Chapter XII

Perspicax was frozen in horror behind the autocannon. Before him, not more than ten feet lay Lieutenant Salebra. His face utterly ruined, but he was still alive and moving. The marine appeared to ignore the sword still stuck in his armor and went about murdering his fellow troopers.

He was so riveted to the carnage unfolding behind him that he nearly jumped into orbit when a very hand grabbed his shoulder. The hand glistened black and as his eyes followed the arm up, he stared into the emotionless mask of a Space Marine.

‘Can you run trooper?’ the marine asked.

‘Y... y... yes,’ was all Perspicax could manage.

‘Then do so. Take a smaller weapon and head northwest as fast as you can. Take any of your brethren you encounter with you. You will be safe that way.’

The sniper quickly grabbed his rifle and started to run when a glance at the crumbled building reminded him of something. Fearing to push his luck he turned back to the marine who was watching the carnage. The marine turned back to face him. ‘My partner, he was on top of that building. I need to see if he is still alive.’

The marine nodded and flagged over another marine. ‘Take this trooper and search that building over there for any survivors. Then try to get as many of these soldiers out of here as possible. We don’t have a lot of time.’

Shocked and confused at what is transpiring around him, he let the other marine lead him as his mind tried to comprehend.

‘Now is not the time for deep thoughts. I remember seeing this building collapse I may have an idea as to where to look,’ the new marine said.

It did not take them very long to find Helice. He was lightly buried under the remnants of the thatched room and bits of the hard clay wall. He was bleeding from several wounds but was still breathing albeit it was very shallow.

The marine spoke again. ‘He is not safe here. I saw a functional vehicle behind the building. Let’s load him up and get him out of here.’ Picking up the large man with out any perceived effort, they quickly got him loaded into a Salamander. A few troopers who had taken to hiding quickly came out of hiding and running solely on the need for survival the troopers begin to fall upon each other to get a space on the transport. The marine quickly intervened and got them over to another transport.

One of the troopers was apparently a driver and wasted no time in getting the vehicle started. The marine had to literally throw the last man aboard as the Salamander drove away. The driver obviously panicked into reckless abandonment sped off in a straight line crushing anything in his way, including a few of his fellow troopers. He had turned back to regain the squad when an explosion reached his ears.

+ + +

Paschar looked off towards a quickly growing fireball. The vehicle that had just sped was now a ball of flames. Paschar was about to write it off as the fault of the reckless driver when he noticed a light trail of white smoke connecting the wreckage to a hill not too far away. The Devastators were atop the hill.

Paschar quickly retreated to where the second vehicle was ready to depart. He recognized the trooper he helped earlier and called out to him. ‘We have marines with a missile launcher on a hill 2 pts to the right of your current heading. They’ll reload long before you get clear.’

Several soldiers broke out into new wails of anguish, but as he had hoped, the one soldier still had enough wits about him to get behind the vehicle’s only heavy armament. The vehicle let out a loud roar and moved off.

+ + +

Perspicax quietly slipped back into the role of a sniper and lined up behind the autocannon. The driver quickly took the salamander into a zigzag pattern before the sniper told him to stop. The driver reluctantly settled in a straight path that kept the Devastators inside the firing arc of the autocannon. The sniper released the traverse and elevation control knobs so that the weapon moved freely with his body motion.

Perspicax became one with the weapon until it was nothing more than extension of his body. He moved the barrel until he felt it point toward the marines. The sight became his eye and saw the marine with the missile launcher raise his weapon toward their vehicle. ‘You are too late marine.’ The autocannon barked but at the sniper’s command and he continued to watch as the first round hit the marine solidly in the chest. The armor buckled, a hole appeared in the marine. A hit, but the sniper continued to watch as the second round lanced at the vulnerable collar of the marine. The spot the sniper had always aimed. The large caliber round was too much for the armored rings protecting the neck. The ring ripped free and sliced through the marine’s neck with no perceptible effort. Perspicax watched as the helmet lifted off the shoulders before tumbling to the ground. The biggest negative against the sniper’s art of war, each sniper knows exactly how their target dies and who killed them. It was always personal.

Perspicax wanted to throw-up, but he never did. His mind had grown numb of the killing. He remembered his sniper instructor Gerardis describe his own kills with enough detail that a handful of troopers dropped out of the program that evening. He snapped out of his daydream to see them speed past the marines and off to safety, for now. He knew that his superiors would not let these renegade marines to roam freely through the zone.

+ + +

Paschar watched the vehicle leave. He wished the little warrior on the autocannon good fortune and honor as they sped off in an attempt to escape. It felt good to fight once again for the betterment of the men. It reminded him of his time during the Great Crusades where the Emperor spoke to the Dark Angel Legion rousing them with speeches of valor and honor. That the sacrifice of the few will pave the way for greater glories from those that will follow behind. He watched as the autocannon barked twice and then it sped off into the night. That honored warrior is blessed. A quick clack in his vox-set brought him out of his reverie and alerted him to his own troubles. Lord Leliel had carved his way into the center of the city.

He held his meltagun to his chest and turned toward the hamlet to see his leader come around the corner of a hamlet. His chain-axe whirring nosily as he searched for any more of the cowering PDF troopers. ‘Where are they?’

‘They headed northwest my Lord.’ Paschar pointed off in the direction of the fleeing troopers.

‘Typical cowards. They are not worth the mettle of the Space Marines.’

‘With all due respect, they have killed two of our brothers and injured several others. Yourself included.’

‘Watch it Marine! You have the same insolent tone as Leviticus!’

Paschar stood mute behind his helmet. Watching the head of the chain-axe shift up and down slightly as Leliel flexed his muscles in frustration and waiting to see if the mighty lord will chop him down for his insolence.

‘Pah! Where is Leviticus?’

‘Here Lord. We have found the building housing the cogitators controlling the Anti-aircraft batteries.’ Leviticus responded, pointing out a building nearby.

‘Is there anything else?’

‘Yes, we also found this.’ Leviticus lifted his arm and held up a servo skull. ‘It is inactive, but I believe that it was left behind for us to find.’

Leliel began to rub his temples before remembering that he had recently lost his right hand. He put down the chain-axe and began to rub his temples as though suffering from a migraine headache. ‘I don’t have time for all this banter. Show me what you have found.’

Leviticus turned the skull around. Etched on the back of the skull was a crudely sketched but easily recognizable symbol, the symbol of the Dark Angels. ‘It is reasonable to assume that our brothers will soon find out that we are here and come searching for us.’

With a motion, the last of Leliel’s retinue took the servo skull from Leviticus. Then they were off toward the building Leviticus designated. It did not take them long to render the cogitators permanently inoperable. With the first part of their duty complete, they used the Vox-unit in the building to summon the two Thunderhawks. After the dead and wounded were collected, Leliel had the men stand down for the day until nightfall. Leviticus took the time to rest a bit and think about what could lie ahead. Even Vehuiah seemed to be lost in thought trying to figure out what they were looking for and what they would have to do when they got there.

Assiel and Xaphan had spent most of the day with Leliel and his ruined hand while his guard worked busily with the servo skull trying to unlock its secrets. Xaphan could not effectively create a bionic hand in less than a day, but they managed to install a very rudimentary three fingered hand that was able to hold a weapon. They then rigged the weapon to be fired through thought. It was very crude, but it was enough for Leliel. He quickly practiced with a bolt pistol to get the feel of the new layout and hand.

Satisfied, Leliel ordered up the assault team and moved them on toward their object. So far, they had only encountered the PDF troops but there has to be others in the Quarantine Zone by now. It was a matter of getting to the object first.

+ + +

The new Lieutenant Perspicax watched the marines leave and head deeper into the zone. The one marine was right. They were not interested in pursuing him or the PDF. Backing away from the rise in the ground, he went down to the few troopers assembled in the depression. Still rattled by the battle with the marines, the soldiers were very nervous going back to the field of battle. They had seen several of their friends butchered by the marines. The young lieutenant could not blame them. He was scared as well, but he had orders to collect intelligence and get it back to headquarters.