Unexpected help.
"Hold the line! Concentrate your fire on right flank; do not let any of them past us!" Sergeant Tomas yelled from the bottom of his throat as the Ork horde charged toward them. For more than several months Ork were trying to get hold of the Planet Cyux VII, but stubborn Imperial Guard forces from 42'nd Vendoland Regiment were holding on the Orks for all that time. For several months the Regiment was holding down greenskin tide by any means necessary, striking at supply routes, killing their exposed leaders and bringing heavy bombardment from their artillery. But Ork were well known as stubborn and numberless aliens, who were drawn to fight and crush their opposition by sheer numbers of their boyz. The time has slowly taken its toe, the Guardsman were losing men and supplies every passed day, while Ork numbers grew and grew. Even the arriving of three additional Regiments didn't do much help, it only inspired the Orks to fight even more aggressive.
Sergeant Tomas was appointed to defend mountain pass leading to the main city, if that pass was to fall the capital city would be under heavy siege. The siege that Guardsman lacks the strength to fight-off, and thus it was crucial that this mountain pass don't fall into Ork hands. But Ork Warboss was not fool, he knew where his enemy was weakest. And he started planning the attack on the mountain pass…
When Sergeant Tomas arrived at the pass he arrived with around one hundred men and two high ranking officers. Both officers died in the next five days and with them around fifty Guardsmen, now he is left with only twenty seven men to defend against countless Ork hordes descended upon him. His orders were clear: hold the line at all cost, but it seems that his commanders didn't think that Orks will actually assault his position. In the same time two Guard Regiments were assaulting main Ork lines, trying to break their force in half and destroy their invasion in one assault. The attack was going well; Imperial General stationed in city wondered why is that? Why don't Ork attack in force like they usually do? Then the pass crossed his mind, he was quick to react to it:
"Coronel, was there any report from 3' rd Company?" He was addressing to his closest command officer.
"No sir, we haven't heard from them in quite some time. But giving the events that are in motion the communication is in chaos." The general then get closer to him, and look him directly in the eye with great anger:
"Damn it Coronel, I want for you to set up link with them now. If they are attacked by Orks they won't last long, and neither will we if they fail to hold that position." The Coronel, now aware of his commanding officer thought just said:
"In that case general, we may just start fortifying this city." The General face was now wrapped in fear as the Colonel continued:
"If they are under attack by Ork then they can't last long. We have nothing to support them; we must start fortifying this position and recall all our forces to defend the capital city." The General was now again angry. He turned away and start yelling:
"And what's to point now!" In command bunker it was now silent as all were concentrated on the Lord General "Those Orks will be here in a matter of hours and our Regiments need at least two days to arrive. Three days for Cadians. And local PDF is too few and outnumbered to do anything." Everyone was now afraid knowing that when Orks get here they will loot and kill every last living thing they see, and that they won't last long against force that size with what they got. The young Colonel was the calmest of them all, he believed in the Emperor and that he will send help. He said:
"Don't worry sir, the Emperor protects. If we remain strong in our faith we can overwhelm any opponent." The general looked at him, smiled then answered:
"Of course that Emperor protects Colonel, but right now I need more then prayer and promise of protection. I need reinforcements." All in the room were quiet now, as they realized that General was right. The Emperor will grant them strength in battle, determination to go forward and courage to strike down any foe. But to combat Orks they will need miracle. And just then, at the communication and observation post, the sonar blipped. The blip was heard over all room, now everyone was looking at that post. The operator quickly turned around and starts to read data. Both General and Colonel make their way toward post and then General asked:
"Please tell me it is some good news."
"One moment sir" the Guardsman answered. After several seconds of reading data the Guardsman finally talked again:
"Reading an object sir. Ship…no…a Dropship."
"Is it one of ours?" The Colonel asked:
"I don't know sir, give me several…." Then the Guardsman stopped answering. The General looked at him with confusion and asked:
"Guardsman? Kust who's dropship is this!" The Guardsman turned and telled, his face in fear:
"The dropship bear the mark of Holy Inquisition sir." Everybody was looking at Guardsman with fear, even Lord General and young Colonel. What was the Inquisition doing here? It must be something very important since the Inquisition only appeared when great threats to not just one planet of few, but entire Mankind would appear. Silence was broken by Colonel that asked:
"Guardsman, are you sure?"
"Positive sir, the radar registrated big "I" in identification. Ordo Xenos." Thew General replied:
"Ok, if they are here then they will maybe deal with our Ork problem. Where are they now?"
"One moment sir" The Guardsman now turned to console again and start reading information. After several moments of silence he talked:
"The dropship landed few kilometers from the mountain pass sir. It seems that whoever was in it is on foot now, and probably going toward our lines."
Everyone in command room were filled with joy, knowing that there is even a chance that the Inquisition forces may arrive in time to help their men. The Coloner turned to the General and said:
"You see that the Emperor protects General?" the General replied:
"Indeed he does Colonel, indeed he does…"
Meanwhile, some seventy kilometers northeast from capital, at the mountain entrance, twenty seven Guardsman fight for their lives. They threw everything they had at the Orks: volleys upon volleys of accurate Lasgun fire with several grenades. All failed to stop the Orks, ot only slowed them down, meanwhile Ork Shootas managed to hit two more Guardsman, killing one in process. Sitting behind cover, Sergeant Tomas looked in horror as Orks were now mere fifty meters from them. He turned always from sight, lay down for a moment and tried to think some way for him and his men to survive. No matter what he thought, the outcome was always the same: he and his men get overruned by greenskin tide.
"What do we do Sergeant?" One of the nearby Guardsman asked, Sergeant stopped for a moment to think. He didn't hear Lasfire anymore; he went up just to see Orks regrouping for the last attack. He looks all around himself, now even the medic has taken his Lasgun and joined the others at defensive positions. Now, from twenty six of them, twelve were wounded in combat. But it was not serious and they could still stand and fight, but no more than several minutes anyway. Sergeant then looked Private Sam that was near him to answer his question:
"You know what will we do? We will make the Orks regret for facing 42'nd Vendoland in the first place. MEN, FIX BAYONETS!". Every Guardsman grab bayonet that was attached to his belt and attach it to his Lasgun. Sergeant draws his officer's sword in his left hand and his Laspistol in his right hand. Guardsman look was cold as Russian winter; every one of them looked at Orks with steel determination. They knew that they were done for, there was no way to survive the next wave of attackers. So instead to run away they chose to stay. To fight and die where they were standing, like all proud solders of the Emperor. The Ork Nob leading this attack showed himself, he stare at Human defense line, and smiled. He knew that Guardsman won't last and that his boyz will have some fun overrunning them. HE turned toward his horde and yelled: "WARGHHHHHHHH!" At that taunt, the whole Ork horde charged toward Guard lines, the Guardsman were calm and raised their Lasguns to point them at Orks. Sergeant now stood above them all, revealing himself from cover, and said:
"Show these aliens the might of the Imperium! OPEN FIRE!"
The Guardsman and Sergeant opened fire, many Ork fell to their volley but many more were coming.
"This is it lads" the Sergeant said "stand fast and die like a Guardsmen." The Orks were now at mere fifteen meters from them. The Guardsman knew that they were finished anyway so they were looking to kill as much of damn Orks as possible. There were prepared to meet their doom and to meet again at the right side of their Emperor. But faith was smiling at them…
The Guardsman didn't see anything; they just sensed something passing near them with incredible speed. It was so fast that they didn't saw anything, that sense lasted for one moment. In next moment Ork that were charging at their lines were attacked by eight strange warriors, they already killed sufficient numbers of grenskins when they collided with them. Guardsman stop firing and looked at confusion, who were those warriors and why were they helped them? It was not the time to ask these questions, they were after all helping them. But then the Guardsman were amazed how their new allies quickly dispatched Orks. They were wondering who were those warriors. They were females but they fight with the zeal and fury of Astartes. They couldn't be Sisters of Battle, as Sisters were more for long range then close combat. They just stand there, at their trenches and watched as those warriors dispatched Ork after Ork after Ork. The Guardsman couldn't believe their eyes. They were fighting for seven days, and those warriors killed hundreds of Orks in just seven seconds. The big Ork Nob leading them was furious and decided to enter the battle. Of those eight warriors two acted as leader and he charged the nearest one. He got near her and when he tried to hi her she has done something bizzare. She divided herself in four same characters, now the Guard was truly astonished, what sorcery is this? Sergeant Tomas now knew who were they, and he started smiling. The Ork Nob was now confused; he decided to strike down nearest clone, only to discover that was image. She then appeared at his right side and with quick slash of her big sword she cut his head. The rest of the Orks were now starting to run away, losing their leader to these warriors were enough for them to lost their battle spirit. Now on field there was only those 8 warriors, the Gaurdsman could saw them clearly now. There were all females; in silver clothing and have some armor parts on legs and shoulders. They also had long kites and they were all blondes. They were all carrying huge swords, now stained with Ork blood. They cleaned their swords and head toward the Guardsman. The men, even those wounded, stand up from their cover and stand at attention. As warrior approached them, they all give them military greeting and then Sergeant was first one to spoke:
"Sergeant Tomas, 42'nd Vendoland. You have out thanks." The warrior that killed the Ork Nob answered:
"My name is Miria."
"Thank you for helping us ma'am."
"Please Sergeant that was our duty. What about you and your men."
"This is all that was left from the entire company ma'am." The Miria and other look at the survivors still standing at attention. She then spoke:
"Sorry to hear that Sergeant, but you and your men did you duty."
"No" he answered, Miria is confused with answer "We failed, if you didn't arrived we would be dead and this planet would fall." Miria and smiled at his answer. Then the other one that acted as leader said:
"No Sergeant, you didn't fail. You and your men hold down for so long, you have actually save this world for falling for holding this position here. In our eyes you are heroes" The Seregeant replied:
"Thank you ma'am. It was pleasure to serve the Emperor." Miria replied:
"Indeed it was." The one of the warriors behind her yelled to Guardsman:
"Yo, you, Guardsman. You can go easy now; we are not her to judge you." The Sergeant hearing that saw that his men were still at attention.
"Men, at ease." Hearing that the Guardsman started to tend to their wounded, with others checking their equipment to see if anything useful survived the battle. Two of them, an radio operator and a scout came near Sergeant while he asked Miria:
"How can we be of service?" Miria replied:
"Can you tell us where is the Ork leader leading this invasion? Our mission is to eliminate him."
"You are lucky, this men here" point to scout "scouted the valley 60 kilometers north of here some two weeks ago before we were overruned at the other side of the mountain." The Miria turned her attention to scout, he said:
"The Big Warboss is probably still there, he loves to be near the front so he can observe his Orks much closer. But be careful, he is surrounded with biggest of Nobz you have ever seen" Miria replied:
"Do not vorry about us Guardsamn, we can take care of ourselves."
"Yes, ma'am!" Saying that the Miria again turned toward Sergeant:
"Sergeant, you and your men are to return to the capital." Sergeant replied:
"But, who will hold down this possition?" Before Miria relied another warrior behind her answered this:
"Do not worry; we won't let one Ork pass us as we make pur way to kill Warboss." Hearing that the Sergeant turned toward Miria again and said:
"I understand ma'am, we will start preparing immediately. Do you want anything else?" Instead of Miria the other one replied:
"Only that you get to the capital unharmed, you think that you can manage that Sergeant?"
"Do not worry ma'am, I won't disappoint you." The warriors smiled as they turned away and make their way toward the mountains.
"Good luck out there." The Sergeant said to then as they moved away. One respon was from one of the warriors:
"Tell that to the Orks when we get to them." Right after that the Miria replied:
"Same to you Sergeant, stay safe."
And with saying that they disappeared. The Sergeant was hearing stories about their incredible speed, that they could swin their swords and cut their opponent more than several times , all in a blink of an eye. The Sergeant was not turning toward his men, and when he looked them they were all confused, no…they were scared. One of them asked:
"Sargent, were those…"
"Yes" he replied "those were the warriors known as Claymores." Another Guardsman asked:
"Who are they exactly?" Sergeant answered with shrugging his shoulder and taking his equipment, preparing to leave:
"Who knows? The story sat that they were picked up by Inquisitor Lord from some planet on the edge of the galaxy." Guardsman were listening and also preparing to move "They are nothing like anything we have ever seen before. They are fast like Eldar and strong almost like Astartes, how did the primitive people of that world did this remained a mystery. I, for one, am just glad they are on our side."
One Guardsman asked: "I don't know Sergeant, their eyes are scaring the s*** out of me."
"Yeah, they were silver" other one replied "I have never seen a creature with silver eyes."
"I don't know" Sergeant replied "it may very be that they are corned that way, or that people of that world did something to them. Anyway, they are servants of the Emperor and it is not our right to judge them. Now let's go." And with that order given, the Guardsman packed and started their long walk toward the capital city.
The next day, Sergeant was heading toward the command bunker to meet with Lord General for debriefing. His Guardsman were found and picked up by Tallarn Guardsman and transport them with their Chimeras to the capital. The other Regiments also reported victories that day, the day was truly blessed by the Emepror. Epon enter ing the command bunker Sergeant walked toward Lord General and Colonel standing in a middle of room over tactical map display.
"Sir!" The Sergeant said in attention stance.
"At ease Sergeant" Said the Lord General "How do you feel?"
"Ready to deploy with the rest of my boys sir." The Lord General smiled, Sergeant was little confused but General cleared all that up:
"There is no need Sergeant, the war is over."
"Over, sir?" The Sergeant asked.
"Indeed" relied the General "Those Claymores killed the Ork Warboss and all of his bodyguards."
The Sergeant was shocked. Ork Warbosses were one of the most brutal and difficult opponent to defeat. Even for the legendary Adeptus Astertes, the fact that eight of those warriors were able to defeat such beast and his entire top ranking Nobz came as a shock to him.
"Yeah, those girls were something" the Colonel continued "Saved you, us, defeated the entire Ork HQ in one attack and then left. They didn't even come here to talk."
"They left?" Sergeant asked.
"As fast as they have got here" the Lord General answered "but not before they commend you and your men for brave acts" The Sergeant replied:
"Really it was nothing sir, I was just doing my duty."
Both Lord General and Colonel smiled. Then the Lord General had spoken:
" I wish every Guardsman was with your sense of duty Sergeant. They really commended for you, if fact they commended so much that I must give a promotion" Sergeant was astonished:
"A promotion?"
"Yes" the Colonel answered "starting from right now. Wellcome to your new job, Lieutenant Tomas" Sergeant said:
"Thank you sir." The General replied:
"Ok. If that's all take a few days off, you and your men deserve it." The Sergeant answered with smiling:
"Understod sir, thank you sir." With telling that he turned around and left the bunker, going toward barracks to inform the men about their time off. Both Lord General and Colonel looked at the sealing of the bunker, saying a prayer to the Emperor to watch over Claymores and help them as they watched and help their troops.