Alone (standard:science fiction, 3916 words)
Author: Steve	Added: Jul 03 2008	Views/Reads: 3150/2179	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
my first try at wrighting a quick 40k story

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

After the briefing Nathan sat at the table pouring over all the maps and
charts. Everything had to be studied down to the last detail. Enemy 
strength, movement, weather, terrain Nathan knew that knowing the 
battlefield was the first step in wining, or at least surviving. He 
knew Doim was right. It was all out of place. The Governor had nothing 
to gain. The local PDF rolled over in seven day leaving only small 
pockets of residents and a few fortress cities left for the regiment to 
clean out. And now this mining settlement. What did he have down there? 
What was waiting for us? Clearing his thoughts Nathan headed out side. 
He knew he had to brief his men before he could get some sleep.  He 
found Vergas, the squads demo expert with a passion for blowing thing 
up. At 58 years old with short gray hair sleepy blue eyes and a gray 
mustache Vergas was by far the oldest trooper in the 12th. Vergas could 
have had is own squad at his age but his quest to find things to blow 
up kept him from being anything other than the squads demo expert. 
Nathan held on to Vergas because of his years of experience and the 
fact that he could still out perform troopers 20 years younger meant 
that Vergas was more often than not worth the trouble. Vergas was 
prepping the squads’ chimera when Nathan walked up.  Inside were Ormand 
and Binsea the squad’s sniper team. They were brother and sister, twins 
that never seemed to be separated from one another. Binsea with her 
long red hair, glowing green eyes, and small frame looked out of place 
in a war zone. Nathan still found it hard to believe that she could out 
shoot every other sniper in the 12th . Ormand had the look of a solder. 
With short red hair, dark green eyes, and a strong build. Not only was 
he the squads spotter he cared the vox caster and was the best vox 
operator in the 12th. Happy he had found his squad all in one place 
Nathan went about briefing his squad. Afterword Vergas, Ormand, and 
Binsea finished prepping the chimera and headed to the bombed out 
warehouse they had decided to set up camp in. Nathan preferred the ramp 
of the chimera and the open skies.  He only hoped that the morning 
didn’t come as early as it usually came. 

Chapter II 

First Sun 

Two minutes. Squad Lost sat in the back of their chimera waiting for the
word from the driver that they had reached their drop off point. One 
minute the driver yelled back. The worst part of going in on a mission 
like this one was the wait. 30 seconds. Nathan felt uncomforted 
strapped in to the back of APC. It felt more like an armored coffin 
than a troop transport. 5 seconds ...2...GO. The troop ramp swung down 
with a hiss of hydraulics and before it the ground the squad was out 
and covering there sectors of fire. Satisfied that the area was clear 
Nathan gave the word for the chimera to pull out. From now on they were 
on their own. He lived for times like this. Out on your own, living off 
the land, and choosing your own battles. Nathan hated command for their 
lack of respect for their troopers. It seemed that to them every battle 
could be won just by throwing troopers in to fire of the enemy until 
they were completely ground down, no madder the cost. That kind of 
thinking wasn’t for Nathan. He loved his troopers and would not 
sacrifice them for any reason. Out here if things got too bad you could 
just break contact and pull out. With a four man squad it wasn’t too 
hard to lose the enemy or lure them in to a kill box. Snapping has 
thoughts back to the mission at hand Nathan formed his squad up in a 
wedge formation and headed out in the direction of the objective. Only 
a day and a half to get to the settlement. Nathan could fell the 
excitement growing and new soon enough the excitement would turn in to 
shear tear. Nathan knew he wasn’t the bravest man but he was good at 
what he did and had the best troopers in the 12th to back him up. 

Nathan could hardly make out the mining settlement through the down
poor. The rain was falling hard and the sound of it hitting the ground 
and the metal ruffs of the settlement made it easy for Nathan to get up 
close without being detected.  The settlement was made up of four small 
one story buildings set in a square with a road leading from the mine 
shaft bisecting them in the middle. The mine shaft looked more like a 
small cave set in to the mountain behind the settlement. The fence 
around the settlement was electrified and danced with sparks and small 
blue lighting bolts where the rain hit. Nathan found it hard to pull 
his eyes away from the fence, the arcs of blue lighting another 
contrast of beauty on the battlefield.  The sound of Vargas checking is 
rifle brought Nathan back and he quickly formed his battle plan. Five 
minutes before Ormand spotted a flash on the horizon, the Dead had hit 
the camp and now it was time for the Lost to move in. Nathan spotted 
four guards at the front gate and the glow of light from three of the 
buildings. Nathan checked the suppresser on his rifle and saw Vergas 
doing the same thing. Nathan always let his squad carry their own 
weapons. The suppressers on their rifles add in covert missions where 
it was too risky to be heard. Besides las weapons point both ways.  
Nathan could see the guards and could tell that they were laxest and 
uncomfortable in the rain. He didn’t feel any pity for the guards. 
Being laxest in war is what got you killed. Nathan gave Vargas a pat on 
the back and they both broke cover and started running for the front 
gate. Nathan knew he didn’t have to worry about the guards, they would 
all be dead by the time he and Vargas got to the front gate. Binsea and 
Ormand had set up a sniper OP and even in this rain Binsea was more 
deadly then most snipers on a clear day. Nathan saw the guard standing 
behind the rest jerk his head to one side and fall. Two more fell 
before the last guard realizing what was happing tried to make a run 
for cover. The last guard trip over one of the bodies falling hard on 
his face. Vargas was on top of him before he could get up and put a 
round though the back of his head. Nathan still running headed to the 
building nearest to the gate. He posted on the door waiting only a 
second for Vargas to catch up. Vargas slammed his boot into the door 
smashing the frame and throwing to door wide open. Nathan was in the 
door, two PDF officers sat around a small table playing a game of 
cards. Nathan had a split second to take in the look of terror and 
panic in their faces before he shot both of them. Vargas was right 
behind him and dropped two more PDF solders. Moving back to the door 
Nathan spotted Binsea and Ormand running to one of the other buildings. 
The sound of the rain had covered their movements and the squad cleared 
the rest of the buildings in good order. 

Nathan almost didn’t hear Binsea calling him, her soft voice nearly
drowned out by the rain. He moved to the last building where Binsea and 
Ormand were. Entering through the door Nathan saw three PDF solders 
dead on the ground. The same look of shock and panic frozen on the 
faces. Vargas was sitting behind a desk that looked like it once was 
own by an officer rolling a smoke and looking like he was waiting for 
his flight home. ‘You should take a look at this.’ Ormand was standing 
in the corner of the room performing an examination on what looked like 
a metal skeleton. ‘What do you think it is?’ asked Nathan wearily 
walking over to Ormand to get a better look. ‘I don’t know. I’ve never 
seen anything like this before.’ The metal skeleton made Nathan fell 
uneasy. With its hollow eyes, the strange green writing on it chest, 
and a dark smile, Nathan almost felt the skeleton mocking him. ‘Let’s 
get going. Well let HQ have a look at it when were finished here.’ 
Nathan could feel the skeletons hollow eyes follow him as he walked out 
of the building. The feel of the rain helped Nathan take his mind off 
the skeleton and back to the mission. There was only two way’s in to 
the mine shaft, the one he was standing in front of and the one squad 
Night was sent to secure. Not finding the governor in the camp Nathan 
knew he had to be somewhere down the mine shaft. He should have felt 
good, Governor Plato was trapped and this war would soon be over. Still 
he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. He 
could see it in the eyes of the rest of his squad too. Even Vargas who 
let nothing get to him was shifting around nervously. ‘Lest get this 
over with. Binsea you got point, Ormand you take the left and Vargas 
you got rear.’ 

Chapter III 

Unexpected surprises 

The mine shaft was cold and dark with the smell of still air. Glow lamps
marked the sides of the mine shaft casting ghostly shadows as the squad 
moved through the snaking tunnel. More than once the squad would jump 
at the sound of a water drop or the flickering of one of the glow 
lamps. The tunnel seemed to reradiate with the same wrongness that they 
felt from the skeleton. Nathan was relieved when Binsea signaled for 
the hold. He moved up next to Binsea and could see that they were 
nearing a large cavern.  He could hear the voice of PDF solders, 
getting ready to move farther down the mine. Relieved that they had not 
been detected and then suddenly afraid he couldn’t shake the nagging 
thought that maybe they had been detected and wore walking in to a 
trap. The cavern was a large dome mostly hidden in darkness, with a few 
glow lamps scattered around the ground. Nathan could feel the 
oppressiveness of the darkness washing over him and he knew that 
whatever was down here they were getting close. He waited for the PDF 
troops to move out before leading his squad in to the cavern. To the 
left of the passage way they just emerged from was another passage way 
that Nathan knew that lead to the mine shaft the squad Night would be 
using to get to the governor. To the right was a perfectly cut passage 
way and despite the warnings in his head Nathan knew that was the path 
that they were going to have to take. 

‘Kind of wished you stayed in bed hun serge.’ Vergas always had a talent
for understatement. ‘That’s every day for you Vergas.’ The walls in the 
passage way they just entered were slick black and smooth. There were 
no markings or cracks and the walls seemed to pull the light out of the 
passage way. ‘Well when your old like me...’ a loud scream and the echo 
of gun fire cut Vergas off. Squad Night must have been waiting up a 
head. Quickly Nathan and the rest of the squad bounded up the hall way. 
As quick as the screaming and gun shots had accrued they stopped. 
Moving up Nathan was looking forward to meeting up with Doim and 
getting out of here. Suddenly Binsea stopped ‘the walls moving.’ Nathan 
moved up closer to the wall seeing a dark liquid slowing creeping down 
the wall. ‘It’s Blood.’ Gasped Binsea suddenly realizing what she was 
seeing. ‘Where are the bodies’ ask Ormand his eyes shifting back and 
forth looking for some explanation of what happed. ‘We should go back. 
We don’t know what were facing. Look whatever’s down here doesn’t seem 
to like visitors. So let’s just leave and let whatever’s down here 
finish the job for us.’ It was hard not to listen to Ormand. Whatever’s 
going on down here is deftly over are heads. Nathan almost gave in, but 
he knew a lot of troopers had died in this war and it was up to him to 
make Plato pay in blood. 

Governor Plato stood in the great chamber the miners had discovered two
years ago. A black pyramid stood in the middle of the chamber with a 
path leading from it to the entrance. The path was flanked on both 
sides by razed plat forms with golden skeletons atop of them holding 
deadly looking long tube like weapons. The governor’s men had study the 
pyramid and had found no markings or cracks of any kind. The pyramid 
looked like it had been carved out of a single piece of rock perfectly 
cut in all it demotions. The light of the glow lamps seamed to flow in 
to the pyramid leaving ghostly shadows cast by the silent skeleton 
guardians that stood upon their pedestals. Forever guarding, waiting 
for the day that their master would call upon them. Looking at the 
round silver object in his hand Plato knew that day had come. The 
silver metal flowed like water around the object and Plato could hear 
the whispered promises of power in the back of his head. Soon all the 
sacrifice worth it. Why be a governor of some back water planet when 
you could be a god? The Imperial fools who had come to Sin would soon 
know true power. Plato smiled as he looked down on the broken bodies 
laying before him their life blood flowing in a puddle under his feet 
and thought back to the failed ambush in the passage way. Somehow a few 
Imperial lakes had manage to gain entry to the mine but the dark god 
that would soon grant him immortality had sent his wraiths to kill the 
fools who stood before him and godhood. He had relished their scream 
and felt in immense power grow in side him as he felt the life torn 
from the weak. Soon he would unleash this terrible power and the 
universe would be his play thing. Plato stepping over the bodies 
strolled to the front of the pyramid taking his time to enjoy his 
moment of victory. The surface of the pyramid started to flow in 
ripples as if someone had thrown a rock in to a pond. In the center 
emerged a hollow round opening. Plato razed the object to the opening; 
the metal ran like mercury from his hands and merged with the pyramid. 

Nathan neared the entry of the chamber keeping to the shadows so not to
be spotted. He could see the governor and a hand full PDF solder. There 
was also the same metal skeletons’ standing on raised platforms ruing 
the length of the path that lead to the black pyramid. Behind the 
governor lay four bodies Nathan knew had to be squad Night. He could 
fill his rage building and his heart pound with hate. Anger and the 
lust to kill start to over take him. A voice in the back of his head 
started to fuel his hate telling him to kill those who had murdered his 
friends. Lost in a blood rage Nathan broke cover, charging the PDF like 
a wild man. The first one died with a scream more of surprise then of 
pain. Two more tried to raise their weapons but it was too late. Nathan 
knocked the weapon out of the first solders hands and pulled him by the 
shirt in to the fire of one of the solders. Dropping the dead solder 
Nathan trend to find his next victim, the rage comply over taking him 
but before he could get his hands on anyone he felt the hard but stock 
of one of the PDF solders slam in to the back of his neck. Falling hard 
on his face Nathan realized that he had broken cover without his squad 
and strait in to the middle of the enemy. He felt the cold of a mussel 
on the back of his head and knew it would soon all be over. 

Plato looked back to see what had just happened. On the ground lay two
of his solders one bleeding out from a hole in his chest and another 
with knife lodged in his back, but what interested him the most was the 
man that his solders had pinned on the ground. Had this man just 
charged in here expecting to stop me?  ‘Let him live. Let him bare 
witness to this new age.’  Nothing could stop him now not this man, not 
the dyeing Imperium of Man, nothing. Reaching out his arm’s he shouted 
to the dark god. ‘Make me immortal, make me a god!’ the chamber filed 
with his words. At once the eyes on the guardian skeletons shown with a 
dark green and in unison they dropped from there platforms with the 
crash of metal on rock. Plato could hear the dark god in the back of 
his head the reassuring promises of immortality and the power from 
those words started slipping away replaced with laughter. In one treble 
moment Plato realized that this dark god was only using him. Why would 
a god need him?’I freed you, you must make me immortal!’Plato’s words 
lost in the laughter as he saw everything he was promised tern to a 
lie, all his dreams crushed. With that Governor Plato fell to his knees 
and wept. 

Epilogue 

The End of all Things 

Nathan steadied himself now was the time. Killing Plato know wouldn’t
madder know but Nathan had a score to settle. He could see Doim lying 
there with the rest of his squad murder by a mad man that just unleash 
a power that the Imperium might not be able to stop. How many more 
would die for the mad ambitions of one man? The shadow of one of the 
guardian skeletons fell over him and he could feel its dark green eyes 
burring into him. Knowing that all of this would no longer madder to 
him in a few secants Nathan took aim and pulled the trigger. The last 
thing he saw before he died was his round going straight thought 
Plato’s head. The joy of life is to die knowing your task is complete. 


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