Heart of the Swarm

"All right, men!" Colonel Ikeda barked as he brought his Shadowsword, Tenken, into position. A block away, Mizuno and the Leman Russ Executioner tank he commanded, Taiyou, rumbled into cover, the plasma destroyer turret tracking the shadowy shapes that flitted toward them.

"Hurry! Get into cover! Hustle!" Shirakawa ordered his squad as they sprinted across a clearing and slid into a broken hab block. Major Murakami followed close behind, overseeing his men. Above the running infantry, three Armored Sentinels stalked ahead, their plasma cannons glowing in the dark.

Unfortunately, a massive shadow fell upon them. Spreading its wings, the Hive Tyrant shrieked as it descended, psychic shockwaves bombarding their position. One of the Armored Sentinels staggered, battered by empyric energies that caused its mechanical legs to buckle. While the pilot fought to maintain the walker's balance, a volley of acid from a Tyranid Warrior's Venom Cannon splattered across his canopy, causing the entire machine to topple over.

"No!" Ueda yelled, pivoting to fire at the swooping Hive Tyrant, but his plasma missed completely as it glided past the hab block and out of his sight. On the opposite district, Mizuno cursed when a concentrated burst of psychic power from a Maleceptor and three Zoanthropes punched holes through the adamantium plating of his Leman Russ Executioner tank. Taiyou seemed to groan for a moment, but after a scary moment, it held.

"Phew." Mizuno breathed in relief, wincing when venom cannons and splinters assailed the armored plating, but to no avail. Taiyou roared as it dug into reverse, the driver trying his best to evade the corrosive shots from the advancing Tyranids.

"Incoming!" Murakami bellowed, only to be swatted aside as the Hive Tyrant landed in his position. He hit the ground and rolled, his refractor field shimmering when its claws raked across the protective barrier. It failed for a moment and the claws tore out a bunch of flesh and muscle from his chest. The major roared in agony as he fell, his flak armor falling at his feet to expose grievous wounds. Desperately, he punched out with his power fist, but the disruptive energies dispersed uselessly against the triumphantly snarling Hive Tyrant.

However, to his immense relief, he was somehow still alive. Stifling a groan, he crawled back to his feet and fell back while the Hive Tyrant continued to loom above him. It snarled and readied to finish him off, a bone-scythe raised to slash at him.

Then Tenken opened fire.

The volcano cannon erupted in a blinding ray of destructive light, the superheated beam lancing through the Hive Tyrant and all but vaporizing it. Despite coalescing its psychic might into a barrier, the shield was smashed instantly by the sheer violence of the volcano cannon, and almost half of it was vaporized. With an ominous screech, the Hive Tyrant fell.

Somehow, it was still alive, falling to a knee as it snarled and spat. Shirakawa rallied his shocked squad.

"Fire! Hit the damned thing with everything you've got!"

"Take aim!" Murakami ordered, directing both the infantry squad and the surviving Armored Sentinels. Las-beams peppered the Hive Tyrant as it tried to rear up, only flaking scales off its exoskeleton but doing no real damage. The plasma gun, plasma pistol and meltagun were deflected off the remains of the psychic shield that covered the Hive Tyrant like a ravaged cocoon. Though shattered by Tenken's volcano cannon, enough empyric energies remained to guard the monster from small arms fire.

Meanwhile, Ueda and the other Sentinel pilot fired at the charging Termagaunts, vaporizing about four of them. On the other side, Mizuno barked another order, and Taiyou fired. Three Tyranid Warriors ceased to exist, their bodies melted to slag by superheated plasma. A las-beam from the hull lascannon scored a glowing gouge acrossing the snarling Maleceptor, but it otherwise survived.

Tenken boomed again, the two lascannons lancing futilely against the Maleceptor. Meanwhile, thousands of mass-reactives detonated against the hovering Zoanthropes, showering them with so much shrapnel that two of them were torn apart. Not paying much attention to the targets, Ikeda focused his attention on the severely wounded Hive Tyrant.

"Drive me closer! I want to hit it with my sword!" He coughed. "I mean, crush it!"

The Shadowsword rammed into the reeling Hive Tyrant, and the great beast keeled over. At Ikeda's urging, the drive floored the accelerator and ran over the fallen Hive Tyrant, crushing it under the adamantium tracks of the super-heavy tank.

The Tyranids were only stirred into a greater frenzy by the death of their leader beast, and surged forward. The Termagaunts fired flesh-borers into the dodging guardsmen, but thanks to Shirakawa's command, they dove into cover behind walls and pillars. Two of the soldiers screamed as they were eaten alive by the hideous flesh-worms that swam in the fluid bombardments of the advancing creatures. Meanwhile, the Neurothrope had taken command of the swarm now that the Hive Tyrant was dead, and it gathered its might to hammer one of the Sentinels to near death. Even as the walker stumbled, the Tyranid Warriors finished it off with a slew of venom cannon fire before charging Ueda. Despite his valiant efforts, they cut him down with their boneswords and closed in on the infantry squad.

"Do not falter!"

Marshalling his squad, Shirakawa led by example and swung his power sword. The rest fixed bayonets and stabbed at the Tyranid Warriors, even as Murakami Heroically Intervened and punched one of them with his power fist. It cried and fell, its carapace cracked by the disruption field.

On the other side, Mizuno was not as lucky. Despite reversing at full speed, Taiyou found itself charged by the Maleceptor, who carved through its plating with its huge scything claws. Already damaged heavily from a second psychic onslaught from the beast and the sole surviving Zoanthrope from earlier, the venerable Leman Russ Executioner tank could no longer endure and it fell apart, the crew spilling from its hatches and fleeing while the Maleceptor continued to tear it apart.

"Kill it," Ikeda said grimly, not caring that Taiyou was in the way. Tenken agreed in a roar, the volcano cannon erupting once more and erasing the Malceptor from existence. The lascannons followed suit, and though the psychic barrier generated by the Neurothrope stopped one of the ruby beams, the second one burst its oversized brain like a fruit, spilling noxious fluids and ichor onto the ground. For a second, the Neurothrope continued to float in the air...and then it finally fell over.

The triple twin heavy bolters barked, but despite showering the sole surviving Zoanthrope with thousands of mass reactives, the foul xeno withstood the explosive barrage with pure psychic will. With a chatter, it smashed an idol of the Emperor over, razing it to the ground as it continued to bear down on the beleaguered guardsmen. Not waiting for it to close in, Ikeda turned his attention to the infantry squad and Major Murakami, who were about to be butchered by the Tyranid Warriors.

"Charge!" He yelled, and Tenken lurched forward. There was another thud and the Tyranid Warriors were run over by the super-heavy, even as Murakami and the squad scattered to avoid being trampled upon by their own allies. The major cursed and shook his power fist at the rolling Tenken.

"Watch it!"

"Sorry. But would you rather get disemboweled by the 'nids instead?"

"It wouldn't make a difference if I get disemboweled or crushed if I'm dead either way!"

Ikeda agreed inwardly that it would be a gruesome way to die, but he couldn't do anything about it for now. Instead, he glanced at the auspexes and saw that the Termagaunt were clambering over a statue of a revered Saint. In their haste to close the gap with the human defenders, they had overrun the precints of the shrine the Draconians were protecting, and were crawling over the debris.

"It's not over yet. Fire!"

"Take aim!" Murakami yelled, and the exhausted soldiers raised their lasguns, meltagun and plasma gun before firing. The Termagaunts were bathed in las-fire, melta and plasma, cut apart to shreds by the overwhelming sledgehammer of the Imperial Guard.

While the infantry took care of the Tyranid swarm, Ikeda focused on the Zoanthrope. The twin heavy bolters spoke once more, shelling the wounded psychic beast. This time, despite throwing up another psychic shield, it could no longer withstand a second onslaught and it was ripped to pieces by the sheer volume of shrapnel that pierced its barrier. As it faltered and died, Ikeda let out a sigh of relief.

"We've successfully defended Hamlicar from the Tyranids, but if they keep throwing bodies at us, we'll get overwhelmed eventually. At this rate, we're going to lose in a battle of attrition."

He glanced upward at the ominously glowing heavens, the night sky filled with eerie lights of invading xenos and foul magicks of traitors and heretics. Making the sign of the Aquila, he prayed silently.

"May the Emperor watch over us all."