Last nights raid had been a success.

They hit the Bastion hard and fast, succeeded in knocking out the communications array, temporarily at least and set the walls ablaze with phosphex. No lasting damage, true, but the objecti e had been achie ed. Bastion !" has gone silent and looks like it is burning hea ily. #n their way they had left behind a large amount of mines to discourage any pursuit and present an unpleasant surprise when reinforcements arri e. $lpharius "%&' crouched and pressed himself up against what he assumed, was at one point a farm house wall( trying to conceal his power armored bulk from iew. )ith a *uick glance around him, the eteran of countless wars could see his brothers of the long war do the same. +e checked his scanner again and could not belie e his luck, two hundred meters away a full platoon of ,uardsmen were marching right at them. -ifty .mperial lackeys and what looked like a transport as well. There were nine other legionnaires concealed around the compound with him, more than enough for what he had planned. -or days now $lpharius has been troubled by Bastion !". /ituated atop a hill surrounded by farm land it stood sentinel, watching e erything passing through the alley. +is insurgents ha e been bombarding it with mortar fire, keeping heads down but unable to do any lasting damage. $ direct assault would be suicidal, the $lpha legion do not ha e the manpower or e*uipment in the region to take it by force. 0unning would instead be needed. -ollowing his chapters creed, "%&' sought to humiliate and demoralize the men holding this blasted obstacle trying to taunt them in to making mistakes. /o far they ha e been unmo ed, e en raging infernos of phosphex has done little but let us see what they do when an entire platoon is cut down within sight of the walls. There was a sound of something scraping across the floor abo e him as $utocannons were being mo ed in to position for when they are needed. "%&' considered reprimanding the Legionnaire for making so much noise when stealth was so critical but his eyes caught on the floor beneath him. Large flagstones, shattered under the weight of him and his armor. .t is impossible to remain silent when you weigh the better part of a tonne. /till, with the 0himeras engines roaring as it approached, the deafened humans will not ha e heard anything. The guardsmen were ad ancing in a staggered line, with the 0himera transport holding their right flank. They were scant meters away now, it looks like the tank will roll through the courtyard allowing the $utocannon teams to disable it from abo e. 1ust as they had hoped. 2ach legionnaire in turn made a silent gesture, a sign off, to let the others know they are ready. "%&' powered on his gauntlet and primed his combi3melta( adrenaline started kicking in and his hearts began to hasten. .t didn4t matter how many times he did this across the ages, the anticipation before conflict made him feel so ali e. $lpharius needed it, cherished it and always would. /uddenly the 0himera changed course and swung around outside the compound, on the other side of the building from his s*uad. )ith a shout of 5-uck it, just slaughter the infantry6 $lpharius began running across the room, towards the opposite wall and where he hoped the ,uard transport still to be. The legionnaires opened fire as one( the sound was deafening. $ second ago there was silence, now Bolters, -lamers and $utocannons spat death at the infantry in the courtyard and beyond. 7en tumbled to the ground or were splattered across the dirt floor by hea y caliber rounds. #thers were roasted ali e by sheets of flame. +alf of them died in the first three seconds. $s the first shots rang out "%&' smashed through the breeze block wall and clipped the rear of the 0himera with a swing of his 8owerfist. The track shredded and the tank went fishtailing out of control(

smashing in to the wall further down. /moke poured from the wreckage, the rear door crashed down and coughing, retching ,uardsmen staggered out. $lpharius calmly executed each of them in turn with his Boltgun. )ith any luck the wreckage will be sal ageable by his insurgents, the weapons from it alone would greatly boost their fire support. The dozen or so ,uardsmen that had sur i ed the initial ambush and were holed up in the stable block on the other side of the courtyard, some of them e en had the temerity to shoot back.