SIX
My first descent into the unknown filled me with a strange combination of both dread and enthusiasm. The idea of not knowing what waited for me on the other side of the boarding ramp when we finally touched down was more than unnerving, it was enough to drive a person insane and I wondered how the soldiers around me were able to remain so calm. They, I told myself repeatedly, must have grown accustomed to the feeling after so many years of campaigning. Perhaps, though, they simply didn't care as the enemies of the Emperor were all the same in their eyes – things to be slaughtered. In a way, I only feared that things would be far worse than we had been told when we landed and I would die painfully and in vain, which for a Kriegan was a bad combination of fates. While I was wary of what awaited me, the need to put a face, so to speak, to the situation was overpowering. As Cain would say, the less you knew, the less you could prepare yourself to meet it. I wanted to know what I was dealing with and not just the vague 'lots of Tau and traitors' that I had been getting thus far.
I tried to preoccupy myself holding a conversation with Captain Sulla beside me. She displayed an eagerness to enter the fray that, in my mind, bordered on the boundaries of an unhealthy obsession. I saw immediately what Cain was referring to when Sulla and I were perusing a map of the starport and the surrounding city of Vertens. She expressed a desire to crush the enemies swiftly while I had to preach a more conservative approach. We still had no idea what the exact layout of the enemy forces was on the ground but we were working on the assumption that they would likely be everywhere and anywhere. Our first objective, as I reminded Sulla, was to ensure that the starport was free of harassment in order for the remaining transports to land. In light of the recent news of deep enemy penetration, command had altered their deployment tactics somewhat and each transport's vehicle holds had a couple of tanks from the Kriegan armoured regiment, who would be under Sulla's temporary command until the rest of the Kriegans arrived. The thought of having a Leman Russ annihilator sitting in the holds below me was quite comforting.
The starport consisted of a circular array of landing pads around the central hub with limited access to each landing pad from either one of three external exit points in the retaining wall or the main access route that led towards the central hub. As Magnus Viridis had little traffic in terms of freighters and passenger vessels, the starport in Vertens was relatively small compared to ones on most civilized Imperial worlds and our deployment was limited to how many ships we could land at once, which in this case was three. With dense forest and mountains shielding the southern half of the starport, the Tau advance obviously came from the north approach, which could have helped us bottleneck their forces were it not for the high mobility of their armoured units. Sulla's first intuition was to divide each landing force into two parts, one that would hold the external exit points around the retaining wall and a second team that would push towards the central hub. The central hub would need to be in our control if we were to ensure security of the entire starport. From there, Sulla wanted the heavy armoured units and some chimeras to regroup at the central hub and begin a push into the city but I firmly reminded her that our duty was to hold the space port and we wouldn't leave the perimeter until at least the second shipment of troops. Major Broklaw, who was riding on one of the other transports, agreed with me when I asked for input over the vox network. However, were there significant numbers of sky ray gunships in the city, Sulla had permission to lead some tanks out in order to silence them.
Once the bulk of our forces had been deployed, we would be able to progress out into the city, each infantry regiment taking a third of the city and advacing outwards with the assistance of the Kriegan armoured units, liberating any pinned Imperial forces along the way. The Valhallans had the eastern third of the city to worry about and it housed the former PDF garrison that the Cadians had turned into an adhoc command post, which was probably under heavy siege by the time of our deployment. The Adumbrians would take the center, shielding their inexperienced numbers with the might of the Traitor's Lament and most of the Kriegan armour, while the Kastaforians would handle the west. If all went well, we could probably have the town back in our possession within a few days and could plan our next move. A few more times during our conversation I had to remind Sulla to keep focus on the objectives and not rush ahead, including when she suggested getting the Valhallans moving into the city once the regiment was deployed; a move I reminded her would expose our entire west flank if the other regiments weren't ready yet. The liberation of the city would require a coordinated offensive, otherwise we could wind up getting isolated and surrounded just like the other regiments. I also reminded her that wiser minds than ours were in command and our duty was to complete the task assigned to the 597th. Freelancing was not a recommended tactic in the field manual.
Judging from the field reports, it seemed as though the Tau were making a concentrated push down the center towards the starport, likely trying to cut off any reinforcements. The flanks were being supported mostly by former PDF units who were overwhelming Imperial forces with their sheer numbers rather than their skill or efficacy in battle. Outside the city walls it was jungle-fighter versus jungle-fighter as the Catachans had their hands full with Kroot-led assaults. The Kroot were not an enemy I was looking forward to: brutal like an Ork, swift like an Eldar, and if they liked how well you fought you had the honour of being their next meal as well as their trophy kill. Thankfully I would always have a squad of troopers watching my back, or at least I hoped they would. Despite a slow and steady integration into the unit at that moment I felt as though they were still ambivalent about my presence. I would have been more concerned if it hadn't been for their level of professionalism bolstering my absolute belief that they would respect the scarlet sash regardless of the person wearing it. Perhaps it had something to do with Cain's treatment towards me whenever the troopers were around, making me look better than I felt I deserved.
"This is interesting," Sulla commented as we continued pouring over the map. "The highest concentration of Orks seems to be located right between us and the Tau's main camp." It wasn't directly between us but the bulk of the Orks appeared to be only a short march (or shorter charge) away from the main route linking the two major cities on Viridis. The Kriegan push towards the Tau-held city could attract the Orks attention. That's if all the fighting hadn't already. It could very well mean that we would need to punch through the Orks before we could even deal with the Tau. Too bad the Tau's vehicle weren't as limited to the road as ours were.
"We can worry about the Orks later. We still need to figure out a way to deal with the main route towards the central hub. If the Tau are in control of the main route then things will turn very ugly very quickly." The high walls, numerous buildings, and narrow traffic lanes could easily turn the routes into shooting galleries for the Tau. Our forces would have to break free and push into the central hub, where the starport took on a more urban layout with blocks of warehouses, terminals, and hangars to navigate and bypass potential chokepoints. Since there wasn't enough time for the Tau to fortify the starport, they would have to rely on pre-existing chokepoints if they wanted to keep us bottled-up. Their opportunity to limit our manoeuvrability ended once we reached the central hub.
"If we really need to, we could put down the transports at other locations. These parks here could be used in a pinch."
"I think Kasteen and the others would be wary of landing their forces potentially on top of the enemy."
"Would make finding the xenos easier."
"Let's just focus on killing the ones in front of us for now."
Our conversation was interrupted when a bout of turbulence enveloped the transport, which meant we had begun passing through the atmosphere. The noise from hundreds of soldiers, tanks, and APCs clanging about inside an all-metal container would consume any attempt at unaided speech and I enjoyed the opportunity to take a break from conversing with the over-zealous captain.
It wasn't so much that she bothered me but she was over-eager and reminded me far too much of the Commissar-Generals I've met – heart always in the right place, though not always her head. I was reminded of a lecture from the schola about the four types of officers that could be found within an army. The first category were brilliant and energetic; they were destined to be staff officers. Great ideas and the ability to make things happen. The next was brilliant and lazy. They made the best commanders as they could understand the battlefield but never acted impetuously. Stupid and lazy was the next category and they were easy to spot by the number of their own troops that lay dead around them. The last category were the stupid and energetic. This was the most dangerous group of officers within any army. Full of truly terrible ideas and the willingness to implement them as quickly as possible. Their innate actions pulsed through an army with an effect equal to a bolter round through the brain of an orc. The thing is dead but it is still charging at you at full speed. Only to fall to the ground after it runs right over you. Sulla was starting to meet all the criteria of a full blown category four. I figured that I would know for certain very shortly.
By the time the boat stopped rocking and things settled down, Sulla was already preoccupied briefing her lieutenants through her comm-bead so I was left to continue reading over tactical data. However, even that activity was short-lived when, a few minutes later, the whole transport jerked violently to port, knocking a few lasguns free from their owners and leaving most of us in a state of confusion, including myself.
The up-until-now silent stormtrooper must have heard my confused mutterings as he turned to me and said, "Feels like we've taken a hit – missile if I'm not mistaken." He was remarkably calm despite the sudden bout of uncertainty that had just kneed me in the gut. His calmness, I learned, came from many experiences in similar situations and the military transports were rugged enough to handle a few missiles so long as they didn't take out an engine. The loss of an engine would have left us with just enough power to make it to the crash site. The transport began lurching from side to side, tilting at surprisingly steep angles as the pilot manoeuvred the transport in order to avoid incoming ground fire. It was impressive given that transports were about as manoeuvrable as a lobbed brick. Troopers began to curse loudly as unsecured gear was tossed around the cabin and I was hit by a trooper's loose helmet. At least that answered our question about the presence of Tau anti-air firepower. Since we didn't take any other hits on our way in, I assumed that it must have been sparse, or at perhaps more focused on the Imperial fighters still engaging Tau vessels for air supremacy.
"Touching down in five minutes," the pilot's voice sounded over a vox caster, prompting the scores of troopers to start one final check of their gear. As the transport descended, it began to be rattled by small arms fire, which bothered no one as the thick hull plating was more than capable of withstanding plasma shots, lascannon fire, and bolter rounds. I took the opportunity to fit on my gas mask, taking some solace in the warmth and sound of my breath. "Doors are opening in two minutes. I can see bluies all over the place so get ready to come out swinging!"
Sulla immediately began shouting out orders to platoon leaders and every trooper began to unhook all their safety harnesses. A few whoops of excitement echoed throughout the chamber as the exuberance of the younger members began to show, though I doubt such enthusiasm would last beyond the first few volleys. The stormtrooper beside me remained as calm as a spring breeze, prepping his hellgun with machine-like precision. More out of compulsion than a pressing need to, I double-checked my laspistols as well, ensuring both were fully charged and in their appropriate holsters. I also made sure that the reassuring bulk of my shock maul (formerly known as the celibacy stick) was still resting inside my great coat. It may not have had the inspiring presence of a chainsword but few people could get up after receiving a fully-charged blow from it and its smaller size made it easier for me to handle. The soldiers began to line up at the boarding ramp, ready to rush out the second they could, and I decided to follow Cain's example and squeezed my way to the very front.
Crazy – yes, but I was desperate to make sure the troopers believed in my resolve if only for the sake of my ego.
The transport touched down, causing everyone to lurch forward briefly and as the engines began to fall silent all I could hear were the sounds of the soldiers around me breathing and my heart hammering inside my chest. I knew I had a few moments to say some words for inspiration, not that I thought anybody in the chamber needed it aside from me.
"Today we stand together against the alien and the heretic," I said, surprising myself by keeping my tone level and firm despite the all-too-likely chance of it cracking under the pressure. "We are this planet's last, best hope for salvation. We either leave this world as heroes…or we don't leave at all. For Emperor and Imperium!"
"For Emperor and Imperium," echoed the voice of the same stormtrooper as before, who I just realized was standing right behind me. A few other soldiers echoed those words but otherwise the cabin was silence, save for gears and hydraulics as the boarding ramp began to descend. Immediately, we were all hit in the face with a fury of wind and water.
Apparently, I had missed the part of the briefing that mentioned we were landing in the middle of Viridis' rainy season, which could drop a few hundred centimetres of water in the span of a few months. Even before the ramp touched the rockrete most of us were already half-soaked but it did not dampen our resolve. I took two steps down the boarding ramp…and then I slipped and fell.
That's right…I fell. I made one of the dumbest rookie mistakes of all and while in other situations such a mistake could have cost me my life, in this instant it was what kept me alive. Just as I lost my footing, my boot hitting a slick portion of the rain-soaked ramp, a plasma bolt passed over me and through the airspace where my head would have roughly been had I not fallen. Unfortunately, that meant, instead, the stormtrooper behind me caught the plasma bolt square in the chest and he became the first of several to fall as additional plasma bolts began hounding the boarding ramp. A thunderous battle cry responded from our troops, lasguns firing as they stormed down the ramp. An arm swooped down help pull me back to my feet, though I never got an opportunity to thank the man, or even get a good look at his face, as a second later he too caught a plasma bolt and went down, a black, charred crater where his face used to be.
Our troops began to fan out, attempting to form a defensive line against the incoming plasma fire, which seemed to be originating from a medium-sized structure located near the main exit towards the central hub. I was amazed at their accuracy even at the range they were firing at, which was almost at the limits of our lasguns. Troopers were taking cover wherever they could find it – vehicles, storage crates, loaders, and basically anything else that would be able to withstand a few plasma bolts. It was a desperate struggle at first but as our soldiers began to dig in, we began getting more effect from our return fire. I managed to find shelter behind a small luggage carrier, joining a stocky, red-headed woman who I recognized soon afterwards.
"Lovely weather for a firefight, eh commissar?" Magot joked.
"Indeed," was my response, peaking over our cover to get a better understanding of our situation. We had landed on the Northwest pad, formed a defensive line facing the Southeast, and were being harassed by Tau forces and some traitor PDF (as I noticed lasbolts flying back in our direction) located in buildings to the South and Southeast. From what I could tell, they didn't have any heavy armour with them but that could change very quickly. I took a few pot shots but with the rain and distance, I doubt I hit anything at all.
"Drones!" A voice cut through the downpour. It took me a few moments to realize what he was referring to but I eventually saw them; small, disc-like machines flying over the retaining walls from every direction, firing twin-guns in strafing runs. What little cover we had was useless against them so everybody immediately turned their attention to them. Fortunately, the little buggers had short range and bad accuracy (at least compared to Tau marksmanship) so our returning volleys were able to swat them from the sky. I was reminded of the old firing range back at the schola and couldn't help but smirk as I lined up one of the machines and put a lasbolt right through it. It sputtered and wobbled for a few fleeting moments before crashing into the ground with a satisfying crunch.
"Heads up Abel!" Magot alerted me as she fired several rounds at a flock of drones preparing to make a strafing run on our position. I was almost ready to line up a shot myself when a flurry of bolter rounds tore apart the formation. A cheer rose up as we heard the familiar roar of engines flare up and several chimeras and Leman Russ tanks emerged from the transport ship, some of which were so eager to enter the fray they flew off the ramp, slamming loudly into the rockrete. Multilasers and heavy bolters opened up on the entrenched enemy forces, gouging out huge crevices through the sides of the building, followed by ever-reassuring blasts as the tanks joined in. With the battle turning in our favour, I raised Captain Sulla on the vox network, the dry echo of her voice telling me that she was inside her command chimera.
"The other landing parties are reporting light resistance," Sulla explained, "and they're pressing towards the central hub as we speak."
"Good, once we mop up here we can join them."
My good spirits were shattered, though, when a too-close-to-be-comforting explosion rang out and I turned to see one of the chimeras with its turret in flames. Then suddenly, it landed: a Tau battlesuit. The towering war machine dropped straight onto the chimera, sinking a few inches into the armour plating that bowed beneath the force. I noticed a few of the saucer drones were following it around, though they lacked any visible weapons and just seemed to hover there, as if watching over the larger machine. Firing another shot into the chimera, any hope for survivors inside were as blasted as the machine's chassis.
"Everything on that frakker!" I barked unnecessarily as the chimeras and troopers began pelting it with everything they had. I realized then one of the flankers must have been one of those shield drones I had read about, as all of our shots struck harmlessly against a protective energy barrier. It began firing huge bolts of plasma in response, blowing holes through our defensive line as if it was made of paper. When one of the tanks tried to swing its turret around to target the battlesuit, its jetpack fired and it launched into the air once more, landing with another thunderous crash mere meters away from my position. Its white, robotic head swivelled from left to right before its glowing red lenses fixated on me, or so it appeared to my terrified mind. It aimed a long-barrelled cannon at my position and fired. Quick wits and quicker feet just barely managed to get Magot and I out of the blast radius but even then we were still knocked off our feet from the explosion.
Cursing under my breath for winning that stupid hand with Cain, I was about to get back to my feet when a large, mechanical foot knocked me across the rockrete. Apparently the giant machine decided to start toying with me or perhaps it simply wished to look me in the eye before vaporizing my remains. However, something most peculiar then occurred - it didn't fire and simply stared at me as though contemplating whether I was worth the ammunition. Whatever reason stayed its hand, the time it bought probably saved me as the battlesuit suddenly twisted back just as a krak rocket went screaming past its chest. I used the momentary distraction to put some distance between it and me, which was aptly timed as a Leman Russ finally got a lock on the bastard and fired a shell at close range into its backside. It didn't blow the thing apart, which I had sort of hoped for, but it did destroy one of the drone escorts and it must have been the shield drone as our shots started pounding against the armour plating (not that it was having any better effect).
Without its shield, it must have lost its nerve as it rocketed back into the air and disappeared past the retaining walls. I could say with absolute certainty I was the most relieved individual on the battlefield to see the thing leave, even if it wasn't as a pile of slag. Fire from the enemy positions started to lessen over the next few minutes and before I even met back up with Captain Sulla I could see Tau transports and PDF chimeras falling back towards the central hub. With our forces and armoured vehicles fully deployed, they must have realized their best bet was to make a concentrated defence in the central region. That, or they were merely luring us into an even bigger firestorm. Either way, we had no choice but to push forward so I joined Captain Sulla in her command chimera.
"How are the other landing parties fairing?" I asked the vox operator.
"Light resistance but they're reporting Tau and PDF forces falling back towards the central hub as well. Major Broklaw is asking for a status report."
I decided to answer the Major personally. I told him we were a little bruised from the welcoming party but were making good progress. I also asked him if they had any encounters with any battlesuits and was a little surprised to learn that we had encountered the only one thus far. Regardless, I warned him to keep an eye out for those brutes dropping from the sky and to be wary of attacks from any direction. Broklaw reminded us of our orders to regain control of the starport by any means necessary, which would be a lot easier if we had more soldiers at our disposal but the next wave of transports would not arrive for some time.
Noticing Sulla standing at the turret, I tugged on her pant leg to prompt her return to the inside of the chimera. She seemed to be in good spirits, a satisfied grin slapped across her otherwise soaked face. "I'm thinking of setting up a temporary med-station for the wounded near the perimeter and leaving a few squads to watch the rear while the rest of us advance through the main causeway to the central hub," Sulla informed me.
"Exactly what I was thinking," I lied. I hadn't given much thought to our next move. The causeway, though, looked like a good place for opportunists like the Tau to set up another ambush. Glancing to a map of the starport one of the vox operators was examining, I pointed out to Sulla a service entrance to the buildings that lined the causeway. A few fire teams would be able to move along with the convoys and take out the ambushers while they were too preoccupied to notice us moving through the building behind them.
"Two teams to a side should be sufficient," Sulla concluded after a quick scan of the map.
"I'll go with one," I added. Sulla didn't object, in fact she probably relished the idea of getting out from under my supervision and I just wanted to get out of the rain for a while. Sulla gave me her best teams for dealing with close-quarters combat, the team I stayed with being led by a Sergeant Grifen.
"Hey there Commissar, glad to see the bluies didn't zap ya," I was greeted cheerfully by Magot, whom I lost track of when the battlesuit tried to reduce me to a charred pulp.
"The feeling's mutual," I replied. "I don't wanna be pulp."
A few lasbolts made short work of the service entrance's lock and our two teams filed into the narrow corridors. With barely enough room to walk two abreast, our forces quickly divided themselves up to sweep through the multiple levels. Somehow, I managed to tag along with Magot, who was her team's sub-altern, mostly because she had lost a couple of her troopers during the initial assault and my presence brought the team up to four members. Plus, the little sociopath had grown on me a bit and I sort of wanted to make sure she got through this ordeal in one piece. Our team had been tasked with the upper floor, Trooper Gorr taking the lead, followed by Magot, myself, and Trooper Villhon in the rear. Damp rockrete walls lined with pipes and barely-functioning luminators greeted us on the top floor. It was quiet but we could hear footsteps and hushed muttering in the distance, prompting all of us to slow our advance. I hugged the wall on the right side, opposite to the side whose rooms faced the causeway, using the doorway nooks for cover that were conveniently spaced every five or six meters along the whole length.
Operating entirely by hand signals, Gorr primed a frag grenade with Villhon at the first door. We waited until we heard the shooting start and then Gorr tossed the frag in. A few panicked shouts were quickly silenced by the grenade's blast and then the two troopers rushed in to finish off any survivors. Not surprising, the Tau were quick to realize the flanking maneuver once they heard the grenade go off and Magot and I managed to catch a few soldiers by surprise as they rushed into the halls. In these tight corridors, the Tau's superior range didn't matter. Unfortunately, we also didn't have much cover and it didn't take long for my eyes to start to hurt from the plasma bolts flashing against the rockrete.
"Damn, there are a lot of them," Magot commented, putting a three-round burst through the chest of one Tau.
"The more shooting at us means there are less shooting at the convoy," I explained. Suddenly, a fatal flaw in my cover became apparent when the door I was leaning so hard against opened up and I uncerimoniously fell through. A very surprised PDF trooper on the other side acted more on reflex than good sense as he managed to brace my fall before realizing I wasn't an ally.
I was polite enough to thank him before putting a lasbolt through his surprised face. Some days I think I should have waited to get back on my feet before killing him as the loss of the support left me falling to the floor once again. I'm not sure who was more surprised, though, me as I lay on the floor staring up at the hallway or the line of PDF troopers who stared back at me. Though I don't know the answer to that question, I do know I was the one who acted faster, drawing my second laspistol and hammering the triggers. The tight corridor kept them so confined that many shots (mostly the ones from my hotshot laspistol) punched through one trooper and hit those next in line.
"Nice shooting!" Magot called out from the back in the main hall once all the troopers before me were dead.
"Bastards made me lose my hat," I grumbled back, picking it off the floor and dusting it off. Joining Magot back in the hall, we had managed to make some progress as I noticed Villhon and Gorr a few doors up holding down the Tau with heavy fire. Gorr motioned for us to move up before suppressing the Tau with a burst of full auto, allowing Magot and I join them.
"Top floor, right-side troops, what's your progress?" an unfamiliar voice asked through my comm bead.
"Not very far," I answered. "Maybe a few doors down."
"Good, cause I'm about to blow a few walls apart." Apparently I was talking to a tank commander who was making sure he wasn't going to hit us as he fired a salvo through a window, causing the whole building to shudder as a door down the corridor was blown from its hinges.
"Nice, could you put a few shots in the windows to the left and right of that?" I asked.
"You got it but all these free shots don't grow on trees," he replied, unaware he was talking to a commissar. A few moments later, a whole section of wall was blown into scrap and rubble, filling the corridor with a cloud of rockrete dust and was followed soon afterwards by a repeat performance a few meters further down. Between the concussive blast and the flying debris, there were very few soldiers able to put up a fight as we rushed down the hall, dispatching anybody still breathing. While Gorr and Villhon continued sweeping up the remainder of the corridor, finding little resistance left at this point, Magot and I took a moment check on some of the dead – a mixture of Tau and PDF troopers. I hoped to find somebody alive in the lot so that I could get some information on what awaited us in the central hub.
"Serves them right for siding with the bluies," Magot commented, spitting on the body of a PDF trooper who had several holes through his chest thanks to her.
"Well I imagine these made pretty tempting offers," I replied, hoisting from a dead sergeant what appeared to be a Tau plasma weapon of the carbine variety. With firepower like that I could imagine why they thought they could stand a chance of winning. I must admit, I was half-tempted to help myself to it but I eventually decided against it, not wishing for any of our soldiers mistaking me for one of the traitors. Plus the added firepower probably wasn't worth the whole blasphemy and eternal damnation.
I tossed the weapon aside and was about to move on when I heard footsteps rapidly approaching. They belonged to a sizable man who, judging by the dust and blood, managed to survive being nearly blown apart by a tank shell. Fuelled mostly by adrenaline and rage, the large man charged at me with fists almost the size of my face. Too close for my laspistol, I let it drop and drew out my shock maul. Probably plagued by a concussion, his swings were wild and uncoordinated (or he just really sucked at fighting) and I weaved passed them with a grace that comes from years of practice before driving the shock maul into his gut. On its lowest settings, it was enough to incapacitate somebody long enough to take control of them, such as by wrenching him into a tight headlock with just enough pressure that his neck would snap if I so much as twitched.
Once it was clear who was in control, I was able to ease the pressure enough so he could talk without straining himself. We needed to do a little interrogation after all.
"Murdering Imperial bastards!" he spat out the moment he could.
"Gee, haven't heard that one before," Magot muttered wholly unimpressed.
"Show some manners in front of a lady," I warned, tightening my grip for an instant. "Now I'm going to ask you a few questions and every time you piss me off, we're going to shoot a finger off, got it?"
"Frak you!" There was a crack of ionized air followed by the man trying to scream through my re-tightened grip, which thankfully muffled most of it.
"Sorry, did I shoot too soon?" Magot asked.
"A bit but I'll let it slide," I replied. "Now let's try this again before we had to start calling you 'Lefty' and that would be a real shame because I have very little patience left already. Now, nod if there is heavy armour waiting for us in the central hub."
Eventually, he nodded.
"Good, is it Tau?" Again, he nodded. After a while of chatting, nodding, and shooting, we got a fair amount of information out of him. We could have gotten a bit more but he eventually spat some insult regarding our sexual preferences and Magot stoved his head in with the butt of her rifle. He must have hit a sensitive spot with her.
"Uh, sorry about that commissar," Magot apologized, though appeared more embarrassed than ashamed.
"That's okay, my arms were getting sore anyway," I answered as I wiped some of the blood off my mask. I contacted Broklaw over the vox network and relayed the information, explaining how the Tau had apparently set up a number of hammerheads and sky rays in the courtyard, though I learned this information was coming a bit late. Apparently one of the landing parties had already reached the central hub and were being pinned down by the Tau tanks and one of our transport shuttles got shot down by a barrage of sky ray missiles when it tried to leave.
"What's this about a transport going down?" Cain's voice suddenly cut into the conversation. His transport must have broken through the atmosphere to be able to join in on us and I imagined the news would make even a Hero of the Imperium a bit nervous. All that heroism doesn't do much good when your ride is blown apart with you in it.
"The starport is too hot to land right now, you'll have to hold position until we can clear out the anti-air batteries," I reported, though he groaned at the news.
"Where's another good LZ?"
"Uhh…I remember there being a large park about five clicks Northeast of the starport. It should be large enough but you could be dropping right into the middle of them for all we know. I'd highly advise against it Cain."
"Well all I know right now is that we're under sporadic fire already and if somebody is going to try and kill me I'd at least like the opportunity to be able to kill them back, thank you very kindly!" Cain did bring up a valid point and were I in his situation I'd want to get the warp off of that transport as well, though mine would be for far more selfish reasons than his. The LZ I suggested was the closest one I could think of that wouldn't put him into too much danger but even that was relative as he could be landing on top of a whole platoon of Tau. However, if anybody could pull off such a daring maneuver, it'd be Commissar Cain. I bid him the Emperor's blessing and returned to my mission.
"Things are about to get worse aren't they commissar?" Magot asked cautiously.
"Nonsense…they were already this bad, we just didn't know it."