Chapter 1

They were there. They were there, watching, waiting, looking for the opportune time to strike. Imperial Guardsmen Corporal Marcus Aventis could sense that they were looking at him right now. Even through the dense fog, and rain, his gut told him that they were out there. Savage, barbaric, and a blight to everything the Imperium of Man stood for, the Orks on the planet Charybdis sought to destroy all, and bring war to the agricultural planet.

Marcus stood in a trench, uniform splattered with mud, and rain soaking him through. He leaned up against the trench wall, barely exposing himself as he used a rangefinder to see through the dense fog. What used to be an alpine forest, is now a desolate wasteland filled with trenches and craters. Marcus eyed the surroundings, making sure to spot any tell-tale signs of Ork movement. He found none. He sat back down into the trench, looking at what remained of his squad. Zachariah Barbas, Lucius Kallis, and Aerielle Angelos . They were huddled together for warmth, sleeping under their last wool blanket, trying to stay dry. He would wake them up in a few minutes, they earned that much at least. Two years of pure hell on this planet. Two years. Already he felt like an old man, yet he is barely out of his teens. Two years of pure front line combat in the Astra Militarum as a guardsman to an infantry regiment is quite rare, but all four made it through this far.

Three years ago Marcus joined the Cerberus 501st Infantry Regiment willingly out of patriotism, and pride for the human race. All he wanted to do was just serve, and protect the Imperium from the hostile xenos that threaten the very existence of humanity. Now, he is doing all he can just to protect himself, and his friends. Zachariah joined for the same reasons too, and although younger than the age Cerberus allows into the guard he managed to convince the recruiter to let him join. Even throughout the years of fighting, he still believes it is his patriotic duty to serve both Cerberus, and the Imperium, and is still very enthusiastic about it. Lucius on the other hand is a conscript, a year behind Marcus and Zachariah. He was on his way to becoming an economist on Cerberus until the Ork attack on Charybdis occurred. Since Charybdis is in their system, and no other Imperial forces were close enough to help, the 501st Infantry Regiment conscripted a twenty five percent extra forces than what was required on the Imperial Tithe. While he loathed the Imperial system, and hated his forced conscription, he decided it was better to die in battle than to be shot in his home by the military police. Aerielle was conscripted as well, but she was indifferent to the situation. She was studying Imperial art, and hoped to one day bring back ancient Terran arts to contribute to the Imperium.

When the Orks invaded Charybdis, they met little resistance as the planetary defense force was no match for them. Within months the planet was under their total control, and before they could even begin to loot, the 501st arrived. The fighting was intense, many soldiers lost their lives in rooting out the Ork menace. The 500th, and 502nd Regiments followed shortly from Cerberus, and total Imperial casualties climbed to 95%. For a time, it seemed the Orks had the upper hand until an Eldar strike force aided the humans. Now the Orks have been pushed back to their last line of defense.

"Hey guys," said Marcus in a hushed tone. "You need to wake up." With that his friends slowly woke up.

"Time to go home yet?" yawned Lucius. "No, I am afraid not. Company HQ believes this may be the last battle though."

"If you say so," said Lucius. Lucius grabbed his lasgun and leaned against the side of the trench. "Marcus, may I see you optics?"

"Yeah, don't break them," replied Marcus as he handed the rangefinders to him. Zachariah checked his grenade bandaloir, and his grenade launcher. On the side of the launcher was etched in red paint, "Xenoslayer". Aerielle on the other hand yawned, stretched her arms and said, "Is this rain ever going to end? It's been what? Three days now?"

Marcus replied, "I do not know, I'm not part of the weather division." "However," he continued, "I will try to find some ponchos for all of you. Gotta stay dry, and we don't need anyone heading to the med tent with trench foot."

"Thanks Marcus," said Aerielle with a slight smile. She took up a position with her lasgun, not yet exposing herself to any one who might be watching, but just enough to where she could pop up, and shoot if necessary. In this place, the necessary usually happened. Lucius spotted something in the distance. It was small, and brief in its appearance. "Hey Marcus."

"Yes?" he replied.

"Would you care to look through these, and tell me what you see?"

"Sure." Marcus climbed up the side of the trench beside Lucius, and took the rangefinder from him.

"Look to about a hundred meters, at what is left of the tree line. You should see a large rock," instructed Lucius. Marcus scanned to where Lucius indicated and with the range finder's thermal imaging he saw a small goblinoid figure move about. Not sure what it was doing Marcus kept his eye on it. "It's a Gretchin by the looks of it," said Marcus. "Not really sure what he's doing."

"Should we call it in?" asked Lucius.

"Not until we know for sure what he's doing there. I highly doubt he can see us. Still we need to be cautious." When Marcus said that he could see more thermal images in the distance, about fifty meters further. These images were much larger in both height and bulk. "Looks like we have more Orks in the distance too. I can't quite count them. Lucius get on the vox and let the company commander know that there is Ork movement heading toward us from the east. Everyone else, get ready, this may be a last desperate attempt of theirs to dislodge us."

Lucius radioed in on the vox and received orders from their company commander. Hold until relieved. The Orks were going to try their best with a frontal assault to kill off what remained of the Cerberus Regiments. They had to hold the line here, at all costs. Maybe, just maybe when all this was over they could finally go home. A few nights before, a few of the remaining infantry squads planted makeshift mines and explosive charges in a spiderweb pattern about fifty meters in front of the trench line. Anything that wanted to go through there that wasn't human would cease to exist.

Then a low rumbling quickly progressed into a loud roar. Deep within the fog, the last of the Orks were going to either win, or go down in true Ork fashion: with a good ol' charge. "WAAAGH!" the mass of Orks yelled in unison through the fog. Marcus and his squad readied their sights as the rest of the members of the 501st prepared for the oncoming horde. As soon as the Orks came into clear view, fifty yards away, the officers bellowed their orders to commence firing. Lasfire, pre-sighted mortars, and heavy bolters poured their monumental fury onto the onrushing green skins. Many Orks fell by the dozens as combined lasfire brought them down. Many exploded from the impact of the heavy bolter shells, and others became nothing but gory bits of flesh as they became the epicenter of an exploding mortar. WHAM! The mines, and charges went off as a soldier hit the detonator. Many Orks, and chunks of visceral red meat went flying through the air, and landing in a pile of gore. Still the Orks pushed onward toward the trench line, as if the incoming hail of ordnance, and the mines were nothing. The Orks fired their crude weapons as they charged, filling the air with lead. Many shots hit nothing but dirt, but a few lucky rounds found their marks as Guardsmen fell from the barrage of lead. When the orks came within yards of the first trench line they chucked their stikkbomb grenades killing many Guardsmen with explosive fury.

Zachariah popped up and fire a frag grenade into the onrushing tide and slew three of them before an Ork jumped down into the trench with them. The Ork was between Marcus and Lucius and they tried stabbing at it with their bayonets, while the Ork kept firing at Marcus with his slugga pistol, and swinging at Lucius with his choppa. Despite the close quarters the slugga's shots missed Marcus completely and he ducked under and stabbed into the Ork's gut. The Ork pistol whipped Marcus right on top of his helmet, bringing him down to his knees, blackness swirling in his vision. Marcus tried batting away the choppa but instead ended up receiving a kick to the torso. The Ork then lifted his choppa high and swung it down towards Marcus when Zachariah lunged at him with a tackle. Zachariah's surprise tackle staggered the Ork, almost losing his balance. Lucius came up behind the Ork, stabbing it in the back in an exposed section of his armor. The Ork dropped his slugga, and lifted Zachariah off of him and threw him onto Marcus, then spun around to lash out at Lucius. Aerielle fired three shots into its back which only seemed to enrage it. As the Ork tried to hit Lucius, Aerielle drew her combat knife, and hopped over the two prone troopers, and jumped onto the Ork's back. Lucius fired a few shots into the beast's torso at point blank range. The Ork reached over and grabbed Aerielle, and threw her at Lucius, slashing her arm across the bayonet. With a defiant roar, the Ork charged toward them and pounced upon them, and as he brought his choppa to bear, Marcus stabbed repetitively into its back and fired as he did so. At the same time, Zachariah rushed it, knocking it off of the two soldiers, and Marcus shot it in the face full-auto. The beast finally died.

Then, a horrid scream arose above the cacophony of battle, Marcus looked up just in time to see a whole squad of infantrymen exploded into blood and gore from within as the little goblin like snotlings poured out. There was a Big Mek nearby with a Shokk Attack Gun, that would be the true threat. Before Marcus could react however, a gaggle of Gretchin leaped into the trench on top of him, and his squad. Each Gretchin were wielding crude knives, yet one well placed cut would be the end to the victim. Marcus and his squad fought hard, suffering many slashes from the knives, thankfully they were only flesh wounds. PEW! PEW! PEW! The Gretchin were dead. A few Guardsmen from the rear lines had pushed forward to aid the front defenders.

"Marcus! We need to get that Big Mek before he kills us all! Head down the line and make it to the Heavy Bolter turret! We will cover you from here!" shouted the trooper. Despite yelling at such close proximity, Marcus could barely hear him over the screams of the dying, and the explosions going around.

"Alright! Aerielle, Lucius, Zachariah! On me, we are heading down the trench to the gun emplacement! Keep an eye out for the Big Mek! Let's go!"

Marcus lead his small band through the blood soaked trench. Every so often he had to take a few shots, and stabs at any Ork that got in his way. Finally making it to the Heavy Bolter, he checked the ammo situation and rained hellfire onto the horde that was still coming in. Zachariah lobbed a few grenades with Xenoslayer, turning many Orks into puddles of flesh and bone. Lucius and Aerielle were fighting an Ork hand to hand, stabbing at it with their bayonets, before it finally fell. Its intestines spilled out unto the ground with the final slash.

Marcus saw something about a few heads taller than the Orks within the fog. It seemed to be carrying a shoulder mountain weapon. This has to be him! thought Marcus, and fired a steady stream of self propelled exploding rounds into it. The rounds bounced off an invisible barrier before exploding harmlessly into the air. Emperor save us thought Marcus. This Mek has a force field. As the Big Mek approached closer, his Shokk Attack gun leveled on his shoulder, he caught Marcus's eye and let out a wide open grin before charging up the shot. This is it! Marcus told himself.

BWAM! the Big Mek was no more, and before Marcus could figure out what happened he saw a shadow loom over the battlefield. "It's the Eldar!" exclaimed Zachariah. The Eldar hover tank skimmed through the air like a predatory bird, firing rounds upon rounds of condemnation and judgment upon the Orks.

"They are retreating!" someone shouted. Indeed the Orks were retreating. "Suffer not the alien to live! Purge the xeno menace! In the name of the Immortal Emperor!" ordered the Regimental Commissar. Combined lasfire, and the Eldar's hover tank made short work of the remaining Orks.

Marcus sat down, and let out a deep sigh. His head just now began to hurt from the blow to the head earlier from the Ork. He took off his helmet and noticed a deep indention where the Ork pistol whipped him. Perhaps he'd see a doctor later. Lucius was bandaging Aurielle's arm. The wound looked worse than it could have been, but it definitely would be leaving a scar.

Zachariah came up to him, "Maybe now we can go home. This was the last of them."

"I sure hope so Zachariah. I sure hope so," replied Marcus.

The Commissar came down to where Marcus was, he too did not make it through this battle unscathed. The Commissar's peaked cap was nowhere to be seen, and a gash ran from his forehead down to the side of his cheek. "Corporal Marcus?"

"Yes Commissar Westan?"

"Colonel Helbram wants to see you, and your squad right now."

"Yes Commissar, we will be there. Anything else Commissar?"

"Yes, congratulations on remaining on the front line. By the Emperor, You and your squad remained firm in holding ground. Besides me, you and your squad were the only ones left in the front trench until the reserves managed to break forward. I will see about getting you a promotion, and your squad some much needed rest. You earned it."

"Thank you Commissar, you are too kind. Only doing my service for the Emperor."

About ten minutes later Marcus and his squad were standing in the Colonel's command tent. There was fresh blood on one of the command tables. Seems the greenskins made it this far. "At ease troopers. I have just received word from intelligence that there is an ancient data cache that dates back to the Dark Age of Technology. It is located in the Makdonian Mountain area. Segmentum Command wants this cache, as they believe it to be in the best interests of mankind. While I am loathe to split up what remains of our forces, I am sending you and your squad to link up with an Eldar Farseer at the forest at the base of the mountains. She has agreed to help us with this endeavor. Keep an eye out though, xenos are not to be trusted, but if it were not for this Farseer and her people we surely would have lost the war a year ago. Now I want you to get some rest, and washed up. Commissar Westan told me of how you held the line up front. As a reward for your efforts, I am giving you a 24 hour pass to relax, eat, and get ready for the mission. Also Marcus you are now promoted to Sergeant. Any questions? Good. Carry on."

Go home? Marcus thought. What is home anymore?