Tertius collapsed into Dimitri's arms just as the area exploded with gunblasts, the flat bangs of bolter fire echoed throughout the empty streets. Bolts poured in from everywhere at once, imbedding in the ground and throwing clods of churned pavement skyward.

A bolt blasted Dimitri's shoulder guard apart and spun him around, dragging Tertius with him. He caught the rest of the burst on his armored back. Aside from a ruptured secondary servo calibrator, the damage was all superficial.

"Jax—" he started.

"Return fire!" the Confederate bellowed. "Isolate targets and return fire! Mow 'em down!"

As the rest of the Dogs let rip, Dimitri lowered the injured serf into the base of a marble fountain, hopefully away from the fire exchange. "Yevina, Animal: stay with him!" he ordered.

"On it!" Animal shouted, pulling Yevina into cover with him.

The Navigator shrugged out of his grasp. "Where are you going?" she asked.

Dimitri swung his Impaler up. "To the fight."

The Confederate

Chapter 35: Civil War: Part 1: Burn the Land

Manker had caught not a glimpse of the enemy, but he already knew for certain that he was fighting Ultramarines. The angles of fire, gun swath zones, the dimensions of the killbox he had inadvertently led his men into—all perfect Codex Astartes doctrine. And now the Dogs were paying for it, taking injuries as they struggled to defend a position that made a junkyard look as defensible as the Imperial Palace.

A bolt exploded against his knee guard. Manker stumbled, compensated into a dive for cover, and replied with half a clip along the incoming trajectory. Faintly, he heard the sound of steel tearing. His spikes hit something.

"Lieutenant Manker to the Battle Saint. Sir, I suggest a change of tactics."

"Hold one." Across the battleground, Manker saw a sudden flash of light, followed by the collapse of a building. "Alright. Wanna charge?"

"Yes, sir. I would suggest the southwest flank."

"And why's that?"

"It's the most heavily defended," Manker replied.

Something kicked him in the shin. When he looked down, he saw Menshaw and Sternev staring up at him, their rodent faces scrunched up in anger.

"What's that about?" Menshaw shouted. "You a gakking idiot? We're not charging into a death trap!"

"Yeah!" piped Sternev. "We're not charging into a deathtrap!"

"What was that?" Jax asked.

"Please hold, Battle Saint." Manker muted his helmet mic. "Do you hold the rank of lieutenant anymore?"

Menshaw's frown deepened. "No."

"Then you will follow my plan." Manker swapped back. "Back, sir."

"Good. So, southwest it is. Give me a moment to clear a path, alright?"

"Yes, Battle Saint."

(' ')

Jax fired a burst of shots into the smoke at the edges of the courtyard, driving the attackers into cover for a moment. "Castarius, I need a jump."

The Techmarine drew up the form of his destabilization ray emitter. It was a prized artifact of his former chapter, something that he had brought with him to Mars so long ago. The weapon was capable of supercharging objects on a molecular level, typically resulting in vicious combustion. Now, he held the barrel to Jax's palm and squeezed the trigger, charging the Confederate's energy reserves.

Jax's body tingled as his metabolism converted the sudden influx of unstable energy into… well, whatever kind of force he was going to project from his palms here in a minute. Jax had no concept of what that energy force was, but he felt no concern. All he knew was how to do it. Everything else, in his opinion, was unimportant.

He felt a jolt strobe along his spine. "Yow, alright! I think I'm full!"

Castarius pulled his weapon away and began using it on the incoming fire. They still had yet to actually see the Ultramarines, but he knew they were there. Like Manker before him, Castarius knew his Codex, and this was completely textbook.

Jax reloaded his Impaler. "Okay, I'm moving. Dogs, form on me!"

(' ')

Dimitri followed Jax into the fray, covering him with whatever fire he could put out as the Dogs charged the cathedral on the southwest approach. Bolts poured down from the cathedral's spires with a rhythmic chug-chug-chug, and Dimitri could place the Devestator squads manning them. Finally, he had visual confirmation of Ultramarines, at least two in each of the three towers, all armed with heavy weapons.

A lascannon blast lanced down from the tower and destroyed the Dog next to him, vaporizing the man's body from the waist up. The rest of the fallen soldier's squadmates returned fire with their underslung rocket launchers, ripping the face from the tower and burying the Ultramarines in rubble. It was far from a permanent solution, but it would do until Jax—

"Clear!" the Confederate bellowed, coming to a sudden halt. He thrust both his palms out before him, wrists touching, and shouted back. "Firing!"

A high-pitched shriek grated against Dimitri's eardrums, shaking the rubble in the street and rattling the church's few remaining windowpanes. It reached its peak and a lance of white light exploded from Jax's position.

The church fell apart like a house of tarot cards, its stone and mortar collapsing in a cloud of dust. The towers fell to be engulfed by the whirlwind, and as the sunspots cleared from his vision, Dimitri struggled to see anything left standing.

"Cathedral destroyed," Manker reported. "As is the building behind it, and the building behind that, and the building behind that…"

"Move in!" Jax roared. "Kill whatever's left! Go!"

The Dogs moved into the rubble by squads, the sounds of Impaler and bolter fire erupting seconds later.

On a hunch, Dimitri set his com system to cycle through all active vox signals. He found what he was seeking instantly.

"Sergeant Kasick to Brother-Captain Sicarius."

"Go ahead, Brother." Dimitri recognized the voice. It was definitely Sicarius. "Your Devastator fire has ceased. Why?"

"Brother-Captain, we are under attack by hostile forces of the Battle Saint. We are heavily outnumbered. All of their forces are concentrated on our position."

"Understood, Brother-Sergeant. Die well. Ave Imperator."

The line closed and Dimitri felt something cold in his gut. "Jax, the survivors have radioed to say they are outnumbered."

"So?" the Confederate said, watching his Dogs tear the Devastators apart one by one. "They're right. We do got 'em outnumbered. What's the big deal?"

"Jax, being outnumbered means something different to Space Marines. When Astartes get outnumbered, they don't panic, they just try to draw in as many enemies as they can for the rest of the chapter to finish off." Dimitri gestured around them. "And we're on their chapter homeworld. See a problem?"

Just then, a Thunderhawk roared overhead, peppering the area with missile fire. The street exploded in huge swathes, throwing pulverized rockcrete skyward, and the cathedral rubble was engulfed in flame. Seven Dogs' vitals flatlined across Dimitri's HUD.

Two more Thunderhawks burst through the cloud layer and saturated the area with their own payloads, raking the rubble with missiles and heavy bolter fire. More vitals dropped and calls for orders flowed from the embattled Dogs.

"Where do we go!"

"Where are they? I don't have a firing vector!"

Dimitri cut in. "All units, pull back, now! Hostile air support has arrived!"

As affirmatives reached his ears, he saw the first gunship turn from its initial strafing run and angle in again. Its drop bay doors opened, and Dimitri could see its most dangerous payload getting set to fall on them.

Jump packs flared and a full squad of vanguard assault troops dropped from the gunship, powerswords crackling. At their head, bareheaded, was Captain Cato Sicarius of the Ultramarines, and he looked pissed.

"Dimitri, move!" Jax shouted.

He pushed Dimitri out of the way and swung his sword up just as Sicarius slammed into the pavement. Their blades met with a thunderclap, Jax's pure adamantium refracting the energy of Sicarius's powersword and sending strobes of lightning peeling across the battlefield in a twenty foot radius.

"Confederate," Sicarius snarled.

"Super Smurf Junior," Jax replied.

Both men broke away, each repelled by the other's shove, and landed on their feet. The vanguard squad landed around them and sprang forward, all intent on Jax. The Confederate spun and parried blows as they came at him. He grabbed an overhead strike, sapped the energy from the blade, converted it, and hurled it back at his attacker before rolling into a thrust that impaled another Ultramarine.

As he fought, the other Thunderhawks disgorged their payloads: two squads equipped with Terminator warplate. Rhinos arrived from the embattled city, bringing with them chattering storm bolters and squad after squad of Ultramarines. The Dogs, routed from their position in the collapsed cathedral, retreated across the courtyard, exchanging casualties with the Ultramarines as they ran.

Manker ran past and grabbed Dimitri by the shoulder. "Equerry, we must go!"

"No!" Dimitri shook him off and brought up his Impaler with the mob Jax was embedded in. "We've got to help him!"

Jax blocked a sweep and punched the Marine in the throat. "No ya don't! I got this! Head out and I'll find ya later!" Dimitri hesitated. Jax decapitated another soldier and shouted, "Run, damnit!"

And Dimitri did. He ran with Manker all the way back to the fountain and farther still, into the beaten tangle of buildings at the southern end of the city.

(' ')

Jax killed the last assault marine with a sweep to its groin, cutting its leg off and toppling it to the ground. He swung his sword around and drove it through the fallen Astartes's heart complex, a blow that saw the man dead in a matter of seconds.

When he was done, he stood clear of the body and looked around at the approaching Ultramarines. His HUD ticked off twenty Terminators, sixty regular Marines and an array of Rhinos. Three Thunderhawks held position above the battlefield, their massive engines holding them in a hover.

Jax curled his hand into a claw, letting it glow as he held his sword ready. "Alright, who wants it next?"

Sicarius spoke up next. "Battle Saint, you must realize how futile this fight is for you. We outnumber you almost a hundred to one, and you have no hidden tarot to play in your favor. We will not engage you in hand-to-hand, and even with your impressive ranged abilities, you will not stand up to more than thirty seconds of sustained fire from our side. So, I implore you, surrender yourself peacefully."

No sooner had he stopped talking than Jax hit him with an energy blast. The impact tossed the leader of the Ultramarines twenty feet, his chest piece exploded.

Seconds later, the rest of the Ultramarines returned fire on his behalf, and the Confederate fell to his knees.

(' ')

"Stop and form up! Defensive positions, now!"

On Manker's order, the Dogs of War ceased their retreat and took up firing angles along the street. Boots kicked in walls and squads filed into buildings along the boulevard, taking up firing positions in windows that gave them trajectories down most of the side streets.

Ammo and personnel counts began ticking off on Manker's visor, his mind assimilating them with the rapidity of a machine. As he thought through the situation, the Kriegan Lieutenant moved around the block, tweaking firing angles and deployment locations by hand. When he was done, there was not a place within three blocks that would hide a Ratling from their wrath, let alone something as bulky as a Space Marine.

"How are we?" Dimitri asked as Manker rejoined the command squad. The Equerry was surrounded by Animal Mother, Yevina Cardigan, and the two Ratlings—Menshaw and Sternev.

"In a bad way. If they hit us with another attack, we'll be annihilated," he replied honestly.

"Well, shit," the Navigator, Cardigan, said.

"What makes you think they're coming after us?" Menshaw asked. "Do you have some kind of telepathic link or—"

"He's right," Dimitri cut in. "They're coordinating the attack right now."

Menshaw looked up at him. "How do you know?"

"Our suits are equipped with telecommunications equipment far in advance of the standard Imperial vox. I've been listening to their transmissions since we arrived." He paused for a moment, listening. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped to a whisper. "They're saying Jax is dead."

Yevina was the first to respond. "How—"

"No time," Manker barked. "Manker to all units: hostile arrivals are imminent. Prepare to defend yourselves."

(' ')

Jax lay on a pile of rubble, his armor beaten and pockmarked, with chunks of bloodied neo-steel scattered around him like a funeral circle. His visor was destroyed, burst when a bolt exploded against his forehead, taking the rest of his face with it. His heart was not beating, as most of his internal organs had been liquefied by a melta-shot. As his body lay steaming, his fingers slipped and let the hilt of his adamantium sword fall to the ground with a dull thunk.

Captain Sicarius stood above the corpse of the Battle Saint, helmet in the crux of his arm and hand on this pommel of his sheathed blade. He felt ashamed that, in the end, the Confederate's death could not have come in single combat, but he appreciated the necessity of scything the man down at range. He ran his fingers across the shattered Aquilla on his chest, where the Confederate's blast had all but destroyed his armor. Had the Battle Saint retained more energy throughout the fight, the blast would have surely killed him. Sicarius was mindful of that much.

"You were a warrior," he muttered, "but foolish. Rest defeated by the sons of Gulliman, heretic."

Sergeant Corvus marched up the rubble and made the sign of the Aquilla across his breast. "Brother Captain, we have tracked the enemy to the southern habs. Our brothers are engaging them now. Do you wish to join them, sir?"

Sicarius nodded slowly. "Yes, Sergeant. Prepare my land raider."

"At once, Brother Captain."

Corvus walked away, the growl of his active armor swallowed by the open courtyard. Sicarius lingered a while longer before he followed suit, leaving the fallen Battle Saint behind.

Author's Note: Holy crap, right? Sorry I'm a day late on my deadzone, but I was busy on Saturday and sick as a dog on Sunday, so here's a Monday morning kickoff to the new Civil War story arc. Hope you liked it. I think it has enough kick to warrant some comments. That's it for my babbling; see you later.

*Submitting a review to the Confederate is appreciated, and fuels the ongoing pursuit of a million words and one thousand reviews. Do it, or the Inquisition will find you.