Editing Trip Into Hell (Warhammer High) (section)

===Strike Back===
Julius crossed off the days on the makeshift calendar he had scratched into the concrete of the briefing room. Nine days. Nine days since the skies fell and the Orks invaded, nine days he had been stuck on this world. By now he would have been over halfway to Calth, and wouldn’t have had to worry about his life, and Venus and her friends would be just a day out from Fenris. But on the other hand he wouldn’t have met Summer either, or Flynn, or the others, and he wouldn’t have been reminded about how important his faith was to him. Some small good had come out of the crisis after all, though the bad far outweighed it. Would he even get out of this alive? And if he didn’t, how would the others feel? His father would mourn him he knew, but would Isis? Would the other Daughters be saddened by his demise? And what would his life have meant to any of them? So many questions, he was almost drowning in them. He didn’t want to think about any of them, didn’t want to have to face the fact that his life was hanging on by a thread now, and any time that thread could be cut. That was an old saying the Space Wolf Skjalds sang, to the Wolves all lives were threads in the tapestry of fate and sometimes those threads had to be cut, or were cut.
His rather morbid thought train was thankfully interrupted by the sound of voices coming down the corridor.

“We’ve been in this hellhole for four fucking days. How much longer are you going to subject us to this farce?”

“There’s nothing I can do Dyllion. We can’t face the whole Ork horde singlehandedly, and there’s no way we can get into the inner city. At least here we have food, water and shelter.”
The two entered the room, Scvott calling out greetings to Julius.

“What do you think of all this Oll? Dyllion here is bitching about our ‘confinement’, and blames me as usual. But what else can we do?”

“You don’t need to be claustrophobic to feel ill at ease around here. I believe the old terran term for this is ‘cabin fever’. We’re all stuck here together in the dark, for g…who knows how long.” He’d nearly let his tongue slip, and apart from Summer no-one knew his real beliefs, a situation he intended to maintain. “We’ll need time to adjust to this life underground, if we are to last it out…”

Julius turned to see Flynn entering the room, wearing full gear and with his Lasgun on his back. He seemed excited or at least animated by some thought or idea. “Sir?” Flynn rarely used ‘sir’ unless he wanted something, or had something up his sleeve. “I want to go up there, to the surface, see for myself what the Greenskins are doing and find out how safe we actually are down here.”

Scvott’s reaction was swift. “But you’ll get caught, and then we’ll all be doomed. Down here we are safe, whereas you are willing to go out there and risk that safety.” Scvott spoke with obvious conviction, but while Julius admired that, he also knew that it was misplaced. Professor Ahriman had once told him ‘knowledge is half the battle’, and now that analogy seemed more apt than ever. He had to speak.

“I hear your point Scvott, but I agree with Flynn. We can’t stay passively down here waiting for salvation that, for all we know, will take months to arrive. Flynn is Tanith, and there are none who can better the Tanith at stealth. At the very least, he can find out what our chances are if we ever venture topside.”

“If his actions endanger all of us, then we all suffer. This is not about what he wants, or what I want, this is about all of us. I sympathise, but I am your commander, and my orders stand.”

“Look, I can’t see what harm it can do. Flynn knows this area well, or so he says.” Flynn gave him a cheeky grin at that. “He can avoid any Ork patrols, and find out what the situation is up above. I for one would rather know if we are the only humans left in this city.” Both Scvott and Dyllion winced at that, and even Julius silently chastised himself. If that were true, than their lives would be getting a whole lot harder. Would it even be worth staying alive down here, knowing everyone above was dead or enslaved?

“What are you all talking about?” Summer walked into the room, completing the quintet.

“Flynn wants to go topside to scout, and Oll agrees with him. But I don’t like it; he could bring a whole warband of Orks right down on top of us. We have food, water, beds and space down here; we don’t need to throw away our lives on a fool’s errand.”

Summer pursed her lips as she thought for a moment. “Honestly, I agree with Oll here. We have been four days in the dark, though it is safe and secure in here, it is cramped, dank and dingy. How did the human resistance survive like this, for all those centuries while our ancestors toiled under the xenos who had enslaved them?”

With all four of them behind Flynn’s proposal, Scvott found himself outmanoeuvred. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and struggled to find words before finally grunting out. “Fine, fine. Flynn. Go out there and conduct a tactical reconnaissance of the local vicinity. At the first sign of trouble, disengage and return back here.”

Flynn could barely keep the grin off his face as he saluted, and all but dashed for the secret exit. The sound of Flynn faded away as he crawled off down the tunnel. Once all trace of him faded, Scvott turned to Julius and said. “I hope, for all our sakes, that you are right here. All our lives depend upon it.”

“You can’t be too cautious; the best commanders take risks, even calculated ones. After all, would Horus have won on Ullanor if he hadn’t risked it all with his drop on the Ork Warlord’s fortress?” The others trooped out now that Flynn was gone, leaving Scvott and Julius alone. Scvott reached for his hip flask, offered it to Julius who shook his head, and took a quick sip.

“Oll, let’s get this straight. This is my first ever command and I’m learning on the job. I wanted to be a fighter commander, not a ground commander, but as fate would have it I find myself here commanding a ragtag bunch of civilians, hiding in a secret bunker, and I can’t even guarantee my orders will be carried out. I’m not a very good leader if I can let you all override my commands like that. Do you see where I’m coming from?”

Julius nodded. “You just need time, time to get used to the burdens of command and get to know your charges. They teach us something on Macragge, in the military academies there. To lead, you first have to follow. I’ll keep watch until he returns, or until the Greenskins find us, whatever way it turns out.”

“Oll, you are all right, for an offworlder. But next time, try to see things from my perspective as well, and don’t undermine what little authority I have.” Scvott took another sip, replaced his hip flask, and turned and walked off. He was no friend, but there was a growing respect between them, and Julius gave himself a small smile as he sat back to keep watch.

After nearly two hours of silence, Julius was startled by the sound of something coming down the tunnel. He went over and called the others in, before drawing Vulkan’s Hellpistol and covering the exit in case it wasn’t Flynn. The sound came closer, and Flynn powered up the pistol. The intruder crawled out of the hole, straight into the muzzle of the Hellpistol.

“Oy! Watch where you’re pointing that fething thing!” Flynn blurted as he felt the pistol against his head. Julius sheathed it apologetically, and called the others. They all crowded round him, eager for news from above.

“We’re lucky, no Orks above us, we’re too far from the walls, and the real fighting. I only saw one patrol, four blocks due east, and some graffiti on various buildings all around the place. No Gretchin either, which seems a little odd. However I did find one thing interesting.”

“There’s an Ork supply route three blocks west of our position. I saw two convoys of three trucks, with four bike mounted escorts carrying supplies to the camps before the inner wall while I was there. You could hear them coming from a mile off, they were so loud. They must have a fair few of those to keep the Orks fed and fuelled up at the walls.”

As Flynn talked, the nugget of an idea formed in Julius’s mind. As he talked it grew and grew, as ideas flooded into it. Summer noticed, and asked. “Oll? What is going on in that head of yours?”

“A plan. A good plan, a way for us to help the poor troops defending the inner city. We have weapons and explosives. We can hit the convoy, destroy it, and deny valuable supplies to the Orks at the wall, help the troops defending it!”

“What are you smoking Oll? Going out there to scout is one thing, fighting against the Orks directly something else. We’d be outnumbered and outgunned. Do you really want us to throw our lives away like this?” Scvott clamped down hard on Julius’s idea.

Summer chimed in. “Oll is right. If we can help the troops out there, then in our own little way we can affect the outcome of this war. The Astartes commander said himself, ‘Even the smallest pebble can change the course of a rushing river’, and any one of us can change the entire course of this war. Who’s to say this one act won’t save the city?”

“All right, who the fuck are you? And what the hell have you done with Summer?” Dyllion growled. Julius realised they had never seen this side of her, the fiery, impassioned side where her natural spunk shined. He knew her better than they did.

“This is me, the real me. And I would be glad to get a chance to do my part for the war effort, even from back here. We are not out of the fight; in fact we have a priceless opportunity on our hands. We are behind enemy lines, and they don’t know we’re here. We can do what the builders of this bunker did, fight the foe from the shadows and make a difference.” Her voice was full of fire, her body seemed to glow, and Julius didn’t have to look to see the expressions on the faces of the others. He’d had the same expression once, but now he was used to it, even if seeing her like this still brought a hot flush to his face.

“I can’t argue with that.” Scvott murmured, reaching once again for his hip flask. “Hell, I can’t seem to argue with anything you say. It’s almost as if I’m not even in command here. I know what you think Dyllion, but Flynn? What say you?”
Flynn grinned, patting his Lasgun.

“Ok, we do this. Dyllion, go to the armoury; gather as much explosives as you can carry, and some backup Lasgun powerpacks. Flynn, come with me, we’ll chart out where the best place is to spring an ambush. Oll, Summer, go into the stores and fetch some canvas sacks we can turn into satchel charges. We meet back here in half an hour.” Scvott sounded more confident, more in charge now he had an actual task to perform, and as he went off with Flynn he was already discussing tactics. 

“Well Oll, you’ve got us going again. You seem to have a knack at that. Now come on, let’s see what we can find.” As Julius followed Summer away, he could barely keep the smile off his face, or mask the fear rising within him.



“How much longer until it arrives?” Summer whispered at Flynn.

“Ahboot eight minutes, but it could be anytime. The Orks are nothing if not unpredictable.”

“Oh joy.” Julius was lying flat on the partially wrecked roof of a hab building overlooking one of the feeder roads, Lasgun poking out past a damaged crossbeam and satchel charge at his side. He had been lying there for over an hour now in the autumn sun, and he wished he had brought some sun block, though being in the open again was bliss. When they had first emerged into the light, Scvott mentioned that he felt he was drunk on sunlight, and Julius had to agree. Mankind was born in the light, and the darkness was alien to him. Summer and Flynn shared his rooftop, while across the road Scvott and Dyllion were set up as well, Dyllion wielding the Heavy Stubber from the armoury while the others had their Lasguns or Autoguns.

Now that his idea, his off the cuff battle plan was being turned into reality around him, reasons to doubt it had crept in. What if there were more Orks than he’d anticipated and they were swamped by sheer weight of numbers, or if this was a route barely used, and thus no convoy would come and this whole effort would be for naught?

Stupid Julius, stop doubting yourself, he thought to himself. He had to have faith that this plan would work, and give the team something to live for, something to fight for. This world had grown on him, and its inhabitants had grown on him as well. He was now willing to risk it all for them, and he hoped this little action would make a difference, even if only for the morale of the squad.

Summer tapped her comm-link and swiftly whispered to them. “Dyllion’s spotted the convoy. Eight kliks out and closing fast.”

This was it. Now they were in for a real fight. He settled himself down and mouthed a prayer to slow his beating heart, while he rested his finger on the trigger of his Lasgun, and rested his other hand on his Satchel Charge, ready to grab it the moment the enemy drew close enough.
Now he could hear them clearly, the loud roar of their engines clearly audible and the clouds of smoke coming from their exhausts visible as a growing smudge above the buildings. Julius heard the scraping sound as Summer and Flynn readied their Satchel Charges. Julius would have preferred Landmines, but they didn’t have the time to make any. That would be a job for next time, if there was a next time.
Now he could faintly see the Orks roaring towards where they were concealed. He could make out the shape of several warbikes and a trukk, but they were still too far off, and by now Dyllion would have set down his Magnoculars and taken up the Heavy Stubber. The waiting came continued, but for how much longer?

They were close enough so he could make out clearly what the enemies numbers were. Four Trukks, eight warbikes and a buggy were powering down that road. Their strength was above what Flynn had told them, but nothing so major they would have to cancel the operation, though Julius was mindful of the increased risks. One Trukk was full of howling Orks, the other three full to near bursting point with crudely marked crates. Food or ammo? It didn’t matter, either way it was a target worthy of destruction. He could hear Summer informing Flynn about the enemy, and then the now familiar sound of lasguns being readied.

Every second seemed to become an hour, time itself slowed to a crawl. His father once commented how action seemed to make time slow down or speed up, how a half hour battle could feel like it lasted a whole day, or a day of struggle mutate into a blur which felt like only minutes. He had never known that experience before, but now it was happening to him all too frequently.
Julius felt a tap on his leg, and knew the time was now. Do or die this was it.
Julius lit the fuse on his Satchel Charge. Twenty seconds. He hefted it back, pulled all his weight into his arms and threw it as hard as he physically could, his action mirrored by Summer, Flynn and Scvott. The Charges arced through the air and landed upon the road as the convoy sped towards. Shouts came from the Orks, who had just noticed the figures on the rooftops above them. Ten seconds. Several of the Orks on the trucks began turning their Big Shootas towards the newcomers, looking to get some shots off. Five seconds. The lead trukk crossed the first Satchel Charge and powered onwards. Three. Two. One.

A chain of explosions now rocked the convoy as the charges exploded among them. The lead trukk was blown into the air, the Ork riders scattered like the seeds of a wind-flower, and within a few seconds the others went up with it. Several of the Bikes were rent asunder by the force of the blast, and a chain of secondary explosions roared up as the ammo crates the trucks were carrying went up in the inferno.

“Wolverines!” Flynn yelled exuberantly as the explosions continued. Why Flynn called out such an unusual name Julius could not tell, he had his own problems to deal with. 
He lifted his Lasgun to bear, picked an Ork who was hastening away, and dropped it with a shot to the head. More shots came from Summer, Scvott and Flynn, while Dyllion began to strafe any survivors with his heavy stubber. The surviving Orks struggled to disentangle themselves from the wreckage, and were easy targets. Too easy, a nagging voice said in the back of Julius’s mind. Nothing was ever this easy, certainly not ambushes.

“Oh hell.” That was Summer, and she never spoke like that unless something truly was wrong. The Warbuggy was still active, and the Orks on board now had the building with Julius on it in their sights.

Julius ducked as the large calibre shells from the Buggy’s twin Big Shootas smacked into the plascrete all around him. He laid as low as possible, feeling the shots whizz over his head, some barely above him. ‘Dammit Dyllion, we’re distracting it, use that heavy stubber and shoot the bastard’ Flynn growled as the Buggy continued to strafe them. The higher pitched yammer of Dyllion’s heavy stubber cut over the throaty growl of the big shootas, which went silent.

“He heard us. That brooding bugger heard us!” Flynn smiled as he got up and once again began taking potshots with his Autogun. By now there were barely any Orks left, one or two with more courage then sense wildly shooting at the buildings with small arms or running at them with choppas held high, while being picked off by the humans. One in particular seemed to have an idea how to get at the pesky humans shooting at it.

The Ork climbed onto one of the destroyed Trukks, and with a bounding leap threw itself up towards the rooftop where Julius was sheltering. By some freak of fate it made it, and scrambled up onto the roof before Dyllion could target it with his Heavy Stubber. Julius had never been this close to an Ork, close enough to smell the sweat and musk of it, close enough to see the saliva coming from its bucket jaw.

“Green! Over here!” Summer stood up and fired near point blank with her Lasgun, but the beam seemed to do no damage. The Ork growled at her, and lumbered towards her, unsheathing an axe from its back.

“Summer!” Julius yelled as the Ork slashed at her with its crude weapon, blood seeping from a cut on her arm. The sight of her blood stunned Julius, it seemed unnaturally red, but she didn’t seem to notice. She dodged, and dodged again, but the brute was too big and strong, she couldn’t evade it for long. Finally a blow from the flat of the axe sent her flying, and the Ork prepared for the coup de grace. Seeing her lying there battered and bloody filled Julius with a burning hate for the Ork. She would be dead in just a few seconds, if nothing was done to distract the brute. She couldn’t die, not here, not now, he wouldn’t, couldn’t let it happen, not while he could still breathe. Julius reached to the Sword Bayonet hanging from his hip, drew it out and screamed. “Over here!”

The Ork turned away from Summer, noticed the weapon in his hands, left her alone and lumbered towards him bellowing a challenge. Julius suddenly realised he might have made a colossal mistake, but he had to save her.
The Ork hacked and slashed at him, but its blows were sluggish and clumsy, and he found that he could easily dodge them.

As Julius dodged the Orks brutal swings and tried to find an opening for his own attacks, he remembered how his father had taught him how to use a Bayonet, and how Ollanius had learnt the skills fighting at a place called ‘Verdun’, though where that was Julius didn’t know. Finally the Ork made a big mistake, embedding its axe into the plascrete roof. Now was his chance. He ran up and buried it into the Ork’s throat, gagging as the blood sprayed into his face.

Finally the sound of the Orks was snuffed out, leaving the crackling of the flames, the ‘pop pop pop’ of small arms ammo cooking off in the heat and the hiss of the Buggy’s engine as fuel leaked out of it from bullet holes. Julius ran over to Summer, and helped her up, checking to see how serious her injuries were. She was lucky, nothing more than cuts and bruises. Had he been a few seconds longer, she might have been dead. Summer smiled wearily at him as he dressed her wounds, and laughed as he tried to avoid touching any ‘sensitive’ spots. She offered to clean the blood off his face, and delicately she wiped his face clean with a torn section of her uniform.
As she did so Julius checked his watch, and was amazed. From beginning to end, the entire event had taken only a few minutes. Over an hour of waiting for a few brief minutes of action.

The group met up outside, and after a few handshakes and smiles Scvott went straight to the point.

“We have to get out of here, and quick. The Orks will investigate this quickly enough, and I for one would like to be a long way away from here when that happens. We take the sewers, less chance of being detected as a result.” Julius agreed, and so they slipped away like thieves in the night.



They didn’t stop running until they had reached the safety of the sewers, but once within they were consumed by feelings of victory. They had hit back, they had struck a blow against the Orks from under their very noses. Despite the stench and the filth, they cheered, whooped and even shared a few embraces. And all of them had a few words for Julius, who came up with the scheme.

“Your hair brained scheme worked Oll. Guess that fancy Macragge education you got did you some good after all.” Flynn said. Dyllion just crushed his hand again, and Scvott downed another sip from his hip flask and offered it to Julius, who this time took it. The liquor was cheap and nasty, and it burnt his throat, but it felt better than a hundred medals. Summer gave Julius one of her radiant smiles which lit up her face despite the blood and soot, and he felt his own face burn as he tried to return it. He’d saved her life back there, but he still felt like a little boy around her. 

For a few minutes they wandered down the sewer, ignoring the scum soaking their boots, awash in the glow of victory and a job well done. They would soon be home, and they would have a chance to relax and unwind.

The sound of voices wafted down the sewer. Non-human voices. They all froze. “Quick! In here!” Flynn hissed, gesturing to a large pipe several meters off the floor. Dyllion, the tallest, clambered up into it and helped the rest of them scramble in. Just in time as it turned out. The voices were now close enough to hear what they were saying.

“Ere? Whay we down here?”

“Da boss wanted us to search the sewers, sed the ‘Umies had just hit a convoy, and that dey was hiding down here.”

“Dat’s silly. Da Kommandos tried to use da sewers earlier, and found dem blocked. ‘Ere’s no way any stinkin’ ‘Umies could be down ‘ere.”

“Still, da Boss will hit us again if we don’t at least look around all sneaky like.”

Gretchin. Small Orkoid creatures, vaguely resembling the Goblins of old Terran folklore. Absurd as it seemed, Julius had to wonder how they could speak Imperial Gothic, even with such a thick accent.

Inside the pipe, they all huddled together in fear. They were all still a bunch of young adults, who had been thrust into a war none of them could have expected, and none of them were trained for. Julius felt someone’s hand grab his own, and he held it tight as the Gretchin crept past, barely even daring to breathe. He turned to see whose hand he was holding, and with a growing flush he saw it was Summers. She looked from his hand to him, and she smiled at his flustering. Mercifully, Scvott posed a whispered question before he or any of the others could see.

“Why is this pipe dried up? None of the others are.”

“I think it must have supplied the east end of the inner city. You know, where the Lantsfalle’s plan to build the Tsiolkovsky towers to speed up loading and unloading at the spaceport. Turfed out the people without a care, and would have begun demolition work immediately had the Orks not come.” Summer couldn’t hide the bitterness in her voice as she spoke. Julius wondered what beef she had against the wealthy Lantsfalle family, who owned majority stakes in both the Terra Ultramar Road and the Void Walks, but chose to remain silent.

“We’ll have to stay here until the Gretchin are gone. We can’t risk walking into them.”
For several minutes they remained silent, with only the dripping of moisture and the gurgle of the sewers. Finally Flynn posed another whispered question to break the monotony.

“Why did you sign up for this? What was your motivation in becoming a part of the CDA?”
There was further silence, before Dyllion muttered something about ‘work experience’, and ‘a break from shifting crates,’ and refused to elaborate further. Scvott was next.

“Command experience. I thought commanding troops on the ground would be good experience for when I command pilots in the air. How wrong I was.” Julius waited to hear him unscrewing his hip flask, but it never came. Dyllion murmured something inaudible at Scvott, who simply shrugged.

“I wanted to help.” Summer said. “Do my part for the Emperor and for Seadelant. I felt I could make a difference. Well, it seems even now I still can make a difference.” Her simple but eloquent words stirred Julius, who tried to ignore the fact that his face felt like it was burning up again. Why did she have this affect on him? It was his turn, and he hoped his story would stick.

“My fa…grandfather told me stories, stories about the Great Crusade. He made it sound so exciting. Now I feel those stories were never quite real, for they never mentioned the fear, the anxiety or the rage.”

“We were all told stories, of the Angelus Triumph and the great homecoming. All made it sound so glorious, so noble. If this is war, real war, then how noble could it have been?” Flynn’s pointed question touched Julius, and he thought about it for a moment before replying.

“The Crusade was supposed to last two hundred years, give or take. A blitzkrieg campaign, to use the old Jermanic word, swift, merciless, a complete and total victory. That was the plan, but thanks to the Eldar it never turned out that way. Instead it dragged on and on and on. Instead of taking a planet as quickly as possible and moving on, they stayed behind for a few years to oversee its transition to Imperial Rule. This slowed everything down, as now the Legions were spending more time as a garrison force and less time in conquest. Of course, this did not apply to all the Legions, the Wolves and the World Eaters were utterly unsuited to garrison work. Plus the long campaigns at Ullanor, 63-19 and elsewhere which further slowed the pace of conquest. War weariness crept in, so it was a good thing when the Emperor declared victory and held the Angelus Triumph.”

“You must learn a lot at the academies Oll, to have such a grasp of impractical but interesting bullshit. You thinking of becoming a Remembrancer?” Dyllion asked. Julius muttered a ‘maybe’ before shutting up again. 

“Well, Ah just wanted a chance to earn some more money, maybe score myself an Army C-80. So much better than the civilian models and so fun to tinker with.” Flynn cackled for a second, before someone kicked him. They stayed silent for a few minutes longer.
Dyllion cautiously peered out, and confident the coast was clear leapt down before helping the others down as well. Now the crept silently along, wincing every time there was a splash or other loud noise. But there was no sign of the Gretchin or anything else living, and they made it back to the bunker unseen.

Once back, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief, and then euphoria kicked in. they’d done it. They’d hit back at the Orks, and all escaped with their lives. Now they could celebrate without the fear of attracting the Orks. They all disappeared down towards the mess hall, chatting and joking. Scvott called back. “Oll, you may have just turned us into a guerrilla outfit, fighting the occupying Orks from the shadows. Flynn will scout them out, and we will destroy them, help the troops on the walls. We have a purpose down here.”
They all vanished, all save Summer. She waited for Julius, smiled at him almost shyly before asking him. “Julius, would you mind praying with me, before we join the others?”

“But my god isn’t the E…your god.”

“You have a god. You can pray to your one, and I’ll pray to mine. It beats praying alone. And besides, I’ve never discussed theology before; no-one else has ever believed the way I have. It could be fun.”

Smiling, he followed Summer into her quarters, and closed the door behind him.