Lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the faces of the terrified defenders manning the battlements of the ruined castle. Men and women, young and old, wearing a disparate array of uniforms and armor huddled beneath the tarps overhead filled to the brim with the pouring rain above. No one spoke, no one moved. All eyes were focused on the moving shadows within the forest.
Aethereal cries echoed across the crater strewed field, striking against the castle like waves of some cruel ocean. The screams of the damned, and the echoes of the lost. The defenders knew the sound well, and they gripped the weapons in their hands tighter as the sounds grew louder.
“O’ Holy God-Emperor, protector of Mankind and guardian of the faithful, hear our prayers…”
Liana glanced up from the magnoculars, green eyes searching through the darkness for the white robed form of preacher Donovan, his white robes snapping in the wind as his withered, pale arms stretched to either side of him as he began one of the litanies of protection.
“Damn bastard is determined, ain’t e’ Major.”
Liana smirked as Captain Gregor entered the bastion tower, his grey and white uniform drenched beneath black carapace armor. Young for his rank, Gregor was known to speak his mind, and his under hive inflection reminded Liana all too much of home. She nodded her head as Gregor snapped her a quick salute, returning the gesture, and standing to the side as her second in command approached her overlook point.
“He has faith,” Liana said, passing Gregor the magnoculars as he slung his lasgun over his shoulder. “Faith is something we are in desperate need of.”
“Aye, that being the case and all, but damn if e’ ain’t loud,” Gregor said, reaching up to push a stray lock of his black and gray hair away from the magnoculars.
“It helps to have your vocal chords enhanced by the Ministorum.”
“Ol’ Colonel must’ve had the same enhancements then. Bloody bastard could scream the paint off the wall,” Gregor said, lowering the magnoculars. There was not any humor left in his voice as he handed the blocky device back to Liana. “More of the bastards out there tonight than usual.”
Liana nodded her head, streaks of black hair escaping the tight bun she used to keep it out of her face.
“I count at least four hundred of them,” she said, lifting to magnoculars back up to her face. Darkness filled her vision for a moment, before being replaced by overlapping fields of green and white shapes and outlines. She panned the magnoculars along the tree line in the distance, the lines of worry on her face deepening.
In most cases, the magnoculars would be able to pick out, and outline moving shapes in the darkness, but their enemy was not so simple. Distortion colored the edges of the magnoculars, and the machine spirit within struggled to focus on the wraith like shapes that stalked through the darkness, barely touching the ground. Their forms left an after image on the magnoculars, and only extensive experience in the past few months gave Liana and Gregor a chance to make a speculative count.
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“Moons are almost in alignment,” Gregor said.
Liana panned the magnoculars up, the night vision disappearing after a brief delay to display the night sky of Morbius, visible in between the roiling clouds.
“They will be coming soon then,” Liana said, lowering the magnoculars and placing them on the table that sat along one side of the ruined tower. A rough map of the fortress lay spread out on the table, held in place by ruined power packs. The rough positions of the defenders were marked in red ink on the withered parchment.
They were too few, and their lines grew thinner with each attack.
“Signal the alarm, get the civilians below ground” Liana said, resting her hand on the laspistol holstered at her hip. She traced her thumb along the wrapped leather of the grip, the grooves worn into it testimony to the habit.
“Already on their way Major,” Gregor said.
Liana smiled, the corner of her mouth rising slightly as she nodded her head.
“Thank you Captain. Best we get started then.” Liana turned to the vox operator situated just outside the tower.
“Corporal, send word for the flamer units to move the front and into cover. Have all reserve units muster at their rally points and prepare to repel breaches. Medical units are to remain underground until the all clear signal is sent.”
The corporal nodded his head, bringing the bulky vox unit online and shouting orders into the receiver. Across the courtyard of the castle, squads of men in the same gray and white uniforms Liana and Gregor wore emerged from hastily constructed bunkers. Each squad had two flamers in their group, the precious weapons covered by a tarp held in place by two other soldiers while they rushed from their concealed positions to the traps hanging over the walls.
“Gregor, while we are at it, best get someone to get the preacher into cover. Don’t want him to catch a cold in this weather…” Liana said, her eyes never leaving the tree line as a dark fog began to boil out, seething across the landscape and removing what little view of the world beyond the castle they had.
“Aye Major, e’ ain’t gonna like it though. E’ prefers to stay on the walls with the men,” Gregor said, unslinging his lasgun from his shoulder in a practiced motion and checking the power pack.
“Be that as it may, I still don’t want him for all the world to see on his tower in that pretty white robe of his. The enemy have made attempts at him in the past,” Liana said.
“I’m sure I can convince him take a better position at least,” Gregor said, snapping a quick salute to Liana, before ducking out of the tower and into the raging storm.
All at once, the aethereal cries and wails fell silent. Rain drummed against the tarps over head, and the distant crash of thunder echoed across the castle walls. The fog began to grow deeper, becoming a wall obscuring everything ten meters from the castle walls.
The silence hung, heavy in the air and dripping with a vengeful anticipation. Sweaty hands clung to lasguns and autoguns, and flamer armed soldiers activated the pilot lights at the end of their weapons. Liana darted her eyes along the length of the fog, stopping in a near perfect line from the castle walls, watching and dreading the moments to come.
High above, between parting clouds, the two moons of Morbius finally crossed over one another, a flash of purple light gleaming in the sky. All at once, the silence was broken, and the first of the Ghosts came charging from the fog.
“May the Emperor Protect…”
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Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at a story in a long time, and my first dive into the wonderful world I am discovering here on Royal Roads. Hope you enjoy this chapter, and stick around as I dive into the story as it develops!