FIVE
If I had any hopes of getting a few hours of rest to clear my head, those hopes were not only dashed but pummelled, skinned, fed through a grinder, grilled, and then tossed to a pack of Kamagrian wolves while its pelt was turned into a fashionable area rug. My mind wandered like a malfunctioning skull probe as I sat in my room, sipping my recaf. As I had mentioned before, everything Kael said was to be taken with extreme caution. It was more than likely that he was outright lying to me in order to manipulate me and I kept telling myself that fact over and over again throughout the next hour. Unfortunately, I had as much trouble believing those words after the repeating them to myself for hundredth time as I did upon hearing them for the first time. I should have instantly dismissed him and his inferences. I make that statement now solely based on the infinite wisdom of hindsight. I have met far too many Eldar over my many decades of service who had no qualms flipping between truth and lies, using whichever story best suited their needs. Kael might have easily been doing the exact same thing. Still, early on in our…business partnership, I knew that there was something markedly different about Kael. It was a subtle pull that I had once, mistakenly, attributed to some sort of psychic manipulation. But even when accompanied by a psychic blank, that subconscious pull was there. As crazy as it sounds, I could just tell by intuition that Kael wasn't trying to deceive me as much as I tried to convince myself otherwise.
Unfortunately, trying to convince other people that I wasn't being manipulated was a more arduous task.
As my recaf-fueled mind drifted from topic to topic – Kael's words, the upcoming operation, Broklaw's choice of tactics, and where can I find a bottle of amasec – I was eventually able to push the thoughts of Kael out of my mind completely. If his aim had been to distract me, he had been succeeding thus far and I knew that I couldn't head into the field with a preoccupied mind. Regardless of whether what Kael said was true or not, it didn't change the fact that I was about to head out into a region that was likely infested with Eldar scouts and ambushers, all of whom wouldn't hesitate to turn my head into a new hood ornament for my centaur. Despite my concerns, I had a task that would require my full attention, more so than I realized at the time, and my stubborn devotion to my duty was enough to get my mind back on task.
It helped that Watz arrived at that moment having just heard news of my next assignment. He was understandably concerned about the potential risks we were undertaking all in the name of the Emperor. He pondered rhetorically about which surgeon we had used to get our lobotomies in order to think it was a good idea to send out patrols, with which the desired outcome was to get ambushed by the xenos that made hit-and-runs their specialties. Apparently he wanted to know if he could get an appointment booked too just so that he could finally understand the thought processes of the officer pool. Normally I would've told Watz to shut up and grow a pair but today his concerns were a welcomed distraction.
"Have you fought against the Eldar a lot?" I asked as I finished off what was left in my mug. It was growing close to the scheduled launch time and I would need a few minutes with Captain Sulla in order to lay down some ground rules.
"Once was too often," he replied. "Who do you think frakked my face?" I've always considered it a bizarre analogy of our relationship that never once in our time together did I ever get a full glimpse of Watz's face. He always ate in private regardless of how hungry he was when the rest of us were eating and he even slept with his gasmask on. He was a man who was never uncomfortable speaking his mind even when it included phrases like 'I hope a rabid Carpathian she-wolf rapes you in your sleep, you flat-footed frakker' straight to a general's face (but he was PDF so nobody cared); so when I came across the few subjects that he did express an aversion to, I knew that no amount of asking or prying would get him to divulge the information before he was ready to. Even Heilmit knew little about the subject and the two of them were practically brothers after everything they had been through together. "Now I'm all for getting a little payback with those sons of bitches but if you ask me, what we're doing is going to get a lot of good people killed for no reason."
"Fighting the enemies of the Emperor should be reason enough," I quickly replied. Watz was never one for that sort of explanation. To him, that was just admitting that you had no good reason and I shared that sentiment. That's likely why he didn't believe it even when I said it. "Listen, we either go find the xenos or we sit around and wait for their next attack. I, for one, prefer to take the initiative."
"Of course, because why should we have the luxury of waiting for the next attack in the comfort of our quarters when we could go trod around the ruins and wait for them to attack us there? Should I go and paint the bulls-eye on my back, commissar?"
"I doubt that will be necessary, I understand their aim is good enough without adding training aids to the equation" I said with a chuckle. Watz may have complained a lot but when the warp broke loose, there were few people I'd rather have at my side. So regardless of all his previous complaints, when I finally put down my mug and told him to get his gear together, he went ahead without another word.
I had hoped to run into Commissar Cain before my departure but when I inquired as to his whereabouts, Watz was prompt in informing me that Cain and his party had already left for their objective. Cain reasoned it was better to get a head start since he had a further distance to go. I was a little disappointed since I wanted to speak to him about Kael's sudden appearance but it would have to wait until he returned.
"Is something wrong Commissar Abel?" Watz suddenly asked.
"What makes you think something is wrong?"
"You're fidgeting with your laspistol again. You always do that when you're worried about something." It took a moment for me to even realize that he was correct. I had had my hand on my laspistol since we left my room, lightly tapping its frame with my index. It was likely a subconscious thing like the way Cain usually fidgeted with his gloves whenever he was concerned about something. I guess I always felt more comfortable when I was in control of the situation and since most situations that caused me grief also involved me getting shot at, my mind eventually just linked the thought of having a weapon in hand with having a grip on things.
And I just made a horrible pun there.
I hadn't anticipated that I had been working alongside Watz long enough for him to pick up on my subtle cues but he was apparently more observant than I had expected. But that ability of his was one of the things that made him an irreplaceable aide. Looking back on my time with Watz, I could understand how Cain held such high regard for his aide even though he smelled like an Ork that had been eaten and regurgitated by a carnifex. "It's about that Kael guy isn't it?" he added. I nodded, knowing I would be unable to hide the truth from him at this point.
"How'd you guess?" I replied.
"Given the current situation, there are only a few things that would make you nervous: Kael, the mission, or your repressed feelings for the Major."
"Good point, I…wait, what?"
"'What?' what?"
"What was that last thing you just said?"
"I said 'the mission.' Why? What did you think I said?"
"I just…uh, I thought…" I hesitated for moment, wondering if I had simply lost my marbles at last. "Oh, nevermind." I knew that it would be impossible to hide the tension between Broklaw and me from those closest to us but I hadn't imagined it would happen so quickly. Of course, I would have been lucky if Watz had been the only one to play head games with me. Somehow I could tell that he was smirking under his mask but to say anything would be to draw attention to the issue and I was still in the 'keep a low profile, deny everything' phase of dealing with those emotions. "I spoke with Kael not too long before your arrival," I admitted with a sigh.
"That bastard was here?" Watz exclaimed before I hastily motioned for him to keep it down. I obviously didn't want that news announced to the whole building. All it would take is one accusation of consorting with aliens and I would be on my way to a penal world before I'd even have a chance to explain myself. "What was he doing here?" he asked in a much quieter voice.
I shrugged. I wished I had an answer beyond speculation. "I think it was a warning or something…he wasn't exactly concise."
"Only a fool thinks they can get a straight answer out of an Eldar," Watz said bitterly. "That Eldar is bad news, even by xeno standards. You better shoot him the next time you see him."
"Believe me, I've been trying," I said with a sigh. "He's been prepared for that every time. I'm guessing he'll only come for me when he knows it's safe."
"Well maybe you should set a trap of some sort – do something he won't expect. You might be able to get straight answers out of him once he's been drugged, shackled and beaten."
I hadn't given much thought to the idea of trying to lay a trap for Kael. A first glance it might seem like a logical course of action but Kael has demonstrated a knack for anticipating opposition. Granted our fates only became intertwined because he didn't foresee my intervention back on Magnus Viridis but since then he's been able to keep two steps ahead of me. In retrospect, if I had known about Jurgen's special gift at the time I would have sought Cain's assistance. Such as it was, I had little idea of how to outwit an Eldar who had spent centuries running mental rings around humans. But he wasn't infallible. All I had to do was shift paradigm and do something I would normally never consider. Unfortunately, all that came to mind were a lot of ideas that I would normally consider. I hated the idea of not having control over something that important so it was natural for me to think of various solutions. It was from that train of thought that I got my idea. "Watz, I want you to take care of it."
"Of Kael? Uhh…I think I might be a bit outmatched there, commissar," Watz replied understandably confused.
"I just need you to think of some sort of plan we can use…you know, something that I would normally never consider because it's too crazy or outrageous. Be creative."
"Creative I can do but I warn you, you might not like what I come up with. It'll probably be…unorthodox."
"Unorthodox is good," I said reassuringly. "He won't expect that. The crazier, the better." In hindsight, perhaps I shouldn't have said that last part. Watz appeared eager to prove his worth and validate my trust in him (or he just really wanted to outwit the Eldar). He said he wouldn't let me down and would start asking around for something he already had in mind. Just as a random thought, I asked if he had heard of somebody named Vail that Kael might be connected to in some way. As I expected, he shrugged his shoulder and said that the only 'Miss Vail' he knew of was a Trooper Vale in third company…but that girl was as sharp as a soggy biscuit so I doubt that she would have anything to do with the Eldar. I only recognized the name because she once came across the disciplinary board for setting the kitchen on fire while making tea (and don't ask me how - we had a three-man investigation team come up with no answers after a week). Given that I was no closer to finding out whom this Vail person was and I still had an overly enthusiastic captain to put a leash on, we hurried on our way.
Outside, Captain Sulla was as pleased to see me as I had expected - poorly veiled disappointment mixed with an eagerness to prove her worth nonetheless. Perhaps she interpreted my attachment as a sign of attention from the legendary commissar and if she proved her worth, eventually he would grace her with his presence. It was an unfamiliar sentiment given that most captains wanted the commissar to be as far away as possible.
"Ready to go wrangle up some xenos?" Sulla remarked when she saw my aides and I. The captain and her handpicked team were already prepped for launch when I arrived. Cain apparently explicitly told them to wait for me, which was a good thing because I doubt Sulla would have waited otherwise. Most of the other parties had already departed and Sulla hated being the last to leave. Once again my ability to recognize people in gasmasks came into play and I was able to easily pinpoint the captain's location despite the absence of the usual visual cues. I could almost hear the ear-to-ear grin in her voice. The patrol itself was comprised of five teams: four teams consisting of a chimera and ten soldiers, and one team composed of the command chimera plus a second chimera and its compliment of ten soldiers. We hoped to keep the teams in a close but loose formation but in order to cover enough ground we would inevitably have to split into individual elements. I decided to stay with the command chimera – most of the CC's crew were needed to operate the vox caster, auspex scanner, and skull probes, so the added security would be necessary or at least that's what I told Sulla. More importantly I needed to be close by if I was to have any chance of keeping Sulla in line.
Since everybody had been waiting for me, we headed into the ruined cityscape. Since we were certain that the areas surrounding both the base camp and the Mechanicus' excavation site were secure (which we referred to as the green zone), we were able to ride the chimeras out to the borders of the green zone. Adhering to Cain's advice, I listened in on the vox chatter between the various patrols, occasionally catching a few messages sent from Cain and his party. From what I could piece together from all the chatter, the ruins were filled with a whole lot of nothing. If there were any Eldars out there, they were doing a very good job at keeping a low profile. Of course, if I saw a column of armoured transports rolling by, I too would have kept my head down.
The soldiers around me were quiet for the most part. I heard Cain's name pop up in hushed whispers a few times so I suspected some were discussing his heroic defence of the communication spire. I spent my time reading over a map of the area we were scouting, which had been taped onto the wall next to the vox caster. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about our destination. It appeared to have once been a residential hab complex, which would have meant a lot of hiding places for ambushers but most of the hab-spires had big red X's over them marking them as having been destroyed. Since the underground tunnel system would be too small for vehicles, the Eldar had to have a base located on the surface to launch their attacks from. Too bad hover tanks don't leave tracks or we might've had something to go on. With so many mountains of crushed rockrete and plasteel around us, the auspex scanners on the chimeras were only going to detect alien bio-signatures within a ten meter radius and even then it was patchy at the extremities. The only things giving our party any clue as to what was around were the skull probes, which trailed several meters overhead.
"Okay people, we're nearing our destination so everybody out," Sulla said over the vox up as the chimeras slowly came to a halt. There were way too many tight corners to do an effective search from inside the vehicle, so everybody save for the vehicle crews clambered out into the hazy, wind-swept streets. Or at least the map said we were on a street. There were so many craters and mountains of rubble that it was hard to tell where we stood. "You're welcome to ride in one of the chimeras if you want," the captain said to me just before I stepped out of the transport.
"I'll walk. I could use the fresh air," I replied. Being the commissar already drew enough attention to me, I didn't need to augment it by riding around in the bullet-magnets. What I saw shouldn't have surprised me but the scope of the destruction the Imperial Navy had wrought did not become obvious to me until I was standing in the middle of it. What was left of the streets were filled with twisted metal hulks of cars, trucks, and tanks; spires that once touched the clouds were smashed across the earth, flattening entire city blocks beneath their girth; ruined, hollowed towers that looked as though they were only staying upright by the sheer force of will of all the people down below; and aside from the chugging of the chimera engines behind us, all was dead silent.
"Like finding a fart in an Ork camp," Watz commented as he took his usual position at my side.
"Except these farts are armed with shuriken guns," I replied.
"Catapult."
"I beg your pardon?"
"They're called shuriken catapults," Watz explained. He could probably sense me glaring at him. "Just…didn't want you walking around using the wrong terminology that's all commissar."
"Okay smart guy, you get to take point," I replied. I usually didn't punish Watz for his smart-ass remarks aside from a bit of verbal wrist-slapping but today this just gave me a good excuse. I was going to suggest him to take the lead regardless. Seeing as he was accustomed to fighting in a gasmask, I had more confidence in Watz's perception. He was also by nature a cautious person so he'd be even more alert compared to the others. He didn't enjoy being given the assignment but I wasn't his boss just so I could be on his Emperor's Day card list. He grumbled a bit but being at the front meant we didn't have to hear any of his other complaints.
The five teams began to branch out with ours advancing up the center with the two teams on either side advancing up parallel corridors. Sulla wanted a slightly wider advance but I vetoed her in favour of keeping a slightly tighter defence. It meant we would take longer but whether or not we were attacked wasn't a matter of when, just if. And if I had learned anything from Kael, it was that Eldar were either prepared for your arrival or well out of your way. If there were any Eldar where we were heading, they would either be hidden, on their way out, or waiting in ambush. It was odd that, for a change, I was hoping for an ambush to occur though at the same time I was silently praying to the Emperor that the first shots fired weren't aimed at me. The only things protecting me against a bullet to the skull were Watz's vigilance and my own sense of dread and paranoia.
For the next several hours we combed up and down the ruined streets, poking our noses into every little nook and cranny for anything out of the ordinary. Though some areas were searched relatively quickly, most of the patrol was a long, meticulous process with soldiers climbing piles of debris just to see what was ahead of us. Our patrol got stalled on a few occasions due to false alarms, the worst one being when a chimera's turret gunner mistook some twisted metal for an Eldar sharpshooter and immediately unleashed the gun's fury on it. It took the sergeant a few minutes just to realize there were no targets and get everybody to stop firing. And just to be certain, the team spent an extra twenty minutes just sifting through the rubble to make sure the gunner had indeed jumped the gun. So's to speak.
Unfortunately, not all was going well. A couple hours into our patrol, our vox caster reported that we had lost the signal from Commissar Cain's party. There had been no indication of trouble or anything to suggest why his signal was lost. The vox caster simply stated that the signal suddenly started to weaken and then went completely dead. "I hope the commissar is okay," Heilmit commented overheard me talking to the vox caster. "You think it might have something do with the hazardous waste facility?"
"That's entirely possible," I replied. "Those places are usually heavily shielded and background radiation can interfere with vox communications. I'm sure if he was in trouble he would double-back to outside the interference."
"Or he's been surrounded, cut-off, and is now being assailed by dozen of xenos because he inadvertently stumbled upon an Eldar listening post that was using the background radiation of the waste storage facility to mask their signatures on auspex scans."
"Oh…well, I certainly hope that's not the case," I said reluctantly. Maintaining the status quo with our escapades, that was exactly the case. While we walked about trying to find signs of Eldar, Commissar Cain was doing the chainsword waltz with a half-dozen Eldar swordsmen. However, we were unknowingly about ten minutes away from eating hot shuriken sandwiches so Cain probably had things easier in comparison.
The Eldar came as I had feared they would when a vox caster reported one of the skull probes belonging to team one went silent, shortly followed by the sergeant shouting at his men to form a defensive perimeter. The entire advance came to a halt as everyone anxiously waited for the inevitable. There was a tiny, fleeting, undersized and malnourished hope that the skull probe had failed for entirely different reasons but I doubt many harboured that thought. A few moments later, another skull probe from the same team went dead, then another, and another until team one was left almost entirely blind. Finally, we heard the crackling of a multi-las in the distance. Knowing Sulla would want to rush in to assist, I headed into the command chimera – not for the protection, mind you, but because I wanted a tactical overview of the situation and I needed the map and auspex for that. A quick glance at the map revealed that team one was in an isolated position. The five teams advanced up parallel streets with connecting side roads but a collapsed building had cut-off the road connecting team one's lane to its neighbour. I suspected that Sulla's first instinct would be to reinforce the team under fire, a suspicion that was confirmed a few moments later when she ordered team two to advance. However, for team two to reach team one, they had to advance roughly two hundred yards to reach the next connecting side road and then double back to reach one (the alternative was to double-back almost thrice the distance to the previous side road, then advance along team one's route). Since Kael was an archetypical Eldar tactician, I tried to think of what his plan of action would be were he commanding the Eldars we were facing. What would I do if I were a conniving, devious, little bastard? Sulla's orders was going to leave team two exposed while in transit and after glancing at the map once more, I could pinpoint several locations where they could be easily cut off and isolated. Unfortunately, for team two to be isolated, that meant our team would eventually come under fire as well in order to keep us pinned down.
"Team two, belay that last order. Hold position until further notice," I interjected just seconds after Sulla gave her instructions.
"Commissar, what are you doing?" Sulla asked with barely contained frustration. The sash and cap were the only things protecting me from an irate captain…that and the penalty of death.
"Working on a hunch," I answered. "Team one – report size and composition of enemy force."
"Two squads of light infantry supported by a shuriken cannon," the sergeant responded promptly. He was reassuringly calm despite being under heavy fire and his two commanders arguing over the next course of action. "They're well entrenched to our left flank in the building ruins."
"Any heavy weapons?"
"Negative commissar. No sign of any brightlances or fusion weapons but I doubt that will last." I told the sergeant to hold his position for a little while longer just as Sulla had dropped into the chimera for a face-to-face confrontation.
"Would you mind filling me in on the details Commissar Abel," Sulla asked. Judging by her tone, her patience was reaching its limits, which was understandable since I've basically hijacked her team. However, it was well within my authority if I felt the commanding officer was incapable of fulfilling her duty and though I wouldn't call Sulla incompetent, she was about to charge headlong into an ambush. True, she might have been able to fight her way through it but if I could accomplish the same task with fewer casualties I was taking that option.
"Don't you think it's odd that they would ambush an armoured vehicle without any anti-tank weapons?" I asked.
"They're probably just moving them into position," she replied.
"Exactly," I said as I pointed to the map. "And they're going to be aimed right down this corridor for when team two comes in for the rescue." Sulla's silence was her way of conceding defeat in an argument. Thankfully, Sulla wasn't so prideful that she wouldn't admit she had to rethink a flawed tactic.
Sulla looked to the map, humming quietly as she tried to devise a new plan that didn't involve walking into a cross fire. "We'll have team one pull back to the last side road and cross over into lane two. Team two can double-back to meet them and if the Eldar pursue, they can hold them off at the crossroad. The Eldar will probably come out in force once they realize we're not falling for their little trap so we should consolidate the rest of our forces as well."
"They'll expect us to regroup though. They'll be waiting for us to move."
"Meaning we're probably sitting in the sights of a brightlance right now," Sulla said with a faint sigh. "They're probably waiting for us to move into optimal range when we advance to the next crossroad in order to regroup."
Pausing to browse the map once more, I realized what a delicate situation we were in. If Sulla was correct, then all the Eldar were doing was waiting for a signal to put holes through our vehicle. Even at long range, I wasn't expecting the chimera's hull to withstand an impact from a brightlance. Though unorthodox, our best bet was to pull the vehicles back a bit and advance with infantry through the rubble where we would have adequate cover. The streets would be too well defended to make use of the chimera's firepower. Sulla agreed in an unsettlingly prompt fashion. I guess she hated staying behind in the chimera as much as Cain and I did. We devised our new strategy and relayed the necessary orders to the remaining teams. The other sergeants sounded just as eager to enter the fray as Sulla. "We still have those brightlances to worry about…" Sulla commented.
"We might just have to run and pray for the Emperor's protection," I replied. On a hunch, though, I decided to contact Watz who was still all the way out in front. "Hypothetical situation for you Corporal - if you were an Eldar and you were staring at us with a brightlance laser, where would you be hiding?"
"Hypothetically speaking Commissar…" Watz said before pausing briefly to survey his surroundings. "I would hypothetically be hiding in the building ruins at the end of the road about two hundred yards ahead of us on the second story in order to keep the lead chimera in my sights. and I would hypothetically be praying to my blasphemous alien gods that you do not put a box of heavy bolter rounds into the support column on my right so that the roof doesn't collapse on my pointy xeno head."
"What do you think Captain? Slam the chimeras in reverse with all guns firing?"
"I always thought commissars were supposed to be steadfastly opposed to falling back," Sulla quipped.
"We're not falling back - we're advancing towards victory. It just happens to be a few hundred meters behind us." While it was true that many by-the-book commissars would consider our tactic to be cowardly or unfitting of Imperial Guardsman, I've yet to meet a frontline officer that would've disagreed with me. One's appreciation of tactical manoeuvres and stratagem becomes far more apparent when you're part of the group that's getting shot at. Though I do not doubt that Sulla would have preferred a more direct approach, sitting in a chimera with a brightlance laser cannon aimed at it was enough to make her reconsider her next move.
"Teams three, four, and five, listen up," Sulla said into the vox caster, "on my mark, all chimeras will double back at top speed to crossroad number 22, heavy suppression fire on the far end of the street. At the same time, all accompanying infantry will take cover in the debris fields and advance forward to clear out all enemy resistance." After Sulla had explained the plan, I quickly instructed Watz to stay with the sergeant and follow his lead until we can meet up as I did not want to leave the chimera in case that tipped off the Eldar to our plans. As I was used to being driven around by Watz, who could be a bit erratic at times, I braced myself against the wall. On Sulla's cue, the chimera jolted in reverse as the engine kicked into overdrive. The heavy bolters began belching out rounds downrange as the vehicles sped away. I heard the distinct crack of heavy laser fire and the chimera rattled when a brightlance bolt struck its hull. Thankfully, at our distance the weapon had lost enough power to only put a hole in the vehicle's track cover. It was moments like those that I was grateful that whoever designed the ubiquitous chimera had enough sense to put in an equal number of reverse gears as there were forward ones.
As we had anticipated, once the element of surprise had been blasted away, the remainder of the Eldar emerged from hiding and began to attack in force. But by then it was too late and our troops had taken cover in the ruins. In the face of a coordinated, disciplined assault, I was confident that our troops would prevail. Eldar soldiers were no match for the Valhallans in a straight-up fight and I counted on them becoming discouraged in light of their failed ambush. Emperor willing, the Eldar would pull back without putting up much of a fight.
When the chimera finally came to a halt a safe distance away from the firefight, I opened the rear hatch and stepped out. I had no interest in sitting inside while our troops were fighting the enemy. "Watz, what's the situation up there?" I said over the vox.
"Multiple contacts but we're facing light resistance," Watz's voice crackled back over the comm-bead. "They're regrouping at the far end. If we can keep them bottled up, we might be able to take them out all at once with the chimera's heavy weapons." I wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of bringing the vehicle back into the brightlance's optimal firing range after we had gone to such lengths to get it out. But with the proper amount of suppression fire and perhaps the use of smoke grenades, it would wasn't an unreasonable tactic. I decided not to suggest a frontal assault to Sulla since she would probably opt not to wait for suppression fire or smoke grenades before charging in. Unfortunately, frontal assaults were not just her preference and speciality but they were her lifelong passion (which still surprises me to this day how long a life it was).
"Captain Sulla," I called out to her, "Watz reports that we're pushing the Eldar back. We can use the heavy bolters for indirect fire support and maybe scare the Eldar into a full retreat."
"If we can keep the brightlance suppressed, we can advance the chimeras and utilize their full firepower," Sulla replied, reaching the inevitable conclusion of frontal attack. It was as if the tracks for her train of thought had no junctions. She emerged behind the heavy bolter turret again, twisting around so as to speak with me directly. There's an old axiom of battle that if things appear to be going well, you've forgotten something. It suddenly hit me "If they were planning to ambush us, there should be a rear guard to box us in."
Were I Commissar Cain, I would've realized that fact long before had pulled back but being the inexperienced commissar that I was, all I could do was try not to make a stupid, horrified expression when that realization set in. It was a sensation that was cemented when shuriken fire began panging off the side of the chimera and Sulla suddenly let out a yelp before falling inside the chimera, clutching at her neck.
"Captain Sulla!" I shouted fruitlessly, unable to assist as shuriken fire forced me to take cover behind the chimera. Suddenly, from the ruins there came a piercing, horrifying wail – a shriek so powerful that it seemed to penetrate into my mind and resonate within my spirit. I instinctively palmed my ears but to affect. It was though the sound now emanated from inside my very skull. The sound scrambled my thoughts and overwhelmed my focus, leaving me completely vulnerable to the squad of Eldar warriors rushing towards our chimera. They were Eldar banshees and we had just been paralyzed by their signature psychosonic scream. The crew of two chimeras were left writhing as the Eldar warriors descended upon us. The five of them went for the closest chimera (thankfully not the one I was using to keep from toppling over in pain), cleaving open the vehicle's light armour with their Eldritch blades before depositing grenades within. Our infantry support didn't even realize we were under attack until the chimera exploded.
By the time the effects of the banshee's scream began to wear off, I had already been floored by the exploding chimera and was now struggling with a ringing in my ears and the feeling as though a bare-knuckled astartes had just pummelled all my organs. But the human mind had a wonderful gating mechanism when it came to pain – so painful were my bodily injuries that my brain seemed to forget about the pain in my head. My focus sharpened at the sight of oncoming banshees. Instinct and reflexes took over as I quickly drew my laspistol and fired from the hip. The first shot found its mark, hitting the leading banshee square in the chest and dropping her like a cursed relic. Unfortunately, that act also made me the first target of the remaining four banshees. I kept firing but they were ready for it as they ducked behind the opposite side of the chimera. I was trapped between a rock and a very sharp blade: running was impossible as they could easily catch up to me; holding my ground was suicide against three sword-wielding Eldar warriors; and even if I managed to put enough distance to get a shot off, I might be able to kill one before the other three sliced me to ribbons. But if I thought I had time to even make a decision, I was sadly mistaken. One of the banshees took to climbing over the chimera and only by the Emperor's providence did I notice the Eldar's shadow on the ground. All I could manage on such short notice was to dive out of the way just as the Eldar tried to pounce blade-first onto me.
I rushed to get my laspistol back up, only to have it kicked from my hand, followed by a boot to the face. Gunless and sprawled on my arse, a younger me would have resigned to death with trademark Kriegan stoicism. But Cain had taught me that hope remained so long as you kept fighting and so long as there was hope, there was a chance for victory. Cain never stopped fighting and neither was I. As the Eldar woman drove her blade for me, I suddenly snapped my shock maul from its hold and parried the oncoming blade. The blade just narrowly missed my body, though my great coat died a quick death when the blade cut through the epaulette. Thumbing the power switch then sent a powerful shock through the Eldar's blade, throwing up a storm of sparks and smoke when it passed through the hilt and up her arm. Unfortunately, my lack of foresight led to the dead Eldar banshee collapsing on top of me. While neither heavy nor cumbersome, pushing her off of me took up valuable seconds when there were still three more banshees out for my blood.
I was still on my backside when the remainder of the banshees stepped into view. Though I couldn't understand what they were saying, I imagine the sight of their dead comrade ticked them off. The first Eldar was stepping up to finish me off when a sudden blast of shuriken fire hit the banshee in the hand, knocking her sword away. I think it's safe to say that none of us were expecting shuriken fire to save my sorry arse, especially a shot fired by another Eldar banshee. However, the first thing I noticed about my mysterious rescuer was that she wore armour in the same blue and yellow pattern that Kael's bodyguard had, as opposed to the other banshees who wore white and green. The green and white banshees kept put, shouting something at the blue banshee who kept her pistol levelled at them. I imagine the conversation involved a lot of questions and marked confusion and they were probably asking the same things that I would have – what the frak was going on? Who the frak are you? Why are you saving my worthless hide? Plus I was just puzzled by the sight of Eldar fighting other Eldar. It felt like it was breaking some sort of cosmic law. Whatever they were discussing, I was hesitant to make any sudden movements since I had no guarantees that the blue banshee wouldn't turn hostile on me. Maybe she was claiming the right to kill me based on her higher standing in the colour spectrum. How the frak did I know? She seemed to be going to some lengths to avoid killing the others so she probably would've re-evaluated the worth of saving my life if I tried to kill them. After some more arguing (I assumed it was arguing by how angry the green ones sounded) the attacking banshees holstered their weapons. While two of them began backing away, a third one came over to me and hoisted the fallen Eldar into her arms. After one of the other banshees picked up the remaining fallen Eldar, they withdrew into the ruins. By that point my brain was a swirling mass of 'what the frak?'
"Kael sent you didn't he?" I asked. She looked to me but didn't say anything. Perhaps she would have but Watz and a few others were running over to my position and when the banshee noticed them, she ran off.
"Commissar Abel!" Watz shouted as he rushed over to me. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine Watz, thank you," I replied as he helped me back to my feet. As the adrenaline wore off, I suddenly remembered another important matter. "Sulla!" At first the others were confused but they got the general idea of what was going on when I raced to the back-end of the chimera. "Captain Sulla!" I called out as I poked my head in. Thank the Emperor my reflexes were still sharp, as I had to quickly pull back when a lasbolt nearly put a hole in it. "Bloody hell Sulla, it's me!"
"Shit…sorry about that," a strained voice replied. Entering more cautiously now, I saw Sulla slouched at the far end of the chimera with a lasgun kept steady on a knee while her free hand kept pressure on a wound on her neck. "I…I thought you were one of them," she added with a relieved grin. I quickly grabbed a nearby medkit and took out a pack of field dressings and set to work on helping the wounded captain.
"Emperor's blood, I thought you had bought it," I said as I pushed her hand aside so I could see the injury better.
"Probably came close to it," she said with a restrained chuckle.
"Yeah…looks like another half-inch and you would have painted the whole interior red," I remarked. Despite its location, the wound was shallow and had missed the major blood vessels. When medic soon arrived and took over for me, I headed back outside where Watz was waiting for me. Once outside, I quickly realized two things: firstly, the rest of our infantry had returned; and secondly, the air had gone silent (save for a smouldering chimera wreck). Before I could even ask, Watz filled me in on the details.
"Don't ask me why but all of a sudden, those damn xenos just suddenly up and vanished," he said with a hint of frustration mixed with relief. "I know those bastards are cowards but…dammit I would've liked to have killed a few before they ran for it." The other teams reported similar occurrences with the Eldar suddenly withdrawing without any effort. I couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with the blue banshee's sudden appearance. It couldn't have been a coincidence. Not wanting to strain the captain, I took temporary command and instructed the chimeras to regroup. While the troops took up a defensive perimeter, Watz motioned me to follow him away from the others. I was curious as to why he would want to speak with me in private given that he had no qualms speaking his mind in front of others, especially me.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
"Kael's not alone, is he?"
"No…he isn't. When he came to me, a soldier wearing blue armour accompanied him. And just now a blue-armoured banshee showed up and saved me from a bunch of other banshees."
"I thought so. Just before the Eldar pulled out, I saw a blue armoured Eldar soldier advancing towards the main Eldar holdout. I only caught a glimpse of him as he entered their position. Is there's something going on here that you haven't told me yet?" I let out a quiet sigh while I tried to piece all the information together. I knew that Kael wasn't alone but now it appeared that he had brought a number of Eldar with him and that made for whole new complications. If he was helping us (or just helping me), then shooting at the wrong Eldar could quickly sour that alliance. And mentioning the possibility of another Eldar detachment could shift Broklaw's attention in the wrong direction. I needed to handle the matter delicately without making it appear as though I'm in cahoots with them.
"Kael mentioned that the other Eldar were 'locked in their path.' It's entirely possible that we have two groups of Eldar with conflicting agendas."
"Two different groups of Eldars fighting one another?" Watz replied.
"Not agreeing and not helping one another but for the moment I think fighting is too strong a word for what's happening. Unless it's over fashion opinions. Who wears green and white at this time of the year?"