[Only War] From Braxia with Love.

I had been toying with the idea of running a roleplaying campaign for months. So when I had been introduced to the Only War system, I almost immediately started writing up a campaign for it. After a couple of weeks, this was the result.



So how does this begin? Taglines!

17:10 Yorke In the grim darkness of the 42nd millenium, there is only war.

That's not a typo, I swear.

17:10 Yorke Or is there?
17:11 Yorke No, citizens of the Imperium, there is also hope.

Heresy

17:11 Yorke For what is the Emperor’s guiding hand if not a beacon of hope for our civilization?
17:12 Yorke But hope is not the only requirement to keep ourselves intact amongst the stars.
17:14 Yorke We are the Imperial Guard, the Imperium’s might, and among it’s last hopes to see the new dawn.
17:14 Jayne ((All two of us!))
17:15 Kendall ((There will be more))

Probably should have waited for more people to show up. Then again, one of the players is on GMT, which is 5 hours ahead of my time.

17:17 Yorke The City Square of New Nassau was a very large place. It was designed to hold large parade formations like this. Both political rallies and military showcasing took place here annually.
17:18 Serpentis ((Salut))
17:20 Yorke Today was a good day for the Imperium, the 113th Braxis Primaries have completed their training, and the day of Founding is upon them.
17:22 Yorke Thousands of soldiers lined the square, their dress uniforms all shining decorations and cascading bright colors.
17:26 Yorke Common spectators were cordoned off at the edge of the square, cheering wildly at the lucky men and women who would protect the worlds of the Imperium, their courage to be remembered by the Emperor forever.

We are so fucked.

17:28 Yorke Noble spectators were closer to the green soldiers,political figures among them, as well as, the Governor of the planet and his wife.
17:30 Yorke Outside specialists were in their own section, newly arrived to inspect and advise the new regiment. Among them were Commissar Yorke, her cadet, and Stormtrooper Maxis.
17:31 Yorke The commissar was overdressed for the occasion, which could not be helped. The tropical climate cooked her inside her heavy dress coat, shirt, and fancy hat. A sufficient sacrifice to keep face at the founding of the regiment she now had authority over.

Said hat shall always be referred to as “fancy”, no exceptions.

17:32 Maxis is taking the opportunity to scan the regiment as they march past. Ribbon markings on his carapace stand out slightly against the new paint on his armor, and his mask carries a slight tint to his lenses as he stares at the marching rows of greenies.
17:34 Maxis "I've been sent on penance from the Emperor, haven't I."
17:34 Maxis "I'm having to watch another shower of idiots run into las-bolts for the Emperor."
17:34 Maxis "On a jungle-y hellhole."
17:34 Maxis "And this gas-mask itches."
17:35 Yorke "Oh cheer up Maxis, I hear the next theater is an arctic wasteland."
17:35 Yorke "We can actually put this gear to use now."
17:35 Maxis "...suddenly, I feel better."
17:36 Maxis ((The stormtrooper pities you fools.))
17:37 Yorke Meanwhile, the nameless cadet was trying his damnedest not to squirm in the heat.
17:42 Yorke Colonel Atticus, meanwhile, was standing at his podium at the center of the square with the governor, as he made his optimistic and fervorous speech about the glory that the Regiment had ahead of them. The formations of troops marched around him in complex and well practiced maneuvers.
17:44 Yorke "I wonder how useful those maneuvers will be against an actual thinking enemy."
17:44 Maxis "They'll do fine against Orks."
17:44 Maxis "Besides, didn't this lot get their tithes cleared because they got attacked by Orks?"
17:46 Yorke "Indeed. The Greenskins have been harassing this planet for decades since the first spores came. Every time they take down a horde, they seed another one in their place."
17:46 Maxis "So they've been trained to hunt things stupider than them."
17:46 Maxis "Makes sense."

Indeed.

17:47 Kendall Marching along with the rest of the regiment was Private Kendall Turczyn. He still couldn't believe that his life led up to his point. A few months ago, he was about to complete is civilian medicae training. Then the draft came along and tossed that prospect out the window.
17:47 Yorke "The only reason this planet is probably still intact is because there hasn't been a warlord to organize them."
17:48 Yorke "They've lost too much to infighting."
17:52 Kendall Initially, he was devastated. He didn't consider himself a soldier. However, as he progressed through basic training with the other recruits, the Guard lifestyle began to grow on him. It was harsh and restrictive, but it was ultimately doable, and he felt that it made him a stronger man in the end. Now, he couldn't see himself being anywhere else.
17:53 Maxis wonders if she's referring to the Orks or the Braxians.

She was referring to the Orks, of course. But he doesn't know that.

17:54 Kendall Best part was, he could put his medicae training to good use as a medic. Now the founding day had finally come, and Kendall couldn't be happier to march alongside his fellow guardsmen.
17:54 Kendall ...Well, for the most part. Now his legs and sides were starting to ache.
17:54 Yorke The formations slowly move to a halt, all facing the podium, as the troops circle the podium, it looks like some kind of religious ceremony which to be honest, it kinda is.
17:55 Kendall His expression looked more strained than cheerful now. They must've been stomping through the whole city at this point.
17:56 Jayne Jayne, for the most part seemed semi-oblivious. She had a permanent wide-eyed semi-surprised look on her face and her personality seemed to match generally. She also had a habit of blurting the first thing to come to mind. Which was usually odd.




Yeah...

17:57 Maxis "And look at the gawpers."
17:58 Maxis "It's as if some of them didn't even pass the basic entrance protocol of being able to sign their name away."
17:58 Kendall "March, march, march..." He droned, sighing. He turned to the small female guards-woman to his side. Jayne was one of the recruits in his unit during boot, and now, they were part of the same squad. Fancy that. She seemed to be having fun...as always.
17:58 Kendall In fact, nothing ever seemed to get her down. Her thought process was a bit...odd. She always had something to say, even when it wasn't appropriate...or sensible.
17:58 Kendall "How much longer do you think this will take?"
18:01 Yorke A priest of the Ecclesiarchy walked forward to the colonel, which was apparently a cue for the higher up specialists to step forward.
18:01 Maxis steps forward in silent lockstep with the rest of the Stormtroopers.
18:02 Jayne "Hours on end? Maybe? I'm hungry. Are you hungry?"

Refer to previous image.

18:02 Yorke The commissar signaled to the senior Enginseer to follow, and left the cadet with the stormtroopers as they walked towards the podium.

I wonder who that could be.

18:03 Kendall "You have *no* idea," He groans, "I mean, do they really need have us march through the entire city? Hell, I think we've been on this street before. It seems rather excessive, don't you think?"
18:04 Jayne "We march in circles for the glory of the Imperium!" She sounds completely serious.
18:06 Maxis overhears someone talking about marching in circles and is reminded of a rhyme that went around the Schola. "When in mortal danger, When beset by doubt, Run in little circles, Wave your arms and shout."
18:07 Maxis starts smirking under the visor.
18:07 Kendall stares at Jayne. "...Well, when you put it like that, how could I possibly complain." He chuckles.
18:09 Yorke The commissar approaches the colonel, and they salute each other. He yields the podium to Yorke, and she walks up to the Laud Hailer.
18:14 Yorke She adjusts her hat to try and stave off the heat, revealing a lock of golden blonde hair.
18:16 Yorke "Soldiers of the 113th Braxis Primaries, I am proud of your determination in your training, and you have reached the dawn of your new lives, The Founding."
18:17 Yorke "I am your new Commissar, the guiding hand that will keep this Regiment intact when needed."

Bolt pistols aren't guiding, but yes, same concept.

18:17 Yorke "Keep your discipline, be brave in the face of adversary, and do your duty, and we will have no quarrel."
18:19 Maxis has heard this speech quite a few regiments before and is at risk of dozing off whilst standing at attention.
18:19 Yorke "However, if you fail in your duty, if you are found wanting..."



Er, not really.

18:19 Kendall stops along with the formation. He sighs in relief and straightens up for the Commissar's speech. He feels honored to be standing here on this day.
18:20 Yorke "Then find solace in the fact that emperor will shed but a single tear for your death."
18:21 Maxis "...z..."
18:21 Yorke She steps back from the Hailer, the colonel seems deflated that his speech of optimism was immediately followed by a not so vague threat.
18:23 Yorke The Ecclesiarchy priest steps up next to the Laud Hailer.
18:23 Maxis "zzz"
18:23 Maxis is kicked in the shin by a fellow Stormtrooper and twitches upright.
18:23 Yorke "Now, at the end, we call upon the God-Emperor to light the way. Let us say the Rite of Founding."
18:24 Yorke All at once, the soldiers, and even the spectators at the edge of the square kneel and hum with the priest.
18:29 Maxis ((Salut!))
18:29 Seere ((yo))]
18:41 Yorke After the Founding, the regiment retreated back to it's housing, preparing to board the Bravery of Pius in the morning.

The Bravery of Pius being the transport voidship that they will be embarking on. The name is a reference to Ollanius Pius, an Imperial Guardsman who somehow had enough balls to stand up to Warmaster Horus when he turned to Chaos. It went... as well as you'd expect it to really.

18:45 Yorke The commissar had housing and a brick office all to herself, which is why she sent summons to Seere, Maxis, Kendall, and Jayne in their own residencies to meet their for a private meeting.
18:47 Maxis has gotten used to Commissars sending out really rather arbitrary orders, so this is nothing really new.
18:48 Maxis He now stands outside the assigned door and starts puffing away on as many lho-sticks as he can after lifting up his visor.
18:48 Kendall Well. Kendall didn't see this coming. Here he was, a greenhorn guardsman medic, walking up to the private residence of the Commissar herself for a private meeting.
18:49 Seere has not. When he shows up at the commissar's office, he looks pretty much terrified. He stands with his back against the wall, face thankfully mostly concealed by his hood, clutching his staff close to himself.
18:49 Kendall is, understandably, freaked the fuck out. He looks around nervously, approaching the house cautiously.
18:49 Yorke There is a slit in the door that suddenly opens, young eyes appearing on the other end.
18:50 Jayne Jayne wasn't exactly expecting this but from her expression she never seemed to be expecting anything. She walked up to the house looking quickly and a bit jerkily between her comrades. She bounces on her heels looking ready to shoot her mouth off at any moment.
18:50 Yorke "Oh, you're the potential squadmates right?" A young, reedy male voice sounds out from the slit.

The Commissariat is obligated to explain things by assuming you already know them.

18:50 Kendall The presence of a stormtrooper and a psyker does *not* help. Kendall glances at them, nervously. He then turns to Jayne, wondering how the hell she can stay so calm in this situation.
18:51 Maxis *puff, puff* "If that's what the Commissar ordered." *puff*
18:51 Seere Kendall's nervous glance doesn't help either. Seere tries to shrink back against the wall even harder.
18:52 Kendall "...Potential what-now?"
18:52 Kendall Kendall looks at Maxis, eyebrow raised questionably.
18:53 Yorke There's a barking command from behind the cadet, and he apologetically closes the slit. "Right, sorry ma'am, letting them in." It comes out muffled from behind the steel door.
18:53 Yorke The door suddenly opens it's bolt and pushes open towards them.
18:53 Maxis "Do you have a question, Guardsman?"
18:53 Maxis The lho-sticks fall out of Maxis' mouth into his hand as he palms them into a pocket.
18:54 Maxis Kendall gets a glare.
18:54 Maxis ((+1 Grump points!))
18:54 Kendall "...Um. No, sergeant."
18:54 Yorke The young cadet looks to be in his late teens. His cap is awkwardly placed on his head. No one has informed him apparently.
18:54 Kendall seems to shrink a bit.
18:54 Yorke "Come in, please."
18:54 Maxis "Good-o."
18:54 Maxis pulls his visor down and stands aside to let the others go in first.
18:55 Seere goes in like he's going to a firing squad.

No Seere, you are the firing squad.

18:55 Kendall blinks at the young cadet. Not what he expected from a commissar's personal aid. "Okay..." He turns to Jayne. "Well. No idea what we're walking into...you didn't do anything questionable in the time between the founding and now, right?"
18:55 Kendall starts to walk in.
18:56 Jayne follows quickly after Seere with no apparent concern, "Nope nope nothing questionable. Nothing at all. Define questionable."
18:56 Yorke Yorke is sitting at her desk, drinking a cup of tanna and looking over a data slate. She looks up as they enter.
18:56 Kendall "As in, well, disruptive. Potentially heretical."

Not the brightest thing to say right in front of a political officer.

18:56 Maxis walks in last, quietly running over the quirks of the others seen so far.
18:57 Jayne Jayne breaks off her wide eyed look to give Kendall a withering glare
18:58 Yorke "Ah, soldiers. You probably weren't informed why you were brought here, understandably."
18:58 Maxis joins in because hey, hazing is fun.
18:58 Kendall "...Right. Meeting." He faces straight ahead and enters the office, mentally kicking himself.
18:59 Maxis is having a grand old time so far. 0)
18:59 Kendall just stands there, frozen in place. He's quite terrified, really.
18:59 Yorke The cadet gives a quick scan of the entryway and closes the door, bolting it.
18:59 Kendall "...No, ma'am."
19:01 Yorke Yorke removes her cap, revealing the same blonde hair. "Right, dispensing with the formalities, you're scouted talent."
19:01 Jayne stops glaring and resumes her usual expression
19:01 Seere does not look comfortable with this.
19:02 Maxis "And...?"
19:02 Kendall "...Um."
19:02 Kendall is stunned.
19:02 Yorke "You see, I need a command squad while I'm in service with this regiment."
19:02 Kendall "A c-"
19:02 Kendall "...Excuse me, ma'am. Interrogative."
19:02 Yorke "Go ahead."
19:03 Kendall "Why us, specifically? I can't speak for the psyker and stormtrooper, but Diinos and I, we're fresh recruits."
19:04 Yorke "You scored very high in your exercises, results that were never released to you to prevent slacking, I'm afraid.

Lies.

19:04 Kendall "...Really?"
19:04 Kendall turns to Jayne, looking quite surprised.
19:04 Maxis rolls his eyes behind the visor.
19:04 Yorke "You, scored the least amount of simulated blood loss and most saved patients in Medicae exercises."
19:05 Yorke "And you" she points to Jayne "Have the best averaged marksmanship rating for all weapons that you were provided with in training."
19:05 Jayne looks faintly offended by Kendall's apparent surprise.
19:05 Kendall turns back to Yorke. "Er, y-yes ma'am! Thank you, ma'am!"
19:07 Yorke Yorke's eyes were practically rolling out of her head at the stammering, Emperor knows she already had /one/ awkward person to take care of.
19:07 Yorke "Right."
19:08 Seere just remains silent and still. Speak when spoken to.
19:08 Yorke "Anyway, you're all going to be stationed as a part of my retinue in this campaign."
19:08 Maxis will not speak without orders. Or in the face of total idiocy.
19:08 Yorke "As such, you will be under my direct command during combat operations."
19:09 Yorke "Any questions?"
19:10 Seere More resounding silence.
19:10 Jayne "No ma'am."
19:10 Kendall "No, ma'am."
19:10 Maxis "None until we get hard intel on the next ops site, ma'am."
19:10 Jayne Jayne seems remarkably... there. For lack of a better term. Probably because she doesn't want her face ventilated.
19:12 Yorke "Excellent. When we are embarked upon the Pius, we'll have our own arranged quarters. I look forward to serving with you all."

More Lies.

19:14 Yorke The cadet opens the bolt on the door and pushes it outward.
19:15 Maxis "Ma'am." Maxis walks past the eyeline of the cadet and pulls up the visor for more tactical lho-action.
19:15 Maxis ((Insert MGS musak here))
19:15 Kendall salutes the commissar sharply before stepping out of the office. Once he's well out of earshot and vision of the commissar. He lets out deep sigh.
19:15 Kendall "By the Emperor..."
19:16 Maxis *puff, puff* "So, you two are rookies. Seen any action, psyker?"
19:16 Jayne follows the others out in a way that makes it look like she might have wandered in by accident
19:16 Seere shakes his head quickly.
19:16 Kendall turns back to Jayne.
19:17 Kendall "Jayne, um. I'm sorry about the her-, er, the comment."
19:17 Maxis "...whoopie."
19:17 Maxis *puff*
19:17 Kendall "I thought we were going to, well."
19:17 Kendall "You know."
19:17 Kendall "I mean, you've heard the stories, right?"
19:17 Maxis "Shag? Keep your mind on the job at hand, rookie."
19:18 Jayne "Stories?" Jayne says vaguely
19:18 Kendall "About commissars. The trigger-happy ones, I mean, I didn't know what to expect from Commissar Yorke..."
19:19 Kendall "But to be part of her command squad..."
19:19 Seere seems to be clinging to his staff like it's a teddy bear.
19:19 Maxis "On the bright side, it means we'll probably be out of range of the enemy 20% of the time."
19:19 Maxis "The other 80% of the time? Smack dab in the middle of them."

Oh you have no idea.

19:20 Maxis throws away a dead lho-stick and grabs another one from his pouches. ...aren't those supposed to contain ammo?
19:20 Kendall turns to Maxis. "Well, we wouldn't be very good guardsmen if we never took the field with our comrades, would we?"
19:20 Seere coughs once.
19:20 Jayne "Oh yes. I'm sure we'll be fine. I'm hungry. Do we get caffeine? Caffeine is a gift from the Emperor."
19:21 Yorke The cadet closes the door behind them.
19:21 Yorke "Johnathan!" She barks just as he finishes doing so.
19:21 Yorke "Yes ma'am?"
19:21 Kendall "Well, Jayne, I'm sure being part of the command squad will have its per-" He winces as he hears the yelling all the way from inside the house, as faint as it is.
19:21 Maxis "Could be worse. He could blow up in the middle of us like the last two I served with, I guess." Maxis jerks a thumb at Seere.
19:22 Seere flinches as if struck.

Hey guys, let's make the psyker panic, it'll be fun, I swear.

19:22 Yorke "Brew some more Tanna. It's going to be a long evening." She pulls out a drawer with more slates.
19:22 Jayne "Were they pretty explosions?"

Fun fun fun.

19:22 Kendall narrows his eyes at Jayne.
19:22 Maxis "...Emperor save us, you're completely thick in the head."
19:22 Kendall "Get used to it. Don't worry, Maxis, she's a fully capable soldier. I trained with her in basic."
19:23 Kendall sergeant*
19:23 Jayne "What? I like explosions."
19:23 Kendall "...Sure, you may think she's an ill fit for a weapons specialist at first, but trust me, she's completely reliable!"
19:23 Kendall "Maybe."
19:23 Kendall "I mean, we'll find out on the field. Right? Her basic performance was promising enough."
19:24 Maxis "...bloody encouraging, eh? Well, if both of you survived her, I guess you'll have a shot."
19:24 Kendall "By the way, what's his deal?" He motions towards Seere.
19:24 Kendall "I mean, I know he's a psyker, but he hasn't said a word."
19:25 Maxis palms around one of his pouches and pulls out a small box of lho-sticks.
19:25 Maxis "Well, at least he's not screaming."
19:25 Kendall "I'm guessing you know from experience, sergeant?"
19:25 Maxis lights another ... ... what number is this? Anyway, he strikes it against his shin-plate and continues puffing anyway."
19:26 Maxis "Yep."
19:26 Kendall Stormtrooper*
19:26 Maxis "Though top-tip one, if they start screaming, treat them like a live grenade."
19:26 Jayne "Hm? I'm reliable. Mostly. You know what this regiment needs? Meltaguns. Meltaguns are awesome."
19:26 Maxis "..."
19:26 Seere appears to be shrinking away even harder at this.
19:26 Maxis stares at Jayne, but the effect is lost through a haze of lho-stick smoke.
19:27 Kendall "Really."
19:27 Maxis The cloud appears to say "Savant-level performance, eh?"
19:28 Jayne "It melts tanks."

Space Marines too!

19:28 Kendall shakes his head. "Maybe one day, Jayne. Maybe one day. So..." He takes a step towards the psyker. "Care to introduce yourself, psyker?"
19:28 Maxis "Anyway, psyker, so long as you don't start blowing us all up, you'll be fine. Commissars leave your types alone till you start fragging us instead."
19:28 Jayne "How is that not awesome."
19:28 Seere nods.
19:29 Maxis would answer, but the reality of trying to talk through that much lho-smoke has caught up with him.
19:29 Kendall "Do you have a name?"
19:29 Maxis "Well--*KAFFKAFF*"
19:29 Kendall shrugs and turns to Maxis. "Maybe he's a mu- oh, okay, never mind."
19:29 Kendall winces. "...You alright?"
19:29 Maxis Half-used lho-sticks fly out of the cloud as it eventually clears up to reveal a somewhat red-eyed Maxis.
19:30 Maxis "Just fucking dandy."
19:30 Kendall "What, is he going to croak on us before we even hit the field?"
19:32 Maxis "Doubt it, I've swallowed a couple of these by accident and it worked out OK. Anyway, psyker, you got a name or do you just want to go by 'That Guy'?"
19:32 Seere swallows and bites his lip.
19:32 Seere "S-"
19:32 Seere "Seere"
19:33 Kendall "Seere, huh. How appropriate."
19:33 Kendall "Unless you can't predict things and what-not. I don't know how psykers work."
19:34 Maxis "...you'll make the stormtrooper poker game a lot bloody easier if you do, you know."
19:34 Seere shakes his head.
19:34 Maxis has his priorities straight :|
19:34 Seere "Sorry."
19:34 Kendall "Okay. So what can you do?"
19:34 Seere "Heal."
19:35 Kendall "Burn people alive?" He smirks. "Make lightning- oh."
19:35 Kendall "...Okay." He seems disappointed.

Poor Seere...

19:35 Maxis "Hey, who'll stitch you up if you get hit, corpseman?"

Yes, he is actually pronouncing it like that.

19:35 Seere "... sorry."
19:35 Kendall "Point."
19:35 Maxis "Never hurts to have a second fixer."
19:36 Kendall "Well, I second the stormtrooper's sentiment. Stay in control, and you're fine by me."
19:36 Seere "I will."
19:36 Jayne "Do you always answer with one word? I never do. Some people say I talk too much. Supposedly I can talk people to death. I tried to talk a bug to death one time. It didn't work."
19:36 Maxis "..."
19:37 Maxis needs more lho-sticks.
19:37 Maxis needs all of them.
19:37 Maxis "'Scuse me." *puff puff puff puff puff*
19:37 Kendall "...Wonderful. Jayne is proving to be harder to follow than the bloody *psyker*."
19:38 Seere averts his gaze, his whole face in shadow from his hood now.
19:39 Kendall "I don't know if I should be impressed or disappointed."
19:39 Maxis "So. We've got a fixer who doesn't know when to stop talking, our AT-specialist who appears to be dancing with the fuckin' ice spirits, and a psyker. ...who somehow appears to be the sanest of the bunch."

The aristocrats!

19:39 Maxis "And yours truly."
19:39 Maxis "...gonna need my pack of cards for this one, huh."
19:41 Jayne "I don't dance with spirits. I wouldn't mind though. Dancing can be fun. As long as it isn't ballroom dancing. Ballroom dancing is terrible."
19:43 Maxis ((I have no doubt during the timeskip that Maxis is going to be shaking down all of the under-table lho-stick sellers dry.))

And so, our heroes decide to go their separate ways to meet up again with the commissar in the morning.

19:45 Yorke The next day, the squad meets up at the entrance to the command docking tubes of the ship, as a message that was passed along in the night instructed them to.
19:45 Yorke Imber also received information that he was to be joining the commissar's squad, since he was respected enough in the Imperium to not have to hear it personally.

Presumably he was informed by messenger Cherub.

19:46 Jayne "The caffeine tastes of hazelnuts and bitter tears of shame," Jayne states without preamble.
19:46 Imber Perks of kinda-sorta not actually being in the Imperium.
19:46 Maxis can be heard a mile off from the entrance from the clanking of his carapace and the huffing of lho-smoke.
19:46 Maxis "Enjoy it while you can, trust me."
19:47 Maxis "Field recaff's even worse."
19:47 Jayne "It's wonderful. I can't stand caffeine that tastes of despair."
19:47 Kendall "...What kind of caffeine tastes like despair."
19:47 Kendall "What does despair even TASTE like."

Ask the Dark Eldar

19:47 Maxis "...Corpseman, stop sobbing in 'er tanna."
19:48 Maxis "It's unmanly."
19:48 Seere is, of course, standing quietly off to the side not getting in anyone's way.
19:48 Jayne "Despair tastes like despair. What kind of question is that?"
19:48 Kendall "...I don't know what you're talking about. Also, is that a thing? Corpseman? Really?" He looks miffed.
19:49 Maxis "You've been huffing melta fumes, haven't you."
19:49 Maxis "It's what they called medicae at the Schola."
19:49 Kendall "Charming."
19:49 Jayne "No. That's unsanitary." Jayne looks affronted.
19:49 Maxis "..."
19:49 Maxis Maxis just stops for a moment.
19:49 Kendall "Well, she's not *wrong*..."
19:50 Maxis "Fuck me, I've gone mad."
19:50 Yorke Commissar Yorke walked in on that statement.
19:50 Maxis whips out a trio of sticks and gets puffin'.
19:50 Yorke She had a brief flash of putting the bolt pistol to her head.
19:50 Kendall turns to Yorke, then back to Maxis, then double-takes.
19:50 Yorke And pulling the trigger.
19:50 Kendall "Oh! Commissar!"
19:50 Kendall snaps to attention.
19:50 Jayne "My brain is too pure for melta fumes."
19:50 Maxis "Wh--"
19:50 Yorke Okay, more then a brief flash.
19:50 Maxis The sticks suddenly disappear into a pocket as he turns to face Yorke. "Commissar."
19:51 Jayne goes to attention
19:51 Maxis is now desperately mentally blocking Jayne.
19:51 Maxis Not what she says, just Jayne.
19:51 Jayne Somehow it's flawless.

After the squad met each other, they embarked on the Courage of Pius. Four days of travel, a Geller field failure, and one threat of execution later (Yes, really), the campaign picks back up.


17:57 Yorke Anyway, after the Geller field of the Courage of Pius almost completely collapsed and nearly damned the entire regiment to an eternity of hellfire...
17:58 Yorke The Pius fell out of the warp a day later, their time, 4 days real time, which considering the warp, is a rather favorable outcome.
17:59 Yorke The planet Tyr was an icy forge world, where the Orks has evidently introduced their obsession with Loot to the local population.

Dis here es ah WAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH

18:00 Yorke And that of course, meant thousands of lives lost in the first few weeks.
18:03 Maxis meanwhile is having a grand old time preparing to get back to an arctic environ.
18:03 Yorke The Imperial Guard, of course, were called to defend the planet, as the Adeptus Mechanicus was obsessed with keeping everything to do with the planet away from the Orks

Well of course, these are MASHEENS

18:05 Yorke The Braxis Primaries first mission was a relatively simple and easy one in terms of the grand scale of things.
18:06 Yorke The Orks had commandeered a small PDF facility on an island in the northern hemisphere of Tyr. The facility included an airfield, as well as field guns.
18:08 Yorke You can of course, see where this is going. The Orks turned it into a landing area for the invasion force. It has been mostly vacated now, with the hordes sent to attack other areas. However, the dakkajets and space worthy gunboats were of course, still there, and have been harassing all aid to the Forges for weeks.
18:09 Yorke This of course, was where the 113th came in.
18:10 Yorke The regiment, along with two other Braxian regiments, were tasked with an amphibious assault on the island, with assistance from Mechanicus air support.
18:11 Yorke Recent orbital surveillance of the island has been spotty at best, smog, snow, and cloud cover being what it is.
18:13 Maxis "Never trust the Intelligence Corps."

Or the Inquisition. Arguably the same thing, really.

18:13 Yorke Therefore, resistance was unknown, but Regimental commander Atticus gave an approximate completion of the assault at two days.
18:16 Yorke So here they were, in a naval vessel fit to hold a third of the regiment steaming towards the island.

It should be noted that the players immediately assumed that I meant that an entire Regiment had been crammed into a boat meant to hold less then half of them. I reassured them that the Guard weren't that stupid.

18:17 Yorke More specifically, the armory.
18:19 Yorke In said armory was a couple of stations for squad outfitting, where Commissar Yorke was talking with one of the Quartermasters.
18:20 Yorke "Okay, I can get you one melta gun. please try to give it to someone trustworthy."
18:20 Yorke "..... right."
18:21 Yorke takes the gun and returns to the group.
18:21 Yorke "Now Jayne..."

GG Yorke.

18:21 Maxis "Good luck with that..."
18:21 Yorke "Do you know what that is?"
18:22 Yorke this*
18:22 Jayne Jayne stares at the gun wide eyed, which is impressive considering her eyes are permanently wide. "It's a melta gun..."
18:23 Jayne She looks like her birthday may have come early.
18:24 Yorke "Now, you're the best person in this group to handle this weapon."
18:24 Yorke "Now, if I give you this weapon, you must swear to me by the emperor that you will use it properly, and safely."
18:24 Yorke "Do I make myself clear?"
18:24 Jayne nods her eyes still locked on the gun
18:24 Kendall "I can vouch for that," Kendall says unflinchingly.
18:25 Maxis is busying himself with ... something that means he is out of her line of fire.
18:25 Yorke "Okay." She slowly hands the gun off.
18:25 Kendall "Jayne's thought process may be...out there, but I've seen her work in basic, Commissar. She can handle weapons."
18:25 Kendall "Better than anyone in our unit, really."
18:25 Jayne "I swear by the Emperor and the Golden Throne that I will use the melta gun properly, safely, and not for cooking MREs or doing terrible things to people's bums."
18:25 Kendall "...See what I mean?"

Oh of course. Now I'm convinced.

18:26 Maxis "...you're staying the bloody hell away from my bunk."
18:26 Yorke "Right."
18:26 Yorke "Also, I need a Vox operator."
18:26 Yorke "Who here is good at that?" (Tech Use)
18:27 *** Mr_Sandman is now known as Imber

Better timing could not be had.

18:27 Imber 18:24 Yorke "Now, you're the best person in this group to handle this weapon." <- If it's possible for a blank metal respirator to look both offended and appalled
18:28 Imber Imber manages it.
18:28 Kendall "I'm a medic, ma'am. Haven't been properly trained with comm equipment."
18:29 Maxis "Don't look at me. Last vox op in our squad got eaten by a kroot."
18:29 Maxis "They've got very good hearing, turns out."

For the Greater Good.

18:30 Kendall turns to Imber. "What about the enginseer, ma'am? I'm sure he could operate that equipment."
18:31 Imber There's a pause
18:31 Imber a rasping, metallic sigh.
18:31 Imber One mechadendrite pincer raises in the air.
18:32 Yorke "Excellent, priest."
18:32 Yorke She takes the backpack radio off a nearby table.
18:32 Seere is, of course, in a corner being invisible.
18:33 Yorke "Use this to communicate with company command and call in mortar strikes for us."
18:33 Imber "Yes Commissar."
18:33 Yorke "Good man."
18:33 Yorke With that determined, the time of assault was upon them.

So now, the squad was at least capable of fending off light armor at the moment, but will it be enough?

18:35 Yorke They were now in the lower hold of the ship, embarking in a landing boat that was about to be lowered into open water.
18:36 Yorke A Laud Hailer was attached to the ship, it is clearly marked as a command boat.
18:37 Yorke As they step in, a menial assistant hits the winch, and they're slowly lowered into the icy water with another squad.
18:37 Maxis "Cheer up. This water is probably warmer than the stuff on my homeworld."
18:38 Maxis "You'll only die of hypothermia in minutes rather than seconds."

How Convenient.

18:39 Yorke The boat has a raised area and a viewport for the driver, and a turret with a Heavy bolter on it, as well as a pintle gunner seat with a Heavy stubber. "Maxis, you're on the Bolter. "
18:40 Maxis "Crackin'."
18:40 Maxis racks the slide in anticipation.
18:41 Imber settles in the back of the boat (behind the Vox unit wearing servitor) and eyes the bottom of the boat (more specifically the freezing water beneath it) with something very much like dislike.
18:41 Imber Water
18:41 Imber +
18:41 Imber Tech priests
18:42 Imber =
18:42 Imber A really really bad day.
18:43 Yorke A man from the other squad gets in the driver seat and turns the ignition.
18:44 Yorke The boat moves forward through the water, and eventually moves ahead of the larger craft, revealing hundreds of other similar 14 man boats.
18:44 Kendall steps into the boat, shivering quite a bit. He's not used to this weather.
18:46 Seere is a little off-white blob in the back of the boat, huddled up for warmth and invisible in the folds of his cloak.
18:46 Yorke The fog is light, but still, the outer edges of the formation can't see the other outer edge
18:47 Yorke Yorke grabs the Laud Hailer phone on the boat and stands with one foot on the seat while she speaks.
18:47 Seere Flak cloaks are not comfortable. They're like linen that's twice as coarse.

And half as protective.

18:48 Kendall "Stormrtrooper Sergeant, I have a question."

Too Late.

18:48 Yorke "Soldiers of Braxis."
18:48 Yorke "Tell me, are you ready for this day?!"
18:49 Maxis roars throatily.
18:49 Yorke Distant shouts of approval travel across from the other boats.
18:49 Kendall "...Never mind."
18:49 Kendall raises his fist and shouts through his tinnitus.

We have replacements for that... for officers.

18:50 Seere doesn't respond, possibly because his teeth are chattering.
18:50 Yorke "Welcome to Tyr. You are about to begin the greatest moment of your life."
18:51 Yorke "The Orks rabid hordes are advancing toward the people of this planet, and have killed thousands in their insane bloodlust."
18:52 Yorke "They have murdered our people over mountains of their own dead bodies."
18:53 Yorke "The Imperium, and our great Emperor have tasked us with removing the Ork menace."
18:53 Yorke Suddenly a whistling cuts through the speech
18:54 Kendall "...The hell?"
18:54 Maxis "Cover."
18:54 Yorke The first one lands off to the rear of the formation, an artillery shell detonates between two boats, capsizing one of them.
18:54 Yorke This of course, does not stop a good speech.

Few things do.

18:54 Maxis says this calmly and quietly ducked below the rim of the bolte'rs turret mounting.
18:55 Kendall "Oh /shit/." Kendall tries to get under some solid cover. This being a boat, there isn't much.
18:55 Yorke "FORWARD, AGAINST THE ORKS. NOT ONE STEP BACK!"

I would have added “Do not count days” etc. etc. but that would have been a little too obvious.

18:56 Seere appears to be trying and hide under his staff.
18:57 Yorke The barrage grows, a certain quiet panic being gained in the explosions.
18:58 Yorke Another boat off to the side of yours splits in two from an unexploded shell.
18:58 Jayne unshoulders her lasgun and checks her charge pack
18:58 Imber pulls his hood up a little farther and lays his axe across his lap.
18:58 Yorke Most of the survivors start swimming to other boats to pick them up, but two from the boat start swimming back towards the landing ships.
18:59 Kendall "By the emperor." Kendall stares at the sinking vessel in shock. "...Commissar, they have us zeroed! Are you sure we can make it like this?!"

Your answer will be given momentarily.

18:59 Maxis makes the sign of the aquila as the boat sinks under the waves and aims the bolter towards the beach.
19:00 Yorke "COWARDS!" Yorke pulls out her bolt pistol and fires twice at the retreating guardsmen. The rounds explode in the water, blossoming blood into the ocean.

There you go.

19:00 Kendall "..." Kendall immediately shuts up and faces straight ahead.
19:00 Maxis "There's your answer, corpseman."
19:01 Seere noticably scoots away from Yorke, shivering.
19:01 Yorke
19:02 Kendall "...Tell me those are ours."
19:02 Kendall "*Please* tell me those are ours."

But then it wouldn't be the Grim-darkness of the 42nd millenium.

19:03 Yorke A wing of dakkajets burst out of the fog, already flying over and past the formation of boats. Evidently they had not known where the boats were at first.
19:03 Kendall "Guess not."
19:03 Yorke "Dammit." Yorke replaces the phone. "MAXIS, on those jets."
19:04 Maxis opens up with abandon.
19:04 Maxis The sky is mortally wounded.

Someone get that atmosphere a medic.

19:04 Maxis thinks of it that way at least.
19:07 Yorke The jets zoomed past and into the fog, and another wing of jets replaced them, strafing the edge of the formation. Both sides were prepared this time. The dawn was lit with bolter shells, stubber shells, and las fire as they bit at the jets.
19:08 Yorke The deafening explosions of the artillery and the alien roar of the jets were becoming unhinging. Legs turned to jelly, and soldiers became rooted in their seats.
19:10 Maxis decides to continue applying as much firepower as possible to solve the 'problem'.
19:10 Yorke By now, the boats were close enough to shore to make out shapes.
19:10 Yorke Orks. Lots of them.

yay

19:11 Yorke And then even more shit showed up in the sky to ruin your day.
19:11 Yorke Plumes of smoke streaked the sky, and slowly angled towards the boats.
19:12 Yorke As they grew closer, they seemed.... controlled.
19:12 Yorke And another tinnitus inducing roar joined the din.
19:13 Yorke "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH"
19:13 Yorke Stormboys.
19:13 Yorke "Shit."
19:13 Kendall looks around at the carnage nervously. They haven't even hit the beach yet, and hell is already breaking loose.
19:13 Maxis "Ah, fun times."
19:18 Seere Seere is, in a word, paralyzed with fear. Good luck getting anything useful out of him.
19:23 Yorke Yorke takes her bolt pistol and fires at a stormboy that appears to be heading for their boat.
19:23 Yorke She can't even tell she missed from the sheer amount of greenskins in the sky.
19:24 Maxis Maxis does no better, bracketing six heavy bolter shells which sadly fly past the stormboy.
19:27 Kendall frantically brings up his lasgun to aim at the incoming stormboy. Unfortunately, his controlled burst goes wide. The boat is moving too much underneath him, ruining his aim. "Damn it!"

Y'all suck.

19:28 Yorke meanwhile, on shore....
19:30 Yorke " 'LONG AS WE LOOKEN EN DAT GENURARL DE-RECT-ION WHEEL HIT /SAMTHING/"

I should probably mention it now. I have ridiculous amounts of fun butchering the english language by vocalizing Orks.

19:30 Jayne Jayne shoulders her weapon and takes aim at the stormboy before letting loose an overloaded blast
19:34 Yorke The las shot takes off a leg at the kneecap, which falls into the flaming jetpack, but the ork keeps going.

Mai knee itches.

19:39 Imber meanwhile, wasn't being /completely/ useless as he sat in the back of the boat. Granted he wasn't particularly skilled with a lasgun or a melta but what did that matter when you had friends up above with even bigger guns?

The Inquisition in a nutshell.

19:39 Imber A slender mechadendrite snaked over to the vox unit mounted on the hulking servitor's back and what sounded like a chattering burst of static filled the air.
19:49 Yorke About 30 seconds later, mortars landed right between two orks with Slugga "pistols"
19:50 Yorke "AAAAUGH, DAT HURT."
19:50 Seere opens fire about as accurately as you would expect someone like him to. He seriously menaces the skyline with his lasgun.
19:50 Yorke " 'EY, WE IS STIHL ALYVE."
19:50 Yorke "….WE WIN"

Orky Philosophy in a nutshell.

19:51 Maxis "...yep, just as thick as Braxians."
19:51 Maxis "CORPSEMAN! YOU OWE ME A THRONE!"
19:51 Kendall "FOR WHAT?!"
19:51 Maxis "I DUNNO."
19:51 Maxis "POKER?"
19:51 Seere You get the distinct impression he's never handled a lasgun before in his life.
19:52 Kendall "But I DIDN'T EVEN-"
19:52 Kendall just stares at the lasers flying way, WAY off target.
19:52 Kendall "...Who gave that man a lasgun."
19:57 Maxis jumps off the turret and un-slings his hot-shot lasgun and snaps off a three-round burst at the stormboy as he closes in.
19:59 Maxis The three hot-shots slam into the stormboy's chest...
19:59 Yorke And then they go through the ork's chest, and into the rocket.
19:59 Yorke It explodes, raining fire and brimstone on the ocean and boat
20:00 Maxis guffaws as bits of ork and rocket pack scatter past him. "Bloody beautiful."

Nothing like the smell of fresh chlorophyll in the morning.

20:00 Kendall "Agh!" He tries to shield himself from the debris and fire
20:02 Seere again tries to shield himself with his lasgun. It's not very effective.
20:05 Kendall Once it clears, he looks at Maxis. "...Nice shot, Stormtrooper." He turns back towards the shore. "Right. Onto business." He takes aim at one of the Orks on the shore, bracing his weapon against one of the barriers on the deck. He fires a 3 round burst at the boy with the deffgun. All three shots are on target.
20:06 Yorke The 3 shots all burn into the ork's body, scorching flesh off of it.
20:06 Yorke "AUGH, I NEED DAT FOUR ME INSYDE BITZ"
20:20 Jayne Jayne's burst of fire from the heavy bolter turns the third ork on the beach into a slightly chunky smear on the beach
20:20 Jayne "Yeah! Get some!"
20:20 Kendall "What'd I tell you guys?"
20:21 Imber "..."
20:21 Imber hits the bottom of the boat and pulls his hood up, covering his head with his arms

Yeah, those coordinates? About that.....

20:21 Maxis "..."
20:21 Maxis "Anyhow."
20:22 Yorke "Imber! What happened?"
20:22 Kendall "...What's the matter with him?"
20:22 Imber "Down."
20:22 Yorke "Down?"
20:24 Jayne does not question
20:24 Jayne She drops
20:27 Yorke Suddenly, the boat is racked by bullets that you suspect were crafted by biting together pieces of metal.
20:27 Yorke "Get up and shoot back"
20:27 Yorke Yorke attempts to do so herself, but gets shot in the stomach as soon as she clears the lip of the boat.

Oh dee Ironee

20:27 Yorke She falls to the bottom of the boat, clutching her stomach.
20:27 Maxis "Commissar!"
20:27 Yorke Meanwhile, on the beach
20:28 Kendall "Commissar! SHIT!"
20:28 Yorke "OI, I TINK WII HIT SAMTING ON DAT SWIMMY BAWKS"
20:29 Jayne "That's not a word. None of those are words."

Shh, you'll hurt their feelings.

20:30 Yorke writhes on the bottom of the boat, scrabbling at where the bullet impacted her
20:30 Yorke She pulls out what looks to be a lead ball and flings it over the side of the boat
20:30 Yorke "Emperor, dammit"
20:35 Seere puts his lasgun down.
20:36 Seere He takes up his staff and walks to the prow of the boat, clutching it tight.
20:36 Seere He holds is staff in front of him, breathing heavily, terrified beyond all rational thought. And lightning crackles around his body.
20:37 Seere He takes his left hand off the staff, the charge gathering around his fingertips, making the very air burn and smell of ozone. He points at the beach, and a bolt of Warp energy sears a fist-sized hole clean through an Ork.
20:38 Seere He flinches and recoils, gasping, but the charge doesn't disspiate. He shuts his eyes tight, steeling himself, and points his hand again.
20:38 Seere The whole charge arcs across the bay and sinks into an Ork's chest.
20:38 Maxis "...'I don't know how to hurt anyone' the Emperor's left bullock."
20:38 Yorke It fucking explodes.
20:39 Maxis "Good work, psyker!"
20:39 Seere is shivering like he just ran a marathon.
20:39 Kendall flinches and shields his eyes from the psychic light.
20:39 Kendall "...Holy..."
20:39 Imber raises his head up from the bottom of the boat as bullets zip overhead and shells land in the water just in time to see Seere skewer two greenskins with leashed lightening.
20:39 Imber For once, he doesn't have much of a reply.
20:40 Seere He appears to be smoking. Mostly contained to his hand where he strained so hard to keep the energy in check.
20:40 Seere Scratch that. He looks about ready to throw up.
20:40 Maxis "...but you might want to put yourself out?"
20:40 Yorke The two remaining orks do something incredibly rare, something only a few people see an ork do in it's natural habitat.
20:40 Yorke They stop shooting and stare at the two smoking corpses
20:40 Seere A few little arcs of electricity pop across the gold Imperial eagle that tops his staff.
20:41 Yorke "Ey, dat wierdboy done zapp our boys, dey did."
20:41 Yorke And they resume firing.

It was the greatest eulogy an Ork ever gave.

20:41 Imber A pair of segmented metal limbs reach up and tug Seere back towards the rear of the boat.
20:42 Seere "Ah!"
20:42 Yorke That familiar roar of the dakkajets gets louder
20:42 Kendall crouches behind cover to avoid the fire. He looks up towards Yorke. "Commissar, you were hit! Are you alright?!"
20:42 Yorke They start picking out the boats getting close to the shore.
20:42 Kendall "...Oh no, not again."
20:43 Maxis "Jayne, you're our AA."
20:43 Seere drops his staff on the deck and retches, shivering and hugging himself.
20:43 Yorke "I'm fine, I'm fine." She pants heavily, the wind being knocked out of her. She gets to one knee and looks at the slowly enlargening object in the sky.
20:43 Yorke
20:44 Kendall "You're up. Blast them out of the sky!"
20:45 Yorke The planes split off for different boats, and a jet drops a bomb aimed directly at your boat.
20:45 Yorke And keeps going
20:45 Yorke and going
20:46 Yorke Aaaaand
20:46 Kendall "...Oh no."
20:46 Kendall "DOWN!"
20:46 Imber "...Balls"
20:46 Jayne "Shitmuffins."

*Roll*, *Roll*, *Roll*

20:46 Yorke It impacts short of the boat, and dives in at an angle, exploding under the boat, but quite underwater.
20:46 Jayne "Never mind."
20:47 Maxis "See? They're Orks."
20:47 Maxis "Can't even hit a sitting duck."
20:47 Yorke The boat's engine stalls.
20:47 Maxis "...stand corrected."

HAH

20:48 Kendall "...Abandon ship?"
20:48 Jayne looks over the side
20:48 Maxis "You mad? Just get the cog-boy to fix the thing."
20:48 Yorke The driver shifts gears, does a little fiddling, and the engine restarts.
20:48 Yorke "OMMNISIAH BLESS US!"

Driver confirmed for medal.

20:49 Kendall sighs in relief. "Thank the Emperor. Have we reached the damned shore yet?!"
20:49 Imber "Amen."
20:49 Yorke There are other boats off to the side that have almost reached shore. A bit unfortunate for them however, there are orks waiting to greet them.
20:50 Maxis "Ready for close assault, everyone?!"
20:51 Yorke The boat keeps moving, and eventually there's a thump as it reaches the freezing cold beach.



Don't worry, I'm not that cruel...yet.

20:51 Kendall "You're damn right I am, Stormtrooper!"
20:51 Yorke "Grah." Yorke gets to her feet, she's still out of breath.
20:51 Yorke "Let's just get this over with.
20:52 Kendall "Just um, try not to get ventilated. Makes my job easier."
20:52 Jayne racks the action of the heavy bolter
20:52 Yorke The door drops down
20:52 Maxis "Oh woe."
20:52 Kendall "Should probably have that looked at when we're done, ma'am."
20:52 Kendall looks at the Orks.
20:52 Kendall Who are five meters away.
20:52 Yorke And the two orks are just standing there politely waiting for the door to fall down
20:52 Yorke "Hallo dere gits."

HAW

20:52 Kendall "Oh. I didn't think we were *that* close."
20:53 Kendall grits his teeth, raising his lasgun. "Xeno scum!"
20:53 Yorke immediately raises her gun and fires, which jams in her face.

Damn shoddy Mechanicus constructs.

20:53 Imber rises, robes the color of martian sand gathering around him. Mechadendrites unfurling. Axe in his hand. The servitor stands behind him, brutal features as blank as ever.
20:53 Maxis raises his hot-shot lasgun.
20:54 Maxis "Hello yourself, xenos."
20:54 Imber A powerfield wreathes the axe.
20:55 Maxis One shot smacks the second ork right in the gob.
20:55 Yorke "GRAH! SUNBUUUUUUUUURN"
20:55 Maxis "...wot."

The pain is punyness leaving the body.

20:56 Kendall fires two controlled bursts, letting out an enraged roar.
20:56 Kendall ...And he misses
20:56 Kendall Every.
20:56 Kendall Single.
20:56 Kendall Shot.
20:56 Kendall "...Oh bollocky bitch."
20:56 Yorke There's a beat.
20:56 Jayne "That's not a word."
20:56 Kendall "It is now."
20:57 Yorke "Ya know, Aye be missin fightan dose spees mareens sometimes. Dese 'oomies ain't orky enough." And then they both raised their choppas and charged down to the boat.
20:57 Kendall "We did fix bayonets, right? RIGHT?!"
20:58 Yorke revs her chainsword

I dunno, did you Kendall?

20:59 Yorke The orks come at the commissar, who fends off the attacks with the chainsword, batting away their choppas, sparks raining onto the mouth of the boat.
21:01 Jayne Jayne grins at the ork, "Hey there ugly," Then she lets loose with the heavy bolter. Point blank.
21:02 Jayne The ork explodes and Jayne is splattered in... stuff.
21:03 Yorke It's only regret was dying.

A noble regret.

21:08 Imber The other ork has barely enough time to see a blot of red from the corner of it's eye and a flash of metal shrouded in power. The choppa comes up.
21:08 Imber The axe goes down.
21:08 Imber Through the choppa.
21:08 Imber And the arm.
21:08 Kendall "...Oh shit."
21:08 Imber And bites deep into the ork's torso, cleaving him practically in two.
21:08 Yorke Red ichor splatters on Yorke's face.
21:08 Yorke "Well done, Imber."
21:09 Imber wrenches his axe free and walks over the Ork's cooling corpse.
21:09 Imber "Thank you."
21:09 Maxis "Nice bit of work, you two."
21:09 Yorke unjams her weapon and steps out onto the beach.
21:09 Kendall "Indeed. Shall we?" Kendall motions towards the exit.
21:09 Kendall follows the commissar out.
21:09 Yorke stares back out at the ocean.
21:10 Yorke "By the emperor...."
21:10 Kendall "...Ma'am?" He follows her gaze.
21:10 Seere stumbles out of the boat, clutching his staff.
21:10 Jayne looks over her shoulder
21:10 Imber turns, emerald lenses of his helmet focusing and refocusing.
21:10 Yorke The landing boats are still being harrased by the jets, but less so now. No, what she was seeing was far worse.

A female Ork?

21:11 Maxis walks off the ramp behind the group, quickly smuggling in a huff on a lho-stick before closing his visor again.



21:11 Yorke Was descending through the fog, it's guns turning to open fire on the boats.

Clearly the Orks know no such thing as overkill.

21:12 Kendall "...No."
21:12 Maxis "...yep."
21:12 Kendall stares in horror. "Ma'am...the fleet. What happened to the fleet?!"
21:12 Maxis "That's a thing."
21:12 Kendall "The orks couldn't have broken through!"

The Ork ships were already planet side. This was in the briefing :|

21:13 Maxis "That ... doesn't quite ring true with what we're seeing here. Shit."
21:13 Yorke And then, you hear [/url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sALiuWg_I1k ]this[/url].
21:14 Jayne "It's made of guns."
21:14 Maxis "COVER!"
21:14 Maxis hits the deck.
21:14 Yorke Mechanicus thunderbolts cut through the air and strafe the kroozer and it's escorts, distracting it's guns from the boats.




Victory is best gained from the snatch of defeat... or something like that.

21:14 Imber follows half a second behind.
21:15 Kendall "Wait...ma'am! It's the mechanicus!"
21:15 Seere ducks and covers.
21:15 Yorke Imagine the sound of a boltgun
21:15 Maxis "...Oh, now the cog-boys show up, eh?!"
21:15 Yorke Then make it louder, and brassier, and you have a heavy bolter.
21:15 Yorke Then x10, and you have a Megabolter.
21:15 Imber You can't tell because
21:15 Imber a. full face helmet
21:15 Yorke That's what you heard coming from multiple Thunderbolts.
21:15 Imber b. he doesn't actually have lips or a lower jaw anymore
21:16 Imber but Imber is smiling
21:17 Imber mutters something under his breath and you catch the words "Omnissiah bless"
21:17 Yorke Yorke hadn't turned away yet, but her eyes were a bit teary from joy.
21:17 Imber "Skitarii."
21:17 Kendall laughs, elated and relieved. He nudges Imber with an elbow. "You knew they would come, didn't you, cogboy?"
21:17 Maxis gets up and dusts sand off himself irritably.
21:17 Yorke Another wing of 'Bolts ram through a formation of gunboat escorts.
21:18 Imber gives Kendall a sidelong look before turning his attention back to the aerial battle.
21:18 Imber "The tech guard does not relinquish our worlds so easily."
21:18 Seere just does his Seere thing of trying to be invisible in the background. It's at this point you probably all realize you've never even seen his face because of the hood.
21:19 Yorke The kroozer however, does not easily give up. Flak bursts through the air, tearing up one of the Thunderbolts. It slowly falls into a dive, but straightens out to a survivable degree when it hits the ocean.
21:21 Yorke The battle is at it's pitched when another sound pierces the air. It's like a goddamn party in the sky really.

Walk into the fight like whaddup, I got a big-

21:23 Yorke A black... shape swoops out of the clouds and dives into and /through/ the kroozer, a column of flame following it out the other side. It flys up out of the dive, swats a Thunderbolt out of the sky, and flys away from the island into the clouds.



…Oh okay.

21:24 Imber "..."
21:24 Yorke The Kroozer, still airborne, slowly looses power and starts falling in a drifting manner towards the ocean.
21:24 Yorke Klaxons blare aboard the ship, but they slow down as it falls, evidently whatever was powering it is destroyed.
21:25 Kendall "...The hell was that."
21:25 Maxis "That didn't look like an Ork device, did it?"
21:25 Yorke You can hear something out in the distance.
21:25 Yorke "SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
21:25 Jayne "It's a bird."
21:25 Yorke "An ork... wouldn't kill a kroozer."
21:25 Jayne "A really really big bird."
21:26 Imber "Skitarii forces wouldn't shoot down their own thunderbolt."
21:26 Yorke There are calls over the radio about a large metal flying.... thing, that is flying around the landing ships.

Yes, thank you. We can see that.

21:26 Jayne "I'm telling you it's a giant bird."
21:27 Yorke Whatever it is, it's clearly tech heresy incarnate.
21:28 Kendall "Nothing's ever simple, is it. Hey, cogboy, check the vox. Has anyone identified it?"
21:28 Yorke A renewed ork resistance starts up down the beach as other squads disembark.
21:28 Imber moves to the servitor but he looks...unsettled.
21:28 Yorke "We need to move forward." Yorke turns around and starts moving into the bare tree line that the cold island offers.
21:29 Kendall "...Hey. Did you hear me?"
21:29 Kendall "...Yes ma'am."
21:29 Maxis follows the commissar. "Let the flyboys sort it out, corpseman."
21:29 Maxis "Let's just get inland before it starts going after our lot."
21:29 Kendall follows her lead. They weren't out of the woods just yet, but at least they had some backup. "Sounds good to me."
21:30 Yorke Eventually, they reach an old trench line that leads into the facilities proper.
21:30 Yorke "Let's stop and dig in here."
21:30 Kendall "Yes'm." Kendall proceeds to dig in, watching his sectors.
21:31 Kendall "...Er, how's the wound, ma'am? Are you alright?"
21:31 Yorke She steps in the shoulders high trench and takes out a pair of binoculars.
21:31 Kendall "Maybe you should get it looked at."
21:33 Yorke "No tearage of the lower clothing layers. The only possible damage would be blunt, and I'd have to take off my armor to examine it. I can breathe fine, and it just hurts a lot, it's likely nothing serious."

And then she needs an appendectomy.

21:33 Kendall "Mm. You're lucky it didn't penetrate. Could've cracked a rib or two, though."
21:34 Maxis pops his head up from one of the other trenches.
21:34 Maxis "Yeah, don't go in that dug-out."
21:34 Kendall "Why?"
21:34 Maxis walks back over to the rest of the squad.
21:34 Yorke More artillery shells sprinkle an area about 200 meters to their left.
21:34 Maxis "Don't want to know."
21:35 Kendall "...Right."
21:35 Imber meanwhile has been walking behind the front lines of the group, dendrites swarming over the vox unit as he attempts to raise someone, anyone who actually knows something.
21:35 Kendall flinches. "Hell. Can't tell if that's ours or theirs."
21:35 Maxis smokes discontently for a moment.
21:35 Imber gives a raspy, metallic sigh and gives up for the time being.
21:35 Kendall "...Hey, where'd that psyker get off to?" He looks around for Seere.
21:35 Yorke "Anything, Priest Imber?"
21:36 Maxis "Well, look on the bright side. If it's not actually hitting us, we can pretend it's ours."
21:36 Imber "No."
21:36 Imber gives Maxis a *look*
21:36 Maxis "I'm just saying."
21:36 Imber "We do not deal in tech heresy stormtrooper." He says stiffly.
21:36 Imber "Now."
21:37 Imber "If you'll excuse me."
21:37 Imber moves a few meters down the trench line.
21:37 Maxis "Hey, I'm just trying to be optimistic for once. If artillery's not hitting us, it's not our active concern."
21:37 Seere is doing his trademark thing. Huddling in a corner and being invisible.

Poor Seere.

21:38 Maxis "Figures my rugged cynicism works better. ...you alright there psyker?"
21:38 Kendall "..." He approaches the psyker. "Oi. Psyker."
21:38 Kendall "You still with us?"
21:38 Seere nods.
21:38 Kendall "You don't talk much, do you?"
21:38 Yorke There's another familiar dakkajet roar, followed by more familiar megabolter shots behind them.
21:38 Seere shakes his head.
21:39 Imber There's a pause
21:39 Imber and then Imber moves back.
21:39 Kendall "I see. Well, for what's worth, you did good back there. Heh, even if you couldn't hit the broad side of a Baneblade."
21:39 Imber "Apologies for the insult stormtrooper my mind was preoccupied."
21:40 Yorke The Thunderbolt and Ork fighter swoop past, very low over the trees. The air gusts bend the trees as they pass.
21:40 Seere "... thank you."
21:40 Maxis "No sweat, cog-boy."
21:40 Yorke The dakkajet is behind the thunderbolt, it fires it's cannons at the Mechanicus fighter, damaging it's wing. They both disappear into the fog again.
21:41 Maxis "And yeah, you really shocked those two good, psyker. You'll be fine."
21:41 Kendall Knowing that Seere probably won't say much else, Kendall nods to Seere and backs off. He looks up at the dogfight in the sky.
21:42 Kendall "Sure hope your buddies'll gain air superiority for us, cogboy."
21:42 Maxis "Alright, I'll take guard duty for a bit. Just in case any of the Orks get funny ideas about counter-attacking."
21:42 Kendall "Those jets could've eaten us alive."
21:42 Yorke "Sounds like a good idea stormtrooper."
21:43 Maxis walks off, clouds of lho-smoke gently drifting behind him for a step as he disappears off into another trench.
21:43 Jayne "Jets don't have mouths."
21:44 Imber gives Kendall another look and shakes his head before turning his attention back to the sky.
21:44 Yorke As if to spite Jayne, you can clearly hear the thunderbolt firing again.
21:44 Imber "The skitarii will do what they can to buy us time."


Let's just hope.

Icarus, start updating this again.

They've missed so much.