Embedded Files
Warzone: Borhelia - a mini-campaign on the planet Boreliah in the Esenie system!
-Evasive manuever! Now! Captain Golgh hollered frantically to his pilot while desperately trying to establish contact with Inquisitor Bellatrix of the Ordo Minoris. The “Emperor’s Eye” buckled under heavy fire, but it’s shields held… for now. Golgh knew that another hit with breach the hull of the scout-ship and end their lives at an instant. And if that happened, the Imperial troops in the Esenie system would be unaware of the threat that came pouring out from the Otrivius Gate.
-Our main drive’s gone, Cap… I think…
-Don’t think, Jones! Don’t think! Keep us alive for a few minutes more! We need to warn the Ordo… The hull shuddered, and distress signals began whining. Golgh swore and tried once more to contact his superior. Then the static suddenly stopped and Golgh whispered a thanks to the machine spirit for being able to patch up the comm-link…
-This is Inquisitor Bellatrix, Golgh, please report! Our sat-comms are down at the Otrivius… What’s the status at…
-No time for small-talk, Inquisitor! Warn all available forces at sector 456-13… Tau forces are…
The “Emperor’s Eye” shuddered from a large explosion and was almost turned inside-out from an enormous fusion blast. The walls of the command bridge bulged inwards and Golgh realized, resigned and closed his eyes before the inevitable end. He just hoped that Pops would understand and act or else the Esenie system was in even deeper trouble…
***
-Anything?
The dry and calm voice of Lieutenant Alors sounded out of place as the whole comm-room was buzzing with activity as officers, soldiers, serfs and maintenance-bots almost crashed into each other while checking messages and prompts. There was a constant murmur and the occasional exclamation when something odd was discovered. Lieutenant Alors shrugged as no-one apparently on the other end of the line had the time, or will, to answer. There was something huge going on. But what? The sat-comms had been silent for ten minutes last night and then the strange voice came, stating that resistance was to no avail and that they should all succumb to the greater good… whatever that was… Alors knew that this had bad news written all over it, but he hated not knowing what the bad news was and what was actually going on. It was stressful and it made him feel extremely uneasy… and he hated that too. Why wouldn’t the Ordo answer to his questions? They surely must know what was about to unfold here, they were always ahead of the people of the ground… the soldiers who were expected to deal with whatever it was. The whole garrison at Duluth had been mobilized… Merde… The whole planet had probably been mobilized two hours ago due to that damned message of those greater good things… But why? And why didn’t that fraggin’ Inquisitor tell him? Lieutenant Alors swore and reached for the vox to ask the Inquisitor once more. He had better to provide some answers!
***
-I heard you visited Betty last night… har-har… Did she show you her…
A loud sound interrupted the spirited private Guillame, as he was sitting in the mess-hall, drinking with his fellow guardsmen. They were at the fourth round of Haradian Cognac as the klaxxon started. At first, no-one reacted. There had been so many drills lately that the whole garrison had started to take them light-heartedly. But when an explosion was heard in the distance, the whole mess-hall rose as one, and all the guardsmen in there grabbed their weapons. Then the vox-casters bursted out:
-All men, this is commander Theloux! All men, to their FP’s, immediately! This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill!
Private Guillame swore as ran out of the mess-hall. It had been so nice to rest for once. And to hear about Betty’s…
-Platoon Three! Man the Crête d’Or Ridge! At the double! Allez, allez, allez!!!
Marechal Donnez pointed at a ridge a couple of hundred yards away and the third platoon of the 22eme Regiment of the Garde Imperial ran like madmen towards their designated fire-position! Another explosion was heard and the sizzling sound of incoming missiles. The platoon went, without a word, to ground seconds before an explosion and a following blast and heatwave passed over their heads. Then, as one, the platoon was up and running again. They reached the ridge and assumed firing positions. Then they saw what was advancing towards them… Large robotic things, flying discs and countless waves of strange soldiers in strange helmets… I have no idea what that is… but… this is about to get tough, Guillame thought to himself as he readied his trusted lasgun.
***
-It has begun, O’Shovah… The misguided humans will succumb… and the transmission station is ours in mere minutes…
Tzukhu stood beside his commander and watched the unfolding attack on the human installation. She saw trenches being filled up with blue-clad human soldiers but felt nothing for those soldiers, who were about to be gunned down. Tzukhu touched her bonding knife and felt a surge of confidence running through her body.
-So be it! O’Shovah answered dryly, they will be trapped in their own trenches and will be begging for salvation in the name of the greater good… Tzukhu… assume command of the rearguard and mop up any resistance left. Then we will hail the fleet and guide them closer. This planet of sand and minerals will quickly fall…
-In the name of the greater good, Commander…
***
Colonel Varane urged the 2nd Platoon forward, while ducking flying debris and dirt that swept past him. The explosions made his ear ring and a pang of fear hit him unexpectedly. He couldn’t waver now! Not in front of his men… that was impossible. He steeled himself and ordered his platoon to hug the barricades as soon as possible. He looked forward and saw several hovering robotic-like machines advancing towards the comm-pylon. It was obvious that that was the target of the xenos. To silence the communications…
-Colonel! What are your orders?
A tall figure astride a warhorse looked at him with bulging eyes… Sergeant Armand of the 5th Hussars. He is afraid too, Varane thought and decided to get a grip of himself. If he wasn’t on top of things, everything would be lost…
-Armand! We need to defend the pylon! Do you see those battlesuits over there? We got one down. Intercept and engage the two remaining suits! Buy us time! I trust you! Go! Go!
The Hussar officer saluted and gave the sign to his men to advance. And off the went. Colonel Varane quickly assessed the situation and was rather pleased. The Grenadiers had deployed further to his right and had secured the flank, together with a Basilisk. Good. That Basilisk would teach those xenos a lesson or two, he thought. Ahead of him three platoons of guardsmen advanced, while shooting at the oncoming forces. And Sergeant Desolet of the 2nd Tempestors had taken firing positions at a nearby barricade. Good. Let’s gun down those aliens…
As the combined fire pored into the Tau, Armand and his Hussars charged into a group of battlesuits. The melee was fierce and one suit went down. The other pulled back and retaliated with a salvo of bullets and plasma and over half of the Hussars fell. The few that survived were quickly surrounded and caught in a deadly crossfire and Colonel Varane looked astonished at the scene. But, time had been bought and his guardsmen started to shoot at the advancing Tau from behind concrete barricades.
Lieutenant Donzelot deployed his Grenadiers quickly in front of the Basilisk. He yelled at Uriah, the sanctioned psyker, to do his magic and the Basilisk was covered in strange, dark, cloud. Now, try to hit that, Xenos filth, he thought. In front of him three suits with blasting weapons advanced and beside those, a group of shadows that flickered as the moved forward. He ordered all he had to fire at the larger suits and the combined firepower of two veteran platoons, a heavy weapon squad and a Basilisk made sure that the three big suits vanished in several explosions. Now… those flickering suits… Donzelot was worried though. A large part of the Tau force had reached the pylon and he could see the demo-charges being attached to it. Time was running out…
-Grenadiers of 22eme Garde Imperial du Metz! Fire at will at those oncoming shadows. Make them pay… All others… fire at the Tau near the pylon. Bring them down!!
The Grenadiers fired all they had, but the advancing suits just shrugged it off… And, worse, all other fire at the forces around the pylon was also ineffective. And Donzelot could only watch as the platoons to the right also failed to harm the Tau. Their leader, a big robotic suit, was in the middle of the fire, but it refused to go down!
***
-Sergeant Malez! See those detonators on the pylon? Get forward in and remove them!
Colonel Varane knew that this order was a death-sentance for the 2nd platoon, but it was almost over. The Tau had withered through a hailstorm of fire and showed no sign of wavering. They had lost a lot of troops, but the pylon could blow up any second now. The 2nd platoon charged forward and did manage to remove a couple of demo-charges, but the supporting fire from the rest of the Garde Imperial was ineffective. And the 2nd platoon ended up in a deadly crossfire and died to a man! Colonel Varan sighed and realized that it was a matter of seconds before the pylon was blown up.
-All remaining forces! Pull back! I repeat… pull back! Disengage and form upp at Point Antoine!
As Colonel Varane and his men started to fall back, the pylon exploded and slowly fell to the ground. Immediately all Tau forces also withdrew, as if they didn’t want to cause more damage than necessary… What a strange thing, Varane thought as he retreated...
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Written by Tony (2019-09-27)
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