Resilience

The Begining Of The End

The Cold. The cold is what did the damage. Many would assume the enemy they faced. They would assume the the high casualty to day ratio was due to constant conflict but it was really the cold. The Tau were formidable and if anyone were looking at the daily casualties with the knowledge of daily casualties caused by cold they would see when Tau and Imperial forces fought. The freezing cold would take you before you could do anything. The cold would take a toe a finger maybe a foot. If you were wounded you were as good as dead even with the Ordos Hospitaler at hand with advanced treatments for frostbite. There was no where to go to completely escape the cold. The fires helped, barely. They barely ever were allowed the comfort of fires as the smoke always led to attack.
That is what he felt. The cold. It seeped into his veins. He felt it in every inch, every centimeter it touched in his body. It raced through his veins like they were highways. His blood was becoming a slushy half solid soup that he felt in his every attempt to move. The wound in his gut seemed mute compared to the life seeping cold of the snow around him. His blood froze intermingled with the snow like a sickly tie-die shirt. He cried even though it froze to his cheeks and made him ever so colder.
He painfully looked to his left. One of his comrades who he might even call a friend lay next to him no more than a meter away. His eyes frozen open the pool of blood frozen solid into the snow. He looked to the left and he saw blurred figures in the snow. He made out the uniforms of fellow Imperial Guardsmen, the shots from their lasguns in stark contrast to the white snow snapping from the sky to the ground. The shots of the enemy were also apparent in the deathly whirlwind of battle, death, and snow. The men in the uniforms he recognized best were falling back, their rifles to their shoulders, still firing. He remembered his home.
He walked into the kitchen and was greeted by a warm hug from his mother he couldn't help but smile. He sat down at the bare kitchen table and he pulled out his books. He would be finished school in a matter of weeks and he would not have to go back the following year as he was graduating this year. He would in all likelihood follow the path of the rest of his family and work in the hive cities' many factories and produce munitions for the Imperial Guard.
Those were the times he loved best. He loved to call upon the memory of his mother and his home before the drafts for the Imperial Guard. That was how he had ended up here. He had not been one of the foolish young men who signed up in the hope for glory in the service of the God Emperor. Instead he was one who had known the risks and instead chose the path of his family. The Emperor had chosen differently and his name had been pulled and he was sent to the training camps. Even now lying in the snow in his own freezing blood he did not resent his name being called as some did. If it was the Emperors' will then it was what he would do. He moved his freezing hand towards his sidearm. It hurt. Every inch that he moved caused him to cringe in pain as his muscles fought him all the way to the weapon. The sound of lasgun fire was fading and the sound of Tau pulse weapons growing in their stead. He unclasped his holster with his numb fingers. This was it. This is how he would go. he would go in the name of his beloved Emperor in the defence of the Imperium. This would be his legacy, to fall in action. The laspistol slid from its' holster. He hoped his mother would be proud.
The Tau were getting closer. They moved slowly, one row moving up then providing covering fire for the next. Even though their alien armor was colored like the snow that covered the planet he could see them clearly. They were less than 20 meters away and he knew it would soon be his time. What he saw next surprised him. A man in the same uniform as himself raised up from the ground, like a hero from the times of the Great Crusade and aimed his lasgun with one hand and let loose on full auto. His other arm hung limply by his side, frozen stiff. His shots were wild mostly flying harmlessly into the air. One was all it took, a single shot slammed into the faceplate of a fire warrior and killing it instantly. The retaliation took no less than a second . The man turned into a bloody mist that rapidly turned to crystals. He did not falter. He prepared himself. His feet were facing the oncoming Tau. He raised the Pistol. His numb finger began to put pressure on the trigger. A hand wrapped around his wrist, the pressure caused him to drop his last hope of dying in glory and honor. Another four fingered hand grabbed his other wrist before he could react. A looming helmet appeared in front of him.
"Stay still," it stated in blunt and simple Low Gothic.
He did not stay still, he struggled feebly. His frozen limbs no match for the fresh from battle fire warrior. More xenos came into sight as the edges of his vision blackened. He felt warmth in his abdomen and a faint pressure. He felt like he was floating. His eyes slid closed and the icy world that he had been charged to defend faded away with his consciousness. He had failed.

He woke up and shot straight up. the bright lights burned into his retina and he found that his wrists and arms were held in place. He panicked. Where was he? What was happening? Where was the cold? Where were the damp conditions of the Ordos Hospitaler health shacks? How was he not dead? He was hyperventilating. He still couldn't see. He still couldn't move. His muscles strained and he could feel tears begin to form. He felt the wound in his gut reopen and blood begin to slowly seep out. The questions ate away at his mind and made him want to bash it against a wall until his brains were smeared across its' surface to relieve the pressure that was building in his mind. He screamed. A blue faced xenos was saying something that he couldn't hear. There was a prick, shouting, blaring warning beeps, an alarm. He felt weak the panic was fading, it was still there, tearing at his heart like a beast from a child's worst nightmare. He sunk down and his consciousness slowly faded away like sand on a beach.
He woke up. He kept his eyes closed. He listened to what was around him. He heard words in a language he did not know and murmurs throughout the room. He felt the bonds on his ankles and wrists. He felt a dull ache in his gut. He remembered it all. Lying in the snow and slowly freezing. He remembered the Tau holding him down. He remembered waking up. Still the question remained, where was he. He opened his eyes. The ceiling above was a stark white. He lifted his head and what he saw made him wish he had not. Tau were all around him. Not the ones he had seen in armor and ready for battle. These were ones in robes of scholars and doctors. He shifted. The bonds were tight enough around his arms to prevent him from getting loose but not enough to hurt. He pulled a little harder. The dull pain in his arms told him that it had not been long since he last awoke. There were beds around him with Tau, xenos, and other humans. One of the xenos looked over at him. He pulled harder. It moved closer. He pulled with greater force. It looked like female from clothing.
"Calm," it stated.
He ignored it and moved as far away as his restraints would allow. She moved her four finger hand onto his shoulder. He flinched away from its' touch. Ever since his birth he was drilled into hating xenos and all that opposed the Imperium of man. There was pain beginning to push its way into his brain. His stomach was aching and his arms refused to obey his commands. A concerned look crossed across her face. She removed her hand.
"You are safe here." she stated simply,"You gave us a scare yesterday."
His only response was to stare back at her, silently.
"Sorry for the restraints but as you have shown they are necessary. Many we recover from the battlefields have the reaction you had. Usually less severe."
His mind was conflicted. Always was he taught that xenos would kill or torture humans in ways beyond comprehension. This made no sense.
"Don't worry. Soon you should be able to be indoctrinated and join the Greater Good."
He stared back, speechless. He had heard the stories. He had read of people joining the Tau and their "Greater good." He was now going to be one of them. No. No, this cannot happen. God Emperor help me, he thought.