'and so it began...'

‘What do you mean the sky is violet, trooper?’ The senior officer bellowed at the scanner operator. In the dim green light of the screen the trooper scrutinized the data again and half turned to face his commander.
‘The sky is filled with some type of particulate matter that is causing the light to refract, well, violet sir.’ There was hesitation in his voice.
The commander straightened up and glared around the tiny operations bunker. In front of four other screens sat equally perplexed troopers. Comms have been down for 36 hours now and the small PDF fortress was on high alert. Since the order to increase to tier one of defence readiness the fortress was a hive of activity but in the ops bunker all was dim green and cogitator chirps.
‘Sir! I have intercepted comms traffic from central command and fort 125!’ The shout was tinged with fear.
‘On load speaker trooper, NOW!’ Commander and five operators strained to listen to the static filled comms transmission. Screams and pleading for help was punctuated with clam orders to give a situation report. As it ended so did the hope of the commander for reinforcements. Despite the garbled nature he recognised the sound of troops being left to die. Slowly he turned to face the door of the bunker and stalked out slamming it behind him.
A violet sky greeted him and he looked up to the heavens for some sign of salvation. Did the Emperor see this far from Terra? Could he hear his single prayer for deliverance amongst the deluge he receives every second?
He did see something fall from the sky. But it was not deliverance. Not at all.
‘Trooper, send a distress signal. ‘The simple order was the last act of the commander’s last breath. The next sound he made was a wet rending shriek.


The Lictor turned with an unnatural grace and faded into the wall as the bunker door opened.