MacGuyver almost dirties his pants when the magi take note of his weapon. Telling them he looted it off of a headless techpriest and learned by sneakily watching other head-having tech priests was right out.
I was assigned this unit by a former Enginseer, now dead, unfortunately. I was given basic instruction in between combat encounters when all other tech-trained personnel were lost or incapacitated. Battlefield necessities, you understand.
MacGyvers reply is met with a handful of seconds of silence than the box crackle of the servi skull replies.
"Should you survive this mission, make yourself known to the Magos Dominus' Officio Indoctrino for appraisal and interrogation, Trooper... MacGyver."
And with that ominous demand, the servo skull bobs away, back to the shoulder of his master, the (by now) tiny multi-legged ex-tank Magos.
The rest of you cross the room in a hurry, some keeping a watchful eye on the flanks and some probably worry about servitorization.
After a tense three or five minutes, you reach the far side and the bulky gateway out of which the sound of some serious firefight echoes. There is the triple blast of bolters the chatter of autoguns, the Stakkato of heavy stunners and the sizzle-spit of lasguns...
Sgt. Seth leans against the bulkhead and waves for MacGyver.
"Get me a quick and sneaky report of the situation.
I'd rather not walk right into heavy fire.
We're not Astartes after all."
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MacGuyver nods and goes to have a peek.
[Dice=awareness vs 52[/dice]
Hnnh, quite the firefight from what it sounds like. Not a lot I can do though, I've got five bolts left, and then it's back to the las rifle.
Next mission I'm going to look for extra ammo, or a spare weapon.
Simmins comes out of a minor case of shellshock with a shake of his head... Just need to know if I'm firing at flesh or metal he says to the Sarge.
MacGuyver is back shortly.
The beyond room is even larger than the surgeon room.
A vast open space, taking up at least five stories of the complex, supports three central platforms, fifty meters wide and thirty long linked by only a single broad staircase.
The middle platform is at least a dozen meters below the first and third.
To the left and right, two iron walkways or observation platforms are looking down on all three platforms from an elevation of at least ten meters with only a single but broad brass ladder going up/down from the first and third platforms.
The middle, lower platform seems to host a large pool of some foul fluid the color of clotted blood, as well as a massive table which appears to be some kind of cross between altar, surgeon table and technical workbench. This covers the left this of the platform.
The Astartes are currently on the middle platform, fighting their way through a tightly pressed mass of cultist and mutants, which do look an awful lot like our ratling comrades, expect these have more augmentics and are clearly beyond saving.
From the third platform, opposite us, as well as the walkways above, fire is pouring down on the Astartes, killing many of the enemies and only occasionally causing the big boys to stumble or stagger when a particular lucky shoot manages to penetrate their armor.
Honestly, sir, I'd prefer if we'd just get around this without being seen and then help from the far side. The last thing I want to do is draw attention to us. I'm pretty sure the only reason the Astartes aren't dead already is because they're wrapped in ceramite and blessed by the Emperor Himself.
"Hmm...
Absolutely ideal would be if we could get around and up, take out the shooters above the Astartes, that'd take some pressure off, especially if WE then begin to pour fire down on the enemy."
Right. They cover us, then we cover them. Simmins agrees with both Mac and Liam.
"Curseit!"
Seth doesn't seem too keen on yet another big fight.
"Good call everyone. But we aren't all as skilled at stealth as you and with this lot...", he waves at the 30 plus ratlings around you,
"the enemy has to be blind to not spot us.
Sounds like a time for good old divide and conquer.
Corp. Simmins, pick MacGyver and a fire team and bring them up the right side while the rest stick with me and we go center and left.
Try to sneak your lads up the left gallery, clean it, then provide cover fire for the rest of us.
Your team, your pick."
Cover fire Sarge? Simmins considers the group. Whatever ratlings have long range weapons can come with us I think. I'll leave it up to Liam if he thinks he'll be best with the main group or with us.
You see one of the attentive ratlings listening in to your conversation. He push through the crowd to stand next to Simmins, dragging one of the larger ratlings behind him. They appear an odd pair, one carries what appears to be a tech-priest mechandrite weapon strapped to an improvised stock, whilst the larger one bears what appears to be half a damaged tech priest strapped to his shoulders.
" Me Ikrit, me and Srolk come with you big man? We blast the nasty tainted ones good!"
Surprisingly the smaller of the two ratlings speaks with less of the lisp of some of the others and is easy to understand.
I'm ready to go. Though my pistol might not be much use for covering fire, I'll get youall in place, then see what I can do to help.
Simmins takes a deep breath and makes sure his weapons are in good order in terms of ammo. Right we got our Team Sarge
Three more ratlings step forward after Ikrit and his companion, two still cloaked in their black coats, wielding blocky looking, bolt-action rifles. The third, a female in a tightly bound dark grey robe, is carrying ...
... A Bow.
Complete with a quiver on her shoulders half full of long arrows.
After a moment, the shrunken Magos with his flock of servo skulls also joins the flanking team.
Sergeant Seth gives the assembly a quick once over and sorts the remaining locals into two over-strength squads, one lead by Kenneth the other by himself. Each squad also has one of the remaining guardsman and one of the Magi.
He nods to Kenneth and then to Simmins.
"Kenneth goes first. Keep in the middle and make a scene. I go next and go left but go to ground quickly and join the general fun. Simmins,count to twenty, then go in to the right. Go low and go fast.
Keep in touch via the vox and stay alive.
We earned some serious medals for this crazy ride ...
But only living ones get the shiny medals!"
I'll get the cover team in position, then I'll be around to coordinate vox or run messages. I'm nearly out of bullets. MacGyver admits. If anyone runs into any grenades or anything like that, I'd appreciate it if you picked it up.
Tugging on MacGyver's elbow, "I have grenades for you, I know a guy, get you whatever you need. Have these three for now and you pay me favour later yeah?"
Ikrit hands over 3 questionable looking glass bottles with rags stuffed in the top (improvised incendiary devices) "You need flame for top?"
MacGuyver nods and takes the improvised incendiaries. Hey, thanks! And nah, I got flame. Anything youall can provide to help us get out of this one alive is appreciated, as long as it's not too tech-heretical, that is. he says with a glance at the nearby gathering of Magi. I wouldn't want to survive just to gain the Omnissiah's disapproval
"Alright then. Follow me, people of his majesty! Remember we are to be the distraction. A dead distraction is no distraction at all so we need to survive to fullfill our duty. I will make our entrance grande and I want you to add a bit of fire to it. But be ready to dive into cover the moment they actually turn towards us! And fire for suppression where possible! Group up and follow me. Start firing on the sign of my hand, then dive as I let it fall."
And just as he says, he has his people group up, then round the corner to the gateway together and enter the room. Kenneth is in the center, flamer in one hand and the somewhat tattered raims of his book in the other, still he keeps up appearances by seeming to read from the book.
After the first step into the room Kenneth starts to preach. Loudly is an understatement, he's basically shouting to be heard over the din of the firefight.
"His majesty has sent his light into this dark place!"
After the second step he fires his hand flamer in a wide arc into the air. Hitting nothing but making an impressive display(and possibly making it harder for them to be accurately aimed at.)
"Retribution has come for his enemies!"
After the third step he raises his hand in the gesture he'd shown before, prompting his men to shoot
Then as enemies turn their weapons towards them he drops his hand, causing everyone to dive for cover, including himself a heartbeat later.
MacGuyver actually starts moving before Kenneth, if only just. He darts forward and tries to find the best place for the ambush of their targets.
He's not a bad orator, I'll give him that.
Inspiring enough, but he gets to the point before losing his listeners full attention.
...
Ok, he lost MY full attention, but I'm a really tough audience, 50% of my attention is VERY good still.
Kenneth's entrance, which had a good chance of not being registered by the fully engaged forces, is flashy (or fiery?) enough to make some heads turn and elicit hasty shouting and pointed fingers.
As more troops follow in the priest's wake, shouting and shooting a wild assortment of weapons into the tightly packed mass on the opposite platform, the foes start to react by redirecting some of the fire from the still occupied gun nests scattered around towards the newly arrived imperial forces.
By that point, Kenneth's squad has made it well into the platform and is scattered about.
The multi-leveled composition of the platform, reminiscent of an amphitheater or a lecturing hall, together with the many technical devices scattered about (ranging from metal workbenches to blocky power generators and thigh-sized pipework) provide plenty of cover.
The first platform was thoroughly and recently cleared of enemies. The number of exploded bodies littering the broad steps and levels of the place a testimony to the recent passing of the Astartes. There are even four gun emplacements (curiously facing in- and downwards) on this first platform. The outer two clearly were grenaded out of commission but the inner two seems reasonably intact - if you ignore the splattered remains of the previous gun crew sticking to sandbags, flak board, ammo boxes and guns that is.
The cover comes to the rescue of Kenneth's team as at least two gun emplacements open up on them, filling the area with a whipping wave of solid slugs, pinging and ricocheting about. The shooting coming your way is pretty miserable and only a single ratling flops down into cover with a bleeding leg wound from an unlucky ricochet. Clearly he enemy is rattled by the impressive and sudden appearance of a honest to the Emperor priest and a whole mob of faithful following in his wake.
MacGyver meanwhile has made it all the way to the far right of the area, to the bottom of the ladder connecting it and the iron-mesh walkway. Its a seven-or-so meter climb. From down here, he can see two gun emplacements nestled in between the assembly of shipping crates, racks of tools and a bunch of observation seats, three rows deep, each with a small cogitator unit and a pict screen.
If he can get up the ladder without being seen (or shot), his chances of sneaking up on the closest gun nest (or even the far one) are pretty good!
Back outside, Sergeant Seth nods to the exchange of ratling and trooper.
"He sure is.
Shame they tend to not stick around for long..."
With that he waves his group to form up and make ready.
Then he gives the sign by falling into a run, laspistol in a tight grip and chainsword revving loudly.
"For the Emperor!!!!"
This leaves only the flanking party (minus a certain scout) to count down to twenty....
And then, its show time!
Kenneth is hit by a stray round but he grits his teeth and plays it off - can't have the icon of the attack show weakness here!
Small in comparison to the guardsmen and even against some of his own kind, Ikrit is an unlikely target and nothing comes his way.
The long sprint and longer day are finally catching up with MacGuyver and no matter how much he tries he just can't get up the ladder as quickly as he wants.
Simmins is straight up trained in using distraction as cover and does his best to give those with him the benefit of his advice.
"Ngh! Heretic scum...."
It didn't matter, it didn't hurt...much. Just a tiny little rivulet of blood joining all the other cuts, bruises and lacerations already covering his body.
And of course, not forgetting the burns or the acid scorch marks.
"Taste righteous castigation, heretics!"
Liam drops into cover behind a brass-and-iron workbench after being hit, then resurfaces and sends his last burst of bolt shells down range.
The precise, furious burst momentarily clears the staircase on the opposite end of this latest battleground.
Four direct hits, four messy dead and a handful of nearby mutants tumbling from the sudden concussion and onslaught.
Tumble and fall down into whatever lies at the bottom, far beneath the platforms.
Kenneth loudly proclaims the glory of the golden throne, sending the occasional gush of flames into the air, while hunkering down behind a sturdy slab of plasteel housing a control lectern of some kind - which is thoroughly demolished by incoming stubber fire by now.
The incoming fire is pretty thick by now as at least three of the gun nests have switched target and rain down suppressive fire against the two main squads. The return fire is pretty sporadic and imprecise at this point.
"So far so good, we have certainly drawn some attention!", Sergeant Seth calls over the vox.
MacGyver is meanwhile struggling with exhaustion, as the ladder just seems to go on forever, and the large space between each step makes it particularly strenuous.
And then, just as he sees the upper end coming for him, only four more steps (!): *BLANK*
A bullet, fired by a sniper from the opposite walkway, hits the ladder rung right in front of MacGyvers face, creating a deep impact, the tip actually shearing away allowing MacGyver to look at the deformed bullet which oh-so-very-nearly took his life.
Simmins expertly leads the remainder of the flanking team ( Liam has fallen quite a bit behind while emptying his last bolt shells into the enemy) to the foot of the ladder in time to see MacGyver disappear from the top end.
It looks pretty long...
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MacGuyver reaches the top of the latter and slides into some cover, a sturdy looking pipe a meter and a half in diameter sitting nearly on the floor that has one end blown out already. The Emperor Protects, indeed. he whispers to himself with more genuine belief in the words than he has ever had. His ears still rung from the shot. The others... Crap!
Thinking quickly, he pulls a long section of string from his pack and ties it to the center of one of his smoke grenades. He then pulls the pin an lets it swing. The little weight careens wildly around the ladder, spreading its smoke the entire way.
Simmins, go! he barks on the vox.
"Well, that's done it, the old girl's all out, fast asleep after a hard days work."
Liam shrugs a little and stuffs the heavy bolter away, refusing to risk leaving it behind after all that. And he wasn't going anywhere until the shooting had died down just a little.
"The chances of this projectile not hitting you in this particular manner are less than 0.0102 percent.
Is your ... fate always this strongly in your favor, Specialist MacGyver?"
A mechanical voice asks MacGyver from a point slightly above and behind his shoulder.
MacGuyver jumps slightly as the voice speaks. He was Sure that thing had flown up to its boss earlier...
Definitely not, Magos. But Omnissiah be praised that I am still here. He says as he preps to pop some more smoke for the approach to the nearby enemy emplacements and makes sure his lighter is nearby.
Making use of the growing smoke cloud, Ikrit begins to scamper up the ladder and is making good progress using all 4 limbs and his tail. Suddenly his augmetic tail jams around a rung almost throwing him off, and he is forced to climb down a couple of rungs to free it.
4dof
Kenneth still grits his teeth because of his new wound but looking around him he sees a need to remind the others that this is what they want.
"Do not fear! This is victory! Every gun aimed at us is not aimed at the lords astartes and they will make them pay for it!"
Kenneth' words are very reassuring about the whole getting a lot of munnitions thrown their way but they do not inspire to new acts of greatness
Yes, that's true, but every gun aimed at us only have to content with standard issue guard flak armor, not an inch or more ceramite artificer power armor.
Being that Liam have taken quite a bit of damage during this mission, he allows himself some snark, though he is sure to keep it internally.
No need to draw the ire of the emperor botherer after all.
Weighed down by a lot of weapons and possibly bonked on the head by a smoke grenade Simmins does not move up fast.
The two ratlings with their weird weapon load out and Simmins line up and scuddles up the long, now thoroughly smoke covered ladder. It looks like climbing into a pitch black sky without stars.
Old night, with all it's terrors and nightmares.
Several times, you feel more than hear bullets zipping through the smoke screen, disturbing the billowing darkness in tiny tunnels of air current...
But as uncomfortable and fright inducing as the climb through the smoke screen is, no one is hit by the shooters on the opposite walkway and they eventually reach the top, where MacGyver is pulling you up and into cover.
Further down the walkway, you hear the sudden sound of a heavy weapon roaring. You know it all too well by now: it's a heavy bolter, spraying some serious bad business down at the Astartes...
The tight burst is well aimed and catches one of the Astartes locked into close quarter brutality by four or five of the mutants. That number is reduced to 0 after the blitz and the Astartes is send tumbling back two steps with a single, sizable craters in his chest armor, leaking dark fluids from the ragged hole.
His comrades change formation - in the middle of the furious melee - to shield the wounded marine. One is returning fire from a bolt pistol after he managed to club two of his assailants off. The area around the Astartes thinnens noticeably, but a new mob is already starting to form up on near the stairway leading down towards them.
Between Kenneth's and Seth's preaching, shouting and ordering about, the Imperials and locals proudly ignore the incoming fire and return it with their wildly varying armaments.
The Magos in Kenneth's Team is now also joining in by sending in crackling lightning ball into the far end of the massive room, reducing at least four of the mutants to charred meat. Meat which is still spasming from the massive energy spike only slowly dissipating from their remains.
Ignoring the instinctual response of getting shot at (ducking well and truly behind the most solid thing around and keep that way for a while) is quite heroic and all - but it does harbour some liiiitle danger of getting shot. As not only Kenneth and Sergeant Seth but also a particular unlucky Ratling demonstrate.
Seth and Kenneth both suffer glancing hits, while the ratling is hit hard in the chest, flung back against the Magos' of Seth's group and doesn't get back up.
Ok, here is my chance...
Liam, seeing an opening, scurries quickly over to the others, doing his best to stay in cover.
"Ugh, I am starting to get really frustrated with this, we're so close to being done...."
Rubbing his hands together, he prepares to climb, wondering if he is going to be able to repeat his climbing feats from before, or if he's pushed himself too far.
After a false start, Liam flexes his prodigious muscles and hauls himself up, panting heavily by now.
Ikrit slides smoothly from the top of the ladder and into hiding amongst a pile of refuse, his ragged clothes blending in.
Steadying himself, he scans looking for the gunner who had just fired, and upon spotting him almost fires, before a whisper of a though stops him and he readjusts by a fraction. Staying in cover, it is as if he was never there and no-one sees the shot.
MacGuyver makes eye contact with everyone to confirm they're ready, then pops depends out of two of his smoke grenades and throws them. The first he aims for the heavy bolter emplacement itself. The second he aims to toss beyond it to obscure it from the rest of the catwalk.
The first is beautifully thrown. The second... not so much. Still, it might provide some distraction? Maybe?
He listens for the signature *pop-hiss* of the smoke before urging the others, Go go go!
Simmins moves into cover plopping the Stubber (not a bolter) down on it's integrated bipod and fires a full burst at the targets firing at the Astartes.
Argh... well maybe it is time to stay in cover and let the flankers do their thing now...
"Victory is close! Make this count and we will be home free!"
"With the fire of faith, burn the xenos! with the fire of faith burn the mutant! with the fire of faith burn the heretic! In nomine Imperatoris, stoke your hatred for these heretics into a hellfire that purifies them into nothingness!"
by now Kenneth throat is starting to get sore from all that shouting but he is trained in preaching nonstop during missions so it is still bearable...
Also while it might seem disheartening to speak about being done with the mission while under fire it is most definitly true and returns that little bit of extra fire to everyone that can hear Kennth. And he follows it up with the catechism of hatred for good measure, stoking everyones lust to kill these traitors even more
Ikrit searches and finds the hidden sniper on the other walkway - then explodes his head with a single, dazzling blue-white spear of las-fire.
Kenneth continues to stir the righteous wrath in all his allies - this time though from the safety of full cover. Sergeant Seth slides around a machine part and into your view, then points at the distant, blood soaked machine gun nest, then at the sole survivor of Probe-1 currently returning fire from behind a toppled workbench. Then he sends: "Once Simmins starts to draw some of the fire. You can load him."
MacGyver first smoke lands right where he intended it to and creates a decent smoke screen quickly enveloping the entire close gun nest. Shouting and coughing starts quickly. The second one bounces unluckily and tumbles off the walkway and out of sight.
Liam breaks cover and rapidly ascents the ladder to the walkway, right as MacGyver's second (miserable) toss. Then he hears a sudden shout of surprise turning into a panicked cry from behind and below - then a crunching impact. Looking down, you can see Cecil crumpled at the bottom, legs spread in an unhealthy angle and unmoving.
Simmins hauls his stubber atop an oversized seat, thinks for a moment and then tosses a used shell case towards the far gun nest with the heavy bolter, hoping to distract the enemy. His toss is off though and he actually hits the gunner, which immediately ducks low and out of sight. Shouting in anger and fury, Simmins then unloads a burst ripping the loader apart. The gun falls silent but clearly is not out of the fight for long.
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Mybe it was a vision from the emperor, maybe warp trickery, maybe something else entirely, but for a moment Liam senses...no SEES Cecil in danger again.
Reacting by instinct, Liam lets go with one hand, swings down, his other hand reaching out and...grabs Cecil's shoulder roughly.
As he swings in an arc like a Pendulum, he grunts, heaves and roars as he strains his muscles to the absolute limits heaving Cecil up and over the edge.
Hanging by just one arm, Liam groans, gasps and almost cries in pain, every muscle in his upper body feeling like its one fire.
"Agh...ah....emperor...damn...it...all...."
MacGuyver takes one of his three Molotovs and lights it. Thankfully the smoke would hide the cocktail into it was (hopefully) too late.
He pops out of cover and hurls the Improvised Incendiary past the first nest in an effort to nail the second.
Liam groans and slowly fumbles to regain his grip, then he begins to climb again.
slowly, painfully heaving himself up and over the rim.
Laying on his stomach, he takes a few deep breaths before ramming his shoulder into the ground, forcing it back into it's socket.
The pain is enough for him to then proceed to empty his stomach violently.
"Guuuuagh!! Ugh....nnngh...blech."
Then he rolls over to his side and begins to fumble for his lasgun, using the stock to force himself into sitting position.
MacGuyver recovers from tossing his flaming bottle and notices Liam.
Hold on buddy, I'm here. He says and crawls over. He opens up his aid kit to see if he has anything left in there that may help...
If retcon is possible Simmins will haul himself up a crate before firing. Not very well.
With a quick glance at the sound of Liam's pain, Ikrit speaks in a low voice to try and maintain his stealth. "Does he need medkit, grenade man? I have little one yes yes."
As he says this, Ikrit is already shifting position and attempting to identify his next shot, scanning the enemy for leaders, heavy weapons and sniper.