"Huh? What do you mean?" Ogami snarled, tilting his head to glare at Tanaka through his holo-screen in his Throne Mechanicum. The latter sighed heavily.
"Remember yesterday's training exercise against the Encarmine Angels? We were simulating the mission, Icons of Domination. Looks like we'll be conducting it again in reality...against the Tyranids."
"They're coming!" Suzuki warned, piloting Hebi forward. Ahead, they could see the endless hordes of claws and chitin swarming forward. The Harpy screeched as it zoomed forward. Recalling the havoc it wreaked among the Knights of House Yato during their previous encounter, Tanaka took aim and fired his volcano lance. The Harpy disintegrated in midflight and crashed, its blackened carcass falling just meters away from Kanda's Knight Moirax. His plasma decimator, combined with Sendo's lightning locks, took out an entire horde of Gargoyles, the plasma and electric arcs annihilating them into cinders.
"Good shot!" Sendo cheered.
Unfortunately, Chiba's Knight Moirax rocked when the Exocrine fired, its bioplasma detonating against his ion shields. The integrity of his armor held, but just barely.
"I'm in trouble here!" Sato shouted, his Kaen clawed apart by Genestealers. "Where the hell did these come from?!"
"They, uh, infiltrated," Tanaka suggested.
"Not funny! Someone help me! Holy Throne! Is that a Brood Lord? Ugh!?"
"I'm coming!" Suzuki yelled, pushing Hebi forward in a loping stride. He was too late, for Sato's Kaen blew apart in a colossal conflagration that dealt mortal wounds to both the Genestealers and the Broodlord. Suzuki swore colorfully and vowed vengeance. He crashed against the Broodlord in a counteroffensive, scything it down with his reaper chain-cleaver.
"Good job, Sir Suzuki!" Ogami praised him, his Okami following Hebi's lead and heroically intervening to cleave the swarming Genestealers with his Reaper chainsword. Three more went down, unable to do anything. With only four left, the Genestealers were unable to maintain coherency and they were off the objective. That allowed Watanabe to deftly maneuver Tsurugi into the objective and raise a totem.
The Gargoyles and a small unit of Termagaunts had already raised their blasphemous totems on the other side of the battlefield, some weird bio-organic thing that resembled the effigies of the star gods that Genestealer Cultists worshipped. Tanaka had no idea what they were supposed to be, but he had no intention of finding out.
Kanda managed to reach the center objective and construct a totem to the Cult Mechanicus there, while Chiba mirroed his movements and did the same. The Imperial Forces now had three totems to the Tyranids' two, but the issue was surviving until then. Despite Ogami firing his las-impulsor and other weapons, he was barely able to wound any of the Tyranid Warriors.
Then the Tyranids hit the Knights of House Yato like a brick.
Watanabe cried as his Tsurugi was cleaved apart by the Tyranid Warriors and Tyranid Prime. Ogami rotated his ion shields to deflect the ferocious barrage of bioplasma from the inexocrably advancing Tyrannofex, and he charged the Tyranid Warriors to avenge his fallen retainer. Meanwhile, Kanda's Knight Moirax was blown apart by psychic powers from the Neurotrope and Zoanthropes. Chiba, on the other hand, was cut down by the winged Hive Tyrant, who cleverly flew away after it claimed its victim.
The Knights of House Yato were losing way too many of their warriors.
"Those Zoanthropes are a huge threat," Tanaka murmured, redirecting his fire upon them and killing several. His volcano lance erupted with incadescent fury and vaporized the Exorcine on the far side of the ruins, raising a ragged cheer from Sendo, who proceeded to murder a few more Zoanthropes, leaving all but one. Following Suzuki, he charged into the remaining Zoanthrope and stomped it to death. Meanwhile, Ogami continued to cut down the Tyranid Warriors with a combination of las and Reaper chainsword.
The Neurothrope and Termagaunts fell back, intimidated by the dominating Dominus Knight Castellan. Kazan tried to pursue them, but he had to stand his ground to weather a barrage from a flanking squad of Termagaunts. On the other side, the winged Hive Tyrant swooped down on poor Ogami, clawing Okami and smiting the Knight with a few shots. The Tyrannofex also bombarded Okami, but Ogami skillfully wielded his ion shields to protect all but the worst shots. Unfortunately, Suzuki was not as lucky, and Hebi was brought down by the Tyrannofex's rupture cannon after the Neurothrope wisely retreated.
Fortunately, Ogami was able to withstand their blows, and he hacked down another two Tyranid Warriors, leaving just one, along with the Tyranid Prime. He finished the last Tyranid Warrior off with his las-impulsor, wounded the winged Hive Tyrant with a volley of Stormspear missiles, and then cut the Tyranid Prime apart with his Reaper chainsword. Tanaka followed his example, charging into the Termagaunts and stomping four of them to death. His meltaguns and volcano lance blasted into the Tyranofex, but he failed to kill it, the creature being incredibly tenacious. At least he managed to reduce the numbers of the Termagaunts in the big squad further.
The Tyranids would not be denied, however, and the Termagaunts surged toward the objective where Sendo had placed his totem. The Tervigon knocked his Knight Moirax over, trampling on him and scything the poor armored suit apart. The flanking squad of Termagaunts ran off to the side, knowing that they stood no chance against Kazan, and they hoped to tear down Watanabe's totem and replace it with their own unholy one.
Tanaka could not afford to let them do that. Unfortunately, he was just one guy. Two, if he included the reckless Ogami.
"Sir Ogami," he began, only to watch Okami buckle under the weight of psychic attacks, the winged Hive Tyrant pounding the venerable Knight with destructive empyrean energies. The final straw came when the Tyrannofex blasted Okami apart with its rupture cannon.
"For the Emperor!" Ogami yelled defiantly before he began his noble sacrifice. The plasma reactor blew, turning into a colossal mushroom cloud that incinerated the squad of Termagaunts, completely wiping them out. The winged Hive Tyrant was a lot more fortunate, only being singed by the detonation. It bellowed furiously as it flapped its wings, withdrawing to a safe distance.
Not safe enough.
The siegebreaker cannons boomed and the volcano lance barked. The winged Hive Tyrant was ripped apart by esoteric energies, its corpse sliding down next to the slain Okami. With the biggest threat currently eliminated, he then turned the rest of his attention toward the surviving Termagaunts. Whatever survived the twin meltaguns and plasma decimator, he stomped to death with Kazan's titanic feet.
The Tervigon, enraged at the massacre of her vile spawn, threw herself at Kazan and clawed its adamantium armor. Fortunately, Tanaka was able to evade several of her attacks, the redoubtable Knight Castellan withstanding the scything talons.
Realizing that their brood had suffered too many losses, the Tervigon retreated, along with the Tyrannofex and Neurothrope. Tanaka wanted to pursue them, but he didn't. Like the Tyranids, the Knights of House Yato had sustained too many casualties. He was the sole survivor, Kazan being the only Knight still standing after the vicious battle.
"Phew..."
Leaning back in his Throne Mechanicum, Tanaka exhaled in relief. He scanned the area with Kazan's installed auspexes, relieved that the big bugs were gone. For now.
"Good thing we had that training exercise yesterday," he muttered darkly. "Otherwise we would have been screwed. Thank You, God-Emperor..."
...best of all, this was before House Yato was using the new codex rules too. And they were up against the Tyranids' shiny new codex and meta-winning abilities like Synpase Imperative, insane psychic powers, huge numbers of mortal wounds that made the Thousand Sons jealous, and crazy Stratagems. And they somehow prevailed - though just barely. With no Oaths, no Bondsmen Abilities, no Exalted Court, no new shiny Stratagems.
"Awesome!" Tanaka grinned. "If we're already managing somehow, I wonder just how good we would be if we finally upgrade our codex to the new one..."
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