916.M41
Aquila Lander, In Orbit of Rebel Occupied Sablore Prime
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
"Betrayal's tithe is the hangman's noose."
Louise whimpered as the Landing Craft rattles dangerously again, quickly glancing towards those seated near her and letting out a sigh of relief as none of them appeared to notice, too wrapped in up in their own situations. Though she noticed several of the Guardsmen sitting at the end of the Lander were smirking at her. Flushing slightly she looks to the side, and then jumps in her seat as another burst of anti-aircraft fire strikes near the lander.
The lander was rattling even more so now, and Louise continued to sneak glances at the Guardsmen seated throughout the craft. Shel wondered how they could all seem so calm, though she was doing her best to imitate them. Commissar Delearas had at some point gotten up and marched himself into the cockpit, to share some rather stern words with the pilot, Louise hoped.
Looking out of the small window next to her, Louise let out a small gasp as she got her first real look at an imperial city. Towering buildings made of the depressingly gray rockcrete and adorned with countless fluttering banners and Aquila's. Several large cathedrals and places of worship obvious, even from the air alongside countless factory buildings bellowing smog into the air. It was larger than anything had ever seen in her life, and it wasn't even a hive city. It had its own majesty in a way though even if it was far better at being intimidating, and to top everything off it was burning.
Fires raged all throughout the capital, even from the air Louise could see the bright flashes of pitched firefights throughout the city.
'At least someone has managed to land.' she thinks, before jumping again as another burst of anti-aircraft fire gets a little too close for comfort. Looking over to her right, Louise sees Ciaphas who seems to be absorbed in her own thoughts, though when he notices her gaze he shoots her a reassuring smile that she tries to return.
"Five minutes until landing." a voice says, and it takes her a moment to realize it must have came from the ships intercom. She notices the Guardsmen all making swift movements, getting their final prayers in or performing some final equipment checks. Some of them even appeared to be laughing, though she found it highly inappropriate to be making jokes at such a time. Though in the end she supposed that she hardly knew what even was appropriate for the situation. Even a year ago she likely would've settled with fleeing the area as fast as possible.
Taking a deep breath to try to calm her nerves she chants her usual mantra under her breath, figuring that if at any point in her life her mothers Rule of Steel would have any use, it would be now. It might have even worked to, if at that moment one of the rebel controlled anti-aircraft batteries hadn't gotten lucky.
With a noise similar to ripping paper, but in a much grander scale a whole chunk of the opposite side of the landing craft was stripped away. Louise watching in horror as several Guardsmen were reduced to absolute paste within seconds and those near the gaping holes were suddenly sucked, screaming into the sky. Barely a second went by before another burst of flak hit the lander, the former cadet next to Louise losing the upper half of his body in a burst of red mist and splattering his neighbors with blood.
The craft was rattling even worse now and the interior was filled with shouting, the screaming of the wounded and the noise of the outside air slipping into the ship through the holes that had been blasted in it. The pilot had attempted to make some sort of announcement over the intercom, but it had gotten drowned out in the general chaos of the landing gone wrong.
Looking out through the hole that used to be her fellow Junior Commissars seat Louise got an excellent view of the rapidly approaching ground and of the sister ship to the lander bursting into a magnificent ball of fire, spinning out of control and slamming into a large building.
For a brief second she considered unstrapping herself from her seat, but promptly remembered the poor souls who had been sucked out of the ship and thought better of it.
For the first time in her life Louise de la Vallière was truly terrified. Praying to the Founder, The Emperor, anyone who could listen to just let her survive, to just let her go home. She paused at the feeling of a hand wrapping around one of hers, glancing to the side at the still confident looking Ciaphas Cain. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, Louise attempts to reassess the situation.
A group of Guardsmen appeared to be crowding around the sealed cockpit door, shouting indiscernibly amongst the noise. The ship appeared to, though damaged still be relatively on course. Glancing out the sides she saw that the engines and wings appeared to be undamaged, with the key components still operational she figured the pilot had managed to get it back under control, though perhaps Delearas's laspistol for the back of his neck had assisted in that she mused.
Having reassessed the situation, she takes a final deep breath and tries to perform her own last minute equipment checks. The lasgun she had been handed earlier appeared to be in good condition, and all of the power packs appeared to be where they should be. She glanced to her side to see Ciaphas appeared to be messing about with some sort of headset he had acquired while she wasn't paying attention. She considered asking him about it, but thought better of it. He'd likely just smirk at her and say something sarcastic. She'd a longtime ago noticed he tended to do that when in stressful situations.
With a loud shriek of stressed metal tearing and the drum of the engines dying the ship suddenly slammed into the ground. Louise notices the guardsmen gathered at the cockpit go flying like a series of pin balls, though judging from the swearing they were overall okay. Her side of the ship appeared to have gotten off okay with the landing, though the other side not so much. The hole opened up by the AA fire was around two times larger and it was clear the ship wouldn't fly again.
But they were alive.
She was still alive.
If Louise had thought the city looked devastated from the air, from the ground it looked like the end of the world. Bodies of civilians and soldiers alike littered the streets next to the burnt out wreckage of ground cars and armored vehicles. So far she hadn't seen any sign of the 'rebels', but she figured they wouldn't be far off. There were only roughly thirty survivors of the crash, including the pilot and Commissar Delearas. The officer in charge of the Guard had quickly gotten his remnants together and s perimeter established, but Delearas was having difficulties with the Junior Commissars. For all intents and purposes they were guardsmen with fancy hats until they earned their sashes, but most had never seen combat before.
There were only five of them left, including Louise and Ciaphas and that was something she still struggled to comprehend. She might not have been exactly close with any of them, but she had seen them on a day to day basis and even talked to them on occasion. Now they were just... gone.
Louise tightened her hands around her lasgun, shaking her head slightly.
'Eyes forward, mind on the mission.' she chanted in her head.
She has been assigned, along with Ciaphas and a weary looking guardsman named Wilks to keep an eye on the southern street while the Commissar and Guard Officer tried to figure out what to do. Louise absolutely detested being kept out of the loop, but figured in the end of it was relevant to her, it would be told to her. She still didn't exactly know what the rebels looked like, but Louise figured she'd likely know when she saw them, and she'd probably get ridiculed if she said something at this point.
"Ciaphas?" she suddenly asks voice lowered as she breaks the silence.
Turning his head towards her slightly he gives a slight 'Hm?' before returning his gaze to the road.
"Have you ever... you know. Killed someone?" she asks, catching on her words slightly near the end.
Her friend ponders the question for a few moments, before giving a small nod.
"I have actually, though it was long ago. Things are rough in the underhive." he finishes, giving a slight shrug.
Louise was slightly surprised about how nonchalant he was about it, but figured a lifetime in the Imperium would leave someone with a skewed view of right and wrong. She didn't really feel like asking anymore questions after that answer though, and Ciaphas clearly had no desire to elaborate.
The awkward silence was cut when the guardsman, who had so far kept to his own decided to walk over. Louise noticed he didn't seem to be much older than Ciaphas, if a lot more 'rugged' looking, and that was being generous.
"You lot are rookies, aren't you." he says, though it was more a statement than a question.
Louise gives a slight nod and Ciaphas hums noncommittally as the guardsman chuckles slightly and shakes his head.
"Figured as much, keep your heads on straight and you'll do fine. Just, remember not to point those lasgun at your friends, yeah?" he says.
Louise wasn't sure why he felt the final part was necessary, and if she was being honest was rather offended. She might not be experienced, but she wasn't stupid. Opening her mouth to give a reply she instead lets out a yelp as Ciaphas suddenly drags her behind the burnt out wreckage of a ground car - barely a second later a loud series of cracks echoes throughout the street and finger size holes are blown through Wilk's chest and head.
Louise's eyes widen in horror as Ciaphas curses, poking his head slightly above cover before ducking back down as a burst of gunfire flies over where he just was.
More gun and las fire starts to echo out around them, as the other perimeter teams get into contact as-well.
"Three story building at the end of the street, the one with the Aquila covered in graffiti. At least four of them." Ciaphas says, and it takes Louise a moment to realize what he was talking about before she gives a slight nod.
"I - okay. I know where it is." she responds, having seen the building plenty of times when looking over the street.
"Good, good. Listen - we cannot stay here. It's incredibly easy to outflank, and we won't be getting help from the others until they handle their sides." he says, leaving out the unspoken if.
"I can see that." Louise hisses before ducking her head even lower as another burst of gunfire rakes their cover.
Rolling his eyes Ciaphas continues, "We're going to make a break for the building just to the left, you see it?"
Louise nods, responding "I can see it, it's just a short run. But how are we going to get to it? They'll shoot us the moment we get out of cover."
"That they will," Ciaphas reply's before continuing, "That's why I need you to grab the grenades off of Wilks. You're close enough to be able to drag him back here."
Looking at him as if he'd just suggested she'd grow a second head, Louise stammers out. "I - what! I - he's dead..."
Nodding his head Ciaphas says, "Exactly, he doesn't need them anymore. But we do! I'm sure he doesn't care!"
Hesitating for a few more seconds as more gunfire strikes near the ground car, Louise finally nods. Taking a deep breath she reaches out to grab Wilks arm and then recoils back as a burst of gunfire strikes the body. Looking back at Ciaphas who gives her what he probably thought was an encouraging smile, but came out as more of a grimace she tries again, this time able to get a solid grip on the dead mans arm as she starts to pull with all her strength and swiftly yanks the body behind the cover with them.
Patting her on the shoulder Cain says, "You did great." as he moves to start stripping the grenades off the corpse.
While he was engaging in battlefield looting, Louise edged over and took a quick peak beyond the safety of her cover. Set up in the building at the end of the street she could see some kind of heavy stubber setup that would alternate between firing at her and Ciaphas and their allies. To her worry she could see what looked like three men dressed in drab fatigues made up of some urban camouflage patterns rapidly approaching them. Reasoning that they were likely turncoat members of the planetary defense force, Louise quickly pulls back just in time to avoid a burst from the heavy stubber that would've taken her head off.
"Frak!" Louise shouts, and then flushes slightly before shaking her head. Now wasn't the time to be worried about etiquette after all.
Turning towards Cain she quickly relays the information she has obtained to him, receiving a nod in response. Holding two grenades in his hand, Ciaphas quickly primes both of them before tossing them over the ground car. One of them, a smoke grenades from what she could see before it was thrown lands nearby, quickly deploying its payload and causing smoke to fill the street. The other, a fragmentation grenade if she guessed properly landed farther off, the following detonation coming with a scream and several curses.
Turning back for a few seconds Louise to her horror was just in time to witness a plume of smoke erupt from a building on the opposite street, some kind of projectile flying out and slamming into the crashed lander and causing the downed spacecraft to erupt into fire and smoke. Just now dawning on her was the fact that they had been trapped in a killbox, the rebels weren't disorganized or in low morale like Commissar Delearas had said. She could hear screaming from the men that had still been in the ship, and had to wrench her gaze away from the flames as Ciaphas grabbed her arm and shouted, "We need to get going, now! Before the smoke runs out!"
Still in a daze Louise stammered out a reply that got lost in the noise of the escalating gunfight. Pulling her to her feet, Ciaphas sprinted towards the building he had designated earlier, the other former cadet hot on his trial. Bursting into the bombed out ruin, Ciaphas quickly slams the front door shut behind them and then drags Louise through the building and towards the back door.
Cracking open the door slightly, Ciaphas peeks through and then pulls back, holding up his hand and putting up two fingers. Nodding at him, Louise took cover behind a clipped over table and readied her lasgun, aiming at the door. Rapidly flinging open the door her friend then jumps back from the open doorway, giving Louise a good view on two surprised looking men carrying auto guns and dressed in workers clothes, each also sporting a blood red armband. She hesitates a second before holding down the trigger, the lasgun hosing both of the men down with bolts as she closes her eyes. Opening her eyes again, Louise almost turns green. On the ground outside the building were two corpses, riddled with smoking holes. Her vision started to blur as she threw up on the ground next to her.
She had killed someone. She had killed more than just one person, the ultimate sin in the eyes of the Founder. But the Founder didn't matter more, did he?
Pulled from her thoughts by the feeling of being shaken, she turns to see the slightly concerned face of her fellow Junior Commissar.
"Are you alright?" he asks, giving her a quick once over for any injuries, though he was sure neither men had fired a shot.
"I-I've killed someone..." she stammers out, eyes still wide as her hands shook.
Ciaphas nods and responds, "You did, and you likely will a lot more. But make no mistake, they would've killed both of us in a second if they were in our shoes. The enemies of the Imperium deserve no mercy and will give none in return." he quotes.
Louise stares at him and then gives a small nod, she knew those men would've killed her, they were evil. They had probably killed other people.
They were evil she chanted over and over in her head as she stood up and resumed following Ciaphas.
They were rebels,
They were evil,
Weren't they?
Sorry for the late upload, had to help fix a roof yesterday. Anyways, this is the first proper battle chapter and first battle chapter I've ever written! Tell me how you think I did.
Things are really finally starting to escalate, there's a big difference between learning about things in a book and dealing with them in reality. How will Louise cope?
Anyways, as always please do leave a review and I'll see you next time.
