Eleven

"They're sending us where? The want us to fight who? Well, I guess the Emperor knows what He's doing, because those bureaucrats in the Administratum sure as shit don't!"

-Trooper Gage Rorsche, 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, Mordant 13th, "The Lucky 13s"

Sergeant Yasha and her squad were making their way from their barracks to the ramparts of the fortress for sentry duty. Lieutenant Arisha had impressed on Yasha that major Philosir had serious doubts about the competence and general sense of readiness of the PDF garrison that had idled under the command of a less-than-capable commanding officer, so he would entrust this task only to soldiers of the regiment.

Philosir had, of course, used far more colourful terms than the lieutenant had used. He was a man to shy away from strong superlatives, after all. But Arisha could not bring herself to repeat such a "rather distasteful collection of words".

Yasha had fought down the urge to roll her eyes at the lieutenant's aversion to curse words. Instead she had merely shrugged, gave a smart salute and ordered her squad to their feet to get kitted out and ready to move.

'Doesn't seem fair it's our turn already to stand watch over that flat, never-ending expanse of grass.' Hyrum, his lips hidden behind his thick, curled beard, grumbled. 'I mean, we just got here.'

'Someone has to make sure to sound the alarm if an army of slavering xeno monstrosities suddenly appears on the horizon.' Danel, who walked next to him, replied. 'Might as well be us. Anyone else would just frig it up.'

'Yeah, but what are we supposed to do when the hordes of hell descend upon us?' Hyrum asked. 'Half of the artillery isn't even mounted on their turrets.'

'I don't know.' Danel shrugged and adjusted his eyepatch. 'Die heroically?'

Hyrum gave a snort of contemptuous laughter. 'Aye, that does sound like the sort of thing the Guard excels at.'

'I'm sure history will remember your valiant sacrifice when your ends finally come.' Yasha growled. 'But if you two keep complaining like a pair of scholam juvies I will personally fling you from the walls.'

'Oh come on, sarge.' Danel said. 'That wasn't complaining. That was just two dogs of war extolling the virtues of life in the Imperial Guard. We wouldn't dream of moaning about our lot in life, stoic as we are.'

Yasha turned around and made a face. The two Lybim recognised it as her shut-the-frig-up face, so they wisely fell silent. This was much to the amusement to the other members of the squad.

Normally Yasha tolerated this innate bickering, as long as no officers were around, as she felt it improved morale and squad cohesion. But now her attention was turned to the sight of Hano and a Corduban officer escorting a small child. Hanno had a sort of sullen look on his face, the look a child might have if it were torn away from a game it was enjoying and told to do some tedious task.

'Ma'am.' Yasha saluted the officer, a captain by her insignia.

The officer gave a nod, she was still not used to being saluted by soldiers who hailed from another world.

Yasha and her squad took this as their cue to stand at ease. She turned her head to look at the colonel's adjutant who stood just behind the little girl.

'What's all this, Saint?' She asked Hanno, indicating the child. 'Have you been promoted to daycare?"

Hano had a venomous response ready, but a quiet sob from the girl stopped him dead in his tracks.

'This kid has lost everything to the flames of war.' He said instead, now somewhat ashamed that he had treated this like a chore. 'I think some sympathy is in order.'

'Indeed.' Captain Valeria agreed. 'Little Mira has been through a lot. Now we must show her that Corduba, indeed the Imperium, will not abandon her.'

'Shit.' Yasha mouthed as behind her Hyrum moved forward.

The massive Lybim dropped to one knee before the girl. She met his gaze with her watery eyes, before she took in the intricate symbols painted on his face.
Hyrum's face paint was actually just another layer, as beneath them the symbols of vengeance were permanently tattooed on the skin of his face. He had done this in honour of his wife and his two sons, all slain in a dark eldar raid that had caught the defences of Qart-Hadasht completely off guard. Despite his brutish appearance he was a gentle man and could not bear to see innocents, especially children, caught up in the many wars of the Imperium.

'You are safe now.' Hyrum said in a surprisingly gentle and kind voice. 'We won't let any harm come to you. Won't we, sarge?'
'Of course not.' Yasha said with a kind smile. 'The soldiers of Qart-Hadasht stand watch now. All will be well.'

'That's what the silver giants said.' Mira replied with a quiet voice, she looked Yasha straight in the eye. 'But I do not know if even they can stop what it is to come. I don't think anyone can.'

'That's enough of that sort of talk.' Valeria interjected. 'Why don't we get you a nice hot meal and a warm bed?'

Mira nodded and she walked away with Valeria. Hano made to follow them but Yasha stopped him by gripping his arm.

'Silver giants?' She asked with a raised eyebrow.

'Astartes.' Hano replied.

Yasha felt her jaw drop.

'Yes, I remember making a similar face when I first found out.' Hano said and followed Valeria and Mira.

'ETA to destination is 30 minutes.' The voice of the pilot rattled through the intercom of the Valkyrie. 'It should be cold drinks and medals all around when we arrive.'

'That sounds like quite the party.' Maharbal winked at Almudena. He found himself warming to the Corduban sergeant, the man was one of those people who was just easy to like.

'Never did receive a medal. Never really did anything worthy of a decoration, to be honest. We're just part-time soldiers after all.' Almudena said with a rueful smile. 'So, that would be quite the experience.'

'If there is any justice in this galaxy the Governor himself will pin it on your chest.' Maharbal said with genuine respect. 'You lot have earned that much.'

Almudena's reply was cut off by warning klaxons as the interior of the Valkyrie drowned in red light.

'What the frig are you doing in there?' Maharbal demanded from the pilot as the Valkyrie made a series of sharp turns that wrenched his guts with hammering G-forces. 'if you wanted to pursue a career in stunt flying you should have stayed a civilian!'

'We're in a bit of tight spot here!' The pilot cried from the cockpit as another warning light flickered into life. 'We've got incoming ground fire! Looks like the bastards set up an anti-air battery! Emperor's balls, we were told this area was cleared!'

'Oh, that's just frigging perfecting!' Maharbal roared. 'Buckle up lads and lasses! As you can see the pilot has lit the oh-shit-we're-all-going-to-die-sign. So this is going to get rough!'

'Isn't that the only way we travel?' One of the Sacred Band, a Lybim woman called Zibqet, yelled over the din.

Maharbal wanted to reply and say that he would not object to first class travel every once and a while. But he never got the chance.

Just then something impacted against the outside of the Valkyrie, tearing away a large chunk of the hull. Maharbal watched in horror as Zibqet's restraints buckled under the gravitational forces before giving way all together. The Dorkim Qdosim was wrenched from her seat and flung screaming out of the Valkyrie. Maharbal had fought with her for over five years and now he saw her vital signs flatlining on his heads up display. And just like that Zibqet was reduced to another statistic in Humanity's many wars.

'What's happening? What the frak is happening?' A frantic voice roared over the chaos, which Maharbal recognised as belonging to Almudena.

'We are losing altitude fast!' The pilot cried over the intercom. 'Brace for impact! I repeat, brace for impact!'

'No shit!' Maharbal managed to say before the Valkyrie impacted with the ground and his world exploded.

Almudena regained consciousness and immediately regretted it. He was still in his seat so he scrambled to undo his safety harness. Once he heard the satisfying click he scurried from his seat and looked at the wrecked interior of the Valkyrie.

He saw one of the offworlders still in his harness so he hurried over to the soldier to help him out. It took him a moment to notice the Qart-Hadastim's neck was bent at such an unnatural angle that there was no way he was still alive. He said a quick prayer for the soldier's soul and made his way out of the gaping hull breach.

The bright sunlight stung his eyes which were still used to the gloom of the inside of the Valkyrie. He blinked a few times as his pupils dilated, but what he saw then filled him with some measure of joy.

Most of his men, including Alejandrino, sat dazed near a rocky of outcrop. The surviving Sacred Band members sat alongside them, applying some sort of paint to their weapons and armour.

'Ah, you made it.' The armoured form of Maharbal said. The Sacred Band sergeant was in full armour, which was now also bedecked in strange symbols, so his voice emitted from the vox caster built into his helmet. 'We feared you had perished. This is good.'

'Is it?' Almudena asked, a note of hysteria creeping into his voice. 'We're stranded in hostile territory with our one means of escaping reduced to a smouldering heap of rubbish!'

'Are you dead?' Maharbal asked, his helmet betraying no emotion.

'N-no.' Almudena said taken aback.

'Then things could be worse.' Maharbal said and indicated one of the Sacred Band who was fiddling with a vox caster. 'Bodmelqart has already managed to send a distress signal, any Imperial presence within 50 kilometres have been alerted to our situation. You can thank him later.'

Bodmelqart uttered a grunt, leaving Almudena in no doubt where he could shove his felicitations.

'And what if the enemy shows up?' Almudena demanded.

Maharbal waved his hand to indicate their surroundings. By a stroke of luck, or by very skilful piloting by their now deceased pilot, they had crashed into a rocky defile strewn with boulders and with only one noticeable way in.

'Then we make our stand.' Maharbal said grimly. 'Death or salvation, both are fitting fates for soldiers of the Emperor.'

Almudena wanted to grab the offworlder by his armour and yell in his face that he was sick of his stoic bullshit and that he just wanted to go home to his friends and family. But he reckoned that would end with him being knocked out again, so he contented himself with pinching the bridge of his nose and exhaling deeply.

It was then he noticed that the dataslate integrated in Maharbal's left gauntlet was beeping.

'What is that noise?' He asked. Dreading the answer.

'My auspex. We have xenos inbound.' Maharbal said. 'I suggest you gather your men and take up defensive positions.'

'Yes,' Almudena said, resigned to his fate. 'I suppose I ought to do that.'