Chapter 2: The Academy

'WHO ARE YOU,' yelled Captain Gergus as the group of three rows with ten men in each shuffled along in jogging formation down the paved road outside of the Officer's Academy. It was 03.00 Imperial time, and the early air was crisp and damp.

'We are the Guard,' they answered together. All of the men were stripped down to their undershirts with their camouflage pants and combat boots. The men of the group were in their low to mid twenties in Imperial standard years. Captain Gergus was the only one to be in his thirties.

'Whom do you serve?'

'We serve the God-Emperor,' they choused back.

'Whom do you hunt and kill in His eyes'?'

'We hunt and kill the heretic, the mutant, the xeno, and all others the God-Emperor commands of us.'

'When do you surrender to these things?'

'We will never surrender to them, we kill them or die trying.'

'How do you kill these things?'

'We use the lasgun to fight, the faith to lead, and trust to bind us into a fighting unit.'

'Why do you fight?

'To protect the Emperor's domain.'

'Once more, who are you!'

'We are the Imperial Guard!'

'I can't hear you.'

'We are the Imperial Guard!'

'Hit the showers boys,' commanded Gergus, 'and make sure you all get to your classes on time, or we will have to do this again in the near future.' At this, he stopped and let the group do a perfect about face. The academy would make perfect officers of them yet.

The men ran back up the path to the academy to get to their rooms where they could shower and clean up for classes that started at 05.00. As they continued to run the three-mile path up to the academy, the men broke in conversations.

'So Waton, how about that blonde you were talking to that made you late for class,' asked his friend Slath.

'Oh, she was ok, and yes we are going to do something this weekend,' answered Waton who was panting.

'Don't tell us your tired already Waton. You haven't even done anything with her yet.' jeered some of the men.

'Feth off,' he answered while making an obscene gesture.

'Ohhhh, touchy subject eh? Anyway, how is your stupid brother fairing in his classes,' asked Slath.

'What is it to you. Just because he has bested you several times in wrestling, fencing, and sparring, you want to know if he is failing any classes.'

'That's not it at all Waton, I'm just trying to have friendly conversation with a good friend about his sibling.' Clearly, Slath didn't think Waton heard him call Tiberius "stupid". He knew exactly what Slath thought of Tiberius, but that didn't stop him from being Slath's friend. In his own way, Slath was a nice guy. They had met the first day of tactics class. From there, they got to know one another and became good friends.

It was a month after classes had started that they had got to wrestle, fence, and spar properly against one another. Tiberius had pinned Slath in ten seconds. It really wasn't much of a match. In fencing class, Slath had switched places with a guy named Ardm so he could go up against Tiberius for round two. Again Slath had lost. Round three came in sparring class where Slath almost had Tiberius down, but Tiberius came back to win. Slath was always trying to find fault in Tiberius, no matter how little or futile it was.

It was 04.10 when they entered the halls, and got to their rooms to clean up. Waton entered the room he shared with Tiberius. When he entered the room, he saw Tiberius was already up and dressed, sitting at the desk, looking over his tactics book. Waton had gotten used to his brother's early risings.

'Don't you ever put down those books Tiberius?'

'Don't you ever get to class on time Waton?'

'To shay.'

'Hurry, get showered and dressed, you have thirty minutes.'

'Alright, alright,' and with that, Waton went off to the bathroom to get cleaned.

Tiberius continued to read his book.

THE CLASSROOM was filled with a hundred and one men. It was quite, except for the man at the head of the room who was talking about different tactics, and how to execute them. The walls of the room were decorated with pictures of great men. Men like the famous Sly Marbo, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, Commissar Yarrick, and many others.

'Cadet Slath, what are the standard tactics against Orks,' questioned General Grevus.

'Lead them into a close space so that their numbers work against them,' Slath answered.

'Good, now who can tell me what do you do against Chaos.'

Ardm raised his hand. 'Yes, Cadet Ardm.'

'You must always expect the unexpected when up against the forces of Chaos. It all depends on the situation you are in.'

'Good answer Ardm. Now, what about the Great Devourer, the Tyranids? Let us say that a decent size Tyranid army is landing and is a week's time away. What are you to do? Oh and don't forget the planet has great wealth for the Imperium, not to mention a huge population.'

This time Slath raised his hand. 'Evacuate the planet and call down an Exterminatus.'

There were many outbursts at this comment at which Slath turned his head toward them and just smiled. 'Why not? The planet is lost my friends. Why waste valuable men and resources fighting a battle you possibly cannot win?'

'Because we can always win,' said a voice in the class. Everybody in the class turned to face the person who made the comment. He was at the front of the class in the right corner of the row of seats. His uniform was perfect in everyway and his hat neatly folded in between his belt and pants to his left side. 'We can always win,' he repeated, standing up to look at Slath on the other end of the room. 'How can you say you don't want to waste valuable men and resources when on the planet there are both. True there will be losses and setbacks, but it would be wrong to just let the foul xenos invade plunder and rip apart the world. The whole fleet does not land on the planet, just their soldiers, and even if you wipe them out, more are made. But if you can stem the tide of vermin, and a distress call is sent out soon enough, the Imperium will send out a fleet to deal with them. That is what I would attempt. What is faith if you will not use it.' At this the man sat down and remained quiet.

General Grevus clapped his hands together and smiled at the cadet who had spoken up against the one of the Inquisition's most dangerous weapons. The Exterminatus is a weapon that can kill everything on the planet surface. All things living are killed, all water and things of that sort are dried up and turn to dust. The planet becomes a wasteland, never to live again.

The bell rang and the men got up to leave. 'Oh, and don't forget, your research papers on the Sabbat Worlds crusades are due tomorrow.' There were groans and jeers, and something about the paper going into the General's backside.

Morpx went up to his best friend and said, 'Wow, that was some speech bud. Next time there is a debate, you are going to be my partner.'

Tiberius smiled.

'TWIST, PULL, AND THROW,' commanded General Dithz. Half the class went flying through the air and landed on their backs. After they all stood back up, they did the same to their partners.

To most of the cadets, the drills were tiresome and boring though to admit so to the General would only bring more, so most kept quiet. But, there were those who voiced their displeasure with the drills. Those men were prime targets for when wrestling finally did commence. The mat was soft and expanded the entire gym. Once in a while the General would break into one of his "we didn't have this kind of thing when I was going through, and you boys should consider yourselves lucky as our floor was hard concrete."

The bell rang and class dismissed quickly, as fencing class was next. As they entered the gym from the hall, General Claud was already speaking.

'Competition time gentlemen, it will be a tournament of skill and strength. I will pair you up and that is whom you are going to go up against. You all know the rules and don't forget you are all training to be gentlemen and officers. So, if you lose, lose with grace. Five points wins you the match.'

'Skih against Hast, Waton against Oberh, Jesor against Cirh, Fhor against Basd, Quis against Yolst, Igmus against Vcorl, Xazir against Pasyi, Slath against Morpx, Nwerin against Gathor, Karth against Davus, Holther against Aldus, Ardm against Tiberius, Wuhz against Tillus, Suole against Cado, Lowe against Ralgal, and last but least of course, Maller against Eberl. As all you can count there are sixteen matches, and thanks to this gym, there are sixteen circles within. With your opponents, in the order I gave, go to your respective circles, starting at the far end of the room.'

While walking to the twelfth circle, Tiberius was shoved from behind. It was Morpx, 'Good luck with your match, and see you in the finals Tiberius.'

'You too Morpx,' Tiberius simply replied. He liked Morpx a lot, but right now he was concentrated on his match. You had to concentrate and not let anything distract you, if you wanted to accomplish something.

He turned from Morpx with a wave and continued walking only to be shoved from behind to the mat. He thought it was Morpx come back to say something more, but that forceful shove was too hard to be Morpx's. He turned around while on the floor and looked up to see Slath standing above him.

'So, you think your big and bad huh? Too good huh? Well, let me tell you something, I have my eyes set on you and will bring you down and show everyone just how pathetic you are,' Slath's words were cold and hard.

'I've never thought those things,' Tiberius said as he picked himself up. 'How can you accuse me of those things when I've never done them.'

'Oh yea, I bet you haven't, you worthless piece of feth. Your good friend is first on my road to you,' and with that, Slath turned around to walk to his circle on the floor. 'Oh, and be ready to visit him in the infirmary,' he said with a snarl.

'You wouldn't dare,' Tiberius answered, clenching his fists at the remark.

'Wanna bet,' was the answer.

'Get to your place so you can lose Slath,' Tiberius said calmly, regaining all peace of mind.

'Oh I won't lose, I don't lose when the person I am fighting is weak,' Slath was laughing at his last comment as he went to his circle where Morpx already had his sword out and was doing exercises.

The whistle started the tournament and all men were hacking, slashing, parrying, back stepping, sidestepping, lunging, and yelling. Eberl fought bravely, but Maller's speed with a sword was greater as was the man's strength. Lowe didn't fair any better to Ralgal. Cado and Suole were equally matched, but in the end Cado won the fight. Wuhz beat Tillus hands down. Holther was so busy looking as his sword fighting technique, that Aldus just basically stuck him five times. Davus and Karth were ferocious swordsmen, and were tied at four until they both struck the other at the same time. This tie was decided by the most unimaginable way, paper, rock, and scissors, to which Davus won. Nwerin came back against Gathor to win. Pasyi beat Xazir. Igmus bested Vcorl. Yolst beat Quis. Fhor beat Basd. Cirh and Jesor both fought hard, but towards the end, Jesor swung downward too hard and smashed Cirh's wrist, forcefully ending Cirh's continuation. Waton beat Oberh. Tiberius won against Ardm with no problem. Hast left Skih in the dust with his own techniques. The match of Morpx versus Slath was hard fought but won unfairly. Slath had attacked head on and Morpx was blocking every blow at the start. As the match wore on, Morpx was starting to slow down, because of he was constantly blocky each and every strike. Slath saw this and at the first mistake Morpx made, he took advantage, an evil advantage. Slath brought down his sword onto Morpx's head with all his strength. There was a loud crack and Morpx toppled over. Only Slath would ever know what really happened that day. He claimed Morpx tried to duck a swing, but Slath had reversed and struck him on the head accidentally. It seemed logical, but Tiberius knew better, especially when Slath winked at him. Though he couldn't go to the General on that information, as there was no proof.

The tournament was stopped after this incident and was to continue in the future sometime. Classes were ended for the day as well, indoor classes anyway. They men of Class Fourteen still had combet practice. Cirh and Morpx were both in the infirmary talking when Tiberius, Waton, Eberl, Gathor, and Jesor walked in.

'How is the head Morpx,' asked Tiberius.

'Could be better. Doc says I have a minor concussion.'

'A minor concussion, after that kind of hit,' chimed in Gathor.

'Yea, it feels like a major one.'

'Do you remember anything,' Waton asked.

'Not really, only that I was fighting Slath.'

'By the way, where is he? You would have thought that since it was an accident that he would at least have come to see you,' said Gathor.

'Ah, I didn't want to see the son of a bitch anyway,' replied Morpx.

Eberl and Jesor were both over at Cirh's bed talking to him about his injury and Jesor was continually apologizing for it, only for Cirh to say it was okay, repeatedly. They learned that Cirh's wrist was broken and would need to heal.

The two nurse orderlies came in and one went to each Morpx and Cirh. The one who came over to Morpx had blonde hair just like Morpx and in Tiberius' opinion was one of the prettiest girls he had ever seen.

'Tiberius, Waton, and Gathor, meet my sister Liz,' said Morpx matter of factly. All three men took off their caps and bowed.

'At least you haven't forgotten my name brother,' she said, and then she turned her head towards the men. 'You must be the some of Morpx's classmates.'

'Yes ma'am,' answered Tiberius too eagerly.

'Oh, you don't have to bother with that, just call me Liz.'

'That would be nice,' replied Tiberius.

'Just checking up on the little squirt here, so I'll be out of your way guys in a minute,' she said.

'Take your time ma'am, er I mean Liz,' said Tiberius, trying to cover up his mistake.

She laughed then smiled at Tiberius and his feeble attempt to cover up his mistake. God her laugh was beautiful, as was her smile. She had finished up and left the room, as did the other orderly. Tiberius watched her leave, and boy did her backside look nice with those legs under them.

'You can stop drooling now,' Gathor yelled out. The other men confirmed it.

'Just ask her out for a date Tiberius,' Waton practically sang it out.

'Fine, I will,' he said proudly.

The whole room fell silent, as Tiberius Braxton walked into the room the two orderlies had just entered, and asked out the girl he was to marry just one year later on that very day.

'FORM UP,' YELLED Colonel Halz. 'Since there are two of Class Fourteen out, Class Two will have to sit out two men.'

'Oh, that won't be necessary sir,' Tiberius said back to him. 'We can take them at their full strength.'

'Well, okay, if your that confident. But then again it might be good practice for you and the men around you to be down already as almost all battles are unfair in numbers. When you get to your respective sides of the battlefield form into fighting squads, as you like. Orders are to annihilate the enemy. The charges of the lasguns are all set on low. This will stun you, so try not to get hit. Oh, and don't forget your vox-mic signals. Those are very important in the field. Now mount up!'

The battlefield was several miles from the Academy to the northeast. Stealth, swiftness, and good leadership are all needed to succeed in battle, and the forest was the perfect training area in the region for those. Seven diesel khaki trucks made their way out to where they would drop off the men. Class Two wore their forest camo-uniforms with their green helmets. Class Fourteen wore their black camo-uniforms with their dark helmets. Each side chose their camouflage without the other knowing. They could have chosen the same outfits, but Tiberius suggested something different from what was to be expected. When the trucks dropped out their loads on both sides of the field, they drove out off sight.

'Alright men, there are only thirty of us, so I say we split into five-man fireteams. That way we can move freely, swiftly, and act more independent,' announced Tiberius. Everybody in the group agreed, except for Slath and Holther.

'We say that ten man squads would be better in the fact that they can cover a bigger area, and be more carefully,' Holther was saying. 'Not only that but we can defend certain points better than with five men,' Slath chimed in.

Cado, Ralgal, and Maller all shook their heads. The rest of the men were silent. Tiberius thought of the logic in it. It was a good idea, but since they had communications, they could coordinate better in smaller teams. He told this to the group and they all agreed, even Slath agreed at it. At that, they split into fireteams. They opted not to have an overall commanding officer, but the Sergeants of the squads were Tiberius, Waton, Slath, Holther, and Maller. Ralgal, Cado, Basd, and Fhor were with Tiberius. Aldus, Eberl, Jesor, and Gathor were with Waton. Slath's squad consisted of Yolst, Igmus, Davus, and Oberh. Holther had Pasyi, Quis, Wuhz, and Vcorl. Maller's mob had Skih, Tillus, Suole, and Nwerin.

Tiberius and Maller's men were to wait in reserve, until the whereabouts of the enemy were known. At that, Waton and his group set off to the left flank with their lasguns on low and a prayer on their lips. 'Let us go and win this thing men,' shouted Slath as they headed up the middle. Holther hand signaled the advance up the right flank. There were cheers from the reserves as the squads ran into the forest. They took in the forest with aw. It was a pit of darkness from the outside, like looking inside a cave. Maller tapped his vox-mic, 'Two, this is Five, report.'

'No sign or contact with the enemy, as we are only half a mile in. Wait.' There was silence. The wind started to blow from the west. 'Contact, Contact! We are engaged. Requesting support.''Eberl is down, Eberl is down,' was all Maller heard before the vox-mic turned off. That wasn't Waton though.

'Tiberius, we are going to support Waton's men,' yelled Maller. 'Come on men,' he sang as they charged off into the woods. Tiberius, left alone with his squad closed his eyes and through his minds-eye, saw what was unfolding on their left. He saw Waton issuing orders as per the tactia logic. He saw Eberl on the ground, being dragged back by Gathor. He sensed that Aldus was down as well. Maller's men were just arriving and started to open up with their lasguns. The red flash and beam from the weapons seared across the foliage. Men of Class Two were also dropping. Waton was a fine leader and so was Maller, and between them, they 'killed' eight of the 'enemy'. Tiberius Braxton opened his eyes and wondered where in the name of feth had that come from. He didn't have time to ponder this as his vox-mic crackled to life. Holther was yelling frantically for support, and that his squad was gone, and then the vox went dead. Tiberius was in motion, waving his squad to the right of the forest. He was ready and his men were ready. They set off at a sprint, jumping logs, and puddles as they ran. Then, Tiberius just stopped.

'What did you stop for Tiberius,' asked Cado, looking quite confused.

'Fan out, and find good cover,' was all Tiberius said.

'Why, you looked like you were in a hurry to support the right here.'

'I was until I thought of something.'

'And what would that be,' voiced Tillus, shouldering his lasgun so he could put his hands on his hips.

'Doesn't it seem odd that only the flanks have been hit?'

'Well, no. Oh! I see.'

'They are only hitting us from the flanks, and probably with sixteen on each to bust through each flank and roll up on them. It would work had Holter not reported to me. We will ambush them, while they probably think we are in the center.'

'Right then. You heard the man, lets go.'

They fanned out into different section of the area within fifty or so feet of where they stopped. Crossfires were set up and they could each see at least one person. Tiberius was at the front where he could judge the situation. It didn't take long for them to hear twigs and leaves cracking. Tiberius peered over the log he was lying prone under. He counted at least ten. It seemed Holther gave a good account for himself. Tiberius hand motioned the wait for my signal. This went around the group. Wait for it, wait for it. Some were past his position now. Fire! The surrounding area lit up with red flashes as they pounded the 'enemy'. They fell like flies. Two jerked back and fell. Six others fell where they stood. Only two found available cover. Ralgal pulled out a concussion grenade and threw it into the cover of one of the hiding men. It went off with a boom! The man staggered out and was dropped by Basd. The last survivor ran back the way they had come. Fhor stood up, sighted, and pulled the trigger. The runner flew forward and landed hard.

'Well done Fhor,' shouted Cado. Fhor smiled and ran forward to meet up with Tiberius and Ralgal.

'I think we should double back the way we came and swig around to where Waton and Maller were,' Fhor heard Basd say as he neared them. 'That way, Slath and those guys won't mistake us for the enemy.'

'That is a good plan,' replied Tiberius, sweating from the heat of the day. And with that, they ran off.

Slath was talking with Oberh, smoking lho sticks. Yolst was disappointed at Slath for lacking in his duties, even if this was just a war game. Igmus was idly sitting under a tree, cleaning his lasgun. Davus was standing look out in a kneeling position from behind a bush. Yolst got up from where he was and went over to where Slath and Oberh were. They saw him coming, but paid him no attention. Yolst heard Slath something about him being to goody, goody.

'So, even though we have been here for half an hour, we haven't seen the enemy, and Waton has called for help, we are just going to sit tight.'

'Yep,' said Slath, flicking some ashes to the ground, 'Enjoy the outing mate.'

'How can you say that when clearly they need support?'

'Easily Yolst.'

'You are hopeless Slath, and you too Oberh.'

'At least we are having a good time,' sniggered Oberh.

'Feth you Oberh. Grow some balls, and fight!' Yolst was getting fed up with their attitudes. 'Igmus, Davus, lets go. Why should we listen to this coward, even if it is a war game.' At this, Yolst turned and started to head toward Waton's position.

Davus started to get up but Slath shot him a look that could kill.

'Don't you dare undermine my authority you piece of shit.'

'I already did.'

Slath pulled up his lasgun and set the charge to full power. 'You think I'm joking now.' Yolst stopped in his tracks when he heard the power cell charge up. 'You wouldn't dare do that.' 'You wanna bet Yolst,' came Slath's reply.

'Put that thing away before you hurt someone Slath, yourself mostly,' Igmus said. He was walking toward the confutation.

'Don't get smart with me Igmus, I might just kill you for the hell of it.' Slath trained his gun on Igmus as he said this.

Igmus stopped and put his hands up. 'Okay, we will stay here, jez. Calm down would you.'

'Tell that to your buddy over there,' Slath pointed at Yolst with his gun.

Yolst snorted and went to a nearby tree and sat down, with his head in his hands. Igmus went over to him and also sat down. When the war game was over, Slath, Oberh, Davus, Igmus, and Yolst were still where they were when the General went out to inspect the battle. Slath told the Colonel that Tiberius had ordered them to sit tight. No one disagreed for fear of their life from Slath. Even Yolst was quiet when Slath lied. The look in Slath's eyes said all that was needed for him to be quiet.

Tiberius, Ralgal, Cado, Basd, and Fhor silently crept up on where they heard the crack of lasgun fire. Ralgal scouted ahead and signaled for them to drop and crawl. They were twenty feet from the firefight when they heard the boom of a concussion grenade. They froze, waited for ten seconds and then continued on. Ten feet between them and the fight. Ralgal signaled a stop. Two fingers pointed to the right, three pointed straight, and two pointed left. Tiberius motioned for fan out. They did so with perfect movements. Tiberius pulled out one of the squads two smoke grenades, pulled the pin and threw it into the middle of the fight. It exploded with a crack and smoke filled the air. There was cursing and someone shouted a sound off. The group was already running through the smoke, painted bayonets out and ready. When the smoke had cleared, all of the 'enemy' were stuck. Waton jumped up when he saw Ralgal dispatch the last of the 'enemy'.

'Well done guys,' he exclaimed as he approached Ralgal. Ralgal turned and fired a shot, passed Waton's head. The figure jumped backwards like someone had just hit him with a sledgehammer. 'Better be more careful Waton,' was all Ralgal said.

The total score was Class Two had eleven kills where Class Fourteen had all thirty-two kills. The Colonel Halz congratulated Class Fourteen with their victory and was pleased with Tiberius' quick thinking and tactics.

'There are good things in store for men of your kind of mind Tiberius,' Colonel Halz said to Tiberius on the ride to the Academy. 'Many a good thing.'

'Thank you sir, the comment is appreciated.'

There were three more tough years of training, exercises, and courses before they graduated. During those years, Slath was sent to the Commissariat, for his ruthless attitude and guile. No one was sad to see him go. On graduation day, General Grevus said he was proud of them all, and named off the regiments different classes were going to. Class Fourteen was to go to the planet of Yessaria in the Rhomlus star system. Hazzas rang out from the graduation fields. The men were to be given their first full commands and Lieutenant's rank given to them all. The General saluted one last time before the men were to be dispatched to their ships for shipment to their new planets.

Whatever awaited them, Class Fourteen was ready to face whatever end awaited.