Chapter 15- Desperate Defense

The horrible screeching of the daemonettes was all too familiar to Kade and the rest of the platoon. The men held nothing back as they gunned down the oncoming creatures, but Kade couldn't help but wonder if it would be enough. Bullets and grenades whizzed out of the surrounding buildings to strike at the daemon horde, but the onslaught showed no signs of slowing. Whenever a daemonette was killed, there were two more to take its place before the body even had a chance to hit the ground. Worse still, the daemonettes were not alone this time; they were accompanied by giant insectoid creatures. These Fiends of Slaanesh, as Dawnlight called them, were tough - normal autogun bullets did nothing to phase them. Instead, Kade realized they would have to rely on the autocannons from the Taurox. The only other type of weapon that would be able to affect the insect was the soldiers' krak grenades.

Kade was grateful to be in a building as the tidal wave of daemonettes was approaching ever closer. At least this way the vile things would have to climb to the upper floors in order to reach their targets. By then, the men would hopefully have had a chance to slay those who got too close with autogun fire. If not, then they might stand a chance in melee combat since the charge would be bottlenecked through doors and windows. They also had Dawnlight. Kade found it strangely comforting to have the Xeno in their ranks; he agreed with Bellaire that she would be able to help protect them from assault.

Kade spared a glance over at Dawnlight as he reloaded his weapon; she was pacing the room they were in like a caged animal. The way she continuously clenched and unclenched her hands told him that she was itching for a fight. Her agitated strides only grew quicker when the familiar whines of Harlequin engines became audible. Kade turned his attention back to the battlefield and watched the Harlequin transports race into the fray. Risking heretical thoughts again, Kade admired how these Xenos didn't hesitate for a moment to dance from their transports and begin hand-to-hand combat with the daemons. The Harlequins didn't seem at all affected by fear, but they certainly instilled it in their opponents. Any daemons close enough to the transports quickly turned their attention from the guardsmen in the buildings to the newfound Eldar threat. This distraction spelled the daemon's doom considering their backs were now prone to autogun fire and their fronts were quickly getting torn to pieces by the devastating weapons of the Harlequins.

The battle was surprisingly beginning to turn in favor of the Imperial/Eldar alliance when the building adjacent to Kade's platoon had a wall knocked out by one of the fiends. Daemonettes who had been running alongside the fiend scaled the walls of the crumbling building and Kade was sorry to hear cries of agony from the men inside.

"Anybody with a grenade needs to be throwing it at that beast!" Sergeant Limanowitz ordered as he threw a grenade himself. It got knocked astray as it bounced towards the fiend, but still managed to take out a group of daemonettes. The men of Limanowitz's platoon followed suit and soon the great beast lay crippled on the ground, crushing many daemonettes beneath its enormous weight.

The relief from the fiend's death was short lived because not soon after, one of the men cried out "The daemons are climbing our building!" The poor guardsman flailed his autogun, spraying bullets towards the daemonettes but he was in such a panic that the bullets had no effect. The rest of the men proceeded to shoot the daemons, but the fire provided by the small team did little to repel the charge.

"Harlequin!" Kade heard Bellaire shout as he threw Dawnlight her weapon. If he had time, Kade would have wondered what else the Commissar kept in his black leather greatcoat but for the moment his curiosity would have to wait as daemonettes began to flood in through the stairwell door. Kade determinedly fixed his bayonet, but Bellaire shouted at him to return his focus to the windows. Kade understood why he was asked to turn from the door when Dawnlight let out a snarl and rushed the daemons, immediately puncturing one's chest with her Harlequin's Kiss and using the momentum of her charge to knock over another. She then broke a limb off the daemon on the ground and used it as a sword to continue the attack. Kade's fascination with Dawnlight's attack was sharply broken by a robust slap to the back of his head.

"Trooper! While you watch, there is a small army of daemons threatening the rest of your platoon," Commissar Bellaire bellowed as he picked up Kade by the back of his jacket and threw him towards the window. "Keep your focus on the enemy or I will use your wandering eyes as my next projectile towards the daemons!"

Kade swallowed hard as he scrambled to get into a firing position out the window. He was startled at how quickly Bellaire was willing to admonish him - just earlier today Bellaire was saving Kade's life, and now he was threatening it? Kade was beginning to understand the reason many guardsmen feared Commissars.

At the window beside him, Uriel was firing away at the daemons who were still managing to climb the outer walls of the building. Uriel's eyes were narrowed in concentration and his mouth was fixed into a frown. As he reloaded his weapon, Uriel made eye contact with Kade and jerked his head back towards Dawnlight.

"I don't care what they say," Uriel declared as he reopened fire out the window, "those Harlequins are fighters! Too bad our ladies don't fight like that; imagine what they'd be like in bed!"

Kade didn't have the desire to communicate with Uriel that he found no appeal in bedroom "fights", but he did retort back "Our ladies do fight like that. You've never heard of the Adeptus Soratus?"

"By the Throne, Kade! Ain't no way I'm getting one of them in bed! You think I have a death wish?" Uriel laughed and then responded to an order given by Limanowitz to fix bayonets. The daemons scaling the outer walls of the building had finally been driven off, but there were still the daemons coming through the doorway. Dawnlight had just barely been keeping them from getting into the room, but Kade could tell her movements were gradually slowing as the daemon body count grew ever higher.

"We all have death wishes if we are going to charge those things!" the panic-stricken guardsman from before had plastered himself to the wall next to the window.

"You were told to fix your bayonet, trooper! Do as your duty to the Imperium demands!" Commissar Bellaire rounded on the man and menacingly primed his bolt pistol.

"Get away from me!" The fearful man shouted and threw his autogun at the Commissar's feet. Kade figured that the crazed man had reached the point of exhaustion from the day's events and had lost all rational thought. The Commissar's prescription to this exhaustion was apparently a bullet to the head as the "blam" from his bolt pistol echoed throughout the room.

"Let all of you learn from this!" the Commissar barked, "If you choose to make a scene rather than help protect your brothers in battle, the Emperor's wrath will be brought upon you!"

Sergeant Limanowitz, spurred by the death of his trooper, gave an enraged roar and charged to fight beside Dawnlight as she took on the daemons. The rest of the men hurriedly followed suit and rushed forward to impale the daemons with their bayonets.

During the charge, Kade ducked to avoid a daemonette's swing of her pincer-like arm. He followed up by shoving his bayonet into her torso, and was consequently sprayed with blood. Even though his medical training ensured he wasn't squeamish, Kade still felt a wave of nausea as he wiped the warm substance from his face. He saw Uriel locking blades with a daemonette brandishing a gruesome sickle for a hand so Kade lunged at the daemon and was again splattered with blood when his bayonet went through her face. Uriel stated his gratitude towards Kade before sidestepping to avoid another attack.

Unfortunately, Uriel wasn't fast enough and suffered a talon through his shoulder. Kade watched helplessly as his friend fell to the ground, but then Kade remembered he was holding a gun. Kade raised his gun to shoot the daemon as it lifted its talons to make a killing blow. Before he could shoot, the daemon's head rolled to the ground where Uriel was squirming in pain. The adjacent daemon's organs spilled out of its body so Kade realized Dawnlight must have been the one to save Uriel's life.