Men of the 89th: Chapter 2

The lead Chimera halted the convoy, believing he made a wrong turn, and they came up to a small deserted town that wasn't on the map. Cassin voxed back and forth between a command chimera and the lead chimera to try and get their position. "The whole situation is fraked I tell you." Trooper Galviston speaking under Cassin's conversation. "I mean command just lets the regiment get split in half and doesn't even care that the other half is scattered to hell?" "Shut up Trooper Galviston." Sergeant Golber speaks up without moving his head. Almost in a routine manner of dealing with Trooper Galviston. The Commissar seemed just as distracted with finding the correct route to the town, he didn't hear Trooper Galviston, or rather he learned to tune him out. "No it was passed the little farm village for about a klick then turn right... We went four klicks passed our turn." "It all looks the same out here sir, and out distance gauge is broken, how are we supposed to accurately determine distance?" The conversation continued for a while, even as the convoy continued to move in what seemed to be the right direction. Cassin sunk into his seat next to the commissar. The Goben Desert was a miserable place to be, but the inside of the chimera wasn't any better. The troopers were sweating profusely and the cabin began to stink something awful to the commissar. The others didn't seem to mind. Some time would pass as the convoy made its way through the harsh terrain. Vox chatter seemed quiet for the time being, and the lead Chimera reported seeing a town up ahead. Cassin ordered the convoy to slow down as it got closer to the town. "Ok, this area should be crawling with orkz, so stay sharp and get ready to move in on foot if need be." He moved his hand from the side of his helmet and turned to the Commissar. "You know, I never caught your name." "Oh I'm Commissar Iv-" A loud explosion rang out ad the chimera tossed violently to an impact to its hull.

"Keep Moving! Get up on the guns! Give me a report whats going on out there?" A few more explosions rang out, nearly impacting a Chimera. The Chimeras started to rush forward into the little town. Lasfire shot out from all sides of the Chimeras as they engaged they ork targets. Their crude weapons firing at the chimeras and exploding on impact doing very little damage to the people inside, but harming the old vehicles. They split off into many directions mowing down the orkz that charged out of the town for them. Cassin's Chimera took another shot to the side, only this time it broke the tread immobilizing the tractor. The orkz saw the Chimera lurch to a halt and began to focus their fire on it. The small bullets ricocheting off, but making exiting not an option, unless they wanted to be cutdown as they left. "More on the right!" Trooper Harel shouted as he began melts away an orkz face. They fought them off for as long as they could even with supporting chimera's the orkz eventually got to them and started smashing the armor with their crude weapons. The rear hatch started to shake like they were trying to rip it off. "Men prepare to defend yourselves." The Commissar readied his laspistol and pointed it at the door. They all turned their attention to the rear hatch as it was getting pulled off the Chimera violently. Some of the troopers affix their bayonets. It final flew open, and the first green thing they saw, vaporized. When the others tried to rush in, they were met with the same results. Trooper Harel was counting his kills aloud. The other Chimera's were having much better success. Some of them had even halted, and the troopers fallen out to engage the Orks in the town, clearing it out building by building. Sergeant Corben leading them.

Corben lead his Platoon into the town trying to find the orkz with the rockets that were disabling the Chimera's. His first squad ran up the middle, as second and third took to the flanks. As expected his squad was getting suppressed by orkz who actually aimed their weapons at them. His squad would pop their heads up every so often to take a pot shot at their position, but what they were really doing as acting as a diversion so the other squads could flank behind the gunners positions. Corben was issuing orders, and relaying information back to his squads in a manner that almost seemed as if he wasn't in a fire fight. Despite the fact his cover was getting chipped away. Second squad rounded a corner when an explosion engulfed a couple of troopers. The next trooper slowly took to the corner, and looked around it to see an ork with a large rocket launcher in his hand. The sergeant relayed the information back to Corben. "That's why we don't rush out in close quarters... who got hit?" "Just a couple of rookies sir." Corben didn't like losing a single man, but he felt slightly reassured that one of the vets didn't get hit. Least they can teach the recruits. A window behind Corben's position burst open and an ork with a large gun appeared and pointed it at his squad. He leveled his rifle and began to lay down a suppressive volley. The ork ducked out of the way, unnaturally so for its brutish kind.

"Lay down suppressive fire on that window." His hand was holding a frag grenade. His squad did as they were ordered and the ork stayed out of the window long enough for him to nonchalantly walk up to the building and lob the grenade into the window, then walk back to his cover as it detonated. All they heard from the window before the blast was a bunch of guttural grunts. They assumed more orkz would be showing up. "Hey sarge, why aren't these orkz charging us?" a trooper called out "Maybe all the ones that like to hit things ran out of the town when we showed up?" "Amazing I love when our incompetence works in out favor." Another Chimera was immobilized, and was swarmed in the same manner as Cassin's. Once the door was ripped off, the troopers inside held off the best they could. Several orkz were cut down, but one charged in with a stikbomb in hand as it was killed, barely reaching the doorway. The subsequent blast disintegrated the closest trooper, spreading his remains all over the troop compartment. The disoriented troopers slowly fell out of the chimera, as they did one of them took a bullet to the leg. The others returned fire and tried to hold off the orkz. Cassin's Chimera fared far better, and the orkz seemed to ignore his chimera. His squad fell out of the chimera and tried to make for the town.

The harsh rocky and war torn landscape was tough enough to cross, let alone the addition to the orkz making it even harder. The distance from the Chimera to the nearest cover was only a short distance away, but it would feel like a marathon as Cassin's squad rushed to a nearby rocky outcrop. Trooper's Galviston and Harel carried with them a heavy bolter and hastily began to set it up as the rest were laying down fire. They troopers seemed to forget about the searing heat that Goben offered them. Their only concern was survival. Once the heavy bolter was set up Galviston began to fire on the orkz nearby, almost instantly drawing all the attention. They all jumped from their thrashing and yelling to let out a warcry as they began to charge the Captain and his troopers. "Frakkin hell! Fifth Platoon, we kicked the hornets nest, we need some heavy lass fire on these ugly bastards!" "Roger Captain, were moving in to support." A couple of chimeras changed their course and plowed through a few orkz to engage the newly formed hoard charging the heavy bolter position. Their engines coughed and sputtered as the drivers agitated the ancient engines, driving them as fast as they could. Inside the town Corbens Platoon was still engaged but was quickly finishing off the remaining ork forces in the town. He was voxing back to the Captain that the town was nearly secure, as his troopers dropped the few remaining orkz. "and the Anti-Armor orkz?" Cassin barked into the vox barely heard over the bolter fire. "They fled towards the main objective." "They ran?" Cassin was more impressed than surprised. "I thought it was strange too, sir." Cassin ordered what remaining units available to head into the town to lock it down before the inevitable ork counter-attack. But before he could send everyone there was still a good twenty orkz trying to kill him.

"I'm out get me another belt!" Galviston yelled at Harel "It's your turn anyway!" Trooper Harel bolted across the open desert back to the chimera, ducking and dodging gunfire as he made his fifty meter sprint. The sound of bullets pinging and bouncing off the hull distracting him momentarily as he tossed items about in the chimera looking for another ammo box. He reached behind a bench to grab the heavy box of the mini rocket shells. As he turned to leave the light of the doorway was blocked. before his eyes could adjust to the silhouette of the new person he felt a strong bunt force to his gut, knocking him to the back of the chimera. An ork had broken off from the group looking to get an easy kill. Fortunately for Harel his comrades noticed this as well, but unfortunately they weren't in a position to move to assist. The ork slowly lumbered into the troop compartment yelling and becoming frustrated at the confined space. Harel was slowly regaining his composure, his hand started reaching towards his lasrifle. The ork fought and struggled to get an arm free to take another swing at the disoriented trooper. As it fought to move comfortably it got its arm with it's crude and blunt axe free and ready to swing down on the young man. As it made its lunge Harel grabbed his lasrifle and jabbed it into the orkz mouth. Before the monster had time to react Harle let loose a barrage that splattered the orkz brain matter on the roof of the cabin. "That's twelve." "I want all available chimera's to move into the town and take up defensive positions, Fifth Platoon, you're babysitting today. First, gather all the supplies from the downed Chimeras. Thrid, keep sweeping the town and start digging in. They'll know where hear soon enough." Cassin dropped closed the vox channel and held his hand over a wound in his side. "I'll live, now get the ammo and supplies from the wrecks!" He urged his squad to move.

The Commissar urged Cassin to sit and let one of the medics see to his wound. The captain reply was to produce a bandage from his aid kit and start wrapping it around his waist. He told the Commissar that he had worse, and that other troopers needed to get helped before him. The remaining chimeras pulled into the small town and started to set up along the roads and major entry points. With third and fifth platoons setting up it would take a force at least ten times the size they had just fought to retake the small town. First Platoon was filing into the town and beginning to set up a small ammo cache. "Once we beat back this counter attack, this town will be our rally point for objective alpha. if we need to we'll fall back and resupply here. Fifth platoon, like I said, you're on babysitting detail, you'll stay back and protect the armor. Don't let me down today Delta company, we've kicked this much ass already!" The commissar was impressed with the Captain, mainly because his job of having to uplift the men's morale was half done by the Captain. All he needed to do was make sure none of them wanted to flee, but their resolve and confidence in Cassin; they felt in good hands. He'd gotten most of them through worse, he would get them through this day. Cassin walked over to Sergeant Corben as he was doing some last minute checks of his line. Before Corben could comment on Cassin's wound, the captain raised his hand. Corben wouldn't bring it up. "You think they'll come at us from the north west?" "I believe so sir. That's where most of the attacks came from in the past." Cassin turned to face the open land to the northwest and nodded. He mused at the thought of a large ork leading the xenos in the immediate area. He hoped that when they linked up with Second and Sixth platoon they would be able to draw the chieftain out of hiding.

Some of the troopers grew impatient waiting for the attack to come. They put down their weapons and a few pulled out tarot decks. Others passed lho sticks back and forth as a ritual of good fortune. As the Commissar walked through the ranks he became upset at the troopers sudden lack of discipline. He pulled one trooper aside and began to scold him for his lack of baring when he refused to salute the commissar as he passed. The morale officer began to lose his temper as the trooper mouthed something under his breath at the commissar. "INSOLENCE! Just because you beat the emperor's enemies once in a day doesn't give you the right to be lax in the presence of an officer!" His hand raised as if it was about to smack the trooper. Just before his hand fell Cassin caught the Commissar in time. "Commissar! What's the meaning of this?" He walked as quickly as he could without limping towards the angry man. "This trooper showed great disrespect towards a superior officer and continued his misconduct when I began to reprimand him." "Is this true trooper?" The man averted his gaze from Cassin slightly while nodding and speaking softly 'Yes sir'. "Trooper give me your ration. You won't eat today. You know better than to act like an ork. You're a guardsman, act like one." The trooper reluctantly reached into his rucksack and pulled out his meal, handing it over to his Captain. The Commissar was upset over being interrupted and having his punishment usurped, but Cassin lead him away from the guardsmen quickly diffusing the situation.

"What was the meaning of that, I was well within my rights to-" He was interrupted. "Sir, with all due respect, if you hit them, they hate you, if they hate you they won't listen to you." Cassin continued preventing the Commissar from getting another word in. "If you make them feel foolish for acting out, they won't lash out at you, and understand they made a mistake. They will respect you for that later on. Beating only makes them weaker. So deal with the situation with a level head." "I have my authority to punish these troopers as I see fit to maintain order. I was trained specifically for the matter, next time I suggest you do not interfere lest you wind up in one of my reports as well." His words harsh, but hiding the fact that he thought the captains advice was useful and took it to heart. He would never admit it. After the ordeal with the Commissar was over the troopers went back to relaxing, but were slightly less uninhibited than before. The reprimanded trooper quickly left before he would be teased by the others. "The warp was that about? Does the Captain normally tell Commissars what to do?" Trooper Gelahan addressed the group as she pulled a tarot card from the deck and put it in her hand. "Not normally, but he's been known to speak his mind to superiors, it gets him in trouble a bit. Kinda why the Colonel isn't too worried that he's stranded out here and not his frak buddy Major Igress." "Who?" She placed a card down and exchange it with a new one. "She's the commander of Alpha company, and always seen sucking up to Colonel Tilman." He laughed trying to keep the lho in his mouth.

Almost an hour would pass, and still no sign of the orkz counter attack. This made Cassin uneasy. Though the distant thunder of a battle raged off in the distance. The adjacent town where the cut-off platoons were at was under siege from the orkz. Cassin and Sergeant Corben were watching from the rooftops as the battle raged. It seemed the orkz had heard about their scuffle and instead attacked the town they had been for some time now. Each explosion sent a shiver down the Captains spine, each flash he imagined another trooper perishing. They had been cut off for nearly a month now, all he knew they could be down to handful and they could be getting finished off as they sat there and watched. "You think they are still in there?" Corben spoke in a monotone "I just know it, Henris is too stubborn to die, and Kaila can't get lucky enough to die." He tried to reassure himself. Cassin told Corben to assemble his platoon and be ready to move out. He voxed the other platoons to mount up. The battle plan was simple, ride up to the town, dismount and fight through the orkz to get to the stranded troopers. He'd leave a few Chimeras on standby near the outskirts to transport the wounded and make supply runs. They had no Intel on the town or the orkz strength. He joked about how it made it simple since they didn't have to worry about that. The troopers hustled towards the chimeras and gathered all they needed for the fight leaving the heavy and needed equipment behind. First and Third Platoons would move towards the town. The members of the Fifth platoon silently complained about missing out on the fight. Much to Cassin's liking he managed to dump Sweker on fifth platoon, making his task seem somehow glorious when really he just didn't want the noble getting in his way. He had a medic look at his wound as he took his seat. Many of the troopers kissed religious icons, or muttered a silent prayer as the convoy rolled out towards the fight.

The vox chatter bounced back and forth between the transports as they closed the gap between towns. Roughly sixty troopers were on their way to reinforce the town, but the return trip would be painful as they brought only enough chimeras to hold those going in. Some of the troopers morbidly joked about how there won't be as many coming back so it all worked out. "Distance to town approx one kilometer" "Roger that three maintaining dispersion" Though they'd been through many battles the troopers still had to psyche themselves out for a battle from time to time. Some joked, others prayed. Corben was steady as a rock. Others were jealous of him, but he would say that he was jealous of them, to care enough to be scared anymore. Corben could have gotten a commission and retired on some backwoods planet; even tried once. He knew he'd be stuck in the guard till he died. "Four hundred meters." "Roger 3, slowing down for dismount in 30." The hissing of the vox tuning in and out somehow calmed Cassin down. It gave him a sense of order in the chaos. He was worrying over what he'd find in the town as soon as they got there. He could hear explosions nearby and was amazed that none of the orkz decided to charge at them. 'We have to have been spotted' he thought. "Say Commissar, how about after this battle you can tell me your name." Cassin smiled jokingly at the man in the pointed hat "Captain, I really hope this doesn't become a common occurrence." "One hundred-fifty meters. Halt! Halt! Halt!" "Roger three, halting column. Dismounting."

The treads screeched as the metal beats came to a stop. The large metal ramps opened and all the troopers poured out of the backs and surrounded the Chimeras. They rushed towards the town that was up just a small hill. The fighting was all around them. The town was in complete ruin. the streets vanished under the rubble of the stucco buildings, and the concrete of the nicer ones. as dilapidated as they were, they were still getting blown apart by ork rockets and grenades. As Cassin's force got closer to the town they came up to the rear of a good throng of orkz shooting at the guardsmen inside, oblivious to the large force behind them. The orkz were quickly killed in the blitz, and the guardsmen started to fight their way towards the center of the town with was heavily fortified by this point. "This is Captain Cassin with First and Third Platoons, can anyone read me?" Static "I say again This is Captain Cassin, is anyone able to respond? Reinforcements are approaching from the south!" More static. Cassin was about to give up hope of reaching his officers, until a boisterous and familiar voice chimed in. "Holy Frakkin shit! Caleb I frakking love you! You have no idea how Happy I am to hear your dull voice!" Her voice muffled under heavy gunfire. "It's good to hear you too Kaila... We are approaching from the south, can you give me a sitrep on the ork forces?" "Yeah they are well situated in the west and... SHIT!" The line went dead. Cassin swore and ordered his men to continue to push into the town. His men went from 'house' to 'house' clearing the orks from their firing positions, they still seemed unaware that they were kin the town. Until bullets impacted the wall in front of him. He didn't need to turn around to know they had been encircled.

Before he could yell to get men out of the open the rest of the orks opened up on his position, killing a couple men around him, and wounding many others. They quickly refaced and started engaging the new enemies. Corben took to charging up the middle with his platoon trying to quickly clear the distance to where their friends were holed up. Corben would have to constantly remind his troopers to not get caught up in the moment and to proceed carefully, some of his men were hit already, and with their exit blocked he couldn't get his men to the makeshift aid station back at the other town. Harel was manning the heavy bolter this time, continuing his count from earlier as he turned the green orks to red clouds. The orkz were growing annoyed at his presence and started lobbing stikbombs at him, every time falling just a bit short to do any major damage. "Sorry about that Caleb, green and ugly thought he could sneak up on me. OK here's the skinny, we have demolition charges set up on the eastern and western approaches, but they are our last charges, so we need to funnel as many of them into those approaches as possible. If you can clear out the south and dig in, I think we might" an explosion erupted "the orkz to those approaches." Cassin's men fought hard taking a few more wounds every now and then. The orkz occasionally getting close enough to get into hand to hand. Trooper Gelahan was asking for another charge pack as an ork cleared her cover and landed its axe square in her left arm, and almost rent is completely off as it pulled back. The ork was met with several volleys of las rifle before it fell over, just another corps in the fight. A few troopers rushed to Gelahan's aid to try and stop the bleeding and to stabilize the hysterical trooper.

"Second squad first platoon, we are taking too many casualties, sir I'm down three men, two critically wounded." "Stand your ground, we cant get combat evacs until the south road is clear." Cassin took in a deep breath. "Third squad, flank around to the left of the aliens, try and open a corridor for our chimeras." "Yes sir." Third squad made their way through the rubble and managed to find a pocket where the orkz weren't shooting at. The sergeant ordered his men to take out what frag grenades out, and to get ready for a volley. As soon as the grenades were in the air, his squad popped up and laid down a thick blanket of laser and bolter fire. The explosions claimed many orkz, and those left alive and confused were cut down in the crossfire. Making use of his initiate his squad charged to secure a small crossing which the chimeras could pass through. As soon as the sergeant and a few of his men leapt from their cover, an ork gunner unleashed a furious barrage of lead onto them, sinking many bullets into the sergeants body killing him, and seriously wounding more. The vox trooper panicked and voxed in a hasty report. "Third squad is down! We lost the sergeant and half our men are on the ground!"

In reality only three men died, leaving enough for a small fire team to try and clear out the gunner. One of the Corporals quickly took command of the squad and tossed a smoke grenade in front of the building with the gunner in it. As the smoke filled she ordered a couple men to go around and breach the building while the others tried to suppress. The two troopers stormed the building and started blasting away at a couple orkz in the ruins. quickly getting into hand to hand. One trooper plunged his knife into the gut on and ork, stunning it for a fraction of a second for the other to put a new hole in its head. The other was shot by the other trooper as it charged the second. Both looked at each other and nodded. The corporal watched the building anxiously until she saw the room with the gunner light up and a trooper appeared in the window and gave a thumbs-up. Before the victorious trooper could move the window was lit up, and he took a couple hits to the flak armor, knocking him down, but only stunning him. "The frakking armor works!" He was pleasantly surprised. "This is Corporal Hershin of third squad. Corridor is secure." "Roger that Corporal!" Cassin's morale was lifted as rounds impacted all around him. "This is Captain Cassin to armored elements, the door is open, bring in the mercy wagons." He let out a relived sigh. The order went out to begin moving the wounded towards the evac point. He ordered for another squad to go and hold the corridor. Kaila obliged him with a one of her kasrkin squads.

Several wounded were piled into each Chimera as it showed up, all the available medics were at the chimera's taking turns on trips back to the rally point. Cassin was growing worried at the number of wounded going back. He called for a status report on his remaining forces, two squads didn't report back and every squad had at least one dead and two wounded. Though it seemed the plan was working and more and more orkz were abandoning the southern approach in favor of the east and west. "Just a bit longer, they'll send in their main force down the main roads and we'll blow em hell!" Kaila almost cheered over the vox "They'll know not to mess with Kaila's Kasrkins!" Back at the rally point the wounded started to flood in. All the troopers that were sitting idle became overwhelmed with tasks to do to help. Some of the more anxious ones suddenly were glad they were not in the town. The medics and apothecaries were busy yelling at the troopers to fetch equipment and medicines. They rushed many of the critical patients into a dirty operating room, but it was all they had. Some of the wounded would stabilize in time, but there were quite a few that would die soon if they were not treated, sadly they wouldn't be able to save all of them. The chimera's continued their rotation back and forth constantly sending more wounded back each time. The battle continued to rage in the distance. Corben's squad was the first to actually link up with the other forces and he joined the defense in the buildings they were in. Both Platoons had suffered only a few causalities in the time they were separated, much to his surprise, but both were kasrkin platoons as well. Just as planned the orkz started committing their whole forces two those two points and Cassin was free to move to intercept as he pleased. "Get ready to blow the charges on my mark..... wait for it." The orkz stampeded through the streets shooting wildly and screaming. Almost trampling each other and they charged. "Mark!" Then they disappeared.

The town was showered in a bloody rain of ork body parts and entrails. Many of the troopers fought back a gag reflex, others rejoiced in so many of the foul xenos being killed. Whatever their reaction, a general consensus of relief was felt amongst everyone. A few pockets of resistance remained, and were quickly routed out. Everyone began to converge at the town square. After a quick tally of the remaining forces was done, Cassin decided to exchange some pleasantries with his old friends. As everyone let their guard down for a moment they heard a loud rumbling in some of the debris. A large lone ork was charging the square. "YU FINK YU KEN KILLZ MA BOYZ?" The alien spoke hardly understandable with its guttural grunts and growls. "ILL SHOW YU DA MENIN OF A PROPA FIGHT!" Everyone was taken a-back at the orkz foolhardiness. This was a larger ork than the rest, it was the chieftain that Cassin was looking for, though he didn't know it at the time. While the xeno was making its boats in the middle of the square everyone quickly leveled their weapons at the monsters and after a quick volley of lasfire the beast was gone. "....That was the dumbest thing I have ever seen..." Sergeant Golber spoke confused "You see that kinda crap in a bad holodrama, or pictogame." A few troopers around him started nodding and carrying on in conversation. After the battle was over the Officers convened in one of the few remaining standing structures. Cassin briefed Kaila and Henris on the abandoning of the base a day earlier, and their mission to recovered all the scattered elements of Delta company, as well as to link up with Beta company a few days from now to retake the Goben desert capitol. After the briefing Cassin ordered for the town to be emptied and everything and everyone to fall back to the rally point. The crowded Chimera's traveled back to the town where a sparing nights rest was the only reward for the weary troopers.

The planets sun was fading quickly into the distance, many of the troopers began to kick back and relax, enjoying the reward of getting to live another day. Some sang and danced, others found alcohol, and a handful found the company of another trooper as a means to wash away the stress of the battle. The Commissar decided to stay out of the jubilation, not because he wanted to, but because he knew it would be futile. Cassin wasn't always one to celebrate every victory, but he felt like letting his hair down and relaxing with his friends. He walked through the hallway of a building looking for Henris and Kaila, with a battle of Amesec in his hand, glasses in the other. He knocked then slowly opened the door to the room the officers were staying in. Henris was fast asleep in the bed, and Kaila was sitting at the edge of it wearing her tank top and a pair of shorts. He had almost forgotten about her augmentations. Kaila wasn't known for her luck, she had both her legs blown off by a mine when she was younger, and lost her right arm a few years later. All replaced with bionics, earning her the nick name "Klumsy Kaila", or "Cog-girl". Many guardsmen carried scars with them, or saw their fair share of the hell of war, she just would always get the short end of the stick in almost every situation. It was a shame too, Cassin always thought she had a pretty face.

"Is this a bad time?" Cassin spoke softly "Nah come on in. How've you been Caleb?" she stood up and walked over to a nearby table where Cassin was heading. "Aside from the hole in my side, many dead troopers, being disconnected from the regiment with no chance of a resupply? Pretty frakkin good." He chuckled, poring a glass for himself and Kaila. "But that's business as usual, isn't it?" She took a sip. "So tell me, whats next for the company? running around the desert saving the innocent civilians? Trying to make this world a better place? Oh where will the great hero Caleb take us next?" Her tone playfully sarcastic. "Were going to head north east to rescue Vek." "That bastard is still alive?" Her tone changed immediately. "Yep." Kaila snatched the bottle from the table and took a large swig.