Four
"For those we cherish, we die in glory!"
-battle cry of the Lamenters
Dawn saw colonel Hamilcar already up and making his way through the streets around prefabricated structures that served as the encampment of the 49th. He was dressed in a simple black uniform with the only ornamentation being the symbol of the patron saint of Qart-Hadasht, a brass badge shaped into the sign of lady Tanit, on his right breast pocket. The colonel made his way to a rumbling Munitorium staff car that was to transport him to the first official briefing with Lady General Morana and the other commanding officers of the regiments assigned to the defense of this world. As usual he was accompanied by Hanno.
He turned to his adjutant. 'You know, I'm quite confident in my ability of surviving a meeting with the Lady General and my colleagues without a bloody nursemaid.
'Protocol dictates a regimental officer should always bring his adjutant to official meetings with High Command, sir.' Hanno was quick to reply.
'And this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that this briefing includes a breakfast prepared Morana's culinary staff instead of the usual slop they serve in the mess hall?'
. 'Sir,' Hanno said with a grave expression on his face. ' Without protocol the xenos and heretics have already won.'
Hamilcar relented and stepped inside the staff car after the driver saluted and opened the door to the passenger compartment. The interior of the car was large enough for both Hamilcar and Hano to sit opposite from each other with enough room to stretch their legs. The seats were also of a supple leather that was as far removed from the steel seats of a Chimera as an eldar was from an ork.
'So this is the life an officer lives.' Hanno said and whistled. 'Must be nice.'
'You should know,' Hamilcar retorted. 'You seem to live comfortably enough without the burden of command and the fate of ten thousand souls on your shoulders.'
'It pays to have friends in high places, sir.' Hanno grinned.
Hamilcar grunted. 'Must be nice.'
…
The two men spent the rest of the ride in silence, looking on as they passed by one dreary block after another with the occasional squad running drills or checking equipment. At last they pulled up before a foreboding rockcrete blockhouse which was bristling with turret emplacements and barbed wire.
'Love what our esteemed commander has done with the place.' Hanno commented as he disembarked and held open the door for Hamilcar. The colonel shot him a stern look, he might tolerate his adjutant's casual tone but the Guard was full of officers who would have shipped Hanno off to a Penal regiment for talk like that. And if that officer was of higher rank than Hamilcar there would be nothing the colonel could do about it.
'Ah,' Hanno nodded, reading Hamilcar's expression. 'Shutting up, sir.'
Hamilcar nodded and walked towards a waiting Valhallan Guardsmen, who stood watch before the main entrance. He was not dressed in the signature style of his world, greatcoat and fur hat traded in for a simple dark grey uniform and white flak armour. The man looked especially unhappy at his atire, but it was either this or die of overheating.
'Sir.' The Ice Warrior threw a smart salute which Hamilcar promptly returned. 'If you would follow me, sir? Lady General Morana and the other regimental officers are already present in the briefing room.'
'Lead the way.' Hamilcar nodded and followed behind the Valhallan Guardsman. Hanno trailed behind him, anxiously wondering just how late they were and if any of the breakfast buffet would have survived.
After several minutes of walking through cold corridors they came before a heavily reinforced metal door before which two imposing stormtroopers stood sentinel. They were clad in heavy carapace armour and their hellguns hummed with lethal energy. The two Qart-Hadashtim had no doubt that they would be gunned down without mercy if these soldiers considered them a threat.
'That's far enough.' One of them snapped. 'State your identity and business.'
'Colonel Hamilcar, 49th Qart-Hadashtim Rifles.' Hamilcar replied and indicated Hanno. 'My adjutant corporal Hanno, also of the 49th. We are here to attend the briefing of the regimental officers, as you probably know.'
The stormtrooper checked something on the datapad built into his right gauntlet.
'Very well, sir, you are cleared for entry.' And with that the two soldiers stepped aside as the door opened with a metallic clang. Behind it several uniformed figures were assembled around a hololith.
Hamilcar nodded at colonel Sevestin of the Athonian 123rd, a bearded brute of a man clad in red and black clothes that could vaguely be described as a uniform. The man returned the nod and turned back to the hololith.
Hanno quietly slipped into the background among the other adjutants.
'Ah, colonel Hamilcar.' Lady General Morana began. 'Good of you to join us. Please, take your place among your peers so we may begin.'
In the background a tech priest turned on some dials and a sputtering image of Corduba appeared in the hololith. Morana shot a venomous glance at the tech priest and after a few hastily uttered incantations and a few tweaks on a dial the image was crystal clear.
'This gentlemen,' She said and indicated the suspended orb with a wave of her hands, 'is the world of Corduba. As you all well know the local soldiers are currently engaged with an unknown xenos species and losing badly. Several of their divisions and outposts have already gone dark before they could even send a warning to their commander. The only reason this world has not been completely overrun is because a single squad of PDF troopers managed to send a vox message back to their command and measures could be taken.'
She nodded at the commanding officer of the Harakoni Warhawks before continuing. 'Prior to the mass landing I ordered colonel Yras to assemble a few infiltration teams of Harakoni to make a drop from low orbit to several sites were we believe the missing PDF divisions were once stationed. One of these teams managed to bring back pict-recordings of what happened there. I should perhaps warn you, gentlemen, this will not be a pleasant sight.'
She stepped back and once again gave a slight nod to the tech priest.
The image of Corduba disappeared to be replaced by a grainy pict feed, no doubt a recorder had been strapped to the helmet of one of the PDF troopers. Some commanders liked to be able to see what their troops could see. Eyes on the ground, as it were. The assembled officers doubted very much they would have liked to view this particular sight.
Through a shaky feed they saw soldiers in black and maroon uniforms fighting and dying against creatures seemingly ripped straight out of a fevered nightmare. Even through the recording the sound of explosions and lasfire was almost overwhelming. And then there were the screams.
Dear Emperor on the Throne, Hamilcar thought. The screams.
The pict feed followed one of the PDF troopers franticly firing his lasrifle at something just beyond the screen. The trooper turned to his comrade whose pict feed they were watching.
'Damnit, Jimena, fire your weapon!' He yelled at the top of his lungs. 'For the love of the Emperor, I nee-'
The trooper never managed to finish his sentence as he was run through by a wickedly serrated bayonet attached to an autogun. He coughed up blood and went into spasms as his life drained away from him. With a hideous wet sound of tearing flesh the massive bayonet was pulled out and the trooper fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. A hideous blend of man and wolf looked straight in the camera and snarled at the surviving trooper. A female scream, no doubt from the trooper who was wearing the camera, rang out and the creature disappeared from sight as the trooper fled from the xeno.
But it was to no avail, the xenos were everywhere. Hamilcar saw how they sank their teeth in still living soldiers and hacked gruesome trophies from the bodies of the dead. One of the beasts wearing some sort of crude armour held a struggling PDF troopers by the neck in a vice like grip. With a gesture of contempt it hurled the unlucky trooper shrieking into a pack of its fellows where he was swiftly torn apart by claw and fang.
Some PDF soldiers still held out in small circles, fighting with the desperate courage of trapped men. But it did not take a military genius to see their situation was utterly hopeless. One by one the small pockets of resistance were overrun and butchered. Their blood adding to the quagmire that was beginning to form on the site of the battle.
The trooper whose struggle they were following tripped and fell, causing the screen to fill with static. When the image returned they were offered a good look of the sky, before the screen was filled by the blood slick muzzle of one of the aliens. The trooper was able to let out one last scream that could cut through the souls of even hardened Guardsmen before slavering jaws descended on the screen. Then there was only static.
There was silence as the assembled officers were taking in the scene. Even for the veteran officers assembled here the brutality they had just witnessed was hard to comprehend. This seemed like a horrific blend of dark eldar sadism and the unthinking hunger of the tyranids.
'Gentlemen, now you see what we are up against.' Morana said. 'Our tactical officers are working around the clock to see if any Imperial records make mention of the aliens we just saw. The Ordo Xenos has also been contacted, but it might be a while before we hear from them. So far we have dubbed these aliens as "lycans".'
There was a murmur from the colonels as they were wondering how they would tell their men just what was waiting for them on this world.
'By the Throne.' Sevestin was the first to respond. 'That was not a battle, that was a massacre. Those troopers never stood a chance. Any survivors?' He asked though he already knew the answer.
'My men found lots of blood, lots of bodies and bits and pieces of what were once PDF soldiers, but no survivors.' Colonel Yras replied. 'It might be possible that some were taken prisoner. Though I dread to think of the fate of any soldier taken alive by these things.'
'We'll see how these animals fare against real soldiers.' Sevestin growled and turned to Morana. 'Ma'am, my lads and I are ready and willing to purge this alien filth from this world.'
'As are the Ice Warriors of Valhalla.' Colonel Inessa of the Valhallan 186th said with a fierce determination in her eyes.
'The men and women of Qart-Hadasth will do their duty to the Emperor and the Imperium. This world will be cleansed.' Hamilcar agreed.
'I expect nothing less of soldiers of the Imperial Guard.' Morana said. 'Now, with that out of the way. Let's talk deployment.'
…
The sun was already high in the sky when Hamilcar and Hanno returned to the compound of the 49th. The looks on their faces were grim as they realized what kind of shitstorm they were wading into.
They paused before the door of Hamilcar's office when the colonel turned to Hanno. 'Fetch me commissar Chenkov, major Philosir and every other officer you can find. We need to have a little chat about what we're up against.'
Hanno nodded and made to leave.
'And not a word of what you saw to anyone below the rank of lieutenant.' Hamilcar hissed. 'First I'll inform the officers. Let them break the news to their companies, that's why I assigned them after all.'
'Yes, sir.' Hanno replied and went to his task.
…
'Hey, is that Hanno?' Trooper Danel asked Yasha as he saw the corporal walking a few yards from them.
'Looks like it.' Yasha replied, looking up from the lasrifle she was cleaning and cupped her hands to her mouth. 'Hey, Saint! How was your gourmet breakfast?'
Hanno looked at her and simply shook his head, not even breaking his stride.
'Oh, crap.' Yasha said as she saw the haunted look in his eyes, she had only seen that look on the corporal's face a handful of times. She turned to Danel. 'We're in the shit now.'
'Oh really?' Danel said sarcastically. 'That's a first.'
