Chapter 3: To The Edge of the Fingerprint
Salome 4, Salome System, The Gateway Stars
The ride down to the surface was far more bumpy than the ride up. However, they weren't under fire yet, so that was a small comfort, at the very least.
The atmosphere of the lander, the same one that the infantry of the Silver Scales Mechanized Regiment had gone up to the Faith's Child in, still remained tense, hands clutching lasguns or checking carapace armor. Most in their seats had now passed the point where combat was a drill and a training exercise into a far more lethal reality. The looks that went around were uneasy, the words spoken hesitant, quiet. It made the one exception stand out even more.
"And I finally had to say no, you fool! That's the waste chute! Don't shove an anti-aircraft round in there!" Daniel said with a chuckle, one that spread and bloomed into laughter from those around him that still held an edge of nervousness.
"So look, at least you've got the edge on knowing what round goes in what port." Daniel continued, looking at those around him as best he could, mostly his fireteam, though there were a few that had unbuckled from their seats as they cleared the worst of the turbulence. He did his best to commit the eyes that looked back at him to memory. Many were the standard human eye colors he'd been accustomed to, blues and browns and blacks and hazels. Some were more exotic, brighter or deeper blues and greens, reds, silvery whites, and golds, even purples and other colors, likely from millennia of genetic drift that their owners likely weren't even aware of.
All had a story behind them, a soul that was utterly unique one from the other. And though he was only a lowly Guardsman at the moment, and all too many of these eyes would lose their light, they were worth remembering. They were worth doing however small a part Daniel would play in this conflict to save.
Finally, though, the transport touched down, people settling into their seats as they waited for the lieutenants to shepherd them off the transport and onto the surface of an alien world. As expected, the men ushered them towards the loading ramp.
As Daniel and his fireteam came to the threshold of the transport's door, Daniel took a deep breath of the air of a brand new world. It was thick, somewhat cold, but he thought he could smell the heady scent of life doing its best to prevail over the overwhelming stench of their landing zone, thick with vehicle fumes, burning promethium, and the collective musk of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people.
As they emerged into the wider world, the Silver Scales found a world that was… remarkably similar to their own, at least here. The trees, or at least those plants that looked like trees, were shedding what looked like crosses between leaves and needles, what covering reached into the sprawling camp smashed into the churned dirt of vehicular causeways or crushed underfoot of what paved ferrocrete roads there were in this place.
Thankfully, the camp seemed to be fairly well-versed in receiving new soldiers. Several sergeants waited for those who were disembarking, shepherding those of sundry regiments to their particular muster stations.
"You there!" one such sergeant said, shepherding Daniel and his fireteam towards her. "Silver Scales, right?"
Daniel nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
She looked down at a dataslate, tapping through it. "Alright. Your Chimera is 7116, and it's going to be coming into Vehicle Lot 6, over to the northeast. You'll be shipping off to your forward base immediately."
Daniel and company looked around the campsite, one that was well established, and that, clearly, had been occupied for quite some time. Then again, Orks were a crafty lot, more than likely to take an orbital landing site and repurpose it for their own needs. "Thank you, ma'am."
"Don't waste thanks on me." the sergeant wearily said. "Go, and quit clogging up the others behind you."
Daniel nodded, and the eight of them made their way to the vehicle park in question. "Look at those… trees in the distance," Kat said as she looked around with no small amount of wonder, several of them present in the landing area as well. "Are they even trees?"
"Who's to say?" Daniel shrugged, glancing over at Iago as the man's eyes darted to and fro, clearly uncomfortable. "It wouldn't fully surprise me."
He paused for a moment. "Iago, you doing alright?"
"Everything's too wide open," Iago said brusquely. "The sky's still open, but now there's… more sky. It's not fully right."
"I thought that you got used to the open sky while you were with us in camp," Leona said somewhat derisively. "Or was the undercity that suffocating?"
"Enough," Daniel said sternly as they entered the paved vehicle park, passing several other groups of soldiers as they boarded their own IFVs. "We could afford to bicker with each other when this was just training. But we need to keep an eye on each other. A second's slipup could mean we all die. For now, stow it until we get to camp somewhere."
The silence that followed was somewhat surprised, but not unexpected, as they finally came to a stop in front of their Chimera, a piece of art on the side of the squat, somewhat stubby turret depicting a simple roaring felinid beast and the words 'Lion with the Las-breath'.
"Good to know someone taking care of this vehicle is an artist," Galen said somewhat wryly as they made their way to the twin doors in the back of the vehicle, the man opening both doors.
"Perhaps Kat will get along with them when we meet," Stavros said as they climbed into the somewhat cramped interior, 12 seats set back to back as they filed in, Iago taking the seat across from Daniel as the 6 seats on the left row filled.
Daniel, closest to the driver and gunner, looked over and saw the legs of the gunner, and the glance of the driver. "Hoy there, driver," Daniel said. "We waiting for anyone else?"
The driver, a man with the beginnings of a somewhat scruffy beard, frowned slightly. "A few more people for another squad, but otherwise, that's it. You a Navy transplant or something?"
"Former Rogue Trader cartographer," Daniel replied. "So I suppose that isn't too far off."
"Well, I guess I'd better get used to you, Navy boy." the driver said. "I'm Lieutenant Joris. The pair of legs between us is the fair lady that'll be keeping us all alive."
"That's Private Lucia to you." the gunner said as she kicked Joris' shoulder.
Joris continued regardless. "And we'll be the Chimera that the squad you're reinforcing is assigned to. We'll get acquainted enough, I'm sure. Right now, just sit tight, and we'll be on our way soon enough."
Soon enough indeed, 5 more soldiers, all still recruits much like them, filed in, Leona and the other recruit at the end shutting the doors of the vehicle and casting it into dimness only held back from complete darkness.
"Alright, ladies and gents!" Joris called back. "It's a 30-minute ride to our main operating base, so settle in. The path's been cleared of Orks, But the firing ports in front of you are for just in case."
As he spoke, he revved the promethium engine, and the Chimera lurched slightly as it began moving, the rumble of the tracks moving joining to make a white noise that became something of a comfort.
Several minutes into the drive, Daniel leaned forward, sliding the firing port up and locking it in place as he peered out for a moment at the rolling scenery. It was largely barren here, likely a result of wanting clear lanes of fire. The 'forests' were sparse anyway, little more than scattered groves. What grasses there were were a deeper shade of green.
"Careful." he heard Joris say. "The Orks do have sharpshooters. Good ones, at that."
"Snipers?" Vherra said incredulously as Daniel closed the firing port. "I thought Orks were supposed to be too impatient for that."
"I might not have encountered any on my travels," Daniel replied as he sat back fully in his chair, "but I've heard stranger things. Best not to risk too much."
He looked over at Joris. "Any chance we can get told where we're going?"
"Our forward base is at the edge of what's called the Fingerprint of the Stars, a sprawling valley complex with dozens, hundreds of bridges crisscrossing it," Joris replied. "It's quite a sight. The city in the center of it, Highhold, used to be the administrative center of the agriculture taking place on the valley tops. But the Orks took it 3 years ago."
"And it's our job to get it back," Daniel said grimly.
"Seeing as they haven't slagged the place from orbit yet, that's the idea, most likely." Lucia chimed in. "It's dangerous in there, though."
"Urban warfare often is, isn't it?" Daniel mused grimly.
"You saw action on the ground, Navy boy?" Joris said.
"Doing work securing something the Rogue Trader valued in the middle of a warzone. We snuck into a city under a siege that broke while we were there. It was a real mess." That would be a satisfactory explanation for now, Daniel decided. There was already one person who thought his story insane. He didn't need more at the moment.
Finally, after long, silent minutes, they came to a stop. "Here we are, ladies and gents," Joris said. "Hope you enjoyed the ride; some of you will be back soon enough."
The soldiers in the Chimera filed out, the sight around them not much removed from the spartan, utilitarian landing site. The insignia of the Silver Scales, a simple pattern of diamonds cascading down the inner part of a circle, flew defiantly over what must have been the command tent, the whole camp set up on one of a series of hills that overlooked what must have been the Fingerprint of the Stars themselves.
Looking around the camp, Daniel saw another nascent camp going up the next hill over, a metal forest of gun barrels growing towards the sky at those angles that were the artilleryman's craft. The Firebelchers of Adinim were going to be beside them as they struck the city. And it was hard to miss the hive-city that they would stand against, even this far away.
It loomed over what Daniel assumed were forward operating bases that had been the towns and farms surrounding Highhold, those spires still standing looking out at them with a soot-stained weariness. Alien effigies reached into the sky alongside the smoke, and Daniel sighed quietly at the ruined sight.
"May the Emperor use us to strike down these foul beasts," Leona swore as she paused to look at the city with him. "We will build this place on their bodies."
"Once we find our squad, hopefully so," Galen said. "The other recruits seem to be going towards the command tent. We'll probably find where to get to the rest of our squad there."
The recruits made their way to the end of the line, long even as it moved somewhat quickly. Now, they settled in for the wait.
Before they could move forward, however, another soldier came up to them and stopped beside them. She looked around the camp with a level of interest that rivaled, even exceeded the recruits around them, her uniform quite different from the steel gray and purple of the Silver Scales, orange eyes gleaming.
The tan and orange coat and khakis contrasted well with her mahogany skin, and tight curls of blonde hair falling from under a cap instead of a helmet. After a moment, she regarded the soldiers she stood next to. "You Silver Scales run a nice tight ship around here, don't you?" she said, her voice just a little louder than even the general din required.
"Yeah. So it seems, at least" Daniel replied. "You a Firebelcher?"
The woman grinned as they drew closer to the tent. "Good eye! Lieutenant Commander Jessie, 18th Basilisk Division. All told, when I'm not playing adjutant for Commander Massani, I'll probably be the woman you call to pound any designated targets into dust. And who knows, maybe I can visit your operating base at some point, bring some home cooking from Adinim for you."
"I don't know." Iago mused. "It might be a nice change of pace from the field rations we've been getting used to on the way here."
The fireteam chuckled, and they found themselves in front of the command tent. Then, as a group of 8 Silver Scales recruits filed out, they were in. The tent's interior was dominated by a large hololithic table that showed a wireframe view of the valley complex and the city in its center, several papers and dataslates on desks, tables, and the edges of the hololith table.
The woman who stood over it, the medals arrayed across her uniform displaying her high rank in the dim light of the hololith, was clearly deep in thought, a cluster of about half a dozen other soldiers managing the soldiers that streamed in.
"Well," she said, the regular speaking voice likely considered to her to be a lowered voice, "I'll see you lot later, maybe."
With that, she made her way to a soldier on the other side of the table, another soldier stepping in front of the fireteam. "Fireteam designation?" he asked somewhat brusquely.
"Alpha-Psi-48." Daniel replied after a moment.
The man nodded, looking down at the dataslate in his hands. "You're assigned to the command of Captain Haelin Kinley, and Chimera 7018, the Lion. The Captain will be waiting by your Chimera."
They nodded and made their way out of the tent towards the vehicle park once again. Daniel glanced back at the others. "Is anyone itching for some action yet?" he asked.
"Yeah," Vherra replied. "Anything besides this… tedium."
"Well, welcome to reality, I guess," Daniel said sympathetically. "I've been around regiments in the field before. It's a lot of this, I'm afraid."
The groans were in ignorance, Daniel knew it wouldn't last.
They got to the vehicle park and found five people standing waiting for them in front of the Lion with the Las-breath. One stood in front of the other four, a woman with armor that was as scarred as a good portion of the left side of her tanned face, any hair she might have had hidden under a helmet that hooded piercing gray eyes. "So," she said curtly as the fireteam came to a stop at attention in front of them. "You're our new replacements."
It was silent for a moment, then she shrugged. "Get in the Chimera. We'll be part of an assault as soon as everyone's to their positions."
The others, appearing as disinterested as who must have been their commanding officer had been, simply wordlessly filed in. Daniel looked at the others with no small amount of worry as they followed after.
"Hello again, Kinley!" Joris said as Daniel clambered into the rather tight space. "Rinneth, Corin, Gillen, Foress! Good to see you all alive and kicking."
"We'll see how long that lasts." one of the men, a vox-caster radio pack in between his legs now. "We've got a bunch of prissies with us."
"Prissies?" Joris scoffed. "Aw, come on, Corin. Cut them some slack. They've got a Navy boy with a decent enough head on his shoulders. They'd need that for the maps he made, I'd think."
"Prissies," Leona said with little in the way of amusement. "And what exactly does that mean?"
"Pristines." another man said. "For you and your armor. It's fresh. The paint hasn't even chipped off yet. And I pray it means we don't die."
"And what does Joris even mean by 'Navy boy'?" a third squadmate said. "How'd you get kicked from the Navy down here?"
"I pissed off the Rogue Trader I was a cartographer to. Well, something had affected his mind beforehand, but that didn't stop me from ending up on Pallaidus with no ID." Daniel shrugged. "The truth is strange sometimes."
"Guess so." the last member of their new squad said. She paused, looking over at the one empty eat then at Kinley. "We waiting for someone else?"
"Yes, Gillen." Kinley sighed. "They should be here shortly."
Sometime later, the last passenger arrived. And it was perhaps the last person that the fireteam could have wanted to see.
The commissar's face twisted as he did his best to look around the somewhat cramped surrounds. "Captain Kinley." Kurtiz Alberis said. "I am the new commissar of your maniple, and will be working with Commander Usaria to keep your soldiers in line."
His gaze landed on Daniel as they began to make their way towards one of the forward bases. "I'd suggest you keep an eye on this one, Private Theisman, along with me. He is a teller of tall tales, and may yet be insubordinate."
Daniel sighed quietly as Captain Kinley looked at him with an unamused glare. "Duly noted, commissar." was all she said.
Daniel glanced around the compartment, taking in the sympathetic glances of his fireteam, and the weary looks of the squad that they joined. Kinley's expression, however, was neutral. He hoped that meant something good.
Either way, the trip passed in a dreary silence before the Chimera stopped. "Welcome to Forward Base 17-C," Joris said as Private Lucia's legs began to disappear up into the turret and likely out a hatch. "Your home for the next however long it takes to take this city."
The hatches opened, and the commissar, thankfully, was the first to step out and make his way to who knew where. As the newly formed — rather, reformed — squad stepped out into the vast vehicle lot, a sight that was getting rather tiresome for all involved, Captain Kinley stepped out in front. "Alright, newbies. Follow me to your tents."
They entered a vast tent city that sat across from the vehicle park, the two halves separated by a main causeway that led from one bridge to another. Daniel noticed that what he thought were stone bridges reinforced with metal were in fact meters-thick metal replacements, spanning across the gap where destroyed stone kilometers across had once been. It wouldn't have surprised him if most of the bridges were like that.
A row of 5 tents amongst thousands was set aside for their squad, divvied up quickly two to a tent. "If you're going to do anything at night," Kinley said, "keep it quiet or you'll hear it from us the following morning."
Daniel, paired up with Kat, looked at her somewhat quizzically before shrugging slightly as Kinley continued. "Your packs should be arriving in the next few hours. For now, go and claim a cot."
As the new squadmates began to move off, Kinley spoke again. "You, Theisman. I want to talk with you."
Kat left Daniel with a sympathetic look as she entered their tent, and he stepped forward to face Kinley, her arms crossed. "Yes, ma'am?"
"You've got to be a special kind to have commissar believe he should warn a mere captain about." she began, the veteran squad members watching on. "What did you do to piss him off?"
Daniel stifled a quiet sigh. "I agreed with him, ma'am."
A somewhat gnarled brow arched slightly. "You agreed with him?"
"During our journey here, I gave some general advice to a group of other Guardsmen pertaining to the capabilities of Orks. He thanked me with the back of his hand after I explained why my ID didn't exist before I entered the training camp on Pallaidus." Daniel explained.
Kinley hummed softly, a hand resting on the hilt of what looked like a rather plain power sword. "So, wise man, any advice you'd care to shed on the rest of us?" she asked. The brusqueness of her voice had lessened somewhat, Daniel noticed. He hoped the tone she now took was one of curiosity.
"Many of the Orks wield some form of melee weapon as their primary armament, as I'm sure you're aware," Daniel said. "Primitive axes, clubs, claws, and pikes, though there are some more… exotic weapons they can devise. While center mass shots are still useful and recommended, one can attempt to aim for their legs if they're skilled enough, which is not an entirely difficult task. Crippling the xenos this way often leaves them unable to aid their allies, and while they might have a pistol or other sidearm that they might use, they can be dealt with after more present threats are eliminated."
The explanation out of the way, Kinley looked at those squadmates she'd arrived with, the group silently judging his words. "An interesting tactic." she finally said. "Did your Rogue Trader teach you that?"
"Among other things," Daniel said.
Kinley nodded. "And where is this Rogue Trader now, you think?"
"Lost in the Warp somewhere, hopefully. Though… I hope there are some who either got off or were kicked off after I was if that's the case. There were good people on the Munificent."
Kinley's eyes narrowed. "You are the strangest cartographer I've ever met."
"That makes at least two of us, ma'am." Daniel allowed himself a slight smile.
Kinley spared a single chuckle. "Chow time's in about 3 hours. Once you're all settled in, we'll bring you up to speed on our patrol routes."
Daniel nodded. "And for what it's worth," Kinley continued, "I think the new commissar's a pain in the ass, too."
"We get the feeling he's about as fresh as we are," Daniel remarked. "He's just trying to prove himself. Nothing I've not seen before."
Kinley nodded. "Get to your tent, and hope that your tentmate might be a negotiating type."
"We've gotten on fine thus far," Daniel replied. "It'll just be nice not bunking with everyone. Though I do feel bad for Vherra. She'll have to continue getting used to Iago's snoring."
. . .
The day dragged on, the sun beginning to set to the thunderous rumble of the Firebelchers ranging in their guns. Forward Base 17-C's many camps were sectioned into 'wheels' of 10 spokes each, all arranged around a central gathering point that held the cook fires and meeting areas.
Thankfully, the new arrival's packs had arrived by way of luggage vehicles, and life looked to be settling into camp life.
"Thank the Throne," Stavros said, a rare exclamation as he extracted from one of the supply trucks a greatly expected treasure. "Dinner has arrived."
As the ration packs were distributed amongst the eagerly waiting soldiers most carried them off towards their campfires, ready to eat the meals in their squads. However, one Captain Kinley's squad would be an exception today.
As Kinley considered the pack in her hands — dehydrated meat-based protein, Terinix 3 rice and tubers, a rather simple affair all-in-all — she glanced up at the new squadmates, and couldn't help but frown slightly. All of them handed their packets to one particular member, Kat if she remembered correctly, who had taken a packet from her rucksack. Spices, perhaps? It wouldn't have been surprising.
"Captain?" Kat said as she approached. "Would you be willing to lend your ration pack to my recipe tonight?"
Kinley considered it for a moment, then shrugged as she put it in her soldier's arms. "I hope whatever you cook up is better than the rations. Low of a bar as it is to clear."
"I might always be experimenting, but I have a good hand for this," Kat said confidently. "I'll at least make something edible."
With that, they made their way to their way to the cook fire that the squad had claimed, a simple iron pot beside it something that seemed to be a rather rare sight, in this clearing at least.
As Kat began to cook, revealing a cutting board, knife, and several vials of spices and herbs from her packet, Kinley looked over at Daniel. "So, Daniel. I'm guessing you're certain of Kat's abilities?"
"She cooked most of our meals on the Faith's Child once we saw what she was doing with her own rations." Daniel shrugged with a slight smile. "Besides, once she figured a good base out, she insisted we give her a shot. It was well worth the risk."
Kinley nodded, passing her cantine to Kat as a portion of her water went into the cooking pot, foil-wrapped packages going by the fire as the rice and tubers went into the pot alongside some flavor cubes. "Well, I'm looking forward to something with some flavor."
"I'm looking forward to actually getting to fighting the Orks." Iago piped up. "We've got a big city in front of us, and no small amount of enemies inside. Have you managed to breach the walls before, or are the holes from when the Orks took the city?"
Kinley could tell this one was trying to hide his anxiety with bluster. The gangs had been something of a problem in some cities on Pallaidus when she'd left 5 years ago. Maybe this was one of those gangers who'd been caught in the conscription tithe. "Most of it is likely from when the Orks took the city several years before I got here. But we have gone into the city before. Scouting operations, attempts to take and hold outer limits or strategic objectives. That sort of thing."
"It's strange." Jinley Corin, their vox-operator, said as he shook his head. "Everywhere else, we hear about the Orks charging out and meeting us in battle. Here… they've never charged out at us. They have vehicles of every shape and size in there, and the aircraft we've had go over the hive have shown as such. But they just… stay there. Waiting for us."
It was quiet around the fire as they contemplated the quandary. "They know we want this city," Daniel said quietly.
All eyes turned to him as he continued. "They know, to some slight extent, the strategic importance of this place. Why would we have so many troops here if it wasn't? They know that as long as they hold the city, they know that they have a fight as long as they hold."
The realization made the fireside a silent, anxious thing. "Are they really that smart?" Farrah Rinneth asked incredulously.
"Doesn't matter if almost all of them are as dumb as bricks," Stavros said. "As long as their leader, their Warboss, is strong enough and smart enough, they'll do what he says."
"Well, either way," Matley Gillen said as they began to be plated up with a rather good-smelling meal, "we'll get our chance to really drive our blades into the city once everyone's in position."
. . .
For the soldiers already on Salome, it would be 3 years, and 1.5 billion more Guardsmen, before those besieging the city of Highhold would truly get their chance at glory and assault the city in earnest.
