Sergeant Kaarel Deroin snapped awake, the bare remnants of a bad dream fading away like an old scar from a long-gone battlefield. The girl sleeping in the covers beside him stirred, yawning.
"Bad dream again?"
Kaarel rubbed his eyes tiredly, unease settling over him.
"You know how the Warp is. Messes with your frakking head."
Anna Renzen, his on-again, off-again girlfriend stood, gathering her clothes from the corner. She glanced back as she buttoned her fatigues on, smiling roguishly.
"What, you didn't have a restful night?"
Kaarel laughed, standing as he glanced around his quarters, noting the distinct lack of alcohol.
"You're just lucky they gave us separate rooms again. Remember Xadruna V?"
Anna grimaced with the memory.
"I spent too many frakking days with you grox-herders to want to remember that."
He smiled, pulling on his pants and shirt in succession as he ran through his duties for the day.
"Remember that we have a mission briefing at 0500 hours."
Anna blew a kiss to him as she opened his door, winking once. Kaarel sighed, letting his head hit the stiff pillow of his bunk.
As his old man would say, Emperor knows, that's some woman.
The four Squadron leaders of the Cadian 413th's Sentinel Section waited around the dark lectern-projector, trading lho-sticks and jokes.
"So the bastard takes his damned glass of Amasec and throws it in the Commissar's face, and the frakking Commissar was so shocked, he had no idea what to do!"
A chorus of laughs emitted from the four men, causing Sergeant Alvaro de Burgos to smile in satisfaction.
"What'd he do after that?" asked Nino Piscella, leader of Delta Squadron.
"Well, so get this- the frakking Commissar is straight out of the Schola on Ceuter Prime, and he doesn't realize, or doesn't remember that he can shoot the frakking Colonel any time he wants, so he frakking apologizes to the man."
More laughter.
"It- it wasn't until the frakking fool left the table that the Colonel looks to me and says 'Emperor, I'm glad he didn't read the manual."
More howls of laughter filled the empty briefing room.
Wiping tears from his eyes, Kaarel took another swig from his flask, wincing slightly at the raw taste of the Rotgut that one of the infantry guys had been selling around the ship.
"Officer on Deck!" came a shout from behind them.
Instinctively, all four sergeants snapped to parade-ground attention, standing stiffly and staring straight forward, their arms and legs locked into place, a habit of the Whiteshield Training battalions back on Kasyr Holn.
"At ease."
The familiar form of Colonel Celine Vandilus came into view, and the four men relaxed slightly. Wincing slightly, Kaarel slipped his flask back into his pocket, turning his attention to the Colonel. Colonel Vandilus, nicknamed "Old Broadsides" by the enlisted men and women, was a stern, uncompromising colonel who believed in getting the job done, no matter the cost.
While the nickname wasn't an insult, it wasn't meant to be endearing either. Old Broadsides would just as soon leave a soldier behind as she would save them.
The woman, who looked to be around 40 (although the rejuvenat treatments no doubt played a part), was almost always expressionless, her violet eyes hard and intense, almost like the gaze of an eagle.
Many of Kaarel's friends said that her gaze was a lot like the expressions one could see on statues of the Emperor or the Space Marines, and Kaarel was inclined to agree.
Plus, having been looked in the eye by a Space Marine more than once, Kaarel would know more than most.
"Highgate," the Colonel said, switching on the lectern and projecting a holographic image of a large planet in front of them.
"Capital planet of the Vallis system, and a prime strategic target for the enemies of the Imperium."
She tapped a few buttons on a data-slate, changing the hologram to show a closer shot. Massive cities with factories and colossal manufactorums, divided by long stretches of gray, decaying forests and flat, featureless plains rubbed shoulders with massive oceans.
"Highgate is an Armory World. This means that it stores trillions of tons of equipment, vehicles, and weapons for use by the Imperial Guard."
She switched the view again, barely allowing the men time to keep up.
"Five Terran years ago, a PDF General by the name of Andrey Mobekk caused a large percentage of the planet's PDF and civilian populace to secede from the Imperium of Man and steal many of these weapons, declaring a war on the Imperium and attacking the loyalists left on planet."
Pessolt Dunkel, nicknamed "the Priest", growled in anger, his former experience as a Ministorum Priest eliciting pure hatred from his eyes.
"Segmentum Command has deemed the reclamation of this planet a top priority, and as such, has seen fit to use Army Group Constans to take it back."
She glanced around at them, making eye contact with each, as if to underscore the gravity of the situation.
"The loyalist forces have forced the civil war into a stalemate. General Mobekk, who has announced that he will conquer the entire subsector, is trying his hardest to use the bastardized weapons at his disposal to swing the tide, and unfortunately, it is working."
"The 413th will deploy here, right behind the frontlines at a large forward operating base named 'Camp Wirtz'. From there, we will join a large armored push in the hopes of making a breakthrough at the forward rebel positions. This is where you come in."
A feeling of dread settled in the pit of Kaarel's stomach. As usual, it seemed, his squadron would be right at the front lines, scouting out enemy positions and risking their necks for some backwater planet.
"All four squadrons will be forward deploying with the hopes of scouting out enemy positions within the ruins of Aylassea, where some of the heaviest rebel vehicles are concentrated. Alpha will be deploying first, pushing ahead to scout the main positions. I want Beta and Gamma to support them, as well as looking for gaps in the lines. Beta, you'll be to the far left of Alpha, Gamma to the right. Delta will stay with the Infantry, acting as a support force. Is that clear?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Good. I'll send more details later via the data-slate or by courier. I expect a clean, problem-free deployment, gentlemen, and I'll be counting on you to give us good intel. Emperor be with you all."
They saluted as the Colonel walked out.
When she left the room, they all looked at each other, a sense of unease settling over them that came more from fear than the influence of the Warp.
"How are we doing, Luc?" Kaarel asked as he walked across the tall gantry above the large vehicle bay of the Troop Ship, Pride of Khan.
Luc Wanner, head mechanic of Kaarel's squad, looked up from his position on the scaffolding, putting down his cumbersome welding tool and flipping him his darkened visor, revealing a soot-covered, but happy face.
"If it isn't my favorite Sentinel Pilot," he said, grinning.
Waving Kaarel downwards, he stood up, stretching a bit as he inspected the dormant Cadian-Pattern Sentinel, Salena.
"What's the deal, Luc?"
"Well, the primary gyrostabilizers are still giving us a spot of trouble, and Techpriest Volgner over there still has perform a few rites or something, but it's mostly good. We fixed up the ammo feed, as you suggested, and the autoloader function should be working fine."
"Should be? I'd like to know with more certainty before I go scrabbling over Salena while I'm getting shot at like a grox during hunting season…"
Luc smiled, slapping a hand on the gray-and green armor plating of the Sentinel.
"It's an autocannon, Kaarel. If you do your job right, there won't be anything standing when you're done," he said, smiling.
Kaarel sighed in resignation.
"As long as it's ready by the time we drop…"
"That's in, what, five standard days? Sure. The rest of Gamma's walkers are in good shape, so yours is the last we're working on."
"I'm flattered," Kaarel said sarcastically. "Mind if you give me a minute with the old girl?"
Luc rolled his eyes, gathering his tools.
"I swear, you pilots and your machines. You owe me an Amasec, though, alright?"
Kaarel stuck his foot in the foot rung below the sentinel's cockpit module, pressing the unlocking stud and pulling the small door in the side of the Sentinel's armor open, squeezing inside. Remembering something, he popped his head out of the door, narrowly avoiding hitting his head, and shouted at Luc.
"Remember the bet we made yesterday? Call it even."
Luc struggled to remember for a second, then, recalling the bet involving the main issue with the Salena's Agrippina Pattern Mark II Autocannon, scowled darkly and stalked off to work on another sentinel.
Closing the door shut, Kaarel felt at home immediately, settling into the cushioned, form-fitting seat and relishing the familiar feel of the cockpit, his feet immediately going to the floor pedals and his hand switching on the internal lights by pure habit.
He had been beaten mercilessly enough by his drill instructor back on Cadia to know exactly where it was.
The dim red lights inside flickered to life, and he went through the sequence, turning on the internal systems, the medium-sized screen flickering to life. The screen, which was a little bigger than a normal piece of parchment, displayed Salena's external camera view, as well as being the main hub for any of her functions that were not directly bound to button, lever, or stud.
++INPUT COMMAND CODE++
Kaarel typed the number on the small popup keypad on the screen, prompting it to recognize his code and display a number of options, ranging from direct camera feed, infrared view, as well as a slew of commands for broadcasting messages and weapons status.
Kaarel reached forward and pulled the lever by the two closed window slits, prompting the two window panels to pop open, giving a much greater view.
The once-muffled sound of sparking fuses, binary code, and hissing tools became clear once more, filtering through the now-open panels.
Pulling the lever once more, the narrow slits in each of the panels once more became the only immediate method of sight, and Kaarel leaned back, putting his hands behind his head, and savoring the feeling.
Here, he was at home. He knew every function, every combination, and every possible application of everything in this walker.
He slipped his fingers through the handle rings on the control levers, brushing his fingers across the firing triggers, becoming used to the cool plasteel of the triggers, and quickly making sure the safety was on, so as not to send dozens of high-velocity autocannon rounds through the wall.
This machine is discharged into your care. Fight with this machine, and guard it from the shame of defeat. Serve this machine, as you would have it fight for you.
I shall.
He had always remembered the Ceremony of Commission as an oddity. The archaic practices of the Adeptus Mechanicus hadn't made sense to him at first, but as his Sentinel had become his companion throughout some of the most dark times in his life, he had begun to believe, in a tiny, infinitesimal way, in the Machine-Spirit.
The way that Salena and he worked together, the smoothness in which she responded to his commands and the hundreds of times she had helped him defend his Imperium and saved his life in the process, convinced him that there was something to the Enginseers' love of Machines.
"How about it, Salena?" he said, smiling to himself.
"You ready for another go?"
A/N:
Although I usually write Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfiction on here, but I've always been a huge fan of the Warhammer 40k universe. Unfortunately, since I made the move to college, I've found that I don't have the time or money to seriously continue the hobby, but I've still always found the lore and universe fascinating.
So here is my foray into Warhammer 40k fanfiction.
I know that a lot of the dialogue and, well, spelling, lacks that distinct British-English feel to it. Unfortunately, I'm a dumb American, so even if I tried spelling it the same way that, say, Dan Abnett (whom I enjoy reading) does, it would still interrupt the flow that I get when I'm writing.
So I'll do my best to create some sort of an amalgamation of that classic 40k feel and my own writing style.
Stay tuned for my next update!
-IGdude117
P.S. (In case you don't want to read my profile, the IG in IGdude117 stands for, (duh) Imperial Guard, my favorite faction)