AuthorTurbidious Saving Grace The sound of war had died down for the moment, an eerie quiet had descended over the thicket of woodland Sergeant Wiktor Gojak and his platoon were using as cover to make their way to the forward skirmish line. His platoon, along with nine others, had been ordered forward from the defence lines to support the tank boys. However, it seemed the eastern flank they were headed to had floundered, the sound of Imperial guns had slowly receded and the high pitched whine of the xenos guns had become louder and more pronounced the closer the platoon got to the front, until now only sporadic fire could be heard. Gojak was trying to trick himself into believing that it was the forest that had obscured the sound of any violence but his old head told him that they were walking towards a defeat. The main battlefronts were hundreds of kilometres away but that didn’t mean there weren’t fires to put out across the regional areas. Roaming groups of scouts and enemy detachments, up to battalion strength, were now probing for anything to break the deadlock. It was a good idea, that’s why both sides’ tactical groups were doing the same thing. But it meant skirmishes such as the one they now found themselves in, small scale but still no less deadly for the troops on the ground.
The xenos filth had been advancing with ease until they had been stalled at a small township by the Imperial group Gojack was assigned to, the 3rd Krotoszyn Rifles. A strong defensive line had been quickly set up by Gojaks commanders and had prevented a full scale rout, but the eastern flank, in the outlying farm and woodland, had been crushed and reinforcements had been sent. He and a small detachment were the reinforcements. What concerned Gojak the most was that the eastern flank had been where the majority of the tank boys had been stationed and the vox was only replying with static white noise. The woodland was thick; shafts of light pierced the veil of vegetation in various places, and moisture hung in the air, it gave the wood a damp odour as the men passed through. Vegetation rose to knee height and soaked into their brown fatigues. It was difficult to navigate through and they were on edge too; the quiet was disconcerting to soldiers used to the overwhelming noise of warfare, they moved cautiously and with lasguns ready. Gojak had Kaczka and Jusko twenty metres to either side of him, with the rest of his platoon some 50m behind. The commanding officer, one Major Franz Posheiter, was following up behind with the remaining platoons, with Gojaks group at the head; they had been the most experienced soldiers available so had been ordered to lead the way. He crouched down next to a fallen, moss laden tree truck waiting for several of his men to catch up. They were not used to moving through such thick vegetation, their world was heavily industrialised, vegetation was in scarce supply, they were experienced in urban warfare, not hiking. He cursed under his breadth as he wiped sweat from his brow and surveyed his next move. Plotting his movement for the next 50 metres or so he made note of several potential ankle turning obstacles, in this situation a broken ankle would likely mean you being left behind. He made to stand but he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, he was sure it had been something yellow. Gojak hunkered back down, pressing his body in against the fallen tree and watched, his grip tightening on his rifle. He made only a slight hand signal for all troops to stop and be ready, the message he knew would be past along the line. The veteran sergeant waited, his instinct told him to wait, the seconds felt like hours, the moisture from the moss had already began to soak into his uniform, more sweat beaded on his forehead but he waited. He knew he had seen something and his old gut told him to pause and be ready. You didn’t spend eighteen years in the Guard without trusting your instinct. ‘There you are’ Gojak spotted the yellow glint of armour, xenos armour. Tau troops were making their way through the forest in a similar manner to the Guard but they were not scout troops, the movement through the forest was clumsy to a veteran like himself. They had attempted to camouflage themselves with pockets of mud and twigs but the yellow armour was still visible, the metallic sheen too much to be covered up by rudimentary methods. Gojak got his eye in and spotted more of the xenos warriors, at least five in this lead group. He knew there would be more but surprise was with him, they were only 300m away but as yet the Guard detachment had been completely unseen. Gojak tapped his ear pierce three times to indicate enemy contact, within a matter of moments he got back two blips back, ‘Engage’ was the order from the Major. He didn’t need to be told twice, Gojak hand signalled for his platoon to take up firing positions and slowly adjusted his position against the tree for a better firing angle. He could see Jusko just to the left of him settle himself slowly into a crook of a tree, rifle raised and ready. To the right Kaczka had lowered himself to the ground, propping up his rifle behind shrub and a small outcrop of rock. Both men gave brief hand signals to show they were ready and Gojak knew the rest of his platoon would be too. All around in the green and brown world they found themselves in, out of Gojaks sight, the other seven men of his platoon would already have manoeuvred into firing positions. The Tau were still advancing, they were only 100m away now, with at least twenty troopers but only the lead xenos warriors were making any effort to scout. Gojack breathed out and held his breath to steady his aim. His first shot would signal to his troops to open fire, they were waiting for him. He picked his target, slowly released his held breadth and squeezed the trigger. His rifle let loose a red spear of laser at one of the back troopers and the xenos dropped down dead, a fist sized hole through his chest. Within half a second of his first shot and wave of fire erupted from the undergrowth as the remainder of his platoon opened fire on the xenos warriors. A sheet of red laser lanced out with several shots finding the mark and at least four more Tau were dropped. Gojak had already started to move before the first shots of return fire came back at the Guard. Blue plasma blasted back into the vegetation, more panicked wildfire from an enemy suddenly taken by surprise rather than disciplined shots, Gojak smiled to himself and then he felt the hot rush of adrenalin surging through him that only battle ever brought. Gojak snapped off a few more shots while on the run and managed to hit one more enemy before dropping down behind a large conifer to take stock to the situation. He slung his rifle over his back and a few enemy shots struck the trees around him. He felt the heat and heard the hiss of the plasma dissipate as it struck the tree. The enemy was in total panic though, unsure as to the Imperial numbers they were up against and in shock at the initial firing barrage. They were firing wildly into the undergrowth. Now it was time to press home the advantage. ‘Men of the 3rd Rise and Engage!!’ Gojak drew his combat sword, a 1m length of steel and rushed out and around the tree. As he did so his fellow platoon members threw themselves out of the vegetation, rushing the confused Tau warriors. A few of the more experienced xenos warriors eventually found their targets, Alezky was blown off his feet backwards when a ball of blue energy struck him square in the chest and Nelek was struck in the shoulder, spinning him round and dropping him where he stood. However, the initial volleys of Imperial fire had thinned the numbers enough; the remainder of the platoon hit the Tau line with supreme force. The Guard soldiers slashed with bayonets and clubbed the xenos troops down with the butts of their rifles. Gojak carved down with his combat sword, cutting one of xenos from shoulder to belly, he turned and slashed the neck of another, and grey visceral splashed over his arm as the Taus life was ended. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Podoll gut a Tau officer with his bayonet and quickly move to find another target. He registered the sound of a pump action firing off but was too in the moment to truly understand the direction from where it had come. As quick and brutal as the attack was the Tau had been utterly crushed, a few had made to flee but were cut down by accurate Guard fire. Gojak stood, three Tau warriors lay at his feet, a puddle of grey blue blood was slowly soaking into the soil, he was breathing heavily ‘Im getting old’ he mused. He reached into his side pouch and pulled out a rag to clean off his blade, more a conditioned response than anything. As quickly as the battle adrenalin had come, it was now fading away. Gojak looked up from his blade cleaning; he hadn’t noticed Babin was standing in front of him. ‘Sir, I have just had a vox from the Major, they have made double time to catch up, he’s waiting for a report from you.’ ‘Best not keep the Major waiting Corporal take me to him please’. Gojak sheathed his short sword and followed Babin. As they walked Gojak took in the battle scene around them, they had lost some good men today. Already the men were separating their dead from the xenos, they would bury the Imperial dead and push the xenos into the undergrowth to let the world take them. Several of the men were being tended to, the wounds would need proper medic care, out in this woodland a small wound could easily become infected and kill the trooper. Babin led Gojak to a small clearing where the Major was waiting, he gave a salute to both the Major and his Sergeant before turning on his heels and heading back in the same direction they had come. ‘Report Sergeant?’ The Major was always straight to the point. Gojak made a half hearted salute, the adrenalin of battle had worn off and he felt a little spent ‘Sir, Tau scout force was encountered, total of eighteen xenos killed, two wounded but will die of their wounds in this environment, and five of my platoon are dead or injured Sir.’ Poshheiter paced and scratched at his beard, as was his habit ‘It is concerning that the xenos had entered this woodland, they should not by all accounts have come this far. Sergeant, I want you to take some men to sure up your platoon and again to scout ahead. Stay in contact and I will relay information back to command and reinforce positions here and scout into the forest for any further Tau splinter forces. We cannot allow further progression through this area unopposed. It is more concerning that we have encountered none of our forces or reached them on vox. Do not engage the xenos forces unless totally necessary, we need to understand the enemies’ composition out here. Make haste Sergeant’ with that the Major saluted and moved to talk with his vox operator. Gojak saluted and made for the remnants of his platoon. He found them just finishing burying the body of Alezky. The four troopers placed their comrade’s helmet on the shallow grave and all made the sign of the Aquila. Gojak gave them a moment and said he own tribute under his breathe. When they appeared done Gojak spoke, ‘Antos, Babin, Podoll and Siok, with me, round up some more men to fill out the platoon, Majors orders, lets see what the tank boys have got themselves into’. It took forty standard minutes for the ten men to reach the end of the woodland, they didn’t encounter anymore enemy on route ‘Thankfully’ Gojak thought. They sat in cover at the edge of the tree line and surveyed the area. The forest ended quite abruptly, with open and sweeping hills extending all the way to the horizon, small remnants of stone structures were dotted throughout the undulating hillsides and long greenish gold grass was gently swaying in the wind. It was a beautiful scene, something that Gojak or his men would never have seen on their home world, or rather it would have been beautiful but for the carnage that was presented before them. Shells of Leman Russ tanks were throughout the area, their broken and cracked hulls looking like bloated, floating corpses in an ocean of grass. Death was everywhere, the Guard force had not simply been defeated here; it had been annihilated. There were a few xenos tanks amongst the wreckage but the victory here well and truly belonged to the enemy. The veteran Sergeant shook himself out of his shock. ‘Ok lads, lets try to find out what happened here, nice a quiet, lets see if we can find survivors.’ With that the ten men adopted scout protocols and made their way into the long grass. As they passed through the battlefield it became apparent that the usual enemy tanks were not solely to blame for this level of destruction. Gojak and the rest of the platoon had fought many wars across many worlds and they had never seen damage like this, in places 2m thick armour on the Lemans had been split open like ration foil. Even on the front section of the tanks, the thickest armour, it looked like it had provided no protection what so ever. There were no survivors. ‘A graveyard’ Gojak thought when they heard the rumblings of a vehicle in the distance. ‘Get into cover now!’ The ten men frantically searched for hiding holes, most found shelter in the husks of the fallen Imperial tanks while others laid themselves flat in the taller grass and waited for the source of the sound to present itself. The sound was getting closer and at an alarming rate, the squad could feel the vibrations through the ground more and more and the sound of war was travelling with it. The platoon could hear the unmistakable sound of Imperial guns and the high pitched wine of xenos weaponry. Over the lip of one of the hills came a Leman Russ battle tank at full speed, its sped over the grassland with its turret facing the way it had come. The tank did not slow down as it smashed aside a portion of one of its brethren with its dozer blade. Something was drastically wrong with this situation as the onrushing tank fired off its main gun at something in the distance. Gojak and the rest of the platoon watched in disbelief as the tank surged past them some 300m away and fired again. ‘They are never going to hit anything at that speed’ he muttered, before realising he had said that aloud. Antos piped up next to him ‘Sir, what on Terra is going…’ but Antos didn’t finish the sentence, the reason for the fleeing tank became apparent. Three xenos tanks hovered over the hill in pursuit, their huge rail guns sending blue laser lancing at the Imperial tank. But this was not what the Imperial tank was firing at or indeed what it was running from. From above came a monstrous bipedal piece of enemy armour, easily 20m in height, it coasted down of huge jet engines, its white hot jet wash burning the ground where it landed on the top of the hill. Its white and yellow armour glinted in the midday sun, it had two huge cannons attached to its back and appeared like a scaled up version of other xenos battle suits that the Men of the 3rd had seen and killed before. ‘Holy throne that’s a bloody titan!’ Antos said out of reflex more than anything. Gojak and the rest of the squad were in dumbstruck awe, they had never seen a titan before, especially an enemy one. Gojak felt suddenly quite insignificant and assumed the rest of his men did too. The xenos war machine appeared to brace itself, its feet locking into the ground, throwing up clumps of soil and rock, its back guns shunted into place onto its shoulders. The air appeared to distort around the gun barrels and even at this range the static stood the hair on the Imperial trooper’s arms and neck up. The titan then let loose with a volley of devastating white and blue plasma. The balls of energy shot across the battlefield, flattening the grass and setting some of it alight as it passed and struck the Leman Russ just below the turret. All 80 tonnes of Imperial tank was lifted off the ground and hurled some 30m until it came crashing down in ball of twisted burning metal. Gojaks platoon had found the source of the destruction. The platoon had instinctively moved into firing positions to cover each other and communicate, what little it would do against that kind of firepower was moot but it was reflex. ‘Babin, get on the vox to the Major now, tell him what we have found!’ Gojaks mind raced, they had spotted a new threat to the Imperial lines, and the xenos were now capable of constructing new battle suits, ones that could go toe to toe with Imperial Titans. It was a development that had to be relayed. Babin was fussing with the vox, when a panicked call came from Siok. ‘Holy throne we have been spotted!’ The three hover tanks changed direction to engage the little band of Imperial soldiers. The xenos tanks rail guns were cycling up to fire as all ten men hide behind the scraps of metal that were once Imperial armour. The rail guns cut loose but luckily all their fire was absorbed by the hulls of the dead tanks. There was nothing the majority of the squad could do but hide. ‘Podoll, hurry up!! Babin! So help me God-Emperor I will shoot you myself if you don’t get on that vox!’ the Sergeant was shouting at the top of his lungs over the wail of rail gun fire and afterburners from the advancing xenos machines. Podoll had the only weapon that could do damage against the armour, a single missile launcher in the squad, he and his specialist teammate, Bagan, were crawling their way to a position in which to fire. They found a small gap in the metal that provided a little protection and enough space with which to fire. Podoll hefted the long tube onto his shoulder, taking hold of the firing handle and braced himself ‘load me’. Bagan un-slung a missile from his back harness and with tried and practiced procedure loaded it into the back of the tube. ‘Set’. Podoll settled into a position as fire rained down on their position, ‘Ease!’ All the men in the platoon instinctively opened their mouths to prevent the pressure damaging their ear drums as Podoll pulled the trigger. The single missile flew out of the tube and sped across the distance to the nearest xenos armour, trailing white smoke as it went. It was a prefect hit, striking the tank on the left side dead on the hover engines. The missile exploded and resulted in the tank listing and smashing into the ground, its shredded engine unable to keep the machine aloft. The nose dug into the ground with enough force to flip the tank onto its back. Dirt and scraps of metal were thrown into the air as the remaining tanks sped onwards and looked to avenge their fallen sister. The platoon let out a little whoop of joy at the unexpected victory ‘Load me again!’ Podoll and Bagan were hoping their luck would strike again but the joy was short lived. The Titan had now taken an interest, originally content to let its smaller counterparts deal with the Imperial troops the death of one of the tanks had resulted in its attentions being turned to them. The Titan sent out a stream of fire, hot plasma slashed down from the hillside and struck the former Imperial tank, Podoll and Bagan had been sheltering behind. Gojak looked on as both the metal, Podoll, Bagan and their fellow platoon member Tokaraz were vaporised in an instant. The sheet of laser died away, a steaming gouge was left where his teammates had once been, and the very soil had been melted, turning some of it to molten slag. ‘Holy Throne’ was all Gojak could muster. They could not run through open grass, the hover tanks would mow them down, they could not fight the armour, they had no weapons to damage the tanks now and they could not hide, the titan’s firepower negated any and all cover. His men were looking to him for answers but he had nothing to give, death was the only way out now. Gojak made to speak but no words would come, but before he could say anything he was smashed to the floor, not by an enemy weapon fire but by the baleful sound of a war horn. All seven men were knocked to the ground and stared in utter disbelief as an Imperial Knight Titan appeared. ‘Two in a day!?’ thought Gojak as he stared at the blue and gold war machine, their only salvation. The Knight cut through a set of trees with its massive chainsword arm, sending vegetable matter into the air as it came crashing through the tree line sum 200m from where Gojak had tracked through. Its war horn blazed again almost in challenge to the xenos armour and then it fired its arm cannon sending marco shells at the oncoming hover tanks. The huge shells missed and the enemy rail guns shot white hot beams at the new threat. The little group of troops now a distant memory. The rail gun fire was easily dissipated off the Knights shields as the huge war machine strode into battle, its various guns blasting at the onrushing hover tanks. Finally the Knights guns found their mark as one of the enemy tanks erupted in a gout of flame as one of the marco shells slammed home. The xenos tank simply ploughed into the soil and laid still burning, dark black smoke spewed from the wreckage. The final xenos tank made to turn to flee but the destruction of its sister had knocked it off course, it had flown too close to the Knight and now it failed to adjust in time as the rotating chainsword slashed down into the hover tank. The whirling teeth of the sword bit into the back of the enemy and cleaved the enemy tank in two. A horrible shrieking sound cut through the air as biting teeth slashed through metal causing the remaining seven men to cover their ears in pain. The sword was covered in oil and shrapnel and what Gojak thought was blue visceral as it came back up. The battle played out before the Imperial troopers, so enthralled by the battle they almost failed to make the momentary chance to escape. ‘Men of the 3rd double time to the forest, get a move on!’ Gojak was already running, slinging his rifle over his back and pumping is legs as fast as he could towards the tree line. The men broke cover and made for the refuge of the forest, hoping that the Knight would not only cover them but kill the enemy Titan as well. The Knight again let out a loud blast of its horn as it turned to face the real danger on the battlefield. The enemy Titan had not moved from its perch on the top of the hillside, it had almost looked disinterested in the Knight but suddenly fire its main cannons again. Two blue plasma shots flew from the barrels of the enemy Titan, Gojak looked back in time to see the blue plasma smash into the shields of the Knight, pink and blue shielding lit up in a sphere in front of the Knight, the force was enough to push the Knight backward and fall to one knee, its massive chainsword dug into the soil to steady itself.. It looked like the Knight was bowing to the superior firepower. The remaining platoon members made it to the comparative safety of the tree line and watched as the Knight rose and made to walk towards the enemy Titan. But as it did so the enemy was withdrawing, the enemy war machine had taken to the skies in a jet wash of red and orange flame and smoke. The Knight let out an almost disappointed sounding horn noise and strode towards the hilltop the enemy had been moments before. The battle of the huge war machines was over for now. Gojak turned from the grassland scene, once again quiet, once again a graveyard. His men were strewn out around him, looking exhausted ‘Alright men, the fun is over for today, lets rendezvous through the woods to the Major, he is going to want to hear a full report about this new threat. We may even get medals’. He said the last part with a smile and it brought out a few laughs from the troopers around him. The visible tension that being in a fire fight, especially one that they didn’t expect to live through, washed out of them slightly. ‘May the Emperor protect our fallen’ Gojak made the Aquila across his chest and the remaining seven men did the same. Slowly rising from the moment of respect to their fallen squad mates the men of the 3rd Krotosyn Rifles blended their way back into the forest and made to report back on a new threat to the Imperium of man.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AboutTales from within the sector written by me (Turbidious) or other contributors. These are based on games we have had of BFG and 40k Archives
March 2021
Categories
All
|