Predators

The Rhinos ground to a halt, stopping just within the boundaries of the ruined city. Ferrus opened the side hatch and proceed outside. The surrounding area was mostly manuactorums and grey buildings probably of the administratum, though at this point in time they were little more than ruined husks of their former selves, left to crumble into the sorry state they were now. Removing his helmet Ferrus took a long deep sniff of the air, he caught the scent once more, it was a familiar scent yet it was not a welcome one. Turning back to the rhino he gestured for Tor and Leif’s Long fang pack to exit the rhino also.

“How far are we from the signal’s sources?” Ferrus inquired turning to Leif who glanced at the scanning device in his hand.

“300 clicks. In that direction.” Pointing further into the city.
“Good.” Ferrus scanned the area briefly taking stock of their surroundings, twice they had gone into battle unprepared and come from the battle battered and bruised, this time however, he had been handed a great opportunity, to be the hunter and to stalk his prey the way he had been trained to ever since his time as a blood claw. Pointing to the tallest building in view Ferrus turned back to the Long Fangs. “You shall hold that vantage point, rain fire down upon our prey.” Leif nodded in acknowledgement and set out with his squad in tow. “Brother,” Ferrus turned to Tor “I want you to join them for this battle, your talents are best suited to aiding them.” Tor grinned.

“If that is your wish my lord, I shall bring the thunder down upon their heads, before they are aware they are being set upon.” Ferrus nodded and Tor followed the Long Fang pack. Ferrus then turned back to the rhinos, moving to the second rhino, one of the squads within disembarked, checking weapons and performing other pre battle rituals.
“Your squad is with me Skarvald. We shall hold the left flank and attempt to ascertain the origin of the signal and if possible obtain the source.” Skarvald nodded, he felt great honour at having been elevated to the leader of the pack, even though he felt unsure of his worth of the honour given how the previous battles had played out, however it was his lord’s wish that made it so and he was not going to argue. Ferrus then activated the comm link in his helmet, ordering the two squads in the rhinos to move to their allocated positions and then hold there. With that Ferrus gestured to the squad and started marching towards their position. So the long game now begins.

A few hours passed with little occurring a slight wind picked up picking up the grey astro granite dust and flinging it into the air, the sun light was dimming softly, yet it was still easy for the Long Fang pack to make out several dark silhouettes on the horizon, occasionally disappearing from view due to the buildings. The call went out and across the battle field the wolves readied themselves. The Long Fangs readied their weapons taking aim at the silhouettes, it was then that Leif saw them. A few hundred clicks beyond where the signal was eminating, stood a tall large structure, in far better shape than the others and on the upper floor Leif saw several glints of light as if there was something shining or light was reflecting off something. Calling across to the pack members wielding Heavy bolters he pointed towards the building, understanding Leif’s command they took up position and aimed, at the same time the Rocket Launcher wielding squad members took aim for the nearest silhouette, still no clear despite being markedly closer than before. Tor also prepared, channelling runic powers the likes of which Leif had rarely seen before, blue streaks ran up and down Tor’s Staff and through his hands. Leif took one last look towards the targets and gave the order.
At once there was a tremendous roar as the rockets flew towards the target, combined with the thunderous thuds of heavy bolter shells impacting upon the building and the almighty crash of lightning similarly falling upon the nearest silhouette. The first few lightning strikes hit home, but seemed to do little, it was only when a krak missile flew into the left side of the boxy looking vehicle that the vehicle burst into flames before shortly after exploding in fantastic fashion.

On the right flank the two rhinos gunned their engines, roaring forward in an attempt to flank the oncoming unknown foes, churning up smoke and dust as they went. Popping the vehicles smoke canisters for extra cover the vehicles raced forwards, sighting another boxy looking vehicle and a floating smaller vehicle. Popping the top hatches, both plasma and bolter shells impacted on the front of the craft, turning it into a small inferno charring whatever had been piloting the craft before they had even hit the ground. They then swerved to avoid the bright blast coming from their left causing the crew and the targeting computers to lose their bearings for a period. One grey hunter growled under his breath.

“We should be fighting them face to face not in a manner such as this.” An older hunter turned to him.

“Whelp, if you wish to go and tear into those things out there with nought but tooth and claw, feel free. Just know that there would be few songs sung in great halls of how your insides decorated the ground so well.” For a moment the youngster growled, but stomached it, switching his attention back to his combat blade.
“Soon then,” he growled “soon.”

Ferrus ducked down behind the ruined cathedral wall just before the shell impacted into the ground mere meters from him and the squad. He was grimly enjoying this, he’d not faced a battle the likes of this in years, the great siege of Agripina VII, where he had fought alongside the Imperial Fists and the White Scars tearing down a fortress held by the Iron Warrior traitor legion. The battle had been a glorious victory, though Ferrus still carried one important lesson from that day, the value of cover when outgunned. Peering over the wall he could see little for the cloud of dust and the smoke from the barrel. However he could clearly pick out engines and gunfire and further from ear shot explosions and the acrid smell of burning wrecks. He paused for a moment taking stock of his options, turning back to his squad he looked at them and his wolves at his side, fiercely meeting their master’s gaze.

“We have one option, when the opportunity arises, we shall leap over this wall and take whatever monstrosity the enemy have, then we shall take the building where the signal is. We may not all survive this, but there shall be a great many songs sung in the Asheim of what we do here today!” A roar rose up, joined by the wolves howling, under his helm Ferrus grinned. Battle shall be joined.

“Aye brother, it shall and we shall see how you are shaped by it.

Leif signalled and once more a volley of bolts, rockets and lightning went forth causing further blasts sending rubble and shards of metal flying. Glancing to the target building Leif noticed one of the enemy vehicles skidding around the front of the building, disgorging troops, cutting off the Wolves’ rhinos attempting the flanking manoeuvre. Leif, took a moment watching the vehicle before realising the vehicle in question was a rhino, like the very vehicles that the wolves’ were fielding, thus the enemy they were fighting could only be fellow Adeptus Astartes or the great enemy. Briefly looking for markings on the vehicle he could clearly make out a cog with a skull inside it, while it was different to an emblem Leif had seen several times in his years of fighting he could only come to one conclusion. Opening a comm channel to all the wolves Leif called out.

“ Visual contact with the enemy, I see Iron Warrior Symbols, the enemy is Chaos, repeat, the enemy is Chaos.”
The call rang out through everyone’s helmets, those who were wearing them had a shared feeling, one of slight dread and boiling fury. On the left flank one of the rhinos rushed forward in an attempt to disable an enemy rhino failing to do anything in the attempt. Inside the squad jumped out of the rhino from both side and rear hatches, firing at the nearest squad from the latest exploded rhino, the rhino’s storm bolter also fired in support, taking down several men with the volley. From the target building the enemy troops spilled forth firing as they went. Tor noticed it first, the signal was moving towards enemy lines.

“Ferrus, the signal is moving, I believe the source is in our enemies hands now.” Ferrus growled, growing into a full bodied howl, before flinging himself over the wall with wolves in tow, Skarvald quick on his heels, the last few men of the squad however, were slow to act and found themselves buried under the ruins as a shell hit home obliterating the building. Charging forward Ferrus brought his shield up in time to catch a powerful blast and what felt like plasma exploding in green ripples over it’s surface. Cursing under his breath Ferrus kept charging forward, noticing that his squad was thinning out rapidly as he went. It was then when he noticed them, to his right the rhinos lay smoking wrecks, the squads laying on the floor, some stirring others not, to his left his squad and wolves were in a similar state. In front of him lay a Vindicator, a Razorback and a squad with a man at it’s head wielding a glowing sword. A blast grazed Ferrus’ shoulder, green ripples passing over his armour, for a moment Ferrus felt pain emanating in that area, only to ignore it and then be buffeted by some unseen energies, screaming howling voices tearing into his thoughts.

“Weak, Traitorous dog, you are nothing to me and I shall have you fall in dishonour.”

The voices continued tearing at him, Ferrus felt his rage growing, unable to withhold it any longer he howled at the top of his lungs.

“I AM FERRUS STORMWOLF! HEAR MY NAME AND TREMBLE AS I SHALL BE YOUR VANQUISHER!”
His howl was met with a full volley, bolter fire, plasma, every weapon imaginable fired all at once on Ferrus. In stern defiance Ferrus brought up his shield and braced himself. What happened next felt like it lasted for an age as shot after shot impact on the shield, neither man nor metal giving an inch, till there was nothing but dust and blue energy rippling across the shield’s surface. Catching the gaze of the man with the sword Ferrus pointed his Forst axe at the figure. “The next time we meet remember this battle, and remember my words. I shall be your vanquisher!”