When war comes

by Drakstice

Back to Square One

Chapter 2 - Back to Square One

The rest one gets after a fierce battle is made all the more precious by its scarcity. But Thane was not resting from his recent ordeal, merely recovering from it. In his vulnerable state, his supreme strength, formidable weapons and unparalleled training would not serve him.

He could hear voices speaking, maybe calling to him at some point. He could swear his body was moving, but he was only distantly aware of it. His thoughts were focused on waking up, getting back in the fight, as was instinct for any Space Marine. His mind was bellowing orders to move, but his body simply refused to obey his commands.

There was hope, however, as a yellow smudge returned to his vision. Slowly, but surely, this smudge unblured and focused into a warning on his helmet's display.

ALERT: Morphine reserves depleted - seek medicae for resupply

He cleared the alert away with a blink and tried to move his head around. He was face-down in the dirt. Such an undignified position for one of humanity's greatest warriors. Also a great disrespect to the black Aquila emblazoned upon his chest.

One of the voices spoke, this time much more clearly. "Now don't tie it too tight, now, Applebloom. Might just make it worse fer 'im". The voice was ragged and shaky and somehow more exagerated than the voice of the small animal he encountered.

"Ya sure this'll work, Granny?", yet another voice asked. This one higher-pitched than the original, but still the same accent. There was a hint of concern as it spoke.

"Well, youngun", replied the ragged voice, "ah ain't never seen a critter like this in all mah days". Thane's auto senses were starting to return to him. He could hear two distinct voices in the immediate area.

"But," the ragged voice again said, this time sounding more perked up and cheerful, "if it works on ponies, dogs, griffons, and even bears, then darn tootin' it can work on anything under Princess Celestia's bright sun."

"Ah still don't think we should keep it in here, y'all." The original voice was here, too. Three beings surrounded him. Unsure of the enemy's numbers, their capabilities or even their intent, Thane chose to survey his surroundings silently.

It was at this point Thane was aware of a slight sting behind his left knee. In fact, the same location where his flesh wound was. What were they doing to him? Whatever plans these xenos had in mind for him, he was determined to not let it happen.

"Besides," the original voice continued, "we don't know what this thing is, where it come from or if it-"

With what strength he had, he braced his arms against the ground and pushed. The three voices jumped as though startled to his sudden movement. There was also an additional voice, one which had not spoken until now. A much deeper-pitched voice, a male of this species perhaps?

A moment later, Thane was on his feet, crouched and extending his legs to stand completely upright. Something was wrong, however. His left leg was not in pain as he expected. Still slightly crouched, he was just shy of reaching the hole through which he had entered. A quick glance down revealed a white wrapping around his knee.

What bizarre ritual were they performing? Thane thought to himself. Whatever it was, he would put a stop to it right now. Thane drew his hand-crafted combat knife from his thigh-mounted sheath. Its gleaming silver blade cut clean through the wrappings with only a flick of his wrist.

The flesh beneath the flexsteel joint appeared almost completely healed, like the mishandling of his weapon never even happened. He attributed the remarkable feat of healing to his superhuman physiology, but had no idea it could heal such grievous wounds.

Back upright, he spotted the source of the voices he heard before. Four quadrupeds, ranging in size, color and build. All were cowering in one corner opposite the structure's opening. Shaking, clutching each other and staring with fear at Thane, these creatures presented no threat. All except for one. Its heavy build and red color, reinforced by its aggressive stance and flared nostrils, almost made Thane attack this one on the spot.

He held his hand, however, because this creature was still relatively small. less than half his size, barely reaching his mid-thighs. He also had the opening to his rear, an escape route. Instead, he reversed the grip on his knife to underhand and decided to let it make the first move. If it decided to charge now, that would be its last move.

Deciding the battle was not worth his time, he made for the opening behind him. The structure was clearly built by and for these small creatures, so his hulking form had no chance of fitting through, unless he crawled low through it. If it was made by an alien, it makes way for me, Thane thought to himself, starting a light jog. The wooden wall stood no chance against the armored warrior, shattering and splintering as he charged through the wall.

A few paces past the end of the structure, he slowed to a stop to survey his surroundings and plan his next move. He was in the middle of what appeared to be an agri-world. Segregated fields of different types of crops were growing in contiguous patches of land. This wasn't a human world, however. The shapes of the fields were irregular, the land was not terraformed and there was a noticeable lack of heavy machinery harvesting the fields' bounties.

Since no immediate threats presented themselves, Thane thought to vox his location and regroup with his squad. "Brothers, this is Thane. Can you hear me?" he voxed, but he could only cast his message so far. Several seconds passed with no response. That flying beast must have taken him pretty far to be out of short vox range.

"Hey!", called a voice from behind him. He glanced to his left to investigate the source. It was the small orange animal he first encountered. "You got some nerve, smashin' up mah property!" It tried to sound aggressive and threatening, but its small stature and feminine voice made Thane conclude that it was no threat. Besides, he had more pressing problems.

Returning his focus to his vox-call, he diverted his armor's power plant to his vox-caster, he tried again, this time with more than ten times the range. "This is Thane, of the Blood Angels. If anyone can hear this, please respond," he said, this time a little more concerned and uneasy, unsure if his comrades had survived.

Thane had never been without support of his battle-brothers, chapter commanders, or even an attachment of Imperial Guardsmen. He prayed that his brethren could save him and he could go back to the life he knew.

"Hey! Ah'm talkin' to you!" This was an awfully persistent little pest. Thane decided to tune out whatever it was saying. This time, he didn't even turn to face the sounds that were distracting him from his mission.

Another few tense moments passed before his prayers were answered. "Thane, thank the Emperor you're alive, but we have our own problems." His feelings of hope were dashed just as quickly as they had been formed. In the background of the sergeant's response, he heard weapons discharge, the familiar roar of chainswords against flesh and an unsettling roar from some prehistoric monster.

"We disturbed a whole nest of creatures!" The sergeant's words ran chills up the young warrior's spine. In that small cave, where was there room for another one of those things, let alone a whole colony of them? The situation had reversed. His needed to be the one to come to his team's aid.

Looking around, he hoped to find the place where he and his squad had initially dropped. The giant beast couldn't have taken him too far. To the west, a column of smoke emanating from a mountain range. That was his landmark. The only obvious obstacle was a thick wooded area, but this would not stop the determined Space Marine.

"I see you brothers. I'm heading your way now," he said, determined to reunite with them. "Emperor be with you," came the reply before cutting the vox feed.

One thing still felt off to Thane: he had no weapon aside from his combat knife. Before he made for his squad, he would need to rearm for the journey. There was no telling what lay in wait for him on this unknown world.

Turning back to the wooden structure, he spied his chainsword and pistol propped up against the far wall. He also noticed the small orange creature galloping towards him with an angry expression. Was this an act of aggression? If so, it would be making its last stand against the armored behemoth.

Thane immediately started a sprint toward his weapons. He moved with speed and agility that belied his heavy armored form. The expression on the small creature's face changed from angry aggression to surprise with a hint of fear. Its course also changed from running straight at Thane to dodging his line of charge. Perhaps this thing has self-preservation in mind.

Reaching his weapons, he quickly mag-locked them to his belt. He silently vowed to never again let these sacred weapons leave his side. This fragile wooden wall now stood between him and his mission. A solid blow from his shoulder quickly fixed the problem. Running through the hole he just created, he did not even stop to watch the rest of the structure collapse behind him.

-------

Twenty minutes into his trek through the thick forest and Thane had some concerns start to gnaw at him. This forested area looked a lot smaller from orbital scans. He didn't think forests grew this thick. Wherever his brothers were, he hoped to reach them in time.

He lost contact with his teammates just minutes ago when all he could receive was static. The forest canopy had gotten thicker, blocking even light from reaching the forest floor. He had been lucky, not having to use his weapons so far. He hadn't come into contact with any vicious wild animals at all so far. However, his luck was not inexhaustible.

In the distance, he could see a bright area of light breaking through the trees. A clearing with open sky was just what he needed. Heedless of any danger, he charged straight towards the clearing.

Too late, he realized he was not the only one favoring this spot. It was the resting place for a pack of wolves. At least, they had the general shape of wolves, but they appeared to be composed of logs, sticks and other parts normally associated with trees. In short, wolves made of timber.

In a heartbeat, a dozen angry yellow eyes were fixed on the Blood Angel who had so carelessly bumbled into this den. Barring fangs made of sharpened wood and tree bark, all of them growled angrily at this intruder, intent on either chasing him away or killing him, depending on what he chose to do next.

To push straight forward was suicide, considering he was outnumbered a dozen to one easy. Instead, he chose to evade and circle around this pack. To the right, he encountered more of these feral tree-wolves. Change of plans: circle left instead.

To his dismay, he got the same result. Worse still, the large pack had begun to circle in on him. As quickly as he had arrived, he was cornered by more than thirty of the beasts. This would be the end if he did not fight back and unleash the wrath of the Emperor on these demons.

Thane was an Adeptus Astartes warrior, the finest warrior mankind had to offer and he knew no fear. If this was meant to be his end, so be it, but he would not accept his fate so quietly.

Raising his chainsword to the closest of the pack, he gave the weapon a rev to ensure it was still working and to invite the first of his attackers to play their game with him.

One brave volunteer all too eagerly leapt straight at him, straight to his death. With more speed and grace than he had any right to have, Thane sidestepped the attack and sliced the creature in half from open jaws to its hind legs. Splinters, sap and disembodied wooden limbs were left in the wake of the counterattack.

Ready to sacrifice themselves for the survival of the pack, the remainder started to advance and try to take Thane down. Expertly placed slashes from the chainsword kept Thane from death, but there seemed to be no end to this pack of mythical beasts. He was the center of this frenzy, defending from all directions. He could not keep this pace forever.

As he drew his pistol, he heard a bone chilling howl from an unseen member of the pack. He started to question whether he would live through this ordeal. Three shots in the direction of the howler swiftly silenced the howling, but the damage had been done. More wolves appeared out of seemingly nowhere, angrier than ever.

They were starting to become a match for Thane. One managed to get its teeth around Thane's still-wounded knee and bite down hard. The pain registered to Thane, but not enough to distract him from the fight. The beast's bite had managed to dent and mar his shin guard as well as bite down into his exposed flesh. A downward slash from his chainblade severed the creature's head from its body. However, this left him open to an attack from above, where one of the beasts had climbed atop his back.

Scratching, clawing and biting, the attacker managed to wrench Thane's helmet from his head. Had Thane come to battle unhelmeted, this would have truly been his end. Reaching up with his bolt pistol, he put three rounds through his would-be killer. In the process, however, he also struck his helmet through an eye lens, effectively destroying it.

The pack was starting to read his movements, find his weaknesses, wear him down a little more with every bite into his armor. Soon, he had only a single magazine of bolt rounds, his chainblade was starting to dull and he was running out of stamina. The pack's determination to kill had not wavered one iota.

Half a dozen wolves now had their teeth in his body all over, pinning him to the ground. As strong as he was, Thane could not shake the creatures off in his exhausted state. He could also not effectively bring his weapons to bear, as they were being held down with his trapped arms.

As he glanced up to survey his surroundings, he found himself face to face with a wolf much larger than the rest of the other pack members. The alpha, concluded Thane. It growled deeper than the rest, bore scars all over its face and torso and glared at him with intimidating orange eyes that were unmistakably the eyes of a dominant pack leader.

Still, Thane refused to die here on this alien world. With but a thought, he activated his jump pack's thrusters, launching him forward. He had just enough energy to roll his body and strike the alpha shoulder-first. The impact threw him into a wild corkscrew to the right. One large tree stopped his trajectory fifty yards out, his body slamming into it and shaking it all the way up the trunk.

Dazed as he slowly rose to his feet, he saw the large beast charging straight towards him. Its eyes were now blood red and a new scar appeared on its face, right were Thane made his impact. Jaws agape and unleashing a guttural, bestial roar, it needed no more provocation to make the kill.

However, as long as Thane drew breath, such a shame would never befall the Blood Angels. Having lost his chainsword and bolter in the previous melee, he drew his last remaining weapon: his hand-crafted combat knife. Resigning himself to death, he took his battle stance, locked gazes with the monster and made his last great act of defiance before death.

"For the Emperor and Sanguinius! Death! Death!" the desperate Blood Angel bellowed. He could think of no more appropriate words than his chapter's battle cry.

His last words echoed as far as the dense woods would allow, but as long as his only foe heard them, this would satisfy the doomed warrior.

As he made his charge, closing the gap between himself and his foe, something happened that he could not have anticipated. Beams of light began striking the alpha wolf from its left side. They must have struck pretty hard, for the charging beast veered right and missed Thane completely as he simply thrusted his blade into empty air.

He struggled to halt his charge, regain his balance and reassess his surroundings. The wolf was dazed and confused, clutching its face with its left paw. Soon, a barrage of light beams was being launched at the alpha and its pack behind it.

As the wooden wolf pack scattered back into the thick woods, Thane's vision started to darken. He had been exhausted from the battle prior, lost his two primary weapons and was having trouble staying conscious. He intended to expend his last remaining ounces of energy making his last stand, but he was struggling to find strength to last just seconds longer.

Thane's body simply could not continue any longer. He collapsed to his knees with a heavy thud, followed by a fall forward onto the forest floor. He was unsure whether he still clutched his knife. In fact, was he even still upright? It would be a shame if he died any way other than on his feet.

"Ah see 'im over there!" a voice called out from the distance. Footsteps were running towards him. Around half a dozen individuals by his reckoning. The voice sounded familiar. Where had he heard it before?

"Oh, I hope we made it in time," another voice said, heavy with concern. Never before had he heard this one.

Whatever the voices were saying now was irrelevant. Thane lost consciousness and slumped to the ground. His blood almost blended in with his red armor, which was now cracked and punctured in several places.

Thane had fought as hard as he could and though he was just a novice, not having completed a single tour of duty, he still fought dutifully and gave his life for mankind and the Emperor. There could be no greater reward than eternal rest from a violent, warring galaxy.

-------

Three ponies were galloping full speed after one of the strangest occurrences to ever happen in the small town. A suit of armor fell from the sky, landed on Applejack's hay barn, of all places, and ran straight into the Everfree Forest.

Princess Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had gathered at Applejack's barn, or what was left of it. Applejack filled the other two in on what had happened, but Twilight was eager to learn more.

"Ah'm tellin' ya," Applejack said as the pursued their target through the forest, "even Granny Smith ain't never seen nothin' like this in all her years."

"That's really saying something," replied Twilight. If one of Ponyville's oldest citizens was seeing this for the first time, all of Equestria may as well have never seen this before.

"Well, don't worry, you two," Rainbow Dash added, "We've seen all sorts of scary things before. I think we've got this, too." Rainbow Dash was infamous for her overconfidence, but also famous for her fierce loyalty to her friends. If she was on the team, there was nothing they couldn't overcome.

Twilight's curiosity to learn more about this incident had led her here. This was her home town, after all, so if bad things could possibly happen, it was her job to mitigate the consequences.

The trail was easy enough to follow. The tracks sunk deep into the dirt suggested that this was a large and heavy individual, but not in a bad way. It must have also been strong, for it takes a great deal of force to tear down large tree branches. Its presence must have been intimidating because the local wildlife had retreated into their nesting places, or deeper into the forest.

Wherever this newcomer was heading, he was doing so with a purpose. The trail he left was more or less a straight line, only moving when absolutely impassable obstacles appeared, such as boulders, large trees or vegetation so thick it only served as a natural ensnarement.

After about ten minutes of following the trail, a bone-chilling howl made its way through the woods, but was abruptly cut off. This was certainly not normal behavior for timberwolves, so they must have encountered something unnatural to Everfree.

Moving closer towards the sound of the howl, more sounds started to become clear. A pack of timberwolves was growling and barking at something. But there was another presence among them. A loud buzzing noise unlike anything the ponies had ever heard. There were also intermittent pops, like fireworks, only no flashing light accompanied them.

As the group approached the source of the noises, the buzzing evolved into angry roaring, the pops became small explosions and dead timberwolves lay in all directions. One was still alive, trying to drag itself away from the fight, before collapsing dead in a pool of its own tree sap blood.

In the distance, Twilight spotted two figures appearing to square off against each other. The thick canopy was blocking a lot of light from reaching the forest floor, but the silhouettes were pretty clear. One was a timberwolf alpha male. Twilight had recognized it from her studies. The other was unfamiliar. It was bipedal, bulky, but only about half the size of the alpha, and it had a gleaming silver object in its hand. It also appeared to be wounded, leaning and clutching its side.

Suddenly, there came a cry from the bipedal figure. "For the Emperor and Sanguinius! Death! Death!" This was definitely not a timberwolf sound.

Just after the bipedal figure cried out, the two charged toward each other, clearly intent on killing the other. As the princess of friendship, Twilight could not let this conflict continue any further. She aimed and fired three focused magic beams at the two figures. All three hit the timberwolf. The intent was to stun the beast, not kill it.

The timberwolf was indeed stunned, but not for long. Realizing it had a second intruder, the alpha decided to turn tail and retreat into the forest. More stun beams followed, but few made contact with the fleeing animal.

Through the trees, Applejack spotted the armored figure that destroyed her barn. "Ah see 'im over there!", she called out to the others. At the same time, she was still running toward the slumping figure.

"Oh, I hope we made it in time," Twilight said, concern dominating her tone. She worried for the strange creature's safety. Timberwolves were vicious wild animals in the Everfree Forest and few other creatures could hold their own against them.

Rainbow Dash, being the fastest of the three, was the first to reach the dazed giant. "Hey, big guy! Can you hear me? Say something!" She wanted a response from him, but got barely audible grunts. He was alive, at least, but not well enough to move on his own.

Just as Applejack and Twilight arrived, the armored creature fell to his knees, then face down, motionless. Twilight's jaw was agape in disbelief at what now lay in front of her. "What in Celestia's name...?" The exact words to express her current reaction eluded her.

This large creature was unlike anything she had ever encountered in either her adventures or studies. Just like Applejack's brief, vague description, it was wearing red armor accented with black sigils.

Rainbow had been attracted by another sight not far from where they stood. A long metallic bar that was lined with what looked like teeth. It had the same aesthetic and some of the same sigils and motifs on the creature itself. Not far was an irregularly shaped metal implement with a short stubby hollow barrel at the end. It was relatively small compared to the barbed pole, but still the size of a full-grown pony.

"Hey, over here!", Rainbow called out, "I think these belong to him," she said as she pointed to the tools which likely belonged to the metal giant. Twilight, wanting to satisfy her curiosity of the situation, came over to inspect Rainbow's finding.

"Um, Twilight?", asked Applejack, a hint of fear in her voice, "can we gander at our new friend later?" It was at this point the timberwolf pack had started to reform around them. Glowing yellow eyes and sharp wooden fangs appeared all around, growing more menacing as they inched closer to their prey.

Twilight prepared to cast a teleportation spell back to the castle in Ponyville. Her horn was aglow with magic ready to be released. Her mind's eye focused on herself, her friends, the unconscious giant and his tools. For a regular unicorn, this would have been an impressive feat of magic, given the amount of mass teleported and the distance traveled. Twilight, being a trained alicorn in the art of magic, had more than enough power to spare, but still took a fair bit of concentration.

An instant before the timberwolves pounced, the spell was cast and all involved vanished with a blinding flash of light. They all reappeared at the steps of the Friendship Castle, still wearing faces of terror. Spike, who was asleep at the time, jumped from his slumber, startled by the sudden appearance of three ponies and an iron-clad behemoth.

"Twilight?" asked Spike, now more confused than frightened, "what's going on? Where were you? What's this-" he was cut off before any more questions could be asked.

"No time to explain," Twilight said with urgency, "Get a first aid kit. Hurry!"

"On it, Princess," Spike replied before running for the supply closet as fast as he could. Twilight had planned for almost any emergency she could think of. 'Badly injured guest in throne room' was emergency number 85.

When the others realized they were now safely away from danger, their expressions changed and they let out sighs of relief. They were comfortably away from the forest in the castle's throne room, where they could now turn their attention to this new visitor to Equestria.

His injuries were extensive, bearing bite marks, deep scratches, and small pools of blood were forming underneath him. Taking a glance back at the unconscious giant and his condition, one small revision needed to be made.

"Actually, bring everything you can!" Twilight called down the hall, "We're gonna need it!"

"Gotcha covered!" Spike replied, turning back around to get more supplies.

So many thoughts ran through Twilight's mind as she eyed this strange new creature. Where did he come from? Was he friendly? Are there more like him out there? The need to know simply overwhelmed her. This was more than she alone could handle.

"Dear Princess Celestia," Twilight began as she personally prepared an expedited letter to the princess. She told all about her encounter with danger and a strange being, about which she knew absolutely nothing. She asked for guidance, knowledge, even resources if it came to that. The importance of this letter could not be stressed enough. Hoping for a quick response, she sent the letter off using her own magic.

Mid-afternoons were normally quite peaceful in the quaint little town of Ponyville, but today was the start of something big. All of Equestria would soon find out just what a single Space Marine of the Imperium of Man would bring.

Author's Note:

A question for my readers:
Do the actions depicted make sense? I hope I'm not losing anyone in the scenes where the perspective changes from Thane to Twilight and friends.

Also, if I get a personality trait, lore detail or something else incorrect, I would appreciate it being pointed out. I want to learn and your feedback is the best way for me to do that.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

If Brother Thane was voiced, what would he sound like?

[Drakstice]

8341865
Picture an 18 year old US marine fresh out of training. He thinks he is the best because of his superior mental and physical abilities. Skilled as he is, he is not very experienced. Any veteran will be quick to put him in his place. His big talk will only get him as far as his novice skills will out in the wild. I met several folks like this in basic training. One guy in particular, his attitude changed when faced with an actual drill sergeant. Away from authority, however, his pride swells back up and eats him up. Arrogant with this idea that he has something to prove.

[dragstormer]

Ok and your doing great so far.

[dragstormer]

8341890
Also astarties are indoctrinated at the age that teens think they are invincible and can take on the world to think that they are and threat as a space marine nothing can stand against them.