Chapter 19: Baptism by Fire

If we die here, it shall not be for nothing.

- Captain Raziel of the Dark Angels

"Emperor's arse! Wake up!" Selina shook him awake, worry and fear cracked the once stoic voice as she once again yelled at him.

Her brown eyes were dimmed as locks of her raven black hair escaped from the clutches of her helmet. Faint traces of blood and dirt were plastered on her fair skinned face. Rodemman immediately sat up as the smell of battle reached him. With one fluid motion, he donned his flak armor and strapped his helmet.

"What happ-" Rodemman was cutoff as an explosion erupted outside.

Both Selina and Rodemman fell to the ground as the explosion disrupted their balance. His tent crumbled due to the intensity of the shock.

"Damn it all!" Rodemman cursed as he reached for his lasgun and his scarf.

Freeing himself and Selina from the grasps of his tent, he was met with a scene he was very well familiar with. Pillars of flame illuminated the night sky and smoke disrupted the elegance of the twin moons as they reached their stage. The men and women of Roliter's wyvern platoon ran towards the perimeter trenches. He looked at Selina who was trembling. Her brown eyes wide as the woman no more than twenty years old simply watched the carnage.

Damn the warp! These people are still kids! Rodemman screamed within him.

Though the human men and women within the military force of Fonral were all considered adults, their inexperience with war was evident. Rodemman clicked his tongue in annoyance as another explosion rocked the ground. His vox-link registered the confusion within the ranks of the guardsmen. He knew that if this continues, they might just as well have marched straight into the sights of the orks.

"Let's go!"

He and Selina sprinted towards the trenches and out of the see of tents. He could see that the platoon's inexperience was causing casualties within their ranks. He passed the corpse of Tagart, the platoon's tracker that he was supposed to lead during his night raid. Taggart's face was contorted in pain as his dismembered body lay on the fiery fields. His once bright blue eyes were now red as blood seeped through them. Mud and dirt smudged on his once healthy brown hair. No doubt that he had joined his older brother, a corporal who had died earlier in the patrol Rodemman was with. He spared a glance behind him only to find Selina frozen in place as she stared at the corpse of the young private. Rodemman quickly grabbed her hand.

"Move or die Lieutenant!" He hissed as he half supported, half dragged the shocked woman.

Despite the bullets flying through the air, he and Selina made it into the trench without much harm. Their feet sounded as it made contact with the ground slickened by blood. Many more corpses lay within the trench as the platoon fought desperately.

"This is wyvern platoon to command, we are under attack. Repeat, we are under attack. We are in need of immediate assistance!"

Rodemman heard Erick, one of the platoon's vox-caster operators as he hastily tried to reach the command hab with his vox-caster. Rodemman looked at the shaken Selina as she tightly gripped her longlas.

Tch, so much for being an officer.

He pointed at her then to him. "You're with me."

Selina nodded.

"Corporal Luludilius!"

Rodemman turned to see Erick shouting at him. He couldn't make out what he was saying due to the chaos that surrounded them. Another guardsman fell to the ground as his head exploded in a mist of blood. Rodemman and Selina trudged through the bloodied trench towards the vox-caster operator. But the inexperienced guardswoman was more than shaken at her first sight of an actual head explosion.

"What!?"

"Captain Roliter wants you to man the heavy bolters!" He replied.

"What of the operators!?" Another explosion resounded in his ears.

"Dead! They were hit by enemy rockets while making their way to the guns, sir!" Erick replied as the screams of orks sounded through the clearing.

Rodemman, peeked his head from the trench. His eyes widened with horror as he saw a horde of crimson orks charge from the tree line. They waved their crude melee weapons as some provided covering fire from the tree line. Las fire bounced on the orks' though skin like it was nothing. He raised his lasgun and aimed it by the jugular of an ork. With the mode set in semi-auto, he eased the trigger and downed the ork with three shots. Its head were scorched open by the superheated laser.

The surrounding guardsmen watched with mouths wide open as Rodemman put down another four. Their grime filled faces looked at him gleaming eyes as they watched the veteran's shots. Turning to look at them he yelled, both out of anger and necessity.

"Don't just bloody shoot! Aim for throne's sake!"

A few consecutive 'sirs' were replied as the effectiveness of their shots increased. Normally, he would have found it ironic seeing that some officers participated in the call, but alas, there were things that have more importance. Returning his attention to his orders, Rodemman quickly stood out of the trenches, much to Selina and the other guardsmen's protests. He sprinted towards the heavy bolter emplaced within a dugout just behind the trenches. His scarf flew wildly as he felt bullets whiz past him. He smiled despite the insanity that befell them. He was once again in his element, no unnecessary memories of the past or the troubling presence of a witch. There was only war. He found it ironic that he dreamt of peace where as he was more suited in warfare. He slid into the dugout, just in time as four bullets flew to where his head was supposed to be just moments ago.

With faint muscle memory during his time as a heavy bolter operator, he loaded the rounds into the chamber and aimed the bulky weapon towards the beasts. He was about to engage when he noticed that he lacked another body to serve as a loader. Just as he was about to improvise, Selina slid next to him and held the belt rounds.

"Let me take care of the loading, corporal! Just shoot!" Selina yelled at him under the noise of war.

Rodemman nodded and did just so. He was surprised to find the obviously inexperienced lieutenant by his side, yet alone her being able to recover after her partial breakdown. He shrugged it off as survival became a more pressing matter. The heavy bolter rounds ripped through the ranks of the attacking orks. Rodemman was relieved to see the shells as it passed through the beasts' bodies. Indeed, the weapon of choice of the space marines has proven itself once again.

A streak of white smoke crashed into the eastern part of the trench. Bodies of the guardsmen flew and exploded as the rocket scored a direct hit. Rodemman followed the quickly dissipating trail of smoke into the tree line that flanked their west. He pointed at it and yelled at Selina.

"Take that rocket out of commission! The heavy bolter ain't got that much range on her to kill that bastard!"

"Understood!"

She crouched to the dugout's wall on Rodemman's right and aimed her longlas towards the tree line. Moments later, he heard the distinct crackle of las fire as Selina took the shot.

"Rocket down. But I don't think that it was the only one." She said as she returned to Rodemman's side as a loader.

"Most likely you are correct." He replied before returning unloading the heavy bolter's shells into the ork ranks.

As he continued to pump out hot rounds within short intervals, a bullet grazed Rodemman's head. The force of the short contact sent him sprawling into the ground. He then heard the bullet as it embedded itself into the ground

"Shit! Sniper! Get down!" He yelled to Selina.

But before she could even react, a bullet tore through her right shoulder which instantly decapitated her. She screamed as she fell to the ground. Her cries filled the dugout as Rodemman scrambled to get to her. Her right shoulder was blown to bits and only a thin lining of flesh connected her arm to her torso. Rodemman quickly took out his bayonet and removed his flak armor along with his helmet. He then removed his white tunic and ripped it so that it could be used to stop the bleeding. He had left his gear and medical pack back in his tent but he assumed that it has already been destroyed.

"Brace yourself kid, this is going to hurt." He readied his bayonet to cut the thin flesh.

"I'll count to five okay?" Selina nodded as tears streamed from her eyes.

Rodemman had to remove her left hand which clutched what was once her right shoulder. He instead, gave her the ends of his scarf to hold on to.

"1…2…3!" In one fluid motion, Rodemman severed the thin flesh.

Selina screamed with the sudden action. Rodemman quickly wrapped part of his tunic as tightly as he could. He did so again with the rest of his former shirt. Once done, he was relieved that the bleeding had stopped and it seemed that Selina hadn't lost that much blood. He nodded and gently patted her sweat filled head. He then summoned a medic with his vox-link on their location.

"You've done good kid. You won't be dying here." He told her as he called for an actual medic into the dugout.

He pulled the injured Selina deep into the safety of the dugout and tapped his helmet.

"Call me if you need me. Medic is on his way." Before he returned to the heavy bolter, he looked at the guardswoman whose face showed pain.

"Whatever you do, do. Not. Fall. Asleep." He added then returned to rearm the heavy bolter.

With the lack of a loader, Rodemman was forced to use Selina's longlas as a guiding stick for the belt. He then continued to fire at short intervals onto the orks which has now taken cover behind the large boulders that stood between the trenches and the tree line. A guardsman then jumped into the dugout, the distinct red cross on both of his muddied shoulder pads. The medic looked at Rodemman wide eyed.

"Well? What are you waiting for? She's right over there!" Rodemman told the medic between his firing cycles.

"Yes sir!" Rodemman saw the medic crouched walk towards Selina.

He refocused his mind into using the favored weapon of the Astartes to mow down the orks.

After a few more minutes of intense firefight, a deafening sound filled the ears of all the combatants resembling a war horn. Instantly, the orks retreated into the forest and left the bodies of their fallen kin. The few remaining guardsmen of the Wyvern platoon shouted in triumph as they continued to lay down las fire upon the retreating beasts.

Rodemman allowed himself to fall onto the ground, exhausted by the ordeal. He looked up as he lie in the dugout and saw Selina unconscious as the medic attended to her. She was unmoving and was sadly not breathing. Rodemman sighed and stood up. He walked towards the pair and rested his left hand on the medic's shoulder. The guardsman, whom he assumed to be not more than nineteen, looked back at him. Rodemman crouched and checked Selina for any pulse. There was none. He looked at the young medic and shook his head.

"Better save that for someone else." The veteran saw stars in the medic's eyes as his shoulder slumped in defeat.

"Yes…sir. I'm sorry sir." He struggled to reply.

He then looked at the sniper's lifeless body.

"I'm sorry mam." He added and instantly bolted towards the trenches as numerous screams for a medic was heard with tears trailing down his eyes.

Rodemman sighed and looked at Selina. She had pail white skin matched with raven black hair. Her eyes which should have been a bright and lively brown were no doubt gone behind her closed eyelids. He slumped in front of her, his head casted down onto the ruined ground.

"I told you not to sleep didn't I?" He looked at where lively eyes would stare back at him.

"And yet you still did, lieutenant."

He once again wore his armor along with his helmet and walked out of the dugout. His lasgun slung behind him and his scarf dangled in defeat. He carried the lifeless body of his comrade to be reunited with her platoon. The little light that the twins were able to give through the smoke showered the survivors of Wyvern platoon.

"Please son. Don't go. You're too young, too kind for war." His father's words during one of his many attempts to persuade him to cancel his entrance into the Imperium Guard, echoed in his mind.

"So are they father. So are they."

The 'Archangel' marched in silence as he held her lifeless corpse.