'They've taken Hastis's gene-seed.’ said Luko. Sarpedon turned to see the sergeant standing in the corridor behind him. 'His was the only seed intact.'
'Good.’ said Sarpedon. He pointed at the image gouged into the back wall. 'Record this on the aus-pex. Then get ready to move out, there's nothing left for us here. Send the message to Lygris to bring us out.'
'Yes, commander.’ said Luko, and headed back to join his squad.
Sarpedon stared for a moment at the image, carved by a madman using the bloody stumps of his fingers. Techmarine Lygris would know if it meant anything. It was these tiny hopes that kept Sarpedon going, and the Chapter with him. They all looked to him for leadership, even born officers like Captain Karraidin or Chaplain Iktinos. If he gave in to despair then the Soul Drinkers would all give in, too - but they had followed him through the Chapter's greatest crisis and embarked with him on a mission which forced them to give up almost all they had - he owed them more than failure.
AESCARION SUSPECTED DeVayne wasn't a genuine officer. Like almost all the Stratix troopers he didn't wear the jacket of his fatigues, the loaded ammo webbing taut over a bare torso covered with gang tattoos. He wore several desiccated scalps on his belt and carried a pair of ivory-handled hunting laspis-tols that surely more properly belonged to a real -officer. But his platoon of near-savages evidently had enough faith in DeVayne's leadership and, on the ground, that was enough for Sister Aescarion.
'Storm 'em, you sons a' hrud-lovers!' yelled DeVayne as he directed the men of his platoon into the shattered temple grounds and towards Septiam City's forum, where public buildings clustered around a wide marble-tiled plaza broken by gilded statues of Imperial heroes. The forum had become the focus for a brutal Septiam counterattack against the foremost louryan forces - most of the statues lay toppled by explosions and the tiles had been hurled up by artillery strikes to fall back down in a lethal stone rain. Basilica and shrines were burning shells, louryans and Septiams were dug in on either side, the blasted expanse of the forum a no-man's land for which thousands of men were dying.
The largest concentration of Septiams were in the grounds of the Macharian Temple, where a giant porphyry statue of Lord Solar Macharius looked out over ornamental gardens, now a mess of dug-in fire points and trenches swarming with corpse-like Septiams. It was this position that the Stratix forces were assaulting from the rear, with Aescarion's Sisters lending bolter and flame to the Stratix lasguns.
The Stratix broke cover from the tangle of minor devotionals and shrines behind the temple, heading for the rear wall of the temple grounds. They sported several exotic, salvaged guns - hunting rifles, hellguns, well-worn shotguns with hive ganger kill-marks - alongside their standard issue lasguns, and they wore a patchwork of salvaged, stolen and patched-up fatigues and body armour.
They looked more like feral world savages than Guardsmen, but after Aescarion had linked up with DeVayne's men she had watched them carving their way through the Septiam defences with the added firepower of the Sisters. They ripped their way out of the slums at last and made a massive push to link up with the Jouryans in the centre of the city. Now they were assaulting the last strongpoint between the two forces.
'Seraphim, to the fore!' yelled Aescarion and followed the Stratix out of cover and up to the wall.
The Stratix were clambering over the sagging brick wall. Aescarion glanced back to ensure her squad was with her, then thumbed the inhibitor switch on her jump pack and let it propel her clean over the wall. She landed in a roll, crashing through the woody plants at the base of the wall. She glanced around her, trying to build up a rapid picture of her surroundings - a pair of ex-Enforcement Division field guns had been manhandled hurriedly into position leaving deep gouges in the turf, and a gang of Septiams were loading massive shells into the breaches.
Aescarion broke into a run, a round clunking home into the chamber of her bolt pistol, her Sisters landing and following her. The Seraphim were on the gun gang before they knew they were even under attack, Aescarion blowing holes through one before beheading another with her power axe, Sister Mixu unleashing a volley that stitched bloody ruin through three more. The Sisters killed so quickly and efficiently that by the time the Stratix caught up with them the fire point was denuded of Septiams, bodies draped over the gun emplacement and the makeshift barricades.
DeVayne took one look and ordered a detail of his men to man the guns. Within minutes the field guns were blasting at near point-blank range into the Sep-tiam trenches and dugouts. The shells ripped huge plumes of pulverised earth out of the ground, raining debris and bodies back onto the temple gardens.
'Nice work, Sisters.’ called DeVayne as he led the rest of his men into the shattered Septiam lines. Aescarion followed him, Sisters at her side, the air filling with lasblasts and autogun rounds as the Septiams tried to return fire.
Aescarion and DeVayne charged into a Septiam position that, facing fire from both directions, rapidly disintegrated into chaos.
SARPEDON LEAPT OVER the pedestal, which had once held a monumental statue of Ecclesiarch Pulis XXIXth, landing squarely in the middle of the Septiams dug into a shell hole in the middle of the forum. He lashed his force staff into the midriff of one even as Tellos dived in beside him, twin chain-blades ripping arcs of gore from the Septiams. Rotted jaws dropped in horror as Tellos's Assault Marines followed, bolt pistols and chainswords spattering the Septiams across the torn marble.
'Tellos!' yelled Sarpedon. 'Take the autocannon!' He pointed towards a quad-mounted autocannon dug in just inside a shattered basilica - it was pounding fire into the Jouryan positions, but it could easily be re-sighted to bring down any ship trying to land on the forum and that was why it had to go.
Tellos seemed not to hear, intent on butchering the Septiams he had beaten down to his feet.
Sarpedon grabbed Tellos's shoulder and picked him up, holding him level with his own face.
'Take the autocannon,' he snarled. 'Now!'
Tellos glared at him through a mask of Septiam blood and found his feet, sprinting through a hail of fire, taking shells and lasblasts to his body as he ran for the autocannon mount. His assault squad followed, just as Squad Karraidin and the survivors of Squad Hastis vaulted into the shell hole.
'Karraidin, spread your men out and keep some heads down.'
'Can Lygris land here?'
'It's hotter than he'd like but he'll do it. Now get to it, Soul Drinker.'
Karraidin sprayed with his storm bolter at the source of the heaviest Septiam fire, and led his squad out of the shell hole to cut down the enemy crossfire as much as possible. Squad Luko had spread down one side of the forum and were exchanging fierce fire with the Septiams cowering in the law courts, and the Jouryans behind the Soul Drinkers were adding what fire they could to cover the Space Marines.
If the Guardsmen had known the Space Marines were securing a landing zone for extraction, they might not have been so enthusiastic about supporting the Soul Drinkers' drive for the forum. But Sarpedon wasn't here to fight their battle for them -the success of his mission depended on what fate dealt to them, and getting off Septiam Torus was the only objective left.
A vicious gun battle erupted at the Septiam-held far end of the forum and spilled out onto the forum itself. Septiams broke cover as gunfire and flashes of flame chased them out of their positions. Sarpedon snapped off shots at a couple of unwary targets. Luko's guns chewed through several more. It was a counterattack - Sarpedon saw that some of the troopers vaulting over barricades and struggling with each other at close quarters were not Septiams, but soldiers from the Stratix XXIII that barely resembled Guardsmen at all.