"That's how long you expect me to survive here? You think I'm going to be dead in fifteen hours?" - Trooper Larn
"Less than that, new fish. " - Trooper Zeebers
"Less than that, new fish. " - Trooper Zeebers
Fifteen Hours is a novel written by Mitchel Scanlon and follows a newly conscripted guardsman in the Imperial Guard. It was first published in 2005 for Black Library.
The book follows a seventeen-year-old conscript named Arvin Larn from the agri-world of Jumael IV, as he and his company are mistakenly sent to the wrong planet, which is already a lost cause for the war effort. With no way off the planet and greenskins for miles around, all Larn can do is hope he can outlast the calculated life expectancy of all replacements sent to Broucherouc: Fifteen Hours.
Fifteen Hours was one of the first books in the 40k franchise to be centered solely around the Imperial Guard, and is one of if not the most notable book centered around them, disregarding the Gaunt's Ghosts and Ciaphas Cain series'.
This novel features the following tropes:
- Absolute Xenophobe: Larn slips into this with his first encounter with the Orks. It subsides outside of combat, but never really disappears. Comes with the territory of Imperial Guardsman.
- All for Nothing: Pretty much. Though it was a mistake in the first place, Larn and his company are wiped out in under a day, with Larn being the only one of them to last more than ten minutes outside the lander. The Lieutenant's scouting mission probably didn't go anywhere either after Zeebers' got caught.
- Asshole Victim: A couple. You could say as much for Ferres if you really don't like him, but Zeebers definitely fits the bill. He goes out in a semi-redeeming way at least.
- Bittersweet Ending: Hit or miss. Larn and the rest of his company are dead within a day, but Broucheroc and it's defenders managed to fight off one of the most severe Ork raids in recent months no real worse for wear, and Larn managed to beat out the fifteen hours (if only by a little.)
- Blatant Lies: Something mentioned throughout the novel is the confident declaration that the Imperial Guard doesn't make mistakes, the Imperium's bureaucracy and sheer human error showing how hilariously untrue that is.
- Brutal Honesty: Pretty much everyone in the Vardan Rifles to Larn. Just one part of his descent into Broken Bird.
- Church Militant: Downplayed by 40k standards: they're still faithful believers in the Emperor, but by now the Vardan Rifles don't seem too bothered.
- Dad the Veteran: More like grandad the veteran. We don't get to see him, but his family, Larn included, clearly revere him.
- Deadpan Snarker: In contrast to Jenks' regular snark, pretty much everyone already on Broucheroc has this kind of humour.
- Dies Wide Open: Jenks, the first of the company to die, goes out this way from a broken neck in the landers crash
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sergeant Ferres, in spades. Unfortunately for Larn and his comrades, he's also their squad sergeant.
- Eye Scream: Hallan, one of Larn's fireteam, gets this from the back of his head as they flee from the lander
- For Want Of A Nail: The only reason the main character's unit gets sent to Broucheroc is because a data entry clerk accidentally transposed two digits on one line while writing out a long series of deployment orders and couldn't be bothered to double-check his work.
- Glory Hound: Most of the rear echelon officers still see a bit of glory to be taken in the war. It's what eventually kills the protagonist as he is part of a recon team on the field of the day's battle, led by an officer looking for an easy medal. Things go horribly wrong, most of the team being killed by scavenging Orks.
- Greater Need Than Mine: The protagonist is raised on a story of his great-grandfather, who was half-crippled in service to the Guard, but was saved by the Emperor's Grace when, upon his regiment holding a lottery for a limited number of early discharge papers, one of the winners (whose name is not mentioned) gave up his place so that the half-crippled veteran could retire in peace. When he tells the story to his new squadmates, they think it's a nice tale, but probably bullshit: if it had been true, his family lore would never have forgotten the name of the man who gave up his place in favor of his great-grandfather. What was more likely was that his great-grandfather murdered the man and stole the discharge papers because it was his only chance to get out of the Guard alive, and made up the story to justify the crime to himself.
- High Turnover Rate: The novel is named after the average life expectancy of new Guardsmen in the book's war zone. The protagonist manages to beat the odds and survive longer, but only by a few minutes.
- Hopeless War: The war on Broucheroc has been going on for years, with casualties so high that most people don't last half a local day (the titular fifteen hours). It's obvious to everyone that without something to change the paradigm the war is lost, but the Guard just keeps on sending more recruits into the meat grinder.
- One interlude chapter explores the mindset of the supreme commander of the Imperial forces, a man so arrogant to the point of delusion, that he organizes a purge after reading an intelligence report that predicts the Imperial front will collapse in six months from attrition... Because he entirely believes his own side's propaganda, shown in another interlude chapter as being written by someone desperately searching for some kind of good news to print lest he be shot, electing to spin the massacre of Larn's company to hilariously false extremes.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Vorrans, another of Larn's fireteam, gets his torso ripped to ribbons by flying shrapnel as the company flees the lander
- Naïve Newcomer: As a green as grass conscript fresh out of boot camp, Larn and most of the rest of his company easily qualify as this.
- New Meat: The book is about an Imperial Guard recruit whose troopship ends up landing on the wrong planet. They were supposed to be going to put down a rebellion, but they literally fall right into the middle of an ongoing war between the Guard and an Ork Waaagh(!). Annoyingly, the main character gets referred to as 'new fish' at least once every other page. By the way, the title of the work refers to the projected survival time for a fresh Guardsman on this planet. He beats the odds but not by very much...
- Properly Paranoid: For whatever reason, Zeebers finds the number 5 to be bad luck for him and the squad, as it usually means one of them is going to die soon. He's right, and it doesn't end well for him.
- Propaganda Machine: The men who run the Guard's newsletter are ordered to slant the battle reports to indicate that things are going well on pain of the Commissariat. Resulting in things like reporting how the newly arrived Jumael regiment repelled an Ork attack without mentioning that only one of them survived the battle.
- Mauve Shirt: What you could consider the book to be all about: the typical Red Shirt Imperial Guard getting a Day in the Limelight. But this doesn't make them any less squishy.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Sort of. Zeebers was already a dead man, but he uses his last moments to cling to an Ork Mad Dok and blow up his chain of grenades to save Larn. It's a pity then that Larn gets shot through the spine as he retreats
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The bulk of new recruits die within fifteen hours of reporting for duty on the front lines. Because of that, the front line units don't bother issuing more than the most basic kit to people who haven't been there for at least fifteen hours, as they're probably going to die very soon, and then they'll need to track down the body to recover and possibly repair the gear. Which means that during those fifteen hours, soldiers are much more poorly equipped than the veterans, which makes them more likely to be killed.
- The Millstone: Downplayed. Larn is a frightened recruit and fumbles at times, but he never screws up too bad.
- War Is Glorious: Somehow, there's still a handful of officers that believe this is the case for the 10 year war of attrition on Broucheroc. It's one of these officers that ends up getting Larn killed.
- You Can't Go Home Again: The book opens with Larn saying goodbye to his parents. Larn himself tries to shrug it off, but his parents tell him outright "a Guardsman never returns", and that whatever happens to him, they'll never see their son again.
