There was a silence that followed the question. Captain Krangaar was about to ask again when the words almost vomited forth from the tech adept.
"The first we knew of anything was a tapping. It came at night. Tapping. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. All night long. Horatio went out to investigate on the first night and found nothing."
"After he came back in the tapping started again, almost right away."
"We didn't let him go back out that night, but he insisted the next night. We never saw him again."
There was another silence.
"After he went out the tapping stopped. We didn't hear it again until the next night. It was louder then, coming from every direction. That is when we sent the signal."
"Thank the throne you were still in system."
Krangaar looked down at the robed man. The other two tech-adepts he barely classified as men. They were more than 80% machine.
He looked out past where the xenos had fled.
Then the man on the ground started talking again.
"We saw the drop pods land on the second day after you acknowledged the signal. The tapping continued that first night after, continuous and all around the building. We tried to signal you again but the coms were jammed. Then the power went out. We couldn't figure out why the automated defense systems weren't working. They must have cut the power to them first."
"The second night, last night, was horrible. The power was still out, it was total darkness in most of the building. We huddled together in the cafeteria our lumicell was the only light source in the whole building. We sat with it to our backs on top of a stack of chairs. Suddenly the tapping stopped. We heard a strange sound, almost like the sound of a lascannon firing. Then we heard it again. After that there was a metallic clang. They had blown the door off the hinges."
"We raised the few weapons we had towards the door of the room we were in. The light just reached outside it. But then something enveloped the light, it didn't go out so much as it was smothered."
"When it came back on four of us were missing and there were only us three and this servitor left."
"That is how we spent the night."
"I only saw them today when they attacked your men. They were lithe creatures, they moved like shadows tipped with razor sharp steel."
"When the drop pods landed light had crept into the building and we dared to look outside. When we saw the white and blue pods in the distance we knew we were saved."
"Sergeant Hakron moved up to the building with his squad while the two other squads kept a watch on the area."
"We couldn't tell him anything about them. Of course, we didn't have to. Almost as soon as we were out of the building they appeared."
"Hakron stayed near us providing support fire while the other two squads advanced on the Xenos. We could make out their metallic green armour as they moved from behind rock formation to the crests of the sandsinks. They fired back little as they ran forward. What they did shoot seemed to be ineffective against your marine's armour."
Krangaar interrupted him at this point.
"How did they attack? It was difficult for us to see from where we approached from the Stormbird landing sites."
"I'm no warrior, captain, but it looked like they split into three rough groups. The main thrust seemed to come up on their left. This monstrous . . . machine . . . creature, something, moved up leading that side. Faster, lighter armoured warriors moved around the outside of it and hideous deformed freaks moved directly in its wake."
The Captain glanced over at the two other tech-adepts at his description, they didn't seem to take any notice.
"How effective were our weapons against them?"
"Very effective," the adept said, nodding his head slowly, "I think that was why your men moved to the attack instead of waiting for back up. The first few volleys drove the right flank of the enemy back, punching holes right through their armour and blasting their thin bodies apart."
"When the one squad moved up to attack the xenos fired at them at very short range and the fire was much more deadly than it had been at long range. "
"As you would expect," put in the Captain.
"Aye, but not like this, it shredded marines where they had barely noticed it before. It send the men reeling back to more cover."
"In the center your men moved to attack the aliens in the sandsink right next to the research station. The aliens were quick though and got the jump on them. "
"The initial clash was over very quickly and soon the xenos were in full flight, the marines chased them up the lip of the sandsink and gunned them down as they ran. I thought that the one that seemed to be the leader was going to get away but the Sergeant put a burst of plasma through his chest."
"I was still feeling like we were saved at that point. Despite the men falling back on the left, Hakron stood like a steel curtain between us and the enemy and in the center we seemingly had them on the run."
"And I could see your ships landing too. It seemed like all would be well for us. It occurs to me now that is exactly what they wanted us to think."
"The giant, floating monster took repeated bursts of fire from Hakron and his men to little avail. Still it came on and then it was among Hakron's squad. One of them it picked up and tossed against the rock formation, the man's armour cracked. He did not rise."
"That is when the real terror started. A group of black armoured warriors moved up towards the squad in the center, they ran carelessly over the bodies the marines had blown apart. Powerful two-handed weapons in their hands they were among your men before your men could even re-load. The carnage was terrible. The blades cut through he power armour like the men were wearing paper. The worst of it was the cackling from what appeared to be their leader. As her barbed spear touched a marine the victim would writhe in agony before collapsing to the ground. More of the twisted creature trolled along behind her, dragging the marines back with them."
"The last marine standing ran, he just barely got away. With Hakron holding back the floating monster there was nothing between her and me. She gazed at us, only the briefest glance really. She tilted her head back in maniacal laughter as she saw the terror in my face."
"I saw more of them surround Hakron now, his men were quickly cut down by the new comers but still the sergeant stood alone. He smote about him with the but of his combo-bolter to little effect. The creatures were too quick. Soon, the mutations were upon him and they grasped his armour and were pulling him. As they yanked pieces of the armour off others would grab at the man as he struggled to free himself. They didn't manage to pull him apart, but they did enough damage that he no longer fought."
"On the left the marines disappeared under a deluge of metallic green. I have never been so happy to hear the sounds of a heavy bolster in all my life."
"We saw the shells explode amongst the leaders retinue. One of the black armoured enemy was shattered by the massive bolter rounds."
"They quickly fell back the way they came, only managing to take the few marines that your count tell you are missing."
Captain Krangaar nodded his head. Six marines were missing. Six World Eaters. More were dead. The three squads he had sent as a vanguard had been wiped out, almost to a man. He would evacuate the research station. There was no time to do a thorough sweep of Corcyrus now, there had been a message from Angron himself that the World Eaters were to gather int he Istvaan system.
All of the pictures can be seen here:
imgur.com/a/Kvrsr
Good to see some retro gaming with 3rd Edition.