gigantic war machines standing over the settlement.
'We will avenge.'
Cassius turned to find Dacia and his squad had stood up, kept steady by their power armour actuators as the Rhino bumped over the burnt earth. It was the sergeant who had spoken.
'We will avenge,' said Cassius.
DAWN SAW THE Ultramarines more than two hundred kilometres from Cordus Via. Standing at one of the fore hatches of the Rhino, its mounted storm bolter tilted to one side, Cassius surveyed the ground ahead. The land rose steadily into a series of steep foothills, before rising higher still as the volcanic peaks thrust up from the fields and orchards. A dark smudge swathed the distance, which Cassius took to be ash from recent eruptions. The highlands constantly spewed new life to the surface, the influx of nutrients more than compensating for thousands of hectares of crops lost to flash fires and lava flows.
Kilometre after kilometre of cereal fields stretched to either side of the column of vehicles, swaying in the ever-present winds. Not far ahead, less than a kilometre away, the grassy young stems were thrashing more violently. Beyond, in a swathe that was several kilometres wide, there was nothing but dark desolation stretching far into the distance.
At the front of the convoy, Cassius's Rhino was the first to come level with the tortured crops. From the vantage point of his cupola, by the light of the Rhino's headlamps and the rising sun, the Chaplain could see a carpet of snakelike creatures with bulbous heads and pronounced mandibles chewing their way through the crop. Known colloquially as rippers, they were the primary means for the swarm to take on biomass; other tyranids had vicious jaws and fangs, but did not feed on flesh. Anything slain was left for the rippers to consume and return to the norn queens for reprocessing into new tyranid bio-constructs. The ripper swarm was like a conveyor belt, moving forwards, consuming and breaking down everything on the surface, while a steady stream of full rippers slithered back towards the mountains.
'Our task has been set out for us,' Cassius signalled his warriors. 'We need only to follow the swarm back to its source and we will discover the location of the norn queen.'
'The death of the norn queen will halt reinforcement, brother, but we promised Arka we would destroy the hive tyrant,' replied Dacia.
'I am confident, brother-sergeant, that if we threaten the norn queen, the hive tyrant will come to us.'
'A good plan, Brother-Chaplain,' said Dacia. 'The beast will be lured to its doom.'
'Squads Menaton, Heletis and Tyrius, use your flamers to set a blaze in the fields. We shall let the flames consume those beasts we cannot spare the time to destroy ourselves.'
Even as Cassius spoke these words, the Rhino reached the leading edge of the approaching swarm. Rippers hissed up at him from the ground as the transport's tracks crushed carapaces and fleshy bodies beneath plasteel treads. Those vehicles that were equipped with frontal blades lowered them, carving wounds through the near-continuous mass of creatures, until the hulls of the vehicles were encrusted with gore and chitin.
Behind the Ultramarines, the flames grew, spreading to the north and south as the winds fanned the growing blaze. From track, blade and fire, thousands of rippers were slain, yet Cassius knew it was but a drop in the ocean of alien filth that still stained Styxia.
IT TOOK TWO and a half hours to pass through the main part of the ripper host. The further the Ultramarines drove, the more desolate became the land they passed. They had not seen crops for a hundred kilometres, and seventy-five kilometres ago the halfeaten remains of grox and unfortunate farmers had disappeared also. Here, two hundred and fifty kilometres behind the leading rippers, the creatures were gnawing their way into the dirt itself, draining it of nutrients, viruses and bacteria, sucking every last vestige of life from the increasingly parched
'We will avenge.'
Cassius turned to find Dacia and his squad had stood up, kept steady by their power armour actuators as the Rhino bumped over the burnt earth. It was the sergeant who had spoken.
'We will avenge,' said Cassius.
DAWN SAW THE Ultramarines more than two hundred kilometres from Cordus Via. Standing at one of the fore hatches of the Rhino, its mounted storm bolter tilted to one side, Cassius surveyed the ground ahead. The land rose steadily into a series of steep foothills, before rising higher still as the volcanic peaks thrust up from the fields and orchards. A dark smudge swathed the distance, which Cassius took to be ash from recent eruptions. The highlands constantly spewed new life to the surface, the influx of nutrients more than compensating for thousands of hectares of crops lost to flash fires and lava flows.
Kilometre after kilometre of cereal fields stretched to either side of the column of vehicles, swaying in the ever-present winds. Not far ahead, less than a kilometre away, the grassy young stems were thrashing more violently. Beyond, in a swathe that was several kilometres wide, there was nothing but dark desolation stretching far into the distance.
At the front of the convoy, Cassius's Rhino was the first to come level with the tortured crops. From the vantage point of his cupola, by the light of the Rhino's headlamps and the rising sun, the Chaplain could see a carpet of snakelike creatures with bulbous heads and pronounced mandibles chewing their way through the crop. Known colloquially as rippers, they were the primary means for the swarm to take on biomass; other tyranids had vicious jaws and fangs, but did not feed on flesh. Anything slain was left for the rippers to consume and return to the norn queens for reprocessing into new tyranid bio-constructs. The ripper swarm was like a conveyor belt, moving forwards, consuming and breaking down everything on the surface, while a steady stream of full rippers slithered back towards the mountains.
'Our task has been set out for us,' Cassius signalled his warriors. 'We need only to follow the swarm back to its source and we will discover the location of the norn queen.'
'The death of the norn queen will halt reinforcement, brother, but we promised Arka we would destroy the hive tyrant,' replied Dacia.
'I am confident, brother-sergeant, that if we threaten the norn queen, the hive tyrant will come to us.'
'A good plan, Brother-Chaplain,' said Dacia. 'The beast will be lured to its doom.'
'Squads Menaton, Heletis and Tyrius, use your flamers to set a blaze in the fields. We shall let the flames consume those beasts we cannot spare the time to destroy ourselves.'
Even as Cassius spoke these words, the Rhino reached the leading edge of the approaching swarm. Rippers hissed up at him from the ground as the transport's tracks crushed carapaces and fleshy bodies beneath plasteel treads. Those vehicles that were equipped with frontal blades lowered them, carving wounds through the near-continuous mass of creatures, until the hulls of the vehicles were encrusted with gore and chitin.
Behind the Ultramarines, the flames grew, spreading to the north and south as the winds fanned the growing blaze. From track, blade and fire, thousands of rippers were slain, yet Cassius knew it was but a drop in the ocean of alien filth that still stained Styxia.
IT TOOK TWO and a half hours to pass through the main part of the ripper host. The further the Ultramarines drove, the more desolate became the land they passed. They had not seen crops for a hundred kilometres, and seventy-five kilometres ago the halfeaten remains of grox and unfortunate farmers had disappeared also. Here, two hundred and fifty kilometres behind the leading rippers, the creatures were gnawing their way into the dirt itself, draining it of nutrients, viruses and bacteria, sucking every last vestige of life from the increasingly parched
Similar Books
