Chapter 2
After moving down the trench line, slowly making their way back towards the city, Janis' squad had come across only dead bodies. The bodies were both Ork and human but the human bodies out numbered the xenos by far. Janis could tell the militia simply was not equipped to deal with this level of invasion. He knew the PDF was supposed to be dealing with threats of this level, but they were overwhelmed almost immediately. The militia was never supposed to be a stand alone military force and now that it was operating as such the weakness of the militia was obvious.

Janis knew he needed to do something if only for the sake of the morale of the men around him. By keeping the men moving he hoped it would keep them from succumbing to the terror of their situation. Janis' plan was to move back toward the city and kill as many Orks as possible on the way until his squad was wiped out. Not the best plan, Janis thought, but the only plan he had any confidence in.

There were eight of them left. The sergeant was killed by a massive Ork cleaver and one other member of the squad was either missing or killed during the confusion of the attack. Janis asked around to see if anyone knew what had happened to the other member of their squad, but no one had noticed what happened to their squad-mate. Janis knew everyone must be low on charges for their laslocks and his first priority would be to find ammunition and spare weapons.

Janis could hear howls and screams in the direction of the city, but the trenchline was clear for now. He knew this meant that the Orks had swept past the militia and were on their way to the city and the civilians that lived inside. Janis lifted himself up over the trench and motioned for his men to follow. Spreading out the men moved slowly back toward the city while keeping aware of their surroundings for signs of the enemy.

The militia trenchline was only a few hundred yards outside of the city. The weakness of this plan now was obvious. The proximity of the trenchline to the city allowed the Orks to be within the city limits almost immediately after overwhelming the militia defenders. On their short trip back to the city Janis noted how odd it was that no Orks remained outside of the city or followed the Orks initial attack.

Janis and his squad quickly found a ruined building to rest inside of. Janis' plan of killing as many Orks as possible until the squad was destroyed still seemed like the best option, but Janis did not want to give his life and the lives of his men without at least a small benefit to their homeworld. He informed the men they would make for the transportation district in the center of the city. The civilians still alive would undoubtedly be moving in that direction in order to flee the city, and if Janis and his squad could kill at least some Orks around the transportation district then maybe the squad would be the reason some civilians escaped the city.

Almost immediately upon making his decision Janis heard the sound of Orks moving outside of the ruined building. Janis dared a glance out into the street and saw a small mob of ten xenos. The Orks seemed to be intent on moving toward an unknown objective down the road from the building Janis and his squad had taken refuge in. It would have been simple to sit quietly and let them pass, but Janis knew that if he let these Orks pass he would not be able to go to his final judgement with confidence. Janis signaled to his men to quietly take up ambush positions and made it clear that he would take the first shot. Once Janis confirmed his men were in position he fired his laslock at an Ork that was slightly larger then the others in the group. The lasbolt flew from the building and struck the moving Ork in the shoulder. Janis saw the Ork drop but knew that it was not mortally wounded. A second passed, the rest of the squad opened fire into the Ork mob. The opening salvo of the ambush was extremely effective, and with further urging from Janis to continue their fire, the squad wiped out the small Ork mob.

Janis and his men had no time to celebrate their victory. As soon as the ambush was complete Janis and his men saw a gigantic Ork, the largest any of them had seen this far, below and point to the building the men had taken shelter in. Behind the large Ork and its gesturing arm was a large mob of roughly two dozen Orks. The Orks followed the direction of their leader and begin to sprint toward Janis and his men inside the ruined building. Janis and his squad were low on ammunition before their ambush, and now Janis realized they must be close to running out of ammunition all together.