Axton

by Richard Walter

Paulo Axton glared at the screen before him with irrepressible rage. The holomap wasn’t showing him what he wanted to see, in fact all it was doing was confirming his worst fears.

A chaos invasion was imminent, and the reinforcements were still someway off from the main battle zone.

“This is a disgrace! Why are me and my men in this frozen purgatory anyway? What could possibly come of saving this disgusting planet from annihilation?”

“Captain, the Emperor moves in mysterious ways. It is not our duty to ponder his actions, leave that to the pyskers.”

“Yes, yes, I know. But why does his actions have to be so bloody awkward?” Grunted the Captain to his orderly.

“Who knows?” Shrugged the orderly.

"Find out who knows, godamnit! I want to know who is behind sentencing me and my good men to a frozen funeral on the godforsaken ice-cube."

Axton turned to face the large window with disgust evident on his stony features. The window faced onto the main loading area of their fort. In the darkness of night, the red and yellow lights of the busy loading vehicle’s looked sinister and somewhat alien. Men and Space Marines scurried back and forth from the plethora of buildings. Some were dressed in full combat uniform, others in simple vests and trousers. All worked hurriedly, knowing full well that their time could soon be up.

Tomorrow would be a busy day. Many of the men Axton was watching would not return back to base. A deep sense of foreboding gnawed at the Captains pit, the importance of tomorrow hit him suddenly. The odd's didn't look too well in his favour, yet Axton knew that the Emperor would indeed be watching tomorrow. And to fail in front of the Emperor in battle? Not even all the fury of the Chaos Gods would be a match for that.