V2 Chapter 102: The Oligarchy Gate Is Broken
Gaunt took his chainsword and bolt pistol, and led a thirty-man section into the old drainage channel entrance alongside Major Galen Chittle.
Three tall Black Shields were already waiting there.
Gaunt walked up to Markus and gave a nod. Neither side wasted words. Markus turned and led the other two Black Shields into the passage ahead.
Gaunt gestured.
"Move."
The Hyrkan soldiers fell into column quickly. The demolitions team and the combat engineer were positioned in the middle of the line. Chittle took several soldiers to cover the rear, ready for any pursuit.
The inside of the old drainage channel was completely dark.
There was no natural light at all. The mortals could only see by the weapon-mounted lamps and the tactical lights on their shoulder armour. The ferrocrete walls and riveted steel plate were covered in years of corrosion. Fouled water moved slowly underfoot, the wet humidity making the floor treacherous.
The channel also held blood and torn flesh.
The Black Shield detachment had clearly cleared a number of defenders when they first seized the entrance. Some of those bodies were still in the posture of raising weapons. Others had been reduced to fragments by bolt rounds at close range.
For the Black Shields, the environment had no particular effect.
Their enormous frames moved steadily through the narrow passage. The heavy footsteps of power armour resonated through the underground space. The crimson lenses swept each shadow in turn. Gaunt watched their backs and confirmed again what he had already understood: these Astartes were nothing like the Emperor's Angels as he had heard of them in stories before.
Major Galen Chittle gripped his lasrifle.
He did not like this environment.
The wet air, the slick floor, the poor visibility, and the low vibration transmitted from deep in the passage all made him uncomfortable. He glanced at Gaunt and found the commissar showing no sign of it.
Suddenly, Markus stopped ahead.
An instant later he activated his power sword and drove the blade into what appeared to be an ordinary section of wall.
Gaunt did not have time to ask. Markus pulled the blade sharply downward.
The riveted steel plate and ferrocrete were cut open, exposing a small hidden fire position built into the wall. The Blood Pact soldiers inside clearly had not expected to be found, but the other two Black Shields opened fire simultaneously.
Bolt weapons thundered in the enclosed space.
The fire position was cleared in an instant.
The Hyrkan soldiers went briefly silent.
"Throne above..." Chittle said under his breath, genuinely stunned.
To the mortals around them, the ability to detect that seemed close to prescience. The Emperor's Angels appeared to know in advance where the enemy was concealed. Stop, fire, clear, the entire sequence without a single wasted movement.
They continued forward.
The fighting from that point was almost entirely one-sided.
Whether the Blood Pact were waiting in pre-set ambush positions or came charging out from the connecting passages, the result was the same: the three Astartes' fire and power swords destroyed them quickly. The heavy weapons that had been positioned ahead of time never had the chance to engage; the soldiers operating them were dead before the weapons could be brought to bear.
But the Black Shields could not absorb every threat.
A side corridor suddenly discharged automatic fire, and two Hyrkan soldiers on the column's flank went down immediately. Chittle took his soldiers in to suppress the side corridor. Gaunt raised his bolt pistol and shot a Blood Pact soldier who had been reaching for a grenade.
"Keep moving!" Gaunt called out.
The demolitions team stepped over their comrades' blood and continued forward with the charges.
Before long, the passage opened into an underground space that was completely different from the channel they had moved through.
The chamber was considerably wider. Thick cooling pipelines and old-pattern valves covered the walls. Maintenance rails ran across the floor. In the distance, several large auxiliary pump units were still running with a low sound. They connected through electric-blue energy conduits to shielded plasma reactor stacks. The air carried the smell of high-temperature steam and cooling fluid.
The combat engineer looked at the maintenance chart in his hand, then at the pipelines, his voice tightening with something close to excitement.
"Commissar. This is it."
Gaunt turned.
"Confirmed?"
"Confirmed." The engineer swallowed. "This is the left-side cooling return layer. We were right."
Gaunt did not show relief.
He looked at the large mechanical assembly ahead. The primary locking bolt was embedded in a heavy metal frame, its surface covered in multiple layers of armour and Chaos sigils. The demolitions team completed their assessment quickly. The demolitions sergeant shook his head.
"Commissar. The primary locking bolt is too thick. We do not have enough to breach it directly."
Gaunt looked at the cooling pipelines and the backup power nodes.
"Destroy the cooling return pipes and the power nodes."
The demolitions team began placing the charges.
The enemy had clearly identified what they were doing. Reinforcements poured through the connecting passages, Blood Pact soldiers charging into the underground chamber in numbers that showed they were not accounting for their own losses.
Markus brought the two Black Shields forward to meet them.
The power sword cut through the first wave. Bolt rounds destroyed the commissar-troopers behind. Gaunt did not leave them to fight alone: every Hyrkan soldier not actively placing charges entered the fire line. Chittle was shouting orders, keeping the flanks covered.
Gaunt stood between the demolitions team and the enemy and kept firing his bolt pistol. A Blood Pact soldier tried to shoot at him and took a bolt through the chest before completing the attempt.
The timer was set quickly.
The demolitions sergeant checked the detonation lead, then looked at Gaunt.
"Commissar. The remote detonation signal is not reliable down here. The countdown has started, but we need someone to hold this position for the last few minutes. If the Blood Pact engineers get to the main line and disconnect it, everything fails."
Gaunt looked at him.
The demolitions sergeant did not look away.
"We will stay."
The other members of the demolitions team said nothing. They began reloading their weapons.
Gaunt was quiet for a second.
He did not argue with them.
He simply raised his hand and rendered a salute. "The Emperor will remember you."
The demolitions sergeant gave a brief smile and said nothing.
Gaunt lowered his hand. "Withdraw."
Markus immediately began covering the retreat with the Black Shields. Chittle pulled a wounded soldier onto his shoulder and moved with the remaining Hyrkan soldiers back the way they had come. Behind them, the gunfire intensified. The demolitions team held the charges with everything they had left.
Shortly afterward, the moment Gaunt stepped out of the drainage channel entrance, a deep concussive sound rose from somewhere below.
Violent tremors came through the ground. The shockwave drove through the passage behind them and threw several soldiers near the entrance off their feet. Dust and steam poured from the drainage channel opening.
Gaunt steadied himself and looked immediately toward the Oligarchy Gate in the distance.
The massive gate structure had not blown open.
The void shield was still flickering. The primary gate was still set in the high wall.
A brief quiet settled around them.
Someone thought they had failed.
Gaunt's own expression began to tighten.
Then, from deep inside the distant left support locking tower, a low, heavy cracking sound reached them.
The sound was deep and drawn out. It covered the distance and entered every person's hearing, like something enormous tearing apart from the inside.
The void shield surface began flickering violently. A brief discontinuity appeared in the gate's force field. Then the outer armour plating of the left support locking tower began falling away section by section.
The primary gate had lost its synchronised closure.
The enormous gate body shifted inward out of alignment, then collapsed inward with a rending metallic shriek, opening an enormous breach in the structure. Smoke and dust erupted from the surrounding area. The Blood Pact garrison's fire stalled briefly in the confusion.
The Oligarchy Gate was open.