I have an ever growing collection of marines that are waiting to be involved some way shape or form. However, I don't think you'll be seeing anyone new for quite some time. I have more then enough going on already. How many pages has it been since we saw Cyaxeres, Jaska, Kvothe, Desai, and everyone else. Jeez, I've got a long way to go.
IceAngel wrote:I have an ever growing collection of marines that are waiting to be involved some way shape or form. However, I don't think you'll be seeing anyone new for quite some time. I have more then enough going on already. How many pages has it been since we saw Cyaxeres, Jaska, Kvothe, Desai, and everyone else. Jeez, I've got a long way to go.
Lol. People don't like seeing marines die i think.
End over end his knife tumbled through the air. The trajectory was perfect and the spin was precise. The joyous ork was about to vault over a body when the knife plunged into its temple. Death was instant. The look of joy froze on its face as it fell forwards adding yet another corpse to the intersections collection.
Two other orks stepped on their fallen comrade to pounce on the prone form of Aquilum. Inushi reached for his plasma as the first leapt towards Aquilum. The ork never reached the fallen marine. A yellow foot kicked out and stopped the ork mid flight, it collapsed screaming in pain from its crushed ribs. Its fellow greenskin however stabbed down with a long curved blade. Aquilum rolled away from the ork and onto his knee. He bunched up his cloak in his right hand and with a quick jerk the heavy banner cloak deflected the next swipe from the ork.
Inushi slid into the intersection on the dirty floor firing his plasma at the ork and several more that were approaching. Two dove behind corpses while the one in front of Aquilum and one other fell from the plasma bolts. Another gun shot responded from further behind the orks. Inushi felt the round pass his helmet and plunge into the top filter section of his back pack. The already damaged device was now useless as the filtering system sparked and shut down.
Aquilum brought up his storm bolter.
“Damn greenskin took out my knee.” he spat. “I’ll cover.” He added through gritted teeth.
The twin barrels barked repeatedly. The nearest orks that were hiding behind corpses died before they could return fire. The bolt rounds exploded through corpse flesh before finding their victims.
Inushi helped Aquilum up while he fired. Inushi grunted from the weight as Aquilum leaned on him for support, his pink powerfist was over his shoulder. The Emperors Fool was a massive marine but even then he seemed much heavier then he looked. Aquilum kept firing as the two began to quickly hobble down the hall after their comrades. Two orks rounded the corner and shot at them, Inushi felt the muffled impacts from the rounds that hit Aquilums banner cloak. “By the Emperor you’re heavy.” Inushi grunted again. Aquilum fired behind them once more as he began to laugh in between his grunts of discomfort.
Ahead of them Reven rounded the corner and provided covering fire as they past. Aquilum continued to chuckle. “I don’t know what this ork banner is made out of, but it weighs nearly as much as I do.”
The hobbling pair rounded another corner and passed Hunzuu who was keeping a handful of orks at bay in a side room. Reven followed up from behind. With a simple shoulder tap Hunzuu left his position and joined them.
The sounds of gunfire ahead of them began to increase in volume. One of the weapons was deep, powerful, and consistent in its cadence. Its slow methodical firing demanded his attention. Inushi realized that the fire wasn’t from his fellow astartes weapons. He began to run through his mental list of guns. The rate of fire was close to that of an auto cannon but the caliber was larger.
Inushi furrowed his brow as he exited the long hall way and over looked an expansive vaulted gallery. Giant storage doors that typically held valkyries lined both walls, but most were missing or broken by the initial look of them. The majority of the floor was covered in mechanical bits. Parts of trucks, tanks, planes, ships, weapons, and unknown equipment were strewn about in tall piles. One door to the right revealed the hull of an in progress war plane, the turret from a baneblade sat directly over the cockpit. One wing was in a crane waiting to be attached. At the other end of the gallery was a door painted in thick red paint. On the ceiling of the room a ramshackle series of bunkers were crammed in between the massive beams of the room. It appeared as if the spine of the room had a cancer that spawned mismatched barrels and platforms. Each clump of guns pointed down into the room. The first bunker held a trio of barrels that took turns firing down into the room. The other clumps of guns appeared to be unused, for now.
“What is he doing?” Reven shouted as he came up behind him.
Inushi looked out into the room ahead of them. Darting in between piles was the gray form of Pyrox. Leaping over boxes, swinging under weapons, often changing directions, the Fire Angel was constantly moving. The trio of guns above them was slowly tracking the Angel but every time the weapon boomed, Pyrox had already moved on. Inushi began to study the weapon, its design, and the sound it made.
“Philosir is to our left. MOVE!” Hunzuu shouted as sounds of chasing orks behind them grew closer.
Reven, Aquilum, and Inushi headed that way. Quickly they came up to Philosir who stood behind a massive pile of what looked like pieces of a ships hull. He held his sleek weapon in his arms. His servo arms held up a mix of scrap pieces above his head. They formed a metal scrap camouflage netting above his head. The remains of Shar-Drasha were by his feet.
Inushi glanced around. Hunzuu hadn’t followed them. As he glanced around, both Aquilum and Reven came to the same realization.
“He has another target to attend to.” Philosir answered the unspoken question. He then dropped the scrap around him and with a gentle sweep a servo arm picked up the fallen Ice Angel. “We must move. Our ship lies behind the red door and we’re almost out of time.”
I wish I could give you some more intelligent commentary Ice, but you've gone beyond that now. I'm just reading and enjoying this the same way I'd do with any work of fiction.
Knightley wrote:What I really like about the story so far is that the marines have a strong sense of brotherhood even though they are all from different chapters.
I also want to know what that Ork banner/cloak is made out of.... or do I?
Gitsplitta wrote:That and the alien weapon that Philosir has...
I wish I could give you some more intelligent commentary Ice, but you've gone beyond that now. I'm just reading and enjoying this the same way I'd do with any work of fiction.
Some of these questions may be answered in the future. OR they may not!
Is the suspense killing you yet?
Side note, do you guys prefer shorter updates or the larger blocks of text that I some times drop. If you had to choose what would you pick?
Knightley wrote:What I really like about the story so far is that the marines have a strong sense of brotherhood even though they are all from different chapters.
I also want to know what that Ork banner/cloak is made out of.... or do I?
Gitsplitta wrote:That and the alien weapon that Philosir has...
I wish I could give you some more intelligent commentary Ice, but you've gone beyond that now. I'm just reading and enjoying this the same way I'd do with any work of fiction.
Some of these questions may be answered in the future. OR they may not!
Is the suspense killing you yet?
Side note, do you guys prefer shorter updates or the larger blocks of text that I some times drop. If you had to choose what would you pick?
Knightley wrote:What I really like about the story so far is that the marines have a strong sense of brotherhood even though they are all from different chapters.
I also want to know what that Ork banner/cloak is made out of.... or do I?
Gitsplitta wrote:That and the alien weapon that Philosir has...
I wish I could give you some more intelligent commentary Ice, but you've gone beyond that now. I'm just reading and enjoying this the same way I'd do with any work of fiction.
Some of these questions may be answered in the future. OR they may not!
Is the suspense killing you yet?
Side note, do you guys prefer shorter updates or the larger blocks of text that I some times drop. If you had to choose what would you pick?
The suspense really is just too much. Loving it though.
“Humies n’da Kaptains bay! Get up ere boyz. Some killin needs dun!” the harsh voice shouted across the speaker system. With the loss of his backpack filter system the stench of greenskins had invaded his helmet and Inushi could taste the airborne squig spores. Despite the words being shouted and the filth he was inhaling his entire focus was on getting across the gallery as quickly as possible without taking the attention of the ceiling mounted cannons. For several minutes they had traversed the gallery scampering from junk pile to tank hull. Shouts and war cries of orks were blending together to form a constant hum like cheering at a Jaagfooli match. The main cannon had continued its tracking of Pyrox across the gallery but it hadn’t fired recently. From the sound of it Pyrox had engaged some orks somewhere in the gallery. Nearby shouts continued to waft towards the marines as they moved.
With a quick hand gesture Philosir ushered Reven, Aquilum, and Inushi forward. As they reached a stack of barrels Inushi risked a look over the top to check on the main ceiling cannon. Deep down inside, Inushi hoped it was broken but another part of him thought it was simply looking for unengaged targets. Currently it pointed straight down under itself unmoving.
The twin barrels of a storm bolter went off next to Inushi’s helm. He snapped to his left to see the form of an ork fall into a pile of scrap above them. Its chest was a crater of shredded flesh. Before words could be exchanged another weapon discharged behind them in rapid succession. HRRUUK! HRRUUK! HRRUUK!
The monotone voice of Philosir calmly spoke in between the grenade blasts, “Go through the door in the back corner as quick as you can. I’ll distract.” The marines hefted their weapons, they couldn’t see the door they were supposed to take and the back wall of the gallery was another 80 yards away but the orks were gathering. “NOW”
Philosir came clearly out of cover and moved around the barrels towards the sounds of fighting orks. His slender weapon sending silent orbs of energy into small groups of orks that wandered nearby. The miniature wrist mounted weapon continued its odd bark, lobbing grenades over piles of scrap.
Reven was the first to move. Inushi slung Aquilum over his shoulder, grunted under the weight, and took off as fast as he was able. Aquilum adjusted his filthy banner cloak to cover them both and continued to look for targets.
They hadn’t gone far before the ceiling cannon began to move. Inushi rounded a corner to see the tail end of Revens dance. His chainsword was spinning itself clean as the last of three orks collapsed to the floor. Reven didn’t look back as he continued.
Inushi glanced up to the ceiling at the cannon. It was now pointed to where Philosir had headed. Inushi lowered his head and continued on. There was nothing he could do. He hated the feeling but he had his own objective. Two more steps and he was rounding a pile of tank treads. The stack was nearly three times his height.
A familiar boom echoed through the room. Inushi continued to follow Revens path when the sound of tearing metal and falling debris breached his concentration. Aquilum laughed, “Thank you Hunzuu!” he said as he fired his storm bolter at some approaching orks. Inushi didn’t need to look up to know the ceiling mounted cannon was wrecked. The familiar boom echoed once again and Inushi compared the sound to his mental list of weapons. It was the resonant boom of a long barreled Baneblade cannon. The sounds of falling debris preempted the screams of scattering orks.
Inushi passed the tank treads and came across Reven who stood on a detached dozer blade. Several grots were cheering on a huge squig that was trying to devour the Blood Angel. The two legged monster was taller then a terminator and dominated by a giant maw. The yellow squig was already bleeding from a half dozen wounds in and around its mouth but it still sneered and bit at the quick Angel of Death.
Inushi stopped and brought up his plasma pistol. A single shot took the squig in its massive side. It wasn’t enough to kill it but it gave Reven the opening he needed to leap and send his chain sword through the left eye socket of the giant squig. Reven let go of the blade right after he set it on auto. He landed on his feet and rolled away to his side. The squig hopped around from foot to foot and bellowed in pain as the blade pulled itself further and further into its brain pan.
In mere seconds the blade had vanished through the squigs ocular cavity creating a geyser of grey matter. Reven didn’t move to retrieve the blade but ran on grabbing a piece of pipe as he did. Inushi holstered his gun and held onto Aquilum with both hands as he moved to follow.
Past two more piles they ran before they reached several rows of missile shell casings. Most were waist height and standing straight up. They provided no cover for the running marines and as they traversed the rows they saw thirty yards to their right a collapsing pile of sheet metal. Scampering across the flood of metal was Pyrox. On hands and feet more like an animal he grabbed and kicked himself forward trying to escape the landslide of heavy material. A dozen orks were trying to follow him but the shifting scraps made it difficult to maintain any kind of footing. Halfway between Inushi and Pyrox, Philosir strode between two unmoving heavily altered sentinel lifters. The sleek weapon was held by two of his servo arms above his head. In his real arms he still held the broken form of Shar-Drasha.
For a flickering instant Inushi was struck with a sense of hope as he saw his fellow astartes fleeing across the open rows of shell casings towards their exit. Philosir was providing covering fire to Pyrox as the Fire Angel struggled to stand and continue on his path. Reven was already across the plain of low cover and in a few more strides Inushi and Aquilum would be as well, but that lingering sense of hope was quickly destroyed as nearly every isle as far as Inushi could see released a flood of greenskins.
As Inushi broke into more substantial cover he couldn’t shake the mental image of the cascading wall of orks behind him. Aquilum fired at the tailing orks as Inushi chased down Reven. The lost feeling of hope churned in Inushi’s gut. As he ran on, a sense of calming confusion resonated in his soul. Sound dissipated and even the stench of orks and machinery dissolved from his senses. He was not afraid. Space marines had no fear, yet he was disturbed.
Inushi ran past scores of dead orks, smashed squigs, even a motionless sparking killa kan. Aquilum had smashed his storm bolter into a closing ork and pulled out Inushi’s plasma pistol as a replacement yet Inushi ran on. He ran on in a focused haze. He had lost all concept of the larger battle around him.
Only when he rounded a final bend did he come out of his trance. A deep chant pounded in his ears as he fully realized they were near the end of the gallery. Reven was ten feet ahead of him running towards a large ork nob. Several of the orks comrades were already bleeding out on the floor but Inushi came into view the moment the nob swung his giant axe in an upward arc. The swing was perfectly timed. Reven tried to skid to a halt but was moving too fast. He leaned back trying to soften the blow but the blade scraped across the top of his chest plate and bit into Revens yellow helmet as it passed upwards.
The Blood Angel fell backwards onto the floor. His pristine yellow helmet now had a deep gash across its left side. Blood had fountained out of the torn helm, the left optical unit was shattered.
As the ork repositioned his feet as he brought up his axe to confirm his kill. As the axe descended Reven rolled to his right. The force of the axe was enough to embed it deep into the metal floor. With several quick jabs Reven wounded the orks abdomen as he got up. He then stepped back long enough to remove his helmet. His face held a canyon shaped wound. Inushi couldn’t tell if any part of his eye remained under the already caked blood but he did know Reven was far from done.
The ork bellowed a cry and ran towards Reven. The Blood Angel tossed his broken helmet into the orks face, giving him the precious moments he needed to send his pointed hand into the orks throat. The tough greenskin managed to punch Reven once before they embraced in a tight hold. The ork tried to get in a few elbows and a knee but Reven muffled the blows and held out long enough until the ork succumbed to his wound.
Reven released his hold and the greenskin crumpled to the floor. Inushi met the one eyed gaze of Reven before looking over the Blood Angels shoulder. Not far away was the door that Philosir spoke of. Inushi nodded that direction and Reven moved towards it.
“What is that blasted chanting?” Aquilum said with disgust and a grunt of pain.
As the Blood Angel left, Inushi regarded the chanting that was still pounding in the air. It was a simple three beat chant repeated over and over. He couldn’t make out the words but all pursuit behind them had ceased.
“When did you last see the others” Reven asked while reaching the door and cranking the circular handle? The door heavy door slowly opened in towards the gallery.
Inushi shook his head in shock as he realized, he couldn’t recall anything after passing the rows of shell casings. Thankfully Aquilum spoke up, “I heard Philosir’s weapon discharge a few more times but I haven’t seen any one else.”
No verbal response came from Reven but Inushi got the impression the Blood Angel didn’t have any other information on the other marines. As the door finished opening up Reven stepped through plasma pistol first. A quiet whisper escaped the angels lips, “only an ork.”
Inushi adjusted his grip on Aquilum and stepped through the doors threshold. The sight on the other side made both marines pause. The giant hanger on the other side opened directly into space. An unseen force field protected them from being sucked into the void but that peril was over shadowed by the unbelievable craft perched on the deck of the hanger. In the center of the hanger filling the space between invisible field and giant red hanger door was an ork vessel like no other.
The majority of the ship was a giant rectangular engine. Inushi knew it was stripped from any number of Imperial vessels but typically an engine of that size was used to move vessels fifty times larger then what he was looking at. Underneath the massive engine was a pair of crew compartments straddling a gatling blaster. The six barreled cannon was typically wielded by titans and used to take out large masses of enemies. Currently the marines were staring at the front of the vessel.
Reven closed the door behind them and shot one of the hinges with his plasma in an attempted to slow down pursuers. Inushi headed towards the massive engine when a ramp lowered from the closest crew compartment.
“Welcome aboard the…….” The voice of Hunzuu paused over the vox before adding a chuckle, “Da Sped Bump”
Aquilum spat, “stupid orks.”
With all haste the three marines moved towards their new vessel. As they crossed the hanger the giant engine flared to life. The deck trembled from the might of the engine. Inushi wondered if the entire station could move from the power it could produce.
After passing a pair of bodies they reached the ramp and realized how little there was to the vessel other then the engine above them. The section under the cockpit was a single hall way to a cargo hold. An identical hall way was across from the gatling blaster had a cockpit to gun controls. A thin passage connected the two identical sections of the ship right over the stationary barrels of the gatling blaster.
Upon nearing the cockpit their voxes opened up. “Get the main door open. Immediately” Philosir spoke in an urgent monotone.
Reven knew something was said by Inushi’s body language. Hunzuu came out of the cockpit in a hurry. “Inushi man the gatling blaster. Reven with me.” He demanded as he ran past. Reven took off right behind him. Inushi set Aquilum down to let him hobble towards the cockpit. Then he too ran, except he took the side passage towards the gunnery chamber.
As he reached the gunnery chamber he sat at the left chair and scanned the myriad of buttons. The control panels were a wired mess most of which was painted brown. A single red button beckoned Inushi. With a fist he smashed it down and the entire cockpit came to life. Scanning around he saw a lone auspex attached to a lever in between his legs. A thick silver tape held it in place. A single switch was on the side and underneath was a large trigger. Inushi flipped the switch and he felt the secondary engine built into the gatling blaster begin its warm up sequence. A targeting array appeared on the window facing out. The auspex screen began to glow and it began to fill from left to right. A light purple number began to count down from 60. A side glance revealed the gatling blaster begin to rotate.
“death is warming up” Inushi thought to himself.
In front of the ship Reven and Hunzuu sprinted towards the wide hanger door. Each went to a different side looking for opening controls. Reven reached his first but realized the orks had reworked his panel to be useless. Hunzuu on the other hand flipped the only functional switch on his panel. The door slowly began its ascent up the wall. The two marines were thirty yards apart on opposite ends of the giant door.
With a glance the auspex read 49.
The red door rattled and creaked as it lifted up on its ancient tracks, but the sound fell on distracted ears. An over powering chant poured through the open door way. Despite being in an air tight chamber Inushi heard the chant as if someone next to him was shouting at him.
RIP-PER-SHINS
RIP-PER-SHINS
The auspex read 37.
The massive hanger door revealed a combat Inushi hadn’t expected to see. The bloodied form of Pyrox was battling a giant warboss in a semi circle of thousands of frenzied orks that cheered madly. As far as Inushi could see into the gallery, endless rows of watching orks drooled and shouted in excitement. Philosir had his back to the door and was slowly backing up. The tech marine was limping and had taken serious damage. One servo arm was being dragged across the hanger floor all of his other servo arms were missing. His sleek weapon was no where to be seen only the body of Shar-Drasha remained in Philosir’s hands. Hunzuu moved to follow the tech marine.
26
Inushi concentrated on the battle before him. The warboss Pyrox fought was taller then any ork he had ever seen. His legs alone were as tall as Pyrox. The warboss also looked disproportional but as Pyrox deftly dived away from a sweeping kick Inushi could see why. The bottom two thirds of the ork was mechanical and Inushi understood the name all the orks chanted. Surrounding both of his calves and upper thighs were rings of whirling blades. The pattern they wove was overlapping and deadly. It was almost beautiful in its intricacies.
8
Pyrox attempted to dive again from another downward stomp of the ork but the wide legs glanced the gray shoulder of the Fire Angel. He tumbled to the side near the orks as they cheered even louder.
“Only a few more seconds” Inushi spoke to himself. He watched the Fire Angel struggle to get up. Deep down inside Inushi knew he wasn’t faking. The warboss stomped over to the fallen marine and held out his hands, the crowd once again cheered in victory.
2
A small panel in the floor opened up near the down ramp to the ship and a single red eye caught Inushi’s attention. The blank stare of a power klawed ork looked towards the open ramp. Philosir and Hunzuu were still backing up and unaware of the orks infiltration.
1
Inushi instantly thought of the wounded Aquilum in the other half of the ship. His mind raced. The auspex chimed. He shouted into the vox a warning to Aquilum. For a millisecond he thought of racing to his aid. The warboss dropped a knee onto Pyrox as Inushi compressed the trigger on the back of the auspex.
The first round exited the gatling blaster and directly into the tall ork. The boss instantly turned into red mist as the round passed through. One of the whirling legs flew into the crowd eviscerating a handful of orks but Inushi was too late. Only the extremities of Pyrox remained twitching on the floor.
Four other rounds exited the gatling blaster into the crowd before the orks realized what was happening. Inushi yelled as he continued to spray the hordes of orks with gatling fire. Every round killed scores of orks but in their battle lust they charged through the open door towards the ship. A thirty yard wide carpet of greenskins now faced Inushi and his gatling blaster.
The auspex twitched with every explosion from the blaster. Inushi felt the power at his control but the massive shells were designed for use against columns of vehicles, it was not a precision instrument. He fired into the front ranks trying to cover Reven as he retreated but Inushi could only yell as waves of ork fire hit the red armored Blood Angel. Reven staggered as rounds passed through him. He valiantly turned to unleash one last volley of plasma into the throngs of orks but took a dozen rounds as he did. The ancient Blood Angel fell to the floor and was soon lost under a wave of greenskins.
To Inushi’s right Philosir was running up the ramp when Hunzuu took several shots to the back. He tumbled onto the ramp but pulled himself inside as the door began to close. Inushi continued to fire. As orks poured fire into the boarding ramp. Gatling round after round passed through ranks of orks creating trenches of mists and gore, but within seconds the endless swarm filled the gap and continued forward.
Seconds later the ships engine flared and “Da Sped Bump” began to leave the deck. Quick foot steps behind Inushi reminded him of the greenskin on board. Spinning off the seat Inushi turned to see the power klawed ork. The ork stopped three steps away from Inushi as if he wanted to speak but instead he met Inushis gaze. No words needed to be exchanged. The orks powerklaw, the Nutsplitta, dripped with blood. Aquilum’s blood. The orks hatchet had flecks of pink paint on it.
Neither combatant blinked or moved. Inushi could feel the ship turning and then picking up speed as the engine above them shook the entire vessel. The light of the hanger was soon replaced with darkness as they passed the barrier into space, only the dim lights of the cockpit illuminated the pair. They measured each other up for what seemed an eternity but when the ork moved Inushi moved to meet him. Inushi didn’t have his combat knife any more and the cockpit didn’t give him enough room for katana usage so he engaged bare handed.
A chop of the hatchet was disarmed by a preemptive jab to the forearm. A gut shot with the klaw was deflected by an elbow. A mantis warrior head butt was softened by a perfect weave. The powerklaw came in again but Inushi grabbed the casing of the klaw with both hands. He was then unable to avoid the followed three punches from the orks off hand but in the meantime he tore off the hydrolic lines of the klaw disabling the klaw from further function.
The two separated from each other when quick foot falls could be heard coming from behind the cockpit. Inushi didn’t know who was approaching but the ork knew he was running out of time. In a flurry of aggressive swings the ork moved in pushing Inushi back towards the gunnery chairs. Two successful blocks turned into an unsuccessful grapple and Inushi soon found himself on the floor. The ork pinned him down and had him in a lock, his arms rapped around his head. Only his armor protected him from the ork as the greenskin grunted and strained to try and remove Inushi’s head. His neck tightened against the strain from the muscular ork.
CRACK
A single shot pierced the cabins struggle. Inushi collapsed to the floor as the headless ork released its grip and fell to its side. Inushi took several deep breathes and gathered himself before he shook his head to look up. He hoped to see Aquilum’s wide grin but only saw the black and purple helmet of Hunzuu looking back at him. With a cold nod he turned and headed back the way he came. Inushi collapsed back to the floor.
Thanks Git. It was a lot of fun to write. I'm glad I made it into one big post as well. In this case I think it worked better then splitting it into small chunks.
Did you like Rippershins? I thought he was a cool idea. I almost wanted to get him involved sooner but it didn't really fit in.
Oh man, more marines going the way of the Dodo. All however, died following a good fight so its for a good thing. It was all very quick but how many marines made it out, I gather about 3 possible 4 including the Techmarine? very brutal and I actually felt myself hoping more would make it.
You're a brutal writer and I love it!
Any spoilers on how you intend to introduce new characters?
Also, personal opinion talking now, I think it could be pretty cool to have a picture of the marines you've written about on the front page with a quick this is who they are, this is how they died having the dead ones with a red KIA next to the name (I had this thought on the running machine today, so I blame endorphins on this one)
Knightley wrote:Oh man, more marines going the way of the Dodo. All however, died following a good fight so its for a good thing. It was all very quick but how many marines made it out, I gather about 3 possible 4 including the Techmarine? very brutal and I actually felt myself hoping more would make it.
You're a brutal writer and I love it!
Any spoilers on how you intend to introduce new characters?
Also, personal opinion talking now, I think it could be pretty cool to have a picture of the marines you've written about on the front page with a quick this is who they are, this is how they died having the dead ones with a red KIA next to the name (I had this thought on the running machine today, so I blame endorphins on this one)
Knightley you make me laugh. Unfortunately I'm not going to answer any of your questions, lol. I don't like spoilers. I do like the idea of putting up a picture on the front page. I wouldn't do the KIA part but I can place a picture depicting the marines involved with the story. If I put up a picture with KIA's on it, it would spoil it for new readers.
btw, i updated my very first post to include a picture. Let me know what you think. This weekend I may replace the pictures up there with a new one.
The picture idea is cool eh? What about next level pictures? where you have singular shots below or next to the name on who's who list? just so you can really identify with the character?
1-i wrote:Like the addition of the pic, nice to see the guys in the frigid enviroment.
BTW did I ever give you a name for the marine I swaped you or his chapter identity?
And just for the fun of it, isnt it freaky how little snow we got in the region this year?
Hang on........ Here it is. Brother Bonamir from Chapter: Dirt Marines, wields a plasmagun and lightning claw. That's all you gave me. Still time to adjust and rename if you'd like.
Gitsplitta wrote:I liked Ripper Shins. Perfect that he was saved for the climax.
Good. I'm glad you liked.
Knightley wrote:I knew it was worth a shot with the spoiler
The picture idea is cool eh? What about next level pictures? where you have singular shots below or next to the name on who's who list? just so you can really identify with the character?
I eagerly await your next installment!
hmmm, I will think about that one.
The next person that reads this please post a reply so I can then add more story. If I do it now it will auto edit and that's annoying. Thanks ahead of time!
Inushi sat cross legged on the floor of the gunnery cock pit with his back to the gatling control seat. The ork vessel was out of weapons range of the station before the orks had scrambled a single fighter yet Inushi stayed close to the gatling blasters controls. They were being pursued but were not in immediate danger, according to Philosir the ship was faster then any others in the system.
As Inushi sat, his battle endorphins and combat stims slowly wore off. His body was beginning to feel the dull aches of battle as he meditated on the floor. Muscles trembled and tensed before allowing Inushi any sort of release. He had survived the ordeal on the station mainly unscathed but the loss of his fellow astartes throbbed in his head.
While sitting on the floor, letting his body unwind, he mentally revisited the mission. It replayed as a torrent of images meanwhile words from his unit floated through the timeline of the mission. The leap through space, the ladder climbing, hiding in the darkness, then the fighting began. “Amuse the Emperor” Aquilum had said. The loss of Shar-Drasha and the surprise Inushi felt led his mind to the bizarre weapon Philosir had used. “using xenos technology” the voice of Pyrox added. A single red eye. The running, the elevator, the explosion, images slowed before him as the form of Philosir stepped away. Inushi didn’t hear Philosir’s voice but he saw the sorrow at the loss of his creation. Running, stairs, gun fire, the form of Aquilum collapsing to the floor “Amuse the Emperor.” The image of Aquilum collapsing replayed in his thoughts, the sound of gun fire echoed in his head. The gunfire began to evolve, it deepened and sped up, and soon Inushi was reliving the last moments of their escape. The firing of the gatling blaster, he could hear the auspex beep and feel the vibrations in his hands. The image of Pyrox being eviscerated flashed before him. Reven been torn to shreds by bullet fire soon followed. A single red eye once again lingered in his thoughts.
Inushi took a deep breath, filling his lungs with recycled air. He opened his eyes and looked over at the dead ork next to him. The ork that killed Aquilum was now a headless pile of flesh. Inushi thought about how he’d nearly lost his own life to the greenskin yet Aquilum had intervened. A distant voice made him blink several times. He looked down to his helm he hadn’t recalled removing. He placed it back on his head.
“Inushi, come join us in the cabin.” The voice of Hunzuu asked through the vox.
A simple vox click let the Ice Angels know he was en route. With another pause he got off the cabin floor.
I was quietly impressed at your brutal smackdown of several Marines in a single installment, Ice. Makes a refreshing change from the usual 'Me Marine kill all huhhh' fluff syndrome.
The moment you mentioned that glimpse of Ol' Red Eye earlier I thought we might be seeing him do something nasty.
Interesting thought about combat trauma. Marines are still men, I guess it would just take extreme circumstances to effect them. When I read the latest section I interpret this as Inushi being rather self critical. Maybe just me
Inushi is certainly introspective, and the reason he's here at all is his relative youth combined with the fact that he does not always maintain control over his emotions or his mouth... Though he is learning. Given that background... inushi is likely to have feelings of guilt or self-recrimination at the loss of his squad mates, even if it is mot he that is giving the orders.
@jihad_ragsta - Thanks! I like to throw in some brutal smack down from time to time in my writing.
@Gitsplitta - I agree. I wanted Inushi to be more of the introvert of the guest marines. When I originally sat down and worked out what every one would be like and how they would interact, it felt perfect to have Inushi play that role. It also makes it easier to write him in as the protagonist.
@toast - good call! It has been fixed. Some bad news about having such a giant post, I tend to miss more on the grammar side of things. I think the larger posts flow together better, especially in this instance with a long battle and running, but when I reread it I tend to see what my mind thinks is there, not what I've actually written.
IceAngel wrote:@toast - good call! It has been fixed. Some bad news about having such a giant post, I tend to miss more on the grammar side of things. I think the larger posts flow together better, especially in this instance with a long battle and running, but when I reread it I tend to see what my mind thinks is there, not what I've actually written.
This happens to everyone. Lesson I learned in grad school... have someone who is not intimately involved with your work proof read it... they'll catch all kinds of things that your mind "edits" for you when you read your own work. The other option is to set it down for several days & work on something else. Then come back and re-read what you've written with "fresh eyes".
Agreed. I like writing small sections at a time. Reread them and then put them all on word. Then delete it. Improve it again. Adds better revision. Plus I am always the critic to my own work.
I don't have anything constructive to post, I just thought you all should know. I am cackling manically on the inside.
you monster
You've done it again Ice, looking through your story again has made me finally want to get off my and write some more of my GMS fluff! Except Im gonna introduce all the marines in one large story rather then individually. pming you with some questions
Ice how could you do that to me, I saw you had a post on the thread, only to find you've gone mad with maniacal glee!
This bodes well however for more fluff, it means you've either had the perfect epiphany to wrap up this chapter or you've come up with the most grusome way to remove the current players in the story.
Either way it will be legendary!
on a side note, has Brother Micus made his way to you yet?
bigfish wrote:finally finished reading through from the beggining, so very awesome. hope to find more on here soon
Thanks bigfish. There will be MUCH MUCH more, but I've been working on other writing projects recently. Luckily I am nearly finished. Once that is out of the way there will be quite a bit more of the Ice Angel fluff to come.
Oh, and please don't hesitate to give me feedback as the writing comes out. I need feedback!
The room was a storm of activity. The industrious marines quickly detached, moved, packed, stacked, and rolled everything they had spent the past few days using. Amidst the controlled blur of deconstruction a lone figure sat in a massive throne.
The throne wasn’t his, yet he was in charge. The men around him were obeying his commands, yet he didn’t feel worthy enough to issue them.
He leaned back into the corner of the tall backed chair staring at his helmet that rested on a wide arm rest. He rubbed his chin with his left hand. Despite it being encased in armor he could feel the stubble on his chin. In his right hand he casually held a pic screen. It looked miniscule in his white powerfist.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breathe filling all three of his lungs. Slowly he emptied them one at a time. A small organ attached to his wind pipe analyzed the air he had breathed. He could taste the lingering death, the scent of squigs, and the tang of weapons fire. When he opened his eyes again they refocused on his helm. The purple eye lenses returned his gaze.
A single blink of light caught his attention. He changed focus to the pic screen. He saw a simple topographical lay out of the third planet in the Kota system. The screen automatically zoomed in as it blinked again. He didn’t change his focus as the screen zoomed in once again. With a final adjustment the topographical map showed a shoreline and a mountainous region, several large lakes dotted the landscape amongst the oddly shaped mountains. The Ice Angel emblem appeared in red at the center of a tear shaped region.
As the map was permanently added to his memory he lowered the screen and returned his gaze to his helmet. The room seemed to get slightly darker when he realized someone was in his light. He turned to his right to see a marine looking over at him. He held a large case in each hand.
“This is the last of them Captain.” He said before walking out of the room.
Captain Razzik was lost in the labyrinth of his thoughts as he watched the marine exit the bridge. The voice of Second Captain Ruusa echoed around his consciousness, the words made no sense but he knew they were Ruusa’s. Razzik relived conversations with Chaplain Cyaxeres and the Priest Attikusu, even Sergeant Muttabriqu appeared. Their mouths moved but the voice of Ruusa continued. As the storm of images subsided and the voice of the deceased Ruusa dissipated, a crackling image of Techmarine Philosir took over.
The most recent in the string of memories dominated his thoughts. Every department of his mind focused on the techmarine. Philosir had appeared battle weary. His meticulously maintained armor was heavily damaged.
Razzik knew Philosir had to of seen intense combat to appear that broken. Yet when he spoke, the same monotone voice echoed. No hint of his feelings, no inkling to explain how damaged he was, simply the same monotone voice he had used in every conversation Razzik could recall.
“……………we were successful……”
“only three of us……..”
“…………..Dark Eldar”
“third planet…….”
“……………we were successful……”
“……intense pursuit……”
“only three of us……..”
Key phrases repeated in Philosir’s monotone voice.
Around the image of Philosir, pictures of the lost marines appeared like one of his pre war reports. The cold efficient side, the Ice Angel side of his mental process removed the fallen marines from his list of assets.
With great mental effort he pushed aside the images and sat up from his throne. He looked around the room one last time. The ork monitors were dark. The speakers were silent. He turned in front of the throne and witnessed the guards outside waiting for his approach. For a moment he truly felt alone, but as his body adjusted so did his hearing. Distant sounds seemed to get louder as he involuntarily focused on them.
The creaks of the ship, the footfalls of the marines, the quite words of his men formed a cadence in his head. He reached for his helm as the sounds grew in his thoughts. He looked down into his helm. The multiple layers of metal and plastics would protect him in battle. The reinforced multi-lock seal would provide safety in the void. The filtration system would cleanse the air his body couldn’t normally withstand.
However, as he looked down at the helm he paused. No part of his helm would protect him from the weight of command that it represented.
The pic screen in his other hand flashed several times, the entire screen hesitated on black. As he brought the screen up it zoomed out. The third planet was now only a marble amongst a black back drop. Over a dozen red icons popped up on the screen. Dotted lines formed behind them to show trajectories. Amongst the ever-growing red dots, a lone blue icon floated like a lifeboat surrounded by abyssal drakes. Every path on the screen led to the third planet.
As red icons continued to appear further and further away he thumbed the off switch.
Captain Razzik looked at the open passage ahead of him. He looked back to his helm. This was it, he thought to himself. He didn’t like the odds, nor did he like how he got there, but he knew what had to be done. He was the eleventh captain of the Ice Angels, if he died, he’d die for the Emperor.
In one fluid motion he slammed the helm onto his reinforced collar. With several clicks and a hiss it sealed him in. With one final deep breath he took a step forward. He walked tall as he approached the door.
“For Ruusa” he whispered as he approached the door way.
“For the Emperor!” he shouted as he passed through.
“For the Emperor!” the guards shouted as they fell into step behind him.
Thanks guys. I'm not sure what came over me the past few days but I've gotten a surprisingly large amount of writing done. Hence my post being a few weeks early! Its good to see my fluff page still has some subscribers despite being away from it for so long. At least it feels like I've been away for a long time.
As some of you may recall I've included some random orks names over the past ten pages of fluff. Many of which are great and have a good orky feel. I however, require more names. I think its time for my first Ice Angel Fluff contest! It doesn't have anything to do with Ice Angels, it is in fact all about orks. SO, give me your best orky names. If I like it and you pass the cut, your name just might be immortalized in my fluff. Not much of a prize, but hey, it sounds good right?
Boff Garkin
Arrrold Warts'in'ages
Bigstick Urty'head
Lots'a teef
Not'sa'many teef
Lawrench Rippingface
Ironjaw smasha'head
Mad Dok Poke ya eyez
Big Mek Tri'dis
Lil grot get outta'dere
Warp head batshoe insane'o
I dont care how long it take for your story updates as long as they stay good story updates. I know the feeling of traveling the desert then the stars align, the grass grows and a plane full of inpiration crashes on your front lawn and all this happens when you happen to have a few hours and pen+paper.
In the darkness he waited. Waiting for allies, waiting for enemies, he’d forgotten what he was standing in that hall way for, so he stayed, waiting.
He stood next to a tall row of gray crates, leaning against the wall of a narrow corridor. A servo skull twitched on the floor not far from him. It didn’t twitch often, but every time it did he glared at it and his muscles tensed. He wanted to stalk over and crush the remaining life out of it but he knew it was already dead. Tentatively his eyes wandered away from the skull and he reviewed the hallway past him. Bits of cranium and electronics were scattered across the floor to his left from a half dozen crushed or slashed servo skulls.
His gaze traveled down the hall to a series of openings when he felt a slight tremor through the wall and floor. The tremor was followed by a distant grumble, as if someone had poked a fur squig from a deep slumber. The grumble grew until reaching a deep somber tone.
He knew the sound. The engines were at maximum strength. He remembered the feeling. The ork transport was moving as fast as its engines would allow.
The grumble sputtered and paused before roaring louder and settling back into its previous tone. He continued to concentrate on the distant sound when the closer sounds of footfalls disrupted his thoughts.
A leather armored greenskin stepped into the hall way from his left. His massive arms were covered in glyphs and scars. His trousers were covered in belts and straps from which countless teeth, shell casings, and bones dangled. After several more steps he stood amongst the servo skulls bits, only a few feet from the row of gray crates.
“Deh-floaty skolls is gone boss.” The ork quietly spoke, his beady red eyes darted to and fro.
After a moment of silence the ork stepped back as a taller greenskin stepped out of the darkness. His dark gray camouflaged pants had all sorts of belts and straps on them, but instead of teeth and shells he had a string of stikk bombs and two pistols. A bandolier of knives hung across his bare green chest, twin choppas were strapped behind his back.
The taller greenskin looked past the ork in front of him before speaking. “Da Humies is scared of us now, deh can’t get us all. Go get da boyz Grazgab. Is time to’r’take da ship.”
The smaller ork smiled and quickly ran off.
The servo skull twitched on the floor once again. The taller ork, once again alone, took a single step and picked up the servo skull. The ork closely examined the human skull. The cranial cavity was full of metallic bits and tubes. Several wires dangled from the bottom of the skull and while the ork examined it, he traced his finger along the huge gash that ordained the side of the skull. His choppa had pierced the side of the skull and bit deep into the core of the skull.
He manipulated the skull in his hands and looked into its face. The dimmest of lights could be seen in the right eye socket.
He thought of all the deaths the little skulls had caused. The deaths of Slog and Ironjaw were most recent. A similar skull had dropped a frag grenade on Ironjaw who then threw it at Slog. The grenade went off mid air between them and killed them both.
He shook his head at his lost boys. He needed to do something. The scattered greenskins were running and hiding, “We’s need to fight like orkses, not hide like da humies” he mumbled to himself.
Ork boys began to file into the corridor ahead of him. He heard them bickering and pushing each other to get closer to him. They were still determining their own order of rank. He looked out at his new mob.
“Oi! Listen up! We’got all deh skulls dead!” He spiked the skull in his hand onto the metal floor. Parts flew off as it bounced several times. It would never twitch again. “Deez humies tink dey better den us.” The orks shook their heads with anticipation; they were already sucked into the taller orks words.
He slowly walked through them. The orks let him pass. As if leading a herd of animals, they followed him down the hall which opened into a larger foyer near an elevator. As he entered the open area he looked around at the growing horde of greenskins.
“We need to show dem’ittle humies who is boss around’ere.” He drew is choppa and shook it above is head. Orks all around him imitated his actions. “Dis is my ship now!” The orks shouted with excitement. “DIS IS GUBBLEFUZZ’S SHIP!” The orks shouted even louder.
“We’s need to chop’m’dead!” Spittle flew as he shouted.
“WE’S need to crush der faces.” He gritted his teeth.
“WE’S need to break da heads!” his eyes dilated as some unseen force energy grew about him. The orks all around began to tremble with excitement.
“WE’S need to KICK’DER SPLEENS!” Shouts of spleen kicking erupted from orks in the crowd.
All manner of greenskin continued to approach the growing mob. Orks, grots, even squigs seemed unable to resist the pull of Gubblefuzz’s words.
“WE’S NEED TA KILL DA HUMIES! FOR MORK’ND’GORK!”
The orks responded with their own roar.
“TODA BRIDG!” The words exploded out of him as if he had been holding them back all his life.
Gubblefuzz drew his other choppa and ran off in a sprint. He felt touched by Gork, or possibly Mork, the mischievous one. He couldn’t remember which was which. Either way, visions of him sitting on the captains chair swam in his head. He growled and shouted with excitement as the growing mob of greenskins followed right behind.
Thank you sirs! This last installment took me awhile to piece out but once I determined what I wanted to happen it was written very quickly. Thank you to those that gave me some orkish names to use. Some of the left overs will be used in the future. Don't hesitate to post more suggestions if more come to mind.
“Prepare your men, wave one departs in approximately thirty six minutes.” Captain Razzik ordered as he reviewed his sergeants. Each one acknowledged the order and began to withdraw to their units. Razzik watched as Shar-takazz and Balathu exchanged a few final words before going to separate ships. Bel Hando of course boasted the upcoming death tally of his unit as he walked away from Lugalbanda who shook his head. Assault sergeants Bandik and Holoc marched away in step, Razzik knew despite their cold demeanor they were excited to fight side by side once again. For a brief moment Razzik felt a sense of pride in his men.
The thought made him pause, they were hardly his men. They may not be his for much longer. Instead of dwelling on the thought he continued to watch as each unit began their pre-battle rituals.
Sergeant Shar-takazz of squad Rimsin reiterated some tactical advice before beginning a prayer. Bel Hando of squad Shwando laughed and made some jokes with his devastator unit that laughed heartily. Combat leader Balathu of squad Kujara reviewed orders and spoke with the few remaining members of his unit before inspecting the squad’s lascannon with Brother Thukoo. Sergeants Ardorach and Maranu reviewed defensive positions they would soon be defending with their two tactical units.
Razzik continued to monitor the marines of second company as he began to make his way past a conglomeration of black Ice Angel vessels. Tanks were already loaded. System checks were being run. Servitors were loading the final crates of equipment. Every Ice Angel on the ork vessel was in the hanger, only a handful of servitors were elsewhere on the ship.
The front loading ramp of a thunderhawk closed as he passed. Twin vindicators slowly rose up behind the cockpit to fit snug under the vessels long tail. Razzik observed Zarva reviewing his tanks connection before climbing into the Crystalfist.
After passing a storm eagle running a final weapons check, Captain Razzik found himself in front of the most gaudy Imperial vessel he had ever seen. The quartered yellow and pink made him pause and chuckle to himself. It didn’t seem that long ago when Aquilum landed his personal ship on the deck of the Frozen Rage.
The handful of marines sitting in front of the unique vessel stood up from their own tasks as he approached. Nefas stepped up and met the Captain. His white helmet had an ash smear under its eye.
“Captain.” He said with a slight nod.
Razzik nodded in return and reviewed the dark band of marines. Brother Kvothe in his dark red armor stood tall, his purple tabard swaying slightly in the hanger’s artificial air. Next to him was the massive Honored Brother Inigo. He moved his arms and neck in some sort of stretch. As he worked his arms in circles he appeared even larger. His gray armor was still dull and filthy from his recent ork battles. Brother Jaska met Razzik’s gaze briefly before returning to his dismantled plasma pistol.
Inigo cleared his throat before speaking, “Thank you Captain for allowing us in the vanguard.” He looked around at the other marines before settling his gaze on his thunder hammer. “Reven, Aquilum, Shar-drasha, and Pyrox will be avenged…… soon.”
“We will ALL avenge the fallen Inigo. Together as one force of righteousness we will destroy all in our path.” Thoughts of Ruusa’s death flashed before he spoke again, “but first we need to get off this ship and find our rendezvous. Follow the Icemaul in. The weather will provide cover.”
Razzik looked up at the bizarre ship once again. It had the general appearance of a storm eagle, but the massive under hull turret felt disproportional. The squat vessel had three wide wings, but where the fourth wing should have been a long black engine protruded. A lone purple missile hung under its only upper wing.
“She’ll get us down without any issue Captain.” Nefas said with confidence. Razzik could only smile as he took a final glance at the contraption. The words Emperor’s Coinpurse were carefully written in black under the front cockpit.
“May the Emperor guide you Brother Nefas.” He added before saluting to the gathered marines. The guest marines finished their prep and loaded into their ship as Razzik walked away.
He walked in silence for several minutes before he found himself near the back wall of the expansive hanger where a lone black raven sat. Razzik stopped and watched Chaplain Cyaxeres kneeling before an upside down drop pod that hung behind the rear hatch. Brother Desai sat cross legged across from Cyaxeres quietly repeating the Chaplains prayers. A feeling of awe slowly crept into Razzik’s thought as he watched the scene.
The small drop pod hung like a dangerous chandelier. It was bright white and sealed, wisps of smoke curled away from several lines that connected the pod to the raven. Feelings of repulsion and sorrow oozed at the edges of his mind trying to oust the serene sight.
“Sanguinous watch over you” Razzik absently said as he pried his gaze away from the white drop pod. The mix of emotions dissolved before creeping further.
He checked the countdown along with several status reports on his HUD as he approached a trio of marines near an inner bulk head. The bulk head was full of scrap metal and melted together to form a clog of welded debris. Only the smallest squigs or occasional grot could breach the scrap wall.
As Razzik nodded at his marines a damaged servo skull floated out from the scrap wall. Sparks shot out from the skull as it hovered at an odd tilt. The small anti-grav unit whined as it attempted to maintain the skulls elevation. It sputtered twice and took several dives before landing in the waiting hands of Brother Shu-Takii.
The black armored Ice Angel examined the skull closely, his pack mounted light illuminating the skull. He probed the skulls damaged side like an apothecary preparing for his first cut. Without taking his eyes off the skull he turned and stepped over to a black and red land raider chassis.
Shu-Takii stepped into the open side hatch as Captain Razzik stepped closer to the tank. The vehicle was one of Techmarine Philosir’s creations. It was wider then a typical land raider, but it had no side armament, no front armament, and it only had room for six marines inside.
“Muuniafhwa onwo apso taz’shinii” was written on the side of the tank. The ancient space tribes of Shatt-el-Hai having held onto the phrase for generations found a fitting place on the side of the tank.
Captain Razzik thought on the ancient phrase as Brother Shu-Takii emerged from the tank. Seeing the captain he approached while examining a thick pic screen he held in his left hand. He stood next to the captain to revere the unique tank.
Captain Razzik checked off several status reports before he spoke, “Is it ready?”
“Yes Captain, MOAT is ready. The machine spirit seems almost, anxious.” Shu-Takii said before leaning slightly closer to the captain.
“This will be the first time MOAT has been in battle.” He added.
Razzik at first was surprised but as he thought back he recalled the handful of times he had seen Philosir use the land raider. Its auxiliary uses were extremely valuable yet its lack of fire power kept it from the front lines. The rolling armory, known as MOAT, held enough ammo and equipment to keep the second company running for prolonged battle but only a lone twin linked autocannon meant its front line uses were limited.
“I’m sure Philosir will be glad to see his prized creation in the middle of the defensive wall.” Razzik said while Shu-Takii nodded his head in agreement.
Without further word Shu-Takii looked back at the pic screen in his hand. With a few finger taps the wide landraider rumbled, its engines shaking the deck for a brief moment. Shu-Takii took several steps while tapping the screen several more times. MOAT began to move across the hanger towards its awaiting Thunderhawk.
“Captain, a word please” the voice of Attikusu entered his vox.
A simple acknowledgement was all he returned as he hastily moved across the hanger towards a well protected room protruding from the back wall. Inside, the Sanguinary Priest Attikusu stood with several servitors and two other marines. A horde of wires lay across the floor and fed into a wall of pic screens.
The white armored priest gave a side way glance at Razzik as he began to speak, “There are seven ships in the immediate vicinity. The largest has attempted to hail us but is holding its position.”
Razzik examined several screens that crudely outlined their positions. With practiced ease he mentally drew up a map of the surrounding ships, he added in updated lists of other incoming vessels and arrival times. Numbers of possible enemies in relationship to ship size filed away in the back of his head.
“Anshar, send out an updated report to all the sergeants of projected numbers. Zaltu, alter the timing of wave two by minus three minutes. Once completed take what we need and get to our ship.”
“Yes sir” both Anshar and Zaltu said in unison. Razzik looked at Attikusu, their gazes met and as one they turned and walked out of the fortified position into the expansive hanger. They walked for several minutes when they met up with Cyaxeres. The skull mask of the Chaplain a grim reminder of his role in the chapter.
“What is on your mind?” Razzik said.
“You” Cyaxeres blatantly replied. “Your plan is very wise,” he quickly added, “but something continues to trouble you.”
Cyaxeres paused and closely watched Razzik’s response. Despite wearing his helm both Attikusu and Cyaxeres were aware of Razzk’s surprise.
Sixty seconds were left on his HUD. The gigantic hanger door behind the three marines slowly opened, all eight sections slid out in separate directions. The southern hemisphere of a blue and green planet stretched out before them. Thick black and white expanses of cloud flashed with distant lightning as the doors finally stopped moving.
Engines of the first wave blasted. The sound would have been deafening had they not had their helms on. Ships began to leave the deck. Landing gear retracted. As the number in his HUD ticked down they approached the invisible bearer between them and the void. In rows they blasted out into space as the counter stopped at zero.
Two separate timers replaced the previous count down.
Razzik felt the entire ork vessel rumble as it slightly changed its trajectory.
With a sigh he regarded his elder fellow marines. “The mission that our tech marine suggested and he under took was successful.” He looked out at the world below him once again. “Yet it feels some what suspicious. Where did he get this information or knowledge of the outpost?”
Attikusu and Cyaxeres absorbed the words but did not respond.
“It also costs us valuable lives, and for what?” He shook his hands towards the planet, “another destination in which we’ll inevitable loose more lives.”
“We were created for war Razzik, loss is” Attikusu began.
Razzik spun around and interrupted, “I am fully aware of our purpose.” A hint of anger seeped into his voice.
Cyaxeres stepped next to the captain to observe the view, “What would you have us do then Captain Razzik? Run? Head back to Shattermantle further disrespecting our chapter?”
Razzik shook his head, “Sometimes I wonder if we should have.” Both Cyaxeres and Attikusu shook their heads. “My first prolonged mission as a Captain may be my last. The lives of an entire company may be lost all because I followed orders. These Imperial bureaucrats will never respect us.”
Cyaxeres scoffed, “that may be true, but the soldiers and the generals will. Think how they will view us when we return from the Kota system with Eldar heads in a sack.”
Razzik looked down at his hands as the second wave of ships began to fire up their engines. Attikusu took a final glance at Razzik before he ran towards his awaiting ship. Cyaxeres stayed for another brief moment before he turned and sprinted towards his ship.
Within seconds the next wave of Ice Angel ships were leaving the deck. Razzik watched them go; only two vessels remained in the hanger.
“But is that worth our sacrifice?” Razzik continued. “How many must die only to prove a point?” He clenched his fists as he headed towards his ship.
I find that the personal inflections that Razzik goes through add's quite a bit more to the reality of their cause. Although I do feel that while the doubt's are real, Razzik dwells on it to much. While I can't say I personally know him, my view on how Spacemarines would operate would lead me to believe they would highlight given issues, follow them and that would be it.
Perhaps this a new wave on how marines have developed mentally over the course of their lives (How long has Razzik been around?)
Gitsplitta wrote:And the story continues....
Well written my friend.
Thank you sir!
Toast36 wrote:Nice. As allways you have left me wanting more.
Oh there is more to come. In fact the next person that reads this should make a comment so I can post more!
Knightley wrote:Very nice.
I find that the personal inflections that Razzik goes through add's quite a bit more to the reality of their cause. Although I do feel that while the doubt's are real, Razzik dwells on it to much. While I can't say I personally know him, my view on how Spacemarines would operate would lead me to believe they would highlight given issues, follow them and that would be it.
Perhaps this a new wave on how marines have developed mentally over the course of their lives (How long has Razzik been around?)
Excellent thought Knightley! Allow me to give you my take on space marines. First of all, I am a big 40k fluff reader. I love the heresy stuff and many of the other books out there, some authors much more then others. Something that I have really enjoyed in the heresy novels is their explanation and description of marines views and emotions. They are genetically bred to know no fear, yet they still have every other emotion. The inner turmoil of the heresy really makes the books that much better, the "brotherly warfare" adds another layer to the already great sci-fi action.
Knightley, I would agree with you that space marines would indeed highlight an issue and follow it. But to me, a space marine if unable to correct or fix his issue would focus and dwell on it. He'd think about it to a level that would be bordered on obsession. Similar to another character we have discussed in length about.
In my story, Razzik can't fix his problem because he has had nearly no control over it. On top of that he is beginning to realize the ponderous relationship between space marines and the Imperium that higher command would have to deal with more then the line troops. Ultimately, I am trying to portray him as being frustrated and he is currently trying to determine for himself how to cope with it.
I'm not sure that answered your question........ what was your question?
(How long has Razzik been around?)
oh right, well he is the newest captain, he has completed all the scout/tactical/assault/veteran/sergeant like positions. Yet I don't want him to fit into the veteran old guy like position. hmmmm, I may have to think about that one Knightley. I wonder how long it takes a normal marine to become a captain. Time for some research.
After running and yelling through most of the ork transport Gubblefuzz was now only feet from the bridge to the ship he now claimed as his own. Orks had flocked to his call but the energy that had built behind his charge was slipping from his grasp.
“Where b’da humies, boss?” a nob named Kronkin asked once again.
Gubblefuzz looked around at his boys scrambling to maintain the short term control he’d mustered over them. “Deys hidden from us. Lets check out da bridge and see wheres dey at.” He spat.
Kronkin eyed him closely, measuring up the equally massive greenskin before nodding.
The wave of greenskins pushed forward, spilling into the bridge like water exiting a broken damn.
Inside the bridge, the screens were all dark. The massive captain’s chair was empty. Gubblefuzz didn’t like it one bit. He walked over to the nearest panel and mashed the key board, unfamiliar with how to work this kind of machine. Nothing happened. He mashed again, anger quickly taking over, still nothing. He then punched it with his gauntleted fist.
Sparks flew as the screen shattered and his fist went into the panel.
“HEY! Dim monitors don’t like bein beat’n.” A bent over ork shouted.
Gubblefuzz stalked over to the shorter ork. He wanted to throttle him, smash in his face, and stomp on his spleen six times but he knew the shorter ork would be useful. Mekboy Gogglenuts was the only remaining mek on the ship and Gubblesfuzz’s only chance of repairing what the humies had destroyed.
“Ok den, get’em up and running. Nows!” Gubblefuzz demanded. “Yous boys! Go look for da’humies” he added while motioning to all the other boys on the bridge.
Several orks began to clear out of the bridge, a gaggle of grots began to dismantle one of the screens closest to the captains chair. Gogglenuts followed several large bundles of wire across the floor before finding what he was looking for and pulling several tools off his belt.
Gubblefuzz turned and saw that Kronkin was in the captain’s chair. HIS, captain’s chair. “Whos’said yous can sit in my chair?” Gubblefuzz shouted while pointing his thick crooked finger.
A grin crept across Kronkins face as Gubblefuzz stepped towards the seated greenskin.
“Dis chair?” Kronkin asked while pointing at one of the arm rests.
Gubblefuzz slowly pulled out his two hooked blades, the scrape of metal demanding the attention of the remaining orks in the room. Kronkin continued to smile as his left hand drifted down to one of the pistols on his hip.
The two orks were about to attack each other when one of the screens crackled to life. In unison they turned and saw the gray static on the screen, blurred shapes randomly piercing the snowy fuzz.
The head of Gogglenuts peaked out from behind a loose panel in a wall. He looked over at the screen then disappeared back inside. Several grunts and groans followed. The screen blinked on then off several times, static grew in intensity then vanished. A loud thunk came from behind the wall when the screen reactivated, the side of another ork vessel filling the view.
“Look! Reinorkments!” Kronkin said.
Orks grinned, several even cheered, until Gubblefuzz shouted. “STOP DA SHIP!”
The view of the other ork vessel was getting closer. It quickly filled the screen. Orks scrambled, ran into each other, some even shot each other, only Gogglenuts continued to work, but it was too late.
Somewhere in space a pair of Ice Angel Ravens sped towards the planet. In one of them Captain Razzik watched the collision of the two ork vessels, smiling as the first of several warheads detonated.
hmmmm, you will learn more about Philosir but I've written a lot about him lately. I feel as if I need to have a third protagonist. As of now I've got Captain Razzik and Brother Inushi. I like both of them as characters, but I feel like I should have another. I like the members of the Uttuakki but they are on the Frozen Rage and I don't want to get them involved at this point in time. As I look back at some of my previous writings, before I started going to work shops and such, I wrote from a lot of perspectives. Inigo, Cyaxeres, Desai, Miqit, even a combat scene with Mi-luqua Vaz all had their chances. Wow, Git was right, my writing has improved.
Moving forward though, I think I'm leaning towards one of the surviving guest marines as my third protagonist. I like my Ice Angels, I mean I did invent them, but I feel I can describe them better by writing about them from the outside. Does that make sense?
I am really excited that you guys are intrigued by Philosir, but I don't think I should write from his perspective, especially given what he knows. I worked so hard to give him some mystery I wouldn't want to ruin it.
Since my last post I've been rereading a lot of what I've written. While I was reading I concentrated on whose perspective I was writing from and which character actually had some depth. My list of possible subjects quickly turned into a list of people I shouldn't use as my protagonist. Once I had caught up to some of the more recent stuff the decision made itself.
IceAngel wrote:
Moving forward though, I think I'm leaning towards one of the surviving guest marines as my third protagonist. I like my Ice Angels, I mean I did invent them, but I feel I can describe them better by writing about them from the outside. Does that make sense?
It does make sense. And it is a good idea.
But I would reaaaaally liked to know more about Philosir...
Pretty please? With a cherry on top?
On a more serious tone, I would love to read for him, BUT its your work, your creativity and more importantly your story So whatever you have decided upon I will definitely read it!!!
Knightley wrote:Bugger I was hoping to include my thoughts in to the newest protagonist (course you know who I would want )
We'll get to that Knightley. Jeez! We still have a lot to cover before we get there.
Bobakos wrote:
IceAngel wrote:
Moving forward though, I think I'm leaning towards one of the surviving guest marines as my third protagonist. I like my Ice Angels, I mean I did invent them, but I feel I can describe them better by writing about them from the outside. Does that make sense?
It does make sense. And it is a good idea.
But I would reaaaaally liked to know more about Philosir...
Pretty please? With a cherry on top?
On a more serious tone, I would love to read for him, BUT its your work, your creativity and more importantly your story So whatever you have decided upon I will definitely read it!!!
There will be more about him, don't you worry.
side note: I was a bit bummed no one mentioned the name of Aquilum's ship. It took me months to come up with a good name for it.
I admit, I had to go back and look now that you mention it. By "coin purse" do you mean what I *think* you mean? Re-reading the description... I get the imagery (not that that's a good thing)... my guess would be that I didn't put 2 and 2 together when I was reading it the first time. Perhaps you should model it for us?
The violent shaking of the Emperor’s Coinpurse slowly ebbed as the trajectory began to level out slightly. Inigo released his tight grip of the plush pink arm rests and looked up at the monitor above his head as the string of numbers and information ceased. The exterior cameras were redeploying now that reentry was complete.
When the screen finally lit up, a dark haze filled his view. The cloud cover they were in was thick. He couldn’t make out any shapes even though several other Ice Angel ships were nearby. Using a switch he flipped through the set of cameras. Every one of them revealed the same oppressive cloud cover.
Eventually he stopped flipping through the views and settled on the under nose camera. Impatiently Inigo looked around the unique ravens lounge. A small table sat between him and an empty chair. A weapons locker was to his left next to the hallway to the front of the ship. His only companion in the rear compartment was Kvothe. The red armored marine sat across from him in a fuzzy yellow chair that was embedded in the wall. He was reclined and harnessed in, he hadn’t spoken in minutes. Probably praying, Inigo thought to himself. More likely he was reiterating the Codex Astartes that he often quoted.
The monitor above Inigo flashed a dull light gray. He looked up at the monitor once again in hopes of something coming into view. The flashes continued sporadically as the sound of rain hitting the hull of the ship began to echo throughout the cabin. Quickly the rain intensified as did the frequency of the flashes.
The lightning continued revealing only clouds until the vague angle of a mountain side came into view. The clouds loosened their grip on the ship as the streaks of light continued to illuminate a massive mountain, its bare rocky form looming sentinel to his ships port side. The wall of stone was barren rock without a hint of foliage or construction.
The Ice Angel vessels ahead of them would have been invisible had he not been able to see the light of their engines. The large thunderhawk, the Icemaul was directly in front of them. The triple engines of the ship were the only constant source of light on the monitor.
As he focused on the engines of the thunderhawk, it began to bank around the mountain and descend into a valley. Seconds later the Emperor’s Coinpurse followed. As they rounded the mountain and began their descent, Inigo could hear secondary systems on the ship kick on.
The whirr of a motor brought a smile to Inigo’s face as he switched through several camera angles to the targeting camera attached to the under slung cannon. For a fleeting moment Inigo wished he was in Jaska’s seat handling the cannon but then he thought about how much quicker he’d be able to deploy and put his hammer to use from his current seat.
With another banked turn, this time to their right, they leveled out once again. The camera view was now nearly straight down. Twisted sickly trees dotted the wasted landscape of the wide valley floor. As one particularly bright flash illuminated the scene, Inigo could make out a wide trench that was filling with the downpour. Shredded metal could be seen scattered amongst the murky liquid.
Suddenly the under slung camera view was nothing but water. Inigo felt his body began to release chemicals as the timing for action drew closer. He knew it wouldn’t involve him yet, but the excitement nevertheless activated several glands in his skull and in his lower back. His vision sharpened and his muscles twitched slightly. Absentmindedly he stretched out his arms and hands.
As suddenly as the water filled the screen it disappeared. Scraggly trees and giant boulders could be seen as they began to bank at a sharp angle. The cannon adjusted slightly to cope for the maneuver as the first ork vehicle came into view. A bright flash filled the screen as a dull boom filled the compartment.
The Emperor’s Coinpurse slowed down as the under slung cannon found another vehicle and fired again. The additional sounds of gun fire outside seeped into the cabin.
“Target spotted” Kvothe said as he stared at a different monitor that Inigo couldn’t see.
Inigo looked over at Kvothe silently demanding more information.
“Camera seven” Kvothe added.
The time it took to tilt his head back to the ceiling of the room he had switched to camera seven. The port side wing camera revealed the battle below them during their banked turn.
A single raven had landed near a rocky out cropping. Inigo could make out shapes moving towards it. Several explosions lit up the nearby area as the entirety of the situation was revealed. Dozens of ork bodies were hurtled into the air but hundreds more could be seen running.
Inigo switched to camera eight as it exited camera sevens view. The landed raven was hovering off the ground and slowly moving away from the rocks. The racks of bolters and twin linked plasma cannons on the raven dished out a near constant stream of fire.
The raven took off towards the fleeing thunderhawks, while the Emperor’s Coinpurse along with the smaller vessels in the first wave made another pass over the orks.
Small arms fire could be heard pelting off the ships armored hull in between the dull boom of Jaska’s cannon. The banked turn lasted for a few more seconds before they leveled out in the same direction of the thunderhawks.
With a burst of speed they departed the valley. The roar of the rain on the hull and the thrust of the engines replaced the sounds of battle. The whirr of the cannons engine could be heard briefly as it resumed to its non combat position.
Inigo looked back to Kvothe, a part of him wanted to strike up a conversation with the Shadow Sanctus marine, but when the thoughts of the upcoming one sided conversation darkened his mood he decided to wait until Kvothe initiated it.
“What do……” Kvothe began when the ship took a sudden lurch the starboard side. A nearby explosion sounded as if it were in the compartment with them.
“Kvothe, get to the top mounted cannon.” Nefas demanded.
Kvothe slammed the orange button on his harness release and vaulted out his seat. He sprinted down the hall to a ladder built into the wall and climbed up into the top mounted cannon. He was almost into the small weapons compartment when the ship took a sudden nose dive. The impacts of heavy caliber rounds pounded the hull.
As the roof mounted twin linked assault cannons came online Inigo found the corresponding camera. In the darkness it was hard to understand what was fully going on, but when the lightning flashed he could see the thunderhawks in the distance and the streaks of rounds from various air craft around them.
The ork vessels were few, but the Ice Angel ships were primarily transports. They evaded what they could but ultimately continued on their course. The advanced astartes weapon systems fired at the ork fighters as they approached with little success.
With a quick motion the twin linked assault cannons turned 90 degrees to port. Inigo watched as the rounds pounded into a passing ork vessel. A millisecond flash revealed several rounds bursting an engine before the passing vessel disappeared from view.
After the first successful shots though, Kvothes accuracy seemed to diminish as the orks continued to fly by. Several minutes passed before the ship rose steeply only to dive once again in between to tall peaks.
A near explosion rocked the ship after a row of tracer rounds exploded an ork fighter. Inigo switched cameras to the front nose camera once again to reveal the rendezvous position.
The valley was shrouded in a near impenetrable darkness. Even the flashes from the lightning above seemed unable to touch the valleys floor. The only indication of the valleys bottom was by following the controlled stream of tracer rounds from a single twin linked cannon.
Inigo watched intently as the cannon fired in sporadic bursts, each time in a different direction. As the Emperor’s Coinpurse began to slow down and lift its nose in preparation to land, Inigo began to also pick out the dimming lights of other landed air craft.
A quick release of his harness and Inigo was out of his seat. Thunderhammer in hand he took two powerful steps and turned towards the rear hatch. He held onto one of the grips above the hatch in his left hand while a pre-battle cant escaped his lips. His battle smile crossed his face as he finished.
The sounds of Jaska and Kvothe could be heard behind him as they completed the shut down of their respective systems. The voice of Nefas spoke into the vox, “Orders are in, secure landing site then proceed to the ridge south, southeast.” The rear hatch broke its seal and began to open, “Inigo, we’re right behind you.” Nefas added.
Inigo leapt out of the vessel and was moving before the hatch touched the ground.
Inushi watched as the Ice Angels filed out of the raven and immediately dispersed into the darkness. The dim light given off from the interior of the raven was minimal but more then enough for the superior senses of the astartes to function. The sounds of heavy weapons fire, hard rain, and Imperial thrusters invaded the chamber. Damp air wafted into the raven, it smelled tangy and acidic. After a brief few seconds an Ice Angel returned to peer into the open hatch, water streamed off his pitch black armor. Before he had spoken Philosir and Hunzuu were on their feet.
“Clear” he stated as he turned and pointed with two fingers past the open hatch. “MOAT is sixty yards over.”
Philosir was in motion in that direction leaving Hunzuu behind with only Inushi. Inushi didn’t follow or get up. He waited. For a moment he leaned back into his chair before Hunzuu stepped further into the raven. Inushi turned to see the crumpled form of Shar-Drasha on a long piece of metal. Next to the fallen marine on the same piece of metal was a large murky opaque bubble. An occasional glimpse of pink or yellow would dance on the bubbles edges but it never revealed what was inside.
“Come Mantis, we’re not finished yet.” Hunzuu spoke while reaching down to grab the edge of the metal makeshift gurney.
In a slow fluid motion Inushi stood from his seat, stepped over, and squatted down. He grabbed onto the piece of metal and with a nod from Hunzuu lifted up his end of the metal plank. After a moment of readjustment they stepped in time, down the hatch and out into the darkness. The hatch closed immediately behind them.
After they exited the storm raven Inushi paused and looked all around. His enhanced dark vision allowed him to see perfectly clear his immediate surroundings but not much further. The rain fell in heavy droplets that left a haze near the ground from their impacts.
Inushi and Hunzuu stood in an empty, perfectly square lot. Several heavily damaged buildings lay crumbling nearby. They looked ancient but vaguely Imperial in design. Inushi held the plank behind him and felt a slight nudge from Hunzuu.
Without further instruction Inushi picked his path and marched off. The sounds of thrusters and occasional weapons fire could be heard in the distance in every direction. As they marched, several vessels flew overhead. Inushi didn’t attempt to see what kind they were, instead he focused on moving and keeping the gurney level.
After passing the remains of a stone perimeter wall, Inushi and Hunzuu entered the edge of a wide tiered courtyard. An expansive broken street crossed the center in front of them and intersected with another road. The intersecting road cut up the tiers and at its top tier a weaponless land raider sat. For a brief moment Inushi caught a flash of light coming out of the raider. A door quickly shut preventing any further light to escape but in that moment Inushi caught a flash of red. Long double barrels suddenly barked from atop the raider that Inushi hadn’t seen. They tracked an unseen foe across the sky before once again going silent and disappearing into the darkness.
“Wait, “Hunzuu commanded.
With several quick head turns Inushi reevaluated the courtyard. To his left the road continued past piles of rubble where buildings used to stand. To his right the skeletal remains of two warehouses still battled the elements. Ahead of him the squat land raider sat several tiers above them. All around him rain continued to pour. He did however hear a low sustained thruster blasting away.
He began to look up when the forms of Ice Angels dropped from the sky. They used their jump packs in a single short burst to land safely in the courtyard. Within seconds the empty courtyard held twenty Ice Angels. One landed directly in front of Inushi. He was a bit taller then him and wielded two lightning claws. They were powered down at his side. His helmet had a third lens in between and slightly above his two eyes.
The marine gave him a curt nod before he turned along with nine other marines and they jumped to Inushi’s left. The other ten went to his right. As quickly as they arrived they departed leaving him alone with Hunzuu and the heavy rain.
Without further pause Hunzuu spoke again, “Go, we need to get to MOAT.”
Inushi stepped forward as he felt Hunzuu pushing forward with the gurney with haste. “Hunzuu, what’s MOAT?”
“The raider above us” Hunzuu added. They were now almost jogging up the roads incline towards the vehicle.
Inushi was curious and almost asked another question about the raider when another set of thrusters, this time much louder, could be heard behind him. Soon the sound of moving stones across ancient pavement could be heard amongst the deep hum of the engines. As they reached the same tier as MOAT Inushi risked a look behind him. The empty courtyard they left behind was now filled with a hovering thunderhawk. Two vindicators were being released from their rear harnesses. They moved the moment they hit the broken remnants of the road.
A shaft of light distracted him as he turned back towards the land raider. An open door invited him in and Inushi entered. Hunzuu carefully navigated his end of the gurney so they entered without hitting the reinforced door frame.
Once inside Inushi was shocked at what he saw. The interior of the raider instead of being filled with rows of seats or weapon systems was filled floor to ceiling with white smooth tiles that dominated the front and rear of the tank. Each was smooth with no rivets, no handles, and only a single symbol. The interior was also very bright, almost to a clinical level. The white tiles seemed to intensify and reflect the light leaving no shadows around the gathered marines.
Two other marines were in the tank, a tactical marine that Inushi didn’t recognize and Philosir. They stood across from him by the only other door. A rack was extended into the hall way and Philosir was depositing his broken servo arms and shattered weapons into an empty shelf. As he did so two servo arms on the ceiling of the tank were refitting Philosir with a new power pack. Instead of his previous four servo arm configuration a heavy flamer and missile launcher were being activated above his shoulders.
Hunzuu began to lower the gurney behind him. Inushi lowered his end and looked around, still trying to absorb and understand what he was seeing. Meanwhile Hunzuu stepped over and lightly touched a white tile. It slid out into the hall way next to the gurney. With care Hunzuu lifted up the remains of Shar-Drasha and set him in the bottom compartment of the rack.
When he was completed he stepped over the gurney towards the opaque bubble, he hesitated, trying to determine how best to move it.
“I will move him Sergeant. Rearm yourself and get to your unit” the monotone voice of Philosir commanded. Hunzuu turned around to another rack and tapped the end panel, a small box opened and racks of promethium canisters were easily accessible, below it were pairs of grenades. Inushi watched Hunzuu closely. Inushi could see a difference in Hunzuu’s demeanor as he switched out a shoulder pad at a second rack. There was a swiftness in his actions. He seemed relived to be returning to his squad, or maybe to be getting further away from the last mission. Inushi knew the last mission still left sour taste in his mouth.
After several minutes Hunzuu was outfitted, the racks closed themselves as he finished. He then stepped towards the door, before he slid it open he looked over his shoulder at Inushi. Inushi waited for him to speak but instead he slid open the door and stepped into the darkness.
“Plasma pistol correct?” the tactical marine said. His sudden nearness seeming to jump start Inushi’s thoughts.
He turned to the marine. His helm had a secondary scope on its side and he had a back pack mounted search light. The marine stepped to the same rack that Hunzuu had been at but when the marine touched the panel it revealed plasma pistol cores.
He grabbed a core and tossed it to Inushi who easily grabbed it mid flight. He attempted reloaded his purple pistol but the core didn’t fit properly.
“Oh, I apologize Inushi, “he then stepped over and took back the core. Inushi watched as he applied some pressure and released a side bar on the core. The marine then handed it back.
“We manufacture our own cores, its not quite standard issue.” The marine hesitantly added. He traded a look with Philosir before changing the subject. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Shu-Takii of tactical squad Rimsin” he quickly said. He then looked over at Philosir who was approaching the opaque bubble. “I’m training to be one of the chapter’s tech marines.”
Inushi was about to respond when he caught Shu-Takii’s gaze and turned to watch Philosir bend down and carefully pick up the bubble. The shifting edges made it appear as if it were liquid. However, when Philosir touched its edges his hands didn’t pierce its outer edge.
Slowly he began to move it towards the waiting rack. It was a snug fit, but it was clear the shelf was designed to hold the wounded, or dead. The entire transfer took only seconds but Inushi memorized the moment, he would never forget that eerie sight. The tech marine finished placing the bubble on the rack and without a touch or action it slid back into the wall. Inushi came out of his reverie as the tile stopped moving. His mind wondered of its inhabitant’s fate.
Without another word the red armored tech marine turned to another rack. It hissed slightly as it slid out and revealed an array of shields along with a lone serrated power axe. Philosir grabbed the axe and attached it to his hip. He then hefted up the shield. Lights on his missile launcher and heavy flamer began to blink before going dark.
Philosir turned his head, both backpack mounted weapons turned and followed his gaze, he turned again and they once again followed his movement. With a slow motion he returned his gaze to Inushi.
A lone square pedestal emerged from the center of MOAT. An array of electrical ports and docking stations lined three of its side, yet the third side was perfectly smooth. As the pedestal reached its full height the smooth side opened from the top. Philosir stepped over and looked inside.
Inushi couldn’t see what was inside from where he stood but his interest was peaked. He lifted his chin to attempt a look when Philosir reached up to his helmet. The red helm had minor damage but several lenses on his secondary optical units were broken. The bottom edge of his front grill was also mashed in.
With several clicks he removed his helm.
Seeing the true face of a tech marine was always a unique experience, but seeing Philosir’s mechanical augmentations took him by surprise. His cranium and neck were black metal, his mouth appeared more like a minute speaker from a vox caster. As fascinating as the mechanics were though, Inushi found himself transfixed with Philosir’s eyes. The tech marine still had his organic eyes. His nose and ears were flesh as well, but Inushi couldn’t take his gaze away from his those orbs.
They were the lightest blue, bordering on white, yet they had a depth that gave him a wizened look. Inushi didn’t know what to say, but when Philosir hefted another helm out from the pedestal Inushi looked away as if ashamed.
“I am probably not what you think a typical tech marine looks like, am I?” The monotone voice of Philosir sounded incredibly out of place after staring at his face. “I have seven different optical units on my armor and the audio augments have the capacity to sense bugs burrowing beneath my tank, my olfactory unit can discern every chemical compound in the air around us, yet none of these augmentations….” He paused,
“None of them can ever truly replace my real senses.”
Philosir then placed his new helmet on his head. The identical helm clicked into place.
In the few seconds Inushi had glimpsed the marine under the amazing red armor, his vision of the tech marine had been forever changed.
Awesome. really liked how you incorperated the jumpack marine you did at the same time as adding the extra insight into Philosir, very nice and very well written
Hey Ice, maybe a random question, but is there any way you could save the story thus far as a .pdf? I'd love to read this on my tablet in a little more friendly format. Or even if you had it in Word, I could convert it myself. I started copy/pasting and realized you likely have a complete version.
@bigfish = thanks bigfish. I'm glad you noticed the jump pack guy making an appearance!
@whalemusic360 = I can do that whalemusic. If you want to shoot me your e-mail address I can get a .pdf file over to you. If any one else would like one, send me a PM as well.
@1-i = Thanks for the fluff on your guy, expect a PM from me with some questions.
The crunch of pavement, the splashes of boots in puddles, the small unit of four marines ran through the light rain with no regard for silence only their haste to reach their destination. After rounding a waist high wall of worn mortar, Nefas slowed to a typical engagement speed.
He raised his custom bolter, a long curved clip hung from the bolters stock. Kvothe and Jaska followed his lead raising up their own weapons. They fanned out and explored the small alley way quickly while Inigo watched behind them.
The rain had slowed substantially to a slight drizzle. The clouds were still thick but a light gray could be seen in between mountains in the horizon. Dawn was making its approach but for the moment Inigo was still using his night vision. The details were not clean enough without it.
He moved down the alley way after his squad mates before stopping to check again that nothing was behind them. The sounds of footfalls breaking the dull hum of falling rain were all he could hear in the near vicinity. The occasional growl of engines could be heard in the distance but like the rain, the ork vessels had also subsided allowing the astartes vessels to land and set up defenses.
Inigo knew that they’d be back but for the time being the astartes appeared to be alone in the mountaintop crater they had landed in. It was filled with abandoned ruins and scraggly trees. Some sort of facility had been housed here but there were no hints to its original use.
When he finally turned back around he saw Jaska ahead of him looking down a hole in the ground about the size of his head. Kvothe was past him monitoring some ruins while Nefas was continuing ahead.
As Inigo approached Jaska, the Chrysemys marine stepped away to follow Nefas. Inigo looked down the hole in the ground as he past. Even with his dark vision he couldn’t see far into the hole, but it didn’t appear to have any water in it. The depth of the hole had to be excessive to have not been filled during the nights down pour.
With hammer in hand Inigo turned. The moment the hole was exiting his peripheral vision something made him pause. He froze. He glanced ahead at Jaska who was at another hole peering into its depths. Kvothe was to his left staring down at the floor of some ruins. Nefas was around the corner out of sight.
Inigo turned back to the hole. He once again didn’t see anything, only the wet stone surrounding the hole and a small trickle of water that cascaded into it. Regardless he felt as if someone was watching him. He stared at the hole with hammer in hand before the feeling subsided. Without further investigation he continued on. Kvothe and Jaska were already moving ahead.
The trio of marines rounded the next corner to see a thin road that ended at the edge of the mountainous crater they were in. Wrecked buildings and tumbled walls lined both sides of the street.
The rubble on both sides of the street was easily three times the height of all the marines. A unit of Ice Angels was perched amongst a ruined wall thirty yards ahead. Inigo could make out five of them. They were rearranging the rubble stones to a better defensible position. The wall was being reinforced with an extra row of stones as well as giving the Ice Angels a kill zone ahead of the building in case something landed in the courtyard just beyond their position.
Nefas was crouched only a few steps away near the entrance to an expansive building, possibly a warehouse or storage facility. The front wall was gone; the only hint of its existence was the angled floor that ended when it met the gravel of the road. The remains of the remaining walls showed that the building was windowless but as Inigo approached with Jaska and Kvothe something bothered him about the rubble.
Jaska had stopped behind Nefas and was looking up instead of down. Kvothe held his meltagun to his chest, still searching for enemies.
“I wonder what was in that building.” Jaska asked to no one in particular.
“I do not” Kvothe said, clearly his agitation by the straying from the mission parameters was bothering him. “Our objective is up ahead.” He pointed with a tilt of his head.
The other marines ignored him and continued to look around. Inigo took a final glance around. He noticed there were another half dozen bottomless holes in the ground around them in the street and in front of the building. He then reviewed the building once again.
The black armored Sinner marine laid on his side and stuck one of his gauntlets under the solid ferrofoam floor that wasn’t flush with the stones from the road. The light weight material was nearly impervious to weathering but it was dented and damaged in several places. Jaska stepped forward to look over a part of the damaged wall that was waist height. He then looked up at the higher part of the rear walls. Kvothe continued to look towards their objective as if a higher power would punish him for the delay. With a loud agitated exhalation he took a more sentinel position around the investigating marines.
“There is no rubble in the room except at the rear, and the walls look as if they had blown out.” Jaska spoke before stepping back away from the building. “Fascinating,“ he added while moving further around the corner. Kvothe moved to monitor him but was continuously looking around. His alertness was truly impressive, Inigo thought before chuckling to himself. It was the first time he had been impressed by Kvothe.
Inigo shivered slightly as a cold chill tickled the back of his skull. Nefas got up and knelt at the edge of the floor, he grasped the edge of the floor with both hands. “Help me Inigo” he requested.
Inigo mag locked his hammer in place as he stepped over and knelt beside the lithe marine. Inigo’s corded muscles strained as he and Nefas lifted up the edge of the floor. The solid piece of ferrofoam slowly rose up. Jaska and Kvothe returned to help as they saw that the floor was coming up in a single piece. As the floor reached head level, Inigo adjusted his grip and with a final grunt lifted it up above his head straightening his arms and legs. The sheer size of the light weight material made it heavy but Inigo held it in place even as the other three marines let go.
As they did they all looked at a giant hole that the floor had been covering. The black chute disappeared into nothingness before them. The hole was nearly the size of the warehouse. A land raider could have dropped through the hole and only scrapped the sides with its out stretched lascannons.
The four marines stared down into its depths, their night vision allowing them to see a rough yet perfectly round bottomless pit. After a minute of study the marines one by one stepped away, only Inigo stood tall holding the floor above his head. The sneaking feeling that he was being watched itched the back of his ears, but no matter where he looked into the pit nothing would meet his gaze.
I can say (having worked in retail) a "customer bolter" would really cut the crap
As for the flow, i'd say that it's good, but I think you need a little more transition from "patrol" mode to "what the feth is in the hole!?!?" mode. Other than that, I really liked it. Can't wait to see what's next
Oi ! You der !!! Da writah!!! Wher iz de oder one?
Anyway, I liked the building up, but as prime said above you might have needed some transition more. Though you did give a subtle hint at the beginning. Regardless, keep it up
"Crappy" is going waaay to far, mate After re-reading, it became quite clearer. I suppose the only thing I would add would be the reason Inigo decided to try to pick up the floor in the first place. Also, I would rephrase the first paragraph, as the ideas don't flow as fluidly as the rest of the passage.
He felt the eyes upon him. He knew they were watching him. They wouldn’t meet his gaze but he could feel them. He could hear the whispers of their voices as they spoke about him. His body temperature was higher then normal, his sweaty palms irritated him. Occasionally his muscles tensed with sudden tremors. His armor felt stifling and tight, he wanted to remove it.
He continually adjusted the grip on his chainsword as he rocked back and forth. His breath exited his body in short bursts. He couldn’t focus and every prayer he recited he couldn’t complete. Something was horribly wrong. As if some one was trying to remove his mind from his body, he ached. He shook his head and turned away from the rows of marines. His head pounded and he couldn’t help but rapidly blink as he looked into the mountaintop crater below him.
In a moment he could only see blackness and the faint outlines of rubble or the wings of ships, but with each blink his eye sight seemed to improve. One moment he was looking at a tall warped tree, then the top most branch, then a piece of bark on that branch, then he was peering into the water droplet that was slowly beginning to tip over the edge of the bark. He witnessed the graceful decent of the water orb as it rolled over the edge.
He drew in a slow deep breath. The anticipation of the droplet's demise sent a sensation of intense pleasure through his body, yet as it fell the feeling morphed. It changed into something more sinister. It wasn’t fear. He knew no fear. The feeling was akin to dread. It crept through his bones; it passed through his nerves, and into his soul. The instant the droplet hit the puddle he blinked and it sounded as if an explosion had gone off under his feet.
He took several steps back as if he had witnessed a blast but when he recovered he looked back. The tree was two hundred yards away. He couldn’t see the puddle. He realized he was holding his breath before a calming voice seemed to remind him to breathe.
“Desai?” Cyaxeres calmly spoke.
“It’s happening, isn’t it” Desai quietly asked as he bowed his head. Thoughts of the Ice Angel encased in white armor and frozen solid flickered before him.
Cyaxeres took several steps over to him and stood, looking down at the mountaintop crater. Dawn was approaching but its gray lines had only begun to pierce the cloud cover.
The chaplain nodded his head, “It won’t be long now.”
“How can you tell?” Desai questioned even quieter then before.
Cyaxeres slowly reached out and placed his hand on Desai’s white shoulder pad, he absentmindedly checked the straps on Desai’s jump pack. They turned and their gazes met. The corvus helm of Desai’s and the skull helm of Cyaxeres were close as if they were about to exchange secrets.
“Every marine is different Desai, but chaplains are trained to see the signs.” He paused and looked away. “Have you ever heard the language of the Pure Blood tribe?” Cyaxeres asked.
The name rang a bell. Images of barbarians on a desert waste land came to mind, but nothing more. “No, I haven’t” Desai said as the fleeting images passed.
Cyaxeres let go and turned away, he pulled out his ornate bolt pistol. It was ice blue with a gold barrel yet unlike the chaplains armor it had no writing, no sigils, or markings, only a black purity seal.
He checked the chamber before looking back at Desai. The feeling of dread returned to Desai in force at the realization of what the pistol was used for. Their gazes met one last time before Cyaxeres spoke, “You’re speaking it.”
@ Knightley = Thanks Knightley! Originally I wasn't going to have that scene from his point of view, but no matter how I rearranged things or rotated characters it simply didn't have the emotion I was shooting for. When I finally decided to do it this way I wrote it in record time. It's really fantastic that you were able to feel the dread that I was trying to convey. Desai is in a dark place right now and its good to see that its coming across.
The door closed behind Shu-Takii after he exited the vehicle. Techmarine Philosir was standing by the pillar in the center of the room. He was staring down at the pillar; his heavy flamer and missile launcher were aiming straight ahead. The pilot light on the flamer emitted a soft blue glow.
Inushi had backed himself into a corner; one of the doors was to his right, the other directly across from him. For several minutes he had stood ready for action but silently wondered what he would be asked to do next.
Without ceremony or warning the pillar unleashed two dull gray data crystals. Philosir removed one and held it up while putting the other in a belt compartment.
Philosir looked to the crystal then to Inushi. He put the crystal in another belt pouch but didn’t take his gaze off of Inushi. The pillar melted back into the floor.
“Was it worth it?” Inushi asked as the pillar finished sliding back into the floor.
“It is rare when the gathering of knowledge is not” Philosir said as he stepped past where the pillar had been. “Had we not we would have had to search the entire Kota system.”
The lights suddenly went out inside MOAT. The outer door opened and Philosir motioned to exit the vehicle. Inushi didn’t hesitate. He always preferred the wilds over the small interior spaces of ships and tanks. Upon exiting he saw that dawn was approaching. The rain had finally stopped but the cloud cover was still in thick patches above them.
“Where exactly are we, any ways?” Inushi asked while a low raven flew over and began its landing sequence further to their left.
“The third planet in the Kota system, Glossinai” Philosir said while leading Inushi away from MOAT towards the descending raven. Inushi couldn’t see where it had landed, it was several tiers above them and behind another crumbling wall.
“In the local dialect it means, the cage.” Philosir continued as one of the patrolling ravens swooped over head, a white drop pod still hung from beneath its tail.
Inushi followed Philosir for several minutes as they followed up a road that was cut into the tiers. When they arrived on the top most tier Inushi saw the skeletal remains of several large buildings ahead of him. The walls were thick but large swathes of mortar had been blown away. Two roofless hangers sat occupied with Ice Angel vessels to Inushi’s right while in the distance to his left he could make out several units of Ice Angels surrounding a large tunnel entrance that was built into the crater wall.
The tunnel caught Inushi’s attention but before he could look at it again the sounds of approaching steps brought him back to the situation at hand. In front of Philosir strode Captain Razzik, Vetov, and a seven man unit of Ice Angels. The marines held standard white bolters, two of them held larger heavy bolters. They had spread out examining the local area while Razzik strode up to Philosir. Vetov stood several paces behind Razzik, his powerfist and shield casually held at his sides.
“Here is everything I gathered from the Imperial Outpost.” Philosir said while handing out a lone gray data crystal.
Razzik held out his hand and accepted the data crystal. He slid it into a port on his belt. Inushi watched closely as the captain regarded the tech marine once again.
“Why here Philosir” Razzik asked?
“I highlighted several sec..” Philosir began.
“I’m sure you did, but I’d rather you tell me.” Razzik demanded. I hint of annoyance in his voice.
Philosir seemed to stiffen at the strong words before he began to speak.
“This out post was owned by the Coalition of Mineral Brokers, or COMB, as they advertised. This post was created to mine out the ore under this dormant volcano, but mining here proved to be treacherous. The number of lost workers would have shut down the facility but a cavern of ancient design was breached during one of the last scheduled days of production.”
“In response COMB sent in a team of experts along with nearly a hundred soldiers.” Philosir paused.
“The last report said they had located xenos artifacts but no further report was ever sent. The facility had gone dark. A week later a single unit of COMB’s elite was dispatched to investigate. When they arrived they found the facility was heavily damaged. All 578 employees were gone and there were no bodies only blood splatter”
“The planetary defense force was notified immediately and the report slowly crept through the chain of command until the report reached the Kota Imperial Governor. He however didn’t get a chance to read it because the orks had assaulted the system and the station that housed the governor was over taken by Master Warlord Gazzbat Boomfoot. Meanwhile Commodore Warlord Gitsplitta da Great was heading here to Glossani.”
“What happened to the investigation unit?” Razzik asked after a moment of contemplation.
“Unknown.” Philosir quickly responded.
“Did you locate any information in regards to the gaseous anomaly between Kota three and four?” Razzik prodded.
“Affirmative. The region was routinely avoided after several major ship malfunctions occurred as they passed through the anomaly. However, despite routine investigations nothing could pin point the…………..” His monotone voice suddenly stopped when Razzik waived his powerfist to stop.
“Our best lead is an unanswered report from a non Imperial sanctioned coalition?” he questioned.
“Captain, of all the information given this seemed the most logical place to begin our search.” Philosir stated.
Inushi monitored the exchange with great interest. The Ice Angel unit had surrounded the pair in a defensive circle while Vetov had always stayed a few feet behind Razzik. The ever vigilant Commander Vetov of the Emperor’s Tears looked fearsome. His bionic eye gave him a condescending look. For a moment Inushi wondered what Vetov was feeling right now. Inushi had often wanted to ask the commander what it was like being the last of a chapter that is believed to have been destroyed.
The pause in the conversation hung in the air uncomfortably before Razzik spoke again.
“Very well Philosir, I trust your judgment.” Razzik said with forced commitment. “Let us not waste any more time,” Razzik added before he turned towards the waiting squads by the tunnel entrance.
"Commodore Warlord Gitsplitta da Great" A properly trumped up and pompous title.
Nice installment. Interesting interplay between Razzik and Philosir. Makes me kind of wonder what Inushi's thoughts must be about the who he's actually serving & where his loyalties will lie. Not that he'd disobey a direct order... but it's clear there are plans within plans, wheels within wheels. Could land Inushi in a difficult position some day.
What I like about this passage is that Philosir got put into his place. I got a build up in my mind that Philosir was above reprieve so seeing him put in his place by Capt Razzik left me smirking in a good way.
On top of that not handing over the second crystal continues to build that perhaps we shouldn't be trusting Philosir and that there is something else happening that we're not being told. I'm considering that perhaps Philosir is a bad guy and not one of the good guys, despite some of his more 'human' actions.
Captain Razzik had only taken a few steps before an icon on his HUD flashed with an incoming message. He continued to march as he accessed the icon.
“Captain, ork convoy spotted on a pass southwest of your position.” Raven six, known as the Ebon Shard, chimed in over the vox.
In Razzik’s HUD the sixth raven’s icon flashed while he spoke.
“Likely attack vector?” Razzik asked.
“Initial surveys only reveal a single path up the mountain which leads around to the north side of the crater. Should have an ETA after we make another pass,” The Ebon Shard responded.
“Send report to myself and Raven five once done, Razzik out.” With several blink clicks he pulled up Raven five and Sergeant Bandik, “Sergeant send combat B to Raven five. Raven five once report from Raven six has been received drop them off at a look out point between us and the convoy. We need eyes on the targets.”
Captain Razzik immediately received two affirmative blips. He rearranged several other units in the crater over the course of the next several paces.
“Philosir, take Inushi to the north side. Fortify and set up some charges on the pass.” Razzik commanded.
Inushi gave a quick salute that Razzik didn’t turn to see. Philosir stopped and watched as the Captain, Vetov, and the other marines continued on their way. Without further comment the tech marine marched off down the tiers towards the north end of the crater. Inushi fell into step behind him.
Desai witnessed the departing tech marine along with the Mantis Warrior. He observed the marines around him stoically waiting for the moment to act. Yet as he studied the approaching Captain and his retinue, a sudden flash of heat slammed into Desai. He nearly fumbled his chainsword. Cyaxeres watched him intently. The grim chaplain still held onto the ritualistic blue bolt pistol. For several seconds Desai fought an internal struggle that left him breathless once again. He closed his eyes tight as if it would help stop the madness. His chest pounded as flashes of battles of epic proportion commandeered his senses. He could hear the screams of the dying, he could smell the rotting flesh, and his own skin felt as if it were oozing off his body. A sense of grief hammered at his soul as the images flashed before him each one worse then the last. The mental battles slowly morphed and turned into images of war torn fields. Nothing remained but death. Countless bodies filled his thoughts, the bodies of enemies, the bodies of civilians, the bodies of friends, every where he looked he only saw death. Desai looked down at himself as he stood upon edge of the crater. He was covered in the blood of everyone he had fought for and against.
Through gritted teeth he removed his helmet and dropped it onto the ground next to him.
“Desai,” Cyaxeres said.
The Sky Warden didn’t hear him. The coolness of the early morning air massaged his face as he took a deep breath. He realized that death was here as well. He opened his eyes to gaze upon the dark crater before him.
“DESAI” Cyaxeres said again as he stiffened. Over thirty Ice Angels were now watching the Chaplain and the white armored Sky Warden.
Despite the shouting chaplain though, Desai heard nothing. The crater before him was filled with the bodies of the fallen. Without warning Desai crouched down, he didn’t know what he was doing but something in that crater was calling to him. Something in that crater needed him. Something in that crater needed to be killed.
Cyaxeres lunged at Desai, but the Sky Warden leapt into the air while igniting his jump pack.
Wow, looks like Space Marines are not immune to the effects of 'bath salts'. I kid of course unless someone starts eat at another, and jet pack-fu in the near future I dare say Im geting giddie with excitment.
Inigo stood staring down into the pit before him. He held the floor of the building above his head, but the sneaking feeling that something was watching him wouldn’t depart.
“Inigo, lets go.” Nefas casually requested. Inigo looked over his right shoulder and noticed that the other marines had moved down the street past the next building. As he turned back towards the pit, a glimpse of red flashed in his peripheral vision. He focused on the spot where he thought it had been. It was almost as if he could make out a shape. Was it a loose rock, or a piece of metal, he couldn’t determine what it was. Nevertheless, he adjusted his grip so that he could begin to lower the heavy floor slab.
He had just begun to lower it when a white marine slammed onto the floor above him. The sudden weight took the floor right out of his hands. It slammed down back into place. A deep resonating crash echoed from all around them almost as if the mountain itself was issuing a warning.
* * * * * * * * *
Inushi stood perfectly still as the deep boom echoed from beneath his feet. All around him he could hear the sound escaping from cracks and crags in the ground. He gazed at Philosir and the surrounding piles of rubble while slowly drawing his katana and plasma pistol.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Razzik turned towards the tunnel before him as the boom seemed to linger about the gaping darkness. Unlike the marines around him, he looked towards the tunnel with intrigue. Without comment or command he strode towards the entrance.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Inigo was knocked back by the dropping floor and as he looked up from his prone position he saw Brother Desai. The Sky warden was helmet less. His black hair was pulled back tight against his skull. His pale skin was tight over his face as he gritted his teeth and stared down at Inigo. His stare was not one of camaraderie; but one of hatred.
The realization that Desai may not be himself made Inigo weary of his situation. He reached for his hammer but Desai darted forward. His speed was stunning, yet when the blow should have landed Inigo witnessed a flash of light as Desai’s chainsword met a speeding bullet that deflected his swing.
Unphased by the failed attacked Desai swung again but this time his chainsword met the shocking end of Cyaxeres’s crozius. The Chaplain had landed right over Inigo’s head and was shouting in some language he didn’t understand. The possessed strength of Desai began to push the crozius towards Inigo’s face but the Chaplain cross punched Desai in the side of his head. Desai seemed to shake his head in disbelief, blood spilled out of fresh wounds for an instant before they healed. The crazed look dissipated from his face.
Inigo quickly got up as Desai stepped back in shock of what he had done. He looked at the chainsword and bolt pistol in his hands. He promptly threw both of them aside. Cyaxeres kept speaking in the foreign tongue, but his tone was quieter. Inigo could tell he was trying to calm the troubled Sky Warden.
For several intense moments Cyaxeres held out his weapons in a nonoffensive stance. Desai had continued stepping backwards until he was on the floor slab once again. He was mumbling something beneath his breath and slowly shaking his head.
As suddenly as he had landed he stopped moving or speaking. Desai looked up and tilted his head as if listening intently to the area in front of him.
With a whisper of a voice he spoke, this time Inigo understood him.
“Do you hear it my brothers?” he slowly looked around meeting the gaze of the marines in the area.
Inigo heard nothing as he concentrated on his hearing. He didn’t take his eyes off of Desai, but the back of his neck tingled. A dull rumble began to grow beneath his feet.
“It’s coming for us.” Desai said louder, the crazed look crept across his face. Cyaxeres raised his bolt pistol and took aim at the white armored marine.
The rumble intensified and came from all around them. Every crack in the ground, every hole in the street, and every gap in the rubble emitted a sound. Rocks began to shift and several precarious walls tumbled over as the mountain itself began to vibrate.
“DEATH!” Desai shouted as he held his hands above his head and looked to the sky. The sun was peaking out from amongst the mountainous sky line. “IS HERE!”
All around the marines in the crater, winged creatures flew out of the holes in the ground. They formed long columns of black that poured out of the holes like smoke. One such creature clipped Inigo’s shoulder and drew a deep gash across the ceramite armor. Inigo was shocked at the damage the small creature had done, but he didn’t dwell on it because the rumbling in the ground was growing louder still.
His gaze swept from the clouds of creatures to Desai who was shrouded by the creatures for a moment before he was flung into the sky like a rock over a geyser. A gigantic creature had flung the floor aside and catapulted the marine away. Inigo was astounded at the beast’s immensity. It continued to pour out of the hole with frightening speed as if the ground had been its prison it desired to escape.
The armored worm seemed to have no end, but when it finally stopped exiting the ground, Inigo found himself looking up at a toothed maw that could consume a land raider in a single gulp. Countless rows of armor piercing teeth lined the four triangular parts of its open mouth. In the span of only a few seconds several hundred feet of plated worm had exited the hole, swaying in the wind like a carnivorous plant preparing to strike.
Without thought Inigo fell into a side stance, hammer held behind him, looking up at the beast. An unseen smile crossed his covered face, “Let the avenging,” he spoke to himself as the hammer head crackled with energy, “begin.”
Both have been corrected. Thanks for the heads up.
@Knightley - It is amazing how productive I am when my wife is out if town. I am not sure when I'll have another update though. I need to finish up some painting.
IceAngel wrote:“waaaaaaaaAAAAAAAA” splat was repeated several times behind Inushi as he advanced away from the spiraling staircase room. It seemed that quite a few orks thought they to could fall four stories, land on their feet, and not hurt themselves. Even the marines hurt themselves, but it was a mere inconvenience that now their legs and backs had a dull ache.
Inushi rounded the first corner behind Aquilum when he noticed Hunzuu kneeling a few feet away. The Ice Angel had pulled out his remaining grenades along with the few that were still attached to Shar-drasha. He was meticulously lining them along the wall. Aquilum had stopped near Hunzuu with his storm bolter drawn. He gave Inushi a long stare. Inushi knew he had questions about his delay. He met the stare of the Emperor’s Fool briefly but instead of responding he turned back to peer around the corner.
He couldn’t see them yet, but he could hear them. It was only a matter of seconds before a horde of greenskins poured down those steps towards their position.
“Why have we stopped?” Inushi asked.
“We need to slow them down.” Hunzuu responded as if annoyed by the discussion.
Inushi decided against further speaking. Instead he leaned against the corner, only one eye peaking down the hall. He watched the shadows grow in the staircase room. A few grenades will hardly slow this mass down. The sounds continued to crescendo when the massive automatic doors slid closed. Inushi could still hear the orks but he didn’t take his eyes off the door when he was tapped twice on the shoulder.
Spinning on his heels he turned and ran to the next corner. Aquilum and Hunzuu were in front of him. Thirty yards ahead and around the next corner Pyrox had rigged a similar set up. Inushi looked down at the grenades as he quickly passed. They appeared to be standard issue fragmentation grenades with an elaborate cap with several switches and some sort of port.
Pyrox jumped up from his position and noticed Inushi’s look. “Not your typical frags Inushi.” He spat quietly. “Nothing these angels use is standard.”
The words sat in Inushi’s thoughts. The tone from Pyrox indicated he didn’t approve. Inushi mentally filed that comment away. Inushi was creating a list of things to discuss once this mission was over.
He and Inushi ran down a long hall passing a handful of ork bodies and closed doors when they came upon a similar arch way they had defended before. Inside sat another filthy octagonal room, a purple squig larger then a marine lay bleeding out in the center of the room. Reven was wiping gore off his gauntlet. Philosir was on the opposite side of the room plugged into a large circuit panel.
KACRACK, the sound echoed down the hall.
All except Philosir turned towards the hall way. Aquilum peaked back down the hall. The quiet voice of Philosir gave them all something else to focus on. “The moment this door opens we go in. If the orks get past the second blast before the door opens, do not let them see you and DO NOT FIRE.”
Inushi holstered his plasma pistol. He slowly walked across the room. To his left he examined Reven. The Blood Angel stood proud, his red armor showing minor battle damage, mostly blood splatter. He gave a small nod as their gazes met.
Next he passed Pyrox. The gray armored Fire Angel knelt behind the large squig, his head was down. Inushi knew Pyrox was in lost in prayer. Unlike Reven, Pyrox’s armor was heavily scratched, torn, and dented. The Fire Angel had several minor wounds but nothing that would slow him down.
After several more steps he stood before Philosir and Hunzuu. The tech marine held the sleek weapon vertically across his back with two of his servo arms. His other hands manipulated what appeared to be a melta bomb. Hunzuu stood opposite the relatively small closed door, the partial form of Shar-drasha carefully sat on the floor. Hunzuu was combining two nearly empty hand flamer canisters.
KACRACK
The second explosion sounded twice as loud as the first. The screams of greenskins made him smile slightly. Hunzuu placed the two canisters back into their protected compartments just behind his left arm pit, when the wall behind him seemed to rumble.
The sounds of orks down the hall grew. Inushi could hear them pounding on doors and slamming open others. The voices were quickly multiplying.
Philosir turned and strode over to the squig as the door opened. The door was no larger then a fully armored marine. It revealed a small room that Hunzuu was already moving into with Shar-drasha.
Inushi moved to the door and stood sentinel as Reven and Pyrox silently moved passed him. The sounds of orks shouting grew closer. Aquilum passed Inushi and into the room. Philosir took his modified melta bomb and placed it in the fresh wound that Reven had created in it, only a thin black cord dangled out of the squigs flesh. With little sound he turned back towards Inushi and towards the room. His servo arms passed the weapon over his head and into his waiting hands. The tech marine stood before Inushi and nodded with his head to move into the room.
Silently Inushi stepped into the room with Philosir right behind him. The door rumbled shut making more noise then any of the marines had made in the past minute. Shoulder to shoulder they stood, Philosir had his servo arms at odd angles above him and the sleek weapon leaned in the corner. The tech marine pivoted and Inushi could hear some switches move when the entire room rumbled up.
Directly in front of Inushi was Aquilum. The half pink half yellow helmet of the Emperor’s Fool was turning left and right. Inushi could tell he was going to speak any second. “Up?” he questioned.
“Yes.” Philosir responded. The room seemed to pick up speed.
KABOOM
The room vibrated slightly from the explosion but continued its journey up.
Despite the explosion Inushi could tell the simple response was bothering Aquilum. He looked around the tight room at the other marines before rolling his head back to Philosir.
“What’s next, more stairs going down?” Aquilum added.
Without hesitation Philosir responded. “Negative. The ship that we’ll be taking is located near the top of the space station.” He paused for a moment. “The ork commanders ship.”
As the last words left Philosir, Aquilum met Inushi’s gaze once more. Despite the helmet on his head, Inushi knew Aquilum was grinning. It seemed the worse Inushi felt the more Aquilum enjoyed himself.
So much Tech Heresy! so much. I am surprised they are actually allowed to exist.
I am currently reading through the whole of the story so far. Truly great work.
This is where i am so far. I will give a better bit of praise once i have finished!
Yeah, just to define it a bit more.
Tech Heresy is the modification any Astartes or Imperial Technology.
A good example is this.
A Deathwatch killteam is helping the Guard forces on a planet.
The team notices that on many of the Armored vehicles instead of a Stubber there is a Twin linked Las Gun. This is not Tech Heresy as to make this weapon would be to put two Las Guns side by Side. However, the unit also notices that on some of the vehicles the have been modifications to create what would be a Platform to allow for an extra number of men to be carried on top.
THAT IS TECH HERESY!!!
The Grenade Modifications, The use of the Ork Vehicles or Xenos in general, and ESPECIALLY the use of the Beam Weapon you described the Tech Priest using.
The offenses committed by the Ice Angels in this single chapter alone are enough to deem the Chapter as Heretic.
@dorantana = Thanks for the break down. Something that I've eluded to throughout the story is the problems the Ice Angels have had with the Inquisition. I haven't gone into detail yet, but Tech Heresy is at the heart of the problem. More on that later.
And thanks again for the great comments.
@cormadepanda = Thanks Cormadepanda. Did you recently go through and read it all? If so, how was it one single go? Once I've completed book one in the series I'll be going back and doing some serious editing. I'm curious to see how it feels reading it as is.
I read it in 2 days. I have to say it was amazing. Some places need to be cleaned up towards the beginning in terms of flow, but it really started to flow in the page 10 and on parts. I was hooked. It takes a lot to keep me hooked into a story. Especially when i have to sift through a forum lol.
Is a new installment coming soon? I'm in withdrawals!!!
Captain Razzik heard the screeching swarms and the rumble of worms bursting out of the ground. A torrent of gun fire responded with its own roar. Battle cannons, demolishers, hundreds of bolters, and grenades of all kinds rocked the crater. Reports piled in to Razzik, his incoming report feed quickly blinking red as the queue began to over flow. Amongst the carnage he could even hear the howl of engines firing up. The various planes were leaving their parked positions in order to avoid the colossal armored worms.
Razzik was fully aware yet he knew, without a doubt, that the second company knew what needed to be done. Instead he continued his march towards the tunnel before him. High up on the craters edge the swarms and worms hadn’t reached them. He hadn’t given any commands to the units around him and several marines seemed tense without orders. Razzik noticed the hesitation in the back of his mind but when a new sound began to echo from the bowels of the tunnel he pushed it aside and issued a formation order. All the marines around him took position.
He was flanked by two units on each side, the front row of marines knelt so the back could shoot over them. They were in a loose formation with room in between for the rear units to rush in with blades.
The sounds from the tunnel intensified, instead of the reverberated jumble of noise, the echoes coalesced into whoops and sharp trills. From the depths of the tunnel came a murder of giant creatures of various colors and sizes. They were all quadruped in form and larger then the marines. Initial visuals gave Razzik the thought they were from an avian genetic line. They were wingless and ran on long legs. Curved blade like beaks snapped with anticipation. Dull muted colors of all kinds could be seen amongst the different creatures. Each had two pairs of beady red eyes staring lustfully at the marines.
Razzik and the marines around him disregarded the wall of sound or the growing number of enemies before them. Each marine only saw their targets, weak points at joints, eyes, or throats. After only a few seconds of assessing, the marines opened fire and the first wave faltered under their explosive rounds. Most of the front row fell but to Razzik’s surprise they struggled to continue on instead of lying down and dying. They seemed to disregard their wounds, only the head shots truly stopped them.
A missile streaked past Razzik and exploded through the chest of one particularly large creature, but the creature managed to take several more steps towards the marines gurgling its anger before falling to the ground.
Annoyed by the extra effort the monsters were taking Razzik charged forward with Vetov on his heals. The waiting marines matched his charge.
Cyaxeres leapt away as Inigo kept his eyes on the towering worm before him. The screams and bellows of alien creatures were filling the air when the marines all around the crater opened fire.
A billowing column of the dark winged creatures swarmed around Inigo. He swung his hammer in wide arcs felling them in twos and threes yet their sheer numbers got to him. He felt their scratches and bites as they tried to find a weakness in his armor. He felt surprising pressure as they flew into him. His super human strength alone kept him upright as a near continuous stream of furry winged creatures rammed into him.
He rolled back to his side and when he came up he found himself across the street from Kvothe. Kvothe’s meltagun repeatedly fired into a similar column of creatures. Each round of melta passed through a dozen of the creatures leaving twitching remains scatter about the broken street. The column momentarily dissipated from the repeated fire.
“KVOTHE LOOK OUT!” Jaska shouted.
Inigo watched as the towering armored worm came down head first into the ground over top of Kvothe. It struck the ground as hard a crashing thunderhawk. The ground shook like it had been hit by an artillery shell. Chunks of road buckled and a nearby wall toppled. Inigo took two steps and swung at the side of the worms’ mouth with all his might. With a roar he connected just behind the outer jaw of the worm. It felt like he was hitting solid rock, not a living creature. Nevertheless the impact sent deep cracks across the side of the creature; small bits of its hide fell off onto the street.
Inigo stepped back, disappointed with his attack, but with a grin he swung again as the worm continued its grinding into the street. A pair of the flying creatures flew by digging deep gashes in his back pack as he shielded himself. He prepared for another massive swing as the worm lifted itself back up with surprising speed. The creature had left a deep crater in its wake. All that remained of Kvothe was pulverized flesh and shredded bits of armor.
“Inigo, get to the hole! Hit it there!” Nefas shouted as Jaska moved up firing his plasma pistol at the base of the worm.
Inigo peered over to Nefas further down the street before he moved up. The Sinner marine was kneeling in the street over a chest. It was the chest he had seen in his room full of ammo. “Where did that come from?” Inigo thought to himself before turning and running towards the worm.
Jaska’s plasma fire was melting the worms armor and when Inigo took his swing, the exoskeleton of the worm exploded outwards from the impact. The worm shuddered in the air and thrashed about momentarily before adjusting to attack where Inigo was standing.
The worm began to swivel in the hole so that its wound wasn’t facing the Sons of Hades marine. Jaska continued to fire at different points as the worm did. Inigo focused on the weaker plasma hits as he struck the worm again and again.
The worm shuddered and began to sink back down into the hole when Inigo was showered with bits of armor and flesh. One particularly large chunk smashed into his helm and shoulder forcing him to lean on a waist high pile of rubble to avoid falling. From his leaning position he gazed up at the worm and saw that the top end had been blown off. The worm fell over onto its side away from Inigo, crashing down onto the ruins of several ruined warehouses.
A rising thunderhawk had appeared several streets over and its battle cannon was swiveling away from the fallen worm. Its defensive weapons were firing in every direction. There was a near constant flow of falling flesh underneath the ship as the flying creatures were hit by hurricane and heavy bolter rounds.
Another swarm of flying black winged beasts flew at Inigo as he witnessed the Thunderhawks ascent. Inigo swung his hammer cleanly connecting with one of the small beasts as globs of super heated plasma shot past him. The handful of remaining winged beasts flew up and away.
Jaska approached, scanning the skies for another wave. Inigo did the same. Dawn was now fully illuminating the crater. Above the ruins of the structures worms thrashed about and the flying swarms coalesced around ships and dove down at marines. There had to be a dozen of the colossal worms, lashing out from the ground. Some were to far away to attack any of the Angels or their vessels but others were smashing themselves onto the unfortunate raven or unit of marines.
With a side glance Inigo looked over to Nefas once again. The marine’s bolter was in a unique configuration with a second grip at the end of the stock before the short barrel. Several sights were mounted on the top and other side.
The chest Nefas had opened a moment before was no where to be seen. Inigo watched as the Sinner stepped down into the broken ground to the remains of Kvothe. He knelt over the largest conglomeration of the marine and dipped two of his fingers in the bloody pulp.
A nearby thrashing worm made Inigo turn towards the enemy and when he looked back Nefas was approaching. Blood was smeared on his white helmet from ventilator to left ear.
“Follow me.” He commanded as he began to run past the bulk of the dead worm nearby. Jaska didn’t hesitate to follow. Inigo took one last side glance at the remains of Kvothe before following behind.
Squished, Did I read it right, did the armored worm use the inside of its mouth to crush the marine or did it squish it with the bottom of its jaw? I read it as inside the mouth.
Squished, Did I read it right, did the armored worm use the inside of its mouth to crush the marine or did it squish it with the bottom of its jaw? I read it as inside the mouth.
I do love the action sequences Ice.
Thanks guys! I'm glad you liked it. I may have to reword a section if you thought it crushed it Kvothe with the inside of his mouth. I envisioned the worm closing up its multi-jawed mouth and smashing down into the road where Kvothe was standing.
OH, before I forget. In the previous section some one made reference to the starship trooper bugs. The giant birds are similar to the bugs in general shape (four legs, head built into core body mass, no neck, etc), but think of mine more like an ostrich without the long neck, an extra set of legs, an extra pair of eyes, and a bigger head with a razor sharp beak. That help?
One more thing, the next person to read this post something so I can put up MORE STORY!
Inushi crushed another flying creature in his fist. Before discarding the limp form he looked down at his small adversary. It had tiny eyes and large ears. Very miniscule but incredibly sharp teeth lined its long beak like jaw. On its wings were dagger thin bone spurs that could scratch power armor. It reminded him of the giant quad winged bats of his home world.
With disgust he tossed the body over his shoulder and looked for another target. In front of him was the veteran unit, the Ashurbani. Their flamers were proving a great asset against the swarms of flying beasts. The veterans had formed on a large pile of rubble, shooting gouts of flame into the sky. Burning vermin plummeted to the ground like comets entering the atmosphere.
To Inushi’s right was one of the two vindicators. The Crystalfist had already defeated one of the large worms, its demolisher cannon piercing through the armored hide and exploding it from the inside. It was now navigating past a recently destroyed building heading towards its next target.
To Inushi’s left was the gravel road that exited down the craters exterior. A low flying raven hovered over head towards the Crystalfist. The raven’s weapon systems were clearing out a large swarm of the fliers as the vindicator got into position to fire.
Inushi turned away from the scene of destruction towards the hunched form of Philosir. The tech marine was examining the remains of the other vindicator. The tank was upside down but mainly intact. The pilot and gunner had both survived and were standing next to Philosir. Inushi could easily tell they were pissed. They hadn’t fired once before their tank had been flipped by an emerging worm. Its massive corpse lay next to the tank.
“We are never going to hear the end of this.” One of them said while quickly turning away from the tank. He pulled out his pistol and fired at some approaching fliers. Each round killed one or more creatures. He fired the entire clip and not one flier reached his armor or landed on his flipped tank. Slowly he reloaded his white bolt pistol.
“I can already hear them laughing.” The other said while shaking his head.
“Shattermantle’s Wrath will be up and running once we get her back on her tracks.” Philosir began, his monotone voice speaking very quickly and concise. “She’s angry, and damaged, but the main systems are still functioning. Once the Crystalfist returns have Zarva roll you back onto your tracks. In the meantime assist the Ashurbani.”
Both marines saluted as Philosir stepped away from tank. He marched over to the exploded worm. On the way he paused and looked up into the sky. A swarm singled out the tech marine and dove down at him. Philosir responded with a frag missile and a long discharge of his heavy flamer. Ash and cinders floated down from the sky when he was done.
Inushi followed behind the tech marine. Occasionally he fired into the sky with his plasma pistol when a swarm flew directly over head. When he was within arms reach of Philosir a swarm surprised Inushi and attacked him from behind. He felt the impacts and heard his armor being torn up. The little beasts screeched as they smashed into his recently replaced backpack and shoulder pads.
Philosir turned and fired his heavy flamer directly over Inushi’s head. Involuntarily he ducked down. Seconds later Philosir turned back around and without comment began to investigate the worm.
“What are you looking for?” Inushi asked.
One of Philosir’s ocular units regarded Inushi as he responded, “Anything out of the ordinary.”
Inushi looked around at the giant worm and the rubble that surrounded him. He witnessed another worm burst from the rubble covered streets. Marines scattered to avoid the falling debris as trees and rocks were hurtled into the air from its entrance. A storm eagle flew by launching a pair of missiles into its flank tearing a giant gash into the worm’s side before it fell over. It had died nearly as fast as it had emerged.
“What’s ordinary?” Inushi thought to himself. He wondered what the tech marine could be looking for. He wondered how long he’d be on this worm filled mountain. Most of all he wondered if he would ever get some answers.
Philosir began moving towards the mouth of the dead worm. He walked around the front of the worm. The mouth was wide open. As the tech marine gazed inside the creatures inviting jaws Inushi stood next to him. The sounds of another approaching swarm tickled the back of his thoughts. He pivoted and fired his plasma pistol as Philosir sent another gout of flame at an incoming swarm. When they were done they returned to the gaping maw.
Inushi could see down the worms throat to where the demolisher round had exploded. The round had entered from the left creating a chest size entry hole. To the right was the exit wound, a vast uneven wound that a unit of marines could easily pass through. Light was shining into the worm’s long body through the massive hole in its skin illuminating the debris it had consumed.
Philosir stepped onto a section of the lower jaw and reached for his axe.
Inushi’s curiosity was peaked at this. Philosir had found something but as Inushi scanned the inside of the worm he saw nothing but slick gray flesh, giant teeth, and stone debris. The red armored marine began to walk on the jaw further into the creature’s throat.
The loud whine of engines made Inushi turn. A raven was trying to pull itself free of a worm that had bit down on its tail wing. An assault squad was descending out of the sky towards the worm, melta bombs and krak grenades in hand. A swarm was following the assault unit. One of the marines suddenly altered his trajectory. He was battling several of the fliers as he tumbled through the sky. Instead of landing near the worm his squad was assaulting he fell some where between the worm and Inushi.
He didn’t see the marine’s landing but ran off to assist. Not even an astartes could have landed that fall uninjured.
Very nice installment. You get the impression that while there is clearly plenty of fighting going on, things are winding down a bit... just a bit. The initial clash and chaos is over and now roving bands of monsters and men react to one another's presence.
Thanks guys! Gits, I appreciate you checking my grammar as always. It has been edited. Prime, I'm glad you pointed out that little sentence I slipped in there.
Read the odd entry here and there and i like what i read. You are very professional when it comes to writing and have an enviable focus.
Thought i would go over the latest entry as you seem to want more Constructive criticism. Warning this is Fine tooth Comb stuff, if you ignored the points it would still be fine. My strength is not grammar, (my strength is coming off sounding pedantic ) so all i can offer you is my 'unique insight'
small adversary. It had small eyes and large ears. Very small but incredibly sharp teeth
Maybe toss a 'tiny' in there? Not sure, thats more personal as it still reads good.
(he)looked for another target. In front of him were the Ashurbani.
Now i dove straight into this entry having not read the last couple so from this i assumed the Ashurbani were the enemy. I later deduced they are allies. Even so i think the flowing of these sentences into each other is unfortunate.
(the tank)dropped one of the large worms
they were pissed
Two uses of slang which i thought were incongrous. Also would marines be 'pissed'?
Its mammoth corpse
something about this irked me, if it were describing a machine or vehicle it would be fine (Pathetic Fallacy) but another animal? Doesnt sit right for me, i immediately pictured an actual dead mammoth and had to do a double take. tbh If the sentence didnt begin with this description i think it would work fine.
If you are talking about storm-ravens and not actual ravens i think you need a capital. Dont quote me on that one.
Once the Crystalfist returns have Zarva get you guys back on your tracks. In the meantime assist the Ashurbani
Dont really like the way he is chummy one moment 'get you guys...' Then straight into stern military commander, 'in the meantime.....'
(he)fired his heavy flamer directly over Inushi’s head. Involuntarily he ducked down
Probably the only 'clanger' imo. If a stream of Burning Napalm was shot at my head, i assure you, a duck would be very voluntary.
Inushi looked around at the giant worm and the rubble around him
Again a totally pedantic one, this one does need changing imo as it doesnt read great with the two 'arounds'.
handful of missiles into this side
It's? If not you have lapsed into second person. Also you have used 'side' again when describing where the worm is hit. 'Flank'?
It had died nearly as fast as it had emerged.
This criticism is completely obtuse but did the worm emerge quickly? It is not described so, it merely says it emerged, not bursting out of the ground or anything.
the creatures inviting jaws
A giant fanged mouth is inviting? I know what you are trying to say but usually it would be something like 'Perversely the toothy maw was almost inviting'.
entry hole; to the right was the exit wound, a vast uneven wound
Again this is grammar so dont quote me but shouldnt the semi-colon be after 'exit wound' rather than 'hole'? You are listing the wounds (commas) then elaborating on the second (semi colon). The third sentence in this paragraph also needs a comma before 'illuminating' i think.
That's all for now. This took about 30 minutes longer than i thought lol. Being an editor must be a sucky job!
The giant avian quadruped screamed as it stood up on its hind legs. Its front two claws scratched at the air before they came crashing down onto Captain Razzik’s raised shield. Two talons reached over the top edge of the shield as Razzik held his ground, the strength of the creature was greater then he anticipated. Razzik looked up into the bird’s four eyes and saw nothing but fury. Reports from Sergeants and pilots in the second company continued to flash in his HUD, several of which had urgent tags as he strained to maintain his shields protective position.
Bolter fire from Brother Grax plunged into the birds flank and the dark feathered beast released one of its talons from Razzik’s shield. In response Razzik pushed his shield wide and stepped forwards. The bird lashed forward with a razor sharp beak as Razzik reached with his white powerfist.
A flashing report from Raven six floated atop the stacks of updates awaiting his attention.
Razzik grasped the bottom beak and wrenched the birds face aside when the top beak came down onto his gauntlet enclosed fingers. A screeched exited the creature as the charge from the fist fried the nerve endings in its face.
A long leg punched Razzik in the side hard enough to knock him away from the bird. He landed in a kneeling position with his shield dug into the ground. In his right hand the large bottom beak of the creature was still held in his grip.
The screeching bird took a step forward, its top jaw flailing about, as another bolter round from Brother Grax penetrated the side of its skull and exploded out the other. Before the body had hit the ground Brother Grax was firing at another target.
Captain Razzik stood and brought his shield up quickly scanning the skirmish in front of him. Vetov and a dozen others engage with close combat weapons as the others continued to support. Several marines were wounded but not out of the fight, only a single marine was critically injured. Attikusu, the Sanguinary Priest, had already been notified.
With a simple blink of an eye the report from raven six came up in his HUD. Images of the ork convoy flashed. They too had become under siege from the winged creatures and the flightless beasts the second company was fighting. The short video clips depicted battlewagons and trucks rolling over the four legged monsters. Shots of the flying swarms eviscerating scores of orks were some what satisfying, but Razzik pushed any emotion aside.
“Raven five, belay previous order.” Razzik commanded. An affirmative blip crossed his HUD as he returned his focus to the birds in front of him. A vicious flock of them were still engaged with his marines.
As he absorbed the action he saw Sergeant Maranu disembowel one bird as he sliced off the leg of another. Brother Thukoo sent a beam from his lascannon through several birds still exiting the tunnel. Sergeant Shar-Takazz leapt off the corpse of one bird onto another, jabbing his lightning claw into the bird’s neck before sending super heated plasma into the back of the birds skull. Brother Kuri and Balathu battled several birds side by side with combat knifes and chainswords.
With uncanny efficiency Razzik analyzed the scene and before he had drawn another breath charged back into the fray, exactly where he was needed.
@ Bigfish - I'm glad you like the format in which I post. I can't really imagine doing it other way, especially after doing it for several years now. It still seems funny to me that its taken several years to get this far. I wonder how long it will take me to tell it all. There is still SO MUCH TO WRITE!
Inigo was running full speed along the side of a crawling worm; its bulky form was more then three times his height. Its methodical movement was propelling it towards the tiered side of the crater where the Shwando were positioned. Up ahead Inigo could see the heavy weapons from the devastator unit firing in concentrated firing lanes at other targets. Sergeant Bal-Hando was firing his combi-flamer at the swarms as the heavy bolters in his unit eviscerated the flying swarms.
“Hit it!” Nefas demanded “bring it to us” he hissed through the vox.
Inigo didn’t see the logic in the command but in the next step he let his grip slip on his hammer away from the head down the long metallic shaft. Without looking he grasped the very end of the hammer. In his next step he brought up the hammer and grabbed it with his other hand. The next step included a side swipe into the flank of the worm.
Embedded rocks and dirt fell off the worm’s side. The impact cracked the hardened carapace of the worm. The damage began to fill with a slow bloody ooze, however the worm didn’t seem to notice. Disappointed with his results Inigo planted his feet for another swing before the front of the worm casually reached up in the air.
The toothy maw of the worm opened as it contorted over itself. Inigo envisioned the bloody remains of Kvothe as he sprinted towards Nefas and Jaska.
Nefas was in the middle of a road thirty yards away next to a giant hole the worm had emerged from. The black armored marine was adjusting several settings on a flip screen built into his bolter. Jaska knelt beside him with a stack of ammunition drums. Each was large enough to hold an entire belt of ammo for a heavy bolter.
The mountain suddenly shook as the worm crashed into the ground directly behind him. Inigo nearly fell as the ground beneath him trembled. After several awkward steps he continued running. Nefas finished his adjustments then pointed his bolter towards Inigo and the worm.
Inigo didn’t need to look to know the worm was right behind him, but for some reason he was more concerned with Nefas and his bolter. It appeared as if it was aimed right at him.
He didn’t have a moment to voice his concerns before the bolter opened fire. A bizarre purple flash was accompanied by an electrical crackle. A stream of bullet casings spewed out the side of the weapon and cascaded to the ground. Inigo experienced a moment of intense shock as his mind prepared his body for the inevitable gun shot wounds. Yet it never happened. Inigo nearly fell at the realization that Nefas was shooting directly at him yet no bullets were hitting him. In fact there weren’t any bullets in the air.
Nefas wasn’t moving or shaking as he fired. The weapon gave off no recoil. With a loud clank the weapon ceased firing. Nefas hit the body of the weapon with a satisfying slap to disengage the drum. It fell as Jaska handed him another drum. With a fluid motion he slammed the new one into place. A split second later the purple flashing resumed.
The pair of marines depleted the second drum and reloaded a third before Inigo reached them. As he did Nefas stopped firing, adjusted his stance, and closed the small flip screen on his bolter. A long cord dangled from the stock to the side of his helm. He unplugged himself and let the cord reel itself in.
Inigo was astounded and confused. The feeling of imminent peril departed as he realized the sounds of the charging worm were gone. He quickly spun around. The worm was fifteen yards away and collapsing to the ground. Its armored form showed no signs of bullet wounds.
As its body stopped moving Inigo took a step towards it, a wave of blood and shredded flesh oozed out its slack jaws. The blood pooled around the worm’s mouth while Inigo looked on.
“Inigo, come. There is still much to do.” Nefas hissed. The quiet voice of the gaunt marine beckoned him.
After a moment of further observation Inigo turned from the scene and headed towards Jaska and Nefas. The pair of marines were staring down the expansive hole in the road. Jaska took a step closer, leaned over, then jumped it.
The sounds of power armor grinding on stone echoed out of the hole. Nefas paused to regard Inigo.
The two marines were both tall, even by marine standards. Inigo, however, was covered in corded muscle. He smiled and chuckled to himself as he regarded Nefas. The thin marine moved with purpose and seemed to be perpetually ready to strike.
The use of his official title made Inigo laugh before he responded, “Am I dead yet?”
Nefas cackled softly before stepping right up to the edge of the hole. He cautiously examined the steep incline of the dark pit.
“See you at the bottom,” Nefas spoke while making a small jump over the edge. Inigo watched the lithe marine lean back as he slid down the side of the incline into the waiting darkness.
The sounds of the sliding marine continued for several moments before they became too distant. Inigo laughed to himself as he thought about what he was about to do.
He took a final look around at the mountain top crater. Ice Angel vessels circled around the mountain. Several were beginning to land once again. The swarms of small fliers had dissipated and as far as Inigo could tell there were only a few worms still fighting.
The site of a distant worm being taken down by a unit of Ice Angels on jump packs made Inigo think of the worm Nefas had just killed. Sunlight was pouring down onto the worm’s corpse. Blood and gore still oozed out of its mouth.
“I wonder what’s next,” Inigo asked himself with a chuckle as he jumped into the hole and slid down after Brother Nefas and Brother Jaska.
After making his way through a ruined building Inushi found himself overlooking a recessed courtyard. There was a chest high wall surrounding the space and several dozen trees lined the perimeter. Their gnarled forms were bent with dark patches of withering leaves.
Inushi jumped through a window opening that hadn’t seen glass in years into the courtyard. At the far end lay the crumpled form of an Ice Angel. He was face down in the mud and a score of the small fliers were diving down at his armored form.
As fast as he could, Inushi crossed the courtyard with his katana in hand. The swarm of fliers dispersed as he approached, several even grazed him as they fled. When Inushi stood over the form only two of them were left. They had found cracks in the marine’s armor and were attempting to nibble at his bare flesh. With a well place swipe the two beasts were both split in two.
Inushi took a final glance around the area before further examining the marine. His jump pack was smashed, as if he had landed on it. Inushi looked back over his shoulder into the courtyard, there were several heavy indentations in the stone work from where the marine must have landed and bounced. In the far corner lay his white chainsword.
The sounds of startled breath from below Inushi made him quickly step aside. The marine was coughing. Inushi sheathed his katana and carefully rolled him over to get him out of the mud. He gingerly leaned the marine back against the stone wall of the courtyard.
“What’s your status brother?” Inushi asked.
The side of the marine’s helm was torn and scratched but still in one piece, only some of the rebreather connections were damaged. The marine moved one arm slowly in a weak attempt to remove his helm. Inushi stopped the marine’s hand and then carefully removed the helm.
It slowly came off and Inushi set it down on the other side of the marine. His pale face was caked in dried blood; the minor wounds were already sealed.
“My suit has lost power and I think my back is broken.” The marine spoke through gritted teeth, “I won’t be awake much,” his eyes fluttered for a moment. Inushi knew the Angel would go into a coma while his body tried to repair itself, but this marine would need aid in order to heal properly.
Inushi knelt over the prone marine to check for other wounds as he called for aid through the vox. One of Attikusu’s assistance gave a curt affirmative.
The sounds of an approaching swarm made Inushi quickly stand. He scanned the tree line when a white armored assault marine landed in the courtyard like a feline hunter. His armor was covered in the blood of various species. His face was torn and full of anger.
“Desai!” Inushi said surprised to see the marine. It had been a long time since they had spoken. “Come to protect the fallen?” he asked.
The Sky Warden took several steps away from Inushi and slowly picked up the white chainsword of the wounded Ice Angel. The sounds of the distant jump packs and muffled explosions made Inushi look to his left.
Without warning a screeching flying bat came out from a nearby tree and smashed into Inushi’s helm with alarming force. The creature quickly flew away but his green helmet was damaged from the attack. He felt the area above his left eye lens with his gauntlet, the gash was through several of the protective levels, had it hit his eye lens he may have gone partially blind.
“By the Emperor that was close,” Inushi spoke. When he looked over, the courtyard was empty.
Captain Razzik opened his powerfist allowing the birds limp head to fall over to the side, its neck burnt and crushed. Razzik stood tall and quickly confirmed he wasn’t immediately threatened. He scanned incoming reports as Vetov walked back over to his side. Brother Venthu stood nearby cleaning his combat blade on the neck feathers of a decapitated bird. The others Ice Angels had dispatched the remaining birds and two Squads had moved into the tunnel entrance. The last few marines from those squads were jogging out of his sight around the first bend.
A private vox icon blinked in his peripheral vision. The icon morphed into a red winged ice shard, the symbol of an Ice Angel tech marine. Razzik thought about Philosir momentarily before he noticed Venthu. The marine was extremely focused on the neck stump of the decapitated bird. With ease the combat squad leader of Squad Plafwu sliced down the spine of the bird. Two other marines came over and watched the biopsy. Venthu sheathed his blade and pulled back the skin over the bird’s spine. Sunlight reflected off a network of ultra thin wires that could be seen woven through the bird’s muscles and along the creature’s spine.
The vox request from Philosir blinked again. Razzik hastily moved over to Venthu with a sense of urgency. Vetov and several others were also instantly intrigued. They all looked on as Venthu revealed more of the complex network of wires. Razzik reached down for the birds head. After a slow tug he pealed the skin back only a few inches. The wires ended at the base of the bird’s skull. He tore off the skin of the bird’s cranium and palmed the birds head in his powerfist. With unnecessary force he crushed its skull. Gore splattered off his armor and flew into the sky. Razzik removed several pieces of broken skull to unveil the intricate set of wires that were meshed through out the bird’s brain. A sense of annoyance seeped into Razzik’s thoughts.
“Scan the rest of it,” Razzik commanded. Two auspexs came out and began to run a spectrum of scans. Brother Grax pointed to an area before the creature’s hind legs below the spin. Venthu drew his combat blade again and made several deep cuts. Two marines pulled back bones and muscle as Venthu continued to slice. Loud cracks and the sound of tearing flesh dominated everyone’s attention.
After only a few seconds the flank on the beast was removed and the group of marines saw several small devices, each no larger then a marine’s finger. They hung beneath the spine in orderly rows, each containing a vial of vibrant liquid. Brother Venthu sliced off one of them and handed it to Razzik.
The request from Philosir blinked more urgently once again. With a sigh he opened up the private link, “The avian quadrupeds are wired,” Razzik began.
There was a brief pause, “Yes, so are the worms.” The monotone voice responded.
Captain Razzik tilted his head towards the cave entrance. He dropped the small device as Venthu handed him another, slightly larger one. Razzik tilted it in his hands and opened up a visual connection with Philosir.
A grunt of binary escaped Philosir as he examined the images. “It appears to be a transmitter. I found a similar one along with worms back.” He added.
“Can you determine where it’s transmitting?” Razzik asked.
“Negative,” Philosir responded. Razzik dropped the device and shut down the visual link along with the private vox. His annoyance level grew. He looked over to the cave entrance. The marines around him stopped examining the bird. Venthu cleaned his blade once again.
With a simple blink click Razzik opened up a new vox channel with Cyaxeres, Attikusu, and Philosir. “Status Update,” he demanded.
Chaplain Cyaxeres spoke first, his deep voice was preempted with a grunt of effort, “Two enemies remain, and they are being dealt with.”
Sanguinary Priest Attikusu responded next, “Our flank is secure, wounded have been treated.”
Philosir spoke last, “The road entrance is being fortified with worm corpses. We’re prepared to handle incoming orks.”
“Squads Rimsin, Rah-Apsu, Plawfu, and Kujara are accompanying me into the tunnel.” Razzik began, “Philosir send remaining servo skulls for additional eyes in the dark. Cyaxeres, you will assume command if we loose vox connection.
Two affirmative blinks returned, yet Philosir did not respond. Razzik began to walk towards the cave entrance, waiting for the tech marine to speak again.
“Captain, MOAT is picking up additional signals from orbit. The orks are mobilizing.” His monotone voice quickly spat the report.
With two hand gestures the marines around Razzik broke into a run into the cavern, only Vetov stood nearby, patiently waiting for Razzik to follow.
“Prepare MOAT to send a message to the Frozen Rage once some sort of adequate proof has been located,” Razzik demanded as he strode towards the cave behind his men. “Philosir,” he paused.
“Yes Captain,” the Techmarine immediately responded.
“Do not let a single ork get past you into this crater.” Razzik commanded.
The tension builds once again. Who made the constructs? And to what purpose?? And what's up with Phiosir? Tune in again next week... same bat time, same bat channel!
Captain Razzik stood next to Vetov and regarded the marine. The bionically modified astartes had not left his side since they had landed on the crater. He showed only superficial damage on his armor and shield. The quartered blue and black of his armor seemed dull against the Ice Angels brilliant blue trim.
Vetov returned the captain’s gaze, his bionic eye emitting a soft glow. “Soon, the Emperor will grant me my vengeance Captain.” The slow somber voice of the Emperor’s Tear seeped out of the marine. “Very soon,” he added while turning his head towards the cave. The first wave of servo skulls flew over head quickly disappearing into the darkness of the entrance.
The two marines turned in unison towards the entrance and strode towards it. “How can any one truly tell what the Emperor grants us Vetov?” Razzik asked as they took their first steps into the darkness.
“Everything granted to us is by the Emperor’s will Razzik, do not doubt that lesson.” The darkness enveloped them as their dark vision activated.
Razzik knew he was heading down a path he had argued with Vetov before but instead of holding his tongue he spat out a question, “Did the Emperor grant you years of pain of suffering at the hands of Dark Eldar and the loss of your entire chapter Commander Vetov?”
Vetov stopped in his tracks. Razzik continued on.
“Yes, I believe he did.” Vetov began, his voice softly betraying the emotion behind his cold exterior, “I believe my chapter had fulfilled their destiny, yet I still have something to achieve.”
Any feelings of annoyance at Vetov or their situation quickly fleeted as Razzik felt the deep emotion behind Vetov’s words. Razzik paused but didn’t turn towards the Commander of the Emperor’s Tears. He didn’t agree with his beliefs, but he respected Vetov’s dedication to the Emperor. One side of him wanted to correct Vetov’s beliefs, yet the other side of him wanted to praise his faith. Instead Razzik stood in silence unable to do either.
“Come Captain; let us see what the Emperor has granted us.” Vetov added before stepping up to the Razzik. The two exchanged a simple nod before they trotted off further into the darkness.
interesting exchange, I defintley get there is a unity between them as battle brothers but certainly there is a lot more we're not getting from them. It feels like there could be unresolved issues which could boil to the surface.
You guys crack me up. Knightley, I may have to write a very long section in order for you to actually finish a bag of popcorn in the amount of time it takes you to read a post.
I will have to warn you all though. The next segment is giving me trouble. It may take me awhile before I feel like posting it. Can't seem to get it right............
While I would like to offer support by saying "Ice take your time, I understand that creative writing isn't easy" what I really want to say it "Hurry up and take my money.... I mean hurry up and post more story!"
Inushi stood in the center of the courtyard scanning the tree line. He was looking for the Sanguinary Apprentice that was on his way to examine the downed Ice Angel, but as he monitored the surrounding area the hair on his neck began to tingle.
He had learned a long time ago to trust his instincts and he felt as if something was closing in on him, or watching him. He knew in his soul that something was awry. The ancient teachings of his chapter quickly floated to the top of his consciousness. With practiced ease he adjusted his aura of perception. The sounds of distant gunfire and the circling vessels dissipated from his thoughts. His breathing slowed down and he stood sentinel. His hands rested comfortably on his weapons as time slowed and he entered the stance of the mantis.
Surrounding the courtyard the trees slowly swayed as the breeze rustled the leaves before him. The smell of decay and moisture filled his lungs as he focused on his senses. The sound of creaking of wood, the ripple of water puddles, all of it was absorbed while in his unblinking position.
As he became fully aware of his surroundings the low whistle of a falling objective rose to his attention. In the blink of an eye he drew his katana, activated its power field, and spun around. The cutting edge passed through a shoulder pad into the arm of a white armored marine.
Inushi, however, lost his momentum from the spin as he tumbled backwards from the impact of the falling marine. The two rolled over one another before they painfully crashed into the corner of the courtyard.
Time violently reasserted itself as he looked up into the crazed face of Desai. The Sky Warden was covered in blood and bits of the flying creatures. He was sitting on top of Inushi, pinning him down with his legs. Inushi was momentarily stunned as Desai revved a white chainsword and pulled it out of Inushi’s chest. Copious amounts of blood sprayed into the moist air.
Desai didn’t take his glare off of Inushi as he spat a traitorous curse in a foreign tongue and raised the chainsword for a downward thrust. The downward movement seemed to bring Inushi out of his brief shock and he batted aside the sword.
The teeth of the blade scraped off Inushi’s shoulder pad as he lashed out at Desai.
“DESAI! What has done this to you?!” Inushi shouted as he struggled to bat away and block Desai’s flurry of attacks. Blood splattered the inside of his helm with every word. Combat stims were flooding his system now even as his shredded secondary heart ceased to function.
After a blur of movement Inushi managed to grab the wrist of Desai’s chainsword hand. He held it off to the side as the white armored marine repeatedly punched down at him with his other. Desai’s punches though were weakened from Inushi’s earlier katana slice, the gaping wound still sizzling from the powered blade.
The Sky Warden growled as Inushi blocked another jab and retaliated with a cross punch that shattered his lower jaw. In response Desai, seemed to tremble with rage. He screamed as he repeatedly head butted Inushi.
To his surprise his helm began to buckle, but as it did he witnessed an equal amount of damage being done to Desai’s face and forehead.
Inushi attempted with all his might to escape Desai’s pinned position. He kicked forward and punched again, but Desai’s relentless assault didn’t slow. Eventually Inushi managed to grab Desai by the neck to halt the maddening attacks of the Sky Warden. The two marines stared at one another, their gazes locked.
The body of Desai was above him but the eyes weren’t the eyes of the astartes he had spoken to before. Hatred, seething hatred seeped out of the marine. Inushi felt immense pity for the Sky Warden in that instance. He didn’t understand what could have happened. Even when Desai pulled out his combat blade with his weakened arm and plunged it into Inushi’s side; he felt sorrow for the marine. As the pain washed over him Inushi didn’t release his grip or his gaze upon the bloodied Sky Warden.
“What madness, “he coughed, “has taken you?”
Inushi felt his limbs begin to tremble from the strain of holding back the enraged Sky Warden. Blood dripped off Desai’s face onto Inushi’s helm and when the Sky Warden pulled out his combat blade and held it out to the side for another strike, Inushi let go of Desai’s neck to block the incoming strike. The Sky Warden slowly leaned closer.
His face was a beaten, his jaw was shattered, he was speaking but Inushi couldn’t make out any of the words. Desai pressed forward with over whelming strength and soon Inushi found himself pinned completely under the Sky Warden, his face was inches from his, blood still trickled from his face wounds but Inushi saw the wounds were already beginning to close.
“By the Emperor’s grace Desai,” Inushi began when the barrel of an ice blue bolt pistol tapped the top of Desai’s head.
“His Will be done,” the deep voice of Cyaxeres said as the bolt pistol discharged once into the top of Desai’s skull.
Inushi witnessed the pistol move, he saw the barrel flash, yet Desai didn’t flinch, his hateful gaze never wavered. In fact Inushi felt Desai press down on him even harder before the pistol discharged once more, then a third time.
As blood, skull, and grey matter fell on to Inushi’s face, he saw the hateful gaze from Desai finally dissipate and for a fleeting second he saw something else.
Gitsplitta wrote:Nasty sequence, up close view of the death of a marine,,, maybe two?
Perhaps.............
cormadepanda wrote:kill shot! i wanna read more ice.
Soon enough cormadepanda, there will be more.
Asherian Command wrote:Ouch! Poor desai!
Your cast is slowly dwindling like a space marine force should.
Knightley wrote:Some would say not quick enough
Indeed. It has been a long time since the first died, let us think back on the departed marines. Walters, Evrard, Reven, Pyox, Aquilum, Kvothe, and Desai, plus all of the Ice Angels that have fallen. Shall Inushi be added to the list? Until next time, Ice Angel out.......
Oh, you guys want more? Why didn't any one say something?
More story will be posted as soon as the next person comments on my page. I like to keep my comment posts separate from the story posts. You know how it is?
Inushi laid on the broken floor in quiet meditation as his body began the healing process on his minor wounds. His chest was numb from injected drugs and his side still throbbed from the deep stab wound. His secondary heart would need to be replaced along with several other organs after they got off this planet, yet the Emperor had spared him for now.
For several minutes he listened to Cyaxeres finish his litanies over the now dead Sky Warden, Desai. He heard the approach of Attikusu’s apprentice, Dwarvik. The white armored priest landed near the fallen Ice Angel and began inspecting him immediately.
“May the Emperor guide your soul and may you spend eternity by his side.” Cyaxeres finished before slowly standing. “Farewell Brother Harv’wen Desai.”
Cyaxeres bent over and retrieved the white chainsword and Inushi’s powered katana. He examined the long powered blade as he turned towards Inushi.
The Mantis Warrior felt the chaplains imposing aura the moment his gaze fell upon him. Without opening his eyes he held out a hand towards the chaplain. Cyaxeres reached down and grasped forearm to forearm with Inushi and effortlessly pulled him up.
Inushi released his grip and removed his damaged helm. He attached it to his hip as he stared at the void black armor of the Chaplain. Several frozen vials of blood adorned his armor and the standard skull motif decorated his knees and elbows. The gaze of his piercing sapphire eyes silenced him before he spoke.
“Are you still battle worthy Mantis?” his deep voice began.
Without thinking or blinking Inushi nodded his head.
“Good, go reinforce the crater road.” He commanded as he handed over the ornate katana.
The moment Inushi grasped the hilt of the sword Cyaxeres stepped back and turned. A sudden burst of dual jets propelled the Chaplain into the air.
Inushi wanted to stop him and ask him questions about Desai. For a brief instant he thought about calling out to the chaplain but instead he watched the Ice Angel disappear behind a large pile of rubble before he jumped again towards the crater road. As he followed the chaplain’s movement the distant clouds ahead of Cyaxeres crackled and changed color.
Ork drop ships pierced the clouds and plummeted behind the other side of the mountain. One particularly large projectile look more like an asteroid then a ship and as it passed out of view, Inushi witnessed it shoot out yellow jagged lines of energy to all the surrounding vessels. Their fall was temporarily slowed, except one that burst into flames and another that suddenly veered into the side of another mountain.
The bizarre falling ships registered in Inushi’s mind but Desai and Cyaxeres still dominated his thoughts.
The sound of Dwarvik approaching brought Inushi out of his reverie. The Ice Angel leaned in close to examine his chest and side wound. Without words or questions he injected a long needle directly into Inushi’s side. A burst of heat radiated through his body before a strong cooling sensation calmed his mind. The powerful drugs made his hands tremble yet the throbbing pain and numbness in his mind cleared.
Dwarvik watched the wounds before turning back towards the unconscious Ice Angel. With both arms Dwarvik gingerly picked up the angel and prepared to leap away.
“Can you please explain what happened to Desai?” Inushi quietly asked as he did.
The Sanguinary apprentice paused, glanced over at Desai, and looked back to Inushi. He thought for a moment before looking away.
“It appears to be a gunshot wound to the head,” he spoke before jumping away towards the tiered side of the crater with the Ice Angel body in his arms.
Perturbed by the obvious answer given by Dwarvik he regarded the fallen form of Desai once again. He took a slow step towards the bloodied marine. If he had been a Mantis Warrior his armor and weapons would have been stripped and his corpse burned, yet here the Ice Angels left him fully armored forever to rot in this empty courtyard.
Inushi thought about picking up the body and adding it to the others that had fallen in this mountaintop crater but something in his soul told him to leave it alone. Instead he knelt over the body.
“I do not understand what curse took your body Desai,” he began as he closed the marine’s eyes. “I hope the Emperor does not hold it against you, “with a loud sigh he stood,” but I hold no ill will.”
Inushi watched the body in hopes of some response but knowing that none would come he tried to clear his mind.
Without another glance Inushi turned in the direction of Cyaxeres and the crater road. The loud engines of ork creations rumbled in the distance as more drop ships continued to plummet all around the mountaintop crater. Ice Angel vessels fired at them as they descended yet many still passed unharmed.
In a swift practiced movement he sheathed his katana. After a few shaky steps he departed in a steady jog through the building he had used to enter the courtyard. He never looked back on the fallen form of Desai and despite his urge to ask; he would never discover what made Desai turn on a fellow Astartes.
IceAngel wrote:Inushi laid on the broken floor in quiet meditation as his body began the healing process on his minor wounds. His chest was numb from injected drugs and his side still throbbed from the deep stab wound. His secondary heart would need to be replaced along with several other organs after they got off this planet, yet the Author had spared him for now.
Fixed that for you.
Nicely handled Ice. Excellent as a matter of fact. (meaning the chapter culture interaction... smart-ass apprentice)
Lol, thanks for fixing that Git. I actually thought of you when I wrote that line from Dwarvik. Didn't you spit up coffee once while reading one of my posts before? I'm hoping to recreate that sensation sometime in the future.
Today class I'd like to discuss the topic of Space Marine names. In my last post I decided on the spot to give brother Desai a first name. That name was not given to me by Desai's creator, I added that in after the fact. I felt like he needed to have more of a name, or a title or something. After doing so it made me think about my own chapter. Do Ice Angels go by their first name or last name? Should they? Do they go by nicknames? Do all space marines get rid of their names when they become space marines? Do they get new names?
After thinking about this I was reminded of all the 40k novels I've read. Nearly all of them go by a single name but its unknown if its the last or first name, or even if they have other names. Space wolves have lots of given names. Ragnar Blackmane, Vaer Greyloc, Brakk Redpelt for example. In Brothers of the Snake, they only had one name that is mentioned. Raphon, Memnes, Priad, Pindor, Xander, are some of the ones that come to mind, but it isn't determined if that's the first or last name. I wish I could remember the names in the Imperial Fist book I read. It wasn't a good book but it was one of the few where you meet the marines before they become marines. I do recall that they went by the same name though before and after the transformation. When it comes to Horus Heresy novels most of the books only list a single name for each marine in the book, there are of course some exceptions. Saul Tarvitz, is one that comes to mind.
Now that I've vomited forth a paragraph worth of mental thoughts let me rephrase the question. After reading several hundred pages of Ice Angel story, what has your mind done to the names of my marines? Do they sound like first names or last names? Or do they even have other names?
AH, here is a thought! Maybe I should take a lesson from Harry Potter. In those novels the teachers all go by their last name except when they address one another, then they use their first name. If Ice Angels strive to be cold and efficient, what would they choose to do?
TBH most of the Ice Angel names are unfamiliar enough that I don't associate them with either a first or last name. I guess in my mind recruits (at least in my chapter, Badab War or earlier) would adopt or be given a Legion name once they were made full marines. Post badab war I'm having the marines keep their own names (thus the Asian influence in my later marines). No reason for it really, just the way I do it.
In general... I almost look at it as how pastors or priests go about it. Formally, you may have parishioners refer to "Pastor Jones" but informally it might be "Pastor Dave"... but the "pastor" part is always there. Whether you use the first or last name has less to do with church doctrine and more to do with each individual's view on how formal the pastor/parishioner relationship should be.
In a military situation, I think the form of address would be codified and not left up to each individual to make the decision... but I think either way would be acceptable.
People tend to have first and last names no matter where they're from, so if they became marines and kept their names, they'd probably have two. If they took on a new name, they would probably only be given one, due to there be no need for a last name to differentiate two people with the same name. As for first or last name, I think Gits has the gist of it, that it depends on the individuals.
Of course, even if they were only given one name, it is conceivable that they would accrue nicknames, or epithets to add on to their one name. The Space Wolves, for example, have one name and then some description of the person, i.e. Redmane, Blackmane, Rockfist, etc. You might also see more tribal chapters taking the names of slain enemies and adding them on, which could be some interesting note about that chapter's culture.
Given that the Ice Angel recruits come from two areas, one of which is tribal and the other which is industrial, maybe I should try to incorporate some more name stuff into my fluff. I've already gone with the idea that they've kept their original names from before they were astartes. Maybe the tribal guys use their first name and the industrial guys go by their last names. Certainly gives me something to think about.
Names like Razzik and Philosir sound more like last names, where as Attikusu and Bel Hando sound more like first names.
prime12357 - i like the idea of taking names from the slain. Something I always really enjoyed are the full names of Custodians and how they add more titles to their names after deeds they've done. I do feel though as if its to late for me to add something like that in for my chapter. As much as I'd like to I'm not sure I could get away with adding new characters or unveiling titles to some of the characters we're already accustomed too. I may be able to get away with one title.............
Wow, I stopped typing for ten minutes while my brain went into overtime thinking about that one.
A troll of this page and RL friend of mine inadvertently reminded me of several Ice Angels that technically do have "given" names. However, non of those characters are in my story. I may have to include one of them at some point.
For me all Space Marines are given a name once they are accepted into the brotherhood. The name they are referred to is a first name with thier origin being their second name. For Instance My Chapter Name may be Toast and I heralded from England so I would be Toast England but referred to simply as Toast.
Philosir sounds like a first name to me, cuz of the Phil part. Philosir sounds like a psykers first name, cuz it sounds like philosopher, which is kinda magicy
Nemesor wrote:Philosir sounds like a first name to me, cuz of the Phil part. Philosir sounds like a psykers first name, cuz it sounds like philosopher, which is kinda magicy
You know, I never thought of that. Philosir sounds even more fitting now. Funny how things work out sometimes.
Thing is, Knightley is not the only one...I see a post here and I hurry to open the thread for new stories but...I only see Knightley and 1-i :( The disappointment...(no offense guys )
Don't worry guys, I'm not dead yet. However, I did have a life changing event. Several days ago I am became a dad. Good news for me, not so good news for you guys, lol.
If it does make you feel any better I have managed to write several sentences since then, but having him around will cut back on my writing time a bit. I do promise to keep on writing my Ice Angel fluff though. There is still more to explore and more marines to kill!
As a father of two Im allowed to say your excuse is not valid. Nevermind the fact that you have better things to do I have precsios internet time and I demand it be filled by your stories. Your child will have plenty of umrememerable moments in the next two years so you can completly focus on yourself and being as selfish as I need you to be.
PS. If for one second you really act as selfish as Ive memtioned then I will drive down to your house late at night and you will forever be a good father under pain of true suffering. Enjoy the sleeplesss nights, you should have plenty.
Captain Razzik lightly jogged down the ever descending tunnel. His HUD illuminated the growing tunnel system that Philosir’s servo skulls quickly explored. Commander Vetov ran beside him, his bionic leg gave off a faint whine with every long stride.
After only half an hour the tunnel complex had been vastly explored by the servo skulls. The giant worms had turned the standard drill pattern into a chaotic mess of interwoven tunnels and dangerous caverns. Dead ends were darkened in his HUD and many servo skulls were already doubling back. A large chamber was highlighted by a soft gray icon and as he ran towards the distant room Squad Rimsin confirmed servo skull 12398’s initial findings.
With super human speed orders were sent and blips from the tactical units in the tunnels showed the change of movement of his men. All of them were now moving at full speed towards the chamber. With no regard for stealth the Ice Angels thundered down the tunnels. The echoes of power armored boots hitting rock filled the wide melta bore pathways.
After rounding another bend Razzik and Vetov came across an expansive gateway chamber. Reactivated glow globes floated lazily near the ceiling of the chamber. Excavating equipment still lay strewn about, many of which were heavily damaged. A dozen chutes opened beneath them and one excavator lay on its side, partially consumed by a hole. The bodies of quadruped avian creatures dotted the chamber and small flying beasts occasionally darted from tunnel to tunnel above their corpses.
Squad Rah-Apsu was beginning its descent into one of the holes. Squad Kujara entered from a side tunnel and ran towards the same hole but instead of entering they began to move equipment and excavating machinery to form a defensive perimeter around the chute. Two of the marines stood over the hole with bolters raised.
The final member of Squad Rah-Apsu began his descent as Razzik and Vetov arrived. Mi-Luqua Vaz, of the Kujara unit, stood over the chute watching the ceiling for enemy swarms. Razzik and Vetov mag locked their shields and quickly followed after the climbing squad. The angle of the tunnel was nearly vertical but very rough and easy to scale for the super human marines.
The growl of an excavator’s engine rumbled above them as they climbed. Captain Razzik could already imagine what the chamber will look like when he returns. Clear firing lanes and an easily defensible position. Already the map on his HUD was being altered as the marines blocked off tunnels with the equipment and pushed the damaged machinery into tunnels to limit the number of entrances.
Razzik could hear the thump of marines landing on rock below him as he climbed and after only a few more handholds he too pushed away from the wall and fell the final few meters to where the tunnel was flat enough to run instead of climb. Vetov landed next to him half a breath later and the two marines were once again running at full speed through the tunnel’s darkness.
The map in Razzik’s HUD minimized and slid to the side as images from Squad Rimsin and several servo skulls took over. Razzik already had a partial tactical lay out of the vast subterranean chamber before he had arrived.
Squad Rah-Apsu was behind boulders and rubble in prime elevated position to provide cover with their two heavy bolters. The marines from Rimsin were further in the chamber spaced between more rocks and a heavily damaged transport vehicle. Razzik and Vetov ran full speed up a final incline as they left the tunnel and entered the cavern. With precise timing Rimsin advanced and the members from Rah-Apsu broke from cover to provide fire if needed.
As the marines advanced, Razzik concentrated on the bizarre lay out of the cavern. All of the tunnels and the man made entrance were contained to the end in which he entered. The middle section of the room was vastly different and the other end was swathed in darkness that he couldn’t yet discern. No servo skull had passed through the darkness and returned.
Racks of large vertical cylinders lined the floor; each was large enough to house one of the massive burrowing worms. Along the walls were rows of cages. A thick chemical smell emanated from the banks of those dark containers. Syringes and vials lined the edges of every surface of the cages. Long cords descended from each cage and wound further into the cavern through the blackness. The racks seemed to extend out from the curtain of darkness at the other end of the cavern. A lone crystal floated amidst the murky wall of darkness. The powerful light from the crystal easily illuminated the cavern before him, yet no shred of light pierced the darkness that held the embedded crystal.
Razzik slowed as he past the first tall cylinder. Vetov was right behind him. The members of Rimsin were advancing down other pathways between the cylinders. The tall canisters blocked all lines of sight between him and his other marines, only his HUD gave him any idea of where his marines were.
Above the rows of cylinders and wall cages, the brightly glowing crystal larger then Razzik’s chest floated. Razzik’s attention was drawn to it as he approached. It was well out of his reach and gave off a faint hum.
A red rune flashed in Razzik’s HUD. He reflexively raised his shield. Zaduga, a member of Squad Rimsin, flashed the red sword, meaning he has an enemy contact. Captain Razzik expected to hear gun fire as he pulled up Zaduga’s helmet cams, but the shot never came.
Zaduga was in one of the outer most paths between cylinders and the cages. The cages were stacked three high and in one of the bottom row cages a quadruped bird was laying prone. Its breathing was labored and it was in a pool of ichors. A lithe harness was draped over the bird and wires snaked out of it into a panel near the cages door.
“Leave it,” Sergeant Shar-Takazz commanded.
“Wise choice Sergeant,” Razzik added before removing his feed from Zaduga. Razzik gazed up at the floating crystal once again. He took several more steps before coming to the last cylinder in the row.
The crystal above him pulsed with a dark inner light yet it exuded a cleansing yellow light throughout the cavern. His gaze switched from the crystal towards the curtain of darkness before him. Captain Razzik leaned forward to get a closer look. Upon closer inspection the vertical sheet in front of him seemed to wave and shift like oil over a pond.
“Captain, “Vetov softly interrupted.
Razzik looked back at the Emperor’s Tear, and stepped aside. Vetov focused on the wall as he approached and plunged through the wall of darkness. Captain Razzik hesitated before opening up a private channel with Vetov. He had expected the marine to scan the wall or throw something through it first, not walk right into it. The wall had enveloped the marine with out noise or any visual change.
For several seconds Razzik held his breath, expecting his vox to crackle or some sort of signal yet none came. A feeling of dread began to ooze through his being. What happened to Vetov? Why wasn’t he responding? Why did he do that? What idiot would see an unknown xenos murky wall of darkness and walk right through it. Razzik began to feel his surprise and shock turn into anger.
He could feel his agitation begin to manifest physically as he opened and closed his white powerfist. As he contemplated his next tactical orders the chest and head of Vetov leaned through the shadowed wall.
“Next room is clear. Vox doesn’t pass through the portal Captain. I suggest a relay unit.” Vetov spoke before leaning back through the curtain.
As the torso of Vetov disappeared back into the wall the build up of agitation dissipated, yet a shred of annoyance still lingered. “Rah-Apsu, hold your position. Rimsin and Kujara advance,” Razzik thought to himself as he issued orders with simple vox symbols. His HUD was already responding as affirmations and movement could be seen as marines disappeared through the black curtain. Servo skulls streamed overhead.
“Plafwu, we will need you at the black wall to provide a relay, vox cannot pass through the barrier.” Razzik reevaluated his orders and waited for confirmation from Squad Plafwu, they were still advancing from else where in the tunnel system. Razzik patiently waited for a response and while he did he thought about Vetov. What was it about that marine that was getting to him?
A simple affirmative crossed his HUD from Sergeant Maranu of Squad Plafwu, he calculated an estimated arrival time and once again examined the curtain wall. Satisfied with his commands he stepped into the murky wall of darkness.
I've got a better name for the reading group. Ice RAG "Ice's Reading Anonymous Group"?
Interested in joining? Reply to this comment and you'll get the same access to all of my writings! A giant thank you AND an occasional responses in this thread from me, ICEANGEL.
BUT WAIT, there's more. If you respond in the next 48 hours I'll make you an honorary member and you'll be assigned a number in Ice RAG. You can then add it into your DAKKA signature and have one more piece of random information to share with the world.
SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE!
Well get on typing folks, there are only so many numbers that can be used for Ice RAG. Make sure you get one of the good ones.
The sound of another approaching vessel forced Inushi to slightly lean back. His head sunk back further into the shadows between rocky outcroppings. His arms and legs were tiring from his held position six meters above the road. Despite his injuries he stayed motionless as a small ork trukk rumbled past, a half dozen greenskins screamed in excitement from its open bed.
“Lightly armored truck with six orks,” Inushi voxed up to Cyaxeres and Philosir. That was the ninth vehicle to pass his position. Inushi didn’t know what the tech marine had planned at the top of the crater but thanklessly he continued to report in with details of any ork vessels speeding up the lone mountain pass.
Sun light poured down over the top of the crater mountain and for miles Inushi could see the orks plummet from the sky. When not reporting ork movement on the mountain pass he stared up at the disorganized shower of vessels, half of which plummeted to their deaths.
Some of the ships were overloaded planes that disgorged scores of orks upon landing; others were drop ships that housed all manner of tanks, walkers, boars, and squigs. One particularly large vessel was held aloft by dozens of bloated giant squigs used has balloons. Inushi was observing the vessels lazy approach when missiles from a storm raven ignited the gas filled squigs which sent the gondola crashing towards the valley floor.
Inushi twitched as his weakened body requested he move from his position. The drugs coursing through his genetically altered physique gave him a small degree of comfort but the internal damage still aggravated him. Inushi took a deep breath and tried to calm his body. For the eleventh time he listed the damage to his body.
“Chest wound, damaged secondary heart, sliced biscopea, side wound, ruptured preomnor, shredded Oolitic kidney,” he began. The words filled his thoughts and he began the mental journey to find his inner peace. For several minutes he calmed himself and forced himself to relax. The familiar mental exercise taught by his chapter before he had become a full battle brother began to give him more relief then the drugs in his veins.
Another engine growl made him stop his wound tally. He waited for the next ork vehicle to approach. The engine was distant yet louder than any other that had passed his position. The thumping of massive cylinders and the grind of metal on stone continued to crescendo. The rocks around him began to shake as the entire mountain side seemed to tremble at the approach of the vehicle. Inushi used the small wiry tree in front of him as a focal point as he tried to maintain his motionless state. Even as the tree swayed before him he still held his position, his Mantis Warrior training in stealth telling him to trust the shadows.
The shaking and engine noise continued to increase. The sound was astounding. Inushi couldn’t imagine how anyone could ride such a vehicle into battle without becoming deafened by the sound. The boulder to Inushi’s left began to loosen and shift as the ork vehicle finally came into view. Pebbles from above, fell onto his armored shoulders and back. The few leaves on the wiry tree shook off. Inushi watched the last one fall as static filled his vox.
From his right came the immense tracked vehicle. Each metal link in the tread was as wide as his chest and protected by multiple layers of metal plating. A plethora of squat cannons huddled together on the front of the slow moving tank. Behind the wall of guns was a compartment topped with barricades. Dozens of orks stood about waiting for a target to fire their large caliber guns at. Yet as the orks scanned the road ahead and the mountain from above him, none noticed the motionless space marine hidden within arms reach of their side armor.
As it passed, Inushi could feel the power field the metal behemoth emitted. His vox was useless at the time being and Inushi did nothing but wait as the tank climbed the mountain path only feet from his position. The stench of engine oil and leaking plasma assailed his nostrils with every breath.
Suddenly the boulder to his left loosened and he nearly fell from his position. The wiry tree toppled as a side sponson from the tank knocked it over. The tank finished passing his position and Inushi saw the truth of the slow moving vehicle. It was the engine to an ork land train. The next car held a similarly tall barricaded platform but on it were turrets of different shapes and sizes. The next car rumbled into view and he saw a row of looted basilisk cannons pointing up into the sky. The fourth car was the largest by far and as the engine sounds lessened the sound of shifting stone took over.
Inushi dared to adjust his position to look further around the rock to his right and when he did he saw the fourth car was wider than the others, so wide that it was scraping the side of the mountain. Without hesitating he released from his position mere seconds before the wide platform dislodged the stone and sent it rolling after him.
The six meter slide turned into a tumble and only his super human reflexes kept him from being crushed under tracks or between the twin boulders chasing him down the short drop. In order to avoid the boulders he scampered forward near the front of the fourth train. His bulk forced him to move side ways as the room between the vehicle and the rock face wasn’t wide enough. After a few frantic moments of keeping his feet on top of the tracks he grabbed a handhold on the armor over the tracks. The mountain wall and falling debris filled the air with dust and grit. Inushi’s emerald green armor quickly became gravel gray.
Without warning the car titled drastically away from the mountain, the other side of the fourth car clearly hanging over the edge of the road. Inushi found himself ten feet off the ground and very exposed. Shouts of thrown orks and dislodged machinery filled the air. Inushi debated about letting go but as he looked ahead he saw the train ahead was still on both tracks and the next car was the last. The treads beneath him continued churning and the train moved forward and as quickly as it tilted up it slammed back onto the mountain road.
The motion proved too much for Inushi’s precarious grip. He fell off the armored side and crashed into the mountain wall. His innards screamed in pain at the impact as he slid to the ground next to the tracks but soon under the wider midsection of the fourth car. As the train trundled over him Inushi looked around to see what was next. The instant the fourth car was past he vaulted up and got in front of the fifth car. The two cars were an arm span apart from one another and connected by a massive metal joint surrounded by chains.
Inushi lightly jogged between the two cars, easily keeping pace with the slow moving train. He was studying the connection between the two cars when a gun shot rang out from above. Peering down from the platform several levels above him was a grot with a sawed off revolver. His eyes were wide with either glee, or terror, Inushi couldn’t decide. Nevertheless Inushi didn’t need to hear the small greenskin to know he was shouting for the others.
As quickly as he could Inushi pulled himself onto a small platform protruding from the fourth car. With his left he drew his plasma pistol and with his right he threw open the heavy metal door.
Bullets slammed into the platform behind him as he stepped inside the red lit compartment. His super human sight adjusted in a millisecond and he thanked the Emperor for that, yet he cursed his luck as the room’s contents filled his vision. Surrounding a single row of belching machinery stood a mob of well armed, angry greenskins.
The greenskins bellowed their greeting as Inushi responded with plasma bolts into the two nearest orks. Before their corpses hit the floor he was moving towards the machinery, with his plasma pistol spewing death and his power katana lit with the Emperor’s wrath.
Thanks Mr. Nobody! I'm glad you've enjoyed the read. I thought about that aspect of Desai at that moment in the story but I couldn't get the satisfying death that I felt he deserved without him having a jump pack. I had actually determined how that scene was going to play out probably a year ago or so and when you have replayed a scene in your head over and over again, it's really hard to change it to anything else. The one thing that did change was that in the original adaptation, Inushi didn't survive. As I wrote more and more about Inushi though, I realized I can't kill him quite yet. I've grown to like him too much.
Anyway, maybe because you like him so much, then you need to kill him (sorry Gits) but make it a glorious one (as the last part shows ) To be honest I do not expect him to survive the encounter, unless a miracle happens...
The step through the black curtain wasn’t at all what Razzik anticipated. He felt as if he needed to concentrate on moving each part of his body. His mind focused on the simple task of moving forward, but his legs and arms felt no real resistance. On the eve of feeling concerned he exited the strange black substance and found himself standing in an expansive vaulted room. His HUD went blank as it began a rebooting process. Before the first stage had completed Razzik had visually located his marines. Vetov stood forty yards ahead of him by banks of smooth black pillars. The two units of Ice Angels had spread around the strange room awaiting orders.
Slowly icons from Ice Angels in the room appeared in his HUD again and his maps adjusted to what lay before him. The long room had several dozen galleries branching off from its sides and the only door appeared to be off to his left in the center gallery.
Dark purple ambient light reflected off well polished xenos equipment and architecture all around him. Sets of tracks lined the floor away from the black portal. Bundles of cords snaked throughout the tracks towards the walls like serpents towards prey. As Razzik examined his surroundings he noticed many of the marines were cautiously aiming their weapons up. Dangling from the ceiling were scores or more of mangled corpses. They hung from hooks and chains, some were upside down others were speared through their sides. They all seemed humanoid in shape but their bodies were disproportionate and battered, their faces all covered in metal masks. Above the bodies, a multi-leveled honeycomb ceiling loomed.
Witnessing the bodies spurred Razzik into action. The list of tactical unknowns was growing faster then he wanted and he knew the longer they lingered in this place the longer the rest of his company would be fighting the hordes of orks.
“Rimsin open that door. Kujara, confirm we’re alone in this room.” He ordered as he moved towards Vetov. The ancient stench of death seeped through his filtration system as he propelled himself forward.
His first few steps felt lighter then he expected. Razzik checked the pressure setting on his power armor. The gravity was lighter then the other side of the curtain. It was lighter then a standard Imperial vessel. The blackness was some sort of portal, and it was becoming blatantly obvious they weren’t on Glossinai any more.
In front of him Vetov was studying the pillars intently and Razzik could see why. Massive bundles of cables exited the honeycombed ceiling and into the pillars. Bizarre crystalline panels protruded from the smooth black pillars. With a side glance Razzik watched as squad Rimsin moved towards the only noticeable door. A flock of servo skulls hovered above their heads waiting for an escape so they could begin to explore once again.
“Definitely xenos Captain,” Vetov spoke as he neared. “I don’t see a way to activate it.”
Razzik scanned the pillars as sounds of the opening door echoed throughout the room. The servo skulls sped through the opening, Razzik’s HUD map immediately began to expand as they hovered in every direction.
Faster then a running astartes the skulls spread. Shar-Takazz and Squad Rimsin held their position outside door waiting for targets. Razzik ceased staring at the pillars to examine the growing map of the structure they had entered.
The third tactical unit, Squad Plafwu, silently breached the black curtain to Razzik’s left when the sound of shattering glass echoed from his right. The yellow sword icon appeared in Razzik’s HUD indicating movement.
Vetov and Razzik ran towards the source. When they reached the side gallery they saw Brother Kuri standing before a shattered wall panel. His combat knife was held back defensively and his bolter almost casually pointed at a body embedded in the wall. The frail tortured form of a middle aged woman hung on hooks. Scars covered her body with an almost artistic design. A handful of tubes connected her back to the wall. A lone purple cord drooped down and plugged into a silver laced skull cap.
Vetov examined the woman. Razzik examined the cage. As they stared at her, her body twitched, her left arm flailing out like a startled child. Memories of Dark Eldar captivity flooded Vetov’s thoughts. Without activating his powerfist he punched the next panel, then the next. Around the gallery he went shattering black glass and filling the room with echoes from the shards bouncing across the floor.
Each shattered panel revealed another human, old, young, male, female, there was no pattern to who was captured, yet all of them were dead,. All of them except the one twitching in front of Captain Razzik.
aaaaaaaaawwww yeah, this is awesome, I'm definitely liking where its heading, perhaps more Dark Eldar, perhaps there might be machinations of chaos at work.. who know....
Razzik’s HUD map continued to expand as he examined the incapacitated woman. The servo skulls split off at each intersection and explored each open room as they passed, but the skulls were beginning to miss areas as the number of rooms and corridors continued to rise exponentially. If there was any sort of pattern to the growing map it was beyond Razzik’s comprehension.
As the illuminated map continued to shrink to scale the immensity of the complex began to sink in. Scenarios and tactical options begin to run through his mind at a mid battle pace. When Razzik’s focus changed from the HUD back to the woman he found himself staring at the silver mesh skull cap.
With haste way points were set on the map with simple eye clicks, squads Rimsin and Kujara flew into motion moving to their given tasks. No enemies had been spotted but he still considered this place very hostile.
Razzik checked his timer. It had been 129 seconds since Brother Kuri shattered the first panel.
Vetov quickly walked up to Razzik and stood close, his chest mere inches from Razzik’s left shoulder pad. “All of this death is recent.” He whispered, “some of these corpses still drip with warm blood.”
A thought coursed through his brain and an image flashed in his consciousness. A dying avian quadruped came to mind. Without a word he stormed past Vetov into the large center room, the black curtain dominated the far end. Squad Plafwu was positioned near the wall, spread out in pairs. Far up the wall of darkness the other half of the crystal he had walked under pulsed with the same eerie light.
”Brother Grax, go back through the wall between those two tracks. Give Squad Rah-Apsu an update then end of the life of the wounded bird in the nearest cage. Report back immediately.” Razzik commanded as he pointed to the tracks he was referring to.
Brother Grax and another marine dashed through the wall as Razzik turned back to Vetov and the woman in the wall.
“Why kill it now?” Vetov began as the woman buckled in intense pain. Her closed eyes clamped even harder as if they could squeeze the pain away. Her entire body trembled while she screamed out. The pain seemed to climax as she thrashed within her broken wall panel.
The screams of pain and the sounds of death were not foreign to any of the marines there, yet neither Vetov nor Razzik moved as she was overwhelmed with pain. Razzik could tell Vetov wanted to intervene yet he didn’t.
In Razzik’s HUD Brother Grax returned, a task complete icon flashing over Squad Plafwu.
Finally Razzik stepped forward to end the woman’s suffering. He reached with his white powerfist when her thrashing ceased. Blood slowly dripped from her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. The pain had been so intense it alone had killed her.
Razzik gave Vetov a side glare before storming off, “all of these people were wired into the creatures we were killing.”
Vetov looked around, and then back to the deceased woman, “they felt all of their pain……” He trailed off. “We killed them.”
Vetov snapped to attention before jogging after Razzik his powerfist crackled as he activated it once again. “This is disgusting! By the Emperor” he began to get louder with each word before Razzik held up his fist to cut him off.
Captain Razzik had stopped moving near the door exiting the gallery; his attention once again was back on the mini map in his helmet, except this time a new icon was blinking. One of the servo skulls had located a faint astartes beacon several floors up.
The blinking icon gave Razzik a faint smile. No one could see it under his helmet but for the first time in his captaincy Razzik felt as if the Emperor may have turned to look upon him. All of the running and shadow chasing, all of the grasping at weak clues may just have truly led to something.
“Sergeant Maranu, notify squad Rah-Apsu. Send word to Cyaxeres to bring in the Rage.” Captain Razzik commanded, “Venthu, Grax, and Benquanli with me.”
Waypoints were adjusted for squad Rimsin and Kujara, their icons on his HUD moving towards the beacon.
“Come Vetov, let us see what else this place may hide for us.” Razzik spoke as he hefted his shield and moved towards the gallery exit, Venthu, Grax, Benquanli, and Vetov close behind.
The bridge of the Frozen Rage was a place of constant motion and noise. Servitors were always chiming in with reports. The Astropaths were frequently calling down news from the warp. The scores of humans that formed the bridge crew were in a perpetual rotation between stations.
Among all the commotion a lone space marine sat. Brother Miqit of the veteran unit the Uttuakki sat cross legged on the floor, an island of calm surrounded by the swirling sea of movement. His orange meltagun and armor trim was a stark contrast to the bridges grays and blues of the machinery and floor.
In his power armor he sat, with his helm on his head. Once in a battle zone Ice Angels did not remove their helmets unless necessary. Despite being away from battlefields and technically outside a battle zone but on its border, Miqit kept his on.
For the past nine hours he had sat on the floor, back straight, arms loose on his legs. The commotion of the bridge, the distant hum of the Rage’s engines and the minute vibrations of the ship had all blended with the rhythm of his hearts and the methodical breaths of his lungs. In this trance Miqit had waited.
He waited for two things. The first was a message from Muttabriqu about another training session. The other was a signal from Cyaxeres. It had been weeks since the Frozen Rage had gone dark on the fringes of the system and he knew his battle brothers were all anxiously awaiting for the sign from Cyaxeres to pick them up.
Miqit was deep in his trance when an itch slowly altered his rhythm. He didn’t notice it at first but he began to feel the nuisance alter his calm, as if a rock had been thrown into his still pool of consciousness, the ripples were disrupting more and more of his thoughts. Something had changed the atmosphere on the bridge. Instead of focusing on that change he focused on what it meant.
Unceremoniously he stood up, quickly locating the man he was looking for and to his surprise the man was looking for him. A well kept middle age man approached with a note in his hand, his thick beard hiding his neck but not his sly grin.
“Is it time, Ensign Budrow?” Miqit asked as he looked down upon the communications officer. The Ensign didn’t respond, he merely handed over the note. A simple line of code was written on it.
“Muttabriqu, Cyaxeres is requesting immediate evacuation” he spoke into his vox after reading the simple text.
A simple affirmative blip showed up in his heads up display. Miqit nodded to Ensign Budrow who quickly returned to his post. The bridge was already picking up its pace. They all knew what was about to happen. Commander Seluku issued a ship wide alert to man stations and before Miqit had departed the bridge the engines were increasing output. The dark cold ship was finally permitted to wake up. Once at full speed and with all systems on, the Imperial vessel would quickly be spotted as they penetrated the Kota system. The speed in which they rescued the rest of the company and departed would determine their survivability.
Miqit marched into an open lift as his orders came in. Reflexively he reached out to hit one of the hanger floors but he held his action for a moment as he realized Muttabriqu issued an order he had never received before. Staring at the floor buttons in the lift, as if it was his first time, he located the button he had never pressed. An all familiar bing accompanied its use, but the destination was very different then the other hangers.
Instead of heading into the depths of the Frozen Rage to the various hanger floors he was ascending to a very specialized, very rarely used area. He was heading towards the lone functioning iron cyclone class vessel left in the chapter, the Zephyr Glacier.
Progress through the unknown complex was swift and quiet. Captain Razzik and Commander Vetov moved as a pair while Grax and Venthu mirrored them. Brother Benquanli always stayed in the middle, ready to bring his plasma gun to bear where needed.
The marines covered one another at each intersection and stayed on high alert as they moved. They passed dozens of closed doors, wide hallways, bizarre xenos statues, and countless banks of black glossy panels similar to the ones in the room they first arrived in.
Their path was rarely straight and they often would round a corner to take one or two steps up as if the complex was built on an angle. Razziks enhanced memory made it possible to recall his path perfectly but the strategic difficulties the winding paths and multiple levels created made him thank the Emperor for creating servo skulls and his heads up display.
The servo skulls continued to expand throughout the near endless array of vaulted rooms, winding hallways, and art filled galleries. The sheer volume of information made Razzik cease monitoring their overall progress as they expanded and instead focused on the one floating skull near the beacon that had sparked his actions.
They were only a few hallways away when their movement was halted. Brother Venthu was at point when he signaled to stop. His icon flashed that he heard movement. Razzik saw him pointing towards a door across a foyer to his left. Benquanli and Grax moved right, behind a statue of a woman wielding a glaive. Razzik moved right behind Venthu with Vetov at his side.
The foyer was adorned with couches and benches, low tables and various lights that emitted shades of chartreuse and mauve. A lone wide platform dominated the center of the room. It was covered with models and grotesque figurines, clearly some sort of game.
None of the marines flinched or moved as the double doors slowly opened like a beast yawning at dawn. Guns were ready and Razzik altered his stance to launch himself forward when a familiar astartes stepped out.
Honored Brother Inigo exited the room, his thunder hammer held in both hands across his chest ready to strike. Jaska and Nefas were right behind him with guns up. Inigo strode forwards and paused, staring up at the ceiling then looking around. Jaska moved to his right quickly taking cover behind a plush bench. Nefas began to move left when his gaze met with Razzik’s from across the foyer. His elongated bolter was sporting an under slung second barrel.
“Well met Captain,” he spoke across the room. For a moment they stared at one another before Razzik stepped around from Venthu. He let his gaze pass between the three marines before responding.
“What are you doing here marines? You were ordered to assist Cyaxeres,” Razzik questioned.
“Inigo fell into a worm’s tunnel and we went after him.” Nefas responded without hesitating, “the tunnel led us to a room with a black wall which brought us here.”
Razzik listened to Nefas while watching Inigo. The gray armored Son of Hades avoided his gaze and instead monitored Nefas. Razzik let the words linger. It seemed suspicious that Inigo would have fallen into a worm hole and not been able to climb out.
The silence continued, Nefas unmoving and Inigo doing everything to avoid Razzik’s cold stare. After a few more seconds members of Squad Rimsin arrived. If they were surprised to see the other astartes they didn’t show it.
The arrival of the other squad completely redirected Razzik’s thoughts. Despite a part of him wishing to inquire about Inigo falling into a worm hole, he dismissed it and headed off in the direction of the beacon once more. Three more marines could easily turn many battles, regardless of their honesty, he thought to himself as they fell into formation behind him.
I don't see any one opposing that suggestion and I'd rather move forward then dwell on what I've done. I do enjoy leaving you hanging, but in that particular instance I wasn't trying to leave you hanging. I may try to do some further explaining in one of the upcoming Razzik posts. Good suggestion Bobakos.
As the mob of greenskins surged towards him, Inushi dodged to his right towards a row of large machinery that dominated the room. The vibrating engine like columns sat squat on the floor and reached up through the level above. The greasy columns belched smog and oozed out heat which Inushi felt on his exposed wounds.
Inushi moved between two such columns with haste. He was still gathering his bearings when he exited the other side of the columns to find himself in front of three orks. Each one was as tall as Inushi but they were as wide as terminators. They wore no armor and wielded no guns, but the hammers and tools they held aloft would more then suffice in killing Inushi.
Knowing that speed was his only advantage he stabbed the center ork with his katana, letting the keen edge slice deep into its abdomen. With his off hand he fired his plasma pistol into the face of the ork to his left. When the inevitable swing from the right ork came down he dodged left over the flailing faceless ork.
Inushi took several steps before slamming into another approaching ork with his shoulder. He was quickly running out of space to maneuver as more and more boys were moving to flank from his left. These smaller boys looked anxious to try and get their first kill of the day. Inushi fired behind him at the wounded ork, hearing the familiar sounds of screaming ork and sizzling flesh. With his katana he parried a curved pipe then leapt into the air to avoid a downward slice from a massive wrench.
Spinning around he deflected the hammer from the remaining larger ork, but the force behind the hammer rattled the floor forcing Inushi to pause and regain his balance. In that brief amount of time Inushi felt the weight of two impacts on his backpack and shoulder. He swayed from the attacks but used the forced movement to lower himself and then spring forward under the next attack. He crashed into the stomach of a surprised ork and knocked him back into a corner. The ork elbowed Inushi’s back pack as the Mantis Warrior brought up his katana as he pushed away. The ork bellowed as the blade passed through the orks groin up into his stomach then out his shoulder. The two pieces of the ork fell aside like sandbags, the weight thudding down onto the filthy engine room floor.
Instinctively Inushi side stepped as he turned around. With his back to the corner he stared down the next wave of orks. They had paused just out of reach. The xenos filth were always herded by the largest and strongest and the remaining were now waiting for someone to initiate the charge.
Inushi widen his stance as he stared down the wall of greenskins before him. Six were now in front of him giving him no means to escape. Others were still piling in from behind them. They were shouting insults and drooling, their red beady eyes all staring. Inushi knew he only had a few seconds before they would lunge, like a green wall of anger falling on its victim.
With a swift motion he sheathed his plasma pistol and drew out his combat blade. Now that he had a blade in each hand the words of his training master came to mind. The stern voice of Darius Stone rumbled in his head. Inushi twirled his blades to keep the orks at bay just a moment longer as he shifted into a stance of the mantis.
He felt the movement of the land train and the breath of his enemies and when they yelled their fury and charged, he met them head on.
Things are looking grim for Inushi-san. Again. One of these days his luck's going to run out. (Which I guess is what the Inquisition had in mind when they sent him on this mission in the first place... buggers.)
)
and write some more of my 
