Part 2 (2/2)
The fight lasted less than two minutes. Lasguns cracked out head-shots in orderly volleys, scything down the enemy in waves. The Cadians stayed shoulder to shoulder in their squads, taking no casualties in the brief battle. When the last of the plague-slain was dragged from the leg of Vertaina's walker and shot in the back of the head, Thade holstered his pistol. The sergeants from all fifteen squads ringed him, every man standing ankle-deep in the dead. The stench rising around was enough for several men to don their rebreather masks.
a”88th: status.a”
a”Unbroken,a” fifteen squad leaders chorused.
a”Unbroken,a” Vertain sat in his c.o.c.kpit, the door opened so he could speak freely. He made the sign of the aquila. a”Close call, though.a”
Thade nodded. a”We move to retake the Shrine of the Emperora's Unending Majesty. Wea're hearing nothing from the Ja.n.u.s 6th in there, and if they have any survivors left, theya're almost certainly retreating deeper into the monastery.a” Every eye turned to the building a kilometre away through the winding streets. Half of it still burned. a”Wea're going in a- securing it where the Ja.n.u.sians failed a- and waiting to be reinforced. If the resistance is beyond our capabilities, then we get comfortable and ask Reclamation command what they want us to do. Questions?a”
a”Primary threats?a” asked one of the sergeants.
a”Potentially. Nothing solid yet. If we find them, we take them down. If there are too many, we consolidate and await reinforcement. Vertain, report.a”
The Sentinel pilot cleared his throat. a”We pulled back to this plaza when the fighting in the temple grounds abated. We were looking for a staging ground, sir. The last we saw at the monastery, the enemya's rearguard was following the forward elements in. The main doors were breached. Six, maybe seven hundred Remnant,a” he said, referring to Kathurite PDF traitors. a”Double the number of plague-slain.a”
a”Seven hundred secondary-cla.s.s threats, and fifteen hundred third-cla.s.s,a” the captain confirmed. a”Nothing changes. We split into three forces, each with specific objectives. Ia'll take one hundred men to the central chambers. Lieutenant Horlarn, you take a hundred to the undercroft and make sure therea's no way into the shrine from underground. Lieutenant Darrick, youa've got the bell towers. Questions?a”
No one spoke.
a”The Emperor protects,a” said Thade. a”Now move.a”
Resistance was nowhere to be seen. Gaining access to the monastery proved to be uncomfortably easy.
The towering gates were broken, torn from their hinges, and there was little sign of enemy forces outside of a few shambling loners wandering around the expansive courtyard. These ended their pathetic existences under precision las-fire, as the Guardsmen filed from their Chimeras and moved in squads up the wide marble stairway to the front entrance. The air reeked of the dead and the burning sections of the monastery itself, a potent musk that again inspired a lot of rebreather use.
Minutes became hours. Deep within the labyrinthine monastery, the Shrine of the Emperora's Unending Majesty, almost three hundred soldiers of the Cadian 88th were on the hunt. Bodies of plague victims littered the stone floor, just as they did in each pa.s.sage and chamber the Cadians had pa.s.sed through in the last few hours. The Ja.n.u.sians hadna't just been besieged; theya'd been infiltrated and annihilated. Bodies of the regiment, blood soaking their urban camouflage gear, were strewn everywhere in the monastery alongside the enemy dead.
Their last stand had been inglorious and, to Cadian eyes, rather unimpressive. The Ja.n.u.s 6th was scattered in a poor defensive spread across the monasterya's series of awe-inspiring sermon chambers, their final resting places showing to the trained glances of the 88th just which soldiers had died fighting, and which ones had broken ranks to seek an escape.
No sign of primary threats so far. In fact, Thade and his officers had just about abandoned the notion of seeing any first-cla.s.s targets. They had real problems now a- enough tertiary threats to last a lifetime. The plague-slain were everywhere inside the monastery, and in far greater numbers than those seen by Dead Mana's Hand outside.
Room by room, the Guardsmen cleansed the holy site, cutting down the shrieking dead as they staggered in feral mindlessness, nothing but sh.e.l.ls of unfocused malice.
Poisonous blood showered Captain Thade as he impaled a howling woman with a thrust of his chainsword. A hundred whirring teeth sawed through fleshy resistance, and the woman cried blasphemies as she was disembowelled.
It was hard to tell the dead ones from those that still lived. Neither would lie down and die when you wanted them to, and they all made the same noises.
Thade yanked hard, freeing the blade from her torso in a light spray of near-black blood and fragments of flesh that smelled beyond foul. The rot taking hold of the enemy made such work all the easier. Decay softened the flesh, making it weak under Imperial las-fire and vulnerable to the howling bite of chainswords.
The corpse began to rise again, ponderously clambering to its feet despite being gutted and missing an arm.
Thadea's blade silenced as he killed the power. Hea'd been fighting with the weapon for almost half an hour, and his muscles burned with effort. Exhausted to his core, he pulled his bolt pistol and pressed the muzzle against the womana's broken skull. The air within the monastery was cold, but he blinked stinging sweat from his eyes.
a”In the name of the Emperor, just die.a”
The bolt sh.e.l.l hammered into the corpsea's head and exploded within the brain, wetting the Imperial Guard captain with more chunks of decaying matter. A flying shard of skull hit his breastplate with enough force to leave a scratch.
The sharp cracks of a las-fire chorus died down around him, and Thadea's command squad dispersed around the barely-decorated contemplation chamber. Each of the nine fighters scattered, but stayed in eye contact with at least one other member of the squad. Every man wore dark grey fatigues and black chest armour made filthy from the daya's fighting.
a”I need vox,a” Thade called out across the cavernous sermon chamber. Janden moved over to him, jogging around the dip in the floor where a mosaic of the Emperor had been defiled some weeks ago. The room reeked of urine and the vast amounts of animal blood used to deface the image.
Janden handed Thade the speech horn connected to the bulky vox-scanner on his back.
a”Youa're live, captain.a”
a”Squad Venator to Alliance. Acknowledge signal and give me a situation report.a”
The pause of several seconds put Thadea's nerves on edge. There were a million ways this mission could go wrong. Even with the greatest trust in his men, he hated his squads scattered in this hive of the dead.
a”Alliance here, captain. Situation: Unbroken. Wea're close to the chorus chambers atop the northeastern bell tower. We need ten, fifteen more minutes to get in place.a”
a”Acknowledged,a” Thade replied, and nodded to Janden. a”Squad Venator to Fort.i.tude and Adamant. Report.a”
The pause this time lasted longer. Janden shook his head at the captaina's glance; it wasna't interference. For once.
a”Adamant here, captain. Situation: Unbroken. Wea're entering the undercroft now.a”
a”This is Fort.i.tude, Unbroken. Moving with Adamant to support. Heavy resistance in the cellars delayed us. We found where the Remnant were regrouping, and theya're not regrouping anymore, sir. Forty minutes to mission objective.a”
a”Understood. Be careful,a” Thade said.
And so it went. Squad Phalanx next, then Endurance and Defiance, on and on down the line. The captain listened to the brief situation reports from each of his fifteen squads. Casualties were light, despite the fighting being fierce.
Thade led his one hundred men in a loose scattering of squads, moving to take control of the primary altar chambers at the heart of the monastery. Another hundred followed First Lieutenant Horlarn to secure the undercroft and purge the subterranean tombs of the enemy. Second Lieutenant Darrick led the last hundred, securing the four bell towers thrusting up from the monasterya's central domes. The holy building was the size of a small town - the 88th had spent the best part of three hours cutting right to the core of it.
One last vox-report to make. The most important one.
a”This is Captain Thade. 88th reports progress as expected. Resistance medium-to-heavy. No sign of primary targets, repeat: zero sightings on primary threat. Resistance so far, secondary threats twenty per cent, tertiary threats eighty per cent.a”
This simple message was all that was required. He doubted it even reached the lord generala's base, but it still had to be done.
Janden took the speech horn when Thade handed it back. a”Only twenty per cent on the secondary threat? Felt like more.a”
Thade smiled at the vox-officer with the bandaged arm. a”Ia'll bet it did.a”
At his order, the squad moved out, heading deeper into the monastery. The chambers grew larger, expanding into halls, each one majestic in size and increasingly grand in ostentation, built by faithful hands many thousands of years ago. Arched walls and ceilings were supported by great spines of stone, thickly jutting from the skeletal architecture. Stylised pillars rose to the roof, each one bathed in the weak dusk light coming through the shattered stained gla.s.s windows.
The ten soldiers in Thadea's squad fanned out, stalking through the near-darkness in a familiar ritual of stops and starts. Run to a pillar. Crouch, rifle up to scan ahead. Run to the next pillar Something cried out ahead. It was either inhuman, or hadna't been alive in weeks. Thade looked around the pillar he was kneeling behind, one hand on the faded red carpet for balance. He saw nothing, but heard the moan again.
A few dozen metres ahead of him, the sight blocked by the pillars, a lasgun fired with a single, sharp crack. a”Contact!a” someone called out. a”Tertiary threat confirmed.a”
The Cadians advanced, rifles up and no need to hide. A small group of plague victims, no more than twenty, spilled sluggishly from an arch behind a torn red curtain.
Thade squeezed off a shot with his pistol, detonating the head of the lead curse victim.
a”Kill them!a” he shouted, and nine lasguns lit the chamber with flickering red flashes of pinpoint laser fire. Not a single shot missed, but the disease-wracked corpses still took several direct hits to put down for good.
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