I
As the sun was beginning to set over the courtyard the sounds of fighting could be heard in the distance, however, it was much farther in the distance than Corporal Denniston could remember in the last two weeks. He did not pay close attention to it since he was the only medic in McKenzie's platoon and there was much more pressing matters to attend to at the moment. No one who survived the last assault managed to get by without some wound or injury including him. A large chunk of masonry fell on him and dislocated his left shoulder as well as broke six bones that Denniston was aware of. Regardless he continued on treated the other wounded first. Of the twelve remaining, five had either lasgun or shrapnel wounds and two had lost a limb. The last five had only cuts and bruises including Sergeant McKenzie who was still unconscious against the back wall.
Denniston was in pain but did not see to himself until all the others were stabilized first. His entire left arm was numb and he knew that was not a good sign and he feared it was too late to save it. He sighed, it would not be his first mechanical limb and it seemed to him that his whole left side was becoming mechanical. He lost his left leg several years ago when he opened a door that was wired with explosives. It would take time but he would get used to the arm when it came. The fingers would bother him the most as the lacked the subtle dexterity of actual ones but only just. He was alive and that is all that mattered to him. He placed his arm in the sling he had just made and began to check on the others again. Some needed another unit of pain suppressor while others were dangerously low on fluids still. He doubted that those would last much longer unless they were transported to the field hospital within the hour. There was only one hospital left and he knew that it would be total chaos right now and getting those men there would be just as chaotic. He would do what he could for them here since they were all likely to be pulled off the main line anyway.
The building was still standing and he was surprised at that. It was no longer recognizable to what it looked like when they first took up positions in it weeks ago. How much longer it would stay standing was anybody's guess. Light from the rapidly setting sun was shining through holes that spanned three floors. The beauty of the city was all but gone; very few places were left unscathed by the fighting. They would be off this planet soon and back aboard a ship heading to wherever.
"Hey! Doc!" Shouted one of the troopers from a window. Denniston could not tell who it was though.
"McKenzie is awake! You better come check him!" The trooper shouted again.
He had not realized how far into the court yard he had wandered, or the fact that he left the building in the first place. His thoughts were wandering, still not able to believe what had happened before and that he survived. He pushed the thoughts away and hurried back to the building. Taking the stairs in twos he reached the third floor where McKenzie and the remainder of the platoon were. Coming into the room, McKenzie was standing up but leaning against the wall for support. His rebreather mask was off, too damaged by the explosion that knocked him out.
"What the hell happened?" McKenzie said with a mixture of confusion and his usually stern command.
"See for yourself sir. You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Replied Denniston with a hint of excitement and awe.
II
Coming to the edge of the building and looking out over the court yard McKenzie knew instantly why Denniston was acting like a child.
"How many were there?" Asked McKenzie.
"Three, maybe four of them." Excitement still finding its way into Denniston's voice.
"Always the show stealers, but this time I'm thankful for it." Said McKenzie with an odd mixture of relief and what seemed like jealousy to Denniston.
What lay before McKenzie and the remnants of his platoon did not faze him, like it did to some of the others. It was not the first time he had seen something like this and the doubted it would be the last. However, it was quite clear to McKenzie that this was the first time Denniston had seen the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, in action.
As he watched over the court yard in the fading light he could hear Corporal Denniston and a few others who had never seen the Space Marines before recalling what they had seen like over excited school children receiving gifts on Ascension Day. It calmed McKenzie to see his men in such good spirits given the extent of some of their wounds. He was also amused, but did not show it, to see such professional soldiers and killers with the excitement of children.
The carnage that was left over in the court yard was the worst it had been since they took up defending it. The Marines drop-pod, which was launched from their cruiser in orbit, slammed onto the center tank and completely flattened it. The other two tanks did not last much longer either McKenzie thought. Walking down to the destroyed tanks to get a better look at them, he could not help to feel some amazement at the Marines abilities. One of the tanks had a melta bomb strapped to its side. The crew was dead in seconds as the tanks armor super-heated and liquefied around them. He could see bits of charred body parts as he looked into the tank.
The last tank impressed McKenzie very much. This one was not taken out by any explosive or melta charge. Instead the tanks side plating was torn open like a bag and the crew ripped out from inside. He imagined the crew was too stunned to react as a giant armored fist was dragging one of them out through the side of the tank. The rest of the court yard was littered with bodies as the Marines tore through the infantry after the tanks were destroyed. It would have all happened in a matter of minutes if not less which made him realize that he had been unconscious for some time.
With that his thoughts returned to the situation at hand. There had been no mention of contact or communications with headquarters that he was told about when he came to. If they had a working vox unit then perhaps some clarification could be made and the remnants of his platoon be put to better use somewhere else. For all McKenzie knew what was left of his platoon might be all that was left of the 975th. They had landed on the planet already under strength and the past weeks fighting and the mornings attack made it a very good possibility.
III
"Noting but static Sarge." Trooper Brennus said frustratingly. "I'll get a bit here and there, but nothing stable. Something's fucking up the signal somewhere."
Brennus was the only surviving vox operator left in the platoon. How he became an operator baffled McKenzie, at times simple tasks such as opening a hatch or loading his lasgun seemed to stump Brennus. His bouts of dullness aside, he was very determined in whatever task he was focused on and occasionally surprised everyone with sparks of ingenuity.
"Let me know if you get anything right away." The sternness in McKenzie's voice startled Brennus a little and made him quickly look back down to the vox unit and turning its dials.
"We can't stay here much longer. If we don't hear anything within the hour then we make our way to headquarters." McKenzie said addressing everyone in the room.
"And if we hear something before that?" Brennus asked.
"If it's an order we'll follow it. Until then keep your guard up, we don't know what's happening out there." Irritation was dominant in his voice but still kept calm. "Oh, and Gros, find us a way out of here."
"Yes Sergeant." Came the almost whispered reply from Grosvenor.
Grosvenor was the platoon's sniper and for all other reasons their scout as well. He kept to himself most of the time and was quiet when he was around others. McKenzie had, in his twenty years of service, never encountered someone with as much patience and making him wonder if he was formerly an assassin. What really set him apart from the other snipers was his choice of weapon. While most snipers used a long las the sniper variant of the lasgun, Gros lugged around something much bigger, an Atom ripper rifle. Able to hit a target at nearly three thousand meters and able to pierce armor at ranges under twelve hundred meters the melta cored round will obliterate any fleshy target. It was an odd choice for a soldier trained in urban combat where bulky weapons are unwieldy, but its range and penetrating power are second to none.
McKenzie let the group go about their business and walked back over to the window looking out over the courtyard. The sounds of fighting were just as intense but even further away now. Clouds had rolled in and the sky was no longer visible and the temperature was falling quickly.
Making his way up to the roof where Grosvenor was he could see much more of the city. Flashes from explosions lit up in the distance all around. He could not tell what was happening but he was sure that if the enemy was facing the Marines the city would be theirs by morning. The snow had begun to fall and was picking up fast. Looking to the outskirts of the city he could just barely make out the flare off from the promethium refineries. The whole reason they came to this place was to retake the refineries but something told him that they were just told that to keep the real reason they were here from them.
IV
Planetary Deployment, Heavy Cruiser Forbidden Revelation Orbiting Nahar II, Five Months Ago Standard.
Relieved to have finally found an empty corridor, Grosvenor let himself relax. He could never quite understand why he disliked being around crowds given that he grew up in a hive. The thought came and went as he we just happy to be alone. He was not quite sure where on the ship he was but when the time came he could find his way back without a problem. Ships were the closest to home that he could imagine, their cramped and dark corridors reminding him of Volantis.
Walking for some time he only encountered a few other people, mainly ship crew. His footsteps rattling the iron grated deck beneath him and so did anyone else's which gave him a heads up if anyone was coming. He would have to be back at his mustering area within a few hours to be ready for deployment to the surface, but he continued on further.
He passed a pair of men who were standing in the corridor against the wall. They were not crew members but had the look of soldiers; however, they did not have uniforms that matched any of the other regiments onboard. Grosvenor moved passed them unchallenged but could feel their eyes watching him closely as he walked on.
Ahead of him on his right there was hatch that led to a small room. The hatch was not completely closed and he could hear voices inside. As he neared the room the voices quieted as they must have heard him walking by. Whoever was in the room did not want him to overhear what they were talking about and Grosvenor guessed that the men he passed were on guard and were working for those in the room.
The light above him was flickering and caused the corridor to become pitch black for a few seconds. Long enough to make himself hidden. It was a skill that he relied on and had perfected, as a sniper he needed to be concealed most of the time and usually in enemy territory right at their feet. Climbing up the side of the corridor onto a pipe or duct of some kind he was in its shadow and out of sight from anyone passing by.
The voices picked up again once they were confident that they were alone and given the all clear by their men who had come down the corridor a few moments after he passed the room.
"The trail leads here." One of the voices said.
"I know it does, but they will know that we are on their tails. For all we know this is a trap." Another voice said.
"The main assault will be on the opposite side of the planet and will draw their attention there." A third voice spoke up, much deeper and authoritative than the other two, whoever this man was, he was clearly in charge.
"If we run into trouble then we won't have any support." The first voice speaking again.
"I doubt we will run into any trouble that we can't handle." The deep voice said reassuringly.
"The Guard units will be deploying soon and we don't want to draw attention to ourselves." The second voice interrupted.
"Very well then, head back to your rooms and stay there until I call for you." The man in charge said.
With that, the three men left the room and were followed shortly after by the two men down the corridor. Grosvenor waited for several minutes before letting himself back down to the floor. He had not gotten a good look at the men in the room but decided that it was in his best interest to head back to his unit. Once he got back he would let Sergeant McKenzie know what he had overheard. Not that there was anything either of them could do about it now but the more they knew about what was going on, the better chance they had of being out of the way if things went bad quickly.