Chapter 3
Mepesto and his Marines stood, shoulder to shoulder in one of the trenches to the front of the PDF barracks, scanning the horizon. The unnatural storm had brought darkness in less than thirty minutes, and the Sergeant had long since lost sight of the First Company. Then, he could see muzzle flashes and search lights far in the distance. Captain Mankiller had twenty minutes until his two hours were up. The wind had also picked up, carrying with it the sounds of screaming and terrible howling. He could sense his squad was nervous. Mepesto was too, but he could not show it. So, he began to chant the Litany of Hate.
"While the traitor still draws breath, we will know only hate!" shouted the Sergeant, his voice carrying across the broken ground in front of the PDF barracks. The searchlights were closer now, maybe only fifteen kilometers away.
"While the alien stills lives, we will know no comfort!" Half the squad joined in now. Mepesto had switched to the all squads frequency to inspire the souls of all the Warhawks within range. The lights were still getting closer but Mepesto could not make out individual vehicles or the like. Captain Mankiller now had ten minutes until he was late.
"While the mutant still walks, we will know no respite!" The entire squad had joined in now, most carefully aiming weapons towards the closing cloud. Behind the tanks, a thick, black wall of fog came closer. Unnatural lightning flashed across the fog and sinister howling was carried to them on the wind.
"While the heretic still breathes, we will know no fear!" The range estimation was now less than two kilometers. Mepesto could easily make out individual vehicles. He could see Captain Mankillers personal Land Raider Crusader, driving backwards, firing all weapons into the unnatural black fog. The Sergeant increased the magnification of his helmet and realized the daemons were trying to use the fog as cover! One of the Rhinos, one of the few still with Fourth Company markings, fell behind, having thrown a track in the broken ground. The passengers poured out, bolters blazing, taking down a dozen or more daemons before they were overwhelmed, swamped by the sheer amount of daemons.
"While the daemon still sins, we will know only death!" The armor of the Second Company slewed to a halt behind the trenches, throwing up a cloud of dust and smoke in front of the horde of daemon-spawn. Mepesto could not believe the sheer number and diversity of the daemons. He had fought daemons before, but never in these kind of numbers.
Mepesto glanced over as Captain Mankiller jumped into the trench next to him, his plasma-pistol shrieking at as a tentacled monstrosity dragged away two Marines, acid eating away their armor. The Sergeant added his fire to the Captains and the monstrosity seemed to implode. The Marines were very dead, great holes in their torsos and heads.
"Just another day, eh, Sergeant!" Captain Mankiller shouted. Mankiller had lost his head somewhere, and had a gash across his forehead, blood running between his service studs. The Captain dodged back as a blood –drenched, heavily-armored daemon slashed a massive axe at him. Mankiller smashed the daemon aside with his crackling power-fist.
"You brought quite a lot of them, Captain!" Mepesto returned, empting his pistol into another of the armored daemons. Before he could reload, another jumped at him, swinging the axe down. Before the blow could fall, Lucis blew the daemon out of the air with his plasma-cannon. The Gunner was blackened and coated with gore, but his cannon never stopped firing. Until a black and blue daemon with far too many breasts used a pincer-claw to snip off his head in a delicate way. Mepesto avenged the brave Gunner by cutting the daemon in half with his power-sword.
"Kill them all Sergeant!" Mankiller returned, whilst quickly replacing the fuel-cells on his pistol under the covering fire of a heavy flamer. Mepesto quickly looked around the trench and drew strength from what he saw. The line of Second and Fourth Company was holding, if temporary, against the flood of daemons. A daemon, strange and bloated, flailed rotting appendages at Mepesto, threatening to throw him off his feet. Reacting instantly, the Sergeant cut the thing in half with his power-sword. Glancing back down the line, he saw the white armored forms of Apothecaries running along the trench line, unwilling to let the precious gene-seed fall to the daemons. All the while, he could hear the roar of bolters, the shriek of tank-mounted lascannons, assault cannons and multi-meltas.
"I don't think we can, Captain." Mepesto swatted aside another daemon, his sword slicing through it effortlessly. The power-field sputtered and died a second later and the Sergeant quickly changed the power-cell. However, even with Mepesto's negativity, over the last minutes, the host of daemon-scum had slackened their assault, but Captain Mankiller still seemed wary. He had ordered a pair of battered devastator squads to the roof of the PDF barracks to act as sentries and kept trying to contact the Phoenix Rising. Long-range communications were still down, which was hardly surprising. The storm the daemons had brought with them was getting worse. The wind had risen and great black thunderheads filled the sky. Unnatural blue lightning was flashing in the distance, seeming to strike down in the same general area as New Hope and the cathedral where this whole thing had began.
The Fourth Company squads seemed demoralized, even from a distance. They seemed to be thinking of the Marines that had been lost. Their Captain, Reforas, had been killed by a larger daemon and when the warp-gate opened, their Librarians head exploded. Chaplain Tausel, of the 2nd Company began to forge them back into a fighting force. A band of daemons, in blood-red armor, charged the section of the line the Fourth Company was defending. Tausel was at the fore, a steadfast beacon of courage, his Crozius Arcanum crackling as daemon-blood boiled and melted off it.
"Be way Marines,' began Tausel, as he strode down the trench, which was knee deep in blood and ichor, dotted with the bodies of Battle-Brothers, 'This lull is foul plot to weaken our line and leave us unprepared! But they will no find a Warhawks Marine unprepared! Against all odds, we have stood firm and we shall do so again and again until the fearless Thunderhawk crews fight their way through this foul and unnatural storm that had engulfed this miserable world. Not that we need rescuing, though!"
Mepesto smiled with the Chaplains words and looked over to see Captain Mankiller chuckle for a moment before turning serious again, clenching and unclenching his glowing power-fist. The Chaplains words had struck home with every Marine, lifting their spirits and hardening their resolve. They would not fail this day.
"We have taken many causalties, especially the brave and noble Fourth Company!' Tausel continued, closing with Mepesto location, 'one-hundred and fifteen brave Marines have died this day! Do not let their deaths be in vain! For each one of them, slay one-hundred of the daemon-scum!' The Chaplain had probably killed one-hundred of the daemons by himself. He was covered from head to foot in blood and gore, some of it his. When Tausel passed in front of Mepesto, the Sergeant noticed a massive rend in the Chaplains side, a blow that had obviously cut deep into Tausel's chest and stomach. 'Let us be filled with righteous hate against those foul scum!"
"Here they come again!" A Sergeant from one of the devastator squads shouted, pointing the north.