He followed his warriors as the passageway sloped downwards, the soggy texture of the ground squelching as he ran. He heard gunfire and saw a glow from up ahead as the passage widened into a vein-ridged chamber with a pulsing, mushroom shaped organism at its centre.
A score of dead creatures littered the ground before the thing. 'What is that?' asked Henghast.
'Does it matter? They were guarding it so it must be important to them.' said Jagatun, slashing his tulwar through its stem. Plumes of spores erupted from the organisms severed stalk and enveloped Jagatun like a cloud of buzzing insects. He batted them away before doubling up as the surface of his armour began corroding before Uriel's eyes.
He heard the White Scar's screams over the vox as the spores devoured him from within, his filters and rebreathers no defence against such a deadly attack. The Deathwatch backed away from the clouds of corrosive spores, unable to help their stricken battle-brother. Pasanius fired his flamer, consuming them in a cleansing burst of promethium.
Chittering screeches from the sucking passageway they had just come from echoed towards them.
'This way.' said Uriel plunging into a ridged opening in the far wall, emerging into a long, curving passage, knee-deep in sloshing fluids. Fronds of cilia dangled from the roof and walls of the passage, waving as though in a gentle breeze. The sludgy liquid flowed away to the right and Uriel waited for Brother Damias to join them.
As the Deathwatch assembled, Damias led them to the left, splashing through the foetid ordure against the flow. Wormlike organisms swam through the sludge, latching onto their armour and attempting to feed.
The Space Marines plucked them from their armour in disgust. They were annoying but hardly dangerous. Uriel pushed onwards through the circular tunnel, the fronds above him brushing against his helmet.
He halted as he heard a strange sound over the constant ramble of the hive ship. It sounded like distant thunder, like standing at the end of the Valley of Laponis on Macragge and listening to the noise of the far-off Hera's Falls.
As he realised what it was he shouted, 'Hold on to something!'
He punched his fist through the tough walls of the veined passage and gripped a handful of the hive ship's substance as hundreds of tonnes of organic waste thundered along the passageway towards them.
Snowdog hustled the wounded men up the stairs to the upper levels of the medicae building, wondering how long they had before the tyranids got here. The damned alarm bells were still ringing and he smashed the butt of his gun against one until it shut up. Jonny was on the landing above him and Lex was busy wiring the main door of the building with the mother of all explosive devices. Tigerlily was keeping an eye on Silver who was now stable, but still unconscious. He had
no idea where Trask was, but didn't much care one way or another. He still carried the backpack filled with valuables taken from the crashed starship, so it wasn't as though Trask was off stealing that.
He pushed his way down to the vestibule, seeing the skinny shape of Lex still working at the door.
'Lex, whatever you're doing, do it quicker, man.' he said.
'Hey, I'm going as fast as I can. You know, if you helped, I could get done quicker.'
'No way, man. Me and explosives? Forget about it.'
'Well thanks for offering anyway.' sneered Lex.
'No problem. Everyone off this floor?'
'Yeah, I think so. Everyone except that crazy sister.'
Snowdog pushed his way into the main ward area. The place was deserted except for Sister Joaniel, who stood behind the central nursing station with a plain wooden box before her.
Snowdog jogged towards the nursing station and slung his lasgun. 'Hey, sister, we don't have time to hang around here. Time we was gone.'
'Is everyone safe?' asked Joaniel, tears streaking her face.
'Yeah, more or less. They're all on their way upstairs if that's what you mean.'
'Good.' nodded Joaniel. 'I couldn't save them before.'
'What? Save who?'
'All of them. On Remian. They called me the Angel of Remian because I put them back together after the war had broken them, but in the end I couldn't save them. They all died.'
Joaniel held up the wooden box and said, 'They gave me this for all the good work I'd done. It's a medicus ministorum... I don't deserve it.'
'Okay.' said Snowdog in puzzlement, 'as fun as it is to trip down memory lane, Sister Joaniel, I think we need to get going.'
As if to underscore his words, a thudding boom impacted on the thick wooden doors of the medicae building. Even through the thick walls, Snowdog could hear the scrape of hordes of aliens swarming around the building.
Lex stuck his head in the door to the wards and shouted, 'Come on, let's get the hell out of this place.'
Snowdog turned to Joaniel. 'You heard the man, now come on.'
She gathered up the wooden box, but didn't move. Cursing himself for a fool, Snowdog grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along the ward.
'Why the hell do I let myself get into these situations?' he wondered aloud.
Together they emerged into the vestibule, the doors already splintering under repeated blows from something massive. They skidded across me stone flags of the floor, sprinting for the armoured door that led to the stairs. Jonny Stomp stood at the bottom, his massive hunting rifle slung over his shoulder.
'Come on!' he yelled.
With a crash of shattered timbers, the main doors were ripped from their frame and scores of snarling creatures poured in around a massive battering ram of a monster. Its claws were massive, sheathed in splintered wood and its jaws screeched with burning fires.
It took a thunderous step into the medicae building, the stone cracking under its weight, just as Lex's bomb went off.
Snowdog gathered Joaniel in his arms and threw himself flat as the detonation slammed mem both into the wall. Fire and dust and stone filled the air as the blast took out the aliens as well as the columns supporting the roof and walls of the entrance. The giant beast staggered, but didn't fall, its armoured hide painted with the gory rain of its smaller kin. It reeled at the edge of a crater gouged in the ground, blocks of stone tumbling from the walls around it.
Snowdog rolled onto his stomach, his body one giant mass of pain. Strangely, his back felt fine, but then he remembered his backpack of valuables and figured it must have protected him from the worst of the blast. He tried to push himself to his feet and cried out in pain, feeling at least one rib broken.
Joaniel pushed herself up against the stone wall, still clutching her medicus ministorum. Snowdog groaned beside her as the gigantic monster recovered its wits enough to take another stamping step towards them.
Jonny Stomp stepped down into the vestibule, his enormous hunting rifle wedged tightly against his shoulder.
The massive beast was almost upon him, the fire building between its gnashing mandibles.
Jonny sighted along the barrel and pulled the trigger.
And the beast's head vanished in an explosion of blood and bone.
Jonny was hurled through the stair door by the recoil and landed in a sprawling heap. He whooped with glee, thumbing another shell into the breech.
The monster crashed backwards into the crater blown by Lex's bomb as Joaniel pulled Snowdog to his feet. He cried out in pain as she pushed him into Jonny's arms.
'Go on!' she shouted. 'Get him out of here!'
'What you gonna do?' said Jonny.
'I'm right behind you.' said Joaniel, crouching by the medicus ministorum and flipping open its lid.
Jonny saw hundreds more of the smaller beasts gathering outside. 'Whatever you say.' he shrugged and half-carried, half-dragged Snowdog after him.
Joaniel lifted a gleaming bolter from within the box and slid home a magazine of shells.
She glanced upstairs, seeing Jonny and Snowdog rounding the first landing.
And closed the door, hearing the heavy- clang of the lock as it slammed home.
Hissing monsters cautiously stalked into the medicae building, wary of more traps.
Joaniel cocked her bolter and smiled to herself. She hadn't been able to save those on Remian, but here and now she was going to do everything that was expected of a Sister Hospitaller of the Order of the Eternal Candle.
'Come on!' she screamed. 'Are you going to make me wait all day?'
She smiled beatifically as she opened fire, blasting the nearest creatures apart in controlled bursts. She fired and fired, killing dozens until finally the hammer slammed down on an empty chamber.
She dropped the weapon and spread her arms wide as the beasts leapt forward.
The Angel of Remian died with the last of her guilt washed away in blood.
Learchus ran through the rains of District Quintus, the last remnants of the defenders of Erebus falling back in disarray
alongside him. Swooping creatures dived from above, tearing at the routing soldiers and even the formidable strength of the Space Marines was sorely tested.
The Ultramarines and the Mortifactors fought side-by-side, buying time for the Krieg, Logres and Defence Legion troops to rally at the next wall. Learchus could see it was hopeless, but he had the soul of a warrior and fought on. The tyranids had closed every avenue of escape, as though they knew every possible route through the city or they could anticipate every move the Space Marines made.
He fired a bolter he had taken from a dead Marine, bringing down a host of winged monsters carrying off a Krieg soldier and hacked down a pair of hissing beasts that were devouring the corpse of a fallen Ultramarine.
He reached down and grabbed the armour of his dead coMisterade and began dragging him backwards. Chaplain Astador stumbled alongside him and lent his strength to the task, smashing an alien's skull with his crozius arcanum as he did so. The warriors of the Fourth company and the Mortifactors gathered around their leaders, forming a defensive perimeter around them. Learchus saw how pitifully few they were now.
Less than forty Space Marines still fought.
But fewer than this number had won against impossible odds before and Learchus knew that while there was still blood pumping round his body, he would never surrender.
Together the Space Marines dragged the corpse back towards a wide plaza from where a great many aircraft had launched earlier. It crossed his mind to wonder how close Captain Ventris had come to succeeding, but supposed it didn't matter much now.
'Wait.'said Astador.
'What?' snapped Learchus. 'We have to keep moving.'
'No.' said Astador, pointing to the base of the next wall. 'It is already too late.'
Learchus saw hundreds of tyranid beasts sweeping around their flanks, cutting off their escape. Giant creatures, three times the height of a Space Marine, and hordes of warrior beasts filled the area between them and the next wall.
Astador was right. It was too late for escape.
PHASE V - CONSUMPTION
SIXTEEN
Thousands of litres of stinking bio-fluids roared past the Space Marines with the force of a tidal wave, pummelling their armour and ripping them from the walls of the pipe. Uriel felt alien flesh tear under his gauntlet and cursed as he was swept along.
He spun crazily in the flow, slamming into the sides of the tunnel and his battle-brothers, losing his orientation as he tumbled along with the waste matter. All he could see was murky fluids and occasional glimpses of the tunnel walls. He tried to grip the sides of the tunnel, but the waving cilia had withdrawn into the meat of the walls.
Uriel flipped upright for a second, seeing an outthrast gauntlet. He grabbed onto it, an iron grip clamping around his wrist and halting his headlong tumble. Thundering fluids threatened to rip him from his saviour's grip, but he found his footing in a fold of flesh and hauled himself upright.
His head broke the surface and he saw the Deathwatch clustered on a bony ledge above the raging torrent of filth. Pasanius hauled him from the tunnel and he collapsed wearily onto the reassuringly firm surface.
'Thank you, my friend.' he gasped.
Pasanius nodded, too exhausted to reply. Uriel pushed himself to his knees, taking a closer look at their surroundings. They lay in an oval chamber that obviously fed into the fluid-filled tunnel. Damias, Henghast and Pelantar crouched beside a mesh of sinew that blocked their passage from this chamber and Uriel speculated that they were perhaps in some form of filter chamber. Noxious gusts of gas soughed from beyond the mesh of fibres and the ramble of multiple hearts was even stronger.
'How close are we, Brother Damias?' asked Uriel.
'I do not know, brother-captain.' replied Damias, his voice full of reproach. 'I was careless enough to lose my grip on the auspex as I was swept along. I shall perform whatever penance you deem suitable upon our completion of the mission.'
Uriel cursed quietly, but contented himself with the thought that so long as they headed in the direction of the hive ship's heartbeats, they couldn't go far wrong. It had been a long-held belief of Kryptman's that the reproductive chambers of the Norn Queen, the brood mother of the hive, would be close to the hearts, where the nutrients and vital fluid flow was purest.
'Do not worry, brother. The Emperor shall guide us.' said Uriel, drawing his power sword and hacking through the fibrous mesh that blocked the chamber's exit. Once he had managed to relight his flamer, Pasanius took point again, leading them along the glistening passageway. Mucus-like saliva dripped from the walls and more of the slithering, worm-like beasts burrowed in and out of the walls and floors.
'By the Emperor, this is worse than Pavonis, and I thought that was bad.' said Pasanius.
Uriel nodded in agreement. The darkness beneath the world had been terrible, but this grotesque mockery of the gift of life was almost too much to countenance. The blasphemy of the tyranids was beyond measure and he could not fathom how a race that gave nothing back to the universe, that lived only to consume, could be allowed to come into existence.
'What is Pavonis?' asked Henghast.
'A world on the eastern fringe, but that is a tale for another day.' said Uriel.
'I shall hold you to that promise, brother-captain. I will need a saga of your bravery to take back with me to the Fang.'
Uriel was struck by the undiminished optimism of the Deathwatch. Despite their losses and the scale of the task before them, not one had uttered a single sentiment that suggested that they did not believe utterly that they would prevail.
He slapped a palm on Henghast's shoulder guard and said, 'When we return to Tarsis Ultra I shall share the victory wine with you and tell you all about Pavonis.'
'Wine! Pah, wine is for women. We will drain a barrel of Fenrisian mead and you will wake with a hangover like continents colliding.'
'I look forward to it.' said Uriel as Pasanius raised his hand.
Uriel joined his sergeant at the head of their column, listening as the boom of multiple hearts and other, less obvious organs rambled close by. A low-ceilinged chamber with a heaving sphincter muscle at its centre rasped with tendrils of ochre vapours gusting through it. Booming echoes rang from the fleshy walls.
'I believe we are close, brother-captain. The sounds converge on this place' said Pasanius.
'I think you're right, my friend, but where is it coming from?'
Brother Henghast entered the chamber and removed his helmet, coughing briefly before his enhanced resiratory system was able to adapt to the toxic atmosphere.
'What are you doing?' demanded Uriel. 'Put your helmet back on!'
Henghast cocked his head to one side and whispered, 'Auto-senses are all well and good, but my own are better.'
The Space Wolf sniffed the air, his features twitching as he filtered the smells and sounds of the hive ship with senses more sensitive than even Uriel's. The Ultramarine's senses had been enhanced by the Apothecaries of his Chapter, but were still no match for those of a Space Wolf.
'The heartbeats are strongest from this passage.' said Henghast, replacin
g his helmet and standing clear to allow Pasanius to proceed. Uriel said, 'Well done, Brother Henghast.'
As they proceeded along this new passage, wisps of smoke filled the air and the sound of monstrous hearts beating in
counterpoint grew louder and louder. The glow of Pasanius's flamer silhouetted his sergeant and cast a flickering blue glow around the dripping walls of the passage.
They followed the twisting passage for several kilometres until a sickly green glow replaced that of the flamer. The passageway angled downwards, gradually widening until Uriel could see and hear the booming organs whose noise they had been following.
Larger than super-heavy tanks, the pair of thudding hearts pulsed with massive intra-muscular motion, pumping life-sustaining fluids around the hive ship. Uriel fought the urge to open fire. Kryptman had warned him that these organs would be protected by metres of tough, fibrous skin and that there were sure to be others that could take over.
Hissing organisms prowled the chamber beyond, but whether they were aware of them yet, he could not say.
Uriel and the Deathwatch crouched at the end of the smoky passageway, staring into the heart of the hive ship.
They had reached the reproductive chambers of the Norn Queen.
Snowdog grimaced in pain as Jonny hauled him upstairs, hearing the booming impacts against the door below. His head hurt and his ribs felt like he'd gone ten rounds with a Space Marine. He glanced down the stairs.
'Where's Sister Joaniel?' he gasped.
'Dunno.' said Jonny without breaking his stride. 'I guess she's dead.'