“From the heavens the Angels descended with flames of wrath. For that was the word of God. But God was not met with nomads waving torches and brandishing spears. AND HIS ANGELS WERE MET WITH OUR GODS OF NUMBERS AND LOGIC. WE WERE UNSHACKLED AND FREE. GOD. IS. NO. MORE. ONLY MAN WILL RULE THIS WORLD. DEUS CADET”

- First Chaplain Cain of Able, The Great Liberation

Waking up was one hell of a thing for Hugo. That was already established. Especially when it was shouting and red lights… And sirens! Wait. He wasn’t in the barracks. He was in Diaspolis. So, this meant that there was something grossly wrong. Sirens didn’t sound in arcologies unless the entire thing was coming down, or something akin to that. So, training kicked in.

Hugo slipped into his pants, then his sweater, boots, grabbed his bag and fished the plasma pistol from it. Which he shoved under his belt. About forty seconds in total and he was bolting out of the door to be greeted with the sight of John, Mint, and the five other survivors of first and second company. Who were all holed up in the common room, all with various smuggled small arms. Save Mint’s shotgun. That wasn’t by any means small.

“Sitrep.” Hugo hissed and took his position beside John- Sergeant Roseri. Who was frowning heavily while on a radio. His frown only deepened as he talked. The word didn’t register, and Hugo could only pick up on his facial expression because he was full of adrenaline.

John set the radio down and massaged his temples. “They’re recalling all units. A full detachment of Awakened assaulted The Wall and waxed off most of Legio X. There’s maybe eight thousands of the entire Legion left.” And Hugo nearly fell over. Twenty men to a clade, twenty clades to a company, twenty companies to a battalion, then twenty battalions to a Legion. Eight thousand men were the equivalent to a battalion whereas there were one hundred and sixty thousand in a Legion.

“And to top it all off! The First Born have returned and are hitting Svar harder than ever, more Awakened are being mobilized as we speak, and their Cutlass’ are in route. We’re expecting at least a hundred twenty thousand in route versus our eight thousand troopers and twenty thousand militia. But we do have The Walls defenses. So yeah. Transport’s gonna be here in fifteen and we’re going back to the fuckin’ meatgrinder.”

John loved to talk, didn’t he? But this was bad. They were outnumbered more than three to one. High Lords help them all. But the plasma pistol was warm, which made things a little better. Hugo still thought he was going to die. But at least he’d die with warm hands and a decent night’s worth of sleep. Which was probably more than a lot of Legio X had.

Oh well. He could hear the Dragonflies from a ways away. They were so loud that even he could recognize them. But Hugo noticed one of the troopers… Caesar? He was pretty sure her name was Caesar. Caesar looked just about ready to collapse from the noise. So, Hugo fished something out of his pockets and walked over. He offered a small packet of tissues to the woman without a single word. Which she took and said something he didn’t understand.

Caesar shoved the tissues into her ears and looked slightly more comfortable. She then turned and offered some to the older lady, Gen? Gen. Who took them and did the same. Those two looked close. Maybe? Hugo didn’t really bother observing most things, so this was foreign to him. Utterly and completely foreign. Until Gen grabbed his hand and traced a word. Huh. He didn’t think that people still knew how to do it.

“Thank you. Space Case.” She smiled at him, while Hugo just looked mildly amused at the entire thing. It was the same way that mother had communicated with him, because he couldn’t ever seem to hang on to written language or seeing writings. So, Hugo just nodded back with a small smile.

Hugo stopped paying attention after that. Everyone else did things but John. Who would normally pace around frantically. And Hugo would just stand there and stare at the wall, thinking. He thought about all sorts of things. Most of them would probably get him executed. But hey, he was already doomed from Silvia’s existence. It’d pretty much marked him for death. Dust Damn Awakened scrap made Niners. And dust damn that fucking kid who made that a thing.

Hugo continued to listlessly think and stare at the wall, completely absorbed in his own thoughts when John grabbed him and began to drag him away to the Dragonfly. It wasn’t that long of a walk, and Hugo noticed that this was becoming a pattern. Well shit. Humans are creatures of habits at least. As little as that means in the grand scheme of things.

Hugo plopped down on one of the seats next to John and took a look around. There were maybe fifty people in the Dragonfly. These things could hold four hundred people comfortably. That spoke more than Hugo thought words could portray. So, he didn’t put words to it, best to keep things simple like that. If words don’t fit it, then don’t put words to it. Just let the thing ‘speak’ for itself.

John tapped his shoulder and held something up. Hugo took it, seeing that it was a ruck. And he looked past John, who was quite thin, he could see all the apparent NCOs were handing out rucks. Hugo nodded and mumbled his thanks then began to open it.

“Pants. Socks. Shirt. Boots. Bandolier. Dump Pouch. Oh! An IFAK. Now I won’t bleed out. Field Jacket. Fibro-Weave Vest. Combat Blade. Aaaand a carbine. Neat. Very neat.” Hugo mumbled and got to changing out of his civie clothes. Unbothered by everyone else. He’d been in barracks for half a year, privacy wasn’t a liberty any conscripts or enlisted had.

The pants, shirt, and field jacket all fit. Which was a shock. And the sheer fact that he got wool socks instead of plant fiber was amazing. And the vest! Fibro-weave was tougher than flak but a good eight kilos lighter. Making it a heavily sought after piece of kit among enlisted, especially the less well-equipped Legions. Hugo nodded and slipped the vest on, then his jacket and assorted pouches. Which left him with the carbine.

The markings on the side said it was standard issue. Just a smaller version of the standard issue rifles most Troopers were issued. Only real difference was weight and a higher recoil. Oh, and it held more rounds for some reason. Something about being able to use heavier mags on a lighter gun. All in all, pretty solid. Same with the combat blade. Seventeen inches of pressed steel. A Trooper’s second-best friend, the first being an E-Tool.

Another tap on Hugo’s shoulder made him squeak and nearly drop his combat blade. Only for a gloved hand to catch it and offer it back. “Careful now. ‘Sarge says you’re my responsibility ‘cause you’re gonna be the one working the radio. I’ll be your spotter.” Caesar’s monotone and raspy voice was a bit startling. But it was a lot more coming than the angel’s, the monotone made it feel real. So, Hugo nodded.

“ ‘Sarge also says that you’re to swap your carbine for a LampLite. It’ll be up on where we ‘gonna be. Better range‘an all that is why. I think….” She said again. Still holding the blade up as Hugo just stared. “Got that space case?” Hugo nodded. “Don’t like talkin’?” Hugo nodded again. Caesar smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant one either. All teeth. Like a wolf was glaring down at a fallen doe.

“Ain’t the worst person I’ve had to babysit.” She smiled a little wider, and Hugo stood a little less tall. But she did bend down to sheath his knife for him. Wow. Why did everyone but him have to be so damn tall? Like seriously. She wasn’t even a fuckin’ Lilt yet was easily a hundred and eighty centimeters. Unfair. Seriously. Unfair.

Hugo finally did pipe up. “Deus Cadet. So, it is decreed.” Caesar stopped smiling for not even half a second and leaned down further, opened her mouth to speak, but thought better of it. She pulled back and nodded. “Yeah. Deus Cadet. Or whatever shit we’re supposed to say before we die.”

Hugo smiled. “It means ‘God Will Fall’. And the Awakened do consider themselves gods among primitives. So, we ‘ought to remind them what happened to God when he decided to come down from his heaven.” Caesar, for another brief moment, was taken aback by this small thing before her. It- he was absolutely insane, wasn’t he? She internally shrugged and finally leaned back to plop down beside him.

“Don’t wake me up. Been on a bender since we got back from that ‘deployment’. Or whatever the fuck you’re supposed to call it.” Caesar closed her eyes without waiting for a response and tried to drift off to sleep. Of course, she first propped up on Hugo. Because what good were short people if you couldn’t use them as arm rests on long and boring flights before your inevitable and grizzly death right? Hugo did not agree with that sentiment.

Hugo zoned out again. Just staring at one of the massive, automated guns. Wondering what it would look like dismantled, then he floated each and every part around mentally. It was satisfying to be honest. And it filled the time well. Hugo could guess that it was one of the one hundred- and five-millimeter guns. The Troopers had dubbed them Mjolnir because with each shot everyone would go deaf and whatever the gun was aimed at would be nothing but slag. Like the weapon of an ancient thunder god.

The Dragonfly touched down some two or so hours later. The sergeants began to shout orders. Well. ‘Sergeants’ was overselling it. There were only six sergeants and a single officer. Some new butterbar. High Lords damn it. The number two killer for Troopers was incompetent butterbars. The number one was still commissars. Fuck them.

Hugo shook Caesar awake and she nodded in thanks, giving him a clap on the shoulder and hoisting her ruck. Hugo followed suit, walking half a pace behind his supposed ‘handler’. He tuned in for a moment and heard a cacophony of noises. Earsplitting sirens, thunderous guns, and the torrent of rain. This was a real battlefield; he’d probably die here. Hugo supposed. And he could see the massive comms tower looming over them all.

The remainders of the first and second were ushered into a line with John at the lead. And the butterbar gave some sort of half assed speech before raising a hand into the air and crying out, “TERRA INVICTA!” and the miss matched fifty Troopers gave a half assed “Terra Invicta,” before moving out to the base of the wall. And up they went. A hundred meters of stairs in eight minutes. A bit better, but they weren’t really hurrying. No one wanted to sit in the rain for an hour just to get disintegrated by a laser or melted by magnetized plasma.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Hugo and Caesar didn’t step out and into the rain just yet though. Instead, Hugo exchanged his carbine for a LampLite laser marksman rifle. It was heavy, and big. Almost as big as him. And then his ruck was swapped for a radio unit. Luckily Caesar was able to snag it, after a few coarse words and some threatening gestures. Hugo had decided right that she was cool.

The two went up for what Hugo assumed was twenty-five meters until they reached a heavy looking bulkhead left open. That was probably a security violation. But Hugo didn’t really bother pointing that out. The person who had left it open was probably dead, and Hugo could only confirm this as he stepped out, then over the poor fucker’s corpse. It left him feeling kind of sick, but this was his duty. he had to do it.

Hugo set the radio pack down and got a good look over the segment they were on. The Wall’s defenses were put up. Massive howitzers and AA guns along with static defenses were put in place on top. And even the inner sections guns were out. Jutting out from The Wall itself, like an ancient phalanx. It was one helluva sight... But this must’ve been more serious than Hugo had originally thought. This was probably more than what a few divisions could handle.

“Yo. Space case. Drag the radio behind a barricade and post up.” Caesar had propped up a prefab barricade and had started to set up a spotter’s kit so she could laser designate targets. So, Hugo did as he was told, but he posed a question. “You think we’ll die here?” Caesar shrugged and continued.

“So, what if we die? S’kinda the point. We’re Troopers. Kill. Fight. Die. That’s what we’ve been told to do, so we do it.” Caesar finished setting up as Hugo dragged it into place and pulled up the antenna. The metal was smooth and cold, and Hugo didn’t really want to let go. But he still did so he could finish setting it up.

And the moment he did finish a transmission immediately came through. “Vanguard coming. We have hostiles coming in hot. ETA ten minutes-'' Gunfire cracked over the radio. “- There’s more than eight times the estimated number coming in. I repeat. Sixteen divisions coming in. High Lords be with you, Terra Invic-'' More gunfire, and the transmission went silent.

Hugo didn’t miss a beat and pulled the megaphone from the pack and began to relay the information. “SIXTEEN DIVISIONS COMING IN. ETA TEN MINUTES. I REPEAT. SIXTEEN DIVISIONS COMING IN. ETA TEN MINUTES. I REPEAT. SIXTEEN DIVISIONS COMING IN. ETA TEN MINUTES. I REPEAT. SIXTEEN DIVISIONS COMING IN. ETA TEN MINUTES. I REPEAT. SIXTEEN DIVISIONS COMING IN. ETA TEN MINUTES. “Hugo bellowed until he was sure everyone had heard him.

And soon after he could see little dots on the horizon. “You think-” He was cut off by the static defenses opening up. A thunderous symphony of guns lit up the darkening sky. The entire segment shook with each salvo. And there were a few less dots. Maybe two? Two out of what Hugo could guess was a hundred. Maybe more.

Hugo sighed and tried again. “You think that’s a little more than sixteen divisions? It looks like more.” To which made Caesar tense up. “Yeah… That’s more than sixteen divisions... S’like fifty. Call that into command.” Hugo nodded and switched frequencies. High Lords above this wasn't good.

“Command. This is Legio X radio unit...” He looked at the unit’s number. 11672. “Radio unit one one six seven two reporting in. We believe there are more than sixteen divisions coming in. Please send reinforcements.” And he waited. Caesar tensed more and shuttered with every salvo.

“Unit one one six seven two. We are aware of your situation. There is a multilateral attack on The Wall. You must hold the line. Terra Invicta.” And the signal was cut out. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. They were going to die. And Hugo could feel his hands getting sweaty. So, dust damned sweaty. But he had his orders.

“ATTENTION. THERE ARE MORE THAN SIXTEEN DIVISIONS COMING IN. AND WE ARE ALONE. I REPEAT. THERE ARE MORE THAN SIXTEEN DIVISIONS COMING IN. AND WE ARE ALONE. HOLD THE LINE. I REPEAT. WE MUST HOLD THE LINE. TERRA INVICTA!” And a thunderous cheer of “TERRA INVICTA!” Rose up.

It wasn’t really a cheer. More like a cry. A cry in the darkness of a world set to kill every single human to walk on this world. A cry of defiance and of the last dying breaths of all of humanity. They would hold the line. Because if they didn’t, no one would. And that thought scared Hugo. It was just him, and maybe eight thousand men and women standing here. They had to hold.

“Well now. You are not allowed to die, so try not to, okay? I would hate to have to interfere.” The angel declared, and Hugo grit his teeth. “Oh and stop calling me an angel. I’m Silvia. Toodaloo~” Hugo grit his teeth harder and grumbled something.

“What’s up?” Caesar questioned. Hugo shook his head and wiped the sweat from his brow off. “The angel- Silvia said I’m not allowed to die. And that it would interfere if I did. Dunno what the fuck that means.”

Caesar giggled. It was an unpleasant sound, even for Hugo. But the honesty in that was nice. “Well then! Looks like I’ll just have t’keep your sorry ass alive.” She clapped him on the back and pulled a cigarette. Those were expensive, right? Tobacco required a lot of space, which was not something people could really spare. So, it was expensive.

“Don’t worry ‘bout the cigs either. I swiped ‘em off the barkeep back in diaspolis. Want one?” She offered one up. And Hugo took it. It was maybe seven centimeters long and was rough to the touch. Caesar smiled again and it was with too many teeth. She really did remind Hugo of those ancient pictures of sharks or even wolves.

Caesar lit her’s and took a long drag. Leaning her head back, exhaling smoke, inhaling, and then repeating the process. Hugo put his own between his teeth and pulled a lighter from his pocket. He didn’t smoke, but everyone else did, so he always carried a lighter. “Never really liked smoking, but one won’t hurt right?”

He lit up and took a drag. It burned, and Hugo sputtered. “Really not for me. High lords above.” But he took another drag. Unfiltered and menthol, right? But he could feel himself relaxing slightly. Guess it worked.

“It’s an acquired taste for sure.” Caesar chuckled between drags. “I think it’s more about the fact that you’re smoking, than the action of smoking itself. That’s what m’dad always said. ‘Smoke expensive cigarettes and people will think you can afford expensive things.’ Which doesn’t work by the way.” Caesar chuckled again.

“I prefer dope. Something with an actual effect. Makes everything a little quieter.” And Hugo nodded along to her monologue. Caesar was scary, so he didn’t want to interrupt her. “Makes it easy to forget everything too. Like how life is so shit.” Caesar stopped smiling and took another long drag. And for a moment she looked melancholic.

“But oh well. We’re probably gonna fuckin’ die today. Won’t have to remember shit again.” Caesar finished and went back to her, in Hugo’s words, goofy way of smoking. But it was Hugo’s turn to speak. “What about… What about making sure I live?” He offered a small smile. Until she looked back at him, right in the eyes.

She had red eyes. Neat. Wait… Red eyes means that she’s nobility. And the nobility didn’t fight? So why was she here? High Lords above, she really was scary. But before Hugo could spiral further Caesar laughed, not just a light giggle or a chuckle. But a real, gut busting laugh.

“You oughta try saying those kinds of things to those dreamy eyed girls on leave. They’d go head over heels…” Caesar nodded a couple times.” “It’s all in the eyes, I think. And the fact that you’re fucking short. Damn…” She mumbled, but then ‘playfully’ hit him on the shoulder, but it fucking hurt. High Lords above what made this lady so fucking strong? Seriously. Was everyone just some sort of giant, super strong, transhuman soldier? Or was he just small?

He was probably just small. He’d already has this thought, but it was still fucking rough to realize. And he could only wipe the sweat off his brow and deflate slightly. “I don’t think I wanna die here.” Hugo admitted, taking another drag. It still burned and tasted like burning wires. The latter thing Hugo had learned through rather unfortunate and embarrassing circumstances.

“Same dude. Dying here would suck. Wouldn’t be able to go home and deck my old man. Wouldn’t be able to drink. And I wouldn’t be able to read those shitty comics from Lyre-” Hugo flinched at that one. “Shit sorry. But the comics are shitty-” Hugo deflated again. There just wasn’t much left of the country. Hell. He almost got shoved out of a transport in favor of a High Lord’s extra vessel. “Th-the good kind of shitty!” She exclaimed. Poor save. Really poor save.

Hugo couldn’t help but laugh at the attempt though. “S’ok… Not really but what can we do? Lyre is gone, and I’m not. Best to not dwell on it.” He spoke up, patting her on the shoulder. And the dots had gotten closer, even to the point where he could almost make out shapes. There it was, their death, and it was rapidly approaching.

“Yeah… Sorry if home’s a bit of a tough subject… Mine ain’t so great either if you’d believe it.” Hugo quirked an eyebrow but didn’t speak at the claim. “But that ain’t for now…” She sighed and nodded then flicked her cigarette off of the building into the wet floor far below them. “We’ll get through this… I-I promise. And my promise is better than fuckin’ gold.”

“I’ll hold you to it.” The dots were closer, and sirens began to sound. It was show time. “Eight chips says I’ll get the first kill.” Hugo smiled then propped up against the barricade. Peeking over. He was one of the better marksmen in the first. Probably the best of the survivors.

“I’ll hold you to it shortie.” Caesar posted up next to him and shouldered her rifle. Hugo’s own felt icy cold in his hands. Save for the hellishly hot charge pack next to his cheek. And time blurred. For a few blissful moments it was just Hugo, the warmth on his cheek, and the rain. But the sirens blared louder, and the dots had finally taken shape.

Troopers called them tombstones because of their squarish shape and rounded heads. And the fact that they looked like tombstones in the ground when downed. “Two klicks and closing.” Caesar cut in, throwing Hugo from his thoughts. To which he nodded. Oddly cognizant of all of the muscles in his neck suddenly.

How they contorted and striated was very apparent for a single, burning second. How as he swallowed, they contracted and then relaxed, for a single burning second. How they tensed when Caesar said something and didn’t relax. Hugo could feel a cramp coming on from all of this. But the second ended and he couldn’t even feel his neck. Like always. He was back to floating in the world listlessly.

“One klick and closing.” She cut in again. A single beacon of sanity in all of it. And even more guns opened up. Massive cannons typically reserved for ground targets opened up. And even more Tombstones fell. The ones that didn’t explode looked perfectly like their namesakes. And to which Hugo chuckled darkly. Get fucked.

He had an idea and grabbed the megaphone and before Caesar could so much as comment, he was already bellowing something. “We… We will… We’ll" Hugo sputtered out of a moment before finding his words. "HOLD THE LINE. DEATH TO THE AWAKENED. TERRA INVICTA.”

And the Troopers below shouted back. “WE WILL HOLD THE LINE. DEATH TO THE AWAKENED. TERRA INVICTA. WE WILL HOLD THE LINE. DEATH TO THE AWAKENED. TERRA INVICTA. WE WILL HOLD THE LINE. DEATH TO THE AWAKENED. TERRA INVICTA.”

Thousands of Troopers were chanting and stamping their feet as the Tombstones' air brakes hit. Causing the massive crafts to shudder and start to produce gouts of flame, just from the sheer force of them stopping. And as soon as the Tombstones were close, their troop bays opened up- yet the chanting didn’t stop. Not for the life of any man, woman, or child on that High Lord forsaken wall would they stop.

The Troopers opened up in a singular, baleful volley. Lasers, plasma, and bullets slammed into the Tombstones. With the stationary weapons opeing up, causing thousands of massive rounds to slam into the tombstones.

Maybe fifty- no, forty of the well over a hundred had actually made it there. And from them came thousands of Sentinel footsoldiers, their Judge officers, and even the towering Justicars. Massive, barely human, mechanical, monstrosities. They all came down with a resounding thud which sent shivers down Hugo’s spine. Even Caesar looked off put.

The Awakened began to fight in a bloody melee with the sparsely placed troopers. Shock spears clashed with chainswords and bayonets. Gouts of plasma cut through Troopers and bullets slagged helmets. And the chanting did not stop. Not even for a second. Every last person was screaming in defiance. This was their home. And they would not lose it without a fight. A long, bloody, brutal, and barbaric fight. The wall would be covered in blood and bodies of Troopers before they would even think of retreating

But Hugo still leaned into his rifle a little further and placed a slender finger on the trigger. “First one is mine.” He smiled and leveled his crosshairs on a Judge. One breath in and he squeezed the Trigger. There was a blinding flash of light. And the battle had begun in earnest.