The Apothecary closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then released it slowly, staring at the stranger. He saw the weird custom design of the Fire Warrior armor and wasn't sure to feel proud or disgusted by it. "Your name, Fire Warrior?" He asked in Tau, accepting the help by grabbing the hand of the Tau. Sirius was no fool into believing this... Awkwardness altogether. But he knew that sometimes you had to believe into things that were not real, to discern what is real and what is not. He learned that after certain nightmares disturbed his sleep. Crying and screaming Tau children, falling at the claws of Genestealers, being devoured alive as the Hive lingered for more Mass... And it all came slowly back to his mind. His fists clenched. In his mind the possible plot whomever caused him to live through these events started to stitch the pieces together.... The first part, the Chaos Astartes... Going back as far as the Chapter's History to Edo... Perhaps even one of the more recent combats against the Emperor's Children.... Or perhaps even as a payment for not having fought on Salinas... This part... Oh the forsaken Sept World that was a blessing and a nightmare at the same time. The blessing was that he learned so much about the Tau culture, even parts of their language. He could even retrieve pieces of their battlesuits and technology and donate his knowledge of how they were utilized to the Ordo Xenos, know thy enemy - the Codex dictated. The nightmares... Manifest in his mind, the daily combat for survival and the first hand experience of what the Tyranids can do to individuals that cannot or are not allowed to fight back, such as the Water Caste. It was interesting to see where this... 'Vision' or hallucination or whatever one may call this experience would bring him to, and which morale question would await him this time. And if it was not time to repay the God-Emperor.
<Amraphel> Amraphel sighed as he saw what lay in front of them, he wasn't afraid, but to him this was a waste of time, for this ship needed to go down quickly. After analyzing the situation for a few seconds, he came to the conclusion that there were two possibilities of how to deal with the greenskin scum in front of them and speaking quickly, not wanting to waste any time, he explained them to Icelos: "As I see it, and feel free to correct me if you have any other ideas, we have two choices of how to get past the greenskins: The first one is to try and launch a surprise attack; we could attempt to kill the tank and truck crews before they manage to man their vehicles, thereby gaining the advantage and after that we'd kill whoever is left." "The other way is a bit more subtle; we sneak arround the chamber, trying to bypass the Orks and their clumsy vehicles. While doing this, we could still take some of them out silently, maybe even sabotage their tanks, but remember that this would mean that we'd only be able to use melee weapons, because our firearms would alert the Xenos." "So which course of action would your prefer Icelos ( @Xaphen ), or maybe you have more fascinating insights about our situation. Whatever you say, better say it quickly, for we have no time to waste."
"You don't remember me? It's me, Shas'la Kar'au Vor'gela, I served under your command during the Invasion? No matter," the Fire Warrior shrugged as he helped Sirius and pointed towards where the trio came from. "Come, we are running out of time," heading back, they led the Apothecary down the corridor, which ended up in yet another chamber. Here, the floor was filled with Tau corpses but among them, there lied a significant number of Marines who had fallen to plasma weaponry, their armor black with the sign of the Inquisition on it. Other than the three Tau he saw so far, he could also see at least a dozen of them, reloading their weapons and tending to the wounded. Apothecary was led to a table, where two Fire Warriors stood guard. On it, there was a body of a Tau noble, Sirius recognizing an Ethereal of the Sept he visited long ago, his robes drenched in blood. He suffered various bite wounds, from his neck down to his chest, the red fluid not completely stopped from flowing out. "We are blessed that we found you when we did, Sirius," Vor'gela continued, "For I don't know who else could save him. Also, there is more," his voice turned more grim as he waved a hand and a group of aliens approached, pushing an Astartes in front of them. The warrior tripped and fell close to where Sirius was standing, much to the amusement of the rest of the Tau force. But as the warrior raised his head, his storm-grey eyes that are now turned to gold met Apothecary's gaze, the look in them full of hatred. As the blood dipped from his beard and mouth, the warrior just knelt there, not breaking eye contact with the Son of Guilliman. "He is the one who tried to kill the Ethereal, sadly for him he failed," the Tau confirmed as he raised his rifle and aimed straight at warrior's head, "I would have killed him already, but he said you know each other. Is that true?"
- Rocky The ratling didn't notice the shots firing as he ran for his life. Luckily it appeared to be not worth the enemies effort to kill such a runty target. Instead Edd and a few brave men stayed to hold back the charging Ork. Once Rocky reached the chimera, he turned to fire with the hunter militiamen. Dave was with him, keeping his men from panicking. If not for the storm troopers and chimera, Rocky was certain such men would have made a run for it. Turning into a bloody mess. "Nice shooting sergeant, I'm surprised you could down so many within that fire rate." "Sir, we've been supporting the Ogryn Edward. The Orks were that thin when they left the smoke. Thought you all were just amazing." "Riiight, carry on..." 'Theirs no way I hit anything without aiming. And Edd's fighting the nob... The Nob!' Rocky thought, loosing his train of thought. - Edd Edd roared and smashed his weapons into the Ork Nob, as it did the same. The only advantage Edd had over the xeno hulk was his bionic arm. Acting both as a power fist weapon and a thinkly armored shield. Granted, he risked damaging his arm. But he wasn't think about that. All Edd could think about was killing xeno in fromt of him. "RAAAAAAAGH, DEATH TA DA XENO!!!" He bellowed as he swung his ripper, his bullet casing shattering on the Nobs weapons, but causing the Nob to open his defense. Edd reached out with his hand open and taking hold of the Ork leader's face. Then squeezing his digits into the face, then pulling with all his might. Following with the now removed section of his head was bone, teeth, a good chunk of brain matter, and part of a tongue. With the front half of the Ork's head now missing, it was clearly dead. Edd turned to find a new opponent, now facing away from the still upright ork body. Instead of having the curtesy to die, it seemed there was enough sense in it to raise its shooter. Blinde to where it was firing, Edd still oblivious. It would seem Edd's career would end from the death throes of a determined Greenskin... Unless someone was looking out for him?
<Feron> Spears of las-fire riddled the surrounding pair of boyz saving Feron any trouble in dealing with them, their smoking corpses joining the others outside the Bridge. Left with only the Nob he took his good shoulder and shunted forward bashinghis adversary back a step while his bionic fist swung around crashing against leathery face. An ivory tooth snapped and flew, an eye ball burst and skull fractured beneath a violent series of repeated blows as the Salamander front loaded a violent series of punches. A choppa tried to gouge through his throat for a beheading strike but the attached arm was speared into the wall by Skull Splitter's pick leaving a dumbfounded Nob helpless to a finishing blow: a merciless right hook that forced head back till neck snapped. Ripping Skull Splitter from flesh and bulk head the sagging corpse dropped into a heap as Astartes walked off reloading his pistol. "Solid work men, I'll need casualty reports and command structure updates as soon as I leave. Make sure nothing interrupts business on this Bridge. " Like that it was on through the bulkhead slipping between glacially slow mechanical doors before they were even half open. 'Time to see just how ugly things have gotten.'
<Sirius Jules> Sirius Jules looked at the man, the sight was hazy. Was it Aldrim? Thain? Perhaps even Steinar... A former sergeant? No.... The face solidified as Sirius kept staring at him until it was clear to him and he nodded as the face had been now formed recognizable. "A man... The man of my Kill-Team... Lightbringer... Good warrior... Dutiful to the end... With no mercy for the Alien... A perfect Deathwatch Marine... He will disappear soon... And return as someone else... He is the reason why we all are what we are... Why I am yet to die." Once again he was confronted with his decision of the past, that he helped the Tau in a war that had no hope. Sirius took his gauntlets off to get working on the Ethereal. It was a simply but obvious operation and the tools were still on his Narthecium. Syringes, needles, stitches, even cooling spray and such, as if it was unharmed by the impact. The procedure... Felt familiar. Not the 'I did this a hundred times' kind of thing... But... He remembered... The first week back on Kar'au... An Ethereal has fallen at an unknown attack. Sirius was called as he was the medic of the nearest camp. And that is when.... The Apothecary opened his eyes wide, grabbed the bonding knife of the soldier next to him and sliced through the neck of the Ethereal just as he suddenly jolted up and hissed like a Tyranid with the eyes and teeth of a Genestealer, without mercy the wounded Apothecary put an end to the former Tau. He turned to the Tau soldier. "He already was gone. Having turned into an abomination of the Hive-mind that the Tyranids form... I am sorry I couldn't help." Yet it was not regards this situation. Deep in his heart, Sirius was sorry that he could not help to prevent the death of Vor'gela and his dutiful squad that executed themselves in front of him and Kill-Team Lightbringer. Since day one of the Tyranid invasion, Vor'gela had been with Sirius. Having become some sort of friend and an excellent mentor in the ways of the Tau. "I am sorry that I cannot save you, Shas'la Kar'au Vor'gela." He then turned to the still kneeling Astartes. "And I am sorry for the apparent betrayal to the Ordo Xenos. But the Codex always comes above everything, so does the Warmaster. The Imperium, the Inquisition, even the Emperor are all beneath the Warmaster in our ways. For he is the embodiment of duty. Forgive my way chaplain, but know thy enemy is a rule of the codex and I embraced it for my selfish survival, but also to gather intel for the Inquisition. I will beg for your forgiveness, yet I know that it matters not, since you will tell me that only the Emperor has the right to judge ones soul. And I know that you will send me to my chapter for judgment, for only they can judge my behavior. And I know you will speak for me, which ultimately makes me bound to you for all duration of my life. Yet... I do not know if any of us made the right decision." As Sirius spoke he kneed down on both knees and stared into the eyes of the Astartes. "I seek thy guidance for my future. It is thy duty to guide the Astartes around you on the righteous path, therefore Chaplain. Tell me what needs to be done, and I shall obey as if the Emperor himself spoke through you."
OOC:Thank you for the cue!Owe you one Oh...and Uriel sowwy for the 'Renegade Heroes' my net dropped for a few hours... - Melgator Zeth Nature has its patterns,and everything that He has blessed,is a part of nature.Nature has its patterns,being able to be observed and predicted by those who are adept on the path of knowledge.Every battlefield was,every tactical acumen,shot fired and death registered can be translated to mathematical variables.There is no chaos,just incomprehensible complexity.And one with the right equation was the master of the battlefield. Weighting risk/value targets,the mysterious shooter changed his positions and took aim,judging those unworthy to exist,condemning them to the oblivion,forsaken and lost,forever. Amid the carnage,one of the high-valuable targets engaged one of the abhumans.The abhuman was precious,even if ignorant and limited by nature,for he carried the Omnissiah`s blessing.The augmentations...and those augmentations were now in peril. With a reflex of some feline creature,oxygen-carrying liquid in his veins slowed down its rate and with a practiced shot,he beamed another red flare of death at the already mortally wounded Greenskin that sought to strike down the Ogryn.The Long-las rifle was not part of him,he originally losing his rifle in an unfortunate melee some time ago,but still the Machine Spirit of the rifle reached consensus with the Ranger and both were content. OOC2:My char,at least for those that are interested Spoiler Character name: Melgator Zeth Player name: High Adept Zeth (Praise the Omnissiah!) Class: Skitarius Ranger Divisio: Tech-Guard (Skitarii) of the Cult Mechanicum. Regular Equipment: - Long-Las (scavanged) from a dead Sniper Guardsman. - Las-pistol. - Taghmata digi-code on his Cog-Mechanicus necklace. - Ablative plate armor. - Electro-graft. - Minor-cogitator for advanced data-processing. -Ranger death-mask. (within it are:night-vision goggles,rebreather,vox). -Right (augmented) eye for multiple eye-spectra and zooming. -Reinforced exo-skeleton. -Rust-red robe. History & Appearance:Encrypted.De-crypted only on personal request.
Draconion grunts loudly as he winds up smeared across the windshield of the Speed Freak's bike. This just keeps getting better. "Better watch out for us bugs," he says conversationally to the Ork as it attempts to bash him with its choppa, grabbing its wrist while staying attached to the bike via telekinesis, "Some of us bite." Firing his bolt pistol into the Ork's face at point-blank range, he immediately soars for the ceiling on invisible currents of telekinetic force, clinging to the shadowed places amidst the pipes and staunchions as he aims to stay hidden from the Speed Freaks below, hoping to leave them to the distractions of their racing while he works his way towards his prey.
<Angelfall - Feron> Passing through the bulkhead, he saw that destruction didn't pass this place as well. Burned husks of naval officers could be seen behind some of the fried consoles, obviously a result of electricity meeting the flesh. If he would take a wild guess, he would make at least one third of the original Bridge's crew was either dead or incapacitated. A cadre of Stormtroopers guarded the place, but much less than it was supposed to - many of them had joined their comrades outside so this was only the minimum required. Despite this, the Captain Oswald was still in her command throne, shouting orders and not even moving her eyes from the view screen. Actually, she wouldn't even see Feron approaching if not for the Stormtroopers who saluted when they saw him. "I thought you were dead," Janika simply stated, but a relief could be heard in her voice. "Once our upper shields failed, much to our friendly saboteur Sigismund who really fraked them with his stunt making cog boys unable to completely repair it, and the those decks went to hell, I thought you went with them. Guess it shows the Salamanders legendary resilience, eh?" <Boarding Action - Amraphel, Icelos> OOC since it's kinda important, I'll leave a bit more time for @Xaphen to reply before I push this part. <Boarding Action - Draconion> As he disappeared in the ceiling, the Ork biker below him exploded as he lost control of the vehicle after losing half of his brain, thus ramming the thing into a wall, much to the satisfaction of those freaks in behind. Draconion heard their roars as they raced past, soon disappearing in the darkness, leaving the Librarian all alone in the corridor, alongside two wrecked bikes and two dead riders. He was safe to resume his hunt, the presence now closer, only couple of decks higher. (OOC in order to evade a filler post, you can reach the chamber before the exact spot where your target is, and if you wish, I give you freedom to chose whatever you want it to look like ). <Boarding Action - Sirius> "There is only one thing that needs to be done," both the Chaplain and the remaining Tau said in one voice, turning their faces towards the Apothecary, "And that is for you to die." The kneeling Astartes pounced on Sirius, toppling him on the floor in an attempt to wrench his helm off him. A fist was met with Sirius's jaw that send him reeling, the enemy obviously much stronger than a normal Space Marine. He also saw that Tau were raising their rifles and approaching, the intent clear in their eyes. <Hunging Lodges Creek - Sigismund, Edd, Rocky + ???> As the last of the Greenskins died, the survivors began checking the wounded and helping them up the trucks. Dave organized this, but he didn't take it well, for the man was not used to this kind of fighting. Stormtroopers also helped with this, but they ushered the men to do it faster, for who knows when the Orks might show up again. (OOC @High_Adept_Zeth feel free to say your introductions ) <Lumber Camps Kordoba - Tempestus, Angelous, Volorox, Dorallius, Gaius, Kajar> OOC leaving time for @Vulpas to drop in the Orks if he wishes so First the claw was melted before Dreadnought found the soft spot inside of the Killa Kan, killing the driver and destroying the enemy machine for good. Orks around roared in anger at the sight of their bruva going down, but there were enough Nobs to go around in this army so they redoubled their efforts, wanting to take Tempestus down and getting a mighty kill for themselves. Shots impacted on his hull from various weapons, but he still remained strong. His immediate threat (besides a number of Ork boys) were couple of Nobs that charged his way, fielding big powered choppas capable of punching through his armor.
The dreadnaught grabed the first nob by its cheast and crushed it befire it could swing the chopper then with a laugh sent 12 storm bolter rounds into the next pulping his body "come and get it" as he spoke a third swung its axe into his arm only for it to get stuck so he slammed his other tallon into its side cuting it to shreads
