The Multiverse Project: Warhammer 40,000

"Nope, no way, no fucking way," Tangmo repeated himself for the thousandth time.

"Come on man, why not?!" Henry whined obnoxiously.

"There is literally no chance in hell I'm letting you name the Stormhammer and the Macharius after the girls from Girl und Panzer."

"Miho is a perfectly good name…"

"No it's fucking not! Holy fucking shit!" Tangmo grumbled and quickened his pace through the armor unit hub, army of mechanics and engineers went about cleaning and repairing the disassembled tanks to the lively symphony of clangs, hisses and fizzes. It has been a day after exiting the intergalactic hell highway that was the Warp and morale was high on the eve of the Immortal Spirit's first official engagement. However, despite preparation progressing at an admirable rate, a nagging problem had plagued Tangmo and Henry since leaving the Cadian system.

They haven't named the seven tanks Henry brought yet, despite having a week in the Warp to decide.

"Sir!" Ruven saluted Tangmo and Henry, the man covered in oily grime.

"Lieutenant," Tangmo returned the salute and glanced at the Stormhammer. "Is she ready?"

"Absolutely sir," Ruven grinning teeth gleamed through his dirty face. "With the help of the Immortal Spirit's own manufactorum, we are at maximum fighting capacity." Ruven wiped his face with a dirty rag. "You finally got a name for her?"

"We will," Tangmo said. "And I'm here to make sure that the general doesn't turn these glorious tanks into a weeaboo nightmare."

"You never let me have any fun!" Henry crossed his arms and pouted hard.

"My point exactly," Tangmo gave the Stormhammer another look over. "Three barrels, that's something to work with."

"I was thinking the Tri-Force, but I know you'll never approve," Henry throw his sass.

"You're right, I won't," Tangmo peered closer at the triple barrels, noticing something he hasn't seen before. "What are those, some kind of paintjob?"

"It is sir," Kanos popped up above the hatch, "been there since Kolasi, we didn't noticed until we took off."

"They look like scales," Henry observed. "Golden dragon scales."

Tangmo shot him a look. "You're gonna call her Daenerys, aren't you?"

"I was thinking about it but…" Henry gasped suddenly, a toothy grin splitting his face in half, "dude! I know what to call her!"

"Okay, what?" Tangmo inquired.

"Three barrels…three glittering heads of a golden space dragon."

"…Holy shit, are you really doing this?"

"Oh yeah."

"Then general, would you do the honor?"

"Ghidorah," Henry announced proudly. "King Ghidorah."

Whooping loudly, Tangmo high fived the laughing Henry, their palms meeting in an epic bang.

"Who is this King Ghidorah?" Ladaee joined them with Bektra, Cil and four other people Tangmo knew by face but not name. "Some legendry monarch I presume?"

"Nah, he's a very powerful dragon that destroys every world in his path," Henry said, "but Godzilla curb stomp him when he got to Holy Terra, I'll tell you about it later."

"I would like that very much sir," Ladaee glanced coyly at the floor, earning a teasing look from Tangmo and Ruven, before snapping back to attention and waving over the new comers. "Good timing general, I've acquired additional crew to man the auxiliary guns. This is Suros and Daxos, Xiphos said they have a penchant for machinery." The Kolasian twin saluted with eager clumsiness. "And this is Cura and Finis, they've served alongside me and Ruven since the Fall, their tanks and crews were lost during the Kidemonas battle." The two grimly determined girls saluted crisply.

"Welcome to the King Ghidorah," Henry saluted back. "I'm sure I'll get to know the four of you better in the coming days."

That earned a smile from the new recruits.

"Alas, me and the commissar have other tanks to name," Henry tipped his awesome general cap and winked at Ladaee. "I'll see you all later."

Waving their goodbye, Tangmo and Henry walked toward the row of Macharius tanks situated beside the King Ghidorah. The first Macharius the pair came upon was the death ray tank that shut down every time she unleashed her super weapon.

"Lieutenant Rie," Henry called the short hair adolescent girl swiping her finger furiously over a data-slate.

"Sir!" The spunky brunette leapt down from the hatch and landed before them, saluting sharply, "lieutenant Rie, reporting for duty sir!"

"At ease lieutenant," Henry chuckled. "How goes the repair?"

"Everything's just dandy sir," Rie said. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I'm here to bestow a name for this fine tank, and I got just the perfect one."

Henry paused for dramatic effect then said:

"Megumin!"

Tangmo burst out laughing and gave Henry a thumps up, "okay, I'll give you this one."

"I know right?" Henry was very proud of himself. "She goes to sleep every time she uses her power just like Megumin…wait a minute, you watch Konosuba?!"

"Shit's fucking hilarious yo," Tangmo shrugged.

"Megumin…" Rie rolled the name around her tongue. "That's quite an unusual name."

"Well, you're not exactly conventional yourself, are you Rie?" Lieutenant Kaela, the tank commander from the Macharius parked next to the Megumin, strode over and patted the fuming Rie friendlily on the head before saluting Tangmo and Henry. The long hair, tan skinned man with an intricate tattoo on his forehead bears a striking resemblance to Kaladin, the main protagonist from the Stormlight Archive books. Come to think of it, his entire crew looked like they came straight out of Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan's books.

"Wasn't your tank the one that went crazy?" Tangmo asked.

"Well um, yes sir, that's us," Kaela admitted while Rie blew him a raspberry.

"Yo, I know what to call this one," Tangmo said.

"What?" Henry irked a brow.

"Nynaeve."

Now it was Henry's turn to laugh.

"Holy shit!" Henry gasped for air. "Jesus Christ, that's fucking perfect!"

"I like it," Kaela nodded appreciatively. "May ask the origin of the name?"

"Well, like Megumin she's a mighty sorceress," Tangmo explained. "Nynaeve's quirk is that she's always angry, all the time. And she pulled her braid a lot."

"General Henry, commissar Tangmo, please report to the bridge for mission briefing," Solveig's velvety smooth voice boomed across the hangar.

"Oh well, I guess the other tanks gotta have to wait," Henry said and saluted the tank crews. "Get everything ready ladies and gentlemen, we need to make a good first impression."

With an enthusiastic 'yes sir!' the men and women went back to work with renewed vigor while Tangmo and Henry dashed for their golf cart, leapt on it and sped off toward the command deck.

"Our target is the planet Ghamarhon," Solveig pointed at the 8k ultra high definition hologram dominating the command deck, zooming in on the fifth planet in a system of seven planetary bodies, "the crown jewel of the Saule system and the biggest food supplier for both Segmentum Solar and Segmentum Obscurus."

Tangmo scribbled the information down on his new, sleek data-slate. Standing around the spinning digitized planet were general Henry, lady commissar Leilatha, colonel Krillen of the 89th Cadia, colonel Xiphos of the 480th Kolasi Fire Guard, sergeant Damien of the Ultramarines and his second in command Gallus. The newest addition to the group was colonel Hildebrandt of the Death Korps of Krieg, complete with the trademark WWI gasmask, this one trimmed in bluish silver. Not a very talkative fellow, but he follows order like a good soldier.

"The system has been embroiled in a Chaos uprising for the past four years, three planets, including Ghamarhon, were on the brink of falling to the Ruinous power," Solveig continued. "However, six months ago the loyalist forces made a breakthrough and pushed the traitors back to their stronghold on Ghamarhon."

Solveig waved at the globe, flattening it into a detailed topographic map.

"As of this moment," Solveig pointed at a clearing surrounded by thick mountain range. "The last remnant of the rebellion has retreated to this keep. They are preparing to make a last stand."

"Who is in command of this rebel force?" Leilatha asked.

"A powerful warlord by the name of Zorkha," Solveig said. "Preliminary report indicates that he has a cabal of witches under his command, along with about five hundred thousand turncoat PDF."

"If they had psykers in their ranks, how did the locals managed to drive them back?" Krillen spoke up.

"They were reinforced by a detachment of Mordian Iron Guard and Sleaghadhar Grey Watch."

Tangmo, Henry and Damien traded looks.

"Sleigh what?" Henry asked.

"Sleaghadhar," Damien said. "I think that's Scottish Gaelic for 'spear sky'?"

"Never heard of them," Tangmo added. "Do we have any info on these guys?"

"If I may," Leilatha spoke up. "The Sleaghadhar Grey Watch is a decorated regiment that had served the Imperium with distinction for the past six thousand years. Their exploits include the liberation of Yohun III, the defense of Karatora, the siege of Utomon XI and the battle for Cadia."

"That's quite a resume," Tangmo turned to Krillen. "Have you seen these guys before?"

"We were too busy evacuating," Krillen said snappily.

"I see. Please continue Leilatha."

"The Sleaghadhar line infantries are renowned for their discipline and hardiness, while the regiment's armor units excel in quick surgical strike using light vehicles. They are also known for their friendly rivalry with the Praetorian Guard regiment."

"Now I really want to meet them," Damien chuckled, "so how long until we reach Ghamarhon?"

"At the speed we're heading, twenty four hours, standard Terra time," Solveig said.

"Does the enemy have any support fleet?" Damien continued.

"No sir, the entire planet is surrounded."

"What about the Immortal Spirit's weapon system? Is everything up and running?"

"Yes sir. All orbital batteries are ready for deployment."

"What about the STC on the planet?" Gallus asked.

"I'll take it from here," Albert voice boomed across the vaulted hall. "With your permission, captain Solveig."

"Of course, venerated Machine Spirit," Solveig bowed stiffly, still not used to the AI dropping in on him at a moment notice, around him the Imperial officers and Space Marine cast fearful glances around the high domed chamber. A lifetime of technophobia indoctrination will do that to people.

"Alright, so, good news and bad news," Albert announced to the resounding groan of Tangmo, Henry and Damien.

"Goddamn it, good news first then," Henry rolled his eyes.

"I know exactly where the STC is!" Albert beamed.

"But it's in the heretic's fortress," Tangmo deadpanned.

"Ten point for Gryffindor!" Albert was enjoying this way too much.

"I'm not even surprise," Damien tapped his data-slate with big, stubby finger. "So I guess we can't nuke them from orbit?"

"They have a Void shield up, so that wouldn't be effective anyway," Albert continued.

"We're going in on foot then," Tangmo said. "That's reminds me, are the EMP rockets and grenades ready yet?"

"Packed and stamped and ready for delivery," Albert chirped.

"Have them shipped to the main assembly area please."

"Already done."

"What is our plan of attack general?" Xiphos asked.

"We'll land with a small task force first and make contact with the Imperial Guards on the ground," Henry said. "This party will be comprised of our most seasoned guardsmen, the Death Korps, the Ultramarines, the most promising Whiteshields, the King Ghidorah, the Nynaeve, the Megumin and the four Macharius I haven't named yet."

"A sizeable display of strength," Leilatha was pleased.

"Any further questions, ladies and gents?" Shaking heads answered Tangmo. "Then I call this war council to a close, I'll see you guys in the Valkyrie."

Although this was only his second time experiencing the jarring tremor of reentry, Tangmo found himself enjoying the rollercoaster ride more and more. The anticipation as the planet neared, the roar of engines, the heat seeping through the iron cockpit, and the pressure building up in his muscles and bones, all of these sensations put Tangmo into a state of meditative readiness, ridding himself of fear and leaving behind an emptiness of absolute focus. Other people would be shitting their pants right now but Tangmo was giddy as all fuck.

Soon, the whipping fire and concussive vibration ceased, replaced by a gentle hum as verdant blue colored the ebon of space. It was a beautiful day on Ghamarhon, no clouds marred the sky and the brilliant yellow sun painted the planet in a dazzling, ephemeral golden hue.

"The sky's clear sir," Tyra said in front of him, "a perfect day for flying."

"I couldn't agree more," Tangmo smiled and took in the Valkyrie's cockpit. Predictably, it was pretty cramp despite having six seats, putting the occupants in arms reach of each other. Not a good thing when Leilatha and Tyra are in the same room.

"I really enjoy our talk last night in the mess hall sir," and Tyra start things off with a series of powerful jabs. "It was very riveting and insightful, I hope we can do it again soon."

"Umm…sure Tyra, just give me a little heads up next time," Tangmo said timidly and stole a glance at Leilatha, the lady commissar not responding to the pilot's prodding.

"Mess hall?" Leilatha's guards are up and she's going on the offensive. "How terribly dreary, wouldn't you say our deep conversation inside your quarter over a nice bottle of Ynlenien vintage went a lot more productively, commissar Tangmo?"

"Well, you kinda barged in but it was quite nice," Tangmo tiptoed carefully over the women's no man's land.

"I see," Tyra wasn't fazed, in fact, she was grinning. "I'm sorry commissar Tangmo, but I'm not the kind of woman that throws herself at a man in such an uncouth manner."

"You seem to be the expert on that subject, captain Tyra, I'll take your words for it," Leilatha wasn't going down without a fight.

"So, Victoria, how's your mother doing?" Tangmo cut in before a bloodbath ensues.

"She's fine lord commissar," picking up on his distress signal, Victoria responded promptly.

"Does she still hate me?" Tangmo grimaced; Eurydice had made it very clear that she truly despised his company.

"Hate is a strong word, sir," Victoria said. "It's just…hard for her to trust people."

"She still hates me."

"Yep."

They both shared a chuckled at that, but Tyra and Leilatha still had their claws out.

"Damn, we need a hype song, like, right now," Tangmo tapped his earbud as the planet's landscape came into view, an unbroken panorama of beautiful farmland stretching across the horizon. "You guys got any idea?"

"Well, I'm thinking Sabaton's Into the Fire…"

"You brought war to our worlds, now war comes to you!"

Damien cut in before Henry could finish his sentence, and Tangmo sang the next verse:

"We are the saviors, watch us falling from the sky!"

"On wings of thunder, we've come to fight by your side!" Henry added melodically.

"Broadcast this to the other ships and the ground," Tyra told Victoria, the co-pilot quickly flipped a few switches as the trio's voices joined.

"To a symphony of blazing guns, life and death under strange new sun! We have come from afar, just tell us where they are!"

The forward task force was making its final approach on the blinking landing strips when the trio finished the best song on Keldian's newest album.

"We are avengers, watch us falling from the sky! On wings of thunder, for those who died by our side! To a symphony of blazing guns, life and death under strange new sun! We have come from afar, just tell us where they are!"

The Valkyrie landed with a powerful jerk and Tangmo unbuckled his seatbelts, cheering loudly, hyped up to the max.

"That was very inspiring sir," Tyra flattered him with a pretty smile.

"Not exactly a sanctioned hymnal, but I believe it will suffice," Leilatha added and headed for the door.

"How many songs do you know?" Victoria asked.

"Enough for a thousand more engagements," Tangmo adjusted his awesome commissar cap. "Keep the engine warm Tyra."

"Yes sir," Tyra saluted as Tangmo strode into the hull where the main characters were waiting for the ramp to lower.

"Ready?" Tangmo asked while the entrance slowly opens.

"Of course, we're Cadian!" Orhul laughter was echoed by the others.

"And you Xiphos?" Tangmo eyed the Kolasian's new black Stormtrooper armor, fashioned to resemble a Roman Praetorian Guard's regalia. "That's some sweet looking gear colonel."

"Thank you sir," Xiphos grinned toothily, making some last minute adjustment to his armguards. "These are the Lacedaemon armor, the Kolasi's high lord have given the surviving members of my regiment these venerated war gears for our action at Kidemonas, and to represent the Fire Guard across the Imperium."

"So that's about three hundred of you?" Tangmo said, chuckling inwardly at the number.

"Yes sir."

"I'm sure you're going to kick some major ass colonel," Tangmo turned to Hildebrandt. "And you, my fine Krieg dude? You ready to teach those Chaos scums a lesson?"

"Give me a target Herr commissar and I shall grind their bones to ashes," Hildebrandt's Germanic accent was cool as fuck.

"Beautifully said colonel," Tangmo walked down the open ramp, and thought for a single horrified moment that Henry had turned into a girl. Blinking, he found a beautiful black woman in a crisp Mordian Iron Guard officer uniform standing at attention before him.

"Lord commissar," the woman marched up to him and saluted. "I am colonel Evangeline, of the 164th Mordian Iron Guard regiment."

"Nice to meet you colonel," Tangmo returned the salute then shook her hand, finding it extremely difficult to pry his gaze away from her sharp almond eyes, firm lips and the feminine, almost aristocratic, contour of her face.

"The pleasure is all mine, lord commissar," holy crap was that a French accent? Things just got a thousand times sexier. "Is this all the men you brought?"

"These are merely the forward elements of the Immortal Spirit's battlegroup," Tangmo waved around at the descending ship. Damien and his Space Marines were disembarking from the Thunderhawk while the King Ghidorah rolled across the tarmac toward them, Henry standing tall atop the gun hatch.

"Brother sergeant, lord general," Evangeline took their hands firmly, exuding air of confident and professionalism with graceful ease. "Were you the three who sang during reentry?"

"How did you find our performance colonel?" Henry asked expectantly.

"After all the screams and gunfire, it's good to hear something nice once in a while," Evangeline smiled was petite but meaningful. "That was quite a harmonic range."

"Thank you for the compliment colonel," Damien glanced around the landing field, noxious acrid stench hung heavy in the air, the reek of corpses, spent munitions and burning oils, the aroma of warfare unleashed. Above them the blue sky was stained black by smog, diseased blotches that churned languidly to the easterly whim of the wind.

"Shall we gentlemen?" Evangeline ushered them down a rough dirt road leading toward an ashy blasted field, hums and moans of men and machines alike rose like funeral hymn from that direction.

"By all means colonel, 4th squad, fall in!" Damien and the Ultramarines thundered into a parade stance.

"Weapons free and ready, marching column," Tangmo went to stand in front of the Cadian, Kolasian and Krieg with Leilatha, the veterans of the Kidemonas campaign presenting themselves crisply before Evangeline's retinue of Mordian guardsmen.

"Single file, into position," at Henry's command the King Ghidorah rolled to a stop behind the infantry, followed by the Nynaeve, the Megumin and the other Macharius. Tangmo had to suppress a grin at the glimmer of respect that flashed across Evangeline's eyes, the martial display impressing the military woman.

"Forward!" At Evangeline's command, the 164th Mordian Iron Guard, the 89th Cadian, the 480th Kolasi Fire Guard and the Death Korps of Krieg marched down the road in a synchronized tempo of pounding feet.

"Your men march handsomely, lord commissar," Evangeline let her troops walked ahead and fall into steps on Tangmo's left.

"Cadian and Kolasian are famed for their discipline colonel," Tangmo said. "I'm just lucky to be assigned to them."

Evangeline hummed an affirmative, "I never did got your name sir."

"Lord commissar Tangmo."

"And you, lady commissar?" Evangeline turned to Leilatha.

"Lady commissar Leilatha, at your service."

"Please to make your acquaintance," Evangeline extended her hand and Leilatha took it, shaking firmly. "Forgive me for being blunt lady commissar, but who is in command?"

"That depends solely on the situation, colonel," Tangmo said.

"Yes, our battlegroup can, at times, be quite flexible when it comes to the giving and executing of orders," Leilatha withdrew her hands and folded it behind her back.

"I see," a hint of confusion peeked through Evangeline's polite nod.

"What is the situation on the ground colonel Evangeline?" Tangmo asked as they stroll across the scorched, ruined farmland where crops had once flourished, the ashen remains cracked and popped like brittle bones beneath their feet.

"The fighting was hard sir," Evangeline began. "Although we outnumbered the heretics and have them on the run, the servants of Chaos are bleeding us bad. Every ten miles gained meant another thousand loyalist lives lost."

"Did your regiment bear the blunt of the casualty?" Leilatha inquired.

"No lady commissar, the PDF was the unfortunate fodders in this instance," Evangeline shook her head ruefully. "They were only farmhands that took rotation duty, joining the guards while they wait for the crops to grow. Those poor souls never stood a chance against the traitor's maddened fury."

"Do the heretics hold any particular allegiance colonel?" Tangmo asked.

"They call themselves the Crimson Scythe, lord commissar," Evangeline shuddered and made the sign of the aquila over her heart. "Servants of the Chaos blood god."

"Khorne then," Tangmo gave mirthless chuckle. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that the locals are scared shitless?"

"They are sir, but that doesn't stop them from rushing the guns," Evangeline became solemn. "About five months ago the traitors overrun an abbey belonging to the Order of Healing Tears, a Hospitaller order of the Sororitas that has spent the last few centuries tending to the sick and needy of the Saule system. They captured the sisters sir and…proceed to torture and ravage them. The sounds of their suffering were broadcasted across the world, day and night, but instead of despair the loyalists rose up in pious fury, vowing to rescue and avenge the sisters."

"Your soldiers are to be commended colonel," Leilatha nodded firmly.

"Thank you lady commissar, but if I was being honest their passion have since become detrimental to the campaign as a whole," Evangeline continued. "The PDF zealotry, combined with the Ministorum priest's encouragement, has resulted in heavy casualty that is quickly eroding morale."

"Fanatics make poor soliders, we can never trust them to win a war," Tangmo added.

"Precisely lord commissar," Evangeline appeared relieved that Tangmo shared her frame of thinking, "I tried to broach this subject with father Ersako, but he refused to listen to reason and has chastised me from his presence."

"Guess I'll just have to shoot the bastard then," Tangmo nonchalant announcement was met with Evangeline's shock gasp.

"But sir!" The Mordian colonel was flustered. "He is a priest of the Ecclesiarchy!"

"I don't give a fuck," Tangmo shrugged. "If he wants to help Khorne by feeding more loyalist blood to the Skull Throne, then I'll execute him for fucking treason."

"That is simply not how things are done sir!" Evangeline raised her voice.

"You will learn soon enough that commissar Tangmo is…unorthodox, to say the least," Leilatha gave the colonel a pitying look.

"Damn right I am…" Tangmo's words trailed off when he spotted a squad of guardsmen standing at attention beside the muddy road.

"Yo, wait, stop!" Tangmo held up his fist, bringing the entire column to a halt as he walked over to the guardsmen, gawking impolitely at the wary men and women, none of them liked being at the center of a commissar's attention. Tangmo was starting to smile when the pounding of Damien's footfall rumbled behind him.

"Why did you call for a…" and just like that, the Space Marine joined the commissar in openly staring at the understandably uncomfortable guardsmen.

"What are you two idiots ogling at?!" Henry stomped toward them but soon became petrified by surprise as well. Then they heard the bagpipes, the shrill song of the highland rolling across the earth, the solemn tune mournful and heavy like the wind that shakes the barely.

"Please tell me you're the Grey Watch," Tangmo failed completely to contain his hype.

"Aye sir," the bearded guardsman's Scottish accent was thick. "We're the 115th Sleaghadhar Grey Watch, reporting for duty sir."

"Holy shit, Scottish Highland Regiment in space!" Damien bellowed, startling the Grey Watch with his unbound enthusiasm, the Space Marine jumping up and down with unrestrained gusto.

"Oh shit, Laura's going to be super pissed she missed this!" Henry was practically bouncing, his giddiness eliciting a mixture of amusement and embarrassment from the Cadian and Kolasian.

"I'm…sorry sir but I don't understand," the Grey Watch sergeant spoke up.

"Please forgive our reaction sergeant," Tangmo was the first to compose himself, beside him Leilatha buried her face into her palm, "but let just say we were expecting something else when we saw your attire."

Tangmo took in the Grey Watch uniform. The ensemble was identical to that of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, with a few minor differences. Instead of the trademark British Empire red, the Grey Watch's jackets were the color of blue-grey, topped off with flank armor of the same hue that covered the torso, knees, arms, elbows and shoulders, and instead of helmet they sported bear skin cap. And of course, a highland regiment wouldn't be complete without the epic Scottish kilt, which the Grey Watch totally wore. The tartan pattern was of crisscrossing dark green, dark blue and grey, while the sporran had the Imperial eagle etched onto it.

"And what were you expecting, if you pardon me asking sir," the sergeant's eyes narrowed.

"Well, when someone says bagpipes and kilts, we think of a regiment that was more…" Tangmo tried to find the polite term, "unkempt and rough."

The sergeant groaned, "the Drookian Fen Guard."

"Yeah, those guys," Henry piped up. "You know them?"

"Hardly, but they've been responsible for the negative reception our regiment received," the sergeant continued. "Those bloody tossers made the rest of us look bad, everywhere we go the people and the planetary government was reluctant to give us aides because they thought we would wreck their planet worse than the enemy."

"Rest assured that we will not fall into the same misconception," Tangmo tipped his awesome commissar cap. "Sorry for interrupting you and your men sergeant, carry on. I suspect we'll be seeing each other on the battlefield in the coming days."

"Aye sir," the sergeant and his men saluted as the column started off again. As they entered the war camp, they saw more of the Grey Watch and the Mordian, along with the PDF who wore standard Imperial Guards gear. The bagpipes were so loud here that it almost drowned out the King Ghidorah's engine.

"Ugh, I've told the pipers to ease off with that howling," Evangeline frowned, glaring at a quartet of pipers blaring a song that sounded suspiciously like Amazing Grace, one of the bearded musician gave her a neighborly wave.

"I totally don't mind, Celtic pipes are awesome," Tangmo gave the sour faced Evangeline a grin as he held his hand up to the Imperial Guard column, bringing them to a stop three hundred paces from what he assumed was the command tent. "At ease but be ready, I'm gonna go find out what we're supposed to be fighting. Colonels, bring our guys and gals and follow me."

Krillen, Xiphos and Hildebrandt saluted, relayed the orders and fell into steps behind Tangmo and Leilatha; Meko, Orhul, Krix and Luva joining them a moment later.

"Damn, feels like I'm at Waterloo," Damien strode up with Gallus at his side.

"More like the Somme," Henry completed the Immortal Spirit's retinue with Ruven and Ladaee.

"Let's just hope it doesn't last that long," Tangmo stepped into the command tent, a totally mundane place with servitors, messengers, computers and a big ass desk with a map sprawled on it. The man taking center stage behind the desk was a greying dude in his fifties with frazzled uniform and a face exasperated with sweat and raw, undiluted stress. The highlander seated beside him was at the opposite end of the emotion spectrum. Placing his steaming mug on the table, the broad shoulder man got up, gave his stained uniform a quick dust down and saluted the newcomer handsomely, his bearded face, trimmed and clean, curved up into a friendly smile.

"Colonel Bruce Robertson, reporting for duty sir," he announced.

"A pleasure colonel," Tangmo and his posse returned the greeting. "Looks like you guys been in one hell of a fight."

"Aye sir, that we did," Bruce then turned to a highland lass seated nearby and scowled, the woman had one leg propped up on a stool and was meticulously shaving her shapely calf with a gleaming dirk.

"Blast it all Aileen stand at attention, we have a commissar here," Bruce raised his voice.

"Just a little more…there!" The woman flicked the knife smoothly away from her leg, gave it a showy twirl then stabbed it into a sheath inside her sock, the hilt poking up just below the knee. "Now I'm nice and presentable."

"Aileen…"

"Right, sorry!" The perky guardswoman sprang up, adjusted her bearskin cap and kilt before saluting, "captain Aileen, reporting for duty sir."

"At ease captain," Tangmo did his best to keep his eyes forward but more than once his gaze drifted downward and goddamn, now he understood why people in the fifties were so obsessed with legs, those things are fine. Looking away before the captain noticed, Tangmo turned to the fretting man sweating the Niagara down his face. "And you sir?"

"Oh! A thousand apologies lord commissar!" The man leapt to his feet, both knees banging loudly against the table's underside, "general Miwak of the Ghamarhon planetary defense force."

"Nice to meet you general," Tangmo said as Evangeline strode around the table and went to stand on Miwak's left. "Now with the introduction out of the way, how about we get a little rundown on the situation here?"

"Well lord commissar, the traitors are sure as hell beaten, but they're going down swinging," Bruce stabbed his finger on the paper map. "They are well dug in and will fight for every inch of ground the nearer we get to Deep Rock fortress."

"Despite the inevitability, the rebels still have significant firepower at their disposal," Evangeline added. "They are armed with heavy bolters, autocannons and automated gun servitor by the hundreds. Furthermore, they are entrenched deep inside the Yiel forest," the colonel ran her finger across a section of the map, "which also happens to be the fortress only approach."

"They also have psykers in their ranks," Aileen added.

"So it's true then?" Evangeline hissed, teeth grinding in frustration.

"Aye colonel, saw it with me own eyes," Aileen gave her an apologetic look. "Nasty little buggers, evil fires pouring from their bodies and dripping onto the ground. Daemons they are, all spikes and creepy long limbs."

"What were their functions on the battlefield?" Henry asked. "Offensive? Defensive? Have any of you seen them in action?"

"They wiped out two of my battalions with a tidal wave of Warp fire," Miwak said, breathless with fear. "I saw it myself during our last push on the western flanks. Green walls of flame, melted the skin off my boys, their tongue boiled before they could even scream."

"Aye, the poor lads were herded into the furnace," Bruce's face darkened, "if only Ersako didn't rile them up into a frenzy, bloody priest."

"Is this the Ministorum priest you were talking about?" Evangeline nodded to Tangmo's inquiry. "Get him here."

With a quick wave from the Mordian colonel, a messenger darted outside as Henry spoke up, "so what's the situation on manpower?"

"Well, me and Evie's troops are in a lot better shape than the PDF, that's for sure," Bruce cracked a grin at the heated look Evangeline shot him, not at all pleased with his liberal use of her name. "We both lost a few hundred men, but that's nothing compared to what Miwak's boys went through."

"We are only farmers," Miwak sagged into his chair, deflated and somber. "Perhaps it is our fault for being so naïve, to let ourselves believe that war was a distant thing that would never come to our gardens. We were wrong, and we paid for it with the lives of the innocents and our brave boys and girls. And the Sisters…by the Throne, they sent us another transmission last night…they…they."

"Okay dude, calm down," Damien walked over to the sniffing general and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Can someone get this man a drink please?"

Aileen was standing beside the old general in a heartbeat with a steaming mug, which she gently eased into his shaking hand. He nodded gratefully and gulped down a mouthful, uncaring if the liquid burned his throat, the drink visibly calming his nerves.

"I empathize with you general, I really do," Tangmo said. "But right now, I need you focus and strong, alright?" Surprised, Miwak bobbed his head up and down quickly. "Good. Now, I need to know the condition of your troops."

"We are down to fifty percent of our original fighting capacity," Miwak said. "That leaves us about two hundred thousand men that are combat ready, along with nine thousand Grey Watch and ten thousand Iron Guards."

"That's a formidable number," Henry commented.

"Aye, and we were supposed to be reinforced by a thousand Adeptus Sororitas of the Ebon Chalice," Bruce said. "But they've been diverted elsewhere, a matter of grave importance they told us. A shame that, the sight of the Sisters of Battle will do wonder for morale, not that I'm saying we don't appreciate you being here sir."

"Well, we might not be as pretty as the Sisters, but I can guarantee you we're just as deadly," Henry smiled as a subdue laugh rippled across the room. "And if I was being honest, having the Sororitas here might not be such a good idea. Great warriors they maybe, the Sisters lacked the tactical nuance that can be used against our enemies."

"Zeal and fury is what the Khornate traitors expect of us. We must not indulge them by running head first into the fire," Tangmo made his input when the tent flap behind him swooshed open and a large priest, widening at the waist, strut pompously toward the command desk, servitors and boy slaves carrying books and scrolls scuttling behind him. When he saw the trio, he stopped in his track and gave them a sickeningly polite bow that reeked of aristocratic training.

"Praise be to you mighty Astartes, lord commissar, lord general," the priest deep, orating voice echoed across the canvased confines. "I am Ersako, anointed priest of the Ecclesiarch assigned to this army." He sneered at the meek Miwak. "Judgement has come for you at last I see. Your failure to uproot the heretics is a stain upon the name of the God Emperor himself. Finally, a commissar is here to set things right, perhaps now those sorry rabbles under your command can be put to better use."

"Are you a soldier, father Ersako?"

The priest's self-righteous pomposity wavered at Damien's words, the Canadian turning the volume up to maximum.

"I'm sorry brother Astartes?" The priest recovered quickly enough.

"I said, are you a solider?" Damien annunciated each word slowly like he was speaking to a child.

"Well…no…"

"Then what makes you think you can meddle in the affair of the Astra Militarum?"

The priest staggered as if struck and Evangeline gasped in shock, Miwak looked about ready to faint while Bruce smiled openly. The main character's reactions were better hidden, but a few couldn't hide their surprise.

"My duty is to inspire the guardsmen to great feat of heroism," Ersako huffed sharply from the insult, the stupid fuck actually forgetting he's talking to a Space Marine. "Because of me they charged the enemy's line with courage in their hearts and blazing hymn on their lips."

"And you spurned them on with that?" Damien pointed at the cat o' nine tails power whip strapped to the priest's belt. "When consumed by fear and pain a man is reduced to nothing but an animal to be driven toward their death."

"I use the Emperor's currency as I see fit!"

"General Miwak, how many of the planetary defense forces perished in the last push?" Miwak was jolted into motion by Damien's demand.

"Umm…four regiments suffered over seventy percent casualty," Miwak made a quick calculation, his fingers dancing. "That's about three thousand men killed in action."

"This was your handy work then?" Damien's blood red glare returned to Ersako.

"Yes! Those sniffling cowards should consider themselves lucky I didn't whip them to death on the spot!" Ersako barked, spittle flying. "It was because of me that the heretics retreated!"

"'He cares not from whence the blood flows, only that it flows," Damien bellowed back. "Does that ring a bell?!"

"…It's the litany of the heretics," Ersako spat the words.

"Exactly!" Damien threw his arms into the air. "Khorne and his acolytes are powered by blood spilled on the battlefield, and they don't care who does the killing. To surmise, father Ersako, with every guardsman you herded toward the enemy's guns, you are emboldening and fueling the Khornate heretic to greater resistance, so thank you for helping the Chaos god of war, you stupid piece of shit!"

"How dare you, mutant! I am an anointed priest of the Ecclesiarch! None is more loyal to the God Emperor than I!"

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't just call me a fucking mutant," Damien held out his hand to stop the ultra pissed Gallus from braining the priest with his bolter. For his part, Ersako did have the decency to look shock when he realized he fucked up.

"Father Ersako, it is my most professional opinion to recommend that you be confine to your quarter for the rest of the campaign," Damien turned to Tangmo and Henry. "What say you general, commissar?"

"Lock his bitch ass up!"

"And throw away the keys!"

"It's unanimous then," Damien took a menacing step toward Ersako, sending the priest stumbling into one of his servitor. "Now you can either walk back yourself, or I'm gonna have Brother Gallus carry your unconscious body back. The choice is yours."

With nothing else to do but seethe and glare, father Ersako stormed out of the tent, swatting a few of his slaves to the ground along the way, the half-naked boys and servitors scrambled and crawled after their master.

"Good riddance I say," Bruce held up his mug to Damien. "Thank you, Brother Astartes."

"He will not remain silent," Evangeline cast a worried look at the flapping exit. "An Ecclesiarch priest will never let an insult of that magnitude laid to rest."

"Hildebrandt," Tangmo waved the Krieg colonel over. "Assign ten of your Death Korps guardsmen to stand watch over the priest's quarter. If that fucker so much as pokes his head outside, your men are to gun him down. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Herr commissar," Hildebrandt turned aside and tapped the side of his gasmask, relaying Tangmo's order.

"Perhaps that is a bit excessive?" Miwak looked about ready to faint again.

"Not really," Tangmo walked over to the map. "Alright, now we can get to the fun part. How far away is the enemy's line?"

"One hundred and fifty kilometers north west of our position," Aileen pointed at a forested area about thirty kilometers long, situated between two mountain ranges, "deep within the Yiel forest itself."

"How long have they been entrenched there?" Leilatha asked.

"Two days lady commissar," Aileen looked at Tangmo then back at Leilatha. "Which of you is in charge here?"

"That matter is irrelevant, captain," Leilatha narrowed her eyes on Aileen. "So the enemies are fortified inside the forest?"

"Aye lady commissar."

"Have you bombard the area yet?"

"No mam, we don't have adequate intel on the enemy's armaments and deployment. Our preliminary reconnaissance has yielded unsatisfactory result, the forest is very thick you see, and we don't want to waste shells unless we can really hurt them."

Leilatha nodded slowly then turned to Tangmo, "I say we dig in around the forest then send in scouting parties to map out the area. When we get a clearer picture of the Khornate legion's position, we can pound them with our artilleries."

"I got a better idea," Tangmo tapped his earbud. "Solveig, do you read me?"

"Yes lord commissar," the Immortal Spirit's captain responded.

"Are you in position above the contested area?" Tangmo asked.

"Affirmative sir."

"Tell Albert to get a read on the entire area."

"Done, and transmitted to your iPad," Albert the AI chirped up.

Tangmo drew the data-slate out of his awesome commissar coat and placed it on the paper map, tapped the screen a few times to summon a real time, flat holographic map that hovered above the table.

"There," Tangmo pointed at a long blotch of infrared red pulsing across the digitized map. "This is where the heretic's defenses are concentrated. Download the map to your data-slate please, this is important."

Everybody with an iPad quickly tapped the screen.

"Now we can start shelling those bastards," Bruce was smiling ear to ear.

"Let's not play into the traitor's hand, colonel," Tangmo said. "If we simply bombard them, they'll just redeploy elsewhere, fleeing for safety every time they hear the whistle of our shells. No, I want them dead, shattered to the point where the survivors, if there's any, will have no choice but to flee back to Deep Rock fortress and await our coup de grace."

"What are your plans, sir?" Evangeline looked intrigued.

Tangmo stared at the super detailed map for a moment before saying, "Luva, front and center."

Adjusting her dark-green beret, captain Luva, yes all the main characters got promoted, strode forward.

"Sir?"

"How good are your scouts?" Tangmo began.

"The best," Luva answered with a grin.

"Good, because I need them to spearhead the assault," Tangmo held his gaze on Luva, searching for that tiny glint of fear or hesitation. He found none; the scout captain's eyes were piercing sharp and iron hard.

"Where sir?" Was all Luva asked, and Tangmo pointed at the map.

"The center, I want four companies of your best scouts to attack the heretic's main position after the Valkyries made a precision bombing run. This will be a surgical strike, not an all-out attack, accuracy and finesse is of the utmost importance. Can you do that Luva?"

"Of course sir," Luva held her chin haughtily high, brimming with confidence.

"Your men are armed with the new EMP munitions I hope?" Tangmo continued.

"Yes sir, I oversaw their training myself. The results were very satisfactory."

"They'll be using it on the gun servitors, which I believe the enemy have in abundance. Once those guns are silenced, feel free to pick every Chaos sons of bitches off at your leisure."

"With pleasure sir."

"Accompanying you on this offensive will be two battalions of Cadian troops and another three from the Death Korps," Tangmo continued, "we'll be right behind you, providing mortar and heavy support to pin the enemy down. For the northern flank, Orhul and Meko will attack with eight companies of Cadian heavy troop along with, if you are willing colonel, the Mordian's armor column, since the forest is pretty sparse in this area."

"Consider it done, lord commissar," Evangeline nodded.

"Awesome. Now, your objective will be to push the defenders back into the camp and make sure they stay there," Tangmo continued. "The same goes with the eastern flank, Xiphos and Krix will be leading the combine Fire Guard and Cadian attack force. Colonel Bruce, I would like your Grey Watch to accompany them please."

"Aye sir," Bruce smiled was ridiculously photogenic, goddamn.

"As for artillery," Tangmo considered the map for a second. "Vakon, I want you to deploy all of our long range guns at the edge of the forest. Wait for my signal before you bring the hammer down."

"Yes sir!" Vakon saluted and Tangmo didn't know whether the man was excited or freaking out a bit.

"Alright, now does anybody have any question?"

At that, Luva peered closer at the map, then turned to Krillen and said, "I want Korri on the frontline with me."

The Cadian colonel's eyes narrowed dangerously, "why?"

"She's the most aspiring markswoman we got," Luva reasoned. "Her tests score exceeds all the other candidates and she has shown great instinct and situational awareness during combat exercises."

"Korri's not ready," Krillen growled.

"That's not for you to decide Krillen," Luva shot back.

"My word is final," Krillen snapped but Luva remained unflinching, and a little annoyed.

"I'm ready big brother."

Surprised murmurs went up as Korri tiptoe passed Xiphos and Hildebrandt and approached Krillen, demurely hugging her new model las-sniper rifle, courtesy of the Kidemonas STC. The damn thing looked like a Barrett M82, but with laser.

"Korri…" Krillen began but Korri cut him off.

"I am not going to cower and hide while everybody else fight big brother! Please! I can do this!"

Faced with the kryptonite that was his little sister, Krillen's stern disposition crumbled to one of tired surrender. Korri's pleading, bulging eyes was the death blow that destroyed his resolve.

"Does she need to be on the front?" Krillen asked Luva.

"I'll keep her safe, I swear on my life," Luva placed a hand over her heart.

Krillen sighed heavily, cast one look at Korri then nodded resignedly to the squealing delight of the little girl.

"Seeing someone so young so glad to be out fighting is kinda disturbing," Henry said.

"I know right? But that's the galaxy we live in," Tangmo shrugged, "anything else Luva?"

"I want Hera and Pollius's squad with me," Luva looked at Xiphos. "They work well with us."

"Of course," Xiphos said.

"That's all I need on my front," Luva told Tangmo.

"Excellent, now everyone set your watch to…"

"Are you forgetting something?"

All eyes turned to Damien, even with his helmet on everybody can sense the annoyance radiating off him.

"Umm…are we?" Tangmo asked.

"Oh, I don't know, the post-human biologically engineered killing machine standing right in front of you?!" Damien bellowed, causing everyone beside Tangmo and Henry to flinch in fear.

"Okay, my bad, you guys just kinda blend into the background," Henry chuckled. "Anyway, I have something planned for the Astartes."

"Which is?" Damien said.

"Manaus, Helvius and Aurius can go with Luva," Henry continued. "You and Gallus can go with Orhul, and Sidonius and Galerius can go with Krix. Wait until the section leaders give their command before unleashing hell."

"As you say general," Gallus said.

"So is everybody set now?" Assenting murmurs answered Tangmo. "Alright, as I was saying, everybody set your clock and be ready to move out when the sun sets. When is that anyway?"

"In about four hours, lord commissar," Miwak said.

"Alright guys and gals, get some chow and rest up, we're in for a long night. In the meantime, I'm going to go find Tyra."

"And I shall accompany you," Leilatha nonchalantly came to Tangmo's side.

"Don't trust me to be alone with her?" Tangmo smiled devilishly.

"Oh, shut up."

"Target in sight," Luva spoke into the slender mic attached to her helmet, the ocular enhancement goggle over her eyes rendering the pitched black landscape into glowing green neon. "Four hundred meters, stay quiet and wait for the Valkyries to begin their bombing run. Pollius, Hera, are you in position?"

"Yes captain," the Kolasians whispered their affirmative, hidden among the charred, destroyed trees the size of a house that ringed the heretic's encampment, the scars of the PDF's failed attack a few days ago. Easing the goggle on to the top of her helmet, pushing a few times until the locks gave a satisfying click, Luva blinked her vision into focus. A single great bonfire roared furiously at the center of the traitor's camp, drenching all in sickly red, the turgid light dancing a grotesque rhythm that stung her eyes. Dotting the outer perimeter were the unholy stars of Chaos, raised like a crucifix and set ablaze, blackened corpse nailed to each one. And entrenched between these evil effigies were heavy guns and armed servitors in formidable number, reinforced behind thick wall of sandbag.

"Lord commissar, are you in position?" Luva tapped the mic.

"Yeah," commissar Tangmo replied. "How's it looking out there Luva?"

"The enemy remains unware of our approach sir," Luva squinted her eyes. "No sign of any discernable activity."

"Three minutes Luva, get ready," the commissar continued.

"Yes sir," Luva looked down at the chronometer around her wrist, the dimmed neon ticking down the seconds. Peering over the rim of the bombed out crater her scouts were hidden in, Luva carefully slid the barrel of her newly issued lasgun atop the coarse earthen parapet, safety off.

"Are you ready?" Luva asked Korri as the scouts around them quietly got into firing position.

"I am," Korri made one final adjustment to her scope before peering into it, breathe coming a little too fast.

"Calm down girl," Luva whispered, "deep long breathes, clear your mind of everything beside the target between your crosshair."

"Okay," Korri nodded, the heaving of her chest resuming its normal rhythm.

Luva glance at the chronometer, one minute, and tapped her mic again, "Brother Manaus, be prepare to move into position once the bombardment commence."

"Affirmative captain," the Space Marine made his acknowledgement when the rolling thunder of jet engines reverberated across the sky. Squinting, Luva can see the heretic's sentries bounding across the defenses, shouting and barking, all guns trained on the night around them, none aiming upward. The first bomb struck the exact moment the chronometer reached zero, pillar of fire rolling skyward, lighting up the forest and camp in glaring white. Then another bomb struck, then another, and another, each shrieking wail hitting fuel depots, tanks and power generators.

Glow lamps flickered and died, leaving only braziers, torches and flaming ruins to provide illumination, howling men and women in desecrated armor ran through the destruction like crazed hounds let loose from their leashes. Las light and heavy tracer rounds shot into the air but none found its mark, the moonless night shielding the Valkyries from return fire. The gun servitors, programmed to target terrestrial enemy, can do nothing but whirled their guns left and right in jittery confusion.

The ground shook, and Luva turned to see the Space Marines sprinting into position, it baffled her to no end that something so large can move so quickly. Looking at her chronometer, seeing that ten minutes had elapsed since the attack began, Luva spoke into her mic:

"Load the rocket launchers with EMP warheads and prepare to fire on my mark."

The hisses and clangs of rockets sliding down the tubes were muted by the screaming Valkyries banking away toward the Imperial's line, suffering no casualty that Luva can see. The heretics bayed in bestial delight, thinking that the attack was over.

"Take aim," Luva took a deep breath then whispered. "Fire."

Without roar of holy benediction or gallant declaration, the rockets flew across the field and slammed into the gun servitors. Electric discharge slithered through the air, making the hairs on Luva's neck stand on end, icy blue bolts wreathed the gun servitors, causing them to jerk and twitched in a horrid dance of rigor mortis before going limp, all lights extinguished from metallic sockets and bodies. Although the rockets themselves did minimal damaged, the EMP charges had successfully incapacitated the guns. Shouting officers and gunners rushed over to the dead servitors, banging it with wrenches and rifle butts in a desperate attempt to revive the gun slaves.

"Open fire," Luva spoke and pulled the trigger, the muzzle flashed red hot and a heretic infantryman dropped to the ground. Light erupted from the encircling darkness, her scouts laying down clean, accurate barrage on the traitor's line, felling them in breathtaking droves, their pitiful return fires did nothing to stem the onslaught. A good number of Chaos soldiers were slain before the survivors managed to scramble back behind sandbags and pillboxes, the bellowing reports of heavy bolters and autocannons thundered forth and tore mercilessly into Luva's position.

"Korri get down!" Luva ducked beneath the earthen rim but the girl didn't even blink when dirt and woods splattered across her face, grimly calm as she fired singular shot at an enemy's gun emplacement. Astonishingly, the suppressing fire lessened. Peeking above her cover, Luva saw that Korri had managed to take out an autocannon position, killing the gunner and everyone else that tried to take his place.

Luva was about to compliment Korri when Manaus stepped onto the crater's rim, tall and proud like a hero of legend and bellowed:

"Courage and honor! For the Emperor!"

The heavy bolter under his arms roared, night fled the Space Marine as he marched slowly down the rise, spewing death upon the heretics. Sandbags exploded in mist of wet ruby, the traitor's counter fire ineffective in stopping Manaus's advance, las and bullets ricocheting off the giant's thick ceramite armor. Soon, his two Battle Brothers joined him, the Primaris Marines firing from the hip, taking aim at anything that moves. Luva had seen this before, recruits too eager to make a kill, children drunk on the allure of glory, the kind that got themselves and others killed. Manaus saw this and barked his subordinates back into position behind him.

"Commissar, the Astartes are advancing," Luva said into the mic, "requesting mortar support on the enemy's position."

"Already on it."

Luva gave a start when commissar Tangmo appeared beside her, grinning mischievously.

"I could've shot you sir," Luva frowned, her voice barely rising above the whistling munitions.

"Yeah, but your face was totally worth it," Tangmo winked as the traitor's position went up in flames, clumps of dirt and body parts flew across the gloom. The remaining heretics leapt through the fire, maddened by slaughter, swords, axes and guns held high as they charged the Imperial's line. Her scouts and the Space Marines made short work of them.

"Make ready and prepare to move out!" Tangmo shouted over the din. "Follow the Space Marines and aim for the head and neck! These fuckers are servants of Khorne, they like a nice pitched fight, don't give them the opportunity to get close!"

Behind her, Krillen and Hildebrandt's battalion marched into position, ready to follow her scout across the field. Luva was reloading her lasgun when a searing gale, not that dissimilar to a discharging flamethrower, washed over her head. So powerful was the heat that commissar Tangmo threw himself down beside her.

"What in the flying fuck?!" He bellowed the same moment a boulder size fireball careened toward the three Space Marines, Manaus leapt backward while the two Primaris dashed to the side. The fireball exploded where they had stood, hungry tongues of fire lapping over them. Tendrils of smoke rising from their armor, the Space Marines got back on their feet in time to see a figure striding toward them. Voicing prayer to the God Emperor, Luva beheld what might have once been a man. The spindly creature, limbs elongated and crooked, moved with a sickly grace of a dying tree caught in the wind. Inhuman, tormented moan rumbled from its bloody sewed lips, cadaverous hollowed eye sockets swept across the Imperial Guards's position.

"Waste that spooky ass motherfucker!" Tangmo shouldered his own lasgun, "Manaus, fall back before that psyker shoot fire again!"

"Affirmative," Manaus was making his way back but stopped when he saw the Primaris charging the Warp abomination, bolters blazing. "Withdraw you damn fool!"

The Primaris emptied their bolters on the psyker, but the attack failed to penetrate the creature's Warp shield. Howling like an injured beast, the psyker swept its long arm at the two Astartes, wall of hellish green fire following its emaciated claw like fingers. The flame struck a Primaris on the right, the crushing bang and tear of ruptured armor resounded across the battlefield as the Astartes cartwheeled across the air, one of his pauldron flying loose. The Primaris's comrade was reaching for his chainsword when the psyker stretched both hands toward him, summoning two pillars of swirling light that struck the Space Marine like a battering ram, the impact threw him clear across the open field.

"Open fire! Kill the sum bitch!" Commissar Tangmo put his lasgun on full auto and unleashed a stream of lasbolt on the psyker, membranous ripples danced across its Warp shield. Luva added her own salvo a heartbeat later, firing aimed single shot at places where she thought the creature's armor was weakest. Soon, the Imperial Guards were unleashing their entire firepower on a single target, the psyker spun toward them and moaned its baleful cry.

"RPG and grenade launcher open fire, fuck him up!" At the commissar's command, rockets and grenades flew over her head and hit the wavering abomination in staccato of fire, sending the creature flopping to the ground, gangly limbs swatting the air. Howling, the psyker raised its hand at their position, reality around the open palm sundering as unnatural irradiance glow coalesced. Then a bright las light severed its arm at the elbow. The creature howled a torturous throe, liquid fire spewed from the fleshy stump. Luva turned to see Korri quickly slamming in a new magazine and taking aim, grimacing as she pulled the trigger. The lasbolt, turned up to the highest output, struck the psyker between its hollowed eyes, vaporizing the cranium into charred mass of brain and skull. Convulsing, the psyker bend and twisted unnaturally to the sicken snaps of bones before liquid fire engulfed the creature in a blinding conflagration. In less than a minute all that remained was a puddle of bubbling molten earth.

"Well done Korri," Luva gave her a pat on the back as the scouts crowded around her, giving praises and cheers. Korri received it all with wary nervousness, her timidity only worsened when Krillen strode through the throngs of guardsmen, eyeing the girl with those hard, cold eyes of his. The young sniper looked about ready to cry when the colonel laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, a warm smile graced his face as he nodded. Beaming, Korri threw her arms around Krillen and hugged him mightily to the resounding ovation of the guardsmen.

"Holy shit Korri that was a fucking amazing yo!" Commissar Tangmo bellowed and ran up to the two siblings, "you just Simo Hayha that bitch!"

"Thank you sir," Korri dislodged herself from Krillen, the colonel not appreciating his sister's coyness toward the commissar.

"I could kiss you, but Krillen's probably gonna kill me," that drew a healthy laughter from the men, "but yeah, well done. Now, I would love to stay and chat but I think we have two dead Space Marines on our hands, so…I'll give you some candy later, bye!"

With that, the commissar leapt over the rim and sprinted toward Manaus who was kneeling over one of the Primaris Marine.

"Get everybody ready to move out," Luva told her second in command before following the commissar, Krillen joining her a moment later.

"Yo, is he alive?" Luva heard Tangmo as she approached him.

"He is," Manaus said, not sounding happy.

"Which one of you is the Apothecary?" Tangmo went on.

"That one," Manaus pointed at the other Primaris limping toward them, the Astartes reached down and hurled his injured comrade up to his feet.

"You shamed us," Manaus growled at the two Primaris. "If it wasn't for that sniper, your recklessness would have been the end of the both of you. By disobeying me you have dishonored yourself and the Chapter. If you two ever decide to throw your lives away in vain glory again then do every one of us the courtesy of perishing, so that we can all be rid of your stupidity."

"I beg your forgiveness brother," the two Primaris bowed lowly, Luva can hear the stark remorsefulness in their distorted voices.

"I'm sorry that you have to witness that, lord commissar," Manaus bowed at Tangmo. "You have my words that such shameful display will not be repeated again."

"It's okay dude, seriously," Tangmo said. "We all get a little carried away sometime, I'm sure they'll learn from their mistake."

"They better," Manaus said and led the Primaris away.

"Jesus Christ that was rough," Tangmo tapped the vox caster in his ear. "Tyra, what's the situation with the enemy? Uh-huh, right, okay good, begin firebombing their escape route, I want them trap here." He tapped the plastic bud a few more times. "Orhul, what's the situation on your end? Okay, uh-huh, uh-huh, well is the flying motherfuck dead yet? Good, keep up the pressure but don't enter the camp." Explosion lit up the northern sky, the pulsing red glow growing brighter and fiercer as Tangmo continued to speak. "Krix, how's it hanging? Okay cool, maintain position." The commissar waved them back to the crater and said. "Vakon begin bombardment, all battery free, pound them for ten minutes."

Concussive thunder rolled from the south as they slid back into the hole.

"You might want to cover your ears, this is going to be loud," commissar Tangmo pressed his hands over his ears, above them the shrieking wind rose to a piercing crescendo. Luva did the same just in time for the first shell to hit the heretic's encampment.

"Well that went a lot better than expected," Tangmo glanced at the colossal boreal forest around him, each tree the size of a building, a true wondrous beauty of nature. Too bad they have to bulldoze them to make room for the tanks.

"Those psykers were a real pain in the ass though," Damien said, bolter cradled ready in his arm.

"We ran into this Slender Man looking motherfucker, what about you guys?"

"My troops got tangled with this crazy jawless bitch that flew around and breathe fire."

"Well, nice to see the two of you having fun."

Snickering, Tangmo and Damien spun around and grinned at the frowning Henry, arms folded over his chest grumpily.

"You mad that we had all the fun?" Damien snickered.

"What the hell do you think?!" Henry snapped.

"Hey, it's not our fault this place is filled with trees," Tangmo shrugged.

"I'll enjoy tearing it all down," Henry muttered darkly.

"I bet Greenpeace loves you," Damien's helmed face seemed to grimace.

"Especially when I set them on fire along with their precious fucking trees," Henry ground his teeth.

"Jesus, calm the fuck down," Tangmo shook his head. "Beside, you didn't missed anything much. We just surrounded the Chaos bastard and then proceed to methodically destroy them. It was a completely tactical affair dude, like how modern warfare is done. We just pulled the trigger and watch them drop, then proceed to bury them under several tons of bombs."

"Things went really well too," Damien added. "Sure, I few thousand people got hurt here and there but nobody died, while eighty percent of the enemy's force was wiped out. I mean shit, how many times had that canonically happened in 40k?"

"Let's see how long we can keep this no death streak going then," Tangmo looked at Damien. "How's Helvius and Aurius doing by the way, they got burned pretty bad."

"They're fine; their armor absorbed most of the damage," Damien said. "But they're pretty bummed out though."

"Yeah, Manaus gave them one hell of a verbal beat down," Tangmo noticed then that the forest was thinning, the enormous floras spacing out while patches of green grasses appeared to be more abundant as they approached a rise. Bracing their weapons, the trio slowly ascended the hill.

"I still question the logic of the three of us wandering out alone into enemy's territory," Damien spoke up.

"Well, the little brat here won't shut up unless we do this," Tangmo stabbed his thumb at Henry. "So, here we are."

"It's an ingenious tactical maneuver," Henry huffed. "The enemy will be expecting a large scouting party, not three inconspicuous individuals going out for a stroll."

"How is any of this inconspicuous?!" Damien waved quickly at his big ass Space Marine armor, and was about to continue complaining when they finally crested the hill, and found his voice taken away by the sight before them.

It was Helm's Deep. Holy shit, it was Helm's Deep on a Warhammer 40k scale complete with the grimdark paintjob. The heretic fortress was carved into the mountain, like Helm's Deep, with a large open field in front of it, like Helm's Deep, protected by thick fuck huge wall, like Helm's Deep, with towering multilayered keep dominating the background, like…okay, this looked more like Minas Tirith, but the wide bridge leading up to the only entrance was just like Helm's fucking Deep!

"Hello, Mr. Tolkien," Tangmo stared at their target.

"So…does this make us the Uruk-hai?" Henry chuckled.

"Oh yeah, and we're about to tear the Rohirrim a new asshole," Damien added.

After a few seconds, the trio started harmonizing the Rohan theme from the Two Towers.

"Sing a little louder, they might actually hear you."

Squealing like a bunch of high school girl, the trio leapt off their feet and whipped around to find the main characters, Evangeline, Bruce and Aileen included, climbing up the hill to join them, their expressions varied from open amusement to outright exasperation. Leilatha looking exceptionally peeved.

"Your action is beyond idiotic," she scolded Tangmo. "Have you forgotten your responsibility? What would happen if the enemy finds you?"

"You could have been killed, or worse, captured by those heretics, sir," wait a minute, Tyra's here? And agreeing with Leilatha?!

"Umm…it's Henry's fault! He dragged me and Damien out here!" Tangmo pointed at Henry.

"Why am I not surprised?" Ladaee rolled her eyes, much to Henry's charging.

"Calm down ladies, I'll keep your boyfriends safe," Damien was impervious to the women's combined glare.

"Is this a normal happenstance amongst your regiment?" Evangeline asked worriedly.

"You haven't seen anything yet colonel," Meko grinned conspiratorially with the snickering Orhul.

"Still, that was pretty stupid of you," Krix commented, a flamer braced on her shoulder. "Bring me along next time, it will ease your lady friend's apprehension."

"Or me," Luva shot Krix a challenging look.

"You lads and lasses are never a bore!" Aileen spoke up. "I like it!"

"Aye, very interesting," Bruce came to stand beside Tangmo. "So this is Deep Rock fortress, impressive. It's going to be hard work cracking that one open."

"The approach will be bloody, that much is certain," Xiphos said.

"The King Ghidorah will make short work of the walls, colonels," Ruven announced proudly, "that I can guarantee."

"I suggest we start building trenches to begin the siege sir," Hildebrandt said. "They won't break with one attack."

"One thing at a time Hildebrandt," Tangmo said. "We're only here to observe our surrounding, for now."

"Korri, what do you see?" Krillen nudged his little sister, the girl nodded and stared down the scope of her sniper lasgun.

"There are a lot of people on the wall," Korri's posture tightened. "Lord commissar, one of them is looking at us with a binocular. They know we're here."

"Good," Tangmo flashed his canine, turned toward the fortress and held up the sign of the aquila above his head, Henry and Damien joining him, also upping the eagle. "Now they know there time is up."