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| The only hope for Armageddon?? |
The planet had been well prepared to meet the alien menace. Early warning signs had been heeded, the defences had been readied ... and still they came.
Demonstrating the kind of single-minded intelligence for which they were rightly feared, the Tyranids made planet-fall in areas rich in biomass: the jungles, industrial and other populated areas. They were quick to establish and reinforce a solid foot-hold on the planet and from there, they spread.
The PDF, bolstered by regiments of Imperial Guard, were quick to respond, meeting the enemy on the scorched plains to the south of the Hive City. In an engagement designed to divert the oncoming hoard away from the more populous outskirts of the Hive, a mobile force harried and harassed the implacable advance of the creatures. Days had passed with no word from this force, just an ever-present static on the Vox.
The first warning of a threat to the Hive itself came in the form of a psychic backlash so severe that even the most skilled astropaths were brought to their knees in pain as they worked to restore communications with the Imperium. At the height of this disruption, the Tyranids began their assault. Huge, lumbering monsters of many different Imperial classifications advanced on the walls of the Lower Hive. Supported by seemingly endless swarms of much smaller abominations, they poured through the walls and into the streets of the Hive’s lower hab blocks. At the heart of the assault was a creature of such dark malevolence that the very air seemed rent around him.
The defenders were well prepared and their artillery rained down upon the advancing swarm. Sergent Harker himself led a flanking party to compliment the manoeuvres of a squadron of Hellhounds, in an attempt to cut off the tip of the Tyranid advance in a classic pincer move. Ratling sniper squads took up firing positions on high ground and platoons of guardsmen bunkered down in the buildings ready to resist the approaching tide.
While termagants fell by the dozen to the unrelenting shelling from the Imperial back lines, the giant creatures advanced relentlessly seemingly unaffected by the firestorm. When contact was finally made, it was decisive with the Tyranids ploughing through the central lines of resistance. As the pincer closed on their advance, the swarm moved as one to reposition and remove the threat; the Hellhounds were finished off by a sudden volley of fire from deep within the centre of the swarm and Harker was pinned inside a hab block only able to offer supporting fire from this vantage point.
Air cavalry arrived in support of the defenders and struck key blows against the alien hoard, slowing their advance, at least momentarily. But even these armoured gunships were not immune to the tenacity of the Great Devourer as enormous snake-like beasts pulled them from the skies, dashing them onto the plasticrete structures below. As the fighting reached its zenith a new threat appeared in the Guard’s back-lines, the creature exuded an aura of pain and soldiers unfortunate enough to be within its reach simply collapsed to the floor screaming briefly before falling silent.
The order came down for the defenders to abandon the sector and secure defences at reinforced positions further back in the Hive. There they would be better prepared to contain any further spread of the swarm. Harker was cut off from the retreat and with the continued disruption to the vox network his current whereabouts are unknown.