Soldiers if the Imperium

by Matrix Dragon

Almost 40,000 years in the future, humanity fights for survival against every enemy imaginable. A Warhammer 40,000/Anime crossover.

4. Part Four

Matrix Dragon Presents....

Soldiers of the Imperium
Part Four

Copyrights: (Author takes one look at the story.) FORGET IT! I'm not disclaiming all those series, games and books. Do it yourself! Jeez, do I have to do everything... (Stomps off to somewhere where he can get back to work on his other fics.)

Previously: Several squads from the Tokyo First's recon platoon located a ghost town and began a sweep of the town for any evidence of what happened, assisted by a recon unit from the Seventh Company and a squad of Space Marine Scouts from the Eternal Dragons Chapter. Lieutenant Schofield located a hidden cave, filled with hundreds of mutants responsible for the disappearance of the townspeople.

The resulting battle blew a hole in the cave roof, allowing the small number of guardsmen in the cave to escape and the rest of the Imperial forces to attack from above. In the conflict, part of the mutant force escaped by using another hidden tunnel.

Now, they have orders to hold the town until the main Imperial advance arrives in almost fourteen hours. There are a small number of reinforcements moving towards them quickly, expected to arrive in three hours, but there is also a very big problem. What was believed to be a rebel retreat was actually a regroup, and now tens of thousands of rebels are moving towards the Imperial Guard Regiments advancing on Kell Hive. And a small force of less then thirty men, some injured, and two tanks are stuck in front of them.

***

The lobby of the Town Hall was useful for about only one thing. The Imperials could spread the weapons looted from the town's armoury over it, allowing them to see what they had for supplies. "Four Heavy Bolters," Ranma said, tapping one of the bulky weapons with his foot, "with about five thousand rounds for each. Six Rocket Launchers, mostly frag missiles, but a few of some other types, including Krak, Smoke and Incendiary. About twenty frags for each Launcher, and maybe ten all up of each other type."

Trunks nodded. "What about anti-Tank weapons? Considering the number of vehicles the rebels have, we'll need something to stop them."

"Oh ye of little faith," Ranma said, pointing his thumb at three bulky weapons over in a corner. "Lascannons. They're old, but they'll take on tanks pretty well. We've also got a Heavy Plasma Gun." He lifted up the bulky plasma weapon with a grunt. "Thank the Emperor this thing has a tripod, or none of us would be able to use it. If it's this hard just to lift it, imagine what firing it would be like."

"I can guess," Trunks replied. "I have some experience with newer models."

"Anyway, along with two Autocannons with about four thousand rounds each, and an old Heavy Stubber with maybe six thousand rounds, that's all of our heavy weaponry," Ranma said. "We've passed out boltguns to everyone, seeing how they improve over lasguns in every way possible. All we can do now is figure out who to give these to, and where to put them."

"We've got time to do that after our reinforcements arrive. For now, we have to make sure that there are no other tunnels for the mutants to use."

Ranma nodded, but he managed to spot the element of hatred in the Space Marines voice. A few months ago he would have missed it, but he was improving, thanks to his experience as a squad leader. Something's being hidden from me, he thought, anger flowing through him for a brief moment. After all the secrets his father had kept from him, Ranma had no desire for the same thing to happen again.

***

Rook Bartley climbed up the ladder, then glanced up at the Imperial Church around her. "Will this still be standing?" she asked.

"Probably not," Hicks replied sadly. "They sure put a lot of work into it, it's a shame to have it destroyed." He picked up the detonator, along with a small statue as big as his hand. "At least a part of it will survive," he commented, walking towards the massive door. The rest of the squad jogged along behind him.

Once outside, Hicks turned around and looked at the church. He had a love for history, and had checked some of the items inside, finding that many of them were several thousand years old. He didn't want to do this, but he really had no choice. Removing the safety cover from the detonator, he slammed his thumb down on the trigger.

With a shockwave that the soldiers felt through their feet, the first explosive charges destroyed a section of the tunnel walls, causing a series of cave-ins that caused one of the poorly built buildings to collapse. This was followed by more explosions destroying the tunnel and creating a trench through the middle of town.

At the end, a large cloud of dust, smoke and flames blew open the doors of the church. Hicks watched as the old hinges on the door broke and it fell to the ground with a clang. When the smoke cleared however, the building was still standing.

"I'll be damned," the Corporal muttered, walking up to the building and looking inside. Although there were a lot of scorch marks, it seemed as though the building was intact and going to stay that way. Smiling to himself, he activated his comm-link to report in.

***

Sixty kilometres from the village, almost a dozen vehicles were making their way towards the small town, with orders to reinforce the small group of soldiers already there. The current ETA was just over one hour.

Ash Ketchum made his way towards the front of the detachment, his hovercycles engines emitting a light blue glow. One of the two bikes Washuu had been playing with over the past few days, this one was faster and more agile then the rest of the squadron, at the cost of weaker armour and in need of a better gyroscope for balance.

The guardsman glanced to his right, and spotted Washuu's other modified hovercycle, this one ridden by the squad's newest member. Commissar Konoko didn't really look like your average Commissar. All of the Political Officers that Ash had come across always wore their trademark black greatcoats and cap, and had no personality to speak of. Not to mention their habit of killing anyone they believed to be traitors or cowards.

Konoko had traded in her greatcoat for a simple jacket, and her cap was stored in one of her bikes saddlebags, one of Washuu's custom helmets on her head. She seemed rather friendly and likeable, although Ash didn't doubt for a second that she wouldn't hesitate to kill a traitor or deserter. After all, that's what Commissars were for.

Glancing ahead, Ash cursed and swung his bike around a large rock sticking out of the ground. After a few seconds of effort, he managed to keep control of the vehicle. Breathing a sigh of relief, he noticed Konoko coming up alongside him.

"Try to get into the habit of anticipating what's up ahead," she yelled over the wind. "Otherwise, noticing a rock at the last minute can easily become too late."

"Thanks for the advice," Ash replied.

"Besides, you trash that bike and you'll answer to me," Washuu Habuki growled over the comm-link, having listened in on their conversation.

Konoko smirked while Ash rolled his eyes in frustration. "I still can't believe you came along," he muttered.

"The report that Lieutenant Schofield made to the General mentioned that there were still files located in the Enforcers data-systems," the tech-priestess explained. "I should be able to crack the Ice on those systems easily. Besides, the General asked me if I wanted to investigate. How could I refuse?"

"Never mind," Ash said, ending the transmission. He twisted the throttle and raced ahead of the rest of the Guard detachment. Konoko tried to keep up, but Washuu had designed this bike as more of a heavy weapons platform. The tech-priestess had added extra armour, replaced the Lasguns with Boltguns and planned to attach a sidecar (with it's own anti-grav systems for extra stability) with a more powerful weapon like an Autocannon or rocket launcher. This meant a lower top speed, so Konoko had to hang slightly behind as Ash scouted ahead over a crest of sand dunes.

***

Lina Inverse was in a cafe located on the main street of the small village, field-stripping her new Bolter. During the gunfight with the mutants several hours before, she had noticed several problems in the weapon. She may not be someone trained in the ancient secrets of technology, but she knew how to maintain a weapon at least. It seemed that the villagers didn't. "Incompetent idiots deserved to get killed," she muttered, cleaning out the Bolters barrel. No wonder it wasn't firing properly, the barrel's filled with grime!

"Whoever maintained that gun needs a good kicking," a voice said. Lina squawked in surprise and turned to see one of the Space Marine Scouts standing there.

"You've got that right," the red-head replied, tossing him the barrel. "Take a look at that."

The Marine caught the rod and glanced down it. "Yep, a good kicking is in order," he muttered. "The inside looks like it might have some rust in it. It might not be safe to use that Bolter."

"I'll loot the stuff we found in the town armoury later," Lina said. "If I'm lucky, I should be able to find a decent Boltgun barrel there. Otherwise I'll stick with my lasgun for now." The Scout removed his backpack, opened it up and rummaged in it for a moment, before pulling out something wrapped in cloth. Removing the cloth, he handed a Boltgun barrel to the surprised soldier. "Thank you, but why?"

The Marine grinned. "Boltguns are better then lasguns any day. Trust me when I tell you that you'll need all the firepower you can get your hands on."

Lina grinned right back at him. "Believe me, I know that feeling all too well. Oh, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Lina Inverse," she declared, offering the Marine a hand.

Taking the offered hand, the Scout shook it. "Brendan Lawson. Just call me Ringo." Walking over to the cooler, he pulled out two cans of drink, opened one and tossed the other to Lina. "You don't mind if I clean my gun as well?" he asked.

"Nah, go for it," Lina replied, taking a sip of her drink as she checked the ammo feed.

***

Ranma double-checked the explosives, before walking back to his hovercycle. Starting the engine, he raced back towards the village. Along with several other Guardsmen, he had been setting traps to the east, in order to slow down the rebels when they approached. So far, there were almost a dozen bombs hidden out in the desert, along with a few other surprises. The village may not have looked after their guns, but they had an impressive supply of explosives.

Bringing his cycle to a stop in front of the town hall, he looked up at the clock tower on the top of it. He could just see the thin metal rod that was the barrel of Shinji's M-95 Sniper Rifle. The young man had the best viewpoint in the entire village, and would spot the approaching rebels long before anyone was in firing range.

The gun barrel moved as Shinji took a careful look at the horizon around the village. Suddenly, the barrel paused in it's movement, and Shinji spoke over a comm-link to all the squad leaders. "Squad Leaders, this is Trooper Ikari. I have movement to the west. I count twelve vehicles, eight Chimeras, two Leman Russ's and two Sentinel Walkers. Markings match Tokyo First Seventh Company."

"Ikari, this is Sergeant Trunks. Continue your sweep. Squad Leaders, meet me in the mayor's office."

"Saotome here, I'm on my way." The young soldier jogged through town hall, reaching the office just as Hicks got there. Schofield arrived a moment later.

"Comms-officer Crowley contacted the units moving towards us and confirmed that they're from the Tokyo First," Trunks said. "With the additional firepower they provide us, we stand a chance at defending this town. Also, I've been in contact with my own commanding officer and informed him of the situation. Several squads of Space Marines will arrive here in two hours. At that point, I'll be passing command to one of my superiors, who will decide on our next course of action. I need a full report to pass on. Schofield?"

"Boltguns have been given to all the Guardsmen currently here," the Lieutenant reported. "Also, three of the Heavy Bolters and two of the Rocket Launchers have been set up on the eastern side of town, just in case scout units reach us. A good portion of the Guardsmen are fieldstripping their bolters and cleaning them. Apparently, the villager in charge of looking after the guns didn't do a very good job."

Trunks nodded, entering the information into a data-slate. "Corporal Hicks?"

"My squads Chimera transport has been moved to this vehicle garage," Hicks said, tapping one of the buildings on the map, "and is ready to move out into combat situations if needed. Five of my men are still in the medbay, and it's unlikely that they'll be getting out soon. My squad really isn't ready for combat."

"Most likely, you'll be stationed behind the front lines, equipped with long-range weapons. Either that, or you'll be in your Chimera, using the hull-mounted lasguns." Hicks nodded while the Scout turned to the last squad leader. "Scout-Sergeant Saotome?"

"Ten explosives have been taken from the town supply and set up east of town. Most of them won't do much damage to tanks, but they'll give infantry some headaches. I'd like to set up some explosives in the building on the edge of town, in case we have to fall back. We could use something to drop on them."

"I'll think about it," Trunks replied. "But for now, all we can do is wait."

***

The Imperial Guard units arrived in the village twenty minutes later. There were two extra vehicles that Shinji had not spotted at first. Two Blazer hovercycles, both the one Ash was using (and Washuu had modified while no one was looking) and a new one that the tech-priestess had built. So who was the person riding the extra bike?

"If Washuu decided to ride that thing out here, I swear I'm gonna break her neck," Ranma growled, knowing that she would be crazy enough to do just that.

"That's if I don't get her first," Tenchi replied. Both of them pulled up short as they saw the figure dismounting the second bike. "Who's that?" Tenchi asked.

"No idea. Does Washuu ever wear outfits like that?" Ranma said, referring to the skin-tight black bodysuit the woman was wearing.

"I don't even want to consider that," Tenchi replied, considering what kind of mood Washuu would be in if she wore something like that. He wasn't sure if he could handle that many hormones.

The woman noticed them, and walked towards them. "I'm looking for Scout-Sergeant Saotome," she said.

"You've found him," Ranma replied. "I'm Saotome. You are?"

The woman saluted crisply. "Commissar Konoko. I've been assigned to your squad." She took a document from her jacket pocket and handed it to him.

Ranma studied the document. "Looks right. Lieutenant Schofield expected you to arrive in about three more weeks with the replacement troops then."

"We were able to depart Tokyo sooner then expected, and the Warp was peaceful enough for us to make the trip here in a far shorter time then expected."

Ranma studied the woman. Right now, she certainly didn't seem like what one would expect from a Commissar. The tight clothes and spikey purple hair made the small woman look rather feminine and sexy, not the hard lines of the other Commissars greatcoats and peaked caps.

But to the eyes of an experienced martial artist like Ranma, the real proof was in her stance. Like all great fighters, Konoko seemed to always be ready for a fight. Not a single part of her clothing was designed to get in the way of her limbs, her weapons were near her hands at all times, and there was a hardness in her eyes that gave Ranma the chills, even though he'd had that look several times himself. Of course, he'd only had it in the middle of a fight, while this woman seemed to be able to call it up at will.

"Everything appears to be in order," he said, "but I want to ask you a few questions before I accept you into my squad. Have you ever served with a recon squad before?"

Konoko shook her head. "I've mostly served with front-line units."

"In that case, there are a few things I need to make clear. We are not a stand-and-fight unit. We do not have the firepower or armour for that kind of fight. Our tactics are hit and run, chipping away at the enemy. If we need bigger firepower, we drop back and call the Seventh Company for an artillery strike. There will be times when I will give the order to fall back. Now, the question is, will you pull a gun on me when that happens?"

Konoko smiled, the smile actually reaching her green eyes. "I'm not one of those Commissars with a flawed mind. I understand the need to fall back at times." Her eyes turned to ice again. "Of course, if any of your men try and betray the Guard-"

"-the only difference in the result is which of us gets our guns out first," Ranma finished. "Either way they're dead. Welcome aboard. How do you want us to refer to you?"

"Konoko will be fine," she replied.

"Hi guys!" Washuu yelled, walking over to them, a backpack full of equipment slung over her shoulder. "How's things?"

"How the hell did you get here?" Ranma growled.

"I caught a lift with one of the Chimeras. The General sent me out to mug those Enforcer codifiers, see what I can find." She smiled cutely as Tenchi glared at her.

"This is no place for a non-combatant," he growled. "In case you didn't realise Washuu, there's a whole army heading towards us!"

"I know," the Tech-priestess replied. "My plan is to loot the codifiers, find out what happened here, then get the hell out of the way."

Tenchi would have argued more, but Ranma stopped him. "She's thought this one out Tenchi," the Sergeant said. "I don't like her being here either, but it's too late now. Let her do her job while we do ours."

Washuu gave a 'V for victory' sign, asked for directions to the Enforcer headquarters, then wandered off.

"She's going to get herself killed one of these days," Ranma muttered once the woman was out of earshot.

"Probably not," Tenchi said. "She's good at throwing herself in mortal danger, then coming out without a scratch. Annoys everyone like you wouldn't believe."

"I can imagine," Konoko commented. She looked over to where two Chimera APC's unloaded their troops and equipment. "Do you think we can hold this place?"

"We should only need to hold out for two hours if we're lucky," Ranma replied, noticing Lieutenant Ryouji exiting one of the APC's.

***

Under the command of Trunks and Lieutenant Ryouji, a long-time armour commander in the TDF, the vehicles of the Seventh Company were deployed along the eastern side of the town. There simply was no way to hide the vehicles, meaning the time for stealth had passed. Before, they were remaining hidden in the case of rebel recon units drawing large numbers of rebels towards them. Now, if a threat came, they would have to fight it or run. And Trunks had told them that the order to hold the town came from Lord Commander Hayes himself, who couldn't understand the value of retreating if needed. Which meant they would fight or die. Maybe both.

Ranma watched as the two Leman Russ tanks moved to opposite ends of the line, ready to use their battle cannons in whatever direction they were needed. All ten of the Chimera APC's were stationed in the middle, ready to fight if need be, and capable of charging into assault with a squad of Guardsmen aboard.

Glancing to his right, he saw the Sentinel walkers crouched down behind a building, their pilots running a check on their internal systems. Knowing that there really wasn't much for him to do here, he walked back into the town, heading for the town hall.

Ranma found Trunks, Barnes and Hicks looking over the map again, using more pins to mark confirmed Guard and Rebel movements. "Air strikes have slowed them down slightly," Trunks said when he spotted the martial artist. "Now they're expected to arrive about an hour-forty-five to two hours before the Guard reaches us."

"Lieutenant Ryouji's setting up the armour well. We should have decent coverage soon," Ranma replied. Trunks nodded, then looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I want you to get Lieutenant Schofield and Ryouji up here," he said after a minute, "as well as Commissar Konoko and Trooper Inverse."

"I'll get the ladies," Ranma said, tapping his headset. "Lina, Konoko, where are you two?"

"Lina here boss," the red-heads voice replied. "I'm in the town hall lobby, checking these damn weapons work right."

"This is Konoko. I'm in the Enforcer building with Tech-priestess Habuki."

"Get to the mayor's office as soon as possible," Ranma ordered.

"On my way," Konoko responded.

"I'll just make sure none of these parts are going anywhere and I'll be right up."

Lina arrived first, her hands and arms covered in grease. "What's up?" she asked her commander. Ranma simply shrugged and pointed at Trunks. Lina nodded, grabbed a chair and sat down to wait.

"You should show more respect to your commanding officer," Barnes muttered.

"Barnes, zip it," Ranma growled. "I don't mind the way my men act around me. In fact, I prefer it. It means they trust me, which is something I doubt anyone could ever to with you." Nearby, Trunks simply smirked, while Hicks hid a shit-eating grin behind a book he'd found.

The Commissars face turned red with rage. "I could have you face a court-martial for such talk!"

"But you won't Barnes, because you know it's true," Ranma replied. "Besides, despite all your flaws, you're an extremely loyal servant to the Emperor. You wouldn't waste Imperial resources like that."

"Besides, everyone talks about Commissars like that," Trunks added. Barnes couldn't even really glare at the Space Marine, as he had no authority over the Adeptus Astartes.

The two Lieutenants entered the room, followed by Konoko a few seconds later. She looked at the fuming Commissar. "What's with him?" she asked.

"Public Relations problems," Hicks answered with a straight face, drawing a grin from several people present in the room.

"Good, everyone I wanted to talk to is here," Trunks said. "Trooper Inverse, I was told that you were a demon-hunter back on Tokyo?"

The temperature seemed to drop as Trunks' question sank in. Surprised, Lina nodded. The Space Marine handed her a piece of paper. Lina looked at it for a second before swearing and crushing the note in an angry grip. "Where'd you find this?" she demanded.

"In the cave where Lieutenant Schofield encountered those creatures," Trunks replied. "You understand what we are dealing with here?"

"Yeah, I understand," Lina replied.

"I'm glad you do, now how about telling the rest of us?" Ranma asked. Lina nodded, then smoothed out the piece of paper on the table, allowing everyone to see it. The picture on the paper was some sort of distorted pentagram, the lines looking more like gashes in human flesh. Arcane lettering ran along the outside of the pentagram, with some phrase in a language that Ranma had never seen before. The image made him sick just looking at it. "What the hell is that?" he asked.

"Part of a summoning spell," Lina replied. "That's what happened to these towns. Some of the locals were messing with the black arts, touching parts of the Warp forbidden by the Emperor since before the dawn of the Imperium ten thousand years ago. They drew the attention of the Chaos Gods, and those insane beasts warped and corrupted the people of these ghost towns, changing them into the beasts we saw earlier. I knew there wasn't something right about them. Now I know what it was."

Barnes had gone as pale as a ghost. Trunks noticed him standing there and grinned. "I was planning on telling everyone here about the Chaos presence as soon as I was sure, but what about you Commissar? I know that you understood what those creatures were." Everyone was looking at Barnes now, who was trying to find a way out of the corner he'd been backed into.

***

General Soun Tendo looked out at the sunset, which happened to be blocking out any sign of movement on the horizon. Normally, the First Companies Recon Platoon, along with Seventh Company recon units would be making sure no rebel elements were moving towards the main Tokyo force. However, for reasons unknown to him, Lord Commander Hayes had decided to order them to defend a ghost town. Making things even worse, he'd ordered that a good chunk of the Tokyo Firsts
Seventh Company reinforced the troops already there. This meant there was a full Armoured Fist platoon there, along with half of the second AF platoon, as well as a squadron of Leman Russ Main Battle Tanks. This cut almost a quarter of his total armour units from the main advance, right when he needed them the most.

Back during the Tokyo Civil War he'd had to deal with idiot commanders, including one Admiral in the planets wet-navy that was actually working for the other side. But none of them seemed to match Lord Commander Hayes, who seemed to excel in stupid moves. If the chance presented itself where Tendo took a club to the Lord Commander's head, almost every soldier on Redermade would pay to see it, both Imperials and Rebels.

Muttering something unpleasant, he closed his tanks cupola and looked over at the driver. "Current speed?"

"Fifty-three kilometres per hour," the driver replied.

"ETA to Nav Point Jupiter?" Tendo asked.

"Eight point three hours." Glancing at a display panel, the driver continued, "Captain Katsuragi's vehicle is approaching us." Soun opened the larger top hatch and looked out, soon seeing the familiar form of the Leman Russ Exterminator that served as Seventh Companies command vehicle making its way towards his personal Chimera. Ten seconds later, it was alongside the Chimera, nudging its way around a truck carrying several squads of troops.

The Exterminator's cupola opened, and Captain Misato Katsuragi climbed out onto the top of her vehicle. Before Tendo could stop her, the woman leapt over the space between the two vehicles, landing easily on the top of the Chimera. "Are you crazy?" Tendo snapped as she climbed down into the tank. "You could have been killed! The last thing I need right now is my tank commander dead because of some brain-dead stunt."

"Don't worry," Misato replied, "I've been doing stuff like that since I was an Ensign back in the TDF's 10th Armoured Brigade. I can do things like that easily. Besides, we've got bigger problems. Lieutenant Ryouji just contacted me. I know that happened at that ghost town."

"Do tell," Tendo said. Misato told, and a few minutes later, the general leaned back against the wall. "Damn, are you sure?" he asked.

"Ryoji gave me the word right from this Trunks character. We are talking about a Space Marine here."

"True," Tendo nodded, picking up his data-slate and calling up details of the Imperial advance. Misato looked over his shoulder, seeing the Tokyo Regiments movements. "I'd rather call a general halt and dig a few trenches, then pound on the rebels with artillery as they advance towards us. But that'd mean leaving our units at the ghost town unsupported unless I call them back. But Lord Commander Hayes disagrees with my opinion. He seems to have decided for a sledgehammer style attack, Imperial units grinding against the rebels."

"What a waste of resources," Misato commented. "I have to agree with your plan. I've seen enough of this style of fighting from back in the civil war." Muttering to herself, she pulled a small bottle out of her pocket and took a long drink.

"Is that alcohol?" Tendo asked.

"Sacra, believe it or not," Misato said. "Part of a stash I'd gotten back in the TDF. This lot was imported from some place called Tanith. No idea where that place is, but they make good grog, I'll give 'em that much."

"You expect me to let you drink while on duty?" the General asked.

"Well, I'm actually not on duty right now, it's just that Ryouji contacted me. Besides, I used to be a lot worse. But that's not the point now. Is there any way that we can speed up the schedule, get to the ghost town before the rebels do?"

"Not a chance," Tendo replied. "The Administratum is being pushed to the limits as it is. Supply lines are stretched to the breaking point. We try to move any faster and the entire front line will just fall apart. This is as fast as we go." The pair were silent for a few minutes, until Tendo's comm-officer turned to him from the comm-unit built into the hull. "What is it?"

"We are receiving a signal from orbit. Ident-code indicates it is coming from the Strike Crusier Fist of the Emperor."

Both Misato and Tendo managed to conceal their surprise at what they had been told. The Fist of the Emperor was not part of the Ultima Segmentum Navy. Instead, it was part of the Eternal Dragons Navy. It was the command ship for the small collection of vessels the Space Marine Chapter had in the Redermade system. Which meant that the Eternal Dragons had an interest in the Tokyo Regiments for some reason. "On screen," Tendo said.

A small viewscreen showed nothing but snow for a few seconds, before clearing to show an image of a powerfully built figure clad in silver power armour, painted in a style that made it look like the scales of a dragon. The man's helmet was removed, revealing the face of what appeared to be a man in his mid-twenties, spikey blond hair slightly covering one of his blue eyes. "I am Captain Gohan Son of the Eternal Dragons Third Company," he said.

"General Soun Tendo, commander in chief of the Tokyo Regiments. What can I do for you Captain?" Despite the fact he was much higher ranked, Tendo still spoke to the Marine with nothing but respect, as any Space Marine had decades of experience. A Captain could have had seen centuries of combat.

"You have men at the ghost town to the east of your position, do you not?" At the Generals nod Gohan continued. "I have a squad there myself, and I have a Thunderhawk with reinforcements ready to launch. I was wondering if you would like me to give some of your people a lift?"

Tendo smiled. "How much space do you have on board?"

"We should be able to fit two tanks and a few dozen men," Gohan replied. "What do you say?"

"Thank you for the offer Captain. I'll have two of my tanks and three squads standing by. Do you have any preferences for landing coordinates?" After exchanging basic details with the Space Marine, the general ended the transmission and turned to Misato. "What do you make of that?"

"Either they really care about the scouts they have there," Misato said, "or they've got other plans. At a guess I'd say they're sending people on a Chaos hunt."

Soun nodded. "If we do it right, we might be able to fight the main force at Nav Point Jupiter, spreading out from the ghost town."

"We'll have to prepare plans on our defensive arrangements," the Captain replied. "I'll wake some of the other Company Commanders and we'll talk shop." Soun nodded, and she climbed up to the top of the tank to return to her own vehicle.

***

The sun had only just set when the first rebel units appeared. Recon elements, advancing under cover of darkness, searching out Imperial advance units.

Shinji saw them first, thanks to his position in the tower, and the range of his scopes heat-view mode. Two Wasp helicopters, hugging the desert sands in an attempt to avoid possible radar detection. But their engines gave off enough heat for the quiet sniper to see them without even trying.

A lascannon blast destroyed one of them and startled the second one, which swung left, it's autocannon firing off a burst in the direction of the town. Nothing was hit. It was Hiroshi that took it down, hitting it with a krak missile that vaporised the pilot.

Everyone knew that more determined attacks would soon come, and Trunks rearranged the defences slightly. About half an hour after the appearance of the Wasps, everyone in the town looked up at the sound of jet turbines. Landing thrusters belching flames, the Thunderhawk landed in the middle of the village.

The aircraft was quite a strange sight. At least most Imperial aircraft attempted to be aerodynamic. The Thunderhawk didn't. It looked like an oddly shaped box, with wings on the sides and the engines built into them. Weapons extended from all over the crafts surface. At the front of it, a massive hatch had opened, allowing the troops inside to exit.

The Space Marines had picked up the Guardsmen as planned, and so a Leman Russ Demolisher and the Seventh Companies only Destroyer Tank Hunter rolled out of the aircraft first, followed by about thirty guardsmen, many of them with markings indicating heavy weapons squads. General Tendo had taken men from both his own platoon and Second Companies Command Platoon, guessing correctly that heavy weapons would be very useful.

After this came the Space Marines. The guardsmen watching looked on as two ingressive tanks rolled forward, a Razorback APC and a Whirlwind. Along with this came thirty Marines in full power armour.

Then came the truly impressive sight. Captain Gohan Son stepped forward, the scale design on his artificer armour reflecting the light from the Thunderhawks internal bay. Built into his gauntlets were a pair of well-made Lightning Claws, weapons of a true master.

Behind Gohan were nine Terminators, the elite warriors of the Space Marine Chapter. The Tactical Dreadnought, or Terminator, armour that they wore was the best personal armour in the galaxy.

And to finish off the imposing sight, a powerful Dreadnought towards behind them. Containing the nearly dead body of a Space Marine that was a true hero, even by their high standards, these ultimate combinations of man and machine were some of the most powerful warriors in the galaxy.

Trunks, Schofield and Ryouji were waiting at the bottom of the ramp as Gohan approached. All three of them snapped their feet together and saluted. "Captain Son, it is an honour to have you take command," Trunks said.

Gohan shook his head. "I won't be taking command Veteran Scout-Sergeant. Only the vehicles and the standard Marines will remain here. The rest of us will follow the underground tunnels and exterminate the Chaos scum from this planet."

The Scout Sergeant nodded. "Understood sir. Who will be taking command?"

"You will retain command, Veteran Scout-Sergeant Trunks. After all, you are really a member of the First Company. Despite the fact that you requested your current position in the Scout Company, your experience can not be discounted. I have faith in your abilities."

"Thank you sir," Trunks replied, saluting again. Schofield glanced at the Marine. It seemed that Trunks was more then just a Marine assigned to train the new recruits.

Very interesting, the Lieutenant thought to himself. It looks like we may have an even better commander then I thought.

***

"You're kidding," Ranma muttered.

"No, I'm not," Schofield replied, glancing over at where the Marines were entering the underground cave. Gohan and the Terminators simply jumped down, small rockets in their feet slowing their fall. "It seems that Scout-Sergeant Trunks is actually a member of the Eternal Dragons First Company, that Chapters elite force."

"Woah, talk about a surprise," Ranma commented. The Space Marine Scout continued to pull more surprises out of nowhere. Most of the Space Marine Chapters were divided into ten Companies, each consisting of about a hundred marines each. The First Company contained the best of the best, warriors trained in countless fighting styles, not to mention the powerful Terminator armour. Yet
Trunks seemed to have given it up to work with the Scouts, the new recruits of the Tenth Company.

Ranma glanced towards the edge of the town, where he could just see Trunks giving orders to the driver of the Whirlwind. The mobile missile battery moved forward a few meters, it's turret aiming towards the distant horizon. It seems our current commander is just full of interesting little facts, he thought to himself. "What do you think of his general battle plan?" he asked the Lieutenant.

"Pretty impressive. The large amount of heavy weapons we have will let us punish the rebels hard. You'll have the biggest trouble. Be careful."

Ranma nodded as he considered the plan Trunks had made. The rebels were moving in a number of columns towards the Imperial lines. The majority of the Imperial forces would remain in the town, using it for cover against the fire of any rebels that learned of their presence. At the same time, Ranma's bike squadron, Corporal Hick's Chimera and the Space Marine Razorback would attack the foe with hit and run flank attacks.

It was expected that the main rebel force, pushing to engage the Imperial Guard as far away from Kell Hive as possible, would reach the town at sunrise, seven hours away. If the Space Marines lead by Gohan Son were still underground at that time, the forces on the surface would have to fight a holding action until Gohan did return, or the main Imperial force reached them, whatever came first.

"I'll be careful," he said to Schofield. "I'm going to check on Shinji."

***

Shinji was still in the tower, although now he had company. Lina, Tenchi and the Space Marine Scout Brendan 'Ringo' Lawson were all up there as well. While Shinji took a brief break, Ringo had his sniper rifle out, scanning the horizon.

"All I'm saying is that if she tries anything, I'll make sure she's the one to get a las-round to the back of the head," Lina said.

"You really don't like Commissars, do you Lina?" Ringo asked, never turning his attention away from the horizon.

"Oh, I understand how important they are. After all, they are the best way of seeking out corruption and treason in the Guard, not to mention their style of morale. But I don't trust them. They judge people according to their standards. I've heard stories about Commissars, bad ones."

"Everyone has Lina," Tenchi replied, setting up an autocannon on a bipod. "They're just that, stories."

"Not really, many of them have some truth in them," Ringo replied. Everyone else looked at him in shock. He grinned and kept his attention on the image through his scope.

"Well, I've spoken with Konoko. She understands how I work," Ranma said as he walked up the spiral staircase. The guardsmen turned to him in surprise. "There shouldn't be too much trouble. Tenchi, Lina, I want you to find the rest of the squad. They're to get their bikes ready for deployment in case of emergency. Understood?" Both soldiers nodded and ran down the stairs.

"Sir, what about me?" Shinji asked quietly.

"You'll remain here in the tower. Don't think it's because I don't think you can fight alongside me or some junk like that. It's because you're an even better sniper then you are hovercycle rider. I sure wouldn't mind the feeling that I've got someone watching over us."

"T-thank you," Shinji stuttered.

"One bit of advice kid. Lighten up a little. You're too tense. Go grab a drink, I'll keep the marine company." Shinji nodded and left the tower, leaving Ringo and Ranma alone.

"Nice kid. A little shy though," Ringo noted.

"Hmm? Yeah, Lina's trying to have him settle down a bit. Any sign of life out there?"

The Marine shrugged. "Nothing much really. A few signs of native wildlife, little creatures the size of a small dog, but apart from that, nothing." Slowly, he ran his scope across the horizon yet again. "Hold on, I've got something. Another Wasp. It's heading north. Considering how little equipment they've got on those things, I doubt they've seen us."

"Pass it on to Trunks, he's the one with the experience around here," Ranma replied.

***

The night wore on, and the soldiers tried to deal with the nervous tension building up. They knew an attack was coming, a big fight that would push them to their limits. The problem was waiting for it. The marines had dealt with it before. Many in the Tokyo First hadn't.

In the old Enforcer headquarters, Washuu Habuki was hard at work. Synth-skin had been pulled away from her left arm, and a number of wires connected to the bionics there, as well as to an interface plug behind her ear, hidden by her hair. Her eyes had a strange glazed look to them, as if there was no one in the body. In a way, that description was accurate. The body had no soul. Washuu Habuki had dived into the Enforcer system, intent on learning just what had happened to this town.

Commissar Konoko and Trooper Taichi Yagami were watching over her meat body while the tech-priestess sent her mind out elsewhere. Neither of them were very eager to be there, but they had nothing else important to do, and Trunks didn't feel like letting people just wonder around.

"That is just plain creepy," Taichi muttered. "Look at her face. Weird."

"She's a follower of the Machine God as well as the Emperor," Konoko pointed out. "I only know a little of the Martian Cult, but the bond between man and machine is extremely close. So close that it's hard to see sometimes."

"I know what you mean," Taichi replied. "Back on Tokyo, I had this friend. An absolute technofreak. He didn't have any chrome in him, but still, I swear he could talk to machines and get a response." He looked at the tech-priestess. "How long do we have to do this?"

"As long as we have to," Konoko replied. Suddenly, Washuu awakened, life returning to her eyes. Careful not to disturb the wires in her arm, and the one in her head, she took a short stretch, then turned to the two people watching her.

"Any luck?" Taichi asked.

"Not yet," she replied. "For such a backwater town, this place has a lot of security. Let the commander know that I'll be at least another hour." And with that she reactivated the connection, dropping back into cyberspace.

Taichi simply looked at Konoko, who shrugged and activated her communicator.

***

The scanner results showed no life for almost five hundred metres. Gohan removed his helmet for a brief moment, running a hand through his naturally spiked hair. "Tien, Radditz, take point." The two Terminators moved ahead of the squad, weapons ready.

"Those mutants bodies were familiar," Tien said over the comm-net.

"I know, they looked like Genestealers," Gohan replied, locking his helmet back into place. "Tech-priestess Habuki ran some tests. No alien DNA. Those abominations were born of humanity, not Tyranids. From what she found, their claws should be unable to penetrate our armour."

"Does it matter where they came from?" Radditz asked. "All we need to know is how to kill the freaks." He raised his Assault Cannon and Power Fist. "I think these will do a good job."

"By understanding more about them, we can find better ways to carry out our duty to the Emperor," Gohan said. "The Space Marines exist to carry on the legacy of our Primarchs and Emperor. We are to defend the Imperium from the threats both without and within." He walked forward, just behind the pair of Terminators on point.

***

Trunks looked over the images transmitted down from orbit with a look of disgust. The image showed one of the rebel columns changing direction, to a direct course for the small ghost town. One of the rebel recon units they'd taken out must have gotten a message off before they died.

The rebel unit was about the strength of three Imperial Guard companies, much more then what the small number of defenders under Trunks command could offer.

Sighing to himself, he folded the papers up and placed them in a bag on his belt. Walking along the hastily dug trenches, he returned the salutes of the guardsmen that saw him. In the back of his mind, he wondered just how many would be alive in another twelve hours, if any of them would be.

You knew the ups and downs of this job when you first tried out for the Scouts, he told himself. That day felt so long ago. Had it really been over a century since he had been a normal human? He could still remember those old days well. Images entered his mind, of enemies defeated, old friendships lost as time and war took their toll.

Shaking his head to clear away the memories, he walked to where Schofield was standing, looking out at the horizon. "You better get some sleep," he said. "One of their columns is heading our way. I want you awake for the fight."

Schofield bit back a yawn. "I guess so. What about you?"

"Don't worry, we Space Marines can stay awake for longer periods then you normal humans."

"You're making we feel worthless you know," Schofield commented as he picked one of the houses at random.

"Just remember that while we may be more powerful then a normal human, you outnumber us. Besides, the loyalty I've seen in Guardsmen often outstrips anything I see from Marines."

"Are you kidding?" the Lieutenant asked.

"No, I'm quite serious," Trunks replied. "I've seen Guardsmen face down demons, aliens, rebels, ancient technology, and countless other horrors. And they do it without any form of genetic enhancement. In many ways, the Guard is the true power of the Imperium. They are perhaps the Emperors most powerful weapon."

Schofield looked thoughtful. "That's something to consider another time, when I'm not so damn tired. See you in a few hours." He wandered off to find a bed.

***

Ranma stumbled into one of the buildings, two thoughts on his mind. One was the desperate need for Caffeine, which didn't seem to exist in this damn town. The second thought was the replacement thought. Sleep, sleep, sleep.....

Picking a bedroom, he didn't even bother to turn on the light. Instead, he kicked off his boots, managed to remove his breastplate, and dropped onto the bed. He was out cold before he even hit the mat.

***

"Captain Son to Scout-Sergeant Trunks," Gohan said into his helmets comm-link for the fifth time, before giving up in annoyance.

"The ground must be too thick," one of the Terminators commented.

"I expected as much. Let's keep moving." The squad continued to make it's way down the tunnel, weapons at the ready. Gohan led them, Lightning Claws beginning to crackle. He was quickly starting to get annoyed. So far, they had been walking for hours, but they hadn't seen a trace of anything to indicate the presence of chaos worshippers. It may just have meant that they were hiding, but these creatures had too little humanity remaining to be able to truly hide.

Suddenly, one of the tunnel walls caved in, and a number of small arms weapons opened fire. Gohan spun on the spot as sparks came up off his armour. Moving forward quickly, he stepped into the small side cave, the claws on his gauntlets coming alive with white-blue energy. He sliced through two of the cultists like paper, then grabbed the third and slammed him against the wall. He took the man's rifle and crushed it. "Behave," he growled. Behind him, several of the Terminators looked bored.

"I've got an idea," one of the marines said.

"What's that Tien?" Gohan asked.

"It looks like the chaos freaks have traps ahead of us," Tien answered. "I'm sure our little traitor here will be happy to help."

Gohan nodded, then turned his attention back to the cultist. "I'm sure you'll be happy to help us, won't you?"

"Why should I?" the man stammered.

"That's easy to answer," Gohan replied. "You see, the changes brought upon by chaos do not seem to have taken a large effect on you yet. You remain human." A fairly pathetic human, but I won't hurt all of his feelings right now, he didn't add. "There is a chance for your soul to be saved from the dark grip of the Chaos gods, and for the Emperor to have mercy on you when your life ends, and you stand before him in the afterlife. Do you accept?" As he asked the
question, he rubbed one of the currently inactive lightning claws against the mans face.

"I'd be ha-happy to help," the man managed to say through his shaking.

"Good to hear it," Gohan said cheerfully, picking the man up and carrying him back to the main tunnel, where he dropped him in front of the squad. "Since you know the way, you can lead."

"ME!?" the man exclaimed. "I'll be killed!"

"But at least when you stand before the Emperor, you'll be able to tell him that you were trying to change your wicked ways," Tien pointed out, before speaking to the squad only on a private channel. "You know he won't last long. He'll be killed at the next trap."

"Then we'll get more volunteers there," Gohan replied, pushing the man forward.

"Damn, I shoulda thought of that..."

***

Konoko glanced over at Taichi, who had passed out in a seat nearby. Washuu was still hooked up to the system, taking longer then she had expected. Suddenly, with an extremely loud cry of "FUCK!!" the tech-priestess leapt from her seat, tearing the wires from their sockets.

"What happened?" Konoko asked, only to have the red-head grab a las-pistol, spin on the spot, and fire several shots into the electronic systems she had been connected to a second ago. "Would you mind telling me what's going on?" the commissar asked.

"That is," Washuu spat, pointing at the ruined codifier. Konoko glanced at it, noticing that somehow, the broken machine parts were moving on their own. Almost as if they were.... alive?

"How is that happening?" Taichi muttered, wakened by the las-blasts.

"Chaos," Konoko growled, activating her headset. "Sergeant Trunks, this is Commissar Konoko. I'm going to need a flamer in the Enforcer building. We've got a taint."

"Understood." Less then a minute later, Trunks entered the room, a guardsman with a flamer right behind him. He pointed at the destroyed circuitry, and the guardsman let off a long burst of flame that melted the Chaos-mutated objects. Taichi could have sworn that the parts were screaming as they were destroyed. "Did you find anything?" Trunks asked Washuu.

"I did find something interesting before the taint revealed itself. Lockly, the enforcer mentioned in the journal Hicks found, was a cultist long before he came here. Not only that, but he used to serve in Kell Hive, namely as part of the Noble House Guard."

"The division of the Enforcers that serve as bodyguards for the Governors family and other noble families?" Konoko said with some surprise. Washuu nodded. "How'd he end up assigned to a slum like this?"

"Apparently, he got a little too close to this girl he was meant to bodyguard. That's the official story, but I can't help but wonder..."

"If he was a cultist before he came here, how far through the ranks of the Enforcers is the taint?" Taichi said, completing the thought.

"Something to think about," Trunks muttered, checking the wreckage. "If the Enforcers were corrupted, then we can assume that other parts of this planet were heavily tainted as well."

"And I wouldn't be surprised if the Noble Houses were part of that taint," Konoko added. Trunks started swearing as he fired a few bolt pistol shots at the once again moving codifier parts.

"This town is starting to annoy me more by the minute," he commented.

***

Ranma stepped out of the house, looking out at the distant horizon. He checked his watch. "It's time." He ran towards where Trunks was. "Any word from Captain Son?" he asked.

"A few words made it through. The ground is too dense. From what I've been able to make out, they're still travelling, although they have destroyed several small groups of rebels. What's your squads status?"

"We're ready for deployment sir," Ranma replied.

"Link up with the rest of the flanking force and move out." Ranma nodded and ran to where the rest of his bike squadron were waiting.

Lina flashed him a brief thumbs-up as Ranma powered up the hovercycles engines. A light blue glow began to form in the exhaust vents. "Rev 'em up and let's kick some ass!" the sergeant yelled, racing out of the town.

Trunks watched the bike squadron race away, meeting up with the Chimera and Razorback that also made up the flank attacking force. He turned to Washuu, who was working on a data-slate, getting up to the minute data on Rebel and Imperial movement. "You should get behind the front line," he said to her. "You're a non-combatant here."

"Yeah, but I'll be serving with the Tokyo First for a long time to come," the tech-priestess replied. "A little danger is to be expected. I can be of more use here for now. When the rebels get close I'll drop back."

Trunks considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Have you any new information we could use?"

Washuu tapped a few runes on the data-slates touch-screen, then handed it to the Space Marine. On the screen was an image taken by one of the ships in orbit. Somewhere to the east, at temporary airfields, the rebels air units were preparing for takeoff.

"The Navy have started a bombardment of any airfields they can reach," Washuu said, "but a large number of fighters and bombers are already airborne. Our own airforce is moving to intercept."

"They've almost never had a large air presence before," Trunks commented. "The Navy Fighter Division will have fun today."

Washuu nodded. "Still, we could have some difficulty with them." She was prevented from saying any more by a call over the comm-net. There was movement on the horizon. The rebels had arrived.

Bringing his cycle to a stop, Ranma pulled a pair of binoculars from his backpack and set them to maximum zoom. At a guess, he'd have to say that there were just over half a thousand troops, consisting of both regular infantry and Shock Troops. Along with that were about sixty vehicles, not counting the K-Suits that seemed to have replaced the Sentinel walkers in the renegade forces.

Ranma glanced back at the ghost town. The location gave the defenders an advantage, but this was nullified by the sheer numbers the rebels had to offer. The renegade Governor must have had one hell of a good recruiting drive, he thought to himself, moving behind a sand dune to hide. At least the cloud layer surrounding the planet stopped the sun from blocking the sight of the rebels, although Ranma wouldn't mind something like an orbital bombardment to help out sometime soon.

***

"Personally, I prefer the one where the floor opened to reveal those spikes," Tien commented to another Terminator. "Almost completely harmless to us, but they killed the traitor pretty quickly."

"That's for sure," replied Radditz. "But I liked the one where those mechanical arms came out of the wall, grabbed them, and tore them apart."

"You would," Gohan said, smirking behind helmet. "My favourite was where the roof and floor smashed together."

"At least they've got imagination," one Terminator commented. "Up there."

Gohan glanced ahead, spotting the light. Quickly and quietly, the squad made their way towards the tunnel exit, where Gohan signalled for them to halt for a moment. Carefully, he glanced out into a large cavern that was filled with several dozen cultists, all at different stages of mutation. They were gathered in a circle around what appeared to be the leader mutant Lieutenant Schofield had
seen the previous day.

The leader was standing with his arms clenched at his sides, psychic energy running along his body. Gohan could feel the cave vibrating, even over two hundred metres away. Slowly, the leader raised his arms, and Gohan activated the magno-visor in his helmet. The creature's exoskeleton was beginning to crack as the arcane energy ran along it.

Then, with a sickening crack, the mutants arms exploded in a shower of smoke and greenish-red liquid. As Gohan tried to figure out what the whole point of that was, the rest of the creatures body exploded.

As the dust settled, Gohan growled at what her was standing there. It was an imposing figure, almost eight feet tall, encased in a suit of power armour similar to his own. The markings on the armour were not Imperial though, instead the ancient runes of the Chaos Gods were carved into the ceramite.

Even among the Space Marines, there were those that would betray the Emperor and humanity, selling their soul to the Chaos Gods in exchange for power and immortality. Although the most famous were those that turned to Chaos during the Horus Heresy almost ten thousand years before, it was a well kept secret that there were still others willing to make the same decision.

It appeared that this Chaos Marine was a rather new one. Unlike older Chaos Marines, his armour had not fused with his skin, and very few distortions from the original Imperial design had occurred. The only major exception to this were the sides of his helmet, which had stretched out into bat-like wings, and a row of spikes running down his left arm.

Gohan glanced behind the first Chaos Marine, noticing about five more hiding in the shadows, all at various levels of mutation. Underneath his helmet, the Space Marine scowled. It seemed that every time he looked, the problem here got bigger.

"Present the sacrifice!" the first Chaos Marine roared, shaking the rafters. Gohan marked him as the leader. He watched as two still-human cultists carried in a large table. Strapped to it was a young girl, about fifteen years old, and rather pretty, not to mention completely human. Although her mouth was gagged, the mumblings that came from it seemed to be rather angry and fearful. Gohan guessed she was one of the townsfolk that had not succumbed to the taint.

Unhooking a larger knife from his belt, the lead Chaos Marine made his way towards the woman, chanting in a language Gohan had heard far too many times before. Dark magic, namely a summoning spell. Instantly, the Eternal Dragon knew what would happen if they did not intervene. Rather then a group of sub-human cultists and traitor Marines, they would also face a demon of (most likely) considerable power. "Full assault!" he ordered, stepping out of the tunnel. "Attack pattern Crusader!"

Instantly the Terminators broke off into two man teams, spreading out to nullify their foes strength in numbers. There was a brief roar of thunder as Tien and Radditz opened fire with their assault cannons. The powerful chainguns, built into the right arm of their Terminator Armour, shredded dozens of mutants in a matter of seconds, before the enemy was truly aware of their presence.

Gohan charged straight into close combat, Lightning claws hissing and crackling with power. The mutants exoskeletons were easily penetrated by the power weapons, as the blond-haired Marine advanced towards the Chaos Marines. As he had predicted, the mutants claws were unable to penetrate the powerful armour the Marines wore.

The former Space Marines had reacted faster to the Imperial threat then their followers. Two of the traitor Marines moved to defend the leader, buying time for the spell to be completed. One of them carried a boltgun, the other a massive, two-handed chainsword, jagged teeth already coming to life.

Gohan chose his target and attacked, two of his Terminators coming up behind him to deal with the mutants he hadn't finished off.

***

On the surface, the battle for the ghost town was just beginning. The Imperials attacked first, the Destroyer Tank Hunter firing off a blast from it's massive Laser Destroyer cannon. A rebel APC was reduced to a hollow ruin, its insides completely blown away, as the Destroyer chose its next target.

"Heavy weapons squads, stand ready," Trunks ordered. "Whirlwind Tempest, report status."

"All missile tube loaded and armed," a voice replied over the comm-link. "Awaiting range confirmation."

"Fire as soon as you have a target. Flanking units, report in."

"Scout-Sergeant Saotome, Bike Squadron. We're in position, awaiting your order."

"Hold until I give the signal."

"Advance units are in range of our heavy weapons," Washuu reported from he position behind several crates."

Trunks nodded. "Heavy weapons squads, this is Scout-Sergeant Trunks. Open fire."

As one, several dozen heavy weapons spoke, Las-blasts and missiles raced towards the rebel force, carving a hole in forward assault. Seconds later, a number of 85mm mortar shells landed on the rebels, tearing apart several squads of lightly armoured infantry. The vehicles and shock troops continued forward.

The Whirlwind opened fire, firing several missiles from it's turret weapon into the rebel assault, reaping havoc on the rebel infantry. The rest of the Imperial vehicles and troops joined in, their various weapons determined to deal as much damage as possible.

But the rebels were returning fire, autogun rounds and las-rounds reaching out towards the defenses. Several guardsmen fell, as a rebel Leman Russ targeted and destroyed a Chimera, only to fall victim to the wrath of the Destroyer and the Lascannon-equipped Sentinel Walker.

"Saotome, now!" Trunks yelled, firing his bolt pistol into the approaching horde.

About two kilometres from the town, Ranma waved his hand in the air. "Let's go!" he ordered, speeding towards the battle, the rest of the flanking units behind him.

The rebel column was an advance element of the main army. While the main force was spread out to fight along the entire battlelines, the rebel column that the Imperials currently fought, along with the other columns along the battleline, were designed to focus the assault at one point, to crate a hole in the line, allowing rebel forces to flank the Guard units. However, their weapons were pointing directly in front, and it seemed that the officer in charge of this force lacked proper combat experience, failing to have units dedicated to defending against flank attacks. This would cost them dearly.

Ranma's bike squadron raced in first, their Blazer's built-in lasguns firing on full auto into the infantry units, while the built-in Bolters on the Heavy Weapons bike (currently being ridden by Taichi Yagami) laid into one of the unarmoured trucks carrying more troops, trying to hit something valuable. As several squads of regular renegade infantry and Shock Troops recovered from their surprise, the Blazer Hovercycles broke away, allowing the second half of the flanking units to attack.

The two tanks raced into battle. On the left was the Chimera APC of the Seventh Companies Recon Squad. It's turret-mounted Multilaser and hull-mounted Heavy Bolter spat death into the enemy, while the remaining members of Corporal Hicks squad fired the lasguns built into the troop compartment in the vehicle. Again, it broke away before any real firepower could be directed at it.

The last vehicle was similar in design to the Whirlwind, both of them based off the original Rhino template. But where the bulky missile launcher was located on the artillery platform, there was a turret mounting a Lascannon and twin-linked plasma guns, launching hard light and white-hot energy into the side of a Leman Russ, punching a hole through it's side, destroying the flamer mounted in the side sponson. As the Razorback broke away, the injured Russ
attempted to turn, bringing its battle cannon to bear on the Space Marine tank. But the 170mm shell impacted into a sand dune, sending a cloud of sand into the air and little else.

The distance between the two armies continued to decrease, with casualties building up on both sides, until Trunks gave the order for Ranma to bring out the surprises hidden in the dunes. With a roar, the explosives Ranma had set the day before detonated underneath the renegades, showering them with shrapnel and flames. At the same time, several plasma mines the sergeant had taken from the supplies Seventh Company brought with them armed. Two tanks and a small number of infantry were taken out.

In the first ten minutes of the battle, the defenders had the advantage, thanks to the help of their location, and a number of tricks that had taken the enemy by surprise. However, that was set to change, with a squadron of rebel aircraft detected moving towards the town.

***

Gohan sliced down, turning the traitor Marines boltgun into scrap metal, before stepping back to avoid the chainsword wielded by the other Chaos worshipper. The spinning, jagged teeth barely missed his helmet, but swinging the bulky weapon left him wide open to an attack by a faster fighter. The Space Marine took advantage of this, ramming a claw through his opponents head, killing him instantly. He kicked the other traitor away then charged the leader, who was still chanting.

The pair collided in an explosion of psychic energy, the power of the summoning spell released into the air. Gohan backhanded his opponent away, then cut the girls bonds. "Stay behind me," he ordered her, before turning to parry a series of attacks by the leader and a mutant. Nearby, Radditz went one on one with what appeared to be the only other remaining Chaos Marine.

He backhanded the Chaos Marine away before shredding the mutant. He glanced behind him for a moment. Although their armour had a number of scratches and dents, all of the Terminators were alive and well, the simple claws of the mutants and light rifles of the humanoid cultists unable to penetrate their advanced armour. As he watched, Radditz grabbed his opponents head in his Power Fist and crushed it like a rotten piece of fruit.

That moment of distraction cost him dearly. As he turned back to the last Chaos Marine, he heard the traitor chanting the spell yet again. Growling in anger, he leapt forward, slamming his left Lightning Claw through his foes chest, then sliced upwards, the energy fields around the claws allowing him to easily cut through both ceramite armour and rotting flesh.

Horror building up within him, the Space Marine turned to face the young woman. A strange, pale red aura appeared around her, and her eyes had turned completely black. "Well," she said in a voice like gravel, and didn't match with her lip movement, "it appears that the spell was incomplete. No matter, I once again exist in the material world. No more is needed."

"Who are you beast?" Gohan growled, signalling to the Terminators to surround her. Several of the elite Marines moved into position, the others dealing with the last of the mutants still alive.

"I am Zelas," the demoness said, her voice becoming softer, and matching the movement of her lips. "And what of you, little mortals? Who are you?"

"Enough talk!" Radditz yelled, snapping his Assault Cannon into place. "Let's kill this freak!" The barrels on his bulky firearm began rotating again with a whine familiar to all present. Zelas spun on the spot, her eyes glowing red and a glowing sphere of energy forming in an outstretched hand.

"Move Radditz!" Gohan ordered. Radditz leapt to the side, but the bulk of the Terminator armour slowed him down. The energy blast ripped through his arm, ignoring the protection offered by the most advanced armour in the galaxy, tearing the limb from his body. Growing in pain and anger, Radditz stumbled back, glancing at his left arm lying on the ground. The Power Fist twitched a few times, then went still.

Raising the Assault Cannon linked to his armours remaining arm, he opened fire. To his disgust and outrage, the bullets were harmlessly deflected by a hexagonal force-field that appeared in front of the demon. "Fools," Zelas whispered, her voice easily picked up by the external microphones in the Marines armour. "You are nothing compared to me." She raised her hand again, another sphere of Warp energy forming. Two Terminators dodged to the side as the
demoness used her abilities to carve a tunnel through the rock. Rising slightly above the ground, Zelas flew into the tunnel.

"Tien, Yamcha, check on Radditz," Gohan ordered, running to the tunnel entrance. As near as he could see, the tunnel was at a slight angle, rising towards the surface slowly. The autosensors in his armour scanned the tunnel walls, informing him that there was no heat in the walls whatsoever. Zelas hadn't melted the rock, she had destroyed it.

"He'll live," Tien reported. "The blast blew the entire limb off, but it's a clean wound, and his body is already sealing the wound."

Gohan nodded. The healing abilities of Space Marines were some of the best in the galaxy, ranking alongside creatures like demons and Orks (The later of which were capable of being decapitated and still have the head insult you for a good half-hour). The genetic enhancements in Radditz's body would prevent him from bleeding to death, and Marines from his family line had recieved bionics before, which meant that he would live to fight again.

Quickly gathering his men, Gohan Son did the only thing he could do, and set off after Zelas. After about two minutes, Yamcha spoke up. "Captain, if my armours sensors are right, we're heading directly for the ghost town."

Curious, Gohan checked his own systems, and was suprised by the answer. They were indeed on their way back to the ghost town, taking a tunnel that lead directly to it rather then twisting and turning underneath the desert. "That'd be right," he muttered. "We spend all night stomping around to try and find these Chaos freaks, and then it takes us about half an hour to get back to the extraction point."

"But of course, Zelas will get there before us," Radditz muttered.

"Mostly because you provoked her," Gohan noted. "Maybe that will teach you to be more careful in future."

***

Shinji squeezed the trigger, sending a red pulse of energy racing down into the battlefield below. Another Shock Troop fell, his helmet destroyed. Calmly, the youth selected another target.

Nearby, Scout Brendan Lawson wondered at how calm Shinji was. The boy seemed more like a Vindicare then a Guardsman. He had no way of knowing that Ikari was like that all the time. He only really noted this in passing, too busy taking down soldiers with his own sniper rifle, which used actual bullets, unlike Shinji's laser weapon.

By now the gap was closing. Renegade and Imperial were less then twenty metres apart, weapons fire on both sides cutting into their numbers. Heavy weaponry on both sides tore into infantry and vehicles alike, until a gap was opened in the Imperial lines when a Leman Russ took out an entire six-man heavy weapon squad. Rebel soldiers, mostly light infantry, charged forward.

"Vegita, there's a breach in the line to the right of you. Rebels moving in. Deploy and intercept," Trunks ordered.

The renegades were already through the breach when it happened. Turning to fire on the Guardsmen on both sides of them, when a nearby building exploded. Stepping out of the rubble was a walking nightmare, twice as tall as the largest soldier among them. What little of the morning light that penetrated the cloud cover reflected off the silver armour plates and the extremely well-maintained
weapons. And in the centre of the war machine, the coffin that contained the nearly-dead Space Marine, kept alive by ancient technology understood by few.

Several of the rebels turned and ran, only to be cut down by the assault cannon built into the Dreadnoughts right side. Those that stayed, mostly thanks to stupidity, were quickly crushed and killed by the massive Power Fist on its left arm. Vegita, former commander of the Eternal Dragons Third Company, now allowed to fight on after death as a sign of respect for his sacrifice, roared out a challenge to any brave enough to face him in battle.

Two K-suits turned to face him, their pilots directing all their firepower at their targets. Autocannon and grenade rounds impacted harmlessly against the dreadnoughts outer shell, as the Space Marine charged at them, his deathly laugh amplified by the Dreadnoughts external speakers.

One Imperial Dreadnought, piloted by a Space Marine with centuries of experience, against two renegades in inferior powered suits. Vegita tore them apart without even truly trying. Some distance away, Ranma shuddered as he watched the Dreadnought rip open the K-Suits and pulp their pilots. "Thank the Emperor that beast is on our side," he muttered, bringing his squad around for another run. They had suffered one casualty so far in this battle. Daisuke had been hit by a frag rocket, destroying both the soldier and his bike in an
instant.

Firing a long burst into a group of infantry, Ranma signalled for the squadron to break away. As a parting gift, he slapped a melta charge against the hull of a Leman Russ. The resulting blast vaporised the tank, igniting its internal reactor.

"That was my last melta bomb," he said over the comm-link, glancing at his watch. Another hour and twenty minutes before the first sign of reinforcements arrived. As he looked at the Imperial lines, he had to admit he wasn't sure that they would last that long.

***

All along the outskirts of the town, Imperial battled renegade hand-to-hand, trying to survive. Only the Space Marines seemed to be able to beat the rebels on a constant basis, killing any traitor that came near them. "Trunks, you need any help there?" he asked over the comm-link, throwing proper comm-discipline to the wind.

"Forget flank attacks for now," Trunks ordered. "Squad Mortar-Three needs help, and I don't have anyone to spare."

"On it," Saotome replied. "Bikes, break left!" He turned hard, racing towards the battle again.

High above, Shinji also heard the order, and located Squad Mortar-Three. The six-man squad only carried sidearms in addition to the three DFA-125 Mortars that were used in the squads duty of light bombardment, leaving them open to close assault. Even as Shinji watched, one of the guardsmen was cut open by a blade carried by one of the Shock Troops, a bloody hole exposing his internal organs to the world. White-hot anger flashed through the young man for a moment, and he fired a shot that took off the offending Shock Troopers head completely.

Quickly, Shinji searched for the next shot. Trying another blast into the melee below was crazy. Taking out that Shock Trooper took more then a little luck, and there was a good chance that another shot would take out a guardsman. Instead, he focused his fire on anyone that seemed to be interested in moving in to support the rebels already attacking the mortar squad. He'd taken down about four more renegades when he saw Ranma and the rest of his squad charging into the fight.

Screaming something rather obscene, Ranma crushed a rebel underneath his bike, the anti-grav fields reducing the man to pulp. The Sergeant then leapt off his hovercycle, bolt pistol in one hand and a long knife in the other. The rest of the squad was close behind, some remaining on the bikes, others dismounting.

Konoko ran past Ranma, a bolt pistol in both hands. With a speed and grace that seemed to defy belief, the Commissar ducked and weaved her way through the various soldiers, firing her pistols in every direction, cutting down anyone against the Emperor.

"Damn she's good," Ranma muttered, plunging his knife into the stomach of an unarmoured rebel, before easily dodging a punch by a Shock Trooper, firing several bolt rounds into the soldiers face. "Lina, squad at five o'clock. Burn 'em!"

Spinning on the spot, Lina unslung her flamer and aimed for a squad of rebel infantry running towards them. Some of them, spotting the powerful assault weapon, skidded to a halt and tried to find cover. Before they could though, Lina fired off a massive burst of flame that burnt a hole in the middle of the squad. Their morale shattered by the sight of almost half their squad burnt to humanoid ashes, the survivors turned and ran.

Nearby, Trunks watched Ranma's squad, with no small amount of respect. Somehow, Ranma's squad contained a number of very talented fighters, or martial artists as these Tokyites called themselves. Although they would be no match for him in full power armour, he hadn't seen unaugmented humans with such power and skill in a long time. Calmly parrying the blade of a Shock Troopers sword, he considered a sparring match with Sergeant Saotome some time after this fight was over.

Next to the Scout-Sergeant, Washuu fired her shotgun at a rebel, blowing off a leg, before glancing at the data-slate in her other hand. "The air craft are here!" she yelled, pointing at the sky. Trunks followed her outstretched hand, and saw two Lightning fighter craft, racing towards the town.

"All troops, prepare for aerial attack," he growled. "Anti-air, direct your fire on the air-craft." From the southern edge of town, he watched as several missiles and Las-beams reached up into the sky. One of the Lightnings managed to manoeuvre around the attack, but the other lost a wing, sliced off by the hard-light beam of a Lascannon. Out of control, it crashed to one side of the rebel force, killing no one but its pilots.

The other air craft opened fire, it's autocannon and Lascannons tearing through the middle of the Imperial defence. Ranma stumbled back in horror as the autocannon rounds shredded Hiroshi, dropping him like a ripped bag of seed. One of the bikes, Konoko's, was hit by a las-beam and exploded, sending shrapnel in every direction, peppering the defenders with shrapnel. The battle at that section of the defenses faltered and died in the face of such an onslaught, which left a twenty metre wide hole in the defenses, larger then any caused so far.

Ranma, one of those not wounded, looked around in horror. The renegade air craft had fired into both Imperial and rebel troops, leaving dozens of dead and injured. And now, more rebels were moving to attack.

"Imperial forces, this is Scout-Sergeant Trunks. Fall back to rally-line Alpha. Don't give up. We've got just under an hour left. We've made it past the halfway mark, we can keep going. Fight for the Emperor and he will provide for you."

Picking up the badly wounded Hiroshi, Ranma glanced at his squad. "Get the remaining bikes," he ordered, sprinting towards rally-line Alpha, which was where the tanks had set up initially. All along the line, Imperial troops disengaged and fell back. Saotome ran between the Whirlwind and a Leman Russ just as both tanks fired off another salvo, the sound wave nearly deafening him.

Laying Hiroshi on the ground, he yelled for a medic. Soldiers ran in every direction, although none of them came to help tend to the injured Guardsman in front of Ranma.

"Guess they're... a little busy right now sarge," Hiroshi muttered, coughing up blood. "Look, forget about me, I'm already dead. My body just hasn't noticed yet. Get back to the fight. 'Sides, Daisuke's dead too. We made a good team, back in the old days..."

"Save your strength 'Roshi," Ranma said. "MEDIC! Where's a damn medic?"

"Dai and I were like brothers. We did everything together, and it seems that even includes dying. I'll say hi to everyone for you."

And with that, he died. Just another victim of a war that had no sense and no reason. Ranma sighed, standing up and calmly loading a fresh clip into his bolt pistol. He glanced up at the sound of the rebel Lightning, coming around for another pass. "This isn't over yet," he muttered. "Form up on me!" he ordered as his squad approached.

"'Roshi?" Tenchi asked. Ranma simply shook his head.

"Lina, status?"

"The Commissar's bike got trashed, but we've still got enough. Are we heading out to flank them again?"

Ranma activated his comm-link. "Scout-Sergeant Trunks, this is Scout-Sergeant Saotome? What are your orders?"

"Form up in the main battle line. We're too short on men to send you out as a flanking unit again."

"Understood." The guardsman looked at his squad. "Form up on the battle line, rifles ready." Even as he gave the order, he unslung his bolter, thumb toggling the safety.

And that was when the ground exploded.

***

With a flash of arcane power, Zelas blasted her way to the surface, rising in the aftermath of an explosion that tore a hole in the middle of the rebel advance. Calmly, the demoness looked around, watching as the humans moved back from her, expressions of fear and horror on their faces as they realised this was some kind of psyker.

Then one of the soldiers shot at her with a pistol. The las-blast glanced off her force field, but anger filled her at the thought of a mere human having the nerve to even try to attack her. Screaming with rage, she released her power, sending a wave of energy in every direction, vaporising the rebels around her.

In a matter of seconds, Zelas did what would have taken the Imperials many lives and perhaps another hour or two. The powers of the Warp reached into their bodies and burned them alive from the inside out.

"Throne of Earth," Schofield gasped as he watched the rebels die painfully, eldritch energies killing them from within. "What is that thing?"

"There's only one thing it can be," Trunks growled. "Demon! Heavy Weapons Squads, concentrate fire on the new target! All other units, fire on the remaining rebels."

Once again, the Imperials opened fire in a devastating display of power, with countless ranged attacks impacting against the demons shields. At the same time, the more conventional infantry units opened fire on what was left of the rebel column, wiping most of them out of existence.

As the large smoke cloud in front of them faded away, a number of the Guard screamed at the sight of Zela, bloodied but still very intact, walking towards them. "Fools," she said, her voice unheard by those standing against her. "Do you really believe that you stand a chance against the powers of Chaos?"

"While your cheap parlour tricks may have dealt with those pathetic renegades," a new voice said, "I'm afraid you'll have to try much harder then that to even scratch me." Zelas turned to face this new voice, then jumped back just in time to avoid the power fist that tried to remove her head from her body. Landing several metres away, she simply looked at the Dreadnought that had snuck up on her while she was busy getting shot at. "My body is properly warded against techniques like that," Vegita told her.

Zelas didn't even bother to reply, instead punching the metal monstrosity in the stomach. The Dreadnought stumbled back, a slight dint in its armour, before opening up with its assault cannon. The Demoness ignored the hypervelocity slugs, tackling the machine and sending them sprawling into the mud.

"How the heck can that girl fight a Dreadnought unarmed?" Ranma muttered as he watched the fight.

"That's no ordinary girl, in case you haven't noticed," Lina spat. "I doubt it's even human. It's a demon. They have a habit of ignoring the laws of nature." The red-head gave her friend a very sarcastic look. "I'd have thought you would have figured that out by now, considering how much we just shot at her."

"Yeah, well, you're the expert on bizarre happenings and strange shit," Ranma replied, firing his bolter at a surviving rebel. "If it wasn't for the fact she could, and most likely will, do the same thing to us, I'd almost consider thanking her for dealing with those rebels for us."

Konoko opened her mouth to make a reply, but she snapped it shut and glanced up at the sky above, where the rebel Lightning aircraft was pulling away. "I guess he's not so confident about facing a creature that can kill several companies of his own men."

"Funny, he didn't seem to worry about his own men when he was strafing us before," Ranma muttered. As he watched, a number of Guardsmen and Marines with heavy weapons opened fire on the aircraft. The pilot was good, but there was no way in hell he could have avoided all of the weapons aimed in his direction now. After all, without the rebel ground units to fire at, there were only two possible targets. And Vegita was blocking everyone's line of sight on Zelas.

And when the surviving tanks opened fire as well, it was all over. As the burning wreck crashed into a sand dune, the Imperial forces turned their attention back to the demon.

Trunks observed the fight between machine and monster, noting down weaknesses in the fighting style of the demoness. Vegita's efforts were not really very effective, as the machine was simply too slow to really inflict any damage on the monster he fought.

Before anyone had a chance to react, Zelas leapt over the Dreadnought, landing behind it, and blasted a section of the war machines power plant. Vegita stumbled for a few seconds, then fell over and twitched a few times, his main power destroyed, although the back-up system to protect his organics remained. Zelas turned to face the Imperial forces, an evil grin on her face. "Now then, where were we?"

There was no answer, except for the pair of lightning claws that sliced down her back and sent her into the desert floor. Looking up, she recieved a boot to the head as Gohan laid into her again. Taking to the air for safety, she was left opened to yet another barrage of weaponry. As the smoke cleared, the demoness was left floating on midair, her clothes in ruins. "Foolish mortals!" she yelled, her voice louder then what should have been possible. "I have
lived for thousands of years! I have destroyed entire worlds, killed billions of your worthless species. And yet you are still foolish enough to try and kill me?"

A short distance away, Shinji took careful aim. Zela's head was right where he wanted it. Making one last adjusted based on the wind speed, he fired. Zelas screamed in a combination of rage and pain as the blast hit her just under her left ear, punching a hole through her head. Taken by surprise, her force fields penetrated by a blow far weaker then many of those directed at her over the past few minutes, she was left wide open. But only for a moment. Even as Gohan moved to attack her as she fell, the wound healed and she came to a
halt in mid air again.

They were unnerved by this bizarre creature, seemingly capable of surviving any kind of attack, and which had destroyed the rebel force in seconds. But still the Tokyo First and the Eternal Dragons held firm, determined to destroy this beast, no matter what it took.

Zelas considered her options. She was powerful, of that there was no doubt. However, she was tired. She had just re-entered the material realm after centuries in the Warp, destroyed an army, and withstood several salvos of fire from the Imperials opposing her. She needed to rest, badly. And so it was that Zelas simply teleported away, leaving a battered, but alive, Imperial force.

Admist the cheering, Lieutenant Schofield looked at his data-slate. On it was a display of the renegade advance towards them. "The demon may be gone," he muttered, "but what do we do about them?"

"We wait," Trunks replied, sheathing his power sword.

***

The main Imperial force arrived before the renegades. Captain Gohan Son wasted no time in speaking to Lord Commander Hayes, convincing him that it was a better solution to dig trenches and settle in, rather then have the Eternal Dragons pull their support from this war. After all, Space Marines did not answer to the orders of the Guard, except for when it suited _them_.

All along the Imperial line, the advance rebel columns smashed into the Imperial forces. Although some of the columns did manage to penetrate the first lines, they were unable to do much damage, thanks to quick responses by both the Guards second defence lines and the Eternal Dragons squads that used drop pods to reach problem areas quickly. The majority of the renegade columns were simply destroyed before they could punch a hole in the Imperial defenses.

General Tendo made the ghost town his base of operations for the defence, and quickly had the plans Misato had created the night before put into practise. Many of the surviving guardsmen from the ghost town found that instead of getting some well earned sleep, they were digging trenches. Much to his annoyance, Trunks found that the same was true for the Space Marines.

At eleven a.m, almost four hours after the beginning of the battle at the ghost town, the renegade force arrived to find that the Imperials had set up strong defenses, filled with both Guardsmen and Space Marines. Artillery pounded them as they attempted to advance, Imperial advance units such as Schofields recon platoon and Trunks' scout squad, handling problems such as Wasps and scout tanks, before dropping back behind Imperial lines when the rebels came too close.

The rebel commander, realising that a poorly supported assault against the Imperial trenches would fail, made the decision the dig in and resume the trench wars, just as they were almost a week before. Although these new trenches were several hundred kilometres closer to Kell Hive.

***

Ranma looked at the lines of trenches, just on the edge of the town. It was no longer a ghost town, filled to breaking point with soldiers and all the people needed to support an army. He doubted that the rebels would penetrate those any time soon.

So, was it worth it? he asked himself, looking at the dog tags in his hand.

Hiroshi Ikuhara, Trooper, Tokyo First Imperial Guard Regiment.

Ranma thought about the latest loss to his squad. Hiroshi had only been in the squad for about a week, replacing Kensuke, who was still recovering from the stomach wound he had gotten in the last trench battle. He had a sense of humour, his own opinion on matters and an obsession with heavy weapons that was almost frightening. Ranma had never figured out why the man had been assigned to the bike squad rather then a squad with constant access to heavy weapons. But
then again, that didn't really matter anymore, did it?

Then, of course, there was Daisuke. He and Hiroshi seemed like brothers, complementing each other perfectly. Where Hiroshi preferred area saturation, Dai went for a rifle and a 'one shot, one hit,' approach to combat. It had been expected that when the modified hovercycle was complete and the weapon platform attached, Hiroshi would take control of the beast, while Dai dealt with anything too manuverable for the bigger bike.

Outside combat, it was always certain that Dai would find something to pass the time, and when Hiroshi joined the squad, the pair seemed to be able to find anything, with an ease that impressed even Lina.

Sadly, he tossed the dog tags aside, then looked in the direction of the rebel trenches. He wasn't the first, Ranma told himself, and he won't be the last. Turning his back to the war for a short time, Ranma went to find a drink.

***

"So, her name was Zelas?" Lina asked. Trunks simply nodded. "Ring any bells?"

The Space Marine shook his head. "I'm afraid not," he replied. "But then, there are so many demons and heretics out there. The Captain has sent word back to our homeworld. With a little luck, we might know more about her before we come across her again."

"She wasn't your normal demon, I can say that much," Lina said, taking a sip of her beer. Trunks raised an eyebrow in question. "Look, demons possessing people isn't uncommon. In fact, it happens too damn often for my liking. But demons never, and I mean _never_, know how to look after a physical body properly. They usually forget to eat, sleep, all the little things a human needs to survive. After a few months, there's nothing left but a shell, animated by the demons foul energies."

"Zelas had only just possessed that body," Trunks pointed out, placing his own drink on the table for a moment. "She hasn't had time to let it rot."

"But after we hit her with those attacks, and Ikari blasted a hole through her head, she healed them. She healed them properly. No strange mutations, no distortions, nothing that would accompany a normal demon healing itself through the use of Warp energies."

"You're right," Trunks muttered. "How'd I miss that?"

Lina grinned. "I guess the little kid can spot things the veteran misses," she quipped.

"Don't sell yourself short," Trunks said, before draining his glass. "For someone only out of their teens, you've got a lot of experience, more then some Marines I know. I'll pass your observations onto the Captain."

"Thanks," Lina replied. "I thought Marines didn't drink?"

"Some of them don't," Trunks replied. "Too many of them are Warrior Monks, forgetting everything but the fighting. The Eternal Dragons don't use that approach. We make sure we remember what we're fighting for. See you around." He dropped some money on the table and walked off.

Lina sat there for a moment, before draining her own beer and walking off. By the time she reached the door of the makeshift pub, Trunks had vanished into the crowd of soldiers on the street.

Shrugging, she made her way to where the Tokyo First's Recon Platoon was billeted, intent on getting some sleep. She had a feeling she was going to need all the rest she could get over the coming weeks.

***

End Part Four

***

Author's notes:

FINALLY! I was starting to wonder if I'd ever get this one done. Thanks to some well-placed exams, I had to stop work on this for over three weeks, making for a shitload of delays.

This is the final part of Soldiers of the Imperium. Before you start up with the flames, let me explain. I've actually gotten requests for more on the version of Trunks shown in these last two chapters. However, I had no plans for Trunks and Ranma to meet again for quite a while. Because of this, I will be writing two one-shots in the coming months. Vengeance will cover the Tokyo First's Recon Platoon, while Infiltration will focus on Trunks. This adventure is nowhere near finished. If anything, my muse is only just kicking into high gear.

Many thanks to all those that have sent in compliments and encouragement. During the past few months, the only mailing list I was on was Sofaspud's Couch, but still, I recieved more e-mails then I have for any other story. I couldn't have done it without your help.

Netaddress is going off-line at the end of the month, and I'm not willing to pay for their new service, so I might not have a properly fixed e-mail address for a while. Try Matrix_83@Hotmail.com, but I might not be able to reply from there, thanks to the large amount of spam that crashes that old account.

Thanks again, and I hope you've enjoyed the ride!

***

Soldiers of the Imperium
Part Four

Cast (In order of appearance):
Scout-Sergeant Ranma Saotome
Veteran Scout-Sergeant Trunks
Trooper Rook Bartley
Corperal Robert Hicks
Scout Trooper Ash Ketchum
Commissar Konoko
Tech-Priestess Washuu Habuki
Scout Trooper Lina Inverse
Scout Marine Brendan 'Ringo' Lawson
Scout Trooper Shinji Ikari
Second Lieutenant Shane 'Scarecrow' Schofield
First Lieutenant Kaji Ryouji
Commissar Barnes
General Soun Tendo
Captain Misato Katsuragi
Comms-officer Kai
Captain Gohan Son
Trooper Hiroshi Ikuhara
Eternal Dragons Space Marine Chapter, Third Company
Eternal Dragons Space Marine Chapter, First Company Terminators
Honoured Dreadnought Vegita
Trooper Taichi Yagami
Terminator Tien
Terminator Radditz
Cultist
Tokyo First Imperial Guard Regiment Recon Platoon
Tokyo First Imperial Guard Regiment, Seventh Company
Redermade Independence Army, 22nd Regiment, 3rd-5th Company
Traitor Marines, unidentified.
Heretic Mutants, formerly residents of the Ghost Towns
Zelas
Terminator Yamcha
The pilots of RIAF Squadron 362
Honourable Lord Commander Richard Hayes

Exhausted Writer:
Christopher A. Wood

Technical Consultants:
Brendan 'Ringo' Lawson
Games Workshop

The Tokyo First Regiment will return in 'Vengeance'
Veteran Scout-Sergeant Trunks will return in 'Infiltration'

A Matrix Dragon Production
(c) 2001