Terra Aeterna: The Rise of Humanity's War Machine

Chaos in the Civilian Shelter – Eastern Zone, Hive Precincts

The clanking of metal boots echoed closer. But before anyone could tell whether they heralded rescue or death—

"KRAK-KRA-BOOM!"

An explosion rocked the eastern wall of the Vault. The outer structure crumbled instantly. Dust and fragments of concrete blasted into the air, red emergency lights flickering through the cracks. Alarms howled, but they couldn't drown out the screams.

> Civilians:

"RUN! RUN EAST! THEY'VE BREACHED THE VAULT!!"

The blast door no longer functioned. The crowd surged in blind panic, pushing, shoving, screaming. Amid the chaos, Alina and Elina were torn from their mother's grasp.

Still clutching each other tightly, the two girls looked around in wide-eyed panic. In Alina's hand, the little green Space Marine plush was clenched tightly, like a warding charm.

> Elina:

"Sis… where's Mom?"

> Alina (gasping):

"She said… east. We have to run east. The Space Marine promised he'd come..."

They ran—small, nearly invisible in the flood of fleeing bodies. Tears streamed down their cheeks, but they kept moving. Fear held at bay by the fragile hope of a child's faith.

Somewhere behind them, Saraphina realized her children had slipped away. She broke through the crowd, crying, screaming—and finally caught a glimpse of them ahead.

> Saraphina:

"ALINA!! ELINA!! RUN!!!"

With a strength only a desperate mother could summon, she reached them, scooping both girls into her arms. Together, they fled toward the exit, swept up in the retreat led by battered local defense forces.

But fate had other plans.

"CLACK-CHHH!"

From the wreckage, a Zeraphari strike unit emerged—tall, sinewy creatures with glistening bluish skin and deep-sea fish maws lined with serrated teeth. One of them laughed, leveling an organic net-gun that reeked of brine and rot.

> Zeraphari Mercenary:

"Haha! Look what we've got here! Three little humans! A fine gift for the Commander!"

Saraphina didn't hesitate. She knew exactly what kind of weapon that was—a slaver's snare. With tears on her cheeks and love burning beyond logic, she shoved her daughters backward.

> Saraphina (shaking, crying):

"Alina! Elina! Run! Mommy will come for you… I promise… wait for me, sweethearts!"

"WHUMP!"

The net fired.

Saraphina was yanked to the ground, her body instantly wrapped in hardening bio-fibers. She managed one last look at her daughters, frozen in horror.

> Zeraphari Mercenary (mocking):

"What a shame… I'd have loved you. But my boss has other plans. You're gonna make one hell of a killer, sweetheart."

He tossed her into a bio-transport pod, locking her inside a reeking ammonia bubble. His eyes scanned the rubble, searching for any stray family members.

> Zeraphari Mercenary (shouting):

"Hey—kids! Come back—!"

Too late.

From the smoke and ash, an Astra Militarum soldier appeared. Armor scorched, face bloodied, he didn't hesitate. He grabbed the screaming girls and sprinted backward, retreating with the rest of the evacuees heading east.

> Alina & Elina (sobbing):

"Mommy!! Don't leave us!! You have to survive!! The Space Marine promised he'd save us!!"

Their cries tore through the smoke-filled air, echoing off Hive walls that were beginning to collapse. But there was no turning back.

Because in the Imperium… there is no time to grieve.

Not even for a mother's sacrifice.

---

Lord Caliburn du Lac Lancelot—a battle-hardened noble from the feudal world of Virelion, who had fought since the Emperor's First Crusade through the dark days of the Horus Heresy as part of the original Imperial Army—was handpicked by Inquisitor Drex Cindar to lead a critical mission: destroy the enemy's armored vehicles. The objective was simple but deadly—use anti-tank weapons and exploit the complex labyrinth of Hive Precincts to trap and annihilate the Zeraphari armor divisions and the mercenary scum of GloryPork.

> Caliburn du Lac Lancelot

"We move in pairs. One plants the melta bomb directly on the target. The other waits... for the right moment to finish it from afar. The one planting the bomb is probably going to die. But their death will mean something."

He raised an old, battle-scarred rocket launcher—an odd relic from another age—and held it up for his squad to see.

> Caliburn du Lac Lancelot

"M57 Individual Rocket Launcher. Designed back in the day to be issued to every soldier of the Imperium. Simple weapon—one shot, one blast. But with a melta charge in the mix? Even those rust buckets the pig-men call tanks won't survive."

One soldier picked up the launcher and waited for the signal. The moment his partner sacrificed himself to plant the melta charge, the rocket soared through the rubble-filled corridor. The result: one enemy tank destroyed, along with the squad of infantry hiding behind it.

Caliburn tossed the now-empty launcher to his son—a young recruit in the special forces squad—and retrieved another melta charge from his belt.

> Caliburn's Son

"Father! What are you doing?! Do you want to die?!"

> Caliburn du Lac Lancelot (with a faint smile)

"You fool of a boy. Your father's just heading to the Golden Throne a little ahead of schedule. I'll make sure there's a place waiting for you."

With their orders clear, the small team moved independently. Hive Precincts, a maze of tight corridors, spiraling staircases, and sewage ducts, became the stage for precision ambushes.

The Zeraphari mercenaries cursed and panicked, trapped inside unfamiliar terrain.

> Zeraphari Soldier

"Damn it! This place is a goddamn maze! Where the hell's the exit?!"

They had assumed humanity would fall back and surrender. But this Hive was not neutral ground—it was home turf.

One of the GloryPork tank operators, a grotesque anthropomorphic pig with a helmet too small for his fat head, began to panic.

> GloryPork Soldier

"Move! Follow me! We gotta... a-arrgh!"

The remaining infantry had already fallen back, hiding behind their own heavy tanks. Ironically, the metal beasts that once offered security were now a trap.

> GloryPork Soldier (trembling)

"Tank... you and me, we're friends, right? Right?"

On the other side of the tank, Lord Caliburn was already in position. He watched quietly, then muttered to himself.

> Caliburn du Lac Lancelot

"My son... may you grow up faster than I did."

He kissed the Aquila hanging on a chain around his neck and bowed his head briefly.

> Caliburn

"Holy Emperor... grant that I am worthy to stand before You when the end comes."

Then he sprinted from the rubble, a lone figure rushing toward the enemy tank. There were no enemy infantry to the left or right—they were all cowering. He found it odd, but had no time to dwell on it. With a practiced hand, he slapped the melta bomb on the tank's flank and triggered the countdown.

> Caliburn (thinking)

"What the hell? They're all hiding? Cowardly pigs..."

He turned and ran, diving back toward his son's position. He grabbed the discarded M57 launcher, aimed swiftly, and—BOOM!—fired just as the melta charge detonated.

The tank and the nearby GloryPork troops exploded into a rain of shrapnel and roasted flesh.

> Caliburn

"We worried too much. Their way of fighting... it's nothing compared to the tragedies we've endured."

Meanwhile, the main forces of the Imperium surged forward. Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of noble militias stormed Hive Precincts. Environmental traps and urban combat tactics became the key to their push.

A Zeraphari officer in the rear lines saw his forces unraveling. He shouted, trying to rally his men.

> Zeraphari Officer

"DO NOT FALL BACK! HOLD THE LINE!"

But the Formicari and GloryPork troops had already lost morale. The urban warfare was too tight for their armored vehicles to be effective, and humanity was exploiting every inch of it.

Elsewhere, a Zeraphari commander named Porkim watched through a glowing holographic display. Despite the disaster unfolding at the front, he wore a satisfied smile.

> Porkim

"Hmph. Then there's only one way."

He turned toward a holding cell where captured humans were imprisoned.

> Porkim

"Are you ready, human? The Dominion of Vha'rexx will rise again... and Xar'zelun Prime will be the first stone in our return to Outer Rim dominance."

----

Amid the vast emptiness of space, a star destroyer-class assault vessel carved its way through the stars, bearing the Emperor's sacred mission. Aboard were the elite warriors of the Salamanders Legion, led by none other than Captain Sa'kan himself, on course for a distant colonial world shrouded in darkness: Vultaria Magna IX.

Alongside them marched units of the Astra Militarum and a rare detachment of loyalist Death Guard—those few who had resisted corruption and remained steadfast to the Golden Throne. Their mission was clear: rescue and retribution.

Inside the ship's main command center, the voice of the ship's officer rang through the internal vox system.

> Ship Officer

"All personnel and strike forces, attention. Destination: Vultaria Magna IX. Prepare warp engines—we must arrive without delay."

> Astra Militarum Officer (firmly)

"Understood, Commander. Ground forces are ready on your order."

The officers in black uniforms—members of the Segmentum Solar Fleet—began plotting the warp trajectory. In the passenger deck's dim crimson glow, Captain Sa'kan stood before a small portable altar, its aquila faintly glowing in the half-light.

In his hand, he held a crumpled letter—handwritten by two young girls who had once sent word from their colony. In the letter, they wrote that if their world was ever attacked, the Space Marines would surely come to save their mother... and her twin daughters.

He read the letter slowly, word by word, before bowing deeply and beginning to pray.

> Sa'kan (softly)

"Holy Emperor... protect those children. Let this ship reach them in time, and let us repay their pain with holy fire."

Beside him sat a loyalist Death Guard legionnaire—his armor a dull, mossy green, marked by the Aquila, not the foul symbols of Chaos. He sat motionless, like a great stone in a storm.

> Death Guard Legionnaire

"Sa'kan."

He drew a long combat knife—its blade etched with ancient runes, stained by the blood of countless foes—and handed it over.

> Death Guard

"I took this from one of the tyrants I cut down. Now it's yours. I give you everything... except my death."

Captain Sa'kan accepted the weapon in silence, securing it against the heavy plates of his ceramite belt.

> Sa'kan

"The Emperor will guard you. And His people. Even if it must come through our sacrifice."

As Sa'kan turned to rise, his eyes fell upon a young Astra Militarum soldier checking his weapon nearby. The boy was clearly nervous but focused. Sa'kan approached him, his voice low and thunderous.

> Sa'kan

"What's your name, brother?"

The young man straightened up, though his frame was dwarfed by the towering Space Marine before him.

> Kort

"Kort, Tactical Squad Sergeant, Fourth Company, Deathwatch Guard, sir."

He responded crisply, loading bolter rounds with steady hands trained for war.

Sa'kan observed the youth for a moment. In his eyes, he saw hope. The fire of unenhanced humanity, standing tall at the edge of galactic annihilation.

> Sa'kan

"Kort... don't die in vain. You will see our fire burn through the hell that grips that world."

The warp drives began to rumble. Alarms flared to life. Lights blinked in a steady rhythm—signaling the imminent warp jump.

Toward Vultaria Magna IX... and the blood-soaked battle that would decide the colony's fate.