Where the Young Sleep

Chapter I

The snow and ice of planet Kastirden was endless, at least during the winter months. There was only so much that could be done, especially when the enemy was always too close for any comfort. It was unfortunate, that while they were one of many, it was also too few. Armin Steiner looked outside of the window with his binos, glancing through the streets of the factory district with a grimace on his face. "Do you think it will be today?" A voice beside him spoke up. The soldier who spoke grinned at him sheepishly. Armin smacked him on the back of the head on his helmet. The helmet was a rather thickly paneled one so it wasn't quite the punishment that it would have been. "Well Otto, if it is not today, it is tomorrow. Did you have an appointment that you need to attend to urgently?" Armin responded with a playful smile on his face. Grenadier Otto Strauss was the Vox operator of his squad, belonging to him, 1st Squad 4th Grenadier Platoon. Otto had his hellgun down in his lap as he sat by the window, beside another Grenadier with a hotshot volleygun rested on the window sill. The vox operator took off his stanhelm helmet and scratched his messy hair a bit. "I heard a rumour that the messhall might be serving actual meat today." He responded, causing Armin to raise an eyebrow suspiciously. "Don't listen to rumours. It was slab yesterday, it will be slab today and tomorrow it will still be slab. We're not important enough to warrant grox or anything pretending to be grox." Armin let go of the binos and let them hang from the leather strap around it as he moved to another window. It used to be a warehouse of some sort, very close to the front lines. Or, at least what he could make up of the front lines. He had heard that the Jager company had gotten their hands on a former bakery, using the massive ovens for warmth. Lucky bastards. In the warehouse that served as their billet, the company commander had authorized platoon heating areas in the basement, as well as the heat in the warehouse being turned up. However with all the broken windows and holes in the roof, the heat never stayed for long.

"You see him? By the chimney." Armin looked over to the far side of the room. They were on the third floor of the warehouse, where the observation post was set up. On the far side of the room was the Grenadier company's reconnaissance platoon, where the company's scouts and snipers were allocated. At the far side, set up on a table behind a window for stealth sat one of the recon platoon's sniper teams. Corporal Maxim Kessler and Sergeant Simon Rottman. "Ja, the fucker is spotting for movement. Take him." Held in the Corporals gloved hands was a long las with suppressor fitted on. After a few brief second, a hushed pop echoed inside the room. "Hit. Dants spotter, 834 meters, eliminated." The Sergeant scribbled in a small notebook beside him, the pair continuing to spot for more targets. The men who made up the recon platoon were an odd bunch. Konig traditionally raised armour regiments. It was still not unheard of for Konig to raise rifle regiments as well or armoured infantry like the one that Armin belonged to. The 5th Konigs Shutzen Regiment 'Wikinger', an armoured mechanized regiment, was an odd mix of tank units as well as mechanized infantry, and light infantry. Traditionally, the 1st to 10th Konigs Regiments had been recruited from the entire planet, while the remainder carried honorifics that denoted the region that they were raised from. His younger brother was an officer-cadet in the 24th Konigs Sjaelland Regiment.

"Achtung!" Someone yelled out, the various carapace armoured soldiers snapping to parade ground attention. The Company Commander Captain Stefan Ostler walked in, waving his hands at them to be at ease. "I have news from Lieutenant Major Frederick Richte, the regimental executive officer, and it's bad news. A Dants unit has cut in between the position of 4th Company and the Novgorods." Someone groaned out loudly at the mention of the Novgorods. The 204th Novgorod Rifles were a unit of newly conscripted troops, someone in the Guard had figured that a unit from a cold planet would fight well in another cold planet. Unfortunately for the Wikingers, they had been ordered to a position beside the 204th. "What are the instructions for Grenadier company?" Lt. Kraus, one of the other platoon commanders asked. The Captain flipped through some pages and other papers before setting a map down on one of the tables there, the various officers and Sergeants gathering around. "The Dants rebels have pushed through to the city hall, if they continue to hold a gap, we may see enemy armour pushing through to exploit the gap. Grenadier company is ordered to seal off the gap, and eliminate the enemy that have pushed back our lines, preferably before the Novgorods retreat." Armin sighed to himself. "Otto, go gather up the squad." He would order. The Vox operator nodded and sprinted off towards the second floor, where the majority of the company who weren't on watch duty were situated. A few minutes later, the rest of the squad include his 2IC Corporal Gustav Staneike were gathered, some of them still chewing on what seemed like sections of whatever protein nutrition bar had been issued out earlier. Armin set up a map on top of a wooden table.

"Ok, now that we are all nice and fed, we have a mission. As of one hour ago, a Dants element has pushed in between our position and the Novgorod lines. If we do not dig them out, the Novgorods will most likely retreat and leave us here with no speed bumps on our flanks. So, as the glorious Grenadiers of the Wikingers, we get to go eliminate the pocket. That means go make sure you're loaded up on ammunition, and bring as many grenades as you can carry. Make sure we have plenty of water as well. And I want everyone in the squad to carry three days worth of those shit ration bars." Everyone groaned, but in this weather it was important. "And bring extra fuel, make sure our Taurox's have one extra fill up, and some heating elements. Gustav, I'll leave it to you to take care of that." The Corporal beside him nodded. "You have half an hour. I have to go get orders from the old man."

A few moments later, the various Sergeants Stefan marked various positions on the map. "So, 3rd Platoon will move in to seal the breach in the lines. Bring treadfethers, might have Dants armour coming through any time now. 1rd Platoon, you are on reserve. 4st and 2nd platoon will move into clear the city hall. Recon Platoon, cut south to the highway ridge, try to capture anyone who flees, see if we can get a few prisoners. I want a report once the gap is sealed. 1st platoon, remain mounted. I wish we could have some tank support but I don't think it is likely. Get everyone ready, in 30 minutes we will move." A chorus of acknowledgements came from around the table, each officer jotting down notes in their maps before going to brief their platoons. "4th platoon Sergeants, stay behind." As the other platoon commanders left, 4th platoon, by dint of being the Company Commander's platoon, as always had further instructions. "Let's make sure that we get this done quickly. The situation is very dire at the front. Thankfully, the 5th is held in reserve for now, but I spoke to a Captain from the 91st Stalinvast Grenadiers. They're being attacked on a daily basis." The officer looked around and nodded over at the other platoons. "I don't know if one company of Grenadiers will be enough, even if we are Wikingers. However, the entire front's artillery sits behind us so we cannot let the Novgorod retreat. That's all for now, see you all downstairs in 30 minutes." The Sergeants dismissed, Armin went off to check his own gear. Thankfully, the Grenadier company mostly used las based weapons. If they need ammunition, it was mostly just to overcharge the power cells in a fire. Some of the regiments heavy weapons that relied on solid ammunition had all been on half load outs for solid slugs. They had not seen much enemy armour so it was at least not as big of an issue, yet. He checked the power cells on his webbing before drawing the hotshot pistol he had to look it over quickly. He took the time to mark down a few positions on his map, and a few lines of approaches that would suit him before heading downstairs.

With Konig precision, within 30 minutes, each of the platoons had been loaded up in their Taurox armoured vehicles. Each of the vehicles had a driver as well as a gunner, and each platoon had three vehicles. In a Grenadier company, they traded smaller platoons for more platoons. More tactical flexibility. The Recon Platoon set out first, moving through the streets quickly and disappeared. The 3rd Platoon moved north towards the gap. "4th and 2nd platoon, let's move out." Stefan gave the order over the vehicle vox, and soon the six vehicles were moving through the streets quickly. After another thirty minutes or so, the vehicles began to slow down as they neared the city hall. The distinctive sound of las rifles and heavier weapons can be heard. "Ok dismount by squad." Armin jumped out from the back of the vehicle along with his squad, while similar occurrences were happening all around him. They could hear the distinctive sound of heavy weapons firing more clearly now that they had dismounted. Lt. Kostner had dismounted with his platoon as well on the north side of the square. "Captain, you think it's the Novgorods fighting?" His vox piece in his ear fizzled to life, the questioning coming from Kostner who was moving his platoon further north to cut off any escape routes. "Most likely. Let's be on our guard." The officer responded. With a few quick hand gestures, Captain Ostler spread his platoon out amongst the rubble in the streets and they moved quickly towards the city hall structure.

Once they had gotten closer, Armin was able to make out the green uniforms of the Novgorod soldiers who had taken cover in the various stores that faced the city hall while the brown uniformed Dants rebels were firing at them with heavy automatic weapons. "Otto, I need the Novgorod channel." Otto, his voxman quickly made adjustments on the earphone and handed it to him. "This is Sergeant Steiner, Konig 5th. My unit is on the western side of the city square." A few moments later, a young voice responded back. "Uh.. I am Lieutenant Klimeni of the Novgorod 204th. My men and I are pinned down in the stores facing the city hall." The voice was rather unsure, and Armin shook his head slightly. "Ok, watch your fire along the western sector. We will be approaching." He didn't wait for a response, the slightly more pressing issues at hand demanding his attention. "Sir, Novgorod units with a green officer trapped in store front across from city hall." He pulled out his map and marked the position quickly. "Understood, 1st squad lead us in." A sharp acknowledge was sent out, and a few seconds later, Armin rose up but waved his second towards him. "Keep your section behind a bit. I want Piet to watch us." Grenadier Piet Kaulen was the squad marksman. "And make sure that those volleyguns are set in position." Gustav nodded and grinned. "Don't worry, the two fragheads have been itching for something to shoot. I saw them watch recon platoon snipers with envy." Armin chuckled and led his platoon towards city hall from the west side, a relative blind side with windows only on the first floor. The snow crunched softly under the Grenadiers armoured boots. Life was always, never simple though. A low groan could be heard as one of his Grenadiers was hit. From one of the windows, a Dants rebel had appeared with his lasrifle firing at them on full auto. He hit the deck along with his squad as Otto checked the one who was it. "It's just fucking Karl, his chest carapace took the full hit." Each of the Grenadiers wore a full set of carapace armour, but there still were unlucky shots. Joints in between the armour segments get hit, and sometimes if it was a sniper with a hotshot las rifle, an unlucky angle could mean death. "Gunners, set up and fire." Gustav from a few meters behind him ordered. A few seconds later, a blistering stream of hotshot las bolts sailed through the window, fired from the two volleyguns under Gustav's command. The Dants rebel, used to the Novgorod soldiers cowering once they got shot out quickly ducked. Armin took the chance to lead the rest of his section up towards the window. "Otto, pipe it." His VOX operator quickly thumbed in a grenade into the underbarrel launcher of his hellgun and fired it through the window. The dull crump of the high explosive grenade detonating sent shrapnel to redecorate the interior. Once they had entered, they could hear the sounds of a heavy weapon, a heavy stubber or a bolter being fired from upstairs. "1st Squad has gained entry." He reported over his mic.

A quick acknowledgement came through from the platoon commander before a few moments later, the rest of the platoon climbed through the window. The shooter from earlier had crumbled to the ground, Armin kicking the shrapnel riddled las rifle away from the body. The rebel had half his chest cavity missing from the grenade blast. Captain Ostler looked around cautiously before opening the door and peered out to see that from the side hall, the door led to the main lobby where a stubber was set up but not firing at the receptionist's desk. The Dants rebels manning it were looking for targets that popped up across the street, most likely the Novgorods pinned down in the stores. Looking down the other side was a similar door, most likely leading to another side hallway. The officer knelt down and gestured at Sergeant Elmen, 2nd squad leader and pointed towards the other door and gave him the hand gesture to clear it. He looked over at Armin and gestured towards the front of the lobby. Armin nodded and led his squad forward into the lobby, opening up on the crew manning the stubber. The stubber crew were cut down by tight bursts of hotshot bolts while one of his Grenadiers moved to the stubber and quickly disabled it by putting a few bolts through the firing mechanism. "Hallway taken. Light resistance, no casualties." It was Elmen, who appeared a few seconds later with his squad, some of which had some las burn marks on the dotted camouflage pattern on their carapace armour. "First floor taken." Armin looked over at the bodies of the Dants rebels. They were named Dants because the rebellion had started from a port city on Kastirden called Dants. Soon enough, local Kastirden PDF units had split, the ones remaining loyal to the Imperium had retreated west away from the Dants faction in the east. They still wore the brown fatigue uniforms of the Kastirden PDF.

Ostler tapped Armin on the shoulder and gestured up the stairs, Armin nodding and with the rest of his squad following him, he would move up the stairs carefully. Once they gotten upstairs, there was no one in the hall but weapon fire coming from the various rooms. He stacked up to the first room with 4th squad while Ostler directed the other squads to other doors. With his left hand ready to open the door, once the Grenadier had prepped a frag grenade, he would yank the door open and then quickly kick it shut after the grenade was tossed inside. A loud thud indicated the detonation of the grenade, and he quickly moved inside the room. It was most likely an old meeting room of some kind, but now it had a squad of enemy soldiers using it to fire down the street. His squad moved through the room, firing as they moved and cut down the brown uniformed rebels who had not perished with the grenade. "Ok clear. Let's move back to the hall." He could hear similar thuds of grenade detonations in the other rooms as he exited, peering down the hall at the last remaining door. The Captain had gone in one of the other rooms with one of the other squads leaving the last door at the end of the hall. "Ok let's take it quickly and move on." This time instead of grenades, he ordered the Grenadier to use a tube charge. The breacher grinned before prepping the charge, and they repeated the same dance they had done before. This time, when the charge detonated, the door was blown off its hinges. He entered the room with his squad following him, but this time it didn't appear to have any survivors. Just as he was about to declare the room clear, the sound of a heavy stubber being cocked sent him diving to the floor with his squad. From the hallway, a blistering storm of stubber rounds cut through the wall and the open doorway, but he was unable to see the source of the suppressing fire. "Pinned in room at the end of the hall. Stubber in hallway." He radioed out to the rest of his platoon. "Hold position, moving to neutralise enemy gunner." That was 3rd squad's Ernst Pfaff. "Oh good, the officer knows there's more than just 1st squad in this platoon." Niels, one of his Grenadiers said. Armin turned his head and looked over at the younger soldier who shrugged back at him. He could feel the sections of the wall blasted off by the stubber hitting his helmet until a loud thump told him that 3rd squad had tube charged the gunner. "Little excessive, a tube charge for one gunner." Gustav commented as the now dust covered members of 1st squad got up. "We are Grenadiers not housekeepers." Armin reminded him.

"You're clear Armin." Ernst cackled over the vox. "Hallway is clear, let's move to the third floor." He met the other two platoons in the hall outside, no casualties so far, only las burns. So far so good. He shouldered his hellgun as they moved up the stairs quietly, the source of the heaviest weapon up on the third floor. "Uh..Konig. The Dants are firing rockets at my position. Can you eliminate them quickly?" The voice of the nervous Novgorod officer came over the squad vox, the vox operator listening to it and frowning. Armin looked over at Otto who shook his head. "They have rockets on the third floor." He said quietly. The Sergeant nodded before they moved up to the last stair case, a hail of las fire greeting them. "Imperials!" They howled as they emptied their las rifles. Armin fell to the ground, feeling what felt like multiple punches in his chest and stomach sending him to the ground while the Grenadiers around him fired back in long bursts. Where the hotshot las bolts hit, either exploded chunks of flesh or cratered the marble and concrete walls. "Grenadiers charge!" Ostler ordered, the platoon forcing their way up the stairs with sheer volume of fire. Armin felt himself being picked up by the back of his armour straps as the platoon medic took off his rebreather and smacked him in the face a few times. "Sergeant, are you dead?" Armin shoved the grinning medic off of him before putting the rebreather back up. "Not everyday you get to hit a Sergeant." The medic said before grinning at him. Armin looked up to see that the rest of the platoon had made it up the stairs to the hallway that led to the main room. "Take the hallway." Ostler gave the order. Several Grenadiers loaded up frag grenades into their under barrel launchers and leaned over the opening slightly to fire them off. A series of explosions, including a slightly bigger one that sounded like a cooked off rocket, signaled the beginning of their assault. Armin grimaced a bit at the bruising on his chest and stomach as he followed the platoon through, firing as they went. He aimed his hellgun over at a Dants officer who carried a chainsword and riddled him with about 20 bolts. "Third floor clear, city hall is taken."