>>5253094
>>Have become borderline competent.
>You have become alcoholic and insubordinate.
>A lazy and lax attitude.

>>5253094
>Have discovered you are a natural born warrior.
>You have become even more obnoxiously cheerful (with the occasional help of looted anti-depressants).
>An eye out for any opportunity to gain the blessings (and donations) from the city’s wealthy elite, as well as aid your own officers in gaining said blessings.

For maximum fun

>>5253094
>Have learned you kind of suck at being a soldier, but are also very lucky.
>You have become even more obnoxiously cheerful (with the occasional help of looted anti-depressants).
>An interest in improving the lives of the common folk whenever possible, even if it means breaking a lot of rules and/or outright heresy.

>>5253094
>Have become borderline competent.
>You have become even more obnoxiously cheerful (with the occasional help of looted anti-depressants).
>Bitter indifference.

>>5253094
>Have discovered that you are unnaturally good at fighting, in ways that the Commissariat may not appreciate.
>You have become even more obnoxiously cheerful (with the occasional help of looted anti-depressants).
>Bitter indifference.

>>5253094
>Have learned you kind of suck at being a soldier, but are also very lucky.
>You have become alcoholic and insubordinate.
>Bitter indifference.

>>5253094
>Have discovered you are a natural born warrior.
>You have become even more obnoxiously cheerful (with the occasional help of looted anti-depressants).
>A lazy and lax attitude.

File: 637.jpg (147 KB, 1919x1079)

147 KB JPG

>>5253196
This

>Have discovered you are a natural born warrior.
>You have become even more obnoxiously cheerful (with the occasional help of looted anti-depressants).
>An eye out for any opportunity to gain the blessings (and donations) from the city’s wealthy elite, as well as aid your own officers in gaining said blessings.

You wake up drenched in sweat and covered in grit, just like you have everyday since this region’s summer truly started. You are wearing the bathing suit you have been using as undergarments for the past two months, ever since you were evacuated from your tropical paradise resort of a home world and later drafted into the Imperial Guard. Most of your squad mates have looted “new” undergarments, but you have learned to appreciate the quick drying natural of the bathing suit, first during the region’s endless rainy season, then during the sweaty summer.

You are also wearing your goggles. It keeps sand out of your eyes.

It is mid-afternoon and the temperature is approaching 40 C. The sun glares into the room’s large window opening and a light breeze does little but blow more sand from the desiccated quad into your room.

Once home to a pair of students, it now contains half of your ten man squad, with the other half in the next room. The two rooms are connected by a bathroom, but the plumbing in the building doesn’t work, so it serves no real purpose. The five single beds (mostly scavenged from elsewhere on campus) take up much of the room, and the rest is crowded with scattered gear and looted junk.

You glance at the crude time piece on the wall and realize you have five minutes to get to the briefing, so you grudgingly get your gear on:
Socks (looted) and foot wrappings
Boots (don’t fit without foot wrappings)
Kilt (more like a mini-skirt, made of one-quarter of an actual kilt to save cloth)
Undershirt (stained)
Flak Jacket (way to big, inside drenched in old sweat due to waterproof nature, doesn’t even match the flak jackets used by most of the rest of your regiment)

You meet the Sarge out in the hall. You and her are the only ones attending the briefing.

You are currently in Dormitory C, one of several located at the University of Groxbridge to provide housing for students not living at home, renting, or living in one of the frats.

Surprisingly, the university has recently reopened, but with so many students dead, missing, moved to safer parts of the planet, or enlisted in the PDF, there is plenty of space on campus to garrison three companies of your regiment.

>>5254661

The Sarge is a bit of an odd one. She is physically attractive enough, but seemingly devoid of any personality or emotion. Despite being one of the few people in the regiment with actual officer training prior to the creation of the regiment, she prefers to keep a low profile, and as a result, is one of the few people commanding less people now then prior to the regimental reorganization. Her weirdest trait though is her near encyclopedic knowledge of pretty much any topic no matter how obscure, occult, or potentially heretical, as well as her tendency to share said knowledge at weird times, and then ignore any questions related to the source of said information.

Even weirder though was an event roughly a month ago, at the climax of the siege, when your position was consumed by a massive fireball. You should have died, but somehow didn’t. And you have a vague memory of a slightly different version of the Sarge talking to someone in a mansion-like space sometime between the fireball and your miraculous survival.

After only a brief greeting, you head down the hall.

Along the way you pass the room of Lieutenant Jenners.

A highborn slacker from the resort world of Risa who always reeks of laxweed and lho, she is functionally useless, not that it matters since orders to your squad generally come directly from Captain Imperium, which really means they come directly from Captains Priscilla and Catnip, which really means they come from whoever is dishing out the best bribes this week.

In the briefing room are Captains Imperium, Priscilla, and Catnip.

Each commands a company of roughly two hundred soldiers (the regiment has twenty companies), which are in turn broken down into four platoons of forty five soldiers, plus command and support squads.

They are all rather “distinct” individuals, in keeping with your home world’s concept of Ganni-Vrae (the more bad ass you look, the more bad ass you probably are).

Your own Captain Danner, more commonly referred to as “Captain Imperium” due to his bombastic nature (and also to distinguish him from the other Captain Danner) looks like he stepped directly out of a propaganda poster. Muscular, and with chiseled good looks, it is sometimes easy to forget he has no real combat experience prior to being drafted, especially now that he has acquired a chainsword to wave around.

>>5254664

Captain Priscilla was a member of the Timbuktu Survivors, a mongrel unit made up of several others that survived that meat grinder of a campaign. Her regiment was garrisoning your home world when the “Incident” happened, and, like a few others, got separated from her unit during the evacuation, thus providing your regiment with some much needed military experience. As per usual, she dresses like a local noble rather than wearing her actual uniform (to better “liaise” with the city’s elite), but she has demonstrated on several occasions during contests she actually is quite skilled with her laspistol. You have heard her actual combat record is a bit patchy though, and marred by several embarrassing incidents. Good thing she has a fricking Catachan as her senior sergeant.

Captain Catnip was also a member of the Timbuktu Survivors. Catnip is a “felinid” from a world known as Carlos McConnell, though the Sarge thinks she is actually from Archipelagia, yet another nearby tropical paradise world, and one apparently famous for collecting and breeding unusual abhumans. Even for one of her kind, she is unnaturally quick-witted, fast, and strong, and probably one of the best fighters in the regiment. She is also notoriously undisciplined and a frequent drug user.

Together the three are a surprisingly effective team though, covering each others weaknesses, kissing up to senior officers, and getting all sorts of rave reviews from local elites on their ability to keep the peace in their district. All three are clearly on the rise, you just need to find a way to get them to take you with them.

Well long story short, someone, somewhere has decided that the tunnels beneath the University and the surrounding district needs to be investigated.

And who better to look into it then the squad led by weird chick that always seems to know far more than she should (those who are aware of her tend to alternate between discreetly taking advantage of the Sarge’s unusual knowledge, and pretending she doesn’t exist, everyone knows there is something a bit off about her, and no one wants to be the one answering uncomfortable questions of who knew what if the Sarge comes to the attention of the wrong parties).

An unfortunate task for sure.

There are few opportunities to collect “donations” down there, and by all accounts it is incredibly dangerous.

You know better than to complain though, and make no comment until you are dismissed.

It will be another hour or so before the mission starts.

>Go brief your squad.

>Go down to the mess hall.

>Go press the Sarge for anything useful she may know.

>>5254667
>>Go brief your squad.

>>5254667
>Go brief your squad.
Say the briefing in our obnoxiously cheerful way.

>>5254667
>>Go down to the mess hall.

>>5254667
>>>Go press the Sarge for anything useful she may know.

>>5254667
>Go brief your squad.
>Go press the Sarge for anything useful she may know.

>>5254667
>Go brief your squad.

>Go brief your squad.

You head back to your dorm room in order to brief your half of the squad.

Patrolling urban areas with a ten man squad is pretty cumbersome, so the squad is often split in two, with you commanding the second half. You are not sure to what you owe this honor. Perhaps it is because you are better at fighting than anyone else in your squad, or perhaps the Sarge remembers how you looked out for her repeatedly after she got her head injury a month ago.

Unfortunately, unlike some squad second-in-commands, you didn’t get a promotion to corporal, and the minor perks that entails.

Not that you are particularly greedy, but you figure if you are going to be out here risking your life every day, you might as well get what you can.

Your half of the squad is still grudgingly getting out of bed.

Brock, Castelman, Kasper, and Sian.

Brock was some sort of menial back on Happy Ending. Big guy, though a bit of a softie.

Castelman was a warehouse clerk. Wannabe philosopher/psychiatrist/whatever.

Kasper was a cook. Between his risk taking nature and familiarity with fire, he was a shoe-in for flamer training.

Sian was a former camp follower for the Gomorrah Sand Vipers. Like many such support personnel, she got reassigned to a front line role, though strangely enough not to her own regiment. She is a quiet sort, and like many in your regiment is often preoccupied with the fate of her home world.

Much like Happy Ending, Gomorrah is generally rumored to have been overrun during the recent Chaos push into the subsector, though like Happy Ending, it is also widely rumored that Chaos rituals had ruined the world long before any invaders arrived. Such talk is heresy obviously, though the reason you clamp down on such discussions has a lot more to do with you not wanting to think about it than any fear of official sanctions.

No one in your squad is particularly skilled in a fight compared to elites like the Kriegers, and some are close to useless, but you figure yourself, the Sarge, and maybe Kasper and Juniper are approaching the level of a professional soldier.

Although you didn’t do well in your initial training, you gained a lot of confidence after surviving a series of near death experiences a month ago, and since then have figured out that when you just live in the moment and trust your instincts, you mastered basic training fairly easily.

>>5255825

Given your usual lax style, you briefing is a bit unorthodox...

“Alright beautiful people. Listen up. I will only say this once. Unless you ask me something. Then I will probably say it again. We are going to do a patrol of the Underworld. I know that sounds scary, and the locals were terrified of it even before the invasion, but I am sure everything is fine. We are going to be sticking to the top layer which is mostly train tunnels, sewers, utility tunnels, basements, and parking garages. We may also go down to the second layer which is those weird ancient bunkers like the ones under Clipper Ridge and the Imperial Fist bunkers. And maybe the third layer, which is partially flooded caves and glowing xenos ruins.” - You explain.

You gloss over some things the Sarge has told you about the Underworld in the past since they are possibly heretical and a little scary.

“Leave your kit bags behind, but bring any bit of combat gear you have, since there might be something down there that wants to fight.” - You add, then start grabbing your own gear.

You see no reason to bring your rarely touched kit bag, and its contents: blanket, empty sandbags, entrenching tool, and scavenged civilian items.

You do pull out a few looted energy bars though and shove them in your pockets with your spork, pen, whistle, notepad, and Primer.

You also put on your combat belt, which includes a spare power cell, bayonet, and canteen. The belt and its contents are the only additional gear your regiment has given its common soldiers since it survived the brutal climax of the trench war last month, though each squad also got a cheap light flamer or a bulky, primitive grenade launcher, and each company got a few pieces of more specialized gear.

Rumor has it the regiment’s colonel is soliciting his uber rich family for additional gear, but who knows when that will arrive.

Not long after you grab your gear and lasgun, the Sarge shows up and gives an even shorter speech, before your group moves out to the University’s old central steam plant, which is said to be the nexus of many different routes to the underground. It is located in a portion of the University that was apparently underused even before the war, and is now completely abandoned, but is subject to many dark rumors. More than a few students, and even a few soldiers have disappeared while travelling in the area over the past few weeks.

As you head over...

>You discreetly ask the Sarge for any additional insights.

>You reflect on the nature of the war so far.

>You think about any squad tactics that might be useful in this situation.

>You chat with your squad mates.

>>5255828
>You think about any squad tactics that might be useful in this situation.

>>5255828
>You think about any squad tactics that might be useful in this situation.
Close to eachother in an X shape so that each can support eachother quickly.

>>5255828
>>You discreetly ask the Sarge for any additional insights.

>>5255828
>You think about any squad tactics that might be useful in this situation.

>>5255828
>>You think about any squad tactics that might be useful in this situation.
>>You chat with your squad mates.

>>5255828
>You chat with your squad mates.

>>5255828
>>You chat with your squad mates.

>>5255828
>You discreetly ask the Sarge for any additional insights.

>You think about any squad tactics that might be useful in this situation.

You spend some time trying to think of squad tactics to use in case you need to take command of half the squad.

Kasper has the squad’s special weapon, a Hades-Pattern MkIII Assault Flamer. A cheap, light weight, but generally reliable flamer popular with B-list light infantry, religious fanatics, and exterminators. Unfortunately, it is only good for about 10 bursts on full power. But you vaguely remember full bursts aren’t a good idea anyways underground, so on the lowest setting he should be good for 30-40 bursts.

Everyone else carries the Standard M-G Pattern Lasgun. One of the most common lasgun varieties in the galaxy, it is light weight, has a good firing rate (for a lasgun), which when combined with the high ammo capacity of the standard power pack makes for a surprisingly effective assault weapon for close quarters, as long as your target is more or less human, and isn’t wearing too much armor...

In terms of comms, only yourself and the Sarge have vox-beads. They are good for about a kilometer in forest or built up areas, but probably a lot less underground. They are a pretty good excuse to keep yourself in the centre of the formation given only you can talk to the Sarge if the squad splits up (alternately someone can take the vox-bead off your body, but you feel this should be a Plan B, with Plan A as keeping you alive at all costs).

Also, no one has bothered assigning stablights, lamps, glowglobes, or any other lighting source to your regiment, and the Emperor will probably walk again before an inexperienced regiment like yours gets photo-visors or preysense goggles, so your half of the squad is going to be limited to a single civilian tier flashlight.

You decide to have Kasper (with his flamer’s pilot light) and Sian (with the flashlight, mostly because you don’t trust her not to shoot you in the back) in the front, while Brock and Castelman stay behind you in case something tries to jump the group from behind.

The squad arrives at the old steam plant without incident.

The Sarge decides that the first place you should check out is the steam tunnel heading towards the underground train line. Similar underground lines have been a common hangout for mutants and insurgents in the past.

Not much of note happens, but the squad finds a heavy door that has been cut loose with lascutters, leading to a stairwell going downwards.

Naturally this is worth investigating.

The stairway goes down many levels, and the Sarge decides to split the squad up and leave your half at the top.

After a minute or so, the Sarge voxs you she has found some sort of control bunker and her half of the squad will check it out. A few seconds later, you lose vox contact with the Sarge, not unexpected since a bunker’s walls are no doubt thick.

>>5257954

But as minutes pass, you start getting antsy.

Sian reports twice she thinks she saw a small light at the far end of the corridor, but Brock dismisses it as probably just a reflection on something shiny.

Once you think you hear faint laughter, but no one else hears it.

And the flashlight starts fading, like it is running out of batteries.

>Stay put for now.

>Go see if you can find the Sarge’s half of the squad.

>Go check out the alleged location of the small light.

>Fall back to the surface.

>>5257955
>>Go check out the alleged location of the small light.

>>5257955
>Go see if you can find the Sarge’s half of the squad.
Don't split up.

>>5257955
>>Go see if you can find the Sarge’s half of the squad.

>>5257955
>Go see if you can find the Sarge’s half of the squad

>>5257955
>Go see if you can find the Sarge’s half of the squad.

File: Happy Ending typical uniform.png (337 KB, 489x758)

337 KB PNG

>Go see if you can find the Sarge’s half of the squad.

You decide to lead your half of the squad down the stairwell into the alleged bunker.

It is a rather slow process given the lack of lighting, but after countless flights of stairs, you finally make it to your destination.

Sure enough, it does appear to be some sort of ancient bunker. It is widely rumored that many of the underground buildings and tunnels in this area date back to the Dark Age of Technology, which the Sarge has said is likely true. Like many of the tunnels beneath Clipper Ridge and no-man’s land, the architecture here is recognizably human, but also clearly more advanced. Also clearly durable given it has lasted for thousands of years.

You can’t see far due to poor lighting, but get the impression this level consists of many large rooms with wide windows and sliding doors separated by a maze of corridors.

No sign of the Sarge’s group yet, and the vox-bead is still picking up static on the squad channel. This place must be even larger than it looks.

You do see some graffiti though, weird sketches of anthropomorphic animals engaged in lewd acts.

You have heard of such things, the so called Furry Cult, one of the dozen or so heretic cults that operated within Groxbridge during the enemy occupation. They are believed to be a minor group, rarely seen on the front lines, and dismissed by some as just a myth, or an offshoot of another cult, but according to reliable sources are said to have focused many of their activities in this neighborhood, so it makes sense there are still some around.

As you muse the possibilities, Sian sees something in one of the rooms and shines her light on the window, which mostly just creates glare, but also lets you see a few figures in the room.

One opens fire at your group with some sort of autogun, but the glass stops the bullets.

>Try to figure out where door to room is and lay ambush for when your opponents try to leave.

>Find door, then assault room, with Kasper’s flamer hopefully doing most of the work.

>Redouble efforts to link up with rest of squad.

>Flee back up the stairwell.

(pic related is the “standard” uniform for the 1st Happy Ending Regiment, but there are many variants, Cat wears a variant headgear (goggles), variant jacket (bulky brown camo rain coat), and variant leg wear (short kilt with red and black tartan pattern)) – image from https://hbtokenbuilder.ru/

>>5259310
>>Redouble efforts to link up with rest of squad.

>>5259310
>>Try to figure out where door to room is and lay ambush for when your opponents try to leave.

>>5259310
>>Redouble efforts to link up with rest of squad.

>>5259310
>>>Redouble efforts to link up with rest of squad.

File: 4f9caf20237276b2dc2ca5922(...).jpg (55 KB, 671x960)

55 KB JPG

>>5259310
Fucking furries
>Try to figure out where door to room is and lay ambush for when your opponents try to leave.

>>5259310
>Try to figure out where door to room is and lay ambush for when your opponents try to leave.

>Redouble efforts to link up with rest of squad.
>Try to figure out where door to room is and lay ambush for when your opponents try to leave.

You decide to try to lay an ambush for the furries.

Around the corner is a corridor with a sliding door leading to the room containing them, hopefully it is the only door, as some of the rooms you have passed seem to have corridors on three or four sides.

Unfortunately this means you are at a T-junction.

You set up your squad so that yourself, Sian, and Brock are in good positions to fire on the door, while Castelman and Kasper cover the other directions, but unexpectedly someone opens fire from further down the corridor with the sliding door in it.

Sian cries out and drops the flashlight, while you hear Brock curse with pain as well.

Kasper turns and uses his flamer, probably thinking hostiles were coming from the sliding door, but his stream of fire hits the still closed door, and also has the unattended effect of blinding everyone whose eyes got used to the gloom.

You blindly fire down the corridor, and although your lasfire provides some light, you see no signs of any hostiles.

You get everyone into cover by falling back around the corner.

Brock was shot in the ear and the arm, but Sian is the one you are worried about. It looks like she got shot at least once in the torso, and although the flak jacket stopped the bullet(s), her ribs are probably shattered.

You hear people running from several different directions, but can’t tell whether they are heading towards or away from your group.

Suddenly you vox-bead crackles to life.

It is the Sarge!

“----that you-----ing up a nest of-------fall back----too many of them-----down----is wounded” – Is all you are able to make out.

But fall back seems like a good idea right now.

You grab the flashlight, get Brock to carry Sian, and fall back the way you came, with Jasper and Castelman covering the rear of the group.

As you retreat, you glimpse several brightly colored figures dart across the corridor ahead of you, presumably passing through a four-way junction perpendicular to you.

It happens too fast for you to try and get a shot off.

However, as you cautiously reach the junction, you realize it is another T-junction, which is impossible unless the figures somehow ran right through the ancient hatch on your right, which doesn’t look like it has been opened in centuries.

>Keep falling back.

>Try and open the hatch.

>Try to get in touch with the Sarge again.

>>5262863
>Keep falling back.
>Try to get in touch with the Sarge again.
>Covering fire!
>Burn hallways from where we came.

>>5263127
+1

>>5263127
Support

>Keep falling back.
>Try to get in touch with the Sarge again.

You decide to continue to fall back while trying to raise the Sarge on your vox-bead.

Strangely, you end up seeing her before raising her on the vox.

Something must be jamming or messing with the vox beads.

Her, Juniper, and Hargan are guarding the stairwell leading back to the safer levels. No sign of Wern or Chutner, but there is no time to ask questions now, who knows how many of the barely seen enemies are down here.

However, no one stops you as you head up the stairs in decent order.

Back at the near surface tunnel, the Sarge makes the decision to head back to University to report the enemy presence.

That sounds just fine to you. Although many consider you to be brave (or stupid), you have little desire to engage in a suicide mission.

The march back to the University is grim and sullen.

As the adrenaline wears off, everyone realizes the short burst of combat was exhausting, particularly the stairs.

The heat is also worse than you remember, and you dearly want to take off your flak jacket though it would be very much against orders.

There is little talk.

Juniper confirms Wern and Chutner got killed in ambushes.

The Sarge’s group did kill a few though, and confirm they are furries.

When you mention the furries seeming ability to disappear through solid walls, the Sarge simply shrugs it off and attributes it to the darkness, confusion, and the maze like nature of the bunker.

When Juniper observes that there is far more to Groxbridge than meets the eye viewing it from the surface, the Sarge simply says “you have no idea...”

Back at the University, Sian and Brock head to the medical room, such that it is.

There is only one doctor (who isn’t even a surgeon) and a few medics serving the three companies posted at the University. Luckily there hasn’t been too many firefights lately, but you dread to think what will happen if there is a surge of injuries.

You chat with the Sarge for a bit, who strangely enough seems much more focused on her annoyance that the furries were down there than any other issue, like the fact her squad took losses.

She heads off to debrief the captains alone, but gives you a stack of canteen coupons before she goes.

Good for one watery beer, or a handful of smokes, they are the closest thing your regiment currently gets to a paycheck (aside from bribes). Usually each soldier gets a handful a week, but sometimes they are also given out as bonuses or awards.

>>5263976

Some of the more prestigious and connected regiments are given out actual salaries to their soldiers (and generous ones too). Rumor has it the colonel is trying to do a money transfer from his family to provide some salaries for your regiment, but for now you are are considered an auxiliary support regiment and only get the bare minimal the Munitorum is willing to supply in this theatre.

>Track down your squad mates and celebrate the fact you survived another round of combat.

>Have a few drinks for yourself to cope with losing some friends and your own near death experiences.

>Go find somewhere quiet to lay down for a bit.

>Stash a few coupons somewhere for later, private use, then see if you can win some more at a card game.

(FYI, I am going on vacation, will be back Sunday night)

>>5263979
>Track down your squad mates and celebrate the fact you survived another round of combat.

>>5263979
>>Track down your squad mates and celebrate the fact you survived another round of combat.

Cheers

>>5263979
>>Track down your squad mates and celebrate the fact you survived another round of combat.

>>5263979
>>Stash a few coupons somewhere for later, private use, then see if you can win some more at a card game.

>>5263979
>Track down your squad mates and celebrate the fact you survived another round of combat.
>Have a few drinks for yourself to cope with losing some friends and your own near death experiences.

>>5263979
>Go find somewhere quiet to lay down for a bit.

>Track down your squad mates and celebrate the fact you survived another round of combat.

You decide to track down your squad and celebrate your continued survival.

But first, you head to your room, grab your kit bag, then head to the canteen and use many of the coupons to buy a dozen or so beers.

It is not too hard to guess where your squad. The roof of the student residence you are billeted in has become your squad’s main hangout space.

With two dead, two wounded, and the Sarge making her report, there are only five of you. Since the others that arrived before you already bought one or more beers each with their existing coupons, you might actually be able to get drunk off this watery rubbish for once.

Although some people clearly want to mourn, you try to keep things as positive and upbeat as possible.

It helps that the set-up is pretty killer.

Although the heat is as stifling as anywhere else outside, the roof is high enough to catch the occasional breeze, and a crude tent roof made of old bed sheets and rope keeps the sun off the odd collection of chairs and couches your squad has collected.

The view is also pretty amazing. Although not a particularly high building, most of the buildings to your northeast are lower for some reason, allowing you to see over the rooftops of the eastern campus and student ghettos to see the towering office complexes of Wapper Island.

Most of these low density buildings display the Brutalist Architecture style popular with institutional buildings and low income residences in Groxbridge, but a few more important buildings use local variants of Gothic Architecture, or one of several other architecture styles popular in the wealthier parts of town.

You spend a bit of time speculating on why the University has been allowed to open. Although some programs like Engineering, Agricultural Sciences, Theology, Law, Business, Administration, and Medical Science may be useful during the reconstruction, others like Arts, Philosophy, and History seem like either status symbols for otherwise useless noble and merchant’s kids, or hotbeds of borderline heretical thought for the children of the restive middle class.

There are more than a few jokes about the various social classes of Groxbridge, and how they all suck in their own unique way, as well as comparisons back to classes on your home world, Happy Ending.

When that topic proves a bit painful, you switch to exchanging heavy exaggerated stories of the recent fight, carefully avoiding mention of the fact that Wern and Chutner were killed, and Sian badly wounded.

Everything is going grandly, until you notice a strange sight.

A number of bulky, but humanoid figures are flying over the towers of Wapper Island, and in the direction of the western neighborhoods, like your current location.

At first you don’t completely comprehend what you are seeing, but then gunfire starts erupting throughout the city, seemingly all at once.

File: Groxbridge Map.png (4.16 MB, 6000x6000)

4.16 MB PNG

>>5269394

You finally recognize the figures for what they are.

Tau Mech Suits!

There is at least one image of them in the back pages of your Primer, where threats specific to this region of space are identified.

It still doesn’t make sense that the Tau are here though.

Other than a few heretic cults and corrupt merchants, there are no signs the Tau have an interest in this planet. Furthermore, it is a reasonable distance from Tau Space, and surely with a large Imperial fleet still in orbit, we would have been warned if a Tau fleet arrived.

>Go find the Sarge.

>Get the squad prepped for a fight and find something to fortify.

>Start thinking of places to hide.

(map by Stamminposter, made during the original tg greentext threads)

>>5269399
>Go find the Sarge.

>>5269399
>Go find the Sarge.
HVKNS

>>5269399
>>Get the squad prepped for a fight and find something to fortify.

>>5269399
>Go find the Sarge

>>5269399
>Go find the Sarge.

>Get the squad prepped for a fight and find something to fortify.

>Go find the Sarge.

You try reaching the Sarge on your vox-bead, but it is off. Usually that means she is briefing the company commanders.

You decide to run down to the command briefing room and hope the Sarge is there.

In the meantime, you order the rest of the squad to head down to the billets and prepare their weapons. It seems safer on the ground floor than on the roof if nothing else.

Luckily the Sarge is in the briefing room, giving Captains Imperium and Catnip a crash course in anti-Tau tactics.

The situation sounds pretty dire, but still likely winnable (albeit with high losses).

A Tau fleet has arrived in orbit, but it is outmatched by the Naval vessels still in orbit, however they have launched an invasion anyways. The Sarge speculates given the distance to the nearest Tau world, and the slow speed of Tau vessels, the invasion was likely launched well before the Chaos and Ork raids, and as a result, they have found the planet much better defended than expected. They probably continued the invasion anyways though, either to support their infiltrated units, and/or the Tau fleet exited Warp too close to the Navy fleet to fall back.

The infiltration units likely arrived via corrupt Rogue Traders and other merchant vessels, probably via containers supposedly containing heavy equipment and the like. Starting less than 10 minutes ago, the infiltrators started attacking key points across the planet with “Crisis Suits”, “Stealth Suits”, and “Piranhas”. In addition, pro-Tau heretics, ranging from elite commandos to partisan mobs, have also been stirring up trouble, and more and more communications channels are being hijacked by Tau propaganda.

The real threat though is the invasion force itself. Man for man, the Tau are worth several times their number compared to most Guard and PDF units due to their troops being well trained, and equipped to a much higher standard. Depending on how many landing ships make it past the Naval blockade, this could go either very well, or very bad.

The Sarge starts discussing the strengths and weaknesses (mostly strengths) of various common Tau infantry formations and vehicles, but she doesn’t get very far before you notice a strange shimmer outside, almost like something large made of almost transparent material is moving around.

>Shoot it with your lasgun.

>Warn everyone else.

>Flee room before it can open fire.

>>5271947
>>Warn everyone else.

>>5271947
>Shoot it with your lasgun.
>Pull Sarge out of any potential line of fire

>>5271947
>Shoot it with your lasgun.
(Full auto)
>Warn everyone else.
it's invisible.

>>5272698
Supporting

>>5271947
>Flee room before it can open fire.

>Shoot it with your lasgun.
>Warn everyone else.

You shout out a warning before opening fire with your lasgun on full auto.

Captain Catnip instantly notices the threat, grabs her heavy stubber, and hoses the barely seen opponent with 50 cal bullets.

However, it only seems to die for good when the Sarge lobs a krak grenade directly at it.

The invisibility field fails, revealing a large armored figure lying on the ground with a rotary cannon integrated into one arm. You guess it is the Stealth Suit the Sarge mentioned earlier. Luckily it wasn’t able to get any shots off before it got brought down, perhaps your shots or Catnip’s damaged its cannon.

“How did it know we were here?” - Demands Captain Imperium, who spent most of the fight hiding in cover.

“Probably some local sympathizers among the students or staff past our coordinates along. Lucky they only deployed one, usually they operate in small groups. We need to spread out our forces. Once they get some big guns in position, they won’t hesitate to flatten this entire building and the companies garrisoning it.” - Replies the Sarge.

“But the Tactica says to attack Tau in large numbers!” - Protests Captain Imperium.

“Your version of the Tactica is one of the shorter ones, given to officers of fodder regiments. Attacking Tau in hordes is useful for pining them down while more elite regiments get into position, but the more elite regiments in the city aren’t posted near us, and will have their hands full soon enough I suspect. We are better off splitting up and using harassment tactics until the Tau overstretch themselves.” - Says the Sarge in her usual deadpan tone.

Fair point you think to yourself.

There is a division of Ravenholm and a division of Praetorians in the north of the city, and a division of Steel Legion in the south, supported by some Admech and Marines, while the remaining Kriegers patrol Wapper Island on behalf of the Inquisition. All these regiments have a healthy supply of armor, heavy weapons, and assault weapons.

But the west end of the city is held by the remnants of your regiment, the Tallarn, and the 78th Risian, while the east end of the city is held by a few PDF conscript regiments. None of these so-called “chaff regiments”, as you have heard the Praetorians and Ravenholm regiments sometimes call regiments like yours, are particularly well equipped to fight anything other than light infantry and insurgents.

As per usual, no one questions the Sarge’s unusual knowledge.

The three companies present (including Priscilla’s, who herself is MIA), are broken down into platoon or squad formations and scattered throughout the area. Your platoon is sent eastwards with vague orders to find somewhere to lay ambushes and keep an eye out for any locations the Tau seem to be fortifying.

Your own squad is down to seven members, as two were killed in the tunnels, and another is still severely injured.

>>5273260

The Sarge picks a small restaurant as a base of sorts, while splitting the squad up into three and sending the other two elements to find better vantage points and gather information.

You end up paired up with Juniper and locate an empty looking office building that seems promising.

You go up to the third floor, which is a relatively open concept, with good vantage points on all sides, and decide to set up here for now.

However, as you explore the floor a bit more, you find a busted cash register on the floor with a lot of local cash in it.

>Ignore cash for now, scout and observe as per orders.

>Prepare ambush for any Tau or traitors you see. Shun the xenos, shun the heretic!

>Grab the cash, then find a more hidden location from which you can observe potential enemies.

>>5273262
>>Grab the cash, then find a more hidden location from which you can observe potential enemies.

>>5273262
>Ignore cash for now, scout and observe as per orders.

>>5273262
>Ignore cash for now, scout and observe as per orders.

>>5273262
>>Ignore cash for now, scout and observe as per orders.

>>5273262
>>Grab the cash, then find a more hidden location from which you can observe potential enemies.
Loot before pillaging

>>5273262
>Prepare ambush for any Tau or traitors you see. Shun the xenos, shun the heretic!

>>5273262
>Ignore cash for now, scout and observe as per orders.

>>5273262
>>Grab the cash, then find a more hidden location from which you can observe potential enemies.

We are the emp's best. A little scavenging isn't going to hurt.

>Ignore cash for now, scout and observe as per orders.

You decide to ignore the cash for now and settle in for a (hopefully long and uneventful) observation mission.

There doesn’t seem to be too much going on in this area, but based on periodic vox updates from the Sarge, there is some pretty heavy fighting happening on Wapper Island, and in the southern industrial and slum districts, northern upper class residential districts, and in some ad hoc landing sites to the north and east of the city.

You can see some signs of the wider battle though along the city skyline. Smoke plumes, anti-aircraft fire, and Tau landers and flying mechs, mostly to the east and north, but some going to Wapper Island or other districts of the city (and more than a few are being shot down by anti-air and Aeronautica).

About the only thing of interest you see in your immediate area are a few poorly armed religious fanatics running from various directions to some unseen location a few blocks away. Often just wearing masks, vests, and/or loincloths made from frayed sack cloth, carrying turnips tied to twine string around the necks, waists, and/or limbs, sometimes showing signs of self-flagellation, and carrying civilian firearms, improvised bludgeons, or torches, you doubt they will make that much difference in a fight, though a few seem to be deserters from the PDF or the few remaining Tallarns and still carry military grade weaponry.

You have heard of them of course, the so-called “Holy Army of the Receivers of the Holy Gifts”. Rabble from the industrial and slum districts led by some insane prophet known as the “Pig Shit Farmer”. You call it in to the Sarge, but she doesn’t seem too bothered. The authorities have been tolerating the cult thus far, and if they force the Tau to waste some ammo so much the better.

After an hour or so though, you get a call from the Sarge demanding that you fall back to the restaurant. In your haste to leave, you get about halfway back before you realize you left the cash behind.

It is not that you are particularly greedy, but you can’t help but feel that if you are going to risk your life on a regular basis, you should get at least a few perks.

Back at the restaurant, the Sarge has formed up the squad with new orders.

A few blocks away, the Tau and their local traitor allies have taken over the pre-fab bunker set up to control access to the Lesser Grox Bridge, which crosses the river into the quarantined zone around the Governor’s Square. Once manned by fanatical Krieg who kept all but a select few from crossing, the bridge has now been deemed an important route into the besieged government district in Wapper North.

File: Groxbridge Map - early th(...).png (4.52 MB, 6000x6000)

4.52 MB PNG

>>5275702

Unfortunately, the Tau are already deeply entrenched in the bunker, and several dozen Guard and Holy Army zealots have been gunned down by their superior fire power. Even worse, they got some sort of energy shield up that protects them from artillery, bombers, and orbital bombardment, not that the regimental commanders in the western city have enough sway to call in much support.

“Luckily” though, the bunker is rumored to connect to the tunnels of the under city, and as the 1st Happy Ending Regiment’s leading tunnel fighting experts (yes, going into the tunnels once and surviving an ambush makes you the experts), therefore, your squad has been chosen to lead Captain Catnip’s hand picked team to attack the bunker from below.

The Sarge needs volunteers to: help her guide the first wave, help guide the second wave, and to go update Captain Imperium (who was last seen setting up a command post a few blocks away, but who hasn’t been answering his vox).

>Volunteer for first wave, get brownie points with the Sarge and Catnip, kill some heretics and xenos (hopefully).

>Volunteer for the second wave, it is probably safer.

>Volunteer to find Captain Imperium, it sounds like she is only sending one person, and it would be a good chance to visit a certain cash register you saw earlier.

(I modified stannimposter's map to show the current situation in the city, blue is your main locations thus far, the rest shows rough locations of Imperials and Tau, though they are much more dispersed and overlapping than the map suggests)

>>5275712
>Volunteer for first wave, get brownie points with the Sarge and Catnip, kill some heretics and xenos (hopefully).

>>5275729
+1

>>5275729
+1

>>5275712
>Volunteer for first wave, get brownie points with the Sarge and Catnip, kill some heretics and xenos (hopefully).

>>5275712
>>Volunteer for the second wave, it is probably safer

>Volunteer for first wave, get brownie points with the Sarge and Catnip, kill some heretics and xenos (hopefully).

You decide to volunteer for the first wave. Glory and purging heretics and all that. Some say you are fearless, others say you are dumb, but you prefer to just see yourself as a “live in the moment” kind of gal. Besides, that one time you almost certainly should have died, you didn’t, for some strange reason you suspect is somehow related to the Sarge, so sticking near her seems like a good idea.

Captain Catnip has pulled together around a dozen of the best soldiers from the companies belonging to her, Priscilla, and your own Captain Imperium. Most of them are veterans of the Timbuktu Survivors, like herself.

Present are Catnip, Sergeant Cliveton the Catachan, Sergeant MacGiver the Drookian, and a couple of others you don’t recognize. From your own squad, the Sarge, yourself, and Kasper accompany the first wave.

The group travels a block east, where the Sarge finds a building she believes will be connected to the web of steam pipe maintenance tunnels crisscrossing the city.

After some searching, she finds a hatch in the basement leading to the steam tunnel, which eventually links up to one of the larger tunnels going under the Lesser Grox Bridge.
From there it gets more dangerous.

The Kriegers, in their typical fashion, built foundations several levels deep for their bunker, which was only supposed to be temporary, not to mention is built right on a major roadway.

The Kriegers blocked off where the existing tunnel meets their new construction with a large steel hatch. Perhaps they intended to one day master the tunnels themselves and use them to connect their surface fortifications in the city, unfortunately, they are now likely dead, in this bunker at least.

Cliveton uses his meltagun to burn through the hatch and a second after the hatch finally falls inwards, a volley of las and heavy stubber fire is blindly fired through the opening (plus a few frag grenades), followed by a professional advance by some of the first wave’s best fighters.

This particular level seems to be empty, no doubt most of the bunker’s occupiers are on the surface levels, but Catnip doesn’t want to risk an attack from the rear. She orders you, Kasper, the Sarge, and some rando you don’t know to clear the lower levels while the rest attack the next floor up.

You and Kasper pair up to take the one stairwell down, while the Sarge and her partner take the other.

This level appears to be mostly small empty rooms and corridors, perhaps meant for future use as barracks or ammo storage or something. You systematically clear a few rooms, doing all the fancy stuff you remember from building clearance training.

>>5278744

However, when you peek around a corner leading to another corridor, you are surprised to see a Tau and a human traitor doing something, perhaps intimate, or perhaps some sort of equipment check, not to far down the corridor.

>Gun them down with your lasgun.

>Get Kasper to set them on fire with his flamer.

>Draw your bayonet, try to kill them all stealthy-like.

>>5278745
Welcome back...I have no idea what we should do

>>5278745
>>Get Kasper to set them on fire with his flamer.

Fire is always the right answer to degenerates

>>5278745
>Gun them down with your lasgun.

>>5278745
>Get Kasper to set them on fire with his flamer.

>>5278745
>Gun them down with your lasgun.

>>5278745
>>Get Kasper to set them on fire with his flamer.

>>5278745
>Get Kasper to set them on fire with his flamer.
When in doubt, burn 'em out.

>>5278745
>>Get Kasper to set them on fire with his flamer.
Fwoosh!

>Get Kasper to set them on fire with his flamer.

You motion Kasper forward to torch them with his flamer.

Perhaps a bit harsh, but xenos creep you out, and pretty much every religious text, fictional work, or battlefield instruction you have ever read or listened to stress how important it is to purge the xenos at every opportunity.

Kasper rushes forward and hits the pair with a jet of flame.

Shrill cries fill the air as both figures are engulfed in flames.

Remembering the last time Kasper used a flamer in a dark space, you close your eyes and turn your head briefly.

When you open them, you see another Tau and another traitor have exited separate rooms further down the hall.

You fire two quick bursts before their own eyes/sensors have a chance to adjust.

The Tau gets hit several times and goes down shrieking.

The traitor takes a single shot in the chest and drops.

You take a moment to aim, and this time hit the Tau in the throat, endings it’s misery.

You move forward to inspect the bodies while Kasper covers the doorways.

The Tau wears ochre armor over a black, silk-like bodysuit and carries a squarish carbine. It took hits in the groin, gun, shoulder, torso, face and throat. You remember the Sarge saying that Tau armor is fairly resilient to lasfire, but clearly the clothlike material below the waist and around the neck isn’t.

The human is a young thin build male with a bald head, stupid goatee, blue dye markings on his face and arms, a t-shirt with a Tau rune on it, and a small, squarish Tau pistol. Probably some ideological dupe, perhaps from the University.

You spit on his corpse.

You aren’t a raging fanatic many in the Imperium, but no one likes a traitor, and besides, you probably won’t be down here risking your life if useful idiots like him didn’t create openings the Tau feel they can exploit.

The corridor appears to dead end, and walking past rooms without clearing them is a big no-no anyways, so you approach the first doorway while Kasper covers the other doors.

At first the room appears empty, but then someone hiding just around the corner grabs the barrel of your gun, pulls you forward, and almost sticks a curved knife in your face.

Somehow you manage to evade the knife, wrench your lasgun free, and shoot her at point blank.

Tallarn. Navar Tribe. From the 45th half of the 35/45th Regiment though she has switched to nondescript civilian gear. You always liked the regal, melancholy Navars over the crude, filthy Qasims of the 35th, but unfortunately herders and scavengers are slightly better soldiers than scholars and philosophers, and the Navars are rumored to have a high rate of desertion (though both halves of the merged regiment are widely considered disgraces to their home planet’s allegedly fearsome reputation).

Trust a Navar to be smart enough to keep cool and lay an ambush, but arrogant enough to use a knife instead of a gun.

>>5281442

The room appears to be otherwise empty aside from the strange Tau technology that could be anything from a comm station to a power generator for all your would know, but then you notice a slight blue figure hiding behind a crate-like piece of Tau equipment.

“Brave soldier, you comrades above have been defeated, but if you spare my life, you will be allowed to surrender peacefully and will be held in captivity in much better conditions than your current billet until such time you can be integrated into a new, prosperous world order.” - It calls out in a feminine voice with an accent that sounds remarkably like your home world.

>Shoot it.

>Get Kasper to burn it, slowly.

>Try to capture it.

>Wait for a bit in case it is right and your defeat is imminent.

>Try to surrender.

>>5281445
This reminds me why I really avoid writing action when I write novels or write period.
>Try to capture it.

We can trade hostages! I bet they took captives too! Or we could trade the hostage in exchange for them fucking off!

Would be way more effective of a ruse if they talked to us over a transmission.

>>5281445
>Get Kasper to burn it, slowly.

>>5281445
>Shoot it.

>>5281445
Try to capture it. Securing enemy Intel is the sort of thing that looks good on the after action report.

>>5281445
>>Shoot it.

>>5281445
>>Get Kasper to burn it, slowly.
Again, the answer is Fwoosh!

>>5281445
>Try to capture it.

File: The Building Known As The(...).jpg (26 KB, 400x400)

26 KB JPG

>Try to capture it.

You decide to try and capture the Water Caste.

It goes rather poorly.

You yell at it to surrender and it seems to accept, but then still refuses to come out from behind the crate.

You then try to flank the crate, but are distracted by shooting out in the corridor.

As you turn, something hits you in the back that sends waves of electricity coursing through your body.

As your vision fades, you see Kasper retreating past the doorway under a volley of inaccurate fire.

--------------------------------------

You wake up in a small room with large glass windows on three out of four sides.

Judging by the view, your are in the “Hive Spire”, a massive Gothic-style building on the north end of Wapper Island. Traditionally home to the municipal and regional governments, as well as several planetary level agencies, only the Governor’s Spire is taller, though given the Governor’s Spire has been cordoned off by the followers of the Inquisition, the Hive Spire is arguably the most important building in the city. Despite its name, it is hardly a true hive, it just looks a bit like a top of an actual hive from a distance.

Ugh, from what you remember, this is the top target for both the Tau and the Imperials.

There is an awful lot of smoke coming from the buildings below, and from the Hive Spire itself for that matter.

You try to move, but belatedly realize you are tied to a chair.

Your muscles are pretty sore too, you probably got hit by some sort of electroprod.

The door opens behind you, and one of the human traitors comes in.

He looks like a young, arrogant, self-important sort, but also with a chip on his shoulder.

You reckon he is another university student corrupted by the Tau, which is confirmed a bit later when he launches into a long winded monologue.

Apparently the lower level of the bunker where you were captured was being converted into a command post for one of the main cells of the traitors, most of whom were students or staff at the university.

The assault forced them to flee into the tunnels, but not before the decision was made to bring you along. Several of the traitor leaders overheard you yelling at the Water Caste diplomat to surrender, and decided it would be cruel to kill you while you were unconscious, or leave you there where your comrades would (allegedly) kill you for incompetence. Though the young man said he disagreed strongly with that decision, so apparently they are not all idiots.

You are then forced to listen to an equally long rant about how superior the Tau are, and how, even now, a “junior shas’o” is meeting with some Water Caste on a nearby landing pad, which he helpfully turns the chair so you can see.

Sure enough, there is a heavily armed mech standing near some robed figures on a nearby landing pad.

But then a yellow Space Marine comes bursting out of a nearby door, knocks the robed figures off the edge, and tears apart the mech with his bare hands...

>>5283771

The silence is priceless.

After a minute or so of trying to cope with what he just saw, the traitor promptly flees the room.

You spend the next two hours tied to the chair waiting to be rescued. To be fair, it probably takes a long time to clear a building this big.

You realize your situation is a bit tricky to explain.

They took your uniform, belt, goggles, boots, and weaponry, so aside from your dogtags there isn’t really much identifying you as a Guardswoman.

Also, the Guard doesn’t take kindly to those who surrender or desert.

Eventually, a small squad of Ravenholm soldiers enters the room.

>Say you got knocked out on an important scouting mission.

>Say you are a really rich officer and will reward them greatly.

>Say you work for the Inquisition.

>Tell the truth, more or less.

>>5283774
>>Say you got knocked out on an important scouting mission
Emperor damn it

>>5283774
>Say you work for the Inquisition.

>>5283774
>Say you got knocked out on an important scouting mission.

>>5283774
>Say you got knocked out on an important scouting mission.

>>5283774
>Tell the truth, more or less.

>>5283774
>>Say you got knocked out on an important scouting mission.

File: 1550947292357.jpg (144 KB, 848x1199)

144 KB JPG

>>5283774
>Tell the truth, more or less.

File: 1653784244971.png (911 KB, 1550x1165)

911 KB PNG

>Say you got knocked out on an important scouting mission.

It actually isn’t too hard to convince the Ravenholmite Guardsmen you are Imperial Guard.

They recognize the pattern on your skirt/kilt, and some other parts of your uniform are piled in the corner of the room behind you.

You then try to convince them you were out on an important scouting mission, but got captured.

The sergeant in charge of the small group of Ravenholmites puffs his moustache out a bit, as if dubious that a Happy Ender would be allowed to do anything important. But then he shrugs, as if deciding that “important” is a relative term and that it was probably described as being important to you.

He orders one of the Ravenholmites to cut you lose and lets you collect your stuff. Your voxbead, lasgun, and knife are missing, though in the case of the lasgun, it is probably still on the ground in the bunker where you were captured.

The Ravenholmite sergeant warns you that the elevators are down, and that sporadic fighting is still happening in the building.

But he also mentions that he saw some of your regiment storming the spire, so it hopefully shouldn’t be too difficult to link up with your unit.

With a final, slightly condescending “Be safe out there...”, the Ravenholmite team resumes their sweep of the building.

You quickly realize you are in a small tower branching off from the main building, and go down three flights of stairs to reconnect to the main floor plate.

It is surprisingly empty, but you suppose it makes sense that when a few hundred individuals make their last stand in a building meant to house tens of thousands, there will be many spaces relatively untouched by the fighting. And you remember hearing that only small parts of the building were occupied by government workers as of a week ago.

As you navigate your way through the maze of filing centers, typists pits, and cubicle farms, you see the occasional pile of dismembered Tau or human traitors, no doubt killed by Imperial Fists like the one you saw earlier. There are also a few teams of Imperial Guard from various regiments doing sweeps, but they seem poorly coordinated and don’t know what regiments other than their own are doing. Half seem to think their regiment is the only one who can do a proper sweep and plan on doing the entire building themselves regardless of what the others do, and the other half seem to just be trying to look busy.

None of them seem particularly interested in talking.

>Keep looking.

>Find a low ranking member of one of the lesser regiments and bully them into voxing the rest of their regiment.

>Find somewhere to lie low for a bit and quietly celebrate your continued survival.

>>5288132
>>Find somewhere to lie low for a bit and quietly celebrate your continued survival.

>>5288132
>Find a low ranking member of one of the lesser regiments and bully them into voxing the rest of their regiment.

>>5288132
>Find somewhere to lie low for a bit and quietly celebrate your continued survival.

>>5288132
>>Find a low ranking member of one of the lesser regiments and bully them into voxing the rest of their regiment.

>>5288132
>Find somewhere to lie low for a bit and quietly celebrate your continued survival.

>Find somewhere to lie low for a bit and quietly celebrate your continued survival.

The adrenaline is starting to wear off, and you are now feeling more than a little tired and overwhelmed.

Yet again you have survived certain death under unusual circumstances, but this time it was more due to dumb luck than some mysterious intervention.

You find a cubicle by a window and stare out of it for a while.

The sun isn’t so bad when you are standing in a building with partial climate control, which still seems to be working despite the fact that it has been near empty for months, not to mention partially damaged by recent fighting.

To the north lie the wealthy neighborhoods of Oak Green and Xora. They are surprisingly undamaged, as little fighting has occurred there during either the siege of the city, or the ongoing Tau raid.

It seems the rich never really lose. Maybe the preachers back on your home world were right, and the God-Emperor does reward the true faithful with material wealth and protection, but you are still pretty sure they just said that because they were corrupt and/or encouraged by the noble clans to protect the status quo.

Note to self. Become rich, get Emperor's favor. Or maybe get the Emperor's favor first, which allows you to become rich.

You realize your thoughts have been wandering idly, whereas many others would be having a full blown existential crisis at this point.

Oh well, sucks to be them.

At some point you must have fallen asleep, because when the Sarge wakes you up, you are still asleep in the same cubicle.

To your mild disappointment, the Sarge doesn’t seem particularly surprised or excited to have found you, though admittedly she rarely ever shows emotion other than mild annoyance.

You are happy to see Kasper is alive though, and vise-versa. You don’t hold it against him that he left you behind to be captured, if anything you are surprised he survived.

The Sarge gives you a brief update.

The Tau have mostly fled the city, though it appears they have captured several nearby communities as well as cities elsewhere on the planet. However, some Tau and their traitor allies are still trapped in the city and have gone to ground. Your company has been assigned to help clear the “Hive Spire” of remaining hostiles, as well as round up any civilians for interrogation to help determine their loyalties.

>Get off your butt and go clear the building.

>Ask how the assault on the bunker went.

>Ask for more information on the wider situation.

>>5290626
>>Get off your butt and go clear the building.

>>5290626
>>Ask for more information on the wider situation

>>5290626
>Ask how the assault on the bunker went.

>>5290626
>>Ask how the assault on the bunker went.

>>5290626
>Get off your butt and go clear the building
>Ask how the assault on the bunker went.

>Ask how the assault on the bunker went.

You decide to ask the Sarge how the assault on the bunker went.

The Sarge decides that continuing to sweep the building is more important, but as you go about the sweep of the seemingly empty floor, your squad mates fill you in on some of the details.

Kasper, who was the only person other than the Sarge and yourself to accompany the first wave, fills you in on how he and the Sarge barely made it out of the lower levels of the bunker after several small pockets of Tau and traitors are found there. The Sarge figures given that several were Water Caste or traitor demagogues, they were probably trying to set up some sort of propaganda or command post. By the time the second wave of the assault arrived and sent some troops into the lower levels of the bunker, they had already fled via other tunnels, presumably taking you with them.

No one in the squad was part of the first wave of soldiers assaulting the top half of the bunker, but Juniper, who arrived in the second wave, claimed that the fighting was already mostly over by the time she arrived. However, there was probably twenty or so Tau and traitors in the upper levels, judging by the number of bodies, including some with heavy weapons.

After taking the bunker, Captain Catnip crossed the bridge, returned everyone to their proper platoons and companies, and headed to the “Hive Spire”, where most of the fighting was occurring. It sounds like several small skirmishes slowed them down, and by the time they got to the “Hive Spire”, the fighting was mostly over.

You absorb this information thoughtfully, and are pleased your regiment is seemingly performing relatively well, and no one in the squad died while you were captured.

You spend the next hour or so sweeping the building with your squad. Aside from other clearance squads, you find little, but do have to stop occasionally to escort the odd civilian you find hiding back to screening area for processing. Right now it is Ravenholm men doing the initial screening, but you hear rumors that the Kriegers or the Sisters may take over that role, and you feel bad for anyone who gets pressed by the likes of them for their loyalties.

Eventually, someone, somewhere, decides that the “Hive Spire” has too many resources assigned to it, and your company is kicked out and sent to sweep other nearby buildings instead.

Your platoon gets assigned to check out the Arkenroost Building, a large neo-gothic office building a few blocks away.

The Sarge mentions it is the headquarters for a shipping firm that buys agricultural products for the subsector capital of Ravenholm, home world of several of the regiments fighting in the area. Though she has also heard rumors that the building is a major center for the “Cold Trade”, the collection of rare, potentially dangerous artifacts for purchase by bored, jaded nobility.

>>5292928

The building looks empty from the outside, the ground level doors and windows are boarded up and/or gated.

Your platoon’s useless Lieutenant is pretty convinced no one has been in the building for weeks, if not months, and for once you think she is right, but the Sarge seems pretty keen to get into the building, and Lieutenant Jenners eventually relents, no doubt knowing the Sarge has been in Captain Imperium and Catnip’s good books lately.

At first, the inside of the building is just as elaborate as the outside, though once you move to the main office spaces you find it is pretty bland. There is clearly nothing here, but the Sarge decides to look in the lower levels anyways.

Here things get a bit more spooky...

The building has no electricity, and without the windows of the upper floors it is pitch dark. Your regiment’s flashlight situation hasn’t improved since your previous trips underground, so everyone travels in groups of three or four with only one light source.

It doesn’t take you long to find the bodies, and you smell them the minute you open the door to the basement.

Cultists, from several different factions, likely dead for weeks if not months. Hard to tell how they died, or if they all died in the same fight or perhaps during different fights, perhaps over the period of months.

Some of them were carrying odd items. Clearly from diverse backgrounds, some seem xenos, some seem human, and some you aren’t sure.

It quickly becomes evident the items were being looted from large vaults. There are at least ten such vaults on this level, and perhaps more in the levels below.

Jenners assigns your squad and another to check out the two opened vaults on this floor, while she takes the other squads below.

The six members of your squad enter your assigned vault and spread out.

The Sarge takes Hargan and Juniper and one of the flashlights, while you take Kasper and Castelman and the other flashlight.

There is lots of cool stuff here, vases, trays of coins, urns, jewellery, exotic looking weaponry, but you also can’t help but feel you are being watched, and occasionally see flickers of something green in the middle of the vault.

>Head to middle of vault.

>Grab some coins when no one is looking.

>Continue doing a systematic sweep.

>>5292930
>Grab some coins when no one is looking.

>>5292930
>Continue doing a systematic sweep.
Secure the area before we loot anything.

>>5292930
>>Continue doing a systematic sweep.

>>5292930
>Grab some coins when no one is looking.

>>5292930
>>Grab some coins when no one is looking.

>Grab some coins when no one is looking.

You proceed with the sweep of the vault, but anytime Castelman is pointing the flashlight away from you and you are near a coin or jewellery tray, you discreetly grab a few items.

Eventually, your group and the Sarge’s group link back up in the middle of the room, where you find yourselves gazing at the most impressive piece in the vault, a deactivated Necron Warrior.

“Didn’t all the Necrons disappear a month ago?” - Mutters Castelman.

“Only the ones whose tomb activated. There are inactive tombs buried all over the planet, this could have come from any of them.” - Replies the Sarge.

The thought of a massive Necron uprising sends chills down your spine. This planet already has been invaded by Chaos, raided twice by the Orks, and is currently being raided by the Tau. How many more factions does it need?

Lost in thought, you don’t notice the green lights flickering to life in the Warrior’s skull and chest until several other members of your squad gasp out loud.

“Aim for the glowing parts!” - Yells out the Sarge as everyone backs away quickly.

The Warrior stands upright and lumbers forward as its armor soaks up the scattered lasgun fire without difficulty.

You didn’t fight any of the Necron during their brief, mysterious appearance in the southern trenches one month ago, but from what you gather, they are a far more dangerous opponent than the likes of the Ork or the Chaos Worshipper, or even the Tau. You can believe it. Even with its hunched pose, the figure ahead of you stands seven feet tall and is built from solid metal. Good thing it isn’t armed.

>Shoot it on full auto while backing away.

>Sneak around and try to stab it in the back with your knife.

>Tactically reposition yourself as far away as possible.

>>5294318
>Shoot it on full auto while backing away.

>>5294318
>>Shoot it on full auto while backing away.

>>5294318
>>Shoot it on full auto while backing away.

doing work travel for next couple of days, will be back thursday

>>5295430
Thanks for running.

>>5302921

(I got distracted by some other stuff, but haven’t completely given up on this yet. Also a new thread may bring in some more people)

>Shoot it on full auto while backing away.

You shoot it on full auto while backing away.

From what you remember from the rumors, Necron are damn close to invincible, and without a melta, plasma, or large anti-tank weapon, your only safe bet is overwhelming firepower.

Several other members of your squad have the same idea, and although at first your shots do nothing but blind and hobble the creature, eventually the combined force of your shots bring it down.

A quick inspection of its metal face and ribs reveal even sustained fire only melted the metal a bit, and as you watch, it even appears to be healing itself. You can only assume the Sarge’s advise was correct, and enough shots slipped in through the eye sockets and gaps in the ribs to damage something important.

You shudder at the thought of facing large numbers of the things, you have heard their firepower is immense, and their aim stunningly accurate, with their only weaknesses being their slow speed and lack of initiative.

“Why did it come online? It must have been there for months.” - You wonder.

“Necron legions usually come online all at once. The fallen of the group we fought last month disappeared, so this warrior is most likely from a tomb elsewhere that was inactive when the warrior was looted, but has now just come online.” - Replies the Sarge.

Hopefully a tomb far from here you think to yourself, but naturally the Sarge gets an update on her vox-bead just then, and reports that Necron have appeared around Groxbridge, mostly south of the city, but some to the northwest, and a few scattered elsewhere. Also, there are reports of “friendly” Eldar in the city, and the Orks have appeared in orbit for the third time since the campaign begun.

Fuck my life, you think to yourself.

(will post new thread soon)