The Imperium is a weak old man, ready and waiting to be broken apart by his vengeful sons. -Lugft Huron, Tyrant of Badab
Things honestly felt pretty awful at the moment. It was still a couple of kilometers until we reached the designated meeting point for the drop, the injured were slowing us down, and it was still dark as the Warp. From the looks of things, the dark wouldn't last long, which urged us on even faster. The last thing we needed was to be spotted by any local defense forces.
Unfortunately, some of the wounded had to be put down, as their wounds were too grievous to warrant the use of our medical supplies. Many think of us cultists as merciless killing machines that praise dark gods and, for the most part, those people would be right. However, leaving one's own to bleed out for no good reason other than to watch them suffer is just a waste of everyone's time. If imperial renegades are anything, we're practical.
The group of men that Lanton and I had stumbled across ended up being roughly 20 men after casualties. We marched through the forest in a loose patrol line, though I still hiked close to Lanton. I was again struck by the intense coloring of the trees around me, even in the dark of what was most likely early morning. Most likely.
That had been an interesting development in the invasion process. Usually, some amount of time would be dedicated to gathering intelligence on the planet, but the Blood Hand had made a gamble to send in troops immediately upon the return of scans of the planet surface. The only reason I knew so much is because of my place in the Blood Hand's 4th company.
Retrospection and nature only held my attention so long though, and I attempted to strike up a conversation with Lanton. "Where else have you served?" Not exactly the best way to engage an intellectually stimulating conversation, but it's a start to be sure.
Lanton seemed slightly surprised that I'd actually started talking to him, or that's what I gathered from the look on his face. It's not like everyone here was a backstabbing, homicidal maniac right? He regained his composure in record time. "I was on Aeolia not too long ago." He replied.
That wasn't half bad for combat experience if my memory served me correctly. That had been a minor campaign against outlying Imperial forces. From what I had heard, it had been a brutally quick operation that ended in a somewhat Pyrrhic victory. In the grander scheme of things, it had opened up more options for the Blood Hand's forces, who had ended up here.
"I wasn't part of the 12th back then either." He started. At least he found the talk decent enough to continue. "I was still part of the Host." Ah, that was the main force of the Blood Hand's human forces. Where the 4th was like a scalpel, the Host was like an ocean, overwhelming enemies in sheer force of numbers. Lanton was lucky he had been pulled out of that meat grinder. Usually the Host ended up being something akin to a speed bump for particularly nasty situations and a buffer against difficult defense emplacements.
I decided I ought to reply. "I heard the fighting there was particularly brutal, how did your unit fare?" With out missing a beat and a cold nonchalance that made me smile a little, he told me, "Not very well. Most of the group was wiped out in a single skirmish. After that, I got handed this," he held out his melta gun, which had the vague impression of a removed and defiled Imperial Aquila, "and was told not to frack it up."
"After we left the planet, no one really cared enough to take the thing from me; it was salvaged anyways." After that we traded a few stories to pass the time and eat up the distance. From what I had heard and seen, Lanton, though still green around the edges, had a pretty level head. I kinda hoped that he wouldn't wander off and get shot.
-Remnant Besieged-
Time passed quickly as Lanton and I exchanged our literal war stories and soon enough we were out of the forest.
The view reminded me of the pict views of paradise worlds I had seen beforehand. Lain out before me was a sprawling metropolis, but not in the traditional Imperial sense of the word. Streets and silver towers with the neon glow of a vibrant night life stuck out on the slowly brightening horizon. I doubt it could have held more than several million people. I might have been moved by the sight had not a mental picture of the same city popped into my mind; the same but covered in fires instead of neon glows and scattered with towers of inky smoke instead of silver. The image made me smile slightly. Though I had always thought about the benefits of settling down and starting a family, there really was no way for me to do that now. I'll be a soldier till I die, no matter what side I'm on.
We had come out on a small, barren hill which couldn't be more than half a kilometer away from the rendezvous point. In fact, Lanton and I could see the other groups of dark shapes that must have been more airborne infantry migrating to the meeting point. We continued towards our destination.
As we moved closer, indistinct shapes in the darkness became other men clad in dark dusters, all clutching weapons and masks of different sorts. With the lack of information on the local conditions, units had been forced to prepare for anything. There was a myriad of support weapons, ranging from heavy stubbers and flame throwers to plasma guns and the non-distinct tubes of mortar emplacements. The masks were something of a different matter. Many were purely cosmetic, fashioned into grisly visages to frighten and demoralize, while others were made to protect the wearer from chemical attacks and shrapnel. Quite a few shared practicality and aesthetics. Looks were certainly deceiving, as what looked like a rag-tag company of deserters, was actually a well-trained and experienced fighting force. We had been underestimated before.
As we came closer we began to move through a mass of men surrounding a spot secluded in the trees. I forced my way through the crowd that had formed to try and see what was going on. Getting a couple of dirty looks from others as I shoved my way through people, I settled for being a bit back from the inside of the formed circle. When I looked closer I thought I saw a familiar flash of metal... son of a bitch! It was squad leader Maethus. His prosthetic arm had caught my eye.
He was in what looked like a war council of some sort. He and a few other squad leaders stood around a log with a map spread over the top. As I was finally able to find a good window between the shoulders of the guys I front of me, the small council looked like they came to some sort of conclusion and began to disband. I caught Maethus' attention as he walked away from the meeting while folding a paper into one of his coat pockets. As he recognized me he gave a strange sort of half nod, half grunt to acknowledge me. "Sir." I offered.
"Good to see you with us. I was half afraid the Warp had taken you." I cracked a small smile at that. Maethus was a good NCO and looked out for us. Most of us weren't particularly enthused about dying and he understood that. "What's the situation, sir?" I asked.
He began to explain, "The gist of it is that we'll be going in with another squad and targeting areas with high densities of civilians: transportation hubs, entertainment centers, anything like that." I nodded as he talked.
"The plan is to draw out local law enforcement and defense forces and to eliminate them. The more collateral damage, the better. After that, we do what ever we want. "
It made sense. There would be many groups of 15 or so renegades attacking civilian crowds and baiting their defenses. Afterwards, we had essentially been given the go ahead to cause as much damage as possible to disorient any responses. Similar operations would be happening at all of the plant's other major cities that had been identified before the drop.
I walked with Maethus as he worked his way through the milling renegades towards the squad. The tension and excitement in the air was palpable. Most of us enjoyed a good civilian massacre every now and then. Men all over the place were spreading news of the operation and making gear checks. When we finally came to the squad, sitting off to the side on some fallen trees, I noticed something was a bit off. Someone was missing. I checked exposed faces and the equipment that would distinguish those that hid their own.
"Akkro?" I asked, more directed at Maethus. He simply shook his head and answered, "Wildlife." I nodded my head plainly. So the mysterious night creatures had taken him. I looked over the rest of the squad. A few smoked Lho sticks, others checked their rifles, one of them cleaned his nails with a small knife. We didn't exactly look like the best, but time and victories had proven otherwise. I hoped our luck would hold.
We also met our accompanying squad, which just so happened to contain one Lanton Dahl. The coincidence made me a bit cautious, but I was sure there was some sort of fate involved. Maybe the Changer of Ways had passed his gaze over me? I was too steeped in the teachings of Tzeentch to pass it off as simple chance. The thought only made me more apprehensive.
-Remnant Besieged-
Hey guys, to start out, sorry for any discrepancies in format. Also, I'm trying to make sure what little conversation there is feels a little more lively. Other than that, I'm going to try and get a chapter out at least every other week or so. If it takes any longer than that, it means classes are kicking my ass or I'm just being lazy. Comments, suggestions, and criticism is welcome. Thanks. Where do you want our MC to go on a killing spree?
WhyTryHarder56
