The 75th Urborbian.
Chapter 1
Takin always considered the Arakno beetle to be very fitting to this world. With the long spindly legs it was able to move around the undergrowth of the jungles with ease, find it's footholds between the tangled roots of the bushes and trees that littered its habitat. Takin may have considered it graceful despite the large folded claws that sprouted either side of its mouth. It's thin armoured body needed very little food to keep it running, allowing the creature to lie still for days, waiting for its prey to come right into its grasp before the Arakno beetle shot at lightning speed and stole the life of its unsuspecting victim. Takin could also see that this creature was a female, the larger size and brown stripes around its abdomen giving the tale-tale signs that may have slipped past a less experienced eye.
The locals had told him that the female Arakno beetles were far more deadly that the males and that after mating, the females would eat their male counterparts in order to provide more nutrients for the new-born young to suckle on. In Takin's book that made them worthy of respect; it also reminded him of an old traditional tale told to the little boys back on his home world. In the tale a Gentleman was betrothed to a lady, as is common in the aristocrats of his world, and they were married.
However once the ceremony is over the lady finds her 'Gentleman' to be nothing but an abusive drunk who beat her regularly, but like the Arakno she waited patiently and took the abuse, hiding her bruises and plotting her revenge. The time came for her when she had given birth to their joint son, an heir to her husband's wealth and fortune. The next thing everybody knew the husband was dead, his car and him had fallen off a long winding mountain path to land in a crumpled heap of metal.
Nobody knew how exactly the wife had killed off the husband, sometimes the story tells of her stabbing him by the roadside and putting a rock on the accelerator, other times the story told of her hiring a hit-man (who also happened to be her lover) who cut the brakes of the husbands car, making his death on the winding road inevitable. Whatever the method she had used the outcome and moral of the story was always the same, the son inherited the husband's fortune, and the wife became the carer of her son and thus the owner of the business empire. The moral had been to always respect woman and Takin believed that moral stretched to all species and not just the citizens of the Imperium. So as the female Arakno beetle moved delicately and blissfully across Takin's mud-covered cheek he did not move a muscle. Takin was on the hunt and he was not about to risk movement which would attract the attention of his prey.
Suddenly his micro-bead spoke to him, barely a whisper compared to the background noise of the surrounding jungle.
"Tango's approaching your position Red-two"
Takin didn't reply, nor was he expected to. He was close to his kill and would not risk losing it for a few needless words across the vox.
In the jungle ahead he spied movement, as he waited the undergrowth parted as an Ork Nob forced his way through. Takin had chosen his spot well, he had taken position on the far side of a small clearing in the jungle, right on the Ork patrol's path. Soon the rest of the Orks moved their way into the clearing, tearing the undergrowth with their ungainly strides.
"Whys we gotta walk t'rough dis stinkin jungle?"
6 tangos. Good, exactly as many as expected.
"Cuz da Boss 'eared sum noisy stuff on 'is talky t'ing, dads why!"
All armed with basic shooting weaponry bar the Nob, who is armed with a pistol and an axe. Priority target Nob.
"And youz betta do wat da boss sez or I'll rip yer gubbins out!"
No, wait… one of the orks has a form of vox-caster on his back. Priority target vox-ork.
With a very small movement of the thumb Takin pushed in the safety catch on his suppressed sniper rifle. Most snipers of the Imperial Guard preferred the increased power of the long-las over the auto-rifle variant Takin used, and Takin admitted they had their uses in open battles, where the din of fighting masks the sound of the shot while the cascade of lasgun exchanges masks the shots themselves. But Takin had survived this long not on raw firepower, but on stealth. Therefore the ability to suppress the auto rifle far outweighed the power loss in his opinion. Besides, the auto rifle made up for it by having up to five rounds per magazine, unlike the hot-shot rounds of the long-las which had to be changed after every shot.
Takin now made a few gestures with his right hand, signalling his squad to fire on his mark. Again he did not look for a reply for he and his squad knew the drill, and they had done this hundreds of times. Their method went like this; Laki and Mentred would take the two tangos to the left of the group, while Beni, luntherd and Kenki would deal with the tangos to the right of the group, and Takin would deal with the priority target. This allowed the squad to take out their targets in one volley of silenced weapons. Often Takin would be firing at the same target as another member of the squad, especially if there were more snipers than targets, but it mattered little. In fact more often than not the priority target was the largest and toughest member of the targets, so a couple of bullets ensured their death.
But not today. Today the vox-ork was the priority target, for if this operation was to go as planned surprise was vital.
"Ere, fire up da' talky t'ing again, see if u'ze can 'ere any humies."
Luckily the Arakno beetle had made its way over Tarkin's camo-cloak and onto the jungle floor. So there was no longer any danger of being clawed by a surprised insect.
The Ork began to fiddle with the looted guard-issue vox on his back, listening in to any imperial transmissions. The Orks knew that something was up but they had no idea what. It was Takin's job to prevent them from finding out.
Fortunately the Ork was positioned in such a way as that Takin could shoot out the Ork's lungs and the guard-issue vox in one shot, thereby neutralising its ability to radio anything in. Takin moved his crosshairs into position. His suppressor would unfortunately reduce the amount of material his bullet could penetrate, thankfully however the Ork was merely a grunt so wore nothing more than a tattered imitation of a red vest for protection, and imperial guard voxes were hardly well known for their ability to deflect sniper bullets.
Now the only thing left for Takin to do was to find the right point in his breathing to fire. Many drill instructors taught men that it was best to fire with your breath held, for when you held your breath your chest was no longer moving. The truth was that it was best to fire as you breathe out, for when a breath is held the arms begin to shake with the weight of the rifle and can make that all important first shot all the more difficult, whilst if the shot is taken when the breath is released the arms are at their stillest.
As Takin breathed out and squeezed the trigger, his sniper rifle bucked back into his shoulder. The silencer masked the vast majority of the great bang that his rifle would make when the large armour piercing round left the muzzle. The Ork with the vox fell back in a red mist as the bullet pierced through both flesh and metal to end up in the undergrowth behind. The other Orks also collapsed suddenly as the rest of Red-two hit home with their own rounds leaving the Nob standing looking bewildered at the sudden loss of his squad and the red stain slowly spreading across his chest.
His surprise was short-lived as three more rounds hit home simultaneously.
Takin reached up to his ear and changed the channel to that of his command structure.
"Red-two to Major Kofman, Ork patrol is eliminated; you may proceed with the attack."