Blimey, it's hot. Laura almost lost her footing when the Valkyrie's ramp lowered and the steaming air of Darwin IX rushed inside, almost blowing her awesome inquisitor hat off in the process. She caught it in time, fixed it on her sweaty head, made herself presentable, and walked off the transport, chin and chest puffed as befitting an inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus.

"Now that's what I call a tropical weather," Laura stepped onto the concreate pavement covered in overgrown weeds and took in her immediate vicinity. Bloody hell, it's like she just walked into freaking Jurassic Park, if Jurassic Park was left to die with dignity after the first film, untouched by the unnecessary sequels that followed. But this was no pleasant amusement park designed by the kindhearted John Hammond, oh no, what Laura currently beheld was a ruin of metallic gothic splendor, the darkest nightmare of the industrial revolution made manifest. Towering blocky factoriums and circular silos dotted the landscape, the manmade monstrosities were placed at frequent intervals, taking up spaces so massive that it could probably fit a small town inside, each buildings connected by crisscrossing walkways and scaffoldings, creating a madden web of iron high above them. Laura had no doubt that when the complex was alive the amount of pollution and misery unleashed would've been staggering in scale, which was why it looked a lot better in death. The untamed vines and mosses blanketing the ruin actually gave the place a peaceful, post-apocalyptic feel, a world unburdened by the unkind touch of humanity. "Not gonna lie, I'm pretty surprise everything is still standing. Wasn't there a kaiju stomping all over the place just a few minutes ago?"

"Ae-Shin chased it away. You can actually still see the dust clouds. Besides, the lanes between the buildings are big enough to accommodate it," Yuki joined her as the Sororitas and Aeldari spread out around them, guns and melee weapons swept slowly across the abandoned factorium. No danger can be found, unsurprising since Damien and the Astartes already combed the area. "Imperium engineering might be ugly as sin, but goddamn is it sturdy."

"Can't argue with that," Laura took off her awesome inquisitor hat and used it to fan her face. "But this heat is downright heretical."

"You can say that again," Yuki took off the Aeldari mempo, wiped the sheen of perspiration from her face, and magnetized the helm to her belt. "Have Damien and the Marines found anything that could be a threat? Like the local faunas or advance element of the orks?"

"Preliminary sweep says no," Laura undid the top two buttons on her shirt and put the awesome inquisitor hat back on, drawing a very appreciative quirk of a brow from Yuki. "But we can never be too sure."

"A most correct mindset," although she had fought alongside the battlegroup many times now, Laura still flinched when Celestine slid in beside her. For someone sporting gigantic wings and big arse armor, the Living Saint possessed a Batman-like quality when making soundless appearance. "I am extremely wary of this place."

"It is quite ominous, that's for sure," Laura concurred then glanced at Celestine. "I thought you would be airborne right now. The view would be a hell lot better than down here."

"The Seraphims are already patrolling the sky, so far they have found no hostiles," Celestine told her. "And I believe deeper scrutiny on the ground will yield better results than an aerial reconnaissance."

"That's a very good point, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we all feel a lot safer with you here," Laura winked at Celestine, who bowed politely, elegantly, to the murmuring agreement around them. "But I bet it's a lot cooler up in the air."

"Yes, the weather is indeed very balmy," Celestine magicked kerchief into existence and dapped her forehead, which was starting to glister visibly. The brocade fabric came away drenched as she stuffed it into her belt. "I've fought on countless hellish battlefields of brimstone and fire hot enough to sear the skin, but this heat is unlike anything I've experience before."

"The kind of heat that clings wetly to you, adding several pounds to your body and refusing to abate no matter how hard you try," Yuki droned dispassionately and Celestine nodded.

"A most accurate description lady exarch," Celestine angled her head up at the cloudless cerulean sky, her eyes vexed and narrowed. "You have fought in environment like this before?"

"With Tangmo, many freaking times too, he's the expert on weather like this," Yuki glanced at Celestine and, like Laura, found herself enraptured by the Living Saint's incomparable beauty, even in adverse condition such as this. "But we can all use a little bit of sweat now and then, it keeps the skin hydrated and healthy…and very alluring from certain angles too."

"Keep your lecherous thought to yourself!" Greyfax slipped dramatically in between Celestine and Laura and Yuki, dutifully coming to defend the honor of her girlfriend. "She is a Living Saint, the will of the God Emperor made manifest, and you will show her the necessary deference!"

"Oh Katarinya, you are utterly covered in sweat," Celestine pulled another kerchief from her armguard, oh, so that's where she'd been hiding them, and handed it to the red face Greyfax with a loving smile, the naked affection drew unwanted attention from every Battle Sister within sight. "Here, before you drown yourself."

"You are most gracious, my lady Saint," Greyfax got the blushing under control and accepted the proffered kerchief with a stiff bow, then proceeded to quickly wiped her face. She handed it back to Celestine when she was done, earning low chuckles from the watching Sisters of Battle. "Thank you my lady Saint."

"Keep it Katarinya, I'm sure you will need it again soon," Celestine waved her hand and summoned her trademark golden gilded bolter, the weapon cradled close to her chest. Sweeping her gaze left and right, Celestine tapped her earbud. "This is Celestine, have any contact with hostiles been made?"

"You need not worry Celestine, besides small creatures like vermin and insects nothing lingers nearby," Isha surely had changed. Although still soft spoken and polite, the meekness and frightful demeanor that had at first plagued the Aeldari goddess has been hammered out to the point of nonexistence. Her insistence on becoming more active in the battlegroup's campaign had been a great morale boaster for humans and eldars alike, much to the sufferance of her most devoted followers. Said devoted follower, the handmaiden turned bodyguard Elnys, now marched handsomely after Isha with a cadre of Dire Avengers as the goddess came to stand beside Celestine. "If I was to make an educated guess, the larger creature…kaiju, as they are being called, must've chased away the smaller ones. It is possible that the herd lord commissar Tangmo encountered came from here."

"Oh absolutely, look at the mess they've made of the road," Lita, with Nikki in tow, joined them. Like everyone else the Mexican Warseer was sweating badly, but was for the most part unaffected by the heat. "See? The cobbles and tarmac are scattered all over the place."

"There could still be something here," Nikki added, the Russian exarch was panting and wiping her face frequently, yet the sweat never ceased. "Hiding and waiting for us to walk into a trap."

"I understand your caution lady exarch, but I can sense flesh and spirit of living things," Isha explained as the column of armed women marched deeper into the complex, abandoned buildings flanked their path, with a few rotted, decrepit vehicles sprinkled here and there, and like the goddess's prognosis no nasty monsters attacked them. "I have cast my power far and wide and found nothing, you need not worry."

"I'm not taking any chances," sister Miriya grunted, the Celestian of the Martyred Lady had magnetized her helm to her power pack like the other Battle Sisters. She gave Isha an apologetic bow. "I mean no disrespect your eminence, but as a warrior I must always be vigilant. I have learned long ago never to be lenient in war."

"Your vigilance is greatly appreciated, sister Miriya," Isha wasn't at all offended by Miriya's declaration, if anything she was pleased, but her demeanor became grim a moment later. "I have been wrong before, to the detriment of many, myself included."

"Good thing we're here then love," Laura winked prettily at Isha then turned to Miriya and her squad. "Not that I don't mind looking at your face Miriya, because you're seriously pretty, but I find the lack of helmet to be rather unwise."

"I don't see you wearing any protection yourself, lady inquisitor," Miriya shot back, her tone more than annoyed. "But to answer your question, the heat had made wearing our helm a hindrance. I would readily forsake defense for the ability to see."

"Doesn't your power armor have a built in air condition or something?" Yuki asked then noticed that Firnera and the Banshees were also without head protections. "And what's your excuse?"

"It's hot," Firnera retorted with clear sufferance. "Not even our armor can keep it out."

"She's right, it's something people from the northern hemisphere will never understand," Lita piped up. "In the middle of summer you will always feel the heat creeping in, nagging at the edge of your perception even when you're standing next to an air condition."

"Air condition sounds pretty good right now," Verity brushed wet locks of blonde hair from her face, the mail coif habit dangling from her belt, "where are we heading to?"

Verity's answer came with a thunderous boom, the cadence mechanical, machines long dormant resurrected by a powerful surge of energy, a droning cry of rebirth. The lampposts lining the street flared suddenly to life, many of the ancient bulbs bursting in halos of glittering glasses, but the brightest illumination came from the domed building immediately in front of them. Covered in a thick blanket of mossy green and protruding floras that snaked across the surface like scabs on wounds, the towering circular building easily dominated the landscape.

"Obviously that, come on then ladies, chop, chop, let's get ourselves out of this blasted heat," Laura, with Yuki, Lita and Nikki, took the lead and jogged down the roadway. Laura tapped her earbud when the murky windows on the dome's upper level lit up one by one. "Hey Damien, was that you doing all the repairs?"

"Yep, Matuk and his Tech Marines buddies just got the power generators back online," Damien responded. "Sorry it took a while, the place is gigantic and the main power grids and the promethium fuselage systems are all underground, the damn place is overgrown to hell."

"Don't sweat it love, you did great," the irony of the statement wasn't lost on Laura, made more poignant by the groans from her mates and the main characters. "Please tell me there are air cons inside."

"Sorry Laura, the ventilation system is fucked, it's a miracle the lights and computers are working at all," Damien told them. "Not that air cons are gonna help though, the place is filled with holes, some of them big enough to drive the King Ghidorah through, but the temperature is cooler inside, at least according to the reading."

"I guess that's better than nothing," Yuki shrugged as they approached the dome's entrance, the archway was without doors. "No hostile inside? We're not gonna get any nasty surprises in the shadow?"

"Yo, we're Space Marines, nothing slip pass us, period," Damien declared smugly as the column let out a collective sigh when Laura, her mates and the main characters stepped into the building's shaded interior. Bloody hell, it was a massive improvement from the blistering heat outside, still steamy but a lot more manageable now that they were out of the sun. Even Isha exhaled appreciatively, "do not ever doubt our skills!"

"We are extremely sorry your highness, us feeble maidens will remember not to insult you and yours in the future," Lita flaunted her exaggerated damsel routine to the resounding laughter of the main characters. "I hope you are satisfied with our most humble apology."

"I can feel the pure, undiluted condescension searing through my armor, holy shit," Damien grunted. "Are you guys inside yet? Because we just got the computers working again, and boy, this is some seriously awesome shit I'm seeing right now, and I want my friends to share this moment with me."

Laura traded looks with her friends, their curiosity piqued, and without another word jogged down the brightening corridor, heading straight for the large rectangular entrance shining a good hundred paces away, the main characters quickly matched steps behind them. Striding out of the hallway, Laura found herself inside a great domed interior of magnificent grandeur, the vaulted ceiling of crystal, made murky by the untamed weed, was held up by churchly pillars. The architectures were not ostentatious, per the Ecclesiarchy usual modus operandi, but plain and without decoration. At the center of the room, where Damien and the Astartes had gathered, was a massive circular computer consoles studded with gothic, outdated instrument of decaying technology, every machine sprouting nests of wires and cables, sparks flying from the ancient devices. A circular green hologram displaying charts of data and geological diagrams hovered above the Marines.

"Ladies and gentlemen," having taken off his awesome Astartes helm, Damien adopted a grandfatherly timbre, tinged with a failed attempt at a Scottish accent, and waved at the stuttering digital projection as Laura and the girls joined him. "Welcome to Jurassic Park."

"…This would've been a lot more dramatic with a Brachiosaurus rearing up to eat a tree," Nikki deadpanned, "lines of data, not so much."

"I know, I know, but this is the closest thing I can manage given the circumstance," Damien shrugged and tapped at a line of data, enlarging it until a blurry sentence was formed. Laura squinted at first but her eyes widened when she finished reading. "Apparently this place was used by the Magos Biologis to specifically study the kaijus, along with the floras and faunas of Darwin IX, and not some secondhand theoretical research too, but direct experimentation, which includes, amongst other, cultivation and domestication."

"They were trying to use the kaiju?" Canoness Galatea made a disbelieving face. "What were they seeking to accomplish exactly? The creatures commissar Tangmo encountered were indeed large, but the same can be said for any of our war machines."

"From the data the mechanicus were able to gather before calamity befall, it is not the kaiju themselves that are of interest, but what is inside them," Brother Sergeant Antalok of the Salamander joined Damien at the hologram and swiftly brought up more data. "The biodiversity on this planet is unique, and initial research indicates that the biological function of the animals and plants can be replicated, even augmented into human's physiology. This ranges from potential new food sources, medicine for myriads of illnesses, to biological weapons and additional organs that could enhance strength and grant…powers like flame and electricity, fueled by chemical secretion created within the human body."

"The mechanicus had always been given leniency in their pursue of knowledge, veering closer and closer to heresy," Legatus Victrix of the Eternal Legion snarled, her animosity shared by the other Sisters of Battle, even the Aeldari were nodding along. "Forgive me Brother Sergeant, but I thought this was a mining facility?"

"That too," Damien spoke up. "Given the size of the planet, the Ministorum had allowed the mechanicus to pursue their researches while they got on with the drilling. And boy, did they manage to mine a lot of shit." The Canadian Astartes tapped more of the hologram, the sluggish speed of the outdated Imperium computers caused him to groan audibly. "Fucking hell, this shit is slow, gotta get the engineers in here and give the entire system a complete overhaul. Finally! Anyway, here, once the STC finished building the automated machines, poof, easy mining. And according to the backlog, the machines had just stopped working only a few years ago."

"Transporting raw material will be arduous work," canoness Crestienne spoke up, earning nods from the main characters. "It is without doubt that the orks will also be after the resources, which mean our forces will be stretched thin, blunting our offensive capability against the greenskin as we divert manpower to the task of safeguarding the ores."

"The task might not be as time consuming as you have feared, lady canoness," Antalok reentered the conversation and summoned a large data table, "the machines the Ministorum has replicated from the STC not only mines the earth, but also process its bounty. The raw materials collected over the millennia had all been refined, ready to be used by the battlegroup and the fleet."

"What kind of resources are we looking at?" Koso Myorin, the co-canoness of the Celestial Serenity, asked. "Can they be used for our war effort?"

"Indeed. The manifest of the various storage units shows that the resources are military in nature," Antalok nodded with a handsome grin, like Damien and the other sergeants he wasn't wearing his helm. "Steel, coppers, silvers, crystals, rockcrete bars, even promethium fuels, millions of tones worth of resources now awaits our transportation."

"Something tells me that's the easy part," Laura spoke up and clasped her hands behind her back, striking her cool, serious pose. "These bountiful caches are not inside this facility, is it?"

"Alas, you are correct lady inquisitor," Antalok waved away the data and brought up a map of the continent they currently occupied, the detail was fuzzy and barely discernable. Good God, after spending so much time with the battlegroup, Laura had completely forgotten how utterly dogshit Imperium technologies were. "There are twelve mining sites, all on this continent thankfully, each one can be reached with relative ease by both ground and air forces, but the size of the planet ensures that the journey will be long. Furthermore, the orks are closing in on these sites."

"According to Ae-Shin and Tyra's latest reports, the northern most mines had already been occupied by the orks," Nikki said. "They're also advancing south with due haste, and that's not to mention the kaijus roaming all over the place."

"How many of the kaiju creatures are there? What is the probability of the battlegroup encountering more of the creatures?" Celestine asked the same moment the clatters of many booted feet resounded from the corridor they had entered, the tempo leisurely but possessing clear speed. Laura turned around and waved at Tangmo, Henry and Erik, behind them came the guardsmen and Aeldari main characters, the new comers quickly filled up the domed hall. "Ah, lord commissar, I was wondering when you and the forward element were going to arrive. How was the journey through the jungle?"

"It was good while it lasted, let's just say the vegetation won't be a problem anymore," Tangmo traded high fives with Henry and Erik, but his mirth slipped when he saw how the Sororitas, the Banshees and Laura and Yuki and Nikki and Lita were giving him very evil eyes. "What did I do? Holy God Emperor, don't tell me you're mad because I leveled a buncha trees?!"

"You're not sweating," Laura pointed a quivering, accusing finger at Tangmo, this most noticeable anomaly even drew the attention of Celestine and Isha, "why are you not sweating like the rest of us?!"

"I am sweating, look!" Tangmo wiped his brow and showed them the miniscule wetness on his palm. "Don't be mad because I can take the heat!"

"Yes we're mad, you should be suffering like us!" Yuki stomped her foot petulantly and the Sisters of Battle huffed their assent. "It's not fair!"

"Took fucking bad," Tangmo flipped all of them off then pointed at one of the canonesses. "And why aren't you mad at Naledi and the Golden Pride?! They're barely sweating like me! Also, Al-Rahman and the Tallarn are immune to the heat also, go badger them!"

"It would appear that our homeworld are very similar, lord commissar," Naledi offered him a very charming smile, taking no heed to her canoness buddies' displeased countenance, "tell me, do you hail from the vast golden plain like we did?"

"Jungle mam, very freaking hot jungle too," Tangmo tipped his awesome commissar cap at Naledi then shifted his attention to Damien, who was watching the banter with clear amusement. "So before this little distraction, what were all of you talking about?"

"The big ass cache of supplies we've found," the Canadian Astartes said, "and Jurassic Park."

"I understand the supply part, the Jurassic Park thing, not so much," Tangmo sighed, his eyes haunted, mournful and somber. "Fuck that was such a great movie, why did they have to ruin its legacy with fucking squeals?"

"Lost World was bearable, but you're right, everything else after that was shit, especially the Jurassic World turds," Damien shuddered visibly, a sentiment Laura shared wholeheartedly. "But back to the topic at hand, this place is literally Jurassic Park dude, down to the whole specimen getting loose and killing everything and nature reclaiming the place from mankind's folly. The only difference here was that the mechanicus weren't studying and experimenting on dinosaurs, they were doing it on kaijus. I heard you had a close encounter with the big kind?"

"Way too fucking close dude, holy shit," Tangmo chuckled then stroke his chin thoughtfully. "Wait, so it's not exactly Jurassic Park, but more like Ogasawara Island."

"Ogasawara, that little island south of Honshu where they found the giant squids," Damien blinked and traded confuse look with Yuki. "Why did you bring it up?"

"Dude, seriously? Destroy All Monsters? The ninth Gojira movie? This fucking planet is basically that, a place where kaijus are studied," Tangmo shot Yuki an extremely judgmental look. "You should've corrected him. And you call yourself a Gojira expert?! For shame!"

"Fuck you, it's hot and I'm not thinking straight!" Yuki spat at Tangmo. "And to further elaborate my argument: double fuck you!"

"Shame! Shame! Shame!" Tangmo mimed ringing a bell before turning back to the laughing Damien. "Yuki's shameful display aside, did the record mention the number of kaijus?"

"Yeah, now we get to the less exciting part of the news," Damien made a face and summoned a chart that filled up almost the entirety of the hologram. "Now, the mechanicus can't organize data to safe their fucking lives, but from what me and Antalok managed to compartmentalize, this freaking planet is filled with kaijus. As in, they're fucking everywhere, and if the mechanicus are to be believed they numbered in the thousand, on this part of the continent alone. Also, the kaiju comes in all shapes, sizes and species. I'm talking mammals, avian, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, cephalopods, insectoid, arachnoid, and everything in between."

"That's gonna be a massive drain on our resources," Tangmo grunted, his assessment earning sharp nods from the main characters. "I think it has been established that these things are nigh indestructible, with our weapons having only minimal effect on them."

"Oh no, they can be killed, and subdued too, the mechanicus kill several of them and experimented on a few more," Damien went on, his gaze thoughtful. "You know, I think that's the reason why they all got destroyed in the first place. The kaijus must've ganged up on them, an act of retaliation so to speak."

"Are you implying that the kaijus possess the intelligence to coordinate a joint attack?" Lady inquisitor Greyfax found the idea to be ludicrous, a sentiment shared by half of the main characters.

"After seeing those lesser animals working together, it's not out of the realm of possibility that the kaijus are capable of similar cognitive approach," Tangmo countered Greyfax then locked his eyes on the hologram. "Fuck, the display is super shitty…anyway, so you're saying that the kaiju can be killed, not just chase away?"

"The trick is probably hitting them in the right spot," Damien shrugged, "like what you did with the rhinos."

"Shit, I rather be fighting Kim Jor Urrk and his orks than wasting bullets on the fucking wildlife."

"Brother Captain, lord commissar," Matuk, the Salamander Tech Marine, interrupted the banter and brought up a digital display showing waves of pulsing communication frequency. "We are being hail."

"Kim wanna talk?" Damien snorted and everyone around the hall laughed aloud.

"No Brother Captain, the signal appears to be coming from one of the mining outpost," Matuk swiftly tapped the data-pad on his arm. "The frequency is the same one used by the Imperial Guards."

"Help him please," Tangmo waved the guardsmen and Aeldari forward, Matuk nodding his thanks for the extra help. Voices were starting to emerge from the hologram, garbled and riven with piercing statics. "Can we reach them?"

"A few more heartbeats lord commissar," Matuk's fingers danced swiftly over the data-pad, fast and graceful as can only be accomplished by an Astartes. "Almost…there! We have successfully established connection."

"Hello? Can you hear us? Can anybody hear us?" Laura traded surprised looks with Alistair, Emily and Adrian, the battlegroup's friendly neighborhood Praetorian Guards, because the woman on the other end spoke a sharp, but very posh English. "By the God Emperor, if someone's there please respond."

"Hello there guvnor!" Laura sprang into the conversation, a sunny smile splitting her face in two. "Now don't you go and mope, cause we're indeed here and ready to render you a much-needed assistance, if I may be so presumptuous."

"Identify yourself," why, Laura had expected breathless relief and cheer at the sound of her charming voice, not harden mistrust. How very rude! "Who are you?"

"Now, now love, no need for hostility," Laura dropped the cheekiness and made her timbre darkly intimidating. "This is lady inquisitor Laura, of the Ordo Hereticus, attached to the Immortal Spirit battlegroup, and I presume you are an officer of the Praetorian Guard?"

"We are not those damned Praetorians!" Again, the volume of vehemence was not something Laura and the main characters had expected, but the woman calmed herself quick enough and continued with crisp professionalism. "Forgive me lady inquisitor, but it has been an extremely trying six months. You said you are from the Immortal Spirit battlegroup? Truly?"

"We are," Laura nodded at the hologram. "And who might you be madam? You have yet to make your introduction."

"A thousand apologies for my lapse of manner lady inquisitor," the woman said and Laura can practically see her squared her shoulders, clicked her boots, and snapped a salute, "Colonel Lakshmi of the 947th Lohid Chakram, at your service."

"Lohid Chakram?" Laura turned to Tangmo. "That sounds suspiciously like your language mate."

"Let's find out then," Tangmo stepped up to Laura's side and cleared his throat. "Colonel Lakshmi, was it?"

"Yes sir," Lakshmi answered. Her tone stiffening now that Tangmo had entered the conversation.

"Sawatdee krap," Tangmo made his Thai greeting, and silence answered him.

"…I'm sorry sir, but I don't understand," Lakshmi responded guardedly. "Was that a question?"

"Okay, let me try this again," Tangmo held up his hand placatingly, despite the fact that Lakshmi can't see, "namaste?"

"…Namaste," Lakshmi was clearly shocked that the Thai commissar knew her native tongue, "you are one of us? Of the Chakram system?"

"Unfortunately no colonel, but let's just say my language borrows a lot from yours," Tangmo said then leaned closer to Laura, dropping his voice low so that their conversation was private. "She speaking Hindi, so it's an India inspired regiment. Thai language is heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Bali, we used them like how European uses Latin, you know, for big important ceremonial stuff."

"I see," Laura nodded then made a face. "No wonder she lost it when I said she was a Praetorian, because of course the animosity gotta get carried into this universe. Are we looking at another Kuronese and Buxiunese situation?"

"That ended pretty well though, especially for Kenshin and Lingxin," Tangmo nudged his head at the aforementioned colonels, who were incidentally standing shoulder to shoulder. "Let's see how this plays out, I'm sure the battlegroup's charming personality can crease away any hostility."

"Lady inquisitor, are you still there?" Lakshmi reentered the conversation, her hurried timbre was concerning. "Please respond."

"Go ahead Lakshmi, don't worry I'm not leaving you," Laura spoke up. "Are you in trouble?"

"We're about to be," Lakshmi continued. "Our forward sentries are reporting that a massive contingent of orks is headed our way. They have been relentlessly attacking us since we've barricaded ourselves around the mine. They want the processed iron and precious metal inside. We've been denying the greenskins such prize, but I'm afraid our time has run out."

"What is the condition of your troops and armaments?" Tangmo asked. "This is lord commissar Tangmo by the way, a pleasure to meet you."

"I wish I could say the same, lord commissar," Lakshmi said mirthlessly. "There are close to fifteen thousand guardsmen inside the mine and deeper tunnels, but many are injured and incapacitated by fevers. We're also down to our last ammunition caches, all we have now are only lasguns."

"Give me the coordinate of the mine colonel," Laura tapped the data-pad on her arm, summoning her own hologram, her fingers danced swiftly over the projection as she opened the communication channel to the air force. "We can have air support over your position in no time."

"I'm not exactly sure on the coordinate lady inquisitor, the retreat was an ugly affair," Lakshmi grunted. "But the mine is called Omega K, if I remember correctly it is north of the main factorium complex."

"Got it," Damien spoke up as he read through the data on the big hologram. "It's one of the biggest mining sites, at the very edge of the ork controlled territory, one hundred kilometers north of our position. Oh thank the God Emperor there's a road, we don't have to plow through the fucking jungle."

"Get some reconnaissance in the air ASAP, we need to be sure there are no kaijus nearby," Laura turned to Meko, the Cadian radio captain, who promptly nodded and swiftly hailed the Immortal Spirit. "We got your location Lakshmi, hang tight while we plot our courses."

"Thank you lady inquisitor, but I don't think such venture will be needed anymore," the clear resignation in Lakshmi's tone was gut wrenching. The voice was that of a woman who had made peace with her death. "The orks are already upon us, the vanguards are attacking as we speak. We will hold the line as long as we can, but please, don't waste your troops and resources to help us. I only ask that we be remembered."

"No deal Lakshmi, don't you fucking dare die on me. Golden Throne as my witness I'll have my commissar mate kill you if you die!" Laura shot back, earning low laughter from the Eight and the main characters. "You and your regiment have survived this long, trust in the God Emperor for He had heard your prayer and sent us as salvation. Do not insult Him and waste His magnanimous blessing by dying!"

"We'll do our best, lady inquisitor," Laura's little pep talk had the intended effect, fire now laced Lakshmi's declaration, rekindled by the British inquisitor's heartening words. "I hope to see you soon."

"Count on it Lakshmi, stay safe," Laura said and Lakshmi terminated the transmission. Cracking her knuckles, the bony pops sending nice ripple down her arms, Laura turned to Meko and Damien, "anything from the air force?"

"Lord admiral Solveig is responding right now," Damien joined Meko, both of them reading the incoming data, and nodded. "Okay, good news first, the road to the mining site is clear and we've caught sight of the ork horde, Ae-Shin is already finalizing a bombing run. The bad news is that the orks are coming to the main factorium in three separate prongs, each comprised of several millions screaming boyz, and holy shit they're fast. We need to split up our forces and brace for the assaults." Damien straightened his back, his lips tugging upward in a grin. "I will lead the combine might of the Astartes against these two eastern prongs and break their advance. Henry, Lita, Erik, can you guys lend me a hand? Tanks and eldars would make our job a lot easier, not to mention more fun."

"I'll get the King Ghidorah revved up and ready," Henry smirked then tapped his earbud. "Ladaee, babe, hit the gas and load the guns, we'll be heading out soon. And have the Macharius and two armored battalions ready, we're going in hot."

"Hildebrandt, Wilhelmina, I need the Krieg to fortify the factorium and the surrounding area. I want twenty kilometers of flatland around the facility filled with trenches and pillboxes and barbed wires," Tangmo gave his order, the two Kriegers saluted sharply and rushed out of the hall, and turned to Laura with a grin. "Guess I'll be going with you guys to rescue colonel Lakshmi and her regiment." He shifted his attention to the guardsman colonels and eldar captains. "We're going in hard and fast, hopefully catching the orks in the rear before those stupid fucks knows what hit them. Falcons, Vypers and Myrmidons will be the vanguards, with the Chimeras, Fire Prisms and White Phoenix Lancers following in to finish the job."

"I wouldn't mind having the Castigators and Immolators for backup," Nikki looked askance at the canonesses.

"We shall see it done," canoness Galatea nodded firmly and bowed her head at Celestine, "when you are ready, lady Saint."

"I will not be joining you yet sister," Celestine offered Galatea an apologetic smile, but solemnity quickly returned when she locked eyes with Isha. "I'll need your help."

"I know," Isha responded cryptically before giving the skeptical looking canonesses a calming gaze, unbelievably managing to ease the warrior women's collective tension. "We shall remain here, you need not worry. Besides, lady inquisitor Greyfax and Elnys will keep us from harm."

"Umm, sorry, but I think we need to speed things up a bit," Yuki spoke up quickly and tapped her earbud. "Ae-Shin, did you just spotted kaijus?"

"Yes lady exarch and it is my professional opinion to advise you to get on the road immediately," Ae-Shin said. "Latest reconnaissance shows five gargantuan creatures within the immediate vicinity of the road. They appeared to be roaming for the moment but two are steering toward the engagement area, it is as if the violence is attracting them. Lady exarch, what do you wish to do? Do we proceed with the bombing run on the orks or divert our attention to the kaijus?"

"Divert only a few bombers to distract the kaijus," Yuki told her. "They're big and nasty, no doubt, but they're not exactly bright. Fly in close, drop a few bombs, and I guarantee those stupid fuckers are gonna go after the jets instead of wherever it is they were going in the first place."

"That's a good idea, a very good idea in fact," there was a grin in Ae-Shin's voice. "When we chased away the kaiju at the main factorium, I distinctly remember the beast trying to reach up and grab our fighters before giving chase. I'm sure that same maneuver can be repeated."

"I don't doubt it Ae-Shin, good luck babe," Yuki terminated the transmission and quirked a cheeky brow at Laura's questioning look, "aww, getting a bit jealous that I'm making new friends?"

"Not at all love," Laura made sure poison dripped from her toothy grin, but instead of recoiling Yuki only drew closer, enraptured by the sight. "My only problem is you not sharing."

"Can we please get a fucking move on?!" Tangmo raised his voice, an equally annoyed Nikki was standing beside him as the main characters filled out of the hall. "In case you've forgotten, we got a regiment to save, or are you gonna let them die like at Saragarhi again?"

"Alright you fucking buzzkill, we're fucking going!" Laura growled and sprinted for the exit with Yuki, Nikki and Tangmo. "Let's go find a fucking car!"


"There! Orks outriders and Battlewagons straight ahead! And they don't even know we're here, the stupid fucks!"

"Oh yeah, time to kick this bitch into maximum overdrive! As the great king Elessar once said, let's go kill some orks!"

"YOUR FUCKING DRIVING IS GONNA KILL US FIRST!"

Great, now Tangmo was whinging like Nikki, and here she thought he was supposed to be manly and fearless. Laura honestly don't understand why everybody have so much problem with Yuki's driving, she's excellent behind the wheel! Okay, so maybe she can be a little too fast and too eager sometimes, but who doesn't get like that when they're driving? Besides, they were inside the Myrmidon Humvee, and these things were tougher than nail, the four of them couldn't be any safer. And it's not like the other Myrmidons and Vypers in their column were polite in speed.

"I told you! I fucking told you!" Standing within the heavy bolter turret, Laura made a tsking sound and glared at the backseat where Nikki was getting tossed all over the place, the woman having forgotten to wear her seatbelt. "Now we're gonna get turn into roadkill by Yuki's insane driving!"

"I didn't know it would be this bad!" Tangmo bellowed from the shotgun seat, the tip of his awesome commissar cap poking out of the window, how in the hell did that thing managed to stay on his bloody head? The Thai commissar was about to make more unhelpful input when Yuki made a beautiful swerve across the rocky, uneven ground, fixing their trajectory so that the column was heading straight for the biggest mass of orkish bikes and jeeps. "Jesus fuck Yuki, where the fuck did you learn how to fucking drive?! GTA and Mario Karts?!"

"Duh! Why do you think I'm so good?!" Yuki shot back. "Now shut the fuck up and get your lasgun out, the orks are dead ahead. You too Nikki, and put your fucking seatbelt on unless you wanna fly out the window!"

"That would be an improvement to this!" Nikki snapped by nevertheless complied, as evident by the sharp clicking of locking belt. A moment later the blonde leaned out of the left side window, her Aeldari rifle braced to her shoulder as she took in the nearing adversary. "Holy shit, that's a lot of fucking orks. I forgot how numerous they can be."

"Thank the God Emperor for the air force," Tangmo popped out of the right window and pointed at the blasted landscape of fire and smoke. "Look at all the craters and dead tanks dude, hopefully it's enough to extend the Lohid Chakram's life expectancy, because I'll be super piss if we drove all this way just to pick up their fucking corpses."

"They're alive, the lasers and rockets are still flashing everywhere," at Yuki's observation, Laura glanced skyward and smiled when indeed las and tracer rounds strobe the air, the lightshow fierce and didn't appear to be ending any time soon. "We got here just in time!"

"More like the fucking eleventh hour!" Laura slammed her fist down on the Myrmidon's roof. "Step on it Yuki, let's fucking go!"

"Don't let's fucking go!"

"You got it babe!" The Myrmidon reared up as Yuki stepped on the pedal, ignoring Nikki and Tangmo's distress cry. Laura whooped with joy when the front wheels touched the ground again, the orks so close that their individual ugly details can be discerned. "Yo, can you maybe shoot those green fucks?!"

"Bitch, I'm trying! Your psycho driving's fucking up my aim!" Tangmo gritted his teeth and steadied his lasgun, Nikki doing the same with her eldar rifle, while Laura cocked the twin heavy bolters and trained it on the Battlewagon in front of them. "For the love of God, keep driving straight! That's better, that's a lot better, thank you!"

"Oi! Where the zog did these humies came from?!" The ork immediately to their right, riding an obnoxiously loud bike, turned dumbly to stare at Tangmo, the barrel of the Zetton lasgun confusing him greatly. "Why are they so fast?!"

"Surprise motherfucker!" Tangmo laughed aloud and blasted the ork's face with a full auto stream of las, reducing his head to gory stump. Arms pinwheeling comically, the headless ork managed to swerve his out of control vehicle into a close knitted mass of bikes, creating a fiery crash that send flames, shrapnel, metals and body parts twirling all over the place. Tangmo flashed a beaming middle finger at the spectacular vehicular explosion. "Rest in pieces you green fucks!"

"Kill them humies gits! Blast them!" The ork atop the Battlewagon they were chasing bellowed, his choppa waved wildly in the air as he ordered the gunners to turn their heavy flamers on the Myrmidon Humvee, the task slowed by many shoving and punching and kicking that erupted amongst the orks, the grots and…what the fuck, was that fucking skavens?! "You worthless slow gits, get those guns blasting already!"

Laura ended the commotion by sending a barrage of red hot Kraken bolts at the Battlewagon, the armor piercing rounds tore the weak arse ork truck to shite and ignited the promethium fuel tanks inside. The Battlewagon erupted in a brilliant fireball, the occupants vaporized to sooty charcoal gibs, while fiery pieces of the truck scythed through the air like great iridescent shurikens, killing the smaller vehicles that were unfortunate enough to be within the blast radius. Their Humvee would've been consumed by the roiling fire if it wasn't for Yuki, who showed her impeccable mastery behind the wheel by swiftly, easily, gracefully angled the Myrmidon to the right, drifting passed the torrent of flame, the questing tongues of hungry inferno unable to reach them.

"Holy shit, what the fuck?" Nikki was rightly flabbergasted by how the Humvee glided smoothly across the ground. Like Tangmo, she had forgotten the weapon in her hands.

"Not that I don't enjoy the compliment," Yuki was obviously grinning as she pulled the Myrmidon out of the drift and set it on a straight path, heading directly for more orkish war machines. Behind them the Immortal Spirit armored column had formed a wedge and was merrily gunning down every greenskin vehicle in sight. "But can you please keep shooting!"

That snapped them out of their collective stupor, and within seconds Tangmo and Nikki were blasting orks left and right, guts and oils and metals painted the sky in vivid visceral red, the steaming streaks of sizzling gore mixed nicely with the mist of meaty gibs Laura and her twin heavy bolters was making. Bloody hell, now she understood why Henry was always riding atop the King Ghidorah, this was fucking fun! The pounding of constant recoils, the roaring bellow of unleashed ordnance, and the dealing of unrepentant death was extremely exhilarating. As they had expected, the ork's vanguards were wholly unprepared for an attack from the rear, the mob of bikes and jeeps and Battlewagons can do nothing as the battlegroup plowed into them, tearing a fiery gash across their churning ranks. Laura didn't know how long had passed, minutes maybe, but soon enough Yuki drove through a cluster of Battlewagons and emerged on to an open ground, this one littered with orks, both living and dead, trying to scale what appeared to be an earthen embankment. But before she could take in their surroundings, Laura was jolted forward when the Myrmidon rammed into an ork, a very pissed off and alive ork.

"You stupid humie git!" The ork started bashing the hood of the Humvee with his choppa. "Let me go you zogging idiot!"

Yuki complied by slamming on the break, sending the ork cartwheeling across the ground in a mess of flapping limbs. He crashed into a wall of sandbags and got turned inside out in a brilliant splatter of gore by Laura's full auto barrage.

"Yo, watch your fire, there are people behind the battlement," Tangmo stepped out of the car, a lasgun in one hand, a bolt pistol in the other, both barrels honed on a group of orks stomping toward the now immobile Myrmidon. "Bring it motherfuckers! The Singing Commissar is gonna fuck your shits up!"

"And he brought fucking back up!" Ten orks, closing in on the Humvee from ten different directions, simultaneously dropped dead in a broken heap of twisted lifeless limbs, their cranium burst apart like ripe watermelon. Drawing her claymore, Laura caught the end of Nikki's immaculate midair corkscrew before the Russian exarch landed with an epic superhero pose, smoking Aeldari pistols in both hands. "Welcome to the symphony!"

"Now comes the soprano!" Trading daemonic grin, Laura and Yuki, claymore and katana brandished, darted into the thicket of orks trying to scale a parapet of sandbags, the greenskin fuckers turned to them with goofy faces of shock as the British inquisitor and the Japanese exarch commenced the bloodletting. "Squeal you fucking cunts, squeal!"

It wasn't exactly a squeal, Laura doubted ork's vocal cords are capable of such pitch, but they did scream, and it was melodically agonizing. The orks were fast, those not engaged with the melee atop the battlement leapt down, choppas and axes flashing, wild and brutal strikes that were unfortunately lacking in accuracy. Laura and Yuki easily saw through the attacks and made a mess of the orks, stabbing, cleaving, lunging and gutting with surgical speed, limbs and guts and several heads cascaded brilliantly across the air.

"Well, well, last man standing I see?" Yuki and Laura strolled slowly, creepily atop the earthen embankment, where a snarling ork awaited. The green beast looked mightily pissed, the choppa in his hand shaking with barely restrained rage. "Let's see how quick we can turn you into ribbons…"

The ork went still, his massive arms, which had been heaving up and down only a second ago, now dropped slack to his sides, the choppa falling from unresponsive fingers. He blinked, went walled eye, and saw the length of bloodied blade sticking out of his forehead, said blade then gave a savage twist and tore itself free in a downward direction, the brutal exit pulverizing the skull into fragments of bones and brain. The ork swayed, tilted, then rolled down the slope, the lifeless corpse landed behind Tangmo and Nikki, both of whom were too busy gunning down a group of gretchins and skavens to take notice.

"Lady inquisitor Laura, I presume?" Laura and Yuki sheathed their swords and found an extremely pretty woman standing before them. No, not pretty, she was beautiful, the bloods and grimes did little to diminish this undeniable fact.

"You're pretty," Laura droned mindlessly, beautiful women had always been her kryptonite and here was an extremely potent specimen. She nudged Yuki in the side, the Japanese exarch was equally smitten, "isn't she pretty?"

"She is," Yuki nodded with trance like slowness, equally stricken. Colonel Lakshmi possessed a handsome visage that was shapely and rounded in all the right places, framed by curling black hair that flowed down her shoulders, her piercing dark brown eyes commanded nothing but absolute attention. Yuki blinked, Laura blinked, then the Japanese pointed forward. "Look, there's two of her now."

"Colonel, is everything alright? What is happening?"

"Are you two fucking serious right now?!"

Laura and Yuki were snapped out of their collective daze by a hard shove that almost face planted them. Thankfully the pair found their footing and arrested the fall, finding themselves standing even closer to Lakshmi and another woman who had just showed up. Realizing how inappropriately they had behaved, Laura and Yuki quickly adjusted their uniforms and put on stern professional faces.

"Right, sorry about that," Laura extended her hand with a smile, prompting the colonel to slowly grab it. "You must be colonel Lakshmi of the Lohid Chakram regiment, a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, lady inquisitor," Lakshmi gave a firm shake, let go, and gesture to the other woman, and yes she was also a knockout in the look department. "This is major Rani, she is my second in command."

"A pleasure to meet you," Laura shook Rani's hand then waved at Yuki. "This is lady exarch Yuki of the Howling Banshee, and the twat who just shoved us is lady exarch Nikki of the Predator Aspect Warrior." Squaring her shoulders and clasping her hands behind her back, Laura offered Lakshmi a heartfelt nodded. "You survived after all colonel, well done."

"It wasn't easy, lady inquisitor," Lakshmi's face fell, and it was only after Rani placed a firm hand on her shoulder that she continued. "But we dared to hope that the Immortal Spirit will reach us in time, so we threw everything he had at the orks when they commenced the assault. Your arrival couldn't have been more timely, we were down to our last magazines."

"You more than earned your respite, colonel Lakshmi," Yuki nodded then glanced over Rani's shoulder, Tangmo and some of the officers, Alistair and Emily amongst them, were approaching from the other end of the battlement. Seeing the red-coated guardsmen, the Lohid Chakram troops, a lot of them sporting Sikh style turban, rose from their position to glare at the pair. "The orks retreated?"

"Orks don't retreat dude, they die, and we made them super fucking dead," Tangmo high fived Krillen, Min-Jae and Evangeline as the Immortal Spirit officers gave a hearty cheer. The soldiers of the Lohid Chakram however, were simmering in silent. "Adrian is mopping up the last few stragglers, Zolwyken and the eldar Winged Hussars are helping him out." Making sure that his awesome commissar cap was at the most dashing angle, Tangmo shifted his attention to Lakshmi and Rani, the brief, but clear appreciative gleam in his eyes was very hard to miss. "You must be colonel Lakshmi of the Lohid Chakram, a pleasure to meet you. I am lord commissar Tangmo, at your service."

"Charmed, lord commissar," Lakshmi said tightly, she and Rani were now glaring at the very confused Alistair and Emily.

"Umm, is very thing alright?" Tangmo followed Lakshmi's heated gaze and found the source of her and Rani's consternation. "Oh…colonel Lakshmi, this is colonel Alistair of the Praetorian Guard…that's a very menacing stares, by the way."

"Good day to you madam," being the polite and proper lordly highborn that he was, Alistair took off his pith helmet and extended his hand to Lakshmi, the Lohid colonel did not move to reciprocate the greeting while major Rani's nose flared visibly. "I offer my deepest congratulation on your well deserve victory."

"How kind," Lakshmi's politeness was barbed as she took in Alistair's uniform, marred in blood and grime and burnt marks. "I hope your pretty uniform wasn't too dirtied by that little scuffle, do you wish for me and Rani to scrub it free of scum?"

"Madam, I clean my own clothes, thank you very much," Alistair was more than aware of Lakshmi's blatant hostility, but not wanting the situation to deteriorate he instead flashed his charming smile, hoping that a friendly visage will lessen the tension. It had the opposite effect, because Lakshmi was balling her hand into a fist. "As for the poor condition of my uniform, well, that's part of the job I'm afraid."

"Your fist is shaking quite badly there, colonel," Tangmo made his nonchalant observation and placed himself beside Alistair. "I hope you don't plan on doing something as stupid as trying to punch my bro Alistair here."

"It is clear that you have operated alongside a Praetorian regiment recently," Alistair cut in before Lakshmi can respond to Tangmo's subtle warning. "Are they inside the mine perhaps? Or positioned elsewhere?"

"They're dead, the orks butchered them when they ran away and left us to die in the mine," there was no remorse in Lakshmi's voice, only venomous satisfaction that was honed singularly on Alistair, the man was unmoved by the news however. "Those cowards didn't get far, the corpses should be near."

"If that's the case, then I shall very much like to know the name of the officer in charge and what regimental symbol he or she bores," Alistair pressed on, stern iron seeped into his timbre.

"Why? So they can be regaled as heroes back on Praetoria?" Lakshmi sneered.

"I haven't an inkling as to what had transpired here colonel Lakshmi, but from your aggrieved state I can only assume that this Praetorian regiment had behaved disgracefully," Alistair exhaled heavily and shook his head. "For all the achievement my people had cultivated over the millennia, we have not been able to wipe away the stain that is our misguided notion of superiority, believing that we are somehow better than all other servants of the God Emperor." Squaring his shoulders, Alistair locked eyes with Lakshmi. "I will not allow the honor of the Praetorian Guard to be besmirched by malcontents, therefore I require the name of the commanding officer and the coat of arm they fly, so that punishment can be correctly allocated."

"Lord Thomas was in command of the regiment," Lakshmi said, having calmed down a bit, confusion now replacing the anger from before. "As for the coat of arm, it was a golden scale, full of coins, flanked by two straight sabers, also of gold."

"I was afraid of this," major Emily glanced at Alistair, both of them had a look of clear disgust on their faces. "I didn't know they were operating in this region."

"I doubt even lord Guilliman and lord Jaghatai knows of their whereabouts and machinations," Alistair grunted. "By the Throne I heard they have representative on Holy Terra whispering into the High Lords' ears."

"So you guys know them?" Laura piped up, for the moment Lakshmi and Rani displayed no inclination toward shanking Alistair, "friends?"

"No, we don't associate ourselves with the likes of them," Alistair huffed daintily, the infamous Praetorian disdain coming to the forefront. "The regiment belongs to the Conglomerate Guild, a mercantile faction within Praetoria's inner politic. They are powerful and skill when the accumulation of money and resources were concern, the Guild also provide funds for Praetoria at large, from basic administrative needs to military supplies, which gives them significant leeway when question arose on how their wealth were obtained. I'll be the first to admit that we Praetorian tolerate them as a necessary evil, the exploitations, the trickeries, the politicking, the lies…" Alistair shifted his attention back to Lakshmi, genuine sadness in his eyes. "I know that word will never suffice, but it has to be said nonetheless. On behalf of the Praetorian Guards, I am sorry."

"We are not part of the Conglomerate Guild," Emily added. "Our regiment is more traditional in lineage, soldiers one and all, our blood tracing back to the days of the Great Crusade. We avoid working with the Guild, they have their own private armies after all, as was evident here, but we sometime ran afoul of them."

"And then what happened?" Kenshin asked with a very expectant smirk.

"Friendly fires tend to happen in the thick of battle, especially when our allies are clad in the same uniform," laughter answered Emily as she turned to Tangmo with a look of friendly challenge, chin jutted smugly high. "Before you proceed with your punishment lord commissar, I have no regret for my action."

"Don't worry about it Emily, shit happens to assholes all the time," Tangmo shrugged with a lopsided grin, but his mirth went dangerously blank when he turned to Lakshmi and Rani. "Since we have established that the battlegroup's Praetorian Guard are not the same as the one you fought with, can you please drop the idea of killing them?"

"Fought with my arse."

"I will instruct my troops to behave with the expected decorum and honor, lord commissar," Lakshmi rounded on Rani with a stern gaze. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Fine, fine, I won't shoot these Praetorians when their backs are turn," Rani rolled her eyes, the lack of propriety shown surprising the main characters. "I'll make sure the rest of the troops know too, but I seriously can't guarantee anything, emotions are still raw, as we've just demonstrated."

"By the God Emperor Rani, don't you dare mess this up," Lakshmi groaned audibly, her relationship with Rani appeared to be one of familiar sufferance, the bickering was the sort shared between two close friends. "We're walking on a knife edge as it is, if a bloodbath ensues we're all going to die, and I personally don't want that after everything we've been through."

"I said I'll get it done," Rani threw her hands exasperatedly into the air, "have a little faith, why don't you?"

"Oh please, I have faith aplenty," Lakshmi waved off Rani's dramatic. "But some form of faith, especially those involving you, demands pragmatic nudging."

"Okay, now that we've established that no inter-regimental murder is gonna happen, I believe we should return our attention back to the present?" Tangmo cut in before Lakshmi and Rain can continue their verbal sparring, the colonel and the major huffed at each other before turning to face the Thai commissar, nothing but martial professionalism can be seen. "Alright, good. So, let's start with the basic, how many guardsmen are there in the Lohid Chakram regiment?"

"Fifteen thousand lord commissar…we started out with twenty thousand," Lakshmi sighed but steeled her timbre a nanosecond later. "Almost half of our numbers are wounded and stricken with fever. Our medical supplies ran out two weeks ago, we've been doing everything we can with water and prayer, prolonging the inevitable."

"An inevitability that had since been avoided," Tangmo grinned and tapped his earbud. "Verity, Alnelle, Ryvin, we need the hospitallers, the healers and the medics on my location pronto, we have multiple incapacitated personnel that requires immediate medical attention."

"Thank you lord commissar," Lakshmi waiied Tangmo, an Indian wai.

"I'll send several squads of Battle Sisters and Guardians to safeguard them," Laura added and shrugged innocently at Lakshmi and Rani. "Hey, I gotta make sure the wounded, delirious people doesn't get trigger happy at the sight of an eldar. I don't want that kind of tragedy happening."

"I agree, lady inquisitor," Rani nodded with heart, her frame of mind matching Laura's own.

"We should also refortify the defenses around the mine and the immediate vicinity," Nikki was gazing up at the smog choked sky, a finger pressed to her earbud. "According to the latest recon provided by Solveig, Ae-Shin and Tyra, the ork's westerly prong is heading toward us at a breakneck speed. Henry and Damien have already engaged the eastern horde, the fighting is fierce but the situation is stable, the orks having failed to penetrate their defensive line."

"How long until they get here?" Yuki asked.

"Six hours at most," Nikki's fingers danced across the data-pad on her arm and brought up the holographic map of the engagement area. Bloody hell, that's a lot of red dots. "The only thing preventing the stupid fuckers from reaching us sooner is the size of the warband itself. Their eagerness is literally obstructing them."

"I'll have the howitzers and self-propelled artilleries deployed here, the orks should make for a good target practice," Yuki snickered lowly then she glanced at Lakshmi and Rani. "You guys are out of ammo, right?"

"Yes lady eldar, we were on our last hundred rounds before you showed up," Lakshmi didn't want to admit that. Her timbre was one of shame.

"Loose those shitty vanilla lasguns you'll be using the Zetton from now on. Trust me, it's gonna make fighting orks a lot easier," Yuki punched in the requisition and narrowed her eyes at the sky. "I swear, the fucking sun hasn't moved since we touched down on the planet."

"Darwin IX is four times bigger than Jupiter, meaning that it turns very slowly. It's gonna be several years before we see the sunset," Nikki explained then winked at Lakshmi. "Not that we'll be here that long."

"Damn right we won't," Tangmo turned his head to the gigantic, conical depression that was the strip mine, situated a few kilometers behind the Lohid Chakram's bedraggled defenses. Although grimy in presentation, the guardsmen stood tall and indomitable, unbent by the tribulation that had befalls them. "Can you accompany me and the high command to where the processed raw materials are being kept? I want to know how big the caches are."

"It would be worth the price of blood, I assure you," there was clear bitterness in Rani's tone, the major blatantly ignoring Lakshmi's warning look.

"The only blood getting shed from now on will be that of the orks," Laura grinned disarmingly and held her hand out toward the mine, "if you would lead the way, colonel Lakshmi, major Rani."

"Very well," Lakshmi nodded, turned back to the mine with Rani, and together, side by side, descended the battlement, the Eight and the battlegroup main characters falling into step behind them. "Follow me."