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The Bloodied Catachan -

Started by Saulus, October 09, 2013, 05:22:54 PM

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Saulus

Hey guys, it's been a long one huh?

Thanksgiving weekend coming up here and I have a small campaign coming up with my 22nd Catachan. Just for a reminder if you are unfamiliar with them I have a picture to follow below here. The last campaign that took place right here on 2nd Sphere against the Orks saw a defeated Imperial force. I mean to pick that up where it left off.


While I accept my writing style is rough to poor, I did write a brief interlude to the campaign that some of you may find as interesting to read as it was for me to write. It follows Commander Baird (pictured first and foremost in the image above, and Lawrence a newcomer taking a knee in the platoon command squad behind) not long after his defeat at the hands of the Orks, picking up while on board one of the surviving vessels of the campaign.

****

Commander Baird despised warp travel, or any space travel for that matter. 'Catachan may have been inhospitable, but at least a man could fight back for survival there!', he thought as he yanked his laces tight until his knuckles turned white. 'Now instead of fighting, the 22nd Urbanites are running tail between the legs back to regroup with some new damned Liberation Fleet'. He let out a grunt of pain wrapping an unhealed wound under his forearm before spiraling the cloth all the way up around his fist, flexing his fingers in and out for comfort with audible snaps. In any case, the platoon was decimated against the Orks, with the Veteran Urbanites largely avoiding casualties thanks to expert air support. One platoon was created from the fractured remains, but had a sullied reputation from the last Lt., and it was time to remedy that. Besides, too long in space will make one weak.

           He gave his boots a final couple bumps against the toe before turning around and facing the men. "Alright boys, if you recall, the disgraced Lt. Price has been DEmoted, DISowned, and is undoubtedly DEceased... due to his cowardice and incompetence in battle!" Baird announced glaring out as if the accused stood in the crowd. "I am therefore looking for a suitable Lt. to step up from your ranks. Now as I understand there is one such individual who wishes to contend for this role?!", Baird's voice echoed out above the mumbling crowd as it parted for a young but heavily scarred soldier. "Commander, I am Sgt. Lawrence and I wish to lead our fighters", he said placing his blade on a small table at Bairds right, a blade who's hilt had been engraved with 4 large letters 'FANG'. "Alright then", Baird said placing another blade on the table crossing it, "First blood caused by the other, this scratch don't count...", gesturing to the scab he had bandaged.

           Baird feigned a twinge of pain clutching his arm for a moment before jabbing Lawrence hard in the gut, heralded with cheers from the crowd. "Keep on your toes Sgt. think on the fly", Baird chuckled, as he began to circle slightly. Lawrence gave out a few prodding jabs and countered in the circle, apparently unfazed by the hit, saying nothing. Baird went on the offense again, glancing off Lawrence's defense before a low kick caught the Sgt. off guard. "Come on now Larry, you're tough I'll give ya that but those scars don't scare me and they sure won't scare any Ork", Baird said with a slight smile. The platoon gasped 'ooohhhh', and Lawrence seemed perturbed by the quip and tackled Baird, knocking over the table with the blades. Baird drew him in close to negate any flurry of punches from coming his way when he felt a sharp piercing pain shoot up his leg. "Awww, DAMN", he glanced down and saw a red smear across the ground and a small glistening FANG next to it.

          Lawrence released his grip and extended his hand to his commander to help him up. Baird grabbed the assistance in case his new cut was bad and severed a tendon, but he presumed it to be superficial. He grabbed his blade off the floor alongside FANG and stared for a moment before Lawrence interrupted, "Sir, I wish to be Lt. LAWRENCE", emphasizing every syllable. "Well alright soldier! I suppose blood is blood, no matter how it's caused", he placed FANG in a gear bag on the floor and flipped the other from hilt to tip and handed it to Lawrence. "This one's name is KING, newly crafted, and unbloodied", Lawrence took it with pride and cut his palm with it as he placed it in his sheath. Cheers, stomps and applause went up as he returned to the front of the ranks, with several of the fresher fighters sneaking a glimpse at the new blade. In all the uproar Baird felt the ship quake a bit, and as endearing it would be, it was not his soliders' enthusiasm. "Alright Lt. your first order is to find yourself some Sarges", tossing the gear bag of sarge blades with a clank before heading to the bridge elevator while unwrapping his hands.

           The ship shuddered again, more vigorously this time, he increased his pace. In the elevator a general alert was aired for his attendance on the bridge with the other company commanders, the standby lights were on. He ran to the bridge where some of the other company commanders had already assembled. The navigator's apprentice looked pale, at least more so than usual, as he poured over maps scrawled as if drawn by The Damned.

          "Nnoooo, nooo, this is not right", he mumbled, "I'm sure we are on course..". The commanders looked around with silent consensus, as if to say 'well at least he's not freaking out too much'! Another large jolt hit the ship, sending many of the servitors on their side as well as the frail old 465th Cadian Lord Comissar Jackob. Baird knew better than to offer his hand of assistance as the now enraged commissar shouted, "What in the blazes is going on Navigator?! The ships navigating round the Eye of Terror have smoother courses"!! Another similar jolt wracked the ship as the pale psyker closed his eyes for a moment. With the situation deteriorating and with no information Baird thought it best to follow the best course of action he knew, sat down and strapped in, the other's in attendance did the same.
         
          "Commanders, for reasons unknown there are disturbances on this route that are causing...difficulties. We are dropping out of warp", the aspiring psyker began tightening the straps to fit his childlike shoulders. A code red sounded as the voidborn man started feverishly working a control console. While Baird was unschooled in warp travel he recalled that this is generally thought to be a bad thing and asked, "But, but I thought you can't JUST drop out of the warp...orrrr can you"? "Well simply put...." The rest of the response was cut short by a dizzying shunt and the very beams of the ship shrieked out under the force. Dataslates and anything not bolted down flew across the room, medals and pins were stripped from clothing from the force of the stop. Alarms rang out from nearly every console, and damage logs could not seem to keep up with the strains the ship was enduring. With a large snap a ceiling vault cracked spewing tangles of wires and hissing some sort of vapours.

           Slowly order returned to the room although everything had been turned upside down and nearly every station was reporting system failure. Just as the room began to calm the head navigator emerged from his piloting chamber with a menacing scowl. "By the Emperor's name Felix I should have you executed", he roared somewhat comically for his pole-thin stature. "I knew I should not have trusted you to plot this course!", he added, snatching away the paper his assistant had been clutching the whole ordeal. "Even the most naïve of people could not have plotted a course so.... Poorly....", his tone dropped as he looked at the scrawling. He began muttering with Felix at the desk while yet again the commanders were left to just sit in silence collecting themselves. Jackob was out, must have taken a hit to the head, his aide was attending a small scratch on his cheek.

          "....No matter!", the navigator soon proclaimed, "We will first have to get the ship back in working order"! As he turned to leave Baird quickly ran after him. "Whoa wait, where are we, and what's going on", Baird said as he grabbed him from behind. The navigator turned around quickly, "listen you jungle parasite, I'm not sure who you think I am, but I am not a miracle worker, and I have little time! This ship has lost every major system, that INCLUDES life support, and we will be damn lucky to save it. So you had best PRAY to the Emperor there's a planet AND CLOSE". With that the navigator yanked his shoulder loose as he zipped down the corridor.

          When Baird returned all eyes were on him and looking for some sort of guidance. "Well boys, the ships in bad shape, we might need to take a short away trip while the skeleton crew gets things running again. Let's pack our companies up in the event we can get some landfall. That is IF there is some land to fall ON!". Baird did not wait for the rest of them, he was off to his company to get mobilized.

         Upon arriving down in the loading bays to find that the Veteran Urbanites have already assembled the men and demeaned the boys who got bounced around in the spinout. Lawrence had the platoons lined up and suited before saying, "What's the word sir"? Baird looked around for a moment in silent admiration, "This ship may be going down, but we aren't the captain, and we SURE weren't made for fixing things! If there's any kind of planet out there, we're going to land on it. You have all proven yourselves on Catachan, and you Urbanites have proven yourselves in many more planets. Whatever is down there, I KNOW we'll be ready for it"! The company responded with "For the 22nd, for victory, and for the Emperor" and stood at attention.

           Baird beckoned the Fleet Officer over who somehow always had a plan, before Baird could even speak he interjected pointing at his dataslate, "Sirrrr, we have preliminary data showing a planetoid object a few days flight away from the ship. First scans show positive for habitation. More advanced scans are unavailable and knocked out. As we have not gotten any re-enforcements we have plenty of room to bring the gear for any climate or encounter. I haaaaave spoken with the other Logistic Officers, they concur, use the landers to full extent as duration of stay unsure". He then handed Baird the dataslate, saluted and took his place back in the command squad. "Alright, uhhh, great, sure..." Baird looked over the small information he had.

          Given the circumstances there was little else to do he reasoned, "OK boys, grab your kits and clean out your quarters, we board the landers in 20! Bring your change of clothes, we might be here a while..." Baird jogged to the command quarters and began collecting his gear. He struggled to heft his powerfist on over his still tender arm wound hissing in pain as he snapped the final clasp shut. His astropathic advisor looked over eyebrows raised, "Sir, perhaps select a more...wieldy weapon from the quartermaster? You may hide your pain, but I can feel it". Baird rolled his eyes slightly, "Listen, I've had worse before and I'm pretty certain I'll have worse before I complete my service to The Emperor so how about you pack up and ship out!" A small nod is the only response that was given. 'That psyker get's more intrusive by the years', Baird thought as he grabbed his Catachan Devil scale necklace. 'Let's just hope we MAKE it to this rock, survival was the easy part'.
No fear. No mercy. No matter what.

Narric

Haven't had a chance to read it, but I do recommend you shrink down the image. linking it to a seperate window/tab would be best considering the size. If yopu don't want to link away, just use the size codes, like this
[img width=800]http://i.imgur.com/qqSSE.jpg[/img]
will give you this:
Spoiler

The image can be clicked to bring it back up to original size, meaning people don't lose out on the details ;)

I'll get reading what you've got now ;)

Saulus

Knowledge is power Narric, thanks for the picture help, much more manageable now.
No fear. No mercy. No matter what.

Narric

The story was a great read :) If you happen to continue on a ice/frozen world, make sure to save it and enter it into the Winter Writers Contests.

Saulus

#4
Continuing on before the actual battle report. Late as always but I guess a job begun is half done.

Baird glanced over the dataslate briefing gallery, not exactly what he had hoped. "4 icy tears of a dying sun", he scoffed flipping through the tactically useless data, "If I wanted some dopey poetry I'd go flay an Eldar"! The only thing worse than casualties were replacements, and this 'Tac Officer' was not off to a great start. Maybe he could be sent to fight and shape up or ship out...

Baird's pondering was interrupted by the dull drone of the mechanicus pilot, "Planet.... Zero, One,... approach vector locked. Machine spirit, harmonious. Predicted planetside gravity 1.05 Terras, atmosphere weak but stable, average temperature 4 degrees, likelihood of indigenous or hostile combatants high. Transient photon concentrations on dark side consistent with battle, not natural phenomena...." A litany of no doubt interesting details concerning orbital period and eccentricities were dryly recited. That was not relevant compared to these explosions referred to as 'transient photon concentrations'.

Baird quickly left the augur cloister and entered the main departure deck, "OK urbanites! Get set, looks like the LZ could be hot. We've got no idea what's down there but they are putting on some fireworks for us!" The veterans quickly and carefully checked ammo tightened their flak jackets and bandanas and each had their hand on the restraint buckle for fast exit. The lights cut out, replaced by flickering red bulbs. Baird stood with his power-gloved hand clasping the support beam and the free hand around his boltgun. Turbulence was quite light, for planetfall, after a few minutes the hiss of cabin equalization took over. It would not be long now.

The pilot then cut the lights entirely as the lander slowed sharply as the retrothrusters whined. The ship gave one final large lurch as it set down. All that could be heard was the reverberations from the motors as the mechanical workings of the ship cranked away. The assault ramp then smashed down and the Urbanites rushed out.

With the ramp down Baird had to yell to be heard over the high winds, swirling mist and the roaring engines, "FAN OUT, KEEP LOW"! It was nighttime on the side of the planet to mask their deployment, but at the same time no one had a clue as to whether or not it was safe. After hunkering down in some light brush with his command team the landers lifted off into the night sky leaving nothing but 50 meters of darkness, silence and fog. Looks as though the fighting picked up on entry was not anywhere near this location.

Now that the threat was gone the details of the environment began to set in. The air was near freezing, and it was going to get colder still, "Get some habs setup, and Reccy, get moving and find out where that battle was and who is around". 

"Sir?!", the fleet officer yelled stumbling past a boulder and somehow already clad in cold weather gear, "The landers with the platoon and support vehicles, they won't be here for at least another day. Storm's coming and drove them off". "Great....", Baird replied, "Well we've got enough veterans to hold out for a day I suppose. We got any Flyers?"

"Sir, we've got 2 vendettas that were on escort with us, that's it", the aide seemed very distraught over his report. "Perfect, well, have them on standby. Those reccy boys see something we will have to get out there fast". Baird then zipped up his coat and picked up a shovel, might as well dig in.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Early the next morning everything was covered in a thin layer of snow with a tiny blue white sun resting on the horizon. Many would call it 'picturesque', Baird preferred the 'glare', as he donned his shades. The sentries nodded as Baird walked past to survey the revealed landscape. Relatively smooth, but definite ruined structures to the north. Second recon was just returning, no sign of the first. "Well, how was your evening stroll?" Baird joked as the weary scouts shuffled into base. "Great Commander! Maybe you should join us sometime huh?" The sarge quipped back with a grin, "but seriously sir, we did find some tracks, and of varied sorts. Tau for sure, looked to be following some potholes left by something in powered armour".

"Alright, well where is First? They already come back and leave?" a pair of magnoculars were handed to Baird by a veteran as he was scanning the horizon. "They said they would go dark sir, around, maybe, 0300? Headed way north to check out the ruins. They are due to check in by the way" the sarge calmly said as he sipped on a flask.  "Well I think it's time for a scenic drive, no sense digging through this frost if we can just setup there" Baird walked off quickly to the one Chimera that made landfall, to stave off the cold more than anything.

"Tell me this junker can move", Baird shouted over the power generator setup at the 'garage'. It was little more than a tent made distinct by a sign carved out piece of wood and a black canvas. "Ohhhh yes sir, just warming it up sir!" said a grease-covered driver. "And the Vendettas, you make sure they can operate?" Baird double-checked seeing how he feels uneasy about venturing out without support. "Sir, the flyers are running clean as the morning snow" his bright smile contrasted by his stained black face. "Oooooook....", was the only thing Baird could come up with as he stepped in the chimera hold and grabbed the vox. "Command team, report to the chimera for deployment. Mayhem and Urbanite squads, grab your gear and standby with vendettas", Baird was sure that that should be enough. Emperor help the foes that those maniacs in Mayhem squad drop on.

The chimera desperately needed a tune up; the suspension, or lack thereof, was tossing the tank around with every pebble it seemed. Not to mention the Promethium stores for the heavy flamer had a slow leak and gave the whole compartment a terrible odour. When almost at the last check-in First Recon radioed in, "This is Sgt. Mikhail with First reporting, movement spotted. Unidentified force moving through ruins North. At least 20, powered armour, light vehicle escort and heavy vehicle, uhhhhh, Land Raider Class. Orders?" Damn, Baird thought glancing around at his flamer armed squad, that Raider could cause some problems. "This is Commander Baird, hold. Repeat, hold position and do not engage. Mayhem and Urbanites are inbound in case. Can you ID the ..." Baird was cut off on the radio. "We are taking heavy fire", the signal sputtered following what was a blast from what was undoubtedly a frag missile, "Cannot hold for long....returning fire". Baird busted down the driver's door vox in hand, "Punch it man! Mayhem Urbanites get over here, we've got some targets!"

For the actual battle report follow this link:
http://secondsphere.org/index.php?topic=1581.msg27888#msg27888
No fear. No mercy. No matter what.

BigToof

Wow, Saulus, I'm really impressed!

Keep up the really great work and I want to see what happens to Baird and co. next!

BTW is this a continuation of a previous series or this altogether new?

Seems familiar for some reason...

Best,
-BT
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

Saulus

Hey Toof. Yea Baird got his injury and needed a new Lt. because of the defeat suffered in the SecSph Ork Vs. IG campaign we had back....I don't know when.

Thanks for reading in any case, like I said not a great writer but it's enjoyable. The others in my current campaign don't have much interest in this fluff kind of stuff, but they are reading along.
No fear. No mercy. No matter what.

Saulus

#7
The next instalment deals with the aftermath of battle and the expansion of the conflict on this unknown planet. The battle report for the last battle is on the second sphere site at:

http://secondsphere.org/index.php?topic=1581.msg27888#msg27888

By the time the Chimera churned it's way back to base Baird could see that the Platoons must have made landfall. The camp had groups of men huddling around fires and stacking cargo all over. Sure enough after opening the hatch, Lawrence's stern and rough face was standing at attention. "Commander, Alpha and Bravo platoons have arrived, got 'em workin' on trenches and digging out a command bunker. We're stayin' here right?", Lawrence said quickly and nervously.

"Great yes, trenches, command bunker why do we...?", Baird's voice trailed off as he turned his head towards an anomaly in the 22nd, a Commissar. Wearing a red and yellow overcoat and bright blue sash. Certainly not one to go unnoticed.

"Ah, Commander Baird I presume", the stout man stated with a slight smirk. "Back from recon duty hrmmm?", he continued as he shot his hand forward, "Lord Commissar Derek Fahey. Please, do call me Derek!"

"Good to have you Derek, I was not told about any new officers, certainly not one of such... rank", Baird paused choosing his words carefully as he noted a pliable handshake unbecoming of a Lord Commissar. Even as a commander, commissars always made him nervous at the best of times. This occasion being far worse because of the battlefield of Astartes he just drove back from.

"Yes well, I have not been transferred so much as marooned. Jackob from the 465th Cadian, whom you know I believe, seems to have a problem with my judgment. To display he was in charge he had ordered me to stay behind on the ship to clean servitors!", The flamboyantly dressed commissar stated tossing his hand aside in bewilderment. "He does not order me though, but to keep things civil I asked your trusted Lt. Lawrence if he had any room in a transport to which he graciously obliged!", Derek smiled putting his hand on Lawrence's shoulder. Lawrence shot a quick 'what was I supposed to do' look to Baird before nodding along with a small smile.
"Well I am glad you got transport down here, when will you be joining your Cadian brothers?", Baird inquired as he gave a thud on the Chimera hatch to catch it before it drove off, he would like to get this commissar on his way.

"Oh, I won't be, I'm assigning myself to your 22nd division!", Derek said with a great smile clearly expecting a celebration. "You are still in command of course. No toes being stepped on here! Anyways, I must supervise the construction of the command bunker I will be staying in. If you have any briefings, the good Lt. knows where to find me.", and with that he turned around with a tip of his hat.

"Well sir, that could have gone far worse", Lanwrence said, obviously trying to cover his decision.  Baird stood for a moment with a slight shake of his head before Lawrence gave a half-hearted salute and shuffled away.

While Lawrence was correct, given the choice between the two Baird would have preferred NOT to have a Lord Commissar watching over his shoulder. But the cheery nature and relaxed handshake gave hope that this was more of a vacation for Derek than anything else. He most likely doesn't want any grievances attracting attention to himself. But the pressing matter was that of the recent battle and counter measures. More information might have come to light about what even happened.

Baird went to the landing zone hoping to find the Fleet Officer, and he was right. Next to him was the Tac-Officer adjusting his goggles awkwardly while trying to take notes. The Tac-Officer was pressing the FO for flight records for the last battle to which the Fleet Officer was waving his hands saying there are none. The conversation stopped as Baird approached.

"Officers", Baird began raising his voice over the wind, " Have you found any more information on this planet and it's occupants?"

The Tac-Officer was going to start before the FO motioned inside a nearby Vendetta to speak. While closing the loading hatch he began his report. "I've been monitoring as many frequencies as our array can handle. The engagement that was reported was with a large Astartes force 'The Angels of Redemption'. They too seemed to be passing through when...interrupted. "

It is at this point the Tac-Officer could not contain himself any longer. "Commander", he said with obviously inflated tone, "You might be able to fool the conscripts about the 'reported engagement' with the marines but only a headless man would believe that Tau could do that kind of attack!" Baird stood head slightly cocked in disbelief. "And...and frankly I find it insulting that you would attempt a deception this profane", he continued losing his confidence as Baird stepped a bit closer.

"Looks like we have a trust issue huh?", Baird grumbled taking another step closer, "Guess you don't believe those reports you've been told. How could you, being an expert on the Tau now huh?!" The young officer now leaning back over a seat with against the wall realized he was trapped should he try and escape and fear began to set in. He glanced past Baird at the fleet officer, who had turned around to fiddle with his dataslate. "And where were YOU during The Expansion Conflict? Reading up on types of Tau attacks?", Baird said shoving him down on the chair. Nearly terrified the young officer made a bolt for the deployment hatch but froze when he heard two clicks, one for the lock, and one of Baird's powerfist.

"Sir, noooo, please sir", he begged, "I'm sorry for insubordination". He put his hands trembling in the air.

Baird clicked off his powerfist and slapped him hard across the face, "STAND UP FOR YOURSELF", he bellowed walking over to the Fleet Officer. "Fleet Officer, do you think my guise of trying to blame the Tau for our attack on the Marines was smart?" Baird asked bluntly. "Most certainly not sir, it was a foolish idea", he immediately and bluntly replied. Baird then responded with "Do you have a problem with my decision making? HUH? Are you calling me a fool?" Baird said with some spit landing on the FO's dataslate with fists clenched. The FO then put his data slate down and jabbed Baird in his stomach, "No sir, I have a problem with ONE decision you made, but you are commander because you can MAKE them!"

Baird gasped after the hit, pointed at the FO while looking at the Tac-Officer, "THAT is an officer. He demands respect. He does not beg. He has his own thoughts. I think you should get out there and learn some of that. What's your Line's Name son?"

The broken Tac-Officer whispered, "Singer, sir", standing up gingerly.

Well that explains the flowery language of the reports. "Well Sub-Lt. Singer, report to Lt. Lawrence. For the time being you will have to carry out your command role within platoon command", Baird said slamming the hydraulic door release, "When Lawrence vouches for you'll get off Frontline Duty."

Singer began to walk off into the snow-dusted landing strip before turning and yelling, "Thank you, sir", as the Vendetta door closed.

Baird dropped the stern look as soon as the door sealed and chuckled a bit. The FO glanced over with a slight smile, "Well sir, I think he got the picture. In any case, I have his files and have been cross-referencing them with data obtained from the ship and other sources. And I have a few points to review", he said pulling out a pictcorder.

Baird took a seat across from the officer as he displayed his lecture posture that meant this would take a while. "Our broad spectrum analysis indicates that there are several factions currently in this area besides our own Imperial Liberation Re-enforcement. Unsurprisingly, there is the Battle Barge Lion's Might in close orbit. As it's weapons and engines heavily damaged, possibly beyond repair, the Dark Angel contingent has been scavenging parts. Their leader, attributed to be quiet and thoughtful, is named El'Captain on record. Most likely a reference to their Primarch Lion'El. His second in command is apparently a powerful Librarian with only one name reference again, Livingston... I suspect this to be an informal name as it has no evidence of being an Astartes Title. This planet, based on their records I skimmed, is a fallen Tau expansion world. This assessment is most likely valid, a network of defunct 'skip-drones' are in orbit. This could also mean a Tau listening post, but any such signals would be undetectable by our surviving equipment. This planet has a small and latent Ork infestation. They are kept confined by the cold and are non-threatening. They are however setup in and around the largest mineral and fuel resources. Finally, we are aware of another Battle Barge that was stranded here, The Gladiator of Baal. The Commander of the Vessel is Chaplain Gregory of The Order of Blood. I'll patch you through to him at your leisure. He stated he would only speak with our Commander... " The FO took a brief pause for any questions, seeing Baird's contemplative furrowed brow he continued.

"That THEN leaves us with the reason we are here, this of course was not our destination, the Navigators have convened and agreed that it is of no fault of their maps nor skill. They blame our Mechanicus, perhaps an incorrect vector or a Gellar field malfunction. But the likelihood of 3 machine spirits on 3 Imperial ships failing at the same time in the same place is too unlikely. We do not know who, or how this was done, or even how LONG this has been happening. But I would hazard not long as there are only 3 of us. I will be looking into it more." The FO then sat down and looked eager to answer queries.

Baird immediately thought that there were not 3 warp travel failures, there were 4. In his experience there was no such thing as a mild amount of Orks. A small amount means they are newcomers too. What with Ork's shoddy travel methods he's willing to bet those 'mineral resources' are the downed Ork ships. In any case he had ties with The Order of Blood from The Expansion Wars back when he was a Lt. and was anxious to talk, "Best talk to Gregory first before we think about anything", Baird said propping himself up in front of the pictcorder. The Order might have some fresh intel.

With a few bashes on the hull the signal was scratchy but on, displaying a pale face mounted on black and red powered armour, twisted by pain and skull adorned cybernetics. "Chaplain Gregory?", Baird began nodding slightly, "I am Commander Baird, leader of the 22nd Catachan, and veteran of The Expansion Wars." Baird spoke with confidence hoping the Marine had also fought the Tau in that campaign. He knew The Order was deployed in force initially but got called back early to counter a Tyranid invasion elsewhere. The 22nd was left as the main aggressor in the sector in what was generally considered a successful, albeit costly, campaign. Baird only saw any actual marines once though. Great hulks of metal, crashing from the sky with their jump packs, which then gruesomely tore the Tau infantry squad to pieces before breaking for cover.

The Chaplain's face changed little during the entire introduction and he spoke with a poignant dictation as if holding back some deep hatred, "Guardsman, your service to the previously Tau held sector is... noted. It is comforting to know you display the loyalty The Order of Blood requires. Repairs to our craft are nearly complete, we must requisition an assortment of parts to replace our Gellar field generator. You will surrender your ship's field or...'requisition' one. Co-ordinates of the only planetside parts are being transmitted now. That is all Commander. No rest, no mercy, no matter what". The transmission was terminated and the vendetta was left cold and quiet.

"Well", Baird gravely looked up, "best find that planetside Gellar field then." The FO looked stunned staring back, "Sir, The Gladiator of Baal has pulled alongside our frigate. It appears fully functional and a Blood Angel Captain Darius has come aboard and taken command. A strike force is on its way, vector indicates to our FOB..."

"WHAT?!" Ready the troops!!", Baird jumped to his feet, "Give a standby order to our wings, and find out where those Gellar co-ordinates would have us running to!" Baird knew that anytime an order this direct was given it meant bad things for his men. But the incoming strike force meant worse things if he declined. This was not a suggestion.

The ensuing battle takes place here : http://secondsphere.org/index.php?topic=1647.0
No fear. No mercy. No matter what.

Narric

I did read this when first posted :P

Excellent read, and a great piece to connect two games.

I look forward to either the next piece or Bat-Rep from you ;)

Dra'Tuisisch-Novae

I got called away before being able to read more than the first half of the initial post. It's an enjoyable start, and I certainly wouldn't call your writing style "rough too poor" :).

My one critique is the paragraph structure. Starting a new line with each new speaker breaks up blocks of text and makes it easier to follow who's speaking; quick, simple and helps the flow.

For example:
QuoteHe gave his boots a final couple bumps against the toe before turning around and facing the men. "Alright boys, if you recall, the disgraced Lt. Price has been DEmoted, DISowned, and is undoubtedly DEceased... due to his cowardice and incompetence in battle!" Baird announced glaring out as if the accused stood in the crowd. "I am therefore looking for a suitable Lt. to step up from your ranks. Now as I understand there is one such individual who wishes to contend for this role?!", Baird's voice echoed out above the mumbling crowd as it parted for a young but heavily scarred soldier. "Commander, I am Sgt. Lawrence and I wish to lead our fighters", he said placing his blade on a small table at Bairds right, a blade who's hilt had been engraved with 4 large letters 'FANG'. "Alright then", Baird said placing another blade on the table crossing it, "First blood caused by the other, this scratch don't count...", gesturing to the scab he had bandaged.

Versus:
QuoteHe gave his boots a final couple bumps against the toe before turning around and facing the men.
"Alright boys, if you recall, the disgraced Lt. Price has been DEmoted, DISowned, and is undoubtedly DEceased... due to his cowardice and incompetence in battle!" Baird announced glaring out as if the accused stood in the crowd. "I am therefore looking for a suitable Lt. to step up from your ranks. Now as I understand there is one such individual who wishes to contend for this role?!", Baird's voice echoed out above the mumbling crowd as it parted for a young but heavily scarred soldier.
"Commander, I am Sgt. Lawrence and I wish to lead our fighters", he said placing his blade on a small table at Bairds right, a blade who's hilt had been engraved with 4 large letters 'FANG'.
"Alright then", Baird said placing another blade on the table crossing it, "First blood caused by the other, this scratch don't count...", gesturing to the scab he had bandaged.
[Bender]I'm back baby![/Bender]