A/N: Kindly read and review.
"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us."- Hermann Hesse
They had just finished taking out the fourth finger nail on B-80's left hand, his right had already had none left, and Jericus still hadn't uttered a word. B-80 had long ago ceased to scream, either having gotten a handle on himself, or simply gotten used to the pain Jericus wasn't sure which. The almost inaudible pained grunts and whimpers were maybe worse though.
"You know there was a little place called Whitestone, it uh, got hit by you things about three weeks into this whole mess you started." Sergeant Graves paced around in-front of Jericus, he had been doing this every once in a while, talking to him between questions. Jericus remembered in training, this was a technique used by the interrogator to try and break the subject.
"I know you remember Whitestone, you had to have been there. I was there too you know, got out with the retreating elements of my unit, they had to knock me out, want to know why?" he waited for affirmation, Jericus gave none, he had an idea what was coming. "They had to knock me out because my family was there, in one of the shelters, my wife, and two daughters. The first few weeks of this war we didn't know how serious you were, but as I'm sure you know you taught us quickly. Oh yeah, you were there, you helped with it I'm sure, you bastards killed them all, every innocent civilian in Whitestone. Every innocent civilian you've caught since the beginning, I've seen the mass graves, the light from the pyres you things burn our people on after you take over an area. When I finally came too, we were too far from Whitestone for me to go back, but I could see the black smoke, I knew it was too late."
He stared straight into Jericus' unblinking eyes. "My point is, this," he motions to B-80. "It's nothing compared to what you've put me through, I hate you, and when this is over I'm gonna be the one burning corpses."
"Five seconds now, S-1049," he had read the designation number from Jericus' uniform; he spat the letter and digits out with contempt. "Tell me what your objective coming out this way was?"
Jericus was silent; he sniffed the air, the smell of sweat, blood, and some other musk. He looked at Sergeant Graves, at Mr. Spindly, at B-80. B-80, bloody, body nearly broken, they had been at this for what seemed to be hours now, B-80 wasn't going to last much longer, Jericus knew he wouldn't break, but he would die. The Surrin thought about just giving them something, it didn't have to be true, but he knew that wasn't the way you did these things, it wouldn't matter to these people if he gave them any information anyway, the torture wouldn't stop, not until he and his comrades were dead.
Shut. It. Out.
"Alright, skull-face have it your way, Doc, give its friend a taste of how they treat our dead," Graves said coldly.
Mr. Spindly got out what seemed to be a torch of some sort, the flame coming out of it a burning hot red. The assistants on both sides of B-80 pulled off the man's great coat and the clothing and carapace underneath, leaving him bare-chested. They had been working on his extremities before now.
Spindly brought the torch closer and closer to B-80's now exposed chest, Jericus stared blankly ahead, but his eyes strayed at the moment of contact. Burning flesh, B-80 thrashing against his captors as they held him still, his pained expression...
Shut. It. Out!
They had to round up the civilians that were hiding out in the city, enemy forces had been either neutralized or driven from the city hours ago, but the guardsmen's work didn't stop there. Jericus was leading a group of about eight along in-front of him, they were mostly women and children, both human and xeno. Hands up they trudged along with either grim looks, or barely held tears, Jericus knew they knew what was going to happen.
He wondered how Xavier was dealing with this, it wasn't like that time in the manufactory, it wasn't just them that would be around. They had to do this; if they didn't then they would be joining the people he was now leading to their death. Xavier and his fire-team had split off from them along with the Randon a while ago, same sector, but it was a fairly large area, they hadn't seen them since. According to Watchmaster B-63 it was really just a typical purging of heretics.
Jericus had to admit the whole thing was efficient; he led them to the open plaza they had designated, his squad-mates leading their own small groups. The civilians were then lined up right in the middle; they had them stand two in a row, one in front of another, to save on ammunition, arranged according to height so that their heads would be aligned. Set up so that when their bodies fell to the ground they would already be piled up and ready to burn, right now there were hundreds of enemy civilians in the plaza. All of them rounded up from the safety shelters in the sector, all of them assigned to their own guardsman.
Watchmaster B-63 had sourly recommended they treat it like processing cattle to be butchered; Jericus had to admit that it actually helped. As he stood, part of the firing line, he couldn't see the two women in front of him, just cattle to be processed. He squeezed the trigger when the order was given at the same time as everyone around him, the bodies dropped in frightening synchronization. Those on the firing line backed away, guardsmen with flamers came up from behind to douse the bodies in purifying fire.
Jericus watched as the flesh blackened and burned away until everyone in the pyre might as well have been the same, they weren't people anymore. He turned to walk away, they had been at this for hours now, their sector was now clear. It was daytime now, early morning in fact, but the city was cast in a perpetual twilight due to the smoke rising from the pyres throughout, as well as dust and fire from the battle.
Everyone had masks, or some other form of face cover on to block out the fumes and dust. Even the Hoarfell troopers had pulled up their scarves and most wore their goggles as well to block out the tainted air. Jericus breathed out the breath he had been holding, it was time to try and get some rest, they had been going from one battle to the next for what felt like ages. They had permission to rest after they were done with processing the civilians, so with that in mind Jericus turned to Fenria.
"We should get rest while we can, no doubt we're going to be moving again soon," he stated matter-of-factly.
"Yeah that would be for the best," Fenria replied quickly. "You're fine with that right F-920?"
F-920 was the senior grenadier and thus in charge at the moment, Watchmaster B-63 and B-80 had gone off again to confer with other N.C.O's about further plans. As far as Jericus understood there was only one other major city close by, it was the largest and most hardily defended they would come up against thus far. No doubt the higher-ups would want to really plan out the offensive what with the war-machines and defenses the rebels had in place for them, all the Celk tanks they had might not be enough.
F-920 merely nodded after a long pause to give permission, and then they set off to find a suitable area for them to try and catch some sleep.
"How about over there, seems like a lot of guardsmen are going, must be a good area," S-360 pointed to a still fairly intact building at the end of the plaza. It looked to be some sort of shopping market, many different wares within it, mostly local clothing.
"Looks good to us," Fenria stated for both her and Jericus. F-920 again nodded his approval while S-548 in his usual quiet nature grunted noncommittally. The group walked into the building through the front doors, they had been glass, which was now shattered creating a gaping opening for them to get in.
As they walked into the building proper they saw many other guardsmen rummaging around in the various stores, mostly setting up makeshift sleeping area, some utilized the spare fabric from the wares as extra padding for the otherwise hard floor not wanting to bed down in guard issue 'body-bags'.
Finding an open space in a small store that wasn't yet taken the grenadiers began to bed down for some rest, F-920 voxing their position to the Watchmaster so that they could re-group when necessary.
Jericus had found that during field operations he tended to sleep better sitting up, thus he took a spot leaning up against the wall, Fenria sat down next to him on his left. They still liked to chat before sleeping, and the company of the other help to alleviate the lingering tensions caused to them by battle.
Watching as the others took their own positions Jericus pulled his body-bag from his kit and shoved it between his back and the wall, and under his rear, Fenria imitated him. It was better than sitting on the hard floor. Jericus noted idly that S-360, and S-548 liked to actually use the guard issue sleeping-bags as they were meant to be used, the two next to each other covered in the material of the sleeping-bags. F-920 simply rolled his own bag up and used it as a pillow, opting to just sleep on the hard floor.
"How long do you think this war will last," Jericus asked quietly, his thoughts always seemed to delve into the depressing, he found that Fenria's usually frank answers helped to lift his dark veil of thought. He didn't want to think on how that didn't really make much sense, usually her replies weren't particularly cheerful, but he supposed it was just the action of voicing his thoughts to someone who he could trust that helped.
"It'll last as long as it has to S-1049," was her reply, it said a lot about her he thought. Here was a woman who for all outward appearances and actions was very much committed to what their training had ingrained. Sure she may be a little more open being a part of Watchmaster B-63's grenadier team than she was when they first completed training, but underneath that she was still as strong, calculating, and accepting as what the Korps wanted. At least that's how S-1050 always seemed to Jericus.
"Not really the answer I wanted to hear," he responded a smidge glumly.
"What answer would you want exactly?" She questioned a smirk in her tone of voice.
Jericus slouched a bit, and then shrugged, "Not sure, something a little more optimistic I guess."
She turned to him, her masks lenses catching the light and giving an eerie effect to her skull motifs otherwise dead gaze. "What about what I said was glum?"
"Just the way you said it really, not the answer itself," Jericus muttered back.
"You're strange S-1049, even before the conscription too I'm guessing," she laughs.
"Yeah, got that a lot," Jericus chuckles along with her laugh. "Sorry for keeping you up, we should get some rest."
The sound of rustling filled the empty air as they each adjusted themselves to get optimal rest, background noise of other guardsmen and the sounds of a city's people burning were all they heard for a bit.
"You remember right," her question, sounded a little exasperated, though no less genuine.
"Always," Jericus replied immediately, he never liked to leave her waiting too long.
Jericus had grown used to being kicked in the side to be woken up; it seemed to be the preferred method among Watchmaster B-63 and the rest of the team to rouse the sleeping. So as per usual he slowly lifted his head to look at whoever had woken him from his slumber, the rictus of Watchmaster B-63's mask looked down on him.
"Time to get up lad, wake up the lass we've got to move out," the Watchmaster stated jovially before he walked off to the entrance of the store they had slept in. F-920 was already up with him, and B-80 had just woken S-360 and S-548. Turning his head to his left he found Fenria still asleep, mostly still leaning on the wall though she had fallen a bit to have her shoulder leaning against his own. It didn't surprise him that she was still asleep, of the two of them she had always been the heavy sleeper.
He nudged her, not too forceful, but not particularly gentle, she was a heavy sleeper after all. She mumbled something unintelligible and swatted at his hand on the first try, it took two more firm shakes to get his stubborn friend out of the world of dreams and nightmares.
Looking up she mumbles. "What's going on?" She was still bleary from sleep.
"We're moving out, Watchmaster says it's time to get up, so come on," Jericus replies evenly. He grabs his body-bag and rolls it up and stashes it in his pack, standing up he grabs his lasrifle and then offers Fenria his hand. She's put her own body-bag away and grabbed her own longlas taking his hand and allowing her tired body to be hauled to its feet. Nodding her thanks she shouldered her longlas and walked past him, Jericus following not a breath later as they went to the front of the store.
S-360 and S-548 were the last to form up with the team, once they were there it was time to move out. All around them guardsmen were doing the same, packing up temporary camps and walking outside; Jericus could tell that it was the beginning of a march. They had to get to wherever their positions would be outside of the next city, and it was fairly far off, so a few days ride through what may be ambushes and other enemy territory including smaller towns was in order.
The streets outside teemed with guardsmen, tanks, and armored transport as the imperials began to move out of the city. They were traveling en-masse, something Jericus didn't even want to contemplate, sometimes just the logistics of the operations he was apart of were simply mindboggling. There were literally thousands of troopers, and that was just them, he didn't even want to count the armor, weapons, medical supplies, food, and back-up personal required for them to even get out of this city's limits let alone cross miles of terrain just to get to the next battle.
"Never seen so many bodies before, we didn't even burn that many on Tartarius," S-360 commented idly after a few dozen minutes of marching through the city. She was right it seemed that every open space they passed had been used to burn the bodies of the dead and executed. Thousands of lives reduced to ash and cinder, Jericus was a little regretful, not for the xenos, ever since he beheld the savagery of the orks his opinion on all xenos was cemented, but the human lives lost, they were regrettable.
"Doesn't matter, they're all gonna be gone soon anyway," Fenria stated casually in response.
"Just so much dust in the wind," Jericus added. A loud horn blared from behind making the grenadiers turn almost as one; the bulk of a centaur transport filled their view.
"Watchmaster, I believe that transport is in order, after all it's going to be a long walk, you'll be too tired to fight when you get there if you go by foot," Sergeant Havlock Grimes shouted from the open back of the vehicle with a smirk.
"Sounds like a good plan to me, you heard the Sergeant troopers, get on the damn thing," Watchmaster B-63 walked over to the side of the vehicle accepting Grimes hand up as he climbed up the centaurs tread, B-80 clambering over with the help of Eli right beside him.
Jericus and Fenria were close behind, Xavier and Cain grabbing hold of their wrist to help haul them onboard. F-920, S-360, and S-548 all made it on shortly after, each accepting help from the Hoarfell troopers within.
"Haven't seen these beauties for a while, they must've dragged them out of the Ipsum's hold just for this campaign," B-80 patted the centaurs metal hull as though it were an old friend. The centaur started off in the direction of the city limits and toward their next battle, roaring to life it joined with the rest of the column of vehicles as they all moved in shared purpose.
"Yeah, well when you've got to move thousands of Guardsmen across miles of land to a new front there isn't anything better than a good centaur," Grimes motioned behind him. "Plus they needed some way to carry the heavy hitters."
Jericus turned to see what the Sergeant meant; his eyes fell upon the many artillery pieces being towed by many centaurs to be brought with the regiments to the next battlefield. From heavy mortar canons, to quad launchers affectionately call 'thud guns' by their crews, they even had quite a few earthshaker canons, though those colossal canons were towed by Trojan support tanks. These massive weapons of war were far behind the column preceded by hundreds of other centaurs transporting the bulk of the imperial fighting force.
"I don't even want to think about the logistics behind all of this," Fenria mumbled quietly next to him, though he barely heard it over the roars of the centaur engines. He nodded in agreement with her, aware she had just mirrored what he had been thinking earlier.
"There's a sight to remember, can't wait to see them in action," he had seen an artillery barrage before, in fact he could very well be looking at the same guns that ended the lives of his family. Despite that he was morbidly interested in seeing the Imperial canons in action again, it was sure to be a sight, even if it did bring up painful memories.
"Oh don't you worry lad, you'll be seeing them in action soon enough, next city we're taking is gonna get leveled first before we storm in. Those rebels are going to feel the wrath of the Emperor when we're done with 'em. Those earthshakers fire one-hundred-thirty millimeter shells thirty-eight kilograms, over fifteen kilometers at eight-hundred-fourteen miles per hour, they're gonna obliterate their defenses." B-80 stated, a bit of a crazed edge to his voice.
Jericus and Fenria including all Surrin conscripts in the centaur turned at the veteran grenadier's slight lapse into mania at his description of the siege weapons. B-80 looked around, realizing how he sounded and strangely enough his skull-mask appeared almost sheepish.
"B-80 was part of an artillery company in the Baurin PDF before it was lost, and we were conscripted, sometimes he gets a little too excited when he gets to see the big guns again," B-63 explained for the now silent B-80.
B-80 cleared his throat, bringing attention back to himself. "I uh, get a little nostalgic at times is all."
"That's alright, nostalgia is good, distracts you from the bad times," Cain stated helpfully. Everyone lapsed into conversations amongst their own small groups after that, some about the missions, some more mundane. It was going to be a long ride so they were just making the best of the time off. Jericus noted that F-920 had taken up the heavy stubber mounted to the centaur; it wasn't too surprising really as the man had become even more withdrawn. Jericus looked on as F-920 pulled a sign that had been hung around the stubbers barrel off and place it on the ground, he chuckled as he read it 'rebels, heretics, and xenos free pictures, just wait for flash' was written on the metal of the sign.
"F-920 is really getting bad, it's like seeing what we must have looked like when we were fresh out of training," Fenria spoke lowly, making sure only Jericus could hear her, luckily the others were occupied with their own conversations to pay the two any mind, but Jericus' brief good mood was cut short. The sign forgotten he turned his attention to her.
"When you think about it he's probably better than ever, unlike us he's actually behaving like a Korpsman should," Jericus shrugged, it was the truth, Watchmaster B-63 seemed to be the exception to most Watchmasters. In reality F-920 was nothing short of the exemplary Korpsman as of late, he followed orders, did his duty impeccably well, and never complained anymore.
"Out of anyone in the squad you should know how he's feeling right now S-1049," Fenria stated firmly. Jericus knew what she meant, he had lost family on Surris, and F-920 might as well have lost family when F-888 died, as far as he could tell they were much closer than even he and Fenria. To have a strong connection like that ripped from you suddenly with hardly any time to grieve; it would be difficult on anyone.
Jericus sighed. "Just because I may understand how he feels doesn't mean anything is wrong with him, he's been doing just fine. You should be happy that he hasn't posed any threat to our missions, besides from experience I can say that it's best to let these things heal on their own. Besides he's just falling back on the training, like he's supposed to," he surmised.
He watched as the landscaped passed by, all scrublands, mostly tough plains grass, and he found himself thinking that if it were covered in glistening ice it would be just like his homeworld. They had gotten away from the black smoke that hung over the city like some acrid cloud, it was still light out, though late in the evening. Still at least it was a natural twilight now, and not one made by death.
"If it were just a little colder it would be just like Surris, it's nice being out of that smoke," he said both hoping to change the subject and because it just came to mind.
Fenria breathed harshly. "Yeah, it would be just like Surris, but it'd still feel too light, I hardly feel my gear," she snorted out a laugh at the end, purposely ignoring the part about the smoke, he noticed she didn't really like to talk about the purges, or anything related to them if she could help it. She was also conceding to him for the moment, but Jericus knew that the conversation about F-920 wasn't over. He wondered why she seemed to want him to help out with F-920, she hadn't said as much directly, but the subtext was there.
"Don't know about that, after all these battles the gear is starting to feel a little heavy," he responded, happy that she had let the subject go for the moment.
"So how's your arm and eye doing, no problems lately I hope," she was trying to make casual conversation, or what passed for casual to them anyway these days.
"They're doing okay, just the usual pains, nothing too bad," he rotated his augmetic arm three-hundred-sixty degrees for emphasis. "I've actually been practicing how to use them in combat better; my new arm is much sturdier and gives me a lot more range of motion than the original."
He wouldn't admit it, but ever since waking up and seeing that a few pieces of him had been replaced he had never been quite able to accept the augmetics, Jericus didn't blame Fenria, but he couldn't seem to get rid of the phantom pains.
"Bet you're an even more dangerous in a close quarters fight now huh. Have you gotten more used to the eye, that has to be the rougher of the two right? How does it even feel?" Fenria questioned further, through their voyage through the stars to Endurholdgun she hadn't really asked much about how the augmetics worked, or really showed interest in how they felt. Jericus figured she must finally be letting her curiosity get the better of her, augmetics weren't really too uncommon on Surris, in fact a lot of manufactory workers got them, though usually it was only a finger or two, maybe a hand lost to the hazardous work places.
In any case it was always a matter that created questions; Jericus guessed because the only people that knew what an augmetic felt like were the people that had them, and those were usually tech-priests. Maybe people wanted to know in case they ever got one of their own, prepare ahead of time. Although he had the feeling that Fenria was simply interested in it because she still felt guilty for having partially caused it.
"Fine, fine, I found out that I can see something Mago's Chevel calls the noosphere. Honestly I can't make heads or tails of it though, she said it was in machine language, so I guess it really isn't of any use to me," Jericus had been confused when he had first seen the intricate visualization of data as if it was literally flying through the air when he was on the Ipsum.
"What does it look like?" Fenria actually sound very interested at the new information.
"Hard to say, it looks like streams of blue light to me, the Mago's tried to teach me how to tap into the streams. Figured out how to do it, but once I got into one it was just too many numbers and words to understand anything about it. It's just about everywhere there's imperial technology though, even right now between the centaurs and tanks in the column," he elaborated on the confusing subject as best he could, but he knew he was grasping at straws at best.
Fenria looked thoughtful. "You should let the Mago's teach you more about it when we have the free time, it would be a good skill to have for the team, even if you can only partially understand some of it."
"Yeah, that's a good thought, never thought a line worker like myself would learn the machine language before. That is if the Mago's would even be willing to teach me, pretty sure the adepts are the only ones that are supposed to know." He rotated his augmetic hand as he thought the prospect over; he had noticed it was becoming a new habit.
Fenria's gaze was on the unnaturally rotating appendage. "That's a little unsettling to be honest, and at this point I've seen quite a few unsettling things S-1049."
"Sorry, but seriously, you think it'd be a good idea?"
"Yes, besides the worst that could happen is the Mago's tells you she can't teach you, but from our past experience with her I doubt she'll say no. She seems a strange sort, kind of like the Watchmaster, I get the feeling the rules don't mean terribly much to her." Fenria said taking her eyes off the still rotating hand.
"Everyone quiet down and keep ready, we're coming up on the first town," F-920 shouted over the conversations and the noise of the engines, also cutting off Jericus before he could reply. The grieving man had been watching the road ahead from his position on the mounted heavy stubber, keeping track of possible ambush sites, and looking out for towns like the one the column was coming up on now.
The column itself was already well into the town proper, but if the enemy was any good, and they were, then they would wait and attack the center of the column, or at least try to take out the artillery pieces. Everyone dropped their conversations and grabbed their weapons, keeping alert as their section began to pass through the town. Jericus never liked ambushes, ever since the PDF on Tartarius had suddenly turned on them he had distinctly disliked when an attack came from out of the blue, though ironically that's what most of his own missions had entailed.
Factor in that this enemy had weapons like that mech and he was doubly on edge, the familiar adrenaline rush going through him and the twist of his stomach. If all went well then they would simply pass through the town and the column would be on its way. Rear guard sweep teams would go through after them and make sure it was really empty to prevent the enemy from attacking their flanks after they passed.
Though that seemed to be unnecessary, as he scanned the habs and other buildings of the small town Jericus could find no heat signatures, or any other traces of the enemy with his sharp augmetic eye. Although he had noticed that their armor could partially obscure their thermal signatures, but if there was the slightest of movements then he would see it.
All he saw though were the signs of flight, the homes and buildings looked as though they had been looted. The residents must have been warned of the city being lost and were evacuated by the retreating enemy forces as they passed through on to the next city. Cloths and family possessions strewn haphazardly about the street and surrounding ground as those that had fled tried to get away as fast as they could. It was becoming all too clear to the enemy what surrender meant when it came to the Imperial forces.
Watching as the heavy tread of the centaur ran over a child's abandoned stuffed toy Jericus again found his mind wandering into dangerous territory. He dispelled the thoughts quickly and went back to surveying the abandoned town. He found it odd to see the fronts of the habs sporting trimmed grass, it made the otherwise technologically advanced inhabitants of Endurholdgun seem rustic in comparison to their impressive achievements.
Sure there were some strange looking structures, black panels on the roof tops and strange looking windmills seemed to power the habs and building. Most of the lights had been left on in the haste of the evacuation, just as much had been left behind. If it weren't for the open doors and personal possession strewn about all over it looked as though some happy family would be out and about on the otherwise peaceful looking day.
"You'd think they were just like us from looking at all of this," Fenria commented as she scanned through the scope of her longlas at the inside of abandoned homes and businesses. Always echoing his own thoughts Jericus shook his head imperceptibly in amusement.
"It's really eerie, worse than the pyres," S-360 put in, S-548 grunting in agreement.
"Anybody else waiting for someone to come out and just say hello?" Cain joked.
"Yeah Cain, that's exactly what they'll do, come out and wave right before we put one right between their eyes, not like we've killed and burned any of their relatives in the city not far from here," Xavier said his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"He was just trying to lighten the mood Xavier, you don't need to tear into him man," Eli defended the now quiet Cain.
"Right, sorry Cain, just things you know?" Xavier mumbled the apology.
"Its fine Xavier, I know, so no worries man," Cain said alleviating the tension brewing from the conversation.
Jericus noted the answer to his earlier pondering over Xavier's view on the purging that had to be done. Conclusion, he still felt the same as he had on Tartarius, Jericus felt worried for his friend, though he didn't know how to help him get over the process. It didn't help that they would have to conduct quite a few more purges in the next few weeks; there would no doubt be a lot of survivors left over after the next battle.
They made it through the town without incident in the end, relaxing after they had gotten a few hundred meters from the town limits. Sitting back down but keeping his lasrifle where he could reach it Jericus let himself loosen up, the tingle in his stomach dying down. Fenria did the same; F-920 would continue to keep watch for them. Should any other situation that he felt needed their attention come up he would warn them.
"Watchmaster how many more town will we have to go through on the way there," S-360 questioned, B-63 and B-80 were the ones who knew the route they were taking, everyone was eager to hear the answer.
"Hmm, if I remember right there are about four more between us and the city, probably all gonna be vacant like this one. Don't worry F-920 will call it out, just keep vigilant as we go through and everything will be fine," B-63 answered.
"Good thing we've got your eye, eh S-1049," Fenria whispered to Jericus as she looked over her longlas. He noted the obsessive habit of hers, almost after every time she so much as aimed the weapon; he concluded it must have been a nervous habit much like his rotating hand.
"Sure is."
A/N: Thank you all kindly for the reviews ladies and or gentlemen. CookieMonsta1233 harsh words my friend... just kidding, don't worry I plan to drip feed info about what's going on and the outcome of the interrogation, it will be resolved. DeathDemonWolf no worries, I always welcome observations that improve my work, as for space marines and eldar (oh my!), well that would be telling my friend :). Guest, all shall be answered in the coming chapters, though I can divulge that the enemy is using railguns as a mainstay armament. Apologies if the chapter is a little slow, it's all about the buildup though, and next chapter should have more action for those so inclined. As always see you all in one week, at most two.
300-709.