40k: Battle for survival (prologue)
Lähetetty: Ma 27.09.2004 16:13
The gigantic battleship Empyrean was slowly approaching the orbit of the glowing green planet Hamar V. It had arrived to its destination only scant hours ago, but already men were making careful preparations for the landing. At the main bridge eight people were hunched over a glowing chart desk. After a moment of utter silence the Commodore of the vessel spoke: “Only six hours until we are in the right position to launch the landing pods.” He addressed his next words at the frail looking man in the dark overcoat, “If you are still ready to go along with your reckless plan, I mean.” The frail looking man answered with a hint of annoyance in his voice: “Yes, Commodore I’m still ready to follow my plan, and yes your opinions about endangering the men needlessly is duly noted, must I again emphasize the point that I’m in charge of the planning of this operation and not you?” The Commodore answered quickly: “No, Colonel-commissar. I understand it perfectly, but isn’t it the job of the commanding officer to listen the opinions of other officers as well?” The commissar answered with a cold raspy voice: ”Be careful Commodore, you are treading dangerously close to heresy by questioning my orders. I warn you only once, and if I recall correctly I have already given you your warning earlier.” Commodore swallowed quickly and said: “You are of course, completely right its not my place to question your orders. I will follow them correctly. ” Commissar said: “Good, now that’s settled then, after six hours we will start our landing and find out what was that strange help message about. We will land at coordinates alpha-x-twenty, beta-x-one and delta-x-nine. I myself will accompany Captain Rheagaryns first platoon aboard the first shuttle which will land at the alpha spot, after that you will all land to your specifically designated coordinates, after which we will assemble in the gamma-point. Do you have any questions gentlemen?” The Commodore asked: “How will I know when to stop firing at the landing points?” Commissar answered: “I will inform you when to stop firing from the landing ship.” A junior lieutenant cleared his throat and asked: “Are we supposed to land to an area which is under fire by our own ships??” Commissar answered: “Yes, that’s exactly what we are going to do, since we don’t really know what is down there, I decided that it would be saver to land to an area that we know is empty, rather than landing strait to the middle of the enemy camp.” After a moment of awkward silence Commissar said: “It seems that we are finished here I suggest that you all return to your own platoons and inform the of our plan. We have six hours before we strike so everyone has enough time to get ready. See you on the surface.”
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Sergeant Frank Carliano was slowly cleaning his lasgun at the mess hall of platoon one, he enjoyed cleaning the beautiful and effective lasgun, and he even liked humming the mantra of reloading as he finally placed the standard issue power pack back to its slot at the underside of the gun. He knew that soon he would probably need the gun and so had decided to clean it before the landing. Finally as he was packing the standard issue cleaning cloth and oils back to the standard issue cloth and oil holder pack Captain Rheagaryn entered the mess hall and yelled to him: “Sergeant Carliano! Call everyone to the mess hall and do it quickly! Now move it, move it! I don’t have whole day. ” Frank sprung up yelled: “YES SIR!” and started running towards the sleeping barracks. As soon as he arrived to the door he pulled it open and yelled inside: “Move it maggots! The Cap wants us all to the mess hall, and he’s angry as an ex-alcoholic in an amasec festival!” After that he ran to another door and repeated the message. After he had woken up everyone he joined the people walking towards the main mess hall. When he arrived almost everyone was there and Captain was eagerly waiting for the last arrivals. When everyone was seated Rheagaryn started speaking: “As you all know we were sent here to investigate the weird help signal that the Imperium received a while back. Since that message no further messages have been received from that planet. As you may also know after six hours we will commence landing procedures as this planet hasn’t got a space port we will have to use landing pods and further more the area will me bombarded at the same time as we land to discourage possible hostiles attacking us as we pile out from the landing pods. You should also know that the Reaper… Umgh I of course, mean our honorary Colonel-commissar Azareth, will be joining us in the landing pod.” After seeing the terrified looks on some of the rookies faces Rheagaryn continued: “I know that for some of you this will be your first real mission and so I'm asking that you all rookies follow the lead of your superiors and other veterans, if you follow your orders and do your best I guarantee that you will live to see your home again. But if you panic or go gun-ho you will die. And yes it is a simple as that. Now I recommend that you all will check and double check your equipment and after that get some rest, we still have a long way in front of us before the victory celebrations.”
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After few hours of restless sleep rookie Wesley Benetton picked up his backpack then took it of again and checked that everything was in its right place after he was satisfied he lifted the backpack up again and took it of again checking again that everything was in its right place, he continued doing this until his squads sergeant Frank Carliano came and checked his backpack and said that everything was in its right place and that if he wouldn’t hurry up he would miss the landing pod. This comment made Wesley flush with embarrassment and he said quickly: “Yes sir!” After that he hurried into his designated sitting place in the pod. Then he locked his lasgun at its designated place tied his backpack according to the guidelines in the uplifting primer to the over head compartment sat into his place and fastened restraints. After few minutes Sergeant Carliano came in with a grim looking man in a black overcoat said few words to him and went sitting next to Wesley, he easily fastened the restraints and started talking with another veteran besides him. Wesley would have given everything for iron nerves like that; he hadn’t even been able to rest fully when battle was only scant hours away. When the doors started closing Wesley almost trembled with excitement and when the launching didn’t happen immediately after the door was closed he asked about it from another veteran who was sitting close by. The veteran laughed and answered conspiratorially: “The Reaper hasn’t yet kept his speech.” After that he laughed even more and started talking about his first mission with another veteran. Soon complete silence landed inside the pod, after few minutes of it Colonel-commissar cleared his throat opened the radio channels and started talking: “We have been sent to investigate what happened to this planet and its habitants and if we encounter hostiles we will destroy them even as they will trying to destroy us. If this happens many of you rookies will probably fall, you will die in agony. But rest assured you have died for a good cause and if you truly believe in the Emperor he will forgive your downfall and take you to his side. BUT if you in any case decide to flee from battle or leave your outpost, even if only to take a leak, I WILL PERSONALLY KILL YOU! I WILL CUT YOU TO PIECES LIKE A BETRAYER YOU ARE! Even the Emperor can’t save you from my just retribution, because when you decide to flee instead of fighting you betray the whole humanity and most of all you betray our Emperor, because he has already sacrificed everything for humanity and so should you! And as you traitor the Emperor will never forgive you what you have done. Remember this rookies and YOU WILL LIVE FOREVER!”
Immediately after Colonel-commissar had stopped speaking the drop pod started its ascent towards the surface of planet. The first part of the drop was easy, but when the pod reached the atmosphere it started shaking violently. After the pod had preached the atmosphere Wesley could hear the terrible rumbling as the ships lance strikes and torpedoes hit the ground bellow and exploded. Suddenly crazy thoughts penetrated Wesleys mind and he started thinking what if the torpedoes just kept coming even after they had landed, shouldn’t it already stopped? Before he could take these thoughts any further the pod hit the ground and the doors opened the harnesses blew out and suddenly Wesley noticed that he was running outside, his backpack on his back and lasgun in his hand, and following orders that he received through the micro-bead. He also noticed that the bombardments had stopped the minute they had gotten outside. He was absolutely relieved and followed his orders as he got them. But suddenly something went terribly wrong, suddenly Wesley started hearing screams of agony and help calls through his micro-bead link also the familiar sound of bombardment came back but this time it was echoed by another more terrifying sound of more screaming guardsmen as the strike hit them. Apparently the enemy had found out of their plan and just waited the right time to spring their trap. The situation was made worst by the fact that nobody knew what they were fighting against. Suddenly Wesley was pulled to the ground by Sergeant Carliano, right after that a heavy weapon started firing at Wesley’s squad and five rookies that had been walking forward just like Wes had a few seconds ago were butchered like animals as the unseen enemy shot them. As the shock of the bloodbath left Wesley he started firing to the bush were the firing had came and as the left of the squad bought their guns to bare also the unseen enemy was quickly killed as the squad started walking, more carefully now, towards the gamma-point, Wesley asked the Sergeant: “Is it always like this?” The Sergeant sighed deeply and said: “Not always kid… Not always…”
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After the landing Colonel-commissar Azareth informed immediately to the ship that they could stop firing. After few minutes of quietness the Commodore radioed back to him, he said: “We are picking an unusual radar signal here. As if another ship was here… Strange I have never seen this type of readings before… The initial scans when we entered the orbit didn’t give any clue of another ship in this sector… Wait a minute I’m seeing some thing… It’s a... zeertsch… ship and its coming strait for us. We will try to keep it busy but it’s at least triple our size so I don’t think we can hold it for long. If we fail it will probably start bombing your landing spots so I suggest that you leave immediately.” Azareth answered: “Try your best! May the Emperor be with you.”
Few minutes after the transmission all hell broke loose just like Colonel-commissar Azareth had promised. Only thing that he could do was to give and all out command to brake off from fighting and head strait for the gamma point. Suddenly a great big fireball enlightened the sky and as he looked at it Azareth knew that Commodore Sares and the crew of the battleship Empyrean had done their outmost for them. Even as he looked at the flaming ball he noticed a small shadow leaving from the fireball and entering the atmosphere. He knew the minute he saw the shadow what it was, a lifeboat which might contain crucial data about the type of their attacker they would have to find it and save everyone who was still alive…
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To be continued…
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Sergeant Frank Carliano was slowly cleaning his lasgun at the mess hall of platoon one, he enjoyed cleaning the beautiful and effective lasgun, and he even liked humming the mantra of reloading as he finally placed the standard issue power pack back to its slot at the underside of the gun. He knew that soon he would probably need the gun and so had decided to clean it before the landing. Finally as he was packing the standard issue cleaning cloth and oils back to the standard issue cloth and oil holder pack Captain Rheagaryn entered the mess hall and yelled to him: “Sergeant Carliano! Call everyone to the mess hall and do it quickly! Now move it, move it! I don’t have whole day. ” Frank sprung up yelled: “YES SIR!” and started running towards the sleeping barracks. As soon as he arrived to the door he pulled it open and yelled inside: “Move it maggots! The Cap wants us all to the mess hall, and he’s angry as an ex-alcoholic in an amasec festival!” After that he ran to another door and repeated the message. After he had woken up everyone he joined the people walking towards the main mess hall. When he arrived almost everyone was there and Captain was eagerly waiting for the last arrivals. When everyone was seated Rheagaryn started speaking: “As you all know we were sent here to investigate the weird help signal that the Imperium received a while back. Since that message no further messages have been received from that planet. As you may also know after six hours we will commence landing procedures as this planet hasn’t got a space port we will have to use landing pods and further more the area will me bombarded at the same time as we land to discourage possible hostiles attacking us as we pile out from the landing pods. You should also know that the Reaper… Umgh I of course, mean our honorary Colonel-commissar Azareth, will be joining us in the landing pod.” After seeing the terrified looks on some of the rookies faces Rheagaryn continued: “I know that for some of you this will be your first real mission and so I'm asking that you all rookies follow the lead of your superiors and other veterans, if you follow your orders and do your best I guarantee that you will live to see your home again. But if you panic or go gun-ho you will die. And yes it is a simple as that. Now I recommend that you all will check and double check your equipment and after that get some rest, we still have a long way in front of us before the victory celebrations.”
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After few hours of restless sleep rookie Wesley Benetton picked up his backpack then took it of again and checked that everything was in its right place after he was satisfied he lifted the backpack up again and took it of again checking again that everything was in its right place, he continued doing this until his squads sergeant Frank Carliano came and checked his backpack and said that everything was in its right place and that if he wouldn’t hurry up he would miss the landing pod. This comment made Wesley flush with embarrassment and he said quickly: “Yes sir!” After that he hurried into his designated sitting place in the pod. Then he locked his lasgun at its designated place tied his backpack according to the guidelines in the uplifting primer to the over head compartment sat into his place and fastened restraints. After few minutes Sergeant Carliano came in with a grim looking man in a black overcoat said few words to him and went sitting next to Wesley, he easily fastened the restraints and started talking with another veteran besides him. Wesley would have given everything for iron nerves like that; he hadn’t even been able to rest fully when battle was only scant hours away. When the doors started closing Wesley almost trembled with excitement and when the launching didn’t happen immediately after the door was closed he asked about it from another veteran who was sitting close by. The veteran laughed and answered conspiratorially: “The Reaper hasn’t yet kept his speech.” After that he laughed even more and started talking about his first mission with another veteran. Soon complete silence landed inside the pod, after few minutes of it Colonel-commissar cleared his throat opened the radio channels and started talking: “We have been sent to investigate what happened to this planet and its habitants and if we encounter hostiles we will destroy them even as they will trying to destroy us. If this happens many of you rookies will probably fall, you will die in agony. But rest assured you have died for a good cause and if you truly believe in the Emperor he will forgive your downfall and take you to his side. BUT if you in any case decide to flee from battle or leave your outpost, even if only to take a leak, I WILL PERSONALLY KILL YOU! I WILL CUT YOU TO PIECES LIKE A BETRAYER YOU ARE! Even the Emperor can’t save you from my just retribution, because when you decide to flee instead of fighting you betray the whole humanity and most of all you betray our Emperor, because he has already sacrificed everything for humanity and so should you! And as you traitor the Emperor will never forgive you what you have done. Remember this rookies and YOU WILL LIVE FOREVER!”
Immediately after Colonel-commissar had stopped speaking the drop pod started its ascent towards the surface of planet. The first part of the drop was easy, but when the pod reached the atmosphere it started shaking violently. After the pod had preached the atmosphere Wesley could hear the terrible rumbling as the ships lance strikes and torpedoes hit the ground bellow and exploded. Suddenly crazy thoughts penetrated Wesleys mind and he started thinking what if the torpedoes just kept coming even after they had landed, shouldn’t it already stopped? Before he could take these thoughts any further the pod hit the ground and the doors opened the harnesses blew out and suddenly Wesley noticed that he was running outside, his backpack on his back and lasgun in his hand, and following orders that he received through the micro-bead. He also noticed that the bombardments had stopped the minute they had gotten outside. He was absolutely relieved and followed his orders as he got them. But suddenly something went terribly wrong, suddenly Wesley started hearing screams of agony and help calls through his micro-bead link also the familiar sound of bombardment came back but this time it was echoed by another more terrifying sound of more screaming guardsmen as the strike hit them. Apparently the enemy had found out of their plan and just waited the right time to spring their trap. The situation was made worst by the fact that nobody knew what they were fighting against. Suddenly Wesley was pulled to the ground by Sergeant Carliano, right after that a heavy weapon started firing at Wesley’s squad and five rookies that had been walking forward just like Wes had a few seconds ago were butchered like animals as the unseen enemy shot them. As the shock of the bloodbath left Wesley he started firing to the bush were the firing had came and as the left of the squad bought their guns to bare also the unseen enemy was quickly killed as the squad started walking, more carefully now, towards the gamma-point, Wesley asked the Sergeant: “Is it always like this?” The Sergeant sighed deeply and said: “Not always kid… Not always…”
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After the landing Colonel-commissar Azareth informed immediately to the ship that they could stop firing. After few minutes of quietness the Commodore radioed back to him, he said: “We are picking an unusual radar signal here. As if another ship was here… Strange I have never seen this type of readings before… The initial scans when we entered the orbit didn’t give any clue of another ship in this sector… Wait a minute I’m seeing some thing… It’s a... zeertsch… ship and its coming strait for us. We will try to keep it busy but it’s at least triple our size so I don’t think we can hold it for long. If we fail it will probably start bombing your landing spots so I suggest that you leave immediately.” Azareth answered: “Try your best! May the Emperor be with you.”
Few minutes after the transmission all hell broke loose just like Colonel-commissar Azareth had promised. Only thing that he could do was to give and all out command to brake off from fighting and head strait for the gamma point. Suddenly a great big fireball enlightened the sky and as he looked at it Azareth knew that Commodore Sares and the crew of the battleship Empyrean had done their outmost for them. Even as he looked at the flaming ball he noticed a small shadow leaving from the fireball and entering the atmosphere. He knew the minute he saw the shadow what it was, a lifeboat which might contain crucial data about the type of their attacker they would have to find it and save everyone who was still alive…
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To be continued…
