Chapter 11:

Target in Sight

The sight that met them as they walked into the building from where the four traitor guardsmen had come moments earlier was one of butchery and carnage. The still screaming form of their prisoner was laid out on a table surrounded by various sharp implements and tools, as well as several syringes. At a guess Captain Dennon thought that whatever had been injected was to ensure the prisoner didn't lose consciousness while he was being tortured.

The blood soaked room had a somewhat eerie and horrific feel to it. It had once been a loggers hut, but now the only thing carried out there was the merciless torture and murder of helpless prisoners. Captain Dennon wondered at the point of it all, surely these subhuman scum were merely sating their lust for bloodletting. These men couldn't possibly have anything worth saying to their captives. In fact they didn't even look as though they were military.

Both of the man's legs had been severed below the knee, the blood loss was already taking its toll and it was obvious he wouldn't last much longer. He was beyond the help of the squad medics, even a surgeon would have been hard pressed to do anything but ease the man's pain until he died. Senior Commissar Stephanos Lasseine stepped forward, the look on the man's face was hopeful for a second even through the excruciating pain he had suffered. But the realization of what the commissar had planned for him soon reduced him to a quivering wreck. The commissar drew his pistol, and pointed it towards the man's head.

"Wait, Commissar. He may have useful information." Captain Dennon said as the man began to plead for his life.

"He's just one of the woodsmen, Captain Dennon. I doubt he has anything useful to say. It's better to ease his suffering now than allow him to die slowly from blood loss. There is little we can do for him and we can't take him with us even if he were able to walk which he quite clearly won't ever be doing again."

The captain walked up to the side of the table and looked down at the man. The shear desperation in his eyes was hauntingly familiar, he was scared of death but he wanted the pain to stop.

"Who are you?" The captain asked.

"Please, don't kill me. Take me with you." The man pleaded.

The captain remained still as the man grasped her arm, the look in his eyes was one of utter despair, but she could tell he knew that his time would soon be over.

"Can you tell us anything about the Chaos Forces in the area?"

"I don't know anything. We were hiding out for months before they found us …" The man said before letting out another series of long and painful screams. The captain felt the grip on her arm tighten as the man went into shock and began convulsing on the table. Spittle ran down his chin as he attempted to speak but couldn't find the strength to get out his words.

The commissar stepped forward and without hesitation lifted his las pistol to the man's head. He fired once, the blast piercing the man's skull and burning a hole through the other side at such a close range. The man died instantly, finally free from his torment.

"We'll search the other buildings for any more prisoners. Send four fire teams of four men each to check the area for any sign of enemy forces or remaining prisoners. Hopefully it will be clear and we can be on our way." The captain said to the sergeants of 1st and 2nd squads.

An hour later every building had been searched and revealed nothing more than dust and cobweb filled rooms that had obviously not been used for many months. The captain had no intention of making camp there. If the traitor guardsmen were using it then it stood to reason that a larger force was probably close by, unless these men were simply deserters from both sides.

The journey through the forest had taken another half a day to complete, but they were now just mere miles from their destination. Captain Dennon looked from her position at the edge of the woods out over the lake and up the steep cliffs to the rail tracks. Her magnoculars gave an excellent view of the surrounding landscape. They also gave her the bad news that the entire railway track between the two tunnels was guarded by heavy reinforced pillboxes, no doubt guarded by heavy weapons teams. This would mean almost certainly that their plans would now be of no use.

The unit was too small to storm the positions. It would have taken a battalion sized force with over thirty of the pillboxes looking out over the lake from the top of the steep cliffs waiting to rain down death on anyone foolish enough to attack them head on. The captain felt a great deal of disappointment, to have come all this way and to be denied their target at the last moment. It meant they would have to either wait for the second team to arrive and they would have to devise a plan to take out the pillboxes with Melta Bombs or get into position so that they could guide in an airstrike to destroy the Behemoth Guns with laser guided bombs. Either way they would be spending almost the next week within sight of their target.

The first thing was to find somewhere concealed to make camp, the mountainous terrain was said to contain many cave systems, they would be perfect for staying out of sight while the unit decided on how they would complete their mission. Several hours of searching revealed a deep cave system that would be their base camp for the next week until they either had a workable plan or until they could call in an airstrike onto the railguns before they could reach the front lines.

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Atlantica

Atlantica swarmed with activity. All of the twelve major hives were well into their preparations to supply the Imperium with their designated quota of troops and materials. All except Krassus Hive and Sirion Hive were training their hundreds of thousands of troops. Thousands of military vehicles were pouring off the production lines courtesy of the massive industrial hive cities' capacity to keep up a seemingly endless supply to meet their obligations as dictated by Holy Terra.

In a matter of mere weeks millions had been and were still being inducted into the Imperial Guard. The propaganda surrounding The Founding was designed to play up the pride and honour of serving the Imperium. The status that Atlantica would earn for itself among the more than a million worlds of the Imperium would be great indeed. The next two years would be the largest Founding in the planet's history. Millions of troops would be trained as Imperial Guardsmen for the Cadian frontlines in the hope of finally breaking Abaddon's forces.

Lord Militant General Gaius Jediah Akkeron looked to Governor General Marnos Ephastus as he studied the data screen on the two traitor hives. Krassus Hive showed up on the live satellite feed. General Akkeron studied the defences as he prepared to instruct his chiefs of staff on the massive deployment ahead.

Fifty million troops waited in orbit for the order to strike at the heart of the traitor hives. Twenty titan legions, eight hundred thousand armoured fighting vehicles and two hundred thousand tanks. The troops had originally been designated as reinforcements for Cadia, but the rot affecting Atlantica needed rooting out before it had the chance to spread. The Lord Militant General already had his suspicions as did Governor General Ephastus. The two hives had isolated themselves for too long. No one who entered the hives ever returned, and all contact had been lost with the ruling houses.

Krassus Hive sweltered under the cover of the citywide energy shield. Three hundred million citizens made their home in the traitorous city of Krassus. Noble House Krassus owned everything, including the people of the hive. Everywhere one looked Krassus hive prepared for war. Everywhere throughout the city, millions of planetary defence troopers mobilized on the order of High Lord Krassus. For three years the hive had in secret been building its armies, now the time was right to strike.

The hated Imperium had dared to give Noble House Krassus a warning, 'provide troops or face the consequences'. But Krassus hive was already in the strong iron grip of chaos. Long had the noble family secretly worshipped the Lord of Decay. Now the chaos god's banners and symbols were everywhere. Citizens were branded with the marks of chaos, three hundred million souls lost to the Ruinous Powers.

Agent Alexandria Lopez walked the streets of Krassus dressed in the now customary brown and green robes of the hive. Disease and decay were everywhere, the plague that afflicted the hive was a slow and painful degeneration of the body until the people were little more than cannibalistic zombies forced to obey their masters' every wish. Everywhere Alexandria looked the desperation was repeated time and again.

Agent Lopez blended into the crowds of desperate citizens, mobilizing troops and militiamen. It was imperative that she contact Fleet Command with her latest intelligence report. She had been a sleeper agent for the past five years. The governor general had for a long time suspected the hive of conspiracy with the dark powers and now they had the proof they required. All they had to do was get the information passed to the governor general. But with the hive under martial law, it wasn't going to be easy. Neither was breaking out, especially through the city's energy shield. But her personal safety was secondary to getting the information out.

Sirion Hive had been under martial law for the past few months, ever since the word of the imminent arrival of an Imperial Fleet began making the rounds in the royal courts of the fourteen main hive cities. Two hundred and eighty million citizens had surrendered to the terrible bloodthirsty brutality of Khorne. Contact with Sirion hive had been lost soon after martial law went into effect. The agents of the governor general had long since been murdered. Everything and everyone was under suspicion in the hive. The citizens now only answered to High Priest Tynathle Rauxanus, the new ruler of Sirion Hive and a fanatically devout worshipper of Khorne, not to mention the host to a demon prince of the blood god.

The fleet readied itself for planetfall, fifty thousand transport ships, one hundred thousand or more dropships and several million drop pods. The idea was to be fast and strike before either of the two hives could bring their armies to full readiness.

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