StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Too slow, too battered, he tried to dodge. While the chainaxe miraculously did not find purchase in his tender flesh, it did slam into his chainsword on the backswing, slamming into it with enough force to pry it out of his augmetic fist. It went skidding and bouncing across the floor, out of reach.

Prius took one glance at it, and realized that to go for the blade would be death.

He jumped aside as the chainaxe whizzed through the air, his mind working furiously.

Varian leapt foreward, striking aside the chain axe with his force rod. His ancient power sword thrust foreward and pierced the side of the massively armoured chaos juggernaut. A brief spurt of blood accompanied that strike.

The traitor spun, his blood already hardening. He swept aside Varian's weapons with a sweep of his chain axe, leaving the inquisitor open. The Terminator's fist crashed into Varian, smashing the inquisitor to the floor..

No time to reach his chainsword, Prius grabbed a nearby fitting and jammed into into the breach in the terminator's armor, punching it into the heretic's side with all his weight behind the blow, and was consquently knocked off his feet when the terminator turned, sending him skidding across the floor.

Prius's action bought time, time that allowed Varian to recover his weapons and his footing.

For the Head Taker, there was no choice. Only one man here was armed with weapons that he had to respect. He rained a hail of overpowering blows at Varian, forcing the inquisitor to scramble back.

The blow had knocked him well clear, near enough to reach out and grasp his chainsword. It virtually leapt into his grasp, an old friend awaiting awakening. He thumbed the activation rune to bring it whirring to life, rose to his feet, and launched in pursuit of the Head Taker.

Varian managed to get a solid strike at the Head Taker's chain axe, severing the chain and causing fragments of sharpened adamantium to fly dangerously hrough the bay. In doing so, he left himself open. The Terminator struck with his fist. Varian struck the arm with his force rod, shattering an armour plate, but failing to stop the traitor.

The impact smashed the inquisitor to the ground. As he raised his boot to smash the inquisitor to goo, his auspex detected the activated chainsword. He spun to deal with it.

--------------------------------------------

"They are making a run for it captain."

"I see," said Shanan. "The Cobra's will be reloading torpedos and will get another volley off before they reach a good jump point. Unless they are unreasonably lucky, it won't be enough against that armour and those turrets. Master of Ordinance, status?"

"Our knew squardrons will be ready to launch momentarily."

"Good. Let us see if these new pilots and their torpedo bombers are worthy of of the Divine Retribution. Master of Ordinance, launch when ready."

Target of opportunity. The Head Taker's turn allowed Prius to jam the chainsword into the breached armor, an opportunity he seized quickly. He lunged in, shoving the chainsword in with all his strength.

Sharandar shrieked in agony, but did not fall. The traitor legionaire slaped Prius away and staggered foreward, ripping the chainsword out of the wound and taking the weapon for his own. Several las bolts struck him, but they just pockmarked his armour. The monstrous killer advanced, despite the terrible wound in his side. He would kill the commissar with his own weapon.

Prius hit the table and flopped over it, hitting the floor on the other side and rising just in time to see the Head Taker remove the chainsword from his side.

Okay. He backed away a little, with the idea being to circle the table and keep it between him and the raging terminator behemoth. The Head Taker solved that dilemna easily enough, kicking the table free of it's mount and sending it flying through the air, nearly flattening Prius in the process.

Prius backed away, slapping a chainhook with his augmetic, sending the heavy hook swinging through the air toward the terminator. A single swipe of the chainsword severed the hook, which landed harmlessly. He was running out of room and running out of options. Nathan was dead, Varian was likely dead, and the surviving Guardsmen were doing little more than burning paint off terminator's armor, the ones not being killed by the other terminator. Reaching down, he grabbed a fuel bottle for a welder and hurled it at the Head Taker with an explosive grunt of effort.

Varian staggered forward. His body protesting and he was sure at least half his ribs had been shatter by the last blow. He left the force rob; his hand simply would not work. Instead he channeled all his will into the ancient power blade.

Blessed and ancient, the weapon responded, witch-fire shimmered on the blade and Varian could feel it, alive and eager. It wanted blood, it wanted vengeance. The Emperor's divine retribution coursed through him. And he turned all the will and faith he had to smite the traitor marine.

He staggered forward and swung it down at the traitor.

Sharandar slapped the fuel bottle aside and turned to deal with Varian. But his wound and the bulk of the Terminator armour slowed his movement. The psychic force shrouding the inquisitor made any weapon dangerous in his hands. The heirloom powerblade sliced through and through corrupted flesh. Blood gouted into unforgiving vacuum and the traitor fell, nearly bisected by the stroke.

Prius neatly moved Varian to the 'Not dead' category as he crouched down to recover his chainsword. He had to brace with his foot on the dead terminator's arm and yank hard to pull it free.

Swaying like a sapling in a stiff breeze, he nodded to Varian, jerking his head toward the other terminator as he brought the chainsword whirring to life.

Varian steadied himself as much as he could, waiting. He was too weakned, too battered to do much else. His only hope was that the terminator would be foolish enough to come to him.

Prius noted that Varian was apparently too injured to be very mobile. Entirely understandable, given that he'd just taken a hard shot from a terminator. Frankly, he didn't care to think about the grinding noises his body was making right now either. He began to circle around, seeking to open up a flank on their final opponent.

Let this one die more easily than the last one, please.

But by now, reinforcements had to be enroute. If they could just hold him off long enough, slow him down, the armsmen could finish him off. Even if it took a hundred of them to do the task.

"Coordinated strike lauching . . . now." Deep in the void, the long, powerful forms of the torpedo bombers launched the the single, small torpedo slung under their fuselage. A moment after launch, the plasma motors kicked in and the missles accelerated towards the target. What they lacked in power, they made up for in numbers. They matched the volley of larger torpedos launched by the Cobras.

"Thank you, Master of Ordinance. Time until impact?" asked Captain Shanan.

"Standing by. Should be entering turrent range in twenty seconds."

The turrets on the Harbringer of Agony began to kill. The torpedoes were comparitively easy targets that stayed within the attack envelope of the turrets for a longer than usual period of time, due to their being launched from chasing craft. Only a few turrets could bear opun them, so most of the torpedos survived to impact on the Battle Barge's hull.

Most of the torpedoes failed to penetrate, inflicting minor damage or vaporizing chunks of armour. One engine tube suffered heavy damage and a major shield generator was obliterated.

----------------------------------------------

The last Terminator hosed Lillith's position, destroying the machine's she was hiding behind and filling the area with lethal shrapnel. He then turned his Reaper Autocannon down towards where the other puny humans were hiding. Explosive shells vomited forth, shredding everything they hit.

It was amazing the sort of incentive a Reaper Autocannon will give you. Despite the protests of his battered body Varian got himself back into cover and began working out a plan to assail the monster on the other side of the bay.

Prius continued circling, attempting to cut the distance down and keep cover between himself and the armored leviathan.

Prius reached the last piece of available cover between him and the terminator. From here, it was a long jog across open turf to go after the monster. He considered his options as he watched the beast continue firing off controlled bursts with his autocannon.

Varian had a sudden insight. If this tractor could handle a Navy Fighter it could probably squash a Terminator well enough. He scrambled for the cab and hopefully he could wake the machine spirit.

With a quick swipe of the blade the cab was open and the young Inquistor let his fingers fly over the controls attempting to start it. All the while he mumbed a prayer.

Oh God Emperor, look down on this your humble servant and protect me from the darkness of the warp. Lend me strength to stand against your foes and destroy them.

Prius spotted Varian getting into the tractor.

Good. Now he just had to provide the distraction. He laid the chainsword down briefly, picked up a tool from a nearby cart and lobbed it at the terminator's head, before grabbing his chainsword up again and diving for cover.

Varian was more than lucky. The cart had been left on idyll when the deck crew had rushed to arm themselves after launching the last wave.

As for Prius. he managed to hit cover just before the autocannons shells struck. The cart was obliterated and the fighter he was hiding behind took a punishing burst that sheared off its wing.

With a roar and a groan the tractor lurched forward. The behemoth machine moved forward, it's massive bulk aimed at the Terminator. Varian rode the massive machine towards the target and otherwise just kept down.

As it bore down on the encumbered terminator he prepared to leap out of the cab. This was going to be bad.

Prius felt the fighter vibrate under the impacts.

Yes indeed, he'd gotten the terminator's attention. Now how to hold it... he peeked his head around the corner, then yanked it back as a storm of shells came his way.

Never mind, he quite thoroughly had the attention of the terminator. He could sense his foe walking in a wide circle around the fighter, attempting to draw a bead on him.

If only he had some grenades left...

There was a quickly stifled minor explosion as the autocannon shells punctured a fuel tank, the lack of oxygen quickly extinguishing the fire. Prius watched the shells start to walk toward underslung ordinance on the fighter with widening eyes and took off running...

The tractor was powerful enough to hall the massive attack craft stored in the hangar. But it wasn't armoured and the autocannon was designed to kill vehicles and power armoured infantry. A long rolling burst shredded the engine and most of the vehicle, but the vehicle still had considerable momentum. The impact knocked the Terminator off his feet and sent him sprawling dozen meters.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Target is nearing safe jump point."

"Fire as we close," ordered Captain Shanan. "All available power to the dorsal lances. Master Gunner, fire when ready."

"Aye, aye captain."

The Divine Retribution's lances ripped into the damaged shield of the Harbringer of Agony. Crackling energy discharges erupted from the impact points as they concentrated heavy laser fire pushed the shields towards overload and collapse.

Then the Retribution shuddered as its nova cannon fired. A great explosion tore through space, enveloping and obscuring the Harbringer of Agony. For a moment, all available surveyors where blind. As they cleared, the shattered hulk of the Battle Barge was revealed.

"The target is destroyed captain. Signal coming in from Commodore Novdalorin. 'Good shooting'."

Something flew over his head. Prius blinked, goggling as the terminator sailed right over him.

Nothing was strange on this day. He watched the heretic hit the floor, skidding in a spray of sparks before slamming into a wall.

Rather than slowing down, he accelerated, leaping into the air and coming down with his chainsword in front of him, aimed right at the briefly floored terminator.