The servitors and their stubbers might not be ready to fire, Liam and his heavy bolter certainly is.
Reloaded and eager to continue the grim harvest, Liam takes new aim and...
...the reaping continues unabated.
Simmins just... can't.
"More fall! Yet more remain! The emperor demands their lives extinguished"
Having been as inspiring has he gets(sadly not everyone thinks the emperor demanding stuff is very inspiring. Someone has to tell the priest about this at some point...) he switches to the litany of hatred.
"Where there is the mutant, I shall bring fire
Where there is the xenos, I shall bring the chainsword
Where there is the heretic, I shall bring the stake
Where there is rage, I shall bring it to the enemy
My word in the soul shall be as my rifle in the field."
What looked at first like a safe bet, turns into a really, really close call. Simmins clearly is at the end of his strength and endurance, carrying the biggest load of any of you, Liam included, and now he also trying to heft half an unconcious trooper up a steep staircase... Their progress slows to a crawl while a curtain of lasbolts, heavy bolt shells and soon enough a double-stream of stubber rounds from the combat servitor fly over their heads and into the incoming wave of enemies.
Once again, Liam's bolted reaps its bloody harvest, as do several of the combined lasbolts. The servitors solid shells are aimed high and don't hit friend nor foe. Did the fire damage some of its targeting systems?
In the end: it doesn't really matter. Having lost more than half their number, the frenzied mob suddenly wavers and slow, while still more of them fall under the fusillade - in the midst of the pulsating runes. The braver ones continue their charge but are easily picked out. The others break and gonfor cover. A few produce laspistols and return snap-shots from cover.
With the help of the two breathless troopers from probe-1 (or 2? 3?) MacGyver and Simmins finally reach the relative safety of the data archive. All four collapse in a heap, gasping for breath.
MacGuyver collapses onto the ground completely unable to speak. He manages a grateful wave at the other other Probe members as his head rings and limbs burn.
Freed from having to worry about hitting their own troops, Liam lays down a salvo of full auto fire, to keep the enemy pinned in place.
"Come on! Let's finish this and get out of here!"
Simmins tries to do something else but fails to. He just wheezes.
"Cecil, that thing you dropped...?"
The tricky thing was to make Cecil (and maybe others as well) aware of the idea, without tipping the enemy, or worse, give THEM ideas...
"The wh-oh. Ohhhh! Got'ya, smartpants!"
She ducks back and out of sight of the remaining attackers and grabs the grenade, making ready for the toss, quickly counting down from five with her fingers...
A full, sweeping salvo of a heavy bolter is a pretty intimidating experience for everyone on it's receiving end.
The remaining mob is no different and hunkers down low, most even stop their sporadic return fire. One is hit by Liam's salvo as a reward and promptly looses structural integrity from the hip up.
One of the exhausted troopers, a Sergeant by his stripes, name-tag intelligibly scorched, coughs in between rasping breaths:
"God-cough-Emprah! Please tell me-cough-we're ready to go! They brought down a-cough-friggin Knight in with that last elevator!"
Good thing Cecil tossed her grenade right before Sgt. Scorchmark reveal. It is a picture book throw and lands right on top of a group of two enemies sheltering right where Simmins and MacGyver hid earlier. Her jaw drops and she groans audibly.
Liam wasn't sure exactly what a knight was, but it spelled trouble.
Wither a knight was more problem than a Magos wasn't really the question right now, since most of the squad wasn't in the best condition either way.
As he hadn't heard anyone say that they were ready to retreat, his duty to keep the enemy's heads down wasn't discharged yet, and so he let another salvo of full auto fire rip.
At this rate, I'll chew right through the cover in just a few moments.
MacGuyver rolls over to his unconscious patient and searches him for grenades.
MacGuyver comes up with several useful options and grins slightly. At least now he isn't completely useless.
He crawls (because that's all he can manage at the moment) over to the barricade and peeks over to see what the situation is.
Simmins yanks out his Stubber (not a bolter) and braces it using its integrated bipod. He fires a single shot at the big guy who's just standing out in the open.
"A knight is something we cannot content with. Even getting through its shields would take a tank battalion. It would probably be best if we could collapse the tunnel the knight would have to come through."
Mopping up the remaining cultist militia is easy, now that their momentum is lost.
A mix of well placed grenades, suppressive fire and carefully aimed shots make short work of the rabble - all from the comfort of good cover.
As the deafening roar of gunfire finally dies down, you wonder that you are still alive.
Sgt. Scorchmark get up into a crouch, still gasping for air and legs shaking and takes stock.
"Hoh-ho, and that Lads is why we run leagues day in and out.
Shame no one stopped that - pretty sure it would be some kind of record.
Thanks for the covering fire and warm welcome, seems like you found a saver way to the target.
Glad you did, or this entire mission would be darn fubar.
Enginseer, give me an ETA!"
Anatoly, sends a burst of binaric as response first, before switching to his flesh voice a second later.
"The initial batch of BUGs is returning as we converse.
Second batch, brought to me by your troopers, are due in 165.982 seconds.
They have confirmed earlier suspicion of serious data corruption in several data cores.
I am still running evaluation calculations of whether to risk exfiltration such corrupted data is an advisable action or not."
Scorchmark seems a bit surplussed at this.
"Aha. So three more minutes?
Depending on the speed of that damned Knight, we will all be dust in three minutes!"
Anatoly immediatly replies in the same-modulated tone.
"If our position is impossible to maintain, we can retreat now and not collect the corrupted data.
Slowing down or even blocking the arrival of the fallen Knight and finishing the complete data exfiltration would be a great victory over the nonsensical.
I agree with Priest Madlands assessment: facing a Knight with only infantry weapon has a very high chance of total defeat.
Multiple hits from trooper Olways' melta gun against unshielded sections would be needed to inflict debilitating damage."
Eyes turn to the specialist of Probe-4, with a clear question in them.
Can they actually slow down or block a Knight?
You'd need a sizable and complete cave in to stop the Knight for good. Considering the sturdy, massive construction of the tunnel, this seems unlikely.
A partial cave-in would only slightly slow down the bipedal walker made to traverse such environments.
You spot a quick movement between two pieces of rubble down the corridor, close to where you initially entered the area.
There, another small something is hustling by.
And another!
They move fast and keep to cover and shadows well, making it very difficult to make out any details.
"I don't think we can cause a complete cave in, this place was built to last, and besides, a partial one wouldn't do much more than slow the walker down. It's built for such terrain."
Liam walks a little closer to the others and lowers his voice.
"Also, don't look now, but we've got company from where we first came in. If we're lucky, it's our guides come back to check on us, if we're not, well...."
I agree with Liam. If I had a bunch of det packs left I might consider it. I'd hate to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Liam rubs the back of his neck for a moment, thinking.
"There IS one possibility though...
The underside of this corridor is not nearly as massive, if we could weaken the structural integrity a bit, we could make the knight crash through it, toppling it.
Then, if we want to do more than just stop it, we could try to crash more of the corridor on top of it, or even possibly board it.
Remember, the service tunnels run through here like a honeycomb, so there are plenty of places we COULD weaken the corridor and make a trap."
Kenneth looks up, at Liams idea and speaks extra loudly for some reason.
"I can see it work! Bringing low the enemy warmachine, stuck in the ground and overwhelmed by a swarm much smaller than itself! Now if only we had some helping hands in finding the best place to ambush the enemy warmachine and bringing glory to his majesty the emperor!"
MacGuyver thinks for a moment. Do we have the explosives to pull it off? Getting back to base with the whole data set would be huge. And probably save a lot of lives on our side.
If we manage to get it stuck then that'll let me actually land a few hits. My Melta is great, but it fires slow. Simmins says. What's coming at us though? he says worriedly.
Liam, a little curious that nobody seemed to be really paying attention to his warning of new company decides to take things in hand.
So he makes sure he is turned towards the area he observed movements in.
Bracing his heavy bolter a bit, he merely waits, trying to look casual.
MacGuyver snaps his fingers. We have an entire box of Detpacks that Anaoly's got! If I can set them right I bet I can weaken the floor enough for a trap. It'll be risky though.
He catches sight of Liam bracing and peers out down the hall for what he's aiming at.
Cecil has sticked with Liam and at his whisper casually turned and lowered into a firing position.
"You're right, we have company gain.
They don't move like those loonies from before.
Stealthy as Demo-Man himself.
I count at least fi-no, eight.
Spread out, advanving individually.
Closest one crosses the 50 meter mark... now."
Sgt. Scorch meanwhile mills over the options, while throwing a sidelong gaze at Sgt. Henner, crouched in a corner of the barricade and looking out into the corridor.
Then turns and spitballs order.
"Okay, I like to have the option available if we need to.
MacGyver: take Zulu and Dillan", he points at the man who escaped with him, a bulky but small black-haired fellow with a huge handcannon in a bulky holster, "and get those detpacks ready.
Get into good cover close to those service tunnels and wait for further orders.
Enginseer, do you need to remain here and collect the remaining BUGs after their duty? If not, go with the demolition team.
I want the data we already collected away from the knights target ASAP.
Everyone else: return to your position and provide cover for the demolition team - but prepare to bail at short notice, should the plan not work out."
Anatoly sends a burst of binaric into the vast chamber before joining the small group around MacGyver.
MacGuyver nods and gets to work attaching remote detonators and priming each charge. It takes a couple minutes, but the four of them have the deadly cargo ready for deployment in short order. They assemble at their designated spot and wait for the word.
After sliding into place, MacGuyver peers around the corner to see if he can spot the contacts. His pistol's odd little screen pules green as the Auspex array scans.
"Not sure if anyone else have seen them, or even noticed my warning.
Guess it's up to you and me to cover that area then, eh Cecil?"
Now that everyone else is moving about, Liam makes sure to adjust his position for maximum cover AND coverage first, then he re-braces and waits.
I DON'T SEE THEM
Simmins whisper shouts at Liam
Kenneth stands tall at the barricades, making himself as visible as possible without explicitly shouting to the unknown contacts.
They figures stop as the groups priest get to the line, standing straight and imposing like a statue of some imperial saint. Not yet toppled, crushed and defaced like all those other statues in the long (and by now thoroughly blood splattered) corridor.
One seems to point a hand towards Kenneth and in the after-combat sudden silence filling the area, you can hear distant, shrill yet hushed voices.
Considering he is now covering the area with the contacts and most people seem to be aware of eachother, Liam gets an idea to test the waters a little.
If he was right, it would be best to avoid shooting.
At first, the approaching figures seem to flinch and duck low at Liam's shout.
Then a tiny arm appears from behind cover and waves at you.
"Yes-yes, dis be Kira and friends!
No shooty us, yes?"
(assuming you let them know they are free to approach)
Following this tense exchange, a dozen or so small figures appear from behind cover and swiftly scuddle towards the defenders.
All are clad in some kind of black fabric, tightly wrapped around their frail bodies, complete with hoods and scarves.
And all wear some kind of gun, similar to the strange-looking pistol you have seen among their kind before.
Once they got into clear sight, the remaining troopers from Probe-1/2/3 look puzzled.
Sgt. Scorch notches Liam.
"You know these?
Who are they .... and ... what are they?
Those "locals" you referred to earlier?"
** A few seconds later **
The ratlings file past the defenses and pile around Kenneth with awed expressions, half of them actually kneeling and seemingly praying and reaching out to touch his (mildly scorched) robes.
Kira turns to Liam, speaking quickly.
"We'v come to warn you.
Lots of baddies coming.
Big stompy-killy baddy first.
Many madz follow it.
We shot some an let em hunt for us in shadows, yes-yes,
but with the big stompy around...
They won'follow to hunt us anymore, no-no."
You can spot a spot of red light far back in the gloomy corridor.
And is there a light tremor vibrating the floor?
Simmins exhales a mighty sigh of relief as he realizes they're not under attack quite yet.
Do you have exposives? Our only chance against the big stompy killy one. he asks them Sir? You want me to rush out when the knight gets stuck to fire at the head with the Melta fire? Or be closer?
Kira flashes a toothy grin, revealing her two upper-middle teeth to be elongated to nearly twice the usual length.
"We do, yes-yes.
Spread stashes to lots of places.
One nearby I know, yes-yes."
Sgt. Scorch scratches his chin, while throwing uncomfortable sideway glances at the newcomers, his hands not far from his combat knife.
"I am still undecided, but I bravo your enthusiasm Trooper.
Ideally, we would only commit to such a dangerous action if we were certain that its shielding would drop once it crashes.
If it does, your melta might have a decent chance of hurting it.
If it does not...
I'd rather not loose our best anti-armor weapon in a foolhardy manner.
Do you reckon you could hide close to the estimated breaching point... and make a clean getaway if our plan does not work out?"
At this point, Anatoly chimes in:
"All proper Knight pattern known to me have advanced sensor suites, well able to detect nearby life-forms with a probability reaching sacred-one.
Regardless of how well they can hide.
Possible ways to prevent detection would require advanced jammers, strong sources of radiation, a continuous haywire field or presence of the nonsensical.
Most patterns also feature tertiary weapon systems for close-range defense against infantry, typically a heavy stubber of the Stygis IIIpattern or a Luna-pattern multi-laser."
MacGuyver runs his hands through his hair. So are you saying we should plant the ordinance and get out instead of trying to get up close with a melta? It could buy us time, but how do we get out afterwards if it's not incapacitated?
"The same way you lads got in - there is that maintenance corridor entrance not too far from here, right?
If we stop the Knight far enough from it, we may be able to get to it and make a getaway while the Knight struggles to get up.
I really don't like the odds of a slightly over-strength squad taking on a Knight, at least if that really isn't part of our mission.
Sure, it would make for a good story if we manage to take it out, but it is a huge risk and may jeopardize the actual mission objective."
Simmins still very much struggling to grasp the enormity of the threat heading their way but not liking what he's hearing. [b]I ain't going to be able to do multiple shots and sounds like I'll need the Emperor's full attention to get close enough for even one. If that ain't enough for this monster then... yeah.. get it stuck and we run sounds best.
MacGuyver glaces to the Sarge to check for disapproval, then turns to the little rebels. If you can get the extra explosives to me by the time I'm done setting mine it'd be helpful. If youall know of any corridors wide enough to trap a Knight's foot down under that floor that's also pretty shallow, I'd be grateful for a guide. We need to move. Now.
Liam nods to the Sergeant.
"Correct sarge, a collection of ratling abhumans who have been resisting the forces of chaos down here.
Quite fervent in their belief."
Raising his head, Liam points down the corridor.
"We've not got much time, I see a red light down the corridor, probably some kind of searchlight sensor.
Also, can you feel that? A tremor...bet it's the knight's footsteps."
Kenneth prays with the Emperors abhumans but listens into the ongoing tactical discussion. He chimes in at Anatolies note that we need to confuse the Knights sensors if we want to accomplish this.
"If it is the nonsensical you require I believe the emperor has guided these fine people to help us. I am not sure how much help they could be facing an enemy of such magnitude but spreading out through the maintenance tunnels to swarm the lifesign readings of the Knight should be a possibility."
He turns to the rattlings
"If you would be willing to serve his majesty in this matter?"
We got haywire grenades yeah? Simmins says, Maybe we can set those up to go off alongwith the explosives? He looks at MacGuyver hopefully. Or right after? Would they work if we just tossed them between us and the trapped Knight? We just need enough time to escape with the damned Bugs.
Anatoly, as ordered, is moving out together with MacGyver and Zulu.
Two of the ratling also hurry along after a quick gesture of Kira.
The enginseer continues the planning over com-bead.
<< Correction: nonsensical equates to warp powers.
Your proposal, while much more dangerous for the decoys, has a certain [uncalculable] chance for success though. >>
At Simmins remark, he sends another response.
<< Affirmative.
A massive haywire burst during a surprise attack should be able to overwhelm most systems.
Calculating...
I recommend no less than 8 haywire sources to ensure the target's system get disabled for more than a few milliseconds.
A full restart of such a sophisticated system while ignoring all proper rites, would require at least 30 seconds.
And no, the haywire effect must be deliver nearly point-blank for such an effect.>>
"Best get on with it then, that red light is coming closer..."
It wasn't quite true yet, but it would be in a moment so it might as well be said now.
MacGuyver runs down his plan as he goes, Ok then, here's the plan. We get into position and set up the jammer on short range. That'll completely scramble it's sensors within 20m or so. Then, when it's over the blast point, we hit it with every Haywire we got. All 12 from the box and the one I got off what's-his-face. That should shut him down for a few seconds while we blow the ground out from under him. Hopefully that'll delay it enough to complete our data extraction and we can book it though the vents. We'll have to move fast. It won't take this thing long to wake back up, I'm guessing.
Once we're in the tunnels we can use the spray cover to block our path and delay our pursuers.
Kira bows deep at the priest's word and whistles a couple of times between her long from teeth, causing the other remaining ratlings around her to make the sign of the Aquila before turning and scuffling out the way they came, hurriedly after MacGyver's party.
They have reached the maintenance shaft after a lung-aching sprint and are now squeezing in, one after the other. The bulky Anatoly having the most trouble and falls slightly behind. He continues to discuss the proper use of haywire and the sensor jammer with the group over the (gradually worsening) vox.
<< Simulations of yhe proposed plan have turned up a series of concern we need to address to maximize chance of success:
First: Me and the BUGs must not be close to the haywire detonation or we will both be badly affected adversely. Same goes for Trooper Simmins should we decide to bring his melta to bear.
Second: Proposal to first trigger the demolition charges and then the haywire. Some pattern of explosives use electric trigger capsules, which will likely be affected by the haywire field.
Third: timing. Without eyes in the corridor, how do we know when to trigger the detonations? My auspex will be jammed just as the Knights so I will not be able to track its advance.
Fourth: triggering the detonation can not be done remotely, as the frequencies used are likely also be affected by the jammer. >>
MacGuyver runs and talks. First: just help me set things up, then get out of there.
Second: noted. Demo charges first, then haywire to prevent it from getting away from the collapse zone.
Third: that's where Kira's friends come in. We need one of them to tell us when to blow it.
Fourth: Good thing I have many meters of wire. We can hook them all up in sequence to one trigger.
Now, if you're quite done I'd love it if you could simulate better solutions instead of just problems, enginseer. This will be a great victory if we can pull it off and if love to be able to say your big brain was responsible for some of the planning that made it happen.
What's the blast range on the haywire things? I'll stay behind it and cover. I can run in if really needed. Simmins wants to know.