FIFTEEN
The news of the apparent betrayal by the Adumbrians briefly left me in stunned silence. I had a hard time swallowing the truth and it felt like ground glass tearing my insides apart as I slowly digested the reality of their actions. It wasn't so much the betrayal that stunned me but the realization that somebody with a functioning forebrain could actually be that bloody stupid. Perhaps my mind relied too much on empirical evidence but I couldn't think of a sound tactical reason for the sudden betrayal. If their aim was to become enemies with every army on the planet then they were doing a fantastic job. Very rarely have rage and confusion held a meet-and-greet in my mind and so consuming was my anger that I hadn't noticed that I was repeatedly muttering 'what the frak?' until Watz pointed it out.
"You mind letting us in on what's getting your knickers in such a twist?" Watz asked impatiently as he began revving the engine. I hadn't realized that Cain had contacted me over the commissarial frequencies so I was the only one in the convoy that knew what was happening. "You look like you're about ready to kill somebody and, quite frankly, if it's me I'd like to know so I can get a head start on running away."
Hatred and confusion were pushed aside as the realities of command took root. I had to get the convoy moving if Cain and the Lord-General were to have any hope of getting out alive. "All forces, we have a situation; our people and the Tau are under attack by the Adumbrians. Whatever their reason, they're about to learn the penalty for betraying the will of the the Emperor. I want the sentinels to sweep in from the side entrance and hit the traitorous bastards from the flank – draw their fire away from the Lord-General. Everybody else will follow me up the center. And loyal guardsmen…whatever noble-sounding excuse they have for their betrayal, I'm not interested in hearing. Give them a traitor's death and show them how real guardsmen fight!"
Considering the Adumbrians were about as popular as a Chaos uprising I could have told the men that the 'last one in buysthe next round' and they would have charged in with just as much zeal and fury. With shouts of acknowledgments from the sentinels, the walkers sprinted past us while the rest of us started on our way to the main entrance. As speed was paramount I told Watz to floor it and we left the tank and transport in a cloud of promethium exhaust.
"I know new regiments have their growing pains but it's a bit early to be in the rebellious juvie phase don't you think?" Kael commented light-heartedly as though the whole situation was just another joke to him. He was either very well-adjusted or simply didn't take the situation seriously enough.
"This doesn't make any sense, what do you they hope to gain by doing this?" Watz asked.
I doubt he was expecting any kind of answer since he did have a habit of talking to himself but I felt inclined to speak up regardless. It was the sort of thing commissars were expected to do. "Commissars Wren and Stimpsen weren't exactly thrilled with our plan to strike a deal with the Tau but I can't imagine them taking it this far."
"Maybe they thought that by killing the Tau commander they can end the battle against the Tau, leaving us with only the orks to deal with," Kael suggested. "Maybe they expected Cain and the others to join them when the shooting started – rather than risking themselves to help the Tau."
"Well the commissars might think that but how would they convince their men to do something that reckless?" I replied. Idiots the Adumbrians might be but some of them, hopefully the officers, should have been able to see the reason behind our truce with the Tau. There was no indication at all that the Adumbrians were unhappy with the plan. However, as I mulled through those thoughts a realization hit me – the senior officers were responsible for briefing their troops. If Trevek was on board all he needed to do was feed false information down and the Adumbrians could have been led to believe we were the traitors. I prayed to the Emperor that was not the case because otherwise Cain and I would have a lot of officers to execute.
If Kael was right about the motives, however, then it made our job all the easier as well as unsettling – we had to rescue the Tau. Once they were safely out of the way, the Adumbrians would have no choice but to retreat and with the mission failed they wouldn't be able to show their face in Vertens without having it blown to pieces.
"I knew having those two idiot commissars was going to be a problem," I sighed quietly. "Kael, I need you to keep your eyes open for any sign of movement." At first I didn't get a response or even after I repeated myself. Glancing over my shoulder I saw Kael staring into the distance, his eyes transfixed on the horizon as if in some sort of trance. Worried that he might have somehow caught a silenced lasbolt I grabbed him by the shoulder and gave him a shake. Thankfully, he snapped back to reality quickly with a slightly surprised look. He apologized sheepishly and remarked that he got lost in thought for a few moments. I was lucky that I got his attention when I did because he suddenly pushed me down just as bolter rounds started to fly over our heads.
One of the Adumbrian's chimeras had come around to the front gate in an attempt to cut us off. The heavy bolter rounds rattled the centaur's armour plating but it withstood the initial barrage. Unfortunately, Watz was forced to bring the centaur to a halt – unlike other vehicle the centaur had no rear armour plating so if we drove past the chimera we would catch all the bolter rounds in the arse. I, for one, happened to like having my arse in one piece. Watz was just about to throw the centaur into reverse when we heard a rocket impact and the chimera's turret was blown apart.
Though the bolter rounds had stopped, Kael and I were still cautious as we peaked over the sides. A Tau battlesuit had landed not too far from us and was the one responsible for putting a rocket into the chimera. With the turret was now ablaze Adumbrians started pouring out to engage. Actually, fleeing would have been more accurate since even the rookies knew that lasguns did next to nothing against a battlesuit. However, the soldiers didn't get far as the battlesuit unleashed a burst from a rapid-fire plasma gun, cutting them all down in a matter of seconds. When the battlesuit turned to look at us I thought we were about to share the chimera's fate but then it simply turned away and rocketed off towards the meet site.
"That was conveniently well-timed," Kael muttered.
"We better move quickly, the Adumbrians won't last long when the Tau hit them in force and I don't want the Lord-General and Commisar Cain surrounded by bluies when that happens," I instructed, albeit needlessly as Watz had already brought the centaur back to full speed. He was quite aggravated (and cursing under his breath) by the fact that his centaur had been rattled by, of all things, a traitorous guardsman. As we passed by the flaming wreckage, any doubt I had about the veracity of Cain's assessment was washed away at the sight of the Adumbrian's colours on the hull. In true Kriegan fashion, Watz gave the fallen a proper and respectful one-fingered salute on his way by. For a Kriegan, a traitorous guardsman holds the same intensity of contempt that a Valhallan holds for an ork.
A few Adumbrians attempted to cordon off the main gateway but what they had in initiative they lacked in skill and experience. There may as well have tried to keep out the wind for all the luck they had in keeping a speeding centaur from entering. Between Kael's sniping, me on the heavy stubber, and several tonnes of speeding plasteel, the blockade was little more than a speed bump for us. Whoever had designed the map of the staging area, which I had spent hours studying in preparation, did an awful job with the scaling. I went in expecting at worst a few hundred yards of open rockrete ground. What I got instead was several kilometers of open space surrounded by high rockrete walls and lined with large warehouses, watch towers, and other buildings of varying dimensions and function. The whole area could have functioned as a back-up landing pad and I suspect it had in ages past. The vast, open courtyards kept most of the enemies bottled up in clusters in the buildings and around chimeras. Off in the distance I saw our sentinels pressing into the Adumbrian's flank, forcing many of the soldiers clustered around their chimeras to run inside for protection. Unfortunately, every vehicle was an easy target on the open rockrete, a fact made evident as a rocket streaked over the centaur.
Despite the chaos that normally comes with a battlefield, locating our stranded comrades was not a difficult process – we simply had to look to where the bulk of the laser bolts were going. Caught out in the open at the time of the ambush, Cain and the others had managed to flee to cover behind a series of rockrete road dividers. Cain, the Lord-General, their security detail, and about a dozen Tau were pinned down by a heavy barrage of lasgun and heavy bolter fire but thankfully the extreme ranges were making accuracy neigh on impossible for the Adumbrians. It was strange to see Valhallans and Tau fighting alongside one other but I was promptly reminded of the old saying involving 'the enemy of my enemy.' Near Cain's position was their chimera, which had tried to drive over for a timely rescue but was immobilized by a rocket to the treads. Its multilas turret fired in defiance of the enemy but there was little more it could from its isolated position other than draw some fire away from Cain and the others.
Our approach did not go unnoticed by the Adumbrians as the centaur was once again subjected to a barrage of bolter and lasgun fire. It kept our heads down but didn't impede our advance; much to Watz's chagrin, though, one of the heavy bolter rounds did hit the heavy stubber, shattering the casing and causing some panic after a few bullets cooked off. Watz was understandable irate after that and shouted a number of expletives that many prudish worlds would have considered illegal. Despite our battered appearance, the centaur was a welcomed sight by the beleaguered troops.
"Is it me or does trouble seem to follow us wherever we go?" I remarked as I hopped out the back and was met by Cain and the Lord-General.
"I think you're giving us way too much credit," Cain replied with his usual light-hearted tone despite the warzone around us. "You're thinking that we're important enough for trouble to give a damn about wasting its time with us. Now where are the others?" I explained that I sped ahead of the others and that they would be arriving momentarily, then I expressed my confusion as to where the Tau reinforcements were. From what I saw on my approach, the Tau should have arrived at roughly the same time I had. The Lord-General explained that the Tau reinforcements were dealing with heavy resistance along their approach, thatapparently the Adumbrians had taken far more precautions in dealing with the Tau than they had with us. It led more credence to the theory that they had hoped for Cain and the others to join in on their little ambush. If that were the case, I imagine the Adumbrians were surprised when Cain actually went and saved one of the Tau leaders from the opening shots.
"It's time to get you out of here Lord-General," I said as I motioned for the centaur. "Take the centaur – Watz will drive you safety. The rest of us will cover your escape and wait for reinforcements."
Lord-General Zyvan nodded in agreement saying, "It's a shame to leave all the excitement to you but I suppose there's no point in trying to argue with the two of you."
As he climbed into the centaur, I turned to Cain with a bit of confusion on my mind. "He seems in oddly good spirits all things considered." Cain explained to me that shortly after the firefight started an Adumbrian officer stood up and demanded that our people surrender – Zyvan answered from the mouth of his bolt pistol. Before the centaur could take off, however, one of the Tau approached us. He stood out from the others as he lacked a helmet, wore less armour, and was carrying only a pistol but the second he spoke I realized who it was.
"Commissar Cain," Shas'O Lar'shi spoke, "it is with great reluctance and humility that I ask for your assistance once more. I wish to make use of your transport as well."
"Hm, not so brave without your giant robot, are you?" It was a cheap shot, even by my standards, but I still had a score to settle with the Tau commander. Just because I had to work alongside his army didn't mean that I had to be even remotely polite to him.
However, all I succeeded in accomplishing was shoving a foot into my mouth as Shas'O Lar'shi quickly shook his head. "I have no intention of abandoning this fight; however, it is my sworn duty to see that no harm befalls Aun'vre." He directed my attention to an even more peculiar Tau, one dressed in flowing tan robes rather than heavy armour. The robed Tau wasn't carrying any weapons but the bulk of the Tau soldiers had gathered around him. At the time I had assumed the Tau to have been a diplomat or ambassador of sorts – turns out I was way off the mark on that assessment. Had I known the truth I would have likely told Shas'O Lar'shi to frak off and find his own way home but considering that Cain had gone to such lengths to build a relation with the Tau forces I simply nodded and hurried them along. Also, I didn't want to dally with the Lord-General sitting in the back of my centaur so I went along for the sake of expediency.
Suffice to say, Watz 'politely' objected to the notion of playing chauffeur to a couple of xenos. Cain and Lar'shi instructed Watz to drive to safety as fast as possible to a point on the highway where a Tau transport would arrive to take the xenos off his hand. Once the robed Tau had climbed in along with a bodyguard, Watz was sent on his way.
However, that still left about two dozen Imperial and Tau soldiers stranded in the middle of an open courtyard with only meter-high rockrete dividers to hide behind. The second chimera advanced with the Leman Russ battle tank providing covering fire and soon we had another squad of troopers with us. That didn't improve the situation much since we were still heavily outnumbered and outgunned. A tank helped even the odds a bit but with the enemies entrenched in the buildings the tank would run out of ammo before it could deal enough damage, providing it survived long enough.
"Any idea how many we're dealing with?" I asked since I wasn't about to stick my head up as rounds zipped overhead.
"Judging by the number of heavy weapon emplacements, I'd venture with at least four platoons," Cain replied. "Maybe we're lucky and the whole regiment didn't rebel…I'd hate to have to execute all of them." He handed me a mirror that had been taped to the end of a knife, which gave me the opportunity to peer over the top for a better look as he continued. "Now, the bulk of the enemy troops are concentrated in those three warehouses. They have heavy bolter emplacements in a number of the windows as well as rocket launchers. At that distance they won't hit much but they still pose a threat to our chimeras."
Outnumbered, outgunned, and with the enemy in a far better position than ours – even a rookie could tell that everything was stacked against us. Even for hardened veterans this was a difficult situation. "Well I'd rather not sit here and wait for backup. If they have any mortars or autocannons with them these barricades and our sorry selves aren't going last much longer," I said despite how unpopular the idea was. Charging out into the open was suicide but sitting back and waiting for the cavalry was risky as well. Besides, if we wanted any chance of capturing somebody who might have an idea of what prompted the sudden change of allegiance, we would have to take the fight to the Adumbrians.
"We'll need some powerful covering fire if we're going to make it across this courtyard," Cain reminded me. His last words trailed off, though, which meant his mind was following a new lead to, hopefully, a new strategy. Quickly, he turned to Lar'shi and asked, "What kind of range do your missile launcher platforms have?"
"Significant," Lar'shi replied. We would have preferred something with an actual number but I couldn't blame an enemy for not wanting to divulge the capabilities of their weaponry. Thankfully, Lar'shi could see where Cain was going with his inquiry. "A missile strike would be possible but at this distance we would need to indicate the target with a markerlight."
"Perfect," I said, "who has one?"
"He did I'm afraid," Lar'shi answered as he motioned over the barricade. I quickly glanced over the top and saw what he was pointing to – out in the middle of the courtyard was a fallen Tau soldier with a markerlight-fitted weapon still clutched in one hand.
"Well where's our giant, walking tank of a comrade?" I asked, referring to Garrick who was nowhere to be seen.
"When we made a dash for cover, Garrick decided to go in the opposite direction," Cain explained. It shouldn't have come as a surprise but it was still disappointing to hear. He directed my attention to a smoldering wreckage of a chimera in the distance, which was one of Garrick's first targets when the fighting broke out. Even with a quick glance it appeared as though Garrick had torn the transport apart like it was a tin of food. Wherever our space marine friend was, he was likely giving the Adumbrians many reasons to regret their betrayal.
With our options limited, I did the only thing that seemed even remotely reasonable at the time – I volunteered to run and fetch the markerlight. The only reason I volunteered so promptly was because I knew that if I didn't, Cain inevitably would. Besides, between the two of us, the pint-sized commissar stood a much better chance of not getting shot. It came as no surprise that nobody seemed to object to my proposal, save for the medic who would have been obliged to try and save my arse if I got shot during my fit of insanity. The others agreed to provide covering fire and Kael volunteered to go and find a better vantage point to provide sniper support (which he found in one of the perimeter watchtowers). I knew Cain would probably chew me out later but if I succeeded at least I would have that personal victory when the time came; and if I failed I would be too dead to care what Cain had to say.
After giving Kael a few minutes to get into position and reciting every prayer to the Emperor I could remember off the top of my head, I vaulted over the barricade knowing I would either return a hero or die an idiot. I would have preferred a bit more latitude but since I'm writing this in hindsight I obviously didn't wind up meeting the Emperor that day. What happened when my feet hit the rockrete is a bit of a blur, likely from the combination of adrenaline and sheer bowel-loosening panic that ensued as I made a mad dash across the courtyard. I distinctly recall the heat from passing laser bolts, the crack and whiz of stubber and bolter fire, and that somewhere along the line I lost my hat, again. As I reached the fallen Tau, heavy bolter fire tore up the ground around me. Somehow I didn't get hit but I lost my footing as I was pelted with rockrete chips and fell onto the fallen Tau. That was when I heard him suddenly let out a muffled grunt.
The bastard was still alive…weak but alive. Since a lasgun didn't leave bleeding wounds it was surprising the kind of injuries somebody could survive. Perhaps with the Tau's alien physiology, the shot missed the organs of any importance. However the xeno managed to survive, I was now stuck with the problem of being face-down on the ground with my ass hanging out for anyone with competent marksmanship. The Adumbrians probably thought I got hit when I hit the rockrete, hence the reason why I hadn't been perforated yet, but they would realize their mistake the moment I grabbed the Tau's weapon and ran. My only hope was to grab and run in one swift motion. Unfortunately, I stumbled across a critical flaw in my plan when I tried to gently slide the weapon away from the Tau – he wouldn't let go of it. In fact, the more I tried to pull (without making it obvious to the gunners looking my way that I was still alive), the tighter his grip on the gun.
The idiot Tau was actually clinging to his weapon! He must have thought I was trying to loot him or something. "Let go you stupid bastard," I whispered harshly even though he probably couldn't understand a word I said. I could have pried the gun loose but it would make me an obvious target again; shooting the Tau was an option but I don't know how our newly-forged allies would take the news if they found out; or I could have simply gave up on the markerlight and ran back to safety with an excuse like 'it was busted' to explain my empty hands.
Just then, a Tau battlesuit landed a short distance away, spraying plasma fire across the enemy lines. A vox amplifier rang out from the machine shouting, "Move! I will cover you!" Just what I needed – a giant bullet magnet standing next to me.
A new option then sprang to mind. Rising to my feet, I pulled the fallen Tau up and slung him across my shoulders. Thank the Emperor that the bluies are so small that even my petite shoulders could handle the burden. I dashed across the courtyard, huffing and cursing the whole length, and by the grace of the Emperor (and the horrible aim of the rookies) I managed to reach the safety of the barricade. I unceremoniously hurled the wounded Tau over the barricade and followed suit, caring little that I used the tossed Tau as a cushion when I landed.
I imagine there had been quite a bit of confusion sewn amongst my allies when they saw me carrying the Tau - confusion that was quite evident on their faces when I finally tumbled over the barricade. If they were asking questions I couldn't hear them at first over the gunfire and my heaving chest as I gasped for air. It took everyone, including the Tau, a moment to realize that I had brought back a wounded soldier and not a corpse. Once the realization sank in, the Tau soldiers scrambled to aid their comrade while Lar'shi relieved him of his weapon.
"That was even more insane than your original plan," Cain commented.
"What can I say?" I said between heavy breaths, "the only way I was only going to get that gun over his dead body and I don't think the bluies would have liked that plan."
While I rested to catch my breath, Cain coordinated with Lar'shi to get the missile barrage ready, as well as coordinate the subsequent assault with the troopers. Somebody out there had to be leading the Adumbrians and we needed to know to what extent this betrayal spread and, for the sake of curiosity, what exactly sparked it. Hopefully, we would be able to take an officer or two prisoner before one of us retreated from the battle and if we were lucky perhaps one of the idiot commissars was participating in the fight (assuming they had gone along with this little rebellion).
"Alright everybody, missiles are inbound," Cain called out, "and if you can still hear us Garrick, I suggest you pull back unless you think you're tough enough to withstand falling rockrete blocks and missiles."
It took a couple minutes but eventually I spotted the blue contrails of seeker missiles streaking through the air. At first it was only a few but that number soon swelled into the dozens and for the briefest of moments, I almost felt sorry for the Adumbrians.
Almost.
The missiles struck with a fury that I had rarely seen before in my young career (though would see far more often than I would prefer). Explosions rang out and tore the warehouses apart, pounding craters into the courtyard and blasting holes through the rockrete structures. In seconds almost half the area was engulfed in a cloud of dust and rockrete chunks. Anybody still alive in the mess wasn't going to be able to see a thing and were going to be more concerned with finding a fresh pair of trousers. Troopers, both Imperial and Tau, began vaulting over the barricade and charging across the field to a chorus of battle cries. A few stayed behind to move the wounded to a safer place but I was among those who went over the top despite having barely recovered from my last trip. Our forces split into four teams and began to sweep through the buildings to mop up any leftovers and hopefully to find somebody of some importance.
Being winded, not to mention the proud owner of two rather short legs, I had great difficulty keeping up with the others. When I finally caught up to a team stacked up near a door, I didn't so much as 'join up' with them as I crashed into the wall near them. I heard a familiar voice swearing and I pulled my head from the rockrete wall to see my very least favourite guardsman on the entire planet. Probably the entire system.
"Of all the…why is it out of all the soldiers in this regiment, you keep winding up with us?" Jydais grumbled with no attempt to hide his voice. If I had known that Jydais and his team was part of the Lord-General's security detail I would have stayed behind the barricade. As it stood, I had no choice but to accept my fate and keep moving forward.
I steadied myself against the wall, panting softly but managing to get out, "Too…tired…for snide remark…remind...me...later."
Jydais made his usual, polite suggestion that I just stay the frak out of his way and I responded with my usual defiance, albeit silently by drawing my laspistol. A close-quarters firefight with a bunch of soldiers I barely trusted my backside to was not how I wanted to spend my afternoon (but then again, my ideal day would involve hot tea and biscuits so I rarely got my way). "Remember people, we want to take officers alive if we can. Everybody else is fair game," Jydais instructed as we entered. I let Jydais and the others take the lead, following close behind as they smashed through the door. Half the warehouse had been reduced to rubble and the other half wasn't in much better shape. What luminator orbs still hung to the ceiling provided a flickering light at best and the air was still hazy from dust and rockrete particles drifting in the air currents. Indistinct shouts and footsteps echoed through the halls but as Jydais and his squad moved forward those shouts became cries of panic and gunfire. The veteran squad descended upon the shell-shocked rookies with unrepentant fury; unless it was an officer who was clearly surrendering they shot anybody still moving. We fanned out into teams of two and I stuck close to Lalee, not just because he was the closest but also because he was the least likely to put a round through my back. Unlike the open hostility from the rest of team, Lalee seemed indifferent, which was as good as it got with that squad.
Lalee and I worked through the smaller side rooms, sweeping through each with a flurry of laser bolts and the occasional blow from my shock maul. One particularly high-strung sergeant tried to get the drop on me during one of the later rooms but quick reflexes prevailed and my shock maul put enough volts through his brain to turn it into a charred brisket.
"The rest of our corridor is collapsed, we're doubling back to regroup," Jydais reported, though I was certain he was talking to Lalee and not me. Our section of the warehouse had grown surprisingly quiet. Either we had done a superb job or the enemies were learning to play dead. Just in case, I made sure to put an extra shot into anybody who could possibly be faking it. As my shooting instructor once said, anything worth shooting, is worth shooting twice. Our leisurely stroll through the half-collapsed warehouse came to an abrupt halt when Lalee whistled a warning to me and we fell into cover behind rockrete pillars.
"Something's coming," he whispered. Albeit it was unnecessary as I could already hear the heavy footsteps approaching and they were not coming from the direction of the rest of the squad. It was only a single step of footsteps and it was quickly obvious that it was too heavy for any ordinary soldier but before I could pass on my realization to Lalee, Garrick came into view. His armour was caked in blood and pocked with divots from lasguns but he was unharmed, not that I expected Garrick to be stopped by anything the Adumbrians had at their disposal.
"Don't shoot, friendlies coming out," I shouted just as a precaution, waving an empty hand from behind my hiding spot just in case his aim was faster than his brain. Thankfully, my hand did not get blown off so the rest of my body followed suit. "I guess it'll be safe to assume the rest of the occupants are dead."
"There shall be no mercy for the misguided," Garrick replied, almost proudly at his personal reenactment of the Massacre at Hill 313.
"Don't suppose you've seen any of the commissars or officers around?" It was a futile question but one that I hoped the answer was 'no' for a change. Alas, he nodded and motioned towards a room whose door had been ripped from its hinges. I ventured inside for a look and the bloodied mess left me sighing and shaking my head slowly. "Commissar Cain, this is Commissar Abel…we've located Commissar Wren."
"Is he still alive? What's his status?"
"Um…jellied, sir."
"Are you certain it's him?"
"I can see his hat stuck to the wall…along with several pieces of his head."
"Garrick?"
"Do you really need to ask?" I remarked rhetorically before letting Cain get back to his work. If Wren was here then there was little doubt that his fat associate wouldn't be too far off. Emperor willing, we'd be able to find him before somebody put him down, if the missiles hadn't killed him already. "Was it really necessary to pulp him, Garrick? We sort of needed him alive," I shouted back, albeit unnecessarily as the space marine had followed me into the room.
"He shot me, why should it surprise you that I shot back?" Garrick asked as if genuinely puzzled by my response.
"He had a laspistol. You have power armour! What do you think was going to happen - a critical hit? He would have done more harm with fresh fruit and colourful language. He was more valuable to us as a prisoner than a wall stain. Do you even pretend to listen to our instructions or do you just want to make our job more difficult? Now we have to try and-"
"I fight the enemies of the Emperor in whatever form they might take," Garrick rudely interrupted me, raising his voice above mine with little effort, "and the one of the worst things for a loyal servant of the Emperor to do is to allow a heretic to spread his venomous lies! He would not quit rambling so I silenced him for you!"
Our little shouting match went back and forth for a few more moments, my temper clouding my memory but I do recall how it came to a crashing halt: I interrupted him by shouting, "Oh would you just shut the frak up!"
A general rule of thumb that I try teach to all my pupils is that should you deal with a space marine one of the last things you should do is question their judgment. Most space marines take such language as a personal affront – an insult to their honour. They've killed for far less and the Commissarial sash means about as much to them as flak armour does to a bolter. Even a long-time veteran of the Imperial Guard had about as much battle experience as a novice space marine. For me, a twenty-three year old rookie commissar, talking back to a space marine with more experience and killer instinct in his trigger finger was akin to suicide. Looking back, I'm not certain what possessed me to tempt a marine's wrath by shouting at him to shut his hole but by some miracle he didn't decide to wring the blood from my skull.
Garrick merely glared at me for a brief moment, or at least I assumed he did since he wore his helmet that bore the usual grim space marine visage. However, he didn't say anything and merely walked away. I wasn't sure if I had somehow won the confrontation or he simply wanted to get out of earshot before bursting into laughter at my pathetic attempt at intimidation. Patiently, I waited as his footsteps grew fainter until the only sound in the room was my heart, which was trying to bust through my sternum in protest. "I must be out of my frakking mind," I said between deep breaths while burying my face in my palms.
"Coming, commissar?" A voice called out from behind me. I was so distracted with the Astartes that I hadn't been paying much attention to anything else, especially who was talking to me. That was my first mistake.
My second was when I replied, "I'll be there in a minute."
At worst I figured I would just be left behind and be forced to sprint some more in order to catch up. Instead, there was a crackle of energized air and several hot, stabbing pains shot up my back , then everything went black.