Men of the 89th: Chapter 4

Episode Four

The Kasrkins crept slowly along the bottom of the cliff-side, monitoring the town above. Thousands of years ago this used to be a thriving port town then the sea dried up as the hive's started to grow. And like many of the settlements of the Goben desert, it withered and died. Now its only inhabitants are vile brutish aliens. The only thing that stood between Delta and Beta companies advance towards the capitol city, an express thoroughfare out of the desert, and a drink of water. Captain Cassin was behind the lines for a change and was monitoring the stormtroopers mission carefully with maps splayed across a table. With him was the commander of Beta Company Lieutenant Vars. He was a tough man, wounded many times in combat, by nearly every weapon available. Aside from Kaila, he had the most augmentations of anyone in the regiment. A Rather Headstrong Leader, Vars isn't afraid to put his neck out for his men or the sake of victory, some say it'll get him killed, but he'd be the last to care. It's often joked about in the company that Vars is actually dead, he just doesn't know it. "Team leaders, I need a mission update." Cassin spoke towards the vox still concentrating on the maps. "Sixth Platoon command, We've finished the reconnoiter, significant forces in the town, heavy fortification along the cliff-wall on the west side." "Second Platoon Command. Scouting is near completion, there's nothing on either side of the town for miles. If we want water, we'll have to go through." Cassin mused to himself for a while before consulting with Vars. "Well. If we are to take to battle, I'm going to have to use Beta Company as the spear head." "Not a Problem sir, You've saved my scav ass numerous times, it's about time I repaid the favor." Vars smiled "Delta Command, to Second and Sixth, Return to the rally point, we are go mission."

The Veterans received their orders and began to fallback silently. Though they hadn't seen an ork try to venture out of the town for any reason, Henris was worried that they might run into a group of ork out-runners. Along the hot and miserable trail back his intuition proved vital as there was a small ork camp near a rocky outcrop. The camp was small, no more than ten orkz, but more than enough to annihilate his small fire team if they got their attention. Though orkz were careless creatures and as long as they stayed out of sight, their dark green armor wouldn't be seen in the blinding white sands. Henris lifted the voxmitter on his dangling mask to his face and quietly spoke "Enemy camp, 50 meters in front of us. 1 Flank left, get the one eating. Two flank right. You got the one pissing. Three on me, up the middle. Wait for my signal then engage all targets." His team acknowledged and split up. They crept silently, finding positions of strength. The Kasrkins watched their targets like hawks. Henris moved to the top of the outcropping crawling with his teammate. Most of the orkz seemed to be arguing over something that didn't matter. Henris only waited to hear his team getting into position. As soon as he did he dragged himself over the last bit of rock. A large ork was watching his underlings fight amongst themselves laughing heartily. Henris slowly lowered the barrel of his shotgun to the top of its skull. The moment the hot metal touched the greenskin's head, he became confused, and slowly reached his hand towards the barrel. Henris fired. Within seconds the Kasrkins took down the entire force and continued back to base. Just a few more kills to their names. "Sixth Platoon here, ork scout force eradicated."

Cassin waited impatiently for his forces to return. Since most of his force was under medicaed, he didn't like the though of splitting his force, even by a small margin. Beta Company had its share of Kasrkins, but the reluctant Captain trusted his to be more stealthy. All in all, Delta Company had lost well over twenty men in the 'rescue' of First Sergeant Redorn. But well over eighty were incapacitated and needed medical attention. This left Cassin with a hundred battle ready men in the entire company. A Far cry from the Regimental standard of 240 men. After what seemed to be an eternity in the warp, the Kasrkins returned, and Cassin summoned his officers and sergeants for a the briefing. Most of the Troopers who weren't begging for mercy from their wounds were bored and itching to get the coming fight over with. Sergeant Golber's squad was up to their usual antics. There was a company exclusive game being played with dice and tarot cards. The squad was teaching members of Beta company how to play. Trooper Galviston however had his sights set on the beautiful Corporal from second platoon in Beta company. Most of them started making side gambles of whether or not the obnoxious trooper were to be slapped.

"I don't think they exist." The Corporal responded. "You're from Cadia aren't you? You must have been blindfolded the entire time. Hell even I've seen a few in my day, they were almost three meters tall!" Galviston shot his arms out to try and simulated the scale. "They don't exist. I am telling you, I used to be apart of logistics, there was never any supply cache of icypops! to this day I've never even seen one." She put her hands on her hips stubbornly. "Oh really? Then you should come to my tent, you need to see what Ive got stashed away." He smiled slyly The two walked off away from the game that was starting to get heated. Some of the troopers started heckling and jeering at the fast paced card game. The member from Delta company flipped his throne, and it landed emperor side up. His flipped the tarot in his row and it came up the Emperor of Spades. He cheered and started taking the cards out of his opponent hand as Delta company began to join his cheers. The Beta company members were enraged, the player opening proclaiming the other to be a cheat. Before Sergeant Golber could jump in, the players started to get into a fist fight. Some of the troopers rushed to split them apart, and the rest cheered them on. Right as they were pulled apart the Delta member slugged the Beta member in his left eye. Leaving a nice large bruise. The rowdy crowd was growing more hostile when all of a sudden there was a sharp scream that silenced them all. "You Scav!" The Corporal screamed from the tent She stormed out of the tent with Trooper Galviston in tow rubbing his cheek with a large ear to ear grin. A few troopers in the mob discreetly exchanged coins. This worked out in the benefit of the brother companies, soon after they started to disperse when the dispute was settled.

"The old icypop bit again Ray?" Golber placed his hand over his head. "Yup." The trooper proclaimed with a sense of pride. "When will you learn it doesn't work." "Oh it worked.... I just said that an icypop would go for about a throne and a half on some worlds when she was done." "You amaze me sometimes..." Golber shook his head and walked away. Trooper Harel walked up to and asked him what the 'icypop' bit was. Galviston was more than happy to share. The Briefing let out and the leaders started leaving the tent. As Cassin was leaving with the Commissar in toe, a familiar face approached him with bandages around her waist and supporting her weight on an old and battered crutch. Corporal Hershin did her best to render a salute to Cassin, which he gingerly returned. "Sir, Am I still in command of Fifth platoon?" She tried desperately to mask the pain in her voice. "Corporal, when you are better I'll put you in charge of Fifth platoon again. Until them you need to get rest and recover, you're in no condition to fight." "I can still pull a trigger." "You can pull other troopers into your grave. Corporal, you're a good leader and a superb soldier. Look at this as a few days leave. Get some rest." Hershin nodded silently and rendered a departing salute and did her best to walk away tall. "Ah, now there's a good professional relationship between officer and subordinate." Cassin immediately knew what the Commissar was trying to get towards. "I already told you, Talk to them about it." Cassin sighed trying his best to avoid the subject. "But I have proof of their fraternization, Captain. It is against regulations." "I don't care." Cassin practically barked at the Commissar. "Oh, but I do, either you deal with it, or I will." He face grew cold and his eyes narrowed on Cassin.

Cassin Clenched his fist tightly, in defiance against the Commissars orders. He wasn't about to betray his best friends over a rule he thought was pointless. He was about to blurt something out when he was conveniently interrupted by a stack of supply crates getting knocked over by a careless trooper. Cassin immediately rushed off to 'assist', but he was secretly just avoiding the commissar. The incident was nothing of note, and the crates were quickly replied. It didn't make the situation go away, but the few moments he didn't have to think about it were much of a relief. The Commissar decided to let it go for now. He decided to venture off to take his work elsewhere. He would occasionally scold a trooper to stand up as he passed, or to pry apart troopers who were getting too comfortable with each others company. He was starting to feel a sense of boredom. Though he reassured himself that boredom was better than being shot at. Several hours later Both Beta and Delta companies were loading up for the attack. It was decided that Beta company was going to take the hardest parts of the town, and surround the outer walls then attack inward, while Delta company would assault from the nearly undefended ancient port. The mission would begin as soon as the 35th gave the orkz a rude wake up call. Beta Company was in much better shape than Delta company and could allow for a significant detachment to stay behind and man the camp. But Delta still was undermanned, even with the added support they could afford to bring in. Cassin only allowed sixty troopers to be a part of the battle, where as Beta had twice that.

"Delta command to all numbers, remember, don't wait for the Barrage to stop. Advance along your assigned corridors and you won't get schwacked by incoming." The column of Chimera's started rushing forward at a high rate of speed, changing into a line formation as they started their assault. The dried seabed cracked under the treads weight kicking up a large cloud of dirt and debris behind the line. The troopers shook inside the passenger compartment listening to the rumble of the engine and the tacking of rocks and things against the hull. They were solemn and quite, not quite ready for another fight, so soon after the last. The behavior Cassin was showing was unusual to them. He normally tried to avoid a fight if he could, not he seemed to be rushing into the heart of them. "This is One to all numbers. Distance to target eight hundred meters." They artillery barrage began as scheduled, pounding the town and any makeshift defenses the orkz would have erected. The blasts could be felt in the chimera's from their distance. The tremors grew more prevalent as they continued to rush towards the barrage. Some shots would stray into the corridors and caused a few chimera's to slow down, but by the Emperors grace none were hitting the guardsmen. "One to all Numbers. Distance to target four-hundred meters." Beta company started their charge earlier than Delta so by the time they had gotten in place delta's would charge in. "One to all numbers. We are entering the artillery zone..... Now. Emperor be with you."

The Chimera's tossed and rocked as explosions were going off almost hundreds of feet away. Beta company had started to break through the town's walls and off loading their troopers to the fight, charging with a powerful momentum. Delta company was just about to come across their toughest challenge. There was only two points which they could get their chimera's up the cliff face. They weren't narrow, but it funneled them into kill zones if the orkz there hadn't been hit. The Chimera's hit the dirt ramps and launched themselves into the ancient harbor. Lasturrets firing in all directions at stones, buildings and ork alike. Almost in unbelievable precision, the artillery had gone silent as planned. Delta continued their blitz up to the first row of buildings and started to off load. The troopers charged in to occupy the buildings, finding most of them empty of enemies. Third Platoon and second Platoon started moving into the town encountering a few pockets of resistance. Beta Company was doing their job well and drawing most of the orkz attention. "Sir, there's nothing to report, the town looks empty on our end." Kaila voxed as she had her Kasrkins break down a door. Sergeant Corben and his Platoon ran up to a small wall on the edge of a lard road. They rushed to cover and sat along the wall. A trooper peered his head over the wall to only to see the other side of the road and an accompanying wall on the other side. The trooper got careless and stood up too far. "I think its clear." His final words Soon the entire roadside lit up and bullets sunk into the trooper. Orkz started to rush to the opposite wall and began firing their poorly aimed weapons at the Guardsmen. "Third Platoon, heavy contact." The sergeant spoke almost as if he were bored.

They returned fire, popping their heads up, firing a few shots and then ducking back down. The line was a stalemate, aside from a few orkz attempting to charge across the no mans land. "We'll need to get some support in order to break their lines." "Roger that. Second Platoon, get high enough and distract them. Fourth, set up and unleash a bolter warpstorm on their lines. Sixth Platoon, flank around to the west and hit them in the sides. I'm going to reinforce Corben." Cassin started to push his troopers towards the fight. They ran down the streets hearing bullets whiz and whir over their heads. They started taking positions in the buildings over looking the road. As ordered Kaila's Kasrkins started firing obnoxiously at the enemy, their hellguns shooting bright traceable trails back to their position. The bullets started pounding the windowsill surrounding them. "Yep.. got their attention alright!." Kila shouted into the vox. "Good, Vek, you almost set up?" "Keep your damn pants on! Fifteen more seconds." The bearded man barked at his platoon to set up heavy bolters in several different buildings. He pulled out a cigar from one of his charge pack pouches and lit it.

The street was little more than a blanket of weaponfire. Even the orkz stopped charging in, and just kept shooting. Cassin and his squad crept up to the wall, keeping their heads below the painfully low wall. Corben was launching himself up, firing pot shots, and getting down giving commands to his platoon who was doing likewise. The Captain tossed himself against the wall like many others, his squad followed suit. No signs were shown of either side giving up. Cassin could have tossed the Chimera's and Little Thunder to the fight, but he couldn't rick the xenos having anti- armor weapons. "Henris, whats the ETA on your arrival?" Cassin yelled into his vox trying to beat the battle. "Give me two more minutes. Ran into uglies." The cover started to chip away, and exposing a few troopers. The fighting was so thick that a trooper tried to cross the gap made by the small arms fire, and was cut down before he made it half way. Vek watched as his heavy bolters were getting set up in the windows and he started yelling at the slowness of his troopers. Once the bolter on his floor was set up he didn't care about the rest, and ordered they open fire. Fourth Platoon hurled bolter fire and insults at the ork lines, covering the buildings in blood and debris. The gunner beside him was grazed in the arm. He looked the downed trooper with disappointment then manned the gun himself. "Be thankful ya look good, doll, otherwise you ain't good for a thing." Vek was more annoyed at the fact that he didn't get to fire his favorite bolter than anything else.

"This is Kaila, it's too hot, we gotta relocate." Almost none of the Kasrkins dared to stick their heads out the window. They either crawled or crouched away from the widows. Right as Kaila was about to move away from the window, the wall was hit by an ork rocket. The explosion tossed her from the wall showering her in debris. Her first reaction was to grab her left arm. As soon as she felt the hot metal touch her skin she let out a sign of relief, not knowing that she has a more serious wound in her side. Before she could pull herself up two kasrkins rushed to drag her away from the opening. A Large chunk of metal pierced through the right side of her armor. She didn't notice until she saw the blood running down her pant leg. She looked at the vox trooper who was holding the transmitter towards her. She shook her head. "I don't want to make him worry... I've had worse.." She began to get light headed. "Sixth platoon here, watch your targets we're beginning our charge." Henris' Platoon was across the street and ready to sweep the enemy lines. He readied his shotgun, and gave the order to charge. The Kasrkins, rushed down alleyways, and started rushing through buildings, catching several orkz by surprise. They wasted little time in holding a position, they were more focused on disrupting the xenos. A couple kasrkins charged into a building with many ork gunners in it. The brutes were too busy shooting to notice the stormtroopers behind them. Their backs filled with holes and they fell to the ground. The orkz noticed the ones below and tried to move to counter them. Henris blasted one in the gut, causing it to lean over. as he ran past he sunk his chainsword into the top of its skull, firing on another ork.

Before the aliens could turn and fire on the Lieutenant, two of his squad mates ran past him opening up on the orkz, giving him enough time to pull the sword out of the dead ork's head. His platoon continued their heated blitz along the ork lines. leaving behind a trail of bodies. It seemed a bit routine, at this point. The veterans stormed buildings and charged almost into hand to hand. They got about half way before the orkz pooled enough resources to combat them. Corben ordered a few squads to rush across the gap and to strengthen a foothold on the other side. An occasional bullet pinged off of the cement as they crossed. He then ordered his squad to rush across. He started to rush, and grabbed a trooper still firing at the orks. He pulled him up to charge; the trooper took a hit to the center of his chest and Corben dropped the trooper without a moments hesitation continuing to sprint across. Cassins platoon took the place of Corben's along the wall. "Kaila, where's that suppressing fire? ...Kaila report." Cassin voxed growing worried. They had removed the metal from her side and were bandaging her the best they could. As soon as the adrenaline wore off, Kaila's wound made it hard for her to lay still as several people tried to roll her and move her to apply bandages. The voxtrooper kept hearing the vox calls and couldn't hold her silence much longer. "This is Second Platoon, first squad. The LT took a hit, it looks pretty bad. we need some help." Cassin wasted no time sending his medic over to her position. Vek's platoon continued to open up dangerously close to Henris' advancing platoon, despite the many orders to cease fire and move up. Vek was attempting to pull his excuse that he couldn't 'hear' again. A Kasrkin was charging along the wall shooting an group orkz when all of a sudden his chest burst open spraying the wall next to him. Several of the witnessing troopers waved their hands in the air trying to signal the bolters to stop firing. Some of the distracted troopers were shot by the orkz in their attempt to stop the fratricide.

Henris cleared a corner and was met with a solid green fist to the chest, knocking the air out of him and sending him to the ground. Several kasrkins behind him blasted holes into the rampaging ork, going little to stop it. Henris, while gasping for air, aimed his shotgun at the groin of the ork as it leaned over to smash his face with both it's fists, and fired a round off. The ork cried out in pain as it fell forward, into Henri's sword as he thrust it into the beasts chest. The blood spattered onto Henris, as the alien slowly slid down the spinning teeth. He leveled his shotgun to the bottom of its jaw and shot its head off. As the ork crashed on him, the others quickly rolled the carcass off of him allowing him to gasp hungrily at the air. What little ork resistance left seemed to fall back to another line of defense The troopers were careful not to rush out blindly, there was no low wall between them this time. The fighting was little more than a skirmish this time around. "Delta Command to all platoons. Not bad, losses were minimal, now we just have to link up with Beta company on the other side. Get squad leaders to take head counts, and give me the final reports in ten minutes." As long as Kaila would pull though, he could live with the casualties this time around. "Delta command to all armor, you are cleared to proceed into town, I saw again, unleash the fury." The war machines rumbled to life as they started to roll down the crowded roads, wit the Leman Russ at the fore front.. Henris was watching the wounded get loaded up, when he was Kaila being taken away on a bloodied stretcher. He lurched forward but was stopped by a hand from Cassin. He shook his head, and told him to 'have faith'. After he disarmed Henris from rash action, he had to shake his own thoughts. "Good work Delta, the easy part is over. The fun part begins now. Who's ready to bail out Brother Company?"

• • NOTE After a computer crash, the following was lost. Cassin gets word from LT Vars that they spotted a possible Ork Chieftain. Cassin sends Henris after him. As they get closer, Henris finds a group of civilians. Then the 35th's incompetent commander orders them to fire their fire mission again because of a time zone discrepancy. Lotsa people die, and Cassin's command post takes a direct hit.**

Henris pulled himself from the debris of the building he, and a few others, took shelter in. He pulled off bits of human flesh from his face, wishing he had worn his mask instead of draping it around his neck. He searched the wreckage for his trusted chainsword. He found it wedged between two stones, any attempt to free his weapon would damage or break it. He cursed his luck. Many others, Kasrkin and civilian alike, started popping up from the wreckage. "I need a status report now." The officer bellowed into his vox.

The gaggle of civilians that shown up were not spared in the bombardment. Where most of them stood there were smoldering craters, as well as bits and pieces of them. Those that survived were panic stricken quickly charging at the Kasrkins for help screaming in incoherent babel. One of the Kasrkin, Sergeant Greth, was holding back a woman with his left arm as he tried to take a head count of his squad. He shouted out a name and waited for a reply of "here" or any other grunt and cursing. "Roman, Hinegar, Jinks, Porva, Watson, And Sarg. All accounted for." Greth proclaimed proudly. "Don't forget Shelden, sarge, he's dead." Corporal Jinks said breaking Greth's confidence.

Henris did a quick patrol around the immediate area as the rest of his NCO's gave their status reports, almost ignoring the chatter. He was looking at the civilians, watched as children ran to the arms of their dead parents, people dragging half mangled corpses from burning debris. It was the cries that got to him. He was almost inundated with the carnage of war, but for some reason he was feeling nostalgic of his youth. All of them grew up in an environment similar to this, there was no escaping death or war on Cadia. He kept staring at a little boy trying to 'wake' his parents up. The words of one of his sergeants was drowned out to him, until the sergeant placed his hand in front of Henris' face. "Sir, your orders?"

It took a second for the officer to shake his head clean and address the Sergeant. He looked into the mans hidden face, trying to peer through his tinted goggles. He tried to maintain his composure and appear deep in thought, which he was, rather than seem distraught over the carnage. "Well what's the final tally?" "Five Critically wounded, about twelve whiners, and four dead, Lieutenant."

Dead always reported last, they were the easiest to deal with. The wounded needed to be taken care of first, the dead were always patient. Not that it mattered much to Henris, he didn't have to write home to families that might not be there or worry about next of kin. Their tour's ended early and all he had to worry about was a proper burial, which was seldom an option. Henris took in a deep slow breath. "When the wounded are treated, we press on, Collect the dog tags on the dead." His voice was cold and monotone. "Sir what about the Civilians?"

Henris groaned in his mind. He almost wished the civilians weren't there to begin with. His mission would have been so much simpler, but the Emperor was always thinking of ways to test the man. He remembered that one of them offered to take some of their warriors to the ork chief, but he think he pulled bits of him off his armor moments ago. "Emperors bowels...." He paused for a moment. "See if we can get the Captain on the horn, He'll want to be these peoples white Astarte most likely." The Sergeant nodded and walked off howling at the Kasrkin with a vox on his back.

Henris lost himself to his thoughts again. They were losing precious time to find the ork chief. After the shelling the targets would have moved. The mission wouldn't change, they would find and eradicate the greenskin. He kept trying to muse on his mission, but the cries of the little boy kept crawling into his mind. This time, before he had time to hear his cries any longer, the Sergeant called to him again. "LT, we can't raise the Captain. Think they took a shellacking?" "Keep trying, Cassin won't die that easy."

On the other end of town the crowded city blocks were almost unrecognizable from before. The building Cassin chose for his command post was gone, it was a smoking ruin, with the command squad still inside. The captain's old wounds had reopened from his being tossed about like a rag-doll. He tried to crawl but every inch of his body was in pain. "Medic!" He forced out. He opened his eyes long enough for them to adjust. Only inches away from him was the voxtrooper who shielded him from the blast. Half her body was a charred mess and the other half was bruised and bloody, yet she remained alive. Her desperate cries for help couldn't be understood, she was gurgling her own blood. "Medic!" He cried again, painfully pulling himself up by his arms.

Medic Torn, along with Trooper Galviston and Harel, were clawing desperately at the loose stones to get them access to the separated guardsmen. Tossing stone after stone, slowly building another pile, they eventually broke through. Torn Immediately grabbed the captain, pulling him out. Cassin fought back begging the medic to save the Voxtrooper first. By the time Cassin was free of his tomb, she was long dead. Cassin was sat down against a concrete slab, with Trooper Galviston watching over him. Medic Torn dove back into the rubble to search for more survivors.

Within no time Torn pulled out the uncontentious Commissar, and two other troopers. The Commissar was strangely not injured at all, but he paid no heed as his skills were needed to save the other troopers. The medic wasted no time yelling at the able bodied troopers to help him, pulling out their well used aid kits to apply bandages and administer morphine. Cassin tried to stand up to help, but as soon as he got to his feet, his left leg gave out, the sound of a loud crack giving away his broken leg. He fought desperately to hold back a scream. Torn couldn't spare a moment to help the captain. He was one of very few medics in the company, and even of the fewer that were taken into battle.

The troopers kept shouting words encouragement to their comrades and they received aid, hopping that they could calm them enough to help them pull though, as if their words could heal. Torn carefully lifted the body to wrapped a bandage around the trooper. He quickly grabbed out a packet of a mixture of soap and a strange substance that was supposed to help stop the bleeding and disinfect the wound. All in vain, as the trooper Torn fought so hard to save slipped away. The dead troopers eyes glassed over only showing a peerless gaze into the distance. Torn slammed his fist into the deceased's chest, cursing.

He paused for only a moment, before the ubiquitous cries of 'Medic' reminded him of his duties. He jumped from the pit, yelling some final commands at the capable troopers. "Captain you stay there damn it, Don't let him move from that spot, I'll be right back!" Torn dashed off to attempt to save another life, only to lose it another day.

"Where's my helmet?" Cassin spoke almost in a daze as if the rest of the world didn't matter. "Probably on the Emperor's head right now, Cap, you need to rest." Galviston said in an unusually quiet voice. "I really liked that helmet..."

Henris had his platoon assembled. Those that could still fight were ready to move out. Less men were easier to hide and move than his full platoon. Though the daunting problem remained. The civilians. He couldn't take any with him, and he couldn't leave them. Sending them to Cassin would create more problems than it would solve. The people were scared and broken, not to mention hungry. Handing them over to the company would deplete their already vanishing food supply. The officer called his squad leaders into a still standing building while the rest watched over the wounded. "There's still no word from Command, we have to assume they are dead or combat ineffective. Either or we can't just dump thirty starving civies on them." Henris spoke in his usual cold tones. "I agree, but if we leave, they will follow us, making it harder to continue." Sergeant Greth added. "Emperor's Mercy?" Another Sergeant added. "Cassin would never forgive me, we can't execute them..." Henris looked away pulling his hand to his chin. "Sir I have an idea, its crazy, but it'll work." Sergeant Greth spoke up again. "We need to get the wounded out, Take Second and Third Squads to escort the wounded and civilians out of the town, then dump the civies on Beta company. LT Vars is better supplied than we are anyway."

Henris pondered the suggestion of Sergeant Greth. The plan would leave his platoon with just one squad and a fire-team left to pursue the ork chieftain. An almost unnecessary burden, he would lose two squads to almost feral civilians. The reward was even less noticeable; nothing would come from it, but against his better judgment he finally nodded and allowed his sergeant's plan. The Kasrkins started to round up all the civilians that could walk, almost as if they were detaining prisoners. Their weapons were leveled and fingers were on the trigger. Without delay the Lieutenant's first squad and five handpicked men started traveling on without the rest, not even looking back.

They traversed the war torn town scape, stepping over loose debris and listening carefully to their surroundings. Their heads pivoted left and right scanning carefully every detail, aiming their weapons down every corridor, and alley. The cacophony of battle could be heard all around them, but it was as if they were in their own little pocket of the town disconnected from any kind of fight. It was eerily silent. Henris' hand flew up and immediately each kasrkin took a knee. With a wave of his hand they moved from the center of the road, and took cover behind whatever was closest. The short range vox in his helmet hissed at Henris. "What do you see LT?" Corporal Ress spoke softly "About a dozen gretchin. They don't notice us yet. We're going to go around." His picked himself up and slunk off to the side of a building.

Without any orders a couple kasrkin already started moving down a nearby alley to scout ahead, looking for an alternate path. Henris watched the gretchin closely. They were all crowded around the wreckage of a building and were excavating the ruins. Soon several orkz showed up. They started shouting at their diminutive counterparts and smacked them across the head. They were urging the smaller greenskins to dig faster. He was tunnel vision on the activity until his vox hissed at him again. "Alternate route located Lieutenant. Orders to proceed?" Corporal Ress spoke quietly. "Wait one."

The pile of debris started bounding up and down, knocking several gretchin off and crushing them under the stones. The pile started shifting more violently and a large green arm shot out from the rubble. Henris looked back and quickly gestured for several kasrkin to move up. They stood rushed behind a burnt-out car behind what was once a house. They leveled their weapons and the hell-guns whined softly as they acquired their targets. They watched as a giant ork started to free himself from his makeshift grave and started yelling at the greenskin around him. He picked up a gretchin and threw it at an ork almost like how one would pick up a small object and throw it at someone who offended them. "Ork Chief spotted, everyone move up."

All the kasrkin that held their position quickly moved up the line and assembled with the rest taking whatever cover they could find. They watched as they orks yelled at each other in some low rumbling language they didn't care to comprehend. The aliens seemed content to sit and yell at each other while the kasrkins waited patently for the kill order. Henris made his way down the line giving specific targets to his troops. "Second from the left." He moved to the next man. "Third from the right." He tapped the shoulder of another "First on the left." and so on until he gave each man a target.

For what seemed like an eternity they waited for their commander to give them the order. Henris's Shotgun was painfully out of range to do serious damage to the orks. He moved swiftly and silently towards the cluster of greenskins, moving from cover to cover. When he rose from his cover and leveled his shotgun, he let out one burst. Almost synchronized, his platoon began to open fire. The orks were quickly cut down. Large holes were punched into their bodies several times over, some causing explosions in them. The volley lasted a few seconds and all the greenskins were dead, all except the chieftain, who shrugged off every hit and was now fixed on the nearby Henris.

The Kasrkins let up for a moment almost shocked they ork still lived, but they quickly opened up on the monster again. The creature seemed unhindered as it charged for the Lieutenant. Henris stood his ground blasting round after round at the ork. It let lout a loud warcry as it raised its large dull blade, and firing its poorly aimed gun. The shots whizzed harmlessly past Henris, but without his chainsword, and his shotgun needing to be reloaded, he wouldn't last "Aim for its legs!"

The beams of ionized light shifted from the alien's chest and started focusing on its rather diminutive legs. The sheer volume of fire was enough to slow the behemoth. One lucky shot struck its knee and the fast reaction of vaporizing flesh caused the joint to rupture, and the ork went down. The volley of fire stopped as the ork fell, and almost landed on top of Henris. The Officer sidestepped out of the path obliging the beat its right to fall on its face. The monster growled as its arms swung violently. Henris pointed his shotgun at its head. with a loud bark its head vanished in a spray of bloody mist that stained the shattered concrete and the Kasrkin's armor. "Target eliminated." He took his hand from the side of his helmet so he could speak without being head. "Emperor's nuts that was close!"

Henris didn't allow for too much celebration. Their fighting would, no doubt, get the attention of others. Henris tried a couple more times to raise Cassin, but each time he got no response. In stark contrast to the way they approached the Kasrkins held little regard for stealth and rand as quickly as a the terrain would allow for them to make it back to the company. "LT, Sergeant Greth here, Mission accomplished. Civies safely escorted to Brother company. They seem pissed." The sergeant almost chuckled.

Medic Torn consolidated many wounded into a temporary medicaed. He was assisted by the other two medics. He was spitting out orders and triaging the wounded guardsmen as the Kasrkins started appearing in the distance. The Commissar was to be barking orders in the captains place. He was yelling at a vox trooper who didn't know how to operate the device. The trooper was young, one of the replacements. Parts of the scratched out whit stripe on his helmet could still be seen. "I don't care if you are a rifleman, you will operate his majesty's vox because I said so!"

"But I don't even know how it works. The vox operators always got special training and-" The trooper was interrupted by a slap from the commissar. "Talking back to an Imperial Officer? I should have your head!" He started tapping the handle of his laspistol to scare the boy.

"Commissar!" Captain Cassin let out shout. He was still propped against the wall, only with new bandages, and a splint and sling around his arm.

The Aristocrat turned to the wounded man. The captain shook his head with a look of disappointment in his face. The Commissar rolled his eyes and addressed the young trooper again. He took a deep breath before talking again. As the Commissar attempted to talk to the trooper in a level voice, Henris hopped over the broken low wall and knelt next to Cassin. "Target's eliminated Caleb. Looks like you took a beating. Do you need me to relive your command for the rest of the fight?" Cassin shook his head in an attempt to appear strong. "Thank you, but I can still direct the battle once we re-establish communications with Lieutenant Vars." the pain in his voice was well concealed.

Soon the distant sound of explosions and the echoing of gunfire started to wane dramatically. A trooper was sprinting towards the medicaed where the Captain was. She held her lasrifle by the strap in one arm. She stopped short of running into the broken wall across from the captain. The markings on her armor were from Beta company. The tired trooper was sweating profusely in the intense heat and breathing heavily. She attempted to relay a message." "Captain Cassin....The orks.....are falling back....Just running away...." She doubled over placing her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath. "That's impossible, orks never retreat, they are too stupid. They fight to the last." The Commissar was indignant.

"Its true.... that's not the weirdest part, sir...... We rescued a buncha civies....Then your guys.... brought more to us..... like a hundred in all..." She was still bent over, talking towards the ground.

The commissar was annoyed at the trooper being so casual when relaying information, especially while addressing an officer. He would try to follow Cassin's example and not attack the trooper like his did the other. Cassin's broke away from talking to Henris when he heard about the civilians. He tried to stand up, but Henris was quick to keep him sitting. The Commissar continued to try and validate the orks retreat, unable to comprehend that a xeno could have the same strategic mind as a human. "How many civilians, and whats their status?" Cassin spoke over the Commissar. "Like I said... about a hundred in all." She stood up and took a deep breath exhaling and wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Lotta wounded, some aren't going to make it. We tried raising you several times over, looks like you guys took a beating as well." "Whats your name trooper?" "Trooper Elizibeth, Dorgal" "Dorgal, tell Vars to treat what he can, and get ready to move to the capitol, we leave tomorrow morning. The sooner we get the civies out of the desert, the sooner we do."

The trooper nodded her head and saluted Cassin before she turned around and took another deep breath before she started jogging back to Beta Company. Cassin sighed trying to make sense of the situation. He watched as more wounded came flooding into the medicaed and the relief Chimeras rolling in to extract the wounded. He tried to tally the numbers in his head how many men he had still combat capable. Almost half the company was still needing medical attention. He turned to Henris. "This just gets better and better..."

END CHAPTER