Invisible Enemy

It seemed like nothing had ever disturbed the tranquillity of the glade. Captain Juan Esceval motioned his squad forward with a feeling of relief. Clean air and the Emperor be praised - quiet. No background engine noise, no squawks over the ships com, no petty orders sending his team on another wild grox chase. Since the shuttle had fled back to the frigate "Endurante" in high orbit nothing had disturbed the silence. Least of all his scout team, gliding through the long grass and sparse undergrowth without sound, without trace. Under other circumstances this could have been paradise. That it was not was also due to the silence. More specifically the silence of Squad Talon who should have been sending regular vox messages. There had been nothing since they reached the surface and the squad were now 26 hours overdue and probably in real trouble somewhere. Juan pushed back his broad brimmed leather hat and wiped sweat from his brow. His squad were textbook. Close enough for fire support, sufficient spread to make ambush hard. Their forest camouflage and dull brown leather body armour blending into the background. Even their complexion helped them lurk in shadows, the typical black hair and eyes of Esparanza Nueva with the accompanying caffine brown skin seemed to have evolved for forest warfare.

Juan gestured for a twenty minute halt, pleased at the way his men moved so swiftly into cover. Raulito instinctively picking the best firing position, Loro fiddling with his vox set while chanting some rote-learned tech prayer under his breath, Ventez invisible at point and Sargent Nestor watching all their backs. While the 3rd Esparanzan Light Skirmishers were famed for their ability to cover huge distances rapidly on foot Juan had already decided on caution rather than speed. Whatever had caught out Talon was not going to catch his men unaware or exhausted.

"All working Loro?"

"Ship's coming in fine, still nothing from Talon."

"If the Endurante can't pick them up, I'd be surprised if you could. Have you relayed our position?"

"Yep, vox acknowledged so there's no weird atmospherics going on."

"Huzita knows what he's doing so I doubt it’s a problem with the set."

"You never know - he could have lost it to some greenskin in a game of cards. Captain, assuming its not need to know, what was anyone doing in this system anyway? Never even heard of Yateveo before." Loro asked.

"Me neither. Adminstratum records show Yateveo was settled nearly 300 years ago. They dropped out of contact almost immediately after planetfall, but another ork waagh had just hit the subsector and no one cared about a few hundred missing colonists. Must have just got lost in the system. The next time it's in their records is three weeks ago with some SysMex ship reporting a possible alien contact." replied Juan, dredging up the details from his mission briefing.

"So SysMex was trying to find the colonists?"

"Trying to find the remains and see what was sellable is more like it. But of course that would be illegal so they would never do anything like that!" the last delivered completely deadpan.

Loro grinned and went back to his obsessive maintenance as Juan moved over to his sergeant.

"Anything?"

Nestor never paused from scanning the squad's back trail before grunting a reply.

"Too quiet."

"I like the silence."

"You've trained in the Selva back home. Since when is woodland silent?"

Something about his sergeant's reply gave Juan pause, he looked around realising that he had not noticed the absence of animal rustling in branches. The lack of birdsong or even the droning of insects. There was nothing but plant life. The long grass, spindly clumps of some sort of fern and the majestic trees. Uniformly silvery grey with solid trunks that rose up to 50 meters in some cases. All had a ring of five bare straight branches within a few meters of the ground, like a wooden starfish marking the start of the canopy. Above this the branches started to grow in earnest, dividing and twisting amongst the branches of neighbouring trees until it was impossible to tell where one began and another ended. Leaves grew seemingly at random on these upper branches taking in every shade of green and packed so densely that the forest floor was in perpetual twilight.

"You think some nasty ork scared everything away?" Juan asked. All he got was a shrug for his trouble.

It was orks again. Whenever there was a rogue signal, an odd blip on an auspex or just some backwater world jumping at shadows it was always orks. The grand waagh on Hesparantus and the surrounding cluster had drawn in most of the subsector's guard units and almost every available navy ship. With almost nothing left in reserve High Command were paranoid about a second front opening and anyone who had pirate trouble or just wanted to see some Imperial authority mentioned ork and someone had to go check. That someone was currently the 3rd Esparanzan who with a small complement of frigates had to patrol a whole subsector and keep it quiet so the real and present danger could be dealt with. It was an important undertaking well suited to the Esparanzan's specialities of rapid scouting, small unit infantry infiltration and light skirmishing. However the glory and honour were all going to the units on the front line. Who naturally maintained that the Esparanzan's got the cushy number because they were no good in a real fight. Juan knew it rankled with his men and he almost hoped that this time the report was true. This time a trade vessel really had spotted an ork rok making a typically orkish crash landing on this Emperor forsaken planet. That this time, even though the Endurante's auspex could find no trace, a group of orks were looking to cause trouble in an uninhabited system. That this time, even though there was no crash site visible in the green canopy that covered the entire planet pole to pole, there would be chance for some actual fighting. Almost. Twenty years in the guards had put him up against orks, eldar and much darker things. Now Juan relished the silence whenever he could find it. And if it was in the half light of the forest world Yateveo weeks away from any civilised system that would do just fine.

Three more hours along the trail a low call from Loro broke the quiet.

"Sir! Near as I can figure it this where the ship lost their locator beacon."

"Understood - stay sharp."

As they moved forward they saw Ventez pause by another trail marker with a confused expression.

"Problem Ventez?" Juan asked

"According to this trail mark Talon walked straight through this tree and then through the middle of this thicket." Ventez replied with a puzzled tone.

"But there's practically a path to the left here - did someone screw up their markers?"

"It's been the same all the way, either Talon are avoiding the obvious routes or I'm missing something."

"That would be a first. But we've been going a while, I'll spell you on point."

"Sir." Ventez acknowledged and moved to cover his captain.

As Juan worked his way forward he thought back to the original briefing: "Check out a thermal signature." The only indication that there was anything other than trees on this world. No radioactivity, no return from metal so not a ship, too small an area to be a rok landing site. Dense black smoke prevented the ship getting a direct visual and the forest cover left so few landing sites on the world that the choices were land on top of the anomaly or at a river bank almost two days march away. He had briefly argued the choice with Captain Ramada, more for form than anything else. No payoff being reckless when this could be the time something really was waiting. The bigger argument was over which team should do the investigation, or even if it was worth sending two teams for what was likely to be a naturally caused forest fire. If it was not for a loosing draw Talon squad could have been the ones searching for them. Juan shook his head banishing the reminiscence. The light had changed, something different was up ahead.

Juan put up a fist as he reached the edge of the clearing. They had been walking for nearly twelve hours under unbroken canopy. Now a single tree stood in the centre of the largest open space they had seen since they had left the shuttle. Light actually reached the ground and the grass and ferns had responded making a waist high thicket of undergrowth. Two quick gestures sent Ventez and Loro round the edge of the clearing as Raulito dropped into cover and prepped his long las. Juan began to edge forward when Nestor tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the tree. Juan cursed under his breath – the first rule old Gunny DeArgent had drummed into him was: “Keep your damn eyes open, and don't forget to look up.” and he'd broken it big time. A body hung halfway up the tree impaled upon one of the leafless lower branches, over a metre of it protruding from the corpses chest. Motioning the others to cover him Juan crept to the base of the tree. Blood had soaked into the grass and stained the silvery bark into a murky crimson.

“Huzita?” Nestor had joined him and voiced the question.

Juan nodded. Even if he hadn't known Huzita from a hundred late night poker sessions the imperial guard uniform and vox set left little room for doubt.

“Get up there.” Juan commanded keeping his voice low and scanning the edge of the clearing.

Nestor looked for hand holds but the trunk was smooth and Huzita was hanging almost three meters off the ground. Juan made a saddle and boosted his sergeant who was then able to pull himself onto the branch. He studied the body for a few moments then reached for Huzita's neck, pocketing the corpse's dog tags and taking the lasgun that was still slung over Huzita's shoulder. As Ventez appeared at the tree line and gave the all clear. Nestor threw down the rifle and swung down from the tree.

“Clean kill Captain. As far as I can tell the only wound on him is that damn branch – which punched through his vox set before going right through his rib cage. 'Course I'm no medicae. Does explain why they didn't send any messages.” Nestor reported.

Juan studied the rifle noting dust on the focusing lens.

“Unfired, full charge, something grabbed him so quickly he couldn't get a shot off and then stuck him on a branch 3 meters up.” Juan observed.

Nestor thought for a moment

“Ork – one of the war bosses? They're big enough and strong enough. Can move damn quickly when they want to.”

“Could be", Juan raised his voice "Bravo Squad! Search this clearing, any sign, any trace flag it. Then we'll trek back a klick or so and set up camp. Going to loose the light soon and I don't want us to walk into whatever killed Huzita. Stay sharp, see everything.”

As the men fanned out in a search pattern Nestor hung back with a whispered question.

“What's bugging you sir?”

Waiting until the rest of his men were out of earshot before replying Juan traced a word carved on the trunk. "Encentro" the unofficial motto of the 3rd. It meant "in the middle of it" always surrounded by enemies, always in the thick of the fighting.

"Everyone leaves their mark on a new world." Nestor observed.

"And he died doing it because no one was watching his back." Juan snapped back. “Where were the rest of the squad? Why did they leave Huzita here? And given how big the attacker would have to be to reach that branch let alone skewer someone on it. How did a four meter tall ork jump a trained scout, kill him and sneak away without leaving a single footprint?”

Hours later night had fallen on Yateveo, its single small moon giving no hint of its presence under the heavy canopy. Raulito leaned back on a tree making sure that he covered all the angles. The entwined branches blocked out the sky and any possible source of light. Without the sniper scope on his long-las Raulito would have been all but blind, one reason he tended to draw the midnight watch. Methodically he targeted several branches around the edge of the rough camp that was little more than a couple of fern shelters to hide the squad from a cursory inspection. Each of the branches Raulito picked marked a likely approach for an enemy. The ritual search over he carefully scanned and targeted each of his sleeping team mates. When he was sure no one was stirring he carefully lent his gun against his tree, reached in his pocket, pulled out a lho stick and lit it. The Captain did not approve of even these mild drugs on duty, the smell could give away a position, but Raulito figured that everyone was getting a little twitchy since they had found Huzita. A few puffs would be enough to take the edge of his nerves. No one wanted a sniper with anything less than complete control.

Raulito shifted to try to relieve his minor aches and pains. After weeks shipboard, even with the regular training sessions, his muscles and back were protesting at the hours of walking. Finding nothing but a body at the end of it had done little for anybody's peace of mind. The Captain had tried to hide his discomfort when the search for signs of Huzita's attacker had come up blank, but the squad had been together long enough that they could all read his moods. And if the Captain was worried… Raulito drew smoke into his lungs as he picked up his las and sighted his chosen branches again, then stopped puzzled. Several had changed position slightly, something was out there, something had moved them.

Had the camp been discovered? An enemy might have passed it by without seeing it. If he yelled a warning then anything close by would be drawn straight in. Raulito took out his lho stick and stubbed it out on the trunk not wanting its glow to give his position away. There was a low groaning, soft but massive like the closing doors of a cathedral. All around. He scanned the camp again, desperately trying to pick out a target. As he felt the pressure around his throat he realised he hadn't checked in the canopy above him. Raulito's desperate shout was cut off before it left his lips, his neck snapped cleanly with the barest crack. He never even saw his killer.

The squad stood around the body as Captain Esceval took Raulito's tags. Raulito seemed almost peaceful, slumped against a tree. Loro, the first to wake had assumed that he'd fallen asleep on watch and his cursing had woken the rest of the squad. Juan took the long-las from where it lay and threw it to Ventez who swapped his standard las for the more powerful weapon.

"Not an Ork." Nestor stated.

"How d'you know that sarge?" asked Loro.

"Ork might sneak in, kill a sentry. But then sneak away. Nah."

"We'd all be in pieces, or in chains. No way an ork leaves a bunch of sleeping guardsmen." Ventez added.

"So what killed him." whimpered Loro.

"Get a grip soldier, then get on the vox, report unknown unfriendly contact. Give our position. Nestor take Raulito's ammo and effects and share them out. Ventez break the trail - we'll head for the heat anomaly past the clearing. Twice as careful." Juan shivered, listening the rustling of the leaves and the measured tones of Loro, the rites of communication soothing his nerves. Ventez already slipping away between the trunks of two larger trees that had been used as way-markers.

"Ay Nestor, least it's a little less quiet with the wind in the trees."

"What wind?" asked Nestor.

Juan froze momentarily, the air was perfectly still but the leaves in the trees continued to move, as if to a phantom breeze. He drew his laspistol and looked for anything that could be hiding in the canopy overhead. Loro issued a terse "Hostiles!" call on the vox set before cancelling the signal and reaching for his lasrifle. Nestor dropped into cover as Ventez reappeared heedless of the sudden concerns of the squad.

"Captain - who fragged with the trail marks? There was a path here last night! Its solid growth now." Even the usually unflappable Ventez was showing some signs of panic.

"Witchcraft!" this last from Loro. "Chaos! Emperor protect us." He dropped his rifle to make the sign of the aquila and began chanting the litany against darkness.

"Grab your rifle Loro, Ventez, find us a trail, any trail. Nestor watch our six. Go!"

The squad ran, moving as they were famed. Esparanza Nueva had a low oxygen level, maybe 60% Terran standard so on most worlds Esparanzan troops could run flat out without becoming breathless. They covered the thousand metres to the clearing in under 3 minutes and even then it was not tiredness that stopped them.

"Where's the clearing?"

It was so simple, so wrong. Juan did not even register who had asked the question. Instead of a clearing with only a single tree in its centre there was a dense patch of woodland. The constant soft hiss of leaves reached a peak, then stopped.

"Ventez where the hell are we."

"Sir, the auspex says we're right where we should be, crap, you can even see Huzita's las where we left it." Loro had spotted the slim grey weapon wedged between two long roots, half hidden by a clutch of ferns. "So where is his body?"

"I guess we know why they didn't cut him down then." Nestor's pragmatic comment brought Juan back into focus. "They couldn't find him."

"Since when do orks do cajones like this." muttered Ventez.

"Right. We find that heat source and then we bug out to the nearest extraction point." decided Juan.

"If we can find it. If it's still there." Loro was coming apart.

"So double time it

As the squad moved up Ventez again taking a lead Nestor contrived to move close to his Captain.

"Eldar?"

"Their sort of trick, their rangers often have very effective camouflage so they could ambush even a scout. And they do like their magic... I think I was happier facing Orks." Juan sighed and resumed the punishing pace towards what darkness the Emperor only knew.

The remains of Talon were scattered around an area of forest only marginally less densely covered than the rest. Guard issue backpacks lay half empty by trees a bed roll on a blanket of uprooted ferns. By the time the three other squad members had reached him Ventez had already made a full examination of the camp site and was waiting, weapon ready, by its edge. Juan made a swirling gesture with his fingers - the returned nod of Ventez confirming the area was free of hostiles. Still Nestor and Loro moved into cover ready to engage anything that showed itself.

"What do we have."

"End of the trail. They camped here. Sloppily."

Juan took in the remains of the campfire, a half finished meal, scattered belongings and two patches of disturbed earth, each about the size of a newly filled in grave.

"Thinking what I'm thinking?" Ventez asked. "No evidence of anyone standing sentry or covering the approaches. They were just sat round the fire when something took out two of the squad. The others ran - that way." He indicated and Juan moved with him to the half trail. Clumsy footprints showed that they had moved in a hurry. Usually scouts could move quickly without leaving an obvious trail but here ferns were crushed and broken. Blackened scoring on the surrounding trees show that the scouts must have been firing at something. A spent clip, hurriedly ejected and thrown aside. An uprooted fern and scarred earth where someone had fallen and scrambled back to his feet. A leather hat remaining where it had been lost in the fall. A couple of hundred metres further down the track were two more of the earth patches. An abandoned lasrifle lying forlornly by one of them.

"Utter panic. They'd totally lost their training. Look at the pattern of las scoring - they were firing wildly." Juan swore and turned back to the camp. "Talon were good. Ramada knew what he was doing. What could break them like this?"

When they reached the Talon campsite Nestor was calmly eating the remains of unfinished meal. Loro glaring at him with a look of disgust on his birdlike face. Nestor looked up as his Captain returned.

"Hungry?"

Juan sighed and squatted by the blackened earth of the campfire.

"Why a fire? It's totally off book for a hostile planet. Ramada could be a little overconfident, but this…" he asked.

"Beacon." Ventez answered. "Lets say Huzita drops back to do some carving, they light a fire so he can find them and catch up."

"Really sloppy." grunted Juan.

"You don't leave your vox-operator behind." Loro growled, professionally stung.

"So they must have thought the planet was safe. How long were they here for Ventez?"

"Pass."

"Hours." Interjected Nestor. "They'd used deadfall. Dry wood, no smoke - so not totally stupid. Pile of newly cut branches so they must have been running out."

"Loro get on to the ship - tell them Talon are gone."

"Are you sure? We haven't seen any bodies. Well, any other bodies."

"Just… No you're right. Establish contact then give me the handset."

"Endurante, give us your status Bravo." A clear signal from the ship.

"Remains of Talon camp found. No bodies but there was a major firefight here. We've also got what look like 4 graves, so probable loss of entire team."

"Acknowledged. Stand by."

There was a pause as messages must have been relayed to the ship's commander.

"Bravo your priority is to investigate the heat anomaly. It's growing fainter and we don't want to loose our only lead. Confirmation of Talon's status is secondary."

"Acknowledged. Bravo out." Juan handed back the vox handset and thought for a moment. "Nestor see if you can find a body, Loro assist. We'll give it half an hour."

"Captain?" Nestor did not have to say that this was a questionable interpretation of the orders they had just received.

"It may not be a priority to them but I want to know what killed these guardsmen. We're fighting blind and its worth a few minutes delay to try and avoid it happening to us. Ventez, break trail - all the way to the edge of the anomaly, give us a clear run. Stop and wait for us if there's any trouble. Do not engage." Ventez saluted and moved cautiously into the trees.

Nestor pulled a small spade from his pack, it was a sharpened blade on a fist long handle that occasionally doubled as a knife. Usually used to bury any waste or remove traces of a scout camp, it was not intended for serious excavation but they lacked anything better. Juan unpacked the twin he carried. Loro with the heavy vox set on his back lacked most of these non-essential items and he remained watching the back trail in case Talon's assassins returned. It took only a few minutes before Juan threw his spade down in disgust. The earth was fairly loosely packed for about 30 centimetres then became a densely packed mass of roots that defeated all efforts to dig further.

"How did anything bury the bodies through this?" Juan groaned

Nestor simply shrugged in response and returned the spade to his kit.

"Well we don't have cutting gear, lets get after Ventez." As the three moved out Juan paused looking over the remains. Talon must have thought themselves alone on the world to have made such a open camp. A fire, no sentry detail, no attempt at concealment. Juan vowed he would never drop his guard that far. However safe he felt. And at this moment, facing an invisible enemy who apparently could come and go and kill as it pleased, he could remember few occasions when he had felt such fear.

Two clicks further up the trail Ventez dropped to the ground as he saw the shadow move. Bringing Raulito's long las to bare he sighted but the only thing visible was yet another tree. Unwilling to doubt his senses he waited. There. The barrel turned and his snap shot hit before he had fully registered what he was seeing. Something large and moving. The rustling grew in volume as something slammed into his back. Though his backpack absorbed some of the impact and the mesh in his leather body armour took most of the brunt his breath was knocked out of him and he was pinned to the ground, face slammed into the dirt. Ventez tried to stand but impossible pressure kept him face down. He tried to turn the long las but the bulky weapon was useless with the opponent so close and his movement so restricted. Without even the breath to curse he reached back. Something rough and as unmoveable as stone had looped over him and was crushing him into the earth. His ribs were agony, a band of incredible force pressing uniformly across his back, and only the fact that the earth underneath him was beginning to give way had stopped his bones from shattering under the pressure.

He reached past the attacker, grabbed his knife and slashed at his opponent, but the blade only just bit into the surface of whatever was pinning him and the pressure continued to increase. A crack and sharp pain told him that one of his ribs had given way and he had bare seconds left. Ventez struggled to rise but only managed to lift his head. A massive form in front of him silhouetted by what little light broke through the leaves, a huge limb raised then swinging down towards his unprotected head. Merciful oblivion. Then silence.

Juan saw the broken earth and the long las by it. No body, but there did not need to be. He already knew his squad was down to three men. An intake of breath told him that Loro had caught up with him and reached the same conclusion. A brief plea to the Emperor for Ventez's soul from the vox operator, before he swore and stamped on the long las, breaking the weapon in two.

"Damnation! Cursed gun! Emperor banish its spirit."

That part of Juan's brain that was still rational wanted to reprimand his soldier. But the rest wanted to scream out with him, lash out at the weapon that both the missing men had been carrying, lash out at something. Anything.

"Show yourselves! What are you? Cowards! Show yourselves!" Loro's ranting was cut short by a heavy hand landing on his shoulder. As he reached for his gun a second hand grabbed his wrist twisting his arm painfully, before slamming the unfortunate private into the ground.

"Shut up." Nestor was as blunt and to the point as always. "Finished?" The brawny sergeant had a knee in the back of the slight vox officer pinning him to the floor. Right arm bent just short of dislocation.

"Let him up Sergeant." Juan shook his head and walked over to the rough earth ignoring the now muted wailing from Loro. The patch had a deep gouge in the centre, the whole thing maybe a metre wide and 20 cm more than Ventez's 1 metre 60.

"Want me to take point sir?" Nestor moved over, any sign that he was affected by the loss of Ventez masked behind black eyes that had seen far to many men die before their time.

"Screw procedure. We stay together."

"Understood - looks like weapon damage ahead."

Now he looked around Juan realised his sergeant was right. Several nearby trees were pockmarked, and not by las fire.

"Heavy bolters?"

"Mixed. Large calibre solid slugs. Ork weapons."

"Arm up. If we're going to go into a war zone lets be ready." Juan drew his power sword. An indifferent blade manufactured on a local forge world it was still lethal. Nestor prepped his lasrifle checking the lens and charge and moving spare clips to more accessible pockets. Even Loro focussed enough to slip a fresh clip into his weapon.

The battle had obviously been fierce. A few of the ork warbikes, the only ork vehicle small enough to be of use on such a densely forested world, were still smouldering and the blackened remains of some sort of wooden structure still glowed where the embers had not fully died down. The black smoke that had hidden the site from orbit was beginning to thin out but the smell of burnt wood and flesh made breathing unpleasant.

“Guess this is the source of the heat. Those bikes must have gone up like fireworks.” muttered Loro still spooked. Quietly and carefully the surviving squad members moved through the remains of what had recently been a full on firefight.

The devastation covered over a square kilometre in a rough circle over one hundred meters in diameter. Trees had been felled, some pinning orks beneath them, presumably through typical orkish carelessness. The foliage of the surrounding forest had been shredded by concentrated fire, trunks were scorched by flame units and scarred by solid rounds. Orks littered the ground, some ripped in two, others like Huzita impaled on branches around the edge of the battlefield. The ground was churned to mud across the entire area, leaving no way of telling how many orks had received the unmarked graves that had accounted for five guardsmen so far. But now it was clear the process did not need the victim to be dead first. Orks had been half buried, in some places only a despairing hand still left clawing at earth indicated where a fully grown ork had been dragged beneath the surface.

“How do you read it captain?” Nestor had appeared at Juan's shoulder unnoticed.

Juan paused examining the evidence and putting his thoughts in order: “Looks like they were setting up basic fortifications and cutting down the trees to make a killing zone, hundred orks or so. Close in they've been using cutting gear, but round the edges chainswords, power claws, choppas, explosives they were knocking the trees down with anything they had in a big hurry. Something hit them hard from the treeline. Wild fire in return, they weren't shooting at anything particular, look at the scoring on the trunks. Systematic torching of undergrowth – guess they had a squad of burner boys on this one. Something they couldn't see was taking them apart and they were reduced to shooting at shadows and trying to clear out the trees the enemy was hiding in. Something underground hitting them from below and finishing them off. Looks like the flamers made a last stand in front of the fortification before one of the burner boys was hit, cooked off and took out the rest of his squad, and probably the building as well.”

“Eldar? Camo rangers in the trees, some eldar witches enchanting the environment turning it against the orks.” Nestor suggested.

“No sign of eldar corpses, or shuriken.” Juan objected.

“Evil thought. Eldar kill a bunch of orks. Remove all the eldar bodies and weapon signs. Kill a bunch of imperial guards who come to investigate. Open war between guard and ork, eldar butcher whoever is left standing.” Nestor was scanning the treeline looking for any movement as he made his bleak assessment.

“Fits, Loro! Get onto the Endurante, get them scanning the auspexes for Eldar ships and tell them to get an astropathic message off just in case. Doesn't look like there are any orks left alive but something killed them and it definitely wasn't human.” Juan watched as his vox officer started dialling in. Disappointed but not surprised to hear that Loro's usual tech-prayers had been replaced with prayers for the Emperor's protection from the xeno.

“Movement!” The cry from Nestor was simultaneous with a crack from his lasrifle fired towards a shape in the undergrowth. Loro dropped the vox handset and blindly fired off half a clip. Juan sheathed his sword, grabbed his pistol in a double handed grip and searched for the enemy.

“Cease fire! Watch for a target!” Juan's shout broke through the panic as the guardsmen's training took hold. Scanning for sign of any enemy. Listening for any tell tale sounds that could give away a position, but all that could be heard was the rustling of leaves, now in a frenzy and a low groaning that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

“What is that?” hissed Loro.

The question was answered with shocking suddenness as one of the larger trees at the edge of the battle site came crashing down. Nestor sprang and rolled as the tree seemed to be coming down on top of him. He lay gasping at his narrow escape only to have to roll again as a branch slammed down where his head had been. A second branch swept across connecting with his chest and sending him flying. The bare lower branches of the tree flailed wildly before the tree righted itself, roots pulling it back into the ground.

“To the centre.” Juan ordered, firing at the now erect tree and backing as close as he could to the embers of the ork fortress but the heat prevented him getting too close and as a second tree fell he to had to dive out of the way. The bare branches lashed out like blind snakes while the upper branches shivered, leaves giving a hiss of warning.

“Eat this” Loro had found an intact Ork flamer. So large he couldn't lift the main tank he managed to hit the igniter and liquid flame covered the fallen tree. The leaves withered to nothing as the tree pulled itself upright, setting light to its near neighbours who shrunk away from their doomed companion. Roots moving the trunk through the earth like a man wading through mud.

“They're getting closer!” Nestor screamed out the warning, as the edge of the clearing relentlessly advanced. “Watch for the...” He was cut off with a cry of agony as something grabbed his ankle.

Juan ran to him to see the root that had breached the surface slip back below taking Nestor's leg with it. Cursing he drew his power sword – without begin able to see the root anymore there was nothing else he could do. The blade sliced cleanly through Nestor's shin just below the knee. The power field instantly cauterising the wound as Juan dragged the now unconscious Nestor closer to the fort. Loro was shouting unintelligibly as he played the flamer in a high arc, the advancing tree line falling back in face of the fire. It would not be enough. There was only so much fuel a flamer's tank could hold and the trees on the opposite side of the clearing were creeping forward unimpeded.

“Give the flamer to me! Get on the vox – warn the ship, they have to know!” Juan ran forward seizing the flamer and shifting the angle of attack to a tree that was almost in range. The ground was boiling with roots that snaked to the surface before burrowing under again, ever closer to the frantic guardsmen.

“Sir contact from the surface.” The vox officer's voice cutting through the chatter on the bridge. Instantly the remaining crew fell silent.

“Broadcast!” The ship's captain ordered never turning from the auspex scan of the surface, his scout team's position highlighted with a golden glow. The vox horns on the bridge blared out the message from the surface.

“..tact. Repeat hostile aliens. They're killing us! Not orks, not eldar, the...” the screaming scout was suddenly cut off. Replaced by a static like the rustling of wind through leaves.

“Get them back Rivella!” shouted the captain slamming his hand on his command chair.

“Sir... I can't... they're no longer transmitting.”

A shiver ran round the bridge. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the alien.

On the planet below the leaves stirred gently, passing messages by touch, tree to tree. They stilled, having passed on all the information needed. Two days ago an imperial shuttle had landed. But all trace had now been erased. It seemed like nothing had ever disturbed the tranquillity of the glade.