-XXXIII-
"We won't follow your orders!" shouted Grilleo at Horatus' face.
Their helmets were off and eyes locked. They were pushing chest to chest, ceremite aquilas scraping against each other.
"Listen, Lion! I am not one bit interested in you or your marines. But Lord Ioras ordered me to keep you in line, and I will drag you into the battlefield if necessary. And I hope it's warping necessary!" shouted Horatus back.
Spit rained on Grilleo's face but he didn't averted his drilling gaze from Horatus.
Julius was sure that the two marines would be fist fighting in a short second but it didn't occur.
On top of that Grilleo was totally oblivious to his broken hand and still resisted Horatus with full confidence.
"My brother has a point." said Renon walking calmly towards the chest grinding duo.
"Why should we follow you into anything? We are Lion Warriors not Spear pups." he said.
Ioras was totally oblivious to the Lion Warrior protests and kept studying maps at the informative-pict-screens.
Julius was a sergeant, technically, and Ioras depended on them with this situation.
"This whole situation is your fault, your Chapter did this. And now you would flee in the hour of need?" asked Julius.
"We flee from nothing!" roared Grilleo.
Horatus put a hand on Grilleo's chest and leaned backwards. "Nothing except dental hygiene." he said turning his head sideways.
Renon walked close by and put a hand on Grilleo's shoulder-pad.
"What about Orson?" Renon said nodding towards the Alpha Sergeant still pacified in his powered-down armour.
"He followed the order that meant to kill us, he knew what he was doing." said Julius.
"We followed it too, we shot at you if you remember." said Renon.
"How is that even a defence? You admit that you shot at Astartes."
"Still, you didn't explain how are we on 'your' side." said Renon smirking.
Julius realised Renon was more clever than he looks and he also realised Renon's apparent lack of respect of the Alpha Sergeant Orson.
"You are on 'our' side because you caused this, people who died on Idagenia is your fault. Death of my brothers is your fault!" shouted Julius the last one.
"Calm there long-shaft. We did nothing to Idagenia or it's people." Renon said raising his hands to show he is blameless.
"Your Chapter sent us there, it is your fault." Julius said barely holding his anger.
Renon was about to reply but Iulius cut in.
"There is a great threat on Echtesia, even if you claim to not cause it, you are still bound by your oath to the Emperor of Mankind." said Iulius.
Julius saw hesitation at Renon's and Grilleo's face.
"Do you revoke that oath? For if you do, we have no choice but to execute your for heresy." said Iulius coldly raising his heavy bolter to emphasize his point.
Lions were more threatened by the accusation of heresy than mere physical damage or death.
Julius could see them all considering their next words carefully. Even the raging Grilleo was silent although his face had that anger filled gaze still.
"We revoke no oath but we are not obliged to follow you into anything." said Renon.
"You are not obliged to follow us, but you are obliged to follow Emperor's will. And his will was 'Purge the Xenos' the last time I checked." said Iulius.
Renon was silent for a moment. If he backed out now, they could be branded as cowards.
"What about our sergeant, we are not to obey your commands." Renon said.
"He is to remain here as I've said." Julius said.
"Congratulations, you just had a field promotion." said Horatus looking at Renon.
"That's not how it works in the Lion Warriors." said Grilleo more angry than ever.
"Grilleo is right, that's not how we do things. It's against the Codex Leonadus." said Renon as if teaching the stupid in the matter.
Julius and Iulius looked at each other.
"I can't be less interested in your culture." commented Horatus.
Renon shot an angry glance at Horatus.
Julius cut in to ease the situation "So, how do you do things?"
Renon looked at him for a moment as if deciding to share this information with an outsider.
"Alpha rank is given to only those who gain their command through combat. You need to draw first blood but slaying is also allowed." explained Renon.
"You would kill your brothers for a mere rank?" said Horatus in a disgusted voice.
"A mere rank?" roared Grilleo.
Renon was clearly unhappy that he had to explain their hollowed traditions to outsiders who wont understand them.
"It's no mere rank, it means you are capable to lead the pack into the thickest of fighting." said Renon.
"I heard that other Chapters have different traditions but brother-killing wasn't what came to mind." said Julius neutrally.
"It's not brother-killing, 'One who is unfit to lead shall not weaken the Chapter'." said Renon quoting Codex Leonadus.
"You would not understand it." said Grilleo through gritted teeth.
"Can't you assume command for a duration? We aren't killing your sergeant or any other Astartes today." said Julius.
"I have no wish to lead, and even if I did my brothers won't follow me." said Renon.
"How about you?" asked Julius to Grilleo.
Grilleo only bared his teeth in reply.
"What do you do when your commanding lord dies in battle?" asked Achagon observantly.
Julius nodded towards Achagon in thanks.
"A Alpha must rise through the heat of the battle, those who kill the most or who lead their brothers into a charge is usually rise to the rank instinctively." said Renon.
"And what about "un-instinctively"?" asked Achagon probing for a weakness in their doctrine.
"A higher Lord usually gives a Beta rank to field-promote him, but it is a disgrace and no-one keeps the rank for long, discarding it in the first chance they got." said renon.
"What if you don't have a ranking Lord in the immediate moment, such as in now." said Achagon thinning Lion's options to evade.
Renon stayed silent for a moment and looked back at his brothers.
Julius sensed that there was something he didn't wanted the Spears to know.
"Well?" Julius prompted.
"There is-if we-if there is no lord then, the leading force commander can give the rank to anyone they deem worthy for the duration of the battle." said Renon as slowly as he can possible.
"And that involves us. Ioras is the Force Commander at the moment." said Achagon coming to the point.
"Y-es." said Renon, even the heated Grilleo looked irritated but couldn't protest because it was their own law.
"Still it doesn't mean that we should follow your orders." said Renon trying to gain a leverage.
"But you will follow an Imperial attack force into battle, For the Emperor." said Iulius raising his fist.
Squad Extus raised their fists as they echo the cry, Lion Warriors also followed suit.
Renon was not happy being pushed into the rank and the faulty unity they were put in.
"Renon is it? You're promoted to sergeant for the duration of this battle." said Ioras without breaking gaze from the information-pict-screens.
"I-accept the rank bestowed upon me." said Renon as ritually expected of him.
"Beta Sergeant Renon, has a nice tune to it." said Horatus clearly trying to irritate the Lion Warrior.
For a second Julius expected Renon to punch at Horatus but Renon kept his composure under the mockery.
He turned towards his brothers.
"Install Orson's powerpack." he said.
"Wait, you can't do that." said Julius cutting in.
"Can't I? I am the acting commander of the Lion Warriors even if I am a Beta. I will not let our sergeant to die without a fight." Renon said.
"Orks would not come here." said Horatus.
"How do you know that?" asked Renon mocking.
"I-" said Horatus without a reply.
"As I thought, install the powerpack. Now!" said Renon.
"Damned, cocky upstart." voxed Horatus into the squad-vox.
"Doesn't this make his the Alpha again?" asked Julius.
"It does, I told you no one keeps the Beta rank for long." grinned Renon.
Julius looked at Achagon, expecting a clever way out of this situation.
Achagon shrugged.
"Don't bother." came Ioras' voice.
Two Lion Warriors marching towards Orson looked at Renon.
Renon looked puzzled "Why?" he asked.
"I have given him a mix of Primeur and Roze wine, he won't be waking up for a day. And when he eventually does he would have a terrible headache." Ioras said casually.
"You made him drunk?" asked Renon.
"Not technically, it's a direct chemical that attacks the brain cells instead of liv..."
"You made him drunk!" said Renon.
The room fell silent.
"Anyway he won't be getting up." concluded Ioras.
"Tough luck, seems you're stuck in the Beta." Horatus said to Renon, grinning.
Renon was not pleased.
"Now that we have our hollowed 'brothers' with us, let's focus on our destination." said Horatus turning to Ioras.
They marched out of the bunker along with four Lion Warriors of the Koota Tactical squad.
"Why did you want to hunt us in the first place?" asked Julius to Renon.
"I was just following orders, I don't even know who your are." Renon answered.
His one eye was cleaned and patched by Ioras and he was given regenerative chemicals to reduce the scar tissue and prepare the wound for future augmentations.
Renon didn't continue the conversation and looked forward, carrying his boltgun at his chest.
"I'm sorry about your eye." said Julius wishing to further the social interaction.
"Yeah? It was a nice shot, I'll give you that." said Renon disinterested.
Julius didn't point out that it was a very lucky shot.
"Will you be able to operate without it?"
"It still beats being a Beta, but I sure will. We Lions are sturdy, not pansies who fight against outnumbered enemies." said Renon meaning Spears assaulting the bunker.
Julius realised the cold air Renon was blowing at him but still kept talking trying to build a bridge.
"We suffered casualties too you know."
"Sure you did, ten men marching with heavy weapons." said Renon bitterly.
Anger flared in Julius, even if they were at odds, he would expect a fellow Space Marine to feel his loss.
"I lost six brothers at Idagenia." said Julius barely holding his anger.
Finally Renon turned to look at him. Their helmets blocked any facial expression but he could still tell Julius was not lying.
"Emperor's grace." Renon prayed.
"Emperor's grace." Julius repeated.
They walked on for hours until they came over a hill overlooking ahead.
"There it is." said Grilleo pointing towards the battlements ahead.
"The Red River." said Renon as if to inform the others.
Occasional flashes of artillery fire was seen at the distance. A wide chasm divided the two sides, what's inside the chasm was unseen from their view point. There were dug in positions all the way into the far distance where Naphtali Brigadiers had their trenches and bunkers.
As they started to move Iulius stopped the unit.
"We got incoming, behind us, armour." he said looking at his auspex.
Achagon took a higher point and peered into his scope.
"Guardsmen, three chimeras." he reported.
First chimera had a twin-linked Heavy Bolter as a turret weapon instead of the usual multi-laser. The rest two had multi-lasers.
They rose smoke as making their way through the debris. They were moving slower than expected, traversing the dangerous debris terrain.
Squad Extus and Koota waited for the Chimeras as they rumbled towards them.
The vehicles came to a halt as they spotted the Space Marines and the hatch of the leading one opened.
A capped figure rose from the gap.
"Salute, Space Marines." he said raising his fist in the air in a military salute.
"Hail, Commissars." said Ioras designating himself as the leader of the group.
Commissar scaled the hatch and used the embedded ladder at the side of the chimera to lower himself to ground level.
He walked over to Ioras.
"I am Gus Ibrak, attending to Echtesia House Guard." introduced himself with a fever.
He must be happy to be on the front lines and not in the hive, thought Julius.
"Ioras of the Emperor's Spears and you know our brothers here." he said swinging a hand towards the Lions.
Renon walked towards them "Beta Sergeant Renon of the Lion Warriors." he said sharply.
"Exquisite, my lords. I am happy to be fighting alongside Space Marines once again." said Commissar eagerly.
"Again?" asked Ioras.
"I was at the frontlines when the first Ork invasion broke through, I saw Lion Warriors fighting there, they fought on despite the impossible odds." he stated.
Renon nodded in respect.
War apparently made this man quite energetic, not like the usual commissars, thought Julius.
Julius couldn't blame the man, he could only imagine the dullness of some aristocratic House hall. Commissar even had a belly that probably grew in the idleness of the luxurious lifestyle the rich House provided.
"Do you have any space in those Chimeras?" asked Ioras.
"I do, my lords. We lost a squad coming here. Damned greenskins ambushed us." said Ibrak.
"Fill the vehicles as best as you can, rest go on top." commanded Ioras.
They clambered onto the vehicles and started rolling forwards.