What are you doing?' Jeremiah asked Torin. 'What's behind that wall?'
'We aren't sure.’ answered Ragnar, 'but if the Emperor smiles on us, it will be the outside world and
even if he doesn't, it'll be a new exit that Cadmus's men won't expect to be there.'
'Why don't we run out of the main enUance?' asked Jeremiah. 'Surely, the enemy isn't waiting for us.'
'Cadmus had men throughout the-city. If they aren't there now, it won't be long,' said Torin.
'I can smell the stench of something foul behind those doors,' said Haegr. 'Someone's there.'
A gentle tapping started at the plasteel doors, and they could hear muffled voices. Someone was behind them, probably trying to get inside. It was time to go.
Ragnar and the others pulled back and put their heads down. The melta-bombs flashed and the wall crackled as they detonated. The rockcrete vaporised under the tremendous power of the blast. The hole they left was a decent sized door. Ragnar couldn't help but wonder if Haegr would fit through it, but he didn't have much time to worry about it.
The main doors flew open and gunfire blasted through the room, destroying consoles and vid-screens and pelting the power armour of the Space Marines. Giant hulking shapes shambled in. For a moment, Ragnar thought someone had cloned Haegr and ripped off his power armour.
'Ogryns,' said Jeremiah.
The ogryns were huge mutants, one of the few altered humans allowed in Imperial forces. Imposing figures, they dwarfed the Space Marines, standing a full head higher than even Haegr. Ragnar had heard stories of ogryns strong enough to lift tanks.
The massive creatures were pure muscle and stupid as rocks, with no mind except for killing. Unfortunately,
that meant that their brains took longer to realise when they were wounded or even dead. Ragnar had once seen an ogryn fighting with a large hole in his chest, until a medic had pointed the wound out to him and he fell over.
The ogryns wore a mishmash of armour and were armed with ripper guns. The solid weapons had such a kick that only the large mutants could keep them steady, but they unleashed a massive barrage of fire, so much so, that each ogryn wore belts of ammo around their arms and chests. Moreover, each gun was at least as deadly as a club in hand-to-hand combat.
V.’e never received word of ogryns,' said Torin.
They must be part of Cadmus's special forces, the ones he brought with him,' said Ragnar.
'Raaarhh!' Haegr charged, as quickly as Ragnar had ever seen him move. He crashed solidly into the first ogryn that entered the room. The monstrous creature didn't move its feet but swung its arms back into its fellows, spraying the foot of one with its ripper gun.
'Go, Torin, get the others out,' yelled Ragnar. 'I'll cover for Haegr.'
'Elijah, Nathaniel, go with Torin. Remember what I told you and stay true to our pledge. Do not betray him. I'll follow in a moment.’ said Jeremiah.
'Jeremiah, we must first deal with these abominations. We cannot allow these mutants to live,' Elijah responded.
'You will follow my orders, Elijah. Now go!' Jeremiah's order was reluctandy obeyed.
Ragnar exchanged glances with Jeremiah. The Dark Angel looked like he had something to prove. Ragnar grinned. So did he.
'Armour man, get off.’ shouted the ogryn as Haegr literally hammered him, striking him with blow after blow. The size of Haegr and the size of the ogryns was buying everyone else precious time. The door was completely blocked.
'Haegr, move!' Ragnar said.
'Ha! You've gone mad, little brother.’ said Haegr, turning his head. Tm winning.’
It appeared that Haegr was right for the moment. Then an ogryn with a metal plate for a forehead brought the stock of his ripper gun around, striking Haegr on his backswing, hard enough to crack the ceramite of his power armour. The Space Wolf fell backwards into the ruins of the command consoles.
Jeremiah took advantage of the moment to put a bolter round into the ogryn's skull, directly under the metal plate. The Dark Angel put a second bolter round into one of the beast's large yellow teeth, shattering the tooth and spraying blood and bone into the air. Ragnar was impressed with Jeremiah's precision, but he wasn't about to be outdone by a Dark Angel.
He charged into the mass of ogryns, leaping over fallen Haegr. His runeblade took the knee off one ogryn, although it felt to Ragnar as if he had sliced through a tree trunk. Instinctively, he fired off several shots from his bolter pistol into another, blowing off most of its arm in the process. Behind the ogryns, Ragnar could see troopers from the planetary defence force.
An ogryn kicked Ragnar with its large steel-shod boot, knocking him back from the fray. He rolled with the blow, and between his reflexes and his armour,
managed to ignore most of the impact. He brought his sword up to defend himself, only to find that Jeremiah's precision bolter fire had eliminated his enemy.
This seemed a perfect time to escape before the sheer weight of numbers took them down.
'Let's go.’ said Ragnar.
For once, Haegr didn't argue. Instead, he thrust himself through the hole in the wall. Thankfully, he fit.
'Wolf, hand me a melta-bomb.’ said Jeremiah.
Ragnar hesitated for only a fraction of a second before tossing a melta-bomb to Jeremiah.
The Dark Angel leapt onto a ruined console and attached the bomb to the ceiling. Ragnar covered him, firing bolter shots one-handed into the oncoming ogryns. Almost without thinking, Ragnar stopped firing the moment Jeremiah finished setting the charge. The Dark Angel dived through the hole with Ragnar immediately behind him, as if the two of them had practised the manoeuvre a hundred times before.
The melta-bomb detonated with a deafening noise. The ogryns howled in agony, then fell silent. A low rumble indicated that the ceiling in the room had given way, crushing everything beneath it.
The others had moved a few dozen metres down an unmarked rockcrete passage.
'Where are we?' asked Ragnar.
'I don't know.’ said Torin and Elijah simultaneously.
^Ve need to find Cadmus.’ said Jeremiah.
'No.’ said Ragnar, 'first we find Lady Gabriella and Magni. Then, we'll both go after Commander Cadmus.’
'I have men to avenge.’ said Jeremiah.
'And I have an oath to keep and my last battle-brother to keep alive against a world full of potential enemies and the invasion of you Dark Angels. If you want to give me the truth about what's going on maybe you can convince me, otherwise, we make sure Lady Gabriella of House Belisarius is safe, first and foremost. Do we still have an understanding?' asked Ragnar.
Jeremiah stared directly at Ragnar. 'I gave you my word. I do not break oaths.'
'Good, then you understand,' said Ragnar.
'Let's keep moving,' suggested Torin. 'She'll be at the palace. We just need to get out of here.'
Ah, what a great day for battle.’ said Haegr.
The six Space Marines made their way down to the end of the passage where a reinforced door was marked 'Lethe defence forces only'. The security lock on the door looked intact and everything about the door gave the impression that short of a lascannon, nothing was going to get through it.