| rdfs:comment | - When the Ice World of Shadrac came under attack by the Tyranids, the 10th Slavok Regiment of the Imperial Guard was deployed to stop the deadly xenos. Their efforts proved insufficient, and one standard month after their deployment, Poul Marlin gathered the two score survivors of his regiment together and led them in a retreat toward the nearest Imperial outpost. Having lost all contact with their superiors, proceeding on foot through the deadly frost and with their food rations critically low, the Slavok soldiers were demoralised, but Sergeant Marlin kept them going, putting on a facade of optimism to prevent his men from despairing and simply laying down to die, carried away by the gentle but deadly hand of hypothermia.
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| abstract | - When the Ice World of Shadrac came under attack by the Tyranids, the 10th Slavok Regiment of the Imperial Guard was deployed to stop the deadly xenos. Their efforts proved insufficient, and one standard month after their deployment, Poul Marlin gathered the two score survivors of his regiment together and led them in a retreat toward the nearest Imperial outpost. Having lost all contact with their superiors, proceeding on foot through the deadly frost and with their food rations critically low, the Slavok soldiers were demoralised, but Sergeant Marlin kept them going, putting on a facade of optimism to prevent his men from despairing and simply laying down to die, carried away by the gentle but deadly hand of hypothermia. The Tyranids would not let them die so easily, however, and the survivors soon found themselves under attack by fast-moving swarms of Rippers and Hormagaunts. Poul Marlin led his troops in a running defense, keeping his men moving, and they managed to beat back the small swarm while losing only two of their own. Things still looked grim, however, for the Tyranids had their scent, and the humans would soon have to stop for the night. Marlin gathered his men at a rocky outcropping, and made them form a half circle. Expecting this to be their last stand, the Slavok soldiers ate their last food and burned their last fuel, waiting for the Tyranids to close in for the kill. When their last fuel burned out, the humans commended their souls to the Emperor of Mankind as total darkness fell. Yet, instead of hearing the hisses and chitinous creak of moving Tyranids, the survivors were deafened by the loud bark of Bolter fire. The bewildered Guardsmen peered into the surrounding darkness, catching glimpses of giants in grey Power Armour slaughtering the Tyranids through the stroboscopic effect of their Bolters' muzzle flashes. No Tyranid managed to reach the sheltering humans, and when hours later the sun rose, the astonished Guardsmen could only stare at the slaughterhouse scene that confronted them. The frozen plain was littered with blasted, exploded or eviscerated Tyranid bodies. But of their Astartes saviors, there was no sign.
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