Tales from the Skywarriors

[Kami]

As a skald at the fang, I've two goals: entertain my fellow wolves and keep getting better at what I'm doing through your comments. C&C is much welcomed. I will continue for some episodes and I hope you enjoy!

 

Four Space Wolves are left behind enemy lines. Their objective is to contact a resistance cell inside Chaos invaded territory. Fighting through the buildings and on rooftops with enemy cultists on their heels, can they manage to reach the rebel hideout in time and call down a mighty ally of their chapter?

 

Another ghost town on the northern continent...

 

Turbo-boosting through the deadly streets of Morentana, the bike-mounted Blood Claws pack closed in on their objective. They were Adeptus Astartes of the Space Wolves chapter, their ice blue armour only visible as blurred shapes in this destroyed and frozen city ruin.

Wheels were tortured and rims glowed around vaporised snow, as they hit the brakes only a few milliseconds after the unpredictable road block came into view.

Their impact was hard, but there was no time to feel the pain. Adrenaline rushed through the veins of the solitary four men. With the knowledge that their enemy was closer than planned, their mood changed immediately.

“Allfather’s blood, command dropped us at the wrong position”, yelled the Space Wolves pack member who first set foot on the surface. He targeted on the road block behind his back. “We’re outside the prime defence perimeter.”

“Destination anywhere, what brother Corin?”, a second gagged. “That’s the result when your battle leader thanks his rank to good relationships, eh?”

“Then thank Russ that your pack leader has none”, sounded the rough and unchangeable voice of Wolf Guard Gennaro. “Corin, Janus, quiet now and get into cover. Morten, check the surrounding.”

With his head down and back lent on a car wreckage, he tore his rebreather-mask off his face. They would not need much of their biker-equipment, except for one piece. A present from their Iron Priest’s link to a second space marine chapter stationed in the sector.

“The locator beacon stays with us, brothers”, he considered in view of the house-high barricade which closed the whole street behind them. The device would have to be carried, as it allowed reinforcements to deep-strike on their coordinates with pinpoint accuracy; vital when they were trapped, fighting with a wall at their backs.

Gennaro’s eyes got closer under his bandana as he surveyed their dead-end. It was a barrier made of torn out street parts, industrial wreckage and anything else that would be big enough to stop a tank.

“Rebel-trademark”, he thought. “Maybe even a dreadnought will have problems with this.” He could only imagine that in these forsaken Nethers, resistance against Chaos spread like fungus.

The appearance of the Space Wolves chapter gave new hope to all servants of the Emperor who were still alive and continued to fight the Chaos invasion. General Winfield’s Brigade, the Krasnovian Rough Riders and the Thirtieth Dieron Regulars were about to turn the tide on this continent, but they were needed elsewhere on the planet. Now, after the distraction of the Imperial Guard from this city, the Chaos warhost sniffed a chance for a counterstrike into their backs. During the district by district re-capturing of Chaos, all the Wolf Lord could do was support the resistance in Morentana as well as he could. Which meant with the least possible casualties of men and material. In the eye of the Wolf Lord, four space marines were a low price to pay for leaving a grain of sand in the Archenemy’s gear unit.

However, for those four men, their companionships with each other were everything they had. None would admit that this price would be paid unnecessarily.

[Kami]

“Brother, enemy infantry spotted”, Gennaro was informed by a dark-skinned soldier he called Morten. The man pointed with his muscular arm into the direction where the silhouettes in the street disappeared in the mist.

Although mere Blood Claws, their steeled body-shape and heavy armour almost made them into giants on the battlefield. Giants who rode on mechanical steeds and who could stamp opposing infantry under their boots. But they were nothing in comparison to the sound of the machines which came walking down a few streets away, shaking the ground beneath. Though they could not be seen, their out streaming fear was omnipresent.

“And worse”, concluded Gennaro, unlocking his bolt pistol with his thumb. “All right, here’s the plan: we got twenty minutes till our reinforcements arrive. At this time the enemy will either find a way round the barricade or break through it, so don’t think we’re just gonna sit round here and wait.”

“They will come this way right to us”, supposed Morten, who watched the movements of the enemy-spearhead. “Seems that rebels have laid road-blocks to every damn street in the whole Nethers round their bunker. The rest is covered by buildings. So they will risk a frontal attack, it makes no difference from which side.”

“Then we must get through those buildings”, suggested Gennaro. “If we find no way, we must wait to see how these Chaos-dreadnoughts deal with such a dead-end.”

“And get through it after our enemies do?”, asked Corin cynical. “That doesn’t sound like we’re going to contact the rebels’ head in time.”

“We'll reach the bunker soon enough, then we can install the locator-beacon where we need it to be. I don’t want our reinforcements to land in the hell of nowhere like we did. We need them inside the defensive line, all right? Good, so let’s move off. Morten, get to that building on left street-side and find an entrance! Corin, Janus, you stay back and watch our flanks.”

“Confirmed”, every pack member nodded inside his collar-like neck-protection. They all knew what to do.

Sporadic las-fire was opened the moment Morten held his head out of cover. The air was filled with heat and the wavy track single rays laid into the gloomy surroundings. Ice shifts were molten immediately, where the bolts hit the layer of coldness.

Gennaro followed his comrade through the shots, heading for the next shelter. Like one man, Corin and Janus pushed their backs away from their concrete cover and brought their bolt pistols up into firing position. Unlike their foes, their coolness allowed them to wait without opening fire. For the time, it would only be a waste of ammunition.

“The first dreadnought arrives, we’re gone”, Corin wanted Janus to make clear.

His battle-brother looked at him sceptically. “What the hell did you think?”, asked Janus for his sanity. “Just can’t wait until our pack leader finds a way out of this mess.”

[hendrik]

hm, overall i think it has potential although i dissagree on some mayor points:

 

1) “That’s the result when your battle leader thanks his rank to good relationships.”what's this nonsense about? to become a battle leader you first need to be elevated into the wolf guard. this is only done by a great deed of arms, not by having good connections. and even being in the wolf guard doesn't guarantee you to become a wolf guard battle leader, no, to become one the wolf guard must show himself capable of leading battles etc.

2)General Winfield’s Brigade, the Krasnovian Rough Riders and the Thirtieth Dieron Regulars were about to turn the tide on this planet, but they were needed elsewhere on the continentif they would ensure the complete victory on the planet, what morron would withdraw them? i'd either say they were about to turn the tide on this continent, but were needed elsewere on the planet(like in a hive city or so) OR that they were about to turn the tide on this planet, but were withdrawn to supress a chaos incursion on a nearby even more important planet or something amonst those lines.

 

as for your english, don't worry, i'm not an english speaking guy myself and i understood most of it so have an ale on me pup!

[Kami]

Thanks for the ale and comment!

2) - edited.

as for 1)

“That’s the result when your battle leader thanks his rank to good relationships.”

It was more a Blood Claw's joke, but I'll try to make it more obvious. Thanks again!

[Kami]

Gennaro pursued Morten matching his footsteps, while they ploughed through the urban area. There were many objects to use to hide, but only a few to really trust of being safe. Most would be unable to hinder a jet of las-fire from cutting through. Those riddled wrecks around were witnesses to the power the weapons could deal. The two Space Wolves sprinted to the side-walk snowed under fractions of the tumbled-down building. As soon as Gennaro made out the main door beside a crashed bus on the house wall, he sent Morten to examine the interior. Gennaro’s attention was needed on the windows of the upper levels, preventing him from looking for attackers firing from the street. Corin and Janus would have to do this job for him, but he was curious to hear against which kind of force they were combating. By the silence of his comrades’ bolt pistols and chainswords, he could assume that their threat had not become too dangerous yet.

Eager for action, he wiped his toes while kneeling in front of the door-frame, waiting for his spotter’s response.

“Pack leader, clear!”, echoed the voice of Morten out of the entry area.

No instant too soon, Gennaro called his rearguard back into formation to meet them in the lobby for a report.

“Brother, some groups of infantry”, announced Janus who first appeared inside the dusty atmosphere of the concrete structure. “We didn’t fire a single shot, to make them think they can deal with us in small number.”

“Good”, Gennaro said contentedly. “What could you find out about their origin?”

“Chaos cultists, definitely”, Corin affirmed after sharing a look with his fellow. “I could see them clear, Third Vualdat, brother.”

“The Ever-Vigilant”, repeated Gennaro the proper name of this unit. “As expected. This unit specializes in city combat. Well, we will test their loyalty today.”

The Space Wolves sneered. They knew too well the attitude of the followers of Chaos. Their engagement almost reached on fanaticism, the laughter of their gods bred in the brain of every servant under the Chaos Lord’s control. But before strength, the Blood Claws were about to put their foe’s patience to the test – and their arrogance.

 

“We have to make it to the rooftop”, clarified Gennaro.

“The elevator’s broken down”, noticed Janus at the right side of the entry area. “But this wouldn’t have been a good idea anyway”, he discerned in the look of his pack leader.

“We take the stairs to our advantage”, Gennaro continued.

Without delay he rushed up the hallway which was draped in bleached out vermilion wallpapers. Every pillar was battered and caused great stir, as he and his men pushed against their edges to help speed their ascent. But being covered in clouds would not be bad for the retreat.

“They will have the same way to go”, Gennaro thought of his pursuers. “Janus, let them earn every single floor”, he encouraged the last men behind.

“Yes, pack leader”, Janus answered and stopped upon arriving at the first storey. “There are many.

Gennaro did not have to observe to be assured that his battle-brother was preparing his grenades. As soon as he heard movement at the starting newel, he dropped a frag. The explosion sounded dull in the deep of the angular corridor. It was far out of range for Gennaro and his Blood Claws, but not so for their persecutors.

Janus leant still against the column, hearkening for a return from below. But there came fierce revenge from somewhere else he did not expect. Flames blew through the broken window behind him, grasping on the ceiling. He raised his arm to cover his face with his heat-absorbing bracer and ducked instinctively. As soon as he detected that the fire would rain down on him, he realised that he had to roll forward.

“Flamer”, cursed Gennaro, recognising their characteristic effect. He could not move on until Janus was out of danger. His rearguard was cut by an inferno that forced him to flee downstairs, right into the arms of an up creeping enemy.

Combined, Gennaro and Morten bent down over the handrail and opened fire. Corin who was next to his trapped companion, loosened another grenade from his battle gear and threw it out of the window. The blaze extinguished, Corin seized the chance to get to his battle-brother. While Gennaro and Morten laid cover fire down the hoist way, volleys zipped by them vertically answering from the ground. Corin tried hard to pull Janus out of the line of fire he had incurred into, both letting their bolt pistols sing. Straight away they had clearance, Janus stood up to his feet and sprinted back to his pack. A second later, the whole floor ignited in a burst of new flames.

“Onward!”, Gennaro lead them out of the fire breath of Chaos. “Leave a track of frags behind, wolves! We won’t need them anymore, when we’re out of doors.”