Skills:
The squad's medic went to get some additional medical supplies for all of you, but from what you can make out from all the shouting she changed her mind half way to the munitorum adept into Indiscriminate shouting and cursing the heritage of everyone within earshot'.
The fat munitorum guy that had followed Faye, had just returned as you arrive at his desk and start asking for all kind of medical supplies you can currently think of in the rush. The poor guy responds with a pained expression as he rubs his left shoulder and asks you to leave as the medical supply flow is currently critically slow. After that response and the follow up shouting and cursing he hands you some bottles of low quality alcoholics over with shaking hands. Those destills will make one blind if drunk in any big amount but could be used to cauterize wounds or send a patient into a deep unconsciousness.
As you finally head back from the totally done for Munitorum priest and are already in shout range of the squad, you pass a six meter high heap of dull boxes with unreadable letters on them. Just as you are out-of-sight of the priest – and anybody else – you hear a little sound like 'Psst' from your left. As you stop to look around you can – barely – see a hooded, crouching figure in between two rows of boxes. 'Not happy wif what ya got, eh? Come 'ere an let me see if 'ol Shabby can do somefing for ya. Bydaway - lovd da part 'bout da pig. Hihihi...'
After the hour is finally over, you head with your acquired gear back up to the large place you first arrived on. You are awaited by a large column of Chimera APCs with a large green 1 sprayed on the side. Those are your tanks. All around you can see hurrying guardsmen whose faces are mostly familiar. Those are your brothers and sisters from the 4th Battalion and the deep shoutings of Cpt. Jutr seems to be everywhere. A ting as a weird kind of enhancer there are the shouting commissars walking between the Chimeras, bellowing something at anyone standing around or just looking like he or she has nothing to do. One is already rushing into your direction, a high-grown off-worlder with pale skin and a deep purple head - from all the shouting you imagine.
Thud'dr and Notch have no idea which one is theirs so they try to stick with the group. It wouldn't do to get lost right now.
vs Per 31 w/ Awareness Trained.
Way too concerned with how an angry Commissar is heading their way, shouting, Faye fails to located their Chimera and quickly turns to the squad.
"Crap, Commissar. Find our ride, hurry, I'd rather not face the possibility to summary execution after just having landed."
And she attempts to make herself and the squad busy so that the Commissar hopefully goes away.
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"No luck sir... where did they hide her?!"
He was getting frustrated
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Leni follows the voice, starting to talk after a few steps when she thinks she's out of earshot of anyone else.
"Meh, I think the one about the cow is way better than the one with the pig but suit yourself.
Now of course I'm just a liiittle bit upset when they tell me I don't get to have supplies for when I need to sew my guys back together, but I don't see how I could afford your help - unless you have an urgent need for some REALY smelly military uniforms... say... to get some people into base for some unspecific reason?"
"They all kind of look the same to me..." Feeling a little out of her depth, Ashora sticks close to her sergeant, doing her best to look like she knows exactly what she's doing.
"Mhh, I will take 'ose but not nuff ya see? If Shabbys right, ya guys 'ave lots of nighvision goggles ... Those trade for 'bout anyfimg ya know. Gimme one of those an I will get ya a bucket of meds an free 'ood ol Las mags in top of it. What do you fink?"
"Right you are, but you know full well my sergeant will have my head if I trade in one of those so you better make this trade worthwhile. How many extra magazines for m36 lasguns can you get us on top for the googles? And of course I'll expect at least a couple extra for the uniforms."
"Ahhh, ya not only know how ta curse ya can also haggle! Shabby like it. So, business now. I can get you two for the scrap uniform and ... Lets say ten on top of the medic box. And ya know tat da commisrs will burn poor shabby alive using yer bones as fuel - so we bof are in it ..."
Celephix wonders around emitting bursts of static as she calls out for the tank.
Nope, no random chimera in the way while she's busy.
"That almost sounds good enough to make me believe that I'm not getting one pulled over me. Alright deal. You get the googles and the uniforms when I get the stuff. Or should I ask our squads big guy to bring em over? Might drag some attention to your cozy little pile of everything.
Oh and just a little something - IF I happen to manage to find another pair before you part with mine you'll trade me mine back. Just in case theres some serial number bullshit on them I'm not aware of."
Nervous enough as she is with a Commissar heading their way, Faye performs a quick headcount on the squad to make sure that they're all there and twitches visibly once she notices that Leni isn't anywhere in their general vicinity.
*Sharp inhale*"Have...Have any of you seen our Medic? Where the feth is she? We'll be in even MORE trouble if we're late leave with the rest of the Battalion! Great, just great." She states sounding more exasperated than anything else.
"I think she was trying to leverage her feminine wiles to gain us some additional equipment." Celephix' voice echoes from her mask before ressuming the odd machinespeak chirrupping as she calls for the Chimera.
The little hooded one is giggling frenetically as he takes your hand - it is sloppy and smells like a rotten corpse bathed in promethium. "Aye, girly. Gimme five 'nites to get da stuff fer ya – ahnd not get yer big'one. Shabby 'as a 'lil loader fer carryn da finks – just let it rest 'side da lift when yar done. En fer yar goggle – must be quick. Ol Shabby knows a dozen guys whos gonna buy da goggles with lotz uf god fings hehehe. But sure if ya quick 'nuf, we can swap."
Everything will went fine – as long as you keep your side. You will receive twelve laspacks and a small metal box with a red cross on it and a half removed label now only reading 'Ord …' and '...er of the Re...'. In it you will find various medical equipment and lots of bandages , one bag of blood plasma, five doses of stim and one dose of de-tox and a pill-dose labeled 'caffeine pills' in it.
While looking for your medic – nobody noticed not coming back before your departure – and searching your APC, the angry-looking Commissar draws close, looking you over for a moment before starting his tirade at the top of his lungs.
"Alright. Try not to get yourself shot little thief, I'd love to do business with you again. I'll look for your mountain of unmarked boxes again if I get the chance."
With that she returns to the squad - and seeing as they are about to be chewed out by the commissar decides to interrupt his routine with a little show of 'efficiency':
She walks up straight to sergeant Marbray and snaps a parade ground salute. "Sir, beg your pardon for the delay but I have completed the supply run you ordered. I was given one piece of missing mission gear, the missing extra lasgun magazines."
Assuming you mean add them up that's a pass.
The Commissar turns around at the sudden arrival of Leni and looks her over with a tearing gaze.
With that, the man in the black coat turns on his heel and walks in the direction of another group of 'idling' soldiers. As he leaves, some of you think they hear him humming to himself for some reason...
Ren doesnt budge. Any sign could be just enough to actually make the Commi follow through with his threats. When he was sure he was out of earshot he breaths in deeply
"That could have been worse..."
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Leni waits with gritted teeth while he leaves keeping her reply just barely in check - only turning back to the squad when he is finally busy shouting at someone else.
"Goddamn motherf&%*er always assuming shit. Went better than I thought tho, getting face to face with one of the psychos. Not like we were supposed to get some extra mags for this mission or anything but noooo, damn f!#+ups makes us do their work for them."
While cursing she starts digging out lasgun mags from her rucksack, throwing 3 each to Faye, Ren'Shaw and Celephix (assuming she's carrying a lasgun) and slotting another 3 into her own ammo pouches for easy access. Then turning to sarge Marbray with a grin
"So I'll be expecting a thorough punishment for getting us some extra firepower to throw against the greenies, sarge."
"I don't suppose you managed to get anything for me?" Ashora asks hopefully while looking around at the Chimeras to try to find their number... ...but she wasn't very focused, constantly glancing at the retreating back of the Commissar. "Sheesh, would it kill them to at least park the IFVs in order?"
Celephix finally gives you a wink and walks into the midst of the idling chimeras, still chirping fast in binary. You pass by various patterns of chimeras in various conditions, some in prestine condition, some badly damaged. Not two seem to be of the exact same pattern - and not a single one matches that one you were trained on. Finally your female Enginseer stops before a fabric new looking chimera. This one is equipped with a multilaser a heavy Bolter, a pintle mounted heavy stubber and a bulldozer blade. A large '2' is painted in white over the dull metal grey of the shining armor and small letters beneath the number read 'Doombringer'. A boy not older than 16 sits on top of the hatch, smoking a Iho-Stick and looks down at your group.
"Your the crew? Finally! Have two more transport runs to do today. Sign this sheet and you are free to roll. According to a marsian the ammo and fuel reserves are 'within maximum tolerance'. Now, now, come here sign this fing and get off and kill some greenies for me, will ya?"
Of all the people at their new APC, one looks like he is more than a little nervous. Notch. He approaches Faye and says in a low voice, Sarge, uh, you may want to put on your big girl panties and out that command voice to use. Thud'dr don't really like closed spaces...
"SIR YES SIR!" She salutes the Commissar, so rigid that to passersby she looks like a statue.
Once the Commissar leaves, Faye turns back to the squad, specifically Leni: "Look, honestly, I'm jus' happy ya don't have an exploded cranium due ta liberal 'plication a Bolt Shell to it and ya did get us some stuff that will be of more help. Now, try and keep further dealings on the DL, we're already on somma their lists due ta being Green, don't need ta be givin' them more reasons to pile on tha hate, eh?"
Thinking of a suitable...punishment...she finishes with "But, since I've got ta punish ya anyways, how 'bout ya just take two watch shifts or whateverthefeth we come up with once we're stuck in it?" and shrugs.
*Signs the paperwork* Once Phix brings us to our Chimera. "Thats what we're out here ta do, kid." And dumps her gear into the crew compartment of the Chimera and sends Jorgen-the-loner to get situated before hopping back out to get everyone moving if they aren't already.
"Argh, you're right, forgot the big guys get all Claustrophobic an' stuff. Aight, I'll have a word."
"Alright everyone, we've found our ride, everyone load up, don't want to embarrass ourselves any more and we're already behind schedule. Lets go, go, go! That means you too Thud, no 'ceptions. Ya don't like the tight spaces but tough an' if ya want to perform your duty to the Emperor (praise be unto him) then ya got ta get in. If it helps, we'll open the top hatch and y'all be able ta stick your 'ead out or stand while we're on the way."
"No ifs, ands, or buts, Specialist now move it! We ain't here ta see the sights, we're here to murder some greenskins in the name of the Emperor and if you're either coming with us or staying here and letting the Commissary have their way with ya!"
B-BUT IT DARK IN 'DERE! the Ogryn complains.
"Yes sir, I'm just not especially good at keeping watch. Shouldn't be all that hard with the big stupid brutes tho. Just lend me some nv googles for the duration of the shifts until I can replace mine or that trade IS going to come back to bite us in the ass - and I made it to stitch yours back together. Oh, and make sure to leave those dirty uniforms where we last left them."
Looking at Ashora she scratches her chin.
"Well, I got stuff to patch you back up but something proactive would be better honestly. Does a M36 chargepack fit in your sniper lasgun? I probably won't have time to use up my own ammo anyway once the fighting gets dangerous." With that she unclips 2 of the ammo packs again and holds them out for Ashora.
And with that she gets into the chimera, confiscating a corner of the vehicle at once and getting to work into making it into something of a makeshift medbay.
Fishing a charge pack from its pouch strapped to her breastplate, Ashora checks the stamp to ensure that it's the same before gratefully accepting the others. "Thanks. With all this talk about how tough these xenos are I figure I might be spending a lot of time firing on a higher setting, and that eats through charge packs fast!"
Packing away the new power cells, Ashora follows the medic into the Chimera, slotting her longlas into the gun-rack next to her seat.
Ren's eyes showed his excitement. As he grabs the papers and quickly signs what ever needed to be signed
"Well. Arent you a sight for sore eyes. You look amazing." he turns to look at thise around him, then back at his Chimera
"I promise to take as good as possible care of you. Now. Lets take you for a spin and test out your teeth"
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"Lend you NV Gog- ..You Didn't...*sigh* Look, alright, whatever. Just...try and clear this with us before hand alright? You know how many other guardsmen would kill for a pair of these? At least you got rid of those Uniforms..." And goes back to the Ogryn.
"LOOK THUD, JUST GET IN THE CHIMERA THAT IS AN ORDER! WE NEED TO GET MOVING NOW AND WERE EITHER LEAVING WITH YOU OR WITHOUT YOU AND I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT I'D RATHER NOT BE LEFT BEHIND HERE WITH A BUNCH OF BORED COMMISSARS DO YOU!?"
"LENI, ASHORA, SHAW OPEN UP THE TOP HATCH OF THE CHIMERA AND LET SOME LIGHT IN!"
Thud'dr shakes his head. ME WID ALL YOUS TEENEY TINIES? IMMA BREAK SOMMIN!
"Not like I had time to clear it" she says waving her hand, indicating the moving out chimera and troops all around them while moving to assist in opening the top hatch.
"Anyway I not just got the mags for it. Plenty of stuff to sew you guys back together too which was the idea in the first place. And I'll get one of those back sooner or later - unless the greenskins get us first. And I'd hope the mags help against that."
"THUD YOU WON'T BREAK ANYTHING COME ON SOLDIER YOU WANT SOMETHING AS INCONSEQUENTIAL AS THIS TO STOP YOU FROM PERFORMING YOUR DUTY!? DO YOU SOLDIER!?"
BUUT WHADDIF I KILL THE CRAWLY MACHINE THINGY!? THEN COMMYSAR BE SHOTTN' THE HEAD OF ME! Notch is doing his best to tell beside you but Thud'dr is only really listening to the sarge. He isn't listening very well, but still.
"YOU WONT BE KILLIN' THE CHIMERA THUD ITS MEANT FOR US TO RIDE IN IT DO YOU SEE THE HEAVY GUNS ON IT!? THE HEAVY BOLTER!? DO YOU WANT TO SHOOT IT!? THEN GET IN THE TRANSPORT SOLDIER! LOOK THE HATCH IS OPEN ITS NOT EVEN DARK INSIDE ANYMORE! ITS SAFE ME AND THE OTHERS WILL BE IN THERE WITH YOU AND IT'LL BE FINE!" All this constant shouting starting to give Fayes voice a rasp and her face is starting to compete with the shade of the Commissar they just saw.
In the middle of the fevered exchange, the engines of over a hundred chimeras comes to live with a sound that makes the hairs on your skin shiver and shuts of any other sound for one moment. Thug black exhaust billows around and then you hear the calm voice of your commander via the combeads. "This is Col. Hui Daan for the Serenus 1st. We head out to the Eastern Approach to secure the supply lines of the Imperial frontline. Do your best soldiers. Faith and glory to the Emperor. Keep calm and listen to your COs and you will do fine. Large enemy movements shall be reported to my command group ASAP. Squad-rank NCOs may call in light artillery support if necessary, though its availability cannot be guaranteed. The Emperor protects. Hui Daan out."
As the heavy vehicle before you starts to move you are finally able to convince your Ogryn to board the Doombringer as well.
Ren couldnt care less about what was going on outside. He wad all over the controls of Doombringer. Checking everything. As the engines flared and the vox came in. His whole body shivered with excitement and anticipation. Then the big roar. It was exhilirating. And he was ready. He roared with his machine
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Ashora glances about at the interior of the Chimera, one eyebrow arched skeptically. "So they called it "Doombringer," huh? Gotta say, it doesn't look especially doom-bringer-y to me." As the engines roar to life, though, she grins despite herself. Rapping her fist against the interior hull she chuckles. "Okay, well that was cool. Hopefully this tin can on treads gets us through the next couple of fights in one piece!"
"Thats my job!" he grins at her
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The Ogryn pauses when he gears mention of a heavy stubber gee can use. YOU LETTIN ME SHOOT BIG STUBBY? he asks with childlike wonder.
"YES IM LETTING YOU USE THE STUBBER! (oh thank the Emperor)" She says nodding her head in an exaggerated manner and pointing at the Pintle Mounted Weapon.
And starts trying to lead Thud to the Chimera.
Thud now follows with a spring in his step. The ground trembles each time he comes down, but at least he's cooperative. Notch gives you an impressed thumbs up.
The suspension creeks a bit when Thud climbs in, but he takes his position in the center-ish at the heavy stubber and his weight evens out well across all the tires. Still, it might be a good idea to double check the max load ratings of any bridges you attempt to cross.
You follow the transport-convoy out of the place, along crowded streets and out of the hive through a giant gate, protected by guntowers and 20m walls on both sides, and follow a small route barely large enough for one chimera. After some hours the environment you travel through changes. Where it was barren and lifeless from the start, it now can not be described other than as a blasted no-mans land. Numberless craters from heavy artillery shells pockmark the battleground, heavy black smoke fills the air and you pass dozens of burned out vehicles - some of them still burning.
The farer you travel the smaller the convoy gets, as more and more transports take sideways and are quickly out of view.
Finally there is only one other chimera and two civilian transports left with you. Some minutes later you finally reach your destination - after long hours of quite uncomfortable driving.
The route you have assigned to guard separates two trenches. The route going towards the distant hills is mined and only a small, dark tunnel links the two trenches north and south of the route. The trenches are two meter deep with wooden firing positions every three meters and three meters wide, plus two layers of sandbags in front of each. Other emplacements are barely visible some distance in the north and south, about one and a half click away. They are out of range for your combeads but may be reachable with your long range vox if you hit the right frequency.
Both trenches have one standard pattern, square concrete bunker with firing slids at the far side of the route. Those bunkers are pockmarked with solid projectile impacts and the southern one features a huge crater in the front that looks like a direct hit from a rocket.
Razor wire is planted around 30 meters in front of the trenches with a few breaks, where heavy explosives seem to have removed them without leaving any trace.
The ground before the trenches is plain until a distance of two hundreds meters where the plain quickly transforms into numerous hills and valleys of differing heights and depths. The plain between you and the hills is an obvious killing ground: large craters of heavy artillery, multiple burned out vehicles and numerous bodies and body parts of greenskins are half buried in the muddy ground.
The thick air that drops into your vehicle stenches like blood, sweat, excrements and gunpowder. As you stop, the troops currently on duty, slowly appear out of the trenches. Calling their condition bad would be a blatant lie. You cannot see one unwounded, some seem to have missing limbs, others feature bloodied bandages across various locations, others can only walk if they use their battered guns and brothers in arm for help and all look like they have crawled through mud, artillery fire and razor wire for months. What is even more troublesome is the hunted and somewhat blank expression you notice in their eyes.
You are hushed off the transports and they get on board as fast as their bad shape allows. Dozens of body bags are carried between them. You still try to cope with the situation as they already start to leave. Their CO clasps' your one on the shoulder and whispers something only he can understand before boarding the evac as well.
"Aight ladies and gents, we're...we're good to go! Thud you're on look out, remember, if they're a greenskin, tell us and then you can most likely shoot them."
And she heads to the drivers compartment of the Chimera.
"With the roar of that engine I'm guessin' everything's lookin' good up here?" And takes her seat in the Tank Commander's spot, slipping on the headset
=4 points
Thud'dr and Notch climb out of the vehicle first as the Ogryn was getting super antsy in spite of his place at the Stubber. He disembarks with his Shredder and looks rather disturbed at the state of the men, but not extremely so. After all, he was a lot bigger than they were.
He spends most of the time before the chimera leaves hauling all the heavy equipment. His huge mass makes short work of a normally taxing job and the crew is quickly unloaded. From there he takes up a place in the deepest part of the trench near the middle and starts digging it deeper. When you're 3+ meters tall nobody digs a proper trench.
His entrenching tool is a slightly flattened wheelbarrow on a thick steel pole. Each scoop moves more earth than probably five men and the emplacement in front of his area is soon doubly reinforced with freshly dug earth.
Stepping out of the Chimera into the blasted, wind-swept battleground, Ashora notes the wounded and shell-shocked troops and her hand flies to her mouth. "Oh these poor things, what happened here?" she chokes out. For a long time she watches the wounded troopers board, and watches as the vehicles slowly disappear into the distance. With a heartfelt sigh, she shoulders her longlas and takes a look out across the cratered field.
After a few minutes of scanning the horizon she lowers the hand that was shielding her eyes and wanders over to emplacement, checking her sightlines out into the no-man's-land every so often. "I hope the xenos don't have many vehicles. We don't have much that can kill a tank, I feel like a motorized assault would breeze right through this line." Kneeling down she scoops up a handful of dirt in her hand, letting the soil crumble through her fingers as she purses her lips thoughtfully. "Hey Sarge, what's it say in the Primer about making ghillie suits again?"
*2 = 10.
"Well, shit."
Inhaling sharply as she sets about getting her gear out of the Chimera, and immediately gagging and coughing a bit, she speaks up.
"Well, Private, you do whatever gives you an advantage when fighting against our enemies so fair play on rigging a Ghillie Suit for yourself. As for what we're bound to be facing, I've no clue. Looks like the Artillery strikes took care of whatever came at our boys and I dont really see any vehicle wrecks."
"Anyways, lets get settled and see to bringing this trench back up to spec as much as we can and go about setting up Watch Duties to get that out of the way. We'll also want to scope the place out to see where we'd be best placed to lay the mines we've been given. Also, one of you grab the vix and try to home in on some frequencies. Scrambling for them in the middle of combat ain't all that great."
"The bunker also looks like the most secure fall back point we have if it comes to it. Remember, we have some light artillery support. Man do I wish we had our ride with us right now..." she states as she digs out her entrenching tool and sets to digging out the lines again.
After which she'll scope out the area to see where suitable locations to plant mines would be.
All the while she's muttering to herself about not liking the look of things.
Celephix looks dispassionately at wretched soldiers. Though she offers a brief salute to the departing Chimera.
"Do you have any orders sergeant, or do we merely find our own spot and camp out? Perhaps a watch rotation would be in order?" Its hard to tell, but you get the impression that the Enginseer is faintly amused by the situation.
"Well, Phix, for your skillset specifically? Probably see to the bunker and/or our Vox. If ya get that done quick-like, maybe some demolitions work with the mines. Otherwise, we're just hunkering down and fortifying as much as we can before shit hits the fan."
She says as she constantly just eyes the hills opposite the trench line.