Behind Enemy Lines (RP thread)

[Narric]

"I assume you have plans to use this xenos machine?"

Hertius inquired.

"I find it unlikely such a damaged vehicle would travel so far north of the battlefield alone, and there is always a risk of the Tau knowing to be on the lookout for suspicious activity."

[Mabbz]

The closest man regarded him for a moment before answering. "The way I sees it," he drawled, "we're either gonna dismantle it for parts, or we're gonna use it. We can always pull it apart later if needs must, but if we need it, we might as well fix 'er up. If we were attacked, I reckon we'd 'ave a better chance of escapin' in an armoured transport with a big gun than runnin' on foot. 'sides, if we make 'er look neat an' proper, the greyskins won't notice unless they try the radio. An' if we fix that an' get someone who speak Tau in there, they might not even notice then."

"Congratulations Bart, you summarised what I told you ealier quite well." David had just slipped in from another side cavern. "Now please get back to work; we may need her sooner rather than later." He led Hertius through to a small room containing a few crates and a holo-table. Sitting on one of the crates, he tapped a few buttons and a map appeared. "This is the base. We have someone on the inside, who says that one of your colleagues managed to talk his way out. He's being released, and will be met by one of my associates."

"The other is still in custody and will be transferred to the capital in two days, along with a few resistance fighters that were captured. So if we're going to rescue them, we'll need to act soon and raid the base, or ambush the transport again. Unfortunately we already pulled that stunt once, so they'll be prepared for it. I gather they'll have more guards and they'll certainly be more alert. So a base raid seems slightly more plausible; at the very least we'll have the element of surprise." He glanced up at Hertius. "Any thoughts or questions?"

[Mabbz]

Hertius had been thinking on a plan for a while. So many variables to take into account. How quickly would enemy reinforcements arrive? How many of the resistance were willing to take on this mission? How many teams could he reasonably control in the moment? How many security systems would need bypassing?
From what he could see of the map, he couldn't make out where the entrance to the barracks was, though he assumed the widest wall facing garage.

"To make best use of this mission, it seems medical supplies will be the easiest to access, as the armoury will likely be inside the barracks. We could try throwing a few grenades in and seal the doors, though that will risk damaging hardware we would want to acquire. There could be useful resources inside the garage which a small group could charge in a loot, as hit & run strategy...."

"We'll drive in towards the garage. I'll disembark out the south hatch, and dash around the garage, and behind the medical bay. I'll get Maria to b-line towards the Barracks to seal the door, or throw in a few grenades to cause some havoc McTavish would be proud of. Assuming we get Wexler back before this, we can get him into the garage, as I'm sure he'll find something to cause a nuisance. If you can spare some men, they could bunker up in the garage as well and provide covering fire, or search for some easy to carry resources."

"I'll then enter the Prison block and free McTavish. I might be able to arm him with weapons from the prison Guard but that isn't a certainty. If he's more liable to get himself killed, we'll have to cart him away to be picked up by the escaping Devilfish. After hopefully dispatching any reinforcements from the Barracks, Maria can see about destroying a fence Pylon or two, whilst Wexler destroys the local generator. This will divide their repairs, and hopefully make your future assualts more achievable. Assuming you'll also have men looting as much as possible, we'll then withdraw to regroup."

"However, can I appreciate if you decide that once we have our man you'll want to return to hiding, so we could part ways once we have escaped the facility?"

"I suspect you and yours shall require some form of medical attention in the aftermath, in which case we would be happy to provide assistance; if not, then splitting up may be for the best to avoid being caught." David paused momentarily to collect his thoughts. "The rest of your plan seems solid. You should know that our contribution to the fight will be in the form of five of my comrades, as well as myself. We have already lost good men in our previous battles and cannot afford to send more. We shall move out this evening; that should give us time to pick up your friend and have him join us."


"Thank you, sir," said Wexler, trying to look grateful as he took the bottle.

"You should take your morning dosage now Mr Jeffers," the Tau said reproachfully. "We wouldn't want another incident now would we?"

"Oh... of course not." Wexler read the label quickly, as he tried to decide what to do. He could try and fake taking the pill, but if the Tau noticed then he wouldn't be released. However taking it could do Emperor knows what to him.

Eventually he decided to risk the side effects. Joycean probably wouldn't have prescribed anything too dangerous. Anyway, he was a Catachan. No way was he going to get taken down by one measly capsule. He swallowed it, and was led from the room by the Tau to an interview room where he spent half an hour filling out forms before being escorted to the front gates.

"Do you need us to arrange transportation?" asked one of his guards.

"No, I should be fine."

After a few tedious pleasantries he was walking down the road away from the base. Now he just had to figure out how to find the others.


McTavish was bored. He didn't even have an interviewer to mess with, the Tau seemingly unwilling to talk to him. His cell was basic too, just a bed with a thin sheet, mattress and pillow, a toilet, and a sink. He hadn't touched his food yet, which seemed to be mostly mashed potato, with a chicken drumstick and some beans, and water to drink. The cutlery was brittle plastic, unsuitable as a weapon, as was the tray the food was served on.

He had tried looking out the small window in the door, but couldn't see much of the corridor outside. He was fairly sure there was only one guard though; he had patrolled past a few times and peeked in through the window, but there hadn't been any sound of talking or other footsteps in the hours he'd been awake. Maybe he could trick him somehow.

[Wargamer]

McTavish listened for the sound of the guard drawing near. He'd been considering all manner of ways to break out, but self-inflicted injury would impede his ability to fight, and faking a hanging had too much risk of becoming a real one. Besides, the sheets weren't that strong. Still, there were always other ways to feign illness.

As the guard reached the door, McTavish knelt in front of the toilet bowl and jammed his fingers down his own throat, with predictable results. He made a point of playing it up, slumping his head against the bowl as if struggling to remain conscious. In his right hand was the chicken bone from the drumstick, worked into a crude shiv.

This was going to be the best kill ever!

[Mabbz]

Within seconds McTavish heard the sound of a key scrambling in the lock. The door burst open and the Shas'la burst in. His words were Tau, but the slightly panicked tone was unmistakeable. He quickly knelt next to Frank and spoke in broken Gothic.

"Are you fine, human?"

Frank took this as his cue, and swung around, trying to find a gap in that damned carapace armour for his shiv. Unfortunately the tau was wriggling around, making things tricky. He was yelling in Tau'sia again; Frank probably had minutes at most before he was overrun by more xenos.


While Maria stayed at the cave to drive the Devilfish, Hertius, David and one of the resistance fighters drove a truck to another safehouse. This one was a small detached house on the edge of the city; according to David it was the nearest to the base. There they met the rest of their strike team; Connor, Logan, Rasheed, John and Sarah. All were armed with stolen Tau carapace armour, knives and autoguns except for Logan, who had a grenade launcher. David had his signature Long Las.

"We'll be waiting here until around nine," David explained. "By then the 'Fish should be ready and Maria should drive it to the base. You'll get into position along the main road just outside the city and jump in as it passes, ready for the mission. I'll be approaching just behind you on foot to provide sniper support if things get hairy, and to cover your escape."

As he spoke, there was a knock on the front door, and David went to answer it. After a minute he returned, leading two men, one of whom Hertius recognised instantly. Catachans are hard to forget, after all.

[Mabbz]

"FETHING-"

McTavish stabbed viciously at the Tau beneath him

"CARAPACE-"

The chicken shiv splintered.

"ARMOUR!"

Bereft of his 'weapon', McTavish tried to snap the Tau's neck, but succeeded only in rolling around on the floor for a minute before being pulled off and restrained by two more Shas'la that had just arrived, while a third helped his guard off the floor. After a minute of this, a two more Tau entered the room. One was the Por'vre from his interrogation, the other an angry-looking Fireblade.

"Shackle him," the Fireblade ordered, before turning to the nervous guard. "I trust you have learned the folly of not following protocol?" The guard nodded vigourously. "Good. Since you won't make the same mistake twice, you will remain on guard. I'm assigning another Shas'la to join you though. Impress upon him the virtue of caution."

He then turned back to McTavish and studied him for a moment. "I've read your file, Sergeant. Por'vre here believes you are of more use to us alive, but I firmly believe you to be a clear an present threat to base security. As such, I have decided to have you executed. If you have any information to offer in exchange for your life then I advise you to do so soon, as your execution will be at dawn if you cannot persuade me otherwise." With that, he turned and started out of the cell.

[Narric]

"Have fun making a fool of yourself behind enemy lines, Wexler?" Hertius commented more than asked flatly at the Catachan. "I hope you exemplify why the Catachans are feared by Xenos and utilised by the Imperium, as we're moving out shortly to get McTavish back from the Tau base."

Wexler gave a discreet answer including a fair number of choice curse words directed at the pompous Techpriest. "So long as I have my Heavy Bolter, I'll be giving them hell in the Emperors' name."

Hertius gave Wexler a quick brief of what their plan was, trying not to use too many big words the Catachan may not understand. Wexler was visibly not amused by this.

[Wargamer]

McTavish turned to the Shas'la he'd been fighting with and grinned at him. "That was fun, wasn't it? Same time tomorrow?"
He turned his attention to the retreating Fireblade and yelled "Terminus Protocol! Sejanus! Acolyte! Sanctum! Sanctorum! Deliverence! Redemption!"
He waited a few moments for his incoherent yelling to take hold. Staring vaguely at the ceiling he said to the world, "did I mention about the Infil-Traitors? Nah, probably not important."

[Mabbz]

The Fireblade looked at him for another long moment before speaking. "I don't want to have to deal with someone as annoying as you in person. Someone will be along shortly to provide a recording device for your 'information'." With that, the Tau left the room and locked him in his cell.

[Mabbz]

True to their words, McTavish had only been alone for a few minutes before the slot in the door slid open and a small device was pushed through. There wasn't much to it, just an on/off switch, a single green light to confirm it was on, and an obvious microphone grill. It was so lightweight that it was probably actually a worse weapon than the sharpened chicken bone, if that were possible.


It was close to dusk, and Hertius stood silently among the rebels. They were down a narrow alley, hard to spot in the half light if you weren't looking. David had left them there while he went to scout out the base and take a position near the entrance.

After about half an hour of waiting, they finally heard the approach of the Devilfish. It slowed as it neared them and the hatches opened, giving them just enough time to scramble aboard before closing and speeding back up. Maria was in the cockpit, along with a small, anxious looking man. He turned to face the team wringing his hands nervously.

"Um... hi. My name is, er, Porrel."

"Porrel?" asked Logan incredulously.

"My mother was a bit, er, fond of the Tau," he explained awkwardly. "She thought it was a good name. Anyway, I'm here to run deal with any Tau you have to talk to over the comms. I'm fluent in Tau'sia, so hopefully if we're challenged I'll be able to talk us past any guards."

"Any good with a gun?" asked Wexler.

"No. If when the fighting starts I'm going to stay in here, unless the Tau get close in which case I'm bailing out and running for it. Mr Munroe told me I should." He looked away from the unimpressed faces, and after a moment he closed the cockpit door to hide from the accusatory looks.

It almost immediately opened again. "I'm going to need to get out when we get in the base," Maria reminded him. "Don't touch the controls while I'm gone by the way. I kinda like this thing and I don't want you flipping it. Now shut up and watch the comms, we're coming up to the gate."

A moment later the comms lit up and a Tau voice came through. Porrel seemed to understand the alien, and replied in kind. After a short conversation the comms died again. "You can go on into the base," he told Maria. "I think he bought my story."

Ten seconds later, they were pulling up outside the garage. The main door was closed. "There's a couple of fire warriors heading this way, I guess to debrief us," Maria said as they disembarked. "We need to move fast."

[spoiler=map][/spoiler]
[spoiler=forces]
Humans:
McTavish (building, far right, locked in cell)
Wexler: in Fish
Maria: in Fish
Hertius: in Fish
Connor: in Fish
Logan: in Fish
Rasheed: in Fish
John: in Fish
Sarah: in Fish

Tau:
1 Cadre Fireblade: in the infirmary (trait 4: Any failed klaxon rolls within 12" must be re-rolled)
16 Fire warriors with pulse rifles: 1 in each watchtower at the gate, 6 in the barracks, 2 heading for the garage, 2 guarding the power generator, 4 with the fireblade in the infirmary
4 Gun Drones: patrolling the laser fence.

Additional forces in reserve, they'll start arriving if the alarm is raised.
[/spoiler]

[Wargamer]

"well, let's have a laugh," McTavish said as he prepped the device to record.

"Fireblade, your comrades are live. Recognise and recall: Schola 453-221-Omega. The word is Faith. Do your duty, as your comrades are. The Emperor shall absolve your Heresy and make you anew. Amen."

Finished, he banged on the door and yelled for the recording to be taken to the Fireblade, insisting only he listen to it.

Should be a laugh.

[Mabbz]

"Right, stick to the plan," said Maria as Hertius hurried off round the south of the garage.

The seven of them spread out as the ran north. Adam loped around the corner only to stop dead as he met the gaze of two aliens heading his way. Bringing his weapon to bear, he let rip with Ol' Painful, shredding one of the Tau. The other ran for his life hiding round the next corner.

Though startled by the deafening noise of the heavy bolter, the resistance fighters spotted the drones patrolling the fence turning towards them and opened fire. Their weapons pinged off the armoured disks, until Logan's grenade launcher sent one smashing into the laser fence. The remaining drone returned fire, catching Connor with its lethal pulse rounds. He dropped instantly crying out in agony. More plasma flew from one of the towers, and John fell silently.

Maria cursed as the shooting began and redoubled her sprint. Reaching the barracks door, she yanked it open and threw her frags at the startled xenos. She slammed it shut just in time to deaden the noise of the explosion. After a moment she head movement, and tried to brace the door, but a pair of aliens forced it open. 'Shit' she thought as she saw the four survivors rush out. 'Well, better off up close than gunned down by those rifles.' Leaping forward, she swung wildly, forcing the lead Tau to duck.


David carefully lined up his rifle on the guard in the northern tower. Exhaling, he squeezed the trigger...

His laser lanced through the space where the guard's head had been, as the Tau turned at the sound of a grenade. "Damn," he cursed. "Couldn't those buffoons have kept quiet for a moment longer?"


"Thank you for your little joke, Sergeant McTavish." The Fireblade looked as bored as ever as he observed Frank through the small window in the door. "You have finally managed to convince Por'vre that you are of no use for information. The paperwork has gone through, so your execution is now certain. Think on that as-"

He was cut off by a distant noise. "Was that an explosion?" muttered one of the leader's bodyguards.

The Fireblade replied with a burst of Tau'sia as he stormed from the building. McTavish was left alone.

[spoiler=map][/spoiler]
[spoiler=sitrep]
4 Klaxon Counters

Humans:
McTavish (building, far right, locked in cell, aware of attack)
Wexler: gunned down one fire warrior
Maria: about to fight four fire warriors in melee
Hertius: sneaking round the back
Connor: Dead
Logan: shooting drones
Rasheed: shooting drones
John: Dead
Sarah: shooting drones
David: sniping the tower guards

Tau:
1 Cadre Fireblade: leaving the infirmary (trait 4: Any failed klaxon rolls within 12" must be re-rolled)
3 Fire warrior dead
2 Gun Drones firing.
2 Gun drones investigating
North tower guard firing
South tower guard somehow unaware
Generator guards unaware
4 Barracks guards charged Maria through door

Additional forces in reserve, they'll start arriving if the alarm is raised.
[/spoiler]

[Wargamer]

McTavish's mind raced. Not knowing what was happening outside was frustrating, but anything that might keep the Fireblade distracted was worthwhile. Buying mere seconds would be worth it.

"Hey! Get back here!" he yelled at the Fireblade. "Sounds like you and I need to talk! Whoever's out there ain't my rescue party, they're looking to beat you to the execution! We can help each other!"

[Mabbz]

Firing wildly over her shoulder, Maria sprinted for the Devilfish. If she could get there, maybe she could match the Tau's firepower with some of their own. It was just a matter of getting there before the Fire Warriors behind her gunned her down.

Which they didn't seem to be doing, oddly. Glancing behind her, she saw why; they were desperately trying to scramble back inside as Wexler charged inexorably at them, his massive weapon spinning up to fire. As she dived into her vehicle she couldn't help but smile at the sound of aliens getting shredded. Her grin immediately disappeared when she took a quick look outside and saw Rasheed fall with half his face burnt away. Leaping into the cockpit, she ignored the panicking translator and fired up the engines.


Wexler roared with laughter at the sight of half the shas'la exploding into bloody chunks. "Cry some more!" he yelled, shouldering the door out the way and clobbering a third xeno with Ol' Painful.

He was about to do the same to the last one when a pair of drones rounded the corner and observed him for a moment, before swinging to fire on the resistance fighters. "Huh. Guess they wouldn't risk friendly fire," he commented to the warrior who was currently trying pathetically to attack him. A backhand sent him sprawling. "Maybe I should keep you alive as a shield," he mused.

Suddenly the Devilfish spun around, and the burst cannon ripped the drones apart. "Oh. Never mind then," he shrugged, casually executing the Tau.


Hertius rounded the corner towards the prison, slowing as he heard voices.

"Whoever's out there ain't my rescue party, they're looking to beat you to the execution! We can help each other!" yelled McTavish.

"Not buying it," called the Fireblade, not slowing as he headed towards the sound of battle. Hertius advanced cautiously, keen to avoid being spotted by the six Tau leaving the prison. This wasn't going entirely to plan, but as long as he was quick he could...

Then he noticed the unmistakeable outline of a Hammerhead in the distance, and heard the equally noticeable jets of a crisis suit on the other side of the building. Definitely not going to plan.


[spoiler=map][/spoiler]
[spoiler=sitrep]
8 Klaxon Counters but they are irrelevant as the alarm was raised by fire warrior reaching the base leader.

Humans:
McTavish (building, far right, locked in cell, aware of attack)
Wexler: gunned down two fire warriors, killed the other two in melee
Maria: piloting the Devilfish
Hertius: sneaking round the back
Connor: Dead
Logan: shooting drones
Rasheed: Dead
John: Dead
Sarah: shooting drones
David: sniping the tower guards ineffectively (and being shot at in return)

Tau:
1 Cadre Fireblade: Aware, heading for battle
Tower guards aware and alive and firing
1 Gun Drone firing.
Generator guards aware and heading for battle
Hammerhead, crisis suit and reinforcement fire warriors moving toward the battle.

Additional forces in reserve: 4 fire warriors and 4 gun drones.
[/spoiler]

[Mabbz]

"I'm moving in to get McTavish out," Hertius informed Maria over his cybernetic comms. "You should get everyone else out now. Enemy reinforcements are heading your way."

"And leave you two stranded?" Maria replied incredulously. "No chance. I'll provide some cover fire for a little longer. At the very least I can buy you a little more time to get out."

Hertius frowned. "That was an order, not a-" A small beep let him know that Maria wasn't listening. Running over to the prison, he quickly located the correct room with a thermal scan. He paused, waiting for some to mask his entry. He didn't have to wait long; the roar of heavy bolter fire and the light show of the devilfish burst cannon allowed him to breach the wall completely unnoticed. The servo arm smashed a small hole, before opening the hydraulic pincer and yanking back, pulling a sizable chunk of concrete out and revealing a bored looking McTavish.

"About time you got here."

"Now isn't the time for banter," replied Hertius mechanically, tossing over Franks equipment. "Get armed. We need to get out quickly."


Shutting off the comms for a moment, and ignoring Porrel's protests, Maria swung her fish round to see exacly what reinforcements they had to deal with. The immediate problem were the large group of fire warriors hurrying over, but they were easily dealt with. She smiled as she opened up with the burst cannon, only to scowl as the pulse rounds scorched the wall of the garage instead of her target. The targeting alignment must have been off.

Hertius opened fire as she started to swing the cannon round to compensate, one of the warriors falling as a bolter round tore his arm off. Just as she was about to start firing again, a rocket raced out of the darkness over the Taus' heads. She had no time to react as it slammed into the nose of her craft, the explosion rocking the craft and destroying the already damaged gun. She was just considering her next move when Porrel gave a girly little shriek. Looking over at Porrel, she went cold as she saw what he'd noticed. The unmistakable silhouette of the Hammerhead, it's turret turning to aim at her.

[spoiler=map][/spoiler]
[spoiler=sitrep]
Humans:
McTavish: Free, been given his equipment back
Wexler: gunned down 1 fire warrior in the fireblades retinue
Maria: piloting the Devilfish, failing at shooting
Hertius: sneaking around with McTavish
Connor: Dead
Logan: destroyed the drone
Rasheed: Dead
John: Dead
Sarah: shooting tower guard
David: finally killed something!

Tau:
1 Cadre Fireblade: leading his men to the front
Tower guard aware and alive and firing at Logan
4 Gun Drones heading slowly over to reinforce.
Generator guards aware and shooting Wexler
Hammerhead: Target sighted.
Crisis suit: Shooting devilfish (weapon destroyed)
Fire warriors moving toward the battle.

Additional forces in reserve: 4 fire warriors.
[/spoiler]