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Chapter 12: Battlefield Kronus
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Part 5
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Victory Bay
Kronus
By the time we could get away from the hospital, all hell had broken loose above Victory Bay. The sky burned with falling stars, and each one of them was a deadly piece of Orkish scrap. That or Orks coming in to kill as many people as they could.
The shattered remnants of the Aeronautica Imperialis raised to meet them – just a handful of bare
ly air-worthy fighters. Missile contrails flew upwards followed by a long burst of flack from Hydras. Sonic booms thundered like artillery, and the first scattered debris reached the city, damaging buildings and scything through unlucky bastards.
"And thus, the attack of the mushrooms begins…" I muttered, quoting something barely remembered that dashed through my mind.
"We aren't making it to a proper bunker!" Leftenant Pickos exclaimed. Somehow, she was still alive, mostly intact, and back in Victory Bay as a part of my security detail.
From what little I could glean, most of her unit didn't make it. There were a lot of new and young faces among the troopers surrounding us. Most of them had expressions of disbelief, complete with widened eyes staring at the spectacle above us.
"We need hardcover, now." Anteas' voice boomed. It sliced through the roar of de-orbiting debris and shook us all.
"The grumpy Librarian is right. Find cover first, watch fireworks second, kill Orks third." I added, putting as much authority in my voice as I could. To my dying breath, I will deny croaking a suggestion instead of giving an order in the best Inquisitorial fashion.
"What the Inquisitor said." Charles rasped. He had the chainsword hanging off a belt slung over his shoulder and a laspistol in hand. In that regard, he was similar to Anteas. My Blood Raven buddy got a Bolt Pistol from the Ogryn, along with a belt with a dagger that would pass muster as a short sword if you were a normal-sized fellow.
I had to make do with an ill-fitted carapace chest plate and yet another chainsword.
All things considered, it was a good thing we had at least a Guard Platoon, complete with vehicles. Even if some of them were likely greener than the Orks coming to kill us all. I wasn't going to look at this particular gift too closely.
It was most certainly not good that said vehicles were rather useless as far as getting us to relative safety. The streets were chock-full with screaming people running to safety, while groups of more level-headed citizens tried to cling together while doing the same.
Not a small group of citizens fell to their knees when they saw us and began praying for salvation. As if any of us could simply wave a hand and make the debris go away!
"The Emperor's light shines upon us! Salvation is at hand!" A bare-chested priest screamed in rapture. His eyes burned with fanaticism, and he gleefully waved a brand of incense around.
"Ave Emperor!" His followers chorused.
"Inquisitor, your talk with the priests have been very effective, I see."
I could barely hear Charles' dry voice over the chanting, screaming, and explosions.
"Make us a way, good people of the Imperium!" I tried to bullshit our way through the gathering crowd. With every passing moment, more and more people joined it, instead of doing the sensible thing and running away to a shelter.
Instead of scattering and dispersing, the crowd swelled, and soon all that kept me, Anteas, and Charles away from being swamped was a very thin line of Guardsmen and a pair of Necrons. I looked around for Selene and saw her on the shoulders of one of her alien guards, waving at the crowd.
Some people recoiled from the sight and for a moment, I was sure we would have a fanaticism-fuelled riot on our hands. We might get torn to pieces by our damn people too, and wouldn't that be an inglorious end?
"This is a test from the Emperor!" The priest screeched. Damn, that bastard had a drill instructor's lungs on him. "Trust your faith, not what you feel!" He raved. "Here stands blessed Daemons' Bane and his cohort!"
"Daemons' Bane! Ave Emperor! Ave Inquisitor!"
Fuck my life.
"At least your fan-club is going strong!" Charles exclaimed.
That was rich coming from my chief fan-boy.
"Weber, I swear to the Emperor, if you had anything to do with this…" I hissed back while giving the crowd my best reassuring smile.
"Inquisitor, look!" Anteas roared and pointed at something above us.
His voice managed to cut through the chanting of the mob, if barely. Many shining eyes looked at where he was pointing and a stir went through the crowd.
Several crude drop pods fell towards the city. In the distance, fiery lances pierced the heavens from orbit and picked up larger pieces of debris. The only reason we could see that much in the first place was the location of the field hospital – in one of the many open-air parks in Victory Bay.
AA emplacements shifted their fire, and a pair of Lighting Interceptors vectored their way.
Instead of running, the crowd surrounding us went wild at the spectacle. A missile hit one pod, tearing a large chunk of it and sending it spinning out of control. Flack bracketed multiple pods. HEAP shells bit into their armor and soon tore open a few of the pods. Screaming Orks tumbled all over the city.
The Interceptors made a good pass using Lascannons, and two pods turned into burning slag raining upon the city.
Yet, there has more been coming. Instead of slowing down, the damn things accelerated. Some opened, and Orks began jumping out. A few of them even had crude rocket packs strapped to their backs.
Three pods in particular concerned me. They flew towards us low and fast. One didn't make it. The pod clipped a tall building, spun, and then plowed through another at a steep angle. The crash was deafening, and the resulting collapse covered a whole district in dust and shattered glass. An interceptor flew perilously low, and shortly before the pods reached us, shot one, neatly spearing it. The bright laser bolt passed harmlessly over our heads, and with a bit of luck, it wouldn't hit anything important.
The last pod kept on flying. Rockets activated at its front, slowing it down just before it passes above us. A couple of dozen Orks or so jumped out, brandishing all kinds of weapons.
"WAAAGH!"
Explosions, rocket roar, and Orkish war-cries momentarily silenced the crowd, while we were helpless to anything but watch.
"At them! For the Emperor! For the Inquisitor!" The crazy priest roared right back at the Orks while they landed into the crowd with predictably gruesome results.
"Let's go save those fools. For the Emperor!" I pulled out my sword and revved it up. "And someone get Selene out of here!"
=ATBS=
Part 6
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Victory Bay
Kronus
Metric fuck-tons of Orks landing in the middle of a fired-up crowd. Only one way this could end.
The only thing I found particularly concerning among the unfolding insanity was how banal it all was. The fountains of blood and gore erupting with every impact produced by landing Orks were just there, little more than window dressing. The screams, the coppery stench of fresh blood and shit, those were marginally more effective in affecting me.
They all paled in comparison at the sheer fury I felt at the fools running to their death, the same fools countless good men and women died to keep safe.
"Move, damn you!" I screamed as loud as I could, which wasn't very. While I wasn't exactly as weak as a kitten, I had no business getting stuck right into this mess.
Yet, this was my fucking job! It was my Emperor given duty to stand between the regular citizens of the Imperium and all the horrors who would gleefully butcher them or worse.
Like that huge, laughing enthusiast who managed to cover himself with guts and wore them like daemon bait. The fucker was coming straight at me, and I was painfully aware I had a tiny chainsword to meet him. I had a bionic arm too, which helped because I was sure otherwise my fingers would be trembling.
The Ork roared at me, the sheer power of the sound forcing me to stumble a step back. Then he looked down, where a bunch of crazed fanatics had a go at him, mostly unarmed. A quick swipe with a crude ax turned the poor bastards in mince-meat.
As if that wasn't a fuck up enough, a little kid stumbled out of the crowd, crying. Right in the way of the Ork, because someone up there hated me.
I could vaguely make Pickos cursing her people and kicking them into gear.
"Hey, ugly!" I screamed at the brute, whose tiny eyes focused on me. "Charles, get the kid. Anteas…" Another roar came from the right, then a missile flew above the crowd and slammed at something behind us.
The explosion was close enough to rattle my bones and ensure all I could hear was a dull screech.
At least Santos was on the ball and coherent light lanced at the Ork, barely fazing it. A hand grabbed at me, succeeding in holding me back. I saw Weber sprint towards the kid, all the while shooting at the Ork. The damn thing barely slowed down and at that rate, there could be only one result.
I cursed whoever pulled me back to the depth of the Warp, and speaking of it, it was like veil lifting. Suddenly, I could feel the Immaterium, and the golden cage cast over Kronus.
"Thank you, Emperor!" I muttered a prayer, and heedless for the dangers, drank deeply from the power waiting for me. It flowed into me like a river, and with the Warp came the screams of countless frenzied Daemons baying for my soul. There were large things moving over there, just beyond the barrier and every single one of them had their attention on me.
I could swear I heard hounds howling for my blood and immediately knew that I should close myself to the Immaterium. Instead, I channeled the power bubbling within me into an ethereal lighting bolt and sent it at the greenskin ponderously charging at Charles. I saw in slow motion how the Commissar dropped his pistol and skid to a painful stop beside the kid. He grabbed the child with his hand and slowly, oh so slowly, began to turn around.
He wasn't going to make it.
Thankfully, my Warp attack changed the equation. The lightning bolt struck the Ork into the chest, burning through its scrap armor. It stumbled, nearly tumbling down, yet kept standing. Las-bolts kept taking chunks off it, yet the damned mushroom refused to die.
Right, vital spots could be anywhere in the body.
The Guard finally did something useful. A multi-laser spoke and caught the brute in the leg, vaporizing most of it. The Ork finally fell, and instead of dying, it began crawling our way.
The world sped up. The pressure into my head increased, and I was about to let go of the Warp when a second, even larger and better-armored Ork exploded from the frenzied mob. The screaming upper torso of the priest flew past me and struck someone right behind me, showering me with blood.
I caught a glimpse of another missile, which flew true. A multi-laser burst cut short struck the crowd behind the charging Ork, adding to the butchery. The damned mushroom saw Charles and for some reason decided that the Commissar would make a good chew-toy. Or perhaps, it was in a battle frenzy, focusing on everything in its path.
It didn't matter. It ran at Weber, and the scattered shots hitting it merely blasted away pieces of armor.
I didn't think, just ran, pulling as much power as I could. It was right there, the cleansing light and I grabbed at it. Daemons roared, I could feel them clawing at my soul even as they burned.
Suddenly, I was in front of Charles, standing before his retreating form. The Ork slashed at me with a sword better fit for Terminator and I somehow managed to get my chainsword up just in time. Parrying the strike was a bad idea. It brought me to my knees and wrenched the weapon from my bionic grip.
The Ork roared at me in fury and I roared right back. My world was fire. It was light and pain. There was an ugly Xeno in front of me, and I wanted it to go away.
I didn't think, I couldn't. I could smell my blood boiling, a huge form roaring in triumph as its clawed fingers closed around my very soul. Something, someone, looked at me from very far away.
For the second time in my life, I beheld Divinity.
Kaurava. Aurelia.
Those words burned themselves into my soul. For a moment they were everything, the only thing keeping my mind from shattering when an impossibly powerful, familiar, and comforting presence overwhelmed everything I was.
Those words, those words, they were a price I had to repay.
A Daemon screamed at being denied and countless others chorused in an infernal cacophony.
I burned and died, only to burn again and reform. All my world was golden fire. It burned down and rebuilt my soul. Once again, I felt a fraction of the agony the Emperor experienced every single moment for the past ten thousand years. The agony and understanding of what He on Holly Terra sacrificed and continued to sacrifice for every single one of us were humbling. It was eye-opening, a lesson and a pledge engraved upon my soul.
I held a sword of golden fire, crafted of the Emperor's own power. Plunging the blade into the Ork standing frozen above me was the most reasonable and natural thing in the world.
Golden fire engulfed the Xeno and purged it from the surface of Kronus. I stared blankly at the ghostly, transparent arm holding the blade. I blinked, and it began fading away, along with the fiery sword.
The next thing I knew, I was surrounded by countless moths of fire, which flew up to become a part of the radiance surrounding Kronus. Some of them slowly changed direction and headed my way, becoming tiny silver strings connecting me to the people around. It was Faith. Pure, unthinking, faith.
It was power. I could taste it. The refined hopes and dreams of Humanity itself. It's fear and rage, its pain and cry for salvation.
I knew I wasn't worthy of it, not when it was aimed my way. I could do nothing less but answer those cries even as I basked into the faith of those crying for salvation.
What happened next was a sheer instinct. I gathered the power filling me and unleashed it, answering the cries of those nearby. Pure golden energy cascaded from my form, touching everything around me. The crowd staggered. In a single act, I vindicated their belief and proved it true. The wisps of faith feeding the Emperor, the same tiny strings now attached to my very soul, thickened a bit, becoming firmer, almost tangible. For a moment, it was a two-way street.
I poured more power into the connection. Wounds healed, shattered bones mended. And the remaining Orks? They fell upon a tide of Humanity surrounded by Divine radiance.
Whatever I just did, took almost everything I had to give. I fell on my hands and knees, staring at the blood-soaked ground. The power surging through me was too much, and I had no idea how to control it. Worse, or perhaps it was for the best, the distant beacon that was the Emperor kept looking at me. For a split second, I served as a beacon too, and a tide of his divinity clashed into the Immaterium surrounding Kronus.
Daemons beyond numbers had a mere moment to see the annihilation coming at them and then they burned.
I was a mere pawn in a greater war. That much I knew. A war I unwittingly escalated with my presence and now it was time to pay the piper.
The Emperor's attention waned, and I crashed hard. The shower of divine power dried out. The last thing I saw was Selene, holding a single snow-white feather. She looked straight at me, with her soulful gold-specked eyes and smiled.
My eyes closed, and I fell into an uneasy slumber.
=ATBS=
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