Chapter 269 Containment Action
The once beautiful sky in Loander has turned gray-green. The poisonous and greasy rain will harm the world for thousands of years. Mixed with the suffocating evil filth, the world is hopeless. At least any Imperial person will think so.
The light of stars crawls out from behind the planet along the endless metal mountains. This place that once operated and hosted tens of billions of people has now become lifeless and terrifyingly silent.
The thick tracks of the Chimera armored vehicles and the boots of the infantry, together with the muddy flesh and blood, stepped across the Gothic-style bridge built by the alloy. The ground, which was stronger than concrete, could have been used for tens of thousands of years according to the Mechanicus' estimation. Now it was smashed like cheese with holes by the crater that oozed thick juice.
The thin, pale-faced Imperial Guardsman used a simple fully enclosed gas mask, a device commonly known as a "pig nose" and a few pieces of blessed filter cotton and charcoal to maintain heavy and uncomfortable breathing.
The light of the star has just fallen on the ground. According to Terra time, it is only about four o'clock in the morning today. But now, the sun in Loander comes very early, accompanied by poisonous fog, biochemical weapons and psychic toxins used by heretics, ticking down in people.
Captain Jesk looked out of the window of the command vehicle. The mighty legions were moving forward like lifeless corpses wrapped in the Emperor's faith. The Space Marines did not appear beside them, but used their mobility to move forward. A higher method, such as several Thunderhawk gunships or a more effective method to get closer to the enemy.
The captain thought of this and realized that those giants would do more efficient and greater things than them now, in the past or in the future, and use this as the cornerstone of their loyalty to the empire.
Can he do it? If it were him, could he "love" the world so selflessly? The captain's thoughts were complicated, but he did not realize how great their actions were. This was due to their belief in the Emperor being deeply rooted in their bones. To them, doing something was not a thing or a job, but an obligation to be born as an Imperial. This This is a reality that is difficult to resonate with people from other worlds, and it is also the cruelest reality for them.
The sky is now awakening in a daze. Captain Czech only hopes that the enemy has not woken up yet. They are prepared, but there is not much time. Tiredness and disease have broken out in the body one after another, and he just asked the soldiers to collect them, and in the battle Get the elixir that can temporarily suppress pain.
Those medicines are blessings to suppress psychic viruses, and they are also supplements that the Imperial Guard has. However, they are far from as great and powerful as people imagine. They only use stimulants to increase metabolism and use blessings to suppress viruses. The commander sees They appear healthy simply because they are usually far away from the battlefield and have relatively complete defense equipment.
Now those viruses are accumulating over time, making the captain feel sore and painful. Therefore, their time is running out.
The effectiveness of the stimulants was getting worse and worse. He even felt that his blood was full of those white bitter medicines. The military doctor recommended that he switch to injections, but it was no longer important now. The captain looked at the long and wide road in front of him and it began to change. It's so narrow that even armored vehicles can't pass by side by side. Obviously, this viaduct can't move forward.
The captain blew out a smoke ring, then pressed the cigarette against the solid steel of the car body to extinguish it, then carefully tied half of it with a rubber band and put it in his pocket. This was something he learned when he was a scout, and shouted. "Everyone, let's get off the bridge from the fork, and then go to the fortress via the road close to the ground."
In the next hour, they marched smoothly. They naturally passed through the entire city, watching the once familiar place turn into a mess in a no-man's land. If this was a kind of psychological warfare, then this war was both successful and Failure, because after depression and pain, only anger is ignited, not fear.
The soldiers stepped on the poisonous soil, the ground was rotted and strange plants grew, the collapsed shops, or the twisted bodies that were eaten by flies, the swollen corpses filled their mouths with maggots spraying out of the wet places, but everything None of it compares to the 20-meter-tall emperor statue in the city's central square that was bombed by mortars, and now only half of it is on the ground.
His flaming divine sword, the Emperor's Sword, could no longer be found, his broad arms could no longer protect the believers, and his piercing eyes could not look at the people here, so those soldiers became inexplicably angry.
Their pace was faster and their will was stronger. Those restless emotions drove the Emperor's children to burst into anger like the enemy. The vehicle engines roared. They took out various potions and began to march forcefully, and stuffed them into their mouths like adding gasoline to the car. There are shriveled and unpalatable green-brown starch lumps, which can be eaten with not very clean drinking water.
The urban area passed quickly, and the Imperial Guard also ushered in the end of comfort. It was turned into a fighting area, and the enemy had been waiting for them for a long time. The captain looked at the war zone from a distance from his car with binoculars.
Intricate trenches and fortresses have replaced the steel forest of reinforced concrete. The enemy's infantry is separated by five meters per person, and every fifty meters by team, which means that there will be a logging gun every 100 meters!
Damn barbed wire and sandbags were stacked in front of those trenches. The Loanders were not good at attacking, so they found it difficult. The captain did not see anti-vehicle weapons, but he did not relax. To be precise, the enemy definitely did not lack those things. , and he actually knew the location very well.
Those bunkers, made of fine gold, were used to stabilize the battle situation at alternating positions in the trenches. The entire trench was formed into a small large X-shaped trench from left to right. There were 15 bunkers in total, which were dark and deadly.
He returned to the car, his deputy said. "We can shell the enemy from here."
The captain picked up the communicator and asked for communication from the Space Marines, but there was no response. A strange look flashed on his face, but he still answered without hesitation. "No, think about it. If we advance step by step, this trench, which is about 5 kilometers deep, will delay us for a long time. We only have less than three days, and the artillery must be in place at one step!" He retorted back to this safe method. The Imperial Guard What is needed now is not victory, but time. If they cannot break through here, they will not be able to threaten the inside of the fortress, let alone attract the enemy's core force.
In his eyes, those trenches became tricky and painful, but his battle plan was clear from the beginning. He needed a breakthrough. Although the three staggered trenches were terrifying in depth, they lacked heavy firepower. If the important bunkers were destroyed, things would be easier. .
"Three fortresses, I need three of those things to disappear to occupy the favorable terrain, and now I need a charge. Lemanus and Chimera armored vehicles cannot get on, they must be disarmed by the soldiers, and we have no self-propelled artillery, nor Missile vehicles, air power..." the captain muttered, and everyone knew that many brothers would be lost in this war.
"Go forward in two echelons. The first echelon contains most of the infantry and suppresses it forward. The second echelon will circle to the outside and bypass the enemy's reconnaissance. It doesn't matter if we take the long route. I need Lemanus's main gun to be intact. ”
"Sir, should we wait for the Space Marines?" one officer asked.
"Space Marines, Space Marines, if we rely on angels for everything, then we will have nothing. I admit that faith alone cannot defeat the enemy, but the Emperor will not like children who can only rely on other people..." Although the captain said this, But he also knows that the fact that the Space Marines have not contacted them means that they do not expect to cooperate in combat. Is it to hide themselves tactically or has other plans? In any case, he can only believe...
This decision was cruel, but sacrifices were inevitable. When the roar of the engine was mixed with the harsh sound of the tracks rolling over the concrete road, the attack began.
Bang! Bang! Bang! At the beginning, dozens of smoke grenades were fired from the smoke grenade into the trench. Smoke suddenly filled the air, opening a lifeline for the soldiers on the battlefield. Then sporadic shouts and a few shots fired by the defenders began to appear. Voice.
"Charge, charge, charge!" the staff shouted, and Loander's infantry charged without hesitation until they completely entered the smoke. Then, half-track armored vehicles Chimeras and grenadiers followed closely, until they completely attracted the entire Frontline firepower.
When the roundabout force smashed a howitzer belonging to Lemanus onto the fortress ten minutes later, it made a muffled sound like an explosion, violent tremors, and the sound of steel when the 35 cm thick rolled fine gold armor was torn apart. There was a brief wailing, and the soldiers inside were cooked instantly. Just the high temperature generated by the explosion was so powerful, and of course the accurate shooting of the crew was also indispensable.
Then her turret was lifted high by the huge fireball generated by the splash detonation rack of the armor-piercing fragmentation missile launched by the enemy fortress in the distance, and then fell to the ground due to gravity.
The parts of the tank were scattered everywhere as they exploded. The communicator that had been turned on could only hear the "crackling" fragments of its surface armor. Until a flat hatch cover penetrated the armor of the side turret, completely silencing the communicator. , one Lemanus died.
At the same time, the first fortress was completely destroyed by the high temperature of the Imperial howitzer. Such an exchange could hardly be said to be of the same price, but as the attacker, the Imperial Guard had no choice.
The sad thing is that the Space Marines have actually arrived long ago. They just don't want the enemy to discover their existence so early. They ambush like eagles on the nearby metal mountains, that is, on the huge raised base of the hive and other places. Thousands of servants were on standby.
They have been operating this area for a long time. Starting from the fourth company commander's raid, the Space Marines attacked the enemy here. However, the positional warfare made it difficult for those super soldiers to move forward. Therefore, the soldiers who had experienced the login battle were wary of the trenches here. .
But if they join, it will not be difficult to attack the fortress, but it will proceed as planned. The Imperial Guard will not suffer losses, but some brothers will still die.
But a young sergeant from the Master Chief faction suddenly asked the veteran with the highest rank in confusion. "Shouldn't we be helping the Imperial Guard? Brother!"
But the current commander of the Destruction Eagle does not trust mortals to be precise, he asked. "If they take the area in front of them, we can move forward without any loss. One brother is worth as much as their entire regiment of infantry, as long as they are not stupid enough to take out Lemanus and the Earthshaker." No, then any enemy bullet they lose will help our attack.”
His words chilled the sergeant, and he was not the only one here. In fact, the person who should be in the command position most in this battle was the Dreadnought. However, the mental state problems caused by Dreadnought made those living ancestors unable to make decisions. But it’s not like they have no rights anymore…
The sergeant looked at the two huge mechas next to him. Those warriors, whose bodies were full of honor, just acquiesced to such brutal behavior!
And he scolded. "What are you talking about, ancestors, what are you doing? The Master Chief didn't ask us to do this!"
"Me?" the current conductor asked. "Do you think those mortals are worthy? This is not the Ghost Peak, nor is it Skadi, and they are just lunatics who believe in the Emperor crazily. It is their lifelong hope to sacrifice themselves for the Golden Throne. I am just trying to make things satisfactory to everyone. ! ”
He did not trust those soldiers, especially their dilapidated bodies, and a few smoke bursts, and the charge down the hillside had begun. As space warriors, they could see clearly even without telescopes. The soldiers' flesh and blood were exploded on the battlefield, and even soon they were One Lemanus was penetrated by an armor-piercing missile and turned into a chaotic flame. Fortunately, the loyal crew destroyed a fortress.
But the smoke is also dissipating, and the situation is becoming increasingly unfavorable. The crossfire and high-intensity depth of the trenches form a wall of death made of war machines. Only many sacrifices under the endless meat grinder can be exchanged for a Lemanus bombardment, and in Missing the observation hole is not enough to destroy the bunker.
Even if the powerful howitzer stopped the attack inside, the inside of the bunker was blown up. The cultists were stunned and turned their weapons, and the armor-piercing missile group locked onto another tank on the side.
the Space Marine sergeant cursed. "I can't stand it anymore! If this is your life to death, then I will challenge you to a duel!"
This sentence made the atmosphere here different. Although the cultural style of the Destruction Eagle was similar to that of the Space Wolves, duels were not allowed at such an important moment of command when there was an obvious status gap.
They were Guilliman's children at heart, and they still worshiped unity, order, and tactical coordination, which the officer obviously would not accept. "I refuse."
"You disgrace your honor..." the sergeant replied.
"Honor? We can't pursue honor, death and war at this time. I have to be responsible for my brothers!" the commanding officer yelled.
"Even if I accept it, if you get the red helmet and step back ten thousand steps, the brothers will not accept the task of supporting mortals!"
The sergeant looked helplessly at his brothers, but saw the evasive eyes. They became timid, being attacked by rune warriors, psychic wizards, and being brought back to death again and again...
he asked helplessly. "Is this why I joined the battle group? Brothers? Is this why we joined the battle group to hide here?"
"So without the company commander, sergeant major, and adjutant, we are cowards?"
His words instantly ignited the honor and anger of the Space Marines, but they could not refute it. After experiencing too much, they became more and more separated from the illusory beliefs of the Chapter, but those rules and regulations had buried the seeds of honor into their bones. Now the sergeant put the wound Tear apart…
"That's enough!" The Dreadnought mecha, which was already wavering, suddenly walked out, and the veteran of the two veterans strode out and cursed. "You said so, it would be too much if we didn't attack. Also, boy, you did a good job. If it weren't for you, I would have become a coward!"
The other one answered. "Yes, you remind me of the days when I was young, living towards death...the eagle of destruction, the natural disaster coming!"
The sergeant nodded and bowed. "Born to death, fearless of our ancestors!"
And the openings of the two of them represent the change in the Legion's hearts.
They said to the commander. "Brother, we are sorry, your tactics have been rejected because they are not in line with the values of the chapter!"
The commander could only nod and compromise with this situation. Therefore, the Thunderhawk gunships of the Space Marines began to buzz and roar, just like their slogan, natural disaster is coming!
This is not a question of good or bad, just values. Will you let the Space Marines and your battle brothers who have spent tens of millions of dollars to be cast by the empire fight to the death for a few mortals? Or will you risk covering for mortals and use Lemanus and Earthshaker Cannon? Things that mortal servants can do.
The essence of this matter is very contradictory. In order to reduce sacrifices, greater sacrifices are made. But in fact, some people have forgotten that the value of life does not exist, because whether they are Space Marines or Imperial Guards, they are not for the people's army. This is also One of Warhammer's darkest ironies is also its terrifying militaristic romance.
(End of chapter)