Siege of Aquila: The Lion Stalks

Dusk crept in, its fingers strangling Arkangel’s sun from the heavens as it lit up with sporadic flickers of man-made light: Basilisks of the Dominion sent streaks of death arcing, screaming across the darkening sky unto the defending Alutians. Blinding las-fire whizzed with stinging cracks all over the battlefield, particularly to the southeast of the fort, where the red lines obscured all else in a hail that was equal parts desperation and contempt. 

About a dozen lines of hastily dug trenches were all that stood before the massive chink in the fort’s armour: the Breach, a fitting name for a wound that had never, will never heal. Half of them were already flying Dominion banners. The Alutians’ luck was being bled white as black and red-clad troopers advanced systematically and inexorably forward. Though each defender had pledged to take as many lives with his own, the ratio had been rather equal so far; the Dominion was gaining ground, and fast.

Marasmus, though, was still dissatisfied. Razeck read him the reports of every tiny advance as it occurred and noted the orders he received from in return: “The 88mm’s on the West tower is damaged, and the tower itself is crumbling. Lord Lion Nhilus is confident that it will collapse under sustained bombardment.” He stared at the Lord Lion with attentive eyes waiting for his reply. Marasmus held the bridge of his nose and almost mumbled to himself, “My troops are running around like frightened rodents in front of those walls. We need the breach down as soon as possible.” 

Razeck thought of asking him to repeat his sentence but stopped himself.

”Tell Nhilus that after he is done with the West tower, concentrate fire on the Alutian vanguard protecting the Breach. I want those ramparts turned to rubble by the dawn. The only we are going to crack it open is if the Maw comes into firing range.” That plan was Marasmus’ final resort; if all else failed, he would launch a shock attack on the Breach and blow it open with the Tank Destroyer’s massive cannon.

If all else failed, he thought.
The conditions on the battlefield changed as quickly as the clouds in the sky. There were so many minor happenings and Razeck had to pick and choose the most crucial to deliver to Marasmus. That was his job and he was quite good at it. “Also, Sir, there was a minor incursion on the perimeter; a few Alutes rode in screaming and shooting but they were neutralized. It was probably nothing.” Razeck flipped the page without pausing.

“Probably. It stinks of a distraction to get their spies inside our lines. Double the guard by the ammunition caches. Advise them to stay alert and expect enemy saboteurs in the area.” Marasmus said calmly and tapped the periscope.

“Understood, my Lord.” The aide returned to the page and jotted down the order, moving to the Centre and East part of his report.

“Sir, Shae’r Rumhyr suggested that since there was no attack from Aquila’s East wing, they should also advance on the fort. And Shae’r Zarul reports six of the thirteen trenches are under our control. He inquired about the armour advance. Seemed extremely… worried about the rising casualties.”

If there was one thing Marasmus hated more than failure, it was insubordination. “Tell those two to keep their brilliant little infantile suggestions to themselves and follow their orders. Rumyhr will guard the flank until I order him otherwise. All Zarul needs to know is that armour will come only when those guns are down. Until then, he and his men are to advance till they can shout obscenities at those Alutes from below the wall.” 

Razeck never questioned his direct superior, but this seemed a little cold.

“If I may, Lord Lion?” He asked politely, to which Marasmus replied with a nod. “Sir, it might take days to take those towers out. Zarul’s men will be stranded and they will be slaughtered. They will break by then, my Lord.” Even though Razeck’s words carried weight there was no noticeable change in Marasmus’ demeanor.

“That is where you are wrong, Razeck. You forget our Stalker friends from the West. Have you informed Sarhyk about Glaz’s man inside Aquila?” Marasmus recalled.

“I have, but sir, do you truly trust him?” The level of faith the general had in that foreigner was off-putting. Marasmus merely chuckled: ” Trust? I would not even trust my late mother with something like this, Captain” he joked, “But I do recognize a thirst for power in a man’s eye when I see it; and that Glaz, Razeck? That man will sell his soul without a second thought for whatever he is after.”

A distorted vox transmission suddenly blurted about the confined cabin. The comms officer cleared the frequency and verified its security clearances in a second. ”Lord Lion Trynge? Are you receiving this?” A heavy, jagged and somewhat muffled voice came out of the speakers.

“This is Trynge. What is it, Nhilus?” Marasmus recognized the voice in spite of the interference.
“The West tower has been decimated. Only two guns remain now.” All of the crew’s faces lit up for brief moment. Subtle smiles and silent cheers were exchanged across the cabin.

“Well done, Nhilus. Belay my last order, continue bombarding the Central gun and leave the Breach to me.”

“As you wish, Lord Trynge” Nhilus replied and the transmission ended.

As soon as the transmission ended, Marasmus looked into the periscope to feast his eyes upon the destruction his artillery had wrought. Smoke and fire now unfurled like glorious, licking banners from what was once the tower.

What I would give to see Etzal’s ugly face at this moment, he thought.

“Six hours.” A smug smile was plastered on Marasmus’ face,”Razeck, vox Saryhk immediately and tell him he has six hours to complete his task, after that I am taking the Maw and I am going for Pending’s throat.”

    --------------------------------------------------

The moisture in the air was caustic. It felt as if some animal was clawing at his exposed skin with broken claws. The cloth around his face seemed to help but that was it. It could only numb the burning sensation.

Saryhk and Lorn had been lying in wait close to one of the rear entrances of Aquila for a few hours now. The action was audible from this side of the fort but not quite visible. Lorn was blasé of the current situation and seemed more interested in counting his lho-sticks; Saryhk though was agitated. His binoculars hurried between two destinations i.e. the gurads on the entrance and the far-off bunkers on the bridgehead.

“And you said they were good. Any longer and we won’t have an army left to enter the Breach let alone the fort.” Saryhk spat the words at his friend. “Simmer down! I know Nikolai. He takes his time but he always comes through. Trust me, Semy.” He carelessly shoved three of the sticks in his pocket and one in his mouth as he spoke the words. Unsatisfied by the answer Saryhk shook his head and resumed his reconnaissance.

An hour passed with nothing but occasional shouts from the walls. Someone shouting orders at someone or a soldier running to one post to the other. Lorn had his hat on his eyes and was pretending to be awake, but he was not fooling anyone there. Saryhk had given up on his futile recon efforts and was casually loading the magazines of his pistol.

It was clear that until Nikolai and his troupe created a diversion they were going nowhere. The guards bore such heavy mutations that if they tried to pass as Alute twists they would most certainly be caught. But if the guards leave their posts to attend to more pressing matters, it would create an opening. Enough for Saryhk and his accomplice to take advantage of; that was the plan at least.

Periodic explosions could be heard from the other side of the fort, some louder than the other. The duo, however, had grown indifferent of them by now. But the explosion that followed stood out in its mere scale. A booming thunder woke Lorn from his nap, his hat flying off his head. He saw his friend already sitting at the top of the mount they were hiding behind staring into the distance. Lorn crawled up to Saryhk on all fours and saw the 88mm gun fall as the tower collapsed onto itself. Ash, smoke and flames quickly enveloped the scene and visibility was reduced from little to none.

“That was the West tower. Finally, something goes our way.” Saryhk said, the red-tinted glass of his goggles captured the reflection of the blazing inferno.

“Dear daddy must be happy, no? He has his fair share of fuck ups till now.” Lorn cracked a joke.

“As far as I know my father? Even Emperor himself cannot impress him.” Saryhk replied indulging his friend’s humor.

Soon after a ruffled radio noise came from Lorn’s pack,”Wha… wait, I am getting something.” Saryhk started at the Vox transmitter as Lorn played with its control runes, “This is Shadowclaw, and could you repeat that, over.” Lorn spoke into the device.

“Shadowclaw, this is Captain Razeck. Lord Lion’s order dictates that you must finish your mission within Six hours starting now. No later, over.”

This came as a shock to Saryhk, the deadline was not enough. He snatched the transmitter from Lorn’s hand shouted as silently as he could, “What!? Are you fucking joking? We are going in to blow the Breach not to play a bloody drinking game with those twists.”

The reply was what he expected, “You have your orders, Shae’r.” with those words Razeck had closed the vox channel, “Shit! That is it! We are going in, Niche.” Saryhk said standing up and started checking all the weapons on his vest.

A second huge explosion, this time from the West, made him turn. A massive cloud of orange and yellow bright flames covered the horizon and the debris of the bridge could be seen in the sky as it fell hundreds of feet away from the blast radius. The guards at the gates screamed at the men inside to replace them and ran towards the site of the explosion.  “I told you, Nikolai always delivers.” He said with a smirk; Saryhk acknowledged his friend’s superior judgment and waited for the signal as per the plan.

A greenish flare flew from near the point of explosion and quickly died down, “They are in position, time to move.” They waited for the guards to move past them and climbed over the mound to run towards the entrance before their replacements arrived.

They sneaked in through the break in the barbed wire and crouched inside an empty gun nest. Lorn carefully peeked over at the gate’s entrance and nodded at Saryhk, gesturing that the coast was clear. Lorn and Saryhk moved quickly and silently but just before they entered the gatehouse, they heard a voice coming from the roof, “Hey! Who’s there? Halt!” it was one of the guards on the wall. He had spotted them; they silently hid inside the structure falsely hoping the guard would choose not to investigate further. The guard ran over to the roof of the gatehouse and tried to look underneath the structure by bending over the edge.

Just when he had caught a glimpse of the troubled duo, a brief sound followed by a spray of blood from his throat, stopped him. He hung over the edge as blood dripped down to the ground.

“Nikolai” Lorn reminded; Saryhk conceded another one to his friend. They heard another voice calling out for the now dead soldier and the splashing sound of the water as the running soldier made his way over.

Another shot.

The mutant fell dragging the hanging body of his comrade and falling right in front of the gatehouse entrance. One of them had a hideous snout and wore torn muddy coarsely woven cloth over his uniform; the other was much younger and much less mutated. He had a cowl which reached his back. They dragged the bodies into the gatehouse and stripped whatever they could use from them.

Lorn put on the cowl from the young Alute and asked, “How do I look?” Saryhk who had blanketed himself in the worn cloth replied, “Much better.”

The only part now left was to meet up with a man of a certain friend his father had made. Everything was falling into place.