Anton continued to stare at the floor of the Valkerie as it cleared the Hanger Doors of the destroyer Lex Talionis. Even as the void screamed around him, he kept his vision on the floor. He had never been in space before; he'd never even left his continent back on Elysia. And yet, here he was, on board a valkyrie for the first wave of what he had heard some of the Veterans call a suicide mission.
He finally looked up as he received a light tap on his pauldron. Looking over, he spotted his Sergeant, Alsia of house Horov. She said, "You're the new field chirurgeon, right?"
"Yes sir", he said automatically, letting go of his lasgun to give her the symbol of the Aquila.
"Good", she said, letting go of the roof-mounted handle in order to sit down next to him. "What's your name?"
"Anton, sir", he said, returning his grip to his lasgun.
She snorted, examining her laspistol. "Anton. Who'd you piss off to be assigned to the first wave?"
Anton said, "I don't know, sir."
She laughed. "Fair enough. I don't know either. Still, better than being stuck on one of the Grav-Cones in a way." A brief silence returned, broken by the roar of the engines and the actions of the other troopers in the bay of the Valkerie. Finally, she once again broke it by asking, "You're one of the Whiteshields that Vandrak pushed through training in order to fill out this mission?"
"Y-yes sir", he said. "H-how could you tell?"
"Besides the fact that you've just been assigned to us as a part of the fresh batch?", she asked. "Your hands."
"My hands?", he asked, looking down at them.
"They're shaking. The ones who come from the PDF don't. Well, they don't as much. Point is, I can tell that this your first drop."
Sure enough, they were shaking. Not much, but enough in order to give his lasgun a slight sway as it rested in between his legs. He nodded slowly, before saying, "I'll, I'll try not to let you down, sir."
"'Victory needs no explanation, defeat allows none'", she quoted, putting her laspistol back in its holster. She shot a quick look at the cockpit, as well as the flashing light behind the pilot's door. "Just get yourself read and remember which levers do what. Drop zone's coming up."
+++++~+++++
Anton's boots slammed into the rough surface, his legs bending on instinct to lessen his impact on the ground. A good thing too, as a hail of autogun fire sailed over where his head would've been. He sprang forward, his lasgun swinging back and forth in front of him as he ran. He was vaguely aware of his squad doing the same, sprinting towards a small outcropping on the edge of the drop zone.
Looking up, he spotted a Lyimicus soldier standing on the outcropping. The pirate was likely the source of the fire, it stopping being to him scrambling with another magazine. Barely slowing down, Anton raised his lasgun, his training, and his Photo-visor aiding him in finding his target. He stopped, steadying his aim, and squeezing off a shot. The red bolt of energy sailed into the Pirate, the thin armor unable to protect him. As Anton began to run again, he was aware that the Pirate had collapsed forward, slumped into the rocks.
Anton finished his sprint to the rocks, slamming his shoulder into the clump of rocks. He stole a look back at the open patch among the craggy rocks, watching as other Drop Troopers landed. Around forty of them, the Valkeries peeling off as the last of them landed.
His attention was drawn back to the other side of rocks by a feral shriek. He braced his lasgun to his shoulder and peeked over the top. He brought his head back down just as a winged beast flew over the top of the rocks. It swooped down like a Dive-bomber on one of the Troopers, using its hook-like talons to rip the troopers clean off in a spurt of blood. Across the outcroppings, several more of the winged beasts flew over, diving on and attacking the Troopers.
"What the frak are these?", one of the troopers next to him yelled. Before Anton could reply, a clattering slammed into the rocks and sent up a series of chips.
"Lysimicus!", another trooper yelled, before firing over the rocks. Anton once again peeked over the top, his Photo-Visor aiding in spotting his targets. Sure enough, his Visor picked up the outlines of Lysmicus militia among the rocks, their human forms broken up occasionally by the unnatural shapes of mutants among them. The sight of the malformed heretics caused Anton to near, before bringing up his own lasgun.
His training kicked in. While it was true he had been rushed through training, it was still Elysian training. He was by no means a poor soldier, and this was his chance to prove that. He squeezed one eye shut, the one that was still open scanning the rocks for a good target. Soon, one showed itself; a mutant carrying a heavy stubber on its shoulder. Anton once again squeezed the trigger, his prayer barely finished as the mutant crumpled.
Next to him, a heavy bolter blazed to life. Near where he was aiming, he watched as the Pirate Militia in the area practically exploded. The Emperor's wrath ripped into them, sending them sprawling with bits and pieces torn off of their forms. Still, he kept his eyes open, scanning back and forth for the enemy.
After a bit, he tore his eyes off of the craggy rocks. He looked down his side of the outcropping, eyeing the Elysians spread out among them for cover. He slung his lasgun over his shoulder and reached behind his back. He pulled out his Medkit and began to head down the line in order to look for any wounded.
As he passed, a few of them looked back at him with a similar expectation. Most shook their heads, indicating that they didn't need any. Finally, he came to one leaning with his back to the rocks. He said, "Hey."
Anton nodded, kneeling down and pulling out his Dignosicator. A few taps on the metal frame caused the screen to blaze to life, and a few more taps caused it to start up and examine the trooper. A few seconds went by, before a beep sounded and an image appeared on the screen.
"Autogun wound, right shoulder", Anton said.
The trooper said, "I know. How bad?"
"Not bad", Anton said. "You'll be apart of the first ones out, but until then, a bit of Morphia should be enough to keep you fighting." As he spoke, he pulled out the plastic bottle and one of his injectors. He sucked up a small amount of the viscous liquid, before sliding it under the Trooper's pauldron. He pushed in the stopper, causing the trooper to groan. Soon, the injector was empty, and Anton pulled out a bandage.
As he was tying some gauze to keep it in place, fresh gunfire erupted from the other side, met by the cracking of lasguns. Next to Anton, another trooper fell back, a hole where his left eye was. Anton sighed, closing his medkit and taking the dead troopers' place.
As he peeked over the rocks, his eyes widened at the sight of the incoming assault. A fresh wave of mutants and heretics were clambering across the rocks. Those that had ranged weapons were firing them wildly, while some were merely lumbering along with clubs, long knives, or boarding pikes. At their head, striding calmly amid the wall of returning fire, stood a Heretic Astartes.
Anton had been fortunate to see an Astartes once before; a Techmarine visiting his father's workplace at one of Elysia's Void Shield generators. This was far from the massive figure; the dark red armor being the only similarity. This beast seemed to flicker with non-physical fire, a focal point around his black and silver bolt pistol. Spikes stuck out of his breastplate and pauldrons, while a single, curved horn stuck out of his helmet. Speaking of his helmet, it seemed to ripple, the base of the beak-like faceplate seeming to possess wicked, needle-esque teeth. In its other hand, it raised a sputtering chainsword, spurring on the charging mass of damned flesh.
The others around him immediately jumped into action. A wall of lasfire rippled out, slamming into the charging mass. Anton did the same, probing his lasgun up on the rocks as he reached back for a grenade. He stopped his rapid squeezing of the trigger just long enough to bring the pin to his mouth, pulling the pin and tossing it in one fluid motion. Other troopers did the same, a small wave of death flying out and falling amongst the heretics.
Anton brought his free hand back up to the grip, swiveling the lasgun back and forth in search of targets. Cut down by either the grenades or the accurate fire of the Drop Troopers, most of the heretics lay dead. A few were backing up, still pouring fire into the Elysian position, while a fresh tide of them poured over the rocks. The Astartes was among the dead, a gaping hole in his chest from a krak missile.
A shadow passed overhead, blocking out the dull light that came from Veyland Sinsetres gas giant. As the last of them fled over the rocks, Anton looked back into the facsimile of a sky.
Above them stood one of the Gravity-cone Platforms that were key to Captain Vandrak's plan. The ancient hulk slowed to a halt, its autocannons lighting up the darkness as it fired on Traitor void-craft. Soon, shimmering funnels of altered gravity flowed down from it, followed by dark shapes falling down it.
Spilling free from the cones came Cadian troopers, pushing past one another to escape the funnels. A few Elysians also came down via Grav-Chute, discarding them amongst the dead and the other chutes. Soon, a sizable amount of Cadian troops spilled forward, pouring over the top of the rocks in a fervent counter-assault.
He was drawn back to reality by Sergeant Alsia, who yelled, "Anton! Go give Ridger help getting the wounded out!"
Anton nodded, leaving the line to head over towards a pair of landing Valkeries. Fresh troops spilled out of them, while a few troopers with medical armbands waved over the wounded. Anton gripped one of the ones who could barely stand, helping lay him on a stretcher in the bay. Soon, the bay of the Valkerie was filled with over twenty wounded, and Anton and Ridger were backing out of the bay.
Another, darker patch of shadow passed over the top of the Valkerie. Looking up, the two of them spotted a pair of the winged creatures diving down. One sailed further over towards the engine, while the other dove down on Ridger. Anton was knocked back by the impact of the creature on the Gunships boarding ramp, while Ridger was torn apart by the beast and its hooked claws.
Anton turned to the side, spotting Ridgers discarded Meltagun. He rolled over, grabbing the weapon and bringing it up at the beast. It turned to him just as the weapon charged up. A bolt of white-hot energy shot forward, boring a hole clean through the chest of the thing. It crumpled back, hissing and steaming.
Before Anton could react, however, the Valkerie lurched to the side. Anton was thrown back into the bay, by some miracle not slamming into one of the others already inside. The Valk seemed to sway like a drunkard back and forth, until it finally listed fully to one side. Anton was thrown into one of the heavy bolters by the door, wincing at the impact. Looking at the bay, Anton watched as it fell over the side of the Planetoid, falling into the null-gravity pull of the gas giant. Anton had just enough time to slide on his respirator before everything went black.
+++++~+++++
Princess Celestia's eyes jerked open. She sat up in her bed, twisting her neck to look outside. All that greeted her was the starry wall of the night sky. Yet, for some reason, something about it was off.
She climbed out of her bed, heading for the balcony of her bedroom. Standing behind the gilded railing, she looked out over Canterlot and the land beyond. In the distance, far below Mount Canterhorn, she saw a small shape fly down. At first glance, it appeared to be a shooting star. However, from her vantage point and the angle it was going down, it clearly wasn't. She didn't know what it was; a dragon, or some creature of the Everfree? That was what her mind told her. However, she knew it wasn't that. The feeling she got from it, as well as the burst of magic that accompanied the shape, were different than the beasts of the Everfree. In fact, they were vaguely... familiar.
She then shifted her gaze over towards the Maze. Specifically, at the Statue of Discord.