Behind Enemy Lines (RP thread)

[Mabbz]

The Shas'la that had stayed with Hertius took a few seconds to notice them leaving, but when he did he quickly caught up with them. "I apologise about this, sir. I'll let you continue on to your workshop this time, but please be more careful about retaining your identification in future." With that, he joined his colleagues around McTavish, who were trying to calm him down and put him in the recovery position.

"Sir? Sir? Please stop struggling, we're here to help you."

[Wargamer]

McTavish saw his friends departing. "Are they? No, that's not him. I need a doctor. My chest is burning." He calmed down, not wanting to give the Tau a reason to cause him trouble. He tried to remember Street names he'd seen, mindful that he'd have to answer some awkward questions at some point. Still, he'd been dragged in front of enough MPs to handle that.

[The Man They Call Jayne]

Wexler peered out of the end of the Alley. The Firewarriors weren't falling for it. Well...time for a more direct approach. And by direct he meant sneaky.

3 Firewarriors, all distracted by McTavish, one to the rear. Him. He would do.

He would need one hand for the knockout strike, meaning he could only have one weapon. The knife. Silent, efficient, and easy to work between the plates of the Tau armour.

Looking as nonchalant as it was possible to be while also trying to be a sneaky as possible, Wexler advanced on the trio...

[Mabbz]

McTavish made as much noise as possible as he watched Wexler wrap his arms around the rearmost Shas'la in a perfect sleeper hold. Unnoticed, the Catachan pulled the Tau into an alleyway and dumped him there, before returning to take the second the same way. As he was a few feet away, the Tau turned spotted Wexler and backpedalled away from his hasty slashes.

The final Tau drew his pistol but before he could take aim on Wexler, McTavish swept his legs out and wrestled him to the floor. Wexler tried to finish off his foe, but the Fire Warrior evaded him again, this time swinging his rifle like a club. The weapon's superior reach meant that when Wexler tried to reach him, he was caught in the jaw and sent sprawling to the ground.

Status

Fire Warrior 1 is unconcious (i.e. no part of this fight).
McTavish is locked in melee with Fire Warrior 3.
Fire Warrior 2 standing just outside of the McTavish's fight.
Wexler was wounded and failed his saves, so he is also unconcious.

[Wargamer]

"Stormtroopers never die!" McTavish roared as he grappled with his foe. "We go to the Warp and regroup!"
He punched and kicked and kneed and elbowed, seeking any opening to arm himself and make a kill, or at least stun his foe. And all the while he laughed, knowing that death was almost certain. But he was a member of the Emperor's Finest - certain death was part of the job description, and he wouldn't have it any other way. "I'm going to kill you, rape you and wear your akin as a coat! Stop struggling and I'll do it in that order!"

[Mabbz]

A few streets away from the battle, Maria and Hertius had reached the comms tower. It was quite old, Imperial in design but apparently abandoned since the Tau had come along and improved the technology. There was a sign on it marking the building as condemned. Glancing around to make sure they were alone, Hertius easily ripped the door off with his servo arm.

"Um, sir?" ventured Maria hesitantly as Hertius made to enter. "Shouldn't we go back and make sure the others are ok?"



Rolling on top of the Tau, McTavish unleashed a flurry of lightning quick punches. The xeno grunted in pain, trying desperately to fend off the mad bastard. Despite his best efforts though, punching a helmeted Tau in the face merely resulted in him bruising his fist. Still, he was winning and it wouldn't be long now before the alien knew the true fury of the Emperor.

Then McTavish noticed the Tau glancing over his shoulder. Whipping his head round to see what was more interesting than a Stormtrooper, his eyes widened in surprise for a split second before the other Tau's rifle slammed into his face and the world went black.

status

Sorry fellas, but both McTavish and Wexler are now unconcious. One fire warrior is also out, while the others are awake and angry.

[Wargamer]

The palace around him was made of gold. McTavish admired the gilded Gothic majesty, awestruck by the vaulted ceiling and the vast adamantium gates through which an Imperator Titan could stride.
"Frank McTavish, you stand in judgement!"
The figure before him stood in a haze of radiant light, with angelic wings of white feathers and a power halberd in hand.
"Your sins are manyfold!" The angel cried. "For your unspeakable actions you are banished from His halls! Burn forever in the Warp, Heretic!"

McTavish vanished in a flash of blood red smoke. Minutes passed, then a portal opened before the angel. Through it came a Bloodthirster. It hurled McTavish to the ground and snarled, "No bloody way are we taking him! He's YOUR problem!"

"Charming," McTavish grumbled. "so, what happens now?"
The angel looked around, but there was noone around to offer advice. "I suppose... you should wait here?"
"Fair enough," McTavish replied. "You got a deck of cards?"

[Mabbz]

"I have been trying to learn Paradox-Billiards-Vostroyan-Roulette-Fourth Dimensional-Hypercube-Chess-Strip Poker," spake the angel. "If you have a deck, we could do that? If I can get good enough, I might be able to join The Emperor and Tzeentch in their games."

[Mabbz]

Hertius halted at the door, plans and counter-plans spiraling and coalescing in his mind. He stepped back and turned to Maria.
"Imperial Guard work best in groups, and those two are far away from reinforcements. Double back and see whats happened to them, but try and avoid going the same route back in case patrols or the tau intercept you. I will contact who I can from this tower to see if we can direct the local resistances better. If they're being carted off to a local jail, try and shadow them to find out which one it is, as we have an Ogryn for muscle."

Maria hesitated, not sure who the Techpriest could contact locally or how, but she thought better than to question a superior, and before anyone happened around the corner she was on her way, and the techpriest was inside the comms tower.

Hertius had to climb a few floors before reaching the main interface, and the disjointed design of the panels wasted his time to find that inputs her required. He activated as many of the systems and relays as he dared considering the Tau's occupancy of the city and planet. Flipping a few switches, and short microphone extended. The various active screens glowed and displayed incomprehensible code, with the main screen filtering to display the icon of the Mechanicum.

"Connection established. No video recieved. State your name and planet for verification."

"Hertius Von Drakoon. Ferin II." The connection and the tower interior were quiet save for the hum of computers.

"Identity confirmed. State the nature of your communication."

"My flight was shot down, leaving me stranded behind enemy lines. I now need information of any friendly forces in this city, as well as any further intel you can provide." Hertius waited patiently for the information to be displayed on the screens.

No friendly military presence in the city.

Probable resistance movement. Evidence: Attack on prisoner convoy. Checkpoint carbombing. Tau security station firebombing.

Possible members:
Brother Lucien DeMonteford. Priest of the Ecclesiarchy. Alledgedly preached against the Tau during their initial arrival on the planet. Current status: in hiding, wanted by Tau authorities.

Leonardo Reman. Labourer. Known to have taken part in the prisoner convoy raid. Status: in hiding, wanted by Tau authorities.

Terry Jacobson. Local Police Officer. Status: captured during the prisoner convoy raid, currently held in local Tau base.

Lieutenant David Munroe. PDF. Assassinated town mayor during speech welcoming the Tau, using a long-barrelled Lasgun. Status: in hiding, wanted by Tau authorities.

------

Additional intelligence:
The local Tau base is powered by a single fusion reactor, which is therefore a potential weakness.

The base is primarily a supply depot and vehicle repair post, as well as holding area for POWs until they can be transferred to a specialised prison.

Recent large scale Tau offensive has pushed the Imperial front lines back significantly. Nearest Imperial forces are approximately 650km away from the city.

Two Ork Waaaghs have attacked a nearby system. A large portion of Imperial reinforcements intended for Ferin have been diverted to halt the so-called 'Twin Waaaghs'.

"Thank you, that will be all. Closing the link."

Hertius made a few inputs and all power to the relay. While a communications interception was possible, he considered the potential for his messages to be traced to this location and the data retrieved from the computers. As quickly as he could, he searched the abandoned Comms tower for any means to cover his trail.



"Shit," Maria said softly.

She was watching from the shadows of a nearby alley as the unconscious sergeants were loaded into the back of a vehicle, guarded by several Fire Warriors. Once they had driven away, she snagged a passing civillian. "Sorry, those drunken idiots are my brothers. Where would they have been taken?"

"Your brothers attacked a Tau patrol," the woman sniffed disapprovingly. "I suspect they'll be taken to the base for interrogation, and locked up for their crimes."

[Mabbz]

"Hertius!" The Techpriest turned from his ponderings as Maria entered. "The Sergeants have been taken by the Tau. It doesn't look like the Tau know who they are, it looks like they just think they're violent drunks, but they're being taken to the base for interrogation." She was clearly looking like she expected Hertius to lead. "What are we going to do? Can we rescue them somehow?"

[Narric]

Hertius made sure no one was hanging around close by outside the communication relay, before speaking to Maria in hushed tonnes.
"We may have possible allies who can help us. I managed to speak to a Guardsman from the base we passed, and they informed me of some individuals possibly in the city that might be able to help us. The most notable to me right now is one Lieutenant David Munroe. Seems to be a good sniper, which will be useful if he can take out sentries. After that we can try and locate Ecclesiarchy Priest Brother Lucien DeMonteford, who may be able to incite rebellion against the tau from within their own cities. Using names like McTavish and Wexler may help it, even if Mctavishes reputation isn't the best."

Maria gave Hertius a fleeting glance of distrust, but thought better of it.
"Any ideas where we can find this Munroe fellow? I'd have thought Wexler and McTavish would've heard something in their pub crawl, but they seem to have thought more as soldiers than infiltrators."

"Considering none of who I have mentioned seem to have been arrested, at least not publically declared as such, it could be assumed that there is already a small resistance movement hiding in the shadows of tau observation. In which case there must be some part of the town they operate from, or at least have the greatest presence due to basing themselves in it. Considering our last encounter walking the streets, it may be best if we stick to back alleys, which in turn may be the more likely place to run into our resistors." Maria barely held in a grin and chuckle at the idea of a Techpriest talking about resistors. The moment past quickly.

[Mabbz]

Since it was now getting quite late in the evening, Hertius and Maria were easily able to sneak through the darkness of the town. On the way, Maria had an idea and asked Hertius to wait while she entered a bar. Hertius hid in an alley for about twenty minutes, until Maria came out once more.

"I spoke to the barman," she explained. "Said I was new in town, just got a job with the Tau civil service. I told him I'm looking to buy a place to live, and asked if there were any rough areas I should avoid. He said a lot of useful stuff about buying property, including telling me to avoid St Annalina's, in the north-western part of the city, as well as the Ollanius Estate to the south. Apparently there's a lot of people there that aren't happy about the Tau, and wouldn't like having a neighbour that works for the government."



Adam Wexler woke slowly, a habit that could cause problems but on this occasion was a blessing as it allowed him a few moments to take stock of the situation. And the situation was that he was lying on a moderately comfortable bed. The air smelled of the professional cleanliness that he immediately associate with a hospital. The most important fact though was that something metal was attached to his wrists. Since his last memory was being clobbered by a Tau, it wasn't hard to figure out where he was.

Opening his eyes a crack, he spotted two Fire Warrior off to one side. One was scowling right at him, and said something in their xeno tongue.

"Ah, you're awake."

The voice was pleasantly female, and since there was no use pretending, he opened his eyes to see a moderately attractive human woman in a medical uniform walking over. He also saw McTavish in the bed opposite; based on the slight tension in his arms, he was probably awake too, they just hadn't noticed.

The woman moved next to his bed. "Look at me," she said professionally, holding up a torch to check his eyes.

[The Man They Call Jayne]

Wexler decided that his best chance for getting the most out of this was to simply act like an out of sorts simpleton, if they believed him harmless there would possibly be less to contend with while getting McTavish and himself out of here.

His head rolled lazily towards the medic, and his eyes focused on an area about 8 inches in front of her face, enough to seem off, but not enough to look brain damaged.

"I..where is this? Who are you?"

[Mabbz]

"You are in a medbay, in Kau'res'p military base," she smiled. "I'm nurse Joycean. I'm treating you for a head wound you picked up by assaulting the police." She watched his pupils intently for a moment, before turning to the Tau. "Could be a concussion. I'd like to keep him in for an hour to be safe."

"What about the other prisoner?" the Tau replied.

"I'm surprised he hasn't woken up yet. His head injury was less severe. I'll check on him again in a moment." She turned back to Adam, still displaying her reassuring grin. "Sir, we couldn't find any ID on you. Can you tell me your name?"

[The Man They Call Jayne]

"Assaulting the police? I..I don't remember any of that? I didn't hurt anyone did I?"

He shook his head as if to try and gain some clarity.

"Um...my name is...Jeffers... Michael Jeffers...Um...I think I should let you know that...um...this has happened before...I lost my medicine and I didn't know where to find it and...I wandered outside and then...I wasn't there anymore..."

Wexler contorted his face into a mask of sorrow and misery, of a person who was deeply ashamed of his condition and that other people had to be exposed to it. Even doctors, people trained to deal with sick people could be made to feel discomfort, not from the idea of the condition itself, but from a persons breakdown reaction to it, and that could often distract them.

He was waiting for McTavish to make himself known.

"I-I-I'm so very sorry if I hurt anyone...I...I didn't know..."