Disclaimer- I do not own Warhammer 40,000 or any of the works therein.

"There are moments when you feel that the desire to work is fading, and the only way to bring it back is to get away from it, to put yourself in a state of frustration so you feel the need again."- Emmanuelle Beart

Mop up duty as the veterans called it was by far the hardest part of the campaign Xavier thought, simply because at least during the main offensives and even the near catastrophic betrayal of most of the PDF the battles left little in the way of question as to whom he had to shoot at. The enemy attacks, or you do, both situations are resolved with heavy amounts of fire at the enemy, maybe having to bash some mutants head in.

Now though… it had been weeks since the offensive on the main spire, weeks since the rebel forces back was broken, the traitor governor had concentrated most of his forces in the spire. The rest had been cut off when the bridges in the southern sector had been demolished, and now the Imperial Guard was hunting down the scattered remnants of the rebellion in the vast cityscape. Sergeant Grimes had told them that they probably wouldn't be planet-side for too much longer maybe a standard month or two, so apparently progress was going well.

Still didn't help that the leftovers as they had begun calling the rebel forces still alive were now keen on waging a guerilla war on them, hit and run tactics had become the norm and though casualties were at an all time low Xavier still didn't like that the attacks came out of nowhere. Right now he was on a patrol in the southern sector of the city, joint regiment squad as had become the norm in the weeks following the main offensive. Watchmaster B-63 said that the higher-ups, specifically the 125th's own General Flend liked to promote extensive cooperation between the regiments and thus mixed them up regularly.

Xavier didn't mind so much, he got to see his old friend Jericus, and it seemed that their fire-teams were going to be joined for the foreseeable future, plus the Randon weren't so bad, he had learned that trooper Lupa had been a Surris conscript too and she had become fast friends with everyone on his fire-team. They all knew why too, Jericus had S-1050 who was from Surris, Xavier had Cain, Eli, and Hack, but Lupa was surrounded by unfamiliar people from an entirely different planet with an unfamiliar culture.

Currently he was paired off with Lupa, Cain, and a Corporal Barach, they were split up into teams of four mostly, keeping within vox contact, patrolling some part of the southern sector on a standard search and destroy sweep. Reinforcements were not far away as several hundred Imperial Guardsmen swept through the sector dispatching any attacking rebels, or anyone suspected of being one. Xavier hated that part the most, Sergeant Grimes and the other C.O's were pretty restrained and never seemed to 'purge' anyone unless they were certain beyond a doubt at least that was a small mercy.

Xavier was just glad that so far he hadn't been ordered to execute anyone, and neither had any 125th trooper or Randon for that matter, as expected the Death Korps, Jericus and Fenria included carried out the grim task. Sergeant Joss had responded that it wasn't honorable to kill unless in combat and had refused to allow her troopers to take part and Sergeant Grimes simply didn't make a comment. Thus Watchmaster B-63 took it upon himself and his troopers to get the job done, no complaints, he knew how difficult it could be to do the sort of thing that was required, and B-52 true to his word had prepared every trooper he had trained well, so that they could perform their duty.

Xavier hadn't tried to stop Jericus as he had back at the manufactorum, for one his friend was under standing orders from a superior, and two it wasn't just him, Cain, Fenria, and Jericus around to witness the clear insubordination, so he kept his mouth shut. Just as Sergeant Grimes had advised all of them to do before the patrol was carried out.

Going down the block they were on Xavier kept vigilant, which was hard because everywhere you looked movement could be seen briefly, refugees, Tartarian citizens caught up in the war, unable to be evacuated because of the rebellion in their midst, telling innocent civilian from foe had become difficult. There had been several traps they had encountered thus far, luckily the veterans had experience and steered them away or dealt with it before it caused a fatality.

The first had been a boy, barely into his teens, malnourished and dressed in worn clothing, Cain had been about to go up to him when Sergeant Grimes pulled him back. Cain had been about to say something in protest when on of the Death Korps troopers put a lasbolt into the boy's chest, F-920 if Xavier remembered right. Any protest about the action was cut off as the boy's limp body exploded; splaying the remaining bits in a rough semi-circle of blood and viscera, the explosive would have taken at least five of them out had they gotten close.

Sergeant Joss had commented that it must have been a deadmans trigger, rebels had done similar on many worlds she had fought them on, or so she had said. In the present though Xavier only saw the frightened erratic movements of civilians hiding, not the excited but reserved stalking of rebel left over's. Thus walking down the block was becoming uneventful, boring, and yet still as tense as any engagement he had been in so far, they tried to prepare them for the stop, go of war during training, but as Sergeant Grimes had put it, it wasn't something that could ever be prepared for fully, either your nerves got you, or the enemy did.

Auto-cars and other manual vehicles sat in gridlock on the block as if frozen in time, they weaved through the silent machines grateful for the cover they gave and also worried at what they could be obscuring.

"So, uh… how was your home world Sir?" Cain said to break the monotony, talking was a bit frowned upon but not entirely a no-no, plus since it helped break up tension it was usually allowed on patrols.

Barach scratched his chin, "Be honest I prefer life in the Guard, Randon was home, and there's no other place like it, but at least now I don't have to be a complete slave."

"I meant more along the lines of how it looked and such, you know how Surris is a barren freezing rock, but now I'm curious what do you mean by complete slave, I mean we're not exactly given the greatest amount of freedom in the Guard." Cain alluded to the fact that they were in essence slaves anyway, desertion wasn't looked kindly upon, and punishments could be incredibly severe.

"Trust me kid this life is better than a life on Randon, let me ask you how many officers or even non-coms have you seen in the 145th so far that have been men?" Seeing Cain's look he continued before he could comment. "Exactly, not many, and the reason for that is that on Randon men are considered second class citizens to the women. We can't own land, we're essentially property, for years I was Sergeant Joss' property, when she decided to join the Guard I by law had to accompany her. Other than that Randon was fairly good as a planet goes, it had a lot of sheer cliffs, and the cities are built high up on them which is why it primarily produces drop troopers."

"Dang and I though my mother being overbearing was bad enough," Xavier elbowed Cain in his ribs to get him to shut up before he said something else that might offend the Corporal.

Barach shrugged, "I would suppose so, then again, and I mean no offense, but your home world was one of the most unpleasant rocks I've been on, the gravity made the drops and general combat a nightmare."

"So, is there any animosity between you and the Sergeant then?" Cain feeling bold and intrigued inquired further.

"No, she chose me out of several candidates and was quite kind to me, treated me like an equal even before we joined the Guard and I was officially not her property anymore, that being said knowing that I am not personally at the mercy of my worlds laws is a welcome relief. There if I had offhandedly offended another woman I may very well have had a severe penalty imposed on me, not that it was frequent, or even common, but the fact that they had that much control over me and now they don't, it is very freeing. Now as long as I abide by Guard standard and law I am considered equal,"

"So, why do you stick around with the Sergeant then, I know you said that she was kind, but if Randon laws don't apply and you disliked it so much why stay around someone who had that kind of power over you," Xavier spoke up entering the conversation.

Barach stayed quiet for a moment, "I stay with her because she joined the Guard for my sake, knew I didn't like our laws… she wanted me to love her because I wanted to, not because I had to by law."

That shocked everyone, they hadn't been expecting that kind of answer, Cain and Xavier were silently contemplating the information they had just heard.

"Did it work," Raltia asked what was on the other's minds, despite have been train by and fighting with Randon troopers Raltia had never heard any talk about their homeworld, or its culture before now. Maybe that was why they all seemed so gung-ho, the men had this pent up frustration and the women were just always like this?

"I'm still with her aren't I," Barach shrugged a smile on his face. "Besides I always did care for her, or at least I grew to, still the fact that she actually cared for me enough to give me this gift didn't hurt in any way whatsoever."

"Anyway, enough about my personal life pay attention to your surroundings troopers," Barach broke the silence and distracted expressions on the rest of the group's faces. Xavier the Corporal now unwilling to talk went back to really paying attention to the surrounding structures, on a normal day the area they were in would be bustling with people going to and from their jobs, and the now still traffic would be moving at fast speeds. Which is why the current emptiness of the city was so disturbing, until it was broken by the sound of weapons fire.

"Bravo team, under fire requesting immediate assistance, about twelve left-over's attacking from second floor of the office building to our right, over" Sergeant Joss' voice came over the vox before anyone else could question what the situation was over vox, Barach instantly sprung into action.

"Bravo, this is Charlie we're on our way, keep 'em distracted for us, we'll catch 'em with their pants down, over," despite the fact that Xavier thought he must have been worried Barach sounded calm and even a bit excited for the upcoming fight.

"Copy Bravo, we'll be waiting, out," Joss' cheerful sounding tone came back.

"In the mean time, Echo team will provide frontal support and help with the distraction," Sergeant Grimes' voice added over the link.

"Appreciated Grimes," Joss shot back the sound of weapons fire becoming more pronounced over the line before it cut off.

Barach began to veer off toward a side ally leading to the block over where Bravo team was currently being attacked, they would emerge on the right side of the street and luckily be out of the rebels line of fire and free to flank and dispose of them. Xavier followed, Raltia and Cain hot on his heels… Barach was moving fast, down the litter cluttered alley they went carefully emerging on the other side and turning toward the direction the weapons fire was coming from.

Soon enough they were in view of the firefight, making their way toward the side of the building enemy fire was spewing from they sidled up and found an emergency side entrance. Stacking up Barach hardly waited for the rest of them as he put two lasbolts into the lock, proceeded to practically rip the door off its hinges, and go inside. Xavier noted how the Randon vet was being particularly reckless, but then again so far from his experience all Randon seemed to be fairly reckless.

Filtering in after him the group came to the stairwell and began to make their way up to the second floor where the enemy was situated. They found the room the rebels were firing from quickly enough the door to it was open, probably to facilitate easy escape. Barach peered around the frame and counted the rebels in the room, ten all told, two dead on the floor from the intense fire coming from Joss and now Grimes' teams. They were a hodge-podge of insurgents, in the rebellions makeshift worker uniform and the fatigues of traitor PDF troopers.

Pulling back around the frame Barach activated his vox-bead, "Charlie team in position Bravo, and Echo, when you hear the explosion stop firing, we'll take it from there, copy if you heard."

"Copied Charlie, give 'em hell for me Corporal," Joss' voice answered.

"Yes Ma'am," Barach muttered back.

Pulling a standard krak grenade from his webbing, he looked to Raltia as she did the same, nodding he tossed his in after pulling the pin, Raltia's right behind his, taking cover behind the walls to either side the four man team waited. Seconds later a shout was heard as one of the rebels notice the deadly explosives that had just landed behind them, what followed was the signature kraking explosion that gave the grenades their name.

Fire from the outside teams stopped as Bravo team stormed the now trashed room, Xavier put two lasbolts into a PDF trooper that was just starting to aim at the them, and then another into a rebel bent over next to him as he tried to get up. Raltia claimed her own two kills, bursts from her carbine taking the head off one in a spray of crimson and cutting the legs out from under another close by. Meanwhile Cain put three lasbolts into another rebel, the woman's hands going to her stomach as the deadly light impacted.

The grenades had killed, or otherwise incapacitated the rest, after it was over Xavier, Cain, and Raltia held position securing the room. Barach proceeded to systematically put a lasbolt through each down rebels head to ensure that they wouldn't be surviving, Xavier watched on as the veteran blew the brains out of his helpless victims, some having already been eviscerated by shrapnel and mortally wounded already, the Corporal even put a lasbolt through the ones Xavier was positive were already dead.

All the while Barach's expression of anger and contempt was hidden behind the mirror-like blast-plate of his helmet, giving the scene a disturbing turn as the faceless man fueled by rage gave no quarter. Putting a shot through a final pleading mans head he turned to the group and spoke. "That's what I do to things that would harm her," his voice held a cold anger to it that sent chills up their spines.

"This is Charlie team, left-over's pasted, no casualties, clean sweep, on our way out," Barach said into the vox as he walked past them and out the door. The three looked at each other and followed, the responses over the vox falling on deaf ears as they followed a person Xavier considered more frightening than majority of the blanks.

They left the charnel house of corpses in their wake as they emerged out onto the street to seeing both Bravo and Echo teams righting themselves. Xavier noted that Sergeant Joss was kneeling next to one of her troopers, a Randon whose name he did not know, she was holding the man's hand as he finally echoed a death rattle and his body went limp. Placing his hand over the bloody hand print on the man's armour Joss proceeded to take the man's tags.

"We should have gotten here sooner Ma'am, I'm sorry," Barach said as he reached Joss.

"None of that Corporal Ginnerach wouldn't have wanted us to mope over him, he'd want us to kill some enemies of the Emperor," the Sergeant said standing up and putting the dead man's tags into a pouch at her hip where they jangled among others of their kind.

"Then let's get started Ma'am," They took the fallen man's equipment and left the body, the mission took priority, they would be back for their comrade later. The teams headed out back to their patrol routes and continued the sweep of the sector.

Xavier sighed, resigned to the long patrol ahead of them, he wondered how Jericus was doing in the current moment, he knew that the Korps had made him an incredibly effective guardsman, but his friend had just recently lost his arm and eye, so chances were he was still adjusting a bit to the new way his augmetics operated. Moving back down another alley Charlie team made their way back to their street, the street still lay just as deserted as it had been when they left it in a hurry, it seemed that the intense action Xavier had seen before hadn't even happened.

Meanwhile Jericus was having a rather dull time with the sweep as well; Fenria his constant companion kept giving him sidelong glances, checking up on him to see how his augmetics were integrating. The other members of Gamma team were two Randon troopers Sunra Foss, and Anrai Muroch who mostly kept together as Jericus and Fenria did, it felt better to work with those who you were familiar with, so the team was in reality comprised of two pairs.

He found that his new arm seemed to twitch a lot, something that Magos Chevel had told him would go away as time went on, one of the nerves trying to establish a connection and failing, or so she had said. At least he had noticed it getting better, the fidgety appendage was becoming still for longer periods of time, the Magos had said that the nerves just needed to re-route themselves and his brain would fill in the connection between control and movement better.

On the bright side his augmetic eye was working perfectly, and was being put to use as team Gamma's means of sweeping the area, Jericus had found out how to cycle to some sort of thermal imaging mode, which allowed him to see the ghostly bright silhouettes of people moving through the surrounding walls of the buildings. Depending on their movements it was easy for him to see if they were refugees or the enemy, plus he figured he would probably pick up the shape of a weapon too if the person was carrying one.

Scuffing his boots against the rockcrete Jericus in a way longed for the quickness of combat, the slow times where he could think about things irritated him. He didn't want to think about what he had done so far, what he would have to do, what he had lost, what he could lose… more than it bothered Xavier the current lull of the war bothered Jericus even more, thinking on these things seemed to make the phantom pains worse and he was trying his best to focus on his job, and maybe hope that a rebel might turn up soon.

Scanning the buildings on the street he glimpsed small forms scurrying about through the interiors, always hiding from the windows. Children, they had to be, the silhouettes too slight and short to be anything but. Strange thing, he hadn't spotted many adults around them, and the figures seemed to be groups, sometimes peering out at them conspicuously, sometimes gathered around the bright shapeless glow of what Jericus figured had to be fires. But they never showed themselves to the troopers sweeping through the streets they called home, refugees left behind during the evacuations.

Jericus had no part in conducting those, but he guessed it must have been eerily similar to how he was herded like cattle back on his own homeworld when the orks had come. Probably better off they stay hidden anyway, they'd just get in the way… and besides everything would be over soon enough and the citizens of City 32 could get back to the natural way of things.

Looking ahead he took in the sight of a rather large hab-tower, the inside of which was lit up like an Emperor's day festival on a main street. The shapes were all moving, though he could tell that by the way they moved these were no refugees, not to mention the shapes of weapons showed up against bright body heat as cooler forms.

"The hab ahead is filled with hostiles, we're gonna need the whole squad for it," he indicated the tower subtly. Anrai voxed the news over the net and soon it was decided that everyone would form up on the side of the hab and then they would sweep and clear the building en-masse. The rebels hadn't seemed to notice them, or were probably hoping that they would pass by, so they all made it to the building easily enough.

"I say we split into the teams we've established and go in from multiple entrances, sweep room to room up until the left over's are neutralized," Sergeant Grimes offered.

"Sounds like a solid plan to me, simple," Watchmaster B-63 agreed.

"Warp I'm all for it, let's get this show on the road," Sergeant Joss concluded.

Teams sticking together the squad split up and entered the hab from several different areas; Gamma team went in from the rear entrance. Jericus guiding them with his eye up a rear access stairway to a corridor that he knew would be occupied by quite a few rebels. They stalked along the hall until Jericus indicated a door, looking through he could see the forms of rebels lying down, most likely asleep.

Using signs he indicated that there were seven in total, and that they all looked to be asleep to the others. Anrai being the most senior among them nodded and ordered a quiet entry if possible, they hadn't heard weapons fire from the other teams as of yet and didn't want to alert the enemy any sooner than was necessary. He also ordered silent neutralization, Jericus pulled his trench-axe free while everyone drew their respective combat knives or other CQC weapons and readied themselves for the work ahead.

Anrai let Jericus take point, he found that the door was unlocked and opened it slowly, it made surprisingly little noise, and they all thanked whoever must have oiled the hinges. Creeping into the room the team spread out each taking lone isolated rebels if possible, Jericus stepped up to his first target, the sleeping man was actually older than him. A relief given that he seemed to be killing quite a few youths while fighting the rebel forces and that had disconcerted him quite a bit.

He got into position kneeling down and readied his axe, choking up on the shaft he got his hand right under the head, he placed the mono-edged metal right above the sleeping man's neck and then placed his hand right over his mouth before pushing downward with a good amount of force. Eye's open the man didn't have time to struggle as the mono-edged axe head cleaved straight through his neck and severed his spinal cord, the body lay silently twitching as the connection was cut.

Jericus moved on to his next target, the others having dealt with their own as quietly as possible, which meant four of seven hostiles down. He moved over to the next, this time he knelt before simply swinging the axe downward, and cleaving through the rebel's skull, a muffled thunk as the axe hit the floor below the only significant indication that anything had happened. Looking up he saw that the rest of the rebels seemed to be taken care of, save for one that Sunra was stabbing in the heart several times as the man struggled briefly with her.

Muffled cries and soft thumps were heard before the man finally passed on as blood flow to the brain ceased, or shock set in. Sunra gave a sigh as she finally pulled her knife free and wiped it on the dead man's tunic and pulled her hand back from his still twitching lips. From somewhere in the hab they heard the sound of lasfire and knew that the time for surprise had now gone. Standing up the team filed out of the room, Jericus on point to provide info on enemy positions through the wall, pointing at a nearby door he motioned for them to stack up on the wall and get into firing positions.

As they finished the door came open and several rebels began to run out, going in the opposite direction, likely to where the lasfire was coming from. As the fifth rebel came out of the room team Gamma opened fire on their backs, lasfire punching through them easily and dropping them to the ground, wounds still steaming. Jericus gave a nod showing that those five were all that were in the room and the team continued on down the corridor to where the weapons fire was coming from.

Entering another hallway they instinctively went for the cover they could find as they came upon an open firefight, teams Delta and Charlie engaging the enemy who numbers about ten. A good six rebel bodies lay in the hall between the two groups, kills made by Charlie and Delta, team Gamma lent their own weapons to the cause and soon the rebels began to retreat as they took a few more casualties.

"Bravo, 'bout eight left over's headed your way be ready for 'em," a Randon trooper from Delta stated over the vox. Bravo team responded in kind and let it be known that they were set-up and waiting, more weapons-fire was heard as the rebels ran into them. It cut off shortly after and Bravo reported that the rebels had been taken out over the vox, with that the first floor was taken care of and the squad was now moving up to the second where there was about another squad worth of rebels.

Resistance on the second floor was harder to deal with, element of surprise gone the now joint teams ended up having a mass moving firefight through the rooms and corridors with the rebels who were now expecting them. Two teams of four fought in tandem, one assaulting while the other tried to use the maze of halls and rooms to flank the enemy rebels they came across. It was pure chaos; the rebels with nowhere left to retreat what with the ground level cut off were fighting tooth and nail to survive.

Rounding a corner Jericus had nearly been skewered on a bayonet, his eye's thermal mode off due to the confusing nature of the hot lasbolts and bodies everywhere. He parried the thrust at the last second and Anrai drove his spike-axe into the rebel woman's skull, Jericus returning the favor seconds later by shooting another hostile about to blast his savior's skull off with an auto-pistol.

They were moving quickly down the corridor eliminating rebels as they came, it seemed that with their numbers dwindling the rebels were now panicking, simply trying to find a way out. Jericus witnessed one jump from a window as they stormed a room and lanced fire into the others; they heard a scream faintly over the sound of battle followed by a muffled crack, that man was not going anywhere.

Sweeping through the rest of the floor the teams soon converged with each other, the last of the rebels being cut down as they simply ran, some tried to get out of windows like their comrade, and most of these were shot in the back as they tried to escape. Others made it out only to break their legs from the high fall, if not outright kill themselves.

"I think it's safe to say that the building is secure," Sergeant Joss huffed, catching her breath.

"What do you see S-1049," B-63 deferred to Jericus' eye. It took him a second to activate the augmetic, a slight phantom pain emanating from the not there tissue, but soon the building was alight in bio-thermal signatures. Giving a thorough look around Jericus found that save for the thermal signatures of himself and his comrades, and the slowly fading ones of the dead, that there was no other living beings in the structure, save for the rats.

"Looks clear Watchmaster," he reported dutifully.

B-63 nodded, "Good work finding these heretics S-1049, now let's keep up the sweep, if there isn't any objections." There weren't and they promptly exited the hab, splitting up into their teams and trudging down the streets of the southern sector to continue the sweep.

Their time on Tartarius was coming to an end, rebel forces had been all but extinguished, Adeptus Arbites and loyalist PDF troopers sweeping up the scant few that remained. The Imperial Guard were mostly still around to provide a strong front, token watchdogs meant to intimidate anyone who may want to try and restart the rebellion, but that was far from likely, in City-32 the rebels were done for. A dying creature giving off a death rattle before it finally passed.

Jericus found himself doing routine patrols more often now, just for show really, no more sweep and clears, or search and destroy. It was just to show Imperial presence in force, and it was all very boring in comparison to the previous fighting. When they weren't patrolling they were usually given R&R, Watchmaster B-63 felt they needed to relax more than to train, and they'd train and drill in transport to the next campaign anyway, so why bother when they were in what was still considered a warzone.

If he was honest with himself the relative peace aggravated him, it wasn't that he was blood thirsty, or partial to the adrenaline high of battle, no, he just didn't like that he now had time to think things over. Again he had the thought, it wasn't the combat itself, but it was the time you spent thinking about it that would unravel you. Right now, it was that man… Georgii, obviously a psyker, and try as he might Jericus could not forget what had been revealed. A blank, that's what he had called him and the regiment's sanctioned psyker said that meant he was a psychic null.

He couldn't help but wonder where that would leave him in the future, it had sounded as though he was something just as likely to get taken away as any other witch was. On Surris they had never had any witches, by word of the preacher's of Clonevan Jericus' world was truly blessed by the Emperor. He soon struck the thoughts from his mind, trying to focus on his surroundings.

Currently he found himself simply walking through one of the upper levels of city 32, and for the first time ever Jericus actually saw civilians, not rebels, not guardsmen, not PDF, but normal frightened civilians. It was part of the southern sector that had been cleared not too long ago and the refugees behind friendly lines were allowed to go back to their homes, or what was left of them, and start the cleanup process.

Watchmaster B-63 had them all keep their weapons at the ready, just in case. Their Randon and Hoarfell allies did the same, but this didn't matter, as the people seemed to have no ill intent at all. In fact the battle tested guardsmen walking through the streets of their home saw many brighten up, shouts of thanks and gratitude filled the air as they passed groups of men, women, and children, all victims glad to finally see an end to the tragedy of the rebellion.

The warm welcome eased the squad and soon they were walking loosely, a few particularly thankful civilians offered small gifts. A bit of food here, a flower there, some simply shook hands with those guardsmen willing, and one man actually gave Cain a bear hug crying his thanks to them for saving his family. Jericus noted Cain's strangely shocked/genuinely happy expression before he returned the gesture to the emotional father.

Even the frightening Korpsmen in their skull-masks were not left out of the thanks, Jericus had one young girl, no more than eight years, come and pin a small artificial flower to the lapel of his trench-coat. He had to kneel down to allow the child to reach, it helped that he wasn't particularly tall, but the child was still quite a bit smaller than he was. Bright shades of blue made the fake plant-life stand out easily from the dark colors of his uniform, and Jericus couldn't help the small smile that came to his hidden lips. Patting the small girl affectionately on her head he then watched as she ran back into the crowd toward what he presumed was her father.

Her kind gesture and the genuine relief coming from the liberated citizens was almost enough for Jericus to overlook the fact that she had had a ghastly looking scar running across her small face, it was recent, he could tell by the still pink and puckered flesh. He tried to push the grim reminder of the rebellion away as he stood and resumed his walking, looking down at the flower for a brief moment.

"I'll have to take this off before long, it'll give away my position…" he mused lowly.

"Don't worry about it S-1049, the Randon already take care of giving away our position, leave it, you'll be fine," B-80 commented from his side, commenting on the Randons crimson red uniforms. Taking a look at the brightly colored guardsmen Jericus could see that they were in fact attracting the most attention from the locals, their bright colors, and open attitudes made them particularly appealing. Most of the Randon also seemed to have no qualms with taking whatever gifts the civilians gave to them, Jericus recognized Sunra accepting a bottle of some kind of alcohol quite gladly from a man who seemed to be a shop owner.

Jericus had to say that he was relieved by the reaction the civilians gave them as they passed through, he couldn't say that he would have been as happy to see the guardsmen as they were. It seemed strange and even downright stupid to him now, but even though they had saved Surris, these were still the same people that took away his family, and he was sure that was the case for more than one of the people now thanking them. He supposed that it was just his own irrational reaction to what had happened on his homeworld.

He had to admit that he felt guilty now though, being a part of a liberation campaign to free a populace of some sort of threat. Feeling the worry of his comrades dying, the pressures of war, things were different on this side of the mask. When he had first seen the Death Korps herding him and his people through the streets of Clonevan he thought they were just as monstrous as the savage orks that had invaded. Now, well his opinion still hadn't changed despite the indoctrinations best attempts, but he had to concede that at least now he understood a little better, and so a small measure of guilt sat with him.

The remainder of that patrol passed without incident and they were soon back at the base for rest. Jericus sat on a crate alone admiring the fake flower that had been gifted to him by the little girl, looking out over the edge of the plaza that the base had been set up on he could see what seemed to be the sight of the city rebuilding itself. Smoke from the conflict was starting to stutter and stop altogether; damages to the structures seemed to repair themselves as each day passed by. It was like a living thing healing after having suffered a sickness.

Fenria was going over her equipment for the moment, leaving him to his current thoughts. In reality she was still feeling a sort of guilt for having chopped off his arm, sure she had done it to save his life, but she couldn't help the small voice of doubt chewing at her mind that he might hate her for doing it. As she stripped and cleaned her longlas her thoughts muddled together and continued to spew forth reasons to fuel her guilt.

Though still reeling from his recent limb loss Jericus was hardly mad, or even miffed with his friend. Instead all he could think about was that they would finally be leaving the planet's surface not three days from now and he was now wondering what the next campaign would be. As he again looked at the fake flower Jericus distantly hoped it would be somewhere where he could see the real living thing the ornament was based on.

"Gotta admit it's a nice view," B-80 seemed to materialize out of the gloom. "Nothing on the forests of Baurine, but still beautiful in its own way," he finished.

Jericus stayed quiet for the moment carefully placing the flower back into the lapel of his trench-coat looking back at the 'horizon' and appraising it again.

"Yeah," his reply was quiet, barely heard above the background noise of the city.

"You okay there lad, going through what you have is rough, and I've known troopers who've cracked because of far less," B-80 surmised.

"This trooper is fine sir, it's just mulling over a few things about the last operation. Its new augmetics are not bothering it in the least, other than the occasional phantom pains, but those will not affect its performance," Jericus replied at length, a slight lie, he had noticed his aim was a bit worse at times, when his arm relived the shock of being chopped off.

B-80 breathed out loudly before finally taking a seat next to him. "That's all well and good trooper, now tell me how you really feel, and enough with the 'this trooper', and 'it' crap you're not a trainee anymore. As far as we're concerned you've earned the right to refer to yourself as such, around us at least."

Jericus paused exhaling very audibly, it sounded almost like a huff if it weren't distorted by his mask. "Just like I said sir, mulling things over, ever since the orks attacked Surris it just seems like my life has been falling to pieces."

"Ah, I know the feeling," B-80 appraised Jericus' answer, his tone sympathetic. "You know there was a saying on my homeworld Baurine."

"What was it?" Jericus asked quietly, but curious.

"It goes something like this," B-80 held up three fingers and counted them off with the responses. "Everyone is born one of three things a sheep, a wolf, or the shepherd with his rifle." He let his hand drop to his lap as he counted the final finger.

"Now my question for you Jericus is which one are you?" B-80 asked.

Jericus looked away from the man and back out at the city, watching as the wounded giant repaired itself and as the millions of souls in the distance got back to their lives, or tried to, he left B-80's question unanswered. He didn't know what he was.

Elsewhere Watchmaster B-63 was meeting with his old friend B-52, the two veteran korpsmen were sharing some home-brewed Hoarfell rungi in celebration for another campaign survived. They also happened to be going over a few things regarding the events that had gone down during the course of the battles and skirmishes.

"So, were they everything you dreamed they'd be," B-52 asked in reference to Jericus and Fenria, both of whom B-63 had handpicked himself.

"Yes, just like I said, the lass came out of all that action with barely a scratch," B-63 started.

"And the lad," his friend asked after a slight pause.

"Well… he's a survivor, just like I said. According to the after action report it was his idea to chop off his own arm to get away, hardly any other man in that position would have been able to think of that option, or rather request it willingly. On the bright side the new parts haven't seemed to dull his disposition," B-63 swirled the contents of his tin-cup watching the murky alcohol as it became a small whirlpool; B-52 knew this to be a nervous gesture.

"There's something you're not telling me," B-52 stated, not unkindly, but insistent.

B-63 sighed, the muffled sound from the gasmask sounding more like a deep breath. "Well something went wrong during the raid; I assume you've read the report?" B-52 nodded in confirmation before his friend continued, "What's written isn't entirely the truth, I may have fudged it a bit, lied to the lad to keep him calm, and called in a few favors to keep Sergeants Joss, and Grimes mostly quiet about it. There's something up with the lad, he faced off against what had to have been a psyker and he survived, I've not seen many souls that could do that."

"You don't think he's tainted do you," B-52 inquired calmly.

"No, I had the bolt magnet take a look at him, he was convinced that the lad wasn't, but he is something. Called him a psychic null, as far as the explanation went the exact opposite of a witch, I decided to omit that particular bit of news. Far as what was said the lad isn't a danger to any of us anymore than a regular man, in fact this could work in our favor if we keep it under wraps," B-63 decided.

B-52 paused, looking thoughtful despite the mask. "I've never questioned your judge of people before, best not to start now."

"Aye, good to hear, it goes without saying that you shouldn't mention this to anyone else," B-63 sipped at his drink. "But speaking of subordinates, I'm gonna need at least two new grenadiers, as you know F-888 is gone, and F-920 cracked. I'll be keeping F-920 on, he requested that much, but I don't think he'll be with us for much longer, I'm thinking of recommending him for a quartermaster position pending his future field performance. Do you have any particular recommendations, I'm not much in the mood to be flipping through files, I liked F-888 he was a good lad, and a good grenadier, the loss is hard."

B-52 breathed out, shrugging his shoulders. "Few more Surrins, they seem to be working out for you. They've survived the spire offensive, and they show quite a bit of promise, can't get you anyone more experienced though, anyone from the Faur conscription is in high demand, and anyone else is too high-up, or needed elsewhere."

"I'll take whoever you think'll work out for me partner. Just send 'em to me once we're back on the Ipsum and I'll get 'em ready," B-63 nodded in acceptance.

"Can do," B-52 stated. "Say did ya hear about the new recruits?"

B-63 paused drink halfway to his mouth. "No can't say that I have, didn't think we sustained enough casualties for the 82nd to think about new conscripts."

"Technically we haven't, but those on high want the regiment to be as whole as possible before the next campaign. If you believe the rumors floating around then it's because they're expecting our next fight to be particularly nasty, it's only a few hundred conscripts though," B-52 replied.

"Still odd though, especially since the Korps doesn't tend to recruit from worlds plagued with rebellion," B-63 supplied.

"Exactly, that just tells me that there really are some frightening expectations for the future," B-52 gestured with a pointed finger. "But, enough about the depressing stuff."

Clinking tin-cups signaled the end of the conversation as the two friends went back to drinking and less troubling subjects.

A/N: Well here's another one, this time I shall see you all in two weeks as opposed to next week, but expect no longer than that I promise. As always kindly review and leave your input. On the subject of reviews I'd like to thank BIBOTOT for your continued support and ratings, also Anon and Guest for the encouragement, and finally Uzushio5179 for the critique, ideas, and subsequent apology. Though that last one wasn't necessary my friend, your input was valid, your questioning sound and I will certainly take it into consideration. Without giving away too much think of the first campaign as the training wheels for the cast, things are gonna get very rough for them in the future I can assure you.

300-709