Part 23 (2/2)
Tech-priest Enginseer Bylam Osiron said nothing more.
Amongst the stinking fallout and moans of the injured, Commissar Tionenji leaned against the door arch leading from the bridge. He caught his breath away from the men, not willing to let them see how exhausted he was. It was his duty to be inspiring at all times. Not for Commissar Tionenji were the aches and woes of mortal tiredness. The men shouldna't see such things.
A smile crossed his lips. He was alive. Life! After all they had witnessed and all they had endured.
He was a man whose intelligence was both ruthless and restless. Already he planned stratagems for the remains of the regiment to survive on Kathur long enough to greet the main Reclamation forces. The incident with Thade and his command team pulling their weapons on a commissar would have to be addressed, but a”Hey.a” Ban Jevrian of the Kasrkin limped up to the commissar, his right trouser leg soaked with red. a”One h.e.l.l of a fight.a”
a”Greetings, master sergeant,a” Tionenji grinned a- all white teeth set in his dark face. a”The Emperor smiles on us, I think.a”
a”Oh, you think?a”
The knife came from nowhere. One moment Jevrian had been leaning against the wall with Tionenji, cradling his broken arm and favouring his bad leg. The next moment, Jevriana's fist was at the commissara's ear and his hand-length boot knife was sticking clean through Tionenjia's skull.
Blood barely even had time to spurt before the commissar dropped to the decking. Jevrian reclaimed his knife several seconds later, wincing as he needed to bend down. His leg really did ache like an army of b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.
a”The Emperor smiles upon me,a” Jevrian raised himself back up, wiping his knife, the blade clearly stamped with the regimenta's insignia, on the sleeve of his fatigues.
a”But you? I doubt hea'd p.i.s.s on you if you were on fire.a”
Jevrian returned to the main area. Taan Darrick met his eyes from across the b.l.o.o.d.y bridge, and the Kasrkin officer nodded once.
In the earpiece of every soldier still standing, a single vox-click sounded. Several men nodded. Some smiled. Most pretended not to hear it, but only one never knew what it meant.
a”What was that?a” asked Thade, tapping his vox-bead.
a”Nothing, sir,a” Darrick replied. a”Just a glitch.a”
EPILOGUE.
Home.
I.
Twenty-seven days later, the Reclamation fleet arrived in full force.
The Heralda's fleet was gone a- had been gone for weeks a- leaving only the faintest echoes in the warp to mark their departure. They left a dead world behind them, marking their failure.
The first troops to walk the surface encountered fewer threats than the Reclamationa's initial spearhead had faced. Never concerned with reinforcing the world for conquest, no Archenemy vessels arrived to save the heretics of the Remnant and its splinter cults drawn from the treasonous populace. With all global production shut down and off-world imports utterly ceased, the still-living humans of Kathur began to die of thirst and starvation before long. Those that maintained supplies of food and water eked out an existence as territorial warbands until the Imperial Guarda's main force annihilated them completely in what scholars came to know as the a”True Reclamationa”.
The Guard units arriving at the headquarters of Overseer Maggrig and the fallen regiments he commanded, encountered a fortified base of jury-rigged prefab structures and salvaged tank cannons mounted on scratch built fortress walls.
As the gates to this rather humble fortress opened, General Millius Rylo of the Hadris Rift 19th descended from his command tank a- a pristine Leman Russ Demolisher a- and was greeted by a man in ragged Cadian-pattern armour painted black with grey fatigues.
a”Welcome to New Solthane,a” said the man with a captaina's stripes on his shoulder. He scratched at a black beard that had been growing for the past few weeks at least. Water rations apparently hadna't allowed for luxuries like shaving. a”I sincerely hope youa've brought us some ammunition.a”
The man next to him, equally filthy, raised his hand.
a”I wouldna't say no to some food, either.a”
a”Shut up, Taan,a” the captain said.
a”Shutting up, sir.a”
The general observed these scruffy examples of Guard discipline, clearly less than thrilled at the sight before his eyes.
a”You look like death, both of you,a” he said, his lip curling. And that wasna't even the worst of it. The captain a- and the men joining him from the buildings around a- all stank to high heaven.
Evidently bathing hadna't been on the cards, either.
II.
My Lord Castellan, I recommend First Lieutenant Parmenion Thade for the highest citation in our worlda's defence. Despite grievous injury and a shattered chain of command, he a.s.sumed leaders.h.i.+p of Shock and Interior Guard forces stationed in the recent retreat at Kasr Vallock arranging for the evacuation of seventy-zone per cent of citizenry even as the fortress-city fell. All survivors bolstered the defences at nearby Kasrs, including the wounded governor-militant and his family.
I also have reports from over fifty eyewitnesses that First Lieutenant Thade duelled and slew a Traitor Astartes of the Thousand Sons Legion with the a.s.sistance of his command platoon.
As a final note, I offer the eyewitness reports listed in the attached fife, listing Mechanic.u.m personnel who will testify to the destruction of the enemy t.i.tan (Reaver-cla.s.s) designated a”Syntagmaa” at the fall of Kasr Vallock. Thadea's sappers and tech-priest contingent were responsible for the overloaded generatoria within the citya's industrial sector that fed to the Syntagmaa's immobilisation. The following deployment of Interior Guard and Shock forces storming the crippled t.i.tan resulted in the war machinea's destruction.
Creed, I heard about the new medals. Give one to Thade. Too many are being given posthumous, and wea've little to be proud of since the Despoiler set foot on Home. He deserves this, and with the losses sustained to our regiment, Ia'm making him a captain immediately.
We will march together again, Lord Castellan, under Cadian skies. Until that day, may the G.o.d-Emperor watch over you.
Colonel Josuan Lockwood.
Cadian 88th Mechanised Infantry.
Thade lowered the dataslate.
Hea'd never read his citation before, and Colonel Lockwooda's words to Lord Castellan Creed sat uncomfortably in his mind. Melancholy at the disaster of Kathur months ago mixed with the bitterness of Kasr Vallock still less than a year before. It had always seemed ridiculous to him a- earning a medal and a priceless sword for the first time in his life hea'd ever had to run from a battle. The first battle hea'd ever lost. In failure, he was rewarded. Promoted, even.
Hea'd told Lockwood the truth once. The truth behind Kasr Vallock.
a”I wanted to stand and fight,a” hea'd said. a”It was Osiron who talked me down, gave me a long speech about fighting the good fight when it counted most for Cadia and not when it counted for my pride.a” Hea'd clenched his fists; one familiar and warm, the other a- freshly implanted a- unfamiliar, still numb to most sensation beyond a sense of aching cold.
a”Throne, I wanted to die there. It was home. We left our own home to burn. Now wea're being s.h.i.+pped off-world while the enemy p.i.s.ses on the rubble of the city where we were born.a”
a”Stop whining, Thade,a” the colonel had said. a”Slap a smile on your miserable face tomorrow when the Lord Castellan gives you that sword, and get over yourself. Wea're all hurting. Half of Home has fallen, son. Cadian Blood, eh? Ice in your veins.a”
Thade had chuckled then, and forced a smile. Lockwood was right, of course. Hea'd always had that d.a.m.nable ability and Thade admired him for it.
a”You win.a”
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