A Valiant Last Stand

Only in Death does Duty End

When I arrived at the lines, I saw all of my fellow guardsmen lined up in the trenches with their shiny lasguns at the ready and that's when I saw that the one of the officers were speaking to them. "...and the Imperial flagship Judgement of Holy Terra will take just two more days to arrive; we must continue to hold out until then...". As the officer was speaking, I saw that the officer next to him was looking at me and motioned me to approach him. "What did you see over there, guardsman? How many did you see?" I felt my heart sink as I pictured the huge force of orks and their ground-shaking war-engines. "I have spotted a massive, mechanized force of a hundred fifty-three battlewagons in my count and a massive war-engine, about the size of our imperial titans," I said as I felt a lump begin to grow in my throat. "Gargants. Nothing to worry about, the combined forces of both of our titans will be able to easily overpower it as long as they keep their distance," he said with a whiff. "There's one more thing I'd like to report to you, while I was surveying the orks, I couldn't see the warlord anywhere," The officer was suddenly caught off-guard by this and looked upon me with his now squinted eyes. "What do you mean guardsman? That ork warlord is the biggest bastard of them all so it shouldn't have been so hard to spot," he stood still pondering for a moment, biting his scarred thumb. "Guardsman, go join the lines".

A couple of the guardsmen began to speak to me as I jumped down into the entrenchment. "So, what did you see over there beyond the front lines, Valiance?". It was nice to hear my name be spoken instead of just being addressed as "guardsman" by my commanding officers. "Well, just a whole bunch of orks and a gargant...," I was then suddenly interrupted by the sudden boom of lascannon and lasgun fire. "Guardsmen! Have no fear, we must continue to hold this line for the return of the Judgement, Emperor protects." Shouted the officers with a strict, firmness. "Tell the crewmen to ready the tanks and titans! Fire at will, guardsmen!". I could then hear the deep bloodcurdling screams of the orks. I peeked my head over the trench and then was immediately pulled down by my comrade as they returned fire on us. The huge mass of orks looked like a green flood that covered the scarred and bloody battlefield. "Don't worry Val," said my comrade with a cheeky grin as he helped me up from the

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muddy ground. "These damned green skins have no idea what they've got themselves into. We've got the titans and tanks on our side." He picked up my muddied lasgun off the ground and shoved it into my arms. "Only in death does duty end, Valiance."