Orphans of the Kraken (Short Story)
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| Author | Richard Williams |
| Publisher | Black Library |
| Collected in | Legends of the Space Marines There Is Only War |
Cover Description
With their Chapter all but destroyed by the monstrous tyranids of Hive Fleet Kraken, Space Marines of the Scythes of the Emperor infiltrate a tyranid bioship in search of the gene-seed of fallen battle brothers. But the deeper they get into the living vessel, the more they realise that something is wrong, and more than just deadly bio-creatures lurk in the foetid interior of the ship.
Synopsis
Sergeant Tiresias and his four neophytes board a derelict Tyranid Bio-ship as a Salvation Team, with the aim of finding any survivors of the Fifth Company of the Scythes of the Emperor. They find the remains of a number of their Chapter in a chamber with the remains of a number of slain Tyranid Bio-Titans.
The squad forges onwards towards a beacon that they are tracking, leaving the Chapter serfs to salvage equipment and materiel from their fallen brothers. They discover their comrade, Commander Cassios, in hibernation and the only known survivor of Fifth Company. They recover him back to their ship, whereupon he convinces the Neophytes that the Tyranid ship is not dead, that it is creating another ship. Tiresias, the Neophytes and Cassios then board the Tyranid ship through the birthing chamber, advancing to the new ship, entering and destroying its heart, with only Tiresias surviving, to gather the gene-seed of Cassios and enter hibernation, whereupon he is discovered by another Salvation team years later.
Setting
A Tyranid Bio-ship of Hive Fleet Kraken