Here's second part of this 'episode'. Enjoy.
Chapter 10
For Sachiel, the wait seemed to last days, if not weeks, but she knew it was only an hour after the last few greenskins at the caves were eliminated. She was waiting, because she felt there was something wrong. How could this have been so easy? Her homeworld was lost, along with an entire chapter of Astartes while the Sons of Orar was down only two marines.
Of course there were the few Orks that landed off course, but Jenrok himself said they would be a low threat. Were there just that many more Orks on Zestra III? Are the Sons of Orar that much better fighters? No. The difference was too huge.
Sachiel hesitated for a dozen more minutes, before finally speaking, and being able to do so without stuttering. "Master Jenrok..."
"Chaplain?" He turned around, as did Zeruel when he heard her speak. He was quite surprised.
"I believe something isn't right. This victory was too easy."
"All we have to do is wipe out the few who landed out in the wilderness. What kind of trouble do you yet expect?" Jenrok asked, not at all sounding serious.
"I don't know what exactly, but what I do know is that our homeworld was lost to a similar invasion, and nearly our entire Chapter with it. The difference is too big."
"He's right." Noted Zeruel. "I've been thinking this battle was strange, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I think I know what it is now."
Before Zeruel could tell what it was, Jenrok went for the vox-caster. "All companies, this is Chapter Master Jenrok. How many of you defeated a Warboss today?"
Minutes passed before each of the company captains answered. All of them mentioned the same amount. None. Usually each of the Ork tribes are led by a Warboss, and several tribes join in a Waaaaagh! which in turn is led by 'da biggest an' da strongest' of those Warbosses.
The answers confirmed Zeruel's suspicions. He never saw a Warboss icon on the hololith. Neither did Jenrok, of course, because there never was one. It was weird, because Warbosses are usually found in the middle of the fight. The only reason they would be elsewhere is if they expect a bigger battle to be fought elsewhere.
Jenrok thought for a second, holding the vox-receiver. "All companies. New orders." He paused for another second. "Hold your current positions. Scouts, go scout out the enemy. Remain unseen and report back anything you see directly to me." He put the receiver away. "What are they trying to do...?"
"Orks aren't this clever, and even if they were, what greenskin could actually control itself enough not to get into a fight the first chance they get?" Champion Verran said with a puzzled look on his face. "I fear they aren't working alone."
"Do you have an idea who is... using them?"
"Negative, Master. There are a few possibilities but at this point it's impossible to say which. I doubt I need to tell you which."
"Indeed. Then let us prepare for the worst, and pray for the best."
After a few hours, the command chamber's vox unit finally made itself heard. The scouts had just found a concentration of Orks right next to the entrance of a different tunnel system.
"Command, this is Recon-X-Actual. We found a concentration of greenskins who set up a camp here, well... You could call it a complete base, really. Watch towers, motor pool, and I think I see what passes for a primitive field hospital." Someone in the background could be heard joking. "(I sure don't wanna be a wounded Ork if that's a hospital.)"
"How large is that base, sergant Hokarus?"
"It's large. Really large. I'd say it houses as many of the beasts as the horde that came for the caves."
"Anything else out of the ordinary?"
"Yes, Master, one thing. This base of theirs is located to a tunnel that isn't on any of our maps. It looks natural however, and it doesn't seem like they could have dug it in this short time."
"I see. Stay on the lookout. Command, out."
It was strange how many Orks the enemy camp supposedly held. The vast majority of them landed near Alpha and Beta Point, and they all died at the Sons of Orar's guns.
"An Ork horde capable of making strategical decisions... This is unheard of." Jenrok walked around the hololith, thinking. Eldar often enough abused the presence of Orks, but only ever as a diversion, or cannon fodder. The same thing tended to apply to the Emperor-forsaken followers of the Ruinous Powers. The Codex Astartes had nothing to say about the matter, a rare occurrence indeed.
"We still need to take care of this problem, regardless." Zeruel said as he walked away from the window and towards the hololith to look Chapter Master Jenrok in the eyes. "Perhaps we should fight these Orks the way other, smarter enemies are fought. At least on the strategic level, small scale tactics seem to be unchanged. I'm pretty sure the codex contains plenty of strategical recommendations."
"The trouble is finding out which is the most suitable, however." Grumbled Verran.
"Something generic will have to do for now. More important is that we act now."
"You would do well to take the Codex more seriously, outsider."
"He is right, though, Marnuth." Jenrok replied with a stern expression. He went back to the vox-caster and grabbed the receiver. "All forces on the ground, this is Command. Adopt doctrine XII-IV-I. Surround and attack the position indicated by our scout units."
"XII-IV-I? It's been a while since I saw that used in battle. Only once, too." Zeruel commented. "But I must admit, it's kind of a shame it's not used more often."
Both Jenrok and Marnuth raised an eyebrow at Zeruel's implicating that he knew the Codex, against their expectations. Sachiel saw a slight grin appear on Verran's face, who tried not to show it.
Over the course of the next hour the marines made their way to the Ork encampment by foot and surrounded it. Doctrine XII-IV-I goes against most standard doctrines by not having heavy weapons support the tactical and assault marines, but the other way around. This way, a great volume of fire can be effectively unleashed on large hordes of enemies, especially from tactically advantageous such as high ground.
The attack began. Simultaneously, nearly half of the Ork guard towers were incinerated by the miniature suns from plasma cannons. To them, that was obviously a challenge and they ran out from wherever they had been up to then, often that meant the circles around those that started bashing each other's heads in from boredom.
The smell of ozone filled the air near the cannons that then begun their cooling cycles, to be replaced shortly after by the smell of cordite instead as the heavy bolters opened up on the charging mass that had quickly formed itself when shouts of a 'big scrap' passed around the base.
As the greenskins ran up the hills the great streams of bolt shells rained down from, the tactical squads made sure they wouldn't get near the devastator squads while the assault marines kept the Orks from reaching their tactical brethren in turn.
Again the battle was rather one-sided, and by the time the shooting stopped, enough ozone and burnt cordite filled the air to suffocate and poison a mortal man within minutes. The spent bolt casings that littered the ground weighed as much as Sachiel did.
Jenrok pressed the vox-caster's transmission rune. "Command to all captains. Report confirmed Warboss kills."
"III'rd Company reports zero warbosses slain, my lord."
"IX'th Company reporting. No boss kills. I repeat. No boss kills."
"This is IV'th company. Zero on the killcount."
"IIX'th Company reports no boss kills. My apologies, lord."
"Stand by and wait for further orders. Command out."
Jenrok hit the hololith's projection surface, made to withstand such outburst specifically. "What in Guillimans's name is going on? Who is controlling these Emperor forsaken xenos?"
"Zeruel. Aren't the people in the caves a bigger reason for concern?" Sachiel voxed privately.
"Yes they a-" He wanted to answer, but never finished the sentence. "Wait, are you implying...?"
"If the enemy has outsmarted us twice in a row, I think it's safe to assume we've walked into a trap."
"Why don't you tell him? Don't be shy, dreadnoughts tend to be well respected."
"Eh? Well, if you say so." She hesitantly turned to Jenrok. "Master Jenrok, with all due respect, but shouldn't the people... the population, be our top priority right now?"
"You seem to have something more to say. Let's hear it. Your input is going to be as good as any at this point."
"Well, it seems the enemy has outsmarted us right now, regardless of who or what the enemy really is. I think it's fairly safe to assume we walked into a trap."
"Be more specific."
"The first attack was a diversion."
"Yes, we got that much, but what do you make of this? It's just the same. You're saying it's another diversion?"
"Yes, prepared during the time they won with the first."
"Well, tell me something new. That much is obvious."
"As I recall, the Ork camp was built at a complex of caves that was not on any map."
"Your point being?"
"What if that tunnel is part of the assault? What if it connects to the ones we were supposed to defend?"
"Then we need to be quick." Jenrok picked his vox-reciever back up and started shouting orders into it. "Command to all companies. Reserve squads from all companies, drop to Beta Point. Yesterday. All forces on the ground, enter the tunnels at the encampment. Split up at your own discretion if the need arises, same goes for employed tactics. Make haste, command out."
Jenrok waited not even for confirmations. "Everyone present, to the drop pod bays, we drop NOW!"
Sachiel got her own drop pod, just like on Rabort VI during the Tau invasion, while Zeruel and the ever silent Mebahiah shared one with the Chapter Master and his Honor Guard. The blood red pods were dropped before those of the reserve squads hit the ground.
Zeruel contacted Sachiel during the drop. "Sachiel, You amaze me time after time again. You'd have made the Chapter proud had it yet lived."
"Really? I'm somewhat happy to hear that, but... I somehow can't be too enthusiastic about it. I'm sorry."
"I don't understand. You serve the Emperor so well. That is a reward of it's own."
"That may be, but it's not the life I was meant to live. Or at least, the life I thought I was meant to live. I apparently got this talent for war, but I don't want that talent! Imagine our roles reversed and finding out that you make a surprisingly pretty bride?"
"I'd... What?" He looked at her image on the pictstream in his helmet with a look of severe confusion.
Sachiel produced a low-pitched, vox-distorted giggle as she imagined him in a fancy dress.
"I see your point, and I apologise, but there is nothing either of us can do to change that now."
"I know. I know it's been nearly a year since my life practically ended. But I still can't get used to this."
"You seem to at least have gotten used to your voice enough to finally laugh without feeling uncomfortable."
"I got used to that a while ago, just didn't often have a reason to laugh."
"Now don't be so down, you'll feel better about it all soon enough, I promise. For now you have a duty to perform, so get into character."
"Give me a second. I'll be ready when we land."
"Sure. Have faith, you can do this."
When Sachiel stepped out of her pod, the reserve squads had already gone into the tunnels.
"Let's go, let's go!" Jenrok called out to his honor guard. He started running ahead with the rest soon following. "Any inspiring words, chaplain?" He asked Sachiel without slowing down.
Sachiel's heart would have stopped right that instant if she still had one. In a single instant her mind raced across a vast empty space, trying but failing to even see a glimpse of something, anything, that could get her out of this one. Images of her secret's discovery and by extension her life's end were quickly followed by those things she so missed and never would see again. Then it hit her, and she complied to the Chapter Master's request.
"Every life counts. Every life lost is an unrecoverable blow to mankind. Every blow to mankind is an unforgivable insult to the Imperium. Every insult to the Imperium is a grave affront to the Emperor!" She never told anyone, short of Zeruel when he asked later, that she was merely quoting her speech from that Imperial Guard movie she so liked. She liked it because it was not as characteristically brutal as most of its kind, but that was also the reason nobody thought it sounded like a Guardsman's speech. "Will you stand for that?"
"Never!" Came the answer from all marines in unison, except Zeruel who thanks to knowing Sachiel's secret was unable to utter a word.
Sachiel was taken aback for a second too, not expecting any favorable form of response. It worked. It actually worked. She mentally sighed in relief. "I can't hear you! Will. You. Stand. For. That?"
"NEVER!"
Sachiel would have smiled if she still could, and the thought of the inability stung her depressingly, but it could not penetrate her sense of relief and that slight tinge of pride.
They ran on and eventually reached deep into the tunnels where the reserve squads had already positioned themselves, but they were not alone. They were already in mortal combat with the greenskins with barking bolters and revving chainswords.
The rocky caves were quite wide at this point, wide enough to fit two land raider tanks side by side without fear of bumping into eachother. That was wide enough to allow for a large incoming stream of Orks, but not enough to effectively defend, especially because there were no elevated positions for the Devastator squad to fire down from, over the heads of their Assault brethren who formed the first line. This meant the Assault marines had to take the brunt of the force. To top it off, the enclosed area of the cave made the use of their jump packs impossible. The only reason the defensive line had not been broken yet was because these were just the first few Orks.
Master Jenrok gave the order. "Engage at will!"
At once, seven bolters answered the call and added their fire to that of the tactical squads. Jenrok drew his sword, a millennia old relic. The long, pure white blade of the weapon, often used with two hands, cackled with with an angry red lightning-like power field. He carried a large storm shield in his other hand which was often referred to as a tower shield because of its size. It was the Chapter Master's ancient artificer armor that provided the strength necessary to wield both at the same time.
While the Honor Guard followed him, shooting their guns along the way to cover their charge, Jenrok ran straight at the enemy, intent on supporting the assault squad that heroically held their ground.
In the meanwhile, Orks threw themselves at Imperial chainswords en masse. While they often managed to get off a blow, they were mostly blocked or just bounced off on the ceramite plating that was part of the reason why space marines are so hard to kill.
Normally, techmarines and apothecaries stay behind the first line of defence, due to their value as support. But there were no tanks for him to attend to in these caves, so unlike Mebahiah, who already brought up a fresh magazine before his gun ran dry, Zeruel joined in the charge.
Zeruel's bolter clicked on an empty chamber and he mag-locked it to his tool belt. Instead, he grasped his Mechanicus issue power axe with both hands and started firing his plasma cutter at the green tide. At that point Jenrok was already hacking Orks in twain with his large sword and it seemed to cost him no discernible effort at all.
Throughout all this, Sachiel stayed behind, joining the devastator squads instead. While they had trouble firing through the defensive line of their brothers, Sachiel had no such problem. Her ammo drums rattled as they evacuated their contents through the already fire blackened muzzles of her autocannons. The deafening report of her guns echoed through the caves and made dust come down from its ceiling.
She had been told to fire in bursts. She did, but the great amount of enemies made those bursts follow each other seamlessly in an endless stream of shells.
Like Zeruel, the Sons of Orar veterans had stowed their bolters in favor of their relic weaponry. Ashver carried an impressively ornate and equally large double-headed battle-axe with perfectly straight blades that formed a capital letter 'M' with the handle. He used it to cleave a Nob from shoulder to waist in two, as if it wore no armor whatsoever.
Brothers Fexor and Hevar were engaged with a squad of Boyz when a Trukk rumbled into the cave. They hefted their swords, asymmetrical weapons with a gap through most of the blade's length and saw-teeth along most of the back, and waited for it to ram its way through its own kind and into the defensive line. It came, and they each took a side of the trukk, swinging their impressive weapons into the front of the vehicle and out through the other side, spraying their surroundings with sparks and metal debris. The identical swords were naturally appointed to the twins, and they knew exactly who, or indeed what, to use them against, and how to do it to masterfully show the blades' full destructive potential.
Verran's relic weapon was unique in that in consisted of two one-handed blades, each fixed to a gauntlet not unlike lightning claws. He became Champion by employing these blades so skillfully in battle that he often held the highest kill-count, decreasingly rarely even eclipsing that of Chapter Master Jenrok himself. He was everywhere at the same time, seeking the largest concentrations of enemies to play to the strengths of these weapons, slashing all around him with a speed a mortal man's eye had a hard time following, but never leaving the vicinity of his fellow honor guard and of course his master.
Marnuth carried the chapter banner, and he took his job of protecting it as seriously as any in his position. He constantly stayed every so closely out of melee, using digital lasers, bolt pistol and boltgun to keep the filthy xenos from having even a chance of damaging the precious icon of honor. His affinity with close range combat is the reason he was selected for this sacred duty in the first place. Zeruel never saw someone reload two weapons so quickly before, especially considering the extra weight of the auxiliary grenade launchers the entire squad had equipped, but saved for later when their limited ammunition would be more crucial to victory.
Zeruel had only slight trouble keeping up, his long handled axe allowed him to often slash three or four Orks at a time and now that he reached the front he could use his flamer mechadendrite to help thin the enemy ranks while crushing alien skulls behind him with his servo arms.
All of that happened in the time span of a few seconds, and following the destruction of the Trukk, a primary target - that is, a Warboss - hopped from the wrecked vehicle along with his retinue of Nobz, all of them shouting their primitive war cries at the top of their lungs while they mashed a few of their lesser kin out of the way.
Vox connections were established and sit-reps were given at the same time, drowning each other out, but Sons of Orar Chapter Master had already seen the situation and linked it to the unintelligible reports. "Everyone who is not tied up, engage Primary! Concentrate fire!" To lead in battle, one had to concentrate on the fight, yet still take in reports and give out orders accordingly. Having lead the chapter for decades, Jenrok did this without a second thought.
All of the marines in close combat were indeed tied up in it, short of the twins who had made the shared vehicle 'kill' in the first place. But while normal Ork Boyz aren't all that small, Nobz have outgrown even space marines and a Warboss was an even bigger and stronger version of that. The twins could take him, if he was alone. Maybe with 2 or 3 Nobz, but there were many more of those. At least a dozen and a half, they reckoned.
Sachiel heard the reports over her vox too, and her cogitator array could even separate them near-perfectly by means of complex Fourierus and Laplacius transformations that even most lower-ranked Tech-priests knew nothing about, the ability to create such advanced hard and software long lost to time's eroding effect on technology and humanity's knowledge thereof.
Her focus on the described threats made the familiar red and orange boxes appear around them, her targeting software using range and environmental data to calculate and automatically apply all ballistic data necessary for firing a burst that would take out the most of them. It was, however, in vain as Fexor and Hevar were already locked in combat with the Nobz by that time.
This was also the reason none of the devastators could effectively engage them, their weapons built for suppressive fire and area-denial. The risk of friendly fire was too high. The tactical marines had problems of their own. While the holy bolter is a magnificent weapon, the Nobz, and especially the Warbosses tend to scavenge all the armor they can find and have their Mekboyz build them powered suits of armor, very crude and primitive devices that attempted to mimic the armor worn by the Emperor's Chosen. Those suits succeeding in keeping most standard boltgun fire out while none of the marines had the time to aim at weak spots in the fast-paced struggle.
The thought of it coming down to her frightened Sachiel, and it clouded her thoughts for a moment. In the meanwhile the fight raged on and the Nobz started engaging other marines while the Warboss pushed them aside to do battle with the twins.
The moment lasted a mere two seconds, but during that time she saw Hevar deal a blow to the huge hulking Ork, who shrugged it off and whacked it's attacker to the side with his gun arm. She saw him stand up again while his brother covered for him. She also saw an assault marine cut through the armor of a Nob. She saw how much fiercer those bigger greenskins fought than their lesser kin, and how they overwhelmed the marines who were already busy with the horde of Boyz. She saw how one of them died, shouting his final war cry while cleaving one last Nob in half. "FOR THE EMPEROR, AND FOR THE CHAPTER!"
That pushed her over the edge. Something had to be done. Now. It was all that thrice-damned Warboss' fault. His and his cronies. He brought them here. Emperor damn him for taking the lives of the protectors of the Imperium. Her vision tunnelled, as she felt anger for the first time in battle. No, she thought, that is a lie. She had generally been too afraid to notice it, both of the battles itself and of what fighting them would make her, but she had hated the Orks from the start. This entire battle, once she looked back on it, was different. She had felt more eager to fight even in the command chamber and she finally understood why.
It took her a while to notice that her vision not only seemed to tunnel, but it actually did. Her visual sensorium had zoomed in on its target and her HUD overlaid very precise targeting data, the adjustments for windage and elevation for basic things like range all the way to things like the Coriolius effect and the gravitational pull of the planet's moons.
Not understanding what they meant, she disregarded all of them, hoping the system would apply all the effects by default as she fired a round. It did, and the round struck the roaring green giant in the head, but bounced off its armor harmlessly. It surprised her that she had only fired once while she had planned for a short burst, but after she felt it jerk her to one side at the second try she quickly deduced that precision shooting could do without the recoil of the other guns.
The second shot had bounced off just like the first. It frustrated Sachiel, but it had the same effect on the Warboss, buying the twins precious seconds of time. She fired three more shots in relatively rapid succession, the third finally hitting something of importance. Sparks erupted violently from the hulking beast's armor suit as several of the power cables connecting its backpack to the Powa Klaw were ruptured by the exploding shell.
The Primary target had trouble lifting its suddenly heavy and useless weapon and tried to flail around with it but managed to hit nothing due to the sudden lack of balance, as far as there ever was any. The two brother marines saw their chance and went in for the kill, lobbing off an arm and a leg, then the other arm and the head. They quickly joined the fights around them, not even thinking about celebrating the kill.
They helped the others finish off the mob of Nobz and everyone they helped started consolidating on the enemy who, noticing that their biggest and strongest members were slain, decided to make a run for it. All but the most enraged of them disengaged and fell back. That is exactly what the Devastator squads had been hoping for all along and they strode forwards as they readied their heavy weapons. As the other marines retreated behind them they opened fire with unparalleled fury and cut them down with what amongst the marines of the IX'th company passed for expert marksmanship.
The battle was finally over, but even now Sachiel felt things were not quite right. There should have been an attack much worse, and there should have been many more casualties, as much as the thought appalled her. Only one marine had died and... that was her fault. If only she had not hesitated to fire. If only... No, not now. "There's plenty of time to hate yourself later." She thought. This war was not yet over and it was about to get a whole lot worse.
Well, it looks like this is going to be a three-parter.