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A Tale of blood and steel
=ATBS=
Chapter 2: Dawn of war
Part 1
Jenova Town
Deimos Peninsula
Kronus
Before I could start cleaning up all the blood and gore covering me, I found myself picked up as if I was a small child and staring at the glowing eyes of Anteas' helmet. I could feel him probing me through the Warp – no doubt searching for any sign of Chaos taint.
If he found any I was a goner.
Needless to say, that made me damn nervous.
"Huh. You're clean." The Librarian muttered and carefully put me down.
I sighed in relief.
"You sure?" One of the braver or dumber troopers asked aloud.
Anteas turned with dexterity belittling his bulk and stared at the soldier. "No more taint than any Space Marine who faced Chaos up close and personal." The giant rumbled.
"Well, that's a relief. Leftenant, we have an Inquisitor to save. Let's move people!" I paused and glared at the offal covering me. "Where's my damned rag?!"
"Form up! Elen, your squad stays with the Chimeras, the rest with me. Alpha on point." Pickos ordered. "On foot or mounted?" She asked and pointed at the target building.
"Here, sir." Santos gave me the cloak of the man I shot at the start of the current unpleasantries.
"Thanks. That should do." I muttered and started cleaning up. "Foot. APCs will provide cover if needed." I paused. "Belay that!" I shouted a moment later. "Call HQ and have them check about building schematics and defenses – there might be records in the capital. There's no sense to get shredded in the open by sentry turrets or something." I pointed at the Librarian. "He probably can take anything they could dish out, but the lest of us are much squishier."
"That's actually prudent, considering." Anteas rumbled. "A teeny bit better than I would expect from a greener than grass fresh schola graduate anyway. The backup will be down in a few minutes." The Space Marine continued.
"You know, your words do wonders for my self-esteem." I snarked back.
"You've got the guts to talk back to me, don't you?" The smile was clear in his voice. "That however demonstrates a startling lack of brains or at least good judgment. Leftenant, get that small hill scanned." Anteas pointed at the slight rise partially hiding the plaza from the Arbiter's HQ.
"Right away, My Lord!" The LT snapped a salute and started issuing the relevant orders.
"Nasty surprises?" I asked, while trying to remove a piece of, was that a jaw, from my belt.
"If it was me, I would have at least mined this side to ruin the day of anyone who thought the hill would provide good cover."
"Just mines?" I inquired.
I could feel a tiny, very tiny bit of approval radiating from the Astartes.
"Of course not!" Anteas growled. "Sentry turrets, indirect fire, redundant sensor net. It would be best if the hill was simply a cover for a nice adamantite plated bunker chock full with nice toys and murderous bastards."
"Nice image – if they're on our side."
"A bit of fun otherwise." The Librarian nodded sagely. It sounded like it was from personal experience.
Who was I kidding? Of course it was! He was likely hundreds of years old super soldier who had seen campaigns all across the galaxy!
"Any other advice for a newbie like me?" I asked. While we had a bit of quiet, it dawned on me that picking up his brain for ways to keep myself alive might be prudent. That and keeping him between myself and whatever nasty thing tried to eviscerate me the next time.
"We don't have a decade to spare." Anteas deadpanned.
"How did you retain or get a sense of humor?" I asked. I was almost done with mopping up brains and viscera off me. Note to self – try to avoid cutting apart heretics with a chainblade and shoot them instead. Preferably from safe distance. The stench of blood was becoming a bin nauseating.
"Well, most of my brothers think me a bit strange." The Librarian somehow shrugged in his armor in such a way that the suit actually made a half decent facsimile of the gesture. "While they're decent guys, mostly, they tend to be a bit… how to put it? Stiff?" Anteas sighed.
I gave him a weird look. He was nothing like I was taught about the Adeptus Astartes! Oh, he was a superhuman killing machine – something the man amply demonstrated just a few minutes ago. His soul was the grandest one I felt besides the Emperor's, something that put him high above the rest of us mortals. Yet, despite that, right here and now, he felt oddly human and I found that more reassuring than I could properly describe.
"Tips… Let's see… Don't get killed, duh." The Librarian nodded, making me smirk.
"Even I think that's obvious."
"Many don't." Anteas sounded less than pleased with whatever memory my quip brought up. "So don't get killed unless it serves the Emperor and Humanity best in the situation. More importantly, see the latter and don't get your men killed unless it's absolutely necessary to get the job done. The Emperor can use live soldiers better than a bunch of very dead martyrs."
Yep, I definitely liked him. The troopers who could overhear us apparently shared the sentiment – even with my warp senses clamped shut I could feel their spirits rising up a bit as they heard our conversation – something that I'm sure wasn't lost to the Space Marine.
"Let's sum it up – don't die like imbeciles. Consider that a standing order." Anteas continued. "The next simple thing, for dummies like you." A giant, armored hand rested on my shoulder. "Charging Emperor damned heretics like a crazy Khornate berzerker, when you aren't wearing a power armor - like you just did – is a great way to die like an imbecile. So don't do that if there's another way. Like ever, or just spare us all the embarrassment of working with you and get your head blown right away."
"I won't hear the end of this, would I?" I moaned.
"You made not too terrible impersonation of a Khornate cultist. If I wasn't a reasonable man, I would have vented your brains just in case. Or for sport." Anteus spoke in a serious tone that sent shivers down my spine.
The Librarian's head snapped up and he pointed at the dark sky. "They're here."
I looked up and could spot a pair of fast approaching fireballs which appeared to be aiming straight at us.
"They know that there're friendlies in the area, right?" I asked.
"They should." Anteus nodded. "Everyone, kiss the ground!" The Librarian shouted in a voice that reverberated in my bones.
I wasted no time in following his bellowed instruction and dived into the short grass next. A few moments later, the world ended in a bass roar and twin hammer blows that shook me to the impression was reinforced by a rain of smoking debris that started impacting all around us.
The cavalry just arrived and almost killed us in the process. This rescue mission was getting better and better and we were yet to meet the real enemy.
=ATBS=
Part 2
Jenova Town
Deimos Peninsula
Kronus
I got up and shook myself of the loose earth covering me.
"Well, that was a bit close for comfort." I muttered.
"Brother Anteas, orders, sir!" A deep bass voice rumbled from behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder to see eight crimson giants carrying enough weapons to win a battle or two by themselves – standard bolters, a missile launcher, heavy melta and a heavy bolter. Then there were a lot of grenades and other nice stuff that went boom.
Each of them had to be at least two twenty high and that was before they got in the power armor.
They made the rest of us look like little children.
"Brother Sergeant Whent." The Librarian greeted. "Traitors holed in the Arbiter HQ. Unknown defenses, the guard is trying to find us building schematics. The enemy possibly has the Lord Inquisitor still alive somewhere in the building. Purge the traitors and recover him if he's still alive. We'll provide support."
"Affirmitive. Nort, scan the area. Lorne, I want an AP missile ready. Kelso, you're blowing up any obstakles." Whent started issuing orders aloud. "Are you ready?" He turned his attention at me.
"Yes." I answered simply. Raging at eight Astartes after they perhaps not so accidentally got you killed was hazardoust to one's health.
"Good. Follow us and try to keep up. Can we proceed, sir?" Whent asked.
"Move in." Anteas ordered.
That was enough – the Astartes suddenly accelerated faster than a speeding chimera. They were almost a blur as they ascended the hill and charged the Arbiters' HQ.
"What are you waiting for?" I snapped at the guardsmen and drew my sword, hoping that whatever defended our target would be too busy with the marines to shoot at us squishy normal men and women. A moment later I started running after the Astartes.
Anteus shook his head and simply strode beside me, not bothering to even jog. "Whent has always been a bit on the eager side." The Librarian muttered.
"Didn't you just tell me not to charge the enemy in the open?"
"Without proper power armor." Anteas deadpanned. He lit up with purple fire and made a throwing gesture. A forked lighting detached from his armored glove, arched over the advancing space marines and struck a pair of bolter turrets that appeared from the wall of the HQ. The warp attack fried the defensive emplacements before they could even try seeking targets.
Almost in the same instant, the rest of the Astartes opened fire. The deafening sound of bolters firing was almost like a phyiscal blow. The marines obviously had no problem hitting their targets, despite their sprint, because their rounds were tearing apart the Arbiters' defenses before they could properly come online.
I shook my head in disbelief. I knew they were incredible warriors, but this… They were taking out targets that weren't there a split second ago, before I could properly register the emplacements appearing all over the HQ's facade. I was almost sure that this was the case for most guardsmen as well. I knew that I wouldn't be able to react at anything aporaching such reaction speed without a liberal dose of Warp enhancements and even then it was going to be very, very hard to compete with such reaction times.
That really made me see the dangers of my chosen line of work. Because I knew that as great as the Emeror's Angels of Death were, there were many, many enemies that could match them in combat ability. As an initiate in the Ordo Xenos, I was supposed to be hunting a lot of those things too.
Lucky me.
All that ran through my head as I sprinted after the armored titans, hoping to clear the open ground before some enterprising traitor tried to snipe me or something. To make matters worse, right now I didn't feel confident enough to draw on the Warp and enhance myself and thus getting better chances at surviving. After all, there were worse things than dying for the Emperor - like fucking up by the numbers and becoming a daemon's newest toy. With the state of the Warp right now, that latter was too likely for comfort.
Behind me, the platoon crested the hill and charged after us giving various war-cries. I hopped that the mech element would arrive soon too, because the chimeras combining their firepower with the Astartes were almost guaranteed to get us through the killing ground.
They better get in place soon, too. The emplacements were getting online faster and faster and soon there would be more than the marines could take out… or the Angels of Death would reach the building and start storming it, probably leaving the rest of us get torn to shreds.
You got to love the geniuses that issued conflicting orders to the marines and guard.
A turret popped up and it wasn't immediately blown up. It survived long enough to aim and sent a burst at the leading marine before being silenced. Three spears of coherent light harmlessly splashed over his chest plate. Fortunately, it was just a standard las emplacement, instead of another bolter, because even Astartes armor might have failed to a burst of high calibre bolter rounds, especially at that range.
Then the Chimeras finnaly got into position and added their heavy weapons to the onslaught.
Just in time too – the marines reached the heavy doors and one of them pulled a charge from his bakcpack, while the rest took positions to the side. That in turn cut their firing arks, allowing turrets to appear with impunity.
"Odd section, covering fire!" Pickos shouted. A moment later, red beams lanced from behind me and started impacting the HQ.
In the meantime, Anteas moved faster and got between me and the building. I grinned like a loon. His bulk made for a great mobile cover, especially after the waved a hand and summoned a spherical shield made of purple energy.
"Try not to die yet, kid!" The Librarian shouted, then unleashed another lighting strike upon the HQ's defenses.
A flash of light and a sound like ringing gong announced the Astartes taking care of the door. I heard someone screaming in pain from behind but didn't bother looking back and just kept running after Anteas. A few seconds later, the building was towering above us. Turrets were taking pot shots at us, but their ordinance detonated harmlessly upon Anteas' shield. Bursts of heavy bolter fire and grenades was wracking the facade, shattering its murals and taking out emplacement after emplacement. Then the Librarian leaned forward and went through a ragged, glowing hole blasted into the main entrance. I didn't think but dived in after him.
A huge arm dragged me up to my feet.
"You in one piece?" Anteas asked.
I simply nodded, trying to catch my breath.
"Good. Come one, we have an Inquisitor to find."
"What about the guard?" I rasped.
"I sent one squad back to give them cover. I'll have a chat with Whent once we're somewhere secure." The Librarian growled.
