Major Entry 5B
In the Belly of the Whale
*Not even a full day later, and I was already back in the thick of it, bringing three of my best friends with me. So let's get straight to it, shall we?"
Agementa System
Planet: Cruan
Barr Maol Tau Command Post
1532 Hours
Being amongst the enemy is a terrifying thing as they are typically trying to kill you. Being in an enemy base is a more terrifying thing, as there's no support for you when the enemy comes to kill you. Being in an enemy base disguised as the enemy is an exceptionally anxiety inducing affair, as you have to pretend to be the enemy in the enemy's own turf. Why I thought this was a good idea was beyond me, but hell, it worked…so far.
Myself, Si, Eddie, and Vic, strode semi-confidently out into the afternoon light, clad in Tau war gear. We exited the small courtyard and took in the commotion that was the Tau CP; Gue'vesa clad in armor and fatigues moved about like ants, transporting weapons, munitions, supplies, etc. Tau Fire Warriors and Pathfinders, these clad in the smoke-gray of the Huntsman's retinue, directed the flow, aided by the Gue'vesa own sergeants and officers. Kroot mercenaries milled about, watching the activity with mixed levels of interest and curiosity, their birdlike…no, humanlike eyes darting about?
"Oh yeah, those are the motherfuckers that eat people and take their traits," I remembered, shuddering at the thought of Kroot feasting on dead Fusiliers. Indeed, they seemed paler, more human-flesh colored than what I remembered seeing from my world, most likely after having fed on the dead of Cruan.
"Alright, now what?" Eddie hissed, stiff and nervous.
"One, fucking relax," Si said casually, "two, Russ what are we looking for? This was your big idea."
"Says the one who said they'd 'know what to look for'," I retorted, earning a huff from Si.
"That was Vic; focus," he said.
"I want to see where their AA is," I stated, my eyes flicking about, "see if we can't blow something up."
"Can we take a timeout here?" Vic said, gesturing to a shaded area beneath the wall. We moved over and Vic turned to me, a serious look on his face. "Russ, what the fuck do you think we're gonna accomplish here?"
"Just looking," I said, "there's nothing we can do as four joes in traitor gear alone."
"Care to que us into the grand plan here?" Eddie said, "I mean why do you even wanna look around anyways?"
"What do you think is gonna happen when everyone else gets planetside?" I asked, "You think the Commissar and the regimental commander are just gonna accept the fact that we got our asses kicked, sat on our hands, and did nothing?"
"So what? What are we gonna do against this?" Si waved to the CP around us.
"Not just us; all five-six hundred Guardsmen hunkered down in Chunic," I answered quietly, "there is a warehouse full of traitor gear, just sitting there for someone to take. Imagine all those Guardsmen, disguised in their wargear with blasting charges, all over this base, ready to blow it to kingdom come!"
"There are thousands of them, what are a few hundred going to do?" Eddie asked.
"A few hundred in their own house? They won't ever seen it coming! The Huntsman thinks we're leaderless, he doesn't even think we're capable of pulling something like that off!" I argued back, trying to rally support.
"And are we?" Vic asked firmly.
"And who's our leader?" Si joined.
"We don't need one; we…I just need to get everyone to see that we could pull this off and bloody these fuckers," I answered hesitantly. Everyone was quiet for a moment.
"Do you think we can pull it off?" Eddie asked quietly.
"Six hundred Guardsmen, armed, motivated, and with a plan? We can do a hell of a lot of damage to these bastards; make them afraid of us again. We can do it." I replied firmly, confidently. Eddie nodded slowly, with Vic staring blankly, and Si rubbing his chin.
"Fuck you Russ," Si hissed, "fuck you and your dumbass idea. More importantly, fuck you for convincing me it's a good dumbass idea!" I chuckled in response, with Vic nodding in agreement. "So what do we do?"
"Take a look around, find their AA, their short-range, their mid-range, and more importantly those railguns that fired on the Imperialis. Then we find ammo dumps, vehicle bays, major power lines, anything we can blow to kingdom come and hurt them. If we find anything we can steal, note it for later; priority is destruction of property." I said, all of them nodding. "Act fucking casual, look like you belong; find a damn clipboard and look like your doing inspections if you have to." *(Note: This is a time honored bullshitting tradition in the Army, can confirm from Dirtbag Private)*
"Anything else, want us to hijack a battlesuit on the way?" Si asked.
"Nah just take a piss in the cockpit and call it good," Eddie said, giving us all a good chuckle.
"Alright then gents…the Emperor Protects," I said, and we split off.
The Tau CP was well organized, utilizing and improving upon the existing Imperial architecture. Finding my way to the ADA batteries was easy; they had located the major armaments deeper in the base, towards the main citadel. It was a layered defense, with rows of pulse lasers and cannons facing skyward. At the heart of it all sat the three surfaced-based Tau railgun batteries, all proudly facing defiantly into the sky, undoubtably towards the Imperial fleet in space. Those would be my first and main target.
The way into the citadel was guarded by a permacrete wall with several gates, none of which were controlled or manned in any capacity, allowing me to waltz right on in. Inside, I found Fire Warriors and Pathfinders in greater numbers, so I stuck to the edges of the area and kept away from anyone who looked like they might cause me trouble.
The anti-air emplacements were a mixture of former Imperium and Tau weaponry; quad-linked flak guns, heavy bolters, surface-to-air missiles, laser batteries, pulse cannons, burst cannons, it was all woven together masterful. As an ex-Air Defense Artilleryman in my past life, I could appreciate the tangle of emplacements for what they were; weighted coverage for the heart of the CP.
It had one, glaring weakness; whoever had designed it had placed the ammo dumps and the power supplies far, far, far too close to their emplacements to be safe from a planted device. It would take a melta charge or sufficiently large homemade bomb, but it could cause a massive daisy-chain of detonations to demolish the AA. If it's one thing the Imperium has in spades that I appreciate, it's paranoia for infiltrators and traitors alike; something the Tau don't have. I took a broad sweep, ducking between different stacks of crates, hiding behind stanchions, and all manner of ways of avoiding attention until I had slunk out of the citadel.
With that off my list, I decided to go left; curious as to what lay beyond the gate in the wall. Apparently, so had Si; the ex-underganger materializing next to me, dragging on a Lho-stick.
"Find anything good?" He asked, causing me to jump in surprise.
"How the fuck?" I hissed.
"Practice; what'd you find?"
"They're AA is all bunched up with their power and ammo; all it takes is one good bomb to blow the whole thing to kingdom come," I answered.
"That should make it easy," Si said, "I found out where they're keeping prisoners from the Regulars and our Fusiliers."
"I sense a catch coming," my statement was met with a nod.
"They're in the citadel area, underground, under constant watch by drones and Fire Warriors," Si answered, "no easy way to get to them."
"Then we might not be able to get them," I said glumly, dipping my head towards a pair of Gue'vesa passing by. By now we had reached the gate and gazed down on what was beyond; a nearly completed airfield; Beachwood hangars lining the eastern side of the runways, while the western side held small vehicle and battlesuit bays.
"Emperor's bones, our intel was so fucked," Si breathed. I nodded quietly, noting the approach of Eddie and Vic coming up the ramp.
"What do we have, gents?" I asked quietly, stopping and huddling together.
"Aside from those bays? The hangars are housing captured equipment and vehicles, 'cluding some Valkyries," Vic reported.
"Battlesuit bays are all linked to a central power source; we light that up, we fry the bays," Eddie followed, "what about your end?"
"ADA ammo dumps and resupply points are protected from artillery and aerial assault, but if we chain a few meltas or blasting charges, we could set the whole thing off," I said.
"I can see how we can do this," Eddie looked at me, "but what happens after?"
"We'll plan that later," I said, noting the approach of a Gue'vesa lieutenant, his face shrouded by a low cap and a beard. A trio of his subordinates rendered him an Imperial salute.
"Officer, incoming, Imperial salute," I hissed. We all turned to him and saluted, which he returned and passed us by.
"Alright, now what?" Eddie asked.
"I think it's time we get the hell out of here," I suggested, follow be vehement nods. We proceeded to work our way back towards the warehouse we had begun at, taking careful care to avoid attention from sergeants, officers, and Fire Warriors alike. It was a trek, as there seemed to be some authority figure every ten meters. It took the better part of an hour to get close to it, and we had one more hurtle to cross; a quo of gray-armored Pathfinders walking from the citadel.
I cast a glance in their direction and made contact with an unseen fifth Tau, this one with a brimmed helmet and two sets of white claw marks crisscrossing his chest. The Huntsman.
I flicked my eyes forward, though I felt the Huntsman's gaze across my back as we passed. "Gents, pick up the pace a hair," I whispered, "the Huntsman's on the prowl." We picked up the pace, entering the warehouse, finding it empty and unlocked, and made ready to change quickly back into our gear. On a hunch, I locked the door behind us before I started changing.
"So, here's the million Throne question," Si said as he unlaced his boots, "how the hell are we convincing five hundred Guardsmen to sneak into this place?"
"That depends on who I'm asking; how many Cruan accents did ya'll hear?" I inquired.
"Not many."
"Hardly any."
"None."
"Then I'm asking the Fusiliers; our accents blend with the traitors better," I said, "which means we can use their tanks."
"For the AA?"
"For those battlesuit bays," I said, strapping my flak vest on.
PING!
"Gents, I think we're about to have company," I said, quickly finishing my preparations, snatching up my lasgun. The others did as well, and the warehouse door rattled.
"Shiiiiiiiiiiit," Si hissed.
"Is there a back way?" Eddie asked.
"Let's find out; bring what you wore!" I called. We dashed to the rear of the warehouse and found ourselves an exit door. Opening it, I poked my head through, found no one outside, and left the warehouse. A blast from the front told us whoever had been trying to get in didn't give two shits about keys, and we hurtled outside, shutting the door behind us.
"This way!" Eddie called, leading us towards where we presumed we came from. Throwing open another door, we plunged into the darkness of the pump room, threw the door shut, stumbled up the rusty, rickety stairs, and groped our way to the ladder. Si went down first, followed by Eddie, Vic, then me. We didn't breathe a word to each other until we were safely back inside the pump station, two kilometers away.
"Boys," Si said as I stepped out from the walkway, "we just came and went from the belly of the fucking whale."
"How the hell did we do that?" Eddie asked, "If you tried that in a Guard camp, Commissars or sergeants would sniff us out in an instant."
"Dunno, don't care, but we did it," Vic stated, slinging his taken gear over his shoulder, "but now its up to our glorious leader to convince everyone else to get this done." Their eyes collectively turned to me.
"With difficulty," I said, smiling and stashing my captured Gue'vesa kit, "come on, let's get back to Chunic."
*So now comes what I argue is one of my most uncertain points as a leader; motivating my subordinates outside of "do it cause we got told to". In the Army, it is somewhat difficult to motivate a body of soldiers to get the job done outside of that, mainly because if we try and promise anything, someone will hear about it and shit on our parade.
However…everyone at Chunic had a bone to pick with the Tau.*
Chunic
1727 hours local…
We four arrived back in Chunic to a slightly elevated level of activity; more Fusiliers were up and about, intermingling with the Regulars in conversation and activity. Waiting for us at the edge of town was Hobs; the big man watching the woods like a hawk. He sprung up when he saw us, a look of relief crossing his stressed features.
"Where the ruddy 'ell have you been?" He asked, his voice a blend of relief, concern, and frustration.
"Belly of the fucking beast, mate," Eddie said triumphantly, causing Hobs to cock his head.
"You said you were just taking a look?"
"And we did; looked all over its guts," Eddie continued, earning a side punch from me.
"Keep it down; I wanna talk things over before we tell everyone else," I chastised.
"But its Hobs!"
"We'll tell him when we're out of the open, let's go!" We went back to the hill-home, finding Geo and Irv sitting quietly, their eyes brightening when we walked in, though Geo was still visibly shaken by Penny's death. From the inner room, I heard noise.
"The Adept and her Skitarii set up shop with us," Irv explained, "canticles and all that." I set my lasgun down, curious as the other four filed in after me, and I peered into the open inner room. The two Skitarii stood watch over Adept Xypha, who knelt before the opened piece of archeotech, incense burning gently in the room.
"You may enter, Corporal Russman," she said, not moving from her kneeling pose. I was fairly convinced the trio had an internal comns network.
"Sorry, didn't mean to intrude," I apologized, carefully moving into the room.
"Curiosity is a blessing of the Machine God; there is no need for apologies," Xypha said, turning and gesturing to the box, which she presumed I had come for. "Behold, a lost relic."
"What is it?" I asked. Her head dipped, her eyes downcast.
"In truth, I do not know; the xenos descended before I had time to study the device. I am hoping I can gain some insight into its function," she explained. I took a look at the device; what looked like antenna rose on either side, a small set of headphones with leathery ear cups sat to one side, unconnected, a device rested in in the center, and on the lifted panel… There's a theory by Aristotle that time is cyclical; that events will repeat as history marches on.
In this case, in the grim darkness of the far future, history had repeated itself in the form of the fucking telegraph. The panel held a diagram, showing both how to use the telegram box and how to tap out Morse code.
"The workings of this device are strange; I was hoping its machine spirit would be more compliant, but it appears to be dormant," Xypha went on, eliciting a chuckle from me.
"Apologies ma'am, but, if memory serves, this is to…rudimentary to have one," I replied, kneeling down, "got a bit of a fuzzy memory, but where I'm from, this was used where vox devices weren't in use."
"And what do you know of this?" Xypha asked, a blend of curiosity and challenge in her voice.
"Like I said, it's a very basic comns device that sends letters through dots and dashes, look," I pointed to the Low Gothic script on the panel, "each letter corresponds to a series of dots, dashes, or a combo thereof. You string them together to form words or short phrases. Put these on," I handed her the headphones, which she put on, her eyes narrowed. Once they were on, I looked up and tapped out the letter "H"; a series of 4 rapid taps. Xypha listened, then gestured for me to do it again. I tapped it out again, and she nodded in understanding.
"So who receives the communique?" She asked, taking the headphones off.
"Normally these are wired connections, but this device could reach anyone," I said, gesturing to the antenna and shrugging. Xypha sat in silence for a moment, contemplating.
"You continue to fascinate me, Corporal Russman," she said after a moment, opening her mouth to continue. The telegraph buzzed a moment, and a sheet of parchment emerged from the rear of the lower panel, with a single word on the top left corner.
IDENTIFY
"No fucking way," I said.
"What shall I reply?" Xypha said, headphones back on.
"We don't know if its Imperial or Tau; reply…reply with something only we would know as Imperials, something familiar," I suggested, and Xypha tapped something out.
"From the bleakness of the mind," she murmured. We waited for a moment before the response was given.
THE OMNISSIAH SAVE US
"We speak to a fellow servant of the Omnissiah," Xypha exclaimed, then tapped away, identifying herself. Our new friend on the other side did the same.
IDENTITY TECH ADEPT MIHI CREDE
AFFLIATION FORGE WORLD MOLOTOK
LOCATION ARD ALLIE
"Does Ard Allie have an astropath or a vox device that can talk to ships in space?" I asked.
"There's an astropathic choir for major communications and a vox relay for across the planet, in addition to orbital ships and stations," Xypha explained. More pieces of a potential plan fell into place and my head began to spin a little.
"Maintain comns if you please, I need to think," I said, standing and leaving. "Going for a walk, need to think," I explained to my bewildered team as I sped out of the house. I stepped out into the light of Cruan's setting sun and lost myself in thought, the plan slowly clicking into place in my mind.
