Sergeant Raphael Cortez looked down at scuffed display on his briefing slate one last time. Taking in the data stream and latest pict-feed images of the target area and surrounding desert. The bleak, wind-swept plain reminded him of Baal. A lone heavy orbital landing platform and its ramshackle accompaniment of minor landing sites and STC hab units stood on an arid, rocky outcrop – like a dilapidated hill-top fortress.
The dust storms made it impossible to determine enemy numbers, but he knew something was down there – most likely the feral remains of humanity that once called Agrellan home. More collateral damage for the schemings of the Ordo.
The drop ship rumbled, then juddered violently as it entered the atmosphere, rendering the slate impossible to read. Raphael mag-locked it to his thigh and looked across at the Librarian seconded to his squad, Krushek. The Lexicanium was chanting something in a language Raphael didn’t understand, his breath turning to ice crystals that thawed and condensed on his thick beard and dripped down his chest plate, giving him the impression of a drooling mad dog.
Of course the real mad dog, Krushek’s beast from his homeworld, was confined in its cage by the cargo door, grinding its dagger-like teeth against the titanium bars.
“30 seconds to insertion” shouted Magnus, the Ultramarine Marksman.
Raphael braced against the rapid deceleration.
“Weapons final checks. Let’s make it quick, let’s make it clean” he boomed over the whine of the engines.
He shielded his eyes against the glare as the cargo door ground open, and the desert air blasted in like a wind from hell.
Hunting Party Krav Cha’Toh (The Bloody Hands)
Drekh snapped up from her meal at the distant whine of grav engines, still half trapped in the blur of her quarry’s blood memories – LOSS – HUNGER – TERROR. She hurled the severed limb to the hounds and reached for her battered T’au pulse rifle – human young were meagre pickings these days anyway. She called out to her Kinband in a series of glottal clicks and whistles that made up the phonetics of Kroot language:
“Krav Cha’Toh! Our way off this world falls from the sky. Today we feast on their flesh!”
Members of her Kinband emerged from the decaying buildings and dust around her. They looked to her to guide them back to their hunting grounds, and it seemed her gamble on the remote human space port had paid off.
Her Tracker, Bor’okh, snatched the remains of the tiny human limb from the hounds and used the bloody stump to paint his beak and hand.
“And tonight we hunt among the stars!” roared Drekh.
TP 1: Contact
Kill Team Venari
“Magnus, move up and secure the hab” Raphael’s voice crackled over the Vox.
He peered around the corner of the pre-fab, the compound’s fortified perimeter ahead, fading in and out of view with the rolling dust. Where are the people? He wondered to himself. Agrellan was desolate, but not uninhabitable, and a spaceport would be a natural place for any survivors to await rescue. Maybe it’s been too many years.
The dust swirled and cleared in the breeze, and he noticed a small, dirty shoe at the corner of the building – A human child’s? Brown spots of blood spattered the toe cap.
“Contact front. One-forty, high. Non-human.” Magnus stated over the Vox in his smooth, clipped tone.
“Negative on T’au. Kroot carnivores, Sir. Unknown strength – at least five.
A low, hunched creature on all fours flashed in and out of view as it scaled the perimeter fence and bound towards the squad’s position, disappearing behind the vox antenna.
Krushek’s psychic storm whipped the dust around them into a vortex, but for the marines in Kill Team Venari, it was like being enveloped in an insulating stillness that heightened their focus. Raphael signalled to his squad to move up – Jubal with his Haywire Mine down the right flank, Rasmus the medic, and Krushek up to the vantage supporting Magnus, while he took the left flank.
“Where’s that ugly beast of yours, Krushek?” Raphael voxed as he slammed against a barricade and took up a firing position.
“Not ‘beast’, comrade. Is loyal servant to Emperor. Sobacha, I do not feed for three days – she hunts her breakfast.” The Lexicanium’s growl of a laugh scraped over the vox.
As he saw the silhouette of the giant wolf fade in and out of view as it disappeared down the left flank, Raphael heard the first shots thump out – suppressed fire from the vantage point on the hab.
“Target eliminated. Some sort of Kroot Hound.” Magnus reported.
Suddenly a shrill cry erupted from the fortifications, accompanied by whooping and avian clicks and whistles.
“We appear to have their attention… Prepare to engage.” Raphael ordered as he checked the charge on his plasma pistol.
TP 2-3: Blood and dust
Kill Team Venari
The Kroot were swift, bounding over 3m high fortifications with the ease of avian-like predators, throwing themselves towards the Deathwatch lines in what seemed like a frenzy to Raphael.
Down the right flank, the thrum of an energy weapon powering up buzzed over the din of battle. Jubal uttered a curse in Khorchin on the vox, which was quickly drowned out by the sound of matter vaporising into steam, as his position was blasted by a Dvorgite Skinner – an exotic xenos weapon the team had only encountered in data slates.
Jubal roared as the energy torrent ripped through the joints in his armour, tearing himself away from the deadly beam and finding cover behind a low barricade. Rasmus leapt down to his brother’s position, placing two bolts in the Kroot Gunner as it lamely attempted to cool its weapon for another shot – it was dead before it hit the ground.
With Rasmus occupied with sealing the charred wounds on Jubal’s face and arm, he almost didn’t notice the Kroot Hound lunging at his throat, turning just in time to ram his gauntlet into the beast’s frothing maw. The hound thrashed and snapped, throwing the Space Marine off balance, and they tumbled into the dirt. The thing dived towards Rasmus’ face, but he caught its open jaws with both hands – for a moment, struggling against the animal’s bone-crushing power. But Rasmus had it where he wanted it. With a sharp twisting snap, he ripped its jaws apart and tore its head around – breaking its neck and throwing it aside. He stood up, the hound still writhing on the ground, and slammed his boot down on its skull, crushing it to pulp.
On the other side of the compound, Raphael could see Sobacha sniffing suspiciously around the side of the Auspex Shrine. The wolf peered round the side of the antenna and snarled, before being brought down by a single shot through her eye.
“Krushek, the dog is…” He began.
“I know, Angel. I feel her soul in warp.” The psyker replied. “These xenos will pay. The Emperor – he condemns!”
Rasmus, still reeling from the brawl with the hound didn’t see the Kroot Cold Blood silently vault the perimeter fence until he was almmost on him. The towering, lean xenos loped forward smoothly, despite its augmetic leg, and threw some sort of magnetic alien grenade. The device locked to his pauldron and exploded with a violent thud, cracking Rasmus’ armour.
Eyes glowing white hot with rage from the loss of Sobacha, Krushek threw himself towards the Kroot veteran, lighting it up with a blast of psychic energy, until its leathery skin peeled from its bones.
The Librarian’s recklessness was his downfall though. Having drawn him out from cover, a Kroot marksman with an arcane energy bow charged up a bolt and loosed it towards the psyker, hitting him in the throat. For an instant, his rage transformed to surprise, before the arrow exploded, vapourising his head and torso in a blue ball of plasma.
Raphael suddenly realised the dire position his Team were in – they were in danger of being overrun.
More silenced shots thumped out from the Hab roof, covering Raphael as he scrambled to reach the Auspex Shrine where Sobacha’s body was slumped.
“Another one down, and one just vaporised itself on Jubal’s mine.” Magnus reported.
More shots.
“Reloading.”
As if sensing the lull in fire, a savage Kroot with twin blades rushed round the corner and pounced towards the Sergeant. The creature was blindingly fast, slashing at Raphael’s face and the weak points in his armour, but the Blood Angel was faster and more powerful. Raphael stopped the creature dead with a vice grip around its throat and drove the blade of his gladius up through its ribcage before turning on the powerfield and burning out its insides.
He dropped the Kroot and staggered around the side of the Shrine, his hearts labouring out of sync and his armour’s alarms ringing in his ears warning him about his massive blood loss. He gasped as his armour pumped clotting factors and noradrenaline into his veins to stop him from haemorrhaging and bring his blood pressure back.
“Raffa – there is another, coming at you from the back of the shrine. I don’t have a shot.” Magnus urged over the vox.
Raphael drew his plasma pistol and fell back into the dust, covering the sides of the shrine with the buzzing energy weapon, breathing hard as he tried to stay conscious. A tall Kroot with a wicked curved blade darted out of the sandy squall, but Raphael was ready. He squeezed the trigger and a bolt of blue sunlight burned through the dust bowl and the unarmoured creature alike, disintegrating the upper right side of its torso.
TP 4: The price of victory
Hunting Party Krav Cha’Toh (The Bloody Hands)
Bor’ohk’s eyes, midnight black while wyrded to Pech’ra, his bird-like familiar, gradually transitioned back to their natural yellow. He shuddered as the connection between them fully severed.
“Kal’osh is gone. We are dying, Huntress.” Bor’okh said wearily. “These are not the humans we have faced before – they are faster, stronger. Their weapons…”
Drekh clacked her beak in irritation.
“They still bleed.” She said, sourly. “Chin T’ar – to the tower.”
The Longsight cycled the action on his prized hunting rifle, gave a curt nod, and he was gone.
Kill Team Venari
Sergeant Raphael slumped against the side of the Auspex Shrine, breathing raggedly. His blood pressure was stabilising, but every time he moved, his vision swam into black. He heard Magnus over the vox again, but his words were drowned out by the pulsing in Raphael’s head.
“Say again?” He managed.
“Rasmus and Jubal are gone, brother.
Raphael was about reply, when a Kroot female, covered in red war paint, burst around the corner. It uttered a shrill cry and drew an exotic powered blade when its eyes locked with his. The creature stormed towards Raphael’s position, but before it could raise its crackling power weapon, Raphael stepped into the open, plasma pistol raised, and cracked off two crippling shots.
He holstered his pistol and limped over to the dying creature. It scrabbled lamely on the ground to raise its T’au pulse rifle with its remaining hand. Raphael placed his boot on the rifle, crushing it and the alien’s hand into the dirt. He bent down, bringing his face to its level.
“Xenos filth.” He spat, and bured the tip of his gladius into its throat.
The Sergeant stood, face to the sky, alien blood pooling at his feet and running off his blade. Now he just had to run the codes through the Auspex Shrine to connect to the orbital traffic array.
The crack of a rifle rang out.
Magnus saw his Brother Sergeant fall to his knees and topple heavily over, onto the body of the Kroot he had just slain.
&%#—rdo Xenos, interested parties require investigation of the subterranean strata exposed due to geovolcanic activity related to Exterminatus issued in 999.M41, and source of subspace signal of non-human origin.
Inquisition intelligence suggests a potentially significant threat exists and warrants immediate investigation, and requisition of Death Watch Astartes forces.
Watchmaster of the Eye of Damocles Ultima Segmentum fortress to use his judgement on the size of force to commit.
Discretion advised: Imperial Army and Fleet forces engaged with Xenos breeds (Desig: T’au).
Allied forces must not be made aware of Ordo Xenos presence in the sector. Witnesses to Death Watch missions or subterranean Xenos technology, structures, and life forms, are to be purged.
