V2 Chapter 81: I Will Give Their Lives a True Meaning
After Duvette received Stroud's report, he turned his attention back to the main front.
Several key position beacons were still holding steady on the tactical channel. As long as those markers remained lit, Nev City's inner perimeter had not been broken and they still had ground to stand on.
He was currently advancing with the second assault wave.
Ahead, the Eisenmark armoured battalion and the Krieg 771st Siege Regiment had pushed up against the enemy's third trench line. The rolling barrage had stopped some time ago and the artillery positions were being moved forward.
What was actually sustaining the front's continued advance was the armoured battalion's direct fire, the accompanying mortars, and the Krieg soldiers whose capabilities had been raised by Duvette's System.
The Blood Pact's first and second defensive lines had been torn open.
That did not mean the enemy was weak. The Blood Pact soldiers were still fighting with determination, still attempting to re-establish fire positions and organise counter-attacks. But the Black Shields and the 112th assault companies had destroyed the enemy's anti-aircraft, artillery, and vox relay nodes, and the Blood Pact had lost the ability to coordinate a unified response.
And now the front was facing a Death Korps of Krieg whose speed and strength had both been forcibly elevated.
Several thousand Krieg soldiers were pushing through trenches, shell craters, and wire obstacles. Their movement was still silent. Their formations were still orderly. But the speed with which they crossed the mud and the force with which they broke through obstacles far exceeded what any ordinary Astra Militarum regiment could have managed.
Duvette understood clearly that this state could not be maintained indefinitely.
But for the moment, it was sufficient.
At this rate, the advance element would reach Nev City's outer perimeter before midday tomorrow. A stable relief corridor would take longer: the combat engineers, artillery, and follow-on forces still needed to clear the flanking enemy positions section by section.
The actual concern right now was whether the enemy, having discovered that their main defensive line could not hold, would commit everything they had to a final assault on the inner city regardless of cost.
The Black Shields had already dropped into the gate sector. Two 112th assault companies had destroyed enemy anti-aircraft and artillery nodes and were moving into key positions inside the inner city. Stroud's beacons confirmed that the water station, the underground maintenance conduits, the drainage network, and several temporary medical points were still in Imperial hands.
Duvette had Evan at his side, a personal guard element, and the two senior commanders of the Krieg 1173rd.
Colonel Jurgen Holst was almost entirely silent. He received front-line data through an accompanying augury vox vehicle and issued extremely brief orders adjusting the 771st remnants and the 904th third echelon's advance directions.
Commissar Oscar Rein had been watching Duvette throughout.
The commissar's expression was complex. His gaze moved continuously between the battlefield and Duvette. He had noticed the anomalies, and he had felt in his own body whatever force was moving through the surrounding forces.
The second trench line had been cleared.
But occasionally Blood Pact soldiers who had not died fully were pulling themselves up out of the mud and bodies. Some were trying to pull grenade pins. Some were raising pistols, looking to drag one Imperial soldier down with them.
The guard's weapons came up, and Duvette had already moved forward.
A Blood Pact soldier half-buried in the mud raised his hand suddenly, a fragmentation grenade with the pin already pulled locked in his palm. Duvette stepped down into the trench, the power sword came down, and arm and skull separated together.
The detonation never came.
Duvette drove off the trench floor three metres below with a single movement and came back up to ground level, his step breaking for only an instant.
Another Blood Pact soldier came out from behind shattered cover with a combat knife. Duvette turned, the sword edge crossed level, and the man's upper body was separated from the lower. The remains slid into the mud.
Commissar Rein finally spoke.
"Colonel-Commissar."
Duvette glanced at him sidelong.
"What is it?"
Rein matched his pace, his voice held low.
"Where does this force come from?"
Duvette allowed himself a slight smile.
"What specifically are you referring to?"
Rein looked toward the Krieg formation pressing forward ahead of them.
"Increased speed. Increased strength. Anomalous targeting indicators. All of it exceeds what any standard explanation can account for."
He paused, his gaze coming back to Duvette.
"I need to confirm whether it has any connection to Warp contamination."
Colonel Holst did not turn. He continued monitoring the front-line reports coming through the vox vehicle.
Duvette said: "The Emperor's grace."
Rein did not respond immediately.
Duvette kept his eyes on the ground ahead, his tone even.
"If it came from Chaos, what you would be watching right now would not be a Krieg combat group still following orders. Continue your observation. Whispers, mutation, fervour, corruption markings: the moment any of those appear, you discharge your duty exactly as it requires."
Rein's fingers settled quietly against the flap of his bolt pistol holster.
The gesture was slight, but Duvette noticed it.
So did Holst.
"I will record your explanation." Rein said. "If contamination indicators appear, I will act according to my responsibilities."
Duvette looked at him.
"As you should. But remember, Rein. I am also a commissar."
Rein was quiet for a moment, then gave a single nod.
He was about to ask another question when Duvette stopped.
A Krieg soldier was lying on his back at the trench edge. The explosion had blown his helmet and gas mask open, the cracked mask lying beside him, his lasgun rolling in the mud below.
The face that was exposed was pale and young, blood at the corner of his mouth, entirely still.
Duvette walked over, crouched down, and tapped the soldier's face with his hand.
The Krieg soldier's eyes opened.
His first movement was reaching for his weapon, but his hand closed on mud instead. Duvette picked up the lasgun from beside him and placed it in his hand.
The soldier looked up, registered the faces around him, and immediately pushed himself upright and rendered a salute.
Duvette asked: "Name."
"K-771-3-44. Krieg 1173rd Provisional Siege Combat Group, 771st Siege Regiment, Third Company, Private."
This was Krieg. The string of designation codes was his name.
"Can you still fight?"
"Affirmative. Combat-ready."
Duvette gave a nod, pushed the lasgun back against the soldier's chest, and reached out to brush the mud and ash from his shoulder plate.
"Then keep going."
The Krieg soldier came to attention.
Duvette looked at him directly.
"Remember this, soldier. Your life is not a number on a casualty return."
The soldier said nothing.
"From here forward, you carry death to the enemy." Duvette said. "With your rifle. With your blade. With your demolition charges. Do not throw yourself into a fire position that contributes nothing. Make your sacrifice worth the strength the Emperor has given you."
"K-771-3-44, confirmed."
"Return to your element."
"Order confirmed."
The Krieg soldier turned and rejoined the formation ahead.
Duvette moved back to his position.
Commissar Rein watched the soldier's back and then returned his gaze to Duvette.
"What you said just now. Does it apply to the entire 1173rd Combat Group?"
"It does."
Colonel Holst spoke at that point.
"Colonel-Commissar. You are asking the Death Korps to change how it advances?"
Duvette looked toward the third trench line still burning ahead.
"I am asking you to stop using futile sacrifice as proof of loyalty."
Holst paused for one second.
"The Death Korps can sustain high casualties."
"I know." Duvette said. "I am not asking you to prove that."
"Then what are you asking them to prove?" Colonel Holst said.
Duvette did not answer immediately.
In the distance, Kleist's armoured battalion was firing. Further forward, the anti-armour positions behind the third trench line had come back to life. Several heavy fire lines from concealed fortifications struck a Chimera's side armour. The carrier shook violently and stopped, trailing black smoke.
The enemy was bringing its real hard points forward.
Duvette looked at the red markers and said quietly: "Prove that when the Death Korps is named for death, the death in question belongs to the enemy."
Colonel Holst turned back and issued orders through the vox vehicle.
"771st Regiment, cease unsuppressed advance."
"312th Engineer Battalion, move forward and mark the anti-armour fire emplacements."
"All other units, coordinate with the Ash Watchers-Eisenmark 112th's armoured battalion to clear the third trench line's crossing fire zones."
After the orders went out, he looked back at Duvette.
"Combat principles adjusted. The 1173rd will prioritise elimination efficiency."
Commissar Rein remained silent.
Duvette looked at him.
"You still have a question."
Rein raised his head.
"This force originates from you."
"Yes."
"And you are characterising it as the Emperor's grace."
"You may record it that way."
Rein's fingers returned to the holster flap. This time they stayed longer.
"Colonel-Commissar. That statement is dangerous."
"I know."
"If I write it in full into the after-action report, the Inquisition will see it. The Ministorum will see it. The Departmento Munitorum will see it."
Duvette smiled slightly.
"Lord Inquisitor Heinz has already seen it."
Something finally shifted in Rein's expression.
He thought of the Lord Inquisitor who had been at Duvette's side. He thought of the things that had been said about Duvette in circulation through the force. Living saint. Chosen of the Emperor. Manifestation of the Emperor's will. Those words had not been broadcast openly through the ranks, but they had appeared in certain people's low voices.
He had taken them for the fantasies of zealots.
But right now he was standing on a battlefield, watching a Krieg combat group change under this young commissar's presence, and he had felt that unknown force and its guidance in his own body.
Rein did not draw the bolt pistol.
He did not step back either.
After a moment, he said: "I will continue to observe."
Duvette turned back to the front.
"Good." Duvette allowed himself a brief, soundless smile. "Over the next three weeks, I am going to give every soldier in this Krieg combat group's life a new meaning."
Holst and Rein both looked at him.
"They will not be a force that simply consumes enemy materiel with their own bodies." Duvette said. "They will not prove themselves the Death Korps solely by their indifference to dying."
Ahead, the fire from the third trench line intensified.
Duvette raised the power sword and pointed it at the red markers.
"They will carry death to every enemy of humanity."
"Every traitor, every enemy of the human race, will die in front of them."
Rein was quiet for a long time.
Then he said: "If you can do that, I will support it."
Duvette did not look back.
"Then keep up."
In the distance, the Krieg 771st Regiment began adjusting its formation.
The Death Korps, given a new definition by Duvette, continued its advance toward the third defensive line.