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"Open your eyes Captain."

The voice sounded far away, muted.

"Open your eyes Captain."

It sounded far away, like it was from the corner of my mind.

"Open your-"

I force myself to cut the voice off. "My eyes, right. Enough with that."
No reply, I take the delay to start having my mind come to. I'm groggy and the side of my head is throbbing, must have been knocked around pretty good. My arms are tied behind me, the pressure around my wrists indicative of shackles.

"State your name." That same voice, I can't see anything yet, my eyes don't want to cooperate and my hearing is less than great.

"Not inclined to do much when I'm being treated like I am."

No reply again, I guess they don't do well with an attitude. I've figured out that I'm sitting, not laying down or upside down, the clamps around my ankles obviously connected to my seat.

"Your name." I feel pressure in my head and I'm inclined to answer.

"Qain, Loros Qain."

More silence. I finally force my eyes open, to be greeted by a dimly lit room, the only light from a very lowly lit red lamp across from me. I can't make out any of the room, no corners, walls, doors or windows.
This isn't good.

"No, Captain it isn't."

My stomach flips and my heart skips a beat. This is beyond not good.

"Fortunately, for the time being at least, you are to remain alive."

I start moving my limbs, testing my body, pulling at my restraints gently, no need to damage myself more. Arms seem to work, legs too, head still doesn't want to do much but on the upside I don't fee anything else wrong.
That pressure again, my body stops moving. "Don't bother Captain, you're secure."

"Alright then, mind telling me what I'm attached to a chair in a dark room?" Doesn't really matter what the answer is, I figure this is the fun part before they get to killing me.

"Captain, to which regiment do you belong?" The pitch of the voice changed, it was higher, a woman maybe?

I'll play along. "Sixth Balthoran Regulars."

"Correct. How many men under your command?"

"Zero."

"Say again?" I must have caught them off guard.

"Zero. Presently I am in command of zero troopers."

The voice hesitates. "How can you be in charge of zero of the Emperor's Imperial Guard?"

I hang my head, remembering. "Because they're all dead, Emperor bless them. They're all dead."



=====


"Status on the load Lieutenant?"

The man is young, far too young to be leading men into death like we do, he looks up over at me from his data slate. "Sixty-eight percent complete sir, waiting on some heavy loader servitors for the ordnance cases."

I sigh and look across the loading bay at the massive undertaking arrayed before me. All around the massive troopship there was movement, all manner of transports, tanks, heavy trucks, and men went about the giant task of getting an Imperial Guard regiment loaded into the giant ship.

"The colonel is going to have someone shot for this." I mutter to myself.

"As well he should, Captain. This is becoming a gross misuse of the Emperor's men and machines." A cold, powerful voice said from behind me.

I close my eyes and sigh again, turning around to greet the newcomer. "Commissar Ayer, a pleasure as always, come to oversee the proceedings?"

The man is my height, slightly bigger, and like all those who share his office, an imposing sight of a man when in donned in the regalia of his office. He walks up next to me, giving the Lieutenant a dismissive glance. He posture was perfect, as always, his greatcoat open to reveal his black tunic and red sash of his office, underneath. He went about armed, as most of the ranking staff did, a powersword and bolt pistol sheathed and holstered on either side of his waist.

"Indeed. Perhaps a show of what it means to fail the Emperor in anything might increase the rate in which this task is accomplished?" he says.

Great, the man always wanted to shoot troopers first and sort things out later. Shooting a trooper for not working fast enough, no, I don't think so.

"Commissar, I appreciate your suggestion, and as much as it might instill a degree of motivation, I think we won't need it." Anything but another execution, the men disliked Ayer intensely and I'm surprised he hadn't caught some 'friendly fire' by now. More's the pity I guess.

He looks at me, that steely gaze looking for something to break. I meet his stare, holding his eyes with my own, I'll be damned if this psychopath finds me wanting.

He nods and turns back to the loading dance. "Very well, has the Colonel spoken to you yet concerning the regiment's deployment?"

Of course he has you idiot. "Yes Commissar, it appears we are off to bring the light to the dark places of the Imperium once again. Against traitors if the reports are correct."

I feel someone get close behind us. "E-excuse me Captain, Commissar, but the loaders are in place, everything should be finished by the appointed departure time."

"Thank you Eian, why don't you see about getting your own gear on board and settled, I'll finish up with anything here." I took the slate from the nervous Lieutenant, Ayer ignored the man.

I begin reviewing the data slate, troop numbers, tanks, fuel, a host of information displayed in various lists spread across the small screen. I rub my eyes and begin to think that letting Eian go was a mistake, being stuck here with our sadistic Commissar and a logistics nightmare wasn't my idea of a good time.

"Something wrong Captain?" Ayer again.

"No Commissar, I just tire from working logistics, I want to deliver some good old Emperor ordained justice to the wayward." Wow, I sound almost like preacher Vough, he'd be proud.

He gave a small series of nods. "As do I Captain, but fear not there is no short supply of those that deserve His justice, and with lasgun, bayonet and bolt we shall deliver it!"

He leaves shorty after, not saying anything, something else that bothered the men; he didn't seem human. Sadly, in the weeks to come I got to see just how human Commissar Ayer was, more so than any of us had ever dared think. After all, you see who people really are in their last moments.

"Ah, yes. Commissar Dovold Ayer, killed while leading the defense of bastion twelve dash three. Reports state that his body was torn in half, can you corroborate this Captain?"

Again with the damned questions. "Yes, I saw him die. Warp spawn have a nasty habit of butchering anything not an Astartes, although to his credit Ayer did hold the thing at bay for all of a minute."
I close my eyes, remembering the scene of carnage at the outpost. Three platoons had been tasked with holding it, Commissar Ayer and Lieutenant Kros commanding, but it didn't matter.
"It never matters when you're dealing with Chaos, not when you're a Guardsman."

"Every action we make effects the powers of Chaos, Captain. Good or bad, right or wrong, our actions can either make Chaos stronger or weaker."

Why tell me this? If they were there they'd know that an entire regiment of the Imperial Guard was arrayed before the chosen of Chaos and it didn't matter. Their tanks, artillery, heavy weapons, and men never stood a chance.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. But in the face of something so awesomely powerful as Chaos, there's little more we can do than die." My throat is dry and it's forcing my voice to sound very scratchy.

The voice changed, back to the original pitch and bass of the first few questions, must be male. "It is our sacred duty to resist! To fight and die to protect His realm!"

I shake my head, annoyed. "Easy for a person who hides in the shadows to say, I wonder, have you ever seen a Chaos warband baying for blood only meters away? Stared down corrupted armor with weapons so foul that they don't shoot ordnance anymore, but some warp-spawn's bile?" I feel the anger rising in my chest as I continue. "You hide here! Safe from the corrupted masses of evil that march towards our destruction! Cowards! I fought with my boys! I watched them die, all of them!" I strain against my restraints, the pain in my wrists and ankles fueling my anger.
"For what!? A world that the Inquisition burned anyway! All of my men, my boys, are DEAD because of some idiotic notion that every world needs to be saved! We shouldn't have been there Emperor damn you! It was a fracking trap and command let us walk right into it!"
I feel that small pressure again on my mind, causing my anger to leave me, relaxing me. I sag my head and shoulders, fatigue overtaking me from the angry exertion. "All of them...just so the damned Inquisition could burn everything..."


===


"There's no way you can do it Jes."

She laughs. "Right, just like when you said I wouldn't make that last shot."

"This is different, so much is riding on this, the pressure is going to get to you." I try to stay calm, but this is important and she's making me nervous.

"Just a little more...and..." her sentence is ended by a sharp crack. The beam of light strikes the target square in the center of the 'head' indicator.

The data screen next to me chimes and adds thirty to her current score. "Damn, so much for psyching you out."

There's a makeshift shooting range setup in on of the cavernous holds of the transport ship and when not sleeping, eating, or seeing to their other duties, weapons practice is required of every trooper. Although to be fair Jes didn't need the practice at all, she was a fine shot, easily in the top two or three of the regiment, but I figured having her outshoot me might make up for being so absent lately.

She turns from the lasgun, to look at me. "You know what Captain, I think you're letting me win."

Putting on my best mask of innocence I act shocked. "Me? How dare you accuse me of such a thing!?"

I clear the data screen and move up to the rifle that's setup next to hers and begin the process of sighting it. The long las is a pretty special weapon, our regiment only has thirty, and they're old from what I can tell so I tended to be pretty gentle with them. But I've got to say, I always preferred a long las to the standard rifle or carbine, such elegance, so deadly.

"Going to show me a thing or two eh?" She pokes me in the ribs with a finger, trying to break my concentration.

"Just one thing, that's all." I finish sighting the weapon and bring the butt of it tight into my shoulder, resting my cheek on it. I look down the sight, the targeting indicators giving me an overlay of the target down range.
I hear her moving closer to me and I feel a cool hand on my neck. "Can't have you shooting in ideal conditions now can we?"
Nope. Certainly can't have that, I think to myself.

I drop my finger from the trigger guard, gently placing it on the trigger. I start my breathing, slowly in, slowly out, compensating for any adjustments my body wants to make before I shoot. Her fingers and hand still on my neck, I feel her breath on my ear now as she whispers. "Aim small, miss small."

I pull the trigger. The loud crack echoes throughout the bay and see a burn mark appear on the head of my target, kill shot. A small chime on the data pad confirms that I struck the target for the same points Jes had.
I lift myself up just enough to get around the butt of the rifle and look at Jes, who's still smiling.

"What?" I ask innocently.

She runs her hand from my neck around to my cheek and drops it to the padded floor. "Good shot boss."

I shrug lightly. "Not really. These conditions couldn't get much better for sharpshooting, no wind, no combat, no distractions. That's the only reason i even hit the damn target, I don't do so well with these things when we're in combat, probably why I use my sword. Easier to hit things."

She chuckles, looking back down the range. "Still though, at this range that's a pretty decent shot." coming from Jes that actually meant something, given her track record with sharpshooting.

"How's the new squad?" I ask, looking to change the subject.

Her smile dwindles a little and she moves back to her lasgun, pretending to re-sight it. "Fine. They're all good men and women, it just feels weird being in charge of something. I don't think sergeant really fits me."

"Said the same thing when the Colonel put me up for Captin Tias' position. Colonel pulled me aside after I'd shared my doubts and said: 'Loros, you're a good man, good guardsman, better leader. But you have to remember this isn't a committee, you were chosen because I see a leader in you, so do your damn job and lead.'" I tried to imitate the colonel as best I could, adding in his accent where I could for effect.

She didn't seem to notice though, a look of concern now appearing on her face. "I'm serious Loros, I don't know if I can do this. I mean, give me a xeno or an ork down range and I'm your woman, but leading people into a fight? C'mon does that sound like me?"

I sit up and pull myself over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, pushing just enough so she looks up at me. "You'll be fine Jes, really. Eian and I thought about this for a bit before putting your name up to get the sergeant spot. I have no doubts about you leading your squad." I try to sound sincere because, well, I am, but more so because she needs to remain sure in her ability to command, to lead, otherwise things would go to Hak in a legcart rather quickly while in the field.

The frown disappeared and she cracked a small grin. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right."

"Of course I am. I always am." I say happily while standing up.

I offer her a hand and she takes it, rolling her eyes at me. "So, this all for tonight Captain?"

"Well, I don't know..." I rub my chin pretending to think. "...there's still that bottle of Balthoran husk rum I have from back home. Care to help me finish it?"

It was her turn to play the shocked and innocent party. "Captain! How would it look to the rest of the regiment, you offering to take me back to your quarters for a drink!?"

I offer up a giant smile, forcing my teeth to show. "Hopefully not at all, I'd prefer this little gathering remain just between you and me."


====


"What did you say Captain?" the male voice asks.

No. Not Jes, I'm not going to talk about Jes with them.
But that pressure returned, pushing my mind to do what I didn't want to do. Not this time, I think. You're not going to make me do it again.

"Captain, you do realize you don't have much choice here."

I squeeze my eyes tightly shut, barring my teeth in a show of defiance. No. They're not going to make me do this.

"He's resisting me." the female voice chimes in, a note of urgency in her voice maybe.

The pressure is building, my head is beginning to hurt, the throbbing on the left side is becoming more intense. I hear a buzz in my ears, sweat rolls down my forehead and onto my nose, but I won't quit.

"Captain, you would do well to comply with us." the male voice returns.

Through clenched teeth I reply. "Never."

Through the now escalating feeling of pressure in my head, I notice a small pain in my lower back. I'm not sure if it had always been there up until now, but now it's becoming more apparent.

"He's...strong. If I continue...he may expire." the female voice again, sounding more strained.

Suddenly the pressure disappeared, as did the pain in my back. It was replaced with a cool feeling, spreading over my body, as though I'd been thrown in cold water. I tried to open my eyes, but they were so heavy, my mouth wouldn't move and my hearing became muffled. I struggled against the feeling as best I could, but whatever it was my protests didn't matter, and I black out.

I approve of this story, I really like the grittyness and somewhat total despair your main characther displays. And also the Inqusitorial aspects is worthy of praise

@Trondheim: Coolness, thanks!


The wind is bad today, worse than it has been since I can remember. The occasional bit of dirt stings my face and the constant buffet against me forces me to change my stance, legs apart and bent slightly, no need to get knocked off balance.

The rest of the party is faring similarly, Ayer has a pair of goggles on but is otherwise unaffected by the harsh winds. To my left there was Captain Boroa, a spindly man that was having a worse time of it with the wind than any of us. His smaller, skinnier frame being pushed back and forth despite his attempts to remain otherwise. A gruff voice spews out a short series of expletives to my right and I look to see Captain Heik lung to catch his cap as it makes to dance off with the wind.

"Damned wind, honestly Colonel, of all the worlds that need saving don't you think command could have sent us to one that wasn't covered by a permanent cyclone?" Heik shouts above the din.

The fifth member of our group turned to face us. "Captain Heik would you rather this world fall into the hands of heretics and traitors?" Surprisingly, the older man had no problem speaking above the howling of the wind, his voice tinged with the accent of a lower-steppes born from Balthora. "Perhaps I shall send a message to Segmentum Command that we are unable to see to our duties because the wind is a bit much then?"

Ayer turned towards Heik at that last comment.

Great Colonel, give the man a reason to kill one of your staff before we've even started the damn fight.

Heik saw the commissar's gaze and shook his head quickly. "No sir, Colonel. I didn't mean any of that, just having a difficult time acclimating is all."

The officer nodded. "As are we all Captain Heik. Try harder."

Truth be told, I liked the old man. He had a way of saying exactly what you needed to hear in a way that left no reproach, even Ayer couldn't argue with the man.

"Colonel Dheir," I speak up. "What manner of conversation did you want to have with us sir?"

He'd called us out here during a windstorm in the small hours of the morning, the commissar too. When we'd arrived, the Colonel was already here, dressed in his heavy greatcoat, armor plating, and weapons. He was ready for something.

He looks at me. "Good question Qain, straight to the point, good man." He walks towards our group, bidding us to move closer to him as to limit the need to shout.

"We have been dug-in on this plateau for three weeks now with no sign of any enemy contact. The other commanders have had similar experiences save the Mordian third armored near the captial city." he explains.

I hadn't heard of any engagements at all actually. I had been keeping up with several different contacts across the three different regiments on planet and no one had seen or heard anything.

Boroa spoke first. "The Mordian's engaged the enemy? When?"

Dheir shook his head. "No engagement boys. They were met by a delegation from the ruling governor, the same governor that ignored all messages sent by the fleet, the same governor that refused to pay the expected tithe. Apparently, the procession was pretty extravagant, the Mordian officer that greeted them was impressed."

A Mordian impressed? Now that was something.

"The armored column was met with a great celebration and allowed access to the hive capital two days ago. Reports contained nothing strange, no rioters, no looting, no form of discontent apparent with the populous. It's been the consensus among the command staff that this appears to have been a false alarm, or an exacerbated one at least." his tone indicated that he wasn't entirely sure.

I figured I'd ask. "Colonel, you don't sound like you buy it. Honestly, as much as I'd want to believe this, i can't help but think we might not be seeing the whole picture here."

"Are you kidding Loros? How many different stories have been told of some colossal misinterpretation of a communication that lead to war mobilization? I can think of ten at least, why can't this be one of those?" Boroa countered.

I opened my mouth to reply but Heik beat me to it. "Because command wouldn't send all of this firepower if it was just a tithe refusal or civil unrest, not when they use the word 'traitor forces' or 'heretics'."

"Captain Heik has a point." Ayer added.

The Colonel raised a hand to keep us from continuing, looking at the ground in thought. "I'm of the same mind as well. The forces that have been deployed here were not chosen to suppress rioting or remind a governor to whom he owes his allegiance. Three regiments of infantry and one armored, that's almost twenty-thousand men, do you really think this could just be a false a alarm?"

When you put it like that, no. Like I said, the Colonel always had a way with words, and the men loved him for his ability to see past the objective and understand how to obtain it without getting them all killed.


===


"He's coming around." the voice is muffled, close by, maybe behind me.

I feel hands grip my shoulders and pull me back against the chair, forcing my head to flop back gently. A hand grabs my chin and holds it firmly level. "Enough of this, Captain Loros Qain, do you hear me?"

My hearing is getting better, it's a man's voice in front of me.

"Yeah, I hear you just fine." my voice fills my head and it hurts to talk.

The hand lets go of my chin and the weight of my head causes me to let it drop some and I open my eyes. The room is different than it was before, the read light is gone and been replaced by a brighter, more white. light. My eyes hurt and take a moment to focus, taking in the room and the person in front of me. The room is a square, one door to my front and nothing else.

The person in front of me, well, I could speak volumes, but only one word came to mind when I saw his face. "Inquisitor." I try to put venom behind it, but I can't seem to and it just rasps out of my dry throat.

"Good. You remember me." He says smugly.

He's an imposing figure, more so than Ayer could have been. Various different armor plates and sections of robes cover most of the man's body, a purity scroll here, a trinket there. He looked like a walking gift shop more than a killer of billions.

"Of course I remember you, hard to forget the face that signed the death of my entire regiment." I lock his eyes with mine, hoping that he sees just how much I want to kill him.

Ignoring me he looks over my shoulder to the person holding me against my seat. "You are no longer needed, wait for me outside."

The hands leave my shoulders and a figure appears to my left, moving for the door behind the Inquisitor. They're smaller build than him, or even me, similarly hodge-podge armor setup, but I notice that they wear a helmet, not of any make I've seen.

Before the subordinate can leave, the Inquisitor speaks. "Wait. Remove your helmet for our Captain here."

The helmeted figure turns towards me and unhooks several clasps connected the helm to the neck brace, before placing a hand on either side and lifting it off their head.

My heart drops.

"J-Jes? I-is that you?" I stammer.

The figure simply stares at me, no emotion, no recognition, just an unreadable stare.

No, she's dead. I saw her die. "I saw you die Jes! The mob of worshipers, with the axes and swords, I saw you die!"

I look at the man. "You bastard, this is some trick isn't it. You got inside my head before and now you're trying to use her against me! I swear on everything I am, I'll kill you for this!"

I wrench my hands against my restraints and cry out as they dig into me, the same with my ankle clamps. I lean forward trying to get up and out of my chair, to get free and hurt this man like he's hurt me.

Both of them stand there, unmoved by my displays of anger, but he speaks with a bemused tone. "Threatening a member of the holy Inquisition now are we?"

"Shut up! Jes! Help me dammit! Help me!" I shout.

Her look doesn't change as she turns to leave, opening the door and walking out, letting it close behind her. "JES! EMPEROR DAMN IT ALL! JES!"

The Inquisitor winces as I yell, such a small room doesn't do much for the sound of my shouting, the hard surfaces amplifying every syllable.

I force myself to try to break my bonds again, but with the same results. I feel a wet, sticky substance trailing down my wrists and into my hands, I'm bleeding. "You killed them all! Why!? Why you bastard!"

He crosses his arms. "Because they deserved to burn with the rest of the vile planet. Because they were traitors all and the Emperor's justice was mine to grant."

We're at the muster site early, as is custom with my company, I've never been one to be fashionably late, at least not when such a hard-ass Inquisitor rides with me.

It's becoming dusk, or what passes for it on this planet. The dual-suns in the sky are still a bit unsettling and continued to burn bright even when the day entered the later hours.

"Emperor that's a weird sunset." a voice says to my left.

I nod, casting a glance upwards. "Sure is Lieutenant, nothing like home. This time back home it'd be impossible to see without a chem-lamp."

Eian looks down at his reigns. "I miss the cold sir, this arid climate is frustrating, it never makes up it's damn mind."

I found myself agreeing with the young officer, Balthora had a permanent climate of snow and freezing temperatures thanks to it's distance from it's sun. It made for a stronger way of life, sure, but there were times in my childhood I'd wished for a day without snow or a random avalanche. I suppose that's the real reason I signed on with the Guard, see new worlds, protect the Emperor's domain, and kill everything you see. I don't think I could have made a worse decision.

A polite beep in my ear notifies me of an incoming transmission. "Go for Saber lead."

I was greeted with static for a moment before the gruff voice of Commissar Ayer appeared. "Saber Lead this is Ayer, are you in position Captain?"

"Yes Commissar, Saber company is in position and awaiting orders." We'd been here an hour already you stupid man.

More static before his reply. "Mission is a go, repeat mission is a go. By His will."

"Solid copy, mission is a go. The Emperor protects." I cut the bead and switch it to command-wide communications.

"All lances, report status."

A series of ready reports from my subordinates play through my ear, everyone is ready. "Mission is a go, let's ride."

I kick my heels into my mount and he breaks into a trot and my command team follows suit. All across the plain, Saber company beings to move as one, troopers on horseback followed by larger Chimera troop transports all moving in unison.

The plain the company was now moving off of was on the other side of a small range of mountains, on the other side was a pre-hive city that almost mirrored us in location. I say pre-hive if only because the city was vast, true, but had not reached the enormous size that a hive city boasts. It's population was in the millions, mostly indentured slaves that worked the mining equipment based in the mountains nearby, and for whatever reason the city officials had taken upon themselves to increase the strength of their city defense forces, along with the upgrade of the defensive weapons on the walls. An odd choice given how the city was under the protection from the PDF already and it's defenses were substantial enough to handle and pirate rates or partially-interested transgressors.

The regiment had been ordered to take the city after communications had been severed a week ago, another bad sign. The old man had split the regiment up into our various company's, counting on the inexperienced defenders to be unable to deal with an attack on multiple fronts. My counterparts were now marching along their own designated areas of attack, our light armor moving from their deployment in the southern swamps and the colonel was leading the force moving from the west, a rock and boulder strewn canyon that the main thoroughfare ran through. If it all went according to plan, some of the Mordian artillery would shell two of the three approaches giving the impression that those were the only avenues that attacks would be coming from. My company would be the knife in the back, the city would be concentrating solely on the other two forces that we should be able to break into the city with little resistance, in theory.

It took us an hour to make it around the northern tip of the range, I wasn't interested in tiring out the entire company on a march, not when we would have to charge across several hundred meters of open killing field.

"Saber Lead, this is Saber Alpha." The vox bead in my ear crackled with a feminine voice.

"Go for Saber Lead, what is it Kros?"

A small burst of static before she replies. "Scouts have the city in sight, no activity as of yet, they do see smoke from the far side of it though."

Good, looks like the first two elements were engaging. "Copy that LT, get your boys back and in formation, once we get ourselves sorted will get on with it."

"Yes sir." and the bead goes dead. I always liked Kros, no nonsense woman that fought like an ork when it came down to it. The men under her command were some of the best scouts and hand to hand experts I'd ever seen, we'd need their expertise before long.

It takes another hour or so to get the line ready, horsemen sorting out their gear, those that rode in the Chimeras cycling the actions on their transport mounted weapons and clearing away stowage.

I tap the mic bead and my command frequency activates, signaling all the troopers in the company. "Alright boys and girls, we've got a thousand meter ride to the city walls, so keep yourselves calm and collected. Our four legged brothers and sisters need to arrive ready for some hard fighting, remember that." All of use were accomplished riders, but sometimes things like this bared repeating. "Watch for the banner, once she's up, you know what to do. For Balthora and the Emperor!"

I change frequencies as a cheer goes up among the men. "Objectives are as follows, get the demolition teams in the Chimeras to the gates and the new wall sections, breach and get inside. The hole regiment is committed to this so we don't have a fallback point, keep your men moving and fighting, if the enemy slows us down or hems us in, we're dead."

Several confirmations of my orders play in my ear. "Alright, get it done. The Emperor protects." and I kill the comm bead.

I look to the company bearer, Cyl. "You ready for this color sergeant?"

If it hadn't been for the insane bravado he'd shown when leading a charge into a chaos warband during our last deployment, Cyl Trin would probably still be the leader of platoon five. But, after watching the man's suicidal charge to recover his platoon's lost banner, and the subsequent twelve heretics he'd hacked apart to do just that, I'd decided to elevate him to the position of my color sergeant. I hadn't had one up until now, my radioman, Varq had taken up the duty and he was more than happy to get rid of the 'bullet magnet', he so lovingly called it.

Cyl was a giant of a man, rivaling the mass of the horse he road on, which seemed comical sometimes given our charges. "Of course sir. Shall I unfurl the banner?"

I give him a nod and look at Varq. "If you would do the honors Mr. Varq."

As Cyl undid the protective sheath around the company banner, letting it drape down it's pole, Varq keyed in the code to broadcast an attack order across the company.

All across the open, dust and dirt riddled field men and woman were urging their mounts to move into a trot towards the city. My command and I followed suit and I saw Cyl take up position next to me, the banner fluttering gently in the air, unsheathing my blade, I let it rest at my side.

I push my mount harder, transforming his trot into a soft gallop, my command follows suit and I hear the thunder building behind me as the rest of the company eventually follows suit.

Eight hundred meters.

I can make out more of the city now, it's still to far away to make out any sort of detail, but I notice the black smoke rising from it. Hopefully the rest of the regiment was still stuck in, it would be really inconvenient if we got to the city to find we were all alone.

Six hundred meters.

The gallop has become harder, we're picking up speed. The banner dances to and fro, the colors of the Balthoran sixth beautiful in the midday sun.

Four hundred meters.

Still keeping an even ride, my command is somewhat ahead of the rest of the company. I glance around to see the rest of my men sitting high in their saddles, blasting spears at ease on their hips, sabers bouncing against their legs in sheathes. I see our Chimeras, close on the hooves of the men in front of them, keeping pace with the running horses just fine.

The walls are even more in focus now and I can see that not all the defenders had been drawn away, some bulky turrets turn to face our charging mass, no doubt poorly trained crews just noticing us. I can see our main objective, a giant gate and gatehouse that dominates this section of wall, directly ahead of us.

It's time.

I raise my sword high and key on my vox to the entire company. "For Balthora! For Terra! CHARGE!"

I have to say I liked this when it got going. A few spelling mistakes but nothing to gripe about, good job.
I'l be looking for the charge soon I hope.

Notting like a good old cavalry charge to get the blood flowing! I approve of this latest update, beside a few minor spelling mistakes I cant say there is anything wrong. But when considering the amount of stuff I get wrong myself I would not worry about it

Fun read and I look forward to reading more.

I look forward to reding more, very interesting.

He stands there in front of me, arms crossed over his chest, his smug face carrying the hint of a smile. A smile.

I try to calm down, but every time I do I think back to the screams, the death, and all those faces looking at me as they died.

"You sonofabitch!" I shout. "You cowardly excuse for a man! Any one of my men was worth a thousand of your kind!" I spit on the ground to emphasize my point.

The ghost of a smile disappears as my words hit home and he drops his hands to his sides. Slowly, he undoes the clasp on the holster of his sidearm.

"Captain, I would advise you do calm yourself. I have seen things and sacrificed more than you could-"

I cut him off, shouting over him. "Shut up! Shut your damn mouth! You're an Inquisitor, a murderer of millions for the sake of a hundred!"

In a motion too quick for me to follow he's drawn his sidearm, a pistol of a make I can't identify, and has it pressed against my forehead. There is silence, save my heavy breathing and the creaking my restraints as I struggle to get free.

"I will kill you." He says calmly.

I stop moving and lock eyes with him. "You had better, Inquisitor, because if I ever get free I am going to rip your Emperor-damned heart out."

The next few seconds go by slowly; my eyes locked with his, seeing who would act first. Would he finally kill me? I wonder, or would he give me the satisfaction of getting my hands on him?

It was the Inquisitor who backed down first, lowering the gun as he stared hard back at me.

"You have no idea what it is to serve the Inquisition, Captain. The sacrifices needed to keep His realm alive, to make sure that those who would destroy the Imperium from within fail; I have lose more than you could imagine in pursuing my duty to the Golden Throne." His tone is level, but his eyes speak of pain and loss. Not that it mattered much to me.

I sit back in my chair, the restraints relaxing a bit against my skin. "You killed every single one of my men, the Colonel, Jes, the Mordians, even the Imperial Fists that came to see how the campaign was progressing, you Inquisitor, YOU killed them." I take a breath. "For what? A demon incursion? Heretics claiming the end times were upon us? What could possibly have been so terrible, so vast, that you signed the death warrant of so many?"

He breaks eye contact with me as I talk, my questions apparently have struck a cord with my captor. He sheathes his sidearm and walks to the door Jes had left only a few minutes before and stops, his hand on the hatch. "It was that, or lose a sector, Captain. Or maybe even more than that."

==========

"For Balthora! For Terra! CHARGE!"

I kick my heals hard into my mount, his notice to start hauling ass and he doesn't disappoint. He dashes forward, turning our quick march into an all out sprint, and I lean forward to lessen the strain on my body as we charge forward.

I glance to either side of me and see my command team right there next to me; Cyl with the company banner held high, bellowing a cry. Varq is like me, his body closer to his mount and he has his spear horizontal and under his right arm. Medic Vosk is just behind Cyl, struggling to keep his helm on as he bounced on behind us. My weapons expert Aron was on the other side of Cyle, he had his melta slung across his back and had a demo-satchel in his right hand. Apparently we would be assisting with the demolition of the wall, which was news to me.

The veteran guardsman noticed my glance and lifted the charge up a bit and threw his head back, howling. Chances were that he was going to get us all killed, but I couldn't fault him for his enthusiasm or the initiative in bringing a charge, we DID need to breach the gate after all.

I look back at the walled city before us and I begin to notice the flashes of light and subsequent smoke from the defensive weapons aimed at us. Sure enough, I hear a high pitched whistle and a second later a large explosion of dirt and rock erupts from our immediate left, showering us with debris. We keep charging through the following detonations, my exposed arms and face getting small nicks and cuts and the dust causing visibility to drop down low.

I kick my heals into my mount again, urging him to go faster, to get me to the fight quicker so that this isn't a one-sided slaughter. He whinnies loudly and I sense an increase in speed, his powerful legs carrying me through the smoke and dust and out into the open field once again. I look around, blinking away tears from the dust, trying to see if my command team had made it, they had. No one seemed hurt but as my vision changed from my team to the rest of the company I saw gaps where there shouldn't have been. As the rest of the company cleared the cloud of dust brought on by the defensive onslaught, I saw riderless horses, or troopers who were clearly dead, slumped over the reins.

I turn my attention towards the city, and notice we're getting very close, maybe two hundred meters now and with the entire company in full charge, we'll cover the distance in a few minutes, if that. I queue the transmitter in my helmet, opening communications with Lieutenant Marish, the man leading the Chimera teams.

"Saber Kappa, this is Lead, now would be a good time to introduce yourselves Lieutenant!" I shout above the noise.

"With pleasure Saber Lead!" The reply is filled with excitement. Clearly Marish was interested in doing some killing.

As one, across they company, Chimera's overtook the charging cavalry and sped on past them. I could see Marish standing in his Chimera's hatchway, bellowing into his helmet mic while brandishing his sword forwards.

Without my having to order them, the rest of the company fell into platoons behind the Chimeras, charging hard towards the gate.

More fire rained down from the city walls as the Chimeras came within range of the standard infantry heavy weapons. Autocannons, grenade launchers, heavy bolters, hundreds of small arms rained down on the armored charge. A lead Chimera must have taken a missile or large caliber round to something vital because I saw a large plume of smoke from the head of the unit.

"Saber Kappa, status?!" I shout into the mic, hoping the Chimera-death isn't Marish's.

Marish swears before he replies and he must climb back inside his tank as the sounds of battle recede. "Status is that we've got one transport down and we can't cover the men bailing out! Continuing to breach points!"

A tough call, they could stop and pick up the survivors of the dead transport, causing them to be easier targets for the city gunners, or move on and hope the gunners ignore the now, transport-less, guardsmen sprinting towards the walls.

"Copy Kappa, we'll pick them up." I reply.

We take more fire from the walls during the last two hundred meters, but the gunners are obviously not trained as anything not ordnance hardly finds it's mark among us, and the larger cannons stop firing altogether as we near the walls, their gunners unable to depress the barrels low enough to engage us. This does nothing to deter the rest of the defenders, equipped with smaller, infantry-mounted weapons and the volume of fire is enough that I start seeing troopers punched from their saddles and mounts torn apart by large caliber rounds.

Aron wastes no time riding the charge up to the supports under the right-most gate house, priming the charge and mag-clamping it on one of the durasteel supports. Likewise other troopers ride up to do the same, eager to be inside the walls and among the enemy where they can fight back. I see one trooper arm his charge mere meters before the gate house when a well placed bolter round strikes the charge kit. The resultant explosion erases both the trooper and his mount in a spray of gore and body parts, and it scythes down a score of troopers and their mounts around him.

"Frak!" I shout, as the spray from the dying covers my squad. "Clear the blast zones, Kappa, status!"

There's a burst of static and I hear gunfire. "Saber Lead we are good to go, charges placed, melta-teams ready!"

"Copy." I switch the communications to company wide. "Blow all charges!"

I hear random 'Fire in the holes!' from various detonator-wielders and then everything is silent for a moment before enormous explosions ripple across the gatehouse supports. With a scream that only tortured metal can provide, each gatehouse tips forward and falls, or rather slides, down the walls, rolling in an amazing series of small explosions and shattered metal. Each gatehouse took a section of the upper wall and parapet as they fell and along with them some very surprised defenders, screaming as they tumbled to their deaths.

A chime in my ear notified me of an incoming communication. "Go for lead!"

"Lead, this is Kappa, we have breached at the designated locations, melta teams are leading the way, we're in!" Marish sounded even more excited than before.

"Copy Kappa, proceed inside and along the established routes, see you at the rally point." I kill the line.

WIth the gatehouses destroyed in such a spectacular fashion, most of the defensive fire has slackened considerably. Sporadic small arms fire continues to rain down into us, but it's so inaccurate very few shots are true. I reign my mount around and ride over to the gate were several troopers armed with melta guns are annihilating the joints where the gate meets the city walls. Large chunks of steal and ceramite are melted and blown away, revealing complex cogs and gears inside, several melta bombs later, the door falls outward into the field we'd just charged across.

Without waiting for the dust to settle, I kick my mount into action, running over the fallen gate and into the city. "Alright boys! Let's show these traitors what it's like to face Balthoran cavalry!"

A cheer rises from behind me as the rest of the assembled troopers charge into the gap left by the fallen gate. We're met with an organized counter charge of defenders; civilians and PDF mostly, wielding las rifles, spears, axes and other pistols and hand weapons. I considered the counter attack a valiant one, if only for the moment before my sword removed a head from a screaming soldier trying to strike me with an improvised hammer. I pushed my mount forward into the small horde, hacking and slashing at the men and woman as they tried to bare me down with numbers. It seemed like it might have happened too if it hadn't been for the other two hundred, extremely gakked off cavalrymen that came in behind me. As the charge hit home I could see the enemy's morale break, their small force was content to fight the two or three of us that had initially made it inside the walls but now that the fury of almost two hundred mounted guardsmen was upon them, valor turned into discretion.

It's only minutes before we sweep the defenders from the gate and the surrounding area and I call for Varq, time to check in.

I take the vox-mic and key in the code for the Colonel's vox. "Balthora one, this is Saber Lead, how copy?"

Static.

"Balthora one, this is Saber Lead, how copy?"

More static. "Varq, can you confirm that I'm getting the Colonel's vox?"

The tech nods. "Sure Captain, give me just a second..."

Varq dismounts and puts the heavy vox caster on the ground and opens a small control pad on it's back. "You're good to go Captain, confirmed that we're connected to command's vox."

I key the handset again. "Balthora one, this is Saber lead, do you copy?"

Static, but this time we hear the faintest sound behind the white noise.

"Varq, can you clean that up at all?" I ask the tech, becoming more concerned.

He's already working on the issue, dialing in specific codes, working different broadcast frequencies. "Try it...now."

"Balthora one, this is Saber Lead, is anyone reading this?"

The return is less static and more of the sound we were hearing faintly before; it's screaming.

"Frak! Mount up!" I move to my mount, something's wrong, there shouldn't be any return sound if someone isn't broadcasting and if someone IS broadcasting this sound, that's even worse.

I open the comm again. "Balthora one, this is Captain Qain, please respond."

The static is almost completely gone this time, the screaming is clearer and another, deeper voice is heard, repeating the same word.

"Death."

Nicely done, glad to see you returnere to this story!

Been waiting for you to pick this up again and glad you did.
Reads fine enough what you've written so far, and I partically like the bit where he gets his mount running flat out . Hope this continues and we get to read the rest of the charge.

Broke the mini writers block finally.

Great story, and I love the way it jumps between time frames, that works really well. Looking forward to the next bit.