|
Malakai shakes his head hesitantly. "Not all." He says. "Sergeant Paxton is holed up with about a dozen cadians where their pods landed. He and his troop were the first to encounter Sa'Vere on the mountain. Lost a couple of men to the sorcerer and retreated back to the pods."
"I expect he remains...er...guarding the escape pods and awaiting reinforcements. I doubt they'll last long if Sa'Vere decides to clear away any possible threat to his flank."
"On whose orders?" the space marine spits out reflexively. This isn't a question so much as a grasping flail to find order amongst sudden chaos. For a mere sergeant of the Guards to 'set up' a position that is not a rally point, without direct orders from either officer or Commissar is pure suicide. Cowardice in the face of the enemy is Heresy of the highest magnitude.
Even asking the question is more than his brothers in the Blood Angels would do. Among the more sanguine, the sergeant's head would already be rolling in penitence.
"You speak reason, Malakai. Indeed, Angsar, let us see this errant squad of Guardsmen and perhaps we can...reason, with them.
Methinks that a mere word will get them marching in the proper direction.
I am absolutely sure of it."
Katya shrugs. "His own orders, in absence of others. He has no idea who survived crash, who did not. Staying with esacpe pods is good plan." She hands over the recorder. "If you play this for him, is direct order from superor officer. Will be hard for him to argue with that."
She checks the action on her sniper rifle and shifts from foot to foot, eager to keep moving. "So. We see you at colony, yes?" She points at the Cadians to move out, and sets off.
|
|
Attero is dumbstruck that the person who gave the presentation on rally points in now excusing a Guardsman's blatant disregard of the rally points. "Oh my apologies, good Karina. I had thought that someone, who looked a lot like you, gave the entire unit a presentation of the various rally points, including hierarchy and description.
I should wonder at the point of even having rally points if we start letting every trooper with a rifle decide that the ground he stands upon now has more importance than the orders given by his betters.
No, I do not need the comm. He already has things to answer for."
Katya is curently facing a court martial for disobeying orders, something that she was only saved from by the Inquistor himself. She is immune to Attero's disaproval, and just shrugs. "I am scout. Situation on ground is never as planned. Crash threw everthing out window. Good solider learns to ipmprovise." She grins at him. "I was never supposed to be at Bridge, had orders to be elsewhere, but if I had not given covering fire to withdrawl, how many more of your brothers would have died there?"
She shrugs again. "Give him recording. If he then disobeys order, shoot him."
|
|
"He is -already- disobeying orders," the hulking space marine spits back at Karina. He doesn't really want to argue with the scout. He has nothing against her and she is a fine soldier. But neither can he let it go. To remain silent is to consent.
"There is NO tactical, strategic, or logistic point to 'guarding' escape pods. Having been denied at the primary rally point he KNOWS where he is supposed to be and that is the -secondary- rally point.
_This_ is the reason Guardsmen need Commissars. Because, if left alone, they crawl under a rock and call it 'maintaining a perimeter'.
Yes, you are a scout, and thus given more leeway in your mission parameters. He is NOT. If he isn't either fighting the enemy, or following standing orders, like chasing rally points until an officer tells him to stop, he is a COWARD. And cowards die in shame."
He turns to move out, then pauses.
"Examine your thoughts, Karina. The Emperor protects."
ANSGAR & ATTERO
Once you take your leave of the rest of the group, it's a matter of finding your way to the escape pods where Sergeant Paxton has set up a defensive line.
As Malakai predicted, Sa'vere has sent a group to eradicate the Cadians, although - mercifully - he has delegated this and isn't there in person. It's a relatively small group, outnumbering Paxton's force perhaps by no more than two or three to one. The Guard's discipline and training, backed by their superior equipment, would make a good fight of it all else being equal; and so far, Sergeant Paxton has kept them at bay through some cleverly-improvised traps and a handful of grenades. The sprawled, dismembered forms of several cultists bear witness to the success of his tactics.
What is dominating the firefight, though, is a couple of squads of heavy guns: large calibre, belt-fed projectile firearms. Primitive compared to a lasgun, and certainly compared to a bolter, but they have a rate of fire and a range that allows them to keep the Cadians pinned down. All the while, their allies, armed with pistols and daggers, creep ever closer. If they get into melee range, it will be a massacre: the sheer weight of numbers will win the day.
No sooner have you been spotted than the cultist gunners light up your position, spraying round after round of bullets in your direction! Getting close enough to neutralise them is going to be difficult. Ultimately, if the heavy weapons are not silenced, this will be a valiant defeat for the Emperor's forces.
KARINA & MALAKAI
Once Attero and Ansgar have departed, you have the task of shepherding the surviving Cadians towards the colony.
Which is... where exactly now? Karina may have studied the maps, but her plan was to approach from a completely different direction; and you may know roughly where the bearing is from Crater Sea, but in this visibility you could pass within a hundred feet of the place and not see it...
"It's a fair fight," Ansgar observes to Attero. "Now that we're here." He listens to his teammate's tactical assessment and nods in agreement, to the first part, at least. The heavy guns did what heavy guns tend to do: batter the enemy position and suppress response while the lighter tactical forces move in.
Ansgar had his issues with Paxton, but he was again proving himself to be a clever soldier worthy of his rank. Without him the Cadians would already have been overrun.
Quickly assessing the terrain while lethal projectiles fly around them, Ansgar's lifetime of skulking through the tunnels of his homeworld gives him an edge. This planet is not so different, in the ways that mattered now, and he had all the physical tools to get to the gun installation and then, by the Emperor's Hand, he and Attero would make quick work of the cultists, and turn their guns against their own.
The forces of the enemy were indiscriminate in their selection of a heavy gun position, and the surrounding terrain provides easy access to cover. Fate smiled down on Ansgar, at least for this first trial. Sparring a moment, he looks toward Attero, hoping the hulking space marine has similar luck.
Wiping the dust from his goggles and adjusting his rebreather, Malakai steps into Karina's wake along with the Cadians and begins trudging through the snow, dust and wind once again. He was content to follow the scout. After all, she was the one who studied the maps and set up the rally points. And she seemed fully confident as she marched off from the others. Still all the studying in the galaxy does no good if you can't find any decent points to navigate by. Turquol blasted VII was built for getting lost.
Little but static filled the tiny screen of his auspex. "Need to figure out a way to cut through this cursed dust. Can't get a signal more than a hundred feet away." He says to Byt who responds with his usual *beep*. The mechanik comes to a sudden stop, his eye landing on the little drone.
"Beep?" Byt responds with more than a hint of concern.
"You my little friend will be part of our salvation."
"Beep...beep" The drone replies backing away.
"Oh...stop fussing. Emperor's Light I'm not talking a complete rebuild or anything. Not even messing with your internal cognitive functionality. Just listen for a minute while I tell Karina. a bit of a signal boost and tying your close range auspex into one of these stronger units."
Calling out to the scout, he hurries along the line, his servos whining as the sled slides along behind.
"I've got an idea that might help us cut through some of this interference and hone in on the colony without trudging through this benighted dust until we freeze to death. I'll just need a half hour to make the modifications to Byt here and we might triple our scanning range." Not really waiting for her reply he starts removing the covers on his own auspex to get at the wiring and gear inside. "You see, Byt and I have a communication range of about a hundred yards or so. Give or take. But he's only got a limited range scanner. Maybe fifty feet. But if I wire his system to a more power auspex, the boost will help increase his range and cut through some of the interference. His signal can be relayed back to me. We'd be able to at least detect the colonies energy signature if it were within three, four hundred yards." He works as he chatters, so that it doesn't take long before the once sleek and elegant lines of the drone are broken up by the slapdashed addition of the larger auspex.
"Beep?" Asks Byt.
"It looks...fine..." Replies Malakai. "Besides, it's only temporary."
"Beep...."
"Never mind that now initiate scan override alpha one-seven-nine dot alpha."
"Beep." Responds the drone, as a green light illuminations on the auspex.
"Ahhhh....got it." Malakai says, his cybernetic eye peering into the density of the never ending storm. "I can actually get readings. As long as you get us fairly close to the colony, Byt and I should be able to hone in on it." The mechnik says to Karina with a satisfied smile.
Katya gives a hiss between her teeth as she realises she cna't pinpoint their location and get them straight to the mining colny. She listens with half an ear to Malakai as she fiddles with the lenses on her scope. They're real lenses, she's suspicous of too much technology. "Sounds like plan. Play with toy drone while I look out."
Once she has a bearing on *something* that isn't just more of this grye, drifing dust, she tries to plot it against hte map in her head to work out where they are. This wway, she is able to keep them roughly on course.
She makes a poimt to mark their trail, so that Attero and Ansgar don't have any problems. She is a scout, after all. This is part of her job.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Captain Attero gazes at the far off guns positions, his veteran eye taking in their placement, their efficacy.
He sees the brave Ansgar picking his way across the broken terrain with ease and agility, even something approaching gracefulness. It's efficient and safe.
And not the way of the Astartes.
The gene-seed at its very base is not made for stealth or safety. Flanking? Yes. Misdirection? Betimes. This is not one of those times. The guns need a target. He gives it to them.
The looming blue and gore-stained Ultramarine stomps across the battlefield like a giant among fields of wheat. He uncaringly walks into the fire of the heavy guns, sneering that the heretics could think to bring down one of his kind with such base tactics.
Of course he just as quickly walks into a field of concealed field-snares, but it is not his way to offer excuses. Only results.
His hulking form absorbs all sent his way, the bullets meeting more than they were built for. In the beginning his progress bogs down, but a space marine is a One Man Army, so a thing that will stop a company of humans is not even noticed by such as he. Halfway through he's caught in a devastating cross-fire, but his power armor shrugs it all off easily.
"Play with drone..." Malakai mutters under his breath as he sends Byt scouting into the storm. "More like actually find some place we can get out of this wretched dust and wind." He adds fine tuning the feed into his cybernetic eye.
The visual from the drone clears a little. At least enough so he can order Byt to conduct a slow circuit to get a read that includes his own energy signature along with those of his current companions. Satisfied that all seem to be working well enough, he resumes his trudging journey in line with the others.
The minutes or hours all blur into one long storm oppressed slog. Just as he's about ready to give up on any hope of actually finding this mythical mining colony, he notices a change within the perpetually gray and fuzzy display from the drone. He sends a signal to Byt to swing back over the area. Gotcha! A heat signature. Feint. But Emperor's Light it's big enough to be the colony.
"Karina!" He calls out to the scout. "I've got an energy and heat source. Five point four degrees off our current course. About three hundred yards!"
"I hope they've put the kettle on." He adds looking forward to a reprieve from the dust, at least for a short while.
ANSGAR
Several bursts of machine-gun fire fly in your direction, but poorly-aimed and erratic: it seems that the armoured bulk of the Space Marine accompanying you has drawn more of the cultists' attention. Using the craters and scattered boulders as cover, you are able to approach the position that the gunners have taken up, with a tactical advantage.
Unfortunately, at this close range it is much harder to avoid being shot at - your final approach opens you up to a devastating volley of fire before you are able to close in for your preferred melee combat.
ATTERO
DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA F'TANG F'TANG F'TANG PING
Gunpowder-based weapons were considered primitive ten millenia ago; they remain in use simply because they are easy to manufacture and easy to use. They are however no match for the might of the Astartes - the hail of bullets directed your way simply bounce straight off your power armour.
As you close in for melee however, the weight of fire and accuracy both increase, and a final desperate volley of shots must be weathered from the increasingly-panicked cultists before you are able to close in and deliver the retribution they most justly deserve.
KARINA & MALAKAI
With the aid of Malakai's tech and Karina's experience and sense of direction, you traverse the nondescript wilderness of this barren planet with an increasing sense of purpose. This translates to the Cadians accompanying you, who increasingly start to resemble soldiers on the march rather than survivors of a desperate crash.
The mining colony is deserted. As you approach, you come across individual dwellings, lightless and lifeless, their airlock doors open to the harsh atmosphere of Tarquol VII. Here and there Karina spots the occasional splash of blood, but no sign of any bodies or survivors. You press on, towards the central primary building, a vast manufactorium literally drilled down into the bedrock of the planet. All the exterior blast doors are open, and no lights shine within.
Save one. At one of the secondary entrances, a handful of Cadians stand guard inside, as wary of the interior of the building as they are of what lies outside. All of them bear the marks of combat on their expressions and on their uniforms. None more so than Lieutenant Orlos, who is leaning against one wall while an orderly wraps a makeshift bandage around her wounded torso; blood is already seeping through, indicating the extent of a serious injury. Commissar Trent (his hat and uniform as dust-free as if he were on a parade) has a bad gash under his right eye, and is sewing the wound up himself with needle and thread, as calmly as if he were stitching up the sleeve of his greatcoat.
The Lieutenant's face is grey with pain as she turns to face you, but she gives a nod as she recognises you, and returns the salutes from the soldiers with one of her own. "At ease, Cadians."
She looks at the two of you. "Status report?"
Ansgar: no stress, no consequences, BOOST (Superior Positioning)
Attero: no stress, no consequences, DRENCHED IN GORE
Karina: no stress, no consequences
Malakai: no stress, no consequences, RUNNING ON BULKY TEMPORARY POWER, BOOST (Souped-up drone)
Gold Squad: LOST
Silver Squad: Treven, Urven, Vic, Willan, Xorn - at the colony
Ruby Squad: Aaron, Bryn, Celia, Davon, Elyse - at the colony
Jade Squad: Harlo, Iman, Jenkins, Gart - with Sgt Paxton
Sapphire Squad: with Sergeant Paxton
Amethyst Squad: at the colony
Lieutenant Orlos: Severe consequence (gut wound), at the colony
Sergeant Paxton: setting up a defensive line
Commissar Trent: Minor consequence (gashed cheek), at the colony
Inquisitor Aldous: UNKNOWN
Frankendrone: 2 FP, 0 stress, Mild consequence (inner wiring exposed), CHAOS CORRUPTION, VERY ANGRY, MANY LIMBS
Ga'retel: 0 FP, 0 stress, no consequences, CORRUPTED POWER ARMOUR, MY EVISCERATOR: I CALL HIM KEITH, UTTERLY INSANE
Sa'vere: 0 FP, no stress, no consequences, INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS PSYKER, SERENE OVERCONFIDENCE, GENIUS PLANNER
Taking 2 Stress
Ansgar dodges around a boulder, climbs a pile of rocks and leaps into the gunnery position. Alas, he cannot dodge everything, and a at the last, he is struck and wounded. But in the fury of combat, with his adrenaline and vitals surging, he barely notices the scrape, and brings his fists down on his foe.
Attacking one of the heavy weapon positions, he bursts forth from the Dust Cloud four fingers aimed like the blade of a spear at the gunner's neck.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Beneath the rebreather that makes Turqoul's air bearable if not palatable, Malakai's face grows more and more grim as their band of survivor's pass one abandoned site after another. The bloodstains simply add to the pit growing in his stomach. And the questions circling in his head. Where are the bodies? Why are all the airlocks open? What does Sa'Vere hope gain by releasing the demon once born on this world? Sewing simple chaos or something else? The mad psyker loved to weave plans within plans. There had to be something more to it.
The sight of Orlos breaks Malakai from his thoughts and he offers a quick salute back to the Lieutenant as he approaches. He takes in the battered squad and raises an eyebrow at the young woman using the wall to keep herself upright. Most among those on the Yann Hall considered the Lieutenant to be somewhat plain looking. He wasn't ever sure if that was the slightly wide nose and almost elfin ears characteristic of her great, great, great grandsire's genetics or the simple fact she still carried that fresh faced innocent look of a cadet fresh from the academy. Either way, what others found to be plain looks or dangerous inexperience, Malakai, for some reason, found attractive. Of course, he hadn't ever acted upon his crush. Not given the differences in age, rank, the mission, and his own work which occupied the bulk of his free time. Still his heart skipped a beat and he couldn't completely conceal his concern at the sight of the mass of bandages and blood covering her chest and tattered uniform.
"We've made contact with the other members of the Inquisitor's personal guard. Aterro and Ansgar should be bringing in Sargeant Paxton and the survivor's he'd gathered at the escape pods shortly." He rattles off in a business like manner to over compensate for his worry. "Chaos holds Mount Serenity. The mad sorcerer Sa'Vere has established a perimeter up there with several cultists. They're moving equipment to the summit." He pauses for a quick internal debate on whether to share his theory on Sa'Vere's plans or not. Not wanting to spread more fear among the already rattled looking cadians, he lands on not sharing that right now. Instead he pivots to the needs and curiosity of the present situation.
"If you or any of your people require additional aide, I've a few survival rations, med kits, and other bits and bobs from my escape pod." He says pointing to the makesift sled and the contents he's dragged across half the planet. "I must assume that you've not located either the Inquisitor or any survivors from the colony? Yet you did run into some kind of trouble." He adds, obviously curious as to what happened to Orlos and her squad.
|
|
He could see them. Between his internal auspex, and the impeccable sight of the Tracer 280 machine spirit in his helm, he could read the actions of the opposing heretics as easily as the oaths of moment that rode on his pauldrons.
First one. One machine gun opened up on him, it's fire un-missed by the fusillade pounding the Cadians. It tossed an unbroken line of lead-based projectiles into his chest plate. It did nothing and he came on.
Then another. A second machine gun changed its targeting. Of a sudden the guardsmen that hid behind fieldworks noticed a lessening of incoming rounds. Not much, no, but a palpable fraction no longer sought their own flesh but Astartes metal. It did nothing and he came on.
Then panic. 'All guns all guns!' the firechief shouted. Machine guns targeted him, fired their remaining rounds, then paused for assistant gunners to re-load, the primary gunners pulling back loading arms for a fresh assault. The Cadians' line seemed funeral-quiet as the bullet lines left them like finicky lovers drawn to another.
The massive tidal wave of bullets crashed upon the Ultramarine like a wall of lead, for that was what it was. Every crash of bulletfire was met by an equally loud clang of uber-metal sending it away with a cry of distain. The metal wave summoned up an equally great cloud of dust that for a moment buried sight of the space marine just as the hail of gunfire and tried to bury him bodily. The chaos gunners paused, looking hopefully over their sights. Did we do it? Is he dead? Have we, in glorious tribute to our daemon masters, laid low a foul dog of the false emperor? Have we won a great victory, and, in the same stroke, guarenteed our own lives for another day.
An ice-blue boot strode confidently out of the dust cloud, crushing all hope of escape with it.
It could not be said it did nothing. One bullet passed through a chink on the Mk VII, drawing blood from his left arm. He did not even notice as he fired his bolter.
Where Malakai is clealry concerned by the abaonded colony and the obvious signs of a fight, Katya is exhilarated: this mission is not going as planned but that only makes it more exciting. She keeps her sniper rifle cradled in her arms as she scounts ahead of the others, and seems highly disapointed that the lieutentant has been in a fight without her.
She offers a salute, but since she is only a soldier not an officer she lets Malakai do the talking. To a common solddier, officers are generalyy bad news. Best not to attract their attention.
ANSGAR
8-3=5
Bereft of the range advantage they had, the cultists are mere flesh and blood - no match for a trained fighter such as yourself. An entire squad is dead in a matter of moments, the few survivors fleeing back whence they came.
A dozen yards or so from you, Atterro is running into more difficulties...
ATTERRO
3-2=1
Your aim is true and the boltgun shreds one of the faithless heretics, splattering them across the landscape like so much gristle to the mill. The remainder however shout defiant curses your way, spraying you again with machine-gun fire.
MALAKAI & KARINA
The Lieutenant looks blank for a moment: the name Sa'vere obviously means nothing to her. But the situation is clearly enough to concern an Inquisitorial kill-team, so she takes it appropriately seriously. "Unfortunately, hostile forces massing at a distance are not our most pressing concern; believe it or not." She presses a hand to her side, and winces. "The cultists have shut this place down completely, and those servitors they didn't butcher have been... altered to defend the interior." She looks at you both. "I'm not sure you understand the problem here. Our initial plan was to do a probing reconnaissance, and if we met serious resistance we would regroup to the ship before nightfall. Night is well on the way, and that cold outside will drop another thirty degrees, easily. As much as fifty, most likely. If we can't get the power back on here, and the doors closed, we'll be frozen within an hour. Two, at most."
"I know you have your own mission here and you must be concerned about your boss. But someone has to get through to the control centre and get the power back online, or we're all dead."
Malakai nods at the Lieutenant's line of reason, his eyes try to avoid staring at the blood seeping through the bandages. There was little doubt in his own mind of what needs to be done. The inquisitor would have to wait. "The Emperor protects." He says thinking of all of those gathered here. The visual of the pretty, young Lieutenant and her men freezing in the cold as well as whatever survivors Aterro and Ansgar would be bringing in sealed his decision and stired life into his own cold joints and weather beaten frame. "Can't save the world if everyone just freezes to death. It seems the Emperor's blessing is upon you and his hand guided Karina and I here ahead of the others. All of these colonial systems are pretty much the same. If we can get to it, I should be able to get the power back up and running." The mock bravado is mostly lost on the ears of the cold, wounded, and battered guard soldiers.
Taking in the survivors Malakai hesitates, but the task ahead demands he at least ask the question. "I know you and your people have been through a lot already, But are any of your squad able to provide support? There's a better chance of us getting through if there's more than two lasrifles going in. Plus it'll take some time to get the systems online and running. Time where I'll likely be a bit vulnerable."
Grabbing a replacement rifle from one of the badly wounded soldiers he readies himself at the entrance to the depths of the mining colony, waiting for anyone else who is willing and able to join him.
Now where's the power station most likely to be in this set up? He wonders to himself, remembering the dozens of layouts and schematics he'd seen back home on Rhodin as well as some of the other colonies he'd visited across the Imperium.
Ansgar drives his fingers through the soft spot in the gunner's armor between the helmet and the body and crushes the cultist's trachea. The man crumples and falls away from the heavy gun, clutching at his throat while he drowns in his own blood.
Late to react, the loader cannot drop the shell he carries before Ansgar turns on him, spinning and cutting the man's feet out from under him and then driving the nose of the shell through his face shield and then his teeth. An explosion of gore fills the helmet even before the doomed man can scream.
Finally, the man on the turret reaches for the pistol holstered to his side, but when he pivots to aim the gun, Ansgar has disappeared into the cloud, only to emerge from it in the next moment, but from the other direction. Ansgar threads the man's free arm between the spokes of the steering wheel and spins it hard, fracturing the cultist's arm. Then, catching the hand holding the pistol, he turns the man away from the wheel and channels his weight forward, spearing the man's neck with his elbow. He spins the wheel again, tying the man in a sickening knot until his spine is severed.
The warrior looks up, expecting to see Attero exulting in victory at the other gun.
|
|
"Ah! Aterro yelled as the combined might of all the heavy guns continued to pummel him, again finding small gain in his heavy armor. Fleshwounds they were, but he could tell they were starting to take a toll.
Having at last closed the distance, he keeps up the close-range fire, pumping round after round of bolter fire into the soft squishy cultists.
While the Space Marine appears to have his hands full, Ansgar knows the massive force of destruction that is Captain Attero would never live it down if he stepped in to help against a few cultists.
He drops into the seat occupied by the first cultist facing the gun controls. Down field he can see glimpses of the enemy slowly converging on Paxton's location. The reticle pane illuminates a score of bodies through the ultraviolet spectrum, making targeting a simple task. There are other factors a more experienced gunner would take into consideration, but with limited training, Ansgar simply points the barrel in the direction of his foes and presses the trigger.
Katya nods, clearly keen to keep moving. The dark is a problem, but the scope on her sniper rifle should help her deal with that. Taking the lead, she moves through the place as quietly as she can.
ANSGAR & ATTERRO
The remaining cultists are making a fight of it, taking cover among the boulders strewn across the plain as they shoot back. Ansgar's relative lack of training with heavy weaponry is obvious as all of his shots go wild. Attero has more success, shredding two cultists into unrecognisable mulch with the shells from his boltgun. Rather than scatter, they continue to shoot back although this is an unequal contest.
KARINA & MALAKAI
Malakai's recollection serves him well: this is a Standard Construction Template mining complex, with a couple of minor alterations to reflect the planetary conditions. That means he knows the best way to the power core is not via the main corridors, but through a network of service passages which are easily accessible from your current position. It seems the cultists either didn't know about these or didn't have time to trap them the way they did the main corridor, and you make it two-thirds of the way towards your goal before Karina spots them.
Three servitors, or what used to be servitors: their flesh branded and scarred with the symbols of Chaos, the machinery that they used to wield replaced with cruel-looking weaponry - barbs, flamethrowers, what looks like a grenade launcher fused with what was once an arm. They haven't spotted you; they stand sentry, clearly programmed to attack anyone who tries to pass them by. Unfortunately this is the only route into the control room that Malakai is aware of. Getting by them is going to be your next challenge.
The winding trip down the service tunnels is long and eerily quiet. Malakai keeps expecting some Chaos horror or cultist to jump them at every corner. His caution and expectation is finally rewarded when they reach the main intersection leading to the central power core or off to the main foundry.
Ducking behind the cover of a nearby service locker, Malakai checks the charge on his lasrifle and takes a bead on the nearest servitor. The trigger starts to move and he abruptly stops. Seeing the one armed with the flame thrower, he shifts his aim. It's an awkward adaptation, hastily done. The fuel tanks attached to the wretched creature bulging like two great, ugly mounds from its back and forcing the servitor to move in an awkward, hunched, crab shuffle.
A quick judging of the distance. We're far enough back, any residual blast'll be a nice bit of warmth on the frozen rock. He thinks. His aim switches to the burner's fuel tank. A nice big target with surprise in his favor. Exhale, inhale, exhale again. Wait for the nod from Karina. Then...fire.
Katya's smile flashes in the dark, a wolfish grin as she and Malakai form their paln without needing words - they've been working together long enough that great minds think alike. She sees him aiming at the fuel tank, and she steps back to give herself space to bring her sniper rifle to bear. Her shots are not aimed directly to kill, but to push the servitos back into the blast radius that Malakai's explosion will cause.
|
|
"For the GLORY of the Imperium!" Attero yells as he keeps the trigger down on his .75 caliber Mark Vb Godwyn Pattern Bolter. "Purge the unclean, Kill the mutant, BURN the HERETIC!" He always found himself slightly wanting a flamer whenever he finished that particular phrase, but, alas, it never seemed to turn out that way.
"Never forget, never forgive!" He could see another pair of cultists go down to his fire. Was that all their heavy gunners?
He scans around, and, judging from the amount of much smaller arms fire incoming on his RIGHTEOUS AND INVULNERABLE person, he thinks that, yes, the big guns are either unmanned or out of ammo. That latter is just as likely as the former--he couldn't imagine how worship of an unwordly embodiment of chaos could possibly lend itself to good logistical systems.
It was long assumed by his brother Astartes that the heretics engaged in cannibalism not out of custom or preference, but out of necessity.
He dealt out death knowing it came as a friend to them.
"For. THE. "
Ansgar finds himself cursing the lumbering weapon. It is by far the least articulate thing he has every used in combat - a world of difference from his most dependable weapons, his bare hands. Pull that lever, turn that wheel, flip that switch, push that button... The thing had foot pedals. What in all the worlds of the Emperor were those for?
And of course they were shooting back.
He did his best while Attero settled into his position. If nothing else, Ansgar might help to slow the enemy advance.