Warzone: Borhelia - a mini-campaign on the planet Boreliah in the Esenie system!
-There’s nothing else to do! We have to crush the outpost one-by-one in order to quell this heresy! While the Necron threat is bad, it’s nothing compared to the defection of the Imperial Guard!
Inquisitor Anthram Ogden trembled with anger. Much of his anger stemmed from the rebellious guardsmen, but also from the, almost blasphemic, attitude of the Space Wolves and the Black Ravens. Ogden couldn’t understand how these half-chaotic marines could kill in the name of the Emperor. Somehow, he was glad they did, but it was something very wrong with their unorthodox fighting style and appearance...
-Inquisitor! How can anything be worse than the Necrons? By Russ! I fail to understand! The ancient enemy with one single purpose... how can they fade to second place, compared to the guardsmen? Can’t you see, Inquisitor, that they must have been tampered with... their behaviour, their confusion when we struck them down... and those we captured... they had no idea what was going on...
-Silence, Priest! Your pleads to that... Russ... should never come before pleads to the Light of Mankind, the Emperor himself! I think I will...
Ogden stopped talking when the Rune Priest turned on his heels and just left, without a word. He looked after the priest with disgust. Some things will be changed here, he thought. Some things will be very different when I’m done with these marines...
***
-So, Brother Steingrimur, what’s the plan?
The Wolf Priest, looked at the Rune Priest with keen eyes. He wanted to fight! It’s been too long since and he had just arrived from a long, calm period on Fenris. Too long and too calm for him. He needed action!
-Ah! That fool of an Inquisitor is after the Guard in the first place and the Necrons after that. I say, Brother Hokesson, the Necrons are a far more distressing and dangerous enemy than the guardsmen. Why can’t he realize that?
-The Inquisition is set on heresy in all forms, which makes them sometimes blind for the more pressing matters. But still... it’s good to have him on our side when things get rough... you don’t want him to cast his eyes on you, Steingrimur... remember that!
-Yes, Hoke... I will... it’s just that there is something about that man that makes me angry. I don’t think this will end well. I smell bad things about him... really bad things!
-We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, Steingrimur... now, what is our next move?
-Uhm, the Inquisitor has decided that we need to destroy all outposts as quickly as possible and capture as many officers as we can, in order to get their testimonials. No doubt, by torture!
Brother Steingrimur spat on the grey, rocky ground and continued after a while:
-So, we’ll move to Outpost 3, stopping by a ruined city, Dystopia, to check it out and possibly root out any opposition. At Outpost 3 the orders are clear; eradicate the Imperial garrison and capture all higher officers. The good Inquisitor will himself move out to Outpost 1 with a small portion of our forces. He has apparently requested more reinforcements, as he doesn’t trust us enough!
Steingrimur’s voice was full of contempt.
-Come now, Steingrimur, we’ll do our part and he will do his. Time to brief the Ravens, huh? There is a casket... or two... of the best mead we could get our hands on at the HQ waiting for us, Steingrimur!
Steingrimur nodded and looked at the Inquisitor, as he barked his orders to a group of Black Ravens. This won’t end good, he thought, not good at all....
The Wolf scouts moved towards the city centre with caution. It seemed calm, but when Necrons were around one could never be sure. The streets were littered with debris and burned out vehicles. On one street, there was a litle doll, burned and charred, lying by a large store. It was a brooding place, the wind howled through the broken windows and the smoke rose from some below-earth central heating devices, which amazingly still worked. The scouts had checked those heating places out and there was nothing that indicated any Necron presence, or Imperial Guard presence either. Dystopia was blown out, an empty shell... a silent tomb, except for the howling wind There were signs of Tyranids, in the shape of dried slime and some strange vegetation. How anything vegetative could live here on this barren moon was a mystery, but, then again, the universe itself was a mystery, so why wouldn’t a few plants adapt and live on virtually nothing? The scouts continued to serach the streets and finally linked with another scout team. Dystopia was secured, they decided as they turned for the main force, which waited on the outskirts. As they walked out of the city centre, noone noticed the faint green light emerging from a nearby grate...
-There’s no time for subtleties! We attack head-on! Priority one: eliminate their artillery first... Brother Steingrimur sniffed the air... they are on the flanks. The Land Raider and the Whirlwinds will pound the fortifications, while we roll up their flanks. It’s night and the guardsmen shouldn’t manage to hit us too much. Hokesson and I will attack the left bunkers, while you,Librarian Tempestatum, will lead the attack on the right bunker. If we do this fast we’ll be able to hook up in the centre and take down the bastion.
-What about the Necrons? Any thought?
-Brother Hokesson, rest assured that they are somewhere near! Our disruptors will hold them back for a while, but not for long... a swift attack is of the utmost importance! We’ll show that arse Ogden how things are done! For Russ!!
The Raven Librarian nodded and hurried towards a large battle formation. He will do fine, Steingrimur thought. Young and rash, but with a solid feeling for tactics. And he was a nasty psyker. Steingrimur had seen what the Black Raven Librarian could do... Yes, he will do just fine. Steingrimur had come to like the Black Raven Librarian a lot. He saw so much of himself in him, when he was young. Steingrimur embarked with a smile in a Rhino together with a pack of Grey Hunters. He nodded slightly towards Brother Hokessson. The hunt was on!
***
Steingrimur and Hokesson ordered the advance over the inter-vox and their two Rhinos sped forward, as did the whole Space Wolf and Black Raven battleforce. It was not long before the shots rang out in the night, but it was the guardsmen in fortifications that hit the most! While the marines struggled to hit, almost every lasgun, missile launcher and autocannon struck the grey and blue-black line that advanced towards them.
-What is this?
Brother Steingrimur yelled over the vox.
-Coordinate your fire and start killing traitors, for Russ sake!
Luckily the damage to the marines was minor, though Steingrimur and his squad had to disembark as their Rhino was immobilised. But, the retribution was about to start. Brother Hokesson sped a little forward and disembarked from his Rhino and led the charge against a small advance guard of Imperial Guard. Hokesson drove his chainsword right through a unfortunate guardsman and his squad quickly surrounded and killed all of their opponents, save for a trembling officer, who was desorientated and totally of his mind. He was rambling some strange numbers and was struck down by a mighty blow from one of the Grey Hunters.
-Take this man to the Rhino and strap him up. He will have to face Ogden later on!
The Wolf Priest scented blood and felt the urge to kill more. And so he did!
***
Librarian Tempestatum grunted as a close shot from a lasgun went pass him. A mere lasgun wasn’t scaring him, but the enemy had access to a lot of missile launchers and autocannons and those were nastier. He waved to the Thunderwolf squad to press on and at the same time a Drop Pod smashed down in front of the bunker. He prepared his mind for psychic force. If he could summon a hurricane the traitors would have less chanche to hurt his troops. He reached deep within his mind and focused hard. He could hear, very distant, the laughter from the warp entities as they noticed his mind wandering into their dominions. This was where many, many years of practice paid off. A less experienced psyker would be an easy prey for the warp creatures, but for a Space Marine librarian it was fairly easy to avoid being attacked by them. Tempestatum knew that there was a risk using psychic powers, but sometimes one had to throw the dice and pray... The attack would be well supported, he thought, as black-clad marines ran out of the Drop Pod. The Thunderwolves went in against some guard troops behind some makeshift barricades and the ensuing slaughter was horrible, as limbs and heads were ripped off by the gigantic wolves! Then the ground shook! The Necrons were arriving... A large Monolith appeared behind Tempestatum’s force. He cursed and knew that this threat had to be dealt with quickly. He saw what the strange pyramids could do at Outpost 4 and it wasn’t pretty! And... there was more Necrons emerging on the battlefield! From below they came, crawling their way up, impossibly fast! Three strange snake-like creatures were suddenly right behind the Thunderwolves and the Fenrisian Wolves and in front of him and his squad of Hunters a large mob of metallic warriors appeared. While the attack on the bunkers was successful, things could rapidly turn into a real mess. But, from what Tempestatum understood, the disruptors must have prevented a large intervention of the Necrons. This was not many Necron units, still a dangerous threat, but it could have been worse... He yelled to the Fenrisian Wolves to turn around and attack the snake-things, which floated towards them. And the Wolves responded with a ferocious attack and tore the creatures to pieces! And the Monolith was surrounded by a Dreadnought, a Land Raider and a Long Fang squad. Shots were fired again and again, but the black pyramid still floated, unscathed. It was a determined attack by the Dreadnought that finally managed to destroy the Monolith. But things were desperate as more Necrons arrived on the battlefield.
***
Brother Thoresson and his Wolf Guard couldn’t believe their eyes. In front of them a black-clad thing rose, robes flowing in the wind and a malevolent smile bared it’s teeth. Thoresson knew that they were suddenly up against a very dangerous ancient creature. There was little time to respond, but the Wolf Guard managed to jump towards the charging thing. One of the Wolf Guard was immediately impaled by a long claw and his Terminator Armour rotted at an instant! The Wolf Guard tried to retalliate, but another Wolf Guard met a similar fate. The C’tan snarled and circled a couple of yards before it tore two more of the Wolf Guard apart! Brother Thoresson realized that he had met his fate this day... but he wouldn’t go without a fight. He swung his Frost Axe and hit the creature... who laughed at him! Then the claw ripped off Thoresson’s head, which flew towards a nearby Long Fang squad. That was the C’tan’s next target and it charged and slew the whole Long Fang unit in mere seconds! It had destroyed the rearguard of the Space Wolves left flank in a couple of minutes!
Brother Steingrimus and Brother Hokesson pressed on towards the bunkers. They had managed to kill off a large portion of the traitor guardsmen and the bunker in front of them were about to fall. They had also manage to capture two more Imperial Guard officers and things look pretty good. But then they heard the screams of the Wolf Guard and knew that it was a long way to victory. Rune Priest Steingrimur voxed to the Black Raven Librarian and requested a status report. It seemed that the bunker in the right side of the fortfications also had fallen into the hands of the Space Marines. He was just to give the thumbs up to Hokesson when another black pyramid suddenly manifested some mere yards away. A thick, green lightning lashed out from it and vaporised his whole squad. leaving him the only survivor! He prayed quickly to Russ and braced himself for the end, when the pyramid suddenly vanished! In fact, all Necron units vanished, leaving the burning bunkers and the bastion at the hands of the Space Wolves and the Black Ravens!
-What? Why did they leave? Steingrimur asked out in the vox. Nobody answered and Steingrimur could easily understand why. Nobody had any idea why! They had been saved by the bell, praise Russ... saved by the bell indeed!
Librarian Tempestatum sat on a Rhino, looking down on Wolf Priest Hokesson and Rune Priest Steingrimur. Nobody spoke. They didn’t have to. They all knew that the Necrons had a plan. A plan which was very hard to grasp. But...they were getting stronger and things would be more and more difficult. On the bright side, though,they had captured a bunch of traitor officers and the disruptors had worked. What would have happened if they hadn’t, noone dared to think of. They all knew that the next target, Outpost 2, would probably be a big battle, probably deciding the fate of Hyperia. All things seemed to lead them to that place. Brother Steingrimur sighed and turned towards an approaching scout.
-Priest Steingrimur, there are reports of Tyranid movement around Dystopia and at the Crack of Apollo. It might be that the Tyranids will come in our way when we go for the Outpost. Perhaps we would be wise to send an advance guard?
The Rune Priest sighed. This campaign on the moon of Hyperia was turning into a long and grisly war. He hoped that Inquisitor Ogden would have an easier journey on his side of the breeding farms of the Tyranids. But he suspected that it wouldn’t be a stroll in the park over there either. If the Tyranids also attacked...
-Yes, Brother Ulriksson. Form an advance guard and report to me before you leave. I want you to send reports to me, Brother Hokesson and Librarian Tempestatum every 30 minutes Do not engage any enemy until you have backup coming your way...
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Written by Tony Melander (2012)