Welcome to Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum! Log in and join the community.

The Fall of Malvolion (Short Story)

From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
Jump to: navigation, search
The Fall of Malvolion
The-Fall-of-Malvolion.jpg
Author Dan Abnett
Publisher Black Library
Collected in Let the Galaxy Burn


Cover Description

For Trooper Karl Grauss, there are no better fighting men in all of the Imperium than the vaunted Mordian Iron Guard. The epitome of martial discipline and grim determination there is no a foe that cannot best with force of arms... until the tyranids. In the rich and fecund surroundings of an agri-world, Grauss and his comrades make their stand. But against this voracious xenos breed there can be no victory and as the evacuation gets underway life is measured in minutes not hours. Can he survive long enough to escape the alien menace? Can anyone?

Synopsis

Imperial forces rush to evacuate the world of Malvolion as it faces the threat of Tyranid invasion. Trooper Karl Gaus, unable to sleep because of recurring nightmares about stumbling onto a genestealer nest the week before, asks to be given a job, and is assigned to drive one of the evacuation trucks. His commander warns him that the Shadow has already fallen across the system, and it is only a matter of time before the creatures begin landing.

But it is already too late for Malvolion: the Tyranids have already landed, and the might of the Imperial Guard's soldiers and armour are useless against the sheer numbers of creatures that appear in their midst.

While driving the convoy, Gauss watches in horror as they are ambushed and overwhelmed by the advancing Tyranids. Salvation arrives when Drop pods slam into the planet and the Lamenters appear and strike back at the monsters... but less than an hour after their arrival, they are overwhelmed by the Tyranid swarms and wiped out to the last man. Seeing even the mighty Space Marines cut down like so much chaff, Gauss realizes their last hope is gone.

Wounded, he crawls into a foxhole, makes his peace with the Emperor, and prays that a similar fate will never befall his homeworld, before blowing his own head off with his laspistol.

Setting

Characters

See also

Sources