Ch.4 First Blood
"Ser Torwyn, any sign of the enemy yet and have the guard finished their preparations?" Ser Roland asked.
Torwyn double checked his sensors before replying "No sign of the enemy Ser Roland, the guard here are just finishing up…hopefully"
The vanguard had set out a few hours ago from base camp to meet up with a few of the guard platoons who would be providing garrison duties after they destroyed the initial mortar defense on the road to generators. However, the guard units accompanying them had proven to be a bit slow. They had been working on their chimera transports for the past several hours and had stopped several times for the commissar to berate the guardsmen.
"By the emperor this is degrading." Said Daneel. "We should already be to the mortars instead of waiting for the guard to finally decide to do their jobs."
"Ser Daneel! Try to show our allies some respect!" came Ser Roland's rebuke "Even you are right." He said quietly, indicating his displeasure at the guard as well.
Roland in Iron Soul turned towards the commissar in command and began to speak. "Lord commissar Taran, whilst I understand the need to instruct your charges in proper discipline; the needs of the mission do come first" Roland said the commissar interrupting another session of screaming.
The commissar was in the middle of screaming at a terrified young guardsman and turned towards Roland's knight with a scowl "Ser knight, it is my duty to ensure the discipline of these sorry excuses for soldiers is absolute" the commissar said formally.
"M-My lord commissar, p-perhaps ser Roland is r-right. The n-needs of the mission do come…" The young lieutenant started but was quickly silenced by the commissar's glare and the sight of her bolt pistol.
The commissar sighed "You are not wrong lieutenant, but do not ever correct me in front of the men again" she said with a stern look.
The lieutenant blanched "O-O course lord commissar" they said nervously.
The lieutenant turned towards their men and straighten themselves in an attempt to look as serious.
"M-Men, it is time to perform our most sacred duty to the emperor. Our t-task is to reclaim those mortars from the traitorous filth that have occupied them. We are fortunate that our allies rom House Peregran have j-joined us for this mission. Our faith and duty shall be rewarded, for the emperor!" the lieutenant stuttered out attempting to sound in control.
The rest of the guardsmen quickly responded "For the Emperor!" with some enthusiasm, especially after the Lord Commissar unstrapped her bolt pistol. The guardsmen then embarked onto their chimera's and resumed their journey.
Torwyn could hear snickering coming from Daneel after they began moving "what is it?" he asked his friend.
Torwyn could almost see Daneel's smile through the metal face plate of his knight "The way they say it, you almost believe they'll actually make a difference" came the joking response.
The knights set off quickly afterwards followed by the guardsmen bringing up the rear. They had only been marching for about an hour when the first sign of the enemy was spotted. A large flag bearing the red star and shield that the rebels had been using since the war had started. The flag was mounted on top of a burned-out chimera on which was a defaced aquila.
"Well, it seems subtlety is not a strength of the rebels" mused Torwyn.
Ser Roland in Iron Soul came up to him and stood by looking at the burned out husk as well "It never is" he agreed "It looks like we're getting close to the mortar line, keep your eyes open and your ion shields up" Roland said to the rest of the vanguard.
With a gesture and a thought Torwyn willed his ion shield into place around the front of Last Hearth's vengeance. A faint hum and a brief shimmer surrounded the outline of his machine as he continued forward with the vanguard followed in the distance by the guard platoon.
It was only a few minutes later before they found the mortars, or more accurately the mortars found them.
"Form a line! Protect the guardsmen!" came the booming voice of Ser Roland.
The knights of the vanguard shuffled into place making a rough line with their machines. Their ion shields holding back any shell or shot that came their way. All was going well until one the knight's broke formation and began charging the mortar line.
It was Baleful Glory, Ser Rickard's knight.
"Ser Rickard! Get back into formation! You can satisfy your thirst for glory when you can only get yourself killed!" yelled Ser Roland.
Ser Rickard in Baleful glory paid him no heed and continued to run full speed at the enemy before eventually stomping through the meagre defenses and coming to the first mortar.
Rickard wasted activating his reaper chainsword and carving the gun placement. The old conqueror class mortars may have had large guns but lacked the more advanced armor found in the vanquisher models and were quickly cut into pieces by Ser Rickard.
"Yes! Rebel scum! Know today that you fall at the hands of Ser Rickard" Came Rickard's bellowing voice as he let loose with his heavy stubber and a few shots from his battle cannon, killing numerous rebel soldiers.
Killtraitorskilltraitorskilltraitorskillkill… Torwyn shook the overwhelming thoughts and desires from his head. Last Hearth's Vengeance craved for battle, it craved to spill the blood of foul traitors and heretics; and Torwyn felt obliged to do so.
His battle cannon barked loudly and repeatedly as he let loose shot after shot into the enemy line, turning the once organized rebel weapon teams into piles of screaming bloody flesh. As he continued his slaughter of the rebels, Torwyn didn't notice the lascannon team on the mortar behind him before they let off a shot glancing of his machine's shoulder.
He turned his gaze towards those who had dared fire at him and saw red "How dare you even think that can kill me!" he screamed angrily as he let off several shots that reduced the offending weapons team to ash and blood before he finally approached the mortar and began carving away at it with his chainsword.
After what seemed like hours Torwyn stopped and grinned savagely as he looked upon the flaming rubble of the now destroyed mortar line. "Daneel was right" he mused as he thought back to the conversation they had had last night, "it feels far more righteous than killing xenos.
"Torwyn, look to the hills!" came the voice of Daneel as he was shaken from his thoughts. He looked towards the nearby hills and saw that one soldier had escaped the carnage. He aimed his cannon at a fleeing soldier and fired. The rebel never knew what hit him as he was killed almost instantly and the battlefield fell quiet with no more remaining rebels.
"Victory, glorious victory!" came the triumphant cry of Ser Rickard who was joined by Torwyn who let out a celebratory shot to commemorate their victory.
"A most triumphant day for House Peregran, they shall sing songs of our victories for years to come" said Torwyn as he surveyed the destroyed heavy weapons of the rebels.
Rickard scoffed "These were barely worth ammunition expended, I hope these foul traitors have more to offer here or else I will be sorely disappointed" he said dismissively.
"Rickard! Torwyn! Get in line now!" Came the angry voice of Ser Roland.
The guardsmen were marching over to the mortar placements to take control of the defense line as Torwyn and Rickard stomped over to Roland in Iron Soul. "Explain to me why you both did not follow orders and acted like blood crazed lunatics?" came the furious questioning from Roland.
"With all due respect Ser Roland, we were following orders: killing traitorous scum" came the heated response from Torwyn. He did not see what he had done wrong, their task on this world was to wipe out the rebel resistance and killing the rebels defending the mortar line was part of that.
"No, your orders were to defend the guardsmen AND kill the traitorous scum. Participating in one does not excuse you from taking part on the other" Roland said with a harsh tone.
"You left an opening in our defensive lines and could have allowed our allies to be killed. A knight protects those under his care, that is our noble charge and you have place glory before duty!" Roland barked out.
"You two have shown reckless behavior unbecoming of a knight of House Peregran. Should this behavior cease immediately I will comment no more on it and see it as a temporary lapse in judgement. Should it continue, I will discuss with the High Lord on an appropriate punishment for you both" and with that Ser Roland stomped away to speak to Commissar Taran.
Rickard scoffed "Unbecoming behavior? What does he know? I served with glory and honor, not some stuffed up adherence to rules" he said pompously and walked away.
Torwyn couldn't help but think similarly "If our actions kill the enemies of the emperor, does anything else matter?" he mused as he stared out at the battlefield where he had dominated the rebel forces.
"And if doing so means further chances for glory, it's definitely worth it" he finished with a grin as he turned and stomped over to where Daneel and the rest of the knights waited even more eager for another battle.