++ proximity warning ++
++ proximity warning ++

-strategium buzzing with activity-

-loud booming voice-

“Flares are up!”

-hundreds of cogitator screens fill the room but about half are blank or showing static.-

“Turn it off, at least kill the audio feed.”

“sir!?”

“If the terminals burned out replace it or move to a new one. Don’t salute, just move.”

-Close up on auspex screen with increasing number of red circles-

“That.. that can’t be right!?”

-taps screen repeatedly-

“my auspex is going crazy!”

“How’d they get past the orbitals!?”

“Orbitals aren’t responding, all channels are dead. Nothing on navy satcom either.”

-Comms officer makes eye contact, waits for his turn to speak-

“I count a dozen landers on screen, those bigger shapes have to be. The small ones look like escort fighters.”

“Routing air wings for intercept..”

“cancel that order!”

“Sir?..”

“We have to buy time the legio to deploy. I want all air wings pulled back over the city. Defend the hangers for the legio’s muster.”

“The orbitals are gone.”

“Look at weather, the atmospherics..”

-points at remaining satmap feed-

“That storm front forming over the western dunes, we’ve seen nothing that size in years… their landers have already broken the sky. Big ones.”

“Those dozen blobs on your screen, that’s not the vanguard, they’re just stragglers.”

“Infantry spotted in the southern marshes!”

“Pull all op’s back in and have the colonel move to reinforce the hab blocks. I want our lines set at the city limits.”

“The Colonel’s 2nd in command is asking to clarify the fallback order, they don’t have the full picture, what do I tell him?”

“They’ve barely opened up from orbit, they only smashed the guns they had to. They want the star port in one piece. Ask the colonel’s 2nd if he wants a roof over his boys head when we lose the skies to the warmaster.”

“Roger that sir, I’ll ask the colonel if he wants his cover hard or soft.”

“Legio's status?”

“3 engines left to bring online.”

“roger, are the banners deployed?”

“All knight banners assembled sir.”

“Rout their comms into the princeps senioris directly and delicately remind the princeps that there are still loyal imperial citizens alive and well in this city who are counting on the him to wake up tomorrow and not see the banners of Horus Lupercal flying over their city.”

-he allowed himself the half-thought of amasec on ice and caught himself before being snapped back by the bellowing of a comms operator two rows down-

“1 engine left to bring online.”

“Good, the legio will walk soon.”


“How are the air wings doing? The ammo hoppers on the perimeter AA batteries have barely moved.”

“They’re mostly ignoring our fighters. Once our air cover pulled back over the city, a couple of enemy wings took the bait but the rest backed off after their planes took hits. They’re burning fuel flying in circles.”

“Right, keep me posted if that changes.”

-a puzzled look-

“They don’t want the sky, they’re not throwing half of what they could down on our heads from orbit and Infantry already planet side and moving. Orbitals are out and our eyes are just garbage.”

“Route primay cogitator to the tactical feed. Clean it up and give me the listening posts we have left.”

“Coming on line, data in-loud imminent.”

“Heat map of only the seismic data, last 30 minutes, wide sweep, I want everything from the slag pits to the gorge.”

“On the main now sir, cleaning it up. It’s a bit rough”

-eyes fixate on one part of the screen-

“You look like a grox pissed in your breakfast sir, best I could do to clean it up..”

“It’s not the signal.. that’s just not good at all. Focus in on that quadrant there.”

“That big blob, that’s coffin ship.”

“Are you sure?”

“Look at the scale, that gridline is the whole southern Kasperus ridge. Too big to be an auspex ghost.”

“That’s not the vanguard above us, those are just the stragglers. Their main force is already here.”

-Two senior comms officers look at each other, silently jockeying, stern eye contact later, one passes a print out to the other and disappears to a lower platform leaving only one comms officer.-

“The legio is deploying now sir! Last engine out the gate.”

“Message from the princeps senioris actual.”

“What says the fearless princeps? Does this war prove convenient to his schedule?”

“He wants to convey he doesn’t intend to die on or for such an ugly planet and would like the rest of the close air support re-routed into legios command bunker, they want to direct fire missions themselves.”

“Done. Make that happen, cut us out of the net if you have to. He can have all remaining ground forces too. We’re half blind already.”

“Give me direct line to the colonel, final orders.”

“My console only.”

-A grizzled face removes its helmet and grabs at a headpiece. He nods to indicate he can hear.-

“I’m turning you over to the legio’s command, I’ve done what I can from here. As far as I can tell, they want the star port intact. Don’t let them have it.”

“And if they throw engines at us? I’ve got spitwads.”

“That rumbling you’re sensing is the legio approaching your position, the legio with full banner support. They will have to get through them first.”

“Aw Schucks, you shouldn’t have sir.”

-waves his hand, taps his headset… waits for comms officer to nod-

“This is our world Parvus, ugly as it may be, if the warmaster wants it he has to take it from us first.”

“Watch for sappers and infiltrators. I don’t expect they will play fair. Nor do I expect the princeps to care about what happens below ground once I pass you over to his command.”

“I’ve had my men trip-mine the sewer ducts. We’ll hold till dawn sir, just remind the legio to look down once in a while.”

“Once the battlegroup is outside the city the legio will have better eyes than us. You’ll have an idea of what to expect.”

“Oh and parvus, keep comms with the princeps brief, the poor fella’s got the comms chatter of a whole strategio in his head so keep it short and sweet.”

“My vox operator can send binary pings if..”

“Not funny Parv.”

“A bit funny. Dragoon actual over and out.”

-Grizzled face on the screen lights a lho stick, hands the head set off and puts his helmet back on-
“Get any non-essential staff into their shelters. Critical vox operators stay on station till the titans return to their gantries or we’re all dead.”

“Cycle all data feeds to the legio’s cogitator network and inload the legio’s iff’s to the city’s automated defense network. Can’t afford any blue on blue fire.”

“Where’s my adjutant!? Ah, there you are”

“Fetch the amesec, the good one! Top shelf. Two glasses, we’ve done everything we can. My lho sticks too!”

-He looks up at the last video feed coming in from an observation post. Fumbling over the command dial. switching over to IR spectrum, the silhouette of a traitor warhound now clearly back lit on the darkening horizon. It’s right arm quickly turning the brightness of a sun. The screen goes dark. He looks down at a glass of amasec with ice his adjutant just placed in front of him and takes it in his hand clinking the other in his adjutants hand-

“We’ve done all we could, it's the princeps turn.”

“This is an engine war now.”

++++

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