Ruthless Interrogator
Confused
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Okay, I'm trying to go less "lulzBOOM" for this and make it a more mature story, and focus more on the gritty & tragic aspects of war. Plus things go boom. This is my first public fiction attempt so all C&C welcome-if it sucks, tell me.
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As I survey the orange wastes and rolling dunes, I wonder how in the Emporer's name I had got here.
Abydos is a desert world, with no real reason to be here and no real reason to care. It was settled during the Macharian conquests, for some indiscernible cause, and has advanced gradually since. Total population, about 500 million. The only strategic value is it's vast exports of...I dunno, sand? There seems to be enough for a whole galaxy down here.
By the standards of the Guard, I'm a veteran. After surviving a four-year tour of duty, my regiment-the Somterian VII-was deemed too low-strength to be worth reinforcing, and we were assigned to garrison duties on this lump of rock. A quick briefing, mostly involving descriptions of how beautiful our homes would be, and then we were dropped. A heavenly place, they said. After 6 months in the sweltering heat, enduring day-long watches and with little in the way of modern technology, it was more like a hell. I don't care if a fething tyranid hive fleet drops on us, I just want something to end this endless boredom. And today, my prayers were answered.
"Hey! Olveris! Wake up!" The person who said that was Corporal Chaas Mandel, the best friend I had in this wasteland and second-in-command of my squad.
"Do you feel that?" That was grenadier Orlov, another of my squad.
I could. A low rumbling, barely audible over the sound of the wind. But it was still cause for concern. I press my finger to the vox headset and speake.
"Command, this is Sergeant Tythus, we're detecting some sort of vibration in the ground, it seems distant. It's probably nothing, but-"
"Yes, it's nothing. Just some tectonic activity a few dozen miles north of Decios, but it looks like the seismic waves will dissipate before they-wait, I'm getting some radio chatter from Delta company. I'll let you hear it."
A buzzing noise, and then:
"Command, this is Delta company, stationed in Decios. We're under heavy fire from an unknown source. This is something huge, I don't know what. We're taking casualties. All we can see is dust, but-feth!- from the volume of fire I can tell we're vastly outnumbered. Orders?"
"Stay put. We'll send reinforcements, but you need to hold them in place until then. Keep civilian casualties minimal."
"Feth it. Yes sir." We all know he had just recieved a death warrant.
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We recieved a briefing on the situation a week later.
The Captain of our company, a stern, authoritive man named Hirion Dalcii, gathered the sergeants under his command and told us what we'd be dying for.
"8 days ago, a minor earthquake occured 16 miles north of the town of Decios. A fissure appeared in the crust. A large body of enemy forces poured out. We don't know much, but Delta and Gridin company were wiped out, along with the civillian population present. We've since set up a 30 mile perimeter around the fissure, but we're losing ground. Reinforcements have arrived in the form of the Cadian 7th, 20th and 312 light infantry, and Harrowmont 497th infantry and 19th and 78th armoured regiments, and further reinforcements will be dispatched should the threat escalate. In total, we have 30,000 men on the ground, and 1500 battle tanks, on top of the 1200 men and 500 tanks we had present. Pray to the Emporer it is enough."
"Our orders are to join the Cadian 20th and support the men around the fissure, in an assault to drive the enemy back to whatever hell they came from. Ready your men, and remember: It is better to die for the Emporer than to live for yourself. Good luck."
After a 5 day march, we reached the perimeter.
At first it was barely visible: a thin line over the horizon, but as we got nearer it grew larger and larger, a wall of men and battle tanks, their guns levelled at an enemy not present yet.
"This is it, men", a voice buzzed over the vox.
"There's been a change of plan. Scouts have reported a wave of xenos approaching our horizon. Skeletal warriors, they say. Ranks of silver supported by large, pyramidal structures. Men, I think we've identified the hostiles."
He didn't need to say it. It was on all of our minds, and weighed down on all of our hearts. We had all been taught about them in training. Possibly the greatest threat the Imperium has ever faced. Necrons.
I breathe deeply, readying myself for some of the most brutal combat of my life. The Cadians around me look decidedly unchanged. Of course, they face this kind of terror on a daily basis. But not me.
I play back my training in my mind.
"While tough and heavily armed, Necron warriors are slow. Use your agility against them. And avoid their weapons at all costs."
So just keep running and ducking, aye? Simple enough. Until I get vaporised by gauss fire.
The wave approaches slowly and purposefully, glowing green yet shrowded in dark mist. After what seemed like a lifetime, they come within range of the big guns, and the ground vibrates as the Basilisks open up. Loud bangs, followed by distant thuds as the shells land. Pillars of fire reach up, trailing sparkling debris. Hundreds of them are blown to pieces. Yet they keep coming. Limbs were blown off, only to fuse back on, and fist sized holes are blown in their torsos only to close back up. Fully dismembered arms and legs pulled themeselves along after the horde. And, at the head, towering pyramids of black metal lead the assault. Green light arcs and flashes in the distance as artillery rounds thud against the sand. We have no hope.
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The first actual fighting happens only seconds later.
Shining forms, like chariots of steel, come streaking overhead. Fused to them are soulless Necrons, manning devestating weapons. Jets of green light fly overhead, and I dive to the floor as a Leman Russ behind me detonates, sending a column of smoke soaring in to the sky and bits of metal raining down. A man to my right is sliced in half by a sheet of ceramite, blood streaming out of his airborne torso. Another to my left takes a direct hit from their guns, and his chest disappears in a cloud of red.
"Sergeant! Get the feth back up and fire at them!"
Regaining my senses, I stumble back to my feet. I raise my lasgun, select full power and pull the trigger.
Three shots strike my target, and I'm rewarded by a spray of green in my direction. They miss my head by an inch. The same can't be said for the man behind me. Seconds later, a dozen autocannon shots trail towards the bastard, and it's cut to pieces. A second shrieks over head, only to be turned to a blazing wreck by a high explosive round. We can beat them, I think, and turn to thank the gunners behind me. I'm interrupted by a shattering explosion of green light, and all hell breaks loose.
"Gak! Take cover! TAKE COVER! They're in range! We're taking fire!"
"My squad, spread out and get behind something!"
"Get the hell away from there!"
"Suppressing fire!"
"Get DOWN!"
Panic reigns as the monoliths open fire. Warriors converge on our position, swarming us. The remainder of my squad-me, Chaas, private Delloway, grenadier Orlov and two others- open fire on them, but our lasgun rounds simply glance off there metal bodies. The grenades just blow them in to even more pieces. Thousands of las-bolts and explosive rounds fill the sky overhead, thinning the horde, but no-where near enough. Dozens of men are cut down as arcs of green light strike them, pulling them apart, atom by atom. Chaas blows a head off with his lasgun, but the warrior is replaced by ten more. Delloway is strangled by a dismembered arm, convulsing on the ground as he fights with an enemy that should be long dead. The two others are blown apart by gaussfire and trampled under steel feet. This isn't war, this is a massacre, a voice in my head tells me. Then pull yourself together or you'll die here, I argue back. Switching to my chainsword and las pistol, the bloodied remains of my squad open fire with renewed fury, and I swipe at those around me, crippling some, killing a few. But we know we're done. We can't stay here. I'm not dying on this sandy rock just so some rich man a thousand lightyears away can sleep happily at night.
"My company, this is Captain Dalcii, we are falling back! All men left alive, get the feth out of there!"
I turn, issueing a quick shout to those around me, and we run. Gauss fire streaks overhead, uninterrupted. There is no return fire. This isn't a tactical retreat. This is the time when we run away.
I stumble and cough up blood. Looking down, I see red liquid pumping out of a cut across my chest, a sheet of metal embedded in my stomach. I'm dying. I just have time to utter a quick prayer to the Emporer, before a bolt of emerald lightning flashes in the distance and I collapse in to the red sand.
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I drag myself up to my knees, coughing and spluttering. Blood-streaked dust pours out my mouth, and a high-pitched ringing noise fills my ear. All around me, the battle rages on.
"Tythus! Sarge! Get up, I got you!" Chaas and Orlov are standing over me, pouring fire in to the advancing enemy. Lines of men and tanks speed past us, crushing eachother in their attempts to get away.
I try to pull myself up, but my legs won't obey me. Blood is still pumping out of a gaping hole in my chest. All I can feel is an intense, terrible pain. I force my mouth open, and spit out a few words in between chunks of sand and blood.
"I-I can't move...you'll have to leave me here..."
"Quit talking crap, you're getting out of here" I feel the weight leave my shoulders, and the world rushes past my eyes as Chaas heaves me up on to his shoulders. I go dizzy, and vomit erupts out of my mouth.
"Come on now... Orlov! Lay down cover fire! And by the Emporer don't martyr yourself!" I let my body go limp, as I'm carried of away from the battle.
"We're heading to an evacuation zone just a mile away. We're getting out of this gak hole, I promise".
I try to tell him to stop being an idiot and we were going to die now, but my mouth won't open and I slip in to unconsciousness.
I awake with a massive headache and a popping sensation in my ears. To my surprise, I'm not dead. Neither are Chaas and Orlov. I'm lying in a stretcher, propped against the walls of an Antioc-pattern Valkyrie, Medevac edition. A bandage was across my chest and as usual they were standing by my side. "Emporer's testecles", I mutter. "Wha...what happened?" Due to either the dust or the hole in my stomach, it was difficult to breathe.
"Told you we'd make it." Chaas says. His left arm is in a sling and his head is heavily bandaged.
"We're heading for a hospital just south of the Equator, 120 miles away now. You've been napping for the past 2 hours", Orlov tells me. He's caked in blood, and there's a stiched & plastered scar down his left cheek. "Chaas carried you over a mile in the middle of the apocalypse. I think you owe him a bit", he adds with a smile.
"Yeah, once this is all over I'll buy him a drink. How many made it out alive?"
"Out of the 10,000 infantrymen and tank crewmen? About 1500."
After a day of surgery, and 2 days R&R (with help from some drugs and bionics) I was ready to go. Our squad was joined by the rest of our former company to make the full 10 men. Dalcii wasn't there. We had a briefing in the hospitals' meeting room, where we were told our next orders.
In about three weeks time, a fleet would arrive carrying reinforcements. They would hold off the Necron horde long enough for all the remaining citizens to be loaded on to their ships and we would all fly away to some nudist colony in the sky, or something. In the meantime, we would need all the manpower we could get, to pull everyone back to the port and await evacuation.
To that end, we were to lead an aerial assault on the city of Marconi, locate the 3 thousand or so infantrymen and citizens still trapped inside, land in the Necron-infested metropolis, get to the safe zone, call in the marauders and then crawl back to the meeting place through 3 miles of rubble. Simple.
This was intended to be a quick mission. Fly in, walk out. Minimal casualties, and the gratitude of three thousand grizzled Cadians. Perhaps it wouldn't go horribly fethed up this time.
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So, comments/criticism?
Tl;dr: Lots of explosions and descriptions of people describing explosions
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