Author's Note
And I thought my previous chapter was out quickly!
Unfortunately, my end-of-semester exams are coming up within a few weeks. After that, the 'Fall of Medusa V' campaign will likely be distracting me from writing much for a while. I promise to get back to finishing this story as soon as possible.
liljimmyurine; Thanks for pointing out my error. I've made a couple of changes and when I upload the final version of the story the Word Bearers will get stomped by Shinji rather then the Thousand Sons. Oh, and thanks for the compliment.
Reikson; I'll do my best both with the time to write the chapters and their length, but as I explained above, events are not proving helpful to me. On the other hand, I intend to have some rather pivotal events coming up, and I want to make sure I do them proper justice, so a little extra time might prove useful.
Tatsu-ZZmage; I could think of no other phrase which would get Asuka to react so quickly. And I'm glad you like the story.
Yoshomo; Thanks, I'm glad you like the story and my portrayal of the Emperor.
zero0x3000; Thanks a lot! And I haven't read The Forgotten Primarch of Chaos, but I'll make sure to look it up soon.
Chapter Five
Shinji fought the urge to glance over his shoulder as he and Asuka followed a Tech-priest through the busy halls of the palace. Floating just behind him was a human skull, floating on thin air and humming slightly. A second one followed Asuka quietly. These 'Skull Drones' were the most disturbing example of 'futuristic' technology he had seen, but it was proving useful. It had been programmed as a translator, translating Gothic into a Japanese pidgin. During the time in their Eva's, Asuka had tried to teach Shinji how to speak German. Unfortunatly, anything Asuka said arrived in Shinji's head as Japanese. According to Yui, it was because their souls were communicating directly, in a way, 'bypassing' language. Since Shinji had never been able to learn German, or English, he had no chance of understanding Low Gothic, making the Servo Skull a god-send.
Even so…it was still a human skull…
"You're Evas provided us with some problems," the skull drone whispered as the tech priest chattered on in some kind of machine code. "Unarmed except for a simple knife, a rather poor decision by your old masters."
"I don't think it was avoidable," Asuka replied. "An Evangelion doesn't exactly have that much internal volume to spare on weaponry."
"Well, we have managed to work out a few solutions. Unfortunately, without the time or access to the machine shops on Mars, we were forced to use a few makeshifts. We've retrofitted some weapons from downed Titans." As they left the palace, the Tech-priest gestured at a massive six-barreled weapon with a crude stock and trigger resting on a large gantry nearby. "Only solid shot weapons unfortunately, the energy weapons are proving more difficult to re-wire. We've also managed to copy the power-connections for your 'Unit 02'. We don't have the cabling to wire it up to the palace's power supply. Since most of the ground-to-orbit lance batteries were destroyed early in the war, we've retrofitted their spare capacitors with the required connections. They should have enough power to last about an hour."
"An hour huh," Asuka muttered, looking up at the blocky capacitor. "Better then noth…" She was interrupted by the wail of a siren.
"That's the 'Wall breach' alarm!" the tech priest gasped. "Quickly, this way!"
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Shinji watched the Skull drone float in the LCL as he synchronized with Unit 01. Realizing that there wasn't likely to be a new source of LCL, he and Asuka had over-ridden the drainage system. From half-remembered lectures from Ritsuko, Shinji remembered that the filtration system could keep the LCL breathable for about a week at the outside. After that, they would just have to do without. So far, the skull-drone wasn't showing any signs of reacting poorly to the liquid, but given that he was stuck in the same Entry Plug as the machine, he wasn't planning on ignoring it either.
Shinji's attention went back to the screen as the colors cleared, to show the hanger and Unit 02 outside. A pair of screens popped up, one showing Asuka, the other showing the image of a stranger.
"I'm Comm-officer Fornacht," he said. "I'll be your liaison with high command."
"Wonderful" Asuka said flatly from the other screen, the Skull drone automatically translating the German word, as Unit 02 picked up a gatling cannon with one hand and used the other to attach a capacitor to it's back. Shinji followed suit, grabbing the Lancea Longinus and an oversized version of a Space Marine's Bolter.
"I wonder if I can find the Soul Cube somewhere around here," Shinji chuckled to himself, with an answering snort of laughter from Asuka.
"Just tell us where to go," she said after a moment glancing aside, presumably at her screen to Fornacht.
"There's been two breaches in the Wall," Fornacht replied after a confused glance between the two pilots, "one at section alpha-4, about 30 kilometers west of the gate and a second at section beta-9 156 kilometers east of the gate."
"Got it, I'll take the left, you can have the right Baka."
"Got it," Shinji replied, moving Unit 01 out and along the Wall to the right.
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"Fall back," Brother-Sergeant Haugt shouted, waving his squad away from the remains of the wall. Glancing back, he spotted the chaos mutants swarming after them. Already, there seemed to be hundreds in the gardens behind the wall. And Haugt and his squad were the only marines between them and the dozens of fleeing Guardsmen.
"Stop! Turn, pick your targets and FIRE AT WILL!" he yelled, bringing his bolt pistol to bear on a wild-eyed cultist and fired. He heard the familiar 'dakka, dakka' of the squad's Bolters opening up as his men turned and opened fire on their pursuers. It was a merger response, but Haugt prayed that they could hold off long enough for the Guardsmen to reach the second defensive positions and prepare for the coming assault.
Then, a shadow fell over the squad. An immense red figure strode up behind them, clutching a weapon in its hands. With a burst of fire, the gatling cannon opened up, whipping out an entire swarm of Cultists. Haugt watched stunned as it turned and sprayed a second burst towards another group of traitors, before shaking his head and reappraising the tactical situation.
"Charge!" Haugt yelled, leading his squad back towards the breach. Behind them, he could hear the Guard turn, officers impeaching their men into forcing the enemy back outside the Wall.
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Princeps Gratone ignored the faint tremors as the legs of his Titan, Caedes, smashed through the gap in the walls and into the Imperial gardens. There was a faint pinprick as a shell rebounded from his left leg. Gratone casually brought one of Caedes's Turbolaser batteries to bear on the upstart Leman Russ and vaporized it.
Increasing power to his sensor cones, Gratone happily watched the Chaos forces expanding out of the breach, slaughtering everything in their path. Then he spotted a… red Titan. It was oddly humanoid, with arms instead of weapons, and the number '02' could be seen on it's carapace. It was casually strafing an army of fellow rebels with a gatling cannon cradled in it's arms. Gratone murmured a prayer to Khorne as he brought his Titan-scaled Multi-las on his left limb to bear. Unlike many of his cohorts, Gratone believed in the cold-blooded warfare of long-range mass murder, a facet of Khorne's love of blood that more… human followers couldn't grasp. Gratone had loved the feeling of picking off a Titan at a distance or obliterating a crowd of enemies with a single shot even before he pledged himself to Chaos. Given that most Titans don't have blood, the heat of bloodlust in close combat was denied him anyway.
Even as the first shot blasted out, the red 02 spun unnaturally quickly and, raising a hand, imposed a hexagonal, orange force field between the two war machines. The first shot hit the field harmlessly. The second, third and fourth shots also impacted on the strange shield, each causing the area of impact to fade slightly. The fifth shot blasted a gap in the shield and, having wasted most of its energy, blew a shallow crater in the 02's armor. The sixth and final shot, unblocked, slammed into and through the armor.
Gratone stared as blood spurted from the wound, and a switch flicked in his head as the heady scent reached Caedes's sensors. He shouted, a battle cry that was echoed by his crew as all logic and reason was washed away in bloodlust, and the Caedes charged forward, it's chain fist roaring into life.
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"
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Asuka gasped in shock as the blast tore through her, no, she desperately thought, Unit 02's chest. Looking up, she spotted the enemy Titan, the name Caedes barely visible on it's upper carapace. Desperately, she dropped and reformed her A.T. field.
She was almost too late.
The broken A.T. field, barely a few molecules thick, vanished, and reformed whole again. It reformed at the exact moment that Caedes passed it. The rear half of the massive Titan came to a dead halt, as the A.T. field passed through shields, armor and people… and neatly bisected Caedes down the middle.
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Gratone shrieked in agony as Caedes's momentum crushed it's rear half against the immovable A.T. field and sent it's front half plummeting towards the ground. Neither half completed it's motion, as both halves of the ruined Genarium detonated simultaniously, flinging the Titan's head towards the ground. As it plummeted, Gratone felt Khorne's wrath descend on him. The last thing he felt, was a massive creature ripping his soul from his body.
Then he felt no more.
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50 minutes later…
Unit 02 dodged passed the Las-blast, ran through the Titan's Void Shields, grabbed it by the metal torso and then performed a move that would have been considered illegal by Asuka's long-dead karate teacher. The Titan proved to be slightly more resilient then a human, it took a whole second for it's back to break in two.
As Asuka stood Unit 02 back up, tossing the remnants of the Titan into the hoards outside the Wall, a sudden beeping drew her attention as the Eva switched to it's internal power supply. Glancing around, she noted that the other Chaos Titans were still a fair distance away from the breach in the wall. Turning, she moved Unit 02 back over the secondary defensive line, consisting of rapidly thrown together gun-emplacements and what few men could be spared from the wall.
Ejecting the Capacitor, she dropped it on a waiting trolley, which began to trundle back towards the Palace, and grabbed a replacement from a second trolley. Clicking it into place, Asuka watched the countdown reset itself and vanish.
She then let her gaze drift over the available weapons… and come to rest on what was obviously a rocket launcher. Unlike the old NERV types, this one consisted of eight missiles, the size of an EVAs forearm, arrayed around a central support arrayed with various types of sensors. At the rear a crude trigger and support had been welded on. Asuka reached down and picked it up.
"I like, I like," Asuka whispered to herself as she hefted the rocket launcher and bought it to bear… on nothing.
"Huh?" she murmured, searching the area outside the Wall for the Titans she had spotted earlier.
"Oh my…" Shinji gasped over the Comm. System from the other breach in the Wall. "They're leaving! We beat them off!"
"But…but…" Asuka stuttered, looking down at the rocket launcher she hadn't had the chance to use. "No fair!"
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The Emperor almost sagged with relief.
"They've fallen back?" he asked.
YES, MY LORD+ the heavily augmented, masked figure of Acting-Fabricator General Kane of the Adaptus Mechanicus replied, his relief evident even over the Vox-system in his throat. +IT'S NOT JUST THE REPORTS FROM THE GUARD, THE PALACE'S AUSPEX SYSTEMS TRACKED THEM FALLING BACK OUT OF RANGE+ Hiding a relived smile, the Emperor turned to the Lord Militant Haurage.
"Call half of your men off the walls and bring them back to the palace for some rest. Then organize a rotation of about four hours. If possible, I want all of our people well rested and fed before the traitors return."
"Of course, my Lord," Haurage replied, before turning to start passing orders to his advisors.
"Captain Angrimond." The yellow armored marine looked up from his discussion with the Administratum adepts.
"My Lord?"
"What's the status of the Flying Fortress?" Angrimond glanced down at the data-slate he was holding.
"We're mostly re-supplied, I'm just waiting on some of the heavier ordinance, which should be ready for loading in a hour or two."
"That's going to have to wait. I want you to take the Flying Fortress out to retrieve the White Scars Legion. With their support, we should be able to hold out nearly indefinitely. Certainly until reinforcements arrive from off-world, and the White Scars did indicate that they'd set the space-port they'd taken from the traitors to blow, so the Chaos forces can't reclaim that supply source."
"Of course my Lord. We'll leave momentarily."
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Angrimond watched the main viewscreen as the Flying Fortress drifted out over the ruins of the city. Jagged spires of ruined towers seemed to reach for the floating war machine as it drifted by, but the illusion was false. There were no hostile forces in the area, they had all fled to safety and…
"Captain!" a sensor monitor shouted. "I'm picking up some kind of large…Oh Emperor…"
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"My Lord!" a comm. officer shouted, interrupting the Emperor's discussion with Lord Militant Haurage. "An emergency message from Captain Angrimond on the Flying Fortress!"
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"Do you read me!" Angrimond shouted into the Vox set, "there's an immense Chaos force advancing towards the Palace! They were hiding behind some kind of Chaos sorcery, our Auspex systems couldn't see them until we were right on top of them! There's got to be nearly a million marines down there and at least hundred Titans supporting them, and they're only 20 kilometers from the Palace wall! They'll be on top of you in minutes! Do you…" Angrimond broke off as a blast from the forces below finally broke through the strained Void shields.
"Multiple targets spotted at all positions. Beginning emergency saturation pattern."
COMM. FALIURE, MY LORD+ a servitor informed him quietly.
"Damn it! Helm, come to 273-true bearing at 70 power," Angrimond shouted.
"Captain, the Chaos Titan's are firing!" a rating yelled out as space to the port of the bridge turned into light. "Our Void shields can't handle this level of fire power for long!" Angrimond cursed as the bridge shook.
"Gunnery officer, why aren't we returning fire on the port flank?"
"Void shield failure, the Void shields are down!"
"Captain Angrimond... all of our port side batteries report non-functional, I think the Gun-deck took several direct hits."
"By the Emperor... Helm, get us out of..." Angrimond's words were cut off as the viewscreens turned blinding white and the Sky Fortress lurched sideways. The bridge filled with various reports and shouts as the various officers tried to combat the damage.
"Head Magos reports that the main engines are failing, I repeat failing! We'll lose all power in five minutes!"
"Sensors detect boarding vessels rising from the Chaos lines."
Brunt gazed out of the port viewscreens of the bridge as several Thunderhawks rose towards the Sky Fortress. A pathetically small number of tracer rounds fired from the remaining weapons in an attempt to hit them, before the guns went dead.
"Gun-deck reports close-in defenses are out of ammo. The reload systems have failed!"
"Weapon ports 3-port and 5-port, main engineering, and Heavy missile battery 2-port report intruders!"
Angrimond closed his eyes. Even without the intruders, no doubt some of the better Chaos melee forces, the engine failure guaranteed that the Sky Fortress would plummet like a rock. "Can the Tech Magi restore the engines?"
Rating Helphantine, glanced up. "With the Grace of the Omnissiah..."
"Your piety does you credit, and the Tech Magi may appreciate it," Angrimond said, "but I need facts."
"We can't hold them sir, not with the incoming fire and the boarders."
"That's it then." Angrimond looked up as the main viewscreen began to clear. "Helm, come to 173-true bearing at maximum power."
"My Lord…" Rating Helphantine began, "that heading…"
"Takes us towards the center of the Chaos army. I know."
"Could we not abandon…"
"Over an entire Chaos army?" Silence greeted Angrimond's words. The Sky Fortress's vibrations increased. "We have no choice."
Angrimond strode back to the centre of the bridge, and turned around slowly, letting his gaze touch on each officer and rating. "Gentlemen, it has been a pleasure and privilege to serve with each of you. Ave Imperator." He saluted as the Sky Fortress began to fall.
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The Sky Fortress hit the ground with the force of a bomb, crushing thousands beneath its weight. Then the remaining rocket, missile and fuel stores in its superstructure detonated, sending tongues of fire into the surroundings that incinerated dozens more. Finally, the main Plasma Genarium was breached.
A mushroom cloud signaled the birth of a second sun in the heart of the Chaos lines.
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To be continued…
Mars; The home world of the Adaptus Mechanicus, the planet is covered by a vast machine shop. The planet is still 'red' but because of rusting machines from ancient times rather then red iron sands.
Gatteling cannon, Vulcan Bolter; Large, rapid-fire weapons usually mounted on Titans. The rocket launcher described comes from a 30 story Emperor class Titan.
Turbolaser; Powerful energy weapon mounted on a Titan. Not strong enough to fight other Titans, but useful for dealing with smaller tanks.
Multi-las; weapon intended to shoot several low-powered lasers in rapid succession. Of course, low-powered is a relative term when applied to a Titan's weapons.
Fabricator General; Leader of the Adaptus Mechanicus
White Scars; A loyalist Space Marine Legion signified by their white armor and their love of using fast vehicles, mostly bikes. Well known for executing lightning-fast attacks on an unsuspecting enemy and then escaping before any serious opposition can be bought to bear. Prior to this story, the Legion had successfully taken one of Terra's two spaceports away from the Traitor forces, halving their flow of reinforcements in a stroke.