Guard fic 2.6
A few naughty words in this one Dessie, I don't know how you feel about that for Dunc.
King started, he hadn’t thought it would be that easy.
“You sure?”
“Pretty sure sir.” She replied, in a tone of voice that suggested it was only years of imperial training that was stopping her from adding either expletives or sarcasm to the reply. Leaving Rhys and Jaks to guard the door - Rhys was clearly pained from the leg wound anyway - both Commander and Lord Commissar sprinted through to where Hunter was standing staring in dumbfounded appreciation of the enormous structure before her. Of course it had to be in the administratum district: nowhere else would have had the ceiling height to house such a machine.
It was a vehicle, that much was certain, most likely a flying one. Though ancient and battered, the lines still looked sleek and it clearly had the remains of one wing still clinging to the left flank. If there had ever been doors they were buried under the bubbled layer of rust and decay that the machine had become. The colonists had begun work sanding down or taking off the rust to establish the original shape, not something King knew anything about but he would bet creds to crap that it was something that needed a full ceremony with a dozen techpriests chanting constant prayers to even attempt safely. Who knows what damage they had done to the thing?
“I don’t recognise the design.” He commented.
“No one does sir. It’s from the age of technology.” Hunter breathed, too lost in admiration to modify her language.
“The dark age of technology.” Rossaria corrected sharply.
“Well obviously.” King snapped. “Hunter, pull yourself together. There’s clearly no way we can get this thing out of here with us and with Bill gone we can’t get a homing beacon stuck on it so if those bastards find a way of moving it we’ll have to start the hunt over again. Any suggestions?”
There was silence for a long moment, until Rossaria reached into her ear to remover her comm bead, set it to open broadcast/receive so as to constantly be picking up whatever it heard and sending it out on the imperial frequency, and began to climb on the ancient structure. Dropping it through one of the broken spaces at the back which may have been windows, she smiled grimly.
“Better than nothing.”
King nodded “Should give us readings from close range, and since I don’t think they could move it far without us seeing on the aerial surveillance that might be all we need. Right, we’ve found it, we can’t do shit with it, we’ve lost at least three men so far, let’s get back to base before we lose any more.” He activated his comm bead.
“King to Tocoain. We’ve found it. Report?”
“Encountered resistance sir.” Tocoain was breathing heavily and keeping his voice low, but King could hear shouting beside him. “Casualties minimal under the circumstances. Shall we push on or rendezvous?”
“Regroup.” King replied immediately, aware of how silently grateful Tocoain would be for that order. We’re pinned down in the Consularum, can you make it round to give us a diversion?”
There was a pause. Better a considered and correct answer than automatic agreement of course, but he would have expected the man to be aware enough of his surroundings to know immediately.
“Should be able to Sir, but I can’t guarantee that we won’t bring our own problems with us.”
“Understood. Split up, get one out with the information that we found a flying vehicle from the dark age of technology in the Consularum. The rest of you get round here and we’ll take our chances together. King out.”
He looked round. Rossaria had left the room, and Jaks and Rhys were shouting at the traitors through the window. That can’t be a good combination. Swiftly but casually he picked his way across the rubble to get back to the main room. Rossaria was now speaking dangerously quietly to the troopers, who had shut up, heads down, accepting the admonishment.
“What’s the problem, Lord Commissar?”
“Two idiots giving away our position by trying to defend a corpse, Commander.”
Though King’s expression didn’t change, inwardly he sighed. Rossaria was right of course, but who could blame the guardsmen for trying to keep the traitors away from Bill? It shouldn’t make a difference how popular or likeable a comrade was, but it did. They were human, after all.
Both at least had the sense to look chastened at least, though from long experience working with Rhys he recognised the way she was pressing her thumb against her little fingertip until the skin whitened and the finger looked distorted. It was her tell for suppressed insubordination, the gesture barely noticeable and clearly non-aggressive but her way of holding herself in check. He didn’t know Jaks well enough to tell if he was doing the same, though he did note that if one looked closely you could see he had pulled the fingers of one hand out of the fingers of one glove to form a hidden fist. He noted that information for the future.
“Both of you, defaulters, tomorrow, five am.” Rossaria concluded “You two are meant to be experienced trained soldiers, not children celebrating their first las gun.”
“Yes sir.” They saluted sharply as they answered, training taking over again as they got hold of themselves once more.
“Hunter, get in here!” Looking out the window, King could see the corpses of five fallen traitors, all scattered around Bill. Those still standing had backed off for now, though that would no doubt change as soon as the door opened. King opened the comms channel so the other squad could also hear his words.
“You all will have heard what we found by now. Retrieval of the artefact is no longer an objective and so the new aim of this mission is to get that information back to HQ. This is now the single most important goal of the mission and overrides all other concerns. While any of us may fall, this information must at all costs be relayed home or all of our sacrifices are in vain. King out.”
Closing the channel, he then outlined the plan to his squad. The traitors shouldn’t have cracked their frequencies but the general channel was far more open than the command and so there was no point in broadcasting sensitive information that wasn’t necessary. Sadly he didn’t know if that was a lesson that the enemy had learned, as they had lost the channel shortly after Bill had been taken down, his equipment clearly damaged in the attack. They started to remove the barricade from the door, its purpose served as the traitors had after a few attempts to breach the building, decided to pull back and regroup. The broken face of the Emperor was, after a bit of discussion, placed reverently inside the artefact: the size of the block made it impossible for them to carry it to a more appropriate location and so they put the two things that were going to be reclaimed by the Imperium together. King pulled Rhys aside by the arm.
“Problems, trooper?”
“Bill moved sir” she replied shortly. King supressed a groan, shaking his head, but he’d led this squad through so much for so long, he felt he owed her a better answer than just shut up and do it.
“I’m sorry you saw that.” He answered honestly. “We all hope that our friends die a clean and glorious death but that’s not always possible. We cannot and will not rescue him: we will not hesitate, or stop, or do anything at all to endanger our mission. That machine could be the equivalent of an STC when we get it back to the cog boys, if they can work out how to use it it could save millions of lives. Billions. We can’t weigh the life of anyone on this planet higher than that no matter who they are. If all but one of us die getting back to base but that one carries the message, then we’ve died saving billions of lives. That’s what Bill is out there dying for, and we will not cheapen his sacrifice by jepordising those billions. The entire Imperium is an interconnected network of people all relying on each other, and today they’re relying on us. We count for nothing against that. Do you understand?”
“Sir.” She nodded quietly, then with more determination in her tone. “Yes sir.”
“Good work. Now go tell Jaks.”
Doorway cleared, they waited ready to run as soon as the opening arose. Peering amidst the broken windows they soon saw Tocoain’s squad, or at least him and the four men he still had standing. Obviously they had no way of knowing how many had been sent off to try to get word back to base but for now they must assume that this was all there was and that no message had got through. Ten left to fight their way clear, and the enemy was more alert than ever. Those weren’t odds he’d be betting on, if he had had any choice. He drew his power sword, the faint glow bringing a grim smile to his face. Between them, there were now two dozen standing traitors, half a dozen trip hazards that Jaks and Rhys had shot to protect Bill or to scare the others away, and Bill himself, who had now rolled slightly onto his side making it patently obvious that he was ordering his men to leave their best friend to die. He shut out the thoughts and gave the signal to attack.
Instantly Tocoain’s force opened up with all they had, drawing the traitors to instinctually turn their backs on the Consularum. Hunter kicked the door open and sprayed burning hot promethium into those freshly-presented backs, hitting the jackpot by drawing a direct hit on the traitor’s own flamethrower, the fuel tank exploding in a fireball of pain and panic and digging a deep crater into the snow, dragging two more men down with it. A peerless opening gambit and King led the charge straight through the remaining enemy, taking the opportunity to carve his way through as many of the bastards as he could, his own personal vengeance for Bill and for what they were forcing him to do to his own man.
And that would have been the happy ending, but for the nasty surprise that the bastards had waiting for them. The Imperial Guard had no chance of reinforcements but the traitors were luckier as a small force of fire warriors had appeared behind them, their low numbers and tired gait suggesting that they were cowards who had fled the field of the diversion, though that would be a very long distance to have run. Whatever their story, they were here now, their strange guns blasting away. King wasn’t sure if they were confident of not hitting their own allies, or if they just didn’t care.
Either way, by some unlucky miracle the traitors were spared, but his own side wasn’t so lucky. Gisel Hunter gave a brief scream, cut off as she fell, a hole burned through her chest armour by the devious weapon. One of Tocoain’s troops, a steel legion soldier initially, toppled backwards and fell from his perch on the brickwork, King didn’t even see the shot that took him down. He saw Rossaria’s shield fizzle as two shots rebounded off her refractor field, a device that King himself had owed his life to on several occasions. Whether this was one such occasion or not he had no idea, since he had long ago learned that you never felt incoming shots that were diffused by the refractor field, you just thanked the Emperor later when you checked it’s battle read out.
The remains of the two units sheltered together in the brief respite of the building Tocoain had found, some sort of enclosed park by the looks of it though one of dubious value, given that they had found the snow to be at least 50 metres deep.
“Sir, what’s the plan?” Tocoain asked, clearly assuming that there was one. What was it Rossaria had called it, a cult of personality? Load of bullshit obviously, but if there was such a thing then he could very cheerfully do without it. Still, he flashed Tocoain a confident look.
“We get out, tool up, and come back, that’s what. You had a better scout of the area the other day, what’s the fastest way out of here?” King turned it back on him, but it was Rossaria who answered.
“I took the liberty of memorising the maps we were given, Commander, I believe that if we break right we will reach the perimeter in 500 yards. Perhaps a further walk from our transport, but the quickest route out of range.”
“And even if they do follow us they’ll be getting further from their safe areas. Good plan Lord Commissar, thank you. If you would lead on then, we’ll follow that plan.”
Rossaria nodded, businesslike as usual, and the troops prepared to move out once more. All the running did at least help keep the edge off the cold, though the air in your lungs simultaneously seeming to freeze and burn took some getting used to. While the biggest threat now was far and away the five Tau warriors who had appeared, particularly with Hunter’s last final magnificent attack upon the traitors before she was cut down herself, it still felt wrong to turn your back on the enemy particularly with a member of the Commissariat leading the retreat. Probably not something to tease her about in the officer’s mess though. With the enemy now behind them and each step increasing the distance between them, the chances of being shot in the back were uncomfortably real and no one relished the thought of such a coward’s wound.
The traitors gave chase, and quite likely the Tau did too, but a mix of randomly firing behind them and Rossaria or King eviscerating anyone who got too close generally kept their opponents sufficiently at bay. They lost two more in the retreat, members of the recon unit picked off by gunfire from behind and left to fall where they dropped, but while the top few inches of snow was recently fallen the stuff below was older and more compact, making as ideal a running surface as you could get on Sargas. After what seemed like forever a dark smudge appeared on the horizon, and though bullets and bolts continued to whizz past them King felt a moment of elation.
“It’s the chimeras! We’re nearly there.”
The band redoubled their efforts and a brief turn of speed surged them forwards before exhaustion pulled them back to a more manageable pace. Breath was too scarce a commodity for cheering, but there were ragged sounds of joy as the unmistakable sound of an engine confirmed that despite what their eyes were telling them, the distance was decreasing and the APCs were coming towards them too. The smudges in the distance resolved themselves into two vehicles, the most welcome sight they had ever seen, and the heavy bolters on the left hand chimera spat death at their pursuers.
The troops were exhausted with the sprint, nearly dropping, but a stubborn pride prevented anyone from being the first to stop and so as the chimeras neared them, hatches open, they were able to throw themselves through the door of the nearest one the second the things stopped, though that was about all they were able to do. Almost immediately it occurred to King that he should have split the forces just in case, but he wasn’t about to stop things now. Besides, the other one was the one that had been firing and so he felt he could safely presume that the runner from the recon unit had made it into that one. That’ll be a shock for the poor bastard, he thought, when he realises that there’s so few of his unit left.
Another frakking day on Sargas.
King started, he hadn’t thought it would be that easy.
“You sure?”
“Pretty sure sir.” She replied, in a tone of voice that suggested it was only years of imperial training that was stopping her from adding either expletives or sarcasm to the reply. Leaving Rhys and Jaks to guard the door - Rhys was clearly pained from the leg wound anyway - both Commander and Lord Commissar sprinted through to where Hunter was standing staring in dumbfounded appreciation of the enormous structure before her. Of course it had to be in the administratum district: nowhere else would have had the ceiling height to house such a machine.
It was a vehicle, that much was certain, most likely a flying one. Though ancient and battered, the lines still looked sleek and it clearly had the remains of one wing still clinging to the left flank. If there had ever been doors they were buried under the bubbled layer of rust and decay that the machine had become. The colonists had begun work sanding down or taking off the rust to establish the original shape, not something King knew anything about but he would bet creds to crap that it was something that needed a full ceremony with a dozen techpriests chanting constant prayers to even attempt safely. Who knows what damage they had done to the thing?
“I don’t recognise the design.” He commented.
“No one does sir. It’s from the age of technology.” Hunter breathed, too lost in admiration to modify her language.
“The dark age of technology.” Rossaria corrected sharply.
“Well obviously.” King snapped. “Hunter, pull yourself together. There’s clearly no way we can get this thing out of here with us and with Bill gone we can’t get a homing beacon stuck on it so if those bastards find a way of moving it we’ll have to start the hunt over again. Any suggestions?”
There was silence for a long moment, until Rossaria reached into her ear to remover her comm bead, set it to open broadcast/receive so as to constantly be picking up whatever it heard and sending it out on the imperial frequency, and began to climb on the ancient structure. Dropping it through one of the broken spaces at the back which may have been windows, she smiled grimly.
“Better than nothing.”
King nodded “Should give us readings from close range, and since I don’t think they could move it far without us seeing on the aerial surveillance that might be all we need. Right, we’ve found it, we can’t do shit with it, we’ve lost at least three men so far, let’s get back to base before we lose any more.” He activated his comm bead.
“King to Tocoain. We’ve found it. Report?”
“Encountered resistance sir.” Tocoain was breathing heavily and keeping his voice low, but King could hear shouting beside him. “Casualties minimal under the circumstances. Shall we push on or rendezvous?”
“Regroup.” King replied immediately, aware of how silently grateful Tocoain would be for that order. We’re pinned down in the Consularum, can you make it round to give us a diversion?”
There was a pause. Better a considered and correct answer than automatic agreement of course, but he would have expected the man to be aware enough of his surroundings to know immediately.
“Should be able to Sir, but I can’t guarantee that we won’t bring our own problems with us.”
“Understood. Split up, get one out with the information that we found a flying vehicle from the dark age of technology in the Consularum. The rest of you get round here and we’ll take our chances together. King out.”
He looked round. Rossaria had left the room, and Jaks and Rhys were shouting at the traitors through the window. That can’t be a good combination. Swiftly but casually he picked his way across the rubble to get back to the main room. Rossaria was now speaking dangerously quietly to the troopers, who had shut up, heads down, accepting the admonishment.
“What’s the problem, Lord Commissar?”
“Two idiots giving away our position by trying to defend a corpse, Commander.”
Though King’s expression didn’t change, inwardly he sighed. Rossaria was right of course, but who could blame the guardsmen for trying to keep the traitors away from Bill? It shouldn’t make a difference how popular or likeable a comrade was, but it did. They were human, after all.
Both at least had the sense to look chastened at least, though from long experience working with Rhys he recognised the way she was pressing her thumb against her little fingertip until the skin whitened and the finger looked distorted. It was her tell for suppressed insubordination, the gesture barely noticeable and clearly non-aggressive but her way of holding herself in check. He didn’t know Jaks well enough to tell if he was doing the same, though he did note that if one looked closely you could see he had pulled the fingers of one hand out of the fingers of one glove to form a hidden fist. He noted that information for the future.
“Both of you, defaulters, tomorrow, five am.” Rossaria concluded “You two are meant to be experienced trained soldiers, not children celebrating their first las gun.”
“Yes sir.” They saluted sharply as they answered, training taking over again as they got hold of themselves once more.
“Hunter, get in here!” Looking out the window, King could see the corpses of five fallen traitors, all scattered around Bill. Those still standing had backed off for now, though that would no doubt change as soon as the door opened. King opened the comms channel so the other squad could also hear his words.
“You all will have heard what we found by now. Retrieval of the artefact is no longer an objective and so the new aim of this mission is to get that information back to HQ. This is now the single most important goal of the mission and overrides all other concerns. While any of us may fall, this information must at all costs be relayed home or all of our sacrifices are in vain. King out.”
Closing the channel, he then outlined the plan to his squad. The traitors shouldn’t have cracked their frequencies but the general channel was far more open than the command and so there was no point in broadcasting sensitive information that wasn’t necessary. Sadly he didn’t know if that was a lesson that the enemy had learned, as they had lost the channel shortly after Bill had been taken down, his equipment clearly damaged in the attack. They started to remove the barricade from the door, its purpose served as the traitors had after a few attempts to breach the building, decided to pull back and regroup. The broken face of the Emperor was, after a bit of discussion, placed reverently inside the artefact: the size of the block made it impossible for them to carry it to a more appropriate location and so they put the two things that were going to be reclaimed by the Imperium together. King pulled Rhys aside by the arm.
“Problems, trooper?”
“Bill moved sir” she replied shortly. King supressed a groan, shaking his head, but he’d led this squad through so much for so long, he felt he owed her a better answer than just shut up and do it.
“I’m sorry you saw that.” He answered honestly. “We all hope that our friends die a clean and glorious death but that’s not always possible. We cannot and will not rescue him: we will not hesitate, or stop, or do anything at all to endanger our mission. That machine could be the equivalent of an STC when we get it back to the cog boys, if they can work out how to use it it could save millions of lives. Billions. We can’t weigh the life of anyone on this planet higher than that no matter who they are. If all but one of us die getting back to base but that one carries the message, then we’ve died saving billions of lives. That’s what Bill is out there dying for, and we will not cheapen his sacrifice by jepordising those billions. The entire Imperium is an interconnected network of people all relying on each other, and today they’re relying on us. We count for nothing against that. Do you understand?”
“Sir.” She nodded quietly, then with more determination in her tone. “Yes sir.”
“Good work. Now go tell Jaks.”
Doorway cleared, they waited ready to run as soon as the opening arose. Peering amidst the broken windows they soon saw Tocoain’s squad, or at least him and the four men he still had standing. Obviously they had no way of knowing how many had been sent off to try to get word back to base but for now they must assume that this was all there was and that no message had got through. Ten left to fight their way clear, and the enemy was more alert than ever. Those weren’t odds he’d be betting on, if he had had any choice. He drew his power sword, the faint glow bringing a grim smile to his face. Between them, there were now two dozen standing traitors, half a dozen trip hazards that Jaks and Rhys had shot to protect Bill or to scare the others away, and Bill himself, who had now rolled slightly onto his side making it patently obvious that he was ordering his men to leave their best friend to die. He shut out the thoughts and gave the signal to attack.
Instantly Tocoain’s force opened up with all they had, drawing the traitors to instinctually turn their backs on the Consularum. Hunter kicked the door open and sprayed burning hot promethium into those freshly-presented backs, hitting the jackpot by drawing a direct hit on the traitor’s own flamethrower, the fuel tank exploding in a fireball of pain and panic and digging a deep crater into the snow, dragging two more men down with it. A peerless opening gambit and King led the charge straight through the remaining enemy, taking the opportunity to carve his way through as many of the bastards as he could, his own personal vengeance for Bill and for what they were forcing him to do to his own man.
And that would have been the happy ending, but for the nasty surprise that the bastards had waiting for them. The Imperial Guard had no chance of reinforcements but the traitors were luckier as a small force of fire warriors had appeared behind them, their low numbers and tired gait suggesting that they were cowards who had fled the field of the diversion, though that would be a very long distance to have run. Whatever their story, they were here now, their strange guns blasting away. King wasn’t sure if they were confident of not hitting their own allies, or if they just didn’t care.
Either way, by some unlucky miracle the traitors were spared, but his own side wasn’t so lucky. Gisel Hunter gave a brief scream, cut off as she fell, a hole burned through her chest armour by the devious weapon. One of Tocoain’s troops, a steel legion soldier initially, toppled backwards and fell from his perch on the brickwork, King didn’t even see the shot that took him down. He saw Rossaria’s shield fizzle as two shots rebounded off her refractor field, a device that King himself had owed his life to on several occasions. Whether this was one such occasion or not he had no idea, since he had long ago learned that you never felt incoming shots that were diffused by the refractor field, you just thanked the Emperor later when you checked it’s battle read out.
The remains of the two units sheltered together in the brief respite of the building Tocoain had found, some sort of enclosed park by the looks of it though one of dubious value, given that they had found the snow to be at least 50 metres deep.
“Sir, what’s the plan?” Tocoain asked, clearly assuming that there was one. What was it Rossaria had called it, a cult of personality? Load of bullshit obviously, but if there was such a thing then he could very cheerfully do without it. Still, he flashed Tocoain a confident look.
“We get out, tool up, and come back, that’s what. You had a better scout of the area the other day, what’s the fastest way out of here?” King turned it back on him, but it was Rossaria who answered.
“I took the liberty of memorising the maps we were given, Commander, I believe that if we break right we will reach the perimeter in 500 yards. Perhaps a further walk from our transport, but the quickest route out of range.”
“And even if they do follow us they’ll be getting further from their safe areas. Good plan Lord Commissar, thank you. If you would lead on then, we’ll follow that plan.”
Rossaria nodded, businesslike as usual, and the troops prepared to move out once more. All the running did at least help keep the edge off the cold, though the air in your lungs simultaneously seeming to freeze and burn took some getting used to. While the biggest threat now was far and away the five Tau warriors who had appeared, particularly with Hunter’s last final magnificent attack upon the traitors before she was cut down herself, it still felt wrong to turn your back on the enemy particularly with a member of the Commissariat leading the retreat. Probably not something to tease her about in the officer’s mess though. With the enemy now behind them and each step increasing the distance between them, the chances of being shot in the back were uncomfortably real and no one relished the thought of such a coward’s wound.
The traitors gave chase, and quite likely the Tau did too, but a mix of randomly firing behind them and Rossaria or King eviscerating anyone who got too close generally kept their opponents sufficiently at bay. They lost two more in the retreat, members of the recon unit picked off by gunfire from behind and left to fall where they dropped, but while the top few inches of snow was recently fallen the stuff below was older and more compact, making as ideal a running surface as you could get on Sargas. After what seemed like forever a dark smudge appeared on the horizon, and though bullets and bolts continued to whizz past them King felt a moment of elation.
“It’s the chimeras! We’re nearly there.”
The band redoubled their efforts and a brief turn of speed surged them forwards before exhaustion pulled them back to a more manageable pace. Breath was too scarce a commodity for cheering, but there were ragged sounds of joy as the unmistakable sound of an engine confirmed that despite what their eyes were telling them, the distance was decreasing and the APCs were coming towards them too. The smudges in the distance resolved themselves into two vehicles, the most welcome sight they had ever seen, and the heavy bolters on the left hand chimera spat death at their pursuers.
The troops were exhausted with the sprint, nearly dropping, but a stubborn pride prevented anyone from being the first to stop and so as the chimeras neared them, hatches open, they were able to throw themselves through the door of the nearest one the second the things stopped, though that was about all they were able to do. Almost immediately it occurred to King that he should have split the forces just in case, but he wasn’t about to stop things now. Besides, the other one was the one that had been firing and so he felt he could safely presume that the runner from the recon unit had made it into that one. That’ll be a shock for the poor bastard, he thought, when he realises that there’s so few of his unit left.
Another frakking day on Sargas.