-XXIV-
Dust had settled over the street and the smoke of the burning Streetblocka was nearly out.
Squad covered the street around the basilisks as the rest talked.
There was Adir and several guardsmen sitting in a circle with Ioras, Horatus, Julius and Iulius.
Guardsmen had prepared their Imperial standard issued quick-heat meal after the fighting was over.
All around them scattered was the artillery-men of the Naphtali stuffing their mouths with the goo-like food.
Stress of the fighting could make any men hungry, once the explosions ceased and the bullets stopped flying, a guardsmen usually realised that this next meal could be their last for the next fight could be their end.
And even the tin wrapped Imperial ration meal tasted like a victory banquet.
Julius was alien to such sensations, he felt the hunger but it didn't bother him and his mind told it wasn't important until they were safely back aboard the Golema.
A Space Marine was built to go on for weeks without food or water but even if Julius was going to die before eating another meal on this mission it seemed irrelevant compared to his objectives.
Duty was the soul food of the Astartes, duty first, material needs second.
"Damn, I would kill for a bath." he heard a guardsmen mutter silently, even if the man didn't intended to be heard Julius's enhanced hearing had caught it.
Ioras had his helmet off and was watching Adir spreading out a wide map of the surrounding area onto the ground.
"So." he prompted "What happened here, at the Hive cluster?"
"We received orders from the Imperial Guard High Command and navy dropped us near the hive." Adir said pointing at the main spire of Hive Echtesia.
"There is the House Echnisia Palace, near the spire, they have their own Palace Guard unit, under command of some girl named Agatha or something." he continued.
"Agathe, we met her on the way." said Ioras.
"Yeah, right. We only seen her once, she gave our commander his orders and then left. The last time I see them was around the Palace walls." Adir said.
"They were inside the hive cluster fighting Orks, they must have drawn out for some reason." Iulius reasoned.
"How did you deploy?" asked Ioras.
"We deployed near this river bed, they call it the Red River now."
"Why is that?" interrupted Horatus.
Adir looked tense as Horatus talked to him, he seen how easily the Space Marine ripped a grot in half and the image had stuck in his mind.
He gathered his composure and kept going.
"We haven't seen it for ourselves but our Brigadier brothers reported that the bodies piled so high that now the river run red with blood."
"That's nice." said Horatus passively, he still had his helmet on for the Codex ordered wearing of the helmet while on duty, and that made him look even more inhuman.
Julius peered over the map and drawn a line from their position to the Red River with his finger as if trying to make a path directly through the buildings.
Julius had his helmet off to make the guardsmen feel less tense but he realised several guardsmen giving him interested awkward looks.
At first he thought it was something on his face but then he realised it was his face.
They had never seen a Space Marine in flesh and even his oversized head was an interesting and unusual sight to the guardsmen of the Naphtali.
"If only they knew what pain it took for us to become this." he thought to himself, his mind flashing back to the operating tables of the Apothecarion for a second.
"That's a long way from the frontline, why were you back the cluster if you deployed near this 'Red River'?" asked Julius making a careful observation and trying not to offend the guardsmen by suggesting they ran away from the frontlines.
"We were ordered to." said Adir.
"Entire Naphtali was committed to the defence of the Red River but Lion Warriors commander ordered the artillery to retreat and wait for further orders." he explained.
"Who is this commander?" Ioras asked.
"Don't you know? I figured you would knew a brother Chapter." said Adir.
"Well, we just arrived and didn't get a debriefing." lied Ioras.
He concluded that Adir didn't need to know that they might have a potential problem with their commanding lords.
"He is sergeant Orson, he ordered us to fall back but the infantry units stayed behind to hold the Orks." Adir said.
"Didn't they knew about the Orks behind the line?" asked Julius.
"They did, they needed the artillery to be saved in case the Orks overrun the Naphtali infantry at red river."
"And rob the infantry of their artillery support." said Julius.
"Well...I didn't." Adir said only now realising that their orders had left his Naphtali brothers without support.
"You retreated into a potentially invaded hive cluster without any backup?" asked Ioras.
"We were given backup but those damn Balharet Raiders ran off, haven't heard from them ever since." said Adir angrily.
"We saved them from the Orks but many died." Horatus said as if taking a pleasure from the demise of the guardsmen.
"Curse their coward's souls." Adir said spitting to the ground.
"They knew Balhareti would escape on the first sign of abandon." Julius said.
"To what end though?" asked Ioras.
They all fell silent for a minute.
"Maybe they want the guardsmen dead." said Iulius.
"What?" said Adir annoyed with this talk.
"The question is why." said Ioras.
"They wanted to cover their tracks." murmured Julius.
"And they didn't want the guardsmen to get close." Ioras concluded.
"But to what?" asked Horatus clearly lost to the whole subject.
"We don't know, first they trick us towards Idagenia, then they do this. They are diverting the Imperial forces from something." said Julius.
"Emperor's bones." swore Iulius.
"There could be another explanation, this is to vague." said Horatus.
"Are they heretics?" asked Iulius mouthing the question they all wondered and feared to ask.
"We need to learn more, can't jump to conclusions." Ioras said.
"Agreed." said Julius and Horatus nodded.
"But what if they are?" Iulius pressed.
"Then we learn what they're up to and stop them from doing it." said Ioras.
"Ten of us, against a better armed and manned Chapter force than us." said Julius seeing the great tactical disadvantage they had.
"I liked the odds." said Horatus, all this talk of fighting made him remove his helmet and he was grinning.
Horatus' overeagerness made the guardsmen around tense but they tried to ignore it and kept eating their rations.
"You don't really thinking of fighting against Lion Warriors?" asked Adir.
"Not unless we are threatened first, there is something going on here." said Ioras.
Adir looked uncertain as if he had something on his mind that he could not tell, Ioras realised this.
"You got something on your mind?" he asked.
"Well, to tell you the truth the officials of this planet was not forthcoming with us from the beginning." Adir confessed.
"How so?" asked Ioras.
"At first they told us we were to defend the palace itself but then they abruptly ordered us away from the palace and into the Red River."
Adir continued when noone interrupted.
"They told us that the line was safe and we were to hold it against the Orks but when we reach it, it was already overrun. Our infantry had to fight tooth and nail to retake those positions while the Ork artillery bombed us for hours and we had to fire back and destroy them so we could move into position."
"I assume you had massive casualties."
"Yes, then the Lion Warriors showed up ordering the artillery back towards the hive cluster." concluded Adir.
"They wanted the guardsmen to fight, how is that odd?" asked Horatus.
"More like they wanted to waste the guardsmen." said Julius.
"It was a meat grinder, they wanted Orks and guardsmen to be weak." said Ioras.
"But to what end?" asked Iulius.
Ioras stood silent.
"You said the officials weren't forthcoming. I thought this planet was ruled by some Administrator."
He checked his helmet feed for the name.
"Administrator Lord Edoras Hekmet." he said.
"We haven't heard from the Administrator at all." said Adir.
"Who gave the orders then?" asked Julius.
"First that woman, Agathe Echnisia ordered us near the palace to keep it from the Orks but his brother, something Felix ordered us into the Red River for no apparent reason." said Adir.
"The entire front is a farce." Julius decided.
"These are pretty vile accusations we are making, thank the Emperor commissars don't accompany artillery units." Adir said, laughing nervously.
Space Marines had blank faces and he stopped smirking a second later.
"What now?" asked Iulius.
"This is going bad, even if half what we think is true than there is something going wrong on this world." said Ioras.
"I hate this place, everything about it is warped and corrupted." said Horatus.
"Can't seem to agree more, lies and deceits and a danger at every corner." agreed Julius.
They both gave each other an odd look, feeling kind of funny finally agreeing on something. Two different characters, one initiative taking and calculating other direct and honest.
Even Iulius seemed to realise the social oddity of the tension between them. Devastators were more blunt when compared to other marines, they needed to be resolute and stern. A devastator squad would usually mean they would pack heavy firepower and cannot waste their ammunition on impulses. Their type of warfare required them to stand firm even under heavy fire for they would go up against the more powerful weaponry of the enemy with only their power armours on. They would fight tanks and artillery, hefting their heavy weapons and fighting a long range duel of utter destruction.
Ioras was in agreeance with his brothers but didn't say it, a leader needed to be rational and his men should never knew of his distastes and biases.
"We need to leave now, we make towards our objective." said Ioras.
All the marines rose to their feet in preparation for leaving.
"Thank you for everything, we would not survive without your help." Adir said.
"Emperor's fight is our own, I thank you Adir Ilan for being a proper guardsmen for we happen to meet some who are just not fit to be called that." said Ioras donning his helmet.
Adir smiled, happy that this Angel of the Emperor had remembered his full name.
"If you happen to come across Naphtali command ask for Captain Aaron Talamud, he is a good man and a good soldier, he would help you out." Adir said sincerely.
Ioras nodded "You will be fine on your own?" he asked.
"We will, once we break free off the factory district we would be able to retreat back to the palace. Hopefully the Orks did not overrun it." said Adir.
"They reached it but the Palace guard was holding the inner cluster, its a better possibility that you would run into guardsmen than Orks back there." Ioras said.
"Emperor protects." said Adir snapping a salute and rapping his feet together to stand attention.
"Indeed he does, farewell." Ioras said and the squad Extus was again on the move.