Siege of Æsce - Landfall part 4

The Astartes continued at the same speed they started with. Heading straight through the next hallway leading to the final above ground stairway. The hallways looked no different here. If not for their map it would have even been possible for an Astarte to get lost.

At least it was the same for a while. After Yuan and Isaac passed midway through a random hallway, bolt rounds burst through the wall behind them. Simple yet effective as most successful ambushes are. All four Astartes died. Each ground to fine chunks of meat by the rounds detonating.

“Heavens be damned.” Yuan cursed in reflex. As he charged forward. An ambush meant that this was exactly where the Crows wanted them.  There had to be Astartes waiting ahead ready to strike. Standing still now would be their death. Yet as he moved forward, nearing another corner, neither saw or heard any signs of life. He signed Isaac to halt at the next corner. He used his visor to check again through the wall. Nothing. He peaked around the corner, careful to pull back the moment he observed any movement. What he saw were five dead Crows. At least that is what he guessed by counting the bodies. They died a while ago too, these bodies were too cold for his visor to pick up with infrared. Then something moved in the corner of Yuan’s vision, something on the ceiling. He immediately pulled his head back. Just in time for bolt rounds to tear into the wall. Just in case Yuan moved a few steps back as bolt rounds kept grinding at the wall until an audible clicking sound announced that whatever was shooting ran out of ammunition.

Another peak around the corner where he spotted a turret on the ceiling aiming in his direction, clearly still trying to shoot him. Further along the ceiling were the remains of two more turrets, one on the left wall and one on the right. The Crows had nearly reacted fast enough to deal with them outright.

Besides the turrets Yuan noted that the destruction of the wall revealed a passage just around the corner. Yet given that this was an ambush site. It was most likely another trap. Assuming that this was another trap. Those turrets looked like they could shoot in any direction and Yuan guessed that the hallway had to lead to what was most likely a set of turrets that killed his brothers. Yuan pulled a grenade from his waist and tossed it into the ‘hidden’ hallway. The detonation blew away most of what remained of the wall, covering his brothers’ corpses in debris, both ferrocrete and the remains of turrets.

Just in case a turret still functioned, Yuan took the same care to expose as little of himself as possible. Neither the main pathway nor the ‘hidden’ one held any still functioning turrets. Though the ‘hidden’ hallways did have the remains of four. Of further note was that the explosion reviewed that the wall had been thinned on the side of the turrets. Making it significantly easier to tear through.

“I thought our cousins would deal with these.” Isaac commented, anger undertoning his usually flat voice.

“Apparently that means changing the targeting parameters to ‘all’.” Erland stated bitterly.

“If the Crows were not so few in number that would have worked.” Yuan countered. Though his words defended the Consuls he too was quite angry at losing brothers to traps they were told were shut down. “If they had had the manpower to properly fend us off and retake lost ground they would have needed to deal with them.”

“Yet they are few.” Isaac stated matter of factly. “It is an unacceptable oversight. Like they simply went by the numbers.”

“That isn’t much like them though, brothers. They are usually quite thorough. Let’s not judge them yet.” Erland reasoned, not letting his bitterness cloud his judgement.

“Regardless. We must not linger too long. Isaac pick up one of the Crow’s bolters, with those turrets we will need it.” Yuan ordered.  “I will report that our cousins were not fully successful.”

It took a few seconds for the connection to come though. Not just from being underground but also because the *Fu zhi Sheng* were likely preoccupied with other reports and handing out orders from their father. Though it was always reassuring to have their father watching over the battles through them, Yuan still remembered how inefficient it could be from his time in the scouts. Those without authority to act on their own judgement often missed their best opportunities to strike. Even if it did help the overall strategies from their father, Yuan was still loath to give up his current freedom to act on his own.

“What do you have to report, Strain master?”

The voice of the *Fu zhi Sheng* finally came through, bringing Yuan back from his reminiscing about the past. The voice was deep, like most astartes, yet it commanded significant authority and immediate response. In some ways it was like he was speaking to his father directly, though less awe inspiring. Even if they did not have a direct link to their Primarch they would have likely still have gotten the same honour of being called his voice. All they lacked was that kind and calming undertone their father’s voice always had.

“The Consuls were not successful in fully neutralising the underground defences. Though their targeting parameters now include the Crows as targets the turrets are fully operational and remain a threat. Given the loss of many of my brothers we must divert from the main objective to the elevators.”

“Understood. Elevators on the surface have already been secured. The plagued will stand ready to head down when you confirm they are secured. Anything else.”

“I wish to call the rest of my Strain into the underground. They may be needed here.” A moment of silence followed. Most likely him contacting their father.

“Request granted.”

“Understood, report ...” The *Fu zhi Sheng* immediately terminated the call. “Finished” Yuan deadpanned. Such haste spoke volumes of their difficulty coordinating forces underground or otherwise fully out of sight. Yuan then switched to the vox channel for his Strain. “Change of plans. Regroup and move to my location. Orders are to take the elevator underground. Care for traps around chokepoints. Crows’ defence turrets are still behind and some behind thinned out walls. They have no heat signatures, infrared won’t spot them.”

A chorus of confirmations followed. Yuan heard the voices of all commanders, at least the most experienced among them still all lived if any lives had been lost at all.

“Do we wait for them, Yuan?” Isaac questioned.

“No need. Given the trap we just encountered we should be able to proceed, if slowly. Given that those turrets also deal with the Crows, our grenades should be able to flush out any further ambushes.”

“Not like we could move any faster with our brothers here. If we clear a path for them we should be able to reach the elevator much quicker.” Erland remarked.

“Exactly.” Yuan finished as he looted some grenades from what remained of his brothers’ corpses. They would need a lot to actually flush out all those turrets. Though Isaac probably disliked him looting their brothers he said nothing, after such acts had saved them before.

What followed was a long stretch of time where they slowly pressed on. Every time they expected another ambush they threw grenades to search for any hollowed out walls. They found three more. There were remarkably few Crows around, not even half a squad at each ambush site. On top of that all the turrets here were terminated. Signs of both plasma and bolter fire taking equal share of the kills. The answer could be the sound of bolter fire that echoed in the distance along with the telltale sounds of plasma weapons. It seemed to be coming roughly from the area where the elevator should be.

“It seems we found our cousins.” Erland quipped.

“Unless our brothers suddenly decided they didn’t need an all clear sign and just went down the elevator, definitely. Or our strain members suddenly learned to teleport.” Yuan joked as he opened the vox channel of his strain and asked a single question. “ETA?”

“Few hallways behind you, with everyone besides Marcus.” Shen sounded cheerful, yet his voice had some judgemental undertones. Marcus clearly wasn’t taking the fastest route he could.

“Forced to take a different route to keep up. Will arrive in the hangar in three minutes.” Marcus reported.

“Got it, will need to engage without you then.” Yuan stated, hoping Marcus would still arrive on time to assist. He better have a decent explanation this time. At least longer than ‘Orks’. Just as he terminated the vox link Shen and about forty marines came rushing towards them.

“You three, take Erland and watch over him.” Yuan picked a few of his brothers to watch their rear and take care of their cripled brother. “Rest form up. The room will be large enough to fly and I expect some vehicles to still be stored there for cover. Spread out and terminate the Crows. Do take care, our cousins are likely present in the room. Let’s go.” Most of these orders were a formality by this point, with each Astarte present being a veterine. Still clarity of purpose was not something one should underappreciate.

The Blight Wardens formed up two by two, Yuan and Isaac heading the charge. The sounds of combat quickly became louder as they thundered closer. Remains of turrets littered the floor. Along with a handful of Crows. The battle came into view after another corner, a handful of bolt rounds and plasma bolts flying past the entrance. Some of the Wardens started to warm up their jump packs, ready to launch themselves into the air and drop on their foes.

As the Wardens thundered closer, some of the Crows appeared to take note. The volume of fire decreased significantly for a moment  from one side, meaning they were likely repositioning or taking aim at the entrance the Blight Wardens were approaching.

Though Yuan knew from their map how large the room was he had no clue how stuff had been moved within it. Besides an elevator room this place served as a storage room and vehicle repair bay. There could be cover strewn about everywhere or if they were unlucky, all that awaited them was an empty room. As such, Yuan started his helmet camera and started to send visuals of what he could see to his brothers. After that he too started his jump pack. If nothing else he would provide his men with clear visuals of the room so that they could decide where to go. On top of this Yuan had vast experience with opponents not expecting completely suicidal actions. Even Astartes would still react that vital millisecond slower if one reacted outside of expectations.

Yuan moved exactly as he planned. The moment he stepped into the light of the room Yuan ignited his jump pack, launching himself into the air. Isaac did not follow him though. Instead he had opted to make a dash to the right before diving into cover and started putting that Crow bolter to use suppressing whomever dared shoot at his brothers. Yet even with the covering fire, bolt rounds followed just behind Yuan as he ascended. Now slightly in the air he took great care in providing his brothers with as much information as possible though his visual feed.

The room was daily large enough to house six whirlwinds, if not more, and tons of additional material in storage. It was effectively split into two sections, two hallways split the room perfectly between those two. On the left was the elevator along with some storage space and parking spots for vehicles. At this time a single heavily damaged wildwind blocked the path to the elevator and provided cover for a dozen Crows. Yet if the static that replaced their identification tags was any indication, these were Consuls. The fact that they hadn’t yet started shooting at him was also a bit of a hint. From the high up view Yuan could even see that at least 5 of them had given their lives to hold this place and the rest were some degree of wounded. Still each of them held plasma weapons leaving them too much of a threat for the Crows to simply charge. The Crows just couldn’t spare the numbers. On the right side was the repair bay, large machines set around four docking stations that could lift vehicles into the air for maintenance. All the machinery provided ample cover, even if it was not nearly as effective as the thick plating of the whirlwind. Twenty Crows remained here, if there were any wounded they had been carried away. It seemed they had dug in and just suppressed the Consuls while waiting for a heavy weapons team to come through the doors behind them and finish the Consols without losses. Shame the Wardens got there first. Finally both sides appeared to be using the location to its fullest. Empty ammunition crates littered the ground and neither side seems to be running out any time soon.

Now Yuan had seen everything and sent the footage came the hard part, not dying. With the Crows quickly switching from suppressing the Consuls to dealing with incoming Wardens he had to either commit to engaging the Crows or just head straight for the Consuls. Given that the Consuls should be able to put up a better fight if he engaged and that it could distract the Crows enough that they wouldn’t just mow down everything that came through that hallway, Yuan chose the latter. He made a hard right turn for the farthest corner in the room. If he could land there he could take on Crows one at a time.  Forcing multiple to turn to face him in case their brothers died while being able to actually intervene.

Yet as he made his way to the corner losing bits and pieces of his armour to glancing hit he noticed that the Crows had no real interest in him. Instead of focussing on the fast moving airborne Astarte that could theoretically still dodge effectively all of them had opted to take what losses he might cause. Instead they focussed on terminating everything that dared still move through that entranceway. It was honestly the right decision. Only four Astartes made it into the room under Isaac’s and the Consuls’ covering fire and they were each locked into cover by expert suppressing fire. Of the other Wardens, twelf died before they could halt the charge and start throwing grenades.

Twelve casualties wasn’t a high number for such a tactic. Given the situation it was honestly all they could do as an all melee formation. Get as many men into the room as possible while one or more distracted. Disrupt the enemy formation. Give the suppressed forces relief. Beat the foe into submission. Retreat swiftly if needed. Yet these Crows did not get distracted, like the other countless foes he had faced. Including both the Palatine Wings on Istvaan and the Watchers when they boarded their fleet mere months ago. The Crows simply killed the easy targets now they knew the formation. Now they would not be outnumbered or locked in close quarters combat where they had no advantage. Now they could hold their ground and await whatever forces would come through those doors behind them. But now there was one problem. They had Ignored him. They had ignored one of the best fighters in the second legion and he was enraged.

Yuan landed in the farthest corner of the room from where he entered, crushing tons of machinery underfoot. Then he dove at the nearest Crow. His legs groaned at the effort of attacking so soon after he had landed but he did not care. He just struck. The Crow for his part blocked the strike with his combat knife. He clearly knew how to fight. Yet he had not learned from the bears. He did not know when to yield ground. Yuan kept moving forward using the speed of his charge to push the Crow back, forcing him off balance. Not being able to maintain his stance the Crow was forced to step back or fall over. Yuan moved to teach the Crow a lesson from the Star Guardians, steel beats flesh and bone. Yuan used his proximity to the Crow to step on his knee, breaking the Crow’s leg in two under the force of both his weight and all the force of his metal legs. After that all it took was a swift slice to the head with his chain sword. This all happened in mere seconds. Then more heartbeats later he was behind the next Crow. They were too busy fighting off the Wardens, clearly certain their now dead comrade would keep Yuan at bay for at least a few moments. This one simply had no time to react. By the time the other Crows reacted less than a second later their brother was on the ground.

They started pulling back. They opened the gate behind them and started a fighting retreat. Spreading out their fire more, only doing enough to keep the retreat smooth. A handful pointed their bolters at Yuan. He had to seek cover. That crow will do. As his brothers threw grenades at the Crow formation Yuan dove at another that had been hiding between more of the machinery. This one two was able to block Yuan’s attacks with his knife. It was oddly sturdy, able to withstand the teeth of a chain sword as it did. Yet the same technique of powering forward to bring his foe of balance worked. As Yuan moved to repeat his killing of the last Crow a grenade landed at his feet after bouncing around the remains of metal equipment. An expert throw. Yuan didn’t recognise the grenade. But he swore it almost seemed like it was looking at him. Yet it hardly mattered. Yuan had already put his foe off balance. Instead of crushing the legg and killing the Astarte, Yuan used his fist to knock the Crow on top of the grenade and ignited his jump pack to get away from the explosion that would follow. As he flew off the body below him vaporised into nothing in a plasma explosion, yet the detonation was odd somehow. Like it had occurred off the ground. Then as Yuan pulled back he saw the Crows had thrown a handful more. The consuls appeared to expressly shoot them out of the air. Even grenades that had no chance of actually killing anyone. Putting themselves in harm's way just to do that. ‘What do they know that we do not?’ Yuan wondered.

It was a question that was answered very quickly as one of the grenades passed the hallway his remaining brothers had holled up in it turned into a small rocket. It flew straight in before detonating after a few seconds. Yuan would later learn eight of his brothers had died at that moment. The Crows took advantage of this by completing their retreat, fleeing back deeper into the facility. Losing but two more to Issaac and the Consuls.

This battle was over. Yet if they had such weapons, what could they have been waiting for?

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