Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker (Warhammer 40,000) by Steve Parker

Author:Steve Parker [Parker, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2019-05-04T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-seven

Solarion squeezed the trigger.

His rifle kicked.

One moment, the Fireblade leader was standing on the wall, yelling and barking like a mad dog, frantically trying to coordinate his squad’s fire on the Stormraven overhead. The next moment, he had no mouth to yell with. The round obliterated his lower jaw and then punched through the back of his neck with such force that it tore the skull free. The body dropped to its knees, then pitched forward, landing awkwardly, limbs at angles, hands still gripping his carbine.

The fire warriors on either side of their slain leader roared in grief and rage and redoubled their efforts to shoot down the gunship. Two of the xenos brought forward rail rifles, easily spotted by their long barrels. Pulse carbines and pulse rifles couldn’t do much against the Storm­ravens, but if a rail round struck an engine or a fuel line…

‘Brace for missile evasion!’ shouted the pilot over the vox.

Solarion grabbed a grip-rail on the inner rim of his hatch. The Stormraven pitched left violently. Had the Ultramarine been a second too late to grab on, he’d have rolled straight out the far side.

The missile screamed by him, missing the Stormraven by a scant three metres. The pilot, angered by the close call, dipped the craft’s nose and unleashed the fury of its heavy-bolters. Rounds stitched the courtyard, cutting down a dozen t’au infantry, but the Crisis Battlesuit that had fired the missile was already on the move, leaping to cover on bursts of blue flame from its back-mounted jump jets.

As the Stormraven levelled out, Solarion sighted down his scope, zeroed in on one of the t’au with the rail rifles and squeezed off another perfect shot. The round took the target in the chest, hitting like a meteor.

Without halting to take satisfaction, Solarion aimed at the other rail rifle wielder. He was about to make the kill when Reaper Two lurched high into the air.

‘Brace!’ shouted the pilot. ‘Missile locked onto us!’

‘Damn it!’ cursed the Ultramarine.

‘Launching countermeasures!’

There was a great blinding burst of flares and irradiated chaff. The missiles swerved away from the Stormraven, giving its occupants a moment of relief.

‘Bring us around on that bastard,’ raged Solarion. ‘Get me an angle! We have to stop those XV8s!’

‘They’ve split up, my lord,’ replied the pilot. ‘We’re taking fire from direct front and far right. We have to keep moving.’

‘Then move! But get me a line on one of them so I can make the damned shot before they take us out!’

Zeed made ready to drop from Reaper Three onto the roof of the south block with five of Copley’s killers. At this point, Chyron was still attached by magna-grapple to the back of the Stormraven, so the Raven Guard and his stormtroopers were forced to drop from side hatches only.

Before Zeed leapt, he turned and looked at Voss, who, with Chyron and his own fire-team, would drop into the courtyard to assault the armoury.

‘No rounding up, paper-face!’ said Voss with a grin. ‘Confirmed kills only.

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