Out of the light, Into the Darkness

1. The Alliance

From the distance, a lone figure could be seen faintly, patrolling an outpost, deep in the jungle. Fabius looked up at the sky, it was blood red. "A bad omen," perhaps we will finally see battle this day, he thought aloud." He closed his eyes and unlatched his large helmet, setting it beside him on the parapet. "How long must I endure this perpetual boredom?" he thought bleakly. A Space Marine should not be made to patrol the walls of an outpost, he should be in the thick of the fighting. And like a fish out of water, the presence of war was nearly as necessary as air for him. The absence of it had begun severely sapping him of his vigor. His addiction required it and was driving him increasingly mad one day at a time.

He paced atop the line of plasteel walls, trying to remain active, trying to take his mind off the boredom. For weeks now, his Space Marine company had helped hold the battle line at New Alamo, relieving the beleaguered Imperial Guard from near constant Tyranid attacks. But things have quieted down as of late. The Outpost, New Alamo, was one of those things created when a couple of Commissars got together for a drink and have a few too many, or so was the popular belief. It was an outpost built in an already hostile zone and the hostiles were Tyranids no less! And worse still, they began understocked and undermanned. How they had managed to survive this long without reinforcements was beyond him. The Emperor worked in strange ways. In the last few attacks, the creatures threw themselves at the bunkers oblivious to personal safety. They
tended to be completely single-minded in battle. But it had been a long time since the last skirmish. He wondered what was taking the damned bugs so long. He had argued against pursuing the survivors of the last fight. It was suicide to try to mount an offensive, the bugs had the cover of night, which they used to their advantage so well it was frightening. But from listening to several men talking, that didn't seem like such an unreasonable idea. Word had it that the local Astronomicon that came in on the last drop-ship had a slight problem. People said he had a bad dream and woke up screaming. Something about a massive shadow in the warp. Needless to say, it didn't do well with his heart. He nearly had died on the spot but not before etching "Emperor take me," into the plasteel wall with his fingernails.

"Leave it to the psychics to leave us in the dark. Always speaking in riddles and such," he thought irritably. He had no love of human Psykers as they tended to be exceedingly frail and unreliable. He preferred a good Librarian far more.

After reading the message, Fabius figured that they were probably doomed, either the enemy had thrown the last vestiges of their army at them in that last attack, a final attempt to raze the outpost perhaps, or, more likely, they were preparing an even larger assault. He feared the latter given the "final words" of the Astronomicon.

Several more hours passed uneventfully. The morning sun had just tip-toed over the mountainous horizon, the light slowly creeping over the outpost. The dew on the ground was evaporating, creating a ghostly mist over the ground the ground, "Eerie," he said thoughtfully. At the barracks, the first signs of life could be heard awakening from slumber. Raucous laughter erupted within as the Guard pulled themselves out of their bunks and headed to the showers. The Tank crews emerged from their shops for "morning duty" as they called it, but basically was just washing the machines down and drinking a cup of coffee, hardly strenuous work. At the armory, his brother Marines walked to the mess hall for their first meals of the day. Whether they were hungry or not, they made it a habit to attend breakfast. They liked to converse with the rest of the men, staying up to date on the tactical situation was always important. He thought of joining them, but he decided he was rather comfortable at his post. He watched them file into the mess hall, the marines dwarfing the Guard by feet at times.

He sat looking once more at the sky, closing his eyes, feeling the gentle breeze wash over his face. He felt relaxed despite the possibility of nearby danger, however small. The sun rose fully, bathing him in warmth. It reminded him of home, not Macragge, his true birth planet Ryushi. One of the smaller planets orbiting the Marines' home. The days he had spent on the beach as a child came back to him in vivid detail. Wave chasing was his favorite game. He smiled and chuckled softly, it had been a long time since he had been home indeed. He had nearly forgotten the ritual sea hunt his people held so dearly. The tradition was that once a boy was ready to become a man, he would board a small boat and hunt the Sea Slake, a rather large and nasty denizen of his native waters. He could remember driving his spear home, perfectly into the back of the creature's skull paralyzing it. He also remembered the days he spent rowing back to shore, towing the gigantic beast behind him. And finally the last ceremony, a feast held in his honor in which he consumed the Slake's heart. So many fond memories, maybe after this mission he would request leave for a few days. He squinted into the light, his eyes focused on a black spot to the north. It looked like a cloud, he dismissed it after a second more of thought. Then he began to hear a strange sound. It rang in his ears in a strange way, it wasn't coming from within the complex. It sounded like the droning engine of a speeder's gravitic engines, or even an insect's wings... He stood up, this time focusing his augmented senses intently, willing his eyes and ears to work to their maximum. The distance seemed to disappear as his genetically altered eyes magnified the countryside. Then he saw the cloud for what it really was. A massive collection of teeth and claws assaulted his sight. He screamed into the comm, "THEY'RE COMING!!!"

The officer sleeping in late at his post in the comm room, fell out of his chair as a panicked voice blasted into his ears through his headphones. "Shit!" he cried spilling cold coffee all over himself. He sat disoriented, not quite understanding what the Marine was screaming about. It dawned on him and just as Fabius had, the officer slammed his gloved hand on the alarm. Instantly the siren sounded, a deafening wail filling the air. All over the camp, men fell over themselves readying their weapons for battle. Not 5 minutes later 20 marines lined the walls, the rest headed towards the Rhino APC's idling just inside the gates. The Assault Marines strapped their assault jet-packs onto their backs and sharpened their deadly chainswords. A single regiment of the Imperial guard were behind them, loading their deadly mortars, preparing the inner defenses should the walls be breached. The sensorium scanned the region, they were detecting hundreds, no, thousands of signals coming at them. The men stationed within sat in utter shock, they had signals not only coming from the south, but from the north as well, in almost equal
numbers, apparently a pincer attack

"Attention, mortar teams, prepare to fire at north fire position AND south fire position. They're coming at us from both sides!" the bulletin rang around the camp. This was not good, they had to divide their fire, halving their effectiveness on each side. This was not good at all...

Scouts stationed outside the gates sprang into action. Intelligence reports began pouring in. From the north, a huge gathering of Tyranids were streaking across the plains towards them. And to the south... They could not get a positive identity, there was a large copse of trees and rocks blocking the view. They assumed it was more of the Tyranids.

The news sounded over the intercom. A cold pit welled up in Fabius' stomach. It seemed that he would be making up for the last few weeks of boredom in the next few moments. He clutched his bolter tightly as he ran towards the awaiting Rhino with the rest of his veteran squad. The battle they had been waiting for had come, and he knew, it would destroy them all. He could now hear the droning very clearly now, even through the armored walls of the APC. The sound dug into his brain painfully. It was accompanied by a dull bass rumble, which he knew was made by thousands of chitinous clawed feet thundering towards them. But strangely enough, the rumbling only seemed to becoming from the North. The South side was strangely quiet, despite huge radar signature. It hardly mattered, it would be mere minutes before the first of the attackers would be in range. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. He could almost see the grim expressions of his friends through their helmets, their body language gave them away. He knew they were thinking the same thing as he was, this would be their final battle. Only a miracle from the Emperor himself could turn the tide in their favor. He the first line of creatures from the north cleared the fire marker, then he saw them explode in a giant conflagration as shells cascaded down upon them. The mortars had spoken with a thunderous voice. They watched as streaks of fire erupted engulfing the first lines of hormogaunts. Sporadic small arms fire and the loud crack of lasguns could be heard as the few surviving hormogaunts approached the walls and dropped to the ground, riddled with scorched holes. Behind him he heard men yelling, panicked. He turned as a totally unexpected sight greeted him. Where had the Eldar come from?!! The reports had told of Tyranids, once again, he felt the cold pit in his stomach. The Emperor seemed to have truly forsaken them! Fabius readied his bolter but a hand pushed it down. The Sergeant waved him to hold his fire.

"Just wait, they haven't attacked us yet, let us see what they want first."

A rush of air nearly knocked him from his feet as a large object soared over his head. An Eldar jet-bike came to rest in front of them, the proud warrior a silhouette against the sunlight.

"We have not come to make war with you, Brother Marine, addressing him in the customary title he carried. "We have come to make war with them," he said pointing to the advancing horde, his eyes narrowing dangerously through the slits in his grotesque mask. "Now you can either fight against us and them and surely die, or fight with us and allow yourselves to have some chance of survival, he said coldly." That particular ultimatum was hardly unwelcome.

"Why had you not contacted us earlier? We could have had more time to prepare, we did not even know whether or not you were hostile!" The sergeant yelled stubbornly.

The Eldar knew that the damned humans would initially reject their help, even in the most dire of hours. His manner softened slightly. "We received word from our Craftworld, we responded," The Eldar replied matter-of-factly. "Make the right decision," he said pointing out his troops anxiously awaiting his orders. The Eldar knew that had the Space Marine ordered them to attack he would be dead in less than seconds. But all fear had been banished after donning his aspect warrior mask. Besides, fear did not leave a good impression on prospective allies.

"Well then, a chance of living through this is rather appealing, very well we fight together!" He choked down a gag, fighting WITH Eldar? What will his commander say after this is over? He did not want to know.

"Agreed, then we shall do what we came here to do!" With that, him and 6 other jet-bikes soared over the Tyranid ranks loosing deadly shurikans into the enemy, slicing them to pieces. They dodged and weaved, narrowly avoiding razor sharp claws. Cries of joy could be heard as suddenly the former grim feeling transformed into hope. The assault squads rocketed off the towers to join the Eldar in glorious battle. Eldar Wave Serpents swooped down carrying dozens of Aspect Warriors as the Rhinos' hatches slammed shut and sped along side, bearing squads of Space Marines. Fabius' Vet Squad in the rhino led the charge. He slammed against the wall as the rhino turned sharply and skidded sideways. The door opened and he jumped out directly into a dead sprint, the momentum carrying him. A scream tore from his throat, joining a chorus of his fellow marines. They laid down a withering hail of fire that singed the air, annihilating anything in front of them, they had succeeded in destroying the remains of the Hormogaunt brood the mortars had been mauling.

Fabius saw the lithe figures of the Howling Banshees leaping out of the transports and diving through the air a short distance away, moving among Termagants as if dancing, the only difference was that each female warrior was cutting a swathe through the enemy line, and doing so with such unnatural grace that it made his hair stand on end. The direct opposite of grace were the Space Marines. With a blood curdling battle cry, his squad separated and charged into a group of Termagants. He had already swung his bolter away in favor of his plasma pistol and chainsword. Disregarding all finesse, they violently hacked and chopped his way through the ranks with insane strength, leaving a trail of grossly maimed bodies strewn about in his wake. Exoskeletons and bones crunched and shattered, entrails erupted, and heads were crushed as the Space Marines destroyed the aliens. He was glad for his helmet's auto-senses as they protected him somewhat from the intense sonic attack the Banshees' masks produced, otherwise he would no doubt be stunned just as the Tyranids were becoming. The Banshees made
their way towards his squad, pincering a large brood of termagants.

One Banshee dove high into the air, turning a perfect somersault, cleaving a Tyranid head from its shoulders, kicking the body into the other creatures in one movement. It was dead before it could even realize something up top was missing. Upon hitting the ground she spun like a top, blades out, cutting down several more creatures, her long hair whipping around. She nodded at him and surprisingly, gave him a wink, he flushed despite himself. The rest of his squad was a machine, mulching enemies, grinding them up, pulping them. Each had sliced through twice times their number. As the line wavered, he began blasting away with his plasma pistol. The smell of charred flesh permeated the area. He saw 3 termagants rush the lone banshee. She looked over her shoulder, eyes widening. It looked as if the marine was intending to shoot her, but understanding his intentions, she dove forward into a headlong roll towards the clear spot in front of him, just avoiding a clawed hand. Plasma shells struck the termagants, frying flesh and melting armored skin. The creatures fell back shrieking. The Eldar woman came out of the somersault, slamming into him, bowling him over, covering him with her small body. Once again they regarded at each other this time, at a much closer distance. At some point she must have lost her helmet but the thought was blasted from his mind as he saw a set of beautiful almond shaped eyes, flawless skin and full red lips. He knew if he was not fighting at the moment he might have considered taken advantage of the situation. But despite her human appearance she was an alien and could never be trusted, or so he was taught. He tried to chide himself for such thoughts. She saw a war-weathered human, hardened but still full of passion, even if it might be for death, but as long as passion still existed within, it could be brought about into something beautiful. Another ideal of the Eldar. As Eldar were not taught to hate all species but their own, they seemed to be exceedingly charming towards humans. It came naturally to the whole of the race. She winked at him again, smiling in amusement as she watched the battle being fought in his eyes.

She grasped his hand tightly and threw herself into the air. He climbed back onto his feet, once again ready for battle. Despite his teachings, he felt stirred by this strange alien. He watched her perform a dance of death, slaying creatures left and right oblivious to anything but dealing cold steel to the surrounding creatures. Not to be outdone, he charged the field once more.

"Die, you bastards! RAAAGHHH!" He fired bolt after searing bolt of hot plasma into the enemy, a frighteningly animalistic expression on his face. As they creatures began to lose morale, the marines dug in firing from the hip, unleashing a wave of crippling death. They began opening a large hole in the surrounding brood. Fabius looked down at his gun, a warning light started flashing. He felt a terrible heat emanating from the pistol. It began to glow red as super-heated steam spewed
from the pressure vents. "Oh Shit!” he cried suddenly.

"Wha?!" The Eldar woman turned and saw him hurl the pistol with all his strength into the largest concentration of enemy he could find.

It looked as if the sun had come down to rest on the planet as the plasma gun detonated, engulfing them in unbearable heat. Several Banshees shrieked as their long, luxurious hair caught fire. Quickly putting the fires out, they rose to her feet shoot him scalding glances despite his quick thinking. A smoking crater was all that was left of the plasma explosion, that and a pile of burned out husks that might have once been Tyranids. Fabius rushed towards the Banshee he had "connected" with, his squad following closely behind him. He saw a large host of genestealers move to intercept them, their huge jaws slavering, eyes wide with animalistic bloodlust. His squad took the full brunt of the attack. Arcturus’ bolt pistol kicked violently as the shell flew straight into the forehead of the lead Purestrain. Its feature’s contorted as the mass-reactive shell exploded within its brain, but before he could even begin to engage another enemy, he was choking on his own blood. A clawed hand punctured his armor, slicing deep within his chest. He fell, but before dying, he slammed a frag grenade into the 'stealer's toothed maw. It died with him, making quite a mess. The other marines were overrun in a river of teeth of claws, he couldn't even see their bodies, through the mass of writhing bodies. They would never receive the honored Marine Burial Rituals, the thought brought tears to his eyes, making dark streaks down his grimy face. A large explosion and a blast of intense heat, though partially muffled, washed over him as Garus' melta-bomb deonated, probably saving them as the explosion incinerated the nearest creatures. Grief swept through him as he watched the demise of his comrades. He slashed downward catching a 'stealer in the back, neatly shearing its spine, it spasmed violently then fell. The next creature’s head crunched and spewed gore as he jumped over the body, kicking violently in the air. Blood flew through the air, running off of his armor in rivulets, sullying the pristine blue in crusted red.

He landed beside the Eldar woman. Noticing that her fellows had suffered great losses as well. He saw that out of the many Banshees, only she had managed to survive this long. She looked to him as well, sadness in her eyes as she saw that he was also the only remaining marine in his squad. Valor always deserved respect despite the race, another common belief of the Eldar. Despite himself, he smiled, appreciating the sympathy. Perhaps the Imperium was wrong, maybe not all the Eldar could be trusted, but surely there were exceptions. He crushed a skull in his hand. His eyes flashed, speaking more clearly than any words could. It filled the Eldar with a lust for revenge. Their faces twisted into a look of unbridled fury as they turned, fighting back to back, avenging their fallen comrades. They would carve the names of the dead into their miserable hides. Despite their totally different fighting styles, they complemented each other brilliantly. Her lightning speed and grace, were mirroring his strength and ferocity. Alien bodies lay knee deep making it nearly impossible to continue fighting as they clambered over the carcasses. Nevertheless, The melee continued unchecked. Beads of sweat could be seen on Fabius' forehead, the Eldar woman only having a light sheen. The bugs seemed to have noticed how much damage the pair had been doing to them, Fabius watched as several dozen Tyranids changed direction, heading straight towards them. Termagants fired their deadly bio-weapons at them. As most Tyranids go, they are terrible shots. Most ricocheting off his power armor or flying wide missing him quite a margin. Yet one dug deeply into Fabius' side, opening a jagged cut. He clutched at it in agony as he fell to one knee. He plucked the dead borer beetle from the wound, its small mouth still reflexively gnawing away even in death. He parried the strike of a termagant weakly, a terrible coldness washing over his limbs, paralyzing him. The lone Banshee shrieked a war-cry leaping over him slashing wildly removing limbs and tossing bodies everywhere, tearing into the bugs with practiced ease. It seemed as if she had doubled her speed so fast she fought, as she danced in a circle around him, creating a protective bubble of vicious blades. Even though she had slaughtered a fantastic number of creatures, but they seemed to just keep coming. Another noise could be heard faintly over the hisses and screeches. An Eldar Wave Serpent. It raced towards them carving a bloody path through the horde as the shurikan cannons blazed a path straight through them. It pulled a 180 degree turn The hatchway opened, and a Dire Avenger hurriedly beckoned her in.

"Get in now! It’s your only chance!" The Aspect Warrior screamed at her, waving wildly, motioning her inside.

She knew it was true. She was fatigued, her breath came in labored gasps, and she would not be able to keep up the fight much longer. She started towards it, but she looked back towards Fabius seeing the pained look in his eyes consciousness fled. She was not willing to let the relationship, however brief, die like that. And she could not live with herself letting his final thoughts be that she abandoned him. Besides, she did not even know his name.

"We must take him!" She cried, the words rising over the din of battle.

"No, leave him, he's just a human!" The Avenger shouted back derisively.

An enraged look covered her face. She turned away lunging at Fabius. She grabbed him by his life-support pack, dragging him as quickly as she could towards the Wave Serpent Transport. He had gone limp, she wondered if she was too late. She reached the ramp moments later dragging him inside. The hatch slammed shut and the small craft lifted high in the air and sped away from danger with creatures in hot pursuit.

By Ryan Palmer