmen view the 'Nids (AKA "Hungry Ones").

Thanks a lot for the kind words heres the next installment. Also if you wat to get ahead the storys gone a lot further on my P&M blog.

34th Tekla Rourke’s Drip Defence Command HQ. Secure Briefing Room. Alpha Complex
The conference centre contained five men, it was comfortable without the frippery most Imperial institutions would have lavished on it and they sat around the desk with their dataslates out. Colonel Eon nodded to Captain Kaleb, the commander of the First, was his second in command and tactical deputy. Commissar Valentinian was there stern and worried a fellow veteran of Cobris he’d served by Eon since he was a Lieutenant in Ninth Company. They trusted and respected each other. He didn’t know the other two men as well. Magos Haggard commanded the facility he was in many ways the chief of the local community as well as a Tech-Priest. Valentinian had worked with him closely and they got on. Magos Haggard treated people as tools, Valentinian had said, but as he’d continued the Cogboys at least value their tools unlike some. The last was Administrator Doyle who would record the minutes.
Eon began the meeting, “As you all know at 1100hrs this morning the supply convoy had found Well X abandoned. No trace of anybody leaving the compound has been found. Reinforcements were sent as well as investigators. The convoy has completed the run without incident and the rest of the outposts have reported clear. They are now all on a high alert. We know believe the outpost was destroyed by Lictor’s from the Drone Ship which escaped interception last week. We know some spores must have reached the ground and we believe Well X’s personnel were wiped out by them. As you know I have military command for this region and have therefore issued orders effective tomorrow for all personnel to abandon the outer Wells and concentrate our forces. This will include shrine staff under the recently declared state of emergency. We cannot allow are forces to be isolated and picked off like this as it will only feed the swarm”.
Eon expected an outburst from the two civilians. To his surprise Haggard responded in his deep raspy heavily breathing voice, “That computes, starving the hive fleet of Biomass is a widely recognised methodology for defence against the abomination. It will also prevent battle damage to facilities and conserve valuable resources. I concur how may we facilitate an efficient solution?
Eon smiled a deep sincere smile at the Priest. “The Captain, Commissar and I have a plan for this. Your assistance will be gratefully accepted.”

35th Tekla Rourke’s Drip Defence Command HQ. Secure Briefing Room. Alpha Complex
“Colonel it’s a message from the Strategos.” Colonel Eon glowered at Sitthembile, He hated Strategos Falwarth with a passion, an inherited position, the Strategos had titular command of the military resources of Sector 7G. Somehow the imbecile had reached that position without ever seeing line combat and during the fifteen years of raids from the Octavian Warzone had never fought in the battle line. The man devoted more care to the cleaning of his superiors’ backside than his actual responsibilities. He’d stuck the Twenty Fourth on a limb and refused to secure the line of supply. He’d ordered the dispersal of the regiment into penny packets which had already wasted forty lives. Indeed the strength he’d assigned to Rourke’s Drip was catastrophically small as a Cat-1 site it should have had a PDF battle group of at least two regiments, an Armour and Artillery Company with the Guard providing an emergency reserve instead everything had been dug in around Florisbad Kop to defend the Governor’s palace and coincidently the Strategos office. This had led to the abandonment of ninety percent of the civilian population and economic resources the military assets had been assigned to protect. He looked at the message and disgust grew, “You should not change orders of those with greater tactical knowledge that have optimised the deployment protocols at a far greater level than your organic mind can compute” he read. Eon winced and instructed his aide the quiet, efficient and deadly Neo to gather the command group for another conference. Reinforcements weren’t on the way, all intelligence was apparently to high level for him to see and he shuddered. The Imperium’s fear of panic was biting it on its arse again. He remembered Cobris where the lack of information about the Genestealer’s had caused the purges if they’d understood then they would not have lost entire regiments to the infestation. Now he wasn’t allowed to know key data about the spore sites and landing areas which might allow a counterattack before the swarm reached critical mass or harrying air strikes with his three gunships. He wasn’t even allowed to receive the incident reports from other areas allowing him some knowledge of the severity of the situation. The idiocy reminded him of Cobris before General Ousanas had finally taken over. He was lost for a few moments in the old nightmare the destruction of the 11th and the killing of his cousin. He remembered the taste of Masozi’s blood after it spattered into his mouth after his spear thrust had taken him through the throat. He couldn’t control the shakes and just collapsed for the moment taking advantage of the privacy. Then he heard Neo come back through the outer office he straightened himself out with the ease of practise and put on his public face. Nobody else knew he’d killed his kin during the purge.
“Hello gentlemen we have news from the Strategos” said Eon to Haggard, Doyle and Valentinian. After he’d presented the information dispassionately, Valentinian turned to Haggard and asked, “How vital are the Wells exactly?”
Haggard turned and said “The pure water of perfectly neutral pH is vital in the production of 89% of the Elixirs used for export to our Brothers in the Church. However your orders had negligible effect on production as our work crews are only there to maintain the machines. The wells are of the exquisite design of Arch- Magos Medes and do not require permanent supervision. It is for that reason I agreed to abandon my beloved pumps for a while after the appropriate benediction was carried out”. “Right Colonel by the power vested in me by the Commissariat and Departmento Munitorium I am countermanding this order I will give the full sealed countermand after this meeting”.
After the civilians had left and Neo had headed off to fetch Caf Valentinian winced “Don’t think I’ll make a habit of this Eon but in this case the imbecile has left us so under strength we simply can’t hold the outer wells. Depending on the size of the swarm we might hold the main stations but even then we can’t be sure as the cretin has denied us that intelligence”.
“What you can’t get that using your override”
“It has to be on the net for me to receive it, Colonel”
“He hasn’t even broadcast it to Central Command? I mean he should have at least made a request for Satellite Intel”
“I know he hasn’t and that freaks me out”
“What’s to bet he hasn’t reported the attack on Well X?”
“He has Eon, don’t shoot the messenger and don’t take it out on Haggard and his crew but he’s blamed it on desertion and has closed any further investigation”.
“That Vandire of a bitch, even if it was desertion it should be fully investigated!”
“Yes the lack’s raising my hackles”.
“He doesn’t have the sign of the Hybrid”
“The most dangerous don’t Eon, the most dangerous don’t.”

Gaaah, wall of text! I like the new entries, but maybe you should make it less wally. It's kind hard to read. Also, there are some minor grammar errors, but that's not a major problem. Keep on writing!

Wrong Order Later posted in right order

Cheers Lone Lictor how would you suggest escaping the wall of text? Also where were the grammatic errors. The main reason I'm doing this is to improve so detailed tips would be helpful.

Wrong Order put up in right order later

Got the Order Wrong on the last few posts it should read like this

35th Tekla Observation Post near Northern Pipe Line Supply Station Three 25 Kilometres North of Alpha Complex
“Emperor’s Balls sound the alarm, the Hungry Ones are here”, Sergeant Refilwe yelled. Their worst fears were confirmed. The swarm was headed towards them and it was bigger than expected. He could see easily a hundred Gaunts led by a half dozen Warriors. They were several miles away at the bottom of the valley making no effort to conceal themselves. He guessed they were about an hour from the observation post on the summit of a nearby hill and about three hours from the plant. Of course in this desolate wasteland it was hard for anything to remain hidden especially from a trained hunter. It could be worse with the Emperor on their side the platoon could probably hold out. The Station was surrounded with a trench line unfortunately to long for the platoon to hold but they’d laid out a minefield since the attack on Well X and added several smaller trenches around the entrance. It was in the centre of a narrow valley the easiest place to build the pipe which provided a bottleneck if the enemy took the obvious route which this band seemed to have done. The sound blasted out as Thulani hit the button of the work klaxon the platoon had acquired. Refilwe followed the next step of his orders and began to head back. It was a judgement call but he believed they could reach the position before the swarm got there. If they’d been in company strength they’d have stayed where they were providing intel to the main body of the force. Sadly they were stretched far too thin for this

35th Tekla Northern Pipeline Filtration Unit B 19 Kilometres N of Alpha Complex
It was a warm muggy day on the roof of the Filtration unit but that didn’t stop the shiver going up Bheka’s back . Hungry Ones he’d heard the tales of the destruction they’d wrought on Cobris from the Veterans, he’d seen the weary horror on their faces and the grief in their eyes as they’d reminisced. He’d also seen the same men fight against an Ork raid and seen their bravery. Apparently this landing was a tiny part compared to the horrors of the Hive Fleet even now feasting upon the forces of Octavia. He wished them a long and bloody relationship although he was terrified of the idea of facing the winner. He kept his gaze on the horizon searching the ridges of the mountains and frowning at their exposed position in the centre of the valley along the pipeline scanning the hills with the magnoculars. He still found it somewhat disturbing that all this industry was to extract something as simple as pure water. It didn’t make sense to him although he wouldn’t have trusted the water of the great river they’d travelled on from the Space Port. Vusumuzi had explained that the purity was necessary for particular benedictions and to make certain elixirs it didn’t make much sense to him. He noted a large vulture above one of the peaks and smiled continuing to scan. Suddenly he realised that there were no vultures on this planet. He frowned and focussed it closer it was too far to be sure but it was an odd grey colour which didn’t look right. It seemed chitinous and bat like. He frowned he wasn’t sure as he watched but it looked like something he’d seen in his Imperial Primer. He winced and tried to remember what it was, nothing good anyway, he lowered his magnoculars and realised a flock of them was entering sight, “Sergeant take a look at that bird flock over by that peak “.

Sergeant Manelesi frowned with the regiment at alert everybody was on tenterhooks and false alarms were likely. He thought it was a waste of time and a distraction but raised his magnoculars to check the sighting. If it was just birds he could bollock Bheka later. Carefully he focussed them and then he winced Gargoyles.....bugger. He suddenly wished with all his heart Bheka had made a false alarm. They were a precursor of the Hungry Ones attacks and he did not look forward to facing the swarm.
“Bheka sound the alarm we have about fifteen minutes to ready the defences”. As the alarm bells range Manelesi began to pray. “Beloved Emperor allow us to do our duty in your holy name” , he murmured.

35th Tekla Northern Pipeline Filtration Unit A 5 Kilometres N of Alpha Complex
There was a tense air of watchfulness over First Platoon Second Company’s position. The reports of contact had come in from the more northerly positions. Neither was under serious attack yet but it was the calm before the storm. Lieutenant Ezana had decided to take the precaution to order them into their battle positions crouched into the trench lines around the central complex. He’d alerted the cog boys as well and they were busying themselves in a variety of arcane rituals and benedictions.

Sheshile looked up. He’d always enjoyed the sky and this world’s acrid smog was a dark fascination for him. He hadn’t really seen the sun and stars for too many days now. There were too many moons above his head as well it was unnatural. He missed the constellations of home. Virgil the Librarian, Gitu the herald, Ndongele the Shaman, Augustus the Sky Giant and Shaka the King he guessed he might be on one of those stars now. He allowed his mind to drift to memories of home and family, of fresh food and red meat. It was then he spotted the blobs drifting with the winds. They were heading towards his post with the Lascannons of the Devastator fire team on top of the main pump house. He didn’t recognise them as a local creature and realised they were also drifting down. They were drifting fast and as they came closer, he saw their gooey tentacular form, tendrils drifting in the breeze.
“Oh frak their heading right at us everybody have you seen them”, he pointed at the jellyfish coming from the south.
The rest of the squad turned around and gawked for a moment. Ukhoziso the Corporal then shrugged,
“Can’t tell if their hostile but frak it we’ve got plenty of ammo, loaders take them with your Lasguns”. The three Lasguns began an accurate crossfire as the shots hit the first one it exploded taking the others with it. There was a brief shower of chitin and gore. The fire team’s relief was short lived as screams and swearing came up from the lines below. Third squad had been caught within the fringes of the blast and at least one of them was down. The battle had begun.

35th Tekla Rourke’s Drip Defence Command HQ. Communications Room. Alpha Complex

Communications Sergeant Sithembile winced he’d taken in reports of attacks from all three of the northern platoon posts. He’d forwarded the reports onto high command as well. Currently a counter attack for the northern positions was being planned as well as contingency plans for evacuation to the Alpha Complex. It wasn’t looking particularly good however. This response from the Strategos was a brilliant piece of rhetorical bollocks. He was glad Eon hadn’t got into the habit of shooting the messenger. Apparently the regiment obviously had sufficient resources to hold and counter attack quite how the Strategos knew this and where precisely the target was to counter attack he hadn’t divulged. He certainly hadn’t dispatched any reinforcements.

Valentinian had made the decision to dispatch his findings to the Commissariat command post at Landing Citadel and had requested a full debrief from them. They were prepared to respond to and supply intelligence as it came in. He’d also had a vox conference with his fellow Commissars within the Sector none of which had seen contact and none of which had received a briefing through channels. They’d decided to brief their officers on what was occurring and had supported Valentinian and Eon’s orders. This was fortunate but wouldn’t gain them aid. However the Munitorium was beginning to investigate the Stratego’s conduct. Where that would lead to who knew, although almost certainly it wouldn’t lead to reinforcements any time soon.

35th Tekla Northern Pipeline Filtration Unit B 19 Kilometres N of Alpha Complex

Lieutenant Wahsi had used the time given by his alert sentries wisely he prayed. He quickly reviewed his positions and winced he thought he’d deployed as well as he could. This was his first battle as a Lieutenant and he feared he’d fail his duty. The men of Second Platoon Second Company had formed into battle positions around the Filtration Unit. The Lascannons of the First Devestator Fire Team were emplaced on the roof where they had a line of fire all around the facility. To the North was First Tactical Squad hunkered down in their trenches. On the East lurked Second Tactical Squad hiding behind a low wall. Sheltering behind a lager of construction equipment on the west flank was Third Tactical Squad much to the displeasure of Magos Finchley the commander of the Maintenance crew. The Assault Squad was in a trench on the south flank where the valley was narrower leading to less need for heavy weapons. He had decided to hold his Command Section and the Second Devastator Fire team with their close range meltaguns in reserve in the centre facility. Much to his surprise they had been joined by Magos Finchley and a group of maintenance servitors. Even more useful than the Magos however were the two Heavy Bolter equipped combat Servitors. He also had four 8x8’s attached to the facility providing enough transport capacity to evacuate easily. The supply situation was reasonable with enough to last for two weeks on normal rations. Water would thankfully not be a problem. His main worry was how thin his platoon was stretched especially First and Second Squad who covered far broader arcs of the perimeter than Third or the Assault Squad. Equally both had better positions and greater engagement distance. Another fear he had was how much of the facility was underground making it vulnerable to Ravener or worse still Trygon attack. The problem he had to deal with now however was Gargoyles. He shrugged he may as well see how co-operative the Magos was feeling.
“Ser Magos as you know we are about to be attacked by the first Tyranid wave which we know will consist of a dozen or so Gargoyles. Your Servitors and yourself are the facilities best defence against this menace so I would please ask you to assist my Devastator squad upon the roof.”
Magos Finchley looked quizzically at him and then stayed silent for a moment. Wahsi was just about to ask him again when he said in a monotone mechanical voice, “Affirmative will comply”. Wahsi was surprised Cog boys were notoriously uncooperative but he hadn’t had a problem with any of them today. Hopefully this spirit of cooperation would persist.

35th Tekla Northern Pipeline Filtration Unit B 19 Kilometres N of Alpha Complex
Bheka was comfortably kneeling behind a wall the soft downy ash rather comfortable if oddly warm against his bare skin. He was beside Amukelani and every 10 metres another pair sheltered. They were spread out further than usual sheltering in these old abandoned buildings. Sadly enough they were remains of ne storey shacks and flimsy ones at that. It was an hour after he’d spotted the enemy and they still hadn’t attacked. Part of Bheka hoped they would hurry up this calm before the storm always terrified him. Then again it was always actually far better than combat and worse yet the clean up afterwards. It was then he started to hear the wing beats. The dull thud of those giant leathery wings chilled him. At a distance he hadn’t realised how big they were. Nor how many. He was just grateful to the Emperor that they’d been spotted.

It was then the giant winged creature flew over the ridgeline from the West. The great Wyrm let out a hideous shriek which almost physically threw him down and echoed in his ears. It then dove down straight at them. Fortunately such a large target was almost impossible to miss and he and his compatriots began to take their shots. The Lascannons blasted from the roof of the facility one missed passing just in front f the beasts head. The other two blasts hit the target one tearing into its sinuous tale while the next ripped a gouge right through its claw. It let out anther malevolent scream. It was still alive even after the grievous wounds. Manelesi then yelled out “Vusumuzi, Msizi, Mandla continue firing at the Harpy rest of you shoot the Gargoyles.”
Bheka hadn’t even noticed them with the horror of the Wyrm. No Harpy he thought and wondered why he wasn’t concentrating on the foe. Quickly he dragged himself together and started taking pot-shots at the flock following the dreadful beast.

It was then disaster struck. The beast roared for a third team and spat out it’s spore and a cluster of spines. Suddenly a huge volley of explosions tore over the roof of the facility Bheka could hear the screams coming from the Devastator teams as suddenly giant tendrils began chasing them apart. It began to drive them away from the guns seeming to tear them apart as if driven by a malevolent will. Bheka dragged his eyes away from the grisly spectacle and back to the Gargoyles less hideous than what was going on behind. Suddenly a chattering of Heavy Bolter Fire came back from the roof and cheers rang out from all around as the beast was torn apart by the heavy calibre fire.
Bheka concentrated on the task at hand and picked his target. He aimed for the head and quietly prayed “Emperor guardian light guide this light". The shot was clean a perfect head shot. The flock was suffering badly from the disciplined fire but still they came on swiftly. There was still too many of them for the squad to face divided as it was. It was then that yet another hideous sound entered the cacophony the splut-buzzzz-splat of the flesh borers. He heard screaming about him but couldn’t turn around to look. He found his next target and shot again missing by an inch. The flock started to wheel around staying just within range but not charging home. The fire fight continued with the thankful cacophony entering the fray along with the crack of the Lasguns. Suddenly a pair of the beasts exploded fragment ripping into their comrades as Mandla and Vusumuzi both hit home with frag rounds. Then suddenly the fire on the left picked up in intensity a moment later followed by that on the right as the First squad and the Assault Squad entered the fray. The Gargoyles found themselves in the centre of a crossfire and suddenly decided they’d had enough and flitted away heading back over the ridge from which they’d came. A few moments later silence descended and all that was left were the carcasses and the dreadful stench of battle.

35th Tekla Northern Pipeline Filtration Unit B 19 Kilometres N of Alpha Complex
Lieutenant Wahsi grimaced they’d fought of the first raid. It was only the beginning and he had to count up the cost. He was thankful Magos Finchley had ordered his servitors and Initiates to gather the Gargoyles carcasses. They were dragging them over to the remnants of the Harpy for burning. He smiled and thanked the Omnissiah that he’d requested Magos Finchley to head up on the roof. Fortunately the Harpy had only got one round of firing off and it’s hideous weapons had only killed one gun team. The rest of the squad had all taken some minor injuries but would soon be back in action. Fortunately the facility had a medicae room and one of the initiates was qualified in its use. Second Squad had been in good cover and only lost three men one was dead and the other pair was severely injured. It could have been far worse. It would certainly get far worse.

35th Tekla Northern Pipe Line Supply Station Three 25 Kilometres North of Alpha Complex
The waiting was getting to Refilwe. They’d made a good pace back to the main camp and got into the defense lines before the swarm arrived. The base camp was thankfully awake and alert. Refilwe was grateful for their lack of clothes as it meant it was easy to prove they hadn’t been taken by the Souleaters after a cursory expectation revealed the lack of fresh scars. Nobody who’d seen them could begrudge the time it took and the caution involved. He’d swiftly and simply related the strength and ETA of the attack force to Lieutenant Ayize. He was worried. The regiment was suffering probing attacks all along the northern pipeline. First Platoon Third Company was the furthest North of the Regiments position. To the North of this Supply Station was the barren inhospitable Drift Mountains and then the desolate Plain of St Land.

35th Tekla Northern Pipe Line Supply Station Three 25 Kilometres North of Alpha Complex
It was Dingane who spotted the first sign of the attack. The Lascannon gunner on top of the bridge sounded the alarm; The first force had been spotted to the north. Refilwe relaxed slightly that was good it was the group he’d spotted. They weren’t yet encircled. Refilwe grinned as Madla began his prayers, loudly, he and the rest of the squad joined in. From all around the prayer began the bellowing of the Litany of War heartened him as the fifty nine men of Second Company Third Platoon joined in the chant “Emperor bestow upon us your righteous fury and your furious strength. Let us become the storm that blasts the enemy from your sight”. With that the Lascannons began sounding their crackling shots and the battle began. As the enemy began to lope across the field with their agile ferocity, Refilwe began observing them in closer detail. There were obviously four distinct types. The largest were the Warriors. After that there were three groups of similar monsters. Two of these had some kind of gun growth, one a disgusting cone and the other a bizarre sphincter. Closing even faster however was a group of long clawed beasts running quicker than a horse these were obviously going to hit first. Refilwe made his decision. The big bugs he’d leave to the Lascannons and Missile Launchers of the other squads. His squad would focus fire on these clawed beasts. Quickly he passed the order around. Madla frowned slightly at him presumably as it was against doctrine not to shoot the big ones first but had to concede that the Devastator fire team was better equipped for the task. As the first wave of clawed beasts hit range the Lasguns opened fire the combination of the open terrain and the skill of the Guardsman taking a terrible toll, but still they showed no fear, no emotion at all, swiftly covering the ground. It was then that a hideous spitting sound erupted. He heard the screams of his men around him but braced himself holding his pistol and shield at the ready. He couldn’t help them braced as he was for combat waiting for the beasts to reach the trench line. He had to trust them and pray to the Emperor there was enough left to hold the line. He swiftly rapped the signal for a grenade volley on his shield. Even the dozen or so dead from that didn’t lesson the tide. Sibusiso then fired a gout of fire torching several more then suddenly started screaming as a flying wyrm ripped through his face. Swiftly the scene descended into anarchy as the tide hit them. He began to hack at the horrid bone and sickly purple flesh that surrounded him. His Sail-Croc Club began to tell the deadly venom defeating even these creatures’ alien metabolisms. He could see the rest of his squad using bayonets and spears. It became an orgy of noise bloodshed and destruction the hideous ichors of the beasts causing burns all over his skin. Then as suddenly as the tide hit it began to slack and the pressure began to die down. Suddenly none were left and Refilwe realised that only half a dozen of the beasts had managed to charge even so he could see several of his men lying on the ground wounded or worse. Quickly he began to study the situation. The larger beasts had begun to retreat leaving several carcasses. They had obviously seen what had happened and decided to hold back. The two groups of shooting bugs had begun to follow them as well they’d obviously seen the demise of their fellows and decided to wait presumably for more of their kind. Refilwe grimaced and began to laugh the crazed joyous laugh of somebody who suddenly found himself alive.

35th Tekla Northern Pipe Line Supply Station Three 25 Kilometres North of Alpha Complex
Ten minutes after the attack Refilwe was grimacing as well as Sibusiso both Phila and Buyisiwe were dead. He was in the infirmary having taken a shower on the LT’s insistence. Ayize had seen too many brave men overcome by the foul ichors’ burns that the Hungry Ones gave not to take that precaution. Dumusani and Bongai had both been seriously injured and would remain. They’d taken the brunt of the casualties and all the fatalities and still been lucky. The prepared defences had managed to kill at least thirty of the smaller bugs. However this had just been a probe. They also still had the minefields out on the flanks and the Mechanicus’s agreement to lay more on the northern road. It terrified Refilwe that the worst was yet to come. Mandla quietly came up to him “We served gloriously today Sergeant but our work is not yet done. Better we defeat the Hungry Ones here in the Wilderness than they get in amongst the Manufactoria citadels and begin to feast upon the civilians. We shall not let our friends sacrifices be in vain.”

35th Tekla Northern Pipeline Filtration Unit A 5 Kilometres N of Alpha Complex
It had become almost a game by now, a deadly game of pop the balloon. The Lascannons had been firing randomly for half an hour competing between them to see who could kill it first. None had hit home since the first although a few had drifted into range of the alert squads below. Lieutenant Ezana had made the decision to use the Lascannons to engage the spores at maximum range making them far less of a danger. Sadly it pinpointed the location of the guns to the hive mind but that couldn’t be helped. He didn’t underestimate what the hive mind could do but knew that at the centre of the position the fire team was less vulnerable to infiltrators and frankly would be the main target of the longer range bugs anyway. It was then that he heard the call. One of the Lay Brothers ran towards him holding a laspistol and clutching the vox. He grinned at the young kid and dialled it on. The strong voice of Sithembile beamed through; “We’ve been hit all along the Northern Pipeline. As well as the bombardment you’ve been dealing with the Two-Twos have been hit by aerial assailants and a preliminary attack wave has hit the Third-Firsts. In response we’ll be sending a Valkyrie up to scout and Evac wounded. What direction is the bombardment coming from?”
“It’s from the North seems to be issuing from a crevasse on 37*6.7 I’ve decided not to pin point it further as I want to keep the platoon concentrated”
“Yes the Colonel and Commissar both agree with you. No point in giving the Hungry Ones an easy meal. ETA in 30 minutes, we’ll get the intel to you as soon as possible but priority has to be the Third-Firsts their looking awfully lonely out there”.
“Roger as the Emperor wills over”.

35th Tekla Rourke’s Drip Aerodrome. Briefing Room. Alpha Complex
The eleven aircrew were prepared and ready as Wing Commander Corden entered the room. All veteran members of the Cobris PDF who had sworn blood debt to the Twenty Fourth after their defence of their home world they were all keyed up and itching for a small measure of vengeance against the hive fleet. “Defiance, Triumph stand down, Corsair we’re taking this one. “
The other two aircrews relaxed but remained. If Corsair came down with maintenance problems or an accident betrayed it they’d run the mission. The Cobris PDF also had a tradition that it was bad luck not to see a comrade of from the room before a flight.
“Air in fifteen people. This is a two part job first outs a snoop and shoot engaging targets of opportunity. In particular they want us to check out a probable Biovore nest at co-ordinates 37*6.7k from the Shrine of Saint Land’s pinnacle principalis. Apparently it’s bugging the Two Ones.”
A swift groan emitted from the audience. Corden grinned and continued.
“After that they want us to continue do a swift high flight looking for the main swarm around the Three-One’s position, we’ll then be evacuating wounded from both the Three Ones and Two Two’s. Airborne hostiles have been sighted including Harpies as well as Gargoyles and they are known to be lurking around the Two-Twos. Ground pounders have been confirmed in force to the North of the Three-One’s and several Warriors are known to be lurking around the outpost. However the bug battery is the primary target. The Colonel only wants us in the air as he’s decided to reserve two craft for other duties. In particular he wants us to be prepared for combat drops to the North as well as Hot Evacs so keep tight people we’re still on Scarlet Condition.”
The other crews grimaced. Scarlet meant staying in the Briefing Room and no intoxicants, it also meant the ground crews had to keep the planes fuelled and armed at all times. Mission orders could literally come in at any time and they would be expected to be in the air within five minutes.

35th Tekla Northern Pipeline Filtration Unit A 5 Kilometres N of Alpha Complex
The comforting bellow of the Valkyrie’s Vectored Turbo-Jets called through the air as it headed towards the target co-ordinates. Suddenly it dipped down toward the grounds and shut its speed down. Ezana nodded obviously it was trying to avoid being spotted and wanted to make sure it caught the foe unprepared. Swiftly it went behind the peak. A few moments later a gout of fire burst out followed a second later by a great explosion. The Vox chirped again, “This is Corsair, three hostiles engaged, Biovores, all killed continuing mission”.
Ezana grinned “Thank you Corsair good hunting”.
“No problem Two-One”.
Quickly Ezana sent the victory beat which began echoing back with glee from his men’s shields. The Two Ones triumphant defiant beat called out against the horror of the hungry ones, the sound was of hope it was however desperately lonely in the desolate wilderness.

35th Tekla Mid Air near Northern Pipe Line Supply Station Three 39 Kilometres North of Alpha Complex
Wing Commander Corden frowned there was very little sign of Tyranid activity. The valley wasn’t the swarming mass of activity he dreaded seeing. The skies were clear the horrific winged minions of the hive fleet were nowhere to be seen. This did not make him relax. He’d seen too many comrades die on Cobris to ever relax when the Tyranids were near; he also knew that relaxation was a combat pilot’s worst enemy too many things could go wrong without the enemy being involved to let his guard down in the air. Harridans were the worst common airborne menace although the intelligent Shrikes were serious foes. Gargoyles only really worried him when they got behind his craft although he’d seen them almost gleefully FOD themselves to take out a bird. Spore Mines were another menace but were too slow to be a huge peril to an observant and lucky pilot. Sky-Slashers were another threat he’d seen them actually take down an Orbital Lander during the initial guard landings on Cobris. Millions of them had swarmed over the craft until eventually enough had begun penetrating it’s mighty turbo-fans and vector thrusters to fill even that mighty machine with bits of chitin preventing the very air from getting into its mighty lungs. He’d known despair that day. Gradually however he’d seen the might of the Imperator’s glorious legions slowly take back his world liberating a tiny remnant of the once teeming population. After the campaign he’d seen only one option to swear the rest of his life and his men into the service of his world’s saviours.
It was another five minutes before he made contact with the host. They were teeming like insects down the valley. Another hundred of the Tyranids at least with only a few leader beasts within the host which was a good sign. They were spread out in the normal Tyranid manner. Before prey was encountered Gaunts often wandered almost by themselves always within about twenty yards of each other presumably to remain within communication but cover far more ground. Corden grimaced and made his order, “Corsair we continue onwards and continue scouting we’ll head higher to avoid ground fire and cover more ground. Brydon, Gervais you only have permission to engage synapse creatures within 100M with the Heavy Bolters as this is a scout mission people. Pollock be ready to take over if necessary engage only Synapse creatures within 100M as well. We’re aiming to reach 100km out and conserve ammo”.
It was then that he saw it and swore a bellowing mass of tiny creatures like bats had issued out from behind one of the peaks. He recognised the sky-slasher swarm and shuddered. Without missiles their options against the swarm was limited. “Disengage order issued by Wing Commander Jason Corden. Men we’re going home. Record that in the log Pollock and note that I take full responsibility”. He then put the pedal to the metal and accelerated like a fish from a shark.

35th Tekla Rourke’s Drip Aerodrome. Visitor’s Lobby. Alpha Complex
Corden was grateful that the Chief Commissar was a veteran he’d failed to achieve his primary objective and only achieved his secondary mission. He knew some Commissars would perceive the disengage order as cowardice but Valentinian was enough of a pragmatist to understand that the decision of an officer to protect his command was in some circumstances the right one. He hoped that would be enough.
“So Wing Commander Corden under your command the Valkyrie Corsair on this the 35th of Tekla failed to complete the assigned primary objective of a short range recon to a point a 150km north down the Northern pipeline?”
“Yes sir under my own personal command against the strenuous objections of my crew.” Valentinian raised his eyebrows at that point and frowned his grizzled scarred features possibly about to break into a look of approval at the obvious attempt to protect the Wing Commander’s men. Most Commissars wouldn’t appreciate those who attempted to shield the men under their command from official disapproval. Valentinian was known to be different. An attempt to shield a trouble maker from him would be met with rigorous censure but an attempt to cover ones subordinates from the consequences of their commander’s decisions was actually respected by the man underneath the cap Corden suspected. Not that it would buy him mercy if Valentinian decided he did not deserve it. “We had not made engagement with the bulk of the swarm a vanguard of Sky-Slashers appeared. Their numbers had reached at least two hundred before my decision was made and at least nine hundred pursued us as the onboard cameras will show.”
“Yet your heavy Bolters and Multi-Lasers did not discharge any shots?”
“No sir but as a veteran pilot I know they are not an effective defence against that many Sky-Slashers if I’d had Hell-Strikes I’d have expended them at range and seen the results. Against two hundred Sky- Slashers we may have stood a chance with our regular armaments and my crack crew but we’d have been badly damaged imperilling the secondary mission. I had already suspected that was just the precursors to the swarm and against the other seven hundred we’d have stood little chance of surviving due to the FOD risk.”
“Hmm that would concur with my assessment to be honest Wing Commander. It’s a shame you couldn’t recover any more useful information. Return to the Squadron for now”.
“Thank you Sir”.
“You and your men are a valuable asset and I’ve seen you operate often enough to know your no coward Corden. Can you prepare a full evacuation for the Three-One’s?”
“No Sir not without them taking significant casualties”
“Prepare for it anyway Corden”.
“Yes Sir”.

My god man, try to not make me want to start a army based on this! Well done. But wall of text is awesom though