Authors Note: Ok new longest chapter and for the one review I have gotten ty for the compilment. As of now I will start accepting cameos, but i wil l tell you I have toruble with Tau names so i cant really write that well from Tau side. Unless someone wants to help filll me in on Tau info or help with writiting from their veiwpoint. But i will do Imperial Guard, Space Marine, Battle sister and even Adeptus Mechanicus characters (since they will be part of the story)
Death……what a strange feeling……or maybe its hell……..
Lt. Argos thought these thoughts as he saw nothing but darkness and felt nothing.
Then he noticed there was a crack in the darkness, a sliver of life in death. He headed towards it, salvation, hope. It felt like that it took all of his soul just to inch forward. Then his hands were pushing through the membrane of light and he emerged to what real hell was.
An inferno consumed the landscape, men and aliens writhed in death as they were riddled with las and pulse rounds. Vehicles on both sides blew up with what seemed like the force of nuclear warheads.
The blaze leaving a afterimage in Lt. Argos retinas, he stumbled about in the gore stained loam searching for a weapon. He tripped over the steaming entrails of a unidentifiable source, saving his life in the process as burst cannon rounds whistled over his head and piercing through a scout salamander ending its machine spirits service for the Imperium.
He quickly regained his feet and stumbled towards the nearest group of friendly guardsmen that sheltered around the wreck of a devilfish transport, the horror of war lapping around him like waves on a shore.
He blundered into cover with the group of guardsmen with a grunt of effort.
They all looked towards him with the sort of glaze in their eyes that spoke of battle shock. Dam rookies, thought Argos with barely disguised contempt.
"Whose in charge here?" he yelled over the din of battle.
One of the guardsmen looked over towards him and said, "Me…. Sir!" he answered back with a tremor in his voice that spoke of barely controlled terror.
Lt. Argos looked at the man and asked "What is your name soldier?" trying to calm him down with a bit of friendly chatter.
"Corporal Hung, sir"
" I'm in charge now corporal!" the man looked a bit relieved at the prospect and nodded while saying, "Yes, sir!" He looked around and asked, "What do we do, sir?" Lt. Argos Banticore of the Laotian 14th 'Griffons' Regiment looked around the battlefield before saying, "Get me some Emperor forsaken weapons corporal!"
Sergeant "Gritty" Gohr charged through the bullet ridden Tau fortifications with his platoon behind him, his mace raised above his head.
He snapped off bursts with his autopistol before diving into cover behind a pile of metal that used to be a Tau defense turret. Troopers Eric, Kaz, Orn and Sniper Hugo sheltered with him. Pulse rounds pinged and shrieked around Gohr overlapping the other deafening sounds of battle between the Tau defenders and Imperial forces
. A moment later three more troopers stumbled into cover with the Gohr, heavy weapons trooper Pols toted a rocket tube into cover with him while trooper Wes fell in with them with most of his legs missing, blood gushing out of the arteries like a fountain. The other man, Lucan, was already dead, his chest a crisped mess, the heavy golden amour over his body melted into the wound such was the extreme heat which had caused his death.
Gohr looked over towards Wes with a grimace of distaste before saying, "Kaz stop Wes from bleeding out will you!" Kaz looked at him with a dirty look before crouching down besides the man and binding his wounds.
Gohr peeked over the rubble, spying the shapes of the Tau and Kroot holding the point up ahead, before ducking back down as the large lead slugs and pulse rounds whipped into where his head used to be.
He looked towards the men in cover with him, "Were moving up boys!"
"Yes sir!" yelled the collection of men. "Pols I want a krak in that barrier as soon as Hugo makes them duck. Then we storm them! Kaz you stay with Wes!" All of the men nodded their assent except for Kaz who was to busy trying to stop Wes from bleeding out.
He peeked out again, "Ready?" a pause, "Now!"
Hugo took aim and snapped off a raid succession of shots with his long-las, the fire coming at their position reduced.
Then Pols rose out of cover yelling, "Ease!" which all the men yelled out automatically to prevent the bursting of their ear-drums with the increase of pressure, and banged off a rocket which streamed through the air and destroyed the stack of sandbags and ammo boxes which a loud, CRUMP!
"Charge!" yelled Gohr with a dramatic wave of his mace.
The squad broke cover with a roar of battle lust and a flash of bayonets.
Gohr sprinted towards the smoking ruin that had been the Tau position, his legs burning and his heart pounding.
It seemed everything slowed down for a second before he vaulted the torn apart barriers and landed in amidst the stunned Kroot carnivores and Tau fire warriors. He smashed downward with his mace and caved in the helmet of a Tau sergeant before shoving his autopistol into the face of a kroot and squeezing the trigger watching its head disappear in the hail of bullets.
He felt a sharp pain in his side and dropped to the ground with a grunt, turning onto his back and seeing the hilt of a Tau blade sticking out of back. He then saw his men smash into the xenos,the momentum of their charge behind them. He saw Eric shooting on full auto with his lasrifle killing two fire warriors that were raising their rifles. Before dropping into swirling melee, lashing out with the butt of his gun and firing point blank into bodies.
As the combined Tau and Kroot began to retreat backwards Orn jumped on top of the mass of aliens slashing and impaling with his bayonet. Then a Kroot stepped forward and slashed through Orn with a blade attached to the barrel of its crude weapon, spilling his guts across the grassy ground.
Gohr roared in anger at the kroot, as Eric ran towards it readying his combat knife. The kroot pivoted towards Eric swinging the butt of its rifle towards Eric's helmet and clubbing him to the ground before stabbing downward and slicing through his spine. At this time Gohr was trying to reach his dropped autopistol as the alien strode towards him raising its weapon above its head. Gohr desperately tried to reach his pistol waiting for the inevitable death blow but instead of a surge of agony and blackness he heard a a sound like a wet pop and turned to see the carnivore on its back, a fist size hole in its chest. The last thing Gohr saw was the boots of Hugo crunching towards him as blackness descended.
Captain Bayern rocked in the cabin of the WarmongerLeman Russ battle-tank as it roared across the plains in the midst of a huge column of Laotian armor as it drove towards the first of the hive cities of Khergit, laying waste to all before them.
He watched as a group of Tau Hammerheads appeared in front of the Warmongerand the tanks in front of it. The massive cannon mounted on one of the Tau's vehicles speared out a lance of energy from its hull and hit the Leman Russ in front of the Captain, Workhorse, shearing it in half in a catastrophic explosion.
The gunner aimed the Russ's cannon towards the Hammerhead and loosed off a high-ex shell which impacted towards on the hammerhead's shield rocking it back but not destroying it. It started to turn its turret towards Bayern but the Tank Destroyer Snapshot loosed a beam of energy at the hammerhead from its turret and blew it apart.
Bayern snarled in victory as the vehicle rocked below him as it rolled over abandoned Tau fortifications. He heard Navy Lightning's and Thunderbolts fighting with Tau Tiger Shark's and Barracuda's in the air, firing missiles and hull mounted weapons at echother.
He saw another group of Tau armor heading towards the Imperial vehicles, a collection of Hammerheads, Piranha Gunship's, Skyray Missile Platforms and Devilfish transports.
He watched as the gunner again readied the tanks battle-cannon to shoot the towards the Tau while the rest of the Imperial column reformed and reloaded.
By his side in the cramped confines of the Russ was his adjutant Nuls holding his shotgun tightly in his hands, looking a little worse for wear.
As the too sides clashed, shells, missiles and lines of plasma fire crossed through the air. Shells walloped out of the Warmonger'sbattle-cannon and heavy bolter fire blazed from its sponson mounted weapons.
A Demolisher tank roared in front of his view and a moment later its massive, stubby siege cannon roared into life demolishing a skimming Piranha gunship. The Snapshot's gun spewed another lance of energy which lanced through a Skyray that was shooting missiles into the smoke filled sky and destroyed it with a terrific explosion as its munitions detonated. Then as if alerted by some sort of signal the Tau vehicles began to retreat towards the hive city which loomed in the horizon, leaving burnt out vehicles and wounded on the crater filled plains. Bayern turned to the captain of the tank, "Were getting out here commander."
Lt. Argos advanced through the Tau command post with most of the 2nd company behind him along with their sentinel's, chimeras and half-tracks.
They were the spearhead into the last Tau held defense's before Khergit, gun drones circled through the air unleashing volleys of pulse fire onto the Laotians. Kroot hounds leapt the air onto squads of men, ripping out throats and ripping through flesh.
Lt. Argos brandished his war axe, its edge slicing the air and firing the well used bolt pistol which he had a acquired from a commissar who had no need of it anymore.
He advanced towards a Tau building, its wrongness of angles disturbing his mind. A group of pathfinders firing their pulse carbines and rail rifles towards 2nd company through the windows. He lined up next to the door as one of the troopers following him set up a demo charge and blew the door of its hinges. As the first two guardsmen stormed in they were killed by a rail rifle fired point blank which cut through the men like wet paper. Argos screamed in rage and ran into the room rolling and coming to his feet swinging his axe and chopping through the pathfinder's head, splattering his brains over the walls. Before turning right as one of the Tau scouts fired its carbine in his direction, using his chest plate to absorb the rounds with his amour, it's plating melting and running because of the superheated rounds.
He stepped forwards and kicked, breaking the pathfinder's gun and swinging his axe towards its neck. The alien ducked his swing and drew its knife, slashing towards his throat but he absorbed it with his arm plates before stepping forward jamming his pistol into its stomach and pulling the trigger. The corpse dropped to its feet, a huge hole blasted into its stomach.
He turned back towards the door and sprinted outside.
Lt. Argos knew his advance was losing its momentum and he figured that if he faltered the Tau would be able to counterattack and drive the Imperial forces back, possibly making the Guard lose their foothold on this world. Tau and Kroot were stremaing from the surrounding buildings and setting up firing positions, that streamed through his men in waves of firepower.
Just then when he thought thinks couldn't get any worse Crisis suits and Broadsides appeared in his field of vision, firing missile pods, burstcannons, and the large plasma cannons mounted on the shoulders of the broadsides, butchering his men in the dozens and obliterating the vehicles in droves.
"Sir!" yelled Corporal Hung, "We need to call for support and retreat!" Firing his lasrifle in bursts towards the Tau battlesuits.
"No! We will win or die!" He placed a new clip in his bolt pistol, "For the Emperor!"
He charged through the battle, the corporal at his side, heading towards the front of the battle lines.
He reached the front of the battle line and started to hack through the kroot which had engaged his men with his axe, his pistol thumping out bolts.
He saw a Tau Crisis suit striding through his men, its flamer spewing prothemium from its muzzle, igniting dozens of men, grilling them in their armor. Its heavy silver blades attached under its weapons descending in sweeping arcs that chopped through men.
He ducked under one of the blades before heading towards one of the troopers who had been carrying demo charges, thinking maybe that could kill the Tau armor, all the while shooting and chopping.
He quickly crouched down besides the fallen Laotian and strapped together a bundle of demo charges before ripping off the det tape and hurling it at the battlesuit and hitting the ground at the same time.
The Tau pilot was able to turn its head partialy in his direction, as if accusing him of some crime, before it exploded spectacularly, scattering debris across the battling sides.
He glanced around him, seeing the guardsmen starting to falter as the Tau started to steadily push them back with their firepower, he stood, the recent explosion still ringing in his ears and yelling, "RALLY! RALLY TO ME!"
Over the vox net men were screaming their last prayers to the Emperor and wounded cried in agony.
Then he heard a cry in the back of company, "It's the Colonel! Colonel Bradington!" He turned back and saw the regiments banner flying over the field, a red Griffin emblazoned on a golden field.
He saw the Colonel's honor guard, dressed in ornate heavy golden carapace armor and carrying hell guns and plasma weapons, striding towards the battle.
Orgyn's carrying ripper guns charged through the mass of men and hit the Tau like a avalanche, smashing them under their feet or cleaving them apart in clouds of gore as they swung their weapons with the huge blades fixed on the ends.
Then the Colonel himself was seen, one of the most decorated war hero's in the entire Laotian history. His helmet was shaped into a dragon's snarling features and his chest and leg armor was etched with past victories and symbols of Emperor. In his left hand he gripped a masterfully made inferno pistol and in his right crackled a ancient gilded broadsword sheathed in a bright teal powerfield. Beside him stood the regiments standard bearer, Atreus, the regiments flag and plasma pistol glinted in his hands.
They demolished the Tau with concentrated hell gun fire and streams of plasma before charging into close combat and taking them apart with ancient power weapons as old as the regiment itself or even older. The Tau battlesuits slowly were destroyed one by one until only one stood who steadily retreated backwards firing all its weapons and shredding nearly a dozen of the honor guard plus twice as many orgyn's before it was brought down with a sweep of the Colonel's broadsword which beheaded the pilot through its armor plating and sent a stream of steam and blood into the air.
The men gave a great cheer at the victory, whooping and hollering as they rushed towards the center of complex to raise the regiments banner. Victory, at what cost? Argos thought this as the medical chimeras were already arriving to take away the dead and help the wounded. He turned towards the cheering Hung and said, " Lets go, we got a debriefing to get to."
Striding towards a chimera he heard the sounds of gunshots on the wind, as the Laotian's relieved the Tau wounded
In the smoky room in the center of the main Imperial camp officers of all the differing regiments stood or sat and smoked or drank fine liquor, chatting about toady's victory.
All heads turned as Lord General Macin appeared on the holoscreen in the tent, as his ship had yet been able to get him down to the planet.
"Gentleman, we have won a great victory today." there was a murmur of assent throughout the tent.
The screen flickered as a gust of air blew through the tent, Macin waited for the interference to die down before saying, " But this was only one part of the campaign to win this world and the prize that comes with it." The grew eerily silent at the mention of the reason all the Laotian regiments had been deployed on this world. "We will win, or we will die. Regroup your men commanders for the next assault will be the bloodiest yet, for the Tau for sure had to fortified the hive cities. Praise the Emperor, gentlemen."
The screen flickered off as tech-priests arrived and started tend to the equipment, muttering prayers and waving incense.
Authors Note: Good chapter eh? Plz review. Lord Magos Jadinar