Chapter II: Serpents in the Hive
Cappadocia, Planet N12G66
Vilnius Ur-Nammu
The Serpent Lords Legion Centurion walked in the center of the line as they strode forward across the cavern’s floor. They walked over the broken corpses of the slain. Their foes war cries were drowned out by their boltguns.
“Halt,” Ur-Nammu said over the comms in his helmet. The line’s fifty Serpent Lords halted. “First-line knees.”
As they took a knee the second line waited to fire at the tunnel entrance on the other side of the cavern. Bodies were torn apart as bolt after bolt penetrated them and the plasma charge detonated and tore them apart from the inside. Pinkish-purple blood was splatted on the stone walls and formed puddles on the uneven ground. Their enemies were not deterred by the bloodbath. From a distance, their form could be a mistake for humans, but they had tresses of tendrils instead of hair, reptilian slits as eyes, and powerful legs whose knees bent backward. Most were garbed in uniforms and thin body armor, and most wore neither armor nor uniform. Their choice of weapons, sharp metal claws operated into their hands. Each was three decimeters in length. It became harder for them to advance into the cavern as they stumbled over those who had died before them.
When the first line ran dry and began to reload the second line opened fire with a single second to spare between them. In three minutes only a handful of foes reached the first line and they were quickly finished with the chainsaw attached to the bottom of their boltgun barrels. Only then did the flow of foes lessen, for then they stumbled and almost climbed over their own. Yet it shocked and disgusted Ur-Nammu how little they fought off their fallen brothers-in-arms.
“Flamers forward.”
A few of the Serpent Lords parted to let through human Imperial soldiers with flamethrowers. The dosed the corpses and foes before them in fire. Oh, how he enjoyed the agonizing screams as the flames consumed them. Ur-Nammu heard Ur-Xerxes, one of his captains over his comms.
“Vilnius.” He panted hard. “When I read reports of the last two conflicts with the Feleshians I don’t remember anything about them being this damn brutal and savage.”
“I know. They fought with proper tactics like any civilized people then. Now…” agreed Ur-Nammu. “The Minotaur’s Sons report from last year noted some increased desperation and brutality, but nothing like this.”
The Feleshians had initiated the third war with the Galactic Imperium less than a year ago now. Their first had been a single year after three of their cousin legions had crushed the Gûl’Räz, the dominant power in both the Cappadocia and Babylonian Reach. He supposed they had sought to replace them, only to be beaten into submission. At the end of the 21M.800s they had fought and lost a second war.
“My men have barely encountered anyone with a rifle yet. Just those empress damned claws they have operated into their hands.”
“Are you inside the tunnels?”
There was a pause. “I’m sending in the first squads now. Flamer squads are leading the way.”
“Copy. Proceed forward as planned.” He switched the channel to his other Tribunes, all ten of them reported to either having entered or to be trying to but being kept at bay by sheer enemy numbers. “Flamer squads take the lead,” he ordered the assembled ten companies. Several squads moved ahead, made up of Imperial soldiers with flamethrowers, Serpent Lords with plasmathrowers, and Serpent Lords with Suprema Dominus Boltguns to cover them.
They would clear this cursed underground hive tunnel by tunnel, room by room. Everything would be scorched. As Lady Archon Ishtar had said in the briefing, “There will be no fourth war here.” She’d said, “My mother has commanded us to join my brother Apis in pushing the Feleshians back to their homeworld and colonies and to kill their queens in the depth of their hives.”
Archon Ishtar had commanded it and they would do whatever it took to carry it out. It was always strange to hear the Archon refer to God-Empress Mara as mother. The Archons were her children of course, but it felt so strange and unnatural to hear her referred to like that. As he entered the tunnel ahead he thought that mortals that heard Serpent Lords refer to the Archon as mother must have the same thoughts as he had. While they shared no genes since every Ultra Marine Legion was cloned from a man or woman chosen in what must have been a carefully selective process. He never knew who that person had ever been. Whoever it was, his appearance lived on with them. His dark hair, his dusky complexion, and his hard facial features.
He stayed close to the first teams sent in as they advanced deeper and deeper into the hive. Tunnels, chambers, and living quarters were cleaned out one by one. All the while the Feleshians fought with suicidal savagery. Not even the flames of fire and plasma made them hesitate to charge. What was it with this specie’s culture that made them so suicidal? What had changed in the last one-hundred-sixty years? He walked over charred Xeno corpses.
“Sooner or later they’ll run out of meat to throw at us,” he said. He fired three rounds over the pauldron of a flamer and busted two Xenos’ skulls opened.
They entered a large junction chamber that led onward into a dozen other tunnels. Three elevators were built into the left side. He and his brothers were disgusted by the sight that met them. At least fifty pikes had been thrust into the dirt. A skull had been placed on every pike. Many were rotting, but from what he could see they were mostly human, some Oannonian recognized by the blue flesh and smaller size, and even a pair of thicker reptilian skulls. He didn’t know what exact specie they were off. One of the flamers opened the visor of his helmet and vomited.
“I guess these are citizens taken from the planets they attacked,” he assumed in anger. How dared they treat Imperial citizens in this manner? “Push on. We don’t have time to feel sick as long as this colony’s queen is alive.”
A Serpent Lord Corporal dragged the vomiting soldier up straight and pushed him forward. “Flamers in front, forward,” he commanded.
There was no time to care for the pitiful emotions of mortal soldiers. It mattered little if he was fit to fight or not for Ur-Nammu. So many mortal men and women had died in the conquest of two thirds of the galaxy that it mattered little if one more perished. Just a boy of another generation giving his life for the empress.
“Centurion Ur-Nammu, do you read,” one of his Tribunes said over the comms. It was the Captain of the Thirtieth Company.
“I copy.”
“We just got hit by something, interesting.”
“Interesting how?” He inquired.
“Feleshians without even claws.”
Ur-Nammu frowned. “Do they carry no arms at all?”
“No,” the Tribune chuckled in grim amusement. “They’re completely unarmed, civvies you know? They’re throwing themselves at us in droves. Almost drove us back first when they killed a bunch of soldiers with flamethrowers.”
“They’re beyond desperate then.”
“Ha! Beyond nutty more like it,” the man laughed.
It was true though. He’d never even seen the most fanatical Ultra Marine or mortal soldier fight in such a manner. These Xenos were more savage than the most fanatical worshippers of Empress Mara. He chuckled. The priests of the Cult of the Imperial Blood wished they could rile citizens to an equal frenzy. Not even their barbaric cousins the Minotaur’s Sons were this savage.
As they advanced deeper into the hive Imperial soldiers came in behind them in the new armor. The Imperial Army had begun to phase out the body armor for full power armor suits, though of course nowhere near as strong, large or mighty as those of his brothers and cousins, but still strong and carried each soldier to a height of two meters. The Ultra Marines stood taller at two and a half meters. The Imperial soldiers in forest-green armor set up defensive positions in junctions and strategic locations behind his vanguard forces. He had also left behind detachments of Serpent Lords’ legionnaires. Two-hundred of his assembled ten companies, one-thousand men had been chosen for these detachments.
A frequency from Ur-Xerxes flashed on his HUD. “Vilnius, I’ve got something strange. Or strange I suppose.”
“How’s that brother?”
“We’ve come across some sort of holy place, a great alter,” he explained.
“I didn’t think they were religious.” He supposed they must have found a new faith since the last war between them.
“That’s not the creepy part of this.”
“Which is?”
“The alter itself.” There was a moment of hesitance from the Tribune. “The alter stands at the feet of a statue. It’s a bulbous thing with tendrils reaching in every direction and dozens of large, round, pupil-less eyes. It’s…as the army troopers said, it’s freaky as hell.”
“Maybe this has something to do with their newfound savagery,” Ur-Nammu mused.
“I frankly don’t care to know anything else.”
Ur-Nammu smirked. “Fair enough.” He closed the channel.
When they entered a large cavern with a bridge crossing over a canal they caught thirty bodies on the ground, apparently dead. He saw no wounds or signs of what caused their death though. His heat sensors detected thirty heat signatures – clarifying this poorly thought out ploy.
He spoke to his men over their common comms. He spoke with a cheerful tone. “As ambushes go, this is pretty pathetic. Clear them out.”
He fired the first shot, and his bolt pierced an enemy’s skull and with a small plasma explosion inside his skull blood and bits of flesh-covered skull-bone were thrown. Others joined in and made the process short with them. A handful only managed to stand up while the rest died where they lied or in the middle of trying to get up. He led the way across the bridge with two men with flamethrowers and one with a plasmathrower. By using his HUD he marked this location to be held by the forces behind them before he led on down a tunnel that carried on deeper down into the earth.
There was no light in the tunnels ahead, though they had no need of it thanks to their armors being equipped with both lights and night vision depending on what was the most appropriate. He gave the order for them all to use night vision. If the Xeno defenders sought to ambush them again they were more then happy to try. He looked forward to it. It couldn’t be much further until they reached the queen’s royal chamber. Soon they entered a great cavern with waterfalls that streamed in to fill pools of water below the walkway carved from stone in the middle of it. It led to the tunnel on the other side. The walkway was ten meters wide and stretched all the way across the one-hundred-twenty meter long cavern.
Despite his night vision he fought, he saw movement ahead that had just barely been picked up. His suits Virtual Intelligence reported that it detected nothing by heat sensors. He raises a hand and ordered, “Hold.” They halted and waited, eyes and weapons aimed in every direction. He slowly moved forward. “We’re not alone. Keep your eyes open.”
Several legionnaires reported movement, but it was always lost as soon as it had appeared. Maybe they were facing a proper Feleshian force now. Mayhaps this was an elite guard of sorts. The queen had to have some kind of personal guards. Then, suddenly, he saw something that rushed right at him from his peripheral vision. He immediately shifted his Suprema Domina rifle but even his enhanced and superhuman reflexes were not enough. It crashed into him hard and threw him back, and it took his will and strength to stay on his feet. It grabbed onto his rifle with slimy tendrils and ripped unarm him. Ur-Nammu squeezed the trigger and fired three bolts into his unknown foe. No scream followed their charge’s explosions and his HUD couldn’t identify or make sense of what was before him. What the hell was he looking at?
Salvos were fired and thundered in the large cavern. He fell back as bolt rounds tore its exposed flesh apart. There was no time to catch his breath as smaller things charged at them from ahead along the walkway. They hurried along the ground by the dozens, if not hundreds.
“Incoming twelve o’clock, fire at will!” He roared over the comms frequency to his men.
For only three seconds had the salvo subsided before it started thundering once more. Ur-Nammu fired bolt after bolt and stepped backward. The small creatures were no more than half a meter long, dark and the only other feature he could see was tendrils. The closest leaped at him and laid its slimy body against his dark lime-green chestplate. He took his right hand from the barrel of his sleek boltgun and grabbed the creature and squeezed hard. Blood as black as ebony streamed from it and off his gauntlet as he crushed it. He threw it aside in time to grab another in mid-air and squeeze and throw it down to the pools and stone below. In the corner of his eye, he saw Legionnaire Anakkad struggle with the creatures. He crushed one under hid boot, one in his hand, but a third leaped to wrap its tendrils around his helmet. To Ur-Nammu’s shock, the visor cracked and Anakkad screamed and dropped his bolter in an attempt to get the thing off his face. The creature seemed to dive partially into his helmet and Anakkad’s scream was muffled and his hands couldn’t seem to coordinate with each other to get the creature off of him.
“Konrad, At-Menethir, help Anakkad for empress’s sake!” He yelled a command. He couldn’t help him for too many of the things that targeted him. “Don’t let them touch your visor – they’ll breakthrough!” In his peripheral vision, he saw his brother legionnaire fall.
“Trying, sir!” At-Menethir answered him.
Konrad was too busy to even respond as ten of them swarmed him. There was panic all through the ranks as there seemed to be no end to the creatures. They swarmed the walkway and only the rearguard stood relatively safe. They had yet to enter the walkway and held the tunnel they had come from. These fifty men did their best to hold the rear and fire at any creature they saw.
“Squads stand together!” Ur-Nammu yelled over the comms frequency to all brothers present.
He saw for a second how Anakkad had begun to convulse as the creature did empress knew what to him. Then a thought popped up in his head as he fired a round that tore apart a creature as it jumped at him. He swore that the creature had grown. He swept around as he ripped off another creature and threw it to the ground for his sabaton. It allowed him a moment to get a better look at the creature and to his horror, it was larger than before – a full meter long now. It was rapidly increasing in size as it must feast on Anakkad. That was the only possibility. The two five-man combat teams that made up his squad tried their best to rally around him, Corporal At-Menethir, the Astropsycher, the Communication Specialist, a medic, and o Legionnaires. By his count three of his squadmates – including Konrad and the Standard Bearer – who had fallen already. Empress knew how many of his brothers had fallen.
As he fired at the creature that had killed Anakkad he opened a comms frequency to his senior company commanders. It exploded outwards with every bolt that pierced its flesh.
“We’ve been engaged by unknown alien lifeforms. Stay on high alert.” He had his VI transmit ten seconds of his helmet footage to them to ensure that they knew what they would keep their eyes out for.
When his magazine ran dry he quickly reloaded with a new magazine of bolts. His squad covered him as he did and he covered them when one of them needed to reload. He, At-Menethir, and the Commutations Specialist focused their fire on two larger creatures that were over two meters long. They unloaded bolt after bolt until the creatures fell. Those were among the last to kill. Ur-Nammu took in a causality list from his company captains. One-hundred and seventeen fatalities reported and another eighty-eight wounded. He chose Tenth and Ninth Companies to take the wounded back to the surface. The rest would continue forward. Several dead creatures would be marked to be retrieved when the bodies of the dead were later.
Ur-Nammu was horrified when he bent over the body of a fallen brother. Anakkad. His eyes were a pupil-less white and he had the look of a husk about him for his body had lost much of its fluids and flesh. Though, that flesh had not been eater for there was no proof of that. The creatures lacked a mouth as well.
“Absorption probably,” Second Company’s First Astropsycher theorized in disgust. “Probably absorbed his innards…empress protect.”
For half an hour the traveled deeper into the earth and never once did they find signs of life. He wondered if they all had hidden in the royal chamber, leaving the creatures – whatever they wore – to fight for them. Therefore he had his men prepared for battle when the blasted the gates to the chamber open. He personally led the charge inside. The chamber was large, a domelike construction with balconies on the sides and a large throne on a dais of stone and copper. What was of greater note though, was the hundreds of corpses that littered the floor. From children to adults and even the presumed queen was found. All of them looked like their bodies were all like husks, their skin dry, blood-less, and fleshless.
“Those creatures killed them too. Must’ve turned on them,” At-Menethir presumed. His voice carried an unasked question. ‘What the hell was those things?’
“How’d they get in here? There’s only one way in. that gate we blasted through and that was locked down,” Second Company’s Captain asked in his low, wheezing voice.
Ur-Nammu remembered the statue Ur-Xerxes had reported in one of the Feleshian holy places. “No,” he said with certainty. “They somehow brought them here from…empress knows where – to fight us probably. Considering their savage and suicidal fighting before, I think they allowed them to feast on them.”563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9oSubOMJC3
