Antonius, Hero of Tenkath Hive

“Go, go, go!” shouted Antonius. At his command, sixth scout squad burst from the forest, bolters blazing. Their withering fire was directed towards the bunker held by the traitors. Up until five seconds ago, the bunker had been a brutal combat between the traitor Marines and Eldar forces. The Eldar had, finally, been slaughtered, but the Traitors now had only two men standing. A bolt of hideous red plasma scorched the ground at Antonius’ feet.

“Spread formation! Keep suppressing fire on that window!” Antonius ordered. That plasma pistol had to go, or his meager squad of five scouts would not have a chance across this open ground. Sure enough, Xian’s torso disappeared in another plasma blast. Antonius cursed loudly and redoubled his bolter fire into the building until his clip was dry.

“Knives!” Antonius shouted, and was answered by the rasp of each scout drawing their long steel blades. A Chaos Marine popped up to fire his bolter and Antonius dove through the narrow window of the bunker and clothesline tackled the traitor to the ground. The traitor instinctively rolled and kicked upward, sending Antonius flying. Antonius landed hard on his back. He opened his eyes to see the muzzle of a bolter in his face. He winced as he heard the bark of a bolter, and felt warm blood spray all over him. The Chaos Marine above him howled in pain as his arm and part of his torso were disintegrated by a bolter blast. Antonius flexed his back and jumped to his feet. The last traitor, cornered by Joel and Nbutu, swung his glowing red power sword wildly to keep the two scouts at bay. Jolath rushed in to try and close the gap forming between Joel and Nbutu, and keep the traitor pinned. He was neatly sliced in half for his efforts. Antonius screamed in wordless rage and hurled his combat knife. It spun end over end and clanked into the traitor’s wrist, forcing him to drop his power sword. Nbutu took advantage of this and quickly sunk his combat knife under the Traitor’s breastplate. Joel finished the traitor by slashing his neck.

“Are you OK sir? Joel asked.

“I’m fine. Find that beacon and shut it down.” Antonius said as he surveyed the battlefield from the relative safety of the bunker. It was a charnel house. Chaos, Orks, Eldar, and Azure Flames Space Marines littered the grounds surrounding the bunker in all directions. Antonius tried to understand how so much killing had taken only a few short minutes. Orks had made the first move, and were soundly cut down by fire from three sides. Eldar and Chaos had then taken out the forward emplacements of the Azure Flames, leaving only Antonius’ Scout Squad hidden in the trees. The only three warriors on the battlefield left standing were Antonius, and his two squadmates.

“Antonius to Vigilance, emergency Thunderhawk extraction at my coordinates. Send Apothecaries.”

“Confirmed. Medivac flight enroute. How bad is it, brother?”

“Not good. ETA on medivac?”

“Fifteen minutes. Sit tight.”

Antonius turned and addressed the remaining Scouts “Evac in fifteen. Secure the area. What the hell did we come here for?”

“This.” Nbutu said, holding up a sheaf of parchment. Antonius perused it, and his breath caught. It contained security details and shield harmonics and schematics for the planet’s main hive.

“Throne of Terra! Antonius to Vigilance! Priority one warning! Security at Tenkath Hive has been compromised! Advise them to rotate shield frequencies randomly and double their security details at the main shield generators. They have been infiltrated!”