novelraw Chapter 5: Deployment
Chapter 5: Deployment
"For the Emperor!"
The assembly concluded amidst unison oaths. In accordance with their assigned missions, the various companies arrived at the lower decks, preparing to enter the Drop Pods.
The moment the Storm breached the enemy's repulsor shield, they would detach from the hull, fly toward that terrifying Xenos fortress, and face a bloody battle with ten parts death and zero parts survival.
"We're going to beat them flat, right?"
Over the vox channel, Axel's voice was as loud as ever, though his pre-battle nervousness caused his voice to tremble slightly.
"That's right, we are going to finish them off."
Soshyan used a flat, gentle tone to soothe his squad members' emotions. He was now a squad leader and needed to lead nine squad members into battle.
Perhaps this was overly difficult and overly glorious for a Recruit, but no one in the Astral Knights Chapter had ever raised any objections to this, because he was the most excellent individual among this entire batch of Recruits—perhaps even the most excellent Recruit the entire Chapter had seen in centuries.
Calm, tenacious, possessing leadership charisma, and also large in stature.
The former were personal traits he had displayed in multiple operations; the latter was slightly bizarre, because Space Marines were not filthy Greenskins who could become leaders just by being large in size.However, Soshyan's physique was indeed different from ordinary people. His figure was a head taller than typical Space Marines, to the point that his Power Armor had to undergo some slight modifications before he could wear it.
Certain people used "big guy" to refer to him, and a small minority liked to use an even more teasing appellation to call him—
[Little Primarch]
But this was an appellation that was difficult to accept, and it had been strictly forbidden by the Chapter Master.
In truth, Soshyan also greatly disliked others calling him this, because this was a term that was simultaneously a blessing and a curse.
The eighteen Gene-Primarchs created by the Emperor had forged eighteen great legions, and also forged the glorious galactic Imperium of Man.
But it was also Gene-Primarchs who led their respective legions to set off an unprecedented Great Rebellion that nearly destroyed the entire Imperium of Man, and the Primarchs involved in the rebellion accounted for a full half.
Even to this day, the toxic legacy of that rebellion still spread through the blood vessels of the Imperium, even though ten thousand years had already passed...
Alarms and sirens resounded throughout the entire deployment bay, sounding chaotic and ear-piercing due to overuse. Crewmen sprinted through walkways dyed red by emergency lighting. Their tattered boots and rag-wrapped feet splashed through bloody water flowing from the ceiling, walls, or unknown sources. The time spent acting as Servants under the Space Marines had worn away their fear, and they shoved past one another as they ran toward their battle stations.
Scrawny Servitors with excised frontal lobes dragged their bodies into the engine rooms and Drop Pods. Chapter Servants dashed toward the weapon batteries with heavy steps, their augmented arms covered in white powder ready at any moment to drag massive, heavy artillery shells.
The Storm's engine arrays had already been pushed past their limits. The surrounding bulkheads vibrated in tandem, and amidst the groaning of metal, the ship's hull faced the approaching Xenos fortress.
"Prepare for boarding."
Seeing a squad of Space Marines walking over, the Mortal crew hurriedly made way for the giants clad in Power Armor. The giants gripped Bolters or Chainswords tightly in their hands. A surge of absolute resolve shot from the profound black eyepieces of their helmets. Their activated combat armor hummed, stirring up ripples in the bloody water accumulated on the deck.
The enemy's bombardment had already caused casualties, but there was no time to attend to the wounded. Everyone was bustling at their respective posts.
The company Soshyan belonged to would launch from this deployment bay. They needed to concentrate their attack on the core region of the World Engine. In principle, they had to be concentrated right when the tactical maneuver began.
But that was a completely unfamiliar battlefield, and the deployment process was also filled with countless unknowns. No one dared to say for sure where they would land, so everyone had established a highest-priority objective: kill every Xenos they saw.
"Soshyan, your squad will use Drop Pod Number One. Wait for my command before launching."
The Company Commander's voice suddenly cut into the vox channel. Before Soshyan had time to ask, the other party cut off communications, and then the various combat squads began entering their respective Drop Pods.
He felt very strange, because Drop Pod Number One was not an ordinary Drop Pod. It was a very ancient Anvillus-pattern Drop Pod that had joined the Chapter along with the Storm.
This type of Drop Pod had been used frequently during the Great Crusade Era. It was capable of dropping ten warriors or a Dreadnought all at once, possessed extremely sturdy armor, and was able to automatically ascend and be recovered after landing. By now, it was exceedingly rare, and within the Chapter, typically only the elite veteran companies would use it.
But Soshyan quickly buried this confusion in his heart. Now was not the time to consider such things.
Viewed from the outside, the massive Storm glided through the vibrant, colorful void. Not far away, the twisted fragments of a Frigate scattered like raindrops, causing her Void Shield to flicker unsteadily.
The ancient Battle Barge adroitly maneuvered, rolling to evade a volley of Gauss Cannon fire incoming from the distance. Beams of light the size of Hive City buildings howled past without inflicting a hair's breadth of damage.
The World Engine's appearance was very difficult to describe using human language. Rather than calling it a spaceship, it was better to call it a mobile graveyard. Its main body was formed by a massive number of towering Obelisks, attached to many geometric palaces and their spurned Xenos idols. It was fully as gargantuan as an asteroid.
The Storm threaded its way forward at high speed, diving toward the underside of the World Engine. The firepower of Lance Weapons and kinetic weapons filled the vacuum between them.
As the distance closed, the Battle Barge's Void Shield began withstanding the enemy's firepower. Kaleidoscopic light illuminated the distorted space all around. Layers of energy fields began overloading. Damaged weapons and armored wreckage orbited the ship's hull, and hundreds of crewmen spilled out from breaches in the deck into the void, turning into stiff corpses in an instant.
The Storm still advanced. Relying on its agile engines, it successfully slipped beneath the right side of the World Engine. She executed a perfect rolling maneuver, unleashing clusters of shining Lance Weapons toward the World Engine's drive arrays.
But the same thing happened as before; nothing could penetrate that thick repulsor field. The World Engine was still advancing, its propulsion section continuously leaking faint, light-green trails.
And the Storm was still rolling.
In the instant it swept past beneath the World Engine relying on inertia, the engines abruptly accelerated, ramming into the undefended underbelly of the Xenos fortress, tightly locking its hull to it.
In the instant the Void Shield and repulsor field violently collided, a massive halo of light shone in all directions like a small supernova explosion. The immense kinetic energy pouring forth even forcibly braked the World Engine's pacing, leaving it rocking like a small boat in a storm, yet it still remained wholly indestructible.
The Storm, on the other hand, began to disintegrate. Her front half, bearing countless scars, penetrated the previously near-invincible shield, and subsequently spurted out countless silver-gray fragments, like seeds being scattered across a field.
"Combustion chambers commencing operation."
The Drop Pod's machine spirit confirmed the command and made a response. Soshyan had waited right until the end before receiving the Company Commander's order. His was almost the last batch of Drop Pods launched from the Storm.
After the unsettling tremors disappeared, the teardrop-shaped Drop Pod began to glide quietly through the void. The roaring sound emitted by the rocket engines passed through the pod's reinforced upper structure, passed through the personnel cabin, passed through the hatch doors, passed through the descent struts, and arrived straight at Soshyan's ears.
He was not sure what the fate of the Storm would be. This Battle Barge, which carried their Chapter's entire history and was the most glorious of all, had been their most precious asset.
"Activate rear pict-captures."
His voice was incomparably calm. He could hear the soothing echoes of his own breathing within his helmet, just like his nine companions clad in Power Armor.
Once again, the machine spirit answered him. The rune screen installed at the front of the control struts let out a hissing sound, and then slowly activated.
Soshyan scrutinized everything inside. The optical eyepieces continuously reflected definite data or uncertain estimations regarding speed and distance.
The exterior pict-captures also activated one after another, allowing him to observe the dusk-like space and the enemy's situation from all directions. Looking out, over half the void was occupied by the glaring trail of the World Engine.
In the distance, the Storm was quietly disintegrating. Armor fragments peeled naturally from her body, exposing her internal structure to the freezing void. The enemy's firepower continually etched large holes into her, one after another.
They would probably never again have the chance to recover this ship. The precious equipment and personnel aboard would also be completely lost.
"Forward pict-captures."
Soshyan issued a new command. Directly ahead of the Drop Pod was precisely the World Engine—it was so massive, desolate, and flat, its color looking like some kind of mineral.
Bang!
Suddenly, a massive boom came from outside the cabin, followed by violent shaking. Obviously, they had been hit by something.
The image on the screen began to blur. Soshyan could vaguely see many fiery flashes of explosions appearing on the desolate surface of the World Engine. Clearly, the brethren who had arrived one step ahead of him had already begun taking action. Of course, various green beams of light were still dancing through mid-air as usual. If they were unlucky and got hit, then they wouldn't even survive to see themselves land.
"Brace for high-speed atmospheric entry and impact."
Soshyan issued a command to the others through his helmet. He could hear the anchoring frames and safety harnesses creaking as they tightened, and he also felt the Drop Pod vibrating and swaying as its exterior came into contact with ship debris.
By adjusting the pict-captures, he could see the process of the Drop Pod's exterior deploying like the ribs of an umbrella, but the struts were not operating smoothly. The previous, most violent impact had damaged some systems, and this also meant their landing would not be quite so steady.
"Brace for impact!"
(End of Chapter)