Chapter 831: Book of the Dead

Chapter 831: Book of the Dead

VALHALLA!

A WARRIOR COMES!

PREPARE THEIR PLACE AT THE RIGHT HAND OF ODIN!

This warrior did not deal in combat. This warrior carried no banner, led no armies, won no wars.

This warrior was a shield-arm. A companion. A bearer of the burdens no mere man could carry. Where sadness lurked, the warrior conquered with joy. Where loneliness sought to divide and destroy, the warrior's mere presence pushed back the darkness. When life seemed most cruel, the warrior defied that cruelty and showed that even the simplest pleasures can light the way forward.

And, above all things, this warrior loved, with every fiber of their being. From their first breath, to their last, all they wanted was the love of their sword-arm, their boon companion. (And perhaps some belly rubs now and then, just to mix things up a bit.)

The warrior lived a life of service to others, never to themselves. (Unless there was a tennis ball involved. It's complicated.) Such service, such devotion, such steadfast resolve against the iniquities of the world are the noblest form of martial prowess. We are only called on occasion to vanquish our enemies. The battles to support our brothers never end.

This warrior fought those battles like few others can claim, and did so with a zeal worthy of any berserker's admiration. It is by these deeds that they have earned their place at the right hand of Odin. That place of honor is given, with the deepest of gratitude, by acclaim from all the sir.

Drink! Eat! Chase! Honor the life left behind, until once again sword and shield are reunited in these halls.

SKL! - Inscription devoted to canine companions, ruins of Tabula-929, Halls of the Holy Martial Order Sancti Ordo Spiritus Tyr, as translated by u/daviskendall

"Case OMAHA. A phrase with which all of you should be familiar; an automated signal indicating that a Confederate world, or a world belonging to an ally of the Confederacy, is under attack in force.

"There are, of course, certain adjunct phrases - Conditions - that can accompany the signal, to provide greater detail on what threats a responding force is likely to face.

"Condition BLUEBOX, for instance, indicates an enemy skilled in temporal warfare. Condition MULDER, possible subversion - or replacement - of local government leaders or military command personnel.

"But the rarest - and most terrifying - is Condition SAMEDI.NewW novels updates at novelhall.com

"Case OMAHA, Condition SAMEDI: Under attack in force by hostile phasic entities.

"Rarely, in recent history, has Condition SAMEDI been called by the Confederacy itself: in the opening days of the Third Phasic War, when Atrekna researchers opened a phasic portal to a Terran Tomb World - and the enraged shades of deceased Terrans streamed through, intent on violence and mayhem, without care for who felt their wrath.

"Many worlds, already caught between the Atrekna Spoked Offensive and the Confederacy's 'Iron Piglet' counter-attack, now had to deal with a third threat: a horde of beings who were, quite literally, too angry to stay dead."

--Excerpt from the opening lecture given by Colonel Zyd'Moor, Lanaktallan instructor for Terran Confederacy Armed Forces training program TCAFTP-CPC-101-D5, Introduction to Counter-Phasic Combat [Revision D5]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON ALL CHANNELS

'Breaking Discovery: Dogboi Howling Injures Phasic Shades!'

"The discovery was made when a world where the Confederacy's 'Operation Iron Piglet' counter-offensive was still fighting local invading Aktrena forces was suddenly overrun with Terran Phasic Shades. Power armor recordings show that Confederate forces held them back best they could, but were forced to fall back to the F.O.B.s for a stand. There, it was noticed by a few people that howling that came from the company's Dogboi regiments were causing the shades to flinch. One Mantid Engineer - whose name is yet to be released - noticed, determined how it did so, and used it to save the base. Unfortunately, however, he was attacked and killed by a nearby shade before it could take full effect, Once it did, every shade within two hundred meters of the F.O.B was and still are destroyed instantly. Other Mantid Engineers have managed to recover the program used by the deceased Mantid, and have sent it to the other bases, as well as research programs to determine why it affects the shades." - Recorded Broadcast from the Front Lines of Iron Piglet; Journalist unknown (Killed in Action, remains unrecovered, file header damaged)

"Doki. Doki doki kawaii _ _ _" the Neko-Marine said urgently.

Captain Tut'el, Telkan Marine Corps, just stared in confusion. His translator had packed it in within thirty seconds of the cat-headed power armor troop babbling, now he was just standing on the tarmac outside of Third Shop.

"She'll be fine. The priest-techs of this Holy Shop are among the best in the Confederacy," the other Telkan said, staring up at the armored figure, who was wringing their hands together.

"()" the Neko-Marine said somehow.

"No. She got here in time," the other Telkan, a Major, said as Captain Tut'el tried to figure out how exactly she had managed to pronounce the emoji. "I understand that you are sister to her, however, right now, I advise you to seek the counsel of the chaplain corp and let the priest-techs do their work."

The Neko-Marine nodded. "Hai!" then turned and marched off, her armor hissing and spitting.

The Major started heading toward the

"How do you understand them, Major?" Captain Tut'el asked.

The Major, both of his cyber-eyes glowing a soft amber, glanced at Tut'el for a second without breaking stride. Despite the amber glow, the Major's softcap brim kept his eyes in shadow.

"I served next to the Dying Joan, one of the original Neko-Marines, in the presence of the Digital Omnimessiah," he said. He shrugged. "Before that, I fought next to them on Telkan and a few other planets. I picked it up. Not sure when."

Captain Tut'el didn't know what to say to that.

The driver, waiting at the wheeled ground-effect vehicle, didn't salute, just got in as the duo approached. The Captain had asked the Major why the Major didn't require the LCPL to salute or open the door for him and the Major had merely replied he didn't want some smartass to put a bullet between his eyes.

Captain Tut'el considered himself a fine officer, with a six month combat deployment with Eighth Infantry Division (Old Blood) under his belt, but the Major, to be honest, scared him.

One of the most famous Telkan, second only to his wife and his returned to life sister-in-law, and even that was debatable. His wife was 'merely' the Planetary Director, his sister-in-law was "merely" the Admiral of the "Fleet of Undying Grief."

The Major was Vuxten, the Warfather, the Enraged Telkan, the brother to the Last World Breaker.

Captain Tut'el had been present when the Major had been presented a small plaque with a pair of crossed bronze mops with the legend "First but not the last" and "In faith and service" below it. A gift from the legendary "Smokey 'No", commander of the entire VII Army Group, who had commanded V Corps when the Major was conscripted in one of the earliest battles of the Big C3.

Part of him wondered if he should be offended at General NoDra'ak's personal message "Never a mess I couldn't count on you to clean up", which had been engraved into a steel and flint lighter of the same design many Treana'ad officers carried. Ultimately he had decided that it was none of his business.

The driver dropped Captain Tut'el and the Major off at the HQ Company building for 138th Maintenance Battalion, 432nd Maintenance and Support Brigade. The driver parked the vehicle as the Major and the Captain headed into the building.

The Major brought up the stubber up to his shoulder and firing, the sound one long tearing sound to Captain Tut'el's ears, raking the entire set of consoles, walking his fire into the primary data transfer box, which was evident from the heavy superconducting datacables running to and from it.

"SHUT DOWN THE ANSIBLE!" the Major yelled. "Colonel! Colonel! Tell the Admiral to shut down the ansible! COLONEL! DO YOU READ?"

In several places, white shades lunged from the screens, climbing out of them like they were climbing from windows, reaching out and grabbing the officers and senior NCO's talking to their counterparts. When touched in the chest or face the officers collapsed silently. Some screamed when their got their arms up in time and those clawed hands raked through their arms, yanking out bluish energy that connected the chunk in the shades hands to the living flesh with light tendrils of bluish-white mist.

The Captain saw the Major's eyes go red as he fired the heavy ornate stubber with both hands. Lightning was rippling across the weapon and the Major's arms and hands.

There was a fzzt across the Captain's back teeth during a second long lull in the Major's fire.

The Major kept firing.

"GET UP! GET UP AND FIGHT!" the Major yelled.

There was confusion, smoke and flame. More and more shades were pulling themselves out of the screens and attacking. Some where sweeping into the walls, vanishing as they went straight through the plasteel walls.

There was screaming in the building.

"471, hurry up," the Major said. "Need her now! Yeah, they're everywhere!"

"Major, what do we do?" Captain Tut'el asked, desperately swinging the blade.

It passed through the shade, which reached for Tut'el's face, but otherwise had no effectg.

Stubber rounds ripped through it, causing it to scream and dissipate.

"Fight, Daxin stab your eyes!" the Major snapped. He snarled. "471, buddy, we're in the Brigade Operations Center, we're cut off."

One handed, the Major raked the last set of desks, exploding the consoles and the screens.

"They are? Dammit! Get the Warbound out there. See if the Dokigirlz are still around!" the Major said. He tapped the side of his head. "Someone get me Fleet!"

People were yelling still, some were kneeling down next to the silent unmoving dead, others were trying to help the injured.

"We got shades coming through the ansible, 471, and I can't get to Fleet. Comms are down, full of screaming," Vuxten snapped.

Captain Tut'el went cold at the Major's next words as he started moving briskly out of the communications center.

"If you can't reach anyone in Fleet, I want you and the other Greenies to blow the ansible. That's right, blow it. It provides commo for the entire damn sector and you know as well as I do that now it's haunted," Major Vuxten snapped. "You get our armor working. Get Casey into Lozen. Wake up the Warbound, I'm on my way."

The Major turned and stared at Tut'el, his eyes burning red.

"If you can't follow, if you can't reach down and find that burning rage from where the Overseers used to laugh at you as they tormented you, then give me my chainsword and get somewhere safe," the Major said.

Captain Tut'el considered himself a fine officer, a combat experienced officer with a tour with 8th Infantry Division under his belt.

Staring into those red eyes, Captain Tut'el flinched.

He handed back the chainsword, swallowing thickly.

"Do you know where the sat-uplink is for the base?" the Major asked.

"Right outside," Captain Tut'el said. He closed his eyes and shuddered. "I'm afraid, Major."

Vuxten just nodded tightly. "We aren't all Daxin. Some of us are Dambree, others of us are Pete," he said. "Lead us outside, to the antenna array, so we can destroy it."

Captain Tut'el nodded.

Vuxten handed over the stubber.

"This will work," he said. He grabbed one of Tut'el's ears and pulled his head to the side. "It will work."

Tut'el nodded. The Major let go.

The Major shifted his grip to a two handed hold on the chainsword.

"Drop those sats, cut the link, Captain," the Major said. He hit the power button and the chainsword screamed to life. "I'll cover you."

Captain Tut'el nodded.

Vuxten kicked open the door to the hallway. There were shades crouched over bodies on the floor.

They all looked up.

"NOT ONE STEP BACK!" the Major howled as he stepped into the hallway, swinging his chainsword.

Ectoplasm sprayed as the shades shrieked.

The Captain followed.