Wartime Communication

 The thud that his power pack made was not loud enough. Not as echoey as it should be.

“Is that a word? ‘Echoey?’” Mike turned to Jaz expecting an answer or something.

“Eh.” Was all he got from his Catachan comrade.

“Aight, but you get me, yes?” He insisted.

“No one gets you, Mikol.” She reiterated, if not in words then definitely in humor.

“C'mon, power packs are meant to be heavy, therefore they make a very loud thud when hitting the floor. Am I right? Yue?”

If Jaz was unwilling to converse, Yue was disgusted by the mere concept. At least judging by how they were already settling down for the night.

“Please tell me you're not going to sleep already.” Mike practically begged.

“Then I won't tell you,” was the Cadian’s reply. “You will infer something from my snoring though.”

“You overestimate his intelligence.” Corroborated Jaz to which they both snickered together, much to Mike’s dismay.

“Don't give me that!” He yelled at them as they laughed. “I am right! It is too light.”

“Then start the bonfire and juice it up.” It was amazing, at least to Mike, how easily Yue fell asleep. They were already yawning in between words. “Charge it up.”

“A power pack doesn't get heavier when it's charged! ...Does it?” Jaz was clearly not interested in responding to that.

Both of them laid down, one to sleep, the other to work on the wooden sculpture she had dedicated the last few days to, using her wickedly sharp knife to give it form.

Much as they irritated him, Mike wouldn't judge how other soldiers dealt with the day to day boredom of their campaign. Yue slept like they were saving up energy for something, or maybe they were smart enough to stay unconscious for most of the war.

Jaz made trinkets, not useful trinkets, not even beautiful trinkets. Just things to do to pass the time. Mike had asked in the first few days if that was a hobby of hers, a family tradition or whatever job she had before enlisting.

“I was drafted.” Were her only words.

So he wouldn't get to know why, although he had an inkling of the reason for her fascination with sculpting. After all she didn't keep the little trinkets she made from whatever wood could be found in the wreckage they traveled through. Every single time she would find an open place, like a park, an apartment with no doors, or a rooftop, just leave them there.

Mike suspected it was her way of combating the war in spirit, of leaving behind a creation instead of the destruction.  Putting up a piece of art on display for anyone else trapped in this desolate land. Even if the only one to do so was the morning sun, casting light upon a decimated world.

But then again, he may have been imagining things. Not like she would ever say.

Finally he gave up, started working on a proper bonfire for the squad. It felt good, to be useful at something and better yet, useful for something that everyone relies on him for . Back home, it was a rarity to know the ins and outs of camping, as that had been reserved for the disgusting elites that ruled with a lazy iron fist. But he had always found his way of getting by, even through ruined forests. That was a long time ago, back before their ship had been lost in the warp, taking far longer than it should’ve to bring his regiment to this world.

“Weird thing, that sea of souls, huh?” He tried conversing one last time. “Go in one year and leave hundreds of years after!”

They didn’t listen, they had done so already. It had been a whole thing, for the lost ship of the nostraman regiment to suddenly return. But that had been months ago, and funnily enough, in the middle of a war so far from any nearby Astropathic Relay Station, there wasn’t much to do except integrate them into the campaign.

So, lost in leagues of red tape, Mikol and his comrades had nothing else to do but join the mixed regiments of this campaign and adapt. Yet here he was, fighting to keep the flames up on a newly made bonfire. This city had suffered from acid rains the last few weeks, which meant most of the wood they could scavenge was too wet to burn for long. So Zaylen had come to help finish setting it up.

“Thanks buddy, you're always reliable!” They were also awkward to talk to.

Zaylen didn't speak, which made their whole Krieg Corps look even more intimidating. In fact, Mike and the rest only knew their name from a designation given by the Sargeant. Meaning that their buddy could have been named anything before or after.

He had heard that their regiment was so used to sending soldier after soldier to their death, that they didn't even use names, just numbers. But Zaylen answered to the name when called, and never showed any type of resentment or awkwardness to their comrades. At least from whatever expressions could be parsed through their motions, given the gas mask they wore and never, ever took off.

“Does that mask ever get uncomfortable? Or sweaty?” Mike figured he wasn't getting much in terms of replies from them, but it was worth the shot.

To his surprise, the Krieg soldier actually shook their head.

“Must be good quality, huh?” This time it was a nod, which delighted Mike.

“Well congratulations, soldier. You actually managed to hold a conversation together.” Jaz didn’t look up from her whittling .

“Right? We're already becoming buddies.” As if to agree, somewhat, with his words, Zaylen shared a piece of dried up jerky with Mike. “Oh my! What a treat!”

He ate eagerly, sitting next to the bonfire he'd built to warm up their bodies and power packs. One by one the others tossed theirs in, joining in with Mike's, charging up to be used.

“So, does anyone know any good bedtime stories?” Mike felt it was likely Jaz would punch him if he didn't shut up soon enough.

Instead they were both laughing as his question was answered by the loud snoring of the soldier already deep in their slumber. Even Zaylen seemed to shake with mute laughter.

“Alright, perhaps I'll just eat my meat in silence.” He continued.

“Following on Zaylen’s example? About time.”

“Oh you wish.” Then, before he could continue joking the Krieg soldier shot a hand up.

It was a particular military gesture to denote silence. So fast it had been that the urgency in it was crystal clear, so both of their comrades obeyed. No one within the squad outranked the rest on paper, and Zaylen was not the one with the most seniority, but when another soldier tells you to shut up while you’re scouting, you do as told.

Jaz carefully put her trinket down, gripping her knife tightly. Mike did something similar, pulling out his smaller laspistol from the holster on his left side. Whoever it might have been, clearly they've been waiting until they had tossed their ammunition away, leaving their lasguns empty.

“A smart fella, huh?” Mike signed with one hand, which he figured felt like talking with half his face numb.

Both Jaz and Zaylen nodded, the latter walking towards Yue to wake them up with a needler for them already in hand. But then it was Jaz that noticed it.

“Movement, camouflaged.” She signed with one hand too, opting for simpler phrasing to save on time.

Mike cursed under his breath, they all had their helmets off and even then, only Yue’s had heat vision. Zaylen couldn't see much through theirs, but their hearing was almost that of a nostraman crag cat.

As such, they moved just in time for a whistling gust of cutting wind to miss them. It would have slashed Yue's arm too, were it not for the fact they weren't as deep in slumber as Mike previously thought.

Both of them took their distance, Yue rolled away from their improvised cot on the ground and Zaylen was already pointing their laspistol out, looking for a target.

“Find cover!” Jaz yelled, doing away with any pretenses of a stealthy escape.

The group stood up and scattered, trained to do so whenever facing an enemy that was hunting them down. Mike threw himself behind a fallen pillar, with Jaz doing the same on a nearby wall said pillar used to be connected to.

Zaylen leaned on a pile of junk that was once a road wheeler, looking through the gap where a window used to be. Yue, ever the pragmatist, found a staircase that was whole enough to not break into pieces as soon as they put their weight on it. With the expertise of an acrobat, they threw themselves up to the first floor of the building it was connected to, hiding behind a sturdy wall. As soon as they did, another whistling slash cut down the stair which fell apart in a loud set of clanks.

“I think that was echoey, don't you think Jaz?” Mike gestured, proud to be able to joke while following protocol.

For her part, Jaz didn't even dignify his words, instead ignoring them to continue communicating with the rest of the squad in battle-sign.

“Does anyone have eyes on the target?”

“Negative.” Replied both Yue and Mike.

“Xenos.” Answered Zaylen. “Not just camouflaged, but wholly invisible.”

“Invisible? What kind of Tyranid turns invisible?” Asked Jaz, already exasperated at how quickly things had turned sour.

“I know!” Gestured Mike, once again proudly. And then proceeded to sign each letter so the whole team would know. “L-i-c-t-o-r.”

“What is that?” Asked Yue.

“And how would you know that?” Continues Jaz.

“Hey, I like to read!” Gestured Mike, showing his offense to that comment in both facial expression and signing. “And we need to know what we're up against.”

“Alright, what is a Lictor?” Jaz was making the effort to keep signing with the one hand, never letting go of her knife.

“Big stealthy Tyranid hunters. Sharp appendages, saw-like claws. Chameleonic skin and are so fast you couldn't see them coming even if they were visible.” It was difficult to sign some of those words, for once Mike was thankful that their drill Sargeant had drilled into their heads to learn battle-sign properly. Pun intended.

“How big?” Was the last words Jaz managed to sign before said sharp appendages cut through the pillar Mike was hiding behind.

He screamed and rolled away before suffering any damage, but as if it could read Jaz’s mind the creature that was hunting them showed itself fully.

It was massive, taller than two of themselves standing on one another, and twice as wide from shoulder to shoulder. Covered in thick plates all over its back, and head. All of it was sharp, including the long tongue that whipped out a grinning maw.

“Fuck that thing is ugly.” Yelled a frustrated Jaz. “Is it smiling?!”

“Yes,” Mike was trying to stand up, covered in dust and gripping his gun. “They're smarter than most Tyranids, and they're even individuals. As in…”

“Yes, yes. Not connected to the hive mind, I remember.” She was focused on the thing, studying it.

It seemed to be doing the same, but on a different level. As if she was a cornered rat trying to find out how to kill a tiger that barely acknowledged her as a toy to pass the time with, not even food.

“You know, they’re supposed to have tentacles instead of fangs…” Once he could finally stand up, Mike noticed that Yue was trying to catch his attention.

“Weak points.” They signed, signaling to the Lictor with their head.

Mike brought a finger to his eyes, throat and armpits, all locations that weren’t covered by the thick natural armor it possessed. Then he opened his mouth to point at the back of his throat, just to cover his bases.

“Mikol!” Yelled Jaz as the Lictor dashed, not ran or leapt, dashed past Mike.

His instincts kicked in just in time to save him from being crushed by the sheer force of that creature moving towards him. But as if to mock him, it pulled out its tongue, slashing at his cheekbone and cutting off half his ear on the way.

“Fuck!” He slammed against a nearby wall, feeling his body bruising.

He had managed to get out of the way in time, but did it so fast he couldn't land against the wall in a safer way. When his eyes opened again he saw the monstrous hunter that had almost broken him, looking back and licking the blood it had taken from him.

“Guys, I think it's playing with us.”

“Definitely, that thing looks like it could kill a whole company.” Jaz was clearly getting sick of it all, and started looking for something other than a knife to fight with.

“Yeah I've heard they can kill a squad of Astartes in less than five minutes.” Mike turned to the rest of his squad, all of whom were looking at him like they wanted to kill him themselves. He felt disapproval from Zaylen too, even though he couldn't see any expression behind the gas mask. “What? It's probably not true.”

“But it can kill Space Marines?” Asked Jaz through gritted teeth.

“Oh for certain.” As if it could understand their conversation, the Lictor dashed in his direction, this time giving Mike ample time to duck and roll out of the way of its long, sharp claws.

They cut through the wall like it was paper, and just as cleanly. Then once again it grinned at them.

“Alright, new plan. Spread, we'll do tactic B-4.” Jaz began running, looking for a place to hide.

“How are we doing that with no lasguns?” Asked Mike, following her example.

“Improvise!” She yelled back.

The following minutes were a mess. Everyone but Yue, who was either lucky enough that the Lictor didn't want to hunt where they hid or that it wanted to save them for last, had to run and hide constantly.

The beast was obviously playing with them, as it was fast and deadly enough to kill all of them before they could take a breath, yet it kept cutting slow enough to allow them to run and scream in pain.

By the time they all managed to hide again, or so they hoped, it walked around in heavy steps, completely visible.

Jaz had lost two toes, Zaylen had a cut across their back and Mike had to put a rag over what was left of his ear. That monster had cut them each once, just to prove it could.

Their conversation returned to one of silence and hand signing.

“How are we executing B-4 if it's that much faster than us?” Mike was thankful he didn't need to speak, his lungs were burning after all the running.

“You were right that without the lasguns, it won't be a proper B-4.” Jaz communicated with them from the gap between two broken doors. “We can't shoot it from a distance or overwhelm it, but we can trick it and let Yue finish the job.”

“But how?!” He hoped his exasperation was transmitted through his fingers.

And on some level it did, because Jaz was clearly pissed off at that given the way her eyes were wide open and nostrils flared.

“We improvise! If this place has nothing useful we'll have to use what we have on us!”

“Like what?!” Mike almost yelled that out loud.

“I have explosives on me.” Signed Zaylen, to their now befuddled comrades. “Sorry, I didn't mention it before. I was busy running.”

Jaz nodded and was about to say something more when the two doors at her sides were cut vertically in half. One cut each, in an unnecessary display of deathly precision and speed.

She leapt backwards, slashing at the air and hoping that would dissuade the Lictor from finishing the job.

“Use them!” She finally screamed, hoping her comrades understood she was talking about the explosives.

Mike made a choice. B-4 required the lasguns to overwhelm an enemy, with explosives working in a pinch. Problem was, one way or another, the team needed to get the enemy’s attention, or else whatever method they used wouldn’t work. Usually, it’d be easy to have them focus on one or two targets, but quick and smart as the Lictor was, that wouldn’t work. Unless Mike acted as he did at that moment. He had to, after all he was the new guy, the alien out of place, the soldier out of time. If he didn’t do anything then and there then what was the point of being sent all the way here? Of the hundreds of years lost. No, he couldn’t stay idle.

“Hey, bugface!” He yelled as he jumped onto what was left of an old metal desk. “Lookie here!”

The fact that Lictors often had tentacles instead of a fanged maw meant that this one was some sort of variant. That gave the soldier an idea. If this one had been designed, as it were, to chomp at an enemy instead of trapping their heads, and was so eager to hunt prey much more than to collect genetic material, then it must have been made by its hive fleet with individuality in mind more so than a standard of its species.

A long way to say, it would have preferred to find a “worthy” prey more than something that had any genetic value to its hive. So Mike showed his own cybernetic enhancements, those well hidden underneath his uniform, that made sure to keep his body going in the event of system failure. A novelty imposed on him by the Adeptus Mechanicus back home, right before being shipped.

It was a grey and silver mess of pulsing organs replacing the originals, covered by a translucent film instead of skin. It was ugly, and made him feel very self-conscious. It also made him difficult to kill, unless it was hit directly.

Mike hoped the Lictor would guess as much, and he was proven right. Before he could pull his shirt down, the grinning monster dashed in his direction, trapping him in its long claws like a nostraman condor, sinking its flesh hooks into his mechanical innards.

It could have split him in two, but lucky for him, it wanted to get up close. And very personal.

“Agh, Throne of the Emperor, your stench is hellish.” He tried to pull away, and the bastard must have been able to understand low gothic because it purposefully opened its mouth and let a hot, fetid breath out.

“Oh my…you having fun?” In response the monster squeezed, making the soldier feel the sharp blade like claws cut his uniform and dig into his skin. “Well, I hope you don’t mind a third.”

In a flash Jaz was on top of the creature, mounting its back for long enough to stick her knife deep into its neck, up to the hilt.

The monster roared in pain, dropping Mike while his comrade jumped away. As the Lictor trashed around bleeding from the wound, he knew what the next step in the dance was. He rolled away on the ground, thankful that he couldn’t feel the pain from the hooks being janked out of his torso, until he was behind a desk. He pushed it down, putting it in between him and the Tyranid.

Right on time for Zaylen’s krak grenades to get under it and blow it away, through the nearby wall. Mike’s ears were ringing, and he thanked the God Emperor that his choice on shield had been able to withstand the blast.

“Must be a high quality desk…” He wasn’t sure if anyone heard him, including himself.

When he managed to hear again the first thing to hit his ears was screaming from Jaz.

“The fucker is still alive!”

He peaked over the block of metal that protected him from the explosives, seeing the Lictor strand up. Its belly was a mess, but whatever entrails it had weren’t spilling yet, one of its bigger claws had been blown apart, and it was bleeding profusely from its neck.

Usually this would be the end, any Tyranid would turn around and leave, return to the hive and provide as much genetic material as possible before collapsing dead or, with any luck, be healed to be sent back out. But this new friend they had made was special, its individuality made it stubborn and more importantly, resentful. When it turned to look back at them, its bloodshot eyes were full of boiling rage.

Mike had seen that look before in enemies, bullies, and on his own father’s face, right after the doctors gave him three months left. Before he spent all of their savings on booze and all of his strength in beating him and his brothers. It said “I am taking you down with me, motherfuckers.”

“I think we really pissed it off…” Said Jaz, standing up, looking at it face to face, adjusting the blood red bandana on her forehead.

The Lictor replied in kind, clearly weakened by the bloodloss, but not by much. Its head cocked to the side, one of its eyes twitched as did some of its smaller claws. But it could banish easily enough and like that weird old myth from Terra, it disappeared like a grinning cat.

“Jaz, its coming for you, get away-”

“No! Hide, Mikol. Wait until it gets me and then-” Years of instinct kicked in.

In her home planet of Catachan, Jazmín was used to surviving the worst. The worst weather, the worst lands and especially the worst predators. To her, this monster was just the biggest and meanest of them, but she had proven time and time again she could survive them. It was not determination, not pride, nor training, but the simple habit of a life in the worst jungles of all the galaxy that saved her. For she couldn’t see the Lictor, but could practically feel it. The air it pushed away as it moved, the weird scent of its blood and how it dripped on the broken concrete, the weight of its body and the heat that came off it. It all gave it away, even before she could consciously think about it. She ducked and rolled, getting out of the way as the flesh hooks came for her.

Or so she thought, because unlike the hunters back home, this one was intelligent as a human if not more, and just as sadistic. It showed its ugly face again, to make sure Jaz could see that she had dodged a fake attack. The blade that came down on her like a guillotine was expecting her to move as she had, coming down in an arc to deal the fatal blow at a longer range.

But before it could cut, Mike had thrown himself on the way, pushing his comrade away just in time for the claw to cut him cleanly in half. When his torso fell to the ground, it felt odd. He turned himself around to see his legs, still attached to the waist, twitching on the other side of the thin blade that separated them. Then he saw how the so-called blessings of the Omnissiah did their work, closing his wounds with that strange translucent film, flooding his system with adrenaline and pain inhibitors. It was weird, alien, but better than dying.

“I guess I don’t want that sick metal claw now…” He mused, while noticing a third thing.

An angry, nay, furious Lictor standing over him, bringing its claw back up.

It was clear that even if it was dying, the monster was done with them. They had all so far survived only because it kept underestimating them. It went at them too slow, showed itself too much or didn’t strike as deadly a blow as he could. But not anymore, Jaz and Zaylen knew they wouldn’t be able to act before it finished Mikol for good and he knew it as well.

He was already thinking of the irony of this death, how he’d been saved from a gruesome demise right before being taken down by another. Then they all heard a whistle.

The Tyranid stopped, looking up to Yue, hanging from a broken but still firm pipe that stuck from the side of a building. They had found the perfect position to angle themselves so that they could point at the monster from high. It couldn't leap at them before they could pull the trigger of the gun in their other hand.
But then, why call its attention? It's what they all thought right before Yue answered their burning question by shooting at the Lictor right through the eye.

It stood firm for a moment. Still, unmoving, before falling to the ground in a very loud thud.

“Oh Yue I could kiss you!” Yelled Mike, perhaps much louder than he intended.

“Sorry bud, you’re not my type.” They said with a smile before coming down from their position.

“That Cadian training sure is something.” Signed Zaylen to them, before both bumped their fists together.

Jaz ran to Mike, all of them pushing both halves of their comrade together.

“You goddamn idiot, why did you do that?” She yelled.

“Well, if it was going to hit one of us, better me than you, right?” He laughed, in fact, he giggled. “Oh man, these chemicals are something, huh?”

“What can we do to uh…” Tried to ask Yue.

“Oh just push me back together, if my legs aren’t too messed up I should stitch myself up…in some days.”

“Days?! Oh Mikol…” Jaz seemed like she was going to do what the Lictor couldn’t and just finish him up.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Whatever, come team, let’s make up something with which we can either carry him or keep him in place.”

Both Yue and Zaylen nodded, but before they left the Krieg Korp pointed to the fallen monster before signing to Mike.

“It fell really loud, no?”

“Yeah!” Then they signed a word Mike couldn’t recognize. “Uh, sorry it may be the drugs but…what?”

So then Zaylen spelled it.

“E-c-h-o-e-y.” Mike blinked then bursted out laughing.

“I knew it!”

• New story is out! Been a while since I've done some fanfiction. Been reading the Only War TTRPG handbook and while I'm not liking the system much I am craving some Imperial Guard stories. And for the standards of WH40K this is quite light hearted lol!  I also added links for everyone to have some idea of the stuff that is discussed within the story, either to have an overview or a wiki deep dive. Enjoy!