Descent of Angels

[AngelOfDeathXIII]

The Blood Angel side of this story http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...howtopic=223708

Enjoy, and please offer some feedback.

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'Take cover in that building!'

 

Phaeton and the rest of his squad sprinted trough the doorway of the Imperial outpost. Phaeton and Sergeant Aphael were the last ones in. As they crossed the treshold he other Scouts had already improvised a barricade by pushing down a table. Behind their meagre cover Scout Azriel had unstrapped his heavy bolter and was sliding in a fresh canister of bolt-rounds. Phaeton looked around. Including himself and Sergeant Aphael five Scouts were still standing.

 

Earlier that day three squads of Scouts had been sent out on a standard infiltration mission. Not two hours ago the Kroot and their Tau masters had used some alien weapon to destroy their Land Speeders. The Kroot had attacked and after a short but brutal battle the Blood Angels had been forced to make use of a short lull in the attack and retreat. Those same Kroot were still chasing them.

 

Phaeton had hoped the Kroot would lose their track in the darkness so they could return to Commander Dante and bring him a confirmation of the Tau presence on Hellas. Now their only hope of bringing that vital information was to destroy the Kroot.

 

Ten Scouts had been lost and in return perhaps five dozen Kroot and even more of their Hounds lay death between the site of the ambush and this building.

 

Phaeton looked around the building they had now entrapped themselves in. There was only one doorway, the one they had entered from. There weren't any windows but there were several gaps in the walls and the roof. None of them looked big enough for a Kroot of Tau to enter from though.

 

Phaeton heard the sharp crack of the Kroot carbines. He jumped across the table himself and in a crouched position he aimed his bolt pistol at the doorway. Save from Azriel none of the Scouts was equipped for long-range combat. Phaeton drew his combat knife with his other hand.

 

He saw Sergeant Aphael take a device from his belt punch in several buttons before throwing it trough a crack in the ceiling. Sergeant Apheal caught his glance and grinned. 'A emergency beacon.' he explained. 'It is transmitting a signal to our allies where we are and that we need either reinforcements or immidiate extraction. It signal is clearer on the roof. But for now I suggest we focus on holding off the Kroot I'd say"

 

Phaeton nodded. Then he focussed his attention on the quickly closing Kroot. The moment the first one of them stepped from the wood onto the bare plain between the outpost and the wood Azriel pulled the trigger of his heavy bolter and bolts started flying. The leading Kroot was hit by several shots and on impact his chest exploded showering the other Kroot who had emerged from the woods in gore. The other Kroot kept running and leaping closer and closer to the outpost. Within several short moments over a dozen Kroot had been shot down by Azriel's weapon.

 

The aliens were tall and slender, their skin was blue-greyish like that of their Tau rulers and from their heads sprouted quills of spine-like hair. Coalblack at the root and bonewhite at the tips. Their sharp parrot-like beaks were the same colours.

 

Suddenly the building started shaking. White dust fell from the roof on the red armour of the Scouts. Paethon looked trough one of the cracks in the side of the building. He saw several Tau who had taken cover behind a low wall and were firing their plasma weapons on the hide-out of the Scouts. For now the building would hold. If the Tau kept focussing their fire on some of the larger cracks the building wouldn't last very long.

 

Paethon smashed his elbow in the crack and made the hole larger. He saw at least twenty Tau in creamwhite armour. Above them hovered several drones.

 

Paethon hissed. "Throne of Terra, how did these bastards get on this planet in the first place!" Aphael looked trough the gap in the wall as well. He gritted his teeth. "We don't have the firepower or the numbers to take this many enemies on. If those reinforcements don't arrive quickly we're done for."

 

The Kroot kept advancing. Sometimes they would retreat but before long they'd resume their attack. The thirty metres between the wood and the building were strewn with the bodies of at least forty Kroot. After half an hour Azriel spoke for the first time. He slammed another canister of bolts in his weapon and reported:"Only one canister remaining Brother-Sergeant."

[AngelOfDeathXIII]

Aphael grunted. "Make every shell count Brother Azriel"

 

Azriel shouted a battlecry. "Suffer not the alien to live!" An answering roar came from the throats of the rest of the Scouts. Paethon felt a sudden blood-lust rising. He had a desire to rush towards the enemy and tear them limb from limb. To use his own strenght, his fists, his teeth, to paint the world crimson in the blood of his enemies. He knew his Brothers felt it as well. He knew all the members of the Chapter did, every moment they were awake. An ever-present desire. The legacy of the Primarch. The Red Thirst.

 

A loud thunk echoed over the sound of their battle-cry. The sunlight peering through the gaps in the roof disappeared. Dust from the impact covered the Scouts armour with a thin grey layer. Aphael looked up trough one of the larger cracks. A huge humanoid figure, at least three and a half meter tall in the same creamwhite armour as the Tau. A Tau Battlesuit. An enlarged hand crashed through the ceiling, on it's wrist there was a heavy flamer.

 

"To the walls!" Aphael cried.

 

The Scouts rose from cover and sprinted towards the far side of the building where they pressed themselves against the wall. Suddenly flames errupted from the weapon that stuck trough the ceiling. For one, two, five seconds flames burst into the room. Then it finally stopped. Of the meager cover of the Scouts was nothing but ashes left. The floor was blackened and hissing from the earth underneath cooling and reforming. The weapon was pulled back from the gap.

 

Before the Scouts could wonder what the reasons for this were they heard several softer thunks on the ceiling. Outside the building the Kroot stopped in their tracks and pointed at the sky above the building. They started to back away. First slowly then faster swiftly breaking into a run with their long leaps. The Tau Fire Warriors halted their supressing fire for a moment only to start firing with redoubled effort in the direction where the Battlesuit had been standing but a moment before.

 

"Didn't took them one bloody second to long to arrive here I'd say." Aphael grunted.

 

Suddenly the Scouts heard another voice throught their vox-coms.

 

"Sergeant Aphael, we will take the fight to the enemy, youre assistance is not required. Keep your men safe."

 

Patheon recognized the voice. It had been the first voice he and his brothers had heard when they emerged from their sarcophagus. A voice filled with wisdom, piety and experience. The voice of a men whom even Marneus Calgar of the noble Ultramarines would follow. The voice of their liege lord. The Chapter Master of the Blood Angels. Commander Dante.

 

"Understood my Lord." was the reply of every Scout.

 

 

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After this some Sanguinary Guard ass-kicking :P