* * *
Edani found Chief Petty Officer Tellem lying on a ridge, pointing the barrel of his boltgun into the undergrowth near the top. His head was buried in the bushes, hunting for something to kill. Edani had briefly met Tellem at the airbase, but he knew, like the medic, Tellem was a veteran of many years, and didn’t think highly of the new Lieutenant, just another green officer that comes to replace the one before him.
That made Edani wonder: Would he die off as the one before him? Or will he be the one officer that has a talent for this job… like his father. He then dismissed the thought and got down beside Tellem.
“Where are Trooper D’avre and Comms Officer Fryno?” whispered Edani, remembering to whisper this time.
“They fell skyward, Lieutenant.” Replied Tellem.
“What the heck does-”
“They were killed when they landed into a pit of sinking sand. Dragged down by their own parachutes. Such is the way of war, Sir.” Replied Tellem with growing aggravation.
Edani was horrified, but managed to get his words out. “I mean… fell skyward. What does that mean?”
“It refers to the drop at the Ork world of Ghetti. A vermillion-level security secret that slipped out. Your father was the only one to survive the incident. To-”
Tellem was suddenly interrupted by his own death. A pulse of blue energy split through the undergrowth and exploded in Tellem’s head like a firecracker, splattering unrecognizable human body parts over Edani’s carapace armor.
“amphetamine parrot! amphetamine parrot! Holy Vaporwyrms! Incoming on the left flank!” yelled Edani as he scrambled into a good prone position.
The first to come was Trooper Dermote and he laid down next to the Lieutenant. He fired wildly into the undergrowth, and something shrieked out in front of them. Then, a severed, blue-skinned arm fell in front of them, oozing with blood.
Edani stopped firing his pistol and paused and looked at the arm. He reached forward to it when the Trooper suddenly screamed out. A glancing pulse round seared off his left face and he reeled backwards, screaming in pain.
That was enough to snap him out of his trance. Edani cursed under his breath and went over the top of the ridge, cutting through the undergrowth with his saber. He took seven more steps and was about to step out again, but he slipped into a ditch, apparently the shrubs were no longer around him, but two Tau Fire-Warriors paused to look for a half-a-second at their new guest. One Fire-Warrior locked eyes with Edani, both petrified, but Edani was quicker. He lashed out his legs, knocking the feet out of the first one, who fell over. Edani then rolled over in the muddy trench, bringing his bolt pistol up to the second Tau Fire-Warrior. He pulled the trigger twice, which made a gaping hole in the alien’s chest area.
The other one was recovering from the fall, and drew out his own sword. Apparently, he too was an officer. Edani pounced up, once again looking straight into his enemy’s eyes. The alien beckoned him closer, and then, he lashed out. A sword fight had begun.
The Tau’s first blow was quickly parried by Edani’s saber, as well as his second. Edani then brought up his free hand and grabbed the Tau’s sword-holding arm and twisted it over, pulling the alien in close. As Edani had the alien in his lock, he rested his ice-cold saber on the Alien’s neck. After a few seconds, he released the grip and let the alien go. Edani did not like to execute officers, and valued respect.
The two officers looked at each other, and then the Tau officer nodded and then picked up his weapon and went over the ditch top and into the shrubbery.
Edani wiped the sweat from his brow and continued down the trench line. He holstered his bolt pistol and saber and drew out the famous Elysian-pattern shotgun. As he ran further down, he ran into a Fire-Warrior at an intersection. The alien paused and Edani smiled as if to say “hello”. A half-second later, Edani ended his smile and pumped a blast of hot lead into the alien.
Apparently, there were a squad of Tau behind the first one, and Edani’s heart skipped a beat as he saw the others emerge from behind the trench corner. As the first one came around, Edani, brought up the butt of his shotgun and whacked him across the face, and leveled it at his waist just in time to shoot the second one coming in.
The third Tau was not as easy. The alien brought the butt up from his own weapon and whacked the Lieutenant in the stomach. The Lieutenant reeled over and gasped for air, but the Fire-Warrior had already delivered his second blow, knocking the Lieutenant on the muddy trench floor, for not the first time in the day.
As the Tau dove on him, Edani drew his own utility knife up into the alien’s gut. He could see his opponent’s eyes become glassy and slowly fade away. Edani pulled fiercely upwards into the chest area, and then retracted the knife. He let the dying alien fall beside him as he drew up his bolt pistol and shot the rest of the aliens behind him.
Edani thought he was relieved when he saw an Elysian helmet among the enemy dead. The owner of it yelped out in pain. Edani scrambled to his feet and ran towards the fallen trooper.
It was trooper Homar. His leg was almost fully severed, and blood oozed out and mixed with the dirt. Among the flesh, Edani froze as he saw the object. A bolt round. He had shot Homar. The young trooper spoke out.
“I… was taking them on… Lieutenant… I was going well… But then they got me. I didn’t try… hard enough… I… failed the Emperor.”
“Oh no no no no, you did just fine. Wonderful, you saved my life for a matter of fact.” Said the Lieutenant in a soft voice as tears came to his eyes. He gently held the trooper’s head. “Just hang in there, Homar, I’ll go get Falkur… you’ll be just fine. Think of Elysia, of your family.”
“Elysia…” The young soldier trailed off.
Edani noticed the young man’s head had gone limp, and his eyes glassy. Edani collapsed against the wall of the trench. Such is the way of war, he thought to himself.