High Command had made a mess of things - it wasn't the first time, and it surely wouldn't be the last! The saddest part was that some of them may even have believed the propaganda in the pages of the [i]Uplifting Primer[/i], that the Greenskins were simply mindless beasts without thought, or that they were incapable of anything but the most rudimentary tactics and strategies. 

Well, it seemed that the last couple of hours had shown this to be nothing but nonsense, nonsense that Sergeant Bourne unfortunately already knew before he had even been flung into this corpse-scattered, limb-strewn cesspit of a conflict; he had fought the 'Skins before, in fact the Praetorians were well known for it, and he therefore knew that they had two deities, 'Gork' the bloody and brutal one and 'Mork' the cunning and semi-intelligent one. These two gods formed the basis for most things in Orkoid culture, including the way they fought, and Warboss Thrakta was undoubtedly a student of both forms of war.

All through the ruined husk of the planets capital city the Orks had left little presents for their Imperial attackers and pursuers - exploding artillery pieces, tripwire mines and, as he had just seen, piles of corpses stuffed with explosives. Nevertheless, shattered, whittled down to below half their original strength, and torn to shreds by these hulking aliens, the Guard would not back down and in true fashion rolled steadily forward instead.

Bourne had watched as Ninke lost her most of her limb, yet he had also seen a dozen of his own men lose much more than that, for they had been the deepest into the pile of Cadian bodies at the time. War had hardened him to the death of others, so much so that he sometimes pondered upon whether any emotion remained to him at all, but seeing young men and women laying torn open and spilling their innards out onto the shattered ground still churned his stomach and caused him to shake his head at the futility of it all.

Slowly but surely the combined column of 'left breachers' made their way toward the central point of the city, some walking, some limping, but most moving on in a cautious half-crouch and starting at the slightest hint of an enemy; how they even got the cathedral at all was a question that the Sergeant imagined only the Emperor could answer...but they got there in the end.

"Looks like we're not the first ones here," he grunted to a nearby Private, casting an eye at the structure before them with a short whistle.

It was about this time that something came over the vox...

"All callsigns, this is Lima-Delta-Zero. Be advised, we are approaching the objective from the west. We are five mikes out. Over."

"Who do you think that lot are then?" Asked the Private, his hand moving nervously around the trigger of his weapon, at least they're Guard, s'uppose."

"Aye."

"Colour-Sergeant!" Came a shout, the figure of Lieutenant Greyson advancing swiftly toward him with a purpose, "Lieutenant," responded the NCO as he snapped off a perfect salute, "what can I do for you?"

"I've no doubt that you heard that vox-cast?" The young officer waited for an affirmative and went on, "it seems that our other half have gotten into the city and are close, very close; I want you to take two squads of hand-picked soldiers and move to the cathedral, I will bring the rest of us up behind you, very closely behind you."

"Right you are, Lieutenant."

Within ten minutes of sprinting through the various formations and sections of the survivors he had his vanguard - some twenty four men and women from the Tushiena, Albakin and Hirisit that would go forward with him, Belgond 'the Hero' (@Bright_Ops) being one of those chosen. It would mean leaving the woman that he seemed to care so dearly about, but on the other hand it would mean helping to secure the location before anyone else.

"Welcome, Private Belgond," beamed the Sergeant as he gathered the soldiers about him and began to speak more generally about the task ahead, "we are going to secure that cathedral, although word has it that some of the Tushiena are already there," there was a small tut of annoyance from someone which made Bourne smile even more, "keep low, keep to cover, and we will all live to see another day. So, let's move out."

Very soon they were off down the road, the road to death or glory.


[hr]


[@Ozymandias]

"To all commanders, this is Lord Militant Van Deer, you are to advance into the city with all speed. Operation Overlap is a a-go. Emperor be with you all."

Those listening to the broadcast would have been only those within the Second Wave hierarchy, each given much more detailed plans - plans for Operation Overlap - to enter the city and essentially encircle the Greenskins that were [i]supposed[/i] to react to the occupation of the cities central axis. Of course, few things ever went perfectly to plan.

There would be at least five full regiments of Kriegers, the sombre ranks accompanied by forces from Cadia, Mordia, Terrax and Karelia, as well as several armoured columns and close-range artillery pieces all sent to pound the opposition into dust.

Meanwhile a report had reached the HQ about the total annihilation of the Endoran 3rd, the entire command wiped out to a man after being cut off from their Elysian report, the Elysians becoming bogged down in turn; it appeared that their only hope would be a regiment closer at hand or, at the very last, elements of the Second Wave coming to their rescue.

Yes, thought Van Deer, the battle was progressing along nicely.