[Space Wolf 05] - Sons of Fenris

by Lee Lightner - (ebook by Undead)

  The stones formed a great, tiered ziggurat. Ragnar couldn’t tell if it was a great rock that had been carved into the shape of a ziggurat or if it was a carefully built structure. Faces leered out from the stone, grinning and laughing, some human, some insect, some animal and some completely unrecognisable.

  Ragnar felt that this was the home of evil, an ancient evil. Though he had no reasons other than his old tribal superstitions, Ragnar suspected that this place was somehow tied to the gods of Chaos. Ragnar always suspected Chaos.

  Other members of the team activated their illuminators, combatting the dark and quiet atmosphere of the temple with bright light. Slowly, the Space Wolves circled the ziggurat, studying it, looking for openings and signs of age and use. Stone stairs led up the tiers while sculptures of flame marked the way. Ragnar thought the symbols were appropriate for a planet that produced so much promethium. He led a few members of his team in a climb of the stairs, while the others stood guard at the base of the structure.

  On the third tier, the team found an opening. The outside of the passage was carved in the shape of a single eye. The hair rose on Ragnar’s neck. He didn’t like this, but he knew that if it was dangerous there was only one course of action.

  “We should go inside,” proclaimed Ragnar.

  “I agree,” said Magni. For a moment, Ragnar felt as if he was looking into a mirror of his past. Young Magni had all the fire of a new Blood Claw.

  “Ho,” Haegr shouted up from below. The heavy Space Wolf had stayed on the ground to guard the stairs. Haegr directed his illuminators to a section of soil.

  Ragnar could make out tread marks. Alien creatures didn’t use tracked vehicles. He gestured and took the team members who had made the climb back down with him to investigate.

  The tracks that Haegr had seen were recent, but the Space Wolves soon found signs of older tracks beneath the fresh ones. The tracks belonged to a vehicle, probably a Chimera. The trail went off in the direction of the jungle back towards the east. Ragnar could make out where the trees parted, leaving only a sea of vines to cover the hole used by the vehicle.

  Imperial troops had been here, and from the freshness of the tracks, within the last few days. They might even have been here just hours before Gabriella’s shuttle had arrived. Why in the Emperor’s name had they let such a foul place stand?

  “Chimera tracks,” stated Magni, voicing the conclusion Ragnar had already reached. The Chimera was the standard transport vehicle of the Imperial Guard. Although troop carriers, Chimeras boasted an impressive amount of firepower. It could have easily burnt its way through the forest and survived the twists and turns of the hills beneath the canopy.

  Ragnar said what the other members of the team were thinking. “If they knew about this place, someone should have told us.”

  Haegr clapped Ragnar on the shoulder with his meaty hand. “Then why are we still standing here? Let’s go.”

  Ragnar paused, glancing back at the temple. “I agree. We can study this place later,” he said, but he wondered if he’d regret not continuing their exploration. Besides, what if there were traitors in Lethe, possibly inciting these beasts to cover their own sabotage? Ragnar shook his head. It was best not to engage in unfounded speculation.

  The squad moved as one, following the tracks through the undergrowth. The Chimera was a versatile vehicle, but even with terrain modifications, Ragnar found it surprising that one would force its way here to the temple. A tank driver couldn’t have followed one of the narrow paths used by the reptile things, so they must have known where they were driving.

  Unlike the slow hacking of before, the Chimera had burnt a hole through the jungle easily large enough for the Wolfblade squad. Insects smacked into the eye plates on Ragnar’s helm as he took the lead over the others. Few Space Wolves could match Ragnar’s speed, especially when his duty was at stake. He couldn’t fail House Belisarius.

  As his armoured boots crushed the remnants of foliage beneath them, he thought back. It wasn’t House Belisarius he didn’t want to fail, it was Logan Grimnar. He recalled that day on the Fang, standing in front of the Great Wolf himself, the leader of all the Space Wolves, when he had been assigned to the Wolfblade. He had seen it as a punishment. He was an exile from the Space Wolves. Since then, he had learned from Haegr, Torin and others about the glories of the Wolfblade, but still, he longed to return home to the Fang. He wanted to be back on Fenris, as a Space Wolf. Then, if he volunteered for the Wolfblade, that would be his choice, not something he had been forced to do. All he needed was a chance.

  More light filtered through the jungle as the trail twisted and turned. The squad was surfacing from the jungle depths. Surprisingly, the further along the path they ran, the more the jungle had grown back. The entire jungle seemed accursed. The tracks couldn’t have been more than a few hours old, yet vines crossed the trail and new saplings almost half a metre high thrust out of the ground.

  Plants couldn’t stop Ragnar. With his enhanced strength and the servo-motors in his armour, he tore the vines and snapped saplings. A group of blood thorn trees flung their deadly poison spines at the Space Wolf as he passed. An unprotected man would have died in seconds from the barrage, but the volley provided only a moment’s distraction as it clattered off his power armour.

  The team ran for over half an hour following the tracks. With their enhanced muscles, each Space Wolf moved faster than an ordinary man despite their armour. The pace was relentless. They were on the hunt.

  Magni reached Ragnar and then passed him. The young Space Wolf gave the victorious howl of a Blood Claw. Ragnar remembered that Magni had been sent to the Wolfblade for disobeying orders in his zeal to fight. Although all Blood Claws were hard to control, when battle lust and excitement gripped Magni, he lost his head and had trouble regaining it. Ragnar considered ordering him back in line, but decided that he would simply meet the young one’s challenge.

  Ragnar saw the trees thinning and he knew that they were coming close to the capital. The city’s defenders worked to keep a swathe of clear ground around the walls and would kill anything that ventured out of the jungle. The kill zone wasn’t far away. He pushed himself to pass Magni, although he knew that such a breakneck pace was dangerous. Ragnar wasn’t going to let anyone beat him.

  The city of Lethe was a walled fortress in the jungle. Massive walls, reaching twenty metres high, loomed over a several hundred-metre kill zone. The citizens had poisoned the earth and kept the jungle away from the city with flame. Several gates allowed transports to move in and out to the mines along guarded roads maintained with more flame. Planetary defence force Sentinels with armoured cockpits patrolled the kill zone, armed with Hyades’s signature heavy flamers and chainblades to fight the ever-encroaching vegetation. Hellhound tanks stayed ready to emerge and unleash their Inferno cannons on anything that threatened their city. The planetary defence force manned the walls with large twin- and quad-linked heavy bolter turrets.

  The amount of emphasis placed on defending Lethe from its surroundings seemed suspicious to Ragnar, but he had been around the galaxy enough to know that war would find the unprepared. Now, he wondered exactly who had done the preparing.

  Ragnar dropped his pace as he reached the kill zone. The other Space Wolves behind him started catching up, although it appeared that giant Haegr was lagging a little behind the others. Magni surged forwards as Ragnar slowed.

  Ragnar activated his comm. “Magni, stop,” he ordered, but there was no stopping the young Space Wolf.

  Magni looked up at the walls, and Ragnar knew that he could see the gun turrets. The men on the wall were trained to fire at anything entering the kill zone from the jungle. Still, the defenders knew that the Space Wolves were on patrol and surely, they would recognise power armour.

  Ragnar heard the retort of the turrets from the wall. Heavy bolter shells pounded Magni. Dirt sprayed into the air as the blasts gouged holes in the earth. The large shells knocked Magni from his feet, cracking hi
s power armour.

  Ragnar watched in horror. He was in charge, and Magni was one of his men. The turrets had targeted the young Space Wolf, and Ragnar wasn’t sure if the wall’s defenders had recognised his fellow Space Marine as an ally.

  Magni twisted backwards as another blast threw him into the air, instinctively seeking the shelter of the jungle. He came to rest at Ragnar’s feet in a broken heap of blue-grey armour.

  Ragnar shook with rage as he knelt to check Magni. Taking a deep breath to control his anger, he activated his comm. “This is the Wolfblade, we’ve arrived on the southern edge of the city. Stop firing the guns.”

  No one answered. Were the city’s defenders fools? Bolter shells ripped through the trees, tearing through bark and wood. They were still firing. Ragnar was furious, and the other Space Wolves started yelling. Despite the noise, Ragnar’s ears caught the whirr of large servo-motors. The Sentinels were coming.

  “We’re under fire from our own side. Go defensive. Let’s show them that we’re Space Wolves, not animals,” Ragnar said, but in his heart, he wanted to teach the men a lesson.

  “Ragnar, native predators attacking from the rear,” said one of the Space Wolves.

  Ragnar heard Haegr yell a war cry, using the sound of snapping bones to punctuate his statement. The alien creatures had attacked the rear of the patrol. In his zeal, Ragnar had strung out his squad, and the creatures had ambushed them.

  “Pull back and regroup,” Ragnar shouted to his men. “If something comes at us from the jungle, kill it.”

  Again, he tried to contact Lethe. “By the tendrils of the kraken, someone answer this comm. We’re on your side.” More bolter shells tore through the jungle canopy. Ragnar realised that the comm wasn’t working. The men on the wall probably didn’t know that they were firing on their own side.

  The ground shook, and acidic sap sprayed from the side of the path as a chainblade ripped the jungle asunder. Like a giant of legend, a Sentinel towered over the Space Marines. The two-legged walker was armed with a chainblade mounted on a mechanical arm, and it had a heavy flamer attached on its side, just beneath the pilot’s compartment.

  Without even hesitating long enough to identify his targets, the pilot activated the Sentinel’s heavy flamer. A bright fireball of promethium blew through the jungle, turning everything in its path to ash.

  Ragnar’s superhuman reflexes barely saved him as he dived towards the walker. He knew from countless battles that the flames spread outwards in a cone, meaning that the safest place was right next to the Sentinel. Of course, most Sentinels weren’t armed with chainblades.

  The blade pivoted downwards, slicing towards Ragnar in a deadly arc. The blades blurred as they cried out for his head. Ragnar raised his glowing sword in an attempt to parry. The large chainblade struck the sword with enough force to make the Space Wolfs arm go numb. Gritting his teeth and straining his enhanced muscles, Ragnar kept his grip on the sword. The runes on the ancient blade glowed as it held against the Sentinel’s chain-weapon. The teeth of the chainblade snapped, flying in all directions. Then Ragnar’s sword cut through the mechanism, sending sparks flying after the blade’s teeth.

  Ragnar could hear the rest of the squad fighting off their alien attackers. From the sounds of blades, bolters and breaking bones, he suspected that his men had the best of the enemy. One of them fired a bolter at the Sentinel, but the rounds bounced off its armour.

  Not wanting his squad to endure another blast from the heavy flamer, Ragnar gripped his sword with both hands and swung it around at the two-legged walker’s knee joint. The sword ripped through the servos and maimed the mechanical beast. The walker balanced on its sole remaining leg for a moment, and then fell forwards, driving the nozzle of the heavy flamer into the soil.

  Haegr flung the body of an ape-lizard into the upper branches of the jungle. Bolter fire echoed as the other members of the Wolfblade dispatched the hissing lizard things. Even in an ambush, the creatures were no match for the Space Wolves.

  The guns stopped. The ground shook. Another Sentinel was approaching. Then, Ragnar felt the earth vibrate. Years of warfare had taught the Space Wolf what an approaching tank felt like. From the engine noise, Ragnar could identify the vehicle. Lethe’s planetary defence force was sending a Hellhound to roast the entire section of jungle.

  Several members of the squad shook themselves while their armour smoked from the heat. The Sentinel’s heavy flamer had whitened the ceramite and discoloured the heraldry on every Space Marine caught in the blast. Besides Magni, two other members of the Wolfblade were down.

  “Ragnar, what’s going on?” yelled Haegr.

  “No comms. They think we’re the enemy and they are shooting at us.”

  “Give me a moment, I’ll do something,” said Haegr.

  Ragnar looked out of the jungle to the kill zone. He had to think of something. The Space Wolves might be among the best warriors in the Imperium but they weren’t ready to fight the defences of an entire city.

  Haegr grabbed the hatch on the fallen Sentinel. In an impressive display of strength, the giant Space Marine ripped open the hatch to reveal the frightened man inside.

  “Get out,” ordered the Space Wolf.

  The pilot said something and leapt out of the hatch. Haegr reached inside with substantial effort and grunted before pulling out a comm. The vibration grew louder. “Hurry,” said Ragnar.

  “By the frozen hells of Fenris, this comm is jammed as well,” shouted Haegr, shaking his prize.

  Ragnar knew what he had to do. “Brothers, stay here.”

  Ragnar charged out into the kill zone. The heavy bolters on the walls opened fire immediately, ripping gouts of soil from the earth. He changed direction, evading the shells, uttering a swift prayer to the Emperor that his armour would hold.

  Bolter rounds clanged off Ragnar’s shoulder pad, breaking his stride. To his left, another Sentinel charged forwards, although only armed with a heavy flamer, the walker remained out of range. To his right, he saw the source of the bolter fire, a Hellhound. He had hoped that the defenders would realise that a giant man in grey power armour wasn’t a jungle beast.

  The Sentinel slowed its advance. Perhaps the driver had some brains after all. The gunners on the wall kept firing, but fortunately their aim lacked accuracy. The Hellhound revved its engines and the front end of the tank leapt towards the Space Wolf.

  Ragnar took in the situation and did the only thing that he knew the driver wouldn’t expect: he charged. The turret of the tank’s Inferno cannon swivelled in Ragnar’s direction. This was going to hurt. Ragnar let out a howl and as the promethium flames splashed out of the Hellhound, he leapt at the tank, straining his legs and his armour’s servo-motors. He only had one chance.

  Flames sizzled against his leg guards as he flew through the air. The heat was overwhelming. Alarms screamed in his armour. He hoped that he had pushed himself enough. He wanted to land on the tank. If only the members of his original Claw could see him. The next time that he saw his old friend, Sven, from his Blood Claw days, he’d have to tell him about this, assuming that he lived.

  Ragnar crashed heavily against the top of the Hellhound and pulled himself onto the turret of the Inferno cannon. His plan had worked. The guns had stopped firing. Lethe’s defenders didn’t want to risk blowing up their own tank.

  A moment of silence and indecision followed from the walls and the lone Sentinel. Ragnar took a deep breath. His hearts felt like they wanted to pound out of his flesh. He stood and pulled off his helmet, letting it bounce off the Hellhound’s armour.

  “We’re on your side,” he shouted. “The comms aren’t working.”

  A flurry of activity broke out on the wall. Amid the shapes of defenders, Ragnar saw the familiar blue-grey of Space Wolf armour. He hoped that it might be Torin, his friend and Wolfblade veteran.

  Ragnar’s comm crackled to life. “What do you mean your comms aren’t working?” asked Torin. The grey-armoured figure on the wall w
aved down to Ragnar.

  “I mean that this place isn’t as different from Terra as I’d hoped. We’ve got a problem,” answered Ragnar on the comm, “and we’re at least one man down. Magni was wounded.”

  “We wouldn’t be Wolfblade if we didn’t have problems, lad. Now, stop wrecking the paint on that Hellhound and get inside the city.”

  Haegr came out of the jungle, leading the others. Two of the Space Wolves carried Magni. Haegr dragged part of the Sentinel’s leg behind him. The large Space Wolf made an announcement to anyone who could hear.

  “Let the planetary defence force know that they need to repair one of their Sentinels,” said Haegr with a note of disgust in his voice.

  The massive gates leading into Lethe shuddered open, and the squad shed one wilderness for another. Ragnar knew that he had felt safer with the beetles. At least in the jungle, he had known that everything was an enemy.

  TWO

  Unknown Enemies

  After entering Lethe, Ragnar and his team had quickly made their way to the central palace complex and the med labs with Magni. Although he was a Space Marine, Magni had suffered serious injuries and had lost consciousness. Lady Gabriella had joined Ragnar after the medics and chirurgeons had begun their examination. She sent the other members of the Wolfblade off to continue their duties, but she had let Ragnar wait for a time to make sure Magni recovered.

  Ragnar stood watching as the medical servitors and medics worked on Magni. The lab was up to Imperial standards with prosthetics, augmetics and surgical tables. Like all labs, it was a place of antiseptic smells mixed with blood and waste, unnatural scents that irritated Ragnar’s inner beast.

  Despite their knowledge, the strange anatomy of a genetically enhanced Space Marine defied the medics. They had cleaned Magni up and performed some healing rituals but in the end, Magni would have to heal himself naturally.

  The young Space Wolf began to stir, starting to regain consciousness.