United Front

Weather: Heavy Snows, Possible Blizzard
Predicted Temperatire: -24°C

Captain Hannah Scarbrough of the 203rd Valhallan slowly raised her head to peek over the wreckage of what was once a rockcrete wall. The city of Tsorograd was once a trade center to the residents of the planet of Taiga. It was now a battlefield, the easternmost front of the Imperial Guard against the ork clan, Clan Big Gunzz.

Lilia Ivanov, a former scout from 2nd Platoon and now 2nd in command, was sitting next to Hannah with a pair of Magnoculars pointed into the seemingly endless wall of snow.

“Thegging snow!” Lilia cursed, “I can’t see the tree line, as far as I can tell, those orks could be moving across the plain as we speak.”

Hannah sighed, a cloud of mist forming through the scarf wrapped around her face, “And to think we praised the Emperor for the cold weather.” During planetfall, the Valhallans thanked the Emperor for some home turf, but the snow proved to be problematic for the other three regiments assigned to Tsorograd: the 114th Cadian, 63rd Armaggedon Mechanized, and the 47th Krieg Grenadiers.

Even though they had great-coats, scarves, and lots of other gear to keep them warm, you could always see them gathering around a fire, and those with boltguns and boltpistols stuck their freshly spent shells into their clothing.

It was extremely strange...

At first the Valhallans had laughed at the desperate guardsmen, but when the weather began to slowly get worse, they decided it would be the best to help out their struggling comrades.

Hannah looked over the wall again when a message came through on her vox-bead. It was Vladimir Sikorsky from 3rd company, “The snow is starting to clear, some of 47th have infiltrated into the plain, they’ll be giving us a report in a few minutes.”

She switched to her company’s channel, “Okay guys, keep your eyes peeled, I don’t like this...It’s way too quiet.” She removed her plasma pistol from her holster, “Prepare for an imminent attack.”

A few long minutes later, a man with a heavy accent, a Krieg accent, came through her channel, “This is Gregorry Heinrich to Captain Hannah Scarbrough, we’re heading to your company, can you provide covering fire?”

“Hurry, Heinrich. Do you have a report?”

Hannah could see about a dozen figures in dark grey uniforms running in her direction, she noticed that half of them kept turning around firing a few shots from their lasguns into the cloud of snow, “6th Company! Prepare for an assault!”

Lilia had steadied her long-las against a large rock taking a long look through the scope, “I can see orks a few yards following behind that Krieg squad, I can’t tell how many there are, they’re too close together.”

“Estimated range?”

“They’re just outside the kill zone, but if we fire we’ll hit Heinrich and his squad.”

“Two squads from 3rd Platoon on me,” Hannah said.

“Marie! Laksovin! On the captain!” barked Vladimir as the orks drew closer.

She climbed over the wall drawing her powersword, twenty guardsmen behind her. “Spread out your fire! We want to curb that ork assault long enough for Heinrich to get back with us!”

Heinrich rejoiced the minute the Valhallans jumped over that wall, soon he heard the crack of las-shots go through the gaps in between his men. “C’mon guys! Let’s go, go, go!” One of his men began to sprint and just barely passed the Valhallan line when his chest exploded from an ork pistol shot, his limp body falling flat in the snow.

Mikail Vensen wiped the blood of a dead Krieg soldier from his face and began to prep his flamer for its inevitable use. He took a firm grip of his flamer and raised it high, his finger on the trigger, C’mon you slimy pieces of snot, come and get some...

Hannah was unleashing a hailstorm of plasma fire into the horde of greenskins, each shot blowing off an ork appendage and incinerating an ork head, the body falling under the trampling feet of its former comrades. Hannah pushed the activation rune on her powersword and the blade glowed with energy. She quickly holstered her pistol and thought to herself, This is gonna get ugly.

6th Company! Covering fire!” Hannah yelled out as she sidestepped to avoid the oncoming blade of an ork axe. She shoved her blade into the ork’s neck and with a flick of her wrist, its head rolled off its shoulders. “Marie, Laksovin, retreat back to the wall!”

As the thirty guardsmen ran back to the safety of the Imperial line, the steady thump of autocannons, and crackle of both heavy bolters and lasguns began to fill their ears as the entire line lit up with suppressing fire.

Despite the enormous amount of gunfire that was being rained down upon them, the orks kept on coming.

There was no way to avoid a close-quarters battle, “Bayonets! Hold the line in the name of the Emperor!”

Heinrich rallied his squad, his chainsword purring with its deadly revolving teeth, “1st Squad! Payback time!” The remaining Krieg soldiers turned to face the oncoming greenskin tide, letting out a loud, “Hoo-ah!”

The Valhallans turned to face their enemy, forming a hedge of finely polished bayonet points. Hannah yelled into her vox-bead, “Fire on my order!” She outstretched her plasma pistol, her aim centered on a charging ork nob, “Open Fire!”

The crack of las-shots filled the air as the squads of 6th Company let out a rain of fire, “You may fire at will!” The gunfire cut down orks as they ran forward, but the tide kept on coming. “Prepare to repel borders!”

The Valhallans yelled in acknowledgement as the greenskins continued to run forward. Flamers soon lit up their deadly payloads as promethium filled the air around the savage beasts. And with a loud cry, the line charged headlong into the fray.

Bayonets were flashing against the light of the nearest star, the snow reflecting off of the shining metal that was not stained with the dark blood of orks.

With her sword whistling to and fro, Hannah cut down all the orks that came into her blades glowing range. In the midst of battle she could see a man, who looked to be like a Valhallan officer whom she had never seen before, wielding two short powerswords, turning and weaving in a fatal dance of spinning blades.

The surviving orks, caught by surprise by the ferocity of the Valhallan defenders, turned and ran. Some were shot in the back as the chuckling men and women of 6th Company returned to their lines.

Hannah now turned to Heinrich, “Do you have any information on the ork force?”

“Yes ma’am, before we were assaulted, we were able to recon the tree line.” He said as he handed her a data-slate. “All the information is in there ma’am.”

“Thank you Heinrich, you may return to your regiment.”

Gregorry nodded, “And, ma’am, you fought well today.” He saluted her and turned to his squad, “1st Squad! Fall in!” As the remaining seven stormtroopers walked by, they each gave her a thankful salute or handshake.

As the troopers departed, Hannah turned to Lilia, “Lilia, please get Visily up here on the double. Tell him his ‘caster is needed.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Lilia saluted and soon disappeared beyond the length of the wall.

As Hannah directed her wounded to the nearest aid station, awaiting the return of Lilia, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder, “You seem to have everything under control here Captain. I’m starting to wonder way the Progenium stationed me here.”

Hannah turned and instantly recognized the man. She was the officer she saw fighting in the battle. He was wearing a white great-coat like those most Valhallan officer wear and he wore a rounded cap like those of most Valhallan high commanders. But he had a black armband with the symbol of the Progenium. But Hannah had seen this man once before, but a very long time ago “Andre! What are you doing here! I haven’t seen you in years!”

Andre held up a hand to stop her, “We can catch up later, Captain. But from this point on, the Progenium has assigned me to your company. I am now your new commissar.”

Hannah smiled but soon redirected her attention to the data-slate in her hand. “According to this, the greenskins number more than we anticipated, and the ork armor is heavily armed. They were able to get a glimpse of two looted Leman Russes.” Hannah sighed as she read out the last line, “The bulk of the ork force is yet to be accounted for.”

Hannah spotted Visily running down the length of the wall, a large vox-caster attached to his back, “Ma’am? You needed me?”

“Yes, Visily, once the commissar is finished with the data-slate, I would like for you to transfer that information to field HQ, it’s very urgent.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Andre read over it and then handed it to Visily, “Interesting, these orks seem to be mechanically inclined compared to the rest I’ve researched. Those Leman Russes are in quite good condition for any regular ork.”

“Lilia, you are in charge until I return. If you need me, you know what channel I’ll be on.” She tapped the vox-bead she had in her ear. Lilia smartly saluted and walked back to where the troops were stationed.

Hannah started heading into the city, motioning for Andre to follow her, “I’m afraid this new information on the orks puts a new spotlight on our position on the Eastern Front. We need more forces soon if we are to hold off a force of that size.”

“Why do you say that you need more troops? Don’t you get reinforcements monthly like all the other regiments?” Andre asked as they entered the three story building that was the officers’ quarters.

Hannah sighed as she inserted the key into the lock of her door, “Unfortunately, no. The Eastern Front is the area of least action. Most of the fresh troops are sent to defend the North or help with the offensive in the West. We, here, at the East, get little or no additional forces.”

“That’s quite depressing. But then it’s good I’m here.” Andre said as he pulled up a nearly-broken chair in her room, “I’m trained for this kind of situation, Captain.”

Hannah sat down opposite of his seat, “I’m aware, Commissar.” She handed him a cup of vodivilisk, “Andre, I’m interested in hearing what you’ve done since you were moved from the 126th.”

“Well,’ he said, “As you can tell I’m now a commissar. I attended the Schola Excubitos on Terrax and am proud to say that I’m a 1st class political officer.”

Hannah took in his appearance, “No offense, Andre, but your uniform doesn’t distinguish you as a commissar. In fact you look like any other Valhallan officer here.”

He nodded, “True, that’s because I’m proud to be a Valhallan, when I’m in combat I want to be characterized as a loyal soldier of Valhalla. I love the uniform of my homeland.” Andre took a quick sip from his cup, “But that was the mistake I made on my first assignment, the 56th Cadian on Kinasa Prime.” Andre took off his hat and looked at it, “This is my fourth one, the other three were shot off my head.” Hannah chuckled, he continued, “The commander of the 56th was so worried that I would get them killed, I asked to be put with a Valhallan regiment where my uniform would fit in. Now, I’m here.”

Hannah smiled, “I’m glad that you’re here, too.” She took his cup, “If you’ll excuse me, but we must return to the front. My soldiers are notorious about spreading rumors.”

Hannah and Andre walked outside and were hit by a sudden stab of freezing cold air. They noticed that the earlier prediction of lighter snows was false. The snow fall had gotten worse.

Lilia was standing next to the door and fell in step with the two commanders, “Ma’am, we are no longer expecting an attack. The winds are too strong for the orks to attempt to cross the plain. And the snows are too deep for any vehicles to cross.

“Good, are our troops garrisoned?”

“Yes, ma’am, and one more thing Commander.”

“Yes?”

“The colonel needs you.”