//------------------------------// // Chapter 4. // Story: Litany of Sacrifice // by Reactor //------------------------------// "We're the Death Korps of Krieg, son. Did you think that was just a pretty name? We never retreat. We fight and we die, that's the Krieg way." -- Lieutenant Konarski, 933rd Death Korps of Krieg "Dad? Is mommy going to be okay?" "Of course honey. Mom's going to be alright." The beige pegasus put a wing over his daughter while they peered through a window into a white room. In the middle of the room was a lone bed occupied by a single mare. A wife and a mother. Rest of the room was filled with the most advanced medical equipment. Another pony, wearing a protective clothing, entered the isolated room. She stopped next to the bed and said something to the lone resident of the room. The stallion outside assumed it was about how she felt or if she needed something. The patient tilted her head towards a plastic bottle sitting on a bedside table and opened her mouth weakly. The grabbed the bottle with her levitation spell and held it close to the mare's mouth, tilting it a little bit. The bedfast patient took a few gulps before the nurse levitated the bottle back onto the table. Just as the nurse put the bottle onto the table, the pegasus on the bed started to tremble, her muscles convulsing. Foam started to pour out of her mouth, colored red from her own blood and her eyes were glazed. The nurse quickly pressed a button hanging from the ceiling, putting off an alarm. "Let's go honey. The nurses don't need any more disruptions." The stallion said as he grabbed the filly and hastily started to trot towards the exit. More nurses came running past them, going into the isolated room. The little filly waved to her mother with watery eyes, bidding her goodbye. "Good bye mom. I'll come to see you again soon." Crask woke up on his cot, covered with a random old rag. He felt better with at least something covering him while sleeping, even if he didn't need it because of the sealed clothing he wore under his commissar uniform. It felt more human to him, so to say. After stretching his stiff limbs, he started to walk towards the tent that acted as a mess hall. It was on the other side of the small outpost the Death Korps had established on a clearing deep in the forest. Every day more and more men had arrived at the base, either by themselves or escorted by the reconnaissance parties they sent out daily. It had been almost two weeks since the incident on Kheltan III. The parties had had several contacts, every time being attacked, rather than the ones attacking. Contact was to be avoided until they had more manpower and equipment. The soldiers had reported of creatures similar to the ones Crask and the other Kriegsmen had encountered. But one party had reported of different, equine-like creatures. They hadn't encountered these creatures in combat, as they were ordered to mainly survey the surrounding area. The soldiers thought that the creatures were likely not to cause any harm, as most of them looked almost like kids, compared to the two bigger ones with them. With the men had arrived more equipment, ammunition and arsenal. On his way to the improvised mess hall, Crask passed a Hellhound, its crew doing maintenance on the tank. As every morning. Crask didn't bother to bid them a 'good morning' as they wouldn't respond, and if they did, it was a mere nod at the most. He thought, that even that was more because of his rank than their actual desire to do so. The commissar arrived at the mess hall. He looked for the queue meant for officers and, after locating it, stood behind the only individual in the queue. The line for regular troopers wasn't that long either, taking in account their superior number compared to officers, holding a dozen or so troopers. Most of the Kriegsmen preferred to eat their own rations through their gas masks. Crask could hear some of the soldiers talking amongst themselves, probably about praising the God Emperor or something similar to that. After the lieutanent in front of him had his ration, Crask stepped forwards, bidding the trooper rationing the food a good morning. "Sir." Was the only thing the trooper said in a monotone voice. He put a portion of the disgusting looking food on a wooden slab and handed it to the commissar. Crask lifted his gaze from the so called food, nodded at the Kriegsman and walked away to someplace where he could eat in peace. He walked to a pond that bordered the southern part of the base. There he could eat his meal in peace. The frozen pond seemed to sparkle, bright sunlight reflecting from the icy surface and snowy surroundings. There were a few Kriegsmen close to him that were carrying crates to and fro, but Crask wasn't taking notice of them. Every morning he came to this pond to eat his meal, enjoying the fresh air and beautiful scenery. Sometimes he wondered what it'd be like to live in this place, alone, away from the war raging across the worlds. But he was no traitor. Still, it was a tempting thought... The sound of snow scrunching under boots brought him back to reality. He turned around and saw a random lieutenant whom he didn't recognize, standing behind him, arms crossed behind his back. Not like he would recognize them anyway, except from the numbers on their shoulder pads. "Commissar, you are needed at the HQ post-haste." The lieutenant said and turned to leave, most likely also heading to the HQ. Sometimes Crask wished he could just rip the Kriegers' masks off to see even a glance of the men he was talking to, and serving the God Emperor with. He left his half eaten meal on the snow and headed towards the HQ. Someone would clean it up anyway, and if not, he'd come back and take care of it himself.The lieutenant had already disappeared from Crask's sight as he walked past the trenches. It took them a fair amount of time to dig through the frozen ground, to construct even moderate trenches. The base was not in the least finished, probably never would be. Crask arrived at the simple tent that served as their HQ. In the middle of the tent were a few planks balanced between two rocks, serving as a table. On it was a crude map with markings of places of interest, encounters and what not. Around the table he saw Major Bellrath, the lieutenant who came to get him, whom he now identified as Lieutenant 12, and a Watchmaster who seemed to be from the 16th infantry company in of which ranks Crask himself served. Crask nodded towards the general direction of the men, all of them returning the gesture with a nod of their own. The major was the first one to speak. "Commissar, glad you could join us. This is Watchmaster 30 from our company. He has interesting intel from a reconnaissance mission they executed in the early hours of this morning. Watchmaster?" He waved a hand towards the Kriegsman, signaling him to take over the briefing. "We were patrolling the area to south-west. Around here." He pointed at a red pebble on the makeshift map. "Five kilometers from our base, we encountered unknown creatures. Judging by the report of the equine like creatures our patrols encountered before, these seemed to be of the same breed. They seemed to be capable of intelligent thinking, infering to the fact, that they seemed to be conversing. Their outfits seemed military and they carried weaponry. Swords and spears mostly. With them were two apparatuses, that seemed to be transports of some sort." The Watchmaster paused to let the commissar take in all the information before continuing. "Also, two of these equines were different from the others. As most of them were fairly small on size, these two were significantly larger. Their outfits were distinct from the others', as they wore crowns on their heads and heavy necklaces on their necks. But the most prominent feature on them was their hair and tail, as they seemed to blow in the wind, albeit there was none. Also the larger white one's hair was the color of green, blue and light red, when the slightly smaller blue one's looked like the night sky." The commissar was deep in thought as the watchmaster ended his report. The equines didn't know of the humans, at least not that they knew of it. Could the gryphons have informed them? Were they even allies? Concluding from the watchmaster's description, the equines were militarized. The two taller figures seemed like important individuals, and if they were out with soldiers, it had to be because of something important. Crask was brought back to reality from his musing by the major. "We have three Death Riders. I think we should make out the most of them and send them to try to seek out these creatures and observe them. In case they were to be detected, they'd have the strength, speed and agility to at least cripple the force and get back to the base and report of their findings." Crask wasn't a man who rushed his decisions and acts. "I agree with sending the Death Riders to tail the equines. But, if they'd attack in case of being detected, they'd endanger their lives and allow a chance of capture. We cannot jeopardize the base and risk the chance of losing men, especially when our manpower is low and equipment scarce." The watchmaster decided to share his thoughts on the matter. "If I may state my thoughts, I agree with the commissar. Our chances of survival and hence serving the Emperor would improve if we had more intel regarding the local races, military and the planet itself." The major couldn't agree with the fact, that intel was vital at the moment. Their most likely upcoming opponents were foreign to them, and the more they knew of them, the better they would manage in battle. And there was always the possibility of capturing a new planet for the Imperium. What a better way to serve the Emperor, than sacrificing one's life for a possible new hive-, forge-, or, judging from the planet's surface so far, agri-world. "It's decided then. Watchmaster, inform the Death Riders to execute the order at once. Repeat everything you told us, to them and give them all the intel they need. Dismissed." The royal sky carriage was soaring through the skies of northern Equestria, a troop carriage following its wake. Inside the troop carriage were total of ten guardsponies from both Celestia's and Luna's personal bodyguards, five from each. Inside the smaller carriage sat the two alicorns. Celestia turned to face her younger sibling. "You can still turn back, you know that Luna?" Luna huffed, clearly irritated of her sister's continuing innuendo to let her handle the situation alone. "As a co-ruler of Equestria, I'm supposed to be taking care of the nation's security, just as much as you are. I'm not backing down, and that's final." Celestia sighed. "I know sister, and I appreciate your urge to handle our nation's security. I'm just worried of your safety, that's all." Luna turned towards her sister. She couldn't believe Celestia was trying to turn her down of the thought of taking part to the meeting, because she didn't want to endanger her, when Celestia herself didn't seem to be concerned for her own safety at all. She wouldn't had even taken more than two guards with her, if it wasn't for Luna demanding for ten guards to be taken with them, at the least. "So you're concerned for my safety, but what about your own? Don't you care of yourself at all? Imagine how it would impact our subjects if their ruler was to be injured by a hostile act from a neighbouring nation. Or even killed. Imagine how that would affect their belief of their rulers, their morale Imagine how I would feel if something happened to you!" Luna didn't notice, that she was shouting the last part, until she saw her sister cringing. Luna sighed and continued. "I know you only want the best for me, but you have to think of yourself too. I love you, and you know that. I don't want anything to happen to you too, that's one of the reasons why I'm coming with you. I'm no foal, Tia. I need to take responsibility." Luna looked out of the window when she felt a muzzle on her neck. "I'm sorry Lulu. I didn't realize it meant so much to you. Of course I want to let you to attend to matters concerning our nation. If my protective side gets a hold of me, just poke me with your horn or something." Luna let a smile creep across her muzzle and returned her sister's nuzzle.