Chapter 2
Mepesto slammed his armored form into the double doors and rolled as they crashed in, his bolt-pistol raised and scanning for targets. Not a soul stirred in that first hallway.
"Get to the roof and put some fire out!" Mepesto shouted, waving his squad through the entrance with his shimmering power-sword. The Sergeant kicked in another door at random, this one revealing what looked like officer's quarters. A massive, solid wood desk dominated the center of the room. The desk was bare, abet a strange, twisted knife, which was covered in eye-aching symbols, which seemed to writhe and twist as he looked upon it. Mepesto pulled a krak grenade from his belt and set it on the knife and set the timer before stepping out and hurrying to join his squad on the roof, from whence he could hear the shriek of plasma-bolts and the distinctive crack-shriek of bolters.
On the roof, his squad had split into three groups, each covering a suspected route of retreat the traitor filth could take. All three groups were firing on full auto. Gunner Lucis's armor was blackened from his overheating plasma-cannon.
"Mepesto, have you taken the barracks?" a voice squawked in his internal vox-link. The Sergeant guessed it was Captain Mankiller.
"Captain, we have secured the objective and are cutting down the traitor bastards in droves. Has the armor landed yet?"
The vox-like was quiet for a minute, and then the Captain responded, "Yes, the armor just touched down. Fourth Company has landed north, above New Hope, but have run into extremely fierce resistance around some temple-complex. I'm sending a portion of the armor to help them out, so relief will take a little longer to come to you. Do you require anything?"
"Just more ammunition, Captain! Praise the Emperor."
"Praise the Emperor, Sergeant."
Mepesto circled his squad, shouting encouragement over the many sounds of battle. The ground around the barracks was coated in blood, and mounds of corpses lay everywhere. A foul wail came from behind the Sergeant and the Space Marine spun on his heel, his bolt pistol at the ready. A man, if he could still be called that, was climbing up the stairs to the roof. His skin was carved with numerous and foul symbols, and they seemed to move of their own accord. Mepesto did not hesitate to fire, the heavy pistol roaring in his hand. The bolts passed through the man, who shimmered and shifted, seeming in this world at one moment, and another the next. The sorcerer raised his hands and foul blue lightening shot from his fingertips, smashing Mepesto in the chest and sending him crashing to the roof, two smoking cracks in his armor.
Flipping on to his feet, Mepesto drew his sword, seething in anger and charged the sorcerer/man-thing, slashing the sword in a left to right. If the blow had connected, the sorcerer/man-thing would have been cut from shoulder to hip.
Except the blow didn't land. The glowing power-blade passed straight through the sorcerer/man-thing with an unnatural whoosh. Mepesto snarled in rage and reversed the stroke, stabbing straight through the sorcerer/man-thing's chest. At first the blade did not damage, but the sorcerer/man-thing materialized with the blade still where his chest was. The sorcerer went into convulsions, his flesh sizzling from the power-field around the sword. Mepesto placed a booted foot on the sorcerer's chest and pulled the sword out with a flourish and kicked the lifeless corpse down the stairs.
Gunner Lucis had been watching the whole thing. The big Marine saluted Mepesto, who returned the gestured with his smoking sword.
"Sergeant, the traitor scum have finished withdrawing past us! We should chase them down and offer them no time for respite!"
Mepesto laughed as he holstered his bolt pistol, "Lucis, I like your attitude. Except we have to hold this location until relieved. Pick off as many as you can!" Now it was Lucis's turn to laugh.
"Acknowledged Sergeant."
For several minutes, the Marines armed with bolters in Mepesto's squad picked off the fleeing stragglers, until they had finally fled out of range. Several, including Mepesto, reloaded their weapons and waited for their Rhino APC to arrive to pick them up, but it came. Mepesto tried radioing the driver, but all that meet him was a wave of static.
Mepesto looked to the north, wondering if he could see a column of dust and smoke that would show the location of the armor. He did indeed see one, far north, at least fifty kilometers. The sky, he also noticed, had turned a bruised black, and unnatural clouds were approaching from all directions.
"Squad! We're walking! Fall out!"
Just as the squad hustled out the barracks, a screech erupted from Mepesto's vox.
The first seconds of the communication were solid static. Finally, Captain Mankillers harsh voice cut in. The background noise was screaming and gunfire.
"I repeat, Mepesto!"
"Yes, Captain?"
"The fourth company has been all but wiped out! The temple complex they had taken proved to be a gigantic trap! It was a warp-gate! Thousands of daemon-scum are attacking us now! Hold you position and wait for us!"
"Captain, is extraction possible?"
"Not as of this time! The storm the gate has brought down is stopping all flight. We are on our own at this time."
"What of the fourth company survivors?" Mepesto asked again.
"We have three Rhinos and a Razorback full of them. But that is all. We should reach your position in two hours, depending on how close the daemons are. Hold your position!"
"Yes Sir." Mepesto stated with grim determination and hate in his voice. The fourth company once had one-hundred and thirty Marines. Now it had about forty Marines.