The following many days were spent on endless patrols along the trench line, mixed with the occasional artillery barrage from the defenders. As far as waiting goes, it was not the worst of fates, even if danger was nearby. The heretics attempted raids during the night, but faced with Krieg soldiers, there was nothing they could do. The maniacs gladly threw themselves unto heretic bayonets if it meant creating an opening for the troopers behind them. Even the PDF forces got had some opportunity to kill heretics, alongside the Kriegers, but our commissars held us back as much as possible. They needed us for when the assault was ordered.

Then, after almost a week, we were woken up by the sharp whistles of our commissars and we hurried to get equipped and line up outside our barracks. As soon as the last man was out, we were herded toward the part of the trench line that was closest to the hive city and lined up in attack formation. Artillery had been pounding the hive for days on end, focusing on 5 areas in a straight line from the trench.

We stood there, motionless and waiting with our lasrifles slung over our shoulders and our bayonets in our hands. We knew the order that was about to come and we both relished and feared the moment the words would come. The incessant artillery fire had ramped up in volume, a sure sign that the Imperial Guard was about to order an attack since this was standard doctrine during assaults. They would keep it up for as long as possible, right up to the point where the first Krieg soldiers crossed a predetermined line.

After what felt like hours, the dreaded order came. "FIX BAYONETS, EQUIP BAYONETS! BE READY FOR BLOOD!" A commissar shouted out and we all attached our bayonets to our lasrifles and held them at the ready. Soon after, a single whistle rang out across the trenches, and with a collective roar of defiance from the PDF, we started spilling over the top of the trench, the silence of the Kriegers serving to emphasize the difference in approach to war. Almost immediately, sporadic stubber fire began flying from the hive ahead of us, but in comparison to the more than 50.000 men and women charging forward, it was like throwing pebbles at a rolling boulder, hoping to stop it.

More than once, a soldier next to me or in front of me fell over from the stubber fire and treacherous terrain and I felt my shoulder pauldrons deflect several bullets, but thankfully, none of them was a clean hit. More than once, I stumbled on the uneven terrain but thankfully I managed to stay on my feet, and move forward. The Kriegers had managed to rush ahead of the PDF troopers, but that was to be expected, considering they spent their entire life training for and executing, suicide assaults.

Several of them were blown up by our artillery before the rounds stopped falling, their mutilated bodies being blown in all directions. A foot with the boot still attached whizzed past my head and I recoiled on instinct. Nothing but indoctrination from childbirth could prepare you for something like that. But when the artillery stopped, the trouble began.

It only took the defenders a few moments to realize that the artillery fire had stopped and they scrambled to man whatever wall defenses were still operational the level of fire poured against us increased a hundredfold, but as close as we were to the large opening that had been blown in the wall, it didn't make much difference. I felt the tingling along my spine and jumped sideways while still running forward and a moment later the spot I had just occupied was saturated with stubber fire. Once more, I praised my lucky stars for the danger instinct, but I was suddenly knocked over by what felt like a sledgehammer to the chest.

Sprawled out on the ground, I looked down and saw a large scorch mark on the chest of my flak armor, indicating it had stopped a lasrifle shot. I got up as soon as I could but I felt a hand grabbing me under the shoulder and hauling me up. Looking up, I saw the face of the red-haired woman smiling back at me as she helped me up before she pushed me forward to resume the attack. Together, we reached the hive without further incident and joined in the heavy fighting that was taking place. PDF troopers were putting down ludicrous amounts of lasfire, all aimed at the same general direction while the Krieg soldiers moved forward in small 50-man groups, eager to close the distance and engage in melee, granting the PDF the advantage of the enemy being unable to fire back at them.

the ground inside the hive instantly became clogged with heretics and Krieg soldiers engaged in brutal melee combat. Limbs were chopped off, guts were spilled on the ground and the screams of the wounded and dying mixed with the sporadic stubber and lasfire. The stench of ozone and death quickly filled my nostrils as I hoisted the lasrifle and started shooting at anyone not wearing a PDF or Krieg uniform. It didn't matter if it was a man, woman, or child, if I did not kill them, they would most certainly kill me

"FORWARD! PRESS FORWARD MEN, FOR THE LIGHT OF THE EMPEROR, SHINES UPON US!" Roared a commissar behind me and I felt the press of the bodies around me pushing into motion. There was no denying a commissar in a battle situation. With a scream of frustration, I hoisted my lasrifle and charged forward with the rest of the unit and within a few dozen steps we slammed into the chaotic melee taking place in the bombed-out opening in the hive wall. Cursing, shouting, random weapons fire, and the constant ringing of clashing blades filled my ears at the moment before I was busy adding my part to the growing battle. Every second new forces arrived, the slower units with the heavy weapons finally cresting the melee, lending their considerable firepower to the battle by creating an area of denial in front of the melee attackers, giving them room to breathe and their commissars precious seconds to form firing lines and. at least attempt, to reign in the Krieg soldiers.

They fascinated me, their unnaturally calm and indifferent demeanor when out of battle and the contrast to the almost blood-crazed killers they became once they reached melee, Slavering on the border of madness, but always staying in control, they killed with the ruthless efficiency of centuries of Krieg indoctrination and training, distilled into what was speculated to be cloned teenagers. A true embodiment of the grim dark universe I had come to inhabit.

Having dispatched the last enemy in range, I quickly reformed with the other PDF troopers, those that were still alive and able to fight, I opened fire before the commissar gave the order and the troopers around me followed suit, unleashing a wall of lasfire into the smoke of the growing ring of our heavy weapons support and the attacking heretics beyond. I felt more than saw the commissar's gaze on me and my danger instinct went into overdrive, but I focused on firing fast and accurate bursts of lasfire into the smoke, noting the occasional ping from the corner of my eye. Not nearly as many as I would have liked, but slow progress was still progress.

With the battle raging on, the commissar had to take his attention away from me, but I knew I had made a mistake that would require me to play my cards very carefully after this battle. I could explain the lack of waiting for orders if I acted correctly, which meant being completely unbothered no matter what happened from this point. Engineers were already rushing sandbags in, literally building fortifications around us as we kept up the suppressive fire, picking up their shotguns as soon as their objective was done, taking up position in the same fortifications, and screaming at us to push on and get them more ground to claim.

Onward we pushed, the level of resistance ramping up in response to our increasing grip on the foothold into the hive, more and more defenders rushing against our firing lines, the floorspace filled with a moving ocean of bodies being torn apart bit by bloody bit as we emptied our charge packs into the withering mass of heretics. "GRENADES!!" I screamed as I pulled the pin on my frak grenade and recited the Prayer of Ignition

"Spirit of fire,

Prime this weapon,

And blast the foe,

From the Emperor's sight."

and flung it against the helmet of a snarling mountain of a man trying to bring a largely improvised cleaver to bear on us. A few of the troops around me did the same and changed their charge packs after they had thrown them. The shower of blood and meat chunks hit me as soon as the explosions from the grenades rocked through the ranks of the enemy and on a whim I loaded a hotshot power pack. Sure, it could melt my weapons internally, but we needed more firepower to buy the engineers time and space to reinforce our hold inside the city. Making sure to recite the prayer of loading as I put the power pack in place, I raised the lasrifle once more to lay down suppressive fire, but a random round punched through my left shoulder pauldron and continued through the muscle, bone, and then more armor as I was slammed to the ground with a gaping hole in my shoulder.

Everything became a haze, sounds immediately drowned out by a weird ringing and I felt the sweet grasp of unconsciousness reach out to me, "NO!" I had to fight it! Falling asleep now could be fatal, it was just the body reacting to extreme, unexpected damage! Fight, damn it! Slowly lifting my upper body, my head lolling from side to side, I managed to get my good arm under me to lean on. Suddenly hands grabbed me and pull me back the way II came from, away from the fighting. It wasn't long before I was put on a cold surface and someone started prodding me around the wound. Opening an eye and squinting it to try and focus, I saw the face of one of the many Guard regiments that aided in the assault, and realized he must be the Field Chiurgeon*

He quickly wrapped up my shoulder before Injecting a few different things into my arm and I immediately started feeling better. "Rest 10 minutes, then rejoin the frontline," He said before I was carried over to a group of guardsmen and PDF troopers, and handed my rifle. I could feel whatever they had given me working hard to fix whatever damage I had sustained, but I also knew it would be temporary. At some point, the drugs would wear off, and the only reason I was afforded this luxury is that we are still early in the campaign. We could spare the resources when taking into account the projected gains from the stockpiles, conveniently near the entrance into the hive. Looking around, I saw the beginnings of a field hospital placed against the inside of the hive wall. I leaned back against the wall. I COULD use the short break, maybe try to cheat my way to avoiding battle for longer.

On the other hand, I didn't want to abuse the goodwill of the soldiers around me, they had been quick to get me out of there. Instead, I used the time to run through the slew of notifications that had been accumulating during the attacks so far.

According to all the messages, a whooping 47 heretics had been killed by my hand, and at 31 XP per heretic, I was not one to complain. But something else was up and I pondered the symbol next to my abilities tab

HUMAN. LEVEL 3.

STAT POINTS REMAINING: 5

ALIGNMENT: FAITHFUL IMPERIAL.

LITANIES: 19

AUGMENTATIONS: NONE

LEVEL: 1750/2400

STRENGTH: 8

AGILITY: 8

PERCEPTION: 10

WILL: 6

LUCK: 16

SKILLS

FEATS

ABILITIES(*)

There were also notifications about an increase in skills, so I opened that tab first to see the good news.

LASWEAPON PROFICIENCY, LIGHT: TIER 2, LEVEL 6.

LASWEAPON PROFICIENCY, HEAVY: TIER 1, LEVEL 2.

STUBBER WEAPONS, LIGHT: TIER 1, LEVEL 2.

STUBBER WEAPONS, HEAVY: TIER 1, LEVEL 2.

MELEE WEAPONS, CHAIN: TIER 1, LEVEL 1.

MELEE WEAPONS, POWER: TIER 1, LEVEL 0.

MELEE WEAPONS, REGULAR: TIER 1, LEVEL 9.

MELEE WEAPONS, SHOVEL: TIER 1, LEVEL 0.

UNARMED COMBAT: TIER 1, LEVEL 2.

ARMOR PROFICIENCY, REGULAR: TIER 1, LEVEL 8.

ARMOR PROFICIENCY, POWER: TIER 1, LEVEL 0

After running through the list and noting that several skills were close to tiering up, I moved on to the abilities tab.

Abilities:

"Get Up Guardsman!!" : This grants the user the ability to push through what would otherwise be incapacitating damage, and keep on fighting. One use per week.

Holy Terra, Talk about being granted an ability at a clutch moment. Unless... The ability formed as a result of my actions during a moment of crisis... I would have to look deeper into this at some point, but for now, I wanted to give my feats a look-over, since I was setting time aside for stat screen time.

ENDURANCE: TIER 1, LEVEL 9 (NOTE: PLANETARY BONUS APPLIED)

DANGER INSTINCT: LIVING IN A WORLD WHERE DANGER IS RELATIVE AND DEATH WAITS AROUND THE CORNER OF EVERY NEW DAY HAVE GRANTED YOU THE ABILITY TO SENSE MALICIOUS INTENT TOWARDS YOU.

NATURAL BLUFFING: SINCE YOUR ARRIVAL, YOU HAVE SPENT A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF TIME DURING CONVERSATION LYING AND TWISTING THE TRUTH. YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE NATURAL BLUFFING FEAT.

My endurance feat is about to tier up as well. yes, please! I suspect the whole getting wounded thing had something to do with that. I was close to a level as well, the best thing I could do was lay back and let a bit of rest do its work. I would soon get a chance to boost my XP once more.