Behind Enemy Lines (RP thread)

[Narric]

"A sound judgement, despite the reliability of the Heavy Bolter's stopping power." Hertius breathed out as he rose from the monitor.

[The Man They Call Jayne]

"Move and relocate. We can't stand up to that amount of incoming armour. Not to mention the fact that those things will be full of Firewarriors. I have seen what Pulse Rifles will do up close. I have little desire to see it again."

[Mabbz]

Aware that time was of the essence, the group quickly disable the scanner and headed east. There were a couple of hills between them and the glitch, so they circled around the north side of one of them to keep out of sight of the rapidly closing Tau. Maria was sent to scout at the top of the first hill to confirm what the enemy had brought while McTavish climbed the second hill to try and spot the glitch. After a minute, Maria returned with news.

"A devilfish and a skyray. They've stopped about 50 metres from the crash site, and eight soldiers have disembarked and started sweeping the crash site. Looks like pathfinders. The skyray only has one missile left, so I'd guess that's what shot us down."

"Doesn't look like we can go east," said McTavish, having returned as Maria was talking. "The glitch is a Throne-damned dron sentry tower. We go anywhere near that thing, we'll be marked and every Tau in the area'll know exactly where we are. We need to keep out of sight."

[The Man They Call Jayne]

"A Drone Tower? Dammit. The odds of us disabling it are almost nil, and we aren't really kitted to destroy it. I mean, I might be able to, but it's a big risk."

[Wargamer]

McTavish double checked his munitions, muttering to himself as he worked.
"okay, bollocks to it. I say we fight! I've got a couple of melta charges and Tau aren't the sharpest of troops. If we can get close I reckon I could make a sprint for their tank, plant a charge and drop it. That means someone else has to flatten the other tank mind. Eight Pathfinders might be tricky, but we've got the HB and Steve to lay down fire. Plus, if the Emperor's smiling we might even capture one of the blue sods!"

"so that's my plan. Two bomb runners come in from the south, mass fire from the hill, we surround and slaughter."

[The Man They Call Jayne]

"You think you can get in past those point defence systems? If you really think you can do it, I'll cover you all the way."

[Mabbz]

"So you think it'd be possible to take the devilfish intact? If we can figure out how to drive it then we could get back to friendly territory a lot more easily," asked Maria. "Also, where do you want me to be? On the hill providing covering fire?"

[Wargamer]

"Aye, you two can cover us from the hill with Steve. Our friendly neighbourhood Enginseer will have to be making friends with the Devilfish. If their tanks have souls, we'll need someone who can sooth it and bring it to our side."

[Narric]

"I do not have any long range weaponry." Hertius commented."I could try flanking them and dealing with any straying Tau."

[Wargamer]

"You don't need long range weapons.  Just get behind the Devilfish and use that can opener of yours! Or failing that, you can use a krak grenade. Besides, your armour should be able to take a few hits even at close range. It's me who's arse is going to be on the line here!"

[Mabbz]

Why is he even up here? thought Maria as she ran for the hill with Steve and Wexler. His weapon's too short ranged to be of any use; he should be down there ripping the doors off those tanks. Mentally shaking herself, Maria went prone at the brow of the hill and took aim, ready to shoot any xeno that threatened her comrades.


McTavish and Hertius ran for their respective vehicles, sheltering behind them. They glanced at each other for a moment to make sure they attacked at the same time. McTavish quickly shot the door controls with his pistol, and was amused to see that the trick actually worked! The door opened and he leapt into the Skyray. A high energy laser vaporised a sizable chunk of one crewman's head, and his power sword gutted the other. Heading for the cockpit he found that the control panel was labelled in Tau'sia. How inconsiderate.

Hertius meanwhile tried the more direct approach. Grabbing the door with his servo arm, he attempted to pry it open. Unfortunately, the Tau alloys were remarkably tough, and all he managed to do was buckle the door. Through the small gap he had made, he noticed a Tau shutting the cockpit door, and a moment later the thrusters started moving into a flight position. Reacting quickly, he darted round and shoved his servo arm into the right thruster, ripping something important out. That Devilfish was going nowhere soon.


Up on the hill, Maria could see all this. As Hertius broke the Devilfish she saw the gun drones from both vehicles detach and move round the back. One pair started firing on Hertius, seemingly without much effect, while the other pair seemed unwilling to let their technology fall into enemy hands. They fired on the Skyray's thrusters; she could see the smoke from here. Worse still, the shooting had goten the attention of some of the Tau. Four of them began converging on the Devilfish.

[spoiler]
Both vehicles have lost a hull point and been immobilised. The Skyray is currently under McTavish's control

All Gun drones are aware, as is the Pathfinder Shas'ui. As he is the Tau's Leader, that means the alarm has been raised.

The Tau have 2 Klaxon counters.


[/spoiler]

[Narric]

"Damn Xenos metals!" Hertius thought to himself. "How dare they not succumb to the Imperium!" He felt a strange electricity about his body, as small plasma rounds struck his power armoured back.

Hertius turned around to see a pair of barely threatening Tau Drones. "Oh sure" Hertius continued to internally monologue. "send the aerodynamic leisure disks to keep me occupied, that'll make me rethink my stance on Tau ideaology." His servo arm reached forward and around, allowing him to attach his Laspistol in a specialy designed slot. That done, Hertius readied himself, taking aim at his two targets.

[Mabbz]

Well, this is useless, thought McTavish, looking at the control panel. Pulling out a couple of Melta bombs, he strapped them to various flammable-looking places and set them with a 10 second timer. Pulling the door release (at least that control was obvious), he leapt out and sprinted towards two of the Tau. He didn't bother looking round at when the Skyray blew up, and so missed the sight of a shard of metal slamming into one of the drones and sending it sparking into the ground.

Bringing his rifle to bear, he started firing at the warriors; one had the markings of a Shas'ui. Unfortunately his comrade saw him aiming and shoved the officer out of the way, getting a large burnt hole in his chestplate for his bravery.  A las-shot came from the hill as Maria tried to finish McTavish's job, but the Shas'ui was saved by his armour.

Wexler dived into a prone position to better increase his odds of hitting the distant targets, and let off a long burst of fire from his Heavy Bolter at the other pair of advancing Tau. The fist sized rounds easily punched through the first warriors armour, and after a longer burst of sustained fire the other fell too, gore flying as a bolt shattered his skull. Dismayed at the sudden lack of enemies, Steve began trying to cover the distance to the storm trooper sergeant.

Hertius ducked the drones fire and smashed one out of the sky with his axe. The other crashed into him, the collision sending both spinning. The damn frisbee kept moving evading all of Hertius's attempts to disassemble it.

The gun drone that had survive the skyray's demise flew in pursuit of McTavish, but he was more preoccupied with the Shas'ui. The xenos was pointing his carbine at him, but wasn't firing for some reason... McTavish looked down at the little green dots on his chest. This was gonna suck.

Four more warriors rounded the wreckage, and they and the drone opened fire. McTavish ducked and dodged as best as he could, but he still got hit several times and it was only by the Emperor's divine will that he survived with only minor burns. His armour certainly wasn't looking it's best though, as chunks had been blasted out of it and part of it was actually on fire.

[spoiler]
Devilfish has lost a hull point and been immobilised. Skyray exploded.

All Tau forces are aware, as the alarm was raised and everyone passed their leadership tests.

Hertius had to use 1 Narrative point to pass an armour save (drones are apparently good in melee). McTavish had to use 2 points to survive all the fire he took. Wexler used a narrative point to use the Emplaced Fire heroic action, and Maria used a point to re-roll a to-wound roll on the shas'ui. She still failed.

Pretty irrelevant, but the Tau now have 8 Klaxon counters.


[/spoiler]

[Narric]

Hertius felt his ire raise as the Xenos machine evaded every swipe of axe and servo-claw. In the back of his mind, he was thankful for a target less stationary than the sparring drones, their mechanical and predictable assaults giving Hertius no satisfaction in a victory. Returning to the now, Hertius swung his axe again at the Drone as it flew in close.

[Mabbz]

The drone slammed into Hertius once more, causing little more than a bruise as it continued to bother him. Growling mechanically, he swung his axe once more, and again the contraption spun out of reach. Spotting a vent in the machine, Hertius squinted. Without warning a burst of energy fired from his eye, burning into the weak spot. The drone wavered in the air as it's inside smoldered. One of the thrusters spluttered and failed, and the heretical device plunged sideways, crashing into the dirt, unmoving.

The Techpriest took a moment to savour his victory, only to start at a very loud bang. peering around the side of the devilfish, he saw the Ogryn, sprawled on the ground next to a very large dent in the side of the vehicle. Apparently he had run headlong into it.


Realising the precariousness of his position, McTavish took the only option he could think of. "Stormtroopers never die! We go to the Warp and regroup!" he bellowed, sprinting at the alien's leader before he could react. He swung his sword. As expected, the Tau instictively tried to block with his carbine, only to have it knocked from his grip and nearly sliced in half by the stormtrooper. in a matter of moments, the Shas'ui found himself in a hold, his arm twisted behind him as the sword hovered inches from his throat.

"Throw down your weapons, or your leader dies!" Frank roared at the fire warriors as they took cover and aimed.

"Co'yio" the Tau hissed. "Ka'ea"

The pair on the left hesitated for a moment before lowering their weapons slightly. They didn't drop them though, instead aiming at the ground just in front of their leader. Frank noticed a faint beam of green light from the other pair, and moved the Shas'ui in the path of the markerlights. He was uncomfortably aware that of the whirring noise behind him indicating that the devilfish was targeting him, but it didn't fire.

One several tense seconds passed, then one of the Tau moved his hand to his helmet. After fiddling with something, he lowered it again and spoke in a slightly mechanical voice, indicating that he was using a translator.

"If you harm her you will not be able to escape, human."

[spoiler]
Only change in status is that the drone is dead, the Shas'ui is held hostage and the devilfish is down to one hull point. No Narrative points were used this turn.

[/spoiler]