Chapter 13: Slaaneshi Corruption (Not)
Dos could already picture the scene: every future greeting would start with an insult to his mother. To win this 'mom-defense battle', he would strike at the source!
Wait...the source was apparently himself. Never mind. Dos resolved to crush the sinister hand spreading this evil.
Dos yanked the curtain aside. "0361! You...who are you?" His brain blue-screened for several seconds.
A service cap and a respirator lay carelessly on the edge of the command table, a pair of white gloves draped over them.
0361 wiped a trace of syrup from her lips with the back of her hand. "Something the matter, Commissar Dos?" Her voice was as cold as ever, but without the mask, it sounded less like a bad cold...softer.
Dos rubbed his eyes hard, stared at 0361, rubbed them again, and finally concluded: this had to be some Chaos trick.
"Emperor-dammit, blessed God-Emperor above! What the hell is going on?" Dos's reason had left the building. The situation exceeded his comprehension. Besides praying, he had no other options.
Seeing Dos's state, 0361 frowned. "So what exactly is wrong with you?"
"I warn you, every man outside that door is mine. Stay back!" Dos took half a step backward.
He held his in his hand, looking at 0361, yet his purity seal hadn't reacted at all.
0361 set the remaining can on the table and slipped off her greatcoat. Dos watched, puzzled, until a roundhouse kick sent him to the floor. That familiar sensation confirmed it: this was 0361 all right.
But someone explain, why did Krieg have female troopers? Wait, of course there were, what the hell was I thinking?
He felt like ordering a life-size Nine-Tails figurine only to receive a chibi fox keychain instead. Who could accept that?
"Better?" 0361 tucked her shoulder-length black hair behind one ear.
Dos picked up his cap and dusted it off. "Much better." He had accepted the fact. It wouldn't stop him from keeping his head down.
Composed again, Dos studied her. For convenience, she kept her hair only to the shoulders. Black eyes matched her hair. Skin, long hidden by the mask, looked pale. Light bags under her eyes didn't mar her looks. With a straight nose and thin lips, she resembled an iceberg that repelled approach.
Another unsettling flaw: she lacked vitality, seeming stiff, like an AI-generated image, eyes like two voids. Still, overall... weirdly attractive.
"So in future, if you zone out while I'm talking, I can just kick you." 0361 nodded to herself.
A blush says more than a thousand words. Hearing that, Dos went crimson.
Remembering he couldn't beat her, Dos forced himself to calm and muttered self-soothing curses in Chinese.
0361 leaned in. "Your Face so red, are you ill?" She reached out and pressed a hand to his cheek.
Now, Dos really lost it. His temperature spiked to ninety-nine degrees.
"You're burning. Maybe the infirmary should check you again." Her cool fingers jolted his nerves.
Dos half-stepped back, head spinning, body taut, words stammering. "D-don't stand so close. I—I'll go myself." He fled. Only later did he replay the scene in mortification.
...
Doss kicked a stone flying. "Blushing over a kick, God dammit!"
He wanted to slap himself twice. Reborn and still this innocent, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Self-conquest much?" he grumbled.
The next morning, entering the Regimental Command Camp for the briefing, Dos quietly exhaled when he saw 0361 had her mask on. No wonder her voice had always been so recognizable.
"By order of the Planetary Governor and the Departmento Munitorum, our next objective is to purge Khorne cultists in Hive City." She tapped the map. "Move out at once."
Dos was stunned, even a workhorse got rest days!
After a moment's daze, he heard the word "Dismissed."
This time, Dos played it smart, marching inside the central column to avoid ambush. For safety, he swapped his cap for a helmet, and an officer's uniform drew fire. Fortunately, the journey was only nerve-wracking, not bloody, and he never left the tank until arrival.
At the target zone, Dos wondered if the hive had already fallen. Corpses everywhere. Collapsed hab-blocks. Fires and smoke. Explosions. Endless screams. PDF troopers too beaten to lift their heads.
He cursed himself for an idiot. Of course, Anything linked to Krieg was never simple.
"Have all planetary PDFs been committed?" Dos asked 0361.
After a pause, she answered, "Except for the minimum needed to garrison each hive, every available unit is here."
Bullshit!! that might fool a Krieger.
Dos analyzed: to protect their assets, nobles had concentrated PDF in the Upper Hive, sending only token aid here. Even if the hive fell, no more help would come. Someone still had to clean up the mess, and the convenient 946th became the perfect expendables.
"Those thrice-damned nobles have forgotten their ancestors' glory," Dos muttered, eyes cold under the brim of his cap as a ruthless plan formed.
A commissar handled inter-regiment diplomacy. Before anything else, Dos decided to meet the PDF's real commander, a local aristocrate officer.
[End of Chapter]