Tanya Russ
"Here comes the next wave," called one of my soldiers, as another wave of the fox-like Xeno or Rang as I liked to call them came rushing up the hill. Their autoguns unleashed fire on our positions as they attempted to suppress us, growing closer and closer.
This was the fifth or perhaps sixth time they attempted a charge up the hill. It was hard to tell; they were starting to run together. Whoever was in command of this operation was a remarkably stupid individual because all they had done was waste their equipment and soldiers' lives trying to hit our position the way they had. Oh sure, they were doing a good job of dropping artillery near and around us, but every time the artillery became too much, they sent in a wave of infantry, obviously thinking we had been crushed. And of course, we had not been, and we just unleashed hell into their lines, turning the once gray rock mountainside into a hellish vision of red blood and blue fur. Sure, there were a few other colors of fur, but primarily blue. The Rangdan apparently did not like what we had done to their compound.
I admit I had been a little bit angry. Perhaps my years of service with the soldiers under my command had made me grow some sort of fondness for them. Perhaps my theory that the connection I share with them through psychic linkage, which allows me to command them so easily, also affected me, making me more susceptible to feeling anger at their loss.
Either way, when I saw those Rang killing my men at the downed dropship, I went into a bit of a rage.
I cranked up my armor's ability to create a battlefield of snow and ice to its maximum and then started channeling as much power as I could into it, freezing the area solid. I might have gone a little too overboard because when I sent a shout of pure rage and frost into the mountain, it had expanded a little bit outside the mountain. And now, well, now there was a giant blizzard forming all around the mountain that should have been just plain rock with a few trees. It was no approximation of Fenris, but It did a good job of nearly covering up the bloody corpses that were trying to charge up the hill, but it also meant that I had made a bit of a miscalculation and prevented air support from being brought in.
But, well, we didn't need the air support. We were killing these creatures as fast as they could scramble out of their hastily created trenches.
The only thing I really needed to worry about was the supply of ammunition. Thankfully, years of work on standardization meant that most of my men could scavenge quite a bit of ammo from anyone who fell, though not many did. Plenty of ships had landed or crash-landed nearby, from which we had been able to pilfer more ammo than we would probably need for this whole defensive action.
I needed to decide whether I was willing to abandon the ammo reserves and try to push down into the valley and up the other side of the mountain to meet my men at the proper landing zone, or if I should hold this position and wait for my soldiers to come to me.
On one hand, being separated from my commander was not good. I wouldn't really be able to give them orders or tell them what to do, so I should be trying to get back to them as quickly as possible. On the other hand, it was obvious that I had landed on something important.
We had theorized what we would find when we attacked this planet plenty of times. The three commanders of this operation, including myself and Nobunaga, always came to the conclusion that wherever they were using their actual troops, it was a location of grave importance. They were not willing to risk losing it by deploying either a proxy force or their bioforms.
This mountain probably housed some sort of communication system that connected to the rest of the Rangdan Empire, allowing it to call in aid. If we took this mountain, we might be able to make the Rangdan Empire believe this system had fallen before it actually had, preventing any aid from coming and possibly getting the planets that had yet to be conquered to surrender.
Of course, I doubted that the Rangdan would ever surrender. They didn't want to exist in a world where they were not the top dog, or fox in this case.
That being said, there were plenty of reasons to stay in this location beyond its importance to the enemy. A blizzard was starting to build around the mountain, making it pretty clear where I was on the battlefield. The Wolves of Fenris that had made it to their landing zone knew where I was, and they would probably be planning to push towards my location as fast as possible.
I needed to hold this position until they got here, and that was not an impossible task.
My men were well dug in at this point, having had an hour or two to get some work done before these conscripts were sent at us in endless waves. The artillery rounds around us didn't help much, as one or two trench lines had already been cut into the ground.
The only real problem was that the artillery rounds hitting us were not just causing explosions, but they also sent out a lot of shrapnel made from the mountain itself. This position may be good for holding for some time, but it was a dangerous position to hold. If I could get further down the hill into the more dirt-based area where the trees were, I probably would. But if I did that, I would be surrendering a very valuable position.
Looking over the side of the trench line, I saw another wave of the blue-coated blue-furred creatures charging up the hill, their guns at the ready, firing occasionally. My men quickly manned the trenches, aiming their bolters downwards, unleashing hell. The line had two choices: fall to their guts and hope they could survive the incoming fire, or die trying to continue their charge upwards.
It was good to see that they weren't complete idiots as the majority went down on their arms and knees, preventing them from shooting. Though I didn't know that their body dimorphism allowed them to actually move a bit faster going up the hill on all fours.
"Damn furries," a sergeant nearby said, and I had to stifle a chuckle at that as he tossed a melta grenade, which rolled a good distance down the hill before getting amongst their formation, causing them to scatter.
It worked for a bit, but then they were charging up the hill again, with more grenades being tossed down to try and push them back.
After 20 minutes of this bombardment, they finally withdrew, and the artillery in the region around us started up again, with rounds falling around us.
But as I watched the horizon, I saw one or two artillery guns go up in flames, indicating that there were still formations of Wolves of Fenris lost out there and doing the best they could to help us in our position.
Slipping back down into the trench, I tried to activate a communications system, but it was still not functioning.
Having no way to contact anyone was not a good position to be in. That was the only other downside, as all comms were not working. They were deploying some sort of communication blockers that were targeting our specific communication systems, which meant we still had to rely on runners, but we couldn't use them because we were surrounded.
I wondered if perhaps the communication blockers were in the mountain, and that's why they were so keen on keeping us hemmed up here. It wasn't impossible, but it's hard to say. I should have ordered a few Marines to go into the tunnel I found when I had the chance.
Looking up the hill, I wondered if I could still do that. There was a bit of a pathway up there that they could probably use to avoid the artillery that was coming down around us. Once they reached the ship, they would have a moment to take a break before heading towards the frozen section of the mountain, actually frozen, not just covered in snow like it was starting to become.
Looking around, I grabbed a man by his shoulder, saying, "Find ten volunteers to form a whole squad. On the next charge, I want them to rush up the mountain and find the entrance that leads into it. See if we can find out if they have any equipment in there that they don't want broken, and break it."
A soldier looked at me, then gave a nod of understanding, saying, "Of course, my King. It will be done." He called out, "Sigurd, Cnut, and Squad Seven, get your asses over here!"
Shaking my head, I looked up at the gray sky, which was continuing to darken... I had really messed this one up.
We should have had the ability to call in some anti-air support, but I let my rage get the better of me, and I had summoned a literal maelstrom of frozen anger on top of all of us. The storm was growing darker and fiercer, and it was dropping more snow as the day went on. Not to mention, it was spinning in a way that indicated that we were the lowest pressure point on the entire planet.
Probably every bit of cold water in the atmosphere was being directed to this position simply because I got annoyed by some damn foxes killing some of my men and reached a little bit too greedily into the warp.
This is why I need to be careful, even with my controlled warp powers. Mistakes happen when reaching too far into the warp for power, and this was the result. Would this snowstorm keep growing, I wondered? Would it bring this entire planet into a damn ice age? It was not impossible, and it would be my fault, if it happened. Well, perhaps I would keep that to myself, at least unless anyone asked. After all, revealing that you were responsible for the destruction of an entire planet's ecosystem because you were a little bit pissed off is not exactly the greatest look.
I wondered how everyone else was doing. They probably had easier landings than me, not coming down right on top of an enemy position. Hopefully, they were doing much better than me, pushing out into enemy territory and drawing forces away from this position. Eventually, there must be something more important than this position, after all. Even if this was blocking all communications in the region, there had to be some sort of resource that would be more valuable...
I wasn't sure what this resource could be, but I just had to hope. Otherwise, I was in trouble.
Nobunaga
Damn, it was getting cold, even with the power armor I was wearing providing a bit of warmth. The atmosphere on the planet seemed to be chilling for some reason.
Looking off to the northwest, I wondered what was going on over there. Was it some sort of natural phenomenon or were the Rangdan using some sort of super weapon to try and freeze us out? It's hard to say. It was uncharacteristic of them, but I could say with some certainty that the storm looked nasty and it was growing by the hour.
So, I was doing the best thing I could do for my men—advance, push forward.
We had reached our landing zone without issue. The enemy aircraft guns were apparently too busy guarding something else, which meant we had been able to keep advancing. We located a city not too far away from the mountains. The enemies were dug in deep there, at least that's what I believed. So, I pushed forward, sending an armored column down the road with infantry to support. We had already secured a landing zone, and a few units were already coming down to hold the area behind us, which meant we should be free to continue the push, driving the enemy back as far as we could possibly accomplish. Taking that city served another goal—if they were trying to use some sort of super weapon to freeze us out, it would be a lot easier to not freeze inside a city with plenty of equipment to keep us warm.
Oh, the enemy was trying to stop us, but columns of tanks and Space Marines flanking them seemed to do a good job of shutting down their efforts.
The biggest problem was that they were willing to use their bioforms against their own population. That said enough about these creatures—they were an evolutionary dead end if they were willing to do such a thing.
My men were mostly having to fight these Rangdan Slaugth every other block. Oh, sure, sometimes we would run into groups of military individuals wearing uniforms of their empire and taking potshots at us from behind hedgerows and inside high rises.
So, there was at least some determined effort from the population to try and stop us other than just using their bioforms, but the majority of the problems we were running into were the bioforms.
To be fair the bioforms were more effective than their infantry and could cause a lot more damage with limited losses.
Alright, I gave the order for my tanks to just run them down whenever they saw a horde of those things coming forward, but that didn't seem to have been a good idea. The bioforms tended to be near-dead creatures. Their blood was like gelatin, and, well, the tanks got stuck in the mud—that was their guts.
Thankfully, I kept the troops nearby, close enough so that they could push forward and protect the tanks. But it had been one hell of a mistake, and it was not one I was interested in repeating.
Reaching over onto a Rhino, I pulled myself up and stood on it, looking out over the column of men I was with.
We were about a mile into the city at this point. The suburbs were behind us by quite a bit, and we were more into the heavier, larger towers of the city. It was starting to turn more hive-like as we got further in.
Up ahead of the column, there was a horde of what could be best called the normal bioforms, the bioforms meant for fighting and not contaminating everything. The Rangdan were not willing to lose, that much was clear from what we were seeing here. They were willing to use their own population as bioforms to fight us. Did these people volunteer? I don't know. It seems likely that they would have, otherwise, it would imply that whatever command structure was in charge of the Rangdan population had no care for anything but itself, which was another good reason to destroy this foe.
They cared not for human life, and they definitely did not care for Rangdan life. They were simply a problem, something preventing me from getting on with the Great Crusade and doing what I really wanted to do, which was none of this.
Oh sure, I enjoyed fighting, just not as much as some of my other siblings like Tanya, but I didn't want to be here. I did not want to be fighting and bleeding over the same patch of dirt our ancestors had fought for generations. There were other galaxies out there beyond the border of the Milky Way, places that had never been seen by mankind. That's where I wanted to go, that's what I wanted to see.
This was just a hindrance, a blockage preventing me from doing what I wanted to do, and I would stay true to it for now. The moment I was relieved from my oaths of service to the Emperor and had the ability to choose for myself what I could do, when this Great Crusade was over, I would gather a fleet and go beyond the Milky Way, farther than any human had gone before, and find out what lies out there in the distant stars.
That was my hope, that was my dream, and I hoped the other Primarchs would take up a similar cause. Expanding humanity outside this galaxy was probably more important than turning the galaxy into a representative empire, as Father wished to do.
But, well, perhaps I had justmore wanderlust than most. I had grown up on a planet where exploration was key to survival. I had found hundreds of lost texts and tomes of images buried and scattered in hundreds of vaults across my homeworld. Learning about the ancient history of humanity and its ability to find and exploit things made me more interested in what I could build out there than building here in the Milky Way, where everything had already been built.
Humanity was going to fight amongst itself even once this Imperium was finally built. That was clear to me. Factionalism would take over, and people would hate each other for differences from long before the Imperium had conquered them and would fight over those old grudges again.
That's why I thought maybe leaving the galaxy was for the best. Once it was done, I would go beyond the borders of what was known and only take those who were willing to work with me, those who I trusted and who would be loyal to me. To build something new, something better.
But that could wait, it would have to wait. I had a job to do, and currently, my tanks were doing it. Another wave of bioforms charged their lines and were cut down by several assault guns unloading shells directly into them. The Marines were moving to defend the sides of the convoy, doing their best to keep the creatures at bay. The echoing screams from the towers around us indicated that they were probably going to try to flank us. Looking down to my second in command, I indicated that he should deploy to the side streets and be ready to deal with the surrounding situation.
He nodded and swiftly moved forward. I smiled.
My men were loyal and would do their job, and once this job was done, the Rangdan would be halfway dead and defeated. What would remain would be clean-up operations, and this war would be almost over.
Then my smile froze on my face as I heard multiple explosions to my right and left, several dozen up and down the street.
The great towers on either side were collapsing, but not internally, not straight down. No, they collapsed against each other over the street where my men were.
With a sinking feeling, I watched as my line of infantry and tanks was split up and cut apart. Large trees of concrete and metal crashed down between areas of the column, dividing us into several separate lines of troops and tanks.
Even I had been cut off from the main column behind us as one of the large structures had created a solid wall of debris, blocking any reversal of our vehicles.
And to make it somehow even worse, I could hear the screams of my men dying. No, they would never do that. No, I heard the savage screams and screeches of bioforms charging at us from the direction of those buildings.
It was a trap. This push had gone right into a trap, and I had led my men right into it.
"Well," I said, pulling the sword from my side and dropping off the side of the tank as a bioform rushed over. It was one of the Cerabvore types, with some elegance. I sliced its head from its shoulders, causing it to fall down at my feet.
"Fight for the Imperium!" I called, holding my blade aloft. "Fight for your lives, fight for the man next to you, and fight for the death of the Rangdan!"
A cheer went up as I moved up the debris-strewn hill. More bioforms charged out over it, and in a practiced flow I slashed at each one as they passed , severing their limbs and life from their bodies before they could even collapse on the ground. Other Marines came up behind me, unloading their bolters into the bioforms and those trying to climb over to attack us.
I pushed my way to the top of the rubble hill to get a better view of what was going on. I saw that even though my men were cut off, they still had their tanks. The vehicles were turned in many directions, their guns almost constantly swiveling. In a few cases, I saw a tank just on a swivel, the crew probably loading it and waiting for a bigger mass of enemies before unloading a direct shot of canister rounds.
The infantry stayed close to the vehicles, keeping out of their gun sights and fending off the creatures. It was a massacre in the making, but not for my men. My men had their armor, their guns, and their swords. Every single one of them was willing to use them, and they were exceptionally skilled in sword combat.
The blades they were using were something I had discovered in one of the ancient texts from my own world. They were sleek and slender, capable of slicing through anything. Of course, Mars had made some modifications to make them more powerful, and in a few cases, turned them into power weapons. But they still served their purpose: cutting through armor and killing the soldiers underneath.
In some cases, the men were even ditching their guns to solely rely on their swords. They believed they had a better chance of killing the creatures in close-quarters combat.
As one of those creatures charged at me from down the hill, I brought my fist into its face and unloaded a bolt round from my arm-mounted gun into its cheek. It staggered, giving me a moment to grip my sword with both hands and survey the area for any other threats beyond the bioforms we were currently dealing with.
Why didn't they send all their bioforms at once, I wondered. I had never seen different variants of bioforms working together. Usually, you only saw one or two, and even then, it was rare to see a specific type like the psychic-based one that appeared to be a Rangda, but covered in jewel-like armor instead of skin.
Perhaps this was an advantage we needed to exploit more. Maybe they couldn't use their bioforms together without them turning against each other... I pondered if capturing some of their creatures and unleashing them on themselves could work, but I quickly dismissed the thought. We already had enough trouble convincing the Administratum to go along with the use of Orks against the bioforms, trying to convince them of using bioforms against bioforms seemed impossible.
Shaking my head, I started to descend the other side of the rubble pile, killing creatures as I went and moving toward the next group of desperate soldiers. I hoped my presence would inspire them to fight harder. I moved up and down the entire column, reminding them that I was still here, still fighting, and that they were not alone. It was a bit dangerous, but it was necessary in this situation, and it would lead us to victory.
Lion El'Jonson
That did not look good, I thought, looking to the north at the continuously growing snowstorm. It wasn't threatening air traffic just yet, but it was pretty massive and we would soon lose air support in regions around the mountains so we needed to break out, and where it was coming from was another question altogether and why it had started now of all times.
Everything was going rather fine here after we had dealt with the wave of Slaugth that had emerged from the ground like a horde of zombies. Things were going well enough, in fact, that I had sent most of the Dark Angels south, pushing further into the plains around the mountains. The valley to the south was quite fertile, I was told, with lots of farmland. It wouldn't be difficult to traverse the valley and reach the local seaport that connected it to the rest of the trade across the continent.
That was the main goal of the current operation: to secure this fertile area, possibly a breadbasket region. If we took it away, it would be harder for them to fight us over the coming months, if it even lasted that long. They were probably deploying every soldier, weapon, and bioform they had to this front.
It was only a matter of time before the Rangdan pulled their forces together and tried to stop us. So, taking as much ground as we could conquer now was in our best interest. However, I was worried about my sister to the north. That snowstorm was approaching her area, and I wondered if I should send some forces up there to check on her.
The little contact we managed to establish between our lines and theirs indicated that she was separated from the main force. Perhaps I should take a large section of Marines to rectify the situation and regain control before something unfortunate happened.
However, such thoughts were quickly quashed by the fact that I was needed here. The enemy was here, and just because we had defeated the first wave of monsters didn't mean there wasn't a second wave waiting for us.
"Fine," I turned away from the mountain, Luther coming up with several Marines by his side. He said, "Brother, the enemy has finally put up some resistance to the south. They have apparently found a drainage ditch to turn into a trench network. We've encountered actual Rangda and several of their psychic variants. They have halted our forward progress, and the field commanders are requesting backup."
I nodded my head and said, "And they shall have it. Prepare Companies Three through Seven. I will march to the south and join the lines there."
Luther looked over at the landing field before saying, "If you wait 10 minutes, we can get some Rhinos ready to transport you down south. There are also about a dozen bike groups ready to go, but they won't be of much use down there. Even with the open land, the enemy has found a well-entrenched spot. The best we can do is try to find a way around, but it's hard to say if we can flank them."
I nodded before saying, "We must try. We must keep pushing and keep them off balance. We can't let them get a chance to recoup any land we've taken or try to outmaneuver us and join the men currently holding the mountain they're assaulting."
Luther nodded before saying, "About that, Company 17 has men who are from the mountainous regions of Caliban. I was wondering if I should have them sent south. They may be able to break through the enemy lines and make contact with the scattered Marines under your sister's command, getting more details on what's going on."
I smiled, realizing Luther had sensed my worry. "Indeed," I said. "That sounds reasonable. Send the company and see what they can learn. I would like to have some idea of what we're dealing with up there. At the very least, we should know what they're up to so we know if we have a problem behind us that we can't deal with."
Luther nodded his head and pointed to one of the soldiers, saying, "Go notify the 17th Company," and giving them their orders. The soldier nodded and ran off, leaving only Luther and myself. We started moving across the airfield towards the tanks and armor that were being prepared, giving them a quick inspection.
"Lion," Luther said as we continued, seeming to think for a moment before saying, "Losses are not looking good. It's believed we've already taken 10% losses since landing. Do we have any idea how we're going to handle this situation when it's all over?"
I looked at him before saying, "We'll recruit from the homeworld like we always do."
He nodded before clarifying, "I mean, how are we going to meet our commitments when this fighting is over? We've suffered losses that have basically cut the Dark Angels in half in terms of numbers. We used to be one of the largest legions, and now we're in the middle tier."
My lips tightened at that. He wasn't lying. This was a long conflict that had drained our resources. We would probably be regrouping and recovering for some time. Nodding my head, I tried to think of a plan before recalling several reports I had read from my sister over the years. Then I said, "Tanya has this thing where, about every 10 years of campaigning, she takes a break and goes back to our homeworld to rule it for a while before going on another campaign. Perhaps we should do the same."
Luther nodded before saying, "Does she? I guess that wouldn't be so bad. It's been a while since we visited the homeworld."
I nodded, but my eyes caught something moving down the mountainside. Turning, I focused to get a better look and spotted a few Wolves of Fenris Marines making their way down the mountain. They seemed to be very far off course, coming from a direction that, as far as I knew, hadn't been under attack.
Luther turned and saw them as well, tilting his head before saying, "Perhaps they had to take a long way to get here, but why did they come here?"
I shrugged before stopping, noting that the Marines looked as if they had been through hell. Their armor was gouged in many places, and one of them was limping so badly that when he slipped, he just rolled down the mountainside, hitting the ground with a painful-sounding crunch. However, he pulled himself up without issue.
Several of my Dark Angels moved into position to observe them. Obviously, I couldn't hear what they were saying from this distance, but I could tell what was going on. There was no way they would let them into the camp without conducting a thorough check to ensure they hadn't been infested or had the potential to be infested by the Slaugth.
After about 15 minutes of checking, the three Wolves of Fenris were led into the camp and headed towards my position. I folded my arms across my chest and waited for them to arrive.
The highest-ranking Marine, a sergeant, raised his hand in salute. I noticed that one of the fingers was missing from his glove, indicating that they had probably been through a lot of combat to get here. I returned the salute.
"Primarch Lion," he said with some dignity, giving a nod. "We are runners from the main camp of the Sixth Legion. Here to report the situation."
"Hmm, has anything major changed from the last report? As far as I'm aware, the Primarch of your Legion is still missing, correct?" I inquired.
The Marine shook his head and said, "Missing, no. They live. We believe they have passed through some sort of rune magic on the mountain they are attacking." He pointed towards the winter storm, causing me to raise an eyebrow, realizing what they were implying. "If they were not alive, I think that storm would have died down by now."
I nodded, saying, "Good, good to have some evidence that they live. But what brings you here, through unknown enemies, to my command? We are about to move forward with our own operations to expand our control southwards. This isn't a change in the information we already had, is it?"
The Marine nodded and said, "The Wolf Lord in command of the main force is preparing to do the same. Large forces will be moving against the mountain to try and free the Primarch from whatever conflict they are stuck in. Additionally, a larger force will be pushing down the valleys to connect our lines with your own here. However, scouts have already discovered a problem. A large force of Rangdan is amassing to the north of here in a nearby valley. They are obviously preparing to launch an assault on your position."
"Where did they come from?" I asked, turning to Luther, who shook his head, indicating that he had as little knowledge on the subject as I did.
"We suspect that there may be tunnels into this area. After all, it's more militaristic than we thought. Perhaps there's a hidden entrance they have located and are using to try and flank us," Luther suggested.
The Wolf of Fenris nodded before adding, "We believe the mountain that our Primarch is assaulting serves as a main command post for the region. If that's true, then it's likely these troops were being directed to assault that position when they learned of the loss of the airfield."
So, the chaos my sister caused among their ranks resulted in a large number of troops not taking action until they found us. Well, I'll have to deal with them then.
Looking in that direction, I asked Luther, "How many troops can we allocate to defend this airfield while still reinforcing the attack to the south?"
Luther nodded in thought before replying, "We could keep 25% of our forces here and still continue the assault to the south. But if possible, I think we should call in the Imperial Army and get some of their troops on the line. It would make things a bit easier."
"Hmm, I'm not sure about that. That storm seems to be getting bigger. I worry that we might lose the ability to bring in those troops if we call them in," I said, looking up.
"True, my brother, but consider this: it's either we use them or we lose them. If that storm continues to grow and prevents us from bringing in any troops at all, it will be a while before we receive any reinforcements. At least if they're down here, some of them can help us out," Luther reasoned.
The Wolf of Fenris spoke up, uninvited, but his point was well taken. "We've already brought down the Valkyrie and the Imperial Guard forces that are in orbit. In fact, we're going to use them to try and establish contact with the 11th Legion. At this point, it's all hands on deck, or we pull out, and I don't think any of us wants to retreat."
Nodding my head, I agreed, "Then it shall be done. Call in the Imperial Army and have them deploy their troops to our airfield. Let's see if they can dig in and keep us secure. We'll move the majority of our forces to handle the expansion and perhaps find another airfield just in case we lose this one."
Turning to the Marines, I said, "You are welcome to join us in this fight or make your way back over the mountains to your comrades."
The Marine spoke with a smile in his voice as he replied, "To pass up a good fight here with our cousins in arms, that's not something a loyal wolf would do."
Lord Wolfen
Cold... everything was growing colder, and I was starting to feel at home. Looking back at the snowstorm, I wished I could take part in the impending attack. The Marines were going to charge over those mountains, killing everything and anything between them and their Primarch. And when they did, well, it would be one hell of a show.
Unfortunately, my position wouldn't be among the brothers going to save our Primarch. No, I would be here, leading the Valkyrie on a wild goose chase.
Instead, we had to find out what was happening with the 11th Legion. Reports were getting mixed up, and we had no direct contact with them.
All we knew for sure was that they were engaged in one of the fiercest battles. The enemy was throwing everything they had at them, including those fox-like Xeno or Rang as some of my sisters in the Valkyrie called them that seemed to be their main force. Though I still had my doubts.
Frankly, myself and most of the other Valkyries were convinced that the main force must be one of the bioforms, and everything else were just races they had brought under their banner over the years. I guess it was possible that it was the other way around, but with how monstrously they treated their own population, it was better to believe they were the monsters and not the Xenos we were fighting.
After all, expecting one monster to attack was reasonable and expected. But a Xenos committing monstrous acts? Well, it was still expected, but confusing. At least some Xenos would value their own population enough not to engage in such monstrous acts against themselves. At least, that's what most Xenos would do based on the combat I had seen.
Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to what lay before me—a column of Tanya Russ tanks and Rhinos. The more standardized vehicles of the Valkyrie. We were using one of the preexisting roads on this world to expedite our travel, though ambushes were a constant concern. So far, we hadn't encountered any, but it was possible. That's why I was near the front of the column, sitting on a Rhino, deep in thought. My face hidden beneath the cloak of my wolf pelt, with the staff I had received from the Allfather at my side. I gazed out over the horizon, waiting for something to take a shot at me... or not.
I was one of the bigger targets, well, bigger in the sense that if they were going to shoot at anything, it would cause actual damage. At least, as far as they were concerned. I had been fighting for a long time and had mastered many skills with my staff. I was also very familiar with rune magic at this point. Even as I sat here, a low shield protected me, ready to stop any shots aimed at my head or other vital organs.
So, any shot taken would fail, and with any luck, it would reveal the enemy's position. Yes, I had turned myself into bait, but I didn't care. I was here to fight the enemy, and if I needed to beat them with my own flesh, I would do it. That's what I was here for, after all, or at least that's what I remembered I had to do.
After all, I had undergone the serum to become a Space Marine, to fight for the Emperor and uphold my family's honor. I had not planned on doing paperwork or living a comfortable life on the ever-developing economic planet that Fenris was becoming.
In fact, I was growing less fond of the people of Fenris as time went on. They seemed to be growing weaker.
Sure, it's just my opinion, but my opinion is mine, and I will continue to hold it. The people of four decades ago were robust folk, but the people living there now, especially in the major cities, were becoming soft and flabby. In my opinion, they had grown too accustomed to a life of luxury and needed to return to the hardships that make men strong. Good times make weak men, but hard times make strong men. Sooner or later, the cycle would complete itself, and Fenris would return to its former glory.
Sure, Mother would not be pleased with that, but she would probably be forced to admit that it would be better for the people to be tough rather than weak.
Well, she would admit it if she wasn't preoccupied with one of her Joy Girls. They were the Valkyries, her personal entourage.
I tried not to dwell on the fact that I belonged to the same organization as what could be best described as her harem. It was mainly because I viewed her as a mother figure in this new life, but it was not a pleasant thought when it did cross my mind.
Good times make weak men. The Joy Girls represented those good times, and I wondered how it would affect Mother. Would she become weaker because of it? Would it be the catalyst that finally marked the end of this phase of the cycle?
Deep and tedious thoughts, really, but it was a possibility that always came up during my mental musings.
I should probably shift my focus away from those thoughts. In fact, no, I had to shift my focus as the tank at the head of the column exploded into shrapnel. Apparently, the road had been mined.
Several Valkyries went down around the vehicle, and from the nearby mountainside, the ground gave way, revealing several entrances into the mountain. Out rushed the Rang, some firing their guns while others wielded bladed weapons, leaping onto the Valkyries, attempting to breach their powered armor.
Without hesitation, I rose to my feet and cast a simple, yet effective spell. I channeled energy into the pre-prepared bolt pistol at my side, aimed, and fired a round that exploded in the chest of one creature before tearing it apart even further.
I turned my attention to another creature and continued firing, standing atop the tank. I kept channeling energy from my staff into the weapon, enhancing the impact of each bolt round, allowing my sisters and the Valkyries around my vehicle to regroup and fight back with their own bladed weapons.
The creatures were pushed back from the tanks, and the tanks unleashed volleys of bolt rounds from their side guns, mowing down the enemy. In a few cases, flamers were deployed, enveloping the furry monsters in searing flames.
The scent of burnt fur and flesh quickly overwhelmed the area as the creatures retreated into the walls. While I agreed, we didn't waste time chasing after them. They were agile enough to evade us, but pursuing those monsters into their hidey holes wouldn't serve us well. The best we could do was to throw grenades into the holes or use heavy explosives to seal them. It would take 30 or 40 minutes, but once done, the rear would be somewhat secure for us to continue moving forward.
And move forward we must. We should be getting closer to the 11th Legion's forces. They should be somewhere in this area.
Peering outside, I noticed a problem with my intended plans. At the end of the road, a creature emerged, weaving in warp flame. Its skin mutated, covered in a shell of rock and other materials, protecting it from the hellish environment it brought upon us.
The creature muttered some sort of spell, attempting to unleash warp abilities or something similar. So, I did what I did best. Striking my staff on the Rhino, I channeled all the energy I had into it before channeling an accurate and hard-hitting shot through my bolt pistol. I fired at the creature, and the round impacted in a way I did not expect. Instead of exploding like a normal bolt round, it froze the creature solid.
Raising an eyebrow in surprise, I looked at my gun, confused.
Then, I gazed back at the mountain and smiled, remarking, "Mother must be really angry."
"How do you figure that?" a fellow Valkyrie asked, pulling herself up from where she had fallen off the road and dusting off her armor.
Unlike me, she had progressed further in the process and was quite tall, almost six feet seven. It made her resemble Mother more easily than me, along with her blonde hair and close features. I, on the other hand, had only inherited the facial resemblance, but with my nearly five-foot-nothing stature and black hair, it was easy to spot the differences between us.
Shaking my head, I replied, "I didn't imbue that spell with the will of ice, which means I must have picked up someone else's will of ice. Someone who is extremely angry."
My sister nodded in agreement before saying, "Well, Mother doesn't get shot down very often. Perhaps that upset her greatly."
I nodded in response, adding, "That's a possibility. It's also possible that she has seen something that has annoyed her about the Rangdan. After all, they are a rather vexing species."
My sister agreed as the column started moving again. The wrecked tank was pushed off to the side of the road by the next tank in line, and several Valkyries moved to the front of the column with anti-mine-detection equipment, ensuring we didn't encounter anything else that would cause a slowdown.
Thankfully, the road was solidly constructed, making it easy to spot any attempts to lay mines in the ground. We successfully avoided several patches of dug-up ground and, in a few cases, had to detonate explosives to clear areas we suspected were mined. Despite these obstacles, we kept moving and soon broke through the valley pass into a battlefield that was currently in the midst of battle.
Below us, we witnessed thousands of Marines from the 11th Legion. They were currently being overwhelmed by an unending horde of Slaugth and other bioforms, attacking from two different directions. Interestingly, the central area between these attacks was controlled by the regular Rangdan Xenos, the foxes, who were keeping their heads down and engaging the enemy through concentrated firepower.
The line was holding out remarkably well, even as another wave of bodies charged out of the makeshift trenches of the dead and dying. The 11th Legion was not being overwhelmed, and I had confidence that they would prevail if they did face overwhelming odds. Their armor and weapons appeared to be in peak condition.
"Are you from the 6th?" a voice called from in front of us. I scanned further down the road and quickly saw several Marines from the 11th approaching us. Their equipment seemed worn, and they appeared to be wounded.
"We're the auxiliary troops of the 6th" I shouted back, receiving a nod from the leading individual as he stopped, leaning heavily on a staff he carried.
"We need ammunition and manpower at the front. They keep coming, and we keep killing them, but we're running low. They've brought up anti-aircraft guns that are hindering the flow of resources from orbit," he explained.
"Alright, I signaled the crew of the Rhino to stop and jumped down from it, with several sisters flanking me. I pressed the button on my armor's collar to issue an order. "Move into position to assist the 11th Legion. Use our tanks as artillery to eliminate their anti-aircraft guns and provide them with as much ammunition as possible."
"Right, boss," came the voices of several Valkyries as the column started moving again.
Turning to face the three Marines approaching, I saluted them, and they returned the gesture.
"Hmm, you're a little short for a Marine," the leader remarked, earning a stifled chuckle from the person beside me.
"We're the Valkyries, the support troops for the 6th. Most of the 6th Legion is currently occupied with establishing connections with the 1st Legion and recovering our Primarch, who is dealing with the enemy stronghold," I explained, pointing a thumb over my shoulder towards the still-visible winter cloud over the mountain range.
"Ah, I thought I sensed Warp powers running amok. Glad it's on our side, although I wish it wasn't involved at all," the Marine said, shaking his head before reaching up to remove his helmet, revealing a dark-skinned individual with a bronze complexion. He introduced himself, "I am Bhishma of the 11th Legion, second in command to Commander Shakuni," offering his hand.
I reached out and shook his hand, then replied, "I'm Lord Wolfen, one of the commanders of the Valkyrie."
"One of? That's not a very specific rank. Are you the leader or the second?" he inquired.
I shrugged and said, "Neither, both. There are other commanders, but they aren't here. I am the senior officer for this operation, and that's what matters."
"Hmm, seems like a loose military structure if you ask me," he remarked.
"It isn't," my sister interjected, and I raised a hand to calm her.
"To be frank, we're so used to working side by side with Space Marines that would take charge. We haven't really developed our own independent military structure," I explained.
The Marine from the 11th nodded in understanding and asked, "Are there any other troops coming down that road that we should know about?"
My sister spoke up, saying, "Several divisions of the Fenrisian Guard are on their way. They have more equipment like the regular Imperial Army and plenty of tanks."
"Good, I think we'll need plenty of tanks for this battle," he replied, turning to look back at the field of death below. "The enemy is pushing everything they have at us. I can feel them clawing for every resource they can get. They obviously want to try and break through here to get to the place where your Primarch landed. If we break here, they will push into our lines, and they'll have open access to many of our landing zones. So we must prevent that."
Taking a step forward and standing in line with him, I declared, "That won't happen. We're here, and we will stop them now."
He nodded and his eyes caught sight of the staff in my hand. "That's a strange tool. It doesn't look Terran."
Barely looking at him, I replied, "I don't know where it comes from. All I know is that it was approved by Mother, and that's enough for me."
"Mother, you of the 6th are a strange lot. That's for sure," he remarked.
"We're only strange because we need to be," my sister chimed in, now standing next to me. "Now, let's get down there and start fighting. I haven't had a good fight since the last one," she added with a wide smile.
"That was only an hour ago," I mentioned, eliciting a wider smile from her.
"A whole hour without fighting? I need to get right back into it," she exclaimed.
Shaking my head, I said, "Put us where we need to be to help defend your lines."
"Right," he replied, looking down at the lines. "The eastern side of the line is a little thin. That should be a good place, as it puts you in contact with the Slaugth. Watch out for them and don't let their infection get to you. If anyone falls to it, kill them quickly and burn them. It's the best way to deal with it."
"Of course," I said, nonchalantly turning to the battlefield once more. However, there was a flash of light from the enemy's back lines—a strange bluish energy rushing across the field and up the mountain slope. It didn't seem to be doing anything, but as it hit me, I felt immense pain in my brain and dropped down to one knee. The Space Marine next to me did the same.
"Sister, are you alright?" my sister asked, leaning down to look at me. I moved my head slowly and nodded before saying, "Kill whatever that is," as I struggled to maintain control over my mental faculties. Something was pressing at me, something not of this world and not of natural birth.
Holding tightly onto the staff and praying that my connection to the Allfather would save me, I watched as my sister gathered as many Valkyries as possible and started charging down the hill to join the fighting.
"They're trying to unleash something from the Warp," I heard the Space Marine to my side say to his own comrade, who was kneeling next to him.
"Unleash what?" he asked.
"I don't know," the Space Marine replied, opening his eyes to reveal blood running down the sides as they started to glow.
Captain Nemmius Tetanus
"Oh, that's a big one," I commented, peering down the scopes at the planet. The ongoing snowstorm down there was massive, seemingly drawing other storms across the planet in its general direction. Granted, many of those storms were losing power along the way, but it was still a significant amount of energy causing chaos as troops were being deployed.
Well, Fenris, for the most part, had storms like this quite often. In fact, the Imperial Army, the 1st Legion, the 2nd Legion, and the 11th Legion had to be extremely cautious when sending their men down to the surface. The veterans coming down had pilots who had flown through storms much worse than this, although I admit they didn't have as much training as they probably needed.
One positive aspect was that the highest point of the fortress was just above the atmosphere, allowing docking without the need for pilots to fly down.
"Yep, the boys are getting a lot of training on flying today," responded the commander of the Air Corps. Blake, an officer who had been serving alongside me since I took up the position as the commander of this vessel, had been overseeing the training of the Air Force dispatched from it.
There were some efforts to convert the Air Force, primarily consisting of Imperial Army personnel, to 6th Legion personnel. However, I noticed that the Primarch of the 6th Legion didn't seem to care as much. Some legions had made significant efforts to integrate the Air Corps as another extension of their legion, treating them as no better than serfs or even space marines in training. She only cared about results, not who achieved them. As long as we kept delivering results, I believed we would maintain our position as some of the personnel responsible for controlling this ship.
Serving aboard one of the Emperor's Glorianas was the greatest honor a captain could receive. Considering that some Glorianas had completely converted their crews to local personnel or Space Marines, being one of the few ships where humans were still in control of the Gloriana meant I was doing something right.
Shaking my head, I moved over to my seat and picked up my cup of coffee. It was a terrible habit I had never had before taking command of the Gloriana Hrafnkel, but apparently, the Primarch of the 6th Legion had a terrible coffee habit and had spread it throughout the entire vessel. I believed there might be more coffee than alcohol on this ship, although I couldn't prove it. I was suspicious that there might be more alcohol and coffee combined than ammunition at this point.
If only the vessel wasn't so massive that entire sections could be hidden from the crew. Who knows what was going on in the hearts of the Hrafnkel.
Oh yeah, I mean, I sat the coffee down and scratched my face, my beard which was coming in. It's a bit itchy, but to be expected. I've finally given up on the whole straight-laced thing and taken on a bit of Fenrisian culture. But I'm not good at growing a beard and had to start over a couple of times because I ended up looking, well, rugged, as some of the Wolves of Fenris would say.
I'll figure it out sooner or later. Beards are almost one of the most respected things in the Legion, especially if they can be maintained while still wearing a helmet.
As I was brewing my coffee, I was about to ask for a report on when the next transfer of Fenrisian Guard would begin when the navigator's columns shot up from his seat and yelled, "Enemy contact! A large fleet of Rangdan vessels is dropping in at the edge of the system!"
"Oh," I said, sipping my coffee. "Wonderful." I said, "Make sure that all the other ships are aware and see if we can get in contact with the ground crews. Let them know that we have enemies on the way."
"What's the plan, sir?" I replied, and waited. We had held the siege of their homeworld, or at least what we believed to be their homeworld. There was nothing but open ground between their homeworld and the edge of the system, so they would be under our fire for the entire travel distance. Meanwhile, we would be out in the open as well. At least we could use the planet for cover if things got too bad. Would they fire on their own planets...?"
A dumb question, of course they would. But it wouldn't matter because we would be putting out just enough fire to destroy their ships as they tried to destroy us. Victory was inevitable; it just required time.