CHAPTER 28.6

​

Approx. 3400 words

All Rights Reserved

Copyright 2015   SJ

​

 

Slaanesh:

The Sisters of Battle

 

written by  SJ

 

​

 

    Captain Dion tried again and again to contact Captain Wayne’s HQ. But, the line was dead. She had already told Sergeant de la Vega to push the shuttle at top speed, but they were still about an hour away.
    Melinda looked to Officer Dakota to see if she could obtain any more information from her vision, about this demon she called, the Masque of Slaanesh, about the WARP structure and its object, the Coin. And what about the Emperor’s Children? Who were they? Jennifer sat and considered the possibilities...coming up with nothing more than speculation based only on the information they had had with other Chaos groups like Tzeentch and Khorne.
    “What about this Masque of Slaanesh?” Melinda asked. “Could that be another greater demon?”
    The Librarian slowly answered. “No. She’s just a demon, maybe a higher ranking demon...a leader of demons. No...not demon. A demonette.”
    “Demonette?” Koufax wondered, then smiled. “A sexy girl demon? Is that even possible?”
    Koufax’s statement might’ve sounded a little ridiculous at first, but, it gave Jennifer a scary thought, a horrible possibility. She began: “Listen, you said when men looked at Melancholia they saw her as a beautiful woman, not as she was--a sallow-faced Cultists. If this Masque is the same way, maybe even more powerful because she’s an actual demon, then those Guardsmen might see her the same way, as a beautiful woman.”
    “And if she’s leading a bunch of demons...” Koufax continued Jennifer’s thought, “or, rather, demonettes that have the same power, then...”
    “The Guardsmen wouldn’t stand a chance.” Jennifer concluded, frowning, angry at the thought.
    Melinda sighed deeply. “That would be the strangest Chaos power, yet. But, since Captain Wayne’s communications are dead, we have to be prepared for something like that by the time we get back.” She sighed again and decided to make some calls.
    ******
    Jill and Suzi Sloane sat on the roof of their three-story office building and began shooting demonettes. Suzi’s first shot seemed to strike a demonette right between the breasts and just above what seemed like a black corset, going all the way through, hitting the ground behind it--but, did nothing! The demonette didn’t even flinch. Suzi was stunned for a moment, not knowing what to do, so she aimed and fired twice more, hitting it generally in the same place; this time, the demonette fell and disintegrated. She notified her sister. “I got one! My first shot went right through it and--”    
    “Yeah, I noticed that, too.” Jill responded. “Just keep shooting.”
    Shortly after both sisters had killed two demonettes each, their enemy began moving more quickly, evasive maneuvers...making them much harder to hit, killing only one more before they could no longer spot them anymore.
    Maggie kept watch on the main road, and on the right flank. She had spotted the Chimera with Sergeant Boz come up and pass by the building she was on, but never spotted any sort of car. On the right flank, she eventually saw her first demonette and gasped at the sight. A little later, she shot one through the head and watched as it disintegrated, this time, uttering more of a gasp of surprise just before saying her own, “I got one.” She killed only one more before they could no longer be spotted.
    After fifteen more minutes had passed without spotting anymore demonettes, Jill called the Sergeant. “Boz, we’ve lost sight of those demonettes. Suzi and I got five of them on the left flank, Maggie got two on the right. But, we haven’t seen any of them for quite awhile. I think, by now, they might be in the city.”
    “Did you spot that car?” He asked.
    “No.” Maggie answered. “I used the telescope to look at the HQ a couples times.” She sighed. “All that’s over there are dead bodies and a smoking Chimera.”
    “Boz, where are you?” Jill was concerned. “Where you able to find any survivors, those women you were talking about?”
    “Yes. Right now, me and all the surviving men are at that house the Feds were using as their HQ. I was hoping to find some communication equipment here to contact them with. But, there’s nothing. I returned to the field and found five women tired and scared. I’ve put them in charge of the last two Chimeras over here. Only Amanda Hale has had Chimera training. The others are only familiar and will just have learn as they go.”
    “Oh, I think I see you now.” Jill finally spotted. “I see one Chimera in front of a house.”
    “The other one is in back of the house.”
    “Yeah...I see the front of it, no, that’s back--”
    “I’ve got them facing backwards in case we need to leave fast.”        
    Jill thought a second, then had to ask, “what are you guys going to do if the demons reach your position?”
    His voice took on a tone of anger. “There’s nothing the hell we can do! Somehow those demonettes have the power to make us guys see them as women...and, quite nice-looking women from what I’ve heard.” He sighed, then joked, “the best any of us would be able to do is ask them out on a date just before they killed us.”
    She almost chuckled. “Come on. It can’t be that bad. I mean, once you know their not women--”
    “No, it IS that bad.” Boz tried to explain. “I’ve been talking to some of the guys, and it goes beyond just appearance. It’s almost like--some kind of mind control.”
    “You shot one on the back of your Chimera.”
    “Yes, I know.” Boz remembered. “But, you know, I never actually saw them as women. I was back further on the hill and didn’t see them until after they had changed.” He thought again. “I want to think once they become violent and change into demons, we’d be able to fight back. But, I saw it, first hand. Some guys never even tried to fight back.”
    “God, Boz!” Jill sighed fearfully. “Those things really are some sort of demons from hell.”
    “Since you know where we are that means you can cover us.” He became serious. “But, if you see a bunch of demonettes coming our way, more than you think our multi-laser can handle, let me know. In that case we should get out of here...” He sighed. “Or, else, all you might find left of us in this house are a bunch of dead bodies.”
    “Okay, will do.”
    Then, they heard another female voice. “This is Corporal Hale. Boz, if I fire this multi-laser, you know there’s going to be collateral damage. What about civilians?”
    “Don’t worry about it, Amanda,” Boz responded. “They’ve all been told go home and take cover in their cellars, or underground recreation areas.”
    “By my count, there should only be five demonettes remaining on the left flank...assuming there were ten to start with.” Jill advised.
    “Ten in each group, huh.” Maggie thought out loud. “I got two on the right flank.” She sighed. “That means eight left.”
    “Eight left, where?” The voice the sisters heard over their coms sounded like a mature woman. “Can anyone hear me?”
    Boz and Jill answered at the same time. “Yes.”
    Then Maggie answered the first question. “On the east side of town, about a kilometer from the main road, we think there are eight demonettes inside the city someplace.”
    “Who are you?” Boz had to know.
    “I’m Officer Helga Yngvild. I’m here with six of my ladies to help you guys out.”
    “Officer Yngvild...yeah, I‘ve heard of you.” Boz remembered a former Mega Marine training a squad of women somewhere on the planet. “I heard you guys have a Rhino?”
    “Yep...with a twin-linked bolter and a gun mantlet. We were in the neighborhood when we got a call from a Captain Dion--”
    “Dion? You mean the Feds?” Boz was alerted. “We’ve been waiting to hear from them. Where are they?”
    “They should be here in about twenty minutes.” Yngvild responded confidently. “Is it possible for me to speak to Captain Wayne?”
    “He’s dead.” Boz sighed. “All that’s left of the men in his company are over here at the house the Feds were using.”
    “Yes, I see your Chimera. I’m almost there.”    
    “Those demonettes wiped us out.” He sighed bitterly. “They had some kind of mind control over us. We...couldn’t fight back--”
    “You guys saw them as beautiful women...or something like that, right?” She returned his sigh. “Well, in that case, I was told to take command of your company.”
    “Be my guest.”
    “First, I want all you guys to load onto the remaining Chimeras and fall back to the far side of town, back to the warehouse on Garrish Road. You have a female sniper team, right?”
    “That’s me.” Jill had been listening and made herself known. “Myself and my two sisters.”
    “Sisters, huh?” Yngvild laughed approvingly. “I like it: We’ll be the Sisters of Battle.” Just then her Rhino pulled up and parked off to the side of the road next to the Chimera. The men were just starting to get inside the Chimeras...a little too slowly for her as she began using a Space Marine drill sergeant voice. “COME ON, COME ON you guys! Get inside those Chimeras and get the hell out of here before anymore demonettes show up! GO, GO, GO!”
    The two Chimeras had lined themselves up single file and were taking off down the main road when Yngvild, yelled, “oh, shit! Get the hell out of here guys, we’ve got five incoming demonettes...and--oh shit are they ugly!”
    Just then the twin-linked bolter opened up, firing...soon to be followed by four women firing bolters from the open back hatch of the Rhino.
    The demonettes were cut down quickly before they reached the Rhino.
    Jill had watched the firing from the Rhino with her binoculars; she had to ask, “Helga, are all of you armed with bolters?”
    “Yep...Mk V, Godwyn style Scout Marine bolters...just like the Mega Marines use.”
    Boz heard and laughed. “Go get’em, ladies. I guess its up to us guys to do the cooking. We’ll try to have a nice meal ready for you when you’re done.”
    Officer Yngvild quickly got the names of the three sisters, then told them to relocate to a another three-story building in the center of town nearby her current location.
    The twin-linked bolter and gun-mantlet was located on the front hatch of the Rhino. Normally, only two Space Marines (in battle suits) could comfortably fire from the top back hatch of a Rhino. Yngvild’s women were only wearing light armor, soft. One was driving, one was manning the twin-linked bolter, the rest, including Yngvild, could fire from the back hatch without much trouble. Yngvild, herself, was armed with two specially-designed, fully-automatic, bolt pistols, and was able to use them ambidextrously.
    Almost as soon as Jill Sloane and her sisters had situated themselves on the new building, they spotted the demonettes, eight of them, informing the Officer in charge of their newly formed squad, immediately.
    Yngvild ordered her Rhino to drive straight for the demonettes, telling the twin-linked bolter crew-woman to fire only briefly. As it was, the sniper team didn’t have a good line of sight. When the demonettes charged, she had the Rhino back up until the Jill’s sisters had a clear shot. Then they all fired at once. When the last two demonettes got close to the Rhino, it simply backed up until those were shot down, one of them disintegrating ten meters away.
    Afterwards, she made a call. “Sergeant Boz--”
    He answered eagerly. “Hey, what’s up. You get those demonettes?”
    “Well, we got the last eight that were on the east side. Are there anymore?”
    He thought a second. “Well, at the HQ, there were four...minus the one I shot. And there was a kind of leader demonette; she was wearing a mask at first, then she took it off and walked to the Captain and killed him just by touching him.”
    “Do you know where they went?” Yngvild asked.
    “No.”
    “We haven’t seen that car.” Maggie mentioned, but then had to qualify. “But, during our move to the new building, and then the battle, we weren’t watching during that time.”
    “A car, a regular car?” Yngvild wondered.
    “Yeah, the demonettes I just mentioned drove up in an antique car, like some kind of limousine with the top removed. I have no idea where they went after that.”
    “I see IT!” Suzi made the call using binoculars. “It’s over by that last office building we were on.”
    Jill and Maggie raced over to look, using their scopes.
    Yngvild was already ordering her Rhino move to the location, taking the main road. “Who was in the car...how many demonettes?”
    Suzi sighed. “I don’t know. I only saw it for a second. It was moving away, and disappeared behind the building.”
    Then Jill began ordering her sisters into their aircar, back to the office building, saying if they could get back fast enough, they should be able to get off some shots before the car got too far away...
    They landed on the roof just as the Rhino pulled up. Once it had stopped, Yngvild and another woman were kneeling up on top the Rhino using binoculars.
    One of the other women in the Rhino was looking at the office building, the ground floor where there were four full-sized windows. She had to make an urgent announcement. “Helga, one of these windows is completely broken out over here!”
    Yngvild let down her binoculars and took a look, coming quickly to the only conclusion, gasping once before ordering, “Jill--get off the roof, get off the roof NOW!”
    It took a moment for the sniper team leader to comprehend. “Huh, what--”
    Helga shouted louder. “GET OFF THE ROOF! There might be demons in your building!”
    The woman next to Yngvild, still looking with her binoculars, had her own important information. “I don’t see anyone but a driver in that car!”
    When Yngvild jumped off the Rhino, she was joined by three others, the woman with the binoculars remaining behind. The Officer held her two bolt pistols out in front of her, ready, the other three aiming, ready with their bolters, as they advanced slowly on the office building, the large windows giving them a clear and full view of the lobby and stairs. Yngvild was happy to see the aircar fly off the roof with its passengers unharmed. When two demonettes appeared at the base of the stairs, they were met with a barrage of bolter fire and quickly killed.
    The woman on the Rhino with the binoculars had just lowered them and had turned toward the office building when she saw a demonette coming toward her, in the air, one that had just jumped off the roof. She had no time to use her bolter when she was hit and grabbed, the demonette taking her behind the Rhino out of sight.
    “WHOA..a demon just jumped off the roof!” That was Maggie, speaking almost as soon as it happened.
    The woman using the twin-linked bolter tried to turn and fire, but had no line of sight directly on the right side of the vehicle. She screamed for help, “HELGA!”
    The women in the aircar saw the melee but, couldn’t fire.
    Yngvild and another woman ran around to the other side of the Rhino, leaving two women to watch the office building. During that time, they only could only hear the results of the melee, a scream mixed with the sound of pain. By the time they were there, the demonette had crashed through the back door of a mini-mart, where the woman with the twin-link bolter finally got off shots, shooting the back side of the mini-mart to pieces as the demonette tried to make its escape.
    Both women met on each side of their fallen team member, gasping at the sight, watching as the woman continued to desperately moan in pain, struggling to breathe, her abdomen cut open, disemboweled.
    Yngvild quickly told the other woman to go look for that demon as she knelt down to give aid; but there was nothing she could do. Finally, she made a call: “Sergeant Boz! We need an emergency med-evac! How soon can you get one?”
    “We have medics in our company.” he answered. “As for med-evac, well, when the company got defeated, we had to send the hospital teams a little further away. It’ll take about ten minutes. You want me to send--”
    “No.” Yngvild sighed. “It’s too late.”
    “What happened?”
    “One of those demonettes got one of my ladies.” The Officer explained. “It...it, disemboweled her. Is that what those things did to you guys?”
    There was a short delay before the Sergeant turned his com over to someone else, a man, who answered. “No. They used these long, black, talons. They cut right through us with some kind of massive burns.”
    “I understand.” Everyone recognized Amanda Hale’s voice using the com on the Chimera. “Those demonettes can’t affect us the same way they affect the men, so the only thing they can do is try to inflict as much pain on us as they can–-using terror as there only psychological weapon.”
    “Well--they’re doing a pretty good job!” That was Maggie’s frightened voice.
    “Do you ladies need help?” Boz asked. “I can sent down our Chimeras.”
    “No.” Yngvild came to a decision. “They need to stay there with you guys.” When she looked and saw the woman she sent after the demonette standing next to her, the Officer was informed that it was dead, killed by the twin-linked bolter.
    Then they all began noticing a demonette standing on top the office building looking down at them; it was taller and dressed fancier than the others--plus it was wearing a mask. Before anyone could react, the demonette walked away out of sight...then the roof was enveloped in darkness...then it was gone. Yngvild quickly led the rest of her team into the office building and up the stairs, moving as fast as they could go. But, the roof was empty.
    “Where they hell did that demon go?” Yngvild and her team looked around on all sides of the roof. “She couldn’t have just disappeared. There was blackness, now there’s nothing. What the hell--”
    “She probably teleported back to the mansion.” They all heard a female voice they hadn’t heard from yet, the Librarian.
    “Hello, this is Captain Melinda Dion. We should be in range of your platoon coms by now, right?”
    “Yes, you are.” Boz announced happily.
    “Teleported?” Yngvild found it hard to believe.
    “Yes. My name is Officer Jennifer Dakota. We should be there in about five minutes. Once we drop of the male members of our team with yours, we’ll join up with you.”
    Petrovsky and Koufax sighed, not liking it; but, Melinda had made it an order.
    “Officer Yngvild. I’m glad you guys could get here so quickly after I called you,” Melinda commended.  I’m glad your Rhino had a long range com.”
    “We killed all but one of those demonettes. It looked different...kind of like a leader.” Yngvild gave an accounting. “If you’re telling me the last one is at the mansion, then that where I’m headed. I’ve got a score to settle--”
    “No.” Dion ordered. “We overheard about the loss of one of your ladies. But, Officer Dakota needs to be the first one inside that mansion. Do NOT go there alone!”
    “Listen!” Yngvild objected. “We just got done killing a whole bunch of those demonettes. We can handle ourselves.”
    “No.” Melinda repeated. Officer Dakota is a Combat Librarian. She NEEDS to be there.”
    “Yngvild!” Jennifer called the Officer’s name sternly. “That last demonette is no NORMAL demonette. She is the Masque of Slaanesh. We have no idea what her powers are. Do you understand?”
    The Officer of the Sisters of Battle sighed deeply, then had to ask, “Combat Librarian--you mean as in WARP Librarian?”
    “Yes.”
    She sighed again and relented. “Okay. We’ll be right behind you.”

 

​

​