Frozen Tundra

Weather: Light Snow, Fast Wind
Predicted Temperature: -52˚C
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The Captain of 443rd’s armored company was what one could describe as extremely charismatic. Hannah had been awake with Mina and Andre when Jennifer’s lumbering Leman Russ rolled in.Her tank was painted completely white, making it hard to distinguish in the nighttime air.

Jennifer seemed a high-spirited person, hell-bent on the idea that the mere idea of the army of the Emperor losing was blasphemy.

Andre and Mina stood partially off to the side as Jennifer began to coordinate attack formations between the various squad leaders of her tanks.

Hannah was off in the distance, admiring the powerful punisher gatling cannon that was mounted on Jennifer’s Leman Russ. Mina walked up beside him and noticed her fellow sergeant staring in the direction of the nineteen year-old private. “She acts fast and with a cool head...”

Andre turned to her, “What did you say?”

“She acts fast.” Mina chuckled. “That girl single-handedly saved my sharpshooter with no help or instruction. I know they teach first aid and all at the Academy, but to be able to put it straight to good use on the battlefield takes a lot of good, quick thinking talent. Alexa’s gonna be out of the fight for quite a while, but at least she’s not dead.”

There was something about that girl that made her a bit different from the others. Andre checked his chronograph. “The attack will begin in another couple of hours. It’s best if you get everyone ready now.” He turned to his comrade in arms. “We’ll see tomorrow if Hannah’s lucky then and it would truly be the Emperor’s blessing if at least half of us make it through the assault on Dothen.”

“Don’t worry so much. We’ve been through some pretty hard shit and survived. Just you and me. I don’t see why we couldn’t live through this one. After all, we’ve been through hell and back.” Mina patted his shoulder and began to walk in the direction of her revved Chimera.

This would be a strange experience for most of them. During his time, Andre had never been on the offensive. And the idea of attacking a Chaos stronghold seemed more than suicidal. But it was something they had to do. But getting to Dothen was not going to be easy. Several lines of elite Chaos foot infantry and vehicles stood between them and the city and it would take several days to successfully punch through each and every Emperor-forsaken enemy line.

Tomorrow they would attempt to breach the outer defenses.

At 0900, the 4067th would begin a sustained artillery barrage for three hours. Once the chronometer hit 1200, the attack would begin in earnest with the 126th mechanized leading the charge to punch through the eastern most section of the line. It was anticipated that the 126th’s attack supported by the 443rd armored would collapse the flank and make it easier on the main force attacking down the center. It was considered extremely crucial that the line broke all at once, there could be no possibility for the enemy to reinforce or the entire battle group would eventually lose the initiative and fall back.

In the long run, guardsmen don’t stand a chance against full-blown and over-sized space marines...

Andre used his chainsword to lean on as he watched his squad move all of their equipment back into the Chimera. The tension hung high in the air. Even amongst veterans, the pressure of facing the archenemy head-on was grueling. The stories that floated around the battle group were gruesome in the least. Not as brutal as the tyranids of course, but brutal in their own horrendous and chaotic ways.
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Eujenia Mathews, the sniper for Squad Four, quietly watched Sergeant Andre Malicov carefully from her high perch on top of Four’s Chimera. They served together on Cassadore, back when he was impromptu head of Squad Seven. Jena was a new recruit then, coming in half-way through the campaign and if it weren’t for Andre’s watchful eye, she’d probably be dead.

Ever since then, Jena aspired to always be with him, but that wench Mina always got in the way! On top of that, she’s been hearing stories and rumors of some new girl who’s macking on him now.

Jena shuddered angrily at that thought.

Thirteen had finished loading and were already prepared to move. Vince Tarver, Four’s special weapons officer, motioned for her to get down. “Jena, we’re getting ready to go. You should strap yourself in.” He held his hand out to help her off and she took it, gently sliding off of the Chimera’s back. “You were watching him again, weren’t you?”

She silently walked into the transport and took her seat, wrestling briefly with the safety harness.

Vince took the seat next to her, pulling the lever that closed the door behind them, “You shouldn’t be torturing yourself like that. It’s really unhealthy,” He turned to her, “and don’t let whatever’s on your mind distract you, cuz if we fuck up, we’re dead.”

“I’m not torturing myself.” She snapped back at him. “And I know full well the ramifications of my losing concentration!”

He shrugged at her. “Hey, I’m just saying. It’s not worth you stressing over that guy. Do you really think he’s that great?”

Jena shot him an irritated glare.

He won’t ever understand... She thought to herself. They don’t get it at all! Andre’s my savior. If it weren’t for him... Jena shivered nervously. I can barely even fathom the idea of how I would have died. But Andre saved me and I will be forever in his debt.
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The attack had begun in an instant, faster than Hannah had time to react. Before she knew it, the hydraulic ramp at the back of the Chimera fell and the sounds of gunfire and battle erupted into the tiny transport compartment. The private was one of the first ones out; making sure the area was clear before the rest of them proceeded out. To their immediate right, Thirteen had already deployed. Andre worked fast, and before long his squad was already advancing forward.

Once Nine had rallied, Mina led them forward. A large knoll blocked their visual on the impeding Chaos line. Squads Four, Six, Nine, and Thirteen met just before the crest of the hill. Andre was already on top, scouting with a pair of magnoculars. Several minutes before the 126th had arrived, the 433rd Armored had already engaged the enemy and from the sounds over the hill, Hannah deduced that the action was heavy.

The other three sergeants met up with Andre at the top, too far for Hannah to hear what they were saying. An artillery shell exploded somewhere behind, throwing dirt and ice in all directions. After several seconds of intense deliberation, Mina returned to her squad, that look of combat-high in her eyes...

“1st and 2nd platoons have already initiated their attack; we will soon follow once Captain Rainer of the 433rd’s 4th Company makes a decent advance.” Mina paused briefly when a mortar shell hit the side of the hill. “We’re going to have to move fast, so keep up with me and don’t fall behind.”

Nine formed up in a traditional firing line, keeping their heads low under the apex of the hill. Hannah could feel her heart pounding inside her chest and it was if her head was going to explode. A nervous energy flowed through her body.

She was afraid.

It all had happened so fast. There was no definitive signal, but when Hannah saw Mina begin to sprint, it was enough for her to follow suit. The actual scene of a battlefield had not been what the private had expected and it was definitely nothing like the simulations she had grown through back in her academy days.

Chaos space marines were much larger than she had imagined and she took a second to look over the line of silver-armored soldiers. They were huge and it appeared as if they were laughing at the Imperial Guard as their las-bolts bounced harmlessly off of their reinforced adamantium armor. And for a moment, she thought she saw one of them single-handedly firing a heavy bolter! Hannah did not stop she ran as fast as her legs could take her, bullets and shrapnel flying all around her.

Suddenly she heard someone call out her name and she looked up.

A hulking, fully-equipped Iron Warriors space marine was staring straight down at her. All of a sudden, fear got the best of her and Hannah froze. She was stunned by the prospect of death itself. Time slowed as he raised his bolter, the large caliber barrel pointed at her chest.

Don’t be scared...

There was a flash of bright light and Hannah could have sworn that she was dead. She opened one eye, only to discover that the once twisted soldier of Chaos undivided now lay at her feet, incinerated by a signal lascannon shot. Hannah didn’t linger to find out where the Emperor’s protection had come from, she had to keep moving.

Mina and the rest of Squad Nine were only a few yards ahead of her. They had successfully penetrated the outer layer of the line thanks to some amazing support by the 433rd. It was now up to the 126th to cripple the remaining forces, most of whom were traitor PDF or untrained citizen soldiers, but Chaos had numbers on their side which meant that it would take a considerable amount of work to clear them out.
Hannah followed her squad into the nearest trench and was confronted almost immediately. A traitor PDF soldier tried to bring his outdated stub-rifle down on Hannah like a club, but her fast reflexes blocked the blow with her own lasgun. They struggled for control until Hannah managed to pull her combat knife from her belt and stick it into the man’s thigh. Screaming in pain, he fell to the ground clutching his leg. Hannah brought her rifle stock heavy against the side of his head and then he was silent.

Before she got a chance to catch her breath, another PDF officer began to charge at her. With barely a single thought, Hannah pulled her knife out of the dead man’s leg and threw it as hard as she could at his charging comrade. The serrated blade drove itself deep into the victim’s torso, blood gushing from the entrance wound.

Running, Hannah pulled her blade out of the body and sheathed it. With rifle pointed forward, the private ran her bayonet straight through the first PDF that happened to be in her way.

She cut her own swathe through the seemingly endless waves of Chaos-loyal disciples. One after the other, Hannah stabbed, jabbed, shot, punched, and cut her way through until Nine had finally met with Thirteen who were cut short in a bottle-neck trench fork.

Andre was standing in the very middle of the intersection, chainsword humming through flesh, lopping off limbs, and sawing weapons in half. His white trench coat was soaked with splotches of red blood. Hannah was able to look up just in time to see a man sawed in half by Andre’s brutal melee power.

The fighting continued to grow more and more intense as the forces of Chaos began to simply throw themselves into the fray, often times charging into their own deaths. Imperial firing lines cut holes through the enemy while melee troops slashed through men and specialized weapons troopers engulfed the enemy in fire and molten slag.

When the fighting had finally trickled down to only small pockets of resistance, the trenches were littered with bodies both Chaos and Imperial alike. The ground was pock-marked with black craters and destroyed vehicles. It was hard to imagine that this was simply a prologue of what was to come.

They spent several hours going through each and every nook and cranny to make sure that every single one of their enemies had been executed in one way or another. Hannah had tailed Mina, and every time she fired a laspistol shot into a soldier, Hannah followed it up with jab from her rifle bayonet.

Nine gathered near a wrecked Chaos predator with Thirteen and Four nearby, but instead of the nine soldiers that should have shown, only seven were there. Mina quickly informed them that their comrades were alive but not well. Marie had been incapacitated by a piece of shrapnel to her upper torso while Talila was injured when a nearby vehicle exploded, throwing her several meters into the blown-out wreckage of another tank.

The attack had been a success, with only minimal casualties sustained. Perhaps the most intense fighting took place after the 78th Recon and 63rd Grenadiers deep-striked into the rear of the enemy line, coming face to face with several squads of Chaos terminators.

Hannah saw Andre and couldn’t help but be distracted. However, something felt strange. Something didn’t feel quite right...

Just barely, in her peripheral vision, she could see someone staring at her. Hannah could feel that burning gaze so focused on her body that she didn’t have to look up.

Whoever that girl was, she was carrying a customized las-rifle and a four was stitched into the sleeve of her upper-right arm. Obviously she was Squad Four’s sharpshooter. The main problem she had with her was that she was staring at Hannah and Hannah had no idea why...
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Andre, Mina and Rike marched together in a formed line, their respective squads following closely behind their commanding officers. He had his chainsword strapped to his bag and his laspistol holstered. Today had been a lucky day. His squad had received only one wound which was a slash across Ryderson’s arm.

But most importantly, Hannah had come out of the battle completely unscathed.

It was obvious to him now and he could no longer deny the facts, he had fallen in love with Hannah. Mina could see it as well as Vasily, but if Hannah knew was a mystery.

His thoughts were disturbed when Mina gently tugged at his sleeve. “Andre,” she whispered, “That girl Eujenia is watching you again...”

Really? Again? Andre turned around to see if she was telling the truth and frowned when he found out she was.

He couldn’t help but wonder what was on Jena’s mind. They did serve together back on Cassadore and he did save her life, but it felt strange knowing the she’s always wanted something more from him.

Hannah made her way up to where he was marching and took a spot up next to him. There was a tiny smile on her face underneath the scarf, he could tell with the confidence she had in her stride.

Then the idea hit him.

Maybe Jena was upset because he found a connection with someone else? It was a long shot, but it wasn’t a completely implausible idea. Besides, that look on her face was really starting to bother him. Her eyes seemed so full of anger and the muscles in her body looked like they were perpetually stiff.

For once, Andre didn’t feel safe among his own peers. Jena’s stare was burning into his back.

When Mina and Andre finally got a chance to be alone together in the forward camp, they couldn’t help but deliberate on what Jena was thinking. That look could kill and it was worrying them. It wasn’t in his nature to confront her about it; it simply could mean something completely different.

Playing safe was just his nature.

Meanwhile, Andre always made sideways glances to make sure Hannah was safe or okay. She was field-stripping her lasgun by the light of a small lantern, cleaning her rifle and then doing it again to make sure she didn’t miss anything the first time.

Squad Thirteen was camped next to their sanctioned Chimera, gathered around a small but obviously effective thermo-ion heater. Jay was off to the side, a lho stick jutting out from the side of his mouth and his meltagun swinging loosely from his shoulder while Vasily and Dmitri were playing a card game on top of the lascannon’s carrying case.

Andre stood with Mina off to the side, taking out a small canteen of vodivilisk out from inside his coat pocket and took a sip. The two of them stood in silence for a long time.

Today seemed too easy. He could only imagine how bad it was going to be when they final got to Dothen. It was going to be a massacre, even with a little over 80,000 soldiers, the battle group will be lucky if a little over a fourth of them survive. In his silent calculations Andre understood that the percentages were dismal.

He appreciated how Mina respected his silence and handed her his canteen. She took a tiny sip and handed it back to him.

Dothen was still several clicks out, but Andre could swear he saw something large looming in the distance. Normally, before the forces of Chaos came, you could have seen the city from where they were camped, the lights illuminating their surroundings in a huge kilometer-wide bubble. It would have been a very impressive sight.

Things have been dark for a while now and there existed little hope of any Emperor-loyal citizens surviving the Iron Warrior purges that were probably more than common.

Mina stood off a couple of feet away from him, arms folded, shoulders tense, and nervously tapping her thumb against her arm. If she had something to tell him, he wasn’t going to push her into doing so.

The silence proceeded until she stepped forward, rather reluctantly, and whispered into his ear, “What are you going to do about Jena?”

That was a good question. The thought hadn’t really crossed his mind since they settled into camp. It was probably because he wanted to push it to the rear of his head and save it for later; he had already too much to focus on. One problem about one somewhat-crazed girl could wait for now. “I’m not really too sure yet. I hadn’t thought about it.”

Mina looked around to be sure no one was listening in. “You should.”

With that she walked off in the direction of her squad leaving Andre in the silence of his thoughts.
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High above Valetron the Apocalypse class battleship, Thor’s Hammer, maintained a steady orbit along with the 28 other ships that comprised the Imperial Navy’s Winterwind Task Force. Admiral Krista McCarron stood facing the planet below her. Valetron’s snowy terrain reflected the light off of the star Caliston, casting an eerie look on the Hammer’s dark gray paint scheme.

The Imperial Guard battle group had made planet fall several days ago and Krista couldn’t find out exactly why Segmentum Command had ordered her to remain in orbit. Orbital bombardments were a given, but what else could they possibly run into out here in this sector of space? It was already strange enough that the Iron Warriors were on the planet and the likelihood of a Chaos fleet warping in was nearly impossible. The forces of Chaos usually never penetrated this far from the Eye of Terror.

No aircraft, besides their own Vendettas and Valkyries, had been spotted. It was apparent that air support wasn’t what Command had in mind either. Even at that, they were already risking a lot of manpower. Flying in Valetron’s blizzards, sudden snow-storms, and the like was near suicidal. The characteristic sticky snow of the planet had the problems of clogging vector engines and sticking to wind-shields.

She saw her reflection in the glass and straightened her medaled uniform. Fleet command must be expecting something if they sent such a large force to this sleepy planet in the middle of nowhere. It’s not often you would see two battleships in the same task force.

Krista and Lord-General Valerian, commander of the 43rd Valhallan battle group, went back a long way. The 43rd was responsible for driving Hive Fleet Taimut off of Cassadore and it was under her command that the task force had destroyed what was left of their fleet. Krista had to admit that she and Valerian made a good team.

When she first heard that her task force would once again be assigned to the 43rd, she couldn’t help but feel grateful for it, especially since it was in the middle of nowhere and no major fleet presence had been reported. Krista figured that it would be an easy drop-off mission and return when the Guard was finished.

However, that’s not how it turned out to be. On the day they arrived in orbit, a crucial message came through ordering the fleet to remain in geosynchronous orbit over the planet. It had been so sudden, that, at first, she thought it was simply a clerical error and it had been a mistake. That assumption went out the window when she found out it was directly addressed to her.

Orders were orders.

It was unnerving. Krista always hated being blind in a fight. Something was coming and it was big.
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Jena sat by her squad’s thermo-ion heater, her long-las disassembled and in pieces before her. Squads Four and Six had done a good job of making a hole through the Chaos preliminary defense. Their sharpshooters and snipers provided cover for Nine and Thirteen as they made their initial attack.

The barrel of her long-las was stained a dark black and she scrubbed at it with her rag. The action had been heavy, the most kills she had ever gotten in a single battle. She and Valeri, the second sharpshooter of Four, had claimed at least seventy-eight kills by themselves and that’s not counting the three snipers in Six.

With her barrel spotless, Jena moved to her gun’s interior chamber.

Vince joined her and handed her a cup of caffeine, his flamer slung around his back and his belt of promethium tanks clanking as he sat down. Dark grime covered his face, obviously blackened by the flamer’s carbon residue.

For awhile they sat in silence, him sipping his caffeine and her cleaning her long-las. It wasn’t long until Jena was finished and the silence was filled with the metallic clinks characteristic of reassembling a well-taken care of lasgun.

She had seen that girl, Hannah, for the first time today the insignia of a private glaringly obvious. That single bar represented her inexperience, her lack of combat prowess. What did he see in her that she lacked? There was nothing special about her that Jena could see. She slid her rifle stock into place with irritated shove.

“You alright, Jena?” Vince asked, eyebrow raised.

She faked a smile, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit nervous is all.”

“Nervous?” He chuckled. “You’re not one to be nervous. What did you make? Sixty-three kills today? That’s impressive. I’m so used to my flamer, I can barely fire a lasgun. I guess that’s the price I have to pay for using this thing.” Vince affectionately tapped the weapon strapped securely to his back.

Jena reached for her mug of caffeine and took a long, relaxing sip. The warmth that engulfed her body was a welcome feeling compared to the freezing cold of Valetron and its frigid climate. She looked up at the looming shapes in the distance.

In her silence, a plan started to formulate in her head.

Very soon, the 43rd battle group would be within striking distance of the city and the attack on Dothen would begin.
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Lord-General Valerian Krukof stood over the map of Dothen, his staff of generals gathered around the tiny table with him. Preliminary reports had been very vague, with the 78th Valhallan Recon deeming it too dangerous to make a pass over the city for the reasons that their auspices were acting strangely when they approached 15 kilometers from the city. One thing was determined, however, a large wall of ice nearly a dozen kilometers high surrounded the city with an indeterminable thickness.

Father Greg had advised Valerian that the forces of Chaos were beyond his comprehension. The Lord-General must destroy the Iron Warriors here lest the bent forces of the warp take over the planet and spread uncontrollably to the other cities.

So far Dothen has been an isolated event. Most of the Valetron’s citizenry had no idea that Chaos was here, only that PDF forces had increased their presence in the streets and an Imperial battle group had arrived on planet. It was impossible to cover-up the forces’ arrival. The 43rd was simply just too large at full strength.

Valerian had no doubts of their victory. He commanded eight regiments of specialized mobile troops, three compliments of elite reconnaissance soldiers and storm troopers, twenty complete veteran armored regiments, ten fully functioning regiments artillery, and three rare super-heavy tank regiments.

Over nearly a million fighting men and women equipped with over several thousand armored vehicles were prepared to follow his every order. Valerian had one of the greatest examples of the Emperor’s many cleansing hammers at his command.

Segmentum Command had even authorized the use of an unprecedented amount of Manticore rocket and Deathstrike missile power. If he so desired, Valerian could make an order to destroy the entire city in one barrage. Orders had been, however, to retake the city at any cost.

In a private transmission it was also confirmed that the Imperial Navy taskforce orbiting high above would remain in orbit over Dothen willing to provide orbital support when deemed necessary by either himself or one of his several staff-generals

With the unconditional support of Admiral McCarron in space, Valerian was more than confident of his victory.