Chapter: 4.5

Chapter: Zeta-IX

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Part: 5

Space Station Zeta-IX - Section E20

En Route to the Lance Battery

 "What?"

There was silence over the Vox channel, highly unusual considering they were this close to a planet but her question was answered nonetheless.

"Zeta-IX is experiencing a decrease in altitude. The Space Station will enter a trajectory that leads to deorbiting in approximately five minutes. After that, it will take another two minutes for the atmospheric burn-up to start. If you don't evacuate now, you will fall to the planet in a burning heap of scrap metal."

However, before she could respond Captain Hox continued talking.

"Team Alpha is already withdrawing and Team Beta is en route to the hangar."

Her anger swelled up and she couldn't help but raise her voice,

"ON WHOSE AUTHORITY?"

However, the communication had already ended, leaving Greybrand with a seething temper.

Time and time again her authority had been undermined!

Hers!

An Inquisitors!

She won't stand such disrespect!

No Inquisitor would!

It was then that she decided to forgo all niceties, so far, she had been trying to keep the Captain on her good side and her faith had been answered with nothing but disrespect. She would personally make sure that the Captain never sets foot on her precious Gauntlet ever again, let alone any other Imperial Ship.

But now was not the time to think about her revenge. Till now they have encountered no hostiles and since the Space Station was hurtling down to the planet, there was no point in trying to secure their objective. The Lance Battery won't be going anywhere but to the planet's surface.

"Retreat,"

Greybrand ordered with a firm tone, her anger contained properly with no trace leaking into her voice.

"Abort mission. Return to the hangar, we are going back to the Gauntlet."

The Honor Guard nodded in acknowledgment, their expressions hidden behind their helmets like always. Sometimes she wondered if their faces were the same as humans or if would she have to chart them as Xeno Mercenaries in her reports.

The three SPARTANs took the point, hastening their advance, and the squad traced their steps through the labyrinthine corridors of the Space Station.

However, before they could even make it out of the hall, another voice crackled through her comm-bead, this time it was the familiar voice of the Sister Superior and her tone was urgent,

"Inquisitor, where are... WAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!"

A bone-chilling shiver ran down her spine, and Greybrand's eyes widened as she recognized the unmistakable sound of a war cry – a WAAAGH!, the rallying cry of Orks. The sudden intrusion of the Orkish war cry over the comm-bead was unexpected, and it sent a surge of alarm through her.

"Inquisitor Greybrand! We encountered an Ork raid squad - SISTERS! FOR THE EMPEROR! - *Squelch* - They've overrun the hangar! We need to evacuate now... - DIE! FILTHY GREEN SKIN!"

The comm-bead transmission was abruptly cut off, replaced by chaotic sounds of bolter fire, combat, and the guttural roars of Orks. The situation had taken a sudden turn for the worse, and Greybrand's mind raced to assess the gravity of the new threat.

The sister said a raid squad, awfully accurate of her, but those usually had up to 100 Orks and no less than 50... well, that wasn't entirely true. The Greenskins didn't nearly have enough intelligence or patience to organize themselves in combat squads, but the Imperium designated them based on their numbers so that was that.

Still, the news did nothing to ease her troubles. Orks- formidable bastards who did nothing but shoot or chop, occasionally they made stuff from looted materials but... the stuff they made was only useful for more shooting and chopping.

"Battle stations!"

Greybrand barked, her voice cutting through the tension.

"All units, prepare for combat. We're not leaving without a fight!"

She relayed the command to her Honor Guard and the other two teams, just to remind them that she was the one in command and that they shouldn't leave her behind.

But with the Space Station hurtling towards deorbit, her chances of survival were dwindling by the second. Their best bet would be to evacuate to the Gauntlet, but with the hangar overrun by Orks, getting there seemed like a bleak option.

"Find an alternate route to the hangar,"

Greybrand ordered, her voice calm but resolute.

"We'll carve our way through the greenskins if we have to, but try to look for alternative routes."

The Engineer nodded before lifting her hand and looking at something that looked an awful lot like a chronometer but was actually some sort of compact hologram device. The hologram displayed their current location inside the Space Station, at the outermost fringe with only two routes to the Hangar. One that they already took, and the other some distance to their right, some sort of bypass.

"Take the bypass route,"

Greybrand ordered before the Engineer could tell her of the discovery.

"We'll use it to flank the Orks and hopefully avoid direct confrontation until we reach the hangar."

The squad wasted no time in following her command, moving quickly but cautiously through the narrow corridors of the Space Station. As they ran through the narrower corridors, Greybrand kept a vigilant eye out, or rather a vigilant soul scanner up, for any signs of hostile activities. The last thing they needed was to stumble into an ambush.

As they rounded a corner, the sound of distant gunfire began to echo through the corridor, followed by the unmistakable howl of a Greenskin. They were close, too close for her comfort, she was an Inquisitor for the Throne's sake! They sat on their ships above orbit most of the time! At least her master did.

Greybrand took a deep breath, steeling herself for what lay ahead. Whatever awaited them beyond that door, they would face it head-on, for the Emperor, the Imperium, and to keep her hide intact.

"Prepare for combat,"

She ordered, her voice steady despite the rising anticipation. She drew her bolter pistol and power sword for the first time, her finger tightening around the trigger as she pressed the control on the sword's hilt, activating the disrupter field.

As the blue light shone at her face, she looked down at the blade in something drawing awful close to remembrance. It was... nothing fancy, just a Mordian Pattern double-edged power weapon, simple, inconspicuous like she had been. 

But after that moment of hesitation, her eyes turned steely as she increased the trickle of warp energy to full access mode. She felt power flood through her nerves and breathed out a mouthful of mist before letting out a war cry more for herself rather than her Honor Guards,

"For the Emperor."

The door burst open with a metallic clang as Greybrand and her Honor Guard burst through it and into the hall, eyes locking on a large group of Orkz clade in pieced-together armor and armed with crude weapons.

The nearest Ork raised its heavy choppa, trying to bury it into her chest, but she raised her gun's barrel in a flash, firing a two-round burst. The Ork's head vanished into a pinkish mist of brain matter and blood. Its body still reacted on its instincts and the choppa nearly smashed her skull in but she ducked and eviscerated the headless body.

She wasted no time in charging into the horde, her blade raised high as she swung it at the nearest Orkz, removing the top half of its skull. However, the Orkz vitality was something that can't be undermined by something like a missing brain. On instincts, it tried to retaliate by smashing her with the butt of its shoota but she moved just in time for the blow to hit nothing but air.

She followed through with the attack, slicing straight through the Ork's torso, spilling blood and guts everywhere. Its body slumped to the ground, its hand trying to stuff its innards back into its stomach before stopping suddenly as if finally realizing that its brain was missing.

Greybrand immediately shifted her attention to another Orkz, not wanting to be taken by surprise. She was an Inquisitor, not a fool, and she wouldn't be the only stain on their reputation to not make it past her first year in the line of duty.

All around her, the honor guard fought in the gruesome melee, chain swords tearing through greenskins' bodies and lasbolts tearing through their limbs. A jet of promethium flames seared through a row of Orks, turning them into living candles before a wave of lasbolts tore through their ranks.

Yet even as the flames of promethium surged down the ranks, the horde surged forward with the ferocity of a rabid animal. A few of the more intelligent Orkz took cover behind makeshift barricades and opened fire on the squad with their crude bolters.

The Orkz were an uncouth, brutal force that relied on the sheer weight of numbers and brute strength to make up for their lack of ingenuity, but despite this, they weren't without strategy.

Greybrand swung her sword at another Orkz, only to find herself in a vicious back and forth as her opponent parried her blows effectively. The two fought for several moments until Greybrand used a feigned backswing, tricking her opponent into shifting away from an incoming blow. 

She then twisted around, bringing the tip of her sword into contact with her opponent's ribs, sliding between their armor plates and sending an agonizing scream through the corridor. Before the beast could take advantage of her stuck sword, she emptied half the bolter magazine into its chest, turning it into a bloody pulp.

The Honor Guards were outnumbered 4-to-1, and yet, in that narrow corridor, the Ork's numbers made little space for them to swing their crude weapons, but their resilience and persistence were something that could never be undermined.

They fought hard, their numbers steadily dwindling, but somehow they managed to keep up with Greybrand and her guards. It didn't take long before her Honor Guard took its first casualty...

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