Holy War by P.A. Piatt

Author:P.A. Piatt [Piatt, P.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

At Drop Zone Lead Pipe, Pappy moved around the perimeter, pausing to exchange snatches of conversation with the Space Marines dug in awaiting the next attack. Rain had begun to fall shortly after the attack that morning, alternating between a light drizzle and pelting sheets. The Space Marines were protected from the elements by their lightweight battle armor, but the rain had a palpable negative impact on morale. Something about the effect of rain on the human psyche, he supposed.

From a tactical standpoint, the rain worked in the Space Marines’ favor. It washed away the luminescence that whited out their optics so they could see into the surrounding jungle. It also turned the perimeter into a soupy mess, which should make treacherous footing for future attackers.

By mid-afternoon, the entire battalion knew they only had one main battle mech and one recon mech left. Space Marine infantry usually scoffed at the mechanized behemoths, but the automatic pulse cannons were a comforting sight when the enemy attacked in force.

The attack left mangled bodies scattered throughout the perimeter. As the Space Marines went about the ghoulish task of identifying and recovering their dead comrades, the sight of dead enemies armed with Space Marine pulse rifles and clad in Space Marine battle armor shocked them. It made their casualty numbers seem much higher than they were, and Pappy could tell their nerves were stretched to the breaking point. Some had even expressed doubt that they could win this fight.

Anxious to restore morale, Pappy ordered the dead Kuiper Knights stripped of battle armor and their bodies thrown into a pile outside the edge of the perimeter.

“Those thieving fuckers can have their dead guys,” he said with a growl, “but we’re taking our gear back.”

He made a show of exposing himself to sniper fire as he moved about their position, but the snipers never took up the challenge. The Space Marines took heart from his show of bravado, and they became their smiling, swaggering selves again. They weren’t going to let a bunch of raggedy-ass divvies beat them, no matter how many of them there were.

* * *

Brother Wulff Hassel watched as the last bit of light fled from the darkness that settled over the forest. His eyes were gritty with fatigue, and his knees and elbows ached from thirty hours of crawling through the jungle to monitor the battle with the infidels, but he grinned with anticipation. In a few minutes, he’d throw a Willie Pete to signal the beginning of the end of the Space Marines’ 1st Battalion.

A surge of pride warmed his belly and made his heartbeat pound in his ears. The Knights under Addison were charged with stopping the Space Marines, which they’d done with great skill and valor. Hassel’s men had only played a minor role in the fighting thus far, by keeping up a steady barrage of sniper fire, but Addison had given them the honor of leading the next attack. The knight errant hadn’t described the assault as the final battle, but Hassel knew if they were successful, the Space Marines were finished.

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