The Patient Hunter

A new month means a new RIAR, and this time around the theme is "Entrapment".

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The three Devilfish sped down the winding canyon, their drivers negotiating the sharp turns with an ease born from years of practice, effortlessly dodging the large boulders that littered the ground at random intervals. The sun was at its highest in the cloudless sky and even with the shelter provided by the canyon walls the temperature was uncomfortably warm. Fortunately, his chosen position halfway out of the rear Devilfish’s roof hatch allowed shas’vre To’nel to benefit from the cooling breeze that their high speed produced. If he was honest, his decision to keep watch on the enemy was just as much to do with that as it was out of any sense of duty.

Close behind the tau skimmers the canyon floor was covered by a seething mass of tightly-packed creatures, clawing and biting at each other as they chased after the fleeing vehicles. Their powerful hind legs carried them forwards with great bounding leaps so that the horde undulated like an ocean of chitin and purple-black flesh. Vicious scythe arms slashed at the air and hideous maws drooled thick saliva between razor-sharp teeth. To’nel knew full well that if the Devilfish stopped even for a moment, the tyranids would catch them easily and the tau would be slaughtered. He sneered. The witless beasts didn’t seem to realise that the Devilfish could outpace them with ease; he had simply ordered them not to.

The shas’vre tapped a command into the control array he clutched in one hand. At once the two gun drones mounted under the forward fins of his Devilfish turned round, each unleashing a sustained burst of plasma fire into the horde. A dozen hormagaunts were killed within moments, their steaming remains trampled into the dirt by the creatures behind them who were themselves cut down in turn. After ten dec’taa To’nel pressed another button and the drones ceased firing. If he killed too many of them now, it was possible that the surviving beasts might flee, and To’nel had no wish to spend rotaa tracking the last of them down. His plan was far more efficient than that.

His comm-link chirped once. “Shas’vre, we will reach the kill-zone within three rai’kor.”

“Thank you, shas’la.” To’nel opened a link to every one of the fire warriors in the three Devilfish. “Shas’la, we are almost there. As soon as the transports come to a halt I want a swift and clean deployment by each la’rua, be ready to provide supporting fire at my command. We have lured the prey into the trap; it is time to make the kill.” Closing the link, Ton’el glanced back at the hundreds of screeching hormagaunts behind him, feeling nothing but contempt for them. These beasts were a blight upon the galaxy; they deserved no mercy and would be shown none.

Only a short distance ahead, the canyon terminated in a large open area, encircled by steep slopes of jagged rock that the Devilfish would be unable to negotiate. That didn’t matter though, since To’nel had deployed a large force of fire warriors there; several broadside teams were supplemented by a half-dozen la’ruas as well as drone turrets. He had arranged their deployment carefully to create overlapping fields of fire around the entrance to the open area. When the hormagaunts entered, they would be slaughtered by the massed firepower of the tau. If even that proved insufficient to halt them, then four waiting Orca transports would evacuate the fire warriors before obliterating the remaining tyranids from the air. Ton’el was confident that such measures would not be necessary, however. He had laid a classic trap for the enemy, utilising the principles of kauyon to perfection. The beasts were dead already; they simply didn’t know it yet.

As soon as the three Devilfish entered the open space they split up, each streaking off in a different direction and passing through deliberately-placed gaps in the fire warriors’ defensive lines before coming to a rapid halt. The ramp of his Devilfish slid down and Ton’el followed his la’rua out into the open, his pulse rifle already raised and aimed towards the entry point of the kill-zone. A swift glance told him that the la’ruas in each of the other two Devilfish had deployed in a similarly swift fashion, and Ton’el allowed himself a brief smile. Ahead, the swarm of hormagaunts spilled into the kill-zone, their pace slowing as they spread out into the open space and caught sight of the ranks of tau awaiting them.

“Deal the killing blow,” Ton’el snapped over the comm-link, and the tau opened fire as one. Volleys of plasma scythed through the hormagaunts from all sides while the railgun fire of the Broadside battlesuits punched through their bodies with ease, each slug drawing out long trails of ichor and pulped flesh behind it as it passed through body after body without slowing. Despite the scale of their losses the hormagaunts continued to push forward, individual beasts hurdling the steaming corpses of their fallen kin, desperate to close with the tau. Ton’el fired twice, and smiled as his shots blew open the head of one of the beasts. In a few moments, it would all be over.

He felt the ground tremble beneath his hooves.

The trembling intensified and several of the fire warriors around him cried out, struggling to keep their balance. Behind him he heard an immense roar, and turned just in time to see something vast punch up through the earth, shattered rock and dirt catapulted in all directions by the violence of its arrival. The towering beast shrieked again as six immense scythe-limbs unfolded from its sides. Two of them stabbed down, carving through the hull of the nearest Orca transport with incredible ease. All around him the panicking fire warriors were attempting to redeploy, broadside battlesuits ponderously turning to confront the new threat. Plasma fire began slamming into the immense tyranid, having no discernable effect. Another limb lashed out, swatting a second Orca transport to the ground as it attempted to take off. The trygon roared and slithered forward, its gaze fixed on the line of faltering tau. Behind it, Ton’el could see dozens of hormagaunts emerging from the tunnel the giant tyranid had carved. In that moment the shas’vre realised that more than one trap had been set this day.

As the shadow of the trygon fell over him and blotted out the sun, shas’vre Ton’el remembered one particular phrase that had been drummed into him when he had been trained in the way of kauyon.

The patient hunter gets the prey.