Speculum Enigmate Chapter 30
The headquarters of the PDF was on fire. Persion could see smoke billowing from its narrow windows and the piles of dead laying before the doors. The thick walls were scorched by flames and the ramparts above broken and crumbling, while the proud Aquila fixed to the front was missing half a wing and one head. Like all military structures the ten-story building had been designed as much as a fortress as an administrative building but it had not availed the defenders. Internal explosions had ripped through the place, demolishing the gun ports and crippling the void shield generators. The reinforced doors had been blown off, leaving the way exposed for a Genestealer assault. Their bodies laying where they had fallen, mixed with those of the defenders.
Persion's attention was dragged back to the ground as a shivering youth stammered, "The Generals have left already, I am charged with securing this location." This was Mortima, a native commander, one who had been assigned to oversee the clearing of the headquarters. The man didn't look old enough to lead soldiers and if he had ever seen real combat then Persion was an Ork. Sadly he wore a Captain's rank pins on his collar and so was the highest-ranking officer Persion had been able to find. The Space Marine had come here expecting to meet the Generals of the PDF but instead had been forced to deal with this boy.
All around them teams of soldiers worked to police the dead, clearing away piles of corpses and dragging more out of the ruined building. Persion didn't understand why they were wasting time on this derelict ruin, not when there were hordes of enemies rampaging throughout the city. Even now he could hear the sounds of fighting continuing, battles filling the streets in all directions. To have several hundred soldiers idling their heels here seemed a monumental waste, but trying to drive that fact into this callow youth's head was proving impossible.
Marshal Gunnah interrupted to say, "Then get your commanders on the vox."
Mortima frowned in consternation as he pleaded, "I don't have the authority."
The Arbites commander wasn't pleased by that response and growled, "I am giving you the authority. I am the God-Emperor's law on this world, defy me and you shall be judged unworthy in His sight."
Mortima swallowed nervously and stammered, "We're trying, but the vox waves are jumbled and confused. We're getting conflicting reports from all quarters. Fighting, rioting, an army of mutants surging out of the undercity. Mutants on Pascum, it's inconceivable!"
Persion growled, "These are no mutants, you have been invaded by an alien menace."
Mortima jaw fell and he gasped, "Aliens invading?! No, it can't be, they wouldn't' t, they couldn't!"
Persion snapped irately, "They can and they have. You need to contact your superiors immediately and tell them we need to coordinate our efforts to repulse the enemy."
Mortima shook his head and pleaded, "But my orders…"
"Are outdated," Gunnah barked, "The situation has evolved. Go contact your generals, NOW!"
The captain's defiance wilted and he turned to scurry away, seeking a vox-operator. Persion watched him go and muttered, "Damnation. Toran would have that sop convinced in a heartbeat. How does he do it?"
"What's that?" Gunnah asked distractedly.
"Nothing," Persion sighed, "I suppose all we can do now is wait."
"Not quite," Gunnah corrected, "Let's go talk to that sergeant over there."
Persion frowned as he asked, "Why?"
Gunnah grinned evilly as he said, "First rule of dealing with the army: you can talk to the officer who thinks he's in charge or to the sergeant who actually knows what's going on."
The pair of them walked over, passing their squads as they did so. The combined force of Space Marines and Arbites had made it through the choked streets, killing many foes as they did so. Persion was satisfied that they hadn't lost anymore Brothers or Arbites but their ammunition supplies were growing perilously low. As soon as they were done here he needed to find a clear spot for their circling Thunderhawk to set down and unload. Should have ordered a drop-pod delivery, Persion berated himself, but it was too late for second-guessing.
The pair of them approached a Sergeant, who was hefting bodies into piles. He was amply muscled and carried many tattoos over his bare arms, while his jaw was unshaven. The man saw them coming and turned to make the sign of the Aquila and declared, "Sergeant Geeth, at your service."
Persion returned the gesture and said, "Lieutenant Persion, Marshal Gunnah. We need to talk to you."
Geeth sniffed, "Captain Mortima Frak-all' use was he?"
Persion was surprised at the curt dismissal but Gunnah grinned as he said, "I take it he hasn't been making himself useful."
"Pah, junior officers are all alike," Geeth sneered, "Couldn't find his arse with both hands and a map."
Persion was taken aback by the comment and snapped, "Does your world take so little pride in its officers? I thought you bred for capability here."
Geeth chuckled, "In theory the officers are bred to lead, in practice they're bred to dance in ballrooms, look handsome and know which fork to use at the dinner table. Most of the officers haven't fired a weapon in anger in their lives; the thought of a real war makes them piss themselves. You should see the comforts they drag with them on manoeuvres; we grunts spend more time packing up their little luxuries than we do slogging through muddy fields."
Gunnah didn't seem to object to the man's bitter tirade as he said, "Sergeant, what happened to the high command?"
Geeth scratched his ear as he replied, "It was a bit confusing, first we knew explosions were tearing the headquarters apart, then they came. Twisted things pouring through the smoke and haze. Took all we had to fend them off, lost a lot of good mates before it was over."
"And your Generals?" Persion pressed.
Geeth replied, "They took off at the first hint of danger, fleeing to safety. Typical of the top snobs, they left us to die to save their own skins."
Persion was surprised and hissed, "They abandoned comrades-in-arms to fight alone, what kind of soldiers are they?!"
Gunnah sneered, "I always knew Clemas Bassail was yellow, no wonder you sound so resentful."
Their conservation was interrupted as Captain Mortima strode back, an angry look upon his face. The young man stomped up to them and snapped, "I should have known!"
Persion cocked his head and asked, "Known what?"
Mortima glared up at him and spat, "Don't play dumb with me. I have just spoken to General Clemas Bassail. He told me what you did!"
Persion noted the soldiers behind him were no longer shifting bodies but spreading out, trying to encircle the Space Marines. Centuries of combat experience told him the situation was shifting and he moved his hand fractionally closer to the Friction Axe on his belt as he sub-vocalised an alert to his squads. Without doing anything obvious the squads hefted their weapons and made ready, their acknowledgements blinking up in his helm's display.
Persion glared at the indignant officer and growled, "I don't know what you've been told but you're making a mistake."
"You don't fool me," Mortima decried, "You betrayed Pascum, your Imperium betrayed us! This madness is all you're doing!"
Gunnah's hand fell to his power mace as he hissed, "Don't try it."
But Mortima yelled, "All troops, open fir…"
His declaration was interrupted by Persion's fist smashing into his face, shattering the fragile bone to drive a ceramite cudgel through his braincase and out the other side. The Captain's corpse collapsed, missing a head, and everybody gasped. Sergeant Geeth's eyes widened in shock but his reflex was to go for the lasrifle slung over his shoulder. He was interrupted by Gunnah's power mace slamming into his chest, shattering ribs and crushing his vital organs. Persion drew his Friction Axe with his augmetic hand as he yelled, "Defend yourselves Brothers!"
The encircling soldiers reacted as they had been trained to do, going for their lasrifles, but the Space Marines were faster. Persion threw himself at a knot of soldiers, bearing down on them with immense weight and speed. They managed to get off a single volley and the Lieutenant felt lasbolts slam into his amour, converted into kinetic force as the outer ceramite layer was burned off by terrific heat. It didn't stop him, he barrelled through the impacts and pounced on the men with a great sweep of his axe. Cleaved heads and limbs fell to the floor as his red-hot blade cut through them, leaving cauterised wounds in his wake. Bayonets and knives came at him as the soldiers tried to fight back but Persion was a Space Marine, in close confines they were no match for him and he slaughtered half-a-dozen men in seconds.
All around a ferocious battle raged as the Imperials tore into the natives. The Reivers dove into the fray with eager relish, slitting throats and letting blood flow. Jediah led them from the front, enjoying slaughtering these helpless dupes as much as the Hybrids. Yones' intercessors were critically low on ammo so eschewed shooting, instead preferring to use the stocks of their guns and combat knives. They were equally deadly with these implements and they reaped a fearfully tally as they advanced. The Devastators formed up into a Codex pattern arrowhead, the Brothers bearing heavy bolters sheltering behind their squadmates. Zeax was at point, his Thunder Hammer smiting any foe who came within reach. And at the rear the Arbites advanced in a wall of riot shields, their combat shotguns mowing down anybody foolish enough to get in their way.
Persion saw the soldiers wouldn't last long and he shouted, "Lay down your arms, we are not your enemy!"
The soldiers refused to listen, still trying to reform and surround the Imperials and Jediah yelled, "No good, we'll have to kill them all!"
"Every trooper on the planet?!" Yones barked as he crushed a skull, "They've all turned on us!"
"If we have to," Persion growled as he tore a man's legs off, "We don't have any…"
His cry was cut off as he heard a distinctive whistling noise: a high-pitched scream of something small and heavy travelling extremely fast. It was as familiar to him as the howl of a Thunderhawk's engines but far less welcome. His guts clenched in dread and a cold chill ran down his back as he recognised the tone of artillery shells, Earthshaker rounds, headed their way. With a flash of forlorn insight he realised Mortima hadn't been totally incompetent, the fool had ordered an artillery bombardment on his own coordinates in case he died.
"Incoming!" Persion bellowed but it was too late. The ground he was standing on exploded, disappearing into brilliant flashes, showering earth and Ferrocrete chunks. Persion felt himself being thrown away as the detonation sent him spinning into the air, his immense weight moot when set against the force of an artillery bombardment. His armour shrieked warnings of damage as he hit the ground and rolled over, covering his helm with his hands. He ached in every inch of his body but he had no time to recover. The bombardment did not cease but kept coming, the distant gunners firing as fast as they were able. Explosions rocked Persion's world, filling his universe with madness and death and all he could do was endure.
The soldiers they were fighting were obliterated in the first salvo and several nearby buildings collapsed as stray shells tore them apart. Yet the Space Marines were far from invulnerable. Persion saw a shell land mere metres away from the Devastators and they were hurled in all directions by the blast. One of them took the full force of the explosion and was blown to pieces, ceramite shards and bloody chunks raining down like grizzly hail. Another was thrown high into the air and fell in a tangle of shattered limbs, his neck snapped by the force of the blast. Two noble Brothers cut down in an instant by foes they had not even seen.
Persion felt successive blast waves battering him but he knew to stay here was to die so he yelled, "Fallback! Everybody initiate a tactical withdrawal!" He rose to his feet and sprinted as fast as he was able. There was no point trying to evade, the shells were landing randomly and he was as likely to be hit running in a straight line as he was if he zigzagged. He put his head down and sprinted for all he was worth, desperately hoping to escape the blastzone. The others ran with him, every Space Marine scrambling for distance but not all of them made it. A Reiver was caught in the chest by a Ferrocrete spear, blown free of the road at a terrific velocity. He collapsed with a two-meter javelin of rock protruding from his chest, dead before he hit the ground.
Persion couldn't help the fallen, all he could do was run. He put one foot in front of the other, expecting any second to die in a ball of fire. He couldn't see more than a few inches in front of his face and the vibrations shook his genhanced bones within his chest. Were he not Transhuman the air would have been sucked out of his lungs and his organs pulped. He heard more explosions fall behind him, then suddenly he was out of the bombardment zone, running down a clear street.
He pulled up and spun about, counting their losses. Three Brothers had died in that inferno, torn apart in moments. The rest looked scarcely any better, their armour battered and chipped in countless places. Persion was surprised to see four Arbites had made it out alive, including Gunnah. They had been only on the periphery of the bombardment zone yet still they had lost most of their number. Persion faced the Arbites and asked, "Marshal, are you hale?"
"What?!" Gunnah yelled, "What did you say?!"
Persion saw blood running out of his ears and realised the force of the detonations had ruptured his eardrums; the mortals were deaf and concussed. Persion heard more shells falling on their former location and snapped, "Hurry, we have to fall back before they spread their targeting."
Memnos protested, "The gene-seed of the fallen, I have to go back!"
"Negative," Persion snapped, "You back there, you die. We are moving out!"
He matched deeds to words by turning and striding away. The others followed him but Yones muttered, "Red Sands, so we have to fight a Genestealer cult and the PDF too. How are we supposed to do that?"
Persion could only say, "I have absolutely no idea," as he led them back into the fires of war.
