"Well, perhaps you can give me a few tasks that play to my skills and then I might not be so tempted to voice my discontent?" Saven suggested, before putting her helmet part back on and leaving the Sergeant to his own devices. All she could hope for now was that she wasn't going to be visited by the Redemptionist during this lull, lest things go horribly wrong.

Sgt. Alton just waved his hand cause the conversation was done. He decided to start organizing what he could with the survivors. " Lets break these people into manageable groups. PDF guard detail per group. And lets have a plan incase they catch up."

As they machine fell back,being slow as they were,situation calmed up a bit,if not for strangly twitching Techpriest and a...discussion between Sergeant and the strange-lookin,blue-eyed Guardswoman.

When they seemed to be finished,Felix noticed Saven`s reaction at Sergeants the usual,stoic approach to things.Empathizing with the Guardswoman,which is a rare occurrence for otherwise very secluded Veteran,Felix put an arm on her Carpace clad shoulder,he simply waved his head off.A gesture that when Sergeant was done on the subject...the subject is closed,otherwise it can be hairy.

Coming side by side of the Sergeant he elbowed him.
"Sergeant..."whispered Felix,afraid that Techpriest might hear him and explode his Lasgun...or worse...jam the damn thing "...Techpriest seems a bit...odd.More so then usual.Think you can find out why?"spoke Felix,knowing full well what a unknown element in the squad can grow into.

With his suspicions voiced,he advanced down the column of refuges,picking a squad that walked off the road.Approaching them and pulling up his visor,he spoke:
"Lads...whos the CO now?"

Sgt. Alton grunted and sighed. It was his responsibility and Felix was right now that he was paying attention. " Brother Techpriest, What has you acting so?" He came to the techpriest calmly and without fear as he knew them well, even he didn't know this one.

@TechCaptain

@Vanestus

@Illfetus

@High_Adept_Zeth

@Uriel1339

@Maleth

@Vulpas

@EvicusDasan1

@Grall_Stonefist

~
Oglesby did not respond but instead fixed his gaze intently on the sergeant his one cold almost dead looking organic eye staring at the Skitarii as if he was looking right into his very soul, he was actually taking in every detail about the individual examining the sergeant in his entirety before he quickly looked away. He was muttering Lingua Technis still but this time to those of the group that could understand it he was actually transmitting security protocols to his observatory, commands to run troubleshoots, diagnostics and requests for feedback. He was getting more jittery by the second every moment he did this and eventually he stopped finishing with a single curse muttered in binary, it was probably best to leave him be.

The days passed and steadily more and more people started to join the painful exodus, coming from every direction refugees from various surrounding towns and villages moved to meet up with the crowd of people headed towards the planetary capital and their only hope of sanctuary. There were sad weary women, their children were stumbling and streaked with tears and their men were bitter and angry at their displacement by the Necrons, some of them had brought their livestock with them along with family pets including horses and dogs which were as stressed as their owners were to their sudden departure from their lifelong homes. the crowd of people started to number in the millions and if viewed from a elevated position the sheer multitude could be seen going from horizon to horizon.

With the crowd of refugees having grown so large The PDF force was unable to keep so many people under control, they had split up into various small groups to keep order as best they could, their own wounded were about as helpless as the people they were trying to protect and morale was hopelessly low among their ranks. Their captain having assumed the leadership role had genuine trouble keeping everything in check without any established communication structure and his mobile command base was little more than a wagon pulled by a set of horses, it was a constant shambles to maintain order. The only measure of control the soldiers could manage was where the people were going and that was towards the planetary capital.

Eventually the crowd finally reached the planetary capital and their last hope of survival, night had fallen upon the exhausted people as they walked forward into the city limits revealing a clear night sky overhead and a full view of Artemis minor hanging above the city itself. The capital had a river running through it and along its banks there were dozens of ports to allow shipping to come too and from the city from the coast, the planetary capital also seemed to be very industrial with numerous primitive factories including a single manufactorum which towered over the rest of the city. Only near the parliamentary building of the planetary governor did the city seem to become more opulent where presumably the planetary elite were housed.

Hovering in the air over the city was the four troop transports the Imperial guard had used when they first landed on the planet along with the grey Imperial navy Ironclad 'Thunderchild' the escort vessel that had taken the Astra Militarum to the Artemis world. An old near obsolete class of battleship the Thunderchild had been refitted to serve as a battering ram for the Imperial navy but was now so battle scarred it had been repurposed to escort Imperial guard transports. The vessel still boasted formidable firepower and although it lacked void shielding it made up for it with extra Adamantium armor on its external hull, the vessel was very nearly at the stage where it would be officially retired but as it is could still put up a fierce fight when it needed to.

There were screams as suddenly out of a nearby collection of buildings appeared a formation of Necrons, three phalanxes flanked by a pair of Triarch stalkers emerged out of the streets on the outskirts of the city and ambushed the refugees. Never before in the history of the world had such a mass of people moved and suffered together, fleeing into the heart of the city this was no longer a disciplined march it was a stampede without order and without ago six million people unarmed and unprovisioned driving headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of civilization... of the massacre of mankind.

Uncaring and monstrous the Necrons started firing on the crowd as they fled, firing in salvos with their Gauss weaponry, the Triarch stalkers started raking the mass of people with dispersed heat rays not caring if what they fired at were PDF man or creature. The PDF tried to respond as best they could but the surge of so many panicking people were seriously inhibiting their ability to react to the Necron attack, those that could try to fight back were suffering the same problem in that their weapons like before were mostly useless against the invaders. Many of the soldiers changed tack breaking discipline and charging headlong at the Necrons brandishing bayonets, swords and screaming retribution for their losses, they fell upon one of the phalanxes determined to break the Xenos for their arrogance. These were desperate men and they were willing to sell their lives here to protect the crowd.

Sgt. Alton radioed over the vox. " Get clear of the crowd and counter attack. Lead in with Grenades and Plasma bursts. Get in close with Melta. Priority Targets are the walkers. Take them out. Then work on the foot soldiers. Felix and Zita, round up the PDF get them up and somewhat organized. We need bodies to stop this massacre. Flame head your on to control this crowd." In Sgt. Alton's voice is the first leak of anything like anxiety and it wasn't for himself but for his men and his charge.

"Yes Sir." Saven said, not going to make a huge fuss over her being given a task other than walker hunting.... Even if it was simple crowd control, which was a waste of her time. Still, turning a new leaf meant orders were orders so she took a rear-guard position, yelling to the crowd "Everyone, get away from the front line, let the professionals handle this!" Even while on crowd duty, she fired off a few bolter rounds at the warrior machines, not willing to stay on the sidelines.

Trying to stay away from all the pain and suffering,Felix was as usual,clinically detached from his surroundings.Nothing in his behavior or stance was felt,but it was obvious the tense atmosphere is reaching its peak to a electrifying degree.

Reaching the relative safety of the capital,Felix was proud to see some proper Imperial mechanization,as the dropships flew over their heads,in the distance seeing a battered beauty of a Ironclad.
Playing an improvised liason and a glorified runner-boy for the PDF Captain who seemed to be the current highest rank,Felix coordinated squads of PDF men and women as Sergeant commanded,getting ahold of the able bodies that have no broken their discipline,rounding them up for the counter attack.

But the attack came so swiftly for the creatures that are so slow.Their alien walkers seemingly bursting from the ground itself as if they were a part of this place.He was fighting these beasts before,but nothing like these.

What Felix wouldn't give for a moments respite and a good chance to pull a scented smoke from his hookah pipe.
Following in the wake of the more heavier weaponry,Felix guided the PDF ranks at the necron phalanx,showing them the best spots for firing lines and appropriate good cover.Even if they don't break the attack,they might slow it.

++"Sarge,we really need those walkers dead.They are all over the civies!"++ voxed Felix as he took few men with him,taking cover behind smouldering ruins of what was once a presumed tabbac shop,opening las-fire at the Stalker.

"Aim for the pilot men!Lets disable this damn things before more children die!"

"Saven, I said get clear of the crowds. Let the PDF do Crowd control. Take out those walkers." Sgt. Alton shouted over the sounds of the battle into his vox. He dove behind some makeshift cover, changed his magazine for his special tempest rounds for effect. He fire round after round into one of the pilots of the Walkers. By this time he felt his squad knew the drill to take out what they could with the weapons they have.

"Congratulations on being one of the most unclear NCO's I've ever worked with then." That was all Saven had to say on Alton's abilities at the art of being able to give orders, before charging into the fray and in her usual manner of the use of her grappling hook, got on top of the Walker and started to fire off as many bolter rounds as she could at the pilot.