It was hardly surprising
really: it was what he had been born to do, and what he had trained for. His entire life
had been a preparation for this moment. He was, after all, an Imperial Space Marine of
the Space Wolves Chapter. What more could he possibly ask from life than this? He had
a loaded boltgun in his hand and the Emperor's enemies before him. In this life, there
was no greater pleasure to be found than performing his duty and ending the lives of
those sorry heretics.
The masonry at his back shuddered. Chunks of stone clattered off his armour. Someone
had hit his cover with something heavy, a rocket perhaps or a very heavy bolter shell.
Not that it mattered. He knew from long experience that the metal-reinforced concrete
could take it. He studied the chronometer readout superimposed on his field of vision. A
minute and four seconds had passed since he had given his orders to Brother Hrolf. He
guessed that it would take two minutes for Hrolf to get into position, and another ten
seconds for him to line up his shot. That was more than enough time for the rest of his
force to get themselves into position. In that time, it was impossible for the heretics to
chip away at his cover unless they brought far more firepower to bear than they were
currently using.
It was a thought that had apparently occurred to the enemy commander too. Ragnar
could hear the sound of monstrous tracks coming closer. He knew that they must belong
to an enemy vehicle. The Imperial forces had just begun their drop from orbit with the
Space Wolves as a spearhead. It was far too early for any Imperial armour to be on the
ground. The logical conclusion was simple. Whatever was approaching was not
friendly. A call on the comm-link soon confirmed this.
+Force Ragnar. Enemy Predator tank approaching your position. Do you wish
assistance? Over.+
Ragnar considered for an instant. At this point, the Thunder-hawks' air-cover was
needed more elsewhere, to support troops still in the critical stage of landing under
enemy guns. He did not want to draw their help away from his battle-brothers.
Particularly not to deal with a single enemy tank.
+Ragnar here. Negative. We will deal with the Predator ourselves.
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