Fate's Flash
The group of mercenaries before him seemed to suffer some form of battleshock after the meager wave of xeno creatures had died out. Assuredly, there would be more, and bigger, aliens coming, now that they had a taste of their prey's resistance. But the survivors didn't speak. The friendly xeno amid the humans picked up a lasgun from the clutches of a dead human hand on the floor. His grip on the weapon shook, and he looked pitiful. Neither he, nor any of the humans, seemed able to form words. They all seemed to be staring at Xepherial ... in terror.
And then Xepherial understood why. A warning light flashed on his UI indicating an enemy behind him, and he spun to deal with it. A large broodlord, with scythes coming out of two extra limbs on its thorax was already upon him. Bolter still in hand, he fired, hitting squarely its chest at such close range, even though the creature dashed aside in an effort to avoid the damage. It was only barely slowed down and split seconds away from colliding with him as it re-launched its assault. Suddenly, the entire spacehulk itself seemed to get involved in the fight with a violent lurch. The sound of a huge explosion occurring somewhere all too close by heralded a shockwave that rocked the walkway like an earthquake. The creature leapt nonetheless, landing on Xepherial who staggered off balance at the critical moment. Their combined weight was too much, and the floorpanel below them ripped off its supports, dropping them both instantly into a hallow abyss.
A surge of adrenaline rushed into Xepherial's blood stream, an expected reaction of his biological systems to give him a boost to speed and strength when he needed it most. Pumped, his perceptions accelerated and time seemed to slow around him. He was falling, and he knew not into what, but the maw of the monstrous enemy was in his face, acid saliva streaming back over its cheeks as the air whipped by in their descent. It clawed at him, still intent to rip him open like a can of sardines and eat the fleshy insides. The slanted red eyeslits of the Dark Angel's faceplate glared defiantly at the creature as Xeph brought his bolter back in line. The the two rotated mid-fall with the creature rising to the upper position as Xepherial fired multiple rounds into it. Bam.. bam... bam... Time was passing so slowly. The broodlord's face exploded in chunks of meat and blood with blast afer blast. Its grip on him fell slack and it fell away. Xepherial flailed helplessly, instinctively, knowing that by now he had fallen too far not to sustain serious damage when he hit bottom. Only 3 seconds had passed.
Deeper in the hulk, another group of humans, an ogryn, and a armorless space marine were fighting against more of the xeno filth that infested this shamefully massive junkyard. Just beside the sergeant and "Thorn," off a dubiously stable ledge, was a vast open chamber. The darkness was thick enough to cut with a knife, and because literally nothing appeared to be out there, the area had gone largely ignored. Just after the same quake shook the area, a sizable figure came raining through this void of wasted space in plain view. His bolterfire sparked flashes of light as he fell, illuminating a stark white emblem on his shoulder, a sword flanked by wings. The image was gone over the brink in the span of a heartbeat.
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Xepherial returned to consciousness. Initially, he had no idea where he was, but the creaking of distant hulls and scent of stale oil jogged his memory. It was black down here. His powerarmor cogitator displayed a full assessment of his vital signs and reported sustained damage onto his visual screen. Oh, he had indeed sustained damage. Xepherial lifted his head slowly to find a pike sticking up through his midsection. Well, it was down and to the left, but he was impaled, and alone. "How long.. have I been down here?" He spoke only to himself as he considered how much time he had before those alien creatures discovered him. His astartes blood had quickly congealed around his wound and protected his life, but he had to free himself and... And what? Escape? A quick calculation of the odds was not a pretty number.
Finding his servo arm functional, Xepherial ignited his plasmacutter in a brilliant flash of blue-white light.