Hey! I'm back guys after a foray into the world of Percy Jackson, which may become develop into a permanent story later on.

Anyway, one of the main reasons I left this for a while is because of the massive drop in reviews. Now, I don't automatically except reviews from every single person, but it worries me when the reviews on chapter 5 are at 16 and the reviews for chapter 6 are a measly 5. Sorry if I sound entitled thanks to the large amount of reviews I've been getting previously, but it can take a good week or two for me to get a chapter down, and only a few minutes for you to write a constructive review. It really does help, and I'm not joking reviews are like my sustenance for continuing the story. If they go the story stops, because at that point how do I know what I'm doing is right and whether people like it or not?

Anyway, I am sorry I left for so long, but here is the beginning of the camping story arc with the long awaited main antagonist for this arc, which if you saw the polling results for the previous

Thought for the day "Sorry, I prefer blondes" – Commissar Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM

++Terra, Sol System, Sol sector, Solar Segmentum++

++015.M3, 11:58 GMT+12++

"Right, shoot now" Bang "Look, do you know how much money spend on each bullet? Neither do I, but I assume we spend the money so we can use the bullets TO ACTUALY HIT THE FUCKING TARGET! How you got into the NZSAS with that shooting is beyond me, you better straighten your rifle right now or I'll send your ass back to the reserves. Understand?"

"Yes sir, sorry sir"

"Unless sorry fixes your lazy eye you clearly have behind that scope, don't bother" I spat at the corporal.

"Sergeant Barnes" My superior, lieutenant Selwyn, called. I glared at the corporal on the rifle then marched from the firing range and reported to Selwyn by the ammo dump.

"I can hear your yelling from here, sergeant

"Are we going soft on the recruits now? That hardly seems fair considering what I had to go through"

He chuckled "No, it's good, but these new guys are greener than the reserves, so just be careful what you say, these guys are good, it's why they're here" I nodded and looked back at the firing range. I was in Papakura military base for the week. Apparently, I was too useful to send to the ministry for some bureaucratic liaison job, so the army kept me on as an official 'training instructor'.

I loved it. I knew after my 4th deployment to Afghanistan I wasn't going back, I had promised to Kate before leaving that I would not volunteer to return with the regiment's next cycle. But I wasn't going to leave the military, and she knew it, so I signed up for instructor. Normally that would mean I was down overseeing the reserve regiment in Wellington, but this week was an exchange of sorts and I was back with the regiment that nearly got me killed in Afghanistan multiple times.

"Anyway, what do you think of the men?" Selwyn asked.

"They should do fine, when are they due for dispatch?"

"2 weeks today they head out to Baghdad" He responded grimly. I nodded, I knew the deployment to Iraq was not a popular one.

"At least they won't be in combat" I tried.

"Yeah, but the boys in Vietnam weren't supposed to be fighting either"

"This is different"

He stared out across the military base. Two weeks from now he'll be looking at a base like this in the middle of Iraq. "I sure hope so"

I cleared my throat, trying to change topic "So what do you want me to do now, sir?"

"How long you here for?"

"Leaving tomorrow, sir"

"Tell you what, you've done well to come up here, I have something for you" he turned around and started pulling some things out of his pack. He produced two small slips of card.

"Sir?"

"Two passes for the Otaki Beach Camp ground"

I was speechless, since when do senior officers give sergeants gifts. He laughed at my expression.

"You've been through hell and back, David, I still haven't thanked you for Bamiyan"

"Hey that was my job" I responded defensively.

"I would have died if you hadn't taken that insurgent out and you know it, I really can't thank you enough"

"But you're giving me tickets to a camp out on the coast?" I grinned.

"Hey, you don't have to take them"

"No they're great, thank you so much"

"I hope Kate likes camping" he winked at me. I laughed, then I realised.

The minis.

"Hello beautiful" a familiar voice chided over the phone

"Oh it's you" I responded sarcastically.

"You know you love me"

"That's debatable, how'd today go?"

"Yeah alright, a few useless idiots couldn't shoot straight" David joked.

"You used to be like that" I scolded him mockingly.

"Nah I was perfect from day one"

"I'm sure" I rolled my eyes.

"The minis?"

"We lost the Xbox to a wayward missile barrage"

"Are you kidding me!? That's like $500"

"That's why I'm not joking"

He cursed. "Well that makes my proposal sound infinitely worse"

My heart started to race "A…a proposal?"

"Yea, I was going to ask if you wanted to go camping, we deserve it after all the shit we've been through the last week"

"Oh" I sighed. "That sounds like something we need to talk about when you get back"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow" he said happily

"Sure" and I slammed the phone down on the receiver.

"Something wrong, milady?" Cynthia asked from the edge of the dining table. She was decked in her Elysian combat suit, tied raven black hair and shoulder slung las-carbine.

"I'm fine" I lied, blinking heavily. "How are the others?"

"Hey! That was clearly 7 inches there!" Forethought yelled from atop the great Mountain Dew bottle.

"What's up with your auspex, Xeno? Those marines only moved 6 inches"

"Cheating again, Marcus?" Phasmatis called from the rule book.

The Blood Angel ignored that clear jab and turned to Vanessa "What comes after the movement phase again?"

"The Psychic phase" Vanessa replied, exasperated.

"Excellent, how many dice do I get?"

"What's your mastery level?"

"2"

"You said you had a mastery level of 1!" Forethought demanded as he vaulted down from the bottle.

"I said that was my base level, I paid the 25 points for the upgrade" Marcus dismissed the comment with a wave.

"Oh sure you did, just like you put the multi-melta on the land raider just in time for you to take down my riptide"

"And how you use your psychic powers to influence rolls" Alexander called from a nearby salamander which was watching the battle unfold.

"I only did that once" Marcus whined.

"It's enough for me to null your powers whenever you roll" Grace pointed out.

"Jesus will you all just shut up, it's hard enough to keep this position for an extended period of time without you all arguing over nothing" A nearby space marine scout called.

"Fine, you can have your supposed mastery level 2, fucking bullshit" the Tau said.

"Excellent, what next sister?"

"Roll a D6, then add your mastery level, that's how many psychic dice you can role for each of your powers" Vanessa transcribed as she looked over the rules.

"I get the same amount to deny right?"

"Yes Forethought" Vanessa rolled her eyes "you do get to deny"

"Bring forth the holy cubes" a few space marines that weren't in game hauled over 6 dice. Marcus rolled his D6, scoring three more warp charge. Forethought then proceeded to deny them all.

"What! How did you do that!" the librarian demanded. Vanessa gestured and a few guardsmen lifted the page of the rule book over to the next.

"According to this, the enemy team can role to deny the same amount of dice you rolled for warp conjure, and you decided to use all of yours on conjuring molten beam and Inferno. Two of which failed to hit"

"That makes literally no sense, I can cast a molten beam at these Xenos and they cannot do anything about it, watch" The librarian clapped his hands together and a white hot beam burst out from his outstretched palms at the tau commander. It then immediately dissipated on the tau's shields.

"I beat you feel pretty stupid now" Phasmatis called.

"Shut up Xeno! Alright, fine, I fail my casting, next?"

"Shooting phase"

"Finally! Tactical marines, shoot those fire warriors!"

"Gue'la we've been over this, you have to role first" Forethought retorted.

"Never in the field of battle had I ever rolled a dice before shooting the enemy"

"You wanted to play this game" Vanessa said as she scanned through the shooting phase section of the rulebook

"I'm just surprised this is how these giants conduct warfare"

"You do realise this is just a game, right?" Vanessa deadpanned.

"Bah! It's all nonsense"

"Are you going to roll" Forethought asked.

"Whatever, pass me the dice, I must roll threes, correct?"

"Yes, Ballistic skill of 4 is threes"

"Excellent, I shall role for the bolters in that tactical squad" he pointed at a 7 man squad of tactical marines.

"All right, you're in rapid fire range" Carter announced once as his squad of ogryns had pulled the tape out to check.

"Double shots!" Marcus squealed very un-space marine like and gathered a further 7 d6's.

"Emperor guide my rolls" he whispered as he loaded them into the plastic cup. He then ordered a nearby terminator not in battle to kick the cup over and the dice scattered out across the board. He made 8 hits. He then rolled to wound, needing threes again, he scored 5 wounds. The Tau then allocated them all onto their shield drone, which took 4 before being destroyed by the fifth.

"That's no wounds on the actual squad" Vanessa counted up.

"Are you actually serious?" Marcus rounded on the sister.

"Quite"

"Fine next squad" The librarian ordered. His shooting phase went on without a single wound being inflicted on anything other than a few drones.

"Fuck this" he said as he watched an entire devastator squad empty its lascannon shots into a hammerhead without scoring anything more than a single glance.

"I suppose it reflects your armies ability to actually do anything" Phasmatis called snarkily. Marcus snarled a curse at him and he reached out with his mind. Before Grace or any of the other psykers could react, he literally flipped the table, sending soldiers, armoured vehicles and hastily prepared terrain scattering across the living room floor.

"God-Emperor damn it not again!" Alexander called, stuck under his salamander.

"Can't you just deal with not winning, Space Marine!" Vanessa demanded.

"What's going…?" Kate walked in from the Dining room "Oh for fucks sake! This is the 4th time this week you guys!"

"It was their fault" all the minis pointed at either Marcus, Forethought or Phasmatis.

++015.M3, 18:08 GMT+12++

I rolled into the drive the morning after Selwyn gave me the passes. It was a still spring night, strange for Wellington, which was notorious for its terrible wind. The sun was just dipping below the horizon, casting an orange glow across the twilight sky. I parked the car in the drive way and headed inside.

The house was cleaner than I expected. Most of the time when I get home there are pock marks from missile impacts. It had been nearly two weeks since Kate's parents came around, and the warp magic had worn off, forcing us to actually clean the place of all the scorch marks and bullet holes from the first nights battles. Kate was sitting on the couch, her legs curled up under her, chatting with a few of the minis. She wore a light blue blouse, skinny blue jeans and had her blonde hair braided down one shoulder. Sometimes I just can't get over how beautiful she is.

"How's it going" I grinned.

"As good as it gets when you have a house full of rampaging miniature soldiers" she leapt up and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I laughed "It's the little things that count"

"I suppose" She sighed. "So what's this about a camping trip?" at the mention of camping trip the minis became silent, turning their heads trying to listen. I'm not sure if they knew what camping was, but they knew a trip meant going somewhere other than the house. I pulled out the passes and showed them to Kate.

"A week up at Otaki Beach. Apparently its quiet this time of the year, and the weather forecast looks pretty good"

"Wait, when do you propose we go?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Well, I figured we leave Sunday and we come home next Friday"

"I can't just leave my job"

"Take a holiday, you still haven't used any of your weeks from last year"

"That requires checking a week or so ahead"

"What about sick days, you still have some of those banked up"

"What if I'm sick later in the year?"

"When are you actually sick?"

Now let me explain. Since Kate started working at the accountancy firm, she had not gotten sick ONCE, and she had been working there nearly 18 months now. Her immune system is more secure than the Korean DMZ, and even that might be a bad comparison.

"Even so, what about the obvious problem, the minis?"

"Well, we take them with us of course" she stared at me blankly.

"You're kidding right, there's nearly 5,000 2 inch high soldiers occupying almost every room in our house, and you propose we take them into public for a camping trip at a public camping ground"

"Not all of them…"

"Oh, so we leave them behind, IN OUR HOUSE, WITHOUT SUPERVISION?!"

"Well when you say it like that its sounds stupid…"

"That's because it is"

"…But if we leave the responsible ones in charge, we can trust them to keep the house in relatively good order and take the more volatile elements to go out and blow off some steam in the outdoors"

"You make it sounds like they're children"

"For all extensive purposes, they are. Remember, they have been kept up in this house for nearly 3 weeks now, we won't even let them get in the car with us for a ride along. They are dying to get outside, better we take them and watch over them than they sneak out by themselves and destroy something that will attract too much attention"

Kate considered this for a second. "I'm still not sure"

"I don't blame you, I'm not even sure myself, but we seriously need this, the minis are pushing us to breaking point"

She sighed. "Ok, fine, let's bring them together and discuss what we're going to do here"

"So you're going to take us beyond the citadel fortress you call home?" Carter asked.

"Not all of you" A torrent of angry complaints followed. "BECAUSE" David said loudly and the minis quietened down "Because there are nearly 5,000 of you, which will almost immediately arouse suspicion if you're seen in the car with us. We could carry maybe half of you, but that means we have to leave the most responsible and level headed ones here to lead the others"

Many of the minis from the various factions looked to their leaders. All wanted desperately to go and visit this 'Otaki beach', as most (particularly the Imperials) had never seen any kind of ocean. Alexander sighed and stepped forward.

"I volunteer to lead the Imperial Guard in absence of Governor David and Governess Kate" He announced. "I will send my Lord Commissar to head 1st, 3rd and 6th company on this expedition" There was a loud groan from a chunk of the Cadians.

"Well, the Elysians will also offer their services for the trip" Cynthia called.

"If that's the case, I shall keep the 657th in garrison. We wouldn't do well in a mobile expedition in any case" Tenebrae declared.

"I shall stay behind as well" Grace offered "and send my Autarch to lead any Eldar elements attached to this expedition"

"If that is the case" Carter pointed out "we will need a psyker to maintain long distance contact"

"I will" Sasha said quickly, before blushing slightly "the Farseer and I are better telepathically linked than most other humans, and I could better connect the two forces should the Farseer and her Seer council stay behind"

"Uh" David interjected "we have cell phones that will reach the house from where we're going, so the whole psychic things is irrelevant

"Regardless, I think it's wise we keep a non-titan form of communication" Corish reasoned. David shrugged.

"I shall accompany the Tau forces on this trip, and Aun'la Shi shall maintain the Tau command while I'm away" Forethought said.

"The sisters will remain here" Vanessa Affirmed.

"As will the mechanicum" Magos announced in his grinding mechanical voice.

"Alright, what about the marines?" Kate asked.

"The Blood Angels shall accompany the task force" Marcus replied.

"As will the Ultramarines" Ventris declared, stepping forward. The two marines glanced at one another, clearly not happy with the other sharing command.

"The Dark Angels shall stay behind then" Corish announced, though he did not sound happy about this particular arrangement.

"So that's everyone sorted?"

"Do not act so brashly, David" Stygian interjected. "I shall also accompany you, along with the rest of the Ordo Malleus assets"

"Fantastic" David said, monotone.

++015.M3, 09:46 GMT+12++

I slammed the boot of the car. It was a silver BMW X5, and it wasn't small, but it certainly seemed a lot smaller with all the minis occupying various niches in the vehicle. The Imperial Guard were tucked into the boot alongside the Space Marines and inquisition while the two Xenos took up the back seats of the car. We had packed in the tent, our own baggage and finally put in all the other things the minis needed, making the vehicle itself very cramped indeed.

"That's everything" I turned around to David. "Are the minis inside all good?"

"They're fine" he assured me.

"Did you…"

"I did debrief them, they know the consequences of anymore our shit gets broken. Besides we have the biggest trouble makers with us"

"I heard that" Marcus' muffled voice came through the boot door.

"Don't worry, try relax and have fun" he coerced my cheek.

I sighed, and looked up at him "No sense in standing out here for much longer, we have a two hour drive to make"

"I couldn't agree more" he grinned.

"Oh no"

"What is it this time?" Kate moaned.

"Low on fuel, we'll never get to Otaki with just this" David said.

"We have some promethium in the back, we could top up your great vehicle" Ventris offered.

"I really don't think that would help, like, at all" David assured him "we need to go to the petrol station to refuel"

"A petrol station you say?" Carter asked. "We could use a few more gallons of promethium"

"NO! You stay in here" David affirmed. Reluctantly, the minis agreed and they rode in silence until they arrived at the petrol station. It was a BP station, and had a few other cars in it, though not enough to make them wait in line for a pump. David and Kate got out, and David began fuelling up the car while Kate went inside to get things and pay for the fuel. Meanwhile the minis were scrambling up to the window sill of the car door in an attempt to get a better look at the 'petrol station'.

"David was right" Cynthia mused "there is an entire race of these giant humans"

"I wonder what led to the development of such deformed creatures" Ventris said.

"Probably the same kind of thing that lead to you Mon-Keigh being developed in the first place" Phasmatis shrugged.

"Sirs?" Corporal Nathin called before a brawl started between the Eldar and Imperials "One of the smaller ones in that large vehicle over there appears to have spotted us". Sure enough, a little girl, no older than 10, was staring at the minis, trying to figure out if they were real. She gave them a little wave and instinctively a few of the guard raised their hands in return. This provoked a wide grin from the girl and she began tapping insistently on the seat in front of her, pointing over at the minis at the same time.

"What is she doing?" Marcus wondered aloud.

"It appears to be signalling the larger one in front" Forethought responded. Sure enough, a woman was sitting in front of the young girl. She attempted to ignore the girl at first, but eventually she relinquished and turned around, somewhat irritably. The Woman appeared to be saying something sternly to the little girl. The girl simply shook her head and pointed towards the minis. Eventually, the woman glanced over to David and Kate's car, and she did a double take. She seemed sceptical at first, but after straining her eyes for a few seconds her eyes widened. She got out of the car and walked briskly into the petrol station. Soon after Kate and David got back in the car and started the engine.

"Uh, David"

"Ventris"

"What would happen if one of the other Titians saw us?" The Ultramarine asked. David's head snapped to face the marine.

"Which one"

"It appeared to be of the female variety, older than Kate…there she is!" Kate and David's looked to where the marine was pointing, and the woman was walking quickly towards their car with what appeared to be some kind of security guard being dragged in tow. David didn't even pause, he gunned the accelerator and they screamed out of the petrol station onto the highway and towards Otaki.

We arrived at the camp ground about an hour and a half later. The camp had a very colonial feel to it, with both the reception area and the cabins done in this style, red roofs and white washed boards. It was secluded enough, with trees sheltering most of the individual sites. It was situated right on the beach, and had a few direct routes to the beach proper through the sand banks. Just as Selwyn had promise there were barely any others at the camp. After checking in, I took the car down to site 16, right next to the sand banks and separated from most of the other areas of the camp by a row of trees. We pulled into the site, which was about 5x4 meters, plenty of room for the tent.

"Here we are" I declared, and all the minis started shouting excitedly, something like 'for the Emperor!' or 'the greater good shall claim this place'. Kate and I jumped out of the car, opened the side doors and boot, and started pulling out the bags and whatnot.

"Alright, team meeting!" Kate shouted and all the minis gathered around. "Now the reason we came out here was so we could get some fresh air. It would be ridiculous for us to try and control you all directly, so we are willing for you all to get free reign" There was an excited buzz amongst the minis "BUT. You must pledge not to interact with other humans like us, or attack any buildings/vehicles that look big enough for us to use. Understand?" There was a reluctant yes emitted from the crowd and then they all scattered off in different directions, all pursuing various objectives. Kate sighed and walked over to help me set up the tent

"You have potentially done the best thing we could have done" I said, threading the pole through one of the tent channels "or the worst thing we could have done"

She gave me a reluctant smile and watched a flight of Valkyrie aircraft disappear over the sand dunes.

"Bring us down over there, it think I saw something" Cynthia shouted into her comm-bead and the Valkyrie dipped to the right and flew down over the dunes. It settled down in a clearing in the thick long grass just over the eve of the bank, and a few other Valkyries landed nearby. Two Sky talons swooped in and dropped off four Drop sentinels before they and the other gunships lifted off and returned to the camp site.

"What exactly did you see, lieutenant?" Faye from 2nd drop platoon asked.

"Something moving, through here, it looked big" the Elysian commander called back. "Make sure your weapons are locked and ready". A few Elysians snapped their power packs into place and locked them in.

There was a low grumbling sound, followed by heavy footsteps. Cynthia raised her eye at the Commissar.

"Ever hear anything like that before?"

"Once" Carter responded. "Let's hope it's not what I'm thinking. FORM A DEFENSIVE PERIMETER ON MY POSITION" He yelled and the two drop platoons pulled into a tight circle on the bar batch of sand they had landed on with the sentinels in close support. A few tense seconds followed until and Ork stumbled out of the long grass.

"OYE!" was all he could manage before a dozen las rounds cut into his skull and his body went spinning into the sand. But that's all was needed, others started shouting back in response and soon enough a dozen more boyz were pouring out of the grass stems.

"WAAAAAAAAAAGH!" they yelled collectively, loud enough to echo on the nearby cliffs. The Sentinels stepped forward, and their heavy bolters sent bolts into tightly packed mob and making the Orks explode in a fine red mist.

"We need marauders, incendiary bombs, NOW!" Carter yelled over the vox, before putting the receiver back on the troopers back and adding his bot pistol to the torrent of fire being laid upon the Orks. There were dozens more now, but they were cut down with equal regularity trademark of the Elysian regiments.

Then the Squiggoth came smashing through the grass.

Ta'dah! The Orks are here and they are quite interested in camping as much as the other factions. We will see more of their hilarity in chapters to come, but for now they are here and ready to pummel some 'umies.

Anyway, I hope you guys take the time to review, it seriously helps and inspires more chapters to keep on coming. The overdue nature of this chapter is an example of that.

Remember, More Reviews = More Chapters, Faster.