Chapter Two: The Cadian IX'th.
Haines sat in the mudclogged trench with his lasgun clutched in his pale hands, he had been on the planet only a week and over half of the Cadian regiment in which he served, had lost their lives. He scratched his chin and glanced around him.
Near Haines was sat Captain Diago grasping his lasgun in one hand and a pair of binoculars in the other, next to Diago was Commissar Bradvt, his ragged peaked cap torn in a place nevertheless his appearance inspired the men. Haines looked at the Commissars powersword then behind Bradvt. There was a few more members of Blue squad, Firenze, Reilles, Inferno, Simmons, Baker, Walker and the others. Haines smiled to himself and adjusted his helmet, turning his gaze to his left he noticed one of his friends, Mikhail was rocking backwards and forwards handling his lasgun with an awkward sort of relish. Mikhail was a veteran but it had seemed sanity had left him since the last mission.
Haines remembered what Mikhail had said to him (He had to translate the mumbling), he sighed and recalled the last mission in his memory. Blue squad had been sent to eradicate a small Ork warband that had entered the flat block building next to the tank factorys. The mission had started to go wrong as soon as they entered the building, Blue squad had split up into groups 1, 2 (Mikhail's assigned group) and 3, up the creaking staircase on the first floor three Orks had jumped out of a burned out room and engaged group 2, Frances had been hacked to pieces and Summers had lost an arm. Mikhail slaughtered one of the Orks and the other members of the group riddled the remaining two with las holes. Summers could not go on with such a wound and Fane, Mitchellson and Guy had been ordered to stay with the casualty. Mikhail and the rest of group 2 cleared the second floor without any real resistance, groups 1 and 3 however had a small fire fight and lost Kalis from a slugga bolt.
When group 2 returned from clearing the second floor they found a grisly sight, Fane had been decapitated and his scalped head was near the staircase, Mitchellson was in two pieces his legs at the entrance of the burned room and his top half perched against the wall, which Mikhail had noticed had blood splattered all over it. Guy was still alive at the time, a sharp blade thrust into his torso and bullet holes in him, when the rest of group 2 asked him what happened he just muttered,"Ambush, Giant Ork, took Summers" before allowing himself to die. Mikhail had suffered horribly at this and thought it could not get any worse, until the following day when Summers was found.
At dawn a moaning was heard across the small main battlefield, the Cadians prepared to open fire, looking over their trench they noticed an armless figure walking across towards them. When the figure reached their trench they realised who it was, Summers had his other arm removed, his eyes and tongue had been cut out and thin gashes had been etched into his chest. A simple note had been nailed into him "Surrender or die". The regiment had wondered what had kept him alive so long, Commissar Bradvt shot Summers and ended his torment. At this point Mikhail had cracked and was just about to jump over the trench and charge the Orks by himself, but that was until Reilles and Inferno pulled him back down.
Haines coughed and glanced back at Mikhail who was busy muttering to himself, he spied Inferno looking concerned and the Commissar looking grave.
"My fault, shouldn't of left them, stop and fight, cowards" Mikhail mumbled and twitched. Reilles grunted and prodded Firenze.
"He ain't gonna last is he?" Reilles asked and glared at Mikhail.
"Nah, the Commissar will see to it, and if Bradvt don't get him, those damned Orks will" Firenze retorted amid Mikhails whispers.
"Yeah, it would be best if he could keep quiet" Captain Diago had overheard the convocation "The Commissar will indeed execute him, he is a risk to the regiment and is putting the men down".
"But sir he can't..." Reilles blurted out.
"Can't what? Think for himself?" Diago interrupted "I don't give a rats ass if he could, he is putting the regiment at risk".
"That he is Captain" Commissar Bradvt walked over "He has lost all sanity and I am afraid he will die, look at the men, they really don't need any more things to put them down at the moment".
"Sir you can't.." Reilles started.
"Dismissed private".
Reilles and Firenze consulted each other in a silent glance and moved over to where Haines was sat. All three of them watched Diago and the Commissar pull Mikhail to his feet and take him further down the trench, after a minute or so a shot was heard. Haines winced "Poor shit".
"Yeah, good man Mikhail was" Reilles agreed and turned to Firenze who nodded. The three sat in deep convocation talking about the times when Mikhail was once a happy person before he arrived at the planet, the talk was sad and reminding. Reilles looked at the muddy after a while and kicked some of the mud. The Commissar and Captain returned and the Commissar shouted.
"Men, the Orks look as if they are preparing a frontal attack against the trench, I want you all to prepare yourselves, you are doing well keep up the good work, remember the Emperor protects" Bradvt stated a Corporal sprinted down the trench towards the Commissar and Captain.
"Sirs, the Orks are moving, it looks like they are ready to attack, they have leant out of cover, our snipers have picked off a few of them, but they seem to be waiting for something" the Corporal sounded terrified.
"You heard him men, take your positions".
Reilles and Firenze turned around and took aim over the trench, Haines checked his lasgun's clip and then followed suit. Inferno was a little further down the line standing next to Adrian who held aloft his missile launcher. A few minutes passed yet to the Cadian IX'th it seemed an age, a loud roar was heard then the Orks leapt over their crude trench and began to sprint towards the Cadian line.
"Men, send these vile creatures back to the hellhole they came, show them no pity, steady, steady...Open fire!" The Commissar bellowed as the line opened up....
Las shots whizzed into the greenskins and many fell dead, yet ignoring the fallen the Orks kept their charge going. Adrian's missile rocketed into the enemy and three were thrown of their feet as another exploded with its impact, blood and fragmented bone soaked his comrades. One of Reilles' shots took the back of an Orks head off, Firenze killed another as it succumbed to his accurate firing. The Commissar fired his plasma pistol and an Orks face exploded. "Fix Bayonets!". The Cadians quickly attached their Bayonets and then the Orks were among them.