"Fourteen dead, twenty wounded and who knows how many more not reporting minor injuries."
said Captain Elgar over his headset com. "We lost four ground vehicles, all of them APC's, two fighters and more than a dozen of our Speeders need repair work."
"I'm not happy with the casualties but would you say your troops won't be caught off guard like that again?" asked Parek.
"I know you were trying to emphasize that we not get overconfident but that's exactly what happened down here. After a few days of skirmishing none of the young ones though the Orks had much fight in them. It even caught me by surprise. We'll be ready for them next time."
"Can we do anything about their Teleporters?"
"Shields like what we use on capital ships and even some of our vehicles should keep them out. But that's not really an option in some places on the ground."
"I last thing I want is a group of Orks Teleporting onto the bridge of my ship or into the STC factories Elgar. I want those factories protected."
The thin stretch of land connecting the southern continent to the much larger northern one was a natural choke point. Both the Orks and Humans had realised this and as such, fighting in the area had been constant since falling back from the killzone. Nearly two thousand troops in power armour were present and fighting in the area at any time, rotated out daily to repair and rest. New vehicles being built were sent to the front after component testing, crewed with more humans woken from stasis. Despite the increasing human superiority in the area the Orks still came on.
Lavidean continued to barter the information he had for concessions in allowing him to see combat. Once a day he would go into battle alongside the Dark Age humans, and even some of their Iron Men despite his protests. The humanoid battle machines combined sheer strength and power with efficiency rivalling veteran Space Marine units.
Each day before heading into battle, Lavidean would pray to the Emperor for his blessing and protection. Within a few days his dedication and experience were becoming noticed. Most other units avoided close combat if possible but those that fought with him soon learned how effective the tactic could be against Orks. Troops knowledgeable in melee were more capable for fighting their way out of the ambushes that Orks preferred to use.
As soldiers began to volunteer to join the unit he was in, a greater number followed his prayers and sermons. He had hope that some could be converted to the Emperor's word much as he had with those trained to infiltrate the Imperium.
"Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment." He reminded himself.
VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV
Journal entry of Brother Lavidean Atar, Ultramarines 6th company
The Iron Men. Thinking Machine-abominations and destroyers of old. I have learned much of them from the Dark Age humans for even they fear them. A young man that has taken up the teachings of the Emperor has revealed much to me. No more than one Iron Man has even been assigned to a squad that I have fought alongside. The reasons behind this are clear. The possibility of a machine rebellion still exists, though they have assured me that it is only of the smallest possibility.
Each of the Iron Men is given the mind and memories of one of the Dark Age Human's dead, though their souls have long since fled their world. This process is never preformed on those of criminal intellect for fear that their insanity might manifest in the machine. Commander Addison has told me that long ago only the minds of criminals were bound to the Iron Men as punishment, much like Servitors.
All claim that such things do not happen now preventing an uprising. Their words ring hollow for me and I will not allow something as dangerous as trust to calm my feelings toward the thinking machines.
Not even the dead know the end of war.
"Target sighted." reported the sniper team. "It's a Big Mek."
"That would explain the heavily mechanized nature of the Ork Army." replied Lavidean over the headset.
"Transmitting visual."
Back in the APC several kilometers from the fighting Brother Atar watch the display screens.
Sure enough the Mek was directing the efforts of the many other Orks nearby. Only a pair of Nobs slightly farther out even approached the Mek in size.
"Take him out then pull back to our position." he ordered the team.
"Understood. Firing."
A bright white beam flashed out from the sniper's weapon. Much akin to the powerful cutting beams used aboard the ships in orbit, the beam could pierce almost any armour or material provided it wasn't too thick. It was far less efficient at breaching energy shields, as the sniper and spotter pair discovered when the Mek wasn't instantly killed.
"Shit." cursed the spotter.
"Recharge in four." was the only thing the sniper said in response.
Before the sniper could finish counting down the large Ork disappeared.
"Sunofa- he teleported away!"
On the far side of the Ork encampment a squadron of Flyboys took off, assisted by rockets. They soon turned in the direction of the Sniper team.
"Sniper Team report."
"Mission Scrubbed." answered the Sniper as he and the Spotter grabbed their gear and began sprinting down the backside of the hill they'd been camped on top of. "Retreating now. Requesting anti-air support."
The APC driver listening in on the conversation kicked the vehicle into high speed, tearing through the upper levels of the tree line as it flew. A Light Tank and a Plasma Mortar vehicle followed close behind and all three dropped down into a clearing a few hundred meters from the sniper team.
"APC Forty seven on station, awaiting team extraction."
"Mortar vehicle here, switching to anti-air mode."
The magnetic constrictors making up the heavy plasma Mortar shifted position slightly and realigned into six smaller weapons.
The Mortar pilot turned his vehicle to face the direction the Ork Flyboys were coming in from, while the gunner raised the weapon's elevation.
"Target acquisition."
Instead of firing one massive burst of plasma like in its standard configuration, the main weapon fired off streamers of plasma flak. Any shot that looked like it would miss its target detonated at the closest point filling the air with overlapping shockwaves. One of the flyboys took a direct hit and spiralled out of control towards the clearing. The point defense scatter beam on the light tank swung around to target it and shredded the remains of the flying machine.
Not ones to take hits without responding, the Orks fired into the trees and dropped whatever bombs they could. More than a few Boyz bailed out of their flaming vehicles into the forest below.
The Sniper team came running out of the trees two minutes after the surviving of the flyboys retreated.
Back at one of the support bases the Sniper team stood at attention just outside of the parked APC. Though he was not technically speaking their commanding officer, Lavidean presided over their debriefing.
"A good attempt but it was still a failure. What have you learned from this experience?" He asked the two young men as he paced in front of them.
"Not to underestimate an enemy?" asked one.
Lavidean scowled. "Besides that. You refer to a lesson all of your people should have long ago learned."
The other one spoke. "Resistance of Ork shields to our cutting beam. Two shots would have pierced it easily but not one."
"Excellent. What do you propose to do about this problem?"
The two men looked at each other. "Have the spotter carry a sniper weapon as well sir."
"Good. Now test it when you have the time. Sooner not later, and may the Emperor's blessing go with you for I suspect you will need it."
Once the Snipers had left to turn in their armour Addison stepped out of the shadows.
"You seem to be building up quite a following."
"Commander." Lavidean offered a slight bow.
"In the past two days we've had to turn down more than a hundred requests for transfer to the unit you're serving in. Someone circulated a battle recording to you demonstrating close combat by tearing through a dozen Orks."
"I do what I can. I am still a Space Marine, and my life is forfeit because I live only to protect and serve Humanity."
Addison looked at him closely for a moment. "As of today we have fifty thousand people on this planet. We have power armour for less than five thousand of those. We can't afford casualties and some of the other officers are worried that your… skill may encourage others to act recklessly. Please keep that in mind."
VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV
Commander Addison stepped onto Sinite's bridge for the first time in several days. The data slate he was carrying was packed with information on the Imperium of Man.
"Commander, welcome aboard." Greeted Captain Parek. "I trust your time on the surface was productive?"
"Yes sir. Brother Atar has finally given us what I believe to be some of the most crucial information about the Imperium. Their iconography, and specifically how it pertains to buildings and starships."
"How does that help us Commander? We have holographic cloaking technology to shield us from sensors."
"True sir, but there are some worlds that we would never be able to approach unless we looked exactly like a starship from the Imperium. Some planets may even have sensors that can penetrate our cloak."
"I know you're going somewhere with this. What is it that you're proposing this time Commander?"
"We're in the process of constructing several dock pits down on the planet's surface to help maintain our fleet. What if we were to build a few ships to look like those from the Imperium? We could more easily use them to deploy our Orbital penetrator or chemical weapons against the Orks as they wouldn't expect that sort of attack."
Parek sighed. "This seems like a tremendous waste of resources but we'll build one ship. Talk to Elgar about getting some engineers together to build it, but please Commander don't divert resources away from any important projects that we need."
Author Note: This would have been a good opportunity for a slightly newer joke.
"I do what I can. On All Levels Except Physical I am a Space Marine."
[ Purges ]
