Embarkation
"One, this is Two. You sure we're going the right way?" asked Corporal Guy "Gunny" Townesend over the vox from 302.
Corporal Eloni Eversman keyed in his mike as 301 bumped and jolted over the rough ground.
"Two, One. This was the vector that the Captain gave us, before those fargin' idiot locals directed us down the wrong damned road. I swear, next time I see them I'll run the useless wankers over, over." He heard the laughing from both crews over the vox and looked back with a smile to the Chimera behind him, giving it a thumbs up.
"Copy that, One, out."
Looking forward again as he steadied himself on the pintle-mounted stubber Eloni scanned the landscape for any sign of the unit they were supposed to have linked up with well over an hour and a half ago. They'd been in steady contact with him, so they had to be out there.
He heard the internal vox bleep in his ear.
"What is it Tarriman?"
"They're asking where we are again, Eloni," replied his vox operator. "They're getting pretty antsy in their pantsies from the sound of it."
Eloni shook his head.
"Tell them we're ten minutes out, again." In truth, Eloni wasn't sure at all whether he was indeed ten minutes out. Studying his dataslate and trying to find landmarks that he could identify, he was becoming increasingly certain that those damned PDF had thoroughly farged this mission up for him. It didn't help that the mist was rolling in from off the lake. He could be driving up the Emperor's arse for all he knew.
Tarriman came back onto the channel again.
"They say if we're not with them in five they'll be leaving without us."
"Great..." Eloni muttered as he sat down in the turret and closed the hatch, the mist had become a thick fog.
After a couple of minutes, during which Eloni became increasingly sure he'd passed the rendezvous point in the fog, he spotted heat signatures on the thermal imager. A large blob by a pair of what were probably 8-wheeled cargo carriers, perhaps a half a mile off on a promontory jutting into the lake.
"Finally," he said, keying his mike. "Two, this is One; told you we were on the right track."
Alexei was inspecting the company's equipment when the Chimeras rolled up to their position. He didn't turn to acknowledge their arrival; he continued inspecting Georgi's heavy stubber with a carefully blanked face.
Georgi knew him too well; Alexei couldn't find anything wrong with the weapon, its mount or its crew, but then Alexei and Georgi had been together for five years now. He gave the faintest of nods to Georgi, who beamed proudly from beneath his beard.
He turned to the first squad of six, the remains of 9th company's 2nd platoon; consisting of Volodya the team medic, Efreitor Sergei Mladic, the three Shinys he had attached to him and last but not least, grenadier Maxim and his "little Maxim" grenade launcher.
They would, along with Georgi, be offering fire support to Alexei's squad and then following after once Alexei could force a hole and give them cover. Aside from a few issues with the Shinys he was happy enough with Volodya's squad. Despite, or perhaps because of, his medical training Volodya had a good head on his shoulders and he'd been with Alexei more than long enough to know how things worked.
In fact, were it not for his medical duties, Alexei suspected that Volodya may well have made officer by now. He gave Volodya an affirming nod and turned to his own squad.
Eloni counted about 40 soldiers as his Chimera closed the range, the large blob on his thermal imager resolving itself into individual soldiers, lined up in three groups. It looked as though there was an inspection going on.
Great, Eloni thought to himself, late for the party and I'm going to be carting around a tight arse.
"Jakers, pull up alongside the carriers and I'll find out what we're supposed to be doing here."
Once the Chimera had come to a stop Eloni let down the rear access door and stepped outside, his boots squelching into the boggy ground.
He waited as 302 came to a juddering halt next to 301, the rear ramp lowering as Gunny Townesend squelched over to him.
"What a lovely place, so glad we spent the last two hours trying to get here," Gunny quipped with a lopsided grin as he undid the chin strap of his helmet.
"Yeah, well, the party hasn't started yet. We've still to get our stripes torn off," Eloni replied with a nod in the direction of the massed Vostroyans.
"Oh good, now I'm really glad we came," Gunny said with a frown as he removed his helmet, showing his shaven scalp.
"Come on, let's get this over with," Eloni responded, leading the way past the carriers and their morose drivers who looked no more willing to be here than the Chimera commanders.
Eloni soon spotted the vox operator that Tarriman had been speaking with, hunched over his set, some strange furred hat on his head. In fact, all the soldiers he saw had the same furred hats on their heads, their armour and greatcoats a uniform dull brown. It surprised the two Gurendians to see that the shaving standards appeared to be quite lax; in their own unit they'd get a whipping if the commissar caught them with even a hint of stubble, never mind the beard he spotted one giant, carrying a heavy stubber like it was a rifle, was sporting.
The vox operator turned around as Eloni and Gunny approached him, a neatly trimmed sandy coloured moustache upon his upper lip, his grey-blue eyes studying the pair in a casual manner.
"You must be the Gurends, huh?" the vox operator asked, his accent placing odd inflections upon the u's and s's.
"Corporals Eloni Eversman and Guy Townesend, 3rd platoon, 6th Company of the 16th Gurends mechanised," Eloni replied.
The vox-operator extended a hand in greeting.
"Mikhail Tretyak, 1st platoon, 9th Company of the 146th Tetriarch Guard Regiment of Vostroya. So, did command tell you why you're here or did they give you the same vague khekk that they gave us?"
The two corporals exchanged a look with each other as they shook the vox operator's hand in turn.
"We were told you'd fill us in."
The vox operator smiled and nodded to himself.
"Da, I figured as much."
As he turned to his own squad Alexei could hear Mischa and the Chimera commanders talking. Well, they could just wait until Alexei was finished; they'd made Alexei wait, so he would let them sweat for a few minutes.
He looked to Viki and Troska, inspecting them minutely with an almost disdainful expression. They'd have to do a lot better than their current performance if they were going to have the privilege of growing their beards.
He checked the straps on Troska's ammo pack, opening it and ensuring the krak and frag missiles weren't already primed. He'd seen that happen once before with unpleasant results for the Shiny and the poor fellows within ten feet of him.
Alexei grunted and closed the pack and inspected their weapons.
Both carried the standard Popel-pattern Mk.3 lasgun rifles that all Vostroyans had come to know and love. The main workings were stamp metal, however the stock and pistol grip were fashioned from imported wood, a simple fabric sleeve covered the woodwork and to their credit both troopers had dulled the metal with a lighter or strike-stick.
However, the smaller Viki also carried the Fyodor-pattern Mk.6 RPG, which stood almost as tall as its bearer when loaded. It was an old weapon, clearly passed down through many generations of young Viki's family from the many scars and blemishes upon it. It still bore its purity seals however, and despite the faded colour one could still make out the details of the writhing black stallion that was depicted along its length; its mouth open wide, spitting stylistic flame towards the end of the barrel and the green krak missile affixed there.
It was a beautiful weapon. Alexei grunted approvingly as he remembered that Viki had been nicknamed the "Chomne Vasodniki", the Dark Horseman, by the rest of the company. Well, soon that name would be put to the test.
Their armour was in order and anything that shined had also been dulled. At least the pair were learning.
Alexei barely had need to inspect the rest of his squad: the Voroshilov twins, Anton and Ludmilla, were technically snipers. As such they didn't wear the standard armour and would in any case be operating pretty much under their own initiative though still close to the team.
As for Demitri, his heavy gunner, the bearded bear of a man was much like Alexei in his deportment; a hotchpotch of personal modifications meant that his armour and weapon were anything but standard.
Both had seen a great deal and both had replaced their astrakhan Imperial badges with their Triple Skull medals, though Demitri also bore the ribbon for his Medallion Crimson upon his chest; something no man, whether friend, foe or Commissar could take from him without losing some fingers and maybe an arm too. The giant nodded curtly as Alexei clapped him on the arm with an approving smile and moved on to the next in line.
Anatoly stared straight ahead as Alexei checked his equipment, trying hard not to smile from beneath his stylish auburn moustache. Anatoly was considered the company joker and bard, well known throughout the regiment for playing his ushehk, making lewd comments and for being something of a lady's man when off-duty. Though he could be serious, he seemed more comfortable with making jokes, which was almost second nature to him. It was a concern for Alexei as when Anatoly got going he wouldn't stop, even if in combat. Thus Alexei had been forced to discipline him on several occasions.
Even so, when he had his mind on the job, Anatoly was a good close range combatant. Providing he could keep his yapper shut on this mission, he'd do fine.
Alexei moved on, shaking his head as Anatoly lost his battle with his smile. Finally, he came to Piotr and his flamer, a gasmask hiding his scarred face.
As ever, Piotr had done everything perfectly; in terms of his devotion to duty and his abilities Alexei couldn't fault him at all. The problem was Alexei couldn't help but worry about him.
When Alexei had first met Piotr, the boy had been one of those rare individuals who could just lift your spirits by walking into the room. He had an aura about him that made those around him comfortable and, despite himself, Alexei had taken a real shine to him. But then, on his first deployment to Ganf Magna and a real combat zone, Piotr had been gravely injured. The left side of his face had been damn near ripped from his skull.
Piotr had become a very silent man, always fawning over his little figurine of Saint Nadalya around his neck.
But what more could you expect from a fellow who'd had most of his face removed without his permission? It would have scrambled any soldier short of an Astartes.
Even so, it was hard to see. Piotr had been a handsome young boy and the heart of his squad.
Now, he was never seen with his gasmask off and he talked so rarely that some reckoned he was actually a ghost.
Whenever Alexei looked at him, the little light from the targeter where his left eye should have been was the only thing he could make out from behind the mask.
If he was honest, Alexei was starting to wonder if maybe Piotr should be sent home. The trooper just wasn't who he once was.
But what could Alexei do? Duty always called and the sons of Vostroya would always answer.
Alexei turned from his squad; that only left Mischa and Alexei himself.
He adopted a disapproving look as he turned round to the two Chimera commanders who had been waiting impatiently by Mischa during the inspection. He looked the two soldiers over with a critical eye as he strode towards them.
He was not impressed by what he saw.
"You are late! We have been waiting for you for more than an hour." He made sure to glower at them at little harder as they made to reply.
The Corporal on the left who had removed his helmet made to answer.
"We ran into difficulties with ou-"
"Half-hearted excuses and meaningless apologies will not get my men to their destination, corporal!" Alexei gave them no time to respond to his angry rebuke. Twirling smartly he addressed his team. "First wave, we are moving! Stuff yourselves into these filthy tubs: on the double!"
He turned back to the commanders as his advance team gathered their equipment.
"We are running late so I'll skip the introductions. No doubt my vox operator has given you the frequencies we will be using. We're heading for that hill over there across the lake. You're going to drop me off and come back here for the rest of my company. Once we're all on the other side, we're going to take that hill and you will support us. Once the hill is ours you can go back to wherever you came from. Fail me and I will kill you myself. Are we clear?"
"Crystal-" Eloni replied.