Chapter 12 Part 5

Chapter 12: Battlefield Kronus

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Part 5

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Victory Bay

Kronus

By the time we could get away from the hospital, all hell had broken loose above Victory Bay. The sky burned with falling stars, and each one of them was a deadly piece of Orkish scrap. That or Orks coming in to kill as many people as they could.

The shattered remnants of the Aeronautica Imperialis raised to meet them – just a handful of barely air-worthy fighters. Missile contrails flew upwards followed by a long burst of flack from Hydras. Sonic booms thundered like artillery, and the first scattered debris reached the city, damaging buildings and scything through unlucky bastards.

"And thus, the attack of the mushrooms begins…" I muttered, quoting something barely remembered that dashed through my mind.

"We aren't making it to a proper bunker!" Leftenant Pickos exclaimed. Somehow, she was still alive, mostly intact, and back in Victory Bay as a part of my security detail.

From what little I could glean, most of her unit didn't make it. There were a lot of new and young faces among the troopers surrounding us. Most of them had expressions of disbelief, complete with widened eyes staring at the spectacle above us.

"We need a hard cover, now." Anteas' voice boomed. It sliced through the roar of de-orbiting debris and shook us all.

"The grumpy Librarian is right. Find cover first, watch fireworks second, kill Orks third." I added, putting as much authority in my voice as I could. To my dying breath, I will deny croaking a suggestion instead of giving an order in the best Inquisitorial fashion.

"What the Inquisitor said." Charles rasped. He had the chainsword hanging off a belt slung over his shoulder and a laspistol in hand. In that regard, he was similar to Anteas. My Blood Raven buddy got a Bolt Pistol from the Ogryn, along with a belt with a dagger that would pass muster as a short sword if you were a normal-sized fellow.

I had to make do with an ill-fitted carapace chest plate and yet another chainsword.

All things considered, it was a good thing we had at least a Guard Platoon, complete with vehicles. Even if some of them were likely greener than the Orks coming to kill us all. I wasn't going to look at this particular gift too closely.

It was most certainly not good that said vehicles were rather useless as far as getting us to relative safety. The streets were chock-full with screaming people running to safety, while groups of more level-headed citizens tried to cling together while doing the same.

Not a small group of citizens fell to their knees when they saw us and began praying for salvation. As if any of us could simply wave a hand and make the debris go away!

"The Emperor's light shines upon us! Salvation is at hand!" A bare-chested priest screamed in rapture. His eyes burned with fanaticism, and he gleefully waved a brand of incense around.

"Ave Emperor!" His followers chorused.

"Inquisitor, your talk with the priests have been very effective, I see."

I could barely hear Charles' dry voice over the chanting, screaming, and explosions.

"Make us a way, good people of the Imperium!" I tried to bullshit our way through the gathering crowd. With every passing moment, more and more people joined it, instead of doing the sensible thing and running away to a shelter.

Instead of scattering and dispersing, the crowd swelled, and soon all that kept me, Anteas, and Charles away from being swamped was a very thin line of Guardsmen and a pair of Necrons. I looked around for Selene and saw her on the shoulders of one of her alien guards, waving at the crowd.

Some people recoiled from the sight and for a moment, I was sure we would have a fanaticism-fuelled riot on our hands. We might get torn to pieces by our damn people too, and wouldn't that be an inglorious end?

"This is a test from the Emperor!" The priest screeched. Damn, that bastard had a drill instructor's lungs on him. "Trust your faith, not what you feel!" He raved. "Here stands blessed Daemons' Bane and his cohort!"

"Daemons' Bane! Ave Emperor! Ave Inquisitor!"

Fuck my life.

"At least your fan-club is going strong!" Charles exclaimed.

That was rich coming from my chief fan-boy.

"Weber, I swear to the Emperor, if you had anything to do with this…" I hissed back while giving the crowd my best reassuring smile.

"Inquisitor, look!" Anteas roared and pointed at something above us.

His voice managed to cut through the chanting of the mob, if barely. Many shining eyes looked at where he was pointing and a stir went through the crowd.

Several crude drop pods fell towards the city. In the distance, fiery lances pierced the heavens from orbit and picked up larger pieces of debris. The only reason we could see that much in the first place was the location of the field hospital – in one of the many open-air parks in Victory Bay.

AA emplacements shifted their fire, and a pair of Lighting Interceptors vectored their way.

Instead of running, the crowd surrounding us went wild at the spectacle. A missile hit one pod, tearing a large chunk of it and sending it spinning out of control. Flack bracketed multiple pods. HEAP shells a bit into their armor and soon tore open a few of the pods. Screaming Orks tumbled all over the city.

The Interceptors made a good pass using Lascannons, and two pods turned into burning slag raining upon the city.

Yet, there has more been coming. Instead of slowing down, the damn things accelerated. Some opened, and Orks began jumping out. A few of them even had crude rocket packs strapped to their backs.

Three pods in particular concerned me. They flew towards us low and fast. One didn't make it. The pod clipped a tall building, spun, and then plowed through another at a steep angle. The crash was deafening, and the resulting collapse covered a whole district in dust and shattered glass. An interceptor flew perilously low, and shortly before the pods reached us, shot one, neatly spearing it. The bright laser bolt passed harmlessly over our heads, and with a bit of luck, it wouldn't hit anything important.

The last pod kept on flying. Rockets activated at its front, slowing it down just before it passes above us. A couple of dozen Orks or so jumped out, brandishing all kinds of weapons.

"WAAAGH!"

Explosions, rocket roar, and Orkish war-cries momentarily silenced the crowd, while we were helpless to anything but watch.

"At them! For the Emperor! For the Inquisitor!" The crazy priest roared right back at the Orks while they landed into the crowd with predictably gruesome results.

"Let's go save those fools. For the Emperor!" I pulled out my sword and revved it up. "And someone get Selene out of here!"