The Zoo Marines (Patreon)

A completely gratuitous mashup to Warhammer 40,000.

“We are the Gods of the New World Order,
We are the Soldiers, the Legion of Light,We are the Center, the Depth of the Sun,Fire and Flame, We Are One.”

   “It is folly to stay,” the fox said, faintly glowing green eyes staring out over the remains of what had once been a mighty fortress standing before the great city of Zootopia. Around him stood the last remaining defenders of the Golden City, none of whom looked at all pleased with his presence or his words. “What you call a bastion is hardly a mound of dirt topped with fodder for the Savages.”

   “What your cowardly kind considers folly, the brave consider an honor, Eldar,” the heavily armored buffalo rumbled, his voice somehow tight with anticipation of the coming battle and dismissively bored. Then the same voice rose when he turned it to the Marines around him and the fox. “What the faithless consider pointless, we consider an honor! Our purpose, our salvation, comes from knowing without question that we are righteous in our cause and divine in our strength. For three months, this Company of one-hundred has held this ground against relentless onslaught from those who wish to taint this great city. We have suffered loss and our numbers have dwindled until you, my faithful Zoo Marines, are all that remains of our once mighty Chapter.

   “But we have shown these savages the cost of those losses in the countless bodies of our foes that blanket the field of battle from the Burrows to the Meadowlands. For every one of us that has fallen, we have taken one thousand! Because though we are told that there is no greater honor than death in service, in truth it is to know that you have taken more than your share of the enemy with you in service of your Chapter, in service to Mammalkind, and in service to Zootopia!”

   “That was a fine, if typical speech from one of the Faithful,” the fox murmured, folding his arms across his own lightly armored chest as the eyes of the many mammals around him glared at him. It was no secret to him that none among them trusted him. The animosity between the Eldar and the Imperium had long been… Strained. Their disquiet around him was obvious and the resentment in their eyes was to be expected. All except the eyes of one. The deep lavender eyes of the smallest Zoo Marine ever to engage in battle, a bunny far too adorable to be as battle-hardened as she was, watching him with that odd sort of affection that they shared. “But that doesn’t change the fact that our chances are slim, Captain.”

    “Then why do you remain?” the bulky, hard-faced tigress beside Bogo asked with a contemptuous snort. “What have you to gain, fox?”

    “If we survive,” he began, grinning at the wide eyes of the bunny who seemed to know exactly what he was going to say, “I intend to express my appreciation for that survival by seeing what our dear Inquisitor looks like out of her cloak.”

     There were murmurs of disgust and even threatening growls from those around him, ever as the bunny they all knew he spoke of managed to blush. Funny. He had been sure that Inquisitors had all lost the ability to experience anything more than bloodlust and zealotry until he’d met this one. All sound died with Bogo raised one armored hoof, his eyes never leaving the fox.

    “Were one so holy as she even willing to do such a thing with the likes of you,” he began, his eyes narrowed even as they all felt the ground start to rumble. The enemy would soon be upon them. “I would demand a sacrifice. Proof that you’re more than what I see now. One-thousand dead Savages, by the time the noon-time sun shines above our heads.”

    “One-thousand?” the fox said, tilting his head silently as he looked down at the bunny. As much as the blush was adorable, the rumble of the ground and the distant sounds of war drums had her preparing herself like the others. Her autobolter in paw, an expression on her face that was something between serious concentration and righteous anticipation of the coming battle. It only caused him to grin as he drew his sword, allowed to join their ranks on what would either be the final stand of this Chapter or the salvation of their Golden City.

    “I’ll give you two-thousand.”

—————————————–

“To be a mammal in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of savage gods.” Unknown