The Assault Angel was not a large ship by imperial standards, by it
still was big enough to house a comfortable crew complement of forty thousand,
not including passengers. Even larger
yet when trying to reach a destination on the opposite side of the ship with an
untold amount of hostiles blocking your path and no known reinforcements to
back you up. Scout Squad Archanus, was
trapped in the loading dock area of the ship when the daemon incursion began.
Archanus, a veteran of the Angels
of Silence tenth company, had been on patrol of the docking area, constantly
training and teaching his scouts the ways of the Angels, perfection in every
action. Now they crouched hunkered down
in their grey camouflage cloaks, planning their next move, hiding amongst the
debris of old damaged that never got repaired fully.
“Scouts, listen,” Archanus voice
was hushed, “We need to regroup with our brothers, we are in a very isolated
area, and I doubt, even with our skills, we will survive long.”
The determination in the scouts was
strong, and it ran across their faces, they knew no fear, and they will die for
the glories light of the Emperor. “We
are with you Sergeant, we will find the others, we will not let chaos win,”
Marnem spoke with fervor. He would
become a great Space Marine one day if he makes it out of this thought
Archanus.
“Good I’d expect no less from my
scouts, now let’s show this worthless daemons who they are messing with one
last time.” Archanus pulled the dagger from his belt, and flipped the switch on
the hilt to test it; this blade was barely longer than a foot and a half but
was deadly in his hands. Preferring it to
clumsier longer blades, he needed every little bit of speed he could get, especially
with his lack of power armour.
Staying crouch the group moved
forward, down a disused corridor, hopefully circumventing most of the larger
forces aboard the ship, and enabling the ability to perform mass stealth
attacks on the enemy.
“Sir, my Auspex is reading Astrates
over this way,” Zethar spoke, holding a odd machine in his hand, as he rested
his shotgun upon his lap.
“How many? Are they friendly?”
“It’s not clear too much interference
coming in, but the power armour is easy enough to read,”
“Zethar, you and Kinias take point,
keep your shot guns level, keep your wits, Marnem, Ashor, take the rear, and
keep your blades handy, pistols out. Let’s
not get caught with your pants down now,” He gestured his hand forward, moving
the group onwards to check out the signal.
Finding anyone from the First Company would increase their odds of survival
by tenfold, and he dared to hope that’s what he would find.
The corridor began to smell, the
air smelling like blood, lots of blood, and the soar smell of daemon entrails. Taking their time and utter most caution they
sneak forward until they reached the point where the Auspex signaled they found
the power armoured individual s and the smell was the worst.
Archanus glanced around the corner
just ever so quickly to take a count of all who was there, capturing the image
with his augmented eye. He swore
silently to himself after noticing that those power armoured Astrates, were in
fact dead, and being munched on by Khorne Flesh Hounds; A group of five from
his count, and luckily enough they were distracted.
“We take them by surprise, Zethar,
Kinias, give them hell, show them what your worth, Marnem, Ashor your with me
and we are going hit them hard, blades out, empty your clips and pray to the
Emperors glory there isn’t more around that corner.” Archanus spoke softly, he
then lifted up his fingers to represent on, three.
Three, Two, One. They group bursts from cover, the shotgun
wielding scouts blast out their shots in rapid succession, Zethar catching one
off guard and punching a hole through its unholy aura, and blasting a crater
into his chest smashing it into the wall.
Archanus and his three run headlong forward, the Flesh Hounds barking in
anger, blast up without a moment’s thought, not even phased at the sudden attack of these
Space Marines.
The hounds hit them hard, knocking
all three down to a knee in force, they were barely able to push them off, each
as strong as themselves, the shotgunners, dash forward, Zethar and Kinias,
blasting away. A found losses itself
from the three already engages and tackles down Zethar hard, its teeth biting
deep into his chest, Kinias took the opening and sent a shell into the
creatures side blasting it apart in a red mess.
Quickly checking on Zethar, alive
but out, he trained his shotgun up, aiming about, watching for any other enemy
that might attempt to sneak up. Leaving
the three outfitted for combat to their duties.
Archanus and his two other attack
scouts had the hounds right on them, teeth snapping at their faces, claws
trying to dig into their braces, giving no quarter. Archanus quickly activated his daggers power,
it blazed in electrical might as he quickly jabbed it deep under the jaw of the
beasts head, breaking through the horrendously thick skull.
Archanus kicked the body off his
blade, with only enough time to dodge another hound which had disengaged Ashor,
attempting to strike the leader of the scouts.
It growled at him, Archanus noticed that it had clipped his arm, and red
fluid rolled down his dark skin. That
had been a close one, and he would not let it happen again.
As the creature lunged again, he
ducked down and stabbed his dagger into the chest of the and rolled with
it. Slicing through the inner’s of the
flesh hound and spilling its guts all over the metal corridors floor. With another quick flick of the wrist, he
tossed that same dagger deep into the head of the remaining hound as its teeth
had found purchase on the scouts shoulder plate.
Marnem quickly stabbed with his own
blade, chopping at it, as its jaw would not let go, even dead. Ashor rushed over chopping the head off the
creature, and pried its head off with his hands, leaving deep groves in his
shoulder pad, and blood running down his arm.
A mix of Marnem’s own blood and that off the daemon’s.
“Scouts status?” Archanus asked as
he pulled his dagger from the creatures head.
“Zethar is alive, but he needs to
heal, the creature cut deep but looks to have missed vital implants.” Reported
Kinias.
“Minor wounds, will heal in a short
period of time,” Reported Marnem
“Superficial
damage, not injured,” Ashor reported last.
“No Casualties,”
Archanus moved over to a nearby hatch, and opened it, scanning it quickly. “In
here, we will reload, bandage our wounded, and prepare to head out again. Move”
On command,
they grabbed Zethar, and rushed into the room, Archanus sealing it behind
himself. It looked like a servitor
storage room, though no servitors remained, most were damaged or on duty at the
time, and unlikely many would remain. “Kinias,
keep watch of the door, Ashor, tend to Zethar, Marnem check this room for any
supplies we can use. We need everything
we can get.”
It
wouldn’t be long before they had to head out again, with or without Zethar, and
far more deadlier creature roam this ship….
