Operation 12: Summer Camp, Part One
Sunset Shimmer; Sister of Battle
By Tundara
Operation 12
Fyre Fox was the first to die.
They’d been set down in an expansive fortress that served as the true start to Summer Camp. As dropships plied to and fro, the children gathered, shouting, waving and in some cases using painted placards to organize on the chaotic field. Over them loomed boxy towers topped by Hellcannons, even larger versions of the Hellguns a few of the auxiliaries of the Adeptus Astartes wore as they patrolled the thick walls.
In the frantic mess that was tens of thousands of children being disgorged it was inevitable that there’d be groups left behind. The ad-hoc army did its best to gather together on the northern outskirts of the fortress before moving out. As they did the cannons screamed, and a line of hidden artillery barked. To the north a ridgeline was consumed by a rolling inferno. It was a stark reminder that even so close to the fortress they were not safe on this planet.
For most the weight of their gear was uncomfortable and new in how heavy it was on their shoulders, and how sapping it was in the clammy, chill atmosphere. Everyone present had done some level of practice before being sent to camp, but none of the civilians matched the strict training the progena had received in the schola under the guidance of the Sisters.
As earlier decided, Class Three was given the most dangerous task of being the forward scouts.
And then for the first few hours they encountered nothing.
The dangerous lulling of a false sense of security began to filter through the army, and even into the scouts.
Fyre Fox’s squad was far ahead of the main body of the childrens’ army when it encountered a nest of flesh stripping carno-ants. The size of a small dog each, they swarmed towards the small cluster of warm bodies with mandibles clacking in the throws of voracious hunger. To her credit, Lyra ordered her squad to retreat without any hesitation and to skirt the main body of the self-proclaimed army, rather than lead the ravenous swarm towards the other children.
They ducked and fired in good order, each covering the other as they withdrew so there was a continual fire, just as they’d been taught. The swarm poured towards the girls unconcerned by a few losses.
Fyre Fox was caught when Zesty stumbled. As she yanked her friend up, three of the mutated ants tore large chunks out of her thigh and calf. Paralytic venom flowed into the wounds and she collapsed. Zesty and Lyra blew the heads off the ants and Derpy hurled her squadmate over her shoulders. Strongest in her squad, Derpy dashed with the much smaller girl across the broken ground, ducking and weaving around jagged edged boulders to reach the nearest medicea while Lyra, Bonbon, and Zesty eventually lost the swarm. By the time Derpy dropped Fyre Fox off in front of Fluttershy, the poor girl was dead, her heart stopped by the venom.
The army didn’t take time to mourn its first loss. All that was done was Fyre Fox was stripped of her gear, her hands laid over her in the aquila, and a few rocks placed over her in a nominal effort to keep scavengers from desecrating her body.
Resolve unshaken, they marched onward in neat files, an instinctive sense making them match the footfalls of the person in front of them as if they were in a minefield. Three thousand children between the ages of twelve and fourteen, packs overburdened with supplies, and autoguns held tight in their arms. Classes One and Three were at the head of the column, closely followed by the self-styled elites of the Alpha Alpha Capricorns and their allied fraternities. Behind came the vast bulk of children that they’d managed to coerce, bribe, or tempt into the expedition. At the rear was Class Two, corralling and keeping the stragglers moving forward.
It was slow going, slower than the meetings had hoped, though not as bad as that feared. Their clothes stuck to them in the hot, fetid air, sapping their strength. Sunset was constantly wiping sweat from her brow. Ahead of her, the rocky terrain was dotted by lumpy hills that hid sharp drops into former buildings through cracked rooves buried by thousands of years of dirt carried on the harsh winds. A sprawling sub-urban area was buried beneath their feet and they had to take care not to fall into the hidden ruins.
Pitfalls were far from the most dangerous aspects. In the dark holes things shifted, moved, and in the grey light that occasionally slanted through the dark skies there were little glints off hungry teeth.
The scouts managed to mark most of these dangers and steer the army through a combination of extreme luck and skill.
Or, at least, that was Sunset’s hope, as after Fyre Fox class three suffered no losses, or any real injuries the rest of the first day. Skill, however, seemed far fetched. Despite their months of training, a pall hanged over the progena of class three. No one spoke about it, but so quickly losing Fyre shook them to their collective core.
Rainbow took it the hardest, her jawline becoming a stern line as she roamed out ahead of the rest of the squad. Her autogun was tucked tight against her side, and she moved like a blur from cover to cover, head low and bright eyes scanning the horizon and crevices alike with equal intensity.
Another dozen children were picked off over the remainder of the first day. Something snagged a young boy from a southern farming district and dragged him into a hole, his screams ending in the crunching of bones and squelching of viscera as he was devoured. Identical twin girls fell through the roof of a parking garage, and as a rope was being lowered to them they were decapitated. The boy that had been lowering the rope was then hit in the face by one of the girl’s skulls, its skin having been already peeled off. He was hit so hard his neck was broken. No one wanted to go retrieve his body, and more importantly, his kit, too afraid of what might be lurking in the dark.
Sleep was hard to come by that night.
They bivouacked in a wide canyon of sorts formed by ridges of former apartments crushed by thousands of years of sediment. Somewhere underfoot was an ancient highway. Occasionally a bone could be found, heavily ossified and weathered. The bones were too small to have belonged to adults.
Other than for a brief period just before dusk to warm their meals, fires were banned. Tents were set up, watches decided, and the children’s army settled in for their first night on Steinsanne.
“I hate this place,” Rainbow whispered at Sunset’s elbow during their squads turn to sit watch.
They were atop one of the hills, peering out into a green tinted night through auspex goggles. To the south, where the remainder of the other tens of thousands of children deposited by mother were, the night was lit by the staccato flashes of gunfire. In the still night air the sounds of their screams could be barely discerned at the periphery of perception.
Sunet had been trying to fan herself by flapping the front of her tunic. She stopped, arched a brow, and silently asked, ‘What did you expect? This planet is classified as a Death World.’
“I mean Stiensmar, this system, the schola; everything since Equis fell,” Rainbow Clarified.
A little taken aback, and at a loss for what to say, Sunset hissed in a bare whisper, “This isn’t the time for this. Who knows what could be out there hearing us right now.”
Rainbow scowled, nodded, and nothing more was said that night. In the distance they discerned movement a couple times. What was impossible to tell, only that the large camp was being circled by something. After a few hours they were relieved by Squad Fleur and were able to crawl into their sleeping bags.
Rest was impossible to come by. It was even hotter in her tent, the humidity collecting on the thin membrane and running down the sides. She didn’t want to be in her sleeping bag, and instead lay atop in her full combat kit. Just in case.
Next to her, somehow, Twilight was snoring. Sunset’s tuned her sensitive ears to the slightest noise in case of an attack, and blocked out the noise of her tent-mate. In the dark she could make out the breaths of the girls in nearby tents, the wind coming down the nearby mountains, and the low grinding of her teeth.
She almost started to wish that the stillness would be broken, that the monsters in the dark would just get it over with and the dreadful anticipation could end.
But the silence remained.
Morning came, and with it the realization that no one had been lost in the night to monstrous infiltrators.
This was almost more disconcerting.
“No attacks at all… Throne, preserve us, but that doesn’t feel right,” Rarity commented at the general meeting of the various leaders of the impromptu army.
Stiff nods were made around the command tent. At Rarity’s elbow, Sunset noted how hollow the eyes were of everyone, and wondered if she looked the same. And they were only approaching the start of their second day. Reality had already beaten the dreams of grandeur from most around the command tent. Flash retained his grin, and there were a few others who’d always been stern rather than jovial.
After consulting their maps, the order of march was decided, and a quick meal eaten, then camp was broken.
Over the course of the second day no one died. There were some injuries and near calls, but not a single death. None.
A squad from Class One came across tracks made by boots at the edge of the former suburbs of the hive city. It was hard to tell how many had passed. One dozen, two dozen, or even a hundred individuals could have made the well worn track. The ‘Camp Counselors’ from the Imperial Guard that maintained the ‘Summer Camps’ never ventured outside the fortresses used as landing sites. Other than the children, the only other people—if one could even call them that—out on the plains next to the mountains were the mutant castoffs of Steinsmar, and as such the least threat on the planet.
Further on and it was Rarity’s squad that encountered a partially rotted carcass of some massive snake. It was over forty feet long, and covered in scales hard as ceramite, and thick as Sunset’s fist. Nine milky eyes stared at the girls as they approached, its mouth hanging open to reveal fangs as long as Rarity was tall. Chunks had been torn from the body by scavengers, but what had killed it was a single, crushing bite that had turned the back of the snake’s skull into powder. A few of the braver kids pried off a scale, but most gave the body a wide berth.
Towards the afternoon Sunset’s squad came across what at first glance seemed to be a small lake. The surface was a pasty, ugly brackish green-grey. Sunset curled her nose, a thick smell like burnt pea soup cloying in her sinuses. Cautiously she moved towards the edge of the lake, her autogun raised to her shoulder and pointed at the surface. Just below the surface was movement, and it was only when she was close enough to reach out and touch the lake that she noticed that it wasn’t water, or any liquid, but a squirming mass of thin vines covered in a slime. Several feet from shore a large bubble expanded, and then popped, releasing a cloud of thick gasses.
Quickly they backed away and another detour was marked.
Everyone knew that their good fortune was beyond strange.
A clammy dread clung to the back their necks. Every shadow was filled with unspeakable menace, the abomination that would break this blessed streak ready to pounce. Yet, when light was shone on these dark places all that was revealed were fresh signs that danger had been a hair’s width away, and for some inexplicable reason had skulked into even darker regions.
Some of the more nervous kids fired their autoguns into these shadows, their hands trembling with dread so much that the rounds scattered and ricocheted in wild abandon.
Sunset only heard the sounds of distant gunfire. Dropping to a knee she swept her gun over the partially broken, desolate landscape. Applejack appeared beside her, gun also at the ready and her jaw flexing.
Bodies taught, breaths clutched in their throats, they waited, watched, and when nothing else happened, Sunset keyed her small vox bead.
“Castle, Sunset lead; what’s going on back there?”
A few moments of silence, and then Rarity’s voice crackled over the vox. “Sunset lead, Rarity lead; Just jumpy children—who should know better—wasting ammunition. We’re fine here.”
Sunset had the distinct impression that Rarity had been talking more to whoever had fired.
Face twitching with irritation, Sunset acknowledged and resumed scouting.
She’d gone less then a dozen steps when it was her turn to almost panic. They were at the bend where they would go up the valley towards the archeo-vault, and Sunset was still looking over her shoulder towards the gunfire. She had to come to a sharp halt as she almost walked into a giant, decapitated metal head. Her heart jumped into her throat and her gun flew up, finger a coiled spring on the trigger.
Face plate torn partially open into a jagged grin, the head of an Imperial knight blocked their path. The paints that had marked the knight’s house had long been scoured away. A few hundred feet away, propped up against the hillside, was the knight’s body, armour torn asunder and shattered legs bent at incongruous angles. The right arm, which had housed a thermal cannon, lay several yards away from the main body where it had been hurled aside by whatever had eviscerated the venerable knight. Once a massive taloned fist that had crackled with thunderous energies, only a mauled wreck remained of the other arm. Everywhere armour was peeled and torn, like a whirlwind of razor blades had obliterated the titan.
In its prime the knight would have lorded over the battlefield, a monstrous engine of war towering over the battlefield. Few would have been its equal, either in the Imperium or without. Under its feet its enemies would have been ground into grist, and its holy armaments would burn whole battalions into cinders. Yet, there it lay. A rotting carcass of metal, hoses and other components strewn about like the innards from a cow that had been gutted by a lion.
Sunset’s mouth was dry as further along the valley more remains could be spotted. Another knight, and scattered about their armiger escorts. Some were partially buried by dirt, their limbs and bodies thrusting from the ground like revenants seeking unlife.
“Holy Throne,” someone whispered. Someone else fell to their knees, gun tumbling to the ground at their side.
“Why did they abandon them?” The question came from Twilight, a nervous, almost manic edge to her voice. “The techpriests should have retrieved such precious artifacts! Why have they been discarded?”
There was a quaver of uncertainty in Applejack’s voice as she replied, “Ain’t a question any of us can answer, sugarcube. Supposing I had to guess; they tried and couldn’t.”
Applejack pointed to a half fallen scaffolding near the second knight. Not far away was a bulky transport with the cab sheared off. Claw marks trailed along the remaining portion of the vehicle’s body.
“Kilguar,” Rainbow hissed, and immediately scanned the nearby hilltops.
“Um, exactly how b-big are they supposed to be?” Fluttershy shifted from foot to foot, her knuckles white on her medicea bag.
“Too big,” Sunset muttered as she glanced again over the carnage.
It had been hundreds of years since the mechanicus’ previous attempt to reach the archeo-vault, yet other than some weathering and a little built up wind-blown dirt, the wrecks could have been from the previous day. It was almost as if they were on display. A field of trophies that served as warnings; enter here and perish.
Marking that they’d passed with a piece of chalk, Sunset squad slowly made their way into the valley.
An eirie silence descended over the squad. There wasn’t even the sound of the wind anymore. Every step was perversely loud, like they were atop storm clouds and the weight of their feet caused thunder.
Sunset’s nerves were fraying. She could feel them growing ratty at the edges. Her teeth itched, and the skin of her back continually crawled.
Just behind her, Twilight and Fluttershy were both pale ghosts, but to their credit, their guns hardly shook.
Even Rainbow was nervous, eyes darting and a furtive pinch to her brow as she zig-zagged at the front of their formation.
Only Applejack seemed unaffected, her gun resting nonchalantly across her shoulders.
The sun dipped behind the mountains, and darkness enveloped the valley in a sudden rush. All except an oasis of light that poured forth from a knock in the northern valley where the mountain had been partially removed to create perfectly smooth cliffs. Floodlights illuminated a large, empty patch of pavement where vehicles would have parked before the planet’s demise. On the left side of the parking lot was a tall square building of mirrored glass, while on the far right side were three tall silos, conveyor belts connecting them to each other and leading into the mountain. Between the square building and silos was a long warehouse abutting the deepest part of the divet. A dozen large doors covered its face where transports would have been loaded or unloaded. Several feet in front of Sunset was a large sign, ancient script curled in bold lettering above the image of a swooping comet.
Everything was perversely preserved. The buildings looked almost new. There wasn’t even the touch of dirt in the crevices of the sign.
Kneeling down next to the sign, Sunset keyed her vox.
“Castle, Sunset lead; we’ve reached the site. Over.”
There was a pause, and then, “Acknowledged.”
“Castle, Spitfire lead; we see them and you. You’re about six hundred meters behind Sunset squad. Over.”
“Understood. Sunset Squad, see if you can get closer. Over.”
Sunset keyed her vox twice to signal she heard and understood her orders, and then nodded to the rest of her squad.
They descended an at first gentle embankment that turned into a steep incline at the edge of the parking lot. At the bottom they swept their weapons over the wide, empty ground between them and the complex proper. Other than the bright lamps there was absolutely nothing. There weren’t even loose stones on the roughly textured asphalt.
“Emperor preserve us,” Applejack whispered.
They waited an excruciating minute to see if there was any response to their intrusion, and when nothing happened they began to dart across the empty lot. Out of the corners of her eyes Sunset noted other squads begin to arrive, sliding down the slopes much like she’d done. A few spun about at the top of the slopes to peer back the way they’d come.
Sunset and her squad reached the square building at the same time as Spitfire and Fleur squads. Spitfire squad covered the left side of the building, while Fleur squad stretched over the ground and stared at the warehouse abutting the cliff. Further off three more squads had reached the silos, but Sunset couldn’t tell which ones at that distance.
Staying low and hugging the walls, Sunset had Rainbow lead the way to the set of simple glass doors.
Concern tap-tap-tapped at the back of her skull, the voice in her head roaring with warnings that something was very wrong. On the mirror sheen of the glass, her reflection was pensive and harrow eyed. Once they were stacked up at the double doors, Rainbow reached towards the simple lever handles.
“Stop.” Sunset hissed the words through gritted teeth. “We’re pulling back for now.”
“Why? We’re here and have the element of surprise.” Rainbow interjected softly, hand resting on the door handle.
“Something is off.” Sunset wished she had a better explanation, but her guts were roiling with trepidation that she couldn’t parse. She glanced around again, searching for the cause beyond the unnatural state of the site. Warnings unable to be articulated were blaring against the back of her skull.
Yet, if they hesitated…
She quickly glanced to the ridgeline where now more and more of the vanguard elements of the self-styled army were beginning to appear. If not her squad, then another would take the glory. Spitfire was looking her way, and so was Fleur.
Sunset wetted her lips, and nodded to Rainbow. “Let’s go. The Emperor is with us.”
Rainbow returned the nod, and with a firm grip opened the door. Guns raised, they filed into the spacious main atrium. Behind them came squads Lyra and Kiwi.
High overhead, the auspex arrays of the orbital platforms swept over the area allotted to that year’s ‘Summer Camp’. A wide swath of radioscopic and visible spectrum data was collected, correlated, and parsed by the cogitators before being further divined for clarity by hunchbacked auxiliaries. These augurs took note of the large detachment that broke off from the main body and made its way up the valley. Artificial, unblinking eyes whirred as they stared at their screens.
“Curious.” Spoke one of the data augurs.
“Indeed.” Responded his partner.
From the back of the chamber a bulky form shifted on his seat. Metal groaned as he stood, and the deck plates shook with every step as he emerged from the shadows that had been engulfing his impressive bulk. Servomotors whirred and clicked within ancient, deep maroon power armour as he approached the augurs. He was an Astartes, one of the Emperor of Mankind’s avenging angels, and it was his duty that cycle to watch over the children. Just over eight feet tall, he was a giant among the hunched augurs.
“Report.” The astarte’s voice held an electric crackle as it came through his helmet’s vox projector. Ruby tinted lenses swept over the two augurs that had been watching the detachment.
Raising a gnarled finger to point at its screen the first augur said, “My lord, there is a large number of the children that have reached site Delta Hexagon.”
The giant stared at the screens and their topographic displays overlaid with little dots for the Steinsmarian children and known threats in the region. Blue represented the children, while the threats were in a grim red. There were far more red dots than blue. This was especially true in the mountains where a sizable chunk of blue dots had gathered. A ways, perhaps a day or two, behind the first group there was a larger, second contingent. All told, almost seven thousand children were heading into the valley, with a possibility of even more to follow. Human children were like servitors, after all. So keen on blindly following even implied orders.
“Casualties have been extraordinarily light among the vanguard. Orbital auspex and camo-drones observed fewer than a dozen losses over the march.” The augur reported, a skeletally thin finger tapping the cluster of first dots.
There was no response to this statement from the astartes. None was needed. The other augurs shot brief glances at their partners. No one said it, but all knew that something of strange importance had happened or was happening on the planet.
Wetting his lips, the augur continued, dragging his finger over the monitor to the other cluster of dots. “The second has been experiencing standard casualty rates. A third of their numbers have already been depleted, and a number of commendations for bravery, sacrifice, or astute tactical acumen have been earned. Five potential aspirants have been marked, my lord.”
Straightening, the giant said, “Keep an eye on how it develops,” turned, and resumed his post.
There might be some good aspirants to come out of this year's trials.
Or, it might be a thin group of shattered survivors.
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Oh dear, the astartes think they're interesting. That's a rarefied level of inauspicious indeed.
Yea, I've got a bad feeling about this.
Yikes, that chapter was nerve racking, and because the casualties are extremely low, it's unnatural for a 40k settings. Next chapter might turn into a bloodbath.
Sunset, Sunset, Sunset... You got so close to avoiding so much death. Now you'll need to rise up to the occasion, chunk up your Eldar reflexes up to eleven and use all magic you can to survive and, just maybe, save as many of your fellow Equestrians as you can. And even that might not be nearly enough.
11300539
Yeah. You know a 40K story is going into horror when most of the characters HAVEN'T been brutally butchered.
I need more!!! Thanks for the chapter
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The most innocent whistling ever...
Glad to see I'm being successful on building the tension.
11300701
You're welcome. I'm not the fastest writer these days as I try to take my time and not just rush to meet a deadline.
Pretty scary stuff. Though, I think your average Hive fleet has more dangerous stuff than what we've seen. (So far)
The dead Knights were impressively ominous.
So, are there 3000 total in this confederation of different groups or is that just the Equestrian sisters in training? Sorry to ask but I found myself a little confused by the number groupings.
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The 3000 total is the group that is being lead by the progena and Flash's group. There are 300 progena of the sisters divided into 3 classes, and an undetermined number of noble/upper class children with Flash Sentry. The rest, which is the vast bulk of kids, are from the middle and lower classes. They were bribed, coerced, or 'inspired' to join the expedition. A second, even larger, group of children followed after learning about the first group.
Remember, all the bad things that are going to happen are Lorgar fault
What chapter is this astartes from?
Not sure if this bodes good or ill for Sunset that one of the Emperor's angels of death has taken an interest.
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+1
11301332
They are from Sanguinius' geneseed. And other than a name change, they are 1 for 1 how my brother has written their lore and chapter philosophies. I'm just putting that out there... Because I wouldn't put a Chekov's thermonuclear device in the story like I did if I wasn't going to use it.
11301370
A successor chapter of the Blood Angels. Ooooooh!
That means we might get a chance to see the red thirst and maybe the black rage.
This is a dope story and all but I honestly hope that sunset can bring hope to the 40K universe
Fascinating… and deeply concerning. Virtually no mortal peril on a deathworld means that shenanigans are afoot. The question is what kind, and how much longer they can last. Questions I’m sure the overseers will want to see answered.
Great stuff. I'm sure things will be interesting. Maybe a touch of magic very carefully used?
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I'm working on it. My self-imposed deadline for the next chapter is the launch of Darktide. Ride that Warhammer hype train!
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I've enjoyed the comments you put on Chapter two, and it makes me happy that people re-read my stories. Hope you notice more new things on the second read through.