AN: 3rd omake about an Armsman's experience with fighting Chaos in a Resolute Corvette that just got boarded.
---------------------------------------------------
The Price of War
When the call came for soldiers to fill the ranks of the Crusade, I and many other got sweeped up in the call of duty. The chance for many men and women to prove their worth to the God Emperor. Basic Training was ruthless the instructors forged our maleable bodies into weapons for the Imperium while also informing us on the state of the Sub-sector and the enemies that we will face. While the Orks and Xenos are simple enough, the Ruinous Powers are much more insidius, turning fellow man away from the light of the Emperor into worshipping vile daemons that offer nothing but suffering.
This battle, will be the Crusade's trial by fire as we go to war against followers of the Plague. We all have our roles to play and as an Armsmen onboard the Resolute, you job is to protect the ship from boarders, be the ship's immune system. When General Quarters was sounded, everyone went to their assigned positions to protect vital areas of the ship, like the bridge, the weapon systems, the reactor, and etc. All non-essential rooms are vented to prevent an explosive decompression and fires along with all armsmen being equipped with a sealed suit, oxygen tank, and their weapons.
My assignment is to guard the reactor from enemy boarding parties. We have several heavy stubbers and an autocannon dedicated to the defense of the reactor. The corridor I am in is spaceus enough for 6 men to march in shoulder to shoulder. The door to the reactor room is behind me, with the Autocannon being set up on top of tall barricade that rise up from the floor to act as cover for defenders. In front of it is a shorter barricade that has a Heavy Stubber team instead. Me and my fellow Armsmen are at the front in much lower barricades to allow the Autocannon and Heavy stubber to shoot over our heads. For several minutes there is only the sound of your breath as the ship vibrates for a variety of reasons, from getting hit to the recoil of its cannons. However it didn't take long before numerous large crashes are felt throughout the hull which indicates that we have been boarded. Everyone double checked and cocked their weapons.
Not long after that, a horde of traitor in basic environment gear rush at our position. All we can do is pull the trigger, the results are... messy. The Heavy Stubber cutting them down like a farmer scything wheat and the Autocannon just caused whole clumps of traitors to explode into a shower of gore. Of course it is not going to be that easy. Unexpectedly a Guardsmen on my right got shot in the head. I looked back at the horde before spotting a traitor with a hunting rifle aiming right at me. I quickyly duck and I felt the bullet grave my helmet. Before he can fire again, I spray my autogun at his general direction. I was not sure if I got him, I just sprayed all of my ammo in his general direction. Once I am out I duck back behind the barricade and set about reloading my weapon. The hours of practice the instructors forced us to do even while blindfolded and in a variety of positions came in handy as I reloaded as smoothly without even looking since I was surveying my surroundings.
In the few seconds, I was able to look at our lines, several Armsmen have died to headshots, while others have been wounded with shots to the arms and torso being stablized by our medics. The Heavy Stubbers and Autocannon are still shooting and the horde and returning fire against traitors with actual weapons. With my gun reloaded, I pop back out and open fired one not of Calevar. When the wall of bodies got close enough I saw grenades being thrown out from the mob. Most of the Armsmen saw the grenades and retreated, some didn't get to cover fast enough and the shrapnel perforated their bodies.
In retaliation, several of the Armsmen throw their own grenades at the traitors with devastating results. Before long the wave of enemies dwindled until the traitors with weapons can be easily spotted and eliminated by the vengeful Heavy Stubber, Autocannon, and Autogun fire. Once the Sergeant announced the all clear on the squad vox, there is a lull among us as we take in the carnage. Piles of flesh and bone litter the floor as blood evaporate due to the vacuum. I am grateful we did not have to smell or clean this.
"I just got word from the other Armsmen, they all have successfully repelled the boarders and the captain ordered us to search the whole ship for possible stragglers. Autogun and Stubber teams stay here, Team 3 protect them. Teams 4, 5, and 6 with me, we'll search the ship."
With that said, my team followed the Sergeant to commence a through search of the ship. As we passed the remnants of the traitors, the Sergeant ordered us to see if there are survivors hiding amidst the corpses. As I check each corpse I saw that most of them are malnourished with a majority of them being young men and women, I even see a few children in smaller envirosuits. Their hollow eyes, still haunt me to this day. 'Where were you?', 'Why didn't you save us?', and 'Why did you not come sooner?' were some of the questions my mind imagined them saying. I know that we could not have come sooner, but it still felt like we failed them.
We managed to find several unarmed survivors which we arrest when they surrendered when they reveal themselves and a traitor that was still armed manage to injure a nearby corporal with a stubber before being promptly turned into mulch with every gun opening fire on his position. Once we captured everyone that was still alive for questioning and made sure everyone else is dead we began to move through the bowels of the ship with the Sergeant coordinating the search. The ship stopped vibrating from the recoil of the guns a few minutes later, likely because the enemy have retreated.
After an hour of searching and quadruple checking all of the ships nooks and cranies along with the boarding craft the traitors used general quarters was lifted and we return to our bunks to rest. Most of my squadmates and the other members of the armsmen have haunted looks in their eyes, Markus's usual jovial mood is subdued into silence as everyone agreed to rest now and deal with the horror we inflicted on ourselves and our enemies on another day. Everything has a price, my father used to say, especially in war where both sides pay. That lesson never felt more true than it felt now.
--------------------------------------------------
AN: Man this took awhile, the fight scene didn't take that long, the nameless Armsmen's internal thoughts and emotions took much longer. If I made and mistake please let me know and I'll correct it.
. Incidently they are smaller than Corvettes in the canon being scout ships.
