Where the Young Sleep

Chapter IX

Armin woke up to the sound of armour treads rolling around outside. He checked his wrist piece, seeing that it was just before 0700 local. Reaching around, he found a canteen with some ice cold water that he first drank some before getting up and pouring a bit into a small basin before washing his face. He got dressed quickly, leaving his cold weather gear behind aside from a jacket he would layer over top of his pea dot camouflage fatigues. The weather here had changed drastically over night, going from almost -20 now to a warm and breezy 10. He yawned as he strapped on his carapace armour. The only good thing for 3rd Platoon was that due to the amount of casualties that had occurred, there were now plenty of carapace armour. Last night, he had ordered everyone into carapace armour, including the Jager troops. The only reason in many instances the Grenadier company was able to still exist was due to their carapace armour. Of course, the carapace armour were all of Konig make and contained small power cells to assist in their movements and take off the weight as well. He stepped outside, his hellgun slung over his shoulder as he looked outside. The sun was already up, the area around the starport were still quiet. Relatively. He could see various sentries posted yawning even as the sun was lit up bright like mid day. He poked his head into where the 3rd Platoon were billeted and saw that most of them were all still asleep. Christen was awake and puffing on a pipe. The Jager Sergeant waved a lazy salute towards him before getting up. Armin tilted his head and indicated that he should follow him, before walking out. Christen puffed on his pipe luxuriously, his own unique bullpup hellgun slung at his side as he walked out.

"Morning Sir, do we already have orders?" Armin grinned at him. "I will teach you something about this place, Platoon Sergeant." Christen raised his eyebrow but Armin just grinned as he led him to a separate room where Orav was billeted, there having not been enough room to accommodate the Commissar as well. The Commissar it seemed was already awake as Armin stepped in. It also seemed that he had followed the Lieutenants orders from the previous night. He had already dressed in the same pea dot camouflage pattern worn by the Grenadier troops, although he had pinned the Commissar studs on his uniform. In front of him was a set of carapace armour that had been cleaned up and repaired. When Orav saw Armin, he stood up and clicked his heels quickly, Armin waving his hand. "Relax Commissar. Just seeing how you're getting along now." Orav smiled warily, Armin was the kind of officer that the usual established Konig officer corps hated; a former enlisted promoted to their precious officer ranks. "I think I will miss wearing the cap." He grumbled slightly, but he began to strap the carapace around himself. "Good. Grenadier traditions dictate that we wear the carapace armour at all times. Just in case we miss an opportunity to kill for the Emperor." Christen snorted slightly, while Orav looked at him blandly. "It's a joke, Commissar. No need for a field execution just yet." Armin said lightly, but waited until Orav was dressed, and had his hellgun with him as well. He noticed that Orav took one of the bullpup hellguns that the Jagers favoured. "It's lighter." The Commissar said, following Armin's glance. Christen shrugged. "You have to understand Jagers, Sir. The reason for the bullpup design is not only more compact and lighter due to the lay out. At the same time, the barrel has better heat sinks and a thicker inner compensator. The design has a higher rate of fire as well. We needed hellguns that can fire at the same rate as volleyguns." Armin nodded, he knew that the Jagers always had specialty equipment due to their role. Of course, the sacrifice was also in flexibility. The bullpup hellguns were unable to mount underbarrel grenade launchers. "Alright, let's get breakfast before the rest wakes up. I think this day will be very interesting for all of us."

In the canteen, the three of them had all gotten a tray filled with the wheat porridge that the Kastirden favoured for breakfast, along with chunks of a breakfast sausage of some kind. There was also the potato buns that were present for every meal in the Kastirden canteen. Christen grinned at his tray as the three of them sat down, while Orav looked at his tray questioningly. Armin however, dug in, having long been used to the way the PDF canteen was able to produce rations of a higher quality than the Guard cooks. "You've been holding out on me Sir." The Jager Sergeant said before digging in, and finding his tray to be quite much better than the usual slab. Orav looked at his tray and poked at the charred sausage with his fork. Armin looked at the Commissar and smirked to himself. "Here we see the difference between two people in different roles in the Guard." Christen had a mouth full of potato bun while Orav was hesitantly testing out each item on his tray. All three of them had hot and heavily syruped recafs as well. Armin finished his tray and took a long sip from his recaf mug before setting it down carefully, grouping his thoughts as the other two stared at him.

"I want to set the tone and attitude of the platoon carefully. The both of you, do you understand the sort of situation the battle group is in?" Orav avoided responding while Christen shrugged. "The usual, Sir. Generals throwing us into battle and hoping to get new medals from it." Orav looked over at the Sergeant who just shrugged again. Armin chuckled slightly before continuing. "The situation right now is dire for the battle group. Depending on the reinforcement, we may be able to stiffen the front. Maybe. Worst case scenario, we have to fight to control the last space port available for more reinforcement. The planet has too much resources and too many manufacturing plants for us to just give it up. That being said, I want to set this quite clearly. Commissar, Sergeant, if I say we advance, we advance. If I say we retreat, we retreat." Orav started in protest but Armin held up a hand. "The reason I say this, Commissar, is all of our strengths are reduced to beyond 50% right now. In staff college, they teach that any unit reduced to 50% effective strength or beyond needs to be merged to form at least 70% combat strength. If not, then their deployment will be considered ineffective for any situation." Christen was busy jotting down notes as Armin spoke. When Armin had first become a Grenadier Sergeant, he had done a stint, as was tradition in the Konig regiments, as an instructor to students at the Konig War College. It was meant to relay combat experience to the students, whether they were Cadets or officers.

"With the combination of the two specialist companies, we have approximately 80 to 90 percent strength right now. So, I want 3rd platoon to preserve our fighting strengths. If we become reduced to 50 percent or below, we will be a sword with blunt edges. You understand my point, Commissar?" Armin looked at Orav questioningly, who nodded slowly in understanding. "If the fighting becomes desperate enough, we have to have enough strength to be wiped out." The two looked at him questioningly, and just a bit surprised at his words.

"The Grenadiers and Jagers, both are specialist units with training as well as equipment. We are considered both in tradition and deployment, the elite of the Konig contributions to the Guard. However, there is only one set purpose for elite troops. The biggest difference between elite troops and the rank and file, is that elite troops will die and be wiped out in order to complete the objective. If the fighting becomes desperate enough, we have to be prepared to stand our ground and die to a man to hold the space port. That is why Commissar, if I give the order to pull back, we pull back. It is to preserve our strength to die where we are really needed to die." Orav nodded, comprehending the brevity of the situation while Christen only nodded. He was a veteran Sergeant, and he was in agreement with Armin. Armin checked his time piece and nodded. "Alright. Christen, get the troops roused, and let's get them fed. Afterwards, get them cleaned up. Needs to be done before 0820. We got some sights to see at 0830."

At 0820, the 3rd Grenadier platoon was assembled, the individual Grenadiers lighting up tabac sticks as they waited. Armin stood and watched as a convoy was waved past. A dozen Chimeras in the colours of the 61st Kuskovite Rifles rolled by, including three Leman Russ tanks. "Way too clean." Rinder said as he looked at the convoy. It was true, the striped green camouflage on the armoured vehicles were very clean, without any pock marks or battle damage on them at all. It seems that the Lord Militant General had indeed held them back without using them at all. The convoy pulled neatly into formation in front of the starport. A few before 0830, a series of massive landing ships would one by one began dropping off their cargo and passengers. The first off were a series of trucks carrying various supplies that were marshalled over to travel over to where the main head quarters were in Byda. After them were the reinforcements for the various regiments. Armin noticed that after the main Kuskovite convoy, there were armoured vehicles or trucks in the colours of other regiments that had followed in as well. He saw a Chimera in the splinter pattern of the Konig 5th, and saw that it was Major Richte that had come with his honour guard of veteran Schutzens to claim the Konig reinforcements. When Major Richte got out of the armoured vehicle, he turned his head and looked over to where 3rd Grenadier Platoon was. Commissar Orav gave a quiet hiss to stand to attention, the platoon clicking their heels together while Major Richte smiled in amusement and nodded towards them before walking forward towards the new group of Guardsmen that had been landed. It seemed that a few complete companies were landed, including their officers. After exchanging a few words with someone that had Captain's pips on his collar, the Major would lead the Konig reinforcements away.

This continued for another hour or so, various officers from other regiments collecting their new Guardsmen and taking them away. Then after the last had been collected, the other regiments began to land. But before that, it seemed that a big shot was landing as well.

A Valkyrie gunship landed, and someone in the red trimmed uniform of Crusade command staff escorted by black visored Stormtroopers exited. The officer in charge of the Kuskovite regiment went forward. The idiot had actually brought his company standard out to greet the Command Staff officer. Armin snorted to himself at the idiocy of this, but thankfully the command staff and his retinue left quickly in the Chimera of the Kuskovite troops. After them, came the new regiments. It seemed that Command had been notified of the shortage of troops, and now regiments were poured in. Armin saw at least 8 different regimental standards being used to marshal their troops.

"Seems like a lot of newly raised regiments." Christen commented. Armin looked more carefully and nodded in agreement. Orav looked as well but turned to look over at Armin. "How can you tell?"

Rinder who was standing beside Armin spoke up. "You can tell because all of their equipment is too clean. Too newly issued. A regiment that has had battles will replace from their own stocks first, but that would also usually mean equipment with battle marks. Like our carapace armour. Maybe if a regiment fights long enough, you might find some brand new equipment here and there. These Guardsmen, it's all brand new. Well, except for the Konig one in the back." Sure enough, behind all of the new troops lining up was a Konig regiment. They wore the same pea dot camouflage patterns as the Konig 5th did, but the guardsmen from that regiment all wore carapace chest plates like the Konig Jagers did.

"They look like Droptroopers." Orav commented. The number 7 on their regimental standard confirmed it. The 7th Konig Droptroops was an exception to the usual armoured infantry or panzer regiments that Konig produced. The Konig 7th was one of the regiments that Konig produced that were airborne infantry. They rode into battle in Valkyries or dropped from orbit from massive transport ships. The training was quite comparable to the Grenadiers, but with the element of airborne operations added in. The helmets they wore were not the standard stanhelm that Armin and his platoon wore, but a cut down version with a splinter style camouflage painted over it.

"So we have one veteran regiment and a lot of newly raised regiments. Out of the bunch, it seems only one is mechanized." Christen commented. Armin nodded, but kept his eye to look at the new regiments that had arrived. It would be foolish to try and understand the Administratum and how they moved troops around. These could have been already in transit and the closest ones or they could have been drawn in at random.

In this instance however, it seems that the airborne troopers opted for a truck, as they piled into olive drab transport trucks and were soon gone, pushed into the meat grinder at the front lines it would seem. At least judging by how Klausen normally used up his troops. One regiment it seemed, did remain though. Soon enough, a PDF painted truck would arrive, and someone in a more impressive uniform would walk into the PDF headquarters. Armin chewed on his lip for a few moments before sighing. "Alright, you're all dismissed, stick together by the squad. Sergeants, keep your vox headsets on." Orav looked at him expectantly as Armin sighed again and walked into the PDF headquarters.

He walked in just in time to see that Becker was preoccupied with someone in his office, while a group of PDF soldiers stood around the office door, providing security he supposed. "I dislike everyone not shriveling in fear at the sight of my peaked cap." Orav commented while Armin rolled his eyes slightly. Marx came up to him and was about to casually start speaking when he noticed the new rank pins on Armin's collar and snapped to attention, saluting him. "Lieutenant Steiner, Sir. Uh.. congratulations are in order." Armin just waved a hand at him. "Relax Becker, just means a lot of smarter people than me have gotten killed." Orav looked at him with a frown at the way that he put it. Becker looked between the two of them, unsure of what to say before Armin laughed. "Don't mind Commissar Orav here. He is the very straight laced type." Becker paled a bit, seeing the Commissar insignia that had been painted onto the carapace armour. "Uh Sir, I was wondering if I could bother you to liase between the PDF units here and the regiment that stayed behind. I'm not an officer so, I don't think their CO will listen to me at all."

Armin looked out the window at the regiment that had been mustered there. Sure enough, the regiment was there waiting, and it seemed like the majority of them were sitting down in their muster formations on their packs and the like with their las rifles. The officers stood around, none of them sure of what they were supposed to do next. The door to Becker's office opened and the PDF command officer walked by with his retinue without a word, while Becker came out with a slight frown on his face. He smiled when he saw Marx and Armin there and walked up. "Congratulations." Commissar Orav said. The Commissar gestured towards Becker's collars where a Major's pips now sat. "Congratulations Major, that's quite a jump." Becker sighed and shook his head before taking off the cap he wore and ran his hand over his messy hair. "Not good news for me. It seems that the PDF's 1st Regiment was destroyed on the front. The 3rd Regiment has also been badly mauled. The 2nd Kastirden Defence Regiment, that I belong to. Well." He paused for a moment and grimaced. "The man who was here was the Major General in charge of the Kastirden PDF in this region. The 2nd Kastirden Defence Regiment lost almost all of it's officers, as well as close to 80 percent of their troops. I've just been put in charge of the 2nd Kastirden Defence Regiment. Apparently the only officers left were a group of officer cadets, and me."

Commissar Orav, stone faced as ever simply bowed slightly. "That is a great honour, Major." Armin raised an eyebrow at Orav's statement but Becker seemed to have just smiled at it. "Honour or not, I'm a Major now in charge of a regiment and I have less than a full company worth of troops." Armin however, shook his head slightly. "There's more to it isn't there? After all, why would they bother promoting you if you have no reinforcements or troops?" Becker produced a data slate and grimaced. "Mass conscription order. In order to hold the starport, there are draftees who have completed their basic training who are now on the way here, expected to arrive in three days time to re-form the 2nd Kastirden Defence Regiment." Marx sighed softly and shook his head. "Congratulations Marx, you're a Lieutenant now." Becker said as he handed Marx Lieutenant pins. Armin laughed as he began undoing the Sergeant's stripes from Marx's collars before Becker pinned the Lieutenant pins on him. "I need officers who have seen actual combat. Especially with a group of new conscripts coming over." Marx shook his head again. "I knew there would be bad news for me."

"Sir, vox for you." A PDF runner came in to but all four of them looked at him. "Uh, for Lieutenant Steiner, Sir." Armin chuckled before walking into the commander center and picking up the vox piece. "This is Bayonet 1-3." A few seconds passed, before a burst of static came over the handset before clearing up. "Metzenger here." The familiar voice of Captain Ostler sounded over. "Orders for you, 3rd Grenadier Platoon is being recalled to Byda for a temporary assignment." Armin sighed to himself before acknowledging. "Understood, will depart shortly and arrive as soon as possibly." He placed the vox handset back before stepping into the hallway. The other three looked at him curiously as he set hit his own squad vox. "Listen up, Bayonet 3 needs to be packed up and ready to move. Have all the vehicles fueled up, make sure we have all ammunition. Be ready to move out." Orav and Christen tilted their heads at him. "Orders from Grenadier Company. We need to head to Byda, temporarily re-assigned."

After an hour or so, the Tauroxs were pulled in one line, with 3rd Platoon spread out in them. Christen and his weapons squad had to ride in with 2nd squad, while Orav rode with Armin. He looked over at how different Orav now looked with his carapace armour and helmet now instead of when he had first arrived and snickered to himself. The Commissar was busy writing in his journal, as was a habit of those who had graduated from the Konig War College. They taught everyone to write in their journal. Rinder just looked nervous sitting there in front of the Commissar.

In Byda

"I hope the Lord Militant General gets crucified." Major Richter said quietly to Colonel Stauffenberg. The Colonel could only sigh before looking at his second in command. Richter had just gotten back with the new reinforcements, and the reinforcements had promptly been split up and new companies created, those with more experience being placed as Sergeants and Officers while the reinforcements were placed in those structure by squad. The two of them had gathered there with various other regimental commanders as well as Klausen who was chairing the meeting, with the newcomer who sat there quietly, his Stormtrooper retinue still as statues by the wall behind him.

"Gentlemen, I think I have taken up enough time with my words. So, please let me introduce to you to Lord Militant General Yuri Radevchik. Lord Militant, I shall turn over this meeting to you." Klausen finally sat down much to the relief of the senior officers in the room. The man stood up, his uniform kept simple, without unnecessary adornments. "Thank you Lord Militant Klausen. Gentlemen, I am here from the command staff because the war is not going in our favour. It is why reinforcements have been brought as well as re-supply. I want you all to know that your efforts here have been appreciated, and your sacrifices have not been forgotten. I am here to advise Lord Militant Klausen, the commander of this battle group, as well as to see if there are any insights I am able to provide." He kept his speech short before sitting back down.

"If not crucified, then perhaps at least a stray artillery shell." Richter said this time, while Stauffenberg looked at him and sighed. "Frederick, he is still the Lord Militant General." Richter sighed as he smoothed down the front of his uniform. "He is also the one that will make us lose this war." Colonel Stauffenberg sighed at his deputy's words. He couldn't disagree, but a Lord Militant General was still a Lord Militant General. "He is the Lord Militant General. What do you wish for me to say?" Richter could only nod and look on as Klausen got up again.

"Due to our new reinforcements coming in, I am very glad to announce the start of our counter attack. The 80 Erland Motorised Regiment will be the spearhead, while the Antari, Bolshev, Golokov regiments will advance behind the spearhead. I believe that we will be able to collapse the enemy's advance through a carefully chosen spearhead assault. The Weyland Regiment will be held in reserve as well." He smiled, as if expecting congratulations from all around but the room of senior officers and regimental commanders simply looked at him. "Of course, this is to also provide the units that have been at the front time to re-fit and get some much deserved rest." Seeing that there was no further reactions from the room, he simply nodded and smiled. "Everyone please, regimental commanders of the mentioned units, please remain behind for extra briefing." The newly arrived regimental commanders all seemed to be smiling, as if joyous at the opportunity to prove themselves and their units. "New bloods." A voice said from beside them, a man with a scarred face in a Konig uniform. Stauffenberg turned and smiled, holding out his hand. "Wolfgang, how are you?" The two shook hands while Major Richter clicked his heels and came to attention. "Colonel Shroeder, this is my second in command Major Richter. Major Richter, this is Colonel Shroeder of the 7th Konig Droptroops." Richter saluted stiffly, while Shroeder returned the salute and offered his hand. "Major Richter, you have a younger brother?" Richter nodded. "Yes Sir, I believe he serves in your regiment." Shroeder smiled. "Yes, Lieutenant Shroeder of Saber Squadron. A very able and competent officer, you have my thanks Major."

Stauffenberg looked over at the still smiling senior officers of the new arrivals before sighing and began walking out, the other two officers following him. "Yes you'are quite right, new bloods who think it's time for glory and all that." The Airborne officer sighed, he wore a dark red beret instead of the peaked caps that Konig officers normally wore. "Hans, I am concerned. The more I hear about the war's progression, the more concerned I am. On our way in, we were escorted in by what seemed like a regiment with brand new equipment and not a single mark of battle. If we have regiments like this, why the sudden reinforcement? And the quantity?" Stauffenberg gave a warning look to Richter before responding to other Konig officer. "That would be the Lord Militant General's personal lifeguard regiment, so it has been kept out of front line combat and held in reserve instead." Wolfgang grinned at the response from his friend. "I forgot how stiff you graduates of the war college are." Richter looked at Stauffenberg curiously, but Wolfgang caught his look. "Every Konig officer goes through the Konig War College. Unless of course you are in what they call a specialist formation. All of the different Jager officers go through the Konig Land Warfare Academy." Stauffenberg chuckled. "There's always been a rivalry between the War College and the Academy." Richter nodded. His brother was promoted from the ranks so he never mentioned anything about the Academy.

"What do you think Hans? How do you think this offensive will go?" The three of them had walked outside now, talking amongst themselves as various other officers returned back to their regimental headquarters to conduct their tasks. Stauffenberg stopped beside a Konig Chimera and shrugged casually. "I think my friend, it will depend on what the role of the other Lord Militant is." He held out his hand to Wolfgang, the airborne officer grasping it firmly in a hand shake before the two Konig 5th officers departed in the Chimera. Wolfgang stood there for a moment and looked over at the various other regiments gathered there.

Approaching the front gate of the massive base that was set up in Byda, Armin's convoy was challenged by the front sentries but Commissar Orav stepped out of the Taurox for a moment and presented the orders to the sentries. A few moments later, they were waved through, and Armin looked out the armoured windows and gestured towards where the Konig 5th were billeted. "You see the Chimeras parked there? Lets park a bit away from them, have everyone backed in." He ordered the driver. The driver nodded and after a few more moments as the orders were transmitted to the other crews, the vehicles were backed in and the platoon dismounted.

"Sir, all members dismounted and accounted for." Sergeant Christen said to him, snapping off a sharp salute. Armin grinned and returned the salute, looking at the platoon in front of him. He could only hope that he would still see the same Guardsmen tomorrow.