Chapter 2 Part 2

Chapter 2: Dawn of war

Part 2​

Jenova Town

Deimos Peninsula

Kronus

I got up and shook myself of the loose earth covering me.

"Well, that was a bit close for comfort." I muttered.

"Brother Anteas, orders, sir!" A deep bass voice rumbled from behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder to see eight crimson giants carrying enough weapons to win a battle or two by themselves – standard bolters, a missile launcher, heavy melta, and a heavy bolter. Then there were a lot of grenades and other nice stuff that went boom.

Each of them had to be at least two twenty high and that was before they got in the power armor.

They made the rest of us look like little children.

"Brother Sergeant Whent." The Librarian greeted me. "Traitors holed in the Arbiter HQ. Unknown defenses, the guard is trying to find us building schematics. The enemy possibly has the Lord Inquisitor still alive somewhere in the building. Purge the traitors and recover him if he's still alive. We'll provide support."

"Affirmitive. Nort, scan the area. Lorne, I want an AP missile ready. Kelso, you're blowing up any obstakles." Whent started issuing orders aloud. "Are you ready?" He turned his attention at me.

"Yes." I answered simply. Raging at eight Astartes after they perhaps not so accidentally got you killed was hazardoust to one's health.

"Good. Follow us and try to keep up. Can we proceed, sir?" Whent asked.

"Move in." Anteas ordered.

That was enough – the Astartes suddenly accelerated faster than a speeding chimera. They were almost a blur as they ascended the hill and charged the Arbiters' HQ.

"What are you waiting for?" I snapped at the guardsmen and drew my sword, hoping that whatever defended our target would be too busy with the marines to shoot at us squishy normal men and women. A moment later I started running after the Astartes.

Anteus shook his head and simply strode beside me, not bothering to even jog. "Whent has always been a bit on the eager side." The Librarian muttered.

"Didn't you just tell me not to charge the enemy in the open?"

"Without proper power armor." Anteas deadpanned. He lit up with purple fire and made a throwing gesture. A forked lighting detached from his armored glove, arched over the advancing space marines and struck a pair of bolter turrets that appeared from the wall of the HQ. The warp attack fried the defensive emplacements before they could even try seeking targets.

Almost in the same instant, the rest of the Astartes opened fire. The deafening sound of bolters firing was almost like a phyiscal blow. The marines obviously had no problem hitting their targets, despite their sprint, because their rounds were tearing apart the Arbiters' defenses before they could properly come online.

I shook my head in disbelief. I knew they were incredible warriors, but this… They were taking out targets that weren't there a split second ago, before I could properly register the emplacements appearing all over the HQ's facade. I was almost sure that this was the case for most guardsmen as well. I knew that I wouldn't be able to react at anything aporaching such reaction speed without a liberal dose of Warp enhancements and even then it was going to be very, very hard to compete with such reaction times.

That really made me see the dangers of my chosen line of work. Because I knew that as great as the Emeror's Angels of Death were, there were many, many enemies that could match them in combat ability. As an initiate in the Ordo Xenos, I was supposed to be hunting a lot of those things too.

Lucky me.

All that ran through my head as I sprinted after the armored titans, hoping to clear the open ground before some enterprising traitor tried to snipe me or something. To make matters worse, right now I didn't feel confident enough to draw on the Warp and enhance myself and thus getting better chances at surviving. After all, there were worse things than dying for the Emperor - like fucking up by the numbers and becoming a daemon's newest toy. With the state of the Warp right now, that latter was too likely for comfort.

Behind me, the platoon crested the hill and charged after us giving various war-cries. I hopped that the mech element would arrive soon too, because the chimeras combining their firepower with the Astartes were almost guaranteed to get us through the killing ground.

They better get in place soon, too. The emplacements were getting online faster and faster and soon there would be more than the marines could take out… or the Angels of Death would reach the building and start storming it, probably leaving the rest of us get torn to shreds.

You got to love the geniuses that issued conflicting orders to the marines and guard.

A turret popped up and it wasn't immediately blown up. It survived long enough to aim and sent a burst at the leading marine before being silenced. Three spears of coherent light harmlessly splashed over his chest plate. Fortunately, it was just a standard las emplacement, instead of another bolter, because even Astartes armor might have failed to a burst of high calibre bolter rounds, especially at that range.

Then the Chimeras finnaly got into position and added their heavy weapons to the onslaught.

Just in time too – the marines reached the heavy doors and one of them pulled a charge from his bakcpack, while the rest took positions to the side. That in turn cut their firing arks, allowing turrets to appear with impunity.

"Odd section, covering fire!" Pickos shouted. A moment later, red beams lanced from behind me and started impacting the HQ.

In the meantime, Anteas moved faster and got between me and the building. I grinned like a loon. His bulk made for a great mobile cover, especially after he waved a hand and summoned a spherical shield made of purple energy.

"Try not to die yet, kid!" The Librarian shouted, then unleashed another lighting strike upon the HQ's defenses.

A flash of light and a sound like ringing gong announced the Astartes taking care of the door. I heard someone screaming in pain from behind but didn't bother looking back and just kept running after Anteas. A few seconds later, the building was towering above us. Turrets were taking pot shots at us, but their ordinance detonated harmlessly upon Anteas' shield. Bursts of heavy bolter fire and grenades was wracking the facade, shattering its murals and taking out emplacement after emplacement. Then the Librarian leaned forward and went through a ragged, glowing hole blasted into the main entrance. I didn't think but dived in after him.

A huge arm dragged me up to my feet.

"You in one piece?" Anteas asked.

I simply nodded, trying to catch my breath.

"Good. Come one, we have an Inquisitor to find."

"What about the guard?" I rasped.

"I sent one squad back to give them cover. I'll have a chat with Whent once we're somewhere secure." The Librarian growled.