Death On The Streets - Prelude : Silent Death

Trooper Feder tested his microbead as he kept his sight trained on the advancing Chaos Space Marines. Captain Fane had ordered him to take out their leader, but there was no sign of his target.

'One-one-six, this is two-oh-four, over,' he said into the small microphone hanging from his helmet.

He hated working with that cumbersome helmet. It restricted his movement and made it hard to do what he was trained to do. Resting softly in his arms, supported on the smashed timber of a windowpane was his long-las. Feder was a sniper, trained in the art of silent death.

'Two-oh-four, this is one-one-six, what is your status, over' crackled a voice over the microbead in his ear.

Feder was about to report his findings when he caught sight of a large Chaos Space Marine wielding an ornate power fist. He quietly flexed the muscles in his neck and flicked the safety of his weapon off.

'One-one-six, this is two-of-four, target acquired, requesting permission to take the shot, over.'

The trooper idly let the crosshair of his scope move back and forth over his target's kill zones. He stopped at the head as the static buzz of his microbead told him another message was coming.

'Two-oh-four, this is one-one-six, affirmative, you have permission to take the shot,' said Fane, his voice warped by the metallic sound of the tiny speaker, 'make this one count, one-one-six out.'

Slowly Feder squeezed his finger, making sure he had his sight trained on the target. He grinned as the Chaos Space Marine suddenly looked his way, warned by sunlight reflecting in his scope. It did not matter, it was too late.

'And another one bites the…'

That was as far as Feder came before all hell broke loose. Suddenly, jets of flame rose from just to the right of his target. Caught off guard by this he flinched and his shot went wild, impacting harmlessly off the wall behind the Chaos Space Marine.

'One-one-six, this is two-oh-four, that is a negative on the shot,' Feder could hardly believe what he was saying, this was the first miss in his career, 'I repeat, that is a negative on the shot, over.'

All he could hear over the microbead was frantic screaming. This was not good, not good at all. As the sniper looked through his scope to take another shot he could see that the target and his retinue were moving up towards the Guard's position.

'Time to pack my stuff up and reposition,' he mumbled to himself, folding the stock of his long-las and swinging it onto his back.

Just as he turned around he heard something inhuman, something ghostly. From somewhere beyond the great black cloud obscuring part of the Hellhound that was supporting the men came screams. They sounded human at first, but turned too high-pitched after a few seconds.

'What in the name of…'

The black cloud began to swirl and part as five monstrous bat-like creatures emerged from the dark. In the light they looked liked winged Chaos Space Marines carrying wicked chainswords.

Before he could react the screaming monsters were all over Feder. He stabbed one of them in the armpit with his bayonet, but broke it as he tried to twist it free.

The Chaos Space Marine laughed, the noise distorted by the vox built into his helmet. Drawing his arm back first he took the sniper's head off in one giant swoop with his chainsword.

The last thing Feder heard as his head tumbled towards the streets below was captain Fane screaming over the microbead, 'two-oh-four, get the hell out of there!'