Oskar Mikhail

Guy looked to Eloni with a shocked expression as the two Gurendians watched Alexei march off to confer with another sergeant and a medic. The pair were silent until Mischa finished speaking into his vox-set, hefted his pack onto his back and gave them a wan smile.

"Was he serious?" Eloni asked, nodding towards the retreating figure of Alexei Karelov.

"Da, very much so, I did warn you."

"Thought you were joking!" Guy blurted out, trying to laugh it off and failing spectacularly.

"Nyet, moi Druk, no joke. You two shall have to prove yourselves tonight, just like everyone else. Papa Alexei can be a bit of a taskmaster in that respect. But do your job right and you'll be as golden as the throne on Terra." Mischa replied as he gathered up his las-carbine and adjusted the position of the pack on his back.

"But he won't really shoot us, will he? I mean, he can't do that, can he?" Guy asked, still unable to shake off his troublesome line of thought.

"I don't think it's a question of whether he can or not, but be glad you aren't officers; he'd probably have shot you already if you were," Mischa said, chuckling to himself as he gave Guy a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and strode towards the waiting Chimeras.

The two Gurendians watched him go; Guy despairing, Eloni pondering before turning to take another look at Alexei.

"Come on, Gunny, let's mount up." Eloni said as he half pushed, half dragged Guy back to 302 "Best not to give this fellow a reason to wave around that shotgun of his."

After helping Guy back to 302, Eloni entered his own vehicle via the rearward ramp and squeezed his way past a pair of Vostroyans; who were awkwardly manhandling a crate. Eloni couldn't help but note the Munitorum warning labels that were plastered all over it, proclaiming its contents to be explosive. He paused just in front of the turret access and watched the two soldiers. They were barely boys in his opinion, their armour and greatcoats seeming overlarge for them. He continued to watch as the pair tried to wedge their crate under the foldaway seats beneath the firing ports for the hull mounted lasguns.

With so little room for manoeuvre they were making a right meal of it.

"Here, let me help you-" he said, folding up all the seats on the left hand side of the interior and helping them guide the crate into a snug position on the floor.

The pair gave him a nod of thanks as they left the vehicle, skirting around the bearded giant with the heavy stubber much as two tugs would around a bulk carrier. Eloni was honestly surprised when the man managed to fit inside the rear compartment, a bored look on his face as he sat waiting by the door, the expression slightly twisted by a long, dirt-red scar on his right cheek. Eloni didn't think there was much to him, just another dumb giant, until he took a closer look.

In the second button hole of his greatcoat was the ribbon for a Medallion Crimson. It was fairly rare to see anyone in the Guard sporting that honour. Then there was the Triple Skull medal pinned to the odd furred hat upon his head, whereas the other troopers Eloni had seen had worn the Imperial Aquila.

Come to think of it: that Sergeant Karelov had the exact same thing.

Eloni caught himself as the giant turned and looked right at him. There was an appraising look in his slate grey eyes. It spoke of an intellect that, while seeming slow to move, was by no means simple.

The big man shuffled further in as the two troopers from before returned with another crate. Two more figures entered the passenger compartment as the crate found a home on top of the last. This time a flamer trooper, a gasmask obscuring his face, who sat down where the giant had previously sat, and another trooper with an auburn coloured moustache and a crooked nose, who took a seat the other side of the giant. Almost as soon as he sat down he started up a conversation with the giant and the two troopers who were leaving for another crate. Eloni knew his type all too well, Gunny was just like him; vainglorious, proud and a gabbler. Judging from the laughs he got from the giant and the two troopers he was a comedian too. Though what the joke was he had no idea. Whatever language they were speaking it wasn't Gothic.

Eloni turned and entered the turret. As he ran his equipment checks and enquired as to whether Gunny had soiled himself yet he heard more troopers entering the vehicle. Once he was satisfied that Gunny's underwear was unsullied and all that should be working was still alive, he left the turret and moved forward into the front hull compartment where Tarriman and Jakers had been waiting for him.

"Alright boys, here's the play; we're going to be the ferry service for this lot so they can get across the lake. We're making two runs, hopefully, and then we're playing by however they want us to play it. We're strictly support on this, there's xeno armour near our DZ so we're keeping our heads firmly behind cover and out of our arses." Jakers suppressed a giggle at the mention of human biology. Eloni gave him a 'look' before continuing on. "We're doing this as quiet and quick as we can, so minimal noise and radio silence unless something comes up."

"Right boss," the pair replied in unison.

After giving Tarriman the appropriate frequencies Eloni turned back to check on his passengers. As he squeezed past the turret mounting, banging his head as he always did off the autocannon's feed mechanism, it became all too clear that the passenger compartment was pretty much full to capacity. There were now five crates, several backpacks as well as what looked like a locator beacon stashed on the port side of the vehicle. The two troopers who had moved all the guff that was clogging the port side were sitting on the seats closest to him on the starboard side; the smaller of the two holding an anti-tank weapon across his legs, the other a pack no doubt full of missiles for said weapon. To their left, sandwiched between them and the trio nearest the door, were two snipers; their weapons stripped down, camo-cloaks draped over their shoulders as they cleaned their scopes. It took Eloni a while to realise one of them was a woman. Eloni had never seen a woman soldier before; he'd heard of it, but he'd never seen it.

Through the open rear hatch he could see the vox operator, Mischa, and the sergeant named Karelov conversing with that same sergeant from before. The two sergeants hugged before Karelov and Mischa entered the vehicle, Mischa taking a seat somewhere behind the pile of equipment as Karelov exchanged some last sentiment with his comrade before turning to inspect the inside of 301. He looked almost approving.

"So, children, are we ready to fulfil our debt to the Emperor?" A resounding cheer startled Eloni and his crew. A smile crept across Karelov's face. "Horoshyo. We can get underway Corporal Eversman."

Alexei hadn't been joking about the inside of the Chimeras. Even with the onboard NBC scrubbers and AC system the fetid smell of the swamp still seeped in and burnt the hair from his nostrils better than any bootleg rahzvod could. Never mind the fact that even though the two transports were supposed to be able to carry 12 troopers each, both were pretty much full to capacity just carrying the first wave and their equipment. Thus not only was the atmosphere inside the two IFVs smelly and cramped, it was also getting fairly hot too.

At least the ride was fairly smooth as the Chimeras plowed through the water. No doubt the Cheveks steering these tubs were praying that there were no Tau fighters roaming the area. The slow moving IFVs would be the epitome of sitting ducks. Plus the fact that both were stuffed to the gunnels with incendiary grenades and various other highly explosive munitions meant that one wayward fart and the team would be flying to their destination in style.

He took another hearty swig from his hipflask. At least he'd get a five second warning before his flight and unexpected meeting with his maker.

"So children, let's go over it one more time." He ignored the complaints and moans from veteran and shiny alike. "We make land at the coordinates..."

"We set up the beacon and secure the beachhead," the team replied in unison with varying degrees of annoyance and boredom.

"Good, and once we've done that?" he asked with a poorly hidden smirk of glee at their annoyance.

"We move to the strike point while the Cheveks turn back for the rest of the company," the team replied.

"And what do we do once we are in position?" he prompted, taking another swig of rahzvod so as to hide his smile.

"We gut the sentries and mark targets for the pompoms," they said in the same tone as they had the last three times.

"Good. Viki, Troska, what is your task?" he asked with a more serious look, studying the pair of them as they replied.

"Mark and range primary targets for Fyodor and await your command to fire, Sergyent" the two tank killers responded with carefully blanked faces.

"Mmhmm... Anton, Ludmilla, what are your tasks?"

"Identify and range any and all officers, NCOs and heavy weapons teams and eliminate them upon your command, officers first. Once combat is engaged lay down suppression fire along with Georgi's stubber team."

Alexei nodded to himself and added "... and once the primary targets are neutralized?"

"Punch out along the ridgeline and provide information on any targets we see," the siblings replied with disturbingly similar smiles. Both knew the plan and both knew this routine all too well.

"Horoshyo." Alexei then turned to the great bulk that was Demitri Korchagin "And you my friend, not that I need ask, but what is your task?"

"Give you direct fire support as you take the trenches, squash any that dare to stand before us and grind them into the filth that spawned them." Not for the first time did Alexei feel very glad to have Demitri as a friend and not a foe as he noted the venom with which Demitri had said "filth".

"Anatoly, what is your task?" he asked, half expecting some witty remark.

"To stick to your arse and try not to get flattened by Demitri or get a flamer tan off of Piotr"

Alexei gave him a disparaging look; could the fool never take things seriously? As he looked to Piotr, he was surprised when the man spoke before he had even asked, his muffled yet youthful and dispassionate voice lending an eerie feel to the already disquieting visage.

"I am to eliminate strongpoints and clear out habitation spaces, Sergyent."

Alexei tried to make out Piotr's expression behind the gasmask but could only see the red dot of Piotr's targeter. He wished he could tell what the lad was thinking.

Eloni only half listened to the vox traffic that Tarriman was feeding to his earpiece, things seemed quiet for the moment as the two Chimeras ploughed through the water. 301's vox equipment didn't have the range to contact their own unit anyway, but it was always good practice to be aware of what units were around you. Eloni had been listening to the plan that Karelov kept rehashing, indeed he felt he could probably recite it as well as his serial number and blood type by now. Despite the wearisome repetition, Eloni could tell there was sound reasoning behind it; if everyone knew the plan then there was less need to direct everyone involved. Just like weapons drills back in basic: if you could strip and reassemble your lasrifle in your sleep then you were prepared for whatever conditions you might encounter... as far as field stripping your rifle was concerned anyway. As the God-Emperor knew all too well, a lot of things in the Guard weren't anywhere near as easy to prepare for.

Keying his mike to external and 302's frequency, Eloni made his usual two minute check.

"Two, this is One, vox check, over."

"One, this is Two, read you loud and clear, over."

"How you doing over there Gunny?" Eloni asked as he turned his view finder around to check Gunny was still in formation behind him.

"I'm doing fine, got a prayer meeting going on over here, very Ecclesiarchical in my part of the world. You?"

"Hearing the grand plan for the fourth time, seems solid."

"Always good to know, One."

"Roger that, Two. Out." Eloni smiled to himself as he turned his view finder back in their direction of travel, Gunny must have recovered if he was cracking jokes again. The smile disappeared from his face a few moments later as he caught a glimpse of something at his one o'clock. He ducked down to his target finder and turned on the screen's heat detection sensor. For a moment the screen remained a solid green, numerous activation runes crawling across it. Then a bright, deep blue image came into focus, the ghosts of terrain and foliage lined in greyish blue. Near the shoreline were two orange-red blobs.

"Farg," he muttered under his breath as he switched his mike to internal. "Jakers, silent all stop." Quickly he turned his mike back to external, his heartbeat gaining speed. "Two, One. Silent stop, Orange. Contacts."

Alexei's train of thought was interrupted when the Chimera lurched to a halt. He looked towards the Chevek commander, who was staring intently at a small screen by his head. Alexei clambered over his team and the piles of equipment as he made his way over to the commander.

"Why have we stopped?"

"I have something on the surveyor... two or three heat signatures, small ones, at our one o'clock, distance: four hundred. They're right on top of your landing zone."

"Vob tvoyu maht..." Alexei thought for a moment. This was an unwelcome development.