Excerpt from the last stand of Commissar Orent and the birth of the Sordin Seventh Legion.
The bolt pistol in his left hand was like a dead weight, no power remained not even a single shot and still he could hear the cries of the Orks in the tunnel behind them. The remaining members of the squad lined up behind him the last eight of the White-Shields the new squad being sent on their initial patrol, this was supposed to have been routine, just a way of showing the boys the ropes. Introducing them into their new life as Guardsmen.
The squad had passed the entrance to the caves and were just crossing the ridge when all hell broke loose. A mob of Orks fully thirty or forty of the evil green skins alongside an Ork boss advanced with guns blazing, a couple of squad members were down before they had realized how bad things could get. Despite the fresh faced appearance of the squad they had grown up on Sordin, a world of fierce street gangs and deprivation most of the young men were convicted criminals who had chosen the life of a guardsman as opposed to a stint in an imperial prison.
These young men were not going to lie down and die quietly and soon returned fire despite the grave odds and the wave of terror that must be felt at the site of the Orkish mob screaming and cursing as they attacked. They had to retreat and the Commissar had no intention of throwing there lives away in a futile stand on an exposed ridge, they backed up towards the caves holding a line of fire towards the advancing Orks, the fall back was a thing of precision despite the relatively little time they had practiced although comrades were dying the men stayed together and with the Commissar anchoring the middle of the line with his bolt pistol raining death to an Ork with every shot.
When they reached the caves the squad launched a final volley and then retreated inside the cover and down the tunnels. The squad traversed the caves with the hope of finding a suitable position to hold off the Orks while hoping for support to reach them. After what seemed an eternity they reached a suitable position although a dead end there was an outcropping of rock which would provide sufficient coverage to allow them to reduce the number of Orks able to attack at one time.
The Commissar looked around, he could see the fear in their eyes as they knew that there was no retreat here they would stand and if required die, but there was also elation and pride that they had lived this far while more than treble their number of Orks had died, There was also the belief, belief that the Emperor and the forces of right would allow them to somehow survive this encounter.
For the Commissar he had pride that his fledglings had shown the courage and skill that they would need to survive as a unit if they escaped this trap. The sounds of the mob grew louder and the Commissar split the men in half providing a covering fire from either side of the cave. The Commissar knew now was the time that he needed to provide that rallying call, although he was not a man for speeches preferring to talk through deeds he realized that he had to give the squad that which they would need to fight at their best, fear could do much to help the men but now they needed to believe.
His voice rang out in the cave as he talked to the men
“From here there is no retreat, we have a field of our choosing and those green scum will rue they day they chose to take on even the newest squad of the Seventh Legion, they thought that you would die like moths in a fire however we showed them what it means to be an Imperial Guardsman and by the Emperor’s will we will survive.”
At this the Commissar put his bolt pistol to the ground, took out his chainsword and flicked on the thumb switch the blade started to rotate, the noise echoing through the cavern. A cry went up as the Orks came into sight realizing that there prey was trapped seemingly without escape. The Commissar advanced to the centre of the cave the squad aligned on either side of the entrance awaiting the final Ork advance.
The voice of the commissar rang out.
“In the name of the Emperor I will see your green bodies broken and torn on this rock today”
The greenskins charged in their battle lust their weapons all but forgotten, the commissar stepped forward the mighty chainsword swung down and blood splattered everywhere as the first Ork was dismembered in one blow a second Ork ran straight onto the blade as it came through the first Ork. The guardsmen opened fire there lasguns raining death onto the Orks, however the sheer numbers carried the Orks into the cave and soon the guards where losing resorting to knives to try and kill the depraved Orks, and then the mightiest of the Orks stepped into the breach, upon sight of the Ork boss the Commissar charged the Orks melted out of his path realizing that this was not someone who they should interfere with there was an ear-piercing scream as the two met on the middle of the field their weapons clashing together, the Commissars chainsword against the fearsome axe wielded by the Ork boss.
The weapons were locked together the Commissar unable to prevent the Ork boss running his other smaller sword into his stomach. The Commissar fell to his knees as the life blood started to flow around the weapon. The Ork boss reached down and lifted the Commissar over his head the blood dripping down covering him in a dark red that made him appear to be like a daemon from hell and his words rang out “Puny human think you can stand against me.”
The Commissar use the last of his strength to manage one last swing of his sword attacking the Ork boss with the momentum of the blade, the blade splitting the head in two until it jammed against the bone of the skull. “Scum like you will never prevail while the Emperor and his servants remain” and then he fell to the ground as the dying Ork body collapsed beneath him.
The remaining Orks spirit was broken at the death of the boss and the guards seeing their commander die in such a way attacked with a renewed ferocity until the last of the Ork mob were destroyed. The survivors collected the Commissars body and bolt pistol and carried him back to the base camp, they had left as rookies but returned as heroes.