The chimera bumped up over another set of holes in the road. Lyra grimaced, that was the third set in under five minutes they had passed, it meant they were getting close.
She looked out of the rifle slot and observed what little scenery she could see through the dark. The odd wrecked vehicle, a fence post, she even saw an old shrine building in the middle of a field with a dozen candles lining the windows.
She shuddered.
If any pastor or civilians were hiding out in there the light would no doubt attract unwanted attention.
Sergeant Vern turned and saw Lyra's face of worry.
"We're almost there" He told her.
"Aye Sergeant" She checked her gear quickly, her heart began to beat faster.
Herax, who was sat at the back of the Chimera, smacked his fist against the ramp.
Urta laughed and breathed out noisily.
"I can see the city limits!" Flair's young voice yelled from the front of the vehicle.
"Whose side of the city are we on? That's the question" Mikey looked at the floor when he spoke.
"We'll go in quietly" Vern reassured them, "Dab you got anything on the vox network?"
Dab tuned his back mounted radio piece and shook his head.
"Nothing yet, its like all signal is being blocked out"
"No shit, Dab" Herax laughed, "If it wasn't we wouldn't of had to drive all the way here"
Dab glowered and ignored Herax, he never took this sort of thing seriously.
"I will attempt to fix this problem?" Co-Rolan suggested.
"Not now" Vern hissed, "We're entering the city"
The Chimera slowed down slightly as it crept into the dark city.
All around the vehicle were both the remains of buildings that had been heavily shelled as well as twisted wrecks of both Imperial and Ork vehicles. Quiet cracks of erratic gunfire could be heard further into the city.
"Stay frosty" Vern said quietly as he positioned one of the hull-mounted lasturrets to face forward.
The transport turned round a street corner and continued further into the city.
"Visual contact, sergeant Vern!" Flair called back, "Battle tank, fifty metres"
"Approach with caution" Vern ordered. He was sceptical, the Orks were often known to take Imperial vehicles that had not sustained much damage and modify them into their own crude "looted wagonz", "Gaius keep that gun ready"
"Aye Sergeant" Gaius replied.
"Get us closer and then stop" Vern turned to the rest of his squad, "Be ready to move"
The Chimera grew ever closer, Flair kept his eyes on the immobile Leman Russ watching for any movement or sign that the Orks had taken it.
The transport stopped completely and Flair turned the engine off. He got up from his seat and opened the small door into the Chimera's belly. The six Imperial Guardsmen and the Tech-priest inside looked back at him expectantly.
"Sergeant Vern" He said in a hushed tone, "We are less than ten metres from the Leman Russ"
"Right" Vern nodded, "Open the rear hatch"
Flair did as he was instructed and the rear door of the Chimera began to lower slowly.
Vern was the first out the door, the night air was crisp and obscured his vision, he quickly made his way around the Chimera's tracks and stacked up along the left side of the hull. The building alongside them was heavily damaged and he could smell something foul and rotting inside, the road they were on looked in terrible condition, craters and rubble strewn everywhere.
The Leman Russ battle tank up in front of the Chimera looked to be in good condition and remained immobile, its turret facing down the long street ahead of it.
Herax was suddenly next to him and behind him were the other four Guardsmen.
"Orders sarge?" Herax whispered.
"Move up quietly two at a time, inspect the Leman Russ then hold position" Vern replied, Herax nodded and relayed the message to the others.
"Urta, Herax, move up"
Herax and Urta immediately began to jog along keeping close to the buildings as they passed towards the Leman Russ. Vern watched them anxiously.
The two Guardsmen reached the Battle tank and stacked up against its side.
Vern held his breath. The two Guardsmen were speaking to each other, he couldn't hear what they were saying but he saw their mouths moving.
He watched as Urta gave Herax a deathly glare before slinging his lasrifle and heaving himself up onto the side of the Leman Russ.
"What are you doing!?" Vern managed to hush himself before he yelled out.
Urta was pulling himself up onto the turret, he then reached into his flakk jacket and drew his knife. After this he promptly tapped loudly on the Turret's hatch door, the sound echoed slightly in the silence of the street.
Vern couldn't believe it. He watched in awe as Urta meekly stood waiting, he had half a mind to shoot the man right there and then.
Before he acted on his irrational thought, the hatch began to slowly open, a light source visible from under the rim.
Urta poked his head forward blocking out the light source, and the hatch opened all the way. A Guardsman appeared from inside the turret and said something in a hushed tone before shaking Urta's hand and grinning.
Vern breathed out in relief, almost collapsing. They had linked up with the armoured detachment.
Nathaniel held his breath. The sound of the engines over in the east of town grew ever closer. The planes were low. He checked once again that all the light sources in the immediate area were extinguished, they were.
The fifteen men from fourth squad that had remained in New Lettucin had been given to Nathaniel for the time being, they were situated ten metres from Nathaniel's squad in their own trench that they had dug before nightfall.
"Stay low" Nathaniel moved amongst his own squad and checked them all. The men looked back and nodded nervously each time, all trying to hide the fear on their faces, all failing.
He hadn't gone over to fourth squad's trench, but Nathaniel knew they were all in check. All of them were already huddled against the walls of their trench and waiting in silence. Nathaniel finally sat down in his own trench, Arashi to his left.
Suddenly the first plane flew over the city. Nathaniel could make out the broad yellow wings of the crude vehicle and the many missiles housed underneath them.
"Steady" He whispered to Arashi, though he doubted that the man could hear him as another plane soared overhead.
A third one soon followed and passed without incident, Nathaniel heard many men sigh in relief.
"Stay ready," He said, "We're not out of this yet"
Three minutes passed and just as Nathaniel had expected the vox network crackled into life; Sergeant Debra reported that the Ork planes were coming back from the south of town.
Debra's voice crackled across the vox network once again;
"Commissar Yoren, the planes are-"
Suddenly her voice cut off and the ear wrenching sound of Ork gunfire rang out across the small city. Nathaniel grimaced and looked toward the south of town.
The sky lit up with all three aircraft opening fire with their forward mounted machine guns, the noise was atrocious. The heavy calibre shots tore through several of the derelict buildings and caused partial collapse in all of them.
"ALL SQUADS PREPARE FOR IMMINENT ASSAULT" Yoren's voice roared across the network. Nathaniel looked at his squad who were all looking to him.
"Hold fast, prepare for assault" Nathaniel shakily echoed the Commissar's words.
Toward the south of town the machine guns had stopped and the bright explosions of the planes' missile payload could be seen illuminating the streets.
"Commissar Yoren" Debra's voice came over the radio, "The Orks missed us, I don't think they know we're here"
Nathaniel stared up into the night sky and watched the flashing forms of the Ork planes. The forward machine guns opened up again and streaked across one of the taller derelict buildings causing one to collapse entirely.
The planes banked and began to head back toward the south of New Lettucin again.
"They're making a pass," The sergeant's voice said quietly over the vox.
Nathaniel watched as they passed over where they had fired before, several sudden screaming noises followed by a puff of smoke came from under the front plane's wing. Following this was three large fiery explosions in the street, which rose above the buildings there. The planes soared over the explosion and away from the city once more.
Nathaniel heard the screams then. Dozens of bloodcurdling screams from where the missiles had struck"
"Commissar" Sergeant Debra's voice was desperate and weak now, "I was wrong."
Commissar Yoren and his command squad went sprinting down the streets, escorted by several members of second squad. It had been five minutes since the Ork Planes had disappeared from above New Lettucin and they had finally thought it safe enough to go and investigate seventh squad's fate.
Frastus had already unclipped his medic pouch from his belt and was running faster than the rest of them.
They reached the street which seventh squad had been tasked with defending; the persisting fires of the missiles lit the entire street. The command squad made their way over the backup trench that had been made in case the forward one should fall and towards the front.
Upon arriving Frastus was the first to see seventh squad. The trench had sustained a direct hit and much of it was still aflame. Several partially burnt men were lying outside of the trench and there were only three or four men out of the trench walking from body to body.
Frastus knelt next to the nearest man, his face blackened and much of his skin missing, his eyes were sealed shut and his neck was covered in singe marks. The man was dead.
Frastus breathed in slowly and began to make his way toward the men who weren't injured.
"Sit-rep" He ordered.
One of the Guardsmen turned, a young man, his face blank and tears visible in his eyes. Frastus looked at him expectantly, the man stared back.
One of the other guardsmen helped the younger man to sit down and spoke reassuringly in a hushed tone; he then stood back up and looked at Frastus.
"Private Hemm, Sir" He saluted, "We've taken a major hit, sir,"
"How many" Frastus asked grimly.
Hemm turned and regarded all the men lying around him.
"Fourteen, fifteen" Hemm gulped as he spoke and looked into the fiery inferno that had engulfed the trench.
"Your sergeant?" Frastus asked.
"She's over here," Another man yelled out.
"She's with Lewis" Hemm beckoned Frastus toward the man who had shouted out.
The two guardsmen hurried over, the smell of toasted flesh all around them.
Frastus crouched next to the prone body of Sergeant Debra Keeli. The front of her was blackened and she had several burn marks on her face and arms that lay bare now. She lay on her back with her eyes barely open.
"Sergeant Keeli?" He said loudly, "Can you hear me?"
"Yes" She coughed out.
"I'll need help bringing her back to the company CP" Frastus said not looking up from her.
"What about our post, sir?" Lewis said.
"You really think you two and the other three able bodies here will be able to stave off an Ork attack?" He said angrily, "Get me something to carry her with, now"
Lewis and Hemm nodded and ran quickly towards the nearest building.
Yoren walked up behind Frastus.
"Will she live?" He asked.
"She just might" Frastus replied as he applied a bandage to one of Keeli's burnt arms.
"How many?" Yoren said as he looked over at the torched bodies next to and inside the trench.
"They reckon fourteen." Frastus finished off the bandage and secured it tightly.
"Nothing you could have done five minutes ago, that you could have now, Frastus" Yoren said.
"If you say so, Lord" Frastus replied bitterly.
Yoren usually would have punished such impudence, but he knew how Medics operated. They always blamed themselves in this sort of situation or indeed any situation involving the wounded and the dead. Minutes before, Yoren had denied Frastus from coming over here until they knew that the Ork Bommerz weren't coming back.
Lewis and Hemm came stumbling back over carrying a stretcher.
"Looking on the bright side, they didn't hit our supply area" Hemm nodded over at the nearest building.
"There is no bright side, boy" Frastus glared at Hemm causing him to look away, "Get the sergeant on the stretcher, carefully"
Hemm and Lewis obeyed and hoisted Keeli carefully onto the stretcher.
Frastus grabbed the younger guardsman's shoulder and shook him, the terrified lad turned and looked at him.
"Get up, now" Frastus growled. He let the guardsman go and turned back to the other two, "Get her up and back to the CP"
"Aye Doc" Hemm and Lewis said, the two of them lifted the stretcher and began to carry the Sergeant down the street.
Frastus looked around at the scattered charred bodies. His heart was heavy and he felt bile rise in his throat, he felt terrible for thinking this but the bodies smelt awful and many were still toasting in the inferno that was their trench.
"They probably died screaming" He said out loud, speaking to no one in particular yet he knew the entire command squad listening, "Screaming and reaching out for someone to help them."
"Frastus" Jonn said sadly, "There was nothing you could do for them."
Frastus wiped a tear from his eye and sniffed. He walked over to another man who looked in slightly good condition and knelt beside him.
He had been a medic in the Imperial Guard for eight years now, he had fought in campaigns against a variety of enemies spanning from Chaos cults to the dreaded Tyranid menace, but watching young men die helplessly never got any easier. He silently damned the Commissar for not letting him attend to these men sooner, he damned Jonn for saying there were nothing he could do, he could have at least sat with some of these men and made sure they didn't die choking and gasping for their last breath alone.
Yoren grimaced and grabbed Cromwell's vox piece.
"Sergeant Nathaniel"
"Aye Commissar?" Nathaniel's voice crackled back.
"Send fourth squad down here, they'll man seventh squad's backup trench until Sergeant Vern returns"
"Right away, sir"
The sun rose in the distance as fourth squad arrived; all of the men grimaced and avoided staring as they saw the bodies lining the trench ahead of them. The rest of the command squad had gone, but "Doc" Frastus was still there attending to the wounded, his jacket lying alongside him and sweat covering his forehead.
Vern awoke to the sound of voices, dozens of voices and a bright light. He opened his weary eyes and sat up. He was in the back of the Chimera and the rear door was open. Outside he could see dozens of Guardsmen walking around and could hear even more talking. Inside the Chimera with him were Lyra, Dab and Flair who were all still sleeping.
He stood up and walked out of the Chimera and was immediately greeted by the sight of a classic Imperial Guard gunline.
Lining the end of the street his Chimera was parked at were sandbags with a Leman Russ at each end, two Heavy bolter turrets and an Auto-cannon turret were situated along these sandbags and were both manned by two men. Sat against the sandbags were at least twenty other guardsmen; some sat casually speaking and eating while others had their rifles pointed down and across the crossroads which he realised they were set up in front of.
Behind this gunline was his own Chimera as well as two others with their own respective squads set up by them, the large form of a Hellhound sat idly by, two men and Co-Rolan were working on the heavy flamer turret and further back still he could see a command tent with a line of sandbags blocking the back of it.
"Tech Priest" He called up.
"Sergeant Vern." Co-Rolan did not look up from his work when he spoke.
"You seen Mikey, Herax or Urta?"
"They were around here somewhere Sergeant."
"Helpful."
Vern walked through the crowd of bustling Guardsmen behind the Chimera and made his way towards the tent.
When he realised he couldn't spot them amongst all these new faces, he entered the tent.
Inside he found Herax and Urta, both sat on field chairs next to a bearded Sergeant wearing his casual uniform, all of them drinking from flasks. The tent itself had little in the way of tactical gear apart from a flimsy looking wooden table with a map in the middle, small crates of grenades and las packs littered the floor and a small calendar lay on the floor in the corner.
"Sergeant." Vern regarded the bearded man.
"This your sergeant?" The bearded man asked Herax.
"Yeah, sir" Herax smiled and put down his drink.
The bearded sergeant stood up and extended his hand to Vern, Vern took it and the man squeezed his hand.
"Sergeant Hughes at your service, Sergeant…?"
"Sergeant Daniel Vern." Vern replied.
"Vern eh" Hughes let go of Vern's hand and sat back down, "Draw up a chair, your lads here were just telling me why you're here"
"Are they now?" Vern looked down at them both, "Where's Mikey?"
"He's off talking with some of their lot" Urta replied.
"Who is in charge here?" Vern said to Hughes.
"I am" He replied.
"No, who's in charge of the force in the city?"
"I'm in charge of the force in this city"
"You?" Vern said with doubt heavy in his voice, "Where are your commissars? Your officers?
"Gone" Hughes said with a sadness, "I took up the mantle of commanding the forces in this city"
"How can that be? How can one Sergeant command the forces in a city as large as this?"
"Might be due to the fact that this lot here plus another twenty infantry and three Chimera's to our rear is all that's left in this city"
Vern looked at Hughes in disbelief.
"What?" He said dumbly.
"We've been out here with no reinforcements for three months" Hughes stood back up, "The Orks have been throwing everything they've got at us. I'd been hoping you were the recon for the force sent to relieve us."
"We came here to take our armoured division back to the town we're occupying" Vern said, still in disbelief.
"The two Leman Russes and the Hellhound outside are all that's left from the armoured division that was sent up to support us, the rest of us lot are a different company"
"I can't believe this" Vern put his hand to his head.
"Not hard to believe really" Hughes crossed his arms, "We've had no support."
"You had our armoured division!" Vern's voice suddenly rose, "six Leman Russ battle tanks and three Hellhounds were there to help push the Ork forces back, are you seriously telling me they're all gone bar three?"
Hughes glared and nodded.
"How could this happen?" Vern sat down on one of the chairs and put his head in his hands.
"The Orks blocked all comms." Hughes also sat down, "We couldn't call for help, and you know how spread out the Guard is on the planet, the nearest lot to us is you lot south west of here and even that's a day's journey. The Ork that blocked the comms, a huge beast of a Mek, it bought with it a lot of walkers and anti tank fire. Men said some of the Tanks they had to leave behind were taken to this Mek and forged into something of their own creations, they literally used our own weapons against us."
Vern immediately began to feel bad for how he had reacted to the news. The look of regret and anguish in Hughes' face was heart wrenching.
"We lost a lot of good men," Hughes sighed, "Our Commissars died quite early on, one of them were killed by one of the Warbosses, cleaved in two like he was nothing"
"Look, Hughes, I'm sorry" Vern said, "Its just we're in a similar situation. We have an unknown size force heading towards us and we have no support"
"Your comms jammed too?"
"Actually no" Vern said puzzled, he suddenly began to wonder why Yoren hadn't called for support from one of the back operating bases.
Hughes suddenly clicked his fingers.
"I have a surprise for you boys" He said, his mood changing for the better.
"What?" Herax said.
"We found remnants of a squad roaming the land outside the city about a month ago, they said their Chimera had come under attack and after staving off the Ork raiders who attacked them, were left with no transport"
"And this is relevant?" Vern asked.
"The squad is from your company, Sergeant Quinn? You know him?"
"Quinn is alive?" Vern gasped.
"He sure is! Been a great asset to us over here, here I'll take ya to see him"
WRITER'S NOTE:
Ok guys thanks for reading do leave an R&R, I appreciate the feedback, you may notice by the - - - - - - lines im trying to format this as best I can, hate the lack of layout control but whatever, THANKS for reading, more to come soon :3