Yes
Anything less than a perfect shot would hit the captain. I would say you would need at least 1 degree of success on the shot to avoid the captain.
In an attempt to get the Warboss' attention off of the Watch Captain and to give him and his command squad some reprieve, Scorpelio charges into the melee and swings his mighty Thunder Hammer.
Weapon Skill = 47 + 10 (oath) + 10 (charge) = 67
for 2 DoS
Damage, Pen 9, Power Field, Concussive
Hawkeye sends a quick textual warning over the command channel, informing the command squad of the source of the incoming fire.
+++Providing Covering Fire+++
Then he drops to a knee and takes careful aim, waiting for the perfect opportunity to land a shoot at the weak spots of the Waaargjboss' armor, which his special sight highlights to his keen eyes.
=> 37X, Pen 14, Felling (1) to the head
The thrice-blessed bolt round flies true - guided by the keen eye of one of the best marksman in the entire Imperium and the wrath of the fallen Marines - hitting the giant Orc plain in the left eye.
Do we roll Initiative?
WS 39, +10 master crafted, +10 Hatred, +10 oath, -20 called shot (head)
I'll use a Fate Point for a re-roll. 4/5 FP
boink!
30 Pen 8 Felling(1) Type E to the head
R leg 2dos
The Ork Warboss is too busy keeping the watch captain from killing him to notice the kill team's attack. He did not live long to regret that decision.
After the warboss falls the Captain calls to all the marines over a secure channel.
"Get the wounded into the land raiders. Thunderhawks and dreadnoughts will cover us a we regroup. The guard can deal with what is left of this rabble."
Loghir takes to his role as an apothecary and tends to the wounded as much as he can as the teams retreat
Seeing as vehicle recovery wouldn't be all that possible during a retreat, Scorpelio tends to their Brother Ancients if required but otherwise busies himself with keeping their vehicles in working order and/or Dropping the hammer on any "brave" orks.
The battle ends less as a retreat and more as holding in place as the imperial guard push past the watch company.
The journey back to the Watch Fortress takes several more days than the journey there. While on route back, the watch captain acknowledges the actions of some who distinguished themselves including your kill team. The company lost 3 marines in the attack and rumours are spreading that the Watch Captain is sending another back to his chapter early, though the specifics of why are unknown.
---------
You spend a few days at the watch fortress before your next briefing.
Hopefully you have recovered from the excitement of deploying with the entire company. It is entirely possible that is the only time on your entire tour with the deathwatch you will see that happen," the Veteran Sgt tells you.
"Today we are sending you to Kalinas, an imperial border world. Categorized as an Agri-world it has a population of 10 billion but can grow enough food in a good year to feed almost 1 trillion. The southern end of the main continent is still untamed jungle, it grows at too rapid a rate to effectively remove and much of the wildlife is hostile to humans."
"The Watch fortress was recently contacted by an Inquisitor Octavian of the Ordo Hereticus. He believes that acoyltes of his have uncovered evidence that an abandoned deathwatch watch station exists in that jungle. Your mission is the head to Kalinas, find the watch station, cleanse it and the surrounding area of any hostiles and determine if the watch station is worth bringing back online. If it is not, recover any items worth salvaging and make sure no one else can use the station. You will be provided with a re-built sword class vessel, it is being used as a test vessel for the demiurg stealth device. You will be provided 100kg of explosives in addition to your personal gear."
'"Sergeant, do we have any access or security codes for this installation? If we had those it would go a long way in making any recovery of equipment or sensitive information that much easier. It would also help us avoid any automated defences that are likely to be present."
'"Sergeant, do we have any access or security codes for this installation? If we had those it would go a long way in making any recovery of equipment or sensitive information that much easier. It would also help us avoid any automated defences that are likely to be present."
"Unfortunately, we currently have no records of this watch station. Which means that the station is either incredibly old and we have lost the records or someone went to a lot of trouble to erase our records. Regardless, no current members of the deathwatch stationed here ever recall this station. We are trying to ask the dreadnoughts if they recall anything. But you know how well dreadnoughts remember random, specific pieces of information. Given our estimates of the age of the station, even general over-ride codes are likely out of date."
"Hmmm, unless the mission warrants the presence of a Keeper and their Clavis, I doubt we'll have an easy way in. Though I'm curious as to how Acolytes of the Ordo Hereticus came upon a Watch Station....curious indeed."
"Hmmm, unless the mission warrants the presence of a Keeper and their Clavis, I doubt we'll have an easy way in. Though I'm curious as to how Acolytes of the Ordo Hereticus came upon a Watch Station....curious indeed."
"The clavis would fall under general over-rides. I don't know the details but a clavis must be linked to a building or ship to function. In any case, the Captain believes that having a tech-marine on the mission will suffice."
"Then suffice I shall. Very well, Sergeant."
"Do we have an approximate size of the watch fortress sergeant? Is it of a similar construction as this fortress? Or is this an underground facility?"
"You are going to a watch station instead of a watch fortress like this. Think of it like an outpost, it is used to store supplies or base a kill team out of for a short period of time. Above ground it might have a hanger entrance for thunderhawks and a small tower. In total it probably has a small hanger that could hold a couple of thunderhawks, a small armoury with a few basic spare weapons and a good amount of ammo, a small med facility, an area to fix armour and weapons, a small chapel, quarters for a score of marines and a few other necessary facilities. All told probably a 3 story tower above ground and two larger floors below ground."
The Raptor listens silently until he asks some pointed questions about the mission ahead. "Any intel on the kind of dangerous wildlife in the wild surrounding the suspected facility - animals, plants, dangerous nature phenomena? How will the team be deployed and how far from the suspected position? Will this be a joint-operation with the Ordo Hereticus Agents?"
The Son of Antaeus ponders the situation. The lack of any identified threat to annihilate let him wonder if this mission is really worth the exceptional skills of their kill team. Sons of Antaeus usually identify a target and then annihilate it with overwhelming force... A mission without enemy let Averruncus kinda flat-footed (not sure i'm using the right word here, hope you understand what I mean). But the watch captain certainly knows what he's doing... Yet, some additional informations could be useful.
"What do we know about the existing threats on Kalinas? Surely they're is a reason for an inquisitor and his servant to be on this planet and explore the wild jungles. Did they get hints of heresy? Xenos activity? Sorcery? Or warp activities?"
"Seeing as its the Ordo Hereticus, I'm inclined to believe that their presence indicates a possibility of Heresy and therefore the presence of Heretics. As to how or why they would be in the jungles of an Agriworld looking for said Heresy is beyond me. But the fact that they were there AND that they found an abandoned Watch Station leads me to believe that Xenos or indigenous fauna might not be the foe we're likely to encounter within the Station if its been compromised."
"Ordo Hereticus agents are on the planet, they came across records indicating that there was a watch station on the planet. They tried contacting the station on standard channels and when there was no response they contacted us. I do not know the details of the ordo's mission."
"your ship will scan the jungle surface for objects roughly the size we anticipate for the tower, a thunderhawk will drop you in the nearest clearing. We anticipate local indigenous creatures to be the main threat outside the station. The local Apex predator is a reptilian creature called Kalin strain Crotozoid. Their skin is able to change colour and thick enough to be unaffected by individual las fire. Apparently their bite is toxic and causes flesh to decay quite rapidly. They can be as big as 4 tons."
"I dislike jungles, there isn't enough snow and ice in a jungle, but we will soon burn our way through it with a Salamander here. It sounds like that beastie might be worth a fight too. Come let us go and investigate, we will soon find out what is or isn't there. But we had best equip ourselves for a range of potential enemies."
"Fear not, Son of Fenris. I will fetch my scout equipment and steer us all through everything this world might throw at us. We Raptors have fought in many jungles and against many so-called invisible foes ... none of both have best us to the present day. Even the Ghost-Armors of those Tau-Xenos were not able to escape my scope's gaze, so I am confident that I should be able to detect those Crotozoids and warn you of their presence. If that's all, I will go and calibrate my special scope, repaint my scout armor and fetch some useful things from the armory."
Hawkeye seems to be happier than ever - the coming mission more to his liking than the last it seems.
"What are you suggesting young pup, I fear nothing. Anyway you spot them, I will sniff them out. Between us they won't have a chance at surprise."
"Ahhh, of course Brother Ulf, no Marine fear anything. And I have heard a lot about your and your Brothers fine noses my friend. We will work together and bring doom to anyone dear to fight us! Let's meet at the range before the departure and coordinate our aim, will you?"
Grinning to the Space Wolf Loghir says:
"I apologize in advance brother wolf for obscuring the smell of our enemies with the smell of burning flora as I turn the jungle into ashen wastes. But at least it means nothing will obscure our brother raptor's view"
Loghir claps Micrastur on the shoulder
The near-translucent face turns sincere as the Raptor turns to the salamander. "I know your blood is hot as promethium Brother, and your skill with the flamer is exceptional, but if you ever fought in a real jungle, you will notice that neither of both will suffice to burn through even a kilometer of the thickest jungle. Hold your heat for the enemy and let them burn, but we will have neither the time nor the promethium to burn us down a clear path. Everything depends on our drop-place and the kind of jungle we will have to go through. Whatever ... Time will tell - who will lead the team?"
"Relax Brother, we merely jest. I am sure our brother Salamander has fought in many jungles, I know I certainly have. Yes we will not be able to burn it down, but I will certainly be carrying a small hand flamer, it is a much quicker route to setting up an emergency evacuation site if needed and useful for exposing the walls of the watch station too. Oh and I like my meat bloody on the inside, flame grilled on the outside. Come let us pick the leader over a drink, I have some Mjød somewhere, I won't be long " With that Ulf slaps Hawkeye's shoulder and heads for his chamber.
The team is still discussing a leader as they board the modified sword class vessel.
The ship's Captain, a young man for the job. He has a tall muscular build, his asian facial features accented by a jagged scar. Greets you as you board. "Welcome Honoured marines, I am, Jaghi, commander of this vessel. I will do all I can to aid in your mission. My Navigator estimates that it will take us 37 days to reach the planet."
It is a frigate sized vessel, meaning in 40k it is small but all 40k ships are massive. It would have training facilities but nothing on the scale you would find on a strike cruiser or battle barge.
Loghir will spend the journey training with the squad then, preparing to face 4 ton beasties and drilling through their skulls
If possible, Averruncus will spend most of this extensive free time in the ship library, reviewing old books and data-crypts, to collect and memorize (thanks to his astartes eidetic memory) all available informations about Kalinas history (especially everything even remotely connected to xenos or chaos), geography, flora and fauna, government organization and proeminent figures, and legends.
After none of his Brothers takes a step forward, the pale Marine in loose camouflage takes the initiative to greet the captain of their vessel.
"Thank you, Cpt. Jaghi. My name is Micrastur from the Raptors Chapter. It is an honor to be a guest on your mighty vessel. Have you ever been at our target before? Any further intel could be of use to us. My Brothers and I will mostly remain in our quarters and the training facilities but you might call for our aid if necessary."
After they were guided to their quarters, the Raptor starts to prepare his equipment further. The newly requisitioned scout armor - in the black of the Deathwatch of course - gets painted green and brown in the camouflage pattern #Alpha87-3 he favors for fighting in thick jungles. He offers a quick thank-prayer that no Ultramarine was part of his kill-team. He got his fair share of clashes with them in past about "actions unsupported by the Codex Astartes". His action of repainting his armor according to the color of the expected battlefield was just one of them. After the armor he will also apply the pattern to his weapons. The next 20 hours will see him methodically remove the original scope of the requisitioned sniper rifle and the application of his hand-crafted combat scope he brought from his chapter to his duty in the deathwatch. After that he allows himself an extended rest period before searching for his Brothers.
At the next meeting of the complete team (prayer time / exercises / whatever), Hawkeye will address the whole team:
"Brothers we should elect a leader - the earlier the better such that we have more time for necessary preparations and some cooperative combat training." He stops for a moment to wait for any reply, before continuing. "If you wish, I might lead you on this mission. But before you accept let me tell you something about my Chapter: We got - more than just once - nearly extinct in our history. The only thing that let us prevail was our adaptability. It is our primary goal to prevent any losses on our side, even if that means to fight dirty, from the shadows or if some say: dishonorable. So if I am going to lead you into battle, don't expect me to lead you in the usual ways. Don't expect me to lead a glorious charge against overwhelming odds. Don't even expect me to lead from your midst. I might scout ahead of the team, or take the rearguard, keeping in touch with you only via occasional vox messages. I will take any steps necessary to accomplish our mission's objectives and keeping the risk of losses minimal. So if any of this offends some of you, then someone else should take on the role of our leader." The last sentence is followed by a gloomy expression on his face - paired with utter determination.
Even among his brother, Averruncus of the Sons of Antaeus towers like a giant. For the few months that you know him, you - and any one else in the watch fortress - have yet to see him without his helmet. Hence his voice sounds slightly artificial as he replies, through the vox system of his armour:
"I would follow your lead. We, Sons of Antaeus, have contempt for the rules of honor. We care for only one thing: what is the most efficient way to utterly obliterate the enemies of the Emperor. Show me that way, and I'll follow you."
Ulf sends the daytime periods of the trip training, some range time, some melee time, some time spent practising moving quietly and even (despite the vocal traditions of the Same Wolves) studying any records on the target planet. He then spends the evenings drinking and feasting with anyone who will join him. If faced with drinking alone he will work on a leather mask and armour.
When Hawkeye brings up the leadership discussion Ulf is quick to laugh.
"Brother I am old and have seen many leaders come and go. The best ones lay out their stall early as you have just done. You will face no objections from me, and I will do my best to help you with advice or any other skills I can. I am of the Vilka Fenryka and although many think us barbarians who like to charge in and rend our foes, and that suits us for people to believe it is so, but we love to hunt our foes from the shadows, to chase them and herd them for the perfect strike. Yes I will add to my saga and yes I will seek out glorious fights, but only when it is appropriate for my pack and my pack comes long before glory. I will follow you in the hunt or in this case the exploration."
Edit-
1dos
"We're in the deathwatch because each of us brings a unique set of skills to the missions we are sent on. To not make use of them is a waste and in this regard, I agree that you, brother raven, would be the best placed to lead us to our destination."
And Scorpelio spends the rest of the journey training with the team and getting used to the drill at the end of his servo-arm while taking special care on breaching operations with Loghir in the event that they need to cut through Bulkheads and the like.
As Micrastur offers to be a leader
"I'd welcome you as our leader brother, none of us are strangers to striking from the shadows. We spent a week or so recently on a mission under a camo cloak. Victory for the Imperium is what matters"
"You honor me with your words and the trust you put in me, Brothers. Now lets sharpen our skills for the coming mission."
After the meeting with the team, he will accompany each of his team members in his individual preparations. Additionally he will often been seen - or most likely not seen - wandering through the long and dark corridors of the ship, trailing behind groups of crewmen, listening to their conversations from afar - sharpening his senses further.
Jaghi has never been to the planet before but Averruncus uncovers some old scrolls that speak about the large volume of food that is generated by Kalinas. It would seem that 80% of the planet is covered in fields of a high yield grain. The countryside has small, densely populated towns and only 1 major city. There are thick jungles that cover about 10% of the landmass that has resisted every attempt to remove it.
---
Once you get to the system, Jaghi tells you that it will take 6 days in system to reach the planet. He has directed his best sensors to scan the southern jungles and with 1 day to spare his lead techpriest has good news. He has calculated that a site has a 97.234% match to expected parameters and projections, though there is also another site that has a 62.737% match to a different projection path.
As he is explaining things in an annex of the bridge, you hear a watch officer call out.
"4..no 6...no 9 vessels have just translated in system. Their trajectory suggests a 69% probability that they are from the Tau Empire. We are 9 hours from having a proper sensor images that can provide exact matches to known classes, we should be able to confirm they are Tau in approximately 6 hours."
Jaghi turns towards you. "Lord Micrastur what do you wish to do? Thanks to the xenos device we should be blind to their sensors if we shut down all active sensors, but it will take many more hours to confirm what vessels we have encountered. Regardless my vessel cannot engage 9 xenos craft without much guidance from the emperor."
He powers up a holotable, "My recommendation is that the mission continues as normal but go to passive sensors only, but once you are deployed my vessel breaks orbit and brings word of this attack Imperial authorities. However the decision is yours my lord."
Micrastur walks around the holo of the system for some time, obviously thinking about the news from different angles. After some moments he turns to the captain, holding 3 fingers up. "Three questions will influence my answer Captain. First: Are there any moons, asteroid fields or the-like in-System providing cover for your vessel - and how high would be the probability that you remain undetected? Second: Are you able to send word via astropath to the Imperial command? And finally: Would you be able to outrun and warp-out after you confirm the type of enemies? Those information's could be crucial for the sector defense command - if you would be able to deliver them - but you are right: It is most important to send word quickly to them, thus my question about the astropath. On our mission: We will continue as planned. In case of a Tau invasion we will show them deadly guerilla tactics from the cover of the jungles until forces can be redirected to relief this world from the Xeno filth. Make ready team, and get some extra armor and nutrient supply. We might have to stay longer than expected on this world."
"A Tau invasion?" a hint of surprise almost noticeable in his voice.
"Hrm, outgunned as we are, we still have a mission to complete. My own preference would be to have the ship go passive, deploy us at the 62.737% site or as close to and leave to warn the proper Imperial Navy authorities. During that time, we verify that the lesser site is nothing to concern ourselves about then move onto the greater site."
"Hmm, Captain would you be able to outrun these xenos? My suggestion would perhaps be to drop us at the nearest site, if equi-distant then I would go for the higher possibility first. Hit the xenos with one surprise attack and then run like hell, sending messages ahead to imperial defence forces. This may either split there force or draw them away entirely. If we hit the high probability first then we may find something we can use to defend the planet or just a base to use for our guerilla tactics. Oh and obviously the message would have to come before any serious risk to your ship"
"if we do not engage in combat I believe this vessel can hide for as long as necessary. We could send message by astropath but such messages can be misinterpreted or lack information, only the most skilled astropath can convey the information we could. There is no need to out run a foe who is not aware of you. Unfortunately travel between the two sites is extremely difficult, there are 65 kilometers of dense jungle between the sites."
The pale Marine grins towards the long fang and nods respectfully. In a low whisper - only audible to the Marines closest to Hawkeye - he offers: "So you really think like a shadow hunter, don't you? My thoughts were nearly the same as yours Brother."
At the answer of the Captain he immediately responds: "Well, how did you plan to deploy us? Per shuttle I think? If so, I would advice you to deploy us, let the shuttle land at the dropsite, then send a quick distress call via astropath ahead, enter surveillance distance of the enemy fleet and then warp out and deliver detailed information to fleet command and return with a relief force ASAP. And I am with Scorpelio here on the topic of drop-down preferences. Lets make sure the less-probable location is indeed of no interest."
The Librarian listen silently to everyone before asking:
"In order to fasten our transition between both sites, maybe you can let the shuttle at our disposition. Or maybe you can provide us with a landspeeder of sort"
"I'm not sure about the logic of going to the lower probability first as 65km will take time to cover in dense jungle, but the difference matters little. Captain I did not doubt your ability to hide from the xenos, more the possibility of drawing them away from this planet, but it sounds like our leader has a plan. A shuttle and pilot would certainly speed things up, if you can spare them."
"Hmmm I doubt they'd have a Land Speeder Storm on board and available for us to commandeer."
"While it would be preferable to have such a vehicle, we could hardly go wrong with a Rhino either."
"Still, in circumstances such as these, I'm glad to have a Son of the Raven with us and one chosen to lead us no less."