What Hides In Darkness (40K)

[Charon]

Vibius cursed as reports came in of incoming baddies. "Mal, let's go." Vibius looked over the edge and saw where the fire was coming from, now where was Demian? A heavy bolter would be very appreciated. "Reinforcements on route captain." Vibius didn't waste time with a ladder, grabbing the protruding edge of the building he flung himself over, holding on to the edge for long enough to stop that momentum before letting go and falling the rest of the way. Tucking into a roll the marine landed on the ground and came up running. By the time he got to the fray the Inquisitors and their charges were already on their way out.

"Report, what are enemy and ally situations?"

[White Haven]

OOC: Arrived aboard the thunderhawk, I left my transport vague for a reason :)

These Throne-forsaken corridors are just as cramped as I expected the marine in the bulky assault armor grumbles, half in his head, half with his helmet's vox unit deactivated. The Lord Inquisitor must have known what he was doing...but a polearm and a jump-pack in such close quarters strikes the black-armored warrior as...counterintuitive. Such introspection is tossed to the winds, however, as the sound of gunfire thump through the frame of the building, trailed by calls through the vox network. Abandoning his solo sweep, Damon careens through the hallways, leaving dents in the floor underneath his pounding armored boots and half-buckled walls where he's used simple collision to change direction. As the thunder of gulfire grows closer, louder, he comes face-to-face with a doorless wall, one pocked with bullet-holes and lasburns from the far side. He keys his helmet vox up to a higher volume, deep voice blasting out as he beats a fist into the wall several times, "CLEAR THE WALL, I AM COMING THROUGH." With that terse warning, he backs up as far as the corridor allows, lowres his head, and triggers his jump-pack, thundering through the (relatively) light partition atop a trail of flame.

[Cynical Cat]

Metal Storm rounds did little but annoy the drone soldiers. They responded with bursts of pulse fire. Nor were they disuaded by the losses or captures they suffered. They continued to advance and fire, filling the air with streams of blue-white bolts.

Auspex readings indicated a second force was nearing the cargo doors.

[Pcm979]

"Brother Vibius." Rause barked into his vox. "Thirty three-" Another series of booms from his bolter- "Thirty two Drone creatures, unknown number of reinforcements approaching. Brother Crassiros and I are covering the Inquisitor's retreat."

Just then Grayson made his entrance. "Brother Damon has arrived." Rause noted, lobbing a grenade and dashing back to some cover nearer the door. "Cover me, Brother." He quickly slapped a Meltabomb on the floor, setting it for remote detonation.

[Charon]

Vibius waited only until the Inquisitors were out of the way before he shoved through the rest of the troops, coming to the stairs he lept down them, landing hard on the ground floor he turned and rushed to the door, laying down a line of bolter rounds that brushed a few inches over Rause's armor as he bent down and impacted against some of the creatures, throwing them back.

[The Necrontyr Messenger]

“You have it,â€

[Pcm979]

"Charges set, Brother." Rause reported, slapping another- To a total of five, now, down, this time on pillar that bore much of the room's load. A drone dashed towards him and he brought his free hand up sharply, lightning claws slicing it into discreet sections. His bolter barked again, two shots gutting another drone who fell to the floor, ruined augmetics making the corpse twitch frantically.

"I recommend we pull back."

[The Necrontyr Messenger]

“Agreedâ€

[Charon]

Vibius stood in the hallway, firing over and around his companions with ease, dropping a Xeno as it came up on Crassiros's flank. "I have you covered brothers."

Vibius grabbed a grenade and threw it into the enemy coming up behind them, adding it's destructive force to that of Cras's. "You know, if we kill them all now those charges won't be worth much." Vibius grinned as he leveled his bolter and released three bolts that went crashing into another xeno and carved out the creatures chest, sending it flying back into it's breathren. A few shots started flying towards the doorway before the two grenades shook the room and sent Xeno scum flying.

[Pcm979]

"They're for the next wave." Rause explained, utterly missing the dark humour. He sprinted under the cover the Grenades temporarily provided, his path intentionally leading directly over a stunned Xenos's head, crushing it under his gigantic boots. He pulled up at Vibius's side and joined him in providing cover for Crassiros.

[SirNitram]

Mal had, for the most part, held fire. His weapons were lighter than the Deathwatch, and therefore unlikely to be of much use. The fusion pistol, of course, would likely shred them, but it would require getting far too close. "I don't suppose anyone recignizes these things." He commented dryly, remaining alert.

[The Necrontyr Messenger]

The Raven Guard skidded to a stop, spinning on the spot and emptying his second clip into another Xeno, already taking the next one from his belt. “No," he answered Mal, "You think this is bad. I’m worried about what’s going to happen at the other entrance…â€

[SirNitram]

"It's not bad yet." Mal said, levelling his shruiken pistol and letting fly a brief burst at exposed flesh as the wave continued. Precision shots were his only chance, so he saved ammo. "They're probing us. Testing our strength. The PDF must have broke when these things hit. Knowing we won't.." Another pause as he let fly again. "..They'll get meaner."

[The Necrontyr Messenger]

"A fine insight," Salvor noted, and said nothing of what he thought of Mal's heretical mind, "And a good reason to withdraw..."

[Charon]

Vibius dropped the now empty clip from his gun and looked at Salvor as he slid in another clip and cocked it. "Withdraw?"

Vibius looked back to the Xeno, there weren't many left. He openned fire again and dropped one as a bolt from one of his fellows blew off the creatures head. "Yes Captain, as per your orders." Vibius wasn't pleased with the idea of a retreat. But he could figure out the reasons easily enough, and it made sense, though he didn't see how it would help them in the long run.

[B4UTRUST]

Gravin had gone in with the rest of the group, watching with disappointment at the outcome of the first encounter. His storm bolter belched flame and smoke as round after round was discharged into the advancing masses of xenos. A few went down. Tough bastards.

He unloaded an entire clip into the advancing xenos before ejecting the clip and slapping in a fresh one with practised efficency. He pulled the trigger again, firing again.

The xenos returned fire, advacing in a tactical manner. That, coupled with their tenacity and their sheer resolve in not dying made this a messy encounter.

Two of his guardsmen went down admist some of the other troops. He couldn't tell which two had gone down so he had no clue who was left. At this point it didn't matter.

When the call to fall back to the landing pad came he ordered his own forces back as the Deathwatch covered their tactical advance to the rear.

They made their way back to the pad. Apparently someone had set up a bomb to take care of the problem of that particular route. Just as well really, there were about to be a lot of other problems.

He turned and did a quick headcount. Damien was still alive. His two Arcos. Two of his guard. Acceptable losses for them of course. It looked like Sgt. Corcer and Pvt. Dyson had bought it. He made a mental note to sign their papers of absolution when they got out of this mess. That and order up a fresh batch of penal legioners.

As soon as they were far enough away he turned back towards the door and took aim.
"Damien, get your las cannon on that cargo door. If anything comes out of it, I want it dead. Ezekial, Angelus, standby."

[Pcm979]

Rause slipped through the door, taking cover behind the wall to reload. He'd been the first in and although he'd carefully rationed his ammo, he was still running out. Even above the colossal racket of the battle he could make out the sounds of the second wave approaching.

"There'll be plenty more where these came from, Brother Vibius." He pointed out to the more gung-ho Marine.

[SirNitram]

Mal backed away from the door once they were out of the thick of it, and stroked his helmet as if he was stroking his chin. He wasn't speaking, just meditating on their foe, and whether they matched any of the seemingly endless variety he had seen since being banished. He'd been throughout the Segmentatum and beyond, and hoped it was something he knew. Justifying his continued existance was always a strong plus.

[White Haven]

Let his brothers worry about ammunition. The hurtling Damon's plasma pistol never even leaves its position at his side, both armored gauntlets fixed to the haft of the eldritch-bladed halberd that is his weapon of choice. Preceded by the wreckage of the sundered wall, he storms the charge, chitinous xenos scattering to either side. Most of them simply jerk away from his path, but he twists as he powers across the room, several of the unknown soldiers spilling innards onto the floor, a still-twitching limb ejecting from its owner. Once again, he checks his momentum in the most blunt manner possible; he flips end-over-end and smashes feet-first into the far wall in a crouch. Even with his own braking efforts, the partition nearly buckles, but then he's slid down to the floor, smoke hissing from the now-inactive jump-pack. And then a voice crackles over his helmet's vox systems even as he tenses for another attack.

A retreat? From this scum? But-- A glancing blow from one of the strange pulse weapons jerks the erstwhile Zweihander back into action as his left pauldron's edge is left glowing with waste heat from the strike. He lunges to the side, jump boosters coughing to life once again to aid his evasion...back towards the retreating force, much as he would prefer to stay and fight. Still, he isn't willing to let the matter drop entirely, covering his own withdrawal via a spray of blue-white plasma bolts.

[Charon]

Vibius ducked low to let the assault marine easily pass by. One of the creatures had been sneaking around the wall to get to them. As it turned the corner and grabbed onto Vibius's bolter he pulled it back, bringing the creature with it. He headbutted it as hard as he could, being rewarded with a cracking sound as the creature fell back, blood pouring from it's head. He put two bolts into it and the creature fell back into the room with the other corpses. "First wave's almost through, second wave is almost on us!"

[Cynical Cat]

The drone soldiers advanced. Streams of concentrated pulse fire blew massive holes in the walls and reduced the door to red hot fragments. Then the demo charges blew and they were enveloped in the white hot hell of multiple melta blasts. Armour that provided superb protection against fragmentation turned to smoke as the inferno consumed them. The floor was obliterated and metal ran like water. Further attacks from that direction would be hindered.

The cargo doors rolled open. A score more of drone soldiers advanced, unleashing heavy fire. Just behind them came two xenos war machines that could be best described as dreadnoughts. They were three meters tall and followed the same rounded asthetics. Their thick, roughly humanoid bodies were tipped by a sensor turret. Their left hands ended in a crushing clash. Their right arms were composed of the xenos equivalent of a lascannon. A rapid fire, triple barrelled pulse weapon rested on their left shoulders.

Blue-white flashes came from their gun arms. Both xenos dreadnoughts fired upon the closest shuttle, blasting it into burning wreckage. More drone soldiers moved up in the wake of the slow moving dreadnaughts. The air was full of blue-white pulse bolts.

[SirNitram]

"Now there's something you don't see everyday." Mal commented, sounding positively calm about the appearance of the two huge walkers. "Get the remaining craft in the air, would be my suggestion. We can outmaneuver those beasts. A grounded Thunderhawk.. Not so much." He pulled his fusion pistol, adjusting the settings.

[GeneralTacticus]

Halima was already on the landing pad when the cargo doors opened to reveal the Xenos reinforcements. She muttered a brief curse as they destroyed the shuttle Mia had come in on – fortunately, one of the unarmed ones – then struck back. There was really no hope of a measly bolt pistol achieving anything against these things, but telepathy had already proven at least somewhat effective. Sudden frost crackled around her as she raised her arm to point, gathering power. She sent a brief probe towards the war machines as she did so; if there was anything organic about their control mechanisms, she’d unleash the full force of her will and burn it out in an instant. If not, well… she’d brought heavy weapons for a reason, and the standard troopers were definitely vulnerable.

Just behind her, Prokhor Federov was also on the job, his grenade launcher lobbing Krak grenades across the pad to strike war machine and soldier-drones alike. Meanwhile, his two lascannon servitors ignored the standard soldiers altogether, instead sending stabbing beams of destruction into the closer of the war machines. A second later, the pilot of Halima’s Valkyrie got into the act; hovering above the pad and swinging to face the doors, the craft swept the line of soldier-drones with a punishing hail of multilaser and heavy bolter fire before unleashing a pair of Krak missiles into the second war machine.

[Cynical Cat]

The war machines showed no trace of organic intelligence or presence. The Valkyrie's engines whined as it lifted off, guns sending streams of fire into the advancing drone soldiers and blowing them apart. Krak missles blew the left arm off one of the xeno dreadnaughts. A las cannon beam struck the Valkyrie in the cockpit and sent the assault transport crashing down to the roof, smoke pouring from breach in its armour.

The combat servitors locked their lascannons on one of the dreadnaughts and blasted smoking holes in its chest. The war machine toppled. Streams of pulse fire dropped the servitors a moment latter. Federov's krak grenades struck the second machine in a fairly tight grouping across its broad torso. The first scared the metal, the second cracked the armour, and the third smashed open the chassis of the second battle robot. It stood motionless, smoke pouring out of his insides.

More drone soldiers boiled out of the cargo doors, accompanied by another pair of war robots.

[SirNitram]

Mal advanced on the war machines, clucking his tongue as moved with superhuman speed to cover the distance from the door he had just abandoned. The shruiken rounds would penetrate, but failed to bring down, these drones. That meant he relied solely on the fusion pistol, and his grenades.

Hardly optimal. Yet, he was here to do a job. He avoided what pulse fire there was, replying with the scorching heat of nuclear fusion, directed through a bottle into the enemy ranks. Moments later, a plasma grenade was chucked into the throng, as he remained mobile, trying to see a way to get in to blast the legs of one of those war machines.

"Now, how the hell did they get those through the subterranian levels.. Must be big down there. And I bet none of these bigwigs brought a single Chimera or Land Raider.."