thought of the day: A good soldier obeys without question. A good officer commands without doubt. - the Tactica Imperium

location: Vale south quadrant

pov Jaune

it has been a few days of training for the recruits while the Astartes has been adjusting to Remnant for that time. in time Vale started noticing chaotic corruption in parts of it controlling area, so i thought it to be a good time to test some of the recruits. at the moment we were in a bullhead underway to a suspected heretic outpost with me i took recruits codenamed Glaz, Blitz, Doc, Smoke, Sledge Ying, Finka, Nomad, Hibana and Buck. i stood up from my seat and got their attention.

Jaune: listen up people, this will be your first mission we will be going to search for a heretic base or outpost and destroy it, if you all would look at your scroll then you could see a rough idea of the enemies appearance and symbols they would wear if found kill on sight. are there any questions?

Doc: are we allowed to use our Aura?

Jaune: yes you are allowed to use your auras, but they won't be of much use since the enemy's weapons can destroy it in one to two shots, so don't rely on it.

Finka: shouldn't we try to capture them alive and arrest them?

Jaune: don't bother they won't surrender and even if you managed to capture one they wouldn't give us any intel.

we landed and moved to start the search. two hours later Glaz reported having found their outpost, so we regrouped. the building was a two-story house it had a garage entrance alongside a front and back door. 

Jaune: listen up people we will split up in three groups Blitz, Finka and Sledge will breach through the garage, Ying, Hibana and Buck go through the back, Doc, Smoke and Nomad you three are with me we will go through the front and Glaz you will give sniper fire from outside and report if there are any reinforcements coming.

Nomad: what's the plan for inside shouldn't we scout the place with drones?

Jaune: once inside your objective is to kill all heretics let none survive that is all you need to know now get to your positions and wait for my signal.

once everyone was in position i gave the signal by kicking in the door and firing at the first heretic i saw, nomad threw a ball at a door leading to a sort of living room, Smoke then threw a small canister into a side room before it detonated and released an orange gas cloud, a heretic charged through the gas cloud before stopping and starting to gasp for breath before collapsing, i heard something akin to an explosion when i looked at the living room i saw two heretics knocked on their back trying to get up before being shot by Doc and Nomad.

we went up a set of stairs close to the main door i signalled to split up, so Smoke and Doc went into a bathroom while I and nomad walked up to a master bedroom, where we saw a heretic look towards a side door before being shot by a shotgun from the door only for smoke and Doc to move out of the door. we went further Doc went inside what looked like a child's room and Smoke and Nomad into a sort of workshop while i went to cover the stairs close to it, i heard some shots from both rooms and people walking up the stairs when i went to fire i stopped when i saw that it was Hibana.

Jaune: ground floor clear?

Hibana: yes sir.

i took my radio and contacted the third group.

Jaune: are the garage and basement clear?

Finka: yes sir but we found a hatch that leads to somewhere deeper.

Jaune: were coming to you.

when we arrived at their position where there was a small hatch with a ladder leading down. i holstered my lasgun and equipped my shield and gladius before grabbing some Det-packs and handing them to the recruits.

Sledge: what are these for?

Jaune: i will go investigate this while you place these explosives for demolition.

Ying: what! we can't just blow this up.

Jaune: we can and we will that is an order.

she wanted to say somthing but i already went down the hatch, i have to hand it to these heretics there quick with digging tunnels, it was a four-minute walk through a narrow tunnel when i heard running coming towards me.

heretic: die, corpse worshiper!

he tried to hit me with an overhead swing using a hatchet i blocked it with my shield and stabbed him in the throat with my gladius. he tried to stop the bleeding only for me to stab from beneath in the midriff upwards i should have hit him in the lung, after that i continued through the tunnel to come to a room or prison cell. in it was a set of bars in front of it was a table with some sort of partially eaten meat on it i saw what looked like a neckless there was also a rack with on it something that looked like human skin, there where some things painted on the walls in a script i couldn't nor wanted to read.

 behind the bars was nothing other than someone chained to a wall i couldn't see much thanks to the only light source being a torch on the wall next to the entrance. i took the torch and forced open the door to behind the bars when i got closer to the person. it was a girl may be no older than twelve years old her body was covered in scars she seemed awake but distant, i extended one of my hands and raised her head so that i could look into her eyes, she had a blank stare the one you would normally find on a dead body but she still drew breath.

i was at an impasse one part of me told me to set her free from the cell and make sure she gets the help she needs the other told me to give her the emperors mercy and set her free that way, i had decided i hung up the torch and drew my gladius readying it to stab the weakest point of her head to give her a quick and painless death.

Jaune: oh god-emperor of man, may thee show mercy for this poor soul although she doesn't know thay name, may thee protect her soul from the creatures of the warp, may thee cleans her soul from all impurity, so that she can live on eternally in your grace. Ave Imperator

i stabbed my gladius into her head with full force killing her instantly, i unshackled her body and covered it as much as possible with my cloak before taking it with me back towards the rest of the team. when i reached the basement i used my radio to check-in.

Jaune: status report.

Glaz: when you were in the tunnel some hostiles came but we drove them off.

Jaune: arrange for the bullhead to pick us up as close as possible and that it's carrying a stretcher.

Glaz: understood.

a few minutes later i saw a bullhead land on the street with my team boarding it not soon after, when i went to get aboard everyone had their eyes focused on me or more importantly on what i was carrying. i laid the body on the stretcher and went to take a seat, Doc went towards the body probably to try to check her status.

Jaune: don't bother.

Doc: sir i am still a medic it's my duty to tre-

he trailed off when he saw the wound that my gladius caused.

Hibana: what happened?

Jaune: what always happens when heretics get their hands on someone. 

most of the recruits were silent some seemed to be in shock some seemed to be filled with fire and anger either directed at the heretics or me i didn't care as long as they would kill the enemy i would be fine with it, its the commissar's job to make sure the dogs don't bite back.

when we came back i arranged the things necessary to get the girl a burial and started to write and work through my report on the incident.