Ciaphas Cain: Choose Your Enemies

My own company was the first element of the 597th to be called into action, and I’m proud to say not a single trooper shirked their duty. Checked at last in their upward rise by the cunningly deployed mines laid at General Porten’s behest, the first few to detonate demonstrating beyond doubt even to these degenerate zealots that the price in blood of attempting to persist in that particular endeavour would be a fortune fatal to squander, the xenos interlopers reverted to a new and different strategy. Rather than running the gauntlet of explosive destruction, and lacking the sorcerous means to nullify the threat,179 they began to enlarge and divert the tunnels leading off laterally from those rising towards the well-defended gates barring access to the upper hive and the spire beyond that.

Our first intimation that a new and dangerous strategy was being used against us came in the form of a request for aid from the Ironfound Defence Force on the lowest levels of the industrial district above the gates. The burrowing eldar had reached the surface outside the hive, where battle was swiftly joined against the native troops patrolling the lethally desolate landscape in anticipation of just such an eventuality. Alas, despite their gallantry, they were outnumbered and outgunned, and swiftly overwhelmed.

With resistance on the surface overcome, the invaders turned their attention to the external gates used, in less straitened times, for the despatch and receipt of the overland convoys which transferred goods and citizens between the hives in quantities unfeasible by air. Though sufficiently solid to withstand the very worst the elements of Ironfound could throw against them, and reinforced against just such a contingency, they simply couldn’t hold for long against a sustained enemy assault. But hold they did, for just long enough: as they broke through into the cargo bays and loading docks used by the inter-hive crawlers, the xenos were met by the spearhead of the 597th.

From my position in the cupola of the company command Chimera I had an excellent view of that moment of first contact and, I must admit, felt a moment of trepidation as I regarded the horde we were facing. As in our previous encounters, they were relying on speed to evade incoming fire and consequently we were facing light units for the most part: walkers; jetbikes swooping low as they swept through the enclosed spaces in an attempt to flank us, taking advantage of the thirty-metre-high ceiling of the main crawler bays; and of course a never-ending tide of infantry.

Perturbing as they were, however, these were as nothing to the eldar sorcerers bounding forward at the head of the horde, eldritch energies crackling around the primitive-looking spears in their hands. These were no mere symbols of authority, I would swiftly discover, flying from the hands of their wielders to bring death and destruction wherever they struck. In those first few horrifying seconds I saw one rip through the hull plating of one of fifth platoon’s Chimeras, tearing it apart like a paper model, the very life sucked from its luckless occupants.

Reasoning that our troopers would be sitting targets cooped up inside their transports, I ordered everyone to disembark, taking the fight to the enemy with las-bolt and bayonet in the time-honoured tradition of the Astra Militarum, an order which, I’m gratified to say, was followed with alacrity by every woman and man under my command.

Taking what cover they could behind the abundance of buttresses, parked vehicles and abandoned cargo containers, the daughters and sons of Valhalla formed a formidable defensive line, the combined firepower of which checked the initial onslaught of the oncoming infantry horde, while the heavy bolters of our Chimeras opened up to engage the swooping jetbikes. Apprehending that the sorcerers were the greater threat, however, I ordered our vehicle commanders to engage those, only to find them protected by potent sorceries which blunted the impact of our bolts. Nevertheless, a few of them fell, the rest pulling back behind the advancing walkers for protection.

These, then, became our primary adversaries, ravening energies sweeping ahead of them, destroying every vehicle they touched. Though at first we gave as good as we got, toppling several, the sheer weight of numbers eventually began to tell, and, with a heavy heart, I was forced to order a retreat in good order to the secondary defensive line which our dogged resistance had given Second and Fifth Companies enough time to prepare behind us.

Though trusting as ever in The Emperor’s guiding hand to bring us ultimate victory, I found myself missing the inspirational leadership of Commissar Cain, who would surely have had a heartening aphorism or resolve-stiffening quip appropriate for the occasion. As it was, however, his duties had taken him elsewhere, so I did the best I could myself, with most gratifying results, and wished him well wherever he was.