Tam set his back against a tree and slid down to the ground. He had his rifle up and was checking the NV mode when Gesar spoke again.
“It’s the traitors that turn my guts. These traitors are just toy soldiers those blue scum march out. Their talk of unity is nothing but lies; they would sacrifice every human they found if it meant something to their Greater Good.”
“They say they want to kill mutants and the damned too. Is there any quarter to be had with them?”
“He who is enticed by aliens will face the Emperor’s vengeance.” Gesar’s reply was automatic, the reply of rote and training, and Tam wondered if he had pushed the man too far.
“Do not suffer any alien to live, corporal. If you had seen a fraction of what I have among the stars, perhaps you would understand the truth of that.”
He was on dangerous enough ground simply talking to one of the Astartes, but it was another thing altogether to let your mouth run off in front of them. He could feel a cold fury in the flint-black eyes of the Astartes and thought it best to try to calm him.
“I’m not enticed by any damned xenos or fool. I just hear what the tau broadcast as sure as anyone. I’m not saying we shake hands with them and call it a day, but why are we pouring blood out over empty fields?”
“They were invited in.”
It took Tam a moment to understand what Gesar had said. The Tau Empire had been invited. Humans had offered up the whole planet as a welcome present for them, and the tau had given thanks and sent in a force to take it.
“Your regiment was deployed to make sure that the Coruna Regulars stayed loyal to the Emperor and humanity. There’s every chance some of your brothers in the Coruna Guard turned traitor, and if that’s the case it’s a long walk to a spaceport occupied by xenos and traitors.”
There was no accusation in Gesar’s tone. The Space Marines had their own heretics and warp-twisted Chapters, and Tam wondered if the Raven Guard had fought his former brothers in the past, although Tam would have been insane to raise the subject with the Astartes. However, the idea of Imperial Guard throwing down arms or taking up arms against their own was still a bitter pill.
The night turned from pale yellow to flecked green through Tam’s scope, and he had enough ambient light to really kick the range up on it. If they were moving out, they could do it at any time.
“I’ve got my night eyes up, lord. I can make my way to the clearing and take a look around, but maybe you should hang back. Any auspex devices might pick you up before it would spot me.”
Tam had thought twice about using the scope to look back at the Space Marine. There was no sense pointing a gun anywhere in the man’s general direction. Not when the Astartes was obviously working on a head of hate and ready to do some serious violence.
“Very well, you move up into the clearing and see if you can see down the fields. There should be some farms not far off the edge of the forest. I can see you against the moonlight. Signal if everything is clear.”
Tam nodded and moved off. Working his way through even the thinner woods with just an NV scope to guide him was not easy work, but it wasn’t long until he broke into clear ground and saw bare fields stretching out in front of him.
Dimly, he heard a slight noise that could have been an animal, but Tam knew it was Gesar coming up to the edge of the forest. There were some sounds that you couldn’t fully disguise, and an armoured boot on underbrush was one of them.
Tam panned back and forth a few times with the scope. The only thing that was showing was a light source down-range about half a kilometre. It was visible through the scope as a rough intrusion of white into the green static that filled his vision.
A farmhouse? It was the only thing that Tam could think would be out this far. There was something farther distant to the south that could have been a silo.
There was no telling for sure in these conditions. Tam had been born on the undeveloped side of Tantulas, and this sort of dark was second nature to him, with or without the night vision.
He waved Gesar up and the sounds of boots meeting frosted ground came closer and closer until he felt him standing off to his left. He couldn’t even hear Gesar breathing, but he could feel the man towering over him.
Tantulas was a higher-gravity world than Coruna, and Tam could feel it with every step he took. He also knew that his shorter stature compared to the Coruna Imperial Guard and especially the Space Marine had been the topic of a helmetful of jokes and a half-dozen fights since the short Tantulasians had disembarked on Coruna a standard month ago.
“We will be exposed making that barn.”
“It’s a barn?”
“Use your brain as well as that scope. It’s not the main house. There are dozens of barns like that all over the edge of the fields for storage and animal pens.”
“Yes, lord, I wouldn’t mind having some thermal imagers so we could get a look for body heat, but I don’t see anything on the NV. Should we cross the field?”
“There is nothing to be gained by standing here, and should we encounter enemies you will have to use your NV to spot targets for me. My helm had thermal viewing, but the ruins of it lie back at the uplink station. I’ve only two clips left for the bolter, and then it’s sharp instruments and small arms against Emperor only knows what.”
“Okay moving on my mark. One, two, three… mark; moving up!”
Tam felt his boots snag on a few twisted plants dinging to the frosted ground, and there was no way to cover the sound of Gesar moving across the field, but the soft crunch of armoured boots wasn’t as loud as he feared. He kept his head on a swivel and panned the field as he moved directly for the barn.
As they closed in on it, the fact that it was just a barn became even more obvious. And from somewhere Tam heard the soft hum of refrigeration machinery.
“They have the coolers running in the middle of the frost?”
“Focus your mind, corporal. Some of these farms had livestock, so they might have freezer units to keep the meat fresh when they begin butchering them at the start of frost.”
It made sense, and so the two Imperials moved up slowly towards the main door. A single flight of steps led to a small door next to the larger main door that looked like it could readily accommodate vehicles.
Tam gently reached out and tested the door handle. To his surprise, it turned easily in his hand. “Should we enter, lord?”
“It bears investigation, corporal, and it appears that there are lights on. You may want to switch to your pistol if the fighting gets close-in.”
Tam swung the sniper rifle back over his shoulder and drew his pistol carefully. Then he slowly pushed the door open and even the low light left green explosions in front of his eyes.
“That’s my night vision gone for a few minutes,” he muttered under his breath, and from the sharp intake of breath he thought Gesar was reacting to the same thing.
Then his vision cleared and he saw the bodies.
It was a refrigeration unit, and hanging on hooks from the ceiling that would normally hold skinned animal torsos were at least a hundred Imperial Guard troopers.
Even in the chill of the refrigeration unit, Tam could see where pulse bolts, bullets and blunt force had killed many of them. Puckered wounds stood out in sharp contrast to the darker skin of the Tantulas Imperial Guard’s bodies.
He flicked his eyes around but most of the bodies, the ones still dressed, were all clothed in the colours of his regiment. Some had already been stripped naked, but the shorter stature, larger muscles and darker skin marked them out as his brothers and sisters, and not the Coruna Regiment.
“What is this, lord? What the hell are they doing?”
“I’ve heard stories about the kroot. It’s not just their hounds that have a bit of a snack on fallen prey. It’s them. They have some deal with the tau. Those xenos pay them off in bodies and blood. This is what I suspected, corporal.”
The two Imperials slowly made their way into the abattoir. Tam could
see the drain funnels cut into the floor where the blood could flow. There was surprising little given the number of bodies, and what was there had formed pink slurry in the frost.
“This is their Greater Good? They give over the bodies of good men to those things? What the hell for?”
“Remember your place, corporal, and harden your heart. This is hardly the worst I’ve seen from xenos scum, although the thought of the traitors that must have helped them do this sickens me.”
Tam’s eye caught sight of something further on: a series of tables lining the far wall, and on them were slabs of meat. His eyes registered the general shape, but something about it wouldn’t let his brain believe what he was seeing.
“They skinned them… they cut their clothes off and they skinned them. The thing over there, that thing on the trolley, it’s—”
Tam turned away and gagged towards a funnel notch in the floor. It tore his stomach up to retch, and in the end he only brought up some bile and a few chunks of his ration bar. It didn’t help him feel any better.
“We can’t do anything for these men, corporal, we have to move on. It appears the Planetary Governor has made a deal with the tau, and from the looks of things their PDF units probably got the drop on your men as they pulled back towards the farms. I can see Imperial weapon marks on these bodies, not kroot or pulse rifle burns from fire warriors.”
It was unthinkable. Coruna Imperial Guard soldiers ambushing the Tantulas Regiment as they fled the comm station, and they would have helped the kroot take them. Anyone that resisted would have been killed like that Coruna soldier they had found in the woods. Or maybe that had just been a bit of blue-on-blue contact and the hound hadn’t known any better.
There wasn’t much comfort to be had in any case. There was a barn full of corpses and Tam was desperately trying to find some way to save them. The least he could do was make sure that the kroot didn’t get them.
“Can we blow the building? A final mercy for them, my lord? Is there anything I can lodge these grenades in that would take out the whole damn thing?”
Gesar shook his head and gestured back towards the door with his bolter.
“We have what I needed to know. The only thing we can do is get this information into the right hands. If Coruna has fallen, there may yet be loyalists out there, and my battle-brothers are still out there. The Raven Guard was born for this. Corax guide me; we can find those remaining and tell them of this abomination, and we will cleanse the xenos from this planet even if I must do it all myself!”
“Wait, lord, we can’t just leave these bodies. It’s not right. What the hell do the kroot want with bodies? If they want meat they can just grab a farm animal, why do they need to skin and fillet an entire regiment?”
“Gravity.”
The two Imperials swung at once towards the voice. It was coming from deeper in the building, and Tam noticed that some of the bodies were swaying slightly, as if something had brushed past them.
“Identify yourself! I am a representative of the Imperium and the Throne, and I order you to identify yourself!”
Something like a laugh came from above them, and suddenly half the lights in the building switched off. It wasn’t dark enough for Tam’s NV sight to be of much use, but it did cast long shadows through the building.
“The Tantulas Regiment… their bodies are adjusted to higher-gravity worlds, and they all have excellent eyesight. It’s why so many of them serve as snipers.”
The rest of the lights suddenly went out and Tam swung his rifle up with practiced ease, his thumb flicking the NV switch.
“Watch your eyes! Chem-glows out!” Gesar was moving as he spoke and Tam saw half a dozen green sticks fly from the man’s hand to land in a semi-circle in front of him. The light was dim enough to not foul Tam’s NV, but he also suspected that it gave Gesar enough light to see by. Behind them the red emergency light of the building’s exit was also casting a pale glow.
“Conserve your ammo and work for the door!” Tam was already moving as slowly as he could, letting the rifle drift from right to left, but all he could see in the darkness were the bodies that hung from the ceiling.
“The tau would educate you, if only you embraced the ideals of the Greater Good and of unity! What you see are those who died from wounds or wouldn’t surrender!”
Tam was trying to track the voice, which sounded human, and he thought he heard another voice out there as well, but it wasn’t speaking in a human tongue. Gesar must have either seen or heard something because he fired a short burst which was followed by a shriek and a small mewling sound that trailed off in a final whimper.
“Very, very well done, Space Marine. You’re going to be quite the prize yourself. So many of those lovely organs stuffed in you. So many genetic marvels handed down from your Emperor. Your blood holds many prizes. I want you to know that only the best warriors will take your flesh. Your body will be a singular honour for all who fight.”
“Corporal, prepare your explosives. I can hear them moving around us. They’re going to try to rush us any second… For the Emperor and Throne!”
A second burst from the bolter, and this time Tam caught a glimpse of the kroot that Gesar hit. Explosive shells shredded a hanging body but through the green tint of the night vision Tam watched the head of the kroot turn to a smear as the body fell.
Then the kroot began their rush. Tam heard Gesar’s bolter sound again and then the clack of the clip hitting empty.
“Changing mags! Cover me! Take! Take! Take!”
Gesar had moved in front of Tam and was now down on one knee. The empty clip clanged as it hit the metal floor, and as Gesar was slapping his last clip in Tam was firing over him.
There were at least a half-dozen kroot in the first wave, and Gesar had accounted for two with his last burst. Three more went down as Tam swept his rifle from side to side. Their alien faces filled the NV sight and the green tint made them all the more nightmarish.
Tam was pointing more than shooting, and suddenly there was a kroot above Gesar, about to swing its rifle down on him like a club. The kroot crumbled like flash paper under a burst from the bolter.
“Back! Back to the door! Keep moving!”
Tam was partly turned as Gesar gave the order, and saw the door swing open and a pulse rifle suddenly appear in the opening.
The face that filled his scope was human, and Tam’s finger pulled the rifle’s trigger again and again, and the only thing his scope showed was a dark stain on the wall as his rifle clicked on empty.
“Enemy at the door! Lord! We have Ges’vesa at the door!”
Tam was turning back as the bullet took Gesar in the neck. The Space Marine had been rising to his feet, another burst echoing from his bolter when his head jerked oddly and Tam felt a warm spray across his face.
Tam screamed the Space Marine’s name, but he was making gurgling noises and had one hand up to his neck while the muzzle flash of the bolter left afterimages across Tam’s line of sight.
If they could make the door they still had a chance. Tam tore one of his frags from his webbing and threw it into the open doorway. If there were more traitors outside they’d be in for a nasty surprise.
Even as he heard the grenade bounce through the door he moved forwards and tried to hook an arm around Gesar’s elbow, trying to drag him back towards the door. A final burst from the bolter sounded and it clacked on empty.
There was an explosion and screams from outside the door, and Tam was still trying to find some way to lever the Raven Guard up, to get him at least stumbling towards the door. They could still try to fight their way out. Anything was better than being stripped and hung like a side of meat.
Gesar was making angry gurgling noises and Tam looked up just in time to see the kroot about to make a swing with a nasty hooked boning knife.
Tam thrust his rifle forwards and caught the alien, strangely lupine compared to the others Tam had seen, under the jaw and the blade slid in easily. Before he cou
ld pull back, the kroot had grabbed the barrel and dragged the rifle out of his hands.
Gesar had given up on pushing himself up, and drew his chainsword, determined to fight from his kneeling position. Tam drew his own pistol and fired off a few rounds at the shapes moving beyond the glow of the chemical lights. He heard the dull smack of rounds hitting dead flesh, but was rewarded by one grunt and what he supposed was a xenos curse from the darkness.
Then his world exploded in a flash as the indoor lights came on once more. He was too dazzled to pick targets but Gesar managed to lunge at one kroot who had taken the moment to charge in. The chainsword caught at the perfect angle just above the sternum and bit deep, the Space Marine’s weight and strength carrying the toothed blade right down through the splintering clavicle and into the vessels of the kroot’s heart.
Gesar was still trying to pull the blade free when another kroot came whirling in from the right. Tam didn’t have time to bring his pistol around before the kroot’s rifle butt connected with Gesar’s skull above his ear. The wooden stock of the rifle cracked and blood washed down Gesar’s face.
Tam emptied his pistol into the kroot’s ape-like face and flicked the magazine ejector as he patted his webbing for another clip. He knew there was no way they would make it to the door, just as he knew there would be more soldiers waiting for them even if they did.
There was one way out now. The last fragmentation grenade. Tam didn’t know how much it’d take out, but he was pretty sure at close-quarters the thing would turn him into bloody chunks and do for Gesar well enough.
“Lord, Emperor forgive me, I’m sorry, but they won’t get you. I promise they won’t get you!”
It was the most he could do for the Astartes who had at least kept him alive this long. Tam hoped that if the Emperor did take them to a better place that his last act of courage would be well received.
Just as he felt his hand touch the grenade, a bullet shattered the head of his humerus. His entire left arm went numb and flopped uselessly to his side.
Fear the Alien Page 24
