Matrix Dragon Presents....
Soldiers of the Imperium
Part three
Disclaimer: Everyone, you know who you belong to.
***
Fesal Hive mostly looked like an imposing spike, a rod of steel
that reached up through the thick cloud layer that covered the
resource depleted planet. The centre of the Imperial war machine on
Redermade, the hive was the first stop for any of the thousands of
soldiers transported here to fight the former planetary governor and
his armies.
Just under a hundred troopers, wearing the dark green uniforms of
the Tokyo Regiments, stepped off the transport shuttle. They were
replacements for the troopers killed in combat over the past few
weeks. The majority of them were raw rookies, only given basic
training. A few were veterans of Tokyo's civil war over a year ago,
with enough experience to attempt to whip the rookies into shape.
One of them was far more experienced then the rest of them. She
was a woman in her mid twenties, with short, spiky, purple hair. She
wore the dark black long-coat and peaked cap of the Commissars. A
chain sword was slung over her shoulder, and a laspistol was holstered
on her belt.
She gave off a very imposing figure, but what truly unnerved
people were her eyes. They seemed rock hard, consisting of solid
determination and dedication. The soldiers stood slightly apart from
her.
She led the group of soldiers across the landing strip, over to a
man that was waiting near several light trucks. Like the soldiers, he
wore the uniform of the Tokyo First. He had several bandages, and his
neck had several burn marks. He saluted to the woman. "Trooper Saeba,
Tokyo First."
The woman saluted in return. "Commissar Konoko, acting commander
of your reinforcements."
Saeba looked at the soldiers, mostly boys and girls in their late
teens/early twenties. "They don't look like much. They any good?"
"They will be if they want to survive," Commissar Konoko replied.
"That's true," Saeba said. "Climb on board," he added, pointing at
the trucks. "The sooner we get to the front the better. This place
makes me sick."
Konoko nodded and yelled out orders to the troops, who quickly got
on board. As they climbed in, she noticed Saeba scratching at the burn
marks. "How'd you get them?" she asked.
"Back in the last major rebel strike on our position," Saeba said
with a scowl. "The rebels were more of the armoured shock troops, and
they actually made it into the trenches. We forced them out, then
followed close behind, intent on taking them out of the war, not to
mention deal with the tanks. The next thing we knew, the fraggers in
the tanks started firing on us, while we were duking it out with their
comrades. Killed as many of their own as they did us."
The Commissar noticed the soldiers listening in. She pretended to
ignore them. This seemed to be telling of how the enemy was so cold-
hearted that they would sacrifice their own men. That was something
that could be used to motivate the men, if she worked it right.
"Some loser rebel was killed during the shelling. He died with his
finger on his flamers trigger. I got tagged. Spent a few days in the
infirmary. A few more days and I'll be healed up and back in the
action, and none too soon! I'm eager to pay those bastards back." The
rookies cheered at this.
Konoko considered this. These new soldiers still believed all the
stories about the military. Stories like this appealed to their minds.
It could easily be used to inspire hatred against the rebels. She
placed the idea in the back of her head for later consideration,
closed her eyes and tried to catch some sleep. She had a feeling she
was going to be very busy over the coming months.
***
Far to the east of Fesal Hive, a column of rebel troops were
making their way towards the Imperial lines. It had been four days
since the Imperial forces began to advance on Kell Hive, and the
rebels had been launching a number of attacks of the forces. None of
these attacks had consisted of any real power. In fact, the Tokyo
Regiments hadn't needed to do anything other then blast them with long
range artillery shelling.
The same thing was going to happen to these particular rebels.
Unknown to them, seven hoverbikes were parked behind a small sand
dune. On top of the dune, several soldiers were crouched down,
watching the rebels. "Nice collection," Sergeant Ranma Saotome
muttered. "It won't stand a chance, but it's still a decent size."
"What's with them?" Lina Inverse said. "The number of troops and
armour down there adds up to one, maybe two companies... That wouldn't
make a dent in the Imperial forces."
"Who cares why?" Ranma replied. "Leave that to the intelligence
boys. All we have to do is transmit this lots location to Seventh
Company, then deal with any survivors once they're finished." He took
the comm-link from one of his men, and switched to the channel used by
the Tokyo First. Informing the Artillery Batteries of the rebel
position, Ranma sat back to watch. He knew that ten miles away, the
crews of the Basilisk tanks in the Tokyo Regiments armoured companies
were loading the explosive 40cm shells into their vehicles Earthshaker
cannons. He'd seen the results of a Basilisk attack before, but he had
to make sure the shells reached their destination. The indirect firing
used at such long ranges wasn't completely accurate.
Soon, the morning was shattered as two rebel tanks exploded in
flames. Soldiers scattered in confusion, only to find themselves
falling pray to more explosions. The Earthshaker shells were more then
capable of reducing a town to rubble in a matter of minutes. This
group of rebels was no different, and the crews of the Basilisk tanks
in seventh company were more then up to the task. After a few minutes,
Ranma turned away, and walked down to the bottom of the sand dune.
"Tenchi, are the bikes ready?"
"All set," the trooper replied, kick starting his own bike. Ranma
got comfortable on his own, and yelled to his men to get ready to
move.
About a minute and a half later the Basilisk tanks stopped their
shelling. Ranma twisted the throttle on his bike and led his men over
the sand dune and into what was left of the rebels. It was nothing
more then a slaughter. There were about twenty rebels left alive, most
of them injured, some deafened and blinded by the shelling. One
strafing run later, and the rebels were all dead.
Following Ranma's orders, the squad moved on to the next nav
point.
They rode in silence for several minutes, the only sounds that of
their bikes low hum, and the sounds of the Imperial forces to the
west. "You alright?" Lina asked, noticing the sickened look on her
commanders face.
"Just a little crook," Ranma replied. "I can't help but wonder
what those rebel generals are thinking. Do they want to kill off all
their men?"
"Mankind is a strange thing," Lina said. "No one ever said they
had to make sense."
Ranma nodded, then turned his attention elsewhere as his head set
buzzed all of a sudden. "Saotome, this is Schofield," the platoon
Lieutenant said over the link. "What's your current position?"
Ranma pulled a data-slate out of his jacket pocket and checked the
map. "Quadrant 6, Sector 9-12."
"Head for Quadrant 7, Sector 8-02. I'll be waiting there. Out."
Ranma turned to his men. "The Lieutenant wants to meet up with
him. Let's not keep the man waiting." He banked hard left, his squad
following close behind.
***
From an observers point of view, the Imperial Guard certainly
looked like it could live up to its claim of being the largest army in
history. In a constantly tightening circle around Kell Hive, tens of
thousands of soldiers marched forward. Some were on foot, others in
various vehicles.
Slightly behind the first line of troops from the Tokyo regiments,
a modified Chimera APC moved up alongside several cargo haulers. The
markings along its side identified it as the personal transport of
General Soun Tendo, commander-in-chief of the Tokyo Imperial Guard
Regiments.
"It doesn't make sense," Soun Tendo muttered. The holotank in
front of him showed the Imperial advance, and the known positions of
all rebel forces. For almost all of the several hundred kilometres to
Kell Hive, the rebels were only a tiny number of dots. "The attacks
they performed against Guard regiments before we began to advance were
far more powerful then what we've seen over the past few days. There
has to be a reason for it."
"The hive is cut off," Misato Katsuragi pointed out. "They may be
low on men. Either that, or they're keeping their men in the city to
prepare for a siege."
"Then why these small attacks?" asked Colonel Rezo, commander of
the Tokyo Second. "Platoon and company sized forces attacking us right
now is suicide, a waste of men and resources. It doesn't add up."
"Penal Legions," said Captain Ulath, Tokyo Second.
"Hmm?"
"The soldiers we've been fighting are Imperial loyalists, people
the rebels had to get rid of. What better way then sending them out to
be killed by the people they support?"
"Brutal, but unlikely," Soun said. "The soldiers we've been
encountering were well equipped. It wouldn't make sense to give a
suicide squad expensive equipment unless they had to deal out a large
amount of damage."
"And sending out a few dozen men will never do much damage to an
entire army," Rezo muttered.
"Well, there's not much we can do on that subject now except for
guess. If it's possible, try and take some of the rebels alive for
questioning. Next matter of interest." The image in the holotank
changed to show a number of small towns between the Imperial Guard and
Kell Hive. "These towns are all over the place. Some are built around
mining operations, some acted as supply stations for interhive
transports, and numerous over reasons. Over the past year, they've
ended up having to choose sides. Those that have sided with the
Imperium have been safely evacuated. As for those that didn't, most of
the people in those villages had fled to the hives by the time Guard
forces arrived. Those that remained usually tried attacking and ended
up killed."
"Over the past few days, Lieutenant Schofields recon platoon has
come across a number of towns which are empty, yet nothing is
missing," he continued. At the blank look from several officers he
explained. "The power supplies to the houses are still on, vehicles
are still parked in garages, everything that gives off the image of a
small town on the surface of a Hive world, except that there isn't a
person there. No bodies, no indication of where they left to."
"If the townsfolk were leaving, they'd turn off the power no
matter what," Misato said. "Resources are in such short supply on
planets like these that they'd never be so wasteful."
"True," Tendo replied. "Which makes this all the more mysterious."
***
"Ack!" Washuu exclaimed as the exhaust pipe belched a cloud of
black smoke into her face. Stumbling back, she glared at the offending
machine. "You think you're funny, don't you?"
Being a machine, the Blazer hovercycle made no reply. Nearby, Ash
Ketchum suppressed a grin. Washuu glared at him as well. "Hey, it's
not my fault if you're having trouble with a grumpy machine," he said.
Washuu nodded. "I know, I know. I've just been having a lousy day.
Maybe I should - huh?"
"What?" Ash asked, before he saw it too. A Commissar was walking
towards them. While this common (and hated) sight was nothing unique,
the fact that said Commissar was a woman was quite different.
"You are Tech-priestess Hibuki?" the Commissar asked.
Washuu nodded. "What can I do for you?"
"I have been assigned to the bike recon squad which you designed
the vehicles for. I'll be needing one myself."
"Of course," Washuu said, turning her attention back to the partly
finished Blazer. "You're in luck my friend. I was already building a
new one, as a potential upgrade. The built in lasguns have been
replaced with bolters. I assume you won't mind that change?"
"No, I won't," the woman replied. She noticed Ash sitting nearby.
"Is he your assistant?"
"No, and thank the Machine God that he isn't," Washuu replied.
"He's one of the men from the bike squad you'll be joining. Lost part
of his leg the other day, and he's adjusting to the bionics. What's
your name?"
"Commissar Konoko. Where is Sergeant Saotome right now?"
"Out on recon," Ash replied, handing Washuu a screwdriver. "They
should be back in about two hours, although I heard over the comm-net
that the Lieutenant found another ghost town."
"Another one?" Washuu said, loosening a panel to get at some
wires. "What's that, eight now?"
"Nine, I think. Word is the General's ordered proper searches of
each one."
***
"I thought it was closer to seven ghost towns," Lina said as the
group of hoverbikes approached the town.
"Yeah, well this makes it nine all up," Ranma replied, looking
over the small collection of houses. None of them were in good
condition, built from assorted scrap. From several of them, he could
see the smoke let off by burning coal. On a world as resource starved
as this one, wasting fuel was one of the ultimate sins. Yet the people
of a number of small towns had simply vanished, leaving the power
generators on.
He spotted two Chimera APC's near the road leading into town, a
number of soldiers standing around it. One bore the markings of First
Company, the other of Seventh Company. The first one had to be the
Lieutenants transport, built in Fesal Hive less then a week before.
The other would most likely be one of the Armoured Fist Patrol squads,
serving a similar role to the recon platoon.
Lieutenant Schofield was standing next to his squads tank. He
looked a lot like an officer from the Tokyo Defence Force, with his
body armour hidden under an officers issue leather trenchcoat, with
the Imperial Eagle on the left sleeve and the kite symbol of the Tokyo
Regiments on the right.
The eight man squad came to a halt near the tanks, Ranma saluting
Lieutenant Schofield. "Sergeant Saotome, reporting as ordered."
Both Schofield and the Armoured Fist squad leader - a Corporal,
judging from his rank pins - saluted in reply. "You made good time,"
Schofield said. "Sergeant, this is Corporal Hicks, commander of the
Second Armoured Fist Patrol Unit, Seventh Company."
"Pleasure to meet you Corporal," Ranma said.
"Same here," Hicks replied.
"Okay, park your bikes somewhere safe," Ranma ordered. "Daisuke,
Tai, you've got guard detail. Everyone else with me. Let's go."
***
Ranma pushed the door open with his foot, then entered the home,
lasgun ready. Unlocked. What kind of fool leaves their home unlocked
on a planet like this?
Lina followed close behind him, her flamer slung over her shoulder
and a laspistol and knife in her hands. Tenchi was next, the rest of
the squad close behind.
Ranma and Lina entered the kitchen, other memebers of the squad
moving through the rest of the house. "Yuk!" Lina commented, holding
her nostrils shut, "they could have at least closed the cooler."
Sure enough, the cooler door was wide open, the stench of spoiled
food drifting out across the room. Ranma pushed it shut, then checked
around the room. Everything was in it's place, simply adding to the
mystery here.
Tenchi entered one of the bedrooms. It looked like a teenagers
room, due to the fact it looked like a bomb had hit it. There was even
a data-slate lying on the bed. Tenchi picked it up. Porno, he
thought as he keyed through a few images before tossing it back on the
bed. Poor quality too. He checked under the bed and other large
objects, finding nothing on any real value.
Leaving the bedroom, he saw Shinji Ikari leaving another room. The
sniper shook his head at his squad-mates unasked question. Then he
froze. Quietly, he moved to a plasteel window, sniper rifle in hand.
Tenchi moved up towards him. "Saotome, this is Ikari. Are any of our
men around the side of the house?"
"No," Ranma replied over the comm-net. "Everyone's inside this
building."
"Then we've got company."
***
Ranma and Lina slipped out of the front door, moving towards the
side of the building. Quietly, Ranma slid a long knife from the sheath
on his belt.
Three men were moving down towards the backyard. Ranma stepped
forward, raising his lasgun. "That's far enough," he said. "Turn
around slowly." The three men turned, and Ranma got a good look at
their armour. They wore heavy combat boots, gauntlets and fatigues,
with an armoured breastplate over that, as well as two large
shoulderpads. On the breastplate, there was the Imperium Eagle, and
the left shoulderpad bore the symbol of a powerful dragon, the right
had squad markings.
"Space Marine Scouts," Ranma said. "I'm willing to bet that you
had more of your team behind you." He spun on the spot, throwing his
knife. It struck the wall of the house, next to another Scout, this
one with Sergeants pins. "Those wooden boards on the veranda creaked.
Pure bad luck on your part. I'm Sergeant Ranma Saotome, Tokyo First
Regiment Recon Platoon."
The scout nodded. "Sergeant Trunks, Eternal Dragons Space Marine
Chapter Scout Company." Two more men stepped up behind Trunks. "The
engine sounds we heard while passing this town were yours, I presume?"
"Our bikes perhaps, or the two Chimeras that the other squads here
came in." Ranma opened a channel on his headset. "Lieutenant, you're
never going to believe what we've got here."
***
"What'd you find?" Schofield asked as his squad checked through a
shop.
"Space Marine Scouts. They heard the tanks and came to check."
"Now that is a surprise. Are they staying or moving on?"
"I'll check." There was a moments silence, during which time
Schofield opened a cooler and checked the food. Most of it was still
fresh. "They'll hang around. Their commander says he'll follow your
orders."
Schofield blinked at that. Space Marines usually had decades, even
centuries of experience. The thought that they'd be following his
orders - someone who spent five years as a grunt in the Tokyo Defence
Force, one year as a sergeant and only just got promoted - was very
hard to wrap his head around. He managed it though. "Give them our
secondary comm-channel."
"Sergeant Trunks reporting in," a new voice said a moment later.
"How many men in your squad?" Schofield asked.
"Seven. Two snipers, one rocket launcher and the rest carry
boltguns or pistols."
"Deploy your snipers and launcher in overwatch positions around
the edge of town. The rest of your squad goes with Saotome. Corporal
Hicks, status report."
***
"No sign of any life," Hicks answered. His squad was moving down
the middle of a narrow street. "So far it's been residential. Looks
like they just up and left."
"Matches up with the other ghost towns I've seen," Trunks said.
"This is just one big mystery."
"Hey Corporal!" Hicks glanced to his left to see Trooper Hudson
pointing at a large pile of scrap metal pretending to be a building.
Over the front door was the symbol of the Imperial Eagle, hanging
loosely from a number of rivets.
"All squads, this is Hicks, I've found what appears to be the
local law enforcement headquarters."
"Check it out," Schofield ordered. Hicks sent two soldiers around
each side of the building, to come in from the back, while he and the
other three would come in the front.
Nudging the doors open with his lasgun, Hicks led his men into the
building. Inside it looked just as bad as outside, with everything
built from scrap. Hicks just shook his head in disgust at the sloppy
repairs to a broken water pipe. It seemed that on this planet, the
only people to have anything decent were the noble families, with
their near-limitless supply on money. Everyone else got whatever
appeared to be lying around.
Leading his men through the entry hall, he found himself in the
workroom, containing the desks and machines used by the local lawmen
(called Enforcers around here). Walking over to one codifier, he found
it still turned on. Curious, he punched a few runes on the key-slate,
calling up the personal log of the devices user. After that, he
skimmed through the entries.
-Can't believe I got posted to a worthless shanty like this. My
career's over before it began!.
-The locals here seem pleasant enough, although they seem a little
wary of me. Could just be that I'm a stranger. Country folk around
here ain't used to that.
-There is something going on here. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I
doubt it. I've been here almost two months and people are still
nervous around me.
-Came across a meeting between a townsman and a mutant today. I
didn't get a good look at the townsman, and both of them escaped. The
sarge seemed very interested.
-The mutant case was closed, even though there were other
sightings of the Chaos-tainted freaks. When I confronted the sarge
about it, he laughed it off, saying how there are always mutants
lurking near places like this, and every now and then, a few would be
hunted down and killed, but now wasn't the time. I guess he's right.
-Some of the people are acting very strange. I've noticed some of
them missing for days at times. When anyone asks about it, they always
make an excuse, like they were checking the water-collectors out of
town. All I care about is that there's a traitor to humanity in this
town. When I find him, he can make his explanations to the Emperor
himself.
-Old man Sader was murdered, seemingly by a mutant. He was torn
apart by some sort of claws. The strange thing is, none of the locals
seem to care. The sarge made requests for a Mutant kill-team from Kell
to deal with the problem. It was denied. Now I know I'm not paranoid.
Hicks came to the last entry on file. On a hunch, he decided to
read the whole thing. He wasn't disappointed.
- The sarge is dead. One of those... things took his head clean
off. Gener's not in good shape, and Hadel's vanished somewhere. These
mutants are unlike anything I could imagine. They came in and started
killing. The scary thing is that some of the locals helped, even some
of the Enforcers that have been here for a long time. Lockly, Emperor
damn him, pulled a gun on the rest of us. That's what messed up Gener
so much. The autopistol shredded his stomach.
I've sent a message to Kell Hive, calling for backup, but I
don't think it made it there. All I can do now is take as many of the
bastards with me when I go to stand before the Emperor. May he
forgive me for my failures here.
------EOF------
"Dammmmnnn," Hicks muttered, before tabbing his helmet mike. "All
squad leaders this is Hicks. I've found something very interesting
here."
***
"Are you sure about that?" Trunks asked as Hicks finished giving
them the short version of what he found.
"About as sure as I can be sir," Hicks replied over the comm-net.
"We got lucky, and one of the Enforcers, as the local police are
called, left his codifier on. Hold on a second." There was the sound
of scraping metal over the link, causing all the squad leaders to
flinch. "Looks like our friends did a little redecorating. There's
some dried blood here. Not much, just the really tough stuff they
couldn't wash off. They tried to hide the evidence."
"You can't hide everything," Ranma said. "Bullet holes, spent
rounds, everything that indicates a fight. There'd have to be at least
some tiny amounts left and there was nothing at the other towns at
all."
"Ranma's right," Trunks said. "If mutants had taken the ghost
towns by force, we'd have known it by now."
"Cover up by the people upstairs?" Lina quipped, triple checking
her flamer. She had a familiar sense of dread building.
"I doubt it," Trunks replied. "A lot of those in the higher ranks
are pretty paranoid, but I don't think they'd cover up mutant attacks.
After all, every single soldier knows they're out there."
"They always are," Schofield replied over the comm-net. He was
right about that. Every planet across the Imperium had the problem of
mutants. These subhuman creatures were almost always exiled or killed.
But on planets like this, with a population in the tens of billions,
there could be thousands of the beasts gathered together at times,
more then enough to take over a village, or cause Imperial Guard
Regiments some trouble.
"Hey, look at that." Lina pointed at a building visible as the two
squads turned a corner. At the end of the short dead-end street was a
small fortress, a strange meshing of armour and stone acting as the
outer walls.
"Must be the town hall," Trunks decided. "It'd also serve as a
last line of defence." He keyed his headset. "Lieutenant, we've found
what appears to be the town hall. We're moving to search it."
"Inform me the moment you find anything interesting," Schofield
replied.
***
As Ranma expected, the Town Hall seemed to be empty. Both squads
found nothing on the first or second floor, and the basement seemed to
be coming up empty as well.
Well, it was until Tenchi found a large armoured door. A few
minutes later, men from both squads were gathered around it. It was
locked, some sort of keypad the only way to open it. Ranma could see
the locking bolts in the door. "A storeroom of some sort," Trunks
said. "The locking system is familiar. Very resistant to conventional
unlocking techniques, and explosive entry would set off more
aggressive defensive measures, not to mention destroying everything in
the room anyway."
"You're the one with the experience," Ranma replied. "So how do we
get in?"
"Easy," Trunks said, drawing his sword from the scabbard on his
back. He clicked a button on the hilt, and a light blue glow formed
around the blade. "Use UNconventional unlocking techniques!" And with
that, he slashed downward with the power sword, cutting through the
lock easily.
"Nice trick," Ranma commented, as Lina and Hiroshi pulled the door
open. As the contents of the room became visible, several people
gasped in surprise.
It was a body, only just starting to decay. A rather large rifle
was tightly gripped in the corpses hands, aimed in the general
direction of the door. Carefully, Tenchi removed the gun from the
body, safing it and placing it to the side.
Ranma glanced at the rest of the storeroom, and understood just
why they'd have this one locked. There were several dozen weapons
racks, carrying firearms ranging from pistols to anti-tank weapons.
"They really take their defence seriously here," he commented. "That's
a lot of weaponry for such a small town."
Trunks looked up from the body. "On a planet like this you can't
be too careful. But take a look at this. This man didn't die of
injuries or illness. He starved to death."
"He sure tried not to," one of the scouts said, kicking a box with
his foot. Several empty cans of food fell out a hole in the side.
Ranma picked one up and looked at it. It had been picked clean, not a
spot of food left.
"He must have been here for months," Hiroshi said quietly. Several
other soldiers nodded in agreement. "Hey, what was the name of that
Enforcer that vanished, the one Corporal Hicks mentioned?"
"I think it was Hadel," Trunks said. Ranma knelt down, and checked
the name tag on the mans shirt. Sure enough it said Hadel.
"I'll be damned. Nice guess Hiroshi." He keyed his headset, and
informed the other squads of his find. He was ordered to have some men
secure the site, while the rest of his squad continued the search.
"Hey, take a look at this," Lina said, holding up a rifle she
pulled off a rack. Ranma took a look and blinked in surprise. It was
one of the old Mark 2 Boltguns. Bigger and uglier then the more common
Mark 3, it was still no less effective.
"Talk about a classic," Ranma commented, spotting about five more
M-2 Bolters and ten M-3's. Lina placed the M-2 back and grabbed an M-
3, along with several clips of ammunition. "What're you doing Lina?"
"Simple," the red-head replied as she made her way along a wall
until she found a nice looking bolt pistol, "I'm shopping."
"You're what?" Tenchi said.
"Shopping. Look, the villagers are gone, so they're not going to
be used by anyone around here, except for the enemy. I say we use 'em
to surprise anyone that thinks they can outgun the Guard!"
Ranma glanced at Trunks, who shrugged, as if saying 'they're your
men,' before turning his attention to the door locks.
"Ah, why not?" he decided, grabbing a Mark 3 Bolter, some ammo,
and a bolt pistol. Several other soldiers also grabbed bolters and
grenades, the other weapons racks largely ignored as the rifles were
weaker then the bolters, and they were a recon squadron, meaning heavy
weapons would only get in the way, although Hiroshi grabbed a rocket
launcher and a few rockets (He missed his old one that he'd had to
give up for the bikes).
"This door was locked from the inside," Trunks said suddenly,
drawing everyone's attention.
"Say what?" Lina replied.
"I'm serious Guardsman. This Enforcer must have known a bit about
security machines. He made sure it would open to a pass-phrase only he
knew. He was hiding," he decided, his eyes narrowing as he considered
the options.
"Yeah," Ranma said, "but from what? The mutants? Or something
else?"
***
Schofield stood in the middle of the Church, looking up at the
stain-glass roof. This building was unique in the entire shanty
village, not because of its religious significance, but because it was
the only building that some had put some effort into making it look
like it wasn't a pile of scrap.
"Your opinion Commissar?" Schofield asked Commissar Barnes. Barnes
was the Commissar that had been assigned to the platoon's last
Lieutenant, and was hated by all the soldiers due to his harsh
enforcement of Imperial edict. Still, he was a good warrior, with more
experience then most of the Tokyo Guardsmen (A few officers from the
TDF _might_ have had more)
"Corporal Hicks theory seems to be the most likely. It appears
that these 'ghost towns' are nothing more then the result of mutant
attacks and the stories of nervous guardsmen."
Schofield scowled at that. Barnes had a habit of putting down
anyone not as devoted to the Emperor as he was. Being a Commissar, he
looked down on everyone. But still, the opinion had merit. If there
was one thing true for all soldiers everywhere, it was that they loved
making up stories, and gossiped like old women.
him up. Glancing down, he saw that one of the tiles on the floor had
been chipped and come loose. Not recognising the type of stone it was
made of, he picked it up for a better look. Then he froze. Underneath
where the tile had been was a large hole.
Kneeling down, he pulled more tiles away, revealing a metal frame
that had been holding the tiles in place. Calling some of his men
over, they pulled the frame away. The hole was about five metres deep,
and a metal ladder was built into the wall for easy access.
"How'd you find this?" Comms-officer Crowley asked.
"Dumb luck," Schofield replied, slinging his bolter over his
shoulder and climbing down. Two of his men followed him, the other
three setting up a defensive position on the surface.
As his feet touched the ground, Schofield turned to examine the
hole. He saw the tunnel instantly, leading north and down, away from
the village. "Crowley, Barnes, you're with me. The rest of you stay
here." He tapped his headset. "Squad Leaders, this is Schofield.
Status report."
"Hicks here. We've almost completed a sweep of the southern side
of the town. Nothing new to report."
"Saotome here. Trunks and I have finished searching the Town Hall.
Nothing but that body. I've left three men to guard it."
"Right. I've found a hidden tunnel in the Imperial Church, and
we're taking a look now. When you've finished your sweeps, return to
the vehicles."
"Understood."
"Roger."
"Yes sir."
Schofield stepped forward into the tunnel, strapping the handlight
to the side of his bolter.
***
"Man oh man, I do not like this," Trooper Hudson muttered. "Ghost
towns, a single dead body, now hidden tunnels. Something ain't right
here!"
"Knock it off Hudson," Hicks growled. "Bartley, anything?"
Trooper Rook Bartley shook her head. "No movement whatsoever." The
young woman growled as she considered the Auspex motion sensor in her
hand. "What the hell's going on here?"
"No idea," Hicks replied, pushing a door open with his lasgun.
Another empty room. The Corporal was really starting to hate this
town.
Rook swore as her Auspex started beeping. "I've got movement. Two
hundred metres to the south."
"All squads, this is Hicks. Anyone to the south of town?"
"Saotome here. All my men are in the northern half, except for our
guards near the vehicles."
"Sergeant Trunks. All of my squad are in the northern half."
"Trooper Otaru. Lieutenant Schofield is investigating the tunnel,
heading east towards Kell Hive. The rest of the squad is here."
"Then we've got unknown beings south of the village."
"Move to investigate it," Trunks ordered. "I'll send some men to
assist you."
"Understood. Hicks out." The Corporal turned to his squad. "Let's
go. Keep it quiet."
***
"Two each?" Ranma said. Trunks nodded, and the guardsman turned to
his squad. "Shinji, Hiroshi, head over to the tread-heads and assist
them. They'll probably forget that they're not immune to death."
"Don't all tread-heads?" Hiroshi joked, patting the rocket
launcher he'd swiped from the town armoury.
"It's not their fault. Being cooped up in all that armour would do
that to anyone," Shinji replied as they walked off, two Space Marine
Scouts with them.
Lina blinked. "Did he just make a joke?" she asked.
"I think he did," Tenchi replied. "Good to see he's loosening up a
little."
***
Schofield ran his hand along the side of the tunnel, his face
showing an expression of confusion. "This tunnel isn't natural," he
said. "Almost seems like it was dug by some sort of... animal." He
didn't mention the number of twists and turns it had, which meant that
they had no idea where they were in relation to the town. At least it
hadn't split into several tunnels.
"Perhaps the mutants," Barnes replied. "It is possible that this
was their method of entry into the village was through the Imperial
Church."
"Heretics using the Church to attack innocent people," Schofield
muttered. "Is it just me, or does life seem a constant joke
sometimes?"
Barnes glared at Comms-officer Crowley, who was doing his best to
suppress a smirk. Schofield noticed that the Commissar was getting
annoyed at the Guardsmen. Annoyed Political Officers usually meant
trouble.
"There." The Lieutenant pointed at a small light in the distance.
"Looks like the end." And just in time, he thought, as Barnes and
Crowley turned their attention from each other to the light.
Quickly but quietly, the trio moved to the tunnel exit. Carefully,
Schofield glanced around the corner... and his jaw dropped in horror.
"Emperor's Light," he whispered.
***
"Nothing," Hicks muttered, lowering his lasgun in disgust. "Not a
damn thing." Both he and his squad were standing on the outskirts of
the town. In front of them was nothing but miles of flat, dead plains.
Completely flat, with not a single rock or sand dune for anyone to
hide behind. Of course, if they were hiding, the Auspex wouldn't have
detected their movement. "Are you sure that thing's working right?" he
asked Bartley.
"Yes I'm sure!" she growled back. She looked at the screen again.
"But I am getting some sort of interference. Almost like it was....
underground."
"Couldn't you have told us that before?" Hudson muttered.
"Look asshole, this thing doesn't have a good range, all right?"
the young woman growled. "You don't like it, you use the blasted
thing."
"Calm down, both of you," Hicks ordered. Taking Rook's Auspex, he
stepped forward, until he was right over the movement. "What the hell
is this?" he said. The image on the Auspex indicated that there must
be dozens, possibly hundreds of creatures underneath him. Either that
or it was _really_ big, neither of which he wanted to consider.
***
Schofield crawled forward, then looked out over the ledge. Barnes
and Crowley were right alongside him.
They were in some sort of giant underground cavern, lit up by some
unknown light source. The ledge the trio was on was almost fifty
metres above the cavern floor. And that floor was currently
overflowing with some strange creatures.
They appeared to be some sort of deformed humans. Their bodies
seemed insectoid, with six limbs, two ending in clawed feet, the
others usually ending in a long sharp claw. Tails of various sizes
were usually attached. And with blood-red skin, they were a sight that
would frighten even the most experienced soldier.
"What the frack are those things?" Crowley whispered.
"Beats the hell out of me," Schofield replied, using his gun-scope
for a closer look. "Some kind of mutant. They must be the ones that
attacked this town." He noticed that some of the mutants looked more
human then others. In fact, some of them still had tatters of
clothing, as if they were slowly losing their humanity.
Behind him, Barnes remained silent.
"There," Crowley whispered. "I think I see their leader."
"How do you know it's the leader?" Schofield muttered, still
looking over the mutants.
"Because it's standing upright, is twice as large as the rest, and
actually has a few usable looking hands."
Schofield turned his attention to where the man was pointing, and
admitted to himself that Crowley was almost certainly right.
The beast stood high on it's hind legs, its tail thumping the
ground behind him. One of the middle limbs was a long and curved claw,
the other ended in what looked like some sort of organic gun. The
upper limbs had hands that, despite the insectoid carapace, still
looked too human for comfort.
And the face.... Schofield pulled his eyes away. The creature had
been injured during the battle above, and the entire left side of it's
head was badly damaged from a plasma weapon of some sort. The right
side had skin the same carapace as the others, but the facial features
were slowly being twisted from human to... whatever it was.
"Commissar, analysis?" Schofield said quietly.
"These creatures undoubtedly attacked the town," Barnes said. "It
appears that they are all one type of mutant, which would indicate
that they have been breeding for several generations."
Schofield looked at the Commissar. The entire analysis had been
delivered in the tone Ranma Saotome once described as 'politics-grade
bullshit,' something that Commissars were experts at. Barnes knew
something, and he wasn't telling.
The Lieutenant didn't feel like starting an argument now,
considering the number of violent monsters below. So he turned his
attention back to the creature.
The mutant was saying something in what seemed to be the planets
native language. Schofield only knew a few words of this language, as
did the other two. Which meant that they had no idea what was being
said, except for a few words. The only words Schofield recognised were
something involving food, and Lord/Master/Emperor (The last word
varied in meaning depending on context and the rest of the sentence.)
Considering that this world had broken away from the
Imperium, he doubted it was the Emperor. So who was this master?
After a few minutes of this, Schofield scratched at his lip,
trying to deal with an itch. When he looked at his hand, it had a thin
smear of red on it. Instantly, he rubbed at his nostrils. A blood
nose.
A quick glace at the other two soldiers increased his fears. Both
of them also had blood noses. A simple annoyance like this that also
served as a beacon for when one was in the presence of a psyker.
Psyker. Sorcerer. Witch. Telepath. Call them what you want, they
were still the same - beings gifted and cursed with the ability to
manipulate the arcane energies of the Warp, that other reality that
was home to the Chaos Gods. The Warp, and the Psykers, were the only
thing capable of faster-then-light travel, and thus they were what
held the Imperium together.
But at the same time, the Warp posed a greater threat to mankind
then any alien race or rebels. For with this connection between the
Warp and Mankind, the Chaos Gods could corrupt from within, twisting
and changing a person's minds.
And now, there was a psyker directly below him. Tapping his blood
nose, he watched as the other two realised the problem just as he had.
He turned his attention to the area below.
The mutant leader had all four of his 'arms' raised up now, and
blue crackles of lightning ran along it's bizarre skin. Schofield
forced back the urge to vomit. Like any loyal servant of the Emperor,
hated and distrusted the power of the Warp. Although there were those
who used that power for the Imperium, that did not dull the hatred in
any way.
***
"Company," Rook said as two guardsmen and two Space Marines came
up behind them. The Corporal ignored this, his attention on the
movement below.
"What the hell?" Hicks growled. The Auspex in his hand was going
crazy, as some sort of new interference scrambled the sensors. "What's
going on down there?"
***
Lightning began to reach away from the creature, earthing itself
in the cave floor and walls. One bolt struck another creature, but it
didn't seem to feel the pain. Instead, it closed it's eyes and seemed
to enjoy the feeling. Schofield shuddered at the thought of something,
even this depraved beast, enjoying the touch of the Warp.
Suddenly, the leader roared, swinging a claw towards the platform
and tunnel entrance where the soldiers were hiding. Many of the other
creatures also turned to face it. Schofield felt his heart jump into
his throat. The psyker sensed us, and now they all know!
The mutants charged towards the platform, their claws rending the
stone in an attempt to secure a handhold. All three of them leaned
over the edge and opened fire, Schofield with his bolter, Barnes with
his bolt pistol, and Crowley with the squads grenade launcher. The
first wave of creatures were forced back, leaving a few dead. However,
more of them were climbing other walls, coming on from the sides and
above.
"Back into the tunnel!" Schofield yelled. Barnes glared at him,
and was about to shoot the Lieutenant (Standard practise of Commissars
killing what they believe to be deserters. They were often wrong) when
Schofield pushed him into the tunnel. "We'll do the Emperor no good if
we die here!"
He glanced over the edge of the platform again, and saw the mutant
leader aiming the organic gun arm. Muttering a Imperial prayer under
his breath, he fired off a burst at the creature, the weapon sounding
surprisingly quiet against the backdrop of mutant roars that echoed
around the cave.
The burst hit the creature around the head and chest area, the
explosive-tipped bullets detonating with surprising force. They failed
to penetrate the mutants skin, but it knocked it off balance, swinging
the gun arm away from the tunnel. Without warning, a wave of blue-
black energy launched itself out of the gun arm and towards the roof.
"I hate psykers," Schofield muttered just before the energy
exploded, sending a shockwave out in all directions. He was knocked
back by the blast, slamming into the cave wall hard. Most of the
creatures were scattered across the cave, their attack on the three
guardsmen stopped for the moment.
Climbing to his feet, Schofield saw light shining through a
massive hole in the roof created by the explosion. As the creature
below began to climb to their feet, he saw a volley of las-blasts
reach down from the hole, tearing a gash in the crowd.
"Who's that firing?" Schofield demanded into his headset.
"Hicks here Sir. Lieutenant, where are you?" The Corporal followed
the question by dropping a few frag grenades down into the cave.
"See the tunnel and little platform dug into one of the walls?"
Schofield asked.
"Yeah, I see you sir," Hick said. "You've got a group of those
things climbing up towards you. We've got rockets, head into the
tunnel and we'll bring it down behind you."
Schofield said, already backing towards the tunnel. "There are some
heading along the roof towards you. Good luck Corporal." He fired off
one more burst, the explosive tipped rounds reducing two mutants to
piles of flesh, before turning and running into the tunnel.
Hicks glanced at the trooper with the rocket launcher. "You, see
that tunnel there?" He pointed at the tunnel. Hiroshi nodded. "Take it
down!"
Hiroshi lifted up the launcher, resting it against his shoulder.
Hicks grabbed Hudson, who was standing behind the rocket launcher,
just before Hiroshi fired. Hudson's helmet was sent flying, and the
rocket raced down into the cave, impacting against the rocks above the
tunnel. The resulting explosion shredded three mutants that were too
close to the tunnel, as the falling rubble blocked off the entrance.
"And people wonder why I enjoy this job," he muttered.
"Move back!" Hicks yelled, following his own orders and stepping
away from the hole in the ground. They were just in time as the
creatures clambered over the edge and attacked.
***
"Damn it!" Ranma yelled as he ran towards the southern end of
town. "Tai, Daisuke, start your cycles up and head for the battle," he
growled into his headset.
"What about the other bikes?" Tai asked.
"They'll be fine. Tell those tank drivers to move as well," Ranma
ordered, jumping over a fence. Ahead, he saw the Space Marine Scouts
run around a corner and out of sight.
Just a foot behind Saotome, Lina slammed a clip into place on her
bolter. "Guess we were lucky enough to find the only ghost town not
dead yet," she muttered.
"Yeah, lucky. Tenchi, I want a full plasma spread. Lina, keep your
flamer ready for my order."
***
Hiroshi stumbled back as a massive claw sliced his rocket launcher
in two. Fumbling at the laspistol on his belt, the guardsman watched
with detached horror as the mutant crouched down, then leapt forward,
claws aimed at his chest.
A bolt of red energy took the monster in the side, knocking it off
course. Hiroshi yelped in pain as the claw carved a gash along his
right arm. Finally gaining a good grip on his pistol, he turned and
put several shots through the mutants head at point-blank range.
"Thanks Shinji," he muttered, even though he knew the sniper wouldn't
hear him over all the mayhem.
In fact Shinji Ikari did hear him through his headset, but he was
too focused on his task at hand. Quickly and cleanly, he fired a
single shot at a creature before moving onto the next one. Most hit by
him died due to the location or severity of the wound, and those that
survived the shot from his powerful sniper rifle were easy pickings
for the weaker las-guns carried by the other troops.
The flow of creatures from the hole was increasing as more of them
turned their attention away from the collapsed tunnel Schofield left
down, to the guardsmen attacking them from above.
"Hudson, frags!" Hicks yelled, throwing the last of his grenades
into the hole. Hudson followed suit, and soon they heard the familiar
detonation and screams of pain. The Corporal dropped back to reload
his las-gun, giving him a chance to assess the situation.
Most of the creatures were being killed as they climbed out of the
hole, but several had managed to get close, although no one was dead
yet. That was sure to come soon enough. The only time the beasts stood
still long enough for a clean shot, but the dead ones made reasonably
good cover, giving the creatures time to prepare themselves. "Move
back!" he ordered, firing off a volley of las-blasts. The soldiers
fell back, creating more room between them and the creatures.
Suddenly, one of them leapt forward, it's claw bursting through
Hudson's leg. The trooper screamed in agony, falling to the ground.
Ripping it's claw out of the humans leg, the creature prepared to
deliver the final blow, only to receive an armoured boot to the face.
One of the Space Marine Scouts had attacked the beast, first
knocking it away from the fallen soldier, then following up with a
punch that cracked open the insect-like skin around its jaw. The
creature growled in some form of rage, swinging two claws at the
Marine. The genetically-enhanced warrior caught one claw, while the
other bit into his shoulderplate. Before any watching could blink, the
Marine raised his bolt pistol and blew the creatures head away.
Hudson was dragged away from the action while the others laid down
covering fire. From the west, two Chimera APC's and two Blazer
hovercycles made their way towards the battle. At the same time, three
more Space Marines emerged from the town, with several Guardsmen close
behind.
Trunks roared in anger as he saw the creatures, and his power
sword seemed to come alive, energy running along the blade. He charged
past the guardsmen, taking off the head of the first beast he saw. The
next fell to a quick blast from his Plasma pistol, before the next
managed to slash at his leg, leaving a long gash. Trunks grabbed him,
crushed his neck and tossed him aside. Ranma blasted the still-choking
creature with his bolter.
Ranma assesed the situation. Trunks seemed to have gone into a
blood-lust of some sort, judging from the way he was tearing through
the creatures. Is it their Chapter's style of fighting? No, the
others still seem to be sane. He recognised Trunks' fighting style as
a modified form of kempo, although it incorporated all sorts of other
fighting styles as well.
The various Guardsmen were still moving away from the hole slowly,
their weapons spraying out death to anything that approached. Several
of them were down, some with serious injuries.
After several more minutes of constant firing, the number of
mutants attacking them died down, and then stopped. Trunks walked
towards the hole, his armour badly damaged, and blood from both the
creatures and himself coating his body. He glanced over the edge and
started swearing and a number of obscure dialects.
"What's wrong?" Ranma asked.
"There was another tunnel," Trunks growled. "This was just a
diversion while the majority of them escaped."
Ranma looked at the pile of bodies. "Some diversion."
Schofield's squad emerged from the town, weapons ready. They
lowered them when they saw the results. "Looks like you got all these
mutants already," the Lieutenant said.
"They were sub-human," Barnes said. "They lacked the fighting
spirit and intelligence of a true soldier of the Emperor."
Schofield ignored him. "I'm certain that High Command will want to
know about this. Crowley, get me a channel to General Tendo."
Meanwhile, Ranma helped Hiroshi to his feet. "You alright?"
"Been better sir," the trooper replied. "My own fault for getting
too close." He gritted his teeth while Lina saw to his injuries.
"Could you be a little less painful?" he muttered.
"Look, I'm no medic. Ketchum always dealt with that. You'll just
have to wait until he gets back." With one last adjusted, the bandage
was in place. "There. That'll do for now." She looked over at the
bodies. "What are those things?"
"I don't know," Ranma replied, "but Trunks knows. He really went
crazy."
"Yeah, I saw." Lina looked to where the Space Marine had taken
care of his own wounds, although they already appeared to be healing,
thanks to the wonders of gene-engineering.
"People, listen up," Schofield called out. "I've just spoken with
the General. Our orders are to hold this town until the main advance
reaches us here tomorrow morning. We have reinforcements on the way
from Seventh Company, they'll be here in four hours at the most. In
the meantime, we set up a defensive position to take on anything that
comes if possible." The Lieutenant turned to Trunks. "Sergeant, while
I thank you for the respect you have given me by commanding you, but I
have no doubt that your experience exceeds mine by no small margin. I
humbly request that you take command."
Trunks rose to his feet. "It takes a brave man to admit his
shortcomings Lieutenant. I accept your offer." He looked around.
"Corporal Hicks, can the injured be moved?"
"We can move them a short distance. Some of them aren't in a good condition."
"We'll head for the town hall. Trooper Ikari, when we get there, I
want you to go to the spire on the roof for sniper and sentry duty."
Shinji nodded and saluted. "Squad leaders will gather in the mayor's
office."
***
The mayor's office was, like the rest of the town, in rather poor
condition. However, it did have a very good map on the wall, which
Trunks pulled down and spread out over the table, marking in the
current military situation.
"The tanks and cycles are hidden here," Ranma said, pointing to a
garage. "We should be able to deploy quickly from there. I've also
sent several of my squad to take the heavy weapons from the storeroom
below and bring them up here. From there we can determine where to
deploy them."
"I've got two men rigging explosive charges in that tunnel," Hicks
reported, "and the other three still on their feet searching for more.
They've been equipped with our Auspex, along with one from Lieutenant
Schofields squad. The injured are safely set up in this buildings
infirmary. One of them isn't expected to make it," he added, his face
dark with anger. That man was one of his.
"Our reinforcements are making good time," Schofield said,
changing the subject and pulling Hicks away from problems he couldn't
solve. "Last communication indicates they'll arrive in just over three
hours from now."
Trunks nodded. "We'll decide where they go when they arrive."
Crowley knocked on the door. "Come in." The comms-officer entered,
saluted and handed the Space Marine several printout from the comm-
set. Trunks read over the information and nodded. "That will be all."
As Crowley left, Trunks turned back to the squad leaders. "We've got a
problem."
Grabbing a pen, he drew a line on the map. "The Kell smog line.
I'm sure you all know what that is."
"Imperial forces in orbit can't see behind that line because of
pollution levels from Kell Hive," Ranma said.
Trunks nodded. "What you may not know is that the rebels have set
up an extensive anti-air defence behind that line. It was believed
that it was to stop bomber attacks on the Hive, but it's also
prevented air recon missions as well, which made us blind in that
region." He dropped one of the printouts on the table. "Orbital forces
recorded these images just beyond the smog line less then an hour
ago."
It was a chilling image. Tens of thousands of dots that had to be
infantry, along with hundreds of tanks, Wasp helicopters and K-Suits.
"What we thought was a retreat was actually the rebels regrouping
out of sight," Schofield muttered.
"And those rebel forces we've been taking out were recon
elements," Ranma finished. The room fell silent as they considered how
everyone had been fooled.
"How long until they get here?" Hicks asked.
"Twelve hours, maybe less. It depends on if they're going to
counterattack or dig trenches and wait for us to go to them," Trunks
said.
"Judging how far ahead the recon elements have been moving, I
doubt they're going to dig in," Schofield said.
How long until the main Imperial force reaches us?" Ranma asked.
"At least fourteen hours," Trunks answered. "Current estimate is
somewhere around sunrise."
Ranma cursed. "So, what do we do now?"
"We have to try and hold this town," Trunks said. "High Command
has to know what happened here. I'll call up my commanding officer.
Maybe we can get some reinforcements here. Space Marines. I'd like to
see these rebels take on the Eternal Dragons."
Ranma nodded, but his mind was working overtime. Back on Tokyo,
he'd never used his mind much, thanks to his old mans influence, but
the responsibilities of command seemed to be a good thing for him.
High Command knows that mutants are behind this now, so why is it
so important to hold the town? What has Trunks so determined to do
this, not to mention the rage he was in earlier. What's responsible
for that?
And then there was Barnes. Schofield had mentioned to him earlier
that the Commissar was hiding something, but what was it? Did it have
something to do with Trunks? Or was it something else?
Ranma decided that the only way to learn the answer was to wait
and see. But would he learn the truth in time, before they all died
for something that didn't appear to be of any importance in this
damned war?
***
End Part 3
And ohhh boy, is Part 4 gonna be a blast!
***
Authors Notes:
Well, that's another part done. Don't even begin to think I'm
close to finishing with this one, because I'm only just warming up!
Heh heh heh...
There are some important things I have to note. Firstly, Trunks.
There will NOT be any Super Sayians here. While the blond warriors are
good for a laugh, the sheer power they have would be out of place in
the universe I'm working with.
Secondly, I've got a list of the various characters here, for
those who can't place where they come from.
Ranma Saotome, Soun Tendo, Hiroshi, Daisuke: Ranma 1/2
Tenchi Masaki, Washuu Habuki: Tenchi Muyo!
Lina Inverse, Rezo, Zolf, Dilgear: Slayers
Ash Ketchum: Pokemon
Schofield: Ice Station (Good novel)
Misato Katsuragi, Kaji Ryouji: NGE
Trunks: Dragonball Z
Rook: Robotech
Hicks, Hudson: Aliens
Konoko: Oni (The video game. No anime yet)
Tai: Digimon
Ryo Saeba: City Hunter
I've missed a few that only got mentioned, but they'll be included
in a list I plan to put up on my website. Please note that some of
these characters are new.
In the next part of Soldiers of the Imperium, the Tokyo First and
the Eternal Dragons prepare to defend the ghost town. But what secrets
does the Commissar hold, not to mention the Space Marine Trunks? And
what of the mutants? Why are they suddenly attacking so many towns in
such a short time. All this in part 4, plus the biggest action scene
yet!
Matrix Dragon
"Push the button Frank."
Soldiers of the Imperium
Part three
Disclaimer: Everyone, you know who you belong to.
***
Fesal Hive mostly looked like an imposing spike, a rod of steel
that reached up through the thick cloud layer that covered the
resource depleted planet. The centre of the Imperial war machine on
Redermade, the hive was the first stop for any of the thousands of
soldiers transported here to fight the former planetary governor and
his armies.
Just under a hundred troopers, wearing the dark green uniforms of
the Tokyo Regiments, stepped off the transport shuttle. They were
replacements for the troopers killed in combat over the past few
weeks. The majority of them were raw rookies, only given basic
training. A few were veterans of Tokyo's civil war over a year ago,
with enough experience to attempt to whip the rookies into shape.
One of them was far more experienced then the rest of them. She
was a woman in her mid twenties, with short, spiky, purple hair. She
wore the dark black long-coat and peaked cap of the Commissars. A
chain sword was slung over her shoulder, and a laspistol was holstered
on her belt.
She gave off a very imposing figure, but what truly unnerved
people were her eyes. They seemed rock hard, consisting of solid
determination and dedication. The soldiers stood slightly apart from
her.
She led the group of soldiers across the landing strip, over to a
man that was waiting near several light trucks. Like the soldiers, he
wore the uniform of the Tokyo First. He had several bandages, and his
neck had several burn marks. He saluted to the woman. "Trooper Saeba,
Tokyo First."
The woman saluted in return. "Commissar Konoko, acting commander
of your reinforcements."
Saeba looked at the soldiers, mostly boys and girls in their late
teens/early twenties. "They don't look like much. They any good?"
"They will be if they want to survive," Commissar Konoko replied.
"That's true," Saeba said. "Climb on board," he added, pointing at
the trucks. "The sooner we get to the front the better. This place
makes me sick."
Konoko nodded and yelled out orders to the troops, who quickly got
on board. As they climbed in, she noticed Saeba scratching at the burn
marks. "How'd you get them?" she asked.
"Back in the last major rebel strike on our position," Saeba said
with a scowl. "The rebels were more of the armoured shock troops, and
they actually made it into the trenches. We forced them out, then
followed close behind, intent on taking them out of the war, not to
mention deal with the tanks. The next thing we knew, the fraggers in
the tanks started firing on us, while we were duking it out with their
comrades. Killed as many of their own as they did us."
The Commissar noticed the soldiers listening in. She pretended to
ignore them. This seemed to be telling of how the enemy was so cold-
hearted that they would sacrifice their own men. That was something
that could be used to motivate the men, if she worked it right.
"Some loser rebel was killed during the shelling. He died with his
finger on his flamers trigger. I got tagged. Spent a few days in the
infirmary. A few more days and I'll be healed up and back in the
action, and none too soon! I'm eager to pay those bastards back." The
rookies cheered at this.
Konoko considered this. These new soldiers still believed all the
stories about the military. Stories like this appealed to their minds.
It could easily be used to inspire hatred against the rebels. She
placed the idea in the back of her head for later consideration,
closed her eyes and tried to catch some sleep. She had a feeling she
was going to be very busy over the coming months.
***
Far to the east of Fesal Hive, a column of rebel troops were
making their way towards the Imperial lines. It had been four days
since the Imperial forces began to advance on Kell Hive, and the
rebels had been launching a number of attacks of the forces. None of
these attacks had consisted of any real power. In fact, the Tokyo
Regiments hadn't needed to do anything other then blast them with long
range artillery shelling.
The same thing was going to happen to these particular rebels.
Unknown to them, seven hoverbikes were parked behind a small sand
dune. On top of the dune, several soldiers were crouched down,
watching the rebels. "Nice collection," Sergeant Ranma Saotome
muttered. "It won't stand a chance, but it's still a decent size."
"What's with them?" Lina Inverse said. "The number of troops and
armour down there adds up to one, maybe two companies... That wouldn't
make a dent in the Imperial forces."
"Who cares why?" Ranma replied. "Leave that to the intelligence
boys. All we have to do is transmit this lots location to Seventh
Company, then deal with any survivors once they're finished." He took
the comm-link from one of his men, and switched to the channel used by
the Tokyo First. Informing the Artillery Batteries of the rebel
position, Ranma sat back to watch. He knew that ten miles away, the
crews of the Basilisk tanks in the Tokyo Regiments armoured companies
were loading the explosive 40cm shells into their vehicles Earthshaker
cannons. He'd seen the results of a Basilisk attack before, but he had
to make sure the shells reached their destination. The indirect firing
used at such long ranges wasn't completely accurate.
Soon, the morning was shattered as two rebel tanks exploded in
flames. Soldiers scattered in confusion, only to find themselves
falling pray to more explosions. The Earthshaker shells were more then
capable of reducing a town to rubble in a matter of minutes. This
group of rebels was no different, and the crews of the Basilisk tanks
in seventh company were more then up to the task. After a few minutes,
Ranma turned away, and walked down to the bottom of the sand dune.
"Tenchi, are the bikes ready?"
"All set," the trooper replied, kick starting his own bike. Ranma
got comfortable on his own, and yelled to his men to get ready to
move.
About a minute and a half later the Basilisk tanks stopped their
shelling. Ranma twisted the throttle on his bike and led his men over
the sand dune and into what was left of the rebels. It was nothing
more then a slaughter. There were about twenty rebels left alive, most
of them injured, some deafened and blinded by the shelling. One
strafing run later, and the rebels were all dead.
Following Ranma's orders, the squad moved on to the next nav
point.
They rode in silence for several minutes, the only sounds that of
their bikes low hum, and the sounds of the Imperial forces to the
west. "You alright?" Lina asked, noticing the sickened look on her
commanders face.
"Just a little crook," Ranma replied. "I can't help but wonder
what those rebel generals are thinking. Do they want to kill off all
their men?"
"Mankind is a strange thing," Lina said. "No one ever said they
had to make sense."
Ranma nodded, then turned his attention elsewhere as his head set
buzzed all of a sudden. "Saotome, this is Schofield," the platoon
Lieutenant said over the link. "What's your current position?"
Ranma pulled a data-slate out of his jacket pocket and checked the
map. "Quadrant 6, Sector 9-12."
"Head for Quadrant 7, Sector 8-02. I'll be waiting there. Out."
Ranma turned to his men. "The Lieutenant wants to meet up with
him. Let's not keep the man waiting." He banked hard left, his squad
following close behind.
***
From an observers point of view, the Imperial Guard certainly
looked like it could live up to its claim of being the largest army in
history. In a constantly tightening circle around Kell Hive, tens of
thousands of soldiers marched forward. Some were on foot, others in
various vehicles.
Slightly behind the first line of troops from the Tokyo regiments,
a modified Chimera APC moved up alongside several cargo haulers. The
markings along its side identified it as the personal transport of
General Soun Tendo, commander-in-chief of the Tokyo Imperial Guard
Regiments.
"It doesn't make sense," Soun Tendo muttered. The holotank in
front of him showed the Imperial advance, and the known positions of
all rebel forces. For almost all of the several hundred kilometres to
Kell Hive, the rebels were only a tiny number of dots. "The attacks
they performed against Guard regiments before we began to advance were
far more powerful then what we've seen over the past few days. There
has to be a reason for it."
"The hive is cut off," Misato Katsuragi pointed out. "They may be
low on men. Either that, or they're keeping their men in the city to
prepare for a siege."
"Then why these small attacks?" asked Colonel Rezo, commander of
the Tokyo Second. "Platoon and company sized forces attacking us right
now is suicide, a waste of men and resources. It doesn't add up."
"Penal Legions," said Captain Ulath, Tokyo Second.
"Hmm?"
"The soldiers we've been fighting are Imperial loyalists, people
the rebels had to get rid of. What better way then sending them out to
be killed by the people they support?"
"Brutal, but unlikely," Soun said. "The soldiers we've been
encountering were well equipped. It wouldn't make sense to give a
suicide squad expensive equipment unless they had to deal out a large
amount of damage."
"And sending out a few dozen men will never do much damage to an
entire army," Rezo muttered.
"Well, there's not much we can do on that subject now except for
guess. If it's possible, try and take some of the rebels alive for
questioning. Next matter of interest." The image in the holotank
changed to show a number of small towns between the Imperial Guard and
Kell Hive. "These towns are all over the place. Some are built around
mining operations, some acted as supply stations for interhive
transports, and numerous over reasons. Over the past year, they've
ended up having to choose sides. Those that have sided with the
Imperium have been safely evacuated. As for those that didn't, most of
the people in those villages had fled to the hives by the time Guard
forces arrived. Those that remained usually tried attacking and ended
up killed."
"Over the past few days, Lieutenant Schofields recon platoon has
come across a number of towns which are empty, yet nothing is
missing," he continued. At the blank look from several officers he
explained. "The power supplies to the houses are still on, vehicles
are still parked in garages, everything that gives off the image of a
small town on the surface of a Hive world, except that there isn't a
person there. No bodies, no indication of where they left to."
"If the townsfolk were leaving, they'd turn off the power no
matter what," Misato said. "Resources are in such short supply on
planets like these that they'd never be so wasteful."
"True," Tendo replied. "Which makes this all the more mysterious."
***
"Ack!" Washuu exclaimed as the exhaust pipe belched a cloud of
black smoke into her face. Stumbling back, she glared at the offending
machine. "You think you're funny, don't you?"
Being a machine, the Blazer hovercycle made no reply. Nearby, Ash
Ketchum suppressed a grin. Washuu glared at him as well. "Hey, it's
not my fault if you're having trouble with a grumpy machine," he said.
Washuu nodded. "I know, I know. I've just been having a lousy day.
Maybe I should - huh?"
"What?" Ash asked, before he saw it too. A Commissar was walking
towards them. While this common (and hated) sight was nothing unique,
the fact that said Commissar was a woman was quite different.
"You are Tech-priestess Hibuki?" the Commissar asked.
Washuu nodded. "What can I do for you?"
"I have been assigned to the bike recon squad which you designed
the vehicles for. I'll be needing one myself."
"Of course," Washuu said, turning her attention back to the partly
finished Blazer. "You're in luck my friend. I was already building a
new one, as a potential upgrade. The built in lasguns have been
replaced with bolters. I assume you won't mind that change?"
"No, I won't," the woman replied. She noticed Ash sitting nearby.
"Is he your assistant?"
"No, and thank the Machine God that he isn't," Washuu replied.
"He's one of the men from the bike squad you'll be joining. Lost part
of his leg the other day, and he's adjusting to the bionics. What's
your name?"
"Commissar Konoko. Where is Sergeant Saotome right now?"
"Out on recon," Ash replied, handing Washuu a screwdriver. "They
should be back in about two hours, although I heard over the comm-net
that the Lieutenant found another ghost town."
"Another one?" Washuu said, loosening a panel to get at some
wires. "What's that, eight now?"
"Nine, I think. Word is the General's ordered proper searches of
each one."
***
"I thought it was closer to seven ghost towns," Lina said as the
group of hoverbikes approached the town.
"Yeah, well this makes it nine all up," Ranma replied, looking
over the small collection of houses. None of them were in good
condition, built from assorted scrap. From several of them, he could
see the smoke let off by burning coal. On a world as resource starved
as this one, wasting fuel was one of the ultimate sins. Yet the people
of a number of small towns had simply vanished, leaving the power
generators on.
He spotted two Chimera APC's near the road leading into town, a
number of soldiers standing around it. One bore the markings of First
Company, the other of Seventh Company. The first one had to be the
Lieutenants transport, built in Fesal Hive less then a week before.
The other would most likely be one of the Armoured Fist Patrol squads,
serving a similar role to the recon platoon.
Lieutenant Schofield was standing next to his squads tank. He
looked a lot like an officer from the Tokyo Defence Force, with his
body armour hidden under an officers issue leather trenchcoat, with
the Imperial Eagle on the left sleeve and the kite symbol of the Tokyo
Regiments on the right.
The eight man squad came to a halt near the tanks, Ranma saluting
Lieutenant Schofield. "Sergeant Saotome, reporting as ordered."
Both Schofield and the Armoured Fist squad leader - a Corporal,
judging from his rank pins - saluted in reply. "You made good time,"
Schofield said. "Sergeant, this is Corporal Hicks, commander of the
Second Armoured Fist Patrol Unit, Seventh Company."
"Pleasure to meet you Corporal," Ranma said.
"Same here," Hicks replied.
"Okay, park your bikes somewhere safe," Ranma ordered. "Daisuke,
Tai, you've got guard detail. Everyone else with me. Let's go."
***
Ranma pushed the door open with his foot, then entered the home,
lasgun ready. Unlocked. What kind of fool leaves their home unlocked
on a planet like this?
Lina followed close behind him, her flamer slung over her shoulder
and a laspistol and knife in her hands. Tenchi was next, the rest of
the squad close behind.
Ranma and Lina entered the kitchen, other memebers of the squad
moving through the rest of the house. "Yuk!" Lina commented, holding
her nostrils shut, "they could have at least closed the cooler."
Sure enough, the cooler door was wide open, the stench of spoiled
food drifting out across the room. Ranma pushed it shut, then checked
around the room. Everything was in it's place, simply adding to the
mystery here.
Tenchi entered one of the bedrooms. It looked like a teenagers
room, due to the fact it looked like a bomb had hit it. There was even
a data-slate lying on the bed. Tenchi picked it up. Porno, he
thought as he keyed through a few images before tossing it back on the
bed. Poor quality too. He checked under the bed and other large
objects, finding nothing on any real value.
Leaving the bedroom, he saw Shinji Ikari leaving another room. The
sniper shook his head at his squad-mates unasked question. Then he
froze. Quietly, he moved to a plasteel window, sniper rifle in hand.
Tenchi moved up towards him. "Saotome, this is Ikari. Are any of our
men around the side of the house?"
"No," Ranma replied over the comm-net. "Everyone's inside this
building."
"Then we've got company."
***
Ranma and Lina slipped out of the front door, moving towards the
side of the building. Quietly, Ranma slid a long knife from the sheath
on his belt.
Three men were moving down towards the backyard. Ranma stepped
forward, raising his lasgun. "That's far enough," he said. "Turn
around slowly." The three men turned, and Ranma got a good look at
their armour. They wore heavy combat boots, gauntlets and fatigues,
with an armoured breastplate over that, as well as two large
shoulderpads. On the breastplate, there was the Imperium Eagle, and
the left shoulderpad bore the symbol of a powerful dragon, the right
had squad markings.
"Space Marine Scouts," Ranma said. "I'm willing to bet that you
had more of your team behind you." He spun on the spot, throwing his
knife. It struck the wall of the house, next to another Scout, this
one with Sergeants pins. "Those wooden boards on the veranda creaked.
Pure bad luck on your part. I'm Sergeant Ranma Saotome, Tokyo First
Regiment Recon Platoon."
The scout nodded. "Sergeant Trunks, Eternal Dragons Space Marine
Chapter Scout Company." Two more men stepped up behind Trunks. "The
engine sounds we heard while passing this town were yours, I presume?"
"Our bikes perhaps, or the two Chimeras that the other squads here
came in." Ranma opened a channel on his headset. "Lieutenant, you're
never going to believe what we've got here."
***
"What'd you find?" Schofield asked as his squad checked through a
shop.
"Space Marine Scouts. They heard the tanks and came to check."
"Now that is a surprise. Are they staying or moving on?"
"I'll check." There was a moments silence, during which time
Schofield opened a cooler and checked the food. Most of it was still
fresh. "They'll hang around. Their commander says he'll follow your
orders."
Schofield blinked at that. Space Marines usually had decades, even
centuries of experience. The thought that they'd be following his
orders - someone who spent five years as a grunt in the Tokyo Defence
Force, one year as a sergeant and only just got promoted - was very
hard to wrap his head around. He managed it though. "Give them our
secondary comm-channel."
"Sergeant Trunks reporting in," a new voice said a moment later.
"How many men in your squad?" Schofield asked.
"Seven. Two snipers, one rocket launcher and the rest carry
boltguns or pistols."
"Deploy your snipers and launcher in overwatch positions around
the edge of town. The rest of your squad goes with Saotome. Corporal
Hicks, status report."
***
"No sign of any life," Hicks answered. His squad was moving down
the middle of a narrow street. "So far it's been residential. Looks
like they just up and left."
"Matches up with the other ghost towns I've seen," Trunks said.
"This is just one big mystery."
"Hey Corporal!" Hicks glanced to his left to see Trooper Hudson
pointing at a large pile of scrap metal pretending to be a building.
Over the front door was the symbol of the Imperial Eagle, hanging
loosely from a number of rivets.
"All squads, this is Hicks, I've found what appears to be the
local law enforcement headquarters."
"Check it out," Schofield ordered. Hicks sent two soldiers around
each side of the building, to come in from the back, while he and the
other three would come in the front.
Nudging the doors open with his lasgun, Hicks led his men into the
building. Inside it looked just as bad as outside, with everything
built from scrap. Hicks just shook his head in disgust at the sloppy
repairs to a broken water pipe. It seemed that on this planet, the
only people to have anything decent were the noble families, with
their near-limitless supply on money. Everyone else got whatever
appeared to be lying around.
Leading his men through the entry hall, he found himself in the
workroom, containing the desks and machines used by the local lawmen
(called Enforcers around here). Walking over to one codifier, he found
it still turned on. Curious, he punched a few runes on the key-slate,
calling up the personal log of the devices user. After that, he
skimmed through the entries.
-Can't believe I got posted to a worthless shanty like this. My
career's over before it began!.
-The locals here seem pleasant enough, although they seem a little
wary of me. Could just be that I'm a stranger. Country folk around
here ain't used to that.
-There is something going on here. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I
doubt it. I've been here almost two months and people are still
nervous around me.
-Came across a meeting between a townsman and a mutant today. I
didn't get a good look at the townsman, and both of them escaped. The
sarge seemed very interested.
-The mutant case was closed, even though there were other
sightings of the Chaos-tainted freaks. When I confronted the sarge
about it, he laughed it off, saying how there are always mutants
lurking near places like this, and every now and then, a few would be
hunted down and killed, but now wasn't the time. I guess he's right.
-Some of the people are acting very strange. I've noticed some of
them missing for days at times. When anyone asks about it, they always
make an excuse, like they were checking the water-collectors out of
town. All I care about is that there's a traitor to humanity in this
town. When I find him, he can make his explanations to the Emperor
himself.
-Old man Sader was murdered, seemingly by a mutant. He was torn
apart by some sort of claws. The strange thing is, none of the locals
seem to care. The sarge made requests for a Mutant kill-team from Kell
to deal with the problem. It was denied. Now I know I'm not paranoid.
Hicks came to the last entry on file. On a hunch, he decided to
read the whole thing. He wasn't disappointed.
- The sarge is dead. One of those... things took his head clean
off. Gener's not in good shape, and Hadel's vanished somewhere. These
mutants are unlike anything I could imagine. They came in and started
killing. The scary thing is that some of the locals helped, even some
of the Enforcers that have been here for a long time. Lockly, Emperor
damn him, pulled a gun on the rest of us. That's what messed up Gener
so much. The autopistol shredded his stomach.
I've sent a message to Kell Hive, calling for backup, but I
don't think it made it there. All I can do now is take as many of the
bastards with me when I go to stand before the Emperor. May he
forgive me for my failures here.
------EOF------
"Dammmmnnn," Hicks muttered, before tabbing his helmet mike. "All
squad leaders this is Hicks. I've found something very interesting
here."
***
"Are you sure about that?" Trunks asked as Hicks finished giving
them the short version of what he found.
"About as sure as I can be sir," Hicks replied over the comm-net.
"We got lucky, and one of the Enforcers, as the local police are
called, left his codifier on. Hold on a second." There was the sound
of scraping metal over the link, causing all the squad leaders to
flinch. "Looks like our friends did a little redecorating. There's
some dried blood here. Not much, just the really tough stuff they
couldn't wash off. They tried to hide the evidence."
"You can't hide everything," Ranma said. "Bullet holes, spent
rounds, everything that indicates a fight. There'd have to be at least
some tiny amounts left and there was nothing at the other towns at
all."
"Ranma's right," Trunks said. "If mutants had taken the ghost
towns by force, we'd have known it by now."
"Cover up by the people upstairs?" Lina quipped, triple checking
her flamer. She had a familiar sense of dread building.
"I doubt it," Trunks replied. "A lot of those in the higher ranks
are pretty paranoid, but I don't think they'd cover up mutant attacks.
After all, every single soldier knows they're out there."
"They always are," Schofield replied over the comm-net. He was
right about that. Every planet across the Imperium had the problem of
mutants. These subhuman creatures were almost always exiled or killed.
But on planets like this, with a population in the tens of billions,
there could be thousands of the beasts gathered together at times,
more then enough to take over a village, or cause Imperial Guard
Regiments some trouble.
"Hey, look at that." Lina pointed at a building visible as the two
squads turned a corner. At the end of the short dead-end street was a
small fortress, a strange meshing of armour and stone acting as the
outer walls.
"Must be the town hall," Trunks decided. "It'd also serve as a
last line of defence." He keyed his headset. "Lieutenant, we've found
what appears to be the town hall. We're moving to search it."
"Inform me the moment you find anything interesting," Schofield
replied.
***
As Ranma expected, the Town Hall seemed to be empty. Both squads
found nothing on the first or second floor, and the basement seemed to
be coming up empty as well.
Well, it was until Tenchi found a large armoured door. A few
minutes later, men from both squads were gathered around it. It was
locked, some sort of keypad the only way to open it. Ranma could see
the locking bolts in the door. "A storeroom of some sort," Trunks
said. "The locking system is familiar. Very resistant to conventional
unlocking techniques, and explosive entry would set off more
aggressive defensive measures, not to mention destroying everything in
the room anyway."
"You're the one with the experience," Ranma replied. "So how do we
get in?"
"Easy," Trunks said, drawing his sword from the scabbard on his
back. He clicked a button on the hilt, and a light blue glow formed
around the blade. "Use UNconventional unlocking techniques!" And with
that, he slashed downward with the power sword, cutting through the
lock easily.
"Nice trick," Ranma commented, as Lina and Hiroshi pulled the door
open. As the contents of the room became visible, several people
gasped in surprise.
It was a body, only just starting to decay. A rather large rifle
was tightly gripped in the corpses hands, aimed in the general
direction of the door. Carefully, Tenchi removed the gun from the
body, safing it and placing it to the side.
Ranma glanced at the rest of the storeroom, and understood just
why they'd have this one locked. There were several dozen weapons
racks, carrying firearms ranging from pistols to anti-tank weapons.
"They really take their defence seriously here," he commented. "That's
a lot of weaponry for such a small town."
Trunks looked up from the body. "On a planet like this you can't
be too careful. But take a look at this. This man didn't die of
injuries or illness. He starved to death."
"He sure tried not to," one of the scouts said, kicking a box with
his foot. Several empty cans of food fell out a hole in the side.
Ranma picked one up and looked at it. It had been picked clean, not a
spot of food left.
"He must have been here for months," Hiroshi said quietly. Several
other soldiers nodded in agreement. "Hey, what was the name of that
Enforcer that vanished, the one Corporal Hicks mentioned?"
"I think it was Hadel," Trunks said. Ranma knelt down, and checked
the name tag on the mans shirt. Sure enough it said Hadel.
"I'll be damned. Nice guess Hiroshi." He keyed his headset, and
informed the other squads of his find. He was ordered to have some men
secure the site, while the rest of his squad continued the search.
"Hey, take a look at this," Lina said, holding up a rifle she
pulled off a rack. Ranma took a look and blinked in surprise. It was
one of the old Mark 2 Boltguns. Bigger and uglier then the more common
Mark 3, it was still no less effective.
"Talk about a classic," Ranma commented, spotting about five more
M-2 Bolters and ten M-3's. Lina placed the M-2 back and grabbed an M-
3, along with several clips of ammunition. "What're you doing Lina?"
"Simple," the red-head replied as she made her way along a wall
until she found a nice looking bolt pistol, "I'm shopping."
"You're what?" Tenchi said.
"Shopping. Look, the villagers are gone, so they're not going to
be used by anyone around here, except for the enemy. I say we use 'em
to surprise anyone that thinks they can outgun the Guard!"
Ranma glanced at Trunks, who shrugged, as if saying 'they're your
men,' before turning his attention to the door locks.
"Ah, why not?" he decided, grabbing a Mark 3 Bolter, some ammo,
and a bolt pistol. Several other soldiers also grabbed bolters and
grenades, the other weapons racks largely ignored as the rifles were
weaker then the bolters, and they were a recon squadron, meaning heavy
weapons would only get in the way, although Hiroshi grabbed a rocket
launcher and a few rockets (He missed his old one that he'd had to
give up for the bikes).
"This door was locked from the inside," Trunks said suddenly,
drawing everyone's attention.
"Say what?" Lina replied.
"I'm serious Guardsman. This Enforcer must have known a bit about
security machines. He made sure it would open to a pass-phrase only he
knew. He was hiding," he decided, his eyes narrowing as he considered
the options.
"Yeah," Ranma said, "but from what? The mutants? Or something
else?"
***
Schofield stood in the middle of the Church, looking up at the
stain-glass roof. This building was unique in the entire shanty
village, not because of its religious significance, but because it was
the only building that some had put some effort into making it look
like it wasn't a pile of scrap.
"Your opinion Commissar?" Schofield asked Commissar Barnes. Barnes
was the Commissar that had been assigned to the platoon's last
Lieutenant, and was hated by all the soldiers due to his harsh
enforcement of Imperial edict. Still, he was a good warrior, with more
experience then most of the Tokyo Guardsmen (A few officers from the
TDF _might_ have had more)
"Corporal Hicks theory seems to be the most likely. It appears
that these 'ghost towns' are nothing more then the result of mutant
attacks and the stories of nervous guardsmen."
Schofield scowled at that. Barnes had a habit of putting down
anyone not as devoted to the Emperor as he was. Being a Commissar, he
looked down on everyone. But still, the opinion had merit. If there
was one thing true for all soldiers everywhere, it was that they loved
making up stories, and gossiped like old women.
him up. Glancing down, he saw that one of the tiles on the floor had
been chipped and come loose. Not recognising the type of stone it was
made of, he picked it up for a better look. Then he froze. Underneath
where the tile had been was a large hole.
Kneeling down, he pulled more tiles away, revealing a metal frame
that had been holding the tiles in place. Calling some of his men
over, they pulled the frame away. The hole was about five metres deep,
and a metal ladder was built into the wall for easy access.
"How'd you find this?" Comms-officer Crowley asked.
"Dumb luck," Schofield replied, slinging his bolter over his
shoulder and climbing down. Two of his men followed him, the other
three setting up a defensive position on the surface.
As his feet touched the ground, Schofield turned to examine the
hole. He saw the tunnel instantly, leading north and down, away from
the village. "Crowley, Barnes, you're with me. The rest of you stay
here." He tapped his headset. "Squad Leaders, this is Schofield.
Status report."
"Hicks here. We've almost completed a sweep of the southern side
of the town. Nothing new to report."
"Saotome here. Trunks and I have finished searching the Town Hall.
Nothing but that body. I've left three men to guard it."
"Right. I've found a hidden tunnel in the Imperial Church, and
we're taking a look now. When you've finished your sweeps, return to
the vehicles."
"Understood."
"Roger."
"Yes sir."
Schofield stepped forward into the tunnel, strapping the handlight
to the side of his bolter.
***
"Man oh man, I do not like this," Trooper Hudson muttered. "Ghost
towns, a single dead body, now hidden tunnels. Something ain't right
here!"
"Knock it off Hudson," Hicks growled. "Bartley, anything?"
Trooper Rook Bartley shook her head. "No movement whatsoever." The
young woman growled as she considered the Auspex motion sensor in her
hand. "What the hell's going on here?"
"No idea," Hicks replied, pushing a door open with his lasgun.
Another empty room. The Corporal was really starting to hate this
town.
Rook swore as her Auspex started beeping. "I've got movement. Two
hundred metres to the south."
"All squads, this is Hicks. Anyone to the south of town?"
"Saotome here. All my men are in the northern half, except for our
guards near the vehicles."
"Sergeant Trunks. All of my squad are in the northern half."
"Trooper Otaru. Lieutenant Schofield is investigating the tunnel,
heading east towards Kell Hive. The rest of the squad is here."
"Then we've got unknown beings south of the village."
"Move to investigate it," Trunks ordered. "I'll send some men to
assist you."
"Understood. Hicks out." The Corporal turned to his squad. "Let's
go. Keep it quiet."
***
"Two each?" Ranma said. Trunks nodded, and the guardsman turned to
his squad. "Shinji, Hiroshi, head over to the tread-heads and assist
them. They'll probably forget that they're not immune to death."
"Don't all tread-heads?" Hiroshi joked, patting the rocket
launcher he'd swiped from the town armoury.
"It's not their fault. Being cooped up in all that armour would do
that to anyone," Shinji replied as they walked off, two Space Marine
Scouts with them.
Lina blinked. "Did he just make a joke?" she asked.
"I think he did," Tenchi replied. "Good to see he's loosening up a
little."
***
Schofield ran his hand along the side of the tunnel, his face
showing an expression of confusion. "This tunnel isn't natural," he
said. "Almost seems like it was dug by some sort of... animal." He
didn't mention the number of twists and turns it had, which meant that
they had no idea where they were in relation to the town. At least it
hadn't split into several tunnels.
"Perhaps the mutants," Barnes replied. "It is possible that this
was their method of entry into the village was through the Imperial
Church."
"Heretics using the Church to attack innocent people," Schofield
muttered. "Is it just me, or does life seem a constant joke
sometimes?"
Barnes glared at Comms-officer Crowley, who was doing his best to
suppress a smirk. Schofield noticed that the Commissar was getting
annoyed at the Guardsmen. Annoyed Political Officers usually meant
trouble.
"There." The Lieutenant pointed at a small light in the distance.
"Looks like the end." And just in time, he thought, as Barnes and
Crowley turned their attention from each other to the light.
Quickly but quietly, the trio moved to the tunnel exit. Carefully,
Schofield glanced around the corner... and his jaw dropped in horror.
"Emperor's Light," he whispered.
***
"Nothing," Hicks muttered, lowering his lasgun in disgust. "Not a
damn thing." Both he and his squad were standing on the outskirts of
the town. In front of them was nothing but miles of flat, dead plains.
Completely flat, with not a single rock or sand dune for anyone to
hide behind. Of course, if they were hiding, the Auspex wouldn't have
detected their movement. "Are you sure that thing's working right?" he
asked Bartley.
"Yes I'm sure!" she growled back. She looked at the screen again.
"But I am getting some sort of interference. Almost like it was....
underground."
"Couldn't you have told us that before?" Hudson muttered.
"Look asshole, this thing doesn't have a good range, all right?"
the young woman growled. "You don't like it, you use the blasted
thing."
"Calm down, both of you," Hicks ordered. Taking Rook's Auspex, he
stepped forward, until he was right over the movement. "What the hell
is this?" he said. The image on the Auspex indicated that there must
be dozens, possibly hundreds of creatures underneath him. Either that
or it was _really_ big, neither of which he wanted to consider.
***
Schofield crawled forward, then looked out over the ledge. Barnes
and Crowley were right alongside him.
They were in some sort of giant underground cavern, lit up by some
unknown light source. The ledge the trio was on was almost fifty
metres above the cavern floor. And that floor was currently
overflowing with some strange creatures.
They appeared to be some sort of deformed humans. Their bodies
seemed insectoid, with six limbs, two ending in clawed feet, the
others usually ending in a long sharp claw. Tails of various sizes
were usually attached. And with blood-red skin, they were a sight that
would frighten even the most experienced soldier.
"What the frack are those things?" Crowley whispered.
"Beats the hell out of me," Schofield replied, using his gun-scope
for a closer look. "Some kind of mutant. They must be the ones that
attacked this town." He noticed that some of the mutants looked more
human then others. In fact, some of them still had tatters of
clothing, as if they were slowly losing their humanity.
Behind him, Barnes remained silent.
"There," Crowley whispered. "I think I see their leader."
"How do you know it's the leader?" Schofield muttered, still
looking over the mutants.
"Because it's standing upright, is twice as large as the rest, and
actually has a few usable looking hands."
Schofield turned his attention to where the man was pointing, and
admitted to himself that Crowley was almost certainly right.
The beast stood high on it's hind legs, its tail thumping the
ground behind him. One of the middle limbs was a long and curved claw,
the other ended in what looked like some sort of organic gun. The
upper limbs had hands that, despite the insectoid carapace, still
looked too human for comfort.
And the face.... Schofield pulled his eyes away. The creature had
been injured during the battle above, and the entire left side of it's
head was badly damaged from a plasma weapon of some sort. The right
side had skin the same carapace as the others, but the facial features
were slowly being twisted from human to... whatever it was.
"Commissar, analysis?" Schofield said quietly.
"These creatures undoubtedly attacked the town," Barnes said. "It
appears that they are all one type of mutant, which would indicate
that they have been breeding for several generations."
Schofield looked at the Commissar. The entire analysis had been
delivered in the tone Ranma Saotome once described as 'politics-grade
bullshit,' something that Commissars were experts at. Barnes knew
something, and he wasn't telling.
The Lieutenant didn't feel like starting an argument now,
considering the number of violent monsters below. So he turned his
attention back to the creature.
The mutant was saying something in what seemed to be the planets
native language. Schofield only knew a few words of this language, as
did the other two. Which meant that they had no idea what was being
said, except for a few words. The only words Schofield recognised were
something involving food, and Lord/Master/Emperor (The last word
varied in meaning depending on context and the rest of the sentence.)
Considering that this world had broken away from the
Imperium, he doubted it was the Emperor. So who was this master?
After a few minutes of this, Schofield scratched at his lip,
trying to deal with an itch. When he looked at his hand, it had a thin
smear of red on it. Instantly, he rubbed at his nostrils. A blood
nose.
A quick glace at the other two soldiers increased his fears. Both
of them also had blood noses. A simple annoyance like this that also
served as a beacon for when one was in the presence of a psyker.
Psyker. Sorcerer. Witch. Telepath. Call them what you want, they
were still the same - beings gifted and cursed with the ability to
manipulate the arcane energies of the Warp, that other reality that
was home to the Chaos Gods. The Warp, and the Psykers, were the only
thing capable of faster-then-light travel, and thus they were what
held the Imperium together.
But at the same time, the Warp posed a greater threat to mankind
then any alien race or rebels. For with this connection between the
Warp and Mankind, the Chaos Gods could corrupt from within, twisting
and changing a person's minds.
And now, there was a psyker directly below him. Tapping his blood
nose, he watched as the other two realised the problem just as he had.
He turned his attention to the area below.
The mutant leader had all four of his 'arms' raised up now, and
blue crackles of lightning ran along it's bizarre skin. Schofield
forced back the urge to vomit. Like any loyal servant of the Emperor,
hated and distrusted the power of the Warp. Although there were those
who used that power for the Imperium, that did not dull the hatred in
any way.
***
"Company," Rook said as two guardsmen and two Space Marines came
up behind them. The Corporal ignored this, his attention on the
movement below.
"What the hell?" Hicks growled. The Auspex in his hand was going
crazy, as some sort of new interference scrambled the sensors. "What's
going on down there?"
***
Lightning began to reach away from the creature, earthing itself
in the cave floor and walls. One bolt struck another creature, but it
didn't seem to feel the pain. Instead, it closed it's eyes and seemed
to enjoy the feeling. Schofield shuddered at the thought of something,
even this depraved beast, enjoying the touch of the Warp.
Suddenly, the leader roared, swinging a claw towards the platform
and tunnel entrance where the soldiers were hiding. Many of the other
creatures also turned to face it. Schofield felt his heart jump into
his throat. The psyker sensed us, and now they all know!
The mutants charged towards the platform, their claws rending the
stone in an attempt to secure a handhold. All three of them leaned
over the edge and opened fire, Schofield with his bolter, Barnes with
his bolt pistol, and Crowley with the squads grenade launcher. The
first wave of creatures were forced back, leaving a few dead. However,
more of them were climbing other walls, coming on from the sides and
above.
"Back into the tunnel!" Schofield yelled. Barnes glared at him,
and was about to shoot the Lieutenant (Standard practise of Commissars
killing what they believe to be deserters. They were often wrong) when
Schofield pushed him into the tunnel. "We'll do the Emperor no good if
we die here!"
He glanced over the edge of the platform again, and saw the mutant
leader aiming the organic gun arm. Muttering a Imperial prayer under
his breath, he fired off a burst at the creature, the weapon sounding
surprisingly quiet against the backdrop of mutant roars that echoed
around the cave.
The burst hit the creature around the head and chest area, the
explosive-tipped bullets detonating with surprising force. They failed
to penetrate the mutants skin, but it knocked it off balance, swinging
the gun arm away from the tunnel. Without warning, a wave of blue-
black energy launched itself out of the gun arm and towards the roof.
"I hate psykers," Schofield muttered just before the energy
exploded, sending a shockwave out in all directions. He was knocked
back by the blast, slamming into the cave wall hard. Most of the
creatures were scattered across the cave, their attack on the three
guardsmen stopped for the moment.
Climbing to his feet, Schofield saw light shining through a
massive hole in the roof created by the explosion. As the creature
below began to climb to their feet, he saw a volley of las-blasts
reach down from the hole, tearing a gash in the crowd.
"Who's that firing?" Schofield demanded into his headset.
"Hicks here Sir. Lieutenant, where are you?" The Corporal followed
the question by dropping a few frag grenades down into the cave.
"See the tunnel and little platform dug into one of the walls?"
Schofield asked.
"Yeah, I see you sir," Hick said. "You've got a group of those
things climbing up towards you. We've got rockets, head into the
tunnel and we'll bring it down behind you."
Schofield said, already backing towards the tunnel. "There are some
heading along the roof towards you. Good luck Corporal." He fired off
one more burst, the explosive tipped rounds reducing two mutants to
piles of flesh, before turning and running into the tunnel.
Hicks glanced at the trooper with the rocket launcher. "You, see
that tunnel there?" He pointed at the tunnel. Hiroshi nodded. "Take it
down!"
Hiroshi lifted up the launcher, resting it against his shoulder.
Hicks grabbed Hudson, who was standing behind the rocket launcher,
just before Hiroshi fired. Hudson's helmet was sent flying, and the
rocket raced down into the cave, impacting against the rocks above the
tunnel. The resulting explosion shredded three mutants that were too
close to the tunnel, as the falling rubble blocked off the entrance.
"And people wonder why I enjoy this job," he muttered.
"Move back!" Hicks yelled, following his own orders and stepping
away from the hole in the ground. They were just in time as the
creatures clambered over the edge and attacked.
***
"Damn it!" Ranma yelled as he ran towards the southern end of
town. "Tai, Daisuke, start your cycles up and head for the battle," he
growled into his headset.
"What about the other bikes?" Tai asked.
"They'll be fine. Tell those tank drivers to move as well," Ranma
ordered, jumping over a fence. Ahead, he saw the Space Marine Scouts
run around a corner and out of sight.
Just a foot behind Saotome, Lina slammed a clip into place on her
bolter. "Guess we were lucky enough to find the only ghost town not
dead yet," she muttered.
"Yeah, lucky. Tenchi, I want a full plasma spread. Lina, keep your
flamer ready for my order."
***
Hiroshi stumbled back as a massive claw sliced his rocket launcher
in two. Fumbling at the laspistol on his belt, the guardsman watched
with detached horror as the mutant crouched down, then leapt forward,
claws aimed at his chest.
A bolt of red energy took the monster in the side, knocking it off
course. Hiroshi yelped in pain as the claw carved a gash along his
right arm. Finally gaining a good grip on his pistol, he turned and
put several shots through the mutants head at point-blank range.
"Thanks Shinji," he muttered, even though he knew the sniper wouldn't
hear him over all the mayhem.
In fact Shinji Ikari did hear him through his headset, but he was
too focused on his task at hand. Quickly and cleanly, he fired a
single shot at a creature before moving onto the next one. Most hit by
him died due to the location or severity of the wound, and those that
survived the shot from his powerful sniper rifle were easy pickings
for the weaker las-guns carried by the other troops.
The flow of creatures from the hole was increasing as more of them
turned their attention away from the collapsed tunnel Schofield left
down, to the guardsmen attacking them from above.
"Hudson, frags!" Hicks yelled, throwing the last of his grenades
into the hole. Hudson followed suit, and soon they heard the familiar
detonation and screams of pain. The Corporal dropped back to reload
his las-gun, giving him a chance to assess the situation.
Most of the creatures were being killed as they climbed out of the
hole, but several had managed to get close, although no one was dead
yet. That was sure to come soon enough. The only time the beasts stood
still long enough for a clean shot, but the dead ones made reasonably
good cover, giving the creatures time to prepare themselves. "Move
back!" he ordered, firing off a volley of las-blasts. The soldiers
fell back, creating more room between them and the creatures.
Suddenly, one of them leapt forward, it's claw bursting through
Hudson's leg. The trooper screamed in agony, falling to the ground.
Ripping it's claw out of the humans leg, the creature prepared to
deliver the final blow, only to receive an armoured boot to the face.
One of the Space Marine Scouts had attacked the beast, first
knocking it away from the fallen soldier, then following up with a
punch that cracked open the insect-like skin around its jaw. The
creature growled in some form of rage, swinging two claws at the
Marine. The genetically-enhanced warrior caught one claw, while the
other bit into his shoulderplate. Before any watching could blink, the
Marine raised his bolt pistol and blew the creatures head away.
Hudson was dragged away from the action while the others laid down
covering fire. From the west, two Chimera APC's and two Blazer
hovercycles made their way towards the battle. At the same time, three
more Space Marines emerged from the town, with several Guardsmen close
behind.
Trunks roared in anger as he saw the creatures, and his power
sword seemed to come alive, energy running along the blade. He charged
past the guardsmen, taking off the head of the first beast he saw. The
next fell to a quick blast from his Plasma pistol, before the next
managed to slash at his leg, leaving a long gash. Trunks grabbed him,
crushed his neck and tossed him aside. Ranma blasted the still-choking
creature with his bolter.
Ranma assesed the situation. Trunks seemed to have gone into a
blood-lust of some sort, judging from the way he was tearing through
the creatures. Is it their Chapter's style of fighting? No, the
others still seem to be sane. He recognised Trunks' fighting style as
a modified form of kempo, although it incorporated all sorts of other
fighting styles as well.
The various Guardsmen were still moving away from the hole slowly,
their weapons spraying out death to anything that approached. Several
of them were down, some with serious injuries.
After several more minutes of constant firing, the number of
mutants attacking them died down, and then stopped. Trunks walked
towards the hole, his armour badly damaged, and blood from both the
creatures and himself coating his body. He glanced over the edge and
started swearing and a number of obscure dialects.
"What's wrong?" Ranma asked.
"There was another tunnel," Trunks growled. "This was just a
diversion while the majority of them escaped."
Ranma looked at the pile of bodies. "Some diversion."
Schofield's squad emerged from the town, weapons ready. They
lowered them when they saw the results. "Looks like you got all these
mutants already," the Lieutenant said.
"They were sub-human," Barnes said. "They lacked the fighting
spirit and intelligence of a true soldier of the Emperor."
Schofield ignored him. "I'm certain that High Command will want to
know about this. Crowley, get me a channel to General Tendo."
Meanwhile, Ranma helped Hiroshi to his feet. "You alright?"
"Been better sir," the trooper replied. "My own fault for getting
too close." He gritted his teeth while Lina saw to his injuries.
"Could you be a little less painful?" he muttered.
"Look, I'm no medic. Ketchum always dealt with that. You'll just
have to wait until he gets back." With one last adjusted, the bandage
was in place. "There. That'll do for now." She looked over at the
bodies. "What are those things?"
"I don't know," Ranma replied, "but Trunks knows. He really went
crazy."
"Yeah, I saw." Lina looked to where the Space Marine had taken
care of his own wounds, although they already appeared to be healing,
thanks to the wonders of gene-engineering.
"People, listen up," Schofield called out. "I've just spoken with
the General. Our orders are to hold this town until the main advance
reaches us here tomorrow morning. We have reinforcements on the way
from Seventh Company, they'll be here in four hours at the most. In
the meantime, we set up a defensive position to take on anything that
comes if possible." The Lieutenant turned to Trunks. "Sergeant, while
I thank you for the respect you have given me by commanding you, but I
have no doubt that your experience exceeds mine by no small margin. I
humbly request that you take command."
Trunks rose to his feet. "It takes a brave man to admit his
shortcomings Lieutenant. I accept your offer." He looked around.
"Corporal Hicks, can the injured be moved?"
"We can move them a short distance. Some of them aren't in a good condition."
"We'll head for the town hall. Trooper Ikari, when we get there, I
want you to go to the spire on the roof for sniper and sentry duty."
Shinji nodded and saluted. "Squad leaders will gather in the mayor's
office."
***
The mayor's office was, like the rest of the town, in rather poor
condition. However, it did have a very good map on the wall, which
Trunks pulled down and spread out over the table, marking in the
current military situation.
"The tanks and cycles are hidden here," Ranma said, pointing to a
garage. "We should be able to deploy quickly from there. I've also
sent several of my squad to take the heavy weapons from the storeroom
below and bring them up here. From there we can determine where to
deploy them."
"I've got two men rigging explosive charges in that tunnel," Hicks
reported, "and the other three still on their feet searching for more.
They've been equipped with our Auspex, along with one from Lieutenant
Schofields squad. The injured are safely set up in this buildings
infirmary. One of them isn't expected to make it," he added, his face
dark with anger. That man was one of his.
"Our reinforcements are making good time," Schofield said,
changing the subject and pulling Hicks away from problems he couldn't
solve. "Last communication indicates they'll arrive in just over three
hours from now."
Trunks nodded. "We'll decide where they go when they arrive."
Crowley knocked on the door. "Come in." The comms-officer entered,
saluted and handed the Space Marine several printout from the comm-
set. Trunks read over the information and nodded. "That will be all."
As Crowley left, Trunks turned back to the squad leaders. "We've got a
problem."
Grabbing a pen, he drew a line on the map. "The Kell smog line.
I'm sure you all know what that is."
"Imperial forces in orbit can't see behind that line because of
pollution levels from Kell Hive," Ranma said.
Trunks nodded. "What you may not know is that the rebels have set
up an extensive anti-air defence behind that line. It was believed
that it was to stop bomber attacks on the Hive, but it's also
prevented air recon missions as well, which made us blind in that
region." He dropped one of the printouts on the table. "Orbital forces
recorded these images just beyond the smog line less then an hour
ago."
It was a chilling image. Tens of thousands of dots that had to be
infantry, along with hundreds of tanks, Wasp helicopters and K-Suits.
"What we thought was a retreat was actually the rebels regrouping
out of sight," Schofield muttered.
"And those rebel forces we've been taking out were recon
elements," Ranma finished. The room fell silent as they considered how
everyone had been fooled.
"How long until they get here?" Hicks asked.
"Twelve hours, maybe less. It depends on if they're going to
counterattack or dig trenches and wait for us to go to them," Trunks
said.
"Judging how far ahead the recon elements have been moving, I
doubt they're going to dig in," Schofield said.
How long until the main Imperial force reaches us?" Ranma asked.
"At least fourteen hours," Trunks answered. "Current estimate is
somewhere around sunrise."
Ranma cursed. "So, what do we do now?"
"We have to try and hold this town," Trunks said. "High Command
has to know what happened here. I'll call up my commanding officer.
Maybe we can get some reinforcements here. Space Marines. I'd like to
see these rebels take on the Eternal Dragons."
Ranma nodded, but his mind was working overtime. Back on Tokyo,
he'd never used his mind much, thanks to his old mans influence, but
the responsibilities of command seemed to be a good thing for him.
High Command knows that mutants are behind this now, so why is it
so important to hold the town? What has Trunks so determined to do
this, not to mention the rage he was in earlier. What's responsible
for that?
And then there was Barnes. Schofield had mentioned to him earlier
that the Commissar was hiding something, but what was it? Did it have
something to do with Trunks? Or was it something else?
Ranma decided that the only way to learn the answer was to wait
and see. But would he learn the truth in time, before they all died
for something that didn't appear to be of any importance in this
damned war?
***
End Part 3
And ohhh boy, is Part 4 gonna be a blast!
***
Authors Notes:
Well, that's another part done. Don't even begin to think I'm
close to finishing with this one, because I'm only just warming up!
Heh heh heh...
There are some important things I have to note. Firstly, Trunks.
There will NOT be any Super Sayians here. While the blond warriors are
good for a laugh, the sheer power they have would be out of place in
the universe I'm working with.
Secondly, I've got a list of the various characters here, for
those who can't place where they come from.
Ranma Saotome, Soun Tendo, Hiroshi, Daisuke: Ranma 1/2
Tenchi Masaki, Washuu Habuki: Tenchi Muyo!
Lina Inverse, Rezo, Zolf, Dilgear: Slayers
Ash Ketchum: Pokemon
Schofield: Ice Station (Good novel)
Misato Katsuragi, Kaji Ryouji: NGE
Trunks: Dragonball Z
Rook: Robotech
Hicks, Hudson: Aliens
Konoko: Oni (The video game. No anime yet)
Tai: Digimon
Ryo Saeba: City Hunter
I've missed a few that only got mentioned, but they'll be included
in a list I plan to put up on my website. Please note that some of
these characters are new.
In the next part of Soldiers of the Imperium, the Tokyo First and
the Eternal Dragons prepare to defend the ghost town. But what secrets
does the Commissar hold, not to mention the Space Marine Trunks? And
what of the mutants? Why are they suddenly attacking so many towns in
such a short time. All this in part 4, plus the biggest action scene
yet!
Matrix Dragon
"Push the button Frank."