Matrix Dragon Presents.....
Soldiers of The Imperium, Part Two
I don't own 'em. If I did, do you think I'd be typing this on an
old 486? NO! I'd have a new computer, with every major PC game on it,
and servants catering to my every whim, with a nice.... (Doctors drag
him away by the collar of his straightjacket.)
***
Ranma Saotome looked out over the wasteland. He didn't like what
he saw. The rain had stopped a week back, the star systems red sun
turning the mud hard and rotting the corpses even faster. At least the
rain kept the flies down.
Three weeks. Three weeks since the Tokyo Regiments had arrived on
this dirtball. They'd been thrown right in the deep end, ordered to
defend an area where the rebels were determined to break through.
They'd learnt fast. They had to. Those that didn't learn died.
They no longer used Low Gothic on their regimental communications.
They used Tokyo's native language. It was a language the enemy did not
know and it made for safer communications.
They'd learnt new tactics, abandoned ones that didn't work. The
result was a stronger regiment. Although they had less men, they had
the skill to make up for it. They were able to defend and ready to
attack.
Ranma turned his attention to his men. HIS men. Right after that
first battle, the Lieutenant had promoted him to Corporal and placed
him in command of a squad.
In his opinion, promotion was a pain. He'd had to deal with the
supplies of the entire squad, make sure that they all stay alive, and
deal with any other problems that came up.
He glanced at the data-slate in his hands. The ammunition supplies
of his squad were displayed there. Fuel canisters for Lina's flamer
was almost out, and they were short on missiles. At least they had
plenty of power packs for the lasguns.
He wrote up a request for extra ammo, then had Ash Ketchum deliver
the message to the platoon command. Ranma watched him go, then turned
his attention back to his meal. "If there's anything I hate most about
the Guard, it's there MRE's," he muttered.
Lina nodded in agreement. The MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) not only
tasted bad, but contained very little. For people with appetites the
size of Ranma's and Lina's, this was not a good thing.
Lina shook the plastic bag, sighing when only a few crumbs fell
out. "This really sucks, you know that?"
Ranma nodded, tossing his bag away. "What I'd give for some real
food," he said, thinking of the wonderful meal he'd had the night
before he enlisted. Since then he'd been surviving on slop, and his
stomach was letting him know.
Lina climbed into her billet and tried to get some sleep. The
rebels had been keeping her awake, meaning that she was tired and
extremely grumpy.
Ranma almost felt sorry for the rebels if they chose to attack
today. Almost. He was tired as well.
***
Tenchi locked the ammo-belt back into place, then tested the Heavy
Bolter again. The blasted thing still wouldn't fire. "Argh," he
commented.
"That thing still not working?" Lieutenant Zolf asked as he walked
up behind Tenchi. Said trooper yelped in surprise.
"No sir," Tenchi said quickly, standing up and saluting.
"At ease. It could have been worse. A few inches higher and it
would have been your face that took the blast, not the gun."
Tenchi considered that. Here he'd been, getting angry with a
faulty gun, when the only reason he was alive was because said faulty
gun took the shot for him. Kinda funny, but a little immature too.
"Anyway, Masaki, I want you to make a run to Workshop Sixty-Beta.
They've got supplies and weaponry I want brought up here. Take Saeba
with you."
"Ryo Saeba?" Tenchi said.
"You know him?"
"Only by reputation mostly." And none of it good, he mentally
added. Ryo Saeba had a reputation as one of the regiments biggest
lechers. No small number of the female soldiers had introduced him to
the butt of their lasguns. Unlike that Ataru jerk over in Third
Company, Ryo was actually quite useful in a fight.
"He may be a pervert, but he's strong. He should be able to carry
a decent amount of equipment."
Tenchi nodded, then unclamped the Heavy Bolter from its mount.
***
"Hey beautiful, how about you and I go back to my billet for a
little close combat?" Ryo Saeba asked a young woman wearing the green
Tokyo uniform. She responded by slamming the butt of her lasgun into
his stomach, doubling him over.
"Oh come on," Tenchi muttered. "You can sicken the opposite gender
later. We've got a job to do." He pulled the grumbling soldier through
the trenches, until they emerged into slightly wider trenches, about a
kilometre behind the front lines.
Workshop Sixty-Beta was well hidden on the surface. The only sign
of it was a polyfibre blast shield over a wooden door, along with
several anti-gas curtains. Tenchi pulled the drapes out of the way,
knocked on the shield, then stepped back in surprise as a small
hologram of a crab appeared.
"Hi!" the crab said cheerfully. "I'm kinda busy right now, so if
you leave your name and geno-print, I'll get back to you as soon as
possible. Just leave the message after the beep. Beep!"
"Washuu-chan?!" Tenchi exclaimed. The crab was his old friends
motif.
The crab faded away, replaced by a familiar face surrounded by a
mop of red hair. "Tenchi, is that you?" Washuu Hibuki asked.
"It's me Washuu-chan. What are you doing here?"
"It's a long story, and I suspect it's the same for you. Come in,
come in!" The blast shield slid to the side, and Tenchi and Ryo heard
the click of the door unlocking.
"Judging from her face, I'd say the rest of her was extremely
beautiful," Ryo said. "Lush and ripe-"
"Will you put a sock in it," Tenchi growled. "Now come on." He
opened the door and descended the flight of stairs on the other side.
Reaching the bottom, he looked around the small workshop,
remembering a time long past.
The room was filled with dozens of arcane machines, some devices
half-assembled, others beeping and chattering. In a metallic chair
that floated above the ground by the use of several anti-grav plates,
sat a woman that appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She placed the
object in her hands on the bench and ran over to Tenchi, hugging him.
"It's so good to see you Tenchi!"
"Same h-"
"HELLOOOO NURSE!"
"Oh no," Tenchi groaned, seeing Ryo start to drool. The pervert
was lining up for a quick grope. At least, he was until a multi-
barrelled weapon on a bench came to life, and several red dots
appeared on his forehead. Ryo froze.
"Out," Washuu said in a cold voice. Ryo nodded and fled. Washuu
turned her attention back to Tenchi. "When did you get here?" she
asked as she released him from her death hug.
"About the same time you did, I'll bet," he replied.
"Probably. But why did you join the guard? Leaving Tokyo forever
would have been tough."
"No harder then what you went through."
Washuu shook her head. "I ended up on Tokyo by accident in the
first place. It was leaving your family house that was hard. But after
you left, it was too peaceful. And... I couldn't help but remember
Ryouko."
"That's why I left as well," Tenchi replied. Then he changed the
subject. "Anyway, I was sent here to get some supplies for first
company second platoon, under Lieutenant Zolf."
"Hm? Oh yeah, that!" the red-head said, bounding over to a bench.
Four boxes were stacked there, the open top of one revealing a number
of repaired weapons. "It's pretty easy to fix guns when you're the
best tech-priest in the galaxy!"
"Then would you be able to take a look at this?" Tenchi asked,
unslinging the Heavy Bolter. Washuu took a quick glance at it and
nodded.
"That'll be no problem. Saaayyy..."
Tenchi gulped. That tone of voice usually meant trouble for him.
"How would you like to test out some modifications to a weapon
I've got here?"
Tenchi nodded carefully. Washuu grinned and picked up a large
weapon off a bench. It was a man-portable Autocannon, ammo-belt
currently resting nearby. She handed it to Tenchi, who was surprised
at its weight. It was lighter then the usual model he was used to.
"I made it from new alloys the priest-hood recovered a few years
ago," Washuu said by way of explanation. Tenchi nodded. He knew a few
things about that, although it was nothing compared to the tech-priest
in front of him. "It'll take a while for me to fix that thing," she
said, pointing at the defective Heavy Bolter. "I'm a busy priestess."
"Sure thing. Ryo! Get down here now!" Ryo came down the steps,
watching the strange weapon on the bench as it began to follow him
again. "Grab some boxes, balls-for-brains."
"Man, why are you so grouchy all of a sudden?" Ryo asked.
"Mostly because you tried to grope a good friend of mine," Tenchi
replied. "Now take some of those boxes." Ryo sulked, but did as he was
told.
"I've got to get back to my platoon," Tenchi said. "I'll drop by
and visit when I can."
"Sure thing," Washuu replied. "Just make sure that you do visit."
Tenchi nodded, slung his new Autocannon over his shoulders,
grabbed several boxes and walked up the steps, Ryo close behind him.
Washuu watched them leave. "There are people that will want to know
about this," she said, pulling back her sleve and synth-skin to reveal
the bionics in her arm. Attaching several wires, she activated a
cogitator. Writing began to appear on the screen as he mentally typed
a message, before encrypting it and sending it to one of the regiments
astropaths. The psyker would transmit the message through the Warp,
allowing it to reach Tokyo, almost fifty light-years away, in a week.
***
General Soun Tendo, overall commander of the Tokyo Regiments,
walked down the trenches of the First Regiment. He had been pulling
random inspections of the trenches, in order to see for himself that
the men were in fighting trim.
The various soldiers snapped to attention as he came near them,
and he took the time to examine them. The morale of the men and women
of the Tokyo Regiments was surprisingly high, considering the number
of attacks that took place along their part of the battlefield. Of
course, most of them didn't know that the rebels had been directing a
larger number of attacks to the Tokyo forces then the other Guard
Regiments. He considered the idea of tellng them that, but scrapped it
due to morale concerns.
By the time he reached the first company, manning the eastern
section of the Tokyo trenches, the sky had gotten cloudy again. He
partly hoped that it rained. But then his men would be walking through
a foot of mud again, and the insects would start breeding in puddles
again. He'd lost almost five men to sickness brought on by insects.
Ranma and his unit saluted as the General approached. "At ease,"
he said. The soldiers returned to what they were doing.
Ranma watched as his commanding officer examined the area. The man
had shown up several times over the past few weeks, and the Corporal
had heard stories of the squads and platoons that did not meet his
expectations.
"How are your supplies corporal?" the General asked.
"They're sufficient sir," Ranma replied. "There is a slight
shortage of flamer fuel-tanks, but I already have more on the way."
"Very good," Tendo said. He would have asked more, but the head-
sets both he and Ranma were wearing squawked into life.
"This is 275/12c. All units in trench section 437/23, movement
sighted at nine hundred metres."
"Movement at nine hundred," Ranma said in a calm voice. His squad
sprung into life, readying their weapons. Trooper Shinji Ikari readied
his sniper-variant lasgun, running the scope across no-mans land.
"I've got a target," he said quietly. "Light infantry at one
o'clock, range eight-seventy. I count twenty-four troops."
Ranma nodded, relaying the message to company command. Soun
watched with pride. Then his headset crackled into life again. "Tendo
here."
"General, you have a communication from Lord Commander Hayes."
Tendo sighed. Hayes was the overall commander of the Redermade
campaign, and a pain in the butt. He was more then willing to
sacrifice entire regiments for no gain whatsoever, which made him very
unpopular in an age where the old tactics of cannon fodder no longer
worked or was accepted.
He also demanded visual communications, which meant that Soun
would have to leave his men right before a possible attack. Not good
for morale.
One of the troopers, a red-head in her early twenties, seemed to
notice this. "You look like a troll took a leak in your koi pond," she
said.
"Lord Commander Hayes wishes to speak to me," he replied.
A few soldiers whistled. They had heard of Hayes and his history,
mostly through the Cadian 34th, stationed nearby. That regiment had
nearly been wiped out by Hayes ordering a bombardment of an Ork camp
five years ago. The fact that there were Cadian Shock Troops in the
camp forcing the Orks into retreat at the time didn't bother him in
the least.
"Go talk to him sir," Ranma said. "We'll let the word spread
you're fighting the greater enemy."
Soun repressed a smirk. He liked this boy. On an impulse, he
removed his plasma pistol from its holster on his belt and handed it
to Ranma. "Carry it with pride," he said.
Ranma took the pistol and ammo cells, a grave look on his face.
"I'll make you proud sir."
"Carry on." And with that Soun ran towards the command bunker,
hoping that Hayes wasn't going to pull one of his usual stunts.
***
Behind trench section 437/23, manned by troops of the Tokyo First,
First Company, almost forty tanks were parked. This was Seventh
Company, the Tokyo Firsts Armoured Vehicles. So far, they had mostly
remained behind the front lines, in case they were needed for a
counter strike. They hadn't seen much action yet. The Support
squadrons, consisting of the artillery pieces, were hard at work, and
other tanks had deployed from time to time, but as a whole, the
majority of the company had remained there.
That looked like it was about to change.
Captain Misato Katsuragi examined the pictures taken by the
Imperial ships in orbit. The rebels had been hit hard in several
areas, with Guard forces assisted by Space Marines from three
different chapters. Pushed back on several fronts, they were adopting
a new trick.
Hit your enemy hard on another front, forcing them to divert
resources there, weakening the offensive on the fronts that you're
losing on.
Which was why a large amount of rebel soldiers and armoured
vehicles were moving towards the First Company. Although reports were
coming over the comm-net concerning the sighting of the familiar grey-
clothed infantry, the majority of the troops appeared to be the elite
troops of the former Imperial Governers personal army. Wearing heavy
body armour and carrying powerful autoguns, these rebels were far more
powerful and dangerous.
In addition to the heavy infantry, there were also new designs of
vehicles on the move. The two most obvious ones were a large form of
power armour, designated the K-Suit by the campaign intelligence, and
a small helicopter, designated the Wasp.
"Ryoji, take a look at this." Lieutenant Kaji Ryoji, commanding
officer of the companies Armoured fist platoon, had a look at the
data-slate.
"Looks like First Company gets to fight today," he commented,
adjusting his ponytail. Misato nodded. "Looks like their flanks are
exposed though, and their infantry is moving ahead of the armoured
support. The only vehicles reaching the trenches alongside the
infantry should be the Wasps, K-Suits and Sentinels."
Misato nodded. Kaji had been a tank commander back in Tokyos civil
war, and had just as much armour experience as her. "I say we move
into no-mans-land out near third company, then hit them in the flank
before they have time to reposition."
"I like it," Kaji replied. "Even ff they see us coming and turn to
face us, that leaves their weaker side armour open to the infantry
weapons in the trenches."
"I'd rather not have the foot-sloggers have to deal with the
tanks," Misato muttered. "They'll be having enough fun with the rebel
troops." She jogged over to her tank and took a comm-set from her
gunner. After a minute, she was talking to General Tendo, who approved
the plan. Handing the comm-set back to her gunner, she signalled to
Kaji, who started bellowing orders. Other squadron commanders began
getting their men into their vehicles. Engines began to warm up,
purring in the late afternoon light.
***
Ash arrived in the front trenches just as the first shots were
fired. He handed Lina several tanks of flamer fuel, and tossed a box
of missiles to the launchers loader.
"Okay, Lina, I want that flamer ready," Ranma said, flicking the
safety off his pistol. "Until then, stick to your lasgun. Kensuke,
three frags into infantry. Then pester that Sentinel Squadron with a
few Kraks. Shinji, start targeting anyone that looks important."
The first flickers of enemy lasfire began to pass over their
heads. Kensuke rose to his feet, rocket launcher on his shoulder. He
launched a missile into a squad of annoying looking rebels some
distance away before dropping back down.
***
Tenchi had set up his Autocannon just in time. He was spraying the
large rounds across the light infantry that was approaching his
position. Along the trench, hundreds of other guardsmen did the same.
The attack was staged differently this time. Usually, the rebels
launched an attack on a large area of trenches, usually involving an
entire Guard regiment at least. Here, they were focused on one small
point, intending to punch through and cause large amounts of havoc
behind the front lines.
Tenchi watched as Imperial and rebel jet fighters wove their way
through the sky. The battles on the ground were long, hard and brutal.
The battles in the sky seemed were short and almost graceful, but no
less brutal.
As he always did at least once per battle, he asked himself what
he'd been thinking when he signed up. He peppered a squad of rebels
with an extended burst of Autocannon fire, sending them running as the
rest of the squad joined in.
Then a new sound began to make itself visible over the gunfire. It
was the sound of helicopters. Fast ones. Tenchi saw them a few seconds
after he heard them. They were little more then the framework of a
helicopter, with an Autocannon and searchlight on its belly, and the
pilot wearing a form of body armour. They weren't very well armoured
at all, but they were fast.
These must be those Wasps I've heard about, Tenchi thought to
himself. He raised the aim of his cannon slightly, and let off a short
burst the reduced the pilot to mush. The Wasp lost control, crashing
into the ground.
In the time it took to kill one, other Wasps were almost at the
trenches. Assorted heavy weapons took some of them out of the battle,
but some of them began strafing the trenches. Others moved further
into Imperium territory, creating havoc until several tanks reduced
them to rubble.
A large number of soldiers turned their attention to the Wasps
flying above them, bringing them down in short order. Several of them
crashed in the trenches, killing a number of Guardsmen.
Tenchi ignored them, focusing his weapon on infantry. The numbers
of the grey-cloaked soldiers were dropping. That was the good news.
The bad news was that the gaps were being filled by soldiers wearing
dark blue body armour, their faces hidden by bulky helmets and
breathing masks.
Then the soldier saw something far worse. It was like an armed and
armoured version of the old power suits he remembered from
construction yards on Tokyo. Big and bulky, armed with all sorts of
unpleasant weapons and ready to kill. The K-Suits.
***
The elite shock troops of the rebels were moving in towards the
Imperial trenches, their body armour keeping the death rate lower then
the average. General Tendo returned to the front lines (Hayes had
wanted nothing more then an update) to find the situation worrying.
Fourth platoon was getting the worst of it. The rebels reached
them first, and the fighting there degenerated into nothing more then
a brawl. Guardsmen from behind the front lines were moving in to help
out their side, and soon the number of dead shock troops began to
rise. All the body armour in the world can't help when someone sticks
a twenty centimetre bayonet through your visor and into your skull.
Several K-suits were getting in worryingly close. Several of them
were carrying grenade launchers, and lobbed explosive charges up in
the air and down into the trenches. First platoon was suffering large
numbers of attacks of this nature, until the Lieutenant was killed by
a shock troops autogun. Sergeant Schofield took over command of the
platoon, pulling his men back into several other trenches. As the
rebels jumped down into the trenches, they found that First platoon
had left behind a number of unpleasant surprises in the form of
grenades and land mines. When the amount of airborne shrapnel went
down, Schofield lead the charge back in. Lina and several over
troopers were right alongside him, flamers roaring.
Ranma ducked a punch from a rebel, before blowing off his face
with a shot from his plasma pistol. Another one leapt at him, combat
knife outstretched. Ranma neatly sidestepped the man, tripping him
over. As he fell, Ranma stabbed him through the neck with his own
knife.
The body held onto the knife, so Ranma was left with only a pistol
in his hand. Not that this really bothered him as he continued to
carve a path through the blue-armoured rebels, his squad close behind
him.
Suddenly Ash Ketchum dropped, everything below his left kneecap
missing. The pain was too much for him to even scream.
Ranma glanced around, trying to find the attacker. Then he saw the
K-Suit standing on the edge of the trench, Autocannon smoking. "Ikari,
get Ketchum out of here," he ordered. The shy youth nodded and helped
Ash up, before dropping back towards the secure trenches for a medic.
With the familiar roar of fire, Lina attacked the K-Suit, only to
see the machines pilot aim the Autocannon at her. She leapt aside,
letting the dirt wall behind her take the attack.
"Eat this!" Ranma yelled, opening up with his pistol. White hot
plasma detonated against the K-Suit. When the steam cleared, the
armour was missing it's Autocannon and had a number of cracks and
impact craters across it.
One guardsman climbed out of the trench and fired a las-blast at
the visor that passed for it's face. The beam was slightly high,
impacting on the side of the suits head. In response, the K-Suit
lashed out with it's left fist, catching a soldier and reducing the
mans torso to pulp.
Before the pilot had a chance to react, Ranma leapt out out of the
trench and ran towards the K-Suit. In his hands he held a lasgun with
a bayonet attached. He stabbed through the visor, before firing a las-
blast into the surprised pilots face. The suit fell forward, narrowly
missing Ranma.
The rebels nearby were in shock. One of their mighty K-Suits
defeated by a single man.
The guardsmen didn't give them time to recover, killing those in
the trenches and pushing forward.
***
General Tendo slashed with his power sword, the energy field
around the blade carving the rebels in two, regardless of body armour.
His bodyguard squad was right alongside him, and second and third
platoon on each side.
The battles had now left the trenches and moved into no-mans-land.
Rebels and Guardsmen fought for their lives, but the Guardsmen were
starting to get the upper hand.
For now. Already, the armoured vehicles behind the rebel infantry
force were moving in. Transports released more shock troops, and the
heavier tanks braced for firing. Then they spoke, with a roar that
seemed to shatter the world.
Explosions ripped through second platoon as the enemy tanks
unleashed their main guns. Two squads were wiped out to a man. Tenchi
was slammed into the remains of a K-Suit and knocked out. Ryo was
engulfed in flames, but managed to put out the fire and play dead.
The strike destroyed the morale of the platoon, and they began to
fall back. The rebel tanks and infantry began to advance.
***
Misato watched as second platoon was overwhelmed. "Range?" she
asked.
"One point five kilometres. Thirty seconds until main guns will be
in range."
Misato's command tank, a Leman Russ Exterminator, would take even
longer before any of it's anti-infantry weapons would be in range. The
first salvo would be launched by the standard model Leman Russ' and
the Vanquisher variant. The other models would have to wait.
The first salvo hit hard, ripping through a number of rebel tanks,
reducing them to tinfoil. Another salvo followed a few seconds later,
hitting let more tanks on their weaker side armour.
A number of rebel tanks attempted to turn, but only found
themselves jammed in by other tanks.
"We're in range!" Captain Katsuragi's gunner yelled.
"Target all weapons and fire!" Misato yelled.
The turret of the Exterminator moved to the left slightly, and the
twin-linked Autocannons began spitting out rounds. The Heavy Bolter
mounted in the front section of the hull and the two on the side
sponsons also opened fire, launching death into the rebels midst.
This scene was repeated along the line of Tokyo tanks. The rebels
were caught out of position with the flank attack, and they were
paying the price.
General Tendo led the infantry forward, carving a path through the
rebels. Caught between the enemy and their own tanks, the rebels died
quickly.
e rear access hatches opening to reveal several dozen soldiers,
weapons ready. Heavy weapons were brought to bear on the rear armour,
crippling and destroying even more.
Soon, it was over.
***
Ranma entered the infirmary, a calm look on his face. In reality,
he was very worried. Over half of his remaining troopers were here
recovering from injuries. Four men, all badly injured. The other three
remaining members of his squad all had bandages and stiches, himself
included.
"Hey Ranma," a familiar voice muttered. Ranma turned to see Tenchi
standing there. "How'd you come out of this one?"
"Three dead, all of us injured," Ranma replied. "I heard about
second platoon. I'm sorry."
Tenchi nodded, grief clouding his features. Out of almost forty
men, seven remained alive, Tenchi one of them. They'd been transferred
to first platoon. "I figured you know. Need another soldier?"
Ranma smiled for the first time that day. "I'll be more then happy
to have you as part of my squad. Welcome aboard."
"Thanks."
Ranma and Tenchi walked down the aisle, looking through the beds.
What they saw wasn't pleasant. Men and women missing limbs, some
getting casts, some on life support as medics tried to make them ready
to fight again. Ranma hated it, just like he hated the rest of this
bloody war.
At last they came across a familar face. Namely that of Lina.
She'd been hit on the side of the head by the butt of an autogun,
leaving her with a concussion. "Hey boss," she muttered weakly, "I
guess I was worth visiting after all."
"Of course you are," Ranma replied. "How are you feeling?"
"Lousy," Lina said. "The food here stinks too. You'll think those
MRE's are a feast once you end up here."
"They have everything you need to heal quickly," the Tokyo
Regiments chief medic said as he walked towards them. Tofu Ono was
rather young, but had an impressive amount of skill and experience. A
good number of the soldiers owed their lives to him already.
"Yeah, well you forgot taste," Lina grumbled.
"Just follow Docs orders," Ranma said. "First company is dropping
back from the front line for a bit, at least until we can replace our
losses. I've been told there's at least a hundred new soldiers on
their way from Tokyo. They left a few weeks back, and should be here
soon."
"Great, rookies," Lina muttered.
"That was us just a few weeks ago," Tenchi pointed out. Lina
nodded and grumbled a bit. After bidding her farewell, they searched
out the rest of their squad.
Shinji was sitting in a fold out chair next to Ash, who was sound
asleep. As Ranma and Tenchi approached, he put the book down and stood
up to salute the Corporal. "How is he?" Ranma asked.
"Doctor Tofu managed to stop the bleeding," Shinji said quietly.
"There's still a good chance of him going into shock though. They're
attaching the bionics tomorrow."
Ranma nodded. Shinji looked as bad as many of the injured in terms
of sheer exhaustion. "Head back to your billet and crash," he said.
"You need the sleep."
Shinji nodded, saluted, then wandered towards the door, yawning as
he went.
"Nice kid," Tenchi commented.
"Bit of an introvert," Ranma replied, "but one hell of a sniper,
and loyal as hell." He knelt down next to Ash. The man's face was pale
and soaked in sweat. Ranma sighed. He'd lost a lot of friends today,
people he'd come to know and care about over the past few months.
People he'd worked alongside in basic training, people he sparred
with, people that had saved his life during the time spent at
Redermade.
As he looked at Ash, who was now missing a leg, he found himself
experiencing the most common of human emotions. Hatred. He hated these
rebels, he wanted to kill them. He still hated killing, but he could
tell that he didn't hate the thought as much as he used to. Now that
frightened him.
Standing up again, he wandered off, looking for the other two
injured men from his squad.
Both of the last two men were awake, and Doctor Tofu said they'd
be free to go in a few hours.
"That could have gone better," Tenchi muttered as they left the
infirmary.
Ranma nodded. "They'll all live, and that's the important thing."
***
The viewscreen leaning against the tin wall of Tendo's command
bunker showed nothing but snow for a brief moment, before being
replaced by the image of Lord Commander Hayes. Tendo saluted.
"Congratulations on defeating the rebel attack earlier General,"
Hayes began. "I assume you are familiar with current rebel positions
in your area?" When Tendo nodded Hayes continued. "The rebel forces in
sector 3126/sa were responsible for the attack on your regiments.
Because of the damage you inflicted, they're dangerously undermanned.
We're going to take advantage of that. All Imperial Guard regiments
surrounding Kell Hive will begin to move in on the city at 0800 hours
tomorrow. Logistics will send you regimental orders within the hour.
Dismissed."
And with that, the screen went blank. Tendo sighed in relief. At
least Hayes had only talked for a minute or two. If he'd continued,
the fool would have gone on for ages.
And he had a feeling he had a lot of work to do by tomorrow
morning.
***
Washuu pulled the goggles away from her eyes, and looked at her
latest creation.
"What is that?" Tenchi said. Ranma nodded his agreement to that
question.
"I call it the Blazer," Washuu said proudly. "I noticed that the
Tokyo Regiments didn't really have any high speed recon patrols.
There's a few Chimera and Salamander tanks from the armoured
companies, but they're not much to write home about. Anyway, I used
the anti-gravitic plates used in a number of craft, modified it for
use on a smaller frame, reinforced the frame with depleted dalekium,
installed a standard Hellslayer power plant for propulsion and the
built in lasguns-"
"Hey, take it easy Washuu," Tenchi said. "We're just soldiers, not
tech-priests. We really don't understand it. Although those are very
nice bikes."
The were eight, currently unpainted hoverbikes taking up floor
space in Washuu's workshop. The machines were rather smooth and
curved, quite different from usual Imperial designs of big and bulky.
There were two lasguns built into the Blazers, the barrel exit points
on each side of the headlights.
"So," Ranma said. "The big questions; Will the General like this
idea of yours, and who gets to ride these things?"
***
Sergeant - no, now it was Lieutenant - Schofield removed the comm-
set and handed it back to his XO. The General had just given him a
commision, making him an officer. Along with the promotion, he'd been
given a number of orders. The current situation was moving so fast
that Tendo couldn't bring in all the officers and brief them.
"Get all of first platoons squad leaders here in ten minutes," he
told one of the men from his squad. The trooper nodded and ran off.
Schofield turned his attention to just what he would say to his men.
Eight minutes later, the last squad leader turned up just as
Schofield was putting on his new rank pins. "Okay people, orders from
the General. All regiments are mobilising at 0800 tomorrow. The rebels
are suffering from putting so much into the recent attacks and the
Lord Commander intends to make them suffer even more. We're being
deployed as a recon unit, ahead of the main force. The plan is to
assist recon squadrons from the armoured companies as well as other
platoons in this role." He outlined all of the specific squad
assignments, coming to Ranma last. "Catch," he said, tossing Ranma a
small object. Ranma caught it, and blinked in surprise when he saw
that it was a Sergeants rank pin.
"The General's got a new plan. Some tech-priest built some new
high-speed bikes, and she recommended you to command them. The General
agreed, and gave you a promotion to boot. You still report to me, but
you'll be spending a decent amount of time further away. Oh, and he
said he wants his pistol back." The last comment was said with no
small amount of confusion.
Ranma made a note to take the pistol back later.
***
"The Blazers?" Tenchi muttered. "Washuu recommended you to command
so she could try out her new toy on me."
"You've known her for a long time," Ranma said.
"Remember all those people that used to live in my house? Washuu
was one of them. She had a bunch of Servitors build her a lab under
the house."
"Nice. That would have helped with repairs."
"Oh, we had plenty of repairs," Tenchi muttered. He could still
remember it well, even now. Crown Princess of Jurai Ayeka, the
genetically modified Ryouko, Ayeka's little sister Sasami, Tenchi's
grandfather, all parts of the mayhem that was his life. He remembered
it well, and he missed it, but it was taken from him long before he
joined the Guard.
"Well, there's eight bikes at least," Ranma was saying, pulling
Tenchi back to the present. "We'll be able to fill six of them now,
and when Ash and Lina get out we'll fill two more. See if you convince
Washuu to build one more, with a sidecar carrying a heavy weapon of
some sort."
***
While the majority of the Tokyo Regiments packed up and prepared
to move out, Ranma was busy getting his men used to the Hovercycles.
It was going better then he expected. At least all of his men had
riden some sort of two wheeled vehicle, although two of them had only
ridden bicycles in the past.
Ranma adjusted the power outage slightly, ducking between two
tanks, before swinging hard left to blast a simple bulls-eye target
with the built in lasguns. Tenchi and Hiroshi were close behind,
blowing apart two more targets.
Ranma was in the middle of a pure adrenaline rush. He hadn't had
this much fun in weeks. He wasn't fighting, which was strange for him,
he was just having fun. Sure, he was doing this to train himself and
his squad in riding these beasts, but it was having a good effect on
him.
And from the looks of it, it was helping the rest of the squad, as
well as those watching. Several tank crews had had gotten their hands
on a few training lasguns (Low powered beams that didn't even make a
rash) and were helping his squad dodge las-fire, as well as taking
potshots at a picture of Lord Commander Hayes.
General Tendo watched, unnoticed, from a short distance away. When
Tech-priestess Washuu Hibuki built the Blazer Hovercycles, he'd seen
it as a fast recon unit.
He hadn't expected it to boost morale as well. But he was happy to
see that it did. His men were tired, injured and hurting from the loss
of many of their team-mates and friends. They deserved a chance to
smile, to have something to laugh about.
After all, tomorrow would be another hard day for them.
***
Night fell over the trenches, and many troopers attempted to get some
sleep. Ranma made sure the bikes were safe, then made his way to his
squads section of the trench.
Tenchi and Lina were cooking eggs over a gas burner. "Just in
time," Lina said, scratching at the bandage wrapped around her head
like a bandanna.
"When did you get out of the infirmary?" Ranma asked. "And where'd
you find eggs?"
"Doc said I was okay to to go about half an hour ago, and I got
the eggs off an officer from Second Company in a game of cards while I
was there."
Ranma smiled as he sat down. "Got enough for one more soldier?"
"Sure thing," Lina said. She pulled more eggs out of her bag. "Got
enough for everyone."
The group was silent for a while as the eggs cooked on the
hotplate. Finally, Lina spoke up. "I heard about the bikes. Got one
for me?"
Ranma nodded. "No way I'd leave you out of this. You got any
experience with hovercycles?"
"You remember the old J-9300-T Tornado gravbikes?"
"I remember seeing a few from the Tornado series back on Tokyo,
but I was never into bikes much," Ranma said.
"Owned the old girl for three years until some punk blew it up. I
can handle the Blazers."
"Good," Ranma said. "I wonder how long this war will last?" he
said quietly, looking up at the night sky, the smog clouds blocking
the stars as usual.
"Does it matter?" Lina said. "Once it's over, we'll end up on
another planet, fighting another war. Then another war after that, and
so on until we die."
"That's a lousy outlook on life," Tenchi commented.
"You didn't let me finish," Lina replied. "But along the way, we
make sure to take extra care of the good. There are stories all around
the regiment now about the new bike squad. It's a good story!" She
grinned. "I heard you lost to Hiroshi in a drag race," she said to
Tenchi, a grin on her face.
"There was a rock in the way," Tenchi muttered.
"The fact I'm trying to make is simple," Lina continued, ignoring
Tenchi's protests, "is that just despite all the lousy things that
will happen to us over our time as Guardsmen, there are still things
worth living for. Little moments of joy, times of happiness, life
itself. But we have to do it one day at a time. If we look too far
ahead, we'll be telling ourselves that one day we'll die in a war,
clipped by a las-round, blown up by a grenade... It doesn't matter
how. But by looking at today, we can enjoy those little moments, as
rare or as common as they may be."
Ranma nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. "You're right," he
said quietly. "Thanks Lina, I've been feeling a bit lousy lately."
"I noticed," she replied. "Care to tell us why?"
Ranma shrugged. "It's just looking back at what keeps on
happening. So many friends dead, for what seems like a pointless war.
Breaking away from the Imperium is crazy! They've got the firepower to
beat even a Hive world, and it makes more sense to have the Imperium
on your side when trouble comes your way."
"Power does strange things to people," Tenchi said. "I've seen it
happen before."
"But what scares me the most is that I'm starting to want to kill
the rebels. I was raised to believe that you should never kill except
as the very last resort. But now...." He shook his head sadly. "I
don't know, maybe I'm paranoid, but I'm afraid that I might start
enjoying it."
"If that happens to me," Lina said, "I'll stick a laspistol in my
mouth. I've come across too many Chaos followers in the past that
enjoyed killing. Some of them got sexual pleasure out of it. I believe
that enjoying death is the first step to the Chaos Gods. It's best if
you enjoy the good things in life, and keep the bad from overwhelming
you."
The trio were quiet from then, as Lina placed the eggs on a few
plates. After a few minutes of eating, Lina piped up again. "So,
what're the plans for tomorrow?"
***
Morning came, although it didn't really improve the appearance of
the areas around the Imperial trenches. Not that it mattered, since
everyone would be leaving soon anyway.
Hundreds of trucks were parked behind a protective line of tanks
and infantry. Thousands of soldiers tossed their gear aboard, then
climbed on themselves.
In one of the infirmaries, Doctor Ono supervised the loading of
injured onto other trucks, which would return to Fesal Hive, safely
under Imperial control.
The Basilisk artillery tanks continued to fire on Kell Hive, out
of sight to the naked eye, hidden by the constant smog that blocked
everything.
A number of tank and infantry squads moved out, scouting ahead of
the armies. And from trench section 437/23, seven hoverbikes raced
towards whatever lay ahead of them.
On the lead bike, Ranma adjusted his goggles. "Ten minutes to
first nav point people. Keep your eyes open for any enemy movement."
The squad signalled back their acknowledgement. "This is a
pleasant change, isn't it?" Lina asked over the comm-link.
"Damn straight," Ranma replied. "Better then the trenches." In the
distance, he saw several tanks, marked with Tokyo badges, moving at
high speed through no-mans-land. They suddenly veered left and
vanished from sight behind a rock emplacement.
It was still soldier work, something he had come to hate, but here
he felt like he was doing something worthwhile. And that was one of
the reasons he enlisted in the first place.
***
End Part Two.
***
I finished the first draft of this at 10:47pm on the 26/2/2001.
Less then a month after I released part one. That's my best yet, most
likely because I didn't have a fun mental block.
What's to come in part three? The Tokyo Regiments continue to
change through their new experience, Washuu continues on with her
inventions, and Ranma and his recon squad make a gruesome discovery.
Oh, and Space Marines tossed into the bargain!
Some people may accuse me of being unrealistic with how Ranma was
given command of a recon squad. Just remember, this is a brand new
regiment. Although they have some experience from a civil war on their
homeworld, this war is unlike the one they have fought. Over the past
century there have been many examples of military forces changing in
structure and tactics between and even during wars. What may have
worked in Europe may not work in the Pacific, so to speak.
My thanks to everyone that prereads this for me, and anyone that
reads it in any other way. Compliments, suggestions and ideas may be
sent to Matrix-Dragon@Usa.Net. Insults, flames and death threats may
be sent to Saddam@Iraq.gov :)
Matrix Dragon
"Insert humorous quote here."
Soldiers of The Imperium, Part Two
I don't own 'em. If I did, do you think I'd be typing this on an
old 486? NO! I'd have a new computer, with every major PC game on it,
and servants catering to my every whim, with a nice.... (Doctors drag
him away by the collar of his straightjacket.)
***
Ranma Saotome looked out over the wasteland. He didn't like what
he saw. The rain had stopped a week back, the star systems red sun
turning the mud hard and rotting the corpses even faster. At least the
rain kept the flies down.
Three weeks. Three weeks since the Tokyo Regiments had arrived on
this dirtball. They'd been thrown right in the deep end, ordered to
defend an area where the rebels were determined to break through.
They'd learnt fast. They had to. Those that didn't learn died.
They no longer used Low Gothic on their regimental communications.
They used Tokyo's native language. It was a language the enemy did not
know and it made for safer communications.
They'd learnt new tactics, abandoned ones that didn't work. The
result was a stronger regiment. Although they had less men, they had
the skill to make up for it. They were able to defend and ready to
attack.
Ranma turned his attention to his men. HIS men. Right after that
first battle, the Lieutenant had promoted him to Corporal and placed
him in command of a squad.
In his opinion, promotion was a pain. He'd had to deal with the
supplies of the entire squad, make sure that they all stay alive, and
deal with any other problems that came up.
He glanced at the data-slate in his hands. The ammunition supplies
of his squad were displayed there. Fuel canisters for Lina's flamer
was almost out, and they were short on missiles. At least they had
plenty of power packs for the lasguns.
He wrote up a request for extra ammo, then had Ash Ketchum deliver
the message to the platoon command. Ranma watched him go, then turned
his attention back to his meal. "If there's anything I hate most about
the Guard, it's there MRE's," he muttered.
Lina nodded in agreement. The MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) not only
tasted bad, but contained very little. For people with appetites the
size of Ranma's and Lina's, this was not a good thing.
Lina shook the plastic bag, sighing when only a few crumbs fell
out. "This really sucks, you know that?"
Ranma nodded, tossing his bag away. "What I'd give for some real
food," he said, thinking of the wonderful meal he'd had the night
before he enlisted. Since then he'd been surviving on slop, and his
stomach was letting him know.
Lina climbed into her billet and tried to get some sleep. The
rebels had been keeping her awake, meaning that she was tired and
extremely grumpy.
Ranma almost felt sorry for the rebels if they chose to attack
today. Almost. He was tired as well.
***
Tenchi locked the ammo-belt back into place, then tested the Heavy
Bolter again. The blasted thing still wouldn't fire. "Argh," he
commented.
"That thing still not working?" Lieutenant Zolf asked as he walked
up behind Tenchi. Said trooper yelped in surprise.
"No sir," Tenchi said quickly, standing up and saluting.
"At ease. It could have been worse. A few inches higher and it
would have been your face that took the blast, not the gun."
Tenchi considered that. Here he'd been, getting angry with a
faulty gun, when the only reason he was alive was because said faulty
gun took the shot for him. Kinda funny, but a little immature too.
"Anyway, Masaki, I want you to make a run to Workshop Sixty-Beta.
They've got supplies and weaponry I want brought up here. Take Saeba
with you."
"Ryo Saeba?" Tenchi said.
"You know him?"
"Only by reputation mostly." And none of it good, he mentally
added. Ryo Saeba had a reputation as one of the regiments biggest
lechers. No small number of the female soldiers had introduced him to
the butt of their lasguns. Unlike that Ataru jerk over in Third
Company, Ryo was actually quite useful in a fight.
"He may be a pervert, but he's strong. He should be able to carry
a decent amount of equipment."
Tenchi nodded, then unclamped the Heavy Bolter from its mount.
***
"Hey beautiful, how about you and I go back to my billet for a
little close combat?" Ryo Saeba asked a young woman wearing the green
Tokyo uniform. She responded by slamming the butt of her lasgun into
his stomach, doubling him over.
"Oh come on," Tenchi muttered. "You can sicken the opposite gender
later. We've got a job to do." He pulled the grumbling soldier through
the trenches, until they emerged into slightly wider trenches, about a
kilometre behind the front lines.
Workshop Sixty-Beta was well hidden on the surface. The only sign
of it was a polyfibre blast shield over a wooden door, along with
several anti-gas curtains. Tenchi pulled the drapes out of the way,
knocked on the shield, then stepped back in surprise as a small
hologram of a crab appeared.
"Hi!" the crab said cheerfully. "I'm kinda busy right now, so if
you leave your name and geno-print, I'll get back to you as soon as
possible. Just leave the message after the beep. Beep!"
"Washuu-chan?!" Tenchi exclaimed. The crab was his old friends
motif.
The crab faded away, replaced by a familiar face surrounded by a
mop of red hair. "Tenchi, is that you?" Washuu Hibuki asked.
"It's me Washuu-chan. What are you doing here?"
"It's a long story, and I suspect it's the same for you. Come in,
come in!" The blast shield slid to the side, and Tenchi and Ryo heard
the click of the door unlocking.
"Judging from her face, I'd say the rest of her was extremely
beautiful," Ryo said. "Lush and ripe-"
"Will you put a sock in it," Tenchi growled. "Now come on." He
opened the door and descended the flight of stairs on the other side.
Reaching the bottom, he looked around the small workshop,
remembering a time long past.
The room was filled with dozens of arcane machines, some devices
half-assembled, others beeping and chattering. In a metallic chair
that floated above the ground by the use of several anti-grav plates,
sat a woman that appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She placed the
object in her hands on the bench and ran over to Tenchi, hugging him.
"It's so good to see you Tenchi!"
"Same h-"
"HELLOOOO NURSE!"
"Oh no," Tenchi groaned, seeing Ryo start to drool. The pervert
was lining up for a quick grope. At least, he was until a multi-
barrelled weapon on a bench came to life, and several red dots
appeared on his forehead. Ryo froze.
"Out," Washuu said in a cold voice. Ryo nodded and fled. Washuu
turned her attention back to Tenchi. "When did you get here?" she
asked as she released him from her death hug.
"About the same time you did, I'll bet," he replied.
"Probably. But why did you join the guard? Leaving Tokyo forever
would have been tough."
"No harder then what you went through."
Washuu shook her head. "I ended up on Tokyo by accident in the
first place. It was leaving your family house that was hard. But after
you left, it was too peaceful. And... I couldn't help but remember
Ryouko."
"That's why I left as well," Tenchi replied. Then he changed the
subject. "Anyway, I was sent here to get some supplies for first
company second platoon, under Lieutenant Zolf."
"Hm? Oh yeah, that!" the red-head said, bounding over to a bench.
Four boxes were stacked there, the open top of one revealing a number
of repaired weapons. "It's pretty easy to fix guns when you're the
best tech-priest in the galaxy!"
"Then would you be able to take a look at this?" Tenchi asked,
unslinging the Heavy Bolter. Washuu took a quick glance at it and
nodded.
"That'll be no problem. Saaayyy..."
Tenchi gulped. That tone of voice usually meant trouble for him.
"How would you like to test out some modifications to a weapon
I've got here?"
Tenchi nodded carefully. Washuu grinned and picked up a large
weapon off a bench. It was a man-portable Autocannon, ammo-belt
currently resting nearby. She handed it to Tenchi, who was surprised
at its weight. It was lighter then the usual model he was used to.
"I made it from new alloys the priest-hood recovered a few years
ago," Washuu said by way of explanation. Tenchi nodded. He knew a few
things about that, although it was nothing compared to the tech-priest
in front of him. "It'll take a while for me to fix that thing," she
said, pointing at the defective Heavy Bolter. "I'm a busy priestess."
"Sure thing. Ryo! Get down here now!" Ryo came down the steps,
watching the strange weapon on the bench as it began to follow him
again. "Grab some boxes, balls-for-brains."
"Man, why are you so grouchy all of a sudden?" Ryo asked.
"Mostly because you tried to grope a good friend of mine," Tenchi
replied. "Now take some of those boxes." Ryo sulked, but did as he was
told.
"I've got to get back to my platoon," Tenchi said. "I'll drop by
and visit when I can."
"Sure thing," Washuu replied. "Just make sure that you do visit."
Tenchi nodded, slung his new Autocannon over his shoulders,
grabbed several boxes and walked up the steps, Ryo close behind him.
Washuu watched them leave. "There are people that will want to know
about this," she said, pulling back her sleve and synth-skin to reveal
the bionics in her arm. Attaching several wires, she activated a
cogitator. Writing began to appear on the screen as he mentally typed
a message, before encrypting it and sending it to one of the regiments
astropaths. The psyker would transmit the message through the Warp,
allowing it to reach Tokyo, almost fifty light-years away, in a week.
***
General Soun Tendo, overall commander of the Tokyo Regiments,
walked down the trenches of the First Regiment. He had been pulling
random inspections of the trenches, in order to see for himself that
the men were in fighting trim.
The various soldiers snapped to attention as he came near them,
and he took the time to examine them. The morale of the men and women
of the Tokyo Regiments was surprisingly high, considering the number
of attacks that took place along their part of the battlefield. Of
course, most of them didn't know that the rebels had been directing a
larger number of attacks to the Tokyo forces then the other Guard
Regiments. He considered the idea of tellng them that, but scrapped it
due to morale concerns.
By the time he reached the first company, manning the eastern
section of the Tokyo trenches, the sky had gotten cloudy again. He
partly hoped that it rained. But then his men would be walking through
a foot of mud again, and the insects would start breeding in puddles
again. He'd lost almost five men to sickness brought on by insects.
Ranma and his unit saluted as the General approached. "At ease,"
he said. The soldiers returned to what they were doing.
Ranma watched as his commanding officer examined the area. The man
had shown up several times over the past few weeks, and the Corporal
had heard stories of the squads and platoons that did not meet his
expectations.
"How are your supplies corporal?" the General asked.
"They're sufficient sir," Ranma replied. "There is a slight
shortage of flamer fuel-tanks, but I already have more on the way."
"Very good," Tendo said. He would have asked more, but the head-
sets both he and Ranma were wearing squawked into life.
"This is 275/12c. All units in trench section 437/23, movement
sighted at nine hundred metres."
"Movement at nine hundred," Ranma said in a calm voice. His squad
sprung into life, readying their weapons. Trooper Shinji Ikari readied
his sniper-variant lasgun, running the scope across no-mans land.
"I've got a target," he said quietly. "Light infantry at one
o'clock, range eight-seventy. I count twenty-four troops."
Ranma nodded, relaying the message to company command. Soun
watched with pride. Then his headset crackled into life again. "Tendo
here."
"General, you have a communication from Lord Commander Hayes."
Tendo sighed. Hayes was the overall commander of the Redermade
campaign, and a pain in the butt. He was more then willing to
sacrifice entire regiments for no gain whatsoever, which made him very
unpopular in an age where the old tactics of cannon fodder no longer
worked or was accepted.
He also demanded visual communications, which meant that Soun
would have to leave his men right before a possible attack. Not good
for morale.
One of the troopers, a red-head in her early twenties, seemed to
notice this. "You look like a troll took a leak in your koi pond," she
said.
"Lord Commander Hayes wishes to speak to me," he replied.
A few soldiers whistled. They had heard of Hayes and his history,
mostly through the Cadian 34th, stationed nearby. That regiment had
nearly been wiped out by Hayes ordering a bombardment of an Ork camp
five years ago. The fact that there were Cadian Shock Troops in the
camp forcing the Orks into retreat at the time didn't bother him in
the least.
"Go talk to him sir," Ranma said. "We'll let the word spread
you're fighting the greater enemy."
Soun repressed a smirk. He liked this boy. On an impulse, he
removed his plasma pistol from its holster on his belt and handed it
to Ranma. "Carry it with pride," he said.
Ranma took the pistol and ammo cells, a grave look on his face.
"I'll make you proud sir."
"Carry on." And with that Soun ran towards the command bunker,
hoping that Hayes wasn't going to pull one of his usual stunts.
***
Behind trench section 437/23, manned by troops of the Tokyo First,
First Company, almost forty tanks were parked. This was Seventh
Company, the Tokyo Firsts Armoured Vehicles. So far, they had mostly
remained behind the front lines, in case they were needed for a
counter strike. They hadn't seen much action yet. The Support
squadrons, consisting of the artillery pieces, were hard at work, and
other tanks had deployed from time to time, but as a whole, the
majority of the company had remained there.
That looked like it was about to change.
Captain Misato Katsuragi examined the pictures taken by the
Imperial ships in orbit. The rebels had been hit hard in several
areas, with Guard forces assisted by Space Marines from three
different chapters. Pushed back on several fronts, they were adopting
a new trick.
Hit your enemy hard on another front, forcing them to divert
resources there, weakening the offensive on the fronts that you're
losing on.
Which was why a large amount of rebel soldiers and armoured
vehicles were moving towards the First Company. Although reports were
coming over the comm-net concerning the sighting of the familiar grey-
clothed infantry, the majority of the troops appeared to be the elite
troops of the former Imperial Governers personal army. Wearing heavy
body armour and carrying powerful autoguns, these rebels were far more
powerful and dangerous.
In addition to the heavy infantry, there were also new designs of
vehicles on the move. The two most obvious ones were a large form of
power armour, designated the K-Suit by the campaign intelligence, and
a small helicopter, designated the Wasp.
"Ryoji, take a look at this." Lieutenant Kaji Ryoji, commanding
officer of the companies Armoured fist platoon, had a look at the
data-slate.
"Looks like First Company gets to fight today," he commented,
adjusting his ponytail. Misato nodded. "Looks like their flanks are
exposed though, and their infantry is moving ahead of the armoured
support. The only vehicles reaching the trenches alongside the
infantry should be the Wasps, K-Suits and Sentinels."
Misato nodded. Kaji had been a tank commander back in Tokyos civil
war, and had just as much armour experience as her. "I say we move
into no-mans-land out near third company, then hit them in the flank
before they have time to reposition."
"I like it," Kaji replied. "Even ff they see us coming and turn to
face us, that leaves their weaker side armour open to the infantry
weapons in the trenches."
"I'd rather not have the foot-sloggers have to deal with the
tanks," Misato muttered. "They'll be having enough fun with the rebel
troops." She jogged over to her tank and took a comm-set from her
gunner. After a minute, she was talking to General Tendo, who approved
the plan. Handing the comm-set back to her gunner, she signalled to
Kaji, who started bellowing orders. Other squadron commanders began
getting their men into their vehicles. Engines began to warm up,
purring in the late afternoon light.
***
Ash arrived in the front trenches just as the first shots were
fired. He handed Lina several tanks of flamer fuel, and tossed a box
of missiles to the launchers loader.
"Okay, Lina, I want that flamer ready," Ranma said, flicking the
safety off his pistol. "Until then, stick to your lasgun. Kensuke,
three frags into infantry. Then pester that Sentinel Squadron with a
few Kraks. Shinji, start targeting anyone that looks important."
The first flickers of enemy lasfire began to pass over their
heads. Kensuke rose to his feet, rocket launcher on his shoulder. He
launched a missile into a squad of annoying looking rebels some
distance away before dropping back down.
***
Tenchi had set up his Autocannon just in time. He was spraying the
large rounds across the light infantry that was approaching his
position. Along the trench, hundreds of other guardsmen did the same.
The attack was staged differently this time. Usually, the rebels
launched an attack on a large area of trenches, usually involving an
entire Guard regiment at least. Here, they were focused on one small
point, intending to punch through and cause large amounts of havoc
behind the front lines.
Tenchi watched as Imperial and rebel jet fighters wove their way
through the sky. The battles on the ground were long, hard and brutal.
The battles in the sky seemed were short and almost graceful, but no
less brutal.
As he always did at least once per battle, he asked himself what
he'd been thinking when he signed up. He peppered a squad of rebels
with an extended burst of Autocannon fire, sending them running as the
rest of the squad joined in.
Then a new sound began to make itself visible over the gunfire. It
was the sound of helicopters. Fast ones. Tenchi saw them a few seconds
after he heard them. They were little more then the framework of a
helicopter, with an Autocannon and searchlight on its belly, and the
pilot wearing a form of body armour. They weren't very well armoured
at all, but they were fast.
These must be those Wasps I've heard about, Tenchi thought to
himself. He raised the aim of his cannon slightly, and let off a short
burst the reduced the pilot to mush. The Wasp lost control, crashing
into the ground.
In the time it took to kill one, other Wasps were almost at the
trenches. Assorted heavy weapons took some of them out of the battle,
but some of them began strafing the trenches. Others moved further
into Imperium territory, creating havoc until several tanks reduced
them to rubble.
A large number of soldiers turned their attention to the Wasps
flying above them, bringing them down in short order. Several of them
crashed in the trenches, killing a number of Guardsmen.
Tenchi ignored them, focusing his weapon on infantry. The numbers
of the grey-cloaked soldiers were dropping. That was the good news.
The bad news was that the gaps were being filled by soldiers wearing
dark blue body armour, their faces hidden by bulky helmets and
breathing masks.
Then the soldier saw something far worse. It was like an armed and
armoured version of the old power suits he remembered from
construction yards on Tokyo. Big and bulky, armed with all sorts of
unpleasant weapons and ready to kill. The K-Suits.
***
The elite shock troops of the rebels were moving in towards the
Imperial trenches, their body armour keeping the death rate lower then
the average. General Tendo returned to the front lines (Hayes had
wanted nothing more then an update) to find the situation worrying.
Fourth platoon was getting the worst of it. The rebels reached
them first, and the fighting there degenerated into nothing more then
a brawl. Guardsmen from behind the front lines were moving in to help
out their side, and soon the number of dead shock troops began to
rise. All the body armour in the world can't help when someone sticks
a twenty centimetre bayonet through your visor and into your skull.
Several K-suits were getting in worryingly close. Several of them
were carrying grenade launchers, and lobbed explosive charges up in
the air and down into the trenches. First platoon was suffering large
numbers of attacks of this nature, until the Lieutenant was killed by
a shock troops autogun. Sergeant Schofield took over command of the
platoon, pulling his men back into several other trenches. As the
rebels jumped down into the trenches, they found that First platoon
had left behind a number of unpleasant surprises in the form of
grenades and land mines. When the amount of airborne shrapnel went
down, Schofield lead the charge back in. Lina and several over
troopers were right alongside him, flamers roaring.
Ranma ducked a punch from a rebel, before blowing off his face
with a shot from his plasma pistol. Another one leapt at him, combat
knife outstretched. Ranma neatly sidestepped the man, tripping him
over. As he fell, Ranma stabbed him through the neck with his own
knife.
The body held onto the knife, so Ranma was left with only a pistol
in his hand. Not that this really bothered him as he continued to
carve a path through the blue-armoured rebels, his squad close behind
him.
Suddenly Ash Ketchum dropped, everything below his left kneecap
missing. The pain was too much for him to even scream.
Ranma glanced around, trying to find the attacker. Then he saw the
K-Suit standing on the edge of the trench, Autocannon smoking. "Ikari,
get Ketchum out of here," he ordered. The shy youth nodded and helped
Ash up, before dropping back towards the secure trenches for a medic.
With the familiar roar of fire, Lina attacked the K-Suit, only to
see the machines pilot aim the Autocannon at her. She leapt aside,
letting the dirt wall behind her take the attack.
"Eat this!" Ranma yelled, opening up with his pistol. White hot
plasma detonated against the K-Suit. When the steam cleared, the
armour was missing it's Autocannon and had a number of cracks and
impact craters across it.
One guardsman climbed out of the trench and fired a las-blast at
the visor that passed for it's face. The beam was slightly high,
impacting on the side of the suits head. In response, the K-Suit
lashed out with it's left fist, catching a soldier and reducing the
mans torso to pulp.
Before the pilot had a chance to react, Ranma leapt out out of the
trench and ran towards the K-Suit. In his hands he held a lasgun with
a bayonet attached. He stabbed through the visor, before firing a las-
blast into the surprised pilots face. The suit fell forward, narrowly
missing Ranma.
The rebels nearby were in shock. One of their mighty K-Suits
defeated by a single man.
The guardsmen didn't give them time to recover, killing those in
the trenches and pushing forward.
***
General Tendo slashed with his power sword, the energy field
around the blade carving the rebels in two, regardless of body armour.
His bodyguard squad was right alongside him, and second and third
platoon on each side.
The battles had now left the trenches and moved into no-mans-land.
Rebels and Guardsmen fought for their lives, but the Guardsmen were
starting to get the upper hand.
For now. Already, the armoured vehicles behind the rebel infantry
force were moving in. Transports released more shock troops, and the
heavier tanks braced for firing. Then they spoke, with a roar that
seemed to shatter the world.
Explosions ripped through second platoon as the enemy tanks
unleashed their main guns. Two squads were wiped out to a man. Tenchi
was slammed into the remains of a K-Suit and knocked out. Ryo was
engulfed in flames, but managed to put out the fire and play dead.
The strike destroyed the morale of the platoon, and they began to
fall back. The rebel tanks and infantry began to advance.
***
Misato watched as second platoon was overwhelmed. "Range?" she
asked.
"One point five kilometres. Thirty seconds until main guns will be
in range."
Misato's command tank, a Leman Russ Exterminator, would take even
longer before any of it's anti-infantry weapons would be in range. The
first salvo would be launched by the standard model Leman Russ' and
the Vanquisher variant. The other models would have to wait.
The first salvo hit hard, ripping through a number of rebel tanks,
reducing them to tinfoil. Another salvo followed a few seconds later,
hitting let more tanks on their weaker side armour.
A number of rebel tanks attempted to turn, but only found
themselves jammed in by other tanks.
"We're in range!" Captain Katsuragi's gunner yelled.
"Target all weapons and fire!" Misato yelled.
The turret of the Exterminator moved to the left slightly, and the
twin-linked Autocannons began spitting out rounds. The Heavy Bolter
mounted in the front section of the hull and the two on the side
sponsons also opened fire, launching death into the rebels midst.
This scene was repeated along the line of Tokyo tanks. The rebels
were caught out of position with the flank attack, and they were
paying the price.
General Tendo led the infantry forward, carving a path through the
rebels. Caught between the enemy and their own tanks, the rebels died
quickly.
e rear access hatches opening to reveal several dozen soldiers,
weapons ready. Heavy weapons were brought to bear on the rear armour,
crippling and destroying even more.
Soon, it was over.
***
Ranma entered the infirmary, a calm look on his face. In reality,
he was very worried. Over half of his remaining troopers were here
recovering from injuries. Four men, all badly injured. The other three
remaining members of his squad all had bandages and stiches, himself
included.
"Hey Ranma," a familiar voice muttered. Ranma turned to see Tenchi
standing there. "How'd you come out of this one?"
"Three dead, all of us injured," Ranma replied. "I heard about
second platoon. I'm sorry."
Tenchi nodded, grief clouding his features. Out of almost forty
men, seven remained alive, Tenchi one of them. They'd been transferred
to first platoon. "I figured you know. Need another soldier?"
Ranma smiled for the first time that day. "I'll be more then happy
to have you as part of my squad. Welcome aboard."
"Thanks."
Ranma and Tenchi walked down the aisle, looking through the beds.
What they saw wasn't pleasant. Men and women missing limbs, some
getting casts, some on life support as medics tried to make them ready
to fight again. Ranma hated it, just like he hated the rest of this
bloody war.
At last they came across a familar face. Namely that of Lina.
She'd been hit on the side of the head by the butt of an autogun,
leaving her with a concussion. "Hey boss," she muttered weakly, "I
guess I was worth visiting after all."
"Of course you are," Ranma replied. "How are you feeling?"
"Lousy," Lina said. "The food here stinks too. You'll think those
MRE's are a feast once you end up here."
"They have everything you need to heal quickly," the Tokyo
Regiments chief medic said as he walked towards them. Tofu Ono was
rather young, but had an impressive amount of skill and experience. A
good number of the soldiers owed their lives to him already.
"Yeah, well you forgot taste," Lina grumbled.
"Just follow Docs orders," Ranma said. "First company is dropping
back from the front line for a bit, at least until we can replace our
losses. I've been told there's at least a hundred new soldiers on
their way from Tokyo. They left a few weeks back, and should be here
soon."
"Great, rookies," Lina muttered.
"That was us just a few weeks ago," Tenchi pointed out. Lina
nodded and grumbled a bit. After bidding her farewell, they searched
out the rest of their squad.
Shinji was sitting in a fold out chair next to Ash, who was sound
asleep. As Ranma and Tenchi approached, he put the book down and stood
up to salute the Corporal. "How is he?" Ranma asked.
"Doctor Tofu managed to stop the bleeding," Shinji said quietly.
"There's still a good chance of him going into shock though. They're
attaching the bionics tomorrow."
Ranma nodded. Shinji looked as bad as many of the injured in terms
of sheer exhaustion. "Head back to your billet and crash," he said.
"You need the sleep."
Shinji nodded, saluted, then wandered towards the door, yawning as
he went.
"Nice kid," Tenchi commented.
"Bit of an introvert," Ranma replied, "but one hell of a sniper,
and loyal as hell." He knelt down next to Ash. The man's face was pale
and soaked in sweat. Ranma sighed. He'd lost a lot of friends today,
people he'd come to know and care about over the past few months.
People he'd worked alongside in basic training, people he sparred
with, people that had saved his life during the time spent at
Redermade.
As he looked at Ash, who was now missing a leg, he found himself
experiencing the most common of human emotions. Hatred. He hated these
rebels, he wanted to kill them. He still hated killing, but he could
tell that he didn't hate the thought as much as he used to. Now that
frightened him.
Standing up again, he wandered off, looking for the other two
injured men from his squad.
Both of the last two men were awake, and Doctor Tofu said they'd
be free to go in a few hours.
"That could have gone better," Tenchi muttered as they left the
infirmary.
Ranma nodded. "They'll all live, and that's the important thing."
***
The viewscreen leaning against the tin wall of Tendo's command
bunker showed nothing but snow for a brief moment, before being
replaced by the image of Lord Commander Hayes. Tendo saluted.
"Congratulations on defeating the rebel attack earlier General,"
Hayes began. "I assume you are familiar with current rebel positions
in your area?" When Tendo nodded Hayes continued. "The rebel forces in
sector 3126/sa were responsible for the attack on your regiments.
Because of the damage you inflicted, they're dangerously undermanned.
We're going to take advantage of that. All Imperial Guard regiments
surrounding Kell Hive will begin to move in on the city at 0800 hours
tomorrow. Logistics will send you regimental orders within the hour.
Dismissed."
And with that, the screen went blank. Tendo sighed in relief. At
least Hayes had only talked for a minute or two. If he'd continued,
the fool would have gone on for ages.
And he had a feeling he had a lot of work to do by tomorrow
morning.
***
Washuu pulled the goggles away from her eyes, and looked at her
latest creation.
"What is that?" Tenchi said. Ranma nodded his agreement to that
question.
"I call it the Blazer," Washuu said proudly. "I noticed that the
Tokyo Regiments didn't really have any high speed recon patrols.
There's a few Chimera and Salamander tanks from the armoured
companies, but they're not much to write home about. Anyway, I used
the anti-gravitic plates used in a number of craft, modified it for
use on a smaller frame, reinforced the frame with depleted dalekium,
installed a standard Hellslayer power plant for propulsion and the
built in lasguns-"
"Hey, take it easy Washuu," Tenchi said. "We're just soldiers, not
tech-priests. We really don't understand it. Although those are very
nice bikes."
The were eight, currently unpainted hoverbikes taking up floor
space in Washuu's workshop. The machines were rather smooth and
curved, quite different from usual Imperial designs of big and bulky.
There were two lasguns built into the Blazers, the barrel exit points
on each side of the headlights.
"So," Ranma said. "The big questions; Will the General like this
idea of yours, and who gets to ride these things?"
***
Sergeant - no, now it was Lieutenant - Schofield removed the comm-
set and handed it back to his XO. The General had just given him a
commision, making him an officer. Along with the promotion, he'd been
given a number of orders. The current situation was moving so fast
that Tendo couldn't bring in all the officers and brief them.
"Get all of first platoons squad leaders here in ten minutes," he
told one of the men from his squad. The trooper nodded and ran off.
Schofield turned his attention to just what he would say to his men.
Eight minutes later, the last squad leader turned up just as
Schofield was putting on his new rank pins. "Okay people, orders from
the General. All regiments are mobilising at 0800 tomorrow. The rebels
are suffering from putting so much into the recent attacks and the
Lord Commander intends to make them suffer even more. We're being
deployed as a recon unit, ahead of the main force. The plan is to
assist recon squadrons from the armoured companies as well as other
platoons in this role." He outlined all of the specific squad
assignments, coming to Ranma last. "Catch," he said, tossing Ranma a
small object. Ranma caught it, and blinked in surprise when he saw
that it was a Sergeants rank pin.
"The General's got a new plan. Some tech-priest built some new
high-speed bikes, and she recommended you to command them. The General
agreed, and gave you a promotion to boot. You still report to me, but
you'll be spending a decent amount of time further away. Oh, and he
said he wants his pistol back." The last comment was said with no
small amount of confusion.
Ranma made a note to take the pistol back later.
***
"The Blazers?" Tenchi muttered. "Washuu recommended you to command
so she could try out her new toy on me."
"You've known her for a long time," Ranma said.
"Remember all those people that used to live in my house? Washuu
was one of them. She had a bunch of Servitors build her a lab under
the house."
"Nice. That would have helped with repairs."
"Oh, we had plenty of repairs," Tenchi muttered. He could still
remember it well, even now. Crown Princess of Jurai Ayeka, the
genetically modified Ryouko, Ayeka's little sister Sasami, Tenchi's
grandfather, all parts of the mayhem that was his life. He remembered
it well, and he missed it, but it was taken from him long before he
joined the Guard.
"Well, there's eight bikes at least," Ranma was saying, pulling
Tenchi back to the present. "We'll be able to fill six of them now,
and when Ash and Lina get out we'll fill two more. See if you convince
Washuu to build one more, with a sidecar carrying a heavy weapon of
some sort."
***
While the majority of the Tokyo Regiments packed up and prepared
to move out, Ranma was busy getting his men used to the Hovercycles.
It was going better then he expected. At least all of his men had
riden some sort of two wheeled vehicle, although two of them had only
ridden bicycles in the past.
Ranma adjusted the power outage slightly, ducking between two
tanks, before swinging hard left to blast a simple bulls-eye target
with the built in lasguns. Tenchi and Hiroshi were close behind,
blowing apart two more targets.
Ranma was in the middle of a pure adrenaline rush. He hadn't had
this much fun in weeks. He wasn't fighting, which was strange for him,
he was just having fun. Sure, he was doing this to train himself and
his squad in riding these beasts, but it was having a good effect on
him.
And from the looks of it, it was helping the rest of the squad, as
well as those watching. Several tank crews had had gotten their hands
on a few training lasguns (Low powered beams that didn't even make a
rash) and were helping his squad dodge las-fire, as well as taking
potshots at a picture of Lord Commander Hayes.
General Tendo watched, unnoticed, from a short distance away. When
Tech-priestess Washuu Hibuki built the Blazer Hovercycles, he'd seen
it as a fast recon unit.
He hadn't expected it to boost morale as well. But he was happy to
see that it did. His men were tired, injured and hurting from the loss
of many of their team-mates and friends. They deserved a chance to
smile, to have something to laugh about.
After all, tomorrow would be another hard day for them.
***
Night fell over the trenches, and many troopers attempted to get some
sleep. Ranma made sure the bikes were safe, then made his way to his
squads section of the trench.
Tenchi and Lina were cooking eggs over a gas burner. "Just in
time," Lina said, scratching at the bandage wrapped around her head
like a bandanna.
"When did you get out of the infirmary?" Ranma asked. "And where'd
you find eggs?"
"Doc said I was okay to to go about half an hour ago, and I got
the eggs off an officer from Second Company in a game of cards while I
was there."
Ranma smiled as he sat down. "Got enough for one more soldier?"
"Sure thing," Lina said. She pulled more eggs out of her bag. "Got
enough for everyone."
The group was silent for a while as the eggs cooked on the
hotplate. Finally, Lina spoke up. "I heard about the bikes. Got one
for me?"
Ranma nodded. "No way I'd leave you out of this. You got any
experience with hovercycles?"
"You remember the old J-9300-T Tornado gravbikes?"
"I remember seeing a few from the Tornado series back on Tokyo,
but I was never into bikes much," Ranma said.
"Owned the old girl for three years until some punk blew it up. I
can handle the Blazers."
"Good," Ranma said. "I wonder how long this war will last?" he
said quietly, looking up at the night sky, the smog clouds blocking
the stars as usual.
"Does it matter?" Lina said. "Once it's over, we'll end up on
another planet, fighting another war. Then another war after that, and
so on until we die."
"That's a lousy outlook on life," Tenchi commented.
"You didn't let me finish," Lina replied. "But along the way, we
make sure to take extra care of the good. There are stories all around
the regiment now about the new bike squad. It's a good story!" She
grinned. "I heard you lost to Hiroshi in a drag race," she said to
Tenchi, a grin on her face.
"There was a rock in the way," Tenchi muttered.
"The fact I'm trying to make is simple," Lina continued, ignoring
Tenchi's protests, "is that just despite all the lousy things that
will happen to us over our time as Guardsmen, there are still things
worth living for. Little moments of joy, times of happiness, life
itself. But we have to do it one day at a time. If we look too far
ahead, we'll be telling ourselves that one day we'll die in a war,
clipped by a las-round, blown up by a grenade... It doesn't matter
how. But by looking at today, we can enjoy those little moments, as
rare or as common as they may be."
Ranma nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. "You're right," he
said quietly. "Thanks Lina, I've been feeling a bit lousy lately."
"I noticed," she replied. "Care to tell us why?"
Ranma shrugged. "It's just looking back at what keeps on
happening. So many friends dead, for what seems like a pointless war.
Breaking away from the Imperium is crazy! They've got the firepower to
beat even a Hive world, and it makes more sense to have the Imperium
on your side when trouble comes your way."
"Power does strange things to people," Tenchi said. "I've seen it
happen before."
"But what scares me the most is that I'm starting to want to kill
the rebels. I was raised to believe that you should never kill except
as the very last resort. But now...." He shook his head sadly. "I
don't know, maybe I'm paranoid, but I'm afraid that I might start
enjoying it."
"If that happens to me," Lina said, "I'll stick a laspistol in my
mouth. I've come across too many Chaos followers in the past that
enjoyed killing. Some of them got sexual pleasure out of it. I believe
that enjoying death is the first step to the Chaos Gods. It's best if
you enjoy the good things in life, and keep the bad from overwhelming
you."
The trio were quiet from then, as Lina placed the eggs on a few
plates. After a few minutes of eating, Lina piped up again. "So,
what're the plans for tomorrow?"
***
Morning came, although it didn't really improve the appearance of
the areas around the Imperial trenches. Not that it mattered, since
everyone would be leaving soon anyway.
Hundreds of trucks were parked behind a protective line of tanks
and infantry. Thousands of soldiers tossed their gear aboard, then
climbed on themselves.
In one of the infirmaries, Doctor Ono supervised the loading of
injured onto other trucks, which would return to Fesal Hive, safely
under Imperial control.
The Basilisk artillery tanks continued to fire on Kell Hive, out
of sight to the naked eye, hidden by the constant smog that blocked
everything.
A number of tank and infantry squads moved out, scouting ahead of
the armies. And from trench section 437/23, seven hoverbikes raced
towards whatever lay ahead of them.
On the lead bike, Ranma adjusted his goggles. "Ten minutes to
first nav point people. Keep your eyes open for any enemy movement."
The squad signalled back their acknowledgement. "This is a
pleasant change, isn't it?" Lina asked over the comm-link.
"Damn straight," Ranma replied. "Better then the trenches." In the
distance, he saw several tanks, marked with Tokyo badges, moving at
high speed through no-mans-land. They suddenly veered left and
vanished from sight behind a rock emplacement.
It was still soldier work, something he had come to hate, but here
he felt like he was doing something worthwhile. And that was one of
the reasons he enlisted in the first place.
***
End Part Two.
***
I finished the first draft of this at 10:47pm on the 26/2/2001.
Less then a month after I released part one. That's my best yet, most
likely because I didn't have a fun mental block.
What's to come in part three? The Tokyo Regiments continue to
change through their new experience, Washuu continues on with her
inventions, and Ranma and his recon squad make a gruesome discovery.
Oh, and Space Marines tossed into the bargain!
Some people may accuse me of being unrealistic with how Ranma was
given command of a recon squad. Just remember, this is a brand new
regiment. Although they have some experience from a civil war on their
homeworld, this war is unlike the one they have fought. Over the past
century there have been many examples of military forces changing in
structure and tactics between and even during wars. What may have
worked in Europe may not work in the Pacific, so to speak.
My thanks to everyone that prereads this for me, and anyone that
reads it in any other way. Compliments, suggestions and ideas may be
sent to Matrix-Dragon@Usa.Net. Insults, flames and death threats may
be sent to Saddam@Iraq.gov :)
Matrix Dragon
"Insert humorous quote here."