"I'll play it straight with you, mate. Listen: when Alpharius tapped me on the shoulder it scared the piss out of me. I looked behind me and all of a sudden there was this like 10 foot tall bloke standing there. I've been near Goliaths, but this guy was much bigger. He was massively muscular but without so much bulk that it would slow him down, unlike the Goliaths. He was just wearing a simple body suit with a surplice over it but you could see just about every muscle."
"He was bald and, you know even after seeing him multiple times I can't really describe his face to you. It was just . . . like a normal face you know. A little squarer than a human face. Crumbs, I don't know maybe they all look like that. I only met Alpharius so it was tough to tell."
"He told me they needed us for summit and I wasn't going to say 'no' cos who would do that."
"Just seeing him there made me know I was on the right side, know wot I mean? So I went and we came to a place and there were five of them. They were all standing around in their armour so Alpharius almost looked small by comparison."
"HHNnnngggg."
His interlocutor looked at Vrense with some concern.
"It's awright, mate. Just a touch of pain on the insides. I probably pulled something when I legged it. I don't remember doing it though."
After regaining his composure Vrense went on.
"Sos they tell me what they're about and I'm on my way back to the lads to get them to come and help. They wanted at least thirty of us and I once I tol my mate Flikers what was on we got forty."
"We met them and they had a crate that they kicked open and it was full of rebreathers. They tol us all to put one on and then they removed a panel on the wall and it was the side of the blinkin' hive. The side of the hive! They lowered us on a pulley system down to the ground below and we met some guard down there. I've only seen guard on parade and these weren't like them. They were different. Like more spiky or summit."
"Anyways it was dark and we followed the guard chaps to where we saw a bunch of industrial equipment. And all of it had the Four Angle mining logo on it."
"Well I've had a scrap or two with those bastards and I was more than happy to give 'em anuver go."
"I kept looking around for Alpharius and his lads but they wasn't to be seen. All told there were about 60 of us. Two of 'em were witches though and I know that that is supposed to be okay and all that but I still didn't like it, there were also some guys wearing rough looking robes that I couldn't get much of a look at but they were big and stayed away from the main group."
"We stopped by a hill and it was only when we got that close that I could see someone had dug a tunnel into the hill. We were moved in and some of the guards men had lights on the back of their helmet. Each one of them lead a group of about five behind them each watching the light to see where it went."
"Eventually we saw a big light in the distance and I could see that was the exit. As we came out dawn was HNNGGGgggg."
Vrense was doubled over and the other man knelt beside him. Soon Vrense put his hand up and straightened.
"Core blimey that was a rough one. I recon maybe I ate something that is disagreeing with me."
"Anyway, dawn, oi, you hear that. Dawn, I'm speaking like I spent my life out in the wastes. Ha. So we came out by a huge landing pad and we started moving towards a large rig with a massive drill. As we moved around the structures I could see some of the Alpha Legion guys in the shadows. I think they wanted us to see them because they were pretty close to those miners and I don't think those bastards saw them."
"Someone gave a yell from some of the equipment and then things went bonkers."
"We moved forward less carefully now. The guard had moved down the front side of the equipment while we moved to the back. Just then a truck moved across our path to block our reaching the drill. I fired up at some of the miners who were on top of the rig with my auto gun while Flikers took his lads up to smash up the truck and some of the other boys went up to tackle some of the miners who were in the shadows under the rig."
"Then all of a sudden, right, there were Alpha Legion guys every where. I could hear banging from above us and explosions ripped guys apart in the rig. There were about 10 of them that came up behind us shooting their bolters at the rig."
"That is when I saw the ambot. Some of the lads charged into it as it was in between them and the miners. They hacked at it ferociously and it pulled a few of them apart with its claws, but that just seemed to make the lads madder and they piled in on it."
"The miners below the rig surged out then and they were the most lumpen, ugly things you've ever seen. Even scavies ain't that ugly, my son."
"But they were strong and between them, the ambot and the truck it Flickers boys were cut to ribbons."
"I'm getting ahead of meself though. I forgot about the smell. It was like a wave that washed over us. I heard this weird noise and before I could look up the smell hit me. It was like Escher coochie. Just this rancid smell, powerful but strangely invigorating. And when I looked up I saw these beings that seemed to be made of a pink light. They appeared in front of the Alpha Legion guys on the platform above us and green energy shot from their fingers and bathed the miners in front of them."
"I don't mind telling you that those miners up there are braver than me. They sucked all of that up and the few that were left just ran across the open space between their own selves and those creature and went to town on them. They were just using their tools and they ripped them a new one before being overwhelmed and slaughtered."
"I was still shooting the whole time. As I reloaded I glanced about me each time. It was madness I tell you."
"It was about that time that everything went tits up. I saw the guard advancing on the rig from our right. I could hardly see the further squad of them but I could see where their lasers were hitting but then they stopped all of a sudden."
"At this point the marines were attacking the tank and our lads had mostly backed away from the thickest of the stuff, although Flikers mate was still raving like a madman and swinging his cleavers all around daring both the lumpy miners and the ambot to come at 'im."
"Then the Astartes were gone. Just gone. I don't know how they moved so quickly but they just seemed to vanish. The truck rumbled forwards, slightly damaged but not much the worse for wear. It fired its guns into the remnants of Flikers crew and they just vanished in a thin red mist. That is when I first saw them, these creatures, four armed and unbelievably fast. The closer squad of guard were trying to get their bayonets out when they got hit by them. One of them managed to douse a couple of the critters with burning promethium but it only hurt one of them. The other one was a flaming alien monstrosity then. They didn't seem to bother with the miners."
"That is when we ran. We made straight for the tunnel to get the hell out of there. We saw the two witches dead and bikers were on our right, shooting at us and then riding towards us. Not half of us made it to the tunnel."
"I made it. I was the first to make it. I just ran. I heard the screams behind me but never looked back. I must have just gone on remote control at some point because I woke up next to the hive, exhausted and in pain but alive. I hurt almost every . . ."
Vrense arched his back at that point. His mouth opened into a perfect O but no sounds came out. The man listening to him moved forward at first and then saw movement under the skin of his companion. He stepped back still looking. Vrense fingers splayed out and then his arms moved up and away from his body before he curled up hugging his chest. At that point his companion had turned and was beginning to run but it was too late.