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Oooh love the narrative Ice! I was actually wondering how they would finish that combat.

I do like how your analyzing the battle from a marines point of view as well, it gives great insight into how the marine would fight, please do more of this

IceAngel - Just finished reading the whole of this for the first time (a second read may be in order) and I have to say this is an excellant piece of fluff. I really like the fact that the marines in this have very different fighting styles and attitudes.

Only minor cirticism I could offer is your use of the word Murder. While I was reading this I felt as though the story had been told from the space marine point of view and I don't think that killing Orks would be considered murder by any marine. Only a thought.

Keep up the good work.

I was wondering if that Ork's beam weapon was going to make a reappearance! Nice piece of writing!

Knightley wrote:Oooh love the narrative Ice! I was actually wondering how they would finish that combat.

I do like how your analyzing the battle from a marines point of view as well, it gives great insight into how the marine would fight, please do more of this

Thanks Knightley! I hope the completion of the combat wasn't to predictable. I try to stay away from that.

Toast36 wrote:IceAngel - Just finished reading the whole of this for the first time (a second read may be in order) and I have to say this is an excellant piece of fluff. I really like the fact that the marines in this have very different fighting styles and attitudes.

Only minor cirticism I could offer is your use of the word Murder. While I was reading this I felt as though the story had been told from the space marine point of view and I don't think that killing Orks would be considered murder by any marine. Only a thought.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks toast36 for reading my epic tale and the great comment. Good feedback too. I'll keep that in mind with my word choice in the future. I think in my head the term, murder, has taken on a different meaning over the years. For example, I would say the Giants murdered the Falcons in the wild card game. Meaning they were defeated with ease, or they were defeated quickly, not necessarily with malice or hate like the original defintion. Now, I hope that helps explain my word choice a bit. I do however realize that I shouldn't do that because it would mislead the reader.

Please keep reading toast and let me know if anything else jumps out at you!

Jihad_Ragsta wrote:
I was wondering if that Ork's beam weapon was going to make a reappearance! Nice piece of writing!

Thank you Ragsta!

The red armored marine smoothly moved into the hall way dangling his meat shields in front of him. The greenskins didn’t hesitate to fire from both directions as he did. The tech marine ignored the fire, turned to his right, and marched down the hall. Rounds plunged into the ork bodies, some even ricocheted off the servo arms of the tech marine but he didn’t slow. Pyrox was the first to move firing to the left with his plasma gun before following right behind the tech marine. Hunzuu, carrying Shar-drasha, and Reven were next. Aquilum and Inushi moved out together, both firing their weapons to suppress the orks to their exposed flank.

Philosir didn’t slow or alter his course, nor did he fire. He continued down the hall wading through the incoming fire like he was in a blizzard. Seeing the approaching marines, more and more orks came out of cover to fire their weapons. It seemed that nearly every arching support beam revealed at least one greenskin. Side arms, double barrel rifles, some even threw spears and shoes, but Philosir marched on. The majority of the ork body in his right servo arm tore off and plummeted towards the floor from the hail of fire. Before the bullet ridden flesh hit the floor Philosir unleashed his newest weapon. A massive pulsing orb of energy flew down the hall disintegrating all material it hit before dissipating near the end of the hall.

Inushi was firing backwards when Philosir’s silent weapon went off but when the cadence of gun fire turned into a handful of screams he knew something had changed. With a side glance he looked past the line of marines, the hallway of orks ahead of them had turned into a collection of ork pieces. The handful of survivors were fleeing and ducking around corners leaving their weapons behind. Pyrox had stopped for a moment, almost in shock at the display.

After firing the weapon Philosir dropped the remaining ork meat shield. His servo arms retracted as much as they could while holding the sleek weapon that had ceased its purple glow. He began to lean forward and pick up speed; soon he was sprinting down the hall. The other marines immediately followed, all except Pyrox who still paused in the hall. Inushi nudged him as he passed and the Fire Angel immediately broke into a run.

“He shouldn’t have….” Pyrox’s rough voice grumbled before trailing off. Gun fire from behind them picked up as the distant orks began to break from cover and pursue.

While running Inushi examined Pyrox once more. The devout fire angel looked deflated for a brief moment before he shook his head and began to run even faster, easily catching up to Philosir at the front of the line.

Around three corners and a long hall way they ran. They entered a large foyer with flashing red lights and a bank of massive elevator doors. One opened up to their right as they ran exposing a mob of well equipped boys. The greenskins opened fire and shouted as the marines ran past. Inushi felt the ricochets as several rounds glanced his back pack. Aquilum was right behind him, he could hear the marine chuckle as they fled. A large explosion tore through the ceiling above them from a poorly aimed missile.

“Clearly they don’t know the Emperor protects.” Aquilum chuckled.

A voice chimed through the stations intercom system, “DA HUMIES HAV’SCAPED!”

“I don’t recall hearing the intercom before,” Aquilum spoke as they ran.

At the front of the line Philosir spoke, the monotone voice filtered through the vox, “the intercom system only works in select areas of the old station.”

The ork mobs behind them continued to pursue but the greenskins were not as fast the astartes, only their shouts managed to keep pace with the marines.

Philosir led the marines through the ancient Imperial station at full speed before coming across a door, easily five marines wide and taller then a vindicator. Philosir slowed and weapons were drawn, the door opened automatically as they approached. A pair of orks in the adjacent room didn’t have a chance to view the marines before they were cut down by plasma and bolt rounds.

The room before them was a massive spiraling stair case going both up and down. From their current position it looked as if it went more up then down. The expansive room had wide steps large enough for dreadnoughts and even service walkers to traverse. A skilled rhino driver could probably take the armored personal carrier up and down the wide stairs. The center of the room was a vast chute of open air. A slow breeze pulsed up the stairs. Philosir continued to march into the room before speaking.

“Spread out and jump.” The monotone voice of Philosir stated before he launched himself into the center of the room. Hunzuu altered his path slightly and jumped to the right. Reven stepped on the very edge before doing a forward flip, pushing himself further into the open center of the room.

Pyrox slowed down near the edge. Aquilum laughed, “For the Emperor?” as he jumped.

Inushi slowed and turned to face Pyrox. The Fire Angel looked down at the plummeting marines, who were landing only four floors down, the heavy footfalls denting the floor where they landed.

“We shouldn’t be using xenos technology Inushi. It leads us further from the Emperor’s teachings.” Pyrox grumbled.

Inushi looked quizzically at the Fire Angel. This wasn’t the ideal time for an Imperial doctrine chat. “Didn’t you use xenos technology to free yourself and the Ice Angels from the Dark Eldar? “ Inushi asked.

The sounds of orks behind them grew louder. Pyrox looked down at the marines below them then back at Inushi. “That was different, and I was wrong in doing so. Nor did I have a choice.” He spat. Inushi was thrown off guard by the sudden surge of anger from the Fire Angel. “I have repented for my sins.” He added in a quieter tone.

“How come now Pyrox, I don’t recall you having an issue when we took an ork kroozer?” Inushi pushed.

Pyrox thought on the words and looked away. Gun fire from behind them made Inushi draw his plasma pistol back out. He turned to see the growing tidal wave of greenskins filling the hall behind them. A sea of anger and blood lust rushing towards them waving weapons and screaming insults. A few of them were firing wildly. In spite of the situation, Inushi showed no fear as he looked back to Pyrox.

“Come Pyrox, we can continue this debate after we escape this station.” The Mantis Warrior spoke to the Fire Angel.

Pyrox nodded and jumped down the four floors near the waiting marines. Inushi took one last look at the greenskins before he jumped. A side door flung open between Inushi and the oncoming horde as he leapt backwards into the air. A lone ork peaked around the door. A single red emotionless eye met Inushi’s gaze before he passed the floor, landing four floors down a moment later.

Excellent installment...

Thank you sir!

Awesome work Ice

Hate to be the one, bu- wait, just re-read and you already corrected my only nitpick
Man, I kinda want to filter the thread and copypaste the whole story into a word doc so I can reread the whole thing in one big blurb

I have my entire story in a single word file. I can e-mail it to you if you'd like. It's too big to have as one article. I already tried that. PM me your e-mail address and I will do so. If anyone else would like a copy, send me a PM as well!

There you go BBL. File away.

While I was combining my newest section to the completed word file I reread some things before that I had completely forgotten about, lol. I may have to go back and reread my own story. I guess that's one problem with writing a story over a two year period.

“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.

Other than the fact I cant see a marine say nope, I love it

He is the techmarine, wouldnt he say impossible, improbable, negative etc

Battle Brother Lucifer wrote:Other than the fact I cant see a marine say nope, I love it

He is the techmarine, wouldnt he say impossible, improbable, negative etc

Should of been "404 Error, Answer not found." Then the DSL dis connect coming out of him.
Loving it Ice! its really nice.

I think that's one of your best installments yet Ice. Philosir's got chutzpah up the wazoo.

Battle Brother Lucifer wrote:Other than the fact I cant see a marine say nope, I love it

He is the techmarine, wouldnt he say impossible, improbable, negative etc

You raised a good point bbl and I agree. I already fixed it.

Asherian Command wrote:Should of been "404 Error, Answer not found." Then the DSL dis connect coming out of him.
Loving it Ice! its really nice.

Thanks

Gitsplitta wrote:I think that's one of your best installments yet Ice. Philosir's got chutzpah up the wazoo.

Really? What makes this one better then the others Git?

And yes, Philosir does have a lot of chutzpah.

Can't put my finger on it exactly... it just has a really good flow to it. I like the fact that Philosir obviously knows more than he's letting on & the whole squad is on a need-to-know basis. I like it in the calm moments when each marine is off "autopilot" and is functioning on his own cultural level.

Ho Ho Ho, is it just me or is Philosir a bit of a BAMF. I have this voice in the back of my head telling me to consider he's not entirely who he says he is, like there is something hidden from us about who he really is (similar to the HH books where the ad mech turned on each other)

Almost like he's out to get something done and may get rid of everyone whos been along for the ride. Although I don't think that would be possible Inushi seems to observant for them to fall in to a trap

As always I do look forward to your next installment of the next harrowing steps they take

Bzzzrt.

The tech marine grunted the sound. At first Inushi thought it was a tech marine version of a scoff but it may have been a word in another language. The other marines cocked their heads at the sound in the confines of the room. “That will be inconvenient.” Philosir added.

“What will…….” Reven began to say when the elevator violently shook from an explosion just under their feet.

A second later the elevator stopped, “Everyone out,” Philosir commanded as the door slid open revealing a storage room. In the darkness they evacuated the elevator. As soon as Inushi had space he pulled out his plasma pistol and headed towards the damaged entrance to the room across from the elevator. He was half way there when the elevator burst into flames from another explosion. Inushi spun around at the blast. Everyone had exited the elevator but the explosion had knocked Hunzuu over, the remains of Shar-drasha had crashed to the floor.

Reven helped Hunzuu up and then looked down through the open doorway into the elevator shaft. The flaming remains of the elevator were still plummeting down the shaft. He then looked back into the room at the marines. “How did we survive the first blast?”

“The missile hit and destroyed 68.” The monotone response had a hint of sorrow that took Inushi by surprise.

“What, or who, was 68?” Inushi asked while joining Pyrox at the exit to the storage room. The sliding door was bent and looked unused.

Philosir rearmed himself with the sleek weapon in his servo arms and his ax in his left hand. Pyrox stepped aside as the tech marine reached the door way and grasped the handle. The red armored marine was prepared to slide open the door when he slowly raised his head. The other marines were right behind them and prepared to move, but all listened intently at his response.

The monotone voice of Philosir spoke quietly, “68 was my conflagration servitor I created 128 years ago on Shattermantle. It was under the elevator so I could see.” He slowly tightened his grip on the door. “68 just saved our lives.”

Suddenly the door slid open. The movement was so quick and powerful the door crashed off its track and tumbled into the corner of the room. Philosir lowered his head and marched forward with the marines fanning out behind him into a larger cargo hold full of debris and the remnants of wagons and tanks.

A low grumble of sound exited Philosir as he moved. Inushi didn’t understand binary but he recognized the sound tech marines and mechanicus priests used to communicate. After only a dozen steps the small group of marines slowed behind the tech marine. His servo arms drooped slightly as he paused. Inushi exchanged glances with Pyrox and Aquilum before he took the initiative and stepped past the red armored marine. The other marines adjusted slightly to cover all angles to their position.

Inushi was studying the custom helm of the tech marine when Philosir seemed to inflate as if he had taken a deep breathe. Philosir didn’t look at Inushi but spoke directly into Inushi’s vox so no one else could hear him.

“We will chronicle the lost at a later time Inushi. There is no time for such emotions.”

Inushi looked past the tech marine at the others and opened his mouth to speak, but his mind was over charging his thoughts. Instead he nodded in compliance unable to sort out what should be said. Philosir hefted his weapons once again and stepped around the Mantis Warrior. Inushi caught a side glance from the tech marine as he passed. His next steps were long strides that preempted another run.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!

Why 68, why did you have to play the hero? You were so close to your pension, your grand children will know your glory.

No 68!
His last words
"Damn I thought I was going to get a cup of tea later."

His last words 'I only wanted to be loved...'

HA! That's funny.

One of these days I'll need to make Philosir and I'll make sure to make 68.

Very well written Ice. Philsor is a great character.

Battle Brother Lucifer wrote:His last words 'I only wanted to be loved...'

His heradlry should be adopted as a skull and cross bones over a bleeding heart.

Thanks Gits.

Asherian, that's a bit too Lamenter like. Good idea though.

Wow, just fixed some nasty grammar in that last update. Don't know how I let that happen.

Slowly the gurgling ork slid off Inushi’s Katana. The power from the blade had already cauterized the wound but it still sizzled as the body fell to the floor. Inushi could hear his fellow astartes finishing off their targets as he reached down and removed his combat knife from the orks throat.

The gray form of Pyrox bolted past.

As the blood covered blade came out of the ork he examined the wound. He had missed with his throw by an inch. Inushi thought back to his throw. He reviewed his stance, his position, the environment. He relived the throw.

Hunzuu jogged past and crushed the skull of a nearby wounded ork before continuing on.

The screaming ork was running right at him. The blade was thrown like the millions he had thrown before. His hand ended in the right position, he wasn’t off balance, yet he had he missed his target. He relived the throw once again. He could hear the voice of Aquilum in the distance. Slowly he watched the blade turn end over end in the air.

“Inushi!” the yell was paired with a shove from Aquilum. Inushi put a hand down to prevent himself from falling.

Aquilum stood over him. “Let’s go.” With a disapproving look the yellow and pink marine pursued the other marines. His heavy ork banner cloak hung behind him like a tower shield. “Don’t fall behind the rear guard Inushi.” He added with a chuckle. “I assume you Mantis Warriors do learn standard tactics at some point.”

The back handed comment didn’t register to Inushi. He was trying to shake his head of the perfect throw obsession. He took a few steps with weapons in hand when Aquilum turned around at the next intersection to check on Inushi.

An unseen shot rang from a side hall and the cloaked form of Aquilum tumbled to the floor

Very good ice. I always like the little scenes and "obsessions" of the various marines. Obsessing on the throw is very Inushi like. At least Aquilum didn't vaporize or something... so there's hope!

Marines are slowly dropping, is this foreshadowing for new characters to come into the storyline?

Gitsplitta wrote:Very good ice. I always like the little scenes and "obsessions" of the various marines. Obsessing on the throw is very Inushi like. At least Aquilum didn't vaporize or something... so there's hope!

I figured you'd enjoy that little bit. We'll see about Aquilum.

Knightley wrote:Marines are slowly dropping, is this foreshadowing for new characters to come into the storyline?

No comment. lol