Topic: Short Story IG vs Orks (to be continued)

[DrowofDarkness]

It had been two days since Zachary’s platoon had left the metal confines of the Brightstar. He was only two months out of training, conscripted at the age of 17. All he knew at home was endless work in the factory-fields on Aeron IV. He joined the Imperial Guard in search of glory and adventure. What he found was sheer horror; merciless battle with inhuman foes whose alien strength could snap a man’s back with a fist.
These creatures were monstrous…on average 6’ tall with skin as thick and resilient as Zachary’s flak armor. Their bodies consisted entirely of thick, knotted muscle and were adorned in all manner of primitive tattoos. Zachary had watched them in combat with Storm Troopers just a day earlier. One of them suffered chainsword wounds that would bring down any man, and kept fighting; its dark blood slowly covering its body. It seemed as if the things felt no pain!

   KKKRRRUUMPH!!!!!!
   A huge artillery round whistled over Zachary’s head, impacting 20 meters behind his entrenchment. Great chunks of earth erupted fifty feet into the air and Zachary felt the shockwave pass through his chest, shaking the very ground where he stood. Unable to control his shaking hands, he fumbled with the heavy, grease-covered ammunition for the heavy bolter. His squadmate, Private Karel, was from the port-city of Coroma, not far from Zachary’s home. The two had practically become brothers in the Imperial training camp, and had sworn to watch each other’s backs, no matter what.
   “Pull yourself together!” Karel said. “How am I supposed to shoot them bastards if you don’t feed me ammo? Eh?” he asked cheerfully. His face betrayed his feigned emotion.
   The sounds of battle were getting nearer. Zachary’s fire-team was entrenched on the far slope of a roadbed, their view of the battle obscured by a long hedgerow. They could hear the screams of men fighting and dying, the constant rumble of heavy guns and tanks firing and maneuvering. An occasional stray shot whistled overhead.
His squad was guarding the company’s mortar team as they flung shells high out over the battle, bringing the Emperor’s retribution to the greenskins. The Vox-caster was constantly squawking firing orders, and the mortar teams responded with a continuous barrage.
Suddenly Zachary noticed that a Chimera transport had been headed his way from the far-right flank of the battle-line. It moved quickly over the rough expanse of open ground, its long-range antenna flexing wildly with the bucking of the tank. As is got closer, he could pick out the telltale Imperial Eagle emblazoned on the front armor plate that designated it as a command vehicle. It pulled up 15 meters behind the Mortar team, the back hatch slamming open. Moving in well-practiced unison, the squad of men disembarked and took up positions alongside Zachary’s squad.
Something else also emerged from the Chimera, something that Zachary feared more than his enemy. Commissar Evron was the perfect embodiment of the Will of the Emperor. He wore a heavy, armored trench coat—a golden Imperial Eagle pinned to each breast. His battle honors and campaign badges covered almost his entire left shoulder, and reflected the daylight brilliantly. A master-crafted bolt-pistol could be seen holstered on his right hip as he walked, tantalizing the eye with its golden trim. His expression was resolute, as if he knew and embraced his fate without fear and without hesitation. His combat boots shone flawlessly, polished to a perfect sheen. He wore a power-fist, an ancient and revered weapon of the Imperium that Zachary knew nothing about until 6 months ago. He still hadn’t seen one used, but the more experienced soldiers whisper that it’s capable of punching through a concrete wall with little effort.
Commissar Evron walked purposefully and with measured precision up onto the roadbed that Zachary and all his squad was hiding behind, staring intensely at the tree line as if the Emperor bid him to see through it. The sounds of battle became intermittent, the greenskins firing sporadically into the air. The mortar team’s Vox-caster fell silent. I hope that doesn’t mean what I think it might, Zachary thought.
Then he saw them. They emerged from the tree line, a group of at least twenty. They brandished primitive hand-cannon, firing randomly at Zachary’s position, even though they were still out of range. Commissar Evron unholstered his pistol in one clean movement, aiming at the beasts.
   “By the Emporer’s will, OPEN FIRE!” Evron ordered.
The men needed little encouragement. Karel opened up with the heavy bolter, the self-propelled rounds creating a double-report; propellant charges igniting as soon as the rounds left the muzzle. The familiar clap of lasrifle fire echoed across the open field. The heavy bolter rounds raked through the enemy, punching through their thick hides with ease. Two of the creatures exploded from within, their ribcage rupturing in a gory spray of dark blood and green flesh. The riflemen’s aim was true but the creatures waded through small-arms fire with ease. Only one of them succumbed to the rifles, his neck ruptured as a laser bolt vaporized his flesh. Another of the beasts was spun fully around as a krak grenade tore its arm off. It screamed in pain—a horrible, guttural sound that no human could possibly make.
The fire team from the Chimera also unloaded on the enemy. The squad was blessed with an archaic plasma weapon that employed technology so old and secret that a common man would be killed on the spot if he somehow came about such knowledge. The weapon made a fantastic screaming sound as it fired bolts of white-hot plasma into the aliens. One of the shots struck its target, vaporizing the creature’s torso in an instant. The creature’s upper body fell forward, slamming its face into the ground as its legs fell to the side twitching. Its expression contorted in a twisted snarl, the creature continued to claw its way toward the Imperials until it finally collapsed. Lasrifle fire brought down two more of them, and they lay spasming on the ground. The rest of the aliens continued their march forward with callous disregard for their fallen kin.
The mortar team had finally readjusted for the shorter range, and lobbed three shells into the air. They must’ve been too hasty, Zachary thought as he watched all three shells land harmlessly in the hedgerow. Commissar Evron immediately spun around, a gleam of violence in his eyes as he regarded the mortar team. The men moved faster as they brought forth more ammunition, refusing to meet the Commissar’s gaze but knowing full well that he wasn’t pleased.
   The aliens were now dangerously close as the Imperials emptied their clips into the enemy. Commissar Evron took careful aim with his bolt-pistol and fired four shots in steady succession, the recoil of the weapon jarring his whole frame. Three of the beasts fell as limbs and bodies exploded from within. With a brilliant flash of light, Evron’s power fist activated; arcs of energy coursing over the metal gauntlet as the disruption field was generated. The Commissar began reciting litanies in a steady tone that could be heard over the din of the screaming foe and heavy weapons fire. Zachary was inspired by the Commissar’s concrete devotion, drew his combat knife, and thought of his family a billion miles away, on a world so distant even memories seemed fuzzy.
   Zachary could swear he had been plunged into the dark Eye of chaos itself. Monsters larger than men were a mere stone’s throw away, baying for blood and swinging their primitive weapons like clubs. He scarcely heard Evron’s order to charge as Zachary and his squad vaulted forward, ready to meet the enemy in hand-to-had combat. Zachary picked one of the beasts and charged straight toward it, his knife reared high above his head. The creature swung violently with the butt of it’s weapon, narrowly missing Zachary. His opponent off-balance, Zachary plunged his knife into the creature’s shoulder, barely missing its neck. Its painful scream was cut short as Karel’s lasrifle stock smashed the thing’s face in. It fell to the ground unconscious. Zachary wasted no time and stabbed hard into its eye-socket, dispatching the alien for good.
   Spinning around to meet his next opponent, Zachary caught a glimpse of the Commissar. He was a machine of death in the form of a man. His calm in battle was matched only with his zeal for the Emperor as he aimed at the creatures, firing at point-blank range, felling one of them with bolter fire. Another alien swung at Evron and connected, knocking the pistol from the Commissar’s right hand. Evron promptly responded by plunging his powerfist into the creature’s chest. The disruption field did its work instantaneously, punching straight to the creature’s spine and throwing it back a good ten feet. It was dead before it hit the ground. Evron wasted no time; his weapon now in full-swing he took two steps forward toward the next beast and swung hard. The alien could do nothing but stare in wide-eyed wonder at its own death as the powerfist cut into its left arm and halfway through its chest. It was immediately slain and lay in a ruined pile on the ground.
   The Imperials were paying a heavy price to break the enemy. Turning away from the Commissar, Zachary shouldered his lasrifle and prepared to fire at an alien in combat with two other riflemen, but couldn’t get a clean shot. He could do nothing as he watched the alien grab his friend by the neck and squeeze. His ally’s eyes grew as large as golfballs as he struggled for breath, his stare saying all that he couldn’t. The monster dispatched the man swiftly with a gauntleted blow to the head.

[DrowofDarkness]

The other rifleman finally moved out of the way, dodging one of the creature’s massive swings, and Zachary fired. He poured a stream of bolts right into the beast’s chest. The lasers bored into the creature’s skin, flash-boiling fist-sized chunks of flesh, gouts of blood and carbonized muscle erupting out of the wounds. The first five bolts peeled away most of it’s chest muscles, exposing a thick, gore-slicked ribcage. The next five blasts ripped the ribcage apart, shards of bone becoming shrapnel in the creature’s body-cavity. When Zachary stopped firing, the creature’s face went slack as it stumbled forward a few steps and fell, a small crater bored into its chest.
   The smell of blood, ozone, and scorched flesh now filled the air. Zachary looked around, wondering at the dozen alien bodies that surrounded him. Karel picked himself up off of the ground and limped over to Zachary. Commissar Evron stood tall over one of the aliens, glaring at his enemy’s face with utter contempt; his expression was not one of victory, but one of knowing only hate for this creature, knowing that untold billions more blighted the stars. His chest still heaving with the exertion of battle, Evron spun around from his silent reverie to address what remained of his men.
   Zachary, Karel, and about ten other men had gathered into a loose group, checking ammunition and scavenging for undamaged weapons. The Commissar descended upon them.
   “Attention!” the Commissar screamed in Imperial Gothic.
   The men dropped what they were doing, shouldered their rifles and ran to form an impromptu squad of a dozen ‘Guard. Commissar Evron hesitated for just a second, a fleeting expression of pride flickered across his face.
   “Squad, embark! Move! Mo—“
   Commissar Evron, devout servant of the Emperor of Mankind, was engulfed in an explosion of flames and shrapnel, the shockwave throwing all twelve guardsmen to the ground. Dirt and rocks showered down upon them like rain. A crater twelve feet wide and half as deep occupied the area where the Commissar had been standing just a moment before. A vehicle half again as large as a Leman Russ battletank had just rounded the hedgerow, its massive main gun still spewing out soot and smoke from the shell. Zachary stood up, and began to run. He ran hard, followed by the rest of the men, towards the next hedgerow sixty meters away. Bullets began to buzz around them, and chancing a look behind him Zachary saw the command Chimera ten meters behind them, firing its multilaser at the enemy vehicle. The shots were pinpricks to the opposing tank and were doing no damage from what Zachary could see.
   The enemy tank fired its gun again—Zachary saw the muzzle flash. A half second later the round ripped into the Chimera, its front armor peeled open effortlessly. The blast inside the tank was so powerful it ripped the Chimera apart from the inside, sending shrapnel and hunks of machine scything through the air. Zachary instinctively ducked his head a bit and heard something whiz by him on his right. Looking forward again, he and the men were only ten meters from the hedgerow.
   And then the worst possible thing happened. Looking into the safety of the leaves and branches, Zachary saw a shape move. The distance closed by another three meters, and his worst fear was confirmed as four greenskins stepped out from the foliage, followed by a fifth beast that was wearing some sort of powered armor suit. It made him look massive, covering all but his head in thick metal armor. A primitive engine roared on its back, supported by the massive frame of the armor. The creatrue’s left arm ended in a huge, bladed claw. The hydraulics dripped oil as the blades were opened and closed, a weapon capable of slicing a man in half with one successful grab. The creature’s other arm ended in a massive cannon that was venting steam, its frost-covered fuel tanks pumping some strange concoction into the weapon. Zachary heard a strange, electric buzzing build in volume as the creature aimed this weapon right at him.
   Zachary waited just a half a second and dived to the right, second-guessing the alien. The cannon erupted in steam, obscuring the massive form of the creature’s armor. A white-hot bolt scorched through the air toward Zachary, a trail of heat waves and ionized air following its trajectory. Zachary had succeeded in throwing off his opponent’s aim as the shot missed Zachary by at least two feet. Zachary rolled and came up on his knee, shouldered his weapon and squeezed off a few shots at the massive construct. The creature had been outpaced by his companions, who were now running towards the other guardsmen. Zachary grabbed one of the Krak grenades he had taken off a fallen comrade, pulled the pin and threw it at the monster, hoping to buy himself some time.
   Darting toward the woods, Zachary watched as the grenade rolled to a stop in front of the monster. He swore the creature laughed as it stepped closer to the grenade. It exploded, a blast that would’ve killed five men, and the creature walked right through it, emerging from the smoke; an unstoppable dreadnaught. It was after Zachary and it wanted blood, and he knew it. Zachary darted into the treeline, his last grenade in his hand. He ran in a good forty feet and hid in some heavy brush.
   “Come ‘ere ‘ittle ‘Umie…” it growled as it entered the trees. The engine of the armor roared as the alien clamped onto a thick tree and closed the claw. The tree snapped and splintered as the claw did its work, finally breaking with a loud crack. The alien roared in pleasure at the destruction, and took a few more steps into the trees. Zachary could hear his squadmates screaming and fighting the four beasts, and he prayed for them. In his praying he found strength, and he thought of the Emperor, who he would only ever know as a name, and of the Imperium for which he was fighting.  It was his duty, no, his destiny to fight this monster, this horror from the void.
   With a maniacal scream, Zachary erupted from his hiding place. The alien roared, caught off-guard by the insane attack. The creature swung with its gun-arm in an attempt to keep Zachary away, but Zachary managed to duck out of the way and vaulted behind the creature. With a guess and a prayer, Zachary placed the grenade between the engine and the fuel tank. The creature began to turn around, straining against the heavy armor as gears whined and ground. Zachary took off like a bolt, running fast as a deer, vaulting over fallen trees and through thick thorns. He heard the grenade go off, heard the screams of frustration and pain as the alien caught on fire. He had to help his fellow soldiers.
   Breaking through the woods, Zachary saw only six men left fighting three of the beasts. He took careful aim and shot once, striking one of the creatures in the back. It was surprised and turned around to face its new attacker to find that Zachary was actually over five meters distant. Its easy distraction proved its end as a soldier plunged a knife deep into the creature’s back. Another soldier jumped on top of it, beating the back of its head and neck with his rifle. The creature fell and was brutally beaten by the two men. The last alien, realizing he was now alone, became even more enraged. Swinging wildly, the men were forced to back away from the frenzied creature. Karel moved too slow as he tried to dodge one of the blows and caught it in the head. Zachary’s heart stopped as he watched Karel fall to the ground. Screaming with hatred, Zachary charged the beast’s back as it concentrated on his other squad members. He brought his rifle stock down hard on the creature’s knobby spine. The creature roared in pain and spun around, Zachary narrowly avoiding his clumsy blow. Smirking, Zachary flipped his lasgun to full-auto and filled the creature’s face with laser bolts. Hunks of flesh exploded off of its skull, the creature ducking down and recoiling from the attack. It was blinded, Zachary had burned out both of its eyes, and it stumbled and swung wildly as the troopers filled the air with lasrifle fire. The creature was turned into a pockmarked, steaming carcass in less than a second.