Fryar's Tale - Part III
"Were have you been?" The station commander demanded.
"Apologies." Said the Librarian "But there is something very wrong." "I believe there is a presence in the Warp - one I am not familiar with."
The Librarian's tone did not have the usual air of authority associated with the marines. He continued:
"I have lost contact with others of our order - and with Terra itself. This has never happened before, and I am curious as to what events have occurred to cause such a psychic disturbance."
"So, do you believe anything has happened to the Emperor?" Growled the commander.
"You must be careful with comments like that!" The Librarian retorted. "I am sure the Emperor is still in full control. I believe that whatever has disturbed the warp, is what is causing my psychic problems."
"Or maybe you are losing your ability?"
"Commander, your tone and your attitude are not what I expect, I am the Librarian here and I have served the Emperor faultlessly since taking oath..."
"Do you have something to say?" The commander interjected.
"Yes, yes I have. For the past year, after my posting here, I have found your attitude toward both the Tac marines and myself very surprising. You have questioned many orders, you take no interest in the people of this agri-world and, although I hesitate to say this, I feel that your loyalty to the Emperor is rather weak."
The commander stared at the Librarian, his face totally terrifying.
"How dare you question MY loyalty!" "I have been stuck on this boring mud hole for two years now, and I would prefer something with more reason for being."
At that moment the adjutant appeared in the office doorway. He was about to speak, but noticed the expression on the commander's face. At this he felt very uneasy, and decided to wait to be spoken to.
"What?" Shouted the force commander.
For the first time the adjutant couldn't speak, he felt almost terror.
"Spit it out man!"
Reluctantly, the adjutant then spoke.
"Sir, the base is now on alert and ready. The recovery unit wish to know what your orders are concerning sergeant Drake."
"What orders? I haven't given any orders concerning Drake."
The Librarian stared intently at the commander.
"Ok, yes, I was concerned with a possible attack, and wanted readiness here before ordering the recovery unit to move. Now that the base is on alert, send the recovery unit out to that
agri-village and recover Drake and his Tac unit, along with their Rhino. Tell them to look for any evidence they can find of Tyranid activity."
"Yes sir." replied the adjutant, doing his best to get out of there quickly.
The Librarian continued to stare at the commander. Then said: "You could have ordered the recovery unit to move whilst we prepared the base."
"Are you questioning my judgement?"
"No". Replied the Librarian. "Merely wondering what the reasoning behind your logic was."
"Let's just say I though we might be attacked at any moment and didn't want to be caught with our armour off."
"Now to business. I believe there is a threat from Tyranids - or at least a lictor."
"Yes" Replied the Librarian, "- I was aware."
"You were... Oh never mind, perhaps you haven't lost your abilities after all. Now, see this storage house next to the bunker?"
"House 5."
"Yes, that's the one. That is the closest house to the base perimeter. I believe that an attack will come from near there."
The Librarian was silent, and then said "But on the other side of the perimeter there is open ground, in fact there is open ground all around the base. There is little cover for anyone - to use to sneak up on the base."
"True enough." Replied the commander "But I believe the only cover this Lictor will use is the cover of night."
The commander went on: "Are you familiar with Tyranids?"
"I know of them, and what they are capable of, but I have never had any form of contact with them." Replied the Librarian.
"Well, this Lictor - Drake's Lictor - seems to be unusually large, perhaps a new species. If there are several of them then we must be very prepared and try to anticipate their movements."
"How do you know this is a Lictor - and that it is a large one?" Questioned the Librarian.
"Our wonderful adjutant has kept me informed of reports from the agri-village." The commander retorted sarcastically.
"Right, this is what I want you to do. At 05:00, go to storage house 5 and rendezvous with Tac team 3 - I shall brief them shortly. Make sure everyone is inside the building and everyone - EVERYONE - has a clear view of the perimeter. I don't want people outside where one or two Lictors can get their claws in play.
These are the most bizarre orders I have ever heard, thought the Librarian, but he did not question as he felt the commander had dealt with Tyranids before and probably knew how to combat them. However, he did ask the question:
"I understand moving into place while it is dark commander, but the base has lights and this will negate our 'stealth', will it not."
"A reasonable question. But this is my plan: I intend to switch on the searchlights as soon as it gets dark, then at 04:00 I will order the camp internal lights turned off. The searchlights will keep the Lictor's eyes busy while we prepare."
"One final question: why are you so certain we will be attacked? Shouldn't we be out looking for it?"
"We tried that, and clearly in the open this beast has an advantage. Besides, it has obtained our location information from Drake and his team and was seen headed in our direction. No if there are any further questions? No? Good. To work."
The Librarian left the commander's office rather perplexed. The adjutant must have been keeping quite an eye on the previous events, as the commander was clearly well informed - and he did feel as though he knew what he was talking about. Despite the commander's good knowledge, he decided to check for himself and sought the adjutant.
As the Librarian walked across the camp he noticed the recovery unit leaving. They had a grey coloured Rhino, fitted with all sorts of additional equipment and the very familiar 'dozer blade. It's a wonder that thing ever bothers to use a road, the Librarian thought.
As he continued toward the supply depot, he received salutes and signs of respect from the passing marines and general camp staff. Then he felt as though his head was going to explode - like a really bad headache.
"Emperor preserve us." He said out load, holding the sides of his head.
Then, the pain eased abruptly. That was no coincidence and was definitely more psychic activity, he thought. He quickened his pace, as finding the adjutant had now become his top priority.
Upon his arrival at the supply depot, everyone working stopped work and stood to attention.
"At ease" he barked. "I am looking for the camp adjutant."
"The adjutant has been called to storage house 1 sir." Replied the duty sergeant.
"Another of the commander's bizarre orders no doubt." The Librarian mumbled.
"Sorry sir?" The sergeant asked.
"Nothing." Replied the Librarian, and he turned and left.
Upon arriving at the bunker operations room, the Librarian contacted the sergeant of Tac Squad 3, and informed him of the commander's orders. The sergeant stated his men would be ready and he looked forward to avenging sergeant Drake and his team.
The Librarian then went to his quarters for several hours of meditation in readiness for the possible events, and to try and understand the psychic activity he had experienced. He now believed that telling the commander might not be the best idea and that meeting the adjutant can wait.
+++
At 04:00 the camp lights went out, just as the commander had ordered. The Librarian made his way to the ops room in the bunker to ensure the camp was now in it's final preparation in accordance with the commander's plan.
The Librarian then made his way to the adjutant's office, only to find it empty. He entered the orderly's office and enquired as to the adjutant's whereabouts. The orderly informed him that he hadn't been seen since late the previous morning, when he was ordered to the supply depot.
"This is most irregular." Said the Librarian, "I the commander has specific orders for me, and I must see the adjutant. I shall wait in his office until he returns - I am not to be disturbed by anyone, unless it is the commander. Understood?"
"Yes sir." Replied the orderly.
The Librarian then closed the door to the adjutant's office and started to search for anything out of the ordinary. Everything seemed to be in order, supply requisitions, reports, camp forward plans etc., but then he found a peculiar delivery report concerning four Rhinos.
"Hmm. Four Rhinos in shipment containers... Arrived when, let me see, ah - a month ago... by cargo freighter. What?" The Librarian was speaking his thoughts. "If they have arrived, where are they? Hmm, possibly in the supply depot being refitted. Why did they travel by cargo freighter? We usually transport war vehicles by armoured carriers. And why shipment containers? That's a first!" He was almost chuckling to himself.
"What else is on here? Ah, containers from Macragge. I know this name."
Further searches proved fruitless, and the time was now 04:45, so the Librarian made his way to storage house 5.
Upon his approach to the house, he felt immense danger. Checking around him he could see the searchlights performing their sweeps around the periphery of the camp, but nothing else moved. The source of the danger seemed all around him, and no matter how he tried to focus psychic energy; he could not determine the source.
"This is damn peculiar. Damn peculiar" he mumbled.
At that moment, there was a whirring of engines and more lights at the camp gates. Two Rhinos had arrived. It was difficult for the Librarian to make out any markings, but presently, two searchlights swept over them and revealed them as the recovery unit and Drake's Rhino.
They've been a very long time thought the Librarian. I wonder if they encountered the Lictor?
About 50 yards inside the perimeter fence, the two Rhinos stopped and closed down their engines. The recovery unit, and the highly visible tech marine sergeant were clear silhouettes. There was one outline he didn't recognise, and this prompted him to run over to the recovery unit and demand the reasoning behind bringing someone into the camp when such a state of alert had been given.
"We were given additional orders." Said the tech marine sergeant.
"By whom, and who is this person?" Demanded the Librarian, very aggressively.
"By the camp commander sir, and this is a person who identified himself as Fryar. He saw the attack on sergeant Drake and his unit."
After studying the villager for a moment, the Librarian gave orders:
"Very well, take him to the interrogation block within the bunker. Do NOT let him out of your site and do not let him out of the interrogation room you place him in. Clear?"
"Sir. Our orders were quite specific, we were to take him to the commander as soon as we arrived back, and to wait for him if he was busy with alert business."
"Well I am telling you now that things have changed. I will take the rap for any breach of orders, and I will square it with the commander. Understand?"
Uneasily, the tech marine and his unit agreed and took Fryar to the interrogation section of the main block.
The time was 05:05 and the Librarian knew he was late for the rendezvous at storage house 5. As quickly as his enhanced physiology would take him he moved toward the building.
When the Librarian was 100 yards from the building, a large and very loud series of explosions went off on the other side of the camp. Three searchlights immediately went out and large balls of fire and smoke rose high into the air. The Librarian also believed he heard bolter shots being fired.
As he rose to his feet, the camp lights came on, instantly illuminating every part of the camp. To his horror, he could see that the perimeter wall and guard wire had vanished in the explosions. Now one side of the camp was completely wide open and only the bunker maintained its security.
Believing that all tac units should withdraw to the bunker until sun-up, he rushed to the storage house. He knew a tac unit would not move unless given specific orders and so he opened the door and stepped inside.
The sight that greeted him was not pleasant. The five marines of Tac unit 3 all lay dead on the floor, various pieces of them scattered around the floor of the storage house.
A thousand thoughts entered his head, followed by the most awful psychic noise he had ever heard. Then, BANG. The large Tyranid dropped from the rafters of the storage house. With one swift movement it hit the Librarian, but only caught the force field that protected him. The Librarian flew backwards through the door he had just entered.
Undeterred, the Librarian picked himself up, readied his power sword and charged back through the door...
"Where are you?" The Librarian bellowed.
Only the bodies of the Tac squad remained. There was no sign of the Lictor anywhere. The psychic noise had subsided also, and the Librarian examined the marines and the building. Bolter fire had occurred, and this is what he had heard during the explosions.
Angrier than ever, the Librarian left the storage house and made for the bunker. Clearly there was a plot here, and he was hell-bent on finding out what was going on and then killing everyone who was remotely a part of it - starting, as he believed, with the adjutant.
As he approached the bunker, the camp lights went out - along with the searchlights. Around him erupted bolter fire.
"In the Emperor's name, what is going on!" he yelled.
Amongst the flashes he could see much movement. At first he thought it was marine movement, but then he realised that with two units dead, there were only 15 marines left in the camp, and ten of those would now be in the bunker.
Lasguns were now firing from the bunker as the heavier guns were now engaging this new enemy.
As he reached the bunker, he could see more than 20 shapes moving very quickly. They all had many limbs and were coming right for the bunker itself.
"What new hell is this?" he shouted.
With swift movements he was inside, and closed the plas-steel door.
The fire was intensifying and he knew the next assault would occur on the observation platform. Twenty seconds later he had arrived. Ten marines were shooting at anything that moved near the bunker. The Librarian could see the five remaining marines in the watchtower were giving covering support and he silently praised their efforts.
Suddenly something hit him in the head and knocked him to the floor. It was spear shaped and very hard. Two more hit the rim of the bunker. As he got to his feet, a large figure appeared on the parapet and leapt toward him. Before the enormous claws of the beast could reach him, it was blown apart by one of the marines in a spectacular explosion of limbs and ichor.
"Genestealers." Said a voice on his comm.-link. There must be thirty of them.
++++
Fryar was shaking. He sat in the interrogation room listening to the commotion going on outside. He was terrified of where he was, terrified of the mutant human who was probably outside the door, terrified of the man who ordered him to be detained, but most of all, he was terrified of that 15 foot monster which seemed to be giving these tough marines such a huge amount of grief. He felt as though he would not se the sunrise and that once these marines were dead, the Lictor would come and get him.
This thought forced him to get out of the chair and walk to the door. He tried the handle, and to his surprise, the door opened. He peered gingerly around the door, and found the corridor empty. His heart leaped, perhaps he could get out of here, and maybe he might live?
He slowly walked down the corridor, the sounds of the raging battle ever constant in his ears. The corridor split into two, and he recognised the stairs he had come down, and the two doors either side of the staircase. He approached cautiously, and then heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
His heart rate reached 200 beats a minute, and he made a move for the door to his left. To his delight, it was not locked and he quickly mad his way into the room and closed the door.
In the very dim light that was coming through what seemed to be a vent, he could see the room was stacked high with what seemed to be office furniture.
Quickly he headed for the back of the room and hid behind what he though was a stack of chairs and cabinets.
The footsteps reached the bottom of the stairs, and Fryar shrank further and finally sat on the floor. SQUELCH. Fryar put his hand down on what felt like wet rags. The footsteps continued past the door and down the corridor.
As Fryar's eyes became accustomed to the light, he looked at what he was now sitting on and came close to letting out a scream. There on the floor were bits of body, blood everywhere, all oozing out of a large plasbag that had broken open. He couldn't make out much, but it seemed this was one man in a uniform.
++++
The battle was fast moving and very bloody. The marines in the watchtower were making good their aim, as were those in the bunker. The Librarian was taking aim on another genestealer when he saw a very large shadow moving very swiftly across the field and toward the watchtower.
"Target that large Tyranid." He bellowed.
It took a few moments before the marines located their new target, which was exceptionally difficult to see, and then they opened fire.
The Lictor reached the watchtower and with one swipe of its mighty talon, the tower collapsed. Instantly, all the remaining genestealers fell upon the 5 marines, who put up a brave fight, but were dead within a minute.
Then, they charged the bunker. All remaining marines had to duck behind the parapet wall as a seemly endless amount of chitin spears came racing toward them. When they looked up, there were ten genestealers and the large Lictor right on top of them. At once they made for close combat, but there was a terrible shrieking in their minds.
The Librarian recognised this as the same form of psychic attack he had received earlier, only this time he put out a psychic message to all marines to stand firm. This they did.
With his master crafted broadsword in hand, the Librarian waded into the genestealers. Many times he was saved by his force field, as never before had he faced a foe that was so fast. The marines were falling fast, but so were the genestealers.
Eventually only the Librarian, the Lictor and two genestealers remained. Parrying blow after blow, the Librarian managed to fight a rear-guard action and made it to the parapet door. This he figured would keep the genestealers to a one at a time attack and keep the Lictor off his back.
His plan nearly worked. As he backed through the door, he decapitated the leading 'stealer, only to see the door and surrounding wall totally ripped away by the immense strength of the Lictor. Backing down the stairs he kept fighting his rearguard action, keeping the last remaining genestealer between himself and the Lictor, which was busy tearing it's own staircase in an effort to get at him.
He half fell as he lost his footing, and the 'stealer was on him. One ripping attack tore a whole through the Librarian's armour and carved a chunk out of his left shoulder. He kicked the genestealer full in the head, which allowed him to stab it in the neck with his sword.
Bleeding profusely, the Librarian retreated into the bunker and made ready with his field-binding package. Fortunately he was an expert in wound field craft and had the repair patch in place just in time to see the floor above him disappear as the Lictor ripped its way toward him.
Standing resolutely, he summoned all his energy and attempted a psychic smite of the beast. Strangely he found the screaming in his mind was playing havoc with his ability and he only just managed to get the attack to work.
BANG. The Lictor doubled up as if in complete pain - but remained on its feet.
The Librarian took his chance and charged the Lictor. Both he and the Lictor exchanged blows. Fortunately, his force field took all the blows as he cut the Lictor in half.
++++
Fryar was about to move when he heard footsteps coming back up the hall. Now he was suffering from terror all over again. He froze. He prayed. Then, there were more footsteps coming down the stairs.
When the footsteps reached the bottom of the stairs, there was silence.
"This is it,” he thought. "They know I am in here and now I am going to die."
Then he heard the raised voices.
"You damnable coward! Where in the Emperor's name have you been hiding?"
"Hiding? I have not been hiding, merely doing my job."
"Your job was to be with us, fighting the Tyranid attack."
"Oh, I think the troops did a splendid job."
"They are all dead! And you should have died with them!"
"This was the voice of the cloaked marine who had ordered me put in the interrogation block,” thought Fryar.
"No, they shouldn't have died, but you should have died with your troops!"
"What? My Troops? Our troops you mean!"
"No, sadly, your troops died, and my troops died, including their commander."
"Your troops? What - you are a traitor, and I will kill you now!"
"Not so fast! I shall kill you, but don't you want to know why?" The voices where now very loud, and Fryar was so confused. He kept motionless, but listening intently.
"I am no traitor, I have always served my master."
"You are a damn traitor - who is going to die!"
"First, it was a fairly simple job to replace the officer and slip in and take his place."
"Second, being a world which has plenty of transport, getting hold of the supplies I needed was very easy..."
"You killed the commanding officer and took his place? And no-one knew?"
Fryar started shaking.
"And thirdly, I drugged several of the locals and made them do my bidding."
"What drugs?"
"Oh the stuff your inquisitors use. It is good for the genetic humans like you, but for the weak ones, it renders them under the power of suggestion, and then after a time - kills them. Perfect!"
"That is how I got my spores into the woods to the south of here."
"The Rhinos?"
"Ah yes, the drugs worked well on the adjutant too, but I had to use small doses. I had the four spores shipped to the woods where I could activate them at my leisure."
Fryar looked at his arms, now he realised, he was covered in the blood of the adjutant.
"The Lictor wasn't due to 'hatch' so soon, but being the creature it is, it has the capability to contact the Hive Mind, and so awoke from hibernation and did what Lictors do."
"I knew I had to get it back before my 'stealers were forced to awaken, so I questioned sergeant Drake at length, and knowing what this Lictor could do - Drake's Lictor we’ll call it, I sent him out. The Lictor would suck his brains dry and then return to the camp." "I take it you didn't find the tunnel into house 5 then?"
"No, and what of Macragge? I remember that as a Tyranid defeat. How did four mycetic spores make it from there - and why didn't they open on the planet."
"If only you knew our real name. Tyranid - how did you come to give us that name?" "The four spores were not supposed to open. They are part of a greater plan and they are not from the Hive that attacked the planet. If the planet had fallen, then they would have been removed. As it happened, they fulfilled the overall plan - well nearly. Tremendous isn't it. Your weak minds cannot comprehend the power of our Hive Mind."
"Infiltrators. You wanted to plant infiltrators. And the Lictor was to take care of any heavy resistance."
"Well done, your Emperor will be proud!"
"Well, now you die - traitorous SCUM!"
"I am no traitor! Behold!"
Despite Fryar's fear, he now felt he had to get out of there and edged to the door.
"So. Not Human at all, but a 'stealer! Your armour or your oversize uniform hiding those extra arms"
Fryar heard the sounds of close combat as the two adversaries attacked each other. Slowly opening the door, he peered into the corridor.
Battling away he saw the Librarian battling something that looked human, but had an extra pair of clawed arms.
The 'stealer noticed Fryar and hesitated. This was all the Librarian needed to fill the infiltrator full of sword blade.
The Librarian looked up and saw Fryar quaking.
"D Don't kill me." Squeaked Fryar
"Why would I do that?" Replied the Librarian "You are why we are here."
"Is it safe outside now? The Lictor?" "Ah, Drake's Lictor. That is dead, and so are all our troops. Is it safe? Emperor knows. I believe for now we won't be attacked again, but that plan of theirs is a very dangerous and cunning one. They may have more infiltration units very deep inside the Imperium now. This is something we have never had to face."
"Can you take me back to the village?" Fryar was almost pleading.
"Yes, there is a Rhino outside, and you can do me a favour. You have a new job, communications officer. Something you will do for me until new troops arrive."
Fryar knew what this meant: constantly sending signals and telling everyone what to look for in case of another attack.
"Ok, I'll do it" he reluctantly agreed.
"I think this is going to be a looooong month!"
Drake's Lictor:
As per a Lictor but:
TMC
T5
Leaping
Synapse Creature
The Horror
Psychic Scream
Is an HQ Unit or Elite choice
Only one can be taken - and no other Lictors can be taken.
120 Points And if anyone argues, then 120 points for a creature that only has a 5+ save is quite enough thank you! |
