The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Captain, why do we need to wear a cloak? It feels weird."

Stepping out of the transport, Ricas's feet landed on the dusty ground. It was hard to imagine that this place was once a lush forest, but now, as far as the eye could see, there was only desolation and the remains of buildings half-buried in the sand.

Ahead of him was the squad leader, Jacob, with Neil, another sergeant from the tenth company, on Jacob's left, and Cusackla, one of the new recruits from the same batch as Ricas, on his right.

The mysterious black transport that had dropped them off was now slowly ascending, and higher up, groups of gargoyles could be seen weaving through the spore clouds, seemingly ignoring the large black vehicle, until it became completely transparent visually, a technology that amazed Ricas.

This transport was a derivative of the Nightshade-class stealth reconnaissance craft, named the Night Stalker. From its inception, it was an equipment of the highest secret level of the chapter. Its shape was very different from the existing aircraft of the Imperium, with a more streamlined appearance, even somewhat resembling an Eldar aircraft at first glance, but its human technological characteristics were also very obvious, using a low-mounted biplane wing, with sharp edges and corners on the fuselage, inwardly inclined double fins, and a tailless delta wing with wing-body fusion, with the engine mounted at one-half of the wingspan.

The biggest feature of this aircraft was stealth. Its own firepower was not strong, with two hidden missile launchers and a hidden machine gun on the nose. Overall, the firepower was mediocre, but the material used to manufacture it came from the stealth material of the Nightshade-class stealth reconnaissance craft, and it carried a large number of jamming devices internally, which could interfere not only with electronic equipment but also with biological senses.

Another feature was its speed. Its engine also came from an STC, allowing this aircraft to fly at nearly Mach 9 in the atmosphere. As for how it remained quiet at such a high speed, that was a top-secret technology (actually, the outer shell used some solidified spirit bone material).

The main role of the Night Stalker was to carry 10 Space Marines and deliver them silently to any location on the battlefield. Simply put, it was an invisible, ultra-high-speed transport. As for why it wasn't made into a fighter jet—because it was too expensive.

Moreover, the Night Stalker was not only very troublesome to manufacture but also very demanding on the pilots, requiring them to be permanently bound to the cockpit, like a Knight Titan.

When boarding, Ricas asked Jacob how many Night Stalkers the chapter had. The answer was no more than three.

Because Jacob had only seen three.

"And this pattern, it feels like..."

Cusackla tugged at the cloak on his back, continuing to chatter. This guy was known for being talkative among the new recruits, but he was also very strong, which formed a very bad combination—a talkative person who could fight well. Many people couldn't stand his nagging but couldn't beat him either.

Hearing him say that, Ricas also felt something was off. He picked up the emerald green cloak and examined it. Its material was very unique, feeling almost like the surface of water, even showing ripples. There were no markings on it, only some patterns on the edges, mainly vines and branches. At first, he didn't think much of it, but on closer inspection, it did seem strange, a bit out of sync with the style of the Adeptus Astartes.

The key was that this delicate weaving technique had a feminine feel.

"Shut up, you're here to carry out a mission. This is a requirement, unless you want to be drowned by hordes of Tyranid bugs."

Jacob impatiently stopped Cusackla, who indeed obediently shut his mouth. After all, few new recruits hadn't been beaten by Jacob, although most of it was during training.

Neil chimed in:

"This stealth cloak is a good thing. Back when new recruits still had to serve as scouts, this thing played a big role. Many veterans survived because of it."

The four then walked to the ruins of a half-collapsed windmill and formed a circle. Jacob opened the miniature tactical display on his arm.

"Our mission this time is to find the Tyranid bio-fortress and hive. According to command's deduction, it's roughly in this direction. If we don't destroy it as soon as possible, the defensive pressure on Outpost Seven will increase. Yesterday, everyone saw that the Tyranids were already close to the defense walls. Command calculated the location of a new, more distant, and more hidden hatchery based on aerial reconnaissance and the flow of Tyranid organisms. Our outpost is the closest and bears the brunt, so we're tasked with this mission. Avoid combat if possible, find the target, report the coordinates, and then we can evacuate."

After speaking, Jacob glanced outside the shadows, where a yellow mist filled the air, and various balloon-like meat sacs that constantly expanded and contracted floated slowly at low altitude. Higher up were larger spore clusters, covered in spikes and vents, moving faster.

"Everyone must be light on their feet when moving. The Tyranids have deployed a large number of defenses in this area, including these spore mines. These are living mines that use sensitive tentacles covering their bodies to detect surrounding heat and vibrations. Once disturbed, there will be a huge explosion. This is also why aerial reconnaissance equipment and Night Stalkers can't penetrate deeply. We must also be careful. I chose you two new recruits because I see your agility and flexibility. This is also a live-fire training exercise."

Ricas and Cusackla nodded simultaneously. They were indeed lucky, as this mission only required four people, and the outpost was under great defensive pressure, so not many people could be spared. Being selected proved their abilities.

"Understood!"

"Good, everyone check your equipment now."

Although such a check had already been done on the transport, according to the battlefield regulations in the Codex Astartes, a second weapons check was required after landing during infiltration operations.

Jacob, leading the team for the first time, chose to follow the regulations. He first checked his own weapons. A plasma sword on his waist, the Broken Horned Fiend of Bakhram, which the other party insisted he bring, as well as a plasma pistol, a melta pistol, and 6 grenades, including 3 fragmentation grenades, 2 plasma grenades, and 1 concussion grenade. His primary weapon was a bolter and plasma combination weapon.

Generally, they rarely used combination weapons in combat, as the advantages and disadvantages of such weapons were equally obvious. The advantage was that they integrated the attack methods of two weapons, but the disadvantage was that they had to compromise on performance, and the weight would increase significantly.

However, the weapon he was currently using was an "experimental work," also the first finished product launched by Ulan Huda after nearly twenty years of tireless efforts under Sorkhayan's order to improve bolters.

This new type of combined bolter had a longer barrel and redesigned internal structure, "borrowing" the compact internal design of the Squat's rock bolter and using a large number of high-temperature-resistant special alloys. At the same time, it integrated the chapter's unique rapid-firing plasma weapon, but changed the position from the traditional under-barrel to the plasma firing port above the bolter firing port, and moved the heat dissipation device to the top, avoiding the problem of heat dissipation from the under-barrel plasma composite weapon affecting the user's grip in the past. Due to this series of improvements, the length of the combined bolter reached 1.5 times that of the existing standard bolter, but fortunately, the weight did not increase much. Even the arrogant Mechanicus had to admit that the design of the Hearthguard was indeed superior.

The Tales of Alligator City has been updated. Readers can go to the work-related section to view it.