Hakes spirits where low, the last few days activities had awoken in him a deep hatred of the foolishness of war. It had been a week since he was evacuated back to base, but this had been no relax, he went to see Marvin, Hains and Titan in the medical tent and what he saw sickened him to the core. Marvin was covered from head to toe with third degree burns, the stench of burning flesh still hung around his broken form. Titan sat beside his brother's bed in a wheel chair, his brother, though still alive was missing one arm and both legs. Tears had filled Hakes eyes to see his glorious brothers of Kovnia broken, deformed. The thing that made his tears all the more bitter was discovering the reason for this stupid futile war. The planets pontiff had declared that his annual tithe to the Imperium would be paid in men instead of ships. And that was it, that was the reason why Hake and over forty eight thousand of his Kovnian brothers where dragged half way across the Imperium to die.
Standing stock still Hake glared at the hive with a cold malice. Behind him the 3rd company of the 5th Kovnian grenadiers began to suit up, their carapace armour had been greyed to provide camouflage. Their commanding officer colonel Lawrence had volunteered for the honour of taking the Governors palace. It would take many days and casualties to secure the palace due to its enormous size. The plan was that the 5th grenadiers would take and secure the space port on that level and then the 7th hussars would redeploy from space into the port to secure the level. All that meant to Hake was a few days playing cards and drinking port with the naval officers before been chucked back into the grinder. But before they could chuck him in they had to chuck in all these young men. It made him sick, but it was the life and as always he would fight for his brothers and the glory of Kovnia.
Trooper Harris of the 5th grenadiers double checked his pristine hellgun, he had cleaned and tested it repeatedly, quickly checking through his kit he checked and checked again before packing up and filling into the assembled ranks. Fussing he adjusted parts of his carapace armour, it was essentially full body armour made from a metal alloy, the alloy was cut into sections and attached to a full body flack suit, this not only provided excellent protection but also retained movement. All three hundred men of the 5th grenadiers where ready to go, assembled, massed and ready to move out. All that remained was their colonel's speech. "I look around me, and what I see is our brave Kovnian brothers, dying, mutilated. But we can end that! If we can take the palace it will effectively end the war. Time is of the essence, everyday is another thousand dead" he eyed his men and felt his heart swell, a company of hero's. "lets get em!" a cheer erupted and squad after squad ran to their Valkire attack craft, Harris was one of the first to set off and quickly strapped himself into the interior of their plane, alarmed at how much it rocked as the men got on. Slowly at first, Hakes ears filled with the sound of thirty Valkires warming up, he could feel the ground shake beneath him. Staring at the hive he prayed that they would be enough. The shaking inside became even more erratic as the carriers powerful engines ignited and they where lifted off the ground, in a horrible jerking movement the companies Valkires maxed out, blasting towards the hive in a loose column at five hundred miles per hour. Harris could tell, this would be one hell of a ride.
Hake watched as the brave boys of the 5th grenadiers sped off towards death and mutilation. It was a loathsome mood that beset his mind but one he had to clear. In the days prior to this dark one he had been officially commissioned lieutenant Hake, something to do with the action inside the Basilica. His men would be the remnants of lieutenant Knight's platoon, all men who had bled at the basilica, and a bunch of wet re-enforcements. He had lots of work to do to prepare them; he had a special badge commissioned for the helmet of everyman who fought at the basilica. Rather than mixing all the men up he formed two veteran units from the remnants, with a further three units of fresh troops. Connery and Dawson commanded the veteran units, with Drake, Brian and Davies commanding the fresh troops. Hake had offered a squad to Hudson who politely declined; he wanted to become an official sniper. Vaughn was allowed to pick the chimera drivers and gunners himself, and by the looks of what he got they'll be the fastest mechanised platoon in the sector! Slowly sighing he set off towards his waiting transport.
Harris looked over the men in his transport, out of the nine other men three had bionic parts, six had medals and a couple had more than one. Of every man in the transport he was the only one without a single campaign badge. He felt quite inadequate; he had only got this position because his dad was a commissar! Suddenly the already violent shaking became much worse. The enemy's AA turrets had opened fire, two Valkires dropped from the sky and plummeted to the ground below. The Valkire to Harris's left took a direct hit to the nose and burst into flames, over seventy years of experience and service where destroyed in that one shot.
Hake marched up the ramp to the officers' mess. This new planet to space transport felt very uneasy to him, it was all so clean. It was a wonder it even worked! When he finally found it the officers mess was all but empty, two naval ensigns sat in the corner furtively playing cards. "All right" called Hake in an attempt to be friendly, knowing that the journey would be a couple of hours. The two men stood up and walked over the him. "Whose side are you on solider" the first man enquired. Hake seemed entirely puzzled by this remark. He was wearing full dress uniform and was on an imperial space vessel. Unless… but it was too late, the first man struck Hake across the head knocking him out cold.
The AA fire began to increase in intensity, they had already lost almost a third of their transports. The craft suddenly rocked erratically to the left, a stray AA round had destroyed the left side engine and they where rapidly losing altitude. "buckle up ladies, its crash landing time!" shouted the pilot as he struggled to control his aircraft. From this position Harris could truly appreciate the size of the uppermost level of the hive. It flattened out like a plateau some fifty miles across, with massive gardens and open grassland, it was like being out in the planes again, there was easily twenty square miles of grass and woodland, with the palace in the middle and the space station to the North West. But all he could focus on now was the grassy garden that rushed up to meet him.
Colonel Lawrence watched as another Valkire ditched into the ground. "land and disembark!" he bellowed over the comm. channel. It was too costly to continue in this AA fire. Everywhere men where diving from the now hovering vehicles, sergeants marched along the lines making sure people kept their heads down. The colonel scanned his men, of the three hundred that began this mission he had only one hundred and sixty left, and they hadn't even fired a shot. Suddenly huge divots of earth where blown into the air along with varying chunks of men. The palace guard had rolled out their Leman Russ battle tanks and where slaughtering the beleaguered grenadiers. "Lawrence to all sergeants, guerrilla tactics! Split up, we will rendezvous in two days." As one the men broke off and scattered from the oncoming enemy armour.
When he regained his conscience Hake realised the worst. Their where saboteurs on board! Quickly getting up he ran back through the maze of corridors informing all he could. Panic gripped the ship as people every where searched for the saboteurs. Think Hake think, suddenly it dawned on him. Engine room! Running as fast as his fatigued body would take him Hake headed for the ships engine room.
Smoke filling his nose and eyes Harris scrambled from the wreckage, a few of the other survivors formed a perimeter and where already facing resistance, scattered las fire coated their position, Harris took a hit to the leg but his armour protected him. Sergeant Castor stood up and shouted "advance!" slowly, one step at a time the survivors advanced into nearby trees where the fire was coming from, the enemy fire intensified but well placed hellgun volleys began to take their toll as the grenadiers entered the trees. Suddenly they where charged by a group of enemies with bayonets, one trooper was stabbed just below the armpit, collapsing in agony the mans weight dragged the rifle out of his enemy's hands, who was swiftly shot at point blank by sergeant Castor, blood sprayed over him. Another man tried to stab the sergeant who just grabbed the mans skull with his bionic arm and crushed it. Harris swung his rifle butt into a traitor's nose, it collapsed with a sickening crack.
Hake charged through the engine room doors, there they where, planting explosives on the engine. Unarmed Hake charged into them with his shoulder, knocking the wind out of the first mans lungs. Reacting quickly the other man punched Hake, driving him to the ground, desperately reaching out to a nearby tool box Hake grabbed a wrench and swung wildly, the end burying itself into the mans head. Hake quickly stood and rounded on the next man, dripping with the blood of his last victim. Swinging for the head his adversary took a step forward and caught the wrench, rather than struggle for it Hake let go and strode forward landing a solid punch on the man's throat. Choking and spluttering he fell before finally falling silent.
Colonel Lawrence ran across the open field with his men, it was about five hundred yards before there was enough cover to escape. The enemy had formed a firing line behind them and where cutting them down at will. Huge explosions continued to rend gaping holes in the colonel's tattered forces. Men lost their footing with the shaking of the ground or the bits of their comrades. To his left ran the remnants of 1st squad, the most elite men in the entire army. On his right there was no one, they had all been gunned down. Another massive explosion went off nearby and when he looked back, 1st squad was no longer there.
"Ah lieutenant Hake," called the slight form of Colonel Evans. "What have you here?" he inquired gesturing towards the dead men Hake was carrying. "Saboteurs sir!" the colonels face dropped. "Ah, I'd heard something of the sort," the colonel scratched his head, "I fear our mission may unearth more bad than good."
Harris and the other survivors of the crash had been fighting hand to hand for nearly ten minutes but the tide had turned and the enemy began to run, just a couple at first then slowly they all broke and ran. Sergeant Castor quickly took stock, they had expended half their ammunition, they had lost three men, they had no information on enemy or friendly strengths and had no comm. gear! His professional opinion was that they where screwed. "Ok, let's move out. We can't linger here" he gestured to where the enemy had run. "They'll be back." Picking up their packs they set off. "Where are we going sarge?" asked Harris, his gun sliding in his hands due to the blood on the butt. "We go to the space port. Because our company will be there" Harris smiled at the thought of the port being in their hands. All the men lined up gloriously, next to zero casualties. It was a good thought.
Day one, men and equipment at start
Grenadiers, 300
Officers, 20
Air crew, 150
Valkires, 30
Colonel Lawrence collapsed against a tree stump. Las fire whipped all around, they would camp here tonight but the enemy wouldn't let up. They had tasted victory and were hungry for more. A distressed looking comms officer ran up to Lawrence and saluted. "Well don't stand on ceremony. What's the butcher's bill!" shouted the colonel his spirit destroyed utterly by the carnage. "Of the three hundred men that we came with, we have eleven squads left, none of which are at full strength, approximately sixty men in all" the colonels head fell into his hands at that figure. "of the twenty officers only four remain. Six Valkires remain and over one hundred air crew perished" the colonel dissolved into tears, all those men. And for what this shitty bit of woodland was all they held for it.
Day one, men and equipment at end
Grenadiers, 60 approx
Officers, 4
Air crew, 45 approx
Valkires, 6
That night was one of the most sombre nights in the history of the 5th grenadiers, despite casualties caused by minor skirmishes during the night the enemy where completely intact. It was a massacre by all standards. He cursed the man that ordered city camo, it was a bloody wood up here! One clerical error, over two hundred dead because of it. Tomorrow would be different.
