Antonius’ First Battle.

Antonius crouched in the brush of a forest. Nearby, he heard the roar of an enemy jetbike. Sergeant Daniel raised his power sword, and in unison, Antonius and his scout squad stood and readied their shotguns with a loud KA-CHACK.

“Alright, move up and stay out of sight.” Daniel ordered, pointing with his sword. Antonius took point, with Daniel and the rest of the squad trailing. He ghosted from tree to tree, and paused at the edge of the forest. He saw that 3rd Squad had engaged the enemy Eldar, and were severely outnumbered. Antonius yearned to join them as a full Space Marine, but he had at least a year of surgeries and training. He motioned for the squad, and they cautiously moved out of the forest. Suddenly, an Eldar appeared before him. It was red and had a large backpack that resembled a beetle. It raised an exotic looking weapon to him.

“Hit the dirt!” Daniel shouted. Antonius did. The alien’s weapons discharged a weblike stream of gossamer thread. Antonius heard screams behind him. He shouted in wordless rage and pushed himself up off the ground. He discharged his shotgun at one of them, but it had no effect. He ran at another of them, and kicked it in the torso. With a fluid motion, he drew his knife and plunged it into the alien’s throat. Another came at him and exploded. Daniel appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and ran another through with his power sword. The fight seemed to take several hours, as Sergeant Daniel and Antonius fought back to back, slaughtering the aliens. Antonius fought with even more ferocity as he saw the rest of his scout squad, torn to ribbons on the ground behind him. Soon, not one of the teleporting aliens lived. Daniel turned to him.

“We’re not through yet lad! Charge!” Antonius followed him into combat with the aliens fighting 3rd squad. He fought side by side with his brothers in power armor, who stood a foot taller than him and Daniel. One of the aliens raised the butt of its shuriken catapult to Antonius’ temple and he blacked out. He awoke to Daniel slapping him gently in the face.

“Need an Apothecary lad?” He joked.

“No, I’m alright.” Antonius answered.

“Course you are!” Daniel shouted. “So, now you’ve seen action, what do you think of it?”

“What about the rest of the squad? Antonius turned to see an Apothecary standing over them. One was being carried away in a stretcher. The others had sheets draped over them.

“Joshua made it. The others weren’t so lucky. Care about the dead later. We’ve got a war to win.” Daniel clapped him on the shoulder. Antonius nodded. There would always be a war though, Antonius thought. If we stop for each casualty, we’d never get anywhere. Antonius and Daniel joined the remnants of 3rd squad aboard their Rhino, and returned to base. Antonius quietly reflected on his squad mates on the way back to base.