Welcome to the Guard!

Game Master Swordwhale

Yeah Sarge, got it Sarge. Simmins says Never had to deal with a Commissar before. Much rather follow you, Sarge.

The sarge can't quite hide the momentary smirk that steals across his face at Thuds question.
It's not quite the question itself that makes him smirk, but rather the elegant solution to the problem as how to explain it.
And so Cormaeg takes the opportunity to demonstrate an age old maxim of the sergeant class in the military.
When you don't want to deal with a problem, fob it of on a grunt.

"Don't worry trooper Thud, trooper Notch will be pleased as punch at being given a chance to explain it for you."

Turning to Notch, Cormaeg favors him with his most deadpan expression possible.
"Trooper Notch? The floor is yours."

Thud is even more confused. He looks over to Notch and mutters to himself, Peas'd and punch?
Notch sighs and gives the Sarge a nearly insubordinate look. Nearly. He takes a couple seconds to make sure that half tank of Promethium is properly sealed into his own before trying to explain.
Man wears hat. That hat. Boss men. If boss men angry... he points to the bolt pistol and then mimes shooting his friend in the face. boss men called, commissar...
Commie sir?
Right. They like Sir. They are Sir. Sarge he points Not sir. Man in hat is sir.

Thud nods. Then points to Sarge. Who? he?
Sarge
Sir? no.
No Sir.
Hat?
Sir.
Hat Sir?
Yes. Sir.
Thud nods again. Notch sighs. That was surprisingly painless.

Thud is now staring at the hat, trying to memorize it's every detail. Little did Notch know, it wasn't as successful as he thought...

"Aye, Sarge.
Notch, bring the big'un over when he got a grasp on what Sarge wants from him. We'll look for those elusive boo boos together."
Going to rp it but it won't restore any wounds rule wise because Thudd was already treated on the elevator before the fight - 24h rule

"Listen up, everyone who is lacking a frag, get one now, then we'll distribute the others."

Scratching his chin, Cormaeg looks over the pile of stuff cluttered in the train.
"Ideally, we would destroy this, but that might not be so easy...
The best idea might be if we took what we could use, and then tried to damage the train enough that it returned to the depot like the other one did.
That way it would be out of the hands of the orks, and they wouldn't be able to use the train either for a bit, but our side could repair it once we get some cogboys down here."

Looking over the squad he motions with one hand.
"Thoughts? Suggestions?"

"Well Sarge if we want to send it back to the depot we could try to do that via the control station in the front car. Without angering the mechanicum further by damaging their precious train. That's how I got the train moving before the time was up. Sure it thretened me with death and murder but if you ignore those warnings it does stuff."

Maybe some of the stations up ahead'll be controlled by IG Sarge? Simmins says hopefully. Can unload it there then. This orkish stuff isn't fit for anything but detroyin'

"I appreciate your optimism Olways, it's very refreshing.
However, unfortunately it seems unlikely."

"Medic Tivnan, your suggestion sounds good, take trooper Notch with you and see if you can figure out a way to...what is the word...reprogram the trains route.
Alternatively, badger the machine spirit into compliance."

Notch nods and heads forward.
notch the impromptu cogboy: 1d100 ⇒ 41

With a hissing of microhydraulics in his augmetic leg, Krish kneels beside Leni close enough to see, pay attention, and help if she asks, but far enough to not crowd her work. He is clearly interested in the process of wound and patient care, and seems to appreciate Leni's slightly rough manner. He mutters quietly to himself as he follows along.

When they get to the wounded Simmins, he seems much more competent, knowing ahead of time a few of the implements Leni will need and having them ready.

After Leni heads off to the front of the train with Notch, Krish goes through the medkit to familiarize himself not only with the name and function of each item, but also with where that item is in the kit so he can find them quickly should they be needed.

"Psyker Krish. If you are planing on becoming familiar with medicare, you might as well carry the second medikit.
Get it from Trooper Thud."

"Errr I'm more into fixing people than fixing machines. Got lucky there. Well whatever, might get lucky again.. Just a moment. Let me finish fixing the big'un."
Seeing as how Thudd is already going to town on the Bullet holes without anestethics Leni doesn't put on the kids gloves either. She however does make sure to disinfect not just the holes she's working on but also those that Thudd already successfully.. ripped open. And of course seal them off properly against infection. Not like bacteria or viri would make it against the big guys immune system. Or is it his immune stubrness? Either way the emperor protects those the longest who require his protection most rarely.
"Alright Krish, treating the big'un is almost the same as with Sim. Solid Round wound. Except the big guy is as tough as a bunker door so you might not need any anesthetics. Careful tho if he doesn't know you well yet. He is very protective of his friends but doesn't trust too easily. Not sure if that's a big guy thing or that's just him tho."
No roll, no game mechanical benefits because Thudd got first-aided within the last 24 hours.

Tech Use(Int)58 - 20(unlearned): 1d100 ⇒ 51
You know what? This is probably irresponsible and stupid but it might save us a LOT of trouble in the long run. Use that extra FP!
Tech Use(Int)58 - 20(unlearned): 1d100 ⇒ 1 dare I say jackpot? 4DoS
Leni wanders of with Notch. She starts her exploration by wiping away the bloody handprint she left earlier with a wet wipe and on reflex thanks the machine spirit of the train for not being a b$&$& about it. Not the most dutiful praise of a machine spirit but hey, at least something! She spent waaaay to long around those creepy machine guys that sometimes hang around the field hospitals machines doing 'maintenance'.
Either way after getting that out of the way she quickly navigates the menu she followed earlier, she's looking for how to steer the train and what options she has. Quickly finding what she sought she closes the menu back down and goes back to report to Sarge.

"I found it! Not just how to send it back to the depot but how to operate this as a whole. I think I could even send this some other place of our choosing. Which might be helpful if the train is as packed with explosives as we think it is. Just get the train to stop some way outside of a major Ork held station, set a timed trigger explosion and let it continue into the station. We don't even have to jump of because of that starting countdown."

Thud doesn't even flinch when you go digging around in his arm. It's actually a surprising challenge for the uninitiated. Thud's dense structure, hard leather though skin,and banded muscles make it tricky business to get at the bullet, or shell, if you're a normal person...

Krish nods to Cormaeg, "Roger, Sergeant. I would be happy to carry the second medkit. I need to see him about a wayward ork bullet anyway." He smiles at Leni as she makes her way forward and approaches Thudd.

Approaching the Ogryn, Krish speaks calmly, and with small words, "Hey Thudd, I am going to try to help you find that missing bullet, okay?" When Thudd submits to treatment without a word, Krish glances forward after the disappearing medic before turning back to the bleeding crater in Thudd's arm.

Remembering the huge Ogryn's frequent shouting of benedictions of the Emperor of Man, Krish begins reciting the Warrior's Catechism of Worship.

Love the Emperor, for He is the salvation of Mankind.
Obey His words, for He will lead you into the light of the future.
Heed His wisdom, for He will protect you from evil.
Whisper His prayers with devotion, for they will save your soul.
Honour His servants, for they speak in His voice.
Tremble before His majesty, for we all walk in His immortal shadow.

Though Thudd is made of much tougher stuff than a mere human, Krish is at long last able to find and extract the projectiles. Dropping the 'hiding' bullet into Thudd's open palm, Krish applies a dressing to the wound along with some coagulus integrus to ensure that the bleeding would stop. "There we go, Thudd. All patched up, yeah? I am gonna keep ahold of this medkit though, Sarge's orders, yeah?" Krish packs up the medkit and turns to find Leni, returned from the front of the train looking over his handiwork...

Leni is able to access the drive subroutines through the - thankfully simple - driver interface and is quite certain that she could achieve any of those.
Although, to select a target station the system requests a 4-digit ID code, and she finds only a short list of such ID scribbled to a tiny paper hidden below the drivers seat.
Beside the IDs for all stations along the 'imperial' line this cart usually takes, there are only two other station IDs noted down. The first is commented with 'repair dock' and the other one bears a note saying 'depot'.
What comes in handy immediately, is a function that let the train ignore halts. So, instead of stopping at the three intermittent stations between the 'Omnissiahs Crossing' and the 'administratum complex', the train just rumbles through them. The first two are all but empty and dark, but the last one, you can see a group of bored gretchin milling around, painting grotesque graffity with green paint to the walls of the station. They did look over at the passing train but neither seem to recognize anything amiss.
At long last, the metallic voice utters:
"NEXT STATION: ADMINISTRATUM COMPLEX."

Sir, we can set a nice trap with the orks own explosives against 'em if we've got time!

Can we blow up the tracks actually? It's pretty much ork controlled and so it would make sense to sabotage this as it's not like the IG have any plans to retake the tunnels at the moment. And then maybe mortar pound whatever stumbles out for a bit before falling back to this defensive spot.

"Administratum complex...that is where we were heading, so there might already be civilians here...
When we disembark, keep your eyes sharp and your fingers OFF the triggers.
And Thud will keep to the rear so nobody mistakes him for an Ork."

"As for turning the train into a bomb, I like the idea on principle, but we'll hold off on it for now.
With enough control of the train, we can possibly keep it here long enough to make a decision after we've learned more of the situation."

Thud moves to the back and makes sure the civvies and Monia are behind him. Just in case.

Soon enough, everyone feels the deceleration of the train and the screeching of brakes... every moment now.
Then, the train stops with a last jerk and the doors start to grind open, opening the view on a station that looks ... inhabited. Odd-looking, clearly makeshift tent-tippies are intermixed with heaps of crates, boxes and a couple of fireplaces, some still have a burning fire and pots above them.
As you carefully leave the train, you soon see several armed humans hidden behind some of them, covering you with surprised faces!

Making sure to keep his lasgun pointed down at the floor, Cormaeg holds up one hand to stop his team.
He then address the people behind the barricades in a clear voice.

"Sergeant Cormaeg MacCammon, Serenus 1st. Who is in command here?"

Seeing the guardsmen, Adge, eases his finger off the trigger guard, as the grizzled sergeant steps forward and speaks, Adge eases himself up from his simulated rubbish pile and pushes back the hood of his chamoleoline cloak and steps forward "STATION DEFENDERS 'OLD YER FIRE, couple of yer own 'ere Sarge. Aiding the locals we be, but damn right glad to see you." A rather messy and unkempt guardsman carrying a vox approaches before coming to attention and snapping off a sloppy salute. "There be a cap'n of the PDF round 'ere somewhere, Cap'n Martins is 'er name, she be the one in charge."

I have left my post deliberately impersonal as I was wondering if we would know each other at all from general regiment training or whatever."

1d3 ⇒ 2
You don't know him, but you do recognize Monia when she is carried out from vox operator trainings.

Cormaeg finds himself pleased with this turn of even.
Before any sentimentality have the chance to take root however, his deeply pragmatic nature reassesses itself due to him spotting something on the troopers back.

"Well, first thing first then, three questions trooper.
What is your name? Is that vox caster in working condition? Is it possible to contact HI-Q from here?"

Looking back over his shoulder at Leni, he nods towards the train.
"Is your control over the train good enough to keep it here trooper Tivnan?"

Krish follows the Sergeant out, lasgun ready. When Cormaeg gestures Krish lowers his barrel to point at the floor and comes to a halt, waiting.

Thud is anxious. Everyone was close together in one car, making the space feel very cramped. Added to that, his little ones were out there without him. The shooting hadn't started yet, that was good, but they were walking into a place without him, and that is very bad! He calls up to the front, Hey! It ok? It small in here!

Since Simmins is one of the people carrying Monia he can't really do anything else. He's incredibly glad to see humans rather than xenos though!

" Adge Cutler, but everyone calls me 'Lucky' an' er yes an' no. Need to get up top for a decent signal."
Adge lets out a low whistle as Monia is brought out "Is Monia gonna be alright sarge? Met 'er in vox trainin', she's a mite creepy, but all them bolt magnets are, still nice lass."

Cormaeg inhales, slowly expanding his chest to give everyone the full benefit of his voice.
[bigger]"WE HAVE AN OGRYN WITH US, EVERYONE KEEP CALM!"[/smaller]

After that he speaks in a normal tone as he calls out to Thud.
"Trooper Thud, it is clear for you to join us, bring the civilians."

"Well Trooper Cutler, you best introduce us to captain Martins. I am eager to talk to her, and then we need to contact HI-Q. Our own vox got shot up when Psyker Monia got shot.
According to our medic, she will live. As medic Tivnan have proven herself competent numerous times, I am inclined to believe her."

Upon hearing that he can leave the little train car, Thud practically gets the rest out. He steps from the train and finally stands fully upright with nothing to hinder him. All 3-ish meters of him. It feels glorious.
He probably looks terrifying. He carries a massive pack and a huge automatic shotgun called a Ripper hangs at his side like a side arm. Across his back is a simply massive 2 meter slab of metal with a handle on the end.
Wait. No.
That's a chain sword!

Once the squad is starting to leave the train in numbers and the 'all clear' calls have made it round, the locals pick themselves up and lower their weapons. Some are openly making the sign of the Aquila and seem to offer a short prayer to the Emperor where they stand.

An old, battered woman in PDF-officer fatigues of a Captain turns round a solid metal box, a combat Shotgun with a drum-mag and fixed bayonet and surveys the squad before her. To her credit, she only raises an eyebrow at Thud, while many of her irregulars instinctively raise their weapons again, only to lower them again after a sharp command from the woman.

After that, she offers Cormaeg a hand of greeting.

"Well, I take it the guard did indeed come back to the Spire after all, yes? Wouldn't have thought to live and see that happening to be honest. After nearly four years. Where did you get that train from? My scouting parties do tell me that the greenies are nearly on every other station, looting what could possibly be looted and riding the trains for the fun of it. Had an interesting travel, yes?"

Cormaeg shakes hands with his fellow veteran of life with appropriate force before offering her a wry grin.
"By numbers, we can easily claim a average of two orks and three Gretchkins a piece Captain.
The train was commandeered from some Orks under the command of a boss as it was being loaded with their loot."

"As for the guard in general, yes, the Serenus 1st is fighting all over the planet, among other regiments.
And we can claim victory at Junathan 3 as well as Spire Plaza west."

I thought I hit send on that post... Well better late than never

A russling is heard from the train as Leni untangles herself from the driver compartment and exits the train to report. "Aye Sarge. I think I can. Haven't hit that menu yet but I found it earlier so unless that machine spirit... "
A rather small, delicate-turned-wirey woman comes into view exitting the Train. Her red hair is shoulder length, or at least some of it is. The rest is burnt at the end and slightly less than shoulder length. Most notable is her facial skin thought. One half looks like she got sun tanned in a desert, the other half looks ghostly white. The halves don't have a clear cut between them, more a 'burn ended here' kind of cut.
She skits to a halt and snaps to a salute seeing Sarge talk with someone important looking. Muttering under her breath "Where'd the big-wig come from?"

The old lady-Captain looks past Cormaeg as Leni exits the train talking, her eyes flashing to the red-helix emblem on Lenis uniform, identifying her as a medic. Her eyes dart back to Cormaeg and she adds:
"You got a medic with you?
Damn. I think I am in deep depts now, thanks to you Sergeant.
Hold the bet of that arduous, Emperor-bothering priest that we would sooner see a Painboy than a real medic out here."
Her eyes dart back to Leni.
"How is your medical supply situation, girl?
I have a couple of people here, whose last glimpse of a doc was before the Greenies made planetfall..."
More a thing for extended treatment than first aid, most stuff are old wounds, broken or even severed limbs that where not treated right and lots of malnutrition and missing daylight.

Everyone can start to mingle with the 'locals'.
There are about 60 people, half of which under arms, the rest clearly refugees.

Could I get added to the campaign tab please? I'm not getting any updates when people post :(

Ashora stands and trails Adge at a distance, not quite believing her eyes. "Of all the squads on this planet, I get stuck back with yours, hey Sarge?" she calls affably. "Emperor knows I'm glad to see some familiar faces, how fares the 1st?"

Lenis eyes light on fire as she looks around and sees lots and lots of work for her to do. But she bites her lip and sticks to the protocol. Stealing a glance at the rank badge of the opposition she says:
"Not exactly a full field hospital, sir but we do have two medkits. Munitorum allocated them to this squad of course but I don't see any of those guys around, right Sarge? I just need to set that train to stay if Sarge decides it should, then I'll get to work for as long as I can. Dunno what the orders said beyond getting here, actually so there might be enough time to do things properly..."

Thud lights up when he sees Ashora. It's worth noting that this doesn't make him any more attractive. In fact it makes him look hungry. Anyway, he shouts, Ashoora! I thinks you gone! Emprah Proteks! He may look a little odd to you as he's now carrying a large book on the opposite hip from his Ripper and the red of priests robes can be seen around his ogryn sized flack armor.
Thud advances on her and scoops the sniper up an a bone-crushing hug. Thankfully it's nothing Leni needs to check on, but it is overwhelming.
Then he spots the irregulars making the sign of the Aquila and "smiles" at them. Emprah Protecks! He says. This repeats itself as Thud, who seems to be experiencing a kind of euphoria after being cooped up and on the run, mingles with the refugees and tries to find another priest like himself.

Digging his finger into his wild, grey beard, Cormaeg considers the situation.
Earning some good will here could be crucial for any intelligence gathering, plus it could help make sure this place could serve as a bit of a base camp.
And, to be honest, deep down he recognized it as the decent thing to do.
But it would require some creative interpretation of orders.

"Well, standing orders are of course to call in and get instructions on how to handle this from HI-Q...buuut, since our vox caster has been damaged in a fire fight...
Luckily, there is a second vox caster here, but trooper Cutler informs me that it's unable to reach HI-Q unless we go topside."

Stepping over to Simmins, Cormaeg slowly and deliberately raises a fist, and taps it against Simmins chin.
"As you all saw, my heavy weapons expert has just taken a dastardly wound and cannot give us covering fire at the moment.
As such we must remain here for the time being as the Tactica Imperialis CLEARLY states that one should not advance without sufficient weapons coverage."

"HOWEVER, Trooper Olways is a tough soldier, and so the treatment of his wound is on the low end of the scales, this allowing medic Tivnan to see to the others first."

Adge acknowledges the sergeant's comment about Monia and is in the process of giving another lazy salute and backing out of the command conversation when a shadow looks over him. Instinctively reaching for his weapon he begins to turn, before seeing the ogryn and relaxing (a bit!). Adge begins to greet the hulking abhuman, before having to launch himself out of the way as the ogryn rushes forward to engulf Ashora in a hug, recovering quickly, he almost reaches for his weapon again, before realising that this is a greeting. "Lord Emperor, please let him not do that to me, I am far to fragile for that!"
Over hearing the conversation about the train and seeing the medic, Adge moves to help Always good to keep the medic on side, everyone knows the story of Jimal and what the doc when he was under, although to be fair he did do a good job of it.
"You bin drivin' a train, nice job. Show us what you found an' maybe I can watch it, while you get doctorin'."

Leni scratches her head sheepishly
"That's saying a bit much. I found the 'for the love of the god emperor please start now, the big stupid ork is comming' button in the right moment. And a bit more but lemme show you. Just a sec"
She pulls of her bag, gets the mobile hospital out and hands it to Krish. Or more accurattly slaps it against his chest in its deflated form and waits for his hands to grab on to it before letting go. "Get that set up for me, 'kay? You saw how to do it right? Be back in a moment."

Not actually waiting for a response she leads Lucky off towards the train, getting in and heading straight through towards the front.
"And this is where we get into the tight, dimly lit space to push buttons and moan. Sounds a lot more fun if you leave out the fact we'll be pushing mechanicum approved metal studs and moaning about machines being stupid."
She cramps herself into the seat of the driver cabin to show what she found.
"See? Told you driving is saying a bit much. Just a bunch of menus. Oh and there's that list of codes where you can send the train down there. Just ignore the threats of skininng alive and turning you into a servitor for messing with the train schedule."

Krish takes the mobile hospital, nods to Tivnan, and wonders briefly, what have I gotten myself into with this one?

Krish turns to the PDF Captain with a salute, "Pardon, sir. Can you have someone show me where I can get this set up?"

"Hey Thud, go to see you t--OOF!! Yep, ahaha, yes good to see you too," she manages when the ogryn releases her, face a bit red-face and out of breath.

As the ogryn moves off to examine the refugees she indicates his priestly garb with her thumb and whispers "What's with the robe?" to the others.

"Alright doc, we'll let's see if I can 'ave a go one, I've learned a little about tech an I 'ave one of these" as he says this, he reaches for his connector and tries to plug in.
tech-use 54 +10miu: 1d100 ⇒ 94 3 dof Whoops, not a good start! Well don't want to be that incompetent from the start!
Fate reroll: 1d100 ⇒ 76 1dof
Double oops, guess he is that incompetent!!
As he fumbles his way through the screens flashing through his head, he feels the train gaining power below him, he desperately tries to stop the start-up sequence, eventually just trying to stick with the methods Leni had suggested.

Leni vacates the seat and gives the man a pat on his back as she leaves.
"The name's Leni. Better hope you don't need it too often. I have plenty to do out there already."

She gets out and attempts to leave, except the humming increase of power stops her from getting off just in time. She storms back
"Hey, I thought you had that?"
Tech Use(unlearned)vs 38: 1d100 ⇒ 22 2DoS
"Not that menu! That's power 'through'. I think that's to increase tolerance to hit stuff off the rails without the train stopping. You want power 'down'."

I sure am tough Sir, sure looking forward to the leave to recover from it too Sir! Simmins says with a grin as he continues to carry Monia to the quickly establishing triage area.

To Leni.

Oh yeah I think Thud's Father Thud now. He's got better sermons than any I've heard from any of the other priests that's for sure.

I think you mean Ashora, there.

Yup!