Chapter 6
Bloodied and missing almost half his chest. Right arm to its shoulder already claimed by a lucky plasma shot from one of those traitorous infantry, his right leg was missing from another shot.
Gaps in his armour saw it smoking hot from the sheer amount of las fire that managed to get past it, burning their way into his skin. His armour was mostly intact save for the places affected by the plasma shot.
Still, he moved quickly. His bolt rifle aiming for a charging enemy Astartes, he let loose unto him. The traitor reacted quickly, moving his head to the side to dodge the first shot, the second grazed his armour but the third went straight into his heart.
In the seconds it took to react to that damage, he moved his hand. Aiming at the plasma carrying soldiers, three bolt shots were fired in succession. Two hit their target, but the third was intercepted by a guardsman who was rushing that squad.
He turned his head to the sound of another plasma gun charging up, his eyes only having the time to see its light reach high volume before being released towards him. It was too late, he couldn't move far enough to dodge that shot.
His hearing was already picking up the enemy Astartes regaining his composure and priming for him. He felt it, the anger on not being able to see this mission to the end. On not being able to see these traitors dead at his feet.
But then, his face was covered in the blood and guts of a krieg trooper who had gotten in the way of the plasma shot. Shielding him from the blast, he was alive and now was already moving.
His hands moved his bolt rifle to take aim at the previous marine, from the side of his helmet display. He could see a guardsman already dealing the killing blow to the soldier who held the plasma weaponry.
He fired the first bolt round and then the second. Both missing due to his imbalanced body and his lack of time to correctly aim, the enemy astartes fired in turn two calculated shots. One struck him in the abdomen, the other he was able to mitigate its damage by moving to get his shoulders hit.
The force pushed him back but not before he got another shot in, one that hit the traitor in the chest. Before he fell, he saw another of his brother releasing a volley of bolt rounds into that traitor who soon took his last breaths.
As his body fell, he quickly noted the multiple organ failures his body was experiencing. When he hit the ground, his sight was soon covered by another of his brothers falling to his death. Another enemy astartes was already upon him, aiming his bolt gun to his face when suddenly- half of his head was gone from the effects of a plasma shot.
Still, the traitor got one last shot off before he died. A bolt round that went straight into his neck, his last thoughts being the effects of it and how his glands would be unusable for another batch of brothers.
Total time that had passed within that period?
7 and a half seconds.
7 and a half seconds that saw more bodies falling upon the now bloodied citadel. A place that had seen no bloodshed for perhaps centuries was now bathing in enough of it to last a lifetime.
Seconds soon turned to minutes and as the minutes passed by, a new soul devouring silence took over. The sounds of weapons discharging against bodies soon ended leaving only the survivors of the battle…. A few soldiers of the Death Korps Grenadiers were all that was left in the devastation that wrecked in this room.
A dozen men at best, most were injured in some way. But all were still able to endure that harshness and the grim reality that befell them. Of the 26 Space Marines of the Scouring Hatred chapter that entered here, not one of them still stood.
And while they did eliminate a decent number of traitors, it paled in comparison to their numbers. The enemy's infantry forces were the decisive power in this short fight, being the cause of a great many Astartes deaths and most of the grenadiers losses.
Where to begin even trying to sought out the remains was unknown, who to report to was also unknown since they had no vox channel. They had pushed deep into the citadel with a large force but now, only 13 of them….12 of them remained.
They couldn't push forward because they knew that they would not be able to impede the enemy with their puny numbers, stall they probably could. But to deal enough damage was impossible with their numbers especially considering just how much losses they suffered just advancing upwards.
Even with the space marines who they now lacked leading the charge. They couldn't fall back either as it would mean giving up this ground they fought and bleed for, allowing for a potential re-ambush if the enemy took it back.
Then there was the fallen of the Astartes who they simply could not, in any sense of mind, abandon, especially with them being in an enemy territory. So they chose a new watchmaster for the squad, who then ordered them to deliver the emperor's mercy to whomever they could and see if any injured ones could make it out of here.
He also assigned a 2 man squad to be runners, ordering them to go back and report on their current location and status here as soon as they could.
Watchmaster 53897-7119-01 busied himself with confirming the death of all traitor forces within this hall. Using his bayonet to double check every body he could while his men rummaged through their fallen to see if any one was salvageable.
He posted two men for lookouts just in case enemy forces tried to come and reclaim this position. His mind was already busying itself by imagining how best to inflict maximum casualties of the enemy using their own weaponry if they so tried to retake this position.
[_[]_]~Changing Tides~[_[]_]
The Iron warriors had done their part, played their hands to the best of their abilities for the current situation. Then, they left. The marines lost due to a last tactical decision to kill as many loyalist warriors as they could were of no true concern.
Attempting to extract them with their limited numbers could prove more difficult, plus there were most loyalist marines scattered around the citadel. Most likely headed to that position, plus there was no definite answer on whether they won the battle in the end.
So, they left after having extracted all they needed. All except one Iron Legionnaire, brother Jeron who was supposed to die being one of the many marines assigned into the battle. Yet he never joined them, rather simply allowed his brothers and lost cousins to battle it out to their satisfaction.
He had a more important goal in mind, a more important use of his time and life.
Within the confines of the one's silent citadel now raging with the calls and destruction of war stood a single Iron warrior, born of blood and war, forged by Iron and will. He stood, looking at the onset of the battle.
The proceedings of their forces and just how they were doing against the imperium's forces. Once it looked like he had seen enough, he moved from his position. Walking towards a wall besides one of the many pillar-like structures in the room.
At first glance, it looked just like any other wall. Plain and smooth, with no complications beneath it…except this one was far more than that. He waved his hands across the wall, tapping and pressing upon a few parts of it before something clicked.
The wall fell into the ground like a door being opened, behind it was a large box that he simply dragged from a chain attached to it. He dragged the box out of the room, towards another wall. Repeating the same action as before, the wall fell and he walked into it.
[_[]_]~Changing Tides~[_[]_]
The citadel battle was slowing down with no new surging reinforcements from the traitors, the loyalists did not have to fight as fiercely as they could for every ground that had to advance on.
They couldn't even if they wanted to as they barely had the bodies to spare after such disastrous pushes, the marines of the Scouring Hatred were redeploying themselves to their field in order to help their more vulnerable allies.
This was done after confirmation of contact against their hated brethren, believing that they had more than enough brothers to more than take care of them, they turned some of their focus to other parts of the battlefield.
Currently, a single marine was still advancing up to the citadel. His entourage of guardsmen followed as well as they could behind him. Soon he came to a stop once he reached the hall bearing the markings of a fierce battle, the guardsmen keeping watch quickly saluted him as he walked past them.
His mighty figure seemed to empty once he had taken his first steps into the room. Surrounded by the bodies of his dead brethren, strewn across their whole hall. His boots mashed against the innards of once alive soldiers, blood and guts smearing upon his now bloodied armour.
He looked into the room, his eyes scanning through the place. The only ones standing were the dozen guardsmen that had survived, they were in turn seemingly awaiting orders from him now that he had arrived.
They stood in place, guns held at the ready for their new orders.
" Secure the perimeter, I shall retrieve the fallen of my line " He said with a firm tone, the guardsmen saluted him and quickly marched out to do as they were told.
He on the other hand moved back to the entrance of the hallway, once more scanning the whole room before he stepped into it again. Except this time, he didn't move mindlessly, rather seemingly taking counted steps.
After an uncertain amount of steps forward, he turned to his left and walked forward. Coming face to face to the wall, he waited for a few seconds before moving his hands across it. A few taps and pushes in certain places and soon the wall fell.
Behind it was a single large box, there were no bearings or markings on it. No extricate designs or colours on it. It looked like a simple black box except for its unusually large size. But the marine seemed to not care as he opened the box, revealing a set of equipment and vials carefully kept and maintained within it. A low hum could be heard from the box as it lit up when opened.
Without stopping, he quickly took them up and walked up to his fallen brethren. It was time to recover his heritage.
[_[]_]~Changing Tides~[_[]_]
The field had become quiet, the stench of death reaching its fangs across the sky. Their bodies mounted and piled to form mountains, pathways of blood flowing to make rivers. The ground scarred beyond imagination from the destruction laid upon it.
The forces of the Imperium had broken, they had been destroyed to the very last man. Outnumbered and outsmarted by the forces they had sought to destroy, the only meaningful force left of them were in the citadel.
The only place that harnessed the tools and dread of war, squads of Death Korps grenadiers fought to keep out any traitors who tried to push into the enemy. But there was only so much time they could stall the inevitable.
Within the deepest confines of the citadel housed the remaining Loyalist Astartes left within the citadel, 3 Space marines along with the remaining forces of the Death Korps who had rallied to their position.
" They have broken through the first level, already leaking into the second level. " A brother of the Scouring Hatred Chapter spoke as reports came in from the korps soldiers who were battling below the now claimed but contested citadel.
" Commander, divert more soldiers towards the second level, order them to buy time. " An Astartes commanded.
His orders were quickly relayed towards the officers of Krieg who went to work, each minute that passed saw more scattered soldiers rallying to their position. Providing more bodies to be used in their desperate last defense.
" Brother, I need you to direct the fortification efforts of the third level. There should be weapons in that area from the battle of our brother against the betrayers, use them well" The same astartes said to another brother who stood next to him.
He simply nodded and offered a simple reply.
" I will not fail you brother Scarpha ".
Then he moved, rushing towards the lower floors knowing time was of the essence in their current situation. He could spare no efforts in his mission now.
" We must retrieve our fallen brothers " The other astartes commented as soon as his other brother had left the room. His eyes fell upon the leading astartes of their group.
" We cannot, " a cold reply came. It was a reply that shook an astartes to his core, a reply he had never imagined could be uttered from someone within his chapter.
He paused, thinking of a reason for that reply but he could see none. The heritage of the chapter came first before anything, its loss could mean the end of long histories. It was the only way for their brothers to live on and continue to fight and die for the emperor.
Refusal to retrieve them was tantamount to saying he did not want their brother's heritage to continue, that he did not want their glands to have the honor of continuing the fight in another brother.
He turned to look at his brother, the one responsible for such a reply only to see he was not paying attention to him…no, he was busy directing the mortals whose lives were of no real value compared to the chapters fallen.
" What do you mean by that? " He asked, his voice cold and filled with anger. His fingers tightened on his bolt rifle as he began to view his brother with suspicion. Perhaps the traitors had gotten to him, perhaps they had gotten into his head.
" They took them, all of them. When I arrived to secure their bodies, I saw nothing but destruction, blood and the bodies of mortals. But there were traces of battles with our brothers, I know they fought there. " A reply came, it was a reply that showed suppressed rage.
His battle brother seemed at that very moment like a warrior who wanted nothing more than a chance at his enemy, a warrior who wanted nothing more than to avenge the fallen and the disrespect done to their bodies.
" I also found this, I retrieved the data recordings on this servitor. " He added, transmitting a set of coded messages into his helmet.
As they played, he saw that this whole citadel had been a trap for them. They had always planned to kill as many of them as they could before retrieving their heritage, they had fallen for it like fools.
The recording showed the view of warriors of their hated enemy, it showed as they conspired to lure his brothers into a cowardly trap rather than face them headon like warriors. But then he thought, there was no way they could have made it too far. Especially since they were carrying their dead who were bound to be weight to them.
They could potentially still catch them and avenge their brother, while also restoring the honor for them and their chapter. For this action was a great stain upon their name, upon their legacy.
" We must pursue them, " he urged his brother, who despite such news was calm, directing the fates of the mortals while they were under siege.
Was this the difference between a veteran brother and a new blood like him?
" We can't, we must first repel this assault and then report back to the chapter. If they did take the bodies of our brothers, us three would be insufficient to not only retake it but see them to safety Brother Theiron " He stated calmly.
" It is not yet the time for vengeance, our enemy will suddenly not disappear from this universe before we can destroy them once and for all" he continued before briefly staring at him.
" Let us survive this and use what we can here to track them to their hideout, once we report back to the chapter. We shall return to this world to correct their errors and filth once again " He said, his tone was strangely light.
To brother Theiron, he would have expected any other brother of his to be in a fit of rage by now. Already leading a strike force to chase after the betrayers to kill them and secure their fallen.
Especially so since this act of being unable to return with their heritage was without doubt a stain upon their name, geneseed and their chapters honor. But then again, this was their great enemy and the chapter always breached the larger picture.
They must return with what they have and come back recouped and ready for anything that might be thrown at them. They had invested so much into this operation because they knew the cost of this, any pre-dated conflicts with their arch enemy always resulted in heavy losses for the chapter.
More so after their enemy had formed a nasty habit of trying to snatch their dead to taint them and re-supplement their own ranks. It was one of the reasons they deployed in such large numbers especially since lately, they had come even closer to the hated enemy eradication.
It was a war of attrition that they were winning even if at a great cost but it will be all worth it once they avenge them all. There are few places to hide as they have scoured the galaxy for their hideouts, the chapter master is sure that they will soon find them at their roots and then….Vengeance.
" Report on what force troops are ready to be redeployed" Brother Scarpha inquired from a mortal soldier, he saluted before replying to him quickly and without hesitation.
" In total, we have 12 squads ready for deployment stationed on this floor. 3 squads are stationed on the 3rd floor and last time they reported in, 5 squads on the 2nd floor" The report came in.
While it was odd that such a tall building had only as much as 4 floors, even if they were huge white. The majority of the citadel seemed to be just weapons attached to a building designed to strike fear into the hearts of all who see it.
After the 4th floor, the rest of the citadel contained just enough space to house their terrifying weaponry. With there no space to house beings of any human nature, it was a weapon of imperial workings.
" Redeploy 5 squads to squads to the third floor to assist with their defense, set out another 5 squads to form an assault group ready to break through their lines on orders " brother Scarpha ordered, soldiers already working on relaying his orders.
" Assign one squad to begin mapping out those tunnels, I want information on where they lead to. The last squad is to stay here and be ready to reinforce any position, that squad will also include the command retinue of this place. " He said to the soldiers.
" Understood" They replied swiftly as they began to relay his orders.
" Brother Theiron, you shall stay with me. Once we see that they are beginning to overwhelm them, we shall charge through them to strike vengeance and fear into them" Brother Scarpha spoke out, his bolt rifle raised in anticipation of the battles soon to come.
[_[]_]~Changing Tides~[_[]_]
The 2nd floor was soon breached, unable to hold on against the tidal waves heretics that came bursting through the doors. Arms gnawing for a piece of blood, flesh and meat. Their crude weapons offered no competition to the weapon of the Korps yet their numbers served as a suitable wall that could not be breached.
With each passing second, more and more of them were cut down by the dozens. Yet they never relented, always pushing forward with no care for their lives. It looked as though the forces of the imperium would bleed their enemies dry long before they could advance until they came.
Towering large bodies covered in metal and nails, a large club held in one hand and the other held a large shield that protected it against most fire from the loyalists. 5 of these towering bodies pushed into the citadel and soon into the lines of the loyalists, breaking through with ease.
Thus allowing the one held at bay cultists to begin rushing forward in droves, a line that had held on for so long soon fell within seconds. Allowing the process to repeat itself on the third floor.
However, the third floor was different in the way that the expected siege never took place. The heretics had advanced upwards only to be slaughtered in droves until there were barely any of them left to make any real impact.
The battlefield below had become a silent grave long before anyone could realise it, there were no overwhelming foes to battle. The expected hard battle was long fought and overcome during their initial siege of the citadel so all that was left was to now reclaim lost ground and figure out a way to return into loyalists territory.
At least that was how they saw it as they sent in squads of Krieg infantry to clear up any stragglers and secure the citadel before the Astartes would meet up with them and command them on their next course of action.
Grenadier - 53897-7119-01 had been assigned a squad to lead after they had regrouped with the main force on the 4th floor…what was left of them.
After that, he was quickly reassigned to the 3rd floor where they were ordered to fortify the position and hold it no matter what, the heretics had managed to get behind them so they had to hold the ground they just took.
While he couldn't do it the traditional way of trenches and trench fortifications, he did have the weapons that the heretics had used against them. The heavy weaponry mounted on the upper floor of the hall which he quickly got to work moving into kill box positions.
Then an Astartes came and began redirecting them on certain things, establishing more defenses and relocating the weapons to places that would allow much more efficient killing. The results of it were angelic, so beautifully that he could not believe someone like him could ever have the chance to view such things.
The heretics charged in mindlessly only to be caught in between the cross fires of multiple heavy weaponry and las rifles. Soon, they stopped coming after a while. He didn't really count during times like these.
Once they waited enough, two squads were sent down to clear up any stragglers or to him- see if this was a trap by the enemy themselves. Realising how hard it would be to charge them, they chose to lure them down.
He was proven wrong as he arrived, all he saw were dead bodies strewn across the ground. The further he went in, the more difficult it was to find a footing on solid ground. Some of the members of his own squads were already walking upon the bodies of the dead.
It truly did seem like it was the end of this battle for the citadel with him surviving once more but then he heard it, an ear piercing scream and the familiar sounds of the bones of a human being broken.
It alerted them all as they rushed to where the voice came from, just to see 5 towering armoured behemoths who stood there with shields. Below the leading figure laid two soldiers, one having his head smashed in by what he deemed the club of the monster.
The other was under the shield which had been used to most likely repeatedly hit him till his bones broke as his chest was caved in unnaturally with his legs broken at the knees.
" Da angels….said…to....hold em....here. Don let…non of em….leave" The leading armoured beast said with a deep voice, his club pointed towards their location.
They snapped and quickly began firing at them, some of their men even charged at the beast but that proved to be a mistake as they brought their clubs down upon them instantly crushing them into blood and broken bones.
One of them got hit so hard he flew into a wall, breaking bones all over his body before he fell lifelessly over the floor. But this didn't seem to stop them as they pushed towards the monsters with their bayonet equipped.
Grenadier - 53897-7119-01 fired his weapon once more, watching it hit harmlessly against the shield of the ogryns. Even shots that did get past their shields simply hit their heavily armoured bodies so he equipped his bayonet and charged at them.
To his side, another korpsman was also charging in when he was suddenly hit with the shield of an ogryn. Throwing him to the side but giving him an opportunity.
Behind the shields were parts of their bodies that were unprotected, gaps within their armour and a prime location to thrust in his bayonet. He ducked just as he reached close to the beast who had in turn swung its club like weapon to hit him but it missed.
Grenadier - 53897-7119-01 raised his weapon and thrusted it into the abdomen of the beast, earning a well earned scream of pain from it. He pressed the trigger of his weapon, firing straight into the fleshy unprotected part of the ogryn.
It screamed and roared in pain, its shield hands swiftly grabbing Grenadier - 53897-7119-01 by his shoulder before furiously throwing him far away from it, but before it could go back into formation.
Another korpsman was already behind it, thrusting his weapon behind its legs and forcing it down onto its knees. Another had made his weapon come face to face to the ogryn before letting loose his whole las pack into it, firing wildly before finally the ogryn fell.
But before another of them could change target, an ogryn came rushing into them with his shield raised. It broke apart their bodies with ease, throwing them far away from their position before it turned and rushed another group.
Grenadier - 53897-7119-01 could feel himself losing consciousness, he tried to force himself up but he had pushed his body too far. For the past few days, he had been fighting non stop and now his body was giving out. He felt as his eyelids lowered themselves before finally closing shut.