I tweaked some problems caused in the initial update when I was half asleep including an entire missing paragraph. Enjoy.
Chapter VI: The Broken Man
Six guardsmen attempt to bayonet the hulking foe before them. After several minutes of stabbing and dodging ax swipes the ork falls bleeding everywhere. The Legionaires continue incinerating verdant corpses as they go. Unfortunately I cannot warn them of their imminent deaths. I already know it's too late once a few greenies spring from their feigned death positions to chop apart the nearest squad. The men have no chance despite the prism of fire enveloping their targets. I pull down the binoculars as I notice a another platoon sprinting to aid their fellow defenders.
"Trooper Normand, I asked you a question," voices Acolyte Porcia in frustration. I can sense her presence is closer than before.
I glance at Acolyte Porcia for a moment, noticing she is a annoyed at my unresponsiveness, and that her hair is tied back into a ponytail. I now realize she is slightly shorter than me.
"You we're serious?" I reply going off on how she grinned when the question was brought up.
"I am always serious to my subordinates," Porcia states in a matter-o-fact way. "Now answer the question!"
"I fight in the Emperor's name."
"...You do realize lying to a member of the Inquisition is heresy?"
"Fine…I'll tell you the truth," I sigh out while pointing at her defensively "Just don't persecute me for that false proclamation."
"I give you my word that I won't condemn you," Porcia states with a stern expression.
"Good, so I found my reason to fight when…I…uh," I begin, but pause for a second for Porcia to speak. She stares for a moment then signals me to continue by nodding. "It's a long story."
"Then I order you to tell it!" declared Porcia like a stubborn princess.
"All right! So…I found my purpose to my little insignificant life when I was serving my first campaign as a Stormtrooper fresh out of the Elite Infantry Academy. I had found a planet I could live on for the rest of my life. It was called Tolkern, where the fields were green, the people loved accommodating servicemen, and there was plenty of fresh air," I illustrate as if it was days ago.
"My regiment was deployed on this planet on an educated guess. You see a Traitor vessel was being tracked by an Inquisitor and the ship was last seen near Tolkern. Obviously Command's assumption that the Insurrectionists would make planet fall came true and all hell broke loose in the city my squad was stationed in. Businesses, homes, and their owners were demolished and massacred. My entire squad was butchered and the only reason I survived was that I hid myself under a dead comrade. I planned to return my garrison, but not until I made sure every one of those damn murderers paid for what they did."
My voice grows quiet as I describe how I killed them. "Night came, and I managed to track down the band of traitors that murdered my squad. Armed with a flamer and some smoke grenades I blinded then burned most of them and watched as they screamed for a end to all the pain. Some that escaped my fiery vengeance were beat to death by some rubble from destruction they had caused. The last heretic had killed a man while trying to get into a bomb shelter. When I found her, I cut off the bitch's head with a large blade I had taken from one of the bodies. After she fell to the floor I noticed two children and their mother shivering in a corner. I convinced them I had good intentions by giving the father, the dead man outside, a proper burial. Together we reached a Planetary Defense Bunker. I never saw them again, but I always remember their gratitude."
"Was your regiment victorious in holding the planet?" Porcia asks as if she put the pieces of an intricate puzzle together.
"Yes ma'am, but with heavy casualties," I reply as I remember the reports after it was all over.
"All triumphs require sacrifice, yours was your squad and, well, I see that you live for them and the father that perished," states Porcia in a wise tone while peering as if she is looking she is through me.
"Indeed ma'am, I'm glad you understand," I answer, giving her an assuring nod.
"My repayment for your personal contribution is my first name, which is Rachael," she says while smiling which she is surprisingly good at. "In addition to that you may call me Mistress Porcia from now on."
"Thank you Mistre-" I begin to say when I notice the roof lights gradually turn on as a loudspeaker announces it's very important message.
"THE GREENSKIN THREAT HAS BEEN NEUTRALIZED. ALL SYSTEMS ARE TO PERMITTED TO ACTIVATE NOW. I REPEAT THE GREENSKIN THREAT HAS BEEN-"
I turn my attention to the sound of the elevator doors opening. I stare as the Fabricator Locum and Magos Lililth exit the lift and stop abruptly as they notice Porcia and I standing before them. The Fabricator has no eyebrows but I can imagine it would raise one if it could. Instead I notice the inner lens of his optics focus then refocus. Lilith starts to have an interested expression, but stops herself and returns to a neutral one.
"I do not need to know why you two are here. I only require that you prepare yourselves, for in a few moments Inquisitor Talonius and Colonel Locke will be arriving," enunciates the Fabicator as the klaxon becomes silent.
As if summoned, two Valkyries appear in the black sky. One is painted tan and gold for it is the colonel's personal craft. The other is camouflage grey for stormtroopers. I reflex into salute position as the two carriers land. The two tech-priests bow as Porcia kneels to one knee. The Valkyries land as gracefully as insects with the Colonel's opening first. The first to exit are the Colonel himself and who I believe to be Inquisitor Talonius.
As Colonel Locke strolls by I take note of his attire. He is dressed in a simple tan, long coat with silver trim and three different medals pinned on the right side. A power sword in its sheath adorns Colonel's left thigh as a plasma pistol is holstered on the right. His hair is a faded bronze which matches his dark brown eye patch he chooses to wear rather than upgrading. Colonel Locke did always voice his hate for all things he dubbed "arbitrary enhancements." I shift my attention to the Inquisitor's contrasting color to the Colonel with his long crimson coat, black chest plate adorned with an ivory Inquisitorial "I" in the center, and a large red hat. The most distinctive feature of the sanguine investigator is the white beaked mask he wears with gold tinted lenses.
The two superiors completely ignore us due to a heated debate between them. It sounds kinda funny considering the Inquisitor sports a Krieger accent. The next person to emerge the Officer's Valkyrie is a white haired priest with a…shotgun…slung on his back. I blink twice with hidden disbelief as I watch the grey robed priest followed by a lieutenant in livery resembling the Colonel's stride up next to their respective masters. Finally a Command Squad consisting of a medic, a vox-operator, and two beret wearing legionnaires with melta guns file out and take up defensive positions overlooking the boulevard below.
I don't hesitate when I hear the second Valkyrie open. I leave Porcia and the others to find Sergeant Clye and Trotskav heaving Spike onto a gurney. The guilt hits like a hammer when I get a good look at him. Spike is barely conscious and his leg is bandaged right above the knee where it was severed. Sarge glances up as I reach him. I notice his gas mask hanging on his neck while trying not to look him in the eye.
"It's not your fault kid," Clye sighs out in his usual gruff manner.
"I have an idea on where to take him sir, so let me push the gurney," I say when I finally work up the nerve to look my sergeant face to face. "It's the least I can do for him."
I can tell the Sarge is distressed by Spike's condition, yet being the hardened man he is, showing concern isn't easy.
"Oh…hey Norm…how are you?" coughs out Spike as I take hold of the medical cart.
"Do not strain yourself, you need rest," says Trotskav before I can.
"Whatever…you say…tight-ass," mumbles Spike with a smile as he drifts into what I hope is actual sleep and not a coma.
"I'll take that as a complement," Trotskav replies, obviously trying to cheer me up.
The four of us as a full squad again saunter over to the elevator only to have Sergeant Clye to be called up by the Colonel. Lilith slips away from the Fabricator while he waits for the Inquisitor to notice him. She paces hesitantly toward Spike, Trotskav and I. Lilith's anxious eyes tells me she's worried yet I still don't know why or to what extent. Maybe we we're in a relationship before whatever happened caused my memory loss.
"Bring him to my lab and wait for me there," Lilith instructs probably with a plan in mind. "I promise I will help your comrade, but I must remain here for now until the Fabricator Locum dismisses me."
"Thanks, I was planning to anyway, see down there," I reply, imagining the possibilities if I had been there to save my maimed friend that lies before me.
As the elevator doors close I can feel Trotskav directing her focus at my head like she did aboard the CLAUDIA.
"Normand?" asks Trotskav after a few minutes.
"Yes?" I reply, glad I'm being pulled away from my condemning thoughts.
"Who was that woman?"