"Target down!" Aurius calls out as the target of his frustrations and fury finally succumbs to the damage his trusted side arm dealt. Without even a second thought, he then shifts his aim over to the remaining Servitork and fires another salvo.
But shifting his focus as quickly as he did to a target obscured by the environment they currently found themselves in causes only a single bolt to possibly hit the target.
Grenades, close-range shotgun fire and a score of lasbolts finally put down the last Cybork, it's crispy-molten body crashing to the ground no more than 5 meters from the squads front row, making the cave echo from it's fall.
The rest of the cave is quickly cleaned of any remaining Xenos, until you are the sole surviving living beings in the cave.
Very sweaty and coughing beings to be precise, since the generous usage of flamers has increased the heat and stained air inside the cave to arduous, near-dangerous degrees.
MacVyger looks over his shoulder at Anatoly. Yee-Haw! Let's get this thing hooked up!
He pulls Margaret around and notices the sparking wrire. Before attaching the delicate electronics of the Chimera to that little bit of Ork nonsense he fires to see what's happening and to assess the best place to set up the interface.
Liam quickly replaces his almost dry charge pack, just in case more Ork filth decides to join the party before the work is done.
Checking his ammo-pack counter, Aurius, much like Liam, also reloads his lasgun and more or less remains where he is unless ordered otherwise.
Using his (already sweaty and quite dirty) sleeve, Ensign Brazer dries his forehead before standing up and looking around.
"This was easy, heh.
'ood job 'vryone.
One location conquer'd, ona ta go.
Guess ta next un, will not be tat easy, we're gonna miss Margret.
MacVyger, send a status message to da others and ask for their's."
+++ Good that you're still alive.
The men were getting worried.
The camp has get increasingly busy in the half hour.
Seems like they are preparing a raid or something.
At least eight trukks and several bikkes are idling near the rokk.
Lots of Orks are milling around them.
Can't say what they are up to.
Did you find another node already, or shall we ready to attack the main camp soon? +++
"Indeed, almost a bit too easy. Post guards and be ready for anything.
Trooper MacVyger, tell the forward troops they have permission to start the distraction at their own discretion if that raiding party is about to move out. After that check out the 2 ork bikes back there and see if you can get them to run and steer them. They might not go unseen but being ignored as ordinary is just as good when it comes to stealth.
Trooper Thantus with me, we're checking out the forward cave."
The Commissar checks the surrounding area one more time then gets his gun ready to move out towards the canyon. Once the Stormtrooper catches up they will slowly make their way forward in the canyon, keeping a lookout for orks that might be able to see them and trying to keep they profile low by staying behind boulders or whatever might obscure them.
A quick inspection of the bikes proof, that they are simple machines that can probably be steered by a skilled human with only minor problems.
Those arise from the fact, that some controls are placed at awkward positions and the discrepancy of throttle and break sensitivity - the former seems to react to a though, the latter is near-impossible to use for a human.
Truly, our Commissar has been blessed with a shadow of the Emperor's tactical genius. The Master of Ultramar himself may have looked unto this assault with approval. We must press this advantage! Bolus expounds.
MacVyger sends the message on his way over to the wire.
"Could we...booby trap the bikes? If we had someone brave or stupid enough to aim them at a big group of Xeno and then bail, it could create a nice bit of havoc..."
"Either that or just leave them somewhere when we don't need them anymore, and have them go off when some stupid Ork tries riding them."
"Aye, Sir." and he gets up out of the little depression in the ground they were hunkered in during combat and moves with the Commissar.
Both of Liam's suggestion are possible with a bit of well-placed explosive (even a couple of frag near the engine and fuel tank may suffice).
The battles of the last days proof exhausting to say the least and you two stumble through the canyon more than walking - let alone sneaking silently and nimble as you were taught in the Schola.
Nevertheless you make it through the canyon without encountering any Orks, reaching the next big, unexplored side-canyon marked on your map.
Following it, you have about a kilometer, mostly uphill over uneven ground full of treacherous loose stones.
You pass several crash-places were wrecks of Ork vehicles are partly-embedded into the walls of the canyon, the drivers still (mostly) on their seats - but all are very dead.
Steady companion of your uphill walk is the sound of batle coming from ahead. At this point, all you can clearly make out is the sound of heavy machine gun fire and roaring shouts from Orks.
After a final push - the last meters you had to actually climb rather than walk - you've reach a natural vantage point, formed by the hilltop.
The path you were following rapidly descends behind your current position, down to a roughly triangular area about 300m from you.
The place is encircled by stone walls, at least 50m high that appear way to smooth to be entirely natural.
At several places along the walls, bulges sprout out of the walls like balconies. You can make out that at least three of those balconies are equipped with heavy weapons.
And they all spew their shells down at the massive creature that seems to fill most of the triangular place.
It is obviously the mother (or father?) of all worms, at least ten times the size of that previous worm you encountered.
Dozens of ork vehicles (mostly buggies and bikes) are circling around it's massive body, adding their firepower to that of the gun emplacements.
As you still watch in horror, the giant worm spews a massive bolt of that fearsome acid of its kind at one of the buggies. The ork driver actually manages to dodge it - dooming the following bike and its Ork to a terrible - but quick - end.
Within seconds, nothing remains of Ork and machine...
We could set the bikes to blow pretty easily. A couple grenades tucked in by the fuel should do it.
MacVyger checks the spark-spewing cable at the cave floor, carefully poking it with his tools.
That's a lot of energy running through there...
His knowledge about the internals of a Chimera's power systems are surpassed by the question whether it will be able to withstand such high current.
Connecting the cable to the external power feed of the APC would be quite easy, a job he was trained at during the driver seminars.
But no one ever taught him how much current one should apply and where the maximum - let alone the dangerous - regions start.
That's probably a question for the Enginseer.
Or a matter of try and error.
The latter being punishable by lobotomization of course.
Despite their unignorable lack of stealth the Commissar continues into what he expected to be an unexplored cave, but turned out to be a canyon. Keeping his pistol ready he leads on.
Seeing the chaos of battle the Commissar he takes a moment to make sure no one is looking at them, then looks around. Automatic weapon emplacements probably need power, so there should be a power cable somewhere around here. If not, there definitly was a powercable closer to the Rokk so if the orks could all be drawn here then they might just reach that node.
He whispers to Aurius: "Looks like the distraction was delivered for us on a silver platter. See any power cables?"
Your sharp eyes catch a metallic reflection running from one of the emplacements in criss-crosses along the stone walls until it disappears into the solid stone of the canyon wall.
If that reflection is from a cable (likely) and continues in the average direction (unknown) it would likely come out somewhere near the crashed rokk.
Specifically: If it is possible, and we manage to shoot the cable down from whatever is keeping it up there, is the cable long enough to swing down to ground level(or low enough to be connected to a chimera)? How close to the battle would we have to get to connect the cable if it comes down?
Okay, so the raiding party is probably not ment for retaking the bike factory. I should probably retract the nutjobs' permission to start the distraction early. Still better wait until the two of us are out of this canyon. If the orks come from behind right now the two of us are very much dead.
What exactly holds them there is difficult to make out from this distance without a monocular or something similar.
But since they run more or less diagonally from a pretty high position (the emplacement) to below-middle height (where they disappear), it should be possible to rip/shoot them down and access them from ground level.
They disappear not far from where the canyon meets the triangular space.
There is no way an APC (or even a battle tank if you call in the Fist) would be overlooked by the raging battle.
The triangular area is about 100m across.
"I think I see some - yeah pretty sure those are cables up there. If we could tear them down that'd probably work as second node. Just no way to do that without being noticed. Still, by my estimate that should still be easier than starting a minor war to get to the ones running close to the Rokk.What's your assession of the situation Trooper?"
Anatoly disconnects from Margret's systems after an appropriate prayer of thanks to the machine spirit, and cautiously approaches the power feed trying to get some reading on it with the auspex.
Studying the readouts on the sensor, Anatoly compares it to information stored in his internal memory matrices and feeds the data into his cranial logic engine.
"My own assessment is more or less the same, sir. Whilst it would be difficult to get a vehicle to a vantage point unnoticed, Orks are generally pretty stupid and the giant worm down below seems to be acting on pure instinct. So, while the chances are pretty low, we might be able to do so if we properly plan things out."
While the knowledge of the demolition expert reaches a great red line, the sharp, Mechanicus approved mind of Anatoly rushes through calculation and circuit layouts stored in his memory units.
Within seconds he is able to determine the fact, that the current is indeed way too high to be directly plugged into the chimeras external power supply without causing a catastrophic meltdown of all energy-related systems of the Chimera.
Thinking around several corners, bending restrictions according to in-field-necessity-regulations, his analytic mind comes up with a solution.
Despite the fact that the main energy system is not compatible with such a high voltage and current, the main weapon system (the multi-laser) is indeed powered by a far higher charged current than the rest of the vehicle.
The desired coupling of Ork energy network and the Chimera's power port could thus be achieved by using the energy transformatory sub-sytem build into its turret, which is used to transform the medium-voltage work energy of the main systems to the high powered energies used by the multilaser turret.
So far for the good news though, as this means that the turret has to be dismantled of course thus rendering the main weapon unusable for the time being...
About 30 minutes after the Commissar and the Storm Trooper have left, a new message is received over the Chimeras powerful vox.
This time it is a powerful, broadcast transmission on the general Imperial Guard frequency.
+++ HQ to Battlegroups 1, 7, 13 and 34.
Report mission status and location.
Stage 2 of the mission has started at 13:00 TST. +++
Hearing the transmission, your CO curses violently.
Only after a few seconds of selected, foreign-world curses of selected taste, he gets serious again - still grinding his teeth though.
"We'r runnin outa time.
Tha attack on da Hive's started", he takes a look at a very old and battered chrono at his wrist, "half an hour 'go.
Orks will soon know 'bout it and mobilize.
No way dey'll pass up on such a fight.
Medic! Priest!
Can you control 'ese bikes 'ere?
Take 'em and follow 'ose Progenium boys and tell 'em 'at time fer sneakin'sup.
We have ta do it right now.
I'll send a message to da Leutenant.
We'll break vox silence soon.
Take ta long-range vox caster with ya.
Those small u'ns will not be powerful 'nough for a place like this."
Anatoly nods decisively and turns to the Ensign, "Sir. Margret can accomplish task. Main turret must be partly disassembled for safely interface with high current xenos power system without destruction of entire power system. Multilaser will be inaccessible for entire duration. I wish to equip umbilical with cutting charge to sever Margret from xenos power coupling once objective met. Permission to proceed?"
"Hmmm, yes.
No turret 's bad new, but couldn't be helped, I guess?
Start immediately.
Sever-charges a 'od idea."
MacVyger grins a little too widely and brings his pack around.
He rigs up a very precise and compact shaped charge that fits just so against the jury rigged power transfer junction.
"Drive the bikes? Well...I can give it a try."
Guess we'll soon find out, won't we?
On the way to one of the bikes, Liam suddenly stops and gets a horrified look on his face.
Uh oh, if we go with the whole "trapped bike" now, I'LL be one of the drivers!
Liam begins to look over the bike, trying to figure it out as best as he can.
Before the power link is even fully put together by the Tech-Priest, MacVyger already has applied his finely honed skill (and lots of tape and wires) to build a sever-charge of delicate but perfectly fitting proportions around the coupling.
Connecting it to his next-to-last remote detonator, he steps back to look at his creation with a proud gaze - just like a father would look at his child.
Liam checks out the crude ork bike while fighting down the chills, created by his own proportions from only a couple of minutes before. He quickly figures it out, deciding that he can cope with it. It's not too different from that actual bike a college of his owned back home.
It still has a couple of crazy design choices, making it remarkably different and simply ... alien. Who in their right mind would place the breaks behind the driver's seat, on a nearly impossible to move lever?
Anatoly nods to the Ensign, saluting and turning away toward the chimera. He retrieves his tools, makes the weapon safe for maintenance, and sets to his task.
"Alright, then this is where the sneaking stops."
The Commissar fiddles with his combead for a moment, setting it back to full power and selecting the command channel reaching Ensign Blazer, Lt Harker and Sgt Dominges.
"This is Commissar Ansley. Breaking radio silence. Second node access found at the third western break from the main canyon. Orks present but engaged with indigenous worm creature. Start distraction then disengage and retrieve vehicles. All forces not necessary to initiate destruction at the first node forward to engage second node."
"Are we holding position sir? Or do we make our way back to rendez-vous with the squad?" Aurius asks.
The com-bead crackles with lots of static and it takes a while for an reply to come.
It's really difficult to understand though, all the rock around seems to distort the signal horribly.
".,-ker...
Ac-?/edge re.*+ion and '_<`°
ETA in twe:;("
Afterwards, only static remains....
Shortly after, you hear heavy rumbling coming from the main canyon - it seems your signal was interpreted right after all.
Then there is another sound coming from behind, a sound you find much less encouraging. This is clearly the sound of ork engines rumbling!
If you're not mistaken, at least a couple of bikes are approaching at your position coming from the main canyon...
With the help of the tech-affine MacVyger, the coupling is done in only slightly above 10 minutes.
Anatolys favorite part is the remote-control he rigged to the power plant of the Chimera and it's powerful vox receiver.
With this, he should be able to control and monitor the drain-and-push feedback from the second location.
A mere minute after the techies have finished up their work, the main vox flares to live and Lt. Harker's voice echoes over the speakers.
"This is Harker to Ensign Brazer.
You're still alive?
We just got a distorted transmission from the Commissar, telling us to break silence, engage the distraction and relocate with our vehicles somewhere.
That last part didn't make it through.
Ensign Brazer, reply!"
The Ensign practically flies over to the vox and replies.
"If he broke vox 'ilence, 'ey must've found da second node 'ome'ere in da second passage of da left, ya didn't 'xplore before.
Can ya make yer way back there?"
In response, a simple "Roger" comes back, over clearly audible engine noises and heavy weapon fire.
Clearly, the game is on.
The Ensin turns to face the MacVyger and Anatoly.
"MacVyger, ya can drive a Sentinel 's well, yes?
Ya two take a ride 'ith Longleg and meet up with da Commissar and da Lieutenant.
We'll need yer skill ova 'ere, right now!
I'll take da motly rest an' secure Margret.
Hurry up an' let us finish 'is off, will ya!"
"We stay here and keep an eye on the situation. Best not to stay out in the open tho."
"... except I can't see ANY cover here at ALL. We'll have to fall back at least a bit."
MacVyger moves immediately and mounts up. A couple seconds later he has the controls in hand and the belts strapped. He makes best speed out to where the commissar has found his prize the instant Anatoly is aboard.
So it's time to ride this contraption then? Aw buggernuts...
With an outward show of being all raring to go and fired up to fight the emperor's enemies again, Liam is a LOT more reluctant inwardly.
Not too long ago I was complaining that everything was dull and boring.
What ever happened to that? Oh yeah, my assistant got burned to death.
Funny how these little things can change one's perspective...
"You're right sir, we're pretty exposed up here. Might be a few outcroppings back the way we came that we can use to get us out of direct line of sight."
Aurius and Lind tries to get into cover quickly, fearing discovery by the approaching Ork bikes. Crouching low behind an outcrop, barely high enough to cover two third of their bodies, both ready their weapons, well aware that their cover is likely not enough to hide them.
The roaring engines draw nearer, both bikes (there are two of them) are skiddering on the uneven ground like mad, their drivers struggling with the controls, one is nearly dropping after a particular violent buckling of the bike.
It is only once the bikes have nearly reached your improvised cover that you recognize the fact, that the drivers are not Orks!
But in fact, Bolus and Liam, struggling with the buckling vehicles and the treacherous terrain.
After establishing contact with the two and setting up the vox caster they brought with them, you are finally able to communicate with the other two groups again.
The Sentinel with Anatoly and MacVyger has just entered your side-Canyon, while the group around Lt. Harker is busy disengaging from their elevated position and halfway back the highway with the vehicles.
From his short-tempered report, the attack was quite successful and the majority of the outer Ork camps have been buried under rocks.
But the attack gave away their position as well and they got nearly immediately attacked by several bands of Orks and Gretchin which happened to be somewhere along the highway. Furthermore, he reports of a band of five Stormboyz which attacked them just a minute ago.
Harker estimates their ETA to be at least 20 minutes from now.
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I hate this, I hate this, I HATE THIS!
Having quickly discovered that the infernal contraption he is trying to steer only appears to have two gears, an unresponsive break, and just for fun, a terribly sensitive throttle, Liam finds his groin taking quite a beating from the bouncing machine.
"Did I mention I hate this? No? Oh good, then I can say it clearly with a sense of originality.
...
I HATE THIS!"
The Emperor forgive me for touching a tool of the filthy xenos, It is only in your name that I do so to advance your cause, I beg of thee Master of Mankind that any sin that comes from this unworthy act be sent down as damnation not on your ever loyal servant but on the Orcish heretics who have made this act necessary, or else on the Commissar whose orders I am duty bound to follow. On them fall your retribution O Lord Bolus mutters to himself as he drops off his vox caster and then retreats to a corner to read his holy book to take his mind off how heretical the whole thing felt.
"By the- It can't- sir what are they doing?!" the Stromtrooper asks of his superior in abject confusion.
The Commissar stares a moment longer at the the pair struggling to keep the
bikes straight before he answers.
"That... would be a creative interpretation of my orders to ready those bikes for possible stealth work."
He flashes a nervous look towards the battle to see if his earlier thought - that the orks would ignore the sounds of their own bikes - holds true and stands up and waves the bikes towards them.
"Trooper, Father, Report. What's the situation with the first node? How long until we can expect the techs here to start working on this one?"
The arrival of the well-rattled-through troopers on bikes is not detected by anyone beside the two lone troopers cowering near the peak.
A hasty gaze over the top proves that the battle between emplacements, worm and ork vehicles is still raging, although one emplacement and several vehicles have vanished in the meantime.
The worm has slightly shifted to the left of the triangular space and is currently busy swallowing an entire Ork truck with its giant maw.
As you were wondering what to do next, the Longleg appears behind you, quickly approaching. It is always funny to see a Sentinel loaded with two people, given the fact that the walker is intended to carry only one person in its seat. Since MacVyger is manning the controls, Anatoly clings to the unsteady walking chassis for deer life, using his Mechandrites to steady himself.
There's not much time for a proper welcome party though, as a collection of high-pitched, screaming noises warns everyone about an approaching danger! Three of the Ork-Bikers obviously have had enough and are turning tail, trying to escape the seemingly invincible worm creature!
Their escape route will undoubtedly run straight past you - and they are hellishly fast! You will have no more than a minute before they are on you and no one can tell when they will notice you and what they will do once they did...
"Lt. Harker will have enough trouble disengaging without those Cowards falling into their backs. Troopers, I still want that report. Trooper MacVyger and Enginseer Dashkov check out the cables up there. That's our target. I want an assessment on how to best get it down while keeping it useful for our purposes. If I don't hear anything sensible then we're shooting down the balcony it is attached to with a tank shell."
He points towards the cable as he mentions it.
"Trooper Thanthus, front Bike. Medic MacGregor right Bike. I'm taking the left one. Trooper Thanthus counts down to the first shot."
The Commissar tracks the left bike with his pistol, aiming for it and taking the extra time available to him to get a good feel for the speed it moves with which the bikes move - they are quite fast but if he has a feel for how fast they travel he can just lead his aim and wait until they ride into his sights. Lasguns don't have travel time that needs to be considered.
MacVyger nods and stomps the Logleg to a position that gives him and Anatoly a good view of the cable.
- 4 DoS
"I've come to an important medical conclusion.
Orcs do not in fact posses testicles.
I feel that revelation was worth sharing."
Liam moans a little and gingerly rubs his crotch.
When the commissar orders him back on the bike, he can't hide the very real wince and grimace that comes involuntary.
Oh, lucky me, the commissar is a masochist. Oh, or even better, he thinks *I* am one.
How very KIND of him to INDULGE my new-found LOVE for testicular mangling.
I shall be SURE to THANK him properly next time he has to go under my KNIFE. And if I am REALLY lucky, he might come in to be treated for the POX."
"Aye, sir. And Aurius lays down prone, or as close to prone as possible, and takes careful aim, counting down over the squads combead.
E Damage, Pen 7
E Damage, Pen 7
E Damage, Pen 7
"Fire on my mark...Five...Four...Three...Two...One...Mark!" He calls out as the takes the first series of shots at the front-most orkoid bike.
With grim satisfaction, Anatoly clings to the chassis of the Imperial walker, his true-arm clamped firmly to it. When they reach the Commissar and the second power cable, he climbs the machine to get a better vantage on the cable. The approaching bikes lend a powerful urgency to his examination.