''Report officer, I need to know what the hell is happening with my ship'' Captain Somers growled

''Shields are down to 35% and falling fast, sir. Hull breaches on multiple Levels, Life support is offline in decks 2, 5, 8, 9 and 12. Most other officers are either dead or dying''. replied the lieutenant.

''Whose left, what is the status of the engines, and the fleet where are they?''

''The only other officers that are left are myself and the Medical Officer. The engineering deck took a direct hit half an hour a go sir, everyone who was there is dead. As for the fleet...its...well its gone sir''

''Gone? specify officer, an Imperial Fleet does not simply disappear''

''Most of the capital ships were destroyed, Once we entered the asteroid field the Eldar were on us faster than we could react, the capital ships couldn't manoeuvre in the field so they were hit first, and...well...lets say that frigates weren't meant to ram asteroids. What ships were out side of the field were ordered to fall back. I don't know what has happened to them and I can't establish a link the asteroid field is causing too much interference''.

''Who is left from our squadron?''

''Just us sir''

The captain was silent for a moment, he could believe what he just heard, the 47th Imperial fleet had just been sliced in two. He had made up his mind, there us nothing save an ambush or a firing squad left for him should he retreat, and with only three officers to command a crippled ship against an entire Eldar fleet, the situation was worse than hopeless. ''Officer Lieutenant, you have preformed your duty as one would expect from a naval officer, this ship is going down and I will not be the one to command her to do so. I Therefore relinquish my command to you, tell the doctor that he is second in command and that you are first. May the Emperor watch over you both''. with that he pulled out his old bolter pistol, saluted and discharged the weapon into his mouth, killing him instantly. The Lieutenant was horrified, the man he had looked up to since his first posting, had just relinquished his command and killed himself. The ship shuddered, as if replicating his feeling. Knowing that he had to move, he ran over to a comm station, hoping to hail the doctor.

''Doctor?!''

Static and a pause, it was amazing that the internal communications system was still working considering the state of the ship.

''Yes Lieutenant?''

''The Capitan is dead, I'm in command now and your promoted to second, this ship isn't going anywhere fast, what is the status of the wounded?''

''What bloody status do you think their in? Half of them are dead, the other half are insane, I've no medical staff left because a damn shell tore into deck 12, 40 minutes ago. My recommendation, get the hell of this ship''.

''Agreed, I Just need to...'' An alarm began sounding and a dozen warning signatures went of on the control bridge cutting the Lieutenant off. Running over to see what was the problem, he stunned to see that the ship was caught in the gravitational pull of a moon. Once the engines had failed, the ship couldn't automatically correct itself, meaning that the ship had been caught in its gravity well and would break up on re-entry. Running back over to the comm link, he told the doctor what the problem was.

''Damn it. Lieutenant sound collision and then get your ass to an escape pod''

''That's a negative on that doctor, as captain, I must go down with the ship. I will do what I can to buy you and the others time. If you Survive, you are to tell High Command of what happened here. Emperor Protect you, now move.'' The comm went silent.

The Doctor, stood at the comm station for a while and then looked at his Medical Bay. Designed to hold 400 Wound, 500 had been crammed in with tens of dozens more lining the halls. Missing limbs, insanity, oxygen deprivation, burns and blindness, you name it, it was there. Now he had to leave, granted most wouldn't live to see the next few hours but he would have liked to see the ones who could have, do so. Not that it really mattered now anyway, this ship was going down and he had his orders to abandon ship. How the hell did we get here anyway? he though as he crawled through the emergency service tunnels. Oh that's right:

Pegasus IV was a planet that had once been under Eldar control, 80 years ago, the Imperium of Man had made the decision that it wanted the Pegasus system as it would give them an advantage in the nearby Ursa Minor system, unfortunately for them, the Exodite Eldar had already established themselves on the planets within the system and were damned before they would let the Imperium change that. As a result the Imperium attacked the Exodite settlements in the system, causing a war that was long in the making, the Imperium made two fatal mistakes, however. Firstly their overall military strategy was going to be based on surprise and speed, in accordance with a new strategy High Command had developed. Unfortunately, the Eldar Farseers of the near by Craftworld of Biel-tan foresaw the invasion and warned their Exodite kin, while preparing to assist in the war. Secondly, once the Land campaign began, Eldar forces (Both Exodite and Craftworld) began a bloody guerrilla war, targeting patrols, officers, storage warehouses, fuel depots, remote airfields and radar stations. Where ever it hurt Imperial movements. Matters were further complicated when Craftworld reinforcements showed up, halting the Imperial campaign. With the Land campaign being Forced into a bitter but slow retreat the High Lords of Terra sent a fleet to reinforce their troops on the ground. But as of 3 hours ago, that fleet was battered, broken and divided.

Reaching deck 6, Doctor Alexander Weber, Senior Medical officer and first Trauma Surgeon of the Imperial Frigate Grace, Knew he had little time to get off the ship. Climbing into an escape pod he felt the impact of another shell, and the ship lurched with the impact.

''Computer, seal entrance hatch and jettison escape Pod''

''Specify authorisation code''

''3870''

''Welcome Doctor Weber, scans show you are now the commanding officer of this vessel''

''What? what about LT Strauss?''

''LT Strauss was killed in action 3 Minutes ago, last known location was the Command Bridge''

''Status of the Command Bridge'' he said as he felt the clamps release the pod.

''The Command Bridge has been compromised, it was subject to direct enemy fire 3 minutes ago, as shields were offline at the time, direct hits caused multiple hull breaches. There is only one known casualty, Acting captain Ebert Strauss was killed In Action when the Bridge suffered direct hits to Starboard side''.

He felt ill as he looked out one of the escape pod windows, he could clearly see massive damage to the ship, with oxygen bleeding out into space and explosions ripping the ship in two from the inside out. ''Has there been any other escape pod launches?''

''Scans indicate that there are multiple escape pod signatures within your sector''

''How many?''

''Unknown, this panel cannot accurately predict the exact number of signatures currently received, there are over 10,000 different signatures being broadcasted''

''Thank the Emperor so of them made it''

''Alert! sensors detect hostile fighters inbound'' indeed, as he looked out the opposite window he could see shapes rounding the crippled frigate on an intercepting course.

''Identify''

''Unknown Incerceptor detected'' The VI stated

''ETA until Planet fall?''

''10 minutes''

''ETA until we are in range of their weapons?''

''5 minutes''

''Of course, computer, transfer all available power into landing thrusters and prepare for space burn''

''Order confirmed, standby, burn will commence upon your orders and will end on your orders. ALERT, SHIELDS WILL BE OFFLINE DURING BURN, SHIELDS ARE REQUIRED FOR RE-ENTRY.''

''Fire'', the pod shuddered violently as the rear thrusters propelled the pod forward.

Feanor, could clearly see the Escape pod, now, if it manually jettisoned, he could only conclude that there were Mon-Keigh in there. Not for very long however. He would see to that.

''Razor Wing fall back, I will deal with the remaining pod'' he said over his radio

''by your will flight leader'' a voice replied

Feanor propelled his craft forward in pursuit of the pod, this pod, and those inside it would meet their end just like the rest of their fleet. Arming his weapons he prepared a firing line and waited for the computer to give him a firing solution, the distance between them was closing rapidly.

''Commander, pod is now entering planetary stratosphere, scans indicate there is only one pursuing fighter''

''End Burn, reactivate shields''

''Burn ceased, shields restoring. ALERT. Suborbital decent velocity has exceeded recommended re-entry speeds, to continue travelling at this speed will result in severe injury or death, please correct accordingly''

''what is our current height?''

''...unknown, pod is descending too fast for this panel to accurately predict current height''

Feanor, was positioned directly above the pod now, he noted how fast it was traveling but paid little heed to it, his missiles were locked on ''farewell Human'' he said as he released a missile.

''Computer, Fire landing thrusters for eight seconds only...fire'' Alexander's body was slammed into the seat as the landing thrusters countered the speed and gravity of the pod, he heard something whistle past outside, then something blocked out the sun on one of the windows ever so briefly, the hell? he thought. The pod then resumed its decent. ''Suborbital velocity now within acceptable range, current height 3000 metres''.

Feanor got the fright of his life when his missile, barely missing its mark, failed to hit and the pod appeared to come straight back up at him, he instantly used evasive manoeuvres to avoid a collision, and bypassed the pod. As he had been travelling at the same speed as the pod, in order to keep up with it, the Eldar now found himself in a dive. Pulling hard on the controls, he fought to pull the nose up and come around to finish the job, he knew he was running out of room to destroy the pod from the air. Not that it mattered, a ground strike would be employed if necessary.

''When we reach 1000 metres deploy landing chutes''

''Order confirmed'' a few moments later Alexander was lurched forward as the parachutes were deployed, dramatically slowing the decent. ''Cut the chutes and land on thrusters when we can'' he said.

Feanor, coming around noticed how the pod had now deployed its parachutes, the pod, not yet in his firing line, then cut its chutes and began falling again. Feanor knew that he would have to do a ground strike, and activated his cannons. This particular Mon 'Keigh had run him around long enough.

For the third time that day, Alexander was thrown into his seat, and by now he was feeling sick, sure he had done all of this in training but he never thought that he would have to do it in real life, but then, he couldn't really blame the Eldar for their actions, not after what the Imperium had done. The Emperor himself would have looked away at the destruction caused by men. Alexander himself didn't really see the Eldar as a threat. But then again, more intelligent men than him had ordered the assault, who was he to question their orders.

Thus, he just did what he did best, patching the wounded up, giving last rites and saying prayers for the dead. But every once and a while he would sneak out and tend to the wounded suck in no-mans-land, and if he could he would bring them back, but Eldar weapons were cruel and unforgiving, many died of Blood loss, Hypothermia or were killed when Eldar Scouts found them.

Once or twice however he found a wounded Eldar, often hiding in the dark trying to remain undetected, stuck in between lines and often badly hurt. He did his best to help, he couldn't Speak their musical language and, they refused to speak his, so he worked in silence, sometimes they said things that sounded a bit like insults, other times they would be silent, save for the look in their eyes. A questioning look like ''what are you doing?'' Still those moments were rare, Eldar preferred to fight to the death, or the men of the Imperial Guard would execute the wounded when they found them…...That is of course, if the Imperial Guard survived long enough to win. Then there was the task of keeping the commissar's in the dark, if they so much as had a hunch he was doing something he wasn't meant to, Alexander would have met his end then and there. Fortunately the life expectancy of commissioners, and officers in general, was pretty low where he was stationed. A leaderless group of men was much easier to take down than one being actively directed. Medical officers are apparently exempt from that line of thought.

He also noted that Eldar bodies were surprisingly resilient, major wounds often clotting and bones showing signs of repair only a few days after the injury had been suffered. Arteries, clamped quickly and only the most grievous of wounds would cause and Eldar to bleed out.

The pod hit the ground, Alexander undid his straps and harness, and looked under his seat, all escape pods held equipment to survive, pistol, basic food rations which, if used sparingly, could last for 2 days, water for 3, thermal blanket and a Flint knife.

''Commander, your current position is Unknown as this planet is under Hostile occupation, the name of this planet is Pegasus III, known Exodite world. There are no known Imperial settlements on this world. All Xenos species are to be considered hostile''

Alexander then heard the sound of an aircraft some way off, and he concluded that it was time to move. ''Computer, open hatch then seal behind me''

''Command confirmed''

Grabbing what gear he could he before leaving, he found himself in a forest of some sort, not dense but it gave off a chilling sort of aura, it didn't help that he was still wearing his lab coat, which was as white as the clouds, and his Uniform underneath, which signalled his rank, he knew that should the Eldar want Information, an officer would probably be a good place to start. Throwing what gear he got out of the pod into his backpack he then ran to the tree line before taking his white coat off and hiding it in some bushes and remaining very still.

Feanor, saw the pod, the hatch wasn't open, which was a good thing. targeting the Pod he released a missile, causing the pod to explode in a ball of fire. As he made a secondary pass he could shake the feeling that maybe someone got out in time. He contacted one of the Bridge officers back on the carrier ship. ''Pod is destroyed, unknown if there are any survivors, recommend you sent a team of rangers to investigate''

''Of course wing leader, dispatching a team now, you are advised to return to ship, the de-briefing has already begun''

''Understood Flight control, returning now''

When the missile hit the pod, Alexander was thrown backward into a tree, everything went black for a while before he woke up. He guessed he had been out for a few minutes before he came to. Remaining still for a few more moments, he concluded that the fighter had departed, a point reinforced by the fact that he could neither hear nor see the Eldar. Retrieving his coat, knowing it would be his only source of heat, he proceeded to walk in a northerly direction, as shown the strap compass of his bag. with some luck, the Eldar would think that whoever was in the pod was now dead.

This was not to be.

Aredhel has just finished briefing her small team of Eldar rangers, a human is was thought to have survived the rout of the Human fleet and somehow made planet fall. The fighter pilot's incompetence was proven and he would be disciplined according to his rank. In any event, their job was simple, examine the wreckage for any sign of survivors if there were any, correct that mistake. Teams like hers were being deployed all over the planet, in order to reduce the risk of Human strike teams harassing the Exodite settlements. The three rangers were soon looking over the site and found that there were no Human bodies in the wreckage, or anywhere for that matter. seeing as the pod requires manual operation, she concluded that there was indeed a human around.

''Team spread out, find the Humans and eliminate them, keep in radio contact range but maintain silence, you know what to do now move out''

''Orders understood, we'll get it done'' came the reply. She paced her head to the ground and listened, the ever so distant thud of walking was barely audible and she pinned a rough location. North, walking steady, one Human and completely oblivious to what was hunting it. she took of at a steady but fast pace. She took off in pursuit, as graceful as a cat and as silent as the night.

Walking for a good five or ten minutes, Alexander couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. Ridiculous, they destroyed the pod, all we need to do now is find away off this planet he thought. though he knew damn well that it was easier said than done. Looking up, he could see a debris shower, what was left of the fleet was now entering that planets atmosphere, causing a spectacular sight. Alexander felt rather sad at that sight, he never had too many friends but the ones he did were valuable to him. Now they were probably dead, and for the first time since abandoning ship, he felt truly alone. he resumed his walk north, hoping to find a river or stream or at least a way out of the forest.

Male, tall for a Human, thin of build with black hair that was off his collar and didn't cover his ears. An officer, medical by the looks of his coat she noted as she watched him through her Long rifle scope. She readied herself and aimed down the sights, no...she couldn't shoot him from here, too far with too many obstacles, she would need to get closer. Movingly as silently as possible, she found herself a position that was good enough. Taking aim, she slowed her breathing and heart rate before pulling the trigger

Alexander, still had this horrid feeling that he was being hunted, looking around to reassure himself, he had to admit the forest was pretty creepy, particularly now that the sun was fading. Suddenly he got the worst kind of pain he ever felt at the back of his right leg. He dropped,clutching his thigh as blood began pouring out of the wound. A gash running the width of his thigh now began to pool with Blood. It was definitely deep enough to sever an artery. . He knew all to well what caused it, he had heard men scream in fear when they heard the word pass down the line: Ranger. He then threw his backpack in front of him and immediately began searching for a place to take cover. A tree to his front left was the best option. He instantly began focusing on how he was going to get their, slowing his breathing to he wouldn't bleed out. Once there he would bind his wound and get his pistol out.

Aredhel cursed herself for missing, he moved at the perfect moment, the Bullet only grazed his thigh, not enough to kill him, but clearly enough to cripple him, she could hear his cries. Reloading she took aim, not intending to miss again.

Alexander moved as fast as he could, doing his best to ignore the pain in his leg until he got to cover. He felt another bout of searing pain rip across his lower back as the sniper took another shot at him. Finally reaching the tree, undid his belt, bound his wounded leg and reached in to his bag. Grabbing his pistol he now waited, unsure of what to do next.

''Aredhel, are you there, we can hear shots are you in need of assistance?''

Aredhel let out a string of curses, she missed….. again! this time because of one of the other rangers, Lúthien. ''I'm fine, contact made, roughly 5 minutes North of original landing position''

''Coming to you''

''Don't bother I'm nearly done here, head back to the shuttle and I will meet up with you shortly. Is Maedhros with you?''

''I am here scout leader''

''Good, return with Lúthien''

''As you wish''

By the time she had reloaded for a third time, Aredhel noted how the Human had taken cover behind a tree, which meant she would have to either wait or change position. She opted for a change in position and took off down the Human's right flank.

Realizing that staying here meant he was a dead man, Alexander decided to bundle his Doctor's coat into his bag and find a better spot to hide. With his leg bandaged as best he could given the circumstances, and with the pain in his back slowly beginning to subside, he swung his pack over his shoulder and began trench crawling away from the battle. Light was now becoming increasingly scarce and there was nothing worse than being hunted in the dark. He was running out of options, without heat he would freeze, without proper attention to his leg he would bleed out.

''Aredhel, I must insist you return, we can continue this tomorrow'' Lúthien said over her ear link

''No, our orders were clear, we are to eliminate the Human''

'' We will, but hunting in the dark will get you nowhere. Besides you already said that you hit him twice, so he may as well be dead'' replied Maedhros

''I will stay'' Aredhel said.

''If you stay you risk freezing, the Farseer will understand, please while there is still some light''. Lúthien counted.

''We will return tomorrow Lúthien,'' replied Aredhel, seeing the other two ranger's sense.

''Of course Aredhel'' they both replied.

She paused, taking a moment to look around before jogging to return her companions.