United Front

Weather: Light Snows, Fast Winds
Predicted Temperatire: -35°C

Andre offered Hannah a seat opposite him. He folded his arms, “What is it, Captain?”

“I just needed some company,” Hannah responded in a slightly feeble way, she took the seat he offered her.

Andre handed her a cup, “Vodivilisk, joiliq, amasec...Which one would you like?”

“Rhazvod, please.”

Andre was slightly stunned; Hannah wasn’t one who liked the strong alcoholic drinks. There had only been one time in which he remembered her drinking rhazvod and that was after her incident during the Valetron Campaign.

He poured her a bit and sat back down, drinking down what was left in his cup, “Are you sure you’re okay, Hannah? I’m not asking as your political officer, but as your friend.”

Hannah shook her head and managed a slight, “No...”

Andre gently folded his arms, “Well? What’s wrong then, Hannah?”

She looked up at him, “I can see their faces...”

“I know what you mean, I can see the faces of all those I killed--.”

Hannah cut him off, “No, not that. I can see the faces of all those comrades I lost. Those who died under my responsibility, my command.”

Andre put his cup down, and slightly leaned forward, “Captain, that’s not something you can prevent. You can’t determine who gets shot and why. It just happens. And you can’t stop it. Remember it’s all the Emperor’s doing.”

The building shook slightly and Andre got up, he made his way to the window when the building shook again, except a bit stronger, “What in the Emperor’s name was that?”

Hannah picked up her equipment and began to jog her way down the stairs, the building occasionally shaking. Andre was close behind her when the roof collapsed.

Hannah slowly got up, reaching her hands out to steady herself. She found a peace of rubble and used it to prop herself up, coughing as she did so. She could hear through the settling dust, “Captain! Are you alright?” She heard a series of coughs and Andre emerged from the dust, “Are you okay, Captain?”

Hannah nodded, “You got a way out of here, Commissar?”

Andre nodded, “Yes, lucky the cave in didn’t block the way out.”

He took her by the arm and guided her outside where Lilia was waiting.

“Captain!” Lilia yelled over the thunderous sound of oncoming shells, “The orks have begun shelling our main positions and we’re expecting an attack at any moment, but right now all of our forces are dug in at the trenches!”

Hannah nodded, making her way through the slightly deep snow.

Explosions erupted around her, yet Hannah kept herself straight and firm until she jumped into the closest trench.

Kilov Novisik ran down the line in a half-crouched run, making sure that all of the Imperial were safe and under cover.

The ork barrage was quite a surprise to Hannah, either the orks just got the artillery, or they just built in that small amount of time in which there was no ork activity whatsoever.

Either way, she didn’t like it.

Hannah took out her magnoculars from her belt and looked into the distance, “Lilia, do we have artillery support?”

Lilia yelled through the vox-bead, “Yes, Ma’am! The 63rd’s second artillery battery is standing by! Orders?”

“Target: eight, four, one, nine! Tell them to fire four volleys, in increasing degrees of ten!”

“Yes Ma’am!”

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Mikail Taliatamnikov hurried to his gunner’s autocannon nest with a box of rounds hugged in his arms; he could hear Vladi Susinovsky at a distance, “Hurry Mikail!”

When he reached the nest he hastily installed a magazine into the large heavy weapon, “Okay, Vladi, she’s armed and ready!”

Vladi cocked the weapon and handed some magnoculars to Mikail, “Spot for me, Mikail.”

Mikail nodded, “There’s not anything yet!”

“Yes, but there will be soon, I promise you that!”

Vladi and Mikail were moved to 5th squad platoon one from the reserve to help fill the gap caused by the transfer of squads one and two. He had seen quite a lot of action since his transfer and he had adrenaline pumping through his veins.

Mikail tapped his shoulder, “I think I see something. They look like ork trukks and they’re moving very fast!”

Vladi eased his fingers onto the autocannon’s trigger, “How far are they, Mikail?”

“Wait a few more minutes; they’ll be in the kill zone soon.”

Private Ferasen pulled his launcher up until it rested on his shoulder, staring through the scope at an oncoming ork trukk. There were hundreds of the small and speedy ork vehicles. How the orks built so many was a mystery.

Mockov tapped his shoulder signaling him to fire, he pulled the trigger and the rocket flew towards the trukk.

Ferasen watched as the rocket made contact with the front of the ork trukk. The trukk made a spectacular explosion, the resulting shockwave knocking Gregs and Mockov to the ground. Mockov helped Gregs up, “Bomb trukks!”

He loaded another rocket into the launcher, “We have to take those trukks out!”

Ferasen nodded and fired another rocket, docking as the rocket made impact.

The two could hear Captain Scarbrough through their vox-beads, “Hell! Take down those trukks in the name of the Emperor! We can’t let them get close!”

Rockets, mortars, and grenades began to fly in a desperate attempt to hold off the charging ork vehicles.

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Andre picked up his bolt gun that he kept inside 6th company’s dugout and aimed it at the oncoming trukks.

He fired a burst of solid bullets...They hit the ork causing his trukk to careen into the nearest one, both trukks were engulfed in the resulting explosion.

Andre slowly lowered his rifle and he realized the truth, We won’t be able to stop all of them… He began to fire again and yelled, “Fight! Fight in the name of the Emperor!”

Hannah ran to Andre and stopped, she nodded to him and he continued to fire, “Immediate orders from the Colonel,” She said through all channels, “All forces begin an immediate retreat into the city,” Hannah paused for a moment, “all rocket and missile infantry remain. Destroy as many trukks as you can, then retreat into the city.”

Minutes went by...

“Missile Crew 1, orders received and understood.”

“Missile Crew 5, we stand true Comrade-Captain.”

“Missile Crew 6, we serve the Emperor, Captain!”

One by one the ten missile crews responded to their captain. Hannah had never been more proud of her soldiers then now. They were doing exactly what she expected of them: Loyal soldiers of the Imperium. She opened the channels of the ten crews, “I appreciate all of you for doing this, I expect to see you all soon.”

Hannah could hear Sergeant Mockov’s distinct voice, “Don’t worry, Captain, we’ll give ‘em hell and report to you when it’s all over.”

Vladi began to disassemble his autocannon, while Mikail gathered the ammo into a metal carrying case. Vladi slung the cannon’s barrel around his back and yelled to Mikail, “C’mon! Help me with this!”

Mikail ran over to him and attached the box to the bottom of the autocannon’s body and grabbed a carrying handle, “Got it!”

“Alright! Let’s go!”

The two sprinted towards the city, the autocannon in between them. There was a designated spot that they had called their ‘secondary defense.’ It was in a ruined three story building. They would set up their autocannon on a second story window.

They entered the building and made a rush for the stairs, when they got to their window the gently dropped the cannon and Vladi began to set up the gun. Mikail began to load the magazines.

After Vladi had finished he looked through a pair of mangoculars, “Wow, those guys are giving those orks a hard time!”

Mikail snapped the magazine in, “Really!”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t any orks left for us to kill.”

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Mockov loaded another rocket into the launcher, “Looks like we’re staying boy. Let’s kill as many greenskins as we can and, Emperor willing, we’ll drink to it tonight!”

Ferasen smiled, “Right sir!”

He fired another missile, destroying another bomb trukk.

Before he could fire another, Kilov came to him, “Private! This is for you! It came in today and I’m sorry I didn’t get it to you earlier!” He said patting his back, “Good luck!”

Mockov loaded another rocket, “It’s a data-letter for you, Gregs. You want me to read it out load to you?”

Ferasen smiled gain, “Who is It from?” He asked firing and destroying another trukk.

“It’s from your girl,” Mockov said loading another rocket, “Well? Do you want me to or not?”

Gregs fired, “I’ll read it when we’re finished here!”

Mockov smiled, “Good man,” He looked down at their stock of rockets, “Only a few more, Gregs!”

He nodded, but in a matter of nana-seconds an ork bomb trukk appeared in front of them ramping over the parapet. One thought went through his mind, Damn it...

The trukk exploded and everything went black...

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Josef Yurinov tapped Alina Zakehev’s shoulder, “Last rocket, Alina! After that, we’re out of here!”

Alina nodded and stared through the scope, she fired and the rocket zoomed forward. Seconds after the rocket left the tube, Alina slung the launcher around her shoulder and armed her lasgun, “C’mon, Josef, let’s go!”

He picked up his lasgun and the sprinted towards the nearby building.

Snow erupted around them as ork big shootas began to fire in their direction. They ran through the door and ran into a nearby room, the bullets slamming into the building’s rockcrete wall.

They were both breathing heavily. Josef turned to her and smiled slightly, “Made it...”

Alina smiled letting the launcher fall from shoulder.

Josef moved toward her, as he did she pulled him by his greatcoat into a deep kiss.

Sergeant Lieka Vasikov passed by the door, “Hey! Save that AFTER combat!! Arm yourselves! There are plenty of orks to kill out there!”

They smiled and picked up their lasguns, both slamming fresh power packs into the chambers of their guns.

“Oh, and I’m glad you two made it back here alive!”

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Ferasen slowly opened his eyes, a constant ringing erupted in his ears, he couldn’t feel anything. He slowly looked up and could barely make out Missile Crew 4 who was dragging him by the arms towards the city. Lisa Kalamov turned every few seconds to fire behind them.

After a few minutes, he eventually regained his sense. Gregs could feel the blood dripping down his face, the ringing in his ears was replaced by the sounds of battle, “D-do you guys have M-Mockov?”

Lisa responded, “He’s fine! He made it out okay, but we had to come back and get you!”

Ferasen smiled and fell unconscious.

Gregs began to open his eyes and take in his surroundings. He was what looked like the basement of a building, around him there were dozens of other wounded guardsmen. Ferasen could feel the large bandage wrapped around his forehead.

“Ahh, you’re finally awake! Thank the Emperor, for awhile I thought you were dead!”

Mockov smiled at him, his right arm concealed by a large cast, “As you can probably tell, my arm is broken. And with you and that head injury, we’ll be out of combat for a long time.”

Ferasen chuckled at his comrade, “So, Sergeant, how’ve you been? And how long have I been out?”

Mockov slightly chuckled, “Well, I got blown down by an explosion caused by Emperor knows how many explosives! I broke my arm and I was bleeding profusely from my head, but other than that I’m quite fine!”

Ferasen laughed sarcastically, “Yeah, very funny...”

“You bet!” Mockov yelled, “Once I’m out of this Emperor-forsaken cast, those orks are mine!!”

Ferasen’s smile disappeared, “Yeah, I agree, once we’re back in action...Let’s kick some ork butt!!”

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Sugechov and the other three regimental commanders met in silence in the large room that was now serving as their headquarters. A stern look passed between each of them. Lindhoff was the first to say a word, “Reports, all of you.”

Renik opened his folder, “At the current rate the orks are attacking, we cannot provide enough artillery support for all fronts. We simply don’t have enough guns to do so.”

“We aren’t having a walk in the park either,” said Harris, “the orks have stepped up their attacks on the north-west; most of their armored vehicles are focused on us. We lack the firepower to hold all of them off.”

Lindhoff nodded, “Grots have been sniping my men periodically, it’s not that we’re being attack heavily, the snipers are just destroying my men’s moral.”

Once Lindhoff was finished, they all turned to Sugechov. The Valhallan colonel had a reputation of being extremely positive in the face of extreme odds. Sugechov just simply nodded and said, “I know each of you look at me and think ‘Is this man crazy? We have the numbers; can’t he see it’s hopeless?’ I have one thing to tell each of you. Nothing is hopeless.”

He approached the table and opened a map of Tsorograd, “I have a plan, but it calls for all forces to be pulled back to this point here.” He indicated the large coliseum once used to entertain the people of Tsorograd. It was now a huge ruin, perfect to stage a defense, Sugechov continued, “The coliseum will be our stronghold. Luckily, it’s only about a kilometer away from the bridges. With our remaining forces we can stage a strong defense in a small area.”

Renik nodded in agreement, “Sounds sane to me.”

Harris smiled lightly, “Let’s do it.”

Lindhoff nodded, “Well done, colonel.”

A mere hour after the Colonels’ meeting, the order to move to the coliseum was announced. Andre could sense the apprehensive feeling that floated around the men and women of 6th Company.

He couldn’t help but admitting that he felt the same way. The only thing that they were told was to move to the coliseum, no situation report was given, not even to the officers; Andre and Hannah included.

Andre couldn’t help but believe that the situation wasn’t improving, but as the moral officer, he did not voice his opinion to his subordinates.

But he somewhat felt that he didn’t need to; it seemed that in some indirect way the soldiers found out he didn’t feel right. The silence in which they marched was enough for Andre.

Lilia silently caught up with the commissar, a data-slate clutched loosely in her hand, “Nothing new, well, nothing new that’s important. No info on reinforcements either.”

Andre looked at her with a grim look on his face, “If they hadn’t told us anything yet, that means the situation is bad...and getting worse...” The seasoned commissar had seen such situations before, like the Imperial campaign on Degraloz.

Degraloz was the bloodiest campaign in the Hiberna planets. Taiga, Degraloz, and Valetron are all planets within the Hiberna system.

Degraloz had earned a legendary place in the Imperial text the moment the campaign was over. The casualties, both non-combatants and combatants, soared into the septillions. One of the commanders said, “When we were finished, there wasn’t anyone left to liberate.”

Andre had not seen action in Degraloz, thankfully, or he probably wouldn’t be standing here today. He barely missed it; Andrew was commissioned as a commissar at the very end of the Degraloz campaign. According to intel, expected lifetime on a Degraloz mission was exactly 64.87 minutes.

Andre silently hoped that Taiga wouldn’t end up like Degraloz; a barren, uninhabitable wasteland, with ruined cities and pock-marked with craters that dotted the entire landscape. Though he didn’t serve in Degraloz, Andre had seen the planet.

He read that the planet was covered in green land, thriving from an incredible agricultural society. The only ‘green planet’ in the Hiberna system, what happened to the planet’s climate still remains to be a complete mystery.

A demolisher rolled up to the two commanders and slowed down to the speed of their walking pace. Hannah was seated on top of the track guards, “C’mon you two, Danielle has offered us a ride!”

Hannah helped the two up onto the large tank. It surged forward to the front of the group, “Anything new, guys? Any good news at all?”

Both of them shook their heads.

“Ah, well, that’s normal isn’t it now?” She stared down the street towards the large stadium they were headed to. The complex was huge. It was nearly five stories high and over seven hundred meters in length. The entrances, into and out of the building were perfect chokepoints if any orks made it through the field of fire.

The defensive line would form the shape of a U. Circling around the stadium and stretching all the way to the bridges. If the coliseum did not hold, the plan was to retreat across one bridge and destroy the other.

But that was the best case scenario.

Hannah knew well that the likelihood of such a lucky position of escape would be one in a million. Exactly how they were really going to escape was unknown. She, Lilia, and Andre directed 6th Company’s defensive position on the second floor, east side of the stadium. They used sandbags, rubble, metal rods, anything to barricade themselves against the inevitable ork attack.

The sun began to sink beneath the horizon, and soon night fell across the city. The thunderous rumble of tanks ceased and all the lights and fire were doused. There was a howling wind and a light snow started to fall.

Lilia sat at the top of the stadium, her night-vision and infrared scope was pointed north-east. She had voluntarily taken the post of a spotter to warn her fellow comrades of the oncoming greenskins early enough for them to make their defense. Her rifle panned across the city for the tenth time when a bright red blob engulfed her vision, “Here they come.”