"Everyone should die for the Emperor and not live for himself!"
The messenger slave screamed, drowning out the messy footsteps and officers shouting orders as the soldiers ran through the narrow corridors of the troop ship toward the launch pad.
"Kill the heretics, kill the aliens, prepare for war!"
A wall-mounted servitor serves as a constant reminder of duty on a pre-recorded loop, while Hayes hobbles along with the others carrying a heavy backpack.
After the battle in the Lamptan system, Abubakari's 310th Infantry Regiment rested for half a month. This period was also their rare leisure time. Some new recruits were also added to the regiment, and Hayes finally became the first. He was called "Sir" for the first time.
However, he was not the kind of person who would act like a veteran, although this did make him quite happy, and it relieved a lot of the melancholy caused by the deaths of Fitz and Jung.
But for the soldiers of the empire, stability always seems to be temporary. They soon came to a strange place and faced the same strange enemy. Until three hours ago, Hashet, who had become their company commander Use the whistle to get everyone out of their bunks and tell them to get ready for planetary drop.
"Be alert, be brutal, be strong!"
The screams of the telex slaves grew louder, harsh echoes bouncing off the speakers mounted on the metal walls and ceiling around them.
"Only faith in the Emperor is your shield and armor!"
The servitors were loud, but Hayes didn't hear a word he said, and he and the rest of his company were herded like sheep through the dropship's labyrinth of corridors, now and then passing Navy crew members who paused from their duties , cheering them on, replacing their initial sarcastic laughter with words of semi-encouragement.
The normal antipathy between the Marines and Guardsmen suddenly seemed to give way to mutual respect, considering that their former passengers might soon encounter combat.
"You have nothing in return but the Emperor's satisfaction!"
"You know no truth except what the Emperor's servants tell you!"
"There is no room for questions in a loyal mind. Doubt is a vile cancer whose symptoms are cowardice and fear. To be strong against it there should be only three things in your mind: obedience, duty and devotion."
Emerging from the tight, cramped corridor, Hayes followed Hashet into the large-looking assault craft.
It was a huge rectangular airship, steam rising from the hydraulics of the platform it supported. Tech-priests scurried around it like sentient ants helping a fallen giant. Hayes saw the priests They ran fuel lines from concave spouts on the far wall of the launch bay to the assault craft's engines, while others anointed the lander's surface, burned incense, made blessings, or used instruments with various sacred calibrations to The lander makes final adjustments.
The assault craft buzzed the entire time, its restless engines vibrating against the metal floor of the launch pad, and Hayes and the others stood staring at it uncertainly, like wary travelers unsure whether to take the risk. Awakening a sleeping beast.
To be honest, he has always been afraid of these half-human, half-machine priests, even more than the political commissar, because he once "curiously" saw the process of these priests turning a living person into a machine servant when he was helping workers in a factory.
That nightmare tortured him for a full year, and after that he would try to stay away from these red-robed priests as much as possible.
"Move, you idiots!"
Hashet yelled, the volume of the incessant message machine slave broadcasts around them having been dampened by the empty space of the launch pad enough for them to finally hear the new company commander's orders.
"While I know you rubes haven't seen an assault boat before, don't make a fuss."
In fact, most people don't: they mostly travel in fragile transport ships, such sturdy assault craft that only the more "elite" Astra Militarum are qualified to use.
There is no doubt that their regiment's previous surprise attack on the ordnance factory allowed them to get rid of the label of cannon fodder to a certain extent.
This kind of atmospheric assault boat is very similar to the shark assault boat used by the Navy to jump gangs, but it is much larger, nearly four hundred meters in length.
As Hayes rushed with the others toward the assault craft, he found himself in awe at the approach of such a massive vehicle, which looked like it could hold at least a thousand men, not to mention tanks and artillery.
Soon, the hatch on the assault craft's front opened, the main assault ramp stretching toward them like the tongue of some incredible metallic beast, and Hayes and the others ran up the ramp into the cavernous, dimly lit chamber of the assault craft itself. Inside, a grim-looking crew member was found waiting to point them toward a nearby staircase.
The procession then quickly made its way up the stairwell to the top floor, where the decks were lined with rows of seats and aisles.
"Find a seat and fasten your seat belt."
Their battalion commander also appeared. The man still looked disheveled.
"I want you to sit together in squad, platoon and company order, and anyone who is not in his seat and ready to go airborne in two minutes will find himself a puddle on the bulkhead."
Hurrying to his assigned seat, Hayes quickly sat down, carefully attaching the seat crash protector buckles around his waist, shoulders and chest, then pulling them tight to fit him and securing his laser gun With the safety set to "Safe," hold the gun upright and first insert it into the shallow recess of the weapons rack in front of the seat, then clip the barrel lock to hold the gun in place.
Then, he reached out and patted Winter, a new recruit who had just arrived in the company and was added to their machine gun squad.
By the way, Hayes has now become the squad leader, but he still follows Hashet most of the time, so in fact Hashet is still in charge of the squad.
"Hey, check the gun."
Hearing Hayes' reminder, the pale boy nodded quickly, and then carefully checked the laser gun in his hand.
It can be seen from his slightly trembling fingers that he is very nervous because this is his first time on the battlefield.
In fact, Winter served for almost the same time as Hayes, but he was very lucky. The troops assigned to him had been performing security missions near the Grief Galaxy for a long time, and almost no enemies appeared there.
However, his good luck came to an end recently. The regiment he was in was disbanded, and the soldiers were replenished to those units on the front line that had suffered greater personnel losses. As a result, Winter came to the Abu Bakari 310th Infantry Regiment. Before that, he was from Never actually been on the battlefield.
Winter was born in a farmer's family, with two sisters and one brother. If nothing happens, he will be a farmer in the future. He will find a wife, raise his daughter, cultivate the land, and give half of each season's harvest to the government. The grain station, just as he had done throughout the lifetimes of generations of ancestors, would eventually die around the age of fifty and be buried near his home, the body returning to the fertile soil and the soul to the throne room.
Well this is what Winter thought of his future when he was seventeen years old.
But everything changes when he receives news that he has been drafted into the Imperial Army.
