Editing Trip Into Hell (Warhammer High) (section)

===Welcome to the Team===

The outer walls of Port Huron were abuzz with activity. Normally, apart from a few PDF patrols and sightseeing tourists, the walls were deserted. But now the walls were abuzz with the sound of soldiers making ready. This particular section was being held by the PDF and their troopers stood upon the walls, some resting and awaiting the coming storm, others scanning the silent sky with spyglasses and Magnoculars, or tending to wall mounted Autocannons and Heavy Bolters as well as their own personal weapons. Heavy weapons were being manhandled into position, and several troopers were excavating Mortar Pits with Jackhammers, digging into the Rockcrete surface. In the midst of all this, Julius looked around for the CDA team he had been assigned to. He was sure he was at the right place, just east of outer wall gate 1-5.

“Are you Parsson?” an attractive young woman with long blonde hair, a pixie-ish face and a short, turned-up nose wearing a CDA armband and a black bodyglove gestured at him, beckoning him over. She was standing beside a C-80 Cargo Hovertruck, several others offloading crates of ammunition behind her. He noted she was slightly shorter then he was, about 5' 3¼" high, though she looked older. He threw her a snappy salute.

She chuckled. “We’re not professional army, no need to do that. Certainly not for me, though our section leader will definitely want one. I’m Summer. You must be the offworlder, welcome to 4th section, Munitions Escort Brigade. We ferry the ammunition from the bunkers to the walls, freeing up the PDF to fully man the walls. Guys, this is Oll Parsson, the offworlder recruit we were informed about.”

He swiftly learnt the names of his fellow CDA Troopers. The broad one with the thick Tanith accent and the blue tattoo over his eye was Flynn; the son of a Nalwood trader who’d set up shop on Seadelant. The dark skinned one was Scvott, the troop leader. The first thing he did was throw a salute at Julius who took a few seconds to realise he had to return it. Scvott didn’t seem impressed by the delay, but was very welcoming to Julius. Finally the tall, bulky and rugged one was Dyllion, a dock worker who nearly crushed Julius’s hand in a vice like handshake, pointedly ignoring military protocol and Scvott’s disapproving looks. They were all curious about the stranger who had joined them.

“Oll? Is that short for Ollanius, like the great war hero?” Flynn asked.

Julius admitted it was, leading to the others all talking about his heroics, or rather Scvott talking about them and Dyllion shaking his head. Julius concealed his blush as best he could, even now he still couldn’t shake off his father’s influence. He convinced them to ‘call me Oll’, which set his mind at ease.

“Come on you lazy sods, back to work.” A voice came down from the walls, and the group returned to shifting crates from the C-80, Julius immediately joining in. As they worked, they conversed, most of them directing questions at Julius.

“So, Oll, you come from the Thousand Worlds of Ultramar. Have you seen real Ultramarines?” Scvott asked.

‘I have seen far more than Ultramarines’, he thought to himself. ‘Roberta Guilliman the heir to Ultramar herself was my nursery mate and I schooled with her sister-cousins, they are practically family to me’. But instead he made up seeing them a few times, but always at a distance. He had come out to get away from that life, and he would keep it under wraps. They were all awed by his tale, Flynn commenting he’d have made a good Space Marine, to which Scvott replied with an assumption about Flynn which made them all laugh, and Flynn responded with a string of colourful insults. These people were growing on Julius.

Suddenly the sky was lit up by a new sun, a bright glow cutting through the azure dome of the heavens. The glow continued for a few seconds, before it began to fade and the sky returned to its natural colour.

“Some poor, brave bastards up there just bought it.” Flynn sniffed. Later Julius would learn of the brave crew of the station who let the Orks board them, drew over a million of them into the station before overloading the station’s reactors, taking the Orks with them and earning every crewmember a posthumous Iron Star.

“That only means one thing.” Julius said as the glow died away. “The Orks have reached our orbit, and most likely will start landing within a day or two, they’ll only hang around long enough to locate where our troops are positioned, so they can get to the fight straight away.”

“Do they teach you these things in the Thousand Worlds?” Scvott sounded slightly jealous.

“We have the Ork Empire of Charadon on our doorstep; there are always border clashes and the threat of a Waaagh! We take precautions.”

The last crate of munitions was offloaded and stacked beside the Ammo lifts on the wall. Scvott called up. “Truck’s empty sir, what next?”

“We need another three cases of LG-04, two of HEFG 09, four cases of AAAFSDS, and one DVD-V LD12-0223. Then we should be done, at least until the Greenskins land and the bullets start flying.”

“What the fuck?” asked Dyllion.

“Lasgun powerpacks, Frag Grenades, Anti-air Autocannon sabot rounds for the Hydra emplacements and a holodisk on standard defensive Anti-Ork tactics so the men can brush up and know what to do. I know the Munitorium use the most stupid numerational systems designed by man, but we have to live with it and you’d better get used to these terminologies, they’ll be ruling your lives for Emperor-knows how long. Now hustle up, the greenskins won’t wait around for you.”

As fourth section clambered aboard the hovertruck, Julius thought about Venus, Remalia, Freya and their beaus, and what they must be getting up to. They only had another two days on Nocturne before they would be heading off for Fenris. Would he have a story of two to tell them if he survived this.

“They’d better be having a better time than I am.” He murmured to himself.

“Who are you talking about?” Julius realised his murmur came out a little bit too loud.

“Just some friends of mine, they’re on their own trip, but unlike me they weren’t lucky enough to have an Ork Hulk show up on their doorstep.”

“Luck is a curious thing.” Summer commented. “Just when you think you’re out of it, it comes back to you. With luck, this will all be over soon, and we can all get on with our lives. Now come on, let’s get that last shipment up here.”