Editing Trip Into Hell (Warhammer High) (section)

===The Walls Fall===
Julius once again found himself sitting in the back of the C-80, just shy of the walls. There would be a worn patch in the back by the time this was over, given how often he sat there. They had aided in the cleanup after the battle, an unpleasant experience Julius had no wish to repeat or even think about and which even now sent occasional shudders down his spine, and since then done little apart from lounge around and occasionally ship a load of shells to the artillery, who were busy trying to shell any enemy artillery spotters to little effect. His father once told him army life was ninety percent boredom and ten percent terror, and now he understood.

As he sat there, he saw Summer walking along with Scvott, listening to him talking about something. They nodded at him as they passed, and Julius could swear he saw Summer gesturing at him, though in greeting or something else he could not make out. As she left he realised he was holding his breath, and sheepishly he let it go.

Summer, always Summer, she had damn well got under his skin, and not entirely in a good way. Ever since that Keiter had done his deed, a renewed crackdown on Emperor Worship had begun across the Imperium, a new wave of violence directed against anyone who seemed to be too enthusiastic in their veneration of the Emperor. And now he was privy to her secret, and she to one of his. Thinking back to that moment in the Hab, he had to admit she bluffed her way out of it very well. Had he let it go a bit too easily? Cathericism was one thing, venerating the Emperor something completely different. Emperor Worship was illegal across most of the Galaxy, the only reason it wasn’t illegal at the Eye was because it stopped worship of the Darker Powers, something not even the Emperor was willing to tamper with. She was treading on dangerous ground, and could easily get herself into a lot of trouble, and him with her now that he was privy to her beliefs.

Why should he care? When this was all over he would leave this place and never see her again, and no-one would be looking too hard for an Emperor Worship with several million Orks banging on the front door. All he had to worry about was coming through this unscathed, surviving something which had already killed thousands. Any one of those could have been him; any of those could become him, death was all too easy around here, a stray shot, a stray shell, an Ork with an axe, any of those would bring him down with no effort.
Still, he couldn’t get her out of his head. She had moved in and set up shop, and no matter how hard he tried to expel her she wouldn’t leave his thoughts. Maybe she was a response to the horrors he was seeing all around him, focusing on her meant he wasn’t thinking about the possibility of his own demise. That thought comforted him, and he almost laughed at how absurd this all was. He then hushed up as he remembered the last time he’d felt like this, travelling through the Palace with Isis on the way to ask Horus about Keiter. That had set off an avalanche which even now he still couldn’t dig himself out of. So many thoughts, he felt his head would explode from them shortly if something didn’t happen. Such a bad choice of words.

Suddenly, the world blew up. There was a bright flash which while initially obscured by the walls grew brighter and brighter until it outshone all else, and as Julius rose to his feet to investigate its source, a massive explosion and shockwave picked Julius up and threw him out the truck, down the road and into the side of a building. Almost all the air was driven out of his lungs, and his sight vanished behind a black shroud. He vaguely felt things hitting him, and he wondered if this was it. Was this how it was to end, with him having no idea about what had just done him in?

Through the haze he heard someone shout his name, his fake name. Blindly he reached out his arm and felt someone grab it and haul him to his feet. He staggered, but the mystery person kept him upright as he rubbed his eyes and his vision slowly returned to him. Summer was the one holding him steady, and there was concern on her face. Beside her, Scvott rubbed his eyes and tried to peer through the cloud of dust and pulverised rockcrete. Julius’s battered mind tried to process what was happening, why Summer seemed so concerned about what had happened to him, but that processing went out of the window when the smoke cleared enough for him to see what had just happened.

There was now a gaping hole in the outer wall, the adamantine cladding reduced to so much twisted metal, and most of the buildings closest to the walls pulverised by the blast effect. The shield crackled as it tried to reconnect to the missing wall pylons, and Julius could almost make out the gaping hole above mirroring the hole in the wall.
As his mind tried to process what was just about to happen, he gave out a four letter word echoed across the length of the perimeter wall.

Fuck. 

The Orks now had a literal open doorway into the city, a route straight into the heart of Port Huron. All the blood shed to defend the walls had just been rendered moot in a few fell seconds, all the effort to hold the city from the green tide, pointless.

“What the hell just happened?” Scvott sounded as shocked as Julius felt, his veneer of command slipping.

“The Orks broke through. As simple as that.” Julius could barely make out his own words.

“We should fall back, find someone with a vox and find out what our orders are.” Summer seemed the only one to have kept a clear head.
As they watched, PDF troopers started to fall back past them, some in a near panic, others more coolly. That seemed to argue in Summer’s favour.

“Looks like we’re in the shite now.” That was Flynn, his usual attitude gone. Beside him was Dyllion, who seemed even more grim than usual as he stared at the gaping hole, a few choice curses slipping from his lips. For a few minutes all they could do was stare at that hole and watch as more and more panicked PDF troopers streamed past them.

“They’re not going to abandon the outer city; they’ll fortify the approaches and turn that hole into a killing ground, like with the Siege Towers. They’ll need us to keep them supplied with ammo. We should stay here and do what we can for them.” Scvott seemed to have finally found his voice, but his proposal stung Julius, who had to respond.

“Stay? Here? Look at that breach, it’s wide enough to drive a ‘Steel Fury’ Baneblade squadron through. No way will they be able to hold it indefinitely; the Orks will flood it with troops, tanks and worse. I want to fight, I don’t want to throw my life away needlessly, and if we stay here that’s exactly what we will be doing.”
Scvott turned to face Julius, hands on his hips. “Am I, or am I not in command of this section?”

“You are ser.”

“And does that not mean that I give the orders?”

“Yes, but…”

“No buts. We’re staying right here until we receive orders telling us otherwise.”
Julius was stunned by that decision. Was Scvott trying to get them killed? He’d read plenty of books, been instructed by Horus and Guilliman themselves on the ways of war, and here he was, his advice being ignored out of hand by someone just because he was an offworlder. Hell, Flynn was also an offworder, born on Tanith, but they listened to him often enough. Couldn’t he see that no matter what, eventually the outer city would fall to the Orks and they would be better off getting behind the inner walls now rather than trying in the chaos of a fighting withdrawal?

“The offworlder does have a good point, and he is from Ultramar, they do have the best military academies there…” Summer again. What had changed her attitude towards him?
“Look, as team leader my authority must be respected, that is the only way we’ll be able to operate. I’m sorry, but my order stands.”



Ahriman thought it would be bad by the time he got down there, but he was wrong. It was worse. The blast had sent him reeling as he ran down the main road, but he had been expecting it and so it didn’t slow him down. He wouldn’t head straight to the breach, he needed back up if he was to hold it long enough for the troops to evacuate the outer city, and he knew exactly who to ask.

Commissar Lord Günter was issuing orders to the Tanith troops when Ahriman reached him, Plasma Pistol in hand. He seemed remarkably calm given what had just crashed into the wall.
“Lord Ahriman, what the fug just happened? A fireball just came over the horizon and slammed into wall sector B-2. No-one can contact the PDF Commander in that sector, and now it seems there are orders for a general retreat to the inner walls. Can you please give me some concrete answers?”

“The Orks have used a Rok to break down the outer wall. Very soon the Ork horde will pour into the outer city, and there is nothing we can do to stop them. However if the whole city isn’t to fall, we need to hold them off long enough for the troops to fall back to the inner wall.”

“And let me guess, you want the Larisels to take part in this glorious last stand, am I correct?”

“Only those who volunteer for it, and it will not be a last stand, more of a fighting withdrawal. We simply have to hold the breach long enough to allow the troops to get behind the outer walls, the artillery especially. Those Bombards must be allowed the time to pack up and get behind the walls, else our heaviest guns are lost.”

“My Lord, I’ll ask around, but I know the Tanith, and this sort of insanity appeals to them.”
Before too long, Günter had nearly two companies worth of Tanith troops ready to hold the breach. Ahriman led them towards the breach, trying to rope in as many men as possible to join them along the way. He was more successful than he thought he would be, several platoons of Belladon troops, a heavy weapons company from the Perdix Hunters and even a Charxergrenadiere platoon from the Caorst Charxers with two Malcador Tanks in support all joined him. The others under his instruction headed for the inner walls and safety. 
They reached the breach to find it abandoned the PDF troopers all gone. Ahriman knew it wasn’t their fault, they weren’t used to war the way the Army troopers were and something so shocking shattered their morale. The Commissars would have a field day. However Ahriman did note several CDA troopers near a C-80 Hovertruck on the other side of the breach. He couldn’t see them clearly thanks to the lingering smoke, and the aetheric interference from the impact was clouding their auras, but the fact they were brave or stupid enough to stay put spoke volumes.

“Get those CDA auxiliaries to ferry us some ammo, we may as well make some use of them. Priority on Heavy Bolter rounds, we simply have to keep the Orks from reaching close combat. If that happens, the breach is lost.” A Belladon runner set off towards the CDA members, while the troops took up positions around the breach. Being able to see it with his own eyes for the first time, Ahriman was taken aback at how big the breach was, and why there was so little damage to the ground before it, making passage through it easy. No Ork could ever make a shot with that much accuracy, it was simply impossible. Something else had to be at work here. Ahriman cursed himself; he was letting his paranoia get the better of him again. This was Orks, only Orks, nothing more.
As if knowing what he was thinking about, the scanner operator called out, “The Orks are on the move! ETA half an hour.”

“Let’s give them a welcome they won’t soon forget.” Ahriman rose through the Enumerations, and soon was detached from the seriousness of their situation, able to clearly and logically see what had to be done. He gave his orders, and watched as the troops rushed to fulfil them.

Heavy weapons troopers from the Perdix Hunters ran to cover the breach, while troopers constructed makeshift barricades and the two Malcadors moved into position covering the breach. The Panzergrenadiers deployed their Chimeras to provide heavy weapons support to the dismounted infantry, and the Tanith Snipers set up hides all around, a few deploying on the walls themselves. Every little piece moved into place, and Ahriman almost smiled as he saw the strings of fate moving into position, his position.
Once again the smell of exhaust fumes and the low growl of the Ork horde wafted over the walls as the green tide approached. They were moving slower this time, but what need did they have to run? They had a great big hole inviting them into the city. The Orks weren’t even bothering to throw artillery shells through the breach in the shield, so confident were they. Well, he would make them pay for that confidence.

Closer and closer the horde came, as the troops laboured to make sure they would pay. Several Perdix Engineers set up mines and remote explosives concealed among the rubble, some razor wire was strung before the Tanith positions an everyone laboured to ensure their foxholes were deep and comfy enough. Now the horde was close enough to see the individual Trukks, Battlewagons and even the hazy form of a Stompa pounding its way towards the breach. The troops held film, but he could feel the tension and fear. This wasn’t like holding the walls; here they would have vehicles and War Engines coming at them as well as normal Orks.

Suddenly the ground started to tremble, catching Ahriman off guard. Were the Orks trying to tunnel in as well? As the rumbling grew closer, Ahriman breathed a sigh of relief as he saw one of the three Caorst Baneblades coming down the street towards them.

“Baneblade Furious Thunder here sir. We figured you would need our eleven barrels of hell if you hope to hold this breach.”

“Much appreciated Lieutenant, we’d be delighted to have the best Caorst has to offer fighting beside us.”

The Baneblade nestled itself in between the Malcadors, forming the centre of the defensive position, a perfect counter to the incoming Orks. Ahriman began to breathe a little easier, maybe they would be able to hold long enough for the lower city to be evacuated and the lower Defence Laser to be disarmed so the Orks couldn’t use it.
Now the Orks were almost at the breach, so close you could pick out the Nobs leading them, and their rhythmic chanting filled the air, guttural words in an almost incomprehensible tongue. The aetheric fire they emitted wafted in through the breach, and Ahriman could feel it the way someone could feel the heat from sitting too close to an open fire.
The troops locked and loaded, but he could still feel the fear coming off them as they saw clearly the horror facing them.

Ahriman recalled a quote from a leader of Old Earth and lifted his voice so every army soldier could hear him.
“The patriot volunteer, fighting for his country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on Earth,” he cried, lifting his Bolt Pistol and aiming it square at the leading Ork as it entered the breach, and with a single shot putting it down. The storm broke once again.