Chapter 36 City Defense Force (4,000 words)
The lower level of Karu City, the Blue Bay Tavern, the dark light, the smell of alcohol, and the noisy crowd all reminded Alan Bair of the days in the hive. After he was released, he still remembers the expression of the female staff officer who wanted to shoot him.
Although it may be that he has too much self-awareness...
John returned to the platoon, and his troops were added to the organization by his own company. After all, people and staff were needed there, or his company was the main group protecting Karu City, the south gate, where the one-eyed orc was located.
Alan Bair still doesn't know what happened to Lieutenant Colonel Catachan. Maybe the Catachans have been wiped out?
He watched the staff expertly take out several portions of synthetic foods, granola bars, energy porridge, and other disgusting things.
"As usual, two copies."
The bartender then brought out several steaming stews of vegetables, fruits, and meat with strange textures, as well as fried rice that looked golden, or maybe it wasn't real rice.
There are also two bottles of locally produced juice, which looks light blue, like blueberry juice or something.
In such a hive world, the boundaries between bars and restaurants are very blurred. After all, people who only drink can't be on the lower level. Everyone comes here to fill their stomachs.
The staff officer picked up a fork and stirred it into the stew. Soon, the white sauce, which was originally fluid, rolled up like a solid due to the force, and finally turned into strands of "noodles". Alan Bayer was stunned when he saw it. This didn't look like food at all. .
He followed the posture of a staff officer and rolled up a roll of "noodles" and put it into his mouth. The sweet, rich, slightly salty, real aroma and food made Alan Bayer feel satisfied after escaping from death. He also brought a spoonful of fried rice to accompany him. , but it's not rice. It's squeaky and soft when you bite it, and it becomes glutinous again. The outer skin and the inside are two different things.
said the staff officer. "These are insect eggs, the eggs of something like a big dragonfly. It is poisonous, but its eggs are not. I heard that it is because the food of that "dragonfly" is poisonous"
he added. "When stationed in a city, you have to be smart and look around."
Alan Bair wiped the eggs from his cheeks, and soon discovered that there were many Astra Militarum among the nearby customers, and there were also many officers with higher military ranks than him.
When officers pass by the staff officer, they will raise their hands to greet him. Obviously in the Third Infantry Regiment, the staff officer has good connections and popularity. This is rare, extremely rare. For ordinary soldiers, the staff officer is Stuff going on behind their heads.
The staff officer stirred the things and tasted them slowly. "The industrial level here is not bad, but everything produced will be handed over to the army, pdf, or the Astra Militarum."
"Otherwise, there is an 11% tax, so industrially synthesized food is scarce and expensive. Just a granola bar can be exchanged for a serving of low-quality wine."
"By the way, your troops will be stationed in the city next. Remember to have a good relationship with PDF, and I will supervise you."
"Did you hear that?!" The staff officer suddenly noticed that Alan Bayer was eating happily and taking a sip of juice from time to time. He was completely devoid of his own elegance.
Alan Bayer just nodded and kept talking. Although no one was grabbing him, eating synthetic food for half a month was indeed a bit unbearable.
After they had finished drinking and eating, they left the tavern and strolled on the streets. The narrow and breathless look of the hive made Alan Bair feel like he was at home, and there were many people wearing Astra Militarum uniforms, which also showed that The war situation is not optimistic. At least in this world, green skins are still the majority.
The staff officer rubbed his shoulders. "Do you know how many soldiers are still serving today?"
Alan Beyer thought for a moment. "Forty thousand people?"
The staff officer shook his head.
Alan Bayer frowned. "Thirty thousand?"
The staff officer replied. "Twenty-seven thousand, plus the veterans from before."
Cold sweat broke out on Alan Bayer's forehead. "Why are there so few? Aren't we a large infantry regiment with more than 100,000 people this time?"
The staff officer said coolly. "Traveling through subspace, 30,000 people disappeared under the subspace. In the first battle, 20,000 new recruits died. The follow-up continued one after another, merging, merging. My company has changed its organization into three batches."
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"And you are already a solid veteran, and you have survived two battles as a platoon leader. To be honest, it is a tragedy for the empire that soldiers like you leave this world because of those pigs in the command."
Alan Bayer took a deep breath...and suddenly realized something was wrong. Why was the battle plan handed over by the staff? He asked, "By the way, where is our company commander?"
The staff officer looked at the thick hive walls on the horizon and thought about his words. "I have met the God Emperor."
"Currently, I am responsible for all the duties of our company, because there are no school-level officers to take command."
"The situation has never been better. In fact, your outpost has been the longest-lasting. Most of the Astra Militarum's informants have been pulled out by the greenskins some time ago."
Alan Beyer couldn't believe it. "Why don't we have any news?"
The staff officer cursed. "The magnetic field in this world is so bad. We are all fighting in the dark. Many outposts have been destroyed for a long time. We didn't know about it until the greenskin troops were strafed by PDF's city defense artillery."
"On the other hand, in terms of green-skin infections, a large number of forests are their refuge. Each generation of planetary governors emphasizes that they have eliminated all the orcs, but decades later, a large number of beast-like orcs or from outer space continue to come."< br>
"The only thing the Imperial Navy can do is ensure that the vicinity of Mandeville Point will not be occupied by orcs. All we can do is ensure that the star port in Karu City still exists. Otherwise, evacuation will only be a matter of time."
"We can't contact other hives in this world at all. No one can tell whether they were overwhelmed by the orcs or whether they are struggling. Orc tribes of all sizes gathered near Karu City, and they fought among themselves, but we gained a lot. Time.”
"The problem of lack of heavy firepower is serious, but the artillery units cannot see the enemy clearly because of the forest, and the armored units will get stuck in the mud. The arrival of Catachan has stabilized the front a lot, but they are flesh and blood after all."
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The staff officer looked at Alan Beyer. "Your life may be spent here, and the struggle between the orcs and Karu City will continue for an unknown number of Terran years."
Alan Bair swallowed. "Then...what if there is a boss who can rule all the orc tribes?"
The staff officer looked at Alan Bayer sternly. "You'd better pray to the God-Emperor that this won't happen. If there are green skins that can rule all the tribes, the remaining cities on the entire planet will be submerged, and a large number of enemies will attack the cities like a tide. You I will become a poor lone boat in the sea of green-skinned aliens.”
Alan Bair hesitated in his heart. He felt that he had seen an orc with that kind of potential. He only hoped that he was overthinking it.
They moved forward along the road and soon came to the thick wall given by the God-Emperor. The complex orbital interceptor cannon was fixed on the top of the hive city, and several logging guns and heavy bolters of the Astra Militarum were mixed on it. , the two beam turrets are sparkling in the sun.
But they are not on the wall, because the walls of the hive city do not have a so-called roof, but are inside platforms that are like "holes". The platforms have roofs and curvatures. The shooting openings are narrow, like caves, and then the soldiers eat, drink, and eat. Sage is on top.
Most of the people stationed here are PDFs, that is, the Planet Guards. Anyway, Alan Bayer understands this.
However, their training and supplies do not rely on the empire but on local nobles, which also makes them have many opinions about the Astra Militarum from other worlds.
Their equipment is not very good either. There is basically no industrial equipment on this planet. Their heavy weapons are only logging guns that cannot penetrate heavy armor and beam turrets on urban defense projects. The best heavy weapons in PDF are only quite crudely made heavy weapons. Explosive bombs.
This is still the best thing that the nobles got from the wandering merchants, but Alan Bayer will not ignore the combat effectiveness of the PDF. Even if they have simple equipment and low morale, they are still the most important defense of the empire. If they do not exist, , this planet may have long been a playground for the greenskins.
The Astra Militarum troops are mixed in the PDF, and they are almost commanded like field commanders. If the soldiers half a month ago were not good, the current ones are absolutely fine.
And based on this calculation, Alan Bayer's army will have to add a lot of lower-level personnel.
When they climbed up the wall, the mechanical elevator buzzed, and when they passed by, people were saluting and saluting them. Even though Alan Bayer knew that this was all for the staff, he was still willing to accept such respect.
Walking along the raised platform on the inner wall, small doors formed a room-like place, but this was not a hotel, but a cave entrance.
There are many protruding defense platforms on the city wall of Gaosong. The entrance to the platform is the "hole" that can only be seen by one or two people and the small door of Alan Bair.
After passing through, there is a huge metal platform and a curved ceiling. The narrow shooting opening includes bunkers that hinder enemy shooting, and several dark beam turrets. Alan Bayer only hopes that the machine spirit of the turret is accurate enough. Its barrel is sufficient for shooting.
This cave-like place is where they will be stationed next.
But it’s funny, it’s obviously the most cutting-edge technology of mankind, but it makes people become like cavemen again, and the men and women in the fourth row of Alan Bayer all live together.
In addition to beds, bedding, a few tables and dangling light bulbs, there are only basic drinking water facilities and sewer pipes for excretion to meet the physiological needs of a full 70 people in the Astra Militarum group.
But to join the military career, you have to put your personal needs aside. They have hung the portrait of the God Emperor on the wall, and the soldiers are already patrolling and inspecting normally.
Defending the city is an unexpectedly comfortable thing, at least it is safer than the outpost. There must be hundreds of "caves" like this for them to be stationed, one hole per hundred meters, and the staff should also live in them.
When his soldiers saw the staff officer and Alan Bair coming back, they immediately saluted.
The brown-haired girl sergeant reported. "Sir, the stationing has been completed."
Kailan also showed his thumbs up and adjusted the heavy bomb with his care. The Mechanicus girl lived near the base of the wall because she was a support staff and would only come up during regular inspections, which made Alan Bair feel a little pity.
The staff officer saw that the soldiers were in good spirits and patted Alan Bayer on the shoulder. "It's up to you to defend here."
Alan Bayer looked out from the shooting port, which was only a few tens of meters away. Narrow refers to the narrowness for this huge platform, but for a person, it is huge.
Outside, the green forest and darkness remained as they always were. The hot and humid wind slapped Alan Bair's face, and he found that the gate was directly under his station.
"It's really surprising, and it's an important place."
He murmured to himself that although such a place was dangerous, promotions came quickly. One attack was enough for the surviving veterans to be promoted like rockets.
There is no doubt that Alan Bayer's platoon should be the best-equipped group among this batch of infantry regiments. After all, almost all the equipment in the outpost has been brought out, so it is natural for it to receive such an important task.
The staff officer walked next to him, his leather shoes making a clicking sound, and then he spoke earnestly.
"Yes, you are already our elite."
"If you need manpower, you can go to pdf. The Planetary Governor agrees with the Astra Militarum ordering them to pay for their labor."
"Then remember, the God-Emperor will always protect you."
Alan Bayer has seen too many situations along the way, and he has to say something. "Staff, thank you, you helped me a lot."
The staff officer rubbed the tip of his nose. "In the words of my idol, anyone who shoots explosives at his own soldiers will never live long."
Alan Bair felt familiar inexplicably. "Your idol is Kane? Advisor Kane of Valhalla!"
The staff officer nodded immediately. "I also have a limited edition of the Book of Kane, which took me a lot of work!"
"He is the honor of the empire, a true hero, and a role model for staff. There is a huge difference between him and a guy like me who is idle, greedy for life and afraid of death. I really hope to see him somewhere in my lifetime."
"Kai~Kai~Fauns~Kane! The ~Hero~ of the Empire~"
"Kai ~ Kai Kai ~"
Alan Bayer was a little speechless and quickly stopped his boss. "That's enough, I know he is great, two meters tall, his chain sword can cut through power armor, traitors will be ashamed to death when they see him, and demons will hide their faces and leave when they meet him, but I think people actually have flaws. ”
"I don't think it's good to worship someone so much..."
John comes. "Boss, who can't sleep without looking at the portrait of the God Emperor?"
Alan Bair pushed away his talkative soldier. "Except him."
The staff officer just shook his head. "No, no one can lead so many orcs to their vital parts and then behead them while pretending they are cornered! Except Kane!"
"Kay~kai~kai~" the staff officer continued to hum. This is how he does it when discussing things he likes.
Alan Bayer speechlessly picked up the binoculars he always kept on his tactical belt and looked around. After all, it was still working time, and it was not good to catch fish. Maybe they didn't even know that the orc's rumble thing was going to explode that day.
Alan Bair looked around, and suddenly noticed the shallow shaking of the bushes in the distance. He became vigilant, raised his gun, and found that several body wounds were quickly drilled out of the bushes, and the dying Catachan soldiers .
There are also those familiar power gloves, he is Lieutenant Colonel Avatar!
"Medic! Staff! Let's go down! The Catachans are back!" Kane ~ Fiennes ~ Hero of the Empire ~
(End of chapter)