Ashes

by Martin Allen

  “We have two guards out front, and probably another four or five inside. If we can take out the ones outside quickly and silently then we can move in and clear the interior. There are ID-cams in the bunker so noise will not be an issue once we get inside, they will know we are there and will respond. We will have a devil of a time getting out, but hopefully Sergeant Piso will get here in time to give us some cover and re-enforcements.”

  A flurry of silenced shots felled the two guards at the entrance as the section poured from the shadows, Halbadier Mus made his way directly to the door control panel with his portable computer unit already out. He fed the leads into four carefully selected sockets and tapped away at the controls for, what seemed to Lieutenant Gratius, a lifetime. The actions were practiced and had been used a number of times on various rebellious worlds, but this time they were against an enemy so powerful that it seemed the sky would fall upon them upon the command of the Empire.

  The door hissed open and the section moved in two by two, each one of the two covering the opposite egress. Crouching, they let the next pair pass them while they covered the points of cover that may have been utilised by the Guard if they had heard the door opening in time to hide and effect an ambush. The lobby was clear; evidently the interior guards had been alerted to the possibility of an assault.

  “No time for subtlety, they’ve been alerted. Use Stingers to clear the rooms, don’t use grenades, we are in an armoury, There’s no telling what we might set off.”

  Stingers were shrapnel grenades that, instead of sharp pieces of metal, utilised rubber balls to ricochet around the affected room to disorientate and stun the persons within. Since there was no metal and a focussed charge the risk of an accidental detonation of the more powerful munitions was negligible, unless, of course, one was thrown into a box of grenades by accident. The bass thump of the Stingers followed the opening of the doors and the screams of the guards inside quickly followed as the rubber balls found their way into the cracks and crevasses of their body armour. The section had split into two and each element moved to clear each of the remaining rooms of the Armoury. A few shots later and the building was clear, the section could not afford to leave survivors.

  “Grab what you can carry, then we move out. Remember we won’t be coming back so grab the most useful equipment and shove it onto anti-grav trolleys, and carry as much as you can.” yelled Lieutenant Gratius.

  Gratius reached out and grabbed Curtius’ arm, “Sergeant, have you ever blown up an Imperial Armoury from the inside before?”

  Chapter 15

  The corpse of General Hostilius stared out across the battlefield, an object of horrible fascination. Many could not believe that it had happened. Was the insurrection spreading even to the faithful, to those most entrusted with the might of Sol Invictus? The insurgents had not been party to the knowledge of the actions of the General and so were astounded that such a sight assailed their senses. Were the Imperial forces executing their own simply for not having crushed the rebellion quickly? If so, then surely a concerted assault would follow for such continued failure would not be further tolerated. The cat and mouse games that had previously plagued them could no longer continue and only overwhelming force would be an acceptable course of action for the Empire.

  The decaying eyes of the corpse were oblivious to the speculation of which they, and the rest of their dead companions in mortality, were the subject; for they no longer held to this world. Drifting toward the putrefaction of the grave they pierced the veil not at all.

  Investigator Celeris gazed upward with an expression akin to arousal, the deaths of others seemed to replace the intimacy she had lost with her indentured service to the Empire. As with many families, hers had been poor and unable to support the needs of the full family, contraception being anthemia to a doctrine which centred upon the power and involvement of a supreme being. Sol Invictus must have a purpose for those he causes to be born and thus to tamper with his will would be to rebel against that purpose and render yourself unholy and apostate. As a result the only way to reduce familial sizes was to send children to be of service to the Empire. They would not rise to rank, but would be trained according to their aptitudes and made use of in the greater glory of the Empire. Investigator Celeris, she had long since forgotten her real name, had shown an aptitude for informing on her follow indenurates. Whatsoever the sin she would be found to have know of it and passed on every detail to the section priest. She had not even been required to be bribed with better conditions or treats. This was a rare find in a child of her tender years. It seemed as though the betrayal of her family in her mind would only find release in the suffering of others that went against the only carer that she had found to protect her, Sol Invictus himself. She had been a solitary child, sullen and unable to form close connections. In such a child the Inquisition had found a willing candidate, possessed of a grace that would serve as a ballet of death and suffering - better than in the dancing halls. Her time in the care of the Empire had not been all to her tastes, however, as when assigned to scullery duties in a planetary governor’s mansion she had been forced to endure that which no child should ever have to endure. The sweaty groping hands of party-goers who laboured under the impression that as she was indentured she was the property of their host and they could do whatsoever took their fancy. The power of the governor seemed to take care of the screams and rumours quite effectively. Nights spent crying face down into pillows had eventually took their toll on Celeris and she had started to turn into the withdrawn child in which the Inquisition had seen such promise. She had turned away from the priests who had ignored her pleas for help and turned to the only source of solace she could find, that of the scriptures of Sol Invictus. In this den of inequitude Celeris had discovered that not all who rise to power in the teachings of a God necessarily adhere to the principles they so publicly eschew. She would, whenever the opportunity presented itself, retire quietly to study the words of her personal saviour.

  Having spent many years tortured by this treatment Celeris had discovered a truth to her understanding of Sol Invictus. While he offered salvation he also expected action to cement this deal. Celeris came to the immediate conclusion that by passively accepting the abuse of the lecherous governor and his entourage she was in fact perpetrating the sins that they visited upon her and the others. She had decided not to allow this to happen again. Her blood boiled that she had been so cruelly tricked into betraying her faith and her anger lead her to creep into the room of the soporific governor, who had that night used a different girl of the age of nine. She gently tied his limbs to the bed; rings had been thoughtfully installed for that very purpose although their intended victim was very different.

  The screams roused the entire house, but the fear of disturbing one of their master’s “games” stayed any real attempt to find out the source of the din. Celeris had access to the kitchen and had procured, not as one would suggest a sharp knife, but a blunt one that was rusty and due to be sharpened. As she made the first of a series of cuts the governor had awoken and screamed promises and platitudes to save the assault on his manhood. As the loose skin of the foreskin peeled back blood began to obscure Celeris’s vision of the act she was performing. Unperturbed she occasionally used the silk sheets to dab away the blood that so disguised the organ she was attending. The folds came away easily and allowed her to continue with the more sensitive areas with more attached and thinner skin. She slipped a couple of times and rather than the neat one piece of skin she had hoped to extract she had ended up with tattered ribbons. The task had been harder than she had thought. It hadn’t helped that the perverse tastes of the governor had alternately produced throbbing and tightening of the skin as his penis hardened. Thankfully this quickly passed as she had carried on regardless, the pain dampening his ardour.

  Blood had soaked the sheets completely by the time the nine year-old girl had awoken from her drug induced coma enough to realise what was going on and run screaming fr
om the room. The running girl had brought the house guards who had uncharacteristically vomited as soon as the entered the governor’s bedroom. The sight of the torn genitalia carefully dissected with the blunt kitchen knife had turned all of their stomachs. The stricken pieces had been carefully arranged as though the dissector had wished to remember where they had all come from either to in some way re-assemble the fractured member, or to serve as a revision aid to be remembered when re-visiting this experience in the future.

  Celeris had been beaten senseless, not yet possessing the talents brought by the training of the Inquisition she had little choice but to be borne down by the rifle butts and the boots of her assailants. When dragged away afterwards it had seemed to her that every movement created little creaks as her body protested at the treatment she had endured. A macabre grin however was plastered across her face as she was carried down the corridors to face her fate, for she knew that whatever happened now she had performed Sol Invictus’ will.

  Sergeant Piso and Sergeant Bucco both arrived in time for the yellow blooms of fire to erupt from the doors and windows of the Armoury. Fearing the worst they looked to each other for ideas as to what to do next.

  “Don’t just stand there in the open lads, give us a hand with all this kit. We pulled enough out for you to carry as well. We even got you some anti-grav trolleys for you as well, aren’t we kind?” laughed Sergeant Curtius from behind them.

  The Squad, now re-united, felt more secure. There were apparent losses, however. Sergeant Bucco’s section had taken the brunt of the casualties as they had charged recklessly into a squad of Black Guard, and it was only the timely intervention of Sergeant Piso appearing on the flank that had saved them. Sergeant Bucco was reticent about admitting it but the incident in the alley that had slowed his progress had probably saved his life, for there was no way a reckless charge could have ended well while he was outnumbered. Half of his men had been cut down in the course of that engagement, most in that initial reckless charge, but a fair few in the ensuing melee, for the Black Guard were more proficient in close quarters combat, no matter how dirty the tricks his men attempted to use were. Surprise as a tactical advantage only works once, and once it is lost, it is lost forever. They had been almost overwhelmed when a rain of long range fire from cover had picked out the members of the Black Guard not actively engaged and a lightning charge had turned the tide, cutting down the remaining members who were too engaged to do anything to protect themselves.

  The Squad moved quickly to re-distribute the cash of weapons from its place of concealment, so that they could move out before an Imperial counterattack could be mounted. A sense of bonhomie spread over Calidius Squad as they fell into the tasks spread over the greater number. The shared knowledge that the majority had survived this served to bolster against the sense of loss at the deaths of their comrades. They all knew that the time to mourn would come later, if at all, dependant on their ultimate fate.

  “OK lads, time to make our way back to the rest of the party. Let’s get what prisoners we can from the adult section, then pick up the kids.” yelled Sergeant Curtius.

  Investigator Celeris watched the replay of the cameras shutting down in the Armoury; with little more than interest the second time round. The strike Calidius Squad had executed had been well-planned and had taken the commander of the Black Guard by surprise. The Investigator had only been informed after the explosion had taken out the bunker. Why the squad had made for the Armoury had startled her. Not only were they giving in to their weaker natures in their rescue of the children but they were going so much further in their revolt against the Empire. Such treachery in her mind needed to be severely punished.

  “As the C.O. of that little debacle has been killed I am unable to visit punishment upon him” stated Investigator Celeris in an emotionless tone. “Find out who promoted him and execute him in whatever way you can think of to break him down over a period of hours.”

  Investigator Celeris went back to watching the replay all over again. There was an enemy to analyse, understand and finally do what she did best, destroy. This simple Lieutenant had an air about him, careful and yet willing to take great risks to achieve what he set his mind to. If he hadn’t rebelled against the Empire he would have proved useful. Celeris pondered what his next move would be. A reckless man would attempt to punch through the perimeter using the squads’ greater concentration to break through a weak point. Celeris dismissed this option; it was too easily anticipated and did not take into account the moral choices of her target. He would attempt to counter her obvious advantages. She had greater numbers and firepower. This Lieutenant had already attempted to negate her advantage in firepower as best he could by liberating the contents of the Armoury before destroying the remnants he couldn’t use in order to deny her its contents. This meant that he would surely seek to augment his numbers to maximise his chances of obtaining his goals. The Black Guard had no qualms about the task to which they were assigned, it was a role which they had been given time and time again and they had never shown any sign of distaste. In fact the contrary seemed to be true; the only person that seemed to take greater pleasure in the persecution of the unholy was Investigator Celeris herself, albeit her pleasures were anchored in the cerebral pleasures of the pain she inflicted rather than the base gluttony of the Black Guard. Thus as a potential for conversion the might of the Black Guard seemed an unlikely target for conversion. The comm. links were encrypted to a point where it was unlikely that a Lieutenant with limited security clearance could use the Black Guard against her by deception. Re-enforcements were similarly unlikely as she could block any outgoing transmissions that did not contain the newly cycled codes, besides the Lieutenant would have a hard time, at the very least, trying to convince any Imperial Guard Regiments to commit to a rebellion over an obviously unsecured comms-link. Celeris compared the options that she would consider in the Lieutenant’s place and came to the inevitable conclusion that he would attempt in some way to use the Black Guard against her. It would not involve the use of the comm-link for she had taken sufficient precautions to exclude his use of that particular medium. Investigator Celeris pulled up the personnel file for Lieutenant Gratius. She read about a careful commanding officer, who rarely took unnecessary risks, but occasionally showed a rare flair when pushed for an objective that required either unconventional thinking or the sacrifice of a large section of men. As she poured through the history of Lieutenant Gratius and his various commendations (all of which had been refused for he was a face that did not fit; being far too reserved) she saw the influences of a number of historical figures; Telemarchus, Sun Tzu and Hannibal Barca. These commanders all had one thing in common; they would convince the enemy that they were where they were not and use this deception as a device to strike where the enemy was weakest. The problem lay in that her forces were evenly distributed and there was no such opportunity to drive a wedge into the lines and provoke a crossfire that would involve the Black Guard fighting each other each believing the other group was the Imperial Guard. This would be best achieved at night to maximise the confusion.

  The bright lights on the digital map marked out the positions of the troops at Investigator Celeris’ disposal. There was really no way to tell which way the Lieutenant would strike as the dots were all evenly distributed around the perimeter of the encampment. If nothing was done there would be a good chance she would be left on the back foot and forced merely to react to whatever tactic the Lieutenant would produce from his unconventional mind. Investigator Celeris hated to be forced into reactionary tactics, it spoke of lack of control and she hated not being in control for that way was the path to defeat and she had sworn never to be defeated again, for would that not speak to the ungodliness of her quest. Such an outcome was unthinkable for her desires and purpose came from Sol Invictus himself and defeat would undermine his greatness. No, the tactic would be somehow to provoke a response. Celeris wondered if there was any way to use what she knew about the
Lieutenant to force a rash action. She returned to the video playback to analyse not just the tactics but also the mannerisms and the character of this hitherto unremarkable man.

  The crunch of the heavy tracks of the machines reverberated around the heads of even the shielded audio of the Black Guard as the artillery took their stations above the compound of Rome. Massive barrels rose majestically to the sky in tandem, the computer controls synchronising the movements of the battery. Computer signals raced between the massive machines calculating trigonometry, windspeed and other various factors so that the impact of their deadly expulsions would arrive simultaneously. Marvels of death and destruction, a concert of deadly economy of movement, the enormous machines moved like dancers in the dusk light. The deadly dance ceased with a silence of foreboding, all eyes turned to the almost vertical alignment of the barrels, which allowed for maximum penetrating power and explosive devastation over a limited splash zone.

  Lieutenant Gratius and the remains of the squad extricated themselves from the embraces of the surviving prisoners they had just liberated. Although partly responsible for their captivity and subsequent treatment the actions of the squad over the long march had at least in part allowed some semblance of forgiveness, that and their conversion to a cause of liberation allowed the enmity to be placed to one side for the moment. Although many of the prisoners had expressed pacifist tendencies, the vast majority had agreed to be armed and would serve to repulse assaults on the ground currently held, and unfortunately encircled by the Imperial forces. Those who were pacifists were drafted into medical and logistical duties.