Chapter 10 Part 8

Chapter 10: Tonight, we dine in hell

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Part 8

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Morriah Bay

Kronus

The ambushes in the jungle were wildly successful. Brother-Sergeant Whent and his Blood Raven unit struck, again and again, always fading away. They kept breaking contact before the traitors could organize an overwhelming force at the point of contact. Light artillery and mines served well to break or at least slow down enemy force concentrations that might otherwise be proven problematic to handle. By the time enough assorted Traitors and Heretic gathered to push the Astartes away from the jungle, the Guard had set up forward defensive positions at the approaches to the Eres Badlands. What should have been a decisive attack from the Chaos forces met dug in infantry regiments, artillery, and an Armored Spearhead waiting for an opportunity to counter-attack.

The remnants of the traitor Regiment shattered upon the defenses and massed artillery scattered their reinforcements. Brother-Sergeant When and his Astartes received a few hours to rest, patch up their gear, and resupply, then it was back to the jungle for them. This time there were no ambushes but a widespread net of soldiers and Servo-Skulls meant to purge the region from enemy surprises and secure it as a logistics route for future operations.

Nothing was surprising there – while not precisely routine, Adeptus Astartes had been providing force multipliers for similar exercises for a long time while waiting for a mission that would properly warrant their specialized skills.

In this particular case, Whent's unit received new orders while they were in the middle of harassing a group of heavily armed mutants who were on the run.

"Targets in the open." The Sergeant reported. "Squishies. Coordinates…"

The mutants reached a nearby clearing just as ordnance whistled through the air and detonated above their heads. Blessed Promethium and red-hot shrapnel lanced down, slicing through thick fur, scales, and harder to identify surfaces, before bathing everything in cleansing flames.

"Headhunter One-One, Aquila Two. We have a new tasking for you. Our… allies," the female voice of the vox operator briefly faltered at using the term for a Xeno, "located ancient facility Traitor forces were attempting to breach. You're to proceed to the target with haste and secure it for Mechanicus and Inquisitorial examination. Transports are en route. You'll link with the Necron recon element at the following coordinates…"

"Aquila Two, Headhunter One-One, confirm tasking. Secure facility and do not engage Necron forces in the AO unless fired upon?" When asked just to make sure.

Frankly, as of late, events on Kronus had a bizarre turn of events, and something was telling him the world wouldn't start making sense again anytime soon.

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Aceria Forests

Kronus

Three hours later, and two run-down groups of traitors later, Whent's band of brothers arrived at their destination. Ancient thick forests covered the whole region, cut by a relatively small number of roads near the coast. To the north, he could barely see the mountain peaks where the Necron's primary stronghold on the planet hid. In the south, steep hills, and walls created a killing ground that cut through the primary road leading to the Deimos Peninsula.

The Astartes' destination was to the North West, hidden by thick trees. Some of them were beyond ancient, towering as silent guardians from the time of the Horus Heresy.

The area was anything but secure. Surviving enemy forces running from the Morriah Bay flooded it from the East, while small bands and traitor engineering parties swarmed from the South determined to turn the region into a death trap. Necron light forces and Drone Swarms rampaged throughout the forest, turning them into one giant battlefield.

Case in point, a few hundred black forms buzzed above the Rhino and Chimera Transport carrying the Astartes and their Guard Auxiliaries. Less than a minute later, the forest to the left went up in flame, and angry screeching revealed the presence of an unlucky Heretic band. Cracks of lightning heralded the insertion of heavier Necron forces, and soon the skirmish ended. About a hundred Drones came back and flew above the small convoy in escort formation. The proximity of the Xeno units made Whent's arms itch to grab his weapon and shoot them until there wasn't a single one left. He was sure his Brothers felt the same, and the regular humans with them had to be feeling much worse.

It was a relief when they reached a small clearing showing the sign of battle. Shattered trees, burned off the grass, pieces of Traitor Astartes including a crushed helmet sitting on its side in the middle of the glade. This had to be the Traitor unit that attempted to breach the facility.

"Disembark and stay frosty. Check your fire, and try not to shoot at our allies." Whent ordered despite what his decades of experience told him. The Xeno was the enemy as much as Traitors and Heretics. But not today. Or tomorrow.

The Astartes quickly spread out, using what little cover they could find, while the Guardsmen were still busily disembarking.

"The area is secure." One of the Necron Drones declared. "A heavy infantry squad is holding the entrance of the facility." It bobbed in the air and headed for the far end of the glade. "Follow."

"Emperor damned tin-can. Are the Auspexes clear?"

"We're barely detecting those things." A Guardsman grumbled and pointed at the Drones milling above them.

"No sign of combat effective enemy units." A Tech-Priest declared in a synthetic voice. Soon, two red-robed figures got out of a Chimera. Their mechadendrites flailed around, pointing equipment and weapons in all directions.

Streams of excited Binary followed, and Sergeant When knew that his mission just became that much more complicated.

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Victory Bay

Kronus

Late in the evening, I was back at the maintenance facility where the Cogboys and girls were supposed to be fixing up my gear. Recent events and the need to examine everything for nasty surprises pushed back the schedule a bit. On the bright side, there were now a lot more toys to play with lying around even though many of them needed repair and endless rites to re-consecrate them in the name of the Omnissiah.

I wasn't complaining. The purge I authorized Scipio to carry out netted me a lightly used Rosarius defensive field. Further, a few happy Cogboys were busy refurbishing and upgrading a set of carapace armor for me. If their excited beeping was anything to go by, I might be the best protected regular human in the army on Kronus, when they finished my armor.

At any rate, I didn't intend to charge headfirst into the fire this time around. Instead, the new plan required me to ride with the forces escorting the Necron Pylons and making sure that the Blank Munchkin would be safe and sound when the time to deal with Daemons came.

The girl sat on the edge of a nearby workbench and curiously looked at the Martians working around us. She was munching on dried fruit courtesy of Weber, who in turn was busy handling discipline issues.

Several heavy armored and armed Ogryns milled nearby. They were now parts of my retinue, in no small part because they didn't trust anyone else.

Things were looking up, which meant I might just live long enough to get shot by our reinforcements. That was a joyful development! Really!

"What about Alexandria or Alex?" I asked the kid who still refused to utter a single word if she could speak in the first place.

Now that I finally found myself with a bit of spare time, I decided that among other things, the kid finally needed a name.

She scrunched her nose and kept munching on a piece of fruit.

"Perhaps Selene? Or Selena, whatever you prefer? It means silent in an old dialect. It fits you." I tried again in exasperation. We've been at this for the last half-hour. At least it was enough of distraction to keep everyone on their toes while the Tech-Priests measured the kid for her bean-sized armor.

She turned her head to look at me and smiled, showing two rows of teeth covered in chunks of fruit.

"Selene it is then. Or is it Selena?"

The girl raised a single finger then returned her attention to the fruit. Her eyes followed the light-show provided by the working Martians, and she proceeded to ignore me.

"Selene. It suits you." I nodded. And now I had to get some paperwork filled up on her behalf.

"Se-le-ne!" One of the Ogryns repeated slowly and grinned. "I like it!"

"Then you're going to be keeping her safe." No good deed goes unpunished in the Emperor's Guard. I should know.

"We will!" The other Ogryn nodded happily.

Predictably, the brief period of peace and quiet suddenly ended.

"Lord Inquisitor, our advance forces found something you should know about!" A young Tech-Priest ran into the room. He was mostly human with almost no visible bionics or cybernetics.

"There's a still operational Zeus class relay and control station at the Aceria Forests. Magos Explorator Gauis reports that we should have full control of the facilities soon!"

All the Martians halted whatever they were doing. They turned around to look at the kid who flushed under the attention.

"That's great?" Right?

The rapid streams of Binary that followed pointed at this probably being something major or the Cogboys being themselves. Then, the kid said something that got my undivided attention, even though the Binary chants mostly swallowed them.

"Say again?" I demanded aloud.

"At least five still active orbital bombardment platforms!" The young Cogboy blurted out. "Magos Explorator Gaius believes he will have the Machine Spirits placated soon, and we should have control of the orbital weapons then!"

Well, I didn't see this one coming. However, I could see why everyone was so happy, even though my newfound joy was likely for a different reason. If even one of those platforms was still armed and operational, it would make our lives much easier!