40K Dark Heresy: The Recondite War

[Balrog]

Mithras stared down the sight of his lasgun, making sure it was properly calibrated. He'd already checked that the power packs for his gun and pistol were still fresh, and his sword was as sharp as always hanging from his side. He wondered how much longer until the rest of the group finally arrived.

"Regulator, does this station by chance stock any grenades? The enemy might have fortified their position if they suspect we are coming."

[NecronLord]

"We've frag and flash, eight of the first, two of the second, in the safe under the gun-rack, the access code is two five sigma..."

[Lancer]

Mercurius arrived with the others; his lascarbine in his arms, laspistol holstered at his thigh, and a knife sheathed on his belt. His staff was conspicuously absent, having been left back on the transport. Both lasweapons were at full capacity after their charge packs had been topped off, and the red-robed Techpriest grabbed some spares off the armory rack.

Taking another look around, he wishfully asked "I don't suppose you'd happen to have any Sollex-crafted guns, or some extra sets of carapace in your armory, would you?"

[The Yosemite Bear]

hullbreach!, I should have thought to ask for some ammo, or purhaps a rifle. However the pistolgrip shotgun with autoextracting breach loading for two shells, was a better weapon for close quarters fighting.

[Block]

Making his way back to the group, Scar smiled. "Looks like something big is going down. What's the plan? More heretics to be purged hmm?" Seeing his fellows attempting to scrounge gear from the locals, Scar asked the closest one for a Long Las, or failing that, a couple of spare charge packs. "Regulator is it? May I lead your men in a prayer to the God emperor and prepare their souls before we depart? Battle with heretics is never certain."

[Jaevric]

Watching the Arbites preparing with a wistful expression as he admires the calm professionalism, Darien shrugs to Scar.

"We found an auspex station that some local criminals had been using to track the movement of the authorities. We figure that's how they knew where we were going to land to prepare that ambush. We're going to go to the station, shoot anyone we find there that doesn't have a damned good excuse and talk very quickly, then try to trace the signal."

He pauses for a moment, then adds, "Oh, and blow up the auspex station. The local PDF is going to be unhappy, according to the Regulator, but fuck 'em. If they don't want people breaking their toys they need to be more careful about who uses them."

With that, he approaches one of the men who seems done with his own preparations and asks if a spare helmet might be available, letting the obvious injuries on his face do most of the talking.

[Balrog]

The guardsman made his way to the safe, entering the access code and taking three frags grenades from the case. The explosives fit snugly in the straps on his uniform designed to carry grenades, and as he came back out he saw that the rest of the group was arriving.

"Looks like something big is going down. What's the plan? More heretics to be purged hmm?"

"You'll like it, we're going to go knock some sense back into some PDF heads...or knock them off for casting their lot in with your quarry. Arm up, cause they're holding up in an Auspex tower outside of town and I would bet on an ambull steak they're getting ready for us to come."

[NecronLord]

“Huh. That we should only be so lucky, techpriest,” the Regulator said, “it’s hard enough getting new armour out here at the best of times. Just what you see. Laspistols, charge packs, shotguns and ammo, and I think there’s some flak vests and helmets up in that box on the shelf on the top,” she turned to Scar, and after a moment, gave him a nod – well, he was a witch hunter, after all. She took a glance at Ajax, coming in, still not looking in the best of shape, and shrugged. “Jaegur, Malthis, driving. Bellan, gunner on vehicle two,” she didn’t mention her own intention of keeping a good tight hold on the first heavy stubber herself, but every one of the enforces present knew that would be where she was, anyway.

“Everyone else, listen up, then get ready to raid any location in town we might call in to you.”

[Block]

Scar gathers the men and leads them in the recitation of the Litany of Hatred, hoping to inspire them to greater acts of violence against the heretics. Grabbing a pair of charge packs, a flash grenade and a frag he tucks them into his web gear and nods. "I am ready, your men's souls are ready, let us purge the unclean the defile His city."

[Jaevric]

Darien grabs one of the spare helmets, checking it over for any evidence of damage that would reduce its effectiveness, then tries it on. Pulling it off after a moment, he adjusts the chin strap before donning it again and nodding in satisfaction.

Moving to the shotgun rack, he examines the weapons on display, comparing them to the civilian grade double-barreled shotgun he already carries with the intent of borrowing one if there is a spare pump-action or combat shotgun available.

[White Haven]

Ajax shucks his trenchcoat temporarily, bucking one of the flak jackets around his torso before shrugging the black leather back over hus shoulders. "Better. The Emperor thanks you for your donation, we had to leave in something of a hurry to get here so soon." A moment's further consideration, and the memory of the pair of snipers that ambushed the witch-hunting party earlier, prompts him to liberate one of the helmets as well, buckling it in place.

[Lancer]

Mercurius grabbed a flak helmet and tried it on, adjusting the straps to fit. He already wore his own gunmetal grey flak vest, and the extra charge packs he had picked up off the armory shelf had gone into some of the various pouches on his vestments, along with his dataslate and some of the explosive collars they had recieved earlier. Taking a look at the grenades Mithras had requisitioned, he offered a suggestion. "Perhaps you should take a flash grenade as well. Prisoners to interrogate would be more useful than bodies to examine in the morgue."

[NecronLord]

Darien was able to avail himself of a pump action shotgun, as the enforcers listened to Scar’s preaching, some with concealed apathy and some with devout attention. With the armour dealt with, the Regulator nodded, “Right. Everyone aboard who’s coming aboard,” she said, starting, along with the enforcer who must have been called Jaegur, toward the first vehicle, stowing her own combat shotgun in a rack that extended from the roll bar to the bottom of back compartment, and grabbing a central seat, and, after waiting for the witch hunters to get in, gave the order to the drivers to be off, on a bumpy ride out of the town, through prosperous streets, here, filled with haggling merchants, there, sealed by a symbolic line on the ground, there, an open air gathering of young men, laughing uproariously at some joke, here, fishermen waited by the quay for the right weather to go out to sea, there, women in ornate silver bodices that resembled carapace armour in appearance, gathered and drank and whispered.

Outside of the town, gardens gave way to small patches of cultivated agricultural land, on either side of the bouncing, dirt road up to the tower. At first sight, the tower was almost like a lighthouse, as indeed, it had been at one stage, solid walls, a house for a keeper at the base, a pill-box guarding the approach to it, and dilapidated saucers could be seen at the top of the tower, along with trailing wires down to the house, and a few posts put up around the building…

“My people tell me nothing’s been seen to come out in the last ten minutes. How do you want to do this?” the Regulator asked, a comm. handset relaying her voice to both vehicles.

[Lancer]

"The tower will most likely have been refitted to house the augury arrays and will be unmanned unless they are offline for maintenance. If the auspex is active, only an Astartes or Myrmidon in full armor could withstand the machine spirits power. The cognators, as well as the majority of the heretics manning the station, should be in that house."

[NecronLord]

The Regulator nodded, and as they drew nearer, the keen eyed among them could probably spot flickers of energy behind the blacked-out windows of the tower.

[If any of you folks want to take the initiative in picking how to go about attacking the place, please do.

There's a one man pill-box with what appears to be an autocannon, that may or may not be occupied, covering the road, about five meters from the bottom of the tower, which is another five meters wide at its base, and the keeper's house. There's an entrance to the pill-box at the back, of course, an entrance to the house on the side, and an entrance to the tower itself. There's no fence, and nothing stops you going 'round.]

[Jaevric]

(( Is there any sort of cover to approach that pill box, preferably by flanking it, and lob a couple of frags in there? I really don't want to find out that autocannon is manned the hard way, I don't think these vehicles are that well armored. ))

[Block]

"Regulator, I want you and some of your squad to lay supressing fire upon the pillbox. If it's unoccupied, shift fire to the doorway immediately. Those of you equipped for close combat, once they're supressed move up as quickly as possible. I want the tech priest, Ajax, and Darien to flank as soon as we're on the ground, see if you can find cover and sneak up the side, catch anyone coming out the door in a crossfire, and for the Emperor's sake, stay out of our line of fire. Once you're in position give a signal and we'll stop firing and move up to support a breach. From what we've been told these are rich kids out for a sunday morning daemon worship, but make sure you're moving quickly and efficiently, keep your head up and ass down. Anyone else have anything to add?"

[Jaevric]

"Works for me, though one more good shooter in the flanking group might not be a bad idea. I especially like the part of the plan where we don't get caught in a crossfire between an autocannon and a heavy stubber."

[Balrog]

"I'll go with the flanking group," responded Mithras over the comm-beads. He drove the second vehicle a few meters behind the first, to give him some space to stop in case an ambush took out the forward car. "We should park somewhere out of range and sight of the pillbox to off-load the flanking squad before the main group proceeds."

[NecronLord]

The regulator gave a nod to the driver of the first vehicle, who followed Mithras' lead, and pulled up in a slight depression in the ground, behind low, brambly bushes. "Everyone out who's going elsewhere..."

[Jaevric]

Darien exits the vehicle and starts looking for a way around the side of the complex that has some cover from the house and the pillbox, shotgun slung across his back and the captured autorifle at the ready.

[Lancer]

Mercurius followed, his lascarbine held firmly in both hands. Looking at the pillbox, he recognized it as an ubiquitous STC design, almost as commonplace as the lasgun. "It's a one-man ferrocrete construct. A single grenade through the firing slit should be sufficient to incapacitate the cannon and anyone inside, even if it's a krak charge. The ferrocrete will easily contain and amplify the blast."

[Balrog]

Mithras stopped the car, unbuckling the seat belt (safety first!) and hopping out with lasgun at the ready. "Someone else'll have to drive," he said back to those still in the car before taking off to join with the rest of the group.

[White Haven]

Ajax clambers out of the vehicle and straightens up, then slowly begins to smile. Without explaining his expression, he looks back at the enforcers still manning the vehicles, "See you on the other side." Setting off to join the flanking attack, he slows his pace to focus his mind once out of sight of the locals, his mind churning the boundary between the Warp and realspace...just enough to let them pass unseen by the powerful auspec units in the tower, with any luck. (Manifesting White Noise)

[Block]

"In the name of the Emperor! Purge, cleanse, kill! Regulator! Attack!" Scar shouted.