"The attack has begun." The commissar of the Last Bastion waited nervously for word from the scouts. They were waiting for Commissar Yarrick's forces to break out from the hive city beneath the surface.
They had calculated everything carefully, planting explosives amid the ruins to create an opening for rapid troop deployment without causing the surrounding structures to collapse.
The assignments had been made clear. All forces were to wait for Commissar Yarrick to attack the surface, then advance on Emperor's Word Plaza, eliminate the Orks there and their long-range anti-aircraft guns, and clear a landing zone for the Imperium's forces.
There was only an operational objective; each unit was to decide its own plan and spare no cost.
The commissar knew he should not have been nervous. After all, these several thousand men were merely the remnants in this sector. No one could guarantee that there were not more soldiers hiding among the ruins in other hive city districts.
Likewise, he could not guarantee how much resistance and interference they would face from the Orks in this area.
The hive city's surface was packed with far too many buildings. Its complexity was enough to leave an ordinary man wandering for a lifetime without ever covering every district.
He could only hope that the sacrifice of his few thousand men would allow them to break through to Emperor's Word Plaza and hold it.
The long-silent communicator flashed, and the commissar immediately picked it up. "The Orks have engaged Commissar Yarrick's forces! We can advance!"
"Good. Detonate the charges at once! For The Emperor! For Armageddon! We must take Word Plaza!"
The ruins, silent for so long, once again rang with the sounds of war. Every soldier of the Last Bastion took whatever weapons and ammunition they could carry, left the