Disclaimer
This is an unofficial short story set in Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Bix Flarron stopped for a breather. Sweat stung his eyes as he tried to find his water bottle on the small repulsor sled. He hated the wilderness. Finding the bottle, he uncapped it and drank greedily. He emptied it and then cursed himself.
“Conserve the water, you idiot,” he muttered to himself.
A quick inventory check told him he had two more bottles. They would only last him one more day, possibly he could stretch it to two days, unless he could restock. With a shudder he remembered another time when he’d drunk water from a stream and gotten ill. It had nearly cost him his life, even though it hadn’t been far from the nearest settlement. On weak legs he’d staggered back into civilization and more or less passed out.
His shortage of water meant today would be his last hours of foraging before he was forced back. Again he looked through how much he’d harvested. Not as much as he’d hoped, but it should be enough to get him off world. Renting the repulsor sled had been a waste. What he’d found so far could just have been carried in a backpack. In his over-optimistic expectations he had hoped this would be the time when he would hit the jackpot and score big. He’d been so sure of it, he’d even booked a regular passage off world. Now it looked like he’d have to cancel that and get smuggled off, like steerage in some unused bulkhead of a starship. The Planetary Defense Force exercise started bombarding in the distance again. It had started three days ago, the second day of his excursion. It must be an unusually large drill. They’d been shelling artillery fire for more hours of the day than they had not.
“Damned PDF. Wasting money just to satisfy some idiot general. Should have given me some of it instead so I wouldn’t have had to go out in the damned woods.”
Bix made sure his precious cargo was secure on the sled, before trudging on, pulling the sled behind himself.
It was a warm day, but he got some shade from the leafy canopy above. The sled left a clear path in the knee-high ferns. As he stopped to sip some water, he heard aircraft fly above him. A large squadron. Hard to see through the foliage, but could have been as many as fifty. He thought he saw the shape of Valkyries, but he wasn’t sure. He’d never seen that many in one go before. Those Valkyries were heavily armed and in all probably carried a thousand soldiers on board. Bix would never be forced into the PDF or set foot on a Valkyrie. In a week he would have left this planet behind for good. Suddenly he saw an interesting terrain formation up ahead. Could it be? Ten minutes later he was sure. Rock formation. Rock formations meant there was a chance of a cave. He felt his excitement rise. He’d dreamt of finding a cave. Filled to the brim with Mirage, the rare hallucinogenic shrooms on the planet. Illegal as they were, they fetched a good price on the black market. Thinking of dreams made him shudder. He had dreamt some really scary stuff since his hike started, but he couldn’t remember the dreams. Probably due to the sleeping meds he’d been taking to be able to sleep. He hated the outdoors with every fiber of his being, and the meds at least let him sleep. In a fit of paranoia he checked his autopistol and surveyed the surrounding landscape. He’d heard of other foragers being robbed, but he sure as hell wouldn’t be one of them. Suddenly he saw something man-made. He froze and stared. What was that? He turned off the sled, making it sink to the ground and then covered it with a few ferns, before heading towards the object, pistol in hand.
As he came closer he saw what it was. A drop pod. At least he thought so. He’d never seen one with his own eyes. He carefully approached it. It looked completely inactive. It probably had been here like, forever. Then why wasn’t it overgrown, you idiot, he thought. The only ones that used a drop pod was the Adeptus Astartes, and he was sure no Space Marine hade ever sat foot on this useless rock, as sure as the Emperor ruled mankind. If it had ever happened, it would surely have filled a whole year of school and been celebrated planet-wide each anniversary of the event. But even the remote possibility of a real Angel of Death having set foot here made him shudder. After a ten minute search he went back towards the rock formation with unease. He was no frontiersman, but he found no other traces. Bix Flarron was a business man, or at least that is what he told himself. Most other people would call him a useless drifter.
Back at the sled, he grabbed gloves, a breather and a small container. Then he walked closer to the rock formation. It had an overhang that cast deep shadows near the base of the formation. Perfect location for Mirage. He walked really slowly and surveyed every patch of ground. He almost missed it, but there it was. He started breathing faster. He put the respirator over his mouth and nose, put on the gloves and dropped to his knees. He opened the small container, and with a careful hand picked the mushroom and placed it with care in the container before sealing it again. A great specimen. Five inches tall. Bix hadn’t seen many of that size ever. He carefully crawled on all four and his adrenalin rose as he found not one or two, but four more Mirage. All in excellent condition and large. He stood up and removed the mask. These five would fetch a more handsome price than all the other he’d found so far. He smiled and continued further. He rounded the corner of a rock outcrop and started breathing heavily when he saw the big cave entrance. Just like in his dreams! Not, literally, but what he’d dreamt of since he started foraging. He unhooked a small hand torch from his belt and carefully walked a few steps inside. The cave mouth was probably nine feet tall and three or four feet wide. It looked like a rift down into the underground. It quickly got dark and Bix had to hit the torch a couple of times to make it flicker to life when he turned it on. The cone of light fell on the floor as he stepped further in. The passage went down and then widened into a cavern. At least Bix thought so, he just froze at the sight of Mirage everywhere along the walls. He blinked several times. They were still there. Hundreds of them.
“By the Throne,” he wheezed and almost started weeping. He carefully backed out of the cave, careful not to step on a shroom he might have missed on the way in. It would have been typical to step on one and get an overdose right when he’d found wealth beyond his comprehension. When he stepped out he was just about to scream in celebration, but then thought the better of it. What if someone heard him? Bix hurried back to the sled and unpacked the two largest containers. He would also throw away everything he’d found the previous days. The quality of that lot was nothing like what he just found. His legs felt weak. He would have to upgrade his passage. First class. No. Imperial class. Why not? And a couple of women to entertain him during the trip. As he got ready to go back he realized it was darker. A quick check on the chronometer told him it was only midday. A storm? No, something smelled strange as well. This was no storm. He stood listening. A quiet rumbling. What could that be? Fear gripped him. Tanks? Oh no… That would just be his luck. What if they came here? He tried to improve the camouflage of his sled with more ferns. When he was happy with the improvement, he listened again. That was not the sound of rumbling machinery. He’d heard that during the stupid PDF parades. This sounded more like… like a heard of animals. Couldn’t be. They would have to be huge. And numerous. Then he heard screeching in the distance. Nothing manmade and nothing living on this planet sounded like that. The next screeching set him in motion. Instinctively he dropped the containers and ran to the only place he could think of, the cave. He thought he ran as fast as he could, but when he heard flapping of wings above the trees, and saw glimpses of man-sized flying creatures in the hundreds, he increased into an all out sprint. Out of breath he reached the mouth of the cave and stepped a few feet inside. He backed slowly in. The rumbling of creatures was loud now and when he looked outside he saw chitinous xenomorphs running on powerful hind legs with two huge claws on their forelimbs and elongated skulls. They ran much faster than any human could move. Hell, even vehicles would have a hard time keeping up. There were hundreds of them, but they were heading past him. They were swarming. Terrified he backed further in. Remembering where he was, he put his breather on, as he knew he had to go deeper. He paused after walking further into the cave. He thought he heard skittering from the cave opening behind him. We’re being invaded, he thought. He shone the light on the uneven rock floor and kept moving further in. He had to take a small leap to avoid some Mirage. When he landed he stumbled a bit, took a few steps forward and hit his head. He dropped his hand torch and it turned off. Bix wheezed and rubbed his skull where he’d hit something. He carefully searched the floor, hoping to find the flashlight and not put his hand on Mirage. He found it and banged it a couple of times so it flickered to life. He shone before him and froze. How long he sat completely still he didn’t know. A minute? He stared at a ceramite clad boot. Enormous. Dark green. Trembling he raised the torch, lighting up an Adeptus Astartes standing before him. The enormous Space Marine was at least eight feet tall, but to Bix he felt a hundred feet tall. The Imperial Aquila on his chest was bone-colored. The red lenses of the helmet reflected the light, making it look like the eyes were glowing.
“Emperor protects,” Bix whimpered. This was a Dark Angel, a mighty Adeptus Astartes of the first chapter.
The Space Marine raised a finger in front of his vox unit and Bix fell silent. The marine then pointed to the way leading out of the cave. Bix stared at the enormous bolt rifle in the space marine’s other hand. Then he heard skittering and clicking sounds. Probably clawed limbs exploring the cave, coming closer. More Marines stepped forward. Four more of them. They all raised their bolt rifles, pointing them at the oncoming sounds. Bix Flarron felt like his body was made of jello. There was nothing he could do but pray. He heard the whirring of the power armors as the Marines prepared to open fire. Then Bix’s brain sparked. He had an idea. He turned around and examined the cave floor. There. Mirage. He checked his pockets. Nothing he could use. He stretched out his left foot and kicked the mushrooms. He kicked more of them and a cloud of spores formed. He waited.
Sergeant Zion looked down on the human kicking the floor of the cave.
“What is he doing?” brother Balion asked over the vox.
“I don’t know,” brother Zion said.
“Is he trying to lure them to come closer?” brother Trivin asked.
“I’ll crush him with my boot,” brother Balion said.
“No, wait,” brother Zion said.
He heard the tyranid creatures coming closer, but then a creature screeched. More screeching and then the creatures started to move again, leaving the cave. His lenses analyzed the cloud coming from where the human had kicked. He zoomed in. Something had been released into the air.
“The foul creatures seem to not like the flora in this cave,” brother Zion said. “We go undetected this time.”
“What’s he doing now?” brother Balion asked.
The man on the floor had started convulsing. He cramped and gurgled. Seconds later he lay still. Dead. Zion ignored the man and studied his sensors.
“Sensors indicate the horde has passed. Move out.”
The Dark Angels squad moved out of the cave. The sky was dark. The foliage was trampled where the thousands of tyranid creatures had stormed forward toward the nearest human defense sector.
“Sergeant Zion calling in orbital exterminatus strike on sector gamma. Wide spread over the whole sector. Vanguard of Hormagaunt class and Gargoyle class observed. Strongpoint at gamma sector will be overrun within the hour. Arrange pickup at extraction point delta. Object Tenebris secured. We have it with us.”
Switching over to his team vox, brother Zion gave new orders. “Move out to extraction point delta, brothers. Balion, do not loose the object.”
“Yes sir. Sir, what is the object?”
Zion barked a rough laugh. “You’ll have to advance to the inner circle before you are cleared for that knowledge. Move out brothers!”
THE END