Such is the Guard

The bombed out intersection was quiet. The artillery had ceased firing hours ago as the main Imperial advance had entered the city sector, and the constant snowfall was already covering up the damage. Several platoons had been dispatched to hold this area against further Tau incursions, among them Sergeant Cormac's squad 728. The area they were defending was several blocks wide, but the terrain was so broken up that it was deemed that the Tau wouldn't even try to advance more than a small scouting party through the area.

"Alpha-728, this is Alpha-005, do you read, over?" Sergeant Cameron's voice crackled over the vox. Squad Alpha-005, one of the Veteran squads of their regiment, the 443rd Highlanders, was a little over a full kilometer to the east, where the roads were still mostly passable and the most likely route for a Tau advance.

Sergeant Cormac completed one last visual sweep of the area before ducking back down below the line of the parapet. He and Trooper Donnelly had take position on the roof of a single-level Imperial Shrine that, aside from the entire back corner being blown away and the odd holes in the ceiling, was remarkable intact.

"Alpha-005, Alpha-728, reading you five-by-five. Report, over."

"728, be advised we have engaged an enemy scouting party at our location. Enemy infantry has scattered and we are hunting them down, but one of the enemy's light skimmers has managed to break clear, headed towards your location. It's trailing smoke, may be looking for a place to set down and effect repairs, how copy, over?"

"Solid copy on all, 005. Good hunting, out" Cormac finished before switching over to the squad frequency, "Alright people, we've got a Tau skimmer headed our way. The 'vets managed to wound it, and they think it might be coming this way to hide, so watch for smoke, over" a chorus of confirmations came back at him, and then the vox went silent again. The Tau's version of an Auspex had proved a major problem in the early days, until the Navy decided to be helpful and started bombing runs of nothing but chaff. Now nobodies sensors worked, but the Tau seemed to be able to track units by their vox transmissions. Now vox traffic was routed through several relay stations set up around the city, and through modified Chimera APCs that were kept moving at all times.

The orders given, Cormac righted himself, watching the skyline now, waiting for the tell-tale smoke of a damaged war machine. He didn't have to wait long; ten minutes after the vox alert Donnelly spotted the smoke plume, followed shortly by the sounds of the wounded engines.

They both pressed themselves against the wall as the skimmer came around a corner and approached the intersection. Donnelly was closer to a gap in the wall, allowing him to look out at the street while staying mostly in cover. Cormac ran passed Donnelly a small cord, which he plugged into his helmet, allowing Cormac to get the same view on his HUD. Caldroon had managed to hold on to a good portion of their tech-base during the Dark Age of Technology, which afforded Guardsmen like themselves the kind of helmet sensors and systems that only the Marines usually carried.

The skimmer slowed it's advance towards the intersection, carefully picking its way through the debris, apparently unaware of the Imperial's waiting to ambush it. Donnelly increased the zoom on his HUD, taking in the damage to it's right side engine, noting that the drone housed on that side seemed to be damaged as well, as did the nose sensors. The two crewmen were watching the buildings next to them intently, watching for the slightest movement, which kept Trooper Athol, the squad Meltagunner, from even lining up a shot, not that he was likely to hit the thing. By the time he could get back into position to line up a shot, it was already past the effective range of his weapon.

The aliens seemed to be conversing among themselves, the one in the back seat indicating the building that Cormac and Donnelly occupied. They seemed to reach an agreement as skimmer crept around the building towards the hole in it that the artillery had opened up. As it left their line of sight, Donnelly pulled back, unhooking their helmets as he went.

"Looks like they're going to try to make some repairs here," Donnelly observed.

"Then let's show them why that's a bad idea," Cormac responded calmly, checking the charge on his lasgun's powercell. The skimmer reached the hole in the building, slipping inside until it was in the middle of the ruin. The pilot engaged the landing gear, and began shutting down the engines. Cormac looked down through on the many holes in the ceiling, but couldn't draw a bead on the crewmembers. He looked over at Donnelly, who shook his head; also no clean shot. As the sound of the engines died completely, Cormac stood up, a move that Donnelly copied, a look of understanding crossing his face.

"Down the hatch," Cormac called, before jumping down the hole he had been looking through, landing with a clang on the left wing of the skimmer. Donnelly followed a moment later, landing on the right wing. The Tau crew looked up, frozen in surprise for a moment, then the pilot lunged for a pistol holstered in the cockpit while the other franticly stabbed at his console. Neither got more than twenty centimeters before the crimson flash of two lasguns on full auto killed them both. With a faint hum, Cormac realized that the part of the wing he was standing on was trying to lift off. He slammed his boot back down on it, spinning on the spot and putting a burst of lasgun fire into the drone before it could carry out the last orders it's Tau masters had given it; the drone stopped struggling immediately.

Cormac turned his sights on the other drone, but his earlier assessment of its damage had been correct; the machine hadn't even twitched. Donnelly shifted along the fuselage of the skimmer, checking the bodies of both the crew. When neither responded, he turned back to Cormac and asked, "Well, what do we do with this thing?"

"I'm tempted to let Athol blow it to the warp, but..." Cormac started before a new transmission interrupted him.

"Squad Alpha-728, this is Alpha-4-Skull-9, how copy, over?"

"Alpha-4-Skull-9, this is Alpha-728, reading you five-by-five, standing by, over" Cormac responded promptly, cupping his hand to his helmets vox system.

"We've got new orders, Sergeant. You are to pull your squad back to Rally Point Sierra-Echo-9-2-5 and await extraction via Chimera at 13:40. Command wants us for a special mission, and we need all units well rested. Mine your sector and then start pulling back; how copy, over?" The voice on the other end stated. A voice that Cormac now recognized as Lieutenant Ballard, the CO of Alpha Platoon, and the one in charge of this section of the city.

"Solid copy on all, Alpha-Skull, we're Oscar Mike. Alpha-728, out," Cormac finished, turning back towards Donnelly. "Well, looks like we're out of here. Spike the engine, wire some frags to the crew, and lets get moving, we've got three klicks to cover in less than an hour."

"Roger that, Sarge," Donnelly replied, quickly pulling two grenades off of his belt and getting to work while Cormac activated the squad vox net, quickly giving out orders to get the squad back together and ready to move as soon as Donnelly was done.

Figures, Cormac thought to himself, Finally see the enemy out here, and command has us pulling back for a 'special mission.' He spat on the ground as he exited the building, bringing up his lasgun and scanning the rooftops. Probably going to be baby-sitting some lord-general who doesn't have the good sense to stay in his frakking Kraken. But, such is the life of a Guardsmen.

And with that final thought, Cormac entered the ruins opposite the shrine, beginning the trek towards a hot meal, a decent nights sleep, and yet another battle, his squadmates falling in beside him.