by Gav Thorpe
The sergeant’s helm hid all expression, but the way his eye lenses lingered on the squad made Tauno uneasy.
‘The orks that were allowed to capture Barrak Gorge are unaccounted for,’ said the Space Marine. Though he detected no accusation in the statement, Tauno cringed with guilt. ‘Our patrols sweep the wilderness for them, but they have not been found. Do not think that you are safe from attack.’
‘So you think that orks will attack here?’ said Daurin, sitting up. His rebelliousness seemed to have evaporated as he flicked a nervous glance towards his squad-mates.
‘It is a possibility,’ said the sergeant. ‘It is your duty to stand ready in case they do.’
Kauninnen crossed his arms defiantly, though there was a quiver in his voice when he spoke.
‘Why are the Dark Angels waiting here with us? Why don’t you hunt down the rest of the orks?’
The sergeant slowly turned his head to stare at Kauninnen.
‘We all have our orders, trooper,’ said the Space Marine. ‘A better question would be to ask why you are not hunting the orks. As you have agreed, it is your homes that need defending. Perhaps the Piscinans would prefer that my brothers and I left them to fight this war by themselves?’
‘I wasn’t being ungrateful,’ stammered Kauninnen. ‘I mean…’
The Space Marine’s gaze did not move as the soldier trailed into quiet.
‘You said, “They can just leave if they wanted to, while we ain’t got no choice. I mean, if things were starting to get really dangerous, they could just up and go, and leave us to do the dying,” just a minute ago.’ Kauninnen gulped as the Space Marine threw his words back at him. ‘That you would make such an accusation betrays your lack of understanding of what it is to be an Astartes.’
The sergeant stood. Tauno craned his neck to follow the Space Marine as he leaned forwards and plucked Kauninnen’s lasgun from his weak grip. The Space Marine looked at it and handed it back a moment later.
‘Your weapons are inferior because better would be wasted on you,’ said the sergeant. ‘It takes as much effort to create one round for my bolt pistol as it does a whole lasgun. Would you entrust that one shot to such a poor marksman?’
He bent forwards, armour creaking, mouth-grille a short distance from Kauninnen’s face.
‘My armour is many thousands of years old, from before the Dark Angels came to Piscina.’ The Space Marine’s voice was harsher, a tone of anger in his words. ‘Would you have it dishonoured by a wearer that flees from battle? Would you entrust the days of labour that go into its maintenance to a warrior that thinks only of protecting himself?’
Straightening, the sergeant looked at the others, who flinched as his gaze passed over them. Only Tauno managed to meet that glowing stare, and with much effort.
‘There is a selfishness in men to protect what is theirs alone,’ the sergeant continued. ‘It is a short-sighted belief; for all a man is, he owes to the Emperor. The Astartes swear oaths to be the protectors of the Emperor’s realm and His servants, beyond any personal desire or ambition. We have the armour and the weapons you desire because we are the few who are worthy of them. Such riches would be squandered on lesser men; frail, frightened men like you.’
‘That’s a bit harsh,’ mumbled Kaize. ‘We’re doing the best we can.’
‘Are you?’ the Space Marine snarled, his words cutting into Tauno’s conscience. ‘Which of you would leave this world, travel across the galaxy and lay down his life for the home of a family he had never met?’
The squad exchanged glances; nobody said a word.
‘Which of you would place yourself directly in danger, to save the lives of others? And do this not just once, on a spur of heroism, unthinking, but for a whole life, time after time, in full knowledge that one day you will die, and it will be a painful, bloody death. Which of you would not only do this thing, but embrace the sacrifice of the self it entails, not just dedicating one’s death to the Emperor, but one’s whole existence?’ The Space Marine’s voice softened. ‘You cannot answer these questions, and thus you cannot know what it is to be Astartes.’
The troopers were speechless: Kaize hung his head in shame while Daurin stared out into the darkness, eyes glistening. The Space Marine turned away. Tauno jumped up and called after him as he left the emplacement.
‘Excuse me, sir? There was a Scout-sergeant. He spoke to me a few days ago, asked my name. I haven’t seen him since, and I never learnt his name. Come to that, what are you called?’
The Astartes sergeant swung back to the squad.
‘I am Sergeant Ophrael of the Third Company. The sergeant you speak of was called Naaman; he proved many of us wrong and you owe your continued survival to his bravery and dedication.’
‘Was called? So, he’s dead?’
Ophrael nodded slowly.
‘Like many of my battle-brothers, he gave his life for the protection of your world. He will be remembered and honoured. He died alone, amidst a sea of enemies. Master Belial recovered his body a few hours ago. What did he say to you?’
‘He told me to do my duty, and to remember that the Emperor watches us.’
The sergeant stepped up, towering over Tauno, but his voice was gentle – as gentle as it could be with its metallic, clipped tone.
‘Wise words. Do not forget them again, nor the warrior that spoke them to you.’
‘I won’t, sergeant.’
‘You can never be Astartes, but you can still be a good soldier. Remember what you…’
Ophrael stopped and straightened, head cocked to one side. Tauno felt a buzzing across his skin: the Space Marine’s comm activating. The sergeant turned towards the east, his pale yellow eyes shifting to a bright red. Tauno felt nervous at the sudden change. The Space Marine’s size had been intimidating from the moment he had walked over, but now there was something else about his demeanour that caused Tauno to shrink away; Ophrael’s posture, the tilt of his head, the balling of his fists, all pointed towards a sudden unleashing of energy, like the rev of an engine or the whine of a power cell being slipped into a lasgun.
‘Return to your squad, trooper,’ said Ophrael. His tone was businesslike, abrupt. ‘Bellum instantium. Ready your weapons. The orks are coming.’
The defence line was in tumult; sergeants shouted, troopers ran back and forth, ammunition boxes were broken open and weapons given final checks. All through the Free Militia one question was being asked: where were the orks?
The Dark Angels had seen something with their infra-sight and were convinced an ork force was moving up the ridge. Tauno and the others peered into the dark but could see nothing.
‘Hush up!’ Kaize told them. ‘Perhaps we can hear something. Orks aren’t the quietest, are they?’
The squad fell into silence and Tauno strained to hear anything; the only sound was the wind across the rocks.
A rocket screamed out from the Devastators to the left. It exploded about four hundred metres down the ridge. In the flash of light, Tauno saw bodies being flung into the air and a mob of bestial faces.
‘There!’ he shouted. He levelled his lasgun in the direction of the blast and opened fire, sending a hail of blue las-bolts into the night.
The others joined him, shooting at shadows, until Kaize bellowed at them to cease fire.
‘Save your power packs,’ said the sergeant. ‘Wait until you see something before you shoot.’
The Devastators were unleashing the full fury of their weapons: missiles streaked into the gloom while the squad’s two heavy bolters split the air with thudding bursts, rounds cutting the night with flickering propellant trails.
‘To the right!’ said Hanaumman.
Tauno switched his view and laid his lasgun on the top of the barricade. The light of two moons broke through open patches in the cloud and a little way down the ridge he saw hunched bodies picking their way through the rocks. He sighted on one of the dark shapes and pulled the trigger. He saw the bolt of laser energy flash d
own the slope and hit, but the ork did not fall.
The sparkle of muzzle flare split the night. An instant later, bullets were rattling against the crate wall. Tauno flinched, ducking back into cover. He felt a hand grab the scruff of his jerkin. Sergeant Kaize hauled him back to the firing position.
‘Hiding ain’t going to make them go away, is it?’ said the sergeant. ‘You want to stay safe? Shoot the bastards!’
All along the line squads were firing. A couple of brave souls ventured down the ridge line and hurled illumination flares. The patches of guttering red light revealed even more orks; the two troopers who had made the foray were cut down in a hail of fire as they sprinted back towards the defences.
‘Come on, come on,’ Tauno whispered to himself. The orks were using the undulating ground to work around to the squad’s right.
‘Sergeant, they’re getting too close,’ said Kauninnen. ‘We should pull back.’
‘No chance, trooper,’ replied Kaize. ‘Vinnaman! Get that flamer over to the right. Torch that stand of bushes. Give covering fire!’
Trooper Vinnaman was propelled out of the emplacement by Kaize’s shove. Tauno added his las-fire to the rest of the squad’s, firing past the slowly advancing flamer-man. When he was just about in range, Vinnaman opened fire, emptying the tank of his weapon. The dried branches of the bushes erupted as yellow fire bathed the slope. Orks thrashed in the inferno; some fell, many retreated, patting frantically at burning clothes and patches of lighted fuel sticking to their bodies.
The burning bushes gave the squad more light to see by and Tauno was able to pick his targets more clearly. He shot an ork in the arm as it lumbered from behind one boulder to the next. The hit caused it to drop its pistol. Stumbling back into the open to retrieve the weapon, the alien was met by another blast from Tauno’s lasgun. The shot hit the ork square in the chest. Glaring back at the troopers, the ork snatched up its pistol and fired back, oblivious to the smoking hole in its padded armour.
Tauno gritted his teeth as more bullets whirred past, missed his next shot, but scored another hit with the following one. Finally the ork went down, its leg wounded. Tauno shook his head in disbelief as he saw the ork dragging itself away through the long grass. He fired twice more, a growl in his throat, until the ork stopped moving.
Lausso shouted in pain and stumbled back from the barricade, blood streaming from his left shoulder. Tauno turned to help him but was pushed back to the wall by Kaize.
‘Keep shooting, I’ll sort him out,’ said the sergeant.
The next few minutes blurred into a harrowing experience of feral faces lit by las-bolts and dancing flames, the crack and whistle of bullets flying around answered by the zip of the lasguns. At one point the orks came close enough to throw stick grenades into the emplacement to the squad’s right. Tauno watched in horror as troopers were flung across the barricade by the detonations.
‘Direct your fire to the south!’
Lieutenant Laursor strode along behind the defence line, waving his chainsword at the orks, his command squad tailing him. The bark of autocannons added to the cacophony and tracer shells tore through the blackness from higher up the slope.
‘Look at that!’ said Kauninnen.
The trooper pointed north. The Dark Angels Assault squad that had been left to guard the ridge leapt forwards, jump pack jets burning with bright blue flame. Plasma flickered from a couple of pistols as they descended on a group of orks a few dozen metres from the line. Tauno watched the ensuing fight as he ejected the spent power pack from his lasgun and fumbled home a fresh charge.
The trooper winced as he saw pistols blazing, blades and chainblades swinging. It looked a complete mess, but the Assault Marines carved into the larger body of orks with purpose, seeking out their towering leader. The mob of greenskins swirled around them, hacking and firing.
‘Don’t worry about them, lad.’ Tauno looked over his shoulder and found Staff Sergeant Maikon crouched in the emplacement. The command squad veteran pointed south. ‘Worry about them.’
Following up their grenade attack, the orks had swarmed from cover and were trying to get into the emplacement. The few survivors of the squad within desperately swung their lasguns like clubs, battering at the orks as they clambered over the barricade. Two of them fell to the surging greenskins; the other two turned and ran, dropping their lasguns in their haste to get away.
No sooner had the orks poured over the wall of boxes and dirt-filled sacks, then they were engulfed in a wall of fire from both sides. Tauno added his own shots to the volleys; cramped by the emplacement’s walls, the orks were a hard target to miss, even if only a few of Tauno’s shots did any serious damage.
Tauno ducked involuntarily as a missile streaked over his head. It exploded in the heart of the onrushing orks, scything down half a dozen with shrapnel. Heavy bolt-rounds whickered through the air a few metres from the Piscinans, cutting down the surviving greenskins. Another missile streaked along the ridge from the Space Marine Devastators, passing almost within reach of Tauno before it detonated twenty metres further on, blowing apart even more orks.
‘Emperor’s fury, I thought they were going to hit us,’ gasped Kaize, slumping back against the barricade, eyes fearful.
‘Show a little faith, sergeant,’ said Maikon. The staff sergeant stood up and looked south. ‘Looks like that attack has been dealt with.’
Tauno scanned the ridgeside to the right. There were a few orks still alive, skulking back down the slope, some limping along. He fired a few more shots at them to hurry the orks on their way.
‘And don’t come back!’ Lisskarin shouted after the retreating greenskins. ‘We got more where that came from!’
Tauno laughed with relief. His first proper battle with orks, and he had survived. His mood swiftly changed, though.
‘Sergeant Maikon, redress the squads,’ said Lieutenant Laursor. ‘Astartes report more infantry coming, this time with vehicle support. Rasmussen! Run with these coordinates to the mortar crews and tell them to lay on a heavy bomb.’
The lieutenant showed none of his earlier indifference. His eyes gleamed in the glow of the fires. Tauno thought Laursor looked like he was enjoying himself; truly officers were a different species.
It wasn’t long before the troopers could hear the deep growl of ork engines. The smoke from the guttering fires was tainted with the oily stench of exhaust fumes. Motors revved in the darkness, a mechanical war-cry every bit as unnerving as the howls of the orks that had come before.
Tauno looked at his lasgun and pictured the little damage it had done to the orks. Against anything tougher, it was useless.
‘Sergeant, should we move a bit closer to the heavy weapons squads?’ he suggested. ‘You know, to give them some protection.’
‘Nice try, Tavallinen,’ laughed Kaize. ‘We’re staying right here. My advice is to shoot at the green bits.’
There was a ripple of flashes several hundred metres down the ridge. Half a second later, Tauno heard the deep retorts of big guns. Above, shells whined as they plunged downwards.
‘Incoming!’ Tauno bellowed, hurling himself to the base of the barricade.
The troopers hit the ground a moment after, as the two shells exploded some way behind the defensive line. From his prone position, Tauno found himself looking into the dead eyes of Lausso. The shadows from the dying light of the fire made the trooper’s face appear to move, grimacing at his fate. Tauno shuddered and looked away.
‘Get up,’ said Sergeant Kaize, kicking the men back to their feet.
As he set his lasgun back on the barricade, Tauno saw more flashes of field guns in the distance, perhaps a kilometre northwards up the line. The orks weren’t holding back, that was for sure.
This time the shells fell around the Devastators. The Space Marines ignored the dirt and flame exploding around them and continued to fire, picking out targets only they could see.
‘Look lively!’ The call came from Staff Sergeant Maikon.
‘Maintain fire discipline. Hold the line.’
Maikon gestured for Kaize to join him. Tauno kept one eye down the ridge as he listened in on what was said.
‘The lieutenant’s just received word from Colonel Grautz,’ Maikon said. ‘The orks are trying to push out of Kadillus Harbour to link up. Although the whole line has been attacked, it looks like the greatest numbers are here. The colonel thinks the orks are making a bid for the relay station. Grautz is sending an armoured column, it’ll be here just after dawn. We have to hold, no matter the cost.’
‘Why don’t we fall back and protect the relay station?’ asked Kaize.
‘Better defensive position here, Saul,’ said Maikon. ‘We fight and die on Koth Ridge.’
Kaize nodded and rejoined the squad as Maikon walked on to talk to the other sergeants.
‘Looks like the worst of it will be coming our way,’ he told them. ‘This is it, boys. This is where you get to defend your homes.’
Tauno remembered what the colonel had told Laursor: if the orks linked up, the Space Marines would bombard Kadillus rather than let it fall into enemy hands. He looked at the Space Marines along the ridge – now firing their bolters as well as their heavy weapons – and wondered if they would be withdrawn before that happened.
He dismissed the question. If what Sergeant Ophrael had said was true, the orks would only break through when the last Space Marine on the ridge was dead. It gave cold comfort to Tauno; he realised that he was far more likely to die before the last of the Astartes.
‘Pay attention,’ snarled Kaize, cuffing Tauno round the back of his head. ‘Targets to the front!’
Snapping back to the immediate threat to his continued survival, Tauno sighted down his lasgun. The roar of engines was everywhere, to the left and right. He saw orks on massive bikes hurtling up the ridge straight at him. He fired vainly along with the others, most of their las-bolts missing the fast-moving bikers or harmlessly striking the heavy machines. A few lucky shots hit one rider, sending him crashing from his ride, the half-tracked bike careening on for a few metres before toppling into a crack in the volcanic rock.
