dark harvest, part 2

[Argent aquila]

-1

 

Thundering explosions shook the earth with a violent crack as a stream of green light struck the side of the tanks' armor plated hull, searing clean through it as if it were paper to a flame.moments later, the engine of the hellhound ruptured and the entire area was engulfed in bright, promethium fires, the guardsmen who had been using it's sheer metal bulk for cover fell screaming, or were reduced to ashes and dust. Volleys of las-fire and the cracking report of heavy bolter and cannon crashed out into the sides of the outer city killing fields erected by the erstwhile defenders, the imperial guardsmen of the Krinas 30th infantry regiment unable to cope with the magnitude of the enemies they doggedly faced. With the proclamation "for the emperor!" A ragged line of men surged forth from the cracked and broken barricades that provided little cover, and the men of the imperium charged to attempt a break in the stalemate that plagued the front lines.More ghoulish lines of alien fire streaked into the flesh and bone defenders of the once peaceful planet, a young corporal fell wordlessly as his chest and head were atomized, another man letting out a hopeless shriek as the area where his thigh had been ceased to exist and he fell bodily into the rubble. A bellowing and slender man in a peaked cap and greatcoat, the one who instigated the charge with several rounds from his bolt pistol to emphasize, caught on the encroaching blades of the walking metal horrors as they fired indiscriminately with twin barreled gauss cannons, ever advancing in their counter bid to win the fight. The screams of mortals filled the air as a huge, segmented monster came out of the very ground itself, slithering over the remains of the burning tank, the long metallic legs stabbing through the husk that had once been a turret.With soundless efficiency, the necron advance, spearheaded by waves of

mechanical insects and hulking spider-esque constructs, broke through the outer most defense lines of the imperials, and the command channel sounded a full retreat from the city perimeter.

 

 

 

Brother-sergeant Idranull watched with grim distaste as the lines of mortals broke, and were systematically overcome by a living tide of metal insects followed by a phalanx of immortals, the vid feed cutting short as the report ended. High in upper orbit, he and his brothers, 30 in all, we're preparing to make planetfall to aid in the extraction of any materials deemed important from the planet,and, if possible, end the incursion of the necron forces by destroying the warp gate that had emerged from in side of the planets' atmosphere. The scouting forces alone had destroyed most of the population centers and ruined any humans that they came across, for what reasons the imperials could only guess. Idranull clicked the vid feed away with a thought, and turned his helmed head back to face the briefing aboard the guard capital ship, Indominatus. A lord general, stocky and heavy set for a man of war, sat (or stood, it was entirely hard to tell) while speaking in a heavy, nasal, and condescending voice of his master plans to save the planet from these unspeakable horrors. Idranull hated this man within the first seconds of seeing the overconfident leader, one who lead from a ship in low orbit while his men died in droves and took whatever victories were won for the cold, dead hands of his subordinates.

 

 

 

Until now, the lone space marine had remained silent, recording what the mortals said to relate back to his brothers aboard burning rage, their transport. But now, the astartes deigned to cut him off while he blathered and droned about how the might of the 4 regiments under his command would surely be enough to win the planet without interference from the super humans. "I tire of your endless chatter, mortal."

Idranull's hoarse, grimy voice issued from the vox speakers in his helmet," the scythes of draconia are here to aid the evacuation from

this world, whether your meager, I'll suited excuse for a plan takes that into account at all. The objective was made quite clear, and yet you make to reconquer a planet entirely lost to the imperium." All heads were turned to the sergeant as he stopped the big man mid-sentence. Caught off guard by the interruption,Lord general Gahrig almost made to yell, until his eyes rested on the grey and bone armor that adorned the speaker, he ran his beady eyes across the rest of the waiting officers and captains. " lord, if you would, then, tell us of your plans so that we could make a more efficient use of resources and men? I was under the impression that the astartes were here to aid in making the pla-" he didn't get a chance to go back onto raving, as Idranull pulled a trio of his many knives that adorned his belt and extra harness, and flicked them into a map that the general had been resting his hand upon before the man could even let out a scream. The three finely crafted knives punctured into the map less than a few inches from the pompous oaf's hand, but the blade tips made his intentions known, each one protruding from an open square field or similar open area. "We land there, make your defenses prime, and leave no angle in un-accounted for, for your failure to do so will lead to all of our deaths. These foes are not mere ork or tau, these are monsters that slay planets and flay populations into extinction, you will do well to remember that no where is safe from these horrors,plan as if the lives of millions are in the balance." The armored figure strode forth until the menacing grimace of his helmet filled the generals vision, he brought out his hand, a metallic facsimile, to pick up his blades,"including yours." Then the giant stalked off, boots indenting the floor where his immense bulk was too much for the imperial ship to hold. The meeting was called to a close

with the departure of the soldier god, and lord general Gahrig called a group of scriveners and tech priests forth, "gather all information you have about these astartes, never have I seen such beasts of men, even amongst their breed. And have my shuttle prepared if the need arises." He took a deep breath," I hope the rest of them aren't as hard headed and demeaning, they should know their place in the emperors grand image of mankind." Silently they left Gahrig alone in the planning room, as the fires of a thousand dead men and women burned ever brighter in the onslaught of a dark harvest.

 

 

-2

A trio of snake like drones flew through the next barricade, their forms shimmering as they phased through the concrete bulwark. Long scything arms slashed out with electrified whips, slicing through flak armor with contemptuous ease, the men falling back let off sporadic fire as they were cut down, a vox officer's scream amplified into the ears of his squad mates as the wraiths continued their slaughter. A hail of las fire blazed with the chattering autocannon fire from the next barricade.the shots finding their mark frustratingly few times as the vanguard machines continued their effortless sweep through their prey, but found more purchase against the solid bodies of the retreating guardsmen unfortunate enough to get caught in the firewall. One of the insectoid creatures jerked and spasmed as the heavy slugs from the big gun cracked the strange metal that encased the creature, and as it fell it let out a metallic screech that caused the vox units to static and fuzz. Heedless of their sibling, the remaining wraiths glided through the burning husks of buildings to either side of the street, physically unimpaired to the confines of the material plane, their bodies shimmered and sparked as the disappeared from the sight of the humans. Attack vectors were scanned by the mechanical minds of the twins, and both moved seamlessly under the very ground the guardsmen stood, panicked and trigger happy. The rest died quickly, their murderers emerging from below their feet or through the walls they cowered behind,and tearing through their innards as they phased their claws past armor, or simply sheared through it, leaving little in the way of marks to show the humans' deaths.

 

Jerhard grimaced as he turned over the next body, his huge hand encompassing more than the corpses shoulder as he did so. The body, encased in the harsh angled body armor and a heavy coat, was that of an imperial.This field sergeant had his rebreather cut, and suffocated to death swiftly, the poisonous air burning the mans lungs and causing him to bleed from his mouth, choking on his own life force.

"Sergeant, none of these mortals draw breath, I believe their deaths are the work of wraiths, sir."

He stood back up and redrew his bolter, turning to face his half of squad Soloc. The comms unit in his helm crackled slightly as sergeant Idranull with the other half of the squad further behind, answered,

" good judgement, brother, the fact that there are bodies with flesh still clinging to them is fact enough, from what I see. That idiot excuse for a general spread these men too far apart, and their corpses are all that can answer him now."

He paused, casually vaulting the barricade as he neared his second in command.

" What do you say we do, brother?"

Jerhard looked uncertain, his sergeant had trusted temporary command of half his squad, a task that he did not want to fail Idranull in completing with exceptional skill.

" sir, if I may, I say that we make to swing across the next few streets, and secure several mines to delay any raiders that will surely follow the bugs."

Withdrawing a frag grenade from his mag belt. The rest of his combat squad moved forward, doing as jerhard bid and setting a pair of trip wires in the rubble of the ruined street. Idranull turned away and strode back to the six men he kept with him opening a private comm link to their 11th member, apothecary Damas.

"Well, old friend? What do you make of him?" Idranull asked.

"He is showing the qualities of a leader, but his uncertainty will leave him indecisive at a critical moment in the midst of a war that cannot allow such hesitance."

The rasping, voice crackled into Idranull's ear, much like that of all his brothers only deeper and traced with static as the vox links struggled in the horrendous atmosphere of the planet. " but his idea to set a trap will do little, if these are the necrons that we believe. If they are Argorahk, then no amount of weapons can truly stop them, even a force such as those the general believes can hold them."

The sergeant bit back a curse at the mention of the necron dynasty. The one that had nearly seen the entire chapter destroyed as their home system was burned from under their very feet. Their ancient foes destroying nearly all of the scythes of draconia as they awoke, sending a disturbingly large number of immortal legions from the tomb worlds located inside many of the planets in the system half way across the segmentum. Turning to regard his squad in their dark grey and bone armor, Idranull sighed,

" let us hope then, brother,that we do not see the their heraldry. If this is indeed the work of the Argorahk, then this planet is surely lost."

After finishing their clean sweep of the area directly outside of the defensive perimeter, Idranull ordered the rest of his squad to return to the arrival site to consolidate the scan information and better redeploy the Krinas and prepare for the deploying of the other 2 squads of astartes, tactical squad verdain lead by sergeant Tersan, and purgation squad dovarus, the specialty squad armed with modified armor rebreathers and heavy amounts of flamer and melta weaponry. Idranull also appealed to tech marine ghomoro to reawaken brother ancient hastar, interred into a dreadnought sarcophagus since the chapters' early history after their return to active duty amongst their new home sector and beyond. With the arrival of a large assault force surely imminent, the heavy weapons and reliability of the war machine would be of great use to the scythes.

 

 

The stone cracked and sank slightly as the mechanical being strode forth from the warp gate, its' disturbing green light clinging to the body of the skeletal figure and shining from the depths of its' empty eye sockets and rib cage. The necron stepped down the short stair way leading to the stasis crypt, a line of ancient, blue trimmed immortals caked in the detritus of aeons, following close behind. Had the Lost Shepard been able to show emotion or any equivalency of it, the necron lord would have exuded a childish glee as it ran a mechanical digit over the controls to a console jutting from ancient, alien metal, and it flickered to life, a deep sea green glow lighting up a large insectoid form that was curled around itself, larger than a battle tank.

[deathspectersgt7]

!!!!

[Welcheren]

Enjoyed it. Dark and ominous with division among the allies.

[Argent aquila]

thanks guys!, part 2 is already in the works, i have this big test tomorrow for school, 6 hours of boring, so a good draft for how the plot can move along should be pretty underway by the end of the week!

 

i'm thinking of making this one more than 2 parts like my last one, i want to experiment with progression of characters and a good campaign...

 

 

 

ideas are always appreciated if you have them...( maybe i can make a couple choice/ choose your destiny things. that'd be cool)

[Welcheren]

As an idea: the story seems set to introduce division among the allies. Perhaps the plot will take an unexpected turn away from this line.

 

The General seems to disdain the Scythes, but perhaps that is because an Inquisitor has been whispering in his ear. What is that Inquisitor doing among the Guard? And why is he/she suspicious of a Chapter with an outstanding record of loyalty?

 

Perhaps there is some food for thought in there?

[Sanguine_Knight]

I have to nitpick here just a little. In the first line of the second paragraph it says that the Marine watched in soundless horror. Horror is defined as an extreme fear, terror or dread. I was of the understanding that Space Marines were incapable of feeling fear of any kind. Maybe another emotion such as rage, fury or hatred would be more appropriate to describe his feelings toward the Necrons. Otherwise I like the way its going

[Argent aquila]

*gasp*
You are totally right, I've fixed it and sent the serf responsible for such poor representation to the commissariat to be reprimanded.


Hope you guys like part 2!

oh yeah, cue fan art!

(krinas flamethrower trooper with the specially made helmets uniwue to the regiments from the planet krinas, getting surprised by a canoptek wraith... a very special one that may have some significance later on in the story.... maybe )

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