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Innocence is Relative.
-Epistolary Librarian Dien
Silence is a virtue, I will breathe lightly and walk softly… heel-toe… heel-toe. Endlessly whispering, whispering in the edges of your brain. Hypno-Training always was a bitch. Novice Jor Machen shook his head in an effort to clear the mental fluff that always seemed to accompany the seemingly endless hypnotherapy training that seemed to accompany every moment he wasn’t on his feet training his body. Some days it felt that his brain knew way more then he did sometimes, his body couldn’t react as fast as his brain wanted it to. It was like having split second mental reflexes, with a slow motion body some days. Some of the other novices in his “initiation group” said it was something in the food, or at least that’s what his training sergeants passed it off as.. Nutrient paste was still not something he was fond of, and that’s all they ever ate.
Novice Machen walked the deck plates in his training bay corridor, heel….toe…….heel…….toe… His metal shod boots barely making a sound on the brightly polished floor. “Loud…..LOUD…. TOO SAINTED LOUD NOVICE!” The booming voice of Senior Sergeant Larson thundered down from the other end of the bay “If I hear one more sound out from down there I will become your personal commissar you worthless scum!” Jor slowed his movements, and timed his breathing with his steps. Heel… toe. Heel….toe. It was almost like floating in water when you got it right, constant movement, absolute silence. You cant over-think it, you just have to do it.
“Better” Sergeant Larson grunted, tapping one massive finger of his huge left gauntlet on the side of Jor’s face. “now do that EVERYTIME, and one day you might be in power armor and on the right side of enemy lines… “ Sergeant Larson grimaced and gestured over to the weapons area. “Novice, go report to Techmarine Kell for your weapons primer on the MK-II(D) IV Missile launcher.” Jor snapped to attention and rendered honors, then hurried to the weapons area.
***
Sergeant Larson was a bit of an enigma to all of them, He was well worn into combat, and generally led the most difficult aspect of whatever operation the scouts had been assigned, and always had made it back safely. A small wonder that, for Sergeant Larson went into combat leading an assault squad of scouts that infiltrated before the army had even arrived, striking at command groups and hard targets to sow confusion among the enemy. Armed with his power fist, and his chameloline combat shield, he took his squad deep into the most infested enemy territory possible. One of the original scouts from when the strike force had been founded, he had become almost his own institution on the Mitternacht. With his unorthodox strategic use of scouts on the battlefield, both in close in assault roles and fire support roles he generally supervised the mission planning phase in respect to all 10th Company operations on the Mitternacht. He was pondering his morning dispatch from 7th command group, and weighing the mission load mentally.
“There’s a standby op-order for you Sergeant” an Administratum clerk said upon arrival to his office, Sergeant Larson grumbled and grabbed the data stick before thumping the door to his inner office open with an elbow. He stretched a bit, before removing his massive power fist, and cracking his knuckles. He set his armaments on the rack constructed just beside his door, and sat into an ancient chair with his feet up on his equally ancient desk. Sergeant Larson cracked his neck and settled in to read his op-order.
****************************STDBY OP-ORDER*****************************
TO: Larson, Benjamin A – Senior Sergeant, 10th Detachment Commanding
RE: Insurrection on Minar 13
10th Company elements are to support suppression of rebel Imperial Guard elements on Minar 13 assisted by 7th Company Main. Need 2 squads, 1 recon element, and one fire support.
Mission muster and loadout at 1800
MYR – 7th CO. Commanding.
END
“Grand…” Sergeant Larson said to himself, “no rough or bloody stuff this time around” Pondering this, he stood up.. grabbed his power-fist and headed back to the training bays. Walking in, he was greeted by the customary “Attention on Deck!” and the recruits snapping to attention before rendering a salute. “As you were” He said sharply, and the recruits all went back to their various states of training. “Corporal Nix!” He called into the bay, A few moments later Corporal Nix came running up to him, snapped to attention and saluted. “Yes Sir?” Corporal Nix replied. “I need 2 green squads, low intensity conflict potential suited up for recon and fire support by 1800 hours” Corporal Nix nodded “yes sir, done sir.”
***
“And that, young novices is the proper litany of maintenance on the MK-II(D) IV Missile launcher. Are there any questions?” Techmarine Kell glanced around the crowded group of novices as they looked over the Missile launchers held in his servo arms. “None then?” When saw there were no questions he began distributing the missile launchers to the men, “One for every two men” He said and broke them up into pairs. They began clumsily attempting to begin the complex field stripping rite, often pausing to read it off of the data sheets, often making mistakes. “No No NO!” Techmarine Kell reprimanded one “You apply the oil, speak paragraph 4c then rub counter-clockwise 17 times before the beginning of the next paragraph!” The chastened student began the complex ritual anew, knowing that the war spirits of all Techmarine Kell’s weaponry would not be stowed away improperly.
“Initiation Group 17, On your feet!” Corporal Nix appeared from the aft corridor, leading along a Clerk with a data sheet. “Secure your weapons, Form up on me” The novices lined up their weapons neatly on the synth-cloth work area, and left one novice acting as weapons guard before forming up neatly in standard platoon formation. Corporal Nix paused for a moment, glancing up and down the impeccably precise rows of men before beginning. “Sergeant Larson has handpicked you ignorant pukes for a mission of the utmost importance” Corporal Nix grimaced at the men “You may have fooled him into thinking you are ready to go into combat, but you haven’t fooled me.. However, I will not allow you to embarrass me by living up to my expectations.” Corporal Nix glared around, as though daring anyone to make eye contact with him.. “First squad, you will equip for deep recon and report to Clerk Atrenious here for mission details” Then he made eye contact with Novice Machen of 2nd Squad. “Novice you think you can heft one of those Missile launchers around in combat?” Novice Machen glanced over at Corporal nix before replying “Affirmative Sir” Corporal Nix glared at him for a moment… “Think you know which end points at the enemy then novice? Very well then, 2nd squad fall out on me for details on our fire support mission.”
Veldrane DeMegar idly tapped at his data console, eyeing the mission board. This small insurrection on Minar 13 was really not that difficult and if anything he found himself overplanning it. Of course he tended to do that, but then there never was anything wrong with having numerous backup plans. The scheduling was tight though, in 72 hours they were supposed to be on the way to Veridian Seven, which left about 48 hours to do the mission completely and get out of there. According to intel, an imperial guard unit on Minar went rogue, and ended up sectoring off a square kilometer section of the main city and holing up there. The main problem he pondered was the enemy armor. Lord Denvir “graciously” lent him the use of a few of his landspeeders, and Sergeant Larson’s Scout squads were already being drop podded on location, so if anything he should get some on-site intel soon. Things could be going worse..
On Minar 13 things couldn’t be going worse. The recon squad’s drop pod went off course during final approach and crashed right into the center of the rebel camp. All of the recon team were slaughtered as they exited their pod. The fire support team faired a bit better, managing to find concealment before the rebel guard found the pod, they were now taking shelter on the roof of a dilapidated four story building. “Frag,” Corporal Nix swore, digging the tip of his knife into the roof tiles. “This is going to be ugly, get me an uplink to the ship..” Novice Kesser acting as squad commo chief, raised the drop ship on the wireless. “Excalibur one, Excalibur one, this is Alpha Seven-two How copy over?” After a few moments a digitally encrypted signal came back over the wireless “Rog that Alpha Seven Two, This is Excalibur One actual, proceed with status check over.” Kesser glanced up at Corporal Nix and handed over the handset. “Excalibur One, Excalibur One, This is Alpha Seven Two, Things are all Fragged up here, Recon team Alpha Seven One is KIA Repeat Kilo-Indigo-Alpha, How copy over?” After a few moments, the wireless crackled back “Acknowleged Alpha Seven Two, Proceed to coordinates 7.12231 by 8.5443 and begin Operation Dormant Tornado, maintain radio silence until 0300 for check in. Over.” Corporal Dix clenched his teeth, and gripped the handset tighter, whitening his knuckles. “Wilco, Excalibur One. Alpha Seven Two Out.” He threw the small handset across the roof, causing the attached novice to scramble after the handset before it was lost off the roof or worse. “Ok Men, Operation Dormant Tornado, we move two clicks north-northeast and hole up somewhere keep your eyes on everywhere. We don’t make a sound, and we wait for the cavalry to come get us out. Novice Machen sighed to himself inside, hauling this missile launcher on his shoulder for two kilometers was not his idea of a good time…
“Damn!” Veldrane DeMegar swore as he threw the datapad, reporting the loss of the scout squad against the bulkhead in his quarters. He tapped the intercom button on the wall console, “Sergeant, formation in six minutes on the flight deck… full battle gear” after a moment a voice came back “acknowleged sir.” Veldrane grabbed his Crozius Arcanum off the shelf on the wall and exited his room, scattering servitors and clerks in the wake of his dramatic and unexpected exit. He made his way down to the main flight deck, and began the process of getting into his battle armor. The rest of the deploying units were already in formation awaiting him. His assistant servitors secured and sealed all the safety catches and latches, and hefted the heavy jump pack into position securing it to his armor. After glancing it over and making sure everything was as it should be, Veldrane turned to his men.
“Brothers in arms! , Heed my words!” Veldrane began, walking the line of troops “Our enemy here has already struck us a grievous blow, though we have not yet entered the field of battle.” He gestured to the flight deck main airlock “Our valiant scouts, securing our landing area have done so at the cost of their lives, Just for us to have the privilege of arriving at our place of reckoning in one piece.” He looked from Marine to marine, trying to recall names. “Do not dare to dishonor their memory, by failing to fight with every ounce of your being you are spitting upon the faces and honor of your fallen brothers!” He looked out among the group, holding his Crozius high. “The emperor calls us to battle, and thus we serve. To battle then, again my brothers, may we live to remember this day.” With that he dismissed the group, and met up with his assault team. “Sergeant Nephil” Veldrane called his squad leader over to him. “Take your men, and pack into the Thunderhawk behind the land speeders, when they jet out at 30,000 feet, Wait ten seconds and follow me out the door.” Sergeant Nephil nodded and hurried to gather his squad.
“Down” Corporal Nix whispered as the searchlight swung over their position, yet again. The rebel guard hadn’t found them yet, but they were no slouches at looking either. This was the 3rd position they had moved to in the past two hours, and the missile launcher on Novice Machen’s shoulder felt like a concrete pylon’s worth of weight by now. They were tuckered down on the top of another building, well half a building really.. looked like an ordinance round had eaten the rest of the building, but they situated themselves on the precipice of a lone plascrete stairwell that originally had supported the rest of the building. Now it jutted up from the wreckage below like an oblong finger, pointing towards the direction their salvation was to come by. Made great cover though, in the city wreckage they were virtually invisible with a great field of view of the surrounding city. “PSSST, Corporal” an altogether too-loud novice began, only to be silenced by the icy glare of Corporal Nix. “What is it, worm?” he whispered hatefully. “I hear a machine” replied the much quieter novice, “listen to the north..”
Corporal Dix glared at the novice for a few minutes and then cocked his head to the north for a few moments. “You are correct novice” he said, and produced a pair of binoculars and began scanning the horizon. The human eye is very weak at detecting things in twilight so you rely most on the ability to detect motion which the human eye detects a lot easier. As Corporal Dix scanned slowly, he took note of the silhouettes of the shadows, the shapes they formed. Then he came across one that didn’t seem quite right, too unnatural for the environment it was in. “Novice Jameron, move out from our main group 200 meters west and launch a flare over that position.. then either hole up there, or come back here depending on what you see.” The novice nodded and collected his gear, then moved silently out into the near darkness. “Novice Machen,” Corporal Dix addressed him, “Chamber up a Krak Round and when that flare pops, be ready to fire on that position, Snipers you be ready as well.” Jor’s hands shook slightly as he readied the weapon for launch, but finally had the weapon loaded and in firing position. Just then, a small streak of light shot up from the west and exploded into light over the target zone. “Machen, Fire on that russ!” Corporal Nix snapped recognizing the formidable battle tank. Jor looked down the sight at the armored behemoth lumbering towards them, closed his eyes and squeezed the firing stud. CLICK. “Take it off safe, and FIRE Worm!” Corporal Nix roared. Novice Machen quickly disengaged the safety on the weapon, and re-acquired his target, and then he fired……
“TEN MINUTES” Sergeant Nephil yelled over the shriek of the Thunderhawks massive engines as they thundered down into the atmosphere “PREPARE FOR DEPLOYMENT!” Veldrane loved this part, streaking down from the skies into the face of the enemy, blood and souls for the empire. “STAND UP!” The assault squad crammed in behind a squad of Land speeders struggled to their feet, and lined up on the neat dashed lines that went across the cargo bay floor and out the front drop hatch. “CHECK EQUIPMENT!” The men checked the jump pack of the person in front of them and their own front buckles as well as making sure any gear was secure. “SOUND OFF FOR EQUIPMENT CHECK!” Starting at the back, the Assault trooper there began sounding off with “One OK!” the next man “TWO OK! And so on. Finally the count reached him “SIX OK!” Sergeant Nephil glanced over at the status light mounted on the wall, still yellow…
On Minar 13 things had gone from bad to worse. The first shot on the Russ had been deflected by the massive front armor, and now they knew where they were. “GO GO GO!!” Corporal Nix hollered, as they scrambled out of their fighting position.. Then a deafening explosion, and what was left of Novice Kesser smeared itself on the rubble about ten feet from Corporal Nix’s position, nothing but mangled pulp wrapped in cloth to signify this was once a human being. Jor, couldn’t do anything but stare in grotesque fascination at the remains of one of his training partners, who up until a few minutes ago was walking around and breathing. “HEY!” Corporal Nix shouted banging the butt of his bolt pistol against Novice Machen’s helmet. “You can do that later, right now shoot the Fragging tank!” Jor turned, and set his eyes on where Corporal Nix was pointing, there, just coming over the crest of a rubble hill was the huge battle tank. Corporal Nix grabbed a krak round out Jor’s ammo pouch and slammed it into the launcher, snapping the loading stud and working the action faster than Jor could even see, “Ready” Corporal Nix snapped “Take the damn shot..” Jor fixated the target in the reticule, toggled the locking mechanism and waited for the warhead to fixate on the only vulnerable side armor he could see. The targeting reticule turned red, signifying a lock. Jor fired.
The huge front drop door began creaking open, Chaplain DeMegar could see the blue of the sky past the land speeders. The land speeder pilots fired up their engines, turning the roar in the cargo bay into a piercing banshee shriek of agony. The yellow light on the side console turned green. The lead pilot gave a thumbs up to Veldrane then, as one the 4 land speeders were out the cargo door and screaming into the sky. Veldrane turned to his assault troops, “LETS GO!” before running full tilt towards the open hangar door.. He could hear the shouts and war screams of his men behind him, feel the blood and the war fury pounding in his head, before he took the last 6 steps over and off the main cargo door, then the jet-blast from the thunderhawk’s massive engines threw him into a dead spin, round and round he whirled, falling silently… He checked his altitude on his wrist-gauge a few moments later 12000 feet…… 9000….. 4000....2000…
The Krak round fired with the voice of god, flying unerringly and directly into the side of the massive war machine, exploding with a hiss of molten metal. The tank ground to a halt, looking ripped and crumpled where the high explosive charge had ruptured it open. Jor felt an unspoken level of elation at the knowledge that he had destroyed this killing machine, until he heard a strange sound…. “COVER!” Corporal Nix shouted, throwing Novice Machen to the ground before diving next to him. Huge explosions started knocking buildings down and making the earth shake so badly Jor could swear it was coming apart under the strain. Dust rained from the heavens, as the huge explosions picked up anything not fixated firmly to the ground, and threw it hundreds of feet into the air. Rocks, stones and various wreckage and rubble threatened to end the few remaining scout’s lives as surely as the traitorous guard’s lasguns. Pinned down and unable to move for fear of attracting more ordinance Corporal Nix led his men across the wreckage in a low crawl, towards another wrecked building where establishing a decent firing position took only a few moments. Corporal Nix looked out into the open area, and saw a Dark Angels Razorback transport about 400 meters west of his position, twin lascannons firing a radiant beam out at something he couldn’t quite make out, then he heard a rumbling in front of him, just beyond the wreckage of the stairway, slowly closing in on their position, another tank! The huge metal monster rumbled its way around the wreckage of the first tank, and slowly rotated its turret to fire. Quickly Corporal Nix loaded up a Krak round in the missile launcher and yelled “Fire!” Novice Machen took aim, and fired, but the missile clanged off the front armor before erupting into flame. The tank didn’t even slow down.. It just kept going right through. Corporal Nix tried to reload the missile launcher and discovered that there was only 1 krak round remaining, he rammed it into the loading tube with a grimace before looking up at the tank again. Then he heard a peculiar shrieking sound coming from behind him, he turned dazzled by the high powered floodlights that seemed to burn into their eyes before screaming over them, assault cannons blazing… The ravenwing had arrived, streaking by on their incredibly fast landspeeders, firing a solid stream of metallic death at the beast. Incredibly the monstrous tank quickly wilted under the onslaught of 4 assault cannons, and quickly caught fire. The fire exploded the unfired shells in its magazine, and hurled the massive tank into the air. Corporal Nix enjoyed a brief smirk, before rounding up his 2 remaining squad members, and heading deeper into the battle zone.
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