Silver manned the main gun of a Leman Russ Battle Tank when he regained awareness. The glimpse of the war ongoing outside the confines of the tank was dreadful, taking in the devastation that the world had suffered… It was almost too much to shoulder.
Assimilating with the knowledge and experiences of his current fleshy container, Silver found he could operate and fire the main battle cannon deftly, if not expertly. It was a strange sensation, one he had experienced countless times before. For him, the novelty of the situation had waned.
“All right, boys! New orders from allied command… A general retreat was just ordered! They’ve… They’ve called for Exterminatus…” Reeve, the Commander of the Leman Russ Tank started off strong in relaying orders, before faltering and stumbling over his words. Exterminatus… The complete and utter annihilation of all life on the target planet. “We are to reinforce Superheavy Epsilon Five, her volcano cannon is the only thing we have going for us against the traitor god-machine… We’re the last line of defense between it and our brothers and sisters of the 75th while they retreat… Forward driver! For Cadia!”
“For Cadia!” The crew of the tank, Silver included, echoed. It was an ingrained habit, something that came with the body he now inhabited. Since the fall of Cadia in the thirteenth black crusade, the saying had spread throughout the ranks of the forces which originated from the planet.
Silver maintained vigilance, awaiting the enemy armor that would most likely advance on Epsilon Five. The only remaining Shadowsword of the 75th. It could wither the assault of the lesser enemies for a time, but even she could not do so forever. Its design was not for such a role, rather, it was an anti-titan tank. Possessing a full-sized volcano cannon as a primary weapon provided the Shadowsword with the means to slay even a god-machine, the massive titans of the battlefield.
As their tank moved to support Epsilon Five, Silver witnessed their sister Leman Russ Tank taking a direct hit and exploding in a ball of flame. Silver replied in kind to their attacker, angling the gun and firing their 120mm cannon downrange. The armour-piercing high explosive shell flew true, striking into a traitor Leman Russ which had hidden in the noxious poison gas that coated the battlefield.
‘This isn’t looking good… It’s not even a matter of whether we can protect Epsilon Five anymore, rather it's whether we can even make it to her.’ Silver thought grimly as the loaded finished reloading the gun. With a target already picked out by Silver, another shell flew downrange into a cluster of infantry that were nearing the stationary Epsilon Five.
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As the shell exploded and wiped out the group, Epsilon Five finally fired her main cannon downrange towards the ever-nearing god-machine. A piercing flash of light blinded Silver momentarily as the volcano cannon fired. High pitched crackling screamed around the area as the laser super-heated the air. Yet just as fast as it arrived, the piercing laser-light vanished along with the noise.
During the chaos of the volcano cannon firing, the Leman Russ Tank that Silver was in finally arrived to shield Epsilon Five. As the sponson weaponry on either side of the tank opened up, they cut droves of chaos cultists down. Silver meanwhile opened fire on another armored advance that was blitzing towards Epsilon Five. Yet, this was the least of their worries, as the god-machine that the Shadowsword had fired on was standing once more, the previous shot having not been enough to finish it.
The sounds of battle seemed to blend as Silver methodically ended the lives of those in the traitorous armored forces. Tanks exploded left and right, yet it was not without sacrifice. Already Silver’s tank had received near critical damage, immobilizing it and killing all but Silver and Erlen, respectively the gunner and loader of the tank.
The crazed infantry of the forces of Chaos, Cultists, were rushing forward even now to swarm over the immobile Leman Russ Tank. Silver could see the end, first they would die, then the crew of the Shadowsword, followed by most if not all the retreating allied forces. They lost this day. At least Exterminatus will end these traitors.
Yet something occurred that Silver could of never predicted. The Shadowsword, Epsilon Five, was moving once more. Blazing across the battlefield in mere moments, the massive tank approached the recovering god-machine and suddenly self-detonated. Taking the god-machine down at the cost of their lives. In doing so, they had run over a good portion of the advancing cultists, and drew the fire away from Silver’s tank.
‘Damn, looks like I gave up too soon… Well, if they’re going down in a blaze of glory, I sure as hell am too.’ Silver thought. Yelling to the loader to get ready, Silver unleashed his full natural talent as a gunner. Shells flew downrange, only stopping for brief moments as the loader would ready another.
Many traitor tanks exploded as they had exposed their less-armored sides and rears, having turned to assault the Shadowsword in her advance. Silver could practically see the points rolling in as he reaped the lives of his foe. Finally, they ran out of shells…
Looking towards Erlen, Silver said, “For Cadia.” Grabbing a laspistol from the corpse of their commander, he opened the hatch and breathed in the poisonous air outside. Leaping from the tank onto the scorched earth below, Silver gunned down several cultists as he felt his lungs burn. Erlen had meanwhile gotten into a sponson heavy bolter and begun firing on the approaching cultists with what little ammunition remained.
As the cultists overwhelmed their position, Silver fell back and saw streaks of stars falling towards the planet… Exterminatus had just begun. With his last bit of consciousness, Silver commanded the system to store his laspistol into the inventory. It was time to see if his gambit would pay off.