The train came to a stop and the dunecrawlers stepped off. The dunecrawlers between them had a mixture of weapons to deal with any upcoming situation, Vengeance 12 was armed with a Heavy Phosphor Blaster, a fast firing double barrelled cannon that would make short work of infantry and light vehicles alike. Vengeance 18 was equipped with an icarus array, a collection of weapons designed for targeting aircraft. And the last one was Vengeance 21, Pullo's tank, armed with a neutron laser, a long range gun that could pierce through the thickest of armour. Truly the machine god has blessed them with the finest of war engines.
The environment hadn't changed, they were still in the same ruined landscape, once tall buildings were now rubble with only a few walls and pillars left standing. This war has been planetwide and the orks do not do things by half, they had unleashed their full destructive potential.
The three tanks arrived at a command bunker, a message came up on the screen to halt, and they did.
Pullo climbed up, opened the hatch and raised his head out of the top of Vengeance 21. He looked around and could see two more Skitarii appear from the top of the other two tanks.
Two figures came from the bunker, one was an old man in a brown coat, he must have been a commander of the Planetary Defence Force. The other figure was a Skitarii marshall.
The old man began telling them what they were to do. "We need you in position, two clicks to the east. We have reports of gargants sighted, and we need the firepower!"
The Skitarii Marshal spoke in binhiric to the Skitarii in the tanks, "this man speaks with authority, I will give you the precise coordinates you are to follow."
"There is also a rogue knight sighted," sighed the old commander, "you may be able to assist with bringing it to heal."
Pullo nodded at the man in acknowledgment.
"This is a very sad situation, with house Treskothic," said the commander, "but we cannot have corruption in our forces. Do what needs to be done."
The old man then rushed back into the bunker, to answer a call from a vox, he was a busy man. Pullo wondered how a man could handle such a complex operation despite not having brain augments.
The marshall sent the coordinates and said "fight well and bring honour and glory to the Machine God."
Vengeance 21 and the other tanks reached the site of the battle. Pullo said to Kee, "Opportunity target to the north east."
Kee manoeuvred the dunecrawler into position and aimed in the direction of a large Ork walker; it was laying waste to the area around it with large gatling cannons. Pullo primed the laser and made the final adjustments to the aim. Then fired!
The Neutron Laser did not shoot a single bolt of light like a Lascannon, but a sustained beam of light for about three seconds. The sound it made was incredible. To Pullo, sitting next to the internals of the laser, it sounded like a great choir of angels singing a single note in worship of the Omnissiah.
When it was done, he could see the power coils for the weapon were white hot. He held down on the lever of relief which let off a load of steam and gas into the cabin. While holding the lever of relief, he sounded the canticle of soothing might. When this was complete, he could release the lever. A rune of rest and a rune of heat then flashed red on the side of the cabin for about 5 seconds, then only the Rune of rest was lit up in green. The laser was ready to fire again. Truly a beautiful machine.
Pullo checked through the sights on the laser, "Target crippled." The Ork walker had stopped moving, one of it's legs had been damaged and it stood still leaning to one side. It was still firing its guns at its immediate area, so still a threat to those nearby.
Pullo adjusted the aim and shot again, this time, right into the power supply of the walker. A beautiful sound again from the laser. Pullo then grabbed the lever of relief and repeated the ritual for re-priming the gun and appeasing its machine spirit.
"Target eliminated," stated Kee.
Pullo looked through the sights again and saw that the Ork machine had exploded, then what remained collapsed to the ground.
Kee then drove Vengeance 21 to catch up with the other Dunecrawlers. Each tank was specialised and suited to a particular task. Sticking together as a team would be the best way to optimise their use as a team.
They managed to spot one of the gargants, a truly massive Ork walker, they could see its many guns and missiles firing away at the area around it, and also the local PDF firing back with what appeared to be battle cannons and other artillery. Pullo received a ping from Vengeance 12, "Visual confirmed, commence fire with the Neutron Laser."
Pullo looked down the sights and found the target, but it was moving too much, and it wasn't possible to target a particular part from this distance. "Negative, outside effective range," Pullo remembered a quote from one of the holy scriptures. "Only a fool uses the tools of the machine god with frivolity."
Vengeance 18 sounded through the speaker, "rogue knight to the south, Leman Russ armoured company are requesting assistance."
"Coordinates requested," said Pullo.
"Sent," said Vengeance 18 and the location of the encounter was sent through the noosphere.
It was not far, it took the Dunecrawlers about two minutes to get to the source of the assistance request. Three Leman Russ tanks.
The Leman Russ company had not moved in to engage the knight directly, they were holding back, hiding in the ruins, they were all in the dark brown colours of the local defence force and each one was armed with the Executioner Plasma cannon. A fine weapon produced by the forges on Ryza itself.
The three Dunecrawlers approached the three Leman Russ tanks, then opened their hatches for each of the gunners to once again show themselves. One of Leman Russ opened its hatch and the tank commander showed himself. "We are expecting a knight to come this way, we need to set up an ambush, but we don't have the firepower," shouted the tank commander. His voice needed to be raised to heard over the distance and the sound of far off battle.
Pullo looked at each of the tanks, the plasma cannons appeared to be functional, and the number 56 was displayed on each turret, along with the name of each tank. They were called "Katera", "Spirit of Valkuz" and "Stampede"
The ranger from Vengeance 18 shouted back, "you have plasma cannons."
The commander from the Leman Russ climbed down from his tank, Spirit of Valkuz, and walked over to Vengeance 18, to speak to the Skitarius. "We have been asked to take down these knights without destroying them. By your Tech priests might I add. If we over charge the plasma, we can take it out, but we'll damage it too much." said the tank commander. He then pointed at Pullo's tank, "that laser might be enough to cripple it."
The ranger from Vengeance 18 nodded in understanding. "Do you have a plan?"
"Right, we'll set up a firing line to the east, and you can wait over there." he said while pointing. "We can keep it distracted with light plasma fire, and when it's facing us, you can get it in the back of the leg."
"Understood, we will work with you," said Vengeance 18.
"You can use the local vox right?" Asked the tank commander, "we can communicate through there." He then turned to walk back into his tank.
Pullo called out to him, "Tank Commander!" The tank commander stopped and turned to look at Pullo.
"What is it?"
"Is your designation the 56th armoured division?"
The Tank commander perked up, "that's right, we're what's left of it."
Pullo climbed out of his tank and went as far as his cables would allow him to. "Is one of your crew named Darius?"
The commander took a step back and thought to himself, "Darius?" He turned to one of the other tanks and shouted "Hey, don't you have a hull gunner called Darius?"
One of the crew members opened the top hatch of the Katera and shouted back, "Yeah, we have a Darius, a sponson gunner."
"Close enough," mumbled the tank commander, "Tell him to get out here!" he then turned to Pullo. "What do you want with him?"
"I have a message."
A handsome young man in brown overalls climbed out of the Katera and approached the Skitarius. "What is it?" he asked, he seemed to be annoyed for having to climb out of his tank.
Pullo was still unsure if this was the right man, there could be many men called Darius, "Do you know Hamida?" he asked.
Darius was stunned, "What? That's my wife's name? What is going on here?"
"I met her in a field hospital," said Pullo, "she helped me with my arm. Hamida wants you to know that she is ok."
"She's still alive?" asked Darius, his eyes lit up with joy, "That's amazing! We just got married before the invasion, and I haven't seen her since the draft!" Darius put his arms around Pullo and squeezed.
Pullo didn't know how to respond.
"Thank you so much. Where is she?"
"I saw her in a field hospital near the west Ryza base, that is her station."
"I thought all hope was gone, but… thank you, Skitarius," he said with a smile..
The Tank Commander interrupted, "get to your tank, Darius, we don't have much time before the night gets here," he then turned to Pullo, "Get to your tank as well, we'll need your laser."
So Pullo returned to Vengeance 21 and got onto his seat and was ready to go.
"What were you doing?" asked Kee, through the speaker.
"I had a message to deliver," said Pullo, "someone is waiting for him."