Secret War: Warhammer 40,000 by Ben Agar (reading eggs books TXT) 📖

I nodded and sighed; I barely knew Thol, so his death didn't affect me much, but the destruction of the Plasma gun irked me. With Darrance MIA and that gone, it just put more pressure on me to be the damned hero. Now I'd seen the endurance of an Astartes first hand; I doubted that a hotshot from Hayden's long las would affect them much unless at complete close range.

"That's six down, I suppose, I said.

Hayden's brow furrowed in bemusement, about to ask me to elaborate, I was sure, but then Helma, Arlathan, Verenth and five more Stormtroopers emerged from the office, a sullen-looking Vex in tow. I could hear weeping and pitiful pleading, and an ugly, middle-aged woman I instantly recognised as one of Adelana's colleagues walked out after them.

"Please!" she cried as she tried to grab at Helma's elbow. "Take us with you! Please!"

"Getaway!" snarled Helma, snatching back her arm. "All non-combatants were meant to evacuate! You should have left with the others! Emperor only knows..."

The captain trailed off in her sentence and gaped as she saw me.

"You!" yelled the lady at me, and behind her, I could see the kid, the gruff old man and lastly, Adelana emerging from the office. Adelana's smile made me weak at the knees. "We did as you told," carried on the woman, who I'd momentarily forgotten was there, let alone speaking to me you 'Go to Vex's office at the first sign of trouble,' so here we are! Please help us!"

Tearing my attention away from Adelana, I nodded and smiled the most reassuring smile I could muster at her, but for the life of me, I couldn't frigging remember her name.

"We need to take them with us," I said to Helma in my most commanding tone.

Helma's eyes narrowed. "Did that Space Marine smash your brain out of your head? Are you insane or stupid? You yourself couldn't tell for certain how big Taryst's escape craft is! They might not be able to fit with the rest of us! Anyway, even if it does, they'll just slow us down; it's a no go, I...

She trailed off in her sentence, and her features softened for a second, and for that second, she seemed, despite her huge scar, almost beautiful.

"I am sorry, Attelus but..."

+We are taking them with us!+ Karmen's voice suddenly echoed through my thoughts and everyone else's. It seemed as we all seemed to flinch in fright simultaneously.

"Is that you, the infamous Karmen Kons, I've heard so much about!" snarled Helma. "You finally deem us worthy enough to speak to us?"

+I have been occupied,+ she replied hesitantly, and I could see she was exhausted. +I can tell you for a fact, captain, that Taryst's ship does indeed have enough space for them and us. We are taking them with us!+

"But...!" tried Helma, but Karmen interrupted her.

+There is no time to argue! There are very few mercenaries left now, and soon the Astartes will be here!+

Helma grimaced, looking like she'd try to argue more, but she let out a huge, irritated groan before bellowing.

"Alright! Alright! Attelus, it's because of you; they're here, so they're your damned responsibility! The witch is right! We've got to move!"

With that, she waved us onward, and we began toward the exit. I fell in step with Adelana.

"Thank you," she whispered.

I shrugged and pursed my lips. "I did nothing; it's Karmen you should thank, not me," I said, and I couldn't help wonder why she did.

She shrugged back. "You still tried, so thank you."

She hid it well, very well, actually, but with all my years of training, I could still tell the poor girl was utterly terrified. I couldn't help but be impressed and even a bit envious. She was better than me at hiding her emotions even after all that time I had spent as Glaitis' apprentice. Already, I could see potential in her, great potential.

That might've been why Karmen had insisted they come with us.

"It was the very least I could do," I said, feeling my face flush almost walked into Hayden's back as he and the others suddenly stopped in their tracks.

"Too late," said Helma as five Space Marines, their bolters raised, abruptly fanned out into the cavernous room.

"How?" managed Roldar, a nanosecond before the Space Marines opened fire.

With all five shots fired, someone went down, Jelket's right arm exploded, and the poor man couldn't even scream as he was flung onto his back and instantly lost consciousness. Selg's large chest suddenly had a huge hole I could've seen through if it wasn't for the deluge of blood. One of the Stormtroopers lost his head, literally. Another's torso simply evaporated, and a third Stormtrooper's hip and stomach were gone.

The rest of us leapt for the cover of the surrounding cogitators; I gripped Adelana by the arm and pulled her roughly after me. Being a combat veteran, the old, gruff man wasn't far behind, but the middle-aged woman flung herself foolishly to the floor, but the boy didn't even move. He just stood still, slack-jawed and stupefied, and I couldn't blame him, in all honesty. Not even I could run fast enough to save him before a bolt round exploded his body from the hips upward into nothing but red mist.

Adelana cried out what I assumed to be the boy's name, but I couldn't even begin to hear her over the deafening cacophony, which seemed to shake the entire structure to its core.

But the woman somehow miraculously stayed unscathed as she coward through the chaos.

The survivors leaned out and fired back; there were countless lines of cogitators between the Marines and us. But they were shattered and smashed easily; they wouldn't protect us for too much longer.

I cursed, kneeling and clutching at my sword. I was useless right now, there was no way I could dash across the room through that amount of bolter fire without being hit, and even if I did somehow manage that, then I'd be locked in close combat with five frigging Space Marines.

Fighting one at a time was bad enough, thank you!

I felt a shaking hand grab at my flak jacket's sleeve, and I turned to find it was Adelana, her beautiful blue eyes filled with tears. It pained me to see her so upset, and she pointed at the woman who was still curled up in the middle of the thoroughfare, still somehow unharmed. I knew what Adelana wanted me to do; I didn't care much for the woman, in all honesty. But with a roar, I suicidally sprinted from cover, grabbed the woman by the scruff and hurled her behind the next line of cogitators. Despite her obvious obesity, I threw her easily and even over the bolter fire, I heard a crunch and her piggish squeal in agony as the impact broke something. It made me wince in sympathy.

I darted back to join up with Adelana and the old man, feeling the fire strafing my wake.

As I made it, Adelana abruptly threw her arms around me in a tight embrace; her thanks murmured into my chest as the old man clasped my shoulder, and I couldn't help but think what Karmen thought of this.

"Karmen!" I roared. "Karmen! Why the hell didn't you see them coming? You've gotta do something. We're trapped like rats and pinned down!" Please!"

+I am doing something!+ her voice growled in my head so strong it made me wince with pain. +I need to concentrate, so leave me alone! Just watch your left!+

Her psychic voice conveyed more than just anger at my interruption, but also something else. Shaking away the thought, I looked left, past the cowering woman and the blank, black plastcrete wall beyond.

What the hell did she mean by that? Adelana let go of me as we saw Roldar die; a bolt round blew half his torso into oblivion as he attempted to lean out to shoot his inherited hellgun.

"Damn it!" I breathed. "Roldar!"

Another Stormtrooper was torn apart a second after; Torris, who took cover beside the poor bastard, screamed as fragments of bone and carapace armour embedded in him. He fell to the floor, clutching at his face.

Then I saw something I never thought I'd ever see; Arlathan Karkin burst from cover with surprising speed, grabbed the unconscious Jelket by the gorget of his flak armour and pulled him into shelter. Halsin then ran up and began the utterly pointless attempt at stemming the blood.

I sighed and shook my head while scratching the back of my skull, Torris was surely a more savable cause, but he was two rows back, so they didn't know he was injured at all.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" yelled Adelana, sounding admirably calm.

I opened my mouth, my first instinct to lie, but as I met her gaze, it died in my throat.

Instead, my reply was a sad smile, and carefully, I peered around the corner to see the Space Marines. They hadn't advanced at all, just stood out in the opening, shooting through the lines of cogitators; there were only a dozen rows left; we didn't have much time.

A hand landed lightly on my shoulder, making me flinch in fright, and I turned to see it was the old man. He held pushed me aside and pulled out an autopistol that was tucked in his pants. Tears welled in my eyes as I instantly recognised it. It was Castella's; she'd given it to him in the mailroom hours before.

I fought the urge to snatch the pistol from his hand as he raised it and fired. The pistol was now his, and I had no right to take it.

Besides, he'd be better at shooting it than me, I was sure.

The old man emptied the clip pistol's clip and miraculously wasn't torn apart in those ten seconds.

With practised professionalism, he pulled back, ejected the empty clip and reloaded, then turned to me.

"Where is she?" he asked. "The nice, beautiful young woman who had given me this?"

I winced and hissed, my attention falling to the floor.

The man's expression turned sympathetic as he instantly understood.

"I am sorry," he grunted. "I hope she died well."

I shrugged, my eyes still downcast, not sure if she did.

"Well!" he said as he popped out to shoot a few shots. "Have no fear! It looks as though we will be joining her soon! At the God Emperor's side!"

Again, I shrugged and shuffled my feet, knowing that I won't be, not for long anyway. Also, because I knew that sentiment was complete and utter bullshit, to be absorbed by the warp was the only fate for our souls.

I wanted to say this but held my tongue, knowing now wasn't the time for such words.

I winced as the echoing destruction of the cogitators became even louder; it would be soon, very soon, I would be losing even more friends.

+Clear the left side wall!+ said Karmen, +and be ready to move!+

"What?" I said less than a second before an explosion suddenly shuddered the entire place; it was so strong that even the Space Marines hesitated in their fire. Another followed that it knocked the old man off his feet, and I stopped Adelana from falling with a quick hand on her shoulder.

+Someone, hold on to me please!+ she cried, then there was a third explosion.

I saw a large part of the wall had become superheated, and I realised what was happening a second before the fourth explosion finally blew a huge hole through in a rain of heavy, ground shaking debris. Instantly a flier screamed through the gap; the pintle-mounted Autocannon set in the ships open side spewing withering fire at the Space hovered low off the floor and waited.

+Get in!+ Karmen screamed.

It took me less than a second to recover my wits then I was pushing Adelana and the old man toward it.

"Go! Go!" I yelled, and they needed no more prompting; they ran across the gap and together helped the injured woman to her feet.

I glanced out from the corner; the Space Marines had