Dark Hellion wrote:Feil, the comma splice is not a particularly damning grammatical error. It is language specific and is easily forgivable in many works if the sentence retains its proper functionality. While there are clear grammatical errors I did not encounter many in the first few paragraphs that interfered with the flow of my reading. It is obviously still in a rough form and could probably use an actual proofread.
Really the ultimate goal of fiction is to tell a story that speaks to us on a deeper level than the words on the page. People will overlook grammar errors that do not interrupt this process.
That said I would recommend that Drklord does a revision before moving on. It will patch up the technical mistakes and can help to rework plotting and storytelling for later chapters.
drklord wrote:Feil and Hellion: Thank you both for taking the time to read this! Now as to my errors, of which I have no doubts there are a lot. Hellion you are right in that this is a draft. Regretably I work on this at work when I have a few minutes to myself, which is not too often. I know it may not seem that way as I post almost every single day save on weekends...but truth is I have several pages typed up. So its hard to remember what I've gone over, what was left undone and so forth.
I figured I'd star posting what I have and let people have at it. Lastly and so as to defend myself a bit from my poor grammar I must admit that English is not my first language so I think that maybe some room for error is allowed...right...right??
On a different note what do you guys think about the story itself. Fun, not fun; actually enjoy reading it, not so much...and so on.
Ziasyn: Glad to hear that you are enjoying this, more on monday.
Sorry if I sounded unduly harsh. If I wanted to hurt, I wouldn't make suggestions for how to improve.
I do think that the first sentence is an issue. The first time I read the first line, I had to stop, go back, and read it again to understand it.
Writing in your second language does explain a lot. I wouldn't want to show something so rough to the public. I guess it depends on what your purpose is. I've written in French before, and the pages always came back covered in corrections the first time... and sometimes the second time, too.
Feil no harm done, I do appreciate honest feedback if people didn't tell what was wrong there is little chance of me catching the mistake. On a different note I'm just writing for the hell of it, I enjoy and its a good way for me to not loose too much of the language...although it seems I'm loosing more that I thoght... Anywho I hope everyone keeps reading and likes the next few bits.
**********
Winter brought the camping to a halt, even blood frenzied maniac tend to freeze to death when the temperature is low enough. So the legions camped in whatever burned out ruin they found themselves when the weather became too harsh.
Thousands of soldiers died from exposure but still new recruits were drawn from volunteers, looking for loot or slaves pressed into service, wall fodder was always in short supply. The generals and their body guards continued to debase themselves, bearing standards with grinning heads taken from their enemies. Some begun to sport mutations their muscles bulging, weapons become fused to their hands as they became increasingly deranged.
Their rampaging ended a few weeks march from the opposite cost and that small kingdom that had begged from help from legends of old. Thanks to the winter those legends had time to answer.
They arrived with the first snow, row up on row of neatly marching soldiers, dressed in green, with heavy back packs, all of them armed with strange looking weapons. The other group arrived in vehicles, half trucks, jeeps, anything with wheels was used. All the vehicles were armed and had several men in them.
The commanders of each group presented each other to the leader, having dispensed with the formalities they launched into detailed plans for the defense of the city. They were the Old Breed, they were here to win a war.
* * * * * * * * * *
They advanced quickly, their numbers growing with each passing week. As soldiers were incorporated and trained rather than sent back to be modified genetically. This was decided by Evan after conferring with Jonas and the Emperor, there weren’t enough resources available to change every soldier, so rather than send all the men they encountered only the best were sent, the toughest most able and prepared. The youths that showed the most promise were sent back to undergo the process of becoming Astartes.
Already the number of the Emperor’s angels had swelled to well over five thousand, the secondary facilities had been brought online and medical personal under the care of Jonas was overseeing the process. The emperor had whimsically called those medics Apothecaries, citing that the name was very old and it had been a respected position in old days.
These Apothecaries were Astartes themselves, the knowledge they had possessed as normal humans augmented by the hypnotic conditioning, infusing them with the knowledge needed to insure the transformation process was as safe as possible.
The long summer had allowed Evan to advance swiftly, he left no stone unturned; those few places that would not submit peacefully were quickly conquered. His army was over half a million strong, counting amongst their number over fifty thousand genome soldiers, and a little over three thousand Astartes aside from his own personal guard.
The new Astartes were divided by the Emperor’s command, each one bearing different armor colors, and answering to different names. Evan didn’t care so long as they were loyal to the cause.
Some of the battles had been truly bloody affairs yet blissfully short. The truth of the matter was that they had not come across any force capable of facing them in battle. In all the battles thus far the clashes had been short but brutal. There was little technology available to most of the cities they came across. A few artillery batteries here and there, some heavy autoguns with limited ammo and in one case a malfunctioning lascannon which had exploded after the first shot.
From what the Emperor had told him humanity had fallen very far in terms of technology, something he wanted to remedy.
The army was camped on a long plain, a small celebration was in progress as a new city had fallen in line after one of the baneblades had fired a shot at the massive city gates and had promptly reduced it to so much dust and pebbles. The newest citizens of the Empire were happy to have joined them.
As Evan looked over the camp from a small rise he had the feeling that this was the last easy victory for them, that from here on blood would be spilled all over the galaxy to reclaim their birthright.
His enhanced hearing picked up the approaching whine of a craft’s engine. He looked at the distance and could see several Stormbirds bearing down on their position. That was strange, normally only one or two of the transports would fly back and forth carrying Astartes candidates or delivering special supplies. But from what he could see there were at least twelve of the transports bearing down on them.
“Blood must be spilled, let the blood of the enemy flow”, the voices spoke clearly in his mind. They had alerted him to the plotting and scheming of his enemies, their heads now adorned the pikes that surrounded his palace.
He had become a massive man in a short time, easily three meters tall covered in solid slabs of muscle that had begun to harden now, resembling bronze plating. He had commissioned the forging of a huge double headed war axe which had been quenched in the blood of hundreds as it was forged giving the steel a dark and ominous aspect.
His once gilded throne room was an abattoir of horror and death, blood covered every square inch of it, skull were pilled in corners and about his new throne. His courtiers were much like him debased beings eager to spill blood, corrupt the innocent, and destroy all that stood before them.
Winter would soon end and the campaigns would begin a new. His armies would once again start sending slaves to sacrifice. But he tired of staying in one place he wanted to kill. “Yes kill all, take their skull for the true God.” The voice had been more insistent of late, telling to kill all, the other voices had been silenced by that one. The effeminate one that promised pleasures had been the last to grow quiet; the first had been that grating decaying voice telling him that all was dust, including him.
Picking up his weapon he stepped down from the throne and looking around issued the command they had all been waiting.
“Gather your weapons we go to join the fight and slaughter our enemies!!” His voice had become deep and powerful much like the rumbling of distant thunder, the creatures around his throne cheered at this, those that still could, other howled and screamed, bloodlust taking them instantly.
The Bronze emperor set forth to join his men at the front of battle, he set off toward the west were his best troops waited for winter to pass and war to begin again.
* * * * * * * * *
The ships landed in a large clearing a few hundred meters away from the camp, the ramps opened but no one stepped out, after a few seconds of waiting every gun in the vicinity was trained on the Stormbirds.
Finally a lone figure emerged from one of the ships and begun to walk toward the waiting guns. It stopped before the craft and addressed the assembled soldiery.
“Lower your weapons and go get Evan, tell him Jonas is here.”
Even as Jonas spoke a large figure pushed its way forward. “Go ahead men, lower your guns, he is a friend.”
Having heard that the men lowered their guns and resumed their celebrating. Evan walked toward Jonas, the two friends clasping hands when they came together.
“Evan I bring orders from the Emperor, you have to take as many Astartes as can be fit into these ships and go to the base. There seems to be trouble brewing back in our old home. I have to assume command while you are gone, so before you leave please be kind enough to appoint a second in command that can bring me up to speed.”
Evan simply nodded and walked off bellowing orders, eager to comply with his father’s whishes. Soon enough he had manage to cram a hundred and twenty four men in the ships, all of them in full combat armor. His body guards, all one hundred of them, and twenty four members of the Luna Wolfs as they called themselves.
A few hours of flight at the best speed the birds could manage saw them to their destination. The men quickly disembarked as other Astarte and technicians swarmed over the ship, checking that all systems were primed and refueling the vessels.
The Emperor was there waiting for them, impatience and concern etched on his face. He motioned for Evan to follow him as he walked off deeper into the mountain complex. A few minutes later they were both in the Emperor’s throne, sitting behind sealed doors.
“Evan there is something you must know, we will face many enemies in our struggle.” Evan nodded in quiet understanding, having already faced a few enemies in the past months. The Emperor continued. “However this you don’t know and I have waited until now to tell you because I had hoped to further prepare you, but events are outpacing me. So here is what you must know about the nature of our enemies and what awaits us from this point forth.”
The Emperor begun to spin the tale of mankind, of their conquest of the stars, of how the first colonies were established in other planets, how the first alien races were encountered and peace was forged with some while bloody war erupted with others. He told him of the elder races in the galaxies, the Eldar and the Necron and the terrible powers they wielded.
Finally the Emperor came to the issue of the Warp, how it had accidentally been discovered while experimenting with the first teleportation devices, how he had helped to create the first warp drives that allow mankind to spread further into the stars, and finally of how they discovered the inhabitants of the warp.
He told Evan of the four gods of Chaos, of their power and ability to seduce even the greatest of mortals, he told him of the evil they had wrought by corrupting powerful men and women, and how they had brought their minions into their plane of existence to kill and destroy. Evan listen quietly to all that was said, making no sound through the long hours that the Emperor spoke, merely listening and memorizing all that he heard.
When the Emperor finished he looked at Evan, waiting for an answer, questions or some response. Evan was quiet for a long time, processing all that had been said, twisting and turning the information in his mind until he understood the deeper truths of all his father had said.
“I believe I understand father, but was this why you summoned me and my men from the front?”
“No, I told you all of this so that you may be prepared for this. I have sensed for sometime a dark power growing, it has nearly reached its full power I believe and it has become a problem, especially if we allow it to sink its roots any deeper. Yet in all darkness there is light, I sense there are allies that may be gained from this so I want you and your men to fly back to your old lands. Fly beyond its borders to the opposite coast, you will find and old city there, it will soon come under attack by this dark power. The city and its defenders must not fall.”
Evan nodded. “It will be as you command father, what information can you give me as to what we will facing?”
“I expected that by now the corrupting influence of the warp has managed to gather a large number of followers, also expect those closest to it leader or leaders to be possessed or severely mutated. Yet all is not lost, call you men I will give you the last bit of technology I was saving, this should even the odds.”
The Emperor opened the door, the two Astartes guarding it outside stood a little straighter, if rock could become straighter, the two figures walked out while Evan told his men to gather at the door of one of the deepest armories.
When the Emperor and Evan reached the door all three hundred of Evan’s men were standing at attention waiting for them, some in armor some in robes all stood rigidly.
The Emperor tapped a few codes and opened the massive doors, lights flickered on along the ceiling bathing the large chamber in a soft white light.
The men stepped in after the Emperor and their commander and stood quietly behind them. The emperor walked over to a weapon rack and picking up the weapon there he addressed the assembled Astarte.
“This is a bolter, I had not shown this to you before because I had hopped that none of the weapons stored here would not have to be used on this planet again. The bolters and its variants are some of the more reliable weapons you will ever use. They fire large caliber self propelled ammunition, this ammo can be armor piercing, tracer rounds, hellfire rounds, and many other kinds.”
He handed the weapon to an unarmored Astarte, the superhuman easily held the weapon in his hand as he looked over it.
“The weapon is heavy but can be easily used by any of you, whether you are wearing armor or not.” He turned again and walked to another rack, coming back with medium sized weapon. “This is a plasma gun. One of the most devastating and effective weapons ever created, it fires concentrated energy bursts capable of melting tank armor. It has a medium effective range but its lethality is unquestioned.”
The Emperor continued to bring weapons forth so that the Astartes could pick and choose their weapons; all of them took a bolter as a side arm. Plasma guns, heavy bolters, lascannons, rocket launchers, power fists, lighting claws, and many other instruments were presented to the Emperor’s chosen and forgetting themselves briefly they acted like children picking and choosing their weapons of choice as if they were toys
The men were fully armed and armored, Evan and his command squad wore terminator armor as was their right. The rest of his men wore tactical armor, all sported several weapons, even a few heavy weapon teams were formed, one of the them with heavy bolters and two of them using lascannons. They were a fearsome sight to the any who would call himself enemy of mankind.
The Stormbirds were loaded to maximum safe capacity; the entire hangar would be cleared when they left. One hundred and fifty men from Evan’s detachment would go into battle along side the twenty four Luna Wolfs that had joined them. They expected a quick victory, the Emperor made short work of that notion.
“You will face an enemy unlike anything seen on this planet. For the first time since you put on the armor you now wear you will face an enemy that can not only kill you but also take your soul. Do not underestimate your enemy because you think them tattered, ill equipped or undisciplined, they are the very stuff of chaos and if they win this planet will be plunged into eternal darkness.”
The Emperor’s words had subdued the almost festive mood of the Astartes as they prepare to enter battle as a group for the first time, this would be the first time that the line would be held by them and only them. The words uttered by the Emperor disabused them of the notion of a quick or easy victory and remained them of their duty.
As one they clapped fist to heart and boarded the transports. Once they were all loaded the hatches were sealed and one by one the engines powered up and lifted their cargo into the waiting night sky. The flight time would be a little over four hours as the ships could not push pass their safe speed due to the heavy loads they carried.
Speeding off into the night the Emperor watched them go until they were only speck of light in the distance and even after they vanished from his sight he continued to watch for a while longer. This was one of those places he could no foresee, that Chaos would show their hand so quickly made him wonder if it was simply a mistake on their part of if there was something else to all of this.
* * * * * * * * *
The debates had gone on for over three months, the different sides posturing theories and ideas, all of them backed up with nearly flawless logic, each of the in the end amounted to nothing.
Their leader had finally silenced the all with a wave of his hand and had in the end commissioned that a full investigation team be sent to gather more information so as to more clearly ascertain the nature of the events taking place. By his command one of the old cruisers that still remained online was loaded and armed. A full detachment of guards was seconded to the team and they begun the burn that would set them on a collision path with earth.
That had been a month ago, the large ship now approached the dark side of the moon orbiting the third planet. The more delicate sensors on the ship picked up the faint energy signatures and begun to analyze them, soon enough the cogitators were giving their report. The sensors identified over fifty different signatures some distance away, the largest of those were consistent with Battleship class vessels.
That alone nearly froze the commander in place as he had not seen a Battleship in his whole life, the making of them had been lost. The sensors identified no less that twelve distinct readings that fit the parameters for a ship of that size.
If even one of those vessels detected them they had no hope of escape. Calculating the amount of information gathered he judged it was prudent to turn about and return to report. This new information had to be analyzed and processed, it simply could not be correct.
Night slowly gave away and daylight begun to creep forward as they moved faster than the earth rotates toward their target. The ships were flying high to avoid being seen, they wanted to maintain the element of surprise.
An hour later a shoreline came into view, after crossing the vast beaches they begun to see a nightmarish landscape. Ruins, fire, death and decay seemed to cover the land, the earth had been scorched, all remnant of civilization had been scoured, save for the massive citadel that Evan used to call home.
It had become a black sore on the land, a cancerous growth which he would expunge. They continued toward their destination, eventually they came on a scene plucked from the very depth of hell.
Evan signaled and the ships plunged down firing down on the enemy, the strafing runs left bloody swaths of earth as the enemy was slaughtered. They did not make a second pass but rather carried their cargo behind the defenders line
* * * * * * * * *
The fighting was about to resume after a short lull in the battle. The Generals of the seventh cavalry and the roughnecks had taken the break to redraw their plans. They had used the winter as wisely as they could, the locals under the direction of the newly arrived soldier set about building defensive positions. Trenches, pillboxes, pits, traps, over lapping fields of fire, every single military trick in the annals of history was brought to bear.
Their scouts had been keeping tabs on the enemy and the force that was coming down on them was several times larger than what they could muster. Even counting the local defenders, militia and volunteers; they were in for one hell of a fight. But then again if that wasn’t the case the Old Breed would not be here.
The enemy was mustering for another charge and the distinctive and unmistakable shouts of a sergeant cut through the air.
“The first one of you motherless sacks of waste to fire a round without my saying so is going to run out and bring back that bullet!!”
“Sir. yes Sir!!”
The automatic response to any order given cut through the growing noise of the approaching force. From the back the sharp crack of high powered rifles being used by the sharpshooters could be heard, beginning the killing all over again.
“If any one of you sorry excuses for a human refuse dies without killing at least ten of the enemy I will drag your ass back from hell so you may watch how I carve out your liver.” The Sergeant was drawing his weapon and aiming at the coming enemy.
“Sir, yes Sir!!”
The enemy continued to advance, some figures begun to run toward the waiting guns of the defenders. Those that got to close were dropped by precise shots from the hidden crack shots. The rest of the mob begun to run charging the line.
“Ready, aim, KILL THEM ALL!!!”
A solid wall of fire leapt from the defenders to a man the first and second ranks of the enemy were killed or wounded. Once begun the steady barrage of fire begun to take a heavy a toll on the aggressors but this time the charge continued, they were not pulling back. All the traps had been found the hard way and still they came.
“Bayonets, prepare for hand to hand combat!!!”
The defenders fixed the long knives on the tip of their guns and continued to fire once done. The clash of the charging enemy was deafening, they had been driven insane with bloodlust, nothing short of death would stop them now; so the Old Breed obliged them and continued killing in earnest.
Every time the line seemed about to collapse elements from the seventh arrived to shore up the defenses and keep the enemy outside of the next killing field. As the left flank threatened to fall a deafening roar cut through the battle, a score of flying machines swooped from the sky raining death on the enemy as they continued on to land behind the defensive perimeter.
That broke the attack, flying machines were too much for even blood crazed maniacs and they begun to pull back, very few managed to retreat.
The sergeant wiped blood from his face and picked off some brain matter from his uniform. “Well that was timely I wonder what in blazes was that all about. Get the wounded to the infirmary and bring some more ammo here double time.” Whatever had happened the General would tell him if needed, aside from that he had a line to defend.
The Stormbirds landed in the rear staging area, taking up almost all the mustering space. Amidst the smoke and dirt kicked up by the landing order were shouted, weapons brought to bear and the crafts were quickly surrendered.
Eventually the air cleared and the ships were visible again, they were very large ships, bigger than any artillery piece most of the soldiers had seen. The General from the Old Breed, made his way quickly to the landing site, side arm drawn he was carefully examining the crafts, the weapon mounts were still smoking from the resent action. A ramp was lowered until it hit the hard packed dirt. A dark and massive shape slowly made its way out until it stood before the assembled soldiery.
The thing was massive, easily 3 meters tall; it looked like a walking suit of armor. A large hammer rested against it right shoulder and a large shield was held on his left hand. A booming voice came from the metallic monstrosity. “Who commands here!”
The general did not hesitate for even an instant, he took two steps forward and answered in a loud and clear voice. “This is my battle field, who in the hells are you?”
The large figure moved forward until it stood before the general. With a sure move it set the shield into the hard ground, driving several inches into the hard soil, the hammer too came to rest against the dirt, head first. The figure moved its two arms up and removed its head covering. A very human face was now visible and the general relaxed ever so slightly.
The large man placed his helmet under his arm and looking down on the general addressed him. “I am Evan, the fist of the Emperor of Mankind, and these are my men, his angels of death” Motioning backwards with a hand the general now saw that while his attention had been completely fixed on the large man before him the other vessels had disgorged their cargo, now there were over a hundred armored men standing amongst the ships.
The general was unmoved by the title the armored being used to refer to himself, there were always lunatics about, but rarely had he seen such lunatics armed and armored like these. With a critical eye the general examined Evan and the troops behind him; they were not talking amongst them selves, as far as he could see. Weapons were evident on all of them, and the man before him stood there emanating an aura of command that he had rarely encountered.
“Yes, that’s all very impressive, but that doesn’t tell me anything, why are you here?”
Evan looked at the man and a small grin escaped his stony face, the man had a no nonsense attitude he could appreciate.
“General we were sent here to help you stop the enemy you now face. We are the guardians of a very powerful man and we were told to come and defend this place to the last. Does that satisfy your curiosity of is there more you would like to know?”
The general had noticed the grin and as the heard the larger man speak he could tell that the person before him share the same sense of humor he had. “Well and good then Evan, now why don’t you tell me what you know and we can see if we can help each other out.”
* * * * * * *
He railed, howled and screamed, several bodies lay scattered about, broken beaten and bloodied. The Brass Emperor disliked defeat and so he took his displeasure out on anything and anyone around him. He had continued to change through the winter, his fists were now encased in bronze, his chest seemed a solid plate of armor and his height was now easily over four meters tall.
One of his generals stood nearby, looking blankly as yet another soldier had his skull literally smashed into his chest. The hulking brute turned to the general, a red glow coming from his eyes, with his booming voice he addressed the general.
“Why have you not killed them how is it that my forces have been pushed back?!!”
Looking down the general answered, “My lord as we were about to push them back our forces were attacked from the sky, the soldiers broke and ran, several hundred have already been executed for their cowardice.”
“Attacked from the sky? By what, giant birds?”
“My lord one of the lieutenants said that they seemed to be flying transports, large enough to hold a tank at least. They were heavily armed and fired with no warning on our assault forces.”
As the officer reported the giant’s chest slowed its heaving, a small semblance of reason returning to his mind, this was new but he would not be denied, he would crush those that had dared to oppose his rule.
“Order every single man forward I want them destroyed, every last single man, woman and child, nothing is to be left standing, NOTHING!!”
******************
It took some doing but Evan finally convinced the two defending general that they were there to help. Having few options left to them the generals had take Evan on his word alone that he and his men were there to help.
“Gentleman I saw your defense layout on the way in, it is very impressive, your main problem is that the enemy outnumbers you very badly so they will be able to flank you, in fact if they had any brains at all they would have done so already.”
“We know that! We just thought we were having a little luck and their commander was simply inexperienced. But from what you’ve told they simply don’t have any strategy other than to charge forward. Though with the numbers you are estimating they may do just that, we simply don’t have the men to stop a full scale attack.”
Warning trumpets sounded from the front a man came at a dead run. “Sirs they are attacking and it looks like every last motherless one of them is coming this time.”
Evan looked at the two men. “We can hold the center for as long as you need, leave a few units behind so that the enemy doesn’t make it behind us in large numbers. Use those men and vehicles that were stationed at the center and flank them, push them onto us, we will break them.”
“You are mad, even as big as all of you are there is simply no way you can kill them all fast enough before they bury all of you under a pile of bodies.”
“Don’t worry about my men; they can do as I promise. Push them on us but don’t attack their center or rear, your men can’t kill the leaders of this army, trust me.”
“Fine it’s your funeral” So saying the general of the Old Breed turned and begun shouting orders for his men to gather up their equipment and prepare to redeploy. Evan donned his helm and begun issuing orders. One hundred and seventy four mountains of armor moved to occupy the defensive positions just vacated by the Old Breed.
Heavy weapon teams set up their ordinance; other checked their weapons to prevent any possibility of jamming. A faint rumbling was picked up by their enhanced hearing, like a distant avalanche, moving forward.
Soon enough dust and distant shapes could be seen in the horizon, the enemy was coming and they were indeed many of them. Evan hefted his weapons, he had no ranged weapons, only the sword and shield given to him by the Emperor, they would be enough. Around him his personal guard readied themselves; they were ten of best soldiers in the whole army. Deadly with every weapon and now armed with superior armor and devastating firepower, the enemy had no chance.
Evan opened a channel to all his men. “Astartes, today we meet the arch-enemy for the first time. We will conquer the day for we are the mailed fist of the will of the Emperor…” The charging enemy continued to draw forward, individual soldiers now visible to their enhanced vision. “We will crush His enemies, leave them no place to run we are his angels of death and today our judgment will not be denied.” The fist enemies were reaching the outer range of their weapons.
“Brothers the battle is before us; do your Emperor proud, kill them all!!” A wall of death crashed against the charging enemy like ocean waves. Bolts, beams and bluish balls of burning plasma hit the chaos army, dark oaths ripped from burning throats answered and the tide surged forward the battle for the fate of mankind had been joined.
Evan and his men were quickly enveloped in a churning sea of bodies; much like rocks on a beach they remained unmoved as the tide broke around them. Their armor was covered in blood they stood on the corpses of the fallen and still the enemy came.
Already several of Evans men were out of ammo so they resorted to their fists laying about them, crushing skulls, bones, sinew and muscle, nothing could stand against them. Chief among them was Evan, wielding his shield and hammer tirelessly, every swing saw several of the enemy killed. His guards with similar deadly, efficiency killed everything they could reach.
Soon enough the enemy were trying to move around them, trying to continue moving forward but staying away from death’s embrace. To no avail, death found them all, bolter, plasma, flames, swords or fist, death took on a myriad forms that day and it would not be denied.
The number of bodies pressing in begun to mount, sign that the flanks were being punished, it was time. Evan signaled and six of the Stormbirds rose from the ground, disgorging their remaining ordinance on the enemy, there was no defense from them.
“Into them!!” Ordered Evan through the vox system all but the heavy weapon teams begun to advance, crushing the enemy in their wake. Evan made out a very large figure a short distance away; it was easily head and shoulders taller than him. He began to make his way toward it.
* * * * * * *
The vessel had returned fairly quickly to its orbiting berth, the members of the expedition disembarked in quick order and called a gathering so that information may be quickly communicated and the proper analyzes begun.
At first it was believed that the sensor data must be wrong it was impossible that so many battleships had escaped their notice for so long. It was concluded that they must have been powered down almost completely to avoid detection. However the question remained what to do with about those ships and more importantly who or what had powered them up now and why.
No clear consensus could be reached; sessions were called to an end and begun a new over and over. Theories were postulated and invalidated one after the other. In the end it was decided to wait and see, as no clear conclusion could be reached it was decided to activate as many ships as could be fully crewed. Weapon platforms were brought online and sensors were re calibrated to maximum range.
Every possible precaution was taken and so the priests of Mars waited, for the first time in many centuries uncertain at what the future would bring.
* * * * * * * * * *
Once the enemy had been sighted Evan carved a straight path through the press of bodies, his flanks guarded by his men they carved a bloody path. One the emperor’s generals sought to stop Evan, unleashing a powerful blow which he caught on this shield, the answering blow from Evan hammer sent the offending wreckage that had been a man flying through the air to land before the Bronze Emperor.
As the body landed broken and lifeless before the chaos champion Evan and his guard broke through the ring of enemy soldiers surrounding their leader. They were impressive combatants, armored, driven and possessing great skills and killer instincts.
Evan sized up the enemy, its axe, massive arms, armored chest and impressive height. “You must be the pawn of chaos, kneel and repent.”
The emperor’s booming laughter echoed through the battlefield. “Little man, I serve the Blood God and your skull will make a fine addition to his throne. After that I will seek out your leader in the far east and take his head as well.”
Evan was mildly surprised that the beast knew about his father.
“Yes puny thing I know about your master, I know more than you imagine, I will lay you low and claim this planet in the name of the Bronze Throne and the galaxy will drown in blood.” Saying that it brought the massive axe to a ready position, it could block and attack or unleash a deadly swing.
Evan motioned for his men to guard his back and moved forward, shield and hammer at the ready. That beast would not win; this victory would be for mankind. Those thoughts caused the head of the hammer to flare with a powerful blue glow, the shield as well begun to pulse softly.
As Evan approached the emperor moved forward far faster than something his size should have been able to and leveled a powerful blow with the handle of the axe. Evan barely caught the blow with the shield, the force of the blow made him stagger back three steps as he regained his balance.
The chaos champion pressed forward thinking he had the upper hand, the axe’s head follow, thinking to split the shield in half. Evan was not there, dodging to the side instead of blocking the blow he was able to launch an attack of his own.. A powerful jab with the head of the hammer aimed at the head of the foul beast.
It sensed the shift and moved the head aside taking a glancing blow to the shoulder which made him howl in pain as the weapon was charged with Evan’s faith which was anathema to beasts of the warp. Raking claws sough to take Evan head from his shoulders, moving his head back prevented that, but the long dagger like nail scratched the surface of the helm.
Evan moved back quickly removing his helm as the nails had damaged the optics, the emperor pressed forward, causing Evan to dodge and block a series of furious blows. He was on the defensive, parrying and dodging waiting for a chance to strike back and go on the offensive.
The chaos champion was a fraction too slow on the return swing of a blow, it was a fraction of a second but it was enough. Evan shocked the bronze emperor with the shield shoving it backwards, giving himself room to strike and he did. A powerful blow to the right side of the chest, a deep ringing noise signaled that his aim had been true. As he pulled back a dent was clearly visible, a bleeding dent.
The blow had staggered the killer, dark hissing blood dripped slowly from the wound left on his armored chest. Howling it attacked again, clumsily this time, as the pain and the injury were great, Evan side stepped again and once more unleashed a masterful circling blow to the same spot, again connecting.
The dent was now larger than a man’s head, and the armor was cracked, blood flowed freely and the enemy went to its knees, the righteous power of the weapon too great for the corrupt human vessel to take.
They stared into each other eyes and Evan with a massive overhead blow exploded the fiend’s head in a shower of dark blood and grey matter. The body fell back on its haunches and remained there kneeling headless.
Last edited by drklord on 2010-06-24 07:30am, edited 1 time in total.
Although I do think the antagonist could have used more development. He started out as a fairly sympathetic figure; even if we fundamentally disagreed with his choice we could understand why he made it. But that only lasted one section before he started basically acting like a comic book villain. I think it would have been more interesting if you made his transformation more gradual or fleshed it out more.
Wait, is the Emperor at the battle? I thought he stayed behind at his base a few chapters ago, or did he show up between chapters with more reinforcements than originally were dispatched? Not sure if I lost the plot thread somewhere.
Actually, I made a mistake when copying what I have ready and I skipped a ahead a bit. Sorry!!! Mistake fixed and a new update bellow.
************
Evan stood before the headless corpse of his enemy while the battle still raged about him, his guards were keeping the area around him clear of any potential danger, fists, power swords and bolters dealt death to the enemy at every turn. Evan kept his hammer and shield ready, looking intently at the body before him, something nagged him.
It had been too easy, too quick, he had tasted the beasts power, it was stronger than he was, quicker too. He was fairly certain the battle should still be raging in full swing and he should be loosing. He looked at the remains of the head, searching for any potential dangers but there was nothing there, the axe as well simply lay there.
He turned from the corpse and went to help his men; the enemy was not relenting with the death of their leader. They continued to throw themselves onto Evan’s men, the heavy weapon teams continued to lay waste at any and all. A dull roar from the left signaled the flanking attack of the Old Guard and from the sound of it seemed it was going as plan.
The enemy kept fighting, they were unrelenting, if anything they seemed to be fighting with more and more abandon, they had killed thousands already but there were still a lot of them left. A deep ringing sound brought Evan’s head around and saw that the corpse of the dead emperor had fallen, looking intently at the prone body it seemed to swell and then burst, showering everything in dark blood. A dark cloudlike miasma seemed to seep out of the ruined carcass and dissipate to the east.
The enemy soldiers begun to slacken their attack and in ever increasing number they begun to run back east, trailing behind the wispy cloud that flowed away from the battlefield. Evan signaled his men to stand their ground, a few took the opportunity to reload their guns a fire into the backs of the fleeing enemy, hundreds more died as they quit the field.
Evan signaled for the men to fall back to the trench lines. Walking backwards until they were certain that none of the enemy were coming back the Astartes made their way back to their lines. He motioned for one of the common soldiers standing about gaping at the blood splattered giant to approach him. Evan instructed him to go find his two commanding officers and tell to call of the pursuit for the time being.
The soldier saluted smartly and left at a dead run to fulfill his orders.
* * * * * * *
The Emperor was looking at the battle unfold, he saw Evan challenge his opposing number from the enemy army. Saw the fury of the battle and the apparent victory of his son but much like Evan he suspected that everything was not as it seemed. The warp had allowed him to peer at the battle as through a view screen but the vision was obscured and not all was clear, even to him.
When the body of the chaos pawn fell forward he cast his awareness right on top of it, trying to discern what was happening, what happened next was odd to say the least. The dark energy that seeped out from the ruined vessel was a pure distillation of violence and death the likes of which he had never sensed before.
Before he could bring his power to bear on the presence it had vanished from this warp sight, leaving only a faint impression of where it had been, but none as to its destination. The Emperor saw that the battle was won so he pulled back his awareness to ponder what he had just witness and how it could affect his plans for the rebirth of mankind.
The broken bodies of the enemy laid scattered about like discarded toys, arms, legs, weapons all tossed about as if a giant had been playing with them. Evan stood surveying the field, occasionally a single shot would ring out signaling a final mercy being given to friend and foe alike.
Next to Evan stood the general of the Old Breed, his right arm on a sling courtesy of a stray round. The general regarded the scene with eyes that said that he had seen such before, but not like this, not this many in one single place.
The general turned to look at Evan, his armor cleaned once more, the filth of battle finding no purchase on the gleaming surface.
“Tell me who you are and how in the nine hells were you able to hold that center with a hundred odd men. Nothing short of a battalion should have been able to do that.”
Evan’s head turned to look the general in eye. “Me and my men are not like other soldiers, we have been enhanced in every possible way by our master. We are the best of mankind, and after seeing you and your men fight I would like to extend an invitation to you.”
“Go on then, I’m listening.”
“Give me you best men no more than a thousand of them, they will be trained and changed like my men and I. You I would like to invite to meet my father, I think he would like to meet you.”
“Well, tell you what I’ll do. Take me to meet your master and if I am convinced that he is as honorable as you say then I will give you my best men for you train and I will join you. If just a hundred of you can do that much damage I can’t imagine what a whole army can do.”
Evan smiled at the general response, he couldn’t help but like the man there was an air of confidence about him and surety of command he had rarely encountered before.
“Very well general, let make sure that my men have things in hand and we will leave at once, we should be there in a few hours.”
Having said that Evan and the General parted company. One headed toward his command tent to make sure that everyone knew what had to be done and the other moved to the large waiting transports.
* * * * *
Darkness stirred deep in the dungeons of the corrupted palace, a figure in dark armor stood before a large stone table. Thousands had been killed at his lord’s request, and thousands more had been killed while he was away. Now a dark cloud was gathering over the table, his master’s essence had returned with the destruction of its physical body.
The armored man was the captain that had first joined the bronze emperor, now a figure of dread, he was carrying out his master’s final instructions before rage had finally consumed him. He had performed the ritual as had been instructed now all that was left was to wait and see if the untold thousands that had been sacrificed were deemed adequate tribute.
A tear appeared on the altar, a red glow begun to emanate from the cracks on the stone surface. The room was bathed in red, blood and heads were evident all over the room, piles of discarded heads in different states of decomposition were every where.
The stone continued to break apart, pieces of it begun to clatter to the floor, other chunks fell inward to vanish into the growing void. The dark cloud begun to descend, a kneeing sound begun, the cloud lowered until it was nearly touching the surface of the growing vortex, a large head begun to emerge from the void.
The cloud begun to dissipate swallowed by the growing figure. It was a massive being, easily five meters tall. Large red wings dominated its back, a huge curved blade was grasped on its right hand and a large whip on the left. Rage emanated from the being, much like heat from a furnace driving back those around the opened portal. The black miasma that had floated about until then was absorbed within the emerging body, with a distinct crying sound it was gone.
The large figure rose to its full height, the tips of its wings nearly brushing the ceiling. Its read eyes gazed about the room and an ear splitting roar came from its maw, Succorbenoth, champion of the blood god once more walked in the realms of men.
The flight was short and thankfully uneventful. The three Stormbirds made their way quickly made their way over what was once Europa. They made a stop along the way when they reached Jonas’ command post. The army had been progressing steadily forward, new units of both genome soldiers, Astartes and even regular warriors had been incorporated.
Evan was surprised when he saw the regular warriors marching along with the genome soldiers.
“Jonas why are those men marching about here, what did you do to my army”
“Evan we had more men volunteering to join that our facilities could handle, old men, young, even a few women. Rather than turn them away I thought we could turn them into garrison troops and what better way to learn the trade than the way we did, fighting in the front lines.”
Evan thought about this, it made sense of course, the again most of the ideas that Jonas had made sense. Grinning at his brother in arms Evan simply shook his head ruefully and turned to introduce the smaller man at his side.
“Fine Jonas do as you think best, you always do anyway. On a different topic may I introduce General… Evan turned to the man, you know in all the running about I never asked your name.”
Jonas barked a laugh at that. The general smiled politely extending a hand toward Jonas.
“I am General George Patton, commander of the Old Breed. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Jonas took the hand in a firm hand shake. “It is always a pleasure to see that there are still men out in this world that fight for what’s right. I must admit I already knew about you and your men, our Lord had already informed me of your victory over the warp fiends.”
“Did he now, well your friend Evan here is taking me to meet your Lord and see if we are on the same page as to what is what.”
Jonas smiled at that, taking an instant liking to the man, Evan simply looked at the smaller man used to his nonsense attitude and candid way of speaking what was on his mind.
“Jonas if you don’t need my help I will push on to the main compound.”
“Go ahead we have things well in hand we should be able to move against the next large settlements in about a week.”
“Good.” Turning away and beginning to walk back toward the waiting craft Evan stopped and turning his head yelled out to Jonas. “Still you might one to push your scouts forward we flew over a large ambush party about thirty five clicks due east.” Grinning Evan continued to walk toward the ships.
Jonas cursed slightly as his friend once again demonstrated his complete grasp of a battlefield, and though he was getting better he would never be his friend’s equal. Smiling slightly Evan called his second in command to give him the necessary orders.
The Stormbirds roared as the engines were brought online and the ships once more resumed their course.
A few hours later the three transports were landing inside a brightly lit hangar were several figures could be seen moving about, some armored much like Evan other wearing simple clothing. Things had changed a bit it seemed.
The ramp lowered and Evan walked out. Two golden armored giants saluted Evan and fell in behind him the smaller general as they moved away from the ships and deeper into the compound.
* * * * * * * * * *
Moving down the long corridor toward some unknown destination made George slightly paranoid, it was in his nature to suspect everything and everyone. Still this people seemed fairly honest so far and there was little he could do at this point, the two golden armored giants at his back would crush him in a blink of an eye as could Evan. He had a few tricks he could try still but the truth was he suspected they would not work against them.
Still he found himself hoping that this Emperor they were taking him to would be someone worthy and not another puffed up poppy jay with delusions of grandeur, though if his soldiery was any indication of him this was a man to take seriously. They came to a large metal door and the party stopped, George waited patiently, unconsciously tugging down on his uniform so as to straighten it out.
The way opened in response to some silent command and they entered a large room. It had several large columns on each side and massive looking command throne on the far back. A figure could be seen sitting there, it was almost as big as his escorts and from what he could tell it was not wearing armor. The figure moved, as if surprised at the interruption and stepped down from the throne.
It moved swiftly and stopped before Evan, it extended a hand and they gripped each other by their forearms, the ancient salute of warriors. Evan turned and motioned him forward. He moved and came to stand before the man, for though it was larger than any other he had ever seen that’s what it was, a man. Regal in form, from his movements he could tell he was a consummate warrior, and his voice demanded obedience.
“Father, may I introduce General George Patton, commander of the Old Breed and the reason we had a sure victory over chaos.”
The Emperor looked down at him and extended a hand. “A pleasure to meet you General, I knew your name sake long ago.”
The general took the proffered hand and found a strong grip. “Sir that’s impossible as far as I could gather that was several thousand years ago.” Even as he said that he realized that he had seen those eyes before. Peering intently into that raptor like gaze he was shocked, the face the eyes, he had seen them before, he paled.
The Emperor looked at him and with a slight smile addressed him again. “What is the matter general you seem as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I know you, I have seen your face before, in a portrait from one of our founding fathers, but it’s impossible, the portrait is even older than my name sake, you cannot be alive.”
The Emperor smiled at him. “Yes I know the portrait you are referring to, and yes it’s me in that portrait. I may appear young but I can assure I have lived many, many years.”
He turned then, and addressed Evan who nodded and smiling down at him motioned for the two guards to move back. All three left leaving him alone with the Emperor.
“I thought it would be best if we sat down alone and talked. I imagine you have many questions and I have a few of my own as well.”
He cursed again, he was no general another explosion rocked the command structure. Evan had been true to his word there had been a large force waiting at ambush but he had underestimated how large. Several thousand soldiers had chased his scouts back and were now punishing his forward elements.
Another explosion signaled that his artillery had begun to hit the aggressors. A shout from outside alerted him to some imminent danger. The tent flap was flung to a side and a man wielding a heavy blade charged directly at him, several other shapes ran after him similarly armed.
In the moments it took to process this Jonas’ flung a kinetic shield that could withstand any number of hits from the simple edged weapons before him. The charging soldier bounced back from his shield when he struck it a few feet from Jonas. The tent was now divided on one side Jonas and the other with the four enemy soldiers.
“Stop at once or I will have to kill you!” yelled Jonas over the din of battle.
The four soldiers grinned, clearly not believing a word. He concentrated on the weapons and they begun to heat, eventually all four dropped their blades as they became too hot to handle. Jonas continued to focus his power and the weapons begun to glow red at first and eventually white, the heat coming from them drove the soldiers back. Jonas recalled the flow of power and left four puddles of cooling metal.
“Leave now before the same happens to your bones”
The four men turned and fled through the tent, four cracks signaled that his guards had already returned and had put an end to the threat. He sighted, he hated being a general.
* * * * * * * *
“So how old are you?” He was sitting calmly in a rather large chair, before was the figure he’d come to know as the Emperor, no name had been volunteered and thus far he had not asked for one.
“Nearly as old as mankind itself, I have ever been in the shadows guiding, teaching pushing the species forward. There have been times when I wish I could lay down the burden but as an old friend once said, ‘death is lighter than a feather, and duty is heavier than a mountain’. I have struggled for nearly thirty thousand years to bring us to this point where mankind could once again take its rightful place in the galaxy.”
He was shocked into silence, that this man could be that old was impossible; he actually looked younger than him. The easier explanation was that he was making this up so he thought to test him.
“If you are as old as you say then tell me about my home, if you are the man from that portrait then you must know all about that place.”
The Emperor grinned at him as if had been expecting no less, he begun to talk sharing details and information that few people would know outside of the superintendent’s inner circle.
“You are not making this up, you really where there, and I assume you knew my name sake as well?”
The Emperor simply nodded.
“Amazing, simply incredible. Well I suppose that someone with your age and experience must know what he is about, tell me what you can of your plans so I can decide if me and my men will follow your banner.”
They talked for several hours, sharing their deep understanding of war, both of them veterans of many conflicts. By the end of their talk they shared a deeper understanding of each other and the seeds of a deeper trust were planted.
The Emperor offered to take the best one thousand men from his army and make them in Astartes and offered him command of one of the growing armies under His banner. He agreed to the offer sensing in this Emperor someone that he and his men could follow. So the Old Breed, the oldest standing army in the planet joined the burgeoning Imperium of Man.
The next few years were spent fighting and building. The Emperor and his men battled for dominion of Earth with an endless string of kings, generals, princess, emperors, witch kings and other exalted figures. Many of these capitulated rather than face the Emperor’s growing army and the power of his generals. A few resisted bitterly and were annihilated, their names no more than whispers in the wind or a note on historic records. All of them fell to his wrath; all save for the dark kingdom that had become the foothold of chaos on the planet.
The dark prince had not been idle in those years, gathering power onto himself, summoning some of his lesser brethrens and all those corrupted souls that he could call. Succorbenoth had become a mighty lord, his power constantly augmented by the sacrifice of slaves and gladiator games in his name. It could sense also the ever growing power of the Emperor and his allies; he relished the battle to come and prepared the realm to that end alone.
The men about him were bloodied warriors, veterans of war, steeped in murder and lacking in any moral code what so ever. Slaves increased their numbers further, and beasts from the warp came at their master’s call. The winners from the gladiator games were included into the dark prince’s honor guard, where they became debased animals, frothing mad lunatics that exist only to fight and kill.
On the other hand the Emperor was pleased with the progress his armies were making. Few enemies had been able to delay his plans for more than a few weeks. Those few enemies that had he had seen to personally, converting a few that he deemed would be worthy contributions and obliterating those that were truly dangerous.
Evan and Malcador continued to grown in power and stature becoming extensions of the Emperor’s will; peerless warriors and leaders of men. Evan had become a warrior that simply could not be defeated, in battle he and his men were death personified, laying waste to entire companies. Malcador had become the hand of Emperor, a close confidant and friend, inducted into the deepest mysteries of the Emperor’s plans and charged with the administration of the ever expanding territories.
The Imperial palace was already under constructions at this time, it would be a structure without equal, housing thousands and administering the functions of the realm. The Emperor had also commissioned Malcador to gather as many psykers as could be found and to begin to train them so that they might navigate the warp.
General Patton and his men performed above and beyond any expectation that the Emperor had of them. Most of his men remained regular humans, and most of those volunteers that could not undergo gene therapy were sent to him for training. The number of men under his command continued to grow and they soon dwarfed those of the more specialized forces of Astartes and genome-soldiers.
After the battle against the combined forces of the Panpacific Empire where General Patton and his men had held the center alone for five hours against the main force of the enemy while the Emperor and Evan flanked and killed their tyrannical leader Narthan Dume. The Emperor felt his faith on mankind justified. He assembled all those men that could stand and conferred on them the honor of being called the Imperial Guard, an ancient title reserved for those truest of soldiers, the most loyal and brave a leader could command.
Now the forces of the Emperor stood poised to realize his dream and unify earth under one banner, one throne. The blighted lands that were the domain of Succorbenoth stood before the assembled hosts of mankind. A line divided the land where the corruption of chaos begun and earth ended. Yet as the Emperor approached that line it seemed to recede with his every step. Evan, Malcador and Patton stood behind him, their men ready behind them.
The Emperor turned to address his armies. “Brothers, we stand before the last enemy on this planet, and a most foul and wretched foe it is. We walk into the mouth of madness and yet I am not afraid because you are with me. You have bled and died for me, I would not trade the life of anyone of you for anything in the galaxy. I ask you to march forward with me on this our last battle for the liberation of our planet before we take the next step into the great beyond. We will conquer the stars and mankind will retake its place as the rightful ruler of this galaxy.”
So great became his voice in that moment that no man failed to hear it, their eyes glowing with the glory of what they were about to accomplish. The emperor turned and begun to walk deeper into enemy territory, his three companions following him, and behind them came their entire army.
To the great credit of those soldiers not a single one hesitated or turned away and as one they stepped behind their leaders matching them step by step. From deep in the lines one of the members from the Old Breed took up an ancient song he had found somewhere and begun to sing, the men about him picking up the tune as they heard it….from the halls of Montezuma….
The march into the heart of the realm was thankfully not a very long one as the flanks were harried by unnatural beasts and in some places the very ground seemed to come alive and assail the soldiery. In response Evan moved his men to either flank so as to contain those assaults and Jonas deployed his strongest psykers among the formations so as to help project warding energies.
Sighting finally their destination the Emperor stopped, before their last bastion the armies of the enemy were marshaled. It was a great and dread host, twisted and corrupted humans moved about, beasts from the warp were also present in great numbers, and towering over them was the massive form of Succorbenoth.
The Emperor turned his head slightly and Evan approached him.
“What do you suggest?”
“We seem to have the advantage in numbers, weapons as well, but those warp beasts may even the scales quite a bit. I suggest we advance and then use our flanks to push the enemy onto our center. Astartes and genome heavy weapons squads can hold the line along with Patton’s troops. We can then use the rest of the specialist troops on our flanks to hit them hard and push them on the waiting guns at the center.”
“I like your plan, though I dread the cost to our men. I want you to give me three hundred of your best men to act as my guard; I have to take care of that towering beast and don’t want to be bothered by anything else.”
Evan nodded and spoke quickly into his vox, three hundred golden armored troops came at a run, weapons readied, they formed a large circle about the two figures and waited for orders.
The Emperor motioned Malcador and Patton closer and told them of the plan. General Patton was not very happy about it, but as he could offer no alternatives he concurred. As for Malcador and his men the Emperor told him to stay away from the fight and strike at targets of opportunity as they saw fit.
Having all agreed on the course of battle the orders were filtered down to the rank and file and soon things were in readiness. The last battle for destiny of the planet was about to begin.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Succorbenoth surveyed the enemy before him, he was barely able to restrain his bloodlust. Blood would flow today in the name of Khorne, he would lay a mountain of skulls before the feet of his master. He could sense his enemy out there, a being of golden radiance; he would take that one’s skull and use it as his codpiece.
His chosen warriors were eager for battle many of them already lost to bloodlust, waiting only for his command to charge forward and kill the enemy.
He saw the enemy begin to prepare to advance and decided that he had waited enough; he would not give them time to finish whatever dance they were performing before attacking. Unleashing a deep and powerful howl his forces begun to advance, a few of the more demented creatures simply leapt forward and ran headlong against the enemy, they never reached the enemy lines.
His forces advance more or less in group, massing forward slowly; he had a few tricks left to play, as he did not want his army dead before they could reap their bloody harvest of skulls.
He begun to move faster, to be near the ban of the attacking force, he finally let his rage loose. Yelling at the skies, “Blood for the blood god!!” His forces surged forward beginning to run toward the waiting guns of the Emperor of Mankind.
Like a black tide the forces of chaos charged toward them. The Emperor nodded to Evan and motioning to his escorts he begun to ran to the left flank. Evan and his terminators positioned themselves on the very center of the line. Patton and his men were just to the right and a few hundred meters behind were Jonas and his strongest pupils.
At Patton’s command the first line went down on one knee, the second rank closed in and so managed to present a double line of guns aimed at the enemy. Mortars and rockets launchers spoke and death rained on the charging enemy and the sharpshooters begun their bloody work.
As the smoke from the explosions cleared the defenders were greeted by shocking sight, none of the enemy had fallen to the initial salvo. Lost in his bloodlust Succorbenoth couldn’t help but grin, his plan had worked and he would have his battle. The front ranks were all armored in cuirasses blessed by Kohrne and anointed in the blood of children. It would afford the wearer great protection.
Uncaring of the charging foe Patton ordered a second barrage with greater effect this time, as the charging front ranks pressed forward the shells fell amongst those further behind blowing limbs and shattering organs.
Jonas and his men had not been idle in the short while, he had sensed the defenses around the enemy but was unable to do anything in the short time he had about it. There were too many men and the bindings on the armor were too strong. So ever the practical man he communed with his men and begun throwing glowing orbs of warp fire, the vicious substance clung to its victims and burned with an intensity close to that of plasma, consuming limbs in seconds.
The heavy weapon teams manned by the Astartes and genome-soldiers were having greater success in killing the enemy but there more than they could kill in the short time they had.
But the damage was done the enemy had closed in and their crude weapons begun firing to great effect. Those armored maniacs that were not burned to death managed to reach the lines and begun their bloody harvest. Evan and his men stood grim, all of them already had close combat weapons unsheathed and ready. Evan’s weapons glowed with his unshakable faith, the white brilliance coming from those weapons made him seem a being of pure light.
Patton ordered his men to fix bayonets to their weapons, those that still had their own weapons drew them, crude axes and swords were readied as genome-sergeants drew a few power swords and prepared to welcome the enemy to death’s warm embrace. The ensuing crash between the two forces was titanic, screaming maniacs meet silent and grim faced soldiers that with cold efficiency begun to kill all in their path.
Patton’s men yelled oaths and curses as they engaged the enemy, while the Astartes ever the figures of awe calmly and efficiently begun dispatching every single enemy they could reach. The death toll begun to rise for both sides, for even with superior weapons the sheer madness of Succorbenoth soldiers was staggering. Men with wounds that would have killed any other human twice over still managed to hack down a defender before dying from blood loss.
Evan and his men were the rock on which the whole line was anchored; they were unmoving mountains of steel, armor and determination. The dead were piling up in front of them so they stepped on the rising mound of bodies, crushing several with the sheer weight of their forms. They wanted to be visible, to call the enemy to them and crush them in the Emperor name. They would not falter.
As the battle reached its peak a dark armored figured armed with a glowing black sword approached Evan’s position, bolters and energy discharges seemed to bounce of him. It pointed its weapons directly at Evan and held the stance. Evan looked at him and simply whirled about and begun to walk toward it, the challenge accepted.
Protip: when the thread has been quiet for nearly a month and you have absolutely nothing useful to add, PM the author instead of pissing off everybody by getting their hopes up and letting them think that there might be an update.
DPDarkPrimus is my boyfriend!
SDNW4 Nation: The Refuge And, on Nova Terra, Al-Stan the Totally and Completely Honest and Legitimate Weapons Dealer and Used Starship Salesman slept on a bed made of money, with a blaster under his pillow and his sombrero pulled over his face. This is to say, he slept very well indeed.
Work is a drag, I sincerly hope that those that can avoid it do so for as long as humanly possible...short update to quell the masses and keep readers happy.
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The two combatants squared off, both of nearly equal size. One driven by faith the other by madness, each equally ready to take the other apart limb from limb.
Evan watched his opponent, the stance betrayed that it was an experienced warrior, the blade held before it readied to parry or swing to attack. There was a grace of movement which bespoke of speed and agility; this was probably the most dangerous foe he had faced since that possessed fool, his old master.
They circled each other, waiting for a sign of what the other would do so as to anticipate and use that opportunity to strike.
Around them the battle continued to pick up in intensity, bestial howls and grunts of determination could be heard all around. Autocannons continued their endless chatter, bright balls of bluish plasma splashed against the enemy formations, engulfing those unlucky enough to be struck full on, axes, swords, maces, claws all rose and fell with deadly intent.
Duel were fought between enemies, while full out brawls were decided right next to them; in other points along the line firefights were carried out by entrenched soldiers. The air was thick with blood, ozone, screams, oaths and the stink of death. Smoke begun to cloud the sun and soon the fight was being carried out in an eerie twilight.
A platoon of genome soldiers fell upon a large contingent of enemy soldiers and with cold and unerring efficiency killed them to a man. A few meters down the line a squad of utterly insane men fell on one of the Astartes and after tearing his helm off managed to crush his skull, though not before loosing half of their numbers.
Evan tiring of this posturing begun to move inward as he circled his foe, small steps carrying him ever closed to his enemy. A slight shift in the weight of his foe betrayed its intentions; this was enough, though just barely, for Evan to deflect the vicious blow. Evan answered with a jab with the head of his hammer which was in turn stop with a parry. The fighters continued their dance, ever more complicated moves were countered and answered by the other, and a deadly ballet was begun with no clear end in sight.
Evan managed to slip a blow against the left shoulder of his enemy but not without taking a hit to his leg, which to his surprise was not stopped by his armor. The weapon cut through the adamantium as if it were wet paper. The hit from his hammer had also wounded his opponent; each combatant withdrew a few steps breathing heavily. Each warrior having to acknowledge that the other was his match as they fought to recover their breath in the ever thickening atmosphere.
Far to the side the Emperor and his escorts had finished moving away from the battle and had begun to circle around to hit the enemy from the rear and hopefully sever the head of this fighting juggernaut. The Emperor signaled and the one hundred and one figures moved to the right and begun to head back into the fight.
**********
“Grenades!!”
Several small round shape flew from he entrenched soldier to detonated in clouds of fire and shrapnel killing a large group of chaos soldiers that were trying to flank a heavy weapon squad. Patton stood on a slight rise his augur eyes on everything at once, companies were shifted about, ordinance called down and men’s spirits bolster. This is what he had been born for and he’d be damn if a rag tag collection of lunatics over ran his position
A rather large and demented soldier was trying to force his way through the line, Patton saw him off with a very carefully place head shot which blew out the idiot’s brain.
“Shore up the line now, nobody gets through!”
Nothing could get trough, his men were guarding Jonas and his disciples, if a group of those maniacs got through they could play marry hell with those men. Most of them were unarmed and unarmored.
A round whistled past his head and he turned, finding the offending marksmen out of range of his bolt pistol he signaled a heavy weapon squad and a rocket was soon flying against the distant position. The small rise was engulfed in flames killing the shooter and several of his cohorts.
A few week spots were beginning to be visible to his trained eye. The enemy was unrelenting and his losses kept mounting. So he made a decision to bring some heavier elements into play. A double tap on his comm. was all that he needed to really start things rolling.
*Tap, Tap*
A few second later a few pebbles begun to shake as distant rumbling approached and became ever more audible. He had been saving this for a key moment, not wanting to even risk cursory damage to them, but it was now or never as they say.
As he turned he saw them coming full out, the Seventh had arrived. Sweeping out on the flanks, they charged head on into the enemy, heavy bolters blazing. Blowing up whatever was not crushed under the treads of the heavy half trucks. That should keep them busy for a little while as he prepared to play his last card.
Patton turned and ordered two squads of genome soldiers to bolster the center line to the sides of an autocannon nest. He continued to watch the battle unfold, his heart already heavy with the many men he had to send to their deaths. Even Astartes were beginning to die from the constant assault; it seemed the enemy’s numbers were without end. A few of the transports from the Seventh were burning here and there. He ached to join his men at the front but he knew that if he did he’d loose all perspective.
As far as he could see the line was holding. Well it was time to cave in the sides of the attacking force. Another signal was sent readying the last strength that was being saved for this moment. Large dust clouds appeared a way back, the last of his reinforcements were coming, and they would either break the enemy now or die trying. He buckled on his helm and begun to move toward the front, there were no other decisions to make now; he might as well go kill a few enemies himself.
SDNW4 Nation: The Refuge And, on Nova Terra, Al-Stan the Totally and Completely Honest and Legitimate Weapons Dealer and Used Starship Salesman slept on a bed made of money, with a blaster under his pillow and his sombrero pulled over his face. This is to say, he slept very well indeed.
