The Fallen Angels
Chapter 3
The Engagement
"The Thunder Hawks have launched and are on route to the gunships." an intelligence officer reported. "Thank you." Xentra replied looking important standing at his commanding station. "Odd..." Xentra muttered to himself. "What sir?" Andrael asked inquisitively. "The Chaos agreed to send the capitol ship after the gunships where taken to ensure that there was no backstab--" Xentra spoke before being thrown to the floor by an impact. The rest of the men diverted their eyes as it is disrespectful to see a commanding officer in a weak or less prestigious position. As soon as Xentra climbed to his feet Andrael said "Well. speak of the Devil, sir." and gave a brief smile. The Commodore replied with a most unhappy "Bah!" Afterwards
loudly demanding "Report, now!" A young man vigorously scrambled to his console and announced "The capitol ship bombarded us and has rendered the planetary cannon useless!" "Bah, I told those Imperial fools not to build the HQ near the darn cannon!" Xentra said outraged. "What is your command, sir?" Andrael said trying to get the commodore back on track and to calm him down. "Arm the silos, then launch the E.M.P. missiles A.S.A.P.! I want that ship and it will tell us what in the name of Terra is going on!" Xentra exclaimed. "Yes sir, arming, sir." "Fifteen minutes until launch, sir." some officer reported. "Fine, how are we doing with the gunships in quadrant 4?" Andrael bolted to the radar console; the man who was there, was knocked unconscious by falling debris and was being checked by a brother apothecary. He paused and checked the screen. "So?" Xentra said impatiently. "It's going as planned..." Andrael said a bit dumbfounded. "I smell something odd at work here..." Xentra said thoughtfully. "I need status on those missiles. How much longer must I wait?" He added rather abruptly. "ETA is 10 more minutes, sir." A ballistics officer replied swiftly. "Fine, le-" Andrael panicked and rudely interrupted Xentra, he ignored the bit of anger he felt due to being cut off and turned to him. "The capitol ship is sending another volley! It's towards us, they've found us, sir!" "Calm down my friend. It'll be fine." Xentra said though not fully believing himself. "Sorry, sir. Should we evacuate, sir?" Andrael asked. "No,... we wouldn't excape the blasts in time. We could possibly withstand the blast in here." Xentra said solumly, with a hint of defeat in his eyes. Andrael knew now the elderly man didn't quite belive that they'd make it and would die in the name of freedom. "We can't launch the missiles the warheads are blocking line of sight." The ballistics officer said. Andrael knew just as well as Xentra that the E.M.P. missiles would do nothing against those warheads as they're not electronic for the most part, they are basicly flying trash cans of death to put it in a more lighthearted way. "They're 34 seconds away, sir." the officer continued. Andrael heard explosions outside, but omitted it so he could concentrate on the moment. "Stand by for impact." Xentra yelled. "Ummm, sir. You really should see this..." Andrael said from his radar console. "What now?" Xentra said a bit on edge as he walked towards the console. "...the missiles are dropping from radar!" Andrael responded. Xentra was obviously baffled. "Run tests on this console." "I did, sir." Andrael said. Still in unbelief Xentra commanded Lutenant Zarin to find out what was happening. "How many left?" Xentra finally said after a moment of silence. "Three, sir." Andrael responded in a brisk manner. Zarin returned bearing good news. "Some of our bretheren are out there shooting at the warheads!" Xentra was overcome with their loyalty, he was thinking of some way to reward them when his train of thought was interupted by the ballistics officer loudly and obviously nervously said "10 seconds left until impact!" Xentra then snapped out of it and issued his commands. "Close the vents, put on your helmits, seal the hatches, and be prepared for the warhead to be chemical!" The Chaos are notorious for using chemical weapons,... if it is them. Xentra wasn't too worried about the Marines outside, because the bunker would take most of the blast and their armor would sustain and more of a blast and their helmits would filter out any possible chemicals. Xentra heard the missiles and the bolters going off outside from the Marines. Then there was the sound of a blast and the ground shook with mighty fury, as every man hit the deck or fell over. Equipments power flickered and much of it fell the the ground. They heard terrified cries outside. Then Xentra heard a creak and a snap above his head and everything went black before he could find what it was...